"Can I use Adobe postscript fonts I purchased for the
Mac and port them over to the cube, and if so, how?
The answer to this question is, in practice, no."
-- NeXT Answers, Apr '90
But now you can, very easily with this program!
Entitled "mfrc", for Macintosh Font Resource Converter, it takes
Type 1 PostScript fonts and produces a version usable by the NeXT.
(The fonts must have the accompanying AFM [Adobe Font Metric] file
for it to be recognized by the cube.)
The font can be transferred from the Macintosh to the NeXT by
whatever means available; "mfrc" understands the MacBinary format.
The quickest way to install a font from the Mac is to transfer the
printer-downloadable version of the font (Macintosh file type
'LWFN') and the AFM file (type 'TEXT') in MacBinary format. After
the transfer, running "mfrc" will convert the downloadable font to
a standard PostScript font format, and strip the MacBinary header
off the AFM file.
"mfrc" will also accept files that have been previously converted
using 'mcvert' or other similar Macintosh file-conversion utilities.
The AFM file is not required to be present for "mfrc" to run; if
it is not found, only the font is converted. No messages or
warnings about missing AFM files are given.
A sample conversion run might look like this:
# mkdirs /LocalLibrary/Fonts/{afm,outline}
% mfrc foo* bar
foo: converted to Foo-Roman.
foo.afm: File not type LWFN.
foodem: converted to Foo-Demi.
foodem.afm: File not type LWFN.
foodemita: converted to Foo-DemiItalic.
foodemita.afm: File not type LWFN.
foohea: converted to Foo-Heavy.
foohea.afm: File not type LWFN.
fooheaita: converted to Foo-HeavyItalic.
fooheaita.afm: File not type LWFN.
fooita: converted to Foo-Italic.
fooita.afm: File not type LWFN.
bar: converted to Bar-Medium.
% mv [A-Z]*.afm /LocalLibrary/Fonts/afm
% mv [A-Z]* /LocalLibrary/Fonts/outline
% buildafmdir /LocalLibrary/Fonts
"mfrc" Specifics:
Create /LocalLibrary/Fonts if it does not exist. If you are not
the administrator of your NeXT, you can create ~/Fonts, and install
them there instead.
PostScript font names are automatically extracted from the first
POST text-resource block. If a font name definition is not found
(i.e., a /FontName definition), the existing filename, appended
with '.psf' is used. You should determine the correct PostScript
name and rename any '.psf' files before installing them.
If the file contains a MacBinary header, "mfrc" will only convert
it if the type is 'LWFN'. If the MacBinary header has been stripped
by another utility, "mfrc" will check for POST resources, and will
give an error if none are found.
The cube will not recognize any fonts until after the 'buildafmdir'
command has been run. "The 'buildafmdir' utility lets the AppKit
know that the fonts in that directory have changes, so that Font
Panels will show the new font right away." (from the NeXT Manual)
"mfrc" Information:
Program written by Mark Harris -- Documentation by Eddy J. Gurney
<mark@monitor.plymouth.mi.us> <eddy@jafus.mi.org>
Aim your flamethrowers this way,
not at Mark! (I'm taking the heat)
"mfrc" is Copyright 1990 by Mark Harris. The program may be
distributed without charge provided this notice and accompanying
documentation is included. No warranties are expressed or implied.
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.