FreeType and True
Type DLL just updated



FreeType has been updated to release 1.1; also the TrueType DLL for OS/2 2.x and OS/2 Warp 3/4 has been updated to Beta II . This new beta adds support for large Unicode fonts and Greek support.

Click here to download: @@@

What's new in Beta 2

Support for large Unicode fonts, such as Times New Roman MT 30
Greek support - hi Alex :-)
Latest version (1.1) of the FreeType library used
Fonts with some 'broken' glyphs can be used now
It is now possible to limit the number of open fonts kept in memory
Updated FAQ converted to HTML
Many bugs fixed
Several entirely new, unexpected and amusing bugs probably added...



FreeType/2 is an OS/2 TrueType Font Driver DLL based on the FreeType engine. It replaces IBM's TRUETYPE.DLL in Warp 4, but it can be installed on older versions of OS/2 too - but see below!

Some features of FreeType/2

Seamless integration with OS/2.
Supports outlines for further glyph manipulation
Supports national characters (if provided in the font). Now works with all Latin and
Cyrillic languages and Greek. Other languages are being worked on (esp. Chinese,
Japanese and Korean).
Works with older releases of OS/2, but see below!!
It's free
And last but not least, it looks great!

And some limitations of the current version:

No support for kerning. It's not top priority, but I'll add it eventually.
No grayscaling a.k.a. antialiasing. Actually the FreeType engine supports it, but the OS/2 Graphics Engine doesn't. If you really want this, tell IBM. I can add this feature in about five minutes then.

 Note, by Michal Necasek

It might help if your uncle is manager of one of those large banks with thousands of OS/2 licenses.
He should be able to convince IBM easily <grin>
More about antialiasing: I am trying to find a way of adding antialiasing to OS/2 myself.
I now think it might (but I'm not really sure) be possible to implement antialiasing via a display driver hook DLL and some more or less dirty hacks. If you have experiences in this area and would like to help me, please contact me at the address below.
No support for DBCS languages. I'm working on it, but I have no idea how long it will take before it's ready.
Note: Actually something might work. I tested for example some Japanese HTML pages using Netscape and Times New Roman MT 30 and it seemed to work fine. You are encouraged to test everything, but no guarantee!

There are two versions of the package, one for OS/2 Warp 3 and 4 and the other for OS/2 2.1 (possibly even 2.0). Actually the 2.1 version works fine on OS/2 Warp, the only difference is different compression used for the DLL (i.e. the 2.1 version is a little bigger).

Note: because Warp 4 (preferably with FP5 or above) has full international support, it is now the target platform. But this doesn't mean that FreeType/2 won't run on Warp 4 GA or Warp 3! It only means you won't be able to use, say, Korean fonts on your Warp US. You might also run into problems if you use certain exotic fonts. If so, let me know!
Please note that to use Times New Roman MT 30 or other large Unicode fonts on Warp 3 you probably need to install one of the later fixpacks. You should also have the required functionality if you have Java 1.1 installed.
Note: The OS/2 2.1 version hasn't been updated. If that's a problem for you, don't hesitate to mail!

Bug reports, Comments and Suggestions can be sent to os2@freetype.org.
Of course try to read the available documentation (FAQ, README) before you complain.

Simple greetings can also be sent directly to the DLL's author at : mike@mendelu.cz

My big thanks go to:
David Turner, the brain behind FreeType, for his hard work without any compensation other than making the world a better place IBM, the company we love to hate, for their imperfect TrueType driver and for making all the necessary tools and documentation available publicly and free of charge.
Marc L Cohen, Ken Borgendale and Tetsuro Nishimura from IBM for providing me with lots of information I could never obtain otherwise. Without them I'd never get this far.


CONTACT:

Michal Necasek
 http://www.freetype.org
@Macarlo, Inc.
@Macarlo's Shareware & Web
OS/2
Java Lobby Member
Java Site Accredited

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