nanogui: Thread: how to correct hzx12 chinese font

Dear all:
         We have been using HZX12/HZX16 for displaying Traditional Chinese
on our embedded devices. Recently, we found that several chinese characters
were either missing or mismatched from their ASCII values. Does anyone
know to how hzx12/hzx16 are generated in the first place? How can I edit the
file to fix the bugs?

Thanks,
Alan Chuang

:          We have been using HZX12/HZX16 for displaying Traditional Chinese
: on our embedded devices. Recently, we found that several chinese
characters
: were either missing or mismatched from their ASCII values. Does anyone
: know to how hzx12/hzx16 are generated in the first place? How can I edit
the
: file to fix the bugs?

Alan -

The HZX stuff is very old, and not used anymore.  The recommended
approach would be to use a chinese .bdf file and the .pcf or
.fnt binary format.

However, check the src/fonts/chinese directory, you'll see a couple of
files, big5font.c and packhz12.c, which should explain how this older
font file got decoded.

If you figure it out and correct it, please comment on the list about
it and send me a patch.

Regards,

Greg

Dear Greg:
            I did look at the big5font.c file as well as trying to edit the
hzx12 using some of the font editors I can find. The hzx12 doesn't seem to
fall into any of the standard formats and it is also difficult to try
to update the big5font.c file.
           What I finally did is switching to pcf font as you have also
suggested. I found one chinese pcf font on the net. Since it is Unicoded and
I need big-5 encoding, I used fontforge to change the encoding to big5 and
save it as bdf file. I then used the bdftopcf utility to convert it into pcf
file. One change I did need to change in my program is to use the
MWTF_DBCS_BIG5 flag instead of GR_TFASCII when calling the GrText function.

I will be happy to send this new pcf file to anyone who is interested in
using it.

regards,
Alan


On 8/10/06, Greg Haerr ####@####.#### wrote:
>
> :          We have been using HZX12/HZX16 for displaying Traditional
> Chinese
> : on our embedded devices. Recently, we found that several chinese
> characters
> : were either missing or mismatched from their ASCII values. Does anyone
> : know to how hzx12/hzx16 are generated in the first place? How can I edit
> the
> : file to fix the bugs?
>
> Alan -
>
> The HZX stuff is very old, and not used anymore.  The recommended
> approach would be to use a chinese .bdf file and the .pcf or
> .fnt binary format.
>
> However, check the src/fonts/chinese directory, you'll see a couple of
> files, big5font.c and packhz12.c, which should explain how this older
> font file got decoded.
>
> If you figure it out and correct it, please comment on the list about
> it and send me a patch.
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg
>
>

:             I did look at the big5font.c file as well as trying to edit
the
: hzx12 using some of the font editors I can find. The hzx12 doesn't seem to
: fall into any of the standard formats and it is also difficult to try
: to update the big5font.c file.

Did you look at the packhz12.c file to see how it is encoded?


:            What I finally did is switching to pcf font as you have also
: suggested. I found one chinese pcf font on the net. Since it is Unicoded
and
: I need big-5 encoding, I used fontforge to change the encoding to big5 and
: save it as bdf file. I then used the bdftopcf utility to convert it into
pcf
: file. One change I did need to change in my program is to use the
: MWTF_DBCS_BIG5 flag instead of GR_TFASCII when calling the GrText
function.

Ideally, you should just use GR_TFUC16, and not have to pass
text encoded as DBCS, but unicode 16.  Will that work?  The
DBCS_BIG5 will allow DBCS encoded input, and then convert
the string to the font subdriver's format, which depends on the .bdf
file, but is usually UC16 or X11 format for .pcf files.


:
: I will be happy to send this new pcf file to anyone who is interested in
: using it.

I'd like to have the .bdf file for others that need this.  Did you modify
the .bdf at all from its original version?

Regards,

Greg


:
:
: On 8/10/06, Greg Haerr ####@####.#### wrote:
: >
: > :          We have been using HZX12/HZX16 for displaying Traditional
: > Chinese
: > : on our embedded devices. Recently, we found that several chinese
: > characters
: > : were either missing or mismatched from their ASCII values. Does anyone
: > : know to how hzx12/hzx16 are generated in the first place? How can I
edit
: > the
: > : file to fix the bugs?
: >
: > Alan -
: >
: > The HZX stuff is very old, and not used anymore.  The recommended
: > approach would be to use a chinese .bdf file and the .pcf or
: > .fnt binary format.
: >
: > However, check the src/fonts/chinese directory, you'll see a couple of
: > files, big5font.c and packhz12.c, which should explain how this older
: > font file got decoded.
: >
: > If you figure it out and correct it, please comment on the list about
: > it and send me a patch.
: >
: > Regards,
: >
: > Greg
: >
: >
: