HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

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gdridi
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HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by gdridi »

Hello,

I read blog at Hyperion from Tony Wyatt about new console.device.
I think I don't use new features like SYNC_Writes but my output is garbage ; I used an Arabic font which is only kerning set, so it is negative and displayed from Right to Left. I look with Great "Typeface" basic font program and there's no problem with kerning font or graphics Text() function I think.

Does Tony or someone can test my program on 4.1FE like what I did on my own OS4.1FE install, to tell me if output is garbage?
Here is a link to my arabicconsole.device which based upon console.device :

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile& ... device.lha

Test or resolution appreciate if you send me your postal address ... for rewards. I'm individual of course and AmigaOS is my passion.

gdridi@club.fr

Post scriptum for SOLIE or Thomas F. : is it possible for OS4.1FE upgrade/patch to include the old console.device?
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Spektro
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by Spektro »

Hello,
I tried your console device and it seems to me that there is something wrong with the mungi-sakkal-kufi font. I was able to fix the font by opening it with Cloanto's ColorType font editor and saving the font so that the old mungi-sakkal-kufi was overwritten. After that the text in the console window looked pretty convincing to me - no garbage and the glyphs looked like Arabic.
- Janne Peräaho
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gdridi
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by gdridi »

Spektro wrote:Hello,
I tried your console device and it seems to me that there is something wrong with the mungi-sakkal-kufi font. I was able to fix the font by opening it with Cloanto's ColorType font editor and saving the font so that the old mungi-sakkal-kufi was overwritten. After that the text in the console window looked pretty convincing to me - no garbage and the glyphs looked like Arabic.
Hello! Great!
Could you give me a snapshot? So I can buy Cloanto's font tool.. Is it (Cloanto's tool) in the premium DVDs AmigaForever edition?
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Spektro
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by Spektro »

Sure, I'll send you a screenshot.

ColorType is free. It can be downloaded from Aminet: http://aminet.net/package/gfx/edit/ColorType
- Janne Peräaho
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tonyw
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by tonyw »

I must admit I have never even seen a R-L font displayed in the console and I know very little about kerning (except what it is).

Can someone provide some sreen shots to illustrate how it looks and how it should look?

Perhaps if someone provided a Wikipedia link or somewhere else where I could learn something about R-L fonts?
cheers
tony
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gdridi
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by gdridi »

tonyw wrote:I must admit I have never even seen a R-L font displayed in the console and I know very little about kerning (except what it is).

Can someone provide some sreen shots to illustrate how it looks and how it should look?

Perhaps if someone provided a Wikipedia link or somewhere else where I could learn something about R-L fonts?
Kerning is for me on Text() graphics a _negative displacement_

What I use this trick is to have a RightToLeft behavior when I use Text() graphics function. So when AmigaOS support RtoL font my program behaves right.
Specktro beta tester points to me that this kludge will fail if using TextLenght()/TextFit() graphics functions perhaps he/she is right and new console use this functions? If so how to move around this problem.

For you Tony Wyatt, I upload a snapshot of what my program the arabicconsole.device outputs when intermingled left and right fonts :

http://os4depot.net/filedata/snapshot/9498_2_snap.png

The address to download the program is at driver/input at os4depot or see the link at my first post on this topics.
I hope we will find the trouble and solve the drawback!

As I said before and from the PofV of Specktro it could be the Text() or other graphics function and not the a misbehavior of the new console device.. As I point in my first post : so keep ourselves cool!
But Spectro just tells me it works with : "I ran a test with console.device version 53.1 (11.6.08) " .

I will be glad and congratulate if we success and make it operates an arabicconsole.device because it is based upon normal console device and didn't recode all the faincy features of ANSI commands (those with 0x9B). For the moment I stuck with ancient version 4.1 (i.e. preFE).

Shall the force be with you Tony, YoDiridi Arabic master says to you.
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tonyw
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by tonyw »

I'll try it with the older V53.1 console and the latest and see if there is a problem to be fixed. But bear in mind that the console does no more than pass the character codes to graphics.lib. It's graphics.lib that reads the font, spaces the characters properly with the kerning and draws them on the screen.

Until graphics.lib supports R-L fonts properly, I'm afraid that every attempt to draw such characters on a screen will be a "hack".

Re your screenshot: I can't tell on that picture what is right and what is wrong. Can you provide me an example text that displays wrongly (so that I can reproduce it) and a picture of what it should look like?
cheers
tony
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gdridi
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by gdridi »

tonyw wrote:I'll try it with the older V53.1 console and the latest and see if there is a problem to be fixed. But bear in mind that the console does no more than pass the character codes to graphics.lib. It's graphics.lib that reads the font, spaces the characters properly with the kerning and draws them on the screen.

Until graphics.lib supports R-L fonts properly, I'm afraid that every attempt to draw such characters on a screen will be a "hack".

Re your screenshot: I can't tell on that picture what is right and what is wrong. Can you provide me an example text that displays wrongly (so that I can reproduce it) and a picture of what it should look like?
All you have to do is run the program at os4depot/driver/input and it outputs (the source of the terminal using arabicconsole.device which based upon {use CMD_WRITE of} console.device, is code is "com.c")

Image

It filters ASCII letters only, almost all Arab letters using my font are trashed (the font attached to console that is set in the io request when I open device, is mungi-sakkal-kufi). Perhaps a way to investigate is SetFont() graphics library.

Image

@solie @hyperion @twyatt
I know that I'm a little bit annoying but when you want to support BASIC RightToLeft font support in the AmigaOS, it's "only" a matter of a bit! from a data model view to set a bit in the structure which actually throws a guru meditation when it is set.
By native, I mean, of course it displays from right to left because of the bit set (will give you the RKM page where I saw this bit to be set) and basic font properties i.e. Bold is done in the opposite RtoL one pixel left in "front of" the characters and not at its right.
@Spectro : of course TextLength()/TextFit() will operate right thanks to this bit!
Underline is the same.
Italics is like bold Arabic but with angular Arabic font (mine) it looks ugly..
Inverse video is ok !

It's just a matter of repairing the hyperspace module, send six-3PO to do the job! (I'm joking, ok I'm annoying too..)
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tonyw
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by tonyw »

You still have not told me what is right and what is wrong. Is one of those pictures "right" and the other "wrong"? Which is which? What is the difference between the two pictures?

What is your complaint?
cheers
tony
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Spektro
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Re: HELP : compatibility of new console.device OS4.1FE

Post by Spektro »

Since I tested gdridi's console device and discussed about it with gdridi privately, I'll post my findings here too.

If I understood correctly, gdridi wants to print Arabic text from right to left using a special font where font kerning is set to negative value (-9). He hopes that the negative kerning will move the text cursor right-to-left when printing. That seemed to work with the older console device versions (I tested it with the console.device version 53.1 (11.6.08) and it worked).

However, printing doesn't work with the AmigaOS4 FE console.device (version 53.83 (1.10.14)). Right-to-left movement doesn't work correctly and the printed characters overlap (see the first screenshot). The second screenshot illustrates how the console output should look like.

Opening and resaving the Arabic font (mungi-sakkal-kufi) with Cloanto's ColorType font editor fixed the overlapping problem. But apparently the letters were printed in the wrong order or something. I'm not sure about that since I can't read Arabic. Anyway, it didn't solve the problem.
- Janne Peräaho
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