
                                The NEWFONT System
                                ------------------



      The programs in NEWFNT.ARC will provide owners of most EGA systems a
      new set of text fonts in both 25 and 43 line modes.  In addition, they
      make it a simple task to switch between the ROM-based 8x14 font and the
      two new fonts.  Included with the NEWFONT system are alternate
      font-switching programs to use with the NANSI.SYS console driver.  The
      NEWFONT system also provides a simple method for users to load the EGA
      pallette registers, and make them resident throughout almost every
      application program.  Two programs are included that will allow the
      NEWFONT system to be used with MARK/RELEASE, and with 'EGA-dumb'
      programs like Microsoft's CodeView.

      The NEWFONT system will not operate with EGA cards that cannot do font
      changes during mode changes.  If NEWFONT does not work correctly with
      your EGA card, you should contact the manufacturer of your card and
      advise them that their EGA BIOS is not compatible with the IBM EGA
      BIOS.

      These programs are user supported.  Developing these new fonts is alot
      of work!  If you feel that these programs are of value, a $10.00
      registration fee is requested.  If you use NEWFONT in a commercial
      environment, the registration fee is mandatory.  If you include a
      stamped, self-addressed envelope, I will send patches for MS-Word 3.0
      and Lotus 1-2-3 v2.0 that will allow you to change any color in either
      text or graphics; this is provided because they are the only programs
      I've found that override the pallette-setting features of NEWFONT.  I
      will also provide details of all the NEWFONT programs so that you can
      use your own fonts and run other EGA programs with the NEWFONT system.

      You can send your registration fee to:

                                  Mark Horvatich
                                3310 Portal #1006
                            Colo. Springs, CO   80909


                    +---------------------------------------+
                    | FLASH! NEWFONT 4.00 is now available! |
                    +---------------------------------------+

      NEWFONT 4.00 is now available.  It includes all of the features of
      NEWFONT 3.01, and adds the following:

       * Comes standard with TEN fonts (7-8x14, 3-8x8)

      * A custom font-loading program that will load the above fonts, or any
        other 8x8 or 8x14 font file created by popular EGA font editors

      * Enhanced pallette setting and control features (control over 1-2-3,
        DBASE)

      * Programmatic interface to the font loading and pallette control
        features

      * Patches to several programs (KEDIT, NANSI, MS-WORD, 1-2-3, etc) to
        allow them to take advantage of the NEWFONT font loading
        capabilities. A 1-2-3 and Symphony 43-line display driver
        (customized for NEWFONT) is included.

      * Compatible with NEWFONT 3.01 programs


      If you are interested in the above features after using NEWFONT 3.01
      for awhile, the cost of NEWFONT 4.00 is $30.00, which includes a disk
      and manual.  Of course, if these new features don't interest you, you
      can continue to use NEWFONT 3.01 and register for $10.00.  The support
      will be the same...

      Current registered users of NEWFONT (any version) can upgrade to
      NEWFONT 4.00 for $15.00.  This applies only to those users who have
      registered prior to November 15, 1986.






                                 NEWFONT  page 2

      Description of the NEWFONT System
      ---------------------------------

      There are eight programs in the NEWFONT system.  The main program,
      NEWFONT.COM, loads the NEWFONT system, selects a new 8x14 text font,
      and loads the EGA pallette registers with pre-set values.  You run
      NEWFONT.COM by typing NEWFONT at the DOS prompt, or by having the line
      NEWFONT as a line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  If you type NEWFONT
      again, the system will select the ROM-based 8x14 font.  Typing NEWFONT
      repeatedly will simply toggle the display between the NEWFONT font and
      the ROM-based font.  NEWFONT.COM also moves the entire EGA SAVE_PTR
      table into RAM.  This will be described later.

      PLEASE NOTE: NEWFONT.COM must be the first EGA resident program loaded
      into your system.  Failure to do so may cause unpredictable results.

      The two programs 8X14LOAD.COM and 8X8LOAD.COM will load new 8x14 and
      8x8 fonts, respectively, into the NEWFONT system.  These programs allow
      you to quickly shift between 25 and 43 line mode, since the 8x8 font
      automatically selects 43 line mode.  The font in the 8X14LOAD program
      is the same as the font in the main NEWFONT program.  You can still
      access the ROM-based font at any time, even with the 8x8 font loaded
      into your EGA, by typing NEWFONT as described above.

      The programs NANS8X8.COM and NANS8X14.COM are identical in function to
      the above programs, but are for use with the NANSI.SYS console driver.
      They should be used in place of 8X8LOAD.COM and 8X14LOAD.COM if you use
      NANSI.SYS.  If you use FANSI-CONSOLE, the 8X8LOAD.COM and 8X14LOAD.COM
      programs should be used.

      The programs RESETPAL.COM and SETPAL.COM simply load the pallette
      registers with either the author-chosen values (SETPAL.COM), or the
      default values (RESETPAL.COM).  This is provided for those who may not
      like my choice of colors.  It also is an excellent demonstration of how
      simple it is to manipulate the pallette registers when the NEWFONT
      system is loaded.  An excellent program that works with NEWFONT to set
      the EGA pallettes is PALS.COM, which can also be found on CompuServe
      and other BBSs.

      The programs FNTOFF.COM and FNTON.COM will disable and enable,
      respectively, the NEWFONT system.  After FNTOFF is run, everything is
      returned to default operation, but NEWFONT remains in memory.  You can
      then use MARK/RELEASE to remove NEWFONT from memory, if desired.
      FNTOFF and FNTON can also be used with programs like Microsoft's
      CodeView, which goes crazy whenever any EGA TSR modifies anything in
      the EGA SAVE_PTR (poor programming, in my opinion).  You can set up a
      batch file to run CodeView; this batch file will run FNTOFF.COM,
      CV.EXE, and FNTON.COM in the above order.

      The last program, SETCUR.COM, is provided for those EGA cards that
      emulated the bug-filled BIOS of the IBM EGA card.  A major bug in the
      IBM EGA BIOS will cause the cursor to disppear in 8x8 mode when a
      program defines a cursor that is one to three rows tall.  Fortunately,
      most programs make the cursor larger within the program, and reset the
      cursor upon exiting the program.  If you lose your cursor after exiting
      a program, simply type SETCUR, and your cursor will be restored.


      PROBLEMS, WARNINGS, ETC
      -----------------------

      There are two potential problems with the NEWFONT system.  First, do
      not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, use the NEWFONT system with any other EGA
      resident program that does not check whether the SAVE_PTR table has
      been moved into RAM.  You will most likely crash your system, since
      NEWFONT will no longer know how to change fonts.  Also, as stated
      before, the NEWFONT system MUST BE THE FIRST RESIDENT EGA PROGRAM
      LOADED.  Other EGA resident programs should be loaded after NEWFONT.COM
      is loaded.  This will ensure that all well-behaved EGA resident
      programs work together.  If NEWFONT.COM is loaded, however, you can
      always return to the NEWFONT system by running SETCUR.COM.

      The second problem (currently) is with 43 line mode.  This mode is not
      currently supported by DOS and most application programs, so you must
      use it at your own risk.  If you would like to use 43 line mode, the
      file ANSIEG.DOC in DL3 of the IBM Hardware Forum details the patches
      necessary to use 43 line mode in DOS.  Hopefully, future versions of
      DOS and other application programs will recognize the benefits of 43
      line mode, and support it.  The NANSI.SYS driver is a good start in
      this direction.


                                 NEWFONT  page 3


      Description of EGA SAVE_PTR Table
      ---------------------------------

      The following is a description of the EGA SAVE_PTR table that the
      NEWFONT system sets up in RAM.  It is provided for the use of software
      developers who would like to write EGA resident programs to work with
      the NEWFONT system.  It is also provided in the hopes that it become a
      standard, which would make the above warnings about the NEWFONT system
      unnecessary.

      The offset listed is the offset from the EGA entry point found in
      memory location 0:4A8h:

        offset          description                   bytes

           0h       DWORD_1 to DWORD_7                  28
          1Ch       reserved                             4
          20h       DWORD_1 table                     1472
         5E0h       DWORD_2 table                      256
         6E0h       DWORD_3 table                       32
         700h       DWORD_4 table                       28
         71Ch       reserved                             4
         720h       font table(s)                     3584
        1520h       ** end of table **

      Other EGA resident programs (such as ones which set EGA pallettes or
      load graphics fonts) which follow the above guidelines do not need to
      set aside any RAM for the SAVE_PTR table, since RAM is set aside for
      everything except extra fonts.  The EGA resident program need only
      query location 0:4A8h, check whether the EGA table has been loaded into
      RAM, and if so, modify the EGA SAVE_PTR locations as necessary.

      The NEWFONT system also provides a simple method to load the EGA
      pallette registers.  NEWFONT defines a function (AH=0CCh) of INT 10h
      that will return the segment address (in AX) of the SAVE_PTR table, a
      segment address (in BX) that will point to the 16 pallette registers
      and overscan register at BX:00F0, and a flag word of 0ABCDh (in CX) if
      the NEWFONT system is loaded.

      If a pallette-changing program calls INT 10h with AH=0CCh, checks CX
      for 0ABCDh to determine whether the NEWFONT system is loaded, then
      loads the 17 values at BX:00F0, the pallette-changing program can exert
      much more control over the pallettes than otherwise possible.



      If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the HP Forum (GO
      HP) or in the IBM Hardware Forum (GO IBMHW) in CompuServe.  Have fun!


      Mark Horvatich
      Sysop, Hewlett-Packard Forum (Compuserve)  76703,4163
