Font Directory 2 replacement/alternative?
5 posts, 3 voices
jim lesurf (2082)
1438 posts
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As per the title: I used to use Look System’s Font management system. As I recall that no longer works on machines like my ARMX6. So what, erm ‘look alike’ (see what I did, there. 8-] ) would people suggest/recommend that would let me do much the same now on my ARMX6? |
Martin Avison (27)
1494 posts
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jim lesurf (2082)
1438 posts
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Thanks! :-)) I probably knew about this some time ago, but forgot! |
Andrew Rawnsley (492)
1445 posts
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Font Directory Pro is the obvious upgrade, certainly, and the best choice in terms of preserving your data. There are also free alternatives if you aren’t finding your computing as “font centric” as in the past (ie. you don’t want to spend money on it). Really Small Software Company have “Fontastic” and I think Atlanta can also be made to work (not confirmed). There may be others too. https://www.reallysmall.co.uk/Pages/categories/riscos/miscellaneous/fontastic.php One thing I (personally) dislike (now) about both EasyFont and FDP (the two big name apps) is that they were designed when 77-file limits were a thing. This means they trap your fonts in their own filing systems to bypass the limitation, and that potentially raises problems when accessing your fonts in future. For example, FDP had (has?) copy protection so you couldn’t simply copy your font folder to a new machine. Most of the free font managers use the RISC OS filing system, which means that your data is more accessible. I mention this because I have a lot of fonts trapped in EasyFont on VRPC and it can be a pain at times. Since I don’t change my fonts very often, it tends to be more of a hinderance than a boon… |
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jim lesurf (2082)
1438 posts
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I’ve dodged the ‘trapped fonts’ effect by always also having my fonts in a set of runnable font directories. This lets me add them in groups. But doesn’t easily let me do something like decide which ‘rarely used’ font I might want for a special task. In general this doesn’t matter like it used to as my written output generally either is for basic purposes or will be re-set by someone else at a magazine anyway! But every now and then I find I want to choose a specific font for some reason. And this time it finally prompted me to ask! :-) |
