[IPod Mini] Font Conversion

[aaaaalbb]

Hi everyone. How can I convert a ttf font for my iPod Mini? I tried using the rockbox tools, like convttf64.exe, and the conversion seems to work fine, however, when I try the font in the simulator, I always get the same font, like a failsafe font, with a small dimension, regardless of the the original dimension of the converted fnt file. I mean, how had the fonts downloaded from the rockbox utility been converted? Because they are the only ones that actually show up in my iPod and in the emulator. Thanks.

[Frankenpod]

How are you installing them once converted?

convttf works for me (with an ipod Classic) - converted a lot of fonts with that, and once converted I just copy them into the rockbox/fonts directory, then select them via RB's settings menu and they work.  Can you tell if it is that the simulator isn't finding the fonts, or that they aren't converting properly to a useable form?

[aaaaalbb]

I just convert the fonts with conttf64 and copy the .fnt file to the .rockbox\fonts directory. On the iPod and on the simulator I then simply select the font from the theme settings.
I managed to record my screen, so you all can see what I consider is the failsafe font. My fonts are the ones that start with "15" and all the ones below. None of them seem work.

[Frankenpod]

Certainly looks as if the fonts are coming out wrong so aren't useable.  Don't know what to suggest - I've converted a lot of free fonts with that utility (the one compiled under linux, I mean, I vaguely remember the windows utility for download doesn't anti-alias properly?) and most of them work (plus the odd ones that didn't came out looking corrupted or with glitches, but they could still be selected and recognised as fonts by RB).

[aaaaalbb]

Alright I will try with Linux and let you know.

[Frankenpod]

So were you using a windows utility before?

I can't really remember very well, but I think there was a windows utility you could download to do the font conversion but it had some shortcomings, mainly it didn't anti-alias the font.  To do it properly you had to set up a linux development environment and compile the font converter yourself, then run it.  I eventually got that working and converted a load of fonts.  But since then my linux PC has had hardware problems so I don't have that thing set up to do it any more.

[aaaaalbb]

Yes I was using Windows, the precompiled binary of convttf64. Do you remember the name of a font that you know does work for you? Just as a reference so I can test it out.

[Frankenpod]

Some of the converted fonts I included in themes I uploaded.  The themes are for the classic, but if you downloaded them you could extract the fonts from them and see if they work on your player.  Or get the originals from the 1001 fonts site and convert them yourself (once you get the convttf thing compiled - as I remember that took a bit of effort because there were some components of Ubuntu that needed updating for it to work).

Atiba and Liquid Crystal in this one, for example.

https://themes.rockbox.org/index.php?themeid=3088&target=ipod6g

[aaaaalbb]

Ok I exported those fonts but they give me the same result. It seems like there are some conditions for the old monochrome displays that the font must have, and I can't find those. Thank you so much for the help anyways.

[amachronic]

convttf only produces antialiased fonts, those don't work on monochrome displays.

For monochrome fonts you need to use convbdf, but it only works with .bdf bitmap fonts, not truetype fonts.

[aaaaalbb]

Ohh I see. Well, that's good news. At least now I know I didn't miss some arguments in the program. I also tried modifying the header of the output .fnt file (modifyng the byte that indicated if it is monocrome or anti-aliased) but I only got corrupt characters after that. I will update after I used convertbdf