diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'README')
| -rw-r--r-- | README | 239 |
1 files changed, 239 insertions, 0 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,239 @@ +About FIGlet (Frank, Ian & Glenn's Letters) release 2.2.2, 05 July 2005 +----------------------------------------------------------------------- +FIGlet is a program that creates large characters out of ordinary +screen characters + _ _ _ _ _ _ +| (_) | _____ | |_| |__ (_)___ +| | | |/ / _ \ | __| '_ \| / __| +| | | < __/ | |_| | | | \__ \_ +|_|_|_|\_\___| \__|_| |_|_|___(_) + +(This is meant to be viewed in a monospaced font.) FIGlet can create +characters in many different styles and can kern and "smush" these +characters together in various ways. FIGlet output is generally +reminiscent of the sort of "signatures" many people like to put at the +end of e-mail and UseNet messages. + +If you like FIGlet (hey, even if you *hate* FIGlet), please send an +e-mail message to <info@figlet.org> + +The official FIGlet web page: http://www.figlet.org/ + +Files -- Unix version +--------------------- + +README -- This file. +figlet.c -- The FIGlet source code. +zipio.h, -- A package for reading ZIP archives +zipio.c, +inflate.c, +crc.c +getopt.c -- Source for the standard "getopt" routine, in case you + don't have it in your C library. Not used by default. +Makefile -- The FIGlet makefile. Used by the make command. +figlet.6 -- The FIGlet man(ual) page. +figlist -- Script that lists available fonts and control files. +showfigfonts -- Script that gives a sample of each available font. +chkfont.c -- Source code for chkfont: a program that checks FIGlet + fonts for formatting errors. You can ignore this file + unless you intend to design or edit fonts. +figfont.txt -- Text file that explains the format of FIGlet fonts. + You can ignore this file unless you intend to design + or edit fonts. +fonts -- Directory containing fonts and control files. +<xxx>.flf -- All files ending in ".flf" are FIGlet font files. +<xxx>.flc -- All files ending in ".flc" are FIGlet control files. + +Files -- DOS version +-------------------- + +README -- This file +figlet.exe -- The FIGlet program. +figlet.man -- The FIGlet man(ual) page. +showall.bat -- Batch file that lists available fonts and samples of each. +chkfont.exe -- A program that checks FIGlet fonts for formatting errors. + You can ignore this file unless you intend to design + or edit fonts. +figfont.txt -- Text file that explains the format of FIGlet fonts. + You can ignore this file unless you intend to design + or edit fonts. +fonts -- Directory containing fonts and control files. +<xxx>.flf -- All files ending in ".flf" are FIGlet font files. +<xxx>.flc -- All files ending in ".flc" are FIGlet control files. + + +Installing FIGlet --- Unix version +---------------------------------- + +First decide in which directories FIGlet and the FIGlet font files +(the ".flf" files) will be stored (we recommend "/usr/games" and +"/usr/games/lib/figlet.dir", respectively) and which will be the +default font (we recommend "standard.flf"). + +Edit "Makefile", and set the variables DEFAULTFONTDIR and +DEFAULTFONTFILE to the appropriate values. Set DEFAULTFONTDIR to be +the full pathname of the directory in which you will keep the FIGlet +font files. Set DEFAULTFONTFILE to be the filename of the default +font. + +At this point, you have two choices: + +(1) Just compile FIGlet. To go this, go into the directory containing +the FIGlet source, and type "make figlet". Then copy the various files +to the proper locations. The executable (figlet), along with figlist +and showfigfonts, goes wherever you keep your executables. The fonts +(<xxx>.flf) and control files (<xxx>.flc) go in the default font +directory. The man page (figlet.6) goes in section 6 (usually +/usr/man/man6). If you cannot, or do not want to, install the man page, +you can probably still read it using + + nroff -man figlet.6 | more + +(2) Do a complete installation. To do the this, set the variables +DESTDIR and MANDIR in Makefile to the appropriate values. DESTDIR +should be the full pathname of the directory in which the executable +files should be put (we recommend "/usr/games"); MANDIR should be the +full pathname of the directory in which the figlet man page should be +put, generally "/usr/man/man6". Once DEFAULTFONTDIR, DEFAULTFONTFILE, +DESTDIR and MANDIR have been set, in the directory containing the FIGlet +source, type "make install". + +If space is a problem, the only files you absolutely must have to run +figlet are "figlet" (the executable) and at least one font (preferably +the one you chose to be the default font). + +Installing FIGlet -- DOS version +-------------------------------- + +Unpack the ZIPfile using PKUNZIP, Info-Zip UNZIP, WinUnzip, or any other +ZIP-compatible program. Be sure to use the -d option with PKUNZIP +in order to preserve the directory structure. We recommend that you +unpack the archive into C:\FIGLET, but any directory will do. + +If you unpack the archive on top of an older version of FIGlet, be +sure to delete the file FIGLET.COM. The executable program in this +release is named FIGLET.EXE. You can keep your old fonts by putting +them in a FONTS subdirectory before unpacking. (There are upgraded +versions of the standard fonts in the archive.) + +Using FIGlet +------------ + +(Note: FIGlet needs a good thorough tutorial. Currently I don't have +the time to write one, but if anyone wants to do so, go right ahead. +I'd be glad to help out a little. Write us at <ianchai@usa.net> if +you're interested. -GGC-) + +At the shell prompt, type "figlet". Then type, say, "Hello, world!" +and press return. "Hello, world!" in nice, big, designer characters +should appear on your screen. If you chose standard.flf to be the +default font, you should see + _ _ _ _ _ _ _ +| | | | ___| | | ___ __ _____ _ __| | __| | | +| |_| |/ _ \ | |/ _ \ \ \ /\ / / _ \| '__| |/ _` | | +| _ | __/ | | (_) | \ V V / (_) | | | | (_| |_| +|_| |_|\___|_|_|\___( ) \_/\_/ \___/|_| |_|\__,_(_) + |/ +Then type something else, or type an EOF (typically control-D) to quit +FIGlet. + +Now you can send the output of figlet to a file (e.g., "figlet > file") +and e-mail it to your friends (who will probably say, "Wow! It must +have taken you hours to put that together!") + +To use other fonts, use the "-f" command line option. For example, if +you had said "figlet -f smslant" above, you would have seen + __ __ ____ __ ____ + / // /__ / / /__ _ _____ ____/ /__/ / / + / _ / -_) / / _ \_ | |/|/ / _ \/ __/ / _ /_/ +/_//_/\__/_/_/\___( ) |__,__/\___/_/ /_/\_,_(_) + |/ + +Here are some other useful command line options: + +-c center -- centers the output of FIGlet. +-k tells FIGlet to kern characters without smushing them together. +-t terminal -- FIGlet asks your terminal how wide it is, and uses + this to determine when to break lines. Normally, FIGlet assumes + 80 columns so that people with wide terminals won't annoy the + people they e-mail FIGlet output to. +-p paragraph mode -- eliminates some spurious line breaks when piping + a multi-line file through FIGlet. +-v version -- prints information about your copy of FIGlet. + +For in-depth explanations of these and other options, see the man page. +DOS users, see figlet.man. + + +Other Fonts & Mailing List +-------------------------- + +A good number of FIGlet fonts have been developed, most of which are +not included in the standard FIGlet package. Many of these can be +obtained from http://www.figlet.org/ Some non-Roman fonts are +available at this site. As of this writing, we have Hebrew, Cyrillic +(Russian) and Greek. + +There are 3 mailing lists available for FIGlet: + figlet@figlet.org General discussion of FIGlet + figletfonts@figlet.org Announcements about fonts + figletsoftware@figlet.org Announcements about software + (The last two lists are moderated) + +To subscribe or unsubscribe from the FIGlet mailing lists, please visit +the corresponding URL: + http://www.figlet.org/mailman/listinfo/figlet + http://www.figlet.org/mailman/listinfo/figletfonts + http://www.figlet.org/mailman/listinfo/figletsoftware + +Also, for those who maintain archives of figlet fonts, please note that +all of the standard fonts have been changed, as of release 2.1, to +include non-ASCII characters. These fonts are the following: + +big.flf (also contains Greek) +banner.flf (also contains Cyrillic and Japanese katakana) +block.flf +bubble.flf +digital.flf +ivrit.flf (right-to-left, also contains Hebrew) +lean.flf +mini.flf +script.flf +shadow.flf +slant.flf +small.flf +smscript.flf +smshadow.flf +smslant.dld +standard.flf +term.flf + +The new versions of these fonts can be identified by the words "figlet +release 2.1" somewhere in the first few lines. + + +Other Stuff +----------- + +FIGlet is available for operating systems other than Unix. +Please see ftp://ftp.figlet.org/program/ + +Although you don't have to design your own fonts to use FIGlet, we'd +certainly like it if lots of people did make up new FIGlet fonts. If +you feel like giving it a try, see the "FONT FILE FORMAT" section of +the man page. If you do design a font, please let us know by mailing us +at <info@figlet.org> + +See "Other Things to Try" in the EXAMPLES section of the man page +for... well... other things to try. + + +Authors +------- + +FIGlet was written mostly by Glenn Chappell <c486scm@semovm.semo.edu>. The +author not being an e-mail fanatic, most correspondence (bug reports, rave +reviews, etc.) used to be handled to his secretary (who is definitely +an e-mail fanatic), Ian Chai <ianchai@usa.net> and has since moved on to +another FIGlet enthusiast, Christiaan Keet <info@figlet.org> + |