xref: /freebsd/contrib/spleen/README.md (revision b17b639832e707aab0e9514cf94727498e2d67bd)

```

                                                   ::::::::::::::::::::
                                                   :::              :::
              _____       _______ __. ________ ________ ________.   :::
             _)  _//__ __/ __   /   |.\  __  /.\  __  /.\  _.   |   :::
            .\____   /.\   )/  /    ||   )/   |   )/   |   \|   |   :::
            |   )/    |     __/|     \   _____|   _____|    |   |_  :::
            |____     |_____|  |_____/____\\  |____\\  |    |____/  :::
        - -- -- \_____| -H7--------------------------- `----' ----- ::: - -
                                                   :::              :::
                                                   ::::::::::::::::::::

```

# Spleen

Spleen is a monospaced bitmap font available in 6 sizes:

- 5x8
- 6x12
- 8x16
- 12x24
- 16x32
- 32x64

Each size is provided in the Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF), and
release tarballs contain the fonts in the following formats: `PCF`, `PSF`
(for the Linux console), `OTB`, `OTF`, `.dfont` for macOS users, and `FON`
for Windows users.

All font sizes contain all ISO/IEC 8859-1 characters (Basic Latin and Latin-1
Supplement Unicode block), Latin Extended-A characters, as well as Box Drawing,
Block Elements, and Braille Patterns Unicode blocks, except for the 5x8 and the
6x12 versions.

Due to character size constraints, the 5x8 version only contains printable
ASCII characters, the Braille Patterns Unicode block, and light Box Drawing
characters. Please also note that there is no OpenType version for this size.

As of Spleen 1.8.0, there is now a 6x12 version containing the same Unicode
blocks as the 5x8 version and the Latin-1 Supplement Unicode block.

As of Spleen 2.0.0, the 8x16, 16x32 and 32x64 versions have full support for
Code page 437 (IBM PC).

Spleen also has support for Powerline symbols out of the box.

The font name is a reference to Baudelaire.

## Screenshots

The following screenshots show Spleen 16x32 displaying code and prose.

![Spleen - Hello][1]

![Spleen - L'etranger][2]

ASCII characters for all sizes:

Spleen 5x8:

![Spleen - ASCII characters - 5x8][3]

Spleen 6x12:

![Spleen - ASCII characters - 6x12][4]

Spleen 8x16:

![Spleen - ASCII characters - 8x16][5]

Spleen 12x24:

![Spleen - ASCII characters - 12x24][6]

Spleen 16x32:
![Spleen - ASCII characters - 16x32][7]

Spleen 32x64:
![Spleen - ASCII characters - 32x64][8]

## XLFD font names

```
-misc-spleen-medium-r-normal--8-80-72-72-c-50-iso10646-1
-misc-spleen-medium-r-normal--12-120-72-72-c-60-iso10646-1
-misc-spleen-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-c-80-iso10646-1
-misc-spleen-medium-r-normal--24-240-72-72-c-120-iso10646-1
-misc-spleen-medium-r-normal--32-320-72-72-c-160-iso10646-1
-misc-spleen-medium-r-normal--64-640-72-72-c-320-iso10646-1
```

## Packages

Spleen packages are available for:

- [OpenBSD][9]
- [NetBSD][10]
- [FreeBSD][11]
- [Arch Linux][12]
- [Void Linux][13]
- [Nix][14]
- [Debian][15]
- [Ubuntu][16]
- [MacPorts][17]

## Manual installation

### *BSD and Linux

Clone the repository, convert the files to the Portable Compiled Format
(PCF) using **bdftopcf** and run **mkfontdir** in the directory.

Alternatively, release tarballs provide PCF files for each size.

### macOS

macOS users should use the `.dfont` files provided in the release tarballs.

### DOS

DOS users should run the **SPLEEN.COM** executable provided in the release
tarballs to enable the font.

This has been tested in DOSBox and FreeDOS on real hardware.

### Windows

Windows users should use the `.fon` or `.otf` files provided in the release
tarballs.

## Usage

### *BSD and Linux

Update the font path to include **Spleen**:

	xset +fp /usr/local/share/fonts/spleen/

Update **.Xdefaults** and add one of the following directives:

	xterm*faceName: spleen:pixelsize=8:antialias=false
	xterm*faceName: spleen:pixelsize=12:antialias=false
	xterm*faceName: spleen:pixelsize=16:antialias=false
	xterm*faceName: spleen:pixelsize=24:antialias=false
	xterm*faceName: spleen:pixelsize=32:antialias=false
	xterm*faceName: spleen:pixelsize=64:antialias=false

Launch **xterm**.

Ubuntu has bitmap fonts support disabled by default, instructions to enable
it are available [here][18].

### Linux console

Release tarballs provide PSF files for each size, `setfont` can be used
to load and set the desired font.

### NetBSD console

NetBSD has .fnt files for each size which can be loaded using wsfontload(8).

For example, to load Spleen 16x32:

	wsfontload -N spleen-16x32 -w 16 -h 32 /usr/share/wscons/fonts/spleen-16x32.fnt
	wsconsctl -dw font=spleen-16x32

### FreeBSD console

The FreeBSD package contains .fnt files which can be loaded using
vidcontrol(1).

For example, to load Spleen 16x32:

	vidcontrol -f /usr/local/share/fonts/spleen/spleen-16x32.fnt

### OpenType versions

Spleen release tarballs now contains OTF versions generated automatically
from the BDF files, using [bdf2sfd][19]. Each font has a different name,
allowing them to be installed alongside.

They should be used in the exact size specified below, with anti-aliasing
disabled.

- Spleen 6x12: 9 Pt (12 pixels)
- Spleen 8x16: 12 Pt (16 pixels)
- Spleen 12x24: 18 Pt (24 pixels)
- Spleen 16x32: 24 Pt (32 pixels)
- Spleen 32x64: 48 Pt (64 pixels)

## License

Spleen is released under the BSD 2-Clause license. See `LICENSE` file for
details.

## Author

Spleen is developed by Frederic Cambus.

- Site: https://www.cambus.net

## Resources

- [Spleen - Monospaced bitmap fonts][20] (2018)
- [New console font Spleen made default][21] (2019)
- [NetBSD, CTWM, and Spleen][22] (2021)

GitHub: https://github.com/fcambus/spleen

## Trivia

- Spleen was imported in the OpenBSD src tree in [September 2018][23]
- Spleen is the default font for OpenBSD consoles since [January 2019][24]
- Spleen was imported in the NetBSD src tree in [March 2019][25]
- Spleen 12x24 was used in the Haiku [kernel debugger][26] (on high resolution
  displays) from May 2021 to June 2022
- Spleen was imported in the FreeBSD base system in [May 2023][27]
- [msTERM][28], a Terminal program for MailStation devices uses Spleen 5x8
- [FBInk][29], a library to print text & images to an eInk Linux framebuffer
  embeds Spleen 16x32
- [U8g2][30], a monochrome graphics library for embedded devices includes
  all Spleen sizes
- [Ansilove][31], an ANSI and ASCII art to PNG converter includes Spleen

[1]: https://www.cambus.net/content/2018/09/spleen-hello.png
[2]: https://www.cambus.net/content/2018/09/spleen-etranger.png
[3]: https://www.cambus.net/files/spleen/spleen-5x8.png
[4]: https://www.cambus.net/files/spleen/spleen-6x12.png
[5]: https://www.cambus.net/files/spleen/spleen-8x16.png
[6]: https://www.cambus.net/files/spleen/spleen-12x24.png
[7]: https://www.cambus.net/files/spleen/spleen-16x32.png
[8]: https://www.cambus.net/files/spleen/spleen-32x64.png
[9]: https://openports.pl/path/fonts/spleen
[10]: https://pkgsrc.se/fonts/spleen
[11]: https://www.freshports.org/x11-fonts/spleen/
[12]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/spleen-font/
[13]: https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/tree/master/srcpkgs/font-spleen
[14]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/pkgs/data/fonts/spleen
[15]: https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=spleen
[16]: https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=spleen
[17]: https://ports.macports.org/port/font-spleen/
[18]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Fonts#Enabling_Bitmapped_Fonts
[19]: https://github.com/fcambus/bdf2sfd
[20]: https://www.cambus.net/spleen-monospaced-bitmap-fonts/
[21]: https://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20190110064857
[22]: https://www.cambus.net/netbsd-ctwm-and-spleen/
[23]: https://freshbsd.org/openbsd/src/commit/5raMrDMpYlPYW01H
[24]: https://freshbsd.org/openbsd/src/commit/MoBCxKiAlFajRvSm
[25]: https://freshbsd.org/netbsd/src/commit/TAJuMl9caBpVjGfB
[26]: https://git.haiku-os.org/haiku/commit/?id=29a109bd6c01ce71bb61177ee9ff0417e74c1e18
[27]: https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/commit/?id=0d66206fff44
[28]: https://github.com/jcs/msTERM
[29]: https://github.com/NiLuJe/FBInk
[30]: https://github.com/olikraus/u8g2/wiki/fntgrpspleen
[31]: https://www.ansilove.org