ams2psf(1)

📦 version 1.1.3, in nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu stonking

✨ NAME ✨

ams2psf — the lil glow-up machine that turns an Amstrad CP/M font into a PC Screen Font file. 💅

It's part of the PSF Tools crew, and honestly? She's iconic for it.

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

ams2psf [--codepage=CODEPAGE] [--psf1] [--psf2] [INPUTFILE [OUTPUTFILE]]

Bestie, that's it. That's the whole invocation. So clean. ✨

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so here's the vibe: ams2psf takes a file that it presumes holds an Amstrad CP/M font and converts it into the .PSF format. No cap. 🫶

Now, the part that's lowkey genius — it auto-detects which of these formats you handed it:

  • LocoScript screen fonts (SCRCHAR.JOY)
  • COM files created by psf2ams(1) or the PCW utilities SETFONT and LETAFONT
  • raw fonts of size 2048 or 4096 bytes

If literally none of those apply? She doesn't give up, she goes hunting. 🔍 ams2psf will search for the first 8 bytes of the standard PCW font inside your input file, and that'll locate a font for you — provided that character zero has not been redefined. And that's the whole point, because it means you can extract the font straight out of a CP/M (or LocoScript 1) system file. Main character energy fr fr. 👑

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --codepage=CODEPAGE — adds a Unicode directory for the codepage you name, and you can ID it by number or by name. Wanna know which names are valid? Run to psfpages(1), she has the full list. 🎀
  • --psf1 — forces the output to be in the PSF1 format. Old school, but make it fashion.
  • --psf2 — forces the output to be in the PSF2 format. This is the default, so if you say nothing at all, this is what you get. Periodt. 💅

💀 BUGS 💀

Okay so, real talk, there's one lil gremlin in here:

The font search algorithm will produce odd results on EMS files used by LocoScript 2 and higher, because they store characters in a different order from CP/M and LocoScript 1. 😭

So like… the search is gonna find something, bestie, it's just not gonna be the something you wanted. Not me warning you in advance. 🙈

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

  • psf2ams(1) — the reverse glow-up, for when you wanna go back. 🦋

👑 AUTHOR 👑

John Elliott <seasip.webmaster@gmail.com>. The icon, the legend, the moment. ✨

Version 1.1.3 💖 stamped 12 January, 2021 🎀 — and that's the whole page, bestie, you're officially certified in ams2psf. Go forth and convert some fonts, you absolute legend. 🫶🌸

📦 where this page comes from