FONTEDIT font

File Format
Name	FONTEDIT font
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Fonts FONTEDIT font
Extension(s)	.com
Released	1988

FONTEDIT is a simple bitmapped font editor for DOS, developed by Michael J. Mefford. It was published in the 1988-09-13 issue of PC Magazine.

Its native font format is in the form of a COM file, which doubles as a font loader that can be executed independently.

Format details

A font file normally contains two fonts. The second is what the software calls the "template". Its purpose is to aid in the editing process.

Identification

For pristine files made by the original software, the first 99 bytes are always the same, except for the 9 bytes at offset 44. Files start with eb 33 90, have text "PC Magazine ■ Michael J. Mefford" at offset 10, and are exactly 8291 bytes in size.

A significant number of variant formats exist. All known variants start with byte eb, have 32 or 33 at offset 1, and have b8 10 11 cd 10 at offset {41 + {the byte at offset 1}}.

Software

• FONTEDIT
  • VOL7N15.ZIP - FONTEDIT, with source code, etc., and unrelated files.
  • fontedit.zip - FONTEDIT, with minimal accompanying files.
  • ZAVT11.ZIP → FONTS.ZIP → FONTEDIT.COM (This variant has a small patch.)

Sample files

• ftrfont.zip
• weirdfnt.zip
• tact529.zip → TACFONT.COM
• tdstuff.zip → 3FONTS.ZIP
• PC World Interactive 1 → NOSTALJI/BBS/DOS/FONTM21.ZIP (most .COM files)
• dexvert samples — font/fonteditFont

Variants:

• fnt_ace.zip → PROGRAM.1 (ZIP format) → *.COM (Message changed.)
• ftp.srk.fer.hr archive → pub/msdos/programming/source/sfontkit.zip → FONTS/ (Message changed, second 0x90 byte deleted. Includes modified FONTEDIT.COM.)
• lqvgashl.zip (Both 0x90 bytes deleted.)
• Hot Sound & Vision → hotsv/vision/progs/font.zip (Template deleted, weird font sizes.)

Links

• Making Your Own Screen Fonts - PC Magazine article, 1988-09-13, p. 305-.