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| 1 | +### A short guide to use fontconvert.c to create your own fonts using MinGW. |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +#### STEP 1: INSTALL MinGW |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +Install MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows) from [MinGW.org](http://www.mingw.org/). |
| 6 | +Please read carefully the instructions found on [Getting started page](http://www.mingw.org/wiki/Getting_Started). |
| 7 | +I suggest installing with the "Graphical User Interface Installer". |
| 8 | +To complete your initial installation you should further install some "packages". |
| 9 | +For our purpose you should only install the "Basic Setup" packages. |
| 10 | +To do that: |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +1. Open the MinGW Installation Manager |
| 13 | +2. From the left panel click "Basic Setup". |
| 14 | +3. On the right panel choose "mingw32-base", "mingw-gcc-g++", "mingw-gcc-objc" and "msys-base" |
| 15 | +and click "Mark for installation" |
| 16 | +4. From the Menu click "Installation" and then "Apply changes". In the pop-up window select "Apply". |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +#### STEP 2: INSTALL Freetype Library |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +To read about the freetype project visit [freetype.org](https://www.freetype.org/). |
| 22 | +To Download the latest version of freetype go to [download page](http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/freetype/) |
| 23 | +and choose "freetype-2.7.tar.gz" file (or a newer version if available). |
| 24 | +To avoid long cd commands later in the command prompt, I suggest you unzip the file in the C:\ directory. |
| 25 | +(I also renamed the folder to "ft27") |
| 26 | +Before you build the library it's good to read these articles: |
| 27 | +* [Using MSYS with MinGW](http://www.mingw.org/wiki/MSYS) |
| 28 | +* [Installation and Use of Supplementary Libraries with MinGW](http://www.mingw.org/wiki/LibraryPathHOWTO) |
| 29 | +* [Include Path](http://www.mingw.org/wiki/IncludePathHOWTO) |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +Inside the unzipped folder there is another folder named "docs". Open it and read the INSTALL.UNIX (using notepad). |
| 32 | +Pay attention to paragraph 3 (Build and Install the Library). So, let's begin the installation. |
| 33 | +To give the appropriate commands we will use the MSYS command prompt (not cmd.exe of windows) which is UNIX like. |
| 34 | +Follow the path C:\MinGW\msys\1.0 and double click "msys.bat". The command prompt environment appears. |
| 35 | +Enter "ft27" directory using the cd commands: |
| 36 | +``` |
| 37 | +cd /c |
| 38 | +cd ft27 |
| 39 | +``` |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +and then type one by one the commands: |
| 42 | +``` |
| 43 | +./configure --prefix=/mingw |
| 44 | +make |
| 45 | +make install |
| 46 | +``` |
| 47 | +Once you're finished, go inside "C:\MinGW\include" and there should be a new folder named "freetype2". |
| 48 | +That, hopefully, means that you have installed the library correctly !! |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +#### STEP 3: Build fontconvert.c |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +Before proceeding I suggest you make a copy of Adafruit_GFX_library folder in C:\ directory. |
| 53 | +Then, inside "fontconvert" folder open the "makefile" with an editor ( I used notepad++). |
| 54 | +Change the commands so in the end the program looks like : |
| 55 | +``` |
| 56 | +all: fontconvert |
| 57 | +
|
| 58 | +CC = gcc |
| 59 | +CFLAGS = -Wall -I c:/mingw/include/freetype2 |
| 60 | +LIBS = -lfreetype |
| 61 | +
|
| 62 | +fontconvert: fontconvert.c |
| 63 | + $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $< $(LIBS) -o $@ |
| 64 | +
|
| 65 | +clean: |
| 66 | + rm -f fontconvert |
| 67 | +``` |
| 68 | +Go back in the command prompt and with a cd command enter the fontconvert directory. |
| 69 | +``` |
| 70 | +cd /c/adafruit_gfx_library\fontconvert |
| 71 | +``` |
| 72 | +Give the command: |
| 73 | +``` |
| 74 | +make |
| 75 | +``` |
| 76 | +This command will, eventually, create a "fontconvert.exe" file inside fontconvert directory. |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +#### STEP 4: Create your own font header files |
| 79 | + |
| 80 | +Now that you have an executable file, you can use it to create your own fonts to work with Adafruit GFX lib. |
| 81 | +So, if we suppose that you already have a .ttf file with your favorite fonts, jump to the command prompt and type: |
| 82 | +``` |
| 83 | +./fontconvert yourfonts.ttf 9 > yourfonts9pt7b.h |
| 84 | +``` |
| 85 | +You can read more details at: [learn.adafruit](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gfx-graphics-library/using-fonts). |
| 86 | + |
| 87 | +Taraaaaaammm !! you've just created your new font header file. Put it inside the "Fonts" folder, grab a cup of coffee |
| 88 | +and start playing with your Arduino (or whatever else ....)+ display module project. |
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