fc.rme version 1.4 of 5-MAR-1998
(c) Copyright 1992--1998 by J"org Knappen
knappen@vkpmzd.kph.uni-mainz.de

This is the documentation of the fc-Fonts for African languages

Contents:

I)   Introduction

II)  About the FC-Scheme
     a) The language base
     b) Technical points
     c) Copiing conditions

III) How to generate the fonts with METAFONT

IV)  How to use the FC-Fonts with LaTeX2e

V)   Availability

VI)  Acknowledgements

Appendix A) The FC encoding scheme (codes 128 -- 255)
Appendix B) Removed -- see file fc.bug
Appendix C) Shortcomings and known bugs of the first release

                I. Introduction

  TeX is a typesetting system for high quality typesetting. It is available 
  free due to the generosity of its developper, Prof D. E. Knuth. It is
  available for many different platforms, from microcomputers (PC, Atari, Mac)
  to mainframes and even supercomputers. TeX files can be interchanged between
  different systems and will produce identical output. TeX is well documented 
  in D. E. Knuth, Computers and typesetting, Vol. A -- The Texbook.

  The release of TeX Version 3 stimulated lots of work in the area of adapting
  TeX to the needs of other languages than english. One outstanding project was
  the creation of a font encoding scheme with 256 characters for international
  use. It soon turned out, that with 256 code points only the needs of european
  languages could be satisfied (the EC scheme proceeds this way), and there had
  to be other fonts for non-european languages. The FC (aFrican Computer) 
  scheme fits the needs of african languages with latin writing. This scheme 
  comes together with an implementation of the fonts in METAFONT. The fonts 
  created by METAFONT can also be used by other system than TeX.

                II. About the FC-Scheme

   a) The language base

  There is a great diversity of languages spoken in africa, and it was 
  impossible to check all of them for their alphabets. This work is based on 
  the examination of the ``critical languages'' according to a definition of 
  the US department of education in 1985. They include all those languages
  with more than 1 mio speakers. 

  Only orthographical writing is considered. Transscription systems devolopped
  by linguists are outside the scope of this work. Obsolete orthographies are
  also not included (for example the obsolete uppercase form of hooktop B in 
  Xhosa and Zulu or the obsolete (catholic) orthography of \d{I}gb\d{o}). 

  Even these constraints showed the lack of code space. Therefore some accented
  letters did not enter the fc scheme. Generally, accented letters were omitted,
  if the accent denotes a tonal mark. This is in consistency with the current
  trend in orthography to suppress tonal marks, except if ambiguities occur.
  Also omitted are consonants with tilde to denote nasalisation. The mentioned
  letters can be created in TeX by the use of macros (e.g. \~y).

  The following languages are supported:

  Akan, Bamileke, Basa (Kru), Bemba, Ciokwe, Dinka, Dholuo (Luo), Efik, 
  Ewe-Fon, Fulani (Fulful), G\~a, Gbaya, Hausa, Igbo, Kanuri, Kikuyu, 
  Kikongo, Kpelle, Krio, Luba, Mandekan (Bambara), Mende, More, Ngala, 
  Nyanja, Oromo, Rundi, Kinya Rwanda, Sango, Serer, Shona, Somali, Songhai, 
  Sotho (two different writing systems), Suaheli, Tiv, Yao, Yoruba, Xhosa 
  and Zulu.
  
  I decided to support two european languages, which are not covered by the 
  EC-scheme, namely Maltese and Sami.

  Currency symbols (Like Naira and Cedi) aren't part of the fc fonts. They
  are available from the tc (Text companion symbols) fonts distributed
  together with the ec (European Computer Modern) fonts.

  b) Technical points

  The fc encoding scheme will not be changed anymore. Every font, which begins
  with the two characters fc should be encoded according to the fc scheme.

  The fonts named fcr etc. contain  what you expect from TeX naming conventions.
  They are currently maintained by the author.

  The code points are choosen from scratch, according to the following rules:

  * The lower 128 codes are identical to the Cork (ec) scheme
  
  * A glyph also occurring in the Cork scheme is placed on the same code point
    as in the Cork scheme
  
  * Each letter from TeX's original cm-fonts is saved. Thus, you can print
    polish L, skandinavian crossed O and some other letters with the fc fonts.
  
  * The difference between uppercase and corresponding lowercase letter is 
    a constant.

  c) Copying conditions

  The fc fonts are copyrighted but free according to the conditions of the GNU
  licence, version 2. You should receive a copy of the file licence.gnu
  containing this licence. If not, complain to the person from which you
  received these fonts. Read the licence carefully.


           III) How to generate the fonts with METAFONT

  Besides the files of the fc package, you need the following:

  * plain.mf  (or a METAFONT with plain preloaded)
  * cmbase.mf (or a METAFONT with cmbase preloaded)

  * The files romand.mf, itald.mf, and olddig.mf (the original digits from the 
  cm fonts)

  * The Sauter tools. These are a bunch of files, named like c-cmr.mf and so on.
  They are available from the CTAN archive sites and their mirros. The CTAN 
  sites are ftp.dante.de and ftp.tex.ac.uk. 
  The Sauter tools are located there under tex-archive/fonts/cm/sauter.

  Make sure, that all files are in appropriate directories, where METAFONT 
  finds them.

  Now you are ready to create the fc fonts at any size you want, for example to
  create the font fcr10 do the following:

  mf "\mode=localfont; design_size:=10; input b-fcr"
  gftopk  b-fcr.300gf fcr10.pk
  rename  b-fcr.tfm   fcr10.tfm

  and move the .pk and .tfm-files to their directories. The exact form of the
  calls depends a little on your operating system.

  You might find it helpful to make yourself little mf-files of the type

  % fcr10.mf
  design_size:=10;
  input b-fcr;
  endinput;
  % end of fcr10.mf

  These files are especially usefull, if you have an automagic procedure
  invoking METAFONT. Note, that for the sizes 11pt and >12pt, the design_size 
  is not identical to the last digits of the fontname. It is

  fcr11   design_size:=10.95;
  fcr14   design_size:=14.4;
  fcr17   design_size:=17.28;
  fcr20   design_size:=20.74;
  fcr24   design_size:=24.88;

  Note that there is only one fc italic font, called fci. It is not planned to
  add fc math fonts to the distribution. Use the cm math fonts (or the not yet
  released ec math fonts).

           IV) How to use the FC-Fonts with LaTeX2e

  The LaTeX3 team has assigned the encoding T4 to fc encoded fonts. So you
  can use the fc fonts in LaTeX2e simply by saying
  \usepackage[T4]{fontenc}
  
  This call loads the following files, which must be located in the search 
  path of LaTeX2e:

  t4enc.def, t4cmr.fd, t4cmss.fd, t4cmtt.fd.

  There is another option which aemulates the behaviour of the previous 
  LaTeX209 with NFSS1 implementation. It gives you easy access to the
  sans serif typerwriter font included in this package by simply typing
  \ss\tt or \tt\ss. This option is called by

  \usepackage{fclfont}

  and requires the four abovementioned file plus

  fclfont.sty and t4fcr.fd.

  The files fclfont.sty_old and fontdef.fc_old from the previous release 
  are obsolete and now frozen. They have been renamed to make this notion
  clear.

  fcuse.sty shows you how to make the input easy by employing active 
  characters. It is an example rather than a standard package. Its use is 
  only recomended, if you want to use the complete fc character set. Usually 
  you only want to typeset text in one or two languages, and a language 
  specific style option will be more appropriate. Look into existing language 
  dependent style options (e.g. german.sty) or into the babel system by 
  J. Braams to figure out how to create a new one.

           V) Availability

  The fc package is available per anonymous ftp or e-mail from the DANTE-server
  at Heidelberg, which is the primary site of its distribution. Since the main
  TeX archives cooperate, it will be available from other sites, too.

  The address of the DANTE-Server is:
  (ftp:) ftp.dante.de            
  (e-mail:) mailserver@rusinfo.rus.uni-stuttgart.de

  Update notices are distributed via the mailing list CTAN-Ann@shsu.edu.  


           VI) Acknowledgements

  Without the work of other authors on META-fonts, these fonts would surely
  never have come out. I took deliberately from all available free metafont
  sources ideas, macros, and even whole characters. All bugs and mistakes in
  this code are mine, noone of the acknowledged authors should be blamed for
  them. 

  The first acknoledgement goes to Donald E. Knuth, the author of the TeX and
  METAFONT programs and also of the computer modern (cm) family of fonts.
  His work is the base of this one.

  I also want to acknowledge the following persons:

  Julian Bradfield, who made the cmoe old english font.
  Malcolm Clark, editor of the newsletter TeXline.
  Nana Glonti and Aleksander Samarin, who made the cmcyr cyrillic fonts.
  Yannis Haralambous, who created of the 128-char greek fonts (and many others)
  Emma Pease, who made the cmph phonetic fonts (Her work is used in the 
              Hausa--English dictionary by Rosanna Ma Newman)
  J"orgen Pind, who made icelandic TeX and fonts for it.
  Tom Ridgeway of the University of Washington, who made the wncyr cyrillic
              fonts and experiments with a new ipa font. 
  Norbert Schwarz, who made the dc-fonts, a first implementation of the 
              ec- (Cork-) scheme.
  Janene Winter, who made the wsuipa international phonetic fonts, from which 
              I learned much.

  For help in the africanist part of the work, I want to thank Prof. Norbert
  Ciffer, Institut f"ur Ethnologie und Afrikastudien Mainz, for pointing me to
  the critical languages and help in finding references. I thank Prof. Fiona
  McLaughlin, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, for good references on 
  Serer and Prof Michael MacMahon, University of Glasgow for sending samples 
  of african letters. 


           Appendix A: The fc encoding scheme (octal 200 -- 377)

octal code  description                            input 

200         uppercase hooktop B                    \m B
201         uppercase hooktop D                    \m D
202         uppercase open E (\varepsilon-like)    \m E
203         uppercase reversed E (like \exists)    \M E
204         uppercase long F                       \m F
205         uppercase E with ha\v{c}ek             \v E
206         uppercase ipa Gamma                    \m G
207         uppercase double barred H              \B H

210         uppercase hooktop K                    \m K
211         uppercase Enj                          \m J
212	    uppercase open O (revesed C)           \m O
213	    uppercase N with acute                 \'N
214 	    uppercase Esh                          \m S
215	    uppercase Eng                          \m N
216	    uppercase variant U (\upsilon-like)    \m U or \m V
217         uppercase hooktop Y                    \m Y

220	    uppercase hooktop C                    \m C
221         uppercase hooktop P                    \m P
222	    uppercase S with ha\v{c}ek             \v S
223	    uppercase N with dot above             \.N
224         uppercase N with line below            \b N
225	    uppercase S with dot below             \d S
226	    uppercase Ezh                          \m Z
227         uppercase crossed T                    \B T

230         uppercase E with dot above             \.E
231         uppercase E with dot below             \d E
232	    uppercase hooktop T                    \m T
233         uppercase T with tail                  \M T
234 	    ligature t-esh                         \tsh
235	    ligature fj                            fj
236	    lowercase crossed d                    \B d
237	    double grave accent                    \G

240	    lowercase hooktop b                    \m b
241	    lowercase hooktop d                    \m d
242	    lowercase open e                       \m e
243	    lowercase inverted e                   \M e
244   	    lowercase long f                       \m f
245	    lowercase e with ha\v{c]ek             \v e
246	    lowercase ipa gamma                    \m g
247         lowercase crossed h                    \B h

250	    lowercase hooktop k                    \m k
251	    lowercase enj                          \m j
252	    lowercase open o                       \m o
253	    lowercase n with acute                 \'n
254  	    lowercase esh                          \m s
255	    lowercase eng                          \m n
256	    lowercase variant u                    \m u or \m v
257	    lowercase hooktop y                    \m y

260 	    lowercase hooktop c                    \m c
261	    lowercase hooktop p                    \m p
262	    lowercase s with ha\v{c}ek             \v s
263	    lowercase n with dot above             \.n
264  	    lowercase n with line below            \b n
265	    lowercase s with dot below             \d s
266	    lowercase ezh                          \m z
267	    lowercase crossed t                    \B t

270	    lowercase e with dot above             \.e
271	    lowercase e with dot below             \d e
272	    lowercase hooktop t                    \m t
273	    lowercase t with tail                  \M t
274  	    double universal accent                \U
275	    inverted exclamation mark              !`
276	    inverted question mark                 ?`
277 	    unversal accent                        \|

300	    uppercase latin Iota                   \m I
301	    uppercase I with dot below             \d I
302	    uppercase open E with tilde            \T E
303 	    uppercase A with tilde                 \~A
304  	    uppercase M with acute                 \'M
305	    uppercase Open O with tilde            \T O
306	    uppercase ligature AE                  \AE
307	    uppercase C with cedilla               \c C

310	    uppercase E with grave                 \`E
311	    uppercase E with acute                 \'E
312	    uppercase E with circumflex            \^E
313	    uppercase E with diaresis              \"E
314  	    uppercase E with line below            \b E
315	    uppercase E with macron                \=E
316	    uppercase E with tilde                 \~E
317	    uppercase I with tilde                 \~I

320	    uppercase crossed D                    \B D
            uppercase D with tail                  \M D
            uppercase Edh                          \DH
321	    uppercase N with tilde                 \~N
322	    uppercase O with grave                 \`O
323	    uppercase O with dot above             \.O
324  	    uppercase O with circumflex            \^O
325	    uppercase O with tilde                 \~O
326	    uppercase O with diaresis              \"O
327	    uppercase ligature OE                  \OE

330	    uppercase crossed O (skandinavian)     \O
331	    uppercase O with dot below             \d O
332	    uppercase O with line below            \b O
333	    uppercase O with macron                \= O
334  	    uppercase O with ha\v{c}ek             \v O
335	    uppercase U with dot below             \d U
336	    uppercase U with tilde                 \~U
337	    cross piece for polish L and l         \char'337  
Macro       uppercase polish L with crossbar       \L
Macro       lowercase polish l with crossbar       \l

340	    lowercase latin iota                   \m i
341	    lowercase i with dot below             \d i
342	    lowercase open e with tilde            \T e
343	    lowercase a with tilde                 \~a
344    	    lowercase m with acute                 \'m
345	    lowercase open o with tilde            \T o
346	    lowercase ligature ae                  \ae
347	    lowercase c with cedilla               \c c

350 	    lowercase e with grave                 \`e
351	    lowercase e with acute                 \'e
352	    lowercase e with circumflex            \^e
353	    lowercase e with diaresis              \"e
354 	    lowercase e with line below            \b e
355	    lowercase e with macron                \=e
356	    lowercase e with tilde                 \~e
357	    lowercase i with tilde                 \~i

360 	    lowercase d with tail (note: not edh!) \M d
361	    lowercase n with tilde                 \~n
362	    lowercase o with grave                 \`o
363	    lowercase o with dot above             \.o
364 	    lowercase o with circumflex            \^o
365	    lowercase o with tilde                 \~o
366	    lowercase o with diaresis              \"o
367	    lowercase ligature oe                  \oe

370	    lowercase crossed o (skandinavian)     \o
371	    lowercase o with dot below             \d o
372	    lowercase o with line below            \b o
373	    lowercase o with macron                \= o
374  	    lowercase o with ha\v{c}ek             \v o
375	    lowercase u with dot below             \d u
376	    lowercase u with tilde                 \~u
377	    lowercase scharfes s                   \ss

Macro       Copyleft sign (circled open o)         \copyleft

           Appendix B: List of files

Please find the list of files together with the current version number 
and date in fc.bug.

           Appendix C: Bugs

  Unfortunately, one has to expect bugs (sigh!) in this package, allthough
  I'm trying to get rid of them. For a list of already known (and maybe 
  fixed) bugs, see the file fc.bug.

  The fonts were developped on a 300dpi write white device, and
  probably even a bit optimised to it. They are also tested on a 300dpi 
  write black engine and a 600dpi write black engine. Some times 
  strange path error messages occured, but they did not seem to cause visible
  harm. There might be visible erros, too, which I did not discover.

  If you find an bug or mistake, send it to me, including the following 
  information:

  Which parameters caused the error/bug?
  (e.g. design_size=6; b-fctt)

  Which mode did you use?
  (Please don't say ``localfont', this tells nothing to me...
  e.g. lowres from cmbase,
  ricoh from Karl Berry's modes.mf)

  Which character contains the bug?
  (e.g. [162] open_e)

  Is the damage visible in the printout? What does it look like?
  (e.g. Nothing at all is printed, or some part of the letter is missing)

  Send bug reports to:

  J"org Knappen
  Barbarossaring 43
  D-55118 Mainz
  Allemagne

  The e-mail address below may be subject to change, it is not suitable for 
  commercial communications (but the fc fonts are non-commercial, so it is 
  suitable to communicate about them): 

  e-mail knappen@vkpmzd.kph.uni-mainz.de. 

  P.S if you know a fix, it is greatly appreciated...
