MacOS – How to install bitmapped *.fon and *.bdf fonts on Lion

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I want to install some rare bitmapped1 fonts on a Lion2 system. I have not been able to find these fonts in formats that Font Book will immediately recognize. I would like to know if there's a way to convert or re-package these fonts in such a way that Font Book will accept.

One of the fonts ("pcsansi") is a single file with extension fon.

The other one ("Terminus") consists of multiple files with extension bdf.

(FWIW, at least one of these fonts, Terminus, is a font, but for all I know both of them are.)

Is there a way to do what I'm trying to do?

PS: I am particularly keen on installing Terminus. Of the two fonts, it is the only one for which I was able to find any documentation at all. (See link above.) In fact, it comes with a ./configure + make + make install installation procedure, but the latter step only gzips and relocates a set of *.psf and *.pcf files generated from the *.bdf files during the make step.


1 Yes, I am aware of the fact that not many people like bitmapped fonts. I still want to install these fonts.
2 This is the latest OS X version that will run on the hardware.

Best Answer

You may want to try FontLab Studio. My brother used it a few years ago when he needed to design fonts for use on Mac & Windows machines. Website claims it can open .bdf files, but no mention of .fon files.