Server Normal Format (SNF) is a
bitmap font
A computer font is implemented as a digital data file containing a set of graphically related glyphs. A computer font is designed and created using a font editor. A computer font specifically designed for the computer screen, and not for print ...
format used by
X Window
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wit ...
. It is one of the oldest X Window font formats. Nowadays it is rarely used, however it is still supported by the latest
X.org server. SNF fonts had the problem of being platform dependent, therefore they needed to be compiled on each system. In 1991,
X11
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...
moved away from SNF fonts to
Portable Compiled Format Portable Compiled Format (PCF) is a bitmap font format used by X Window System in its core font system, and has been used for decades. PCF fonts are usually installed, by default, on most Unix-based operating systems, and are used in terminals such ...
, which could be shared between systems.
See also
*
Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format
The Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF) by Adobe is a file format for storing bitmap fonts. The content takes the form of a text file intended to be human- and computer-readable. BDF is typically used in Unix X Window environments. It has large ...
*
Portable Compiled Format Portable Compiled Format (PCF) is a bitmap font format used by X Window System in its core font system, and has been used for decades. PCF fonts are usually installed, by default, on most Unix-based operating systems, and are used in terminals such ...
References
*http://www.faqs.org/faqs/fonts-faq/part15/
Font formats
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