> Welcome to Fontster for Windows
> Version 1.0, written in Visual BASIC 2.0
> Programming by Michael T. Graham
> Icon design by Sean M. Graham

	This program will print a tabular list of names and a text sample of each Windows printer font you've selected. It has been tested with Windows 3.1 TrueType fonts and Adobe Type Manager 2.02 and works fine with both. It should work with other Windows font systems as well.

	Before using Fontster, use the Windows Control Panel to set up your default printer. In windows 3.1, you can also use the 'Fonts' section of the Control Panel to make Fontster show only TrueType fonts. If you change these settings while Fontster is running you must quit & restart Fontster to see the new font list & printer selection.

	Fontster is easy to operate. Select the fonts you want to print by clicking on them in the list box. To select or de-select multiple fonts, hold the 'Ctrl' key down while clicking on the font names. To select a contiguous block of fonts, hold the 'Shift' key down and click on the first & last names in the block. You can select multiple contiguous sections by using the 'Shift' and 'Ctrl' keys together. The 'Select All' and 'Clear All' buttons will select or clear all of the font name selections. The 'Options' button presents an option window.

	The options window allows you to set up the appearance of your printed list. You can enter a title that will be placed at the top of each printed page. The drop down list is used to choose a font for the header & font names. You can also change the string of text that will be used to print a sample of each font. You can make this as long as you want, but Fontster will truncate this string for each font as required to fit on one line. The 'Sample font size' entry changes the point size of the printed sample.

	The 'Pages per Document' control requires an explanation. I have access to a nice HP LaserJet printer at work, yet I can't run Windows there. To make use of this printer, I have set up the Windows LaserJet printer driver to print to a FILE instead of an LPT port. I can then bring this file to work on a floppy disk and copy the file directly to the printer using DOS (i.e. 'COPY FILE.XXX /B LPT2'). This works fine unless the print image file gets to be larger than a floppy disk can hold. The 'Pages per Document' controls the size of these files. For example, if you set this to 5 pages per document each 5 page slice of the printout will be placed in a different file. You can experiment with this number to find the right file size for you. I find that 5 pages per document results in files that will fit nicely on a 1.44 meg floppy. If you don't use this printing method, just set this value to 999 and forget it.

	Click on OK to close the options window. Your selections will be saved in a file called 'FONSTER.INI' in your windows directory.

	When everything is set to your satisfaction click the 'Print' button to start the printout. Fontster will post messages at the bottom of its window to keep you informed of its progress. The time it takes to print each page varies with the print driver that you use. For some reason the LaserJet III driver in Windows 3.1 can take 5-10 minutes to produce each page! I don't know if the problem is with the driver, Visual BASIC, or both, but I haven't found a way around it. You can click the 'Cancel Print' button to stop the process in mid-stream. This button may not react right away, especially if the print driver is completing a page. It will eventually stop the program, however.

	Fontster is released as free software. It is, however, still copyrighted material. It may be freely copied and distributed, provided that ALL the files in the original archive are distributed together and that no fee is charged except for a reasonable disk duplication fee. It may NOT be included as an item bundled with other software and/or hardware and sold for profit.

	The user of Fontster assumes all risk. The program in this package is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Although care has been taken to assure proper operation of this program, it is always possible that bugs may exist.

	If you like (or dislike) this program, I would appreciate a message on AOL with your comments, and also suggestions and proposals for other freeware or shareware programs. If you would like the full source code for this package, it is available for $20.

The mailing address is:
                             Portside Programming
                             2 Portside Road
                             Hopatcong, NJ 07843

Send AOL e-mail to Me at Mikey1234.

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