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Suitcase fonts
Posted by: tonyrh on 2026-02-19 12:22:52 Hi, I'd like to extract a font from a System 7 game and use it in my modern linux machine. I can use ResEdit 2.1.3 in System 7.5.5 (minivmac) to copy the FOND and NFNT resources from the game in a new file, and then copy that file into System Folder - Fonts. The font is then available in SimpleText etc. Now I'd like to get that font file outside of minivmac and convert it to a format suitable for linux or windows. As I understand it, the bitmap fonts are stored in the resource fork in System 7, so I don't have a way to handle that in a modern system. If I try to use ExportFL from minivmac to copy the font file I made with ResEdit I get a 0 bytes file in the linux filesystem. Maybe I should focus on converting the font file inside minivmac, but I don't know of any68k era app that could convert a suitcase bitmap font in a format suitable for export. Any hints?
Posted by: slomacuser on 2026-02-19 12:42:51 You can try one of these font converters like https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/metamorphosis-professional
Posted by: tonyrh on 2026-02-20 06:08:07 Thanks for your reply! I tried Metamorphosis and while it's working fine with suitcases with TrueType fonts inside, it appears to have troubles with bitmapped fonts inside suitcases. In this screenshot I think a "bitmap font file" maybe refers to BDF files by Adobe or something like that. Anyway, it specifies "TrueType suitcase file" and indeed bitmapped suitcase files do not work... The only way I was successful to extract the fonts I wanted was by using resource_dasm on a macbook running Sonoma. Apparently the resource forks get preserved when copying files from minivmac to an APFS volume, but they get lost when copying files to a ext4 linux filesystem. What I got from resource_dasm is a text file describing the glyphs in the font (offset, width...) and a bmp image file for every glyph. I'm confident I'll be able to make a usable font (PCF or OTB) from those eventually. Thanks again!
Posted by: slomacuser on 2026-02-20 06:19:16 Maybe try also this https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/n-font or this https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/bitfont or this https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/fontxchange-v16 If nothing helps, send me the files and I could try to convert.
Posted by: zefrenchtoon on 2026-02-20 14:50:20 Thanks for your reply! I tried Metamorphosis and while it's working fine with suitcases with TrueType fonts inside, it appears to have troubles with bitmapped fonts inside suitcases. View attachment 95788 In this screenshot I think a "bitmap font file" maybe refers to BDF files by Adobe or something like that. Anyway, it specifies "TrueType suitcase file" and indeed bitmapped suitcase files do not work... To get your bitmap font file, maybe you simply have to open the suitcase and drag'n'drop the font file from the suitcase to a folder in the Finder ? Like I did here to show you the result:
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