Symbos, fonts, and licensing


gardrek

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Symbos is a graphical multitasking operating system for certain 8-bit computers. Because of that, and since it seems to be open source (that is, source code is available to be browsed, anyway), it seemed like this might be the right forum to ask about it.

http://www.symbos.de is the website, but so far I haven't been able to find anything that looks like a license. The source is available for download, but what I really want to know is if I can use things like fonts and graphics from it in other projects (specifically fonts).

Basically, I liked one of the pixel fonts from it a lot, and I've been using it in mock-ups and things, but if I want to use it for a real project (i.e. a game I would be able to sell) I'd probably need to know the license, especially considering I've made some modifications to it.
 
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edit: Wiki says it is freeware. You might still want to ask in the mailing lists... (see wiki site)
Yeah, but you might want to check the wiki for the definition of what it means by Freeware:
In other words, freeware may be used without payment but may usually not be modified, re-distributed or reverse-engineered without the author's permission.

I'd say talking to the author might be the best plan too though.
 
Thanks for the help, you two. I probably will just contact the author, and if I don't get a response, try the mailing list.

As a bit of an aside, looking on Wikipedia gave me a thought: this OS is inspired by GEOS, and the font looks pretty similar to one I am seeing in screenshots of that… I wonder if the main SymbOS font is actually a modified GEOS font.

Worst case scenario, I'll just try my hand at making a similar font myself. Who knows, maybe I'll like mine better.
 
One option you have is to use a "font finder". These let you upload a bitmap with text in the font you're looking for, and return you a list of existing font files that are usually a close match. This might help you find you a close enough existing font
 
As a bit of an aside, looking on Wikipedia gave me a thought: this OS is inspired by GEOS, and the font looks pretty similar to one I am seeing in screenshots of that… I wonder if the main SymbOS font is actually a modified GEOS font.
Looking through old screenshots in the news pages, it looks to me the font changed in around 2015, though this might just be a resolution change due to the MSX2 version, not sure. Which one are you using?
 
One option you have is to use a "font finder". These let you upload a bitmap with text in the font you're looking for, and return you a list of existing font files that are usually a close match. This might help you find you a close enough existing font
I'm not sure how well that would work on an 8-pixel-high bitmap font. I used a font finder on it once, but it was one where it asks you questions, called “identifont.” I didn't find the right one.

Looking through old screenshots in the news pages, it looks to me the font changed in around 2015, though this might just be a resolution change due to the MSX2 version, not sure. Which one are you using?
Yes the font did change. I'm using the newer version. IIRC I actually compiled the font bitmap I use from screenshots, and then extended it with characters I couldn't find shots of. Then I made some edits to some of the characters I didn't like—capital Q being one example.

EDIT: Looking more closely, I found a screenshot here that shows both versions at once (notice the taller lowercase letters in the "copyright" box; the S is quite different)

EDIT2: Actually, I am using the version with 4px lowercase letters rather than 5px, which I'm pretty sure is the old version.
 
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