Comparison of GFONTS with the new BASIC 7.0


BASIC 7.0                               GFONTS 3.0

Font sizes: 6                          Font sizes: unlimited
   8, 12, 14, 18, & 24 point             8 to 480+ points
                                    
Total font calls (as supplied):15      Total font calls (as supplied):60+
                                       (more than 1/3 allow BLOADing custom
                                       font files)
                                    
Font file size and type:               Font file size and type:
   14k to 65k in size, holding            Either 4k or 12k, one for each
   3 to 6 sizes for 1 typeface.           typeface.
                                    
Support multiple colored fonts: No     Support multiple colored fonts: Yes
                                    
Print fonts vertically: Yes            Print fonts vertically: Yes
Print fonts diagonally: No             Print fonts diagonally: Yes
                                    
Create your own fonts: No              Create your own fonts: Yes
                                    
Size of required QuickLibrary: 30k     Size of required QuickLibrary: 10k
                                    
Setup and use:                         Setup and use:
   Up to 15 calls using a                 1 call (if using ROM assembly)
   10-element type array,                 2 calls (if BASIC font)
   15 declared constants,                 3 calls (if loading a file)
   and/or a common block,           
   (plus a separate include         
   file)                            
                                    
Price: $300+                           Price: $40
(you get more than fonts)           
                                    


I prepared two equivalent BASIC files which displayed a screen full of
graphic font text; one with the BASIC 7.0 Font Toolbox using a 24 point font
and the other using the GFONTS 24 point ROM assembly call, both with the
minimum possible code.  They were then compiled identically (except for the
linked libraries.)  Here are the results of that test:

BASIC 7.0                               GFONTS

Size of BASIC code: 1725 bytes         Size of BASIC code: 542 bytes
                                    
Size of quicklibrary: 30k              Size of quicklibrary: 10k
                                    
Size of .EXE file: 22k                 Size of .EXE file: 9k
        (compiled using the BRUN run-time support library)
                                    
Size of font file: 65k                 Size of font file: 12k
(a font file is always required)       (font files are optional)
                                    
Total disk space: 87k                  Total disk space: 21k
                                    
Time to execute: 6.84 seconds          Time to execute: 0.27 seconds!!!
(at 12 mhz)                            (12 mhz)


The Microsoft fonts are nicer than the standard ROM character sets, but no
nicer than you can create yourself with BIGFONT.EXE.


