Plan 9 fonts

I was searching for better fonts to use on a tiny (12.5") screen of MNT Reform[1] that also happens to be 1920x1080 - VGA[2] is just too small (sorry, VGA[3]).

[1] MNT Reform

[2] VGA

[3] VGA

Kurinto, 18px

After a lot of fiddling with TTF-to-subfont conversions[4] and going through a bunch of fonts, I ended up using Kurinto[5].

[4] TTF-to-subfont

conversions

[5] Kurinto

Combined fonts for multiple languages, with a monospace font in addition, ended up ~50Mb in total (compressed Plan 9 bitmaps). You are free to grab these and use. For license terms see official Kurino website[6].

[6] official

Kurino website

cd /lib/font/bit
hget https://ftrv.se/_/plan9_fonts/kurinto.18.tar.gz | tar xz

Set `font=/lib/font/bit/kurinto/kurinto.18.mono.font` for monospaced, `font=/lib/font/bit/kurinto/kurinto.18.text.font` otherwise.

Based on `Kurinto_v2.197_Full`, it contains (converted):

Mono version reuses non-monospaced subfonts to fill in the missing glyphs.

A sample of Kurinto fonts on 9front[7]

[7] A sample of Kurinto fonts on 9front

KNXT, 20px + 40px

A bitmap font from a github repo[8], originally in PCF format and 20px size. It has a pretty good coverage. I also made a 2x conversion for high resolution displays if that's needed.

[8] a github repo

cd /lib/font/bit
hget https://ftrv.se/_/plan9_fonts/knxt.20+40.tar.gz | tar xz

font=/lib/font/bit/knxt/knxt.20.font
font=/lib/font/bit/knxt/knxt.40.font # for 2x the size

A sample of KNXT font on 9front[9]

[9] A sample of KNXT font on 9front

Spleen, 8px + 12px + 16px + 24px + 32px + 64px

A bitmap font from a github repo[10]. Not the best coverage, but it is available in several sizes without looking too bad.

[10] a github repo

cd /lib/font/bit
hget https://ftrv.se/_/plan9_fonts/spleen.8+12+16+24+32+64.tar.gz | tar xz

font=/lib/font/bit/spleen/spleen.24.font

See samples of Spleen at the original repo[11]

[11] See samples of Spleen at the original repo

Iosevka, 18px + 20px + 24px + 32px

Font from a github repo[12]. Pretty good unicode coverage. Looks great.

[12] a github repo

cd /lib/font/bit
hget https://ftrv.se/_/plan9_fonts/iosevka.18+20+24+32.tar.gz | tar xz

font=/lib/font/bit/iosevka/iosevka.20.font

A sample of iosevka on 9front[13]

[13] A sample of iosevka on 9front

The following config has been used to build this version:

[buildPlans.iosevka-custom]
family = "Iosevka Custom"
spacing = "term"
serifs = "sans"
no-cv-ss = true
export-glyph-names = false
no-ligation = true

[buildPlans.iosevka-custom.variants.design]
percent = "rings-continuous-slash"

[buildPlans.iosevka-custom.weights.regular]
shape = 400
menu = 400
css = 400

[buildPlans.iosevka-custom.widths.normal]
shape = 600
menu = 5
css = "normal"

[buildPlans.iosevka-custom.slopes.upright]
angle = 0
shape = "upright"
menu = "upright"
css = "normal"

Jetbrains Mono, 18px + 20px + 24px + 32px

A nice font from JetBrains[14]. Coverage is so-so. Good enough for most cases.

[14] font from JetBrains

cd /lib/font/bit
hget https://ftrv.se/_/plan9_fonts/jetbrains_mono.18+20+24+32.tar.gz | tar xz

font=/lib/font/bit/jetbrains/jetbrains.20.mono.font

A sample of JetBrains Mono on 9front[15]

[15] A sample of JetBrains Mono on 9front