Bigletter (and Littleletter) Multics Fonts

Overview

• This repository contains software that builds TrueType and FIGlet versions of the Multics bigletter_ fonts.

• The Multics I/O daemon (see: Multics printing software) includes the bigletter_ procedure.
• This procedure creates the large text used on Multics print job head and tail (banner) pages.
• The fonts used on these pages are defined in letseg_.alm in the Multics source code.

• There are actually two fonts defined in these tables:
  • The "big" font which is 9×8 (a large font used in the body of the banner pages), and,
  • The "little" font which is 5×5 (a small font used for printing on the edges of the banner pages).

• You can read some interesting anecdotes about this code at multicians.org.

Fonts

• This repository contains:
  • a C program (makefont) which converts these tables to JSON files,
  • a C program (makefiglet) which converts the JSON files to FIGlet fonts,
  • and Python program which converts the JSON files to Spline Font Databases.

• Fontforge is used to convert the SFD files to monospaced dot-matrix style TrueType fonts.

Variants

• We build three different TrueType variants of each font:
  • the "Normal" font optimized for the screen and smaller sizes, and,
  • "Star" and "Asterisk" variants optimized for larger print (like banner pages).

Preview

• A PDF preview document is available.

Build

• Building the fonts from source requires GNU Make, a C99 compiler, Python 3, and Fontforge with Python support.
• The build has been tested on IBM AIX, Apple macOS, and GNU/Linux. Other systems are expected to work with minimal fuss.
• For debugging and development, the C programs are compatible with the SoftIntegration Ch C/C++ interpreter.

Download

• You may download pre-built TrueType fonts and pre-built FIGlet fonts if you are unable to build from source.

Availability

• The canonical repository is located at GitLab.
• A mirror at GitHub is also available.

License

• These fonts come directly from Multics, and are distributed under the terms of the Multics License:

  Multics License
  
  Copyright © 1972 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  Copyright © 1972-1982 Honeywell Information Systems, Inc.
  Copyright © 2006 Bull HN Information Systems, Inc.
  Copyright © 2006 Bull SAS
  Copyright © 2025 Jeffrey H. Johnson
  Copyright © 2025 The DPS8M Development Team
  
  All rights reserved.
  
   * This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is
     provided and donated to The Massachusetts Institute of Technology by
     Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems, Inc. as a contribution
     to computer science knowledge.
  
   * This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions
     of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bell Laboratories, General
     Electric, Honeywell Information Systems, Inc., Honeywell BULL, Inc.,
     Groupe BULL and BULL HN Information Systems, Inc. to the development of
     this operating system.
  
   * Multics development was initiated by The Massachusetts Institute of
     Technology Project MAC (1963-1970), renamed the MIT Laboratory for
     Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under
     the leadership of Professor Fernando José Corbató. Users consider that
     Multics provided the best software architecture for managing computer
     hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating
     systems incorporated Multics principles.
  
   * Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe, and in
     the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems, Inc., as successor in interest
     by change in name only to Honeywell Bull, Inc. and Honeywell Information
     Systems, Inc.
  
  Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their
  documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided
  that this copyright notice and the above historical background appear in all
  copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this
  permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of
  MIT, HIS, BULL, or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining
  to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission.