Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU!rws
From: rws@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Bob Scheifler)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: really large font?
Message-ID: <9009182329.AA01417@expire.lcs.mit.edu>
Date: 18 Sep 90 23:29:44 GMT
References: <1990Sep18.163035.19112@midway.uchicago.edu>
Sender: root@athena.mit.edu (Wizard A. Root)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 33


    Is there a really large font in the standard mit distribution 
    suitable for use with xterm?

How about one of these?
-adobe-courier-medium-r-normal--34-240-100-100-m-200-iso8859-1
-b&h-lucidatypewriter-bold-r-normal-sans-34-240-100-100-m-200-iso8859-1
-bitstream-terminal-medium-r-normal--36-280-100-100-c-22-iso8859-1

    And what does the "ptSz" component refer to?

See the XLFD (X Logical Font Descriptions) specification:

POINT_SIZE is an unsigned integer-string typographic metric in 
device-independent units which gives the body size 
the font was designed for.
This field normally incorporates additional vertical spacing 
considered part of the font design.
(Note, however, that POINT_SIZE is not necessarily equivalent to the height 
of the font bounding box). 
POINT_SIZE is expressed in decipoints (where points are as defined 
in the X protocol or 72.27 pts = 1 inch) in the range zero to a 
``very-large-number''.

    I guessed it
    was size of the font in points, but it doesn't seem to be that, at least, not 
    with respect to how the font is rendered on the screen.

Perhaps because you are looking at fonts with the same point size but done for
different screen resolutions.  Actual pixel size on the screen is related to
point size rougly as follows (from the XLFD):

   PIXEL_SIZE = ROUND ((RESOLUTION_Y * POINT_SIZE) / DeciPointsPerInch)