The repository generates a large number of bitmap fonts that can be used in CircuitPython by simply importing them.
It can be used with circup for easy installation.
Once you have installed circup and connected to a board, simply install the desired font(s):
circup bundle-add adafruit/circuitpython-fonts # You only need to do this once
circup install font_free_mono_8The font can be used like so:
from font_free_mono_9 import FONT as MONO_9
from adafruit_display_text.bitmap_label import Label
# ...
label = Label(font=MONO_9, text="Hi Mom!")If you don't use circup, then simply grab the appropriate bundle from
the Releases page. Unzip it, and then copy the desired folder(s) to your
CircuitPython device. If you use a manual installation method, you'll also
need to install adafruit_bitmap_font from the Adfruit CircuitPython Bundle.
- Copy the font into
fonts/ - Add a reuse-recognized
.licensefile for it
Two variants of each font are generated: The "latin1" variant with code points 32-255 inclusive, and the full variant with all glyphs in the original font. The "latin1" variant can be especially useful when flash space is at a premium.
More variants could be added for a good reason; it is configurable in config.toml. It is not currently settable per font but if for a good reason it could be.
The font sizes in this bundle are in pixels. Or, to be more technically accurte, they are rendered at a resolution of 1 pixel = 1/72 inch = 1 point. If you follow the directions on learn your font is rendered at a scale of 1 pixel = 1/100 inch = 0.72 points. This means the resulting font pixel sizes for these libraries are around 38% smaller than if you follow the Learn guide instructions. In any case, you will likely need to manually test font sizes until you find the best one for your application and display.
The build process requires these programs (instructions to install on Debian and Ubuntu Linux in parentheses):
- otf2bdf (sudo apt install otf2bdf)
- bdftopcf (sudo apt install xfonts-utils)
- circuitpython-build-bundles (sudo apt install pipx; pipx install circuitpython-build-tools)
Once the dependencies are installed, simply invoke build.py and after a few minutes you will get a fresh font bundle in dist/.