Talk: why there is no Mac version of Figlet

Every so often, I get asked, "is there a Mac version of Figlet?"

No, not yet. And I probably will not be producing one anytime soon,
even though *I* am a Mac user.

Why?

1. Because Figlet is essentially a text program. I only use it when
   I am online, and so having it available on my unix host is good
   enough. If I need fancy fonts while not logged on... hey, there's
   that "font" menu under every word processor's menubar...

2. Because since Macs are not command-line machines, porting Figlet to
   the Mac is non-trivial -- I would have to spend more time working on
   a user-interface for it than I think is worth, given (1). You can't
   just compile the UNIX figlet code as is and expect it to work.
   Furthermore, I would need to figure out a way to let the user
   specify the fonts directories, etc. since you can't just modify the
   Makefile since a Mac program isn't distributed as source, but rather
   executable. Yet more work.

So, I will probably not produce a Mac version of Figlet anytime soon.
However, if someone else wants to do it, go right ahead. Let us know
when it's ready, and we'll be happy to make it available to the world
on our ftp site (ftp.nicoh.com.)

God bless,
	Ian Chai
	Listowner of FIGLET-L, the Figlet Mailing List
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The "official" ftp site for Figlet is:
	ftp.nicoh.com:pub/figlet

The Figlet WWW page
        http://math.uiuc.edu:80/~chappell/figlet/
lists some other sites.

There is also FIGLET-L, a mailing list for both updates and discussions
about figlet. If you want to be notified of updates to the Figlet
software, email
	LIS...@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu
with the body of the email saying
	subscribe figlet-l your full name
	set figlet-l topics=SOFTWARE
where "your full name" should be your full name.

If you want to know about new fonts as well, then it should say
	subscribe figlet-l your full name
	set figlet-l topics=SOFTWARE,FONTS

If you want to be in on everything, including discussions, then just
	subscribe figlet-l your full name
will do the trick.

Remember not to post any discussions under SOFTWARE or FONTS. In fact,
you should never post under SOFTWARE -- it is for "official" releases.
You can post any new nifty software you write for figlet on the normal
discussion, and if I decide to put it in the "official" distribution,
I'll post a notice to SOFTWARE and make it available for ftp.

Ian Chai