FontLab 4.5.X or 4.6 for MacOS 9?

Kristian Möller
Kristian Möller Posts: 5
in Type Design Software
In 2016 I started to reminisce about the type-design software I had previously enjoyed. I even started collecting and restoring Macintosh computers from the 1980s and 1990s to get the whole experience. Hence, I thought PPC and FontLab were due after working with everything from Altsys, URW, Letraset and Macromedia on various 680X0 systems. I have recently restored a PowerBook G3 (Pismo) running Mac OS 9.1 and thought it would be neat to try some early OTF exports. However, I can’t find or buy it anywhere, and not even FontLab seems to know where to obtain it or if it is considered abandonware. Please, if someone could point me in the right direction regarding where to find it or buy it, preferably boxed and all, I would be much obliged.
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Comments

  • Mark Simonson
    Mark Simonson Posts: 1,734
    edited December 2022
    I've done the same thing, and have older versions of font editors running on older hardware (and emulators). The trick I use is buying a license back when it was current. :smile: I know that doesn't help you now.

    The first thing I thought of was eBay, but it doesn't look like there's anything there. FWIW, I don't recall any version of FontLab ever coming in a box or on disks. All the versions I've purchased going back to 3.0/Mac in 2000 have been downloads.
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,186
     I don't recall any version of FontLab ever coming in a box or on disks.
    FontLab 2.5 definitely came on a disk. :)

  • Mark Simonson
    Mark Simonson Posts: 1,734
    edited December 2022
    Did any PC (or Mac) versions later than 2.5 ship on a disk? (3.0 was the first Mac version.)
  • Kristian Möller
    Kristian Möller Posts: 5
    Mark Simonson said:
    I've done the same thing, and have older versions of font editors running on older hardware (and emulators). The trick I use is buying a license back when it was current. :smile: I know that doesn't help you now.

    The first thing I thought of was eBay, but it doesn't look like there's anything there. FWIW, I don't recall any version of FontLab ever coming in a box or on disks. All the versions I've purchased going back to 3.0/Mac in 2000 have been downloads.
    That is nicely put! Too bad FontLab didn’t come boxed since I love old software graphics and printed manuals. I don’t recall there being versions previous to 4.5 on a Mac. Thanks!  :)
  • Kristian Möller
    Kristian Möller Posts: 5
    Paul van der Laan said:
    I recall FontLab 3 came on a CD ROM in a paper sleeve. There was no box, and the manual had to be purchased seperately.
    Sweet! I remember the splash screen artwork! Is it stable under Sheepshaver?
  • Paul van der Laan
    Paul van der Laan Posts: 242
    Kristian Möller said:
    Sweet! I remember the splash screen artwork! Is it stable under Sheepshaver?
    Don’t know – I’m not doing any serious work with it.
    But FL3 wasn’t very stable on real hardware to begin with. 😂
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,431
    Does anyone remember a table selling FontLab and/or Scanfont CD-ROMs at Typecon 2001 in Rochester?
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,883
    That sounds familiar!

    I still have my FontLab 2.5 printed manual. But I don’t know about the software itself…

    There is a fair chance I still have the 3.5" floppy disk sitting in one last storage case of disks, but I would not want to bet that the disk is still readable 30 years later anyway, even if I had a device that could read it—which I do not.

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