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I have been told I need to use Mac Binary Converter to convert a postscript font into a macbinary .bin file for use with fontsquirrel.

I am generally quite comfortable with command line (using Ruby gems & ssh mainly) but how do I add this tool to my command line and use it? Does it need to sit in my path somewhere first?

Any help greatly appreciated

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desmillicious
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3 Answers3

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sourceforge Mac Binary Converter is not working. Download code from sourceforge

Open terminal and compile

$ cd /macbinconv/Make/PB
$ xcodebuild -configuration Release

Or download Mac Binary Converter from this shared link

Parag Bafna
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The above linked to macbinconv code does not compile on recent OS X versions (I've tested with 10.9).

There are at least two other options:

  • Use Stuffit Deluxe to create the macbinary (.bin) or binhex (.hqx) files from you old resource-fork style Postscript Mac fonts, as required for FontSquirrel webfont generator.*

  • There's a tool in the App Store called OldHex that generates binhex (.hqx) files, including the ressource fork.

Both approaches worked for me, and I was able to upload the resulting files to FontSquirrel. But there, I got the following message:

The font is corrupt and cannot be converted

In the end, though, I succeeded along the following, alternative route:

  1. Use the command line tool Fondu to convert the file from StuffIt Deluxe to a Printer Font Binary (.pfb).
    fondu already is available in Terminal.app if you have MacTeX installed.

  2. Next, with the fontconverter.org online tool, generate an OpenType font file (.otf) from said printer font binary – because with OTF, you have more options.

  3. Convert your OpenType files with Fontie or Web Font Generator.

Bada Bing! – with either online tool, I got webfonts that worked across all browsers and platforms. (Still no dice with FontSquirrel, but your milage may vary.)

Watch out for special characters that might not have been available at the time your old font files were created – with my 1992 sample, the @ character was missing. ;-)

* You may demo Stuffit Deluxe at no cost with the fully functional, limitation-free trial version, but a credit card and a later cancellation of subscription is required.) — You wil find the neccessary commands in the toolbar menu, and not in the apps it places in your Applications folder.

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Current versions of macOS include a suite of utilities which can be used to perform these conversions: applesingle, binhex, and macbinary. Of these, you'll want macbinary to create .bin files.

Frustratingly, macbinary defaults to the rarely used Type 3 encoding. You will need to pass -t 2 to get output in a format that vintage tools will expect, e.g.

macbinary encode -t 2 -o Example.bin Example