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The MgOpen typefaces are freely available and contain glyphs for viewing texts in Greek (written in the monotoniko system).
The MgOpen typeface collection is comprised by the following typefaces:
MgOpenCanonica is a serif typeface, based on the design of Times Roman.
MgOpenCanonica is a sans-serif typeface, based on the design of Optima.
MgOpenCanonica is another sans-serif typeface.
MgOpenCanonica is a sans-serif typeface, based on the design of Helvetica.
As can be seen from the samples above, each family contains four fonts, namely all the combinations of regular and bold weight and upright and italic (or oblique) shape.
All the fonts contain glyphs for the latin and greek alphabet (using the monotoniko system), while the fonts of the Canonica family also contain all the glyphs necessary for viewing Greek texts written in the polytoniko system.
All the fonts use the Unicode encoding for characters and are in the TrueType format.
The fonts, in their initial release, have some characters missing, with most important the lack of the Euro symbol. These shortcomings will be fixed in future releases.
You can download the fonts either as a compressed archive file of the full collection or individually per family, or even per font.
The fonts are already available in Debian GNU/Linux, as well as any other distribution that can make use of Debian software repositories: simply install the ttf-mgopen package from the "sarge" release (e.g., with the command: apt-get install ttf-mgopen).
The typefaces contained in the MgOpen collection have been commercially available in the past by Magenta Ltd. They have recently been selected from the company's extensive font portfolio to be released as free software. The company executives announced their intention to release the particular fonts, at the same time asking for help in accomplishing this goal. Alexios Zavras made the first round of corrections and additions, and transformed the fonts in modern encodings and file formats. Konstantinos Margaritis has subsequently undertaken the task of adopting the fonts for their inclusion in Debian GNU/Linux.
It was decided to release the fonts under a license closely modeled after the one used by Bitstream Inc. and GNOME Foundation for the Bitstream Vera fonts. This license provides users with almost unlimited freedom, essentially giving them the right to modify and redistribute the fonts as long as each font is not sold separately and that variations and derivatives will not be distributed under the same name (MgOpen). Please read the exact license agreement below.
You can e-mail fonts@ellak.gr to report any problems you may have spotted while using the fonts. You are kindly requested to first read this page as well as any documentation files that may be included in the fonts distribution for issues already known. In order to verify a potential problem, you are advised to follow the procedures described in the Bitstream Vera fonts web page. If you are planning on making modifications or additions to the fonts, we would like to ask you to inform us beforehand by contacting us at the above address, in order to coordinate efforts and achieve the best possible result.
The license of the typefaces is reproduced below. You can compare it to the Bistream Vera license. Please read it carefully. The use of the typefaces implies tha you have read, understood and accept the license agreement.
Copyright © 2004 by MAGENTA Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of the fonts accompanying this license ("Fonts") and associated documentation files (the "Font Software"), to reproduce and distribute the Font Software, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, merge, publish, distribute, and/or sell copies of the Font Software, and to permit persons to whom the Font Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright and this permission notice shall be included in all copies of one or more of the Font Software typefaces.
The Font Software may be modified, altered, or added to, and in particular the designs of glyphs or characters in the Fonts may be modified and additional glyphs or characters may be added to the Fonts, only if the fonts are renamed to names not containing the word "MgOpen", or if the modifications are accepted for inclusion in the Font Software itself by the each appointed Administrator.
This License becomes null and void to the extent applicable to Fonts or Font Software that has been modified and is distributed under the "MgOpen" name.
The Font Software may be sold as part of a larger software package but no copy of one or more of the Font Software typefaces may be sold by itself.
THE FONT SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT, PATENT, TRADEMARK, OR OTHER RIGHT. IN NO EVENT SHALL MAGENTA OR PERSONS OR BODIES IN CHARGE OF ADMINISTRATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE FONT SOFTWARE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE FONT SOFTWARE OR FROM OTHER DEALINGS IN THE FONT SOFTWARE.