Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
1–10 of 49 posts
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#2> My company has been very generous in giving me two monitors
That's a terribly low standard for generosity that you have there. Basic equipment to get your job done.
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#35x10 without subpixel support is super limiting, and the result reflects that. I assume you'd get used to it, but I really have to work hard to read this font.
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#4Now we just need an IDE that runs in mode 0x13 320x200 VGA.
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#55x10 without subpixel support is super limiting, and the result reflects that. I assume you'd get used to it, but I really have to work hard to read this font.
Yeah, that's save up for eyeglasses or your next prescription territory. I'll cheerfully continue to use 16pt Inconsolata.
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#65x10 without subpixel support is super limiting, and the result reflects that. I assume you'd get used to it, but I really have to work hard to read this font.
I agree that 5x10 is small and hard to read, but what use would a bitmapped font have for subpixel rendering?
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#7What kind of format is BDF? It seems that it isn't readable by any of the font tools on my computer.
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#8What kind of format is BDF? It seems that it isn't readable by any of the font tools on my computer.
It is the original source format for fonts for X11 [1]. There are several command line tools that will work with it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyph_Bitmap_Distribution_Form....
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#9> This monitor has a lot of pixels by decade-ago standards, but its pixel density leaves much to be desired by today standards. I have accidentally become accustomed to crisp, small fonts by a couple of years of using an old Retina Macbook. Bitmap fonts are better at this than scalable fonts, especially on screens with low pixel density.
IMO these are all the right reasons. I also suffer from a bad purchase: 27" FullHD Monitor, which means 82dpi (if I remember correctly). But even at more common resolutions like 90-100dpi, vector fonts totally suck at small sizes. So bitmap fonts it is for coding work.
However this font clearly suffers from being only 5x10 size. The characters look similar to vector fonts without antialiasing: Random disproportions -- the same line is 1px here, 2px over there.
What's not to like about the default font that comes with xterm (6x13 size)? http://jstimpfle.de/dateisalat/2016-10-xterm-screenshot/
Re: Show HN: Glean, a tiny bitmap font for programming
#105x10 without subpixel support is super limiting, and the result reflects that. I assume you'd get used to it, but I really have to work hard to read this font.
Yup! It's definitely a niche typeface; I hope at least some people find it useful, but I suspect that most won't.