Are there images of what the fonts actually look like? I couldn't find them.
It’s linked at the bottom of the project readme, but the dropdown menu makes them difficult to browse.
Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
31–40 of 41 posts
Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#32Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#33Wow, it even has Robotron PC 1715 in it, perhaps the first machine I laid my hands on. That's some dedication.
Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#34I'm curious if anyone knows of a good way to visually compare fonts with each other?
Specifically, is there a good way to generate font sizing, character spacing, line spacing for both sets of fonts such that they're visually as close as possible?
Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#35I'd love to see old video game fonts here. Pokemon, Zelda, etc. Though I'm sure there would be rights issues.
I think if they are bitmap fonts, they are uncopyrightable? At least in the USA.
Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#36I'm curious if anyone knows of a good way to visually compare fonts with each other? Specifically, is there a good way to generate font sizing, character spacing, line spacing for both sets of fonts such that they're visually as close as possible?
Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#37It should include the 3x5 pixel font from Mike Koss's "The Terminal" on the Apple ][.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18142258
>DonHopkins on Oct 4, 2018 | parent | favorite | on: Sans Forgetica, a font designed to help you rememb...
Who can possibly forget the font that Mike Koss's "The Terminal" Apple ][ terminal emulator used to get 32 lines of 70 characters each in HIRES graphics mode in 1981? It's the most difficult to read font I've ever used regularly! (Don't try using it on a color TV, though.)
https://web.archive.org/web/20120206091422/http://mckoss.com...
>Tiny (3x5) Font
>Created for the Apple II program The Terminal. Copyright (c) 1981 Michael C. Koss
>In 1981 I wrote a terminal emulator for the Apple II. At the time, the Apple II could only display upper case characters. I used the hi-res display (280 x 192 pixels!) to display my own character set. In order to come close to showing an 80-column display, I created a truly tiny font, displaying the full ASCII character set (upper and lower case).
>I created a font within a 3x5 pixel dimension, allowing the display of 32 lines of 70 characters each. The font definitely takes some training and getting used to (especially recognition of characters that use descenders); but I found it to be quite readable after a while.
Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#38I'd love to see old video game fonts here. Pokemon, Zelda, etc. Though I'm sure there would be rights issues.
I think if they are bitmap fonts, they are uncopyrightable? At least in the USA.
Even a giant font where every character is a fax page of one of Apple's secret stolen design documents?
Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think if they are bitmap fonts, they are uncopyrightable? At least in the USA.
Even a giant font where every character is a fax page of one of Apple's secret stolen design documents?
That’s not how the law works, it’s not like you’re sending invalid input to hack a program.
For a judge the design of a character is not protected by IP law. Some font formats are because they are like a program. But a bitmap of a character is not. And a fax page of whatever is not a bitmap of a character.
Re: Hoard-of-bitfonts: bitmap fonts from disused operating systems
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the DEC VT05 font is similar, but I can't even find any good closeup pictures of the screen (just ones that show the whole unit, but don't really show the detail of the screen).
Did you ever use a real VT05? I love serial terminals and I love the design of the VT05 (even though I know it's wayy too deep for a modern desk). It's just so cool and futuristic in a 70s star trek kind of way. I also heard it wasn't simply a small microcomputer, it had everything in discrete logic on many PCBs which seems to be why it was so big. Really cool. I'd love to see one some day. I volunteered at a compute…
Nope, never used a real one. Yeah, from what I was reading it didn't have a single-chip CPU - but that's to be expected as the VT05 was introduced in 1970 and Intel didn't release first single-chip CPU 4004 until 1971.