What Is Textmode?

#1

Post by memorable » Sun, Feb 19, 2023, 1:20 PM UTC

Re: What Is Textmode?

#2

Post by rolandf » Mon, Feb 20, 2023, 12:52 PM UTC

That make me think about Textual python library. And in my teen years I used TheDraw app for ascii/ansi art and animations for my RemoteAccess BBS.

Re: What Is Textmode?

#3

Post by qsort » Mon, Feb 20, 2023, 1:06 PM UTC

In a way, the limitations of those machines made the data representation so cool.

These days everything is a flat raster buffer with every pixel being independently settable. It's incomparably more convenient but also more "boring".

Same thing with music and audio, we have enough RAM to waste to let Nyquist-Shannon take care of the problem.

I guess the lesson is boring = better?

Re: What Is Textmode?

#4

Post by henriquecm8 » Mon, Feb 20, 2023, 1:20 PM UTC

qsort wrote: post #3

In a way, the limitations of those machines made the data representation so cool. These days everything is a flat raster buffer with every pixel being independently settable. It's incomparably more convenient but also more "boring". Same thing with music and audio, we have enough RAM to waste to let Nyquist-Shannon take care of the problem. I guess the lesson is boring = better?

I think at the time they were considered boring too, but now they are considered novel/unusual, which is more fun.

Re: What Is Textmode?

#5

Post by pbronez » Mon, Feb 20, 2023, 1:21 PM UTC

Lovely post. It’s need to see how many speciality editors there are for various flavors of Textmode graphics.

This also stood out to me:

> The creation and refinement of analogue-to-textmode filters is an art in itself closer aligned to generative art than textmode art. Depending on the textmode restriction, communities may have strong opinions against using filters (specifically in ANSI where it has a bumpy cultural history). Premade filters are sometimes used as a starting point for further refinement into textmode art.

This is exactly the GenerativeAI / AI Art debate. Apparently the TextMode community hit it earlier because their medium is lower fidelity.