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Epson MX-80 Fonts

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Re: Epson MX-80 Fonts

#21

Post by jama211 »

0_-_0 wrote: post #9

Something isn't right with this, though. I don't remember if there was a "wide" mode, but this font, while it feels very accurate, is somehow stretched wider than what would have been default. Here's an image of something from an MX-80 that looks more like what I remember: https://technicallywewrite.com/images/2024/07/epson2.png (taken from https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/07/01/dotmatrix ). Still, thanks for shar…

Ahh, thank you for solving the mystery. Personally I think they should put some text on this page fixed with CSS to demonstrate this.

Re: Epson MX-80 Fonts

#22

Post by blackhaz »

whyenot wrote: post #12

In the late 1970s, my dad purchased an S-100 bus computer from Thinker Toys for about $3,000 (would be close to $15,000 today after adjusting for inflation). It had a Z80 microprocessor and ran CP/M. As was true of many hobbyist computers from this era, it came with full source code (in beautifully documented assembly) both for CP/M and for the BIOS. This was important because if you wanted to add peripherals or make…

This is the true definition of Plug-and-Play.

Re: Epson MX-80 Fonts

#25

Post by karanveer »

whyenot wrote: post #12

In the late 1970s, my dad purchased an S-100 bus computer from Thinker Toys for about $3,000 (would be close to $15,000 today after adjusting for inflation). It had a Z80 microprocessor and ran CP/M. As was true of many hobbyist computers from this era, it came with full source code (in beautifully documented assembly) both for CP/M and for the BIOS. This was important because if you wanted to add peripherals or make…

Thank you for making us travel back into a pre internet era of the 70-80s.

Re: Epson MX-80 Fonts

#26

Post by billygoat »

bux93 wrote: post #15

>For best results, it is recommended to use these fonts with the following color scheme (as used here on this web page): > Foreground: black (#000000) (Ink) > Background: white (#FFFFFF) (Paper) What about the alternating green bars? And the perforation?

And even the newest ink ribbons were not that black.

And the dots were never so crispy and individually formed on real paper.

And as discussed above, everything is far too wide. The dots blended together and created diagonals at least a little bit; thats not reflected here.

Re: Epson MX-80 Fonts

#27

Post by manosyja »

0_-_0 wrote: post #9

Something isn't right with this, though. I don't remember if there was a "wide" mode, but this font, while it feels very accurate, is somehow stretched wider than what would have been default. Here's an image of something from an MX-80 that looks more like what I remember: https://technicallywewrite.com/images/2024/07/epson2.png (taken from https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/07/01/dotmatrix ). Still, thanks for shar…

I remember my Star LC-10 had multiple fonts with different widths. There was regular, condensed, wide and NLQ (Near Letter Quality). The latter looked like it had been written on a typewriter.

Re: Epson MX-80 Fonts

#28

Post by glimshe »

whyenot wrote: post #12

In the late 1970s, my dad purchased an S-100 bus computer from Thinker Toys for about $3,000 (would be close to $15,000 today after adjusting for inflation). It had a Z80 microprocessor and ran CP/M. As was true of many hobbyist computers from this era, it came with full source code (in beautifully documented assembly) both for CP/M and for the BIOS. This was important because if you wanted to add peripherals or make…

Great story!

I faced some problems in the old world of computers, but none as fun as this. I've always felt that computing was a lot more visceral back then because we were operating much closer to the machine.

Nowadays, software development is mostly about struggling against other humans: trying to undestand other people's mental models when patching libraries and APIs together. Back in the day, it was man vs machine.

Re: Epson MX-80 Fonts

#29

Post by unnah »

prmoustache wrote: post #14
0_-_0 wrote: post #9

Something isn't right with this, though. I don't remember if there was a "wide" mode, but this font, while it feels very accurate, is somehow stretched wider than what would have been default. Here's an image of something from an MX-80 that looks more like what I remember: https://technicallywewrite.com/images/2024/07/epson2.png (taken from https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/07/01/dotmatrix ). Still, thanks for shar…

Thanks, I was immediately wondering what was wrong with that web page as I never had such wide fonts coming out on paper.

Never? There definitely was a double-width feature on those printers, as demonstrated in the manual: https://www.apple.asimov.net/documentation/hardware/printers...

Re: Epson MX-80 Fonts

#30

Post by tengwar2 »

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #6
m_walden wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for you memories and observations on old printers!

I don't miss the piercing sounds they made.

From memory, I think we put ours (an FX80 rather than the MX80) in a box to keep the sound down. It was used with an [HP86](https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1982-10/pag...) controlling some lab equipment. Setting that up was my first paid job.
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