Breaking the physical limits of fonts

#1

Post by graphitemaster » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 9:42 AM UTC

Breaking the physical limits of fonts
github.com

Re: Breaking the physical limits of fonts

#2

Post by emaro » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 11:23 AM UTC

One could actually learn to read these five pixel characters. Amazing

Re: Breaking the physical limits of fonts

#3

Post by Yetanfou » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 10:12 PM UTC

emaro wrote: post #2

One could actually learn to read these five pixel characters. Amazing

Not so amazing for those who, tired of the 40-column limit of their Commodore-64 or similar machine, took to such tricks to get up to 80 columns of text on screen (e.g. SpeedScript did this [1] as did TASword [2]). Was it easy to read? No, it wasn't. It was hardly readable to be honest but it did make it possible to get a full line of text on the screen.

[1] https://archive.org/stream/1987-12-computegazette/Compute_Ga...

[2] https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g2rIQtaJyKE/V2VO_lF88vI/AAAAAAAAB...

Re: Breaking the physical limits of fonts

#4

Post by mooman219 » Mon, Jun 10, 2019, 12:02 AM UTC

DPI scaling can ruin this effect too. Sub-pixel rendering is really a game for mature font renderers unfortunately.

Re: Breaking the physical limits of fonts

#5

Post by bitwize » Mon, Jun 10, 2019, 12:25 AM UTC

Yetanfou wrote: post #3

emaro wrote: post #2

One could actually learn to read these five pixel characters. Amazing

Not so amazing for those who, tired of the 40-column limit of their Commodore-64 or similar machine, took to such tricks to get up to 80 columns of text on screen (e.g. SpeedScript did this [1] as did TASword [2]). Was it easy to read? No, it wasn't. It was hardly readable to be honest but it did make it possible to get a full line of text on the screen. [1] https://archive.org/stream/1987-12-computegazette/Compute_G…

Meanwhile, those of us still slumming it on our TI-99/4As were stuck with a word processor that didn't even try. Not only was TI-Write stuck in 40- (or perhaps 32-) column mode, but they didn't even bother changing the TI's default font, which mapped lowercase code points to small-cap glyphs, making text look nasty, hard to read, and nothing like printed output.

The dedication and achievements of the Commodore community never cease to amaze me.

Re: Breaking the physical limits of fonts

#6

Post by salutonmundo » Mon, Jun 10, 2019, 12:30 AM UTC

this would be a nice easter-eggy way to watermark photographs.

Re: Breaking the physical limits of fonts

#7

Post by fouc » Mon, Jun 10, 2019, 1:18 AM UTC

bitwize wrote: post #5

Yetanfou wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not so amazing for those who, tired of the 40-column limit of their Commodore-64 or similar machine, took to such tricks to get up to 80 columns of text on screen (e.g. SpeedScript did this [1] as did TASword [2]). Was it easy to read? No, it wasn't. It was hardly readable to be honest but it did make it possible to get a full line of text on the screen. [1] https://archive.org/stream/1987-12-computegazette/Compute_G…

Meanwhile, those of us still slumming it on our TI-99/4As were stuck with a word processor that didn't even try. Not only was TI-Write stuck in 40- (or perhaps 32-) column mode, but they didn't even bother changing the TI's default font, which mapped lowercase code points to small-cap glyphs, making text look nasty, hard to read, and nothing like printed output. The dedication and achievements of the Commodore commun…

Weren't you able to change fonts?

Re: Breaking the physical limits of fonts

#8

Post by jejones3141 » Mon, Jun 10, 2019, 1:25 AM UTC

It certainly tested the physical limits of my aging eyes. The version on the poorly-calibrated display was a good bit easier to read than that on the well-calibrated display.