
Show HN: Teletext TrueType Font - glxxyz
http://www.galax.xyz/TELETEXT/INDEX.HTM
======
glxxyz
I just found that a Unicode working group cited this page! They are
considering adding Teletext glyphs to Unicode:

[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2018/18235-terminals-
prop.pdf](https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2018/18235-terminals-prop.pdf)

[http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19025-terminals-
prop.pdf](http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19025-terminals-prop.pdf)

------
kseistrup
Specs or otherwise, it's a pity this font doesn't support at least the full
range of Latin-1 (ISO-8859-1) characters. Otherwise it looks rad!

~~~
glxxyz
Yes, it would be good- I was only trying to reproduce the look of an authentic
BBC Micro which was sort-of ASCII. The complete Teletext spec lists a lot more
characters; probably all of Latin-1 and even Arabic and Cyrillic:
[http://www.galax.xyz/TELETEXT/TTXTSPEC.PDF](http://www.galax.xyz/TELETEXT/TTXTSPEC.PDF)

A few people have complained that it was missing characters for Danish,
Swedish, and Finnish characters (they also had Teletext-type systems on their
TVs. It's on the list of projects I'd like to complete.

~~~
kseistrup
That's nice to hear. I am Danish, and it is exactly the missing Danish
national characters (Æ, Ø and Å) that prevents me from using the font,
although having at least Latin-1 would be better.

I don't own a tv, but I often read news headlines from webified teletext at
[https://www.dr.dk/cgi-bin/fttx1.exe/110](https://www.dr.dk/cgi-
bin/fttx1.exe/110) and so I have sometimes contemplated having a personal
website in the style of teletext.

~~~
glxxyz
I'm going to add a few of the Latin-1 characters this week. Quick question-
how important are the double-height versions, and the multiple aspect ratios?
It's slightly easier if I leave out the double height characters, and just
publish the 1.0 (Square pixels) and 1.3 (TV stretched) aspect ratios.

~~~
kseistrup
If you start with 1.0 and 1.3, that sounds just fantastic! If you have more
time and energy on a later occasion, you can always add to the collection.

~~~
glxxyz
I looked into this some more and a much better approach was taken by the
creators of this Teletext font:
[http://bjh21.me.uk/bedstead/](http://bjh21.me.uk/bedstead/)

Instead of creating characters by hand I'm going to see if I can modify the
bedstead code to output SAA5050 square aliased pixels instead of the more
modern looking diagonal lines that bedstead uses. If it works I'll publish the
results here:
[https://github.com/glxxyz/bedstead](https://github.com/glxxyz/bedstead) \-
follow that repo or send me an email if you want to see how I got on. Cheers!

~~~
kseistrup
I'll be following the repo. Cheers, mate.

~~~
glxxyz
It was pretty easy to modify the Bedstead code, all fonts are available for
download. Let me know if there are any issues!

------
mrlonglong
Ah, the sublime text mode 7 used on the BBC micro. Uses only 1k of memory.
Generated using the SAA7070 video chip.

~~~
glxxyz
You may also be interested to see these BeebFax that Pitfall Jones generated
using my font:

1981: [http://www.pitfalljones.com/bbc-
beebfax/1981/page_100.htm](http://www.pitfalljones.com/bbc-
beebfax/1981/page_100.htm)

1982: [http://www.pitfalljones.com/bbc-
beebfax/1982/page_100.htm](http://www.pitfalljones.com/bbc-
beebfax/1982/page_100.htm)

1983: [http://www.pitfalljones.com/bbc-
beebfax/1983/page_100.htm](http://www.pitfalljones.com/bbc-
beebfax/1983/page_100.htm)

1984: [http://www.pitfalljones.com/bbc-
beebfax/1984/page_100.htm](http://www.pitfalljones.com/bbc-
beebfax/1984/page_100.htm)

It was also used for these pages that I know of:

[https://www.mortimerbrewing.co.uk/](https://www.mortimerbrewing.co.uk/)

[http://www.aqarius.net/](http://www.aqarius.net/)

[https://teletext.markgaze.dev/100](https://teletext.markgaze.dev/100)

[https://www.rivalsfootball.net/manchestercity/](https://www.rivalsfootball.net/manchestercity/)
(switch theme to TELETEXT)

