
The Oldschool PC Font Pack - peter_d_sherman
https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/
======
0xff00ffee
My problem with these fontpacks is that they fail to emulate the blur of the
electron gun that created visible gaps between the round pixels (which smeared
into ovals). Only the most expensive IBM 8514/A (or later NEC 6FG) monitors
looked that sharp, but most of us were using inexpensive monochrome (amber or
green) displays in the 80's.

~~~
ramses0
[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cathode/id499233976?mt=12](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cathode/id499233976?mt=12)

~~~
0xff00ffee
Now that's good!

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bbmario
Given that our monitors have outrageous resolutions today, I miss pixel-
perfect fonts with good size. I'm getting older and the eyes are not getting
any better.

~~~
crazygringo
But normal fonts are easier to read.

Introducing pixel "jaggies" on angled and curved lines makes letterforms
harder to distinguish, not easier.

Why do you think pixellated fonts would be better on your eyes?

Perhaps you just need bolder fonts, if it's an eyesight issue?

~~~
camgunz
It's pretty well known that anti-aliasing (and macOS' font rendering) add blur
to fonts. A lot of bitmap fonts are "pixel perfect", i.e. there's no blur.

I have great eyesight, because I wear contacts, and I prefer to disable anti-
aliasing when I can.

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acheron
I have loved this since it came out and use the PxPlus VGA9 font for day to
day programming and console use. I have a very strong association between that
font and what the computer is "really" doing.

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dpfu
Also check out Fontraption (a VGA Text Mode Font Editor for DOS) and Flexi IBM
VGA Font (a Scalable Take on Text Mode).

[https://int10h.org/blog/2019/05/fontraption-vga-text-mode-
fo...](https://int10h.org/blog/2019/05/fontraption-vga-text-mode-font-editor/)

[https://int10h.org/blog/2018/05/flexi-ibm-vga-scalable-
truet...](https://int10h.org/blog/2018/05/flexi-ibm-vga-scalable-truetype-
font/)

------
crb
Previous comments:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11021430](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11021430)

~~~
dang
And here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16098262](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16098262)

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zevv
I am kind of disturbed by the fact that the samples use "A quick brown fox..."
instead of "The quick brown fox...".

~~~
crb
The famous pangram is actually "A quick brown fox" in its earliest recorded
appearance (1885):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_quick_brown_fox_jumps_over...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_quick_brown_fox_jumps_over_the_lazy_dog#History)

(Shorter pangrams exist, including some "perfect" ones which require
punctuation to make sense. "Mr Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx".)

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sliptype
I'm really impressed with that pixel art. Anybody know the process for making
something like that?

~~~
gwbas1c
Back in the day I used TheDraw for fine editing. It was a DOS program.

(It's been over 20 years since I last used it, so I don't know where to start
other than saying you'll probably need to use DOSBOX to run it.

I also used a graphical program for starting with long ANSIs that basically
used the half-character blocks to start with basic pixels, but I don't
remember the name. (Basically, the characters that turn 80x25 text into 80x50
pixels.)

~~~
cronix
There were some cool gif2ansi progs as well at the time. I had forgotten about
TheDraw. Back in the days when modem communications were so slow that you
could actually read the characters coming across the screen as they were
received. It was like watching a really fast typist. Now entire hi resolution
videos stream. Watching my dad download his first gif was revolutionary. An
actual picture transmitted! I sound like my grandpa now. Ugg.

~~~
ninly
Right? At 300 baud you could _almost_ read the text as it appeared. Buying a
9600 baud modem after a year or two at 2400 felt amazing, like, "wow, whole
lines of text appear before I even start reading!"

Then, with the jump to 14.4k it was like, "wow, a whole PAGE of text
practically just pops up!" One whole... screenful of bytes. Wow.

Then you'd start an XMODEM transfer of a single image file and go make dinner.

~~~
cronix
...and then zmodem came out and saved us all with resumable downloads, because
50% of the time you lost connection due to crappy phone lines/noise and would
have to start over.

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montag
I’m using the IBM PxPlus font at [https://mmontag.github.io/chip-player-
js/browse](https://mmontag.github.io/chip-player-js/browse). It works great :)

~~~
naikrovek
excellent site. sooo many memories.

