Are there vintage or historical bitmapped fonts available for non-commercial use?
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Current incarnations might be available for large LED displays, but those may work best for point LEDs rather than square filled pixels, and ideally these would be something recognizable by some as having historical aspects.
Should be available in a range of sizes.
The application is a small 128x64 pixel OLED display. I currently use Python's PIL which has a "default" font that is just too small for this display. I can also use it to read TrueType fonts, then I down-convert to gray scale then use a threshold to get 1-bit, but it looks ragged. See here and here but here I'm not asking for Chinese characters; even the original ASCII would be helpful.
Example of a 1-bit binary OLED display (128x64 pixels) cropped from this image from the AdaFruit Page Monochrome 0.96" 128x64 OLED graphic display, Product ID: 326.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks black-and-white isn't. Trying to post-process these back to binary by thresholding can lead to rough edges and strange looking characters.
font
asked 2 hours ago
uhoh
310311
add a comment |
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Current incarnations might be available for large LED displays, but those may work best for point LEDs rather than square filled pixels, and ideally these would be something recognizable by some as having historical aspects.
Should be available in a range of sizes.
The application is a small 128x64 pixel OLED display. I currently use Python's PIL which has a "default" font that is just too small for this display. I can also use it to read TrueType fonts, then I down-convert to gray scale then use a threshold to get 1-bit, but it looks ragged. See here and here but here I'm not asking for Chinese characters; even the original ASCII would be helpful.
Example of a 1-bit binary OLED display (128x64 pixels) cropped from this image from the AdaFruit Page Monochrome 0.96" 128x64 OLED graphic display, Product ID: 326.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks black-and-white isn't. Trying to post-process these back to binary by thresholding can lead to rough edges and strange looking characters.
font
asked 2 hours ago
uhoh
310311
1
Reminds me of the HD44780 LCD font which I found here: fonts2u.com/hd44780-regular.font
– LawrenceC
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC yes that's definitely the right idea, thanks, but 7 pixels tall is too short for me. It's probably very similar to the "default" font that PIL has already. I'm using thresholded TTFs because I can specify a fontsize first.
– uhoh
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC but you did get me thinking that I could just over-sample a 7-pixel tall font and display at 14 pixels, thanks x2!
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Current incarnations might be available for large LED displays, but those may work best for point LEDs rather than square filled pixels, and ideally these would be something recognizable by some as having historical aspects.
Should be available in a range of sizes.
The application is a small 128x64 pixel OLED display. I currently use Python's PIL which has a "default" font that is just too small for this display. I can also use it to read TrueType fonts, then I down-convert to gray scale then use a threshold to get 1-bit, but it looks ragged. See here and here but here I'm not asking for Chinese characters; even the original ASCII would be helpful.
Example of a 1-bit binary OLED display (128x64 pixels) cropped from this image from the AdaFruit Page Monochrome 0.96" 128x64 OLED graphic display, Product ID: 326.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks black-and-white isn't. Trying to post-process these back to binary by thresholding can lead to rough edges and strange looking characters.
font
asked 2 hours ago
uhoh
310311
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Current incarnations might be available for large LED displays, but those may work best for point LEDs rather than square filled pixels, and ideally these would be something recognizable by some as having historical aspects.
Should be available in a range of sizes.
The application is a small 128x64 pixel OLED display. I currently use Python's PIL which has a "default" font that is just too small for this display. I can also use it to read TrueType fonts, then I down-convert to gray scale then use a threshold to get 1-bit, but it looks ragged. See here and here but here I'm not asking for Chinese characters; even the original ASCII would be helpful.
Example of a 1-bit binary OLED display (128x64 pixels) cropped from this image from the AdaFruit Page Monochrome 0.96" 128x64 OLED graphic display, Product ID: 326.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks black-and-white isn't. Trying to post-process these back to binary by thresholding can lead to rough edges and strange looking characters.
font
font
asked 2 hours ago
uhoh
310311
asked 2 hours ago
uhoh
310311
asked 2 hours ago
uhoh
310311
asked 2 hours ago
uhoh
310311
asked 2 hours ago
uhoh
310311
310311
1
Reminds me of the HD44780 LCD font which I found here: fonts2u.com/hd44780-regular.font
– LawrenceC
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC yes that's definitely the right idea, thanks, but 7 pixels tall is too short for me. It's probably very similar to the "default" font that PIL has already. I'm using thresholded TTFs because I can specify a fontsize first.
– uhoh
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC but you did get me thinking that I could just over-sample a 7-pixel tall font and display at 14 pixels, thanks x2!
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
1
Reminds me of the HD44780 LCD font which I found here: fonts2u.com/hd44780-regular.font
– LawrenceC
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC yes that's definitely the right idea, thanks, but 7 pixels tall is too short for me. It's probably very similar to the "default" font that PIL has already. I'm using thresholded TTFs because I can specify a fontsize first.
– uhoh
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC but you did get me thinking that I could just over-sample a 7-pixel tall font and display at 14 pixels, thanks x2!
– uhoh
1 hour ago
1
1
Reminds me of the HD44780 LCD font which I found here: fonts2u.com/hd44780-regular.font
– LawrenceC
2 hours ago
Reminds me of the HD44780 LCD font which I found here: fonts2u.com/hd44780-regular.font
– LawrenceC
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC yes that's definitely the right idea, thanks, but 7 pixels tall is too short for me. It's probably very similar to the "default" font that PIL has already. I'm using thresholded TTFs because I can specify a fontsize first.
– uhoh
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC yes that's definitely the right idea, thanks, but 7 pixels tall is too short for me. It's probably very similar to the "default" font that PIL has already. I'm using thresholded TTFs because I can specify a fontsize first.
– uhoh
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC but you did get me thinking that I could just over-sample a 7-pixel tall font and display at 14 pixels, thanks x2!
– uhoh
1 hour ago
@LawrenceC but you did get me thinking that I could just over-sample a 7-pixel tall font and display at 14 pixels, thanks x2!
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Are there vintage or historical bitmapped fonts available for non-commercial use?
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white
bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Typefaces are not subject to copyright, at least in the US, so you can do what you want (again, in the US). Bitmapped representations are typefaces.
This is in contrast to "fonts" (such as TrueType), which are considered software that render typefaces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces discusses the different aspects in different countries.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or
even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks
black-and-white isn't.
These could be artifacts of you underlying display technology, especially for fonts, particularly today with modern high resolution screens. If you happened to have an actual bitmap of pixels in B&W that Just So Happen to look like letters, you would not necessarily be seeing those artifacts. Depends on how the graphics are actually rendered by the underlying software.
answered 1 hour ago
Will Hartung
3,543720
Thanks, thats a helpful clarification. I'm looking for something that may be used without geographic limitation, so I can't assume within the US but I can research further. fyi I've just asked elsewhere Why does some text on my laptop have gray-scale pixels and some have color pixels?
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Try THE OLDSCHOOL PC FONT RESOURCE
Looks positively awesome to me. I started by looking for IBM MDA - the classic 9x14 font, and I found this site.
License is Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
I've downloaded the file. Zip contains all the fonts ready to install in Windows. You should be able to convert it to whatever you need, including actual bitmaps - I've done that in the past, though not lately.
This includes dozens of fonts - IBM CGA/EGA/MDA/VGA, ATI, Tandy, Phoenix, etc.
answered 1 hour ago
manassehkatz
1,646216
1
Wow that looks really intriguing, and so ends my productivity for the rest of the day...
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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2 Answers
2
active
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active
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active
oldest
votes
Are there vintage or historical bitmapped fonts available for non-commercial use?
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white
bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Typefaces are not subject to copyright, at least in the US, so you can do what you want (again, in the US). Bitmapped representations are typefaces.
This is in contrast to "fonts" (such as TrueType), which are considered software that render typefaces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces discusses the different aspects in different countries.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or
even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks
black-and-white isn't.
These could be artifacts of you underlying display technology, especially for fonts, particularly today with modern high resolution screens. If you happened to have an actual bitmap of pixels in B&W that Just So Happen to look like letters, you would not necessarily be seeing those artifacts. Depends on how the graphics are actually rendered by the underlying software.
answered 1 hour ago
Will Hartung
3,543720
Thanks, thats a helpful clarification. I'm looking for something that may be used without geographic limitation, so I can't assume within the US but I can research further. fyi I've just asked elsewhere Why does some text on my laptop have gray-scale pixels and some have color pixels?
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Are there vintage or historical bitmapped fonts available for non-commercial use?
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white
bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Typefaces are not subject to copyright, at least in the US, so you can do what you want (again, in the US). Bitmapped representations are typefaces.
This is in contrast to "fonts" (such as TrueType), which are considered software that render typefaces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces discusses the different aspects in different countries.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or
even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks
black-and-white isn't.
These could be artifacts of you underlying display technology, especially for fonts, particularly today with modern high resolution screens. If you happened to have an actual bitmap of pixels in B&W that Just So Happen to look like letters, you would not necessarily be seeing those artifacts. Depends on how the graphics are actually rendered by the underlying software.
answered 1 hour ago
Will Hartung
3,543720
Thanks, thats a helpful clarification. I'm looking for something that may be used without geographic limitation, so I can't assume within the US but I can research further. fyi I've just asked elsewhere Why does some text on my laptop have gray-scale pixels and some have color pixels?
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Are there vintage or historical bitmapped fonts available for non-commercial use?
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white
bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Typefaces are not subject to copyright, at least in the US, so you can do what you want (again, in the US). Bitmapped representations are typefaces.
This is in contrast to "fonts" (such as TrueType), which are considered software that render typefaces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces discusses the different aspects in different countries.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or
even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks
black-and-white isn't.
These could be artifacts of you underlying display technology, especially for fonts, particularly today with modern high resolution screens. If you happened to have an actual bitmap of pixels in B&W that Just So Happen to look like letters, you would not necessarily be seeing those artifacts. Depends on how the graphics are actually rendered by the underlying software.
answered 1 hour ago
Will Hartung
3,543720
Are there vintage or historical bitmapped fonts available for non-commercial use?
I'm looking for a source for one or a few 1-bit black-or-white
bitmapped fonts used in the past, available in a set of sizes.
Typefaces are not subject to copyright, at least in the US, so you can do what you want (again, in the US). Bitmapped representations are typefaces.
This is in contrast to "fonts" (such as TrueType), which are considered software that render typefaces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces discusses the different aspects in different countries.
These days even black-and-white fonts are displayed using grayscale or
even color. Zoomed screenshots from my laptop showing that what looks
black-and-white isn't.
These could be artifacts of you underlying display technology, especially for fonts, particularly today with modern high resolution screens. If you happened to have an actual bitmap of pixels in B&W that Just So Happen to look like letters, you would not necessarily be seeing those artifacts. Depends on how the graphics are actually rendered by the underlying software.
answered 1 hour ago
Will Hartung
3,543720
answered 1 hour ago
Will Hartung
3,543720
answered 1 hour ago
Will Hartung
3,543720
answered 1 hour ago
Will Hartung
3,543720
3,543720
Thanks, thats a helpful clarification. I'm looking for something that may be used without geographic limitation, so I can't assume within the US but I can research further. fyi I've just asked elsewhere Why does some text on my laptop have gray-scale pixels and some have color pixels?
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Thanks, thats a helpful clarification. I'm looking for something that may be used without geographic limitation, so I can't assume within the US but I can research further. fyi I've just asked elsewhere Why does some text on my laptop have gray-scale pixels and some have color pixels?
– uhoh
1 hour ago
Thanks, thats a helpful clarification. I'm looking for something that may be used without geographic limitation, so I can't assume within the US but I can research further. fyi I've just asked elsewhere Why does some text on my laptop have gray-scale pixels and some have color pixels?
– uhoh
1 hour ago
Thanks, thats a helpful clarification. I'm looking for something that may be used without geographic limitation, so I can't assume within the US but I can research further. fyi I've just asked elsewhere Why does some text on my laptop have gray-scale pixels and some have color pixels?
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Try THE OLDSCHOOL PC FONT RESOURCE
Looks positively awesome to me. I started by looking for IBM MDA - the classic 9x14 font, and I found this site.
License is Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
I've downloaded the file. Zip contains all the fonts ready to install in Windows. You should be able to convert it to whatever you need, including actual bitmaps - I've done that in the past, though not lately.
This includes dozens of fonts - IBM CGA/EGA/MDA/VGA, ATI, Tandy, Phoenix, etc.
answered 1 hour ago
manassehkatz
1,646216
1
Wow that looks really intriguing, and so ends my productivity for the rest of the day...
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Try THE OLDSCHOOL PC FONT RESOURCE
Looks positively awesome to me. I started by looking for IBM MDA - the classic 9x14 font, and I found this site.
License is Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
I've downloaded the file. Zip contains all the fonts ready to install in Windows. You should be able to convert it to whatever you need, including actual bitmaps - I've done that in the past, though not lately.
This includes dozens of fonts - IBM CGA/EGA/MDA/VGA, ATI, Tandy, Phoenix, etc.
answered 1 hour ago
manassehkatz
1,646216
1
Wow that looks really intriguing, and so ends my productivity for the rest of the day...
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Try THE OLDSCHOOL PC FONT RESOURCE
Looks positively awesome to me. I started by looking for IBM MDA - the classic 9x14 font, and I found this site.
License is Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
I've downloaded the file. Zip contains all the fonts ready to install in Windows. You should be able to convert it to whatever you need, including actual bitmaps - I've done that in the past, though not lately.
This includes dozens of fonts - IBM CGA/EGA/MDA/VGA, ATI, Tandy, Phoenix, etc.
answered 1 hour ago
manassehkatz
1,646216
Try THE OLDSCHOOL PC FONT RESOURCE
Looks positively awesome to me. I started by looking for IBM MDA - the classic 9x14 font, and I found this site.
License is Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
I've downloaded the file. Zip contains all the fonts ready to install in Windows. You should be able to convert it to whatever you need, including actual bitmaps - I've done that in the past, though not lately.
This includes dozens of fonts - IBM CGA/EGA/MDA/VGA, ATI, Tandy, Phoenix, etc.
answered 1 hour ago
manassehkatz
1,646216
edited 1 hour ago
answered 1 hour ago
manassehkatz
1,646216
answered 1 hour ago
manassehkatz
1,646216
answered 1 hour ago
manassehkatz
1,646216
1,646216
1
Wow that looks really intriguing, and so ends my productivity for the rest of the day...
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
1
Wow that looks really intriguing, and so ends my productivity for the rest of the day...
– uhoh
1 hour ago
1
1
Wow that looks really intriguing, and so ends my productivity for the rest of the day...
– uhoh
1 hour ago
Wow that looks really intriguing, and so ends my productivity for the rest of the day...
– uhoh
1 hour ago
add a comment |
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1
Reminds me of the HD44780 LCD font which I found here: fonts2u.com/hd44780-regular.font
– LawrenceC
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC yes that's definitely the right idea, thanks, but 7 pixels tall is too short for me. It's probably very similar to the "default" font that PIL has already. I'm using thresholded TTFs because I can specify a fontsize first.
– uhoh
2 hours ago
@LawrenceC but you did get me thinking that I could just over-sample a 7-pixel tall font and display at 14 pixels, thanks x2!
– uhoh
1 hour ago