5 Jan
2023
5 Jan
'23
10:41 p.m.
I'm trying to figure out how to created and load a "soft character set"
into a vt220 terminal. These documents:
https://vt100.net/shuford/terminal/dec_vt220_codes.txt, and
https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/DECDLD.html, seem to talk about how to do
it, but I don't follow this well. I'm guessing the fonts are made up of
escape sequences. Then I guess they are loaded by simply printing them to
the terminal. If that's the case, where are the examples of such
sequences?
Playing around with vttest, there's an option to "Test Soft Character
Sets" in the "VT220 Tests" menu. But I get the error message "You did
not
specify a font-file with the -f option". Where can I find examples of
that file?
Putting these together, I'm guessing what vttest wants is a file
containing sequences described in those two documents. So, where do I go
from here?
--
David Griffith
dave(a)661.org
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
5 Jan
5 Jan
11:28 p.m.
You want to look at this manual.
https://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm
Vt100 doesn't support soft char sets but vt220 on does.
Wayne
On Jan 5, 2023, at 10:46 PM, David Griffith via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I'm trying to figure out how to created and load a "soft character set"
into a vt220 terminal. These documents:
https://vt100.net/shuford/terminal/dec_vt220_codes.txt, and
https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/DECDLD.html, seem to talk about how to do it, but I
don't follow this well. I'm guessing the fonts are made up of escape sequences.
Then I guess they are loaded by simply printing them to the terminal. If that's the
case, where are the examples of such sequences?
Playing around with vttest, there's an option to "Test Soft Character Sets"
in the "VT220 Tests" menu. But I get the error message "You did not
specify a font-file with the -f option". Where can I find examples of that file?
Putting these together, I'm guessing what vttest wants is a file containing sequences
described in those two documents. So, where do I go from here?
--
David Griffith
dave(a)661.org
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
6 Jan
6 Jan
12:58 a.m.
See here: https://vt100.net/dec/vt320/fonts
You simply type the files from the command prompt and the escape sequences
in the file tell the terminal to load the font data rather than display it
on the screen.
Mark.
On Fri, 6 Jan 2023 at 07:28, Wayne S via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
You want to look at this manual.
https://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm
Vt100 doesn't support soft char sets but vt220 on does.
Wayne
--
M0NOM/P <https://www.qrz.com/db/M0NOM/P> ADIF Processor
<https://bit.ly/adifproc>
On Jan 5, 2023, at 10:46 PM, David Griffith via
cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I'm trying to figure out how to created and load a "soft character set"
into a vt220 terminal. These documents:
https://vt100.net/shuford/terminal/dec_vt220_codes.txt, and
https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/DECDLD.html, seem to talk about how to do
it, but I don't follow this well. I'm guessing the fonts are made up of
escape sequences. Then I guess they are loaded by simply printing them to
the terminal. If that's the case, where are the examples of such sequences?
Playing around with vttest, there's an option to "Test Soft Character
Sets" in the "VT220 Tests" menu. But I get the error message
"You did not
specify a font-file with the -f option". Where can I find examples of that
file?
Putting these together, I'm guessing what vttest wants is a file
containing sequences described in those two documents. So, where do I go
from here?
--
David Griffith
dave(a)661.org
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
6:14 a.m.
On Jan 6, 2023, at 2:28 AM, Wayne S via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
You want to look at this manual.
https://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm
Vt100 doesn't support soft char sets but vt220 on does.
Or here:
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/standards/EL-SM070-00_DEC_STD_070_Video_System…
<http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/standards/EL-SM070-00_DEC_STD_070_Video_Systems_Reference_Manual_Dec91.pdf>
which is the DEC internal standard for VT200 and later series terminals, as a common
architecture for input and output encodings. I used that to implement VT220 emulation on
a Pro; as with various other DEC standards, the document is of such high quality that if
you do what it says, things just work. (That, unfortunately, is not the standard of
quality for most standards in other parts of the industry.)
paul
1:34 a.m.
David Griffith wrote:
I'm trying to figure out how to created and load a
"soft character
set" into a vt220 terminal.
I have successfully done that with a real VT220. Here are some .txt
files with samples. They upload a custom font and arrange characters on
screen to display a picture. The Emacs Lisp code does the conversion.
https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/sixel
8:40 a.m.
On 1/6/23 2:34 AM, Lars Brinkhoff via cctalk wrote:
I have successfully done that with a real VT220. Here
are some .txt
files with samples. They upload a custom font and arrange characters on
screen to display a picture. The Emacs Lisp code does the conversion.
https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/sixel
The naming of the git repository confused me a bit. I needed more
coffee and time to realize that this is more about soft fonts (the
thread subject) than it is about Sixel graphics.
Unfortunately the version of XTerm that I'm using apparently doesn't
support soft fonts. So I don't get to see the pictures.
Aside: Would you please take a picture of some of the output from the
samples on a VT220 or other soft font supporting terminal (emulator) so
those of us under equipped can enjoy them too?
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
10:39 a.m.
Grant Taylor wrote:
The naming of the git repository confused me
a bit. I needed more
coffee and time to realize that this is more about soft fonts (the
thread subject) than it is about Sixel graphics.
It started with an idea about sixel graphics, but I repurposed it.
VT220 (and followups) use sixels for soft fonts.
Aside: Would you please take a picture of some of the
output from the
samples on a VT220 or other soft font supporting terminal (emulator)
so those of us under equipped can enjoy them too?
I'm not aware of any terminal emulator with such support.
I don't have my terminal available right now, but here's a photo I
took: https://twitter.com/larsbrinkhoff/status/1187649036368658432
But apparently you saw that already!
7:24 p.m.
On 1/6/23 11:39 AM, Lars Brinkhoff via cctalk wrote:
It started with an idea about sixel graphics, but I
repurposed it.
Ah. That makes sense.
VT220 (and followups) use sixels for soft fonts.
Interesting.
I've done some with Sixel, more than most, less than some, but my XTerm,
which does support Sixel, didn't do anything with your samples except
for the one Sixel file.
I'm not that surprised that soft fonts are (re)using Sixel. That sort
of makes sense. I suspect that means that XTerm could support soft
fonts if some minor changes were made to re-use it's existing Sixel support.
I'm not aware of any terminal emulator with such
support.
ACK
I don't have my terminal available right now, but
here's a photo I
took: https://twitter.com/larsbrinkhoff/status/1187649036368658432
Thank you for that picture.
But apparently you saw that already!
Nope. But I have now. :-)
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
7 Jan
7 Jan
12:04 a.m.
Grant Taylor wrote:
Oh, isn't this you?
https://twitter.com/DrScriptt/status/1187958760901414913
I'm not that surprised that soft fonts are
(re)using Sixel.
Maybe the other way around. I don't really know what the timeline was,
but it seems to me maybe soft fonts came first, with the VT220. The
VT240 had sixel graphics, right? But I'm guessing it came later. As
would the VT340.
I suspect that means that XTerm could support soft
fonts if some minor
changes were made to re-use it's existing Sixel support.
Probably. I had the good fortune to meet the person who first added
sixel graphics to XTerm, and he mentioned it is on his to-do list.
It would also be interesting to make a faithful VT220 emulator that runs
the original ROMs.
But apparently
you saw that already!
Nope. But I have now. :-) 
6:34 a.m.
On Sat, Jan 7, 2023, 1:04 AM Lars Brinkhoff via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Grant Taylor wrote:
Vt240 had graphics. But the LA50 also had sixel graphics, as did the vt125.
Regis graphics was built on sixels :)
Warner
I'm not that surprised that soft fonts are
(re)using Sixel.
Maybe the other way around. I don't really know what the timeline was,
but it seems to me maybe soft fonts came first, with the VT220. The
VT240 had sixel graphics, right? But I'm guessing it came later. As
would the VT340.
I suspect that means that XTerm could support soft
fonts if some minor
Oh, isn't this you?
https://twitter.com/DrScriptt/status/1187958760901414913
changes were made to re-use it's existing
Sixel support.
Probably. I had the good fortune to meet the person who first added
sixel graphics to XTerm, and he mentioned it is on his to-do list.
It would also be interesting to make a faithful VT220 emulator that runs
the original ROMs.
But
apparently you saw that already!
Nope. But I have now. :-)
10:13 a.m.
On 1/7/23 1:04 AM, Lars Brinkhoff via cctalk wrote:
Maybe the other way around. I don't really know
what the timeline
was, but it seems to me maybe soft fonts came first, with the VT220.
The VT240 had sixel graphics, right? But I'm guessing it came later.
As would the VT340.
ACK
Probably. I had the good fortune to meet the person
who first added
sixel graphics to XTerm, and he mentioned it is on his to-do list.
Nice!
It would also be interesting to make a faithful VT220
emulator that
runs the original ROMs.
Something to look into.
Oh, isn't this you?
https://twitter.com/DrScriptt/status/1187958760901414913
Yes, that's me.
I took your statement to be that I knew / had seen your bird soft font
shape. I had not. I have not done anything with soft fonts.
Yes, I have done more than the average bear with Sixel and ReGIS.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
480
days inactive
481
days old
11 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
-
David Griffith -
Grant Taylor -
Lars Brinkhoff -
Mark Wickens -
Paul Flo Williams -
Paul Koning -
Warner Losh -
Wayne S