3 ms·

At least on home computers connected to crappy TVs via composite or coax, uppercase characters are almost certainly more readable than lower case characters jus

At least on home computers connected to crappy TVs via composite or coax, uppercase characters are almost certainly more readable than lower case characters just because uppercase characters use more pixels of an 8x8 pixel matrix. Also uppercase was also standard on Eastern European computers, and I doubt they cared whether they could spell GOD all uppercase ;)

cf1241290841 3y ago
>of an 8x8 pixel matrix. Some examples of the time (often 7x8) https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Fonts https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Fonts Another open source example for 8x8 and 8x16 is GNU Unifont You can go down to 5x5 for upper case while still being readable https://www.dafont.com/5x5-pixel.font https://www.dafont.com/5x5-pixel.font Looked at the topic in the context of silk screen printing with normal steel mesh.
xsmasher 3y ago
Thank you! All of this talk about teletypes, no one is mentioning how hard it would be to draw lowercase letters, monospaced, in an 8x8 grid.
- colanderman 3y ago
  The Apple //e did just fine with 7×8 character grid. Even had descenders: https://urbanfonts-files.s3.amazonaws.com/samples/12479/b8bd44f2ebdba8cd7d89ba1cf403fd6c.jpg https://urbanfonts-files.s3.amazonaws.com/samples/12479/b8bd...
- tdeck 3y ago
  Because almost all the early home computers supported lowercase. https://damieng.com/blog/2011/02/20/typography-in-8-bits-system-fonts/ https://damieng.com/blog/2011/02/20/typography-in-8-bits-sys... The only notable exception I can think of is the ZX-80/81 which had notoriously rudimentary output capabilities because it was designed to be so cheap.
  - flohofwoe 3y ago
    The KC85/2 (https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc852.html https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc852.html) also only supported uppercase, AFAIK mainly because there wasn't enough room left in ROM for the lowercase characters. The followup model KC85/3 (https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc853.html https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc853.html) added the lowercase characters though, and the KC85/4 changed the font for better readability (but IMHO aesthetically less pleasing than the KC85/3 font): https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc854.html https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc854.html ...and when connecting such a machine to a TV via antenna input, reading the KC85/3 lowercase characters was indeed a bit of guesswork.
    - tdeck 3y ago
      Wow, an old computer I've never heard of before. I love it!

cf1241290841 3y ago

>of an 8x8 pixel matrix. Some examples of the time (often 7x8) https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Fonts https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Fonts Another open source example for 8x8 and 8x16 is GNU Unifont You can go down to 5x5 for upper case while still being readable https://www.dafont.com/5x5-pixel.font https://www.dafont.com/5x5-pixel.font Looked at the topic in the context of silk screen printing with normal steel mesh.

xsmasher 3y ago

Thank you! All of this talk about teletypes, no one is mentioning how hard it would be to draw lowercase letters, monospaced, in an 8x8 grid.

colanderman 3y ago
The Apple //e did just fine with 7×8 character grid. Even had descenders: https://urbanfonts-files.s3.amazonaws.com/samples/12479/b8bd44f2ebdba8cd7d89ba1cf403fd6c.jpg https://urbanfonts-files.s3.amazonaws.com/samples/12479/b8bd...
tdeck 3y ago
Because almost all the early home computers supported lowercase. https://damieng.com/blog/2011/02/20/typography-in-8-bits-system-fonts/ https://damieng.com/blog/2011/02/20/typography-in-8-bits-sys... The only notable exception I can think of is the ZX-80/81 which had notoriously rudimentary output capabilities because it was designed to be so cheap.
- flohofwoe 3y ago
  The KC85/2 (https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc852.html https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc852.html) also only supported uppercase, AFAIK mainly because there wasn't enough room left in ROM for the lowercase characters. The followup model KC85/3 (https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc853.html https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc853.html) added the lowercase characters though, and the KC85/4 changed the font for better readability (but IMHO aesthetically less pleasing than the KC85/3 font): https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc854.html https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc854.html ...and when connecting such a machine to a TV via antenna input, reading the KC85/3 lowercase characters was indeed a bit of guesswork.
  - tdeck 3y ago
    Wow, an old computer I've never heard of before. I love it!