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Is there an easy way to use that DOS style font on Linux in something like Midnight Commander viewer or neovim? I like that font for binary files, it's more di

by shmerl 3y ago

Is there an easy way to use that DOS style font on Linux in something like Midnight Commander viewer or neovim? I like that font for binary files, it's more distinct than having a bunch of ? symbols for bytes 0-31.

Brian_K_White 3y ago
For displaying 0-31 in programs and scripts of my own, I add 64 and display that in inverse video. The resulting glyph is the letter from the matching CTRL or ^ notation for that byte, but in a single character cell, and still distinct from a byte containing that letter. So for instance, a NUL is value 0, which is CTRL+@ or ^@ But displaying ^@ screws up formatting, and displaying @ collides with byte value 64. Inverse video @ solves both, and doesn't need any special font. I do the same for DEL which is 127 displayed as inverse ?, but the ? is meaningful and adheres to the same rule because it's literally ^? not a placeholder for "no glyph" or "non-printing control byte" Doesn't help you with configuring an editor but just describing a way to display those undisplayable bytes in a way that is actually meaningful & unambiguous and without caring what the font or even terminal type is. (ei: works the same in BASIC on a TRS-80 Model 100 or in bash on a xterm, or in c on windows, etc).
- shmerl 3y ago
  I'd prefer that font, since it's succinct and expressive. Each byte from 0-31 just has a unique symbol. Here is an example of the font: https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/fontlist/font?ibm_vga_8x16 https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/fontlist/font?ibm_vga_... But simply switching to that font in something like Konsole doesn't seem to be enough.
  - Brian_K_White 3y ago
    I know what the font looks like, and I already said this doesn't help with configuring an editor. I wasn't trying to tell you to do anything or not do anything.
- tedunangst 3y ago
  Another approach on many terminals would be to add 96 and use the DEC special charset. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Special_Graphics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Special_Graphics
  - shmerl 3y ago
    So is there a way to use the IMB style font, or it's impossible?
    - tedunangst 3y ago
      It's a font. Lots of programs can use fonts. If you want to change your terminal so that it prints a character instead of moving the cursor when it sees \r, good luck.
- lifthrasiir 3y ago
  Unicode control pictures [1] are yet another alternative if you have a reasonable Unicode font and care more about reproducibility (e.g. formats can't be copied and pasted easily). In fact, monospace fonts with control pictures represented by those inverted glyphs would be the best of both worlds! There is no reason that their reference glyphs should be exactly replicated, after all. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Pictures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Pictures

by shmerl 3y ago

Brian_K_White 3y ago

For displaying 0-31 in programs and scripts of my own, I add 64 and display that in inverse video. The resulting glyph is the letter from the matching CTRL or ^ notation for that byte, but in a single character cell, and still distinct from a byte containing that letter. So for instance, a NUL is value 0, which is CTRL+@ or ^@ But displaying ^@ screws up formatting, and displaying @ collides with byte value 64. Inverse video @ solves both, and doesn't need any special font. I do the same for DEL which is 127 displayed as inverse ?, but the ? is meaningful and adheres to the same rule because it's literally ^? not a placeholder for "no glyph" or "non-printing control byte" Doesn't help you with configuring an editor but just describing a way to display those undisplayable bytes in a way that is actually meaningful & unambiguous and without caring what the font or even terminal type is. (ei: works the same in BASIC on a TRS-80 Model 100 or in bash on a xterm, or in c on windows, etc).

shmerl 3y ago
I'd prefer that font, since it's succinct and expressive. Each byte from 0-31 just has a unique symbol. Here is an example of the font: https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/fontlist/font?ibm_vga_8x16 https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/fontlist/font?ibm_vga_... But simply switching to that font in something like Konsole doesn't seem to be enough.
- Brian_K_White 3y ago
  I know what the font looks like, and I already said this doesn't help with configuring an editor. I wasn't trying to tell you to do anything or not do anything.
tedunangst 3y ago
Another approach on many terminals would be to add 96 and use the DEC special charset. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Special_Graphics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Special_Graphics
- shmerl 3y ago
  So is there a way to use the IMB style font, or it's impossible?
  - tedunangst 3y ago
    It's a font. Lots of programs can use fonts. If you want to change your terminal so that it prints a character instead of moving the cursor when it sees \r, good luck.
lifthrasiir 3y ago
Unicode control pictures [1] are yet another alternative if you have a reasonable Unicode font and care more about reproducibility (e.g. formats can't be copied and pasted easily). In fact, monospace fonts with control pictures represented by those inverted glyphs would be the best of both worlds! There is no reason that their reference glyphs should be exactly replicated, after all. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Pictures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Pictures