4 ms·

Something I was wondering while reading the article: why? Why would you create a 8x19 font if you already have a 8x16 don't? The answer is: so that you can use

Something I was wondering while reading the article: why? Why would you create a 8x19 font if you already have a 8x16 don't? The answer is: so that you can use a standard 640x480 VGA resolution instead of of 640x400 to display 25 lines of text.

fredoralive 1y ago
Of course that asks the question of why use the graphics mode for text, which I would suspect was simply to show the seemingly obligatory Energy Star logo, but these Intel boards don’t have it.
- bananaboy 1y ago
  This apparently was a text mode not a graphics mode. It would have been a tweaked text mode since the standard mode 3 text mode that you can set via int 10h is 720x400. The energy star logo was also displayed in text modes - by using custom font glyphs!
- michalpleban 1y ago
  It's not a graphics mode. It is just a resolution from the graphics mode, repurposed for the text mode. The reason possibly being the 640x480 resolution is universally supported while 720x400 is not - for example my HDMI TV can still display 640x480.
  - bananaboy 1y ago
    CRTs were still commonplace though based on the bios dates in the blog. So 720x400 would still have been well supported. It’s strange that they did this!
    - the-rc 1y ago
      Unlike CRT screens, LCD ones from that time had usually a fixed resolution and wouldn't resize the image on the fly.
- martijnvds 1y ago
  The Energy Star logo tended to be made up of custom characters in text mode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHGKanqO6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHGKanqO6s
  - pwdisswordfishz 1y ago
    Later versions used true bitmaps, though. http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Award_BIOS_logo http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Award_BIOS_logo
jefftk 1y ago
I'm still confused: why not stick with 8x16 and go from 25 to 30 lines of text? Is it that you need to support both 640x480 and 640x400?
- spogbiper 1y ago
  There was a long legacy of using 80x25 and lots of software that would assume this layout. I think that comes from an even older legacy of dumb terminals such as the VT100 that used 80x24 plus one line for a status line. BTW 80 columns comes from an even older legacy of IBM punch cards having 80 columns. Basically, anything that wasn't 80x25 was going to break a lot of things
  - f1shy 1y ago
    And the 80 columns come (losely) from a still older standard in typography, of about 70 characters per line, found empirically as a good size for a line. Even today is good design practice in UI, Web and books to stick to 60 to 80 CPL.
    - aardvark179 1y ago
      The reason for it in terminals is much more directly linked to the IBM punched card format.
- michalpleban 1y ago
  Because 80x25 uses 4kB of RAM (one byte for character + another byte for attributes) whereas 80x30 would grow beyond 4kB so you would need 8kB. Maybe not a big deal in a VGA card, but everything was standardized on 80x25 from the olden days of MDA/CGA which had little video memory, so a lot of software expected that. Plus, making the characters shorter would make them also a bit less legible.
  - f1shy 1y ago
    And maybe cost also? Not sure, but back in the days maybe 4kB more would have a noticeable (albeit I do not think extrem) effect on final price.

fredoralive 1y ago

Of course that asks the question of why use the graphics mode for text, which I would suspect was simply to show the seemingly obligatory Energy Star logo, but these Intel boards don’t have it.

bananaboy 1y ago
This apparently was a text mode not a graphics mode. It would have been a tweaked text mode since the standard mode 3 text mode that you can set via int 10h is 720x400. The energy star logo was also displayed in text modes - by using custom font glyphs!
michalpleban 1y ago
It's not a graphics mode. It is just a resolution from the graphics mode, repurposed for the text mode. The reason possibly being the 640x480 resolution is universally supported while 720x400 is not - for example my HDMI TV can still display 640x480.
- bananaboy 1y ago
  CRTs were still commonplace though based on the bios dates in the blog. So 720x400 would still have been well supported. It’s strange that they did this!
  - the-rc 1y ago
    Unlike CRT screens, LCD ones from that time had usually a fixed resolution and wouldn't resize the image on the fly.
martijnvds 1y ago
The Energy Star logo tended to be made up of custom characters in text mode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHGKanqO6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHGKanqO6s
- pwdisswordfishz 1y ago
  Later versions used true bitmaps, though. http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Award_BIOS_logo http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Award_BIOS_logo

jefftk 1y ago

I'm still confused: why not stick with 8x16 and go from 25 to 30 lines of text? Is it that you need to support both 640x480 and 640x400?

spogbiper 1y ago
There was a long legacy of using 80x25 and lots of software that would assume this layout. I think that comes from an even older legacy of dumb terminals such as the VT100 that used 80x24 plus one line for a status line. BTW 80 columns comes from an even older legacy of IBM punch cards having 80 columns. Basically, anything that wasn't 80x25 was going to break a lot of things
- f1shy 1y ago
  And the 80 columns come (losely) from a still older standard in typography, of about 70 characters per line, found empirically as a good size for a line. Even today is good design practice in UI, Web and books to stick to 60 to 80 CPL.
  - aardvark179 1y ago
    The reason for it in terminals is much more directly linked to the IBM punched card format.
michalpleban 1y ago
Because 80x25 uses 4kB of RAM (one byte for character + another byte for attributes) whereas 80x30 would grow beyond 4kB so you would need 8kB. Maybe not a big deal in a VGA card, but everything was standardized on 80x25 from the olden days of MDA/CGA which had little video memory, so a lot of software expected that. Plus, making the characters shorter would make them also a bit less legible.
- f1shy 1y ago
  And maybe cost also? Not sure, but back in the days maybe 4kB more would have a noticeable (albeit I do not think extrem) effect on final price.