Hacking with Style: TrueType VT220 Font (2009)

by grae_QEDon 3/1/2023, 10:16 PMwith 33 comments

by dmdon 3/1/2023, 11:24 PM

A lot more information here, including how the phosphor decay is part of the font and you won't get the right appearance if you don't take it into account: https://www.masswerk.at/nowgobang/2019/dec-crt-typography

by nickdothuttonon 3/1/2023, 10:57 PM

My formative years at uni were spent on VT320s, the smell of hot dust on CRT, the tick, tick, key click sound, the subtle off-white colouring, the tasteful thickness of it…

by chasilon 3/2/2023, 1:52 AM

MAME will actually emulate a VT240.

We spend a bundle, both on Charon VAX emulation and Bluezone Rocket terminal emulation. We used to run the Reflections terminal emulator, but that is up to $500/seat.

I was actually looking for a functional UTS-20 emulator for our OS2200, but that is another story.

MAME will tie the rs232 to an outgoing socket, and I ran it over stunnel to login to my VAX VMS.

It was a really slow Friday.

by naikrovekon 3/2/2023, 3:29 AM

Pro tip for people who make fonts:

if you have a webpage for the font, include quality, high resolution pictures of the font.

by spindleon 3/2/2023, 12:45 AM

Fans of this might enjoy https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term

by mrlonglongon 3/1/2023, 10:52 PM

I use this font all the time with my gnome terminal set at 132x43 to remind me of my good times with OpenVMS using a VT220.

by bitwizeon 3/1/2023, 10:57 PM

I used to love this font but the fake scanline effect was eyehurty after a while. DEC Terminal Modern is the same font with a nice vector look that won't interfere with the scanlines when you use it in cool-retro-term.

by epilyson 3/2/2023, 12:23 AM

Here's how to do the same thing in Fontforge (with .otf file ready for download) https://gist.github.com/epilys/95869773037d3d2235d324bd5a048...

by johneaon 3/2/2023, 12:22 AM

I built it into a package for arch AUR, then when I loooked at it, I have to agree. The scan lines built into the font are not desirable.

I installed the DEC Terminal Modern package 8-/

Cool notes on the rendering process by the author though...

by stkaion 3/2/2023, 3:53 AM

I installed this font, set my default foreground color to #FDDF7D, and am feeling like I've transported back to 1984.

by ggmon 3/2/2023, 9:45 AM

You need something to emulate flyback whine. Which I can't hear any more having old ears.

Maybe a bit of horizontal hold wobble too

by kreelmanon 3/1/2023, 10:49 PM

Neat. It does look just like the font I had on that terminal.... back in the day.

There's some interesting design in it.

by beej71on 3/3/2023, 4:55 PM

De Anza College in the early 1990s--we had quite a few VT220s. Super nostalgia...

by jpl56on 3/2/2023, 2:40 PM

Thanks! Just installed the font.

Next time I need to email a SQL query, I will use it <3

by woefblaf123on 3/2/2023, 10:34 AM

Nice font but I wish it didn't consist of lines like that.