I hadn't looked at the actual differences between Hizalev's upgrade and the original (or Steve's version) but I wasn't suggesting that we actually use it; I just thought that in case you weren't aware of his version (and a couple of others) the font set he used and the way he implemented it might give some ideas to folks like you who are working on a clearer and more attractive character set than Geoff Graham's (among other enhancements).
Looking forward to the new and improved version! m On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 5:09 PM Jim Anderson <[email protected]> wrote: > There’s a couple of problems. For one, Peter Hizalev’s version of the > board uses a higher model of PIC and I’m not sure if the one used in the > MVT100 design is up to the task (Stephen and I had discussed going down > this path at some point). I just tried flashing Peter’s .hex file into my > MVT100 and that was a no-go – the LED didn’t illuminate and no video output > was produced. (I tried v3.0.2 and v2.0.2 whose file size was more in line > with the .hex file for this version of the board, but both produced the > same non-result.) > > > > I really don’t know enough about these devices or the MPLAB toolkit to say > what would be involved in compiling Peter’s source to run on this PIC, not > to mention whether it has the resources to run Peter’s code. On top of > that, his version of the board doesn’t have composite video output or baud > rate jumpers, so those features would be lost unless someone with more > skills than I have put that code back. Not to mention, the M100 extra > escape codes would need to be added and the 128-255 characters from the > M100/DVI character set would need to be converted. > > > > It's probably not impossible, but it’s definitely not a task I’m cut out > for. :) > > > > I think the improvements I’m making will help quite a bit. The original > Geoff Graham design used a 6x12 font which was actually 5x10 if you > subtract buffer space. Of that, most characters only occupied 5x7 pixels > and the rest was reserved for descenders and buffer space. Then, in > 24-line mode it would scale up to 6x18 by simply repeating every other > scanline. This made a bit of a mess of the characters, which I’m guessing > had led Geoff to some compromises in the character shapes to minimize the > negative side-effect of the scaling. > > > > I’m re-drawing the characters as 6x18 (while still retaining the 6x12 > character bitmaps for the code to use in 36-line mode) so a normal capital > letter would occupy 5x11 pixels with up to 4 pixels available for > descenders. I was hand-scaling the original Geoff Graham character shapes > (except for my improved 6, 9, and Q) but then had the idea to look at the > real DVI font to see if it has more pleasing character shapes. At the very > least, it’s more authentic to the MVT100’s purpose. :) > > > > (Note: if the DVI characters are horrible, I may just stick with Geoff’s > characters. In all likelihood, I will probably end up with two full > character sets, and in that case I guess people could choose to burn a .hex > file with the DVI-inspired font or the Geoff-inspired font...) > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > jim > > > > *From:* M100 [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Mike > Stein > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 27, 2021 12:53 > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [M100] DVI character set > > > > *CAUTION External Sender:* Do not click links or open attachments unless > you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. > > > > Just thought since all the source files are there it might be helpful if > you're also changing the MVT character set. > > > > On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 2:25 PM Stephen Adolph <[email protected]> > wrote: > > thanks Mike, similar motivations for sure. The other part of it is that > the M100 DVI character set is unique and related to the M100. So, thinking > to both improve it and change the character set to "M100 style". > > > > > > On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 2:21 PM Mike Stein <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://github.com/petrohi/terminal/tree/master/firmware/Terminal.X > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fpetrohi%2Fterminal%2Ftree%2Fmaster%2Ffirmware%2FTerminal.X&data=04%7C01%7CJim.Anderson%40kpu.ca%7C87a9dab7855f472c06be08d8c3059ece%7C66b9f62d3042495eaab6db86f21500c0%7C0%7C0%7C637473776195987532%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=HRdKEMW9C46NhL10V2dKM%2BWOeXPTEd%2BnHiT8wDF7Sg8%3D&reserved=0> > > > > "The updated Version 2 is a huge improvement to the display and character > generation. It results in an easier to read and much clearer display. " > > > > On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 1:05 PM Stephen Adolph <[email protected]> > wrote: > > looks like 8x8 characters, 2KB total. > > > > On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 12:00 PM Stephen Adolph <[email protected]> > wrote: > > super cool thanks for the quick turn! > > Steve > > > > On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 11:52 AM Brian K. White <[email protected]> > wrote: > > On 1/26/21 10:42 PM, Stephen Adolph wrote: > > Hey DVI owners, > > > > Would someone mind doing a bit if information mining? > > > > I would love to get the font bitmap for the DVI. Jim Anderson is > > working on improvements to MVT100 firmware and it would be cool to copy > > and use these fonts. > > > > It is stored in a 4 K eprom M17. So I am wondering if someone could > > pull the chip and read the eprom data? > > > > Thanks > > Steve > > > > Here ya go > > > https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yqVh_mj5vtBJhYng-Uitvsjnykq0Knnt?usp=sharing > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fdrive%2Ffolders%2F1yqVh_mj5vtBJhYng-Uitvsjnykq0Knnt%3Fusp%3Dsharing&data=04%7C01%7CJim.Anderson%40kpu.ca%7C87a9dab7855f472c06be08d8c3059ece%7C66b9f62d3042495eaab6db86f21500c0%7C0%7C0%7C637473776195997520%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=mlFvo8%2FaD1i88l0lX%2BWw%2FB2uFVkxd5HCoe04wp5Cx0U%3D&reserved=0> > > I have 2 units and dumped them both and they were identical. > > M40 is labelled "P" (program?) > M17 is labelled "CG" (character generator?) > > -- > bkw > >
