Mastodawn

No one expects the QuickDraw GX inquisition. #MARCHintosh

@billgoats There was a great QuickDraw GX font called Jam I used to love - a sort of worn typewriter effect.

I think I converted it into a plain TrueType font using Fontographer or one of the dev tools at the time, but even if I did, the only backup is on a Zip disk, and I’ve no Zip drive.

There’s now an exciting quest that lies ahead of me in terms of tracking down lots of obscure software and emulators - the grand prize being, in retrospect, what transpires to be a rather mundane font. 🤔

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Grant Hutchinson 3d ago

@middaparka @billgoats Jam was designed by Erik van Blokland (@letterror) and was known for its implementation of GX variations. It currently lives on in the form of the variable typeface “Neither Confirm Nor Deny”.

https://letterror.com/ncnd/

LTR NCND: Neither Confirm Nor Deny! A smoothly interpolating, textured variable font. at LettError.com

A smoothly interpolating textures variable font

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Grant Hutchinson 3d ago

@middaparka @billgoats A bit more backstory on the NCND FAQ page:

https://letterror.com/ncnd/faq.html

LTR NCND: Neither Confirm Nor Deny! Frequently Asked Questions. at LettError.com

A smoothly interpolating textured variable font

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Erik 3d ago

@splorp @middaparka @billgoats I think I have a copy of Jam somewhere if you want. GX was great and way ahead of anything else at the time. It did some things that even the current variable fonts can’t reach.

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Christian Kent 𝘊𝘒 :＼﹥

@letterror @splorp @middaparka @billgoats I was about to bring that up — surely the original font is pushing beyond the limits of our current technology

But now I’m thinking of the “San Francisco” font announcement a few WWDCs ago, and the plethora variant sizes and weights built into a single face & file … and wondering:

Have we eclipsed TrueType GX yet?

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Christian Kent 𝘊𝘒 :＼﹥1d ago

@letterror @splorp @middaparka @billgoats (if not, I think it may be time for a Super Specification to at least describe, if not implement, all the abilities … last year I did a deep dive into the Windows 2.x vector fonts, which nobody remembers let alone implements anymore …)

Then there’s the more basic specs like “how do we spec that a bitmap font is supposed to be 2:1 aspect ratio?” I do love the Apple Shaston font, for being a loving implementation to be aesthetic in spite of the cruel limitations of 200-line video from the days of non-interlaced SD CRT video. It’s a better solution than the 5 minutes spent designing the CGA font, for example.

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Grant Hutchinson 1d ago

@whophd You mind find this project of interest.

https://github.com/robhagemans/hoard-of-bitfonts

GitHub - robhagemans/hoard-of-bitfonts: turns out I like bitmap fonts

turns out I like bitmap fonts. Contribute to robhagemans/hoard-of-bitfonts development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub