Damien Guard

Software engineer, font nerd, gamer and dad in Guernsey. ❤️ ☮️

Website: https://damieng.com
GitHub: https://github.com/damieng/

Last Notes

2025-12-10 12:54:49 UTC

Oh dear the entire https://www.lyonlabs.org site is offline *and* excluded from archive.org.
It's a massive archive of vintage and modern GEOS and C64 material a lot of it seemingly not found elsewhere.

2025-12-07 09:21:59 UTC

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In R you see from bottom left the pixels go:
111111 001001 011001 100110
Which matches the octal when you go in this order, lower to higher bits.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/677/544/799/717/248/original/8d3c9851b1bcf9d0.png

2025-12-07 09:19:57 UTC

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So if you convert the octal to binary and then run up from bottom left...
e.g. R is 4477 3146 which gives 100100111111 011001100110
Going up from the bottom left of the R vertifcally it matches providing you start from the lower bits and progress to the upper bits.

2025-01-27 14:52:24 UTC

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I'm all for playing in the right aspect ratio but I think screenshots need to be pixel-accurate renditions rather than somebody's idea of interpolation.
So many ruined upscaled/rescaled screenshots online.

2025-01-14 09:08:33 UTC

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Perhaps @npub1rwq…04q5 has a graphical dump of the 132 column mode font?
Or even some information on the compression or source used to extract the 80 column we could repurpose?

2025-01-13 23:38:19 UTC

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While it does that on the Archimedes, BBC Micro, Amiga and Atari ST the VT320 does seem to contain a different ROM for 132 column mode.
It's actually quite close to the BBC Micro font (not the Mode 7 Teletext/Mullard SAA font).
Here's a starting point based on me squinting at the ROM image:
https://fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/2607771/bbc-micro-7-3

2025-01-13 23:05:43 UTC

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Hmm, weird how that page skips over any mention of the 132-character font and how it's stored.
A quick peek into the VT320 ROM with binxelview got me this as a starting point:
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/823/549/997/750/955/original/8dcd44c1d1bb14cc.png

2024-12-19 14:45:13 UTC

8x8 Font Advent Calendar 2024 Day 19
Rugrats: Time Travelers
This 1999 Game Boy Color game was based on the Nickelodeon kids TV show Rugrats and created by UK software firm Software Creations.
It features a fun, friendly, yet readable font that works very well in the constrained grid.
https://download.damieng.com/fonts/conversions/Rugrats+Time+Travelers.zip
#adventoffonts #bitmapfont
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/680/015/682/851/183/original/d7799f333153cfd5.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/680/015/910/155/176/original/481e32b597eaa8ab.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/680/019/632/394/627/original/060b72b558e8bf1c.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/680/019/827/497/908/original/4b798e978e110be1.png

2024-12-18 17:08:15 UTC

8x8 Font Advent Calendar 2024 Day 18
Tanzanite
The Amiga was the first machine I had where fonts were no longer constrained into 8x8 pixels. I played with FED on the Workbench 1.3 extras disk for quite a while!
Here's a small tribute to Garnet, Ruby and Emerald!
https://download.damieng.com/fonts/zx-origins/Tanzanite.zip
#adventoffonts #pixelfont #amiga
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/674/913/122/295/197/original/636f877fd79f61ce.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/674/915/321/025/024/original/8187d65a27d37b3f.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/674/915/321/487/785/original/dea8338c7dab71cf.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/674/915/321/363/995/original/11d8159b5ab499d1.png

2024-12-17 21:49:32 UTC

8x8 Font Advent Calendar 2024 Day 17
Chylos
GEOS is a massively underappreciated piece of computing history providing usable Mac-like UI on 8-bit machines with a fraction of the available power.
It was also home to many great proportional and varied-sized bitmap fonts including this absolute gem found tucked away in a Glenn Holmer's "Cenbe Font Catalog" PDF.
I couldn't find any information beyond this such as the designer.
https://download.damieng.com/fonts/conversions/Chylos.zip
#adventoffonts #bitmapfont #geos
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/670/361/787/565/059/original/98e04678a833894c.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/670/361/978/543/584/original/020261b5303948bb.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/670/362/144/180/959/original/096bda9989ae65ba.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/670/362/315/082/824/original/a3b76e0e6cd64e89.png

2024-12-13 13:32:22 UTC

8x8 Font Advent Calendar 2024 Day 13
Delphine
French software house Delphine produced some fine games in their time from point 'n click classics to rotoscoped cutting-edge platformers.
This bumper pack contains 4 fonts.
A neat wide sans from Future Wars/Operation Stealth....
a high-contrast art-deco from Future Wars...
and a striking bold font from the Genesis version of Shaq Fu!
https://download.damieng.com/fonts/conversions/Delphine.zip
#adventoffonts #pixelfont #sega #amiga
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/645/757/526/524/155/original/f2b719986a4f2786.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/645/757/528/675/218/original/985574d066e4dcdc.png
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https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/645/757/550/595/887/original/3d8d3cf7803e7ac3.png

2024-12-10 16:19:53 UTC

8x8 Font Advent Calendar 2024 Day 10
Patrol
A new and original compact and aggressive font with cut-outs, unexpected serifs, and a full lower-case all available in three weights!
https://download.damieng.com/fonts/zx-origins/Patrol.zip
#adventoffonts #pixelfont #pixelart
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/629/431/678/968/037/original/86c5f33d45dc481a.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/629/431/678/720/774/original/e20b1dda4c61e1f7.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/629/431/686/445/740/original/995d068151e546ab.png

2024-12-08 16:45:14 UTC

8x8 Font Advent Calendar 2024 Day 8
Wand
A brand-new original condensed italic/oblique with a slight curvature and flourishes gives a nice smooth and yet modern feel to anything set it in - even in so few pixels.
https://download.damieng.com/fonts/zx-origins/Wand.zip
#adventoffonts #pixelfont #indiedev
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/618/201/028/114/461/original/ef5f6a483fc67959.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/618/201/273/484/086/original/d6e8dea5ffbdacb8.png
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https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/618/240/389/357/789/original/0969e011e0fa41e9.png

2024-12-05 13:50:27 UTC

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If you want a lovely scalable TrueType reinterpretation of the IBM 3270 font for use in your terminal or web site then also consider checking out Ricardo Bánffy's conversion
https://github.com/rbanffy/3270font
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/600/534/542/696/827/original/0278f49c4da1c057.png

2024-12-05 13:48:04 UTC

8x8 Font Advent Calendar 2024 Day 5
IBM-3270
IBM's 1971 terminal set the stage for "green screen" interfaces for a few decades even long after the addition of a few more colours.
The terminal font is surprisingly stylised for a business machine and it's reproduced here as best as it can in an 8x8 pixel font with bold variant.
https://download.damieng.com/fonts/conversions/IBM-3270.zip
#adventoffonts #pixelfonts #ibm
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/600/481/148/369/687/original/484ec9c2d627834b.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/600/481/436/137/822/original/d9b4a5d38d111205.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/600/540/878/053/835/original/b8c45d0a9c4eab0d.png

2024-12-02 21:20:07 UTC

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Inspired me to rip the ROM font - well, one of them!
https://fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/2585848/sharp-x68000
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/585/318/647/631/429/original/3e6d0a236cd12802.png

2024-12-01 09:12:37 UTC

8x8 Font Advent Calendar 2024 Day 1
ZX Amelia
Stan Davis' 1964 typeface takes inspiration from the magnetic OCR of its time but in a friendly, rounded & bold style.
This 8x8 tiny pixel font reproduction attempts to do it justice!
https://download.damieng.com/fonts/zx-origins/ZX%20Amelia.zip
#adventoffonts #pixelfonts
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/576/788/609/513/566/original/09c1d8a5e91e5ca1.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/576/788/609/540/702/original/3232ca0509aea272.png
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https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/576/792/220/340/271/original/87a356bd4aad8ad7.jpeg

2024-10-09 18:24:49 UTC

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Yeah the "team" isn't going to turn up either. It'll be avatars talking to avatars.