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Hawk

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Joined: 15/07/2021
Location: Australia
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Posted: 11:27pm 08 Mar 2023

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Hi,

I have been reading up on programming the PicoMiteVGA in preparation for finishing its construction and I'm having difficulty working out the details for creating embedded fonts.

Is it possible to get the User Manual expanded a bit more to include more details on the format of the hex data in the DefineFont statement?

Thanks,
Mike

matherp
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Joined: 11/12/2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 10310

Posted: 08:57am 09 Mar 2023

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See

FontTweak from Jim

Should do everything you need

Hawk

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Joined: 15/07/2021
Location: Australia
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Posted: 11:06pm 09 Mar 2023

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matherp said See

FontTweak from Jim

Should do everything you need

Thanks Peter.

From the manual, it looks very interesting. I'm running a Linux system, so I guess I could try running it in Wine. Unfortunately it still doesn't describe the packing of the bits into the HEX words of the DEFINEFONT statement.

Geoffg

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Joined: 06/06/2011
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Posted: 11:29pm 09 Mar 2023

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The fonts came over from the Micromite distribution but some of the documentation was lost in the copying - something that I will fix in a future release.

The UTF format was invented by Henning Karlsen on Rinky-Dink Electronics where most of the fonts came from. He has a good description of the format here: http://www.rinkydinkelectronics.com/h_utft_fonts_101.php

Geoff

Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net

Hawk

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Posted: 12:54am 10 Mar 2023

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Geoffg said The fonts came over from the Micromite distribution but some of the documentation was lost in the copying - something that I will fix in a future release.

The UTF format was invented by Henning Karlsen on Rinky-Dink Electronics where most of the fonts came from. He has a good description of the format here: http://www.rinkydinkelectronics.com/h_utft_fonts_101.php

Geoff

Thanks Geoff, that's the detail I was after. So fonts can be any width, but font data is packed up to the nearest 8 bits.

I wasn't intending to have a go at the existing manual. I know that the PicoMiteVGA hasn't been out that long, and you are the only person maintaining the manuals. It's great that the project has manuals. Although the MicroMite series of computers has been popular in the past, I predict that the advent of the PicoMiteVGA will increase its popularity significantly. The cost and simplisity of the design lend themselves well into the STEM education sector.

Sorry for probably going over stuff that has been knowledge since the early days of MircroMite. Although I have been checking on the progress of MMBASIC occasionally, it wasn't until the release of the PicoMiteVGA that I got really excited about it, and started looking at the technical details.

I have a goal to make a 'Boot to BASIC' machine in the old form-factor of 80s 8-bit home computers. Much like the Pi400. My biggest challenge now will be finding an affordable SFF mechanical keyboard that has PS/2 compatibility.

Hawk

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Joined: 15/07/2021
Location: Australia
Posts: 148

Posted: 02:16am 10 Mar 2023

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Geoffg said <snip>
The UTF format was invented by Henning Karlsen on Rinky-Dink Electronics where most of the fonts came from. He has a good description of the format here: http://www.rinkydinkelectronics.com/h_utft_fonts_101.php

Geoff

I've checked out the fonts on Henning's site, and he has quite a selection.

Is there a repository where Pico/Maxi/MicroMite MMBASIC fonts are collated for use, or do most people just use Font Tweak in Windows to convert Henning's fonts for use with MMBASIC?

Geoffg

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Posted: 04:08am 10 Mar 2023

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Hawk said I wasn't intending to have a go at the existing manual.

Totally not a problem. Thanks for the heads up.

There are about a dozen fonts included in the stable release of the PicoMiteVGA firmware (https://geoffg.net/Downloads/picomite/PicoMiteVGA_Firmware.zip) but no other repository that I know of. Most people just grab one of the existing fonts and perhaps modify it with Font Tweak.

Geoff

Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net

TassyJim

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Joined: 07/08/2011
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Posted: 04:48am 10 Mar 2023

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Give me a few days and I will release a Linux version of FontTweak.
There are a couple of Windows only sections I have to get around but at first glance, the Linux version should be OK.

Jim

VK7JH
MMedit

Hawk

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Joined: 15/07/2021
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Posted: 09:42pm 10 Mar 2023

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Thanks Jim, that’s very responsive. I won’t be home to test it for a few days anyway.

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