{"id":13260,"date":"2016-09-05T23:12:03","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T03:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/?page_id=13260"},"modified":"2025-08-09T12:58:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T16:58:59","slug":"futile-fonts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/futile-fonts\/","title":{"rendered":"Futile Fonts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I make fonts sometimes. All of them have very permissive licensing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/scruss\/HeathkitH19Font\">Heathkit H19 Terminal Font<\/a> \u2014 low-effort but still decent bitmap \u2192 outline conversion<br><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ED9Db8eZ-320x200.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"a Latin alphabet bitmap computer font\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ED9Db8eZ-320x200.png 320w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ED9Db8eZ-160x100.png 160w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ED9Db8eZ.png 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\"><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/06\/mnicmp-the-decwriter-lives-again\/\">mnicmp<\/a> \u2014 you all wanted the DECwriter dot matrix font, but with the option of making the dots tiny stars or <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/12\/a-font-for-the-person-youre-just-dotty-about\/\">\u2665<\/a><\/span>s? Of course you did.<br>Fontlibrary link: <a href=\"https:\/\/fontlibrary.org\/en\/font\/mnicmp\">mnicmp<\/a><br><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/mnicmp-sample.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"288\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13743\" src=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/mnicmp-sample.png\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/mnicmp-sample.png 800w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/mnicmp-sample-160x58.png 160w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/mnicmp-sample-320x115.png 320w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/mnicmp-sample-768x276.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><strong>See also<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/12\/a-font-for-the-person-youre-just-dotty-about\/\">LoveMatrix, <\/a>a lo-fi dot matrix font made of <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665\u2665\u2665<\/span>s. Fontlibrary: <a href=\"https:\/\/fontlibrary.org\/en\/font\/lovematrix\">LoveMatrix<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/21\/keypunch029-for-all-your-punched-card-font-needs\/\">Keypunch029<\/a> \u2014 a fairly accurate rendition of the 5\u20137 dot matrix font printed at the top of punched cards by the IBM Type 29 Card Punch (1965).<br><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screenshot-from-2017-03-21-15-50-13.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"653\" height=\"36\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13858\" src=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screenshot-from-2017-03-21-15-50-13.png\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screenshot-from-2017-03-21-15-50-13.png 653w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screenshot-from-2017-03-21-15-50-13-160x9.png 160w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screenshot-from-2017-03-21-15-50-13-320x18.png 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/a>Fontlibrary: <a href=\"https:\/\/fontlibrary.org\/en\/font\/keypunch029\">Keypunch029<\/a><\/figure><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/05\/threefourtwotwo\/\">ThreeFourTwoTwo<\/a> \u2014 In the early 1980s, just before dot-matrix displays became a thing, companies produced more and more complex alphanumeric displays based on LED segments. One of the last of these was Litronix&#8217;s DL-3422, a huge DIP device holding four <strong>twenty two<\/strong> segment characters. These are now rare and alarmingly expensive, so I made a font based on the matrix in the <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/bitsavers_litronixdaOptoelectronicsCatalog_31011858\/1982_Litronix_Optoelectronics_Catalog#page\/n81\/mode\/2up\">datasheet<\/a>.<br><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/sample.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"388\" height=\"378\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13257\" src=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/sample.png\" alt=\"sample\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/sample.png 388w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/sample-160x156.png 160w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/sample-320x312.png 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><br>Fontlibrary: <a href=\"https:\/\/fontlibrary.org\/en\/font\/threefourtwotwo\">ThreeFourTwoTwo<\/a><br>(<em>See also<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/21\/twentyfoursixteen-a-17-segment-alpha-lcd-font\/\">TwentyfourSixteen<\/a>, a simpler font that uses 17 segments.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/23\/fifteentwenty-commodore-1520-plotter-font\/\">FifteenTwenty<\/a> \u2014 A mono-spaced font family derived from character stroke coordinates from the Commodore 1520 plotter ROM. This has been documented here &#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/e4aws.silverdr.com\/hacks\/6500_1\/\"> http:\/\/e4aws.silverdr.com\/hacks\/6500_1\/<\/a> &#8211; and here &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/Project-64\/reloaded\/tree\/master\/1520\/rom\">https:\/\/github.com\/Project-64\/reloaded\/tree\/master\/1520\/rom<\/a>. The original font encoding is extremely compact, packing a move\/plot\/end instruction with coordinates in 8 bits. (github archive: <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/scruss\/FifteenTwenty\">scruss\/FifteenTwenty<\/a>)<br><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/FifteenTwenty-demo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"688\" height=\"516\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12898\" src=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/FifteenTwenty-demo.png\" alt=\"FifteenTwenty-demo\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/FifteenTwenty-demo.png 688w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/FifteenTwenty-demo-160x120.png 160w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/FifteenTwenty-demo-320x240.png 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 688px) 100vw, 688px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><br>Fontlibrary: <a href=\"https:\/\/fontlibrary.org\/en\/font\/fifteentwenty\">FifteenTwenty<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/scruss\/AVHershey-OTF\">AVHershey-OTF<\/a> \u2014 a work-in-progress to convert the old <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hershey_fonts\">Hershey fonts<\/a> to usable OpenType fonts with as many of the symbols mapped to Unicode as possible. I&#8217;ve been working on this on and off for the last twelve years. It&#8217;s still likely not fit for use.<br><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pr-AVHersheyComplexMedium.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"279\" height=\"320\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-13263\" src=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pr-AVHersheyComplexMedium-279x320.jpg\" alt=\"pr-AVHersheyComplexMedium\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pr-AVHersheyComplexMedium-279x320.jpg 279w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pr-AVHersheyComplexMedium-140x160.jpg 140w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pr-AVHersheyComplexMedium-768x879.jpg 768w, https:\/\/scruss.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pr-AVHersheyComplexMedium.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 279px) 100vw, 279px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you <em>really<\/em> must, there&#8217;s my fairly ancient and relatively terrible code for <a href=\"http:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/09\/creating-a-truetype-font-from-your-handwriting-with-your-scanner-your-printer-and-fontforge\/\">creating a TrueType font from your handwriting with your scanner, your printer, and FontForge<\/a>. There&#8217;s also my <a href=\"https:\/\/fontlibrary.org\/en\/member\/scruss\">Font Library<\/a> page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I make fonts sometimes. All of them have very permissive licensing. If you really must, there&#8217;s my fairly ancient and relatively terrible code for creating a TrueType font from your handwriting with your scanner, your printer, and FontForge. There&#8217;s also my Font Library page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13260","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PQNZZ-3rS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13260"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17926,"href":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13260\/revisions\/17926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}