BBS: Inland Empire Archive
Date: 06-11-92 (12:24) Number: 292
From: MATT PRITCHARD @ 930/21 Refer#: NONE
To: JON SPRINGER Recvd: NO
Subj: Fonts Conf: (2) Quik_Bas
JS> I recently wrote a hard font editor, so I could use differant fonts
JS>of my own design in QB programs. For instance, I'm doing a
JS>japanese full screen editor for a friend of mine. In any case,
JS>I would like some info, if anybody know how, on saving the
JS>fonts using the unique bit patterns of each byte. ie, say I
JS>have a 8x8 font. I want to use one character to represent the
JS>first line, another to represent the next, and so on, so the
JS>storage for each letter will take 8 bytes disk space rather than 64.
JS> The inneffeincy is a real problem with 16x16 fonts for hi-rez
JS>graphics, and I don't know how to encode them.
Each "Bit" in a font is stored as a power of 2. In a byte,
you have 8 "bits". You add up (the power fo 2 values) for
all of the set bits to get the Byte value for a 8 bit
pattern. Usually it goes from Left (hi) to right (low)
example...
Bit #: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Value: 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
. . . . . . . . . Char
. XX . XX . XX . XX . XX . . . . = 128+64+32+16+8
"B" . . XX . . . XX . XX . . . = 64+8+4
. . XX . . . XX . XX . . . = 64+8+4
. . XX . . . XX . XX . . . = 64+8+4
. . XX . XX . XX . XX . . . . = 64+32+16+8
etc...
(I hope the mail processor has not reformatted the above text)
So the values for the above pattern are: 248, 76, 76, 76, 120
Store a 16x16 image as 2 bytes side by side, repeated 16 times.
JS> Oh, one other thing on that subject...There are various .COM programs
JS>floating around local BBS's, quite small, which obviously poke
JS>fonts into (video?) memory, usually for text mode. Does
JS>anybody know the locations of the system fonts for poking purposes?
They are in the Video Ram on an EGA/VGA adaptor, memory
pages 2 & 3 I think. You should get a good video card
reference book for info on this. There are BIOS functions
for re-defining characters.
Hope this helps.
-Matt P
===
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