the Dodecalope

🔣
I completely forgot to mention this, but I'm putting together something that actually puts those pixel fonts to use. This is a browser-based app (written in Javascript) - for now it's just doing a display demo, but eventually I'll be using it to actually provide content. This is part of a larger "rebranding" effort that xeno.chat is another part of.

The City of Elseways lives.

1
Rosemary

@dodec I'm impressed by the legibility of some of the more intricate characters in there.

1
the Dodecalope

@Rosemary

8x12 turns out to be a very comfortable pixel size for characters. It has just enough vertical room for diacritics without getting too smushed. Also, XenoTerm has 50 columns and 25 rows, which multiplies out to a nice 400 by 300 resolution, exactly proportional to classic television size. The right way to picture XenoTerm is as if you're watching it on a CRT with a rounded beige box hooked up to it.

1
Rosemary
Follow

@dodec Perhaps making such a box would be an interesting project at some point.

· · 1 · 0 · 0
the Dodecalope

@Rosemary

It would, but I'm hardly a hardware expert. I do software. Once this project is further along, though, I'd love to see it running "live" (it's still going to be Javascript-based and running in a browser, but the intent is to make an emulator for a computer that never existed).

1
the Hearth :ms_agender_flag:

@dodec @Rosemary We're a hardware expert! Well, maybe not expert. But experienced with it.

That said, trying to make a retrocomputer is probably biting off more than we can chew. Especially if its architecture involves a nonexistent CPU and/or FPU.

1
the Dodecalope

@Felthry @Rosemary

The nice thing about writing software for a fictional computer is that it doesn't strictly need to be an "emulator". It just has to behave right on the surface, even if it doesn't work like a real computer would underneath.

1
the Hearth :ms_agender_flag:

@dodec @Rosemary You could probably make a real computer that works like that underneath, you'd just need access to a semiconductor fab. Everyone has one of those, right?

0
Sign in to participate in the conversation
Awoo Space

Awoo.space is a Mastodon instance where members can rely on a team of moderators to help resolve conflict, and limits federation with other instances using a specific access list to minimize abuse.

While mature content is allowed here, we strongly believe in being able to choose to engage with content on your own terms, so please make sure to put mature and potentially sensitive content behind the CW feature with enough description that people know what it's about.

Before signing up, please read our community guidelines. While it's a very broad swath of topics it covers, please do your best! We believe that as long as you're putting forth genuine effort to limit harm you might cause – even if you haven't read the document – you'll be okay!

Trending now

Resources

Developers

What is Mastodon?

awoo.space

  • v3.5.3+glitch

More…

v3.5.3+glitch · Privacy policy