"DOS fonts" (was RE: Breaking barriers)

Doug Ewell doug at ewellic.org
Mon Oct 25 12:23:23 CDT 2021


Peter Constable wrote:

>> A DOS command then enabled users to swap the font-in-use.
>
> As I recall, DOS had no such command. Rather, one needed a utility
> that would load the font data into specific memory.

I suspect James was thinking of the MODE CON CP SELECT=x command, where 'x' was the code page ID of the desired character set.

You also had to "prepare" the code page, using one or more settings in CONFIG.SYS, but once that was done, you could use MODE to switch back and forth to your heart's content.

If you created a custom .CPI file with the code page ID and glyphs you wanted, and added it to the right place, and IIRC chanted the right spell, you could display any simple characters you liked (no combining, no RTL, had to fit in 8 pixels wide) on your PC screen. It was a lot of fun. Interoperability was horrible.

--
Doug Ewell, CC, ALB | Lakewood, CO, US | ewellic.org





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