Formatting code should be unnecessary

Re:Formatting code should be unnecessary by dcminter on Monday September 08, 2025 @04:28AM (#45165898)

Printers aside the VT220 terminal from DEC had a 132 column mode. Probably it was aping a standard printer column count. Most of the time we used the 80 column mode as it was far more readable on what was quite a small screen.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Formatting code should be unnecessary by guenthert on Monday September 08, 2025 @05:06AM (#45166112)

Not only a small screen by modern standards, but the hardware lacked the needed resolution. The marketing brochure claims a 10x10 dot matrix. That will be for the 80 column mode. That works out to respectable 800 pixel horizontally, barely sufficient 6x10 pixel in 132 column mode. There was even a double-high, double-width mode for easier reading ;-)

Interesting here perhaps is that even back then it was recognized, that for different situations, different display modes were of advantage.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Formatting code should be unnecessary by dcminter on Monday September 08, 2025 @05:27AM (#45166237)

> There was even a double-high, double-width mode for easier reading

I'd forgotten that; now that waa a fugly font. I don't think anyone ever used it (aside from the "Setup" banner on the settings screen)

I think the low pixel count was rather mitigated by the persistence of phospher though - there's reproductions of the fonts that had to take this into account; see the stuff about font stretching here: https://vt100.net/dec/vt220/glyphs

[ Parent | on HN ]