What is the name of this old font? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MegaVolt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 01:14:11 pm
content: Maybe someone recognizes this font? I came across it in the Fluke docs.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 01:38:20 pm
content: Maybe here:https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/fontlist/?1#ibm-dosScan through all their low res bitmap fonts. You might find a better match.Their test typing preview doesn't work. It just uses a true-type font.

author: MegaVolt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 01:53:05 pm
content: Quote from: BrianHG on January 23, 2023, 01:38:20 pmThank you! Very interesting link.Unfortunately, there was no complete match.This font looks like a mechanical printing device. Which prints the whole letters.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 01:57:59 pm
content: Quote from: MegaVolt on January 23, 2023, 01:53:05 pmI would have suspected the zeros '0' being better rounded.I thought it was an early thermal printer with a low res LCD style bitmap font.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 02:20:38 pm
content: It looks like a so-called stroke font. So the difference is that it has uniform thickness, and it can be "printed" with a plotter. Or used on PCB as text without violating thickness rules.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 02:32:27 pm
content: I don't know what font it is but it looks like it was re-photocopied too many times. You can look at any given letter but in different places on the same line or in other lines and see different imperfections in the shape of the letter.Just as a suggestion, you might look up the different fonts that were available for the IBM Selectric typewriters. They were THE professional typewriter of the 1960s and 70s and a lot of early documentation was written on them and then xeroxed and put into manuals. One of the benefits of the Selectric was that they used Type Balls and there weremanydifferent langauages and fonts available including ones with or without slashed zeros and the like. They even made a type ball with characters to go with the APL programming language. They also built a few Selectrics that had an RS-232 (IIRC) interface and that could be connected to a computer and used as a printer.I THINK IBM did have a font that had a dot in the center of the zero.PS to add, that the Type Balls on the Selectrics could very easily be changed by the user. I remember seeingsetsof different type balls in some offices. The users switched fonts and sometimes characters sets for different jobs. I used to have a set of about 10 or so type balls around here but I have no idea if they're still around. Wikipedia has some good pictures.

author: MegaVolt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 02:59:20 pm
content: So far, the fonts from the line printer are the most similar.

author: berke
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 03:14:49 pm
content: Looks like a dot-matrix version of IBM 3270 to me.

author: AndyBeez
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 03:15:11 pm
content: It's a typical 5x7 dot matrix 'font' as used on dot matrix printers and VDUs in the 70s to 90s.This actual style is whatever was in the EPROM of the printer.Google for "dot matrix and terminal fonts"Thishttps://fonts.google.com/specimen/VT323is very similar, except the zeroAgain, similarhttps://www.ffonts.net/Commodore-PET.font- again except the zero

author: MegaVolt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2023, 03:30:49 pm
content: Quote from: berke on January 23, 2023, 03:14:49 pmVery similar. Thank you

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2023, 03:10:19 am
content: Definitely looks like a dot-matrix print that has been photocopied and scanned. Yes, it's probably whatever sans-serif font that was embedded in the ROM of the printer.The 'Q' looks quite distinctive, with the gap on the right of where the tail bisects the bowl.What vintage are we talking about here? 70s, 80s, 90s?

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2023, 04:47:28 am
content: In that era, the printer generated the font. I would say an IBM or DEC dot matrix printer. Okidata was not yet popular.The font for "S" is quite weird and would ID the printer, say if a serial killer used it to print some threatening letters and you needed details.The zero with dot was also not that popular, only with IBM for the longest time.

author: MegaVolt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2023, 09:36:49 am
content: Quote from: HwAoRrDk on January 24, 2023, 03:10:19 am1983...1986 (Fluke 5440)