I admit it: I’m an old timer. When I first was learning about Unix and C programming, I was sitting in front of a TVI 912 terminal (if I was lucky) or an ADM-3A (if I wasn’t lucky) that was connected to a VAX-750. I’m not overly nostalgic, but I do continue to work in much the same way, except with lots of terminals open on a much larger screen, usually with a decent fixed-width font. As a throw back to these older times, I often use green text on a dead black background.
A few months ago, I found a truly nifty font that enhances my sense of nostalgia. It’s a very cool True Type font, which is carefully designed to match the old VT220 font, complete with the “scanline” appearance that I remember. It’s actually a pretty nice legible font as well. Perhaps you’ll enjoy it.
You would be amused by this retro glass terminal for MacOS: http://ldopa.net/2006/01/14/glterminal/
“GLTerminal emulates a 1970’s terminal monitor, complete with flaws in brightness, warped display curvature, and flicker. It even simulates baud rate lag. And! for extra verisimilitude, the character colors can be green or amber.”
Whoa. I installed the font, and now I’m having flashbacks to college. VT220s and Wyse 50s hooked to Vaxen.
Peter: that’s pretty cool. I’d try it if it ran on Linux.
I’ve been enjoying the VT220 font on my netbook for a while now. Too bad it doesn’t look right in reverse-video…
This is a great font. Can I use it on a non-commercial website ?
And if so, you want me to add copyright notice and a link to this page?
Thanks, Mat.