Old style of computer display lettering

[Quadibloc]

In a forum on typography in which I participate, someone asked about the lettering displayed on a Toshiba ultrasound unit:

http://typophile.com/node/121906

I think I've seen that kind of lettering before, long ago. Searching for images of Apollo mission control didn't help me, but I thought I saw lettering on a CRT display that looked a lot like that of around that vintage.

It would be something used by NASA or the military or something that appeared in a movie - computer terminals didn't try to produce such high-quality letters back then. Instead, HP and DEC terminals that did give the option of having large-sized letters did so in a blocky manner due to memory limitations.

John Savard

[Joe Morris]

"Quadibloc" <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:

> In a forum on typography in which I participate, someone
> asked about the lettering displayed on a Toshiba ultrasound unit:

> http://typophile.com/node/121906

> I think I've seen that kind of lettering before, long ago.
> Searching for images of Apollo mission control didn't help
> me, but I thought I saw lettering on a CRT display that
> looked a lot like that of around that vintage.

Looking at the glyphs in the example on that page I don't recognize the font
(although I've not checked it against every page in my specimen books) - but
if the requestor can determine the model involved and then contact Toshiba
it's possible that the company might be willing to help. (This is not, of
course, a consumer product so it might be worth trying to get a contact
number from the facility that bought the unit.)

Joe

[Charles Richmond]

"Joe Morris" <j.c.m...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:m6ivn...@news3.newsguy.com...

Here is a font that appeared in a graphic of a lineprinter listing in a 1978
"Creative Computing" magazine. I appologize for the poor quality... this is
the best scan I could get:

http://www.aquaporin4.com/displayfont/

I think this resembles the font displayed on the ultrasound machine.

--

numerist at aquaporin4 dot com

[Joe Morris]

"Charles Richmond" <nume...@aquaporin4.com> wrote:

> "Joe Morris" <j.c.m...@verizon.net> wrote:
>> "Quadibloc" <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:

>>> In a forum on typography in which I participate, someone
>>> asked about the lettering displayed on a Toshiba ultrasound unit:

>>> http://typophile.com/node/121906

>>> I think I've seen that kind of lettering before, long ago.
>>> Searching for images of Apollo mission control didn't help
>>> me, but I thought I saw lettering on a CRT display that

>>> looked a lot like that of around that vintage. m>> Looking at the

>>> glyphs in the example on that page I don't recognize the
>> font (although I've not checked it against every page in my specimen
>> books) - but if the requestor can determine the model involved and then
>> contact Toshiba it's possible that the company might be willing to help.
>> (This is not, of course, a consumer product so it might be worth trying
>> to get a contact number from the facility that bought the unit.)

> Here is a font that appeared in a graphic of a lineprinter listing in a
> 1978 "Creative Computing" magazine. I appologize for the poor quality...
> this is the best scan I could get:

> http://www.aquaporin4.com/displayfont/

> I think this resembles the font displayed on the ultrasound machine.

The glyphs in that image are from an impact printer - given the letterforms,
possibly an IBM 1403 that's not been properly maintained (check the reduced
spacing between columns 26 and 27). Look at the digit and *UPPERCASE*
glyphs (ignore the lowercase) in this image:

http://ibm-1401.info/IBM140310Pitch-Regular.png

Does this look like what you're trying to find? If so you can probably find
a TrueType font for it somewhere. (I might one day get around to building a
TTF based on the glyphs in listings I've got (somewhere) around the
house...but since I've not done so in the ~25 years since I last used an IBM
impact printer on a mainframe, don't hold your breath.)

Note that the glyph set in the above image isn't consistent with any of the
standard trains I've ever used; although as expected the lowercase
characters are missing it's also missing at least the special characters
:;()!? and possibly others.

Joe

[Peter Flass]

It's not a drum printer - the characters are clipped on one side, rather
than wavy lines. My first thought was 1403 too.

>
> http://ibm-1401.info/IBM140310Pitch-Regular.png
>
> Does this look like what you're trying to find? If so you can probably find
> a TrueType font for it somewhere. (I might one day get around to building a
> TTF based on the glyphs in listings I've got (somewhere) around the
> house...but since I've not done so in the ~25 years since I last used an IBM
> impact printer on a mainframe, don't hold your breath.)
>
> Note that the glyph set in the above image isn't consistent with any of the
> standard trains I've ever used; although as expected the lowercase
> characters are missing it's also missing at least the special characters
> :;()!? and possibly others.
>
> Joe

--
Pete

[Quadibloc]

On Tuesday, December 30, 2014 1:51:45 PM UTC-7, Joe Morris wrote:

> The glyphs in that image are from an impact printer - given the letterforms,
> possibly an IBM 1403

Yes, a PN print train, or another arrangement with the same typestyle.

John Savard