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Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen

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  Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Mark Lemmert <mark.lemmert@gmail.com> - 2015-11-29 07:55 -0800
    Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen qkumba <peter.ferrie@gmail.com> - 2015-11-29 08:43 -0800
      Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Mark Lemmert <mark.lemmert@gmail.com> - 2015-11-29 10:14 -0800
        Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen gids.rs@sasktel.net - 2015-11-29 11:08 -0800
          Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Mark Lemmert <mark.lemmert@gmail.com> - 2015-11-29 21:46 -0800
      Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen denisbytezone@gmail.com - 2015-11-29 18:49 -0800
        Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Mark Lemmert <mark.lemmert@gmail.com> - 2015-11-29 21:48 -0800
          Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Chris Torrence <gorthmog@gmail.com> - 2015-11-30 08:55 -0800
            Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2015-11-30 17:22 +0000
            Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Mark Lemmert <mark.lemmert@gmail.com> - 2015-12-02 14:05 -0800
    Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen michael.pohoreski@gmail.com - 2016-01-09 13:41 -0800
      Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen michael.pohoreski@gmail.com - 2016-01-09 18:28 -0800
        Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Hugh Hood <hughhood@earthlink.net> - 2016-01-10 10:31 -0600
          Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen michael.pohoreski@gmail.com - 2016-01-10 10:09 -0800
          Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen michael.pohoreski@gmail.com - 2016-01-10 21:57 -0800
            Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Kevin Dady <osgeld@cheesefactory.us> - 2016-01-11 06:34 -0800
              Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen michael.pohoreski@gmail.com - 2016-01-16 07:25 -0800
                Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> - 2016-01-16 11:24 -0600
                Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen mmphosis <mmphosis@macgui.com> - 2016-01-17 17:54 +0000
                  Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen michael.pohoreski@gmail.com - 2016-01-18 09:45 -0800
            Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen Hugh Hood <hughhood@earthlink.net> - 2016-01-11 23:01 -0600
              Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen michael.pohoreski@gmail.com - 2016-01-12 18:57 -0800
    Re: Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen michael.pohoreski@gmail.com - 2016-01-15 14:08 -0800

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#1987 — Plotting Text Characters on Hi-Res Graphics Screen

Does anybody know how to make ascii text characters appear on the Apple IIe/IIc Hi-Res Graphics screen using assembly language? 

To clarify, I am not referring to the mixed mode setting that allows for a 4 line text window at the bottom of the graphics screen.....I mean actually plotting text characters on the graphics screen it self, in any location.

Any insights are greatly appreciated! Thanks!


Here is what I've tried so far:

I've read in several graphics books and multiple posts in this forum from the 1990s that placing text on the graphics screen is possible by essentially obtaining the shape table for the text character and copying it into video memory. I'm very familiar with Hi-Res Graphics in assembly, where I am getting stuck at is finding the shape tables.

The books/posts indicate that the ASCII characters can be used or a customized character set can be used, but stop short of explaining where the ASCII shape tables are or how to obtain a custom character set. There was some mention of software utilities in the posts, but they were all designed for applesoft, designed to provide the capability through the PRINT statement. 

My initial thought was that maybe the low and high value on the Beagle Brothers ASCII chart is a clue (http://beagle.applearchives.com/the_posters/poster_1.html)

i.e. for the character "M", the low value is $4D and the high value is $CD.

I tried loading $4D, and $CD into $2000 (the first video memory address) and got a sold line filling the length screen byte 0 .....so this seems to be a dead end. I'd expect more that one address to store the bit map for the text character but this seems like the wrong track because the text character "M" does not contain a solid line equal to the width of the character. 


There were some limitations described as far as exactly where on the Hi-Res screen the ASCII characters could go. I got the impression they would still more or less appear in the same rows/columns as they would on the text screen, it would just be visible while in graphics mode.

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#1990

You'll need to draw the entire character yourself, using font data that you define, point by point, line by line.  There was another thread about this recently, but I don't have the title in front of me to point you there.

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#1991

On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 10:43:31 AM UTC-6, qkumba wrote:
> You'll need to draw the entire character yourself, using font data that you define, point by point, line by line.  There was another thread about this recently, but I don't have the title in front of me to point you there.

Thanks for your reply!

I figured that was the worst case scenario. Doable, but wanted to make sure I wasn't reinventing the wheel.

The impression I got from the posts in this forum in the 1990s was that other people did develop the shape tables for custom fonts, but the specific data be lost to history.

If anyone has any idea where to get such data, I'd be very grateful. If I end up creating shape tables myself, I'll post the info in this thread. 

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#1992

On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 12:14:34 PM UTC-6, Mark Lemmert wrote:
> On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 10:43:31 AM UTC-6, qkumba wrote:
> > You'll need to draw the entire character yourself, using font data that you define, point by point, line by line.  There was another thread about this recently, but I don't have the title in front of me to point you there.
> 
> Thanks for your reply!
> 
> I figured that was the worst case scenario. Doable, but wanted to make sure I wasn't reinventing the wheel.
> 
> The impression I got from the posts in this forum in the 1990s was that other people did develop the shape tables for custom fonts, but the specific data be lost to history.
> 
> If anyone has any idea where to get such data, I'd be very grateful. If I end up creating shape tables myself, I'll post the info in this thread.


If you do a search in groups.google.com, you will find that this question is verging on over-kill.

All your questions are answered in other threads.  The best way to find them is to do a search for "hi res character graphics" in groups.google.com.  Pretty much anything you do on an Apple computer IS re-inventing the wheel.

Here is a start.  This thread lists 3 different hi-res character generators.
And a couple of font editors are listed as well.  The main one most programmers use is, the Apple Toolkit HRCG (Hi-res character generator) that includes about 20 defined fonts.

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!searchin/comp.sys.apple2.programmer/character$20hi$20res/comp.sys.apple2.programmer/ZL9lL8WSJRI/sMaBpdmqINEJ

If you are looking more to understand how fonts are displayed on the hires screen, and not just displaying them, then you will need to read up on how the hires screen is laid out and how it displays images.  There are lots of good graphics books published in this area that are online.

Your best sources for documents, programming, utilities and games is Asimov.  This link has a couple of others including the Apple II Documentation Project and Asimov.

http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/

Happy reading.  :)

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#1994

On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 1:08:22 PM UTC-6, gid...@sasktel.net wrote:
> On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 12:14:34 PM UTC-6, Mark Lemmert wrote:
> > On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 10:43:31 AM UTC-6, qkumba wrote:
> > > You'll need to draw the entire character yourself, using font data that you define, point by point, line by line.  There was another thread about this recently, but I don't have the title in front of me to point you there.
> > 
> > Thanks for your reply!
> > 
> > I figured that was the worst case scenario. Doable, but wanted to make sure I wasn't reinventing the wheel.
> > 
> > The impression I got from the posts in this forum in the 1990s was that other people did develop the shape tables for custom fonts, but the specific data be lost to history.
> > 
> > If anyone has any idea where to get such data, I'd be very grateful. If I end up creating shape tables myself, I'll post the info in this thread.
> 
> 
> If you do a search in groups.google.com, you will find that this question is verging on over-kill.
> 
> All your questions are answered in other threads.  The best way to find them is to do a search for "hi res character graphics" in groups.google.com.  Pretty much anything you do on an Apple computer IS re-inventing the wheel.
> 
> Here is a start.  This thread lists 3 different hi-res character generators.
> And a couple of font editors are listed as well.  The main one most programmers use is, the Apple Toolkit HRCG (Hi-res character generator) that includes about 20 defined fonts.
> 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!searchin/comp.sys.apple2.programmer/character$20hi$20res/comp.sys.apple2.programmer/ZL9lL8WSJRI/sMaBpdmqINEJ
> 
> If you are looking more to understand how fonts are displayed on the hires screen, and not just displaying them, then you will need to read up on how the hires screen is laid out and how it displays images.  There are lots of good graphics books published in this area that are online.
> 
> Your best sources for documents, programming, utilities and games is Asimov.  This link has a couple of others including the Apple II Documentation Project and Asimov.
> 
> http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/
> 
> Happy reading.  :)

thanks for the information!

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#1993

On Monday, 30 November 2015 03:43:31 UTC+11, qkumba  wrote:
> You'll need to draw the entire character yourself, using font data that you define, point by point, line by line.  There was another thread about this recently, but I don't have the title in front of me to point you there.

Here is the most recent thread - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.apple2/0C6gxl8-2Go

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#1995

On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 8:49:13 PM UTC-6, denisb...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Monday, 30 November 2015 03:43:31 UTC+11, qkumba  wrote:
> > You'll need to draw the entire character yourself, using font data that you define, point by point, line by line.  There was another thread about this recently, but I don't have the title in front of me to point you there.
> 
> Here is the most recent thread - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.apple2/0C6gxl8-2Go

thanks for the information!

on this thread I came across a very promising resource:

Assembly Lines: The Complete Book. 
https://archive.org/details/AssemblyLinesCompleteWagner 

Chapter 31 is about a Hires Character Generator. 

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#1996

On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 10:48:19 PM UTC-7, Mark Lemmert wrote:
> On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 8:49:13 PM UTC-6, denisb...@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Monday, 30 November 2015 03:43:31 UTC+11, qkumba  wrote:
> > > You'll need to draw the entire character yourself, using font data that you define, point by point, line by line.  There was another thread about this recently, but I don't have the title in front of me to point you there.
> > 
> > Here is the most recent thread - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.apple2/0C6gxl8-2Go
> 
> thanks for the information!
> 
> on this thread I came across a very promising resource:
> 
> Assembly Lines: The Complete Book. 
> https://archive.org/details/AssemblyLinesCompleteWagner 
> 
> Chapter 31 is about a Hires Character Generator.

Hi Mark,

I was just going to suggest that chapter. Roger Wagner does a great job at explaining how to put the characters up on the screen. Also, on the same archive.org site, you should be able to download the sample program disks.

Finally, if you want a physical copy of the book, you can get the new version at either Lulu or Amazon:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/roger-wagner/assembly-lines-the-complete-book/hardcover/product-21959093.html
http://amzn.com/1312089407

Cheers,
Chris

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#1997

Chris Torrence wrote:
> Finally, if you want a physical copy of the book, you can get the new
> version at either Lulu or Amazon:
> http://www.lulu.com/shop/roger-wagner/assembly-lines-the-complete-book/hardcover/product-21959093.html
> http://amzn.com/1312089407
> 

Which I recommend you do, because this is a good book. :-)

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#1998

On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 10:55:05 AM UTC-6, Chris Torrence wrote:
> On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 10:48:19 PM UTC-7, Mark Lemmert wrote:
> > On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 8:49:13 PM UTC-6, denisb...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > On Monday, 30 November 2015 03:43:31 UTC+11, qkumba  wrote:
> > > > You'll need to draw the entire character yourself, using font data that you define, point by point, line by line.  There was another thread about this recently, but I don't have the title in front of me to point you there.
> > > 
> > > Here is the most recent thread - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.apple2/0C6gxl8-2Go
> > 
> > thanks for the information!
> > 
> > on this thread I came across a very promising resource:
> > 
> > Assembly Lines: The Complete Book. 
> > https://archive.org/details/AssemblyLinesCompleteWagner 
> > 
> > Chapter 31 is about a Hires Character Generator.
> 
> Hi Mark,
> 
> I was just going to suggest that chapter. Roger Wagner does a great job at explaining how to put the characters up on the screen. Also, on the same archive.org site, you should be able to download the sample program disks.
> 
> Finally, if you want a physical copy of the book, you can get the new version at either Lulu or Amazon:
> http://www.lulu.com/shop/roger-wagner/assembly-lines-the-complete-book/hardcover/product-21959093.html
> http://amzn.com/1312089407
> 
> Cheers,
> Chris

Thanks for the information! Really glad to know there is a way to get the sample program code. I wasn't looking forward to typing in the hex for that character editor :-)

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#2084

On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 7:55:45 AM UTC-8, Mark Lemmert wrote:
> Does anybody know how to make ascii text characters appear on the Apple IIe/IIc Hi-Res Graphics screen using assembly language? 

Ask and you shall receive.  I typed this up yesterday since I couldn't find any _good_ tutorials:

https://github.com/Michaelangel007/apple2_hgr_font_tutorial

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#2088

On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 1:41:32 PM UTC-8, michael....@gmail.com wrote:

> https://github.com/Michaelangel007/apple2_hgr_font_tutorial

Since the tutorial is FAR too big to post here, here is the Table of Contents:

Introduction
Functions we want & will write
Hard-Coded: A
Quirks of the Apple HGR screen
Non-Linear Memory
No FONT data in ROM
HGR bytes are reversed
Half-pixel shift
Font Data
Raw Font Data
Image to Font Data (Javascript)
Font -> Screen Memory Trace
DrawChar version 1
X Cursor Position
CursorCol()
DrawChar() version 2
DrawChar() version 3
Character Inspector
Character Inspector version 2
Character Inspector version 3
Y Cursor Position
Natural Params CursorColRow()
DrawString()
Recap
Copy text screen to HGR
Exercise 1: ScrollHgrUpLine()
Exercise 2: ScrollHgrUpPixel()
Solution 1: ScrollHgrUpLine()
Solution 2: ScrollHgrUpPixel()
References

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#2093

Michael:

That's a very nice write-up on plotting characters on the HGR screen. I can
tell that it took a great deal of work.

And, along with Chapters 31 and 32 from Roger Wagner's "Assembly Lines: The
Complete Book", it's a great tutorial on the subject.

I might suggest a few things:

1. Offer a .pdf of your main README.md file. I didn't see a way to do that
in my (albeit dated) browser on GitHub, and my attempt to print the page to
.pdf produced marginal results;


2. Consider adding coverage (either bolt-on or integrated into the
narrative) for DHR character screens. Even Wagner didn't address that. Other
than the ][+ and some 64K IIe's, Apple II's generating DHR text characters
produce a very nice display, and can even mimic the 80-column text screen
(e.g. TimeOut SuperForms for AppleWorks - you'd swear you were looking at
the 80-column text screen, but seeing all those fancy box drawing characters
made you know you weren't);

and,


3. Offer binaries of various character sets that work with your routines.



Again, good work, and thanks for the resource.





Hugh Hood

   

in article 6f172ce6-438c-454b-b76b-16df5a88d9f8@googlegroups.com,
michael.pohoreski@gmail.com at michael.pohoreski@gmail.com wrote on 1/9/16
8:28 PM:

> On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 1:41:32 PM UTC-8, michael....@gmail.com wrote:
> 
>> https://github.com/Michaelangel007/apple2_hgr_font_tutorial
> 
> Since the tutorial is FAR too big to post here, here is the Table of Contents:
> 
> Introduction
> Functions we want & will write
> Hard-Coded: A
> Quirks of the Apple HGR screen
> Non-Linear Memory
> No FONT data in ROM
> HGR bytes are reversed
> Half-pixel shift
> Font Data
> Raw Font Data
> Image to Font Data (Javascript)
> Font -> Screen Memory Trace
> DrawChar version 1
> X Cursor Position
> CursorCol()
> DrawChar() version 2
> DrawChar() version 3
> Character Inspector
> Character Inspector version 2
> Character Inspector version 3
> Y Cursor Position
> Natural Params CursorColRow()
> DrawString()
> Recap
> Copy text screen to HGR
> Exercise 1: ScrollHgrUpLine()
> Exercise 2: ScrollHgrUpPixel()
> Solution 1: ScrollHgrUpLine()
> Solution 2: ScrollHgrUpPixel()
> References

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#2094

On Sunday, January 10, 2016 at 8:31:51 AM UTC-8, Hugh Hood wrote:
> I might suggest a few things:

Excellent feedback !  All great ideas!  I've added the binary font to the repo, along with a bunch of misc. utilities.

It only took a day and 1/2 of writing -- was kind of just a massive "brain dump." ;-)  I've updated the README with a TODO so the 2 other ideas aren't lost.

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#2098

On Sunday, January 10, 2016 at 8:31:51 AM UTC-8, Hugh Hood wrote:
> 3. Offer binaries of various character sets that work with your routines.

I have the 'font.bin' and most of the code as '.bin' files on GitHub.  I'm in the process of putting together a HGR_FONT.DSK that has all the code and various demos.

Any specific character sets that you think should be added?

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#2099

On Sunday, January 10, 2016 at 11:57:52 PM UTC-6, michael....@gmail.com wrote:
> On Sunday, January 10, 2016 at 8:31:51 AM UTC-8, Hugh Hood wrote:
> > 3. Offer binaries of various character sets that work with your routines.
> 
> I have the 'font.bin' and most of the code as '.bin' files on GitHub.  I'm in the process of putting together a HGR_FONT.DSK that has all the code and various demos.
> 
> Any specific character sets that you think should be added?

437 (IBM) would be handy for terminal like applications

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#2129

On Monday, January 11, 2016 at 6:34:10 AM UTC-8, Kevin Dady wrote:
> > Any specific character sets that you think should be added?
> 437 (IBM) would be handy for terminal like applications

OK, I've snagged this 9x16 one .. 
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Codepage-437.png

But I see this is a better reference since it has a 8x8 one:
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/04/ibm-character-fonts.html

I've added "re-engineer 437 font to 7x8 cells" to the TODO list.

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#2132

<michael.pohoreski@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday, January 11, 2016 at 6:34:10 AM UTC-8, Kevin Dady wrote:
>>> Any specific character sets that you think should be added?
>> 437 (IBM) would be handy for terminal like applications
> 
> OK, I've snagged this 9x16 one .. 
> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Codepage-437.png
> 
> But I see this is a better reference since it has a 8x8 one:
> http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/04/ibm-character-fonts.html
> 
> I've added "re-engineer 437 font to 7x8 cells" to the TODO list.
> 

A "double dot" font will significantly reduce color fringing when used with
a composite monitor. 
-- 
-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II:  http://michaeljmahon.com

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#2141

I am using the 8x8 ibm 437 font.  Thanks for the inspiration and write up.

http://hoop-la.ca/apple2/2016/winterwarmup/#2016-01-16

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#2153

On Sunday, January 17, 2016 at 9:57:38 AM UTC-8, mmphosis wrote:
> I am using the 8x8 ibm 437 font.  Thanks for the inspiration and write up.
> 
> http://hoop-la.ca/apple2/2016/winterwarmup/#2016-01-16

Damnit, you beat me to it! :-) I got distracted with some cc65 + hgrybte stuff this weekend.

Great job!

1. Can you put that in the public domain so I can include it into the HGR Font Tutorial?
2. If so, whose's name should I add to the credits?

Thx

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