Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Kragen Javier Sitaker Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp10,alt.folklore.computers Subject: origin of XGP fonts (was Re: reprints of old AI memos) Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:44:18 -0300 Organization: Primarily biological and memetic Lines: 36 Message-ID: <8733utij7x.fsf_-_@debian> References: <874inbqdz7.fsf@mariorosell.es> <110j4qk$2q1p4$1@dont-email.me> <110l0v9$3av52$1@dont-email.me> <110nf0q$3vra6$3@dont-email.me> <87y0gg62cx.fsf@nightsong.com> <110rfqf$142ot$1@dont-email.me> <111ne5o$vsm3$3@dont-email.me> <111pbk6$36pi7$1@dont-email.me> <87qzlqgiyx.fsf@gmail.com> <111t96n$6sqq$1@dont-email.me> <111tev9$8hea$1@dont-email.me> <875x2zzres.fsf@nightsong.com> <86se5zr6ez.fsf@williamsburg.bawden.org> <87mru47iou.fsf_-_@debian> <7wecfgrtuh.fsf@junk.nocrew.org> <874igb7fmv.fsf_-_@debian> <7wwlt6rhw6.fsf@junk.nocrew.org> <874iga5jgr.fsf@debian> <7wld9l5xtc.fsf_-_@junk.nocrew.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:44:23 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; logging-data="2509978"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19y7lw2GY4Wryglvm8PWyzN"; posting-host="b5b06ee1fae9ecef58ae42c5b54275ac" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/28.2 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:shfuwEu8ZZf0VMld4hgq44R5EVs= sha1:o2ek23DF83CtlPsUtoCG16KFNFU= sha256:UpWHiLu861uFNs9SulOkBQSJ+C7ywnU8vsuYi+YYN64= sha1:fCDTlp/9mSMVvZMrR216S3F9XZU= sha256:HX6CUwxNyk0TMN1G9Apl6MTmeAxDIu6WKGVNRWn6Z9M= Xref: csiph.com alt.sys.pdp10:10011 alt.folklore.computers:235709 Lars Brinkhoff writes: > Kragen Javier Sitaker wrote: >> I wonder where they [the XGP fonts] came from? > > I read a story somwhere, but I forgot the details and where I found it. > It was something like getting a font catalog from a major foundry and > digitizing it by hand. > > People also made their own; the AST file format is just a text file with > pixel data, and on ITS there's FED (font "editor") to display a font on > the 340 or a Knight TV. I think SAIL had something else, certaily so > when TeX and Metafont were developed. > > "The Last Whole XGP Font Catalog" (play on "Last Whole Earth Catalog") > has a lot to say about the XGP. I was reading Butler Lampson’s 01988 retrospective on the Alto today and he answered this question: : The first imager, written by Peter Deutsch, drove the Xerox Graphics : Printer. This machine is slow (five pages/minute) and low resolution : (200 dots/inch); it is also asynchronous, so the imager can take as : long as it likes to generate each line of the raster. Only crude : imaging software was developed for it, together with a few fonts. : Raster fonts were unheard of at the time, except in 5 × 7 and 7 × 9 : resolution for terminals, or at very high resolution for expensive : photo-typesetters. The XGP fonts were developed entirely manually, : using an editor that allows the operator to turn individual dots in : the roughly 20 × 20 matrix on and off. They had to be new designs, : since it is impractical to faithfully copy a printer’s font at such : low resolution. These XGP fonts were later widely used in : universities. Kragen