[HN Gopher] 16colo.rs: ANSI/ASCII art archive
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       16colo.rs: ANSI/ASCII art archive
        
       Author : debo_
       Score  : 113 points
       Date   : 2025-07-24 01:12 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (16colo.rs)
 (TXT) w3m dump (16colo.rs)
        
       | debo_ wrote:
       | If you use a Gemini browser, you can visit
       | gemini://ansi.hrtk.in/list/ and render 50k+ ANSI/ASCII images as
       | if you are downloading them on a modem. It's terrific.
        
         | edem wrote:
         | what's a Gemini browser?
        
           | scbrg wrote:
           | https://geminiquickst.art/
        
       | kls0e wrote:
       | artist prefix: roy sparks so much joy superior art creations gots
       | to love it.
        
       | sen wrote:
       | I have a folder of .ANS files I've collected from this site, and
       | when my terminal opens it loads a random one from the folder.
       | It's a silly little things but it gives me that "connecting to a
       | BBS" nostalgia feeling every time I open the terminal.
        
         | iamflimflam1 wrote:
         | Ooh - post a gist of how you do that.
        
           | sen wrote:
           | I'm just using this zsh plugin:
           | https://github.com/yuhonas/zsh-ansimotd
        
       | majkinetor wrote:
       | Ahhh, RASTAFARIAN DINOSAURS from 2Stoned is just what I needed
       | today
       | 
       | https://16colo.rs/pack/blndr2025b/BLENDER2025B-2STONED.ANS
        
       | sssilver wrote:
       | What editor was generally used to draw these?
        
         | villuv wrote:
         | TheDraw was one of them https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheDraw
        
         | ethan_smith wrote:
         | TheDraw, ACiDDraw and PabloDraw were the most popular ANSI
         | editors in the BBS era, with modern alternatives like Moebius
         | and SyncDraw still used today.
        
         | icecheese wrote:
         | Durdraw is a modern and powerful ANSI editor for
         | Linux/Unix/MacOS/WSL. Unlike other ANSI editors, it supports
         | Unicode/Utf-8 encoding and 256 colors. Frame-based animation
         | with custom speed control, too.
         | 
         | https://durdraw.org
         | 
         | Other modern editors are Moebius and IcyDraw (part of
         | Icytools).
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | At the peak of the scene, almost everyone used TheDraw.
        
       | xyst wrote:
       | The bitchx irc client is probably my first exposure to ascii art.
       | Sad to see it's not in here
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitchX
        
         | ProfDreamer wrote:
         | There's at least some of the original ANSI Art of BitchX in
         | there.
         | 
         | Here are some examples:
         | 
         | https://16colo.rs/pack/acid-100/ANSI-100.ANS
         | 
         | https://16colo.rs/pack/sense-19/logos-19.ans
         | 
         | https://16colo.rs/pack/awe-20/MID-BX.ASC
        
       | saidinesh5 wrote:
       | What I fondly remember along with the ASCII art is the keygen
       | music: https://keygenmusic.tk/#
       | 
       | And a little video on youtube that made me rediscover this
       | nostalgia recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHgcrdv8zpM
        
       | yowayb wrote:
       | Unrelated, I asked Grok to "Generate ANSI art of the cover of the
       | first issue of Iron Man War Machine" (I did this back in the BBS
       | days for a friend's welcome screen) and it repeatedly outputs:
       | 
       | |_______|\n |_______|\n
       | 
       | It's been going for a minute and still going as I submit this
       | comment
        
       | greeniskool wrote:
       | Obligatory Bad Apple conversion
       | https://16colo.rs/pack/badapple/BADAPPLE.ANS
        
       | ilaksh wrote:
       | There's a program called `durdraw` for Linux that works well for
       | 'playing' the files. But it won't leave it on the screen
       | afterward as far as I can tell. Also look for the Perfect DOS VGA
       | 437 font.
       | 
       | durdraw -p file.ans
        
         | LocalH wrote:
         | I would suggest this range of fonts over Perfect DOS VGA 437:
         | https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/
        
         | JdeBP wrote:
         | It's an ncurses application, so it will be switching to and
         | from the alternate screen buffer at startup and exit; and might
         | even be using the control sequence that causes the alternate
         | screen buffer to be auto-cleared when switched off.
        
         | icecheese wrote:
         | Durdraw actually can open the files directly from 16colo.rs
         | (File Open screen, tab to or click on "16colo.rs archive"). You
         | don't need to download them first.
         | 
         | It also includes a program called "durview" for just viewing
         | instead of editing the files. It works quite nicely for
         | browsing the live 16colo.rs archive.
         | 
         | Since Durdraw and Durview automatically convert from CP437 to
         | Utf-8, you don't need a custom font. It's very nice.
         | 
         | For leaving on the screen, you can load the ANSI file in
         | Durdraw, then save it as a Utf-8 ANSI. That converts the
         | character encoding to be Linux compatible. Then you can just
         | "cat" the file from the console.
        
       | ptek wrote:
       | When you couldn't afford a ps1 or your DOS pc was shit.
       | https://16colo.rs/pack/fire-43/AVG-LARA.ANS
        
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       (page generated 2025-07-27 23:01 UTC)