[HN Gopher] "DSEG": Original 7-segment and 14-segment fonts (2014)
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       "DSEG": Original 7-segment and 14-segment fonts (2014)
        
       Author : LeoPanthera
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2025-09-28 22:00 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.keshikan.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.keshikan.net)
        
       | ChuckMcM wrote:
       | A pretty reasonable way to prototype fixed segment LCD displays.
       | I'm kind of on the fence about the on/off backgrounding stuff.
        
         | rgovostes wrote:
         | The backgrounds are achieved by having two overlapping <span>
         | elements in different colors. If you use the font standalone,
         | you wouldn't get the two-tone appearance.
        
           | ChuckMcM wrote:
           | Ah good to know.
        
       | rgovostes wrote:
       | Easter(?) egg: The 7SEGG-CHAN font appears in the preview image
       | but is not documented on the page, other than a mathematical
       | reference in the "Misc." section.
        
       | georgestagg wrote:
       | If you're at all interested in segmented displays Posy's YouTube
       | video about them is pure gold: https://youtu.be/RTB5XhjbgZA
        
         | sprash wrote:
         | This rare 22-segment display is the most interesting I've seen
         | so far. It can display the full 7-bit ASCII range including
         | special characters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2cyZoCat_U
        
       | edent wrote:
       | I don't understand why DSEG14 doesn't have some of the lower-case
       | letters that DSEG7 does. Anyone know why?
        
       | kazinator wrote:
       | I'm not convinced that, in the 14 segment font, we should just
       | give up and accept that lower case "a" and "m" should just be the
       | same as their upper case counterparts:
       | 
       | We can represent a "double storey" a like this:
       | ___           |        ___|       |   |       |___|
       | 
       | It's also unclear why we couldn't have a 14 seg lower case m like
       | this:                  _ _       | | |       | | |
       | 
       | Maybe for each character, have a link to a documented rationale.
       | 
       | EDIT: Oh, look at the example font sheet featured in Wikipedia's
       | Fourteen-segment-display page: it has these letters exactly as I
       | say:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen-segment_display#/medi...
        
         | degamad wrote:
         | All the letters in DSEG14 are in upper-case, regardless if a
         | lower case variant is possible. It appears to be a stylistic
         | choice.
         | 
         | Only DSEG7 has lower case letters, and that's probably only to
         | distinguish them from other characters or numbers (e.g. h/X,
         | i/1, or o/0).
        
       | mmastrac wrote:
       | I forgot that I had made this until seeing it, but I have a very
       | basic 14-segment font editor for a project I've been meaning to
       | pick up again at some point.
       | 
       | https://github.com/mmastrac/gpsclock
       | 
       | Font JSON file too...
       | 
       | https://github.com/mmastrac/gpsclock/blob/master/fontmaker/f...
        
       | Waterluvian wrote:
       | I used the 7-segment font for my software-only microwave and
       | _really_ like the result.
       | 
       | https://microwave.pointless.click/
        
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       (page generated 2025-10-01 23:00 UTC)