Skip to main content

5x7 text dot-matrix in five minutes...

This is a fairly primitive toy I threw together today for a specific purpose, published in case it’s any use to others... feed it a list of words as command arguments, which it will then display as a 5x7 ASCII dotmatrix with ‘#’ as a dot & ‘_’ as a blank.

/*
 * display text using a 5x7 bitmap font in ASCII letters
 */
static unsigned char font [] [5] = { 
        { 0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00 },   //   0x20 32
        { 0x00,0x00,0x6f,0x00,0x00 },   // ! 0x21 33
        { 0x00,0x07,0x00,0x07,0x00 },   // " 0x22 34
        { 0x14,0x7f,0x14,0x7f,0x14 },   // # 0x23 35
        { 0x00,0x07,0x04,0x1e,0x00 },   // $ 0x24 36
        { 0x23,0x13,0x08,0x64,0x62 },   // % 0x25 37
        { 0x36,0x49,0x56,0x20,0x50 },   // & 0x26 38
        { 0x00,0x00,0x07,0x00,0x00 },   // ' 0x27 39
        { 0x00,0x1c,0x22,0x41,0x00 },   // ( 0x28 40
        { 0x00,0x41,0x22,0x1c,0x00 },   // ) 0x29 41
        { 0x14,0x08,0x3e,0x08,0x14 },   // * 0x2a 42
        { 0x08,0x08,0x3e,0x08,0x08 },   // + 0x2b 43
        { 0x00,0x50,0x30,0x00,0x00 },   // , 0x2c 44
        { 0x08,0x08,0x08,0x08,0x08 },   // - 0x2d 45
        { 0x00,0x60,0x60,0x00,0x00 },   // . 0x2e 46
        { 0x20,0x10,0x08,0x04,0x02 },   // / 0x2f 47
        { 0x3e,0x51,0x49,0x45,0x3e },   // 0 0x30 48
        { 0x00,0x42,0x7f,0x40,0x00 },   // 1 0x31 49
        { 0x42,0x61,0x51,0x49,0x46 },   // 2 0x32 50
        { 0x21,0x41,0x45,0x4b,0x31 },   // 3 0x33 51
        { 0x18,0x14,0x12,0x7f,0x10 },   // 4 0x34 52
        { 0x27,0x45,0x45,0x45,0x39 },   // 5 0x35 53
        { 0x3c,0x4a,0x49,0x49,0x30 },   // 6 0x36 54
        { 0x01,0x71,0x09,0x05,0x03 },   // 7 0x37 55
        { 0x36,0x49,0x49,0x49,0x36 },   // 8 0x38 56
        { 0x06,0x49,0x49,0x29,0x1e },   // 9 0x39 57
        { 0x00,0x36,0x36,0x00,0x00 },   // : 0x3a 58
        { 0x00,0x56,0x36,0x00,0x00 },   // ; 0x3b 59
        { 0x08,0x14,0x22,0x41,0x00 },   // < 0x3c 60
        { 0x14,0x14,0x14,0x14,0x14 },   // = 0x3d 61
        { 0x00,0x41,0x22,0x14,0x08 },   // > 0x3e 62
        { 0x02,0x01,0x51,0x09,0x06 },   // ? 0x3f 63
        { 0x3e,0x41,0x5d,0x49,0x4e },   // @ 0x40 64
        { 0x7e,0x09,0x09,0x09,0x7e },   // A 0x41 65
        { 0x7f,0x49,0x49,0x49,0x36 },   // B 0x42 66
        { 0x3e,0x41,0x41,0x41,0x22 },   // C 0x43 67
        { 0x7f,0x41,0x41,0x41,0x3e },   // D 0x44 68
        { 0x7f,0x49,0x49,0x49,0x41 },   // E 0x45 69
        { 0x7f,0x09,0x09,0x09,0x01 },   // F 0x46 70
        { 0x3e,0x41,0x49,0x49,0x7a },   // G 0x47 71
        { 0x7f,0x08,0x08,0x08,0x7f },   // H 0x48 72
        { 0x00,0x41,0x7f,0x41,0x00 },   // I 0x49 73
        { 0x20,0x40,0x41,0x3f,0x01 },   // J 0x4a 74
        { 0x7f,0x08,0x14,0x22,0x41 },   // K 0x4b 75
        { 0x7f,0x40,0x40,0x40,0x40 },   // L 0x4c 76
        { 0x7f,0x02,0x0c,0x02,0x7f },   // M 0x4d 77
        { 0x7f,0x04,0x08,0x10,0x7f },   // N 0x4e 78
        { 0x3e,0x41,0x41,0x41,0x3e },   // O 0x4f 79
        { 0x7f,0x09,0x09,0x09,0x06 },   // P 0x50 80
        { 0x3e,0x41,0x51,0x21,0x5e },   // Q 0x51 81
        { 0x7f,0x09,0x19,0x29,0x46 },   // R 0x52 82
        { 0x46,0x49,0x49,0x49,0x31 },   // S 0x53 83
        { 0x01,0x01,0x7f,0x01,0x01 },   // T 0x54 84
        { 0x3f,0x40,0x40,0x40,0x3f },   // U 0x55 85
        { 0x0f,0x30,0x40,0x30,0x0f },   // V 0x56 86
        { 0x3f,0x40,0x30,0x40,0x3f },   // W 0x57 87
        { 0x63,0x14,0x08,0x14,0x63 },   // X 0x58 88
        { 0x07,0x08,0x70,0x08,0x07 },   // Y 0x59 89
        { 0x61,0x51,0x49,0x45,0x43 },   // Z 0x5a 90
        { 0x3c,0x4a,0x49,0x29,0x1e },   // [ 0x5b 91
        { 0x02,0x04,0x08,0x10,0x20 },   // \ 0x5c 92
        { 0x00,0x41,0x7f,0x00,0x00 },   // ] 0x5d 93
        { 0x04,0x02,0x01,0x02,0x04 },   // ^ 0x5e 94
        { 0x40,0x40,0x40,0x40,0x40 },   // _ 0x5f 95
        { 0x00,0x00,0x03,0x04,0x00 },   // ` 0x60 96
        { 0x20,0x54,0x54,0x54,0x78 },   // a 0x61 97
        { 0x7f,0x48,0x44,0x44,0x38 },   // b 0x62 98
        { 0x38,0x44,0x44,0x44,0x20 },   // c 0x63 99
        { 0x38,0x44,0x44,0x48,0x7f },   // d 0x64 100
        { 0x38,0x54,0x54,0x54,0x18 },   // e 0x65 101
        { 0x08,0x7e,0x09,0x01,0x02 },   // f 0x66 102
        { 0x0c,0x52,0x52,0x52,0x3e },   // g 0x67 103
        { 0x7f,0x08,0x04,0x04,0x78 },   // h 0x68 104
        { 0x00,0x44,0x7d,0x40,0x00 },   // i 0x69 105
        { 0x20,0x40,0x44,0x3d,0x00 },   // j 0x6a 106
        { 0x00,0x7f,0x10,0x28,0x44 },   // k 0x6b 107
        { 0x00,0x41,0x7f,0x40,0x00 },   // l 0x6c 108
        { 0x7c,0x04,0x18,0x04,0x78 },   // m 0x6d 109
        { 0x7c,0x08,0x04,0x04,0x78 },   // n 0x6e 110
        { 0x38,0x44,0x44,0x44,0x38 },   // o 0x6f 111
        { 0x7c,0x14,0x14,0x14,0x08 },   // p 0x70 112
        { 0x08,0x14,0x14,0x18,0x7c },   // q 0x71 113
        { 0x7c,0x08,0x04,0x04,0x08 },   // r 0x72 114
        { 0x48,0x54,0x54,0x54,0x20 },   // s 0x73 115
        { 0x04,0x3f,0x44,0x40,0x20 },   // t 0x74 116
        { 0x3c,0x40,0x40,0x20,0x7c },   // u 0x75 117
        { 0x1c,0x20,0x40,0x20,0x1c },   // v 0x76 118
        { 0x3c,0x40,0x30,0x40,0x3c },   // w 0x77 119
        { 0x44,0x28,0x10,0x28,0x44 },   // x 0x78 120
        { 0x0c,0x50,0x50,0x50,0x3c },   // y 0x79 121
        { 0x44,0x64,0x54,0x4c,0x44 },   // z 0x7a 122
        { 0x00,0x08,0x36,0x41,0x41 },   // { 0x7b 123
        { 0x00,0x00,0x7f,0x00,0x00 },   // | 0x7c 124
        { 0x41,0x41,0x36,0x08,0x00 },   // } 0x7d 125
        { 0x04,0x02,0x04,0x08,0x04 },   // ~ 0x7e 126
};

int main (int argc, char ** argv) {
        int arg, chr, col, shift;
        char c, * p;
        unsigned char * bits;

        for (arg = 1; arg < argc; ++ arg) {
                for (shift = 1; shift < 128; shift <<= 1) {
                        p = argv [arg];
                        while (c = * p ++) {
                                bits = font [c - ' '];
                                for (col = 0; col < 5; col ++) {
                                        putchar ((bits [col] & shift) ? '#' : '_');
                                }
                                putchar (' ');
                        }
                        putchar ('\n');
                }
                putchar ('\n');
        }
        return 0;
};

/* end: font.c */

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thanks.

'q' should be: {0x08, 0x14, 0x14, 0x14, 0x7c}
Anonymous said…
I noticed the first one by accident, so I had a thorough look and found two more bad chars, should be:
'$'={0x2e, 0x2a, 0xff, 0x2a, 0x3a}
'['={0x00, 0x00, 0x7f, 0x41, 0x00}

Also for better alignment with the other symbol chars, I'd suggest
'~'={0x08, 0x0c, 0x08, 0x18, 0x08}
Anonymous said…
And (finally :) I prefer
'c'={0x38, 0x44, 0x44, 0x44, 0x44}
Anonymous said…
And for a totally different question: How did you generate the bitmap information in that format? By ahnd or is some tool available?
Thx.
austux said…
From memory (hello, 17 months ago) I found a bitmap font and fed that to a very small C program to explode it into a text-mode array for inclusion into the example shown here.

Popular posts from this blog

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.