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stgiga authored May 13, 2024
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Expand Up @@ -94,9 +94,9 @@ Also, I see plenty of accessibility device applications for it beyond the TrueTy

Also, it works wonderfully on even a Kindle Touch (it does require some tech skills to install), so now you can see fancy text (and a LOT of Unicode in general) on an e-ink device from 2012. It works on newer Kindles too. Kindle Touches are cheap and they have no backlight so they last nearly forever before you need to charge them. They're perfect for those who travel often or who have power outages often. Now these can do Unicode better. And these aren't the only devices UnifontEX supports!

With regards to LCD usage, on May 11th, 2024, I found a better-trodden way of getting it into a character LCD/VFD/OLED than before, and it all started when I did some searching of "UnifontEX" on Bing (I frequently see what people do with my content), and found that there was code to make the Unifont BDF (including elusive higher-plane characters normally obtained through compilation) into a u8g2 C file (it can also export ucglib too) (and I knew that the BDF was usable for this last week, I just didn't know quite how to implement it). Sadly, both the Windows and Linux versions on the Github page gave assert errors on the RLE step when trying to handle the whole BDF, but the specific `bdfconv_2_22.exe` converter deep in the u8g2 repo just happened to work (including RLE), and it works for both ucglib AND u8g2 outputs. Having said that, I've specifically instructed bdfconv_2_22.exe to export the *entire* font (which forced me to use this particular version). As such, I *highly* advise using 8 megabytes of external memory if you do need any (it will work regardless of ucglib or u8g2 usage). Of course, if hardware support of TTF2PNG happens, you have a lot lighter load.
With regards to LCD usage, on May 11th, 2024, I found a better-trodden way of getting it into a character LCD/VFD/OLED than before, and it all started when I did some searching of "UnifontEX" on Bing (I frequently see what people do with my content), and found that there was code to make the Unifont BDF (including elusive higher-plane characters normally obtained through compilation) into a u8g2 C file (it can also export ucglib too) (and I knew that the BDF was usable for this last week, I just didn't know quite how to implement it). Sadly, both the Windows and Linux versions on the Github page gave assert errors on the RLE step when trying to handle the whole BDF, but the specific `bdfconv_2_22.exe` converter deep in the u8g2 repo just happened to work (including RLE), and it works for both ucglib AND u8g2 outputs. Having said that, I've specifically instructed bdfconv_2_22.exe to export the *entire* font (which forced me to use this particular version). As such, I *highly* advise using 8 megabytes of external memory if you do need any (it will work regardless of ucglib or u8g2 usage). Of course, if hardware support of TTF2PNG happens, you have a lot lighter load. I DID try to make an old-style U8GLIB version for older stuff, but the problem is that usually only 256 characters are allowed at once, and Unicode support is spotty at best, so like with PSF, it's not worth doing.

Funnily enough, a day later, I found out that there there IS an Arduino with 8 megabytes of RAM and 16 megaytes of flash storage, the Arduino Pro Portenta H7. So if you use one of *these*, your life is easier. Also the Portenta X8 is just an Arduino and Raspberry Pi having a baby, so *that* is probably excessive, and the Portenta C33 is a budget and mystery board, so I can't verify if it will work, and the maximum non-Pro Arduino memory is 1MiB, so IF you want to use UnifontEX on Arduino, you MUST use a Portenta H7 at the time of writing. Also, the UCGLIB version *almost* uses all 8MiB of the Arduino Portenta H7's RAM, while the U8G2 version is significantly less of a memory filler. In fact, you have about 2MiB free, so unless you are locked into using a display that requires UCGLIB and does not work with U8G2, I wholeheartedly recommend use of the U8G2 version because it will make the lives of your engineers and developers easier. So the game plan here is to get an Arduino Portenta H7, and a display compatible with U8G2, and then you can have full UnifontEX on an Arduino-controlled display, AND you aren't needing to include what is effectively a Raspberry Pi in your display board alone. Also, a lack of known solutions now doesn't mean they won't be developed, so the RAM cram feng shui won't be needed in the long run if you want to have the pony of using your UCGLIB-only display. Funnily enough, some of the Noritake VFDs I originally wanted to order UnifontEX on *can* work with this Arduino pipeline and also the SED1330, by the makers of the Roland MT-32's display, as well as a certain HD-series controller, as well as some displays that have 400x240 (3DS top screen 2D resolution), and 320x240 (common 40-column retro computer resolution). The question is what display do *I* want to toy around with? I'd probably go for the 400x240. So hook one of *those* to an Arduino Pro Portenta H7, and then you can be in business. Unabridged UnifontEX that can actually display 15 lines of text, on a dot-matrix display. Think of the uses! (Obviously you can go for the smaller types of displays supported by U8G2, I just chose this one due to it having the most room, also the controller is part of the display, so I can more-directly interface the display with the Arduino.) There's so many things one could do.
Funnily enough, a day after making the U8G2 and UCGLIB Arduino versions whose file size is within 8MiB but bigger than 4MiB, I found out that there there IS an Arduino with 8 megabytes of RAM and 16 megabytes of flash storage, the Arduino Pro Portenta H7. So if you use one of *these*, your life is made much easier. Also the Portenta X8 is just an Arduino and Raspberry Pi having a baby, so *that* is probably excessive, and the Portenta C33 is a budget and mysterious board, so I can't verify if it will work, and the maximum non-Pro Arduino memory is 1MiB, so IF you want to use UnifontEX on Arduino, you MUST use a Portenta H7 at the time of writing. Also, the UCGLIB version *almost* uses all 8MiB of the Arduino Portenta H7's RAM, while the U8G2 version is significantly less of a memory filler. In fact, you have about 2MiB free, so unless you are locked into using a display that requires UCGLIB and does not work with U8G2, I wholeheartedly recommend use of the U8G2 version because it will make the lives of your engineers and developers easier. So the game plan here is to get an Arduino Portenta H7, and a display compatible with U8G2, and then you can have full UnifontEX on an Arduino-controlled display, AND you aren't needing to include what is effectively a Raspberry Pi in your display board alone. Also, a lack of known solutions now doesn't mean they won't be developed, so the RAM cram feng shui won't be needed in the long run if you want to have the pony of using your UCGLIB-only display. Funnily enough, some of the Noritake VFDs I originally wanted to order UnifontEX on *can* work with this Arduino pipeline and also the SED1330, by the makers of the Roland MT-32's display, as well as a certain HD-series controller, as well as some displays that have 400x240 (3DS top screen 2D resolution), and 320x240 (common 40-column retro computer resolution). The question is what display do *I* want to toy around with? I'd probably go for the 400x240. So hook one of *those* to an Arduino Pro Portenta H7, and then you can be in business. Unabridged UnifontEX that can actually display 15 lines of text, on a dot-matrix display. Think of the uses! (Obviously you can go for the smaller types of displays supported by U8G2, I just chose this one due to it having the most room, also the controller is part of the display, so I can more-directly interface the display with the Arduino.) There's *so* many things one could do.

Hopefully I can use this whole arrangement involving a beefy Arduino to make a planned Unicode TV head costume like the Mk.2 version (24x18, I can center each glyph vertically or make them bob up/down by one pixel, and I can do 3 halfwidth glyphs at a time, or I can do one halfwidth plus one fullwidth, or I can do a centered fullwidth, and the Mk2 has mobile control so I can just send that. Obviously text would scroll, and the emojis present could allow me to have a "face". Also I'd decorate mine in a manner akin to my fursona) on [this](http://rose.systems/tv_head/) website.

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