Sorry it’s not a full complete dump with examples, but it’s programmed in QBasic 1.1 and converts raw RGB pixel data into equivalent closest matching color halftone onscreen characters. I designed it in mind with DOS text modes of either 80x25, 80x43, or 80x50 text modes, but I’m sure the technique can work with any text mode that can properly render the old DOS block characters. But, I’m betting that whatever device you’re using right now is almost certainly not configured to display the old DOS block characters as they were back in the day.
I can’t promise that DOSBox emulated results will give the exact color results as original old-school hardware on an old CRT, but results should still be mighty close.
The raw input data files are pretty simple to generate with most graphics software, just downsample down to potato 80x25, then export to raw 888 RGB format.
Would love to see your implementation. Have you considered making it public?
Sure, have at it!
Sorry it’s not a full complete dump with examples, but it’s programmed in QBasic 1.1 and converts raw RGB pixel data into equivalent closest matching color halftone onscreen characters. I designed it in mind with DOS text modes of either 80x25, 80x43, or 80x50 text modes, but I’m sure the technique can work with any text mode that can properly render the old DOS block characters. But, I’m betting that whatever device you’re using right now is almost certainly not configured to display the old DOS block characters as they were back in the day.
Good luck!
REM TEXTPSET.BAS REM over_clox - February 26, 2008 DECLARE SUB DisplayRAW (FileName$, W%, H%) DECLARE SUB TextPSet (X%, Y%, R%, G%, B%) DECLARE SUB TextPixel (Red%, Green%, Blue%, Char$, FGround%, BGround%) DECLARE SUB HTMtoRGB (HTMColor$, Red%, Green%, Blue%) TYPE PaletteType R AS INTEGER G AS INTEGER B AS INTEGER END TYPE REDIM SHARED DOSPalette(15) AS PaletteType REDIM SHARED FakePalette(15, 7, 1 TO 3) AS PaletteType RESTORE FOR I% = 0 TO 15 READ HTMColor$ HTMtoRGB HTMColor$, R%, G%, B% DOSPalette(I%).R = R% DOSPalette(I%).G = G% DOSPalette(I%).B = B% NEXT FOR C% = 1 TO 3 C2% = 4 - C% FOR B% = 0 TO 7 FOR F% = 0 TO 15 R1% = DOSPalette(F%).R: R2% = DOSPalette(B%).R G1% = DOSPalette(F%).G: G2% = DOSPalette(B%).G B1% = DOSPalette(F%).B: B2% = DOSPalette(B%).B FakePalette(F%, B%, C%).R = (R1% * C% + R2% * C2%) \ 4 FakePalette(F%, B%, C%).G = (G1% * C% + G2% * C2%) \ 4 FakePalette(F%, B%, C%).B = (B1% * C% + B2% * C2%) \ 4 NEXT NEXT NEXT 'MS-DOS Text Mode 16 Color Palette DATA 000000,0000AA,00AA00,00AAAA,AA0000,AA00AA,AA5500,AAAAAA DATA 555555,5555FF,55FF55,55FFFF,FF5555,FF55FF,FFFF55,FFFFFF CMD$ = COMMAND$ IF CMD$ <> "" THEN DisplayRAW CMD$, 80, 25 ELSE DisplayRAW "LOGO.RAW", 80, 25 END IF 'DEF SEG = &HB800: BSAVE "LOGO.BSV", 0, 4000 COLOR 7, 0 DO: Hit$ = UCASE$(INKEY$): LOOP WHILE Hit$ = "" SUB DisplayRAW (FileName$, W%, H%) FileNum% = FREEFILE OPEN FileName$ FOR BINARY AS FileNum% CLS : WIDTH W%, H% ScanLine$ = SPACE$(W% * 3) FOR Y% = 0 TO H% - 1 GET #1, , ScanLine$ FOR X% = 0 TO W% - 1 R% = ASC(MID$(ScanLine$, X% * 3 + 1, 1)) G% = ASC(MID$(ScanLine$, X% * 3 + 2, 1)) B% = ASC(MID$(ScanLine$, X% * 3 + 3, 1)) TextPSet X%, Y%, R%, G%, B% NEXT NEXT CLOSE FileNum% END SUB SUB HTMtoRGB (HTMColor$, Red%, Green%, Blue%) Red% = VAL("&H" + MID$(HTMColor$, 1, 2)) Green% = VAL("&H" + MID$(HTMColor$, 3, 2)) Blue% = VAL("&H" + MID$(HTMColor$, 5, 2)) END SUB SUB TextPixel (Red%, Green%, Blue%, Char$, FGround%, BGround%) ' °±²Û (32,176,177,178,219) Diff% = 768: BGround% = 0 FOR F% = 0 TO 15 RDiff% = ABS(DOSPalette(F%).R - Red%) GDiff% = ABS(DOSPalette(F%).G - Green%) BDiff% = ABS(DOSPalette(F%).B - Blue%) NewDiff% = RDiff% + GDiff% + BDiff% IF NewDiff% < Diff% THEN Diff% = NewDiff%: Char$ = "Û": FGround% = F% END IF NEXT FOR C% = 1 TO 3 C2% = 4 - C% FOR B% = 0 TO 7 FOR F% = 0 TO 15 RDiff% = ABS(FakePalette(F%, B%, C%).R - Red%) GDiff% = ABS(FakePalette(F%, B%, C%).G - Green%) BDiff% = ABS(FakePalette(F%, B%, C%).B - Blue%) NewDiff% = RDiff% + GDiff% + BDiff% IF NewDiff% < Diff% THEN Diff% = NewDiff%: Char$ = CHR$(175 + C%) FGround% = F%: BGround% = B% END IF NEXT NEXT NEXT END SUB SUB TextPSet (X%, Y%, Red%, Green%, Blue%) TextPixel Red%, Green%, Blue%, Char$, FGround%, BGround% LOCATE Y% + 1, X% + 1: COLOR FGround%, BGround%: PRINT Char$; END SUBYou are amazing. Thank you very much for delivering! Half of the fun is discovering how it works without examples so no need to apologise :^)
I need to look into running QBasic on my M4. Unsure about my options for now. Worst case scenario I spin up a VM tomorrow.
Meh, DOSBox is plenty suitable enough, and QBasic is easy enough to find…
https://winworldpc.com/product/qbasic/1x
I can’t promise that DOSBox emulated results will give the exact color results as original old-school hardware on an old CRT, but results should still be mighty close.
The raw input data files are pretty simple to generate with most graphics software, just downsample down to potato 80x25, then export to raw 888 RGB format.