In Germany (maybe also Austria?), that font is probably best known from the logo of major computer magazine/site CHIP (https://www.chip.de/). Although, for some unfathomable reason, the C in the "dead test font" doesn't have the characteristic "thickening" in the lower vertical part, although the G has it...
Regarding the shape of the letter "C", mind that of the 10 digits of the MICR E-18B font, the digits 2, 5, 6, 7, 0 don't have any "thickenings" at all, all thin, even strokes. That's 5 out of 10 or half of the traditional part of the set. So just "C" being similar may be actually an underrepresentation. (Maybe, a "true" MICR inspired font should have actually somewhat more modulation between characters.)
Good ol' It's A Computer (tm) font. A good while back I've been using Westminster in every piece of UI I wrote for myself. Maybe I should start doing that again.
I am pretty sure that I saw that font on a C64 before. Paradroid used a very similar font for the logo, but the game itself uses a different font (Paradrew).
I was recently exploring fonts of the next decade from old Mac system 6-9 era on my still in progress personal blog site https://hankdoes.ai/design-system/
Thank you author for the font and the lovely dive into computing and type history!
Nice writeup!
Yeah, that font! :D
I didn't have a deadtest cart back in ancient times, but I built one when I built my first C64 (from PCB and up), and the first thing I did with that machine, was to boot it with the dead test cart.. Which didn't work because the PCB I got didn't wire the pins it needed.. I thought on it until I figured that hey! chip select pin!! And then I jumpered that pin and saw for the very first time, a brand new C64 come up and vomit garbage all over the screen because I had gotten a wrong chip! :D
Why would you ever solder a chip into a socket, rather than just insert?
(they clipped the original chip, instead of desoldering it. The socket is then inserted into another socket on the board. Workable trick but... why, just why.)
Definitely before my time working on computers... but I remember seeing this font in old computer magazines I came across when I was young and always thought it was really cool.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 30.8 ms ] threadNice exploration, bit of quirky fun.
Thank you author for the font and the lovely dive into computing and type history!
https://dusted.dk/pages/c64/MaxFake64/
You... what?
Why would you ever solder a chip into a socket, rather than just insert?
(they clipped the original chip, instead of desoldering it. The socket is then inserted into another socket on the board. Workable trick but... why, just why.)
My first association fired up the many letter makers that existed at the time.
Future Project build some great makers. They were common around 1986-87.
They featured a whole bunch of character fonts along with highly popular sounds from Rob Hubbard on their disk, usually 10 to 15.
I used the fonts and muziks as as starting point for my first endeavors into C64 assembly programming.