CP437 Fonts for Windows

Posted: January 26th, 2010 | Author: Jacob Hammond | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: computers, cp437, dos, fonts, nerd crap, oem-dos, windows | 8 Comments »

CP437, yo

In my search for a good monospaced font for coding and other fixed-width uses, I began looking for a Windows version of the original Code Page 437 “OEM font.”

Unable to find a suitable replacement, I created .FON versions of the font using Fony, a spiffy freeware tool for editing bitmap fonts.

There’s both a 9×16 and an 8×16 version. Those of you who ever knew too much about EGA will recall that it had an 8×16 character size, whereas VGA’s is 9×16. I find that both are suitable for modern use, but I like the 8×16 a bit more because it seems better suited to the aspect ratio of a modern display (9×16 feels a little too “loose”).

Download them both here (Windows .FON format): 8×16, 9×16.

Feel free to re-use and re-distribute as you see fit.

8 Comments on “CP437 Fonts for Windows”

1 Mycroft said at 1:45 pm on January 26th, 2010:
Oh my god. You said “EGA.” I think I’m going to faint.
2 George said at 8:37 pm on June 22nd, 2010:
Jesus christ, I swear I wanted to kill everyone until I found your site. For some reason my install of xp has the default terminal font looking thinner. I have no clue, probably a language setting or something, but now I got the original cool. thanks.
3 George said at 9:12 pm on June 22nd, 2010:
What can I use to edit your font? I’d like to make a 10 point version. 12 it too big. Thanks.
4 Jacob Hammond said at 9:55 pm on June 22nd, 2010:
Check out Fony at http://hukka.furtopia.org/projects/fony/

Free and super easy to use.
5 George said at 8:07 pm on June 27th, 2010:
I don’t quite get how this works. ok, so the font is 8×16, but it’s size 12 in a windows application. Does this mean I have to make it smaller say 6×10 or is there a way to preserve the way it looks but just shrink it a little bit so I could add an option to the font to change it to size 10 when used in an application. How would I go about doing that?
6 George said at 8:10 pm on June 27th, 2010:
I just don’t get it. In xp the old terminal font always preserved the look no matter what size you set it to. In windows 7 for some reason it looks skewed adn thinner and there’s only size 9 then the next one that makes a difference is 12. I can’t understand why microsoft did this. I have ni clue what the difference is between the old terminal font and the newer one. I can’t find any info and it seems others have issues with this as well.
7 George said at 8:13 pm on June 27th, 2010:
I know why, I think it’s because the old terminal font was a true type font and the new one is some total b.s. version
8 George said at 8:43 pm on June 27th, 2010:
I figured out that it’s not the fonts. They’re all basically the same. It’s the way windows is displaying the fonts. I give up. I have no clue why windows is acting like a bitch.