this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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Transprogrammer
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Whoops, it makes sense now. I did not realize the 3DO needs a BIOS (of course it does, it has to boot from a CD). Yeah, Unifont⅀𝕏 is a fine BIOS font, and I like when a fantasy console like the PICO-8 boots into some environment when no game is inserted. Make sure the most important combining sequences like 🏳️⚧️ U+1F3F3+FE0F+0200D+26A7+FE0F are properly supported!
Also, I'd handle the trans flag sequence in that OS as a one-character (fullwidth) color bar. Also, the environment that would be booted into would be a computing environment, drawn as much as possible in UnifontEX glyphs. A form of super-textmode. But graphics mode would not conflict either. Note that UnifontEX has MANY gender symbols, including ones you would see in the MOGAI community as well as a third flag (U+26FF, the Rumpus Parable agender one). Also, we are dealing with monochrome 16x16 pixel here, so the flags are done in the graphics renderer not the font. I'm literally falling asleep at my keyboard right now and can't think further on this topic, so I will stop here.
The 3DO's BIOS font alone is 1MiB, which is why the file size matters here. UnifontEX-on-a-chip is historically-accurate in terms of file size on 1990s devices (the 3DO Blaster card was literally a 3DO on an ISA card for DOS and DOS/V machines), and in character size (The NEC PC-98, all DOS/V installs, Fujitsu FM Towns, Sharp X68000, and MANY other Japanese computers of the 1980s and 1990s used 16x16 for fullwidth characters and 8x16 for halfwidth characters). So, ignoring the stuff like the Bitcoin symbol, UnifontEX could have existed in an early-1990s console or PC, or upgrade board for a late 1980s machine like the MSX, which had swappable Kanji ROM chips and the needed resolution. Well, rather than just Kanji, how about a decent chunk of Unicode? Also, your comment about late 1990s mobile phones isn't far off. Unicode did exist in the 1990s. Ultimately, UnifontEX's PNG form is historically-accurate given the 3DO's file size. It's why having a 1MiB version is so crucial, because it is within the file size range of Kanji ROMs from the olden days. It's basically a Unicode ROM as well as its own preview image. Think of all the things you can do. You could put it into character LCDs and so many other things. I'm currently tired after a long day of college so I'm not able to go on as long as I usually do.