Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

General discussion about calculators, SwissMicros or otherwise
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Jaymos
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by Jaymos »

In my experience with the WP34S & C key labels creation, the fonts are a mix and match from different fonts. This very fact and the resulting collection of non-matching fonts on one calculator probably would give a real typesetter of old a cardiac arrest ;-)

Most glyphs from existing fonts do not match and would need a bit of manual tweaking. I did the glyph manipulation per button directly in Coreldraw, after converting from the closest matched font I could find to curves. I initially tried to use Inkscape for this (I was initially insisting on a free product) but in the end gave up and succumbed to Corel and used the free Coreldraw demo to finalise my design.

This resulted in WP34S above key which is the above key emulator graphic and similar to my own prints of the WP34S key stickers and above key labels.

The X<>Y button that you refer to was I made in the same process. In my opinion, editing the curves in Corel is a solution that will get you to your intended copy of the HP key.

If important, I could check what my starting font was for this one, but it is a Pages file, and must first return home to my Mac to check that.
Attachments
wp34s_above_V3_medium_xy.png
wp34s_above_V3_medium_xy.png (10.87 KiB) Viewed 6047 times
Jaco Mostert
Elec Eng, South Africa
https://47calc.com C47 (s/n 03818 & 06199), WP43 (0015). In box: HP42S, HP32Sii, WP34S&C, HP28C, HP35s, EL-506P, EL-W506, PB700; ex: FX702P, 11C, HP67 & HP85; iOS: 42s Byron, Free42+, WP31S/34S, HCalc.
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Walter
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by Walter »

Thanks for the information. For many years, I don't have major problems with pixels graphics anymore - with sufficient dedication and patience (and some training) one can create everything including entire keyboards, even with basic tools like PAINT. The challenge starts when I need vector graphics for any reason whatsoever; then real fonts are required AFAIK.
WP43 SN00000, 34S, and 31S for obvious reasons; HP-35, 45, ..., 35S, 15CE, DM16L S/N# 00093, DM42β SN:00041
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Jaymos
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by Jaymos »

Walter wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:13 pm
Thanks for the information. For many years, I don't have major problems with pixels graphics anymore - with sufficient dedication and patience (and some training) one can create everything including entire keyboards, even with basic tools like PAINT. The challenge starts when I need vector graphics for any reason whatsoever; then real fonts are required AFAIK.
The Convert to curves method that I refer to above, converts the constituent vectors of a ttf glyph to ordinary vectors on your layout, which can effortlessly be modified as vectors as you would modify any other shape.
Jaco Mostert
Elec Eng, South Africa
https://47calc.com C47 (s/n 03818 & 06199), WP43 (0015). In box: HP42S, HP32Sii, WP34S&C, HP28C, HP35s, EL-506P, EL-W506, PB700; ex: FX702P, 11C, HP67 & HP85; iOS: 42s Byron, Free42+, WP31S/34S, HCalc.
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Walter
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by Walter »

Jaymos wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:43 pm
The Convert to curves method that I refer to above, converts the constituent vectors of a ttf glyph to ordinary vectors on your layout, which can effortlessly be modified as vectors as you would modify any other shape.
Aha. Thanks. Reminds me on our analysis professor who used to tell us every once and a while "This proof is trivial - you can do it at home effortlessly." :shock:
WP43 SN00000, 34S, and 31S for obvious reasons; HP-35, 45, ..., 35S, 15CE, DM16L S/N# 00093, DM42β SN:00041
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Mark Hardman
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by Mark Hardman »

Walter wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 10:12 am
Found very close fonts for almost every letter but the exchange character: 34C_xy.png

Any ideas where to find this?
Another solution is to use two characters and apply kerning. Below, I used a Unicode right dart arrow and left dart arrow. I set the right arrow as superscript and the left arrow as subscript. I then applied kerning of 8 pts:

exch.png
exch.png (785 Bytes) Viewed 5982 times
DM42: β00043, β00065, 00357 / DM41X: β00054, 00445 / DM32: β00278
DM10L: 017/100, DM11L: 00121, DM12L: 02005, DM15L: 00523, DM16L: 00008, DM41L: 00111
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Walter
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by Walter »

Mark Hardman wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:06 am
Another solution is to use two characters and apply kerning. Below, I used a Unicode right dart arrow and left dart arrow. I set the right arrow as superscript and the left arrow as subscript. I then applied kerning of 8 pts:
Thanks, Mark. Although, ...
1. Can't find your both dart arrows. Unicode? Font?
2. How do you apply kerning?
WP43 SN00000, 34S, and 31S for obvious reasons; HP-35, 45, ..., 35S, 15CE, DM16L S/N# 00093, DM42β SN:00041
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Mark Hardman
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by Mark Hardman »

Walter wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:54 am

Thanks, Mark. Although, ...
1. Can't find your both dart arrows. Unicode? Font?
2. How do you apply kerning?
Unicode: U+2B9C and U+2B9E
MS Wingdings 3: 0x85 and 0x86
Kerning needs to be supported by your application. In MS Turd it is on the advanced tab of the font properties dialog.
DM42: β00043, β00065, 00357 / DM41X: β00054, 00445 / DM32: β00278
DM10L: 017/100, DM11L: 00121, DM12L: 02005, DM15L: 00523, DM16L: 00008, DM41L: 00111
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Walter
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by Walter »

Mark Hardman wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:39 am
Walter wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:54 am
Thanks, Mark. Although, ...
1. Can't find your both dart arrows. Unicode? Font?
2. How do you apply kerning?
Unicode: U+2B9C and U+2B9E
MS Wingdings 3: 0x85 and 0x86
Kerning needs to be supported by your application. In MS Turd it is on the advanced tab of the font properties dialog.
Thanks a lot! I didn't know of this opportunity in MS Turd ( :lol: ) so I learned something new here. :D
WP43 SN00000, 34S, and 31S for obvious reasons; HP-35, 45, ..., 35S, 15CE, DM16L S/N# 00093, DM42β SN:00041
keithdalby
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by keithdalby »

Walter wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:28 pm
Reminds me on our analysis professor who used to tell us every once and a while "This proof is trivial - you can do it at home effortlessly." :shock:
In my experience, that usually means, "I cannot remember how to do the proof, so you go away and do it so I don't have to embarrass myself in front of you trying to work it out."
toml_12953
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Re: Who knows HP's keyboard fonts?

Post by toml_12953 »

keithdalby wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:31 pm
Walter wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:28 pm
Reminds me on our analysis professor who used to tell us every once and a while "This proof is trivial - you can do it at home effortlessly." :shock:
In my experience, that usually means, "I cannot remember how to do the proof, so you go away and do it so I don't have to embarrass myself in front of you trying to work it out."
Hey, Fermat made a note in the margin of his paper that the proof of his famous Last Theorem was simple but too long to include there. It took about 358 years to prove that "simple" theorem. Talk about, "The proof is left as an exercise for the student" !
Tom L

Some people call me inept but I'm as ept as anybody!
DM10L SN: 059/100
DM41X SN: 00023 (Beta)
DM41X SN: 00506 (Shipping)
DM42 SN: 00025 (Beta)
DM42 SN: 00221 (Shipping)
WP43 SN: 00025 (Prototype)
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