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BigAsciiChars

BigAsciiChars is a module that displays a given string as if it were on a grid of large pixels.

Installing

Pending submission to the PowerShell Gallery

Install-Module -Name BigAsciiChars -Scope CurrentUser

Examples

Write text using the default 5x5 font

Write-BigText -Text 'This module is so cool!'


Go even bigger with the 8x8 font

$8x8Font = New-BAFont -Name Simple8x8
Write-BigText -Text 'OMG Huge' -Font $8x8Font


Create a scrolling display with your custom message and choice of font

Write-ScrollText -Text $MyMessage


How it works

Characters are stored as Int64 values with each bit representing an off or on for the display. The bits are stored left to right, top to bottom going from Most Significant bit (MSB) to Least Significant Bit (LSB). The module makes heavy use of bitwise operators to rebuild the display characters quickly and efficiently

Contributing

Design a new font!

We could do with some more custom fonts! Inside the repo is an Excel spreadsheet helful for quickly generating the required Int64 values for your design. You can then copy and paste the values into a new class in the module, ready to share.


Your new font class should follow the pattern of the other fonts in the module, and be sure to inherit from FontBase. Important: if your character does not fill the entire width, it should be shifted to the right of the design box. Blank space to the left is trimmed, but not the right.

Notes

This should very much be considered a beta release. I've no idea why you'd use this in a production environment, but if you do, be aware that functions may be renamed or deleted without breaking change notifications.

Authors

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

  • DefaultFont designed by David Johnson and Josh 'Windos' King
  • Simple8x8 font designed by David Johnson