RetroTxt
Turn many pieces of ANSI text art and ASCII/NFO plain text into HTML5 text using RetroTxt. The browser agnostic WebExtension that takes retro text files and stylises them into a more pleasing, useful format to view and copy in a web browser.
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Available for installation from the Chrome web store, Firefox Add-ons and Microsoft Edge Addons.
- View ANSI, ASCII, NFO, Shift JIS text art as HTML
- View server and dev-op logs formatted in coloured text with modern fonts
- View BBS coloured text files for Celerity, PC Board, Renegade, Telegard, Wildcat!, WVIV systems
- RGB 16.7 million, xterm 256 and standard VGA 16 colour support
- Swappable ANSI palettes, VGA, xterm, Apple IIgs, Commodore 64, CGA, monochrome and switchable iCE Colors
- Swappable ASCII & NFO colour themes, DOS, Windows, Amiga, C-64, Apple II, Atari ST
- SAUCE metadata parsing
- Multiple text encodings support including CP-437, ISO-8959-1, Windows-1252, Shift JIS
- Automatic block character, line artefact fixes on Windows systems
- Multiple IBM PC font support such as VGA, PS/2, EGA, CGA, MDA plus variants and more
- Various Amiga fonts plus Mona, Commodore PETSCII, Atari ATASCII, Atari ST and Apple II
Documentation
Read
What is new?
Limitations
Install
Chrome · Firefox · Edge · Brave
Or use the source code
Requirements
Chrome/Chromium 58 or Firefox 63 or newer browsers.
Tryout RetroTxt
You can test the RetroTxt install by clicking on one of the 10 sample artworks found on the welcome.html tab that launches after installation.
Configuration
Out of the box, some useful features of RetroTxt are off. Newer browsers require you to grant permission at prompts before RetroTxt can
access specific browser data it needs. There are a couple of links to the Options dialogue in the welcome.html tab, or it is accessible from the browser's Extensions tab.
Run RetroTxt
Once configured RetroTxt will run on any text or ANSI art file observed in a permitted browser tab and mark the toolbar icon with a check.
Elsewhere there are thousands of text files hosted at textfiles.com or the Project
Gutenberg plain text books. Or download one of the fantastic text art packs created by
Blocktronics, or found at 16 colors and use the file:/// protocol
to browse and view the text art files saved onto your hard drive.
Permissions
Chrome, Brave and Edge require Allow access to file URLs selected if you wish to use RetroTxt with text files stored on your local computer.
Privacy
RetroTxt does not collect or transmit any data created by your web browser.
All data generated by the web extension is only ever stored locally on your computer through the use of the browser local or session storage APIs.
License
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
An important note about the license
While RetroTxt uses a GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0, the included fonts are not. You should read each font license that is in the fonts/ subdirectory before redistribution, as some of the added collections do not permit the sale or modification of their fonts and packages.
Credits
RetroTxt by Ben Garrett on Twitter @bens_zone or mail
RetroTxt ANSI logo Zeus II Twitter @Zeus_II
- Apple II font Print Char 21 by Kreative Korp
- Atari ATASCII font Atari Classic TrueType Fonts by Mark L. Simonson
- Atari ST font 8x16 system font by divVerent
- Commodore 64 font C64 Pro Mono TrueType v1.2 by Style
- Commodore Amiga fonts Multi Platform Fonts In Amiga Aspect v1.0 by TrueSchool Ascii
- IBM PC fonts The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack by Viler
- IBM Plex Plex Mono Regular by IBM Corp.
- Mona Shift JIS mona public domain
- Spleen 8x16 by Frederic Cambus
- Unscii UNSCII by Viznut
Options icons by Google Material Design
Tippy tooltips by atomiks