FX Matrix is a font family inspired by the output of Epson FX 9-pin dot matrix printers. The fonts intends to resemble the printed output of an Epson FX-80 printer as exact as possible.
Example: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequat. Quis aute iure reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint obcaecat cupiditat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
As one cannot scale the dot size of a dot-matrix printer, the fonts are only original when printed at 10 pt.
Naming
The font family contains numerous font styles corresponding the the various print modes supported by the FX-80 printer. Because of that, the font names get rather long. All names are in the format
FX Matrix{dot size} {spacing} {pitch} {expanded} {double-strike} {underline} {sub-/superscript} {emphasized/italics}
with the following values:
| placeholder | value | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dot size | 105 |
dot radius in percent of dot offset |
| spacing | Prop |
proportional mode (yes, the FX-80 supported that) |
Mono |
monospace mode | |
| pitch | Pica |
10 characters per inch (in monospace mode) |
Elite |
12 characters per inch (in monospace mode) | |
Condensed |
17.16 characeters per inch (in monospace mode) | |
| expanded | empty | |
Exp |
halve horizontal resolution and duplicate each dot | |
| double-strike | empty | |
Dbl |
duplicate each dot half an offset below | |
| underline | empty | |
UL |
print an underline on the lowest dot row | |
| sub-/superscript | empty | |
Sub |
subscript mode (character width remains the same) | |
Sup |
superscript mode (character width remains the same) | |
| emphasized/italics | Regular |
roman font |
Italic |
italic font | |
Bold |
emphasized mode (duplicate each dot half an offset rightwards) | |
Bold Italic |
emphasized mode with italic font |
Currently only the 105 percent dot radius is released to reproduce some ink glasing of the print and to improve auto-hinting.
The FX-80 can’t print all combinations of the style options in the above table. The emphasized and double-strike modes are only supported with pica pitch and the sub-/superscript modes are only supported in emphasized mode. Proportional mode also works only in pica pitch is always printed in emphasized mode while not supporting double-strike mode. Only the styles supported by the FX-80 are provided for originality, although the creation script can principially create extra styles as well. But they won’t be original anymore.
Available Glyphs
The current version of the font contains only those characters that are supported by the Epson FX-80 printer. So no greek letters, no cyrillic letters and: no euro symbol.
Downloads
- Font package in OpenType format (for desktop usage)
- Font package in WOFF format (for
@font-faceusage)
For conversion to other formats you can use the intermediate FontForge files.
License
The font is distributed unter the SIL Open Font License
Tip
Use gray text color for worn-out ink ribbon ;-)