Re: the Courier font family and nroff history

[James K. Lowden]

On Fri, 22 Mar 2024 22:12:05 -0500
"G. Branden Robinson" <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> wrote:

> However, if the user told CONFIG.SYS to load ANSI.SYS,
> it would, because that module interposed itself before the BIOS call
> that talked to the display, and interpreted them, driving the
> CGA/EGA/VGA hardware appropriately.

Not that it matters because OT, but I think you're mistaken.  

        https://stanislavs.org/helppc/int_10-9.html

The BIOS calls operated one character at a time; a separate call moved
the cursor.  The BIOS was a feature of the hardware and sat beneath the
"operating system", of which ANSI.SYS was a part.  

To engage ANSI.SYS, you had to write to a *file*, namely the "CON:"
device.  But, by the time you did that and inserted all the marvelous
control codes, the display output was too slow for words.  It reduced
your snappy display to something that scrolled along at seemingly 1200
bps or so.  

Best results were obtained by writing directly to the video buffer.
That's what Lotus 1-2-3 did.  Less interactive programs like dBase III
relied on the BIOS.  Applications that wrote to the console (the "right
way") via the OS died on the vine.  

--jkl