n1ckfg/telidon

TelidonP5: a JS encoder and decoder for NAPLPS vector graphics files (originally developed for Telidon hardware, later used throughout the BBS era).

TelidonP5

TelidonP5.js allows NAPLPS vector graphics files to be displayed in a browser using p5.js. Its companion encoder/decoder library naplps.js can also be used independently.
[ See an example ]

Contents:

./archives/ <-- contemporary utility apps, most without source.
./css/ <-- for web demo.
./docs/ <-- original spec documentation and commentary.
./images/ <-- testbed of NAPLPS images.
./js/ <-- TelidonP5.js lives here.
./tools/ <-- misc. new tests and prototypes, with source.

Tutorial:

./tools/rosetta_stone/boom
A simple NAPLPS image explained instruction by instruction. Start here.

Experimental Viewers (source included):

TelidonP5.js (Nick Fox-Gieg, 2018)
./js/telidon/
License: MIT
Language: JavaScript
Read, edit, write NAPLPS; convert from SVG; export to GIF.
Tested with Firefox, Chrome, Safari.
position: yes / color: yes / text: no / animation: no

TelidonP5 prototype (Nick Fox-Gieg, 2018)
./tools/processing/TelidonP5/
License: MIT
Language: Java
Read NAPLPS only.
Tested in Win10, OS X High Sierra.
position: yes / color: no / text: no / animation: no

Ajwm Decoder (Alastair Mayer, 1999)
./archives/ajwm-naplps/
License: GPL
Language: Java
Read NAPLPS only.
Tested in Win10, Ubuntu; doesn't work in OS X.
position: yes / color: yes / text: no / animation: no

Reference Viewers (no source):

TurShow (Shawn Rhoads, 1993)
./archives/simtel/TURSHOW6/
License: unknown
Language: Pascal
Read NAPLPS only.
Tested with DosBox; doesn't work in Win10.
position: yes / color: yes / text: yes / animation: yes

Microstar Graphics Editor (Microstar Software, 1991)
./archives/simtel/MGE201A/
License: unknown
Language: unknown
Read, edit, write NAPLPS.
Tested with WinXP; doesn't work with DosBox.
position: yes / color: yes / text: yes / animation: ?

Personality+III (Microstar Software, 1992)
./archives/simtel/PP3217A/
License: unknown
Language: unknown
Read NAPLPS only.
Untested; doesn't work with WinXP or DosBox.

Note: ./archives/ also contains more untested utilities.

Background info:

August 15th, 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the Telidon vector graphics workstation, launched in 1978. The Telidon hardware was discontinued in 1985, but its file format, standardized as NAPLPS, thrived and remained in wide use throughout the BBS era, until the mid-1990s. Thanks to its exceptionally small file size and limited animation features, NAPLPS can be seen as a technological ancestor of the animated GIF and the Flash SWF—a new artistic medium that could be both produced and distributed on the same machine.

From 1982–1985, members of the Toronto arts org InterAccess used Telidon systems to produce an ambitious series of interactive BBS-based artworks in the format.

Nick Fox-Gieg
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