From c84bd5c05a8df410df4367d63603eec7e28a8989 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Gene Johnson Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2026 04:07:24 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] doc: Document new font selection command-line arguments, environment variables, and a dedicated font management section. --- README.md | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++------ 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 19de862..c6a7ac8 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ python3 mainline.py --poetry # literary consciousness mode python3 mainline.py -p # same python3 mainline.py --firehose # dense rapid-fire headline mode python3 mainline.py --refresh # force re-fetch (bypass cache) +python3 mainline.py --no-font-picker # skip interactive font picker +python3 mainline.py --font-file path.otf # use a specific font file +python3 mainline.py --font-dir ~/fonts # scan a different font folder +python3 mainline.py --font-index 1 # select face index within a collection ``` First run bootstraps a local `.mainline_venv/` and installs deps (`feedparser`, `Pillow`, `sounddevice`, `numpy`). Subsequent runs start immediately, loading from cache. @@ -29,8 +33,10 @@ All constants live in `engine/config.py`: | `HEADLINE_LIMIT` | `1000` | Total headlines per session | | `FEED_TIMEOUT` | `10` | Per-feed HTTP timeout (seconds) | | `MIC_THRESHOLD_DB` | `50` | dB floor above which glitches spike | -| `FONT_DIR` | `fonts/` | Folder scanned for `.otf`, `.ttf`, `.ttc` files used by the font picker | -| `FONT_PATH` | first supported font in `fonts/` | Active display font file selected at startup | +| `FONT_DIR` | `fonts/` | Folder scanned for `.otf`, `.ttf`, `.ttc` files | +| `FONT_PATH` | first file in `FONT_DIR` | Active display font (overridden by picker or `--font-file`) | +| `FONT_INDEX` | `0` | Face index within a font collection file | +| `FONT_PICKER` | `True` | Show interactive font picker at boot (`--no-font-picker` to skip) | | `FONT_SZ` | `60` | Font render size (affects block density) | | `RENDER_H` | `8` | Terminal rows per headline line | | `SSAA` | `4` | Super-sampling factor (render at 4× then downsample) | @@ -42,15 +48,24 @@ All constants live in `engine/config.py`: | `NTFY_POLL_INTERVAL` | `15` | Seconds between ntfy polls | | `MESSAGE_DISPLAY_SECS` | `30` | How long an ntfy message holds the screen | -**Font:** Put your `.otf`, `.ttf`, or `.ttc` files in `fonts/`. Startup opens the font picker from that folder and applies your selected font before streaming. +--- + +## Fonts + +A `fonts/` directory is bundled with demo faces (AlphatronDemo, CSBishopDrawn, CyberformDemo, KATA, Microbots, Neoform, Pixel Sparta, Robocops, Xeonic, and others). On startup, an interactive picker lists all discovered faces with a live half-block preview rendered at your configured size. + +Navigation: `↑`/`↓` or `j`/`k` to move, `Enter` or `q` to select. The selected face persists for that session. + +To add your own fonts, drop `.otf`, `.ttf`, or `.ttc` files into `fonts/` (or point `--font-dir` at any other folder). Font collections (`.ttc`, multi-face `.otf`) are enumerated face-by-face. --- ## How it works +- On launch, the font picker scans `fonts/` and presents a live-rendered TUI for face selection; `--no-font-picker` skips directly to stream - Feeds are fetched and filtered on startup (sports and vapid content stripped); results are cached to `.mainline_cache_news.json` / `.mainline_cache_poetry.json` for fast restarts - Headlines are rasterized via Pillow with 4× SSAA into half-block characters (`▀▄█ `) at the configured font size -- A left-to-right ANSI gradient colors each character: white-hot leading edge trails off to near-black; the gradient sweeps continuously across the full scroll canvas +- The ticker uses a sweeping white-hot → deep green gradient; ntfy messages use a complementary white-hot → magenta/maroon gradient to distinguish them visually - Subject-region detection runs a regex pass on each headline; matches trigger a Google Translate call and font swap to the appropriate script (CJK, Arabic, Devanagari, etc.) using macOS system fonts - The mic stream runs in a background thread, feeding RMS dB into the glitch probability calculation each frame - The viewport scrolls through a virtual canvas of pre-rendered blocks; fade zones at top and bottom dissolve characters probabilistically @@ -75,7 +90,7 @@ engine/ ntfy.py NtfyPoller — standalone, zero internal deps mic.py MicMonitor — standalone, graceful fallback scroll.py stream() frame loop + message rendering - app.py main(), boot sequence, signal handler + app.py main(), font picker TUI, boot sequence, signal handler ``` `ntfy.py` and `mic.py` have zero internal dependencies and can be imported by any other visualizer. @@ -139,4 +154,4 @@ msg = poller.get_active_message() # returns (title, body, timestamp) or None --- -*macOS only (system font paths hardcoded). Python 3.9+.* +*macOS only (script/system font paths for translation are hardcoded). Primary display font is user-selectable via the bundled `fonts/` picker. Python 3.9+.*