Help: epub font de-obfuscation

[lumpynose]

Where would I go or what would I search for to find a place that can read floppy discs? I have 2 floppies that I should have copied before my floppy drive gave up the ghost, Bitstream Li'l Bits fonts; The Flintstones, and Looney Toones 1.

Nevermind, these people could probably do it: https://www.werecoverdata.com/

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

Heh, the disc was readable, and my cd/dvd drive (whatever it is) also still works. The disc is surely older than Hitch's ancient Kindle.

Not the full alphabet but perhaps enough to give you an idea:

Attachment 172556

Well, thank you, Lumps! I shall investigate forthwith. MUCH much appreciated.

The quest continues, lol!

Hitch

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

Where would I go or what would I search for to find a place that can read floppy discs? I have 2 floppies that I should have copied before my floppy drive gave up the ghost, Bitstream Li'l Bits fonts; The Flintstones, and Looney Toones 1.

Nevermind, these people could probably do it: https://www.werecoverdata.com/

Just buy a USB floppy disk reader, e.g.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Floppy-External-Drive-Portable-Windows/dp/B00SWQ4G86/

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Just buy a USB floppy disk reader, e.g.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Floppy-External-Drive-Portable-Windows/dp/B00SWQ4G86/

That's what I was thinking as well, but then one of the sites that google turned up warned about old floppies having deteriorated and the oxide flaking off when you try to read it since the head does touch it. Which brings up the question of how careful a recovery place would be for stuff like that. If I really want to do it I'll go to the nearest one and ask and see what their procedure is.

At work we had a hard drive fail and then discovered that the backups weren't being done; the place I took it too disassembled the drive and had a special setup for extracting the data from each platter. And we paid a fortune for the job.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

That's what I was thinking as well, but then one of the sites that google turned up warned about old floppies having deteriorated and the oxide flaking off when you try to read it since the head does touch it. Which brings up the question of how careful a recovery place would be for stuff like that. If I really want to do it I'll go to the nearest one and ask and see what their procedure is.

At work we had a hard drive fail and then discovered that the backups weren't being done; the place I took it too disassembled the drive and had a special setup for extracting the data from each platter. And we paid a fortune for the job.

I know of no way of reading a floppy without the heads having contact with the disk

If you want the data back, I'd still recommend getting a USB drive, but also get software that can read the entire data as a disk image in one pass, so as to reduce any back-and-forth on the disk.

[jackie_w]

It's a good job the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans etc. weren't reliant on our modern digital archival methods. There'd be nothing left that was readable

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

It's a good job the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans etc. weren't reliant on our modern digital archival methods. There'd be nothing left that was readable

Yup. Back when digital cameras were becoming popular I was thinking about that. Shoeboxes full of photos in the attic were a hassle to go through but then imagine how many digital photos will be lost due to negligence, being stored on obsolete media, etc.

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I know of no way of reading a floppy without the heads having contact with the disk

If you want the data back, I'd still recommend getting a USB drive, but also get software that can read the entire data as a disk image in one pass, so as to reduce any back-and-forth on the disk.

Thanks, I had no idea about disk image software. I found some ancient software called WinImage and its companion Extrac.

A USB floppy drive is less than US$13 on Amazon. Maybe I should order some boxes of floppies to bring the price to $25 so I can get free shipping.

There were some other Li'l Bits fonts that I never saw unfortunately; I wouldn't have minded getting the Jetsons one as well.

http://www.typophile.com/node/116926

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

Thanks, I had no idea about disk image software. I found some ancient software called WinImage and its companion Extrac.

A USB floppy drive is less than US$13 on Amazon. Maybe I should order some boxes of floppies to bring the price to $25 so I can get free shipping.

There were some other Li'l Bits fonts that I never saw unfortunately; I wouldn't have minded getting the Jetsons one as well.

http://www.typophile.com/node/116926

Lumps:

I perused your list, but alas, 'tis not there. I KNOW that this is a Hallmark font, one of their digital card fonts. I KNOW that folks could buy it, a few years ago and apparently, this one was on Dafont for a while (!). But now..it's as though it never existed.

Driving me bats. It's a mystery and I'm used to being able to solve those!

Hitch

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Lumps:

I perused your list, but alas, 'tis not there. I KNOW that this is a Hallmark font, one of their digital card fonts. I KNOW that folks could buy it, a few years ago and apparently, this one was on Dafont for a while (!). But now..it's as though it never existed.

Driving me bats. It's a mystery and I'm used to being able to solve those!

Hitch

Do you have any images of the font? There was some web page where you could upload a scan of some text and it would match it to fonts.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

Do you have any images of the font? There was some web page where you could upload a scan of some text and it would match it to fonts.

Lump:

Yes and I know the name of the font. I tracked down the name and the likely genesis. I simply now cannot FIND the font anywhere. On no foundries; no font sites; I've reached out to fellow font wonks of all kinds directly; guys (and women) that have been font wonks for decades...it's an odd situation.

I believe it's an old Hallmark digital card font. But for the life of me, I can't seem to acquire it. I'm not even sure I'd have a real use for it--it's just more...riddle, mystery, enigma and now that I've solved the name, (the mystery) it's enigmatic to me why it seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth in a very short period of time (apparently).

Hitch

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Lump:

Yes and I know the name of the font. I tracked down the name and the likely genesis. I simply now cannot FIND the font anywhere. On no foundries; no font sites; I've reached out to fellow font wonks of all kinds directly; guys (and women) that have been font wonks for decades...it's an odd situation.

I believe it's an old Hallmark digital card font. But for the life of me, I can't seem to acquire it. I'm not even sure I'd have a real use for it--it's just more...riddle, mystery, enigma and now that I've solved the name, (the mystery) it's enigmatic to me why it seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth in a very short period of time (apparently).

Hitch

So what's its name? And what did it look like? Is it a fun font, like Tango, SnowCap, or Amelia? I need to find a way to use the silly Bitstream fonts, they're so wonderfully louche.

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I believe it's an old Hallmark digital card font. But for the life of me, I can't seem to acquire it. I'm not even sure I'd have a real use for it--it's just more...riddle, mystery, enigma and now that I've solved the name, (the mystery) it's enigmatic to me why it seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth in a very short period of time (apparently).

Hitch

Maybe they made it for one of the versions of their card software and then for whatever reason didn't carry it forward. Have you tried writing to Hallmark? Maybe they have it on backups somewhere (floppies no doubt).

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

Maybe they made it for one of the versions of their card software and then for whatever reason didn't carry it forward. Have you tried writing to Hallmark? Maybe they have it on backups somewhere (floppies no doubt).

OMG, Hallmark, don't get me started! I've tried writing and calling. Their email--their official, on-their-website customer support email--is not working. I've not been able to get through on the phone, being told that I'm nth in the queue with wait times >10minutes. It's a nightmare, and that's Hallmark SOFTWARE. it's not even like, Hallmark proper.

I mean, I'm willing to pay for the freaking thing. I'm not asking for freebies here.

Unfreakingbelievable, really.

Hitch

[pdurrant]

I wonder if it might be lurking in archive.org somewhere?

What was the name of the font?