Bitmap font editor tool
Last updated: 11 Nov 2020 - 14:36
In a project I am currently working on I needed a font to embed in the ROM of an ARM Cortex micro-controller that could be used on one of these ChLCD modules from SparkFun. The display in my application is currently mounted in a landscape orientation, but I didn't want to preclude using it the other way around, or changing the font. I've written a few bitmap font editors over the years for various graphical LCDs, VGA displays and LED matrix displays. They all have a common interface, a character being edited with oversized pixels and a preview of the entire font. I decided this time to do a "proper job" of the code and write a Python GUI app that should be cross-platform and allows saving and loading of fonts.
Automatically detect changes in header files in a Makefile
Last updated: 26 Feb 2017 - 21:41
GNU Make is still a brilliant tool for managing embedded software project build systems. The main strength of the system is the way you can define the dependencies of each stage and then let Make figure out what's changed (based on file dates) and build all the bits required. You may be familiar with rules of the form:
file1.o: file1.c
gcc -c file1.c -o file1.o
Where file1.o is the object file, file1.c is the source file. This declares that if file1.c is changed, file1.o must be re-made.