# Old computer/robot style font. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142 "2005-02-09T04:35:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alvis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/1 "2005-02-09T04:35:41Z")
I’m looking for the name of the font, or the style at least, if it’s not one specific font, for text used in early 80’s computer publications as a high-tech looking font. I remember it being used for logos and ads, but never as a font actually available on one of the computers featured. It consists of a lot of right angles, and has two distinct line thicknesses . The one example I can find is that of the routing and account information printed on the bottom of checks. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/2 "2005-02-09T04:40:23Z")
They’re called MICR fonts. MICR stands for “magnetic ink character recognition.” ---
**Author:** ![Alvis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/3 "2005-02-09T04:43:00Z")
Ok. That’s what I got from my google search, but the font I checked out was only numbers and check routing symbols. I’ll look again for more inclusive versions of the font; thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/4 "2005-02-09T04:47:31Z")
You’re looking for something like this, perhaps: [http://www.fonts.com/findfonts/detail.asp?pid=205071](http://www.fonts.com/findfonts/detail.asp?pid=205071) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/5 "2005-02-09T04:51:15Z")
And the numeric font was invented for the purpose of automating the processing of checks, sometime in the 1960s, IIRC. Before optical character recognition was possible, MICR numbers could be read automatically because each character had a different amount and placement of magnetic ink. I think the alpha font was derived from the numberic version specifically to create a high-tech looking font for artistic purposes, but wasn’t used for automatic character recognition. (But I could be mistaken about that.) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/6 "2005-02-09T04:52:39Z")
That would be _numeric_. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/7 "2005-02-09T04:54:04Z")
Look up “Data 70” and see what you find. You may also want to go into a font vendor’s website (e.g., [fonts.com](http://fonts.com), [myfonts.com](http://myfonts.com)), and search for “OCR” and see what comes up. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/8 "2005-02-09T04:54:15Z")
> [@Alvis](#): > > I’m looking for the name of the font, or the style at least, if it’s not one specific font, for text used in early 80’s computer publications as a high-tech looking font. One such font is called [OCR A Extended](http://fonts.goldenweb.it/pan_file/l/en/font2/OCR_A_Extended.ttf/d2/True_Type_Fonts/c/o/default.html%5B/url). Another similar version is called Westminster, which came packed with Windows 98SE and is therefore not available for download. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/9 "2005-02-09T04:55:28Z")
Maybe [this?](http://fonts.goldenweb.it/pan_file/l/it/font2/Westminster.ttf/d2/True_Type_Fonts/c/w/default.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/10 "2005-02-09T04:57:04Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Maybe [this?](http://fonts.goldenweb.it/pan_file/l/it/font2/Westminster.ttf/d2/True_Type_Fonts/c/w/default.html) Except, apparently, it totally _is_ available for download. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Alvis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alvis)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/11 "2005-02-09T07:03:42Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Maybe [this?](http://fonts.goldenweb.it/pan_file/l/it/font2/Westminster.ttf/d2/True_Type_Fonts/c/w/default.html) That’s the one! The OCR A doesn’t have the varying-width lines as in the MICR characters. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/12 "2005-02-09T22:07:55Z")
OMG, I was just about to do a web search for EXACTLY THIS KIND OF FONT. You people just saved me an hour. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-computer-robot-style-font/289142/13 "2005-02-09T23:50:17Z")
There were two common fonts used for optical character recognition. One was called “OCR A” and the later, less angular, version was called “OCR B”. A little Googling on those terms oughta pay off easily. Both came in a couple of versions over the years, like the “extended” mentioned above. They were finally superceded when OCR software got good enough to read conventional characters, at least when they’re printed on a plain background by a decent printer. And as the others said, MICR was invented for a totally different purpose, and hence looks quite different.