Degauss

Code on the machines you grew up on. Degauss gives VS Code the look of vintage computers: each look sets a period-correct font, a matching color theme and the right cursor, in one step, and puts your own setup back when you're done.

Preview. This is the first public version, and it has only been tried on a few setups so far. If something doesn't look or work right, please open an issue.

VS Code with the Apple //e look in amber

The looks

Look	Font	What it looks like
Apple //e	The Apple //e 80-column font	A monochrome monitor in the phosphor color of your choice
IBM 3270	IBM 3270	A mainframe color terminal with the default ISPF editor highlighting: green text, turquoise comments, red keywords, white strings, blue directives, yellow operators
IBM 3270 Monochrome	IBM 3270	A 3278-style monochrome terminal: ISPF's colors become normal and intensified text, in the phosphor color of your choice

Apple //e in green

IBM 3270 with the ISPF editor colors

IBM 3270 Monochrome in green

Getting started

Install the extension. On Windows, it offers to install its fonts right away (for your user only, no admin needed). Click Install, then quit and restart VS Code: VS Code only sees new fonts after a full restart, and reloading the window isn't enough.
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run Degauss: Choose Look….
For a monochrome look, pick a phosphor color.

The Degauss: Choose Look list

Degauss: Off puts your own theme, fonts and settings back, exactly as they were.

Phosphor colors

Monochrome monitors came in different colors, and some 80-column cards even let you pick one with DIP switches. Monochrome looks ask for their color when you choose them: green, amber, white, cyan, yellow, or Custom… for any #RRGGBB. Change it any time with Degauss: Set Phosphor Color…. The change is instant.

Choosing a phosphor color

Each look remembers its own color, so your Apple //e can be amber while your 3270 stays green. The colors are stored in the degauss.phosphorColors setting, e.g. { "apple2e": "#40E0FF" }, if you'd rather edit them by hand. Very dark colors are brightened so the text stays readable.

Sharp pixel fonts

Pixel fonts blur when a font pixel doesn't land on whole screen pixels. On Windows, Degauss reads your display scaling (and VS Code's zoom level) and picks the sharp font size closest to the look's size, with a line height to match: for example 21.333 with 28-pixel lines at 150% scaling. Turn this off with degauss.pixelPerfectFontSize.

Uninstalling

Run Degauss: Off before you uninstall. It restores your theme, fonts and settings. The extension can't do that once it's uninstalled: VS Code would fall back to its default theme and leave the retro font size, line height and cursor in your settings.

Uninstalling the extension removes its fonts too (the next time VS Code starts). Forgot to turn it off? Reinstall the extension and run Degauss: Off: it still remembers your original settings.

Commands

Command	What it does
Degauss: Choose Look…	Pick a look (and a color, for monochrome looks)
Degauss: Apple //e, Degauss: IBM 3270, …	Apply a look directly, in its remembered color
Degauss: Set Phosphor Color…	Change the color of the active monochrome look
Degauss: Off	Put your own theme, fonts and settings back
Degauss: Degauss!	Thunk, hum, and a second of wobbling, swirling colors
Degauss: Install Fonts	Install the fonts (Windows; only shown while they're missing)
Degauss: Open Bundled Fonts Folder	Open the fonts, to install them by hand on Mac or Linux

The themes are also available on their own in the normal theme picker (Ctrl+K Ctrl+T), and you can use the fonts with any theme.

Mac and Linux

At this early stage, the extension has only been tested on Windows. Mac and Linux will follow.

Credits

The fonts are the work of their authors and keep their own licenses (see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md): PR Number 3 by Kreative Software, PxPlus IBM VGA 9x16 by VileR (The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack), and IBM 3270 by Ricardo Bánffy and contributors (3270font). The degauss sound is a recording of a Compaq CRT monitor by Sanderboah (CC0). The ISPF colors follow IBM's ISPF Edit and Edit Macros manual.

Want another machine, like a Commodore 64 or a classic Mac? Contributions are welcome.

Degauss is a fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple, IBM or any other company whose products it pays tribute to; their names are used only to describe the look.

Degauss: Retro Computer Looks

Itay Zandbank