The Windows Console gets support for Sixel images

[wswope]

Congrats to the Windows Terminal team member who went through the process of getting a PhD to implement this.

[runevault]

Worth noting for people who don't use MS tech stack much, this is the new Terminal that you get from the windows store (for free) not cmd.exe

Which anyone who knows how to actually use a terminal should have upgraded to years ago anyway, mind you.

[None4U]

conhost.exe is the terminal, cmd.exe is the shell, this patch is in fact only currently used in conhost

[pathartl]

Terminal is built into newer versions of Windows 11.

[ashleyn]

I was about to express my surprise that such a major part of Windows was now open source on Github.

[bloopernova]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixel

[criddell]

So this is basically writing to the terminal as if it's a six pin dot matrix printer?

Are Sixel images actually used very often these days? Is support in Windows Console a big deal, or just lots of fun?

[PaulHoule]

Great! I'm always looking for more places where I can make semigraphics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semigraphics

but I've fallen out of the habit because it's a hassle to get them to display right all of the time on the web.

One of my favorite terminals of all times were the DEC ReGIS terminals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReGIS

which supported a set of commands similar to the drawing commands in BASIC back in the day but supported more and better colors than home computers at the time and could also freely mix graphics and text. Since the PDP-11 supported BASIC you could write graphical programs in BASIC that would draw on the terminal using the right character sequences.

[makapuf]

that's nice, but .. wouldn't it be better to implement kitty graphics directly at this time ? https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/graphics-protocol/

[cwyers]

kitty is a product of a single open-source project, Sixel is a product of DEC with multiple independent implementations. DEC is out of business and there's very little risk of anyone coming out with a new version of VT333/VT340 reference manual, so Windows Terminal/conhost can have its own implementation of Sixel and ensure interoperability with other implementations as it sees fit, as opposed to committing to either chase compatibility with the Kitty project or committing to shipping someone else's code in perpetuity.

[alchemist1e9]

I love everything about kitty except the refusal to implement sixel.

Maybe someone has an independent patch that can be applied?

[jetbalsa]

how long until its just X11 with some extra steps :V

[IshKebab]

Woo, storming into the 1980s. Is this compatible with my Voodoo 2?

[mid-kid]

I kind of lament that a format that was invented for dot matrix printers, where switching heads is a costly operation, transfer speeds don't matter since moving the head is a bottleneck, and color accuracy doesn't matter as the technology wasn't there yet, is being revived, as opposed to some of the more modern ideas for doing this... It doesn't make sense in a terminal emulator context at all.

[ranger_danger]

Finally. msys2/mingw terminal (mintty) has had sixel support for many years now. Can't wait to see notcurses running on this.

[rcarmo]

_looks pointedly at Apple_

[renewedrebecca]

You don't actually use Terminal.app do you?