People who read underground hacking zines will probably notice that they almost always comes in pure txt format and even so they are designed with fine ASCII graphics and formating that is either almost impossible to do manually or would be extremely time consuming (an example).

There is a linux tools, called “boxes” that does a fine job creating either custom ASCII arts or use predefined “designs”.

You can find more information about “boxes” over here: http://boxes.thomasjensen.com/

But first let look at some examples.

First we install “boxes”, in a debian based system that is as easy as apt-get.

You can see a full range of “boxes” styles over here: http://boxes.thomasjensen.com/box-designs.txt

Let’s try out some of them:

You can read about watching movies in ASCII over here: http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2007/08/14/how-to-play-movie-in-ascii-art/

Have fun!
pavs