berdia@dg-rtp.dg.com (Sanjay Berdia) (02/03/90)
I have a few questions regarding the IBM defined ASCII and extended
character set ( and code pages ).
1. Could someone shed some light on the (IBM defined) ASCII
character 124. Is it a broken bar or a vertical bar ? I have
found some documentation that says it's a broken bar and some that
says it's a vertical bar. PCs that I have used display a
broken bar. Is the manufacture of the display adapter the issue ?
What about code pages ? If you have the time, could you try to
print ASCII char 124 and email me the results, what version of
DOS you are running, the code page if applicable, and the
manufacturer of your display adapter.
2. Do international versions of DOS prior to 3.3 down load a different
standard and/or extended character set other than the default
IBM character set ? If so, do they match one of the standard code
pages defined today.
3. Could someone please tell me what the following character codes
represent.
Code Page Key Comments
--------- ---- --------------------------------
437 0x9E
" 0xA9
" 0xAA
" 0xEE is this a small letter epsilon as it appears
in the definition of code 437 or is it a
symbol representing "member of a set"
" 0xF9
850 0xEE
" 0xF0 is this a hypen (0x20) ? If so, why is it
there ?
" 0xF2
4. Why do I get two make/break codes when I press the Print Screen key ?
Note, when I type Shift-Print Screen or Ctrl-Print Screen, I only
get one make/break code for the Print Screen key. I am using a
101 keyboard.
5. When I press Num-lock or Scroll-lock on a 101 keyboard, two 0xFA
codes are send by the keyboard controller before the make/break
key combinations. Why does this happen ? Is the ACK command being
sent ? I have tried to check to see if it is a command with no
luck. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
If anyone can help, please send me email. If there is enough interest, I
will post a summary.
Sanjay Berdia
berdia@dg-rtp.dg.comdean.milner@canremote.uucp (DEAN MILNER) (02/11/90)
Since I'm not using a 101 keyboard I can only answer to the query on character 124 in the IBM character set. this is indeed a broken vertical bar '|' and prints as such on every machine /printer combo I have seen using DOS 3.0 - 4.01. /*Dean*/ * QNet 1.04a1: MUI Sydney, NS (902) 564-5022 *NorthAmeriNet*
bcw@rti.UUCP (Bruce Wright) (02/13/90)
In article <90021102075353@masnet.uucp>, dean.milner@canremote.uucp (DEAN MILNER) writes: > Since I'm not using a 101 keyboard I can only answer to the query on > character 124 in the IBM character set. this is indeed a broken vertical > bar '|' and prints as such on every machine /printer combo I have seen > using DOS 3.0 - 4.01. The graphic for character code 124 has been variously represented as a broken or a solid vertical bar. The IBM-PC character set uses a broken vertical bar for it, but this is, strictly speaking, nonstandard. The ISO Latin-1 character set uses a solid vertical bar in character position 124, and a _broken_ vertical bar in character position 166 (IBM didn't follow the ISO standard _above_ character position 128, either). In IBM's defense is that the ISO standard had not been finalized when the PC was introduced, though to their discredit it was in progress, and they ignored it. If you are interested in seeing the whole ISO character set you might look at the character set used by Microsoft Windows, which follows the ISO standard rather than the IBM-PC character set (at least for their "default" character set, though the IBM-PC character set is available). Other ISO character sets also exist for, for example, Greek and Russian; and are in progress for various Eastern languages. The keyboard you are using is, of course, irrelevant - it just generates the character, not the graphic (that's the function of the display adapter or the printer). This whole subject reminds me of an old IBM joke, remembering the EBCDIC character set that they used on their mainframes: ASCII, n. An obsolete standard. :-) Bruce C. Wright