[comp.sys.ibm.pc] What is 'ANSI graphics'?

koonce@math.Berkeley.EDU (Tim Koonce) (09/08/88)

   While working on a terminal program, I've received numerous suggestions that I try to support 'ANSI graphics'.  But I've yet to find someone that
knows what this is, or where to find out.  I have been trying for the last month to find this information.  Does anyone know?  Someone is writing
BBS's and terminal programs that support it, so somebody knows . . .

					- Tim Koonce

koonce@math.berkeley.edu
...!ucbvax!math!koonce

c60c-4au@e260-4d.berkeley.edu (Erik Talvola) (09/08/88)

In article <13990@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> koonce@math.berkeley.edu writes:
>
>   While working on a terminal program, I've received numerous suggestions that I try to support 'ANSI graphics'.  But I've yet to find someone that
>knows what this is, or where to find out.  I have been trying for the last month to find this information.  Does anyone know?  Someone is writing
>BBS's and terminal programs that support it, so somebody knows . . .
>
>					- Tim Koonce
>
>koonce@math.berkeley.edu
>...!ucbvax!math!koonce

Generally, for most public bulletin board systems, ANSI graphics is a 
combination of the ANSI Terminal codes supported by MS/PC-DOS with its
ANSI.SYS driver and the enhanced ASCII codes 128-255 as supported by
IBM-PC computers.  For information on which ANSI codes these represent,
look in a manual on MS-DOS.  If you are developing a program on a non-IBM
system, getting the enhanced ASCII codes may be a pain however.  Also, there
is an ANSI-Music standard which one communications program, Qmodem, supports,
but I don't have much information on it.  I hope this helps you.
 
--- Erik Talvola
 
c60c-4au@web.berkeley.edu
erikt@zen.berkeley.edu

brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video) (09/09/88)

In article <13990@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> koonce@math.berkeley.edu writes:
<
<   While working on a terminal program, I've received numerous suggestions
<that I try to support 'ANSI graphics'.  But I've yet to find someone that
<knows what this is, or where to find out.  I have been trying for the last
<month to find this information.  Does anyone know?  Someone is writing
<BBS's and terminal programs that support it, so somebody knows . . .

ANSI graphics could be one of two things.  First would be the IBM extended
character set, ie, decimal 128 through decimal 255.  These characters allow
the user to draw boxes and the like on the screen.  The shapes of these
characters, and the value to create it is found in many sources.  The BASIC
programming manuals list them, ie, Microsoft QuickBasic and others.

The use of the IBM Extended character set requires that you receive your text
into the terminal with 8 bit, no parity set.  You must not strip off the 8th
bit of the character.

The other ANSI graphics could mean the characters that are built into the
DEC VT-nnn terminals.  These characters are listed in the various DEC VT-nnn
manuals.  Again, you must not strip off the 8th bit.  I don't remember for
sure, but these characters may also be set by using ESC sequences.  I don't
know for sure, since I don't have one of these terminals around.  I only
really know about the IBM Extended character set, mention previously.
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