cape@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Robert Cape) (04/29/88)
Date: Friday, April 29, 1988
From: Robert Cape
Location: NCR Comten, Information Services
To: Whoever knows
Subject: ST ROM and Charset Differences: US, French, German, UK, ??
On several occasions, ST owners in Europe have expressed frustration over
patching US-written ST software to overcome differences in ROM character
set mappings. I also recall a plea for using/respecting all 8 bits for
characters.
So, my question is this:
Has anyone mapped out the differences in the character sets for the various
national versions of the ST ROMS? Also, any other important ROM differences?
What about the 8-bit characters. I'm aware of more than one ISO mapping.
How many different national ROMs are there? What are they?
If someone would post this information to the net, I'd appreciate it. If
the national differences were more clearly documented, perhaps more US
developers might lose their myopea.
Thanks ... Bob
Robert M. Cape DOMAIN: r.cape@stpaul.ncr.com
NCR Comten, Inc. UUCP: {backbone}!ncr-sd!ncrlnk!ncrcce!cape
Information Services Audio: (612) 638-7211 (AT&T)
2700 Snelling Ave. N. 652-7211 (NCR VOICEplus)
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Any opinions expressed here are my own and not those of NCR Comten, Inc.gert@prls.UUCP (Gert Slavenburg) (05/02/88)
I compared the UK ROM's dated 851120 to my USA ROM's (when living in Europe in 1986). The only differences where minor (tables, not routines) and are listed below. These where the ONLY differences in the first ROM release to Atari owners in the Netherlands and UK versus USA. I seem to remember however that there was a mistake : these differences did not include a 60Hz -> 50 Hz patch, which later ROM's do have (?). address USA ROM UK ROM Comment $FC001D $00 $07 config byte $FC205F $5C $23 keytable \ -> # $FC2094 $00 $5C \ $FC20B7 $40 $22 @ -> " $FC20B8 $23 $9C # -> u.k. pound $FC20DC $22 $40 " -> @ $FC20DD $7E $FF ~ -> _ $FC20DF $7C $7E | -> ~ $FC2114 $00 $7C | $FC215F $5C $23 \ -> # $FC2194 $00 $5C \ This shows that - at least for the first ROM release - differences are minor and only related to tables. Not to addresses of data or code. Gert Slavenburg (UUCP : ..!pyramid!prls!gert)
poole@forty2.UUCP (Simon Poole) (05/04/88)
First a clarification, the character sets are the same for ALL ST computers, what is different is: the characters you can produce via the keyboard (and the key combinations used). In article <11124@prls.UUCP> gert@prls.UUCP (Gert Slavenburg) writes: >I compared the UK ROM's dated 851120 to my USA ROM's (when living in >Europe in 1986). The only differences where minor (tables, not routines) >and are listed below. * This can only be true for keyboards that do not have to generate some 7-bit ASCII charcters via <Alternate> + <Key> (this is the case with all languages that have a lot of none ASCII characters, example: German), there is special code in the ROM's which hardwires these keys! On the german keyboard I have to press <Alternate> + <a Umlaut> to get ']', there is absolutley NO way to override this short of writing your own keyboard interrupt handler. (This also explains why some programs that are quite useful in the US, are absolutly hopeless on a lot of european machines) *(The english keyboard has got one more key than the US one, so they don't need the <Alternate> trick to produce the single character that's different (the pound sign), matter of fact I'm typing this on a real UK ST.....) -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- UUCP: ...mcvax!cernvax!forty2!poole Simon Poole BITNET: K538915@CZHRZU1A ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
poole@forty2.UUCP (Simon Poole) (05/06/88)
In article <254@forty2.UUCP> poole@forty2.UUCP (Simon Poole) writes: ..... >This can only be true for keyboards that do not have to generate some 7-bit >ASCII charcters via <Alternate> + <Key> (this is the case with all languages >that have a lot of none ASCII characters, example: German), there is special >code in the ROM's which hardwires these keys! On the german keyboard I have >to press <Alternate> + <a Umlaut> to get ']', there is absolutley NO way >to override this short of writing your own keyboard interrupt handler. .... I forgot to mention one nasty side effect of the additional code, <Alternate>+<Control>+<Key> doesn't produce the correct control characters, so on my ST at home I can't produce all ASCII control characters (Example: Control [) without remapping the keyboard...I don't know if Atari thinks this a feature or a bug..... -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- UUCP: ...mcvax!cernvax!forty2!poole Simon Poole BITNET: K538915@CZHRZU1A ----------------------------------------------------------------------------