[comp.unix.xenix] IBM Extended Characters

john@jclyde.UUCP (John B. Meaders Jr.) (03/31/88)

I would like to be able to print the IBM Extended Character set on my
printer.  However, I can't get Xenix to do it.  For test purposes I
have been 'echo \octal code for character'.  All that gets printed is
'\whatever the octal code was'.  I am running SCO Xenix V Rel 2.1.3.
I would also like to print Extended Characters on the screen.  The characters
that are important to me are the Greek characters, and the bullets and squares
(ie the upper 32 characters of the extended set).  Any help would be greatly
appreciated.
-- 
John B. Meaders, Jr.  1114 Camino La Costa #3083, Austin, TX  78752
ATT:  Voice:  +1 (512) 451-5038  Data:  +1 (512) 371-0550
UUCP:   ...!uunet!utastro!bigtex!jclyde!john  or  john@jclyde.UUCP

root@conexch.UUCP (Larry Dighera) (04/03/88)

In article <651@jclyde.UUCP> john@jclyde.UUCP (John B. Meaders Jr.) writes:
>I would like to be able to print the IBM Extended Character set on my
>printer.  However, I can't get Xenix to do it.  For test purposes I
>have been 'echo \octal code for character'.  All that gets printed is
>'\whatever the octal code was'.  I am running SCO Xenix V Rel 2.1.3.
>I would also like to print Extended Characters on the screen.  The characters
>that are important to me are the Greek characters, and the bullets and squares
>(ie the upper 32 characters of the extended set).  Any help would be greatly
>appreciated.

The only way I have found to get the shell to output the upper ASCII character
set is with the octal-echo method mentioned above.  The problem is caused
by misleading statements in the SCO documentation which indicate that 
no more than three digits are acceptable when constructing the octal number.
In fact, prepending a zero to the octal number yields the desired result.
So, If you want to print octal character 376:

	echo "\376"	yields		\376

while

	echo "\0376"	yields		(a small squar character)

Obscure, but true.

Larry Dighera


-- 
USPS: The Consultants' Exchange, PO Box 12100, Santa Ana, CA  92712
TELE: (714) 842-6348: BBS (N81); (714) 842-5851: Xenix guest account (E71)
UUCP: conexch Any ACU 2400 17148425851 ogin:-""-ogin:-""-ogin: nuucp
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!ucivax!icnvax!conexch!root || ...!trwrb!ucla-an!conexch!root

jack@turnkey.TCC.COM (TCC Software Developer) (04/06/88)

In article <256@conexch.UUCP> root@conexch.UUCP (Larry Dighera) writes:
>In article <651@jclyde.UUCP> john@jclyde.UUCP (John B. Meaders Jr.) writes:
>>I would like to be able to print the IBM Extended Character set on my
>>printer.  However, I can't get Xenix to do it.  For test purposes I
>>have been 'echo \octal code for character'.  All that gets printed is
>>'\whatever the octal code was'.  I am running SCO Xenix V Rel 2.1.3.
>>I would also like to print Extended Characters on the screen.  The characters
>>that are important to me are the Greek characters, and the bullets and squares
>>(ie the upper 32 characters of the extended set).  Any help would be greatly
>>appreciated.
>In fact, prepending a zero to the octal number yields the desired result.
>So, If you want to print octal character 376:
>
>	echo "\376"	yields		\376
>
>while
>
>	echo "\0376"	yields		(a small squar character)
>

Larry is correct about getting the shell to echo the extended character set.
John also asks about sending such characters to the printer, I tried to do
this without success, I have a Brother M1509 running in epson mode and 
according to documentation it should be able to do it, but so far I have had
no luck,it may be me. What I really wanted to add here was that sending extended
character set graphics to the screen is quite simple. If you have a file with
such characters already in them just catting it to the screen should work. The
trick is that Xenix 2.1.3 sets all serial I/O to 7E1 so the eighth bit is being
stripped. All you need to do is set the multiscreens to 8N1 and it works fine.
Of course, it is another matter altogether trying to create or edit files with
these characters under Xenix. vi will strip the bit, in fact the only editor
I have found that leave high-bit characters alone is micro-emacs (another one
of its many wonders!!!). I have many screens of such character graphics used
in turnkey's XBBS which you can see if you call in with a PC (the number is
714-662-7450 if you are curious, John). The problem is that they can only be
created at the moment under DOS :-{, but I am working on that. At least once
transfered to the Xenix system they can be edited under uemacs.

					Hope this helps,

-- 
Jack F. Vogel
Turnkey Computer Consultants, Costa Mesa, CA
UUCP: ...!uunet!turnkey!jack 
Internet: jack@turnkey.TCC.COM

las@msudoc.ee.mich-state.edu (Larry A. Sheilds {runs Lunapark}) (04/08/88)

Well on my machine running SCO XENIX/386 2.2.1 echo "\0376"
yields \0376 and not a little square.

==larry

---------------------------
LARRY SHIELDS                        UUCP: ...!ihnp4!msudoc!lunapark!larry
P.O. Box 6159                        BIX:  lshields
E. Lansing, MI 48826                 Compuserve: 70277, 3677

BBS: lunapark 1200/2400 8-1-N  24hrs 7 days a week  (517) 337-3844 login: bbs

davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) (04/08/88)

In article <382@nancy.UUCP> las@msudoc.UUCP (=P^ZAZPPPYPYXU	zQYhBYPYo^O) writes:
>Well on my machine running SCO XENIX/386 2.2.1 echo "\0376"
>yields \0376 and not a little square.

I just tried it on my machines, using 2.21(386) and 2.1.3(286), both sh
and ksh return a little square, and if I redirect into a file 'od'
agrees that the result is one byte. Perhaps you're using csh or something?
-- 
	bill davidsen		(wedu@ge-crd.arpa)
  {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me

las@msudoc.ee.mich-state.edu (Larry A. Sheilds {runs Lunapark}) (04/09/88)

Problem was mine.  With sh echo "\0XXX" works but that doesn't work
with ksh which requires print "\0XXX".  I normally use ksh and had't
checked other possiblities.

---------------------------
LARRY SHIELDS                        UUCP: ...!ihnp4!msudoc!lunapark!larry
P.O. Box 6159                        BIX:  lshields
E. Lansing, MI 48826                 Compuserve: 70277, 3677

BBS: lunapark 1200/2400 8-1-N  24hrs 7 days a week  (517) 337-3844 login: bbs

kevin@iisat.UUCP (Kevin Davies) (04/10/88)

In article <10330@steinmetz.ge.com>, davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) writes:
> In article <382@nancy.UUCP> las@msudoc.UUCP (=P^ZAZPPPYPYXU	zQYhBYPYo^O) writes:
> >Well on my machine running SCO XENIX/386 2.2.1 echo "\0376"
> >yields \0376 and not a little square.
> 
> agrees that the result is one byte. Perhaps you're using csh or something?

I just tried this under the C shell (csh) , and sure enough, I got
"\0376", BUT , under Bourne shell (sh), I get the little square (be sure
to have stty cs8 to allow the high bit).

Answer to this strange situation ?

I appears that 'echo' is an internal command for csh, and does not attempt
to interpret this as one byte, but just a string of characters. The answer
for csh users is to explicitly call /bin/echo which will do this conversion
properly for you.  I guess this means that echo is not necessarily echo.

Cheers...
-- 
Kevin Davies		International Information Service (IIS)
UUCP:  {uunet,utai,watmath}!dalcs!iisat!kevin
----------------------------------------

jack@turnkey.TCC.COM (Jack F. Vogel) (04/11/88)

In article <386@nancy.UUCP> las@msudoc.UUCP (=P^ZAZPPPYPYXU	zQYhBYPYo^O) writes:
>
>Problem was mine.  With sh echo "\0XXX" works but that doesn't work
>with ksh which requires print "\0XXX".  I normally use ksh and had't
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????
>checked other possiblities.

What do you mean by this, as Bill Davidson noted 'echo...' works on both the
ksh and sh?? We use the ksh here and have not seen what you described. In fact
I even tried 'print "\0376"';works just like echo in this case. Perhaps your
ksh is broken??



-- 
Jack F. Vogel
Turnkey Computer Consultants, Costa Mesa, CA
UUCP: ...{nosc|uunet}!turnkey!jack 
Internet: jack@turnkey.TCC.COM

det@hawkmoon.MN.ORG (Derek E. Terveer) (04/12/88)

In article <10330@steinmetz.ge.com>, davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) writes:
> In article <382@nancy.UUCP> las@msudoc.UUCP (=P^ZAZPPPYPYXU	zQYhBYPYo^O) writes:
> >Well on my machine running SCO XENIX/386 2.2.1 echo "\0376"
> >yields \0376 and not a little square.

Just as bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.ARPA) reported getting a little square in
2.21(386) and 2.1.3(286), I also get a little square with the echo (above) on
microport V/386 3.0-L2.2 (and its a single byte).
-- 
Derek Terveer	det@hawkmoon.MN.ORG	uunet!rosevax!elric!hawkmoon!det

wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (04/17/88)

In article <382@nancy.UUCP> las@msudoc.UUCP writes:
>Well on my machine running SCO XENIX/386 2.2.1 echo "\0376"
>yields \0376 and not a little square.

I suspect you are using the C-Shell, which has its own built-in echo
which does not know anything about octal character escapes.

Try 

	/bin/echo "\0376"

and see if that does not give the desired result.
-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
UUCP:  ihnp4!killer!dcs!wnp                    ESL: 62832882
INTERNET: wnp@EESDES.DAS.NET or wnp@dcs.UUCP   TLX: 910-280-0585 EES PLANO UD

owen@well.UUCP (Owen DeLong) (04/21/88)

>> >Well on my machine running SCO XENIX/386 2.2.1 echo "\0376"
>> >yields \0376 and not a little square.

Is it possible you are using the C shell, and thus, using the csh built-in
echo command. (A problem I had to figure out by trial, error, and pouring
through csh(C) in the manual.  If this is the case, your solution may
be to either alias echo to /bin/echo or directly call /bin/echo instead
of echo.  Either of these two possibilities is discussed in the SCO
manual (see echo(C) and csh(C)).

Note:  in csh, echo responds from a built-in command, and is not subject to the
same performance specifications as /bin/echo which is documented in echo(C)

Owen DeLong
...pacbell!forbrk!brcbkly!owen
...ihnp4!dual!brcbkly!owen