[Info-vax] 8-bit characters

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2021-11-10 09:44:34 +0000, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply said:

> Having to write some Icelanding words in a DECterm (as one does), I 
> notice that COMPOSE-T-H and COMPOSE-t-h create upper and lower case 
> thorn (Þ þ if those characters get through).  If entered by cboth 
> create the character, unless it is at the beginning of a line, in which 
> case one sees <XDE> or <XFE> (one character, displayed as several).  
> ASCII values are 222 and 254.  Refreshing the screen also causes the 
> mnenonics to appear.  Also, they are not displayed via HELP FORTRAN 
> CHAR DEC.
> 
> Any deeper reason or just flaky instrumentation?
> 
> I also notice that × (COMPOSE-x-x) works fine in a DECterm but not on a 
> real VT220 (where most or all other composed characters work).  Again, 
> deeper meaning or just flaky?

You're definitely not looking at ASCII, and AFAIK Þ and þ aren't in DEC 
MCS, which likely means you're looking at inconsistent handling of or 
inconsistent configuration of ISO 8859-1 among your apps and OS and 
hardware; I'd guess some here is MCS, and some 8859-1.

You've asked variations of this question over the years too, usually 
involving trying to use EDT past ASCII or maybe past DEC MCS.

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.vms/c/QAQAyRo9BPM/m/IrmCw1UJBQAJ
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.vms/c/Yji2Tufvv7k/m/mhUy-zKXAAAJ
etc.

This is part of the (lack of) UTF-8 and Unicode support in OpenVMS and 
its tooling that I've grumbled. Not that adding UTF-8 and Unicode 
support is ever going to be a small overhaul.




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