[Info-vax] 8-bit characters

[Phillip Helbig undress to reply]

In article <smh1k8$ul5$1 at dont-email.me>, Stephen Hoffman
<seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> writes: 

> 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 

"Icelandic" of course.

> > 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, 

At least HELP FORTRAN CHAR DEC doesn't show them.

> 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.

Only LK411, Alpha hardware and DECterm (under CDE, but that's probably
irrelevant).  Maybe they are inconsistent.  :-|

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

Yes.  :-)