2 character sets, Chapter 9 code page switching – Microcom 438 User Manual
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438 Operator’s Manual - 880052-0100
9-1
Chapter 9 Code Page Switching
9.1 What is Code Page Switching?
There are 256 numeric codes used on the PC to represent letters, symbols, and numbers.
Up to 256 codes are available to represent lower and upper case letters, numbers,
punctuation marks, and all the mathematical symbols on a PC’s keyboard. This may seem
like more than enough, but it is not possible to represent all the letters and characters used
in every language using one character set of 256 codes.
For example:
Some languages have a much larger alphabet than others and include many
accented characters.
Many graphics characters are used.
9.2 Character Sets
To accommodate the use of different languages, the 224 and424 printers provide a number
of character sets. The numeric codes sent by the PC to the printer represent different
characters depending on which character set is being used by the printer.
Code page 437 is the famous original IBM PC character set. It is the most common and is
used for several languages, including English, German, and French. Character sets 865
and 860 contain the characters needed for Danish and Portuguese, respectively. In these
character sets, some symbols available in 437 have been removed to make room for the
extra letters needed. For example, the code for (franc) has been used for Ó in 860.
These character sets are stored in the printer’s FLASH memory as tables called code
pages. The printer allows you to change the code page that is being used by changing the
settings in Soft Switch #4, using the ^D24 command.
9.3 Code Pages
The 224and 424 printers provide 15 standard code pages. Please note that the printer
implements the codes from 32 up. Code numbers below 32 are printed using the 224 and
424’s standard letters. These are the Code Pages that are implemented in the printer:
1. Code Page 437
9. German
2. Code Page 850
10. French
3. Code Page 852
11. Italian
4. Code Page 860
12. Danish
5. Code Page 863
13. Spanish
6. Code Page 865
14. Swedish
7. USA
15. Swiss
8. British