2 character sets, Chapter 9 code page switching – Microcom 428T User Manual
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428T Operator’s Manual - 880037-0141
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 printer provides a number of character
sets. The numeric Hex codes are 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 printer provides 15 standard code pages. Please note that the printer implements the
codes from 32 up. Code numbers below 32 are reserved for operational control codes.
These are the Code Pages that are implemented in the printer:
1. Code Page 437
2. Code Page 850
3. Code Page 852
4. Code Page 860
5. Code Page 863
6. Code Page 865
7. USA
8. British
9. German
10. French
11. Italian
12. Danish
13. Spanish
14. Swedish
15. Swiss