TRS-80 character set

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The TRS-80 computer manufactured by Tandy / Radio Shack contains an 8-bit character set. [1] It is partially derived from ASCII, and shares the code points from 32 - 95 on the standard model. Code points 96 - 127 are supported on models that have been fitted with a lower-case upgrade. [2]

Contents

The character set consists of letters, various numeric and special characters [1] as well as 64 semigraphics called squots (square dots) from a 2×3 matrix. [3] These were located at code points 128 to 191 with bits 5-0 following their binary representation, [3] similar to alpha-mosaic characters in World System Teletext. [4] [5] These characters were used for graphics in games, such as Android Nim . [6]

Character set

The following table shows the TRS-80 model I character set. Each character is shown with a potential Unicode equivalent. Space and control characters are represented by the abbreviations for their names.

TRS-80 model I character set [7] [3] [8] [9]
0123456789ABCDEF
0x BS [lower-alpha 1] LF CR con [lower-alpha 2] coff [lower-alpha 3]
1xカ [lower-alpha 4] 32 [lower-alpha 5] ← [lower-alpha 6] → [lower-alpha 7] ↓ [lower-alpha 8] ↑ [lower-alpha 9] home [lower-alpha 10] sol [lower-alpha 11] ceol [lower-alpha 12] ceof [lower-alpha 13]
2x  SP   ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . /
3x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
4x @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
5x P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ↑↓←→ _
6x a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
7x p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~ ±
8x NBSP TRS-80 character 0x81.png TRS-80 character 0x82.png TRS-80 character 0x83.png TRS-80 character 0x84.png TRS-80 character 0x85.png TRS-80 character 0x86.png TRS-80 character 0x87.png TRS-80 character 0x88.png TRS-80 character 0x89.png TRS-80 character 0x8A.png TRS-80 character 0x8B.png TRS-80 character 0x8C.png TRS-80 character 0x8D.png TRS-80 character 0x8E.png TRS-80 character 0x8F.png
9x TRS-80 character 0x90.png TRS-80 character 0x91.png TRS-80 character 0x92.png TRS-80 character 0x93.png TRS-80 character 0x94.png TRS-80 character 0x95.png TRS-80 character 0x96.png TRS-80 character 0x97.png TRS-80 character 0x98.png TRS-80 character 0x99.png TRS-80 character 0x9A.png TRS-80 character 0x9B.png TRS-80 character 0x9C.png TRS-80 character 0x9D.png TRS-80 character 0x9E.png TRS-80 character 0x9F.png
Ax TRS-80 character 0xA0.png TRS-80 character 0xA1.png TRS-80 character 0xA2.png TRS-80 character 0xA3.png TRS-80 character 0xA4.png TRS-80 character 0xA5.png TRS-80 character 0xA6.png TRS-80 character 0xA7.png TRS-80 character 0xA8.png TRS-80 character 0xA9.png TRS-80 character 0xAA.png TRS-80 character 0xAB.png TRS-80 character 0xAC.png TRS-80 character 0xAD.png TRS-80 character 0xAE.png TRS-80 character 0xAF.png
Bx TRS-80 character 0xB0.png TRS-80 character 0xB1.png TRS-80 character 0xB2.png TRS-80 character 0xB3.png TRS-80 character 0xB4.png TRS-80 character 0xB5.png TRS-80 character 0xB6.png TRS-80 character 0xB7.png TRS-80 character 0xB8.png TRS-80 character 0xB9.png TRS-80 character 0xBA.png TRS-80 character 0xBB.png TRS-80 character 0xBC.png TRS-80 character 0xBD.png TRS-80 character 0xBE.png TRS-80 character 0xBF.png
Cx [lower-alpha 14] tabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtab
Dxtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtab
Extabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtab
Fxtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabtab
  1. ↑ Backspace and erase current character
  2. ↑ Cursor on
  3. ↑ Cursor off
  4. ↑ Toggles Katakana characters (Model III)
  5. ↑ Converts to wide 32 column mode
  6. ↑ Backspace ← Cursor
  7. ↑ Advance → Cursor
  8. ↑ Downward ↓ linefeed
  9. ↑ Upward ↑ linefeed
  10. ↑ Move cursor to (0,0), also turns off 32 column mode
  11. ↑ Move to start of line
  12. ↑ Erase to end of line
  13. ↑ Erase to end of frame
  14. ↑ 192 to 255 are "Space Compression Codes", tabs for 0 to 63 spaces

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References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Fylstra, Dan (April 1978). "Radio Shack TRS-80: An Owner's Report" (PDF). BYTE . Boston, MA, USA: BYTE Publications Inc.: 49–59. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
  2. ↑ Heiserman 1983, p. 15.
  3. 1 2 3 Goldklang, Ira (2015). "Graphic Tips & Tricks". Archived from the original on 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
  4. ↑ Wiels. "TeleText - Het Protocol" (in Dutch). Mosaic characters. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  5. ↑ "ETS 300 706 - Graphics Character Sets" (PDF).
  6. ↑ Crawford 2003, p. 202.
  7. ↑ Level II Basic Manual. Tandy / Radio Shack. 1978. pp. C1/C2.
  8. ↑ "TRSM1ICH.TXT" (PDF), L2/19-025: Proposal to add characters from legacy computers and teletext to the UCS, 2019-01-04
  9. ↑ Heiserman 1983, p. 243.

Sources

Further reading

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