TRS-80 character set

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The TRS-80 computer manufacturered 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 [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