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Gemini User's Manual
The ASCII Code
Every letter, numeral, and other character that is sent from the
computer to Gemini is transmitted in the form of a number code.
A standardcode was agreed upon to allow greater compatibility
among the hundreds
of different
types of computers
and
peripherals.
This industry-wide
uniform
code is called the
American Standard Code for Information Interchange, or ASCII
(pronounced "ask-key")
Please turn to Appendix K and you will see each character
printed by Gemini and a corresponding ASCII code. The decimal
number "65" is the code representing the uppercase letter "AI' The
lowercase "a" is represented by "971' For every character, there
is a corresponding code number.
The ASCII code numbers for the uppercase letters, numerals,
and punctuation
marks are fairly well standardized. Thus, most
computers share the same ASCII codes between 32 and 127.
Unfortunately, the rest of the codes (128 through 255) are nowhere
near standardization
in all computer systems.
Nofe:This is a timely opportunity for you to review the manual that
accompanied your computer and to compare your computer's
ASCII character codes with Gemini's. Somewhere in the back of
your computer manual, you should find a table or chart of ASCII
character codes. Compare the chart with Appendix H at the back
of this manual. Mark the characters that are different, for future
reference.
-
Function Codes
Besides letters and numerals, you can send special commands
to functionally
control printing
operations.
These codes are
identified
variously
as "function:'
"control;'
and "command"
codes, but they serve the same purpose. In this manual, we call
them function codes and they are listed in Appendix M and in the
Quick-Reference chart (on this manual's inside back cover).
Chapter 9 explains what these codes accomplish. For now,
you need only note that some codes are repetitions of others.
Because not all computers can send all the ASCII codes, Gemini
accepts any of several function codes to cause the same effect.
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