Table of Contents
Character map
The monitor ROM has a built-in font.
Control characters
Control characters can be used to configure the display.
| Character | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | NUL | Does nothing! |
| 1 | SOH | |
| 2 | STOP | Code for the STOP key |
| 3 | BREAK | |
| 4 | EOT | End of Text |
| 5 | ENQ | |
| 6 | ACK | |
| 7 | BEEP | Beep! |
| 8 | LEFT | Code for the “left” key. Moves cursor left. |
| 9 | RIGHT | Code for the “right” key. Moves cursor right. |
| A | CR | Code for the “down” key. Moves cursor down. |
| B | UP | Code for the “up” key. Moves cursor up. |
| C | RAZ | Code for the “RAZ” key (Remise à Zéro). Clears the screen. |
| D | LF | Code for the “ENT” key. Move to beginning of next line. |
| E | TELETEL | Enter semi-graphic mode (see below) |
| F | ALPHA | Enter alphanumeric mode (undoes E) |
| 10 | DLE | |
| 11 | Shows cursor | |
| 12 | Unused. | |
| 13 | Unused. | |
| 14 | Hide cursor | |
| 15 | ||
| 16 | ACC | Begin of accented sequence - uses G2 character set |
| 17 | ||
| 18 | Erase to end of line | |
| 19 | ||
| 1A | ||
| 1B | ESC | Begin escape sequence (see below) |
| 1C | INS | Code for the “INS” key. Inserts an empty space at the cursor position and shifts all following characters to the right. |
| 1D | DEL | Code for the “DEL” key. Removes current character and shifts all following characters to the left. |
| 1E | TAB | Tabulation. |
| 1F | US | User sequence (see below). |
Escape and user sequences
The key codes 1B and 1F mark the start of escape and user sequences. These allow configuring the screen in various ways.
| Sequence | Description |
|---|---|
| 1B 20 4x | Change character color for the whole screen |
| 1B 20 5x | Change background color for the whole screen |
| 1B 4x | Change current character color |
| 1B 5x | Change current background color |
| 1B 6x | Change border color |
| 1B 70 | Normal size characters |
| 1B 71 | Double height characters |
| 1B 72 | Double width characters |
| 1B 73 | Double size characters |
| 1B 74 | Opaque characters (printing a character sets the color RAM to the current foreground and background colors) |
| 1B 75 | Transparent characters (printing a character changes only the shape RAM, colors are preserved) |
| 1B 76 | Enable video incrustation (some machines will crash if this is done without the color incrustation plugged in) |
| 1B 78 | Enable fast scrolling (character by character) |
| 1B 79 | Enable soft scrolling (vertical scroll is done pixel by pixel) |
| 1B 7A | Page mode (no scrolling, printed text wraps around the screen) |
| 1B 7B | Toggle inverse attribute (shape RAM is negated) |
| 1G 1h 1l | Set window bottom border to line hl |
| 1F 2h 2l | Set window top border to line hl |
| 1F 40+x 40+y | Set cursor position to (X,Y) |
Starting from the TO9, there are also commands to change video mode (note that the monitor doesn't support text output in all modes!)
| Sequence | Description |
|---|---|
| 1B 48 | Page 1 mode |
| 1B 49 | Page 2 mode |
| 1B 4A | Overprint (write to page 2) |
| 1B 4B | Overprint (write to page 1) |
| 1B 59 | Bitmap 4 |
| 1B 5A | 40 columns |
| 1B 5B | 80 columns |
| 1B 5E | Bitmap 16 |
| 1B 6D | Video incrustation |
| 1B 6C | Disable video incrustation |
| 1B 88 | Triple overprint (write to page 1) |
| 1B 89 | Triple overprint (write to page 2) |
| 1B 8A | Triple overprint (write to page 3) |
| 1B 8B | Triple overprint (write to page 4) |
Accent sequences
Character 16 starts an accent sequence. It is followed by an accent code, then a letter.
| Code | Accent |
|---|---|
| 41 | grave (è) |
| 42 | acute (é) |
| 43 | circumflex (ê) |
| 48 | trema (ë) |
| 4B | cedilla (ç) |
This only works with lowercase characters. If the character sent after the accent isn't a lowercase letter, the accent is ignored.
Moreover, ACC can be used to write G2 characters:
| Code | Character |
|---|---|
| 23 | Pound (£) |
| 24 | Dollar ($) |
| 26 | Sharp (#) |
| 27 | Paragraph |
| 2C | Left arrow |
| 2D | Up arrow |
| 2E | Right arrow |
| 2F | Down arrow |
| 30 | Degree (°) |
| 31 | Plus/Minus |
| 38 | Integer division |
| 3C | 1/4 |
| 3D | 1/2 |
| 3E | 3/4 |
| 6A | Π|
| 7A | œ |
| 7B | esset |
Teletel mode
Character E enters “Teletel” mode. This is a semigraphic mode. Character F switches back to standard mode. The characters for teletel mode are defined according to this grid:
| AAAA | BBBB |
| AAAA | BBBB |
| CCCC | DDDD |
| CCCC | DDDD |
| EEEE | FFFF |
| EEEE | FFFF |
The character code (in binary) is 0F1EDCBA. This encoding makes it possible to use the following characters while in teletel mode:
@,A-Z,[]\^_- All control characters
- Characters after number 127 (extended characters)
Escae sequences are still interpreted, allowing for example to change colors for the next characters, use double size teletel characters, and more.
