    Document: FSC-0050
    Version:  001
    Date:     14-Jul-90

             A Character Set Identifier For FidoNet Message Editors

                                    Draft I

                               Thomas Sundblom
                              2:201/114@fidonet

    Status of this document:

         This FSC suggests a proposed protocol for the FidoNet(r) community,
         and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
         Distribution of this document is unlimited.

         Fido and FidoNet are registered marks of Tom Jennings and Fido
         Software.

       Purpose

            This document should serve as a guide for the character set
            identifier, CHARSET hereafter, format for FidoNet message Editors.
            The purpose behind CHARSET is related to my attempt to make it
            easier for each reader of a FidoNet message to identify the
            characters used in the messages.

            Since FidoNet messages aren't restricted to use any special character
            sets in the messages, there will be differences between computer
            kinds and special country dependent characters. To avoid confusion
            in such cases, I'm hereby introducing the CHARSET kludge.

            There is no need that each FidoNet Message reader should be able
            to understand every possible character set. If the reader can't
            handle the special character set found in a message, then it should
            use a default character set (as most readers do today).

       Format

            ^aCHARSET: <Character set identifier>

       Sample

            ^aCHARSET: ISO-11

            Would identify that the message is written using the ISO-11
            character set, which relates to the character set mainly used
            in Sweden.

       Supported character sets

            No special character set is specified, but it is recomended to
            use the ISO numbering of the different character sets. Where no
            ISO number is available, an easy to understand code should by used.

       Character set identifier examples

            ISO-6       Relates to plain ASCII 7 bit character set.
            ISO-11      Swedish character set, 7 bit.
            ISO-21      Germany character set, 7 bit.
            ISO-69      French character set, 7 bit.

            Other character set identifiers could be
            PC-8        IBM PC complete character set.
            ATARI       ATARI ST complete character set
            AMIGA       AMIGA complete character set

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