Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!maytag!water!ljdickey
From: ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Decoded Net files
Message-ID: <2657@water.waterloo.edu>
Date: 19 Sep 89 20:21:54 GMT
References: <8909080255.AA29852@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <22004@cup.portal.com> <1989Sep17.143908.2056@gdt.bath.ac.uk>
Reply-To: ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey)
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 24

In article <1989Sep17.143908.2056@gdt.bath.ac.uk> exspes@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) writes:
>
>It is generally (but not invariable) true that if you push an ASCII text
>file from an ASCII machine through an IBM EBCDIC machine and then back
>to an ASCII machine, you will not end up with an identical file.  The
>two character coding schemes do not match.

What Paul mentions here is particularly painful for academics in the
UK who wish to correspond with others outside and who could benefit
from their gateway to EARN (and BITNET).  *The* gateway between BITNET
and all other academic sites in the UK is ACUKRL, at Rutherford Labs.
They are notorious for this problem, they know about it, and seem
to take the attitude that the world should conform to their way
of doing things.  Rutherford would turn in his grave.

On the other hand, many IBM sites that interact with ASCII machines
are now using translate tables that correctly map the 95 graphic
ASCII (ISO 646) characters.

-- 
    L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo.
	ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca	ljdickey@water.BITNET
	ljdickey@water.UUCP		..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey
	ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu