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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