ascii or not ascii

[Richard Harter]

In article <2802 at bsu-cs.UUCP> dhesi at bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>In article <533 at zoot.lamont.Columbia.edu> hough at lamont.Columbia.edu (sue
>hough) writes:
>>I am trying to read an ascii (Prime generated) 9-track tape on a Unix
>> system.  The restored files look like ascii when I use MORE, CAT,
>> HEAD, etc.  But when I try to edit them with vi, I get
>> "not an ascii file".

>I seem to remember that Primos likes the eighth bit set in each
>character.  It must be that vi doesn't like this.  Write a filter to
>strip these bits, or use Chuck Forsberg's undos/todos utility with the
>-s switch.

There are two problems.  The first is that Primos ascii has the eighth
bit set.  The second is that it uses "compressed ascii".  Strings of blanks
are replaced by a control byte followed by a count byte.

The original does not say how the ascii tape was generated.  It might have
been generated using primix (which looks like unix on the surface but is
primos underneath), by one of the system utilities (MAGNET or MAGSAVE),
or by a program (e.g. fortran).  It matters.  Each of these methods has
its own eccentricities.  Probably the simplest way to get data from a 
prime via tape is to ask the prime source to produce an IBM compatible
tape written in EBCDIC :-).
-- 

In the fields of Hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die.
	Richard Harter, SMDS  Inc.