telecode(5)telecode(5)NAMEtelecode - A character encoding system (codeset) for Traditional Chi‐
nese
DESCRIPTION
The Telecode codeset (called Mitac Telex in early versions of the oper‐
ating system) consists of 2 character planes. Each character plane has
8836 character positions. In plane 1, standard characters occupy posi‐
tions 0001 to 8045; the remaining 791 positions are for user-defined
characters. In plane 2, standard characters occupy positions 0001 to
8489; the remaining 346 positions are for user-defined characters.
Telecode uses 2-byte values to represent characters on both planes.
Plane 1 Character Encoding
To differentiate plane 1 code from plane 2 code, the most significant
bit (MSB) is set on in both bytes of a plane 1 character code. The fol‐
lowing formula calculates the value of a plane 1 character from its
position on the plane:
1st byte = M + 161
2nd byte = N + 161 - M x 94
In this formula, N is the position of the character and M = N / 94.
For example, if a character is at position 2502 on plane 1, its encod‐
ing value is BBDB, which is calculated as follows:
N = 2502, M = 2502/94 = 26 1st byte = 26 + 161 = 187 2nd byte = 2502 +
161 - 26 x 94 = 219
Plane 2 Character Encoding
To differentiate plane 2 code from plane 1 code, the MSB of the first
byte is set on and that of the second byte is set off for each plane 2
character code. The following formula calculates the value of a plane 2
character from its position:
1st byte = M + 161
2nd byte = N + 33 - M x 94
In this formula, N is the position of the character on the plane and
M = N / 94.
For example, if a character is at position 2502 on plane 2, its encod‐
ing value is BB5B, which is calculated as follows:
N = 2502, M = 2502/94 = 26 1st byte = 26 + 161 = 187 2nd byte = 2502 +
33 - 26 x 94 = 91
Codeset Conversion
The following codeset converter pairs are available for converting Tra‐
ditional Chinese characters between telecode and other encoding for‐
mats. Refer to iconv_intro(5) for an introduction to codeset conver‐
sion. For more information about the other codeset for which telecode
is the input or output, see the reference page specified in the list
item. big5_telecode, telecode_big5
Converting from and to the Big-5 codeset: big5(5).
Note that Big-5 encoding is equivalent to the Microsoft code-
page format used on PCs for Traditional Chinese. You can there‐
fore use these converters to convert Traditional Chinese charac‐
ters between PC code page format and Telecode encoding format.
For more information on how the operating system supports PC
code pages, see code_page(5). dechanyu_telecode, tele‐
code_dechanyu
Converting from and to the DEC Hanyu codeset: dechanyu(5).
eucTW_telecode, telecode_eucTW
Converting from and to Taiwanese Extended UNIX Code: eucTW(5).
Font Support for Telecode
The operating system supports Telecode only through conversion to
another codeset.
SEE ALSO
Commands: locale(1)
Others: ascii(5), big5(5), Chinese(5), code_page(5), dechanyu(5),
dechanzi(5), eucTW(5), GB18030(5), GBK(5), i18n_intro(5), i18n_print‐
ing(5), iconv_intro(5), l10n_intro(5), sbig5(5)telecode(5)