ASCII/PETSCII Support

[tcsenpai]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Trying to connect with a Commodore64 results in garbage printed as it probably doesn't support PETSCII/ASCII.

Describe the solution you'd like

If it's possible, ASCII support would be great

[crhultay]

ASCII is supported by default; however what is likely happening is that it is assuming ANSI output which will show control codes -- e.g. [0;32mMyText.
Another issue is going to be low-bit ASCII versus high-bit ASCII (the first 128 characters, and the second 128 characters).

Using the IBM CP437 font, the high-bit ASCII characters are not going to be rendered on your C64 -- this is going to be where PETSCII comes in.

Please see #441 for further details on a similar PR in which this was suggested. These are the breadcrumbs that you can follow -- it is possible to do this.

This will also require that you create all new artwork, as default artwork is in ASCII inclusive of high-bit and therefore would be laborious.

Doors that you make available would also need to be separated, as doors that use high-bit ASCII are going to render garbage on a PET/VIC20/C64/128 hence the need for PETSCII.

But I think it would be really something special to make Enigma1/2 capable of this, since people on C64 and old-school PCs could be connected to the same BBS and interact.

[tcsenpai]

Unfortunately I am not tech savy enough to tackle the doors issue, while the artwork is something I can try to do. I am following #441 and I'll try to see if I can come up with something. I am more a TS/Python dev myself but I am pretty sure I can try to fork Enigma to add this feature and PR it, maybe it will take a lot of time but still...

[robbiew]

Yeah, as PETSCII is not just a different character set, it uses entirely different control codes for colors, cursor moves, etc. it would be a considerable amount of work to make Enigma work with it. Not impossible tho -- Synchronet does this in a dedicated "PETSCII Mode" running on its own port.

If you want PETSCII in Enigma while still keeping ANSI for others, you’re looking at a major fork or at least an output wrapper layer that intercepts and rewrites everything — menus, built‑in prompts, sysop functions, etc. Also 40 column support, which may not be an issue. Def check out how Synchronet does it!

[NuSkooler]

PETSCII and others are something I want to experiment with when I have time. Quite a few challenges to overcome, but I think it may be possible.