The Multinational Character Set (MCS) is a character encoding created by Digital Equipment Corporation for use in the popular VT220 terminal. It was an 8-bit extension of ASCII that added accented characters, currency symbols, and other character glyphs missing from 7-bit ASCII. It is only one of the code pages implemented for the VT220 National Replacement Character Set.[1][2]
Such "extended ASCII" sets were common (the National Replacement Character Set provided sets for more than a dozen European languages), but MCS has the distinction of being the ancestor of ISO 8859-1.[3]
The code chart of MCS with ISO 8859-1 and the first 256 code points of Unicode have many more similarities than differences. In addition to unused code points, differences from ISO 8859-1 are:
|
MCS code point
|
Unicode mapping
|
Character
|
|
A8
|
U+00A4
|
¤
|
|
D7
|
U+0152
|
Œ
|
|
DD
|
U+0178
|
Ÿ
|
|
F7
|
U+0153
|
œ
|
|
FD
|
U+00FF
|
ÿ
|
Codepage layout
In the following table, code points that differ from ISO/IEC 8859-1 are colored yellow.
|
|
DEC Multinational Character Set
|
|
_0
|
_1
|
_2
|
_3
|
_4
|
_5
|
_6
|
_7
|
_8
|
_9
|
_A
|
_B
|
_C
|
_D
|
_E
|
_F
|
0_
|
NUL
0000
0
|
SOH
0001
1
|
STX
0002
2
|
ETX
0003
3
|
EOT
0004
4
|
ENQ
0005
5
|
ACK
0006
6
|
BEL
0007
7
|
BS
0008
8
|
HT
0009
9
|
LF
000A
10
|
VT
000B
11
|
FF
000C
12
|
CR
000D
13
|
SO
000E
14
|
SI
000F
15
|
1_
|
DLE
0010
16
|
DC1
0011
17
|
DC2
0012
18
|
DC3
0013
19
|
DC4
0014
20
|
NAK
0015
21
|
SYN
0016
22
|
ETB
0017
23
|
CAN
0018
24
|
EM
0019
25
|
SUB
001A
26
|
ESC
001B
27
|
FS
001C
28
|
GS
001D
29
|
RS
001E
30
|
US
001F
31
|
2_
|
SP
0020
32
|
!
0021
33
|
"
0022
34
|
#
0023
35
|
$
0024
36
|
%
0025
37
|
&
0026
38
|
'
0027
39
|
(
0028
40
|
)
0029
41
|
*
002A
42
|
+
002B
43
|
,
002C
44
|
-
002D
45
|
.
002E
46
|
/
002F
47
|
3_
|
0
0030
48
|
1
0031
49
|
2
0032
50
|
3
0033
51
|
4
0034
52
|
5
0035
53
|
6
0036
54
|
7
0037
55
|
8
0038
56
|
9
0039
57
|
:
003A
58
|
;
003B
59
|
<
003C
60
|
=
003D
61
|
>
003E
62
|
?
003F
63
|
4_
|
@
0040
64
|
A
0041
65
|
B
0042
66
|
C
0043
67
|
D
0044
68
|
E
0045
69
|
F
0046
70
|
G
0047
71
|
H
0048
72
|
I
0049
73
|
J
004A
74
|
K
004B
75
|
L
004C
76
|
M
004D
77
|
N
004E
78
|
O
004F
79
|
5_
|
P
0050
80
|
Q
0051
81
|
R
0052
82
|
S
0053
83
|
T
0054
84
|
U
0055
85
|
V
0056
86
|
W
0057
87
|
X
0058
88
|
Y
0059
89
|
Z
005A
90
|
[
005B
91
|
\
005C
92
|
]
005D
93
|
^
005E
94
|
_
005F
95
|
6_
|
`
0060
96
|
a
0061
97
|
b
0062
98
|
c
0063
99
|
d
0064
100
|
e
0065
101
|
f
0066
102
|
g
0067
103
|
h
0068
104
|
i
0069
105
|
j
006A
106
|
k
006B
107
|
l
006C
108
|
m
006D
109
|
n
006E
110
|
o
006F
111
|
7_
|
p
0070
112
|
q
0071
113
|
r
0072
114
|
s
0073
115
|
t
0074
116
|
u
0075
117
|
v
0076
118
|
w
0077
119
|
x
0078
120
|
y
0079
121
|
z
007A
122
|
{
007B
123
|
|
007C
124
|
}
007D
125
|
~
007E
126
|
DEL
007F
127
|
8_
|
|
|
|
|
IND
0084
132
|
NEL
0085
133
|
SSA
0086
134
|
ESA
0087
135
|
HTS
0088
136
|
HTJ
0089
137
|
VTS
008A
138
|
PLD
008B
139
|
PLU
008C
140
|
RI
008D
141
|
SS2
008E
142
|
SS3
008F
143
|
9_
|
DCS
0090
144
|
PU1
0091
145
|
PU2
0092
146
|
STS
0093
147
|
CCH
0094
148
|
MW
0095
149
|
SPA
0096
150
|
EPA
0097
151
|
|
|
|
CSI
009B
155
|
ST
009C
156
|
OSC
009D
157
|
PM
009E
158
|
APC
009F
159
|
A_
|
|
¡
00A1
161
|
¢
00A2
162
|
£
00A3
163
|
|
¥
00A5
165
|
|
§
00A7
167
|
¤
00A4
168
|
©
00A9
169
|
ª
00AA
170
|
«
00AB
171
|
|
|
|
|
B_
|
°
00B0
176
|
±
00B1
177
|
²
00B2
178
|
³
00B3
179
|
|
µ
00B5
181
|
¶
00B6
182
|
·
00B7
183
|
|
¹
00B9
185
|
º
00BA
186
|
»
00BB
187
|
¼
00BC
188
|
½
00BD
189
|
|
¿
00BF
191
|
C_
|
À
00C0
192
|
Á
00C1
193
|
Â
00C2
194
|
Ã
00C3
195
|
Ä
00C4
196
|
Å
00C5
197
|
Æ
00C6
198
|
Ç
00C7
199
|
È
00C8
200
|
É
00C9
201
|
Ê
00CA
202
|
Ë
00CB
203
|
Ì
00CC
204
|
Í
00CD
205
|
Î
00CE
206
|
Ï
00CF
207
|
D_
|
|
Ñ
00D1
209
|
Ò
00D2
210
|
Ó
00D3
211
|
Ô
00D4
212
|
Õ
00D5
213
|
Ö
00D6
214
|
Œ
0152
215
|
Ø
00D8
216
|
Ù
00D9
217
|
Ú
00DA
218
|
Û
00DB
219
|
Ü
00DC
220
|
Ÿ
0178
221
|
|
ß
00DF
223
|
E_
|
à
00E0
224
|
á
00E1
225
|
â
00E2
226
|
ã
00E3
227
|
ä
00E4
228
|
å
00E5
229
|
æ
00E6
230
|
ç
00E7
231
|
è
00E8
232
|
é
00E9
233
|
ê
00EA
234
|
ë
00EB
235
|
ì
00EC
236
|
í
00ED
237
|
î
00EE
238
|
ï
00EF
239
|
F_
|
|
ñ
00F1
241
|
ò
00F2
242
|
ó
00F3
243
|
ô
00F4
244
|
õ
00F5
245
|
ö
00F6
246
|
œ
0153
247
|
ø
00F8
248
|
ù
00F9
249
|
ú
00FA
250
|
û
00FB
251
|
ü
00FC
252
|
ÿ
00FF
253
|
|
|
|
|
_0
|
_1
|
_2
|
_3
|
_4
|
_5
|
_6
|
_7
|
_8
|
_9
|
_A
|
_B
|
_C
|
_D
|
_E
|
_F
|
References
-
^ "VT220 Programmer Reference Manual".
-
^ "TinyTERM Emulator — National Replacement Character Set (NCRS)".
-
^ Roman Czyborra (1998). "ISO 8859-1 and MCS, from ISO 8859 Alphabet Soup".
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