Subject: Re: which one is more popular?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 91 19:51:13 MST

>
 > Well, not completely safe, because even some of the printable ASCII
 > characters (33 to 126) are not handled correctly in EBCDIC.  This
 > implies that your file can get corrupted if your mail path goes
 > through an IBM mainframe running VM.  Fortunately, Internet mail is
 > not usually gatewayed through IBM mainframes.
 >

Hmm.  Good point.

 >
 > This problem exists, but it can be solved.  The most elegant solution
 > I have seen was proposed and implemented by Fung Fung Lee, Ricky
 > Yeung, and others.  Namely, the HZ standard.  Roughly speaking, the
 > idea of HZ is to enclose 7-bit GuoBiao between brackets that look like
 > ~{ and ~}.  Here the tilde ~ functions as an escape character.  In
 > this way, 7-bit GuoBiao can be mixed with ASCII.  The ASCII parts of
 > the file are immediately readable on any ASCII terminal.  The GuoBiao
 > parts are immediately readable (and printable) using any software that
 > understands GuoBiao.
 > ...
 > Mark, can you see any drawbacks to HZ as a proposed standard for
 > Chinese e-mail?  I see only two.
 >

The HZ and zW methods are both elegant methods.  The only immediate
problem with the HZ method is that the tilde character is interpreted
as a command indicator in some mailers.  The one that we have on our
Sun systems for instance.  But this problem can be avoided by using
another mailer.

The only other problem with the two methods I can see is the problem
with transmission through EBCDIC systems (as you mention below).  This
problem needs to be addressed for people who are limited to BITNET
access.

Dorothy Day's article reminded me that xxencode was designed to
circumvent problems with transmission through EBCDIC(yuch) systems.
Maybe this is the way to go.

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[email-masked]                      "I laughed.
Mark Leisher                                I cried.
Computing Research Lab                          I fell down.
New Mexico State University                        It changed my life."
Las Cruces, NM                     - Rich [Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille]

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 91 19:51:13 MST

Hmm.  Good point.