ebcdic | text-mode.org

2024-05-04

1970s, 1975, character set, ebcdic, font, ibm, usa.

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These are IBM’s first computers: IBM 5100 (1975) and IBM 5110 (1978).

The 5100 had 256 characters but half of the characters were just underscored versions of the other half. It used IBM’s mega obscure EBCD encoding instead of ASCII. IBM 5110 dropped most of the underscored characters, which made room for semi-graphic characters. Encoding was changed to the slightly less obscure EBCDIC, and there were 14 localized character sets with 12 characters each.

Character set photos from Voidstar, where there are also more details about the character sets.

2020-01-24

1950s, 1957, conversion, ebcdic, Univac, usa.

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ASCII-portraits of Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson made with a UNIVAC in 1957. via (Technically not ASCII since it didn’t exist, but perhaps EBCDIC) h/t: Marcin Wichary

2018-08-10

1980s, 1981, ebcdic, ibm, usa.

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Colourized ASCII art at NASA using an IBM System/370 in 1981, via. Or… EBCDIC art?

2018-02-14

1960s, 1969, ascii, ebcdic, frederick hammersley, usa.

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garadinervi:

Frederick Hammersley, A Good Line is Hard to Beat, 1969, L. A. Louver, Venice, CA / Frederick Hammersley Foundation

2018-02-13

1960s, 1969, ascii, ebcdic, frederick hammersley, print, usa.

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ASCII art by Frederick Hammersley, 1969. Made on an IBM-computer (which used EBCDIC and not ASCII encoding), and:

The alphanumeric characters we could ‘draw’ with were: the alphabet, ten numerals and eleven symbols, such as periods, dashes, slashes, etc….

h/t: Robert Doerfler

2015-08-22

2010s, 2015, ebcdic.

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A mandelbrot fractal calculated and printed as text on an IBM 1401 (1959) by Ken Shirriff. This computer does not use binary numbers and does not use bytes. It also does not use ASCII, but EBCDIC.

2014-02-26

1960s, canada, code, ebcdic, keyboard.

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Keyboard layouts for the APL programming language, which uses symbols instead of words. It was based on EBCDIC and APL had its own set of symbols which in the 1960s was tricky for many screens, printers and platforms to deal with. Nowadays Unicode mostly supports it.

2014-02-10

1970s, 1973, ebcdic, usa.

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ASCII art by Sam Harbison, 1973. It uses a technique called overstriking, when you put characters on top of each other. This was common in typewriter art but was also used on screen for PLATO emoticons. More recently, glitch artists such as Glitchr & Mammifero are interesting examples.

Harbison’s process: 35mm camera -> film -> development -> densitometer -> 9-track magnetic tape -> FORTRAN & EBCDIC -> chain printer with overstriking -> strips of paper -> tape together -> success!

Post updated in 2024. Archived source.

2014-02-09

2010s, 2013, ebcdic.

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Possibly made by Paul Gamble in 2013, possibly in EBCDIC and not ASCII.

2012-11-09

1960s, 1969, ebcdic, generative, print.

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Hypothetical Surface 1 by David R Garson, 1969. Computer prints made with IBM-stuff. Not sure, but it looks like text.

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