On Mon, 19 Jan 2026 02:14:52 GMT
"Maurice Kinal -> August Abolins" <0@7001.153.1> wrote:

echo -e "A M\xf8\xf8se once bit my sister ..." | iconv -f latin1 -t utf8

busybox sh

H:/ $ echo -e "A M\xf8\xf8se once bit my sister ..." | iconv -f latin1 -t utf8 A MA,A,se once bit my sister ...
H:/ $

A limiting factor could certainly be the Font selected for my OpenXP terminal. Currently using Lucinda Console TTF

---
* Origin: news://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/360.0)

Hey August!

On Mon, Jan 19 2026 08:06:08 -0600, you wrote:

busybox sh H:/ $ echo -e "A M\xf8\xf8se once bit my sister ..."

| iconv -f latin1 -t utf8 A MA,A,se once bit my sister ... H:/ $

While in busybox, what is the output of

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

A limiting factor could certainly be the Font selected for my OpenXP terminal. Currently using Lucinda Console TTF

I would say Lucida Console TTF should be okay.

What are you using for your OpenXP terminal?

If it's just a normal Windows command shell/prompt it might be defaulted to CP437 (or maybe CP850 if you're in EU). You can see this by typing "chcp" at your command prompt.

C:\Users\Nick>chcp
Active code page: 437

Or another option, that from what I've read has better UTF-8 support, would be to use PowerShell.

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm, because beating people up is illegal.
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (1:154/700)

Hello Nick!

While in busybox, what is the output of

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

H:/ $ locale
sh: locale: not found

What are you using for your OpenXP terminal?

H:/ $ chcp
Active code page: 437

Or another option, that from what I've read has better UTF-8 support, would be to use PowerShell.

Not an option. My OpenXP is still living on XP. ;)

--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.64
* Origin: Got Mobile? This echo = https://t.me/+RLI5gLJrHo6IIuzL (2:221/1.58)

Hej August!

A limiting factor could certainly be the Font selected for my OpenXP terminal.
Currently using Lucinda Console TTF

That shouldn't mess with the actual codes stored within the message. If it does then you have a crippled terminal. Even an old abandonware DOS editor will honour the codes despite the fact it cannot reproduce the proper charaters for display purposes. My best guess is that OpenXP has issues that have nothing to do with your choice in fonts. On the plus side it is in good company, msged and golded come to mind.

Het leven is goed,
Maurice

o- o- o- o- -o -o o- -o o- -o o- -o o- o- o- -o
/) /) /) /) (\ (\ /) (\ /) (\ /) (\ /) /) /) (\
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
... Ne hopa ðu to oþres monnes deaðe; uncuð hwa lengest libbe.
Do not hope for another man's death; it is unknown who will live longest. --- GNU bash, version 5.3.9(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
* Origin: Little Mikey's EuroPoint @ (2:280/464.113)

Hello Maurice!

Currently using Lucinda Console TTF

That shouldn't mess with the actual codes stored within the message. If it does then you have a crippled terminal. Even an old abandonware DOS editor will honour the codes despite the fact it cannot reproduce the proper charaters for display purposes. My best guess is that OpenXP has issues that have nothing to do with your choice in fonts. On the plus side it is in good company, msged and golded come to mind.

I seem to remember being able to "activate" a Latvian-keyboard on my Win98 system, and then.. via simple Alt-[key] presses get the desired umlaut version for the letters I needed. That was all done in a terminal of sorts with Frontdoor editor, no problem.

But since XP, that keyboard selection is nolonger available.

I asked chatgpt..

"Latvian uses several Baltic-specific characters (a e i u c g k l n s z), so you need a Baltic code page or Unicode. Here are the correct options, by platform:

---

## ? Best / Modern (Recommended)

### UTF-8 (Unicode)

* Fully supports Latvian
* Cross-platform (Windows, Linux, macOS)
* Standard for files, terminals, web, email

?? If you have a choice, use UTF-8.

---

## ?? Windows (legacy / non-Unicode)

### Windows-1257 - *Baltic*

* ?? Full Latvian support
* ?? Most common legacy Windows encoding for Latvian
* Used by older Windows apps and files

---

## ?? ISO encodings

### ISO-8859-13 - *Baltic Rim*

* ?? Full Latvian support
* Preferred ISO encoding for Baltic languages

### ISO-8859-4 - *Baltic*

* ?? Partial / outdated
* Some Latvian letters missing or inconsistently mapped
* Not recommended

---

## ?? DOS / Console (very old systems)

### IBM Code Page 775 (CP775) - *Baltic DOS*

* ?? Supports Latvian
* Used in DOS-era Baltic systems

?? Not supported well in modern terminals.

---

## ? Does NOT fully support Latvian

* Windows-1252 (Western European)
* ISO-8859-1
* ASCII

These are missing sever

Hej August!

via simple Alt-[key] presses get the desired umlaut version for the
letters I needed. That was all done in a terminal of sorts with
Frontdoor editor, no problem.

That still works in linux even on the commandline. In the case of the 'ø' character I just inserted it in vim using that exact method - holding the left-Alt down while typing 2, 4 and 8 in that exact order. Note that it is automajically converted to utf8 by my current vimrc but could easily be an 8-bit Latvian character set. Pick one and I'll prove it.

If you have a choice, use UTF-8.

Amen. A done deal for sure. This reply is utf8.

Windows-1257 - *Baltic*

Doable.

ISO-8859-13 - *Baltic Rim*

Also doable.

IBM Code Page 775 (CP775) - *Baltic DOS*

Sure ... why not? :::snicker:::

Anyhow my example 'echo -e ...' piped to iconv should produce the proper characters without inputting any special keystrokes. In it's case I used \xf8 and assumed the terminal codepage was iso-8859-1 or latin1 which are the same thing. The example given could have been cp437 but then \xf8 in cp437 isn't the desired character in this case.

Anyhow it looks like your busybox is capable. Too bad about your crippled OS but thems the breaks when dealing with MS products.

Het leven is goed,
Maurice

o- o- o- -o o- -o -o o- -o -o o- o- -o -o o- o-
/) /) /) (\ /) (\ (\ /) (\ (\ /) /) (\ (\ /) /)
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
... Oft for ðæs lareowes unwisdome misfaraþ ða hieremenn.
Often because of the leader's folly, the followers go astray.
--- GNU bash, version 5.3.9(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
* Origin: Little Mikey's EuroPoint @ (2:280/464.113)

Hello Maurice!

via simple Alt-[key] presses get the desired umlaut version for the
letters I needed. That was all done in a terminal of sorts with
Frontdoor editor, no problem.

That still works in linux even on the commandline. In the case of the 'ø' character I just inserted it in vim using that exact method -
holding the left-Alt down while typing 2, 4 and 8 in that exact order. Note that it is automajically converted to utf8 by my current vimrc but could easily be an 8-bit Latvian character set. Pick one and I'll prove it.

Maybe I should try the windows version of vim as my editor?

https://www.vim.org/download.php

Anyhow it looks like your busybox is capable. Too bad about your
crippled OS but thems the breaks when dealing with MS products.

At this stage, I would love to have my Alt-[key] functionality back.

Even the Windows keyboard language toggle seems to have stopped working on my Win7 pc!


--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.64
* Origin: Got Mobile? This echo = https://t.me/+RLI5gLJrHo6IIuzL (2:221/1.58)

Hej August!

At this stage, I would love to have my Alt-[key] functionality back.

It works 100% here but there are no MS boxes here either. From this angle it appears that your busybox piped 'echo -e' to iconv is your backdoor until a better solution offers itself up. Best of luck with that. ;-)

Even the Windows keyboard language toggle seems to have stopped
working on my Win7 pc!

`Tis a sad, sad day indeed.

Het leven is goed,
Maurice

-o o- -o o- -o -o o- -o o- o- o- -o -o o- -o o-
(\ /) (\ /) (\ (\ /) (\ /) /) /) (\ (\ /) (\ /)
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
... Oft sceall eorl monig anes willan wræc adreogan.
Often must many a warrior suffer misery because of the will of one person. --- GNU bash, version 5.3.9(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
* Origin: Little Mikey's EuroPoint @ (2:280/464.113)

Hello Maurice!

If whoever compiled the busybox you currently have, built in utf8 support then this should tell the tale;

$ echo -e "A M\uf8\uf8se once bit my sister ..."

H:\temp>
H:\temp>busybox echo -e "A M\uf8\uf8se once bit my sister ..."
A M\uf8\uf8se once bit my sister ...

H:\temp>busybox sh
H:/temp $ echo -e "A M\uf8\uf8se once bit my sister ..."
A M\uf8\uf8se once bit my sister ...
H:/temp $

You might not be able to read them properly but they *should* output the correct codes if indeed your busybox is up to the task.

Not sure what I was supposed to see.



--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.64
* Origin: Got Mobile? This echo = https://t.me/+RLI5gLJrHo6IIuzL (2:221/1.58)

Hej August!

Not sure what I was supposed to see.

<Esc>:read !echo -e "A M\uf8\uf8se once bit my sister ..."
A Møøse once bit my sister ...

Note the above echo is utf8 friendly. busybox's echo isn't. Tsk, tsk. Shame on whoever compiled the busybox you're using. I'll have to check later if a linux-gnu busybox is the same, not that it matters ... or does it? If it were me I'd be looking to ditch windows. ;-)

Het leven is goed,
Maurice

-o -o o- -o o- o- -o o- -o -o o- o- -o o- o- o-
(\ (\ /) (\ /) /) (\ /) (\ (\ /) /) (\ /) /) /)
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
... Lyt monna wearþ lange fægen ðæs ðe he oðerne bewrencþ.
Few men rejoice long in what they have got by deceiving others.
--- GNU bash, version 5.3.9(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
* Origin: Little Mikey's EuroPoint @ (2:280/464.113)

Hey August!

H:\temp>busybox echo -e "A M\uf8\uf8se once bit my sister ..."

Try this instead;

echo -e "A M\xf8\xf8se once bit my sister ..." | iconv -f latin1 -t utf8

I built the same version of busybox on the Europoint and noted that it also isn't uft8 friendly so I don't get to blame stinkin' windows. :::sigh::: What's this world coming to?

Дуже груви,
Maurice

o- o- -o -o -o o- o- -o o- -o -o o-
/) /) (\ (\ (\ /) /) (\ /) (\ (\ /)
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
... Swa cystigran hiwan, swa cynnigran gystas.
The more generous the household, the more noble the guests.
--- GNU bash, version 5.3.9(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
* Origin: Little Mikey's Brain - Ladysmith BC, Canada (1:153/7001)

Hej Maurice!

I built the same version of busybox on the Europoint

$ ./_install/bin/busybox date -Ins
2026-01-19T03:31:42,219647248+00:00

:::evil grin:::

I'm a bad, bad boy.

Het leven is goed,
Maurice

-o o- o- -o -o o- o- -o -o o- o- o- -o o- o- -o
(\ /) /) (\ (\ /) /) (\ (\ /) /) /) (\ /) /) (\
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
... Se ðe ear gifeð and eft oftihð... bysmer he gewyrceð.
He who gives and takes it back again does a shameful thing.
--- GNU bash, version 5.3.9(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
* Origin: Little Mikey's EuroPoint @ (2:280/464.113)