plusBASIC ASCII Table

The Aquarius⁺ uses its own version of ASCII known as AQUASCII. It was designed by Radofin and Mattel to address the lack of programmable bitmap graphics in the original Aquarius computer. AQUASCII is similar to the Code Page 437 character set used on the IBM PC, which allowed creating simple graphics on the screen. AQUASCII character codes $20 through $7F are the same as for other ASCII character sets, while many of the lower 31 characters and upper 128 characters are used to provide glyphs for character graphics.

64 of the characters (A0-BF and E0-FF) are used for plotting BLOXELS, 2x3 coarse blocks drawn within the 8x8 character grid. These were designed to allow some degree of drawing creativity using the PSET and PRESET commands in original Aquarius BASIC. The functionality of BLOXELS was further enhanced in Aquarius Extended BASIC with the addition of DRAW, LINE, and CIRCLE commands, allowing more complex shapes to be drawn.

In the diagram below, the Y-axis (left) is the first digit of a two digit HEX code, and the X-axis (top) is the second digit. For example, SPACE is character code $20, while capital A is character code $41.

If you want to try your hand at drawing pictures with AQUASCII graphics, try the free online Aquarius screen editor, Aquarius Draw by Matt Pilz.