Quantum takes the same approach with the extended ASCII character set. However, since the positions of characters in the extended ASCII character set might vary according to which hardware and software you are using, Quantum cannot obtain this information from the system. Instead, you must create a file which tells it which octal punch codes represent each character. The Quantum directory contains two files to help you:

By editing binasc.dat and replacing some or all the zero values with octal values from the corresponding cells in bineas.dat you can have Quantum recognize as many characters from the extended ASCII character set as you like. For more information about editing these files, see Using the full extended ASCII character set and Using a customized character set.

The file you create is user-readable, but this is not very efficient for using in a Quantum run. Therefore, you must convert the text file into a binary file called:

When Quantum starts, it looks for this file. If the file exists, Quantum will use the information in it to work out whether the multicodes it reads are characters or miscellaneous collections of punches. If bintab.qt file does not exist, Quantum uses the standard ASCII character set, as described above.

Follow the instructions in Using the full extended ASCII character set to create the necessary files.