ASCII Encoded HP 48 Object

ASCII Encoded HP 48 Object, or ASC, is an unofficial transfer encoding associated with HP 48 calculators. It was developed by William Wickes, who wrote an encoder and decoder for it.

Format
ASC format is usually embedded in a message such as a newsgroup posting, instead of appearing in a file by itself.

ASC begins and ends with a double quote character, contains ASCII-encoded hex digits, and has a line break every 64 hex digits.

It may be preceded by a line beginning with " ". This is evidently a signature that introduces various types of HP data, and is not part of the ASC format.

Additionally, sometimes it is wrapped in " "/" " or similar lines (to help identify it to humans?).

Sample files

 * Some ASC-encoded objects can be found in the files at:
 * http://ftp.funet.fi/index/misc/hp48sx/ (e.g. skunk, dragon.ASC, lem)
 * http://cd.textfiles.com/blackphiles/PHILES/HP48_1/
 * http://cd.textfiles.com/blackphiles/PHILES/HP48_2/

Links

 * ASCII Encoding HP 48SX Objects
 * HP48 FAQ, Section 7.6
 * HP48 FAQ, Section 9.1