There is a patch called the `8-bit ctl-arrow patch' that allows Emacs to display characters with codes from 128 to 255. {The original appears to have been by Kenneth Cline <cline@proof.ergo.cs.cmu.edu>.} Partially based on Johan Widen's earlier work, Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> has updated this patch for Emacs 18.58 along with some other 8-bit improvements.
Anonymous FTP:
/ftp.eu.net:gnu/emacs/FP-EightBit.Z /ftp.urc.tue.nl:pub/tex/emacs/FP-EightBit /cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/cemacs.tar.Z:cemacs/8bit-patch-18.57 /sics.se:archive/emacs-18.55-8bit-diff /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-8bit-18.55 /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-8bit-18.57
Via e-mail:
To: mail-server@sics.se body: send emacs-18.55-8bit-diff
Anders Edenbrandt <anderse@dna.lth.se> has produced a more comprehensive patch for Emacs 18.57 that allows for 8-bit input and output.
Anonymous FTP:
/sics.se:archive/emacs-8bit-diff-lth /gatekeeper.dec.com:pub/GNU/DS-emacs-18.57-8bit-diff-lth
The most comprehensive patches for 8-bit output are by Howard Gayle (originally for Emacs 18.55. These patches allow displaying any arbitrary string for a given 8-bit character (except TAB and C-j). Also supported is defining the sorting order and the uppercase and lowercase translations. It is reported that the 8-bit character support in Emacs 19 is largely based on these patches. Thomas Bellman <Bellman@lysator.liu.se> has updated these patches for Emacs 18.57.
Anonymous FTP:
/sics.se:archive/emacs-gayle.tar.Z (patches for 18.55) /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/emacs/gayle-18.57.diff.tar.Z (patches) /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/emacs/emacs-18.57-gayle.tar.Z (patched Emacs)
I am not sure if Epoch can display 8-bit characters as is. Lucid Emacs has the ctl-arrow patch installed. Nemacs displays 8-bit characters, and it may be useful for displaying the 8-bit ISO-8859 alphabet, but I don't know for sure (see section Where can I get an Emacs that can handle kanji characters?).