diff --git a/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/cbm/AtasciiEncoding.kt b/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/cbm/AtasciiEncoding.kt
index b0b8e154c..633978d6d 100644
--- a/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/cbm/AtasciiEncoding.kt
+++ b/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/cbm/AtasciiEncoding.kt
@@ -195,7 +195,17 @@ object AtasciiEncoding {
 
 
     fun encode(str: String): Result<List<UByte>, CharConversionException> {
-        return Ok(str.map { encodeTable.getValue(it).toUByte() })
+        val mapped = str.map { chr ->
+            when (chr) {
+                '\u0000' -> 0u
+                in '\u8000'..'\u80ff' -> {
+                    // special case: take the lower 8 bit hex value directly
+                    (chr.code - 0x8000).toUByte()
+                }
+                else -> encodeTable.getValue(chr).toUByte()
+            }
+        }
+        return Ok(mapped)
     }
 
     fun decode(bytes: List<UByte>): Result<String, CharConversionException> {
diff --git a/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/cbm/IsoEncoding.kt b/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/cbm/IsoEncoding.kt
index e6e46ebe9..8d427c162 100644
--- a/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/cbm/IsoEncoding.kt
+++ b/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/cbm/IsoEncoding.kt
@@ -11,7 +11,17 @@ object IsoEncoding {
 
     fun encode(str: String): Result<List<UByte>, CharConversionException> {
         return try {
-            Ok(str.toByteArray(charset).map { it.toUByte() })
+            val mapped = str.map { chr ->
+                when (chr) {
+                    '\u0000' -> 0u
+                    in '\u8000'..'\u80ff' -> {
+                        // special case: take the lower 8 bit hex value directly
+                        (chr.code - 0x8000).toUByte()
+                    }
+                    else -> charset.encode(chr.toString())[0].toUByte()
+                }
+            }
+            Ok(mapped)
         } catch (ce: CharConversionException) {
             Err(ce)
         }
diff --git a/compiler/res/prog8lib/virtual/textio.p8 b/compiler/res/prog8lib/virtual/textio.p8
index a8c14f676..642ccc9a5 100644
--- a/compiler/res/prog8lib/virtual/textio.p8
+++ b/compiler/res/prog8lib/virtual/textio.p8
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 txt {
 
 sub  clear_screen() {
-    txt.chrout(125)
+    syscall1(3, "\x1b[2J\x1B[H")
 }
 
 sub nl() {
diff --git a/docs/source/todo.rst b/docs/source/todo.rst
index 6b853b0d4..cddfd3156 100644
--- a/docs/source/todo.rst
+++ b/docs/source/todo.rst
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ For next release
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 - simplify cx16.joystick_get2() once this cx16 rom issue is resolved: https://github.com/commanderx16/x16-rom/issues/203
   Can now be resolved because the fix got merged https://github.com/commanderx16/x16-rom/pull/204
+- add unit test for the string encoders special handling of 0x0000 and 0x8000-0x80ff
 
 ...
 
diff --git a/examples/test.p8 b/examples/test.p8
index 9dac946a1..98808c46c 100644
--- a/examples/test.p8
+++ b/examples/test.p8
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 %import textio
 
+; NOTE: meant to test to virtual machine output target (use -target vitual)
+
 main {
     sub start() {
+        txt.clear_screen()
+        txt.print("Welcome to a prog8 pixel shader :-)\n")
 
         syscall1(8, 0)      ; enable lo res creen
         ubyte shifter
diff --git a/virtualmachine/src/prog8/vm/Assembler.kt b/virtualmachine/src/prog8/vm/Assembler.kt
index 4a0c994f5..f7ac63e36 100644
--- a/virtualmachine/src/prog8/vm/Assembler.kt
+++ b/virtualmachine/src/prog8/vm/Assembler.kt
@@ -193,10 +193,9 @@ class Assembler {
                         }
                     }
                     'x' -> {
-                        // special hack 0x8000..0x80ff  will be outputted verbatim without encoding
                         try {
                             val hex = ("" + iter.nextChar() + iter.nextChar()).toInt(16)
-                            (0x8000 + hex).toChar()
+                            hex.toChar()
                         } catch (sb: StringIndexOutOfBoundsException) {
                             throw IllegalArgumentException("invalid \\x escape sequence")
                         } catch (nf: NumberFormatException) {