--- a/AbstractOperatingSystem.st	Tue Feb 04 12:22:28 2020 +0100
+++ b/AbstractOperatingSystem.st	Tue Feb 04 12:29:20 2020 +0100
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 Object subclass:#AbstractOperatingSystem
 	instanceVariableNames:''
 	classVariableNames:'ConcreteClass DefaultVoice ErrorSignal LastErrorNumber LocaleInfo
-		OSSignals PipeFailed Resources VoiceMapping'
+		OSSignals PipeFailed Resources VoiceMapping ConsoleOutputEncoder'
 	poolDictionaries:''
 	category:'System-Support'
 !
@@ -604,6 +604,17 @@
     ]
 ! !
 
+!AbstractOperatingSystem class methodsFor:'clipboard & console'!
+
+characterEncoderForConsoleOutput
+    "as per default, assume that the terminal understands utf8"
+
+    ConsoleOutputEncoder isNil ifTrue:[
+        ConsoleOutputEncoder := CharacterEncoder encoderForUTF8
+    ].
+    ^ ConsoleOutputEncoder
+! !
+
 !AbstractOperatingSystem class methodsFor:'dummy shell operations'!
 
 openApplicationForDocument:aFilenameOrString operation:operationSymbol