Word processor

[Retro System Rescue]

HI All - I am looking for an editor similar to VDE that runs in CPM 2.2 and is stand alone, doesn't need any overlays or other from disk, ans is less than 28K in size. I also want to be able to configure it with the escape sequences for the terminal and would love to be able to set the screen width. It doesn't have to be fancy, this is for a video.

Bill

[Roger Hanscom]

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 6:34:02 AM UTC-7, retrosys...@gmail.com wrote:
> HI All - I am looking for an editor similar to VDE that runs in CPM 2.2 and is stand alone, doesn't need any overlays or other from disk, ans is less than 28K in size. I also want to be able to configure it with the escape sequences for the terminal and would love to be able to set the screen width. It doesn't have to be fancy, this is for a video.
>
> Bill

Have you looked at WordMaster (1.22 ver. is 13k), VDO (6.8k), or ZDE (1.6 ver. is 16.5k)?? I don't believe any of these 3 have any need for overlays. Don't know how easy/difficult setting them up with escape sequences would be. Maybe you could use an RSX to run them? I use one for WordMaster (I believe it is configured for Televideo, but the RSX I use does VT100). No idea about setting (or changing) screen *width*. I changed VDE (ver.2.67) to do ~40 or 50 lines per screen. In fact, why not use VDE (15.3k for either ver. 2.66 or 2.67)?

Roger

[Douglas Miller]

Magic Wand is about 16K and has no overlays. It has an ASM file you write (clone and modify) to configure the ESC sequences and any stub-code needed, which you overlay on to the executable using DDT (SID, ...). It does have a parameter for the screen width, but I've not tried using anything but "80".

[Captain Nemo]

I've been using TE for a while now to play with S-BASIC.
It's a nice, little editor.

[Tony Nicholson]

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 11:34:02 PM UTC+10, retrosys... wrote:
> HI All - I am looking for an editor similar to VDE that runs in CPM 2.2 and is stand alone, doesn't need any overlays or other from disk, ans is less than 28K in size. I also want to be able to configure it with the escape sequences for the terminal and would love to be able to set the screen width. It doesn't have to be fancy, this is for a video.

I'm going to poke my head up and suggest PMATE (from Phoenix Technologies -
the same company that has roots in TDL/Xitan and later the BIOS for the IBM PC
clones).

The last version for CP/M-80 that I have (V3.21) is an excellent screen editor - kind
of like TECO (which has roots back to old Digital Equipment Corp computers going
back to the 1960s). You can configure it for many different screen types (including
ANSI-VT100) and keyboard mappings. The CP/M COM file is just 24K in size.

(There's also a version of PMATE for PC/MS-DOS).

A copy of PMATE V3.02 is available from the CP/M software archives at

http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/Software/rlee/0-9/8inch/8097/PHOENIX%20SOFTWARE/PMATE/V3-02/

I went looking for my documentation and only found the PMATE rev 2 User Manual
and Interface Guide which I've scanned and shared at

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w549SjA82yOAZJYWDmrI8asRVbPJLsqk/view?usp=sharing

Tony

P.S. There is a version of PMATE (called ZMATE) for the Z-System too. I haven't been
able to track this one down. It used to be advertised in Sol Libes' Micro/Systems
magazine.

[Mark Lougheed]

If you're looking for just a plain text editor, check out RED and ED2. Both are lightweight and without overlays. The main difference is the ED2 is limited to text files that will fit in memory. RED uses a virtual memory buffer and can edit files of most any size (really, up to the free space on disk). RED has executable configurations for both ANSI and ADM-3A terminals. The implementation of ED2 supports ADM-3A, however could be tuned-up for ANSI terms as well.

https://github.com/mdlougheed/RED

https://github.com/mdlougheed/ed2

Cheers,
MDL

[Stephen Mitchell]

I guess I'm confused as to why the O.P. doesn't just go with VDE. It's only 16K, is stand-alone, is versatile, really quick, and does not require overlays. (It does have a companion installation program, VINST.COM, to configure the binary for particular keyboard and terminal codes, but once the editor has been configured for a particular machine, VINST is not longer required.) VDE works like a champ and has been my go-to programming editor both on a succession of CP/M Kaypros and now in an emulated CP/M 2.2 environment (MYZ80 running under DOSBOX on a Windows 10 machine.) Because, like the Turbo Pascal editor, it uses the WordStar command set, I can switch between editing a Turbo Pascal program in the Turbo environment and a BDS-C, S-BASIC, ALGOL-M, or PLI80 program at the command prompt without missing a beat. (That said, I have used TE and ED2, and both do a fine job -- I just happen to prefer the WordStar commands.)

Steve Mitchell
Alexandria, Va.

[rwd...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, 13 April 2021 at 14:34:02 UTC+1, retrosys...@gmail.com wrote:
> HI All - I am looking for an editor similar to VDE that runs in CPM 2.2 and is stand alone, doesn't need any overlays or other from disk, ans is less than 28K in size. I also want to be able to configure it with the escape sequences for the terminal and would love to be able to set the screen width. It doesn't have to be fancy, this is for a video.
>
> Bill

If you have a Z80 processor , then I think ZDE is good - I believe (if my memory serves; if not blame the chardonnay) that under cpm 3 it can auto screen size from bytes in a config area, which the utility vt100dyn can set. The screen width should be configurable. I think ZDE 1.6 beats VDE and is faster (not that it should matter).

I actually personally use MagicWand with VT100 /XTERM config as much as I can . Old habits from early 1980s.

Richard

[Retro System Rescue]

VDE wants access to the Video Ram as far as I can tell in the install. The Coleco Adam doesn't have video RAM available to the Z80 except through IN and OUT commands. So the program would have to use Terminal codes only. Again the adam is close to the ADM 3A but not close enough to use, that and it has a 32 character wide screen makes it hard to find one I can configure easily.

[Roger Hanscom]

On Friday, April 23, 2021 at 10:07:21 AM UTC-7, retrosys...@gmail.com wrote:
.....<snip>.....

>> VDE wants access to the Video Ram as far as I can tell in the install. The Coleco Adam doesn't have video RAM
>>available to the Z80 except through IN and OUT commands. So the program would have to use Terminal codes only.
>>Again the adam is close to the ADM 3A but not close enough to use, that and it has a 32 character wide screen
>>makes it hard to find one I can configure easily.

Not sure what version of VDE you are speaking of. Look up a copy of VDE (ver. 2.66 or 2.67) on-line. I use either on a serial connection (no video RAM involved) with a full 80 column display. I was even able to modify it to display more than the ubiquitous 24-26 lines. I use VT100 emulation, so you would probably have to tweak the terminal codes for your particular application. BUT, it can be done!

Roger

[Roger Ivie]

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 6:34:02 AM UTC-7, retrosys...@gmail.com wrote:

don't know about anyone else, but i'd be looking for portable wordstar. this is a trimmed variant of
wordstar for machines like the epson px-8 geneva. i thought had a copy of it lying around somewhere,
because i copied it from my geneva and have run it on other systems, but i'm not finding it. i do,
however, still have the copy in my geneva...

it fits in a 32k eprom in the geneva, so it's small. it is possible to patch it for other terminals; i've run
it on vt-100 type terminals (pretty sure i ran it on my decmate ii), but patching details are hard to
find and i had to figure it out by squinting at the patching notes for wordstar 3.3.
--
roger ivie
roger...@gmail.com

[fred_...@hotmail.com]

Now I understand. I am going to second the idea to use PMATE. You can shrink the copyright line, or
just ignore it.
And the other bits can shrink to 32 characters wide. Tried it. It is a bit clumsy, but the editor does work
at 32 columns.

Size of PMATE 3.02 is 158 records with 200 byte permanent macro area. If POPCOM is used the size
go down (20224 to 13696) to 107 records. No overlays used, Virtual memory for primary edit buffer,
10 other buffers available.

I think you could go as low as 8x32 for display size, some of the built-in macros go a bit wonky.

[Tony Nicholson]

On Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 2:30:57 AM UTC+10, Fred wrote:
[snip]

> Now I understand. I am going to second the idea to use PMATE. You can shrink the copyright line, or
> just ignore it.
> And the other bits can shrink to 32 characters wide. Tried it. It is a bit clumsy, but the editor does work
> at 32 columns.
>
> Size of PMATE 3.02 is 158 records with 200 byte permanent macro area. If POPCOM is used the size
> go down (20224 to 13696) to 107 records. No overlays used, Virtual memory for primary edit buffer,
> 10 other buffers available.
>
> I think you could go as low as 8x32 for display size, some of the built-in macros go a bit wonky.

I'm going to "bury" the following in this thread - like a piece of "treasure" for you to find!

A couple of people have asked me about PMATE V3.21 for CP/M.

I've shared the following CP/M Library file with them. It contains all the files from the distribution disk.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mE38V7DYw9IbAN6RnedvgjKFu_DN6Hpp/view?usp=sharing

As far as I know, this was the last version of PMATE issued for CP/M by Phoenix Software Associates prior to further enhancements being made by Bridger Mitchell for ZMATE.

I know I did have printed documentation too - but I can't find it in my hoard.

Enjoy!

Tony

[Tony Nicholson]

On Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 9:43:59 AM UTC+10, Tony Nicholson wrote:

[snip]

> A couple of people have asked me about PMATE V3.21 for CP/M.

I meant to add - you can configure PMATE to use WordStar keystrokes too.

Tony

[Floppy Software]

TE has some adaptations including VT100 and WordStar keybindings.

The next version will be capable of configure all the keybindings to your taste.

https://github.com/MiguelVis/te

[Neal Crook]

Tony - thank you for sharing PMATE resources. I had a customised executable for my system but none of the configuration files and my google search a few months ago was fruitless.

I have a "PMATE rev 2 user manual and interface guide" which looks identical to your shared scan.

I also have a 10-page document entitled "Revision 3 update information":

"PMATE revision 3 adds automatic, bidirectional disk buffering to the capabilities of revision 2..."

the document talks about new commands, configuration, use of IOPATCH and has an "Appendix A COMMAND SUMMARY" in the same style as Appendix A of the revision 2 manual.

I'll put it thrrough my scanner and see if it's legible enough to share.

Neal.

[Neal Crook]

10-page document entitled "Revision 3 update information" for PMATE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/143BnO99-PE_iEquvDrnNE6aPk-_00Vn4/view?usp=sharing

Neal.

[Tony Nicholson]

On Wednesday, July 14, 2021 at 6:37:06 AM UTC+10, Neal Crook wrote:
> 10-page document entitled "Revision 3 update information" for PMATE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/143BnO99-PE_iEquvDrnNE6aPk-_00Vn4/view?usp=sharing
>
> Neal.

Much appreciated Neal.

I feel it's important to preserve copies of the software and documentation.

Tony