GUI for KayPro CP/M?
Tony Cianfaglione
I have a KayPro 2 running CP/M. Is there a GUI (like GEM or Windows) that
could run on this system, even if it a line drawn gui like the old
Mousedesk for the Apple 2?
Thanks...
anon...@bogus_address.con
On 2000-10-04 ab...@chebucto.ns.ca said:
'VFILER.COM' is what you're looking for. Download it from your
favorite CP/M FTP site.
Since VFILER uses text mode, I suppose that it's technically a
TUI (textual user interface). Have never seen a true 'gooey'
for CP/M-80.
VFILER will give you the point-and-shoot capability you want.
But frankly, it's faster to simply type the file name at the
command prompt, and then press the RETURN key.
After all, that's what the command line is THERE for. :)
nos...@nouce.bellatlantic.net
>Since VFILER uses text mode, I suppose that it's technically a
>TUI (textual user interface). Have never seen a true 'gooey'
>for CP/M-80.
Track down a Visual 1050 and you'll see one. Though the idea
of GUI used is like DOSs Norton Commander (or linux Midnight
Commander) with MGA Video.
Handyman was a TUI/GUI based filer, calendar, memo
editor for Kaypro.
Allison
Tony Cianfaglione
Thanks - as much as I enjoy using the command line, I thought I would like
to messa round with a gui/tui.
--------------------
Tony Cianfaglione
What is a Visual 1050?
--------------------------
nos...@nouce.bellatlantic.net
<ab...@chebucto.ns.ca> wrote:
>
>What is a Visual 1050?
CP/M crate mid 80s. Ran a Z80 4mhz with banked ram and cp/m3
(AKA CPM+) and also a 6502 with 32k of ram for a bit mapped graphic
display. It was supplied with the DRI graphics package. Some of the
utilities used the graphic capability to draw on screen.
Allison
Lee Hart
> I have a KayPro 2 running CP/M. Is there a GUI (like GEM or Windows)
> that could run on this system, even if it a line drawn gui like the
> old Mousedesk for the Apple 2?
An interesting question. Many CP/M machines had reasonable graphics, but
CP/M itself was purely text based.
By "GUI" do you mean you want it to use the machine's graphics
capabilities to display pictures with icons instead of pure text? It's
possible for individual CP/M programs to do so. There were many examples
of this, typically graphics image editors that used character graphics
or true pixel graphics (depending on the machine). They were generally
be machine-specific, since there were so few standards for screen
graphics.
If by "GUI" you mean a point-and-click user interface with a mouse, that
is also possible. CP/M itself has no "hooks" for a mouse, and few CP/M
machines came with a mouse or similar pointing device. But a serial
mouse can be connected to a spare serial port, and the BIOS modified to
use the mouse to input cursor movement commands via the console input
routine.
Again, CP/M itself doesn't use cursor positioning commands, but many
CP/M programs do. VFILER was one that does many of the things that you
would normally do at the CP/M command prompt.
--
Lee A. Hart Ring the bells that still can ring
814 8th Ave. N. Forget your perfect offering
Sartell, MN 56377 USA There is a crack in everything
leeahart_at_earthlink.net That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
nos...@nouce.bellatlantic.net
wrote:
>An interesting question. Many CP/M machines had reasonable graphics, but
>CP/M itself was purely text based.
Well to a point your right. CP/M didn't care would be more correct.
the "shell" is the CCP and in 2k of 8080 code it does a fair text
based command line interface. There was nothing to prevent or
say it could not be anything else (save for memory space).
>By "GUI" do you mean you want it to use the machine's graphics
>capabilities to display pictures with icons instead of pure text? It's
>possible for individual CP/M programs to do so. There were many examples
>of this, typically graphics image editors that used character graphics
>or true pixel graphics (depending on the machine). They were generally
>be machine-specific, since there were so few standards for screen
>graphics.
Best one I know of was the Visuals I have with display manager
running.
>Again, CP/M itself doesn't use cursor positioning commands, but many
>CP/M programs do. VFILER was one that does many of the things that you
>would normally do at the CP/M command prompt.
Excellent example.
The best way it can be said is CP/M makes and working foundation to do
anything you can conceive and write code for.
Allison
jack_c...@my-deja.com
any "GUI" interface would necessarily have to be crude. The video is
strictly character based, using a hardware character generator. Kaypro
did support a sort of low-resolution pixel, in that certain characters
would put rectangular blobs on the screen, much like the old TRS-80
computers, but it's not possible to access individual pixels.
Jack
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Jeff Wieland
It depends on which Kaypro. The original II's and IV's had no graphics
beyond the Greek characters stored in the character ROM. The '10's and
the '84-series (they all have two serial ports on DB-25's), have 160x100
graphics, accessable through escape sequences. I believe that the
command is something like:
ESC*<ROW+32><COL+32>
to draw a pixel on the screen, and
ESC <ROW+32><COL+32>
to erase one. The pixels will not overwrite text on the screen. There
also are commands to draw and erase lines, but I don't remember what
they are. If I get a chance, I'll follow up to this with some additional
info. I did write a set of routines in TurboPascal for using the graphics,
which I may be able to find as well.
If you've ever seen Kaypro's Master Menu program, it uses the bit-mapped
graphics.
Please remove the "nospam" from my address if replying via email.
--
Jeff Wieland
jack_c...@my-deja.com
what I called "rectangular blobs." The Kaypro CRT is basically a 25 x
80 character device. The escape sequence you mention put the character
generator into a mode where each character was divided into a 2x4 array
of rectangles, which could be turned on and off individually.
Jack
In article <8t1q8j$h0g$1...@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>,