ProTERM 'Graphics'

[skipperdoodle1947]

I am attempting to expand support for ProTERM 'graphics' on my BBS using Mousetext along with cursor positioning codes. Does anybody know of any utilities intended to help with this- that is, creating ProTERM "images" and such like?

Hand-tooling ProTERM 'graphics' using Applewriter is a pretty labor intensive affair. :)

Thanks.
Skip
dura-bbs.net:6359

[Hugh Hood]

Skip,

I remember seeing something uploaded to Asimov a while back with this
description:

"Street Scenes Proterm Special Emulation Editor

This is a animation creator for Proterm Special Emulation. It relies on
using the position cursor command to draw and erase characters, making
it pretty slow at 1200 baud back in the day. Elite PTSE creators would
never use a program like this."

Here's the link:

<ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/communications/proterm/streetscenes.shk>


Frankly, I don't know whether it will help you or not, as I'm out of my
area of feigned expertise.





Hugh Hood

[skipperdoodle1947]

Wow, thanks Hugh. I will check it out. :)

[Hugh Hood]

Skip,

I've found another ProTERM Special Emulation screen editor. Here is its
description:

____________________________________________________________________
|| ||
|| Welcome to MouseTrap: PSEditor ||
|| (c) Shattered Image 1988 ||
|| Programmed By Maxia Fariina & Wise Guy ||
||____________________________________________________________________||



This is a static screen Proterm Special editor for making displays,
menus, BBS ads, etc. It also saves in 80 column format to be loaded and
displayed in Applesoft.



It appears that the copy on Asimov is corrupted, so I've emailed you a
disk image containing the program.

Let us know if it's any good.




Hugh Hood

[I am Rob]

Hey Hugh,

I would be interested in this disk image as well. I'd like to see how Proterm saves the screen with mousetext to be displayed for later.

[skipperdoodle1947]

Thanks Hugh, I appreciate it. I did try the MouseTrap file from Asimov and found it was bad. I have Street Scene installed OK on my Apple IIe now, and have begun deciphering it's commands (no documentation). It seems to run fine (after edited the default folder file).

I will check out your MoustTrap file today.
Skip

[I am Rob]

If Street Scenes and Mousetrap are just screen creators with mouse text, you can also check out KeyWin on Asimov. It is a pretty good mouse text screen creator.

[skipperdoodle1947]

I don't know about Mousetrap (yet), but the title screen of Street Scenes implies you can create animation (i.e. send the author $20 and he will send documentation as well as instructions for creating animations)

As for Mousetrap, I installed and looked at it briefly, and I have to say I am VERY pleased with what I see so far. First the installation was simply a matter of copying the files to my Apple (no editing a default path file), and the U.I. is professional looking with nicely organized in-program documentation. It even has a reference screen showing Mousetext.

I will also see if I can find the KeyWin file you mentioned.

[Bobbi]

Is it too late to send the $20 I wonder ...

[Anthony Ortiz]

On Monday, September 25, 2017 at 3:01:53 PM UTC-4, Bobbi wrote:
> Is it too late to send the $20 I wonder ...

Don't wonder, do it, and let us know what happens... it will probably comes as a pretty cool surprise to the author!

[skipperdoodle1947]

Hah hah.. :) The welcome screen also displayed 6 BBS telephone numbers and encouraged the reader to call them. I suspect the current users of those numbers would be surprised if a modem dialed them.

[Hugh Hood]

On 9/25/2017 8:34 AM, I am Rob wrote:
>
> Hey Hugh,
>
> I would be interested in this disk image as well. I'd like to see
> how Proterm saves the screen with mousetext to be displayed for
> later.
>

Rob,

I sent you an email containing the .po disk image containing Mouse Trap.

Maybe I should upload it to Asimov so that they can replace the
corrupted one.





Hugh Hood

[Du Hast]

Street Scenes is slow because it makes every character a "position" coding. That means three characters for 1 character. Mousetrap is only for static screens. Neither of these programs do any sort of optimizations(i.e. ctrl-R). Find the PSE.BY.CORNMAN disk, and read through that. The "leet" boards all had PTSE done by hand. I did all mine using the Proterm editor(2.2).

[I am Rob]

Much Obliged!

[Hugh Hood]

On 9/25/2017 10:06 AM, skipperdoodle1947 wrote:

>
> I don't know about Mousetrap (yet), but the title screen of Street
> Scenes implies you can create animation (i.e. send the author $20 and
> he will send documentation as well as instructions for creating
> animations)
>

Skip,

I found another image of Street Scenes on Finnigan's MacGUI site, and it
appears to have at least _some_ docs on it.

<http://www.macgui.com/downloads/?file_id=7885>





Hugh Hood

[I am Rob]

For me, Street scenes crashes on the 4th intro screen saying "file not found".

[I am Rob]

On Monday, September 25, 2017 at 8:49:29 PM UTC-6, Hugh Hood wrote:

The first Street Scenes crashes that is a .shk file, but this one works

[Hugh Hood]

Skip,

As Du mentioned, here is a link to PSE.BY.CORNMAN:

<https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/apple.cabi.net/Applications/Telcom/PSE.BY.CORNMAN.SHK>

Likewise, PSEConvert (S16 program - requires a IIGS & GS/OS)

<https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/apple.cabi.net/Applications/Telcom/PSECONVERT.SHK>

======================================================================
PSEConvert is the ultimate utility for ProTERM Special Emulation (PSE)
files. The current version of PSEConvert will do the following:

o View any PSE file with complete compatibility of all 23 PSE commands,
including PSE "music".

o Optimize ANY PSE file so that it can be viewed faster when on line and
take less space. Now you can make a 6k file with Street Scenes and
optimize it to less the 4k maximum size of GBBS messages.

o Convert ANY PSE file to an unoptimized ProTERM "editable" format.

o Avoid all known bugs in PSE drivers to "fix" a PSE file so that it may
be posted and viewed correctly. This is done automatically.

Note: If there are any conditions that are present in your file that
PSEConvert cannot fix, it will immediately notify you of them, and
tell you what they mean and how they will affect your file.

o Convert ANY PSE file to Mousetrap (screen) format.

Note: If you attempt to convert an animated (Street Scenes-type) PSE
file, PSEConvert will simply "run" the animation and then dump what last
appears on screen into the target file. Ie., all animation will be lost.

o Convert most PSE files to Street Scenes format.

Note: Street Scenes does not support all PSE commands so not all files
will work with Street Scenes.


If you create ANY PSE files you should run them through PSEConvert
before posting or using them. The optimize option in PSEConvert will
ensure the message avoids all known bugs in ProTERM and GBBS and will
make the message as small and fast as passable. Whether you designed you
PSE with Street Scenes, MouseTrap, PSEffects or hand-wrote the message
PSEConvert will help.

======================================================================

Have fun. ProTerm Special Emulation actually sounds pretty neat.





Hugh Hood

[Todd Holcomb]

On Sunday, September 24, 2017 at 11:38:44 PM UTC-5, Hugh Hood wrote:
> Skip,
>
> I've found another ProTERM Special Emulation screen editor. Here is its
> description:
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
> || ||
> || Welcome to MouseTrap: PSEditor ||
> || (c) Shattered Image 1988 ||
> || Programmed By Maxia Fariina & Wise Guy ||
> ||____________________________________________________________________||
>
>
>
> This is a static screen Proterm Special editor for making displays,
> menus, BBS ads, etc. It also saves in 80 column format to be loaded and
> displayed in Applesoft.
>
>
>
> It appears that the copy on Asimov is corrupted, so I've emailed you a
> disk image containing the program.
>
> Let us know if it's any good.
>
>
>
>
> Hugh Hood

Hi Hugh,

I'm interested in a good copy of MouseTrap as well. I'd love to play around with PSE for my BBS.

Thanks,

Todd

[skipperdoodle1947]

=========================================================
Have fun. ProTerm Special Emulation actually sounds pretty neat.

=========================================================
Thanks Hugh! I downloaded all those files and will have a look. The biggest feature of ProTERM for me, is the cursor positioning control (Control-R). There are 11 games on my board that require either this or ANSI just for that reason.

Skip

[Hugh Hood]

On 9/25/2017 11:49 PM, Todd Holcomb wrote:
>
> Hi Hugh,
>
> I'm interested in a good copy of MouseTrap as well. I'd love to play around with PSE for my BBS.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd
>

Todd,

Check your email.

And, I'll see if I can get this uploaded to Asimov tonight.




Hugh Hood

[Du Hast]

Since I was the one that uploaded MouseTrap to Asimov, I just double checked. Downloaded the .shk from the Communications/Proterm directory, converted it to a disk image with Ciderpress and then booted it in Applewin without a hitch. Maybe double check something?

[Hugh Hood]

On 9/26/2017 8:37 PM, Du Hast wrote:
>
> Since I was the one that uploaded MouseTrap to Asimov, I just double checked. Downloaded the .shk from the Communications/Proterm directory, converted it to a disk image with Ciderpress and then booted it in Applewin without a hitch. Maybe double check something?
>

Du,

When I try to open the file 'mousetrap.shk' in CiderPress (Version 4.0.1
running in Windows 10 Home, Version 1703), CiderPress gives me
'Unspecified error', whether opening it directly from the browser, or
after saving and then opening.

I'll try downloading it on my Mac and using Kelvin's ShrinkFitX and
reporting back.





Hugh Hood

[Hugh Hood]

Du,

OK. ShrinkFitX on the Mac handled mousetrap.shk without a problem. So
did ShrinkItGS in the Sweet16 emulator.

Any guesses as to why my install of CiderPress is having issues with
this one file?




Hugh Hood

[Hugh Hood]

OK,

Upgrading to CiderPress 4.0.2 (released September 22, 2017) addresses
the problem I experienced, which apparently is an 'invalid date' on the
file 'MAIN.MENU' contained in the 'mousetrap.shk' archive file.

BTW, I would recommend the mousetrap.shk file on Asimov (that Du
uploaded) over the disk image that I prepared and emailed, simply
because it contains extra 'bonus' files that my disk image does not.

It is located here:

<ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/communications/proterm/mousetrap.shk>


Ideally, this file would be modified to work with all versions of
CiderPress, but if it is not, just upgrade your CiderPress to 4.0.2., or
use ShrinkFitX on a Mac or ShrinkItGS in an emulator.




Hugh Hood

[skipperdoodle1947]

Good investigation Hugh, I had the same problem that you reported. I will upgrade to CiderPress 4.0.2 and try it again.

Skip

[Du Hast]

This bug was found by someone else, on the same archive, but I forgot about. He supposedly put a pull on Git. The .shk was made on a real Apple using Shrinkit 3.4 and transferred over. I'm using the earlier version of Ciderpress and it doesn't have that bug, hence I never noticed it.

[Mark D. Overholser]

On 24-Sep-17 08:21, skipperdoodle1947 wrote:
> I am attempting to expand support for ProTERM 'graphics' on my BBS
> using Mousetext along with cursor positioning codes. Does anybody
> know of any utilities intended to help with this- that is, creating
> ProTERM "images" and such like?
>
> Hand-tooling ProTERM 'graphics' using Applewriter is a pretty labor
> intensive affair. :)
>
> Thanks. Skip dura-bbs.net:6359
>

SkipperDoodle;

Thanks for supporting ProTERM emulation..

I was on your board last night... User #26.
I was using an Apple ][gs, ROM 01 with a GGLABS 8MB RAM card, the
Uthernet II and the CFFA3000 with a 32MB Disk Image with Ewan Wannop's
Spectrum 2.5.4 and found the ProTERM Emulation to be quite functional...


MarkO

[skipperdoodle1947]

Thanks MarkO! :) Always great to hear.

[Scott Johnson]

On Tuesday, September 26, 2017 at 7:41:34 AM UTC-5, skipa...@gmail.com wrote:
> Thanks Hugh! I downloaded all those files and will have a look. The biggest feature of ProTERM for me, is the cursor positioning control (Control-R). There are 11 games on my board that require either this or ANSI just for that reason.
>
> Skip

Cursor positioning is (control-^). The (control-R) is to repeat a character X times. :)