RomWBW - VT100

[B T]

Hello all,

I am running into an issue with VT100 compatibility and I am not sure what I am doing wrong.  I have used and adapted CP/M in the past but I must be missing something.

• I have my SC691 up and running, with SD card and module working great.
• I am using the provided serial to USB adapter.
• I have tried various Terminal emulators on both PC and Pi5. (TeraTerm, Tabby, Minicom, etc
• The included "2048" game on the RomWBW seems to work perfectly on all the above terminals
• But I can not get any of the CP/M games from the CP/M disk image to work correctly
• I did try the included TERMDEF program for nemesis, and ran through all the terminals.  None display correctly when tested
• I tried all this from the RomWBW CP/M version as well as the included disk image CP/M
• With my past CP/M machines, each program had to be directly patched.  And I have a collection for vt-100.
• I see the RomWBW documentation listing built in vt100 support.  

Surely I am just missing something simple here.  If there is a topic already feel free to point me there.  I did do a search but didn't find a solution.  

Thanks for any help.

[Wayne Warthen]

Hi,

Hmmm... let's narrow this down a bit.  You say that none of the games are working.  Can you confirm that the straight text games such as col-cave, zork1, zork2, and zork3 are not working?  Those do not require any specific terminal set up.  If those are not working, there is a bigger problem than terminal emulation.  I have confirmed that these 4 games are working for me.

Thanks, Wayne

[B T]

Confirmed, anything purely text based works fine on the cp/m images.  It's only programs on the disk image that need control sequences for display that are not working, i.e. display garbage text.

But the version of 2048 on the ROM plays perfect.

I don't know if this helps, but using the disk images on SIMH in the RomWBW distribution are working the same way.  2048 plays fine.  All Text is fine.  Anything I try needing VT100/Ansi codes displays garbage.

Test programs include the TEST function under TERMDEF using 9) VT52 and VT100, pacman95, etc.

-BT

[Doug Jackson]

I wonder if this is because games will have whatever escape characters baked into them when the game was written - be they Hazletine, ADM3a, VT100 etc. 

CP/M never had the concept of a TERMINFO line that was obeyed by whatever software you were running.

Even Wordstar and Turbo Pascal had to have 'installation' programs run to select terminal types.once installed, you couldn't really modify the terminal settings easily.  Those types of capabilities took a significant number of years to appear in other operating systems.

Currently, I am fighting the terminal settings in TurboDos to the point where I can't configure TD to use a hard disk, as the software insists that I am running on a terminal that isn't VT100.

Kindest regards,

Doug Jackson

em: do...@doughq.com

ph: 0414 986878

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[B T]

Doug I think you are correct on all accounts.  The issue for me is the hardware I assembled (SC691) and the included ROM support (RomWBW) and the included CP/M images I think are all supposed to be compatible with Terminals set at VT-100.  The included TERM patching program for the Nemesis game even has a menu that lets you test out various terminal configurations.  None of them display correctly.  The really weird part is the one game included on the RomWBW (2048) displays on my terminals perfectly.  And I am pretty sure that game is using control characters set at ANSI/VT-100.  Pretty sure I am just missing something simple here.

-BT

[Wayne Warthen]

I am out of town, so I cannot confirm my suspicions, but here is what I think.

As you noticed, a TERM.DEF file is needed and there isn't one supplied on the games disk.  You need to create it using the TERMDEF program (as you suggested).  However, I don't see a built-in option that will work.  Option 9 seems to be for a VT-52 or a VT-100 operating in VT-52 mode.  However, many VT-100 emulators do not handle VT-52 even though a real VT-100 did.

I think you need to use the TERMDEF program to manually define a true VT-100 TERM.DEF with real VT-100/ANSI escape sequences.  Such a TERM.DEF file should really be included on the games disk.  I will look into that when I get home.

Thanks, Wayne

[B T]

I made some good progress today.  Thanks Wayne.

It looks like you are correct and as I suspected the most obvious answer was the correct one.  

I made a false assumption the Escape codes were 100% correct for my setup/terminal and they were not.

I found a CP/M stash of the programs already patched for true VT-100 and they are working perfectly so far.

So far tried rogue17 and another version of 2048.  They work.

When I get some time it shouldn't be difficult to create the correct TERM.DEF for Nemesis either.

Thanks again for your help.

-BT

[Wayne Warthen]

I spent a little while assessing the contents of the games disk today.  The text games seem to work fine.  However, the full screen text games are a mess.

In the case of Nemesis, there are a bunch of files missing.  I created a TERM.DEF for VT-100 and it seems to work.  However, trying to play the game results in it looking for files that are missing.  It is not going to work at all in its present state.

PACMAN95 expects to be run on a Televideo 950 terminal.  If you have the ability to emulate one, it might work OK.

STARWARS.BAS might be for a Heath terminal.

TVIGAMMO.BAS is for a Televideo 912.

The games disk was submitted by Rob Prouse.  This is the first time I have really looked at.  At the moment, I am inclined to just remove the full screen games from it.  If I can contact Rob, I will see if I am missing something.

Thanks,  Wayne

[B T]

If there is anything that you can use from my efforts, just let me know.  My Goal is to compile a game image for games that work on the z80 SC691 using a vt-100 emulator.

I found plenty of pre-patched versions of said games that are working perfectly for me.  Among them are Ladder, catchum, nemesis, rogue, and orbquest.  I used cpmtools on windows to copy them to the image.  Then I tried on Simh, as well as, on a written SD card on my SC691.  I also plan to make separate image with MBASIC BASIC games. Haven't started that yet.  For the text adventures, I will either create a separate image, or directory on the main CP/M image.

Thanks,

-BT

[Wayne Warthen]

I would definitely like to use your work to straighten out the games disk.  Games like Nemesis have quite a few files, so it probably out to be in a user area by itself.  I don't know about Ladder, Catchum, Rogue, and Orbquest.

Thanks, Wayne

[Anna Christina]

Hi all,

Maybe have a look at my VT100/ANSI games collection:

https://git.imzadi.de/acn/vt100-games/

Ladder, Catchum and Rogue can be found there (I don't have Nemesis and Orbquest added yet).

I also created a HDimage that contains the games.

The games use VT100 and ANSI color codes.

Regards,

Anna

[B T]

Thanks Anna, I do believe your site is where it did get most of the games that are working for me.  Thanks for your efforts!

If you need Nemesis and/or OrbQuest, just let me know the best way to get you the files.

I don't post much so I am not sure the best way.

Both were patched and are working on my setup with VT-100 emulation.

I have the documentation too.

-BT