WordTsar, a WordStar Clone • Hacker News Board

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#11

Post by rhabarba » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:23 PM UTC

wila wrote: post #10

Earlier discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17549189

Missed that! Sorry.

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#12

Post by gaius_baltar » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:34 PM UTC

Seems nice and I will give it a try!

Now a question: there is some obvious reason for using AGPL for a desktop GUI application (not a web app, a server, etc.)? AGPL would be my license to go in the later cases, so it would protect the project from being SaaSSed, but I could not find an advantage for graphical desktop apps yet.

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#13

Post by adamw2k » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:45 PM UTC

Brings me back to the days of using Word Perfect with a keyboard overlay...

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#14

Post by mongol » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:47 PM UTC

Are WordStar keyboard shortcuts resembling those commonly used today? Or are they their own heritage?

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#15

Post by rhabarba » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:50 PM UTC

mongol wrote: post #14

Are WordStar keyboard shortcuts resembling those commonly used today? Or are they their own heritage?

They predate those commonly used today.

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#16

Post by rhabarba » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:50 PM UTC

gaius_baltar wrote: post #12

Seems nice and I will give it a try! Now a question: there is some obvious reason for using AGPL for a desktop GUI application (not a web app, a server, etc.)? AGPL would be my license to go in the later cases, so it would protect the project from being SaaSSed, but I could not find an advantage for graphical desktop apps yet.

I would guess that it’s because of the Qt libraries, but this is just an assumption.

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#17

Post by detaro » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:53 PM UTC

rhabarba wrote: post #11

wila wrote: post #10

Earlier discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17549189

Missed that! Sorry.

Older than a year, so not a problem

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#18

Post by dragonwriter » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:53 PM UTC

gaius_baltar wrote: post #12

Seems nice and I will give it a try! Now a question: there is some obvious reason for using AGPL for a desktop GUI application (not a web app, a server, etc.)? AGPL would be my license to go in the later cases, so it would protect the project from being SaaSSed, but I could not find an advantage for graphical desktop apps yet.

Desktop GUI apps can be SaaSed by tying them to a virtual desktop.

Or it could be using AGPL components.

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#19

Post by eddieh » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:56 PM UTC

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #9

Robert j. Sawyer is also a prominent wordstar diehard who ought to be interested in this project :) he wrote an interesting rationale for his use of wordstar. https://www.sfwriter.com/wordstar.htm I wonder if learning proper use of vim motions would cover most of these use cases today :)

Many authors use WordStar. Here is George R. R. Martin taking about WordStar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5REM-3nWHg

I think, and I believe it has been suggested to Robert J. Sawyer, that Emacs keys are very similar to WordStar in the use of cords (or prefixed keystrokes). WordStar has ^Q as a prefix whereas Emacs has ^x, ^c, and ^h, etc.

[edit] Add bit about Emacs

Re: WordTsar, a WordStar Clone

#20

Post by zabzonk » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:03 PM UTC

WordStar was a really good programming editor, if you put into text mode. I wrote a lot of C and assembler code using it back in the 1980s.

And it was a good word processor - much easier to get to grips with than WordPerfect, IMHO.