71–80 of 94 posts
I bet you never used Wang WP or Wang WP Plus for DOS :) That is what I used back then, WP+ was good but I liked WP original better.
I never saw WordSstar but Slackware comes with joe, which I hear is close to WordStar.
WordStar was my first (WP) love and I found it on a CP/M computer which was being used to great effect for all sorts of office things. They later binned the computer for an IBM PC and I salvaged it. Worked great for a few more years and I really, really missed WS when it failed.
My dad brought home a circus of different PCs in those years. First a Sinclair ZX80 kit; a VIC 20; several Morrow Designs CP/M machines; Apple III, with a IIe emulator card; this interesting sequence terminated when he hit DOS/Windows and got stuck there.
He was a pack-rat too. I pulled a CP/M machine's terminal out of storage and used it with my first Linux PC in college. It turned out it worked with an "adm31a" (?) termcap entry...
I still like to start the first draft of anything substantial by moving to a single screen, opening FreeDOS, maximizing the window, and typing in Wordstar as if it were 1987. Hell, sometimes I'll even put on a nylon windbreaker. I always preferred WordStar to WordPerfect, largely because WordStar's keybindings were easy to learn and remember. WordPerfect, by contrast, seemed to require keyboard templates, a manual, a…
I learned to love WordPerfect. I still miss the ability to "Reveal Codes" and see exactly where it had placed the non-printing codes to turn on/off bold, italics, to change margins, etc. When MS Word screws your entire document's formatting by typing a single letter, or moves stuff around the page seemingly randomly, your only option is to undo or reload the document. You can read an insider's story of WordPerfect by…
Not a full replacement for WordPerfect, but Pure has "Reveal Codes" (F9): https://github.com/roblillack/pure
I've long considered getting a netbook, slapping freedos on it and running WordStar or WordPerfect as a writing deck. I'm not sure how I would get my files I create off the device since USB support isn't really a thing.
Something like the Pocket 386 but with a regular size keyboard could be the perfect device for this purpose.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the UK at least it crops up a lot in legal circles. Quite often solicitors have stuff on 3.5" or even 5.25" floppies that need read, converted from WordPerfect into something modern, and delivered as maybe a PDF or Word Doc. Fortunately, solicitors tend not to be short of money (that they bill their client for) so they can often find "a guy who knows a guy" who can get that precious floppy onto a USB stick. Occasi…
Out of curiosity, what kind of documents are those typically? Surely UK businesses don't need to keep financial records for 40+ years (or however long it's been since floppies were common)?
Ongoing contracts (e.g. life insurance policies may last 40+ years). I did work for an insurance company once, and they had active policies started prior to 1940. There were electronic documents which dated back 30+ years.
While completed transactions may only need records for a few years, ongoing assets and contracts need documentation held for much longer.
I've long considered getting a netbook, slapping freedos on it and running WordStar or WordPerfect as a writing deck. I'm not sure how I would get my files I create off the device since USB support isn't really a thing.
Hyperbola GNU/Linux and Wordgrinder or jstar (from the Joe package) and Markdown, or even Groff as the basic syntax can be easy enough. Then you run groff file.troff -step -k > file.pdf And you can now enjoy a formated book in the spot. If any, check Groff with Mom macros, with does what you need with ease: https://www.schaffter.ca/mom/ Online manual: https://www.schaffter.ca/mom/momdoc/toc.html For a quick command:…
It wasn't groff, or even Unix, or even a screen editor.
It was some RUNOFF clone running on NOS, using the XEDIT line editor.
But once you added the few commands you need (page size, margins, double space), it was just blank lines demarcate paragraphs and you're off to the races.
The advantage here is that one of the things that actual Wordstar brings to the table is formatting. Few of the other just "editors" offer that. (Notably, things like double space). I would not like to have to maintain double space text in a random text editor.
Since the text formatter dealt with word wrap and pages and everything else, I was just able to dump in raw text, not worry about formatting (at all), and just go. It's "OK" to have a line with just a single word on it, so using a line editor really isn't an issue. (Joining lines in XEDIT is kind of a pain in the neck.)
The teacher was kind enough to accept my papers from dot matrix printers on reversed green bar paper (cut to width, of course).
But, fundamentally, using simple groff is very capable for basic manuscripts without having to fall down a deep dark rabbit hole.
One of my favorite sci fi authors btw - perennial Hugo nominee in the 90s/2ks, his lone Hugo win is for the amazing Hominids but he has many other great books. I’ve bought/read all but 2 - something I should go and correct before his newest is published and I’m 3 behind!
I grew up using WordStar on the Apple ][. It was great when all you had was an 80 column card, a green phosphor screen and a keyboard, but I was never sad to leave it behind when GUIs were invented. I have nostalgia for the time, sure, but not for that interface and the multi-key-stroke commands you had to learn by rote. Each to their own, and of course finding an optimal writing environment is a very subjective thin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-80_SoftCard
https://www.wiseowl.com/articles/a2fpga-videx-01-the-card-th...
WordPerfect was great for doing lots of formatting it was so easy to make a signature for printing a booklet or zine.
I've been using Scrivener as my creating space. It is great at taking down words and organizing research. It just does RTF which is completely fine for my needs, but it is not a word processor or page layout program but that is not what it needs to do.
I'd rather use Word (ugh) or InDesign for layout. Separating the data from the display keeps things focused on what's important at the time.