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WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

sfwriter.com

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Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#81

Post by lproven »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #78

Robert J. Sawyer is pretty responsive to emails and seeing how it’s been 30 years since he wrote that, I wonder if his views and toolset have changed since then and he might be amenable to sharing more. 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 co…

> I wonder if his views and toolset have changed since then and he might be amenable to sharing more.

No. He uses WordStar 7 for DOS and made his own installable bundle of it and shared it.

https://www.sfwriter.com/ws7.htm

I incorporated it into my bootable DOS USB key:

https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos

He likes this and thanked me. :-)

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#83

Post by lproven »

epihelix wrote: post #28

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…

> I grew up using WordStar on the Apple ][.

I don't think you did. AFAIK it never ran directly on 6502.

Perhaps under CP/M using the Microsoft add-on card that DOS creator Tim Paterson designed for them?

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#85

Post by lproven »

nottorp wrote: post #51
nylonstrung wrote: post #23

In the same way as WordStar, there's a community of DOS WordPerfect 6.0 users who claim with some validity that it's still the best for writing prose

That would be 5.1. The 6.0 graphic mode just gets in the way.

> The 6.0 graphic mode just gets in the way.

You can just turn it off.

WP6.2 on DOS on a 21st century machine screams along. I run it occasionally under IBM PC DOS 7.1 (the FAT32-capable version) on bare metal and it's wonderfully rapid.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#86

Post by lproven »

UncleSlacky wrote: post #58
jszymborski wrote: post #4

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.

https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos "To get your work off the key, just insert the key into a computer that's already running any more modern OS than DOS."

Thanks for the plug! :-)

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#87

Post by lproven »

jszymborski wrote: post #67
UncleSlacky wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos "To get your work off the key, just insert the key into a computer that's already running any more modern OS than DOS."

This looks like a winner, thx!

I put that together. Any problems, do please let me know.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#88

Post by hulitu »

euroderf wrote: post #62
gramie wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Didn't MS Word have Reveal Codes ? At least for some years ? I doubt it is (or was ever) in Mac Pages.

> Didn't MS Word have Reveal Codes ?

It has some. Getting rid of page breaks in the new Office versions is ... interesting, to say the least.

Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

#89

Post by anthk »

whartung wrote: post #77
anthk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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:…

I essentially did this in college for my freshman comp english class. 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 bri…

Groff+Mom does a lot of hard stuff easy. Adding fonts, headers, chapters... and it's far smaller than Texlive.
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