10/15/87 -- WORDSTAR 4.0 -- after working with it for a few weeks!
My first impressions were mixed -- the editor had more nice features; but,
the printer drivers didn't! WS4 refused to default to ".LQ OFF" and printer
redirection appeared to be a 128 byte patch area with scanty documentation.
I got a call from MicroPro a couple of days ago to inform me that WSCHANGE
had a "bug" in it and that the ".LQ" and ".BP" flags had switched places. A
little further checking showed me that WSCHANGE program and the PATCH.LST file
both agreed but WS4 was looking in the wrong place! (Or maybe WS4 knew what
it was looking for, but nobody else did) Anyhow; in the WS.COM file the ".LQ"
toggle really lives at 0812H and ".BP" at 0813H (switch those addresses in
your PATCH.LST file). And, when using WSCHANGE, ".BP" is really ".LQ" and
vice versa. I still haven't figured out why the auto page numbers at the
bottom of the page sometimes are it the opposite .LQ mode than the body of the
text!
My second problem was that I have an Olivetti PRAXIS serial input
typewriter that I use as my daisy wheel printer. I am using an MSC-ICO C/PM+
computer board, and with WS 3.3 I would exit WS and use DEVICE to redirect the
LST: output to a serial port and then go back into WS and print. WS4
suggested that printer output redirection could be done from within WS4. For
my C/PM+, at least, that means here's a 128 byte patch area -- go for it! So
I did. I spent an hour or so using SID to find the SCB byte in high memory
that redirected the LST: output and the values for the devices my system
supports.
Following is my assembly language solution:
;"ULPORT" SUBROUTINE COMPARES WS4 PRINTER DRIVER TO "PRAXIS,0" DRIVER NAME,
;IF A MATCH IS FOUND THEN LOAD "RS2" (08H) USING "OUTRS2" TO SCB AND RETURN,
;ELSE THEN LOAD "CEN" (40H) USING "OUTCEN" TO SCB AND RETURN,
;IF "PRAXIS" IS USED TO PRINT THEN USE "RETCEN" TO LOAD "CEN" TO
;REINITIALIZE SYSTEM "LST:" OUTPUT
;
;THIS OUTPUT REDIRECTION IS FOR USE ON AN MSC-ICO Z-80 COMPUTER BOARD
;FOR WHICH THE SECOND SERIAL PORT (RS2) HAS BEEN INITIALIZED TO 300 BAUD,
;8 BIT WORD, 2 BIT STOP AND NO PARITY FOR MY OLIVETTI PRAXIX P-41 TYPEWRITER
;BY REWRITING "CPM3.SYS" (CPM3.SYS HAS ALSO BEEN CHANGED TO DEFAULT TO
;1200 BAUD FOR THE FIRST SERIAL PORT -- SO THERE IS NO NEED TO RUN "DEVICE"
;IN "PROFILE.SUB" TO SET UP THE SYSTEM)
SCBLST EQU 0F5C7H ;SYSTEM CONTROL BLOCK LST: REDIRECTION VECTOR ADDRESS
;THIS JRDII'S CP/M+ --- SO DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH!!
CEN EQU 40H ;LST: VALUE FOR SCB CENTRONICS REDIRECTION
RS2 EQU 08H ;LST: VALUE FOR SCB 2ND SERIAL PORT REDIRECTION
ASEG ;ABSOLUTE TO GET THE ADDRESSES
ULPORT: ORG 063BH ;WS4 "PRNPAT" BEGINNING ULPORT:: CALLS THIS
PUSH AF
PUSH BC
PUSH DE
START: LD DE,DRIVER
NEXT: LD A,(DE)
CP (HL)
JR NZ,OUTCEN
CP 0
JR Z,OUTRS2
INC DE
INC HL
JR NEXT
OUTRS2: LD A,RS2
LD (SCBLST),A
POP DE
POP BC
POP AF
RET
RETCEN: PUSH AF ;ULUNPT:: CALLS THIS
PUSH BC
PUSH DE
OUTCEN: LD A,CEN
LD (SCBLST),A
POP DE
POP BC
POP AF
RET
DRIVER: DEFM 'PRAXIS',00
END
;--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ULPORT:: patch address should "CALL 06B3H" (PRNPAT::) and ULUNPT::
should "CALL" the address that RETCEN: assembles to on your system.
I have learned to routinely use many of the "new" features, although I
have not had a chance to use them all, and have usually been sucessful. Print
time formatting (.PF) looks like it could be a super tool. My wife writes a
lot of documets that will be printed single spaced, but she likes to proof
then on a double spaced draft print. Simple, just put ".PF" and ".LS 2" at
the top of the document before it is printed (comment out the ".LS 2" while
editing). This idea sort of works, the document prints double spaced; BUT,
WS4 will not recognize the ".LM x" commands she has put in the text to indent
paragraphs and phrases. WS4 blithly prints using the page setup defaults and
everything comes out printed flush left -- I don't know whether the problem is
mine or WORDSTAR's!
The new dictionary supplied with THE WORD PLUS is larger; however, its
vocabulary for "real writers" has diminished while its knowledge of words used
by "computer review writers" has been enhanced. No thanks, I'll stick to my
old KAYPRO version!
Except for the few problems that I have run into, I've been pretty happy
with WS4. Some of the features that are on the IBM-PC version (such as
selective page printing) would be nice, but probably make it even more of a
memory hog and slower yet. There are still some serious "bugs" to be worked
out yet, and I hope the solutions will be coming from MicroPro.
