Date   : Mon, 17 Dec 1984 09:52:00 EST
From   : haar%gmr.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: ideal CP/M environment

There was message on INFO-CPM last week from Chuck (last name?) 
suggesting and ideal CP/M environment. His selection did not agree
with my own preferences so I thought a counter-suggestion might be
useful. How about a general discussion of pros & cons of particular
choices?

1) I use CP/M Plus in preference over CP/M 2.2 or ZCPR. It is a big
   improvement in speed over 2.2 in a floppy-only environment and 
   should run like a bandit with a RAM disk. The RSX capability of
   CP/M Plus provides expansion possibilities that have not been 
   touched yet. The only advantage I see in ZCPR is the named 
   directories. TURBODOS is a good alternative in a multi-processor
   system.

2) For my money, the MAC/RMAC/LINK/SID(or ZSID) combination is hard to
   beat for assemby language development. I haven't used the SLR
   Systems package so I cannot comment about it. Anyone care to
   enlighten me?

3) PASCAL and Modula 2 - I don't use them so don't have a choice.

4) The BDS C compiler is one of the best around - close to UNIX C
   as well as being fast and cheap. It doesn't have FLOATs built
   in but an optional library package does provide this if you
   want it.

5) I use VEDIT for program editting and like it quite well. I haven't
   used MINCE but if it is a reasonable subset of EMACS, it should be
   a good choice also.

   For word processing editting, I use WORDSTAR. The only improvement
   I would ask for would be a capability for displaying italics,
   proportional spacing, etc. (if your display system can handle it)
   without generating a print version.

There were a couple of categories missing in the previous message:

6) a spelling checker - SPELLSTAR is a reasonable one to work with 
   WORDSTAR

7) Database ? anything better than DBASE II ?

8) spreadsheet? CALCSTAR is no great shakes but is adequate.

9) For modem control, terminal emulation, and file transfer, I use
   MEX. I have used MODEM7, MDMxxx, TERM II, and some others, but
   MEX is by far the best - very reliable and it has a powerful
   command language. The new version (MEX 2.0) should be even better.
   The only other contender might be KERMIT, but I haven't tried it
   on a micro.

10) MicroShell was a neat product for the CP/M 2.2 environment but
   its capabilties have been for the most part included in CPM Plus.
   Is anyone working on a window-based replacement for the CCP ? 
   
11) How about graphics utilities ? any suggestions ?  DRI appears
   to have dropped GSX-80 as a product.


One thing to notice in all this is the large amount of good software
available in the public domain. This is what makes me think that CP/M
is a fantastic environment.


       Bob Haar
       G.M. Research Labs

[opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of G.M., etc.]