Date   : Tue, 08 Jan 1991 13:59:40 GMT
From   : mcsun!ukc!axion!linus!jfoster@uunet.uu.net (John Foster)
Subject: Need WordStar utility

From article <972@catnip.berkeley.ca.us>, by bandy@catnip.berkeley.ca.us
(Gun Control is Hitting Your Target):
> wilker@gauss.math.purdue.edu (Clarence Wilkerson) writes:
> 
> 
>> Aha! Some versions of WordStar supported direct write to screen
>>memory on the (few) machines that had screen memory as part of
>>system RAM. I suspect that setting the high bit is the way the
>>Osborne knew to highlight the current character.
> 
> Yes and no.  
> 
> No, WordStar for the Osborne 1 did not come configured for memory mapped
> video - I don't know why - it's orders of magnitude faster than going through
> a jillion layers of software.
> 
> Yes, you could set the underline attribute by or'ing with 0x80.
> -- 
> real address: bandy@catnip.berkeley.ca.us
> last choice:  lll-winken!catnip.berkeley.ca.us!bandy

Actually, WordStar on the Osborne 1 didn't come configured for any
of the features of the machine; it was just shipped as plain vanilla,
as far as I could ever tell. For example, the arrow keys on the machine
were set up to deliver CP/M codes, and you had to do a messy setup
operation to switch back and forth between those and the codes that
WordStar expected.

I found it much easier to use after I dug into the customisation
info, and set the screen help delays etc to what I thought were
sensible values. I also found and published a patch for the arrow keys
problem, but that's a longer story ...


| John Foster, DNR3.14, Room G44C, SSTF, British Telecom Research Labs, |
|                           Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, IP5 7RE, UK.    |
| Phone:  +44 473 646019      Fax:  +44 473 643019      Telex: 987137  |