CBM Funet Archive/cbm-funet-archive-2003.iso/cpm/texts/wordstar.iqf/WORDSTAR.INF

Text File | 1994-08-05 | 10KB | 178 lines

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tHIS ARTICLE IS BEING PRESENTED THROUGH THE *sTARbOARD* jOURNAL OF

THE fLAGsHIP/sTARsHIP sigS (sPECIAL iNTEREST gROUPS) ON THE dELPHI

AND geNIE TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS.  pERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED

TO NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS ONLY TO REPRINT THIS ARTICLE OR PASS IT

ALONG ELECTRONICALLY AS LONG AS PROPER CREDIT IS GIVEN TO BOTH THE

AUTHOR AND THE *sTARbOARD* jOURNAL.

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                      color your wor(l)dstar!!



                        pATCHING iNFORMATION

                         fOR wordstar 3.30

                        oN THE cOMMODORE 128



                        BY kevin-s. ON geNIE



     tHIS ARTICLE PROVIDES INFORMATION ON PATCHING PROCEDURES AND

LOCATIONS WHICH MAY BE USEFUL IN CUSTOMIZING YOUR cOMMODORE

INSTALLATION OF wORDSTAR.  iT ASSUMES YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE BASIC

TECHNIQUES INVOLVED IN COPYING YOUR MASTER DISK AND RUNNING THE

winstall PROGRAM.  iF YOU ARE USING VERSION 2.2X OF wORDSTAR, YOUR

INSTALLATION AND PATCHING COMMANDS MAY BE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT.  tHE

ADDRESS LABELS WILL BE THE SAME EXCEPT WHERE NOTED, HOWEVER, AND THE

GENERAL PROCEDURE IS THE SAME.  pLEASE SEE YOUR MANUAL FOR MORE

INFORMATION.  iF YOU NEED MORE BASIC INFORMATION IN TERMINAL SETUP,

ETC., THERE ARE MANY TEXTS WITHIN THE cp/m SECTION OF MOST PUBLIC

DATABASES (INCLUDING geNIE) WITH MORE EXTENSIVE INSTRUCTIONS ON

wORDSTAR PATCHING.



     iT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU OBTAIN COPIES OF THE c1571.com

AND conf.com PROGRAMS.  tHESE PUBLIC DOMAIN PROGRAMS WERE WRITTEN BY

vON eRTWINE, AND ARE VERY HANDY FOR c-128 cp/m USE IN GENERAL.

c1571.com SPEEDS UP DISK WRITING OPERATIONS BY A FACTOR OF TWO.

conf.com ALLOWS THE ALTERATION OF MANY CONSOLE PARAMETERS, SUCH AS

COLORS, CURSOR SHAPE AND FLASH RATE, KEYBOARD REPEAT AND FEEL, AND

MORE.  i USE BOTH THESE COMMANDS IN A profile.sub FILE TO INITIALIZE MY

TERMINAL SETUP WHENEVER i BOOT cp/m.  i WILL REFER TO SOME OF THE conf

PARAMETERS IN THE SECTION ON SYSTEM SPEEDUP.



     tHERE ARE THREE BASIC MODIFICATIONS i WANT TO DISCUSS: SETTING UP

YOUR BASIC wORDSTAR COLORS, CHANGING YOUR HIGHLIGHTING EFFECT, AND

SPEEDING UP YOUR wORDSTAR SYSTEM.  tHESE ARE MORE OR LESS INDEPENDENT

OF EACH OTHER.  pLEASE FEEL FREE TO EXPERIMENT WITH A backup COPY OF

YOUR wORDSTAR; MUCH INFORMATION CAN BE GLEANED BY POKING AROUND IN THIS

PROGRAM.



     tO MAKE ANY OF THE ALTERATIONS DISCUSSED IN THIS DOCUMENT, YOU

FIRST MUST HAVE ENTERED THE PATCHING AREA OF YOUR wORDSTAR INSTALLATION

PROGRAM, winstall.  tO DO THIS, SIMPLY ENTER A '+' SIGN AT THE MAIN

MENU PROMPT, WHERE YOU ARE GIVEN THE CHOICE OF INSTALLING TERMINALS,

PRINTERS, SPECIAL FEATURES, OR EXITING winstall.  tHE '+' SIGN WILL NOT

BE ON THE MENU.  (2.XX USERS ANSWER 'n' TO THE QUESTION "aRE THE

MODIFICATIONS TO wORDSTAR NOW COMPLETE?")



                     gOOD LUCK, AND HAVE FUN!

                               kEs



****system setup



     tHE wORDSTAR PATCH ADDRESSES OF INTEREST HERE ARE :trmini AND

:trmuni.  eACH GIVES YOU SPACE FOR 8 CHARACTERS OF DATA THAT CAN BE SENT

TO YOUR TERMINAL BEFORE (:trmini) OR AFTER (:trmuni) ENTERING OR

LEAVING wORDSTAR.  i USE :trmini TO CHANGE MY SCREEN COLORS WHEN

STARTING A wORDSTAR SESSION.  wITH REFERENCE TO PAGE 223 OF THE

cOMMODORE 128 sYSTEM gUIDE, SCREEN COLORS CAN BE CHANGED BY SENDING esc

esc esc XX, WHERE XX IS A HEX NUMBER BETWEEN 20H AND 2fH FOR CHARACTER

COLOR, AND 30 AND 3fH FOR BACKGROUND COLOR.  gRUESOME, RIGHT?  wELL, IT

IS NOT REALLY THAT BAD.  lET'S WALK THROUGH THIS ONE STEP BY STEP.  sAY

WE WANT TO CHANGE OUR SCREEN COLORS TO LIGHT BLUE ON BLACK WHEN

ENTERING wORDSTAR.  aFTER ENTERING THE PATCHING AREA OF winstall AS

DIRECTED ABOVE, YOU WILL BE PROMPTED TO ENTER THE LOCATION YOU WISH TO

MODIFY.  tHERE WILL BE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE SYNTAX, BUT USING winstall

ON wORDSTAR 3.30, YOU SIMPLY TYPE :trmini (cr).  tHE PROGRAM WILL LIST

A STRING OF TWO DIGIT CODES AND ASK "iS THIS THE ADDRESS YOU REQUIRE?".

rESIST THE TEMPTATION TO TYPE "hOW THE HELL DO i KNOW?", AND ENTER "y".

yOU WILL THEN SEE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HOW TO ENTER CODE VALUES, AND

THEN YOU WILL SEE THE PRESENT VALUE OF THE CODE IN THE FIRST LOCATION OF

:trmini.  wHENEVER YOU ENTER A PATCH OF MORE THAN ONE LOCATION IN

LENGTH, THE VALUE IN THE FIRST LOCATION MUST CONSIST OF THE TOTAL

NUMBER OF CODE VALUES YOU WILL BE CHANGING.  iN THIS CASE, WE ARE GOING

TO BE ENTERING EIGHT VALUES, THREE ESCAPE CODES PLUS A NUMBER FOR EACH

COLOR.  tHEREFORE YOU ENTER A ,8 INTO THE FIRST LOCATION.  nOTE THAT

THE , INDICATES THE USE OF A HEX VALUE, AND THAT WE DO NOT COUNT THE

"COUNTER" AS A CODE LOCATION.  eVEN THOUGH WE ARE ACTUALLY MODIFYING

NINE LOCATIONS, THE "COUNTER" SHOULD BE SET AT EIGHT.  nOW, HOW TO ENTER

THE esc CODES?  esc SIMPLY MEANS ascii VALUE 27, WHICH IS 1b IN HEX.

eNTER EITHER #27 OR ,1b IN THE NEXT THREE LOCATIONS.  nOW FOR THE COLOR

CODE.  fIRST THE CHARACTER COLOR.  cOLOR CODES ARE LISTED ON PAGE 98 OF

THE sYSTEM gUIDE, RUNNING FROM 1 TO 16.  sINCE WE WANT A NUMBER FROM 32

(20H) TO 45 (2rH), ADD 31 TO THE DESIRED COLOR FROM PAGE 98.  fOR LIGHT

BLUE THIS WILL BE 15+31=46 (2eH).  eNTER #46 OR ,2e IN THE NEXT

LOCATION.  nOW PUT IN THREE MORE esc CODES, AND WE ARE READY TO COMPUTE

THE VALUE FOR A BLACK BACKGROUND.  bACKGROUND VALUES RUN FROM 48 (30H)

TO 63 (3fH), THUS A BLACK BACKGROUND WILL BE 1+47=48 (30H).  eNTER THIS

IN THE LAST LOCATION.  nOW TYPE A PERIOD IN THE NEXT LOCATION TO EXIT

FROM THIS ADDRESS.  hIT A CARRIAGE RETURN TO REMAIN IN PATCHING MODE; WE

AREN'T DONE YET!



     nOW YOU SHOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH THE BASIC TECHNIQUES OF PATCHING A

LOCATION, SO WE CAN MOVE ALONG A BIT FASTER WITH THE OTHER CHANGES.



****  system speedup



     aS WE ALL KNOW, THE c-128 IMPLEMENTATION OF cp/m IS QUITE SLOW

WHEN COMPARED TO THE STANDARD 4-MHZ kAYPRO AND oSBORNE SYSTEMS.  tHIS

CAN BE OFFSET TO A DEGREE BY MODIFYING CERTAIN TIMING ADDRESSES WITHIN

wORDSTAR.  fIRST, HOWEVER, YOU SHOULD BE SURE TO ISSUE THE conf.com

COMMAND "40COL=OFF".  tHIS WILL INCREASE YOUR EFFECTIVE CLOCK SPEED BY

ABOUT 15-20%.  aLSO, THE BAUD RATE SET WILL PRESENT A TRADEOFF BETWEEN

SCREEN UPDATE SPEED AND KEYBOARD SCANNING RATE.  tHIS CAN BE A SIZEABLE

DIFFERENCE; ON A TEST FILE STARTUP TIME RANGED FROM 14.5 SECONDS TO 34

SECONDS DEPENDING ON WHETHER i SET THE BAUD RATE AT 300 OR 1200.  i

GENERALLY FIND THE DEFAULT SETTINGS TO BE A GOOD COMPROMISE, BUT IF YOU

FIND YOURSELF DROPPING CHARACTERS AS YOU TYPE, LOWER THE 'FEEL'

PARAMETER OR RAISE THE BAUD RATE, OR BOTH.  cONVERSELY, IF YOU HAVE

BEEN USING A MODEM AT 1200 BAUD, w* EDITING WILL BE VERY SLOW UNLESS

YOU LOWER THE BAUD RATE.



     tHE TIMING ADDRESSES WHICH CONCERN US ARE :delcus, :delmis, :del3,

:del4, AND :del5.  (note TO wORDSTAR 2.XX USERS: yOU MAY NOT HAVE

:del5.  sORRY 'BOUT THAT!)  :delcus AND :delmis CONTROL THE DELAY

FOLLOWING CURSOR POSITIONING AND OTHER SUCH THINGS, WHILE THE delX

VALUES CONTROL PAUSES BEFORE BRINGING UP MENUS AND SUCH THINGS.  aLL OF

THESE CAN PROFITABLY BE PATCHED DOWN TO 0, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF :del3.

tHIS DELAY CONTROLS HOW LONG AFTER ENTERING A CONTROL COMMAND wORDSTAR

WILL WAIT BEFORE BRINGING UP THE HELP MENU FOR THAT COMMAND.  iF YOU

PATCH IT TO ZERO, YOU WILL FORCE THE MENUS TO BE REDRAWN EVERY TIME YOU

EXECUTE A TWO-CHARACTER COMMAND, TAKING QUITE A BIT OF TIME.  i FIND 6

TO BE A GOOD CHOICE.  tHESE CHANGES WILL SPEED UP YOUR wORDSTAR lots,

MAYBE AS MUCH AS 40% ON TOP OF THE GAIN FROM TURNING OFF THE 40-COLUMN

SCREEN!  oF COURSE, THESE GAINS DON'T AFFECT YOUR DISK i/o, SO MAKE

SURE YOU RUN c1571.com AS WELL.



****  color highlighting



     i'M SORT OF PROUD OF THIS ONE: i GOT THE IDEA AFTER USING A basic

UTILITY WHICH SETS wORDSTAR COLORS ON THE ms-dos VERSION OF wORDSTAR.

oRIGINALLY, wORDSTAR WAS USED ON GOOD OLD cp/m SYSTEMS WHICH WERE

FORTUNATE TO HAVE ANY PROVISION FOR DISTINGUISHING TEXT TYPES, MUCH

LESS OFFERING LIVING COLOR!  sTILL, THE PATCH LOCATIONS FOR THE

HIGHLIGHTING SEQUENCE ARE LISTED, SO WE MAY FEEL FREE TO GO IN AND

MAKE WHATEVER CHANGES WE THINK MIGHT WORK.  :ivon AND :ivoff ARE THE

LOCATIONS WE WANT.  tHESE ARE "STRING" LOCATIONS JUST AS THE :trmini

ADDRESS WAS, MEANING THAT THE FIRST LOCATION WILL CONTAIN THE LENGTH OF

THE COMMAND SEQUENCE.  wHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO IS TO PUT A 4 IN THE

FIRST VALUE OF :ivon, THEN esc esc esc XX, WHERE XX IS IN THE RANGE 32-

47 (20H-2fH).  nOTE THAT THIS IS THE EXACT SAME PROCEDURE AS WE USED TO

SET THE CHARACTER COLOR IN :trmini.  pICK A COLOR THAT CONTRASTS WELL

WITH YOUR BACKGROUND AND TEXT COLORS:  i AM CURRENTLY USING LIGHT

YELLOW AS MY HIGHLIGHTING COLOR.  tHE MENUS WILL ALSO BE IN THIS COLOR,

SO YOU SHOULD NOT PICK ONE SO BRIGHT AS TO BE DISTRACTING.  aT THE SAME

TIME, YOU MUST PATCH THE SAME STRING INTO :ivoff, making sure TO USE

THE SAME COLOR CODE YOU USED IN :trmini! tHIS WILL RETURN YOU TO YOUR

NORMAL TEXT COLOR WHEN HIGHLIGHTING IS SWITCHED OFF.  iF YOU USE A

DIFFERENT COLOR CODE IN :ivoff THAN IN :trmini, YOU WILL GET SOME VERY

STRANGE EFFECTS!  wHENEVER YOU CHANGE ONE OF THESE PATCHES, YOU SHOULD

BE SURE TO CHANGE THE OTHER.  yOU COULD ALSO CHANGE TO SOME OTHER

HIGHLIGHTING TECHNIQUE INSTEAD OF COLOR CHANGING, SUCH AS INVERSE

VIDEO, UNDERLINING, OR BLINKING TEXT.  tHE ESCAPE SEQUENCES FOR THESE

ATTRIBUTES ARE LISTED IN THE sYSTEM gUIDE, PAGE 224, AND THEIR

IMPLEMENTATION IS ESSENTIALLY SIMILAR TO OUR COLOR HIGHLIGHTING.  eVEN

VARIOUS COMBINATIONS OF THESE ATTRIBUTES COULD BE USED, BUT THIS

PROCEDURE IS A BIT MORE COMPLEX, AS THE PATCHING AREA AT :ivon / :ivoff

IS LIMITED TO 6 CHARACTERS, AND YOU WOULD HAVE TO INSERT jmp

INSTRUCTIONS TO REFER wORDSTAR TO A MORE EXTENSIVE PATCHING AREA IF YOU

NEED MORE SPACE.  mAYBE NEXT MONTH!



     wORDSTAR IS PERHAPS NOT THE STATE OF THE ART IN WORD PROCESSORS,

BUT IT IS VERY VERSATILE, AND THE DIRECT ACCESS TO THE SOURCE CODE IS

UNPARALLELED AMONG cOMMODORE WORD PROCESSORS.  i HOPE YOU WILL TAKE

ADVANTAGE OF THESE TECHNIQUES, AND COME UP WITH OTHERS OF YOUR OWN TO

SHARE WITH ME!

                                      eNJOY!



                                        kEs