Fine tuning WordStar and VT100 settings

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Mark Lawler

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Apr 6, 2021, 6:40:09 PM4/6/21
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I've been able to get WordStar to work for the most part, leveraging the DISK07.DSK disk image that is on the SD card, the instructions found at http://jefftranter.blogspot.com/2014/03/wordstar-30-on-briel-altair-8800.html, and setting my screen size to 80x24 (via Symbol HITE).  I still have an issue that perhaps one of you have already faced and resolved.

When I enter a ^N my screen responds by opening a new line (yay!) but then deposits the character sequence [1L on the screen.  On the flip side when I use ^Y to delete the current line, the line is deleted, but then the character sequence [1M is deposited on the screen.

Anybody know the correct WS Symbols and values?  For ^N I used LININS and the values 4,1B,5B,31,4C and for ^Y I used LINDEL and the values 4,1B5B31,4D as per Jeff Tanter's instructions on his blog (URL earlier in this post).  I also get the character sequence [1M when trying to ^Z (line up) and [1L when trying ^W (line down), but on the first display line for the file contents.

Thanks,
-Mark20210406_150747[1].jpg

fred_...@hotmail.com

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Apr 7, 2021, 8:35:58 AM4/7/21
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Don;t know your terminal. But... the DEC VT100 did not support  LINDEL and LININS (00 as the first byte) -- ^Y and ^N will still work.

If you insist on using LINDEL and LININS - use: LINDEL = 03 1b 5b 4d and LININS = 03 1b 5b 4c (don't put the 31 in there). This works on
the xterm terminal emulator. This all depends on the terminal -- not WordStar. NOTE: WordStar 3.3 bug -- SpelStar will NOT work with VT100 or ANSI terminal. It needs single byte cursor addressing.

FredW

Mark Lawler

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Apr 7, 2021, 10:34:26 AM4/7/21
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Thanks for the 411!  Silly me forgot to mention that I'm using the VT-100 emulator that is built into Chris' Altair-duino Pro version's expansion board (the Geoff Graham derivative).

Best,
-Mark

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Frank P.

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Apr 7, 2021, 10:57:19 AM4/7/21
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ESC[1L and ESC[1M supported by VT102 and VT220, but not VT100.

Frank P.

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Apr 7, 2021, 11:02:12 AM4/7/21
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WS when configured for VT100 simply rewrites the screen from the inserted (blank) line, or from the line after the deleted line (moved up one).

Mark Lawler

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Apr 7, 2021, 12:22:04 PM4/7/21
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Thanks again all.  Set both LININS and LINDEL to 0 and it works perfectly!  I posted to the other sites that had given the sequences for VT100 that included LININS and LINDEL.  As you've shared, the VT100 manuals show the VT100 didn't support.  Ugh.  

Appreciate the help!  Now, back to some more assembly coding!  :D 

Best,
-Mark

Michael Willems

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May 31, 2021, 11:24:38 PM5/31/21
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Wow. This solved all my WordStar problems (except the arrow keys; they still do not work). 

Fantastic work, guys.  There's no way I would have sorted this out in less than a month, without your help. Now it took an hour or less!

M

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