WordMaster

[n***@gmail.com]

Just wondering if MicroPro International (creators of WordMaster) is still in existence? I've got what I believe is the last release of the program. The file name for it contains version number 1.22, but the code itself has a string in it that identifies it as 1.20. I've spent some time disassembling it, and I wonder if making that available would violate MicroPro's ownership? Is there interest in the disassembled code (little analysis of the results have been done ... yet), or is there a place to archive disassembled legacy code? I have a Web site where I could put it, but it is on Google and they are messing around with their Web hosting, so I don't know how long my Web site will be viable.

Roger

[Mike Douglas]

I too began disassembling WordMaster to use as a starting point for an 8080 version of "vi." WordMaster does much of what I need from vi and does it much more responsively on an 8080 with a 9600 baud terminal than any other 8080 implementations of vi I've tried. That was several years ago and I've never gotten back to the project.

A year or two ago I was in contact with the author of WordMaster, Ron Barnaby, but unfortunately, he does not have any of the WordMaster source files in his possession.

I have no idea if MicroPro still exists or would care if you disassembled WordMaster. I'd be very interested in a full disassembly if you do the work.

Mike

[Martin]

Post by n***@gmail.com
Just wondering if MicroPro International (creators of WordMaster) is still in existence?

[...]

Post by n***@gmail.com
Roger

Looking for a solution more than 10 years is a long time!

I looked into it, here are the results.

Rlee Peters CP/M Archive: /M/MICROPRO/WORDMAST/WM.COM
"WordMaster 1.20 Prerelease 09 Oct 82"

NOTE:
All addresses are memory adresses, not file offsets.
Subtract 100h if patching with a hexeditor.


1) The Cursor Positioning Routine has a bug

The number of ASCII digits is destroyed
The fix is easy, reorder a few instructions

<<< OLD:
2b67 79 LD A,C
2b68 ca b3 2b JP Z,2bb3
2b6b 47 LD B,A
2b67 47 LD B,A
2b68 79 LD A,C
2b69 ca b3 2b JP Z,2bb3


2) Customization Area "WM.COM"

# Screen Dimensions
0242 18 50

# Terminal Name
0244 "DEV VT-100 "
0266 00

[...]

# Cursor Position Prefix
# ANSI: ESC '['
026a 02 1b 5b 00 00

# Cursor Position Infix
# ANSI: ';'
026f 01 3b 00 00 00

# Cursor Position Suffix
# ANSI: 'H'
0274 01 48 00 00 00

# Cursor Coordinates reversion
# ANSI: NO
0279 00
# Cursor Coordinates Offset
# ANSI: both 1
027a 01 01
# Cursor ASCII Format: Number of Digits
# ANSI: 2
027c 02

[...]

# Clear Screen + Cursor Home
# ANSI: Too long: Jump to 0310
0283 ff 10 03 00 00

# Backspace
0288 01 08 00 00 00

# Clear to End of Line
# ANSI: ESC '[' '0' 'K'
028d 04 1b 5b 30 4b

# Delete Line
# ANSI: ESC '[' '1' 'M'
0292 04 1b 5b 31 4d

# Insert Line
# ANSI: ESC '[' '1' 'L'
0297 04 1b 5b 31 4c

# Init Sequence
# Jump to 0283
029c ff 83 02 00 00

# Exit Sequence
02a1 00 00 00 00 00

[...]

# Patch Area: Clear Screen + Cursor HOME
# ANSI: ESC '[' 'H' ESC '[' 'J'
0310 06 1b 5b 48 1b 5b 4a


3) WM.HLP:

Only the first page is shown
No chance to read the last page

A misplaced 11h 03h after the first page ends the help text

After Page 1: Remove 11h 03h
OLD:
0381 10 11 03 0D 0A
NEW:
0380 20 20 0D 0A 10

At the end: Add a 10h to wait for a keypress, CR/LF not used
OLD:
0E70 11 0D 0A 1A
NEW:
0E70 10 11 1A 1A


Additional information:
Version 1.20 uses different help codes, here is a summary:

16h: Start of help text:
Begin displaying the text

10h: Wait for a keypress:
IF 'J', 'j' or CTRL-J, continue with WM.HLP ELSE return to editor

11h: End of help text:
Return to editor


Done!

Martin

[Hector Peraza]

Post by Martin

Post by n***@gmail.com
Just wondering if MicroPro International (creators of WordMaster) is still in existence?

[...]

Post by n***@gmail.com
Roger

Looking for a solution more than 10 years is a long time!
I looked into it, here are the results.
Rlee Peters CP/M Archive: /M/MICROPRO/WORDMAST/WM.COM
"WordMaster 1.20 Prerelease 09 Oct 82"
All addresses are memory adresses, not file offsets.
Subtract 100h if patching with a hexeditor.
1) The Cursor Positioning Routine has a bug
...

That version has some other bugs (maybe 1.22 fixes them, but I've never seen it):

- 'Find' and 'Find Again' screen mode commands are there, but not accessible.
- When the cursor is at the end (or near the end) of the top line of the screen, using
the up arrow cursor key scrolls down the screen as expected, but the new top line
is not redrawn properly: it has characters missing in a large gap somewhere in the
middle.
- If the 'insert line' terminal sequence is not defined or the terminal does not
support it, and the cursor is on the first character of the top line, pressing the
left arrow key to move the cursor to the end of the previous line does not
cause the screen to scroll down as it should (it should refresh the whole
screen instead). BTW, the 'insert line' sequence is apparently used only for
that particular case, and not to scroll down the screen faster when using the
up arrow key at the top of the screen as one would expect.
- When using the ^@ command (repeat 4 times) before the ^P (insert literal char),
the next 4 keystrokes are inserted the same way WM 1.07 does, but the screen
is not refreshed properly.
- There is no way to map ANSI cursor key sequences to control chars (not
a bug, but an annoyance).
- In command mode, ^] breaks into the debugger without checking for the
'debug enabled' flag, potentially crashing the system. Fix (memory addresses):
<<< OLD:
25BA 38 00
25BA: C5 19
- There is a potential 'interrupt unfriendly' sequence at 07C9 where two 'DEC SP'
commands are apparently used to restore a return address that by that time
may be gone if an interrupt happened before or in-between.

Better to stick to good ol' WM 1.07A.

Hector.

[Martin]

[...]

Post by Hector Peraza
Better to stick to good ol' WM 1.07A.
Hector.

Thanks for the detailed list.

Had not realized, that it is so bad.
Just began to try it out, only to test the VT-100 sequences.

Martin

[Alan Laughton]

Post by Martin
[...]

Post by Hector Peraza
Better to stick to good ol' WM 1.07A.
Hector.

Thanks for the detailed list.
Had not realized, that it is so bad.
Just began to try it out, only to test the VT-100 sequences.
Martin

Does anyone know where I coiuld find the manual for version 1.20 ? The
manual all over the net that I could find are all the same and for v
1.07 and that is missing pages, has many pages twice and lots of blank
pages. Thanks.

[n***@gmail.com]

Does anyone know where I could find the manual for version 1.20 ? The
manual all over the net that I could find are all the same and for v
1.07 and that is missing pages, has many pages twice and lots of blank
pages. Thanks.

I've never seen a manual for v. 1.20 ... anywhere, Alan, BUT I have *A* manual (version unspecified) for WordMaster (really called Operator's Guide) in .pdf format. The table of contents seems to be somewhat glitched up, but the rest looks OK (but I've never gone through it in detail -- 160(!) pages.). Get in touch if you want me to e-mail it to you.

Roger

[Alan Laughton]

Post by n***@gmail.com

Does anyone know where I could find the manual for version 1.20 ? The
manual all over the net that I could find are all the same and for v
1.07 and that is missing pages, has many pages twice and lots of blank
pages. Thanks.

I've never seen a manual for v. 1.20 ... anywhere, Alan, BUT I have *A* manual (version unspecified) for WordMaster (really called Operator's Guide) in .pdf format. The table of contents seems to be somewhat glitched up, but the rest looks OK (but I've never gone through it in detail -- 160(!) pages.). Get in touch if you want me to e-mail it to you.
Roger

Thanks Roger, but the 160 page Operators Guide is the one thats spread
across the internet and is missing some pages, has duplicated pages and
multiple blank pages. Cleaned up it goes from 160 pages to 82 :(

Alan

[Uwe Nass]

Post by n***@gmail.com

Does anyone know where I could find the manual for version 1.20 ? The
manual all over the net that I could find are all the same and for v
1.07 and that is missing pages, has many pages twice and lots of blank
pages. Thanks.

I've never seen a manual for v. 1.20 ... anywhere, Alan, BUT I have *A* manual (version unspecified) for WordMaster (really called Operator's Guide) in .pdf format. The table of contents seems to be somewhat glitched up, but the rest looks OK (but I've never gone through it in detail -- 160(!) pages.). Get in touch if you want me to e-mail it to you.
Roger

Hi Roger,

please, can you send this manual to me, too?

thanks a lot

Uwe

[Alan Laughton]

Post by Uwe Nass

Post by n***@gmail.com

Does anyone know where I could find the manual for version 1.20 ?  The
manual all over the net that I could find are all the same and for v
1.07 and that is missing pages, has many pages twice and lots of blank
pages.  Thanks.

I've never seen a manual for v. 1.20 ... anywhere, Alan, BUT I have
*A* manual (version unspecified) for WordMaster (really called
Operator's Guide) in .pdf format.  The table of contents seems to be
somewhat glitched up, but the rest looks OK (but I've never gone
through it in detail -- 160(!) pages.).  Get in touch if you want me
to e-mail it to you.
Roger

Hi Roger,
 please, can you send this manual to me, too?
thanks a lot
Uwe

Your email address is not working, refuses to accept an email.

Alan

[Uwe Nass]

Post by Alan Laughton

Post by Uwe Nass

Post by n***@gmail.com

Does anyone know where I could find the manual for version 1.20 ? The
manual all over the net that I could find are all the same and for v
1.07 and that is missing pages, has many pages twice and lots of blank
pages. Thanks.

I've never seen a manual for v. 1.20 ... anywhere, Alan, BUT I have
*A* manual (version unspecified) for WordMaster (really called
Operator's Guide) in .pdf format. The table of contents seems to be
somewhat glitched up, but the rest looks OK (but I've never gone
through it in detail -- 160(!) pages.). Get in touch if you want me
to e-mail it to you.
Roger

Hi Roger,
please, can you send this manual to me, too?
thanks a lot
Uwe

Your email address is not working, refuses to accept an email.
Alan

Hi,

my email address is "***@astro.uni-bonn.de"

Uwe

[n***@gmail.com]

Sorry, Uwe --

I sent the manual to your "astro" address (via gmail). Gmail tried to deliver it three times, and all three failed. Seems that you e-mail account needs some help?

Roger

[n***@gmail.com]

Post by Uwe Nass
please, can you send this manual to me, too?
thanks a lot
Uwe

I sent it this morning, Uwe. It hasn't bounced back .... yet! *grin*

Roger

[Uwe Nass]

Post by n***@gmail.com

Post by Uwe Nass
please, can you send this manual to me, too?
thanks a lot
Uwe

I sent it this morning, Uwe. It hasn't bounced back .... yet! *grin*
Roger

Hi Roger,

Unfortunately it didn't arrived yet.....

Uwe