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Text-based DOS apps

NeXT

NeXT

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Because of how Apricot handles graphics it breaks any DOS software (by not displaying right or crashing) that tries to display in CGA mode or better. I'm assuming that anything in MDA (Code Page 437) however should be okay.
Problem is that I don't know of many applications that purely run in text mode short of stuff like ScanDisk and stuff that would require a hard drive which I lack.
I need some ideas for software to look for and test.
 
You're kidding, right?

Spreadsheets (Lotus 1-2-3), Word processing (Word Perfect, Palantir, WordStar...), Editors, Accounting packages, point-of-sale software, system programming tools, the list is endless. Strictly speaking, there are no DOS graphical applications, as DOS contains no support for graphics.

Or did you mean games?
 
Chuck(G) said:
You're kidding, right?

Spreadsheets (Lotus 1-2-3), Word processing (Word Perfect, Palantir, WordStar...), Editors, Accounting packages, point-of-sale software, system programming tools, the list is endless. Strictly speaking, there are no DOS graphical applications, as DOS contains no support for graphics.

Or did you mean games?
Click to expand...
You're playing with semantics. While DOS itself does provide rudimentary text display routines, for the sake of speed and flexibility, virtually all DOS software bypasses that, and talks to either the computer's BIOS, or to its display hardware directly.

I believe the Apricot PC belongs in the same category of early x86 machines which were MS-DOS-compatible, but not IBM PC BIOS- or hardware-compatible, as the Tandy 2000 and DEC Rainbow. I had a Tandy 2000, and I know that I was able to get WordStar 6.0 and an early version of MultiMate to run on it, but not much else, aside from software specifically designed for the 2000.

The problem is that PC-compatible DOS software expects to find the display buffer at B800:0000 (per the IBM CGA spec), but with these non-PC-clones, there's nothing there; in fact, many can be configured to have up to 768 KB of RAM, due to the lack of a display buffer in the usual location. So, in order to work, the program has to be either specifically configured to the special hardware of the machine, or it has to act as if it's displaying everything through a dumb terminal, and let DOS (which itself is customized to the machine's hardware) take care of putting it on the screen.
 
Wikipedia says the Apricot is shipped with IBM PC emulation software... There's also a link to a TRM which explains a lot about the screen and other things...

apricot.jpg
 
I think Chuck and I had the same reaction ;-)

As he points out, aside from games the vast majority of the software of those days ran in text mode; out of the dozens of PCs I sold and installed in those days every one had a monochrome screen although the odd one needed an HGC clone card to display Lotus graphs.

And although a hard disk was convenient, most stuff would also run on floppy disks, at least for the first few years.
 
I know that apparently Lotus 123 and Wordstar both have versions for the Apricot (which are also programmed to use Apricot's graphics modes) but nobody seems to have them
Strictly speaking, there are no DOS graphical applications, as DOS contains no support for graphics.
Click to expand...
Yet there is a lot of software out there that makes use of the enhanced graphics modes (CGA, EGA, or even VGA) available on a PC compatible system. All the games I can think of off the top of my head require at least CGA (Leisure Suit Larry, Kings Quest....any of the other Quest games.....) but I can't think of much that ran on MDA. Apparently Sargon III can run text mode though but I'm also finding a lot of other text mode software that either assumes you are not running on an 8088 or you have a hard drive. I was running into the same problems with my Rainbow 100 with the exception that I had an ST-506 to store small applications on.

What about Zork, or some of the other Infocom text games?
Click to expand...
I have those games already.
 
Code: 
O:\$ ls
 3c509.com    dc.com       fv.com       mvdir.exe    rm.exe       touch.exe
 3c90xpd.com  dc.ext       gifdesk.exe  mzap.exe     rn.exe       toupper.exe
 ascii.exe    deltree.com  gsar.exe     nansi.sys    see.com      trout.exe
 askiscrn.com delupto.exe  head.exe     ndd.exe      shsucdx.com  trunk.exe
 attrib.com   df.exe       hercsave.com now.exe      smooth.com   unrar.exe
 batchman.com dir          hex.exe      ntcpdrv.exe  snip-s.com   update.com
 bfind.exe    dirmatch.com himemx.exe   ntime.exe    snooper.exe  uudecode.exe
 bigtext.com  dl.exe       infobar.com  nullpkt.com  spectrum.com uuencode.exe
 box.com      dlkfet.com   lan595.com   picem.exe    ssfaxer.exe  vf.exe
 c.com        dm.com       lha.exe      ping.exe     ssh.exe      vh.exe
 cat.exe      dns.exe      line.exe     pkunzip.exe  subdir.exe   vi.com
 change.exe   dosed.com    list.com     pkxarc.com   sz.exe       vide-cdd.sys
 clear.com    dtime.com    ls.com       pkzip.exe    t.exe        viewhtml.exe
 cp.exe       du.exe       lsd.exe      pkzipfix.exe tail.exe     vtree.com
 cpdesk.com   edc.exe      lst.com      popd.exe     tar.exe      wc.exe
 cpdir.exe    epropkt.com  makenews.exe pp.com       tcpinfo.exe  wget.exe
 cruise.com   fastrep.exe  mf2.exe      psplus.com   ted.com      whereis.exe
 crypt.com    fdisk.exe    mime64.exe   pushd.exe    tee.exe      which.exe
 dask.exe     filectrl.com mon.com      pwd.exe      ter.com      xgrep.com
 dat.com      firm.com     move.exe     q.exe        termin.com   zero.exe
 datetime.com fm.com       mpack.exe    ramspy.com   text.com
 db.exe       format.exe   munpack.exe  ren2date.com timename.exe

And on and on and on. There's ever an couple of cool screen candy prgs in there. Add mTCP and there's a lot of fun to be had - not to mention serious productivity. I'm half a century too old for games, but I could scrape up some of those too if you want.
 
Many business applications had options to force the software to run in MDA exclusive mode. Plus I remember reading of some switches that were specific to Apricot operation.

Don't forget GEM had a Apricot video driver which if you can find could open up a bunch of other software to use.
 
Wordstar could be configured to output ANSI codes to be handled by ANSI.SYS, for example.

Doesn't anyone remember the applications that required ANSI.SYS to run--and the third-party versions of ANSI.SYS that offered higher speed or smaller footprint?
 
WP 5.1 just ran on my MDA. The old versions are minuscule by comparison and still work very well.

Edit: I just checked and see a WP 4.2 which fits on a floppy and is a perfectly functional demo. For really light weight there is also the NE (no Edlin ever) which has word wrap and spell check and looks like a regular word processor - and is free.
 
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