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word processing program

C

Computer Collector

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
283
I have a trs-80 and would like to be able to do some word processing on it.
I do not have word processing software, though. Is there a simple BASIC program I can type on it that will give me a word processor program? If so, type it here, or LPRINT it and mail it to me, or scan it and upload the picture here. this would be cool.
I am not really a computer - smart guy (even though I collect the stuff) and do not have the brain power to write my own program.

thanks
 
Computer Collector said:
I have a trs-80 and would like to be able to do some word processing on it.
I do not have word processing software, though. Is there a simple BASIC program I can type on it that will give me a word processor program? If so, type it here, or LPRINT it and mail it to me, or scan it and upload the picture here. this would be cool.
I am not really a computer - smart guy (even though I collect the stuff) and do not have the brain power to write my own program.

thanks
Click to expand...

What kind of TRS-80 system do you have?

Scripsit and Super Scripsit were the ultimate in TRS-80 word processing software. Trying looking over at Ira Goldklang's site: http://www.trs-80.com He has lots of software for the Model I/III/IV/4P series of TRS-80 microcomputers. You would have to download a disk image, then move it over to a floppy disk drive.
 
DoctorPepper said:
What kind of TRS-80 system do you have?

...You would have to download a disk image, then move it over to a floppy disk drive.
Click to expand...

I have a model 4

As for downloading a disk image and then moving it to floppy, the reason I didnt do this is because I thought it was more difficult and confusing then that. Are you saying its as easy as downloading it and then moving it from my hard drive onto 5-1/4" unformatted disks? If its that easy, Ill do it, but I thought the process would be more complicated than that.

what is a disk image? A program or what?
 
Computer Collector said:
I have a model 4

As for downloading a disk image and then moving it to floppy, the reason I didnt do this is because I thought it was more difficult and confusing then that. Are you saying its as easy as downloading it and then moving it from my hard drive onto 5-1/4" unformatted disks? If its that easy, Ill do it, but I thought the process would be more complicated than that.

what is a disk image? A program or what?
Click to expand...

While I've never done it (I have to install my 5 1/4" floppy drive in my PC), you can. David Keil's TRS-80 Model I/III/IV emulator program (freely downloadable) can read and write to the PC's floppy drives. Here's a link to the relevant page on his site:

http://discover-net.net/~dmkeil/trs80/trstech.htm#Technical-REAL-disks

Here's a link to the Model I/III/IV emulator page on his site:

http://discover-net.net/~dmkeil/trs80/model4.htm

I hope this helps.
 
THANKS

I downloaded a couple of software files. They are called "ace" files.
Ill put them on floppy disk and see if they work on my TRS or not
 
this is turning out to be as complicated as I thought it would be. I copied the files onto 5-1/4" disk, brought it to my TRS-80, plut them in and hit the orange button. Just as I thought, they did not boot because they did not have TRS DOS and probably because the disks are formatted for IBM. Ill need to do more homework to figure this out.
 
It is not that complicated (not as complicated as typing in a word processing program in basic).

Download the .ace files for the emulator, expand them into a folder, and you will have the emulator.

Download the version of trs-dos or ls-dos you want to use. It should be in .dsk or .dmk format.

Download the word processor disk image you want (the best source is www.trs-80.com).

Boot the emulator with the OS image, remove the os image from drive 0, and put the word processor disk in drive 0.

Link drive 1 to the physical floppy drive.

Put a blank (preferrably new or bulk erased) disk in your physical drive.

use diskcopy :0 to :1 to make a copy of the word processor to the blank disk.

You should also make a diskcopy image of the boot disk.

I hope I have not offended, but these are not "user friendly" windows or linux machines. They do require a little effort to understand and utilize. F1 does not usually give you any help (in most trs-80 programs it is used to toggle insert mode), there is no mouse to click on things with (well there is, but it really doesn't do much), and there are myriad operating systems that may or may not be able to understand media from other operating systems using the same hardware.

If this still stymies you, where are you located? I'm sure we could find a local trs-80 entusiast to help get the disks created for you.
 
i've never used TRS-80 BASIC.... is it one of the versions of BASIC that requires line numbers?

if it is, and is otherwise the same as say, QBasic/QuickBasic 4.5 i can write you up a little word processor similar to something like *nix's nano/vi, or maybe MS-DOS Edit if you want.

have you found a program yet? if not, tell me and i'll make you something.
 
Mike,

Yes, TRSDOS BASIC uses line numbers, and you really don't want to be trying to write a word processor for a 4 MHz Z-80 with 64 KB of RAM, using BASIC. Not a good thing.

There are plenty of good word processors available for TRSDOS, most probably written in Z-80 ASM.
 
:rolleyes: I wrote my own editor in FORTRAN around 1976. At least, that's a compiled program. Can't imagine what a Basic one would be like (well, yes I can, slooooow).
 
Hi...

Abiword is a good word processor for basic word processing. I am using it since the last two years and it works very well for me. I am having HP Cpu with windows 7 installed and works pretty much accurate and is according to my needs. hoping that it might be good for me. in order to read more about this one or to get few more recommendations, please head over to a blog post that is Alternative to MS word from where i had got abiword and didn't asked any other to suggest another.
 
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