One of our members and WordStar

[tomsem]

I knew some of the people who worked at WordStar in its heyday, and met more of them when working at Symantec and Autodesk, where some of them wound up.

[imax]

I wonder if anyone started reverse engineering WordStar binaries, in order to port it to modern OSs and make running it less of a hassle.

[Quoth]

It's DOS. DOSbox and similar let it run on almost all OS and CPUs.

It's zero hassle to run DOS text mode programs like this.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by imax

I wonder if anyone started reverse engineering WordStar binaries, in order to port it to modern OSs and make running it less of a hassle.

I don't think I ever tried to run WS 5.5 after I installed Win 3.11.
What made many of the programs of that era incompatible, was the tricks (direct BIOS calls) to get SPEED. IIRC Wordstar Printing did this.

FWIW Paradox DOS 4.5 still sorta' runs (printing is difficult) on W10.
W98 was the last Windows my home-grown Green Duck (where 'theducks' came from) point of sale application ran in its full capacity. I shelled out to send my purchase orders by FAX (DOSFAX Pro)

[imax]

Yeah, I've used DOSBox quite a bit. I wouldn't say it's "zero hassle" though. Even with a provided config, long filenames are still a problem, as are window size changes, amount of available memory, etc.

And with a proper source-level port all the tweaks performed via WSCHANGE.EXE by patching the binary could be made into actual configuration knobs.

Anyway, I was asking if anyone's aware of any work in that direction, not trying to get into discussion if it should be done or not.

[ratinox]

There's WordTsar. No idea if it's any good.

[cromag]

I read this the other day. It has been a while since I fired it up, but I still have an Epson PX-8 (or Geneva) with Portable WordStar on a ROM. As the years passed I used an RS-232 serial cable to connect it to a UNIX computer (true System V) and could carry the Epson around to write, convert the files to text, and then upload them to the UNIX box for further use. Good times.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ratinox

There's WordTsar. No idea if it's any good.

I just tried it. It's not bad. (I tried it a couple years ago and it was a lot rougher.)

[rjwse@aol.com]

For more than a decade I used a Wordstar knock-off called VDE (video display editor) written in assembly language. It was written by Dr. Eric Meyer. There are actually 2 famous computer guys with that name. Here below is pasted text about it:
REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

"VDE is a word-processing program for people who like their programs lean, mean and simple... executes all the standard operations necessary for writing articles, books or screenplays... blazingly fast... Even the loading and storing of files is speedy."
- Paul Ciotti, Los Angeles Times Magazine (18 Mar 1990)

"This may be the finest piece of word processing code ever written. I have never been as impressed with anything as I have with VDE 1.5... writing software in 100 percent assembly language still pays off in performance and reduced code size. It's an astonishing product, believe me. It's more than the perfect laptop word processor... I cannot give a higher recommendation for any product that I have seen in ten years... Top recommendation."
- John Dvorak, PC Magazine (24 Apr 1990)

"What fascinated Dvorak was not just the astonishing functionality achieved with very little programming code, but also the attitude -- and implications -- of the author who circulated it freely asking only for a modest sum... VDE is an amazing word-processor, offering almost everything except the layout and document processing features found in far fatter programs... it supports the old WordStar command set... ergonomically the most efficient I've ever learned."
- Colin Brace, Language Technology/Electric Word (Jul/Aug 1990)

"I've used various versions of WordStar, WordPerfect, and Wang IWP. I wouldn't trade my copy of VDE for shrink-wrapped sets of the latest versions of all of these. I congratulate you both on the quality of your program and on your policy in making it available..."
- K.N., VDE user (Aug 1991)

"You've recognized a truth about writing, which every commercial word-processor vendor has forgotten. Writing is about words -- not fonts or bit-maps or graphical layout. Writers need the computer equivalent of a typewriter -- not a print-shop."
- J.W., VDE user (Aug 1995)

VDE has appeared in stores in "Dvorak's Top 30", a boxed software collection published by Interplay Productions; it was also included on-disk with the book "Dvorak's Inside Track to DOS and PC Performance" by John Dvorak and Nick Anis, published by Osborne/McGraw-Hill. VDE has received many good reviews, including a four star "****" rating for many years on ZDnet from Ziff-Davis, publishers of PC Magazine.

The author, Eric Meyer, has programmed in languages from APL to Z80; his other software for IBM PC compatibles includes the ZIP File Transfer program and numerous smaller utilities. He firmly believes that simple, effective software should remain easily available to users of all kinds of personal computers.

[Quoth]

I used Wordstar or NewWord (never Wordstar 2000 or later versions unrelated to orignal, though I had and still have it) for over 10 years.

It was great for its time, computers that only had floppies, or Z80 or 8088, CP/M or DOS. Any kind of screen and no need for graphics.

I had to even teach Wordperfect for a while (5.1 on DOS) but by then it was obsolete so I took the class to my own place before their work experience. I'd refused to concentrate on every WP feature, but instead had taught them the structuring of different kinds of documents, computer filing, wordprocessing related to different tasks and how to use manuals and help. I had CP/M, DOS, Windows etc and loads of different wordprocessors and text editor. Online help and manuals.

They enjoyed the day but many were still sceptical of my teaching and the "day out".

it was a hugely differnet story when they came back from work experience and had encountered: Wang, IBM Display Write, MS Word on DOS. MS Word on Windows 3.1 and others. Not one was Wordperfect or Wordstar (long eclipsed by WP and MS Word), though I was still using NewWord on CP/M and DOS (very like Wordstar on CP/M).

I'd originally produced finished formatted documents on Wordstar, variously printed on daisywheel (friend's) or our own MX80 DMP. Later on inkjet.

But by 1993 was only using it for unformatted text, so switched to my own editor (DOS, but worked in Windows Console) written in Modula-2 with menus and mouse as well as Wordstar Keys.
I also had MS Word and was selling MS Windows + Office etc, but I was by then using DTP for formatting the imported text.

Eventually I switched to a tabbed Windows text Editor (maybe textpad?) and then to NotePad++ up till about 2018 (about a year on WINE on Linux) when I changed to KATE as a tabbed Text Editor.

From mid 1990s we'd supplied Star Office for those not wanting to pay for MS Office. By 2005 I'd abandoned the DTP and was using Open Office on Windows and only using plain text on Notepad++ or TextPad for notes or fragments of writing.
Switched to Libre Office on XP at about 5.x (can't remember) and adopted Jota on Android for notes from about 2016.

I've used Joe, but more often Nano for configurations on Routers and other embedded Linux, because it's already there.

Used various UNIX since 1986 (inc Cromix and MS Xenix and Unix like Minix) and vi and emacs.

Wordstar was great for basic computers, DP/M or DOS, and great for me for nearly 15 years if I include NewWord and my own editor that used WS keys, but had no formatting other than being able to pick any word as a file to open if it existed (back worked) and create it if not. It also supported three button footpedal on Joystick port of a Creative Soundcard (SB16 on DOS!) to play/pause, fwd, rev a sound file copied at x2 speed from a dictatation micro cassette.

I see no point in re-creating Wordstar. Notepad++ (Windows) or KATE (Linux) is fine to edit plain text and even Libra Office Writer 5.x is fine on ancient computers that can't run latest LO. You can change key assignments.

A glass typewriter with edit and formatting was fine for 1970s to early 1990s, but Notepad++ or KATE are better for plain text now and to show author's intent after a 1st Draft the LO Writer 7.x or latest with Outlining and Styles windows open and NO direct formatting is now better. We stopped printing drafts & edits & proofs 10 years ago and instead import a small page size with no headers, footers, page numbers as docx into calibre and proof on ereader. Over 5,000 pages of paper saved. Even though we have a high speed full colour duplex laser printer / scanner / copier on the LAN.

writing software in 100 percent assembly language still pays off in performance and reduced code size

That was nonsense by late 1980s.
Poor maintainability.
I've seen a 8088 code platform engine run in 1992 on a 286, loaded from DOS, written in Modula-2 (could have been C++ or C) that had level changing on the fly, streaming audio from HDD and multitasking. Device drivers all in Modula-2.
In 2006, 4G modem device driver for Windows and Linux in C++
Games on Android are essentially same as if written in Java. Running on a VM.

Good software is about design, not the implementation language. There hasn't even been the need to write assembler for microcontrollers for over 25 years.
In 1983 we were using a Forth-like language on Z80 and primative NEC 7800 CMOS microcontroller using a customised macro assembler.
By 1986 programming a Z80 using a data-flow diagram.

Wordstar (or NewWord) is still great if all you have is a PCW8256 running CP/M. Better than the default "Locoscript" system.