Productivity Apps / Project Ideas

[Mike]

Ah, yes. This had been the other reason I wrote to Soci. Both v0.1 and v0.2 versions put the text screen (which serves as address generator into the bitmap) at $0400.

This is a big blunder and only happens to "work" (by mistake, really) on extremely old versions of VICE, but not on real hardware. Unless the VIC-20 has been *internally* expanded with +3K as I had done with my VIC-20. And not necessary either: the 160x192 resolution can be made to work on an unmodified VIC-20, in the address range of $1000..$1FFF (i.e. the upper 4K of the built-in RAM).

As noone can be expected to modify their VIC-20s just to run vi, this means a 40 column version of vi still does not exist. Sadly this was the only candidate that came to my mind.

Minipaint rocks

... and it comes along with a full programming suite for any conceivable batch processing task.

[Bobbi]

If I understand you correctly it needs memory at 0400 which is the location of the 3K RAM pack but the memory needs to be internal so VIC can access it? That is a bit of an oopsie on the part of the implementer.

On the other hand it gives me more of a reason to develop a 40 column text editor that actually works on real hardware!

[Mike]

If I understand you correctly it needs memory at 0400 which is the location of the 3K RAM pack but the memory needs to be internal so VIC can access it?

Exactly. Even though there exist register values which would suggest that text screen or character generator could be pointed into the range $0400..$0FFF, that memory is actually inaccessible for the VIC chip, if it is added as external RAM expansion. The VIC chip cannot access *anything* at the expansion port. I modified my VIC-20 to make this address range visible to VIC with an internal RAM expansion, in 2010. But for other reasons.

That is a bit of an oopsie on the part of the implementer.

You say it.

On the other hand it gives me more of a reason to develop a 40 column text editor that actually works on real hardware!

+1

[Bobbi]

I agree that a hardware hack seems a bit much to run a text editor. Even vi!

[orion70]

I have been looking through the images on zimmers.net with a particular interest in productivity apps (ie: anything but games!) I have put together a .d64 image with useful stuff like Speedscript, Practicalc, MightyTerm, Waterloo Basic, Basic v4, Pet Loader etc.

I am trying to find ways to actually use a Vic in my day-to-day development workflow somehow

May I address your search in TOSEC archive. There, you can find as much as 150 files in 8 "applications" directories, mostly in PRG form. Happy digging

Also, please try my own software collection, containing several apps here and there.

Last but not least, take a look at the thread dedicated to Practicalc Plus, which is a beefed-up version of Practicalc with (primitive) graphics and other new features.

It seems to me there is a "gap in the market" for a text editor with the following features: 40 column display, ability to edit files bigger than memory, storage on disk or tape in plain ASCII. I am thinking to write something like this in 6502 assembly, starting with the 40 column hires mode and gradually building up the text editor functionality.

Is anyone aware of a text editor which can handle 40 columns, or can manage buffers bigger than RAM?

You'd really fill a major gap in VIC's productivity offer. Can't wait... Thanks in advance, and don't forget to implement printing features .

[Bobbi]

It may take a while but I do plan to actually implement this!

I have started out playing with some ideas for a 40 column mode. Once that is in better shape I will start work on the core of the editor. The first versions may be a bit feature poor but I plan to eventually add some 'word processing' functions like printing, justification / word wrap etc. First version will probably be more suitable as a programmer's editor.

It's a spare time project so it may take a while. (Right now I have too many bugs to look at in my day job, so progress is slow!)

[Boray]

If I would make a text editor, I would do it in with normal 8x8 characters on a 26x33 screen. That is visible in PAL and you get 858 characters on screen compared to 880 with a 40x22 screen. You would get a more readable screen and as it uses the normal 8x8 characters it would also support special keyboards like the Swedish one with ÅÄÖ. It would also be MUCH easier to program and probably require less RAM and CPU. But if you live in NTSC land I guess this isn't an option.

[Bobbi]

Yes I would like this to work on my NTSC VIC.

This is the third VIC I have owned but the first NTSC one! (I grew up in UK.) It is amazing how much bigger the PAL screen is than NTSC. On the other hand I like having smaller borders in 22x23 text mode!

For this project I guess "harder to program" is a feature, not a bug!