Is there a desktop ?

[kilroywashere]

looking for a word program or a desktop program ... i have seen some for the c64 ... if there is some for the vic20 how much ram do i need and is there anyway i can find the programs online???


ps I love the vic 20 ....

[orion70]

There's an unfinished WIP dating years ago: http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bul ... 0&start=15

[RJBowman]

Wasn't GEOS released into the public domain several years ago? It seems like a perfect candidate to port.

[kilroywashere]

is GEOS not for the c64 tho? would it work on the vic 20? with the PENULTIMATE CARTRIDGE?

[RJBowman]

The software would need to be ported; altered for a machine with different graphic capabilities and a different memory map. I thought that I had read somewhere that the original source code for GEOS had been released to the public, which makes porting it to another machine much more possible.

[Mike]

Wasn't GEOS released into the public domain several years ago? It seems like a perfect candidate to port.

Sure. Go ahead.

is GEOS not for the c64 tho? would it work on the vic 20? with the PENULTIMATE CARTRIDGE?

GEOS has been implemented for the C64, C128, 264 (C16/C116/+4) series of C=, there's a port for the Apple II, and there exists an advanced implementation for IBM PCs (8086 and 80286), named PC/GEOS or GEOworks Ensemble.

For any attempt in porting GEOS to the VIC-20 I need to dampen your expectations quite a little bit: the VIC-20 neither has the necessary screen resolution (320x200 is required to make a 1:1 transfer, but the VIC-20 only offers 160x192 as maximum for API level graphics [1]) nor the necessary amount of memory available. Unlike the C64, it is not possible on the VIC-20 to bank out the built-in BASIC and KERNAL ROM to place RAM there instead.

The best thing that came near to an alternative OS + GUI + network was Contiki. Carlsson attempted a port of Contiki quite some years ago, but this ultimately failed to very much the same reasons I lined up here.

The above doesn't rule out the use of a GUI on the VIC-20 per se. Single applications for sure can be done using a GUI, maybe even linking several tools that share a windowing library (like Kananga did with VIN), but that's about it.



[1]: that means a bitmapped graphics mode which interoperates well with the original KERNAL. Higher resolutions than 160x192 are possible, but they either aren't truly bitmapped (see VIN) or - if actually bitmapped - don't go well along with the OS, as they require extra CPU power, interrupts, and/or substantial part of the OS workspace ($0000..$03FF) repurposed as video mem to function.

[kilroywashere]

What about a notepad??? (thank you guys for the info) or something

[Mike]

Whatever you mean with that. Text editing or word processing for sure is possible on the VIC-20, but doesn't necessarily require a GUI.

[kilroywashere]

what program is good or how would one have something like notepad?

[Mike]

There are SpeedScript, Quick Brown Fox, Wordcraft 20, HES Writer, Write Now and perhaps some other editors around for the VIC-20. IIRC, the named ones all run with the standard screen width of 22 characters per row, which isn't exactly fun to work with. Some attempts to use a software-based 40 column mode have been undertaken, but the single working text editor I know of this kind (vi65 by Soci/Singular) fell over an implementation bug of an early version of VICE and isn't usable on real hardware.

For completeness, at least one of the 40/80-column-cartridges (don't remember which one) also came with a built-in word processor. But the program is tied to this hardware, which (thus far) isn't emulated by VICE.

Whether any of them is "good" most probably depends on how you come to grips with their keyboard commands (and, as I wrote, if you can bear editing text with just 22 characters per row).

[kilroywashere]

anyway to find a .tap file for one of them been looking allover cant find one ....

[pixel]

One thing left that's being worked on a bit is INGLE (was G). It's about having a file manager (with fast restore on reset) and Ultimem filesystem (RAM/Flash ROM) with KERNAL hooks. Some fun apps could use the "windowing" library to blend in as if it was a GUI or use the UltiFS directly.
Keeps development in the comfort zone with "make" and "cc65". https://github.com/svenmichaelklose/ingle Not worth a preview yet.