40/80 Column board software

[doug_in_nc]

Does anyone know of any software that runs on the various 40/80 column boards sold back in the day?

I recently "accidentally" picked up a Protecto 80 board which was part of an EBay purchase, but not mentioned in the seller's description, probably because it was totally unlabeled, and have been looking into what it was actually used for back in the day. I know it came with a word processor (Word manager) and a spreadsheet program (Plan Manager), but is there anything else that works with it? The only program I could find that states it is compatible is the Quick Brown Fox word processor. As I understand it, the board's firmware redirects the standard Kernal calls to the video display, so in theory any program that used those calls rather than writing directly to video memory would at least use it as a 22 column monochrome display. The manual (available here - http://www.geocities.ws/cbm/data20/prot ... 3-MatA.pdf ) states that the Programmers Aid cartridge mostly works and that VICMON doesn't, but doesn't mention any other software.

I had hoped that the Scot Adams adventures would work as they are text-only and don't use the block 5 address that the card takes up, but unfortunately they crash almost immediately.

[ral-clan]

Theoretically you should be able to port any 40/80 column BASIC PET software to this kind of hardware by merely changing the POKE values. Or someone clever could write a program that intercepts PET pokes and translates them on the fly. If you can find PET games that don't use POKEs then they should run right away (provided they are in BASIC). I know there are many games for the PET that were simple non-POKE BASIC entries from magazines like Creative Computing - which were meant to run on any reader's system that ran generic MicroSoft BASIC.

The only software I know that runs natively on the Protecto 80 (which is the same as the DATA-20) is that which I uploaded to Bo Zimmer's site a decade or more ago, and which I think you already found:

http://web.archive.org/web/201109100614 ... ata20.html

[doug_in_nc]

Yes, I plan to dig up some PET stuff and convert it.

You are correct that I had found your files from way back .
I noticed that on the link you provided, the feature strip for the Word Manager function keys is listed as a draft, and the link is broken. From that I assume you had created a strip with the functions on it, right? If so, I can provide photos of the original gold strip, as it is still attached to the machine I bought that came with the card. As I mentioned in the original post, the Protecto 80 had no identifying labels on it, and the way I identified it was from the function strip having the Protecto name printed on it.

I'm a bit reluctant to pull the strip off the machine to properly scan it, as it appears to be well attached, and I rather like the history of it being on there. I will take a look to see exactly how it is fixed on, and whether I can take it off without risking any damage though.

[doug_in_nc]

Yes, I plan to dig up some PET stuff and convert it.

You are correct that I had found your files from way back .
I noticed that on the link you provided, the feature strip for the Word Manager function keys is listed as a draft, and the link is broken. From that I assume you had created a strip with the functions on it, right? If so, I can provide photos of the original gold strip, as it is still attached to the machine I bought that came with the card. As I mentioned in the original post, the Protecto 80 had no identifying labels on it, and the way I identified it was from the function strip having the Protecto name printed on it.

I'm a bit reluctant to pull the strip off the machine to properly scan it, as it appears to be well attached, and I rather like the history of it being on there. I will take a look to see exactly how it is fixed on, and whether I can take it off without risking any damage though. The enclosed shot is from the ebay auction, so you can see roughly what it looks like

[ral-clan]

That's not my site. I just provided the Data20programs.zip file that was hosted there.

I might have a picture of the feature strip from another person's VIC-20, but I never owned the feature strip. I'll see if I can dig that up, but like the photo you just posted, it was taken on an angle so won't be usable.

Maybe if you can send me a nice straight-on photo of your feature strip (when it arrives) I can make a PDF replica that will be printable.

[doug_in_nc]

Here you go. I took one front on shot and then multiple shots of parts of the label that you should be able to piece together to get a better view. The whole thing is what looks like gold-colored brushed aluminum, and I would probably bend it if I tried to remove it.

If you need better pictures don't hesitate to ask and I can have another go.