Blog post written with Protext on Amstrad

The following was written in early June, and I thought I had published it already. I just wanted something out before August ends :)

Text created in Protext begins->

Ok, so this Amstrad typing career has gotten slightly out of hand. But I just had to explore at least some alternatives to the rather slow and old-fashioned Tasword.

This is Protext on the Amstrad 6128, not the CP/M version though.

Already I feel the cursor movement around the paragraphs is more modern. Inserting between text is on by default and performs much like the "auto-insert" on Tasword, that is, as we now expect it to work.

I can insert lines by pressing return, and lines can be removed by using delete at the left edge, so I don't have to remember a separate ctrl-key combination to do these obvious things.

The first time I encountered anything weird was when I tried to backtrack my cursor to the previous line. This cannot be done by using arrow left at the left side of the screen, even if the text is part of the same paragraph. This is curious as I can indeed backspace to the previous line. In fact I can use shift+left arrow to get the cursor there.

My impression with Protext is that it indeed is quite fast and better for editing text than the Tasword. It has less weirdness of the 1980s home computer word processors.

Protext is not entirely free of clunkiness. Again the justify is on by default, adjusted to a particular page width. This width setting is not really even respected, if I for example delete a line to a previous line or I write new words into an already wide line.

But it is possible to use a Ctrl+f to reformat a paragraph. Doing this automatically might have been too slow and behave weirdly. I could also easily turn the justify off and have more normal looking text-editor paragraphs. Perhaps the software works a little faster for it, too.

If I turn off the word-wrap with Ctrl+w (not mentioned on the help bar), the cursor keeps going forever to the right. So only if I press return the pararaph will be completed, which is kind of correct, but it is not visually a very good solution.

I do note that Protext appears to have only about 20K free for text, which is not that much. Remember Tasword running on CPC6128 had more than 60K to work with. I'm not out to write a novel anyway, these tiny blog posts take about 2K.

Saving the file was not immediately obvious, as the Help bar only gives key shortcuts for text editing. Although the Tasword file menu appeared somewhat basic it was actually quite clear. However, the problem was not huge. Pressing ESC gives a kind of command line interface together with the possibility to have HELP. Using S will prompt a filename and save the file.

Moving a paragraph is not more complicated than with Tasword. Bonus points for using the actual COPY key that is featured on the Amstrad keyboard. Shift+COPY creates markers for both start and end, then Ctrl+M moves the area.

A somewhat more general problem with Amstrad text editing is that the computer does not have separate backspace and delete keys, the single DEL key instead acts as a backspace. Pressing shift+DEL does not result in forward delete, unlike I had hoped.

So, on with Protext until something better comes along. I might still give Tasword a chance, given I can find the options for making the software behave faster and better. However, even then the Protext overall typing and text editing experience is much better.

Afterthoughts (written in Blogger)

This time I fixed a few typos in the above text, as they made the sentences unclear. I already know that a few typographical errors, repeats, mannerisms and other brain farts get through when I simply write the whole piece from top to bottom. To me the idea that the text editor might influence overall composition, is more interesting.

I had some trouble with transferring the file to Linux. Firstly, I realized I had to use the PRINTF command to "print" the output of the document to a file, this way there are no command codes and such that might result from using the S-Save command.

The first resulting file was corrupt, but this may have been because the disk image I used in HxC was not valid enough. I'm also thinking the converting tools were not up to the task, as the Protext on Amstrad side seemed to read the files back happily.

Using a more "clean" empty disk image I got the file out. Just as with the Tasword file, I did some manual work removing the returns from line endings, here I also removed the tabbing and page breaks. Again, there was also some junk at the bottom of the file.

Blog post written with Tasword on Amstrad CPC6128

The text below was written using an Amstrad. Sadly, my HxC floppy emulator refused write operations so I couldn't save the text. Instead I photographed the text from the screen and retyped it all here, without changing anything so all the silliness and possible mistakes are present.

(Later note: Got the HxC write working by disconnecting the CPC internal drive.)

Blog post written with Tasword on Amstrad CPC6128

As soon as I learned that I could use the 80-column wide graphics mode on Amstrad CPC6128 and the 1084 monitor, I wanted to try out text editing on it. The first program I could find was Tasword, and it looked promising enough.

Tasword was a familiar name for me from the Spectrum days. Then it had a reputation with cramming 64 columns on the 256 pixels wide display. And being an overall comprehensive enough editor.

Here with Amstrad CPC6128, I guess the program is the same old, except it doesn't have to resort to gimmicks in order to display 80 columns of text. The 640 pixels wide mode 2 is perfectly capable of showing it all.

In fact, the experience is rather similar to using a text editor on an Amiga or Atari ST. The major difference is the obvious lack of mouse.

Typing text diretly into paragraphs is quick enough. The keyboard has seen better days, but I am not so sure if this is better than the Sinclair QL. The cursor keys are well positioned here, one of the first home computers to get it right I guess.

Writing text between existing paragraphs appears to be fine at first, but when the cursor reaches the edge it will start overtyping the paragraph below. Turning Insert on helps here, the problem was just that the Tasword does not have it on by default. Furthermore, you will have to turn on Auto-Insert to get the behaviour you'd expect nowadays. This is pretty slow! Creating new lines between already existing text is predictably slow, but not horrendous.

I have written this post mostly from top to bottom, without stopping too much to think what I ought to write. If I had to start editing the already existing text, it might result in problems, as I don't know what keys and what functions I am supposed to use.

The above paragraph was moved from above to a more suitable position. This was achieved using the Block Mark, Block End and Block Move commands. Then I had to use Delete Line and Insert Line to tidy up the space between the paragraphs. These are typical functions of old word processors, and I'm no longer under the illusion this is a more modern editor.

As the program is 6128-specific, where I think this shows is the program is occasionally using a RAM disk of sorts. There is more than 60K available for text, surely this would be enough for a school essay or a chapter in a novel.

All in all, not a bad experience, but if I was writing a longer text or something with more thought required, I would be missing the mouse movement and quicker copy and paste. Then again, this kind of old software could encourage planning the text in some other way. Possibly I'd outline and sketch it on paper first and then just clean up the manuscript on the Amstrad.

I did not look into other text editors, I guess the Amstrad scene might have produced slicker applications at a later day. I didn't really look into the matter, but perhaps another time!

Round up: Commodore 64 Text editors and word processors

Some time back, I looked at my Commodore Plus/4 computer and the not that great built-in text editor. I began to wonder "what could be", and the result is a quick look at some Commodore 64 text editors. Well, for most part the programs are not that great either, but there are a couple of surprisingly good efforts.

I was surprised to see how old most of these programs are, and thus the problem is not so much the C64 but the fact the programmers had not yet learned much. So perhaps it can be forgiven that around 1983-1984, when the Plus/4 features were decided, there were no good examples around.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather an illustrative one. I've deliberately excluded one well known program, GeoWrite, because it is so tied to the GEOS setup. The desktop publishing software (!) Pagefox also includes an editor. There are also "conversions" of Vi and Emacs I ignore for now.

I was mostly interested if the central "typing experience" was good quality or not. To use these programs at all in today's environment you'd need to be able to a) type quickly, b) insert effectively and c) scroll rapidly to view the document. I gave these features a poor-ok-good-excellent ratings. I thought about reviewing the functions such as copy/paste, but they are often just too difficult to find. And yes, I admit I did not use the real Commodore 64 to check these out.


Vizawrite

Looks more professional than most, with indentation and typewriter-style tabs and formatting characters. The cursor behaves pretty much as it ought to, but I could not find any proper insert mode to see if it delivers. At least there is the insert key and a means to "insert" typed text as a special command. The delete/move/replace/find functions are quite easy to find and operate.

Typing speed: Good
Insert: Ok
Scrolling speed: Ok


Speedscript

Speedscript looks like one of those desirable minimalist editors that might really work very well, but the basic program functionality is a bit erratic for today's typist. It's fast enough, though.

Typing speed: Good
Insert: Good
Scrolling speed: Good


Easy Script

Screen colors change from Control+1,2 and 3. Insert works pretty quickly, after setting the insert mode it works almost as you'd expect a modern text editor to work. It's slow at times, at least when inserting carriage returns inside paragraphs.

Typing speed: Good
Insert: Good
Scrolling speed: Good


Paperclip

Not bad at all, but hampered by slow inserting of whole lines. Otherwise the insert works well. Control+keys bring out features almost from every key, so I guess it's comprehensive. There's find and copy range type functions. F2, F4 and F6 change screen colors, a welcome addition.

Typing speed: Good
Insert: Ok
Scrolling speed: Good


Tekstinkasittely 80-400

An early Finnish effort with 80-column display. Don't be fooled though, the text has to be typed in line-numbered entities and even then it's slow. I'd rather work my text in Basic REM statements.

Typing speed: Poor
Insert: Poor
Scrolling speed: Poor


TasWord

I think this originated from the ZX Spectrum, where a 64-column mode was very welcome compared to the standard 32. Here we have 80-column mode and it's surprisingly smooth. However text insertion does not work as one would nowadays expect, and inserting carriage returns inside paragraphs results in a long pause. There are different versions of this software, so perhaps some of them work better.

Typing speed: Good
Insert: Ok
Scrolling speed: Ok


Paperback Writer

An overall good show, I'm just wondering about that large help/options bar at the top. I suppose there would be an option to reduce it. But hey, the "on-line" help is very comprehensive compared to many others on this list. Inserting works semi-ok.

Typing speed: Good
Insert: Ok/Good
Scrolling speed: Good


Kwik Write

From Fairlight, a standard text editor, but boy is it fast for both typing and inserting text in-between. The basic text typing, removing and cursor motion is what one would expect these days, with no hiccups. The program also keeps track of how many characters of memory are left. I could even consider using it for some real text editing.

Typing speed: Excellent
Insert: Excellent
Scrolling speed: Excellent

Canon S-90

This is an electronic typewriter from the era when computers and word processors were already going on quite strong. As it is fully electronic, it is really more like a printer with a keyboard. There's not that much to say, because I could not get the case open. There's some knack to opening it other than "pulling really hard". The screws came off easily enough so I don't think it has been intentionally prevented, it's just I don't get it. I'll see about it later.

The S-90 has a card-type connector to the left side which I suppose enables more typefaces. The right side has a 9-pin type connector. This means the typewriter could act as a printer to a home computer. I doubt the printer has any processor or memory as such, but a dedicated controller that manages the LCD display and keyboard input. Only one row of characters can be edited before they are printed.

I would be interested in the innards, as it might be possible to house a computer board inside the case of a typewriter and make use of a rather excellent keyboard. However, I would probably not want to ruin such a cool looking device as this one, but it's an idea I've been toying with. Occasionally, it's possible to come across really cheap typewriters such as this, but most I've seen in net auctions and such are a bit overpriced. I'd also avoid any mechanical and electromechanical typewriters, because rewiring their keyboards is probably a different game entirely.