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Wordstar 3.3 for GENERIC MS-DOS?

M

Martin Hepperle

Experienced Member
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Nov 10, 2014
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I am looking for an uninstalled Wordstar 3.3 for generic MS-DOS systems.

I searched the usual suspects but so far I only found the CP/M variant (configurable for Terminals) and the IBM PC-DOS variant.
The PC-DOS version comes already pre-configured for the IBM-PC (relying on its BIOS), and allows only configuring the printer, but not the "Terminal".

I assume, that a generic MS-DOS version with WINSTALL and WS.INS exists. It should offer the options A) and B) for installing any terminal with its escape sequences (not using INT 10H BIOS calls) on generic MS-DOS systems.

Thank you,
Martin
 
I remember WordStar 4.0 gave you the option of displaying the screen output via DOS or BIOS. The DOS option worked on any MS-DOS system, even a non-IBM-compatible Tandy 2000, but was slower. The BIOS option was faster but required IBM PC compatible video hardware.
 
Are you certain that such a version even exists? According to English Wikipedia, only 3.0 was available for MS-DOS. 3.3 is stated in German Wikipedia to be CP/M-only.
 
The box suggests it was, but mine is definitely the IBM version, because all of the floppies say IBM on them.

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I don't hink that is is easily patchable, if INT10 calls are all over the place... In the accompanying WS.INS file there are no terminal names and no escape sequences, so this capability seems to have been removed from the IBM-PC-DOS version.

I believe WS 3.3 was available for some generic machines, like the "Sirius PC" or the "HP 150".
Indeed, there is one for the "HP 150" available on HP-Museum, but I find that is is not properly configured for the HP's screen width and there is no WINSTALL program. It is probbaly the standard PC-DOS Version, as the HP also supports many IBM BIOS functions (so to say semi-compatible).
 
Martin Hepperle said:
I don't hink that is is easily patchable, if INT10 calls are all over the place... In the accompanying WS.INS file there are no terminal names and no escape sequences, so this capability seems to have been removed from the IBM-PC-DOS version.
Click to expand...

Nevertheless, the PC WS 3.3 version is patch-able if you're willing to do the work. The patch area still exists. I patched 3.3 for a non-PC compatible using the standard PC version. Granted, there was no documentation, but I used the CP/M version documentation as a rough guide.

I have WS 4.0 boxed, with documentation for both CP/M 8-bit systems as well as for the PC. Parallels regarding patching are quite easy to see.
 
I'll have to check the box as they may be in there. The overlay that I had in mind was the WordPerfect type that just drops on the keyboard - nothing sticky.
 
This one is probably pretty unusual. It’s a word perfect keyboard overlay for the Dec rainbow or vt200/300 terminals.

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I have a copy of WS 3.30 from 1979 for PC with 2 disks. The manual has an installation guide has a section on custom terminal installation. I have no idea if the disks are any good. I never tried them. The manual is complete with the stickers, registration card, tutorial, etc. According to the manual, WINSTALL option B is for the terminal. The manual goes on to say that it's generic, and not all versions have the same options. Weird.
 
Here is disk 1 label. Oddly, the manual is copyright 1983.
 

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I think the disk should say (c) 1979-1983. The original version of WordStar was in 1979, but 3.3 didn't come out until 1983. The IBM PC and PC-DOS didn't even exist in 1979.
 
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