On Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 08:10:59 PM EST, FreeLists Mailing List Manager <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
xywrite Digest Tue, 14 Feb 2023 Volume: 15 Issue: 025
In This Issue:
Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
Re: A surprise announcement: DOS Word 5.5 has an installer
Conversion of Xy4 docs to Word problems
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Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 04:33:14 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
OK, some progress and some frustration in XyVDOS4Mac.Â
What I have mapped to A: -- my XY folder -- seems to be the equivalent of your XY4 -- the working directory. But mine has both the program files and a zillion text files.Â
If I change B: to A: in autoexec.txt, I think that's too soon -- it doesn't run your editor.exe and can't find startup, settings, etc. Sometimes it crashes completely. So I have returned to B and used the Option key to map my XY to A. That lets me find my text files with A:filename. I'm fine with that.Â
But the scrambled function keys are a major problem. I think the solution is to find an old standard XY4 keyboard file and put those assignments into your XY4.KBD rather than what you are now using.
From the dawn of recorded XY time, F7 and F8 have been for cutting and pasting within XY4, essential to me. Your xy4.kbd does something else with them and with this keyboard file, I just don't know how to cut and paste within XY. (I see the commands in my old .kbd file -- MV for instance -- but I'm not ready to type them in every time.) F1 is start/end selected text, F3 is clear selection. F4 deletes a line. Yours do something else. Yes, I see that holding down shift selects text to work with your (still unparalleled) clipboard subroutines, but within XY4 is unknown.
I tried to copy-and-paste the function key assignments, 60-70, from my old KBD file into XY4.KBD, Table=, and they looked fine -- nnÿ, couldn't be simpler. But on reloading they just didn't work, nor did the function keys do anything else.Â
I'm also having trouble finding the virtual files in Vdos. Right-click and Show Package Contents seem to be for .pkg files, not .app. If I right-click, the app just opens. (To get my function keys into XY4.KBD, I went into my DosBox-X installation, copied to clipboard, and pasted and proofread.)Â
Window ö0 made the type size better, thanks. I still don't know how to tell Settings.dfl I want white text.Â
Anyway, trying to do things with "fanatical precision," but the Windows vs. Mac battles continue.
I'll try the DosBox version soon; I suspect that may be the solution.Â
Jon ParelesÂ
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 13:59:35 -0500
Subject: Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
Jon,
On using your own files, see the updated version of this page:
And please download the latest version of the application.
The page tells you where to find the Xy4 folder inside the Xy4vDosMac
application. It tells you exactly what you need to do to use your own
settings. Please print out the page and underline everything that says
that "you absolutely must" do x, y, or z, because those statements are
accurate.
Things may or may not go wrong even after you follow all the
instructions with fanatical precision...
The window colors are controlled by SETTINGS.DFL. The screen font size
is controlled by the Window ÿetting in CONFIG.TXT, which you should (I
hope) be able to change by holding down the Option key when launching
the application and choosing the option to set window size relative to
the screen. Try 60 first, and only go higher if you have room on your
screen for a larger size.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 09:03:51 +0200
Subject: Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
Hi all,
For the record:
Standard keyboard assignments in Xy3:
Unshift F1 | Begin/end sel. :59=Q1,DF
Unshift F2 | Save sel.to key:60=Q2,SV
Unshift F3 | Clear selection:61=Q3,XD
Unshift F4 | Select line :62=Q4,DL
Unshift F5 | Blank cmdline :63=Q5,BC
Unshift F6 | CALL :64=Q6,BC,c,a,xc
Unshift F7 | Copy selection :65=CP
Unshift F8 | Move selection :66=MV
Unshift F9 | Execute cmd :67=XC
Unshift F10 | Goto cmdL/text :68=CC
And Xy4:
Unshift F1 | Help :59=Q1,H@
Unshift F2 | Ins. text macro:60=Q2,XH,SG
Unshift F3 | Begin/end sel. :61=Q3,DF
Unshift F4 | Select paragr. :62=Q4,DP
Unshift F5 | Blank cmdline :63=Q5,BC
Unshift F6 | Next window :64=Q6,XH,NX
Unshift F7 | Spell check :65=XH,JM,(,S,p,e,l,l,)
Unshift F8 | Formatted view :66=XH,SP
Unshift F9 | Execute cmd :67=XC
Unshift F10 | Menu bar :68=GT,SH
Best regards,
Kari Eveli
LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
*** Lexitec Online ***
Jon P wrote:
> From the dawn of recorded XY time, F7 and F8 have been for cutting and
> pasting within XY4, essential to me. Your xy4.kbd does something else
> with them and with this keyboard file, I just don't know how to cut and
> paste within XY. (I see the commands in my old .kbd file -- MV for
> instance -- but I'm not ready to type them in every time.)Â F1 is
> start/end selected text, F3 is clear selection. F4 deletes a line. Yours
> do something else. Yes, I see that holding down shift selects text to
> work with your (still unparalleled) clipboard subroutines, but within
> XY4 is unknown.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 08:08:54 -0500
Jon, you wrote:
>What I have mapped to A: -- my XY folder -- seems to be the equivalent of your
XY4 -- the working directory. But mine has both the program files and a zillion
text files.
But my instructions (designed to be followed with fanatical precision) say:
>Hold down the Option key when starting the program and choose the option to map a new drive; choose the folder that contains the subfolder with your existing system, and assign it to drive A: or some other available letter.
Notice that it says “choose the folder THAT CONTAINS the subfolder with your existing system.�
That means: do NOT choose a folder that is named XY4. Choose a folder that CONTAINS XY4 inside it - the folder ABOVE XY4.
As for the keyboard, see my paragraph that begins “You can use your own version of XY4.KDB or any other keyboard file.� Of course, the keyboard file that gets used is the one that’s called in STARTUP.INT.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Two systems for running Xy4 under macOS
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 08:12:44 -0500
PS. What you refer to as my keyboard file is actually Carl’s, for use with U2, I’ve changed only this: I’ve added two assignments, for Ctrl-Alt-C and Ctrl-Alt-V for clipboard copy/pasting, and (in the current upload) I’ve restored the original XyWrite F11 assignment, because F9 was already available for U2. The prompt at the end of STARTUP.INT says something like F10 Menu. F9 Help/U2. Otherwise the keyboard is exactly the one that Carl organized for U2, which I think is almost exactly the original Xy4 keyboard with the changes that Carl listed near the top of the file.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 10:07:51 -1000
Subject: Re: A surprise announcement: DOS Word 5.5 has an installer
Sorry for the delayed reply Kari; I was referring to Word 1.1 for DOS.
It was amazing for its time and still is at least as a
distraction-free word processor.
The first actual word processor I ever used was Wordstar 5.5. I like
it quite a lot at the time.
But of course Xywrite is what it is obviously because ot the
programmable capabilites, which really left the rest behind and I
think is still far superior to Word or even Libre Office, even though
they have extensive macro capabilities.
Of course nothing comes close to Emacs in that regard!
Returning to Word 1.1 for DOS, I would use it more often for composing
pure text, except for what I mentioned --- that DOSBox really drains
my laptop batteries. (Same issue with Xywrite unfortunately.) I have
exclusively Linux systems and I've customized the Nano editor to serve
the purpose of writing a quick blog column or short fiction.
>
> Bob,
>
> When you are talking about Word 1.1, is it Windows or DOS Word 1.1? I
> assume it is the famed Windows Word 1.1 with source code in the open. My
> own history with Word began with DOS Word 2.0 which was the first
> program I bought for my IBM AT. I have used all DOS Word versions from 2
> to 5. I never really adopted Windows Word. I have it installed but for
> opening and creating DOC/X files, I use the German Word clone Textmaker
> which is very capable in every respect, and has versions for Windows,
> Macs and Linux.
>
> My new installer makes using DOS Word 5.5 very easy. The vDosPlus
> instance is as snappy and stable as XyWrite 4. Actually, the two
> programs complement each other very well.
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Kari Eveli
> LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
>
> *** Lexitec Online ***
>
> > Compare with firing up the current version of Word (which I don't
> > have) or even LibreOffice (which I do have). Talk about using
> > sledgehammers to kill gnats!
>
--
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i
Via Linux/Emacs/Gnus/BBDB.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 18:28:09 -0500
Subject: Conversion of Xy4 docs to Word problems
I'm having trouble converting my Xy4 documents into the newest (2019)
version of Word on a Mac. Can anyone supply a conversion program or
instructions for importing?
In Word for Mac 2011 under Files/Open... I was able to click "Enable all
files", open my Xy4 doc file with a menu that gave me the option of
converting from "MS-DOS Text" or some other options. I could then paste as
unformatted text into a preformatted template.
I cannot figure out a way to do the same in Word 2019, which I need to run
under Ventura on my new MacBook. At least not without a lot of tidying up.
Thanks in advance, and a big thank you to everyone, Carl, Edward, et al,
who have kept XyWrite viable through the vast changes in hardware,
operating systems, et al. over the past two decades!
Lisa
Lisa Kleinholz
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End of xywrite Digest V15 #25
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