15 replies to this topic

[flashjazzcat]

Haven't had time to upload this on the website yet or make an SDX ATR of it, so here it is:

 LW33RC1_DOS2.atr   130.02K   54 downloads

Check out the text files on the ATR for instructions on how to get the VBXE driver installed (basically, just rename VBXE.VDR to LW.VDR).

SDX users note - this works well with S_VBXE and CON.SYS, although LW uses its own driver and doesn't require S_VBXE.SYS to be installed. The disk formatter doesn't show up when called from LW's disk menu in VBXE mode, which appears to be the only issue.

[Rybags]

Yoink.

What about install to a HDD directory, what do we do there?

[Rybags]

OK, seems to work. It looks good - I've got other stuff I really should be doing so can't give it a proper workout.

[w1k]

jou.. i love this text editor
first i test viewing directory - works superb
vbxe must be cool .. i dont have it

[flashjazzcat]

Yeah - I was in a bit of a rush this morning: two last minute bug-fixes, and a change to the macro code to enable reaction to File Not Found conditions. This is how the welcome message in LW.MAC is only run the first time the program is exectuted.

To install on a HDD, just copy the executable and any other files you require (including the VBXE driver if you need it - rename it to LW.VDR) to your LW folder. The old configuration files are fully compatible apart from the notation for the EOLCHAR and PADCHAR characters in LW.CFG - these have changed from internal codes to ATASCII codes. You can either run CFGPATCH.MAC with <Shift+Ctrl+M> to update your existing file, or just generate a new one with <Shift+Ctrl+O> (Save CFG) and enter "LW.CFG".

The VBXE bug in Altirra has been fixed, BTW. The extensions (such as the spell-checker) haven't been recompiled for this version yet - I'll do that once I'm sure everything is working OK.

While very faithful to the stock hardware, I must admit even I find the 4-bit 80 column characters a bit of a shock after using the VBXE driver for a while. You soon get used to the clarity.

Edited by flashjazzcat, Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:08 PM.

[hitchcock4]

flashjazzcat, on Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:24 AM, said:

Haven't had time to upload this on the website yet or make an SDX ATR of it, so here it is:

Hi,
Don't have VBXE, but would be curious to see what the Last Word looks like with VBXE. Anyone want to demo it in a video?
Thanks!

[MrFish]

hitchcock4, on Sat Jan 14, 2012 9:17 PM, said:

flashjazzcat, on Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:24 AM, said:

Haven't had time to upload this on the website yet or make an SDX ATR of it, so here it is:

Anyone want to demo it in a video?

Just run it in Altirra.

[flashjazzcat]

[David_P]

flashjazzcat, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:33 AM, said:

Found a bug just watching the video.

The Copyright date is still 2011

Edited by David_P, Sun Jan 15, 2012 6:15 PM.

[flashjazzcat]

Heh - try the software David - it's already fixed.

I appreciate your attentiveness, though.

[flashjazzcat]

Anybody using this? 40 downloads and no bug reports yet - must be perfect. I can rest easy now!

[Stephen]

Still don't have a VBXE installed.

[NuY]

With a default SDX 4.44 config (I don't have a configured boot disk, the defaults seem to work okay for what I use), I can only get LW to use VBXE mode if the LW disk is in D1: at boot time. If any other or no disk are inserted, it defaults to the 4-bit 80 column mode. Is this intended behaviour, or do I need to have a config.sys on whatever boot disk I happen to be using to get VBXE mode up and running?

This is on Altirra 2.10test9, with XL/XE PAL-VBXE 1088k.

Edited by NuY, Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:55 AM.

[flashjazzcat]

This is intended behaviour, since LW needs to know how to find the VBXE driver, and if it can't find it, the program defaults to the built-in 4-bit 80 column driver. Using SDX, the best thing to do is define an environment variable "LWPATH" and set it to the drive/path containing your LW config files. You can have a list delimited with semicolons, just like the internal SDX path. So, if you have your config files are located here:

D3:>LW>

Put this in AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS:

SET LWPATH=D3:>LW>

Put LW.VDR in that folder on drive 3. Now open LW.SYS (assuming it exists), and ensure there is no conflicting PATH statement in there, since this will override the path you set up in the environment variable. Also check for a VIDEO_DRIVER statement - this can be used to override the default video driver name, which is LW.VDR.

If there's no LW.SYS, there's no absolute requirement to use one under SDX, unless there are other features you want to set.

With these steps in place, LW should be able to find its configuration files and the video driver no matter which drive / directory is logged when you start the program.

Don't forget you can also make LW use SDX drive letters instead of Dn: by setting the LWSDXDEV environment variable to 1. You'll need to go through LW.SYS and any other files with drive specifiers in them and edit them to conform to the new device naming convention, however. With this feature enabled, you can - for example - set the filespec to "CAR:*.*" on the disk menu and get a list of the files on CAR: (you'd otherwise need to specify "DCAR:*.*").

Edited by flashjazzcat, Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:15 PM.

[NuY]

Thanks for the assist, much appreciated. I don't use SDX to anywhere near its maximum potential - I use it purely because I like a command-line DOS and it's ROM based; hence not having any custom config.sys files and the like.

As a casual user, could I make one (hopefully) small request? In addition to the path options and variables you mentioned, would you be able to add in the current directory to the places LW searches for its config file (and by extension, the rest of the files it needs)? How many other people this would help I don't know, but it did stump me until you clarified

Edited by NuY, Sun Feb 19, 2012 4:52 AM.

[flashjazzcat]

No problem - glad to assist with enquiries since LW has grown into rather a complex application. I'm aware that the advanced stuff can be hard going until you get the hang of it.

Regarding the default directory: try ending the LWPATH with a semicolon. This is how you tell SDX to search the currently logged path, and I wanted to make LW work the same way. LW regards the currently logged drive / path as the one logged on its disk menu (this was - ironically - following a feature request to make it that way) rather than necessarily "D:" (DOS's currently logged directory).

So - try the trailing semicolon out and see how it works for you. Meanwhile, I'll look into this area of the source code more closely and ensure that pathing is handled in a sensible way (it's not an area of LW that I've revised in over a year).

Let me know if the above suggestion fits your needs. If not, we'll take another look at it.