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Problem run Wordstar7 f/DOS in Windows XP, on a Mac, in a VMFusion virt.machine

Started by mdoublet, September 24, 2010, 09:50:53 AM

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mdoublet

PROBLEM RUNNING WORDSTAR 7 FOR DOS IN WINDOWS XP,  ON A MAC, IN A FUSION VIRTUAL MACHINE.

My WS7 directory is in Windows XP under VM Fusion on my Mac. It was created by dragging over the WS folder already existing on the Mac, in DOSBOX (where it works, but can't print, and is too awkward to open 30 times a day as needed for a work log). I can't make WordStar7 run in XP under Fusion. Among other error messages, it says it can't find the WordStar.Pif file.

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[Pic #1. Screen from clicking WS icon in XP\Program Files\WS, in VM Fusion virtual machine on MacBook Pro: "Windows cannot open this file: WordStar.pif 3".

(NB, when in Windows I can't use some punctuation marks in filenames for screen pictures, so sometimes in filenames I have substituted a - or a comma for / or \ ,  and semicolon for colon in MAC OSX 6.5 also. But I always am careful about this in actual command lines. Careful, but not infallible, and often confused about whether my command should be "Speaking DOS" or "Speaking Windows" or "Speaking Wordstar".)

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In the WS directory in XP\Program Files, Wordstar.Pif existed only as an alias, called "Wordstar", that doesn't point to anything and can't be opened by XP. (This was true also of the "WS" program file also, which should be labeled "ws.exe", but it was seen by XP only as an alias, complete with bent arrow in the icon. Mystery.)

I have a working WordStar.PIF in a WS folder on the Mac, under DOSBOX. Tried to copy it into the \WS directory  (XP:\C:\Program Files\WS\. It refused to copy-- sometimes it came in as an empty file, mostly it just didn't copy at all-- whether I drag-copied, or clicked Copy/Paste.

Also, trying to copy or drag, a message says "Already have a file named Wordstar", not mentioning the .PIF extension that should be on that file, but isn't. The existing file "WordStar" is perceived as the same as "WordStar.Pif", even though other filename extensions ARE shown in the WS directory. Somehow, in either Mac OSX or in XP, even if I change the name of the new file to "WORDSTAR.PIF 2" OR "WORDSTAR.PIF COPY", it still sees only the basic name "wordstar", but not the extension ".PIF", and sees it as a duplicate of the new file, and refuses to copy the file, only to replace it. And it won't even replace it. Another mystery.

[#2. Msg "16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem--Z:\DOS\C\WS\ws.exe -- Invalid startup directory,please check your pif file', under a blank black screen, no buttons or choices.]

Also I sometimes got this screen:

[#3. Msg title:"Wordstar/? "(used switch) "Windows cant find 'wordstar/?'. ...]

or

[#4. Title "run". Msg: Z:Users\SG\DOS\C\WS refers to a location that is unavailable. ?"]

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If I forget about the PIF file, and click directly on the program file, WS.EXE, in XP\ProgrFiles\WS, it does open a (small)Wordstar opening screen labeled "[Inactive wordstar]", which won't do anything, and can't be enlarged to  more than 6" wide, though vertically it can be enlarged to fill the screen.
Here is my command in XP's Start Menu\Run:

[#5. Title: "Run". Msg: Type the name of a program?."; I wrote c:\Program Files\ws\ws.exe" (in Start Menu, Run).]

It briefly responded and actually showed the commands of the WS opening screen (but I couldn't grab a picture of it). Then it showed just this empty black screen, with no further action possible. I have no way to change directories or access my files. I have no idea what "[Inactive Wordstar]" means. How do I  make it "active?

[#6. Title of blank black screen in WS format: "[Inactive WordStar]. No buttons or choices.]

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If I abandon the WS folder under XP Program Files, and try instead to have XP access the duplicate folder of Wordstar on the Mac under DOSBOX (ie,  Z:\DOS\C:\WS\ws.exe), I get this error message.

[#7. Blank black window,Title: "Z:\DOS\C\WS\ws.exe". Msg: "Invalid startup directory, check your pif file?..".]

or:

[#8 Window title: "Run". Msg: "Z:\Users\SG\DOS\C:\WS refers to a location that is unavailable?."]

---------

There seem to me to be four separate problems here, mixed together, that I cannot clearly sort out and isolate:

   1. First Choice: Make windows 98 install properly, with VM Tools, under Fusion. (I am writing to Fusion about this.)

   2. Then make WS7 for DOS run under Win98 under Fusion. (It works fine on my PC, but I can't keep two    computers on my small desk forever, and need both constantly.)

   3. OR, Second Choice: Make WS7 for DOS run under XP (whether under Fusion or  without Fusion). (Obviously this is a common problem in itself, judging by this forum's queries.)

   4. #3 evidently depends on getting Mac OSX 6.5 AND XP to handle paths correctly and recognize WordStar file extensions.

I have had even more stubborn problems with my first choice, trying to run WordStar in Fusion in a Windows 98 virtual machine, though Wiin XP would be more familiar and convenient for me than XP, and would have fewer or no compatibility problems. But I cannot even get the opening Wordstar 7 screen visible under Windows 98, and I can't manage to install VM tools with Win98. So I will settle for Wordstar 7 running under the hateful XP, if I can just get it working! Since XP apparently runs properly under Fusion already, the solution has to be a WS/XP problem, not an XP/FUSION problem.

I have been struggling unsuccessfully with this mess for more than a month, full time, and have downloaded and tried dozens of articles from this (wonderful!) WordStar Forum, from the VM Fusion site and the windows XP site, including many about problems running Dos-based Programs under XP, fiddling with compatability settings, startup files, 16-bit, 256 colors, etc. But I don't really understand these concepts well enough to know if I have used them correctly.

Can anybody at the Wordstar Forum help me get this setup working -- running Wordstar 7 for DOS under Windows XP installed as a virtual machine in VMware Fusion 3.1.1 on a Macbook Pro? Any help with getting my beloved Wordstar (my companion since my first Osborne 1 in 1982!) running again, in Win98 or WinXP, will be most gratefully received!

Sheridan     mdoublet@verizon.net
Member code # 4528744fad

(Like another of your forum correspondents, I already get tons of junk e-mail, and am not afraid of it. My salad of problems may be too quirky to justify such a long query in the Forum itself; if so, anyone can email me directly if they wish. By the way, I love your forum. Compared with all others I have seen, the members seem civilized, intelligent, literate and kind -- which may say a lot for our mutual love of WordStar!)








mdoublet

PGAGA

Friday, September 24, 2010

Unless you are looking to run WS in a screen setting such as 70 x120, use DOSBox on OS X.  Print to a postscript file and use Preview to print.  It has been years, since I have printed from WS using anything other than postscript.

Note if you are printing on a Windows system, you can print directly from DOSBox using lpt1.dos.

Phil

mdoublet

Many thanks, Phil, for your helpful answer. I am relieved to know that I can indeed print from Dosbox after all. But I'm afraid I have no idea what "1pt1.dos" means-- is it software? And I have never known what Postscript is - a sort of font? or a type of printer? My printers have never used it. I hope you can enlighten me a little so I can try it out! I have an HP Office Jet 6500 all-in-one machine, connected by USB2 to my Mac, and I have been printing my WordStar files from my Toshiba PC on an old Canon BJC-240 Bubble-Jet printer, also USB connected. Can either of them be used with Postscript, or with 1pt1.dos?

I don't know what "run WS in a screen setting such as 70 x 120" means, either! But I certainly wouldn't want to run Wordstar full-screen on a 15" laptop monitor. My screen need only be 88 characters across. I planned to run WS in a window, and keep it always open behind other Mac windows, for quick "hit and run" annotations all day, such as:

(Job)  (Task) (Action)                                                                (Start) (End) (Hrs)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flint  LidInt  Wash & dry lid, light sand gesso w/0400,wet         18:00-18:45   .75
Flint  LidInt  Transfer design w/Siena pastel ppr, light                18:45-20:30 1.75
Pers  Diet     LeanCuis, 300c; rd Austen,P&P                             20:30-21:00   .50
Flint  LidInt  Setup Alkyds palette w/W&N RoseMad,MS&Liquin  21:00-21:30   .50
Flint  Flap     Lay in ldscp,archit,woods & lake,thin MS washes    21:30-12:45 3.25
Pers  Read    Austen, P&P                                                         24:45-01:15   .50

This table-form log has been running in Wordstar since 1982. The reason it must be WS, instead of something else (besides love and habit) is that WS lets me use the nine colors designed for Print Controls, as an onscreen color-coding of the categories of work and play, the verbs and nouns of activity. Thus I can pick out instantly, onscreen, whatever category of job or action I am seeking, without having to do a word search. I can pre-type the formula words and phrases for the two left columns, and keep the list at the bottom of the screen. Then I use WordStar's incredibly fast ^Y, ^U on a stock phrase in the list, pick it up already color coded, and ^U again in position in my log. So I don't have to clumsily hand-type the codes for every word, like this

^PTFlint^PT|^PDVARN^PD|Varnish flap w/W&N Retouch Spray 09:30-09:45   .25

The log is totaled daily, then periodically converted to DBase 3+ for DOS, for sorting by various categories and printing and analyzing. (How much actual painting time last month vs research time, or how much total time on Flint vs. other jobs?)

Will I be able to do that in DOSBOX with "1p1.dos" and PostScript? What do I need to get to do it?

To tell the truth, I am very reluctant to give up on using Fusion to run WS7 in Win98 or XP. I have invested so much time and money in it -- the possibility of running Wordstar in Windows on a Mac made me delay buying my Mac for months, waiting for the Intel model to be out. I really hate to give up on that if I don't absolutely have to! Hasn't anybody made WordStar work with VM Fusion? But if that really cannot be, I shall be most grateful to have the DOSBOX option working, with your help. Thank you so much!

Sheridan


Attachment (hopefully):
/Users/sg/Desktop/WordStar colors,DoneLog.jpg

(No I don't know how to attach the picture. How does one do it??)










mdoublet

PGAGA

Thursday 07 October 2010

Quote from: mdoublet on October 04, 2010, 08:56:35 AM
Many thanks, Phil, for your helpful answer. I am relieved to know that I can indeed print from Dosbox after all. But I'm afraid I have no idea what "1pt1.dos" means-- is it software?

Printers send data to ports - today mostly to USB ports.  In the DOS days it was lpt ports.  On my Windows and OS/2 systems I use network settings to redirect DOS LPT output to USB and network printers.  The operating system software designation for the LPT ports is LPT1.DOS, LPT2.DOS, LPT3.DOS.  While DOSBox does not accept the LPT setting, if a WordStar printer driver is set to LPT1.DOS DOSBox will sent the data to the printer.

In the case of OS X, because it is a *nix system, this is not possible when using DOSBox for OS X.  If you are using DOSBox within Parallels or Fusion, you can use LPT1.DOS.  In the case of Parallels, it uses a virtual LPT system. Fusion uses another method so you would have to define the LPT1 port using a command similar to the following:

   net use LPT1: \\GriffwoodXP\E250dn /PERSISTENT:YES

I have both Parallels (WinXP) and Fusion (Win7).  I have no problem printing from WS7 using LPT1.DOS in parallels.

That said I rarely use it (in fact the only time is proof of ability).

QuoteAnd I have never known what Postscript is - a sort of font? or a type of printer? My printers have never used it. I hope you can enlighten me a little so I can try it out! I have an HP Office Jet 6500 all-in-one machine, connected by USB2 to my Mac, and I have been printing my WordStar files from my Toshiba PC on an old Canon BJC-240 Bubble-Jet printer, also USB connected. Can either of them be used with Postscript, or with 1pt1.dos?

By using Postscript, I can print to any printer connected to my system.  Since you describe use of colour, you will need to use my custom Postscript printer driver available through my website www.grifwood.com.  To use it you will need to have DriverPS.ovr in your WS7 setup.

One uses the driver to print to file.  On my Parallels and Fusion setups, the printer prints to the OS X desktop.  In my case the output is w:\wordstar.ps.  You can then open the file in Preview and print to any printer attached to your system.

Personally I use a program called MacGhostView.  The reason for that is that I use fonts that are not part of the standard PS setup and MGV lets me print with them.

QuoteI don't know what "run WS in a screen setting such as 70 x 120" means, either! But I certainly wouldn't want to run Wordstar full-screen on a 15" laptop monitor. My screen need only be 88 characters across. I planned to run WS in a window, and keep it always open behind other Mac windows, for quick "hit and run" annotations all day, such as:

When I run WS7 in Parallels I run in a setup which is 70 lines by 120 character columns.  The default setting is 25 lines by 80 columns.  I use a program called TameDOS to do this.

You could use OS X DOSBox for quick hit and run.

QuoteWill I be able to do that in DOSBOX with "1p1.dos" and PostScript? What do I need to get to do it?

In Fusion you could set up LPT1.DOS if you have a driver which works with your printers.  But, at least one of them is brain dead, that is lacks fonts.

I would suggest that you try installing my PS printer driver and printing to the Desktop and using Preview to print.

QuoteTo tell the truth, I am very reluctant to give up on using Fusion to run WS7 in Win98 or XP. I have invested so much time and money in it -- the possibility of running Wordstar in Windows on a Mac made me delay buying my Mac for months, waiting for the Intel model to be out. I really hate to give up on that if I don't absolutely have to! Hasn't anybody made WordStar work with VM Fusion? But if that really cannot be, I shall be most grateful to have the DOSBOX option working, with your help. Thank you so much!

I do have WS7 running in Fusion using DOSBox on Win7 64 bit.  WS7 should run fine in a Win98 Fusion setup without using either DOSBox or TameDOS.  I have to use it with the Win7 setup because it does not support 8 bit programs. Win98 supports 8 bit programs.  Set up the printer to use to print from Fusion and then use net use to set up the LPT1 port and you can print from WS7.

For printing though, I would try the PS driver printing to file.  Then you could use either of your printers.

Phil