dfoley@ulowell.UUCP (the Aberration) (08/15/86)
This is my first posting to this net, so please pardon me bringing up what may be an old subject. My problem: I am ambitiously trying to write a terminal program for the C-64, and have decided that it will be near useless without an 80-column display. I am aware that there are several boards out to do this, but am interested in a software-only solution. I would prefer to write my own, but can't decide all that would be involved. Has anyone got any theories on this? Please post responses, as my mailbox is kludgey. Thanks in advance. -- these opinions - this entity's extrapolation of reality iyamwatiyam - an incarnation of the Aberration "Between what is there, and what shouldn't be, lies the Aberration."
daveh@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (08/18/86)
> > This is my first posting to this net, so please pardon me bringing up what > may be an old subject. > > My problem: I am ambitiously trying to write a terminal program for the > C-64, and have decided that it will be near useless without an 80-column > display. I am aware that there are several boards out to do this, but am > interested in a software-only solution. I would prefer to write my own, but > can't decide all that would be involved. Has anyone got any theories on > this? Please post responses, as my mailbox is kludgey. > > Thanks in advance. > -- > these opinions - this entity's extrapolation of reality > > iyamwatiyam - an incarnation of the Aberration > > "Between what is there, and what shouldn't be, lies the Aberration." Its not very difficult to do a software 80 columns on the C64 using a high-res screen. There's a PD VT-52 program that does this, I believe Compute! had an article on it awhile ago, and if that's not enough, I wrote some PROMAL code a few years back that drives a software described 80 column display very easily. Let me know if you're interested in seeing the code, I might be able to post it or send you a disk. -- /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Dave Haynie {caip,ihnp4,allegra,seismo}!cbmvax!daveh "I gained nothing at all from Supreme Enlightenment, and for that very reason it is called Supreme Enlightenment." -Gotama Buddha These opinions are my own, though for a small fee they be yours too. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
elg@usl.UUCP (Eric Lee Green) (08/20/86)
In article <648@ulowell.UUCP> dfoley@ulowell.UUCP (the Aberration) writes: >My problem: I am ambitiously trying to write a terminal program for the >C-64, and have decided that it will be near useless without an 80-column >display. I am aware that there are several boards out to do this, but am >interested in a software-only solution. I would prefer to write my own, but >can't decide all that would be involved. Has anyone got any theories on >this? Please post responses, as my mailbox is kludgey. Well, first thing you need to understand is how the C-64's hi-res screen is laid out: as 8 bit by 8 byte squares (tat's right, the size of a character!). To do pseudo-80-column, you just need a 4-bit-wide font, and use the old and/or masking method to stuff it into the left side or right side of that 8 by 8 square (depending on whether your 80 column "cursor" is on an odd or even number). The easy way to do this is to have a double-defined font... that is, each character position in the font is two 4-bit characters, one for each side of the 8-bit character. For more information, I posted the sources to JAFT (an 80 column TVI910 emulator) to the net a couple of months ago. I'll mail a copy to anybody who mails me $2.50 (I get disks real cheep because the computer club I belong to buys them bulk-rate, but the mailer and postage add up). I also have a PROMAL implementation that I wrote just playing with the concept of software-emulated 80 columns... however, I don't know what disk it's on (I have two disk boxes full of old programs I've written that I need to sort through, clean up, and catalog... but I so hate deleting things, I'm such a pack-rat...). If I find the Promal implementation, I'll post it to the net. -- Eric Green {akgua,ut-sally}!usl!elg (Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509) Bayou Telecommunications' ML guru, USL student "The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."