WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

paradoxyl•about 2 hours ago

These programs are great for sitting down and writing with no distractions, but if you have a setup with directories full of word docs, text files, various graphics, even excel sheets all related to what you are working on that you need to refer to and cross-reference, they are less useful than an older version of Word or OpenOffice/LibreOffice. And they are difficult to export, share... there's a reason we don't use typewriters anymore, or DOS programs whose output is confined within a single program.

onemoresoop•44 minutes ago

That looks like a different type of writing, perhaps research or business writing. Wordstar like editors that bring simplicity and a distraction free environment are best suited for creative writing.

wodenokoto•24 minutes ago

A large fantasy adventure could easily have supporting documents with cities stats, characters, races, maps etc.

llagerlof•16 minutes ago

Interesting that the guy who wrote the article is an award-winning science fiction writer and also the author of FlashForward. They even made a TV series based on it.

zabzonk•12 minutes ago

Using its text mode, WordStar made a pretty good programming editor.

LeFantome•about 3 hours ago

https://wordtsar.ca/

dmbche•about 2 hours ago

https://worldstar.com/

terminalgravity•about 1 hour ago

I believe George R. R. Martin uses wordstar to write his books. I still hold a little hope that he will finish A Song of Ice and Fire series.

visarga•4 minutes ago

I think he is busy making sure AI doesn't finish it first. Can't have AIs trample in his fantasy land.

jszymborski•about 2 hours ago

I've long considered getting a netbook, slapping freedos on it and running WordStar or WordPerfect as a writing deck.

I'm not sure how I would get my files I create off the device since USB support isn't really a thing.

hakfoo•about 2 hours ago

If you use a machine with an ISA slot, you can get a card with a chip called CH375 or CH376, which deploys a USB flash drive like a normal hard disc with either a loadable driver or option BIOS ROM. You can just pull out the entire drive and mount it on a normal Windows or Linux box.

I think the below-mentioned Pocket 376 might have one soldered-on already.

toast0•about 2 hours ago

I thought freedos could use usb? Get something with built in ethernet or serial and you can transfer that way pretty easy too.

Or just run joe as jstar and close enough, maybe? I use joe for mostly everything, but I never used WordStar (well, I ran into it once)

WorldMaker•about 1 hour ago

Apparently the right combination of BIOS and FreeDOS gives you somewhat easy USB support: https://superuser.com/questions/740474/how-to-access-a-usb-s...

geonineties•about 1 hour ago

If you want just load the dos net ios/smb stack (or a tcp stack) and go to town.

jwrallie•about 2 hours ago

Something like the Pocket 386 but with a regular size keyboard could be the perfect device for this purpose.

kevin_thibedeau•about 2 hours ago

It should run fine under dosemu with a minimal console only Linux.

EagnaIonat•about 1 hour ago

I still have memories of having to install Wordstar 2000 on 5 1/4" floppies. I think it was like 20 discs and painfully slow.

WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)

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