Write Now - instructions

This is instructions for the vic-20 program cartridge "Write Now". A nice and quite usable text editor for the vic-20. I don't have the original instructions, so this is what I have figured out myself just by testing.

Download

  • WRITENOW41000.PRG (at Zimmers)

    Starting WriteNow

    If you have the cartridge, it's (as always) just to plug it in with the power off. The cartridge image file is available for download at Zimmers. To load it, make sure you have ram in block 5 and load the file ,8,1 and then start with the start sys, like this:

    LOAD"WRITENOW41000",8,1
    SYS41000

    And the program starts...

    Function keys

  • F1 - Print options (go back with run/stop).
  • F2 - Exit program ("y" to confirm).
  • F3 - Save to disk (runstop to cancel). If the file exists, then it will be overwritten.
  • F4 - Load from disk (runstop to cancel). Note that the loaded text is appended to the end of the old text, so use CLR first if you want to load a new text.
  • F5 - Insert the "Delete buffer" into the text.
  • F6 - Clear the "Delete Buffer".
  • F7 - Show free memory (hold down).
  • F8 - Go to bottom of text.
  • Home - Goto top of text.
  • Clr - Clear text ("y" to confirm).
  • Inst - insert - just as normal vic editing.
  • Del - Delete character and add it to the "Delete buffer".
  • Arrow left - Tab.
  • Ctrl 1 - Page up.
  • Ctrl 2 - Page down.
  • Ctrl 3 - Search.
  • Ctrl 4 - Search and Replace.
  • Ctrl 5 - Put Tab.
  • Ctrl 6 - Remove Tab.
  • Ctrl 7 - Show Tabs (hold down).
  • Ctrl 8 - View position in text. (F8 then Ctrl 8 to see length of text).

    If you have quit or made a reset, you can always restart the program with SYS41000.

    Copy, Cut and Paste

    "Write Now" doesn't have these functions as they normally appear, but it is possible to do the same things. Every time you delete a character, it's added to the "delete buffer". F5 inserts this buffer into the text and F6 clears the buffer. So to perform a...

    Printing

    WN2ASCII

    "Write now" doesn't save petascii or normal ascii, so I made a little converter program that converts a WriteNow file to ascii. This way you can use WriteNow to write texts for use on modern computers. This html file was written with "Write Now". (Download? It's included with the HtmlWalker package).

    ASCII2WN

    Yes, you can now go from the PC to WriteNow too! (Also included with the HtmlWalker package).
    Good Luck!
    /Anders Persson
    https://www.boray.se
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