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Word processor (Rainbow 1981-07)
One of the biggest problems in trying to put the first issue of the RAINBOW together was in finding a way to type these articles out. It seemed a shame to write a computer newsletter on a typewriter.
The RAINBOW comes to you via a Line Printer VII and, yes, there is a short program in "Going Ahead With Extended Color Basic" that will, as Radio Shack says, let you use the keyboard for a typewriter. Only one problem — you can't make a mistake in typing because the process of disabling the printer to fix them is really time-consuming. And, after all, who doesn't make mistakes?
Enter the following Program:
10 PRINT@416,;:LINE INPUT"(16 spaces)";A$ 20 PRIN#-2,A$ 30 CLS:GOT010
And, you get a mini-text editor!
This program lets you enter your words without committing them to the printer buffer. In other words, if you make a mistake, just backspace and correct it. Not until you have your whole line on the screen do you send it to the printer...so all you have to do is back up and fix your mistakes. For half-columns, like this one, just change the PRINT@ to 456.
What you are doing is positioning the cursor 40 spaces from the end of the screen. When the display "jumps" up, you stop typing and hit ENTER. Or, if you are trying for justified columns like these, you count the number of spaces to the end, back up and insert those spaces, between the words, and then ENTER the line. As you can see, justified lines are a slow process. We're working on a way to justify them automatically, and will have a report in the next issue of the RAINBOW.
You DO need Extended Color Basic to make this work. But, if you don't have it, the program will work with a regular INPUT. You. just cannot use commas, quote marks and the like.
Try writing a letter with this and we think you'll like it. It is geared for an 80-column printer, but the logic is easy to follow if you need to adapt (for a Quick Printer II, perhaps?) Happy writing!