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AndyK
03-05-2003, 12:52 AM
Okay: so now that there is a Belkin keyboard driver in the works, I've ordered a G700 from them, with the 35% discount deal.

Next question: I do most of my notetaking in the dark, so I'm completely used to touchtyping -- which I was doing already anyway. I do everything from the keyboard...I almost NEVER use the mouse when writing.

Why is that?

Please do not laugh, peeps!: I write for a living and I STILL use WordStar for DOS. And not merely Wordstar for DOS, but version 4.0, which the few of you old to remember will realize was out-of-date around 1985. What can I tell you? My fingers are incredibly well-trained, and as of WinME I had no reason to switch; with WinXP I have some small reasons to quit (it's handling of DOS is a little quirkier), but I've managed to work around it.

Sure, one of these days I'll have to switch to Word. When I do I will buy a program to make the Word keyboard mimic WS as close as possible (or program macros to that effect), because that's the way my fingers instinctively move.

So....

Is there some Palm word/text program that either has similar commands or at least can be customized (as Word can on the desktop) to resemble those commands? I was trying to find the keyboard command structure for Wordsmith but couldn't.

For that matter, if I can't switch the left Cntrl key and the Caps Lock key, I'll freak out.

All advice appreciated.

gyffes
03-05-2003, 10:36 AM
Weirdo.

Do you still use an abacus, too?

AndyK
03-05-2003, 04:32 PM
Awww. I *said* not to laugh at me...

Unregistered
03-05-2003, 04:59 PM
hey... don't knock the abacus...

gyffes
03-06-2003, 08:18 AM
HAHAHAHAHA

No worries.. my favorite word processor is a basic texteditor.

DEATH TO MicroSquash products!

stevejohnson460
03-06-2003, 11:13 AM
Andy, I feel your pain.  My first PC was a Kaypro, and I cut my teeth on Wordstar.

I do a LOT of keyboarding, but since much of my material is printed and distributed, I've come to appreciate WYSIWYG.  Also, I'm a bit a-retentive, and I like even my personal stuff to look . . . nice.  :)

I've not used it personally, but I hear good things about a program called Pedit.  Reviewers say they never have to touch the screen.

http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?sid=257652E6-EA5F-4872-8EF4E5E8DA16F8CB&prodID=5873

I am curious.  How did a DOS based, WordStar kind of guy ever make the leap to a glitzy Clie?  What motivated your move?

^KD!

Steve

hansschmucker
03-06-2003, 11:36 AM
Works 1.05 here. And even today I still use the basic DOS text editor for a simple reason: It's the only program I can find on ANY PC from DOS 5.0 to WinXP which allows me to edit files that have a unix linebreak (10 instead of 1013). Most source files use this system

chazzz
03-06-2003, 11:55 AM
My first PC was a Sanyo... almost went Kaypro... also cut my teeth on Wordstar. I remember when we upgraded from 3.x to 4.0... I thought it was a cool upgrade! I use EditPlus for my general text editing (syntax highlighting), but keep DOS-based TSE (The Semware Editor) ready for things like the Unix linebreak too.

To AndyK -- Have you asked Blue Nomad about keyboard stuff? It might be worth a quick check with them. Or you might try the people at QLand, makers of QED (http://www.qland.de/qed/index.htm) (which is super-small compared to most of today's apps). They might be of some help as well.

AndyK
03-07-2003, 02:16 PM
thanks, gang! I'm going to try and examine all these options this weekend, though the current semi-functionality of the Belkin driver may slow me down.

Yup, WS 4.0 was a great upgrade, but that 5.0...man, was that buggy! Convinced me never to upgrade again...and I haven't.

In nearly every other way, I'm relatively up to date, though I probably *should* have started with some less expensive and magnificent PDA than the NX70v -- which is my *first* PDA -- but it seduced me.

havana626
03-07-2003, 05:36 PM
yea.. wordstar is/was cool ... but can you still find a 5 1/2" disk drive to load it with?

AndyK
03-07-2003, 06:47 PM
Haha!

That reminds of a cartoon that I saw around 1983 or 84 in some computer mag: A floppy sitting atop a carved marble column, as in a museum, with the plaque saying, "Actual legal Wordstar disc"

Mr. Thompson
03-07-2003, 10:41 PM
Hey, I cut my word processing teeth with WordStar on an Osborne. For pure text word processing, it still rocks. And yes, I still have my Osborne...