Mads Michelsen wrote:
I'm trying to get WordPerfect 5.1 running in terminal mode but I'm having a few problems:
I find that WP 5.1 runs just as well in Xorg.
1. The ALT key: WP uses the ALT key to get to the pull down menu. This can be toggled but not changed/customized in WP (as far as I can tell). I've tried a few terminals but whatever is intercepting the ALT key press, it isn't getting to WordPerfect. Any suggestions?
The *use* of the alt key to pull the menu down can be toggled on/off (Shift-F1 -> Display -> Menu options -> Alt key selects pull down menu) but it cannot be customized. If use of the Alt key to pull down menu is turned off, then the F program keys, alone or with shift, alt or ctrl, have to be used to have access to various WP features. Unfortunately some of these key combinations are also used by linux. Dosemu is not very effective in diverting these key combinations from their linux functions to WP functions. So, to avoid unpleasant consequences from trying to use these key functions for WP and have the computer respond with the linux functions, I have taken to using the pull down menus activated by the alt keys. If you know well the linux and WP functions of these key combinations, you can use for WP those which you know will not call undesired linux functions, and use the pull down menu for the others.
2. Characters/encoding. My keyboard has a few non-ascii characters, most importantly æ, å, and ø. The first two seem to get recognized consistenly but the last is represented as 'ϕ'. A utf-8 (the default encoding on ym system and in the terminal dosemu is running in) problem? I tried changing the terminals encoding to iso-8859-1 but that just made it impossible to enter anything in dosemu...
WP 5.1 uses the US character set by default; it will not recognize any of the others, unless you have and use one of the WP 5.1 language modules for languages other than US English.. It does however, have its own system for remapping keys, which is explained in the WP 5.1 manual. It also has a way of entering special keys, including those you mention, also explained in the manual. These are accessed by entering ctrl-2 or ctrl-v, the latter being better for WP 5.1, the other necessary for other WP applications. For example, ctrl-v, then "a" and then "e" will give æ. Ctrl-v, then "a" and then "o" will give å. Ctrl-v, then "o" and then "/" will give ø. When printed from WP 5.1 through CUPS and a compatible printer, these character combinations will also print correctly.
3. File types. Possibly related to above. I can't import text docs as WP constantly claims that the file format is incompatible. When viewing the text file, all the three characters are rendered as garbage.
To import text to WP 5.1 from other file formats, you need to save such text to an ASCII text editor such as KDE's Kedit and then open the file thereby created in a DOS text editor such as the WordPerfect text editor. You can also use the "Text In/Out" feature of WP 5.1. Select Ctrl-F5, then "Text in" and then "DOS text (CR/LF and SRt), and finally enter the path and file name of the document (or text) to be retrieved. To export text from a WP 1.5 to a Linux file, save the WP file is ASCII format by selecting Ctrl-F5, then "Text out" and either "DOS text" or "generic", and so save the text in that format in a new file. Such a text or file can then be inserted in a Linux document file or application, either directly or by using a clip board. Ken Heard -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-msdos" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
