Large numbers of old CP/M machines were 40, 64 or other column widths (even less than 40 in some cases). HHGTTG does not assume an 80 column screen if my memory is correct. It’s configurable and it picks it up from CP/M when possible (CP/M 3 provides the video width). Certainly I’ve played it fine on a 40 column screen
Yep checked. The byte after the initial JMP in the binary is the width setting and was adjusted according to the machine it was sold for.
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What about just running am emulator for the CP/M code you want to use?
CP/M works reasonably well at 60 columns. I use it on my phone in termux, usually between 45 and 60 columns. I did modify trek80 (Star Trek) to work in 60 columns, not sure it totally works though.
CP/M does not require an ansi terminal, unless you find some rare program that was specifically written to use one. So writing a terminal for CP/M is rather simple.
....+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6
A>dir
A: DUMP COM : SDIR COM : SUBMIT COM : ED COM
A: STAT COM : BYE COM : RMAC COM : CREF80 COM
A: LINK COM : L80 COM : M80 COM : SID COM
A: RESET COM : WM HLP : ZSID COM : MAC COM
A: TRACE UTL : HIST UTL : M ASM : LIB80 COM
A: WM COM : HIST COM : DDT COM : Z80ASM COM
A: CLS COM : SLRNK COM : MOVCPM COM : ASM COM
A: LOAD COM : XSUB COM : LIB COM : PIP COM
A: SYSGEN COM : M PRN : M HEX : M COM
A: T TXT : TEST Z80 : TEST BAK : TEST COM
A: TEST LST : TTTT COM : RUN COM
....+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6
D>dir
D: MBASIC COM : STARTRK BAS : STARINS BAS : OTHELLO COM
D: CRC COM : DEMO ASM : LADDER COM : LADDER DAT
D: T BAS : TREK BAS
D>mbasic t.bas
BASIC-80 Rev. 5.21
[CP/M Version]
Copyright 1977-1981 (C) by Microsoft
Created: 28-Jul-81
34872 Bytes free
THE USS ENTERPRISE --- NCC-1701
,------*------,
,------------- '--- ------'
'-------- --' / /
,---' '-------/ /--,
'----------------'
YOUR ORDERS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
--------------------------
DESTROY THE 19 KLINGON WARSHIPS WHICH HAVE INVADED THE
GALAXY BEFORE THEY CAN ATTACK FEDERATION HEADQUARTERS
ON STARDATE 2428. THIS GIVES YOU 28 DAYS. THERE ARE
3 STARBASES IN THE GALAXY FOR RESUPPLYING YOUR SHIP.
ARE YOU READY TO ACCEPT COMMAND? yes
YOUR MISSION BEGINS WITH YOUR STARSHIP LOCATED
IN THE GALACTIC QUADRANT, 'CAPELLA I'.
+-1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8-+
1| <E> * |1 STARDATE 2400.0
2| |2 CONDITION GREEN
3| * * |3 QUADRANT 3, 5
4| * |4 SECTOR 1, 7
5| |5 TORPEDOES 10
6| * |6 ENERGY 3000
7| * * * |7 SHIELDS 0
8| |8 KLINGONS 19
+-1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8-+
COMMAND?
I don’t know how I missed this, but…
This works pretty well. The later versions run in 80 columns, but it takes a bit of work to get used to it - but it does work. I was able to get into WordStar, and actually able to read the screen.
On my PicoCalc (Pico 2W,) it is available as an optional firmware on version 2.3 of Pelrun’s UF2 Loader ( UF2 Loader release ). It loads fine, and runs great. With the highest speed version, it emulates a 32 MHz Z-80, and the SD Card feels darned near a gazillion megabytes.
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