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IBM Displaywriter

Among the items acquired recently was the binder illustrated in the attached pictures, which show a sample of the (100?) pages in the binder. It is an IBM publication apparently designed as a reference tool to be used in conjunction with the tutorial disks for Textpack. It contains step-by-step how-to instructions for many types of common tasks, from booting the machine and preparing disks for use to sophisticated formatting and printing.

I would be willing to make a PDF copy of these pages if 1) one doesn't exist already in some repository and 2) I have a place to upload it, as attachments are not allowed here. Let me know, please.

Thanks.

-CH-

DWJobText1.jpg DWJobText3.jpg DWJobText4.jpg DWJobText5.jpg
 

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clh333 said:
It is an IBM publication apparently designed as a reference tool to be used in conjunction with the tutorial disks for Textpack. It contains step-by-step how-to instructions for many types of common tasks, from booting the machine and preparing disks for use to sophisticated formatting and printing.

I would be willing to make a PDF copy of these pages if 1) one doesn't exist already in some repository and 2) I have a place to upload it, as attachments are not allowed here. Let me know, please.
Click to expand...

Could you check this link please:

http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/.../S544-2264-0_Displaywriter_Job_Aids_Jun83.pdf

and confirm whether you have a different version; it would be worth scanning if yours is different.

The link is to First Edition (June 1983).
 
I have a complete system whit communication card, and i have DOS and CP/M for displaywriterFB_IMG_1588789199561.jpg
 
Thanks Jan for sharing the photos, I will add the MS-DOS one here.FB_IMG_1588789192195.jpg

I wonder what the story is behind this port? the screen shows:

MS-DOS Loader Version 4.00.07-f2 for the IBM Displaywriter System
480 Kb bytes Displaywriter System Memory Present

This systems software contains the proprietary trade secrets and is
Copyrighted (C) 1982 CompuSystems, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina

MS-DOS Version 1.25

For a long time we assumed the MS-DOS port was never released, but this suggests it was available at some point.
 
Hi,

I have 3 floppy disk images with text I want to read for genealogy and they are for the IBM 6580 system.
I made an image with IMD but looking for the text files isn't as easy as I thought.

I got a ibm6580 emulation for mame which sadly don't work. I got the Mame with help of
https://github.com/sam-ludlow/mame-ao/ so it should be the actually version.
As I'm not very familiar with Mame - can someone help me please ?

The emulation got an error message and then brake.
 

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I think your issue is with timers as according to the diagnostics manual if only the four last bits are set then it could be a bunch of the peripherals but according to the MAME error and the description PITs appear to be missing.
However take this as a grain of salt, as I haven't had any previous experience with the Displaywriter other than seek its components list.
 
I worked with @shattered on the 6580 emulation in MAME and yes it is not finished and does not complete the startup sequence. It might be close to working but there were still many puzzles and things in the memory map to discover and implement in the emulator.

You are likely better off decoding the files you have in IMD files.
 
6580 emulation is still broken, needs more reverse engineering (or a copy of schematics, if these ever were published by IBM).

It's possible that Displaywriter System Manual S544-2023-0 (?) -- mentioned in US patents 4648071 and 5675827 -- has them, but bitsavers does not have a copy.
 
I found the transfomenator software which will help me to get the ascii text in an easier way.

Example:

D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar web-01.bin test-1

TransformFile v1.13beta - perform transformation operations on binary files.

Usage: TransformFile transform infile outfile

See http://transformenator.sourceforge.net/ for transform file specification.
If using a valdocs transform, outfile specifies an output directory.

Available internal transform files:
aol
apple2_unk_1
apple2_unk_2
apple2_unk_rtf
applewriter1
applewriter_iie_rtf
attwp
brother_pwp_rtf
brother_wpt_rtf
brown_bag_rtf
c64_rtf
canon_starwriter_rtf
cpt_rtf
data20_c64
dec_rtf
displaywrite_rtf
displaywriter
easyscript-alt_c64_rtf
easyscript-dir_c64_rtf
easyscript_c64_rtf
easywriter-alt_pc_rtf
easywriter_a2_rtf
easywriter_pc_rtf
ebcdic
ebcdic_5520_rtf
epson_rtf
final_draft
greatworks_rtf
hard1
justwrite
justwrite2
leading_edge_rtf
manuscript
multimate_rtf
multiscribe
nbi_rtf
null
null_rtf
office_system_6
officewriter
omniwriter_c64
panasonic
paperclip_c64_rtf
pc1_html
pc2_rtf
pc3
pc4
peachtree
peachtree_rtf
perfect_writer_rtf
petscii
pfswrite
pfswrite_a2
pfswrite_pc
prowrite_rtf
qa_write
scripsit_rtf
smith-corona
smith-corona_spin
speedscript_a2_rtf
speedscript_c64
tandy100_rtf
vald_txt
valdocs
wang_dos_rtf
wang_ois
wang_wps_rtf
word_writer_c64
wordperfect_amiga_rtf
wordperfect_mac_rtf
wordperfect_pc_rtf
wordstar2000_rtf
wordstar_rtf
wpf_a2
writers_choice
xerox860
xywrite_rtf

D:\tools\transformenator>
D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar displaywriter web-01.bin test-1
Using internal transform file "displaywriter".

D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar displaywriter web-01.bin web-01.txt
Using internal transform file "displaywriter".

D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar displaywriter web-02.bin web-02.txt
Using internal transform file "displaywriter".

D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar displaywriter web-03.bin web-03.txt
Using internal transform file "displaywriter".

D:\tools\transformenator>
 
fritzeflink said:
I found the transfomenator software which will help me to get the ascii text in an easier way.

Example:

D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar web-01.bin test-1

TransformFile v1.13beta - perform transformation operations on binary files.

Usage: TransformFile transform infile outfile

See http://transformenator.sourceforge.net/ for transform file specification.
If using a valdocs transform, outfile specifies an output directory.

Available internal transform files:
aol
apple2_unk_1
apple2_unk_2
apple2_unk_rtf
applewriter1
applewriter_iie_rtf
attwp
brother_pwp_rtf
brother_wpt_rtf
brown_bag_rtf
c64_rtf
canon_starwriter_rtf
cpt_rtf
data20_c64
dec_rtf
displaywrite_rtf
displaywriter
easyscript-alt_c64_rtf
easyscript-dir_c64_rtf
easyscript_c64_rtf
easywriter-alt_pc_rtf
easywriter_a2_rtf
easywriter_pc_rtf
ebcdic
ebcdic_5520_rtf
epson_rtf
final_draft
greatworks_rtf
hard1
justwrite
justwrite2
leading_edge_rtf
manuscript
multimate_rtf
multiscribe
nbi_rtf
null
null_rtf
office_system_6
officewriter
omniwriter_c64
panasonic
paperclip_c64_rtf
pc1_html
pc2_rtf
pc3
pc4
peachtree
peachtree_rtf
perfect_writer_rtf
petscii
pfswrite
pfswrite_a2
pfswrite_pc
prowrite_rtf
qa_write
scripsit_rtf
smith-corona
smith-corona_spin
speedscript_a2_rtf
speedscript_c64
tandy100_rtf
vald_txt
valdocs
wang_dos_rtf
wang_ois
wang_wps_rtf
word_writer_c64
wordperfect_amiga_rtf
wordperfect_mac_rtf
wordperfect_pc_rtf
wordstar2000_rtf
wordstar_rtf
wpf_a2
writers_choice
xerox860
xywrite_rtf

D:\tools\transformenator>
D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar displaywriter web-01.bin test-1
Using internal transform file "displaywriter".

D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar displaywriter web-01.bin web-01.txt
Using internal transform file "displaywriter".

D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar displaywriter web-02.bin web-02.txt
Using internal transform file "displaywriter".

D:\tools\transformenator>java.exe -jar transformenator.jar displaywriter web-03.bin web-03.txt
Using internal transform file "displaywriter".

D:\tools\transformenator>
Click to expand...
Good you have found it! But remember that the Displaywriter is not ascii but ebcdic, if it is of use to you at this point.
 
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