LADCONF.COM

[Wolfgang]

Hi,

I am looking for the configuration program for LADDER.COM called LADCONF.COM. I found a version online, but it does not contain the terminal DIGITAL VT180 option that is used in my version of LADDER.

Thanks,
Wolfgang

[AltairClone]

Here you go: https://altairclone.com/downloads/cpm/C ... es%20Disk/

[Wolfgang]

It seems that I cannot attach pictures since I get the following error message:
"Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached."
Anyway, I will try to describe my problem verbally. ;-)

My version of LADDER gives me the following output concerning the terminal type:

Code: Select all

(c) 1982, 1983 Yahoo Software          Terminal: DIGITAL VT180

I do not find this option in your LADCONF.COM and selecting option 6 or 7

Code: Select all

 6) DEC VT-100 (ANSI)                 
 7) DEC VT-100 (VT-52)

give me garbled screen output with TeraTerm Default Mode VT. Where is my mistake?

[AltairClone]

What terminal type are you actually wanting to support? The LADDER.DAT already on the disk image works with VT-100 terminals and emulation.

MIke

[Wolfgang]

I use the standard setup, which is VT100 according to TeraTerm. And yes, it works fine with LADDER.DAT on the disk, I just wanted to be able to play around with LADCONF and then set it back to the old value, which seems to be DIGITAL VT180 as printed on screen with the default LADDER.DAT.

Setting it to option 6 or 7 (DEC VT-100) does not work properly for me.

[AltairClone]

I can duplicate your problem with TeraTerm. If I use a real VT-100 compatible terminal from back in the day, option 6 VT-100 (ANSI) fails in the same manner as TeraTerm, however, option 7 VT-100 (VT-52) works. This mode automatically switches my terminal to a VT-52 submode supported by VT-100 terminals. However, TeraTerm does not implement the VT-52 submode.

Most likely the version of LADDER and the version of LADCONF are slightly incompatible. If you select option 6 VT-100 (ANSI) and then patch the bytes at location C2h-C6h in the LADDER.DAT file to zero, then the VT-100 file works. You can do this in DDT on the CP/M machine. Note that when you type A>DDT LADDER.DAT, it brings the file in at 100h, so you'll edit location 1C2h-1C6h in memory. Save the file after exiting DDT with A>SAVE 2 LADDER.DAT

Mike

[Wolfgang]

Yes, I can do this if need be, but since I have a working .DAT file, it'll probably not be necessary.
My main goal was to find the matching LADCONF file, maybe somebody still has it.

In any case, many thanks for your help and advise.

[TomXP411]

Yes, I can do this if need be, but since I have a working .DAT file, it'll probably not be necessary.
My main goal was to find the matching LADCONF file, maybe somebody still has it.

In any case, many thanks for your help and advise.

I don't think there is a matching LADCONF file. It sure sounds to me like someone patched the file for modern PC terminal emulators. (I'll just call that PC ANSI.)

The thing is, the ANSI specification is pretty deep, and I have yet to see a PC program that fully implements it, with 24 bit color, programmable key mapping, and all of the character attributes. (Thank the Lords of Kobol they didn't add vector graphics to the standard...)

I also looked at the output of LADDER with the ANSI config, and it looks completely wrong for PC emulators. I don't remember the specific codes, but it took me about two seconds to realize I didn't want to try to reverse engineer what it was doing, right at that time.

I also recently encountered another program that claimed to be ANSI compliant, but actually used ^[[y;xf for cursor positioning. I had never actually seen that sequence used before; I am used to seeing H used for the cursor position. So, of course, my homebrew terminal program puked all over itself when I tried to run that program. Fortunately, f and H are largely interchangeable, except for a specific operating mode, in which you can inject new terminal sequences into the memory buffer for text already on the screen.... and if that sounds like it's as clear as mud, you should read the original documentation - it's even harder to understand what it's doing or why anyone would need to do that.

So coming back to my point... the VT-100 driver in LADCONF is probably all we're going to get, officially speaking, and it probably works as expected on whatever ONE terminal the guys at Yahoo Software actually had. The world ended up settling on a different set of standard ANSI commands, and hence the need for a patch.