In this last post of this blog series, supplementing my YouTube video The Briel Altair 8800 Kit, Part 5: Advanced Topics", I'll cover getting SuperCalc running on the Briel Altair 8800 under CP/M.
I found a copy of SuperCalc version 1.12 for CP/M on the Internet here. I also needed to download the file sc.hlp.
Unzip the archive files and copy the files to a CP/M drive. You should have the following files:
BALANCE.CAL BARRIER.CAL BRKEVN.CAL INSTALL.COM INSTALL.DAT INSTALL.OVL SC.COM SCHAZ15.COM SC.HLP SC.OVL
Like WordStar, you need to first run the install program and configure the terminal type. Fortunately, one of the choices is ANSI which is compatible with the VT100 terminal that the Briel Altair emulates. I also had to set the screen lines to 40 and columns to 80.
Below is a sample session running the install program. I haven't used the program a lot so there may be some additional tweaks that can be made to get it to work better. After configuration it you can run SuperCalc as "SC". The files BALANCE.CAL, BARRIER.CAL, and BRKEVN.CAL are sample spreadsheets that you can load.
B>dir
B: BALANCE CAL : BARRIER CAL : BRKEVN CAL : SC COM
B: SC HLP : SC OVL : INSTALL OVL : INSTALL DAT
B: INSTALL COM
B>INSTALL
SUPERCALC Install Program
Version : 1.26
This program will Install your SuperCalc file
for the terminal that you wish to use.
Do you wish to proceed (y/n) ? Y
----------------------------------------
Enter name of SuperCalc(tm) file as :
"d:filename" where "d" is the drive.
Enter "?" for more Help.
Enter name : B:SC.COM
Now reading data from B:SC.COM...
----------------------------------------
These are the terminals supported for use
with SUPERCALC.
Current terminal : ANSI Standard
A. ADDS H. Televideo
B. Apple II I. Visual
C. SuperBrain J. Xerox
D. DEC K. Zenith
E. Hazeltine L. Infoton (GTC)
F. Lear Siegler M. ANSI Standard
G. Soroc N. Vector Graphics
O. TRS-80 Model II Pickles & Trout CP/M
Y. Write SuperCalc to disk
(with any changes made so far.)
Z. Edit printer and terminal data
Enter A-O, Y, Z or ? : M
You have selected the ANSI Standard
configuration. Using no attributes.
Is this correct (y/n) ? Y
Getting data from datafile...
----------------------------------------
This is what you may now do:
A. Save SuperCalc on disk.
B. Return to first menu.
X. Quit Install Program
Enter A,B or X or ? : B
----------------------------------------
These are the terminals supported for use
with SUPERCALC.
Current terminal : ANSI Standard
A. ADDS H. Televideo
B. Apple II I. Visual
C. SuperBrain J. Xerox
D. DEC K. Zenith
E. Hazeltine L. Infoton (GTC)
F. Lear Siegler M. ANSI Standard
G. Soroc N. Vector Graphics
O. TRS-80 Model II Pickles & Trout CP/M
Y. Write SuperCalc to disk
(with any changes made so far.)
Z. Edit printer and terminal data
Enter A-O, Y, Z or ? : Z
The current printer initilization
string is :
Unconfigured.
Do you wish to change this data (Y/N) ? N
This is the data to edit.
0. Display Border Character - 7Ch
1. No. of video lines (down) - 24
2. No. of video columns (across) - 132
3. No. of printer lines - 66
4. No. of printer columns - 132
X. Exit to menu.
Enter 0-4 or X : 1
The current no. of video lines is 24
Enter new value or enter 0 for no change: 40
This is the data to edit.
0. Display Border Character - 7Ch
1. No. of video lines (down) - 40
2. No. of video columns (across) - 132
3. No. of printer lines - 66
4. No. of printer columns - 132
X. Exit to menu.
Enter 0-4 or X : 2
The current no. of video columns is 132
Enter new value or enter 0
for no change: 80
This is the data to edit.
0. Display Border Character - 7Ch
1. No. of video lines (down) - 40
2. No. of video columns (across) - 80
3. No. of printer lines - 66
4. No. of printer columns - 132
X. Exit to menu.
Enter 0-4 or X : X
----------------------------------------
This is what you may now do:
A. Save SuperCalc on disk.
B. Return to first menu.
X. Quit Install Program
Enter A,B or X or ? : A
----------------------------------------
You have selected :
ANSI Standard terminal.
Are all modifications complete (y/n) ? Y
Now writing new data to B:SC.COM...
You may now use your SUPERCALC(tm) program.
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