This episode features Letter Wizard, originally released in 1984 by DataSoft.  It was developed by Special Software Systems.  This title is an updated replacement for the 1982 product called Text Wizard.

Podcast: Download

Box and Supplement Scans

The DataSoft logo:

 

Scan of the front of the box.  This was taken from an auction where a photo was taken at an angle on a table.  I heavily modified it in Lightroom to bring it back to square and facing straight up.  I could find no other box shots or scans (note the Apple II in the photo):

 

Scan of the Text Wizard box from 1981, the pre-cursor to Letter Wizard (not an actual Atari in the artwork):

 

A Text Wizard advertisement from the July 1981 issue of Compute! magazine:

 

A Text Wizard advertisement from the September 1983 issue of ANALOG magazine:

 

Manual cover (sepia toned and simplified version of the box):

 

Here is a DataSoft catalog: download

 

Letter Wizard in Action

Trying to boot with BASIC.  To get to the BASIC program on the master disk, boot a DOS II disk first with BASIC inserted/on.

 

Boot splash:

 

Main menu:

 

Edit

The editor at the start of a new document:

 

Editor in typeover mode (note the gray overscan area):

 

Editor in insert mode (note the blue overscan area).  Sadly the insert/typeover mode is not remembered after going to the menu:

 

Inverse mode ON, not the change in the tab line:

 

Invoking a function that takes a second or more to complete yields the BUSY indicator in the state area.  These were mostly very brief and not really noticeable.

 

Editor allows you get a catalog of the disk without returning to the main menu / disk management menu.  This can save you a few seconds of time:

 

Loading a document:

 

Saving a document.  There is no over-write warning so be carefull:

 

Status update showing filename, memory free, size in (single density) sectors, and number of words:

 

Marking a block of text.  Note the inverse daimond at the start.  This disappears once the end is marked:

 

Disk Management

The Disk Management menu:

 

Using the Format function:

 

Using the Catalog function:

 

Using the Rename function:

 

Using the Lock function:

 

Using the Unlock function:

 

Using the Delete function (enter name of file, then confirm):

 

 

Print

Confirming the connected printer choice:

 

Setting the various print options:

 

Printing:

 

Files

Contents

DataSoft Letter Wizard uses Atari DOS 2.0.  The contents of the disk can be seen in this screenshot.  Note only the BASIC program can be seen.

 

Data files on a data disk:

 

Dump of a Letter Wizard document.  Largely in plain text (as typed):

 

Printing

Sample output demonstrating various text stylings.  Note the emulated Epson FX-80 didn’t support the Epson MX-80 proportional command:

https://inverseatascii.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/s1e19-print-epson.pdf

 

Instructions

Reference card download

 

Show Links:

• Atari Mania: http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-letter-wizard_12523.html
• ANALOG review: http://www.cyberroach.com/analog/an04/textwizard.htm
• Hi-Res review: http://www.atarimagazines.com/hi-res/v1n1/reviews.php
• AtariWIki (Missing Artifacts – Please help if you have any of the listed missing information): https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Rarity%2010

 

Intro music is an excerpt from a chip tune by Wizwars named 8 Bit Raceway.  It is used under Creative Common license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States.