🚀 go-pugleaf

>Hi. I recently just came into possession of a DEC rainbow. Does anyone out
>there know of any sources of PD software for it? I'm specifically looking
>for a nice text editor (even TECO)

  There's a nice collection of pd/shareware software for the Rainbow on
DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU which is maintained by Rob Locke. With FTP, issue
the command cd [.info-dec-micro] to change to the main Rainbow area,
then get the files AAAREADME.1ST and AAAREADME.TXT (I'm not sure whether
case matters there).

  On DRYCAS you'll find DED and a Rainbow-specific version of MicroEMACS,
which have served well for my editing tasks. There are other utilities
there as well for the Rainbow.

>or some compilers (I have turbo pascal,
>would really like C)

  As for C compilers, you're won't find much that is public domain,
whether for the Rainbow or not. I used to have an old version of DeSmet C
which ran fine on my Rainbow - it even had a source-level debugger which
could be coaxed to work ok. Borland's offerings for C programmers also
appear to work on the Rainbow, with the following points of note:

    v1.0 - standalone compiler (TCC.EXE) works as is.

    v1.5 - standalone compiler must be patched. An article in the
              most recent _Rainbow News_ (call 618-632-1143 for back
              issues) described how to do this using DEBUG.

    v2.0 - standalone compiler must be patched. I've developed a
              script for this that can be applied using Borland's
              patch utility, PATCH.COM. A similar script also enables
              the accompanying preprocessor (CPP.EXE) to run on the
              Rainbow.
         - integrated environment works with MS-DOS v3.10 and Code
              Blue, both from Suitable Solutions, with no patches
              required.

  Getting back to general pd offerings, perhaps Erik Abers or some other
kind soul can post to the net a list of Rainbow-oriented bbs's. There
might be one in your area which would make you feel less lonely with
your new machine. (Of course, you'll always be welcome to use this
forum for additional information.)

George

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BITNET: GTHEALL@PennDRLS               Dept. of Economics
Internet: GTHEALL@PennDRLS.UPenn.Edu   University of Pennsylvania
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