HELLO, WORLD ...
GREETINGS FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY!
The EBM System/800 is a FREE full-featured, low-res, distraction-free text editor and spreadsheet package - in the style of a late 1970s or early 1980s 8-bit home, business or industrial computer. You can use it as a Notepad replacement, too. Pico-8 mode fitted as standard!
It's available for Windows PC, and if there is interest, can be made available for Linux and Mac. No mouse or icons, yet designed to be familiar to Windows users, with familiar mappings like CTRL-C to copy text. An Executive Edition with special features is also available. The free version will remain 100% usable and will never nag you to upgrade.
Visit itch.io to download.
FEATURES
- Mainframe console-style Terminal Mode with DOS-style commands
- Windowed and fullscreen modes, plus low-distraction half-fullscreen mode
- Genuine 8-bit font - not a modern PC font with a 'pixel art' style
- Change text height and width independently
- Three monochrome colour combinations with visible scanline option
- Find/replace with whole-word and case-sensitive functionality
- Extended "Mnemonic" clipboard, mapped to alphabet keys
- Editor Mode and Worksheet Mode merge WordPerfect-style status bar with familiar modern features
- Editor Mode includes a bracket matching feature
- Jump between sections, such as functions or chapters, in Editor Mode with CTRL+UP/DOWN
- Assemble/compile/launch your coding project at the press of a key
- Editor Mode's auto-complete feature learns as you type
- Pico-8 mode with syntax highlighting and the Pico-8's 26 special characters
- Project management, including reordering documents and a saved list of project files
- Keyboard only - computer mouses are for WIMPs
EBM S/800 in distraction-free Half-Fullscreen Mode ... with Aseprite pixel art sprite editor to the right - www.aseprite.org
Auto-complete Mode: user typing "player_lives" ... shown in two of the three Monochrome Colour Modes, both with Visible Scanline Mode cranked up to 11, with Inverse Mode on the right
WORKSHEET MODE
The EBM S/800 spreadsheet was inspired by the 1979 spreadsheet VisiCalc. It captures the spirit of Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston's original vision, while remaining highly accessible to the Windows user.
The Reveal Codes mode, shown in the image on the right, was inspired by the Reveal Codes feature in the 1980 word processor WordPerfect, originally developed by Bruce Bastian and Alan Ashton.
Visit the User Manual for detailed instructions.
EBM S/800 in Worksheet Mode, with Reveal Codes shown on the right
PICO-8 MODE
Type F1 to enter Terminal Mode, type INSTALL PICO8 to install the Pico-8 module, then load a .p8 or .lua file and type F2 to enter Editor Mode. Save all your project files to the same folder and type LOAD "folderName" to load all files in your folder.
- Forced CAPS like the Pico-8 editor
- 26 Pico-8 special characters
- Pico-8 colour palette
- Lua syntax highlighting
EBM S/800 in Pico-8 mode ... Froggo is available in Splore lexaloffle.com
FREE EDITION FULLY USEABLE
BUT SOME LIMITATIONS, INCLUDING...
Extended "Mnemonic" clipboard, which allows user to save words and phrases to be pasted by certain keys, features keys A-Z in Executive Edition, keys A-H in free version. Edit up to 32 documents in Executive Edition, 4 in free edition.
Executive Edition includes Extended Tab Mode for extended tab control. Executive Edition allows user to more than double the number of rows in Editor Mode. Executive Edition includes bonus Inverse Colour Mode.
READY?
Click itch.io to download the free edition or buy the Executive Edition.
Any issues, email Essex Business Machine's dedicated, pinstripe suit-wearing Customer Support Team via the CONTACT page. Our 300-person Technical Whatever Team aim to fix issues within days, but they can only fix issues we know about. Include as many details as you can. If there's been a crash, send the debug .txt file from your S800 folder.
Essex Business Machines accept no liability for Robotrons developed using this product.