WPS-8
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Word processing software |
| Founder | Digital Equipment Corporation |
| Products | Word processing system for PDP-8 series processors |
WPS-8 is a word processing system created by Digital Equipment Corporation specifically for their PDP-8 series of processors, which include the VT78, VT278 DECmate, as well as the PC238 DECmate II and PC24P DECmate III microcomputers.
This software is compatible with a range of 24-row terminals offering 80 or 132 columns, such as the VT52 and VT100 models, in addition to all ANSI-compliant terminals. It incorporates hierarchical menu structures that later became a hallmark of Digital's "ALL-IN-1" office suite. The editing environment provides an experience close to WYSIWYG by displaying rulers that denote text alignment and tabulation points. Even on basic 24x80 character displays, users can apply sophisticated formatting. On ANSI terminals, visual attributes like bold and underline are shown on screen; however, on VT52 terminals, these formatting details appear solely in printed output.
Text automatically wraps according to the active ruler settings, which users can modify to dynamically change text layout. The system also includes semi-automatic hyphenation, featuring "hidden" hyphens that only become visible when a line break occurs, improving text justification.
Editing commands are primarily executed via the terminal keypad, with numerous functions accessible through the "Gold Key" (PF1 key). This input method was later incorporated into Digital’s KED and EDT editors as well as the "ALL-IN-1" application. Functionality includes selection-based cut and paste operations akin to those found in contemporary word processors, but controlled entirely through keyboard inputs rather than a mouse.
Printing capabilities extend to several letter-quality daisy wheel printer models, including Digital’s version of the Diablo 630 printer.
WPS-8 operates from a single floppy diskette, while user documents can be saved on either the system disk or additional data-only diskettes; support exists for up to four disk drives. The software facilitates creation and sorting of data tables, performs arithmetic computations, and manages mail-merge tasks utilizing these datasets. By employing extensive overlay techniques, WPS-8 runs efficiently on a 12-bit, 1.2-μs processor equipped with just 16 KWords of memory and 256 KB of disk storage. Due to these resource constraints, it does not include a spell-check feature since there was insufficient space for storing a dictionary file.