[net.micro.mac] LaserWriter and Graphics Query

dubois@uwmacc.UUCP (Paul DuBois) (08/27/85)

We are considering purchase of a Mac and a LaserWriter for our graphics
artist, as an attempt to ease her (not inconsiderable) load in satisfying
requests from investigators for graphs and such (for journal articles
and presentations).  Therefore, I have a few questions that I am hoping
hordes of you will have opinions and facts on:

If you use graphics software with a LaserWriter:  what is it?  what do
you do with it?  Does it use the LW well?  Are there caveats one should
be aware of?  Memory requirements?

If you have anything at all to say, I'd be interested in hearing it.
If you like, you could just drop me a line, and I'll try to ask you
more specific questions directly.  Some things I'm wondering about
already are:

What routes may one use with particular packages to enter data initially?
I presume that our canonical approach would be to perform initial data
analysis on one of our regular computers, and then load the data set to
be messed with onto the Mac for graphing in some form.  Does your package
require you to type in the stuff by hand (unacceptable) or can it accept
a file, say, consisting of columns of numbers in ascii format?

Can the package put arbitrary text in arbitrary places?  Can it do so
in different orientations (minimally, normal and sideways, to correspond
to the orientation of axes - but it would be nice to have arbitrary
orientation as well for certain types of pictures.)

As you can see, I've don't know much about this (I myself use only MacWrite
on my Mac at home), so any info at all would be *much* appreciated.  Even
if your application is only marginally related to ours, it may be helpful
to know about it.

Thanks in advance.
-- 
                                                                    |
Paul DuBois     {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois        --+--
                                                                    |
"A mind like cement:  thoroughly mixed and permanently set"         |