laser-lovers@ucbvax.UUCP (12/03/85)
We have an IBM AT and are probably acquiring an Apple Laserwriter to
use with it. We've tested the laserwriter and have been able to
duplicate (part) of our letterhead using Times 9 and Times 24; we
would probably use Times 12 for letters.
What software is currently available for word-processing from MS-DOS
that will support Font size and style changes (we could probably live
with Times-only)? Needless to say, direct support would be preferrable
(I hear MS-Word does this), but any option (PC Mac Bridge I've heard of)
is worth knowing about. I particularly would like to hear of first-hand
experience.
We are currently using Wordstar 2000 and Samna Word, but our secretary
prefers DisplayWrite (needless to say, I doubt IBM supports Apple.)
What a mess, eh? (In case you're wondering how we got here, the quality
of the IBM and HP page printers didn't measure up. And yes, I plan
to use my Mac with the laserwriter).
Joel West CACI, Inc. Federal, La Jolla
{cbosgd,floyd,ihnp4,pyramid,sdcsvax,ucla-cs}!gould9!joel
gould9!joel@nosc.ARPAUS.ALAN@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU (Alan Crosswell) (12/04/85)
We have used both MS Word and Finalword II (Mark of the Unicorn). I did not personally look at the Word stuff, but it seemed to do a nice job. I did look at the Finalword II stuff and it is a very nice job. Finalword is yet another Emacs/Scribe clone. It has as complete a set of features as the latest, real, official, Brian Reid/Unilogic, TOPS-20 Scribe. It even does some things better. As usual with Scribe knockoffs, you still have to do some minor twiddling of commands (like @style) when moving a mss from the 20 to the PC or vice-versa. If you get it, make sure it is Finalword II. The previous version is much more limited and lacks PostScript support. [There is also a UNIX version of Finalword for micros like the DEC PRO-300 but this is based on old Finalword. Unisource bought the code from Mark of the Unicorn and ported it. Hopefully they will do the same for Finalword II.] I have no affiliation with Mark of the Unicorn or Unisource. Alan Crosswell User Services Columbia U. Comp. Ctr. -------
Kyle.wbst@XEROX.ARPA (12/04/85)
re:" We have an IBM AT and are probably acquiring an Apple Laserwriter to use with it. ..." ------------------------------ I have a friend who is thinking along similar lines, except her application is more involved. If you get some help in your request, please let me know. My friend wants to get a PC for her church (for the usual office related things: wordprocessing, mailing lists, etc.); but she also wants to be able to drive something better than a dot matrix printer. Needless to say, a big laser printer is out (for funding reasons), so she is thinking along the lines of an Apple Laserwriter. The problem is she wants to do rare book translations/transliterations and requires a capability of printing a Classic Greek font (as opposed to a modern Greek font which they don't like). Can anybody recommend a hardware/software combo that is cheap, will give a WYSIWYG display, and letter qualityhardcopy output? Would appreciate cost info if available. Thanks, Earle Kyle
laser-lovers@ucbvax.UUCP (12/04/85)
We have our IBM PCs on an Ethernet running 3Com's EtherShare. We use their 3Server file server, which has a serial interface to the Apple LaserWriter and an AppleTalk interface. We are very pleased with this arrangement because both the IBM PCs and Macs can spool output to the LaserWriter, the Macs can be run "diskless" off of 3Server volumes with about twice the performance of microfloppies, the Macs and PCs can exchange files over the net, and the file server disks can be backed up on cartridge tape. Digital Research's GEM Collection for the PC/AT drives the LaserWriter nicely, although I don't think GEM Write handles the proportionally spaced fonts yet. We also wanted to use DW3 to produce LaserWriter output, so one of my colleagues wrote a post-processor. It works, but he is converting it from BASIC to C so it has acceptable performance. You can also call Adobe Systems, (415) 852-0271, and have them send you their latest list of software for the PC that supports PostScript.