car@trux.UUCP (Chris Rende) (03/28/90)
Are there any good PC programs that are comparable to Macintosh's MacPaint,
MacDraw, and MacWrite?
I'd like to have the ability to draw and manipulate graphics in a simular
manner as MacPaint and MacDraw. I also would like to have a word processor
that supports many fonts like MacWrite does. The word processor should use
graphics mode on the screen to display the text and NOT the standard text
mode. (After all, Hercules has higher resolution than the Mac :-).
I have an XT with hercules graphics and an EPSON RX-80 printer.
(I'd buy a mouse of course).
Please Email all suggestions, pointers, advise, prices, etc... to me and I'll
post a summary.
[ Disclaimer: I have no intention of starting a PC vs. Mac war ]
Thanks,
car.
--
Christopher A. Rende Central Cartage (Nixdorf/Pyramid/SysVR2/BSD4.3)
uunet!edsews!rphroy!trux!car Multics,DTSS,Unix,Shortwave,Scanners,StarTrek
trux!car@uunet.uu.net Minix 1.2,PC/XT,Mac+,TRS-80 Model I,1802 ELF
"I don't ever remember forgetting anything." - Chris Rendepsrc@pegasus.ATT.COM (Paul S. R. Chisholm) (03/29/90)
In article <372@trux.UUCP>, car@trux.UUCP (Chris Rende) writes: > I'd like to have the ability to draw and manipulate graphics in a > simular manner as MacPaint and MacDraw. I also would like to have a > word processor that supports many fonts like MacWrite does. The word > processor should use graphics mode on the screen to display the text > and NOT the standard text mode. (After all, Hercules has higher > resolution than the Mac :-). Well, higher than a Mac Plus or SE, anyway. If you buy a true Hercules Graphics Card Plus (or better), I think even Word Perfect will display bold, italics, etc. So will Microsoft Word. Neither will display different sized fonts in different sizes; for that, you pretty much need Windows. If you want to integrate the packages, you'll probably want Windows anyway. There are several packages that do everything you describe under Windows. Check out the discussion of (Microsoft) Word for Windows right here in comp.sys.ibm.pc. Ami and Ami Professional are the chief alternatives to consider. Of the Windows-based drawing products, Corel Draw seems to be get the most praise. There are other packages. Folks here on the net seem to be somewhat fond of Gem Draw Plus and Paperback Graphics, neither of which runs under Windows. If you're going to forsake Windows for Word Perfect anyway, take a look at Draw Perfect; I don't know how well either works, but I imagine they're well integrated.-) Mac paint applications work well because (1) the Imagewriters have exactly the same density as the Mac screens, 72 dpi, and (2) the Laserwriters have a high enough density, and enough smarts, to handle the lower density image gracefully. In the PC world, the bitmaps need to be scale, with frustrating results. (That's my experience, anyway.) > I have an XT with hercules graphics and an EPSON RX-80 printer. *BEHHHHH!* Sorry, wrong answer. Would you like to try for Double Jeopardy, where the prizes get really big?-) Microsoft doesn't call their low-end product "Windows/286" because it no longer runs on an 8088. They call it that because it's a pig on anything less than a fast 286. You're going to need something to do while you wait for the screen to redraw. (8088s were only every acceptable because they *could* use text mode, and because people beat the living crud out of the software until it was "fast enough".) You'll also want *lots* of memory. Swapping to expanded memory will be considerably faster than swapping to your hard disk. I should also warn you that the Windows fonts for dot matrix printers are, um, not anywhere near the quality you'll want for camera ready copy. Certainly not up to the standards of even a cheap dot matrix printer in NLQ mode. This gets down the the nub of every computer-based proposal: "What is it you want to *do*???" If you don't mind the print quality of a dot matrix printer, why are you so fired up about messing around with lots of fonts? It might be nice to mix text and graphics freely, but could you live with inserted sheets? (I assume you're not trying to do desktop publishing with the set-up you describe; if you are, go with a low-end DTP package with good graphics, and bring a good book to read while you wait.) If you want to do everything you can do on a Mac, whatever that is, buy a Mac. Disclaimer: I'm somewhat familiar with Windows packages; I'm not a Windows user. Any comments from those who are? > Please Email all suggestions, pointers, advise, prices, etc... to me > and I'll post a summary. Okay, I mailed them; hope you don't mind that I avoided your "Followup-To: poster" header line, and also posted directly to the net.-) There were some points I wanted to start a discussion about, rather than just feed to one person. > Christopher A. Rende, uunet!edsews!rphroy!trux!car, trux!car@uunet.uu.net Paul S. R. Chisholm, AT&T Bell Laboratories att!pegasus!psrc, psrc@pegasus.att.com, AT&T Mail !psrchisholm I'm not speaking for the company, I'm just speaking my mind.