jahromib@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Babak Jahromi) (10/18/90)
Why on earth isn't there a wordprocessing package for the ST with at least the sophistication of wp 4.2 for the ibm?? Doesn't ANY company feel there's money to be made writing a decent word processor instead of the crap out there already (1st word, wordwriter, and others that don't even know what the concept of a tab is and have the worst printer support possible, even 1st word..) What wouldn't I do for a st version of wp (please, with NO windows, NO gem, just nice, fast text mode)! But I guess this is a pipe dream...
iho@cac.washington.edu (Il Oh) (10/18/90)
In article <1990Oct18.013304.8034@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> jahromib@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Babak Jahromi) writes: > >sophistication of wp 4.2 for the ibm?? Doesn't ANY company feel there's money ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >to be made writing a decent word processor instead of the crap out there ^^^^^^^^^^ In a word, "no". >already (1st word, wordwriter, and others that don't even know what the concept Let's not forget the ST version of WordPerfect in that list of crap. >of a tab is and have the worst printer support possible, even 1st word..) >What wouldn't I do for a st version of wp (please, with NO windows, NO gem, >just nice, fast text mode)! But I guess this is a pipe dream... The best word processing option I've been able to come up with is using MS Word under GCR. -- "Gosh! You've really got | Il Hwan Oh some nice toys in here." | University of Washington, Tacoma -- Roy Batty, Bladerunner | iho@cac.washington.edu |
mjducey@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Matthew J. Ducey) (10/18/90)
Why would you want a word processor for the ST to move in the opposite direction that all the 'real' word processores are going? I think you'll be upset when WP 6.0 comes out. Okay, now that I have a handle on this thing it's time for MY silly questions! What is Minix? Where is a .doc that will explain this to me? I use SuperCharger with my ST, I think it's great. Couldn't be easier to install. The best part is the company (at last phone call) is still in business! Can anyone tell me more (or show me info) about the 16Mhz upgrades for the ST? I have a 1986 520 with 2.5Megs in it.
psurge@cs.utexas.edu (Troy Carpenter) (10/18/90)
In article <1990Oct18.013304.8034@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>, jahromib@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Babak Jahromi) writes: > > What wouldn't I do for a st version of wp (please, with NO windows, NO gem, > just nice, fast text mode)! But I guess this is a pipe dream... Try ST Writer Elite. It is a Freeware? program and it came out in STart not long ago...there might be more recent versions since then. I know the version I use is 6.3 (I think) I have heard of more recent versions that that, though. This word processor is just like Atari Writer on the 8 bit computers. I tried using most all ST word processors, but I finally returned to this one. What really got me about the others is that they all use some kind of special format. When printed to the screen, ala the desktop, the characters would be run together. I found out this is because the spaces in these programs weren't real spaces, but non printing characters holding the place of spaces. (argh!) Also, I found out that most word processors put an EOLN at the end of each physical line on the screen. That might not sound bad, but when you do stuff on a laptop (with a 40 col. screen) and only put EOLN's at the end of a Paragraph (like most wp's do, the EOLN at the end of the screen line is "invisible" to you, you know, WYSIWYG!), then when the text is ported over it runs on forever on one line (you know, the wp is expecting EOLN's after every line.) Well, ST Writer does not do that, you can load Ascii files and it will be ready to print after you add a few formatting commands to set up the page. Ok, I will get off my soapbox. Oh, ST writer has a gem mode, if you want it, but even in gem mode, the editor screen is NOT a gem window... Troy Carpenter Department of Computer Sciences THE University of Texas, Austin psurge@cs.utexas.edu "You're so open minded that your brain leaked out" - Steve Taylor *>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The best thing in life costs exactly that <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*
bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright) (10/18/90)
In article <1990Oct18.013304.8034@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> jahromib@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Babak Jahromi) writes: > >Why on earth isn't there a wordprocessing package for the ST with at least the >sophistication of wp 4.2 for the ibm?? Doesn't ANY company feel there's money >to be made writing a decent word processor instead of the crap out there >already (1st word, wordwriter, and others that don't even know what the concept >of a tab is and have the worst printer support possible, even 1st word..) >What wouldn't I do for a st version of wp (please, with NO windows, NO gem, >just nice, fast text mode)! But I guess this is a pipe dream... Um, you do know that there is an ST version of WordPerfect, don't you? The ST version is actually numbered 4.1, but it's functionally closer to msdos version 4.2 than 4.1, and can easily import files from the msdos 4.2 version. Yes, it's a GEM application, but screen updates, searches, etc. are every bit as fast or faster that the msdos version running on an XT, since the initial port was actually a complete rewrite in 68000 assembler. And all commands are accessible from the keyboard, so you never have to reach for the mouse. (And of course, it supports every printer that was ever made.) BTW, WP Corp. was planning a new release of the ST version sometime this year; does anyone know if it's out yet? BBB -- Bob Bright <bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca> Dept. of Philosophy University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Man R3T 2N2 (204) 474-9680
marshall@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Marshall Harris) (10/19/90)
In article <1990Oct18.013304.8034@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> jahromib@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Babak Jahromi) writes: > >Why on earth isn't there a wordprocessing package for the ST with at least the >sophistication of wp 4.2 for the ibm?? Doesn't ANY company feel there's money > I'd rather have a word processor that was like Microsoft Word 5 any day of the week! How about it, MS?
grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham Thomas) (10/21/90)
NO CA CONNECT 2400 References: <1990Oct18.013304.8034@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> From article <1990Oct18.013304.8034@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>, by jahromib@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Babak Jahromi): > > Why on earth isn't there a wordprocessing package for the ST with at least the > sophistication of wp 4.2 for the ibm?? Doesn't ANY company feel there's money > to be made writing a decent word processor instead of the crap out there > already (1st word, wordwriter, and others that don't even know what the concept > of a tab is and have the worst printer support possible, even 1st word..) > What wouldn't I do for a st version of wp (please, with NO windows, NO gem, > just nice, fast text mode)! But I guess this is a pipe dream... I'm not sure which ST Word Processors the writer knows about. OK, 1st Word Plus still expands tabs to spaces (although you can use indents in some cases to get the same effect as a 'normal' tab), but its printer support isn't that bad. I'm not sure if the writer thinks the ST version of WordPerfect is lousy or whether he doesn't know it exists. I don't like it much, but I'll admit it's improved over the years. (Now if only the UK would get the US updates faster..) There are others with a reasonable spread of features (though I've not tried all of these): Wordup, Script, Protext all come to mind. I discount Microsoft Write, which is an unfinished, unloved and unsupported botch. It would be nice if someone would translate Le Redacteur into English: version 3 looks to have all the sophistication demanded by the writer, and friends who've used it say they won't go back to anything else. The trouble is, of course, that these products are not well distributed in some (most) countries. The software is out there, but getting it to the users is difficult. Graham -- Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK JANET: grahamt@uk.ac.sussex.syma BITNET: grahamt%syma.sussex.ac.uk@UKACRL INTERNET: grahamt%syma.sussex.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk UUCP: grahamt%syma.sussex@ukc.uucp PHONE: +44 273 686758 FAX: [..] 685865
mboen@nixdorf.de (Martin Boening) (10/21/90)
In <1990Oct18.144010.6612@rodan.acs.syr.edu> mjducey@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Matthew J. Ducey) writes: >What is Minix? Where is a .doc that will explain this to me? MINIX is a UNIX(TM)-like operating system replacement for the IBM PC/XT/AT, the Atari ST/Mega_ST and meanwhile for the Amiga (A2000 only) the MAC (MacMINIX) and lots of other systems. The ones listed here explicitly are those you can get a commercial version for from Prentice Hall. MINIX is a lot like System 7 but after being patched to MINIX 1.5 it has more and more enhancements to it. There are efforts going on to make it as posix-like as possible. However, it was basically written for OS courses. Currently there's a discussion in comp.os.minix on where MINIX should be heading and how to keep the readability important for OS courses while adding features which would be USEFUL. There's no doc file. There is, however, a so-called MINIX Information Sheet which is posted regularly in comp.os.minix (you should be reading that group as you may notice). The latest version I have is dated Oct. 3 (mtime on my machine!). I can mail that to you if you're interested. I'm not going to post it since I'm not the one who maintains it and it is as I mentioned, posted at regular intervals in comp.os.minix. I hope this helps all of you who've been asking the above question. Have fun Martin -- Email: in the USA -> mboening.pad@nixdorf.com outside USA -> mboening.pad@nixdorf.de Paper Mail: Martin Boening, Nixdorf Computer AG, SNI STO SI 355, Pontanusstr. 55, 4790 Paderborn, W.-Germany (Phone: +49 5251 146155)