kpskhalsa@watdragon.UUCP (03/31/87)
[] I need some info from you folks in Atari land. I currently own an Atari 1040STf with a monochrome monitor and the default floppy drive. I just acquired a Toshiba P321 24-pin dot matrix printer. The printer is great, but the fonts are not exactly the best. The one font I do use looks a lot better when it is in proportional pitch mode, HOWEVER, I need a WP that supports proportional pitches. The Toshiba manual (Well written I might add) has a table giving all of the character widths. If anyone out there knows of a good quality WP (What-you-see-is- what-you-get or otherwise) with some decent features, please e-mail me at the address below or post to the net. Thanks Preet -- Preet Khalsa, University of Waterloo. kpskhalsa@watdragon.UUCP kpskhalsa%watdragon@waterloo.CSNET kpskhalsa%watdragon%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.ARPA UUCP: ...!watmath!watdragon!kpskhalsa
pes@bath63.UUCP (04/06/87)
Us too. Annie and I are trying to convince Bristol University that they should lay in some ST's. One of the more obvious uses would be to replace some of the I*M clones which we use as wordprocessors. However that's not on until an ST wordprocessor comes out which will do proportional spacing. (The I*M around the corner from my office will do P/S, quite nicely too, thanks, *and* thru an HP laserprinter into the bargain. If that blessed little machine can do it, why can't ST's? (I know, I know, no GDOS. That may be a reason, but it's not an excuse.) We had a pretty comprehensive look around about a month ago, and it appears that there are no WP's for the ST which will properly support P/S. There's apparently a chance that MicroSoft Write will do proportional spacing, but then that's been 'out any day now' for a good few months. If anyone finds a good P/S WP for the ST, I'd like to know too...
oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (04/08/87)
In article <898@bath63.ux63.bath.ac.uk> pes@ux63.bath.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes: ...that they won't buy a buncha ST's... >until an ST >wordprocessor comes out which will do proportional spacing. (The I*M around >the corner from my office will do P/S, quite nicely too, thanks, *and* thru >an HP laserprinter into the bargain. > >If that blessed little machine can do it, why can't ST's? (I know, I know, >no GDOS. That may be a reason, but it's not an excuse.) > I brougth this up here several months back. The only response I got was somebody telling me it was unreasonable, 'cause you'd have to know what all the character sizes, etc, were. I guess the concept of a device driver (or, in the wonderful world of PC's, a printer configuration file) boggles some people's minds. Anyway, I resigned myself to waiting for GDOS (which I haven't heard anything about for a month or two). Maybe I should've written some sort of simple p/t/nroff-style formatter... -- - Joel Plutchak uucp: {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!oyster | BIX: plutch ARPA: oyster@unix.macc.wisc.edu | BITNET: plutchak@wiscmacc
dcooley@mentor.com (Doug Cooley) (08/13/90)
I'm sure this subject has been hashed to death on this newsgroup, but I'm gonna ask anyway. I'm looking for a decent word processor that my wife can use for college. Up to this point, I haven't bought any applications for my ST that didn't involve either games or MIDI. We went to the local Atari dealer over the weekend, and looked at a lot of boxes. The one that looked to be the best fit, Word Up, didn't have a demo available, but the salesman offered to take it out of the box for us to try. Unfortunately, it required "installation", so he let us take it home to try out. Bugs, bugs, bugs. The program, which other wise seemed to be pretty good, bombed when we invoked the Thesaurus, when we ran the spelling checker, when we tried to import a file from another format (supported), when we tried to save a file, when we tried to print a file, etc, etc, etc. And the version was 3.0! You'd think they'd get it right by then! Anyway, I am planning on taking it back today, but I don't want to spend a lot more time screwing around with demo's that work and software that doesn't. Can anyone give me suggestions for a good word processor (not a dtp, although this program had some of those features) that you can give a life expectancy of more than 5 minutes to? E-mail is probably best, as I don't read this newsgroup regularly. Usage will be primarily for college papers and assignments. Also, we've used an older version of 1st Word, and thought it was lacking in features, although we prefer the WYSIWYG style display. Also, can you recommend a good home budgeting program? We are just at the point where we are starting to do some investing, and we also want to put the bank accounts in the computer. Thanks! -- What's this? Opinions? Now who left *those* laying around?! Doug Cooley, Mentor Graphics Corp. Flames to: dcooley@pdx.MENTOR.COM
davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu (08/14/90)
In article <1990Aug13.164347.1195@mentor.com>, dcooley@mentor.com (Doug Cooley) writes: > I'm looking for a decent word processor that my wife can use for > college. You haven't told us the more -important- things we need to know before we can make a recommendation. In order to recommend anything, the minimum we need to know is: 1) memory size of your ST 2) monitor you are using 3) number of single-sided/double-sided/hard disk drives available For example, IF you have a single-sided disk drive, I would recommend you stay with something extremely simple (and public domain): ST Writer. > Bugs, bugs, bugs. The program, which other wise seemed to be > pretty good, bombed when we invoked the Thesaurus, when we > ran the spelling checker, when we tried to import a file from > another format (supported), when we tried to save a file, when > we tried to print a file, etc, etc, etc. And the version was > 3.0! You'd think they'd get it right by then! I know a number of people who have got WordUp running correctly. You didn't mention the important 3 items I've listed, so there is no way to determine what you did, or didn't, do which may have caused your problems. For example, if you only have a 1/2 meg ST, I doubt that GDOS, associated fonts -AND- the spelling checker/Thesaurus could be loaded properly! -- David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu
erkamp@arcsun.arc.ab.ca (Bob Erkamp) (08/14/90)
In article <1990Aug13.164347.1195@mentor.com> dcooley@mentor.com (Doug Cooley) writes: > >I'm looking for a decent word processor that my wife can use for >college. Up to this point, I haven't bought any applications for >my ST that didn't involve either games or MIDI. We went to the >local Atari dealer over the weekend, and looked at a lot of boxes. > Well I must say that I don't do much Word Processing but I've heard good things about WordPerfect for the Atari. > >Also, can you recommend a good home budgeting program? We are >just at the point where we are starting to do some investing, >and we also want to put the bank accounts in the computer. > Look for a package called Phasar (v4.0). It should be under $100 and allows for numerous accounts with upto 500 entries per month per account. Does reports graphics and other goodies. Bob Erkamp
dcooley@mentor.com (Doug Cooley) (08/15/90)
As was quickly pointed out, I neglected to say what my system configuration is. My system consists of a 1040STfm w/ color monitor, and a homebrew hard drive (epson drive, and some controllers and converters which escape me at the moment, but I've had it more than a year with no problems). I have MIDI cables plugged in, but those lines are null. No DAs other than the stock ones (control, vt52, etc). I do have a cart in the slot, but I have already removed it. After perusing GEnie (gasp! a *pay* service!), I got the impression that I am most definitely not alone, although there are those who have experienced no problems. About a 40/60 mix in favor of no problems. I did find out that there are some bad disks around, and there are some known bugs, for which Neocept has uploaded a new .prg file. I have not gotten it downloaded yet, but will give it a try before I take the software back. There is a very loyal and vocal group that supports the use of this product, which makes sense when you consider that they are running the s/w on Atari! Ha ha! Insert smiley here! I should also say that the manual says that if spurious and bizarre behaviour occurs, you should take your Atari to the shop and have the memory checked! This was seen as a particu- larly, er, interesting marketing ploy. More as I learn it. Doug -- What's this? Opinions? Now who left *those* laying around?! Doug Cooley, Mentor Graphics Corp. Flames to: dcooley@pdx.MENTOR.COM
stephen@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Steve Whitney) (08/16/90)
In article <1990Aug14.125605.1@simvax.labmed.umn.edu> davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu writes: >In article <1990Aug13.164347.1195@mentor.com>, dcooley@mentor.com (Doug Cooley) writes: > >> I'm looking for a decent word processor that my wife can use for >> college. > [stuff deleted] > >For example, IF you have a single-sided disk drive, I would recommend you stay >with something extremely simple (and public domain): ST Writer. > [more stuff deleted] >I know a number of people who have got WordUp running correctly. You didn't >mention the important 3 items I've listed, so there is no way to determine what >you did, or didn't, do which may have caused your problems. For example, if >you only have a 1/2 meg ST, I doubt that GDOS, associated fonts -AND- the >spelling checker/Thesaurus could be loaded properly! > >-- > >David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu Well, it's now possible to have STWriter _and_ GDOS! My new program, G-Print, prints 1ST Word, Word Writer ST, and ST Writer documents with GDOS fonts. It runs in 512K and requires opnly a single-sided drive and a monitor capable of displaying medium or high resolution. It has quite a number of options available, but since this is getting commercial, I won't list them here. For more information, send me e-mail or else call MacDonald Associates Publishers (ST Informer people) who are publishing it at (503) 476-0071. Have fun. --Steve -- Steve Whitney "It's never _really_ the last minute" (())_-_(()) UCLA Comp. Sci. Grad. Student | (* *) | Internet: stephen@cs.ucla.edu UCLA Bruin--> { \_@_/ } GEnie: S.WHITNEY `-----'
dnd15j9z@umiami.miami.edu (Frank Rachel) (08/16/90)
In article <1990Aug14.125605.1@simvax.labmed.umn.edu>, davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu writes: > In article <1990Aug13.164347.1195@mentor.com>, dcooley@mentor.com (Doug Cooley) writes: > >> I'm looking for a decent word processor that my wife can use for >> college. > > You haven't told us the more -important- things we need to know before we can > make a recommendation. In order to recommend anything, the minimum we need to > know is: > > 1) memory size of your ST > 2) monitor you are using > 3) number of single-sided/double-sided/hard disk drives available > > For example, IF you have a single-sided disk drive, I would recommend you stay > with something extremely simple (and public domain): ST Writer. > >> Bugs, bugs, bugs. The program, which other wise seemed to be >> pretty good, bombed when we invoked the Thesaurus, when we >> ran the spelling checker, when we tried to import a file from >> another format (supported), when we tried to save a file, when >> we tried to print a file, etc, etc, etc. And the version was >> 3.0! You'd think they'd get it right by then! > > I know a number of people who have got WordUp running correctly. You didn't > mention the important 3 items I've listed, so there is no way to determine what > you did, or didn't, do which may have caused your problems. For example, if > you only have a 1/2 meg ST, I doubt that GDOS, associated fonts -AND- the > spelling checker/Thesaurus could be loaded properly! > > -- > > David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu This sounds like it could be one of the early releases of Word Up 3.0 The early ones had some major bugs, such as crashing and not being able to print. If you get that one, just send the disk back to NeoCept and they will send you the working copy. I myself was fortunate enough to get the newer one which so far has run flawlessly. I have a 1040st, 1 meg, hard drive and TOS 1.4, BUT I have installed it on my friends 520st (512k) TOS 1.2 and 1 DS drive and it still works fine. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frank Rachel | Internet:Dnd15j9z@Umiami.Miami.edu | University Of Miami ---------------------------------------------------------------------------