shao@ai.toronto.edu (Sherwin Shao) (01/07/89)
Why hasn't anyone mentioned LDW Power, developed in Europe, as a VIP alternative? It is also 123 compatible, and runs much, much faster. (ie, recalculation, scrolling, etc) While I'm here, has anyone heard of or used XPRO, the Prolog system for the ST? I wrote the company in Texas or Arizona, and got no response. -- sherwin shao shao@ai.toronto.edu Department of Computer Science University of Toronto Toronto, Canada
ooa@scbhq.UUCP (O.Atkins) (01/09/89)
In article <89Jan7.072126est.38270@neat.ai.toronto.edu>, shao@ai.toronto.edu (Sherwin Shao) writes: > > Why hasn't anyone mentioned LDW Power, developed in Europe, as a VIP > alternative? Does LDW Power use GEM as VIP does. I kind of like some of the features of GEM, though it slows VIP down considerably! Owen (In debt) Atkins | Where do I go next, Mother? | uucp ..!scbhq!ooapc!ooa | What would you have me do? |
lincoln@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Lincoln) (01/10/89)
In article <951@scbhq.UUCP>, ooa@scbhq.UUCP (O.Atkins) writes: > > Does LDW Power use GEM as VIP does. I kind of like some of > the features of GEM, though it slows VIP down considerably! Yes, you can use either the mouse or 1-2-3 style commands. After using both VIP and Power, I've found I like the speed of Power and it's compressed display mode (allows you to display about 30 lines in a window). VIP's control panel is a little nicer, but it's a minor advantage. Others have noted that Power is compatible with 1-2-3 version 2, which isn't entirely true. It will read version 2 files (.WK1) and it does have all the version 2 functions, but it's macro capabilities are only compatible with version 1a (I haven't found this to be a major drawback yet since I haven't run across any spreadsheets that use version 2 macros). It also doesn't support the real-time clock display or a CAP-lock mode indicator. The only other incompatibility I've discovered so far is that 1-2-3 allows you to embed escape sequences in headers and footers (to print bold headers, for example). Power gets horribly confused when it encounters the escape character when reading in a macro from a file. I was pleasantly surprised to find Power will even read VIP's native file format (.NAT) although this feature may not be fully implemented since it was unable to read one VIP file until I converted it to 1-2-3 format. Overall, Power is a good clone of 1-2-3, with some nice enhancements provided by the GEM interface. It runs faster on the ST than 1-2-3 runs on 8 MHz XTs, probably comparable to most ATs without floating point co-processors. The latest version is 1.03, and according to someone I spoke with at LDW last month, no updates are planned before this Spring. Chuck Lincoln att!ihlpa!lincoln (Opinions are my own...)
shao@ai.toronto.edu (Sherwin Shao) (01/10/89)
In article <951@scbhq.UUCP> ooa@scbhq.UUCP (O.Atkins) writes: >> >> Why hasn't anyone mentioned LDW Power, developed in Europe, as a VIP >> alternative? > >Does LDW Power use GEM as VIP does. I kind of like some of >the features of GEM, though it slows VIP down considerably! > Yes, it does use GEM. Why it is so much faster is beyond me... Maybe it's some unknown German compiler. Maybe that's why all the German software are taking over!!! And to the comment that LDW Power takes more memory than VIP, that's nonsense. I worked with VIP on a 520ST, and was only able to get about 2 pages or work. (ie, 50 by 10 or so). So the minimal memory configuration for both is 1Meg. -- sherwin shao shao@ai.toronto.edu Department of Computer Science University of Toronto Toronto, Canada