bane@arisia.Xerox.COM (John R. Bane) (10/04/88)
I've run into a strange bug in the latest update of Timeworks WordWriter (2.0). It seems that searching the thesaurus for any word beginning with 'w' causes the program to crash with two or three bombs and dump you back to the desktop if the word is in the thesaurus. Anybody else seen this one? It's a decent program other than this, considering the price. Now, if they'd only answer their 800 number or their mail... -- Rene P.S. Bane ReneBane.pa@xerox.ARPA ...!parcvax!bane.UUCP
adp@moscom.UUCP (Alan Percy) (10/14/88)
In article <430@arisia.Xerox.COM> bane@arisia.Xerox.COM (John R. Bane) writes: > >I've run into a strange bug in the latest update of Timeworks WordWriter (2.0). >It seems that searching the thesaurus for any word beginning with 'w' causes >the program to crash... I haven't tried your bug, but I would like to make some general comments on Timeworks software. >It's a decent program other than this, considering the price. Now, if they'd >only answer their 800 number or their mail... Generally I like the price performance of the Timeworks software for the Atari ST. I have been using Swiftcalc, Wordwriter 2.0, and Data Manager. Unfortunatly, they all are full of bugs. Most of the bugs have reasonable work-arounds. Except for Wordwriter, they have made no attempt to come out with new versions lately. Most of the bugs pop up when you are using the program with a hard disk. Some of them are just dumb, like Data Manager leaves the screen backgound colors at it's setting when it exits. What I would like to hear about from you folks, is Timeworks Desktop publishing software any better? Even if it have a few bugs, I can live with that, but if it is like the beta version of Pro PP, then I'll skip it. I've been using EasyDraw for a couple years, with some updates. It has some limitations, but is relativly bug-free. I guess I'm looking for advice as to whether Timeworks Desktop Publishing is more useful for newsletters and catalogs. EasyDraw is great for presentation overheads, maps, and other technical diagrams, but multi-page newsletters get to be a bear. -- Alan Percy..........................{rutgers,ames,cmcl2}!rochester!moscom!adp
grieggs@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (John T. Grieggs) (10/16/88)
In article <1276@moscom.UUCP> adp@moscom.UUCP (Alan Percy) writes: >What I would like to hear about from you folks, is Timeworks Desktop >publishing software any better? Even if it have a few bugs, I can live >with that, but if it is like the beta version of Pro PP, then I'll skip it. I have been using TDP for over a month now, and am quite happy with it. So far, nary a bug has surfaced! The only thing I do not like about it is the font situation. There are two problems: 1) Not enough fonts available (still no sign of the long-promised font paks), and 2) Not enough slots to use them even if they were available (only 8 slots are available). The reason that 2) is a problem for me despite 1) is that I have been working on porting over some PD Mac fonts using Fontz!, and it is a royal pain in the posterior to see how they are doing. Fontz! has no mechanism for printing out a whole font, and it sucks to have to keep modifying your ASSIGN.SYS (not to mention the need to run FONTWID.APP!). And yes, to those of you who are about to make the comment, I _have_ looked at G+PLUS, and it reloads ASS*.SYS based on application name only. >I've been using EasyDraw for a couple years, with some updates. It has >some limitations, but is relativly bug-free. I guess I'm looking for >advice as to whether Timeworks Desktop Publishing is more useful for >newsletters and catalogs. EasyDraw is great for presentation overheads, >maps, and other technical diagrams, but multi-page newsletters get >to be a bear. Timeworks Desktop Publisher is wonderful for newsletters! Nothing better out there, certainly. I have yet to experience a single crash. The features it has are perfectly suited for newsletter editing. For example, it lets you flow "stories" across multiple pages. It uses style sheets, which let you set up paragraph styles which are easily invoked, but may be over-ridden locally. Actually, it has too many features to go into in the space of a short article. Bottom line - highly recommended. _john -- John T. Grieggs (Telos @ Jet Propulsion Laboratory) 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, Ca. 91109 M/S 301-260A (818) 354-0465 Uucp: {cit-vax,elroy,chas2}!jpl-devvax!grieggs Arpa: ...jpl-devvax!grieggs@cit-vax.ARPA
wes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes) (10/25/88)
In article <1276@moscom.UUCP> adp@moscom.UUCP (Alan Percy) writes: > What I would like to hear about from you folks, is Timeworks Desktop > publishing software any better? Even if it have a few bugs, I can live > with that, but if it is like the beta version of Pro PP, then I'll skip it. In article <3270@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>, grieggs@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (John T. Grieggs) writes: > I have been using TDP for over a month now, and am quite happy with it. > So far, nary a bug has surfaced! I can also heartily recommend the Timeworks DTP package. The only crashes I have had have all been with the blitter turned on, when re-formatting italicized text. It works just fine with the blitter off. The blitter-on crashes are not reproducible; I suspect the blitter may be stressing the timing on the bus a bit or something. The first thing I did with DTP, to get the feel of it, was to typeset the ST Pro GEM articles in 5.5" x 8"; they really look good. I put the text in 10-point Swiss, with code samples in 10-point Rockface. Great STuff! And to top it off, I got it from my local store (where I am a very good customer :-) for only $82! Your mileage may vary. (Buy 5 Mega 2s from your store someday, that seems to make them happy.) -- "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell "How come he didn't put `I think' at the end of it?" - James P. Hogan