U00177@HASARA5.BITNET (09/04/87)
About VIP The present version of VIP (Lotus 123 alike for ST systems) , version 1.0, is fairly good but there are some property's I don't like. There are some bugs, the speed is not what you expect (very slow in screen handling) and the screen size in the GEM version is too small (15 lines). Now VIP offers an upgrade (version 1.2). Who knows anything about the performence of this one. Can I still drink a cup of coffee when VIP tries to build up a new page? Is it still pos- sible to take a shower when VIP is printing (ASCII) on the disk? I would like to know before I order the upgrade. Who knows? Wim Schaasberg (U00177@HASARA5 on BITNET HEARN)
mcli@ur-tut.UUCP (Maurice Ling) (09/04/87)
>About VIP >The present version of VIP (Lotus 123 alike for ST >systems) , version 1.0, is fairly good but there are >some property's I don't like. There are some bugs, the speed ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you could mention the bugs specifically, I could check it out for you. One thing I noticed in 1.2 GEM version, is that negative numbers, when they have three digits to the left of the decimal point, also have a comma at the beginning of it. e.g. if you input -256, you get $(,256.00). I don't know whether it was in v 1.0 GEM (I had the text version of 1.0 which does not have this "feature"). >is not what you expect (very slow in screen handling) ^^^^^^^^^ Yup. Still is. I don't think that can be helped until the blitter arrives. They specifically state this problem in the manual. It takes more time to move the 32K Graphics screen on the ST than the 8K (?) text screen on the IBM. >and the screen size in the GEM version is too small (15 >lines). If you want a bigger screen go for the TEXT version. The GEM version needs space for the menu at the bottom of the screen and the scroll bars. >Now VIP offers an upgrade (version 1.2). Who knows anything >about the performence of this one. Can I still drink a cup of >coffee when VIP tries to build up a new page? Is it still pos- >sible to take a shower when VIP is printing (ASCII) on the disk? If your coffee is boiling hot than I doubt it. :-) The text version is slightly faster on the screen updates and screen movement. I can't compare with the old GEM version. I haven't tried printing ASCII on disk yet, but one thing I do is use a RAM disk so everything is sped up immensely. A bug they have fixed in the text version is that the screen saver does work now (at least with the GEM version). A new feature includes saving your Global defaults such as your default directory, drive, etc. I really like this feature because I can copy all the VIP files in my work folder using a folder to RAM disk copier on boot up, then when I load VIP, it will automatically switch the default to drive D:. Before, I had to change it manually. Another change is that all the worksheet files are now saved as .WKS files, not .NAT files. You can still read .NAT files though. Over all, I like it. I haven't tried it out the new version extensively yet, but it seems to read in my old files with no problems (including macros, etc). It does come with some templates and some other things like a VIP font editor. Sorry, I haven't had time to try these goodies out yet. >I would like to know before I order the upgrade. Who knows? >Wim Schaasberg (U00177@HASARA5 on BITNET HEARN) Maurice BITNET: MCLI_SS@UORDBV, MCLISS@UORVM UUCP : ...rochester!ur-tut!mcli
K538915@CZHRZU1A.BITNET (09/08/87)
ur-tut!mcli@cs.rochester.edu (Maurice Ling) writes: >>is not what you expect (very slow in screen handling) > ^^^^^^^^^ >Yup. Still is. I don't think that can be helped until the blitter arrives. >They specifically state this problem in the manual. It takes more time to >move the 32K Graphics screen on the ST than the 8K (?) text screen on the IBM. This is just a rather weak excuse for bad and sloppy programing, have a look at Tempus (a text editor from CCD, I think it's available in the US now) to have a look at what kind of speed you can even have in a GEM program. It is naturally true that you can't scroll the screen as fast as on a IBM-PC, but you still can do it a LOT faster than VIP does on a ST. >>Wim Schaasberg (U00177@HASARA5 on BITNET HEARN) >Maurice Simon Poole K538915@CZHRZU1A.BITNET