terry@moogvax.UUCP (Terry Westley) (09/08/87)
We have recently decided that we need good word processing tools on our
VAX running Ultrix. So, forgive me if this topic has come up over and
over again. Please e-mail responses to save others from having to read
the same stuff again. I'll be happy to summarize to the net or e-mail
copies of any responses to anyone who asks.
We have been using vi/nroff all along. This is generally fine for
those of us who use the system all the time. However, we now have some
users (secretaries, hardware engineers) who think using vi/nroff is
like hitting your head with a hammer. I'm sure they will be delighted
when they stop.
I would greatly appreciate any recommendations for word processing
software and a laser printer for output.
Our main requirements are preparing proposals and instructional
manuals for products we develop. We have no need for mathematical
equations, but an associated spreadsheet would be very useful. Also,
it should work with standard ASCII terminals such as VT-100 et. al.
I'm getting Laticorp's Latitude package on a 30-day free trial. Any
comments about this package would also be helpful.
--
Terry Westley
Moog, Inc. (no, not the synthesizer company)
{boulder,decvax,rocksanne,rocksvax}!sunybcs!moogvax!terryroot@mergsun.UUCP (Mergsun System Administrator) (09/11/87)
Terry, If you insist on staying on UNIX for document processing, my suggestion is to get your site a PostScript(tm) compatable laser printer (i.e. Apple LaserWriter+, Dec PrintServer40, IBM, HP, etc ) and install a set of filters created by Adobe Systems (the parents of Postscript) to allow BSD/SysV to communicate with these devices. They allow standard lineprinter in addition to troff and ditroff output. As to the word process aspect of you problem, if *roff is not to your secretarys liking, I suggest something like Scribe(tm) which is a full blown word processor. HOWEVER ! ! ! I would suggest you get those users a Macintosh Plus or SE with a LaserWriter+ and on of many word processors like Microsofts' Word. Within a few months you will be able to use your Unix system as a file server using a software package by Centram call TOPS and hardware by Kinetics called Fastpath. Ricky Schrieber / Principal Engineer / (516)-434-2615 Linotype Company / 425 Oser Avenue / Hauppauge, NY 11788
zwicky@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Elizabeth Zwicky) (09/11/87)
In article <101@mergsun.UUCP> root@mergsun.UUCP (Mergsun System Administrator) writes: >Terry, > If you insist on staying on UNIX for document processing, my suggestion >is to get your site a PostScript(tm) compatable laser printer (i.e. Apple >LaserWriter+, Dec PrintServer40, IBM, HP, etc ) and install a set of filters >created by Adobe Systems (the parents of Postscript) to allow BSD/SysV to >communicate with these devices. They allow standard lineprinter in addition >to troff and ditroff output. A good idea; we're doing it here. The software is called TranScript, it works well, and they have a sane licensing agreement. We adore it. It even comes with ptroff, a *roff for PostScript. We run it to three different printers, all shared with Macintoshes, two LaserWriter+s and a DataProducts LZR2665. LaserWriters are reasonably cheap, but low volume; the Dataproducts lacks the extra fonts of a LaserWriter+, but is faster and can deal with higher volumes. > As to the word process aspect of you problem, if *roff is not to your >secretarys liking, I suggest something like Scribe(tm) which is a full blown >word processor. Unh-unh. Scribe is a text formatter, not a word processor. BIG difference. Scribe formats text beautifully, and has a better interface than *roff, but it costs big bucks, and it has less flexibilty. The cheap, UNIX-style route is Gnu Emacs for an editor and LaTeX for a formatter, both of which suffer from being over-flexible and expert-friendly, but there are a lot worse things than that to suffer from. THere are word-processors for UNIX, but I've never seen one that I liked. (I'm a technical writer, and do some serious formatting - I like my 200 page documents with automatic tables of contents, easy indexing, beautiful typesetting, as fast as possible, with custom formatting. LaTeX is my thing.) > >HOWEVER ! ! ! I would suggest you get those users a Macintosh Plus or SE >with a LaserWriter+ and on of many word processors like Microsofts' Word. >Within a few months you will be able to use your Unix system as a file server >using a software package by Centram call TOPS and hardware by Kinetics called >Fastpath. Give me a break. One Plus? I'm going from my Plus (for me alone) with 20M to a II, so as to get some serious work done. Word does not cut it for me as a formatter either. Not to say that I don't love the Mac; I do lots of short documents on it, in, of all things, MacWrite. Longer ones go in MacTeX; if that gets too slow, I kermit them to the UNIX machine I do my long documents on and run them through TeX there. On a detail, we run Tops over Kinetics boxes now, and have been doing so for some months. The Fastpath boxes are great; we do a lot of things using them. Tops is not so great; we've run into reliability problems. It also runs only on some UNIX machines, because it requires kernel mods. We run it on Pyramids. > >Ricky Schrieber / Principal Engineer / (516)-434-2615 >Linotype Company / 425 Oser Avenue / Hauppauge, NY 11788
jlo@elan.UUCP (Jeff Lo) (09/12/87)
in article <64@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, zwicky@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Elizabeth Zwicky) says: > In article <101@mergsun.UUCP> root@mergsun.UUCP (Mergsun System Administrator) writes: >>is to get your site a PostScript(tm) compatable laser printer (i.e. Apple >>LaserWriter+, Dec PrintServer40, IBM, HP, etc ) and install a set of filters >>created by Adobe Systems (the parents of Postscript) to allow BSD/SysV to >>communicate with these devices. They allow standard lineprinter in addition >>to troff and ditroff output. > A good idea; we're doing it here. The software is called TranScript, > it works well, and they have a sane licensing agreement. We adore it. > It even comes with ptroff, a *roff for PostScript. We run it to three > different printers, all shared with Macintoshes, two LaserWriter+s and > a DataProducts LZR2665. LaserWriters are reasonably cheap, but low > volume; the Dataproducts lacks the extra fonts of a LaserWriter+, but > is faster and can deal with higher volumes. >>Ricky Schrieber / Principal Engineer / (516)-434-2615 >>Linotype Company / 425 Oser Avenue / Hauppauge, NY 11788 There is also Eroff for Ultrix. Eroff can support PostScript, LaserJets, and Imagen Impress printers. ---- Elan Computer Group, Inc. sells a package called EROFF which is the AT&T Documenter's WorkBench (DWB), including device independent troff, nroff, tbl, eqn, pic, grap, macros, etc., plus bug fixes and enhancements including bitmap graphics inclusion, and a driver for your choice of printer (All HP LaserJet models, PostScript printers, or Imagen Impress printers). Automatic HP Soft Font downloading is done for the LaserJets. DWB and the printer drivers are also available separately. Please write or call for more information. -- Jeff Lo ..!{ames,hplabs}!elan!jlo Elan Computer Group, Inc. 410 Cambridge Avenue, Suite A, Palo Alto, CA 94306, (415) 322-2450
patwood@unirot.UUCP (Patrick Wood) (09/12/87)
As long as Elan is pushing eroff, I might as well mention that we have a ditroff/otroff to PostScript postprocessor called devps. It's less expensive than either TranScript or Elan's PostScript driver (actually it costs the same for source as for TranScript binary). It has been ported to Ultrix and supports the 4.2 printer spooler. It also has the ability to source Mac images, including those from MacDraw, MacPaint, Illustrator, and the ability to source other PostScript files such as those from S, AT&T TARGA images, and hand-written PostScript. It comes with macros for all this, as well as PostScript special-effect macros for text rotation (printing along a margin), shading, etc. We also support the old troff (for anyone that wants to work with an outdated, cumbersome, limited program) by converting its output to ditroff format which can then be passed through any postprocessor (including devps). Pat Wood Pipeline Associates, Inc. bellcore!phw5!phw flash.bellcore.com!phw5!phw devps is a trademark of Pipeline Associates, Inc.