chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (06/05/87)
From: Ed Lisle <ed@qtc%sequent%tektronix.tek.com>
Date: 2 Jun 87 15:44:41 GMT
Organization: Quantitative Technology Corp., Beaverton, OR
I need opinions on desktop publishing s/w and hardware. For the company
I work for I want to buy a Mac (SE), Laserwriter+, and Pagemaker.
I understand at this point that Pagemaker, Ventura Publishing, and Ready
Set Go are the popular packages around. Any comments. What are the
limitations, good points, bad points, other problems,...
I am also interested in purchasing a desktop publishing package for
by turbo-pc (it has EGA). I'm interested in the same type of questions
concerning MS-DOS. Is EGA good enough?
If there is enough interest I could post a followup.
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ed Lisle | ogcvax! |
| Quantitative Technology Corporation | verdix! qtc!ed |
| Beaverton, OR (503) 626-3081 | sequent! |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
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Now, where did my ex-wife put my Fairy Dust?chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (06/11/87)
From: seismo!oddjob!sphinx.UChicago!sphinx!pre1 (Grant Prellwitz)
Date: 11 Jun 87 08:54:28 GMT
Organization: U Chicago Computation Center
This is just a quick note because the last two articles I read both
mentioned running a desktop publishing system on a PC (NOT AT). It
appears that the two programs vying for the lead in the IBM-compatible
world right now are clearly Ventura Publisher and Pagemaker.
First, I would like to note that of the two, only Ventura will run
acceptably on any sort of a PC (and apparently fairly quickly on a
turbo PC) and that you should forget running Pagemaker on anything less
than an AT class machine.
Second, I would like comments on which is better for each of the following
applications:
1) a short 1 page item like an ad mixing text and graphics extensively
2) a 3-4 page newsletter, mainly text, but some graphics
3) a longer manuscript (100-200 pages)
4) does it support Hercules mono graphics and is it sufficient
5) what versions are you comparing
I would like to know how they compare in terms of using a variety of fonts,
printer support, ease of flowing around pictures and entering text, whether
changes you make in an included document are reflected in both places, speed
of printing, and general speed. Of course, don't feel limited by these points
:-) assume running on a 10 MHz AT clone.
With Chuq's permission, I will summarize the results for posting. It would be
best if you have had experience with both programs, but all responses will be
gratefully accepted. Of course, please reply by mail, at any of my addresses.
=====================Grant Prellwitz==========================
!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!pre1 pre1@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP
76474,2121 (CIS) pre1 (BIX)
The DOCTOR didn't need a funny line, why do I?
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Now, where did my ex-wife put my Fairy Dust?chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (06/19/87)
From: todd@uhccux.UUCP (The Perplexed Wiz) Date: 19 Jun 87 09:59:18 GMT References: <20932@sun.uucp> Organization: U. of Hawaii, Manoa (Honolulu) In article <20932@sun.uucp> seismo!oddjob!sphinx!pre1 (Grant Prellwitz) writes: >appears that the two programs vying for the lead in the IBM-compatible >world right now are clearly Ventura Publisher and Pagemaker. I think that Ventura and PageMaker are really aimed at two different audiences. More on this opinion later... > >First, I would like to note that of the two, only Ventura will run >acceptably on any sort of a PC (and apparently fairly quickly on a >turbo PC) and that you should forget running Pagemaker on anything less >than an AT class machine. Agreed. I think that the reason lies in the underlying PC window environment chosen by Ventura and Aldus. Ventura Publisher runs under GEM which is relatively simple, non-multitasking, and relatively fast. Aldus PageMaker runs under Microsoft Windows which is a real porker in the speed department. > >Second, I would like comments on which is better for each of the following >applications: >1) a short 1 page item like an ad mixing text and graphics extensively PageMaker >2) a 3-4 page newsletter, mainly text, but some graphics PageMaker >3) a longer manuscript (100-200 pages) Ventura Publisher >4) does it support Hercules mono graphics and is it sufficient I should check the manuals to make sure. But I think a "sort of" answer is: If the underlying window manager (GEM or Windows) supports Hercules (I think Windows supports the Hercules). >I would like to know how they compare in terms of using a variety of fonts, >printer support, ease of flowing around pictures and entering text, whether Both seem to support a good number of fonts. >changes you make in an included document are reflected in both places, speed >of printing, and general speed. Of course, don't feel limited by these points >:-) assume running on a 10 MHz AT clone. Ventura is real slow in both screen updating and printer speed. PageMaker is relatively fast in printing to a HP LaserJet Plus. Even its screen update is pretty good (especially considering how slow Windows is!). A recent issue of PC World had a very nice side by side comparison of Ventura Publisher and Aldus PC PageMaker. A couple of comments. I found that PageMaker had a much shallower learning curve than Ventura. I was up and doing what I thought was pretty nice looking output very quickly (one afternoon). It was very easy to import text created by WordPerfect and graphics created by a variety of low-end drawing packages and merge the two together. I also ran into the limitations of of PageMaker very soon. Some characteristics to consider are: PageMaker does not handle widows and orphans PageMaker can import files better than Ventura Ventura can export formatted text back to your word processor very nicely; PageMaker cannot export at all It is pretty hard to handle tabs nicely with Ventura. PageMaker handles tabs in imported text very nicely Ventura's tagging feature lets you make global formatting changes in your document very easily. PageMaker does not have any such feature (at least none I can find) I found it much easier and faster to create short (less than 10 pages) documents with PageMaker than Ventura. However, if someone told me I had to produce a camera ready book, I would go with Ventura. Its tagging feature and the ability to export text back to my word processor gives it the edge when working with large documents. -- Todd Ogasawara, U. of Hawaii Center for Teaching Excellence UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,ucbvax,dcdwest}!sdcsvax!nosc!uhccux!todd ARPA: uhccux!todd@nosc.MIL INTERNET: todd@uhccux.UHCC.HAWAII.EDU ---------------------------------------- Submissions to: desktop%plaid@sun.com -OR- sun!plaid!desktop Administrivia to: desktop-request%plaid@sun.com -OR- sun!plaid!desktop-request Paths: {ihnp4,decwrl,hplabs,seismo,ucbvax}!sun Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ Now, where did my ex-wife put my Fairy Dust?
chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (06/22/87)
From: umix!itivax!chinet!ward@RUTGERS.EDU (ward)
Date: 22 Jun 87 03:04:52 GMT
Organization: Chinet - Public Access Unix
Moderator: I have used PageMaker for several weeks. I'm only using
it on a PC, and only with the FX-80 drivers, but have become quite
experienced with its use in this environment.
I would be VERY interested in starting a discussion comparing the
Ventura and PageMaker. I don't know how to make a comprehensive list-
it would have to include "features in common" (e.g.: "From what products
is PageMaker capable of importing files?")
Others have to be worded some way to show how things work. Perhaps a
standard publication (which can be shown as ascii chars i.e. boxes, "this
is a graphic from PC Paint", etc) could be laid out. For example, Ventura
will reportedly flow text around graphics, while PageMaker requires you
to stop before it, grab the "window shade handle", start at a diff width
beside the graphic, stop it, then grab the windowshade to continue back it
the regular width.
We could get down to obscure things, too - like "can it flow text around
an irregular graphic?" (PM: no, you have to manually do EVERY LINE).
I've heard Ventura owners putting down PageMaker, but have experience
with Ventura-experienced people watching a PM demo saying "Oh, Ventura
can't do that!", etc - so it is time for a good comparison. Perhaps some
magazine has done so, but I think it would be interesting to do via
UseNet.
ihnp4!chinet!ward
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Now, where did my ex-wife put my Fairy Dust?chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (06/29/87)
From: seismo!hubcap.clemson.edu!ncrcae!ncrlnk!rd1632!shannon
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 87 23:58:52 edt
Organization: NCR Research & Development, Dayton, Ohio
I have both Ventura and PageMaker installed on an NCR PC8 which is networked
on a LAN with shared postscript laser printers. In terms of performance,
PageMaker is almost unusable. It takes several minutes just to spool the
postscript output on the workstation which must then be transferred to the
network spooler and finally accross a 9600 baud serial link to the printer.
Comparatively, Ventura and GEM provide interactive response and are used
exclusiviely by the some twenty odd net users. The output workstation spooler
can be disabled in Ventura. There may be a way to do this in WINDOWS too but
the intolerable delay in spooling the output to the network would still exist.
These opinions are my own.
Lewis.W.Shannon@Dayton.NCR.COM
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