chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (05/01/87)
Desktop Publishing Archive #7
Subjects:
Multiple/single columns
Computer that prints Chinese characters (3 msgs)
630 emulator in postscript? (2 msgs)
Adobe Illustrator press release!
MacWorld Expo (4 msgs)
tabloid layout software? (4 msgs)
Atari ST publishing software & CES announcements
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From: seismo!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
Subject: Multiple/single columns
John Levine writes:
>The only PC word processor I know which can handle [making a page which is
>partially one column and partially multiple column] is Final Word,
>a Scribe clone suitable for documents formatted by Real Men.
Our product, MultiMate, handles this easily and cleanly.
Frank Adams ihnp4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
Multimate International 52 Oakland Ave North E. Hartford, CT 06108
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From: lauraf@ferrer (Laura Ferrer)
Subject: Computer that prints Chinese characters
Do you know of a computer and/or program that
will allow you to print Chinese characters?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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From: korn%cory.Berkeley.EDU@BERKELEY.EDU (Peter "Arrgh" Korn)
Subject: Re: Computer that prints Chinese characters
There's a really neat one for the mac. It's called Fe Mah (or some
permutation of those letters...). It was demonstrated at a Berkeley
Macintosh User's Group meeting a few months ago. It looked pretty
interesting.
Cost, if I recollect correctly, was about $600 or so.
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From: Ridgway@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: RE: Computers that print Chinese
An excellent Chinese-language word processor is available for the
Macintosh. It's called FeiMa, and is put out by the Wu Corporation, 46
West Avon Road, Avon, CT 06001, phone (203)673-4796. It was developed
by a Chinese-American, and is completely in Chinese (you do get an
English-language user manual! There are several ways you can do input,
including Radical and Pinyin methods. An optional package will convert
traditional Chinese characters to the simplified forms.
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From: ihnp4!alberta!ncc!lyndon
Subject: 630 emulator in postscript?
Santa dropped off a Dataproducts 2665 postscript engine during the wee
hours of the 25th! We need to make it emulate a Diablo 630 in order
to handle the standard Unix line-printer type stuff. Has anyone coded
a 630 emulator in PostScript?
Also, has anyone had any experience with TranScript? Are there advantages
to using it as opposed to purchasing ditroff?
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From: henry@angel (Henry McGilton)
Subject: Re: 630 emulator in postscript?
First off, part of the TranScript package includes a filter to drive
PostScript printers to make them look like Diablo 630 engines.
Second off, TranScript versus ditroff. ditroff is a formatting program.
You type text with embedded control codes to get formatted and paginated
documents. You can use ditroff with its pic (graphics), tbl (tablular
layout), and eqn (mathematics) to do really powerful feats of page layout
and formatting. The cost in human grief is very high. TranScript is a
set of filters to convert from troff and ditroff to LaserWriter.
TranScript supports Diablo 630 and plot and so on. You could, I suppose,
do document formatting using raw PostScript, but you'd go out of your
mind. See the examples in the PostScript Tutorial and Cookbook.
But the real answer you might be looking for is, if you want troff or
ditroff to drive the LaserWriter, you will need TranScript to do all the
back end filtering work.
Hope that's clear.
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From: marv@vsedev.vse.com (Marvin Raab)
Does anyone know of any desktop publishing user groups in the Washington, DC
area? Personally, I dont do any of my work on MacIntosh's, all MS-DOS.
Would anyone like to start one?
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From: chuq (Chuq Von Rospach)
Subject: Adobe Illustrator press release!
FYI: Today Adobe announced "Adobe Illustrator" at MacWorld Expo in SF.
It is being demonstrated live in the Adobe booth there.
=============================================================
ADOBE SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES NEW PRODUCT -- Adobe Illustrator(TM)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (January 8, 1987)
Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced the development of a
powerful art production tool--the Adobe Illustrator--for
producing high quality line art and illustrations. This
revolutionary new Macintosh graphics package combines the
control and fine detail of drawing by hand with the speed and
mathematical precision of the computer. Adobe Systems,
headquartered in Palo Alto, California, is highly regarded in
the computer, printing and graphic arts industries for its
development of PostScript(R)--the page description language that
enables integrated text and graphics to be output to a wide
range of laser printers and typesetters.
The Adobe Illustrator is based on PostScript and uses precise
curves and lines to describe drawings. The user can create new
illustrations or "trace" existing artwork, add captions, then
modify the artwork in an endless number of ways. The final
product is professional quality line are and illustrations that
can be used on their own of placed in other documents and
printed on any PostScript-equipped printer such as the Apple
LaserWriter(TM) or typesetter like the Linotronic(TM) 300.
As a starting point, the user can use virtually anything:
scanned images from a photo, logotype, blueprint, rough sketch,
a piece of art from a scrap file, or a MacPaint image. Instead
of building the drawing with crude dots, the Adobe Illustrator
users a unique and powerful pen tool that enables the user to
easily "trace" shapes then fill in all or part of the image,
adjust lines to any weight, and add captions. The drawing, or
any object in the drawing including text, can be rotated to any
angle, scaled, skewed and manipulated to create special effects.
With the Adobe Illustrator it is easy to move or change objects,
zoom in on details and even preview the drawing to check on
progress before printing. Because the Adobe Illustrator enables
precise control of lines and curves, it makes professional
quality, computer-assisted illustrations practical for the very
first time. With this tool, drawings, technical illustrations,
maps, designs, logos, type and much more can be produced three
to four times faster than traditional methods. And once the
illustration is complete it can be later changed or merged with
other illustrations making it a highly productive tool for
professional use.
Adobe Systems will be retailing the Adobe Illustrator for $495.
Shipments are scheduled to begin in March, 1987, through
authorized Apple dealers, VARS and resellers. For more
information, contact Fred Mitchell, Adobe Systems Incorporated,
1870 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
Telephone (415) 852-0271.
Adobe Illustrator is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
LaserWriter and MacPaint are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Linotronic is a trademark of Allied Corporation.
=============================================================
----- End Forwarded Message -----
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From: chuq (Chuq Von Rospach)
Subject: MacWorld Expo
I spent a number of hours at MacWorld Expo today, and since nobody else has
dropped off any notes on it yet, I thought I'd make some comments on it.
Note: this is not intended to be an exhaustive comment -- I wasn't trying
to look at everything, and I didn't bring home a lot of material that wasn't
directly related to what I was looking for (primarily DTP, books, fonts, and
new toys to play with). Others can either add to this report or post their
own exhaustive summaries.
This year's MacExpo was HUGE. They are expecting 30,000 people over three
days. It was jammed on Friday.
This year the Expo was at Moscone center. It has simply outgrown Brooks
Hall, where it has lived in previous years. Moscone is a beautiful
convention center, an oasis of glitter in a less than wonderful
neighborhood. Walk two blocks in the wrong direction, and the neighborhood
gets very grungy. The wonders of redevelopment. I miss Brooks hall, the
haven of the early days (West Coast Computer Faire lives there, too, from
back in the days when 16K was a lot of RAM. sigh.) This just goes to show
how BIG the Mac world is these days.
Also how professional. Anyone who says the Mac is a business failure has
not looked around recently. Gone are the user groups (with a few
exceptions, like BCS and BMUG). Gone are the booths around the edge with a
couple of hackers with glazed eyes and a semi-finished product. Gone are
the ponytails and T-shirts, coats and ties and nylons are uniforms now.
Apple announced no new products. Disappointing, not surprised. From what I
can tell, there were four big winners:
o Adobe Illustrator. The next generation graphic program. As far ahead
of MacPaint as the Mac is ahead of the PC. The first graphic program
with no bitmap, it is all line and shading, and takes the full
capabilities of PostScript to the limit.
o Dbase Mac. Announced previously, but it was here and it is. Another
sign that the Mac is serious business. Doens't really change the state
of the art, but legitimizes it. To be shipped Real Soon Now.
o WordPerfect. To be shipped 2Q87. The ultimate word processor for the
PC comes to the Mac. They were there, they were talking about it, but
they weren't really showing it. Again, compared to some Mac word
processors, it doesn't extend the state of the art, but it is one less
excuse for people to NOT buy a Mac. Whether it will hold its own
against the Mac programs and against Word3.0, I don't know.
o Word 3.0. Demoed at the show, shipping the end of January. I don't
know about you, but after reading the literature and watching the demo,
this thing might just do my laundry. We'll see, but I'm impressed.
Word 1.05 is functional, Word 3.0 is glitzy. Like a Ford and a BMW.
Controversy of the show: LetraSet and Boston Publishing Systems. If you're
reading any of the Mac magazines, you've seen the heavy advertising for
Letrapage. LetraSet bought the new release of MacPublisher II from Boston
Publishing, raise the price extraordinarily high, and advertised the hell
out of it. A short time before MacExpo, they handed the software BACK to
BPS, leaving them in the lurch, and are now pushing Ready Set Go! 3.0 as the
LetraSet DTP solution.
BPS will be marketing their stuff as MacPublisher III. LetraSet has NOT to
date returned BPS's customer lists, though, so if you own MacPublisher, you
need to contact the vendors so they know you exist. Letraset gets my slimy
award. Note: RSG3 is still being marketed by Manhattan Graphics -- it is
not a buyout, LetraSet just re-sells it. My suggestion: buy RSG3 from
Manhattan, tell Letraset to take a hike. RSG3 is available now, stable, and
significantly higher functionality than MacPublisher III will be.
Prediction: 1987 will be the year of the laserfont. The laserwriter is
remaking how we look at text, and companies are just starting to deal with
how to remake the laserwriter. Look for really wonderful font and clip art
offerings just for the laserwriter.
Prediction: It will also be the year of Postscript, as new tools
continue to make it available to the user (Word 3.0 and RSG3 both have
Postscript capability currently).
Prediction: Word 3.0 will redefine the state of the art of the Mac user
interface. User definable menus (a short, Write like menu, a full menu, and
you can pick&choose what items you want on it) is just one feature that I
think makes the existing interface obsolete. Give the user all the power he
can handle, and let him re-arrange it to fit his needs. Word 3.0 is going
to lead the way. Watch it.
There were a lot of business things. Ultimate spreadhseets. Tax preparers.
Accounting packages. Large, fast, mean looking SCSI disks. 1986 was the
year the Mac got serious and took over DTP. 1987 is the year it goes legit
and takes over the rest of the office.
--------------------
From: starkweather.pa@Xerox.COM
Subject: Re: MacWorld Expo
Before the MAC takes OVER the office from the PC it has to get INTO the
office. As a user of both machines, MAC is glitzy the PC useful. True,
with some spreadsheet and word processor mixes now coming to the MAC
world it can begin some inroads to the PC but it will not easily
displace the 6 million odd PC's that have satisfied (not ecstatic)
users. It has to get rid of the puny screen and monochrome tube. If an
illustrator for the PC comes along (as is rumored) the MAC will have to
do all the running it can just to stay in one place. Ventura Publisher
by Xerox for the PC supercedes Aldus and also drives the LaserWriter. It
should be interesting to see what happens in 1987.
--------------------
From: David.Anderson@k.cs.cmu.edu
Subject: tabloid layout software?
My wife puts out a monthly newspaper for a local non-profit community
organization, with a little technical assistance from yours truly.
We've grown tired of pasting up the entire paper by hand (usually
MacWrite and MacDraw output plus camera-ready ads from some
advertisers), but have been unwilling to pay Pagemaker's $500 price tag
(I'm still a poor, struggling graduate student). Can any of the newer
Macintosh page layout programs do a good job for us?
The problem is the large format (11 x 17 inches). RSG3 doesn't seem to
handle any sizes other than the normal paper size. MacPublisher II
didn't look like a very professional product; I haven't seen its latest
incarnation (Letrapage? MacPublisher III?). We've considered
switching to a smaller format (8.5 x 11), but that would increase our
printing costs beyond the breaking point.
We did try doing one issue entirely in MacDraw, which was quite painful
because MacDraw makes such a lousy word processor. Would Cricket Draw
be much better? I gather that it does allow a mixture of type sizes
and styles within a text object. If someone has Cricket Draw, I'm sure
many would appreciate a good review.
How does Pagemaker support large page sizes? Does it break the page
carefully, or can the characters in a line of text be broken across 2
(or more?) pieces of paper?
I've read in MacUser/MacWorld of some new DTP software that's being
developed -- anyone seen something in beta test that does a better job
of tabloid-size page layout than the current options?
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From: stiber@CS.UCLA.EDU (Michael D Stiber)
Subject: tabloid layout software?
I've tried using Pagemaker to get 11 x 14 output, but it would only
print the upper left corner of the page. Perhaps somebody knows a
trick?
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From: mckay@ee.ecn.purdue.edu (Dwight D McKay)
Subject: Atari ST publishing software & CES announcements
Being an Atari ST owner, I've been waiting for some of the Mac-style
publishing tools to show up for my machine. Recently, Atari and a third
party software company have made announcements which indicate I might not
need to wait too much longer:
1) There is a product out called "publishing partner" for the ST. It supports
Apple LaserWriter and other postscipt printers over a serial line as well
as Epson printers in quad density graphics mode. (Epson-style printers
are the standard printer on the ST series) It is priced at $200.
2) At CES Atari announced a $1500 laser printer to be available later this
year. It has *no* controller, but is run completely from the recently
announced 2 Meg ST via the built in DMA port. The laser is 300 dpi.
So far the marking engine manufacturer has not been mentioned.
3) The new ST models have been announced. Features:
- 68000 based, starting at $1000 for 1 Meg. RAM, 2 & 4 Meg. versions
are also available.
- expandable to 16 Meg.
- 1 expansion slot with full bus (not included on previous models)
- seperate keyboard and CPU
- 720 K floppy
- slot for 20 Meg. harddisk ($700 extra)
I think the most interesting thing to note is that this represents a
*significant* drop in the buy-in price for a dtp system. One could
conceive of a complete system for about $3000; just a bit more than a
Mac Plus and an ImageWriter.
--------------------
From: allegra!alice!d
Subject: Re: tabloid layout software?
Our school newspaper, Governor Livingston Regional's _Highlander_, has
actually published a tabloid (11 x 17) size issue using PageMaker. I have
also produced two other tabloid-size school newspapers for another local
high school using PageMaker.
It wasn't painless.
With 800K drives or a hard disk, actual layout is a cinch. One selects
tabloid when opening the new PageMaker file, and everything works as you'd
expect. The on-screen layout is pretty much intuitive. Printing the thing out
on an 8.5 x 11 PostScript device like the LaserWriter or LaserWriter Plus
is another story. One must set the zero markers on the page where the
upper left hand corner of the printout is to start. Theoretically you
could print out an 11 x 17 page with two 8.5 x 11 sheets, but since the
ruler zero points don't seem to match up exactly with what prints out
where, one must use three 8.5 x 11 sheets for each page. These then have to
be pasted up manually, and we used exacto knives to get around characters.
Besides that, all three attempts worked fine. I've heard that by using a wide-
carriage dot matrix printer you can get good results, and the same goes
for a larger than 8.5 x 11 PostScript device.
(This was all done with PageMaker 1.2. Cost is discounted to around $380.)
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From: stiber@CS.UCLA.EDU (Michael D Stiber)
Subject: Re: Tabloid Layout Software
Ok, I give up. How did you get the LW to print different parts of the
tabloid page? No matter how I play with the ruler zero markers, all
the LW will print is the lower left corner of the page.
--------------------
From: research!alice!d
You must set the ruler zero where you want the printout to start, *and*
you must select the "tile" option from the print requestor.
--------------------
From: chuq (Chuq Von Rospach)
Subject: Re: MacWorld Expo
> Before the MAC takes OVER the office from the PC it has to get INTO the
> office.
Well, the latest Business Week says that about 20% of micros sold to the
fortune 1000 are Mac's. That is 1 out of five. The percentage is higher
in smaller companies, too. The Mac significantly outsells IBM these days,
although it is still outsold by PC clones overall.
If that isn't IN the office, I don't know what is.
>As a user of both machines, MAC is glitzy the PC useful.
Editorial comment, bordering on sour grapes. Doesn't match with the
facts -- look at Pagemaker, look at Excel, look at Word (and the upcoming
Wordperfect), look at Microplanner and DBase. If you can tell me a major
business market segment where the Mac doesn't have an equivalent program
to the PC, I'll be rather surprised...
The facts show the Mac is here. It is outselling the PC. It is driving
into the office. The PC has a LARGE installed user base, but current sales
have definitely turned towards the Mac.
--------------------
From: starkweather.pa@Xerox.COM
Subject: Re: MacWorld Expo
Gosh, I hate to question your data but my poll of several quality
computer "stores" like MicroAge etc. indicate the opposite. The MAC is a
good machine and I think has staying power. The lack of a compatible
operating system like all MS-DOS clones and color still significantly
limit its utility. The MAC is popular (with me too) but has not provided
a lot of users with the power and flexibility needed. JAZZ still does
not have the beauty of 1-2-3, HAL now provides technical folk with more
1-2-3 power etc. Surely the contest is on but if by IBM you mean only
IBM produced machines may be that is true. If by IBM one means generic
PC with 80x86 architectures the answer is that Apple is moving rapidly
and decisivly but is way back on the power curve yet. If they introduce
color, emulate MS-DOS etc. then things will be different. As an
alternative it will be the smaller of the two. The are so many systems
and imaging accessories for PC's the list is quite long. For the MAC the
list is very short. Maybe that will change. If flexibility were the
watchword the PC wins. I am not saying the the MAC does not have
significant things to offer but as yet it is inadequate to the PC in
most areas. If not, what are they? GEM has PostScript output for
LaserWriters and is comparible to MACDraw. Ventura Publisher is superior
to Aldus etc. MAC is good but not yet capable of victory. I think the
biggest disk you can get is 20MB for example. PC's can be gotten with
30,40 and 60 MB and the Compaq 386 with up to 130MB. Well time will
tell. But 80x86 machines are walking away from the others currently. In
the future, who knows?
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Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM [I don't read flames]
There is no statute of limitations on stupidity