YXT103@psuvm.psu.edu (Tao, Yang) (05/07/91)
What is the best wordprocessor which has best integrated scientific mathtype capability on IBM micro computers? The department wants to buy a few packages for its lab. Thanks.
JPMEYERS@MTUS5.BITNET (05/08/91)
I personally LOVE WordPerfect V5.1. It has a ton of stuff that is very useful for engineers. I have used both their table making tool and their equation writing tool while preparing my very numerous lab reports. It is a great piece of software! Sincerely, Jason P. Meyers JPMEYERS@mtus5.cts.mtu.edu
mas35638@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mike) (05/08/91)
Oh, boy, this sort of thing is just asking to open up a can of worms. WordPerfect has become somewhat of an industry standard, although I myself am a fan of WordStar. The most important thing is probably what you learned first and foremost--that's what you're comfortable with. Mike Stangel m-stangel@uiuc.edu
ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) (05/09/91)
From article <91127.151605JPMEYERS@MTUS5.BITNET>, by JPMEYERS@MTUS5.BITNET: > I personally LOVE WordPerfect V5.1. It has a ton of stuff that is > very useful for engineers. I have used both their table making tool > and their equation writing tool while preparing my very numerous lab > reports. It is a great piece of software! Can the original author please post a summary, or at least the statistics of how many recommanding what.
tpirnat@wpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas Charles Pirnat) (05/19/91)
I feel compelled to write some of my comments regarding WP5.1. I too
agree that the equation editor and table making tool are excellent
implementations of tools that engineers need. I have used WP5.1 for many
lab reports and papers (including my MS Thesis!). I learned how to use
the software quickly and with little pain.
HOWEVER, I have one very major beef. After saving some graphics (whether
they be equations or pictures) intensive documents, WP "gets lost" and
ends up destroying your document. During some of my editing sessions, the
only way to restore my document back to normal was to use the Norton Utilities.
I will list sone of the problems:
1.) If an equation falls on the last line of a page, WP has problems
possitioning the graphic. This can be cured by using the proper
anchor type. However, if this document is saved, when retrieved
this equation may cause WP to lock up at this position. It is as
if WP believes that the equation marks the end of your document
when in fact many pages may follow.
2.) Occasionally WP will insert a page break in the middle of a page
when retrieved. Strangely enough, the page break will occur in the
middle of a word and WP will replace two characters in this word.
The first character will be replaced by the page break character
while the second character will be replaced by an x.
3.) When the problems really get bad, somewhere in the middle of your
document you will encounter a line that looks similiar to:
"the quick brown fox jum@#^D @@@^HD."
Even the reveal codes screen shows the strange characters that were
not typed in by the writer. Even though many pages follow this
piece of text, you will be unable to edit or even see them. In fact,
after moving below the garbled text, you will be automatically
moved to the very top of your document! Using the Norton Utilities
to remove (replace with spaces) the garbled text, the document will
be fine (aside from having to retype what was just erased). It is
fairly obvious that WP somehow interprets the garbled text as a
command to move to the top of the document.
These are just a few of the problems that I have encountered. As I have
stated, these problems occur when saving a document. As such, backing up
your work will not solve the problem.
--
| o | Thomas Pirnat (WPI X5505 or email tpirnat @ wpi.wpi.edu) |
| _ /-+_ | Chinese Proverb: He who asks is a fool for 5 minutes, but |
| (_) > (_) | he who does not ask remains a fool forever. |
+------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+toma@sail.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (05/20/91)
In article <1991May19.160806.24610@wpi.WPI.EDU> tpirnat@wpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas Charles Pirnat) writes: > > I feel compelled to write some of my comments regarding WP5.1. I too >agree that the equation editor and table making tool are excellent >implementations of tools that engineers need. I have used WP5.1 for many >lab reports and papers (including my MS Thesis!). I learned how to use >the software quickly and with little pain. > HOWEVER, I have one very major beef. After saving some graphics (whether >they be equations or pictures) intensive documents, WP "gets lost" and >ends up destroying your document. During some of my editing sessions, the >only way to restore my document back to normal was to use the Norton Utilities. [List of problems deleted] I noticed most of the listed problems, and more, in the first release of WP5.1 I received. But later interrim releases (which are free if your report problems) have fixed these. After dealing with buggy early 5.0 releases, I thought WordPerfect Corp would have gotten their act together on 5.1 (after all it isn't an x.0 release), but I was wrong as the first 5.1 had very serious problems. But they managed to fix the bugs, and now it is a reasonably robust product -- it no longer seems to corrupt files although it still occasionally has placement problems. Considering the complexity of what it is doing, I forgive it. Now I'm anxiously awaiting WordPerfect for Windows, but I think I'll wait a few months before ordering it. -- Tom Almy toma@sail.labs.tek.com Standard Disclaimers Apply
suhonen@kunto.jyu.fi (Timo Suhonen) (05/21/91)
toma@sail.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) writes:
Now I'm anxiously awaiting WordPerfect for Windows, but I think I'll wait a
few months before ordering it.
Yeah, you will wait some months... A local dealer told me last week, that
WP Corp. will start shipping WP for Windows next September B-( but that info
is from Finland; maybe your lucky ones will get your copies earlier..)
--
Timo "I am logged in, therefore I am" Suhonen
suhonen@jyu.fi suhonen@euler.jyu.fi suhonen@kunto.jyu.fi suhonen@nic.funet.fi
Opinions(?) are mine (if not stolen), NOT those of Univ. of Jyvaskyla.