About the software...

I have written a fairly large number of utilities for the Macintosh. I myself work in the publishing business, so many of my tools are focused on text processing, desktop publishing, font management, etc. Others, however, are well suited to any data processing purpose. In general, you will find my software useful if you're drowning in data.

This file provides vectors for the FreeWare and DemoWare versions of my software. We'll also discuss how to go about purchasing the full implementations of the four products that are not free.

You can send me Email or Snailmail so long as you understand that I am not twins. Support questions are probably better sent to users, since I don't come even close to answering all the mail I get. On the internet the appropriate mailing lists are good places to start. On CompuServe, the DTPForum has a large cadre of users of my software, many of whom are very graciously forthcoming with their experience.

Contact me at:

gswann@kagi.com

gswann@mailhost.primenet.com

Greg Swann
3608 West Cochise Drive
Phoenix, AZ 85051

FREEWARE/DEMOWARE UTILITIES

These are the FreeWare/DemoWare offerings. All of these are available in the DTPForum of CompuServe, but the file names shown here are the names used in the Info-Mac archive. These files should be available at any Info-Mac mirror site.

Text processing/DTP software...

GST-TorqueDemo.sit

DemoWare version of Torquemada the Inquisitor. Torquemada is an extremely fast, extremely robust Search & Replace engine. Uses a large array of Wildcards to deploy a vast number of searches on a huge batch of files. Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose. Demo is version 1.1.0. Current shipping commercial version is 1.3.0.

GST-TGhostDemo.sit

DemoWare version of Torquemada's Ghost, a scriptable, back-groundable, daemonizeable Torquemada. Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose. Demo permits 32 launches, but Torquemada's Ghost mirrors the Torquemada the Inquisitor 1.3.0 command set, so you can use Torquemada's Ghost to get a feel for Torquemada 1.3.0. The commercial version of Torquemada ships with both Torquemada the Inquisitor 1.3.0 and Torquemada's Ghost 1.3.0.

GST-MMWDemo.sit

DemoWare version of Mark My Words. Mark My Words converts MS-Word 4.0/5.0/5.1 files to QuarkXPress Tags. Useful for Desktop Publishing only. Demo permits 32 launches.

GST-XP8Demo.sit

DemoWare version of XP8. XP8 cleans up and makes QuarkXPress-ready raw text files originating on Mac, DOS and UNIX systems. It intelligently reformats paragraphs, cleans up common word processor garbage and does the best curly-quote conversion we know of. Useful for Desktop Publishing only. Demo is XP8 1.0.0. Current shipping commerical version is 1.0.7.

GST-ASoaK.sit

A Sort of a Kind, a very robust drag & drop sorting utility for text files. Accent-sensitive, optionally eliminates duplicate entries, etc. Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose.

GST-Caesura.sit

Caesura cuts text files into segments at the point you specify. Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose.

GST-CatSeven.sit

Cat o' Seven Tails is a drag & drop text file concatenator. Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose.

GST-ClipNSave.sit

Clip 'n' Save makes extremely precise, user-defined coupons and broken rules, creating Adobe Illustrator or Aldus FreeHand files at your option. This software is useful for Desktop Publishing only, and only then for users discriminating enough to hate the out-of-the-box options in their publishing software.

GST-ShawBerry.sit

ShawBerry merges two text files at the points specified by the user. An example where it might prove useful: a DOS user supplies a PRN file of a too-wide spreadsheet. The PRN file has the left half of the text at the top of the file, followed by the right half. If you split the halves into two different files, you could use ShawBerry to reassemble each line of the file. Another example: ShawBerry is very useful in connection with PixPex, discussed below. Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose.

GST-FrogPrints.sit

The Frog Prints is a simple drag & drop printing application. You drag & drop a batch of text files, and The Frog Prints prints each one in sequence. If you double-click on the application, and if you have text in the clipboard, The Frog Prints will print that text, saving you the launch of a WP when you just want to print some text you've copied from a non-printing application. Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose.

GST-PSPort.sit

PSPort creates a copy of a DOS-based PostScript dump and removes characters that create problems on Mac-based PostScript printers. Obviously, this is mainly useful for Desktop Publishing, but PSPort is also a cheap way to get rid of the linefeeds from any DOS-based text file.

GST-PixPex.sit

PixPex creates a files of XTags picture box specifications from a drag & drop batch of pictures. These XTags specs can then be modified by hand or with Torquemada and merged into a standing text file with ShawBerry. Useful strictly for Desktop Publishing purposes.

GST-Randomizer.sit

Inserts random numbers at the front of each line in a text file. If you sort the resulting file with A Sort of a Kind, the file will be randomized. Includes a Torquemada set to remove the random sort keys after sorting. Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose.

GST-SmartClip.sit

Universal case conversion. Takes text off the clipboard and returns the converted text to the clipboard. This gives you case conversion everywhere you can copy and paste. The conversions are very smart, using the same logic used by Torquemada. Won't affect <Quark XPress tags> or <html> (or anything within angle brackets). Useful for any text processing/data processing purpose.

Utilities...

GSU-STPDemo.sit

DemoWare version of Shane the Plane. Shane the Plane is a very robust file attributes editor. Changes Type and Creator, of course, but also permits editing of all Finder flags. Adds or removes custom icons. Removes BNDLs from PostScript fonts. Changes the Created/Modified dates and times of files. Permits bulk renaming, including renaming by means of Search & Replace masks (like (ick!) DOS and UNIX, only loads better). The ultimate power user's power tool. Demo permits 32 launches.

GSU-Amanuensis.sit

Amanuensis copies files very quickly. That's all. Networked hacks in a hurry will make enemies in a hurry with Amanuensis, but the (no)wait may be worth it!

GSU-BootLog.sit

BootLog is an Extension that logs each boot of the Mac it's installed on to a file called BootLog's Log of Boots. Useful as a diagnostic tool for SysAdmin types.

GSU-HexKey.sit

HexKey is a number conversion tool. This is actually a programmer's tool, but it may be useful to other power users. Converts Decimal or Hexadecimal numbers to 10 other common Macintosh formats. If you don't know a Fixed from a Fract, you don't need it.

GSU-Ping.sit

Ping enables two or more AppleTalk networked Mac to exchange brief messages. This is surely the world's most economical NetMail software!

Font management software...

GSF-FONDetective.sit

FONDetective takes font suitcases by drag & drop and writes a text file for each detailing every last bit of information contained in each FOND resource in each suitcase. The report is in human-readable form (as compared to the FOND TMPL in ResEdit), and the detailed information is useful in a number of nerdly contexts.

GSF-FontFischer.sit

FontFischer is used in conjunction with Torquemada, A Sort of a Kind and QuarkXPress to create customized type specimen sheets or books. If you're not dissatisfied with Jim Lewis' The Type Book, you don't need this.

GSF-Gaskill.sit

Gaskill will tell you at any given time how many fonts you have open (through Suitcase or Master Juggler, for instance). The basic rule is, if you gotta ask Gaskill, it's time to close some...

GSF-Oscar.sit

Oscar the Cat is a companion to Shane the Plane. It takes files or folders by drag & drop batch and eliminates the BNDL bits and resources from any PostScript fonts it finds. Saves a small amount of space and a huge amount of time when opening folders of PostScript fonts.

GSF-PairingKnife.sit

Pairing Knife will take a batch of text by drag & drop and do a kerning pair frequency analysis on all of it. The final output is a rank-order list of pairs in your actual text. The point is this: if you're going to kern, you should kern the paris that come up most frequently; this will do the most good.

GSF-Rasputin.sit

Rasputin the Kitten examines every FOND resource found in every font suitcase found in every folder delivered to it in a drag & drop batch. It reports on any FOND or NFNT numbering conflicts found. This is a diagnostic tool useful for cleaning up your PostScript font library.

GSF-TypeDisunion.sit

Type Disunion is an Extension that deletes the file Type Reunion Data with every boot. I have found that corrupted copies of Type Reunion Data are responsible for lots of Mac flakiness, so I wrote this to eliminate the problem. If you dont use Adobe Type Reunion, you don't need this.

GSF-TypeSpectrum.sit

Type Spectrum is an interactive typeface matching game for kids and adults.

FLEETING FAME

Torquemada is named after Tomas de Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.

ShawBerry is named after Kip Shaw, a desktop publisher in Delhi, NY, because he suggested it.

Shane the Plane is named after Shane Stanley, a desktop publishing consultant in Nar Nar Goon (near Melbourne) Australia, because my daughter Meredith said so. Shane has been instrumental in the design and testing of everything discussed here plus a lot more.

FontFischer is named after Roy Fischer, a pre-press professional, who paid to have it written.

Gaskill is named after Phil Gaskill, most famous as co-author of QuarkXPress Tips 'n' Tricks, because I wanted to name something after him, and because he is easily the world's biggest font snob.

Oscar the Cat is named after Shane's moderately awe-inspiring cat Oscar. There is a snapshot of Shane, his wife Sally and Oscar in Shane the Plane.

Rasputin the Kitten is named after a kitten we had named - oddly enough - Rasputin. He peed all over everything and now lives outdoors on a farm, where he is welcome to pee all over everything.

COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE

These are my currently shipping commercial products:

XP8 - a very intelligent file filter that cleans up and makes the filthiest text QuarkXPress-ready. Among many other features, it offers DOS-file reformatting, financial-text clean-up, garbage disposal, typographic quality enhancement, and the best quote conversion we know of. The ShareWare version of XP8 (v1.0.0) can be found in CompuServe's Desktop Publishing Forum (GO DTPFORUM), Library 5, under the name XP8.SEA or in the Info-Mac archives as GST-XP8Demo.sit. The current commercial version is v1.0.7 and offers a great many enhancements over the ShareWare version.

Torquemada The Inquisitor - batch global search and replace software with wildcards, pattern matching, string substitution, et very cetera. With Drag & Drop under Systems 7 and 8, you can run up to 640 searches on up to 128 files in one batch. Features the most intelligent case-conversion we know of. The most-recent FreeWare version (1.1.0) can be found under the name TORQUE.SEA in Library 5 or in the Info-Mac archives as GST-TorqueDemo.sit. The current commercial version is 1.3.0, offering a great many enhancements, including new "wildthings" and a lot of new User Interface power. The commercial version ships with Torquemada's Ghost, a scriptable, backgroundable Torquemada. A DemoWare version of Torquemada's Ghost is available as TGHOST.SEA in Library 5 or in the Info-Mac archives as GST-TGhostDemo.sit.

Shane the Plane 2.0.2 - file and font attribute editing utility. Interactively or in Drag & Drop batches, permits you to change the Creator/Type of files, their created/modified dates and times, a host of significant Finder flags, plus a lot more. Makes files invisible/visible, makes fonts behave like files by removing their BNDL resources, batch "pastes" custom icons, intelligently renames and/or "slugs" files, et very cetera. A demonstration version (fully functional but limited to 32 launches) can be found in Library 12 under the name SPDEMO.SEA or in the Info-Mac archives as GSU-STPDemo.sit.

Mark My Words - a very elaborate MS-Word binary to QuarkXPress Tags text filter. It eats Word 4.0, 5.0 or 5.1 files, interactively or by Drag & Drop, and converts the binary to QuarkXPress tagged text. You can elect to include or omit any feature of Word's styling, and many features can be converted from their WP-like form to their DTP-like form (e.g., underscoring to italic). With Em Software's Xtags Xtension, picture and text boxes (including Word's tables) can be retained. A demonstration version (fully functional but limited to 32 launches) can be found in Library 12 under the name MMWDEM.SEA or in the Info-Mac archives as GST-MMWDemo.sit.

(While I've vectored all the files toward CIS and the internet, my primary haunts, they are also available on other services, and on any BBS which has the most recent version of AMUG's BBS-In-A-Box CD-ROM on line.)

All of these programs are sold on the same terms: (US)$50 each, per license. Two to 10 licenses are $45 each. For 11 or more licenses you're better off buying a site license. All of this is explained in the registration software supplied with this archive.

Thank you for your interest. We hope to be hearing from you soon!

Very best,

Greg Swann

gswann@mailhost.primenet.com