Suzy B Software 2/Suzy B Software CD-ROM 2 (1994).iso/txtedtrs/1stwrd_1/1stword.txt

Text File | 1995-05-01 | 112KB | 2,401 lines

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 ************
Topic 4         Fri Jan 06, 1989
KWERNER                      at 18:50 CST
Sub: 1st Word Plus 3.0 ???

Does anybody know more about this software?
108 message(s) total.
 ************
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 1         Wed May 24, 1989
M.EASTER                     at 07:42 PDT

      Stan-

      Thanks for your reply.  Since my last questions on this topic I've
received both 2.02 and 3.14 (long story, old software, good response from
MicroTyme and Prospero (Oregon), and helpful (brief) conversation with GST
during pursuit).  My Citizen MSP 10 won't do proportional either, and I
haven't installed it on my Fujitsu which will. It doesn't exactly "auto"
hyphenate for me, but requires a reformat to trigger the "do you want to
hyphenate here" queries.  That's just fine with me.

      Speaking of the Citizen printer, it has a number of features which I
would consider definite strengths that make it different from an Epson FX (or
by their terminology, LX, FX with NLQ) that require personalizing the driver.
The Citizen supports NLQ in elite, italics, and expanded, which the LX driver
doesn't.

      The Citizen also supports mode 7 graphics, which is a double density 1:1
aspect ratio, if you do it right.  What I did was to plug in the mode 7 number
instead of mode 5, and then in the first section of the printer config line (6
items), told it to treat the unit width/ dot matrix graphics density like an
Atari SMM804, that is, to print each pixel twice in the horizontal mode.

      That gives me twice the density for the graphics, and a proper aspect
ratio, as well as the correct screen display.  I made one driver like that,
and one the normal way, which prints the graphics faster and less dense. (72
vs 144 dpi.)  I know that it seems like it should just require telling it mode
7, but that gave me horizontal compression.  I don't think that's a true
resolution improvement, just more density for darkness.  If I want true
resolution improvement, and the IMG file has it to give, I'll have to use re-
printing techniques with PageStream.

      Since I like to tinker with printer drivers to expand the potential for
word processors, I'm modifying the driver for 72 lines per page, 80 (79) lines
per page, and 88 lines per page, in addition to the normal 66 for 11" paper.
72 lines per page looks just great, I'm not sure that shouldn't be the normal
mode, depending on how many lines per page you want for layout. (I posted a
file on that in the library for WWST and STWriter.)  The 88 line per page
could be used in conjunction with the 1-1/2 line spacing, to make the
equivalent of a 60 line per page spacing appearance.  A 99 line per page
double spaced would look like 50.  The point of all that is, that for any
given document, in order to more precisely fit the document to the page(s),
you can have pages with 44, 50, 60, 66, 72, or 79 lines per page, and they
will all look just fine.  (I'm not sure about 79 yet, but since 72 looks
great, 79 shouldn't be too crowded.  88 definitely is.)  The 44 would come
from 1-1/2 line spacing with the normal 66 driver.

      I'm considering getting a DeskJet Plus, and was glad to see that Sol
Gruber uploaded a DeskJet Plus driver for FWP.

      I haven't had a chance yet to experiment with its multiple column
printing capabilities, but from looking at the docs, I wish I could control my
inter-column space separately from my left margin space.  You don't need much
intercolumn space, usually, but the fact that the printer automatically gives
you 1/4" paper margins may be enough difference.  I may be able to handle any
desire for larger margins with light print indent with mail merge.

      Speaking of mail merge, that's a much more powerful program than just
mail merging, since that's where the multiple column, and printer and document
commands can function.  It can be used with files created by data base
programs for great potential.

      Hey, you people out there.  Do you realize that this is the _only_ word
processing program for the Atari that gives you the ability to combine
graphics and the printer's native fonts, and on top of that gives you multiple
columns, "auto" hyphenation, proportional spacing, 1-1/2 line spacing,
footnotes, and printer pitch changes within a document without having to enter
printer commands?

      I personally prefer to edit in WWST, because of minor differences, but
that should import into FWP or First Mail to use the powerful features
mentioned.

      I may post a file later discussing the power and utility of FWP and
First Mail.

                        Mike
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 2         Sat May 27, 1989
STAN50                       at 13:59 EDT

If you use control arrow you will scroll up or down a screen at a time. This
is what you want, no?
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 3         Sun May 28, 1989
M.EASTER                     at 03:29 PDT

      Stan-re scroll

      Well, I'll be d*mned.  This is what I want, yes.  That bit of
information would certainly be a helpful addition to the info on scrolling in
the help window.  When shift-arrow didn't work, and the scroll information
didn't say you could scroll like that, I figured it was a missing feature.  I
thought I had scouted out the manual, and it only gave the same info as the
help screen.  Thanks for your experience.

      I noticed you uploaded a deskjet driver.  The hex file leaves the start
graphics line inoperative (as does a FWP DJP driver uploaded by S.Gruber).  I
don't have a deskjet but am very interested in one.  If you have a deskjet
with an Epson cartridge in it, is it possible to give the DJ a control code to
start using the Epson cartridge?  I'm thinking that for start graphics, you
could tell the DJ to start using the Epson cartridge, go into Epson graphics
(say mode 5), and it would use the Epson mode for the graphics, and then after
the graphics are over, revert back to HP text mode (probably based on initiali-
 zation string, since there's no end graphics control line) to continue text
using the HP DJ fonts (which should look better than the Epson, as the Epson's
are based on 9 pin fonts).  If you did all that, along with the techniques I
think I described in a previous message to get 144 dpi output with Epson mode
7 (I'm not sure the Atari DM printer trick will work with HP mode, tho'), you
should not only be able to get the DJ to do graphics, but get them in 144
instead of 72.

      When I talked to the fellow at Prospero about 2 or so weeks ago, he said
he was expecting a disk with some drivers on it.  I think he said that there
would be some extra charge for it, not much, about $10, but he didn't know
what would be on it.  Maybe just a bunch of miscellaneous Epson drivers, such
as my Citizen or Fujitsu.  But.. maybe something that will enable graphics
printing on the DJ.

      Mike
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 4         Sun May 28, 1989
SANDY.W [SysOp]              at 14:38 EDT

If you insert the Epson cartridge, you DJ becomes a Epson FX-80. Period. You
can't switch between DJ and Epson mode without turning off the printer and
removing the cartridge. On the other hand, the print quality of the Epson cart
is better than what you would see from a dot matrix.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 5         Wed May 31, 1989
KWERNER                      at 20:35 CDT

Thanks for the phone number.  If anyone else is interested, here is Prospero's
address:


 Prospero Software
 100 Commercial St., Suite 306
 Portland, ME   04101



Send $25 and both your original disks, and you will receive the new version
and the new manual.


 Kurt Werner
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 6         Tue Jun 13, 1989
DOUG.W [ST*SYSOP]            at 00:27 EDT

My opinion about First Word Plus is *BUY IT*  (but just forget it has graphics
capabilities...they aren't worth it).  FWP is superior to WW in almost all
ways (except lack of Thesaurus (has this changed in newer versions?))

--Doug
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 7         Tue Jun 13, 1989
STAN50                       at 01:12 EDT

if you have a hard drive, get K-roget, a terrific thesaurus, better than ww's
and better than wordperfects. From england but sold at us mailorder.\
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 8         Mon Jun 12, 1989
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 22:37 PDT

 STAN50,
 Thanks for the lowdown. I was wondering about DataManager Pro since I
 saw it in a local ST store. I read in ST Informer that it is the old
 Trimbase repackaged and isn't connected with Timeworks. I can attest,
 though, that the box is a Timeworks one with all their usual Timeworks
 hype on product support, the quickstart manual, etc. It shows a guy
 using DMP on an IBM clone. For $150 it would have to be *real* good
 to do better in sales than Superbase. If there isn't any upgrade
 path for DataManager owners, I know I wouldn't want to have to buy
 the thing outright. I guess there must be a 'Timeworks Europe' too,
 that is different from Timeworks USA. Hope they decide to start
 supporting it over here.
 Doug,
 Sounds interesting. I might go get it then since I'm one of the few
 who liked First Word but finally couldn't get by with it's sparse
 features. I haven't heard of Timeworks planning anything else with
 Wordwriter and I doubt if 'Beyond Wordwriter' will be showing up soon.
 Too bad FWP doesn't have a Thesaurus, I use WW's all the time. But I
 like the idea of hyphenation . . . hum.
 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 9         Tue Jun 13, 1989
M.EASTER                     at 07:10 PDT

      Mel-re FWP and graphics

      You have the same questions that I had until I got FWP.  FWP has an
elaborate printer driver situation that allows the program to control the text
output as draft vs NLQ, elite vs pica, compressed vs expanded vs normal, and
all that with ruler commands,  besides bold, italic, underline, and super and
sub scripts, (not ruler) while having the nature of the graphics output
"fixed" at your "choice" (which the manual presents as only 1 choice for most
Epson printers) of graphics mode 5, a 1:1 aspect ratio at 72 dpi.  Yes, it has
the ability to leave text mode and go into graphics mode to do its job, and
does so by using the IMG file from disk rather than "incorporated" into the
doc.  The doc tells the program what the name and location of the graphic is,
and the program shows the user where the graphic is located and its extent
(and displays it if graphics mode is selected).  Yes, FWP can block part of a
line.

      Doug- I have diddled with the print driver (using mode 7) to get it to
print graphics in twice the density (144 dpi) and maintaining the same aspect
ratio and proper WYSIWYG display on the page.  I think the "true" resolution
is still 72 dpi at 144 dpi density.  144 looks a lot "better" or denser.  I've
been meaning to upload some driver hex files for doing that as well as the
many differences between the Citizen MSP-10, the Fujitsu DX-2100, and the
standard Epson FX and LX's regarding text handling.

      Mel- Yes, you have to leave FWP to use mail merge, unlike WW; but that's
because FWP's mail merge (First Mail) is a powerful program, far beyond a
"mail merge" function; with the ability to create multiple columns, and use
commands for datafile, input, includefile, chainfile, fieldsep, recordsep,
setval, and enables you to skip or "enclose" fields or to reformat re indents,
line spacing, margins, change justification, all and more from within First
Mail.

      There are keyboard commands for most functions, although I don't recall
one for WW's alt-A (other window).  Re expanding part of a line; since the
pitch, expanded v compressed, pica v elite, is controlled by the ruler, it
controls an entire line at a time.  The way I deal with pitch changes within a
line is to use something like light type for my "special" pitch, which can be
controlled within a line, and configure a printer driver to put the printer in
that mode to do that pitch whenever there is light.  You can have multiple
"special" pitches by having multiple drivers, but you can't mix special
pitches unless you are willing to give up bold, underline, italic, sub or
superscript. But you can't use light with something you are going to use First
Mail on, because it uses light print for its commands.

      No, 3.14 doesn't spread out expanded for you, but since you make the
change in the ruler, you change the margins as well for that line or section.

      FWP v WW: tough call.  I guess because I'm so accustomed to WW it is
still my fave for "ordinary" work, but...it doesn't do footnotes, import
graphics, hyphenate, proportional print, do 1-1/2 line spacing, have decimal
tabs, period spaces for tabs, do multiple columns without "reprinting"
techniques, and you have to do some gymnastics to change pitches within a
document (as above).  First Mail is very powerful, and might work on WWST
docs, since it supports First Word, and those two have compatible formats.  I
go with Doug's advice about ..buy it.., like others have said about DTP
programs and the like, each has its strengths and advantages, and it's a lot
cheaper to have multiple word processors than multiple DTP prgs.  I hauled out
1st Word the other day to do something, and still use STWriter for two column
printing, depending on the source of the file.

      Doug- No, FWP 3.14 still doesn't have a thesaurus.  Stan- tell us more
about K-Roget, you're the expert on these English programs.  It must be big to
warrant the remark about the hard drive.

      Mike
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 10        Wed Jun 14, 1989
STAN50                       at 22:28 EDT

K roget can run on a double sided 1040. But it would be a pain, since it
requires a ramdisk for some info. It has about 900K in information for the acc
program to use. The thesaurus itself has a terrific vocabulary and a phonetic
speller so that I use it to check on words that fw+ doesn't recognize but
which I think may be correctly spelled. On a hard drive it works like a charm
and is a wonderful complement to fw+.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 11        Thu Jun 15, 1989
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 07:38 PDT

 Mike,
 Whew! Thank you very much for such an exhaustive and thorough answer!
 I went ahead and ordered FWP 3.14 yesterday and am looking forward to
 putting it through the motions. When I looked at the back of the box
 at my local ST place I was amazed at all the things listed that it
 could do as well as the additional stuff they listed on a stick-on
 label for 3.14. Sounds pretty interesting about the printing of pics
 within the text. I like to hack around with my drivers too, so I may
 try out what you were suggesting with my Panasonic Kx-p1180 on using
 different dpi settings.
 I really hate the way Wordwriter creates huge spaces in a line with
 long words and that's the main reason why I'm trying FWP. Did GST put
 in a 'chain' function between FWP and FM? That would make it easy to
 get between them, but I can use Hotwire to do the same.
 Too bad about FWP not having a thesaurus. I really use them a lot. I
 heard that K-roget has hooks that allow it to interact with K-word. In
 other words, you can insert the synonymn it found right into your
 document. Maybe the GST people can buy some rights to it since their
 both English firms.
 Someone mentioned a disk of drivers that FWP was putting out. What's
 the word on them? Are they special drivers for doing more neat
 graphics stuff with text or just drivers that weren't addressed in the
 original packaging? Can one write to GST via Prospero or is it all
 about transatlantic postage?
 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 12        Fri Jun 16, 1989
GRIBNIF                      at 01:01 EDT

They presently have no drivers that do proportional.  Which is very annoying.
Cause without a sample or information I dunno how to write a driver that DOES
do proportional spacing.

Rick
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 13        Sat Jun 17, 1989
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 14:48 PDT

       Well, I got FWP yesterday and am amazed at the thoughtful
 touches the program has over WW. You get some tradeoff's but FWP is
 definitely one nice program. With some help from STARTKEY, I think it
 will become my favorite wp-just wish it had a thesaurus.
       Speaking of STARTKEY, are there any programmers out there who
 know how to create the message macro for STARTKEY to move to the top of
 your window in FWP? I have the macro to send you to the bottom of a
 window, (using a WM_VSLID message to position 1000) but none of the
 macro files in the library contain the one to send you to the top. This
 would be nice to configure the 'clear/home' key for so it works like
 WW. The January '89 issue of START had it, but I don't want to buy the
 disk just for that. Many thanks for anyone who can help with this.
 Here's the one to send you to the bottom of the open window:
 c-b
 message 1st_word
 0x001a0000
 0x0000ffff
 0x03e80000
 0x00000001
 macend
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 14        Sun Jun 18, 1989
CHARDIMAN [Clayt]            at 10:24 EDT

M.MOTOGAWA, what are some of those "touches" FWP has over Word Writer? As a
non-FWP owner, I'd like to know. --Clayt
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 15        Sun Jun 18, 1989
M.EASTER                     at 17:05 PDT

      Clayt-

      While Mel is "warming up" to FWP, here are a few little and bigs, all
mixed together:

  graphics importation and printing
  footnotes, well supported
  support for color printers
  support for proportional printing
  support for 1.5 line spacing
  multiple rulers within a document
  rulers supporting pitch changes, justification changes, spacing, margin
changes, tab changes
  tabs filled with spaces or dots
  decimal tabs, backing up numbers or letters from the tab point
  mix elite, pica, compressed, expanded text in a doc
  elaborate mail merge, with chaining, nesting, mergin....and....
  multiple columns, up to 9
  more elaborate statistics, including disk and ram free
  hyphenation
  set and goto marks, up to 4
  flush line to right margin
  save default ruler, layout, drive/path, spill file disk, window locat.
  avoids unnecessary "alerts"
  dictionary "better" in some ways, can "guess" at a word
  55 of its 65 menu commands available from keyboard
  enables input of extended ascii characters
  better manual
  change marked block to caps or lower case
  22 "commands" available to mail merge functions

      Those are most of the plusses.  A hype like this deserves some
negatives.  Stay tuned.
                                    Mike
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 16        Sun Jun 18, 1989
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 19:19 PDT

 Clayt,
 Mike beat me to the punch. Here's my reply that I had preformatted
 before logging on, it covers some of the same ground but may prove of
 some value.
 Granted, I've only used the package for a few days, but already I'm
 noticing a lot of better ways FWP has done things over WW. I guess
 their programmers are working harder and improving the program more
 than just once every few years like Timeworks.
 For one, the spelling checker appears to be U.S.-ized. I heard that it
 was fairly British in syntax, but after trying to find words like
 'centre' and 'recognise', which are spelled that way on the box and in
 England, and not finding them in the dictionary, I believe GST has
 really put the time in to make it useful over here. It has some sort
 of indexing that makes it faster to load than past dictionaries. You
 can also delete and add words to/from the main dictionary
 simultaneously.
 You can put multiple rulers in your documents. It's hard to explain,
 but suffice to say that you can use condensed, pica, elite or
 exapanded print in your docs effortlessly and everything will be
 justified or centered as it should be. This is a big plus over WW.
 Hyphenation is fantastic! No more big gaps in a line with long words.
 It works very well, you just have to get used to seeing a '~' for the
 hyphen FWP puts in. This is to differentiate it from a hyphen you
 inserted.
 You can set some defaults that you can't in WW. Like the size of the
 window that boots up (although the default is a full screen one
 versus WW's.) And you can save different rulers with custom tab stops
 to disk so you won't have to reenter them later. Custom doc formats
 can be saved too and loaded automatically!
 Integration of graphics (IMG) is smooth although you can't resize the
 image. Doesn't really slow down the program either. You can do
 rudimentary DTP by placing your image on either margin, add a ruler
 with it's right margin up against the image and right-justify your
 text up to it for smooth text runaround. Type in a caption and you've
 got a mini Wordperfect 5.0!
 There is a comprehensive tutorial in the manual and an install program
 for creating custom printer drivers. With all they document, anyone
 should be able to do it. But there is a good selection already
 included.
 The manual I recieved appears to be brand new rewrite since it
 includes the keyboard equivalents. Very nicely done, although only in
 black and white.
 1st Mail is a powerful mail merge program much more sophisticated than
 WW's. But it is a separate program. Almost like having a relational
 database functions.
 You can do decimal tabs. Also you can specify whether your tabs are
 blank spaces or dots which is great for invoices.
 If you use 'save and resume' you aren't returned to the top of your
 doc like in WW. That really got me down all the time.
 The cursor blinks, which at first bothered me but then I came to
 appreciate how easy it is to see where I am in a doc. A nice
 thoughtful touch!
 You can spill your file onto disk if you run out of memory. You can do
 1.5 line spacing if you want. You can mark a block and write it to
 disk. And, of course, you can do footnotes super easily with the
 program numbering them for you.
 Of course there are tradeoffs. I miss the ability to jump from the
 beginning to the end of a doc using the clear/home key. You can't
 delete from the cursor to the end of the line. No thesaurus! <sigh>
 Simple mail merging is not as convenient as WW. Can't jump to
 alternate windows easily as in WW.
 To me, the differences are enough for me that I know I won't be using
 WW all that much anymore. I use my wordprocessor more than anything
 else, so it has to be convenient yet powerful. I think that FWP is way
 better than WW, but can't say that you may feel the same. If you have
 STARTKEY from STart magazine, FWP can really be made to stand up and
 dance. Hope this helps you out.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 17        Sun Jun 18, 1989
JEFF.W [ST*SYSOP]            at 22:48 EDT

When 1st Word Plus first hit the States, I gave it a look-see and was quite
impressed with its list of features.  There was one bug that I ran across that
I imagine must have been fixed by now, but could one of you 1st Word Plus
owners confirm this for me?

The bug was in the headers and footers.  You couldn't enter anything in the
header and footer boxes.  Please tell me this has been fixed.

Thanks.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 18        Mon Jun 19, 1989
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 06:50 PDT

 Jeff,
       I just loaded FWP and checked out the headers & footers and it
 works fine. I could put letters into any of the header or footer
 lines. I have'nt used it yet, but I remember one doc that I printed
 had the page # printed at the bottom so I know they do work.
       Now if only I could get my hands on the info for creating some
 STARTKEY message macros for doing things like sending the scroll bar
 to both ends of a doc, closing a window, selecting an alternate window,
 etc. Then FWP would be irresistable.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 19        Sat Jun 24, 1989
CHARDIMAN [Clayt]            at 08:45 EDT

Mike and Mel, thanks a lot. I'm not sure it's what I want, but it does sound
impressive. And I use my word processor more than any other program, too, so I
know what you mean about wanting to be satisfied. Currently I'm using Word
Writer and WordUp. The commands and keyboard control in WordUp are fantastic.
If only it weren't so slow and had better ASCII printing ... Anyway, I'll
continue to look.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 20        Sat Jun 24, 1989
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 16:24 PDT

 To all,
       I haven't yet heard any reply back on if anyone knows anything
 about programming message macros for STARTKEY. Utilizing these in First
 Word Plus would really turbocharge it. I've been fooling around with my
 own workarounds and may u/l them if anyone is interested. So far I
 worked up a macro to move you to the beginning of a file as well as one
 to allow using the 'undo' key to undo a highlighted block.
       Hopefully, if there are any programmers reading this, they can
 let us know how to create message macros for FWP. Here's the one to
 move the slider in FWP to position 1000 (bottom).
 s-home
 message Wordplus
 0x001a0000
 0x0000ffff
 0x03e80000
 0x00000001
 macend
       It's a little harder to create macros for FWP since the
 spotmenu.prg in STARTKEY chokes on the FWP's RSC file. I've been
 relying on the previous macro files u/l'd to the Roundtable for menu
 and item numbers. Anyone know if John Jenkins, creator of STARTKEY,
 is on Genie?
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 21        Sat Jun 24, 1989
DOUG.W [ST*SYSOP]            at 20:07 EDT

Well, this is strictly a guess, but changing the 0x03e80000 to 0x00000000
should put the scroll bar at position 0--the top.

--Doug
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 22        Sun Jun 25, 1989
T.MOORE [Tom]                at 00:13 CDT

Can anyone shed any light on SLM compatiblity with FWP?  I will buy if I can
print graphics.  A friend of mine who I do consulting for has direct business
ties to Germany.  He was told that there newst version over there does support
Graphic printing on the SLM.  Would n't that be nice....  Is this possible?
Could it be?
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 23        Sun Jun 25, 1989
M.EASTER                     at 07:38 PDT

      Tom-re SLM compatibility

      According to Brian McClellan of Prospero Software, US distributor for
GST, a disk with a host of printer drivers is "on its way" from England, and
will be available and the price (about $10-15) for this driver upgrade) will
be known.  These drivers supposedly support lots of different laser printers;
the Apple LaserWriter series, the SLM 804, Hewlett Packard's, and others.  I
don't have a complete list yet.  These drivers are currently in use in Europe,
so the information about the level of support for the SLM 804 might be
available from someone over there.  I don't think Prospero would be able to
answer the question as well as GST themselves, because they don't have the
drivers yet (ordered 3 weeks ago).  Since the cost to Prospero, and hence the
price to us hasn't been clearly established, you can't order them yet from
Prospero.  I'm going to check again on Monday.

      Mel-re STartkey macros

      I'm afraid I can't be much help on the Startkey issue, as I don't have
the acc or compiler.  However, another way you might fool FWP on the command
is based on the fact that you can tell FWP to go to a page (eg, 1) and it will
do it, and if you tell it to go to a page greater than there are available
(eg, 999, in a 14 page doc) it will go to the last page there is.  It sounds
like you must have a grip on the slider bar approach, and it also sounds like
Doug knows where the top is.

      I would think that FWP's rsc file would be similar to that of First
Word's, just a lot more of it.
                                                Mike
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 24        Sun Jun 25, 1989
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 15:34 PDT

 Mike,
       STARTkey sure has been a big help to me in automating most of
 the prg's I use since you can use it to read a program's rsc file and
 find out the menu item numbers and then create hotkey combinations for
 a drop down menu function. I tried the suggestion that was made
 earlier for moving the slider bar to '0' but it didn't seem to work.
 I've got a kludge right now set up for the 'clr/home' key. I have it
 set up in STARTkey to run a 'alt-g' for the 'go to page' function you
 suggested, then it tells it 'page 1' and hits 'return' for me-all with
 one keypress! It's a sleazy workaround, but it does work.
       I don't know why it won't read FWP's rsc file. It just comes out
 garbled. But I've seen some other programs that did the same. I'm
 really enjoying FWP and am glad I made the switch.
 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 25        Mon Aug 07, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 14:52 EDT

 Thanx to your helpful messages on this thread I was able to order the
 new printer drivers ($10; $12 C.O.D.) from Prospero this morning (they
 got 'em in last week).  While speaking to Martin McLellan at the co. I
 brought up the problem of the howling cursor keys (to be more exact--any
 clicking key that's held down).  Martin set it up on his machine, I on
 mine, and we compared sounds.  It turns out that I can get rid of the
 miserable cursor-key howling in v.3.01 if I keep the lower slider
 control on the GEM Control Panel sufficiently distant from the rabbit
 (at least 1/16th inch). (With v.2.02 I keep it right up next to the
 rabbit, to act in concert with Turbo to help speed up cursor movement.)
 I now ran some tests to see how long it took the cursor to cover a fixed
 path through a given block of text when the right-arrow key got held
 down under different conditions, and produced some odd results:

 v.3.01 with control next to rabbit plus Turbo: 35 sec noisy cursor
 v.3.01 with control next to rabbit & no Turbo: 45 sec noisy cursor

 v.3.01 with control 1/16th" from rabbit plus Turbo: 35 sec normal cursor
 v.3.01 with control 1/16th" from rabbit & no Turbo: 35 sec normal cursor

 These results somehow don't add up.  With v.2.02, the speediest
 combination is control next to rabbit plus Turbo.  The cursor does make
 a scraping noise then, too, but it's quiet enough so that it doesn't
 disturb me even though I always keep the sound volume turned up as high
 as it can go.  With v.3.01, it looks (1) as if Turbo has no effect and
 (2) moving the key-repeat control up next to the rabbit also has no
 speed advantage over keeping it 1/16th" away, and instead merely adds a
 howling noise.

 Here are the same tests run on 2.02:

 v.2.02 with control next to rabbit plus Turbo: 29 sec scraping cursor
 v.2.02 with control next to rabbit & no Turbo: 35 sec scraping cursor

 v.2.02 with control 1/16th" from rabbit plus Turbo: 53 sec normal cursor
 v.2.02 with control 1/16th" from rabbit & no Turbo: 53 sec normal cursor

 These results don't make complete sense either, but they are at least
 more logical than the those with v.3.01.  It looks now as if I'll have
 to adjust to a slower editor (or at least to slower cursor movement) if
 I want to use v.3.01.  I can live with that (tho naturally I don't like
 it), where I couldn't live with a howling cursor before.

 The Turbo version is 1.4; and naturally, this limited test says nothing
 about how Turbo might or might not affect other parts of the same text
 editor.  It speeds up v.2.02 effectively all the way around, including
 even scrolling with the mouse.

 Still, there are other problems, and a major one is the inability of
 v.3.01 to load in an expanded dictionary I created--v.2.02 loads it in
 without incident.  This even when I use v.3.01's own DICMERGE.PRG to
 merge the supplemental into their off-the-shelf main.  I suspect my
 dictionary is too large for v.3.01's speller.  For, I keep getting an
 out-of-memory error message when I try to load it in--which is
 unjustified, since the supplemental itself loads in okay as such once
 the original main is in memory; however, it takes an impractical amount
 of time (many minutes) to do so, since it's so huge (thousands of
 words), and it also slows down the checker when used as a detached
 supplemental, for the same reason.

 I'm sending a copy of this post to Martin at Prospero, who will fax it
 to GST.  If you have any other problems or questions, you might try
 calling him, as he communicates frequently with GST both by voice and
 fax.  He's on CompuServe, but not GEnie or Delphi at present.  His # is
 207-874-0382 (got that from an earlier post here).

 --Eugene

 P.S. Delete the first colon in the STartkey message I offered in my
 last post.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 26        Thu Aug 24, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 00:13 EDT

 Can anyone tell me what's going on??

 Till a few days ago I was using 1WP ver. 2.02.  I decided to
 switch to 3.01, and have run right up against a couple of
 alarming incidents.  In the first case, after using the program
 for hardly more than 20 min, if that much, I managed to freeze
 the keyboard up solid by clicking/double-clicking confusedly on
 the paragraph sign and neighboring close-box (mouse was free to
 move but couldn't access any menus, and no menus could be
 accessed from the keyboard either, as could none of the
 characters).  Had to reboot.

 The second incident, which happened tonight, disturbed me even
 more.  This word processor ate a part of my file.  I am familiar
 with a known bug in WordPerfect that occasionally eats files on a
 save, but I have never seen any version of 1W or 1WP do something
 like that until tonight and the present version.  The sequence of
 events went like this:  I wanted to stick a cent-sign in my file.
 I resized the window to about an inch and a half square, clicked
 on the cent sign, and then noticed it got stuck in the wrong
 place in the file (evidently I had clicked in the window after
 resizing it, and thus stuck the cursor in another place).  I
 deleted the errant cent-sign, hit the full box, placed the cursor
 in its right place in the file and hit the full box a second
 time, to resize the window.  The cursor was now nowhere to be
 seen in the window, since it was in a part of the file that
 didn't fit into that small space.  I clicked on the cent sign,
 hit the full box, found the cent sign properly inserted, but then
 abruptly realized that my file now ended at the top of the
 screen!  Whatever of it there had been at earlier points in the
 file had gotten eaten up!  Fortunately, I had been making
 repeated saves every couple of minutes or so, and so a good copy
 was now on the disk.  But this has greatly shaken my confidence
 in this w.p.--or at least in the present version.

 Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately??), I have not been able to
 replicate these ugly bugs by deliberate attempts to do so.

 Does anyone with more experience of this version than I've had
 (which must be just about anyone on this thread) know what's
 going on?

 Also, I'm still not clear on which version I have.  That is to
 say, it's labeled 3.01, but the paper that came with it said
 3.14, everyone on this thread but me talks about 3.14, and the
 version on disk 2 was also 3.14.  In short, are the rest of you
 using 3.14 on disk 1 or 3.01?  Nobody answered my first query in
 regard to this--I think everyone is now on vacation.  Guess I'll
 call Prospero tomorrow and try to settle this question.

 Eugene
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 27        Thu Aug 24, 1989
DARLAH [RT~SYSOP]            at 08:52 EDT

Eugene:

You have to remember to feed your WP twice a day. <grin> I don' use this word
processor but hopefully someone with similar problems will post. Please folks,
do. I too am curious about this one.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 28        Thu Aug 24, 1989
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 07:56 PDT

      Eugene- re 3.14

      It's been a long time since I talked to the fellow at Prospero (Brian
McClellan?) but if I remember correctly, he told me that often he upgrades
disks by simply deleting and copying the new version or files onto the old
disk.  Perhaps when you talk to him you can compare "notes" on your file.  If
you have a utility which can do a CRC check that would be even better than
just comparing file size.  (There's a file here, #8686, called FILCRC that
will do that for you.)

      I took a quick glance at my disk.  Here's sizes: prg 153,011; rsc
22,836; str (what's that?) 14,617.  My readme file says 3.14, and if I recall
correctly, so does info in the prg.

      If you want me to run a CRC check on those three files to compare with
yours, I will.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 29        Fri Aug 25, 1989
GRIBNIF                      at 00:52 EDT

Mine says "3.14" in the About box.

Rick
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 30        Sat Aug 26, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 01:02 EDT

 The file sizes are slightly different.  This was to be expected. I
 know I have 3.01, but what I vaguely suspected was that all of you
 might have 3.01 too, but believed the hype on the sheet that told you
 it was 3.14--tho I knew I was just grasping at straws!  OK, I'll
 contact Prospero for the upgrade.

 Besides the above mishaps noted in my last post, something else
 untoward and creepy happened today.  I saved a long file to disk using
 a SAVE AND CLOSE command, and then discovered that that file was not
 on the disk.  I got scared until I located a backup copy of it on
 another disk.  Now, I wasn't paying close attention to exactly what
 happened.  Possibly I just imagined this.  I definitely used the SAVE
 AND CLOSE command to save the file, and I definitely saw the window
 close down following the save of about 20 pp.  However, I may have
 called the file in originally from the B drive, so it may have gotten
 saved to a different disk than the one I had expected--namely, in the A
 drive.  I can no longer check these hypotheses for sure or reconstruct
 exactly what happened, as things have now become too complicated in
 that particular situation.

 Meanwhile, I intend to just keep using 3.01 (or eventually 3.14)
 until I'm convinced that the program does have serious bugs in it as
 the earlier versions didn't.  I also know from consistent experience
 that before I've learned how to use a program properly I have a vital
 ability to crash it and hang it up, which ability is typically lost
 and can't be recovered once I've mastered the new elements of the
 program and am clear on the paths I'm taking through it.  (Analogous
 effects crop up when I'm using new hardware for the first couple of
 times.)  (Others have also reported this same strange effect re
 computers generally.)
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 31        Sat Aug 26, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 03:10 EDT

  Here's a STARTKEY minifile I've uploaded in the library to let you
  access the spelling dictionary (ctrl-shift-l) and move to top (ctrl-t)
  and bottom (ctrl-b) of file.  I created it using ver. 3.01.  I assume
  it works with ver. 3.14.  If not, someone please give me the correct
  access code for the dictionary, and I'll change that in the upload.
  But I assume for now it's the same as in 3.01, as it no doubt is.

  --Eugene

  :[filename:  314MACRO.TXT]

  :     SPELLING MENU

 cs-l : Load dictionary
  menu wordplus 9 66 macend

 :      SCROLL PANEL

 c-b  : bottom of file
  message wordplus
  0x001a0000
  0x0000ffff
  0x03e80000
  0x00000001
  macend

 c-t  : top of file
  message wordplus
  0x001a0000
  0x0000ffff
  0x00000000
  0x00000001
  macend
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 32        Tue Aug 29, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 23:24 EDT

 I dumped it.  Try file #11989 instead.
 --Eugene
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 33        Fri Sep 01, 1989
MOIETY                       at 22:24 CDT

Anyone found someway to buffer the printing from 1st W+ (or from WW, forat
matter?   Not happy yet with any print buffers so far.

 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 34        Sat Sep 02, 1989
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 08:14 PDT

       Moiety-re buffer printing

       Although I haven't used it with FWP yet, the spooler in SI-RAM
 has worked the best for me with WW.  Others have said that the drivers
 for WW are slow.  They do both (WW and FWP) have to print from disk,
 so naturally there's some time lost there.  I usually have my setup
 make my prt files on a reset proof ram disk, just to speed up that
 step. I don't have any of the "hot" newer spoolers, so I have no
 comment on them.  (DC, Codeheads)

       What is it that makes you unhappy with the buffers you've used,
 and which ones cause what?

       I've had some problems in the past with some setups sending an
 initial character (x, I think), or some actually slowing down printing
 (don't remember what that was).

       As I've stated in posts elsewhere, SI-RAM is a big favorite of
 mine, it is one of my only 2 desk accs (the other is DCopy), and I
 don't even use the print spooler (very often) _or_ the ram disk!  I
 used to load ArcShl and Arc.ttp into the si-ram when needed, but that
 was before DCopy.acc.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 35        Sun Oct 22, 1989
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 16:26 PDT

       Aric - re features of FWP (3.14)

       I think there is quite a bit on that in earlier messages in
 this topic.  I wrote up a review some time ago which I never posted
 anywhere, I could dig it out and put it up in the library.  I have
 never used Word Perfect, so I can't tell you anything about a
 comparison.  FWP has some rather significant features compared to other
 word processors, including multiple columns, importation of graphics,
 more keyboard equivalents for menu commands than others, hyphenation,
 and a very powerful companion program for controlling document
 processing which I think is misnamed First Mail, simply because it also
 is able to perform mail merge operations.  The number of commands which
 can be performed with FM are too numerous to list here.

       What do you want to do with your word processor?  If you want
 multiple fonts and graphics, I would go for WordUp.  If you want
 something with a thesaurus, I would say WordWriter (a thesaurus, not a
 great thesaurus); if you like speed, and don't need direct WYSIWYG, it
 would probably be ST Writer (and it can do 2 columns).  If you are
 willing to "adjust" to a different type of re-formatting and want a lot
 of power, it would probably be Word Perfect (I hear).  I do as much
 "casual" editing in Flash as anything else.

       I think that anyone who is really interested in fine-tuning the
 final appearance of their documents should be as sensitive to the
 capabilities of "massaging" their printer driver configurations as
 they are to the features of their word processor.  You might want to
 look over a file I posted a long time ago called Custmfit (#10177)
 which, although it is directed toward working on driving the printer
 for Word Writer ST and ST Writer; the principles can be applied to
 First Word Plus or any other program which gives you sufficient
 control over your printer.

       I haven't used the Regent programs, but I am interested in their
 process of microdot justification, so I may have to get that one.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 36        Sat Nov 04, 1989
MOIETY                       at 11:35 CST

    B. REZNIK Owning and familiar w/ FWP as well as WW.  They both reformat
with similar F10 semiautomation.  However, FWP (from menu) permits
reformatting your choice of page, paragraph or between "rulers".

These rulers permit selecting what portion(s) of DOC to be formatted to taste:
pitch, tab spacing/filling, ruler length (text width), line spacing,
justification (Y/N), or proportionality (Y/N). And it's easier than it sounds.
This feature(s), utilizing configurable printer drivers is a (THE?) primary
advantage of FWP over WW.

Nothin'-fancy letters port well from WW to FWP.  Original bold,  italics, etc.
are well preserved.  However, extensive formatting of layout, headers, etc.
often requires post conversion fixes.

    M. EASTER Still not happy with spooled printing of scores of separate Docs
(Material Safety Data Sheets @ 2 pages apiece).

My configuration includes Mega4 ST; FWP prg, driver and docs all in same
directory of hard ramdisk; also with 100K spooler in SI-RAM. Using LQ
compatible printer w/ 6k buffer.  After starting to print 2-page doc, must
still wait over a minute before FWP accepts command to print following doc.

At this point, am wishing I hadn't used headers/footers in each MSDS. Perhaps
all could then be merged into one doc and ONE PRINTING!

Someone else's turn now.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 37        Sun Nov 05, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 14:07 EST

 Put the headers/footers in by hand--right in the edit window--use a
 block copy to help with that--then you can keep all in the same file.
 If the documents are sufficiently similar (tho I imagine they're not),
 mailmerge could perhaps help while keeping them separate.

 Eugene
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 38        Sun Nov 05, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 16:58 EST

 Another thought:  You might also want to consider WordPerfect, which
 can queue your documents for printing.  I've seen it advertised mail
 order for as low as $139.  (Latest update is 7/31/89.)  You might want
 to ask some pertinent questions in category 5 topic 1 or 2 of the WP
 RT (and/or call WP Corp.), to see if it can do what you need--though
 there's little doubt that it can.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 39        Sun Nov 05, 1989
DMAY [Darryl]                at 17:54 EST

1st Word and 1st Word Plus only reformat a paragraph when the F10 key is
pressed so you can have paragraphs of differents formats.

Darryl
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 40        Mon Nov 06, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 00:58 EST

 It's my sad duty to report that 1st Word Plus ver. 3.14 is
 disastrously buggy.  I'm posting this note here as a warning and also
 in the interests of learning whether there is any independent
 confirmation of this from others.  The first hour that I tried out ver.
 3 (it was actually 3.01), I noted to my consternation that at one point
 it abruptly locked up and at another trashed a small file on my disk on
 a save (see my message 37 on this thread).  This disturbed me a lot,
 but I decided to give it a chance, and held out more hope also for the
 later version, 3.14, which I got not long afterwards.  In the ensuing
 two months I noted a number of abrupt lockups of the word processor,
 and became resigned to dealing with them.  In between them and the
 phantom typist problem (whose source is the ST itself, and not 1st Word
 Plus), I had to assume that loss of data was just around the corner,
 and saved my work every page, and important or difficult work every
 paragraph.  This precaution repeatedly proved justified, if
 regrettable, and had I not done that would have suffered serious data
 loss over and over.  But until tonight I suffered no repeat performance
 of disk files getting trashed by the word processor on a save, I began
 to tell myself that it had just been my imagination or
 misinterpretation on that first occasion.  Wrong.  It happened again
 the last two nights in spades.  I always make backup copies of my word
 processing files on a second floppy, and last night I was surprised to
 find that four files on the first floppy were missing.  (I don't use a
 hard disk.)  As copies were on the backup disk, I concluded that I must
 have accidentally erased them.  Wrong again.  After doing some more
 work on them last night I placed good copies (so I thought) of them on
 both disks again.  This evening I went to retrieve them to print out.
 This time three had vanished from the first disk, while the fourth was
 corrupt and most of it was missing.  A quick check of the backup disk
 showed that although it had the files listed, two of them were corrupt
 and useless.  One of these I now had to have, and what saved me was a
 .BAK file present on the backup disk and which contained the original
 document before I had done any editing on it last night.  I was able to
 edit this once more and print it out.

 I have no choice but to conclude that ver. 3.14 is severely buggy. I
 don't know if anyone else on this thread has had the same problem.  I
 use 1st Word Plus heavily, numerous hours per day, and do high-speed
 touch typing, as I am a writer and also do professional word processing
 for others.  I have now wholly lost confidence in this word processor,
 and will probably have no option but to return to ver. 2.02, which I
 used for I think about a year and a half or two years.  2.02 was
 absolutely bug-free.  It never locked up on me once during all that
 time of heavy usage (aside from phantom typist incidents), and it
 certainly never even came close to trashing a disk file during a save.
 (Neither has Flash, for that matter, which I also use heavily.)  I
 really regret needing to retreat to 2.02, which is limited and cramped
 compared to 3.14.

 Last week I notified Prospero Software (U.S. distributors of the
 w.p.) about the lockup problem, and I assume they faxed my letter to
 GST in Britain.  But the present problem is far more serious.
 Conceivably it's a hardware problem, rather than 1WP's, but I doubt it.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 41        Mon Nov 06, 1989
JEFF.W [RTC Sysop]           at 07:08 EST

I don't use 1st Word Plus so it may very well have the problems you've
experienced.  I hope more users post their experience with it.  But one thing
that occurred to me while reading your message is that the problems you
described sound very similar to the effects of a virus.  Have you eliminated
the possibility of a virus existing on any of your floppy disks?
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 42        Mon Nov 06, 1989
MOIETY                       at 20:31 CST

E. G. -  ...and I thought I was having "fun" here.  However, have never
experienced your problem with lost files.  Jeff's explanation sounds as d as
any.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 43        Mon Nov 06, 1989
KWERNER                      at 21:10 CST

I have not had any of the problems you mentioned.  I'm not a heavy user like
you though.  Mainly use FW+ for short letters, memos, and editing/printing
Read.Me files.  The only time I have seen the Phantom Typist is when I use LDW
Power Spreadsheet.  I am using a 1040 (2.5 meg), Supra 30 meg HD, color
monitor, and all the AUTO prg's and ACC's you can imagine!

Kurt
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 44        Tue Nov 07, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 05:32 EST

 Jeff--the same possibility occurred to me half an hour ago, and I
 came online to ask this:

 Re previous message--the thought occurs to me now that maybe I picked
 up a virus??--izzat possible?  1st Word Plus was doing weird things
 half an hour before I discovered my files had once again been trashed.
 When I went to use the spelling dictionary, the checker began halting
 on words such as "on", "only", "might", "subject", and so on, which it
 knew very well.  I had never seen it do anything like that before.
 After completing the spellcheck I looked up those words in the Browse
 option, and they were certainly there.  In addition to this, it was
 blanking out portions of the Browse window, and not showing all the
 words it had there--never saw that before either.  Could this have been
 inspired by virus activity?  Probably not--the only board I call is
 GEnie, and my disks don't get around much....

 Now, in case it is a virus--what do I do??

 Eugene
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 45        Tue Nov 07, 1989
JEFF.W [RTC Sysop]           at 11:09 EST

Eugene - Download VKILLER.ARC 2.20 from the library.  It is file #10708.  It
is pretty straightforward to use and it can tell you if your disk contain any
of the known viruses and eliminate them from your disks.

If you are experience the joys of a virus, it can be difficult to determine
where it came from, especially if it has been lingering for a long time,
biding it's time, silently spreading itself throughout your disk library.  As
we have seen recently, sometimes a virus sneaks its way onto commercial disks,
like the recent update of WordUp and the new Star Command (I think it was that
game).  Anyway, check all your disks.  The only disks you might want to be
cautious about using the Kill option of Vkiller on are game disks that use the
boot sector to launch the game automatically at powerup.  These may actually
be valid boot code.

Good luck. Jeff
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 46        Sat Nov 11, 1989
E.GORELIK                    at 02:21 EST

Which .ACC caused the problem?
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 47        Sat Feb 10, 1990
W.HELLMAN                    at 16:51 PST

Has anyone here seen an HP Desk-Jet driver for FW+ which does graphics in the
HP mode?  The FX emulation cart graphics are just that!
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 48        Tue Feb 13, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 18:33 PST

       I sure wish 1st Word Plus had a thesaurus to complete a fine wp
 package. That's the one thing I really miss about Wordwriter. Does
 anyone know if the thesaurus in Partner ST is any good? I remember
 there was a company in Oregon called Royal Software that offered the
 EZ line of EZ Calc, EZ Data, etc. and they offered a thesaurus too. I
 don't even know if they're still in business, but was it a winner?
 I'm biased against K-Roget because of it's huge size. Are there any
 good thesaurus's to go with 1st Word Plus 3.14? Will I need to go over
 to WordUp 3.0?? Thanks for any help you can offer!

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 49        Wed Feb 14, 1990
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 07:34 PST

       Mel - re thesauri

       I don't have K-Roget (although I have thought seriously about
 getting it) so the only thesaurus I have used is that of WordWriter,
 but it seems to me that..

       If you _really_ want a thesaurus (that is, better than the
 thesaurus of WWST, which really isn't that powerful), that it is going
 to have to be big, like K-Roget.  A little thesaurus just isn't going
 to have enough power to give you the kinds of choices of words that
 you need when you are "reaching" for "just the right word".

       When I want to use WWST's thesaurus, I load it into ram and
 direct WWST's path information about that so that it can be fast
 enough to suit me.  (Sometimes I would prefer to edit in WWST, and
 then port the file to FWP to use its multiple columns, rulers, or
 graphics capabilities.)  I think K-Roget functions as a desk accessory,
 which you would use with a hard disk for reasonable speed.  That seems
 like a good enough approach unless you have a 2 or 4 meg machine, in
 which the meg that K-Roget wants could be in ram.  Another way would be
 with the polydisk or megadisk cartridge, which should be a lot cheaper
 now that ram chip prices are down.

       But, I guess you would still have the problem of having to type
 the word in, unlike the function of WWST.

       I would also like to hear more about the EZ thesaurus.

       Is anyone using FWP as a "fast" DTP program, by creating IMG
 files (with some other DTP or GDOS prg) for the title bar, headlines,
 or other "graphics", and then using your printer's native fonts for the
 body of something like a newsletter?  (The native fonts make "nicer"
 small fonts than the GDOS ones, and much, much faster, if you can live
 with monospaced fonts.)
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 50        Thu Feb 15, 1990
KB8FXG [Chip]                at 18:50 EST

Hello, I hope this is the appropriate topic to post this msg...
  Anyway, I have just bought my first printer to use with my St which I have
had for a few years. I am going to be using Atari's First word software (not
plus , I dont think) that I have had since I bought the c omputer. The printer
is a Star NX-1000 II . My question is, will the  printer driver in the
roundtable library for First Word Plus and the NX 1000 work for plain First
Word as well? Or do I need to build a  custom driver? Any help would be
greatly appreciated. Thank You.
  Best, Chip
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 51        Thu Feb 15, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA                   at 22:07 PST

 Mike,

 That may be what I'll have to do, just place WW and FWP on the same
 disk and swap docs between them when I need a thesaurus. We shall see
 if anyone speaks up about EZ Thesaurus, I don't know a thing about it.
 I heard that Partner ST's thesaurus has 60,000 words, which for the
 low price you see the package discounted for, like $20, it may be a
 viable alternative. I only wish it would import the new word into your
 WP. Have you heard any rumors about an update to FWP? I've been
 checking in the UK magazines, but haven't seen anything yet. There was
 a little article in the December ST World(UK) about a fresh wp called
 Script that is very Mac-like, from the makers of Signum. But I haven't
 even seen it advertised over there yet.

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 52        Sat Feb 17, 1990
B.REZNIK                     at 11:04 EST

IS THERE a driver for 24 pin tosheba ba SL 321
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 53        Sun Feb 18, 1990
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 14:09 PST

       FWP allows you to configure your own printer driver.  My disks
 did not contain a pre-configured driver for that printer.  The install
 method involves using a "hex" file, which is an ascii file (the
 "matrix" hex file is 15K in length) which "places" more printer
 variables (in hex) than I have ever had command of into the right
 spot in that hex file.  There are about 60 different codes that can be
 input into that file, not counting the ability to code for each of your
 printer's "translation" table of extended characters, the international
 set.  That file also allows the input of controls for color printers.
 Once the hex file has been "doctored" to suit your individual printer,
 you run the install program on it, and it creates a CFG file for your
 printer.  That file displays itself, with the name you have given it,
 under the working window, and is accessible to be able to give you
 point and click availability of the international characters.

       I cannot imagine not being able to set up a hex file for any
 printer which bears any resemblance to an Epson EX, FX, JX, LX, MX,
 RX, LQ, SQ, (the latter two being 24 pins) besides the numerous daisy
 wheels which are supported.  For matrix printers, there is an ability
 to control the way graphics commands are handled.

       All you need is your printer manual and a willingness to find
 out how your printer's commands vary from the Epson.  If your printer
 is just like the Epson LQ or SQ, there is a pre-configured driver.  At
 one time the U.S. distributor for GST provided me a list of currently
 available drivers.  If you read earlier messages in this file, the
 name and address and telephone number of Prospero Software can be
 found, and they can be contacted for the latest in drivers.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 54        Wed Feb 21, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 01:12 EST

 To all 1st Word Plus users:

 A disk-only upgrade to ver. 3.15 is currently available at no charge
 from kindly Prospero Software.  Send your #1 and #2 ver. 3.14 disks
 in to 100 Commercial Street, Suite 306, Portland, Maine  04101 (Tel.
 1-800-327-6730).  Ver. 3.15 fixes some bugs.  (Upgrade from ver. 2 of
 course costs $$.)

 Eugene Gorelik
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 55        Tue Feb 20, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 22:46 PST

 Eugene,

 Wow. I didn't even know 1st Word Plus had any bugs! But, for free I'll
 send in my masters. I hope that someday they decide to add some kind
 of thesaurus, esp. a desk acc that would place the new word right into
 your doc.. Ultimate ease.

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 56        Thu Feb 22, 1990
B.REZNIK                     at 21:24 EST

Just got our upgrade to 3.15 and Im working with toxsTOS 1.4. I am still
frustrated with the reformating command.  We get erratic results in
reformating.  The spaces between the paragraph will disapear on reformating.
This does not occur at every paragraph break but only when it feels like. Has
anyone had any experiences with this problem or can suggest a work aound as we
like the rest of the program. Have talked to prospro software on this and he
thinks that it may be inTOX 1.4.  I have trouble believing that it is not just
a bug in the program.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 57        Thu Feb 22, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 20:22 PST

 B.REZNIK,

 If I understand you right, I've seen this bug in 3.14 for a long time
 and in Wordwriter too. I don't think it has anything to do with TOS,
 just the limitations of the reformat command. After years I just live
 with it. Hey, does 3.15 have any new commands/features?

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 58        Wed Mar 14, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 04:38 EST

Sorry--I haven't been on this topic lately or I would have responded earlier
to the complaints about spaces between paras getting deleted on reformatting.
It is not a bug.  It is due to having spacebar presses immediately preceding
the hard carriage return on the line that ends the para.  Make sure that such
spaces aren't present, and this problem will disappear.

Eugene
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 59        Thu Mar 15, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 18:36 PST

      Does anyone know how to get around the ascii import quirk of
 First Word Plus? You know, when you import an ascii file and turn on wp
 mode and try to reformat a paragraph. Nothing happens until you do a
 search and replace for, say a space with a space, which converts the
 file into a pseudo First Word Plus doc. Now you can reformat via the
 F10 key, *but* the format chokes wherever there was a carriage return
 in the old doc. You can't reformat beyond this and have to manually
 back up over the cr and then do a reformat to the next stop sign. This
 takes forever in a long doc. I noticed that Wordwriter used to do the
 same thing. It seems that converting an ascii file to a true First Word
 Plus doc is not that easy. I once even took a file editor and tried to
 see what was hanging up the reformat process, but couldn't hack it.
 Does anyone know how to take an ascii file and convert it into a
 reformattable First Word Plus doc easily? It would save me a ton of
 time! Thanks.

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 60        Fri Mar 16, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 05:45 EST

There is a converter in the SL library.  Forget what it's called.  Try a
search there.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 61        Fri Mar 16, 1990
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 07:58 PST

       Translat.arc is file 7223.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 62        Fri Mar 16, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 22:28 PST

 Mike et al,

       Thanks everyone! I did a search under 'ascii' in the files
 section and found a bunch of good conversion utilities. Now I can
 convert and reformat to my heart's content. And to think I used to
 struggle for hours working around this little nuance of First Word and
 Wordwriter. Again, thanks a mucho!!

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 63        Fri Apr 20, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 07:40 PDT

 Fellow First Word Plus users,

      Hey, I just found out some interesting things about Partner ST's
 thesaurus desk acc. For want of a topic, and just this one little
 message, I'll post it here.

       You've probably noticed the one little nuance of FWP is the
 fact that it doesn't have a thesaurus. I like the faster spell checker
 of FWP vs WW's and the hyphenation is really nice when you use a lot of
 long words. Importing of img files, multiple rulers, save-and-continue
 are all great features over WW. But no thesaurus! Well guess what, you
 can now have a thesaurus within FWP! The answer is Partner ST's
 thesaurus desk acc..

       What it is is a little desk acc that throws up a small gem
 window over your application. At the bottom of the window is a cursor
 for you to type in the word you want to find a synonym for. It
 accesses a data file and either shows you the synonyms or tells you it
 can't find the keyword. If it does find some synonyms, it displays
 them in the window by clusters of meaning. From there you can click on
 a word to place it in the command line or exit and manually change the
 word in your wp. Nothing fancy, but it works.

       I noticed that the thesaurus data files Partner ST and
 Wordwriter are exactly the same size - 186,336. You can even access
 Wordwriter's via Partner's Thess.acc by simply tacking on a .rex
 extender. I tried a few words in each and came up with exactly the
 same number of synonyms, so the data files must be identical. If you
 place the thesaurus data file in a ramdisk of 185k, it really zips
 along. Partner ST isn't the most popular package these days, most of
 the stuff can be beat by pd offerings. I don't even see it advertised
 anymore. But if you can find it, you can have a nifty thesaurus
 within First Word Plus - as good a word processor as any for under
 $100. And, you'll still enjoy it's spell checker and hyphenation too!
 GST should have done it a long time ago, but until they do decide to
 include a thesaurus in FWP, this work around will do for me.

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 64        Sat Apr 21, 1990
JEFF.W [RTC Sysop]           at 07:21 EDT

Timeworks no longer makes Partner ST.  They dropped it along with Swiftcalc ST
and DataManager ST.  Timeworks USA is only producing Desktop Publisher and
Word Writer ST for the Atari ST these days.  But you might be able to still
find a copy of Partner ST if you have your dealer check all his
distributors...someone still might have some copies on a shelf somewhere.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 65        Sat Apr 21, 1990
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 08:09 PDT

 Mel - re "mixing" the features of the word processors

 You mean that you don't "shuffle your papers" from one word processor
 to the next?  ;-)

 Although I'm partly kidding, at one time or another, I've done exactly
 that.  As an example, I like the speed of the display and some other
 features of ST-Writer, sometimes.  I especially like the commands of
 Word Writer, somewhat more than those of FWP.  (Shift-arrow, instead
 of control-arrow; clr-home and shift-clr home, eg.) I might edit a
 document in WW or STW (or even Flash) and then put it into FWP and
 work on it some more.

 With WW, I do exactly as you described with the thesaurus, putting it
 into a ram disk to enjoy the greater speed.  (And, of course, the
 interface between WW and its thesaurus is "slicker" than between
 Partner and FWP; you just "mark" the word.)

 As you have pointed out re the rulers, graphics, and hyphenation (to
 say nothing of the ability to print out multiple columns and other
 powerful features of 1st Mail), FWP is a very powerful program, and is
 often the one which I "end up in".  (How's that for finishing with a
 couple of prepositions?)
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 66        Sat Apr 21, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 15:56 PDT


 Mike,

       Yeah. I hope it didn't sound like I was flaming at FWP. I
 ultimately prefer it over Wordwriter, and don't even use WW anymore.
 But, I wish they didn't force me to relearn the keyboard commands, as
 you've mentioned, but I guess they couldn't get them too close and risk
 copywrite problems. I prefer the shift-down arrow any day.

       What eventually broke me on WW was the lack of hyphenation. I
 use too many long words that left embarrassingly long white spaces in
 WW. Now, with Partner's Thess.acc, I can enjoy pretty much the best of
 both wp's while in FWP. When DC Deskey will work with FWP, I'll be able
 to alter the keyboard commands too. One thing I really miss in FWP is
 the ability to move from open window to open window by the alt-a combo
 of WW. The outliner was nice too. And being able to jump from the
 beginning to the end was a real timesaver. Why couldn't GST have
 implemented the simple delete to end of line? Maybe if Timeworks
 decides to drop WW too, GST will have free reign to incorporate the
 best features of both into a FWP 4.0???

       Have you heard about those great ascii to FWP converters, Mike?
 I was frustrated to no end with WW and FWP's inability to reformat an
 ascii doc from another application until I discovered these little
 beauties. Now I can reformat to my heart's content, the files I create
 in Diary.acc or Flash after running the converter. What a timesaver!

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 67        Sat Apr 21, 1990
P.GENOVESE                   at 22:27 PDT

 First Word Plus is the best we have even without the Thesaurus.  But
 I feel a bigger problem is the lack of graphics output to anything
 other than an Epson type printer.  There are really 3 simple enhancements
 that would make FWP THE wordprocessor for the ST.

  1. The Thesaurus everyone including me has wanted (a better user interface
     for the spell checker would be nice too)

  2. Printer Drivers which support graphics on non-Epson printers,
     namely the HP Laserjet and Deskjet printers.

  3. True support for expanded native printer fonts such as cartridge and
     downloaded soft fonts for the HP printers (without me hacking the
     printer driver the way I had to in order to fool FWP and access my
     font cartridges)

 With these 3 simple enhancements FWP would be the one and only WP required.
 However with GST across the big pond and Prospero only interested in
 distributing and languages, I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

 Paul
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 68        Sun Apr 22, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 18:08 PDT


 Paul,

       Was I surprised that they released a *small* update, 3.15. All
 it was was some bug fixes. I've been checking the UK mags, but haven't
 seen even a rumor of a new version of FWP. But, Prospero must have seen
 some interest in FWP to bring it over, hopefully they'll keep bugging
 GST for an update. When I first got FWP I sent Prospero a long list of
 suggestions and I hope they faxed it over. If anyone has heard of any
 enhancements to FWP, please post it here.

 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 69        Mon Apr 23, 1990
P.GENOVESE                   at 22:20 PDT

Mel,

I sent a list of suggestions to Prospero when I upgraded too.  The  person I
talked to over the phone didn't sound as if he was real confident about future
updates from GST but one never knows.

It's a shame the Atari software doesn't support HP printers better. They are
only the most popular 300 DPI laser and inkjet printers of all time.

Paul (I refuse to get an SLM) Genovese
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 70        Sat May 19, 1990
MOIETY                       at 14:28 CDT

BTW, FWPers; Version 3.15 imparts compatibility w/Startkey.  Thus permitting
macros. Am tired of deactivating hyphenation everytime I start FWP.  Can't
choice be saved in next version of FWP? Would like to tweek my driver for
certain daisy typewriter. Living with ASCII.CFG.   However, this driver had no
corresponding and editable HEX file. Next version of FWP should also permit
batch printing (or at least  printing to disk).  Both WW and FWP currently
share this limitation. None of the available spoolers help here.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 71        Sun May 20, 1990
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 02:31 PDT

 Moiety - re deactivating hyphenation, creating driver, & batching

 The answers to establishing a default configuration for your doc files
 can be found in the section of your manual on format files, (3-36, in
 mine).  Just modify the format.doc file which lives in your formats
 folder, and all of the docs you create will start out with that
 configuration (FWP reads the format.doc file whenever you open a new
 doc file).  You can do the same thing for files with other extenders
 than doc, as long as they have a format front name.  The rulers
 function (save defaults) can be used for several purposes, but that
 doesn't include all of the things the format.doc can do.

 The construction of a printer cfg file "from the ground up" can be
 done with any of the hex files.  You just need to dust off your
 printer manual to find out about all of its codes.  The elaborate
 method which FWP uses to create a cfg file is quite encompassing,
 since it needed to be able to drive color printers, print graphics as
 well as using the printer's internal fonts, and be compatible with both
 daisy wheels and others.  The manual is more than adequate for these
 purposes, comprised of 31 pages of instructions to prepare you for the
 install program.  You might want to start with either the Diablo or
 the standard file, depending on what kind of daisy wheel you have.
 It will be a real learning experience.

 FWP deals with batch printing (chaining) and a myriad of other
 complex printing duties via its 1st Mail program, which is included
 with FWP.  It is very flexible, and has its own manual, consisting of
 87 pages of contents, manual, appendices, and index.  You can use it
 to create command files and also print to disk.  Depending on what
 you are doing, you can even use 1st Mail with First Word or Word Writer
 docs. I like its multiple column feature.

 You are dealing with a pretty powerful program in FWP, and I would
 strongly encourage you to give your manual a good workout.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 72        Sun May 20, 1990
CHM                          at 15:32 EDT

How can I upgrade my ancient version 2.02 of 1st WordPlus? Whom do I have to
contact and what will it cost me? Thanks for any info you can give me.

                                          Chris Mueller
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 73        Sun May 20, 1990
M.EASTER [Mike]              at 16:25 PDT

 Chris - re upgrading FWP

 I can give you some partial information.

 US distribution for FWP was being handled by Prospero Software, 100
 Commercial St., Suite 306, Portland, ME 04101, Tel. [phone], Fax
 207 874 0942 (Address and telephone from recent magazine ad for their
 own products, if they have an 800 number, it wasn't in the ad).  I
 assume they still are.  I think they have the capacity to handle
 upgrading.  Don't know about costs.

 If you talk to them on the telephone, find out the latest scoop on the
 availability of printer drivers, eg. DeskJet or other HPs, or any
 other new drivers out in the last year or so, and whether there is a
 charge for the HP drivers if available, same for Atari laser (others
 have asked); and what the differences are between 3.14 and 3.15.  Did
 someone post a HP driver for FWP in the library?  (Someone could tell
 me to roll my own.)

 You probably already have the info re GST Holdings Ltd., 91 High
 Street, Longstanton, Cambridge, England from the manual.  I once had
 that phone number, but it is lost.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 74        Mon May 21, 1990
CHM                          at 01:06 EDT

Mike,

I will give Prospero a call and see what I can find out. What did you mean
when you alluded to the GST info ? I sure hope they don't expect me to get the
upgrade from England.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 75        Tue May 22, 1990
CHM                          at 18:46 EDT

 Mike,

 heres the info I got from Prospero (your address and phone number were
 correct) regarding the upgrade of 1stWordPlus:

 1.) They charge $25 for it, which includes a new manual. Just send in your
     master disks, thats all.
 2.) They have an auxilliary printer driver disk for $10 that contains all
     current drivers (HEX & CFG) plus the install program. If you just need
     one particular driver, you can request it for free with the upgrade.
 3.) They have drivers for the HP Laser and Deskjet. However they wont do
     any graphics because of limitations within 1stWPlus. They heared from
     England that because of this, there is a major revision of the soft-
     ware currently under way.

 I forgot to ask about the major differences between 3.14/3.15, but as soon
 as I get it I will let you know (I also get the printer driver disk).



 GE_AutoScan EXTRA
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 76        Tue May 22, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 18:15 PDT

 Fellow First Word Plus users,
       I read a previous post about using STartkey with FWP, so I
 decided to try it out again now that I have 3.15. (They say it was
 fixed for just this purpose.) Well the macros for scrolling the
 window from top to bottom worked fine and I decided to really customize
 my copy of FWP with some neat STartkey macros since I'm an old veteran
 at banging them out. But, when I went to use Spotmenu.prg on FWP's
 rsc, it chokes after reading just a little bit of it. Some kind of
 programmer's alert comes up that tells me nothing. Does anyone have a
 listing of all the menu item numbers for FWP 3.15's rsc? I tried using
 some of the macros here in the library, but they must have changed a
 lot of the item #'s from the earlier 2.x versions of FWP. I get
 unpredicatable results, to say the least. Thanks!
 Mel
 P.s.- remember to turn 'timers' on in Multidesk, if you're running
       STartkey from there. Otherwise the macros won't work sometimes.
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 77        Tue May 22, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 23:04 PDT

 Chris,
       Alright! I hope they can get that revision out pretty soon or
 WordUp 3.0 and WordFlair may run away with everything. And I heard that
 Tempus Word is already being shown. If they throw in a thesaurus and
 improve the interface of the spell checker, I think I would stick with
 FWP.
 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 78        Wed May 23, 1990
CHM                          at 19:10 EDT

 Tempus Word ? I thought that one was already available last year ?...hmm
 I'll have to take a look when I get to Europe this summer. There are some
 nice tools for 1stWplus over there, I'll probably pick one or the other
 package up (2nd Word is another nice thing, except you have to turn your
 montior sideways to appreciate the full page display !)

                                                Chris Mueller

 GE_AutoScan EXTRA
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 79        Wed May 23, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 23:25 PDT

 Chris,
       What kind of tools have you seen for First Word Plus? It's a
 great program that sure could use an upgrade, what with all the
 improvements being made in the ST word processing pool. I understand
 that Tempus Word is out already in Europe, but not yet over here. I
 checked the Michtron RT, but didn't see any news of it being imported.
 If it's half as fast as Tempus II, it will be a hot item. I've only
 heard bits and pieces about 2nd Word, but I wouldn't mind turning my
 monitor on it's side if it did what it said.
 To all,
       Until I can get a hardcopy on FWP's rsc with spotmenu, I've
 taken the easy way out with a cheap hack using STartkey. I'm just
 using the keyboard assignments of FWP in my STartkey macros and
 reassigning them to ones that suit me, usually a one-key hotkey instead
 of doing a shift/control/alterate + another key. Thus I can assign F5
 to the control-v combo for a one-touch save-and-resume. Nifty huh?
 Mel
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 80        Thu May 24, 1990
CHM                          at 21:29 EDT

 Mel,

 you got me there... I just remember the name of some of the packages like
 1st_Extra, 1st_Address, 1st_Proportional. I can't even tell you what was
 in them, but I looked at one of them and almost bought it (was afraid
 though it wouldn't work under the US roms....). I will be on a shopping
 spree this summer, I'll able to tell you more then.

                                              Chris


 GE_AutoScan EXTRA
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 81        Mon Jun 04, 1990
CHM                          at 22:14 EDT

 For all those interested, here is the list of printer hex files
 cuurently available from Prospero for 1stWPlus 3.15 :

  BROTHR25.HEX  10,450    BROTHR35.HEX  10,423    BRO1109.HEX   11,712
  BROTH_UK.HEX  10,625    CANON.HEX     13,834    CIT120D.HEX   11,880
  DAISY.HEX     11,350    DAISYD.HEX     9,185    DAISY_D.HEX    9,034
  DIABLO.HEX    10,425    DIABL_UK.HEX  10,451    EPSON_EX.HEX   8,737
  EPSON_FX.HEX  11,844    EPSON_GQ.HEX   8,976    EPSON_JX.HEX  11,858
  EPSON_LQ.HEX  12,024    EPSON_LX.HEX  12,011    EPSON_MT.HEX  11,827
  EPSLQSQP.HEX  11,829    EPSLQSQ.HEX   11,834    EPSON_RX.HEX  11,844
  EPSLQ500.HEX  10,943    EPSLQ800.HEX  10,064    EPSLX800.HEX  12,037
  EPLXGXFX.HEX  11,831    HP_LASER.HEX   9,216    HR15.HEX       8,767
  HR15PROP.HEX   8,795    IBM_GRAP.HEX   8,802    IBMGRAP.HEX    8,627
  IBM_PROP.HEX   8,798    IBMPROPR.HEX   8,619    IBM_QW3.HEX   12,115
  JUKI6100.HEX  10,425    KXP1081A.HEX   8,528    LASERA4.HEX    1,287
  LASERA5.HEX    1,287    LSRA5NEW.HEX   1,287    LSRA4NEW.HEX   1,287
  MANTAL.HEX    11,949    MATRIX.HEX    15,319    NEC_P5.HEX     8,697
  NEC_P6_2.HEX  12,023    NECP67HS.HEX   8,475    NEC22002.HEX   9,088
  NEWNB24.HEX   11,886    NL10PLUS.HEX   7,595    OKI_93.HEX    11,692
  OKI_192.HEX   11,826    OKI1923.HEX   11,811    QUIETJET.HEX   7,728
  QUME_UK.HEX   10,429    STANDARD.HEX   8,473    STAR_SR.HEX   10,543
  STAR_NL.HEX    6,904    STAR_SG.HEX   11,021    STARSG10.HEX  10,595
  STARLC24.HEX  15,588    STARGRAF.HEX   8,031    STA_PRL2.HEX  15,551
  SHINWA80.HEX  12,062    SMM804.HEX     6,450    SMM804_D.HEX   4,058
  SEIKOSHA.HEX  15,245    TANDY.HEX      8,274    TWIN__SS.HEX   8,667
  TWIN.HEX       8,668    TWIN_UK.HEX    8,669

 If you have constructed your own for a printer not on the list, let them
 know so they can included in the collection. The disk is available for $10
 from Prospero (s/h not incl.).
                                                 Chris Mueller


 GE_AutoScan EXTRA
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 82        Sat Jun 09, 1990
B.REZNIK                     at 11:18 EDT

NEED DRIVER FOR TOSHBA 321SL ANY  BODY DO ONE

 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 83        Sun Jun 24, 1990
W.HELLMAN                    at 14:36 PDT

I'm using 3.14 and seem to have a bug.  Has anyone else had this problem and
does 3.15 fix it?  Add a ruler so you are in double spacing.  Now do some sort
of title with an underline, then center the title.  Make sure you turn off the
underline at the end of the  title. Now hit the return key to space down to
the beginning of the  paragraph and start typing something. The problem on my
version is that when you print this ON ANY PRINTER the underlining from the
title does not turn off and whatever comes after the title is underlined, even
though nothing but the title is underlined on the screen.  I have found that
if you go to the line (which is blank) directly below the title, the underline
toggle "lights" up.  If you delete this line the printing problem goes away,
but this is a pain in the neck to do all the time. I have tried this out on
both my Epson and HP printers using entirely different printer drivers, so I
suspect the program. Does anyone know if there is a fix for this? Thanks!
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 84        Mon Jul 02, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 01:12 EDT

Yes, it is a bug.  Works the same way with bold and italics on my printer NEC
pinwriter.  My usual remedy is just to remember to use f8 to take out the
blank line after centering.  I have v.3.15 but, unfortunately, haven't
installed it yet--been too busy with other things.  When I get around to it,
I'll let you know--if no one else responds in the meantime. --Eugene
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 85        Tue Sep 11, 1990
S.WHITNEY [Steve W.]         at 22:45 PDT

Well, folks, I got a copy of 1st Word PLus recently to use with G-Print (my
new product that I mentioned a few messages back).  G-Print version 1.0 works
fine with 1st Word PLus files as long as they don't use footnotes, and
graphics are ignored.  (Footnotes print wrong).  An upcoming (don't know when)
version will handle footnotes and defnitely different fonts for different type
pitches (pica, elite, condensed, expanded) in the rulers. (I know because that
part is aolready written).

Upgrades will only be $4 so you can't lose by spending $25 now (or soon... I'm
not suere if they're actually out the door yet) on a copy of G-Print to leave
the single monospaced font dark ages.

  --Steve
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 86        Sat Sep 29, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 03:05 EDT

Like to know more about G-Print, Steve.  Couldn't find your earlier message
under an author-search of this topic.  Eugene
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 87        Sat Sep 29, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 19:25 EDT

By the way, in regard to the problem of G-Print w/footnotes, are you aware
that to get proportional type with footnotes in this word processor you need
to call up the modify-ruler function (i.e., double-click on the paragraph
symbol) while one of your footnote windows is open and specify proportional
type at that time?  In other words, it doesn't come automatically when you
specify proportional type for the text body.

Eugene
 ------------
Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 88        Sat Oct 06, 1990
S.WHITNEY [Steve W.]         at 03:12 PDT

Yes, but that isn't the problem.  G-Print uses GDOS for its proportional
fonts, not your printer's.  To handle footnotes properly, I'd have to write
code to make sure that they print peoperly at the bottom of the page. The
current version of G-Print will _print_ footnotes, but they print wherever
they were stored in the file.  Since G-Print can use fonts of different sizes,
the end of each line and the bottom of each page fall at different places in
the file than they did when it was saved. That just means that the footnotes
print somewhere else on the page. It's the same kind of thing that would
happen if you typed the footnotes manually and then changed the margins and
reformmated your document.  You'd have to move the footnote lines to get them
to print properly.

Is there anything specific you'd like to know about G-Print, Eugene?
Basically, it's a program that takes files from WordWriter ST, ST WRiter, 1st
Word, or 1st Word PLus, and prints them in several different fonts and in
different sizes.  You can also choose options like multiple columns of text,
rotated pages of text, borders around the page, and a title page.  You can
even set up G-Print to change styles so that everything in your text as italic
prints as outlined, for example. G-Print has a limited ability to use multiple
fonts in a document as well by lettign you choose a header/footer font, a
title page font, a document font, and an "extra font" which can be set up so
that it's used to print "light" text or some other style of text.  An upcoming
version of G-Print will allow different fonts for Pica, Expanded, Elite, and
Condensed pitches with 1st Word Plus, and the upgrade will only be $4 so don't
wait.  Best of all, G-Print is available now from MacDonald Associates
Publishers for only $25!

         --Steve
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 89        Wed Oct 10, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 03:14 EDT

A coupla things not clear, Steve.  1) Are you the programmer for G-Print?  2)
Can it justify lines with 1st Word Plus? (1st Word Plus itself can't justify
them with the printer's resident proportional typefaces).  3) Well, if it uses
GDOS, I don't know what it could do for me.  My attempts to use GDOS with
Microsoft Write produced ugly, unacceptable output.  I gave up on it.  I don't
think there's even a driver for my printer (NEC P5200, a 24-pin).  So what can
I get out of this?

Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 90        Wed Oct 10, 1990
S.WHITNEY [Steve W.]         at 22:25 PDT

Is your printer Epson LQ compatible?  G-Print ships with _Epson_ 9 pin (not
Atari SMM804 like MS Write) and Epson LQ (Star NB-15, actually) drivers.  It
also functions perfectly with the Atari laser printer and TurboJer from
Neocept.

1) Yep, I'm the programmer of G-Print.
 2) It sure can justify lines with 1st Word Plus.  It may put a different
number of words on each line, though, depending on the margins and type size.
 3) There's a nice _autom atic_ install program included so that you don't
have to worry about setting up GDOS
 4) (you didn't  ask this) G-Print didn't show up at WAACE as I had hoped.
The people who are publishing it claim in their ads that it's shipping, but
I've seen no evidence.  It should be out any day. If you're interested, give
'em a call at [phone].

OOps!  I forgot to say that the Epson LQ driver is for most  24 pin printers.
Works great on my sister's LQ-500.

  Feel free to ask more questions,
             Steve

P.S.  The reason for the horrible output most people got with MSWrite  was
that the drivers shipped with it were just for Atari printers. I don't know if
you ever heard about it or not.  They have a nice disk of printer drivers that
they'll send out to anyone who calls.
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 91        Thu Oct 11, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 03:46 EDT

The NEC P5200 is only partly Epson LQ compatible (I read somewhere that it's
fully compatible with the LQ 1500 only--but I can't even confirm that).  In
fact, if I try to use the Epson LQ printer driver with 1st Word Plus, I'll get
unacceptable results.  I use the NEC P6/P7 drivers, and get perfect results
with them.

Yes, I know about the original GDOS drivers being for Atari printers only.  I
got horrible results using them with an Epson fx compatible (Canon). When the
fx driver came out I got that, and got improved results, but nothing to write
home about.  Of course, that was a 9-pin printer.  Now you say that they have
a nice disk of printer drivers.  I'll try calling Atari (I think that's whom
you're talking about) and see if they got one for me.  If so, I will give more
thought to G-Print, as I use 1st Word Plus a lot (though gradually using
WordPerfect more and 1st Word Plus less).

Thanx, Steve, and good luck with your program.

Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 92        Thu Oct 11, 1990
S.WHITNEY [Steve W.]         at 22:24 PDT

Thanks, Eugene.  Good luck with the printer driver.  I was referring to Atari,
and the drivers come on different disks, but there is a 24 pin printer driver,
and the results are pretty nice!
   --Steve
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 93        Sat Oct 13, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 02:45 EDT

 Whom = who in the above (118)?  It's actually the subject of is,
 rather than the object of talking about--isn't it?  Think so.

 At any rate ... I called Atari today, and they said the only GDOS
 driver they had was for the Atari laser printer.  So who has the
 printer driver disk you referred to??  Maybe it's the folks at
 503/476-0071??

 Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 94        Sat Oct 13, 1990
S.WHITNEY [Steve W.]         at 01:20 PDT

Nope.  Darn!  They lied to you, Eugene!  (ACtually, maybe they don't  even
support MS Write that well any more).  Atari _does_ have a 24 pin  printer
driver, but I guess they won't send it out.  For awhile, I believe they were
sending out disks when people called, but that may just have been for the
Epson driver.  They guy at the phone number in Oregon has the 24 pin driver,
but only as part of the $25 G-Print package.
  Sorry about that!
       --Steve
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 95        Sun Oct 14, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 03:36 EDT

When a driver comes out for my machine, I would like to know. I doubt the
Epson 24-pin number will do it.  Hoping to hear more reports about further
development of G-Print in any case, Steve.

Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 96        Sun Oct 14, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 03:37 EDT

Well, believe it or not, I finally got around to installing 3.15 after all
this time.  Just too busy & preoccupied to deal with it before.  Meanwhile,
3.14 was going belly-up on an average about once every hour of use--average
once every half-hour with fast typing.  I just got sick and tired of losing my
data and needing to reboot--also of saving every paragraph or so.  That
version is disastrously buggy, I don't care what anyone says.  So far I've
done about 3 hrs fast typing with 3.15 & am keeping my fingers crossed.
Before I dumped 3.14 I removed STartkey & maccel from the lineup, thinking
they were the most likely offenders (though they'd given me no trouble with
2.02).  But it made no difference, program still froze solid without warning
within 1/2 hr.

Anybody else have the screen routinely freeze on them with 3.14? And even more
to the point right now--with 3.15?

And here's another query:

I tried (alt-v) to save my defaults.  The only result of this (tried it twice)
was that the word processor put a WORDPLUS.INF file size 0 bytes on the A
disk, and no defaults got saved.  What's going on?  (I never bothered to try
saving defaults with 3.14, so I have no background in this.)

Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 97        Wed Oct 17, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 01:49 EDT

I was getting ready to leave a message here saying that 3.15 had proved free
of the horrible bug that plagued me with 3.14, since, after installing it, I
did about 10 hours of fast typing without once getting a screen freeze.  But
tonight I got it, exactly like with 3.14.  This is depressing, and is starting
to sour me on this word processor.  I would like to know if anyone else has
experienced this.  Here also is a list of the tsr stuff I'm running with it.
Maybe someone can suggest what might be causing the problem:

 auto:  capslock, uis_III, reset, verify, pinhed14
 d.a.'s:  turbo ST mono, uis_III, alt, autogem, control panel, STartkey

STartkey would have been the prime suspect, except for the fact that when I
took it out of the lineup for 3.14 I still got a frozen screen within 1/2 hr
of fast typing.

This problem does not appear to be the phantom typist hassle.  The screen just
freezes cold without any fanfare; cursor visible but immobile, mouse pointer
gone, no repeated phantom strings, keyclicks still audible when you press
keys, but keys will not repeat-click when held down, and no bombs.

Any suggestions?  Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 98        Wed Oct 17, 1990
D.A.BRUMLEVE [kidprgs]       at 01:13 CDT

 Eugene, I think what you are experiencing in 1st Word Plus is the
 Fast Typist Syndrome; it can, theoretically, be experienced in _any_
 word processor.  I've had it happen many times, as I'm a very fast
 typist.  There seems to be some way to overload the ST's keyboard
 buffer to the point that it just gives up.  No bombs appear, though
 I have seen strange repeats of characters and such just before the
 freeze-up sometimes.

 My solution (which of course does NOT involve typing more slowly!) is
 to frequently save my work in progress.  If the problem does occur,
 I can always reboot and resume at about the same place I left off.
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 99        Wed Oct 17, 1990
D.FLORY [ALERTsys*cop]       at 16:00 EDT

One way to remind yourself to do this (save often) is mentioned in the
Codekeys docs. A repeating macro with just a comment will ring the bell 5
times, and remind you of the need to save.
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 100       Thu Oct 18, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 01:47 EDT

Well, thanx for trying, guys, but I don't think you realized what I was
talking about.  D.A. Brumleve is referring to the phantom typist syndrome,
which I specifically said this was not.  I am intimately familiar with the
p.t. syndrome, and can recognize it instantly in all its diverse forms, having
been its victim scores of times, if not more, in 1st Word Plus, WordPerfect,
and Flash, and having entered into detailed and protracted discussions with
others concerning it in topic 6 of cat 14 and topic 9 of cat 5 (the latter, in
the WordPerfect RT), and even more to the point, having been the victim of it
right at this very moment in Flash as I was in the midst of preparing this
note to you.  The screen freeze that I'm complaining of in 1st Word Plus has
nothing in common with the p.t. mishap (other than killing off the program at
that point), and does not occur at all in WordPerfect or Flash--not in
hundreds of hours of use.  Furthermore, the freeze I was complaining of in 1st
Word Plus also happens far more frequently than the p.t. syndrome does--at its
worst, the latter victimizes me two or three times a week, and at its best I
can go for a few months without seeing it.  But the former was attacking about
once or twice an hour in 1st Word Plus 3.14 (3.15 may have at least slowed it
down, but it did happen, and I haven't used the latter enough yet to know
whether it even did that much vs. 3.14).

As for D.Flory's comment, I don't remember saying at any point that I had a
problem reminding myself to save.  My problem, as I indicated, was that the
1st Word Plus bug forced me to save far too frequently.

One question--I have to ask this, even if you think I'm being nasty:  don't
you guys read a message before you try to answer it?  No offense taken, I
hope.

Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 101       Thu Oct 18, 1990
D.A.BRUMLEVE [kidprgs]       at 00:56 CDT

 Eugene, the thing is, I _use_ 1st Word Plus (all versions) and have
 had only that one problem, never anything different.  You sure you
 don't have something memory-resident that could be interfering?
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 102       Thu Oct 18, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 02:14 EDT

Again, I have to ask, at the risk of being thought a real nasty-type person,
but don't you guys read before you try to answer?  Check message 124, in which
I listed of all my tsr stuff in hopes someone could identify something in
there that might be giving the trouble.  Conversely, if someone is using any
of the same memory-resident stuff and does not have this problem, I would like
to know, as that could help perhaps to isolate the cause.

Thanx. ...Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 103       Thu Oct 18, 1990
D.A.BRUMLEVE [kidprgs]       at 08:01 CDT

 Real nasty-type people have to solve their own problems.  If a real
 nasty-type person had _this_ problem, he would eliminate _all_ memory
 resident stuff from his experiment.  He would boot off a floppy and
 begin typing in 1st Word Plus.  He would likely notice after a few
 hours that the freeze had not occurred.  Then he would add one boot
 file at a time, probably starting with Pinhead, running and typing in
 1st Word until the problem recurred.  Then he would eliminate the
 culprit without the assistance of people who merely ask him to do
 the things he's already said he's done.

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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 104       Fri Oct 19, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 22:59 PDT


    I've got to jump into this fray.

    I've been using FWP 3.15 for a long time and haven't had any problems with
crashing or locking up even though I do have a bunch of precarious tsr's and
acc's around. I don't use STartkey anymore since Codekeys came out. This is on
a 2 meg STe and a mono monitor. I don't know what's causing your problem,
Eugene, but if anyone had a problem with any program locking up unexpectedly,
then I suggest they get Codekeys and set up a 1 or 2 minute timed save until
they can either figure out what's up or switch to another wp. Try Dot's
suggestion too, of booting off the master disk and seeing if FWP misbehaves
for you on a clean system. If you can't save the config, there must be
something screwy somewhere. Haven't had any problems that your describing,
with FWP.

Mel
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 105       Sun Oct 21, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 02:46 EDT

Well, I was hoping to avoid just that, but I guess it's better than stirring
up all this trouble.  I would like to know more about Codekeys, tho.  Is it
available as freeware or shareware in the SL?  Or commercially available--and
if so where?  Does it have anything to do with that demo they had a while back
that I downloaded, that's supposed to replace the print-to-screen function on
the desktop?  It looked good at first, and I made the mistake of placing it on
many disks.  Only too late did I find that once you put it on a disk you can't
send anything to a printer from the desktop after that--just to the screen.  I
chucked it fast.

As for the save-config. problem, since you don't experience it, the next step
is for me to try to save the config. on a different ST, and see what I get.

Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 106       Sun Oct 21, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 08:29 PDT

Eugene,

    Codekeys is a commercial program from the Codeheads. Check cat. 32, topic
22 for all the good news. It is a macro program and much more. Life has
changed drastically for me since I met Codekeys. If the ST had something like
this in ROM, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand. :-) Seriously,
check it out if you haven't already. The demo is in the library.

Mel
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 107       Mon Oct 22, 1990
E.GORELIK                    at 02:42 EDT

I will check, but I hope it isn't that piece of $%^&* I downloaded a couple of
months ago.  Thanx, Mel.  --Eugene
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Category 13,  Topic 4
Message 108       Mon Oct 22, 1990
M.MOTOGAWA [MEL]             at 00:25 PDT

Eugene,

    Have no fear, the Codekeys program is brand new and has nothing to do with
screen dumps. I forgot the file #, but check Cat. 32, topic 22 for it and the
general reaction to Codekeys.

Mel
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Category 13,  Topic 15
Message 109       Sun Sep 23, 1990
MOIETY                       at 01:43 CDT

BW3,

Have working FWP print driver for my KXP1124.  It has all the English
characters.  Am still adding foreign characters.  Text formatting works fine,
though.  Am somewhat disappointed in the omission of certain character fonts
native to the 1124 (eg: trademark, copyright).


Let me know if you are interested in my progress to date.  And/or  provide a
few encouraging words to hasten a more complete driver.
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Category 13,  Topic 15
Message 110       Wed Sep 26, 1990
B.WILLIS3                    at 21:36 EDT

MOIETY,  Yes, I'm interested in a working driver. I'm currently using the
default 24-pin driver, it prints straight text okay, but of course, graphics
don't work, and effects aren't usable on text in most  cases. Actually I only
bought this program to input text to use for DTP work. Once I started getting
into it, though, I think I'd like to be able to print simple stuff directly.
It's a great  improvement over First Word (the original) ! Thanks.
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 ************
Topic 8         Fri Sep 21, 1990
FJ.ADAMS                     at 21:32 CDT
Sub: DeskJet 500 Printer & 1st Word Plus

Building printer drivers for the DeskJet 500.
5 message(s) total.
 ************
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Category 4,  Topic 8
Message 1         Fri Sep 21, 1990
FJ.ADAMS                     at 21:44 CDT

I'm having trouble with the printer driver for my DJ 500 and First Word. It
prints teh page# on a separate page even if it prints it on the first page.
Starts printing too many lines down from the top.  I can take away all the
header info and make it look right, but I shouldn't have to. Will not center
when using CG TIMES font.  Even when manually spacing a word, it will print
left of the center a varied number of spaces.  It looks right on the screen.
It centers properly in COURIER.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, My wife has some important
papers she needs to print and these little problems aren't making it easy.

                           FJ.ADAMS
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Category 4,  Topic 8
Message 2         Sat Sep 22, 1990
J.MEEHAN3 [Joe]              at 12:15 EDT

F.J.,

RE: Desk Jet 500 Problems

Cnetering Times font:

      All the DJ's will have a problem centering the Times fonts as they are
proportional spaced, big letters like "W" take more room than skinny letters
like "i".  It makes it look great but it is a bear to try and center.  A " "
(space) takes up very little room so it will center everything to the left,
how far depends on how many letters and what letters the centered text has.

      I understand that WordPerfect is working on the problem and hopefully
will have a driver to handle this.

Page #'s

      It is likely that your page # problem is a result of First Word not
knowing how many lines the DJ is printing per page.  Since the DJ can not
print all the way to the top or bottom it can only print 63 normal lines per
page.  You have two possible answers:

      1/ Tell First Word that you have only 63 lines per page.

      2/ Tell you DJ to use Text Scale.  Text scale will squash the lines
together a little to get all 66 lines on a page.  It can be set with switches
on the DJ, by First Word, or by an Accessory like JetSet as long as First Word
does not "reset" the printer.

      I prefer to use the 63 line fix. The Times font looks just a little
crowded with text scale.

>> Joe M <<

All these suggestions are based on my Desk Jet Plus.  They should be the same
for your model 500.
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Category 4,  Topic 8
Message 3         Sun Sep 23, 1990
FJ.ADAMS                     at 09:50 CDT

Thanks for the help.  I'll try the fixes.

My wife will only use First Word, she's been using it for abour 5 years and
won't try anything else.  I might have her talked into Word Perfect as she
uses it at school.

Thanks again, FJ Adams
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Category 4,  Topic 8
Message 4         Thu Sep 27, 1990
J.MEEHAN3 [Joe]              at 04:33 EDT

FJ.ADAMS

DeskJet 500 Centering Proportional Text

      While helping my girl friend set up a HP Laser Jet for printing with
Lotas it happened onto a new command that may help print TIMES and other
proportional fonts centered with the DeskJets.  I will give it a try and if it
works I will post the method here.

>> Joe M <<

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Category 4,  Topic 8
Message 5         Fri Sep 28, 1990
J.MEEHAN3 [Joe]              at 05:33 EDT

FJ. Adams,

      I do have something of an answer for your centering problem.  I have
found that by using "Horizontal Motion Index Definition"  I am able to get
passable centering and much improved tabs.

      You can check your manual but the code "Ec & k ## H"  where ## is
your user supplied number for the size the space you want.  It is measured in
1/120 of an inch.  I have used 9 or 10 for 12 pt Times Roman.  You will need
to try it and see what works best with your font, Page width ect.

      This same command will change character spacing for all the characters
of a mono spaced font.

      I hope this helps.  If you don't understand or have trouble in setting
up your printer driver with this command ask again.  I'll try to help.

>> Joe M <<

OK it's not perfect, but it is better than nothing.*s
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