MacFormat UK 38/MF_UK_38_1.iso/Shareware City/Printing/GSF-Rasputin/About Greg Swann’s Utilities

Text File | 1995-03-11 | 13.9 KB | 326 lines | [TEXT/R*ch]

ABOUT GREG SWANN'S UTILITIES


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

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

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

Contact me at:

Greg Swann
3417 North Pleasant Drive
Chandler, AZ 85224

or

[e-mail]

or

[e-mail]



FREEWARE/DEMOWARE UTILITIES

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



TEXT PROCESSING/DESKTOP PUBLISHING

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

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

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

GST-XP8Demo.sit - DemoWare version of XP8. XP8 cleans up and makes
QuarkXPress-ready raw text files originating on Mac, DOS and UNIX
systems. It intelligently reformats paragraphs, cleans up common word
processor garbage and does the best curly-quote conversion we know of.
Useful for Desktop Publishing only. Demo is XP8 1.0.0. Current shipping
commerical version is 1.0.7.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



UTILITIES

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

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

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

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

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



FONT MANAGEMENT UTILITIES

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

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

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

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

GSF-TypeSpec.sit - Type Spectrum is an interactive typeface matching
game for kids and adults.

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

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

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



FLEETING FAME

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE

These are my currently shipping commercial products:

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

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

Shane the Plane 2.0.1 - file and font attribute editing utility.
Interactively or in Drag & Drop batches, permits you to change the
Creator/Type of files, their created/modified dates and times, a host
of significant Finder flags, plus a lot more. Makes files
invisible/visible, makes fonts behave like files by removing their BNDL
resources, batch "pastes" custom icons, intelligently renames and/or
"slugs" files, et very cetera. A demonstration version (fully
functional but limited to 32 launches) can be found in Library 12 under
the name SPDEMO.SEA or in the InterNet Info-Mac archives as
GSU-STPDemo.sit.

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

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

Shane the Plane 2.0.1 is sold on these terms: (US)$40 each, per
license. Two to 10 licenses are $35 each, and 11 or more are $30 each.

Mark My Words, XP8 and Torquemada are each sold under these terms:
(US)$50 each, per license. Two to 10 licenses are $45 each, and 11 or
more are $40 each. These three programs will eventually be rolled into
a stand-alone text editor cum word processor currently in design with
the working name "MyEditor". You will be entitled to a 25% discount on
the price of the MyEditor, when it is released, for each of these
utilities you have purchased and registered. In other words, if you own
XP8, your discount will be 25%. If you own XP8 and Torquemada, it will
be 50%. And if you own all three, you will be entitled to a 75%
discount. (This discount does not apply to Shane the Plane, which is
establishing its own upgrade path.)

If you want to buy any or all of these programs, send a check or money
order* to:

Greg Swann
P.O. Box 1724
Andover, MA 01810

or

3417 North Pleasant Drive
Chandler, AZ 85224

*Outside the U.S., you may send cash at your own risk, if exchange
issues make that expedient.



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

Very best,

Greg Swann