Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Re: re DMA hard disks
Message-ID: <1105@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 11-Dec-86 14:23:16 EST
Article-I.D.: cbmvax.1105
Posted: Thu Dec 11 14:23:16 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 14-Dec-86 18:58:24 EST
References: <3103@garfield.UUCP>
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 105

> 
> I see an ad for "Pagesetter" in the latest AmigaWorld. Is this a port of a 
> Mac program? 
> 
> John Russell

I've got a copy of PageSetter 1.0, which was just released at the World of
Commodore show last week.  I don't think it was a MAC port, but an original
program.  Anyway, the company's name is the Gold Disk, and so far they've
no US distributer for it.  It appears to be a very promising program.

The program is really a pagesetting program, not to be confused with a
word processor.  What I mean by that is that you may normally use your 
favorite word processor or text editor to create large bodies of text,
then you bring them into the pagesetter and lay them out.  The pagesetter
does include a small text editor of its own, just in case you want to
quickly go between editing and layout.  Not a bad text editor, not
terribly powerful but it gets the job done.  It also imports TextCraft,
Scribble, or plain ASCII files.  

Another subsection of the main pagesetter is the graphics editor.  All of
the graphics used in this version are monochrome, and that't all that this
version handles.  It can read in either 320x200 or 640x200 IFF files
created with any IFF compatible editor or other such program.  The graphics
editor allows you to cut and past, draw simple boxes or circles, and change
brushes.  As in DPAINT, you can make anything a brush.  All brushes can be
scaled or fipped in X or Y, though there's no rotation available.  You can 
add in text of any Amiga font.  Several grey scales are available for area 
filling; these are achieved via dithering like on a Mac or in a newspaper.  
Anything you edit here can be saved as an IFF file or imported to the main 
pagesetter via a clipboard.  When copying to the clipboard, you've got the 
option of maintaining 1:1 aspect ratio or going to 5:4; when pasting from
the clipboard you can get 1:1 or 4:5 aspect ratios.

In the main pagesetter you start everything off by adding a page.  The page
can be set up in nearly any size, and you can request any number of columns
to be set up.  This doesn't force you into columns by any means, but it
does create guides for these columns.  You place text on the screen by
creating a box.  This is done simply by clicking on the box icon, then 
clicking the upper-right lower-left (or any other rectangle).  Now you click
on the pencil icon, and click in this box.  The text from the text editor 
will fill as much of the box as possible.  For a graphic, you click the 
paintbrush icon and then the box.  For graphics, there's a fine control that
lets you accurately position any boxed graphic within its box.

If text doesn't all fit in the box, an indicator shows in the lower right.
You can create another box, click on your first box, click on the "link"
icon, and then on the second box.  All text not fitting in the first will
immediately spill over into the second.  There are icons available to 
follow linked boxes in either direction, and to break links between boxes
(which essentially give you two separate text files instead of one larger
one).  Any box can be edited; simply select a box by clicking on it, then
select the edit icon.  If its a text box, all of the associated linked 
text will show up in the text editor, which is immediately called up.  If
its a graphic box, the graphics editor is called up and this graphic will
be available in the clipboard.  There are also facilities for clearing
boxes of their data, and for erasing boxes completely (this only kills 
data if the box is the last in a linked list).

One of the nicest features of this system is the box preferences menu.
This allows the total look of boxes to be changed on an individual
basis.  This tayloring includes modification of the text font, justification,
between letter, word, and line spacing, and the box outline.  It also
allows for a box to be backfilled with a dithered shading.  You can also
choose if a box is to be transparent or opaque.  Transparent boxes can be
overlayed to any degree to allow text and graphic mixes or other similar
things.  Styles within individual fonts are changed via the text editor,
using "\N" notation, where \b gives boldface, \i italics, etc.  Other 
supported styles are underlined and boxed text. 

Overall, this is a nice program.  It has the feel of a CAD program, with
all of the graphic manipulations, zooming, etc. that you typically do with
it.  This version will support any printer available through a perferences
selected printer driver.  They are planning an extended version of this
designed to drive a postscript printer.  It'll be supplied with a set of
postscript fonts for the Amiga display.  

The release disk (colored yellow, after the company's name) is supplied 
with 1.1 Workbench software.  I immediately transferred it a 1.2 disk (no 
CP here) with no problem at all.  At home I have an MPS-1000 printer, and
the 1.1 system, either MPS 1000 driver or printer.device, had a few
troubles.  Essentially, this program progressively turns sections of each
page into RastPorts, which it then sends to the printer via Amiga system
functions.  Several RastPorts must be dumped per page.  With my printer,
the reset between RastPorts causes a blank line to appear several
times along the page.  This still happens under 1.2, I'm looking into
exactly why right now.  The Gold Disk people out at WOC used a laser
printer, I believe a Queme, which emulates an Epson dot matrix printer.
They had no troubles whatsoever.  I've also tried this on an HP LaserJet,
but the LaserJet didn't have enough memory for even one RastPort dump;
it wouldn't have worked with any Amiga graphics dump.


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Haynie	{caip,ihnp4,allegra,seismo}!cbmvax!daveh

	"Laws to supress tend to strengthen what they would prohibit.
	 This is the fine point on which all the legal professions of
	 history have based their job security."
						-Bene Gesserit Coda

These opinions are my own, though for a small fee they may be yours too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~