| Title: | Atari ST, TT, & Falcon |
| Notice: | Please read note 1.0 and its replies before posting! |
| Moderator: | FUNYET::ANDERSON |
| Created: | Mon Apr 04 1988 |
| Last Modified: | Tue May 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1433 |
| Total number of notes: | 10312 |
This might be interesting to someone:- I use First Word Plus, which I've had for some time. Late-on last year the distributors (Electric Distribution in Cambridge, England) sent out a mail-shot to registered users, inviting them to buy a maintenance release which would bring them up to rev. 3.20TT A while after installing the maintenance release, I found a small problem, where, if text ran off the right-side of the screen, I could only get to it by putting the cursor on the relevant line and running it along the line. What I should have been able to do was use the bottom slider bar - it worked OK on the previous version. After an un-answered letter to Electric Distribution, and a phone call or two, it turns out that some copies of the maintenance release didn't work properly, and the only way users get a replacement is to get in touch with them - they won't tell you about it until you ask................ Another interesting one is that the same company have just launched Timeworks Publisher 2, as a replacement for Timeworks Desktop Publisher (version 1.12). An upgrade is available for users of the older version. Anyway, I went for the upgrade soon after it was announced, and guess what.... it doesn't work properly. Various problems like fonts not scaling correctly, Degas/Neochrome imported pictures don't print if they've been scaled with 'preserve aspect ratio', and even a 9-bomb trace exception if you try to access the Neodesk control panel from within Timeworks. There are others, but it just gets boring. It appears that they rushed out the upgrade without proper testing, because they've now said that they're sending out replacement disks to all those who upgraded, because of some problems. BTW My cofiguration includes 4Meg of memory so the Timeworks problems shouldn't be due to not enough memory. It makes you wonder what is in the shops???????????? So if anyone's having these kind of problems, I suggest you contact Electric Distribution (aka GST Software), and ask for some new disks. Tony
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1235.1 | Timeworks 2 | JOCKEY::GRISSK | Thu Jan 16 1992 08:26 | 11 | |
I have spoken to GST this very morning and they admitted that the first
release of Timeworks 2 had loads of problems. Too many to list.
They are promising to release a 'Better' version next week. This
should run ok on all ST's with 1Mb or more. It isn't much good for 0.5
meg machines as it severly limits the number of fonts and size of docs.
I will let you know just how good the new version is when it turns up.
_Kev_
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| 1235.2 | Whats new? | YNGSTR::WALLACE | Thu Jan 16 1992 11:18 | 3 | |
What new features does Timeworks Publisher 2 have? Ray | |||||
| 1235.3 | VIVIAN::T_SMITH | Thu Jan 16 1992 14:02 | 6 | ||
Re .1 They promised me that I'd have the new copies by yesterday, so I suppose next week is close.................. Tony | |||||
| 1235.4 | The new features - it's better! | VIVIAN::T_SMITH | Fri Jan 17 1992 06:44 | 74 | |
The install program is better (at least they say it is) Text files can now be imported from Protext, Le Redacteur, ST Word Pictures can now be imported in TIFF, PCX, EPS and DELUXEPAINT formats, though EPS format are only displayed on screen as a box. SET DEFAULTS in the OPTINS menu enables you to save default info, ie. include default paths for dtp files, style sheets, picture & text files. Also save default picture formats, view size, show/hide tools, rulers, pictures, frames & columns, and whether to use .bak files Create custom page sizes up to 22.5" square Page numbering in 5 formats including upper/lower case roman numerals, and letters. Add/delete groups of pages Autoflow text onto additional pages - the software creates the additional pages as required Text typed in directly can be named, which can then be saved as ASCII Auto backup - adjustable timer up to 99 minutes Improved tab handling More text styles - box, rounded box, strikethrough Flow text around irregular frames - frames can now be reshaped to irregular shapes - there are some restrictions but it's an improvement Frames can now be grouped together for cut/paste operations, saving all that effort of moving lots of individual frames. Up to 4 printers can be installed simultaneously - if you want to change the printer, you have to run Fontwid.app, but you don't need two different installations for different printers. Printing is a bit quicker now - they've changed the way landscape documents are printed. There are also some new fonts supplied FSMGDOS is supposed to be supported, but who knows when that will be around. 1 Meg of memory is recommended, and a hard disk makes life a lot easier, and quicker. My opinion is that the overall improvements put Timeworks back into the market, where it was lagging behind. It would have been nice if they'd included text rotation, but we can't have everything I suppose. There's a lot more use of overlays, which tend to slow everything down a bit, even with lots of memory, but this may be due to the bugged version that I'm still using. Fonts are now extended to include a lot of extra characters that weren't there before - this is good, but you obviously need more disk space to hold them. On this subject, the ST Club has just released an upgrade for Fontkit, which handles the new fonts OK, and has an improved font compression utility - fonts can now be stored in compressed format, and de-compressed by a small auto program - and it works!!!!!!!!!!! I think that's about it - there might be something I've missed, but that should be most of it. Tony | |||||
| 1235.5 | It's still got problems | VIVIAN::T_SMITH | Fri Feb 07 1992 14:49 | 14 | |
I received the 'fix disk' this morning, which is a replacement disk 1. It requires a complete re-installation of the whole distribution kit. After doing all that, I've still got the three major problems which I had with the original disks, ie. 8-bomb priviledge violation if I try to access the Neodesk control panel from the accessory pull-down. The second problem is incorrect 'doubling-up' of font size. The third problem is that when an imported Degas picture is scaled with 'preserve aspect ratio', it looks OK on screen, but won't print out. I'm currently waiting for a call-back from a programmer. BTW one or two of the smaller probs seem to be cured. | |||||