Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!midway!ellis.uchicago.edu!zama
From: zama@ellis.uchicago.edu (iftikhar uz zaman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Amiga Word Processors (was Re: Some MAC and Amiga Comparisons).
Summary: Questions from a *beginner*
Message-ID: <1990Oct18.205740.9681@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 18 Oct 90 20:57:40 GMT
References: <11419@life.ai.mit.edu> <16885@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <11435@life.ai.mit.edu>
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator)
Organization: U of Chicago
Lines: 55

Hi folks.  I have an Amiga500 that I don't know very well and have decided
to get a 3000--but my reasons would be considered heretical on this group:
half of my work is on PC's and half on Macs. Amiga is the chameleon that
can be both...

So I am interested in the Amiga for it's ability to be something *other*
than an Amiga--but I AM willing to learn.  So here's a practical question:

My dissertation requires lots of geneological-tree type charts.  I use
MORE on the Mac to generate these.  I need to be able to sort this
stuff out, do searches, check out numbers of occurences of certain
names etc: i.e. a simple database...I use PC-files on the PC for this
[This last probably is because I started off as a PC owner, and that's
all I had and have at home...there's probably a Mac program for this
simple database stuff].  Then I write my text which, of course,
requires footnotes etc.  But MS-Word on the Mac lets me generate
tables of contents, flip back and forth with a ctrl-u between the
outline of my dissertation and the text, insert the diagrams that MORE
creates into the text of the dissertation with no hassle (simply copy
to the system "clipboard" in MORE with a ctrl-c, and paste in MS-Word
with a ctrl-v), insert multi-column tables in my text with ease.

I was thinking that I would do this on an Amiga relying on AMAX and
bridgeboards.  My question: can we come up with a few Amiga programs
which could do all this--i.e. currently my state of knowledge is that
I have to make my "smart" Amiga act like a Stupid Mac and a Stupid XT
to get my work done.  Can someone show me that I don't *have* to do
this and that my Amiga is quite capable of doing all this?

I think this is the stuff I am looking for:

(1) Word Processor: generate tables of contents, indices, ability to
    insert graphics from some Amiga-graphic program, multi-column tables.
(2) A "draw" program: which would allow me to draw simple boxes with
    text in them and lines going from one to the other a la flowchart.
(3) (Desirable but not necessary) A MORE-like program: which would allow
    me to input text into an "outline" and then would convert the outline
    into a flowchart type diagram which my "draw" program could read and
    edit.
(4) A text-base type program which could allow me to search occurences
    and frequencies of various names?

     I am not a programmer so I do not know how to make any of this stuff.
And, hey, if this stuff isn't available I'll do things the kludgy way and
buy the Amiga anyway--it seems to be a better machine.  But, if some of
this stuff is available, I certainly would love to hear about it.

[PS I know this is not comp.sys.compare--the spirit of this article is
not comparision but a desire to know the capabilities of my Amiga better]

                                                  Iftikhar
--
La yajrimannakum shan'anu qawmin `ala an-ta`dilu; i`dilu huwa aqrubu li
al-taqwa...
zama@ellis.uchicago.edu        xpszama@uchimvs1.uchicago.edu