Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!ukc!educ-isis!teexdwu From: teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d Subject: Re: old IBM Xyrite word processor Message-ID: <1991Jan15.105230.29406@ioe.lon.ac.uk> Date: 15 Jan 91 10:52:30 GMT References: <2825@sixhub.UUCP> <1991Jan14.213301.9993@csun.edu> Reply-To: teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) Organization: Institute of Education University of London Lines: 51 In article <1991Jan14.213301.9993@csun.edu> adcscafh@csunb.csun.edu (Jerald Josephs) writes: > > We have a need to convert a file written with the XYRITE >word processor to either ascii or, better yet, the WordPerfect >file format. We have never heard of XYRITE, apparantly it is >a rather old IBM product... > > Has anyone out here heard of this word processor? > Where can I get a copy? I assume you mean XyWrite, by XyQuest Inc. This is very far from being an "old IBM product". It is widely recognized as being one of the fastest and most capable word processors available today. It is related to the ATEX typesetting system which is widely used for newspaper typesetting. Subsidiary rights to XyWrite were sold to a New York company some time ago, Dragonfly Software, who made some modifications to XyWrite and marketed it under the name Nota Bene. In this incarnation it is generally considered the most advanced word processor for academic use, and especially for those with multilingual needs. More recently, rumour has it that IBM will phase out the dinosaur DisplaWrite (ghastly program: I had to use it for a long time) and has bought rights to XyWrite, which it intends to promote as it's main WP package. XyWrite has the "cleanest" file format of any word processor I know. If you don't use any underlining, etc., then the format is just plain ASCII. Formatting codes are just character strings bracketted within guillemots (ASCII 174 and 175). So "begin underlining mode" is <>, and so on. All commercial file conversion programs have XyWrite on their menus, so you can convert from XyWrite to and from anything easily. Programs like Ventura read XyWrite format. There's no problem. There's even a public domain WordPerfect to XyWrite translator knocking around somewhere. XyWrite is available from XYQUEST Inc. 44 Manning Road Billerica, MA 01821 (508) 671-0888 > > It would make a master's student's thesis a bit more > accessible...she want's to write a book... If your student is doing a book, then STAY WITH XyWRITE! It is a far superior tool for writing a book than WordPerfect. It has drivers for all the printers you want, PostScript for typesetting, and there is even a Compugraphic Cora driver available from XyQuest. Dominik