Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Isaac_K_Rabinovitch From: Isaac_K_Rabinovitch@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: HELP! We need a scientific WP. Message-ID: <3302@cup.portal.com> Date: 18 Feb 88 18:41:59 GMT References: <369@ndcheg.UUCP> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 69 XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.1472 evan@ndcheg.UUCP (Evan Bauman) writes: ->We're converting our department office word processing equipment from dedicated ->CPT word processors to IBM PS/2 model 30's. We've purchased one unit and ->another two are on order. We originally thought of using the T3 word ->processor, but this package requires 550K to run and this means that ->we cannot load the network software at the same time. ->Does anyone have a recommendation for another WP? We need one that will ->support a postscript printer, be relatively easy to learn, doesn't use ->as much RAM as T3 (under 350K would be nice), and work with the model 30's ->video (MCGA). People with problems like yours will certainly want to get the Feb. 29 issue of PC Magazine, which has summaries and capsule reviews of 55 DOS WPs. Not without its problems (didn't answer basic questions about some programs; and although the editors obviously tried to prevent it, some of the capsules were colored by the I [Heart] This Program syndrome), but is still an important document, because of all the comparisons in one place. Even the reviews of programs you wouldn't even consider buying are worth reading, because they'll help you understand the different approaches to WP design. One program that the magzine made me take special note of was Note Bene, which I had previously dismissed as an overdesigned academic WP. Features that impressed me: up to 9 windows; ability to display the directory tree; support of documents too big to fit on a single disk; automatically updated bibliographies (there's an integrated "flat" daatabase), footnotes, cross-references, section numbers and the like; simple intuitive inteface; ability to specify format in an "abstract" way so you don't have to redo the whole document when you use another printer or need a different format for a different journal; and support for foreign languages, including right-to-left languages like Hebrew (you'll need a graphics card for that one). Runs in 384K, said to have good printer support. Understand I'm not actually endorsing the program, I'm merely mentioning the features useful to the academic shop and which make me lust in my heart -- and, not incidentally, address my qualms about WordPerfect and MS Word. Unfortunately, I think we may have a basic problem: ->It should be VERY easy to format complex equations with ->this word processor. PC Mag. doesn't say anything on this topic, but I get the impression that neither Nota Bene or the other 54 support this one. Since you probably don't consider systems that rely on non-interactive equation description languages "easy to format," we can rule out TeX and troff/eqn. My experience with this sort of thing under DOS is limited (I *have* used eqn under Unix) so it's entirely possible that there's a good program I don't know about -- but I don't think much has been accomplished with the problem of applying the WYSIWYG concept to equation formatting, and most of the work that has been done lives on Unix systems. Possibly Lotus Manuscript (which PC Mag. skipped for some reason) comes close. You have to use an equation language, but there appears to be some immediate feedback. Unfortunately, I hear that Manuscript is buggy, and difficult to use. Don't know what its RAM requirements are, but I'm not optimistic. Here's a highly imperfect solution: format your equations separately with MathCad or some other program good at entering them, then paste them into the document using some WP that supports embedded graphics. No wait, you're a chemist! But perhaps you have other scientific doodling program that will serve. Isaac Rabinovitch Disclaimer: Just because I think you're wrong, doesn't mean I don't think you're a fun person! :-)