#DTP w/ LJII
Just to add my ha'p'orth … the balance between ProPage and PStream is now
changed somewhat. At one time, ProPage was very significantly better at
doing most things (although it lacked the versatility of PStream, as it
couldn't handle PostScript fonts or scale fonts) and, above all, was much
more stable.
Now, PageStream has put right a lot of the problems although it is still a
little slow at times … but it's user interface is much better than it
was. Screen refresh on an accelerated machine is acceptable, on a raw
68000 it isn't but, as you say, the dot-matrix output speed is very good.
ProPage has also cleaned up its act recently, but it is flawed in some
critical areas. Its font handling is dreadful … it requires an (ever so
slow) external utility to convert PostScript Type-1 fonts to CG, an
external program to update its list of fonts when a font is added and it
has no way of properly managing a large number of fonts.
The addition of `genies' is, however, a major advance and has given ProPage
a significant edge for some applications. Its screen refresh is also faster
than PStream, although its dot-matrix support is a fair bit slower.
PPage is unable to make some of the very fine adjustments that one
sometimes needs, and it cannot scale fonts other than just changing their
overall point size.
For my own applications, I use a mixture of PPage and PStream as required.
PStream's direct support of Type-1 fonts is a _major_ selling point, as is
its excellent font management system … although, until recently, PPage
was my main choice, falling back to PStream as necessary.
Now, the balance has changed … PPage lacks a coherent environment and
some fundamental features. So, PStream has now become the work-horse in
these parts … with ProPage only coming out when I need to use the genies.
Mike (from the UK)
PS … I'm coming over to the US at the end of the month. I'm starting off
visiting Betty in Texas, then driving up to Monument Valley … then down
through Arizona to Tucson where I'm going to visit the Organ Pipe Cactus
NatMonument, Kitt Peak and the Titan