ProPage 3.0
29 messages in this thread
To all, I just got off the phone with a technical support guy from Gold
Disk, who told me that ProPage 3.0 is about to be released at the end of
the month. They are charging for this upgrade, he said, because of the
hostof new features (more tech support lines is not one of them.) He said
it will work off Arexx, of which I know nothing, and my question is, what
is arexx and how does it relate to a 1000 owner. Ihave a rejuvenator board
with a rom switch, can I get 2.0 and switch between that and 1.3, and thus
use 2.0 for this arexx, or is the 1000 finished as far as ProPage upgrades
go? thanks for any info. jeff Kisseloff
[D 70253,1344
Jeff,
You can run ProPage 3.0 and ARexx under 1.3 on your 1000. However, PP 3.0
wants 2MB RAM.
This should not discourage you from getting WB 2.0 however.
Malcolm
Jeff,
AREXX is a scripting language, and it will run on the A1000. I was using
the A1000 when I bought it, and it ran just fine. You might want to look
at the Abacus book on AREXX. I cannot recall the exact title, and my copy
of the book is not in sight right now, but it was written by Nick Sullivan
and Chris Zamora. Most any book store should be able to get it for you –
and it will teach you all about AREXX, beginning with how to install it.
You can buy AREXX from most any Amiga dealer, and it comes with 2.04.
Betty
Betty,
Thanks, I'll look into it, but I'm curious, outside of ProPage, what use
would I have for 2.04? I'm a writer, so Wordperfect is on all day, and the
program is just fine for me. I use ProPage for a side job. I'm finally
getting the hang of the program, but where it's a problem is in handling
long text files. While the screen is refreshing, I can lace on my running
shoes, take a jog around Central Park, and by the time I'm showered and
dressed and the program is about ready to return. The Rejuventaor has
helped, but not as much as I hoped (or was led to believe). Anyway, I've
heard a lot about Arexx and 2.04, but would they make a real difference to
a slug like me? Alo, what about ProPage 3.0, is it that much better? Do I
needed an Arexx-based wordprocesor to take advantage of it? If you or
anyone else have any answers, I thank you in advance.
Jeff 70253,1344
– via Whap!
Jeff,
You don't need an ARexx-aware wordprocessor to use ProPage 3.0. PP3 has
vast ARexx capabilities (about 300 commands). This will let you command
things to be done rather than having to do them yourself. It can really
eliminate a lot of drudge work. Of course, these things take time. 🙂 As a
casual user, this may or may not be really exciting to you.
ARexx macros can be created or edited via a hotlink to the Article Editor.
Malcolm
Malcolm:
Can you let us in on any other features of ProPage v3.0? Is there TOC
generation capability, footnotes …..?
Regards Charles
Charles,
Page Genies: 6 different styles of Auto Page Generation, including flyers,
ads, newsletters, brochures and more.
Function Genies: over 25 time savers like Auto Envelope Addressing, Auto
Table Creation, Auto Mail Merge, Auto Drop Caps, Small Caps & Super/Sub
Scripts, Auto Grid Creation, Pop Up Units Converter, Link to ADPro & more.
Over 330 ARexx commands, Undo, New Color Sep Algorithms with improved UCR,
5 new CG fonts for a total of 7, Type Sizes in .125 increments, hot link to
PDraw, new text filters (ProWrite, QuickWrite, excellence!, etc.),
autotiling for outputing large pages.
Malcolm
Malcolm,
I thought I saw ARexx support demo'd in PPage at the last AmiExpo here in
LA (almost 2 years ago!). I was surprised 2.1 didn't have it, but glad to
see it finally arriving…
*** jd
Malcolm:
Thanks for the brief list of PPage 3.0's new features. It sounds very
encouraging. How about irregular boxes? ProCalc sheet range/sheet imports?
Do you know if there is ProDraw upgarde in the works? We need fountain
fills, user-definable pattern fills, and multiple layer selection RSN.
Regards Charles
Charles,
I have to jump in here. Just got the upgrade notice from Gold Disk.
There is a ProDraw 3.0 in the works (the notice says available soon) PPage
3.0 has Hotlinks to Prodraw. "create tables automatically from spreadsheet
data". Also will allow Adobe Type 1 Fonts along with the other 5 new fonts.
The fonts are: Caslon 540, Garth Graphic, CG Omega, Shannon Book, and
Unical.
Rodger
– via Whap!
Charles,
No irregular boxes. I was wrong earlier there ARE ARexx macros that will
come in very handy for TOC and index creation. The ProCalc import is really
cool. Makes a box for each cell so the table is in a box of boxes. Another
macro (they're called "Genies") will update the table after you've changed
the data in ProCalc. A lot of people will really like that.
As for PDraw, well, it needs to include the PPage hotlink and the PPage
support for its fountain fills. 🙂 I wouldn't expect that to take too long.
Malcolm
Malcolm:
> No irregular boxes. I was wrong earlier there ARE ARexx macros that will
> come in very handy for TOC and index creation. The ProCalc import is
really > cool. Makes a box for each cell so the table is in a box of boxes.
Another > macro (they're called "Genies") will update the table after
you've changed > the data in ProCalc. A lot of people will really like
that.
Sounds like an excellent upgrade. Howcum GD is not making this kind of
information more widely available?
Regards Charles
Charles,
I was wrong that time too! There IS irregular text wrapping in PPage 3.0.
Malcolm
Malcolm:
> I was wrong that time too! There IS irregular text wrapping in PPage 3.0.
PPage v3.0 is looking better and better! Is GD going to be able to keep to
the end of February date I got from the receptionist?
Regards Charles
Making info available? End of February? Those sound like questions that
should be asked of a GD employee. I'm not one of those. The receptionist
almost certainly knows more about it than I do.
Malcolm
TO ALL: PPage 3.0 will have text wrap to irregular shape provided it is a
structured shape> ie circle, freehand tools etc. in PPage. PPage 3.0 will
also have Adobe type 1 support. It is slated for release by end of Feb,
and will start shipping in March.
Best regards,
Darlene McLean Gold Disk Technical Support
Jeff,
You have questions I cannot answer. If WordPerfect is doing what you need
to do, and it works on your equipment, perhaps that is the way for you to
go, at least for now. I use it for most of my writing, and there are
things I'd like changed about it – but it still does the best job for me in
the really tough areas like footnoting and indexing.
Betty
Jeff,
Just to add to what Betty has said… That ARexx book is:
Using ARexx on the Amiga
Guide to useing the ARexx programming language
by Zamara & Sullivan
published by Abacus
5370 52nd St. SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
$34.95
ISBN 1-55755-114-6
Also, I forgot to mention that ProPage 3.0 wants 2 MB RAM AND a hard drive.
Malcolm
Whoa, have I missed something? ProPage 3.0? When did that arrive? We've
only got ProPage 2.1 here in merry olde England, and that took forever to
arrive. Tell me the whole gory story, please!
Thanks,
John
– via Whap!
John
PPage 3.0 has not yet arrived … although it will not be very long now.
2.1 has been out for a short while, but was only an incremental upgrade to
2.0 (some bug fixes and a couple of minor enhancements). Its arrival in the
UK was certainly a little later than in the US, but not by very much and,
after all, it was a _free_ upgrade and I guess we can't really complain
about the delay in its arrival.
3.0 is a major new release and should be available fairly soon but it will
not be sent out as a free upgrade as 2.1 was. Instead, you'll have to buy
the upgrade (I don't know whether this will be from a dealer or from GD
direct).
Hope that helps
Mike (Whapping from the UK)
Thanks Mike, yes that does help. I got my 2.1 upgrade direct from Gold Disk
in Canada after an abortive session with HB Marketing ("I don't think we
handle that any more") and Silica Systems ("I don't think we handle that at
the moment.") If you you know how to get any sense out of ANY of the U.K.
distributors for Amiga U.S. software, PLEASE let me in on the secret.
Thanks,
John
– via Whap!
BTW, folks, if all goes well you should be able to pick up PPage 3.0 at the
AmiExpo in Long Beach, CA next month.
Which means it should be on the streets by the time I get over to NYC in
April. Good news, also good magazine! I buy it when I can find it!
John
– via Whap!
Thanks, John! You best bet for finding the Amiga section of COMPUTE is at
Software Etc. or BizMart stores.
I'm anxious to play with ARexx and PPage. If the ARexx command set is good
enough, the possibilities will be mind-boggling.
(And this means PageStream 3.0 will have to top PPage's ARexx support. 🙂
Denny, Sorry, no Software Etc. or BizMart in the U.K.! I'll take out a
subscription next time I find a copy here in London.
Keep up the good work,
John
– via Whap!
John,
Ooops, didn't notice your UK id! I'm glad to hear the magazine is available
over there!
Denny,
I don't think anything's been left out of the PPage ARexx command set.
There are over 330 commands and, near as I can tell, it covers everything.
Malcolm
You have it??
Can you tell us how it performs? Is it fast or slow?
— Jim
/post
Jim,
I don't really know if it's faster. Subjectively, I thought the 2.x
versions were a bit faster than the 1.x versions. Certainly, 3.0 doesn't
seem any slower. I actually haven't worked with it very much though.
Malcolm