========================================================================= (C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information. ========================================================================== Category 16, Topic 20 Message 1 Tue Jul 27, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 19:52 EDT Released in February, 1992, Calamus SL has proven to be a first class desktop publishing solution for the Atari platform. Compatible with all Atari computers, from a 1 meg 520 ST to the TT030 to the latest Atari Falcon030, Calamus displays in a variety of resolutions on all available graphic cards in 1, 4, 8 and 24/32 bit color or monochrome, above 640 x 350 resolution. Calamus SL is the centre of a modular universe, based on the WYNIWYG (What you need is what you get) concept. A great many optional modules are currently available with more scheduled to arrive shortly. Additional topics in DMC's Category 16 can be listed by typing TOPic. For those of you enjoying Calamus, whether professional or just for fun, all the topics in this Category will be of interest. A complete list of Calamus' features can be found in our own library 30: file #27367 compares Calamus 1.09N to Calamus S, #17426 compares 1.09 to everything a few years back, as did file #16892, #10521 is a 20 page list of Calamus 1.09N and Calamus SL features. A series of archived files of questions asked and answered in this Category from the initial release of Calamus up to and including messages archived last week, can be found and downloaded from the Atari RT Archive library #13. Just SEArch by the keyword Calamus. The Calamus 1.09 DEMO version is file #10521 while the Calamus SL DEMO version is file #24683. The Calamus Printer Driver Generator is also available for downloading, file #24135. As always, there are many of us that would be pleased to answer any question related to Calamus and desktop publishing on the Atari. Believe me, between those of us at DMC and the many 100's of customers of ours that also enjoy Category 16, we can usually handle about anything you can throw at us and remember, no question is too simple or too hard. Please do not hesitate to ask. Sincerely Nathan Potechin DMC Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 2 Tue Jul 27, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 20:35 EDT Can anyone go over what the Dataformer does? It looks like we may need some degree of PostScript output... Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 3 Tue Jul 27, 1993 D.WALTER7 [Doug Walter] at 20:48 EDT Steve, No, the "Coastline" (I like that!) problem is not related to PD or any other level of fonts. The problem is related to fattening _any_ vector line or curve in OL3. As I mentioned before, it doesn't appear to be just a display problem, either. Dave and Tom, Yep, I did the Rast-a-Matic spreadsheet. It's part of the monster "RasGen U2U" project and will be released at the same time. Although finished and approved a while ago, a voluntary decision was made to hold the entire package pending further testing with the new SL update. I PROMISE that I will upload all 70 pages as soon as I can be sure its still accurate :-) My apologies for any inconveniences that this may cause. Doug7 ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 4 Tue Jul 27, 1993 D.GORDON2 [DENNIS] at 22:01 EDT Lou: I've a question regarding vertical justification and the new upgrade. Does it work properly now? That is, if you hit [C] [RET] between items, are they spread out to the top and bottom of the frame? The way it works now you can only top, bottom or center align a copy block which isn't particularly useful. Thanks for the reply... ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 5 Tue Jul 27, 1993 C.ALLEN17 [Cliff] at 22:07 EDT Nathan, Now that I have caught up on some sleep, I just reread Lou's message #173. The Summer font sale, what list do we choose from? I remember the giant sheet that was mailed during the last release of modules? Do we get to choose 10 from that list. ;-O Cliff (Ashevillite) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 6 Tue Jul 27, 1993 C.ALLEN17 [Cliff] at 22:15 EDT Doug7, Sounds like an a very interesting U2U. It also sounds like you put in a lot of hours. Can't wait to see. Thank you in advance.l Cliff (Ashevillite) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 7 Tue Jul 27, 1993 ISD [Mario] at 23:25 EDT Ken, is it possible that you could send me the file and a Fax of what it should look like so that I could recreate it for you. I am thinking that I could treat it as an experiment, so as to define a workaround (I know I said the "W" word), I can suggest thought that maybe you should try a control path within a control path that is sized to the dimensions of the outline thickness you want. Treat the outline as an object and not a line contour. How does that sound... Mario @ DMC Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 8 Wed Jul 28, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 00:26 EDT Sean, the current version of Dataformer will output individual frames or whole pages to a number of raster and vector graphic formats. It will also outpt PS files. The degree of accuracy of the PS output seemed to fluctuate and so Dataformer was released with some reluctance to a waiting userbase. Many people have purchased DF and, as far as I can recall, I haven't seen a single post here expressing dissatisfaction with the product. Nevertheless, development continued on Dataformer and a new beta is currently undergoing rigorous beta testing. In addition, where the original Dataformer was split into two modules, the new version is a single module with four command groups.... including one c/g that does amazing conversions of the color planes of raster graphics and an improved PS c/g that allows multipage output! Sorry, Dennis. The BLOCK function in the Vertical Text Alignment does not work properly, from my tests. I am going to check this out with Mario one more time. Cliff, Doug is being humble. His User file on the raster generator is a real first class piece of work. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 9 Wed Jul 28, 1993 M.SHANNON [Morgan] at 01:17 EDT Lou, OK I'll go figure. Morgan Joe M, I appreciate the message tho' Thanks Morgan Mike, ...the file leader looks like this: "u(with the carat over it)FILENAME.CDK" and then some control characters!?!? that I can't get Alladin to accept right now, so this is in front of my text where the "[R][S]" (greyed out) used to be... damnedest thing. I have NO IDEA. Thanks Morgan Joe M, Are "we" included in the "NT" multi-platofrm architecture? Morgan HEY! One more thing... since we've gone to 4 hours usage on our monthly GEnie fee schedule can we get a "Time Remaining: Xhr,XXmin. on our Log-on or Log- off? Anybody concur on this? Morgan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 10 Wed Jul 28, 1993 R.NOAK at 03:09 EDT Nathan, >>Our NT version will be compatible with our Atari version! Does that mean True Type fonts and all? Will we be able to use True Type fonts with the Atari version of Calamus SL, or will Windows NT users have to use your proprietary fonts with Calamus NT? If we (Atari users) can use True Type fonts with Calamus SL, we are talking a whole new ball game here. Randy @ Southlake, Inc. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 11 Wed Jul 28, 1993 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 05:46 EST Message 217, Tue Jul 27, 1993 D.STMARTIN [Binary Ink] > Didn't you also develop an LDW spreadsheet for calculation < > of Raster Generator settings? < Sorry, but I believe someone else did. If they don't show up and respond here I will take a look in my old stuff and see if I can find out who it was. Oh I see it was Doug. I will be looking forward to it as well. Doug few people will know just how much work you have put into this project. I would like to be the first to thank you for all the work and time you have invested for the rest of us. For those who may not know, rasters are really complex animals. The part of Doug's work I have seen has been very professional. BTW I am sorry I missed your show at Ashlville. I had to leave early (It was you who was scheduled was it not?) >> Joe M << ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ more.... Message 232, Wed Jul 28, 1993 M.SHANNON [Morgan] > Are "we" included in the "NT" multi-platofrm architecture? < Not by name atleast. We will see. >> Joe M << ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 12 Wed Jul 28, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 08:35 EDT Cliff ... In a word, YES! I'll look forward to receiving your order. :-) Morgan ... I think I'll have to go back and re-read the posts as I'm not sure what you mean with the "we" thing. On the time remaining question, type BILL at any time for an up to date listing of your time spent anywhere online. Randy ... Good to see you post. It's been awhile. Yes, the NT version uses True Type fonts. Why are we talking a new ballgame for Atari customers to use True Type fonts rather than the 2000 or so professional fonts already available on the Atari in the Calamus font format? Doug put together a first class project involving the Raster Generator module. It has not yet been released as it is so complex that we are trying to insure that all t's are crossed and i's dotted. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 13 Wed Jul 28, 1993 H.WOOTAN [Harry] at 08:42 EDT HELP! (again...) After a semi-layoff from Calamus use, I finally loaded my last upgrade (8/92?). I can't get it going. I get either 2 bombs or 4 bombs during the load process as soon as the 'Loading K_SHORT.CFT' message shows up. I changed to my previous colors file (GRY_COLR.CFT) and got the same thing. I removed the file from the config (.SET) file by using a pair of quotes. Then I got the bombs when the first font started loading. (I believe that's when it was. It made it to the same place in the startup processing but stumbled on whatever was loading at the point the colors file HAD been loading.) I first tried the SET file that came with the upgrade but with my changes to get it to appear like the one I had been using previously (fonts, paths, memory, modules a few other defaults). Then I tried the SET file that came with the upgrade but without making any changes. I've also tried my old SET file. And I've tried a couple of other RAM settings (even though I started out with the same ones I'd been using). I'm on a 4mb 520ST with T-16 accelerator. Any pointers toward the right direction? I can get more specifics if needed. -- Harry p.s. I'll be upgrading very soon. But I'd sure like to get this one going for something I need to do right away. (So what ELSE is new!) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 14 Wed Jul 28, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 09:27 EDT Harry, from what I have read here, you cannot edit the CALAMUS.SET file with a wordprocessor or text editor... not sure why because you certainly could in the release version. If you are bombing loading a specific file (e.g. K_SHORT.CFT) then I believe the file is corrupt. This does happen over time if you are deleting and rewriting files to the same partition. I tend to put all my data files on a separate partition from the program files. It helps when defragging too. My next suggestion would have been to use the original SET file from August 1992. If that one is bombing, then you may need to reinstall your Calamus from scratch. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 15 Wed Jul 28, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 17:24 EDT Harry ... Which files do you have in your AUTO folder and which accessories in memory? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 16 Wed Jul 28, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 20:41 EDT Nathan, > Our NT version will be compatible with our Atari version! I take this mean that document files are interchangeable across the platforms? --Lou T.-- Written: Wednesday, July 28, 1993 08:19 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 17 Wed Jul 28, 1993 K.SPRINGER1 [FROZEN NORTH] at 21:33 EDT Doug and Steve, I like "coastline". I was calling it a frayed rope or Rorshach ink blot test. Right before lunch today, as I was working on the fuel truck at work, a work around for my project came to me. I tried it a lunch, and it will work. Synopis: I needed a "fat" line to represent a road on a map that has general info for different and adjacent hiking areas. But the fat lines had their problems. I was tracing an IMG of the map in order to get it into vector format. What I was doing is drawing a bezier curve down the middle of the road, and then making it "fat". (Don't you just love technical words like "fat"? ) Personality test time then ensued. What I am going to do is select all points and copy to the clipboard. Then move the original over slightly. Copy from the clipboard to the work area. Reverse the direction of one of the subpaths. Add one more segment to the end of each subpath. Using the "glue bottle" icon, I will glue one subpath to the other. Select close subpaths from the menu, and exit. Select area only, and I'm in fat city. :-) A smooth edged road. (If the road were only smooth in real life!) A quick experiment just before logging on indicates this will work. If it fails, I'll let everyone know. Doug, the vector editor in SL has the same problem with fattening beziers, since I tried the tracing idea there also. You also get the same problems with the beziers from Easy Draw imported into a vector frame, since I tried the tracing idea there also. You are right about the problem traveling with the OL file. I woke in the middle of the night thought Pagestream might do it. The screen display was correct and smooth, even at 1500% magnification, but the printout was not. The bezier was just as messed up as when printed from SL. It would have been interesting to see what TMS Cranach's file would have done. I loaded the CVG into the demo and it looked real good, but since you can't save from the demo, I have no idea what it would have looked like. I doubt that it would have worked in SL, based on this experience, but would have been interesting to try Pagestream. Ken S. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 18 Wed Jul 28, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 21:46 EDT What formats can Dataformer output to? I would assume EPS, what others? Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 19 Wed Jul 28, 1993 ISD [Mario] at 22:12 EDT Sean, dataformer produces the following files; Degas, Doodle Neochrome, STaD, Gem IMG, Enhanced Simplex (ESM - Cranach), GFA Blockformat, PC Paintbrush PCX, IFF (ILBM), TIFF, TGA (Targa) , Windows BMP and the following Vector formats; CVG (1.0 & 1.1) GEM Metafile, Autocad DXF, HPGL Plotfile (PLT) PS and EPS. Hope this helps ... Mario @ DMC Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 20 Wed Jul 28, 1993 K.SPRINGER1 [FROZEN NORTH] at 22:17 EDT Mario, I've seemingly found a workaround. My message as to how I did it is a day late. I forgot to do Pass 2 in Aladdin. I did a test print of it partially done today, and it looks okay. No signs of the raggeddy edges. Surely do appreciate the offer. The project isn't especially important, and I'm not taking the best of care with the graphic. I just needed a bezier curve reasonably thick to represent a road, and my solutions seems to have worked fine. If you're curious, I'll send the file anyway. I have no access to inexpensive fax. :-) Thanks again for the offer. Ken S. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 21 Wed Jul 28, 1993 S.BLACKBURN [STEVE] at 23:48 EDT Nathan, How long does it take to receive the upgrade once it's been orderd. Do you have them in stock or are these pre-orders? The more I think about the upgrade the more interested I become. Is there an overall increase in performance? Perhaps redrawing screens and the like? Does the CVG.CER driver mean we can take a bitmap img file, turn it into a CVG and export it to OLA for further modifications? Thanks, Steve Blackburn ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 22 Thu Jul 29, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 00:28 EDT Steve, the CVG.CER will convert any vector frame to a CVG for export. If you have a bitmap image, it must first be vectorized using an autotracer like Speed Line. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 23 Thu Jul 29, 1993 M.SHANNON [Morgan] at 00:55 EDT Nathan, Is "ATARI" (we Atari users) included in the multi-platform architecture? Morgan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 24 Thu Jul 29, 1993 D.WALTER7 [Doug Walter] at 01:10 EDT Joe, Thanks much for the compliment. Yes, the RasGen U2U was a lot of work. But heck, if it helps Calamus users create more professional work, then it will be worth every bit of effort. :-) Lou, Naw, I'm not humble, it's just easier to lay low than duck all the "when?" questions. ;-) Nathan, > ...t's are crossed and i's are dotted. Make that, "...eyes are crossed and T's are spotted". Thanks guys... Doug7 ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 25 Thu Jul 29, 1993 R.NOAK at 03:27 EDT Nathan, Well, there are a lot of True Type fonts out there too. Personally, I'm not too fond of having to have my fonts serialized to my application, so I'd prefer Calamus SL/ST to use a more open type of font. It would also enable me to use the exact same fonts on my TT030 and my Windows machine. It would also give me a few thousand more places to purchase fonts from, rather than just one. Just my opinion, of course.I also wonder what will happen when I try to open a Calamus NT document in Calamus SL. How will the fonts translate? Will there be any conflicts? What happens if I have a True Type font in the NT document, and don't have the same proprietary font for SL? Randy @ Southlake, Inc. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 26 Thu Jul 29, 1993 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 05:29 EST Message 236, Wed Jul 28, 1993 H.WOOTAN [Harry] > I can't get it going. I get either 2 bombs or 4 bombs < > during the load process as soon as the 'Loading K_SHORT.CFT' < > message shows up. < Is it possible you have moved some files and the path is set wrong? >> Joe M << ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 27 Thu Jul 29, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 06:58 EDT Steve ... The product was in stock. The manual hadn't come back from the printers until yesterday. Mea culpa. Shipping begins in earnest, today. You will be receiving approximately 80 new pages of documentation along with your upgrade. Yes, there is an overall increase in performance and functionality that you would expect with any new version. Morgan ... I'm not trying to be dense but I'm still not following you. :-) I'll go back and read my posts. Doug ... The ayes have it. ;-) Randy ... I am not prepared to discuss the NT version at this time and the Atari RT is not the place regardless. Please be patient. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 28 Thu Jul 29, 1993 D.STMARTIN [Binary Ink] at 07:15 EDT Lou: RE: Comments on DataFormer On several occasions I have asked for clarification regarding the "problem" with PostScript output and really haven't gotten much of a response. The fact that there are "problems" and they deal with object placement on the final output leads me to believe I had better avoid the use of the PostScript for my work. That is unless I'm willing to delay projects and suck up the Lino charges (NOT!). Unfortunately, DataFormer is touted to give the Calamus SL user PS capability. This is a dubious claim at the present considering ISD themselves reported the problem and released DataFormer as a "Beta" release. Have you tried HPGL output? I have. First, the HPGL output is _not_ in the form of Bezier curve definations. What you get is a very large file that contains a multitude of plot points (B-Spline style). What this means is when you output a HPGL file for something such as vinyl cutting of a logo you've designed the final output may look like it was "hacked out with a hachet". Unfortunately, this is exactly the situation I've been in. I was going to keep mum, but seeing as the topic has been introduced: I've seen the "Bridge" module. Is this the "new version?" It apparently works properly for PS output anyway. I like what I've seen but until it's released I'll consider it "vapoware" (remember tms Cranche?). I find it interesting that DataFormer continues to be pushed in the market when Bridge waits in the wings. Frankly this only fosters my belief that I've been deceived when it comes to the DataFormer module. No one is dissatisfied? Consider these points: o Can DataFormer in it's present form provide acceptable PS output? Remember PS compatibility is a _need_ not a "nice" luxury over .CVD's , etc. ISD continues to actively market a product that supports PS and doesn't make known it's shortcomings. I have a problem with that. o Do other file formats give quality output? Consider HPGL. o Will we be charged for the "privilege" of upgrading to the next version (whether it be Bridge or not)? Will there be an exhorbitant toll for this priviledge? Remember we bought a "beta" version understanding there would be a release version which we've yet to see... So, YES Lou, there most definately _are_ people dissatisfied with the DataFormer module and issues surrounding it. Count me as one! Nathan was made aware of my feelings following the last mail out. -- Dave @ Binary Ink ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 29 Thu Jul 29, 1993 H.WOOTAN [Harry] at 09:42 EDT LOU --- I reloaded the SET & PRG files. I renamed the existing ones to something else first to be sure the new copies were written elsewhere on my drive. When I edited the SET file (even thought maybe I can't), SL tried to load my replacement colors file instead of K_SHORT.CFT. So it's not K_SHORT that's bad (unless maybe others are too, which is possible). Also, I created a new FONTS folder with only 2 fonts in it ... just in case. It SEEMED that SL was trying to load a font file the one time it didn't load any colors file (when I put "" in the SET file). NATHAN --- I've gone all the way down to next-to-nothing for AUTOs and ACCs. I even removed my CONTROL.ACC. No luck. Seems that UIS-III was a problem at one point (or was that elsewhere). I _DID_ have that in there at first. But it's gone now. (And I've been 'cold' rebooting each time I've made a change.) Oh, well. I guess I'll ponder on it awhile. :-( -- Harry ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 30 Thu Jul 29, 1993 H.WOOTAN [Harry] at 09:47 EDT JOE --- I haven't moved any folders/files. But that could be a problem .... especially if I'm not supposed to be able to edit the SET file before I bring up an upgraded program! How could I let the upgraded SET file know where to look if my config doesn't match the released SET file? +++ BTW, the message I get, an SL-generated message, is ... FATAL SYSTEM ERROR 4 BOMBS! error occured at [,,,]. Save document(s) under _CRASH_n.CDK? SAVE QUIT That "address" certainly looks strange! -- Harry ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 31 Thu Jul 29, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 10:20 EDT Harry, UIS 3 runs fine on all my systems. I don't think that is the problem. I would go back to my earlier suggestion about reinstalling the whole thing on a new partition or after backing up and deleting. The only time I have not been able to run the CALAMUS.PRG or load a specific file is when my drives are badly fragmented. On your other point: the CALAMUS.SET file in the upgrade package was loaded from the last version and updated within the new SL. I presume you will be able to do the same at home. What you cannot do is to edit the SET file in a wordprocessor. Dave, thank you very much for posting your report. I really cannot recall seeing this information about the HPGL output before. Was it posted here or in email to Nathan? Irregardless, the fact remains that there has been continued development on this module since the week Dataformer was initially released. IMO, this was due to Nathan's pressure on the programmers. Remember that PS was not a priority for European users. I did try HPGL and DXF output. The files were taken to a PC CAD developer and output. The DXF files had no trouble but 2 HPGL files choked; however these were the same files that had problems in other formats because of open paths. If you have your problem HPGL files and the originals, I would appreciate it if you would upload them to Library 43. I will output them in BRIDGE and have them checked. I have no idea about costs, etc. but please understand that BRIDGE is more than just a Dataformer with 'fixed' PS output. The new BRIDGE module is really Dataformer plus two additional command groups. As for 'vaporware', I understand your point. However, you did see it running so you might be more convinced about its existence than others who are just hearing about it. I know your specific interest is PS output and I can assure you that is the area that is undergoing the most testing. If you are dissatisfied with Dataformer because of the reported problems in its release form, then rest assured that your comments are taken seriously and are being addressed. Thanks for posting. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 32 Thu Jul 29, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 15:20 EDT Dennis, I just reviewed the situation with Vertical Text Alignment and I am happy to report that it does indeed work. In fact, it is working in the August, 1992 version! My understanding of the function was wrong. I was expecting it to change line spacing throughout a text frame so that equally spaced lines filled the frame. Wrong! This function only expands the paragraph spacing to fill the frame. Furthermore, if you want text to meet the bottom edge of the frame, you cannot have a [RETURN] in the last paragraph or that [RETURN] will also be expanded on the current frame. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 33 Thu Jul 29, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 20:58 EDT Has anyone had experience using the HP500, 500C, and 550C printers with SL? Do you recommend them? Is the 550C worth the extra cost over the 500C? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 34 Thu Jul 29, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 21:03 EDT Nathan or Lou, Are you working on a module that will create graphs from spreadsheet-like data? It would be great to have a module to do so in .CVG format. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 35 Thu Jul 29, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 21:28 EDT Don, you've really caught on to this message stuff :-) The 550C printer has a fourth color - black - which gives better quality printing and a real black for printing. On the graphing module, I haven't seen one yet but there are lots of good Atari programs that output graphs in IMG and PI3 formats which you could import. If you really need them in CVG's, you could use Speed Line to trace them. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 36 Thu Jul 29, 1993 H.WOOTAN [Harry] at 23:39 EDT Lou, I guess I'll have to reload it all, then. I checked via CleanUp, which reported no bad sectors. And G_MAP said it wasn't fragmented enough to worry about. (But I don't know what G_MAP bases it's decision on.) Thanks, -- Harry ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 37 Fri Jul 30, 1993 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 04:58 EST Message 256, Thu Jul 29, 1993 D.SWARTLEY > Has anyone had experience using the HP500, 500C, and 550C < > printers with SL? Do you recommend them? Is the 550C < > worth the extra cost over the 500C? < Yes, Yes and Yes. Don't expect perfect color and you will love them, any of them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ more.... As I understand it the current version of UIS works just fine. >> Joe M << ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 38 Fri Jul 30, 1993 JIM.K [Jim~ST Sysop] at 10:30 EDT Messages #1-223 have been archived and are in the library-File #29535. CALSL_20.ARC 15June93 to 27July93. Jim Kudron 30Jul93 ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 39 Fri Jul 30, 1993 R.NOAK at 18:09 EDT Nathan, Well, I tried to get some info. Would a bribe work? ;-) Randy @ Southlake, Inc. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 40 Fri Jul 30, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 18:25 EDT Joe an Lou, Thanks for the info on HP500-550C. Another question.... Nathan said the SL upgrade comes with 80 pages of documentation. Is this all new to be added to the manual or is it to replace outdated pages in the current manual? Also, how do I place my order via E-mail? Is there a form? What info do you (DMC) need to send the order? Thanks in advance. Please respond ASAP! I want to get my order placed tonight. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 41 Fri Jul 30, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 18:51 EDT Don, send email to POTECHIN. Tell him what you want and any other questions you may have. If you are a registered SL owner, you should get something in the mail today or Monday. The documentation includes an updated and expanded Text chapter (59 pages) plus documentation for the new modules. There is also a README file with additional information. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 42 Fri Jul 30, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 19:21 EDT Lou, Doesn't he need my VISA #, etc.? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 43 Fri Jul 30, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 19:24 EDT Lou or Nathan, Could you guys give us a description of your facilities there in Toronto etc. How many employees? Describe what you do there. Just curious. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 44 Fri Jul 30, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 19:42 EDT Don, Nathan will tell you in email what you need to do to place an order. I believe he would want your Calamus registration number along with the VISA. There may be other info needed but Nathan can tell you better than me. You asked about DMC's offices. Do you get Current Notes? Nathan Potechin was in the Developer Spotlight in the March issue and gave a complete tour of his establishment. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 45 Fri Jul 30, 1993 T.HENRY12 [Tom Jr.] at 20:13 EDT Don, I know you've had this answered, but I'll put in my 2 cents as well. A friend of mine bought the 500C, it prints color or black, not both at the same time, not will it do black undercolor. If you'll notice, many Pantone, Focoltone, and other color systems use black as an undercolor. It was for this reason I purchased the 550C. I'm not too picky with the color output, because I'm only using it for color proofs. IMO it does pretty well. For accurate color output, Nathan gave me a beta printer driver for the 550C. This comes with a module called LIN.LXM which calibrates the CMYK values to make more accurate colors, and comes with a .CK4 which is optimised for the 550C. Ask him for it if you get the printer, I'm sure he'll oblige. The only sticky point is that it only prints to European size papers (A4, B5, etc.). It will still print on American size papers, but will obviously be "off" because of the differing size of the paper. Hope this helps. Doug, Thanks for your response. I had forgotten I'd asked. Thank you in advance for the future U2U tip sheet on Raster Generator Settings. We really need that kind of stuff around here. I must say, U2U has been extremely helpful in flattening the 'ol learning curve. BTW, Nathan, is there any way I can buy another Calamus binder from you guys to store all these U2u files. They just don't have 2 ring binders here. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 46 Fri Jul 30, 1993 H.WOOTAN [Harry] at 20:23 EDT Glad to hear the current UIS works fine with SL. I _THOUGHT_ I had been using it. Didn't mean to start up any rumors. -- Harry (still dead, but ready to crank up 1.09n to get out of the murky water for the weekend) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 47 Fri Jul 30, 1993 G.GORMAN2 [Glenn Gorman] at 21:16 EDT >Has anyone had experience using the HP500, 500C, and 550C printers with SL? >Do you recommend them? Is the 550C worth the extra cost over the 500C? >---------- > I use the HP Deskjet 500 all the time. The output is great as long as you use a good deskjet paper. I tried using Laser/High Speed Copier paper and the ink would bleed. (got it for free from work. GRIN) I'm now using Xerox paper that was made for Inkjet printers, with really good results. What one must remember though is that that could change with a new batch of paper. Glenn... ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 48 Fri Jul 30, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 22:18 EDT Lou, No I don't get Current Notes. Was getting Atari Explorer. I've been burned twice in last two years on Atari magazines. Thanks anyway. I'll e-mail Nathan my order. Thanks again for the help. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 49 Fri Jul 30, 1993 F.LOWE1 [FRANK LOWE] at 22:28 EDT LOU, I downloaded a .JPG image from the Canadian Board here on Genie; and need to take a look at this picture. Is there a way to achieve this using SL or do I need a special converter to transform it into something a little more Atari friendly? Have a good holiday weekend, ol' chap. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 50 Fri Jul 30, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 22:55 EDT Glenn, I saw the 500C output a year ago and the banding and greenish-looking black put me off. I have seen the 550C and it is much better in both regards. Harry, I have used UIS with every version of 1.09 and SL with no problem. Tom, if you like, you can print your USER tip files at 140% to letter size and put them in a 3-ring binder! That how I keep mine together. So far I have filled two binders. Frank, the JPEG format cannot imported into Calamus at this time. I suggest you take a look at GEMview which will load the JPEG and export it in a number of Calamus-supported formats. This excerpt is from the README: o JPEG version 4.0 now included. Loading 2-times faster! Test-picture: 800 x 600 (87645 bytes), Reference: 8MHz ST JPEG 4.0: LOAD (2'17") + Dither (0'55") = Sum (3'12") JPEG 3.0: LOAD (4'29") + Dither (1'08") = Sum (5'37") GEMVIEW 2.30 has just been released in the ST Library. I believe the file number is 29526. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 51 Fri Jul 30, 1993 T.HENRY12 [Tom Jr.] at 23:03 EDT To anyone who can answer: 2 questions: One: I recently saw a posting about the vertical text justification working in the 8/92 version of SL. Unless I still don't understand its function, I can get it to position text to the top, center, and bottom of its frame, but I can't get it to fill the frame with paragraph spacing lines in block mode. The way I understand it, (to quote 5.6.3.10 in the text module part of the manual) "Calamus will enlarge the spacing between paragraphs to make sure that the text fills the frame". Have I missed something? Two: In regards to justification, is there a way in SL to character justify a small area of text (say, a headline) so that enough space is entered into each line so that both left and right sides are flush with the left and right frame edges or margin settings? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 52 Fri Jul 30, 1993 T.HENRY12 [Tom Jr.] at 23:13 EDT Lou, AAAAH! Reprint all that! Wellll, maybe. I could cut down on the paper if I print as two-sided. Calamus converts pretty well from single-sided documents. Thanks, Tom P.S. I think I'll find a problem and play Stump-the-Band with 'ya Lou. :) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 53 Fri Jul 30, 1993 T.HENRY12 [Tom Jr.] at 23:20 EDT Also, to add to question one of my message 51: The Widows/Orphans and "First Line in frame cannot be blank" areas are greyed out. Why? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 54 Fri Jul 30, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 23:39 EDT Tom, Vertical Text Alignment works in BLOCK mode if you ensure that the last character is not followed by a [RETURN]. To send the next word to the next frame, use the [Forced Piping] function with no [RETURN] between the words. Then all the [RETURN]s on the frame will be expanded to make the paragraphs fill the frame. If you have only enough text for one frame, change the linespacing and/or paragraph spacing in the text ruler to 'expand' your text to fill the frame. Trial and error is the method here. On your second question, use the Character Spacing function in the Text Style module. Create a style with a character spacing that expands the letters in your headline to fill the frame width. As far as I know, there is no way to achieve this effect with a text ruler. Widows and Orphans, etc. are grayed out because the function is now inactive in that menu. I will have to take another look at this. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 55 Sat Jul 31, 1993 ISD [Mario] at 00:49 EDT Morgan, NT is and advanced 32 bit Windows based operating system that will work on many hardware environments. These environments include systems based on the following architecture ... Alpha, Intel, Power PC, R4000, R4400 and it is rumored that it will also be available for SUN and SGI. NT will not however be available for the Atari ... However be assured that Calamus will be supported on both NT and TOS to the best of our abilities. I believe that files will be compatible between the NT and TOS versions and that Font substitutions can be made on either version. More details on this will be made available as we get closer to product release. What this means is that we will all benefit from what is developed in both versions. Nuff said. Dave, Your comments on Dataformer confuse me, as far as I know we have never told anyone that Dataformer performed Postscript 100%. This is due to the fact that PS is itself a moving target just recently I was reading an article on PS output and the nightmares of trying to produce consistent output. This was in the magazine EC&I. The module that I showed you at the Blue Ridge show was and is far superior to what was conceived in the Dataformer modules fuctionality. Bridge is a tool that will provide all Calamus SL users with capabilities that are equal to the capabilities of programs like Hijaak on the PC and more. We will cover the features at a later date, (tease). Mario @ DMC Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 56 Sat Jul 31, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 14:09 EDT Tom Jr., Thanks for the input on HP500-550C printers. You mentioned a beta version of a printer driver for the 550C, viz, LIN.LXM. The new 7/93 SL upgrade evidently has the final version of this included, i.e., LIN.CXM. Maybe you should look into this. Lou, does LIN.CXM allow the use of any size paper with the HP550C? Tom Jr., Can you use regular paper or do you need special paper as someone else ssuggested? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 57 Sat Jul 31, 1993 M.SHANNON [Morgan] at 14:18 EDT Nathan, It's post facto, so unless it repeats don't worry and I won't either. Morgan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 58 Sat Jul 31, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 14:52 EDT The HP550C driver has not yet been finalized. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 59 Sat Jul 31, 1993 T.HENRY12 [Tom Jr.] at 15:05 EDT Don, The beta version of the 550C driver prints to European paper sizes only. I've tried to change them from within the Printer Driver Generator, but it won't work for me. The driver also came with a .raw file which the Printer Driver Generator module reads while loading. Using that one produces an "internal error" when saving the .CDD file to .CDT. Using the one that comes with the 8/92 version of SL won't read the .CDD file. Nathan has also told me there's no update on the near horizon. So I guess I'm stuck for now. Also, you asked Lou about LIN.XLM. This merely changes the CMYK color levels of the 550C Printer. The version I have will not change paper sizes. If you have the color seperator module, it's very similar in basic operation. As for your suggestion for me to look into the new version, I'm still waiting on the upgrade, so I'll see it soon. As for paper usage, I guess you could use special paper. HP has several types for various uses (i.e., overheads, proofs, etc.). This paper, however is *expensive*. One vendor I frequent has the paper at around $1 per sheet ($40 per box, I believe). The few samples that came with the printer had impressive results. I have found that you minimize bleed on the page using a paper with at least a 20-25% cotton blend. This paper is more reasonable for the cost, perhaps around $15-$20 for 500 sheets. Comparing the bleed factor with the two types of paper, IMHO, shows little bleed difference. And another thing. Try to get the whitest paper possible for proofing, for improved color accuracy. Hope this helps. Tom ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 60 Sat Jul 31, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 17:56 EDT Lou, You mentioned the [RETURN] at the end of a frame. Can we delete this [RETURN] in the new PKS? Jim. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 61 Sat Jul 31, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 18:39 EDT Can anyone tell me if their Printer driver loads more slowly and the other "modules" that load when SL is executed? I noticed today that there is a long pause during my laserjet drivers loading. I tried a new copy of the driver but it didn't change. Thanks, Jim. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 62 Sat Jul 31, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 21:19 EDT I load the Atari laser printer driver personally Jim. There is a noticeable pause during load at that point, as the relevant information is fed into a variety of locations as the installed printer driver affects quite a few areas. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 63 Sun Aug 01, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 00:58 EDT I've noticed that text defined as K 0.0 on top of a raster filled K 100.0 aren't working at all. Even better, when the raster is say yellow, and the text is like blue, the text turns to black... Something tells me I hit one too many buttons! :) Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 64 Sun Aug 01, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 18:03 EDT It appears that my problem of white (K 0.0) text on a black (K 100.0) raster not showing up was caused by "Save Cache with Mask" being set to "No". Is this what is supposed to happen? It doesn't seem that way. Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 65 Sun Aug 01, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 18:24 EDT Don, the LIN.CXM is the Linearity module for optimizing color output for your printer. It has no effect on page sizes. Jim, I am not totally sure how to get rid of that last [Return]. I was doing so much testing that I sort of stumbled in and out of that particular situation. Somehow I think it has something to do with the PKS parameters: Line Ends ON/OFF. I will try it out when my TT is available in a few hours (printing underway). Printer drivers always load slower than modules because the program has to check if your printer is online, check its type and then allow SL to calculate such things as printable area. It should take about 15 seconds. Sean, how many buttons did you hit? :-) Actually, your problem may be with caching. There is a documented bug that turns white to transparent if the respective cache was on. The fix is to turn off the cache and redraw or recolor. Hmmm, is this bug fixed in the upgrade? Off to check.... ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 66 Mon Aug 02, 1993 S.BLACKBURN [STEVE] at 01:25 EDT T.HENRY12 I've put my U2U printed pages into a three ring binder which is similar in size to the Calamus binder. That way any standard hole puncher can be used. The 2 ring binder isn't the only way to do it. Ofcourse, it would be cool to have a printed Calamus binder for U2U files, although I would rather put that extra money towards more modules :-> >D.SWARTLEY at 22:18 EDT > >Lou, No I don't get Current Notes. Was getting Atari Explorer. I've been >burned twice in last two years on Atari magazines. Thanks anyway. I'll e- mail >Nathan my order. Thanks again for the help. That is why ALL of you people should mention where you saw information like ads and reviews when you deal with the developers and dealers of Atari products. They spend a considerable amount of money to advertise their products and letting them know that their ads are being seen confirms their decisions to support the few remaining magazines on the market. Otherwise the death rate for Atari related magazines will remain high. Steve Blackburn AtariUser Magazine Advertising Sales P.S. and it makes my job easier :-) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 67 Mon Aug 02, 1993 S.RAMIREZ at 01:59 EDT Morgan...Sorry I took so long to reply. I will upload the spanish file as a WordPerfect 5.0 document. I can't send it as ASCII cause all the accents will be lost. I will try to send it via E-mail though I have never tried this. Otherwise I will upload it to Library 30 (I think that's the Calamus Library!) for all to experiment with. I really wish the SL spellchecker worked like the Pagmaker 4.0 for windows one does. That one will suggest other spellings for you. I hate it when programers assume that you have this or that, so you really don't need that much of it here! ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 68 Mon Aug 02, 1993 DABRUMLEVE [kidprgs] at 02:29 EDT S.RAMIREZ: You can upload Spanish text as an XModem upload (m200;11) even if it's just plain ASCII. When your recipient shows it from the Desktop, the accents will be intact. The only problem with accented ASCII files comes in when you upload it as text, such as here in the BB or in text-mail (m200;7). As long as the transfer is via XModem, you won't encounter problems. I transfer German documents all the time in this way. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 69 Mon Aug 02, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 10:41 EDT ... and speaking of reviews, Donavan Vicha has a rather extensive review of Calamus SL in this month's issue of ST Informer. This review covers the main program and the basic modules. The next installment will cover the other modules. This file makes a good read for those who may be interested in the features of Calamus SL. In fact, I think I'll ask Donavan to upload the ASCII version of the file. Sam, you can export your spanish word file as a CTD or CTX and all accented characters will be maintained. Then LZH the file and upload it to Library 30. Thanks a lot. Dorothy, I didn't know that.... ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 70 Mon Aug 02, 1993 SANDY.W [sysop] at 13:54 EDT Frank - There is this JPG file in the library, but no guarantees. I have not used it. 27987 JPEG4BIN.ZIP X OUTRIDER 930308 62464 167 28 Desc: GREAT JPEG Compression/Decompression ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 71 Mon Aug 02, 1993 L.WHITE17 [Lorne] at 20:26 EDT I am please to see the new features available in the lastest SL version. I've just recieved MultiTos for my TT and have found the previous version works, but does have some screen update problems when bouncing between programs. Outline 3 works just fine. Any idea if the lastest version of SL works any better ? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 72 Tue Aug 03, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 00:04 EDT Lorne, I have not been running SL under MultiTOS but I can tell you that it seems marginally faster on my TT. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 73 Tue Aug 03, 1993 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 00:29 EDT To Help, Being a newcomer to Calamus SL and trying to 'get it all together' I seem to be having trouble with rather a simple creation. I am trying to create a border - 5pts thick- have this surround an imported IMG. file. 1 - After creating a 'New Document' I then used the 'raster' frame. 2 - I then used the raster module and selected 'Border' and created the 5 pt border with an approx 50% grey. 3 - I can see the grey border but the whole frame inside is black. Is there any way to change the enterior to 'white' or 'transparent' without trying to create another frame inside and keep the 5pt border on the money? Frank ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 74 Tue Aug 03, 1993 M.SHANNON [Morgan] at 00:51 EDT RAMIREZ, !Gracias! Morgan Lou, Geez, I didn't know about these transfer protocols either!(did I start something here?) Morgan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 75 Tue Aug 03, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 00:53 EDT Thanks Nathan and Lou. I figured that it was normal but just wanted to be sure. Jim. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 76 Tue Aug 03, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 01:23 EDT Frank, You can do both. Check out page 5.9 (5.9.3) to set the color/fill pattern and you can make it transparent from the frame module (5.5.3). Hope this helps, once you learn the basic layout of the icons, they all fall into place, with good German logic. Jim. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 77 Tue Aug 03, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 10:28 EDT Frank, if you were able to set the border to 5pts, then you were in the Border Command Group. Now select your raster area and go to the Fill Command Group (one to the the left) and select Transparent. It should be the second color. Sam, thanks for uploading the SPANISH.ZIP file. Unfortunately something in your wordprocessor or file utility has stripped out the accented characters. When I imported you text file, it was full of bullet characters ranging from ASCII 232 to 241. I was not able to enter the text editor to try a 'best guess' search and replace because I got a Format Error 20/0 (which I have never seen before). What was the origin of your file and is it possible that you could upload the original file in an LZH? I will try to do the conversions and create the Spanish dictionary for everyone. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 78 Tue Aug 03, 1993 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 19:52 EDT Jim and Lou, Thanks much for the info and help on the black fill pattern 'goof'. Too long in the P word - I was tring to use the Fill pattern in 'Borders' and you both hit the nail on the head. As was said sometime ago "AHA! Watson, the game is afoot" (G). Regard, Frank ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 79 Tue Aug 03, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 21:25 EDT Frank... you are welcome. Jim and I look forward to answering your next question. BTW, do you know about the USER to USER files? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 80 Wed Aug 04, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 00:53 EDT Frank, I think i gave you some misinformation, the "frame mode" information that i gave you is for the whole frame and not just the non-border fill. Hope i didn't confuse you. Jim. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 81 Wed Aug 04, 1993 S.RAMIREZ at 01:53 EDT Dorothy, Thank you so much for that tip. I will try it soon. BTW, just call me Sam. :-) Morgan, De nada! BTW, I will re-upload the file the way Dorothy explained, and just in case I screw it up (and I probably will), I will also upload it as a WordPerfect file since Calamus doesn't conver Word for Windows files right? Lou, I will upload it again as a Wordperfec 5.0 file. I tested it at home on my ST and SL loads it properly. I guess when I converted it to a TXT file on the PC here at work it stripped the accents. Funny thing though, I viewed the TXT file with the Norton Desktop Viewer and it showed the accents! I guess it's like Dorothy said, PC no habla ST! Sam ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 82 Wed Aug 04, 1993 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 02:27 EDT Lou, Yes, I do know of the USER to USER files and have a number printed out and in the back of the manual. I was looking to the challenge of learning Calamus SL when I purchased it over a month ago but had so many problems getting it to run on my TT almost gave it up but with Nathans understanding did get it to do fairly well, but still not a 100% when I removed my 4 mg TT board and now it is as stable as any program I got. Sent the Board out to be fixed so wait,wait,wait etc. Jim - No problem on the Frame Module info just tried a number of ways and nothing worked from the that module. Just went to the Raster and set Transparent and all worked well - Dosen't get any better than that. Thanks again. Regards, Frank ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 83 Wed Aug 04, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 08:13 EDT I answered a question in email which is probably relevant to more than just one person. The Toolbox/Clipboard duo was offered in the last newsletter. If you did not get it, you can order it from DMC directly at 416-479-1880 or email to POTECHIN. It was priced at 79.95 US. The Clipboard module is the same as your current Clipboard with the added ability to Load and Save Clipboard objects. This can be very handy in the middle of a work section. You don't have to place all your objects back on a page in order to save them. You could also load objects from one document into another one at a later time without having to MERGE DOCUMENT. This might be quite useful if you want to save a set of logos/graphic for placement in other documents. The Toolbox module has two command groups. The first one contains 8 commands: Zoom to Full Window (maximize selected frame to window size); Edge or Center Alignment (align multiple frames); Move Frame to/from Master Page; Move Frames Forward/Backward; Make Contents Invisible; Print/No Print Frame. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 84 Wed Aug 04, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 11:16 EDT Hmmmm, seems my last message got cut off :-) The second command group in the Toolbox module will convert any selected frame to any frame type - text, raster or vector graphic, line, raster area, tiling. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 85 Wed Aug 04, 1993 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 20:40 EDT Lou, Jim and HELP 3 hours of reading - 4 hours of hacking and still ??????? I have style I use for my business that uses the following font and style attributes. Times - Italic - Bold Outline - Shadow I, of course, get the typeface, size etc. The style attributes work but ##$%%%$# I can not get the typeface 'hollow'. It does seem to outline by becoming thicker - I don't know whether or not I am dealing with fill, color, pattern, transparent or background. Any suggestions will be appreciated.(If it helps) I do work only in BW and greys - no color printer. Regards, Frank PS:I Just did it from the text attributes command group but now I can't do it again. I'm sill lost and I think age is creeping up. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 86 Wed Aug 04, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 21:39 EDT Frank: You need to set the internal text color ("Text:" in the style dialog) to either transparent or K 0.0 (or your defined white), otherwise it will assume you still want the inside of the text to be R0 G0 B0 (or black). Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 87 Wed Aug 04, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 22:53 EDT Bingo! That's the answer, Frank. Thanks Sean. Frank, you can set a color or fill pattern for ALL parts of a character: its 'inside' fill, its outline, its shadow, its underline, etc. Totally configurable and just as confusing ! :-) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 88 Wed Aug 04, 1993 ISD [Mario] at 23:47 EDT Frank, don't forget to turn off your text caches as well ... If you leave them on the white insides of the text will become transparent on screen (though the text will print OK). Mario @ DMC Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 89 Thu Aug 05, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 00:08 EDT Here is one for every one, I want to left justify the first part of a text line and right justify the next part. The closest i could come was using hard spaces on the right part and using a right justified tab. The problem was that i couldn't get the tab to the end of the ruler. As i got close to the end the text stopped right justifying. Don't know why. So i tried editing the tabs from PKS. The dialog box allows for measurements in pts. and %. Why not inches like the rest of the rules settings? So i tried % and entered 50 for the first tab. This should have put the tab in the middle of the ruler correct? well it placed it at .83" on the ruler. I gave up and moved the justified text in .5" on both sides. I worked like a charm. Another SL mystery. Jim. (hope i'm not the only one who can get these results) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 90 Thu Aug 05, 1993 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 01:19 EDT Hey Guys, This is *BLAST* Sean - Right on the money and just as soon as I read it. Now I know what that top line in the dialog box controls - couldn't find that one in the book - Haven't had so much much fun since TYPESETTER ELITE told me the font was the size way back in '86 - after spending 15 yrs in advertising production that had me as confused - Thanks sean Lou - You are absolutly right and thanks for the quick comeback. Mario - As I'm still in the process of getting the basics down I didn't have any cache enabled. However, you did send me into the program to find out what you were talking about. I will assume (and I think both know what that means and what it can do) that you are speaking of the Text Frame Cache located in the Misc. Settings. Correct? When I get beyond my two word docs I will have to keep this in mind 'cause I can see me climbing the walls trying to figure why it prints but don't show'it. My Wife thanks all of you it sure will make her life better(G). Regards, Frank ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 91 Thu Aug 05, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 07:52 EDT They are indeed speaking of the Text Frame Cache in Miscellaneous Settings, Frank. ;-) Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 92 Thu Aug 05, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 08:24 EDT Thank goodness the problem has been fixed in the upgrade. Now the cache will NOT turn white to transparent! Jim, the % unit of measurement is based on the font size, not the size of the frame or the ruler's length. You can set your tab using linear measurment since 72 pts equal 1 inch. Try setting the tab at 360 pts for 5 inches. As for your justifications, insert a [Return] and a new ruler between the lines of text. Make sure the second line ends with a return too. You didn't mention the third line... is it fully justified? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 93 Thu Aug 05, 1993 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 19:52 EDT Nathan, Thanks for the confirmation on Text Cache. Frank ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 94 Thu Aug 05, 1993 ISD [Mario] at 21:58 EDT Jim, you were halfway there already ... Use hard spaces for the first part of the line and a normal space between the first and second parts and then hardspaces (control spaces) between the words in the second part. Then use a soft return at the end of the line and fully justify the line (which is now in essence a paragraph). this will cause the first part to be left justified and the second right justified. See the example below. |First_part_of_line Second_part_of_lineSR | = Line Start _ = hardspace SR = Soft Return I hope this helps ... Mario @ DMC Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 95 Fri Aug 06, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 00:48 EDT Mario, Thanks a bunch, i've been trying to do that on and off for about a year but never really bother to ask how. Thanks again. Lou, I understand that you can use pts. of % of pts. but when everything else in the ruler settings uses inches it doesn't make much sense. If anyone can give me a good reason for measuring tabs in pts. I'll shut up?! Jim. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 96 Fri Aug 06, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 01:08 EDT Mario, I thanked you before i tried it. Your example made perfect sense but it didn't work for me. The line looked exactly the same before and after (left justified). Any clues? Jim. P.S. i tried [L][Sp] and [C][Sp] for the hardspace, and [A][Ret], [L][Ret], and [A][Ret] for the end of line. No go. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 97 Fri Aug 06, 1993 D.VINICOR [Don] at 01:59 EDT Nathan, I didn't see the answer when someone else asked, so .... Is there an upgrade for the brave few who carry the Calamus S banner? I'm tired of the crashes, especially with PKSWrite. Don ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 98 Fri Aug 06, 1993 S.BLACKBURN [STEVE] at 02:05 EDT Frank, You changed the border itself to 50% grey, I think the interior of the frame defaults to black. Go to the 2nd (I think) icon in the raster settings and change it to white or "0" and you will have a raster frame that is clear or "0%" , whichever you decide. You might have to send the raster frame to the backround when you get back into your document so that the picture file is on top and shows, otherwise it could be hidden behind the raster frame. >ISD [Mario] at 23:47 EDT > >Frank, don't forget to turn off your text caches as well ... If you leave >them on the white insides of the text will become transparent on screen >(though the text will print OK). I appreciate that comment Mario, I've had the same problem and couldn't figure out why the letters were transparent. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 99 Fri Aug 06, 1993 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 02:31 EDT Steve, Thanks for the reply and to all the others I'm are all squared away now. Regards, Frank ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 100 Fri Aug 06, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 07:05 EDT Jim, use ASCII entry for the soft return. In PKS it is ALT 23. In the text frame use [Shift Return] or [ALT 23]. [Shift Space] for the hard spaces in either the editor or text frame. Works beautifully. Don, most of the crashes with PKS were due to minimal system memory. Please set your ST System Memory to 128000 in the System Parameters module. This will fix a lot of your problems. What version date is on your PKSWRITE.CXM? Steve, the transparent caching problem is fixed in the upgrade. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 101 Fri Aug 06, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 07:52 EDT Don .. See email please. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 102 Fri Aug 06, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 19:17 EDT Has anyone had experience using SL on the Falcon? What monitor do you recommend? Does SL have a color display on the Falcon or still mono? Is the 85 meg hard drive on the Falcon sufficient for SL use? Don Swartley ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 103 Fri Aug 06, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 19:51 EDT Hi Don. I believe that Sean @ P-DIRECT is using SL on his Falcon at this time. I know that the upgrade for SL contains a FALCON8.PRG to improve SL's display on the Falcon. As for hard drive size, it is directly proportional to the number of fonts you want to keep on your HD. I regularly keep about 100 Mb on my internal and 350 on my Syquest. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 104 Fri Aug 06, 1993 D.SWARTLEY at 20:19 EDT Lou, Is SL's display on the Falcon in color? ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 105 Fri Aug 06, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 21:08 EDT Don ... YES! Calamus SL works just fine in color, providing the resolution is greater than 640 x 350. The 16 and 256 color modes of the Falcon both qualify. You will require the latest version of Calamus SL AND a new program for your auto folder called FALCON8.PRG in order to use the 256 color mode in 256 color. Previously Calamus SL dithered the colors but now it displays 256 colors accurately with that new program installed and the new version of Calamus SL in use. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 106 Fri Aug 06, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 23:03 EDT I do use the Falcon030 for all of my SL work, and it is quite nice. Printing on the HP 4 @ 600dpi does take quite awhile longer than 300dpi (300dpi is almost instant, 600dpi is 2-8 minutes) -- but I'd suspect this is due to a lack of memory in the Falcon. Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 107 Sat Aug 07, 1993 D.WALTER7 [Doug Walter] at 00:27 EDT Regarding Raster Frames: This may not be obvious to new users - There are no _permanent_ default fill or border frame colors. Whatever settings you had when you last saved your system setup file (CALAMUS.SET) became the defaults. The same applies to nearly all user selections in Calamus: choices for line size & color, raster frame shape and color, font choices & text attributes, color lists, etc., are all saved in the .SET file. In fact, just about every user adjustable parameter is saved. The most notable exceptions are the Raster Generator's LPCM values, and PKS's setup. The new user might find it helpful to set up all these defaults at one time. Simply create a dummy document in whatever directory that you want as a default, and then wander through Calamus setting all the parameters the way you want them to come up. Remember to return all menus and toolboxes to where you want them, as these levels are saved also. Save your dummy document to 'set' the directory path, and then save the system setup. BTW, you save PKS's setup choices by pressing [Cntrl],[left shift],[Z] from within PKS. Doug7 ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 108 Sat Aug 07, 1993 D.VINICOR [Don] at 03:30 EDT Nathan, Re my freeze-ups: OK, I raised the memory from 8192 to 128000. The PKSWrite module has 96734 bytes, dated 08-26-92. I guess I muttered about this a little too late -- 93 pages of mostly text go to the printer later this morning. Thanks for the Email. One question for anyone: What does "Screen Rasterization" on/off (at the bottom of the Miscellaneous Settings screen) do? I've tried it both on and off and the raster modules screen displays seem to be the same with it either way. The manual I have doesn't explain that line. Thanks in advance. Don ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 109 Sat Aug 07, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 10:35 EDT Don, the SCREEN RASTERIZATION function will display color rasterization on your monitor. This is a much slower process. When ti is off, your monitor uses a VDI color so it is not dead accurate. However, unless you have a hi res color graphics card and monitor (like a Cyrel and MAG), your screen colors will not be dead accurate anyway. This feature was added to the August 92 uprgrade which is why it is missing in the manual. It should have been described in the README. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 110 Sat Aug 07, 1993 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 10:49 EDT Nathan, I guess I'll need to upgrade so I can quit looking at dithered colors. :) --Kevin ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 111 Sat Aug 07, 1993 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 14:05 EDT Lou, No problem, just a question. Using macro's from the 'Frame Module', 'Tool Command Group', to show Guidelines, Grids, Elongated Crosshair, all of these allow me to stay in the 'Tool Command Group', however when I use the macro for the 'Ruler' it will not only enable the ruler but at the same time open the 'Display Command Group'. What would be the resoning behind this? As I would use the grid and guidelines as well as the ruler in a lot of work I do,it does cause a distraction. Regards, Frank ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 112 Sat Aug 07, 1993 VORTEXT at 19:52 EDT Received my update today, and yes, I have a question. Whenever I quit the program I get a dialogue box with only a save and a cancel button, nothing else. I click on cancel, because who knows what save will do, and I then get the old Fatal Error, couldn't recover message. Any clues? Other than that, I like the changes so far. Some of the new features will come in quite handy, Assuming they work when I try them. As I said, I just got it. Another question - Is there a way to save the window layout? I set my various working windows the way I would like them, Text editor here, doc window there, extra module windows, etc. I would like to not have to redo this every time I boot SL. I've tried saving the system, but this doesn't do it. Can it be done? Oh yeah - I LOVE the select the doc option in the menu bar. Thanks ever so much!! Daniel ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 113 Sun Aug 08, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 00:42 EDT Lou, Mario or Nathan, I tried the left/right justified function again and couldn't get it working. Heres a quick example 1. Create doc and text frame. 2. open PKS 3. Type "This_is_a_test of_full_justification." (with a [L][RETURN] at the end 4. flow text back/or edit ruler from PKS 5. change from left to full/block justification. with only this line of text in the frame it looks just like left justified text. I can't figure it out. If i add another line of plain text (w/o hard spaces) i get the following dialog box. "The set boundaries for your spaceing chracters could not be retained. Please modify min. or max. values or add a hypen point." Then the frame went empty and gave me the little "plus and box" pointer to indicate the text couldn't fit in the frame. this was with 12pt text in a very big frame. HELP! ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 114 Sun Aug 08, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 07:34 EDT Sean ... The print speed will be determined by both the available RAM in your computer AND in the HP IV. Thanks for posting Doug. Don ... You should see some very pleasing results from the change from 8192 to 128000. Kevin ... :-) Daniel ... No way you should be seeing a dialog box with only Save or Cancel. Such a dialog box does not exist in that spot in Calamus. Either you've received a corrupt file from us (sigh) or you are experiencing a conflict with other software, desk accessory or auto folder program. Please strip down your system and see if you get that same dialog and let us know please. I'm sure you can save the location of the various windows but I forget where off the top of my head. MARIO! WAKE UP! ;-) Did you know that you could double-click on the drive partition prior to saving a file and get the info screen of that partition showing the available memory? Jim ... As long as you have a return at the end of the line, the line will be displayed as if you had set left justified. This is correct when using full left/right justification as the last line in a paragraph needs to be displayed left justified so that you do not have, for example, 3 words stretched out across an entire line. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 115 Sun Aug 08, 1993 P-DIRECT [Sean@TWP] at 20:22 EDT Nathan: In other words, you mean it is actually possible to print with an HP 4 with only 2 megs (in the printer)? If so, how would the program handle this? (I got 4 print parts, and a long pause with some access to virtual memory prior to the "drawing/printing" box) Sean Dougherty Two Worlds Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 116 Sun Aug 08, 1993 BHARTSHORNE at 23:45 EDT Nathan, have the new upgrades been shipped yet? By the way, I really appreciated your acknowledgement of my order-it goes a long way toward giving peace of mind!! Sincerely, Bill Hartshorne ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 117 Mon Aug 09, 1993 VORTEXT at 00:48 EDT Nathan - I did indeed try SL with everything turned off, including the Cyrel card. No dif. I get this wonderful weirdness. I tell ya - It has to be something here in the Bay Area that doesn't like SL or Canadian stuff. I can't explain it any other way. Believe me, I didn't think you would let such a glitch out the door. No matter how loud we were screaming. The program works in every way I've been trying it so far. Until I come to the end. I then need to reboot my system everytime. Real strange. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 118 Mon Aug 09, 1993 VORTEXT at 04:14 EDT Okay. Another problem to report. Brush will indeed work now where before I couldn't get it to. However, everytime I am done editing any raster image and click on another module to go to, clean system or full of accs and autos, the program crashes. Sorry but that's what happens. Now this may be related to my other problem as well, and so others may not find this to be the case. BTW - I use a TT with a 2/16 meg RAM split. Daniel And yeah Mario - WAKE UP! (Refer to Nathan's earlier post ) ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 119 Mon Aug 09, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 09:03 EDT Sean ... Our HP4 has 10 megs. :-) Basically, Calamus will use all available RAM to build up the image of the page. THEN, it will use all available RAM in the HP4 to determine how much of the page it can send at one time. Something that might require 10 parts in a 4 meg machine, might require 2 parts or 1 in a 10 meg. I do know some Calamus SL owners are using an HP4 with 6 meg but I don't recall offhand of anyone using the HP4 with 2 meg. Bill ... The new upgrades have been shipping for about a week now. Please be patient as we have to do this one by one, serializing the disks etc.. Daniel ... Try removing your RAM board. The glitch you are encountering does not exist in Calamus. sigh. Same for the Brush thing. I'll have Mario try and duplicate the Brush crash but I know he uses it all the time and this has not happened or I would have heard him yelling. And I know the dialog at the end of the program works on everyone elses machine, including my own or we all would have heard about it. This is really frustrating Daniel. Yank that RAM board and see what happens please. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 120 Mon Aug 09, 1993 A.VALENT [Mike] at 18:16 EDT Lou, does Screen Rasterization have any effect on a Moniterm? I've never paid any attention to it (never noticed it). ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 121 Mon Aug 09, 1993 JWKUEHN [Wolf] at 21:32 EDT I am still waiting for my upgrade - hope it is in the mail. I wonder is this upgrade identical to the German upgrade which contains a soft-ware interface for other periphery such as scanners, etc. Also mentioned was a special driver for the NOVA cards. I personally am waiting for a functioning driver for the HP 1200C. I am using the Paintjet XL driver which does a great job. But I still have not managed to move my top margin up to the 1/4 " the printer delivers. I have test-printed a few EMS pictures. The output is stunning. Wolf ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 122 Mon Aug 09, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 22:50 EDT Frank, the variation you are seeing in those macros is simply caused by the way they were created with the Macro Recorder. That is why a new CKT file accompanies the upgrade. Try this: go to the Frame Display Command group and then hit ALT Esc to turn on the Macro Recorder. Now click the Layout Ruler icon. Hit ALT Esc again and assign the ALT SHIFT F10 key binding. Since you didn't click the Frame Display icon first, this macro should not take you to that command group. Daniel...WHAT? If you had a document loaded, you MUST get SAVE ABANDON CANCEL. The only time there is no ABANDON button is when there is no document. I have been using this upgrade for 6 weeks, non-stop with no crashes. Yikes! You can save you PKS window using Control Shift Z with the editor open. I don't think you can save the document windows. On your BRUSH module... I just checked again and can shift between BRUSH and other modules without a problem. I wonder if you have a loose RAM board? Jim... according to your example, you have 'fixed' your combination of spaces and words by using the Shift Space. Try this example with full justification on: The_beginning and the_end[ALT]23 [ALT]23 will produce a soft line end, not a regular paragraph end. It should appear like this: >The beginning and the end > The error message you posted is the one that appears when you try to use the Justified Word Spacing command [5.6.3.8] with in appropriate settings. When you get the overflow cursor [+], just enter PKS and click the [R]uler button to modify your spacing settings. Mike, I doubt you would see any change in Screen Rasterization in monochrome unless you did a very high zoom on a small area. Even then the change would be negligible. However, you definitely see differences in color, even in VGA mode. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 123 Mon Aug 09, 1993 ISD [Mario] at 23:04 EDT I YAWWWN, STRETCH, SCRATCH, and open one eye lethargically is it that time already ... oh yeah questions and answers that is my purpose ... Into the fray I go ... Daniel a 2/16 meg split doesn't make sense ... a 4/16 meg split would seeing as you would need the additional 2 meg of ST ram to properly access the 16 megs of TT ram. Therein may lie your downfall ... Sean, you cannot access the RET option in the HP4 with only 2 megs of RAM you need at least 6 megs for it to work properly. The screen rasterisation option actually refers to the display of the halftone screens that are generated using the Raster generator module. The option to turn the display off will actually speed up the redraw of frames that have these attributes. it will not however affect objects that are only Black or white. Wolf, try setting your printers DIP switches so that SKIP Perforation is OFF ... for these settings refer to your printers user manual. OK thats all folks, I am now heading back into the depths of my cave, enter at your own risk ... Heh heh heh! Mario @ DMC Publishing ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 124 Tue Aug 10, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 00:09 EDT Lou, I followed your example to the T. No go, lets assume that something is set wrong in my system (Set file), what would it be. Using your example the text just sat there left justified. I am at a complete lose. Are you using the NEW version, cause i don't have my upgrade yet. Jim. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 125 Tue Aug 10, 1993 VORTEXT at 00:29 EDT Mario - Please delve a little more into your comment about my memory split. I've been using it that way for overa year now, and fail to understand your meaning of inability to access all my TT ram. Daniel ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 126 Tue Aug 10, 1993 J.RENNER1 [Jim] at 00:35 EDT Lou, Tried some more stuff. I checked the Set file and diddled with anything i could think of that would affect justification. It just won't work and it is starting to, shall we say, get me very upset. Hope you, or someone else can come up with something. It seems so simple. Jim. P.S. i tried a clean system, no change. ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 127 Tue Aug 10, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 07:34 EDT Wolf ... Our updates or upgrades are NEVER the same as the one released in Germany, neither are our prices. :-) Germany is working on the HP1200C driver I believe. They still have a few others to finish off. No idea on the Nova driver but I will check with Germany. I cannot imagine Nova selling cards in Germany that were not compatible with Calamus. I even heard they wrote a driver that will allow Calamus to run on their 15 bit card even though Calamus doesn't do 15 bit. Generally these drivers come from the card manufacturer but I will check. Jim ... Do me a favor and upload your CDK to library 43. You now have access. I want to see this text frame and offer a specific response. Thanks. Nathan ------------ Category 16, Topic 20 Message 128 Tue Aug 10, 1993 ST.LOU [Lou] at 09:47 EDT Jim, it worked on the old version. I wonder if your ASCII entry is turned on? Can you enter an opening quote with ALT 171? And when you enter ALT 23 in the PKS editor, does it produce the 'down arrow' to signify a soft line end? Also, in the text frame a SHIFT RETURN should do the same thing if it is set properly in the Key Bindings Editor [5.6.1.15] in the old version of the Text manual. The other thing I could do is send you a CDK with a sample? ------------