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Weighing up the prose and cons Arnor - a well established name in CPC circles - has already made a foray into PCW waters with ProSpell. Now Protext has been added to the stable and Simon Rockman has been putting it to the test. With so many different Amstrad computers on the market it is expensive for a software house or shop to keep stock of different products which share the same essential core. CP/M Protext will run on a CPC 6128, PCW 8256 and PCW 8512. Producing software which can do this is not too difficult. Ensuring that it uses the machine you have to the fullest takes a bit more care. It is this installation which makes setting up Protext a little confusing, particularly if you have never used a computer before. However, Arnor has done its best to automate the procedure by including two files called MAKE PCW and MAKECPC - follow these carefully and you will end up with a start of day disc. After you have used this for a little while you will want to customise Protext for your needs. This can be done by editing a program file called SETUP. Arnor supplies this in a form which is easy to modify. PCW 8512 users will find it particularly beneficial to copy some of the file to the RAM disc and to set up a temporary work file in RAM. A CONFIG file determines many of the default values in the software and can be edited for further fine tuning -even to produce eye-straining black text on a green background if that's your fancy. A start of day disc can be used to start up a PCW in the same way as a LocoScript system disc. Using Protext on a PCW can be disconcerting for anyone used to Loco-Script. The menus have been replaced by a command mode and the header by a ruler and a set of embedded command codes. WordStar uses dot commands to define things like printer control codes and force page breaks. This makes life difficult when using another system, such as Telecom Gold, which also uses a dot in the first column to signify a specal function. Protext uses the > symbol and has embedded codes which replace all the features of a LocoScript layouts. They are handled as text and can be saved and merged as blocks when you have templates you like. Unlike layouts they cannot be numbered. So if you have two different layouts, say one for a stage instructions and another for spoken text, then you will have to put in a new template each time. However, if they only vary slightly you need only mark the differences and not use too much memory. Command mode Major functions such as loading and saving are performed from outside the document. This takes a little getting used to but is just as fast as the Loco-Script menu system. There is a huge range of these, each detailed by the extensive help system. My favourites include the Count command which will count the number of words in the whole text or just marked blocks, and Calc which will handle simple arithmetic with the option to insert the answer into the text. Both are ideal for working out how much an article is worth. Even I^ocoScript's direct print feature has been replicated by the TW (typewriter) mode. Direct Print was supposed to be used for short jobs like writing compliments slips but I find it more of an effort to use than finding a pen for jotting a quick note. The commands are quite intelligent. Typing in on a PCW will switch to drive M, whereas typing rn filename.txt will merge a file. The abbreviations for the commands are obvious and make quite complicated functions very fast. Seasoned emigrants from CPC Amsdos Protext will feel very much at home. I was pleased to find that the EXCH key automatically puts you into command mode and types replace for you. This level of integration with Loco-Script will help PCW owners get into using Protext. Relay performs a paragraph reformat with a similar result to Loco-Script's Para which just takes you to the end of the current paragraph. Amor's definition of a paragraph is different and will take you to the next forced carriage return. Locomotive will take you to the next forced carriage return which follows a soft return. The screen presentation cannot be customised as easily as under LocoScript: ALT+S displays spaces, ALT+T shows effectors but codes and templates cannot be removed. Similarly blanks cannot be displayed. None of these really matter but they give the software a different feel. Protext loves Joyce Unlike other CP/M word processors which have been touted for the Joyce — WordStar, Superwriter et al - Protext has been written with the Joyce in mind. Even the best installation of WordStar can't match Protext for ease of use. It is only when you move from CPC/Amsdos Protext to PCW Protext that you realise how many keys the PCW has. These make moving around the document very fast. Perhaps Protext's greatest selling point is its speed, especially when compared to the infamously slow LocoScript. However, the multitude of keys makes things confusing - a hint card would be very helpful. Software ethos There are two types of programming: Structured, which is slow but elegant and Quick and Dirty which is - well, quick and dirty. Both get the job done but the second makes life more difficult when you want to add a level of complication. LocoScript is like a structured Pascal program - you have lots of setting up to do but very little trial and error to get the result. By contrast, writing a Protext document is like changing a Basic program. I can see the merits of structure but would rather have results than beauty and detest structure for its own sake. Perhaps that is why I prefer Protext. Like changing a Basic program, you see the results fast - but you pay a price for this speed. Why it is so fast LocoScript holds a document formatted. If you make a change which causes the text to become unformatted then LocoScript will stop to neaten things up when you cursor off the paragraph. When you save a document LocoScript checks to make sure that all is neat and tidy before it will talk to the disc. Protext doesn't care about formatting. There is a general format command which will tidy up the whole document and ALT+F will tidy up a paragraph but you don't have to use them. You can even print unformatted text, although the command >FP will format while printing Protext has less control over the printer than LocoScript, because it is designed to work with any printer and only uses standard control features. LocoScript is the only word processor I know that can mix point sizes, from 17 pitch to 5 pitch, within a line and still keep within the margins. The printer drivers and >OC commands owe much to the two BBC Micro packages. This all means that Protext does not know where page breaks fall. You have to print out the document or use the >PS command to print to the screen, then make page break changes. If you are writing for a hot metal type newspaper or an old school publisher this is a major shortcoming since they require whole paragraphs to be carried forward to the next page. Editing features Arnor has looked at the features which users have praised and criticised in WordStar and LocoScript. The major improvement may be speed but there are other plusses. Typing mistakes such as "hte" instead of "the" can be corrected by putting the cursor on the h and typing ALT+Z. The overwrite mode allows you to make minor changes more easily and is going to win favour with users who have followed Amstrad's suggestion to bin the manual Hermes. A move to page command is often requested and Arnor has included it but I find the cursor much more satisfactory. Many people want to print multiple copies, a much more realistic request given the option to use a fast printer. In an office which has a photocopier it is better to print once and copy the rest. Protext will allow up to 255 copies of any document, so it's a good job that you can print and edit at the same time - providing you have the disc space. Something I missed when I gave up WordStar in favour of LocoScript was the box move and I was pleased to be able to use it again with Protext. The box mode is simple to use and provides scope for some creative page layouts. Block deletes can be undone, a feature which can be used to mimic a block move. There are function keys and phrases which are not quite as flexible as LocoScript's. How often have you wanted to copy information from a document you wrote earlier? Protext allows you to do this by holding two documents in RAM and swapping between them. You can even copy blocks across a la The Word on the Macintosh, or at least I imagine it will since on my preproduction review copy of Protext the twin document option had not been implemented. Getting converted Perhaps the feature I miss most with Protext is the ability to read LocoScript files. Arnor can do it since ProSpell can read LocoScript documents - even if the end result is not always what LocoScript would produce. With a program aimed squarely at a sea of LocoScript users this seems to be a major failing. You can convert files using the Make Ascii function but that means loading LocoScript. Still, Arnor does offer the ability to read WordStar files and to save both Protext and standard Ascii files -essential for writing programs. Under the Spell Prospell has been around for a little while and given Amor's policy of continuing development (as it says on the packet) is probably the most refined part of the suite. Essentially what Spell does is take a document, sort all the words into alphabetical order and then work through comparing them with a dictionary. ProSpell is not as friendly as Loco-Spell and is a mite slower (according to ' some figures from Locomotive software), but it does all the sorting away from the document so you can leave it to do the searching and checking - go and make a cup of tea then come back to go through the mistakes. This may not be faster but it feels as though it is. You can use the dictionary to cheat at crosswords by using wildcards and asking for words with blanks in the middle. Dictionary maintenance is simple enough and the ability to add multiple custom dictionaries means that you can keep one disc for checking your articles on fishkeeping and another for your film scripts, so saving time when checking something which is unlikely to have the name of a fish in it. The major point in favour of LocoSpell is that it can be used to look up the spelling of a word while you are writing. Prospell takes too long to boot to be worth using for this. Mixing in Mail merging is complicated, requiring a full understanding of how the software treats data. When you write an address you just put down what is necessary. You recognise things like telephone numbers and dates of birth, missing them out from the label but maybe using the information in the main text of your letter. A computer cannot be expected to tell the difference between CM 14 4EF and 13 FEB 1964 so you need to be careful entering data. Mailmerging is a classic example of the old computer users phrase GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out. Careful tuition is what's needed and the Protext manual is better here than anywhere else at explaining how to use ProMerge with step by step examples. You are, after all, learning to program. The data file can be read and an address printed on each letter but this is only using Merge at its very simplest. At a more advanced level ProMerge can be made to act upon the data. The Protext manual suggests you ask anyone who does not have a telephone number listed in your records to call you. You can read and handle both strings and numbers offering scope for some excellent time saving print runs. You can also make a tiny mistake and end up with a huge pile of waste paper. Documentation Protext was supplied to me with a pre-production manual but it proved to be a comprehensive tome. The final thing will be sold as a ring binder in an A5 box. The design shows that Amstrad does not have a monopoly on software which falls out of the box with the back of the manual facing you. Arnor offers some disc based tutorial programs but I found the manual better, unless you can't wait to play with the software - you can decide for yourself. The manual and part one of the tutor come with the program. The additional tutors have to be bought separately. Not having seen the binding or index it is hard to know how easy it will be to find details in the manual but a reference card is going to be so useful that I intend to make up my own. Conclusion Protext costs £69.95 while LocoScript is essentially free, so the Arnor product needs to do a lot to make up the difference. Amstrad has, in my opinion, overpriced LocoSpell and LocoMail, the two together costing £79.90. That alone makes up the difference, even without taking that into account ProSpell sold for £29.95 and seemed reasonably priced. If I was offered Prospell, Protext and Promerge at £23.32 each I'd think that I'd got a bargain. When it comes to parting with 14 portraits of the Duke of Wellington it seems a little high. However, software should really be valued by the amount you use it and I intend to use Protext a lot. Sure there will be times when I'll load LocoScript but for the bulk of my work I think I've been converted. Amstrad User February 1987 |
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