I wish WriteNow was similarly available/supported --- it was probably one of the last major applications written in assembly language (~100,000 lines).
XyWrite is supported in a similar fashion: https://mendelson.org/xywin.html (but I just helped folks use that, never actually found it comfortable myself).
I kind of wish all these small/tight/efficient programs could be gathered up and ported to an optimized OS for the Raspberry Pi....
It's too bad the architecture is different, a Raspberry Pi compatible with peak Win98SE software would be an amazing low-power computer.
There were tons of amazingly well-made commercial software packages that have just been lost to time; in a large part due to open-source and other free options getting "good enough" - but many had features that simply don't exist anymore.
Those were the glory days of word processors, I used to have something similar on the Amiga. I'd still rather write on something like this than Word, Pages or Google Docs.
Same, don't remember the name though. But it was WYSIWIG and I'd use it to create character sheets for our D&D games. And then I'd print them on a dot-matrix printer on continuous paper. Oh the memories!
"Tempus-Word NG uses a generally different data structure than other text processing applications. Because of this, Tempus-Word NG can handle documents with more than 1000 pages with almost the same speed that it does with one with ten pages. The number of pages and speed are only limited by the available memory and processor speed. To achieve good results, you should use an ATARI with minimum 8 MB memory and 16 MHz, PC with 300 MHz and 64 MB, or comparable Mac. If you want to use huge dictionaries or many images, more memory is always useful."
Does anyone know what data structure? Why not use it in modern word processors?
The other features are impressive too:
* Tempus-Word NG is based on a frame orientated layout similar to DTP programs. But contrasted to the usual method of “draw frame - connect frames - flow text” you create a general frame layout that is used automatically during text input. The positions of all layed-out frames is repeated automatically on all pages with this layout. You can create as many layouts as you want.
* Integrated Database
* Document manager
* Page numbering of Contents and Index listings are always up to date.
The ST had some awesome productivity programs. Tempus Word, Papyrus, Calamus...
All running on a 8 Mhz computer with 1 or 2 MB, but with feature sets that do not need to hide from today's software.
People doing DTP with Calamus on their Ataris stuck around for a long time after the systems weren't used for much else – MIDI tooling excepted, of course.
On the other hand, there you didn't have that many powerful packages on any system, besides Quark & the various Adobe tools du jour everything paled in comparison.
For word processing, being forced to use Word was/is usually worse than for DTP, though. But feature-wise, everything seemed to converge during the 90s, so "having" to use Word instead of e.g. WordPerfect was less and less of an issue.
With some exceptions of course, most famously GRRM and other people who got into things very early sticking with the first thing they learned (i.e. WordStar), or apparently some journalists being really into XyWrite.
It's not surprising that people who write professionally would learn one tool to the point it gets out of the way and then not want to change. It's not just sticking with the first thing they learned - there's a constant churn of "tools for distraction-free writing" that address some of the complaints that people that still use older word processors have about more up-to-date systems.
Once you know the pattern, every so often you'll see a piece about a writer or journalist and the funky software they use and you can just wait for it... it's going to be Wordstar, XyWrite, one of the XEDIT editors, sometimes Wordperfect for DOS. Rarely Word for DOS. Neal Stephenson uses emacs, but he's an outlier in a lot of ways. I think there was a piece linked here recently by a journalist who uses the macOS TextEdit for note-taking, which dates back to NeXSTEP. (not exactly the same thing, but consider)
Late 1990s supposedly a considerable extension on use of Macs for DTP was that Quark could get significantly automated with AppleScript, and some publishing houses had non-trivial workflows done that way to reduce time spent on preparation.
I used ST Writer which came bundled with my ST. I still have all my ST Writer files (last modified in 1993!), and quite impressively they open just fine in LibreOffice with formatting and everything preserved (unlike some later .doc files I have).
Yes. Just opened some files to check. There was one including a table which I thought at first was a little wonky, but then I realised the column that looked off had currency where I'd right aligned on the decimal point, so even that seems to have been preserved!
Ah. You will also like another story that popped up here some time back.
A Canadian science-fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer, made an Archive available complete with extensive resources on how to use it. In addition, fully text-searchable PDFs of the original manuals, totaling over 1,000 pages, were also available. He is a dedicated WordStar user.
And my USB-DOS project includes it, for a complete environment you can boot and run direct from USB, without installation, on any PC which supports legacy boot.
I still have the printed documentation and floppy for Tempus, the editor which I think is the predecessor to the linked word processor. It was blazing fast because it had been written in 68000 assembly IIRC. Even then it would handle giant documents with ease.
Apparently they still hope to make a bit of money out of it:
"I never had a license!
Well, even then you can have one - if you absolutely want to. . Depending on your bid, we will then contact you."
https://tempus-word.de/en/download/index
I guess they found out they make out more that way than setting up a ko-fi account. It also insures the soft and its legacy doesn't become bloated over time. It is also possible that given it uses old tech (GEM) and probably assembly code, the software as it is would not be more easily portable than it is now using emulators.
I think that's out of date. The banner at the top of the page says "you can request a free license for version 5.4 from us." According to archive.org that was added later than the text you quoted, somewhere between 2022 and 2024.
I used Application System Heidelberg's Script II on an Atari 1040STFM with 72 Hz SM 124 black/white monitor and an Epson LQ 550 24 pin printer. That was some superb publishing system for the time (1991), for a low budget.
The software used a special driver to get better than standard quality from the then most common 24 pin printers (laser printers where much expensive) by kind of double-printing, I forgot the details. It looked really good though.
Signum! (don't forget the exclamation point!) was an amazing piece of software. The key to its incredible print quality: carefully hand-crafted pixel fonts with incredible attention to detail.
With a 24-pin printer the output beat vector fonts on a 300dpi laser printer at the time. The actual resolution was higher than a single pass of printing with the 24 pins. Signum! would advance the print head in minute amounts and overprint to achieve its remarkable quality.
Printing a single page at maximum quality took a while... Think minutes per page instead of pages per minute. But it was very impressive.
> "The software used a special driver to get better than standard quality from the then most common 24 pin printers (laser printers where much expensive) by kind of double-printing, I forgot the details. It looked really good though."
In opening up a few ancient files to answer another question about formatting, I found some long forgotten notes on how to make my Epson LQ400 24 pin printer work at 360dpi rather 180dpi, which may have been the same for you: First you had to install it as a NEC 24-pin 360dpi printer rather than 180dpi printer. Then, because it used fonts of half the size, you needed to switch fonts. So I had two fonts disks, one with 180dpi installed fonts and one with 360dpi fonts, and used the ASSIGN.SYS file to switch between them. It also seems to have taken twice as long to print out at 360dpi, and used twice as much printer ribbon:-)
I remember some printers had a "draft" mode and a "fine" mode (and you could simulate the fine even on those that didn't by printing, and then carefully going back and printing again but off by a tiny, tiny bit vertically).
I'm curious: the "Script" screenshot looks like it's using standard GEM Desktop, while the "Signum" is some other desktop. Are these both for ST? Was Signum written using some other full-screen graphic environment?
Signum! was highly opinionated. It ran on the Atari ST but did its own thing for the user interface. You could access a lower layer of drawing primitives and obviate GEM. In those days multitasking did not exist.
There were a good number of these kinds of application back then. Steve was one, GFA Basic another.
Some of the best ST software came from Germany, where the it had a high market share driven by DTP applications. IIRC at one point the ST had a bigger installed DTP base in Germany than the Mac.
There was an annual fair in Düsseldorf, the Atari ST Messe, which was impressive in its size. I went for several years in a row until the ST sadly started losing its relevance.
XyWrite is supported in a similar fashion: https://mendelson.org/xywin.html (but I just helped folks use that, never actually found it comfortable myself).
I kind of wish all these small/tight/efficient programs could be gathered up and ported to an optimized OS for the Raspberry Pi....
There were tons of amazingly well-made commercial software packages that have just been lost to time; in a large part due to open-source and other free options getting "good enough" - but many had features that simply don't exist anymore.
That Raspberry probably can run all the peak Win98SE stuff, today.
https://tempus-word.de/en/info/index
Word used to be a great product. Today it's a shambolic testament to incompetent design and dereliction.
Same, don't remember the name though. But it was WYSIWIG and I'd use it to create character sheets for our D&D games. And then I'd print them on a dot-matrix printer on continuous paper. Oh the memories!
Does anyone know what data structure? Why not use it in modern word processors?
The other features are impressive too:
* Tempus-Word NG is based on a frame orientated layout similar to DTP programs. But contrasted to the usual method of “draw frame - connect frames - flow text” you create a general frame layout that is used automatically during text input. The positions of all layed-out frames is repeated automatically on all pages with this layout. You can create as many layouts as you want.
* Integrated Database
* Document manager
* Page numbering of Contents and Index listings are always up to date.
On the other hand, there you didn't have that many powerful packages on any system, besides Quark & the various Adobe tools du jour everything paled in comparison.
For word processing, being forced to use Word was/is usually worse than for DTP, though. But feature-wise, everything seemed to converge during the 90s, so "having" to use Word instead of e.g. WordPerfect was less and less of an issue.
With some exceptions of course, most famously GRRM and other people who got into things very early sticking with the first thing they learned (i.e. WordStar), or apparently some journalists being really into XyWrite.
Once you know the pattern, every so often you'll see a piece about a writer or journalist and the funky software they use and you can just wait for it... it's going to be Wordstar, XyWrite, one of the XEDIT editors, sometimes Wordperfect for DOS. Rarely Word for DOS. Neal Stephenson uses emacs, but he's an outlier in a lot of ways. I think there was a piece linked here recently by a journalist who uses the macOS TextEdit for note-taking, which dates back to NeXSTEP. (not exactly the same thing, but consider)
George R.R. Martin (No idea about the Rs), author of A Song of Ice and Fire which was adapted into Game of Thrones.
https://tempus-word.de/en/impress/policy#the-website
A Canadian science-fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer, made an Archive available complete with extensive resources on how to use it. In addition, fully text-searchable PDFs of the original manuals, totaling over 1,000 pages, were also available. He is a dedicated WordStar user.
https://sfwriter.com/ws7.htm
https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos
I don't use it. But i tried an old version and it was fast as f...
It is written now in C++
"I never had a license! Well, even then you can have one - if you absolutely want to. . Depending on your bid, we will then contact you." https://tempus-word.de/en/download/index
I guess they found out they make out more that way than setting up a ko-fi account. It also insures the soft and its legacy doesn't become bloated over time. It is also possible that given it uses old tech (GEM) and probably assembly code, the software as it is would not be more easily portable than it is now using emulators.
1 MB RAM, 1.44 MB floppy drive
SM 124: 640x400 pixels, monochrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST https://www.atarimuseum.de/1040st.htm
The software used a special driver to get better than standard quality from the then most common 24 pin printers (laser printers where much expensive) by kind of double-printing, I forgot the details. It looked really good though.
https://www.planetemu.net/screenshots/Atari%20ST%20-%20Appli...
https://stcarchiv.de/tos/1990/11/script-2 (German)
"Script" was the cheap version of their better product "Signum".
https://www.application-systems.de/signum/screenshots.html
https://www.atariuptodate.de/img/signum.png
With a 24-pin printer the output beat vector fonts on a 300dpi laser printer at the time. The actual resolution was higher than a single pass of printing with the 24 pins. Signum! would advance the print head in minute amounts and overprint to achieve its remarkable quality.
Printing a single page at maximum quality took a while... Think minutes per page instead of pages per minute. But it was very impressive.
Fond memories!
In opening up a few ancient files to answer another question about formatting, I found some long forgotten notes on how to make my Epson LQ400 24 pin printer work at 360dpi rather 180dpi, which may have been the same for you: First you had to install it as a NEC 24-pin 360dpi printer rather than 180dpi printer. Then, because it used fonts of half the size, you needed to switch fonts. So I had two fonts disks, one with 180dpi installed fonts and one with 360dpi fonts, and used the ASSIGN.SYS file to switch between them. It also seems to have taken twice as long to print out at 360dpi, and used twice as much printer ribbon:-)
There were a good number of these kinds of application back then. Steve was one, GFA Basic another.
https://ataricrypt.blogspot.com/2024/03/steve.html
An application that was more a random selection of tools than a cohesive whole but some people swore by it.
https://www.atarimagazines.com/v7n3/daisydot2.php
There was an annual fair in Düsseldorf, the Atari ST Messe, which was impressive in its size. I went for several years in a row until the ST sadly started losing its relevance.