Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    I use it for ProPage for advertizing.
             A2000 w/3 Meg + 102MB HD's
    It's a bit slow on screen refresh, but the output quality is good.
    
    ...Rich

    I use Professional Page V2.01. I publish a monthly newsletter.
    You can take a look at it at VERGA::DANS:[MACDONALD.PUBLIC]NARC.PS
    

    I regularly use PenPal for documentation which includes graphics,
    although use of this technique has served to tell me I need a better
    graphics package.  PenPal's imports of HAM pictures leave something to be
    desired.
    
    I'm beginning to think PenPal gets confused by so many colors.
    
    I use Publisher Plus at one time, although it very primitive by today's
    standards.
    

    I like professional Page. It offers all the utility of the DTP programs
    on other format systems. It could use work in the graphics inport
    department, but I can work around this by converting .GIF, .TIFF, .PCX,
    .TARGA etc to iff with ADPRO(Art Department Pro.) I feel it is much
    better than any of the word processors like PenPal. A dedicated DTP
    package is what you want for DTP work.
    								bill

	I use Pro Page on a stock 500. If I used it frequently, I would want
a 68030 and a flicker fixer. It's just a little too slow to be interactive on
a 68000 and the flicker is annoying. You can run it non-interlaced, but that
resolution is insufficient. If you set the scale factor large enough to see
a whole line, "normal size" (12 point) text is "greeked".

	They did a nice job caching outline fonts so screen rendering is fast.
The output quality is really good on dot matrix printers. Dot matrix printouts
and Postscript printouts match very well.

    I use PageStream 2.1 on my 3MB A500.  (I'd recommend at least 2MB for
    ANYONE planning to get into desktop publishing.)  My A590 hard disk has
    been upgraded from the standard 20MB ST506 (slow) drive to a 105MB
    Quantum SCSI drive, but that's not a necessity for DTP.
    
    Since on-screen text editing is slow (one can help that by disabling
    the outline font screen rendering feature), I use ProWrite to create
    text, which is then flowed into the text blocks in the PageStream
    document.  Much of the ProWrite format information comes across intact.
    
    Serious DTP users would probably do well to get a deinterlacer (e.g.
    Flicker-Free Video or Flicker Fixer) and a VGA or multi-sync monitor. 
    Since DTP programs tend to be CPU-intensive, an accelerator would also
    be helpful.  I once had a chance to try out PageStream 2.1 on an A3000,
    with its 25MHz 68030 and de-interlaced output.  It was WONDERFUL!
    
    For output, I have a classic Star SG-15 that renders at up to 240x216
    dpi.  I can't justify a laser printer at this point (for occasional
    needs, creating/uploading PostScript files is sufficient), but I do
    plan to upgrade to a 24-pin printer in the near future.
    
    At this point, both Professional Page and PageStream are good choices
    for casual to serious DTP users.  You'll find a candid review of Amiga
    DTP options in the latest .Info magazine, in which these products'
    features are compared with the best of the DTP products for MS-DOS and
    Macintosh systems.  (They did well, but fell short in a few areas,
    particularly text scanning and inter-system portability.)

    If you want to see a sample of advertisements I do with ProPage and
    imported Digiview files, mail me a note. I'll mail you a postscript
    sample.  But beware, although the file is a one page ad, it's 500 blocks.
    (digitized video, 6-72 point fonts, imported structured clip art)
    
    ... Rich Mellitz
    long,

On the topic of using Amiga DTP packages (such as PPage) to generate
output to be printed by a professional output bureau...

Is PostScript a truly universal protocol for transferring a document?
Say I wanted to publish something requiring high-quality color output,
for example a glossy color brochure.  I know PPage can generate color-
separated files, are these all Postscript?

If anyone has any experience using imagesetting services, I'd like to
hear about it.  Once you get thru with PPage (or whatever) output,
how do you transfer it to films, or imagesetters (Compugraphic/Linotronic
etc.)?  I saw the Sept. AmigaWorld article on DTP, it seemed to leave
some of these details out.

Thanks,
Keith Y.

    I use PP extensively on my ami (68030, 7mb, C= flickerfixer, and plenty
    of HD space - just love my new syquest, and Postscript printer). I find 
    PP performance leaves me waiting....
    
    I recently completed a business plan for a business workshop I have
    been doing. It ran to about 60 pages. Because of PP screen update
    performance I had to break it into about 8 files. 
    
    I have come to the conclusion that PP, or other DTP, are fine for a few
    pages and does some really magic things. However when the numbers get
    more than that then a different product is needed.  I am about to order
    AmigaTex to compliment PP. 
    
    regards
    kevin
    

    Do you set your CGFonts parameters to take advantage of all your
    chip ram and hard disk space? I don't have any performance problems on
    my 68020.

I paid a visit to the local AlphaGraphics store, plus a typesetting service,
and here's the basic sequence of actions I need to follow:

1.  Generate 1:1 Postscript output files, preferably color-separated.
    (See my comment on fonts below.)
2.  Transfer the files to a typesetting service with a Linotronic 300-series
    imagesetter.  This will generate camera-ready films (one per color).
3.  Bring the films to a place like AlphaGraphics, who will perform the
    actual printing/sizing/scoring/folding operations.

I picked up a hardcopy of supported Linotronic fonts (about 150 or so...
everything from Aachen Bold to Zapf Dingbats!).  You can include custom
fonts in your Postscript file(s) if necessary.

Full-color printing is expensive, but I can probably get by with black +
2 colors (infinite range of half-toning for each).  Color alignment can be
cheap & approximate (within 1/16"), or more expensive and hairline-accurate.

So to answer my own question, yes, Postscript is as universal a protocol
as you can get for DTP work.