Conference 7.286::atarist

120.0. "Publishing Partner" by PRNSYS::LOMICKAJ (Jeff Lomicka) Fri Jun 10 1988 16:27

I'd like to devote a topic to "Publishing Partner", desktop publishing
software from SoftLogik Corp.

[SoftLogik Corp, P.O. Box 290071, St. Louis, MO 63129 (314) 894-8608]

I picked up Version 1 at CompuClub for half price.  Apparently, since
V2 is coming so soon, SoftLogik clearing out the V1 stuff. 
Theoretcially, I will get still get to upgrade to V2 for $50.00.  Since
list price on V2 is $199, the total ($70+$50) is still a good deal.

Some questions to others that have this:

1. There are apparently a lot of random fonts and printer drivers
for Publishing Partner available as public domain software.  I picked up
some at CompuClub.  Anybody else have other fonts and/or interested in
what I got?  I have a few with names like "Elegance", "Computer",
and "BookRmn".

2. Has anybody decoded either the font file formats or the document file
formats?  I would like to be able to write random utilities that
manipulate these files.  Specifically, I want to convert the entire
library of Hershey font glyphs to their font file format.

3. I've noticed that when you IMPORT a file from another text editor,
such as Emacs, that it takes all the newlines literally, and therefore
leaves you with ragged right margins.  I've written a program which
takes such files and removes the linefeeds, replacing them with spaces. 
(A blank line can be used to indicate the end of a paragraph, just like
runoff.) Would anyone else be interested in this program?

Using this program, I can generate the text of the articles in
MicroEmacs (or whatever), and only go to Publishing Partner when it's
time to do the layout.  The cheif advantage of this approach is that it
seperates form from function.  When writing the articles, I can concern
myself with only the text of the article, without any concern for
columns and margins and things like that.  Then at layout time, I just
work with the text as one of things to place on the page, and do it up
nice without worrying about what it says.

(Microemacs is also a bit faster.  P/P does a lot of computation every
time you insert some text near the beginning of a long article.)

I have some font utilities lying around, and a fairly good idea of the
format.  The utilities are free if you buy my hard disk :-) or I could
upload them sometime.

Martin.

    I acquired an early copy of PP (V1.0 ?), and it is usable although
    it is susceptible to crumping. I also acquired some PD fonts, but
    these ALWAYS crump the machine. I therefore only can use Helvetica
    for printing.
    Can anybody shed any light on this ?
    I think I may have a UK version.
    					Jim Burke
    

What's "crump" mean, is that the word you islanders use for "bomb"?

    Jeff - I use 'crump' instead of 'crash' (& soft reboot). Sorry.
    			Jim Burke

    	I sent in my $50 for my upgrade to V 2.? early in June. Got
    a note in the mail saying it would be delayed a bit. I hope it comes
    with some more fonts - I got their Partner Fonts disk to get a driver
    for my 24-pin Toshiba and picked up a few fonts in the process.
    The one I like to use for personal correspondence, Devoll, is a
    single line font only and doesn't look good in large sizes. The
    PD fonts I've seen aren't worth loading. I'm tempted to try some
    of the commercial fonts, but I'll wait and see what comes with 
    V 2.?.   My ST is getting re-sound chipped, so it will drive my
    DeskJet.  Can't wait to do some real nice stuff with it! - Chris

A tad off the topic, but, was your sound chip broken, or is this a
change needed to operate the Deskjet?