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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: adric22 on March 09, 2007, 03:35:11 PM
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I have an Amiga 500 and Amiga 1000. They are stock, no extra RAM or anything like that.
I write novels in my spare time and I was thinking the other day maybe I would write my next one on one of my Amiga systems. I usually keep the A1000 setup where I can use it. The only two questions I have are this:
1) Which wordprocessor is available for these units that is nice?
2) I don't need the ability to print, but I will need the ability to export it to a regular text file that a PC word-processor can read once it is all done.
Any suggestions?
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For a system of this age (i.e. Workbench 1.3 and 1 MB RAM ) I would suggest WordPerfect for Amiga.
It's essentially a very good text editor (i.e. there are no customizable fonts).....but you don't need that for writing a novel. It has a nice quick spell checker and can run without a hard drive.
There are other wordprocessors that will work: Kindwords, Excellence, Finalwriter, but these are all WYSIWYG wordprocessors, with fancy GUIs that will only slow your system down.
There was a copy of Wordperfect for Amiga on Ebay last week.
I think 4.1.12 was the latest version.
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I would also recommend word perfect, I used to use it a while back while at school. Very good editor. If i remember correctly the version I had did have custom fonts/layouts etc for news papers etc.
Take care :)
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Sorry I was wrong, It wasn't word perfect, just checked, It was actually WordsWorth. I loved it and that doesn't require a hard drive also.
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I personaly like CygnusEd, it's a basic text editor with quite a row of nice features.
For exporting to PC I'd recommend you download TextWeasel (http://aminet.net/search?query=TextWeas.lha) from Aminet, it can add/remove CR/LF from/to text files so txt files on Amiga look normal on PC and the other way around.
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Wordsworth is a bit memory heavy and requires a few disk changes. I would use Transwrite, which has spell checking facilities and can export to rtf format for using on PCs.
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Another great thing about WordPerfect for Amiga is that it can save to standard text OR WordPerfect for PC format. Most modern Windows wordprocessors can import old PC Wordperfect files, which will allow you to keep all of your formatting.
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WordPerfect? Blah! Bloatware I tell you! :-)
For an unexpanded A500 or A1000, for basic text editing with some word processing functionality, I'd recommend Protext.
This will import/export standard plain text as well as the native Protext format, which is interchangeable with versions of Protext on other platforms (PC, ST, Archimedes, etc).
You can still buy the PC version of Protext (here (http://home.btconnect.com/tigerteam/protext/)), but old Amiga versions can be found on magazine coverdisks easily enough (Amiga Shopper, Sept. 95 (disk 53) and others).
- Ali
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CygnusED rocks. I still use it to this day.
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The problem with all these text editors you guys are recommending is that they have no spell checker. The guy is writing a novel, not programming.
Wordperfect has a good spell-checker, plus page formatting. etc.
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Protext has a spell checker!
- Ali
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ral-clan wrote:
The problem with all these text editors you guys are recommending is that they have no spell checker. The guy is writing a novel, not programming.
Exactly. Although I use a text editor for most of my "word processing" tasks (since they are small), for a novel the original poster probably really means a word processor. I used Word Perfect, when it was new!, running on an A1000 multi-floppy system for all the writing I had to do for my Master's degree, and I never really used much of the program's potential, footnotes, endnotes, index, etc.
I thought at the time the Amiga version of WP would be as powerful a word processor as anyone would need in their life, and as I'm usually using lesser text editors these days, I think I may have been right.
Note that it is a 'word processor' not a 'Desktop Publishing'/graphics layout program like Pagestream or M$word - that is a different category.
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WordPerfect 4.1 for Amiga is still my ideal wordprocessor. Nearly all the features of 5 for DOS, but running under my favourite OS.
I did some very complex documents with WP - it handles tables of contents, page formatting, indices, and most other things extremely well. The spell checker can be expanded with custom words.
But it's an old application with a few quirks. Here's one: I've found that running any MUI application concurrently or beforehand tends to screw up WP in a subtle way; be careful when saving documents. The usual requester doesn't appear, instead there's a dialog at the bottom of the window.
Amir
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Thank you for all the replies. I suppose I should have been more specific about my needs.
A text editor may very well be all I need. The last two novels I wrote in notepad on Windows XP. Later I did import them into MS-Word to do a spell-check and eventually do some formatting so I could print it out in a book style and bind the pages. However, for the original writing, a text-editor is probably all I need. I don't want to spend forever learning how to use word-perfect again. I used to use it on an MS-DOS machine years ago and it was horrible.
The thing is.. When I was in high-school I had an A500 (a different one from the one I have now) and I had a word-processor for it. I just can't remember the name. I used to do my school reports on it. it was only a single floppy disk and it did have WYSIWYG style, but it didn't do too much, just basic formatting and styles, similar to what you might get with wordpad on Windows 95 or something of the sort. But that would be very adequete as long as it could save as plain text so I could eventually import it into MS-Word. I would just like to be able to say at the end credits or something that I wrote it using an original Amiga 1000.
I'd actually write it on my C128 or C64 if I thought it could handle it without me waiting all day on it. besides, I think converting the document to my PC would be easier with an Amiga based program.
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I think you're asking for the wrong thing, which is why you're getting such a debate. You don't need a word processor, you need a text editor.
CygnusEd is good, but I'm not sure if it has a spell checker. For me, the best text editor was Protext (I have Version 6.1). I'm not sure if you can buy it, but put an ad out on Amiga.org & Amibench, you might strike lucky.
It's fast & doesn't slow down on long documents.
Wordworth (without the "s" after Word) is good, but is a WYSIWYG word processor and therefore, more resource hungry.
FWIW
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i looked through here pretty quick, i dont think anyone suggested kindword
kindword is an older program so it might work better with a 500 or 1000, i used it on my 1000 back in the day.
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Yeah, I suggested KindWords in the second post above.
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Hi adric22. I still have a basic ASCII word processor called LCDwriter that came with A1000 I got back in the 90's. It was pretty easy to use though, as I did most of my college homework on it. Its just limited to the older operating systems, so I can't use it with my current Amiga. Someone might as well use it.
A couple of bucks to cover postage, and its yours.
edit: whoops, its LPDwriter. It has a dictionary, if you prefer those.
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Kindwords?!! Next thing know, someone will suggest Textcraft:)
Actually, Textcraft Plus can save plain ASCII files, and works quite well with just 512K of RAM! And it is usually easy to find.