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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: Gulliver on June 15, 2007, 10:47:12 PM
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I have the possibility of installing one of these wordprocessors. Which one would you recomend? Why
Thanks
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Why no try them all if you have the opportunity?
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Try them all, sure! But then i really wanted fundamented opinions in order to make a quick decision.
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Hehe sorry! I have tried WordWorth and FinalWriter and they're kind of the same to me. WordWorth didn't like installing on my HD though. I guess my partition is too big and that breaks it. Had to install it somewhere else and copy it over.
Never tried Amigawriter.
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Thank you for your reply!
At first sight, they seem pretty much the same for me too!
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A useful question, and I hope you will get more replies from people who have used more than one.
I have used Final Writer a little many years ago, installed and looked at, but not really used Wordworth, and have not installed or used Amiga Writer 2.2 yet.
I think Final Writer is a fairly capable and easy to use and understand word processor, but like you, I would be interested in reading other reviews and opinions.
On the PC I have switched to Open Office and refuse to buy another copy of Microsoft Office ever again.
I hate Word and actually prefer WordPerfect over any other word processor I have ever used so far.
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I can only speak for FinalWriter97 since thats the only one I have consistantly used on Amiga.
Its pretty trouble free thankfully. Installed easily, and has way too many features than I normally would use. But, its been usefull with the things I have attempted.
I tried the free version of WordWorth that came with the A1200 software suite, but didn't really care for it.
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Hi,
Back in the day, I used Final Writer quite extensively and was happy enough with its capabilities. Like Amiduffer, I was pretty unimpressed with the bundled A1200 version of WordWorth.
Nice to see some other OpenOffice users on here too!
- Ali
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FinalWriter was quite good, but lacked some features available in the last version of Wordworth.
The most useful feature of WW to me was its ability to create Postscript documents using Postscript fonts, which can then be printed on any printer using Ghostscript.
I used it to write and print a book, and it arranges odd and even pages with different margins, which is really useful.
The only trouble I found with WW was some difficulty in installing and then setting up the fonts, but once this was sorted it did everything I wanted.
Now I still use it with Amiga Forever for some work, because it's easier than Word.
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Back in the day, I used a commodore 1084s monitor and it was made for video, not text and the only writing I did with the Amiga was a few user-startup tweaks with memacs. I used a PC with Word 6 at work and an Atari St with St writer at home.
I have since installed both programs in my Winuae emulation system but wouldn't dream of putting either one in my real Amigas. I prefer Final Writer but didn't find much difference between them. I also have Wordperfect for the Amiga, and that is my preference because the file format is the same as DOS Wordperfect which I also prefer to a lot of modern work processors. I also use Word 95. It is the last version before internet functionalty was added and doesn't suffer from the securty problems later versions of Word have. I use it mainly for printing--like all my Ebay shipping labels, snail mail letters, etc.
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@Gulliver
I purchased Final Writer back in the day (I think it may have been release 4 at that time) and upgraded as newer releases became available. Updated to release 5 and then to Final Writer 97. Never tried Amigawriter2.2 or Wordworth7, because Final Writer 97 was ample for our needs at the time.
By the way, Final Writer 97 ran fine on my current system under AmigaOS 4.0 Developer Pre-release update 1, update 2, update 3 and update 4.
:oops: ... sorry for going off topic here.
My wife and son moved on to MS Office applications years ago, so we are not stuck without a word processor. I just like to resist MS applications whenever I can. ;-)
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redfox
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Of the 3, I've only used FinalWriter and AmigaWriter. I think Final Writer is the more intuitive of the two to use.
However, my main Amiga Word Processor is still ProWrite 3.3. I started using it years ago on my first Amiga (A1000). It was rock solid. And still is on my OS3.9 Amithlon machine. I guess I got used to it over the years.
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I have sampled all 3.
I tried Amiga Writer only breifly, it slowed my 030 and appeared lacking in features. It's no longer on the HD.
Still have WordWorth 4SE (from a bundle, I think) installed on the HD. It starts to run but quits, 060 problem maybe. It looked nice years ago, but, I never had a good reason to switch to it.
I started with Final Copy II. Back in the day, it's printed output was the best on printers available then. It ran well on 68000 at 7Mhz. It had an intuitive menu system and all the basic word processing functionality you could want. It had some simple graphic drawing abilities. I still use it on lower spec'ed Amigas. It will run on retargetable screens.
Upgraded to Final Writer 5. It had a more colorful interface, more graphic abilities (some found in DTP apps), but taxed a 7Mhz machine. Works well with a graphics card (probably AGA, too) and an 020 or better. I still use this the most.
Final Writer 97 added more exotic features to out-do WW. These got in my way. For Example, clicking down a page in a blank area would start a new section-article-chapter-something. Final Writer 97 would treat this as a seperate object from the original body of work. This is probably great for some power users, but it always cost me extra time trying to undo something I did by accident.
I haven't used them in a long time, but, I think Final Writer (maybe Final Copy, too) could import and export a number of industry text formats.
OT: I bought Word Perfect with my first A500 in 1989. It was already no longer supported and I felt it operated like a ported program. I always liked the apps written to run natively on the Amiga much better.
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Same here- I still use ProWrite myself when working
with native-amiga files.
I happen to like it alot too.
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Using Amigawriter 2.2 here on morphos nice program.
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I tried the AmigaWriter 2.2 demo and it made my 4000/040/40 crawl. It was like running geoWrite on a half-speed C64. I'm sure it runs better on an 060/50, but I have not tried.
Like someone else here, I use(d) WordPerfect 4.2. While still in college a number of years back I made the switch from geoWrite 128 on GEOS 128 v2 to WordPerfect 4.2 on Amiga. It did well for me up until professors began requiring Office XP/2003 documents (not to mention the need for spreadsheets in chem and bio,) to which I responded with a mix of StarOffice and Microsoft Office.
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Does CygnusED count as a word processor? Either way, its by far the nicest text editor.
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Gulliver wrote:
I have the possibility of installing one of these wordprocessors. Which one would you recomend? Why
Thanks
IMHO, FinalWriter is the best Amiga wordprocessor
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Wrote near all my school reports on Final Writer. Liked it a lot and was far easier than Windows 3.11's Word.
I have used WordWorth a few times as well as, at some point, it was the only available wordprocessor for the Amiga with dutch spell-checking. Didn't like WordWorth as FinalWriter had a cleaner appearance (handy while in interlace on a big-screen tv-set).
Later I've tried Amiwriter as well but the version I tested was not stable and not as easy to use as Final Writer.
Now to the recommendations... I guess at the moment all three should be capable to do your main wordprocessing. What might be interesting tho is the formats it can import / export, in case your documents need to be read on non-Amiga syste,s as well. Also, look at the minimum hardware requirements, it can give a nice indication of the 'raw' speed of the software.
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I use FinalWriter 97, and WW 6.0, WW6.0 is not bad, its the fonts that are needed to be set up, not my idea of a Word Processor if you need to do that.
I did try the demo of Amiga Writer 2.2 not to bad but I will stick to FinalWriter 97.
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I used Wordworth 7 for a while, and I didn't have any issues installing the program or the fonts. It seemed nice enough, but without a GFX card it wasn't really suitable. A bit slow and cluttered really.
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i use wordsworth 5se.
i have had no probs installing and it works a treat.
used with a 030/040/060/bppc603e 060.
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Thank you all very much!
For what you replied, i guess it was a matter of configs, in order to make a decent choice.
So, i will mostl likely leave FinalWriter97 on my hdd. Seems its the best for my config (AGA+68040).
PS: In my PCs i use Wordperfect. Using it since DOS days
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Its kind of overkill as a mere word processor, but what about Pagestream5? If features is your thing, Pagestream is loaded with them; it does everything any PC "word processor" can do and then some. A nice bonus is that Pagestream is actively supported and is continuously improved. The price isn't too bad, either. Comparitively speaking.
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Well, I have tried Final Writer, Amiga WordPerfect, now I stick with Wordworth 7.01. As mentioned, font installation can be tricky, but it's Wordworth's ability to use just about any font in existance that is its' selling point IMHO. It'll use CG, Post Scipt, and TrueType fonts all very nicely. Using it with TurboPrint I get outstanding print quality.
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I think AmigaWriter got some pretty bad reviews back when there still were paper magazines.
@gulliver:
You mean you're still using the MS-DOS version of WP?! :eek:
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Back in the day I used to love Microsystem's Excellence!. It was a very high quality word processor with many features I needed for school papers.
I am not sure anyone still has it around, but I really thought the performance while typing was a lot better than most word processors and it was the first to support footnotes and end-notes properly.
Historic InfoHistoric Info on Micro-Systems (http://agh2o.org/personal/microsystems.php)
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Hi Marc,
I have an Amiga4000, OS3.9+b1+b2, '060 and Cybergraphx4, but when using Wordworth7, I can't see any text on my ViewSonic 17" Monitor.
Any suggestions, please?
Thanks
Joseph Kavelaars
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Strangely enough, I was getting around to addinga word processor to my A4000 setup today.
I tried to install my WordWorth 4SE disks which failed due to my 4GB and 30GB partitions being "too small" :roll:
I tried an older WordWorth3.x and that failed too.
Finally I got Final Writer 5.06 all 9 disks of it) installed. It's the first time I've used it on a RTG display and it looks and works great.
I even found my old PenPal word processor on a dusty floppy and got that up and running (after doing a diskSalv on the floppy).
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Using WordtWorth7 and AmigaWriter 2.2 both is OK!If you have 68k cpu WW is better-faster on ot!If you have ppc install AmigaWriter!
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I used Final Copy II to do all of my assignments as a student back in '92 to '94. The print quality on a B&W bubblejet was quite good for those days. I still have that bubblejet in storage: a Canon BJ230E that could do A3 prints. It was quite expensive back then. I kept using it on my A4000T with Final Writer, right up until 2002 when I finally gave in to the dark side and bought my first PC.
In 1996 I tried WordWorth SE that was bundled with my A4000T and didn't like it. Maybe later versions were better. I went back to using Final Writer.
Haven't tried Amiga Writer and these days I only use MS Word on PC.
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I still use Protext on a daily basis ... It works for me when I need to write a quick letter or edit a text file :-)
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I like Protext too - very useful application and great that it's cross-platform.
I used to use it on both Amigas and on PCs via MS-DOS, mainly as an editor for cross-assembling Z80 code - great that you can get to and from the OS's command line with no effort!
But for real work these days, it's OpenOffice all the way. No need to pay for overpriced M$ products that do less than the free ones!
- Ali
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InTheSand wrote:
But for real work these days, it's OpenOffice all the way. No need to pay for overpriced M$ products that do less than the free ones!
- Ali
Too right! OpenOffice rules on the 'other' computer. M$ XP bloatware is only installed on it because I've never used Linux ... I really should investigate that side.
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This is something I have been messing with very recently. I have tried FW 5.03, WordWoth, Kind Words, PenPal, Platinum Works and a bunch of others. Some just didnt work too good at all.
I have not tried AmigaWriter or FW97.
I much prefer FW over WordWorth.
Note, I havnt taxed any of them to really see what they can do, Ive just played with them for some casual stuff. I have no idea where to get FW97 from so dont know how much better over 5.03 it is.
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I haven't used FW much, but I've used AmigaWriter 2.2 and Wordworth7 a good bit.
AmigaWriter is ok, but not great. As mentioned above it has a somewhat awkward interface, though you'll get used to it. I'd say the biggest advantage is TrueType font support (with antialiasing). It can also import MS-Word documents, but only older versions (Word 97 I seem to remember?). I first used it on a A1200 with a 68030/50MHz. This was pretty slow. Now I'm using it on a A4000 with 68060/50MHz, and performance is quite acceptable. If you do get AmigaWriter make sure you install the latest patch, it fixes most of the bugs.
Generally speaking I think I'd prefer Wordworth. It has a lot more features, and it's more enjoyable to work with.
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Final Writer 97 is the best of the lot for most uses.
WW is a pain from beginning to end - I actually wasted the money buying it, then threw it away.
Amiga Writer is good, IF you have the latest version, but has way less features than Final Writer (if you actually need all those features is another story).
I run from an 030 A1200 and/or 040 A2000.
My old 68K A1000 with 1.3 OSuses Text Craft Plus or Pro Write
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ZeBeeDee wrote:
InTheSand wrote:
But for real work these days, it's OpenOffice all the way. No need to pay for overpriced M$ products that do less than the free ones!
- Ali
Too right! OpenOffice rules on the 'other' computer. M$ XP bloatware is only installed on it because I've never used Linux ... I really should investigate that side.
OpenOffice, at ~440MB, can't really be considered "thin". Plus, the facts that it mangles about half the MS Office files it opens, and isn't nearly as powerful for actual business users, should be at least considered when dismissing Office because of "bloat".
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Anyone remember Kindwords 2... that was my first Amiga WordPro :-)
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bloodline wrote:
Anyone remember Kindwords 2... that was my first Amiga WordPro :-)
It came with my Amiga 500 "Discovery Pack". I think I used it for a couple school papers, printing to my Star 8pin printer.
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Hi,
When I bought my A2000HD used from a store it came with a GVP Combo 030/40 and some software, one of them being "Final Copy", anybody know if it's any good or just a cut down Final Writer?
Chris
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If I recall correctly, Final Copy was the forerunner of Final Writer. Other than that, I'm not sure how they differed. I know that Final Writer itself was improved over time as SoftWood, Inc. released newer features. Final Writer 97 was the last upgrade released to the public.
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redfox
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Yes,
And after the fall of commodore, and their retirement from amiga software they launched a series of successful pornsites, which still operate today with softwood as the corporate name.
So maybe one day they will return with their porndollars and save the amiga community:)
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Ok, everything so far is subjective an no-one has given a direct comparison, so here's my 2p worth.
I've been using WW7 for the last 10 years, firstly on my A500 all the way through to my present A1200 Tower.
The thing I like about it most is the speed at which it prints to my HP Laserjet 5. Also, its ability to print multiple copies, collating them if necesaary, mail-merge etc.
For me, it's always been very fast and reliable. Spell checking is easy, working just like MS Word does now, with red underlining! Brilliant from all those years ago :-D
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I have to be honest out of the three, only two are really in the running, I tried AmigaWriter and it was by far the most horrid WP experience I ever came across.
Day to day I used WordWorth and it really was a dream to use, with a clean, modern (well, modern for the time) interface that really did leave you alone to get on with what you needed to do, I must have logged thousands of hours with WordWorth over the years.
That said, there were jobs that I think FinalWriter simply did better, it felt to me less of a pure word processor such as WordWorth and more like a step toward desktop publishing (but not as extreme as PageStream). I personaly didn't much care for the interface but I did use it and it was as stable as a rock.
But yeah, AmigaWriter... Crap interface, poorly thought out, unstable, few options, no ability (at the time I tried it, it may have changed since) to save to RTF or similar portable format... Just really, terribly poor.
These days... I tend to use OpenOffice Writer, though I'll use Abiword at a pinch.
My back to school pack A500 came with Pro Write, it was with that piece of software I wrote my first short story...
Over 15 years ago now.
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adolescent wrote:
OpenOffice, at ~440MB, can't really be considered "thin". Plus, the facts that it mangles about half the MS Office files it opens, and isn't nearly as powerful for actual business users, should be at least considered when dismissing Office because of "bloat".
440Mb? A full install takes up ~330Mb here... But yeah, not exactly "thin"!
As for mangling MS Office files - I've had a few instances where some formatting is altered slightly, but the bulk of MS-format files import fine, including large Word documents with multiple sections and styles.
And for 95% of business users doing typical word processing and spreadsheet/graphing tasks, OpenOffice is more than powerful enough. Granted, for the top 5% of "power" users, it may not suffice, but for the others, it's great.
Last year at my workplace, the time came for renewals of MS Office to upgrade from the 2000 version and we made the decision to junk it and go with OpenOffice instead for everyone except for ~30 people at the company's HQ. Aside from a few initial teething problems, it went very well and is now nicely integrated into our environment.
Anyway... I digress!
- Ali
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@QuikSanz
Did you read the whole thread? Check my post on the first page.
@amljot
They wouldn't do that. Cant be. Really? Gee!
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adolescent wrote:
OpenOffice, at ~440MB, can't really be considered "thin". Plus, the facts that it mangles about half the MS Office files it opens, and isn't nearly as powerful for actual business users, should be at least considered when dismissing Office because of "bloat".
I don't need a full install of OpenOffice so the 440mb comes down to approx 60mb (custom installs, don't you just love them). Plus all my letters are originally written in OpenOffice, so the mangled M$ Office files aspect you mentioned doesn't exist for me.
I'm a home user, not a business user and I consider my HD space a premium asset ... even my XP is a 'lite' version - linky (http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html) :-)
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@Tenacious,
Your post did not really give me any info on the background, it came around. Thanks
Chris
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ZeBeeDee wrote:
...all my letters are originally written in OpenOffice, so the mangled M$ Office files aspect you mentioned doesn't exist for me...
Yup! No sense in converting to/from MS Office formats every time a file needs to be opened or saved. And with OOo's nice and easy PDF export, that does the job for anything that needs to go to non-OpenOffice users...
- Ali
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I was going to suggest Papyrus Office from Titan but after reading how bug ridden it is and slow eve on a "fast" 68K) I would say Wordworth 7 but only because thats the only one I have on my 1200 and its never caused me any problems and I find it nice to use if a little old
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QuikSanz wrote:
Hi,
When I bought my A2000HD used from a store it came with a GVP Combo 030/40 and some software, one of them being "Final Copy", anybody know if it's any good or just a cut down Final Writer?
Chris
I needed a better word processor than what I originally had on the Amiga back in 1987 (can't remember what it was) so I purchased Final Copy when it first came out, upgraded to Final Copy II and on through all the versions of Final Writer, including buying the Windows version so working on my PC at work for personal letters or papers (frowned upon and later impossible to install any software on your workstation without administrator approval). Final Copy is the precursor to Final Writer, not a cut down version of it. Final Copy is not bad for 7MHz Amigas, but get Final Copy II instead if you need a word processor for a stock A500, or A1000. I can't really compare Final Writer to the others, but can say that it was the best Amiga word processor before Wordworth came out and might be as good or better than WW.
What the AmigaOS4.x and MorphOS2.x need is a port of Open Office complete. That would go a long way toward making the two Amiga PPC OSes usable alternatives. Is there a version of Open Office that runs on Linux PPC? I use Open Office for everything on my PC and hope to never have to buy a MS Office product again in my lifetime. (I hate Word and its quirks that I just can't get around.) My other preference is WordPerfect12 Office Suite. "Back in the Day" and perhaps even still today, WordPerfect was the best, most intuitive and easy to use PC word processor. Too bad the Amiga version was dropped and 4.xx. I still have the boxed Amiga WordPerfect.
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Word Processors (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280254546359&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT)
I am selling some word processors, to be honest I only want p&p as I am trying to make some space in my rather small flat, if interested pm me and we could arrange it.
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InTheSand wrote:
As for mangling MS Office files - I've had a few instances where some formatting is altered slightly, but the bulk of MS-format files import fine, including large Word documents with multiple sections and styles.
The problems I normally see are with embedded objects, tables, margins, and to some extent fonts. Try some PowerPoint slide decks if you want to see some real carnage. IMHO, a compatible product should be... compatible. (It's getting better I know.)
And, I agree with using the OOo format for your own files. But, what if you need to exchange files with the rest of the computing world? :-)
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amigadave wrote:
Is there a version of Open Office that runs on Linux PPC?
Yes. But it's a very old version, 1.1.2.
My other preference is WordPerfect12 Office Suite. "Back in the Day" and perhaps even still today, WordPerfect was the best, most intuitive and easy to use PC word processor. Too bad the Amiga version was dropped and 4.xx. I still have the boxed Amiga WordPerfect.
Then why not use it (WordPerfect 12)? Why be compelled to use something new, just because there is something new? (Of all people, I'd expect Amiga people to understand this...)
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kavelaars wrote:
Hi Marc,
I have an Amiga4000, OS3.9+b1+b2, '060 and Cybergraphx4, but when using Wordworth7, I can't see any text on my ViewSonic 17" Monitor.
Any suggestions, please?
Thanks
Joseph Kavelaars
it maybe the cybergraphx screenmode you are using. try a different color depth eg 256 colors, 15bit, 16bit, shouldn't need 24 bit.
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My fav WP off all time for speed of use was protext on the amstrad cpc, had it in a rombox along with maxim ( assembler /dissasembler)