 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
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This Issue
Welcome to another issue of PC Update. The theme this month is
Reviews. Notice above that my stripes are missing? Aah, the marvels of microchips...
Ventura Publisher 2.0
After making a pest of myself trying to get a reply from Xerox in USA and
Sydney I got replies at last. (I wrote my sixth and final letter, this time to the Managing Director of Rank
Xerox (Rust) Pty Ltd.) Even Megavision answered David Sloan's telephone calls and advised that the club's
copy of Ventura Publisher had been upgraded from version 1.1 to 2.0 by someone in January. We have now paid
for that copy and have retrieved it. I apologise for accusing Rank Xerox of not advising the club of the
upgrade opportunity.
Rank Xerox is now communicating with us so well that they have generously donated one copy of the
Professional Extension and Xerox Presents for the production of this magazine. I have not actually received
the 2.0 base product upgrade so this will be the last issue produced with the old version.
This issue contains reviews of Ventura Publisher 2.0 and its extension. Although they appear to be critical
at first glance, the bottom line is that it is worth upgrading to this version even if it means spending
money on extra memory and the extension.
Bitstream Fonts
Bitstream Inc (USA) has also kindly donated two sets of their 'Headlines'
fonts, of which one has arrived. Unfortunately it needs an installation kit which comes only with Ventura
2.0.
PC Tools Deluxe
The day before this magazine went to press I received a disk which replaces
one in the PC Tools Deluxe 5.1 set. The accompanying note says that early copies of the International version
had a bug in the 'compress' feature of PC Secure which corrupted files larger than 8 kB in size. In my tests
I managed to compress larger files with no apparent problems, although I admit I used text files and did not
proof-read them afterwards. I should have tried to compress a program and then see if it would run when
decompressed. Anyway, as I say in the article, not many would want to use this feature without the DES
encryption facility which is not available to us. The DES formula is freely available, I believe, but once it
is used in a product it cannot be exported from the USA. If you need basic encryption then there are many
public domain utilities that will serve the purpose, and if you really, truly want security then you need
something more secure than DES.
Advertising vs Typography
If you wish to see the present page count maintained then please help us
find some more advertising. Starting with the next issue we will lower the total page count (including cover
pages and yellow pages) to 44. That still makes PC Update one of the lengthiest PC group magazines in
Oz. I am afraid I will have to reduce the interline spacing from 12 to 11 points, i.e. by 1/72". I shall also
experiment with reducing the type size to 9 points so as to maintain about the same leading ratio. Before you
worry about diminishing legibility, be assured that the Melbourne Age newspaper uses 8 point text with 9
points of leading, i.e. our type will be larger than theirs. Thanks to the foresight of our committee in
purchasing a PostScript laser printer we have this flexibility of adjusting the type size at will to suit the
task. PostScript may be slow compared with other methods of imagesetting but nothing can match it for
flexibility. An example is the little picture of this month's cover on page 1: it was created by 'printing'
the cover to a disk file in Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) format. One of the cover illustrations is an EPS
file in itself, created with Arts & Letters and the other three are in GEM (IMG) format. One can also
purchase clip-art in EPS format, which is a convenient source of artwork for small publishing ventures which
cannot afford a human artist.
Our Bulletin Board
The bulletin board was off the air for most of the time before this issue
was composed, so some articles and SIG reports may miss the boat. As we go to press, Line 1 is
operational.
Response to Last Month's Requests
Two members have generously offered tape drives for use with the BBS, and I
trust that their offers will be taken up. We had little luck with commercial companies, so it is
heart-warming to see individuals willing to help the club.
The committee has obtained a 78 MB hard disk for the production of PC Update, which is much
appreciated.
Public Domain Software Catalogue
The second part of the group's public domain/shareware library catalogue is
published this month. Please remember that it reflects the status of the library in January 1989 and you will
need to consult this magazine's monthly updates to have a complete picture.
Screen Shots
As a picture is worth a thousand words, could authors of software reviews
please try to supply one or two screen shots of the package under discussion. PC Paintbrush (.PCX) and GEM
(.IMG) formats are best.
Trivia
I note from the Canberra group's magazine that the Houston Area League
(HAL-PC) has dues of US$25 per annum, a 96 page monthly journal, a membership of 8079 (youngest was six
months old), has 65 Directors (!), and their meeting venue seats only 2500, so they videotape their
proceedings. They run shuttle buses from the member-patrolled parking and there are computer vendors who set
up stands outside the meeting hall.
Deadlines
The closing date for the receipt of articles (direct to sub-editors) and for
booking of advertisement space for the next issue is 3 May.
Reprinted from the May 1989 issue of PC Update, the
magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
