From: frank@halcyon.com (Frank Higgins)
Subject: Re: Any graphics or better wp's for 7300?
Organization: The 23:00 News and Mail Service
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 09:28:54 GMT

In article <C14r3v.MD6@hico2.westmark.com> kak2@hico2.westmark.com writes:
>Chris Lewis (clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca) wrote:
>: In article <1993Jan16.021127.14456@d-and-d.com> dnichols@d-and-d.com (DoN. Nichols) writes:
>: >In article <1993Jan15.131743.954@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> rlsx@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (russell.l.stauffer) writes:
>: >>I want to be able to make up some "fliers" and posters at home on a Unixpc.
>: >>What, if anything, is out there that would enable me to do this ??  I'd
>: >>like a "graphical" word processor, similar to FrameMaker, etc. to the point
>: >>that I can "draw" something with the mouse & stick it on a page with text
>: >>on it.  Or, even a better word processor than "stock" that would allow me
>: >>to make up a page with different text sizes (fonts, too?) on it (I suppose
>: >>I could try "troff" if it's there...).  Any suggestions?
>
>: I don't think troff is very suitable for this.  You can do newsletters
>: okay, but fliers and posters need more graphics power.
>
>: >	Troff is not there, only nroff.  However, you can use groff (Gnu's
>: >implementation of troff, with pic (for line drawings from text commands).  I
>: >think that there are binaries of this out there,
>
>: The only one that I am aware of is Picasso, an unadvertised package contained
>: in one of the AT&T DWB 2.x releases for 3b2 series machines.  With that you
>: could do full blown mouse point/click/stretch etc. and generate pic.
>: Only if you had a blit or 5620 as a display - this ain't X windows stuff....  : Nor does it seem to be available anymore, or on other platforms.
>: I've heard rumors of something for DWB 3.x, but AT&T decided to not do
>: DWB 3.x for 3b1s (even after we pretty-pleased a lot).
>: -- 
>: Chris Lewis; clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca; Phone: Canada 613 832-0541
>: Psroff 3.0 info: psroff-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
>: Ferret list: ferret-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
>
>Ignoring for the moment that I don't think troff/nroff is
>really the way to go for the case you describe,
>(I've just put together a org chart using pic,
>and it ain't all that much fun.  You CAN do it.)
>I'll describe what I've done.
>
>Now, in the same document, I've got a diagram I drew with cdraw
>and then converted into pic.  I got the tool cdraw2fig from
>an archive, and the program fig2dev from and archive, and
>produced the diagram thusly (from my Makefile)
>
>.cd.fig:
>	cdraw2fig $< > $@
>.fig.pic:
>	fig2dev -Lpic $< > $@
>
>Well, actually, it's not as easy as that yet.  I had to track
>down a generated broken "fig" construct, the generation is not
>quite clean.  And in reality, I think cdraw, while better than
>nothing, really could use some improvements.
>(creating subassemblies, for one).
>Pic has some really nasty long-term problems, one of which is
>you really can't make a generalize picture, because the fonts
>don't scale.  Probably the long-term solution is to generate
>postscript from pic rather than troff constructs in a groff/gs-type
>system, and so take advantage of scalable fonts.
>
>Y'know, I'm TIRED of trying to manually drag my UNIX into the 90's.
>I LIKE troff; if AT&T had spent 1/8 the effort the DOS WP people did,
>and made it available, we'd have a pleasant, decent text processing system.
>Instead, GNU'll have to create a decent gnuware version that we can
>modify ourselves just so we can play catchup with idiotic DOS boxes....
>
>
>(can you tell I've spent all week
> trying to create a document with diagrams?
> I now know how to plot with grap, gnuplot,
> and ghostscript remotely via uux)
>
>Kris A. Kugel	908-842-2707
>hico2!kak	kak@hico2.westmark.com

Although it may not address the problem directly or even indirectly, it is
related peripherally:

	There IS a little know CAD package that has merit. Although the
	author was opposed to icons like the Mac and PC Paint that might
	have made the program easier to use, it has some advantages once
	one gets used to using it. Of particular merit are the several
	fonts that can be rotated to ANY angle and still maintain their
	size and proportion. There is a little bit of trickery to get it
	installed AND it is slower than than the coming of prosperity to
	print out because of 3B1/7300 slow graphics printing. It does NOT
	provide free-hand sketching but adequate drafting techniques. Paint
	Power provides sketching properties but the fonts and text
	facilities aren't great.
	
	It was written and, for a while, sold by a Univ or Tenn. Physics Prof
	who got his PhD at the U of W. He has since told me that as far as
	he is concerned it is public domain. He is too busy to have a
	business on the side. There are 2 floppies and about 60 pages of
	5-1/2 x 8-1/2" documentation. I can provide either for cost if
	anyone is interested. OR I can provide floppy copies and you can
	write to the author for a nice box, binder and typeset
	documentation, which he still has some of. (I have no idea what
	price it would take for him to take the trouble, but he has them
	and I'll provide address and phone for anyone who seriously wants
	the fancy documentation.)

One added comment: The Smart Word Processor provides importing of
illustration into the text in some fashion. I've never done it so don't
know how easy it is to do or what limitation there is on sources of
illustrations.

Frank        

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