Their non cookie popup is the perfect example how user cookies should be managed.
A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
11–20 of 52 posts
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#12I wonder why they don't just make it open source at this point?
Apparently they still hope to make a bit of money out of it:
"I never had a license! Well, even then you can have one - if you absolutely want to. . Depending on your bid, we will then contact you." https://tempus-word.de/en/download/index
I guess they found out they make out more that way than setting up a ko-fi account. It also insures the soft and its legacy doesn't become bloated over time. It is also possible that given it uses old tech (GEM) and probably assembly code, the software as it is would not be more easily portable than it is now using emulators.
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#13I used Application System Heidelberg's Script II on an Atari 1040STFM with 72 Hz SM 124 black/white monitor and an Epson LQ 550 24 pin printer. That was some superb publishing system for the time (1991), for a low budget.
1 MB RAM, 1.44 MB floppy drive
SM 124: 640x400 pixels, monochrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST https://www.atarimuseum.de/1040st.htm
The software used a special driver to get better than standard quality from the then most common 24 pin printers (laser printers where much expensive) by kind of double-printing, I forgot the details. It looked really good though.
https://www.planetemu.net/screenshots/Atari%20ST%20-%20Appli...
https://stcarchiv.de/tos/1990/11/script-2 (German)
"Script" was the cheap version of their better product "Signum".
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#14I wonder why they don't just make it open source at this point?
Apparently they still hope to make a bit of money out of it: "I never had a license! Well, even then you can have one - if you absolutely want to. . Depending on your bid, we will then contact you." https://tempus-word.de/en/download/index I guess they found out they make out more that way than setting up a ko-fi account. It also insures the soft and its legacy doesn't become bloated over time. It is also possible th…
I think that's out of date. The banner at the top of the page says "you can request a free license for version 5.4 from us." According to archive.org that was added later than the text you quoted, somewhere between 2022 and 2024.
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#15The list of features is impressive even today! https://tempus-word.de/en/info/index
Those were the glory days of word processors, I used to have something similar on the Amiga. I'd still rather write on something like this than Word, Pages or Google Docs.
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#16There is another one still alive today: https://papyrus.de/en/
I don't use it. But i tried an old version and it was fast as f...
It is written now in C++
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#17I used ST Writer which came bundled with my ST. I still have all my ST Writer files (last modified in 1993!), and quite impressively they open just fine in LibreOffice with formatting and everything preserved (unlike some later .doc files I have).
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#18ST Writer was freeware and did the job, but Tempus was gold standard, even better than 1st Word Plus.
Huh, 1st Word Plus was what I had! Sudden recollection of pressing a rhombus-shaped F10 key to reflow after editing ...
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#19Ah. You will also like another story that popped up here some time back.
A Canadian science-fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer, made an Archive available complete with extensive resources on how to use it. In addition, fully text-searchable PDFs of the original manuals, totaling over 1,000 pages, were also available. He is a dedicated WordStar user.
Re: A word processor from 1990s for Atari ST/TOS is still supported by enthusiasts
#20The ST had some awesome productivity programs. Tempus Word, Papyrus, Calamus... All running on a 8 Mhz computer with 1 or 2 MB, but with feature sets that do not need to hide from today's software.
People doing DTP with Calamus on their Ataris stuck around for a long time after the systems weren't used for much else – MIDI tooling excepted, of course.
On the other hand, there you didn't have that many powerful packages on any system, besides Quark & the various Adobe tools du jour everything paled in comparison.
For word processing, being forced to use Word was/is usually worse than for DTP, though. But feature-wise, everything seemed to converge during the 90s, so "having" to use Word instead of e.g. WordPerfect was less and less of an issue.
With some exceptions of course, most famously GRRM and other people who got into things very early sticking with the first thing they learned (i.e. WordStar), or apparently some journalists being really into XyWrite.