I am writing to find out the experience of others using WordPerfect 5.1
X-windows on the SUN. I am running an IPX machine with 64MB, using SunOS 4.1.2under Openwindows. My work involves writing reports, perhaps on the order
of 100 pages, which contain on the average one or two mathematical
equations per page. Graphics and tables are also required inserted in the
text. I also need to exchange documents I produce with our secretary who
uses a 486 DOS version of WP. Finally I am required to use WP by our
sponsors, who also use it on DOS 486 machines. I can only have one machine
on my desk--and a workstation is a necessity for my daily number crunching
work.
In a brief encounter with WP, I have found it to be extremely sluggish and
unwieldly. It's usually impossible or difficult to get the cursor in the
right place without a couple of mouse clicks as the screen goes through
gyrations of refreshing. And the refresh time seems to take forever.
Everytime a save is made a refresh of the screen takes place.
Scrolling to the bottom of a large file is another impossible task. By the
time you get down there you forget what it is you were doing.
Equations are another story in WP. To insert one inline equation requires
16 mouse clicks! That means to insert say the letter alpha in the text
requires running through oodles of boxes and menus. Why not just change
fonts to the symbol font? Because then the style of symbols inline and
in displayed equations is different. And after all that work the equations
don't even look good. Finally it doesn't seem possible to reuse an equation
and edit it to some new form. They have to be typed in from scratch each
time.
Being one that likes to compose on the computer directly, WP presents an
impossible situation. By the time I have done all the necessary mouse
clicks, screen refreshes... I forgot what I wanted to say!
The general consensus among my colleagues here is that WP in its present
form is unusable. Is it possible that something is wrong with our
installation? Can anyone tell me if this situation is particular to
our system or if it is experienced by others. And if not,
is the situation expected to change--soooon?
BTW: Does anybody know of any other word processors for the SUN that
are usable?
Any and all comments are greatly appreciated. If this is an FAQ I
apologize for not having read them.
...Peter
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| Peter C. Lichtner Southwest Research Institute |
| 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, Texas 78238-5166 |
