Re: Appleworks GS

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In message <38E981C6.89722A46@microsoft.bellsouth.net>
no <no_spam_tarage@microsoft.bellsouth.net> writes:

>Hey, what do you guys know about Appleworks GS?

Some of us know quite a bit.

>Does it recognize usual Appleworks files? Does it write them,
or store them in a different format?

It definitely does not write them as classic Appleworks files.
It stores them in it's own format. There is a File Type note
from Apple that describes the AWGS word processing
file layout on disk. None of the other modules' formats
were published. My understanding is that the data base,
spread sheet and the other modules do a memory dump to disk
and therefore aren't really formatted. I am not familiar
with classic Appleworks after version 2.0 so I'll let
others tell you about recognition of Appleworks files
directly but I do know that spreadsheets saved as tab
delimited text files can easily be imported, as can
delimited text data bases and of course text word
processing files. I did this for many years to move
spread sheets between MS-Excel and AWGS.

>How about improvements/benefits of GS vs usual Appleworks?

The most notable "improvement" is the GUI interface.
Long time classic Appleworks users will probably
dispute this as an improvement (which is why I put
it in quotes). The Page Layout Module is the
biggest improvement over classic Appleworks,
next would probably be the addition of a Paint module.
It is not the top of the line paint module ever made
for the IIGS but it is quite adequate, in spite of
it's dithered colors.

Keep in mind also that classic Appleworks continued
to be developed long after AWGS was taken off
the market so AWGS doesn't have features like
a relational database that classic Appleworks 5.x
has. Texas II could tell you more about the
newer versions of classic Appleworks.

One other thing to mention, AWGS tends to be a
little buggy and can corrupt files if great care is
not taken. The more memory you have in the
IIGS the less chance you will have of corrupted
files. Supertimer has reported he has 8MB
of memory and has no problems with AWGS.
I ran AWGS for years with 4MB and never
lost a file, but I was careful to shift-boot when
I used it to keep as much memory free for
it as possible. Another way to be safe is to
never, ever pre-load the modules. Also,
it is prudent to always "Save as..." rather
than to "Save" a file and to "Save as..." often.


I liked AWGS much more that classic Appleworks
but others will have liked classic Appleworks
better. It's a personal thing, I think.

If you have any specific questions on how
to use the program just ask here or on delphi. Joe Kohn
of Shareware Solutions II is an expert on
the Page Layout Module and he visits
here occasionally. My expertise was in
the Spreadsheet and Data base modules and
I visit here occasionally too. I'm sure others
know a lot also, as it was a pretty popular
program in it's day (although the user base
was much smaller than classic Appleworks).

Hope that helps,

--
Eric  <chippys@earthlink.net>