[WinMac] WordPerfect 5.1 replacement

Victor Forberger(vforberg[at]lynx.dac.neu.edu)
Thu, 24 Jun 1999 15:18:25 -0400

Here's a request for information that is more complicated than it seems.

As an adjunct, I cannot rely on a stable office nor can I request
software that would make my life easier. In short, I have to grin and
bear it. When printing up material for classes, access to he copier is
restricted and we are told to just print 50 or 100 copies of whatever we
need on the laser printer (yes, I know how incredibly stupid this policy
is, but my job is not to reason why).

For my own work I use a Mac (a powerbook 5300ce that after two of those
trips to Apple for servicing has been wonderful) and Word 5.1a. Because
of print servers on the campus network, I've found that the LaserWriter
8.5.1 print drivers don't work, so I use LaserWriter 8.3.4. Here's the
problem: Word 5.1a does not have the option to collate printing and I
can't add that option by using the 8.5.1 print driver.

So, I've used Wintel software for my classes. I opted for WordPerfect
because (1) it fits on a disk, (2) I can run it on my laptop via RealPC
(equivalent to a slow 386), (3) it collates, and (4) I like it. I'm not
against using Word for Windows but the problem is that campus computers
vary in quality and software tremendously, and I don't want to have to
spend a large amount of time figuring out which file is saved in which
version of Word, a confusing process for anyone and especially when
trying to figure out exam questions at the same time.

The problem is that the campus is switching to WindowsNT for the
backbone to its network and print servers and so far I have not had much
luck getting WordPerfect to run in an NT workstation environment. What
settings are accessible to me (Display) don't seem to do anything. All
that happens when I double-click on wp.exe is a DOS window appears and
then disappears. So, here are my questions.

1- how do I get WordPerfect to run on a WinNT workstation? And, will
this solution become moot because WordPerfect 5.1 is not Y2K compliant?

2- Will 8.5.1 LaserWriter print driver work with NT print servers?

3- Is there some shareware print collating software available for the
Macintosh? What word processors on the Mac (other than Word 98) have
print collating?

I'm not anxious about upgrading my version of Word because I like the
speed, layout, and display of Word 5.1a, so I'm not considering that
option. Neither am I that excited about using Office97 software since
I'm not sure the computer situation on the campus will improve that much
(i.e. lots of 486s and 120 mhz or below pentiums).

thank for your help,
Victor

-- 
Victor Forberger
Law, Policy, and Society Program
305 Cushing Hall, Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115		617-373-4677 (office)		617-373-4691 (fax)


Dept. of Anthropology and Sociology
501 Holmes Hall, Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115		617-373-4994 (office)		617-373-2688 (fax)


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