Atari Word Processor
Developer(s) | Atari, Inc. |
---|---|
Initial release | 1981 |
Stable release | 1.0
|
Written in | Atari 8-bit family |
Size | 48 kB |
Type | Word processor |
License | Proprietary software |
Atari Word Processor is a
Technical requirements were demanding; it required 48 kB of
History
The first members of the
After a year, the company decided that professional software was going to be required if they hoped to sell the 800 into the business market.
The program ran only on the Atari 800 with 48 kB of RAM and operating system "B" ROMs, which was the vast majority of 800 production. It would run on a 400 if expanded to 48 kB, but this was not officially supported and voided the computer's warranty.[5] It also needed at least one disk drive, and to print, the 850 Interface Module along with a suitable Centronics-port based printer like the Atari 825.[6]
With the introduction of the 1200XL in 1983, Atari needed a new word processor that ran in the expanded operating system and memory. Instead of upgrading Atari Word Processor, they hired the author of a well-received 3rd party product and introduced the entirely new AtariWriter.[2] This was in the form of a 16 kB ROM cartridge that ran on all of the Atari lineup even with as little as 16 kB RAM.[7]
Description
The program shipped on two
Movement and basic editing were handled using an extensive list of
The Atari machines were limited to a 40-column display, which made editing practical documents difficult. The solution in this case used the system's hardware-assisted horizontal scrolling system to move the text as the cursor moved across an 80- or 132-column layout. A second system to aid with formatting was a print preview mode which displayed a full-page view in a compressed format using the Atari's high-resolution graphics mode to give an indication of the overall layout. This was triggered by pressing the SELECT function key.[9]
The 48 kB RAM of the machines, combined with the large size of the program and the need to load DOS, left only about 10 kB of free memory.[10] This limited the length of the documents that could be worked on to about 100 lines,[a] or roughly about one page.[2] The amount of free memory was indicated by a bar that moved left as more text was added, with the suggestion that a new document be started once the line reached the left half of the screen. This meant longer documents had to be split into parts of a page each and the system included functionality that combined the multiple files back together for printing.[8][2] The single-density, single-sided format used by the disks allowed them to hold about 60 pages.[10]
Word Processor did not support any of the
Reception
One of the largest reviews of the product appeared in the May 1982 issue of the major magazine InfoWorld. The reviewer, Robert DeWitt, would become better known as an editor of Antic magazine. DeWitt was especially impressed by the preview display that "accurately shows the layout of the actual text. It also shows the margin positions, the present location of the window and the cursor, and certain formatting information."[5] He also praised several less common features, like super and subscript support, double-column layout and compressed and expanded text. He was not impressed by the scrolling and found it easier to set the margins at position 38 and then reset it to 80 immediately before printing. This was quite slow; the sample file he created was 10 pages long and required 15 minutes to reformat and print.[12] The review ultimately rated each review category as "good" or "excellent", but concluded "this is not really a business or production system."[13]
Jon Loveless, writing in the charter issue of Antic, began his comparison review by calling Atari Word Processor "the most sophisticated and powerful of the three programs being compared".[b] He noted that it does "an excellent job of compensating for the 40 column screen", and praised its use of the scrolling display and preview mode. However, he also wrote that the program "seems very complicated" and that simple operations like printing the document took four levels of menu traversal, while reformatting and paginating took five.[9]
Another comparison review in
A later review of its replacement, AtariWriter, started by summing up Word Processor by stating "It was a fairly expensive word processor that had an enormous number of functions and features" but while it "was very versatile, [it] was also rather cumbersome."[7]
Notes
References
Citations
- ^ Goldberg & Vendel 2012, p. 455.
- ^ a b c d e Noonan 1986, p. 86.
- ^ News 1981, p. 7.
- ^ Connection 1981, p. 7.
- ^ a b c DeWitt 1982, p. 31.
- ^ Atari 1981, p. 3.
- ^ a b c Heilborn 1984, p. 69.
- ^ a b c d Good 1982, p. 70.
- ^ a b Loveless 1982, p. 34.
- ^ a b DeWitt 1982, p. 32.
- ^ Baker 1981, p. 24.
- ^ DeWitt 1982, p. 33.
- ^ DeWitt 1982, p. 36.
- ^ Good 1982, p. 68.
Bibliography
- A Word Processing System That Will Do a Lot More Than Process Words. Atari. 1981.
- Baker, Robert (February 1981). "The Atari 825 Printer". Compute!. Vol. 3, no. 2.
- DeWitt, Robert (May 10, 1982). "Atari Word Processor for the Atari 800 computer". InfoWorld. Vol. 4, no. 18. pp. 31–33, 36.
- "Free Atari Word Processor". Atari Connection. Vol. 1, no. 3. Fall 1981. p. 7.
- Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012). Atari Inc: Business Is Fun. Sygyzy Press. ISBN 978-0985597405.
- Good, Philip (June 1982). "The Atari Word Processors". Creative Computing. Vol. 8, no. 6. pp. 67–72.
- Heilborn, John (July 1984). "AtariWriter". Compute!. Vol. 6, no. 7. pp. 69–71.
- Loveless, Jon (April 1982). "Word Processors for the Atari: A Comparison". Antic. Vol. 1, no. 1. pp. 4–5, 34.
- Noonan, Bruce (Winter 1986). "ST Writer Secrets, Word Processing Power Explored". START. Vol. 1, no. 3. pp. 86–92.
- "Word Processor". ANALOG. Vol. 1, no. 2. March–April 1981.