Commodore 64 User Manual page 75

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Educational Software Catalog. These programs
all work on the 64, and some also work on
the VIC.
RECOMMENDED WORD PROCESSING
PROGRAMS
Word processing software allows you to type
a letter or a report, change it around until it
satisfies your needs, and then print it, letter-
perfect, with even margins and proper cen
tering on the page. The key to this software's
versatility is in how many chunks of informa
tion can be manipulated at a time, how easy it
is to make changes, and whether it can handle
specialized functions, such as automatically
creating titles, footnotes, and page numbers,
and printing out entire books with one com
mand. If the program needs line numbers to
keep track of sentences or lines of text, it is
called a text editor or line editor and is not
true word processing software. [Quick Brown
Fox falls into this category.) True word pro
cessing software makes full use of Commo
dore's exceptional screen editor, allowing you
to make corrections anywhere on the screen.
At this writing, there are three really good
word processing software programs for the 64,
and one good alternative program: Easy Script
from Commodore, Paperclip from Batteries
Included, and WordPro 3 Plus/64 from Profes
sional Software, with TOTL. TEXT 2.6 from
TOTL Software, Inc., as a good alternative.
TOTLTEXTdoes less and works more slowly;
however, it costs less and is the only program
of those mentioned to allow true footnotes.
Easy Script is very powerful and smooth in
operation, much like Paperclip, but cheaper.
This package gives you a larger workspace for
your writing.
Paperclip is the most expensive, but it is very
versatile. It can put as many as 255 columns of
information in up to 16 levels of alphabetical
order, and it can add and subtract both across
and down.
Although WordPro 3 Plus/64 costs less than
Paperclip, it doesn't have as many features as
Easy Script and Paperclip.
FOR THE VIC 20, you must have some expan
sion memory in order to use word processing
software. Wordcraft 80 and WordPro, two
well-known word processing programs for the
original Commodore computers, will soon be
available in simpler versions for the VIC.
When the WordPro version is available, it will
probably be named VICPro, and will be quite
similar to the popular original WordPro 2. At
the moment, however, the best VIC word pro
cessing program is Wordcraft 20, from UMI,
which includes 8K of extra memory. Unfortu
nately, it costs more than the VIC itself.
A very nice and inexpensive word processing
program for VIC is Word Wizard, on cassette
from Micro Ware Distributors (also sold by
CARDCO as a cartridge under the name Write
Now]. For this program, you use a joystick to
move the cursor around the screen for editing.
Word Wizard also justifies print, centers text,
searches for key words, and highlights what
you are working on in red. Simple stick-on job
aids attach to the VIC keyboard to make this
program's features easy to use. Although not
in the same league as Wordcraft 20, it's a bet
ter value for most users.
There are also a few good, inexpensive text
editors, such as TOTL Software's TOTLTEXT
for the VIC and Bill Robbins' Word Processor,
from Intelligent Software. However, both are
written in BASIC, and are therefore slow.
RECOMMENDED HOME FINANCE
PROGRAMS
Home finance programs keep track of your tax
information or your budget by use of an elec
tronic spreadsheet. Busicalc is a very good
electronic spreadsheet for both the VIC and
the 64, from Skyles Electric Works. Despite
screen limitations, this program works well.
FOR THE COMMODORE 64, an excellent
home finance program is Calc-Result, from
Handic Software.
As for true accounting packages FOR THE 64,
The Businessman, from Southern Solutions, is
one of the most complex and finished products
presently on the market. The accounting pack
ages from Info Designs, now sold directly by
Commodore, are also complex, finished pro
grams. However, doing accounting with less
than two disk drives is either time-consuming
or risky. If you have a lot of accounting data,
you may do better to get one of Commodore's
larger disk drives and a suitable interface. Since
these peripherals are all expensive, good
accounting packages for the VIC are still rare.
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