LocoScript is a word processingsoftware package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with outstanding ease of use. This and the low price of the hardware made it one of the best-selling word processors of the late 1980s. Four major versions of LocoScript were published for the PCW, and two for IBM-compatible PCs running MS-DOS. LocoScript's market share didn't expand with the PC versions, which were not released until after Windows had become the dominant PC operating system.
Background and reception
LocoScript's developers, Locomotive Software, had produced Locomotive BASIC for Amstrad's CPC 464 home computer, introduced in 1984.[1][2] For the Amstrad PCW, introduced in 1985, Locomotive produced the LocoScript word processor and Mallard BASIC,[3] and also wrote the PCW's User Guide.[4] These programs and a dot matrix printer were included in the price of the PCW,[5] which was £399 plus VAT for the base model.[6] The PCW, regarded as extremely good value for money,[5][7] gained 60% of the UK home computer market,[8] and 20% of the European personal computer market.[6] According to Personal Computer World, the PCW "got the technophobes using computers".[9]
LocoScript was regarded as easier to use than Wordstar and WordPerfect, which in the mid-1980s were the dominant word processors on IBM-compatible PCs,[3][10] and many users needed no additional information beyond what the manual's "first 20 minutes" introductory chapter provided.[5] The PCW's keyboard offered clearly labelled, one-press special keys for many common LocoScript functions, including cut, copy, and paste,[5][11] while LocoScript's competitors required a wide range of key combinations that the user had to remember.[10] Most of the program's other features were presented via a pull-down menu bar in which the top-level options were activated by function keys.[10][11] The menu system had two structures, one for beginners and the other for experienced users.[12][13] Locomotive Software's slogan for the product was "Everything you need, nothing you don't."[10] However, LocoScript version 1 was regarded as relatively slow.[3]
When the PCW product line was discontinued in 1998, The Daily Telegraph said that the range of independently produced add-on software for LocoScript had contributed to the series' longevity.[14]
LocoScript faded into obscurity because its developers were slow to produce a version for IBM-compatible PCs. By the time they released a version that ran under MS-DOS, Windows was becoming the dominant operating system. The developers of WordPerfect made a similar mistake, releasing their first Windows version in 1991, shortly after the second Windows version of Microsoft Word.[10]
As late as 1993, a journalist found "special characters" much easier to produce on LocoScript than on PC word processing software.[15]
Versions and capabilities
LocoScript
LocoScript was the principal software included with Amstrad's PCW 8256 and PCW 8512, both of which launched in 1985.[16] LocoScript did not run under the control of an operating system; instead, the computer was booted from the LocoScript floppy disk, and LocoScript ran exclusively on the system.[10][17] The user had to reboot in order to run any other program (a variety of CP/M applications were supplied on a separate disk). In later years a third-party utility called "Flipper" eventually became available, restricted to those PCWs with the greatest RAM memory, which could divide the bigger memory between LocoScript and CP/M, allowing both to run without the need to reboot.[3]
On start-up LocoScript displayed a file management menu,[17] like WordStar but unlike WordPerfect, Microsoft Word and other modern word processors, which start with an empty document.[10] LocoScript enabled users to divide documents into groups, display all the groups on a disk and then the documents in the selected group, and set up a template for each group.[12][17] File names were restricted to the "8.3" format,[18] but the edit facilities enabled users to add summaries up to 90 characters long, which they could display from the file menu.[19] The "limbo file" facility enabled users to recover accidentally deleted documents until the disk ran out of space (there was no hard disk, all files were stored on floppy disks), when the software would permanently delete files from "limbo" to make room for new ones.[20] Journalist Dave Langford published a collection of his articles about the PCW, and titled it "The Limbo Files".[21] LocoScript was designed to accommodate add-on programs, which could be selected via the file manager.[20]
LocoScript supported 150 characters.[3] For each language supported by the PCW, the keyboard and LocoScript were configured so that users could easily type all of the normal character set. Various other languages' characters could be typed by holding down the ALT or EXTRA key, along with the SHIFT key if capitals were required.[18][22] LocoScript could also display mathematical and technical symbols. All these characters and symbols could be printed, unless the printer was a daisy wheel unit.[3]
LocoScript's menu system enabled users to add, singly or in combination, a range of sophisticated typographical effects: monospaced or proportional character spacing; normal or double width characters and spacing; various font sizes;[23] bold, underline, italics, subscript or superscript, and reverse video.[12][24] All of these except those that affected font size and spacing were displayed on the screen.[23][24] Reverse video was an on-screen reminder to the user and was never printed,[24] while the other effects were printed, except on daisy wheel printers.[3]
Users could optionally set up to two page headers and footers, and could tell LocoScript whether to use one header or footer on odd pages and the other on even pages, one header or footer for the first or last page and another for all the rest, or to omit a header or footer on the first or last page. The program provided codes for the current page number and total number of pages, and aligning them to the left, centre, or right, and for decorations such as leading and trailing hyphens (e.g. "-9-").[25] LocoScript automatically avoided widows and orphans, ensuring that, if a paragraph of four or more lines split across pages, at least two lines appeared on each page. Users could also tell LocoScript to keep a group of lines or paragraphs together on the same page, or to avoid splitting paragraphs throughout a document, and could force page breaks.[26]
Users could control placement of text by means of: margins; indentation; normal tab stops; decimal tab stops, which set the position of the decimal point rather than the start of a number; and left, right or full justification. Different combinations of these settings, called "layouts", were automatically numbered, which made it possible to re-use layouts and to make changes that applied to all parts of a document where a specified layout was used.[23][27] These facilities could be used for presenting tables.[27]
LocoScript's cut, copy and paste facility provided 10 paste buffers ("blocks"), each of which was designated by a number and could be saved for re-use in a different document. Users could also save up to 26 short phrases, identified by letters, although the size of individual phrases and of the whole collection of phrases was limited. Both phrases and paste blocks could be inspected via a menu option. In addition, users could insert whole files, which could be either LocoScript documents or ASCII text files.[28] The "find" and "find and replace" facilities could operate on a whole document, or small sections of one, and "find and replace" ("exchange" in the manual's terminology) had an option to confirm each change or just go ahead.[29]
The program did not immediately reflow text after major insertions or deletions, but did this when the user pressed the RELAY key,[17] or automatically if the user moved the cursor through the changed passage.[29]
LocoScript allowed the user to edit one document while printing another, so that the relative slowness of the bundled dot matrix printer seldom caused difficulties.[12][30] Users could ask for all of a document to be printed or a range of pages, set the print quality to "high quality" or "draft", and set the paper used to single-sheet or continuous stationery. LocoScript automatically adjusted the size of margins so that the same number of lines per page appeared on both single-sheet and continuous stationery.[30] Since the printer only accepted one sheet of single-sheet paper at a time, LocoScript displayed a prompt at the end of each page when in single-sheet mode.[30] The program also had the ability to resume at a specified page after a paper jam. In addition to printing LocoScript documents, the program had a "direct printing" mode which operated like a typewriter, printing each piece of text after the user pressed RETURN. This could be used for completing forms.[30]
Despite the sophistication of the software, the great drawback of the PCWs was the exclusive reliance of the early models (the PCW 8256 and 8512) on a poor quality dot matrix printer, coupled with the eventual introduction (with the 9512) of a high quality daisy wheel printer that could not print any of the wide range of non-alphanumeric symbols which the LocoScript software was capable of producing. The software was seriously hamstrung by the poor quality of the hardware: but this was due in large part to a commercial decision not to provide any support for third-party printers so long as the software remained exclusive to the PCW format.
LocoScript 2
LocoScript 2 was bundled with the Amstrad PCW 9512, introduced in 1987.[32] This version was significantly faster, included the LocoSpell spell checker, and came bundled with a high-quality daisy wheel printer in addition to supporting the original dot matrix printer. The software increased its character set to 400 and allowed users to define up to 16 of their own characters.[3]
It could also format, copy and verify disks by itself, instead of requiring the user to switch to CP/M and use the Disc Kit utility. Copying via LocoScript, however, could be much slower. Due to the word processor occupying more RAM than the CP/M system, and so leaving less usable space on the RAM disk, copying had to be done in smaller, more numerous stages.[33]
Besides the addition of LocoSpell, LocoScript 2 was also the earliest version to support the optional LocoFile add-on, providing database functionality.[34]
LocoScript PC
LocoScript PC, later known as LocoScript PC Easy, was the first version of LocoScript to be incompatible with the Amstrad PCW, instead targeting IBM-compatible PCs running MS-DOS 3.0 and above. Released in 1990,[35] the program's feature set was largely inline with LocoScript 2,[36] supporting LocoSpell, LocoMail, and LocoFile, while also adding a few new features, such as support for mixing text with different fonts and new text styling options, as well as a substantially increased range of compatible third-party printers.[37]
LocoScript Professional
Released in May 1992, LocoScript Professional, or simply Script, was the second major release of LocoScript to run on MS-DOS and included a number of new features and improvements over LocoScript PC.[38]
It supported printers that connected using the then-standard parallel port, such as most HP DeskJets and some Brother HL-series Laser printers (which could be run under DOS using the generic LaserJet4 driver). It did not support printers which required a USB connection or which were labelled "Windows only".[36][39]
Some issues exist as to its compatibility with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 (when run on those systems' DOS mode or using the DOSBox emulator). For example, it loses WYSIWYG functionality. However, version 2.51 can be tweaked to work in Windows 10 under DOSbox MB6 {Set in LocoScript by selecting F9-Settings-F5-ScreenMode-Text Screen Direct-OK F10} (DOSBox MB6 maintains printing via the parallel printer port, running in text screen mode).
LocoScript 3
LocoScript 3 included the ability to print text at any size using scalable "LX" fonts, and to use multiple fonts in a document.[40] According to the vendor, LocoScript 3 also had the ability to include pictures and draw boxes within documents, a facility to print odd-numbered and even-numbered pages separately, and a word counter.[41] The vendor recommended LocoScript 3 only for use with PCW models that had 512 KB of RAM.[41]
Four add-on utilities were included: LocoSpell (a spell checker), LocoMail (a mail merge program), LocoFile (a database program), and a Printer Support Pack,[42] but (unlike in the earlier LocoScript versions) these utilities were no longer sold separately.[41]
LocoScript 4
The last major version of LocoScript for the PCW, LocoScript 4, was released in 1996 by LocoScript Software, a new company created by former Locomotive Software employees after the sale of Locomotive to Demon Internet.[43] It added a wider range of fonts, support for colour printing, a label-printing facility, and optional support for hundreds of printers. Version 4 also supported the mail merge program, LocoMail, and the LocoFile database program.[41]
^Maybury, R. (6 January 2000). "The windowless wonder". The Daily Telegraph: 6–7. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 2009-05-01.
Lango la Historia | Lango la Biografia | Karibuni | Orodha ya Miaka ◄ | Karne ya 20 | Karne ya 21 ◄ | Miaka ya 1990 | Miaka ya 2000 | Miaka ya 2010 | Miaka ya 2020 ◄◄ | ◄ | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | ► | ►► Makala hii inahusu mwaka 2026 BK (Baada ya Kristo). Matukio Waliozaliwa Mwaka 2023 katika kalenda nyingine Kalenda ya Gregori 2023 MMXXIII Kalenda ya Kiyahudi 5783 – 5784 Ab urbe condita (Roma y...
Повстання на панцернику «Князь Потьомкін-Таврійський» Місце розташування Тендрівська Коса Дата й час 13 (26) червня 1905 і 27 червня 1905 Повстання на панцернику «Князь Потьомкін-Таврійський» у Вікісховищі Малюнок часів повстання[К 1] із зображенням мітингу над тіл...
Flakpanzer IV „Wirbelwind“ mit dem 2-cm-Flakvierling 38 Flakpanzer IV war die Bezeichnung von vier Varianten eines deutschen Flugabwehrpanzers im Zweiten Weltkrieg, die alle auf dem Fahrgestell des Panzerkampfwagen IV basierten. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Geschichte 2 Varianten 2.1 Möbelwagen 2.2 Wirbelwind 2.3 Ostwind 2.4 Kugelblitz 3 Literatur 4 Weblinks 5 Einzelnachweise Geschichte Die Panzerverbände der Wehrmacht waren gegen Tieffliegerangriffe von gegnerischen Jagdbombern so gut wie...
присілок Орловка Орловка Країна Росія Суб'єкт Російської Федерації Воронезька область Муніципальний район Терновський район Поселення Єсиповське сільське поселення Код ЗКАТУ: 20254816003 Код ЗКТМО: 20654416111 Основні дані Населення 72 Поштовий індекс 397100 Географічні координа
تحتاج النصوص المترجمة في هذه المقالة إلى مراجعة لضمان معلوماتها وإسنادها وأسلوبها ومصطلحاتها ووضوحها للقارئ، لأنها تشمل ترجمة اقتراضية أو غير سليمة. فضلاً ساهم في تطوير هذه المقالة بمراجعة النصوص وإعادة صياغتها بما يتناسب مع دليل الأسلوب في ويكيبيديا. (مايو 2016) تظهر منطقة
ليتل ريفر الإحداثيات 38°23′50″N 98°00′41″W / 38.3972°N 98.0114°W / 38.3972; -98.0114 تقسيم إداري البلد الولايات المتحدة[1] التقسيم الأعلى مقاطعة رايس، كانزاس خصائص جغرافية المساحة 1.141357 كيلومتر مربع1.141321 كيلومتر مربع (1 أبريل 2010) ارتفاع 490 متر عدد السكا...
Cet article est une ébauche concernant la linguistique. Vous pouvez partager vos connaissances en l’améliorant (comment ?) selon les recommandations des projets correspondants. Henrietta Godolphin Suo jure est une expression latine qui signifie « de son propre droit ». Il est généralement employé lorsqu'on parle d'une femme ayant hérité d'un titre « de son propre droit », c'est-à-dire de naissance. L'expression s'oppose à jure uxoris, qui s'emploie lors...
Bay on the North Coast of California For the bay in New Guinea known as Humboldt Bay from 1827 to 1968, see Yos Sudarso Bay. Humboldt BayWigi (Wiyot)Aerial view of Humboldt Bay and the City of EurekaHumboldt BayLocationHumboldt County, North Coast, CaliforniaCoordinates40°45′13.53″N 124°12′54.73″W / 40.7537583°N 124.2152028°W / 40.7537583; -124.2152028River sourcesElk River; Jacoby, Freshwater, and Salmon Creeks.Ocean/sea sourcesPacificBasin count...
Head of state of Ukraine President of UkraineПрезидент УкраїниPresidential standardIncumbentVolodymyr Zelenskyysince 20 May 2019Executive branch of the Ukrainian GovernmentOffice of the President of UkraineStyleMr President(informal)Supreme Commander-in-Chief(military)His Excellency(diplomatic)TypeExecutive PresidentHead of stateMember ofNational Security and Defense CouncilResidenceMariinskyi Palace (ceremonial)13 other available for useAppointerPopular voteTerm lengthFi...
Orang Rusia AmerikaРусские американцыJumlah populasi2.432.733 laporan diri[1] 0,741% dari total populasi Amerika (2019) 391.641 kelahiran Rusia[2]Daerah dengan populasi signifikanNew York CityNew JerseyLong IslandNew EnglandPhiladelphiaPittsburghGreater ClevelandAlaskaWilayah metropolitan ChicagoMilwaukeeMinneapolis–Saint PaulMetro DetroitMarylandOregon (Portland, Willamette Valley)Dakota UtaraWashingtonFloridaCalifornia (Los Angeles, San Francisco)Texas (Ho...
British-Iranian poet (born 1969) Ali AbdolrezaeiNative nameعلی عبدالرضاییBorn (1969-04-10) April 10, 1969 (age 54)Langerud, IranOccupationPoet, writer, literary theorist, political analystLanguagePersian, EnglishNationalityBritishEducationLiterary Theory, Mechanical EngineeringAlma materKing's College London; Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of TechnologyLiterary movementPostmodernism and New ModernismYears active1986–presentWebsiteiranarchism.com Ali Abdolrezaei (P...
podróż apostolska Franciszka na Maltę Papież Franciszek Termin pielgrzymki 2–3 kwietnia 2022 Państwo Malta Miejscowości VallettaRabatFlorianaGozo Podróż apostolska papieża Franciszka na Maltę odbyła się w dniach 2–3 kwietnia 2022[1][2]. Decyzja została ogłoszona 10 lutego 2022 przez dyrektora Biura Prasowego Stolicy Apostolskiej Mattea Bruniego[1][2]. Pierwotnie podróż ta miała się odbyć w maju 2020 ale nie odbyła się z powodu pandemii[3] Papież Franciszek w tr...
This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; try the Find link tool for suggestions. (September 2023) Shashwat GoenkaBornKolkata, West Bengal, IndiaOccupationBusiness executiveYears active2013–presentKnown forDirector of RPSG Group Shashwat Goenka is an Indian business executive and the youngest scion of the Kolkata-based RPSG Group. He serves as the Director of the Group and is responsible for leading the c...
Coordinates determined by distance and angle Points in the polar coordinate system with pole O and polar axis L. In green, the point with radial coordinate 3 and angular coordinate 60 degrees or (3, 60°). In blue, the point (4, 210°). In mathematics, the polar coordinate system is a two-dimensional coordinate system in which each point on a plane is determined by a distance from a reference point and an angle from a reference direction. The reference point (analogous to the origin...
Havana Plaats in de Verenigde Staten Vlag van Verenigde Staten Locatie van Havana in Illinois Locatie van Illinois in de VS Situering County Mason County Type plaats City Staat Illinois Coördinaten 40° 18′ NB, 90° 4′ WL Algemeen Oppervlakte 6,8 km² - land 6,4 km² - water 0,4 km² Inwoners (2006) 3.420 Hoogte 145 m Overig ZIP-code(s) 62644 FIPS-code 33513 Foto's Main Street Portaal Verenigde Staten Havana is een plaats (city) in de Amerikaanse staat Illinois, en v...
Not to be confused with Seminary Ridge. United States historic placeCemetery RidgeU.S. Historic districtContributing property Cemetery Ridge on the Gettysburg Battlefield, August 2005LocationAdams County, PennsylvaniaCoordinates39°49′05″N 77°13′57″W / 39.818056°N 77.2325°W / 39.818056; -77.2325Part ofGettysburg Battlefield Historic District (ID75000155)MPSBattle of Gettysburg MPSAdded to NRHPMarch 19, 1975 Cemetery Ridge is a geographic feature in Gettysbur...
Overview of Malagasy culture Part of a series on theCulture of Madagascar Society Malagasy people History Languages Holidays Religion Topics Architecture Cinema Cuisine Literature Media Music Sports Symbols Flag Coat of arms Anthem Miss Madagascar World Heritage Sites Madagascar portalvte Hiragasy musicians wearing coordinating lambas The culture of Madagascar reflects the origins of the people Malagasy people in Southeast Asia, East Africa and Oceania. The influence of Arabs, India...
District of Serbia District of Serbia in Šumadija and Western SerbiaMačva District Мачвански округ Mačvanski okrugDistrict of SerbiaLocation of the Mačva District within SerbiaCoordinates: 44°21′25″N 19°35′24″E / 44.357°N 19.59°E / 44.357; 19.59Country SerbiaRegionŠumadija and Western SerbiaAdministrative centerŠabacGovernment • CommissionerDragoslav MilanovićArea • Total3,268 km2 (1,262 sq mi...
Parthenon pada tahun 2008, sedang dipugar. Arsitektur Yunani Kuno adalah karya arsitektur yang dihasilkan oleh orang berbahasa Yunani (orang Helenik) yang budayanya berkembang di daratan Yunani dan Peloponnesos, Kepulauan Aegea, serta koloni-koloninya di Anatolia dan Italia sepanjang suatu periode dari c. 900 SM sampai abad ke-1 M, yang mana karya-karya arsitektural paling awal yang masih terlestarikan berasal dari sekitar tahun 600 SM.[1] Arsitektur Yunani Kuno terkenal karena kuil-k...
