Steven Wetherill, one of our reviewers' competition runners-up, takes a look at Tasword Two the word processor.

Producer: Tasman Software
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £13.90
Language: BASIC + Machine code

Have you ever tried to write a letter, or prepare an article using your Spectrum? If so, you'll know the sort of problems you come up against: 'How do I enter text?', 'How do I format the text?', 'How do I get a decent printout?, etc, etc. Well, you will be pleased to know that this amazing utility solves all of the above problems, and does much, much more besides.

What it does, basically, is to turn your Spectrum into a very sophisticated form of electronic typewriter. Central to the program is an ingenious routine that display 64 characters per line on screen, totally legibly, and which also allows you to dump 64 cpl to the ZX printer. After using the program for a while and then going back to BASIC for some reason, the normal Spectrum characters seem absolutely GROSS!

My particular copy came in a plastic presentation case, but I have seen it supplied in a cardboard box. The instructions are very explicit, and take you step by step through the various stages to get you started off. Supplied with TASWORD is a demonstration text file, and it is suggested that you practise the various commands and functions on this. Once you have become accustomed to the various modes of operation you are ready to start word processing.

TASWORD operates on a text file which contains whatever you type in from the keyboard. This text file can be up to 320 lines long. The TV display is a window which shows you 22 lines of the text file. Certain control keys are used to manipulate the text file: on of the shift keys must be pressed to obtain a control key action. A very useful control key is EDIT (CAPS SHIFTed 1), which displays a 'help page' on the screen. The help page gives a brief description of each control key action. While the help page is showing, a further extended mode help page can be obtained by holding down both shift keys: to perform certain operations you have to put TASWORD into extended mode by pressing both shift keys simultaneously. The extended mode help page shows the effect of each key whilst in this mode.

There really are too many commands available than there is room here to go into fully, but briefly:

NORMAL MODE

Commands include: CAPS LOCK, CURSOR TO WORD LEFT/RIGHT, MOVELINE LEFT/RIGHT, CENTRE LINE, INSERT/DELETE LINE/ CHARACTER, GOTO START/END OF TEXT, LOAD/SAVE/PRINT TEXT, REFORM TO END OF PARA., SCROLL UP DOWN, and START OF NEXT LINE.

Most of the above are self-explanatory, but CENTRE LINE and REFORM are two of the most useful: CENTRE LINE will centre titles and headings automatically; REFORM will reform the text from the line containing the cursor to the end of the paragraph so that text in which you have made insertions or deletions is tidied up.

EXTENDED MODE

FAST SCROLL UP/DOWN, CHANGE TEXT WINDOW, CLEAR TEXT FILE, FIND/ REPLACE TEXT, INSERT MODE ON/OFF, RIGHT JUSTIFY ON/OFF, WORD WRAP ON/OFF, JUSTIFY/ UNJUSTIFY LINE, SET/ RESET LEFT/RIGHT MARGINS; plus commands to set start/finish markers for block MOVE and COPY.

TASWORD is compatible with both the ZX printer and, via a suitable interface, full size printers. Different printers use different printer control codes (for such things as carriage return, etc), and they use them in different ways. In TASWORD the Spectrum block graphics characters are not sent to full size printers, but are interpreted as a sequence of printer control characters. You can, for example, define a particular graphic character to be the sequence of codes that your printer uses for 'form feed ' (move to top of next page). Then you can simply type this character into your text when printing is required on a new page. TASWORD comes with the graphic characters defined for the Epson FX-80 printers, to define your own you simply use the 'define graphics/ printer' option. Information is supplied for using TASWORD with a wide variety of printer interfaces.

If your last word on a text line does not quite fit, then TASWORD 'word-wraps' ; this means that the whole word is moved on to the next line. As well as word-wrapping, TASWORD will justify the line that has just been finished: the words in the line are spaced out by inserting spaces between them so as to dispose of ragged right-hand margins. Both these features can be turned off by the user, but are very useful in most circumstances.

You can SAVE any text that you have typed as a text file. Choosing the SAVE text file option results in TASWORD asking for a file name, then saving your text tile. When it has finished it asks you if you wish to verify. To LOAD a text file from tape you simply select the LOAD text file option. TASWORD also has a MERGE option, but this should more accurately be called append, as the merged file is placed into the text buffer after any existing text.

IN USE

Armed with TASWORD TWO plus a decent printer, you can do almost any small word processing task that you care to mention. The control key system takes very little getting used to, and with the help pages only a keystroke away, you can soon dispense with the manual. The on-screen 64 cpl can be dumped straight on to the ZX printer, and although this is hardly letter perfect, it is legible. The program is fast to respond, the only possible exception being the find/ replace commands, which were slightly tardy. Included with the package is a leaflet with Microdrive modifications to the program. I have not been able to test this, but obviously the speed improvement on SAVE and LOAD should be very useful.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall then, an excellent program which shows just what the Spectrum is capable of doing. If you have been looking for a word processor, then look no further.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Normal and Extended command modes; help page
Features: 21-page booklet; tutorial text file; 64 cpl both on-screen and ZX printer
Generally: Excellent

WORD WRAP

Tasword II is the undisputed king of Speccy word-processing. Now it's got serious rivals courtesy of Softechnics The Writer and OCP's Word Manager. Max Phillips tries the challengers...

Bit of a turn up for the books this - two new Speccy wordpros both claiming to be so good, users will junk their faithful Taswords and pay out for the upgrade. Tasword has been the top Speccy word processor since it came out and, since its given away in the Sinclair microdrive kits, most microdrive owners already have a cop. But Tasword is far from perfect - it operates at near comatose speeds and simple things like inserting text are quite awkward! So the opportunity to do something better has always been there and Softechnics and OCP's challengers have been a long time coming.

THE WRITE APPROACH

Let's look at The Writer first, simply because I like talking about well written, professional programs - and this is, quite simply, one of the most professionally produced business programs ever to load into a Spectrum. The Writer's writer has taken a serious look at wordpros on business micros and brought a lot of their features and style to the Spectrum. In particular, it owes a lot to the number one wordprocessor in the world - WordStar, a long-running package, for CP/M and MS DOS micros, that'll set you back more than the price of a Spectrum with Interface 1 and two microdrives!

The Writer uses a quite pleasant 64 column display with a status line at the top which tells you your document name, the page, line and column you're on and whether you're in insert or overtype mode. Underneath this is a 'ruler line'showing the current margins and tab stops. As you enter text, it's formatted according to your current settings - justified, centred or whatever. If you edit a paragraph, it'll remain untidy until you use the reform key (Symbol-Shift/Y) to replay it out according to the current settings. If that ain't straight out of WordStar, what is?

While most common editing commands are on Symbol-Shift and Extend mode keys, all the complex editing functions are called up by pressing EDIT. A menu appears at the top line and you can move a little arrow using the cursor keys to select the item you want. A 'dialog box' will pop up over your text where you can choose the commands you want or enter new settings using the little arrow and the Enter key. This system is a doddle - you hardly need the complete help screens that can be called up off microdirve while you're editing! However, once you know the package, there's no quick way to execute the commands. The little arrow always reappears where it was last time you finished with a menu, so you spend a lot of your time driving it around the screen!

All these programs have around 20K free for text - about 3000 words. The Writer manages to keep its speed up admirably with all but the longest documents. One nice touch is a proper keyboard buffer - the Speccy remembers your keys-strokes even while the program is busy so it doesn't matter if things slow down a bit.

PRINTS AND THE ROYAL MAIL

But The Writer really gets good when you come to print your document. If offers a superb mail-merge facility - you can generate personalised mailshots by combining a form document with names, addresses or whatever hedl in a data file. For example, you could mail all the members of your club with a standard letter that begins Dear what-ever-your-name-is, and so on. The Writer lets you SET variables in the document so that, for example, you only have to enter today's date and all the letters will have the current date on them. You can do calculations so that, say, each letter you send has the correct charges at the bottom depending on which items each person in the data file has ordered. Finally, you can do 'conditional printing'so that certain sections of text only appear if certain conditions are true - you could use this, for example, to add to a warning paragraph onto letters for club members who haven't paid their subs.

This kind of powerful word processing is an everyday thing in business computing but since there aren't many office-bound Speccys, its appeal will be limited to people with such pastimes as running a business from home, running a club and so on. More useful for most of us is true background printing - you can continue to work (at full speed) while printing out a finished document.

The Writer also has a communication program to allow files to be moved between tape, microdrive and other computers connected to Interface 1 RS232. The files can be in The Writer format, plain ACII text or in WordStar format. This'll let you move documents between other word processors and micros. Unfortunately, the program is more awkward to use than The Writer and the so-called 'WordStar compatible' option is a bit of a con.

Although it handles the basic conversion, it doesn't translate formatting information into the relevant The Writer codes. And if you follow Softechnic's manual and use CP/M's PIP program to send the Wordstar file to the Speccy, you can get the conversion done anyway by adding [Z to the PIP command (read your manuals guys!). Going the other way, The Writer send the wrong sort of carriage return to the WordStar machine. So, either way, you've got to re-edit the file once it's been transmitted. You might as well do the job yourself using ordinary microdrive commands - The Writer is about as WordStar compatible as Tasword and Word Manager!

The other utility you get is a program to convert Tasword II files to The Writer formatt - it's about as awkward as the communication program although it does do its job.

The Writer is damn impressive - our pre-release version shows only one serious bug - if you hold the down arrow down all the way to the end of the document and keep it down, the keyboard buffer packs up and you'll have to switch off. There are others - try replacing 'a' with 'aaaaa' - but nothing you can't work around. However, for all its features, it has one major flaw - you can't alter the line spacing of your text! Softechnics swears blind that you'll be able to before it's releaesed - so it might be a while before it hits the streets!

THE LAST WORD?

Meanwhile, OCP must be kicking itself over Word Manager. True, it has some welcome features - it's the only one of the three that doesn't seem to slow down at all with very long documents and there's a word count and a 'swap words over' command. But, even ignoring the bugs in the review version, it just doesn't compare with Softechnic's offering. It gets off to a bad start with a poorly designed 64 column character set and a flaky keyboard reading routine. There's no on-screen info apart from symbols in the left margin which indicate the formatting of the text on that line - although the border changes when you set Caps Lock or whatever. Unlike The Writer, which gracefully scrolls sideways to show you line up to 127 characters in length, Word Manager wraps lines round onto the screen, making the first 64 characters brighter than the rest of the line. Yuk!

All the commands are either the top key row (there's a Figs Lock so you don't have to hold Caps Shift down to use the cursor keys and so on), Symbol-Shift keys or Extend Mode keys. Their layout is confusing and you have to leave your text and return to the main menu to see the help screens! Word Manager's menus are fussy about capital and lower case letters even though you can't tell if Caps Lock is on or off and so on.

Text formatting is peculiar to say the least - paragraphs aren't formatted until you press Return at the end. To reformat after editing, you have to reformat the whole document from the main menu. If you don't want particular bits reformatted, you have to enter 'T' at the start of the paragraph you want left alone before you 'justify' the text. And while we're talking about silly things, the word count is only reliable if your first 'de-justify' the text from the menu, look at the word count and the 'justify' it again!

When it comes to printing, Word Manager can manage page numbers but not headers and footers like WordStar. There's a limited mail-merger option that works with OCP's Mailing List Manager and Address Manager. You can also 'slow print' text while you're editing another document. This will only work if you're printing a short document (it's kept in memory along with whatever else you're working on) although it failed to work at all on our version.

FINAL WORD

The best thing about these two new packages is seeing properly presented business programs on the Speccy. Both of them have all the basic facilities of real word processors and, like Tasword, can be installed for virtually any interface/printer combination. Both have proper length manuals although the copies we saw needed a fair bit of work before they were easy to read an use. If anything, the only thing that let them down is that they've not been completely designed from the point of view of being easy and quick to use in anger. The Writer is very good but it isn't quite there yet!

When it comes to choosing, I've no doubt that The Writer will take over from Tasword as the best Speccy wordpro. Indeed, some of you old Tasworders should wander down to your dealer and take it for a test drive. However, since it needs a bit of sorting out, it may be a while before you have the opportunity. Word Manager has little appeal in comparison unless you already use OCP's database products. So, sorry about the claim guys, but for the meantime at least, Tasword II is King!

SEARCHING FOR THE WRITE STUFF

Which word processor? Mike Wright finds some programs too unprofessional for words.

WORD PROCESSOR
Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

TASWORD TWO
Memory: 48K
Price: £13.90

MICRO PEN
Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

SPECTEXT
Memory: 48K
Price: £13.95

Word processor programs are the most common of the 'business' programs and their use extends beyond the workplace to the home and school. This month four word processing packages are reviewed: Word Processor from Quicksilva; Tasword Two from Tasman Software; Micropen from Contrast Software; and Spectcxt from McGraw-Hill. The prices vary considerably and, as you might expect, so too does the quality and features of the programs.

Word Processor is the first venture by Quicksilva outside the games market. The program takes about a minute to load and is written completely in Basic. The inlay provides one side of loading instructions and two sides of adverts for other Quicksilva products. The instructions, such as they are, for using the program are included as a help option in the program.

Once Word Processor has loaded it displays a menu of seven options. Those are: 0 - Exit; I - Help; 2 - Clear machine for new text: 3 - Edit text; 4 - Print text; 5 - Load text; 6 - Save text. On first loading option 1 must be chosen to discover what features and commands are available. There are three screens of Help information altogether but it is not until the second screen that you find out that a copy of the screens can be produced by pressing CAPS SHIFT and 4. Of course, if you now want a copy of page 1 you must return to the main menu.

There are two types of commands. The first set is for editing from the keyboard. The commands are formed by a combination of CAPS SHIFT and a numeric key. Most of them follow the Spectrum commands, so that 5, 6, 7 and 8 are used to move around the text, 2 and 3 control the CAPS LOCK and 0 deletes the character to the left of the cursor, 1 is used to clear a line of text, marked by the cursor, and 9 is used to create a blank space for inserting a character. CAPS SHIFT 4 is the print command but it will only copy the screen. If you have only two or three lines of text that wastes a lot of paper.

The other commands are used by first going into Extended mode - i.e. by pressing both shift keys together - before selecting the command. The commands allow the user to move the position of the cursor to the top, the bottom or any line of text; to mark and delete a block of text; to open up the text to allow extra text to be inserted and then to close it up again. However, all commands must be given at the start of a line or they are overwritten on the text and are ignored. When characters are deleted they are replaced by spaces.

The usual facilities of a word processor such as a choice of margin settings, type of justification and a search and replace feature are all missing. Although a wordwrap feature is included, so that if a word straddles the end of a line it is automatically transferred to the start of the next line, it is so slow as to be almost pointless.

This is not a program to be recommended even as an introduction to word processing. Better word processor programs have been printed in the listings section of some magazines.

By comparison Tasword Two is probably the most commonly used business program for the Spectrum. It is produced by Tasman Software and is accompanied by a manual. It is, surprisingly, the only package of the four that has such a manual and included in it are two very useful sections, one on adapting Tasword Two to drive almost any printer interface currently on the market, and one on converting it to run from microdrive. Tasword Tutor, an instructional text file designed to help the user learn the commands, is also provided on the cassette.

One of the great drawbacks of word processors for the Spectrum has always been the 32-column screen width. Tasword uses a redefined character set which gives 64 characters per line. An option to display a 32-column window in normal size is available if the characters are too difficult to read on your television.

The program boasts an impressive list of features that are found usually only on much more expensive programs. Those include wordwrap, setting of margins, rejustification of text, block copy and move, replacement of any word by another word, and control of the print type for printers other than daisy wheels.

The first time it is loaded you should establish the control codes for your printer. That is done by pressing SYMBOL SHIFT A to stop the program and display a menu of loading, saving and printing options. Option g is used to redefine the graphics on keys 1-8 as printer control codes. On first loading they are set with codes for the Epson FX-80 typefaces.

That menu is also used to enter Basic while retaining Tasword Two in memory so that it can be modified to run from a microdrive. Full instructions on the necessary changes are given in the manual. Once the changes are made and the program run the same menu is used to save the customised version.

The last two lines on the screen are used to display a status report on the text, including the position of the cursor by line and column, and whether the right justification, insert mode and wordwrap are on and off, as well as a pointer to select EDIT for help. Selecting EDIT produces a list of commands and their functions together with an option for a further list. Those are taken directly from the manual.

At the start the wordwrap is on, the text is justified - in other words it appears as the text does on this page - and is overwritten at the cursor's position. The wordwrap is fast enough for letters not to be lost while it is functioning. Wordwrap can be switched off. The justification can also be turned off allowing text to be justified on the left but ragged on the right. A third option allows lines of text to be centred. Individual lines can also be justified or unjustified. The only automatic justification, however, is on new text. If text is deleted then the spaces remain until the paragraph is reformed.

One very useful feature enables you to mark blocks of text and then to move or copy them to other points in the text.

Another powerful feature is the Replace, or find, command.

At its price Tasword Two is an outstanding program. It has managed to overcome many of the inherent disadvantages of the Spectrum in providing features which one would normally expect on much more expensive programs. One notable feature for commercial use not included is a mail-merge facility. That has now been corrected and a Tasmerge program that will allow data to be taken from a Masterfile file should be available soon.

The third offering is Micropen from Contrast Software. The program is remarkably easy to use. All the text editing commands require only the CAPS SHIFT and a numeric key. The features offered include justification, reformatting of paragraphs after deletions, user-defined graphics and a search facility.

Unlike the other programs there is not even the most basic of status reports. You are left to remember your position within the text. That makes using the option to move to any particular line difficult. Otherwise movement through the text is achieved using the cursor keys.

When new text is added the existing text is automatically reformatted. However, when text is deleted the paragraph needs to be reformatted manually. The justification can be turned on and off. The search option can be used to search for any string in the text. If you search for a non-existent string the program will continue looking forever and to escape you must break into the program. Numerical key 9 asks for the text to be entered and permits the entry of graphics characters - including user-defined.

The options to load, save, create, edit and print a file form a separate menu.

Once again the manual is supplied as a text file already held in memory and to use Micropen the manual has to be cleared from memory and a new file created. Another, more important, drawback is the program speed. The wordwrap is only slightly faster than that of Word Processor and even a two-fingered typist will soon overtake the program. Against that must be balanced its case of use. It would, possibly, make a good introductory program to demonstrate some of the facilities available on 'grown up' word processors. As a business program it compares favourably with the Quicksilva Word Processor.

Spectext from McGraw-Hill promises a great deal including all the features of a full word processor, a filing system and a Mailmerge facility as well as being microdrive compatible. In fact Spectext consists of four programs - Spectext, Specfile, Specmerge and print mod on one side of the cassette.

On opening the case, however, you are likely to be disappointed. There is no printed manual. Instead a leaflet is provided explaining how to load the program followed by the first of two text files that comprise the manual. That can be printed on a full-size printer, although it seems that only the Kempston, Hilderbay and Interface 1 interfaces are supported by the software. I was unable to get it to work with my Tasman interface and had to resort to the ZX printer. That resulted in a manual eight feet long.

On loading the program displays a menu which offers eight options: 1 - Enter text; 2 - Load text; 3 - Print text; 4 - Read/Edit text; 5 - Save text; 6 - Reorganize; 7 - Switch printers; 8 - Catalogue. You select the first option to start typing in text.

A special keyboard-scanning routine is used to speed the Spectrum response. It works so well that even the fastest typist is unlikely to outstrip it. New lines, paragraphs and pages are inserted by pressing ENTER and 1, 2 or 3 respectively or z - to return to the main menu - followed by ENTER again. That slows down the input and somewhat defeats the purpose of the keyboard-scanning routine.

The biggest disadvantage lies in the way it displays text on the screen. It is unformatted and is effectively treated as one continuous line of characters interspersed with graphics characters to show where paragraphs and pages start. The text is formatted as it is printed but cannot be justified.

To edit text option 4 is used. That allows commands to be used at two levels. At the first level text can be added, deleted or printed from the cursor position to the end. Those functions are accessed by a, d or c respectively. Pressing z leads to the next level. An indicator is used to show the current option, ENTER is used to toggle between the search and replace options and a block move facility. Before text can be moved it must be deleted. For some reason the move option moves the last piece of deleted text.

Options 2 and 5 are used to load and save text. Both microdrive and cassette can be used. Using the microdrive facility to store text still leaves the program to be loaded from tape.

The text is printed using option 3 and option 6 allows the user to change some of the parameters such as the number of characters per line, the left margin and number of lines per page as well as offering automatic page numbering and double spacing.

Specific is used to set up a simple database for subsequent use with Specmerge. Like Spectext it is run from a main menu which allows the database to be designed, to add, sort or search and edit the file, as well as the usual save and load facilities. The design option is used to establish the number of fields in the database and their names. Once designed the data is entered via the add option. That prompts for the fields one at a time and also shows the available space; to finish adding data the STOP Function key is used. The records can be searched for any string or any field edited using the search/edit option. That permits unwanted records to be deleted. Sort allows the database to be sorted into alphanumeric order on any one field.

Specmerge allows a specially prepared text file to be merged with fields from Specfile. An up arrow followed by a series of numbers, corresponding to the fields in Specfile, and a second up arrow marks the places in the text where the contents of those fields will be inserted. The feature makes the reproduction of personalised letters very easy.

Of the four programs only Tasword and Spectext can be said to approach the standard necessary for business use. Spectext itself is a useful but limited word processor but the addition of Specmerge improves it. Unfortunately it is not improved sufficiently to challenge Tasword, unless mailing-list facilities are the main requirement.

Quicksilva Ltd, 13 Palmerston Road, Southampton, SO1 1LL.

Tasman Software, 17 Hartley Crescent, Leeds, LS6 2LL.

Contrast Software, Farnham Road, West Liss, Hampshire GU33 6JU.

McGraw-Hill Book Co Ltd, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 2QL.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

A survey of extras

Unlike games software which, in general, achieves volume sales rapidly before virtually disappearing, applications software tends to sell steadily and have a much longer life. Many applications programs are developed and improved during their life. With the Sinclair Business User section just over a year old it is a good time to look at the updates to some of the programs we have reviewed.

The very first review in December 1983 was of the OCP Finance Manager for the 48K Spectrum. That has been upgraded to include microdrive compatibility, allowing both the program and data to be saved separately to face. That set up routine is only used when loading from the original tape.

Saving the program - to tape or microdrive - also saves the printer interface codes to give a personalised the program the option of cataloguing a cartridge is not included.

The +80 version of the program, for use with full-sized printers, has had a further refinement added. Previously the program could only be used if you had the Kempston Centronics interface, now it has been programmed to offer a choice of 15 different interfaces - ten Centronics and five RS232 - or to set up the codes for any other printer inter-any microdrive attached. The program is supplied on casette and still includes a facility for saving to tape. Although the program can now be run from microdrive and data files loaded within version for subsequent use. The print-out for the +80 version shows the date of transaction, the account, the details, separate columns for debit and credit and the balance. That compares with the date, account, amount and balance on the ordinary version.

OCP has upgraded its other programs in the same way. According to Francis Ainley the good news for QL owners is that he is working on an enhanced program allowing a class heading, in addition to the account and description, to be used with the transaction. The program is likely to feature some sort of windowing.

Upgrading to microdrive compatibility was not possible with the Transform Sales/Purchase Ledger/Invoicing package as it was designed to run using twin microdrives anyway. Instead, improvements have been made to the Accounting program. Previously it was only possible to produce an overall total figure for all, or some, of the accounts by loading each account separately, noting totals and adding them up. Now a series of extra menus allows the list of accounts to be displayed and any combination of those to be selected and totalled. Accounts can be erased from a cartridge as another option. The package was reviewed in the November issue.

The Kemp Stock Control program was reviewed in the August issue and version 3.0 has been released recently. Like any other programs which have been improved Stock Control is now microdrive compatible but the improvements do not end there. It now has the option of selecting a full-sized printer and a 64-column printout.

If a full-sized printer is to be used and your printer interface needs software to drive the printer then that must be loaded each time before the program. The option of a full-sized printer must also be made every time. Although the resulting printouts are more widely spaced they are no more informative than those on the ZX printer.

Other improvements include making the length of the stock numbers and descriptions user definable. The stock number can be up to ten characters long while the stock description, previously 20 characters, can now be set at any length between 4 and 30 characters. Of course, the more characters used for those fields the less room there will be for the records.

Another improvement now allows up to two decimal places to be used for stock quantities. With those improvements this is now the most flexible stock control program available on the Spectrum.

It is difficult to imagine many improvements which could be made to Tasword II, the word processing program from Tasman Software. Instead, Tasman has released its equivalent of Wordstar's Mailmerge program called Tasmerge. The program is designed to operate with Tasword II and the Campbell Systems Masterfile and allows you to insert names and addresses from a Masterfile database into a standard document produced using Tasword II.

Now that it has a mailmerge facility Tasword II is once again streets ahead of its nearest rival, although the Softek word processor for the Wafadrive will be a strong contender if rumours of a database and a mailmerge facility are true. With Tasword II and Masterfile included as part of the microdrive/interface 1 Expansion Pack Tasmerge has a whole new market.

Speaking of Masterfile, that has been improved since it was reviewed last February. The latest version - version nine - comes in a smart plastic case and now includes MF Print which allows Masterfile to print to full-sized printers. That is done by allowing the user to set up and save the outline report exactly as it is to be printed. The blank report must then be loaded before printing out the selected records.

Unlike the ordinary report formats for the ZX printer only one report can be held in memory at one time. Others must be loaded when needed. In addition numeric data can be printed in a variety of formats including integer, two decimal places, with commas showing thousands and prefixing any character such as a currency sign. With those improvements the best database for the Spectrum is now even better.

Campbell Systems, 15 Rous Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex IG9 6BL.

Kemp Ltd, 43 Muswell Hill, London N10 3PN.

OCP Ltd, 4 High Street, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire SL9 9QB.

Tasman Software, Springfield House, Hyde Terrace, Leeds LS2 9LN.

Transform Ltd 41 Keats House, Porchester Mead, Beckenham, Kent.

A WORD IN YOUR SPECTRUM

The Spectrum is under-estimated as a word processing machine, says John Wase. Here he reviews eight programs in support of his argument.

Word processing does not require much computer power. PipeDream on the new Z-88 uses exactly the same Z-80 chip as all versions of the venerable Spectrum. Thus the Spectrum, too, should, in theory, provide good word processing facilities, although in practice there are limitations like memory. A 48K Spectrum has around 41K for both program and text file, around 110K for the 128K version, and the screen display at only 32 columns.

Nevertheless, I found eight readily-available packages, plus variants for various models, of assorted prices, features, sophistication and complexity. Each has been written with some particular purpose in mind and all have virtues and vices associated with what is, after all, a compromise, for no word processing program suits everyone or all applications.

The constraints of the 32-column screen are overcome in a variety of ways. In some programs text lines continue along a second or third display line and end with some recognisable symbol, while in others the screen is re-defined to up to 80 characters per line, further augmented by multiple lines or sideways scrolling, giving as many as 148 characters per printer line.

While it is possible to provide a good deal of the information about the packages in tabular form, it really gives little feeling for the strong and weak points, the aims and the overall success of each package. Therefore I have chosen a combination of tables and comment to provide sufficient information to guide you in choosing packages suitable for your needs. The packages are Mini-Office, a suite of programs for younger children; Ramprint, an add-on printer interface with integral word processor; Spectral Writer, bundled with Wafadrive; WordMaster; Word Manager; The Last Word; The Writer and finally, the Tasword family. They are listed in table one, along with the outstanding features of each package, the cost and supplier.

The easiest thing to do is to take them in groups. First, Mini-Office, which has a very simple set of instructions on a cassette-sized book; interpretation by an adult will be necessary. There is a simple test piece to be typed-in; it appeared in big letters an inch or more high in yellow on a black background on my old TV; it is very easy for a child to write a simple letter but with very little more scope.

The normal mode is insert and there is also a crude copy, so letters or lines can be added or deleted; crude tabs complete the features. The main menu offers the usual save, verify, load or options with a further choice of double height, double width, margin setting and characters per line.

It could have been an excellent program to introduce a child to an integrated suite had it been revamped but there are no facilities to use a printer other than the obsolete Sinclair gadget or compatibles, and the other options integrate badly into the word processor. You would need a suitable printer for your child to make the most of it.

The next pair are proper programs, both intended for the serious user, and both released relatively early. Tasword 2, a development of Tasword on the ZX-81, provides a 64-character line, a fixed text length of 320 lines - 10-and-a-bit pages of double-spaced A4. Spectral Writer is similar but with squarer letters some say much more legible. In both programs insertion is by opening a word or a line and then re-justifying; there is no auto insert mode.

LINE AND COLUMN

Line and column are given on-screen but there is no word count. The cursor will move by line, character, or to the start or finish of the text; in Tasword 2 it is very slow. Word wrap is automatic, characters and lines can be deleted, blocks can be moved and copied and there is a crude search and replace.

Text can be justified with smooth or ragged right margin and centred and margins can be set for tables but there are no tabs in Tasword 2 and no headers, footers or auto-page numbering, no mail-merge, conditional printing or macros; just start and finish lines, one copy only. You can put eight printer codes in the program at once and change them whenever you like.

Both programs are good, straightforward, very simple word processors. You can achieve professional results very quickly Spectral Writer scores by having tabs, a line-end bell and is a little slicker but it normally is only bundled with Wafadrive, Tasword 2 is ubiquitous and bundled with Microdrives.

The chief advantage of both programs is that they are very simple; much is in Basic and is easily user-adapted. The major disadvantage is that printer control codes in the text destroys WYSIWYG concept unless you adopt low cunning or a patch. For simple letters of only a few pages they are easy and adequate.

The other processors are, in general, more sophisticated and it is probably easier to deal with their main features in a large table and just comment briefly on their strengths and weaknesses. The simplest is probably Ramprint, a printer interface and joystick port with a built-in word processor on ROM. I found the documentation brief but the gadget easy to use.

Although it contains most features one needs, there are disadvantages. It will work only with tape or Microdrives, for instance, and it will display only 32 columns when you are entering text, making complex work almost impossible, although it will display a 64-column screen to show you what the work will be like at the end.

That apart, having the works in an EPROM means that there is no software to load; plug it in, type one command and go. For straightforward documents, also those needing underlining, italics and other such fancy bits, even page numbering, it works and works well.

Word-Master again is for the Spectrum owner who has no discs. It works well with tape or Microdrive and an EPROM-driven interface. Within limitations I found a program which was specifically aimed at crude desk-top publishing. The documentation could be improved and I did not particularly like its 64-column character set. A further problem is that right justification could not be implemented on-screen, although was satisfactory when printed; that does not help DTP layout.

Against that, several files can be held in memory at once, page numbers, headers and footers are catered for and printer control codes are handled beautifully, either in a command line which does not print but affects the text below or as special characters for the more common sorts, so that H2O can be printed readily without upsetting justification.

PICTURES

Pictures can be incorporated with the graphic commands and text can be printed either to the right or to the left of it; again, instructions are a little sparse. Graphmate, a separate, stand-alone program, produces bar charts or pie charts easily but with provision for labelling axes left to Word-Master. The programs are independent and the products of Graphmate have to be saved before incorporation.

Cardex also supplied Headliner on a separate tape. It will produce headlines in a variety of styles for subsequent incorporation. This is a useful suite as it stands; further development and the production of disc/128K versions using more interfaces would make it still better.

Word Manager 4 is aimed at a different end-user, evident from its being bundled with Mail and Address Manager II. The review version 4.2 has a number of improvements over earlier issues, including a completely re-written Address Manager II. All saves and loads are in Basic and I liked particularly the single keypress to modify and transfer everything to disc. The 64-column character set looked almost like script, unlike any of the others; I liked it. The normal screen is bright. Lines longer than 64 characters are wrapped round and shown on the line below - not bright.

The instruction book was adequate. Some features were easy to use but I did not like the constant switching between modes to use cursors and delete, the lack of on-screen prompts - particularly caps - or the way in which paragraphs were completed before on-screen justification took place.

Page numbering is there but not headers or footers. Address Manager II is a database specific for Word Manager; Mail Manager takes the text from Word Manager and the names and addresses from Mail Manager and integrates them. There are conditional indices for Mr. Mrs. M/s or Miss but no real conditional printing is available.

For circulation of simple club letters or even, at a pinch, a short club magazine, this would do the trick satisfactorily if you get used to the vagaries involved in editing and, at the price which includes all three programs, it is unbeatable.

In contrast, The Last Word has a very well-produced and extensive manual. I found it very easy to use. Again, all the loads and saves are in Basic but you will have to type-in some new lines - supplied - to get it working from Microdrive or disc; a novice might not like this.

The screen display is changeable from 40, 48, 60 or 80 characters per line - not too good on a monitor, better on a large television set where the slight fuzz causes the eye to assume a good deal. It has most of the features one might expect, like headers, footers, page numbers, selected printing from Basic and mail-merge, with its own data files.

Because lines are terminated by a carriage return symbol there is no insert mode; you have to split a line to insert letters or words. Screen refresh is a trifle slow and the program is 48K, although the author says that there is the possibility of a 128K program in the future.

That said, everything else is good. Control codes do not disturb justification; by screen wrap-around you can get up to 148 characters per line; formatting is very flexible, exiting into Basic to insert your own routines is encouraged and examples given.

Tutor files loaded from tape help you to learn to manipulate text and load and save mail-merge information. Although I had never used it previously and am very familiar with another processor, I found the keys logical and liked the program.

NO COLOURS

The Writer is in two versions, 48K and 128K. Although Softek was very helpful on the telephone and promised to send both programs, plus The Artist, plus a pre-release version of The Filer, they did not arrive in time for this review. Fortunately I was able to borrow a 48K version of The Writer. It is well-presented with a good instruction book. No colours are used; the screen is uniformly white letters on a black background and looks very smart.

The 64 characters a line lettering is clear, square rather like Spectral Writer - and easy to read. The normal text manipulations are on symbol or extended mode and the program starts in insert mode. Press "Edit" and move the arrow over the top-line menu; up comes an overlay menu with obvious choices for all the things like file handling, saving and so on.

Printing includes mail-merge, conditional printing and can include calculations. All in all, a very impressive package. I found it easy to use, too, and liked it. The 128K version contains a pagemaker facility which imports pictures from The Artist. I had hoped to be able to look at this, too, and compare it to the Word-Master DTP facilities.

Finally, the Tasword series. Tasword 3 uses the same black on white character set as Tasword 2 - adequate and readable but scarcely exciting - but there the similarity ends. Because, unlike several of the other programs, all loads and saves are in machine code, there are a number of versions to fit various machines and devices, including Microdrive. Opus and Disciple discs, but there is no tape version, because to fit in all the features and still keep a respectable length file, the main menu is fed in as an overlay; it is frustrating to have to wait seven seconds for it to load from Microdrive or Opus.

All the standard features are present; mail-merge from Masterfile or from its own address lists produced from within the program, headers, footers, pagination, plenty of control codes to send, print several text files sequentially, print multiple copies, customise program, overtype - standard - or insert mode, word count, space remaining - do not fill it too tightly, though.

The main menu is, like all the Spectrum Taswords, accessed by symbol shift and A; the rest is easy. The manual is well-printed and laid-out and a tutor file is included. The 128K versions are almost exactly the same, except for the control key for insertion and some tidying as the Amstrad Spectrums no longer have symbols on the keys.

The main menu appears instantly and the text file is large, between 40 and 50 pages of double-spaced A4, which is a tremendous advantage if you write complicated documents and need to keep referring to what has gone before. The new +3 version appears similar to the user but contains code enabling a spellchecker to work and the extended mode bug which locks the main menu has been fixed.

The biggest disadvantage is the lack of justification when control codes are inserted - redeemed by a patch from Seven Stars Software; against this is the ease of use and the fact that Tasword and Masterfile are both available on a range of machines, even PC compatibles. Again, I liked Tasword; it works well and is good value.

Compared to most other machines, the choice of word processors on the Spectrum is wide and some are technically very good. There is no need to buy that new Amstrad or PC-compatible if all you want is a word processor, particularly if you have a +2 or a +3 with their good keyboards. After all, Tasword is very similar on the PC. Moreover, the PC will not play budget games as well when you are not using it.