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- ∙⓪G°⓪ ∙.O. Graphics, I°nc., a leading supplier
- ∙②of PC∙⑨-based typesetti°⑨ng software, and °②∙③Atari
- Corporation of ∙əSunnyvale°ə, CA
- have °③s∙⑧ign∙⑥ed an agre°⑥emen∙⑦t°⑦ to develop
- a low-co°⑧st, high-quality desktop
- publishing system based on the Atari
- Mega ST2 and ST4 computers and the
- Atari SLM8∙04 ∙las∙er∙ printer which was unveiled earlier this year
- and will be rel° ea°s°ed∙ in the fall quarter.The product is based° on G.O.
- Graphics'
- Deskset typesetting software which is currently available for MS-°DOS
- computers and is compatible with Com♪
- pugraphic typesetting systems. Deskset
- is a professional-level typesetting
- package which is popular among
- typeshops, printing firms, graphics
- studios and publishers. It provieds all the
- functionality of dedicated typesetting
- systems which typically cost $25,000 to
- $50,000.Deskset uses genuine Com♪
- pugraphic scalable outline fonts, which
- will be incorporated into the Atari
- system. Each font can be
- set in 134 sizes from 5-point to 72-point in half-point increments. Any
- font can be set in reverse video (white type on a black background) or
- condesnced or expanded in half-point increments. The kerning capabilities
- of the fonts are unique in a personal computer-based product. The font data
- includes automatic sectored kerning, which is algorithmic kerning based on
- character shapes. User-definable kerning pairs may be specified by the user
- to supplement the sectored kerning, with 256 unique kerning pairs per
- font.The Atari system will also utilize Deskset's WYSIWYG technology.
- According to Dave Price, G.O. Graphics Product Manager, Deskset's WYSIWYG
- screen is generated from the same scalable outline font data that is used
- to print the page. You can see the actual kerning and letterspacing that
- you'll get when the page is printed or typeset. This capability is highly
- desirable and does not exist in other packages available for the Macintosh
- and IBM.Additional benefits from the G.O. Graphics technology is that font
- cartridges and bitmap fonts are not used. The fonts are not downloaded to
- the printer and there is no RAM required in the printer. Instead, the page
- is built in the RAM of the Mega ST and output to the laser printer as
- full-page bitmap through a DMA port in the MEGA ST. Because there are no
- fonts and no RAM required in the printer and a page description language is
- not used, the Atari printer can sell at a favorable price.Another advantage
- is tha printing throughput time is extremely fast for two reasons. The DMA
- printer interface accesses the page bitmpa directly and there is no
- processing overhead as with systems which use page description languages.
- The printing method is similar to that used in the MS-DOS version of
- DESKSET, which uses a 2-megabyte JLaser Plus from Tall Tree Systems which
- drives most laser printer engines directly.The Atari system will generate
- high-quality typography because all of the features which exist in the
- MS-DOS version of Deskset will be ported to the Atari version running under
- TOS, the Atari operating system. It will feature linguistic-based
- hyphenation in eight languages supported by user-modifiable exception
- hyphenation dictionaries; autmotic and manual character compensation(white
- space redution and tracking); floating tabs; auto tabs; minimum, maximum
- and preferred settings for wordspace and letterspace expansion; negative
- and positive letterspacing for attractive justification; pagination with
- widow/orphan control; rules, boxes and graophics support; automatic indents
- (including hanging indents); automatic columnar text flow with text
- runarounds; control of minimum number of characters before and after a
- hyphen; and control of maximum number of consectuively hyphenated lines.
- Deskset currently uses typesetting commands identical to those found in
- Compugraphic typesetting systems. G.O. Graphics is removing the commands
- and incorporationg the TOS windows-mouse-icons-menus interface for an
- interactive WYSIWYG product.An option planned for the system is the
- capability to typeset files from the Mega ST to approximately 24,000
- Compugraphic MCS typesetting systems installed in the United States. The
- MS-DOS Deskset product currently drives a Compugraphic typesetter directly
- via driver software and a board manufactured by G.O. Graphics, or via a
- compatible diskette written in MCS disk format. Output from the Atari laser
- printer would be an exact proof of the typeset page bacause the
- Compugraphic fonts, character sets, couting algorithms and width valuse are
- identical to those found in Compugraphic typesetting systems.G.O. Graphics
- has developed text-processing systems since 1973. It has provided
- communications and interfacing products on an OEM basis to such firms as
- Compugraphic, Allied Linotype, Varityper and Xerox. It began shipping
- Deskset in August, 1986. For further information Contact G.O. Graphics, 18
- Ray Avenue, Burlington, MA 01803 (617) 229-8900 or Atari Corporation, 1196
- Borregas AVenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 745-2367.