Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: dingebre@imp.sim.es.COM (David Ingebretsen)
Subject: REVIEW: NoteBook version 1.08
Message-ID: <1992Oct9.144941.20017@menudo.uh.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications
Keywords: text editing, ideas, sketchpad, graphics, commercial
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Reply-To: dingebre@imp.sim.es.COM (David Ingebretsen)
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 14:49:41 GMT
PRODUCT NAME
NoteBook version 1.08
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
This application mimics a standard three ring binder. One can
insert lined, blank, or graph pages, enter and import text, draw
"doodles" or import any standard native mode Amiga Graphics. The
resulting project can be printed and/or saved to disk.
[MODERATOR'S NOTE: Some non-native English speakers might not know
the word "doodle" used in this review. It means a little drawing or
sketch usually done for fun or out of boredom. For example,
students will often doodle in their notebooks during a boring class.
:-) -- Dan]
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Black Belt Systems
Address: 398 Johnson Road
Glasgow, MT 59230
Telephone: (800) 852-6442
FAX: (406) 367-AFAX
E-mail: ?
LIST PRICE
List Price: $39.95 US
I paid: $29.95
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
The only special hardware may be a deinterlacer ("flicker
fixer") board, since the program runs in interlace mode only.
Minimum RAM: 512k
Can run from a floppy
Works on all CPU's
SOFTWARE
None. It runs under DOS 1.3 and 2.0, although Black Belt
says that future versions may not run under 1.3.
COPY PROTECTION
None. The program installs easily on a hard disk.
REVIEW
NoteBook is an application that mimics a real live 3 ring notebook.
One can add pages of different kinds, put "paper clips" on pages to
mark them, and add tabs to divide sections. One can enter text
and/or doodle using the supplied "structured" drawing tools. It is
small and does what it claims to (rare these days).
The whole idea of NoteBook is to replace the stereotypical 3 ring
binder. It is an idea-catcher, doodle pad, and organizer. I found
it to be clever in conception and execution.
STARTUP!
When started, the notebook is empty, so add some pages. The page
type can be lined, blank, or graph, all with the option of "hole"
markers and the typical red line for a left margin. These are
present to inform the user where not to type if the notebook is to be
printed, punched, and put into a real notebook.
Enter some text. Pick the text gadget and you can type anywhere on
the page. A font is supplied that fits the line spacing or a
different proportional font can be used. Text is treated as an
object and, as such, can be picked and moved as a whole or joined to
another object.
There is a complete, albeit very basic, set of "structured" drawing
tools to doodle with. The line color and fill color are specified
by the user. I put the word "structured" in quotes because the
output is not really in a structured drawing format: it's just a
bitmap image as far as I can tell, BUT the lines and objects can be
manipulated and edited like any structured object. The objects can
be resized, joined to other objects, and saved individually.
NoteBook has the ability to import native mode (IFF ILBM) Amiga
graphics (well, native to the 1000, 500, 2000, and 3000). The image
is converted to a 4-shade, dithered, greyscale image. Again, it is
an object that can be moved, resized, etc.
PRINT!
The printing is where NoteBook is really weak. The printout is a
scaled bitmap of what you see on the screen. Because NoteBook only
operates in hi-res interlaced mode, the lines/text look very good on
screen. HOWEVER, when you scale the small notebook page up to full
size (8.5 x 11 inches), the nice thin lines get big and fat, and the
text is very lo-res and pixelized (jagged). This was very
disappointing. On screen, it looks great. Printed, it looks...
well, it looks bad.
INTERFACE!
This has the typical Black Belt interface. There are no menus nor a
menu bar with the standard gadgets. It opens a custom hi-res
interlaced screen and places two columns of gadgets on the right
hand side of the monitor. The notebook page is on the left hand
side of the monitor and fills about 3/4 of the screen vertically.
When a gadget is selected, a third column of gadgets appropriate to
the selected function appears just to the right of the page.
Although the interface only very loosely follows Commodore's User
Interface Style Guide, it is reasonably useful and intuitive.
MISC!
NoteBook will import text from an ASCII file. This is nice if you
want to edit your text in a different word processor with more
features. As I stated above, NoteBook will also import bitmaps. It
will save and load single pages, tab sections, or whole notebooks.
This facilitates transferring information from one notebook or
another. You can even save the current notebook page as an IFF/ILBM
image.
There's a "clipboard" where one can store objects then copy, cut,
and paste the objects somewhere else. As far as I can tell,
however, this clipboard is not the Amiga standard clipboard.
One other cute thing is the ability to highlight any graphic object
or text with a background color just like a highlighter pen.
DOCUMENTATION:
The book that come with NoteBook is well written, contains few
typos, and explains the features reasonably well. There is a short
introduction to the product and a complete reference section. The
disk holds a sample notebook that is very nice and really
demonstrates what the product can do.
LIKES AND DISLIKES
LIKES:
I like the concept. It is easy to use and fun. It seems to be a
very flexible tool that can be used for several things. For
example, I am using it as a diary and a notebook to organize
different tasks for my job, my involvement in my church, the
business I'm trying to get going, and household chores and tasks.
My daughter and I are using it to write the stories that we make
up. We can mix text and graphics in a fun way without the
complication of a word processor or DTP package.
DISLIKES:
I don't like the blockiness of the printout. I also dislike the
absence of the more standard screen structure and pull down menus,
although the gadgets in this application are very well done and
easy for even my daughter to use.
SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS:
I would like to see higher resolution printing. I would like
to see support for the compugraphic fonts that are available
in DOS 2.0.
I'd like better scaling on the printouts. The ruled lines are
too big and ugly and any diagonal lines in objects alias big
time.
I would like to be able to edit the fill color and outline
color of existing objects.
I would like to be able to iconify NoteBook from within the
application, not just at start time.
I would like automatic word wrapping of the text.
I would like to be able to import/export the books, sections,
pages, and objects as DR2D standard files. I can envision
circumstances where I would like to import NoteBooks into
a dtp.
I would like the standard Front/Back gadgets on a menu bar.
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
I have not used any similar products and am not sure if any exist.
BUGS
I found only a couple of bugs.
a. In version 1.08 (waiting for 1.10), I always get an extra
page when I print anything.
b. The text appears a little high on each line making the tops
of tall letters touch the line above.
SUPPORT
I have always been happy with Black Belt's support. I have
found that they listen to the customers and try to incorporate
the users' ideas into future revisions.
WARRANTY
There is the standard warranty to cover a bad disk. It lasts
30 days including shipping time. After 30 days, a small service
charge is levied as well as shipping to replace bad media.
CONCLUSIONS
I like NoteBook. It's a clever idea and is fun to use. My big wish
is to have better looking, higher resolution printouts. I would
recommend its purchase if only because the price is reasonable and
it is fun to use. I actually use this application on a day to day
basis! If you can stand to have the lo-res printing (hopefully to be
improved), it's a useful utility. Now, if we could only get a cheap
laptop, I'd use it for my "Day Timer".
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
No copyright. This file may be copied, transmitted, archived, read,
or burned, so long as nothing is added or removed.
Day Timer is probably copyright by the Day Timer people.
---
Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
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