PaperClip

For other uses of "Paper clip", see Paper clip (disambiguation).
PaperClip
Original author(s) Steve Douglas
Initial release before 1985
Platform Commodore 64, 128, Atari 8 bit

PaperClip is a word processor for the Commodore 64, 128 (native mode), and Atari 8 bit personal computers.

The Commodore 64 version of PaperClip was written by Steve Douglas[1] and was rewritten for the Atari personal computer by Steve Ahlstrom and Dan Moore. The Atari version is based upon the editor in the Action! programming language by Clinton Parker. It had many changes but the fundamental data structure (double linked list of lines) never changed.

Both versions were published by Michael Reichmann's Batteries Included of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and by Ariolasoft in the United Kingdom.

PaperClip does not use word wrap to display text on the screen, which Ahoy!'s reviewer wrote was satisfactory for Commodore 64 users with 40-column displays but drew the ire of the reviewer for Whole Earth Software Catalog while highlighting OMNIWRITER's support for same.[2] The Commodore 64 version provides an 80-column preview mode with text that was legible on a computer monitor, and supported a wide variety of Commodore and non-Commodore printers. The software was supplied with a dongle, a hardware key used for copy protection that plugged into the DB-9 joystick port.[3] A keyless version was also available.

One unusual aspect of at least some PaperClip programs is that the Control key functioned more like on a hand-held calculator. You have to press and release the Control key, then press the key for the appropriate function.

PaperClip is also the name given to the text editor ROM portion of the Commodore PET Execudesk office suite. The ROM was written by Steve Douglas as well.

Reception

Ahoy! wrote that "PaperClip is one of the most comprehensive word processing programs for the C-64", but noted the $125 list price.[4] Antic stated that its staff abandoned other programs when PaperClip, "by far the best word processor ever available for the Atari" and "quite different from the" Commodore 64 version, arrived, and reported that they used it to prepare an entire issue of the magazine.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Ellison, Peter (February–March 1985). "Canada's Atari". ROM. p. 7. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Whole Earth Software Catalog". Why EASY SCRIPT from Commodore and PAPER CLIP from Batteries Included continue to sell for the Commodore 64 baffles me. They can't even manage to end lines on the screen without breaking words in the middle.
  3. ↑ Kevelson, Morton (January 1985). "Paper Clip". Ahoy!. pp. 44–46. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  4. ↑ Nath, Sanjiva K. (September 1984). "In Search Of... A Word Processor". Ahoy!. p. 11. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  5. ↑ Ciarolo, Michael; Friedland, Nat (May 1985). "Paperclip / State-of-the-art Atari word processing!". Antic. Retrieved 27 June 2014.


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