5.0250 Bibliography & Notetaking SW (4/91)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 29 Jul 1991 21:51:27 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0250. Monday, 29 Jul 1991.
(1) Date: Fri, 19 Jul 91 13:10:45 MST (19 lines)
From: Skip <DUSKNOX@IDBSU>
Subject: Re: 5.0237 Rs: Biblio SW (Citation) ...
(2) Date: Thu, 25 Jul 91 08:17:08 MST (20 lines)
From: Dale <DUSKNOX@IDBSU>
Subject: Re: 5.0244 Note and Bibliography SW
(3) Date: Thu, 25 Jul 91 09:33:21 PDT (38 lines)
From: cbf@athena.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber)
Subject: Re: 5.0244 Note and Bibliography SW
(4) Date: Wed, 24 Jul 91 13:32:25 EDT (14 lines)
From: Jan Eveleth <EVELETH@YALEVM>
Subject: BilioStax
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 91 13:10:45 MST
From: Skip <DUSKNOX@IDBSU>
Subject: Re: 5.0237 Rs: Biblio SW (Citation); Number Words (2/38)
We've had the same experience with WP Citation here, too. The problem
is that this product is really just a huge patchwork of WP macros, and
anything that operates at that high of a level is not going to be
terribly speedy.
OTOH, for other approaches you have to factor in the time it would take
to boot your database, run a report and route it to a disk file, then
import the file into WP and format it. Turns out that for genuinely
useful databases (i.e., involving hundreds of citations or more), the
database route is still the faster. We rejected WP Citation on the
grounds of performance.
ELLIS 'SKIP' KNOX
Historian, Data Center Associate
Boise State University DUSKNOX@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------26----
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 91 08:17:08 MST
From: Dale <DUSKNOX@IDBSU>
Subject: Re: 5.0244 Note and Bibliography SW (1/19)
What Dale Patterson wants is two databases: one that will list the
bibliographic citation, and the other that will hold the notes on that
citation. Any database that is relational will do this trick.
The problem with most relational databases is that they don't handle
long, free-form notes very well. Here are two suggestions: askSam,
which will let you link records between databases; and Q&A, which in
version 4.0 will let you do the same. askSam gives you more flexibility
but is harder to learn (though not to use), while Q&A is amazingly
easy to use, more powerful than you would have expected at first glance,
and even has its own respectable word processor built in. They both
cost around the same -- in the $300s.
ELLIS 'SKIP' KNOX
Historian, Data Center Associate
Boise State University DUSKNOX@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 91 09:33:21 PDT
From: cbf@athena.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber)
Subject: Re: 5.0244 Note and Bibliography SW (1/19)
Basically what you are describing is Nota Bene,
which combines precisely this combination of
note-taking/bibliographic citation.
Charles Faulhaber
UC Berkeley
Subj: 5.0237 Rs: Biblio SW (Citation); Number Words (2/38)
Tom Rusk Vickery says,
"I bought Citation for WordPerfect and was really quite impressed
features until I tried to use it. As a trial run of a dozen or so entries,
I asked it to put them in one of the formats it "supports," and it began to
churn away at its task. After about fifteen minutes of churning, I decided
I wanted my computer back and cancelled the operation. My machine--a 386SX
16mHz--is no speed burner but it is faster than most machines in use today.
And if Citation takes that long to reformat a dozen or so entries on my
machine, it would take all night on a PC or XT or the equivalent."
I've been using Citation with a PS/2; the final format is slow,
but the "draft" format is much faster, and makes few errors.
Do you have the most recent version? It is faster than the
original. I find the program most helpful, since I always
forget or miss formatting details which it takes care of. I
could use an "intelligent" program though, which says, "THIS is
a book? You forgot the date [or whatever], idiot!"
Though learning the merge-file format is not a pleasure, using
"Citation" has cut down on returns for incorrect bibliographical
format. Word Perfect is a standard here, so using tools that
work with it is the simplest thing to do.
Leslie Morgan (morgan@loyvax1)
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 91 13:32:25 EDT
From: Jan Eveleth <EVELETH@YALEVM>
Subject: BilioStax
Did I miss something? I just called ProTem to get information about
BiblioStax software for the Mac and was told that it is "no longer
available". The person I spoke with couldn't give anymore details.
Does anyone else know what the story is? What about the health of
Pro/Tem Software?
--Jan Eveleth
Yale University
eveleth@yalevm