                         GEM(R) 1st Word Plus(TM)

                        README File - Release 2.00

                               February 1988

This file supplements the information contained in the GEM 1st Word Plus 
User's Guide.  It includes information on the following subjects:

* format files and page layout
* draft and near-letter-quality output
* graphics 
* memory considerations
* GEM/3 character set availability
* Hewlett-Packard(R) printer fonts
* manual additions and corrections
* printing ASCII files
* GEM(R) 1st Mail(TM)


FORMAT FILES AND PAGE LAYOUT

As noted in Section 4 of the guide (under "Saving Default Settings" and 
"Format Files"), the page layout and ruler settings in the format files 
override anything you set with the Save Defaults command.  To save default 
ruler and page layout settings for files whose extensions match those of 
the format files (.DOC, .FAX, .LET, .MEM), make the changes in the format 
files themselves. The format files are contained in the FORMATS folder in 
the GEMAPPS folder.


DRAFT AND NEAR-LETTER-QUALITY OUTPUT

This information applies only if your printer can produce output in both 
draft and near-letter-quality (NLQ) mode.

The kind of output you produce is determined by the file OUTPUT.CFG, which 
is located in the GEMAPPS folder.  As it comes from the package, GEM 1st 
Word Plus produces draft output.

To produce NLQ output, copy the file OUTPUT.NLQ (in the GEMAPPS folder) 
to OUTPUT.CFG.  To do this from the GEM Desktop, drag the OUTPUT.NLQ icon 
to another position in the same window. When the Name Conflict During Copy 
dialog is displayed, enter "OUTPUT.CFG" in the Copy's Name field.

You can switch to NLQ mode from the DOS command line by typing this 
command:

  COPY OUTPUT.NLQ OUTPUT.CFG

To restore draft mode printing, use the techniques described above to copy 
the file OUTPUT.DFT (also in the GEMAPPS folder) to OUTPUT.CFG.

NOTE: You must copy the files BEFORE you start GEM 1st Word Plus and 

create the .OUT file you will print.  The "switch" for draft and NLQ 
printing is stored in the .OUT file.

Remember that OUTPUT.CFG must be present for you to run GEM 1st Word Plus.
Remember also not to delete OUTPUT.DFT or OUTPUT.NLQ if you want to be 
able to switch modes.


GRAPHICS

Graphics mode is a property of each window individually.  You can have one 
window open with graphics mode turned on and another window open with 
graphics mode turned off.

If your graphics rectangle extends across a page break, the graphics and 
text will print on separate pages. To avoid this, put a conditional page 
break alongside the graphics rectangle.  See p. 4-22 of the GEM 1st Word 
Plus User's Guide for a description of conditional page breaks.

If you edit a graphics file you have used in a GEM 1st Word Plus 
document so that it is bigger VERTICALLY, the additional part of the 
graphics file will overlap some of the text that was below the original 
picture or image.  You cannot edit this text, and it will be deleted if 
you delete the picture or image.  To avoid losing text, take these 
steps:

   1. When you edit the picture or image in your graphics application, 
      use the Save as command to save it under a new name.
   2. When you open the document in GEM 1st Word Plus, use the Delete 
      Picture command to delete the original picture or image from the 
      document.
   3. Use the Read .GEM Picture or Read .IMG Image command to read the 
      edited graphics file into the document in place of the original.


MEMORY CONSIDERATIONS

If you have GEM 1st Word Plus on a hard disk, we strongly recommend you 
always use a spill file.  (See p. 3-2 of the GEM 1st Word Plus User's 
Guide.)  Spill files reduce the likelihood of your running out of memory 
(RAM) when creating large documents.

If GEM 1st Word Plus displays an alert that you are about to run out of 
memory, immediately do the following:

   1. Choose the Save and Resume command for the document you are 
      working on.
   2. Display the Graphics Menu and turn OFF graphics mode. If you have 
      more than one window open, turn off graphics mode in each window. 
      If you still see the memory alert, continue to the next step.
   3. If the spelling checker is on, choose the End Spell Check command 
      to turn it off.

If none of these steps makes enough memory available, you might have a 
memory-resident utility or desk accessory running at the same time as 
GEM 1st Word Plus.  If that is the case, disable the utility or desk 
accessory.


GEM/3 CHARACTER SET AVAILABILITY

The full range of characters in the GEM/3 character set (illustrated on 
p. 3-4 of the manual) may not be available for all printers.  Consult 
your printer manuals to see what characters they support.


HEWLETT-PACKARD PRINTER FONTS

Documents produced in GEM 1st Word Plus will be printed in the Courier
typeface.  However, Hewlett-Packard LaserJet(R) printers may not support 
all text styles (bold, italic, superscript, and subscript, etc.) and 
character pitches supported by GEM 1st Word Plus. The 10-pitch roman 
typeface may be the only one resident in the printer.

To use text styles and character pitches that are not resident in your 
printer, you must have the appropriate Hewlett-Packard font cartridges.


MANUAL ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

The discussion of finding and replacing text in Section 3 of the GEM 1st 
Word Plus User's Guide does not mention a special case: the at-sign (@).  
Simply put, the rule for at-signs is as follows: do not use them as the 
first character in the FIND, REPLACE, or WITH fields. When the at-sign is 
the first character in the field, it and any subsequent characters do not 
appear in the field, and the search results can be unpredictable.

On p. 3-25 of the guide, the paragraph beginning "Do not enter a space 
after..." is incorrect.  It should read as follows:

    At the end of a paragraph, do not enter any spaces between the last 
    character and the <Carriage Return>. The <Carriage Return> must 
    immediately follow the last character in the paragraph for it to be 
    recognized as the end-of-paragraph marker.

On p. 3-26, add the following to the bullet entry on reformatting whole 
documents:

    In documents with more than one ruler, GEM 1st Word Plus reformats 
    only over the scope of those rulers that have been changed since the 
    last time the document was saved.

When indenting paragraphs with [F9] (see p. 4-19), make sure there are no 
blank spaces at the beginning of the paragraph.  Blank spaces can cause 
the paragraph to reformat to an uneven left margin when you press [F10].


PRINTING ASCII FILES

When you create an ASCII (non-WP mode) file in GEM 1st Word Plus and 
then go to GEM Output, you should print the ASCII file itself, not the 
.OUT version of the file.  Here are the steps required for printing an 
ASCII file in GEM Output:

   1. In GEM Output, select the .OUT file name in the output list and 
      then click on the Remove Name button in the toolkit.  This removes 
      the .OUT file's name from the output list.
   2. Click on the Add Name button to display the Item Selector.
   3. In the Item Selector, double-click on the name of the ASCII file.  
      This adds the ASCII file's name to the output list.
   4. Click on the Start button (or press Alt-S) to start printing the 
      ASCII file.


GEM 1ST MAIL

GEM 1st Mail displays an erroneous "Disk full" alert when you follow this 
sequence of events:

   1. When GEM 1st Mail starts, you enter a name in the MERGE FROM FILE 
      Item Selector.  (You are following the default scenario of creating 
      an output file.)
   2. When GEM 1st Mail displays the Output File dialog, you realize you 
      have entered the wrong filename in the MERGE FROM FILE Item 
      Selector. To terminate this merge sequence, you click on the Cancel 
      button.
   3. You choose the Merge From command to start a new merge, and you name 
      a file in the MERGE FROM FILE Item Selector.
   4. GEM 1st Mail displays the Output File dialog.  You click on the OK 
      button this time.

At this point the "Disk full" alert is displayed.  To recover from this 
error condition, you must quit GEM 1st Mail and re-start the program.  You 
can anticipate this situation by quitting and re-starting immediately 
after you Cancel out of the Output File dialog (step 2 above).

The discussion of multiple-column printing (pp. 2-21 and A-2 of the GEM 
1st Mail User's Guide) should be amended as follows:

* The rulers in the form letter should not be wider than the first ruler 
  in the command file.

* The form letter can have only one pitch.  All of the rulers in the 
  command file and form letter must be of the same pitch.


                                TRADEMARKS 

GEM is a registered trademark and GEM 1st Word Plus, GEM 1st Mail, GEM 
Draw Plus, and GEM WordChart are trademarks of Digital Research Inc.  
1st Word Plus and 1st Mail are trademarks of GST Holdings Ltd.  Hewlett-
Packard and LaserJet are registered trademarks of Hewlett-Packard 
Corporation.

