Does anyone happen to have the DTP program - Pagestream 5.1 (Pro) - and could tell me whether the interface is in German?

I've 5.2.1 (09.5.2022) in German. What's the "pro" version?

> What's the "pro" version?

According to the vendor:

"The professional version of PageStream includes a number of add ons that were sold seperately as well as advanced typographic and graphics capabilities."
https://pagestream.org/?id=1235

Quote:

Great.. thanks !

To be more precise about what PageStream Pro features I added some details onto an older thread - New version of MorphOS Pagestream! on the lower part of page #1, but for ease of access here is what I added that refers to PageStream v5.1 Professional ...

The Pro version adds the TextFX, Borders 1 & 2 and Gary's Effects which originally came on floppy disks as separate authors contributions that enhanced PageStream v3 to allow their functionality to be utilised, that added onto the PageStream software. Also included are template labels, 'Quikforms' business invoice templates, along with other documents in template formats.

TextFX - allows you to make fancy text effects, like spiral shapes with words, wrap text around shapes/arcs, etc
(see - TextFX - PageStream link
Borders - are patterns you lay over documents like musical staves around the border of a page for a fancy certificate, etc. You can also Create Your Own Borders
(see Borders 1 & 2 - PageStream link
Gary's Effects - are fairly, by modern standards, image effects to enhance a document, such as, Average,  Blur,  Convolve,  Equalize, Gamma, Histogram, Hue/Saturation, Maximum, Median, Minimum, Solarize, Thresholdlike
(see Gary's Effects - PageStream link

Here are a list of some of the templates in the Home & Office folders, there is also a DirectTemplates folder with 19 sub-folders of disk labels, a Templates folder that has those couple of Quikform templates in it, along wiitth a ZIP disk inlay printable replacement label template, CD inlay case template, Business cards template, are also included, but they may be somewhat past their sell/use by date now

PageStream/Documents/Home&Office sub-folders listed below
School> (folder contents)
= = = = =
SeatingChart
AttendanceSheet
AnswerSheet

Miscellaneous> (folder contents)
= = = = = = = = =
Appointments
PlannerWeek2
MessageSlip
GiftCertificate
Envelope.No10
ShippingLabels
Calendar
RoutingSlip
AwardCertificate
Resume
PlannerYear
PlannerWeek1
Letterhead
TelephoneLog

Home> (folder contents)
= = = =
ThankYouCard
RedHall_Menu
PrestoClassical
PoolChemicals
MenuPlanner
Invitation
HomeContentsList
GroceryList
ChoreList
VideoSchedule

Office->Fax> (folder contents)
= = = =
Urgent
StandardHalf
Standard

Business> (folder contents)
= = = = = =
Invoice3
Quotation
DebitCreditMemo
EmployeeTimeSheet
EmploymentApplication
PettyCashReconciliation
OrderForm
Agenda
Invoice2
Invoice4
PurchaseOrder
PurchaseOrderLog
Invoice1
DebitMemo
QuotationRequest
JobEstimate
Statement
CreditMemo
AssetInventory
PettyCashVoucher
Memo
InterOfficeMemo

Lessons> (folder contents)
= = = = =
Lesson-2-DotLeaders.pgs
Lesson-1.pgs
Biotech (learning how to use PageStream) Lesson/tutorial

I still have those original add-on (Pro) floppy disks for v3 and v4, though I also bought the Pro version of 4.1.5.6 which came on CD, as well as a few separate utilities for PageStream that weren't actually part of the Pro package, like fonts, calendars, invoices, labels and images etc..

Confirming what is in the Pro version can be found - in the PageStream 5.0 archive you should get a 5.0 Flyer document, and on the reverse of that it states:

PageStream Professional
Of course, PageStream Pro has been updated to 5.0 as well. The first release of PageStream4.1 Pro was a collection of add ons such as TextFX, Borders1&2, Gary’s Effects, plus the standard release of Pagetream4.1. This release departs from that simple mold. Not only are the various addons part of PageStream5.0 Pro, but PageStream itself has been improved to directly appeal to the Professional users.

New in PageStream 5.0 Pro!!
• Place PDF Objects
Pick the page of the PDF to display, crop, mask and more!
• Export Objects as Bitmap
Select any number of objects, and save them as a bitmap. You pick the resolution!
• Automatically Adjust Text Width to Justify
Instead of simply automatically adjusting the space between letters to justify your text, PageStream can also make changes to your text width to make it fit.
• Gradient/Radial Blend Masks for Pictures/EPS/PDF/Drawings
No more flat masks. Now you can blend a picture into the background. Take a column of text and fade it into the background and more!
• Path Math: Union/Add/Unique/Subtract
Creating complex paths with PageStream has never been easier! Draw various paths, and create a new path based on the selected paths.
• and more!

I hope this explains it better, and I haven't missed mentioning anything that is included.

I also ought to mention that I have found an issue with PageStream v5.1.2 that causes a FREEZE-LOCKUP to MorphOS if you try to generate Text Frames using the Layout> Create Text Frames menu option. (UPDATE - you need to have the MUI Screen option of Enhanced Display Active/On and this will then not happen)

Also, the advertised feature of Alpha Blending does not export in either the PageStream document format or as a PDF currently. I have asked Deron about this being fixed, but so far this is still an unfixed issue.

If you look through the link I passed above then there is more information about v5.1 that you may find important or will lead to more information that you may benefit from. I hope you enjoy using PageStream ... AND

Don't forget to ask Deron (by email) for the installation licence code and permanent code for PageStream v4.1.5.6 which you will either get with your purchase or be entitled to when you buy MorphOS PageStream v5.1, as he rarely supplies it with the purchase, but you will need it if you then, or later, consider using it, as it can be used on Classic Amiga hardware very nicely.

This info would be helpful on the pagestream webpage. And then explain what it all means. A lot of information there is very old. In the bug tracker I cannot really find anything because it is not a normal bug tracker with search for anything or sort by date or topic or see if a bug is fixed already years ago. I hope an update will come up some time. Now that cyfm has modernised it on MorphOS, it should be easier for Deron to update the program and fix bugs or write new features.

Quote:Is there something that you need explaining about what I have mentioned?

I am happy to impart my knowledge of PageStream to any interested user.

That said, I believe Christoph Poelzl (rms) is a far more knowledgeable user of PageStream than I am. I have seen a few of his documents in the drafting process and they are very impressive!

The alpha blending is basically a transparency effect that allows some shading to enhance a feature/object that you place on a document. You can view the effect in a document, but when you save it either as a PageStream document or as a PDF the effect is not saved and you end up with the more basic object/effect.

Some images, e.g. PNGs are corrupted when saved, so ideally use TIFFs, the JPEG2000 image format is also either not saved or corrupted when a document is saved. If you want to create a shaded effect in a PDF then you have to save/combine the overall effect as an object currently and then save the document. Even then it might need a bit of 'tweaking' reworking!

The Toolbox has a little 'bug' in it that when you click on the object tool (or press F1 - its shortcut) then when you move the Toolbox anywhere else on the screen the whole range of "fly-out" tools (small square icons that allow you to carry out other object changes, such as The Object Tool - changes objects parameters, The Reshape Tool - reshapes objects/tables, or The Crop Tool - crops images/objects, The Rotate Tool - rotates images/objects, or The Lasso Tool - Lassos objects), also drop-down, and until you choose a different tool it will stay 'hanging' until you do so.

I came across a 'bug' with the Transform tool that spread some of my "transformed" objects into wide areas off the page, into far and wide areas of a document that I had to search for with the page zoomed out to a minimum. There are probably a few other bugs that I have passed to Frank/Deron, but as the main ones I have mentioned have not been fixed and they do not appear very often I have not mentioned them here as yet.

Even though there are currently issues/bugs with PageStream v5.1.2 it is still very usable, and our only real professional program for creating anything like it as real DeskTop Publishing (DTP) software. Even v4.1.5.6 is a great program, but with the advent of PageStream v5.1.2 for MorphOS then the MorphOS version takes the top spot without any shadow of a doubt!
Quote:Sadly Deron has not been as diligent and focused on PageStream for a good few years, as he was in the earlier days of the Atari and Amiga versions (PageStream v1, v2, v3, v4) when he also used to produce the version for the Macintosh (v3 & v4). Version 5 was never really a useful program for me until Frank Mariak got it working for MorphOS, which probably fixed so many of the other inherent issues that were plaguing it that Frank "ironed-out" for Deron it seems.

The MorphOS update was ONLY brought about by Frank Mariak, who is also a friend of Christoph Poelzl (rms) who is a day-to-day professional DTP graphic designer for a company who had strained all he could out of PageStream v4.x.x.x for many years. He kept pestering Frank (even more than me) to see what he could achieve with Deron Kazmaier to get PageStream v5.x.x.x for MorphOS a reality. Later on Christoph, and his son, also got involved in creating a new icon set for PageStream. I know he has completed it and I have seen a basic offering of one of the sets he made, and it looks far better than the original Toolbar, but when it will be added to the archive or allowed to be distributed as an add-on I do not know, but for me the sooner the better.

I did ask Frank Mariak when he was working on PageStream v5.1.2 for MorphOS if he could allow for a much wider Toolbar, with more icons possible to add into the Toolbar GUI/Window as there were sufficient Tools(icons) in PageStream v4, nevermind v5, to allow for about 4 rows of icons in the Toolbar, but there is so little space in ONE Toolbar, even if there was one vertical and another horizontal, which is also not possible currently, then we could choose to have more directly clickable tools to choose from to make working with PageStream much easier. I believe Christoph did at least one other alternative set of icons, one set was a fairly flat (modern) design set of icons, and the other was a more classical set of icons, for the PageStream main Toolbar of Frank Mariak's (cyfm) I hope an update will come up some time soon.

I know that Frank (cyfm) was considering adding SVG support to PageStream, along with some other features, but the struggles he had, in getting the MorphOS release to the point where he was as happy as he could be (stable and as many bugs as possible ironed out), never really materialised, and Deron released it at a far earlier stage. I found quite a few bugs very soon after it was released, even though I had hoped to be involved with some testing, prior to it being released, so even I considered that it had needed more bug fixing prior to release ... but it was too late by then!

Bill Panagouleas (discreetfx) did offer to create an icon set for PageStream v5.1.2 but I have not heard back from him about any progress regarding it, as of yet.
Quote:No doubt it should be, it will just be getting Deron focused on the program, which as you may have noticed over the last few years he has done little with, and if Frank Mariak had not offered him the help he desperately needed to complete the MorphOS release then that is probably where it would have stayed, and eventually passed into obscurity.

Also, I believe it took a heavy toll on Frank Mariak, and he had my sympathy for the troubles he went through to get PageStream to where it is, and it would probably take some momentous effort to re-invigorate him to fix the known issues. If that were possible in collaboration with Deron, if enough impetus could be generated in both of them, then more likely the need to generate sufficient enthusiasm would have to be centred and focused on Deron, rather than Frank, who I have always found to be an avid creator and fan of MorphOS, and a determined person with an underlying very kindly persona.

I would not mind offering a further donation to Frank (& Deron) to encourage him/them, if he/they have the enthusiasm, and time, to take on fixing, and improving PageStream even more.

I did get from Deron a year or two ago, the authority to edit and improve his v4 of the PageStream manual (available at the time of v4's release as an incomplete PDF), but that was solely for my own use, but I would have no problem continuing to improve it to add further details into it that relate to v5, as I would like to do.

I have suggested in the past, at least to Frank, that it might be a good idea to see if Deron would pass the program to the MorphOS Dev. Team to save it from falling into obscurity, if he is no longer interested in maintaining it. It's a massive program, and has many features that would probably not be understood by some programmers, not least of which may be due to the way the program code was written over many years and versions, probably also due to its complexity, I believe.

Michael Merkel who is a PageStream user of the classic versions, and now an OS4 user, has asked Deron if it would be possible to have an OS4 version, but I believe it would require some of the Development Team for OS4 to offer their assistance to Deron to make that happen.

Sadly PageStream is currently languishing quite a lot, and the many users that used to enjoy using it, which also kept Deron focused on PageStream, have abandoned it, due in no small part to the bugs and issues that he has just not focused on fixing, in a timely fashion, which is a great shame. No-one seems to ask questions on the forum very often, as they end up waiting for ages for a reply, if they ever get one, from Deron, though I have offered some responses, as has Frank, to fill that gap, but I am not the owner of the program and cannot answer questions that relate to Deron specifically.

Very sad, it would be nice to see PageStream rise again as a worthwhile program. I would welcome the day it did and could get an icon set created for it if that happens to transpire one hopeful day. Fingers forever crossed and prayers forever spoken for PageStream.

[ Edited by discreetfx 23.03.2025 - 12:21 ]

@ discreetfx - thanks for reading, and for your repeat of an iconset offer, which I'll take you up on if the light in the PageStream world comes back on and that opportunity arises.

That's not forgetting the actual iconsets that have already been created by Frank Mariak (cyfm) and Christoph Poelzl (rms), together with Christoph's son, that they are currently using but not releasing for everyone else to enjoy using, whether that be due to licensing/authorisation from Deron or what. I certainly wish, and hope that they would or could.