Note Bene Word Processor: A Good Tool For Scientists

Although the word-processing software package Note Bene is aimed primarily at nonscientific academic users, its impressive capabilities in such areas as bibliography creation and foreign language support make it valuable for scientists as well as those in the humanities and social sciences. The $495 package, developed by New York City-headquartered Dragonfly Software, runs on the IBM-PC and compatible computers. In many ways it takes after another word-processing program, XyWrite, a popular package that is respected for its power and functionality but is also somewhat difficult to learn. Easier to master, Note Bene redefines the XyWrite keyboard to make what the developer apparently regards as a more logical keyboard. Users of XyWrite - developed by Bedford, Mass.-based XyQuest Inc. - will recognize many of their favorite features in Note Bene: a screen whose area is mainly dedicated to text entry; keys that can be used in unusual ways (for example, Note Bene's character transposition key is NumLock); a superb spelling checker and thesaurus; fast searches through large files; and even some of the strange XyWrite command names, such as CALL to load an existing file. Like XyWrite, Note Bene uses a command line to accomplish most actions. But unlike XyWrite, its help system doubles as a menu interface.Note Bene also adds a magnificent help facility and a number of basic word-processing functions that XyWrite lacks. For example, despite XyWrite's vaunted power, that program does not remember its last search string, nor can it transpose characters with a simple primitive command; Note Bene offers both features. Another example of Note Bene's virtues for the general user: The first thing a color fan like me has to do when learning XyWrite is to figure out its arcane color-setting commands; Note Bene comes already equipped with a fine color scheme and easy-to-use commands.Now, what makes this academic word processor so especially desirable for scientists? First, Note Bene has special support for "research documents." This includes support not only for a table of contents and footnotes common in most high-end word processors, but also for a wide variety of unusual footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographic references. (For bibliographic references, the writer types each reference while creating the document, and then the program can extract and alphabetize the references before printing.) Second, Note Bene includes a program similar to a textual database called FYI 3000. Note Bene's "index base" lets the writer rapidly search through large files of free-form data - information such as articles or notes - as if they had been entered in a database. If the user wants, for example, to search through electronic mail files or through files of laboratory notes, he or she first runs these files through a Note Bene facility that indexes each file, after which the user can search these files for key words or phrases. To access large unchanging sets of information, this kind of text base is most desirable. Finally, Note Bene has unique foreign language support (for scientists, support for Greek and Russian letters is especially valuable). On computers with an EGA, VGA, or Hercules Plus card, these special fonts will appear on the screen. And the fonts can be printed out on an Epson FX 80, Toshiba-24 pin, or HP Laser Jet Series II printer. Unfortunately, Note Bene does not support scientific symbols and, thus, does not serve well for full-blown technical papers; but it is superior for reports, memos, and letters in which only an occasional technical symbol appears. I'm not equipped to say much about how Note Bene compares with some of the other more popular word processors like Microsoft Word and WordPerfect, although I have fiddled a little with each of them. I can point out, however, that neither of these or others among the more popular programs are geared specifically to academics. And, I can say that I prefer Note Bene's command line interface to the function keys of WordPerfect. Most word processor selections come down to a matter of taste, but Note Bene is a superb package with special appeal to academics and should be seriously considered by scientists as the program of choice for nontechnical documents Barry Simon is IBM Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Caltech. Date: February 20, 1989 In addition to an array of new scientific instruments and tools, a variety of hardware and software products developed for the scientific market will be introduced at next month's Pittsburgh Conference & Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy. See page 24 for more details on the conference. Advanced Systems Management of Baton Rouge, La., says it has developed a software package, called QC 3000, to meet the specific data-handling requirements of chemists in QA/QC laboratories. Features such as automatic generation of sample labels (complete with hazardous material warnings and barcodes), a seven-day system sample calendar, and semiautomated and automated log-in are included to meet the needs of both continuous and batch operations. The package cross-checks results against a wide range of in-process, final product, and customer specifications as data is being entered. The process is completed by the automatic generation of appropriate reports or certificates of analysis. A complete statistical module is provided so that a statistical picture of the data can be developed when necessary. The price for the complete QC 3000 package is $25,000. Options such as instrument interfaces can be added as required. Advanced Systems Management, Booth 6420 Circle No. 606 on Reader Service Card Arthur 4.1, a software program already available for VAX VMS systems and used by scientists in food chemistry, environmental analysis, and instrument design, has just been released for IBM VM and MVS systems. The package is said to be an interactive data analysis system with powerful multivariate exploratory and pattern recognition capabilities. It is a modular, integrated program with methods for data input preprocessing and file handling, unsupervised learning (cluster analysis), supervised learning (category prediction or property modeling), factor analysis, and display. The new IBM VM and MVS versions contain both SIMCA and PLS (partial least squares path modeling), and are priced at $8,000. InfoMetrix, Booths 2141-2143 Circle No. 607 on Reader Service Card The new BD80-HPGL printer/plotter manufactured by Kipp & Zonen of Bohemia, N.Y., is said to both print text and do real vector plotting to produce graphics, a versatility that makes the machine useful for PC data acquisition and display, LIMS, and CAD/CAM applications. With both an RS232 and Centronics interface, and a 32 K buffer, the printer/plotter is priced at $1,150. Kipp & Zonen, Booths 5441-5443 Circle No. 608 on Reader Service Card Spex Industries and Sprouse Scientific Systems have collaborated in producing computer-searchable Raman spectral libraries. The data will be available to spectroscopists on disk in a PC-compatible format as well as in reference handbooks. The spectra, which are to be produced on SPEX instruments at Sprouse laboratories, will be applicable to work with both dispersive and Fourier-transform Raman systems. Price sheets will be available at the conference. Spex Industries, Booths 2554-2561; Sprouse Scientific Systems, Booths 1320, 1322 Circle No. 609 on Reader Service Card Antek Instruments of Houston, Tex., will introduce its Delta Chromatographic Software, which is said to provide high-quality PC-based data acquisition and analysis. Two packages are to be available: Delta Junior and Delta. Each package can be purchased separately for use on an IBM PC and most compatibles, or as a complete data system. Delta Junior ($3,000) is designed as a single-instrument, dual-detector integration system. It provides automatic calibration, autosampler control, and disk storage of chromatograms and methods for later analysis and manipulation. Delta ($6,600) will access and process data from one or two instruments with one or two detectors each. It also adds a multitasking feature. Antek Instruments, Booths 2403, 2405, 2503, 2505 Circle No. 610 on Reader Service Card

Note Bene Word Processor: A Good Tool For Scientists

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