Gordon Woolf's Blog

PageMaker 7 goes better with Windows 8

Three years ago I wrote an entry here about successfully installing PageMaker 7 desktop publishing software in Windows 7. Well, now I am happy to report just a few, mostly expected problems in getting that software to work with the 64-bit version of Windows 8.
There are a couple of gotchas, but they were easily overcome.

GOTCHA 1:  Do not to try installing an Adobe postscript print driver in 64-bit.

However I did install Distiller 5.0 which then told me I needed a postscript print driver. I then saw that one of the options for a manual install of a printer to print to file was the MS Publisher Imagesetter so I selected that to print to file and PageMaker 7.0 created a PDF via Distiller with none of the problems I saw with Win7. The MS Publisher driver presumably came as part of the Office pack I have but I'd guess than anything which installs an imagesetter driver would work with PM. Other people's experiences welcome. 

GOTCHA 2: You cannot run scripts in PageMaker on the 64-bit version of Windows.

I suspect that PMscript.exe is a 16-bit program so if you need to run scripts, then 32-bit installation is the best you can aim for - probably via a program such as VirtualBox. However most of the Utilities in PM7 do continue to work.

GOTCHA 3: Do NOT install Adobe Type Manager. It isn't needed.

Win8 is happy with postscript fonts. The fonts you need for templates are in a folder on the installation DVD named Fonts > Template Fonts. To install them in 64-bit Windows 8, just select the .PFM files of those you want, right click and select "Install". There are many other fonts in the Fonts > Extra Fonts folder.

PageMaker remains essential to me for opening old files, especially books created before the advent of InDesign. However it can also be tempting to use PageMaker for a simple DTP job that does not need the power of InDesign. I'm pleased therefore that it can remain in mu arsenal. Despite it now being relatively ancient in computing terms it is still on sale on the Adobe website for $499, about half the price of InDesign CS6. 

 

How long do CDs and DVDs last?

So how long do CDs and DVDs last? Sometimes things on the Internet take on a life of their own. That's why I occasionally engage in what is often called "egosurfing" -- that's searching for your own name in Google or other search engines. It can be done by authors to check on illegal use of their material and I've known several fellow writers who have found their words in places where they did not expect them. In my case I have a lot of content that is offered free for non-commercial use provided it includes my byline and a reference to either a specific book of mine or to a more general description of the kind of books I write, (Googling my name will show that a good number of computer user groups have used my articles with correct attribution). It is seven years since I wrote an article for the Melbourne PC User GTroup, the largest computer user group in the world, asking "How long will a CD-R last?" It received widespread republication worldwide and many crosslinks to the original article at http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2106/2106article14.htm Then it started to take on a life of its own, and as the article got older I'd still get fairly frequent emails from all over the world with questions on whether the conclusions in the article were still current. I had to reply that while I could not vouch for most, one of those conclusions, that most problems with CDs and therefore most likely with DVDs too occurred while they were being written, rather than in their storage, did seem to be still accurate. Only last month I was given a CD by a relative which was supposed to contain a mass of family photos. It contained nothing. The person who gave it to me was reluctant to go back to the person who had produced the CD but eventually, after getting several people to try it, got another copy -- which again did not work. I suspect that many backup CDs will have the same problem. They will fail when needed a few weeks or months later but not because of any gradual failure in the material. They were not created properly in the first place. However, returning to my theme, my latest find on Google was that the article is referenced as a source in a new book, Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel by  Roger D. Launius and Howard E. McCurdy, published this year by Johns Hopkins University Press. You'll find it on Amazon. The real question is, as my article was really just a layman's summary of published research and manufacturers' claims around eight or more years ago, why has no one produced similar advice brought up to date?