Date   : Thu, 13 Oct 1983 1405-:00EDT
From   : Larry Campbell <LCAMPBELL@dec-marlboro>
Subject: Re: DEC Rainbow questions

I'm not aware of any programs that DEC will supply that allow CP/M
to read MS-DOS files or vice versa, but there are several independent
software producers selling such things.  They're not too expensive (all
under $100).

Lotus 1-2-3 and The Final Word are two software products that I know
exist for the Rainbow running MS-DOS.  In addition, many software packages
written for the IBM PC will run under MS-DOS on the Rainbow.  Rainbow
MS-DOS can read and write IBM single-sided floppies, either 8- or 9-sector
per track.  I bought a copy of the Final Word on IBM floppies and it runs just
fine on my Rainbow.

Note that, as with any other IBM "compatible", programs that "know" about
where certain hardware items are and bypass MS-DOS to use them will
not work on a Rainbow, or any other PC-look-alike.  What this usually means
is that programs that do fancy screen formatting (spreadsheets, word
processors, etc.) must be customized for the Rainbow (or Compaq        or Hyperion
or Columbia or ...).  "Vanilla" programs, such as most compilers, should
work fine on all these machines.

I can't answer your compiler questions;  unfortunately all the compilers
I've seen so far have their own object file formats.  Yecch.

The Final Word essentially IS a separate screen editor and post-processing
formatter;  they make it look integrated by allowing you to invoke
the formatter from inside the screen editor.  I think the Final Word is quite
good.  My version is just a touch slow, because it's a "generic MS-DOS"
version;  I expect the Rainbow-specific version I'm getting soon to be lots
faster.

SELECT is junk;  don't waste your time with it.

MINCE (by the same folks who do Final Word) is pretty good.  In 25 words
or less, it's ITS EMACS without TECO.  No macros;  the closest thing
to macros is query replace.  SCRIBBLE is a text formatter you can get with it
that's sort of a stunted SCRIBE.  The Final Word is essentially MINCE with
different key bindings and more online help, with SCRIBBLE glued on underneath.
It's actually better than it sounds.  I got the Final Word because MINCE
wasn't available for MS-DOS, and the folks at Mark of the Unicorn seemed
to imply that they wanted to phase out MINCE and SCRIBBLE and concentrate 
on The Final Word.

Sorry about the lenght of this...  hope it helps.
   --------
   --------