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Topic: NWC for iMac (Read 19661 times) previous topic - next topic

NWC for iMac

I know that there's no NWC version for iMac (OS X).
Coming soon?

If not, what notation program are you (Mac-users) using? NWC via Parallels or Bootcamp? Or something like Finale?

I've tried several notation programs now, because there is no Mac version of NWC. I realized that NWC is the best: other programs were more difficult to use and most of them were more expensive than NWC, too.

What kind of solutions do you have?

Thank you for answers!

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #1 –
With regard to using NWC:

As you say, NoteWorthy Composer runs on Windows. On a Mac, you would generally have to run PC/Windows emulation software in order to use NWC. The new Intel based Macs can also natively run Windows.

See also:

Apple Boot Camp
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

Parallels Desktop for Mac
http://www.parallels.com/

Mac Windows Info
http://www.macwindows.com/

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #2 –
I just recently became aware of some bizarre license restrictions implemented by Microsoft for Vista with regard to virtual machinnes. More details can be seen in the following links:

No Vista Home on Macs, Microsoft Says
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,133196-c,vistalonghorn/article.html

Is desktop virtualization giving Microsoft business model indigestion?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=569

Microsoft dithers, then upholds virtual Vista ban
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsID=9239&pagtype=samechan

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #4 –
...and yet another reason to move to Linux...

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #5 –
and yet NWC is still a closed-source windows only programm.
You can make money with open source, too.

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #6 –
I have the funny notion that Noteworthy started to exist before the commercial motive arose. It's like "hey, this might be a good idea. Let's work on it a little. A little more. A lot. Well now, others seem to like it. Might there be a market?
From that perspective (if it's right) it is not so crazy to develop on the platform you're familiar with - and for many of us, it's Windows.
I'm not saying Linux is a bad idea. Far from it; widening the Noteworthy-horizon might attract many more to the Noteworthy-community. But there's quite a hurdle to be cleared; maybe more than one.

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #7 –
I suspect you're right about NWC's development arc, Rob. When I first started using the program back in the mid-1990s, it was still having trouble with some pretty basic things, e.g., repeat signs: those were so bad that I used to draw them in manually to get them right (and I don't think first and second endings were even available). But I loved the interface and had faith that the program would develop into what it is today, so I went ahead and registered, I think in 1996. I'm not at all sorry that I did that. And there is more to come!

Cheers,

Bill

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #8 –
Oh, my, it's a week for memories for me!  I started with Version 1.30 IIRC.  I remember printing the music on a 9 pin dot matrix printer with an old ribbon.  With fanfold paper. 

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #9 –
Quote from: David Palmquist –
Oh, my, it's a week for memories for me!  I started with Version 1.30 IIRC.  I remember printing the music on a 9 pin dot matrix printer with an old ribbon.  With fanfold paper. 
I'm still working on my last box of fanfold paper.  The grandchild likes to color on it.
Since 1998

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #10 –
I had a box of fanfold paper in the basement for a long time that just sat there (not have a dot-matrix printer anymore), but alas, recently lost it to an unexpected basement flood (too much rain too fast for too long).  I too printed out a lot of early scores on a 9 pin dot matrix.  It took a very long time on that old Panasonic workhorse of a printer that I had.

I started with Noteworthy Composer with version 1.20 and I still have the 3.5" floppy it came on.  Hmmm, maybe I should reload it one day and see how far we've really come.  NWC was the best "bang for the buck" back then, and I believe it with all my heart that it still is.  And while familiarity, of course, breeds comfort, I've tried several other packages and I just didn't like the restrictions many of them imposed (difficult data entry, pre-defined bar sizes, convoluted hot-keys, etc).  I've wanted to like some of the other packages, but I just keep coming back to Noteworthy Composer.
John

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #11 –
I downloaded my original copy of NWC off CompuServe and then registered it, I think via check mailed to Eric, a few weeks later. Still have the floppy I stored the downloaded copy on, but I don't have anything I can read it with any more. There is no date or version number written on the floppy, but it is stored with copies of Cakewalk 2.01 and the original version of MusicEase, both of which I quickly rejected in favor of NWC. According to the version history on the Website, Ver. 1.0 was released in October 1994 - lyrics weren't added until ver. 1.20. IIRC, my trial download didn't do lyrics, but the version I registered did. So it appears that I first tried the program late in the life of ver. 1.10 and have been registered since shortly after the release of 1.20. Deductive dating only, which may be inaccurate. The earliest printed NWC music I can find in the house is dated 1996.

But I sure remember fanfold paper. I was using it in a daisy wheel printer, since publishers wouldn't accept 9-pin dot matrix; I later went to a 24-pin, then to laser and finally (last year) to ink jet. When I got the laser (1995), I had most of a box of fanfold left. We tore off the tracks and separated the sheets and went ahead and used it. Kept us in paper for quite a while.

Memories. . . .

Bill

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #12 –
Quote
I was using it in a daisy wheel printer, since publishers wouldn't accept 9-pin dot matrix; I later went to a 24-pin, then to laser and finally (last year) to ink jet.

I got my laser printer about 3 years ago and have been very satisfied.  Now I see colour lasers are down to an acceptable price for household use.  And I have a birthday coming up.  Hmm, I wonder if She Who Will Be Obeyed (yes dear) would believe me if I said the old one fell off my desk and didn't bounce very well?

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #13 –
David;
   Do I detect a paraphrase of the eloquent Rumpold of the Bailey? If She who will be obeyed is anything like mine I doubt very seriously if you will get that one by to easily. <grin>

Regards
Keith
Illigitimi Non Carborundum

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #14 –
Paraphrase?  No.  Outright plagiarism.  And you're probably right,...

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #15 –
David;
   I said paraphrase only because I remember it as She who must be obeyed. Either way it was VERY accurate! <lol>

Regards
Keith
Illigitimi Non Carborundum

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #16 –
Your memory is right, Keith.  I changed the one word on purpose, so perhaps it is paraphrasing after all.

So, maybe no printer - but she's letting me go to the Ellington conference http://www.ellington2008.org/ without her.  After that I'm going to wander around a few cemetaries in Scotland.  Neither activity appeals to her very much.

Maybe Mr. Rumpole and I can share a pint if I can find the Old Bailey, eh? 

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #17 –
I will be utterly astonished if you find the Old Bailey in Scotland !   :)
Rich.

Re: NWC for iMac (Reminiscences)

Reply #18 –
I too have been using Noteworthy since the days of 1.2, and well remember printing to a dot-matrix!  Picking up on the cost of colour lasers now, true enough, they are cheap to buy, but the cartridges and imaging drum are more than the cost of the printer!  For example, the Laserjet 2500 imaging drum expires (it's chipped) after 5000 colour copies, and is over £100 to replace.

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #19 –
Yeah, BobPetty, the printer companies make their money off the toner or ink.

Richard, the conference is in London.  The cemetaries I'm interested in are in Scotland, but I hope to down a few pints before heading north.  I understand a pint is about 3 pounds in London, now.  So I'll drink slowly.

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #20 –
BobPetty,

AFAIK, the drum in my printer will go up to 8000 or 9000 copies. Replacing it costs about 180 Euros, and non-HP drums exist, costing half that. 100 pounds is daylight robbery for 5000 copies. It's a HP 2550C (can check at home)

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #21 –
So before the discussion goes completly into retroprinting I just wanted to summerize:

NWC is windows only and there will be no change in terms of how nwc is distributed and the philosophy of developing nwc as a closed-source, closed-saveformat app with no possibility for the user to either know what will be in future (because there is no public roadmap) nor the chance of influencing it.

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #22 –
Steele:

NWC2 is no longer "closed-saveformat".

It is hard to find an app that distributes its updates in a more efficient way than NoteWorthy.

Users have had great influence over NWC2's development.

A public roadmap would help users by concentrating their suggestions in those areas likely to be changed, but the lack of a roadmap adds flexibility. I doubt that an option to specify a system font would have been on any roadmap. Users (notably Lawrie Pardy and his Dings Suites fonts) made that change happen.
Registered user since 1996

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #23 –
Nice riposte, Rick.

Steele, I have had the experience of posting a suggestion in this forum, having Eric post a quick reply asking other users if they agreed, and then having the suggested feature appear in the next beta release of NWC2. I suspect many others could say the same thing. Don't take lack of a roadmap for lack of response to users' wishes.

Bill
 

Re: NWC for iMac

Reply #24 –
I must say that having the text format available will help NWC move into the future.
NWC2 is much more user-tweakable because of this textual interface (both in saving and user tools).
(I wish I had written my user tools in a Windows script language rather than PHP, as I could have implemented dialogs and saved settings, but the potential is there for some very powerful addons to be created by the users.)

I agree with Rick. Especially with early beta, NWC2 had a lot of user input in its evolution.
But Steele is right in pointing out that NWC is Windows only (and one of the reasons why this isn't a Mac-only household, I reckon), but I imagine a reworking into cross-platform might consume all of Noteworthy's resources and put any other development on hold for about a year.
I, too, have been frustrated at times with lack of a roadmap - but that's probably my own impatience about my own pet suggestions.

May I add that many of "my" suggestions (I can only imagine that there must be a critical mass on these before they get seriously consider) have been integrated into NWC over the years. Still waiting for arbitrary tuplets... !