Calamus (software)

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Calamus
Basic data

developer inverse software
Current  version Calamus SLC 2015 (Win, Mac, Atari TOS)
(2015)
operating system Windows , MacOS , TOS
category Desktop publishing
License proprietary
German speaking Yes
www.calamus.net

Calamus is a frame-oriented layout and DTP program that was originally developed in Germany for Atari ST computers. Atari sold the program as a black and white version from July 1, 1987 for a while together with the MegaST and a laser printer as a complete DTP system. The name Calamus is derived from the Latin name for a writing instrument made from reed (see Kalamos ).

history

After the original German rights holder DMC GmbH had developed a color version with Calamus SL and successfully placed it on the (Atari) market at that time from May 24, 1991, it split the development into two independent branches and left a Danish development team under Thomas Nielsen one Develop native Windows version. The Windows NT version came on the market at the same time as the new Microsoft software. In addition to Digital, Olivetti and Siemens became strategic sales partners. Since the success of the new Windows NT was too long in coming, DMC finally sold the rights to the Canadian software company MGI for financial reasons . a. Calamus was marketed in North America and made a name for itself as a mass software manufacturer with simple Windows programs such as Photosuite and VideoWave. MGI was swallowed up by the American software company Roxio, from which Ulf Dunkel was able to buy back all Calamus rights for his German software company invers Software in 2002. Invers Software had already taken over exclusive support and product maintenance of the original Calamus SL, bought more and more rights to external modules over the years and continuously developed the original Calamus SL program. Invers Software has announced that it will stop developing Calamus on March 31, 2018. It contains functions for PDF export (Bridge module with PDF export since 1996) and PDF import (Calipso 3 PRO module since 1998).

In 2015, Calamus SL had around 4,250 active users worldwide.

Calamus' intelligent kerning

Kerning in Calamus works with eight stripes each, which cling to the glyph on the left and right.

Instead of using kerning pairs or simple dimensions of neighboring characters, the native Calamus fonts contain spacing values ​​to the left and right of each character at eight different height levels. Unlike the kerning information in other formats, the resulting stripes are used to optimally nestle characters together, even if the characters come from different fonts or have different sizes.

In contrast, kerning information in OpenType and TrueType fonts is implemented in such a way that it only works if the neighboring characters are from the same font, which can sometimes lead to character blending or poor kerning. An alternative to this is to use optical kerning, in which the shapes of the character are analyzed to determine the appropriate spacing. Calamus' approach can be seen as a simplification of this principle by working with a small font size of the final character.

Software RIP

Calamus itself is a software RIP ( raster image processor ) and supports different, adjustable raster dot shapes and sizes at the same time. Raster information is handled per document, page, or even per frame. The program also uses the unique, noteworthy method of trimmed halftone points , where halftone points can be cut off or clipped on certain edges, depending on the document layout elements used. Therefore, it does not require an external RIP for the interpretation, rendering and rasterization of a document. By means of a special module, Calamus supports dot screening (known as Star Screening ), a frequency-modulated halftone display method (also called stochastic screening or FM screening ).

Versions

In the meantime, Calamus SL can also be used under Windows thanks to an integrated emulator. With the additional software MagicMac (X) you can also use Calamus on Apple computers. On both guest platforms, Calamus uses both Atari code and native code to increase speed through the required emulators. Calamus recognizes the printers installed on the host system and can use them.

MagicMac (X) can only run on computers up to Mac OS X 10.6.8, Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" is no longer supported because the Apple Carbon Framework, which was originally introduced as a bridging technology from Mac OS to Mac OS X, is no longer supported. However, Andreas Kromke (author of the single-tasking TOS replacement KAOS and the multitasking OS MagiC ) worked on the new Cocoa-based emulator "AtariX". Andreas Kromke stopped the further development of "AtariX" and handed over the source texts to Calamus SL developer and distributor Ulf Dunkel. In March 2018 he published the source code under the GPL v3 OpenSource license.

For Mac OS X , invers Software has developed a new, native publisher under the name iCalamus .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ST-Computer 9/1991: Calamus SL - What takes a long time will finally come! . Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  2. ST-Computer 9/2002: Calamus-Talk: Thomas Raukamp speaks with Ulf Dunkel . Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  3. How flexible are the Macintosh outline fonts? . Retrieved February 29, 2016. Google Groups thread July 12, 1989
  4. AtariX - Atari computer emulator for macOS. Successor of MagicMacX . Retrieved March 22, 2018.