Once the installation is over, it asks you whether you’d like to continue with the setup or exit to DOS. If you exit to DOS, the setup will continue the next time you start NewDeal.

The first thing in the setup is the display configuration. Apart from a host of chipset-specific drivers, it also shows you a list of generic VESA drivers at different resolutions and color depths. Choose an option supported by your graphics card. The selected display settings are tested and you can always go back if they don’t work. Once through with the display, you are given the choice of selecting a user interface type, which is basically how the GUI will look. Out of the two options, one has a Windows 3.1 kind of look and the other resembles Win 95.

Let’s now configure your mouse. Just like the display settings, you have the choice of selecting specific drivers or generic ones here too. The mouse is then tested and you can revert and choose different drivers if it does not work. A point to note here is that if you are running Windows, the mouse control is taken over by it. If running within Windows, select the ‘Windows 95 mouse support already installed’ option.

Next comes the printer installation. Choose the appropriate drivers from the list for your printer. Here also, there’s a conflict between Windows and NewDeal, for controlling the printer (This is discussed under ‘Preferences for NewDeal’ in the next paragraph). After doing all this, you are ready to enter the world of NewDeal.

You can run the software from DOS prompt or from within Windows. To load the package, type ‘nde’ at the prompt. To run the software from within Windows, you can go to Run in Start menu and type nde there. Alternatively, you can make a shortcut to loader.exe on your desktop. Read the readme.txt document for more details on setting the shortcut properties. Let’s now see what this package has to offer.

Existing Windows users will find the look and feel of NewDeal quite familiar. The workspace has similar windows with similar attributes, which makes using the package a lot easier. All the windows can be resized or moved as in Windows. You have four desktop icons by default – Computer, Document (that opens up a new NewWrite document), World, and Trash. A double-click on the Computer brings up the various drives and a ‘Preferences’ option. This can be compared to the Control Panel in Windows. Settings for backgrounds, date/time, video, printer, ports, sounds, fonts, modem, Internet, mouse, and keyboard can be controlled from here. It also allows you to configure your PC’s ports, memory settings, and advanced settings like the swap file. NewDeal also features screen savers under the head ‘Lights Out’. The user interface that we applied earlier during installation can also be changed or customized as per your preference.

Applications

Now that you’ve installed NewDeal, it’s time to find out what’s there so you can put it to use. All applications in NewDeal can easily be accessed from the Express menu, which is very similar to the Windows Start menu. Simply click the application you want to use and its ready to run. So let’s get started.

Main applications

NewWrite is a full-fledged word processor to type letters, create documents, print them, etc. It also has a drawing toolbar to add predefined graphics, or draw your own. You can choose different fonts, colors, sizes, and more to suit your document. You can also import and export your documents into various formats like plain ASCII text, RTF and even HTML. In fact, this article has been written in NewWrite.

NewFile is an application to create and maintain databases. It can handle a maximum of 16,000 records in a single database. You can import and export your database to other commonly used databases. However, this feature seems to have been disabled in the evaluation version because it didn’t show any formats to export to.

NewCalc is NewDeal’s very own spreadsheet, which can be used for things like balance sheets, calculations, and maintaining accounts. You can also easily convert all your data into graphs. It also has a drawing toolbar, which lets you insert predefined shapes into your worksheet, or draw your own.

NewDraw is a graphics application to make your own drawings or illustrations. It is pretty simple to get used to and works like any simple drawing software, for example, Paintbrush in Windows.

Internet and communication

NewDeal has a Web browser called SkipperSE, and a communication package called NewComm. The browser supports frames and DHTML pages. You can also view the source for a Web page. NewComm is a communications package to connect your computer to the Internet using a modem. Putting this package on the network is not simple, and it has extensive descriptions in its help for doing so.