PaperClip

{{Not to be confused|Clippy}} {{Short description|1982 word processor}} {{Infobox software | name = PaperClip | logo = | logo alt = | screenshot = Paperclip64.png | caption = | screenshot alt = | collapsible = | author = '''Commodore 64'''<br>Steve Douglas<br>'''Atari 8-bit'''<br>Steve Ahlstrom<br>Dan Moore | developer = Batteries Included | released = {{Start date and age|1982}}<ref name="pcmuseum.ca">{{cite web|url=http://pcmuseum.ca/companyprofile.asp?id=39 |title=The Personal Computer Museum, Brantford, Ontario, CANADA - Recycle, donate, and browse your old computers, electronics, video games, and software |website=Pcmuseum.ca |accessdate=2016-07-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703212437/http://www.pcmuseum.ca/companyprofile.asp?id=39 |archivedate=2016-07-03 }}</ref> | discontinued = | latest release version = | latest release date =  | latest preview version = | latest preview date =  | programming language = | operating system = | platform = Commodore 64 / 128, Atari 8-bit | size = | language = | language count =  | language footnote = | genre = | license = | alexa = | website =  | standard = | AsOf = }}

'''PaperClip''' is a word processor for the Commodore 64, 128 (native mode), and Atari 8-bit computers published by Batteries Included in 1985. In the UK it was published by Ariolasoft.

Both the Atari and Commodore versions share the PaperClip name, but have significant differences.<ref name="antic198505"/> The Commodore 64 version of PaperClip was written by Steve Douglas<ref name="ellison19850203">{{cite news | title=Canada's Atari | work=ROM | date=February–March 1985 | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/rom/issue10/canada_atari.php |accessdate=16 October 2013 | author=Ellison, Peter | pages=7}}</ref> and was rewritten for the Atari personal computer by Steve Ahlstrom and Dan Moore. The Atari version is based upon the editor in the Action! programming language by Clinton Parker.

PaperClip is also the name given to the text editor ROM portion of the Commodore PET Execudesk office suite. The ROM was written by Steve Douglas as well.

==Features== PaperClip does not use word wrap to display text on the screen, which ''Ahoy!''{{'}}s reviewer wrote was satisfactory for Commodore 64 users with 40-column displays but drew the ire of the reviewer for Whole Earth Software Catalog while highlighting OMNIWRITER's support for same.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/Whole_Earth_Software_Catalog_1984_Point/Whole_Earth_Software_Catalog_1984_Point_djvu.txt|title=Whole Earth Software Catalog|year=1984 |isbn=9780385191661 |quote=Why EASY SCRIPT from Commodore and PAPER CLIP from Batteries Included continue to sell for the Commodore 64 baffles me. They can't even manage to end lines on the screen without breaking words in the middle.|last1=Brand |first1=Stewart |publisher=Quantum Press/Doubleday }}</ref> The Commodore 64 version provides an 80-column preview mode with text that was legible on a computer monitor, and supported a wide variety of Commodore and non-Commodore printers.

The software was supplied with a dongle, a hardware key used for copy protection that plugged into the Atari joystick port, also present on the C64.<ref name="kevelson198501">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/ahoy-magazine-13/Ahoy_13_January_1985#page/n43/mode/2up | title=Paper Clip | work=Ahoy! | date=January 1985 | accessdate=16 October 2013 | author=Kevelson, Morton | pages=44–46}}</ref> A keyless version was also available. An EPROM was also used for copy protection on the PET. Other programs that used such a method just checked for a couple of specific bytes of data in the EPROM, and this check was easily bypassed by a small change to the code. PaperClip, however, placed all the user messages in the EPROM. Thus no EPROM, and no messages.

One unusual aspect of PaperClip is that the Control key functions more like on a hand-held calculator. You have to press and release the Control key, then press the key for the appropriate function.

==Reception== ''Ahoy!'' wrote that "PaperClip is one of the most comprehensive word processing programs for the C-64", but noted the $125 list price.<ref name="nath198409">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/Ahoy_Issue_09_1984-09_Ion_International_US#page/n9/mode/2up | title=In Search Of... A Word Processor | work=Ahoy! | date=September 1984 | accessdate=27 June 2014 | author=Nath, Sanjiva K. | pages=11}}</ref>

''Antic'' called PaperClip, "by far the best word processor ever available for the Atari."<ref name="antic198505">{{cite news | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n1/paperclip.html | title=Paperclip: State-of-the-art Atari word processing! | work=Antic | date=May 1985 | accessdate=27 June 2014 |author1=Ciarolo, Michael |author2=Friedland, Nat }}</ref> In the December 1986 shopper's guide, a staffer wrote, "We write and edit every word at ''Antic'' with PaperClip before transmitting the copy to our typesetter via modem."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Fifth Annual Shopper's Guide |journal=Antic |date=December 1986 |volume=5 |issue=8 |url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n8/ShoppersGuide.html}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:1982 software Category:Word processors Category:Atari 8-bit computer software Category:Commodore 64 software Category:Commodore 128 software