#Windows/WFW
5 messages in this thread
Len, I've run into one problem with R'bow Windows and Word for Windows:
sometimes my machine hangs when I'm entering text. No problems with mouse
control of functions. Any thoughts on this?…Steve
Steve,
The system hangs you've experienced while typing in WfW are now a known
problem under RB Windows. You'll find the situation much improved if you
do your extended stretches of typing in draft mode rather than layout mode.
Also try to use shift+home/delete to wipe out a line of text instead of
leaning on rubout. The same advice goes for users of Ami Pro.
The source of the problem appears to be an interaction between the
architecture of the Rainbow's keyboard interface, on the one hand, and the
extensive keystroke processing of layout mode, on the other. I've worked
on this for a couple of months while revising the keyboard driver for
Windows 3.0 and think I've made some progress, but the trouble arises out
of the Rainbow's architecture rather than out of simple errors in coding
and so won't submit to a quick fix.
Let me know how you fare in draft mode.
–Len
Len, draft mode for WfW v1.0/Win v2.1 seems to work (at my typing speeds)
without hanging the system. Have just loaded WfW v1.1, so will see how
that works — and of course have sent in my order for the Win v3.0 RAK so
everything will be different soon.
On a different (but ultimately related) subject: in message 21349 you
advised Don Solomon to try the Norton DT (DiskTest I presume?) utility for
fixing hard disk errors. But which version of the Norton Utilities
contains DT that is known to work on the R'Bow? I've more than once found
that the latest supposedly generic MS-DOS utilities have gotten so specific
for I*M-ish operating systems that they won't function on the R'Bow any
more, even though earlier versions did just fine…Steve
Steve,
I have version 4.0 running on my Rainbow and version 4.5 running on my AST.
4.0 is generic DOS and 4.5 seems to be unchanged (though I haven't actually
losded it onto the Rainbow for a test). DT is among the simpler Norton
Utilities, and it can be invaluable.
I, too, get along fine with both WfW and Ami Pro in draft mode. There are,
however, a few of us who can outrun the Rainbow even in draft mode. For
those folks the best solution is good old Wordperfect 4.2 for text entry.
Layout and type setting can then be handled by importing WP 4.2 into just
about anything you like–WfW, Ami Pro and PageMaker all accept WP 4.2 (or
5.x) files without difficulty.
–Len
I've been using Norton 4.5 for multiple purposes on my Rainbow. DT works
great for detecting and marking bad clusters on the hard disk, it's DOS
generic. There are a few I*M specific programs, mostly duplicating the DOS
generic ones but with fancier interfaces, more automation, etc.