Re: XY in DosBox (XP)

[Michael Norman michael.norman@xxxxxxxx]

At 4/10/2004 04:49 AM -0400, Robert Holmgren wrote:
** Reply to message from Michael Norman  on Sat,
03 Apr

2004 11:07:57 -0500


> I have both the original and the laptop version of Ultravision. I quickly
> tested the former on my XP laptop and the improvement was negligible. As
> soon as I clear up the other problems I'll try it again. Meanwhile you can
> search for Ultravision (Personics) for Laptops and likely find it on a
free

> site.

http://pweb.jps.net/~kcmazie/DOS/DOStools.html


Actually the link at this site leads you to a site under construction and
the link there puts you in an interminable loop. Instead, Manuel posted
this earlier --


http://members.lycos.co.uk/kmeinhard/tools/uv212.zip --

and it works, though I could find no .txt primer in the .zip to explain the
installation. However, it seems easy enough to puzzle out.


Overall, I've been thinking. Robert seems right: no matter what we do --
TAME, VPC, VMWARE -- XyDos in XP (or related platforms) is simply not going
to run right in a window (DosBox, virtual Dos, call it what you will.) By
*run right* I mean with the instant response we all prize and could count
on in earlier iterations of WIN or in running it full-screen/maximized in
any form of WIN. The trade-off is, of course, screen fonts, and, again, for
me, that's key. This is one of the reasons I shelled out a hundred bucks
for the *new* Notabene, which is really the old Notabene without flicker --
for the most part. On a good laptop, running MS Clear-type, NB's screen is
simply beautiful, as is MSWord etc. The other day on jury duty -- no riffs,
I promise -- I worked in NB on my T41 for the whole day in draft mode using
Bitstream's Courier10BT font (mono) and it was a pleasure on the eyes (wish
I could get gray text on a dark blue background as you can in XyDos). But...


But, friends, it wasn't XyDos. What does that mean? It simply wasn't as
instant, as intuitive, as utterly invisible as XyDos is for writers. I'm
so...what?...wed to XyDos that I continue to write (at home) on a 333
Gateway that runs W98SE perfectly just to keep XyDos. Ridiculous! But then
I still have an old Olympia portable typewriter in the closet behind me.
Terminal atavism, I reckon.


Anyway, maybe, maybe Gates will come out with an SP2 for XP that will
actually allow it to run legacy applications right...then again maybe the
IRS will allow me to take a year off from filing my returns.


So, for the moment, I'm waffling -- NB (still a bit quirky compared to XY)
or XyDos on my T41 (XP PRO) in full screen with either Ultravision or a
program Carl has mentioned frequently, Fontman? I think. Of course, there's
still a chance one of us will find a cure - some utility or undocumented
toggle in WIN - for XY's problems in XP's DosBox.


Michael Norman