Msg: Re: XY4 on Android--yes

I played with this briefly months ago using a version of DOSbox available in the Google Play Store, didn't get quite as far into it as Jon has done (it was delightful to see XyWrite fire up on my tablet, but not delightful enough at the time for me to jump through the configuration hoops). As Jon says, rooting is completely unnecessary.

FWIW, a cheap Samsung-made adapter (Samsung part # EPL-1PL0BEGXAR, $10 from BestBuy and others) makes it possible to use essentially any USB keyboard (and other USB devices) with my Samsung Tab 2. The USB cable doesn't bother me, and USB keyboards are CHEAP. As am I.

Jeff Seager

Depending on which external keyboard you get--there are countless options on Amazon for various hardware tablets--some do have function keys. I got one for a 7" tablet that has an ESC key, progress--the same company, IVSO, that made the one for the 10-inch Samsung, but hte 10-inch version has an Android Home key rather than ESC. (These keyboards come with leatherette tablet cases and are amazingly light, but the keyboards are real, with keys that travel and click satisfyingly, under $40.) Twiddling the .kbd file can get around the lack of F keys. I also had a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard, bigger and bulkier, that supposedly had function keys. XY via DOSBox didn't recognize them. Many of these portable keyboards want you to hold down a Fn key to get Function keys, so it's just as easy to use two fingers to type Alt-1 as it is to get Fn-F1. Pasting from XY outward...not directly. But with a .txt filetype, other word processors like Kingsoft can read and paste from XY files. More difficult is envisioning the CLIP equivalent--copy that web address into XY. I don't see that yet. Regarding your other Q, no rooting necessary (though I'll root eventually just because). You can easily copy the XY directory onto the Android's internal memory, via a direct connection to a computer, a USB flash drive plugged into an Android adapter (Samsung has a USB-to-Samsung proprietary connector gizmo) or with a BlueTooth connection to another Android with a file manager app like MyFiles (the Share button). I now have XY working on a second tablet, a 7-inch Samsung. Did it by copying the XY directory from the XP computer, adding XY4ANDR.kbd from the other Samsung and tweaking startup.int. Microlytics is the only immediate bug, not tabbing trhough the choices. I tried playing with NumLock (which is actually already in my startup.int) but it didn't help. For one brief shining moment yesterday I was tabbing through the thesaurus, but I can't figure out how I got there. There are paid versions of DOSBox (an exorbitant $3 or so) that run faster, but those are for gamers. Will report on further progress but it's cute to see the Android tablet looking like DOS circa 1994. Jon Pareles ------------------ Interesting, Jon. Keep us posted on further tweaks and annoyances. What a disappointment that the external keyboard lacks function keys! Is there not even a shifting key, þ la the Fn key on many laptops, that replicates these keys? And no Ctrl keys? That's even worse. But here's the big question: Is there a way to paste text from XyWrite into other apps? > I copied the XY directory (with editor.exe, xywwweb, thesaurus, > etc.) from my XP computer to the internal memory of the > Samsung. How do you do that? Do you have to "root" the tablet? Or do you just plug it into the desktop computer and have it show up as the next available drive letter? -- Carl Distefano mailto:cld@xxxxxxxx ------------------------------ End of xywrite Digest V5 #143 *****************************