Re: I want to go geek .. and VPC?

["mhchoate" mhyerchoate@xxxxxxxx]

Good morning all, and hello Robert! Tough love is fine with me.
See replies interspersed.
Thanks.
Marge
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Holmgren" 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: I want to go geek .. and VPC?
** Reply to message from "mhchoate" 
on Tue, 29 May 2007 12:49:10 -0500
I have learned that while Vista does have a
"Command Prompt" feature, it
does not support "Full-Screen" mode.

Not true. Vista does FullScreen VGA (text mode/black
screen/looks like DOS) *perfectly*! And 32-bit Vista runs
XyWrite perfectly. (64-bit Vista does NOT run XyWrite, period!)
Marge's reply -- This is VERY good news. My source for my statement was Ben
Armstrong's blog, Virtual PC Guy's Weblog, found via Google on keywords
"command prompt" and "full screen." (I didn't have time to look at all
results of course.) How am I supposed to know this guy may be full of beans?
(I'm laughing here.)

But the first thing visible on that page is the following:

--- START OF BLOG COPY ----
One of the less noticed changes to Windows Vista is that it no longer
supports displaying in 'full screen text mode'. This means that if you open
a command prompt - you cannot put it into full screen mode.

---- END OF BLOG COPY ----

I suppose there is some legitimate argument for sticking with
Win9x (not that I can remember what it is, except for the
obvious one: user hasn't got the savvy or skills or
determination and persistence to get XyWrite running acceptably
under a modern OS).
Marge's reply -- I could not care less what OS (meiosis accidental) -- I
just need XyWrite to have acceptable visual characteristics. Especially the
cursor. On this laptop (Gateway, with XP) I could not work happily (and
possibly not at all) in window-mode. (And I tried everything I could find to
tinker with, both in XyWrite and in Windows. Fonts, sizes, line spacings
(though I think, if I remember correctly, that my XY line spacing commands
didn't seem to work.)  I couldn't work in it.
I knew it was probably not hardware, because it would flash to full-screen
mode and stay a second or two then revert to a window. Some sophisticated
advice from indexers' forum helped not the slightest, but led me to believe
it was hopeless, because of missing drivers.
Then one day full-screen mode suddenly started working! And I could work in
it! And you'll just have to believe me that I didn't do anything new to
change it. The only thing I thought that could possibly have fixed it was a
Gateway BigFix I had run. They denied anything to do with that in reply to
my thank-you and query. I HATE it that I didn't have a clue.

But I can think of an awful lot of very
good reasons to go with NT+ (meaning Win2K/XP/Vista), such as
the fact that there's much more to computing than just XyWrite,
and 9x can't do the job anymore.
Well, my idea was to keep XyWrite on a dedicated computer, and Everything
Else on whatever latest thing I wanted/needed.

 I simply cannot fathom this
notion that XyWrite requires 9x. My XyWrite installations work
the same on every Windows operating system -- which is to say,
very well indeed.
I assumed that would be true. But I've used my XyWrite on, hmm,let's see,
four computers now. All have been slightly different. But not until this
last experience with XP on this Gateway laptop did I have a PROBLEM. And
believe me, if I lost fullscreen on this laptop XP again, and couldn't get
it back, I'd probably retire! Unless I could quickly get up and running on
something else. (Oh, my use of XyWrite is not typical. See below.)


You do NOT need VPC at all! That's
ridiculous. And running *real DOS* instead of a modern OpSys is
utterly TOTALLY ridiculous. There are perfectly good DOS
subsystems integrated into ALL versions of Windows (including
Vista -- I don't care what the magazines or salespeople say, if
it looks like DOS and acts like DOS and quacks like DOS, then it
*is* DOS, or such a good emulation thereof that you can't tell
the difference).
Well, this is still GOOD NEWS. I didn't actually talk to anybody at Best
Buy. I just tried out all the demos. All said "full screen mode not
supported on this system" ... which didn't tell me if that was all of Vista,
or just that copy .... and of course I couldn't load XyWrite and tinker with
Window size and font size and spacing, etc. ....

All the messages on this list about Win98 and DOS and preparing
for the future by burrowing into the past are just nonsense.

Marge's reply -- I repeat, this is GOOD NEWS to me.
All they mean is that the writers haven't got a clue what they
are doing. The writers went to sleep for 10+ years or paid no
attention because they figured they didn't need to -- and now
they're hopelessly behind. They need to get clued in. They
need to grapple with technological issues.
Marge's reply, still laughing. SEE MY SUBJECT LINE! You are preaching to
the choir. But I haven't been ASLEEP! I've been busy on other things! My
to-do lists start at the top with "have to" and then "very important" ....
learning guts of PCs and OSs has never been anywhere but at the bottom of
the list until now.

Otherwise, they're
just going to be unhappy, and they shouldn't be using XyWrite
anymore -- they should use NBWin (XyWrite for Windows!) or Word
or something that just works out of the box.
Marge's reply, still laughing. I TRIED to wean myself from XyWrite. But I
find I am locked into XyWrite for my paying work (indexing books). I have
developed an idiosyncratic but sophisticated system, using XyWrite as a
base, and lots of XPL stuff, and some C programs. I tried to start weaning
myself from XyWrite by looking into doing what I do in Word, plus Visual
Basic. Didn't take me long to trash that idea. I then bought the highly
respected $500ish software (there were three to pick from, and I arbitrarily
chose the one that also has a MAC version) .... I have pretty much mastered
it, and if I were starting fresh twenty years ago on it, I might be able to
continue using it. (I will probably develop some hybrid procedures.) But
parts of that system, compared to what I have developed for myself in
XyWrite, is like reverting to sawing 2x4s with a handsaw when you're used to
an electric table saw. Walking 12 miles to town when you're used to an air
conditioned car. Hmmm .... let's not get carried away here with the
metaphors, Marge.... My work is demanding and I need maximum productivity
to meet schedules -- and be happy with the pay .... it pays by the project,
not by the hour ...
I did not realize that going to XyWrite for Windows was a possibility. Not
that it appeals. Have just never considered it.

Running XyWrite
today REQUIRES a somewhat sophisticated understanding of
operating systems and of DOS -- i.e., more understanding than
99% of today's incredibly ignorant Average Users possess. It's
just a fact of life when you're running old DOS programs. If
you don't believe me, take a gander at Edward Mendelson's
WordPerfect for DOS website. Whew!

These users need to install XyWrite on a modern box, and then,
ONE BY ONE, tackle the problems narrowly.
Marge's reply: Sounds like fun. But I don't have the savvy to do this FAST.
I have the desire to learn. But I have deadline time constraints. And
demanding schedules. I'm trying to plan ahead.

 We've addressed, and
SOLVED, just about every problem you can have ten times over ad
nauseum, and the archives prove it.
I can't remember whether I wrote this list about my no-full-screen problem
... if I did, I didn't get a solution. I do remember, for sure, another
person who had the same problem, and didn't get a solution. ..
I am aware that the archives probably cover all I need to know and then
some. But my experience searching archives of my indexing forum is that
it's a major headache, especially on dialup, and I'm too far out in the
country for DSL, and satellite not worth the money .... and information
overload requires patience, and time ... I'll Google, I guess, to find the
archives? No nice little link in the messages. I'll give it a try ....

Tough love.

I'll take whatever love I can get. (And whatever help, too)

Marge

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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