RE: Xywrite for 64 bit Windows 7

[Harry Binswanger hb@xxxxxxxx]

Yes, if you want a Windows-type version of Xy, that would be
Nota bene. I find it good except that it bombs a lot when editing
footnotes (I try to remember now to always do that in eXPanded
mode).

> Nothing to contribute re Win 7,
> which I've barely tested, and not much liked what
> Some time ago, Robert created an instructional video on how to transfer
> as much
> as possible of the look, feel, and operation of Xy-4  to NB. 


As much as I admire Robert, I advise against this. I followed it to the
letter and the result was that NB support (which is very good) didn't
want to help me. I'd stay with out-of-the-box NB, except for a) taking
over any customizations from your Xy .kbd file that are important to you,
and putting them into nb.kbd, b) a judicious use of material from Xy's
setting.dfl, if you are moving from Xy4, c) making whatever
customizations you like among the many offered within NB via
Tools/Preferences.


> Of course, you would
> still need to purchase NB, if you don't already have it. 
> Though it took a long time for me to be convinced, I came to the
> conclusion that
> this was a prudent move. 


Yes. And you need only the text editing part (Scholars Work Station), not
the parts called Orbis and Ibidem.


I believe that this sells for about $200.



>  Periodically,
> there are upgrade discounts available for
> Xy users.  Whether it is Win 7 or the forthcoming Win 8 we're
> talking about, I would
> not place any sizable wagers on continuing compatibility of the DOS-era
> Xywrite.
> (Even though there may be some viable workarounds, like virtual
> machines.  But
> that may get fairly technical for many users, rather
> quickly.)

Virtual machines can be pretty easy and user-friendly. DOSBox is
technical and difficult, but Virtual PC and Parallels (for Mac--does it
exist for PC?) are much simpler and user-friendly. The easiest route is
to buy NB. That will enable one to be immediately up and running editing
Xy files (and creating new ones, of course) in a screen that looks like
Notepad or Word, but with a command line (for some reason, NB puts the
command line at the bottom of the screen, but you can drag it and drop it
back on the top where it belongs).

The other dead simple way is to buy the software that makes a virtual
machine, and have *somebody else* set it up and install Windows XP (or
any earlier Windows or even just DOS) on it. Then have this spend ten
minutes showing you what you need to know to work within it. But once
installed, the virtual machine is the old machine within a window on your
new one, so zero adjustment of work habits is required. On the other
hand, when something goes wrong with something about the virtual machine
(not Xy, which runs as always), you'll probably need your tech guy
again.

So it's a trade-off, with NB coming out slightly ahead for the non-techy
people.