Re: Xy4 problem

[Phil Smith phil@xxxxxxxx]

Reply to reply by Robert Holmgren:

>
> ** Reply to note from Phil Smith  Sun, 18 May 1997
>
> > Yes, a nul appears as an 'a' in a file. And yes, MW = 0. Not
> > entirely sure I understand the connection between the two.
>
> There isn't any. They're different phenomena. I was trying to understand
> which behavior you're describing. I'm still unclear. You say:
>
> > I tried setting MW = 1 and re-invoking, and got my 'a's again.
>
> You mean, got them again after they disappeared with MW=0, or do you mean
> that your default is MW=0 but that the value of MW makes no apparent
> difference?
>
> > I get the 'a's also after loading a file.
>
> That suggests that what you're seeing is the character in the left border
> of your window box. You mean, the file is on-screen, but column zero
> simultaneously displays a column of "a"s -- to the left of the file's text?
> Where the border of the window used to be? In this case, check out
> VAriable WB (command "va/nv $WB"). Is "a" the sixth element of VA$WB? If
> it is, change WB to something you like better, e.g. a space character,
> during initialization (SETTINGS.DFL or STARTUP.INT). Ascii-179 is the
> factory-issue left box border.

No. $WB[6] is an up arrow; no 'a'.

>
> Or do you mean that the "a"s appear after the text ends, at the left end of
> empty lines? If the latter, then the probable explanation for different


Yes, exactly that.


> appearance under DOS 6.0 and Win95-DOS is that these OS's are using
> different IBM text mode screen fonts. Your screen font shows an "a" for
> nul. Load a different screen font! Get a utility like Michael Mefford's
> shareware FONTED.ZIP, and save the font that you like under DOS 6.0; FONTED
> will turn it into a .COM file that you can just call from STARTUP.INT or
> AUTOEXEC.BAT, which will replace Win95's screen font with the font you
> like. I have several dozen screen fonts that I typographed myself,
> each of which I install (one at a time) simply by running a COM file.
> Works like a charm under Win95.


OK, looks like I'll be getting some new screen fonts. Love fonts anyway.

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

Thanks for all your advice. Hope the rest of you aren't bored by this. I
find it very helpful.

Phil Smith
Columbia Music Company