Re: CLIP Woes [Plus double cursor]

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Michael Norman  on Wed, 29 Dec
2004 15:39:57 -0500

> Or should I simply have moved %SystemRoot%\system32
> forward

Of course. Move it forward. Or, now, delete #3. What in
the WORLD is the point of having two identical specs? To
slow down your comp[uer by checking the same directory
twice? Do you UNDERSTAND what the PATH spec is?? It
represents the order in which directories are searched to
find called files that lack fully specified D:\PATH\s.
First find represents the file that is used. Now, if you
do a COMP command C:\PROGRAM\FILES\THINKPAD\UTILITIES, e.g.
locate in UTILITIES and

 COMP * C:\WINDOWS\system32

what do you discover, Michael? I think what you find is
that not a single file in IBM's UTILITIES directory is
duplicated in system32. So therefore, given that system32
contains just about 99% of the important files on the
computer, don't you think that *system32* should be first in
the PATH? I think so. I told you yesterday -- you're not
listening to me -- IBM prepends their PATHs at the
beginning of the PATH spec because it's *convenient* for
them; if they put them at the end then, yes, there's a
possibility that some other file of the same name will occur
in a directory referenced earlier in the PATH, and supercede
the file IBM wants you to use. Now, do you actually _need_
any of those ThinkPad utilities? Do you know what they are,
what TP services are running? You need to do some research
on your own...

> Copied the new one over it, changed the various
> drive specs and variables, made sure the above was
> correct. And the routine worked. But...B...U...T

You know, I think we should appoint a committee to oversee,
and approve, every change you make to your system. Require
you to stand down in that capacity. Because this has been
going on as long as I can remember, there seems no end to
it, and I for one am tired. I don't experience your issues.
Nobody else mentions them. Here's the real problem: you're
trying to do some +|- sophisticated things, without really
understanding why you're doing them or what they really
accomplish, how they operate under the hood, what
interactions and ramifications they have, what they MEAN.
Because otherwise your system wouldn't be riddled, shot
through, with little problems like this. [I mean,
ScreenLength=26 lines!? What does that accomplish? That
_certainly_ was not in the original DFL created by XyQuest.
What are you thinking when you do that?] And it is _all_
user error (or if not 100%, darn close).

> 1. I REMed TAME from AUTOEXEC.NT, rebooted, started XY,
> invoked CLIP, and still had the double cursor.
> TAME is NOT the cause.

Why *reboot*? Just REM Tame in AUTOEXEC.NT, & launch new
DOS (XyWrite) session. It examples what I'm saying:
you don't *actually* understand how AUTOEXEC works!
AUTOEXEC is launched by NTVDM. An NTVDM (VirtualDosMachine)
is opened each time you run a DOS program from a Shortcut
(from a Shortcut, mind you! not from a DOS Prompt, because
the DOS Prompt is *already* an NTVDM -- you gotta close
_that_ and reopen it to get a changed AUTOEXEC to "take").
When you close the DOS program, the NTVDM closes too (some
exceptions with malfunctioning Win3.x programs -- WOWEXEC
doesn't close). So if you want to test a different AUTOEXEC
configuration, close your DOS program, change AUTOEXEC, and
relaunch the DOS program. That's all.

I'm beginning to think, what I never thought before, that
users have no business tinkering with computer stuff that
they don't understand. I'm almost sympathetic to Microsoft,
which on August 26th of this year decided that they were
tired as hell of users who couldn't keep problematic files
from invading their computers, or of offering them choice in
this matter. So they introduced Windows Firewall -- and
that's the end of it. Clampdown/crackdown, like it or lump
it.

It is a fact: to run Xywrite IV successfully under Win32,
you must be fully conversant with DOS and how it is
implemented under Win32. Or at least -- no tinkering.
Either/or.

Re double cursor, didn't we discuss this at great length at
the end of March? I seem to recall spending HOURS on it. I
recall that I was finally able to reproduce it by using a
PIF instead of a LNK, or v.v. -- I don't know anymore, there
was such a lot of nonsense about making PIFs "from Editor"
and the like -- but I *think* I recall that it turned out to
be incredibly minor. You were doing something wierd to
create PIFs, or launching apps directly by calling the PIF
name (jeesh), or something like that, I dunno. Didn't
double-cursor disappear if you shelled to DOS like this:
 BX dos/nv/x/z /c exitQ2 ;*;
You said that when you took DFL out of STARTUP, you had no
problems: no double cursor, no frozen full screen, no
nothing. You yourself concluded there was something wrong
in your DFL. I am fully prepared to believe that. I
suggest you review that whole thread, called "XY in DosBox
(XP)". You also said you got garbage when you shelled to
DOS. I infer that your whole setup was, and may still be, a
disaster site. We are re-visiting well-trodden ground here.

Do me a favor. Take a deep breath. Step back for a few
days. Don't post five times tomorrow. Do some experiments
on your own. Think about your situation, then post one
considered summary. I need a vacation from this. Apart
from being uninteresting and unilluminating to me or anyone
else, it amounts to abuse. I just snapped; I have creative
projects I'd like to pursue. But I'm also telling truth
here. Unpleasant truth.

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