Re: overcoming the XP lag

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Michael Norman  on Tue, 02 Nov
2004 16:21:57 -0500


> I get the following error on ks=0,0, *Keyboard did not accept repeat
> settings* but then I get a *done* and, here's the thing -- IT WORKS!

;If you use Windows:
;COMMENTED OUT because WinNT balks at it
;KS is keyboard speed: repeat rate, delay
;df ks=0,1

Huh! Interesting. I wrote the lines above, because in NT 4.0, setting KS
caused XyWrite to crash, or freeze, IIRC (too lazy to fire up old NT4 Desktop
now -- but I did a goodly amount of experimentation with XP notebooks, below).
As soon as I commented KS out under NT4, Editor loaded. That setting has been
commented out in my DFL ever since -- quite a few years. But what you're
saying, Michael, seems bizarre: because if you don't touch KS -- i.e. you do
nothing, don't try to set KS at launchtime, comment it out -- the *default*
values are 0,0 (tested Win2K and WinXP). Granted, trying to set KS still makes
a loud protest in both 2K and XP, but it doesn't crash the program anymore (and
you can suppress the protest per se with ...BX es 1Q2 BX d ks=0,0Q2 BX es 0Q2
...). But there are several genuine oddities here. First, suppose you try to
set KS to something else, e.g. "1,1" (try it). It doesn't "take": the values
remain 0,0 (which you can prove either by embedding  or  in text
in Draft+ mode, or by CMline command VA/NV [$]KS). It's really 0,0. You're
saying that if you command D KS=0,0 on the CMline, you see a change of behavior
-- even though it's *already* 0,0, and CMline commands are rejected (you cannot
set KS to anything else -- hell, the Error msg even _says_ that it isn't
accepting your input: Error 643: "Keyboard did not accept new repeat rate
settings"). Second, under XP SP2, I notice less jerkiness -- *considerably*
less. But, yes, I still see a tiny residue of it. For example, if I hold down
the spacebar at bottom file and just create a few lines of new space
characters, it jerks a tiny bit from time to time. If I then hold down an
arrow key to move across those space characters, it jerks now and again. I
think we're on the same page here, yes? (It is nearly indiscernible to me, and
I'm almost incredulous that anyone finds this objectionable, much less even
sees it ... however, we've been around this bend before.) But when I manually
command D KS=0,0 on the CMline, and then do the same spacebar tricks again, I
still see the tiniest jerkiness. No change in behavior that I can see. These
are Desktop windows/DosBoxes, 80x25 in both Screen Buffer Size and Window Size,
18 pt Lucida (also tried Raster), REPEAT=32 DELAY=0, XP Pro, Dell Inspiron
4100, T40p, and T41 (and also W2K T23).

I don't know if this advances the argument any, but -- those are my
observations, FWIW. I just don't believe that issuing KS=0,0 can possibly have
any effect! I sure don't see any. If you can propose a reproducible procedure
that proves your point, I'd like to try it.

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