Re: Is XY-Write a word-processor or a text editor?

[jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

Steve Hayes wrote:

> I find long filenames are a pain, and long directory names
> even worse. Trying to cd to "My Documents" in XyWrite is a hassle - go to the
> DOS prompt, run Norton Commander, scroll down to find what the *real*
> directory name is, and then go out of Norton Commander and type editor.

Doesn't the jumbo U2 (for XY4 only ... I know) have some routines for dealing
with these conveniently ?

> I have an offline web page reader, and can't back its contents up to CD
> because of the idiotic long names people use for Web pages (produced, of
> course, by Microsoft). Backing up paths with more than 64 characters causes
> hassles.

I think the CD-XA format (the most generous alternative) limits you to 31 char.s
for a filename or PATH.

> I haven't seen XyWrite 4.x for DOS, but have Signature and the Notabene
> equivalent, but the NB one is too hard to use, so I haven't tried it much.

My recall gets hazy on this, esp. since I used Signature only briefly, but I
think they streamlined a number of things and filed off some rough edges, by the
time the program evolved into Xy4DOS.

> Yes, XyWrite 3.52 was the best, but I use 3.56 because it has the British
> spelling dictionary. It won't do automatic text replace, though.

Disagree. The fabled 3.55 was the best of 3-series. The AR function was killed
*after* that, although their were some user-hacks to get around this. Something
got settled in court, or they paid the guy off (whose suit or threatened suit
induced XyQuest to cripple that function -- again, I don't recall the exact
details) at some point either during Signature or the early days of Xy4, and this
function was restored.

Jordan