RE: XyWrite for Windows versus XP Pro/SP2

["Paul Ambos" pambos@xxxxxxxx]

I am unable to get XyWin to run on a Dell OptiPlex GX280, Pentium 4 Prescott
DT processor, 512 MB, DVI graphics adapter with flat-panel monitor, Win XP
SP2 installed. All files copied from last computer (Pentium 2 WinNT 4; no
problems there). No perceived action when run from shortcut, WinExplorer or
Run; no variation with various compatibility options in shortcut properties.
Sounds like Carl's results.

Any new ideas?

Regards,

Paul Ambos
Paul Ambos, P.C.
pambos@xxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
From: Patricia M Godfrey [mailto:pmgodfrey@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2004 2:52 PM
To: xywrite@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: XyWrite for Windows versus XP Pro/SP2

Ed, What are you doing with SMARTDRV.EXE in your autoexec.bat? Does XP
really need it? 9x certainly doesn't. _Windows 98 Secrets_ (Livingston and
Straub) say SMARTDRV is a 16-bit, real-mode cache that has been replaced by
Vcache, a 32-bit, protected-mode dynamic cache that doesn't take up
conventional or upper memory space. It isn't in my autoexec.bat; in fact
nothing active is (there are a few remmed out items that I tried and
discarded) beyond the path statement. So it might be gobbling up RAM that
XyWin needs. Can any XP users out there advise as to whether it's really
needed? (Don't remove it, or even rem it out, until we're sure.
Esp. with no floppy to boot from.) And what is that Ez at the end?

If you don't absolutely need TrueType (which is all I use XyWin for), your
files will be readable in Xy4 DOS. And with XP you can even print to a USB
printer, if it's PostScript or HP PCL (Robert detailed the procedure for
mapping the USB port to an LPT, but it doesn't work in 9x unless it's really
a network printer). Even if it's not, you can typef to a postscript file and
then export to PDF with PostGhost. Am I correct in thinking that XyShell
works with XP? Even if not, there's a workaround.

The rest is pure theory, as I don't have an XP box (or even a 2K one) to
test on. But the fact that Carl (of all people) cannot get XyWin running on
an XP machine while others can makes me strongly suspect a hardware or BIOS
component ot the problem. When TTG "designed" XyWin, they purchased WYSIWYG
at a ruinous price. The program gets severly confused by modern display
adapters. Just the other day, I had a 2-page invoice up in XyWin (need a
TrueType font for my logo). Nothing fancy: the DBA was in perhaps 24-point,
everything else in 12-point, no graphics beyond two two-row column tables.
On screen, I had a bar of the desktop overwriting the file. It printed OK,
but...

Recall that when XyW (DOS and Win) was written, the average display adaptor
had 256 or 512 K of RAM. Nowadays, even my underpowered system has 16 MB on
the (integrated) AGP circuit and a further 16 MB borrowed from system RAM. I
suspect that XyWin is making some direct calls to memory addresses that are
being used by something else in modern systems.
But, obviously, not all modern systems, or nobody would be able to get it
running.

Sometimes a system that has been running XyWin nicely will suddenly report
that it cannot not load for lack of memory. (That's what drove me to upgrade
in May 03) Obviously, some bitrot in Windows, which might be fixable with a
complete reinstall, but not if all you have is a "restore CD."

So, to get practical: could we compile a list of what hardware (CPU, Mobo
brand, chipsets) does and does not run XyWin? I seem to recall that someone
here couldn't get XyDOS running on 95, so the problem is not just with XP.
This box is an AMD Duron (the Mobo was sold me as an ECS K7SEM, but then ECS
insisted it was PCCHips M810L), AMI BIOS, SIS 730 Chipset, PCI BUS vers.
2.10, PnP BIOS v. 2.3, VGA is SIS 630 GUI Accelerator, sound is SIS 7018. I
have it running on several older system (ancient, some of them), but the
newer the systems, the more problems, so we should probably confine
ourselves to newer ones--unless someone has had problems on older ones, and
can warn off would-be purchasers of second-hand systems. I suggested this a
while back, and we did get some answers, which I will see if I can unearth
from the archives.

Patricia M. Godfrey
PMGodfrey@xxxxxxxx