Kari:
> You can switch the VM to full screen and back to windowed mode
> with Host key + F. Then you set the W2K video from the Desktop
> context menu, settings. If you set a smaller display than the
> underlying host, it will show black borders, so you must change
> the host's resolution to make it bigger. Or you can experiment
> with Scaled mode (Host + C) to have a scalable graphics display
> (by maximizing it you get something that resembles a full
> screen). Personally, I think you can achieve better results by
> running Xy in a DOS window under W2K and changing font size.
> But by all means do experiment...
Thank you, Kari, this is very helpful. I have indeed been
experimenting, and there's no doubt in my mind that the "something
that resembles a full screen" is the best solution for me. I know
I'm in a minority of one in some of the ways I use XyWrite (aren't
we all?), but for me it's essential to have (1) the DOS full-screen
experience (or something closely resembling it), and (2) fine
control over the screen colors within that environment. VBox's
Scaled Mode meets both of these criteria. The only disadvantage that
I'm seeing is that once you're in this Virtual DOS Full Screen
(let's call it VDFS), it's hard if not impossible to get back to the
*virtual* (not the host) Desktop. Hitting Alt-Enter (to toggle back
to a window) or Winkey-M (to minimize all windows) invariably
crashes XyWrite, in my experience thus far. The only way back is to
quit XyWrite, which is a pain. Happily, I virtually never have to do
so, since XyWrite is really the only reason for me to virtualize.
(If you don't count Nyet, that is, the little-known 1980s Russian
DOS game that found new life as Tetris -- screenshot attached.)
Bill:
> I have always been one to embrace as many open windows and tabs
> as possible, but the fact is that I don't like to concentrate
> on any one thing for very long, so this technical capability
> impedes my concentration by making it so easy for me to wander
> and dither.
Funny, I'm just the opposite. I find it hard to concentrate on more
than one task at a time, and for that reason I've never bought into
the "windows" concept of having multiple programs visible on the
Desktop. I have nothing against running many programs at once, of
course ("I'm not a DOS Luddite", he said, protesting too much), but
I find that most of the time I want to focus on one program at a
time and have it occupy the whole screen. In fact, I run all of my
Windows programs full-screen probably 90 percent of the time.
> >Personally, I think you can achieve better results by running
> >Xy in >a DOS window under W2K and changing font size. But by
> >all means do >experiment...
>
> One reason this is true is that Windowed XyWrite lets you use
> scalable fonts, so if you have high resolution, your font size
> could be 34 points (which is very high resolution!)
I know, I've tried that, but for me it's no substitute for the DOS
full screen. That said, I'm beginning to see the merits of windowed
Xy; at work I have no choice but to run it that way, and I've begun
to adapt to it. The thing that really gets to me is the lack of
control over screen colors. Sure, you can set the background and
text colors for the DOS window, but XyWrite more often than not
overrides them, and you're back to white text on a black background.
I've been working around that by using Xy's numbered MoDes to add
splashes of reverse-video color (a/k/a highlighting) to the white-
on-black display. It works reasonably well for my purposes.
Paul:
> The apsect ratio of the monitor does not appear to be an issue
> for Virtualbox in Scaled Mode...
That's good to know. I'm sure my next monitor will be one of those
wide-screen jobs. Bill's point about the wide aspect ratio not being
conducive to serious writing is spot on. When I want to produce a
document for printing (not often when I'm at home), I use the latest
iteration of MS-Word, which I must say looks nice when displayed
full-screen on my good old Sony. On a wide screen I suppose I'll
have to start fussing with resized windows. "Progress" always comes
with a price.
--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx
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