Re: Anybody home?

["..." adpf@xxxxxxxx]

≪The people at the Tech Group told me of the existence of this spot, but
nothing else.≫ --Bob Locher

Hi, Bob. Whew! Relieved to learn that TTG phones still are turned on. The
xylist isn't affiliated. Cranky users (sometimes) helping users.

≪I am hoping to find a support group that I can join to keep the true
religion!≫

You'll have to decide whether you're in the right pew. On the rare
occasions when xyWrite use is discussed here, the version usually is 4.
This is because either (1) more subscribers use v4 or (2) v4 is more
problematic.

≪Does anyone know what the differences are [between xyW 3.56 and 3.57]?≫

I've used both. Differences are too subtle for me to detect.

Sorry to hear that win95 has reintroduced the .kbd probs win3.1 cured. My
xyW 3.2-win3.0 .kbd probs were so severe the only way I used 3.0 was to
shell out to Windows apps from the xyW CMline. I haven't upgraded yet,
but you and others experiencing Alt key probs might try a trick that lets
me assign two other keys as Alt and Ctrl (a suggestion from [perhaps
former] subscriber Carter Campbell): Rename your ALT tables. For all
xyWrite cares, they could be called FELIXUNGER. Just follow the usual
forms.

≪My survival plan for continued use of XyWrite 3+ is that I have
procurred Word For Windows, and plan to eventually learn enough of that
to import XyWrite files into it and print from WFW. I figure Microsoft
will keep WFW and Windows current with new hardware such as printers so I
won't lose anything.≫

Here's the most valuable xyWrite 3 tip I know: The secret weapon that
liberates any version of *any* app from printer-driver developer-
dependence and makes it perpetual is PostScript (provided of course the
app has a PostScript driver).

A little foggy about precisely what PS is? Most 80x86 users are. It's a
well-documented *interpreted computer language*--like BASIC or Java. The
interpreter is embedded on a chip in a printer or is--like BASIC or
Java--software. PS source code--like BASIC or Java (and like a xyWrite
printer driver)--is ascii. PS source code usually is written by a printer
driver, but humans can do it too, straight up or by manipulating an app's
PS prolog, which defines the way the app manages the language. PS is as
good or as bad as any given app's prolog. If you find the xyWrite PS fb<
(prolog) unsatisfactory, write a new one. Mine, uh, resembles the
CorelDraw prolog--which resembles the Adobe Illustrator prolog--so I can
and do integrate CD PS code easily in xyWrite files.

If you don't want to invest in a PS printer, use a software PS
interpreter; Ghostscript is freeware. With a software interpreter you
usually print to disk using the app's most generic PS driver (usually
Apple Laserwriter I); the interpreter copies the tyf'd file to port,
*using its driver for your non-PS printer*. Software PS interpreters have
a screen driver that gives xyW 3 a de facto (albeit non-editable per se)
graphical preview. This makes my GoScript software interpreter
(relationship to Ghostscript purely nominal) as indispensable to me now
as it was before I got a PS printer. I still tyf for a GoScript preview--
from the xyW 3 CMline, print the file to monitor or copy to LPT1.

Hardware-specific PS drivers just add some hardware-specific procedures
(say, for duplex printing) to the same language all PS drivers use to put
marks on media. If you get a PS printer (they're dirt cheap compared to
the cost pre-TT) that has options not covered by any of an unsupported
app's PS drivers, cf. the printer's PS documentation and add to the app's
most generic PS driver code that activates the features.

PostScript arrived in the marketplace so versatile, robust, and mature
that it quickly became the publishing industry standard. I still find it
rather astonishing to have access to the same technology in an office
printer. Application developers come and go; PS and ascii are constants.
....

Now, a favor: May I ask you to whack the eof before you upload a xyWrite
file to the list? I process my email with xyW, eofs cause me grief, and
your msg had one. Dunno why that should be so, but it was. Harry
Binswanger's eof-zapping method is as painless as it is inspired. Below
is v3 xpl (UUencoded) to do it from the CMline. Many thanks. ... When my
xyW 3 xpl offline reader detects an eof midfile in a download, it stops
dead so I can I shell out temporarily to xyDos 4 to zap the eof by saving
with d 1a=1 (otherwise the rest of the file would be lost). Below too is
my trivial v3 xyDos 4 launcher. ... Ciao. 	--a

!ZAP_EOF ======================================================

section 1 of 1 of file !zap_eof < uuencode 95 (v40) by R.E.M. >

begin 644 !zap_eof
MKD=,7Z\-"E-A=F5S(&1I65D(&9I;&4L(&%N
M9"!D96QE=&5S("YT;7`N($EF(&%L;"=S('=E;&PL('1O(&UA:6YT86EN('1H
M92!E;V8M9G)E92!S=&%T92P@86)O2"N<'8U,Z\@+V&N
M<'8X-J\@+V*N<'8Q,Z]E>&ES=*YP=C@VK_^!":YI9D!N;W0HKF5RKRFO_X$?
M97)N=B"N<'8U,Z^N<'8Q,Z]C;W!YKG!V.#:O(*YP=C4SKZYP=C$SKV5R;G:N
M<'8X-J^N<'8Q,Z]A8B`@/ZY04B!D:7-K('9E*\:
`
end
sum -r/size 34863/1039 section (from "begin" to "end")
sum -r/size 17836/735 entire input file

!2XYDOS4 =======================================================

section 1 of 1 of file !2xydos4 < uuencode 95 (v40) by R.E.M. >

begin 644 !2xydos4
MKD=,7Z\-"D-H86YG92!V87)I86)L92`U,R!I;B!L:6YE(#(@=&\@=&AE('!A
M=&@@=&\@>6]U41O'E7(#,@=VEN9&]W2!W;W5L9"!T;R!R961U8V4@;65M;W)Y(&QO860@*&]R('-U
M9F9E#@V+*YV821P8:^OKG-V,3,L_X$)_X$?
MK_^`6?^!'V1I nyc