Re: I want to go geek .. and VPC?

["mhchoate" mhyerchoate@xxxxxxxx]

Reply at bottom ... Subject is XP not always having FullScreen capability
... I'm not changing subject line because I am replying to following message
....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Holmgren" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 6:24 AM
Subject: Re: I want to go geek .. and VPC?
** Reply to message from Carl Distefano  on Wed,
30 May 2007 22:04:44 -0400
The consensus seems to be that it's a video driver issue, i.e., that
Vista drivers (WDDM) do not support full-screen mode, and that to
get full screen you need to install XP video drivers (XDDM) in
Vista.

Thanks! Very interesting. If that's so, then it follows that
the reason FullScreen works for me must be that my graphics card
(an Intel 950) doesn't have WDDM drivers, and thus falls back on
older graphics drivers. Quite odd, because H-P stickers all
over this brand-new box proclaim that it was "built for Vista".

If FullScreen is hardware dependent under Vista, then going
forward, as hardware increasingly adapts to Vista requirements,
FullScreen will be less and less common out-of-the-box.
(However, manufacturers will probably provide XP drivers for a
long while to come.)

REPLY from Marge -- (hi, all)
Caveat emptor. All XP is not created equal. There must be software reasons
in XP that full-screen does not always work.
This is my story, and why I am concerned about freezing a working XyWrite
environment ....for at least another ten years or so ... if not longer ....
(even if I have to have computers dedicated to XyWrite, and go with the flow
on everything else) ...
In fall of 2005 my Dell desktop (2005ish, Windows98) began making a LOUD
fan-whirring noise ... I assumed I had let it get too hot. I tried to get
all the dust out of the back, and I kept AC and fan blowing on it, and kept
it out in the open .... and it kept on working .... and I thought that took
care of it ...
And then on a Friday night, with a Tuesday dropdeadline, the noise returned.
I panicked, turned off computer ... and realized I'd be in major major
trouble if it broke on me .... so I went into crisis mode.
I knew I couldn't get any mail-order system in time, so I did what I thought
the only thing I could do .... I drove to nearest Best Buy (60 miles away)
and talked to all the guys there ("Geek Squad") who seemed savvy enough, and
I told them I wanted a laptop, and it HAD to support a legacy program, based
on DOS.  They assured me it would, and after listening to me describe what
all I needed, recommended this laptop, with XP.  I couldn't load my XyWrite
CD without buying it ... I bought it, and loaded CD in the store ..... I
brought up XyWrite, and hated what I saw ... (not full screen) .... I tried
Alt-Enter and it flashed to FullScreen, and then back to window mode again.
The Geek Guy rattled off a few settings I could change, and I left the store
confident that I could fix it ....
After I got home and set up, Saturday night, I methodically tried to fix it
to operate in FullScreen .... it wouldn't fix. No matter how many
ah-ah-that-should-do-its, it kept not working, in exactly the same way.
Nothing changed that. Giving up on that, I changed size and fonts etc. and
improved the appearance of the window, and of XyWrite in it ... I think I
optimized the appearance of XyWrite, but I still had trouble working in it,
because of the cursor disappearing in overwrite mode, in some colors... I
tried lots of colors, and couldn't get enough ....I got discouraged .... (My
XyWrite work is not typical, but I won't describe it here.)
I kept "working" on my old computer, with backup data ready to go on the
new, if I HAD to. Thank goodness I didn't have to, because I don't think I
could have met that Tuesday deadline.
I kept trying to force myself to start new projects on the new laptop, and I
just couldn't bring myself to work in such a way.
I kept trying, and certainly switched all my other stuff, including
Internet, to the laptop .... and kept trying to come up with some color
combos I could work in .... and kept scratching my head about FullScreen ...
I'm sure I tried it every time I used the laptop .. and after I'm sure more
than a month or two, EUREKA, FullScreen was working. I did NOTHING to fix it
directly. I wasn't tinkering with a lot of system settings. Only setting I
had changed was the speed of the mouse. And I'm sure I had done that way
before FullScreen started working. Only thing I could figure that had
affected it was running a Gateway BigFix. I emailed them with the BigFix
number and described what had happened. And thanked them. And tried to find
out what it had done to improve my system in this way. Their reply denied
any responsibility. So go figure.
Bottom line -- just because it's XP doesn't necessarily mean you will have
Command Prompt FullScreen.
Now, the issue of whether you really need FullScreen is a whole nother
thread .... I'm not sure .... I may try again on that ... when I'm not in
crisis mode ....
I am totally happy with this laptop, and it's working great. (Have to have
that wireless mouse, though.) But I am now hot-to-trot on preventing a
future crisis mode day. I need to keep a redundant backup, ready to go. (I
am going to get my Dell desktop checked out, for immediate such backup.)

But I'm trying to plan ahead.
And Hi, Robert --- another comment on your "tough love" message,
discouraging me(us?) from "burrowing into the past" ... the more I think
about it, the more I know that SIMPLICITY is my objective .... as simple as
possible ..... I want what I've got now (XyWrite wise) to keep working! I
will move on, boldly going into the future, with Everything Else, as needed.
I just want to freeze a working XyWrite environment, and not have to worry
about it again! That may not be possible, but I think it should be.