Re: Unusual Plan for XyWWWeb.U2 v119 + NBWin Beta v8.0s

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Harry Binswanger  on Wed, 23 Nov 2005
16:19:02 -0500


> Dave Erickson's influence?

I imagine. NB-NYC doesn't care about VAriables and all that, or not
noticeably. (Not that you perceive their point of view one way or another --
they don't have a presence on the Web, and they don't express themselves on the
maillist, except to dip in every once in a while to plug their latest/greatest.
Hardly ever answer questions, unless there's a wide perception that something
catastrophic is going on.)

> Is it possible to emulate the traditional XyWrite screen in NotaBene v8?
> I am referring to our light blue letters on black background. I know
> it's possible to modify Windows colors but that affects every
> application and the result of "reversing" Windows colors is not pleasant
> for my eyes...

Yes. Can be done. I wrote an XPL program for NB7 about a year and a half ago
called COLORS (it's in U2, and it is pretty amazing -- it allows you to pick
*any* scheme of background+foreground colors for your text, and to do it
graphically and interactively with a full-color screen plus text, and then,
when you find the scheme you want, to set that in the adjacent document, and/or
to set persistent system and/or session defaults. So I just set my screen to
RGB values of 0,0,0 for Background, and 63,207,255 for Foreground (light blue
on black ground). Then I zoomed the screen to 180% so that the text fills the
window. Then I maximized the window (which in the NB context means to get rid
of everything except the Taskbar; you can reconfigure that to just show the
CMline and PRompt line, and ditch the Taskbar (= the equivalent of the Xy4
"Menus"). Then I hid the margins. But there's still a bit of white showing
all around (about 1cm), plus the Windows Taskbar at the bottom -- so it isn't a
100% inky black screen like DOS or fullscreen Xy4. You win some, you lose
some... But you use a Desktop window, don't you? So you're accustomed to a
bit of glare from the Desktop.

> I'd especially like it if they posted instructions on how to
> get it to work like Xy, for example, how to duplicate startup.int and
> save gets, and, of course, set up U2.

"They" are most unlikely to do that. They'd hardly know what you're talking
about. We, however, can do anything we want.

> I tried version 5 or 6, didn't like it enough to get through the
> process of adapting it to my work style.

Well, this may not be any better, or different, from a stylistic standpoint.
Unfortunately, there is no time-limited demo package to explore (try before
buy). They're not very bright about marketing.

> given the peculiar way in which I use XyWrite, I need "draft
> mode" to display text in a color of my choice, for each
> possible value of XX.

Are those numeric MoDes like , or the dedicated BO/IT/RV/UL/etc character
MoDes? The short answer to your question is No. Colors are not associated
with MoDes. You can get a limited number of graphical effects with the
character MoDes, such as reverse video, italics, strikethrough, underlining.
But colors work differently in NBWin. They are determined by ForeGround (FG --
the text) and BackGround (BG) commands, e.g. , which is pure
white. The three values are Red,Green,Blue, and each has a range of 0-255. So
it's a classic 256^6 (256^3 FG and 256^3 BG) color scheme, from which you can
wreak any color result. It works well, and the commands take immediate effect
-- you can change the scheme for just one character, or any amount of text. So
you'd have to change somewhat the way you work, depending on whether you want
these colors for your own visual benefit only, or you want them to print too.
But it would trivial, for example, to issue particular MoDe commands combined
with particular FG/BG commands, to achieve the same effect. Or, if you're
using MoDes just to highlight areas for your own benefit, you could skip the
MoDes and just issue FG/BG commands (from the KBD file, or whatever). A simple
XPL routine could put them, and/or remove them. More info needed -- over to
you... but don't box yourself in with old thinking, because there are new
approaches here, easily exploited. For example, you say you "need" Draft
mode,; but you shouldn't count Graphic mode/No Markers out. It's beautiful!

> A fairly comprehensive FAQ | "cheat sheet" | detailed recipe
> for how to get FROM out-of-the-box NB8 TO the
> customized advantages we're used to in Xy4 would be at
> least as important as the "deal."

Clearly. We've *already* done this -- it's been available for years! It needs
refinement and more substance, but it exists. My whole point here is that
NBWin is compatible. You can take your XyWrite habits to it, and -- accepting
the differences between DOS and the Windows GUI -- pretty much have the same
thing. But does it look the same? No.

I suspect it isn't going to be much of a "deal", especially compared to the
zero that we've been fortunate to enjoy. More like a really great meal for 4
in a relatively good restaurant. Last time around I think it was $249 -- or
something like that. Once you're on board, upgrades are $99 for the basic word
processor, or $149 with Lingua (an add-on which XyWrite also had, but I don't
think it ever worked -- I never tried it, and don't even know what it is, then
or now). I'm describing the 99 dollar version.

> I will buy it to support it but if I can load
> my keyboard files and printer drivers, I may switch. So count me in.

KBD files, yes. Printer drivers...? It uses Windows printer services, which
will be a point of rejoicing for many XyWriters. I played extensively with
PRNs back in v6, and I couldn't get them to work. Steve Siebert told me (over
lunch, several years ago) that I shouldn't hold any hopes for it. Erickson may
be doing things behind their backs, though -- I just find it hard to believe
that NB cares about the little XyWrite-type things that suddenly started
working right. My understanding is that he is still in control of the code
(probably he's the only one who understands it!). The short answer is, I don't
know. But I'll play with PRNs and find out. NB does not respond to a UFW
command, whereas XyWin I think does. Not a good sign. If you try to load a
classic Xy4 PRN, NB detects a lot of "unrecognized lines", mostly characters
that don't appear in CodePage 1252. Plus a few other commands that bomb, such
as loading one of the BIN files for an HP LaserJet. I haven't lost all hope
here, but chances are not good.

I want to be clear that I am not a salesman for Nota Bene. I'm not saying NB8
is perfect, either -- I've had some freezes and crashes (but I generally
attribute these to errors in my configuration, or experiments gone awry).
Neither am I encouraging anybody to jump ship. But I do think that there are a
lot of people in this group who would be happier, and better served, in the
Nota Bene environment. The workarounds and fixes are getting very arcane, and
it's work to keep up. Harder and harder. I rather enjoy developing these
bridges to modernity, but I suspect for many it is becoming little more than a
matter of following increasingly complicated instructions -- a leap of faith.

NB-NYC really really needs to offer a time-limited, full-function demo product!

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------