Re: XP--screen length--startup.int

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Judith Davidsen  on Mon, 08
Dec 2003 20:56:53 -0500

Judith:

> I still haven't figured out how to get to the
> desktop without minimizing everything, a total drag. Any idea how I can
> get a desktop shortcut onto my start-key list?

A bunch of ways to access the Desktop, and the icons|shortcuts thereon, without
Minimizing everything. Right-click on an empty area of the SysTray (the bottom
line of your Desktop screen, the line with the "Start" icon at far left). Go
to Toolbars ==> make sure Desktop and Quick Launch are checked. Now hover with
your cursor over the various little icons on this bottom line. One of them (in
the Quick Launch section) should say "Show Desktop". There should now also be
another section of the SysTray that says "Desktop". If you click on it, it
will open a list of all the icons (shortcuts) on your Desktop. Try these two
things out. (I'm looking at Win2K right now, not XP, so it might have slightly
different names and positions, but it's there.)

>> Right click on the upper left corner of the window, where the little icon is.

> Stymied...no icon, upper left corner of *what* window?

The rectangular "window" in which XyWrite is running. You don't see a little
tiny icon in the upper left corner of this window? It might say something like
"DOS" or show a "C:\..." or something like that...

> As a result, I
> cannot find a properties menu for the width and height mentioned below.

OK, let's back up. Did you do the little test I described, with the DOS
prompt? Hitting Alt-Enter repeatedly, to toggle between a Desktop window and
Full Screen? I spent a paragraph describing this test, but you didn't answer:
Which type of display are you trying to use with XyWrite???? If you don't
answer this, I can't help you, because I don't know *what you're trying to do*!

There are two types of display available for XyWrite. Full Screen is the old
DOS type of display: black (usually) with nothing else in it except XyWrite.
The whole screen of your monitor is filled with XyWrite. It has nice big
characters. It is the display in which XyWrite was designed originally to run.
Surely you remember this type of screen from the old days? You were a XyWriter
under DOS, before Windows, weren't you?

Then M$ Windows introduced a second type of display, known oddly enough as a
"Window". You can have numerous of these windows all open at the same time on
the "Desktop". The "Desktop" is simply a name for what you see when you first
start your computer and boot into Windows -- the screen strewn with icons. So,
again: which type of display are you trying to use with XyWrite?

> Full Screen seems to be what I really want--just cmd and status lines,
> no task or tool bars, no Windows stuff visible in the background, right?
> (Or is there a reason I should prefer a Dos Box?)

Ah, a woman after my own heart. I can't abide those little Desktop Windows,
with their ugly fonts and total cheesiness -- I _only_ run Full screen. It's
just you and the words, real focus. But you know what? Almost everybody else
uses the windows. I kid you not. They think it's "convenient" or something,
god knows what or why. It's just shit, is what it is -- a clunky emulation of
the real deal. So OK, let's set you up for Full Screen. Quit XyWrite, then
right click on the Desktop icon that you made for XyWrite. Open Properties.
Go to the Screen tab. Where it says Usage, select "Full-screen" instead of
"Window". When you next start XyWrite, it will open Full screen.

> Can't figure out how to get into BIOS in XP, she whined, and can't find
> reference to turning expansion on in control panel>display, unless...am
> I looking for adapter modes, like 1024x768, etc?

OK, the setting may not be in "Display" -- it depends on the computer. It may
well be in the BIOS. It may well be a Function key thing (the funny little key
that says "Fn" -- look for it! Try holding "Fn" down and hitting F7 while
XyWrite is running Full screen -- on many Dells, IIRC, that's the toggle key to
expand the screen. The problem is, if you "play around" with Fn + F-key
combos, you end up hibernating or getting a blank screen or some other dumb
thing that you don't want to happen and can't figure out how to escape from --
so if Fn + F7 doesn't work, stop right there.

> Is playing around with the resolution numbers enough

No

> or do I have to find something that says
> expressly that it is going to turn on expansion?

Yes. Let's find your BIOS settings. Close all your applications, go to the
Start button, select "Shutdown", then "Restart". Put a finger on each of F1
and F2, and get ready -- you have to be nimble, because you only have a second
or two to act, i.e. to access the BIOS. The BIOS can only be entered when you
first start your machine, before Windows starts to load. There will be a
screen *briefly* displayed, when the machine starts to reboot, and somewhere on
that screen it will say something like "Press F2 for Setup". Setup is usually
the word to look for, not BIOS -- but BIOS is what it actually is. It is
almost always F1 or F2, but very occasionally it is F8, F11, or F12. You have
to *hold the indicated key down* until you see an acknowledgment, usually
something like "Entering Setup...". Once you get into the BIOS, look at every
single setting -- don't miss a one. This is the essential brains of your
computer sans Windows, and it's nice to get a feel for what you can control.
Do NOT change anything unless you're absolutely sure that you know the
consequence -- but LOOK at everything. Get acquainted. If you find a screen
expansion option, or anything like that, either set it or ask here again what
to do.

> Can you--or anyone--recommend a book on XP that's not for dummies but
> for relatively smart people who just want to get on with things?

You don't need a book. You'll paw through the book, and still not find what
you're looking for. This setting that we're talking about here is only going
to appear in technical books, if at all. What you need is to get acquainted
with something called Google Groups (formerly DejaNews). The questions you're
asking have all been asked and answered, many times, and often eloquently, by
other users. Try it out: http://groups.google.com
Try entering this query (these keywords, including the quotes):

XP DOS small "full screen"

You're going to find a whole bunch of people experiencing your problem, and
searching for solutions (with, of course, many unrelated "hits" as well). When
you see a potentially interesting "article" to read, do NOT click on the
article itself; instead, right click on the little green line that says "View
Thread (9 articles)" or whatever number of articles, and then Open the whole
thread in a "New window". This way you can read the question and all the
answers, all at once.

Look, Judith: if none of this works, then exercise your new buyer right to
help and call Dell tech support on the phone. Just figure out first whether
you're running Full Screen or on the Desktop, so that you can describe your
problem accurately. Don't say "XyWrite", say "DOS application".

Good luck.

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