Re: Giving up on giving it up ...

["mhchoate" mhyerchoate@xxxxxxxx]

A quick reply (I'm on deadline) ...
Thanks much for this. I will get Xy4 and play with it ... in near future.
The wildcard replace alone is worth it.
On that cursor visibility thing. I didn't keep good notes, so can't tell you
exactly what all I tried -- but I remember thinking I tried everything, and
then some. I changed the color, the size, the blinking, everything. I
investigated every "Properties" I could find. I tinkered in both Windows and
in XyWrite. I reread sections of the XyWrite manual I hadn't read in years.
I learned more about Windows than I wanted to know. I changed fonts and font
size all over the place. Nothing was satisfactory. (I don't have a clue
whether part of the problem was that this is a laptop, not a larger
monitor.)
This doesn't mean that if I had an expert like you looking over my shoulder
there wouldn't be an "ah-ha" moment .... but I'm assuming nobody really
wants to come to Texas.
There were tradeoffs among settings -- I was going crazy "working" in the
best (but still not good enough) setting. On my second work project after I
got the laptop, I reverted to my desktop (the one whose fan noise had sent
me in crisis mode to Best Buy, 60 miles away, on a Saturday) ... (that
desktop still works -- but modem has now conked, so it's not a complete
redundant backup -- I'm considering getting modem replaced, and insides
dusted out ...) .... ...

I work in both insert and overstrike mode, but much more in overstrike.

Back to work. I'm indexing a book on personality disorders. Fun.

Marge
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harry Binswanger" 
To: 
Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 4:03 PM
Subject: Re: Giving up on giving it up ...
Marge wrote:
1. Xy runs fine on XP and, early reports are, on Vista. The most you'll
encounter in problems is tweaking things for the most pleasant colors and
cursor-speed (unless you want to work in full-screen mode: for that, no
adjustment is required).
REPLY: I will work in either mode that I lets me see the cursor easily. On
this laptop I cannot find the cursor unless I'm in full-screen mode.
That's due to a setting. In the Properties of something or other (maybe
what you get by left clicking on the Xy icon in the title bar?) there
should be a cursor size and blink setting--choose large and blinking. You
can also set in Xy (I think) the color of the cursor. Isn't there also a
setting for blinking and/or blinking speed? Anyway, people here can work
you through this simple issue.
how to I pretest if XyWrite runs, and if I can see the cursor.)
I can't believe cursor visibility is going to be a problem (per above).
Also, I assume you work in "insert mode" (not "overstrike mode") which
uses the larger cursor.
REPLY: I know nothing about "home networks" but will look into it.
They can be a little finicky to set up initially. Do you have a geeky
friend who can do that for you? But once set up, their use is pretty
"transparent" and you never have to mess with it again. Also, I'd go
wireless just to avoid the clutter. You just need to buy a plain or
wireless router--maybe $60, set it up or have it set up for you and you're
into the Space Age. Highly recommended.
Upgrading to Xy4. Hmmm. I guess I am a bit resistant to that idea. But I
will certainly think about it. I only recently became aware (because of
this list) that anything "XyWrite" was still available .... I thought I
was propping up a dead horse (to kinda borrow a cliche) to try to keep
what I've got running.
Making the transition to Xy4 is not *absolutely* painless, but almost so.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Xy3 XPL is runnable without
*any* modifications in Xy4. And the look and feel is identical, so you're
"at home" right away.
One great advantage in changing the format of text is that Xy4 allows
wildcards not only in searches, but in search-and-replace. So let say you
have a file with a list of things beginning with numbers followed by
parens--like this:

1) Apples
2) Pears
3) Tomatoes

And you decide you want it to be:

1. Apples
2. Pears
3. Tomatoes

In Xy4 you can do one wildcard search-and-replace:

ci /[CR][N])/[CR][N]./
In the above, [CR] is the red arrow for carriage-return-line-feed that you
get when you hit ctrl-ENTER on the command line, and [N] is the wildcard
for any number you get when you hit ctrl-N on the command line.
Oh, that reminds me: in Xy4 XPL you can drop those wildcards into your
code just as they appear on the command line, so you don't have to work
around putting wildcards into your XPL by whatever way, I forget, that Xy3
does that.
Another nice feature is that in addition to the BC - XC pair with which
you're familiar (and which still works) there's the BX - Q2 pair which
does the same thing without actually moving the cursor to the command
line, visibly putting stuff up there, and executing it as if you hit the
ENTER key. This not only means you don't have to see all the things
flashing by on the command line as the program executes but also things
happen faster.
Thought if I was going to "develop" New Stuff I ought to do it in
something current. But haven't had the time to master anything that
replaces all the things I take for granted in XyWrite.
It doesn't replace them, just supplements them. That means you can learn
to use the new stuff gradually; as you get used to one feature you can
move on to try a new feature at your own comfort-speed.
 and I can't have Access on both computers at once (grr)
There again, you can have both Xy3 and Xy4 on (and launched in separate
windows) simultaneously. I wouldn't, however, trying using them
simultaneously on the *same file* (duh!).
So why not get a copy of Xy4 (I don't think you even have to buy it--since
TTG is out of business--but check with others here on how to get it)? You
can play around with it on the side while still relying on Xy3 until you
are ready to gradually do more real work in Xy4. In other words, there's
no downside to having Xy4 on your computer. But put them in separate
folders (directories) so that their STARTUP.INTs and associated files are
kept separate. Another plus: as with Xy3, there's no "installation"
required for Xy4: you just copy files to a directory.
One more thing: there's no separate .PRN file for Xy4, and no printer
tables to mess with. The .PRN file is now part of a larger file called
SETTINGS.DFL (which, technically, is a .PRN file, but it's both simpler
and serves as a more comprehensive settings file).

If only all upgrades were this painless!


Harry Binswanger
hb@xxxxxxxx