emigh@ncsugn.ncsu.edu (Ted H. Emigh) (03/23/88)
I have run across the following "feature" in WordStar 2000 Release 3. The manner of changing a printer from text to NLQ was changed to ^PX (eXtra printer features) in this release. Unfortunately, the manner that ^PX features are used has changed. If you put [NLQ] at the front of your document, then print the document, all will work as expected. However, if you put [NLQ] at the front of the document, then print starting at page 2, then the printing will be in text quality. Apparently, the [NLQ] (and presumably all the ^PX options) are only sent to the printer when the page is printed -- not at all what should be done!! One way to get around this is to define a header with [NLQ] in the header -- even if that is all that is in the header. Of course, this doesn't make it easy to change these things in the middle of the document -- but even that is somewhat possible. I have been using WS 2000, REL 3 for a couple of months. In many respects it has improved WS 2000, but there are some ways that it has harmed WS 2000. I refuse to get into a Word Processing WAR, but I will put down my impressions of WS 2000, REL 3 if there is any interest. -- Ted H. Emigh, Dept. Genetics and Statistics, NCSU, Raleigh, NC uucp: mcnc!ncsuvx!ncsugn!emigh internet: emigh%ncsugn.ncsu.edu BITNET: NEMIGH@TUCC @ncsuvx.ncsu.edu:emigh@ncsugn.ncsu.edu
richard@neabbs.UUCP (RICHARD RONTELTAP) (08/14/88)
[ Terminals at DOS using ctty ] If you serously want have a terminal at DOS machines you CAN'T use CTTY. Use something real like Carbon Copy or Multilink (for multi tasking). CTTY was implemented for 'fun' and will work with <1% of available appliations. Richard
lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) (10/04/88)
I think I have detected a bug or a fault in a Western Digital controller
and I'd like to know if anyone else has seen anything like this and if it's
a known bug in the controller (Western Digital claimed not to know of it).
I have an XT clone with a V20 CPU, Phoenix ROM BIOS ver 2.51, ST225 hard
disk and a Western Digital WD1002S-WX2 controller. A stamp on the board
has all sorts of code numbers on it, including a "Rev X5" and the format
program comes up as "WX2 Format Revision 1.0S (c) WDC 1986"; I'm told this
is a "Super Bios" controller.
Several hard disk testing programs I have do an "ECC READ/WRITE" test which
consists of writing a test pattern to a disk sector, doing a "long" read
(INT 13 function 0Ah) to read in the test pattern and its 4 ECC bytes. It
then repeatedly alters a few bits in the buffer, does a long write (INT 13
function 0Bh) of the altered test pattern with the same ECC bytes and does
a normal read to see if the test pattern comes back corrected. Finally it
does a more drastic alteration of the test pattern, does a long write, and
a normal read, this time expecting a CRC error to be generated.
On this machine, the test works anywhere on side 0 but fails anywhere on
the othe sides. Upon *extensive* experimentation, I have discovered that
the controller seems to be mishandling the long write function. It works
fine when head 0 is selected, but, and I kid you not, it ignores the head
number (in register DH) and writes on side 0 regardless of which head was
selected! This clearly explains the ECC test behaviour. Long reads and
regular writes seem to not be affected.
I called Western Digital and (after the typical 1/2 hour wait on hold)
talked to a (typically competant sounding) engineer who said he'd never
heard of that being a known bug in any WD controller (and said he'd been
there long enough that he would have heard). He wanted to know if I had
had any specific problems with applications. I can't say that I have but
I was having problems with the machine hanging on disk accesses. Doing
a low-level re-format seems to have cured that but I wonder now if that
was caused by this problem. However, I can't think of any normal program
that would do long writes...?
Questions:
1. Has anyone else had problems like this?
2. Can anyone tell me if this is a known or likely bug in the controller ROM
BIOS or if is likely to be a fault in my specific unit.
3. Can anyone tell me how this problem with long writes might affect the
system in normal operations? I mean I can live with it failing ECC tests
but if its going to start hanging because sectors are winding up on the
wrong disk side, I want a new controller!
Thanks for any hints on this one.
--
John Wright ///////////////// Phone: 902-424-3805 or 902-424-6527
Post: c/o Dr Pat Lane, Biology Dept, Dalhousie U, Halifax N.S., CANADA B3H-4H8
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Uucp: lane@dalcs.uucp or {uunet,watmath,utai,garfield}!dalcs!lane