RICK@QUCDNAST.BITNET (05/08/89)
In article <4389@alvin.mcnc.org>, raw@mcnc.org (Russell Williams) writes: >I can edit huge >documents with little loss of speed, and after the first two revisions, it has >never crashed on me. Never. Here's one way: - go into preferences, select interlace. save. reboot. - on reboot, change font to an 11-point font, ie: setfont pearl 11 - run WP now you should see that any characters typed to WP will be incomplete: only the top (8 scan lines? something like that...) of each character will be displayed. this makes WP unusable. SO.... - set font back to an 8 point font - run WP - set font to 11 point font (so that the other windows in the system will be readable :-) this last action brings an instant visit from the guru about half of the time on my system. part of the time it will crash, make it part way through a reboot, then crash again: frequently back to kickstart (destroying RAD: but not vd0: as it goes). i can't seem to find any common denominator among the various types of crashes. i could, i suppose, either not use interlace (boo) or put up with an 8-point font. but my eyesight is bad, and that's _just_ a bit too small to read easily. pearl 11 in interlace is *perfect*. sigh. the summary? WP crashes. :-) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Think I'll stay in bed Rick Pim, Physics Department Dream all day Queen's University, Kingston World outside bugs me anyway. rick@qucdnast.bitnet
raw@mcnc.org (Russell Williams) (05/09/89)
In article <8905081520.AA11220@jade.berkeley.edu>, RICK@QUCDNAST.BITNET writes: > In article <4389@alvin.mcnc.org>, raw@mcnc.org (Russell Williams) writes: > > >I can edit huge > >documents with little loss of speed, and after the first two revisions, it has > >never crashed on me. Never. > Then Rick Pim prompty responds: > Here's one way: > > the summary? WP crashes. :-) > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > Think I'll stay in bed Rick Pim, Physics Department > Dream all day Queen's University, Kingston > World outside bugs me anyway. rick@qucdnast.bitnet Okay, okay. I guess I should have known that the minute I wrote that article, someone was going to be able to make WordPerfect crash. On demand no less. I think the example proves my point though. That's not a very common demand upon the system that was made by the diabolical Mr. Pim. If that's what it takes to crash the system, I'm still pretty happy with it. Actually, though, maybe I'm not. The idea of using it in interlace kind of appeals to me. Does anyone know how to fix this problem, or an elegant workaround? I'd be interested in hearing about it. However, the point still stands. My hat's off to Mr. Pim. It's funny, but although he doesn't know it, I've been meeting up with Mr. Pim my entire life. Whenever I make a statement of absolute fact he's waiting there in the background. Or am I wrong?! :-) Russell Williams
ecphssrw@io.csun.edu (Stephen Walton) (05/10/89)
In article <8905081520.AA11220@jade.berkeley.edu>, RICK@QUCDNAST writes: >In article <4389@alvin.mcnc.org>, raw@mcnc.org (Russell Williams) writes: > >>...after [WordPerfect's] first two revisions, it has >>never crashed on me. Never. > >Here's one way: Rick then describes a way to make your machine crash using a very obscure combination of reboots, SetFont's and WordPerfect's. Since SetFont is definitely *not* a supported part of the Amiga's OS, but a quick hack Dave Haynie put together which works _sometimes_, blaming WordPerfect because an interaction between it and SetFont crashes your system stretches things a bit. -- Stephen Walton, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Cal State Univ. Northridge RCKG01M@CALSTATE.BITNET ecphssrw@afws.csun.edu swalton@solar.stanford.edu ...!csun!afws.csun.edu!ecphssrw
RICK@QUCDNAST.BITNET (05/11/89)
In <705@solaria.csun.edu>, ecphssrw@io.csun.edu (Stephen Walton) says: >Rick then describes a way to make your machine crash using a very >obscure combination of reboots, SetFont's and WordPerfect's. It's not obscure. If you use an interlaced workbench (I do; I bought a long persistence monitor so I could.) and if you, as a result, modify the system font to topaz 11 or pearl 11 (one of the reasons topaz 11 appeared in fonts: when 1.2 appeared, I think), then you will encounter either (a) an unusable WordPerfect or (b) a system crash if you decide to try and deal with (a). I was _not_ looking for wierd ways to crash the program; I was just trying to _use_ WP without completely changing my work environment. >Since SetFont is definitely *not* a supported part of the Amiga's OS, >but a quick hack Dave Haynie put together which works _sometimes_, >blaming WordPerfect because an interaction between it and SetFont \ >crashes your system stretches things a bit. I know that SetFont ain't 'official'. But I disagree with your conclusion: the _only_ program I've _ever_ found that has a wierd interaction with SetFont is, um, er, WordPerfect. I am more ready to believe that WP did something dumb than I am to believe that _everyone_ else got lucky. :-) >Stephen Walton, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Cal State Univ. Northridge >RCKG01M@CALSTATE.BITNET ecphssrw@afws.csun.edu >swalton@solar.stanford.edu ...!csun!afws.csun.edu!ecphssrw -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Think I'll stay in bed Rick Pim, Physics Department Dream all day Queen's University, Kingston World outside bugs me anyway. rick@qucdnast.bitnet
cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (05/12/89)
In article <8905102038.AA19268@jade.berkeley.edu> RICK@QUCDNAST.BITNET writes: >It's not obscure. If you use an interlaced workbench (I do; I bought a >long persistence monitor so I could.) and if you, as a result, modify >the system font to topaz 11 or pearl 11 (one of the reasons topaz 11 >appeared in fonts: when 1.2 appeared, I think), then you will encounter >either (a) an unusable WordPerfect or (b) a system crash if you decide >to try and deal with (a). I was _not_ looking for wierd ways to crash >the program; I was just trying to _use_ WP without completely changing >my work environment. The Amiga does not support fonts that are neither 8 or 9 points as the default font. Period. It may with 1.4, but in the meantime you use other fonts at your own risk. Holding it against WordPerfect that WP crashes in that configuration is not rational. You can't read the workbench menus very well either, nor does AmigaBASIC function so hot, nor does any number of other problems. It ain't WP's fault it is the Amigas for not doing something you would like it to be capable of. I've suggested to word perfect that they force the font to Topaz/8 when they run. I'm sure that wouldn't turn you on either. To be perfectly clear. I understand your problem very well (I too use an interlaced WB all of the time), and WordPerfect should be able to support different fonts (and in fact they do support any font you can select through preferences). But they don't support hacks, even those by Commodore employees. They aren't required to. --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you. "A most excellent barbarian ... Genghis Kahn!"
ejkst@cisunx.UUCP (Eric J. Kennedy) (05/14/89)
In article <705@solaria.csun.edu> ecphssrw@io.csun.edu (Stephen Walton) writes: >Rick then describes a way to make your machine crash using a very >obscure combination of reboots, SetFont's and WordPerfect's. Since >SetFont is definitely *not* a supported part of the Amiga's OS, but a >quick hack Dave Haynie put together which works _sometimes_, blaming >WordPerfect because an interaction between it and SetFont crashes your >system stretches things a bit. Yes and no. If WordPerfect is going to assume that the font it's using is 8 pixels high, _then_it_should_force_topaz_8_, or some other 8 pixel font. If it's going to use the default system font, then it had darn well better check the size of that font before squashing it into an 8- pixel-high line. And WP isn't alone. Lots of software breaks if you don't have an 8x8 font as the default. And you don't have to use something "obscure" like setfont for this to happen. Most software that I've seen that is broken WRT fonts--and this includes WP--will also break with topaz 9. You know, the one selectable in Preferences? The *default* font, for cryin' out loud! (At least it used to be.) I've never gotten WP to actually crash because of the system font. But I feel the way it responds to non-topaz-8 system font is inexcusable. And the same goes for lots of other programs. -- Eric Kennedy ejkst@cisunx.UUCP