silvert@cs.dal.ca (Bill Silvert) (05/11/89)
Can anyone shed light on the drastic slowdown that I sometimes get with
WordPerfect, which WP programmers claim is a TOS problem. The symptoms
are an incredible delay, sometimes 5 min. to respond to a single
keystroke or mouse press. It can strike any time, and then all you can
do is take 5 or 10 minutes to save your work and reboot, which usually
brings the system up OK. WP says the problem usually happens after the
machine has been on for a while, but I just had it happen last night
when I started the system cold. They claim it happens with other
software, but I have seen it only with WP.
I am running a pretty old 1 Meg. 520 booting from a Supra 60. Idle 1.2
is installed, no other TSR's.
--
Bill Silvert, Habitat Ecology Division.
Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada B2Y 4A2
UUCP: ...!{uunet,watmath}!dalcs!biomel!bill
Internet: biomel@cs.dal.CA BITNET: bs%dalcs@dalac.BITNETjlemon@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Jonathan Lemon) (05/12/89)
In article <3274@cs.dal.ca> silvert@cs.dal.ca (Bill Silvert) writes: >Can anyone shed light on the drastic slowdown that I sometimes get with >WordPerfect, which WP programmers claim is a TOS problem. The symptoms >are an incredible delay, sometimes 5 min. to respond to a single >keystroke or mouse press. It can strike any time, and then all you can >do is take 5 or 10 minutes to save your work and reboot, which usually >brings the system up OK. WP says the problem usually happens after the >machine has been on for a while, but I just had it happen last night >when I started the system cold. They claim it happens with other >software, but I have seen it only with WP. > >I am running a pretty old 1 Meg. 520 booting from a Supra 60. Idle 1.2 >is installed, no other TSR's. I just had the same problem last night - using FirstWord Plus. It took 5 minutes to save the file so I could reboot, and my document was only 17 pages doublespaced. I this is the first time I've run into the problem, and the only unusual thing I could think of was that I had the computer on for quite a while, while doing a lot of heavy editing. I was running a Mega 2 with Snapshot installed. My guess would be that the garbage collection/memory allocation routines are fucked up? -- Jonathan ...ucbvax!cory!jlemon or jlemon@cory.Berkeley.EDU
goldstein@delni.dec.com (Fred Goldstein) (05/12/89)
In article <3274@cs.dal.ca>, silvert@cs.dal.ca (Bill Silvert) writes... >Can anyone shed light on the drastic slowdown that I sometimes get with >WordPerfect, which WP programmers claim is a TOS problem. The symptoms >are an incredible delay, sometimes 5 min. to respond to a single >keystroke or mouse press. It can strike any time, and then all you can >do is take 5 or 10 minutes to save your work and reboot, which usually >brings the system up OK. WP says the problem usually happens after the >machine has been on for a while, but I just had it happen last night >when I started the system cold. They claim it happens with other >software, but I have seen it only with WP. I wish I could give you more help but I will confirm that you're not alone! That "slow mode" bug is one of the most annoying ones in WP Atari 8/1/88 release. If you notice, it also acts sort of as if the mouse button were held down; moving the mouse causes it to move the cursor, the slider bar, etc. This leads me to believe that it's fundamentaly a GEM problem. But since I've never seen it with any other program, and it happens OFTEN with WP, it is more likely to be an error in how WP uses GEM. I presume you're running the 8/1/88 release, not the brand new one (which I haven't got yet). If it still happens in the new one, we're in trouble. If it has been fixed there, then we have no excuse not to send in the $10! (Actually, I do have an excuse; I reported the bug last fall, among many others. They claim bug reports get free fixes, and I did get the 8/1/88 for free after complaining about the 4/10 version, but I'm not pressing my luck. If the DO debug this program, it'll be wonderful. As it is, it's a tease.) If any net_folks have seen this effect on any OTHER program than WP, I'd be curious to hear about it...
clf3678@ultb.UUCP (C.L. Freemesser) (05/12/89)
In article <3274@cs.dal.ca> silvert@cs.dal.ca (Bill Silvert) writes: >Can anyone shed light on the drastic slowdown that I sometimes get with >WordPerfect, which WP programmers claim is a TOS problem. The symptoms >are an incredible delay, sometimes 5 min. to respond to a single >keystroke or mouse press. It can strike any time, and then all you can >do is take 5 or 10 minutes to save your work and reboot, which usually >brings the system up OK. WP says the problem usually happens after the >machine has been on for a while, but I just had it happen last night >when I started the system cold. They claim it happens with other >software, but I have seen it only with WP. > >I am running a pretty old 1 Meg. 520 booting from a Supra 60. Idle 1.2 >is installed, no other TSR's. > >-- >Bill Silvert, Habitat Ecology Division. The problem you have with the speed problem really doesn't happen to me PER SE, but I do get some similar problems. What happens is that I type quite quickly (even on the ST keyboard). I BELIEVE that if you type faster than the program can handle, it will cause that problem. My system usually crashes after this. I type a little, but it doesn't show on the screen for 10 seconds or so. Then I get a long string of the same character, and the keyboard locks up. Just save your document every once in a while, and don't type fast, and you'll be all set. Chris Freemesser, Rochester Institute of Technology | What I like : BITNET: %clf3678@RITVAX | 1) My Atari ST USENET: Just reply and hope it gets through | 2) My '77 Mercury "Another brilliant mind ruined by higher education" | 3) Coke Classic
grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham Thomas) (05/12/89)
From article <3274@cs.dal.ca>, by silvert@cs.dal.ca (Bill Silvert): > Can anyone shed light on the drastic slowdown that I sometimes get with > WordPerfect, which WP programmers claim is a TOS problem. The symptoms > are an incredible delay, sometimes 5 min. to respond to a single > keystroke or mouse press. It can strike any time, and then all you can > do is take 5 or 10 minutes to save your work and reboot, which usually > brings the system up OK. WP says the problem usually happens after the > machine has been on for a while, but I just had it happen last night > when I started the system cold. They claim it happens with other > software, but I have seen it only with WP. > This kind of problem certainly happens with First Word Plus (who also claim it's a TOS/GEM problem, but then they would, wouldn't they?). The only difference is that the delay doesn't seem to extend to minutes - it's only seconds. (However, there's another bug with First Word Plus v3.1x, where the whole thing just freezes up totally, i.e. no keyboard or mouse input is accepted. Maybe it's the same thing, and if I only had the patience to leave it for 10 minutes control would return and I could save my work. As it is, I usually scream unrepeatable oaths, destroy the room and press the reset button.) Nobody's ever explained the nature of this bug to me, so I wonder if anyone at Atari or elsewhere could have a go. More importantly, is it something that's likely to have been fixed with TOS 1.4? If not, what's the answer? Are there any fully-featured word processors for the ST which absolutely don't crash without the user doing something incredibly stupid? Microsoft Write is certainly not the answer; Signum's good but too fancy & slow for my needs; Protext (UK, non-GEM) can't handle footnotes of more than one line. How solid is WordUp these days? Graham -- Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK JANET: grahamt@uk.ac.sussex.syma EARN/BITNET: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk ARPA: grahamt%syma.sussex.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk UUCP: grahamt@syma.uucp Phone: +44 273 686758
CANTWEJR@VUCTRVAX.BITNET (05/12/89)
I'm glad someone else has experienced this problem. I was afraid my 1040 ST was getting ready to die. Everything slows down to the point that it looks like the program has crashed. I have had a somewhat similar problem in StarGlider. At some point in the game, everything just freezes without warning and I have to do a cold reboot to restart. Is this the same error, or just a StarGlider bug? Actually, I'm much more concerned about the WP problem. It is the only one we've had so far. My wife did her dissertation proposal on WP on our 1040 without a hard disk! That's about eighty double spaced pages! WP is a real bargain for $99 with the University Discount. Anybody have the answer to the WP slowdown problem? HELP! -- Jeff Cantwell Vanderbilt U. Center for Intelligent Systems Box 1804, Sta. B Nashville, TN 37235 Work Phone: (615) 322-0110 Work FAX: (615) 343-6449 BITNET: CANTWEJR@VUCTRVAX CSNET: cantwell@vanderbilt.csnet INTERNET: cantwell@vuse.vanderbilt.edu UUCP: ...!uunet!vuse!cantwell
close@cacilj.UUCP (Diane Barlow Close) (05/12/89)
> (details about WordPerfect slowdown deleted)
I have experienced the same problem at various times. I was told that it
is due to a ``bug'' in the ST TOS that can't handle mouse and keyboard
interrupts if they occur ``too close together''. When this happens, the
ST freezes and crashes or you experience drastic slowdown. This ``bug''
in TOS is supposed to be well documented on Genie. WordPerfect representatives
claim they've brought up the problem with Atari several times, and each time
Atari claims that the problem is completely new to them, and act like they
have never seen it before.
This same bug has caused me to think that I was crazy: three times while
running WordPerfect over the last year the machine froze and very slowly
printed either ``he he he he he he he'' or ``ho ho ho ho ho ho'' at the
bottom of my screen and crashed. After the third time I finally got up the
courage to report the bug (can you see the customer support guy's face-- or
hear him laughing?! :-) and that's when WP told me I wasn't crazy and that
this had happened *to them* before.
If it is a TOS bug I sure hope it gets fixed! (I now save quite frequently
to avoid losing hours of work).
--
Diane Barlow Close
{uunet, crash, ucsd}!cacilj!close
close@cacilj.uucp
Free Canada -- Trade Mulroneyjg@hpldola.HP.COM (Joe Gilray) (05/16/89)
Not to cause panic or anything, but I seem to remember that George Woodside demonstrated a virus in flu.prg that caused the system to sllllooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww down over time, then "lock up" then speed up again. Could this have anything to do with the problems reported here?? Joe Gilray