close@cacilj.UUCP (Diane Barlow Close) (04/21/89)
Much thanks to John Stanley and Dale Schumacher for correcting my
misinformation about the ST's clocks. My sources were wrong, and there
are, indeed, only two clocks. MWC refers to the ST's ``several clocks''. I
don't consider 2 to be several... I was further confused because MWC has
two routines that actually set the keyboard clock, but one appears (at
first) to be documented as setting the bios clock. What that routine really
does is set the keyboard clock via a different route.
James, the programmer for WordPerfect's Atari division, called me today
and we figured out what was going on. WordPerfect reads *both* the gemdos
and the keyboard clock and takes the *larger* date as the correct one.
In earlier versions of the ST, an unset keyboard clock read 1900 or
something smaller as the year. Now it reads 2028, 2048, or 2058 depending
on what ``version'' ST you have.
As mentioned in earlier postings, many hard drive companies only set the
gemdos clock with their clock-setting software. As long as Atari's control
panel is present, this isn't a problem. Apparently the control panel
automatically ``syncronizes'' both clocks (correct me if I'm wrong, but this
is what it appears to do). But, with the control panel missing, the
keyboard clock isn't set. Since it is the ``larger'' date, that's the date
that WordPerfect uses.
So, this problem only shows up if you like to run with maximum desktop space
and leave out the control panel (as I certainly like to do--the control panel
is way too big). The fix is either run WordPerfect with the control panel
present, or set both clocks.
WordPerfect (James) tells me that to fix this problem in WordPerfect would
be very difficult. I don't necessarily see it as *their* problem anyway--
the hard drive people should be more careful about which clocks get set,
in my opinion. What WordPerfect is going to do, then, is inform people
about this problem in a README file and include a proper clock-setting
program for your auto folder. Sounds like a reasonable fix to me...
--
Diane Barlow Close
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