[comp.sys.zenith] SlimSport 286 problem with WP5.0

buchholz@noao.edu (Nick Buchholz) (01/12/91)

My wife just got a Zenith Slimsport 286 to use at her office and we are 
experiencing some weird problems.

The machine has a copy of WordPErfect 5.0 which is acting up.  The symtoms are
as follows:

    While editing a file if a key is held down long enough to engage the key 
repeat feature the key in question begins to repeat at very High speed. 
(approx 8 pages of characters in 30 seconds) in addition releasing the key
does not stop the repeat (at least not in any finite time).  Any other key 
stroke will stop the repeat.
    On occasion the fast keystroke repeat also causes semi random sequences
of characters to be repeated. some of the ones we've seen are:
	jjj^H^H^Hjjj^H^H^Hjjj^H^H^H . . .
or
	gggggggggggggggggggg<cr>
	gggggggggggggggg<cr>
	ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg<cr>


Has anyone out there seen this behavior?  Is there a fix?  Is the slimsport 
a boat anchor?	HELP!!!

Nick C. Buchholz
nbuchholz@noao.edu              | "Time is an illusion, Lunchtime doubly so"
                                |                            - Ford Prefect
Time is an illusion perpetrated by the manufacturers of space.

-- 
buchholz@yogi.noao.edu          | "Time is an illusion, Lunchtime doubly so"
                                |                            - Ford Prefect

userDHAL@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (David Halliwell) (01/14/91)

In article <1991Jan11.174824.17904@noao.edu>, buchholz@noao.edu (Nick Buchholz) writes:
>My wife just got a Zenith Slimsport 286 to use at her office and we are 
>experiencing some weird problems.
> 
>The machine has a copy of WordPErfect 5.0 which is acting up.  The symtoms are
>as follows:
> 
    [list of symptoms deleted]
> 
>Has anyone out there seen this behavior?  Is there a fix?  Is the slimsport 
>a boat anchor?  HELP!!!
> 
 
    When WP 5.0 was first released, I saw it installed on several Zenith
286-based machines, and all had problems with the keyboards behaving in
a manner similar to the one you described. No problems with 8088-based
Zeniths, but definitely on 286-based ones. Never heard a good explanation,
but when later releases of WP 5.0 became available, there appeared to be
no problem. Check the release date of the WP 5.0 files. I think the very
first release was in May of 1988. Don't know what other dates there are, 
or when the problem was cleared up, but I don't think you are alone.
 
Dave Halliwell