root@dogear.UUCP (Bob Kirkpatrick) (12/12/90)
The recently posted NNANSY.SYS set has a couple of problems that I noticed.
I downloaded a previous version of nnansi, and tried it for a while. It had
the speed advertised, but also a very annoying quirk.
The best example is whn using pagers like 'MORE' (the pd version, not DOS) and
foobar's fsuucp or even in a 'fancy prompt'. When a program uses a reversed or
color background which doesn't use the entire screen, the reversed video bar,
or the color background area appears at the top of the screen, while the text
appears on the current screen line. It looks like this:
[ reverse area or color ]
- MORE - 23%
instead of
[ - MORE - 23% ]
The newly posted version does exactly the same thing.
nnansi.sys is very fast, but, in my opinion, should only be used on mono-
chrome systems which don't support color or reverse(!) video.
By the way, my system is pretty straightforward. It's an 8 mhz NEC with a
video-7 egastar board.
right now, I use the nansi.sys (opposed to nnansi) with no trouble at all.
I can also use the standard ansi.sys and (for that matter) ALL of the other
replacements for ansi.sys, except nnansi.
TO THE AUTHOR: *please* keep trying, nnansi is great except for this problem!
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply To: bobk%dogear!tau-ceti@uunet (Dog Ear'd Systems)
A Division of Brand-X, Spokane, WA 99202 (509) 535-6575
Original Materials (c) Copyright 1990-1991 Bob Kirkpatrick. All Rights Reservedmjf@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu (Michael J Flory) (12/12/90)
Though I'm the last one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I had some problems with NNANSI too (also using Video 7 equipment -- I've got the VGA208E from Headlands Technology, that's Video 7, isn't it?)... I found that if I shelled out of a program to go to MG Emacs, as I recall, NNANSI seemed to lose track of the place I'd left to go to the shell. I'd come back to the program I'd shelled out of, to find that its screen was half scrolled off the top. I have no such problem with ANSI.SYS. NNANSI also seemed to put blinking blocks before and after the echo'd lines during my autoexec, but I didn't try to track that down -- I packed it in after the shell problems appeared. I didn't try NNANSI with a bare system (all drivers removed, etc.) -- there may be some incompatibility there as well. -- Michael Flory (mjf@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu)
pfratar@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Paul Frattaroli - DCS) (12/12/90)
In article <266@dogear.UUCP> root@dogear.UUCP (Bob Kirkpatrick) writes: >The recently posted NNANSY.SYS set has a couple of problems that I noticed. >I downloaded a previous version of nnansi, and tried it for a while. It had >the speed advertised, but also a very annoying quirk. > >The best example is whn using pagers like 'MORE' (the pd version, not DOS) and >foobar's fsuucp or even in a 'fancy prompt'. When a program uses a reversed or >color background which doesn't use the entire screen, the reversed video bar, >or the color background area appears at the top of the screen, while the text >appears on the current screen line. It looks like this: > [stuff deleted] I had a problem with nnansi also. (An older version, I haven't tried the new one yet). When I was using a PD version of MORE as well. If I tried to "more" a manpage that I had produced with nroff, none of the cursor control (for bolding and underlining) was interpreted. It was interpreted using standard DOS more though. This was fixed when I started using nansi. Something else I have noticed with all versions of nansi, nnansi, ansi and zansi is that there seems to be a problem when using a vi clone. When I use "dw" to delete the word at the end of a line, the next line is automatically "Joined". This happens both with Elvis and Stevie so I think it is a problem with XXansi. > >TO THE AUTHOR: *please* keep trying, nnansi is great except for this problem! > I concur. ....Paul -- Paul "vi joe" Frattaroli - Department of Computing Services University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2L-3G1 < pfratar@watshine.UWaterloo.CA > < pfratar@watserv1.UWaterloo.CA > [129.97.128.171] [129.97.129.140] NeXT Mail: < pfratar@magpie.UWaterloo.CA > [129.97.32.42]
toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (12/13/90)
In article <266@dogear.UUCP> root@dogear.UUCP (Bob Kirkpatrick) writes: >The recently posted NNANSY.SYS set has a couple of problems that I noticed. >I downloaded a previous version of nnansi, and tried it for a while. It had >the speed advertised, but also a very annoying quirk. >The best example is whn using pagers like 'MORE' (the pd version, not DOS) and >foobar's fsuucp or even in a 'fancy prompt'. When a program uses a reversed or >color background which doesn't use the entire screen, the reversed video bar, >or the color background area appears at the top of the screen, while the text >appears on the current screen line. It looks like this: [example deleted] The author replies: I would guess (judging by past experience) that the problem is related to the NNANSI fast scrolling feature rather than reverse video. NNANSI obtains fast scrolling by altering the display start address. It is compatible with programs that check the address (it is documented), but has problems with programs which don't. NNANSI does contain code which checks for problem programs, but it doesn't always work. The documentation suggests running NNANSI in "slow" mode for such programs. There is a supplied file, SLOW.BAT, that changes to slow mode. Slow mode is also required for programs that want multiple display pages. I suggest that Bob try slow mode before giving up. I also request that he send me the PD more program if this doesn't fix the problem, so that I can look at it (the PICNIX more that I have doesn't use reverse video, and the commercial MKS more doesn't exhibit this problem). >nnansi.sys is very fast, but, in my opinion, should only be used on mono- >chrome systems which don't support color or reverse(!) video. Actually, NNANSI provides better color support than the others. NNANSI lets you turn reverse video off without reseting the colors. One "gotcha" is that NNANSI correctly handles the foreground and background color setting commands while in reverse video (i.e., if you change the foreground color, the background color actually changes because it is reversed!). Also NNANSI gives full color support in 16 color graphic modes -- you can set the background color! I wrote the following fancy prompt to check operation: prompt $e[7m$e[s$e[1;50H$t $d$e[K$e[u$p$g$e[27m This prompt goes to reverse video, saves the cursor position, goes to the top of the display, writes the time and date, erases to end of line, restores the cursor, prints the current drive/directory a right angle bracket, and then leaves reverse video. It works just fine on my system. >TO THE AUTHOR: *please* keep trying, nnansi is great except for this problem! As I said, please slow mode. Then if that doesn't work send me a copy of the more program. 90% of bug reports I get are solved by using slow mode. Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com Standard Disclaimers Apply
jim@newmedia.UUCP (Jim Beveridge) (12/13/90)
In article <1990Dec12.080228.18107@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> mjf@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu (Michael J Flory) writes: > >that if I shelled out of a program to go to MG Emacs, as I recall, NNANSI >seemed to lose track of the place I'd left to go to the shell. I'd come >back to the program I'd shelled out of, to find that its screen was half >scrolled off the top. I have no such problem with ANSI.SYS. NNANSI also >-- Michael Flory (mjf@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu) If you RYFM, you'll find the documentation describes exactly why this happens and what you can do about it. That is what the supplied "SLOW" command fixes. Jim
ce1zzes@prism.gatech.EDU (Eric Sheppard) (12/13/90)
I've also had problems with NNANSI. I eventually gave up and tossed it.
Sometimes, displays get pushed 1/3 up the screen, and stay there. All
display calls function normally, but the screen is still pushed up. I've
seen this happen with PC Tools, and a CP/M emulator. It doesn't happen
consistently, but often enough to be annoying.
Using AT compatible computer with QuadEGA+ card and monitor, PC Tools 4.21.
Eric
--
Eric Sheppard Georgia Tech | "Of course the US Constitution isn't
Atlanta, GA | perfect; but it's a lot better than what
ARPA: ce1zzes@prism.gatech.edu | we have now." -Unknown
uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!ce1zzesmlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) (12/13/90)
<>The recently posted NNANSY.SYS set has a couple of problems that I noticed. Yet another ME TOO! posting. I have a 386sx clone, with a Paradise VGA 16+ card. Normally, I use VANSI.SYS which is derived from an older version of NANSI.SYS. This works like a dream, except that is is much slower than ZANSI/NNANSI.. But at least it works reliably! NNANSI.SYS does funny stuff with the cursor on my system. In ANY text mode, the cursor stays at the right of the screen, near the bottom, while I type elsewhere. When I backspace, though, the cursor goes to the probper place, until I type something else. I was unable to get rid of this behaviour by playing with the numerous assembly options. Another annoyance, particularly visible with ELVIS, is that it does not use the proper attributes when writing text. I looked through the code and managed to find/fix this bug. Nice package anyway.. two releases ago it DID work on my system, but not for the most recent two. VANSI.SYS works great, except for the speed. -- ___Mark S. Lord__________________________________________ | ..uunet!bnrgate!mlord%bmerh724 | Climb Free Or Die (NH) | | MLORD@BNR.CA Ottawa, Ontario | Personal views only. | |________________________________|________________________|
tamboer@cs.vu.nl (Tamboer Erik) (12/14/90)
Here is a positive posting about nnansi.sys.
It works great for me, I can't find anything wrong with it;
everything appears to work as it should. In all unusual text modes
I can think of, even 132x44, and EGA graphics modes.
What am I doing wrong? :-)
Bye!
P.S. I am using a Samsung SPC-3000 (XT clone) and an ATI EGA Wonder,
connected to an EGA color monitor.
--
____________________ ________________________________________
/ Erik Tamboer /\__ / I would have included a really funny /\__
/ tamboer@cs.vu.nl /__\/ / joke here, but I already logged out. /__\/
/___________________/ /_______________________________________/jdudeck@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (John R. Dudeck) (12/14/90)
In an article tamboer@cs.vu.nl (Tamboer Erik) wrote: >Here is a positive posting about nnansi.sys. >It works great for me, I can't find anything wrong with it; >everything appears to work as it should. In all unusual text modes >I can think of, even 132x44, and EGA graphics modes. >What am I doing wrong? :-) >P.S. I am using a Samsung SPC-3000 (XT clone) and an ATI EGA Wonder, > connected to an EGA color monitor. Aha! EGA on an XT! That explains it. The EGA Wonder card was great. It was a simpler world, though, back in those days. -- John Dudeck "If it's Object Oriented then by jdudeck@Polyslo.CalPoly.Edu definition it's A Good Thing". ESL: 62013975 Tel: 805-545-9549 -- D. Stearns
pw0l+@andrew.cmu.edu (Paul Christopher Workman) (12/14/90)
Excerpts From Captions of netnews.comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d: 13-Dec-90 Re: NNANSI.SYS Tamboer Erik@cs.vu.nl (663) >It works great for me, I can't find anything wrong with it; >everything appears to work as it should. In all unusual text modes >I can think of, even 132x44, and EGA graphics modes. Hey, how do you get it into 132x44 mode? I couldn't find that in the manual. thanks, --paul
reisert@ricks.enet.dec.com (Jim Reisert) (12/15/90)
In article <18593@hydra.gatech.EDU>, ce1zzes@prism.gatech.EDU (Eric Sheppard) writes... > >I've also had problems with NNANSI. I eventually gave up and tossed it. >Sometimes, displays get pushed 1/3 up the screen, and stay there. All >display calls function normally, but the screen is still pushed up. This happens when NNANSI does its fast hardware scroll. It's documented in the manual, and the fix is to issue a CLS command in DOS before running your application. This fixes the hardware registers. - Jim =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "The opinions expressed here in no way represent the views of Digital Equipment Corporation." James J. Reisert Internet: reisert@ricks.enet.dec.com Digital Equipment Corp. UUCP: ...decwrl!ricks.enet!reisert 77 Reed Road Hudson, MA 01749-2895
system@infopls.UUCP (SYSOP) (12/15/90)
mjf@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu (Michael J Flory) writes: > > Though I'm the last one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I had some > problems with NNANSI too (also using Video 7 equipment -- I've got the > VGA208E from Headlands Technology, that's Video 7, isn't it?)... I found > that if I shelled out of a program to go to MG Emacs, as I recall, NNANSI > seemed to lose track of the place I'd left to go to the shell. I'd come > back to the program I'd shelled out of, to find that its screen was half > scrolled off the top. I have no such problem with ANSI.SYS. NNANSI also > seemed to put blinking blocks before and after the echo'd lines during my > autoexec, but I didn't try to track that down -- I packed it in after the > shell problems appeared. I didn't try NNANSI with a bare system (all drivers > removed, etc.) -- there may be some incompatibility there as well. > > -- Michael Flory (mjf@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu) Please, double, triple, quadruple check the documentation. NNANSI gets super-fast scrolling by resetting the screen buffer, rather than copying the data. If you have programs that don't like this, there is a small .BAT file called SLOW.BAT that came with NNANS890.ZIP. This will shut off the fast-scrolling if you have the 8/90 version of NNANSI. BTW, it would be nice if the author would include a version that had the fast-scrolling, and the take-BIOS, turned off. The first thing I did when I got my copy was to re-assemble the program with them OFF. If anyone's intersted, I can send you a copy of the new .SYS file, if you wish. Let me know what type of video chipset you have [Infoplus 1.41 is a good way to find out!! :-)] and I'll send you one setup for it so you don't have problems with large blocks if you use 132 column modes. (Try using GCOFF.BAT, to see if that helps, BTW.) --------------- Andrew Rossmann andyross@infopls.UUCP or ..!uunet!ddsw1!infopls!system Infoplus Support BBS +1 708 537 0247, 1200/2400, 24 hours
davet@cbnewsj.att.com (Dave Tutelman) (12/15/90)
In article <1990Dec12.140414.4061@watserv1.waterloo.edu>, pfratar@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Paul Frattaroli - DCS) writes: > > Something else I have noticed with all versions of nansi, nnansi, ansi > and zansi is that there seems to be a problem when using a vi clone. > When I use "dw" to delete the word at the end of a line, the next line > is automatically "Joined". This happens both with Elvis and Stevie so > I think it is a problem with XXansi. Let's not blame ALL the problems on NNANSI.SYS. As the most recent poster of Stevie (v.3.69a), I'd like to apologize for what is in fact a Stevie bug. I take only minor solace in the fact that Elvis shares it (misery loves company :-(). Real "vi" does not have this bug. If I ever get around to it, I'll fix it in Stevie. If you want to verify that it's Stevie and not NNANSI, try Stevie on UNIX (it's portable); you'll still see the bug, even through termcap. Cheers! Dave
toma@sail.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (12/16/90)
In article <0bO8Pgm00WBK84gFAx@andrew.cmu.edu> pw0l+@andrew.cmu.edu (Paul Christopher Workman) writes: >Hey, how do you get it into 132x44 mode? I couldn't >find that in the manual. While NNANSI.SYS has commands for 80x43 and 80x50 modes, the other extended modes are non-standard. You need to find a way to get you card into that mode (most card vendors provide a program to do this). Once you are in the mode, NNANSI will support it. Certain cards that "improperly" set paragraph 40h values need to have NNANSI modified. This information is in the documentation. Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com Standard Disclaimers Apply -- Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com Standard Disclaimers Apply
bros@convex.com (Andrew Bros) (12/21/90)
I have been using nnansi.sys on my IBM PS/2 Model 70 with no problems. I've got the standard built-in VGA and an IBM monitor. I just wanted people to know that the problems listed here are not universal, and that they ought to give this program a try. Now, when I get my assembler I can tweak the thing for even better performance :-). (I hope my .sig gets put here) -- Andrew Bros bros@convex.com Product Engineering Convex [Super]Computer Corp. #include <std_disclaimer> #include <clever_quote> -- Andrew Bros bros@convex.com Product Engineering Convex [Super]Computer Corp. #include <std_disclaimer> #include <clever_quote>
berggren@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Eric Berggren) (12/28/90)
bros@convex.com (Andrew Bros) writes: >I have been using nnansi.sys on my IBM PS/2 Model 70 with no problems. >I've got the standard built-in VGA and an IBM monitor. I just wanted >people to know that the problems listed here are not universal, and >that they ought to give this program a try. Now, when I get my >assembler I can tweak the thing for even better performance :-). I'm not sure what problems to which you are refering, as I haven't seen the original article, however, I have had a few ANSI compatibility probs. I upgraded from NANSI.SYS to NNANSI.SYS sometime ago. I was very impressed by the extreme speed it performed, however, various application's text seemed to disappear (CodeView for example) when using it. I have, unfortunately, had to go back to the earlier version (>sigh<) :(. Since I haven't "registered" it, I guess I'm not supposed to bitch. I haven't looked closely at the code, nor really know where to start with an "intermittant" problem such as this. >sigh<. Any fixes please post them, or better send me e-mail. Thanx. ============================================================================== "Round and round the while() loop goes; Whether it stops," Turing says, "nobody knows."
kaldis@emerald.rutgers.edu (Theodore A. Kaldis) (12/31/90)
In article <996@pdxgate.UUCP> berggren@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Eric Berggren) writes: > I upgraded from NANSI.SYS to NNANSI.SYS sometime ago. I was very impressed > by the extreme speed it performed, however, various application's text > seemed to disappear (CodeView for example) when using it. I have, > unfortunately, had to go back to the earlier version (>sigh<) :(. Ditto, especially about CodeView. -- Theodore A. Kaldis | "Perhaps we may +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- | frighten away email: kaldis@remus.rutgers.edu | the ghost of so UUCP: {...}!rutgers!remus.rutgers.edu!kaldis | many years ago residence: Somewhere in Glendale, CA 91206 | with a little ex-Ma Bell: unpublished number | illumination . . ."
toma@sail.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (12/31/90)
In article <996@pdxgate.UUCP> berggren@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Eric Berggren) writes: >bros@convex.com (Andrew Bros) writes: > I'm not sure what problems to which you are refering, as I haven't seen >the original article, however, I have had a few ANSI compatibility probs. >I upgraded from NANSI.SYS to NNANSI.SYS sometime ago. I was very impressed >by the extreme speed it performed, however, various application's text >seemed to disappear (CodeView for example) when using it. I have, [...] > >them, or better send me e-mail. Thanx. > >Any fixes, pleas post All of these problems tend to be caused by programs which don't honor the display start address kept in low memory. The latest version of NNANSI.SYS "solves" the problem with an escape sequence which puts the driver in "slow" mode. Batch files which do this are supplied with the distibution. The documentation suggests techiques (such as ALIASing or batch files) to handle individual problem applications transparently. Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com Standard Disclaimers Apply -- Tom Almy toma@sail.labs.tek.com <<< Note new address Standard Disclaimers Apply