Re: [ql-users] SMSQ/E Screen feature whilst CTRL C'ing
Many Thanks for all of that. I shall check out the link and read up on it all. Neil [EMAIL PROTECTED] 20 September 2006 19:01 Remember, I'm New ! It sounds like you are starting to find your way around pointer environment. You might find Norman Dunbar's Pointer Environment Idiot's Guide helpful, as it is a gentle introduction to the very basics. It certainly helped me in my early days with it. You can get it from one of my websites at: http://dilwynjones.topcities.com/qldocs/qldocs.html *** The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient. It may not be disclosed to or used by anyone other than the addressee, nor may it be copied in any way. If received in error, please contact the company on 01793-715380, then delete it from your system. Please note neither the company nor the sender accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan attachments (if any) for viruses. No contract may be concluded on behalf of the company by means of email communications. www.boxclever.co.uk *** ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] SMSQ/E Screen feature whilst CTRL C'ing
Hi, Remember, I'm New ! Soak testing my now working Gold Card last night. Using SMSQ/E and whilst running two copies of Xchange last night, I thought Id run WEST ( talent adventure ) as well, just to see if i could crash my QL. I was shocked and slightly suprised that by running WEST (which runs In MODE 4, low res i believe), when CTRL C'ing between sessions, my exchange jobs were reduced from 80 column to a hybrid low res mode with flashing streaks across my monitor. Whilst nothing crashed I just wondered if this was a known 'feature' and has / has no solution apart from the obvious ( don't run MODE 4 applications whilst MODE 8 applications are running) Also, what is the purpose of SHIFT F4 ( shows two connected squares icon) and SHIFT F5 (shows a Padlock icon) within Xchange ( not sure if this happens outside of SMSQ/E as my QL was running it ) Ok, newby questions over. :-) Neil *** The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient. It may not be disclosed to or used by anyone other than the addressee, nor may it be copied in any way. If received in error, please contact the company on 01793-715380, then delete it from your system. Please note neither the company nor the sender accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan attachments (if any) for viruses. No contract may be concluded on behalf of the company by means of email communications. www.boxclever.co.uk *** ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ/E Screen feature whilst CTRL C'ing
Remember, I'm New ! Soak testing my now working Gold Card last night. Using SMSQ/E and whilst running two copies of Xchange last night, I thought Id run WEST ( talent adventure ) as well, just to see if i could crash my QL. I was shocked and slightly suprised that by running WEST (which runs In MODE 4, low res i believe), when CTRL C'ing between sessions, my exchange jobs were reduced from 80 column to a hybrid low res mode with flashing streaks across my monitor. Whilst nothing crashed I just wondered if this was a known 'feature' and has / has no solution apart from the obvious ( don't run MODE 4 applications whilst MODE 8 applications are running) Flashing is usually because the computer is trying to display mode 4 graphics while the screen is in mode 8. In mode 8, the QL expects every 2nd bit in the colour words to be a bit controlling flashing, but in mode 4 pictures this bit indicates green pixels, so the QL gets confused. Not an easy thing to explain, but see the Concepts part of the QL manual in the section called memory map for an explanation. Also, what is the purpose of SHIFT F4 ( shows two connected squares icon) and SHIFT F5 (shows a Padlock icon) within Xchange ( not sure if this happens outside of SMSQ/E as my QL was running it ) Ok, newby questions over. :-) SHIFT F4 (or F9 on keyboards with that key) toggles between INSERT and OVERWRITE modes in Quill for example. SHIFT F5 (or F10 on keyboards with that key) tries to redraw the display. CTRL F4 brings up the double interlocked squares, which is a MOVE feature - on large displays you can move the Xchange display around the screen to your preferred location. Move the double squares around with the mouse (if you have one) or cursor keys and press space or enter to drop the icon and the Xchange display at that location. On a QL display you'll see the effect, but I don't think there's much room to move the physical Xchange picture around on the 512x256 pixel QL display. CTRL F5 freezes the display, e.g. when you COPY or COPY_N a text file to the screen and it scrolls too fast to read, you can use CTRL F5 to freeze the display and CTRL F5 again (in fact, any key will work) to release it to scroll again. CTRL F3 on some programs (though not Xchange) will bring up a double square (small square within large square) icon which lets you reduce or enlarge the program's display, i.e. how much of the screen it uses. If you use QPAC2 for example, you can use CTRL F3 to make the files list smaller or larger. CTRL F2 causes some programs to redraw their own display, e.g. if an overlapping program destroys the display. CTRL F1 will put some programs to sleep in what is called the QPAC2 button frame, which is very vaguely like a Windows taskbar where minimised programs lie. The 'padlock' feature usually implies that an attempt is made to move the pointer when the QL is in fact awaiting keyboard input for example. There are other such icons, for example an '8' symbol means that you are in mode 4 (4 colour mode) and the part of the screen on which your pointer is resting needs mode 8. A 'square' symbol usually means your pointer has wandered outside the window limits, i.e. no program has its windows under the pointer's current position (a unused part of screen). A 'no entry' red circle with white line across it implies you are within the program's outline on the screen, but you may have gone outside the active window. Usually happens when a program overlaps a new window which is smaller than the main window and the pointer arrow has strayed outside the smaller window, but is still within the border of the larger main window, just that as that window is partially buried, pointer input isn't possible, hence being locked out with the 'no entry' symbol. It sounds like you are starting to find your way around pointer environment. You might find Norman Dunbar's Pointer Environment Idiot's Guide helpful, as it is a gentle introduction to the very basics. It certainly helped me in my early days with it. You can get it from one of my websites at: http://dilwynjones.topcities.com/qldocs/qldocs.html Scroll down to the Pointer Environment section and you 'll see it there along with the hotkeys guides etc. Sorry, this email got a big longer than I'd intended, but I hope it helps to explain a few things. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.4/448 - Release Date: 14/09/2006 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ/E Screen feature whilst CTRL C'ing
On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 16:03:48 +0100, Neil Riley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Remember, I'm New ! Soak testing my now working Gold Card last night. That is ok - go ahead !! Using SMSQ/E and whilst running two copies of Xchange last night, I thought Id run WEST ( talent adventure ) as well, just to see if i could crash my QL. I was shocked and slightly suprised that by running WEST (which runs In MODE 4, low res i believe), when CTRL C'ing between sessions, my exchange jobs were reduced from 80 column to a hybrid low res mode with flashing streaks across my monitor. Whilst nothing crashed I just wondered if this was a known 'feature' and has / has no solution apart from the obvious ( don't run MODE 4 applications whilst MODE 8 applications are running) Alas no - only Minerva ever went anyway to resolving this problem. The QL has two screens (one of which is covered by the system variables normally, but games get around this by running in supervisor mode) freeing up another 32K of spare space at $28000 (normal QL screen on black box is at $2). Minerva allowed you to start the QL in dual screen mode (it moved the system variables which was not very compatible with some old software) and you could have a different screen in each mode. West runs in MODE 8 so far as I recall and that is why you get problems switching to Xchange. The Pointer Environment (which is part of SMSQ/e) does try to keep a tab of the mode in which each job is running but this will only work if you have configured SMSQ/e to only run in standard QL colours. I guess some of the old software (like West) was not made for multitasking and therefore uses some obscure techniques which the pointer environment misses. Try running Xchange, then doing a MODE 8:PAPER 3:CLS (magenta screen) in BASIC and having a pink screen and then try the CTRL C to switch to Xchange. Also, what is the purpose of SHIFT F4 ( shows two connected squares icon) and SHIFT F5 (shows a Padlock icon) within Xchange ( not sure if this happens outside of SMSQ/E as my QL was running it ) SHIFT F4 is to allow you to move Xchange about the screen and SHIFT F5 is redraw (I think). Not much point on a standard QL as it uses all 512x256 of the screen anyway. These are included in the Xchange documentation somewhere. -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services URL:http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk URL:http://www.rwapadventures.com URL:http://www.rwapservices.co.uk URL:http://www.internetbusinessangels.com ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ/E Screen feature whilst CTRL C'ing
SHIFT F4 (or F9 on keyboards with that key) toggles between INSERT and OVERWRITE modes in Quill for example. SHIFT F5 (or F10 on keyboards with that key) tries to redraw the display. CTRL F4 brings up the double interlocked squares, which is a MOVE feature - on large displays you can move the Xchange display around the screen to your preferred location. Move the double squares around with the mouse (if you have one) or cursor keys and press space or enter to drop the icon and the Xchange display at that location. On a QL display you'll see the effect, but I don't think there's much room to move the physical Xchange picture around on the 512x256 pixel QL display. CTRL F5 freezes the display, e.g. when you COPY or COPY_N a text file to the screen and it scrolls too fast to read, you can use CTRL F5 to freeze the display and CTRL F5 again (in fact, any key will work) to release it to scroll again. CTRL F3 on some programs (though not Xchange) will bring up a double square (small square within large square) icon which lets you reduce or enlarge the program's display, i.e. how much of the screen it uses. If you use QPAC2 for example, you can use CTRL F3 to make the files list smaller or larger. CTRL F2 causes some programs to redraw their own display, e.g. if an overlapping program destroys the display. CTRL F1 will put some programs to sleep in what is called the QPAC2 button frame, which is very vaguely like a Windows taskbar where minimised programs lie. Thanks Dilwyn - much better explanation than me - it is so easy to forget these things especially as a full size keyboard has the scroll lock which I use :-) The 'padlock' feature usually implies that an attempt is made to move the pointer when the QL is in fact awaiting keyboard input for example. There are other such icons, for example an '8' symbol means that you are in mode 4 (4 colour mode) and the part of the screen on which your pointer is resting needs mode 8. A 'square' symbol usually means your pointer has wandered outside the window limits, i.e. no program has its windows under the pointer's current position (a unused part of screen). A 'no entry' red circle with white line across it implies you are within the program's outline on the screen, but you may have gone outside the active window. Usually happens when a program overlaps a new window which is smaller than the main window and the pointer arrow has strayed outside the smaller window, but is still within the border of the larger main window, just that as that window is partially buried, pointer input isn't possible, hence being locked out with the 'no entry' symbol. -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services URL:http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk URL:http://www.rwapadventures.com URL:http://www.rwapservices.co.uk URL:http://www.internetbusinessangels.com ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
