Re: general ? on 2gs

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:

>In article supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) writes...
>
>>spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:
>>
>>>    AppleWorks GS combined a GUI spreadsheet, word processor and
>>>paint program (as well as telecommunications, page layout and a
>>>database module). It's been discontinued, but you can purchase a
>>>a set of the disks from Alltech (http://www.allelec.com) for only
>>>US$15. Most people only found the word processing module useable,
>>>but then I would be cautious to recommend it considering how buggy
>>>and unstable it was. It was a _very_ powerful program for its time
>>>though, there was nothing else like it 10 years ago.
>>
>>Several months ago, there was an online survey of AWGS stability.
>>For most users, it seems, AWGS is quite stable.  For a few, but
>>still significant number such as yourself, it is terribly unstable.  Why
>>this is so, I don't know.  I've been trying to figure out what exactly
>>messes it up.  Could it be the Ramfast driver?  Don't know.
>
>    It has absolutely nothing to do with the RamFAST, or any other
>SCSI controller for that matter. I originally used AppleWorks GS
>on a ROM 3 with 2.125 MB RAM and a single 3.5 floppy drive. There
>was also my brother's Apple IIgs which was a ROM 01 with 1.25 MB
>RAM and two 3.5 floppy drives. It was used on both machines and
>it would *frequently* freeze or display that infamous dialog box
>telling you to restart AppleWorks GS (with a second button option,
>pointing to the first).
>
>    I lost *dozens of hours* of work writing papers for school
>using that horrid program, it would CONSTANTLY crash on me and
>take all my work with it. Let me also point out this was not
>merely an isolutated incident either, it happened like clock-
>work, each time the program was used, it would eventually bomb.
>Even years later, when I ran it with 5 MB RAM and running off
>a hardrive, it still continued to crash (at that point I was
>using it for light jobs, like writing half page letters).

I believe you when you say that you have had problems with
AWGS.  It is just that other people such as myself have no
such problems.  For us, AWGS is very stable.

AWGS seems to be an either/or kind of thing.  Either it will
crash continuously on you or it won't practically ever crash
on you at all.  I would like to determine WHY it crashes on
some people and why it does not on others.  The RamFAST
driver was just a guess.  Thinking about it, there must be more
than one version of AWGS 1.1.  Perhaps some kind of fix that
did not justify a revision number update to 1.2.  How else can
one program crash so much on some people but practically
never crash on others.

>>I rather like the program myself.  Frankly, the graphics module
>>with its scalable graphics is unlike anything else I've used on the
>>GS and the only thing appropriate for desktop publishing on a
>>high resolution ink jet or laser printer.  Other paint programs
>>will result in jagged graphics on these printers, but not the
>>scalable images produced by the AWGS graphics module. The
>>database is the best available for the IIGS and the desktop
>>publishing module is quite speedy on an accelerated system.
>
>    I won't comment on the rest of the modules (mostly due to
>the fact I've never used them) but I must stress and issue a
>firm warning that there ARE serious bugs in the word processor
>module which make the program unreliable. If you do decide to
>use it, you should definitely save your documents every other
>minute or so.

When using AWGS, I typically save every 10 minutes or so as
with any other program on any other computer from Muckintosh
to Wintel to A2.

>    I must admit, looking back now, that I was rather foolish
>to continue using AppleWorks GS after all the trouble it gave
>me. I really should have given up the fonts and spell-checker
>and fallen back on AppleWorks 2.0

I'm still trying to figure out why it is so flaky on some people
and so stable for others.  I tell you the truth when I say that
AWGS crashes on me less than my PC gives me the general
protection fault (you know...."program abc generated an
exception fault error, click here for details")!

I had years of enjoyable and productive use from AWGS 1.1.
There was a time when the program was the most advanced
on any computer, you know....