Re: More Second Sight stuff

[pfaiffer@access.mbnet.mb.ca (Mike Pfaiffer)]

In <3uudk6$fi@news-4.csn.net> bazyar@hypermall.com (Jawaid Bazyar) writes:

>Mike Pfaiffer (pfaiffer@access.mbnet.mb.ca) wrote:
>: 	There are some things I found the hardway which should be 
>: included in the next edition of the manual. There is a little flickering 
>: with the card when changing modes (not much of a problem it just takes 
>: getting used to). 

>  Right, when going into text modes, especially. I think I 
>corrected some of that in the latest ROM. Need to do more
>testing.

	It's no worse than on my PC. The click worried me a little until 
I remembered the PC monitors do it too.

>: I can no longer use the internal joystick port. 

>  Huh? Due to physical considerations, or it doesn't work anymore?

	Physical. My machine is a ROM1 and the card blocks the joystick port.

	[Stuff about the SS and Zip touching removed]

>  hmmm, te card shouldn't be _that_ tall. You sure it wasn't brushing
>against the Zip horizontally?

	The cover of the computer was causing the SS to move to the side 
and touch the Zip. If I take the cover off the machine there is no 
contact. Once the cover goes on (without the paper between the cards) the 
colours tend to turn blue.

>: The last thing I ought to mention is some 
>: programs do not function properly any more. 

>  Wow. There's no software that I'm aware of that ceases to work with
>a Second Sight installed - it's very transparent to software. 
>(Proterm 2.X has problems in the Editor, but nowhere else).

	Fortunately it was only some of the older stuff. I hardly use it 
any more.

>: I've added two cards to my 
>: computer this week (SS and Zip). I have no idea what the problem is, but 
>: since those were the only changes in nearly six months they can't be 
>: overlooked. I'll report back if something serious happens.

>  I would tend to blame the zip, if what you're experiencing are
>crashes and stuff like that.

	Based on some reports I've been getting from friends in the users 
group, I tend to agree. It's probably a matter of tweaking the Zip. Since 
my business is ready to start, it isn't likely there will be enough time 
to do much.

>: 	Some suggestions. How can we access some of the extended text 
>: modes in BASIC? Is it possible to auto-detect the card? How can we do 
>: ANSI/colour text in BASIC? If we could get these answers, some of the old 
>: BASIC games may be rewritten with some ampersand routines to make them 
>: compatible with the card.

>  Yes, you'd have to write some ampersand or similar routines - there's
>no way to access stuff directly from BASIC.

	This would be a big seller for the //e folks. Maybe someone from 
the users groups who has some time would be willing to take this on...

	BTW, what formats are the documents on hypermall in? RTL(?), 
RTF(?) Which program should we use to print them?

	Depending on the tools available in about six months, I may update 
my family tree program.

				Later
				Mike




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|          pfaiffer@mbnet.mb.ca = Mike Pfaiffer (B.A., B.Sc.)           |
|       -A hoopy frood who usually knows where his towel is...          |
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