Conference hydra::amiga_v1

3745.0. "Texcraft Plus Problem?" by CLOSUS::J_BUTLER (Leave it better than you found it...) Thu May 03 1990 09:39

    NOTE: Kind Moderator, I did not find a really suitable topic in
          which to place this note, but please feel free to move it
          if you think it belongs elsewhere! 
    
    My daughter is using Textcraft and is usually quite pleased with
    its ease of use. But, there are a couple of problems which baffle
    both of us:
      
    1.  The letters 'P' or 'K' or sometimes 'KK' appear at the top left
        corner of most (but not all) printed pages. They always appear
        in the same position and are always well into the top and left
        margins, so she just uses whiteout to delete them. The extraneous
        letters NEVER appear on the screen, but always appear at least
        once during printing. 
        -- Has anyone else had this problem?
        -- Might this be a printer (Epson) problem rather than the
           Textcraft or the Amiga?
    
    2.  Occasionally, the keyboard will lock. No error messages, no
        screen blanking, but NO keystrokes will work. The mouse can
        still operate in all the menus, and the cursor position on
        the screen can be changed (with the mouse). You can use the
        mouse to highlight areas on the screen, also. This problem
        does not occur often, but it will happen a couple times a month.
        (She's a senior in High School, so she does A LOT of reports,
        as well as essays for college applications). She has learned
        to save her files fairly frequently (good practice, anyway)
        but she is fairly frustrated at times!
        -- Has anyone else had this kind of experience?
        -- Any ideas on how to 'unlock' the keyboard without re-booting?
    
    3.  The latest problem nearly caused her to commit various acts
        of violence against poor Ami and Mr. Guru!! She was trying to
        print a file, but before she could submit it to the printer,
        she got the 'software error' box. Leaving that, the screen blanked
        (gray) and she began to lose touch with reality!! This happened
        3 times in a row! ( The first time she had NOT saved her recent
        changes, and had done them all without notes, hence the panic!)
        She called me at work (as she needed to print this before going
        to school), but by the time I got there, it seemed to be printing
        OK. She saw the 'guru' and wondered what the %#$@ THAT was,
        and said it displayed one 'humongous' number (just LOVE this high-
        tech teen talk!), but didn't write any of it down. (she NOW
        has a notebook just for that purpose ("Awesome! Thanks, Dad!"))
        -- Has anyone seen this, either?
    
    From what I have read in this file, most folks seem fairly pleased
    with Textcraft Plus, so I wonder if our problems lie elsewhere.
    
    Any suggestions, advice, etc., would be appreciated!
    We have an A500, Epson printer (can't recall the model), with no
    add-ons (yet). She'll be taking Ami to college next fall, so I want
    to make sure everything is OK before she starts migration!
    
    Thanks!
    
    John B.
    
          
    

    The garbage on the paper sounds like either a printer problem or the
    Amiga sending wrong stuff to the printer.  The latter is more likely
    since you don't see the problem anywhere else.  Check the printer
    setup in Preferences to be sure that the printer you are specifying
    corresponds to the model of printer you have attached.
    
    My experience with keyboard lockup has been that the keyboard has
    flaked out.  It doesn't happen very often, but when it does I can clear
    it by unplugging the keyboard from the computer, and plugging it back
    in.  I don't know if that is easy, or even possible, with an Amiga 500.
        John Sauter

    Thanks, John. I'll check the preferences and DIP settings.
    The keyboard is in the same unit as the CPU and drive, so I
    can't disconnect it. 
    Are there any diagnostics out there that might indicate problems?
    I know the intermittent problems are always a headache!
    More info on the system:
    The monitor is a C= 1084B and the printer is a Epson LQ-500.
    
    Thanks.
    
    John B.

    For the keyboard lockup problem:
    
    Since I don't know the age of your A500, I don't know if this
    applies...
    
    At one time (this includes my 500), one of the chips occasionally worked
    its way loose.  The symptoms included keyboard lock up, the CAPS key
    blinking when this occurred and retaining full control of the mouse.
    
    Mine was solved by picking up the A500 and (how do you say it?)
    "judiciously" dropping it onto the surface below to reseat the chip.  I
    don't recommend this unless you are aware of the other possible
    "side-effects".  I finally did it enough that the problem went away.
    
    You may also open it up and reseat the chips manually.  
    
    Regards,
    
    Tony

    Thanks for all the info...
    The Amiga was bought in September 1989, so it may be a fairly recent
    model.
    
    Another interesting thing happened last night while my daughter
    was doing a paper. The letter 'c' kept typing as if she was holding
    the key down! She thought she just had a sticky key, so she tapped
    the key a couple times, but that had no effect. She called me over
    (as only a frustrated teenager can!), and I asked her if she was
    attempting telepathic data entry or, perhaps, had a problem. 
    (she was NOT amused!) The problem stopped when I tapped the 
    return key. She had no further problems.
    
    It seems odd we haven't noticed problems with our other software,
    or when we are just programming our own. 
    
    Is anyone else having TEXTCRAFT PLUS trouble out there? 
    
    Thanks.
    
    John B.

    I don't recall having any weird problems when I was using Textcraft
    Plus. But I got Kindwords last year so don't use it anymore. I seem to
    have vague recollections of the wife complaining that a few strange
    things happened to her.
    
    Are your documents particuarly large ?
    
    Regards
    	Mike