Re: Orbis-like program

[Michael Norman <mn2>]

John Haynes' report of multiple problems with NBW is interesting. I just got 
the program and am testing it (I'm a XyDos user). I too was hoping for an 
integrated wp, text-retrieval and database program. And I too have been 
experiencing some freezes and crashes. I've been working only with the wp so 
far, using very simple test files. First thing I did was get W98 2nd edition, 
which solved some small problems I was having with W98 but not with NB, which 
continues to behave irratically. Perhaps John can supply a bit more information 
-- to wit: What kind of hardware/OS does he use? What kind of information is he 
getting from NB techincal support? Note: after the problems started, I stopped 
using my Xy keyboard and am trying to work just using the NB defaults and 
factory settings.

Michael Norman     





At 07:44 AM 12/23/99 -0600, you wrote:

>My thanks for the suggestions of ask-sam and info-tree.  I'll look at
>both.  
>
>I've used NB since the original version, and found NB DOS
>near-perfect for my need for dense scholarly writing and archival
>research in which I need to consult thousands of pages of notes made
>over many years.  The ability to integrate Orbis and its predecessors
>closely with the wp function was ideal for my purposes.   I never had
>serious problems with NB DOS and don't remember ever calling technical
>support for NB DOS.   I would have been content to stay in NB DOS but
>with most other people moving to Windows-based systems and so much new
>material in a non-DOS format, staying in DOS was getting increasingly
>awkward.  Thus I welcomed NBW.  
>
>But the instability has been very difficult.  5.004 is more stable
>that the original but it is still too unstable.  Not a week goes by
>without multiple freezes, and some days, such as yesterday, are agony.
>  Yesterday, spell checking a 35 page draft essay produced more than a
>dozen crashes.  When a doubled word showed up, and I hit "keep both"
>one of two things happened.  Either the program went into a continuous
>loop, dropping back and requestioning the last word questioned before
>the double, moving to the double, and when "keep both" was hit once
>more, repeating forever.  Or the program simply announced an error and
>forced a close.  (Why the difference?  I don't know.)  I had to close
>the spell checker, move the cursor beyond the doubled words, and
>restart the spell checker with every doubled word.   Also, not always,
>but often correcting a spelling error in a footnote produced a error
>message and then a forced close of the program and a crash of the
>system.  The spell check, that should have taken less than 5 minutes,
>consumed an hour.
>
>This, alas, was not a singular occurrence.   Freezes and crashes
>occur with such frequency for no identifiable reason I've got the
>autosave set for one minute and rarely compose more than a paragraph
>without saving.  Find and replace also produces a high number of
>freezes and crashes, so I've developed the habit of saving after every
>replace action, but that is time-consuming and while data is not lost
>when a freeze happens, time is lost.  
>
>The sound prompt for spelling errors works irregularly.  Currently it
>doesn't work.  I have no notion why it comes and goes.  
>
>With any document that gets long, I can only open a footnote with f3
>because clicking with the mouse pointer on the note produces a note
>window with most of the window opaque with gray and only a few words
>of the note readable.   At irregular intervals the pointer also
>disappears when it passes over notes, making clicking on a note a
>matter of guesswork anyway.
>
>The spell checker refuses to accept "McCarthy" as an acceptable
>spelling and insists that only "Mccarthy" will do despite following
>directions for making "McCarthy" acceptable.
>
>Orbis still does the very vital job of keeping control of and quick
>access to thousands of pages of historical research notes, but the
>instability and flawed working of the wp program takes up too much
>time.  I'll stick with NBW for a period, but unless it becomes more
>stable, at some point I'll have to move to an alternative wp and
>textbase program. I'll look at the two suggestions, and I'm also going
>to consider using NBW only for the Orbis function and using Word or
>WordPerfect for the wp platform.       
>
>
>John Earl Haynes, 20th Century Political Historian
>Manuscript Division, LM-102
>Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-4689
>Ph: 202-707-1089; fax: 202-707-6336; e-mail: jhay