NB 4.2: Cry for help with erratic keyboard

["Schlabach, Gerald W." <gwschlabach>]

Dear friends:

Anyone who is obsessive-compulsive about following this list may recall that
over the last couple of months I have been helping my father, a veteran NB
user, migrate to a new XP system.  His preference is still to use NB 4, and
what he owns is 4.2 not 4.5.  New York's policy is that it can no longer
provide technical support for DOS versions, and although I vaguely remember
a discussion about "sticky keys" that may relate to our problem, the Hamline
search engine is not currently allowing me to search the archives for this
list.  So we turn to this list and hope to jog someone's memory.  

Below is a list of symptoms, all involving misbehaving keys and cursor
movements.  None of these problems occur with any other program.  They also
occur even with a switch in hardware.  Does anyone know what might be the
source of these maladies?  

Gerald W. Schlabach, Ph.D.
Theology Department
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Ave. / JRC153
St. Paul MN 55105-1096
        651/962-5332
        gwschlabach@domain.hidden
        http://personal2.stthomas.edu/gwschlabach


-----Original Message-----
From: Theron F. Schlabach [mailto:theronfs@domain.hidden]
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 8:36 AM
To: Gabriel R. Schlabach; Gerald Schlabach
Subject: Erratic keyboard


The keyboard is still giving me fits in NB4.2.  Here is a list of the main 
ways it misbehaves.  At least more or less of a list:  it varies somewhat 
in how it is erratic.  For instance, I think it is somewhat different when 
the CAPS key is on.

        Unlike before, now most of the time the right and left arrow keys do
move 
the cursor one character right or left.  Occasionally, however, the right 
arrow moves it left.  Those keys no longer send the cursor to the nearest 
double-separator (e.g. period followed by space) the way they did.  (In 
NB4, going to the next double-separator is supposed to happen with 
Ctl+Shft+arrow).
        The up and down arrow keys are dead
        The Alt+ right or left arrow (to next paragraph or top of current 
paragraph) is dead.
        Page-up and page-down keys move the cursor to top-right or
bottom-right 
corners of the screen respectively.  By holding the Ctl key down, however, 
one can get Page-up and page-down (moving one screen less one line, the way 
those keys are supposed to work without Ctl, not really a full "page" the 
way they are supposed to do with Ctl).
        Home and end keys move the cursor I think to top-left and
bottom-left 
respectively.
        Ctl+home (supposed to go to top of file) moves the cursor one
character 
left; Ctl+end (supposed to move cursor to bottom of file) moves it one 
character right.
        Delete deletes a string (I think going to the next double-separator)

instead of just one character.  However, backspace works properly.

        If I try to write a program with the programming mode feature 
(Shft+Ctl+Alt+ScrollLock) such keys give wrong results, not consistent with 
what the keyboard (.kbd) file shows for the key.

        If I unplug, wait a bit, then re plug the keyboard, the keyboard
will work 
properly for a time, but sometimes for less than a minute.

        To test whether the problem is the keyboard itself, yesterday I
borrowed a 
keyboard from the college.  With it, the system worked in the same erratic 
ways as with my keyboard.

        I wish I could plug in my old keyboard and try it, but for that I
would 
need an adapter.  (Its plug has a bigger diameter.)  The folks at the 
college could not put their hands on such an adapter, and they said those 
adapters are not available in stores, but only on Internet.  I have almost 
no hope that using that keyboard would work anyhow.

        Yesterday, without my unplugging the keyboard, it suddenly began to
work 
and worked properly for several hours.  But when I came back from lunch it 
was back to its juvenile delinquency.

        I have developed some rather awkward work-arounds by going to my
old 
office computer and writing little programs:  one with LB for beginning of 
line, one with BP for beginning of paragraph, one with TF for top of file, 
etc. etc.  With 8 or ten of those, I can function, sort of like having a 
cast on my arm.  There are other tricks: e.g., highlight the paragraph I'm 
in, then cancel the highlighting, to get to top of next paragraph.

        What seems entirely clear is that the problem has to do only with
cursor 
commands.  The various letters, numbers, and symbols all work well, as do 
the function keys.  However, it does not work to reprogram, say, the 
Alt+Ctl version of one of those working keys with one of the 
cursor-movement commands: I get the same erratic behavior as with the 
standard cursor keys.

Life is full of problems.  I think maybe Bill Gates has built a new Tower 
of Babel.  Thank you so much for hanging in with me.