On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 16:03:48 +0100, Neil Riley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi, > > Remember, I'm New ! > > Soak testing my now working Gold Card last night. That is ok - go ahead !! > Using SMSQ/E and whilst running two copies of Xchange last night, I > thought Id run WEST ( talent adventure ) as well, just to see if i could > crash my QL. I was shocked and slightly suprised that by running WEST > (which runs In MODE 4, low res i believe), when CTRL C'ing between > sessions, my exchange jobs were reduced from 80 column to a hybrid low > res mode with flashing streaks across my monitor. Whilst nothing crashed > I just wondered if this was a known 'feature' and has / has no solution > apart from the obvious ( don't run MODE 4 applications whilst MODE 8 > applications are running) Alas no - only Minerva ever went anyway to resolving this problem. The QL has two screens (one of which is covered by the system variables normally, but games get around this by running in supervisor mode) freeing up another 32K of spare space at $28000 (normal QL screen on black box is at $20000). Minerva allowed you to start the QL in dual screen mode (it moved the system variables which was not very compatible with some old software) and you could have a different screen in each mode. West runs in MODE 8 so far as I recall and that is why you get problems switching to Xchange. The Pointer Environment (which is part of SMSQ/e) does try to keep a tab of the mode in which each job is running but this will only work if you have configured SMSQ/e to only run in standard QL colours. I guess some of the old software (like West) was not made for multitasking and therefore uses some obscure techniques which the pointer environment misses. Try running Xchange, then doing a MODE 8:PAPER 3:CLS (magenta screen) in BASIC and having a pink screen and then try the CTRL C to switch to Xchange. > > Also, what is the purpose of SHIFT F4 ( shows two connected squares > icon) and SHIFT F5 (shows a Padlock icon) within Xchange ( not sure if > this happens outside of SMSQ/E as my QL was running it ) SHIFT F4 is to allow you to move Xchange about the screen and SHIFT F5 is redraw (I think). Not much point on a standard QL as it uses all 512x256 of the screen anyway. These are included in the Xchange documentation somewhere. -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services URL:http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk URL:http://www.rwapadventures.com URL:http://www.rwapservices.co.uk URL:http://www.internetbusinessangels.com _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
