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From: johnj@knor.prl.philips.nl (John Janssen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st.tech
Subject: Phantom typist
Keywords: Caused by Backspace, repeating characters, 9 bombs
Message-ID: <2737@prles2.prl.philips.nl>
Date: 19 Apr 91 10:58:02 GMT
Sender: news@prles2.prl.philips.nl
Reply-To: johnj@knor.UUCP (John Janssen)
Organization: Philips Research Laboratories, the Netherlands
Lines: 56


As I stated in a previous message I finally run into the
phantom typist, which I always thought did not exist.

I am using the same machine (ST520 with 1MB) for 5 years,
now and stil using the same version of first word plus.
And I always do a cold reboot before starting First Word plus
(from floppy A) to kill possible virusses (I even wait some
time before switching on again).
That floppy only contains the First Word Plus program, the
First Mail program and only one accesoire (Snapshot). There
is no auto directory on the floppy.

The only difference in those years is the upgrade from TOS 1.0
to TOS 1.4 a few months ago, and that I use the automatic
program start-up facility that TOS 1.4 offers to start
First Word Plus.

What happens:
- During (even very slow) typing, suddenly the last few characters
  (sometimes 2, 3 4 or 5 chars) typed in being repeated automatically
  rather slow on the line I was working. If I'm aware of it soon,
  I can do a (cold) reboot by the Ctrl-Shift_ALt-DEl key press
  that TOS 1.4 offers. But in most times, it results in 9 bombs
  on the screen and a hard (=switch) reboot is required.

After having it rather often in the last weeks, I think I found a
cause of the problem. Although I'm not 100% certain, I try to
believe that the symptom always started after typing a character very
fast after pressing the backspace key!!!!

This rang a bell in me!

In first word plus (and probably other texteditors aswell)
all keys are queued, to allow fast typing.
However, the delete and backspace key (as I noted) are not
queued (not visibly anyway). This is done to provide you from
deleting too much characters.

This inconsequent keyhandling mechanism may be the cause of the
problem.

Although the above still does not explain, why I never saw the
phantom typist for all those years I used TOS 1.0, it finally
may give a(nother) start point for some investigation in this
matter.

Any ideas?
Who?


--
John Janssen        Check the email address in the header, as this
J.v.Deventerstr.1   may have been filled in wrong by the system.
Venlo Holland
+31 77 513177       Reply to: johnj@idms.prl.philips.nl