Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!oddjob!gargoyle!ihnp4!chinet!dag
From: dag@chinet.UUCP (Daniel A. Glasser)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: WordPerfects???
Message-ID: <2147@chinet.UUCP>
Date: 28 Jan 88 01:43:31 GMT
References: <8801250003.AA27676@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <413@lakesys.UUCP>
Reply-To: dag@chinet.UUCP (Daniel A. Glasser)
Distribution: na
Organization: Chinet - Public Access Unix
Lines: 38
Keywords: WP

In article <413@lakesys.UUCP> rich@lakesys.UUCP (Rich Dankert) writes:
++
++     If I'm not mistaken, the key-click problem is really due to a TOS
++bug, which the authors of WP for the ST apparently weren't familiar with.
++If you've been running for a while, under certain conditions (not sure
++exactly what they are, though I seem to encounter the problem when I'm
++using the mouse a lot) your machine will start clicking away as if you
++were holding down a key.  (Assuming that you have the volume turned up, of
++course.  Just how fast do you type, anyway, Rich? :-)) 
+
+	I know what you are talking about as far as the Keyclick problem 
+goes. I used to have the problem, until I changed the Keyboard, which has 
+the newer version IKBD Controller. Havn't run into it since, but if it's 
+a TOS bug as I have read etc.. then your guess is as good as mine, as my 
+machine is on for about 8-10 hours/day, 7 days/week.
+

The problem, as I understand it (and I do believe that I understand it)
is that the keyboard sends lots of bytes when mouse or joystick events
are being handled.  If the routine that handles the packets takes a
little too long, the first few bytes of the packet are lost (since
the interrupt is inhibited) and the last byte(s) of the packet, which
are not lost, don't look like parts of a packet to the handler, they
look like key "make" codes.  The auto-repeat is handled in software,
and since no break code has been received, the software decides that
it is time to repeat the "key", so a keyclick is generated, etc.
This is not really a TOS bug, just lack of flow control (and a poor
design decision in the software).

It could be that the new keyboard sends characters too quickly.

Any comments from Atari?
-- 
					Daniel A. Glasser
					...!ihnp4!chinet!dag
					...!ihnp4!mwc!dag
					...!ihnp4!mwc!gorgon!dag
	One of those things that goes "BUMP!!! (ouch!)" in the night.