HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Date:         Fri, 4 Sep 92 14:37:08 GMT
From:         Lee Komito <LKOMITO@IRLEARN.UCD.IE>
Subject:      Re: NB4 and Orbis
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene
              3 Sep 92 12:50:32 EDT from <akerr@MAGNUS.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU>

I have been playing a bit with a beta version of Orbis, and one thing
that keeps me using NB3's textbase is that I can't figure out how
to import the text that I have found into my current file. It may
be that this is more clearly set out in the current release of
NB4/Orbis -- otherwise, though, the text search does me little good!


Lee Komito                       Internet: lkomito@irlearn.ucd.ie
Dept of Sociology                CREN/Bitnet/Earn: lkomito@irlearn
University College, Dublin       phone: +353 1 706-7106
Belfield, Dublin 4; Ireland      Fax: +353 1 269-4409
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Date:         Wed, 2 Sep 92 18:22:42 EST
From:         "Gerald W. Schlabach" <GSCHLABA@IRISHVMA>
Subject:      Letter to NBI
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

A few days ago I suggested working on a respectful but critical letter
to NBI.  Many of you have affirmed the idea.  A few have said to wait
until we see 4.0, but since this will take a couple of weeks to process
according to my suggestions, that may happen anyway.

The purpose of this note is simply to inform you that we have a volunteer
working on a letter.  I hope we can post it within a week or two.  There
will be time to comment, then a final draft, and the letter will speak for
only those list members who then choose to sign.

Let me emphasize that I hope the letter will emphasize our strong support
for Nota Bene, our concern to see NBI maintain a credible and sound
business posture _so_that_ it can survive, and our sense of tragedy should
NBI risk our sort of support.


Gerald W. Schlabach           |     Item bellum nullum argumentum est
University of Notre Dame      |     pro veritate fidei Christianae.
Schlabach.1@nd.edu            |          --Francisco de Vitoria, 1539
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X-Envelope-to: notabene@TAUNIVM.BITNET
X-VMS-To: IN%"notabene@taunivm.bitnet"
Date:         Tue, 1 Sep 92 21:30:00 EST
From:         INTENTBD@UTOROISE
Subject:      Real and virtual
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene


Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago a message was posted by
'(That should be "Some" in the previous line)
Assie Gildenhuys of the University of Pretoria about his up-coming trip
to North America for a conference in Montreal and then some travel. I
responded to his message and have had the pleasure of meeting Assie. Unfor-
tunately he was only able to stay with us overnight, but we had a very good
visit in that brief time. I was able to share with him some of the ways we
are using NB in an education research project. In our conversation, we got
to talking about the list and soon we were mentioning Mervyn and Tony, Paul,
Dorothy and many others. Then it struck us that we were talking about people
that neither of us have met, yet, in some ways, we definitely know you.

The point of all this is two-fold: There is a very strong feeling of
community on this list -- more than I have encountered on the other
lists that I subscribe to. Even if NBI should fold, I hope that we don't.
(More on that in a moment.) The other part is that if you have the chance
to host Assie in his travels, seize the opportunity. I guess I have a third
point -- if any others are travelling in the Toronto area, please get in touch.
The reality was even better than the virtuality.
Footnote: My wife prepared apple crisp for dessert last evening made from
Duchess apples from the tree right outside our front door -- we live near
Cheltenham, Ontario -- a bit out of Toronto. (Thought you would find that
appropriate, Mervyn.)

Finally, in response to some of the comments about alternatives to NB, in
particular Tom Backer Johnsen's message today (hope I got the spelling right,
Tom -- I don't have your message in front of me so am going by memory):
I got Word for Windows 2.0 this summer and converted my course notes for
students into it. I find Word very useful as a publishing word processor, but
I don't think I will use it for academic writing. I miss IBID, textbase,
phrase libraries, on-the-fly hyphenation, and -- strangely enough -- on-the-fly
spell checking. Other little niceties of NB such as being able to
convert tORONTO to Toronto easily when I forget to turn off the caps lock
key will keep me writing in NB for quite a while, though I may export some
things to Word gorgeous printing.

Brian Durell
University of Toronto
intentbd@utoroise
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.2 PL13]
Date:         Tue, 1 Sep 92 09:02:13 EDT
From:         robert kelly F <rkelly3@MACH1.WLU.CA>
Subject:      Re: Real and virtual
Comments: To: "Nota Bene E-mail Group" <mamut!notabene@vm.tau.ac.il>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

Brian Durell mentions that he uses MS W f W to do class notes.  Brian,
can we assume that your class notes have graphics in them?  I do a
300 pp. manuscript for students each year (c. 40 pp. of bibliography) all
done with NB 3.1 and Ibid. in PostScript Palatino.  It comes out looking
very nice--"camera ready" if it were submitted to a publisher.  With
access to a PostScript printer NB can do almost anything one could want,
except graphics.  Now, if we could just get PostScript fonts for Lingua.

By the way, it has occurred to me that the reason that NB is so well-
suited to academic writing is precisely the reason that upgrades take
so long and dates given are so unrealistic.  NB is designed by academic
types for academic types.  We all suffer (well, maybe not all, but most
that I know) from academic's perfectionism, that little voice inside
that says that if we could just consult one more source the article
would finally be ready to submit.  Did all of us turn our dissertations
in on the original date promised?  Do all of us always submit manuscripts
on the date promised?  Do all of us always return student papers on
exactly the date promised?  Probably not, because we hope that with just
one more something we can finally produce the definitive work.  Something
tells me that the same dynamic is at work at NBI.  Perhaps we've become
like the kid I had in class a couple of years ago whose parents came to
Canada from Germany and thinks that the problem with Canada is all the
immigrants the government allows in.  Or, as Pogo said, "We have met the
enemy and he is us."
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Date:         Sat, 29 Aug 92 17:24:38 EDT
From:         "William H. TeBrake" <TEBRAKE@MAINE>
Subject:      Re: alleged arrivals
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

I must agree with John Morris who fails to see what the repeated venting
of frustrations really accomplishes.  Please direct your complaints to
NBI where it may result in something, and not to the list, where it
simply clogs up everyone's reader with the pantently obvious, that NB4
is very late.  I am not a true believer--I have told NBI of my
disappointment.  But, please, let's keep the list for solving software
problems, exploring the possibilities of Notabene, and, yes, while we
are all waiting, the sharing of apple recipes and other of life's small
pleasures.
Bill TeBrake, History, U. of Maine
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X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]
Date:         Fri, 28 Aug 92 12:49:08 METDST
From:         Luuk Houwen <houwen@LET.RUG.NL>
Subject:      NB Shipping now
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the new NB4 version my friend received came
from Dragonfly Europe in Germany.
Luuk
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Date:         Tue, 25 Aug 92 22:25:51 EDT
From:         "Paul J. Bodin" <pjb3@CUNIXB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Kermit capabilities
Comments: To: Nota Bene List <NOTABENE%TAUNIVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

Gerald W. Schlabach writes:

> The problem with logging, on both ProComm and Kermit, is that if one uses
> VT100 emulation, the logs are almost useless.  There are no carriage
> returns, and one's computer is only receiving those characters that are
> different from the previous screen.  One can switch to straight ASCII/BBS
> interface, but not mid-session, and the interface is cumbersome and well,
> not a pretty picture.

For Gerald and anybody else who may be interested... I have written a
small program that will convert logged vt100 sessions to NB-formatted
files.  The formatting is my own choice for my own purposes, but once
you have a file NB formatted you can always reformat for your own
tastes.

The only requirement is that your logging/capture utility retain the
VT100 codes intact.  If anybody would like to try this program, let me
know.  To be completely clear, this is *not* an XPL program, but a DOS
executable file.

___________________________________________________________________________
Paul J. Bodin                         Internet: pjb3@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
Union Theological Seminary               smail: 435-52nd Street
(718) 439-3549                                  Brooklyn, NY 11220
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X-Envelope-to: NOTABENE@TAUNIVM.BITNET
X-VMS-To: MSUS1::IN%"NOTABENE@TAUNIVM"
Date:         Sun, 30 Aug 92 10:02:00 CST
From:         JEARLS%TINY@MSUS1
Subject:      UUE vs. XXE
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

UUE usually works well with my system (VAX).  I have tried XXE decoding a
number of times, and gave it a further try after the hearty recommendation it
received on the list lately.  Always the same result: Nothing to Decode and
the number of the last line.  Any suggestions about what I could be (not) doing?
   J. P. EARLS / ST.JOHN'S UNIV. / COLLEGEVILLE, MN
                                         56321 / JEARLS%TINY@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Date:         Fri, 28 Aug 92 18:11:52 EDT
From:         "Paul J. Bodin" <pjb3@CUNIXB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: File0000.chk
Comments: To: Nota Bene List <NOTABENE%TAUNIVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

I wrote:

> >Unless you *know* that clusters found by CHKDSK belong in a file
> >that you had open when your power failed, it is best to delete them.

To which Robert Braham responds:

> b) if I had Colorado Memory Systems "TAPE Format" program running,
> than what could've been "open"?  Nothing, right, but for it?
>
> Still anxious (but less so),

The TAPE program should not have left any lost clusters upon power
loss, unless you were using it from a DOS shell rather than from the
primary DOS environment (as you would, for example, if you had
"exit"-ed from NB, or used the "dos" NB command to get a DOS command
line).  If you were shelled from another program and the *other*
program had files open in write mode that could be the source of the
problem.

One bad habit that many computer users get into is just turning the
machine off when done, without regard to the current status of the
file system.  Always quit all programs all the way back to DOS before
turning off the machine or rebooting.  If in doubt, type "exit" at the
DOS command line a couple of times to see whether another program
magically springs up.  Also, if you are using a disk cache with staged
or delayed writes, *always* wait until all disk activity has ceased
before powering down.  If you are a belt *and* suspenders type like
me, you will manually flush the cache buffers before power down just
to be certain.

Running CHKDSK will often then recover lost clusters that are caused
by these dangerous habits, which have been accumulating unsuspected
for some time.  That may be what happened in this case...

___________________________________________________________________________
Paul J. Bodin                         Internet: pjb3@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
Union Theological Seminary               smail: 435-52nd Street
(718) 439-3549                                  Brooklyn, NY 11220
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X-VMS-To: IN%"Notabene@Taunivm.bitnet"
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Date:         Wed, 2 Sep 92 09:16:33 IST
From:         "Michael J." <JASPER@HELIX.MGH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject:      NB and Desqview
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

From:	EMAIL::JASPER       "Michael J."  2-SEP-1992 02:14:00.26
To:	IN%"NOTABENE@taunivm.harvard.edu"
CC:	JASPER
Subj:	NB and Desqview

Hi - I just got on this list, so forgive me if I ask something that's
already been discussed. Is anyone out there besides me running NB under
Desqview? If so, any special pointers to maximize stability?

Also, I've just received my "official final release" of NB4, which seems to
be more of a "decent Beta" than a final release. After using it for 2 days,
I already have a list of 12 fairly significant bugs. SOme are absolutely
glaring. Anyone else having similar experiences?

Michael Jasper
Jasper@helix.mgh.harvard.edu
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Date:         Tue, 25 Aug 92 17:45:35 EDT
From:         Robert Braham <RMB@CUNYVMS1>
Subject:      RE: NB4/Orbis Shipping
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

>From: "Ada_W.Finifter" <FINIFTER%MSU.BITNET@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu>

>   I called NBI today and was told that shipping will
>start "next week."  Can someone clarify for me whether anything has actually

Someone really ought to catalog the number of weeks _in a row_ NBI has
said either "this week" or "next week," complete w/ "its the manuals"
"its the labels" etc. ad nauseum.  If it wasn't (weren't?) such a good
code, such juvenile, and really, unprofessional and offensive practices
would be intolerable.  It's not cute: NBI should act like a business,
even given the lax standards re vaporware and its near cousins.
Our check most definitely _was_ in the mail, w/o such nonsense.

And people ask why NB is not as popular as Wordperfect.

Robert Braham
Graduate School of the City University of New York
Bitnet:   RMB@cunyvms1.bitnet
Internet: RMB@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Via:         UK.AC.EX.CEN;  3 SEP 92 16:27:00 BST
X-Mailer:    ELM [version 2.3 PL0]
Date:         Thu, 3 Sep 92 16:26:21 BST
Comments:     Warning -- original Sender: tag was N.F.Brooks@CEN.EX.AC.UK
From:         Neil Brooks <Brooks@EXETER.AC.UK>
Subject:      Re: Jasper's list of bugs and general whining
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene
              J." at Sep 3, 92 8:35 am

Michael J. writes:-
>
[lot of stuff deleted]
>
> 10) A problem that has existed for the last two versions has
> not gone away: changing print mode by word (CTRL-SHFT 1,2,3,
> etc.) works for every mode except underline. I have found
> this with different versions of NB, with and without
> Desqview, on different machines, including pure bred IBMs.
> Why don't you fix this already?
There's an old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" :-)
I have never seen this fail to work!
I would guess it is a fault/corruption of the keyboard file but how have
you kept the same keyboard file across so many versions/machines?  Maybe it
is in the us.kbd file and not the UK.kbd file which we use.
--
Neil Brooks, University of Exeter Computer Unit
Electronic mail: Brooks@uk.ac.exeter
Phone: (+44) 392 263946
Postal Address: Laver Building, North Park Road, Exeter EX4 4QE, Devon, U.K.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Date:         Tue, 1 Sep 92 09:14:54 EDT
From:         Norman Patch <72646.3163@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject:      BTM batch files
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

Itamar:
I downloaded a copy of both sets of BTM files from the list server and
have been very impressed. I had looked at a copy of 4DOS several years ago
but the program and my machine were not as advanced in those days. I was
so impressed with the current version that I registered a copy with JP Sof
tware.

I have discovered several very good DOS utilities by your menu batch. I
had never seen SST before nor SHROOM. Both were programs I had a need for,
but had never connected with. Along this line I have been unable to
identify David Frey's DFC.BTM. Could you give me a line on how I could
find a copy.

One other thing. I have tried SHROOM with the new version of NB4. When I
shell out to DOS with F9 DOS F10 the program appears to work correctly and
gives me a message that it is offloading memory but then immediately
reloads NB4 leaving me where I was when I started. Can you suggest what
might be going wrong?

Norm Patch

Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Date:         Sun, 30 Aug 92 15:20:09 IST
From:         "Itamar Even-Zohar, Porter Chair of Semiotics" <B10@TAUNIVM>
Subject:      ez-btm02.zip
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

I have updated once more ez-btm02.zip (an augmented
version of BK.btm).

Itamar E-Z
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Original_To:  Jnet%"NOTABENE@TAUNIVM"
Date:         Fri, 28 Aug 92 15:01:00 EST
From:         DICK@SIENA
Subject:      RE: NB 4.0
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

As all of you eager people try out the sporadically arriving NB4, let me share
a bit of experience gleaned from beta-testing. If you call up a NB3 document
with footnotes etc. be sure to go to SET, UPDATE, NOTES and update your
footnotes. What I did was inadequate: I erased all my NB3 note style deltas and
went into NB4's menu and set up new NB4 deltas. The consequences were global. I
think many of my so-called NB bugs were really symptoms of not having run an
update. Then I added some notes in NB4 so I really had an eclectic mess. This
caused printing, memory problems, etc. Verbum sapientibus.
        Michael Dick, Siena College
        DICK@SIENA
PS The bug I mentioned earlier about not being able to redirect your printer
port is ONLY a display problem. In other words, it does redirect it just
refuses to tell you so.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Date:         Fri, 28 Aug 92 10:44:52 EDT
From:         "Paul J. Bodin" <pjb3@CUNIXB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: File0000.chk
Comments: To: Nota Bene List <NOTABENE%TAUNIVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

Robert Braham's question about the files that CHKDSK creates when it
finds "lost" clusters is one that troubles many.  Sometimes those
clusters look as if they have important stuff in them--unfortunately
it is usually not possible to hook them back where they belong.

Bear in mind that most clusters of a heavily-used hard disk will have
lots of stray data written in them.  Consider the following scenario:
you update your Ibid. database, Ibid. writes a fresh copy using new
clusters, you write a new document that uses two bytes more than one
cluster and it is written to one of the former Ibid. clusters.  You
edit this document again, and while the file is open and before the
FAT has been completely updated you lose power and the erstwhile Ibid.
then document cluster is "lost".  When you look at that cluster, the
first two bytes will be the last two bytes of your document and the
rest of the cluster will look like Ibid. data--but it does *not*
belong in your Ibid. database.  This is the kind of thing that
produces most of those scary-looking clusters.

Unless you *know* that clusters found by CHKDSK belong in a file
that you had open when your power failed, it is best to delete them.
If you have suspicions about binary files, compare them with the
original distribution files or with backups--don't try to plug the
lost clusters back in.

___________________________________________________________________________
Paul J. Bodin                         Internet: pjb3@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
Union Theological Seminary               smail: 435-52nd Street
(718) 439-3549                                  Brooklyn, NY 11220
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene
From: pbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Philip C Brown)
Subject: Re: Jasper's list of bugs and general whining
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 19:23:31 GMT

Michael Jasper's list of "bugs" with NB4 is interesting.  Like several others, 
I have never had a problem implementing the word underline (word-by-word).  I 
also wonder how many problems listed would go away if MJ ran NB4 under DOS.  In
working with NBI, I think any list of bugs we send should try to carefully 
distinguish which are strictly sensitive to specific operating environments.

Phil Brown
OSU, History
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X-To: NBTA
Date:         Fri, 28 Aug 92 23:30:03 EST
From:         Dorothy Day <DAY@UCS.INDIANA.EDU>
Subject:      RE: alleged arrivals
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

It seems a bit unfair to be fuming or flaming about assumptions. While
it is true that NB3 documents with footnotes need to be "imported"
into NB4 through a simple menu selection, the person who reported
problems  with his NB3 documents issued a clear warning that he had
not done this, and realized that this was the source of his
difficulties. The limited documentation is quite clear about needing
to do this, and the process is very easy and quick. This need NOT be a
problem at all.

It is true that full documentation is still being completed, and that
the 120-odd page quick guide (more extensive than the one for NB3) is
what you receive with the program itself just now. We'll have to wait
for the Big Book. However, the drop-down menus are quite easy to follow
(perhaps moreso for new users than those of us with long-ingrained
habits developed under NB3). One really CAN survive with little
documentation.

One place where I (and others using the pre-release versions) felt a
real need for some hard documentation was in using Orbis over the last
month or so. All features were implemented, but there were quirks we
had to deal with, and it took phone calls to learn whether our problems
were of our own doing, or related to our system configurations, or
bugs in the program. I assume that those who ordered Orbis will
receive a version substantially better than the one beta testers have
been using, and even that version was usable. I also assume that at
least the minimal instructions for its use will be included. Once
properly set up, the menu selections are all you need to actually add
files, update, and search your Orbis textbases.

I'm puzzled by Luuk Houwen's reports of problems. I've been running
the last several beta versions of NB4/Lingua under Windows 3.1, with
no problems. I can't vouch for Windows 3.0, which I never touched
because of its many problems (bombs). The present combination seems
pretty stable. No double keystrokes, no menu problems. Perhaps
re-installing will clear things up. If not, I can send you my .PIF
file for comparison with yours. Or your EMS configuration may need
fine-tuning. As a new Windows user, I had a trick or two to learn
before I reinstalled NB4/Lingua under it...

Dorothy Day, Indiana University
Bitnet: DAY@IUBACS
Internet: day@ucs.indiana.edu
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