XWP v1.0.16

[Dariusz Piatkowski]

Hey Rich!

having selected the MEDIUM size option I came to discover what I felt was a rather curious font/sizing choice for the default XWP menu, that being: '9. WarpSans Bold'. [...]  it feels (again, VERY subjective lol) like the [non-Bold] 10 pt is the better fitting size.

My overriding goal In implementing 'Text Size' was "user acceptance". Put another way, avoiding anything that would give people a reason for not using a feature that would clearly benefit them.

First and foremost in the list of things to avoid was any consideration of aesthetics. I fully agree with you that 'WarpSans Bold' at any size is a lousy font for menus. But, after all these years of people not complaining about it, it wasn't for me to go changing the status quo. By having Text Size use the exact same fonts that have been in place since eCS 1.0, no one can claim "aesthetic degradation" as a reason for not using it.
...

Understood, and your point is well taken.

Any ideas where WarpCenter hides it's font selection??? That's the only remaining piece of getting to a suitable display configuration for my OS/2 box...tried the old "drag & drop" font, but that didn't stick.

OK, there is something else I'd like to toss into the conversation though: I'm getting weird looking file sizes in the Xview folders, take a look at the attached screenshot.

What's weird about this is that NOT all files show this behaviour.

For example, looking at '192.168.1.10_20231215.txt', in CL it shows up as:

Code: [Select]

12-15-23 11:44p        11,736      0 a---  192.168.1.10_20231215.txt

...and clearly XWP does show that size, but it is followed by a string ".99,999,999,999,977"

Here is an even weirder use-case, take a look at '192.168.1.10_20231214.txt'

Code: [Select]

12-14-23  9:55p         4,362      0 a---  192.168.1.10_20231214.txt

...and in XWP that shows up as "436,2.0,000,000,000,001". It's almost as if the decimal place markers get tossed into the wrong place???

Is this a user configuration mistake?

The only such user-adjustable config I can think of is the 'WPS => Status Bars => P2', but that really appears to be applicable only to status bars.

[Rich Walsh]

In the System Setup folder, there is a folder called Extended Menu Options.
In the System Setup folder > XWP Installation folder, there is the XWPlace Configuration Folder.
Boh folders have the same object ID "<XWP_CONFIG>"

What you're seeing is a circular reference. Folder A contains a shadow of Folder B, which in turn contains a shadow of Folder A. Since shadows can have their own titles, distinct from the original, the circular reference may not be obvious. Feel free to rename stuff for consistency.

FWIW... the name "Extended Menu Options" came from ANXWP, the AN-branded XWP-Lite. Installing XWP-Full on top of it produced the shadow(s) of it named "XWorkPlace Configuration Folder".

[Rich Walsh]

I'm getting weird looking file sizes in the Xview folders

This also happens in conventional 'Details' view. The cause is believed to be code compiled using Open Watcom (e.g. DSS).

When files started to exceed 4gb, IBM had to come up with a way to display numbers greater than a 32-bit integer can handle. Rather than switching to 64-bit arithmetic (probably due to the compiler they were using), they opted to store the numbers in floating-point format. Converting a floating point number back to an integer requires that the machine's "floating-point control word" be set as the compiler expects. Unfortunately, OW-compiled code changes the control word's setting to suit its own needs, causing IBM C-compiled code to go haywire.

I added a fix somewhere in XWP to reset the control word back to the IBM standard just before the WPS displays a Details view window  - but clearly it doesn't work (or at least, doesn't work all of the time). The real solution is to have OW-compiled code that runs on Thread 1 (the WPS's UI thread) reset the control word appropriately.

This also means that it cannot do floating-point math on Thread 1 because its own results will be screwy (each thread has its own CW setting, so OW code can do whatever it wants on its own thread). This is one of several reasons I want to look at revising DSS's WPS notebook pages. (It's also one of the reasons I reject the notion of compiling WPS code with anything other than IBM VAC.)

[Dave Yeo]

That was likely the reason that Doodle had DSS using the floating point emulator. Perhaps we should return to using it.
The floating point control word is irritating and didn't seem to exist in Warp V4, at least with GCC compiled programs so I never thought of it until I used eCS and working programs began giving floating point exceptions.

[Pete]

Hi Dariusz

Any ideas where WarpCenter hides it's font selection??? That's the only remaining piece of getting to a suitable display configuration for my OS/2 box...tried the old "drag & drop" font, but that didn't stick.

Just a thought... Have you tried ft-240.exe? - the old Innotek Font Engine software.
I think it does a good job of improving Warp4/eCS/ArcaOS dismal text display but does require user configuration after installation:

Open Registry Editor to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Innotek -> Innotek Font Engine -> Applications

Change any of the existing Applications, eg firefox.exe, to pmshell.exe, double check that it has an Enabled value of 1, delete all other Applications (the software involved no longer uses IFE), close Registry Editor, Reboot to a Desktop and WarpCenter with better text display.


You are still stuck with the same font on WarpCenter but at least it looks better and is more legible.


Regards

Pete

[David Graser]

Tried v2.6.  It could be my imagination, but firefox does look better

[Dave Yeo]

Firefox should take care of anti-aliasing and such on its own, though freetype likely could be tweeked. Haven't kept up on changes to Freetype so not sure how to tweek.

[David Graser]

After working with all these graphics, it looks to me that we just need a global way to slightly soften the fonts to do away with all the jagged edges.  I wonder if this is what the Innotek font engine attempts to do?

I have attached an example.  The graphic program I use only does custom blur in whole numbers.  To do what needs to be done, a program would have to do fractions.  It would need to be a 1.1, 1.2 1.3 etc.  If I used the gaussian blur, it would have to be between 0 and 1.  In the picture, I did a custom blur using a box blur of 2.  This is too much.  I then had to use sharpen 3 times to get it to what I did.  If one wanted more blue, two sharpen actions then.

I outlined the ones  in a box to show the ones I changed. The ones outside the box are unchanged.

If you look carefully, there is just a slight blur which does away with the blockiness of the fonts.

[Andi B.]

I for myself prefer the sharp crispy font display LCDs can provide. If I wanna have these washed out fonts then I would attach these crappy old blurred tube monitors we had to work with decades ago. Or don't clean my glasses for a while of put them off completely :-).

Of course these is only valid for our carefully selected bitmap fonts used for the WPS. For surfing the net with all these different fonts in different sizes aliasing is necessary. But not for WPS and window menus. YMMV.

[Martin Iturbide]

Hello Rich

Do you think it can be possible to include a custom icon size for xcenter, (like the mock up attached picture) instead of just "small" and "large". Or do you think it can turn into something bad?

Regards

[Rich Walsh]

Do you think it can be possible to include a custom icon size for xcenter, (like the mock up attached picture) instead of just "small" and "large".

If I could have done so when I was working on it, then I would have. If things change someday and enable me to do so, then I will. But right now? No.

[David Graser]

What might be a good addition would be to have a way to draw lines on the desktop, which I believe NPS_WPS Enhance 1.82 had.  I am using XWP and Xit.  I am afraid to add another enhancer for fear of causing conflicts. The drawing of lines would allow one to point out problems on the desktop when sending in pics.  This in just an idea.  Don't even know if it would be feasible with XWP.  If not, I may try NPS and see what happens.

Oh, by the way Rich, doing the BigIcons has been a great learning experience for me.  It has giving me a better idea of how the WPS operates. Thanks for your original suggestion about trying to do something with them.

[David Graser]

The features I desired in NPS WPS Enhancer work fine with ArcaOS and the other enhancers.

[Dave Yeo]

I notice that the environment tab in some properties notebooks does not seem to honour the text size.
Same with the Objects and Schedule tabs.

[Rich Walsh]

I notice that the environment tab in some properties notebooks does not seem to honour the text size.
Same with the Objects and Schedule tabs.

I've been meaning to release an update to fix that. Maybe now is the time

* Find your DragText directory (on AOS, it's in 'x:\sys\apps\drgtxt39').

* Unlock 'DTPGM39.DLL' using 'unlock.exe' or 'xunlock.exe' (the latter is in your 'xwps\bin' directory).

* Replace the dll with the attached (unzipped) file.