Abiword Oddities

[jameswi99]

Hello All,
    I am a newbie on the forum and have a One T+ which I use for writing. However, I have been getting a little frustrated with Abiword at the moment. The key issue is that, when I am in full flow and also when I hit the cursor keys repeatedly to move back through something I have typed, it has a tendency to insert random characters. These are usually in small groups (e.g. "[a-t£") and quite often include carriage returns, or even more annoyingly "cursor-ups" which move my typing up a few lines in the document, as well.
   Has anyone else seen this behaviour? Is there a known cure?

I tend to work with only Abiword running and Wifi turned off (for battery conservation), so I don't think there are any unnecessary performance drains on the machine.

Cheers

James

[KneeOn]

Same thing has happened to me a few times. I touch type really fast but the laptop might lag a little bit. It might be that you are going to fast? I doubt its Abi-Word its more likely a hardware or internal software that is not the software package but the drivers maybe? i dunno im a newbie like you are!

[Unhban]

I get insertion of characters too, but they're usually the same ones each time.... I've had it since I got the machine last September and changes of the OS version and addition of patches haven't changed it. I do most of my typing on my 1T+ in Gmail and it occurs here too. I type fairly quickly and have found an answer to be to slow down!      So perhaps the keyboard buffer is getting overloaded?

Sometimes mine highlights a section of text too. Then because I don't notice and carry on typing it deletes that text to replace it with my new typing.... 

[jameswi99]

Thanks for getting back so quickly guys

I suspect you are right in thinking that I am typing too fast for the processor to keep up, and I too have had the issue where sections of text mysteriously get highlighted and then overwritten. I had put that down to me touching the touchpad accidentally, but maybe it is something to do with the same problem....

Perhaps the answer for me is a far simpler, less resource hungry text editor - Is there one available?

James

[Unhban]

Perhaps the answer for me is a far simpler, less resource hungry text editor - Is there one available?

I haven't tried it myself but for the GUI there's NEDIT, available here:
http://194.150.201.35/cnmlifestyle/downloads.htm

But as I'm using GMAIL in the browser and still getting a problem, could it be it's a system-wide thing?

It may be worth you trying Vi to see if you still get the problem - Vi's a text editor which is available from the Linux command line. Load up the XTERM program to get there....

[Jay Turner]

NEDIT does it too.

[KneeOn]

Hmmm. This is going to sound newbish but is it possible to change the prossesser. Maybe to a prosesser that came out of the same factory in China? that could support fast typers. also it occurs randomly not just when typeing fast. defo sounds like a hard ware issues.

[jameswi99]

Thanks guys,
   Going to give Nedit a whirl, and if that doesn't work I could see my big old clunky Dell getting a second chance. That will be a shame, but I don't have much choice as I am working to a deadline and I simply haven't got the time or patience to keep going back and correcting all the errors it is introducing.

Let's see how Nedit goes...



James

[Leven2e]

Oh,come on,you can't be serious.I you wanna use it for work,then you shouldn't do it on this toysized netbook. Don't use it as your main computer.Take with you wherever you go,and you got the chance to amend your work,or just read it as you go.But to compose a work on it from scratch..I wouldn't really recommend.Of course it depends how complicated and long that job is anyway.

[jameswi99]

   Leven2e, I would normally agree, but I tend to have to work on the move and the little machine is far more palatable than lugging my dell brick around. I sent five years using a Psion netbook (Epoc version, which was absolutely amazing) as my main computer for this stuff, but when it died I decided to go for something more up to date as a replacement. Jury is still out on that decision.....

[KneeOn]

errrm, did it not occur to you that this is a kids laptop not a fully grown all singing all dancing one? its annoying but alas. you should of just got your old one repaired instead of a 100 quid one...

[jameswi99]

Fantastic Insight!

Firstly, even if it was a "kids" laptop, and I tip my hat to all the highly proficient Linux using kids out there, why would that be any excuse for the Word Processor not functioning at a Basic level? Are we happy that "kids" around the world can't even type a sentence without it throwing in random characters..?

Secondly, I would love to see the marketing collateral from Elonex that states this is solely for kids. Do you have it? What I see is a small lightweight netbook that I can fit into my bag easily and can use on the road.

Thirdly, and I know this has been asked before, but what is a Wembaly?

[Leven2e]

yes,when it firstly came out,it was targeted for kids.But after the feedbacks and dissapointments of the kids (and their parents) they are changing the image.Either way,if I needed a netbook for work purposes I would get a more reliable and one with a slightly bigger (10 inch) screen.I would not risk my work on a toy,regardless how cute it is.I'm happy to have it,especially when I go on holiday.I don't expect too much,but browsing,and some "extras" if possible like radio,and some basic games on for my wife.And am happy to discover every now and then more possibilities. 
If your one throws up random characters you should return it for a refund!

[jameswi99]

Sure Leven2e,
   I get your point, but the onet+ is not marketed as a kids machine now. In fact the advert that I clicked on when I went through to order it was definitely oriented towards adult sales. But none of this excuses the fact that it doesn't work - I will be asking for a replacement, because other than that it is turning out to be perfect.

J

[ORICMAN]

 :)yeh I have same problem with spurrious characters on email and abi word pages
what seems to work for me is to make sure the cursor is off the the page you are typing on only bring it back if you need to edit something.park it at the side or top page and all should be well. good luck.