3.720 bug in Nota Bene (62)

Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Wed, 8 Nov 89 18:57:40 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 720. Wednesday, 8 Nov 1989.


(1) Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 21:01:53 EST (6 lines)
From: db <BOYARIN@TAUNIVM>
Subject: Re: 3.712 queries (165)

(2) Date: 08 Nov 89 13:09:33 EST (44 lines)
From: James O'Donnell <JODONNEL@PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU>
Subject: Nota Bene bug query

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 21:01:53 EST
From: db <BOYARIN@TAUNIVM>
Subject: Re: 3.712 queries (165)

re: nb bug? i have never heard of anyone with such problems and i am
in touch with many nb users. have you tried calling dragonfly.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------54----
Date: 08 Nov 89 13:09:33 EST
From: James O'Donnell <JODONNEL@PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU>
Subject: Nota Bene bug query


Malcolm Brown's description of his experience and habits so matches mine that
I'm wondering whether I'm actually his evil twin Skippy. I use the identical
machine, the identical program, and daily process several files running
200-300K, sometimes doing a total of a couple of dozen calls and saves, and
have been doing so for a year and a half.

The condition he describes (`General Failure Writing to Disk') and similar
alarming errors is one that I too have encountered, *perhaps* a little less
often, but it's hard to be sure from his description. This certainly does
produce a situation in which CHKDSK discovers lost clusters, but it does not
usually lead to disaster. (1) I can usually go on editing, and if I scroll to
the top and bottom of the file to be sure it's all there, I can generally save
it successfully the next time. (2) Using NB's emergency exit and saving
QUITx.TMP files usually avoids any disaster. (3) But of course, I say with the
smugness that comes of having been burned by computers and learned to mend my
ways, I use the F5 SAVE command frequently when working, so relatively little
is lost in these episodes.

But, yes, I think there is a bug, and it's dumb luck and low cunning if it
doesn't hurt you. Two tangent thoughts: (1) Has anybody with NB had my
experience of discovering that occasionally on saving, then later recalling,
such a large file, you find that some MODE commands have deteriorated, being
replaced by gibberish? And that the ASCII 001 character (screen display as a
teensy little funny face) crops up at unexepcted points in the file? (2) Have
any WP 5.0 users had the same kind of problem with large-file management? I
travel back and forth between NB and WP, and settled on NB for my really
important large files because I had experiences even worse than what Brown
describes with WP 5.0 when it was very new. Perhaps one of the numerous
un-numbered updates (WP is up to version about 5.015 by now, still calling
them all 5.0 but then telling you on the phone that date of release is vital)
has corrected this problem, but it sure was scary when it happened.