KingCon failure with FE console.device

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xenic
Posts: 1185
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:06 am

KingCon failure with FE console.device

Post by xenic »

Before anyone tells me to switch to the new Shell and Console, I am in the process of switching. I just think that the KingCon problem I have with the FE console.device might be an indicator that other programs that use console.device might fail too. If I open a KingCon Shell and start typing some commands, the cursor stops moving after about 12-15 characters entered. If I continue typing or open other programs my system will crash or freeze.

If I replace the FE console.device with the Update6 console device (KickStart/console.device.kmod) then KingCon works as it always has. I've been using KingCon since OS4 prereleases and all my programs that have settings for console output are set to use KCON: (KingCon). I have a lot changes to make :-(
AmigaOne X1000 with 2GB memory - OS4.1 FE
kas1e
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Re: KingCon failure with FE console.device

Post by kas1e »

@Xenic
Its welknown moment (as least i report it about 1 year ago to BZ as well and somebody before me too, and it was known for some time), in general answer is "not use kcon", maybe Tony can explain technical details about through..
xenic
Posts: 1185
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:06 am

Re: KingCon failure with FE console.device

Post by xenic »

kas1e wrote:@Xenic
Its welknown moment (as least i report it about 1 year ago to BZ as well and somebody before me too, and it was known for some time), in general answer is "not use kcon", maybe Tony can explain technical details about through..
As I said, I'm switching all my KCON: entries but am concerned that other programs could have similar problems with the FE console.device. I've seen a lot of FE problems reported here and in other Amiga forums so I thought I'd make people aware of a potential console.device problem with older programs.
AmigaOne X1000 with 2GB memory - OS4.1 FE
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tonyw
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Re: KingCon failure with FE console.device

Post by tonyw »

There are bound to be some really old programs out there that no betatester has ever tried, and that fail with the new console device.

The new "console" comprises two main parts: the con-handler (which is replaced by KingCon) and the console.device (which is a dumb device driver that draws characters on the screen). They work together and are quite closely connected. Replacing one of them by an older, undocumented 68K program like KingCon could create problems. ("Undocumented" means that we don't have sources for it and we don't know how it works)

The main problems with KingCon are that it adds its own menu to the console window and changes many of the strings going to and from the console. In those days the console did not have its own menu, so naturally there are problems.

There is something that you could try, and this recommendation goes for ALL old programs, not just KingCon:

In the Shell's tooltypes, make sure that the option "legacy" is used, this will over-ride all other options and give you a basic console that acts like the old one. You won't get tabbed Shells, or a menu, or any of the new stuff, but it might enable you to work with the old program until you change over.

This is described in the on-lne help (Help/How to Specify the Console Window/Legacy).
cheers
tony
redfox
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Re: KingCon failure with FE console.device

Post by redfox »

I wish I had known about this issue before I wasted many hours last weekend troubleshooting.

Many of my ARexx scripts open a console window to communicate with (me) the user.

For example, my sendmail program opens a console window for me to compose an email and provides status messages in the same window as the email is posted to my ISP and saved in my sentmail archive.

After I installed AmigaOS 4.1 FE, I forgot to reinstall the KingCON mountlist and handler. After I reinstalled KingCON last weekend, I ran into the problems others encountered many years ago.

If I use KingCON v1.8, my sendmail window locks up after I type 12-15 characters.
If I use KingCON v1.7, I can type in more charcters, but occasionally garble or junk appears.
If I use KingCON v1.3, I get a GR on exit.

A different issue shows up with my readmail program. It is divided into two scripts, the main program and a subroutine. The main program opens a KCON window to list the emails in the mailbox. The subroutine opens a CON window to display the selected email. As the user interacts with the program, these windows open and close back and forth until the user quits the program.

For some reason, the cursor in the KCON window freezes after the user has looked at about 15 emails, even though the KCON window has opened and closed about 15 times.

Even stranger ... if the user continues to type, the characters appear in the Shell window that launched the program, rather than the apparently frozen KCON window. This would seem to indicate that the KCON window has somehow become inactive or the focus for the output has shifted to the Shell console window.

Needless to say, I am abandoning KCON and switching all my programs to CON.

---
redfox
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