Keola and I are experiencing very different behaviors from our
theoretically-similar Power PC Macs, running the same operating system.
This implies that the problem isn't Tiger per se, nor Intel Macs (in spite
of the subject line of this thread). But what is the cause of the
problems? I haven't a clue. I wonder if the computers would act any
differently if Keola wiped the disk, and reinstalled from the original
Tiger DVD. Perhaps adding in one application at a time would reveal the
source of the problem.
In my previous testing, I had tried switching between various applications,
as I explained before. I can freely switch between MS Word, Finder, Nisus
Writer Express, Safari, my email program Mulberry, which is a Carbon app,
Canvas, Excel, PhotoShop, Mellel, Firefox, Disk Utility, Toast, etc.
without any of the keyboard problems that Keola describes. So for me,
Tiger works consistently and reliably both between windows of a single
application AND between applications. Keola is getting entirely different
results.
I hadn't checked AppleWorks before. This is the first application that has
given me any problems. I don't have all of the problems that Keola
describes, but it does give me trouble. AppleWorks doesn't retain the
keyboard settings. When I select a keyboard in AppleWorks, that is the
keyboard I get, until I switch apps. When I switch back, the menu bar
correctly reveals the active keyboard, although it will be the keyboard of
the previous app. So, for me, AppleWorks behaves a bit better than for
Keola. The keyboard that I see is the active one, with no hidden keyboard
surprises.
The crashing situation is interesting. I find that I can use my
stealth-Unicode keyboards in AppleWorks without crashing or other problems.
When I try Apple's Unicode keyboards, AppleWorks crashes. My
stealth-keyboards are Unicode keyboards that tell the OS that they are
Roman keyboards, in the header of the XML Keyboard Layout file. If you are
using XML keyboards and can modify them (they are text files), it might
help to change the header, so that they say they are Roman keyboards. I
began using this approach back in Jaguar (Mac OS 10.2.3), so that I could
use the same keyboard with both Unicode and non-Unicode applications. So
far as I can tell, lying to the OS about the keyboard type has no negative
effects. You may be able to create your own XML stealth keyboards.
Contact me off-list if this is of interest.
So far, it seems like Keola and I are getting different results. Some of
the differences and problems may relate to specific Carbon, non-unicode
apps. I only use one of those regularly (Mulberry). AppleWorks gives me
some problems, but fewer than it gives Keola. Can anyone else check this
behavior?
Derek
Derek Roff
Language Learning Center
Ortega Hall 129, MSC03-2100
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
505/277-7368, fax 505/277-3885
Internet: [log in to unmask]
*******************
> I see what you're saying but we're talking apples and oranges (I think).
Maybe it's more apple, oranges, and bananas. Let me rephrase. I'm in Word
and I switch to a Russian keyboard with the keyboard viewer set on a Mac
Intel. The flag icon will change to show the Russian keyboard had been
selected, but the keyboard viewer stays on the U.S. keyboard. Thus, the
keyboard viewer is useless in Word.
If I want to view the Cyrillic layout in the keyboard viewer, I click on the
Finder and change the keyboard selection to the Russian keyboard. In
Finder, I can then see the proper Cyrillic keyboard layout in the keyboard
viewer. As a I result, I can jump back and forth between the Finder and
Word to know where keys are. Not a "desired behavior" if you ask me!
If there's something I need to change in the settings to get the viewer to
work properly in Word, I'd appreciate that info. I've checked this in
several programs and the only one in which it seems to work properly is
TextEdit. I've also tested it with a Latin-alphabet keyboard (German) with
the same results (working only in TextEdit). Any ideas?
Thanks, ds
--
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Faculty/Academic Technology Specialist
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Lake Forest College
Lake Forest, IL 60045
(847) 735-5113
(847) 735-6297 (fax)
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