Wordworth Woes

[Matt_H]

There are two issues here: the installation and the crash.

The first problem, the installation complaining about not enough free space, is because the version of Installer on the Wordworth disk is too old. It can't properly detect the amount of free space above a certain amount, so the number overflows and wraps around to a negative number. It can be overcome by changing the default tool on the install icon to a newer version of Installer (at least v43, see Aminet). Either point it to a newer version on your hard drive or replace the Installer on the Wordworth disk (a copy of the disk, of course). The other options are to install to a smaller partition, as you did, or to fill up a partition to the point where there's less free space.

The second problem, the crash, will be trickier to diagnose. As TribbleSmasher suggests, always install in Expert mode so you can see exactly what the installer is doing. Not all install scripts respect this, however, and will copy/replace files without your intervention. I seem to recall that the Wordworth install script does just that, and replaces a number of system files with versions from OS2.1 or 3.0. Conflict between those old files and the newer OS could be causing the crash. Examine the Wordworth disk(s) to see what system files are on it, then check your SYS: partition to see if those files got copied there. If they did, replace them with the newer versions from the 3.1.4(.1) disks.

Also, use SnoopDos to monitor what files are being called. Then you should be able to see exactly at which point the system is crashing (and which file is responsible).

One other thing, make sure you're not hitting the infamous MaxTransfer problem. I think that was finally solved in 3.1.4, but I'm not certain. Check the MaxTransfer setting in HDToolbox to be sure.

[Matt_H]

Hi Matt thank you for the reply.
I would have thought the installer on my 3.1.4.1 system would be newer than the 1996 version on Aminet, no?
I have copied the 1st install disk as suggested and pointed the default tool to Workbench:System/Installer but I get an error "Unable to compile script. ERROR: Symbol name not valid here on line 1".

Yes, the version of Installer from 3.1.4.1 will definitely be newer. It seems to be too new, apparently, such that it can't parse the old Wordworth script. (This probably means that the Wordworth script is badly written and the newer Installer has more strict error trapping.) Try v43. If that also fails you'll have to go with the fill-up-partition-first route or try installing manually.

Can you remind me where I find this again, I have opened HDToolbox and can only see options to repartition or verify the drive and I don't want to accidentally destroy my partition

Thanks again,
Spud 

HDToolbox->Partition Drive->Advanced Options->Change Filesystem. I don't recall what the correct settings for MaxTransfer are, but if you prepped the drive with 3.1.4 I think the defaults will be okay (maybe?). The 3.1.4 docs might have the correct settings listed... can't recall. But it should be easy to find with a search engine.

[Matt_H]

2 things:

I'm looking at my own WW5 disks now and realize why changing the default tool of the install icon failed. For some reason Digita decided not to invoke the installer directly. The install icon actually runs a shell script that invokes the installer. So copying the 3.1.4.1 Installer to the disk was the right move.

You might consider installing again now that your MaxTransfer is fixed, but I suspect now that it's very, very unlikely to have been the problem.

retina.library, I believe, is part of the ancient pre-P96, pre-CGX software for the Retina RTG board. My guess is that WW is trying to open it because of the PICASSO tooltype. I would have thought that setting it to PICASSO=False would have prevented WW from trying to load it, but perhaps not. Try commenting it out entirely (enclose it in parentheses) and see what happens.

Make sure to check your system files (particularly Libs: ) to make sure the versions from 3.1.4.1 are still there.

Can you post your SnoopDos output? Mount RAD: and direct the output to a file there to preserve it after the crash.

[Matt_H]

post.library is related to PostScript. WW might use it for PostScript/Type1 font support, or maybe PostScript printer or print-to-file support.

Can you try again to share the SnoopDos output? Even if you can't get the log file, expand the SnoopDos window to maximum size before launching WW/taking a photo. If you can get a grab of the icon tooltypes as well, that might be helpful.

And speaking of logs, do you have the install_log_file from the installation?

WW is generally pretty stable. I'm confident you'll be able to get it working, if not v5 then maybe v6 or v7.

[Matt_H]

I just did a test install of WW5 on a clean 3.1.4.1 installation under UAE - no problems, and it's a much "cleaner" install than I remembered. Meaning it put a lot less junk on SYS: than I thought it would, and I don't think it replaced any system files. Sorry for the misinformation about that!

So it looks likely that some other element of your system is conflicting with WW. What screenmode are you using for your Workbench screen? What other utilities do you have in WBStartup or user-startup? I gave the Native P96 tool a try under UAE and it didn't seem to cause any problems, so it's probably something else that's responsible.

Please also post the tooltypes you have on the WW icon.

Also, FYI, I'm attaching a SnoopDos log of WW successfully starting on my 3.1.4.1 UAE test system.

[Matt_H]

Well, the standard troubleshooting routine is to disable  those things one at a time and see if it makes a difference. FullPalette, TitleShadow, and ActivateCrossIDEfix jump out as possible culprits. Are you running a regular desktop 1200 with a single hard drive? I'm wondering if ActivateCrossIDEfix is even necessary.

Tooltypes look okay.

[Matt_H]

Strange... glad you got it working, though.

Are you using intuition.library v45? In my UAE test system I'm still using intuition v40, and I was also emulating an A2000 instead of an A1200. I wonder if those variables in combination with Native were responsible?