Re: Can't open RTF or DOC files in AbiWord Windows

Martin wrote:
> Thanks for that advice, Ryan. Okay, I installed 2.6.2
> on my old laptop.
>
> Not only can I not open RTF and DOC files with 2.6.2
> (I just get an empty Untitled window), I cannot save
> any files at all. Tried to save as abw, rtf, doc, txt,
> Each time, got error message: "Writing error when
> attempting to save
> file///c:/latest/Abiword%20test.abw" (or rtf, txt,
> doc)
>
Hmm. So 2.6.2 doesn't work - I am going to guess here that the issue is
Windows ME. I was under the impression we were still Windows 9x
compatible but I will admit I didn't test it because I didn't have a
copy easily at hand.
> Tested practically all save formats, it will save none
> of them.
>
> Also there is no cursor visible that you can click and
> it stays and blinks, even though cursor blink is
> selected in preferences. No cursor at all except when
> you move the mouse. Cannot visibly "place" the
> cursor in a word.
>
> So...2.6.2 did not make a difference. And I still
> cannot fathom what the heck is wrong with this program
> and why it seems to only happen to me!
>
> Next day...Now in the internet cafe I have installed
> Abi 2.6.2 on the computer here...
>
> and...well, when i open an rtf document, i get that
> same "untitled" window but then I see that it is
> importing the document and the "untitled" changes to
> the name of the document. It takes a hell of a
> long time to import the document, I must say.
>
> Also, the cursor is blinking and you can put it where
> you want on this computer. And I can save a document.
>
> THis computer in the cybercafe is a Celeron 2.4 GHz
> with 512 RAM with Win XP.
>
> Could it be that my old computer (Pentium II 360 MHz,
> 196 MB RAM, Win ME) is too underpowered to run
> AbiWord? Or, considering that it takes a long time to
> import the RTF file even on this fast computer in the
> cybercafe, could it be that, if I had waited long
> enough, Abi would eventually have imported these files
> on my slow computer?
>
For what it's worth, don't install the Grammar plugin if you don't need
it, and turn it off when you aren't using it - it slows things down a
huge amount, AbiWord is otherwise quite snappy, and I'm not sure why a
Celeron 2.4 would load it slowly other than having the grammar plugin
enabled.
> But that doesn't explain the lack of cursor and
> failure to save any document.
>
> I see that my old system still easily meets Abi's
> published system requirements. (486dx or better
> processor, At least 16MB RAM
> Windows 95b or later)
>
Those haven't been updated in years, and should probably be removed.
The system requirements are, try it and see if it works, if it does, it
meets the requirements, if not, our uninstaller works great. (Things
are different when the software is open source - there's no "buyer's
remorse" if the software ends up not running. I haven't seen
requirements for OSS software hardware-wise in a while except on really
high-powered server apps.)

That said, I thought we were Win9x compatible. You might want to try
2.4.6 and let me know if it works. Another idea (please try both if
possible) is follow these instructions, with 2.6.2 and with 2.4.6 if it
doesn't work to begin with. (It seems you might have two issues, a
display problem and a save problem. A downgrade to 2.4.6 might fix the
save problem on win9x, and the instructions below might fix the display
problem.)
http://abisource.com/wiki/WinFaqDisableUniscribe

Let me know - thanks for helping!

Ryan
> Martin
>
> --- Ryan Pavlik <abiryan@ryand.net> wrote:
>
>
>> Martin wrote:
>>
>>> I have tried twice to get Abiword for Windows
>>>
>> running
>>
>>> on two different PCs, one with Win 98SE and one
>>>
>> with
>>
>>> Win ME. When I tried it on Win 98SE, a year ago, I
>>> remember that if I tried to save a file, the
>>>
>> program
>>
>>> crashed.
>>>
>>> Now I have tried to get it running on Win ME, and
>>>
>> I
>>
>>> cannot open any of my pre-existing RTF and DOC
>>>
>> files
>>
>>> created in other programs. If I try to open them,
>>>
>> I
>>
>>> get an "Untitled" file with nothing in it.
>>>
>>> I thought maybe I have to install the import
>>>
>> plugins,
>>
>>> so I tried that, and installing the plugins made
>>>
>> the
>>
>>> program crash, and give me a blue screen of death,
>>> every time I tried to run it.
>>>
>>> I installed the plugins by simply double clicking
>>> them. I don't know if that was the wrong way to do
>>>
>> it.
>>
>>> They weren't in the Abiword folder when I double
>>> clicked them. Might that be the problem?
>>>
>>> Surely there must be a simple answer to this. I
>>>
>> don't
>>
>>> understand why I can't find these problems when I
>>> search on Google. Can it only be happening to me?
>>>
>>> I'm using an old Pentium II laptop, 366 MHz, 196
>>>
>> MB
>>
>>> Ram, Win ME. I'm using the very latest version of
>>> AbiWord for Windows which I downloaded a few days
>>>
>> ago.
>>
>>> Don't recall the version number. Okay, I guess it
>>>
>> must
>>
>>> be 2.6.2., as that seems to be the latest version.
>>>
>>> But the problems I had with Win 98 happened over a
>>> year ago, so I guess this is not a new problem.
>>>
>>> Thanks if you can solve this for me.
>>>
>>> Martin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> To be honest this sounds like a hardware/operating
>> system problem to me.
>>
>> You should be able to open RTF and DOC by default
>> with all versions of
>> AbiWord. Is it a specific document that causes
>> problems? Can you save
>> then load a document in .abw format? I would try
>> with 2.6.2 - a couple
>> days ago the latest was either 2.4.6 (very old by
>> now) or 2.6.0.
>>
>> Can you try on another computer? If you find it's a
>> specific document
>> causing problems, please file a bug at
>> http://bugzilla.abisource.com/
>>
>> Let us know.
>>
>>
>
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-- 
Ryan Pavlik
www.cleardefinition.com
#282  +  (442) -  [X]
A programmer started to cuss
Because getting to sleep was a fuss
As he lay there in bed
Looping 'round in his head
was: while(!asleep()) sheep++;
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