[NTLK] New here -- with questions about errors

From: Susanna <sus_at_mac.com>
Date: Thu Mar 23 2006 - 22:01:06 EST

Hi,

I recently joined this list, and am pretty new to Newtons. I bought
my Newton 2100 about a year ago, but for a long time I didn't get
around to doing anything with it except using it as high-tech alarm
clock! Then just in the past few months I've finally begun to put it
through its paces. I'm learning what I can from the internet and the
list archives, and trying out package after package to determine
which seem useful and worth keeping.

All that testing out of software gave me lots of problems as I went
along (lots of error messages, things not working, etc) -- but since
then I brainwiped the newton, reinstalled and registered the few
things I've settled on; and now I am continuing to experiment with
new programs in moderation.

Anyway, I continue to get some error messages (though not nearly as
many as I used to before the brainwipe) Sometimes they are just
annoying; I acknowlege the message but everthing continues to work;
other times it is inconvenient but I can still do what I want in a
roundabout way; and other times I simply can't continue my work.
Since I now want to put less of my efforts into experimenting and
more into doing some actual work with my Newton, I figure that now is
the time to ask the list about these problems:

A problem I have consistently with Super Notepad, in the overview, if
I check more than one note and tap on the routing button, (even
before I choose an item from the routing pop-up) I get error #-48214.
(I can rout one note at a time, but never more than one.) Do others
have this problem?

I have started using the database program Leverage, version 3.1,
which I really like -- but every time I restart the Newton I get
error #-48205. I figure it is related to Leverage because if I start
up with Leverage frozen, no error message. And when I tap on the
frozen Leverage to unfreeze it, I do get the message. Other than
that, things were going fairly smoothly with Leverage for a couple
days when I was using it heavily. I got errors -- including -48418,
-10008, 0, and -1 -- but they were the kind I could dismiss and
continue working. (I've looked at a database describing what the
Newton error codes mean, but the descriptions mean nothing to me!)

Then, all of a sudden, one of my Leverage databases became almost
unuseable; when I tap the overview button, rather than showing me the
list of records in my database, it gives me error #48404. (and then
I can't even use Leverage anymore until I restart it.).In an attempt
to get rid of the error I changed the data type of the last field I
had added to the database (changed it from boolean to string) and
that solved it: I could get into list view again! But very soon the
very same error popped up again (and continues to occur, reliably,
and requires a restart of Leverage) when I try to resize a column in
that database. By the way, I've done some very basic
troubleshooting things like restarting when I get error messages,
cleaning out preferences and freezing some packages, which didn't help

When I switch to other Leverage databases I made, those seem to work
fine -- both the list view and resizing the columns. [A note about
Leverage: while it does have an "expert mode" in which you can do
code and scripting (and which apparently can be risky in the wrong
hands), I have not used expert mode at all (I have no business ever
trying that!). All I've done is very straightforward naming of
fields, assigning datatypes, entering data, etc.]

I don't care about whether I have to trash that particular database
and do it over (It's only about 10 fields and 7 records), but the
idea of investing time and effort into learning Leverage, creating
useful databases, and entering important data, now makes me uneasy
because problems seem to pop up so frequently and unpredictably. I
doubt the problem is Leverage because I've read nothing but positive
reports about Leverage -- but I have no idea what it could be.

I would really appreciate if those on the list could share their
knowlege and guidance about software conflicts, the specific packages
I'm having trouble with or the error codes that I mentioned -- and
just some general advice would be helpful (For example, would
troubleshooting be so complicated that it would be simplest just do
another brainwipe, reinstall the set of packages I want to commit to,
and see how things work with a fresh start? )

And I'm curious: with a well set-up and clean newton (clean of
unused prefs, etc), is it rare to get error messages or do you still
get maybe 5, 10, 20 a day that you just dismiss and go on?

In case it is useful to know, here's what's on my Newton 2100 --
which has NOS 2.1 (717260)-1 -- (and all of these are packages I
would really like to keep using):

AffiliatePlus
Backyard
BBEditor
Dvorak
Keyboard Corner
Keyman
Leverage 3.1
MoreInfo
PowerNames
SAI Prefs Cleaner
StandAlone Menu Editor
Super Notepad
Wakeup Call (my trusty alarm clock!)
and some FormIt stationary and the usual built-in programs

Anyway, I'm glad to be out of lurk mode -- and thanks to anyone who
has read this far!

Susanna

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Received on Thu Mar 23 21:58:49 2006

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