FB Gary
I know the feeling. Just a couple days ago I found a copy of CT by K1EA on
a 5.25in floppy disc from when I was running CT on an IBM clone with an
Intel 8086 CPU, monochrome monitor, either 128k or 256k RAM, 2 floppies, no
hard-drive and DOS 6.22 i think!!!. Today for the same logging function I'm
using so much more computer power its scary!!!
I've still been building my machines for the shack but maybe for my next
one I'll just grab a decent Dell and be happy. I have used laptops in the
shack but I gave them up a long time ago except sometimes I'd use them to
give me a 5 band view of the spots (in assisted contest entries). And
backup because the main computer was always likely to give problems during
a contest.
Over the past couple years I've tried to run the most stable Windows
environment with maximum reasonable RAM and tons of harddrive space - I'm
convinced there is a conspiracy between the software and the hardware guys
to keep us busy doing upgrades. I also used an older dual head VGA card up
until maybe a year ago and then it too started becoming unreliable and in
total frustration i decided to buy one of the "gaming" VGA cards - which
I'd thought was overkill for writelog using dual monitors. I'm now
convinced its more of a windows thing - run the best hardware, with the
MOST RAM in the coolest tower with a the biggest Power Supply you can
find/afford. I also had big cooling issues that took me a loooong time to
figure out. I probably blamed windows, writelog, the video card - well I
think everything was just getting too hot.
I'll probably be on during the SP RTTY but currently have only limited
antennas so hopefully we'll get a chance to print each other.
Regards and best 73's
Dean - 8P6SH
On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 4:26 PM, Gary AL9A <al9a@mtaonline.net> wrote:
> **
> Dean,
>
> Thanks so much for your insight into my extended desktop problem with WL.
> After doing a bit of research on my machine I suspect you are onto
> something about the amount of memory available to the graphics card to run
> the extended desktop.
>
> My Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop has a Intel Duo Core CPU at 2.00 GHz
> with 2 GB of memory running on Vista Home Premium 32 bit OS. The onboard
> graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and the system information specs
> show that it only has a dedicated video memory of 256 MB with a shared
> system memory of 767 MB. The dedicated and shared memories summed together
> makes up half of the computer's total memory! I'm sue that this is where
> the problem lies. There is simply not enough dedicated memory available to
> the graphics card to efficiently run the extended desktop and allow it it
> to perform all functions that can be done on the main laptop monitor. At
> least I now have a good idea of what is going on and can see there is no
> fix in WL that will solve the problem.
>
> So I think it is time to seriously consider upgrading the station PC to
> something more robust. Unfortunately, just this week I had to replace an
> old XP system machine in the house with a new Dell desktop machine that has
> 8 GB of memory and a 1 Terabyte hard drive. It is now the fastest and most
> powerful PC in the house, but unfortunately I cannot "borrow" it from the
> rest of the family to be my shack computer. So, I will have to wait a bit
> for the credit card balance to improve and then look at a new machine for
> ham radio use. While shopping on the Dell website I noticed they have a
> really nice mounting system for two side by side wide screen monitors! I'm
> really drooling over that setup!
>
> Thanks again for the information Dean. Hope to print you soon in another
> RTTY contest. Just hope the signals are strong enough to decode in my main
> RittyRite window and not in one of the clones!
>
> 73,
> Gary AL9A
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Dean St. Hill <dmsthill@gmail.com>
> *To:* Gary AL9A <al9a@mtaonline.net>
> *Sent:* April 16, 2013 4:22 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [WriteLog] Rttyrite on extended desktop
>
> Gary
>
> I think it may be some issue with the drivers and or the actual video
> hardware. I'm using a desktop setup with Win 7 and a mid-level dual monitor
> graphics card which is really for gaming and so on. Writelog allows me to
> click on cloned window calls without a problem whether on the extended
> monitor or not. I see no difference using either monitor.
>
> I do recall having a number of problems however when running an old Dell
> laptop under WinXP with an extended monitor. In that case I would use the
> feature like a projector setup where what is on the laptop screen is also
> on the monitor and by using the monitor's maximum resolution I found I
> would have no problem. However the problem would always re-occur if I tried
> the "extended desktop feature". In that case I put it down to one of three
> things - limited XP support for multiple monitors, lack of driver support
> or limits of the actual video hardware to support what was a 1600x1280
> display but not the extended monitor function which I figured would have
> required more video memory than was available on the built-in video card -
> which I think was maybe 256K.
>
> My desktop has 1 Gig of video ram and Windows 7 has the drivers natively -
> so I'm not even sure whether last time I scrubbed the system whether I
> loaded the ATI Radeon 5700 drivers.
>
> So in terms of a solution I suspect if the hardware is up to it, it may
> require updated drivers or an upgrade to Windows 7. I don't know how you
> could confirm whether it is a hardware issue.
>
> Hope that helps at least to point you in the direction of a solution.
>
>
> Regards and 73's
>
> Dean - 8P6SH
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 10:10 AM, Gary AL9A <al9a@mtaonline.net> wrote:
>
>> I've had this problem for sometime and keep forgetting to ask the group
>> if others see the same thing.
>>
>> My main monitor is a Dell laptop and I have a HP widescreen monitor setup
>> as an extended desktop. When running a clone RttyRite window for RTTY on
>> the extended desktop left clicking on a call or the exchange doesn't
>> populate the Entry window fields. I have discovered if I right click on a
>> call WL will push that call onto the stack and I can then pop it from the
>> stack to the call field.
>>
>> If I drag this clone window to the laptop monitor left clicking works
>> normally. Since the laptop screen is significantly smaller than the
>> extended desktop I cannot fit all the open clone windows on that monitor
>> and see the other log windows. I would like to have the clone windows open
>> on the extended desktop respond to a left mouse click and populate the
>> Entry window. I know of at least one other individual, Bob WB2COY, who has
>> indicated he has this same problem with his extended desktop. Steve N9OH
>> at WL support indicates that Wayne has multiple monitors and this is not an
>> issue for him. He also indicates that it may be a problem with my computer
>> setup.
>>
>> My OS is Vista Home Premium, which I know is a POS, but still everything
>> else I open on the extended desktop works ok. Word, Excel, Power Point,
>> EditPro Lite, CC User, etc. All these programs respond correctly to mouse
>> clicks normally. The only difference is when clicking on something on the
>> extended desktop none of these applications are trying to populate a field
>> back on the main monitor. So, the question is, is anyone else seeing this
>> behavior by RttyRite on an extended desktop? Has anyone ever had the
>> problem and fixed it? Is there a WL ini setting somewhere that is
>> improperly set? Any help appreciated.
>>
>> 73,
>> Gary AL9A
>> _______________________________________________
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>> WriteLog@contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/writelog
>> WriteLog on the web: http://www.writelog.com/
>>
>
>
>
> --
> *Dean St.Hill*
> *
> *
> *Counterpoint Consulting *
> *17 Ocean City*
> *St.Philip*
> *Barbados*
> *
> *
> *246-266-8230*
> *246-416-5277*
> *
> *
> *dmsthill@gmail.com*
>
>
--
*Dean St.Hill*
*
*
*Counterpoint Consulting *
*17 Ocean City*
*St.Philip*
*Barbados*
*
*
*246-266-8230*
*246-416-5277*
*
*
*dmsthill@gmail.com*
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