Known AWeb Bugs and Common Problems

Be sure to check the local docs/problems.html document, it lists some common problems that are not caused by bugs in AWeb.

NOTE: This page does not list every single bug reported. If you have sent in a bug report, and it isn't on this page, that doesn't mean it hasn't been received.

Last updated November 6, 1996.

Known Bugs

• "SYS:Prefs/ClassAct: file is not executable"

  There is a known problem with some versions of ClassAct Prefs (2.107 in particular, maybe others). This version of ClassAct Prefs does not run as a shell command, thus the AWeb "Settings/ClassAct Settings..." menu of AWeb will produce an error message:
  "SYS:Prefs/ClassAct: file is not executable"
  If you experience this problem, please copy the ClassAct preferences program "ClassAct/ClassAct" from the temporary archive directory to "Sys:Prefs/".

• "Unsupported process: SOF type 0xnn"

  This error occurs on some web pages, probably due to the use of progressive JPEG images on those pages. This can be solved by installing the akJFIF datatype.

  • akJFIF43x.lha (57k)
  • akJFIF.datatype readme

• I cannot change the settings. Every time I try my Amiga crashes.

  The ClassAct classes in the 1.2 and 1.3 archives contained a bug. Get the latest ClassAct archive from ftp://ftp.warped.com/pub/amiga/classact/ and everything should work fine.

Common Problems

• Napsaterm setup under AmiTCP

  First, put the path name in the telnet command line in settings, and one "%s" in the arguments line. To get it to run on the AWeb screen you must change the parameter in the db/napsaprefs file for the screen to AWeb instead of Workbench. This works, where passing the parameter from the command line does not!

  That should allow it to work with other TCP stacks as well, but this hasn't been fully tested.

  Finally, the version of Napsaterm found in the AmiTCP 4.0 demo is v3.9, which is newer than the one on Aminet, which is v3.8b.

• JPEG display problems using JFIF datatype

  See "Configuring the JFIF datatype" in Docs/install.html. Essentially, in the JFIF preferences editor, add an application named AWebIP, not AWeb.

• The settings requester listview does not redraw the screen if the pointer is dragged out of the window while selected.

  This is an Intuition bug in WB3.0 and is being referred to the ClassAct authors for a work-around. Re-sizing the AWeb window will usually force a redraw.

• The AWeb TCP auto-start/stop function does not work.

  Workbench paths are not passed to a script started from within the program. Add this statement to the top of both AmiTCP:bin/startnet and stopnet scripts:

  Path sys:rexxc add

• I can't install AWeb. The installer reports errors like: Unable to compile script.

  Most likely some misbehaving application installation has copied an obsolete version of the Commodore Installer utility to your hard drive. Make sure the Installer version in the SYS:C directory is "installer_2 2.17 (1993-02-13)" or better. This version can be found on the Amiga Workbench 3.x Install floppy disk.
  Also, delete any copies of the Installer program from your SYS:Utilities drawer.

• On many pages, GIF images are trashed. And sometimes AWeb crashes when loading a GIF image.

  The commonly used ZGif datatype version 39.16 had a bug. Be sure to use version 39.18 or better of the ZGif datatype, or another GIF datatype.

• I have got a copy of AWeb, and I find it excellent, except for one reason: it requires wb3.x! Is there or could you make a copy that works on wb2.x.

  AWeb uses datatypes for showing inlined images, and datatypes are an OS 3.x feature. An OS 2.x compatible version of AWeb is currently not planned. You should consider upgrading to OS 3.x, as more and more programs will come out that require at least OS 3.x.

• With some forms, I get a "Server error", or no results. With AMosaic it works fine.

  This is really an error in the server. To reduce network traffic, AWeb doesn't send empty fill-in fields, which is perfectly legal acording to the HTML standard. Some servers have problems with this, though. This problem is solved in AWeb version 1.1 and above.

• I have a 68000 machine and AWeb crashes in the "looking up" phase on some pages, e.g. www.yahoo.com.

  This was a bug in AWeb 1.0 and is fixed in version 1.1 and above.

• AWeb takes ages to load!

  You have probably installed AWeb with large fonts. AWeb then uses the CGTimes font. If you want AWeb to load faster, a simple solution is to reinstall it with small fonts. Another solution is use Intellifont to create a bitmap for every fontsize you are using in AWeb.

• AWeb doesn't display all of the page. Other browsers display the page correctly.

  Probably the page contains some erroneous HTML. One of the common errors is the use of something like <!----------------------> as a dividor line in the HTML source. This can lead to large parts of the page commented out if the number of dashes is not exactly right.
  Apart from notifying the author of the page that his page contains erroneous HTML, you can try to select Control / HTML mode / Compatible from the menu.

• AWeb becomes terribly slow if I run it on its own screen.

  This has something to do with chip memory usage and DMA bandwidth. Apparently, the problem becomes worse when you have an accelerated machine. The solution is to use either a lower or a higher speed ("baudrate") to communicate with your modem. Start at the modem speed (so if you own a 14k4 modem, start at 14k4 communication speed). Then increase the speed until you find a dramatic slowdown. Then go one step back. Changing the communication speed with your modem might involve adapting the settings for your dialler, TCP stack and/or your SANA driver. Refer to the respective documentations.

• Backgrounds in AWeb are terribly slow, much slower than competitive Amiga browsers.

  This might be caused by an unsuited picture datatype. Use the 24-bit picture datatype only on CyberGraphics screens; on original Amiga screens this datatype becomes very slow. Use the original picture.datatype from your Workbench diskette.

• The colour requester from the Screen 2: palette settings page messes things up on a CyberGraphics screen.

  This is caused by the palette-orientated design of the Amiga OS. This works fine on Amiga chipset screens, but isn't really suited for graphics cards.

• Closing the AWeb public screen while there is a visitor window open crashes if the screen is a CyberGraphics screen.

  This is a bug in CyberGraphics V 2.15 and lower. The same thing happens on other CyberGraphics screens.

• If the window is not active, a click in the scroller container (outside the knob) moves the scroller but doesn't scroll the window contents.

  This is a bug in Intuition. The same thing happens sometimes with MultiView.

• I use MagicMenu, and every now and then my system hangs if I open a menu.

  This is a known problem in MagicMenu, caused by the fact that MagicMenu is not 100% compatible with the way Intuition handles menus.

• I don't use MagicMenu, but my system hangs if I click on the wide part of the chooser gadget in the settings window.

  Be sure to use the version of chooser.gadget included in the AWeb 1.1 or above archive.
  Also, some animated mouse pointer commodities are known to cause this hang.

• I received my keyfile UUencoded, but now AWeb says "keyfile size error". I used THOR to decode it.

  THOR doesn't decode the file right. It adds an extra byte, which would make AWeb crash if it didn't check the size. Use another UUdecoder, or use a binary file editor to remove the last byte from the file (at your own risk, use a copy of the keyfile). The correct size for the keyfile is 376 bytes.

• I still have questions. What do I do ?

  Questions, comments and suggestions regarding this FAQ should be sent to support@amitrix.com.