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- Known bugs as of 28-August-1994:
-
- None of the bugs in GFFT itself at this time are serious, and ALL
- can be worked around or ignored. But it may decrease your
- enjoyment of this program if you are unaware of how to work around
- them. So, if something doesn't seem to be working correctly, check
- here.
-
- (1) Just after GFFT creates a shell to run GNUPLOT, my machine GURUS!
-
- Background: The modified version of GNUPLOT provided with
- WinGnuPlot may have this problem if you do not follow the
- INSTALLATION instructions. (Apparently, if it hasn't been given
- the "set terminal amigascreen" command in .gfft-WinGnuPlot, this
- version of GNUPLOT can GURU, particularly if no CompuGraphic font
- has been installed.)
-
- Workaround: As the INSTALLATION file says, "If your GNUPLOT is from
- a WinGnuPlot distribution, rename .gfft-WinGnuPlot to .gfft (THIS
- IS VERY IMPORTANT!)."
-
- Plans: I have been and will keep on trying to get the standard
- GNUPLOT distribution(s) restored to Aminet. I haven't even been
- able to get a copy of them myself (since version 3.4). I will also
- try to get the author of WinGnuPlot to fix the problem with the
- modified GNUPLOT included with WinGnuPlot.
-
-
- (2) Getting help for selected string gadgets in the GFFT Dialog Window
- doesn't work for string gadgets which are already selected.
-
- Background: Normally, to get help for any gadget in the string
- gadget window, all you need do is hold down the Ctrl key and click
- on it. But this will not work for string gadgets which have
- already been selected. The help request for them will be ignored.
-
- Workaround: Deselect the string gadget first by clicking anywhere
- else on the screen. Then obtain help normally by holding down
- Ctrl while clicking on the string gadget.
-
- Plans: I do not plan to fix this problem unless someone can tell me
- how to do so easily. It appears that in order to fix this I would
- have to make the handling of string gadgets in the program
- considerably more complex by handling the editing of string gadgets
- myself (e.g. by adding edit hooks).
-
-
- (3) Why do I get the error "No Screen" when GNUPLOT is attempting to plot
- my spectrum?
-
- Background: One of the last things GNUPLOT does is to allocate the
- hires custom screen to display your spectrum. At that point, if
- there is not enough memory available, GNUPLOT will abort leaving
- the "No Screen" message. This is not necessarily a lack of chip
- memory per se; it is more likely to result from a shortage of total
- memory (fast + chip). I've run GFFT successfully with up to 8,000
- bins while running other programs using custom screens on an Amiga
- with 2 Mb fast and only 512K chip.
-
- Workaround: Try using fewer bins. If that doesn't help, try
- the suggestions in the 'Low On Memory' section of the INSTALLATION
- file.
-
- Plans: I tried to intercept the 'No Screen' error to give the
- user a more useful message, but this was incompatible with
- AmigaDOS 1.3. Future versions of GFFT are likely to require
- 2.0+ and even more memory.
-
-
- (4) Why do I get the error "Unable to open spectrum file for output!" when
- trying to do a second FFT analysis while leaving the plot for the first
- analysis in a background screen?
-
- Background: Although GFFT will now (1.33+) allow you to display
- more than one plot screen at the same time (but see alternatives
- below), during the time when GNUPLOT is reading the data from the
- spectrum file, a spectrum file having the same name cannot be
- re-opened for output.
-
- Workaround: Wait for GNUPLOT to finish plotting one spectrum before
- beginning to compute the next. Note that each GNUPLOT session will
- soak up another 400K or more of memory, so consider the options
- below.
-
- If you want to display several spectra at the same time, you should
- be aware of the "CombinePlots" feature (which is activated by the
- '&' button immediately to the left of the 'Plot' button in the GFFT
- Dialog Window. This will let you combine any number of spectrum
- plots on the same plot screen where they can be readily compared.
- Or, if you really want to switch between several different plot
- display screens, you can use a screen dump program to save each one
- to a file and then display it with an IFF display program. That
- will save a lot of memory, and you will have saved each display for
- later use as well (I like to do this).
-
- Plans: I might "fix" this in a future release, but it won't be a
- high priority unless I hear users with lots of memory to burn
- asking for it. I will also want to make the CombinePlots feature
- more obvious first (because that is usually the best approach for
- displaying several spectra at once). I will also probably make
- the error message less cryptic in a future release by testing for
- the specific condition discussed here which usually causes it.
-
-
- (5) - (6) relate to problems when displaying HELP messages or launching
- GNUPLOT from GFFT:
-
- (7) Aliases for MORE in S:Shell-Startup are ignored.
-
- (8) MORE in directories other than <current directory>, C:, or
- sys:utilities is not found.
-
- (9) GNUPLOT not found unless in <current directory> or C:.
-
- Background: Bugs 5-9 are related and due to the the technique used
- by GFFT to create new processes.
-
- Workaround: Follow instructions in INSTALLATION. For example, if
- you use a text reader other than MORE, and if you have AmigaDOS 2.0
- or greater, create a link named MORE in your C: directory, or (if
- you only have 1.3) make a copy of it named MORE either in C: or (if
- you run GFFT only from the Workbench) in the same directory as GFFT
- itself.
-
- Plans: I do not plan to fix these 'problems' (which you will not
- experience if you following the INSTALLATION directions) unless
- someone can tell me how to do easily. Unfortunately, launching
- other processes is not a very clean area of AmigaDOS, especially
- for programs like GFFT which may be started either from a Shell or
- from the Workbench. Other techniques I have tried do other bad
- things, such as losing track of the <current directory>. Those
- other techniques also typically require the creation and use of
- BCPL pointers (@#$%^&*!). Currently, I use the 'system()' function
- supplied by SAS which is very clean EXCEPT for the fact that it
- causes these problems which could therefore considered to be
- limitations of that function.
-
- Rather than fixing these current problems, I may add support for
- TOOLTYPES or environmental variables in a future release.
-
-
- (10) GNUPLOT not found when in same directory as GFFT under AmigaDOS 1.3.
-
- Background: Under AmigaDOS 1.3, the current directory for the shell
- GFFT creates to run GNUPLOT is SYS:, rather than the directory from
- which GFFT is started. Under 2.0 and greater, the current
- directory is the one from which GFFT is started (which is where the
- .info file is found if GFFT is started from the Workbench).
-
- Workaround: Follow the directions in INSTALLATION, which
- specifically advise that you put GNUPLOT in your C: directory,
- where it can always be found.
-
- If you have no harddrive, and only one floppy drive, you may have
- to make a special boot disk with GNUPLOT (and GFFT, if possible) on
- it. Be careful about deleting commands (GFFT uses several), and be
- sure to keep sys:utilities/more. In this case, both GFFT and
- GNUPLOT can be in the root directory of the disk, which will become
- SYS: after booting. This can be done (I have done it). See
- discussion of the commands GFFT uses in the INSTALLATION file.
-
- Plans: Future releases will probably not support 1.3.
-
- (11) GNUPLOT terminates when I try LogX with Time3D.
-
- Although this is a GNUPLOT bug (to be fixed in release GNUPLOT
- release 3.6), it is also worked around automatically by GFFT
- starting with GFFT release 1.15.
-
- Background: Apparently there is a bug in GNUPLOT such that in 3D
- display modes it finds a zero X value to complain about even when
- there is none.
-