Re: Stable version of AbiWord for WinXP?

On 2007-01-07, Ryan Pavlik <abiryan@ryand.net> wrote:

>> [...] Unfortunately AbiWord 2.4.6 locks up frequently. Among
>> other things, doing just about anything involving a textbox or
>> image will often cause the program to lock up with a permanent
>> "hourglass" cursor and a "not responding" dialog box when you
>> try to close the AbiWord window.
>
> 2.4.6 is stable for a lot of people, so I'm inclined to think there is
> more here than meets the eye. (It hasn't hung or crashed for me in a
> long time on Windows.) The most likely culprits, in order of
> appearance, are 1) mixed plugin versions,

This is a fresh install of packages downloaded a few hours ago
from the main AbiWord web site. This machine has never had
AbiWord on it before.

> 2) a particular document or action,

I've seen this sequence lock up a couple times:

  1) Start AbiWord.

  2) Insert a smallish textbox (2in x 2in) on the page.

  3) Insert a jpeg image in the textbox (the photo is probably on
     the order of 2Kx1K, so it is scaled down considerable

  3) Click on the textbox border and them drag the textbox to
     another spot on the page. This sometimes locks up.

  4) Click outside the textbox to de-select it.

Repeat steps 3/4 a couple times if it doesn't lock up.

Sometimes if you click in the wrong spot and drag the image out
of the textbox it locks up as well.

> or 3) your default printer driver.

Nobody has ever attempted to print anything with AbiWord on
this machine -- it's only been installed for a couple hours.

> 2) You mentioned images and textboxes. Is there a particular image,
> image type,

It's always been a largish JPEG image.

> or document that this apperas more frequently in?

Just the default empty document that you get when you start
AbiWord. It's happened several times and usually withing a
minute or two of starting work on a document.

> 3) This may seem weird, but it matters in every program that uses page
> size to affect the document. (This includes at least Word, and probably
> many others). What kind of printer do you have?

There is no printer attached to the machine in question. I
think it's configured to use a Cannon ink-jet printer on
another machine.

> Are you using the latest drivers from the manufacturer? Try
> installing PDFCreator from
> http://www.sf.net/projects/pdfcreator/ and setting it as your
> default printer.

OK. Installing PDFCreator was already on the list of things to
do anyway.

> You'll get the capability to create Adobe Acrobat PDF files
> for free, and it will help stabilize any printing programs
> (since they all have to ask Windows information about the
> printer, and Windows in turn asks the printer driver). If the
> problem goes away with this change, then we know that there's
> something funky with the way your printer is acting. Try
> leaving it on all the time - it probably goes into a low-power
> mode when left alone anyway, and it makes Windows less
> confused if you don't constantly plug and unplug hardware
> (which is what on/off on your printer looks like to your
> computer)
>
> Hope this helps! Let us know the answers to these questions.
> If you get it pinned down to a more specific case or set of
> cases, please file bugs at http://bugzilla.abisource.com/
> Thank you!

I'll see if I can narrow it down.

-- 
Grant Edwards
grante@visi.com
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