I have finally upgraded from WP4.2 to WP5.1 and now find I do not know how
to map the extended ASCII characts to things like Ctl-M for more than or equal
to, Alt-Q for square root, etc.  In Wp4.2 it was Ctl-3, 3, then you got a nice
chart to fill in with the extended character set at the bottom.  The key words
were Special Characters, Control and Alt Keys, and Mapping.  I cannot find
this anywhere in two books on WP5.1.  The only options are Alt-248, etc., or
listing the number of a character set and then the number of the character
or some other long mnemonic, but the book does talk about mapping instead,
it just does not say how.  Ctl-F3 does not do what I expect in WP5.1.  How
do I map the extended ASCII characters to Alt- or Ctl- plus one other letter
in WP5.1?  It is a real pain to do Ctl-248 every time I want a degree sign,
instead of Ctl-D (D for degree), or even Ctl-V /2[ret] for 1/2 (instead of
Ctl-H, which is a quarter as many steps).

8 responses total.

A friend said to try key macros, Ctl-F10, etc.  It will take a few hours, as
opposed to the ten minutes in WP4.2, but we can't find another solution.

Why don't you get a WP instruction book?  Check the public library book sale.
There are many differences between 4.2 and 5.x, so many that a book is your
best bet (and reference).

We found one at Kiwanis that had more info than the three we already have.
THere is supposedly a macrconv.exe file in the WP5.1 utilities that will
convert the WP4.2 macro files (once we find them) to WP5.1, and instructions
on how to put all the key macros in one file so that they will not take up
512 bytes each.  When I tried doing the key macros they went into the WP5.1
directory and then the program refused to recognize them, my friend said he
had the same problem and will try to help.  I think it is more important first
to get the printer definitions loaded, the graphics plus card in (so I can
see all those extra characters which were my reason for using WP5.1) and
figure out how to use binary files that were e-mailed to me encoded.  I hate
switching to new software.  

The solution was to edit keyboard layou macros.
Shift F1  (you need to have the existing macros file called macros.mrs and
keys.mrs in the path or in the same directory, Jim had not put them in my
computer before because he did not think I needed them)
Then choose the macro file and edit it (4, Alt-1, delete the description of
the existing macro, return, delete the existing macro, which can be very long
so at one point I stuck a heavy object on the delete key, Alt-224, F7), and
repeat this for the whole alphabet with all the Alt keys then all the Ctl
keys.  This reduced the space occupied by the macros from 30 to 5K.  There
were some very long ones for typing form letters to businesses.)

I now have most of the Greek alphabet back the way it was in WP4.2.  For some
reason Jim did not want to just use the conversion program on the macros. 
This way we learned how to change the keys again.

Our next project is to load the printer definitions so that I don't have to
print files by converting to a DOS file, then printing from WP4.2.  The
printer files are on a 3.5 inch floppy, I don't have a 3.5 inch drive, but
Jim has one he can plug in temporarily to load definitions.  We will see if
the LQ-850 printer definition is found in WP5.1.

Third project is to fix a Hercules Graphics Plus card by comparing it with
the one that I paid $100 for a while back, then put in one of the two working
cards, so I can see the Cyrillic characters which are the main reason that
I am switching to WP5.1.  But first Jim wants to set up another machine just
like this one in case something crashes in the process.  (We have another
extended memory card around somewhere or other.)  Everyone wish us luck.

Fourth project, currently under discussion in Agora 3, is how to get the WP5.1
files sent to me decoded so that I can read them in WP5.1.  At the moment they
consist of lower and upper (8-bit) ASCII characters.  We sent a test file
through by uploading to my account, e-mailing to Jim's, Viewing and Saving
the attachment, and downloading, and got gibberish.  Rane thought that Pine
automatically decoded MIMED files (just as it encoded them) when you save from
an attachment too the home directory.  Apparently does not.  ANyone know how
to decode a binary file from an attachment, in grex?  And the exact procedure
for using uudecode on a file in the home directory?  We did manage to send
through a test file in WP's 7-bit transfer format, and decode that okay.
All suggestions welcome, preferably using software available on grex but we
couldi f needed put it on my computer instead.  I have been threatened with
60,000 words by e-mail, in WP5.1, some time in the next two months, and would
like to be prepared.  (And not have to bother them to learn to convert to WP's
7-bit format, considering they already have to convert to WP for me).
Thanks in advance for all ideas.

I've found your problem (in your Fourth project), posting analysis & solution
in the System Problems item.  The problem is that uudecode was choking on the
DOS carriage-return line terminator.  (DOS uses a carriage-return/newline
pair, Unix programs expect just a newline and think the carriage return is
part of the data; so the "end" line was not recognized.)

Thanks, we also got your phone message and will look for the details in Agora.
I assume Jim will understand how to recognize the terminator, he knows a lot
more than I do about DOS and assembler language, and converted this file to
assembler language to show me that it was 7-bit (no F's, etc.).  He just went
out to retrieve some scrap drywall.  (We used nine of your 2' 2x4's, thanks,
the others may go in the attic as flooring).

Got uudecode working, and figured out that Kermit was causing the problems
in reading decoded file as it was set to text instead of binary.  A friend
sent another uudecoded file for comparing the decoded file I had been working
on (which had been edited and sent back to me) with my original file, and I
decoded that.  And Jim zipped the printer definitions from the small floppy
onto two large ones and I can now use my printer with WP5.1 instead of having
to convert to DOS and then print in WP4.2.  Life looks a lot rosier.  I may
set up subscripts and superscripts as key macros to shorten use time.

Jim is looking for a way to call a TSR program using an Alt or Ctl or function
key or something that WP5.1 does not capture and interpret.  IS there a way
to disable it is WP so I can use my own macros.  (He told me to enter this
in the 'macros' conference).  (He is trying to add a different spellchecker
program, which works fine in WP4.2, but WP5.1 uses up all the key combinations
- he needs to find one that is not used or can be disabled, and how?).

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