Editing and Word Proceessing in Putri-DOS Q. I was editing a file in PutrED and deleted the closing paragraph. After I finished I found that another file had stuff missing off the beginning. What happened? A. It sounds like you deleted that final paragraph by holding down the line-delete bar in auto-repeat mode, and deleted past the end of your intended file. Instead of giving a DELETE PAST END-OF-FILE error PutrED simply assumed you wanted to continue deleting from the next file on the disk. The recommended way to delete near the end of a file is to go into subtraction mode and retype the stuff you want to delete, just like with a correcting typer ribbon. You might also want to make a simple hex patch to redefine the line-delete bar (ASCII hex 20) as tabs or something else safe. Q. Each time I bring up the PutrED text editor the menus seem to be different from the way I remembered them from last time. I'm never going to be able to learn the system at this rate. A. You're not supposed to be able to learn this system. The programmer who wrote PutrED felt that people who had regular access to computers were getting an unfair advantage over those who didn't. Therefore the menus are set to come up different each time so that frequent users won't be able to memorize them and become "experts". That's why it's advertised as "beginner-friendly". Q. Margins are needed on documents because if you just let the print run off the edges you couldn't read it where there was no paper to hold the ink in place, and besides, printing off the edge of the paper can gunk up some printers. Putting the margins a little inside the edges is generally thought to make the document look better, and gives space for staples, people's fingers, etc. The advantages of margins outweigh their cost. How come whenever I use Putrid Writer the above paragraph is automatically inserted into my document? A. You have the margin justification turned on, and Putrid Writer is inserting the paragraph as justification for having margins. If you turn it off the document will still have margins even if people think there is no reason for them. Q. Margins are needed on documents because if you just let the print run off the edges you couldn't read it where there was no paper to hold the ink in place, and besides, printing off the edge of the paper can gunk up some printers. Putting the margins a little inside the edges is generally thought to make the document look better, and gives space for staples, people's fingers, etc. The advantages of margins outweigh their cost. Recently I used WordScar to write up an account of a Witchcraft ritual I witnessed. It looked OK on the screen, but when I saved it to disk and printed it out I found it had turned into a description of a Christian worship service. What happened? P.S. I'm writing this letter with Putrid Writer because WordScar kept changing the word "Witchcraft" to "devil worship". A. The people who wrote WordScar are born-again Christians who believe the only way to be saved is through Jesus Christ. Therefore, when a file is saved to disk it is also Saved spiritually. Hex patches to fix this are not available as the writers believe hexes are black-magic devil worship. Tom Digby bubbles@well.sf.ca.us for Putri-DOS Users' Group