Weird Mutt via Anzio

[Fairlight]

In the relative spacial/temporal region of
Thu, Jan 26, 2006 at 10:15:17PM -0800, Bob Rasmussen achieved the spontaneous
generation of the following:
> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006, Bob Stockler wrote:
> 
> > This afternoon, when I'd go into "mutt" from my ThinkPad via
> > Anzio Lite and WiFi, the last lines in the menu would be in
> > a different character set (or different language) which I
> > could not read.  The up-arrow translated the stuff I could
> > read into the new language-characters.
> >
> > I'd try different keystrokes to get out of it, and when I did
> > get out the characters on the screen were still the same.
> >
> > I'd go into Anzio's Communicate Menu and change my Term from
> > SCOANSI to AT386 (or visa versa) and then my screen would be
> > OK again until I went back into "mutt".
> >
> > Going upstairs and accessing "mutt" via my SCO OSR6 system
> > showed no problems with "mutt", though I had lost a message
> > or two from my inbox by my actions from downstairs.
> >
> > Remembering instructions I'd read before, I rebooted Windows
> > and the problem disappeared.
> 
> Did you try quitting and restarting Anzio first? If, when you quit, it
> asks you if you want to save settings, that means something has changed.
> You can cancel there, then go to Diagnose:Debug Communications. The last
> line will show you the first parameter that has changed.

I wouldn't even go that far at first.  I'd try echoing ^[c to the terminal
and see if that fixes the problem.  That's actually usually more useful
than `stty sane`--I've seen the latter fail where the escape code fixes
things.  ESPECIALLY corrupted display issues.  If it does work, it's
definitely mutt-specific.  What's the charset= setting in your .muttrc (or
system-wide Muttrc, if you don't have a personal one)?

> > PS - A couple of days ago I was using Anzio Lite from my
> >      ThinkPad to use "vi" to edit a Perl program I was
> >      writing, and - all of a sudden - NO keystrokes would
> >      be accepted.  Rebooting Windows fixed that too.
> 
> Methinks you want to reboot Windows so you can say "See, I had to reboot"
> :-)
> Again, try quitting Anzio first.

Methinks it's not even related to Anzio -or- Windows.  Bob has a D-Link
DI-624 wireless router.  I have an identical router (but with newer
firmware than what's currently on his).  If there's enough interference
present, you'll get WiFi dropout where basically -none- of your wireless
works for anywhere from 15 seconds to 3 minutes while the router figures
out it's screwed and resyncs everything.  My record is 14 minutes, but that
was several firmware releases ago, and over 6 months back.  Usually it's on
the order of a minute and a half or so if you let it to its merry.  This
can be expedited by power cycling the router.

The most likely explanation in -my- opinion is that there was a de-sync
of the wireless, and this manifested itself as a "non-responsive terminal
emulator" in Windows.  I get the same thing with PuTTY.  The dead giveaway
is when you wait the requisite time and PuTTY drops connection.  Not sure
what Anzio does, as I only use it for specified things, but believe me,
I've seen this happen with the wireless stuff.  My apartment is like a
gravity well for EM interference.  I can't even -get- Channel 3, Bob.
Literally.

Rebooting Windows would have done one of two things to make it appear it
fixed the problem in this event:

1) It gave the router enough time to recover/reboot (it will soft-reboot on
that firmware release, especially if something really nasty attacked
it--actually, it will do it on -all- firmware releases for that model).

2) Rebooting forced a re-init of the wireless, which resync'd things.

Next time this happens, assuming it does, try your web browser on any site
and see if you get anywhere.  If you can't, cycle the router.  I have $1
that says that fixes your connectivity issues within 5 seconds of the
router coming back online.

I've seen WiFi desyncs enough that I wouldn't even start laying that
particular issue at Anzio's feet any more than I would at PuTTY's.  Welcome
to one shortfall of wireless-only.  :-/ 

And actually, Bob...I just checked your router:

Jan/25/2006 17:32:32     System started           

I'd be willing to bet you're suffering reboots now and again from
interference.  Unless you manually rebooted your router last night, which I
doubt.  It happens.

mark->