FAQ

   

Why do my icons show up in different height-positions during the startup-process?

Answer #1:

THE BLOCK is using an advanced icon-draw routine to ensure that it is compatible with future operating systems. There are many ways to show an icon at startup. Some programs use a safe method (like Apples Quicktime 2.5) and some don't (like AppleScript [!])...

This is what the author of the icon code, David Cook, says about this *problem* :
"(...) This next generation of inits display their filenames beneath their icon, and are highlighted while they are active. Best of all, the operating system can override their behavior, so your inits will remain current for years to come.
*** BE WARNED! Many old inits rely on obsolete and incompatible code. There are over a dozen different sources for displaying icons at startup, and even Apple uses four different methods in System 7.5.2. The incompatibility among these old inits is especially apparent with the next generation -- but the effect is only a visual nuisance. (...) "

THIS IS A FEATURE, NOT A BUG !

If you don't like your icons jumping, simply switch off THE BLOCK's icon...

Question #2:

I have a nice looking StartupScreen, but after THE BLOCK did his job, it's gone.

Answer #2:

The main problem is, that THE BLOCK needs to initialise a graphics port to show all the groovy dialogs. By now I have not implemented a procedure to save the StartupScreen when loading THE BLOCK and rebuild it before leaving...
The users of THE BLOCK had a quotation which shows that this is a 'not that interesting'-feature, so I will not program a workaround for the next versions...

Question #3:

How does THE BLOCK disable the <SHIFT> key?

Answer #3:

That's a good question. If you are interested in this little secret and you are a registered BLOCK-user, send me an e-mail and I'll let you know...

Question #4:

Will there be a PPC-version of THE BLOCK ?

Answer #4:

Maybe.
Currenly I do all programming on my little Performa 475. I have no quick access to a Power Mac, which is necessary for all the coding & debugging. If there is somebody out there who wants to buy me a P-Mac, please do so...
I need at least a 7600 with more than 32MB Ram. And a 17"monitor, if possible. ;-)

Question #5:

Will there be a 'Windows' PC-version of THE BLOCK ?

Answer #5:

No! I don't want you to be a slave of your machine, so buy a Mac!
And if you buy yourself a Mac, please buy me one, too. (Specs see above)

Question #6:

THE BLOCK does not play any sounds and the 'Enable Sounds' checkbox in the preferences panel is dimmed. Why?

Answer #6:

THE BLOCK disables his sound-features automatically if you are using a operating system version before 7.5. This is necessary because all operating systems before 7.5 do not support MACE-sound-compression at startup time.
These systems support MACE-compression after they load the 'Sound Manager' extension which will load after THE BLOCK. Though THE BLOCK only uses MACE-compressed sounds (for size reasons) it disables the sounds for all systems before 7.5.
Otherwise your system would crash immediately. THE BLOCK v1.5 (the first version with MACE-sounds) did not have this feature and I was bombed with bug-reports from some pre Sys 7.5 users. Sorry for that...