To register, open the "Register" application that came with MacCRO.
The latest version is always available at <http://pderrin.cjb.net/maccro.html>, or on any Info-Mac mirror
Introduction
MacCRO is a simple, easy-to-use audio frequency oscilloscope and spectrum analyser for the Macintosh. It works at audio frequencies only, but it has a major advantage over a "real" oscilloscope: low cost. While a typical, cheap 20MHz scope may cost a few hundred dollars, MacCRO is only $20 shareware.
System Requirements
• A PowerPC
• About 2MB of free RAM (VM is not recommended, but it works)
• About 1MB of free hard disk space
• QuickTime. If you don't have it, get it from <http://www.apple.com/quicktime/>.
• Navigation Services and the Appearance Manager will be used, if they are installed. Kaleidoscope is supported under MacOS 8.
How To Use It
The popup menu at the top of the main dialog allows you to set the display mode. You can select either the oscilloscope (the default), or the spectrum analyser.
When the oscilloscope is selected, there are three group boxes displayed in the main window. In each box, there are two sliders; the top one selects the range and the bottom one allows fine control. The purpose of each set of controls should be obvious to anyone who has used a "real" oscilloscope; if you don't know what they do, play with them for a while and you should be able to figure them out.
The spectrum analyser is fairly simple to use: all you have to do is select the range of frequencies and voltages you wish to view. You can select a linear or logarithmic display.
The Preferences dialog, opened from the File menu, allows you to change the display colours using the colour picker. If you have registered, you can also stop the annoying about box from opening when you start MacCRO.
The Input Setup dialog, also opened from the File menu, allows you to select a sound input device and source. A warning: if you change the input gain, you'll need to re-calibrate the display; however, the gain will change back to the default the next time you start MacCRO, so you'll have to calibrate it again. This is due to a "feature" in QuickTime's Sequence Grabber — it's not a bug ;-)
The Calibrate Inputs menu item allows you to, not surprisingly, calibrate the inputs. To do this, you'll need to supply a known AC voltage — 100mV is the default, and a frequency of around 1kHz is recommended — on the Channel A input.
Finally, you can capture the current display to a SimpleText picture, by clicking on it. A "Save As…" dialog will be displayed, allowing you to save the PICT file.
Shareware
MacCRO is US$20 shareware, or $10 for educational users (students and schools). You can pay for it via the Kagi registration system (for detailed instructions, see "Registration", below). When you register, you get a registration code, so you can "unlock" MacCRO, get rid of the annoying about box, and enable the input calibration option.
You must enter a valid email address in the Register program. This is so Kagi can send you the registration code, and so I can notify you of any updates.
Planned Improvements
• A lissajous display mode will be implemented.
• A spectrogram (a.k.a. "waterfall") display mode will be implemented. This requires a lot of processing power and is therefore difficult to do in real time, so it might be done as a separate program which operates on pre-recorded sound files.
• The display code will be re-written to make it faster. Hopefully, it will become useable on 68k Macs — in particular, those without FPU's.
• If you have any other suggestions, please send them to me at pderrin@kagi.com.
Limitations
For some reason, Apple decided to give many of its low-end models — and even a few high-end ones — mono sound inputs. If your Mac is one of these, you will only have one signal displayed on MacCRO's screen, and the third group of controls on the scope display — the ones which control the voltage / division for the second channel — will be disabled. If you don't know whether your computer has stereo sound inputs, there is a list at the bottom of this document which will tell you.
The voltage range of the sound input port is only a few hundred millivolts, and that it may actually be damaged by more than a few volts. The simple solution to this is to use a simple external adaptor circuit (a circuit diagram will be available soon for those who have registered).
Also, the voltage range is not accurate unless it is calibrated. To do this, you must supply MacCRO with a known input voltage on channel A, and then choose "Calibrate Inputs". The recommended voltage is 100mV peak-to-peak, and the frequency should be around 1kHz. The "Calibrate Inputs" menu item is disabled if you haven't registered.
Known Bugs
There are no known bugs; caveat emptor. If you find a bug, please tell me about it. Email me a description of the bug, including how it can be reproduced (if it can), and what sort of system you're using (model of Macintosh, version of OS, and anything else you think is appropriate). My address is pderrin@kagi.com.
Registration
Paying for MacCRO is fairly simple. Open the Register program that accompanies MacCRO. Enter your name, your email address, and the number of single user licenses you wish to purchase (or Site or Word-Wide licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi. Kagi then handles the payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com, and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an email message, or you can Save the data to a file and attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Cheque you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392–QPD
Berkeley, California 94709–1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via cheque, it must be a cheque drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept cheques in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD cheques is around USD 15 per cheque and that is just not practical. If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment. Kagi can not invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Cheque or Invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed. Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. You will hear from Kagi when the form is processed.
The Registration Code
MacCRO has a registration code system, and when you have paid, Kagi will send you a code to get rid of the about box delay and allow you to turn the about box off completely, and to enable input calibration. For this reason, you must enter a valid email address, to which Kagi will send the registration code.
If you don't enter your name in the Register program, a random one will be generated for you. If the name you enter is less than six characters long, spaces will be added at the end of the name to make it six characters long.
If you have trouble getting the registration dialog to work, try copying and pasting your name and registration code directly from your email from Kagi. Include all of the characters between the quotes, but don't include the quotes themselves.
Comments, Bug Reports, Suggestions, Complaints
If you have anything to say about MacCRO, please feel free to email me at pderrin@kagi.com. I'll try to reply to any mail within a few days.
Boring Legal Stuff
I take no responsibility for any damages caused by your use of, or inability to use, MacCRO. If it trashes your hard drive, burns down your house or eats your goldfish, it isn't my fault.
MacCRO contains copyrighted material, trade secrets, and other proprietary material. In order to protect them, you may not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise reduce MacCRO to a human-readable form. You may not modify, rent, lease, loan, distribute or create derivative works based upon MacCRO in whole or in part.
Mono Or Stereo?
Apple, in its infinite wisdom, has given many of its low-end computers — and even some high-end ones — mono sound inputs. You may want to check this list to find out whether your Mac is one of these models. I haven't tested all these machines personally; the information came from the Apple Spec database.
