PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/Delphi Digests/Delphi Vol. 3/Delphi 3.22

Text File | 1988-04-08 | 26.4 KB | 711 lines | [TEXT/ttxt]

13-Apr-87 10:20:01-PDT,27669;000000000001
Date:     Mon, 13 Apr 87 10:31 EDT
From:     Jeffrey Shulman <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Delphi Mac Digest V3 #21

Delphi Mac Digest     Monday, April 13, 1987         Volume 3 : Issue 21

Today's Topics:
     switch box from Priority One
     RE: Re: Mac II vs. IBM PS/2 (2 messages)
     Drawpicture question (2 messages)
     LightspeedC annoyance (6 messages)
     RE: more new WORD BUGS! (wow!) (2 messages)
     STRS Template (3 messages)
     4th Dimension (1st report) (4 messages)
     Spell Checker
     re Installer for System 4.0
     re  Resedit & INITs
     re  MAC+/FAT MAC COMPATIBILITY QUESTION
     re Some observations on WriteNow:
     RE: FILE RECOVERY (2 messages)
     Lotus gets theirs...
     Isn't MPW great?
     MPW printing bug
     Bernouli Box (3 messages)
     AppleShare
     MAC II evangelists
     Prodigy Prime

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: MACINTOUCH
Subject: switch box from Priority One
Date: 6-APR-14:04: Hardware & Peripherals

I've had some people ask me about alternate sources for serial-port
switch boxes, since the MacNifty company has gotten less and less
reliable.

Priority One (800-423-5922 in Chatsworth, CA) is advertising an "A-B"
box for $69 for the Mac.  Not cheap, but ...

Ric

------------------------------

From: INTECO
Subject: RE: Re: Mac II vs. IBM PS/2 (Re: Msg 18762)
Date: 6-APR-17:08: Network Digests

Token Ring on an extra card. Microsoft is offering development kits for
the OS/2 for $3000 in autumn. But the graphics interface is propierity
of IBM (based onwindows). Microsoft is changing windows (overlapping
now!)

Uwe

------------------------------

From: MACINTOUCH
Subject: RE: Re: Mac II vs. IBM PS/2 (Re: Msg 18796)
Date: 7-APR-00:38: Network Digests

Here are some notes from NETMAN on the same subject:

These tidbits are interesting but I think they are slightly misleading.
To get a really superior Mac II system you need to spend about $11K.
For the same $11K from IBM you get a 20MHz 80386 based machine with
multi-tasking archi- tecture built into the motherboard/bus.
(Micro-channel architecture).  You get capability to have 230MB of disk
INTERNAL!!!, plus two 1.44MB microfloppies. All the memory is fast 1MB
chips (2MB standard up to 16MB w/1MB chips).  The internal commuications
hardware also supports connection to IBM's mainframes and super-mini's
(9370's).

Disclaimer...I am still a Mac fan as you know but I'm willing to give
the facts as they stand.  Let the software show which piece of hardware
really shines!

------------------------------

From: ROWLAND
Subject: Drawpicture question
Date: 5-APR-20:54: Programming Techniques

    A novice question: is DrawPicture considered a quickdraw command ?
In particular can I do a drawpicture inside another drawpicture and have
it saved ?

Mike Burns

------------------------------

From: PEABO
Subject: RE: Drawpicture question (Re: Msg 1391)
Date: 6-APR-10:55: Programming Techniques

Other than trying it, a good way to figure out would be to look at TN21,
which describes the internal structure of a QD picture.  (It's in the
Tech Notes topic under QUICKDRAW, or search on TN21 or PICT.)

peter

------------------------------

From: DDUNHAM
Subject: LightspeedC annoyance
Date: 6-APR-21:29: Tools for Developers

Does anyone else think LightspeedC could be made much more productive
simply by being less enthusiastic about updating windows?  When I type
cmd-R and it asks about saving each file, it puts up a dialog, redraws
what's under the dialog, brings the next window to the front, draws it,
then puts up the dialog. This drives me crazy, especially since all the
windows are full screen on my Radius FPD and take a while to draw.

------------------------------

From: MCOHEN
Subject: RE: LightspeedC annoyance (Re: Msg 1396)
Date: 7-APR-00:42: Tools for Developers

Also, do you notice how _long_ it takes to bring up the list of files
when you start a multi-file search the first time? It takes much less
time after that first search. It's pretty bad when I'm dealing with a
large project - about 28 source files.
    - Mike

------------------------------

From: RMUHA
Subject: RE: LightspeedC annoyance (Re: Msg 1396)
Date: 7-APR-06:06: Tools for Developers

I run with the confirm save option set to always save stuff (ie, it
doesn't ask to save, it just saves).  this is much faster.  I just back
up to floppy regularly.  incidentally, LSC is much easier to use if you
change the menu keys to make put all the search and replace stuff in the
left hand (eg, find = cmd-F, find aGain = cmd-G and replace = cmd-R, so
Run becomes launch = cmd-L).  Then you can do the search and replace
with the left hand and the right hand is free for the mouse...unless
you're left handed.  My pet peeve with LSC is "launching" DAs.  It
insists on remaking it every time and asking me what file I want to use,
etc.  It should just make the test DA in a standard place and run the
thing...

ralph

------------------------------

From: PEABO
Subject: RE: LightspeedC annoyance (Re: Msg 1396)
Date: 7-APR-11:16: Tools for Developers

Why don't you move the dialog somewhere towards the bottom of the
screen, OR why don't you suppress Save Confirmation in the Options menu?

peter

------------------------------

From: PEABO
Subject: RE: LightspeedC annoyance (Re: Msg 1397)
Date: 7-APR-11:18: Tools for Developers

I think it tends to cache things in memory (including the entire
contents of files) so that what you are really seeing is a speedup on
subsequent operations rather than a slowdown the first time (a matter of
opinion as to the proper interpretation, I suppose).

peter

------------------------------

From: PEABO
Subject: RE: LightspeedC annoyance (Re: Msg 1399)
Date: 7-APR-11:20: Tools for Developers

I have changed the cmd-Q from Quit to Close.  Saves some mousing around.
 One of my pet peeves is programs that insist on using cmd-Q to mean
quit.  I am hardly ever in a rush to quit a program :-)  Luckily I can
adjust such errant ergonomy to suit my tastes!

peter

------------------------------

From: BILLIAM
Subject: RE: more new WORD BUGS! (wow!) (Re: Msg 18816)
Date: 7-APR-18:57: Bugs & Features

Is there a way to get Word 3.0 to format the date other than 4/4/87?

I've searched the menus and manual and can't find anything that works.
Surely there must be a way to get April 4, 1987 or Apr 4, 1987 !!

I also find it a pain that merge field title have to have the EXACT same
capitalization. Firstname and firstname will cause a ***UNKNOWN FIELD
NAME**** error. I don't remember this ever happening in 1.05. To me this
should be considered a bug.

Billiam

------------------------------

From: CHUQ
Subject: RE: more new WORD BUGS! (wow!) (Re: Msg 18932)
Date: 10-APR 21:51 Bugs & Features

I've been in contact with Microsoft a few times in the last week.  They
are serious enough about fixing 3.0 that they tracked me down (not the
other way) after seeing some of my USENET comments.  We've been
comparing notes and trying to find ways of reproducing some of my more
esoteric problems.

In general, I'm impressed with their response.  They've been very open
and upfront bout everything, and seem to be working their little tails
off to get Word 3.?? stable, solid and out the door.  If things do as
they hope, they want to start circulating internal copies in about a
week or two, and if they are as stable as they hope, to start some
external Beta's within a couple of weeks after that.

My impression of things based on my discussions with them is that they
simply underscoped the amount of testing needed to verify the product,
because the new functionality and complexity simply overwhelmed them.
This is a significantly enhanced product, and simply didn't test it as
thoroughly as they thought they did.  something they're trying to make
sure doesn't happen again (not that anyone else has ever done that, of
course.  System 3.0 from Apple was perfectly stable, for instance...)

Two major things they've tracked down:

o a bug deep in the save code that caused various problems and hangs.
they've completely redone the save code, and said that saving should be
significantly faster than 3.0 (up to 40% faster although normal cases
won't be that fast). considering that 3.0 is much faster than 1.05, disk
access should scream.

o memory problems.  Heavily fragmented memory makes Word unhappy, so
small memories and intense editing sessions can give it fits.  I've hung
all over the place becasue of this, and they're still trying to figure
out exactly how to fix it, but Word will be much more robust when low on
memory.

One thing to note:  unlike 1.05, saving to disk does NOT garbage collect
memory if you use the fast-save option.  In fact, you can make internal
memory a bit worse by saving to disk.  but, of course, if you save it
and the program hangs, you've got a copy.

They're also cleaning up the conversion code significantly.

Microsoft realizes they need to get word out good, and get it out fast,
before they ruin their market completely with an almost done product.
But from my discussions, thy seem to realizer that if they have a choice
between good and fast, they'll choose good.  but I wouldn't expect to
wait as long for 3.xx as I did for 1.05, either...

chuq

------------------------------

From: MICMAC
Subject: STRS Template
Date: 9-APR-06:01: Programming

There is a (relatively) new resource that many employ: it's called STRS.
The problem is: I got no ResEdit template to edit this! The question is:
is there a template? And where? In case that template don't exist, is it
easy to create one? Another question: why STRS and not STR#?  (Is it a
lenght problem? the strings in STRS seem to be longer...) Any help would
be welcome! I need STRS template for french translation

Michel Coste  - MiC MAC -

------------------------------

From: PEABO
Subject: RE: STRS Template (Re: Msg 18870)
Date: 9-APR-11:35: Programming

STRS is a resource used by LightspeedC (along with DATA, CREL, and
DREL).

You cannot edit this without risking damaging the program, since all the
strings in it are at offsets known to the compiled program code.

If you see STRS, DATA, DREL, and CREL all in one program, you can be
pretty sure it was made by LightspeedC.  (Lightspeed Pascal might do
things like this too, but I haven't got a copy of it so I can't say for
sure.)

peter

------------------------------

From: PEABO
Subject: RE: STRS Template (Re: Msg 18946)
Date: 11-APR 13:01 Programming

The difficulty is to communicate the change to the program.  The STRS
resource is an image of the initialized string variables of a C program.
 When you edit that resource from English to French, you will typically
want to change the length of strings, but the program will not have any
way of finding out that you have done this and will expect to see the
strings residing in the same positions within the STRS where they were
compiled.  The result will be some bizarre misbehaviour of the program.

In some cases, you could probably find the references to the strings
within the object code of the program and patch those to agreee with the
edited STRS resource.  To do this you will need to be thoroughly
familiar with the logic used by LightspeedC to initialize the programs.
It is in the CODE 1 resource and uses information from the CREL
resources to adjust the offsets of the instructions which reference
global variables and strings.  ResEdit would not be able to do this
because it requires coordinated changes to data in many resources at
once.

Even if you do this, you may still have difficulty with a few programs.
The STRS resource was not meant to be editable, so you may find some
programs which are sensitive to changes in it which you might otherwise
not expect. I can't give you any guidance as to what kinds of problems
might occur with these programs, but as an example, you might edit the
STRS to make a string too large to fit in a buffer area into which the
program moves it, causing a crash.

peter

------------------------------

From: INTECO
Subject: 4th Dimension (1st report)
Date: 9-APR-15:05: Business Mac

4th Dimension

Last Tuesday I attended a full day developers seminar for the database
4th dimension held by Apple Germany. For a long time I am looking for a
database system for the Macintosh which allows me to create applications
which a user could not differentiate from a ordinary written
application. I used for some time Double Helix which allows a quick
setup of the relations between the data but lacks a powerful programming
language, Omnis has great limits if you want nice screen layouts and all
the other databases I have seen, too , lack creation of graphs from
stored data, communication with the real world (for example cash
registers and data bases). All this can be done with forthcoming
database 4th dimension.

The french company ACI started the development 2 years ago and since 1.5
years the developers are working in cooperation with Apple in Cupertino
at the software under the project name Silver Surfer. The final version
will be released at the beginning of June and distributed in all
countries except France and USA by Apple, otherwise sold by ACI. Apple
supported this project because in the foreign markets which have not
such a strong developers base the customers have problems finding
different solutions to one problem (or there are no solutions at all).
This database system will cut the development by a great amount and it
is fair priced here in Germany, the developer gets a protected system
for 1595 DM + taxes (= $875) including a non-protected run-time system
for which no further royalties  have to be paid.

At the developer seminar we worked with a software version from January,
the final version will have a tenfold speed increase we were told which
is should give a good performance. The present system which had a size
of over 700 kByte (with around 400 kByte for the runtime version) had
apparently the speed of the old Helix 1.0. The user interface of the
development system is quite good dividing the development process in 3
modes - development, user and custom. In the development phase you
define the files and fields (looks a bit like Reflex), the layout of the
input and output masks, procedures which are running behind everything,
menus and passwords. The user modus allows a test of the setup and other
kinds of data manipulation like different kind of graphs, searching and
sorting of data which one would otherwise to write procedures for. For
the custom modus one has to write global procedures and setup the menus
for the final application. For all  tests a debugger is available which
allows the access to the values of variables and single step of the
procedures. The programming language is bit similar to Pascal and allows
variable and procedure names of up to 15 characters.

Uwe

------------------------------

From: PEABO
Subject: RE: 4th Dimension (1st report) (Re: Msg 18878)
Date: 10-APR 00:26 Business Mac

Is the Pascal-like language the only way to program this, or can you
also integrate it with code written in other langauges?

peter

------------------------------

From: INTECO
Subject: RE: 4th Dimension (1st report) (Re: Msg 18906)
Date: 10-APR 11:47 Business Mac

I forgot to metion: A tool is included to link procedures written in
Pascal, C or assembler to your database. A rectangle in a window can be
given the attribute external, if the mouse is pressed there your
procedure takes over. I assume that the external procedures could be
otherwise called the usual way I will get my handbook at the end of this
month.

Uwe

------------------------------

From: MACINTOUCH
Subject: RE: 4th Dimension (1st report) (Re: Msg 18878)
Date: 11-APR 10:53 Business Mac

I've just heard rumors of a list price in the USA of $600-700 for 4th
Dimension, and that it's supposed to ship in June.

Ric

------------------------------

From: TPH
Subject: Spell Checker
Date: 9-APR-18:52: Public Domain

Does anyone know of a PD spell checker program?  I am new in the Mac
world (as a matter of fact, I don't have one, but have access to one at
work).  I would find a checker very beneficial, but don't want to spend
$$ for a computer that I only use from time to time.  Any help would be
greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

------------------------------

From: DDUNHAM
Subject: re Installer for System 4.0 (Re: Msg 18881)
Date: 10-APR 21:14 Network Digests

 > From: [e-mail]
 > Subject: Installer for System 4.0

My guess is that Installer takes n (where n = infinity minus 1) swaps is
because it reads a resource, updates a resource, reads a resource,
updates...

 David Dunham     "Whenever you see a sign 'No Exit,' it means
 Maitreya Design   there is an exit."

------------------------------

From: DDUNHAM
Subject: re  Resedit & INITs (Re: Msg 18881)
Date: 10-APR 21:15 Network Digests

 > From: Tom Coradeschi <[e-mail]>
 > Subject: Resedit & INITs

If a resource file has type 'INIT,' it will be installed by the INIT 31
mechanism if you have it in your system folder at boot time.

 David Dunham     "The more laws there are, the more people are
 Maitreya Design   inclined to break them"  (Swiss saying)

------------------------------

From: DDUNHAM
Subject: re  MAC+/FAT MAC COMPATIBILITY QUESTION (Re: Msg 18881)
Date: 10-APR 21:16 Network Digests

 > From: Norbert Mueller <K360171@AEARN>
 > Subject: MAC+/FAT MAC COMPATIBILITY QUESTION

Traps like FracSin don't exist in 64K ROMs...are you using them?

 David Dunham     "Whenever you see a sign 'No Exit,' it means
 Maitreya Design   there is an exit."

------------------------------

From: DDUNHAM
Subject: re Some observations on WriteNow: (Re: Msg 18881)
Date: 10-APR 21:17 Network Digests

 > From: USER=[e-mail]
 > Subject: Some observations on WriteNow:

My miniWRITER desk accessory (available wherever you find shareware)
should be able to help you (unless you work with real large documents).
Select All, then Paste into a miniWRITER window. Now you can save
(miniWRITER saves and opens TEXT files), or use miniWRITER's Get Info
command to get a word count.

 David Dunham     "If it doesn't have Undo, it's not a Mac program."
 Maitreya Design

------------------------------

From: HALL
Subject: RE: FILE RECOVERY (Re: Msg 18883)
Date: 9-APR-23:58: Programming

Try using MacZap Recover.  It's the ONLY program that's been of any use
to me in recovering files.  (I've also used MacTools, Disk First Aid,
FEdit....)

Brian

------------------------------

From: MACINTOUCH
Subject: RE: FILE RECOVERY (Re: Msg 18898)
Date: 10-APR 09:28 Programming

You'll probably need the newest version of MacZap Recover: MacZap
Recover HFS.

Ric

------------------------------

From: RICKLEPAGE
Subject: Lotus gets theirs...
Date: 10-APR 11:18 Business Mac

For tose following the current legal wrangles regarding interface
copyrights, we just had a _very_ interesting development.  On Wednesday,
the officers of what is left of Software Arts filed suit against Lotus
and Mitch Kapor for copyright violation and breach of contract,
specifically with regard to Visicalc and the Software Arts buyout by
Lotus.

The suit claims that Lotus violated Software Arts' visual copyright
(screens, commands, etc.) of Visicalc in the creation of 1-2-3.  This is
the same type of suit that Lotus has filed against Mosaic Software and
Paperback Software.  In addition to the copyright violations, SAPC (the
corporation made up of the 5 SArts' officers) charged that Lotus and
Kapor breached the contract that resulted from the SArts buyout, though
there is little word on that portion of the suit.

An interesting sidepoint to this suit is that two of the officers,
Bricklin and Frankston, are opposed to the suit, and tried to block it.
Frankston is the chief scientist at Lotus, which places him in a very
precarious position indeed.

The media is running around like crazy, trying to get copies of Visicalc
to see the screens.  I have received a number of calls from reporters
asking if I have a copy from my early PC days. [:-)]

Why so long after the fact for this lawsuit?  Most people I have talked
to point to the Broderbund judgement last fall -- SAPC was waiting for a
favorable judgement in the copyright arena before suing.

End result?

Who knows...definitely more fun in the new world.


  Rick

------------------------------

From: MCOHEN
Subject: Isn't MPW great?
Date: 9-APR-00:08: Tools for Developers

Although I do almost all of my programming in LightSpeed C, I find that
I'm starting to use MPW a lot for some of the tools like Rez (although I
plan to compile the finished version of my application under development
using MPW C). When I had to do a CDEF resource for a custom button I
needed, after fighting with LSC's inline assembler, I ended up using MPW
assembler. In the process, I discovered that MPW's linker is about the
easiest way to produce any kind of a code resource in a single
operation. Although the MPW manual hides this feature, the linker switch
-RT will allow you to produce _any_ kind of a code resource. No need to
produce a code file and then use RMaker to convert it to a Proc resource
- just use something like
        Link -RT "CDEF=2" Cdef.a.o

------------------------------

From: DSACHS
Subject: MPW printing bug
Date: 9-APR-22:07: Tools for Developers

The PRINT tool of MPW will not print in draft mode with the latest (2.5)
version of the Imagewriter driver.  Looks like someone didn't follow the
guidelines for printing in IM and tech note 95.  There seems to be NO
way to specify print quality without using the drivers dialog and remain
compatible.

------------------------------

From: RICKCUMMINGS
Subject: Bernouli Box
Date: 11-APR 11:05 Hardware & Peripherals

Is anyone familiar with the Bernouli Box, and how it compares to other
drives? I am in the market for a 20-40 meg hard disk, and would
appreciate any comments or suggestions.

------------------------------

From: BWD
Subject: RE: Bernouli Box (Re: Msg 18952)
Date: 11-APR 12:35 Hardware & Peripherals

We have 3 Bernouli Boxes at work.  They seem to work fine, but are
fairly noisy. They are great for the ability to backup the cartridges
and so far seem pretty reliable (3 mon.).

However (and there is alwasy a however about anything you say!) the
AppleShare documentation says that AppleShare does not work with BBs.  I
asked our Apple Rep about it and they tell me that they suspect there is
no problem with a SCSI Bernouli but rather the old serial port drives.
I find it hard to believe that Apple would print that kind of report
without chekcing with IOMega first, but ...  Anyway, we set it up with
AppleShare and have not had any problems which we can attribute to the
BB.  I leave it up to you to decide what you want to do.

Brian

------------------------------

From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: RE: Bernouli Box (Re: Msg 18953)
Date: 11-APR 18:59 Hardware & Peripherals

This hasn't to do with experience, but in several computer trade papers
recent stories have suggested that Bernouli is on rather shaky financial
ground. this is only rumor, of course, but you might want to be pretty
sure of service in buying one.

Locally, folks have been very happy with the Jasmine larger drives, and
the prices are certainly nice.  I don't know if it has come up here as
yet, but Jasmine is now doing sales to Apple dealers.... the dealer pays
the same price you would for a drive, direct from Jasmine, plus $50 to
have his own name plastered on the front (some minimum quantity, I
suppose, for that). He is then to add on $300-$400 for profit.

Alf

------------------------------

From: BWD
Subject: AppleShare
Date: 11-APR 12:38 Business Mac

Do you believe it?  Apple has released AppleShare and they don't have
any way to back up the AppleShare Volume such that you have the
capability to restore the files AND the access priveleges.  Has anybody
else found a backup utility which will handle the privileges?
Apparently the new Apple Tape Backup unit will handle it but until then
we are really unprotected.

Brian

------------------------------

From: MADMACS
Subject: MAC II evangelists
Date: 11-APR 18:00 Hardware & Peripherals

Hello, all.  (I was in New Mexico observing for the last 3 weeks so I am
hopelessly behind the times...) I just wanted to post a brief message
re: a talk given to our users group last Thursday night (4/9).  The
speakers were Jim Armstrong and Mike Dheuy (sp?  Pronounced "dew-e").
They are both from Apple. Jim is a "hardware evangelist" for the Mac II
and Mike was one of the principal designers of the Mac II motherboard
(apparently THE chief designer).  They also brought a Mac II and wowed
us all.  This is probably old news to you all, but nearly everything of
import was working on it.  Really fantastic!!!  Enough said. Some
interesting points: (1) They said that 2000 would be made this month. At
present they are doing tests of the production line quality (previous
Mac II's were made by hand).  They are doing heavy burn-in tests in
Fremont and if all goes well will start regular production of
15000/month ASAP. (2) The Mac II is on "REV 8" (revison #8) and may go
to 9 before shipping starts. (3) They said that the commitment of Apple
to the University community is real and had in fact caused some internal
battles (developers getting machines after universities did, etc.) (4)
In response to a question re: CAD, Jim hinted that some really fantastic
programs in that area will be coming out.  Better than AutoCAD.  (5) I
was impressed with the NuBus.  Mike said that the bus is fully
independent of the CPU and that a card on the bus can take over the
whole machine if it chooses to do so.  He said that, in theory, this
could be used to add a 68030 or better. Parallel  processing?  (6) Jim
said that over 600 companies were making boards for the Mac II.  Every
major company (save one) will be making something for it, he said. Mike
was rightfully proud of his work.  He stayed until the last member of
the group was leaving.  I got the feeling that he had been forced to
keep all of this secret and was overjoyed to be talking to enthusiatic
users about his "baby." BTW, I might mention that Jim and Mike were two
of the founders of the Apple Adam and Eve users group, out of which the
Madison Macintosh Users Group formed.  They both went to school at the
UW.

-Doug (MADMACS)

------------------------------

From: UJL0013
Subject: Prodigy Prime
Date: 12-APR 03:15 Hardware & Peripherals

I'm so exciting at hearing about Levco Prodigy Prime Mac+ accelator
board. If you have some info, please inform me about it. I want to hear
it's memory expandability and software compatibility.

Thax in your advance. - Masaaki

------------------------------

End of Delphi Mac Digest
************************