PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/InfoMac Digests/InfoMac Vol. 6/InfoMac 6.03

Text File | 1988-01-21 | 20.1 KB | 496 lines | [TEXT/ttxt]

INFO-MAC Digest          Sunday, 17 Jan 1988        Volume 6 : Issue 3

Today's Topics:
                  Stuffit User Interface Not Well Done
                          Sound Mover problems
                  What screen saver with Multi-Finder??
                              Milo Comments
         A reverse Heisenbug: it's there only if you look for it
                 Help wanted with a digitizer interface
                   DNA and protein sequence analysis?
                         flexible protein models
                    Animation pkg for human movement
                         CURVE FITTING SOFTWARE?
          Help Macs in Europe: Interferometry software needed!
                         NEEDED, big HD utility
                       File compare utility wanted
                             Spelling Coach
                                Plotters
                            Graphic emulators
                       SCSI upgrade advice needed
                                   DCA
             MS BASIC Editor Suggestions (Hello, Microsoft)


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

Date: Tue 22 Dec 87 13:13:15-PST
From: A. E. Siegman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Stuffit User Interface Not Well Done

While the debate still rages over Stuffit versus Packit (though the issue
seems to be pretty well settled in favor of Stuffit), someone should point
out that the interface which Stuffit presents to the user is pretty poor:
Overly complicated windows that give you a lot of information you don't
need or want to know, inconsistent or poorly chosen commands and terms,
confusing procedures.  The program itself is fine, but the interface is
not up to high-quality Mac standards.

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

Date: Wed, 23 Dec 87 11:12:02 PST
From: [e-mail] (Dwight Hare)
Subject: Sound Mover problems

I downloaded the Soundmover package (archived as
<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SOUNDMOVER-PACKAGE.HQX) and tried it out on my Mac II.
I recorded some music at 22K and converted the soundcap file into a
snd resource using Sound->snd but Sound Mover insisted on playing the
snd at 11K.

Then, after sampling at 11K and creating a snd resource, I pasted it
into StartupSndInit and moved it into the system folder.  When I rebooted
I got a horrible death.  I don't use any non standard inits.

I've thrown it away and will continue to use the Bong swci resource for
Soundcap to create snd resources and use resedit to move them around.
I don't really need a sound at init time.  I was very disappointed with
the quality of this package.

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

Date: 30 Dec 87 23:04:00 EST
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: What screen saver with Multi-Finder??

I have gotten real used to the "Stars" screen saver (you know, the one that
shows a star field that you move through, a la USS Enterprise), but it doesn't
work with MF. Anyone have a newer version (I have 1.8) or a suggested
replacement?

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

Date: Wed, 13 Jan 88 23:17:12 -0500 (EST)
From: John Salmento <[e-mail]>
Subject: Milo Comments

Hi,
  I'm trying to gather what other people think of Milo for the author Ron
Avitzur.  For those who don't know, Milo is a symbolic math manipulation
program.  This program is allows you to very easily perform algebra
on equations without making stupid mistakes, like change signs or dropping
terms.  It can solve simple equations and take derivatives; however, it
isn't smart like Macsyma, so it doesn't solve the equations for you.  It also
has other features for creating graphs of equations and combining text
and equations in one file.  A beta version can be acquired off of the topse
Mac directory, mac binaries on andrew, and sumex-aim.  One thing
this version doesn't work properly with system 4.2.

Ron wants to publish this program with complete documentation, so he's
interested in bug reports, and comments.  He wants especially wants to
know what people think its worth.  He's also very interested in site licensing
this software at colleges, so if anyone is interested they should contact him
directly.  His email address is [e-mail].

John Salmento
ziggy@andrew or js04@te

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

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 88 10:05:35 PST
From: coherent![e-mail] (Dave Platt)
Subject: A reverse Heisenbug: it's there only if you look for it

Originally posted to RISKS-DIGEST:

I've encountered a marvelous Heisenbug (a bug whose behavior changes when
you look for it) involving TOPS Spool and MultiFinder.  Yesterday, I
installed MultiFinder on one of the Mac SE systems here at work.  After
rebooting, I found that TOPS Spool worked fine when the system was booted in
Finder mode, but behaved erratically when the system was booted in
MultiFinder mode.  The primary symptom I saw was that TOPS Spool would spool
the file to disk, but would not print it.  The status display would
indicated "Waiting; source: AppleTalk", and the printer's yellow status
light would double-blink (indicating that the printer was waiting for data
to be sent over AppleTalk).  This wouldn't always occur, and didn't always
occur at the same point in a file.  I tried spooling one file several times,
and the copies seemed to exhibit different behavior.

Finally, I noticed one critical clue:  if I had turned "Print while I work"
off, and then opened the TOPS Spool d/a and turned it back on, the spooler
would not begin transmitting the file until I closed the desk accessory.
Printing would then begin, and would continue to work properly until I opened
the desk accessory again... at which point the current print job would hang!

So... hmmm... using the TOPS Spool desk accessory under MultiFinder causes the
background printing task to stop working, but using exactly the same desk
accessory, System, drivers, etc. works just fine if the system is booted under
the Finder.  What's the difference?  Well, under MultiFinder, desk accessories
are normally opened by a mini-application called DA Handler, so that they won't
go away if you "Quit" from your current application.  I tried opening TOPS
Spool while holding down the Option key, which forces the desk accessory to run
in the current application's context... and, lo and behold, background printing
kept working! Apparently, the TOPS Spool desk accessory interferes with the
background-printing task if it's run under DA Handler, but not if it's run
under the current application (Finder, in my case).

So... this is really a reverse Heisenbug, of sorts... the software works unless
you look to see whether it's working, at which point it stops working!

Dave Platt
  UUCP: ...!{ames,sun,uunet}!coherent!dplatt
  Internet: coherent![e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

     [For those of you who weren't in on the original flurry of Heisenbugs,
     see RISKS-4.30 through 36, and a few subsequent issues.   PGN]

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

Date: Wed, 16 Dec 87 15:09:59 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Help wanted with a digitizer interface

[e-mail]1                         |  JANET    |
phy6jem%uk.ac.leeds.ucs.cms1@ukacrl                  |BITNET/EARN|
[e-mail]              |   ARPA    |
nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk!leeds.ucs.cms1!phy6jem              |   UUCP    |
star::"[e-mail]"      |   SPAN    |

Haverah Park Group, Physics Department, University of Leeds, LEEDS, LS29JT, UK



                    HELP WANTED WITH A DIGITIZER INTERFACE

We have a Summagraphics ID-1-CTR-2020 digitizing tablet which is no longer
needed for its original application.
We would therefore like to interface it to our (brand new) Mac SE.
It has an RS-232 output which gives XY coordinates and
button up/down information in a well understood format.  Therefore it shouldn't
be too difficult to wire it up to the Apple Desktop Bus.
The difficult bit looks like the software;  how do you make the Mac read from
the digitizer rather than from the mouse?  This must be done in a way that is
transparent to all applications.
If anyone has solved this problem or knows where to find the solution,
either for another digitizer or for any other input hardware, we'd love to know.
We are fairly experienced programmers (mainframe, micro), our language of
choice for this project is Lightspeed C but we can cope with most anything else.
If anything of general applicability appears, we'll post it to the net.

                         John McMillan, Haverah Park Group.

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

Date: Wed, 6 Jan 88 23:06:40 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: DNA and protein sequence analysis?

Has anyone seen any public domain or shareware programs for DNA
and protein sequence analysis for the Macintosh?  I seem to run
into a lot of these for MS-DOS machines but it would be nice if
I could do all of this on my Macintosh at home.  Shareware packages
for the PC include DM5 (David Mount from Arizona or Arizona State)
and something called Menu from Australia.  Basically these programs
allow you to match patterns in a DNA sequence (search for restriction
sites), translate, edit protein or DNA sequences, do homology searches
and more.  Some of the more elaborate programs search for secondary
structures that may play a regulatory role.
There is at least one commercially available program called DNA
inspector.  It is expensive ($300) and I've heard that its copy
protection scheme is some form of data mutalation (maybe I should
say mutation).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
 Dave Detlefsen
 Chemistry Department
 University of Michigan

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

Date: Sun 10 Jan 88 14:42:05-PST
From: Chuck Gasser <[e-mail]>
Subject: flexible protein models

I am looking for a program for which the Macintosh would be an ideal
environment.  Biochemists commonly represent proteins in a flexible linear
array known as "beads on a string".  This representation allows regions
that are known to be proximal to be put close together and allows clear
representation of disulfide bonds.  What we want is a program that allows
for generation and simple/flexible editing of such pictures on the Mac.
Such things as being able to drag a part of the string and have the rest
follow along, maintaining bends from proline residues, etc. would be a part
of such a program.  If anyone has seen/heard of a program like this please
send me any information that you can either by Email or regular mail, or
call me collect at:

[phone]

Thanks in advance,
Chuck Gasser
Plant Molecular Biology
Monsanto Company
St. Louis, MO

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

Date: Sun, 10 Jan 88 12:24:36 JST
From: shmuel browns <[e-mail]>
Subject: Animation pkg for human movement

One of the professors in the Computer Science department is interested in an
animation package either for the Macintosh or IBM PC that lets you show human
movement.  He was very impressed with the animation in MacGolf - does anyone
know what they used?

Please e-mail responses to me and I'll summarize to the net.
Thank you.

         Shmuel

E-mail:   shmuli%HUJINIX.BITNET
          [e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 11 Jan 88 13:36:04 SET
From: Norbert Mueller <[e-mail]>
Subject: CURVE FITTING SOFTWARE?

HELLO EVERYONE,
I'M CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR A GOOD CURVE FITTING SOFTWARE OUR DEPT. WANTS
TO ACQUIRE, THE USUAL OPTIONS (EXPONENTIAL, LOG, POLYNOMIAL...) ARE NOT
SUFFICIENT. WE WANT TO FIT EXPERIMENTAL DATA TO ARBITRARY USER DEFINABLE
FUNCTIONS. HAS ANYBODY HEARD OF SUCH A PROGRAM FOR THE MAC OR EVEN WORKE
WITH IT?
I REMEMBER A PROGRAM ON A CDC MAINFRAME I USED TO WORK ON, WHERE YOU COULD
LINK THE COMILEDTARGET FUNCTION (CODED IN FORTRAN)AT RUNTIME...
 MAYBE THAT SOMEBODY MIGHT LIKE TO WRITE SUCH A THING FOR THE MAC (NOT
NECESSARILY IN FORTRAN), WHERE FUNCTIONS MIGHT BE ADDED AS RESOURCES.

THANKS IN ADVANCE
FOR ANSWERING

NORBERT MUELLER
INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY
JOHANNES KEPLER UNIVERSITY
A-4040 LINZ
AUSTRIA

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

Date: Thu 7 Jan 88 07:12:30-PDT
From: Elliot Bennett <[e-mail]>
Subject: Help Macs in Europe: Interferometry software needed!

Help save me from the Dreaded IBM!

I am currently working at DFVLR (sort of W. Germany's NASA), and we have
a holographic experiment planned for the D2 SpaceLab mission, and I'm
writing a program on my own mac SE to operate this experiment remotely.
The reason I have to use MY Mac is that this place is 95% IBM and 5% Atari
and zero Macs.  I'm attempting to introduce the Mac here, but to clinch
a purchase I need some very specific software, which I'm hoping someone
in net-land will know about.

The basic need is to perform analyses on interferograms.  I plan to use
Thunderscan to digitize these into the Mac as MacPaint files.
What I need is a program that can read such files, integrate across grey
scales, and determine either the Temperature or density (one is supplied,
one is calculated).  Typical inputs include: cell length, refractive index
of the medium being investigated, wavelength of the laser, and the
existing geometry (Rectangular or cylindrical; with or without a diffuser;
phase shift, and so on).

We are willing to pay $ for such software, but if it doesn't exist,
I'm going to have to write such a program myself - something I'm not
exactly looking forward to.

So, if you'ld like to further the cause of Macintosh in W. Germany, I would
be very grateful for any information leading to such software.  Please
reply to the address below.

Much Thanx in Advance,
Elliot

[e-mail]


** I have no relation to anyone but myself, and then only rarely.
** So also stand my opinions.

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

Date: Tue, 29 Dec 87 07:55:30 IST
From: Ami Zakai <[e-mail]>
Subject: NEEDED, big HD utility

                    *** URGENT ****
I need a formatter and installer for CDC WERN HD for Mac II 92MB & 150MB.
Please send reply direct to RAFI@BGUVM or to [e-mail]
I know there are some of those floating around so if you have any idea
where to get them I would realy appriciate a note.

   thanx

   --Zak

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

Date: 16 JAN 88 20:02-N
From: [e-mail]
Subject: File compare utility wanted

   Hello,

   for some time now, I'm looking for a file or disk compare program. Do I
have at least found something where big blue is a step ahead?
   Furthermore I could need (and some friends of mine as well) an init or a
cdev which automatically converts the german umlauts and the german ss into
ae, oe, ue and ss. This is peticular for the use with a terminal emulator,
therefore one should be able to turn that on and off (Like Smart Quote
Init). Oh no, I am not buying QuicKeys for that reason!
   Thanks a lot.

   Gary


    Gary T. Czychi             University of St.Gallen

        EARN%"CZYCHI@CSGHSG53"
         ==: "[e-mail]"

            Tel.: --41 / 71 / 27 52 68
                  --49 / 211 / 46 01 23

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

Date: Tue, 12 Jan 88 15:40:23 EST
From: Steve Buyske <[e-mail]>
Subject: Spelling Coach

     Does anyone have experience with or knowledge of
Deneba's Spelling Coach or Coach Professional?

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

Date: Tue, 29 Dec 87 16:10:29 cst
From: wucs1!wucfua![e-mail] (Rex Alan Hill)
Subject: Plotters

Dear info-mac,
  I am looking for information about HP E-size plotters.  More
specifically, I would like to find some information about hooking a Mac
(SE/Plus/MacII) to the plotter.  I would also like to correspond with
someone about EZ Draft, MGMS, MiniCad or Space Edit (and using these with
the HP).  Thanks.
     Rexford A. Hill
 Washington University ONC

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

Date: Fri 8 Jan 88 06:01:33-PST
From: Dieter Schifferli <[e-mail]>
Subject: Graphic emulators

I would be interested to know the advantages of a Tektronix 4105 versus a
Tektronix 4014 graphics emulation program ( Versaterm Pro / Versaterm).
I am interested in using one of these programs for the DDMATRIX program of
BIONET and different programs of the GENETICS COMPUTER GROUP (University
of Wisconsin). Thanks for any help. Dieter.

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

Date: Fri, 08 Jan 88 12:24:35 -0800
From: Mark Nagel <[e-mail]>
Subject: SCSI upgrade advice needed

I am looking forward to finally getting a hard drive for my 512e soon and
I was hoping someone could help me out in with information on SCSI port
upgrades.  I have already installed a Dove 2M upgrade on the motherboard,
so my main concern is how difficult is it to install a SCSI port now?
Specifically, do I need to get Dove's SCSI port because it "fits" better
or can I just install any old port few if any problems?

Please respond via email and I will summarize if enough responses come in.

Thanks!

Mark Nagel
Department of Information and Computer Science
University of California, Irvine

[e-mail]                (ARPA)
{sdcsvax|ucbvax}!ucivax!bonnie!nagel    (UUCP)

"If George Washington had given up at Valley Forge, we'd all be speaking
*English* today!" -- Balki

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

Date: Sun, 27 Dec 87 17:31:57 EST
From: "James H. Coombs" <[e-mail]>
Subject: DCA

I saw your query in an Info-MAC digest.  We dicusss DCA briefly in our
article on "Markup Systems" in the November 1987 *Communications of the
ACM*.  That should give you a sense of what DCA is good for and what it
is not good for.  Basically, it retains formatting information only, so
you can forget about style sheets.  Above all, the article argues for
descriptive markup---which eliminates the compatibility problems that you
are experiencing.  Hang it on your management's door.  Make them aware of
the problems and of the appropriate solutions.  Also, contact Microsoft and
WordPerfect and tell them to quit messing around with obsolete forms of
markup.  (Things won't improve until consumers convince developers that
descriptive markup is a priority.)  Finally, SoftQuad is coming out with an
SGML text processor for the Mac, and that might help solve your problems.

Good luck.  --Jim

Dr. James H. Coombs
Software Engineer, Research
Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship (IRIS)
Brown University
[e-mail]
Acknowledge-To: <JAZBO@BROWNVM>

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

Date: Thu 7 Jan 88 18:37:16-PST
From: A. E. Siegman <[e-mail]>
Subject: MS BASIC Editor Suggestions (Hello, Microsoft)

The editor that comes with Microsoft's BASIC 3.0 Interpreter at the minute
is fairly nice:  The transition from editing to program execution and back
is fast and convenient; having Basic reserved words automatically
highlighted in boldface type is very helpful; and the Search function is
convenient and easy to use.  Having the program automatically recapitalize
every occurrence of a variable name ("PowerLevel") or label the same way
(whichever way you last enter it), is neat.

The biggest weakness is that the Search function slows waaaaayyyy down,
practically to a stop, all of sudden it seems, as soon as the program length
exceeds something like a couple of pages.

What would I and other local users most like to have (besides having this
speed problem fixed)?  Not pretty-printing (nice but not essential), not
Search-and-Replace (can do that pretty effectively with Search-and Paste),
not other secondary editing gimmicks.  For writing structured, truly Mac-ish
programs we'd most like an "outliner" capability, under which all merely
linear code segments, all merely number-calculating lines, all comments,
etc. would vanish (or be replaced by a line with three dots, or something),
and only the control structure of the program (Labels, GOSUBs, RETURNs,
etc.) would remain visible.  One could then move around through the control
skeleton, instantaneously bringing any of the hidden code segments back to
view for editing when you needed to.

I suppose this is what outliner programs already do (haven't used one as
yet).  Any Mac outliner programs around that could also be taught to
automatically boldface a specific set of control words whenever they were
typed in?

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

End of INFO-MAC Digest
**********************