PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/InfoMac Digests/InfoMac Vol. 6/InfoMac 6.05

Text File | 1988-01-30 | 26.7 KB | 703 lines | [TEXT/ttxt]

INFO-MAC Digest          Sunday, 24 Jan 1988        Volume 6 : Issue 5

Today's Topics:
                            sort in hypercard
                         Problem with Hypercard
                         hardcopy from hypercard
               Re: Kermit file transfer problems on a VAX
                             Kermit and TACs
                   Installing Custom Application Icons
           Overhead-Projector Mac Displays, and a New Scanner
                         General sound questions
                                Adult art
                    Spellchecking and TeXtures (TeX)
                   Tek 4107 terminal emulator request
                             MAC gatepost..
                       Macintosh ][ Ethernet & NFS
                       Printing with Red Ryder 9.4
                More on the Mac 512K, and LW 5.0 Problem
                  Request for info for PICT translators
                           uVax <-> AppleTalk
                           Mac Bernulli Boxes
                      new software-versionlist.txt
                             Laserwriter II
                         TP filesystem/interface
                               Architrion
                           Inverted/Ball mice
                           Startup application
                  Latest round in 68020 vs. 80386 wars


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

From: Ralph Martin
From: <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 88 16:36:40 GMT
Subject: sort in hypercard

Can anyone enlighten me as to what the message
"It would be bad to sort this stack"
means, and why Hypercard refuses to sort the stack - I am just telling it to
sort the stack by the first word of field "Title". Note that it doesnt moan
about the syntax of my sort command. It just says it would be bad to sort the
stack, whatever that means?!

[Moderator's Note:

There is a script in the stack like so:

on sort
   answer "It would be bad to sort this stack" with "OK"
end sort

This is done to prevent sorting in the Help stack because they use card
numbers to keep track of links - JP]

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 00:01:28 est
From: [e-mail] (Mike Bell)
Subject: Problem with Hypercard

 I've run across a weird problem with Hypercard. I'm running it on a MacII
with the Apple video expansion installed. Until yesterday, all was fine. Then
when I booted the program yesterday, weird things happened. First of all, when
the cursor is in the Hypercard window, it is invisible. When you are out of
the Hypercard window ( i.e. on the desktop ) it re-apprers. Also, the tools
menu pulls down, but the tools are invisible. I havr tried to reload the
program, but the problem persists. Is it a hypercard problem, or a hardware
problem ? Any suggestions would be appreciated ( A.S.A.P. PLEASE......)




     Please send all responses to me.

     Thanks in advance.


            Michael Bell
            University of Pennsylvania
            [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 88 11:03
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: hardcopy from hypercard

Hi, everyone

I have started working in Hypercard.  I am contemplating using it
in place of a normal database program for keeping track
of the status of projects, inventory, purchase orders, etc.
Here's my question: How does one generate reports, say, a
purchase requisition, on 8.5" x 11" paper, you know, the
stuff that all conventional offices use.  I know how to print a
card, but the battleaxes in purchasing would scream bloody
murder if I sent them anything that deviated too significantly
from their normal form.  I have spent most of the day looking
through Goodman, and did not find anything that lookied remotely
useful.  The closest thing is the 'print report' (?) menu under
File, but that is incredibly primitive.  I can't believe that
Hypercard would be so useable, but leave such a glaring gap
in their scripting as ignoring hardcopy in general, and 8.5x11
in particular.  I must be missing something.  Any help
and guidance is gratefully accepted.

Thanks,
Lee Thomison
BITNET:OPTON@UHVAX1
landline: [phone]

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 15:22 CST
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Kermit file transfer problems on a VAX

We too had problems with Red Ryder and Vax Kermit 32.
Kermit 32, in its default settings, times out before you can
initiate a transfer from the Macintosh.  This is prevented
in the following procedure that we now use.  Note that we
run more current Red Ryders, the range in our department is
9.4 to 10.3.

MEMO

Red Ryder 9.4 supports Kermit transfers of text files to and
from our Vax.

Use the default Red Ryder settings for Kermit.

Run VMS Kermit:
        $Kermit
        Kermit32>       {its response}

Set a sufficient delay, as:

        Kermit32>Set delay 20

Depending upon the direction of the transfer, type Send
<file spec> or Receive to Kermit32 before you initiate the
transfer with Red Ryder.

During Sends (from the Vax), the report of file length and
number of blocks that Red Ryder gives is 10 times too large,
but the transfer is correct.

--Mel Park

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

Date: Fri 22 Jan 88 23:42:28-EST
From: Mark McCall <[e-mail]>
Subject: Kermit and TACs

Fellow Mac Users:

I wish to solicit help in using Kermit through a TAC (Terminal Access
Controller) on the Arpanet.  I am using Red Ryder through a TAC to a DEC System
20 and am having no luck at all.  Some of my associates have experienced
similar problems going through the TAC but could not help me with my MAC
problems.  Please send any responses directly to me.  Thank You.

[e-mail]

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

Date: 18 Jan 88 21:53:11 AST
Subject: Installing Custom Application Icons
From: Glen Jordan <[e-mail]>
Sender: <[e-mail]>

I've investigated various sources of information concerning making and
customising application icons; however,I'm unable to locate any info
as to how I might "permanently install" a custom icon in a compiler-
generated (in my case MS FORTRAN) application. I suspect the best way
would be with appropriate RMaker instructions? What might they be? Can
any of you INFO-MAC readers help? Thanks,
Glen Jordan
Faculty of Forestry
University of New Brunswick
CANADA E3B 6C2

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

Date: Tue 19 Jan 88 08:07:27-PST
From: A. E. Siegman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Overhead-Projector Mac Displays, and a New Scanner

I looked at all the liquid-crystal overhead-projector display units I could
find at MacWorld, and I wouldn't recommend spending $1500-$1700 on ANY of
these units, until the technology has improved.

The "Macnifier" from Comtrex seemed to be the best engineered unit, and the
one with the best display.  It's the only one I'd consider, if I really had
to have one of these now.  It has several useful adjustments on the display
unit itself, and there's a good discussion of the technical problems with
LCD displays in the Comtrex catalog.

The "Flat Top Display" from Network Specialties was on display in their
booth, and was being used in a sizable number of other booths throughout
the show.  I thought the display looked pretty poor everywhere.  It has poor
contrast and brightness, a grainy mottled-blue background, and very slow
response to screen changes (move the mouse too rapidly and it totally
disaoppears).  The unit lacks adjustments, and a discussion I had with one
of their engineers in the booth said they had some problems with temperature
stability.

The "Multiscan" from Learning Services looked really bad to me.

Finally, Kodak has been advertising one of these units, but I didn't see
anything related to it at the show.  One would hope Kodak would do a good
job, if they do it at all.

Further general comments:

1)  If you're going to use any of these units, plan on buying a really good,
high-power, expensive overhead projector to go along with it.  When the LCD
unit itself isn't very good, a weak projector makes things even worse.

2)  The basic problem here is in the LCD technology itself.  While this
technology will improve with time, my guess would be it's going to a while
before it gets a lot better.  The LCD technology is inherently slow, very
temperature sensivitive, and subject to permanently burnt or disabled
pixels.  I wouldn't look for a lot of rapid improvement.

Add'l notes:

1)  If someone really needs to display what's on a Mac screen to small to
medium sized groups of people, rather than using any of these LCD projection
units it would make more sense to spend the same amount on half a dozen
"EasyView" 14" external monitors from Nuvotech ($395 list, probably buyable
for under $300 each).

This is not a genuine "big screen" display, but it is a 14" screen against
the regular Mac 9" screen; it's bright and sharp; easily connected to any
kind of Mac; and multiple units can be daisy-chained.  The Nuvotech booth
had a bank of 8 or 10 of them running in parallel; looked good.  I'll
probably buy one for myself, just to use in showing programs to people.

2)  Another promising display-related gadget demonstrated at the show was
a moderately low-cost "Mirror Image Scanner" demonstrated by Mirror
Technologies, Hugo, MN.  Instead of putting a scanning unit in the
ImageWriter print head, a la ThunderScan, or feeding a page through a page
reader as in all the higher-priced scanner units, this unit has a head
something like a desk lamp which looks down on the desktop level tablet
where you set the document to be scanned.  A moving mirror in the head then
scans the document image onto a linear CCD photodetector array, with
selectrable 100 to 200 dpi resolution, 6 shades of gray, and about 12
seconds scanning time for a full 8-1/2 by 11 inch page, using only normal
ambient room lighting.

It's reminiscent of the Couzin Soft-Strip scanner, except the scanning head
is a lot smaller, and about 12" off the table top.  This approach makes a
lot of sense optically, and means among things you can scan directly from
a book or magazine page without an intermediate xerox copy.  Price should
be about $700, promised availability April '88.  Looks good.

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 11:50:26 EST
From: "William E. Williams"
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: General sound questions

Can someone point me at descriptions of importing, sampling, and playing
sounds on the plus and SE?  I am interested in sampling hardware, software,
utilities, and virtually any other information about how to get, modify, and
play sounds on the Mac.  I have an application in Pascal that is used by
someone looking through a microscope for long hours, and the program has to be
informative and interesting without requiring the user to take his/her eyes
from the 'scope.  References to articles in Mactutor, Macintouch, Macuser,
Macworld (unlikely) are welcome, as is direct information via mail.

Thanks in advance,

                                        B2

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 11:55:59 EST
From: "William E. Williams"
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Adult art

Dare I say this isn't for me?  Well, it's true even if no one believes it.  A
friend of mine (really.... oh, forget it!) is interested in collecting
examples of "adult art" for the Macintosh.  He claims he's interested in
seeing whether there is any obvious difference between the kind of stuff
computer buffs are apparently interested in and the stuff more ordinary folks
like.  Can anyone point me to online sources?  Educomp sells some disks,
apparently, but they're said to be in the public domain, so there must be some
way to get them without paying Educomp's fee.

                                           -B2

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 15:11:08 EST
From: Steve Buyske <[e-mail]>
Subject: Spellchecking and TeXtures (TeX)

     Can anyone give me recommendations about a spelling checker DA
that will work well with TeX?  I'm not concerned about it interacting well
with the program, as it only has to check an ASCII file, but I want it
to work gracefully with the TeX commands.  For example, I would like it to
know (or learn) "alpha" (better yet, "\alpha"), and just ignore
"\alpha_i|j", not consider it a new word.

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 10:10:03 EST
From: [e-mail] (Gary Giles)
Subject: Tek 4107 terminal emulator request

We have recently acquired a Mac ][ and are searching for a terminal
emulator for the TEK 4107 or newer terminal.  We have ordered
VersaTerm-Pro but are searching for a better graphics emulator to
interface with such mainframe codes as PATRAN.

Gary Giles
Computing and Telecommunications
Martin Marietta Energy System, Inc.
Oak Ridge, TN

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 15:29:10 EST
From: [e-mail] (Rich Jaenson)
Subject: MAC gatepost..

A couple of weeks ago I saw a news item about a program
called 'gatepost' for the MACS.  It supposedly would allow
UNIX systems to dump postscript files to a MAC, which would
then send them to a laserwriter.  The program was written by
Paul Menon.  If you have any information on this or an archive
where I could look for it, I would appreciate it very much.
    Thanks..Rich Jaenson
    [e-mail]
    Dept. of Mathematics
    Cornell University

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 18:43:46 EST
From: [e-mail] (Anton Rang)
Subject: Macintosh ][ Ethernet & NFS

  Does anyone know if there is an NFS system running on the Macintosh ][
using Apple's Ethertalk card?  We would like to network the Mac ][ with our
Sun workstations.
  Please send responses to [e-mail] or ihnp4!msudoc!cpsvax!rang .

Thanks,
  Anton Rang
  Michigan State University

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 88 02:15 EST
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Printing with Red Ryder 9.4

It's strange. Since September I have been without a printer, when a screw came
loose, fell into the lower Circuit Board and blew the fuse that you have to
remove the entire bed of the ImageWriter II to get to. Well, I finally fixed it
and have since actually tried printing things. Most of them work. Unfortunately
Red Ryder 9.4 doesn't. Using Finder 5.5 and System 4.1 on a Mac+ with no
internal (or external) modifications [I'm a student! I can't afford anything!]
and RR9.4, whenever I try to print, using either the printer button in the
general status menu bar or the Echo To Printer local  menu command I get a
"The Printer Resource File Could Not Be Found on the System Disk. No Printing
Can Be Done Without That" dialog box. The problem is the fact that I have put
{that is, tried individually} Every version of the ImageWriter file I can find
into the System Folder, onto the top layer of the Disk, every place I could
think of and have still ended up with a silent printer. This is very annoying,
as it means I must send all printer output from my mainframe acct to school
printers or spend the time Downloading it to home.
I don't know if it ever worked before, as I got my modem after I blew the fuse,
but it seems that this is a simple problem (yes, the printer is Chosen in C
Chooser) than should have a simple fix that I'm just missing - over and over
and over.
Ah well, I trust you folks. You people actually write code for this thing, as
apposed to my proud User Only status. You can solve this problem. I know you
can. Right? Please? Pretty please?
Anyway,
Slack To You All,
Richard Segal,
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
Oh, by the way, the end to my story about the pinout for the modem port, I
ended up Jury rigging, using stereo speaker cable and double-alligator clip
test leads for a month untill I could afford a real Cable. Thanks for the help
folks.

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 88 12:35 AST
From: Peter J Gergely <[e-mail]>
Subject: More on the Mac 512K, and LW 5.0 Problem

More on the 512K, KE; Laser Driver 5.0, and Systems 3.2, and 3.3.

To date I have received only the following message, on our problems with
512K's and Laser Drivers (LDs) 5.0.

     Date:     Fri, 15 Jan 88 11:54 EST
     From:     <[e-mail]>
     Subject:  Laserwriter 5.0 bugs

     We have also had problems with the latest version of LaserWriter
     and LaserPrep, but they stem from using them with System 3.2 on
     512E's.  When trying to print a non-laser font, system crashes may
     occur that permanently destroy the disk.  We've had both system and
     data disks go bad and thought all our disk drives were dying until
     we diagnosed the problem.  Problems occured with Word 3.01 and
     MacDraw, but not Word 1.05 or WriteNow.

     Our only solution was to go to version 4.0 of laser files.

     Linda Iroff
     Humanities Computing Center
     Cornell University
     Ithaca, NY 14853
     [e-mail]

In the meantime, I contacted Apple Canada, whose first and immediate
response was to go back to LDs 4.0.  Stating that this response was
unsatisfactory, and that the documentation for the v5 System Software
specifically states all machines on an Appletalk must run the same LDs,
they said they would inquire to the US.  The following answer was
received (as best as I could transcribe the voice answer):

"The LDs 5.0 were designed to function correctly ONLY with machines
containing one or more MB of Ram.  There is no simple cure that would
allow this driver to work properly with the 512K Macintoshes, regardless
of 64K or 128K rom.  We will inform engineering that we have clients in
the field requesting a compatible driver for Mac512K machines".

This is a partially satisfactory answer, but we still cannot upgrade our
512K macs at the moment at the current upgrade prices, and our users
really do prefer LDs 5.0.  I wonder how many Macintosh Environments are
being hurt with our problems, and the ones mentioned by Linda Iroff.

Well, I wish I could talk to someone in Apple USA, as my call to
Public Relations got transferred to  International Customer Relations,
and they have yet to return my call.

Come on, Apple, there are some of us out here in the world that once
believed in you for your upward compatibility and your upgrade policies.

    - Peter

Peter J. Gergely (DREA, P.O. Box 1012, Dartmouth, NS  B2Y 3Z7  Canada)
      ARPANET:  [e-mail] (preferred)
or              [e-mail]
      DIALNET:  Peter@DIAL|DREA-GRIFFIN
      CSNET:    [e-mail]
      UUCP:     [e-mail]
      GENIE:    GERGELY

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

Date: 20 Jan 88 16:48:00 CST
From: "ESDC::WEYWADT" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Request for info for PICT translators
Reply-to: "ESDC::WEYWADT" <[e-mail]>

HELP!   I need a routine that translates PICT files, i.e. to UIS files
for a VAX station.  Anyone out there having or knowing of such a routine
please drop a line of what and where to obtain it. Thanks!

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 88 19:48:04 -0500 (EST)
From: "Philip H. Dye" <[e-mail]>
Subject: uVax <-> AppleTalk


We have a couple of Macs and two uVaxs in a computer room.  The Macs produce
postscript code and print it over Appletalk to a Laserwriter.  The uVax also
prints postscript to a Laserwriter.  However, this is quite a wastes to have a
two several thousand dollar printers in the same room doing the same thing,
processing postscript.

Is one of the following possble?

-  Put the uVax on AppleTalk for printing

-  Have the uVax receive the ps from the macs and act as a server.

-  Run a Laserwriter off of the Mac's serial line. to send it's ps to the uVax
making it a spooler.

Does anyone have any knowlege, suggestions, comments, or experience with some
of the above methods or any otehr methods I may have overlooked?

Philip Dye
[e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 88 20:31:37 -0500 (EST)
From: "Philip H. Dye" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Mac Bernulli Boxes

Anyone have any comments about using bernuli boxes with a Mac II.

Philip Dye
[e-mail]

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

Date: 21 Jan 1988 10:32:56-EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: new software-versionlist.txt


Could someone post a new version of "software-versionlist.txt" to the
archives?  The current version is dated April 1987.  Thanks.

        - bob

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 88 18:52:13 GMT
From: "Kieran Carrick,UCD,Ireland"
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Laserwriter II

Here is a message I posted on MAC-USER@IRLEARN (.BITNET).
Perhaps you could copy it to INFO-MAC.
MAC-USER is a listserv list based on the EARN network (effectively BITNET)
and is a non moderated Mac discussion list aimed at a European audience.
Subscription is now open. Bitnet people can send a TELL message to LISTSERV@
IRLEARN with the command "SUBSCRIBE MAC-USER <USER@NODE> Firstname Secondname"
If you are not on Bitnet then please feel free to mail me
              Kieran Carrick <CARRICK@IRLEARN>
University College Dublin, Ireland - Irish National EARN node.

p.s While I am here could someone contact me if they know the whereabouts
of the latest MACKERMIT implementation. Thanks. Kieran

[ The latest version of MacKermit will be posted soon.
  Watch for it in the digest soon.  JP ]

[ Start original message ]

I've just seen the new LaserWriter II.
It's a much better designed box than its trusty predecessor.
The prices are pretty attractive too!

One aspect of it worries me though, the mode selection is now done by dip switc
hes on the back.
Most of our LaserWriters are in public areas and are used by Mac users, PC user
s and mainframe users who select either Batch or Appletalk modes on the switch
at the back. Dip switches cause terrible user problems in these circumstances.
Does anyone out there have a suggestion (however fancifull) as to how I can
continue to offer both an RS232 interface and an appletalk interface to users
using the same physical device **without** requiring them to change the dip
switches?
Kieran
Acknowledge-To: <CARRICK@IRLEARN>

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

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 88 11:26:45 CET
From: [e-mail]
Subject: TP filesystem/interface

Date: 21 January 88, 11:23:15 CET
From: Georg Moe                 47-2-123050          EDB87003 at NOBIVM
To:   INFO-MAC at SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD

The filesystem/interface on the Macintosh (using Turbo Pascal).

Is there anybody out there with some experience on this subject?
My problem is as follows:

It is the first time that I am writing a program on the Mac, but as
long as one doesn't need to think about Resource-files everything is
OK. However, the menusystem is easy, but the filesystem worries me at
the moment.  To be precise: I want to save a matrix (array(1..30,1..130)
of Real;) to the disk, and later be able to launch the application by
double-clicking the datafile. After reading the TP-manual and Inside
Macintosh about the file-system/Finder-interface, I must admit that it
is not the easiest piece of litterature I have read, although I have
understood some of the concepts behind it. My first problem then is how
(where) to tell the program who the CREATOR is and the file-TYPE, and
how to implement it. The next problem is the definition of
the icons for the application and the datafiles.  So far I have only
modified one of the demo-(resource)files included with Turbo-Pascal
(actually MYDEMO.R on the samples-diskette).  One section of this file
seems to concern icons: TYPE ICN = GNRL
,1100
.H
FFFFFFFF
80000001
  .
  .
  .
The mask
FFFFFFFF
FFFFFFFF
FFFFFFFF

When I have compiled the application to disk this gives me an icon
looking like a ladder. One day I changed some of the Hex-numbers, and
voila, I got two spots in the ladder. The problem is now to get rid of
these spots, and let the icon look like something more intelligent.
The application icon should in fact look like a treble clef and the
datafile icon like a note.
By the way, it seems to be impossible to get rid of these spots, whatever
I write (and recompile the .R file), why?

Is there some good litterature covering these subjects?

I hope that there is someone out there who can help me.
Thanks a lot.

..............................................................
... So long .................. Bedrifts:konomisk Institutt ...
... Georg Moe ................ Pb. 69, N-1341 Bekkestua ......
.............................. Tlf [phone] ............

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

Date: 21 Jan 88 11:52:56 PST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Architrion
Reply-to: [e-mail]

Apparently there is an architecture package for the MAC called ARCHITRION that
is getting rave reviews in Europe.  I understand it was developed by some French
Institutions for the French government.    Anybody out there got any
info/experience/pointers to help substantiate/refute the rumour.

        -- Mik --

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

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 88 20:31:04 -0500 (EST)
From: "Philip H. Dye" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Inverted/Ball mice


Does anyone have any experience with inverted mice ? (just a block with
the ball facing up)

What supplier are there ?
What are common problems ?
Are there any special advantages or disadvantages to using them ?

Philip Dye

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

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 88 17:01:26 EST
From: tom coradeschi <[e-mail]>
Subject: Startup application

Is anyone aware of a method of bypassing the startup application on an occai-
sional basis? Sometimes I just want to go straight to the desktop. I'm looking
for something like a couple of keys to hold down or whatever.

thanks,
tom c

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

Date: 23 Jan 88 10:58:00 EST
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Latest round in 68020 vs. 80386 wars
Reply-to: <[e-mail]>

This may bore some readers to death, but I just can't pass a chance to further
rebut the "big lies" circulating in the popular computer press about the
relative speeds of the 68020 vs. 80386. To be specific:

The hardware is the Compaq 20 mhz 80386 and 80387 versus a Mac+ with a 25
mhz Novy systems 68020/881 accelerator board. The results:

                Novy            Compaq(From Nov. 87 Byte)
Sieve           3.1 sec         4.76 sec
Sort            7.3 sec         6.15 sec

I didn't run the floating point tests, since it is already clear (Byte, Nov.
87, pg. 109) that even a 16 mhz Mac II is faster for floating point than
a 20 mhz Compaq.

Finally, these tests were run on the Compaq with a highly optimizing Metaware
C compiler, while the Mac results are with the one-pass Lightspeed C.

I hope now we don't have to worry anymore about the "powerful" 80386.

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

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