PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/InfoMac Digests/InfoMac Vol. 6/InfoMac 6.13

Text File | 1988-02-19 | 18.2 KB | 523 lines | [TEXT/ttxt]

INFO-MAC Digest          Monday, 15 Feb 1988       Volume 6 : Issue 13

Today's Topics:
                     Open Dialogue from the Desktop
                           Reassembling Files
                                TAC Hints
               Review of MacRecorder by Farallon Computing
                     Re: Default tab settings in LSC
                     Background process, new SE fan
                  NCSA Telnet available from Macserve?
                           DeskCheck Enclosed
                               MultiLaunch
                         Vision Lab (in 3 parts)
                                Paint DA
                       miniWRITER 1.4 (in 2 parts)
                              LaserDump.Hqx
                              Earthplot 3.0
                        Earthplot 3.0 sources.sit


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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 88 09:19:21 EST
From: Matt Rhodes <[e-mail]>
Subject: Open Dialogue from the Desktop


Ok I'm sure it exists but where do I find it.

    I find myself a little inconvenienced by 'mousing' through folders
to get to application programs on my new hard disk.  Several people have
offered solutions to this problem (OASIS, HD Runner) but I wonder if a
solution such as the following could exist.

    From the desktop I believe CTRL-O should bring up the Open file
dialogue box.  Within this dialogue, typing should select file/folders
at the current level (e.g. 'CTRL-O s y s t' should probably get you to
the system folder).  Hitting return should then open the selected file/folder.
This mechanism could probably then open any appl. with as few as 5-10 key
strokes.  This is really just giving access to the current Open file
dialogue from the desktop.   This mechanism would become even more power-
ful if the keyboard capability were extended. Specifically, within a dialogue
it should be possible to move "up" the file hierarchy (e.g. from within the
system folder maybe CTRL-U should put you back to the disk level).

    This mechanism fits the philosophy that anything that can be done
with the mouse should also be available from the keyboard in a less trans-
parent way.   With this type of interface the beginning user can quickly
get functionality however the sophisticated user (read 'hacker') is not
encumbered with a slow selection mechanism.  I believe the mouse is a intui-
tively obvious interface but the keyboard is an extremely efficient one and
so both have there place in a good user interface.

If someone has written this CTRL-O function key please let me know.

Thanks
Matt Rhodes
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
[e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 88 08:20:28 PST
From: Steve Dennett <[e-mail]>
Subject: Reassembling Files

Hello,

I often find that I have problems re-assembling binhexed files from
the INFO-MAC archives that are stored in multiple parts.  Usually what
happens is that I get an error message when un-binhexing them.  Oddly,
the same procedure may work with one file and not another.

Usually what I do is to FTP the files to our host, edit them into one
large file while still on the host (and removing message headers-- is
this necessary?), then download and un-binhex the file.

I've also tried just editing out the message header, downloading, and
using the APPEND program to combine the parts.

Generally, the files that I've had problems with are the ones with 4+
parts (such as the MACUNDERGROUND file).

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong, and suggest a better method
of handling these?  Thanks.

Steve Dennett
 [e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 88 08:58:46 PST
From: Steve Dennett <[e-mail]>
Subject: TAC Hints


Let me add a few notes to the comments John Robinson made about using
Kermit through a TAC.

As he stated, the TAC uses the @ as its intercept character, which
means that it interprets the characters after an @ as a TAC command
(and filters them out of the data stream).

You can do two things to get around this:

1) you can change the intercept to a character that won't appear in
   your file with the command " @i N" where "N" is the ASCII decimal
   value of the new intercept character ( for example, "@i 6" would
   change the TAC intercept to Control-F (^F) ).

2) you can put the TAC in binary mode, which will disable the intercept
   character completely.  This will also let you transmit 8-bit files
   if you need to (the TAC normally strips off the 8th bit).

   To do this, you must first connect to your host.  Then type the
   commands listed below *in the order listed*.  They must be typed
   in this order, because once the second command is typed, you will
   not be able to send commands to the TAC until you log out from your
   host and close the connection.  The commands are:

    @b o s <return>
        @b i s <return>

  [Note that the "<return>" is the carriage return (CR) or "enter" key.]

Doing either of the above will let you use Kermit through the TAC.  There
are, however, some additional considerations.

If the TAC you are using is heavily loaded, it may not be able to keep up
with the data stream from your PC (this is usually only a problem when
uploading, not downloading).  If you have this problem, there are two
things you can try.

1) One problem the TAC has is that it has a very small (64 character)
   buffer.  You can make it easier for the TAC by reducing the size
   of your Kermit packets from the default 80 - 90 character packet
   size to 60 character packets.

2) As John mentioned, you can enable flow control (XON/XOFF) at the
   TAC (this won't work when the TAC is in binary mode, however).
   To do this requires typing *three* commands:

         @d c a <return>
         @f i s <return>
         @f o s <return>

   You must type the "@d c a" first to get the TAC to accept the
   flow control commands.  Note that when these commands are enabled
   the TAC will intercept any ^S or ^Q characters you type, which
   may make working with some editors (ie, EMACs) difficult.  To
   turn off flow control, give the commands:

         @f i e <return>
         @f o e <return>

Hope this helps.

 Steve Dennett
   [e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 88 12:03 EST
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Review of MacRecorder by Farallon Computing

For those wondering what ever happened to SoundCap, the sound digitizer, it has
been bought out by Impulse; it is now called Sound Wave.  I borrowed a friend's
SoundWave equipment once, and was quite impressed.  It was fun to play with.

But 2 days ago, the computer store in which I work received a copy of Mac
Recorder, by Farallon.  It is superior to Sound Wave.  You must see it to
believe it. It includes a microphone, into which you can plug a line in (which
you'd use to record from your stereo).  Also, they give you a cable to hook up
the Mac to external speakers.  And, of course, the sound editing software
(SoundEdit) is included. You get an appplication and 2 HyperCard stacks.  You
can do AMAZING things with Sound Edit, the music editor.  Add echos, change to
backwards, adjust envelopes, flange it, change the pitch, etc.  It samples
sounds at 4 speeds: 5, 7.5, 11 and 22 KHz.

The HyperCard stacks allow you to record and playback sounds, and then paste
them into any of your stacks.

Other features: It has a 4-channel mixer, which will mix up to 4 tracks into
one.  If you have a Mac II and 2 of these pups, you can record in stereo.  Or
on any Mac, you can record each channel separately, and mix them to achieve
true stereo (which could only be played back on a Mac II.)  And it uses color
on a Mac II.

MacRecordar lists for $200.  I can ship anyone (with Visa/MC) a new copy for
$150.  Let me know if you're interested or have more questions.

Brian Campbell
Cornell Univ.
[e-mail]

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

Date: Mon,  8 Feb 88 11:02:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Richard Siegel <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Default tab settings in LSC


In LightspeedC's resource fork, there is a "CNFG" resource that contains
information such as the default font, size, tab, and search settings; while I
don't remember the exact format of this resource, it is documented in the
LightspeedC reference manual; check the 2.01 supplement as well.

        --Rich

===================================================================
Richard Siegel
THINK Technologies, QA Technician (on leave)

The opinions stated here do not represent the policies
of THINK Technologies or of Carnegie-Mellon University.

Arpa: [e-mail]
UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,sun}!andrew.cmu.edu!rs4u
==================================================================

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

Date: Mon, 08 Feb 88 14:51:10 EST
From: "William E. Williams"
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Background process, new SE fan

I just took delivery on a new SE - boy is that fan QUIET! - and it came with
multifinder.  So, I got my first look at it.  Disapointing that it only allows
one process, namely laser printing, in the background, but it's a start.

Can someone point me to references on writing programs to run in the
"background?"  I have a Mac + now dedicated to running some lab equipment, but
it only has to think about this for maybe 5 seconds every 30.  Of course, the
Mac is as of now useless for doing anything else useful.  I'd dearly love to
learn how to make this program run under multi-finder (I haven't just tried
running it with now modifications - it is driven by messages sent out and
received from the serial port - think it would work?).  Any help would be
greatly appreciated!
                                         B2

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

Date: Sat, 12 Dec 87 22:50 N
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Fruin)
Subject: NCSA Telnet available from Macserve?

The new NCSA Telnet (that supports the EtherTalk cards) is out, but can only
be obtained by (1) FTP from an Arpanet address or (2) the normal mail system.
Since I don't have access to Arpanet and it's a real hassle to order things
from the States (I'm in the Netherlands), I was wondering if someone might
want to make NCSA Telnet available on Info-Mac.  That way it will get cross-
posted to the Macserve server on Bitnet, and reach a far greater audience
(hint: that includes me).

Could someone, please?

-- Thomas Fruin

   [e-mail]
   [e-mail]
   hol0066.AppleLink
   2:500/15.FidoNet

   Leiden University, Netherlands

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>NCSA-TELNET-README.TXT
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>NCSA-TELNET-21-PART1.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>NCSA-TELNET-21-PART2.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>NCSA-TELNET-21E-PART1.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>NCSA-TELNET-21E-PART2.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>NCSA-TELNET-21-DOCS-PART1.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>NCSA-TELNET-21-DOCS-PART2.HQX

This is not the complete library of files, but should be enough to get
people started.  Telnet 2.1e is the Ethernet version; regular 2.1 is for
AppleTalk.

- Lance ]

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

Date: Fri, 08 Jan 88 15:09:17 EST
From: ephraim vishniac <[e-mail]>
Subject: DeskCheck Enclosed

Attached is documentation, executable, source (MDS assembler), and
resources for DeskCheck.  These were compressed and packaged with
PackIt, and converted for mailing with BinHex 4.0.

DeskCheck is a tiny program which examines all files with resources
on all available volumes to find ones with defective bundles (BNDL
and associated resources).  Why bother?  Bundles are copied into
the Desktop file by the Finder.  Defective bundles, which are
surprisingly common, cause a variety of side effects.  Ones that
I've seen are a bloated Desktop file, Finder hangs or bombs when
copying files, Finder hangs or bombs when disk is inserted, and
Finder hangs or bombs when particular folders are opened.
Successive Finders have been more resistant to these problems,
but I don't believe it's perfect yet.

For descriptions of DeskCheck's alerts, read the enclosed text file
"Alerts."  If you're bored and lonely, think about converting this
into a decent application.  It could use:
    menus
    a way of selecting volumes/folders/files to be checked
    more extensive documentation
    logging facilities, so you don't have to take notes

If you're very ambitious, it could even be expanded to do sanity
checks on other standard types of resources.  If that's not tough
enough, how about writing code to *fix* some of the more obvious
errors in resource files?  Hardest of all, perhaps, is to do a
sanity check on a file's resource fork before calling _OpenResFile.
There are files so strange that simply calling _OpenResFile brings
on a bomb.

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>DESKCHECK.HQX

- Lance ]

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

Date: Mon 11 Jan 88 09:25:58-EDT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: MultiLaunch

[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman ]

Name: MULTILAUNCH 1.0
Date: 10-JAN-1988 00:31 by ASMCOR

Ok, so you'd like to use MultiFinder, but you only have 1 meg of memory.
You can trim all the extra fonts and DAs out of your System file, and turn
of the memory cache, but it still doesn't leave enough room to run, say,
Word 3.01 and FileMaker Plus together. The problem is that the Finder takes
up 160K, even when you don't need it. MultiLaunch is designed to fix that
problem. It contains just enough code to be able to launch applications
under MultiFinder, and requires only 30K of memory! Now you *can* run two
major programs at once on a 1 meg machine! MultiLaunch is shareware by Jan
Eugenides. Try it. If you find it useful, send me $10.

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>MULTILAUNCH-10.HQX

- Lance ]

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

Date: Tue 12 Jan 88 09:34:29-GMT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: Vision Lab (in 3 parts)

[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman ]

Name: VISION LAB
Date: 10-JAN-1988 20:35 by JONES

Vision Lab - For all Macs with at least the 128ROMs.  Works best on a Mac
II.  Opens Thunder Scan, MacPaint, PICT, and GIF files.  Also works with
the Koala MacVision hardware.  (Vision Lab replaces SuperVision)

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>VISION-LAB-PART1.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>VISION-LAB-PART2.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>VISION-LAB-PART3.HQX

This program replaces SuperVision 0.41.

- Lance ]

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

Date: Wed 13 Jan 88 16:06:48-GMT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: Paint DA

[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman ]

Name: PAINT VIEWER DA
Date: 13-JAN-1988 00:56 by PAGE1

This is a picture viewer DA that views a MacPaint/FullPaint document on the
full screen.  It is compatable with 512s, Pluses, and SEs. Also works under
DA FKEY and suitcase.  Features include:  Zoom in/out, scroll copy to
clipboard, and startupscreen production.  Shareware.

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>DA-PAINT-VIEWER.HQX

- Lance ]

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

Date: Mon 18 Jan 88 11:39:41-GMT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: miniWRITER 1.4 (in 2 parts)

[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman ]

Name: MINIWRITER PACKAGE
Date: 14-JAN-1988 21:32 by DDUNHAM

[ DA and doc updated 14-JAN-1988 21:32 by DDUNHAM. Version 1.4 works with
LaserPrep 5.0 (supporting any font), and prints properly on an ImageWriter
after another program has printed.  Adds sheet feeder support. ]

miniWRITER(tm) is a TEXT-processor desk accessory with Undo and deluxe
printing at draft speed.  In addition to the desk accessory itself, this
package contains the following files:

miniWRITER.doc describes the miniWRITER desk accessory.  It's in MacWrite
2.2 format.  miniWRITER.appendix goes into detail on ImageWriter printing.
Part of the miniWRITER(tm) package.

imageWRITER font.  Use with miniWRITER desk accessory for
what-you-see-is-what-you-get printing at draft speed.

Two templates for printing envelopes sith miniWRIPER.  For best resqlts,
install the imageWRITER font before using them.  These templates work with
the ImageWriter printer.

A ResEdit TMPL (template) resource useful for customizing the miniWRITER
desk accessory is included in the "suitecase file."

Copyright (C) 1986 Maitreya Design. SHAREWARE.

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>DA-MINIWRITER-14-PART1.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>DA-MINIWRITER-14-PART2.HQX

This version replaces version 1.39.

- Lance ]

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

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 88 18:02:38 -0500 (EST)
From: [e-mail] (Richard Siegel)
Subject: LaserDump.Hqx

The attached file contains an installer for a screen dump FKEY that
will print the screen to any Macintosh-supported printer (ImageWriter,
LaserWriter, or other), and an information file, all in BinHexed StuffIt
format.

Enjoy.

        --Rich

===================================================================
Richard Siegel
THINK Technologies, QA Technician (on leave)
Carnegie-Mellon University, Confused Physics Major
Arpa: [e-mail]
UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,sun}!andrew.cmu.edu!rs4u
==================================================================

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>FKEY-LASERDUMP.HQX

- Lance ]

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 88 16:34:03 PST
From: [e-mail] (Michael Peirce)
Subject: Earthplot 3.0

This is an update of the Earthplot program.  Earthplot draw a projection
drawing of the earth given latitude and longitude.  Older versions of this
program where written in Megamax C and thus broke under the current system
software.  V3.0 is now written in LightSpeed C and supports large displays
and the clip-board.

Full source code is included in the next message.

-- michael

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>EARTHPLOT-30.HQX

This version replaces the previous version.

- Lance ]

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 88 16:34:40 PST
From: [e-mail] (Michael Peirce)
Subject: Earthplot 3.0 sources.sit

This is the source code for EarthPlot 3.0.  It's a stuffit archive
containing the LightSpeedC sources, project (w/o objects), and resource
files needed to rebuild it.  The TranSkel library is also required (though
not included).

-- michael

[archived as

[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>EARTHPLOT-30-SOURCE.HQX

- Lance ]

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

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