PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/InfoMac Digests/InfoMac Vol. 6/InfoMac 6.54

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List (Unformatted): INFO-MAC DIGEST V6 #54


INFO-MAC Digest         Wednesday, 1 Jun 1988      Volume 6 : Issue 54

Today's Topics:
                     REQUEST- Statistics for the Mac
                        Smalltalk for MAC II ???
                  Public domain Mac to Regis converter?
                   Need Desk-Top Publishing S/W advice
           Powerful, Easy to Learn Mac Programming Environment
                          Word Perfect for Mac
                     Becoming a Macintosh Developer
                           RAM serial drivers
                       dBase III code compatable??
                              Systat Review
                         Mac to NFS Connection?
                         DA round window anyone?
                      Font/DA Mover bug or feature?
                          HP-IB printers & macs
                           Megamax C 3.0 patch


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

Date: Thu, 19 May 88 20:14:46 IST
From: Ami Zakai <[e-mail]>
Subject: REQUEST- Statistics for the Mac

Hello I need a stat program that can do non-linear regression with at list
6 variables + analysis of variance and hypothesis test.
Send info directly to:

   Dr. Ami Zakai      LifeSci project, Telecommunication.

                      Rappaport Institute for Medical Research,
                      P.O.B. 9697, Haifa 31096  ISRAEL
                      Phone   [phone]
                      Fax     [phone] attn Zakai
                      Email    [e-mail]
                               [e-mail]
                               [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 19 May 88 14:45 CDT
From: JEFF SMITH <[e-mail]>
Subject: Smalltalk for MAC II ???

Has anyone been using smalltalk for the MAC II? Isn't a version for MPW
suppose to be out soon? I think I remember someone beta testing a version.
Is APDA version out yet? We are beginning a large object oriented database
project here and would like to use smalltalk. Thanks in advance.
Jeff Smith
UT Arlington
BITNET B609CSE@UTARLG
CS.NET [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 20 May 88 12:37 EDT
From: David Bogartz <[e-mail]>
Subject: Public domain Mac to Regis converter?

Has anyone ever heard of or seen a public domain Mac to Regis graphics
converter?  (Regis is a graphics format supported by some DEC graphics
terminals.)  I am aware of Reggie(tm), a product of White Pine Software,
but I'm looking for something cheaper.

Please send responses directly to me and I will summarize.

Thanks!

David Bogartz
[e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Russ Rodriguez)
Subject: Need Desk-Top Publishing S/W advice
Date: 20 May 88 17:07:39 GMT

Dear Net-Persons:

        I'm interested in obtaining a complete desk-top publishing system
consisting of either a Mac II or an AT Clone, plus a laser printer.  What
I need from the net are recommendations and relevent info regarding Mac II
Desk-Top publishing software. If there is enough of a response, I'll summarize
and repost.  Thanks for all of the interesting & valuable information that
I've already gleaned from these newsgroups.

Russell
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer:   The opinions of Russ Rodriguez are his own and couldn't possibly
            reflect those of his employer: Teknowledge, Inc., of Palo Alto, CA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
internet: [e-mail]
usenet:    {uunet|sun|ucbvax|decwrl|uw-beaver}!rrodrigu%teknowledge-vaxc.arpa
USnail:    Teknowledge Inc, 1850 Embarcadero Rd, POB 10119, Palo Alto, CA 94303

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

Date: Fri, 20 May 1988 10:13:27 PDT
From: "Anthony E. Siegman" <siegman@sierra>
Subject: Powerful, Easy to Learn Mac Programming Environment

This is one of those messages that will get me laughed at by ``real
programmers'', but what the hell . . .

There's continuing discussion of the best programming environment for
developing Macintosh applications, with MPW seeming to be most widely
favored, for obvious reasons.

What I want to point out here are the substantial, and largely
unrecognized, advantages in terms of
     --power
     --simplicity
     --and especially, speed of learning
of using Microsoft BASIC (!) as a programming environment for developing
_real_ (though maybe not too complex) and genuinely ``Mac-ish''
applications for the the Macintosh.

To start with, or those of you who haven't looked at a modern BASIC
lately, MS BASIC has
  --no line numbers
  --unlimited length variable names and labels (at no cost in speed)
  --all the standard structured programming constructs
  --interpreter or compiler from the same source
  --subprograms with _local_ variables and parameter lists (in and out)
  --pretty nice built-in editor
  --easy screen graphics
and so on.  You still have to be careful about variable types, and
remember that all variables are global in the main program, but your
program design can be as structured as you want to it to be (and a _lot_
easier to read than any other language).

But beyond that, all of the following Macintosh interface capabilities
are directly and _easily_ available from within basic BASIC:
  --Windows     (4 types, 4 levels)
  --Menus     (full capabilities)
  --Mouse     (full capabilities)
  --Buttons     (all types)
  --Edit fields
  --SFGetFile     (use for opening or saving)
  --Large fraction of QuickDraw capabilities
  --Numerous ROM routines
  --Clipboard access, in and out, text or pictures
  --Event driven programming (using trapping or polling), for Timer,
      Mouse, Menu, or Dialog events.
In brief, you can make a BASIC program that looks every bit as Mac-ish
as you like -- and compile it immediately into a free-standing clickable
application.

Beyond this, once you learn a little about resources and REdit or
ResEdit, through a set of very easy to use and readable ``ToolLib''
library calls which come with BASIC, you can very simply create, access
and use a large set of Mac resources and Toolbox capabilities,
including
    Arrays   Clipping    Alerts   Modal Dialogs   Graphics   Icons
    Menus   Mouse   Patterns   Pictures   Points   Polygons
    Regions   Resource Files   Srolling   Strings   Text   Windows
In each of these cases, the Toollib calls look very much like the
Toolbox calls in ``Inside Macintosh'', but all of the initialization and
clean up hassles are largely avoided.

And again, when you're all done you can have a self-contained clickable
application, with its own resources, icon, ``About'' box, and so on.

The canonical statement from ``real Mac programmers'' seems to be
something like , ``I spent 9 months reading all 5 volumes of Inside
Macintosh, and struggling with MPW, and finally I got the picture and
could start doing things.''  My experience with a class I'm teaching
right now is that interested undergrads with ``high-school BASIC''
backgrounds can produce simple but real Mac applications within a few
_weeks_ of starting on the Mac.

I'm not saying that I or anyone else would want to write a
multi-featured paint program or text editor in MS BASIC.  But if you're
a scientist, or teacher, or engineer, or  an amateur prgrammer in any
field, who has other responsibilities in life besides Mac programming;
and if you'd like to write a real Mac application with a real Macintosh
interface for your class or your job or your personal use, doing it in
MS BASIC is the _only_ sensible choice I'm aware of.  You can spend
months with MPW -- or weeks with BASIC.

Finally, just note that it's our experience -- don't want to push this
claim too hard -- that a compiled BASIC number crunching program (a big
simplex program, for example, or an FFT) runs every bit as fast as the
same program in any of the standard Pascals.

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

Date: Fri, 20 May 88 11:42:37 -0900
Reply-to: <[e-mail]>
Sender: <[e-mail]>
From: Paul Coffin
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Word Perfect for Mac

Dear Mac Users,
        Our University is considering a large purchase of
Word Perfect for the VAX and Macintoshes.  I would like to
know if anyone has had any experience with any or both of
those two products (especially the Mac version.)  Is it
good, is it fair...does it work ???  Any comments would
be most appreciated. (If you have had expierience with
transfering Word Perfect files from the Mac to PC and/or
VAX I would like to hear about it too.)
        Please reply to [e-mail] and I will post
a summary to this list.

        Thank You !!

        Paul Coffin
        University of Alaska Southeast.
        [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 20 May 88 20:46:15 EDT
From: Atul Butte <[e-mail]>
Subject: Becoming a Macintosh Developer

I just read that becoming an Official Macintosh Developer is free. If so,
how do I become one?


_______________________________________________________________________
Atul Butte
Brown University           /-------\    /---------\
.                          !  OK   !    !  CANCEL !
.                          \-------/    \---------/
[e-mail]

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

Date: Sat, 21 May 88 00:16:03 cdt
From: [e-mail] (Tom Russo)
Subject: RAM serial drivers


I'm trying to learn how to use the serial drivers on the Mac, and I
can't get them to work. This is what I do (all is in Lightspeed C):

Insert the SERD resources into a resource file.

Do an OpenResFile on same.

Do a RAMSDOpen on sPortB.

The last call never returns noErr, and of course no FSReads or FSWrites
ever work after that.

What am I leaving out? This seems to be all Inside Mac is telling me to
do.

--tvr

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

Date: Sun, 22 May 88 20:30:34 CST
From: "Larry Pickett, INFOREP"
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: dBase III code compatable??

I would term this a worst case series of events.  I just bought a Mac SE
and am looking to have it pay for itself.  First possible project is to
expand and enhance a system already running and written in dBase III+.
Either I beg time on a ms-dos (pardon the obsenity) machine or find a
package that will run on the Mac and product dBase III+ compatable source
code.  Any suggestions?  I've read ads  for McMax(?) and FoxBase any comments
on these filling my need?  No chance of converting these folks too much
investiment in the other culture.
Acknowledge-To: <C4898@UMSLVMA>

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

Date: Mon, 23 May 88 10:21:36 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Lisa Achille)
Subject: Systat Review


I am looking for critical reviews of the Systat software
for use in the analysis of human factors performance or behavioral data.
If anyone is aware of any such articles or has personal experience with
Systat or any other package that might be preferable, please email your
comments to me directly.  You can use [e-mail] or
...!uunet!nrl-css!achille .  Thank you.

Lisa Achille [phone]

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

Date:     Mon, 23 May 88 16:29:27 PDT
From: grow#[e-mail]
Subject: Mac to NFS Connection?

We are looking for some way to connect a Mac to Sun NFS
ethernet network. We've heard that there is a software
package called Mac-NFS that will do this. Any info would
be greatly appreciated.
     --Jerry Grow
       [e-mail]
       [e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 24 May 88 12:20:56 EDT
From: Pedro de Rezende <[e-mail]>
Subject: DA round window anyone?

How do I get a DA to have a circular window?

Some things that I found out (correct me if needed):
The WDEF resource must have an ID like -16000 to be an owned resource (for
DA ID=12). The corresponding WIND resource must have WindProcID equal to
16*(-16000)+varCode where varCode determines title bar, grow box and the
like. Note, however, that this makes the WindProcID number invalid
(unacceptable to ResEdit). If the WDEF is not an owned resource, the
Font/DA Mover doesn't install it!

I will appreciate replies directly to me. If I get this to work, you can
count on seeing a round DA posted to this very net.

Pedro de Rezende               [e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 24 May 88 12:23:21 EDT
From: Pedro de Rezende <[e-mail]>
Subject: Font/DA Mover bug or feature?

Create a file with CREATOR 'FMOV' and TYPE '????', then double click on it
to get into the Font/DA Mover. Click OK to the error message. Note that you
are neither in Font mode nor in Desk Accessory mode. Then, without clicking
in the DA button, option-open a file containing DAs. You will get the IDs
of the DAs displayed over the last 2 characters of the DAs' names.

Feature or bug?

Pedro de Rezende           [e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 25 May 88 17:48:41 EDT
From: tom coradeschi <[e-mail]>
Subject: HP-IB printers & macs

I've recently acquired an HP 7475A pen plotter, as a surplus item, and want to
be able to use it with a macintosh.
The problem is: it is configured with an HP-IB port, which is Hewlett-Packard's
version of the IEEE-488 bus. Does anyone know of a way to drive an IEEE-488
device with a mac? The printer and modem ports are both RS422/232, so that
seems totally incompatible to me!
There's a device called the grappler, which allows you to drive centronics
interfaces with the mac's printer ports. Is the centronics interface IEEE-488?
Is there any similarity between the two (ie, centronics & IEEE-488)? Is there a
device similar to the grappler which would work in this application?
This isn't a totally crucial device, as far as our macintosh environment is
concerned, it's just that we picked it up for free, and it would be real nice
to use it, if possible. Thanks well in advance for any advice anyone may be
able to provide.

tom c

"MS-DOS. Just say NO!!"

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

Date: Thu, 26 May 88 07:56:56 cdt
From: [e-mail] (Tom Russo)
Subject: Megamax C 3.0 patch


The version of Megamax C I have will not run on newer (i.e. since intro
of Mac Plus. I'm a bit of a stick-in-the-mud) versions of the operating
system. When I first found this someone told me to patch the
executables and libraries by replacing all occurances of one word to
another. I did that on the compiler, linker,editor and syslib, but on
no other utility programs. Now I need convert, and have forgotten the
patch. Does anybody know what sequence I am supposed to replace with
which?

I've quite frankly had it up to here (he points to a location several
inches above his head) with Megamax, and am planning to move to
Lightspeed any minute. In fact, that's why I want convert -- I don't
want to retype every toolbox function name in my old programs when I
switch to lightspeed.

--tvr

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End of INFO-MAC Digest
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