PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/USEnet Digests/USEnet Vol. 3/USEnet 3.067

Text File | 1988-04-08 | 24.1 KB | 633 lines | [TEXT/ttxt]

29-Sep-87 08:59:22-PDT,25287;000000000001
Date: Sat 12 Sep 87 11:07:29-EDT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: Usenet Mac Digest V3 #67

Usenet Mac Digest     Friday, September 11, 1987     Volume 3 : Issue 67

Today's Topics:
     Re: Hypercard
     Re: Which Is Better: DMCS or Studo Session? (Mac)
     gnu cc for mac?
     Re: Hypercard lossage
     Re:PYRO screen blanker
     Suitecase and Finder 5.5
     Re: wanted: Ada system for Mac
     Re: Color MacPaint file format
     HyperCard Xcmd code in LightSpeed C
     FEdit corrections for the BatteryPak Calendar DA
     X Windows to MacPaint ?
     uw for Mac-II ?
     Re: FEdit corrections for the BatteryPak Calendar DA
     ADB and what you shouldnt do
     Re: HyperCard Xcmd code in LightSpeed C

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert Stanley)
Subject: Re: Hypercard
Date: 3 Sep 87 17:06:50 GMT
Organization: Cognos Inc., Ottawa, Canada

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dan Graifer)
writes:

>How will HyperCard react to a really large stack?  Most of the the examples
>distributed are fairly small (except for the help stack).

The quoted limits for a stack are 16 million cards or 500 megabytes.
Obviously what you are doing will decide which limit you hit first.  Of
course, I don't have any 500 megabyte drives on my system, and havent
found a way to split a stack across multiple disks.  These limits are
supposed to allow for the CD-ROM world in the near future, when these
numbers will start to be practical.

> (~60 meetings X ~10 people X ~15 beers = ~9000 records).  Is HyperCard going
> to choke completely if I try to put this up?

If you really want to prove the point, write a stack script that creates
n cards, where n is a suitable integer.  You can easily have the script
fill in a few fields with random words, which you can use to test
retrieval.  9,000 sounds like an awfully small number to me - I have
Excel databases with more entries than that running on the Lisa.  The
biggest stack (in terms of numbers of cards) that I have created is
about 28,000, but the links were very simple. Worked fine for what I
wanted, which was creating and testing a set of patterns and their
permutations.  The most complex card I have created is one with just
over 300 buttons, but these are split between card and background, and
only  some are active (on top) at any one time, controlled by scripts.

As far as calculation is concerned, you can lock the displayed card on
screen and have a script retrieve all sorts of other cards in the
background, perform calculations (or whatever) and return the answer to
the displayed card.  In other words, you don't see a display of all the
intermediate steps (cards), and this can significantly improve speed.
The most complex I have built to date has to look at only four or five
other cards, and it seems that timing is more sensitive to what you do
with the card than the time taken to retrieve it.  I have not yet done
any timing tests to discover if absolute linking (by card id) is faster
than symbolic linking (by card name) or if card ordering is of any great
importance.  Observation tends to suggest that links are being
prefetched in some way for the currently displayed card.

>Anybody seen a ~10K stack on plus?

I built a stack with a lot of imported bit-maps (paint images) which
tops 5 megabytes, in a few hundred cards (I am not on my mac right now
and don't have the exact stats to hand).  This does quite complex
retrieval via scripts in well under 5 seconds per card fetch.  Using a
standard Mac Plus with a 20 meg HD-20 (non-SCSI).

Someone asked what we were doing with stacks.  Well, for fun I am
creating a periodic table that works, but for real I am modeling and
prototyping some interactive interfaces for one of my colleagues.  I am
also investigating the practicality of building a computer-based
training tool in it - the issues here are those of capturing and
analyzing user input.  Anyone know the limit on script sizes?  I don't
have the magic book yet.

--
Robert Stanley           Cognos Incorporated     S-mail: P.O. Box 9707
Voice: [phone] (Research: there are 2!)           3755 Riverside Drive
  FAX: [phone]    Compuserve: 76174,3024          Ottawa, Ontario
 uucp: decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!roberts          CANADA  K1G 3Z4


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

From: [e-mail] (Clayton Elwell)
Subject: Re: Which Is Better: DMCS or Studo Session? (Mac)
Date: 5 Sep 87 20:48:44 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University, CIS Dept.

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(David Phillip Oster) writes:
>...  The file format of Studio Session has
>been published, ...

Where?  My wife & I bought the first copy of Studio Session to hit
Columbus Ohio, but I've never seen a description of the file format,
either on the net or in Impulse's newsletter.

I've been trying to figure it out by examining hex dumps, but that isn't
very rewarding.  What I want to do with it is to make a Studio Session
-> Mac II sound resource converter.  I can already convert Studio
Session Instruments into 'snd ' resources, but that's pretty boring.
Entering a 6-part piece by typing hex numbers at ResEdit just isn't a
fun time...


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

From: [e-mail] (Francis Taylor)
Subject: gnu cc for mac?
Date: 6 Sep 87 05:13:20 GMT
Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA

Does anyone know if there is a port of gnu cc underway for the
Macintosh? Please reply; don't post; I don't want to start a new round
of flames.


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

From: [e-mail] (Steve Cisler)
Subject: Re: Hypercard lossage
Date: 6 Sep 87 03:35:19 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA


Harry Chesley, who works for Apple, and who authored Packet, VCO+ is
working on HyperBBS, and he has used hooks in HyperCard to add Pascal
code to talk to the serial ports.  He also used it for a stackware demo
to search Dialog Info. Services.  I'll post more info when I find out
about it.


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

From: [e-mail] (Jeff Harrow, NCSE BXB1-2/E02 DTN=293-5128)
Subject: Re:PYRO screen blanker
Date: 6 Sep 87 14:02:39 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

I love Pyro (the screen blanker that comes with Suitcase).  It is
automatically invoked, shows a beautiful (in color on the Mac II!)
fireworks display when "blanked", and is user-configurable.  A great
job.

However (knew that was coming, didn't you?) it's one failing, in my
opinion, is that things do not continue in the background while the
screen is blanked.  Now that's a bit of a misleading statement, since
"real" background jobs, like print spoolers, DO continue, but compute-
bound tasks, like long EXCEL calculations, stop.  Although I don't do
very long compute-bound tasks, I do perform a lot of long downloading.
Although Pyro is smart enough to watch the modem port and NOT blank
until its activity stops, this is a prime time at which I would like the
screen to blank (or, how about making that user-configurable, in case I
wanted to watch the download?).

Pyro is so much everything that I want in a screen blanker, it's a shame
to have one thing outstanding (does it work with MultiFinder?).  Steve,
any plans to beef it up?

Jeff Harrow DEC [phone]


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

From: [e-mail] (Christopher Chow)
Subject: Suitecase and Finder 5.5
Date: 6 Sep 87 17:04:18 GMT
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY


I've been using Suitecase with System 4.1 and Finder 5.5 for about two
weeks now, and things have been working fine.  Until recently, I have
had less than 31 DAs in my DAs file.

Recently, however, I added the 32nd (or was it the 31st) DA to my "DAs"
file and I've noticed something strange:  The finder now thinks I'm
running off some sort of network.  For example, the File menu now has
"Get Previledges" in it.  Does anyone know whats going on?

Christopher Chow
/---------------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Internet:  [e-mail] (128.84.248.35 or 128.84.253.35)   |
| Usenet:    ...{uw-beaver|ihnp4|decvax|vax135}!cornell!batcomputer!chow    |
| Bitnet:    [e-mail]                                           |
| Phone:     [phone],  USPS: 7122 N. Campus 7, Ithaca, NY 14853      |
| Delphi:    chow2            PAN:  chow                                    |
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------/

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

From: [e-mail] (Terry Westley)
Subject: Re: wanted: Ada system for Mac
Date: 6 Sep 87 22:15:08 GMT
Organization: Moog Inc. Electronics & Systems Division, Orchard Park NY

Some time ago, I asked the question:

>Is there an Ada compiler system available for the Mac, specifically the SE?
>
>I am also interested if you know of an Object Oriented Development
>system for the Mac.

In summary, the answer is NO.  However, there are some unsubstantiated
rumors that Alsys or Borland may be working on such.

Here are the pertinent responses I received:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 17 Jun 1987 08:33-EDT
>From: sunybcs!boulder!husc6.harvard.edu!sei.cmu.edu!Clifford.Huff
To: husc6!hao!boulder!sunybcs!moogvax!terry  (Terry Westley) Subject:
Re: wanted: Ada system for Mac Message-Id: <550931620/[e-mail]>

Here are a couple of items relating to Mac II and Ada taken from INFOMAC
V5 #103 that may find of interest.

As far as an Object Orient Development system for the Mac, you should
investigate MacApp from Apple Computer.  MacApp provides a skeleton
Macintosh application in an Object Oriented fashion.

MacApp 1.0 is currently available through the Apple Programmer's and
Developer's Association, 290 SW 43rd Street, Renton, WA 98055.  APDA is
a one-stop shopping source of useful tools from Apple and other
companies for people developing software for Apple computers.  Their
phone number is 206-251-6548

Another good resource if you're interested in MacApp is the MacApp
Developer's Association, PO Box 23, Everett, WA 98206-0023.


   ____    ______   _____      _____=====        Cliff Huff
  / __ \  | _____| |_   _|   _____=========     [e-mail]
 | |__|_| | |__      | |   _____=============     Software Eng. Institue
 _\___ \  |  __|     | | _____=================  Carnegie-Mellon Univ.
 | |__| | | |____   _| |_  _____=============     Pittsburgh, PA 15213
  \____/  |______| |_____|   _____=========     [phone]
                   -----=====
  C a r n e g i e - M e l l o n  U n i v e r s i t y

---------

> Is there an Ada compiler for the Macintosh II?

Alsys corp of France signed a contract with Apple Computer about a month
ago to produce its validated Ada on a card for the Macintosh II. Info
can be obtained from Mr. Robert Dawson, Apple's USAF Military marketing
manager in Reston, Virginia.

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

Date: 15 Jun 1987 02:03:07 PDT Subject: Ada and the Macintosh
>From: Edward V. Berard <[e-mail]>

Currently, there are a number of vendors who are developing Ada-related
products for the Apple Macintosh series of machines. These products
include compilers (for the Plus, SE, and the II) and software
development tools. [Those of you who think that "Ada is too big for the
Mac," might be surprised to learn that the third Ada compiler to be
validated (Western Digital/Gensoft, validated in August of 1983)
required only 128K of memory
-- all the machine had.]

Apple itself is taking some steps towards an "Ada strategy." (See, e.g.,
Computer Systems News, June 1, 1987 issue.)

Our company, EVB Software Engineering, Inc., is developing a product called
"Ada MacHost." Ada MacHost is a software product which allows a software
engineer to create Ada applications on a host machine (e.g., a DEC VAX)
which can interact with the Macintosh environment. Ada MacHost appears to
the software engineer as a set of Ada packages.  These packages allow the
user to create and manipulate all the items in the Macintosh environment.
For example, from within an Ada application running on the VAX, the
software engineer can create a dialog window, display the dialog window on
the Mac, and respond to any interactions the user might have with that
dialog window (e.g., "pushing a radio button," or entering text).

Initially, Ada MacHost will be configured for the DEC VAX under VMS.
However, Ada MacHost will be ported to a number of other host systems,
based on demand. The first deliveries of Ada MAcHost are scheduled for the
fourth quarter of 1987.

If you want more information, or you wish to be considered for a beta test
site, please contact Roberta Visaggio at EVB.

   Ed Berard
   EVB Software Engineering, Inc.
   5320 Spectrum Drive
   Frederick, MD 21701
   (301) 695 - 6960
   ARPA: [e-mail]

(r) Ada is a registered trademark of the U.S. government (AJPO)

P.S.: EVB Will be demonstrating Ada MacHost at AFCEA, June 16-18, in
Washington, D.C. See us at the Apple booth.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:     Wed, 17 Jun 87 14:02:27 MST
>From: Major John Buono aka IBM <sunybcs!boulder!husc6.harvard.edu!HUACHUCA-EM.ARPA!asbf-tds.huachuca-em.arpa!buono>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re:  wanted: Ada system for Mac

>
>I am also interested if you know of an Object Oriented Development
>system for the Mac.
>--
TML pascal supports Object Oriented Development however the best that
I know of is MPW for the MAC.  The MPW Pascal + MAC APP is true object
oriented development (MAC APP) is a library of objects used in development
of MAC Application.  All is available from APDA (if you don't belong
you really should.  I hope this helps at least on part of your message.

Regarding the Ada.  I have heard rumors on Ada for the MAC II but
I really doubt if they will be able to support the SE because of the
4 Meg requirement, at least not soon.

John Buono
[e-mail]


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Date: 18 Jun 1987 07:26:22 PDT
Subject: Re: wanted: Ada system for Mac
>From: Grady Booch <sunybcs!boulder!husc6.harvard.edu!ADA20.ISI.EDU!GBOOCH>
To: husc6!hao!boulder!sunybcs!moogvax!terry (Terry Westley)

Re an object-oriented development system for the mac, I highly recommend
the macintosh programmer's workbench, with object pascal (pascal
plus true object oriented extentions for inheritance and polymorphism)
plus its class library, macapp.

all this costs only about $100. I've used it quite a bit to write applications
for he mac.

egb
-------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article 3391 of comp.sys.mac:
>From: [e-mail] (Michael Peirce)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Ada on Macs
Keywords: Ada
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 30 Jun 87 16:57:34 GMT
Organization: CRG, Lawrence Livermore Labs, Livermore CA
Lines: 8

I recently heard that Apple & Alsys are working on an Ada compiler
for the Mac.  Being a heavy user of Ada under VMS, I'm really interested
in finding out about it on a Mac.  Does anyone know anything about this?
Will it run under MPW?  Mac II only?  Decent performance?

-- michael

P.S. Too bad it's not LightSpeed-Ada!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article 289 of comp.lang.ada:
>From: [e-mail] ("VAXR::IVANOVIC")
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: RE: Object-Oriented Programming Systems for the Macintosh
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 17 Jun 87 16:30:00 GMT
Sender: [e-mail]
Reply-To: "VAXR::IVANOVIC" <[e-mail]>
Distribution: world
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 23

Terry Westley (hao!boulder!sunybcs!moogvax![e-mail]) asks

    I am also interested if you know of an Object Oriented Development system
    for the Mac.

There are two of which I am aware.

MacApp and Object Pascal are distributed by Apple through APDA, a user group,
that with Apple's blessing, sells Apple and third party developer products.
Object Pascal is Pascal extended (with the help of Niklaus Wirth) to include
classes and whatnot.  MacApp, the expandable application, defines standard
Macintosh classes and methods.  Both MacApp and Object Pascal are used by Apple
in developing the Macintosh operating system and other products.  MacApp and
Object Pascal run in the MPW (Macintosh Programmers Workshop) environment. APDA,
290 SW 43rd St. Renton, WA 98055 [phone]


The other is Neon, a Forth-like language, designed and sold by Kiyra
(spelling?) Systems.  Sorry, no address, but most Macintosh software stores
ought to be able to sell you a system.

                                -- Vladimir
------


--
  Terry Westley
  Moog, Inc. (no, not the synthesizer company)
  {decvax,rocksanne,rocksvax}!sunybcs!moogvax!terry


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

From: [e-mail] (Larry Rosenstein)
Subject: Re: Color MacPaint file format
Date: 6 Sep 87 20:56:48 GMT
Organization: Advanced Technology Group, Apple Computer

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Joel West)
writes:
>
>The color painting program that most people have seen is ATG Paint, from
>Apple's Advanced Technology Group (yep, apple!lsr had a major hand in it).
>It uses a radical new format: PICT.
>
>Q: PICT?  You mean like "Save as PICT" in MacDraw?
>A: Yep, that's the one.  However, the Color QuickDraw version is a newer
>   format than the original, includes RGB colors, etc.

Using PICT format was the most convenient, given the time constraints of
getting these demos ready for the Mac II intro.  Also, we has a couple
of programs that read in images, and PICT was the easiest way for them
to share files.  The PICT files we used were exactly like MacDraw PICT
files, except that they used the type 2 picture opcodes, since type 1
pictures don't support RGB color and pixMaps.

System 4.1, however, contained a patch to DrawPicture that would
interpret type 2 pictures correctly on a non-Mac II, so the color images
can be read in by standard MacDraw.

There is one catch, however, with the original image files.  We made 2
mistakes in writing out the color images that prevent this from actually
happening.  First is that we did not divide up the picture into pieces
and add the appropriate MacDraw picture comments.  Second, we used the
wrong kind of color table in the file.  (There are pixMap color tables
and device colorTables.  Only pixMap tables are interpreted by the
System 4.1 patch.)

I have since modified ATG-Paint to write out the pictures properly, and
MacDraw will read the new files quite nicely.  The end result is the
same as if you displayed them on a 1-bit deep screen.

--
Larry Rosenstein

Object Specialist
Apple Computer

AppleLink: Rosenstein1
UUCP:  {sun, voder, nsc, mtxinu, dual}!apple!lsr
CSNET: [e-mail]


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

From: [e-mail] (Peter Espen)
Subject: HyperCard Xcmd code in LightSpeed C
Date: 7 Sep 87 00:46:21 GMT



Is there some wonderful person who is going to convert the Xcmd
HyperCard stuff from the MPW C code to LightSpeed C code?
        I've been making efforts at it but I don't have any of the MPW C
stuff and some of the declarations in the Xcmd MPW code are really
confusing me.
        It would be great to be able to write Xcmds in LightSpeed C!


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

From: [e-mail] (Henry Greenside)
Subject: FEdit corrections for the BatteryPak Calendar DA
Date: 7 Sep 87 16:26:46 GMT
Organization: Duke University CS Dept.; Durham, NC

I recently received instructions from the new owners of Batteries
Included
 (Electronic Arts) on how to fix their useful Calendar DA to work with
the latest System File (4.1), and am passing them on to other people who
might want to fix this DA:

1. Use FEdit (version 3.05 is available free from the sumex-info-mac
bulletin) to open the desk accessory (this is best done with both FEdit
and Calenda DA on a floppy to protect the hard disk).

2. go to the OPTIONS menu and select Hex Search...; search for the
   string 2D40 FFD6 (the space should be included).

3. Once found, go to the EDIT menu and select Hex Modify, then simply
   type 2D48

4. Go to the EDIT menu and select Write Sector

5. at the bottome of the screen, grab the box and drag it back to the
left
   side of the bar (i.e., go back to beginning of the disk)

6. go once again to the OPTIONS menu and select Hex Search...; this time
   search for 2D40 FFDA

7. Once found, go to the EDIT menu and select Hex Modify and type: 2D48

8. Go to EDIT menu and select Write Sector.

9. This finishes the modifications, go to the FILE menu and choose Close
   then Quit.

The people from Electronic Arts also said that a new 'more powerful' set
of DA's would be released in a month or two to replace the BatteryPak
package.


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

From: [e-mail] (Ellis Oliver Jones)
Subject: X Windows to MacPaint ?
Date: 7 Sep 87 20:06:00 GMT
Organization: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford, Mass.

I'm looking for a tool to convert pixmaps or bitmaps from the X Window
system to MacPaint format. Can anybody supply me with such a tool, or
point me in the right direction?  (I'm willing to pay a reasonable price
if need be.)

Ollie Jones            [e-mail]
Apollo Computer, Inc.  { brunix | wanginst | ulowell | umix }!apollo!oj

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: uw for Mac-II ?
Date: 8 Sep 87 03:36:00 GMT
Organization: Indiana University CSCI, Bloomington


I am looking for a version of unix windows that runs on the Mac-II.  The
current version that we have of this great little program (3.1) crashes
the system and has a strange key-board problem.  I would be delighted to
receive source for the Mac end if it is around.  We would be happy to
fix it up and distribute it.

Also, has anybody ever built an X-windows server that could run on a
unix host and drive a remote mac?

Thanks for any and all info or ideas

Dennis Gannon Computer Science, Indiana University,  Bloomington

[e-mail]


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

From: [e-mail] (David Phillip Oster)
Subject: Re: FEdit corrections for the BatteryPak Calendar DA
Date: 8 Sep 87 04:52:08 GMT
Organization: School of Education, UC-Berkeley

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry
Greenside) writes:
>I recently received instructions from the new owners of Batteries Included
> (Electronic Arts) on how to fix their useful Calendar DA to work with
>the latest System File (4.1), and am passing them on to other people
>who might want to fix this DA:

Or, you could use Calendar 1.9, the shareware Calendar program that is
data file compatible with the BatteryPak Calendar, but it works.

(Caution: when your BatteryPak Calendar program crashed, it may have
scrambled the data file so that Calendar 1.9 can neither use it nor
repair it. If you remove "Calendar File" from your system folder,
Calendar 1.9 will create a fresh one.)

Calendar 1.9 is supported, that is why it is shareware.

David Oster Mosaic Codes Suite 2036 2140 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA
94740


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

From: [e-mail] (Kenton A. Hoover)
Subject: ADB and what you shouldnt do
Date: 7 Sep 87 19:54:23 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth Lectronic Link, Sausalito CA

DONT TRY THIS AT HOME: Connecting two macs to one ADB keyboard.  One mac
usually wins.  The other macs ADB unit frys.

Someone thoughtfully tried this on my machine.  I am looking for a place
to hide the body.

--
!   Kenton A. Hoover             {hoptoad,hplabs,lll-lcc,ptsfa}!well!shibumi !
!                                 SNAIL: 1748 Clement Street                 !
!   Prescriptive Technology              San Francisco, CA 94121             !
! "Evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb!"                 !


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

From: [e-mail] (Peter Espen)
Subject: Re: HyperCard Xcmd code in LightSpeed C
Date: 8 Sep 87 02:26:17 GMT

    A wonderful person sent me the XCMD/XFCN stuff in LightSpeed C code. If
you are interested let me know and I can email it. If I get enough
requests, I'll post it to sources section.

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

End of Usenet Mac Digest
************************
-------
-------