PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/USEnet Digests/USEnet Vol. 3/USEnet 3.081

Internet Message Format | 1988-04-08 | 28.4 KB | [TEXT/ttxt]

Date: Fri 16 Oct 87 19:07:13-GMT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: Usenet Mac Digest V3 #81

Usenet Mac Digest     Friday, October 16, 1987       Volume 3 : Issue 81

Today's Topics:
     Re: Yet another HC bug?
     Re: Simple Hypercard question
     ST251N on Mac II
     Poor Mac Design Philosophy (was blinking apple)
     Warp Nine 50-meg internal disk (was Re: hard disk info)
     Re: Hypercard question
     Re: Poor Mac Design Philosophy
     Re: Keycaps--Mathematical Symbols
     Re: Word 3.01 and fonts
     Circuit board layout with penplotter output for Mac?????
     Re: Disk Express info wanted!
     Re: Mac II Fan Noise
     Turbo pascal program shell
     Re: Hypercard again (radio button)
     Viz 102 Emulation?
     Printer Driver for Ricoh LP-4080 Laser Printer?
     dialogues during boot?
     Re: Patch for Smart Alarms - disables incessant beeping
     Questions about the Imagewriter II
     INIT 31 should be enhanced!
     Re: Virtual Memory with the Mac OS
     Missing deactivate events
     Re: A Macintalk Question

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert Gardner)
Subject: Re: Yet another HC bug?
Date: 8 Oct 87 23:01:14 GMT
Organization: Philips Research Labs, Sunnyvale, California

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dan Freedman)
writes:
>I would not object so much if hypercard scripts ran quickly

What are the issues involved with producing a HyperCard compiler? I
understand SmallTalk can now be compiled so I would think HyperCard
could, also. Is Apple working on such a beastie?

Robert Gardner


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

From: [e-mail] (Keith Rollin)
Subject: Re: Simple Hypercard question
Date: 9 Oct 87 00:34:07 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, USA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ray
Wagner) writes:
>
>Anybody know how to get Hypercard to open on a particular
>stack? I'd like it to be startup and open on the weekly
>calendar stack.....
>

It seems possible to me that Hypercard keeps its startup stack name in a
resource somewhere. If not, then there are 2 ways that come immediately
to mind:

1) In the Finder, double-click on the stack that you want.

2) Add a small script to your home stack that goes something like:

    on startup
      GetHomeInfo
      go to stack "Weekly Calendar"
    end startup


--

Keith Rollin                                               amdahl\
Sales Technical Support                               pyramid!sun !apple!keith
Apple Computer                                             decwrl/

Disclaimer: I read this board for fun, not profit. Anything I say is from the
            result of reading magazines, hacking, and soaking my head in acid.


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

From: gamble@sfu_cmpt.cs.sfu
Subject: ST251N on Mac II
Date: 7 Oct 87 21:09:00 GMT


Does anyone know where I can get the software to do the low level
formatting of a 40 meg Segate ST251N hard drive? I also need a device
driver which will talk to this drive once formatted. I understand CMS
has a device driver but they are unwilling to part with it except when
you buy a drive. I'm not sure but I think that they only use the low
level formatter in house to  format their drives bofore shipping.

A little background:
        Drive will be used as an internal drive in a Mac II.
        The drive is from a previous project, thus I'm tring to reuse
                money already spent instead of buying yet a second drive.
        When the SCSI formatting program which came with the Mac II is run
                it does not find the Segate drive connectted to the system.
        (Even though I can feel the heads moving during the search for
        a valid drive.)
                Segate tells me this is because no low level formatting
                has been done (Ie: a low level formating which writes the
                signature ID in physical block 0)

If I can't get some software to solve the problem then I will look at
writting  my own software.  I am not a complete novice at the black art
of device driver writting as I have written some device drivers for
Unix. What would help though is any information reguarding just what the
low level formatting is and an example mac SE or II hard disk driver.

Thanx in advance to all who post replies or e-mail directly.

        don.

...{sun|uw-beaver}!ubc-vision!fornax!sfu_yoda!gamble


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

From: [e-mail] (Donald A. Norman)
Subject: Poor Mac Design Philosophy (was blinking apple)
Date: 9 Oct 87 13:39:24 GMT
Organization: UC San Diego Institute for Cognitive Science

Every N months someone posts a note saying, help, my apple menu icon
blinks and I can't shut it off.

Others patiently explain that this means the alarm clock is ringing:
find it and shut it off.  Everyone feels stupid (but they shouldn't --
it is a sign of poor design).

This is yet another example of how Macintosh design fails to follow its
own guidelines.  How should anyone ever know this is an alarm? Yes it is
in the manual, but buried. And manuals are unread.  And even if it is
read, who remembers 6 months afterwards when the alarm first goes off?.
The proper design is self-explaining.  Example: when the alarm goes off,
the Apple icon should change to the phrase ALARM ON and then it can
blink.  (Not perfect: some will think this means that the power supply
will explode unless they immediately turn off the machine and clear the
building -- a not unreasonable interpretation). If the menu line or
screen space were not so limited the better idea is to put a new icon on
the desk that explained things and provided a place to click it off
(without the clock DA).

The same madness is responsible for the proliferation of "power keys."
shift control option command double-click. The mouse is simplified with
only 1 button, but because this is really inadequate, we must memorize
undocumented secret keys.  An alternative would be to add a few LABELLED
keys to the keyboard. Or to make reminders readily available, perhaps a
context sensitive pop-up menu.  Suppose shift-option-command-? always
brought up a context sensitive listing of what power keys were available
at the moment. Make learning easier. And if you liked, you could use the
menu and bypass the contortions.

Donald A. Norman
Institute for Cognitive Science C-015
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California 92093
[e-mail]        {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!ics!norman
[e-mail]    [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Platt)
Subject: Warp Nine 50-meg internal disk (was Re: hard disk info)
Date: 9 Oct 87 16:28:06 GMT
Organization: Teknowledge, Inc., Palo Alto CA

I'm also looking around for a drive for a Mac II.  Yesterday, I called
Warp Nine Engineering to ask about their Macintosh II 50 and 80 internal
hard drives, which their ad in a recent MacWorld states "use the same
quantum drive as the original Mac II".  Their tech-support person
confirmed this.  I asked "Well, what's the difference between the Apple
40-meg internal drive and the Macintosh II 50, then?"  He turned away
and spoke to a fellow employee, and then responded "None - it's 50 megs
unformatted, and when you format the drive, it comes down to 44-45
megs."

This strikes me as a bit strange... the Apple version of this drive is,
I believe, called a "40-meg" drive, and the Warp Nine is called a 50,
and yet the two are apparently identical (he confirmed that the Apple
disk utilities can be used to format and test the Warp Nine version).
Sounds as if Warp Nine may be playing an apples-and-oranges game here.
If so, BLEAH!

I hope I'm mistaken about my conclusions here... are there any
netreaders "on the inside" at Warp Nine who can confirm or deny what I
was told?


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

From: [e-mail] (Dan Winkler)
Subject: Re: Hypercard question
Date: 9 Oct 87 15:41:59 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, USA

HyperTalk, like C and Pascal, ignores spaces in valid expressions.  The
only time spaces become important is when the expression is invalid and
HyperTalk interprets it as an uquoted literal.  For example:

  go to stack clip art

is interpreted as

  go to stack "clip art"

Note that because stack names can only occur at the end of a line,
HyperTalk will accept multiple token unquoted literals.  In most other
cases, it will only take single token uquoted literals.  For example:

  put field date into x

is interpreted as

  put field "date" into x

but

  put field date of birth into x

would cause a syntax error because HyperTalk cannot recognize multiple
token unquoted literals within a line.  In general, use of unquoted
literals is strongly discouraged since if you later define a variable of
the same name then your script will begin behaving differently.


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

From: [e-mail] (Bruce Horn)
Subject: Re: Poor Mac Design Philosophy
Date: 9 Oct 87 21:24:38 GMT
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI


Although I mostly agree with Don Norman's view, I feel that he in
particular, and people in general, tends to forget the circumstances
behind the design of the Macintosh.  Limited ROM, RAM and *time* made us
choose what we felt were the most important things to work on.  Of
course, many of us in the Mac group were aware of these problems, but
the time/memory wasn't there to allow us to fix them.  The blinking
Apple was one of those things. Certainly now that Apple has time to take
care of problems like these, they will;  but again, there will be some
things with higher priority than others.  Completely user-centered
design takes lots of time, money, and memory (but I would agree that it
is worth it.)

Also, Don Norman suggests several alternatives to hidden power keys,
including context sensitive help, menus and so on.  These are valid
*alternatives*, but as people get more used to the system, having to go
through these different contexts can be a waste of time.  Power keys are
just part of the context/expression tradeoff:  you can have complicated
expressions (command-option-shift click on the xyz icon) or context
shift (new window or dialog), followed by a simple expression (just a
click on the option you want).  My "perfect system" would allow both
options.

Apple needs to continue to ensure that extensions to the user interface
are consistent, *including* the power keys.  For example, option-drag
should mean "copy" in all contexts where this makes sense.

I don't agree with his implication that the one-button mouse is the
reason that there are unmemorizable "power keys."  Yes, people tend to
want to classify clicks more specifically to add functionality, but
there are other ways to do this (see paragraph above).  Also, have you
ever used a three button mouse with the X window system?  "Power clicks"
with multiple-button mice are just as horrible as "power keys" are on
the Mac.

His example of "alarm on" being threatening to some people reminded me
of our first naive-user reaction to the system error bomb:  she thought
her Mac was going to blow up!  Somebody suggested that we replace the
bomb with a flat tire, but we never got around to it.

To paraphrase Alan Kay, "The Mac is the first computer worth bashing".
Go ahead and bash constructively--that's one way that the machine will
be improved.  I wouldn't say globally that the Mac was poorly
designed...but I'm biased.



--
Bruce Horn, Carnegie Mellon CSD
uucp: ...!seismo!cmucspt!cmu-cs-vlsi!blh
ARPA: [e-mail]


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

From: [e-mail] (Gerald Edgar)
Subject: Re: Keycaps--Mathematical Symbols
Date: 9 Oct 87 12:25:01 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University, Dept. of Math.


My favorite fonts for Mathematical symbols (except when I use TeX) are
the "Maine fonts" [Machias, Lovell, Millinocket].  I believe they are
P.D.

--
  Gerald A. Edgar                               [e-mail]
  Department of Mathematics                     [e-mail]
  The Ohio State University  ...{akgua,gatech,ihnp4,ulysses}!cbosgd!osupyr!gae
  Columbus, OH 43210                            70715,1324  CompuServe


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

From: [e-mail] (Brian Diehm)
Subject: Re: Word 3.01 and fonts
Date: 9 Oct 87 22:07:09 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR.

>>> <(My wife wanted New York 96...
>>> I had to build the font for her, even.)

>> How did you "build" it?  Is that from Word?  Or from another program?

>Another program: Fontastic.  (Fontastic+ is better, but I
>haven't allocated the funds yet to get it.)

I have had trouble with the combination of Fontastic Plus, Word 3.01,
and a LaserWriter Plus.

I created a font in 72 point size.  I used it with MacWrite, where the
characters appeared correctly on the screen, the ImageWriter, and the
Laser Writer.  I then used it with Word 3.01, where the characters
appeared correctly on the screen, the ImageWriter, but not on the LW;
here they all had zero width, meaning each character appeared at the
left margin!

I tried it without the set FOND widths, by removing the FOND resource
and installing it into a new system.  This provides a default FOND set
of widths.  It worked on the LW, but the default widths were all wrong
and it acted terrible on the screen.

I eventually gave it up.  Maybe this is a bug in Fontastic Plus; it was
always a buggy package in all its incarnations.  Anybody else have any
ideas?


--
-Brian Diehm     (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply)
Tektronix, Inc.
[e-mail]   or  {decvax,cae780,uw-beaver}!tektronix!tekig4!briand


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

From: [e-mail] (Tom Buzak)
Subject: Circuit board layout with penplotter output for Mac?????
Date: 9 Oct 87 21:36:44 GMT
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.

Im interested in using my Mac along with appropriate software to drive a
pen plotter for producing artwork for printed circuit board layout.  I'm
willing to purchase a Mac II if that increases my options. I need names
of software, and pen plotter manufacturers that offer a system solution
to design and layout.E-mail to [e-mail]

Thanks for the help,
Tom Buzak
Tektronix Laboratories

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

From: [e-mail] (Les Kay)
Subject: Re: Disk Express info wanted!
Date: 10 Oct 87 03:14:24 GMT
Organization: Datamerica Systems, NYC

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ted Johnson)
writes:
>Does anybody out there use "Disk Express"?  Did you notice a large improvement
>in disk speed and/or a lot more disk space?  Is is hazardous to use with
>System/Finder 4.1/5.5 on a SE HD20?  Does it butt heads with any of your
>other applications?

I've just gotten through using it as a matter of fact - my SE HD20 has
only about 4 meg free space on it - disk express was used to:

1) check disk integrity 2) compact the desktop (file) 3) optimize and
prioritze file (scrunch and put applications first) 4) zero (actually
erase) unused blocks

The disk went utterly berserk for about 1 hour and 12 minutes, after
which  time the program reported about 374k freed up (that is right,
three hundred and fourty-seven killobytes).  Rebooting the disk, a 1
minute long process (recess?) normally, now takes 12 seconds.  Files
load faster, but this is less noticeable.

Did it clobber anything?  Well, the general file - one of the control
panel options - was flat out gone.  FastKeys (the beta version of
QuickKeys) was gone along with the macros (ouch) and the file menuclock
no longer worked.

As I have some directories with over 200 files on them, and A LOT of
stuff overall on the drive - I'd say this was about as good as could be
expected short of perfection.  None of the other files were damaged in
any way, the  system runs like a fiend again.

The system/finder combo was 5.5/4.1, and it also worked on a system
using 6.02b/4.2b10(??not sure about that last one - the current
multifinder release).

I do not own this program myself, I borrowed it from my sister (manual
and original - not pirating)...She has used this on her Mac II with HD40
with no problems.

Do I recommend it?  I'm going to buy my own copy - what do you think?!

cheeser

--
===============================================================================
Jonathan Bing, Master (cheeser)            ...ihnp4!hoptoad!dasys1!cheeser
          Time flys like an Arrow, Fruit Flies like Bananas!
===============================================================================


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

From: [e-mail] (Peter "Arrgh" Korn)
Subject: Re: Mac II Fan Noise
Date: 10 Oct 87 06:20:17 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, USA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Marc
Hannah) writes:
>>  [several people complain about MacII fan noise]
>   Personally I agree with Craig, the fan is much too loud. Seems to me
>that the fan is designed with a fully loaded Mac II in mind. Those are pretty
>rare these days. I would have prefered a temperature controlled fan instead.
>With only a card or two, the fan could be MUCH quieter most of the time.

I believe that the MacII fan *is* temperature controled.  I was looking
into replacing my fan with a quieter one (one of the few areas where an
Amiga clearly outperforms a MacII is in fan noise--the perfect reason to
purchase one of those beasties... :-), and was talking to a hardware
friend of mine who took a look at the board and said "geeze, that's a
variable  speed fan--just like those wierd Apple disk drives; ain't
gonna be easy to replace that".

This was some months ago, before I decided to jump a step up from
retail. Perhaps someone here at Apple can provide more firm information
though...
--
--
 Peter "Arrgh" Korn    [e-mail]   !hplabs!amdahl!apple!korn    "hi mom!"


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

From: [e-mail] (Capt Geoff Mulligan)
Subject: Turbo pascal program shell
Date: 7 Oct 87 21:03:23 GMT
Organization: USAF Academy, Co Springs, CO


Does anyone have a program shell written in Turbo Pascal?  I am planning
to convert a program from a PC to the MAC and would rather not reinvent
the wheel.

    geoff


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

From: [e-mail] (R.Crispin - Psychology)
Subject: Re: Hypercard again (radio button)
Date: 9 Oct 87 13:05:55 GMT
Organization: Psychology Department

A simpler script for doint the same thing is

        set hilite of the target to not hilite of the target

This will cause the checks to flip on or off with every click.
AutoHilite doesn't quite work the same way and can't be used properly
with radio buttons.

Richard Crispin
Dept. of Psychology
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ont.
Canada    N2L 3G1
[phone] ext 2879

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

From: [e-mail] (Macintosh Users Group)
Subject: Viz 102 Emulation?
Date: 9 Oct 87 06:10:05 GMT
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare.  Sydney, Australia.


Does anyone know of a terminal program that has VIZ 102 emulation?

Thanks in advance,
Jason Haines, President

Club Mac Macintosh Users Group, Sydney, Australia
Phone Home: [phone]
Snail:      Box 213, Holme Building, Sydney University, NSW, 2006, Australia
ACSnet:     [e-mail]       ARPA:   [e-mail]
UUCP:{enea,hplabs,mcvax,prlb2,seismo,ubc-vision,ukc}!munnari!runx.ips.oz!clubmac

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

From: [e-mail] (Macintosh Users Group)
Subject: Printer Driver for Ricoh LP-4080 Laser Printer?
Date: 9 Oct 87 06:17:56 GMT
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare.  Sydney, Australia.


One of our members is interested in finding a printer driver for the
Ricoh LP-4080 laser printer for the Mac.  This printer has Diablo
emulation and also  HP Laserjet emulation (I think).

Does anyone have any info on the availability of such a printer driver?


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

From: [e-mail] (Andrew Betzis)
Subject: dialogues during boot?
Date: 9 Oct 87 12:58:44 GMT
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare.  Sydney, Australia.


    What is the best way to display a dialogue box during boot, say from an
INIT resource? I have tried different variations, but can't seem to get
the dialogue box up without initialising the window Mgr thus clearing
the startup screen.


:-)
Andrew Betzis

ACSnet: [e-mail]        JANET:    runx.ips.oz!betz@ukc
ARPA:   [e-mail]    CSNET:    [e-mail]
UUCP:  {enea,hplabs,mcvax,prlb2,seismo,ubc-vision,ukc}!munnari!runx.ips.oz!betz

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

From: [e-mail] (Simon Evans)
Subject: Re: Patch for Smart Alarms - disables incessant beeping
Date: 9 Oct 87 22:52:11 GMT
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare.  Sydney, Australia.


Recently Brion Feinberg posted a patch to Smart Alarms that stopped its
"incessant beeping". I thought I'd point out a couple of things that
make this unnecessary (BTW Smart Alarms was developed in Australia, here
at JAM Software and is sold in USA by Imagine Software)
        1. Smart Alarms will not put up a reminder if the screen
        is dimmed by a screen saver.
        2. Smart Alarms will not put up a reminder if a dialog is
        the current front window.
Both these suggest methods of preventing
incessant beeping if you are not in front of your Mac - if you know that
you will not be at your mac for some time, put up a dialog (eg a FKEY,
or a DA that uses a dialog) before leaving the mac. Alternatively,
install a screen saver that automatically darkens the screen and then
you son't even need to remember to do something actively to prevent the
incessant beeping. In either case, as soon as the screen saver or dialog
is dismissed, the alarm  will appear.

Note that the screen saver that installs itself as MacsBug and uses the
alternate screen will probably not work for this, as SA just checks if
an area of the menubar on the screen is dimmed - not the alternate
screen.

I hope this helps. Any queries or complaints about JAM Software or Smart
Alarms may be posted to me here if you can't get an answer in the USA.

            Simon Evans.

Simon Evans              ISD: [phone] or [phone]
JAM Software Pty Ltd           STD:  [phone] or  [phone]
27A Nowranie Street         ACS: [e-mail]
Summer Hill NSW  2130           UUCP: seismo!munnari!runx.ips.oz!sce
AUSTRALIA                       ARPA: munnari!runx.ips.oz!sce@SEISMO
Disclaimer: I work for JAM, I don't make any money from Smart Alarms.

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

From: [e-mail] (Danny Young)
Subject: Questions about the Imagewriter II
Date: 10 Oct 87 05:38:00 GMT
Organization: Icon International Inc., Orem, Utah

I would like to download fonts from my Amiga to my Imagewriter II. The
documentation for the Imagewriter II only mentions that it is able to
receive downloaded fonts, but not what format those fonts should be in.
The manual makes brief mention of a technical reference manual available
for the Imagewriter II, and I am  wondering if this manual will have the
information I need.

If anyone could send email to me on the information available in the
tech reference manual, or lead me in the right direction to get more
detailed information on programming for an Imagewriter II with a non-mac
machine, I would appreciate it very much.  Thanks

--
Daniel A. Young            uunet!iconsys!danny
Icon International, Inc.    {ihnp4,psivax}!nrcvax!nrc-ut!iconsys!danny
Orem, Utah 84058        ARPANET: [e-mail]
[phone]            BITNET: icon%byuadam.bitnet


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

From: [e-mail] (Christopher Chow)
Subject: INIT 31 should be enhanced!
Date: 10 Oct 87 22:02:00 GMT
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY


With the proliferation of alot of inits, and the advent of the INIT 31
mechanism since System 3.0, it is becomming difficult to just load in a
subset of your init files if you suspect a incompability caused by a
init file.

While there appears to be some movement towards a standard procedure to
disable init loadings upon booting, I believe that Apple should take the
lead and rewrite init 31 for the next system relese.  BTW, the emerging
standard which I'm refering to is holding the shift key during booting -
both Findswell and Suitecase won't load if the shift key is down during
reboot.  The problem with this scheme, is that its impossible to just
prevent the loading of a set of inits.  E.g:, if I hold down the shift
key during reboot, its a matter of guesswork as to when I should release
the key so that Findswell loads and not Suitecase.

I propose that Apple writes into init 31 some mechanism from which you
can pick the list of inits which you want loaded.  I.e., say you hold
down the shift key on reboot and a getfile box comes up with all the
inits which would normally be loaded, and you select/deselect from the
box until you got the subset of inits you wanted.  Note that this
mechanism is only for the time when you want to limit the inits loaded
-- under normal booting, all the inits in the system folder should still
be loaded normally.

Comments welcomed.

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]                                           |
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| Delphi:    chow2            PAN:  chow                                    |
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------/

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

From: [e-mail] (Donald N. North)
Subject: Re: Virtual Memory with the Mac OS
Date: 11 Oct 87 06:00:59 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.

For the record, the HMMU (an Apple custom, not a 68461) adds ONE wait
state to each basic memory access; when it is replaced with a PMMU
(68851) TWO wait states are added to each memory access.  Thus it only
pays to use the 68851 when you really need it (ie, for A/UX).  It not
only costs you $$ but degrades performance too.
--

Don North
Apple Computer, Inc.
Advanced Technology Group

UUCP:  {voder,nsc,dual,sun,ucbvax!mtxinu}!apple!north
CSNET: [e-mail]

{{ Facts are facts, but any opinions expressed are my own, and do not     }}
{{ represent any viewpoint, official or otherwise, of Apple Computer, Inc.}}


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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Missing deactivate events
Date: 9 Oct 87 20:33:00 GMT



I am writing an application that requires/allows multiple windows with
similar contents.  While a window is active, I want to maintain the
contents of the window in a data structure that is appropriate for
various data manipulations.  However, that form takes a lot of space, so
when the window is inactive, I want to compress the data structure until
the window is reactivated.  So, I use the refcon field in each window to
hold its compressed data.  Activate events extract and uncompress the
data; deactivate events compress the data and save it in the refcon
field.

This works fine in general.  However, when I throw an alert box up on
the screen, deactivate events either are not generated for the windows
covered by the alert box or else the alert box toolbox routine eats
them.  As a result, when the alert box is dismissed, the resulting
activate and update events lose badly, and either the windows are
displayed wrong or I get a bomb of one kind or another.

Either I am missing something obvious, or I have to call my deactivate
routine explicitly before calling NoteAlert, or I am just trying to be
too fancy with my refcon's, or...???

Thanks,
Roger Lipsett
{ihnp4,mirror}!inmet!lipsett

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

From: [e-mail] (Brian Rauchfuss)
Subject: Re: A Macintalk Question
Date: 10 Oct 87 04:00:06 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Fort Collins, CO


>Is it possible to get at the waveform (i.e., as an array of integers) that
>the Macintalk driver generates?

    The Macintalk driver uses the sound buffer in high memory to output
its words, the problem is that it refills the buffer continuously, so
after a sentance, all that would be in the buffer is the last part of
it.
    If you want to be clever, all you have to do is write a program
which replaces the pointer to the sound routine in the jump table with a
pointer to a routine of your own.  When Macintalk wants to output the
sound, it calls you and you copy the sound buffer to a safe place, and
then either go ahead and call the original sound routine or return.
This is not a dubious hack, it is the respected and correct way to
modify a system routine and is documented in Inside Mac.

    Brian (Smokefoot) Rauchfuss

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

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