PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/USEnet Digests/USEnet Vol. 4/USEnet 4.06

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From: Jeffrey Shulman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Usenet Mac Digest V4 #6
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Subject: Usenet Mac Digest V4 #6
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Usenet Mac Digest     Saturday, January 16, 1988      Volume 4 : Issue 6

Today's Topics:
     Hairlines in MS Word
     New MacDraw/Project/Paint/Write
     Re: tabs in textedit
     Re: tcsh in AUX
     Looking for Ethernet for Mac SE
     Suitcase versus Font/DA Juggler
     Re: A CASE for the Macintosh
     Re: Crystal Quest
     Mac Seminars
     How to run clean under Multifinder (!)
     Re: A CASE for the Macintosh
     Re: MacDraft reads MacDraw? (with a lot of FLAMEAGE)
     Adding to STR# resources
     The Blind Watchmaker

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

From: [e-mail] (Peter S. Wisnovsky)
Subject: Hairlines in MS Word
Date: 12 Jan 88 21:43:58 GMT
Organization: Princeton University, NJ


I have been using some of the table-making features of Word 3.01 but
find that the rules used appear to be one Macintosh pixel wide, and are
thus a little thick. This is also true of the footnote divider line.
Does anyone know how to make these into hairlines so they look nice on a
LW?

--
Peter Wisnovsky        [e-mail]   BitNet: pswisnov@pucc

Please use mail: this news feed is VERY unreliable.


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

From: [e-mail] (Jeff A. Hallett)
Subject: New MacDraw/Project/Paint/Write
Date: 12 Jan 88 22:02:07 GMT
Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY


Hi all!

Well, I guess the formal word has come through (informal channels as
well), that all the Mac* programs (except MacDraft) are being released
as significant upgrades.

Now, I hope one of you Apple people has your ears on and will respond to
this and find the answer if you don't readily know the answers.

1.  How will the upgrades for MacDraw and MacProject be handled?  We
have original disks, but I sincerely doubt that all the registration
cards got sent in or are even on record somewhere with Apple/Claris.
Will we be asked to send those in?

2.  Since there is no price increase on the MacWrite/Paint upgrades, can
we assume that if we send in original disks that we get the upgrades
free?

This brings up an interesting point.  When I first bought my Mac, Write
and Paint were included.  Later, they were not, however, the versions
that were not had no additional functionality.  Since Write/Paint came
with my machine, I consider myself a paid customer of MacWrite/Paint,
since I consider that the cost of those programs was couched in the cost
of the Mac.  I will want to be able to upgrade without buying a new
version from scratch.  As long as I can produce my original disks, I
want the upgrade path just like someone who went out and bought it.  I
use MacWrite quite a bit, and enjoy it.

Just my two cents.  Undoubtably this will start a rampage of responses,
and that is great.  Keep in mind that my shields are up and no flame of
any kind will influence them. :^):^):^)
--
Jeffrey A. Hallett                     | ARPA: [e-mail]
Software Technology Program               | UUCP: desdemona![e-mail]
GE Corporate Research and Development  | [phone]
+--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
|                            Credo Quia Absurdum Est                          |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


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

From: [e-mail] (Brian H. Powell)
Subject: Re: tabs in textedit
Date: 13 Jan 88 02:35:59 GMT
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas

     I was the person who posted some information to the net about
adding tabs to TextEdit a few months ago.  At the time I was working on
it, I sent mail to Apple asking them to clarify some of the issues
involved with TextEdit.  I got a letter from Cameron Birse, which said,
in part,

    It wasn't entirely clear to me what exactly you meant with your
    StdText and StdTxMeas calls, but I can say that things not only can
    change in future ROMs, but probably will.  For example, the new
    TextEdit routines allow for styled text (i.e., bold, italic, etc.),
    which obviously complicates measuring text.  The point is, the only
    things you can depend on being supported in future revisions of ROMs
    are things that are clearly documented in Inside Macintosh Volumes
    1-5.

     Let me say that first of all, the MacTutor article included some
very questionable code which I'm sure has failed on SEs and IIs.  When I
wrote code to support tabs, I made some restrictions (in particular, I
don't allow word-wrapping) that let me throw out much of the "dangerous"
code from the MacTutor article.  Also, I didn't use the "new" TextEdit;
I'm using the "old" TextEdit that only supports one typeface.
     I also had to make some assumptions.  Here is what I said in the
original article I posted:
                 ********************
     In particular, my code depends on two things:
    * That when tabTxMeas and tabText are called, they get pointers into
the actual TextEdit text.  This is so they can poke around in
neighboring text to find out where the beginning of the line is.  If
TextEdit ever decides to measure text by copying it into a buffer, then
measuring it, these routines will return funny values.
    * That TextEdit will never use the values returned by numer, denom and
info after tabTxMeas has been called to measure a line consisting only
of tabs.  Currently, TextEdit sets up its variables (such as
te_handle^^.lineHeight) during TENew by calling GetFontInfo, which calls
tabTxMeas with byteCount == textAddr == 0.  If tabTxMeas is ever called
to measure a line consisting only of tabs, it figures out the width of
the text on its own and never calls StdTxMeas.  Therefore, numer, denom
and info aren't touched.  This isn't hard to change if you feel
uncomfortable with it.  I'd suggest initially calling StdTxMeas with
count == 0.  Then if tabTxMeas' input parameter byteCount was also zero,
tabTxMeas can return zero safely, else do all the work.  (Maybe I'll
change this in my program, too.)
                 ********************

     As I said at the time, it would be pretty stupid if Apple were to
change TextEdit to invalidate my above assumptions.  It would imply that
they were throwing away a lot of useful information in their TERecord
and recomputing it each time.
     If you did anything similar to what I did, then I suggest two
things:
    Don't call CharWidth.  (It's obvious why not if you think about it.)
    Check to make sure that my first assumption holds on calls to the
     bottlenecks.  That's the most likely place for something to mess up.

     I'll try my code on a Mac II tomorrow or Thursday and let you know
if it works.  If you'd like, I could send you my original posting when I
worked on it.

Brian H. Powell
        UUCP:    ...!uunet!ut-sally!brian
        ARPA:    [e-mail]

        P.O. Box 5899
        Austin, TX 78763-5899
        [phone]


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

From: [e-mail] (Mark A. Verber)
Subject: Re: tcsh in AUX
Date: 12 Jan 88 13:18:12 GMT
Organization: Ohio State University, Computer Science

The latest posting of tcsh from OSU (Aug on comp.source.unix) included
support for A/UX.  It has been tested and used here.  I don't believe
Apple is planning to distribute it.
--
Cheers,
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Science Department                     Mark A. Verber
The Ohio State University             [e-mail]
[phone]                  cbosgd!osu-cis!verber


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

From: [e-mail] (Larry W. Virden)
Subject: Looking for Ethernet for Mac SE
Date: 11 Jan 88 17:51:40 GMT
Organization: Ham BBS, Columbus,Oh. 614-457-4227 (300/1200,8N1)


I am posting this for a friend and will pass along any email msgs to him
that I get.

What are the current ways to put a Mac SE on an Ethernet network
CHEAPLY?

This would be a single machine hooking into to an existing XNS or TCP
ethernet (he has access to either, though XNS would be easier).

Note only hardware, but software is probably needed right?

Thanks!

--
Larry W. Virden     75046,606 (CIS)
674 Falls Place, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 [phone]
cbosgd!n8emr!lwv (UUCP)     cbosgd!n8emr!lwv@PSUVAX1 (BITNET)
We haven't inherited the world from our parents, but borrowed it from our children.


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

From: [e-mail] (Oliver Steele)
Subject: Suitcase versus Font/DA Juggler
Date: 13 Jan 88 04:17:13 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

I've seen a lot of recommendations for Suitcase and none for Font/DA
Juggler.  Is there anyone on the net whose used both and can give us a
comparison?
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oliver Steele                  ...!{decvax,ihnp4}!mcnc!unc!steele
UNC-CH LING Senior                       [e-mail]

Life is a negative-sum game.


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

From: [e-mail] (Christopher Chow)
Subject: Re: A CASE for the Macintosh
Date: 13 Jan 88 06:13:43 GMT
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Actually, I just returned from a plant trip to a large corporation with
several engineering departments.  I was kind of dissappointed as I
realized early in the visit that most of the departments are using IBM
PCs if they were using any sort of PC's at all.  What a rude
introduction to the real world :-)

But a bit later that day, a department I visited was filled with Mac
SE's! And, they were doing CASE work on the SE's...unfortunately, I
forgot the name of the package, but from looking at the printed output
it looked pretty capable.  Apparently, it was pretty difficult for them
to get the SE + Laserwriter combination since the company is primarily
into IBM's, but that department felt that the SE/LaserWriter combo works
better than the IBM PC equvalent.
--
Christopher Chow
/---------------------------------------------------------------------------\
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| Bitnet:    [e-mail]                                           |
| Phone:     [phone]   Address: 671 Forest Avenue, Teaneck, NJ 07666 |
| Delphi:    chow2            PAN:  chow                                    |
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------/


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

From: [e-mail] (Christopher Chow)
Subject: Re: Crystal Quest
Date: 13 Jan 88 06:28:38 GMT
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
>As someone who hates arcade style games (except centipede) and just had his
>first 1,000,000 Crystal Quest game, I think saying I recommend it is an
>understatement.
>
Okay, but does has anyone converted the sound resources Crystal Quest
uses into Mac II 'snd ' resources?  I'd really like to use some of the
sounds as beeps sounds...
--
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]   Address: 671 Forest Avenue, Teaneck, NJ 07666 |
| Delphi:    chow2            PAN:  chow                                    |
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------/


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

From: [e-mail] (D. Jay Newman)
Subject: Mac Seminars
Date: 12 Jan 88 14:15:55 GMT
Organization: The Pennsylvania State University - Computation Center

My office is about to start designing and programming some lessons to
run on the Mac.  Is there any seminars on the Mac User Interface, or on
the design of Mac programs, and if so, when.  Please email these to me
(dn5 at psuvm.bitnet).  Thank You.

                                Jay, etc...



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

From: [e-mail] (Clive Steward)
Subject: How to run clean under Multifinder (!)
Date: 12 Jan 88 02:42:30 GMT
Organization: resident visitor

The basic answer:  carefully, and keep your Desktop clean.

After 2 months of working with Multifinder, daily seeing the
'Application XX quit because of' messages, I have found what it takes
to make it run, well, perfectly.   Shows it can, and it's really
enjoyable.

Maybe others can benefit from the experience.  Just possibly, there are
a few things that could be made easier in a later release.


1)  First, Thanks to Larry Rosenstein of Apple.

    By confirming that MacTerminal 2.2 works fine under Multifinder, he
    took away one variable, and this, combined with writing and using
    a simple on-line memory checker, led to location of the rest of
    the problems.  Explanation is below.

    MacTerminal does work just fine, I'm using it at the moment with
    Hypercard, Word 3.01, MacProject 1.2, and the Hearts game all
    under Multifinder, with an original 128K Mac Apple upgraded to a
    Plus and 2.5 meg memory.  Except for the Hearts, it's been up all
day.


2)  Keeping the hard disk and its desktop file clean seems to be the
    main key to avoiding all the problems I've observed, including the
    MacTerminal (and Word and Hypercard) crashes.

    This is not completely easy.  I'm using a MacBottom HD45, with
    which I've had very good luck otherwise, so doubt it's a special
    problem in this regard.  It is within 3-4 megs of full.

    Here's the problem.  If at any time there's a forced (programmer
switch
    or power switch) reboot of the Mac, the next session will usually
soon
    crash of it's own accord, sometimes even just as Multifinder is
reloading
    the programs.

    To avoid this, I find the following procedure works:

        a)  reboot with clover key down, which brings up non-Multi
        Finder, after the disk does some kind of lengthy (but not
        Desktop, I think; probably VTOC) rebuilding.

        Running or rebooting Multifinder now will soon crash, so don't.

        (Having previously increased Finder memory allocation to 200k
        or so definitely helps avoid the crash, but doesn't seem to fix
        everything.  I'll experiment further later.)

    b)  You can optionally move your Finder Startup out of the System
        Folder before this step, to save present MF configuration.

        Immediately Set Startup to Finder Only, and Restart with
        Clover, Option, and Shift down to request rebuild of Desktop.

        Say yes, and wait.

    c)  Set Startup to Multifinder Only.  Move back in your saved
        Finder Startup if you saved it.

        Restart, and you should be back on the air.

    Clearly, it would be nicer if this all wasn't necessary, and the
fact
    that increasing the Finder's allocation helps, seems to say that
it's a
    memory reservation problem.

    Do Apple team members have any suggestions?

    Or maybe it's something overly greedy about the PCPC device driver,
or
    the fact that the disk is full?  The desktop rebuild won't complete
if
    it's attempted in Multifinder:  says out of memory (actually, it
looks
    good, though I haven't trusted the looks against the message).


3)  One other way to get into trouble I've found with an old (ancient)
    version of Versaterm; other programs might cause similar problems.

    I noticed that if I had data coming down the line, normally going
    to another program under Multifinder would properly exert flow
    control and stop it.  But then switching to a third program (Word
    seemed to do it always) would somehow release flow control, and
    the line would run wide open.

    This resulted in memory overwrites, and soon, crashes.

    I'm sure (waiting on mine being delivered) the modern Versaterm
    doesn't have this problem, given the net reports.  Could be they
    did something special for a driver, which gives the great speed
    (vicinity of 9600 baud true, 19.2k on uploads), which in 1985
    didn't include what Multifinder needs.


4)  The problem I consistently observed with MacTerminal was actually
    caused by a DA simply being present under Suitcase.

    This was McSink, and after locating it with a binary search of my
    main suitcase file, unfortunately I managed to delete it without
    saving, so can't go in with ResEdit and find what I suspect, that
    there is a resource with the same name as something used by
MacTerminal.

    Whatever the true cause, the result was that MacTerminal came up
    always with an alert complaining that it was being asked to open a
    damaged file, when in fact no file at all had been specified.


5)  I am running now a slightly increased allocation for two programs;
    Hypercard gets 800k, and the Finder 180k.  I left Word at 384k after
    some  suggestive language was offered seeming to predict dire
    results if it got more.

    I don't know that either of these increases are necessary; they
    made for happier times while I was having trouble.  After a while,
    I'll experiment with reducing them and see if stability remains.:w


6)  I run 80k over the 'nominal' System Heap allocation, set in the
    boot blocks with Fedit+ or Widgets.

    This means most ordinary DA's now run fine under the DA handler;
    in fact most of the ones I use didn't before, and many didn't do
    the courtesy of informing that they couldn't open -- just crashed..

    I chose 80k over, since that's what the distribution disks in the
    Multifinder package from Apple had.


Final note (whew).


Working as well as this does now, it's a true pleasure, and a _real_
gain in productivity.  Multifinder alone really streamlines integrating
the  Mac with the general Unix and printer environment here, and it
makes  HyperCard a truly useful moment-to-moment tool.


As a consultant, I'm the only one responsible, and I only use what
helps.

This does, and I thank the Apple engineering group kindly for providing
it.

And thank them again, for having the courage and responsibility to
participate on the net in the manner that they all do.

Thanks, guys.


Clive Steward


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

From: [e-mail] (Kevin Ewert)
Subject: Re: A CASE for the Macintosh
Date: 12 Jan 88 19:02:20 GMT
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino

I have just begun to test a demonstration version of PowerTools, a CASE
system from Iconix Software Engineering, Inc.  This package was reviewed
in the December MacWorld, and does appear to do all that it claims,
although, as I said, I haven't spent enough time with the demo version
to have exercised it thoroughly.  In addition to several of the
PowerTools applications, the demo disk comes with a HyperCard stack that
provides an interactive overview to the package.

To quote from the glossies I received from them:

     PowerTools accepts systems requirements from the user and allows
     the user to construct:

     *    Data and control flow diagrams
     *    Process specifications
     *    Data dictionary
     *    State transition diagrams, table, and matrices
     *    Structure charts
     *    Formatted pseudocode listings
     *    Program source code
     *    Consistency reports (e.g. DFD/CFD checking)

The only major drawback that I have noticed so far is that the package
is single user, that is, multiple person projects can only be done by
all project personnel using the same Mac.  The person I talked with at
Iconix claimed that a network version would be available in the spring.

If you're at all serious about using CASE tools and want to leverage the
ease of use of the Mac, I would recommend looking into PowerTools.  The
address:

    Iconix Software Engineering, Inc.
    1037 Third Street
    Suite 105
    Santa Monica, CA 90403
    [phone]

I also recall seeing an ad in the January 88 MacWorld for another CASE
package, but I can't remember any other details.

I have no connection to Iconix, other than an interest in CASE tools.
--
Kevin Ewert
...!hplabs!hpda!kge
[phone]


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

From: [e-mail] (Straka)
Subject: Re: MacDraft reads MacDraw? (with a lot of FLAMEAGE)
Date: 12 Jan 88 14:25:47 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois

In article <127200017@inmet> [e-mail] writes:
>
>Is it possible to get MacDraft to read in a MacDraw document
>or a PICT format file?

MacDraft is designed to do this. (I use the word design advisedly; see
below) It doesn't always work, especially when the entity count gets on
the high side.

>Also, if a MacDraw document was designed
>in landscape format, when read into Superpaint it gets reduced.
>Any ideas on how to avoid this?

The one page limitation of SuperPaint seems to be a severe limitation of
the package.  Perhaps rotation of the entities before transferring might
help (although the text would no longer be directly editable, of
course).

>  While we're at it, any opinions on the relative merits
>  of MacDraft, MacDraw, and Superpaint?  I'm looking at all
>  three.

AH, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY FOR A *LONG* TIME!

FLAME ON!

I have a love-hate relationship with MacDraft.  It has some features
that clearly make it the choice over MacDraw (eg. Zoom-in, better spline
handling, better dimensioning, and some others).

However, I personally would recommend all those who don't already own it
to stay away from it like the plague!  It is BUGGY!  I am referring to
version 1.2, which sometimes forgets about whole bunches of entities in
the drawing, ends up with multiple scroll box handles, has VERY
aggravating entity selection criteria, and a host of other bugs which
are clearly not the mark of a profesional product.  I consider MacDraft
to be the poorest implementation of a serious Mac application.  (There
are other contenders amongst the non-serious applications, but I don't
want to get into THAT.)

I finally called their tech support  about a week ago on a rather
frustrating problem (which was the LaserWriter's fault (required power
cycling) and not MacDraft's), and was basically told: "You should
UPGRADE to version 1.2*b*  The upgrade fee is $25."

At a local users' group meeting, I was told that MacDraft 1.2b
"unexpectedly quits" after printing when running under MultiFinder.  Not
only that, but the 1.2b version is the exactly the same as 1.2, but with
some bug fixes.

Soooooooo, I am supposed to fork over an additional $25 for bug fixes on
a piece of software that I already paid for, and STILL doesn't work
properly?

They have got to be kidding!

My recommendation: Spend your money and buy a package from a more
reputable vendor.  DO NOT SUPPORT SOFTWARE SUCH AS MACDRAFT!  I plan
purchase some other serious drafting/drawing package this as soon as
practical. Suggestions from the net are welcome.

FLAME OFF!

I have no connection with IDD, except as a dissatisfied customer.
--
Rich Straka     ihnp4!ihlpf!straka

Advice for the day: "MSDOS - just say no."


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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Adding to STR# resources
Date: 13 Jan 88 16:42:45 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley

How does one add strings onto the end of a STR# resource from inside a
program?
--
James Moore
-------------------------    |
/ Go raibh sonas agus    /        |  [e-mail]
/ rath oraibh an    /    |--------------------------------------------|
/ Nollaig agus san    /    |   The University of California only knows  |
/ Athbhliain!        /    |   me as a number.  They couldn't care less |
/             /    |   what my opinions are.                    |
-------------------------    |--------------------------------------------|


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

From: [e-mail] (The Druid)
Subject: The Blind Watchmaker
Date: 13 Jan 88 20:22:12 GMT
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA.


In the February 1988 issue of Scientific American, The Computer
Recreations column describes a program called The Blind Watchmaker by
Richard Dawkins at the University of Oxford, Department of Zoology.

Is there any way I could get a copy of the The Blind Watchmaker by
e-mail or at very least be able to contact someone who could get me a
copy (hopefully source) at the University of Oxford.

I am interested in building environment for the biomorphs described in
the paper.
--
   -- Donald J. A. Redick (a.k.a. The Druid)
===============================================================================
=    The Druid ([e-mail])                                              ==
=                   "Did you ever feel that you were a typewriter,            =
=                    when everone else in the world was a wordprocessor"      =
===============================================================================

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

End of Usenet Mac Digest
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