PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/USEnet Digests/USEnet Vol. 4/USEnet 4.47

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Usenet Mac Digest     Saturday, April 9, 1988        Volume 4 : Issue 47

Today's Topics:
     EtherTalk Card Programming Question
     Patching "Please insert the disk..." (2 messages)
     A/UX performance
     Re: Photo of Mac II Monitor
     TEXT - APPLE-MICROSOFT Agreement
     Re: Can anyone tell me his/her experience with CMS hard disks?
     Call for feedback: Multifinder compatible games
     Re: Can anyone tell me his/her experience with CMS hard disks?
     Error Handling and Recovery
     Using digitized sounds...
     LSC and CODE resources
     Am I missing something obvious - how do you copy in/out from HFS disks?
     Re: how to get file size (in bytes) ???
     Re: MIDI

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: EtherTalk Card Programming Question
Date: 31 Mar 88 04:21:59 GMT
Organization: Engineering Computer Lab, Pennsylvania State University

I have a question regarding the control calls to the Ethernet Driver as
described in Chapter 6 of the EtherTalk Preliminary Note (dated 15 Oct
87, just got from APDA.)

Under the "Making Commands..." section, a series of control calls are
described.  How does one determine the csCode required for each of the
command calls?  I am trying to do the "EWrite" and "EAttachPH" commands,
for example.

We've randomly tried different numbers for the heck of it, but we had no
luck......
--
Tony Canike
[e-mail]


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

From: [e-mail] (Stuart A. Malone)
Subject: Patching "Please insert the disk..."
Date: 1 Apr 88 14:18:05 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology


I'm trying to write an INIT that makes the Mac eject the disk in the
least recently used drive when it needs an offline volume.  I know how
to patch into the Sony driver, so I can record when each drive was last
used, but how do I patch the file manager to call my clever routine when
it needs an offline volume?  I'm sure that somewhere there is a file
manager routine that says "make sure this volume is online", but it
doesn't seem to correspond to any of the documented traps.  (I just pray
that the calls to the routine aren't in ROM, or I'm sunk...)

                --Stuart A. Malone


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

From: [e-mail] (ephraim vishniac)
Subject: Re: Patching "Please insert the disk..."
Date: 1 Apr 88 19:05:40 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA

[e-mail] (Stuart A. Malone) writes:
>I'm trying to write an INIT that makes the Mac eject the disk in the least
>recently used drive when it needs an offline volume.  I know how to patch into
>the Sony driver, so I can record when each drive was last used, but how do I
>patch the file manager to call my clever routine when it needs an offline
>volume?  I'm sure that somewhere there is a file manager routine that says
>"make sure this volume is online", but it doesn't seem to correspond to any of
>the documented traps.  (I just pray that the calls to the routine aren't in
>ROM, or I'm sunk...)

Check your list of low-memory (spelled *unsupported*) globals for one
called something like dskSwitchHook or words to that effect.  (Sorry, I
haven't got the list handy.)  It's the address of the routine which
throws up the disk-swap dialog.  Unfortunately, it's completely
undocumented and unsupported.  I doped out most of it while working on a
removable-media drive.  It didn't do what I needed, which was to gain
periodic control during the dialog, so I dumped my notes on the subject.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure if it received control before or after
the disk ejection was done.  It's possible that it's not called until a
drive has been freed up, and it just waits around for a disk to be
inserted.  Bring on MacNosy...
--
Ephraim Vishniac                      [e-mail]
Thinking Machines Corporation / 245 First Street / Cambridge, MA 02142-1214

     On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put
     into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?"


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

From: [e-mail] (Norman Fong)
Subject: A/UX performance
Date: 1 Apr 88 05:41:13 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley

Can someone comment on A/UX's performance?  Is it comparable to say a
Sun 3/50's performance?  Does Apple's current implementation utilize
most of a disk's bandwidth or will future scsi drivers improve
performance? Also does A/UX have 4.3BSD enhancements to the file system?
(cylinder grps etc)

[e-mail]


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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Martindale)
Subject: Re: Photo of Mac II Monitor
Date: 3 Apr 88 18:57:12 GMT
Organization: National Film Board / Office national du film, Montreal

Some additions/corrections to the posted info:

>3)    Most electronic metering systems will not properly meter a
>    flickering source (like a CRT).  Older "electromechanical" meters
>    will.  (Luna-Pro, cheap handheld meters, most needle-type meters
>    in general.)  You can't use your camera's meter to
>    read the exposure, unless it's of the electromechanical type.

The Minolta Spotmeter M (and probably the newer Spotmeter F) do a fine
job of measuring flickering light sources such as a CRT.  The Pentax
Digital Spotmeter definitely does not work.


>4)    When you meter the screen, turn off the lights and place the meter
>    directly on the display, pointing it at a NEUTRAL, relatively dim
>    area.  If you're photographing a display of lines, you'll have to
>    meter something else to get your exposure.  Meters are calibrated for
>    a reference subject of 18% reflectance.  Ideally, you'd want to
>    meter something that was 18% as luminous as your display's "white,"
>    but there's usually no practical way to do this.  So you'll have
>    to guess, and...

Well, you can display a grey patch of 18% of full brightness and meter
that, but unless you've done very careful "gamma correction" of your
monitor, this won't be accurate.  Instead, display a white patch in the
centre of the screen (since intensity falls off at the edges) and
measure it with the spotmeter, or a standard meter up close.  Then give
2.5 stops more exposure than the meter indicates.

Since the log to the base 2 of 0.18 is -2.47, this is equivalent to
measuring an 18% grey patch but doesn't depend on gamma correction.
Another way of thinking about it is that 2.5 stops is the appropriate
exposure increase to place the measured area of the picture (full white)
at the upper end of the linear response curve of a transparency film.
Negative films can generally take even more exposure.

So, for example, if the light meter read f/11 for the white patch, you
would set the lens diaphragm halfway between f/4 and f/5.6.


>5)    BRACKET YOUR EXPOSURES.  A minimum of three exposures per display
>    is advisable.

The first time I tried the above technique of using a white patch for
reference, I bracketed the exposure widely with tests spaced every 1/2
or 1/3 stop.  The exposure calculated by the meter turned out to be the
best.  Since then, I never bracket, I just trust the meter, and all
exposures have been fine.


>6)    If your slides have a pronounced color bias you'll need to try
>    filtration.  Use CC ("color correction") filters, and experiment until
>    you succeed.  This is a complicated procedure for the amateur
>    photographer, but basically you'll need gelatin filters and
>    a gelatin filter holder, both of which can be ordered from a good
>    photo supply store.

If you don't have a gelatine filter holder, you can always use adhesive
tape on the corners of the filter...


>7)    A mild telephoto lens (about "portrait length"-- 85-110 mm) is best
>    unless you're photographing a particularly large screen.

I second this.  I use 135mm.

>8)    A GOOD TRIPOD is essential.  A remote shutter release is almost
>    as essential, unless you have either a self-timer or have a very
>    light touch on your shutter button.

Yes, and also make sure that the camera's lens is as close as possible
to the centerline of the CRT face, both vertically and horizontally, to
avoid distortion.  Focus very carefully.

One final point: I always use a shutter speed of 1 second.  Long
exposure minimizes any effects of the shutter not being synchronized
with the CRT refresh, and 1 second is the longest exposure my camera
will time for me.


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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: TEXT - APPLE-MICROSOFT Agreement
Date: 2 Apr 88 03:56:00 GMT


A friend just mailed me this and I thought the net might be interested
in seeing it.

======================================================================

TEXT OF APPLE-MICROSOFT AGREEMENT

  AGREEMENT

  This Agreement is entered into on this 22nd day of November, 1985, by
and between Apple Computer, Inc., a California corporation having its
place of business at 20525 Mariani Avenue, Cupertino, California 95014
(hereinafter "Apple") and Microsoft Corporation, having its place of
business at 10700 Northrup Way, Bellevue, Washington 98008 (hereinafter
"Microsoft.")
  The parties have a long history of cooperation and trust and wish to
maintain that mutually beneficial relationship. However, a dispute has
arisen concerning the ownership of and possible copyright infringement
as to certain visual displays generated by several Microsoft software
products. These products are Microsoft's operating environment program,
"Microsoft Windows Version 1.0," the three Microsoft applications
programs developed under the January 22, 1982, agreement between
Microsoft and Apple for use on Apple's MacIntosh Computers: an
electronic spread sheet program ("Microsoft Mutliplan"), a business
graphics program ("Microsoft Chart") and a database program (Microsoft
File"), and two other Microsoft application programs: an integrated
electronic spread sheet program ("Microsoft Excel") and a word
processing program ("Microsoft Word"). By means of this Agreement the
parties intend to resolve the dispute and each acknowledges that the
valuable consideration underlying this Agreement consists of the
resolution of the dispute and the several undertakings and
accommodations of the respective parties described below. Accordingly,
the parties agree as follows:
  1. Acknowledgement. For purposes of resolving this dispute and in
consideration of the license grant from Apple described in section 2
below, Microsoft acknowledges that the visual displays in the
above-listed Microsoft programs are derivative works of the visual
displays generated by Apple's Lisa and Macintosh graphic user interface
programs.
  2. Visual Copyright License from Apple.
  A. Grant. Apple hereby grants to Microsoft a non-exclusive, worldwide,
royalty-free, perpetual, non-transferable license to use these
derivative works in present and future software programs and to license
them to and through third parties for use in their software programs.
  This license shall not include new software programs written by
Microsoft which are similar in function to Microsoft Excel and are
offered for to the public prior to October 1, 1986.
  As a condition to this license, Microsoft shall cause its visual
copyright notice to appear in its products which use visual displays
licensed hereunder.
  B. Warranty. Apple hereby warrants that neither Apple nor any of its
agents, representatives or attorneys knows of any patent, copyright,
trade secret or any other right or claim of or by any third party to
these licensed visual copyrights in the Lisa and Macintosh graphic user
interface programs. Each party shall notify the other promptly of any
such claim and will cooperate fully in the defense of such a claim.
Apple shall indemnify and hold Microsoft harmless from any such claim of
which it had such knowledge and any damages and reasonable expenses
arising therefrom.
  3. Patent License from Apple.
  A. Grant. Apple hereby grants to Microsoft a nonexclusive, worldwide,
royalty-free, nontransferable license to make, use and sell the
inventions described and claimed in claims 9, 11, 12, and 13 of the
United States Patent No. 4,464,652 for the life of the patent. Microsoft
in turn may license these rights to and through third parties for use in
their software programs and hardware products. Microsoft is not required
to cause any patent marking to appear in its products which use any such
inventions.
  B. Warranty. Apple hereby warrants that it owns the patent and to the
best of its knowledge there are no claims asserted by any third party to
the inventions described in these claims.
  4. Release. Apple hereby waives any other copyright, patent, trade
secret or other claim or right it may have as to Microsoft Windows
Version 1.0.
  5. Visual Copyright License from Microsoft. Microsoft hereby grants to
Apple a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual,
nontransferable license to use any new visual displays created by
Microsoft during a period of five years from the date of this agreement
as part of its Microsoft Windows retail software product in software
programs and to license them to and through third parties for use in
their software programs. As a condition to this license, Apple shall
cause its visual copyright notice to appear in its products which use
such Microsoft visual displays.
  6. Reision of Microsoft Word. Microsoft shall revise Microsoft Word
which operates on the Apple Macintosh computer by enhancing and
improving the program as specified in Exhibit A to this Agreement.
Microsoft shall use its best efforts to complete the revision by July
31, 1986.
  7. General Provisions.
  A. Confidentiality. The parties shall keep the terms and conditions of
this Agreement in strict confidence, except that each party may state
that it has entered into an agreement with the other concerning visual
copyrights.
  B. Representations. The parties represent that each is free to enter
into this Agreement and is not and will not become a party to any
agreement inconsistent or in conflic with any of the terms or conditions
of this agreement.
  C. Breach and Termination.
  If a breach of this Agreement by either party contines more than 30
days from the date of written notice of such breach by the non-breaching
party, that party may terminate the Agreement by giving written notice
to the other.
  Waiver by a non-breaching party of any breach by the other shall not
be deemed to be a waiver of any other or subsequent breach. The rights
of the parties under this clause are in addition to any other rights or
remedies provided by law or under this Agreement.
  D. Notices. Any notice reuired under this Agreement shall be given by
first class mail, postage prepaid, with return receipt requested.
  E. Assignment. Except in the case of the sale of substantially all of
the assets or controlling stock, this Agreement may not be assigned, nor
the rights granted hereunder (other than the sublicensing rights
containd in paragraph 2) transferred by either party without the prior
written consent of the other party.
  F. Independent Contractor. This Agreement shall not be construed as
creating an agency, partnership or joint venture between the parties.
  G. Entire Agreement.
  This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties
with respect to the subject matter treated herein. This Agreement shall
not be amended except by a written agreement signed by both parties.
  H. Binding Effect.
  Subject to the limitations expressed above, this Agreement will inure
to the benefit of and be binding upon the parties and their successors
in interest.
  Signed:
  John Sculley, Apple Computer Inc., president and chief executive
officer.
  William H. Gates, Microsoft Corporation, chairman of the board and
chief executive officer.


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

From: [e-mail] (David HM Spector)
Subject: Re: Can anyone tell me his/her experience with CMS hard disks?
Date: 4 Apr 88 20:32:00 GMT
Organization: New York University

I have a CMS-80, its been running non-stop (24Hrs a day) since December
22,1987 and have had no problems.   Its a nice drive.  With drive prices
falling through the floor tho' it might be better (and cheaper!) to get
the CMS-300i (300Mb)...  after all if you're gonna get a BIG drive, why
not  go all the way..?  :-)
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David HM Spector                New York University
Senior Systems Programmer            Graduate School of Business
Arpa: [e-mail]            Academic Computing Center
UUCP:...!{allegra,rocky,harvard}!cmcl2!spector    90 Trinity Place, Rm C-4
MCIMail: DSpector                New York, New York 10006
AppleLink: D1161     CompuServe: 71260,1410     [phone]
"SJM 25, 'real nice guy' seeks SJF...  What? This ISN'T The Voice personals?!"


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

From: [e-mail] (Chuq Von Rospach)
Subject: Call for feedback: Multifinder compatible games
Date: 5 Apr 88 03:18:05 GMT

Okay, it's time for a quick survey. In writing my latest article for
Macintosh Horizon's, I rued the fact that there seem to be no decent
games that are MultiFinder compatible. They either require me to reboot
to singlefinder (i.e. CrystalQuest, Dark Castle), are Copy Perverted
(Shanghai) so they don't go on my hard disk, or otherwise do nasty
things to my machine (Shanghai again, which lets me run it under MF, but
which REBOOTS MY SYSTEM when it quits).

So I want to reach into the group mind and see what's out there. I am
looking for games that:

    o Aren't Copy Perverted, or run with a key disk so they can be
      loaded onto a hard disk

    o Run under MultiFinder

    o Don't reboot the system when they quit

    o Are worth the disk space and time to play.

Shareware/Freeware or commercial are fine. Please send your comments
directly to me, I'll summarize. I can only think of two offhand. Risk,
the not-a-shareware game, and Hack, PD and written in LightSpeed C.

Wanting to play Crystal Quest is no fun when you have 60 pages queued up
in the background printer.....

chuq

Chuq Von Rospach            [e-mail]        Delphi: CHUQ

    Even with my limited Chuq I got into a few conversations, and one
man wanted
    to argue politics with me. -- Lisa Goldstein (After the Master,
Asim, 5/88)


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

From: [e-mail] (Alain Dumesny)
Subject: Re: Can anyone tell me his/her experience with CMS hard disks?
Date: 5 Apr 88 04:42:12 GMT
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY

I recently got my CMS Pro60 II (a segate drive) from Macland (very good
prices, 1-800-333-3353) and LOVE it (especially for $700 :-)

I would strongly recomend people to get CMS drives because they are very
cheap (depending where you buy them from) and come with a very good
formater/initializer that is pretty complete.  It include : format -
initialize - ID search - install new driver - tests (drive blocks, and
also an overnight test (long)) and also a lot of very nice goodies, such
as a graphical map of the drive, and some advance features such as fast
HD  copy, reassign block...

Also, CMS include a few additonal software on the disk, such as :
    - Apple SCSI installer (useless since CMS's one is MUCH better)
    - HD backup (though I would recomend getting DiskFit from SuperMac)
    - zaPRAM (to zap your PRAMs when you mac II get confused after bomb)
    - initPRAM (to avoid the above, very nice)
    - some other stuff...

CMS formatter is very nice (has lots of nice features), and I would
recommend getting DiskFit (SuperMac) and DiskExpress (do de-fragmentize
the drive).

The CMS pro80 II uses a quantum drive (exactly the same drive Apple uses
for the 40 and 80 meg drive) which is quite fast, and you can get it
from CMS for a lot less, so why bother ?
--
Hope this helped,
Alain Dumesny
Cornell University.


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

From: [e-mail] (Richard Siegel)
Subject: Error Handling and Recovery
Date: 3 Apr 88 21:06:36 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University


Has anyone come up with a bulletproof error recovery scheme, to recover
from things like disk and memory errors?

How does Mac App do it?

Rich


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

From: [e-mail] (Eric Mitchell Snider)
Subject: Using digitized sounds...
Date: 4 Apr 88 21:22:38 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University


I've been working on a game and would really like to use some digitized
sounds.  I have a lot in many different formats but I have no idea what
routines to call or what preparations must be made.  Can someone please
give me a detailed description of what to do?


                                 Eric


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

From: [e-mail] (Rick Watson)
Subject: LSC and CODE resources
Date: 4 Apr 88 22:12:42 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

1. I'm using LightSpeed C to produce a CODE resource.  I don't want the
glue that the linker sticks on the front of the resource.  Is there any
way to prevent the glue from getting stuck on in the first place? I'd
rather not have to write a routine to strip it back off.  Or, is there
anyway to get the linker to use my glue instead of theirs?

2. Failing the above, is the source to their glue anywhere?

3. Actually, what I'm doing is converting a SCSI disk driver written in
Megamax C to LSC.  I need the structure of the code to be something
like:

    JMP INSTALLER
    DRIVER HEADER (0X4F00, ETC)
    DRIVER CODE
    INSTALLER CODE

without any LSC glue at the front.

Any ideas?
--
Many thanks,
Rick Watson
University of Texas Computation Center
 arpa:   [e-mail]
 uucp:   ...seismo!ut-sally!ut-emx!rick
 bitnet: ccaw001@utadnx     span:  utspan::watson
 phone:  [phone]


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

From: [e-mail] (Bruce Beare)
Subject: Am I missing something obvious - how do you copy in/out from HFS disks?
Date: 5 Apr 88 00:47:51 GMT
Organization: Voysys Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA

As the title suggests, I must be missing something entirely obvious. How
does one copy files between Mac-OS (HFS) and A/UX Partitions?

x--x

On a different note, do third party drives (peripheral land in
particular) come up and work with A/UX. Problems include the SCSI
driver, formatting, etc.


    Bruce Beare
    Voysys Corporation
    ..!pyramid!ctnews!voysys!bruce


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

From: [e-mail] (Justin Chris Vallon)
Subject: Re: how to get file size (in bytes) ???
Date: 5 Apr 88 08:23:00 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University

(Glen, sorry I couldn't send directly, but UUCP & I don't interface :-)

There are two ways to get the size of a Mac file:

(1) Remember that a Macintosh file consists of two forks: your code
(using "high-level" calls) should look like:
    FSOpen(fileName, volRefNum, &refNum);
    GetEOF(refNum, &dataForkSize);
    FSClose(refNum);
    OpenRF(fileName, volRefNum, &refNum);
    GetEOF(refNum, &rsrcForkSize);
    FSClose(refNum);
    fileSize = dataForkSize + rsrcForkSize; This is easy, but it
requires that you open the file twice :-(.

(2) Use "low-level" routines.  Now, you have to create a parameter
block, but you can get the information using one ($1, %1, 01, 1.0,
exp(0), 1e+0) calls:

    ParamBlkRec paramBlock

    paramBlock.ioNamePtr = fileName;
    paramBlock.ioVRefNum = volRefNum;
    paramBlock.ioFVersNum = 0; /* must be 0 under finder & HFS */
    paramBlock.ioFDirIndex = 0; /* 0 means don't index, just get info */

    PBGetFInfo(¶mBlock, 0); /* returns an OsErr */

    fileSize = paramBlock.ioFlLgLen + paramBlock.ioFlRLgLen;

----

Both routines will give you the same result, but the second one is a
whole lot better (1 direct call vs 6 round-about calls)...

-Justin


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

From: [e-mail] (SIEMON)
Subject: Re: MIDI
Date: 4 Apr 88 19:15:00 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Ralph
Martin) writes:
> Does anyone out there know if Concertware+MIDI4.0 is macII compatible?
>
Yes, it runs on a MacII.  It has lots of capabilities, given its price,
but be warned that you run into limits real quick:

Note values range only from a dotted whole-note to a 32nd; you can do
triplets for most (all? I haven't tried) of these values.  BUT no other
n-tuple groups are possible; sigh, there goes Chopin!  There are no
standard ornaments (trill, mordant, etc.) and emulating these by
explicitly writing them usually doesn't work very well.  There goes the
Baroque.

You have to enter in a framework of a fixed time-signature (you can't
insert your own bars, except that you can do a double-bar whenever you
want) and a fixed key-signature.  You can CHANGE these at any point, but
only in the 1st voice (and the change then affects all voices).  There
goes church music (e.g. chants Gregorian or otherwise), most early music
and most 20th century stuff.

It tries to provide "standard" layout, and pretends to give you controls
to override (for example direction of stems, beams, etc.)  But
sometimes, I find it impossible to get it to do what I tell it -- it is
very frustrating to hit the "stem up" menu item and watch it ignore me;
this happens unpredictably. Text layout can also be frustrating.

Not wanting to be too negative -- as I said, it's good value for its
price -- if you are serious about music, this is NOT the program to use.
 I also want to hear about the higher-priced spreads.  I'm in the market
and too lazy (and too new to the Mac at this point) to write my own.
--
Michael Siemon
contracted to AT&T Bell Laboratories
ihnp4!mhuxu!mls
standard disclaimer

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

End of Usenet Mac Digest
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