PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/USEnet Digests/USEnet Vol. 4/USEnet 4.48

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Usenet Mac Digest     Saturday, April 9, 1988        Volume 4 : Issue 48

Today's Topics:
     Re: Floppies (made in the USA) (look for the union label)
     Hard disks noise ?
     Jasmine Direct Drive 50 and a Plus
     Help on "Standard" MIDI file formats--are there any, especially on Macs?
     Re: Jasmine Direct Drive 50 and a Plus
     Re: Apple Challenges Microsoft :^) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^)
     Re: Why does my keyboard stick in UPPERCASE?
     Re: Can anyone tell me his/her experience with CMS hard disks?
     Re: Bulldozer cursor?
     Ethertalk Programming Question, reposting.
     Animation!
     Getting Rid of Your Hangups
     Re: How do you highlight a default button?
     Re: Bitmap to Region conversion
     Re: Sending PostScript through the printer driver
     Re: A/UX performance

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

From: [e-mail] (Richard Siegel)
Subject: Re: Floppies (made in the USA) (look for the union label)
Date: 5 Apr 88 14:22:25 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University


Do NOT use Scotch (3M) floppies! In heavy use here (CMU) they've proven
to be unreliable, and in some cases have cause damage to floppy drives
through nice things such as media flaking off....

I don't know if Kodak is any good or if it's US made, but you might look
into them.

Why the fixation on US manufacture? I prefer Sony floppies, myself.
Never had any problem...


        -Rich


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

From: [e-mail] (Matthew Grayson)
Subject: Hard disks noise ?
Date: 5 Apr 88 14:29:29 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego


    I have an 80 Meg Quantum internal hard disk in a Mac II. (It's from
CMS, if that matters). For the last month, or so, it's been making
intermittent noises. These are best described as high- pitch rattling.
Is a bearing about to go? Is a static brush out of whack (a-la DataFrame
20.... remember DataFrame 20's?). Is the disk about to go west? Do I
back up hourly?(yes) The noises do not affect performance in any way,
but I'm nervous. If anyone has any experience or advice, please let me
know.
    Thanks much,
        Matt  [e-mail]


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

From: [e-mail] (Joel B Levin)
Subject: Jasmine Direct Drive 50 and a Plus
Date: 5 Apr 88 19:05:02 GMT
Organization: BBN Communications Corporation

I just got a Jasmine Direct Drive 50 for the office Plus, and I wanted
to pass along a small gotcha that you might keep in mind if you are
looking at hard disks.

One of the reasons I chose this particular drive, besides the Jasmine
reputation for quality of product, support, and reliability, was the
reported performance mentioned here in this forum and by a colleague who
got the same drive.  After I got it hooked up and started exploring the
shareware/freeware folders, I found disktimer II and ran it.  I was
surprised to find the performance numbers substantially lower than I had
been led to believe they would be:

  Read   117
  Write  126
  Seek     0 (no seeking due to the large number of sectors per
              cylinder, I believe).

I called Jasmine Tech Support and discovered that the drive is formated
with 1:1 interleave; that it comes from the factory that way; and that
the interleave cannot be changed by software, according to the person
who answered my call (and consulted with someone while I was on the
phone to verify that this was normal performance).

On a more positive note, I took the drive home and tried it on an SE.
The numbers were 34, 51, and 0 -- much more like what I had expected
(the SE internal HD20 was 76, 76, and something).  So my drive is in
fact functioning properly, it seems.

On a further positive note, it is still a great improvement over the
floppy port Apple HD20 I had been using (a factor of >3 over the
disktimer times, and a factor of 1.8 - 2.0 for things like launching
large programs).  And the drive is quiet and seems reliable and in all
other respects meets my expectations.

Bottom line: the DD50 appears to be everything they say it is, though if
you are looking for a drive to attach to a Plus you should consider
whether it is capable of being tuned to run at its optimum speed.
--
    /JBL
UUCP: {backbone}!bbn!levin     USPS: BBN Communications Corporation
ARPA: [e-mail]                  50 Moulton Street
POTS: [phone]                 Cambridge, MA  02238


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

From: [e-mail] (Donald T. Major)
Subject: Help on "Standard" MIDI file formats--are there any, especially on Macs?
Date: 5 Apr 88 18:27:54 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc, Cary NC

I'm posting to find out what, if any, "standard" file formats there are
for MIDI data files (scores, patches, anything else anyone might know of
which I don't).  I'm currently trying to write the "ULTIMATE MIDI
PROGRAM" for the Macintosh (I've got a Casio CZ-230s--a toy, I know, but
I *like* toys), and would like to make it (or at least its data files)
as compatible with any- thing else out there as possible, IF there is a
standard.

PLEASE try to respond by E-MAIL, rather than posting to the net (I'm an
infrequent reader of net news).  Thanks in advance for any help
--
Donald Major
mcnc!rti-sel!sas!sasdtm


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

From: [e-mail] (ephraim vishniac)
Subject: Re: Jasmine Direct Drive 50 and a Plus
Date: 5 Apr 88 20:56:01 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA

This report is rather misleading.  There is a good reason that the
drive's interleaving is fixed at 1:1, and it's unrelated to the drive's
performance on a Plus.

First, the interleaving: The Quantum drives have a large internal
buffer/cache which allows them to cache a track in one pass.  So, 1:1 is
the best interleaving for the drive without regard to the host's
transfer rate.

Second, the performance: The Quantum drives have rather complicated
controller software, partially due to their caching scheme.  So, the
externally visible timing of the controller is more variable than some.
This causes it to trip over various bugs in the SCSI manager in the Mac
Plus, and also makes blind transfers impossible on the Plus' very
limited SCSI hardware.  (The SE and II have slightly better hardware.)
Consequently, the Quantum drives must use fully synchronized transfers
at a cost of about three instructions per byte instead of one
instruction per byte for blind transfers.

How do I know this stuff?  I wrote Jasmine's SCSI driver.

Disclaimer: I once had a business relationship with Jasmine (obviously),
but now they own the software outright and it's their problem.


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] (Peter Merchant)
Subject: Re: Apple Challenges Microsoft :^) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^) :^)
Date: 4 Apr 88 14:53:20 GMT
Organization: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY

In article <[e-mail]>, Sean Casey writes:
> [...] This is one court case I would love to watch on TV.

Yes!  Get good ol' Judge "Grouchy" Wapner!  I would love to see it...

"This is the plaintiff, Apple Computer, Inc.  They claim that the
defendant is violating the look-and-feel of Apple's Macintosh computer
system.  They are sueing for $50,000 for lost profits and punitive
damages."

"This is the defendant, Microsoft Corporation.  They claim that any
violation of Apple's look-and-feel is perfectly acceptable because of a
1985 license agreement between the two companies."

"These two companies have a suit pending in a California court.  They
have agreed to drop their suit and and settle their differences in our
forum:  THE PEOPLE'S COURT!"

I can see it now...  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^) --- "I'm trying
to apologize,               Peter Merchant ([e-mail])
 You Dumb Noodleloaf!"
         -- Calvin


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

From: [e-mail] (Ken Hancock)
Subject: Re: Why does my keyboard stick in UPPERCASE?
Date: 5 Apr 88 18:44:17 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

I believe it is the keyboard itself.  Removing the Easy Access INIT
never seemed to do anything.  We had a Extended Keyboard in for repair
twice because the command/options/shift keys were getting stuck.
Pulling up the Key Caps DA showed them being held down.  Bashing the
keyboard a couple times sometimes helped.

Ken
--
Ken Hancock                        |    UUCP: [e-mail]
Personal Computing Ctr. Consultant |  BITNET: [e-mail]
__________________________________/ \____________________________________
DISCLAIMER: If people weren't so sue-happy, I wouldn't need one!


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

From: [e-mail] (Herb Weiner)
Subject: Re: Can anyone tell me his/her experience with CMS hard disks?
Date: 6 Apr 88 01:44:54 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR.

--------

I have a CMS internal 140 MB drive for my Mac II, and I am very happy
with it.  However, I hope I never have to reformat it and rebuild it
from backup BECAUSE THE SOFTWARE THAT CMS SENT ME DOES *NOT* SUPPORT THE
140 MB DRIVE!! (Also, the manual they gave me is marked PRELIMINARY.)  I
have tried to get the latest software and manual directly from CMS as
well as from my dealer, but have been unsuccessful.

If anyone from CMS is listening, I would appreciate hearing from you.

                                    Herb Weiner
                                    UUCP: !tektronix!midas!herbw
                                    AppleLink: D0521


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

From: [e-mail] (Jay Freeman)
Subject: Re: Bulldozer cursor?
Date: 4 Apr 88 20:30:38 GMT
Organization: SPAR - Schlumberger Palo Alto Research


I shall reply to my own posting; today I got a nice E-mail note from
someone at Apple:  Yes, the "bulldozer cursor" is MPW's way of telling
you that it has decided to garbage collect.


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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Ethertalk Programming Question, reposting.
Date: 5 Apr 88 02:21:49 GMT
Organization: Engineering Computer Lab, Pennsylvania State University


A reposting of a question:

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] (Eric Mitchell Snider)
Subject: Animation!
Date: 5 Apr 88 16:22:11 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University


     Ok, here's another problem I'd like some help with.  I'm working on
a program where several small objects move around in front of a
background.  The problem is I don't know a good way to replace the
background after my objects have been erased and moved.  At the moment
everything (including the background) is a separate picture (PICT)
resource.  What do I need to do?!?

                              Eric


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

From: [e-mail] (ephraim vishniac)
Subject: Getting Rid of Your Hangups
Date: 5 Apr 88 20:19:59 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA


While writing low-level SCSI software for the Mac (which I don't do any
more), I was continually caught by the conflicting needs for speed and
safety.  Fast software makes a minimal number of checks for unusual
conditions; safe software allows the possibility of disaster at every
step.  The Apple SCSI software is a reasonably successful compromise: it
runs with passable speed, but it can get hung up under unusual
conditions.

It turns out not to be necessary to sacrifice speed for safety.  If you
don't need to know about peculiar conditions quickly, you can easily
make your code both quick and safe from hanging conditions. Here's the
scoop.

--------------------- Cut Here --------------------

            How Not To Hang
            Vishniac - 9/29/87

This note describes a method by which device drivers and other low-level
software can avoid "hanging" (looping indefinitely) without the overhead
of constantly checking for unusual exit conditions.  The method has two
actors: an endangered task (in danger of hanging, that is); and a VBL
task that guards it (the "watchdog").  The actors communicate through a
data structure which includes an absolute JSR to the VBL code, the VBL
task data, and two additional pointers: the stored PC pointer and the
timeout code pointer.  It looks like this:

    JSR    xxxx        ; absolute address of the VBL code is
                ; calculated when the VBL is installed
    VBL queue entry        ; a standard item - see Inside Mac
    StoredPCPtr        ; initially zero, use explained below
    TimeoutCodePtr        ; initially zero, use explained below

Before the watchdog is ever needed, the VBL task is installed with some
long timeout (e.g., 2^16-1 ticks).  The VBL code looks like this:

        POP.L    A0        ; A0 = our data structure pointer
                    ; (This is a very handy method for
                    ;  VBLs to find their data, since
                    ;  the VBL manager doesn't pass any
                    ;  useful parameters to us.)
        set long VBL count    ; keep ourselves in the VBL queue
        MOVE.L    TimeoutCodePtr(A0),D0
                    ; D0 = exit address, if any
        BEQ    VBLdone        ; exit if we're not needed here

        ; The endangered task is hung.  Help him out.
        CLR.L    TimeoutCodePtr(A0)
                    ; Make it clear that we've been here
        MOVE.L    StoredPCPtr(A0),A0
                    ; Pointer to stacked PC of hung task
        MOVE.L    D0,(A0)        ; Modify stacked PC to free task
    VBLdone
        RTS

The endangered task has the following form:

    PetDog            ; make sure the watchdog won't go off soon
    UnleashDog        ; arm the watchdog task
    dangerous stuff        ; we might hang here
    LeashDog        ; disarm the watchdog task

"PetDog" consists of setting an appropriate timeout in the VBL task.
"UnleashDog" means set StoredPCPtr to -4(SP) and set TimeoutCodePtr to
the address of the code to be executed in case of timeout.  "LeashDog"
is simply CLR.L TimeoutCodePtr.  If the dangerous section involves a
major loop (such as an unrolled loop of 8 or 16 SCSI buss transfers),
one can use a relatively short timeout by petting the dog at the end of
each iteration of the outer loop.  Be careful, however, not to pet the
dog while looping unproductively.  Within the loop, one can use
otherwise dangerous constructs such as waiting indefinitely for DRQ or
REQ to be active.

The "dangerous stuff" cannot use the stack freely.  It cannot push data
on the stack, but it can call safe (non-hanging) subroutines that don't
take stacked parameters.  As the astute reader has figured out by now,
the watchdog does his stuff by replacing the return address of the hung
task with the address of the timeout exit when a timeout occurs.  On
return from the timer interrupt, control goes to the timeout exit
instead of returning to the hung task.

Some nice features of this method are its low overhead and freedom from
hardware dependencies.  The VBL task need be installed only once in the
life of the device handler.  After that, it keeps itself alive with a
very long timeout, imposing minimal cost.  For correct operation, the PC
of the interrupted code must be the first thing pushed in case of an
interrupt.  So far as I know, this is a safe assumption across all
existing and planned members of the 680xx processor family.  There's no
other dependency on stack formats.

------------------------ Stop cutting here ------------------------
--
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] (Richard Siegel)
Subject: Re: How do you highlight a default button?
Date: 6 Apr 88 01:47:55 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University


I handle the issue of highlighting default button by implementing my own
library of standard dialog-filters that I use for all of my dialogs. In
the standard dialog filtering, part of the update code highlights
d^.aDefItem if it's a button. The code also mimics the ROM routines in
that a press of the Return or Enter key dismisses the dialog and returns
d^.aDefItem if the default button is enabled. This way, I can have
standard bold default button and Return-key highlighting of things like
Standard File boxes (by using SFP{Get, Put}File), as  well as my own
custom dialog boxes....

        --Rich
--
===================================================================
Rich Siegel
Confused Undergrad, Carnegie-Mellon University

The opinions stated here do not represent the policies
of Carnegie-Mellon University.

Arpa: [e-mail]
UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,sun}!andrew.cmu.edu!rich.siegel
==================================================================


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

From: [e-mail] (Larry Rosenstein)
Subject: Re: Bitmap to Region conversion
Date: 6 Apr 88 02:08:34 GMT
Organization: Advanced Technology Group, Apple Computer

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Scott Draves)
writes:
>
>I need to convert a bitmap into a region, where the region should
>contain exactly those bits that are black in the bitmap.  This

Tech Note #193 (which just came out) talks about a new Quickdraw call
BitMapRgn, which does exactly this.  The Tech Note says that this is
going to be incorporated into a future version of the system, but that
you can also contact the Software Licensing department to get an MPW
object file that you can link with your program:
    Software Licensing
    Apple Computer Inc
    20525 Mariani M/S 28-B
    Cupertino, CA 95014
 (AppleLink: SW.License)


--
         Larry Rosenstein,  Object Specialist
 Apple Computer, Inc.  20525 Mariani Ave, MS 27-AJ  Cupertino, CA 95014
        AppleLink:Rosenstein1    domain:[e-mail]
        UUCP:{sun,voder,nsc,decwrl}!apple!lsr


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

From: [e-mail] (Larry Rosenstein)
Subject: Re: Sending PostScript through the printer driver
Date: 6 Apr 88 02:14:49 GMT
Organization: Advanced Technology Group, Apple Computer

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Rick Watson) writes:
>The following code fragment for sending a PostScript job to a laser printer
>works under LaserWriter v3.2, but not 5.0.  Can anyone tell me why not?

This is covered in Tech Note #192.

In LaserWriter 5.0 the low level printer driver calls are converted into
corresponding high-level calls.  One of the results is exactly the
problem you described.  The solution given in the Tech Note is as
follows (in Pascal):

    PrDrvrOpen;
    PrCtlCall(iPrDevCtl, lPrDocOpen, 0, 0);
    PrCtlCall(iPrDevCtl, lPrPageOpen, 0, 0);
    { send data }
    PrCtlCall(iPrDevCtl, lPrPageClose, 0, 0);
    PrCtlCall(iPrDevCtl, lPrDocClose, 0, 0);
    PrDrvrClose;

--
         Larry Rosenstein,  Object Specialist
 Apple Computer, Inc.  20525 Mariani Ave, MS 27-AJ  Cupertino, CA 95014
        AppleLink:Rosenstein1    domain:[e-mail]
        UUCP:{sun,voder,nsc,decwrl}!apple!lsr


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

From: [e-mail] (Jerry Whitnell)
Subject: Re: A/UX performance
Date: 4 Apr 88 20:10:16 GMT
Organization: Communications Solutions Inc., San Jose, Ca

In article <[e-mail]>
[e-mail] (William E. Davidsen Jr) writes:
>This is the output of tbl and troff, edited to take out the control
>sequences. You may have to print it to make it clear. At this time I
>can't supply the original benchmarks.


>
Test                    Vax          UNISYS386+387   Sun3/280S      Mac
II
____________________________________________________________________________
test conditions
 cpu/speed          |  11/780    |   80386:16    |  68020:25    |
68020:16
 fp chip            |     FPU    |   80387:16    |  68881/25    |
68881:16
 memory (mb)        |       8    |          1    |        16    |
  5
 disk type          |     dec    |       ---     |      ---     |
quantum80
 rated seek (ms)    |     <20    |         20    |       <20    |
 28
 O/S                |    Ultrix  |  Xenix/386    |   SunOS 3    |
A/UX

_______________________________________________________________________________
math speed (k ops/sec) short               |     308.4  |       1193.6
|      1114.5  |        891.9 long                |     503.1  |
1227.8  |      1787.9  |        905.6 float               |     128.0  |
       341.1  |       181.8  |        145.7 double              |
181.5  |        279.1  |       180.2  |        138.4
_______________________________________________________________________________
Compare and branch (k ops/sec) integer             |     293.0  |
827.8  |      1666.7  |        646.6 float               |     115.8  |
      144.1  |        74.3  |        116.3
_______________________________________________________________________________
Transcendental functions (k ops/sec) circle points       |     537    |
     1295    |      4615    |       1786 trig functions      |    2550
 |       4250    |      7650    |       7650
_______________________________________________________________________________
Standard benchmarks Dhrystone           |    1453    |       5319    |
   7444    |       3226 Dhampstone          |    1430    |       6207
|      8640    |       3661
________________________________________________________________________________
bit ops. (vals/sec) Turing machine      |      48.0  |        160.1  |
    212.3  |        113.6 BTG                 |   10084    |      68966
  |    114286    |      54545 GTB                 |    2652    |
14085    |     27273    |      13953 Sieve               |     801    |
     3621    |      3650    |       2122
_______________________________________________________________________________
Sort (sec) integer             |       1.073|          0.413|
0.243|          0.510 float               |       1.117|          0.760|
        0.843|          1.567
________________________________________________________________________________
disk performance (kb) write                |      20.4  |        117.0
|       687.7  |         41.9 read                 |      22.4  |
 54.7  |       613.2  |         45.2 access (ms)          |     123.5  |
         6.6  |        34.9  |         17.1
________________________________________________________________________________
System performance (k/sec)
 xfer via pipes      |     269.5  |       1066.7  |       614.4  |
 558.5
 funct call          |      46.9  |        277.8  |       500.0  |
 200.0
 system call         |       4.7  |         11.3  |        17.4  |
   7.8
________________________________________________________________________________
Compilation speed 20 small
 real                |     479.5  |        277.2  |        99.4  |
 548.8
 CPU                 |     144.5  |        100.9  |        45.0  |
 142.6 3 large              |            |               |
|
 real                |     646.8  |         90.6  |        31.4  |
 170.2
 CPU                 |      76.3  |         39.7  |        21.5  |
  93.4
>--
bill davidsen        ([e-mail])
>  {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
>"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me

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

End of Usenet Mac Digest
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