info-mac@utcsrgv.UUCP (info-mac) (06/29/84)
Date: 27 Jun 1984 0847-PDT From: uw-beaver!STERNLIGHT@USC-ECL.ARPA Subject: Microsoft Basic Upgrade; Tips To: info-mac@SUMEX-AIM Cc: sternlight@USC-ECL I received my upgrade to MS Basic by calling Microsoft two weeks ago, getting a return authorization number, and mailing my old master back. The update contains the following 'enhancements': LPRINT no longer causes buffer overflow when Imagewriter DIP switch is changed from DTR handshake to XON/Xoff. Files can now be edited with MacWrite and moved from MW to Basic if they have been saved with 'text only.' 'Command-.' now stops program and is equivalent to 'Command-C'. Hopefully at some point they will pass Command C through; it still stops program in the update. Running on Lisa under Macworks, CIRCLE statement is ok and full screen is now available. A dumb terminal demo program is included, and shows quickdraw calls. SQR is nearly twice as fast. The following corrections have been made: A SAVE no longer saves only part of the file if you go to the FILE menu before the disk write is complete. NEW now resets the output window title. A bug in passing a numeric array to a ROM function or using it in a GET or PUT statement is cured; it produced a fatal system error. A bug causing 10 GOTO 30; 20 GOTO 40; RENUM to cause undefined line number messages has been fixed. Files now keep their folder identity when opened. A bug causing two scroll thumbs with three list windows is fixed. NOTE:The bug that caused some icons to become 'generic' reported in several messages here has apparently been fixed, although that's not reported on Microsoft's list. One way to update old MS Basic program disks so that icons are correct is: load the new basic; make a copy to a clean, newly formatted disk; delete any files you don't want to end up on all your upgraded disks from the copy; if you have Fontmover, remove any excess fonts from the system folder of the copy to save space; put everything left in the copy in one folder. Then use the copy disk as follows: make it the boot disk (restart); copy everything except system and empty folders and MS-Basic from each old disk in turn to the copy disk; use either the 4-pass (if you only have one drive) or the disk icon move to copy the entire copy disk back to the old disk; trash everything on the copy disk except the system and empty folders and their contents; empty trash; continue. Another tip: If you use File, the sample text editor from the Mac Software Supplement on many of your disks, as I do, since it saves a lot of space compared with MacWrite if you only want to do program editing, then you will find that if you remove all the fonts except the system fonts from those disks to save space, File may produce funny-looking characters. If it does, a solution is to use Resource Mover to change the FREF entry numbers for File to match two system font FONT entries in System. Good luck; --david-- ------- Date: 27 Jun 1984 0855-PDT From: STERNLIGHT@USC-ECL.ARPA Subject: MS Basic upgrade-ii To: info-mac@SUMEX-AIM P.S. The number of the upgrade to MS Basic described in my last message is 1.01. --david-- -------