info-mac@uw-beaver (11/07/85)
From: Moderator Richard M. Alderson <INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.arpa>
INFO-MAC Digest Thursday, 7 Nov 1985 Volume 3 : Issue 51
Today's Topics:
AppleTalk Cable and PC MacBridge
Preliminary review of TML Systems' Pascal Compiler [excerpt]
Imagewriters and magnets
Motorola's 'designer's get-acquainted offer of a lifetime'
Hayden Spelling Correction Program
INFOMAC subject matter
Another bug in the Laserwriter header file
NumCaps DA
D/A conversion utility
Preview desk accessories via a function key
Large-cursor toggled by a function key
Display a file program
Miezels
MacTerminal complaining about missing Imagewriter, etc.
MacTerminal disk usage [answer to query from v#50]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 85 20:23:47 est
From: roy@nlm-vax (Roy Standing)
Subject: AppleTalk Cable and PC MacBridge
Jerry Pierce recently described his method for running an AppleTalk cable.
Instead of Apple's recommended: He proposed:
----- ---------- ----- -----#----------#-----
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
-#- -#- | |
| | | |
Mac Mac Mac Mac
He noted that the advantage of his method was minimizing the length of the
AppleTalk cable. This is desirable since there is the 100 meter maximum
length restriction. He leaves the transformer in the ceiling and uses
Radio Shack joystick extension cables (10-15 foot) to run down the walls to
the Macs.
Having had my own difficulties with getting AppleTalk to work when the
cable length starts getting anywhere near the limit, I've decided to try
this method. My first question was how long the transformer <--> Mac runs
could be; I need at least 30 feet. To test this I had our technician make
up four 50 foot cables. Using the simplest LAN, 1 Mac and 1 LaserWriter,
with a ten foot long LAN, I put varying lengths of cable between the
transformers and the Mac and LW. 50 feet of cable was okay, 100 feet or
more was not. I then used a different configuration: 1 Mac, 1 IBM PC/XT
with PC MacBridge, and 1 LaserWriter, with a 150-200 foot long LAN. I put
fifty foot cables between each transformer and device. The system worked
fine.
I have not tried any other configurations yet. I am about to install a 600
foot LAN with 12 drops where each drop will use a fifty foot extension
cable off the transformer. I hope it works! I'll report on the results.
---- Pc MacBridge ----
Like many others, I'm sure, I dutifully waited for SyTek to release their
IBM PC to AppleTalk bridge so I could give 'my' IBM PCs access to the
shared LaserWriter. When SyTek finally admitted they had no estimated date
(would not accept a purchase order with 6 months delivery leadtime) for
releasing the product I started looking around. I found PC MacBridge from
Tangent Technologies, Ltd.
5720 Peachtree Parkway, Suite 100
Norcross, Georgia 30092
(404) 662-0366
The suggested list is $495.00. It includes an AppleTalk interface card
(short slot length, good in any slot except #8), a disk with conversion
software, and a manual. The software consists of a number of utilities and
a frontend menu system. The utilities allow WordStar, MultiMate, Word,
Lotus, and ASCII files to be converted into PostScript programs and printed
on the LaserWriter. In addition, Files setup for printing on a Diablo 630
can be sent to the LaserWriter. Finally, PostScript programs can be sent
and a graphing facility named LaserGraph is provided. The manual is not
well written. It omits things, like telling you that before you can send
Word files you must first send the file MSSETUP.PS which is supplied by
Word. It contains errors, like referring you to sample files on the
software diskette which aren't provided. It can be confusing, like stating
that LaserGraph is documented in a separate manual although all of the
manuals are collated into one document.
It works quite well. I have reported a number of bugs and inconsistencies
in the menu interface. They have been quite responsive. The first bug I
reported was fixed that same day. It appears that they are a new, small
company. Their product is 'young' but worthwhile. I am waiting for their
new software and documentation release, hopefully they will continue
improving the product. I will have 8 IBM PC/XTs and PC/ATs attached to two
AppleTalk LANs within the next few days.
------------------------------
Date: 28 Oct 1985 11:36-EST
From: mss%dartmouth.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
Subject: Preliminary review of TML Systems' Pascal Compiler [excerpt]
Since the original posting of TML's address, I haven't seen any discussion
of their Pascal compiler for the Mac. Mine came and I spent about 6 hours
running it through some programs to see what would happen. It seems nice,
but I'm still not sure about widespread replacement of the Lisa.
For those who missed the first msg, I'll first give a brief description.
"TML Systems' MacLanguage Series Pascal Compiler" is supposed to be a Lisa
Pascal and MacPascal compatible compiler. I assume that means at the
source level. It is also supposed to be MDS compatible. I assume that
means at the object level. In fact, the main program disk looks like the
MDS disk minus EXEC and ASM and with PASCAL and FONT/DA Mover. It appears
that Edit, Linker and RMaker are the same as in MDS, with perhaps the
exception that the transfer menu also has a Pascal entry. When I included
my Asm on the same disk, it did not recognize Pascal in the transfer menu.
The two disk system cost $105. As I mentioned, the first disk contains the
runnable programs. The second disks contains the necessary include files,
linkable Rel files, and example applications (including a desk accesory).
You apparently need a 512K Macintosh with an external disk drive. I guess
the current system is a prerelease since it is numbered 0.9 and the cover
letter implies that they were willing to ship early so that people could
see the product rather than waiting for a final version. I recall comments
like that on the phone from the sales person as well (TML's wife).
Therefore, keep in mind that all of my comments below refer to an early
release running on a 512K Mac w/ an external Sony drive.
My motivation for trying this product was to see if I could abandon my Lisa
for development. A primary reason for staying with the Lisa is the
Supplement that Apple provides, which in essence, guarantees me the ability
to use any features that Apple develops. I have programs that use
Appletalk, Graf3D, drivers and nearly everything else that Apple provides.
Recently, Apple has included MDS files as well in the supplement, so I was
willing to try an MDS compatible system. Since TML claimed to be MDS and
Lisa compatible, it seemed like a good bet. My results are inconclusive.
[... excerpted for brevity ...]
Unfortunately for me, technical suport for TML is through Compuserve, MCI
and US Mail. Alas, I use Arpanet, Usenet, CSNet and the phone. They say
they want only written comments. Maybe if I get my act together, I'll
print a copy of this review and send it off (but us telecommuters find
printers hard to use.)
If starting a new project from scratch, this might not be a bad way to go,
especially with a hard disk and an MDS system. But one cannot just pluck
the Lisa stuff off the old 2-10 and drop it on the Mac. When I get 1.0,
I'll run everything again to see what has changed. I'd appreciate hearing
from others who tried this product.
-Mark Sherman (mss@Darmouth.csnet)
[The full text of this review can be found in
[SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>NEWS-TML.REVIEW. --RMA]
------------------------------
Date: Sun 27 Oct 85 18:57:19-EST
From: Michael Ardai <UI.MIKE@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject: Imagewriters and magnets
The magnet on the cover of the Imagewriter is used to tell the printer that
the cover is in place. There is a reed switch inside the case. If you
lift up the cover (or remove the magnet), the printer will go off-line and
stop printing. Any way, don't put disks on the Imagewriter (or leaning
against the left side of the Mac)
Michael L. Ardai
Columbia University Center
for Computing Activities
ARPANET: UI.Mike@CU20B.ARPA
Bitnet : MIAUS @CUVMA
Usenet : ...seismo!columbia!cucca!mike
USnail : 803 Watson Labs, 612 West 115th Street, New York, N.Y. 10025
<The opinions expressed in this posting are not necessarily those of>
<Columbia University, or anyone else, for that matter... >
------------------------------
Date: Sun 27 Oct 85 13:27:03-CST
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Motorola's 'designer's get-acquainted offer of a lifetime'
[ skimmed from a message on USENET - Werner ]
From: roy@nlm-vax.ARPA (Roy Standing @ NLM/LHNCBC, Bethesda, Md.)
Some of you have undoubtably seen Motorola's 'designer's get-acquainted
offer of a lifetime'. For $68.00 you get: 1 MC68000 MPU, 1 MC68008 MPU
(8-bit MPU), 1 MC68440 (DMA control), 1 MC68230 (parallel interface/timer),
1 MC68661 (enhanced peripheral communications interface), 1 MC68652 (multi-
protocol communication controller, 1 MC68681 (dual UART), 1 MC68901 (multi-
function peripheral), AND complete M68000 documentation library. Its
called the M68000KIT from any authorized Motorola distributor (such as
Hamilton-Avnet in my area). THere is also an 'early bird bonus' with the
first 2000 orders received ... 1 MC68010 16-bit virtual memory 8mHz MPU at
no additional charge.
The points are: 1) a spare MC68000 chip, 2) an MC68010 which you could
replace the Mac's MC68000 chip with (5-50% improvement but there are some
ROM patches to handle the 68010 4 byte exception stack setup vs the 68000's
3 byte--not hard to do--why hasn't Levco offered this???), 3) the ability
to hack extra ports for the Mac, and 4) the complete set of 68000
documentation. Seems like a neat offer. Motorola's ad has a toll free
number: 1-800-521-6274.
PS: should I have missed a similar announcement on ARPA and "committed"
duplication ..... my apologies. Werner
------------------------------
Date: Wed Oct 23 12:40:07 1985-PST
From: Tom Wadlow <taw@s1-c.arpa>
Subject: Hayden Spelling Correction Program
I was recently considering buying the Hayden spelling correction program
for my Macintosh, when I ran across a disturbing piece of information that
seemed worthy of forwarding to INFO-MAC for correction or substatiation.
I am told (by a friend that bought the program) that this package contains
a "worm". Apparently, Hayden says that you can make one backup copy of the
package. The package does not *prevent* you from making additional copies
however. Rather, your additional copies will actually work, for some
number of times. Then, the worm trashes your input files.
This is, of course, rather disturbing news if true. Does anyone have any
further information on this, or a copy with which to experiment to see if
this is true? I have not personally verified this behavior.
Tom Wadlow (S-1 Project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
MILNET: <taw at MORDOR> <taw at S1-C>
UUCP: ..!ucbvax!dual!mordor!taw ..!decvax!decwrl!mordor!taw
------------------------------
Date: 06 November 85 11:42 EST
From: RGG%CORNELLC.BITNET@ucb-vax.berkeley.edu
Subject: INFOMAC subject matter
I have two modest proposals. Can the AMIGA stuff be moved to an AMIGA
conference? Can we declare the GEM/DRI/APPLE suit a dead horse and stop
beating it? ....In the interests of a more relevant BB....
Tom Dimock
[I personally am not averse to seeing occasional notes about the other
consumer-oriented 68000-based systems, the Amiga and 520ST. If others are
bothered by this, let me know. I'll decide on future policy based on the
input. --RMA]
------------------------------
Date: 24 Oct 85 11:42:00 EDT
From: "JOE WEINSTEIN" <weinstein@bbnv1.ARPA>
Subject: Another bug in the Laserwriter header file
Reply-to: "JOE WEINSTEIN" <weinstein@bbnv1.ARPA>
There is another typo in the laserwriter header file on Info-Mac. Replace
the spurious occurence of the non-existent operator "exchd" with "exch".
See also my previous message concerning a missing line. As soon as I am
sure everything is working right I will re-post the corrected file.
------------------------------
Date: 27 Oct 85 12:00:33 EST
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: NumCaps DA
NumCaps is a Desk Accessory that allows you to copy any character in any
Macintosh font to the clipboard for later pasting. Characters are selected
by their hexadecimal character code which can be obtained from programs,
such as FontDisplay.
Below is a Binhex'ed PackIt file containing the DA itself and its doc file.
The following posting will contain the sources in Megamax C.
NumCaps is Copyright 1985 Jeffrey S. Shulman but otherwise in the public
domain.
Jeff
Below is a Binhex'ed PackIt file that contains the sources (in Megamax C)
to the previously posted NumCaps DA.
uucp: ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!shulman
arpa: SHULMAN@RUTGERS
CIS: 76136,667
Delphi: JEFFS
[ These files are being "simulposted" to Usenet, INFO-MAC, Delphi and CIS ]
[Archived as [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>DA-NUMCAPS.HQX. Sources are in
DA-NUMCAPS-C.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 85 12:19 MST
From: Dave-Platt%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: D/A conversion utility
In reply to Jamie Zawinski's query about a program which can convert the
old (CE Software) DA-mover files to the new (Apple) font/DA-mover format...
here it is! It's a shareware utility written by CE Software; it will
convert files in either direction.
[Archived as [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-DAMOVER-CONVERTER.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 85 15:58 MST
From: Dave-Platt%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Preview desk accessories via a function key
Here's a little shareware gem by Loftus E. Becker. Run this application
once. It will install a new FKEY resource in your system file. Then, to
test out a newly-received desk accessory stored in a font/DA-mover docu-
ment, simply enter command-shift-5. DA Key will take over the screen,
permit you to select the font/DA-mover document, and will activate the desk
accessory.
This is similar in spirit to the DA Sampler application posted some time
ago, but it can be used from within an application as well as from the
Finder (not the MiniFinder, though). [It came without an icon of its own,
so I puttered around and made one for it before BinHex'ing it].
[Archived as [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-FKEY-DA-SAMPLER.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 Nov 85 16:11 MST
From: Platt%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Large-cursor toggled by a function key
Here's a version of Andy Hertzfeld's large-cursor program that I located
recently, and added a desktop icon to. When run, this application adds a
function key resource to your system file (it's installed as FKEY 8). Once
it's installed, you can toggle the size of your cursor from the standard
16x16 to a larger 32x32, and back again, by typing command-shift-8.
[Archived as [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>DEMO-LARGE-CURSOR.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
From: kangaro!milo@Purdue.EDU
Subject: Display a file program
Date: Thu Oct 31 20:31:29 1985
This is a little program I whipped up in Megamax C that will display any
Mac file of type TEXT. It is very handy for looking at text files you have
downloaded from a BBS without having to load a text editor. The program
loads in about 4 seconds and supports standard Mac desk accessorys...etc.
Let me know if you have any problems with the program...the source follows...
Greg Corson
UUCP: {ihnp4 | ucbvax}!pur-ee!kangaro!milo
ARPA: pur-ee!kangaro!milo@Purdue.ARPA
EDU: kangaro!milo@ee.Purdue.EDU
Or call my BBS at (219) 277-5825
[The source to this program is archived as
[SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-FILE-DISPLAY.C; the binhexed executable is to be
found in [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-FILE-DISPLAY.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
From: guido@boring.UUCP
Subject: Miezels
Date: Fri, 1-Nov-85 10:58:02 EST
Reply-to: guido@mcvax.UUCP (Guido van Rossum)
[Share and enjoy]
This is a BinHexed desk accessory called "Measles".
In the article "Computer Recreations" by A.K. Dewdney in the Scientific
American of September 1985 a program "Crabs" was described, running on a
Blit terminal. Crabs is a program which puts 30 crabs on screen eating
everything on screen (windows, icons etc.). The predecessor of CRABS was a
program called "Measles". Measles are tiny balls bouncing in the gray area
between the windows.
The following desk accessory is Measles for Macintosh, written by
Rick Jansen @ SARA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
(Posted by a friend)
[Located in [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>DA-MEASLES.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
Subject: MacTerminal complaining about missing Imagewriter, etc.
Date: 26 Oct 85 22:36:04 EST (Sat)
From: "Steven B. Munson" <sbm@Purdue.EDU>
I have figured out how to make MacTerminal shut up about not being able to
find an Imagewriter file when it starts up. Alerts have a data structure
that tells whether the OK or Cancel button should be the default, whether
the dialog box should be drawn at all, and how many beeps to use the first,
second, third, and succeeding times that the error they describe occurs.
In MacTerminal, the alert in question is drawn with OK as the default and
three beeps every time it doesn't find the Imagewriter file (I think it can
only happen once, when MacTerminal starts up). I editted it with ResEdit
and changed it not to be drawn or beep, and now MacTerminal never complains
about this condition that I don't care about.
The alert you want to alter is ALRT #4196. Needless to say, you should
munge a copy of MacTerminal you don't mind losing if ResEdit crashes. If
MacTerminal is on an uninserted disk when ResEdit is running, it is a good
idea to open an alert on the ResEdit disk and close it before opening one
in MacTerminal--ResEdit is happier the less it has to swap disks. After
you have opened the alert, you can display it as text, using the ALRT menu,
and alter it anyway you want. Presumably, you want to uncheck the "drawn"
box and put a zero in the sound field, at least for the first occurrence.
By the way, double clicking on an open dialog or alert will display its
item list (DITL).
This is great--a customizable user interface. What a novel idea! I would
like to go through the Finder and silence some of the alerts that always
annoyed me (do you really REALLY want to delete that application?), but
there is just one alert in the Finder that is used to display any message
with the question mark icon. I guess they did that to save space ... oh
well. Now if only I could get MacTerminal to stop saving the screen image
to disk every 8 seconds! Presumably, this "feature" will be removed in the
next version of MacTerminal, right, Apple? After all, no one wants it, and
the screen image only needs to be saved when the document is closed anyway
(but who wants to save it?).
Steve Munson
sbm@Purdue.EDU
sbm@Purdue.CSNET
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 85 17:19:39 edt
From: Roy Leban <roy%farg.umich.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: MacTerminal disk usage [answer to query from v#50]
MacTerminal goes to the disk after some length of inactivity (I think it's
1 minute) to save any text that has changed since the last time it was
saved. Even if Record Lines of Top is off, MacTerminal wants to save the
24 lines which comprise the terminal screen. I agree that it's very
annoying. One solution to the problem is to create a very small RAM disk
and put the MacTerminal document (which is only 3K if you don't Record)
there. Of course, if you'd like to Record, you can create a larger RAM
disk.
-Roy.
------------------------------
End of INFO-MAC Digest
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