info-mac@uw-beaver (09/28/85)
From: Moderator Richard M. Alderson <INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.arpa>
INFO-MAC Digest Friday, 27 Sep 1985 Volume 3 : Issue 43
Today's Topics:
Bug Reports
Announcement of new Apple products
Another SFGetFile and file filter bug
Small bug in FontDisplay 2.0
Re: Font/DA Mover 2.3
mdsmake
MacPaint to Imagen conversion and smoothing
Desk Accessory sampler utility
Mass initializer
Knockout DA
AppleTalk & Zilog Unix Systems
Appletalk cables
Pascal for the Mac
Reid on Mac Modula-2
Usable Pascals
Memory Management
Not very obvious answer on menus
laserwriters
MacTerminal SAVE Command
Torx #15 replacement
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat 28 Sep 85 00:35:19-PDT
From: Richard M. Alderson <INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Bug Reports
I have received numerous notes about xbin CRC errors in the recent posting
of the new Font/DA Mover. There were a couple more regarding CRC errors
from BinHex 4.0. Barry Eynon has done a great deal of work tracking down
the source of these errors; he has not been able to replicate them with
BinHex. I have posted his newest version in the Info-Mac archives. If the
originator of xbin could take a look at this problem, it would be greatly
appreciated.
On a similar note, there have been complaints about the recent posting of
Paintmover causing system crashes on startup. I have temporarily removed
it. Anyone who has been SUCCESSFUL in getting it to work, please let me
hear from you.
Rich Alderson
Moderator
------------------------------
Date: Mon 23 Sep 85 11:12:21-PDT
From: John Mark Agosta <INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Announcement of new Apple products
Here are some of the details from Apple's new product announcements.
The 20 Mbyte hard disk:
The Hard Disk 20 is an external, 3 1/2-inch Winchester disk
drive that connects to the disk drive port on the back of the
Macintosh. Only three inches high, the unit has the same width
and depth as the Macintosh and is designed to fit under the
computer. An expansion port on the back of the hard disk allows
a second Hard Disk 20, a back-up tape device or an external
floppy disk drive to be connected to the system.
Hard Disk 20 units for demonstration will begin shipping
to authorized Apple dealers in November with quantity shipments
expected in early 1986. The U.S. suggested retail price of $1,499
includes the disk drive with attached cable for connecting it to
the Macintosh, the Startup Disk containing the system software
and hierarchical filing system, and an owner's manual.
The disk comes with a hierarchical filing system that manages
thousands of files without complex partitioning schemes. Instead,
the software uses the Macintosh computer's familiar file folder
icons for grouping together related files.
The new system they will release with the disk runs the new "turbo file
system" on any volume larger than 400k, and runs the existing file system
(efs?) otherwise, to make it backward compatible. The suggested price to
the Consortium seems to be around $1000!
The new imagewriter seems to replace the previous one. It promises faster
and higher quality output, with high quality printing "nearly indistin-
guishable from traditional daisy wheel printing." There is also an
interface expansion slot in the new printer for which Apple has planned an
AppleTalk board. It also prints in color, but there is no intention of
supporting this with Macintosh now. There will also be a new software
driver released for the new printer.
I haven't seen it myself, but I understand it is in a "laser writer" white
colored box, a little thinner than the Imagewriter I, with tip up supports
to angle it forward. Price is the same as Imagewriter I.
Another option is a bulk loading sheet feeder that retails for $225.
The new "Apple Personal Modem" replaces their previous 300/1200 baud Hayes
compatible modem. Both the power supply and the modem are combined in one
case that plugs directly into a wall outlet. Otherwise it seems
functionally identical to the Hayes type products. Suggested retail is
$399.
Apple also announced Switcher as a commercial product. The retail price is
$20 and the licensing fee for including it in another product is $250/year.
-jma
------------------------------
Date: 21 Sep 85 20:13:27 EDT
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: Another SFGetFile and file filter bug
With the aid of the people at Megamax we believe we found a problem with
SFGetFile and file filter functions:
It seems that the ioNamePtr of the paramBlkPtr that is passed to the file
filter is really an unlocked, dereferenced, handle. Thus, if you do
anything that may cause heap compaction (like call NewPtr) the ioNamePtr
will point to who knows where.
Jeff
uucp: ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!shulman
arpa: SHULMAN@RUTGERS
Compuserve: 76136,667
Delphi: JEFFS
------------------------------
Date: 21 Sep 85 20:27:29 EDT
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: Small bug in FontDisplay 2.0
There is a minor bug in FontDisplay 2.0 which causes characters > 127 to be
incorrectly centered within the font grid box. Here is version 2.1.
Jeff
uucp: ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!shulman
arpa: SHULMAN@RUTGERS
Compuserve: 76136,667
Delphi: JEFFS
[New version installed in [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-FONTDISPLAY.HQX.
Thanks. --RMA]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 85 02:08:44 pdt
From: barry@playfair (Barrett P. Eynon)
Subject: Re: Font/DA Mover 2.3
Here is another transmission of Font/DA Mover version 2.3 in Binhex v4
format. As the previously posted file on INFO-MAC appears to have been
removed, I cannot ascertain whether it differs from the previously posted
version. I have uploaded and downloaded several copies of this file, and am
as certain as I can be that this is a correct encoding. However, the
Font/DA Mover seems to tickle some area of Binhex which must be sensitive,
as the Unix xbin program gives a CRC (not only on encoded version 2.3, but
also on an encoded version 1.2 of the program) and there have been several
reports of problems with CRC errors from Binhex v4. As I can consistently
deconvert this file , I am unable to help those reporting errors further.
One side fact I noticed during my investigation was that the file
BINHEX.HCX in INFO-MAC yields a prerelease version of Binhex v4.0,
distinguishable by its meat-grinder icon and BNHQ type, as opposed to the
final release, that had a type of BnHq, is larger, and has an icon which is
basically the generic application icon with big arrows on it. The
difference is these versions is NOT the cause of the problems described
above, as I have successfully used each to deconvert this encription.
Hoping someone else can shed some light,
-Barry Eynon
[Barry's most recent posting is to be found in
[SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-FONT-DA-MOVER.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 85 08:51:23 PDT
From: shebanow%ucbernie@Berkeley.EDU (Mike Shebanow)
Subject: mdsmake
The next two messages contain the program and documentation for MDSMake, a
replacement for the Exec program distibuted with Apple's Macintosh
Development System. It works with MDS, Consulair's Mac C, and Softworks C
and can be configured to run any other MDS compatible program. The product
is distibuted as shareware, see makedoc.hqx for details. Please post the
files to <info-mac>.
Thanks...
Andrew G. Shebanow
shebanow@ucbernie
[These two files are located in [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-MDSMAKE.HQX and
UTILITY-MDSMAKE.DQC respectively. --RMA]
------------------------------
From: princeton!petsche@glacier (Thomas Petsche)
Subject: MacPaint to Imagen conversion and smoothing
Date: 20 Sep 85 19:35:52 GMT
This is an updated and improved version of a previously posted MacPaint to
Impress convertion program. It now allows the user to perform smoothing on
images that are full or half size.
The smoothing program is at least three times as fast as the program on
which it was based and produces a files that is six times smaller than a
bitmap would be.
Send any comments to me at:
allegra!princeton!ivy!petsche
Thomas Petsche
EE Dept.
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
[This shell script is archived as [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-PAINTIMP.SH.
--RMA]
------------------------------
Sender: Platt@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 85 18:57 MST
From: Platt%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Desk Accessory sampler utility
Here's a neat utility (downloaded from the Red Ryder bulletin board). It
permits you to "sample" a new desk accessory (one that's stored on disk in
the new font/DA-mover format) without having to install the DA in your
system file. The DA appears under the apple menu, and can be accessed
normally; it remains until you close it, or exit the sampler application.
I've only experimented with a couple of DAs, so I'm not sure what the
limitations of this application may be.
"Whitman's Desk Accessory sampler", by Kevin Hardman. It's shareware; the
authur requests a $10 donation if you like & use it.
[This very useful looking program is archived under
[SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-DA-SAMPLER.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
Sender: Platt@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 85 15:08 MST
From: Platt%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Mass initializer
Here's a nice utility for those of you who tend to have a large number of
new diskettes pass through your hands (software distributors, etc.). The
Mass Initializer program will rapidly (re)initialize Mac diskettes. It has
a set of "safety" buttons which permit you to specify the action when Mac
(or non-Mac [Lisa]) diskettes are inserted (eject, ask/default eject,
ask/default init, init). It also lets you specify (once) the name to be
given to subsequently initialized diskettes. All in all it's a good deal
faster than the Finder, if you're doing this a lot.
Mass Initializer is by Frederic F. Anderson. This version is copyright
February '85. Free distribution is permitted as long as you don't remove
the copyright notice. I downloaded my copy of this utility from the Red
Ryder support BBS (if you need a decent terminal emulator for your Mac at a
good price, you should definitely check out Red Ryder 6.2; at $40 it's a
steal).
[Archived as [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-DISK-INITIALIZER.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 85 16:17:39 pdt
From: saj@ACC-SB-UNIX.ARPA (Steve Johnson)
Subject: Knockout DA
[This DA and note was developed by Andy Stadler; I'm posting it for him. I
have tested it from the Finder, Switcher, and MacTerminal--works well,
except in very stressful MacTerminal conditons (probably MacTerm's fault).
-- SAJ@ACC ]
This short note describes the KnockOut desk accessory. You'll find it to
be a nice diversion, at least for a few rounds. The file is in the Font/DA
Mover format, then binhex 4.0. Download it, translate it, and put it in
your favorite system file.
Game Play Info.
You've all played breakout. Just click the start button to begin play.
The paddle is attached to the mouse. The mouse will disappear while over
the game area, but if you need to change windows or whatever, the mouse
reappears when away from the game area. If you click any other window
while in play, the game goes into a demo mode, and your ball is saved.
There are 8 different skill levels. You get free balls after levels 3 and
6. Finally, due to a bug in the finder, it doesn't run very fast there. I
suggest playing under other programs, where it will run faster.
Tech Info.
The game is written in assembly language, just over 4k of object code. It
consists of 4 seperately assembled modules, which are then linked together.
As a desk accessory, it depends on the main application to call
SystemTask() in order to keep the animation speed. As mentioned in the
'about' screen, I am making the source code available.
Have fun!
[To be found in [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>DA-KNOCKOUT.HQX. --RMA]
------------------------------
From: crash!bwebster@sdcsvax.arpa
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 85 18:36:05 PDT
Subject: AppleTalk & Zilog Unix Systems
Gary:
Zilog themselves offer the software/hardware to use their Unix systems as
AppleTalk disk servers. I talked with them briefly at NCC last july and
received some literature in the mail; however, I just recently moved, and
most my stuff is still in boxes. But contact the Zilog Unix folks
themselves for more info.
..bruce..
Bruce F. Webster/BYTE Magazine
ARPA: crash!bwebster@ucsd
uucp: {ihnp4, cbosgd, sdcsvax, noscvax}!crash!bwebster
CIS: 75166,1717
USPS: P.O. Box 1910, Orem, UT 84057
------------------------------
Date: 23 Sep 85 10:08:21 EDT
From: KROWITZ@MIT-MARIE
Subject: Appletalk cables
Someone suggested that I simply buy an 'official' Appletalk cable and
splice it onto the ends of the cable I am making. This would be feasible
if the price of an official Appletalk cable were reasonable. As far as I
can tell, you can only get the 10 meter cable extender kit ($50) or the
connector kit (1 connector box plus 2 meter cable, also $50) or the custom
cable kit ($600) from the local Apple dealers here in Cambridge. In any
case, going to the Apple dealer is inordinately expensive.
On the good news side: I did find a cable dealer ...
H. B. Associates
P. O. Box 857
Union City, CA 94587
1-(800)-423-3014
They sell both the cable (which I didn't price) and the connectors for
making your own Appletalk cables. The connectors are $2.75 each (less in
quantities of 25 or more). This is far less than the $50 which the local
dealers charge for two connectors.
- Dave Krowitz
( DAVID@MIT-MC.ARPA )
------------------------------
From: crash!bwebster@sdcsvax.arpa
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 85 18:30:50 PDT
Subject: Pascal for the Mac
As far as I know, there are no decent Pascal compilers for the Mac, though
I have heard rumors lately of a low-cost Pascal that produces
MDS-compatible assembly source. I have MacPascal and the two Pascals from
SofTech (the Mac p-System and MacAdvantage). Of the three, MacAdvantage is
the best. I have written a few decent-sized programs in it (including a
brainless go-playing program); it lets you use most of the Toolbox, though
some futzing around is necessary because of the 16-to-32-bit transition.
The compiler is actually quite fast, and the Executive program allows you
to stay out of the Finder, which speeds transition from utility to utility.
It comes with Bill Duvall's editor, RMaker, and some of its own utilities.
The Pascal itself is fairly standard UCSD Pascal with extensions to
facilitate Toolbox calls (such as Integer2). Speed of execution is about
20x faster than MacPascal, but still about 10x slower than most of the Mac
C compilers. And my go program is a few thousand lines long (I think--been
a while since I compiled it), uses (gasp!) pull-down menus, the standard
file packages, other such Mac items, and even lets you double-click a
"saved game" file to start up a game in progress. Of course, SofTech is
now defunct, so . . . .
Future Pascals include TURBO Pascal from Borland (yes, Philippe Kahn has
decided to bring up TP for the Mac) and Object Pascal from Apple. And I
want to know more about that low-cost Pascal mentioned above; if anyone has
details, *please* let me know, since I'd like to get a review copy ASAP.
<flame on>
As a fan of Pascal, I have been appalled at Apple's unwillingess and/or
inability to bring out a decent Pascal compiler for the Mac. It is
especially stupid since they've based the Toolbox and Inside Mac around
Pascal. I don't know if they were just trying to promote Lisa sales or
what, but I think they've missed the boat. Like it or not, C is *the*
standard development language for the Mac; I don't like C all that much,
but I'm getting better at it, because it's my only real choice on the Mac
itself, at least until TURBO Pascal comes along. Both Commodore and Atari
seem to have learned *that* lesson, at least, with both offering native
code C compilers for their machines immediately. On the other hand, having
initially released a 128K, single-drive machine, Apple would have been hard
pressed to come up with a decent compiler immediately--but that's a design
error on their part. Ah, well . . . .
<flame off>
..bruce..
[All opinions are my own, though I'm sure many are shared.]
Bruce F. Webster/BYTE Magazine
ARPA: crash!bwebster@ucsd
uucp: {ihnp4, cbosgd, sdcsvax, noscvax}!crash!bwebster
USPS: P.O. Box 1910, Orem, UT 84057
CIS: 75166,1717
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1985 17:49 EDT
From: JBA%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: Reid on Mac Modula-2
Brian,
I have used MacModula-2 from Modula Corporation for several projects,
including a toy compiler of over 4000 lines of code. The implementation of
Modula-2 is complete, very well-documented, virtually bug-free, and rather
slow, both for execution and compilation. I use a RamDisk on my 512K Mac,
and that makes things much more bearable. I wouldn't call programming with
it "suffering," but if I had an assignment due the next day, waiting for
the compiler would be rather frustrating.
------------------------------
Subject: Usable Pascals
Date: 20 Sep 85 13:53:11 PDT (Fri)
From: Dave Godwin <godwin@uci-icse>
Yes, I can say that I've Pascal quite succesfully on the Mac. Even as we
speak, I'm using the MacAdvantage pascal. This is a Pascal that requires
at least 128k memory, and I actually would not suggest using it without a
RAMdisk if you intend to work on large programs.
For student use, as a teacher of Pascal who has used both Macs and IBMs,
I'd go with the MacAdvantage system. With a RAMdisk, it's easy and fast.
The students will pick it up in an hour or so. I've no idea as to software
prices, as the University takes care of these things for me.
The Pascal itself is a full implemtation of the ISO standard, plus many
other powerful features that make it, language wise, the most powerful
Pascal I am aware of. The MacAdvantage is based upon the UCSD Pascal
compiler, but the OS is all Mac. No silly prompt menus here.
If you need more info, mail me direct.
Dave Godwin ( godwin@uci-icse.arpa )
University of California, Irvine
p.s. What I'm waiting for is Borland's Turbo Pascal for the Mac. It will
be out soon for the Amiga, and I doubt that other 68000 based machines will
have to wait much longer. Borland also has a nice Modula-2.
------------------------------
From: stew%lhasa@harvard.ARPA
Date: 23 Sep 85 22:38 EDT
Subject: Memory Management
I've got an program with several large arrays that can grow in the course
of execution. My method is to allocate them as handles and lock them, then
when they want to grow (all eight at the same time), I unlock them, set
their size, and lock them down again. The problem is that this leads to
big-time heap fragmentation. Does anyone know how to get the memory
manager to move a specific block down to the bottom of the heap? What I
would like is for HLock to move the block as low as possible before locking
the block. I know about ResrvMem(), but that seems only to be useful for
allocating new blocks which will be usually locked. I could do a ResrvMem,
a HandToHand, and dispose the old block, but that requires enough memory
for two copies. Any comments on any of this, anyone?
Stew
------------------------------
Date: 26 September 85 11:43 EDT
From: QP2%CORNELLA.BITNET@Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Not very obvious answer on menus
Harry Lewis asked where the Mac puts bits covered by a menu when it is
pulled down. The "Low memory in alphabetical order" section of the last
update to the Workshop mentions lo memory location $A28 as the
"SavedHandle". This is supposedly a handle to the saved bits under a menu.
-Jerry Lefkowitz
Data Desk, Inc.
(relayed by Paul Velleman)
------------------------------
Date: Fri 27 Sep 85 13:27:39-PDT
From: Eileen Leatherman <LEATHERMAN@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: laserwriters
My appologies if this subject has already been discussed recently on the
bboard:
I saw an ad for a company named Sadika International in downtown Palo Alto
which charges $0.50 per page (even if you supply your own paper) and $2.50
/ 15 minutes of comuter time to use their laser printer. Does anyone else
know of a laserwriter nearby which is available at cheaper rates?
Thanks!
------------------------------
Date: Sat 21 Sep 85 21:18:11-PDT
From: Tony Siegman <SIEGMAN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: MacTerminal SAVE Command
Be careful using the SAVE and SAVE AS commands in MacTerminal. Despite the
supposed consistency in interfaces between different Mac applications,
these commands do NOT function ANYTHING like the same commands in MacWrite,
MacPaint, MS Basic or Multiplan.
In all the latter programs, executing a SAVE or SAVE AS means that you've
put away on disk a permanent, unalterable copy of everything you've done up
to that point; and nothing by way of editing that you do in the application
beyond that point (except of course a new SAVE to the same document name)
will change what's on the disk.
MacTerminal works almost exactly the opposite. If you download a bunch of
material to MacTerminal (using Record Lines Off Top), do a SAVE AS to some
new file name, and then do a Clear Lines Off Top (thinking, perhaps, to
free up some disk space), you ERASE all the corresponding lines you've
supposedly "SAVED" in the new file.
So far as I can tell, SAVE AS in effect saves or freezes all the recorded
session information to that point in the OLD MacTerminal document you've
been working in, and then starts redirecting all subsequent commands and
information to the NEW name you've given. It might better be named
something like "RENAME (SESSION) AS" or "REDIRECT (SESSION OUTPUT) TO",
since that seems to be what it really does.
This inconsistency with most other Mac applications seems pretty
unfortunate. I also find the Manual's explanation of the commands not
especially clear, and they certainly don't give any strong warning of the
differences from other applications.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 85 15:43:53 pdt
From: saj@ACC-SB-UNIX.ARPA (Steve Johnson)
Subject: Torx #15 replacement
OK, looking for an inexpensive, easy-to-find tool to remove the torx screws
from your Mac so you can look at the insides? It's pretty hard to find a
#15 torx tip screwdriver with a 10" blade (that's the best tool), but at
PEP Boys you can get a "headlight replacement tool" made by AC-Delco for
$1.99 that does the job. It's an L-shaped screwdriver, with the #15 torx
on one end, just long enough to get to those deep-recessed screws. Sorry,
Apple.
------------------------------
End of INFO-MAC Digest
**********************