info-mac@uw-beaver (07/25/85)
From: John M. Agosta <INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.arpa>
INFO-MAC Digest Thursday, 25 Jul 1985 Volume 3 : Issue 26
Today's Topics:
uw - multi-window tty emulator
Neon Group & Re: Price
Hyperdrive details
PageMaker has been released!
What is ``Macintosh Revealed''?
Epson printer compatibility ?
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Date: Fri, 19 Jul 85 18:38:03 pdt
From: John Bruner <jdb@s1-c.ARPA>
Subject: uw - multi-window tty emulator
In the past I have seen a number of articles suggesting that
someone should implement a multiple-window terminal emulator on the
Macintosh. I have done so (for 4.2BSD UNIX). Here is the result.
My program is called "uw". It implements up to seven independent
terminal sessions on a Macintosh connected to a 4.2BSD host by a
serial line. (It also works over dialups; however, it may not work
over a network because XON/XOFF flow control does poorly in network
environments.) It emulates an ADM-31 terminal (a "smart" ADM-3A).
The UNIX side is handled by the programs "uw" (server) and "uwtool"
(used to start new windows from the UNIX end).
The distribution includes the source for the 4.2BSD programs.
I've only used it on a VAX, but it should work on any 4.2BSD host.
I believe it can be made to work on any UNIX which supports something
like pseudo-terminals. (For instance, I believe I could make it work
on the PDP-11's in the Purdue Engineering Computer Network. [Sorry.
Those who know me understand why I had to put that in.]) The protocol
is simple (and is described in a header file included in the
distribution), so perhaps someone will try an implementation for
System V (?).
Since "uw" uses pseudo-ttys, I recommend that potential users
contact their system administrators about the effect on the
available ptys. A UNIX system with only 16 pty's won't support
very many copies of "uw" running at once.
I believe "uw" will run on a 128K Macintosh, but I don't have one
available to test it.
There is no warrantee, express or implied, associated with this
program. In particular, I cannot promise that it is free from
security loopholes.
There are more things I'd like to do with this program. If the
feedback is positive I'll probably post newer versions later.
[ These sources have also been posted over usenet on net.sources.mac
The attached shar file may be found in <info-mac>unix-uw.shar
This contains the unix "uw" server source files and the "HQX" files
for the Mac program. John is not ready to release the Mac sources
at this time. -jma ]
--
John Bruner (S-1 Project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
MILNET: jdb@mordor [jdb@s1-c.ARPA] (415) 422-0758
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!dual!mordor!jdb ...!seismo!mordor!jdb
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Date: Wed 24 Jul 85 17:40:13-MDT
From: Tony Jacobs <T-JACOBS@UTAH-20.ARPA>
Subject: Neon Group & Re: Price
A users group has now been started for NEON. If you requested to be on the
list and didn't receive the first message then send me some mail.
If you would like to be on the mailing list then send me your address.
I spoke with Kriya yesterday and they said the $150 price has been extended
to October. They also told me that consortium universities can get a 20%
discount due to agreement developers have with apple. I don't believe you
can get the $15 for the tell a friend deal and the 20% consortium discount.
By the way if anyone who isn't in the consortium is still looking to get Neon,
tell them that Tony Jacobs, ser.# A0503208 sent you and they will send me $15
in which I will be glad to return any portion of that to you.
Kryia is comming out with an update in 6-8 weeks which will include a new
manual with new chapters, a new glossary which is complete, an index (yea!),
and some other code improvements. The Neon manual is really quite excellent
but has quite a few typos or printing problems (it's lazed).
Tony Jacobs
t-jacobs@utah-20
------------------------------
Subject: Hyperdrive details
Date: 23 Jul 85 16:18:30 EDT (Tue)
From: meltsner@mit-charon.ARPA
The latest issue of General Computer Corp.'s newsletter about the Hyperdrive
states that they have developed the Clip (TM) to allow H-drives to be hooked
in without altering the Macintosh's main logic board. The Clip consists of
an over-chip clamp (like some old logic monitors) and a a flat cable to the
Hyperdrive. Installations are said to be done in about a half hour.
Is this clamp a commercial device? Or should I try to buy them from GCC?
The other interesting details are that Apple now will support Hyperdrived
Macs on the non-GCC parts, and that the Hyperdrive is (for some dealers)
twice as profitable as the Mac (I guess a gross margin of about $800/drive or
30-40%).
The last Hyperdrive detail is just a rumor, but I heard that GCC will soon
offer memory upgrades to 4 megs for the Macintosh.
Ooops! The really last detail is: all Hyperdrives are serialized, and software
can be keyed to this number, and Lotus is really pushing Jazz+Hyperdrive.
Hmmm.
Ken
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 85 12:22:28 pdt
From: fluke!adam@uw-beaver.arpa (Adam Novick)
Subject: PageMaker has been released!
Aldus released PageMaker four days ago (on July 15th). Those mail order
houses that have been advertising it for the last several weeks should now
be able to come up with the goods. You should also be able to find PageMaker
at Apple dealers that serve the business community.
I have been a beta test site for PageMaker for the last several months, and
would like to offer my comments to the net. My perspective is that I have
been working in technical publications for the last six years. My first book
was done the hard way, with pencil, scissors and glue. Since then I have
worked on a variety of mainframe wordprocessing and typesetting systems.
In a nutshell, PageMaker is so slick, so versatile, and so easy to use, I
want to shout about it.
For those of you who don't know what it's about, PageMaker is an electronic
page-makeup program. You can use it to pasteup text and graphics to create
pages for slick, graphic-arts-quality publications, right on the Mac. It
works with the ImageWriter, the LaserWriter, and (get this!) professional
phototypesetting machines. The program requires a 512K Mac and an external
drive.
PageMaker directly accepts documents produced by MacWrite, MacDraw,
MacPaint, and Word. It also accepts anything else you can get on the
clipboard. (I haven't tried PageMaker with Word, but since Aldus has made good
on all their other claims, I'm sure it works with Word, too.)
Once documents are on a page, you can edit the text, stretch and crop the
graphics, add other simple graphic elements, and move everything around
until you are happy with the result. During the process, you can zoom in and
out to see the pages at different magnifications. Among other features, text
columns are "threaded" together so that when you lengthen or shorten a
column, text automatically flows into or out of the other columns as
required, even from other pages.
The list of features goes on, but rather than repeat them here, let me refer
you to Aldus' demo disk or to one of the recent reviews (see MacWorld, July
1985; Professional & Corporate Publishing, March 1985; or the Seybold Report
on Publishing Systems, Volume 14, Number 9). Or better yet, look at some
sample pages, like the PageMaker manual itself. It's phenomenal what you
can do with a Mac and a LaserWriter.
People are undoubtedly going to choke on the price ($495 list), especially
when they compare it to the price of MacPublisher and Ready-Set-Go! ($99 and
$125, respectively). But PageMaker has so many more capabilities it's really
a question of comparing apples to oranges (no pun intended). The bottom line
is that if you have a LaserWriter, you can't afford NOT to have PageMaker.
One point that reviewers have generally failed to appreciate is the
significance of PageMaker's use of PostScript. PostScript is a
device-independent, page-description language which is rapidly becoming the
industry standard. PostScript can describe just about anything you can think
of putting on a page--from text to vector graphics to bit maps. Because it's
device independent, the resolution of your carefully crafted page is limited
only by the resolution of the output device. Although this doesn't work
miracles for bit-mapped art (e.g., MacPaint, MacVision, and Thunderscan
graphics), it means text and vector graphics can take full advantage of the
LaserWriter's or a phototypesetter's capabilities.
In practical terms, this means you can put together a newsletter using your
ImageWriter, tweak the layout until it's right, and then--without changing a
single byte--print it on a LaserWriter or a phototypesetter. Out come
typeset pages, complete with all your text and graphics. (Can you imagine the
crispness with which a phototypesetter would reproduce the vector graphics
from your MacDraw document?)
The first phototypesetters to be able to interpret PostScript--and thus be
usable with PageMaker--will be the Linotronic 101 and 300 from Allied
Linotype. (Allied is the new name for Mergenthaler, the prestigious,
100-year-old typesetting firm. In keeping with the times, Allied is calling
their products "imagesetters" rather than "typesetters.") An Allied rep just
told the Seattle Macintosh User's Group that the Linotronic 101 will be
available in 150 days.
After all this gushing I owe you some caveats:
First, although the ImageWriter can print PageMaker documents, it really
takes the LaserWriter (or a phototypesetter) to take advantage of
PageMaker's capabilities. The slickest of layouts is going to look
amateurish unless the text and art are crisp, and the crisper the better. In
other words, the LaserWriter needs PageMaker, and PageMaker needs the
LaserWriter.
Fortunately for paupers like you and me, according to Aldus, businesses
(such as computer stores?) will soon offer printing on the LaserWriter as a
service: You hand them a disk and they hand you pretty pages. Presumably,
someone will offer a similar service with the Linotronics.
(So you want your own Linotronic 101, eh? Hey, go for it! They only cost
$30,000. Actually, that's cheap compared to what similar systems cost only
a couple of years ago.)
Another important point is that PageMaker is really intended for documents 1
to 16 pages long--such as newsletters, menus, brochures, little instruction
manuals, etc. These it can do with beautiful efficiency.
PageMaker can also be used for longer publications, but the going definitely
gets tougher. As I mentioned before, Aldus pasted up their manual using
PageMaker (and it looks great), but as the manual itself implies, such tasks
are no simple feat. (The manual suggests using a hard disk to make larger
jobs a little easier.)
For smaller publications, though, PageMaker really sings. As one reviewer
said, "If you were to sit down and use the program, and did not see that you
were using a Mac, you'd think you were using a $100,000 page make-up
system."
Drool, drool, drool.
Adam Novick
Supervisor, Technical Publications
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc
Everett, WA
Disclaimer: Aside from having volunteered to be a Beta test site and edit
their manual in exchange for a copy of the final release (Jeez, I work
cheap!), I have no connection with Aldus.
------------------------------
Subject: What is ``Macintosh Revealed''?
Date: 23 Jul 85 22:24:54 EDT (Tue)
From: dm@BBN-VAX.ARPA
In the MAUG conference with Andy Herzfield, someone asked him what he thought
of ``Macintosh Revealed''. He said he hadn't seen volume 2 yet, but that he
thought it made a good supplement to ``Inside Macintosh''.
What's ``Macintosh Revealed''?
------------------------------
Date: 24 Jul 1985 09:10-EDT
Sender: LIZZA@USC-ISI.ARPA
Subject: Epson printer compatibility ?
From: LIZZA@USC-ISI.ARPA
I have a friend with a Kaypro who is thinking of moving
to a Mac. He would like to avoid buying an Imagewriter if his
FX-80 wil suffice. I've seen ads for an FX-80 with Graftrax+ for
a Mac. Anyone have some insight? Thanx
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End of INFO-MAC Digest
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