info-mac@uw-beaver (09/12/85)
From: Mark Lentczner <mark%apple.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa> [] There has been so many requests for my info file on Smalltalk that I think it warrents being posted to info-mac, so here it is... Please don't send me any more requests for this file, and do send your address physically, not electronically to the address below for an order form. I will still gladly answer specific questions regarding Smalltalk on the Mac. --Mark Lentczner Smalltalk Group Apple Computer, Inc. 20525 Marianni Avenue, MS:22Y Cupertino, CA 95014 UUCP: {nsc, dual, voder, ios}!apple!mark CSNET: mark@Apple.CSNET - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Yes, It is true, we have released the pre-product release 0.2 of Smalltalk for the Macintosh and Macintosh-XL systems. It comes with two images: level 0 and level 1. Being a pre-product version and because of the low price ($50, institution licence is $150 more, or $50 for educational institutions) we do not offer any support, you're on your own (but then again, haven't Smalltalkers allways been...) MEMORY Both images expand to use as available memory upto 2Meg (should work upto 4Meg, but we're not really sure about that...) Level 0 needs at least 512k and level 1 needs at least 1Meg. The number of objects is limited: level 0 at 14k objects, level 1 at 32k objects. We have tested Smalltalk with some third party 1Meg upgrades to the Macintosh as well as the 2Meg upgrade to the Macintosh-XL from AST and it works. The major factor for a Mac. 1Meg upgrade is if the 1Meg is continous and seen by the ROMs that way. The amount of free space in level 0 is 3k objects and 24k words (on a 512 Mac), and in level 1 is 16k objects and 104k words (on a 1Meg Mac-XL). FILES The level 0 image file will fit on one 400k floppy! On the other hand, some other files are a lot bigger. Level 1 is 600k so you will need a hard disk to run it. The sources file (on-line sources to all the code in the system) is 1.3Meg, hence you need a hard disk if you want that too, however the system will still keep all the source code you write in the changes file and will decompile all the system sources it can't find. Good news is that we don't do anything really weird with the files so that almost any hard disk that works with existing Mac applications should work with Smalltalk. Even better is that any disk server that appears as volume in the Finder will also be found and used by Smalltalk (several people sharing the sources over Apple talk from one disk server has been proven to work!) Finally, we the system comes with a file in that makes lets you issue a command from the browser that will read the sources off the distribution disks if you really need the source code and can't have the sources on line (that means that sources are still available even on diskette systems!!!) VERSIONS Our images are built out of Xerox version 1. (Sorry about there being release numbers, level numbers, and version numbers...) Version 2 is what is described in the books from Addison/Wesley. The differences are not major and we have added equivelent things in many cases (spelling correction for instance). At this time there are no plans for us to do a version 2 port. (If version 2 is important to you, and you have the resources to do a port of the image, please contact us further...) Level 0 is actually a pared down version of level 1 which is missing many of the 'extras' that are in the system (Spline curves for example). The whole programming enviornment is there except for projects. CONFIGURATION, SPEED, TOOLBOX, & MISC. Just to pull together some of the above info: Yes, it is possible to run Smalltalk on a 512k Mac with one (or two) floppy disk drives and have enough space to do 'student' type projects (1 or 2 weeks). On the other hand, level 1 with 1Meg and a harddisk makes quite a useful system that can support a great deal of work. The speed of our system has been clocked at 13% Dorado, or just slightly faster than the Berkley BS2 implementation on SUNs. The images do provide access to the Mac toolbox, although they do not make use of it themselves. As can been seen from some of the examples in the image, one could speed up the Smalltalk interface substantially by making use of the toolbox (which is one of the projects we are doing here). NEWS LETTER At this time we are not 100% certian what to do about a Macintosh Smalltalk newletter. For the time being, if you happen to have anything that you'd like to be in such a newsletter (goodies, work-arounds, fixes, applications, lab reports, novel uses, etc.) you can mail them to us and we will do somthing useful with them. If you are seriously interested in coordinating such a newsletter, please let us know. Well, there's more info than you probably bargained for, hope you enjoyed it. Ordering info: if you already sent me your address, then the order form is on the way. Otherwise, if you send a letter to: Smalltalk Request c/o Eileen Crombie Apple Computer, Inc. 20525 Mariani Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 She'll send you some more info and an order form. -- Mark Lentczner DoIt: Rectangle allInstancesDo: [:r | Display reverse: r] (p.s., if you get this twice, please mail me so that I may fix my addresses) [This entire message has been archived, in Tops-20 MAIL.TXT format, in the file [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>SMALLTALK.TXT, as a public service. --RMA]