INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA (Moderator William J. Berner) (02/23/86)
INFO-MAC Digest Sunday, 23 Feb 1986 Volume 4 : Issue 15
Today's Topics:
bugs in MS fortran
FontDisplay and Digests
MaxThink
MacAuthor
FreeTerm 1.8
Re: Mac+ Cables
Re: FastEddie2 (new release)
FastEddie2 query (and QUED)
RE: MacTerminal at 9600 Baud
Re: Overheating vs. power surge dilemma
Re: MAC-Plus upgrade costs??
High Baud Rates...
Usenet Mac Digest Vol. 2 Issue 11
Delphi Mac Digest Vol. 2 #7
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Date: Sat, 22 Feb 86 11:11:14 PST
From: <DAVEG%SLACVM.BITNET@Lindy>
Reply-to: DAVEG%SLACVM.BITNET@SU-Forsythe.ARPA
Subject: bugs in MS fortran
Date: 22 February 86 11:11-PST
From: DAVEG@SLACVM
To: INFO-MAC@SUMEX-AIM
Subject: bugs in MS fortran
Date: 22 February 1986, 11:02:43 PST
From: David M. Gelphman 415-854-3300 x2538 DAVEG at SLACVM
To: INFO-MAC at SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD
Subject: bugs in MS fortran
While working with MS Fortran I found a serious bug and a serious limitation.
The bug is if you use the FORTRAN 66 option checked when you compile code. A
simple program:
INTEGER*4 IDATA
DATA IDATA/32000/
WRITE(6,1)IDATA
1 FORMAT(1X, 'IDATA = ',I10)
STOP
END
This program will yield garbage results when compiled using the FORTRAN 66
option since the value IDATA is never initialized!!! Fortunately their
debugger helps you find these problems quickly but as far as I'm concerned
this bug makes the FORTRAN 66 option useless.
The limitations I have discovered are that:
1. You can only have 3 OPEN statements in a program. To open more units
results in an out of memory error that I couldn't work around and the
guy in Tech support at Microsoft was totally worthless. Wouldn't you
think a multi-million dollar company like Microsoft could afford to have
good tech support? I don't buy the argument that Microsoft is licensing
the product...they are SELLING it under their name and should support it.
2. It appears that an error (at least some errors) which would generate a
warning (but not severe error) under other compilers is considered
severe enough to not produce the object code.
I only used the compiler for a couple of weeks in order to port another
program for someone else. Some things I did like but I did run into the
above problems in a short period of time.
David Gelphman DAVEG@SLACVM.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: 22 Feb 86 17:28:48 EST
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: FontDisplay and Digests
The message about FontDisplay 3.1 seems to have been chewed by the
mailers. The bug is that the Style Sheet style names are printed incorrectly
(but you do get the styles you've asked for.) Since I plan on a final [ :-) ]
version once Megamax releases their "official" HFS support, you might want to
wait for that one. Sorry if it inconvenienced anyone.
Secondly, the Delphi Mac Digest and Usenet Mac Digests are really
separate from INFO-MAC, they should NOT be in the INFO-MAC digest. Arpanet
users should subscribe directly by sending a note to the following addresses:
DELPHI-MAC-DIGEST-REQUEST@RUTGERS
USENET-MAC-DIGEST-REQUEST@RUTGERS
(NOTE: Delphi Mac Digest is posted to net.micro.mac on Usenet.)
INFO-MAC is getting them to ARCHIVE and not to be included in the
INFO-MAC digest. The main reason for this is that INFO-MAC is also
sent to Delphi and their users do not need to PAY twice to receive the
messages they already received.
(There *was* an announcement to this affect but it seems to have gotten
lost in the moderator change.)
Jeff
uucp: ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!shulman
arpa: SHULMAN@RUTGERS
Delphi: JEFFS
------------------------------
Date: Sat 22 Feb 86 14:47:33-PST
From: Gustavo Fernandez <FERNANDEZ@SU-SUSHI.ARPA>
Subject: MaxThink
Every time I go over to the local ComputerWare Mac-only software store in
Palo Alto, I never fail to be impressed by the volume of new Mac software
being introduced. I never failed to be equally amazed by the quantity of BAD
Mac software being introduced. I have a candidate for this month's Mac
software turkey award - MaxThink.
MaxThink is supposedly a new outline processor which is competing squarely
with ThinkTank. It has gotten many good reviews for its IBM version.
Unfortunately, the Mac version looks like an IBM program with a very thin
Mac "cover."
While at the store, the dealer allowed me to break the shrink wrap of one
of the copies and try it out. I took the disk, write protected it, stuck it
in a Mac Plus with a 20 meg SCSI drive on it, and double clicked on the
MaxThink icon. It came up with a single blank window and a single Apple
symbol in the menu bar. This was quickly replaced by a slightly larger
window with the MaxThink logo. Then this was erased, a full menu bar
appeared as well as a dialog which said "Please wait" followed immediately
by an error message printed in the main window "0000 0000 NO FILE" which
partially overwrote the dialog. The message was written in n ugly monospaced
font.
I had no choice but to reboot the system. This time, I copied all of the
files and folders on the diskette except for the system folder onto the hard
drive. I ejected the floppy and launched MaxThink, and got the same results
except that "0000 0000 NO FILE" was replaced by "&^%$*&Y%R*&%$ NO FILE"
I then rebooted again, and checked what was on the disk. There was MaxThink,
the system folder, two example files, and a folder called "Don't touch."
I opened this folder and found inside a file called "Config.dvr" (?) and a
generic application icon called "MacJunk." What are these?
After having little success running the program from the MacPlus, I
finally gave up and un-write protected the disk. Finally, I got something
near reasonable results!
The program presented a ThinkTank-like outline, but still in that ugly
monospaced font which I saw the error message printed in. Not being an
outline processor expert, I tried to manipulate the outline using what
little I knew about using ThinkTank. Operations did not seem quite as
intuitive. For example, clicking on a header did NOT toggle expansion of
sub-topics.
The program presents a single movable window with a scroll bar but no
grow-box. I tried using the scroll bar and found that the program could not
scroll. It insists on re-drawing the entire screen every time you let
go of the mouse. The only feedback you get when you scroll is that the thumb
moves down.
The page-setup dialog was completely non-standard. It had a bunch of MaxThink
specific styler options which seemed to be very monospaced character/line
TTY oriented as opposed to more generally size/pixel oriented as we are used
to on most Mac programs. Also it used a "character graphics" oriented style
of selecting values for certain numeric quantities which is completely alien
to the Mac way of doing things. Not that it was necessarily bad, it just
looked "cheap" and implemented by someone who had his mind thoroughly
entrenched in a mono-spaced world.
I tried opening the two example documents and got reasonable results. Two
other files appeared in the Standard File dialog: "SPILL" and the
"Config.dvr" file I mentioned earlier. Opening one of these files caused the
machine to hang or to give the "NO FILE" error message. I had no choice
but to re-boot.
By this time, I could do nothing but laugh at how atrociously bad the
operation of this program was. I have no doubts that the IBM version is a
really nice outline processor, but the Mac version is one of the worst done
ports I have seen in recent months. The author tried to give his program a
"Macish" user interface without realizing that this work goes way beyond the
outermost shell and must be reflected in the innermost data structures. Gone
are the concepts of "character spacing." Replacing these are "Font Metric"
concepts from typesetting. On the Mac, you cannot get away with re-drawing
the entire screen after the slightest change. The author of MaxTHink seems
to have realized this problem, but too late, as is evident in the action of
the scroll bar.
There is no excuse for having cryptic error messages appear on the screen the
first thing that happens when you first run the program. This is simply
sloppy programming.
Perhaps some or all of these shortcomings have a partial explanation in that
the "About" dialog stated that the program was written in MasterForth. This
would certainly explain the anomalous window behavior at launch as the FORTH
runtime system gave way to the actual application. It would also explain the
unexplained files in the "Don't Touch" folder. My guess is that the
author of MaxThink relied too heavily on the facilities provided by his
chosen FORTH environment instead of on those provided by the Mac toolbox.
Nobody said that writing Mac applications is easy. Porting them is even
harder, as many of the base concepts are different and there are many new
issues that need to be faced by developers. It is up to us, the buying
public, to demand high quality software that takes full advantage of a high
quality machine and makes no compromises to old technology and inertia.
Gus Fernandez
------------------------------
Date: 22 Feb 86 18:36:19 EST
From: Kevin.Dowling@ROVER.RI.CMU.EDU
Subject: MacAuthor
I continue to see references in the Mac literature (magazines,
newsletter etc.) to MacAuthor, a word-processing program developed
in Great Britain. All the mentions of MacAuthor allude to excellence,
comprehensiveness, and a number of features available. However,
I've seen no mention of the product other than these tantilizing
rumors. It has also been mentioned that rather than release it the authors
continue to improve the product before release although several pre-release
versions are apparently in use. I normally wouldn't care about such mentions
of products but the dearth of quality WP for the Mac have made me
desirous of such a package.
Is it a real product deemed for release in the near future?
What features are available for the program?
Price? Contacts?
nivek
Aka : Kevin Dowling Bell: (412) 268-8830
Arpa: nivek@rover.ri.cmu.edu Mail: Robotics Institute
Schenley Park
Carnegie Mellon University
Pgh, PA 15213
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 86 19:43:52 EST
From: Gary P Standorf <standorf@CECOM-2.ARPA>
Subject: FreeTerm 1.8
This is a copy of FreeTerm version 1.8 which was downloaded from Compuserve.
FreeTerm is a freeware dumb terminal emulator which supports sending and
receiving ASCII files, files using XModem, & files using MacBinary format.
This version works with the AppleTalk network.
Enjoy,
Gary Standorf
<standorf@cecom-2.arpa>
[ARCHIVED AS [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-FREETERM-18.HQX
-BB]
------------------------------
Date: Sat 22 Feb 86 22:48:31-CST
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Mac+ Cables
Dave,
Apple's Technical Note #65 contains what you want. It's available
with FTP from the archives. If you can't FTP, request it by mail from
INFO-MAC-REQUEST or from me.
Cheers, ---Werner
------------------------------
Date: Sat 22 Feb 86 23:24:05-CST
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: FastEddie2 (new release)
I just recently posted FastEddie2 Vn. 2.2 to USENET, including a few comments
describing still pending shortcomings. The recent USENET-digest should
contain those, if not, please ask me for copies. The executable version
was posted to net.sources.mac, which I am not sure the INFO-MAC editors
capture for the archives automatically. ( do you, William? if not, let me
know and I'll make the file available to you for FTP, preferably, rather
than filling INFO-MAC-REQUEST mailbox with 60+K hexed-garble.)
There is a version 2.3 already that fixes, at least, one subtle bug, which
I should be able to make available shortly. I use FastEddie2 daily and
prefer it to anything else that I know about at this point.
Disclaimer: I know the author and wish him well. I will forward messages to
him (within reason). upgrades are available to current owners;
cost details are in my USENET-postings. FastEddie is distributed
in a fairly unique way, which generate possible $$$s for the
registered owner when passing on demo-versions that lead to
purchases. However, I have DECLINED that and will not profit from
distributing demos. Without this arrangement,
I would not have thought it proper for me to make the demos available
on these nets. More details again in my USENET posting.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 86 00:06:36 est
From: Roy Leban <roy%farg.umich.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: FastEddie2 query (and QUED)
Someone asked about FastEddie2. I haven't seen the full version, but the
"limited" version I played with was enough to decide I didn't want to see
the full version. The author seems to have ignored the Mac guidelines in
semi-random places and followed it in others, ranging from all lower-case
menu titles to an About box that you have to hit Return to go on (instead
of clicking the mouse). This last one confused a friend so much that he
rebooted his machine, thinking it had locked up. In any event, since the
limited edition is free, you might as well take a look at it. You might
disagree with me.
On the other hand, I bought a copy of QUED from Paragon Courseware and am
very happy with it. It's a nice, well thought-out text editor which is far
and away better than MDS Edit (and FastEddie2). Among other things, I have
been able to edit as many as 20 files simultaneously in it. It includes
automatic indentation, goto line number (and visible line numbers), nice
commands to expand/shrink and cleanup the windows, and a lot more. It's
only $65 and the folks at Paragon are very friendly and helpful. I don't
have the address handy, but they have advertised in several recent issues of
MacWorld. [And, as usual, I have no connection with either FastEddie or
QUED, except for having purchased the latter].
-Roy.
------------------------------
Date: Sun 23 Feb 86 00:08:21-CST
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: RE: MacTerminal at 9600 Baud
Roy,
while the link is at 9600 Baud, the effective transmission speed is
more like 3300 Baud. At least, it was when I tested Versions 1.1 and earlier
of MacTerminal some time back. to test, just transfer a large file and time
the speed and divide by file-size. do the same test with VersaTerm and you
should find a faster "effective" speed - nothing too close to 9600 Baud, though.
---Werner
PS: note that there are other factors which can slow down such tests, so this
is not a *definite* test and comparison.
------------------------------
Date: Sun 23 Feb 86 00:18:53-CST
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Overheating vs. power surge dilemma
Frank,
put in a fan, make sure you have 5 Volt and 9 Volt, else adjust the
voltage, leave your MAC on (mine runs for months at end) and use the DA
Fade-to-Black to protect from screen-burnout. If you still experience
analog-board problems, write it off to bad luck.
---Werner
Disclaimer: neither I nor anyone else takes responsibility for the above.
Get professional help if you are afraid to break more than you fix.
Just because it works for me doesn't mean anything - I am a
Sunday-child (-:
------------------------------
Date: Sun 23 Feb 86 00:48:26-CST
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: MAC-Plus upgrade costs??
upgrade costs are described in recent USENET-digests. Consortium prices
are about 33% below list. My recommendation is not to hurry into an early
upgrade, unless you find *VERY GOOD* reasons making you willing to live
with early release problems already reported. Rather than upgrading a MAC,
I prefer to buy third-party upgrades to 2 Meg or more. The SCSI board is
not a proven winner - no cheap drives are available for at least another 6
months. Selling your MAC and buying a *NEW* MAC+ may be a better idea,
anyway, considering the upgrade costs. I rather wait for Jonathan, besides.
I run 2Meg RAM, 10 Meg Tecmar, Switcher, RamDisk, ProgramCache,
Ram/Disk Printer-Spooler (in varying combinations) and I look forward to
using some cheap internal 20Meg HD and add-on boards with faster CPU,
SCSI-port, floating-point chips, etc. But I can't say that I do encourage
folks that are not well-connected or experienced in hardware-hacking to
follow my example. Investigate your usage-need, see if you can justify
add-on hardware at current prices and reported failure-rates, and, by all
means, hook up to a support-network in a computer-club or on a BBS.
And if you lack nerves, buy IBM ... hmm, I meant Apple, of course (-:
Disclaimer: I own Apple and IBM stock and don't benefit from my own advice.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 86 23:50:02 est
From: Roy Leban <roy%farg.umich.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: High Baud Rates...
A message in Info-Mac V4 #12 thought that there was an error in a previous
posting of mine regarding problems with programs keeping up at 9600.
There wasn't any error: the important part was "keeping up". What I mean
by that is putting text to the screen at the same rate that it is received
without any Xon/Xoff flow control. Like I said, no current commercial program
keeps up at rates exceeding 7200. MacTerminal seems to manage something
above 4800, VersaTerm 7200, MicroPhone has advertised 7200 (but I can't
verify this), and Red Ryder manages a speed below 2400. The physical limit
as far as drawing characters and scrolling seems to be somewhere around
19,200, however.
-Roy.
roy%farg@umich[.csnet]
------------------------------
Date: 23 Feb 86 10:33:47 EST
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: Usenet Mac Digest Vol. 2 Issue 11
Usenet Mac Digest Sunday, 23 Feb 1986 Volume 2 : Issue 11
Today's Topics:
Administrativia - New name
MDS and HD20
help on pasting PICT's
MS Word questions
Re: HFS and MacWorks XL
Do you have a good method of creating EQUATIONS?
Anyone have public domain Hebrew fonts?
MacKermit 0.8(33) - limitation: you can't use the printer-port
Q: determining all fonts and sizes needed for a document?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jeffrey Shulman (JEFFS) Moderator
Subject: Administrativia - New name
Date: 23 Feb 86
This digest has been renamed to "Usenet Mac Digest" to better reflect what
it contains. It is posted to ICONtact on Delphi and archived
on <INFO-MAC> on Sumex. Arpanet readers may directly subscribe to this
digest by sending a message to: USENET-MAC-DIGEST-REQUEST@RUTGERS
[ARCHIVED AS [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>USENETV2-11.TXT
--BB]
------------------------------
Date: 23 Feb 86 11:38:15 EST
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: Delphi Mac Digest Vol. 2 #7
Delphi Mac Digest Sunday, 23 Feb 1986 Volume 2 : Issue 7
Today's Topics:
Administrativia - New name & TechNotes
Silly Time Again
Re: RAM disks and LaserWriter
RE: Doubling your Sony Floppies (Re: Msg 6018)
RE: Doubling your Sony Floppies (Re: Msg 5985)
Re: How to save PostScript files on the Mac
Laser Printers
Mac Plus floppy disk performance
RE: Mac Plus floppy disk performance (Re: Msg 6127)
TEIdle blinks through menu bar
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jeff Shulman (Moderator)
Subject: Administrativia - New name & TechNotes
Date: 23-FEB 11:33
This digest has been renamed to "Delphi Mac Digest" to better reflect what
it contains. It is posted to net.micro.mac on Usenet and archived
on <INFO-MAC> on Sumex. Arpanet readers may directly subscribe to this
digest by sending a message to: DELPHI-MAC-DIGEST-REQUEST@RUTGERS
I would also like to remind readers that the Apple TechNotes are being made
available to Arpanet and Usenet readers. Arpanet readers may obtain the
notes from the <INFO-MAC> directory on Sumex. Usenet readers may obtain
them through the following redistribution sites (pick the one closest to
you):
packard!ihnp4!ihuxo!pvp
mcvax!frankk
russes%cygnus.DEC@decwrl,
davidk%amber%dartmouth@csnet-relay
gkloker.toronto@csnet-relay
seismo!cvl!tk@topaz
ihnp4!cbdkc1!gwe@topaz
My thanks to these people for volunteering as redistribution sites.
[ARCHIVED AS [SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>DELPHIV2-7.TXT
--BB]
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End of INFO-MAC Digest
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