INFO-MAC@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU.UUCP (02/19/87)
INFO-MAC Digest Wednesday, 18 Feb 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 54 Today's Topics: Serial Driver Updating the screen after a dialog box LaserWriter problem The Cache and cache bits. MacWrite to Troff Conversions hardware help Mac interface again Questions, questions, questions... Two off-the-wall cents about multi-tasking and the MacFuture confused drawing type in MacDraft (probably IDD stupidity) MakeWrite Announcement Scholars Aid program part1 MPW scripts Question about X-Windows MacWord to MS-DOS Word conversion exists Mac <==> PC file transfers Lisp Development Environments Pagemaker 2.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Feb 87 22:05:15 EST From: salamir%UMASS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu Subject: Serial Driver I am attempting to develop a BBS system for the Macintosh and cannot get the serial routines to work. Does anyone out there have any serial driver routines working with Lightspeed C (or any other C for that matter) that they would be willing to send me? It would save me a serious amount of time! RLussier Internet: Salamir@Umass.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Feb 87 15:37 PST From: <C9017%UWAV4.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: Updating the screen after a dialog box Howdy, I have a problem/question. I am writing my own application in Pascal and call dialog boxes frequently (as a part of the interface). Whenever a dialog box is drawn on the screen and after it is 'disposed' of, there is usually a blank patch on the screen. I have problems drawing graphics to the blank area. I have seen some programs which 'rebuild' the blank area of the screen after a dialog box (or even a desk accessory disappears). Can somebody please give me some idea how this is done and just how difficult it is to perform this feat of magic? Also, I have what will probably seem a trivial problem to those folks who are Mac programmers. I have been working on a program which creates a text output file. I have been able to get to the point where if I double-click on one of the files created by my application, it will launch the application (as if I double-clicked on the application). My question is: How do I know which text file has been double-clicked and where in my program do I put such a call? I assume that it has to do with the call GetFInfo? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks, Bob Ruderman Department of Geography University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195 Bitnet: C9017@UWAV4.BITNET Arpanet: C9017%UWAV4.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA Usenet: C9017%UWAV4.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Feb 87 11:56:10 PST From: <JURVIS@aplvm.bitnet> Reply-to: JURVIS%APLVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu Subject: LaserWriter problem "I need some help with sending PostScript to the LaserWriter Plus." I have written a set of plotting subroutines in Aztec C that runs on the Macintosh. As an option the plot can be recorded as a 'picture' and sent to the Clipboard for pasting into MacWrite or MacDraw, etc. I have also ported these routines to our Apollo network. I have just recently added to the Apollo version the option for generating the equivalent PostScript commands and sending them to a file. We have a PostScript driver for our dotmatrix printer (slow, but it works), and the resulting plots come out just as expected - just at 144 dpi. What I want to do is send this PostScript file to the LaserWriter Plus which is not in the Apollo network. I have access to the LaserWriter Plus throught the Macintosh that is connected to our Apollos. I have tried: 1) Using a 'PostScript Escape' font in Edit then Print...)ing - this method has worked just fine with very small PostScript files I've created for generating logos for our letterhead. Result - printer accepts file but doesn't print anything. Once I did get an error message back that said something about the offending command being "framedevice". 2) Using the Downloading Program 'PostScript Dumper' V1.0B Feb '85 from an old version of "Inside LaserWriter" - this has also worked for small PostScript programs. Result - printer accepts file but doesn't print anything. [As an aside, I have used this to send the error printing routine to the LaserWriter Plus which prints out the message that it's loaded, but it never seems to print errors. I would also appreciate help on this.] 3) Transferring the C source code for the plotting program to the Macintosh, running it there, putting the picture in the Clipboard, pasting it into MacDraw and printing it from there. Result - it works. The lines are too thick (I could just draw it larger and print it at 50% or 25%) and the patterned lines come out strange, but it prints! 4) Same as 3) but generating PostScript file with command-f. This file is almost 1000 lines long - almost all LaserPrep subroutine calls. Try to print this using same technique as in 1). Result - printer accepts file but doesn't print anything. I have been able to get 1) & 2) to work by stripping out about 900 lines of code, that that is useless. I'm out of options that I know of. Any ideas out there? Are there new and better versions of the Inside LaserWriter (Plus) programs available? Andy Scheck (JURVIS@APLVM.BITNET) Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Feb 87 17:26:28 est From: levine@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Jonathan M. Levine) Subject: The Cache and cache bits. After discovering the extra speed the cache gives to the Finder, I tried turning the Cache Bits on (via ResEdit) for a bunch of files. I turned it on for Switcher, MacWrite, MacDraw, Finder, Imagewriter, System...I think that's it. Anyway, I was running Switcher 4.4 with a 128K Cache, and MacWrite and Draw in 128K partitions. Everything worked fine, except that when I switched, I got the switcher window for a moment (that is, the current screen closed up into the switcher screen before the switching animation started), and when I saved my MacWrite document, I got thrown out of MacWrite (Switcher claimed an I/O error). It turns out nothing is wrong with the document I saved -- I was able to go back into MacWrite and print it in the same switcher session. But this led me to suspect that something is amiss with the cache. Should I not be setting the Cache bit on for certain applications? If so, is there a list of applications for which setting the bit is advisable/ill-advised? Many thanks, Jonathan ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Feb 87 22:50:37 PST From: <GEISJBJ@uregina1.bitnet> Reply-to: GEISJBJ%UREGINA1.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu Subject: MacWrite to Troff Conversions Does anybody know if the MacWrite to Troff Converter on file at MACSERVE on BITNic is working correctly. I downloaded a copy, installed the necessary files on a PdP-11 running Unix 2.9BSD and compiled the code. However, the conversion routine crashes when I run it on the MacWrite '.data' file which has been moved over from the Mac via MacGet/MacTerminal. It works fine on the example file that was sent along with the converter. Could it be that it was designed for an old version of MacWrite (I am running version 4.5). Also, any further updates to the conversion package would be appreciated, if they exist out there. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Wed 18 Feb 87 17:03:18-EST From: HORVATH@CWRU20 Subject: hardware help I have a friend who is doing an electrical engineering senior project at Case Western Reserve University--speech processing for the MAC 512. We need access to the RS-422 serial port at a rate of 90 - 120K baud. The incoming data will be an eight bit signal from an A to D converter. 1. How can the baud rate of the RS-422 port be increased to the desired speed? 2. Can the stop-start bits be neglected? 3. What code is required to store the incoming data in RAM? (70K bytes) Thanks for any information you can provide. Please reply to me via e-mail at . . . HORVATH%CWRU20@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU Joe Horvath ------------------------------ Subject: Mac interface again Date: Fri, 13 Feb 87 17:13:13 -0800 From: Kathleen Huddleston <gregory@ICSE.UCI.EDU> One other thing that is really perplexing: Keeping the difference between laser fonts and bit-mapped fonts clear when you view them from menus. On our lab machines (which the students have customized extensively) there are many many fonts with many many names. I have no idea which ones are laser fonts and which are bit-mapped fonts. In application menus, there should be different displays for the two (such as have laserfonts show up in a different font on the menu). This is very confusing when different people are using the same system. It's bound to get worse as more and more fonts (of both ilks) become available. Kathleen ------------------------------ Date: Wed 18 Feb 1987 10:04 CST From: Samir Kaleem <XSAK%ECNCDC.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: Questions, questions, questions... Okay all...brace yourself... I have a couple of questions and a couple of comments. Hope someone can answer my questions. 1. How do you make the Mac+ use a default font other than Chicago? Re-numbering works on the 64K rom Mac, but not on the Mac+. 2. My Imagewriter II has gone bonkers on me. It all started when I tried printin some labels (should NEVER do that on an IW II). The foil in front of the print head got screwed up. Folks...I've heard that taking the foil off shouldn't make a difference, but that in fact isn't true. I got more smudges and smears than ever before after I took the foil off. Now, the tractor feeder is not working properly, or maybe it's that darn 1/2 inch funny eject that the IW II does, but if I don't have a blank page before I print, the paper gets jammed. To make matters worse, I can't put the head in the first (nearest) position to the platten anymore because I get some weird marks all the way from left to right where the head moves over the paper. I know it isn't the plastic in front of the head since I took it off, and there was still no difference. Can anyone explain that??? Sounds like a trip to my (harrumph) local dealer unless some one has some suggestions. 3. On the lighter side of things, does anyone have the docs on how to play the game GO? I got the game from a BBS recently, but there were no docs with it, and I have no idea on how to play it (I've fooled around a little with it though and it looks interesting). Would someone who has it care to forward it to me? Unfortunately us poor Bitnet users don't have access to the INFO-MAC archives. (Now wouldn't it be nice if the people incharge of INFO-MAC archives could set up their system to accept mail requests?) Now for my comments on DA's that I would like to see. 1. It certainly would be nice if someone could come up with a DA word processor that would read any kind of word processor (MacWrite, WORD etc.) file. Maybe even just display just the text part of the file without formats. For people who don't have hard drives, it is a pain to have a DA word processor and not be able to use it to check what's in a WP file that's just been downloaded and have to quit the teminal program (or have the wordprocessor using switcher) to look at the file. 2. How about a DA that let's you install fonts temporarily? There are DA's that let you install DA's temporarily, so why not fonts? Then I don't have to have different system disks with different fonts using up valuable disk space. I'm just beginning to get into Mac programming, and shall certainly look into how such a beast might work. Samir Kaleem <xsak@ecncdc.bitnet> <xsak%ecncdc.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu> ------------------------------ Subject: Two off-the-wall cents about multi-tasking and the MacFuture Date: Mon, 16 Feb 87 23:32:07 -0800 From: duggie@portia.STANFORD.EDU The Mac may indeed be useful to many people without multi-tasking, but I am certain future software will require it or something like it. Ten years from now, I hope, hypermedia will be readily available and monolithic programs will begin to be replaced by 'applicationless environments.' What if adding a thesaurus or spreadhseet capability to your existing word processing routines were no more complicated than formatting a fresh disk is now-- the system detects that a new disk contains a package of routines, you click OK and the routines are integrated into the system. Far-fetched, maybe, but just as assembly replaced machine code and compilers continue to replace assembly (I code in assembly too, no protests please), something must replace monolithic applications as we know them today. My point is that 'multi-tasking' (note the quotes) probably lies along this evolutionary path. I am more concerned about software evolution than about the ability to print while I am typing, or compile while I am editing, or receive messages while playing Shanghai (all of which I would love to do). The Mac put a fairly sophisticated graphics interface and toolbox of routines into the hands of many programmers and users, and has allowed much experimentation and innovation. Clearly, this potential is what allowed the Mac to survive its 128K days. It will only survive its 1M, 68020 days if it continues to provide a window into the software future. I agree with Alan Kay, who is reputed to have said "The Macintosh is the first personal computer worth criticizing." Now, perhaps the Mac already exceeds our computing needs. In that case, Apple shouldn't bother building another. But I think the real personal computer is still a distance away. I think hypermedia and applicationless environments are off in that distance, and that some form of 'multi-tasking' will be a prerequisite for these. Anyone care to speculate? -- Doug Felt duggie@portia.stanford.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Feb 87 11:15:18 PST From: <DAVEG@slacvm.bitnet> Reply-to: DAVEG%SLACVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu Subject: confused drawing type in MacDraft (probably IDD stupidity) I was doing some poking around in MacDraft (version 1.2a) and found that if you use the MacDraft filetype (instead of PICT), a file with FINDER TYPE DRWG is created. I realized that this is the same document FINDER TYPE as MacDraw uses. Now the format of the two documents (MacDraw DRWG and MacDraft DRWG) are different and neither program can open the other's private document format (PICT can be transfered back and forth of course). The problem comes in when you do an OPEN... from within MacDraw. Since MacDraw only displays files of TYPEs PICT and DRWG you can see that files from MacDraw's private format, MacDraft's private format, and PICT format will be displayed. If you are so foolish as to choose a document which is in MacDraft's private format, you will get a message 'Document doesn't have the proper ID'. The IDD people solve this program by filtering the documents in the MacDraft OPEN dialog so you don't see the MacDraw documents. It seems to me that the problem was a BAD choice of FINDER TYPE by MacDraft. I thought that Apple approves the TYPE and CREATOR for each commercial product. If that was done here then they did a bad job. On another note: to David Dunham...I did realize that COMMAND-. was not equivalent to choosing CANCEL from SFGETFILE. I THINK THAT IT SHOULD BE STANDARD AND IT IS EASY FOR APPLE TO RETROFIT IT. David Gelphman BITNET address: DAVEG@SLACVM Bin #88 SLAC ARPANET address: DAVEG@SLACVM.BITNET Stanford, Calif. 94305 UUCP address: ...psuvax1!daveg%slacvm.bitnet 415-854-3300 x2538 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Feb 87 08:08:31 cst From: Paul DuBois <dubois@rhesus.primate.wisc.edu> Subject: MakeWrite Announcement I'm posting MakeWrite, an application that allows MacWrite documents to be created from text files containing embedded formatting information. For example, you can define the strings "\bold\", "\italic\" and "\plain\" to mean switch to boldface, italics and plain style, respectively. Then the input text This is some \bold\boldface\plain\ and \italic\italicised\plain\ text. will come out with the fourth word boldface and the sixth word in italics. You can define any string to be any combination of font, point size and type style. You can specify when input lines should be joined in output paragraphs and whether MakeWrite should try to figure out when to put two spaces between lines that are joined (e.g., if the end of a line is also the end of a sentence, the next line should be joined with two spaces, not one). You can use it, for example, to do some of the more tedious work of converting nroff/troff documents to MacWrite. Some of the more obvious format strings to use are "\fB", "\fI" and "\fR", which you define to mean boldface, italic, plain. MakeWrite doesn't have any memory, unfortunately, so "\fP" won't be understood as "previous font" - you'd probably define it to mean plain text and hope for the best. Those on mainframes with good column filters can easily generate MakeWrite input for directories, address lists, etc., simply by bracketing the appropriate columns with embedded format strings. The document boldly asserts that since most page layout programs understand MacWrite format, then MakeWrite serves to generate input for those programs as well. As I do not have any layout programs, I'd be interested to hear whether this actually works. MakeWrite is public domain and may be redistributed without restriction, as usual. Usual comments about source code. I'm sending this to info-mac, and also the mod.mac.binaries. The posting contains three files: the application itself, a MacWrite document formatted for the LaserWriter, and a FaceLift map for converting the document to ImageWriter format. Paul DuBois UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois ARPA: dubois@rhesus.primate.wisc.edu dubois@unix.macc.wisc.edu [ archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>MAKEWRITE-102.HQX DoD ] ------------------------------ Date: Tue 17 Feb 87 11:53:17-PST From: Mark McNair <MCNAIR@WARD.CS.WASHINGTON.EDU> Subject: Scholars Aid program part1 Hello Arpanet! This is my first upload to Arpanet, so be tolerant, please. I have uploaded 4 binhexed files (v4) named Scholars-Aid-Part1-4.hqx. The following text describes the contents. Thanks, Stuart Strand, AR-10, Univ.Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195 <A0799@UWACDC.BITNET> Scholar's Aid 9.4 copyright Stuart Strand, Seattle Wa Program and associated files for Apple Macintosh Automates reference numbering in MS-Word documents. Name: Scholars-Aid.hqx Short description: Automates references in Word docs. Long description: Automate your publications! Scholar's Aid numbers figure, table, equation, and reference citations in MS-Word documents. The reference list is compiled by a programmed search of a MS-File database of references (bibliography). Numerical or author- year reference styles, many formats supported. Shareware program in this file is complete. Has a tutorial to get you started. Register ($35) to get 25 page manual. Requires 512K, 2-400K drives minimum. HFS or MFS. After downloading, use Binhex4, then Packit III to get files to desktop. Keywords: Shareware,Packit3,Binhex4,biblio,references,MS-File,MS-Word,Word Proc [ archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>SCHOLARS-AID-PART1.HQX [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>SCHOLARS-AID-PART2.HQX [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>SCHOLARS-AID-PART3.HQX DoD ] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Feb 87 23:09 CDT From: <MAX%TAMLSR.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: MPW scripts Howdy, In the past, it has been difficult to provide MPW script files to this forum because of the special characters that are used in MPW regular expressions and file selections. Here is a set of MPW script files that should help to alleviate some of the difficulties. There is a script called Expand, and its counterpart Contract, plus a command file to test them. Expand takes an MPW file and replaces all the special characters with a 'plain english' equivalent describing the keystrokes required to produce that character. For example, the MPW 'escape' character is replaced with 'OpTiOn-d'. An 'Expand'ed file can be included in the text of a message without problems with 7-bit transmission and such. The Contract script takes a file produced with Expand and puts the special characters back in. It looks for the weird looking 'OpTiOn' produced by Expand. These were written by Steve Knouse of Apple Computer, aka Technostud. He'd like to hear your opinions and suggestions. He is KNOUSE on AppleLink, or you can reach him at-> Apple Computer Inc., 2950 North Loop West, Suite 1070, Houston TX 77092. Or, send e-mail here and I'll forward it. Enjoy. Greg Marriott %-b [ archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-MPW-SCRIPTS.HQX DoD ] ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 87 09:36 EST From: JOHNC%CAD2.decnet@ge-crd.arpa Subject: Question about X-Windows I'm interested in distributed applications, especially VAX and MAC. I know about Odesta's distributed Helix, and about Kinetics e-net box and VAX virtual disk/file servers from a couple of companies. What I'd really like to know about is anyone who's thinking about or doing an implementation of the X-Windows protocol for existing or soon to exist Macs. From what I understand this is _THE_WAY_TO_GO_ for distributed processing. [background: X-Window is a public domain protocol for distributing applications between systems - generally workstations and larger hosts - which allows applications running on hosts from company X and company Y to send output simultaneously to windows on a workstation from company Z. The applications' output is sent over ethernet using TCP/IP protocol. It was created at MIT as part of Project Athena and is backed by most of the major computer companies. It provides tools for manipulating bit-mapped screens, windows, menus, mouse, etc. in a way familiar to MAC people.] If anyone can enlighten me, or if someone can correct or amplify my thumbnail sketch of X I would deeply appreciate it. If you aren't willing to post the information but are willing to talk to me my arpa address is JOHNC%CAD2.DECNET@GE-CRD.ARPA. Thanks John Child GE Aircraft Engines Lynn MA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Feb 87 08:58 CST From: Wayne <BILLING%UOFMCC.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu> Subject: MacWord to MS-DOS Word conversion exists Scott Johnson asks if there is a way to convert from MacWord to Word under MS-DOS. Version 1.05 and on (the next version is 3.0 - not shipping in Canada yet) includes a utility called "Convert". It's purpose is to do the desired file translation. Or as MicroSoft puts it: "Convert reformats (or 'converts' Word files so that the Word files of a Macintosh can be read by Word on an IBM PC, and vice versa." The files must be transferred using some other program (PROCOMM and Red Ryder for instance). All conversions are done on the Mac. The utility comes with MacWord and includes four pages of instructions. Wayne Billing NetNORTH address <BILLING@UOFMCC> ------------------------------ Date: 17 Feb 87 15:35 EST From: rrenfro%tofacsa@dtrc.ARPA (Richard Renfro) Subject: Mac <==> PC file transfers We just received a copy of MacLink Plus, from a company by the name of DataViz. It's able to move files between Macs and IBM PCs (and compatibles) and translate the files as required. In most cases, all formatting information is retained. Supported transfers include any appropriate selection of the following: Mac PC --------------- -------------------- Excel Lotus-123 (WKS, WK1) Multiplan (SYLK) Symphony (WRK) Jazz (WKS) DIF Comma Value (CSV) dBAse (DBF) dBase (2 or 3) MacWrite MS Word MultiMate WordStar Tab Text Tab Text Text Text The package comes with software for both the Mac and the PC, and a cable for connecting the two machines together. Once the machines are connected and the software running on each computer, the user can select transfer direction and any desired translation. Next, source file and destination directory are selected, and the tranfer/translation proceeds. Two other modes are available with MacLink, one allowing translation of files that are already on the Mac, the other basically a 'dumb' terminal with Xmodem and MacBinary supported. We haven't tried either of these yet. In addition to Mac <==> PC transfers, there appear to be options for Wang and NBI. We haven't exhaustively tested all the combinations, but Symphony/Excel, WordStar/MacWrite, and straight ASCII transfers work well. The user interface is pretty well laid out and the documentation is clear and complete. Their address is: DataViz, Inc. 16 Winfield St. Norwalk, CT 06855 Phone: 203/866-4944 Cost: $150 to $200 rrenfro@dtrc.arpa ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 1987 20:23-EST Sender: VERACSD@A.ISI.EDU Subject: Lisp Development Environments From: VERACSD@A.ISI.EDU I am interested in assessing Lisp development environments for the Mac. As far as I know there are only 2 serious (?) players: Expertelligence (ExperCommonLISP) and Semantic Microsystems (MacScheme+Toolsmith). I have read the recent message traffic on this mailing-list re ExperCommonLISP. I am looking for similar input re MacScheme+Toolsmith as well as further info re ExperCommonLISP (or any other contender). I am especially interested in: o the sophistication of the ToolBox interface; o speed & efficiency; o editing facilities; o debugging facilities; o garbage-collection; o ability to produce standalone (i.e. "double-clickable") applications (and any limitations of such standalone applications; o known bugs I would be especially interested in hearing from someone who has actually developed something substantive (like a commercial product or a kb-system) with one of these systems. I will be glad to summarize & post input if it is useful. Advance thanks, Cris Kobryn ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Feb 87 11:02:04 PST From: PUGH%CCC.MFENET@nmfecc.arpa Subject: Pagemaker 2.0 The mail today included a letter from Aldus stating, "Pagemaker 2.0 will sell for $75 to registered owners who bought a previous version before September 3, 1986 (the date of the 2.0 announcement), and $37.50 for subscribers to our Extended Technical Support Service. Those who bought Pagemaker after September 3 will receive 2.0 for free. Instructions for buying the new product at these special prices will be mailed to you toward the end of February." In plain english that means "Real Soon Now." The letter also states that the Mac and PC versions share 80% of their code and have mutual file compatibility and identical features. Now you can have your PC and use it too. Jon N L pugh@nmfecc.arpa M A L National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center F T N Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory E L PO Box 5509 L-561 C Livermore, California 94550 C (415) 423-4239 ------------------------------ End of INFO-MAC Digest **********************