SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU.UUCP (02/08/87)
Delphi Mac Digest Sunday, 8 February 1987 Volume 3 : Issue 9
Today's Topics:
RE: Scrapbook Problems
RE: SFGetFile, Putfile improvements
double-clicking (2 messages)
RE: MUSIC PUBLISHING
RE: 3.5 disks: what brand is best?
RE: Mobile or Taliesin?
FastPort SCSI adaptor
LIFE 3D
Perot buys into NeXt (3 messages)
a labeling program (2 messages)
Seybold Desktop Communications
CricketDraw -> other (5 messages)
COMPILER FOR OMNIS 3 PLUS (2 messages)
Hi Ho SCSI Away....
RE: ImageWriter II Print Problems
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From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: Scrapbook Problems
Date: 31-JAN 23:43 Network Digests
> From: FALK%NORUNIT.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
> Subject: Scrapbook Problems
The Scrapbook looks for its file on the "default" volume, which is the
volume on which the application resides. If that's different than the
volume with your system folder, it'll create a new Scrapbook File (in
the application's folder). The solution is to use my DiskInfo desk
accessory, choose the system volume, and click Make Default, before
you open Scrapbook. (I think DiskInfo is available through this net.)
(It's definitely available on Delphi.)
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: SFGetFile, Putfile improvements
Date: 31-JAN 23:43 Network Digests
> Reply-to: DAVEG%SLACVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
> Subject: Re: SFGetFile, Putfile improvements
Dave, no such luck. Command-. doesn't cancel.
> From: HENRY%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU
> Subject: User interface suggestion for SFGetFile
HFS volumes do have a root node (dirID 2, for you techies).
If SF were a pop-up Finder, things could get mighty confusing when you ran a
desk accessory (like Acta) that uses Standard File, from within Finder.
I suspect the real reason SF is so limited is that it was designed for 128K
Macs.
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: double-clicking
Date: 31-JAN 23:44 Bugs & Features
Ric,
I'm moving my answer to your suggestion that Acta select spaces
after a word when you double-click out here for others to see/comment
on (whew!).
I think Word is 100% wrong when it includes the trailing space.
For me, the standard editing paradigm is to double-click a word, then
retype it. If the space is selected, this paradigm is no longer
automatic. You'd have to pay attention and, if the word is followed
by punctuation, do nothing, but if it's not, retype the space (or
tabs, as in an old version of QUED). On the other hand, to delete a
word is almost always two backspaces, since words are at the beginning
of a sentence or quotation less often than before punctuation.
TextEdit does go a bit overboard with selecting punctuation.
Alas, I think if you adopt the simple means of telling TE that
punctuation isn't part of a word, punctuation may sometimes fall
outside the margins (as do breaking hyphens in miniWRITER -- I ignored
it because it'll print correctly).
I like what WriteNow does. Double-clicking follows the Mac
guidelines (as burned into ROM) and selects only the word. But if you
push the [Clear] key, the space will be deleted as well. And I
believe it does implement "intelligent cut & paste."
I've thought about putting that sort of thing into Acta, but have
questioned whether it'll be worth the size.
------------------------------
From: PEABO
Subject: RE: double-clicking (Re: Msg 16969)
Date: 1-FEB-16:20: Bugs & Features
MacDraw uses triple-clicks for something obscure with text. MS Word uses
option-gutter-click to select the entire document, and something similar to
select paragraphs. I find that I have trouble with LightspeedC selecting the
entire line when I am just fumbling around trying to get the word selected. No
big deal, but perhaps just an illustration that nifty's that work for some
people don't necessarily work for everyone. I think a three button mouse would
drive me nuts.
peter
------------------------------
From: NWOLF
Subject: RE: MUSIC PUBLISHING (Re: Msg 16916)
Date: 1-FEB-00:38: Creative Pursuits
You will find many files etc., cor musical applications on a BBS called
MacMusic. the number is (503)646-2095. MacMusic runs at 300/1200/2400 It will
cost $25 for annual membership, but it's worth it. There are more music type
files, patches, libraries, there than anywhere else. Sysop if John Connoly.
He'll be happy to render advice, etc. You don't need to pay to use the message
section of the b oard - just uploads and downloads.
------------------------------
From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: RE: 3.5 disks: what brand is best?
Date: 1-FEB-02:10: Network Digests
To: B5U@PSUVM.BITNET
Subject: 3.5 disks: what brand is best?
The Berkeley Mac User Group is doing the only private study I know of on
floppy failure rates. While their study is far from complete, a report in
the latest BMUG NL indicates that Nashua and Fuji are showing the least
number of reported failures per 100. Some, such as Memorex are listed at
four times as many failures as those.
Not all disks are the same, but a lot are. Sony/Apple/3M appear to have all
come from the same Japanese plant, and are all pretty reliable (if one is bad,
you would usually know it on initialization). I would expect the Kodak disks
are comparable, since I've heard Kodak is only marketing disks produced by
Fuji (much as they do with videotape). Some appear lousy altogether, such as
the Memorex listed above...I've had one box, and would never use another.
DS vs. SS disks. I've heard it both ways...SS are fine for DS use, SS are
unsafe for extended DS use, etc. I'd suggest you find a good mail-order
source for DS disks and stick with those...no fun to find out that ONE
SS disk you used for a term paper wasn't quite up to DS action. Precision
Data Products (1-800-258-0028) sells Sony DS at $18.90 per box in six box
quantities. Or you could call up CSS (1-800-343-7535) and get them at $15.60
in case quantities, sell them to others at $19 and have twice as much
to go McDonald's with. Or order bulk packs at $1.35 per disk, DS, take out
an ad in MacWorld.....grin.
Alf
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From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: RE: Mobile or Taliesin?
Date: 1-FEB-02:10: Network Digests
To: scott@apple.UUCP (scott douglass)
Subject: Re: Mobile or Taliesin?
Dear Scott,
Thanks for the info re: Mobile & Taliesin. And don't worry about those
people who objected to upper Wisconsin being relocated into New England.
I can assure you that in the dead of winter they both look the same.
However, I felt you might be interested to know that according to Online
Standards for Telecommunicating Italian Accents (OSTIA), your tag line should
be typed out as "Laugh'a while you can'a, monkey boy!"
Alf Qwerty
Cont. Editor, Mouseketeer Newsletter
------------------------------
From: OPPENHEIM
Subject: FastPort SCSI adaptor
Date: 1-FEB-02:13: Hardware & Peripherals
I installed a FastPort SCSI adaptor in a 512E (Dr.Dobb's upgrade) this
week and there are a few caveats for anyone who is contemplating this
option. It was not difficult to install and functions exactly as the
SCSI port on a Plus, but the manual is inadequate. First, for safety
reasons the HV circuit should not be discharged. It is unnecessary and
dangerous. MT suggests wearing safety goggles, but they fail to make
it clear (i.e. they don't mention) that the reason is that poking a
screwdriver around the picture tube while discharging the HV circuit
could cause the tube to implode sending splinters of glass everywhere.
A photo shows someone discharging the tube with one hand on the
screwdriver, and the other too close to the chassis. If the alligator
clip popped off at the wrong moment -- ouch. (Alligator clips tend to
do that sort of thing, especially around lethal voltages). The rule is
keep one hand well away from the circuit to avoid becoming a circuit.
The board with the NCR chip, etc. on it did not fit where indicated.
There are two screws securing the chassis to the front bezel that get
in the way, and it has to be forced. A C- in engin- eering, MT. The
most confusing part, for many, would be the address of the interface
in Mac memory. The FastPort seems to have originally been part of an
internal drive installation -- the manual describes that use, not the
external port -- where the address of the port must be different from
the one already in the plus. There are two jumpers of the board, pin
blocks with moveable headers. The manual, including a 3-page insert
for "... Installing the FastPort assembly" makes no mention of this.
As shipped the jumpers were set for a Mac +. If you install the
FastPort and it won't work, check the pin blocks to ake sure the pin
blocks to make sure they are set as follows: (viewing from the edge of
the circuit board, looking onto the pins; X=pin, I= jumper)
X X I X X
I X X
(for 512E, etc. w/o Apple port)
X X
I X X I X X
(for Mac plus)
I'm still waiting for their tech support to call back so I can suggest they
amend their manuals -- and ship the port properly configured. Mine wasn't.
------------------------------
From: RSTICKLE
Subject: LIFE 3D
Date: 1-FEB-14:23: Mousing Around
I know that Carter Bays 3D versions of Life were mentioned somewhere
on the board after Scientific American came out. The question is can
or has anyone gotten the Mac programs which were mentioned and will
they be uploading them? The concept sounds interesting and when I get
the time I want to send him the $3 for his doc's, the aticle mentioned
that the program was done on a Mac, so if someone has contact with him
perhaps we could upload the programs. --Rick--
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH
Subject: Perot buys into NeXt
Date: 1-FEB-17:32: Business Mac
A report in the Boston Sunday Globe today says that H. Ross Perot, of EDS
and GM fame, is buying $20 million worth of NeXt stock. I guess he finds
colorful Steve Jobs more to his liking than the GM Board ...
Ric Ford
"MacInTouch" newsletter
------------------------------
From: NWOLF
Subject: RE: Perot buys into NeXt (Re: Msg 16985)
Date: 2-FEB-03:02: Business Mac
I understand that Steve Jobs contacted Perot when Perot was still with GM and
Apple was still a fledgling co. looking for a market. Guess Perot figgers it's
beter late than never....
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH
Subject: RE: Perot buys into NeXt (Re: Msg 17002)
Date: 2-FEB-08:48: Business Mac
Um, I don't think Perot was with GM when Apple was a "fledgling" company,
unless you consider pre-Sculley days all fledgling!
Ric
------------------------------
From: CRISTAELLIS
Subject: a labeling program
Date: 1-FEB-20:40: Mousing Around
Someone who is a longer mac owner than I suggested a package that
allows you to label disks--MacLabel maybe? I tried to check it out at
a compuer store locally and got no info and blank stares. Is there
such a program? Is it just as simple to do with another piece of
software...?
------------------------------
From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: RE: a labeling program (Re: Msg 16988)
Date: 2-FEB-01:10: Mousing Around
There is a package published by Williams & Macias called
myDiskLabeler that comes with some labels and the software. It is pretty
much limited to doing labels for disks.
An alternate, more flexible choice in software would be to get Silicon
Press by silicon Beach software, and buy labels from another source. A
place called Data Wiz at 21115 Devonshire Blvd.,
Chatsworth, CA 91311 sells blank labels for disks in rolls of
500 for $16.95. Check a recent MacWorld for more info on them.
In the interest of completeness, there is also MacLabeler from Ideaform, Inc.
Except for Silicon Press, most stores don't stock, locally anyway, the
disk labeller programs, since they have a limited audience.
Alf
------------------------------
From: BMUG
Subject: Seybold Desktop Communications
Date: 3-FEB-05:24: Business Mac
I spent a few hours at the Seybold Desktop Communications conference, and
thought I might list a few impressions:
The Mac was definitely a _very_ important part of the show. I didn't
go around counting, but it looked like the number of Macs was about
equal to the number of everything else combined. I saw a few HP
Vectras and a wonderful Xerox workstation running the Ventura
publishing system, but in my limited rounds I didn't see one true IBM.
As you walked in the door, the whole middle aisle was full of
third-party Appletalk solutions or extenders: Kinetics FastPath,
Centram Tops, an optical route for Appletalk, 3COM's network, and
much, much more. All labelled down the middle of the aisle from the
ceiling with Apple's corporate Garamond font and style.
Not a whole lot was new, but lots of Mac vendors showed up. Lonnie
Abelbeck was showing VersaTerm, SuperMac was showing upgrades,
DataFrames, and their spooling and backup software, Think was showing
InBox (only), Quark was showing XPress (HEY! isn't that a DTPub
program and not a DTCom one?), and Great Plains was showing their Mac
accounting system. BSD was showing Stepping Out, an interesting hack
that takes your Mac screen to any virtual size and then lets you see
any part of the virtual screen. LoDown was there showing their WORM
technologies and their hard disks.
Both Helix and Omnis3 were on display. Odesta was showing a neat way
to hook Helix up to a VAX/VMS system, and Blyth was showing how
well-balanced AppleShare can be when lots of Macs are accessing
records from the same database.
Of course, AppleShare was a very important part of this show. Apple
set up a HandsOn booth upstairs and allowed users to get comfy with it
up there. As has been reported here before, the AppleShare package
(for one fileserver running on one dedicated Mac and supporting up to
twenty-five other Macs logged on at one time) goes for just under $800
list. The package is fast, and operates very transparently. You run
the administrator program on the dedicated Mac to set up network
parameters and define workgroups and make distribution simpler. Then
to get the network up and running, you run the file server program on
the dedicated Mac.
The Macs that are using the file server never need to run a special program.
They use the Finder and a new "Access Privileges" desk accessory to maneuver
items on the file server, and all folders and files available to that user on
the network show up with the familiar file and folder icons. In the Finder,
icons for folders change their appearance depending on whether you are allowed
access to them and whether you own them. Also, when inside any folder, just to
the left of the folder size info and just under the drag bar, you see a pencil
with a line through it if your access to that folder is write-only. Password
protection is provided at the folder level, and the dedicated file server works
to enforce password protection and record and file locking even if one part of
the network goes down.
Apple was passing out an Appleshare compatibility guide. Few programs have
difficulty with Appleshare, but some databases will need to be modified to use
Apple's built-in record locking features instead of their own protection
schemes. For instance, I understand that older versions of many databases will
lock out a whole file to all but one user over Appleshare rather than letting
multiple users operate on the same data.
Attendance for the show was small, especially from 2 to 4 pm on
Saturday, when I was there. It was held in the Hyatt/Embarcadero--the
same location as the Seybold Desktop Publishing Conference some months
ago. The people who showed up were the people making large buying
decisions for corporate accounts, by and large, as you'd expect.
Pinstripe suits and all that.
Just wait until next time!
Linda
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: CricketDraw -> other
Date: 4-FEB-04:40: Bugs & Features
Is it possible to paste Postscript pictures from Cricket into other
applications?
------------------------------
From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: RE: CricketDraw -> other (Re: Msg 17066)
Date: 4-FEB-21:48: Bugs & Features
David,
Ya, you can move PS graphics from Cricket Draw into other applications, by
either the Clipboard for things like MacWrite, or by saving the picture as a
PICT file within C Draw and grabbing it that way from within the other
application, i.e. PageMaker, RSG 3.0, Write Now, etc. Either way, both the
QuickDraw and PostScript files are transferred.
Alf
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: CricketDraw -> other (Re: Msg 17077)
Date: 5-FEB-03:29: Bugs & Features
I tried with Acta and WriteNow, and neither one printed it correctly.
There seems to be some problem with the rectangles -- a teeny part of
the bound text I was using printed; the rest of the area it was
displayed on the screen was blank on the paper.
How do you read PICT files with WriteNow?
------------------------------
From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: RE: CricketDraw -> other (Re: Msg 17094)
Date: 5-FEB-19:53: Bugs & Features
My mistake on reading PICT files from within WriteNow. According to
Cricket Draw's manual, WriteNow allows you to paste PICT items from the
Clipboard. Therefore, you can transfer images from Cricket Draw to
WriteNow through the Clipboard or Scrapbook."
My first Forum note here reported that there is what appears to be a bug
with bound text. Even if you stay within Cricket Draw, only a small portion
of the bound text will print.
Alf
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: CricketDraw -> other (Re: Msg 17096)
Date: 6-FEB-03:35: Bugs & Features
I thought I remembered hearing about a bug. Thanks.
Hmm, I pasted the same rotated text into two different Acta topics. In the
first topic, its "bitmap" is visible. In the second topic, nothing but white.
Cricket must be doing some _strange_ things! (I know it's not Acta's problem,
because the same image pasted into the Scrapbook is also invisible. Finder's
Show Clipboard shows the rotated text, however.)
------------------------------
From: PETRO5
Subject: COMPILER FOR OMNIS 3 PLUS
Date: 4-FEB-07:40: Programming
I'D LIKE TO KNOW IF THERE IS ANY COMPILER FOR THE OMNIS 3 PLUS. SOME OF THE
SEQUENCES I MADE ARE VERY SLOW AND I'D LIKE TO IMPROVE THIS. THANKS
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH
Subject: RE: COMPILER FOR OMNIS 3 PLUS (Re: Msg 17067)
Date: 4-FEB-08:42: Programming
I think that Omnis 3 is already "compiled" and it's one of the fastest
databases for the Mac. There are some other options, such as database
routine libraries, if you're willing to write a Pascal or C program.
The only other solution I can think of is to get some help from one of
the real Omnis 3 gurus; there are a lot of little tricks that are done
with Omnis 3, and one may help you.
Ric Ford
------------------------------
From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: Hi Ho SCSI Away....
Date: 5-FEB-19:55: Hardware & Peripherals
If you are considering buying a SCSI hard disk for your Mac, find a copy
of the new Dec/Jan 87 issue of The Macintosh Journal. 50+ pages of
comparisons, discussion, recommendations, etc. with some interesting
conclusions:
DataFrame 20 *faster* in some ways than the DataFrame XP20 at $200 more.
Of 13 drives tested, the $589 Jasmine Direct Drive 20 ranked below only
the Apple HD20 SC for excellent Design & Construction and ranked third
in Speed.
If you can't find this magazine locally, you can reach B & P Publishers
at P.O. Box 1341, Provo, UT 84503 Ph: (801) 226-6888. Tell them "Alf"
sent you and they'll sound confused.
Alf
------------------------------
From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: RE: ImageWriter II Print Problems
Date: 5-FEB-22:32: Network Digests
To: Robert J. Thum <RTHUM@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
Subject: ImageWriter II Print Problems
Hi Robert,
I agree with the IW II problems. I mean, it's a nice printer to
look at, and is even in MOMA for styling, but as to function, it
works like something you'd hook to a Commodore 64. Surely Apple can
do better.
Alf
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End of Delphi Mac Digest
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