[mod.mac] Delphi Mac Digest V3 #1

SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU.UUCP (01/05/87)

Delphi Mac Digest        Sunday, 4 January 1987        Volume 3 : Issue 1

Today's Topics:
     RE: Question on MacWrite & Laserwriters. (2 messages)
     complete List of Syserrs
     trivial pursuit (2 messages)
     RE: Double height or wide letters
     MacLightning/Word bomb
     HARDWARE
     RAGS TO RICHES (2 messages)
     Radius Bug
     quickdraw points ?
     RE: Disk Express and MacXL (3 messages)
     The MENU
     RE: COPY II MAC & Excel
     RE: Invisible Folders
     RE: Distress Call from Dark Castle
     RE: Problems with MacFlow by Mainstay
     ryad's 68020/68881
     MacPlus Memory upgrades
     Jasmine SCSI hard disk
     McFace v2.0 FORTRAN user interface
     Apple Job Opening
     Warning to Expo Travellers

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From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: RE: Question on MacWrite & Laserwriters. (Re: Msg 16097)
Date: 31-DEC 20:29 Business Mac

Hugh,

   Ric's answer is 95% of it.  While the Choose DA gets a lot of abuse, it
does allow one to set up margins, etc. as they would be on the Laserwriter
docs.
   But I would suggest you also line up a local source for doing a trial
printout.  At present, very few programs utilize the font spacing routines
available in the Mac Plus (new Roms on a 512KE, etc.).  The result is
that if you use Italizied fonts, or any of the special effect fonts, what you
see on screen can be pretty different than what you get from the printer.
With an Italic style, esp., you would swear that the last few characters of
a line did not exist, until you print out the sheet.
   This may change as more programs take advantage of the new spacing routines,
but if you can't find a way to print out locally, or distant with enough
time for you to proof the actual output, I'd stay away from Italics, and
the larger font sizes (over 18, the same effect is common).

Alf

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From: DSACHS
Subject: RE: Question on MacWrite & Laserwriters. (Re: Msg 16092)
Date: 3-JAN-13:50: Business Mac

I would recommend that you use Microsoft Word rather than MacWrite.
Word will permit you to properly preview what will get when you print
on a Laserwriter.  Use a System file that contains the same fonts that
you will use when printing - AND make sure that they have the SAME
font IDs.  It is also a good idea to install the LaserWriter driver
and select it with CHOOSER (Select Appletalk on in the Control Panel
even if you do not have Appletalk while selecting the LW driver)

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From: INTECO
Subject: complete List of Syserrs
Date: 1-JAN-13:48: Programming Techniques

Is there somewhere a complete list of all reported syserrs... (all minus
numbers). I get constantly the -11 and cannot look up anywhere.

Uwe

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From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: trivial pursuit
Date: 1-JAN-17:02: Mousing Around

Question for history buffs:

I need to find out the approx intro date of the Lisa, and then how many
months after that the Mac was intro'd.

Thanks for the help!

Alf

P.S.  Don't ask....grin.

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From: NWOLF
Subject: RE: trivial pursuit (Re: Msg 16115)
Date: 1-JAN-18:55: Mousing Around

As near as I can remember the approx intro date for Lisa was, I
believe, sometime during _ I hope I have this right - 198(yes, I think
it was)3 [there, I said it} and you know it might have been a few -
no, several - months after that that that 1st Mac Macked - like in (by
george he's got it) 1984. But don't quote me. At least as near as my
adled mind can figger - these are the correct #s. What the heck,
history is imprecise on these things anyway. I mean, not even the
development team at Apple knows when the the thing came out fer
crissakes.  And what with all the rumors abounding. Jeez. A guy could
get really confused. No wunder you wanna know. But seriously(?)...

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From: PEABO
Subject: RE: Double height or wide letters (Re: Msg 1124)
Date: 1-JAN-20:19: Programming Techniques

Then you should be able to call DrawChar or DrawString with the proper scaling
selected, and not have to mess with any undocumented or unsupported system
fetaures, right?

peter

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From: JIMWEINRICH
Subject: MacLightning/Word bomb
Date: 2-JAN-19:48: Bugs & Features

A friend describes the following problem.  Have you had one like it?  Can you
fix it? Using MacLightning in interactive mode, writing a letter in Microsoft
Word. The signature line causes a beep, because his last name is not in the
dictionary.  But of course he ignores it.  Then he moves the pointer up to the
top line and clicks to change a word there.  Presto, bomb-o!  ID number not
recorded. Any ideas?  Thanks!  --JimWeinrich

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From: INET118
Subject: HARDWARE
Date: 2-JAN-19:57: Hardware & Peripherals

MY HD 20 ICON WON'T COME ON WHEN ASKED TO INSTALL.  HAVE VERIFIED THE SOFTWARE.
HAVE TRIED ANOTHER 512 AND A PLUS.  THE DRIVE HAS WORKED FINE IN THE PAST.  ANY
OTHER IDEAS BEFOR I DRIVE 100 MILES TO MY MAC DEALER?

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From: INET118
Subject: RAGS TO RICHES
Date: 2-JAN-20:00: Business Mac

AM DESPERATELY SEEKING ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE FOR 2 MILLION $ CONSULTING COMPANY.
NEED GENERAL LEDGER, PAYABLES AND MAYBE PROFESS GES. WOULD LIKE TO LOOK AT
INSIGHT.  THANKS.

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From: NWOLF
Subject: RE: RAGS TO RICHES (Re: Msg 16136)
Date: 4-JAN-01:40: Business Mac

Our acountant highly recommends Future Design Software's "Strictly
Business".  Although she's an OMNIS Developer also - and does a lot of
accounting work with it - she says Strictly business can't be beat.
Check it out. (& hope this helps).

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From: JIMH
Subject: Radius Bug
Date: 2-JAN-20:58: Hardware & Peripherals

Just thought all you folks out there with shiny new Radius screens
would like to hear about a small problem with recent Radius upgrades.
Seems they got a bad batch of 68k chips from motorola and as a result
the radius's delivered recently have a problem with excel.  As far as
they (or me) know it only shows up in excel, and not all the time.
Mostly it occurs when doing a recalcualation, though once today it
occured when i was pasting.  I got an id=2 address error.  Anyway
after a couple of frustrating hours I had eliminated all problems with
the radous and gave them a call.  they knew right away what my problem
was and offered to send out a new chip post haste.  Hope this helps
someone else!  jim (oh by the by it wasnt my radius :-()

------------------------------

From: ROWLAND
Subject: quickdraw points ?
Date: 2-JAN-22:24: Programming

  Even though its early in the year, I think I'll risk the dumbest
question thereof: how does one plot a point in Quickdraw ? The only
way I've come up with is to MoveTo and then Draw 1 1. This seems
unnecessarily complex.

Mike Burns

------------------------------

From: DWB
Subject: RE: Disk Express and MacXL (Re: Msg 16095)
Date: 3-JAN-00:20: Hardware & Peripherals

There appears to be a problem with Disk First Aid when it comes to
drives other than the HDS20SC.  I had problems with it claiming that
my DataFrame XP20 wasn't an HFS drive also.  After reformatting the
drive it now seems to work fine.  I've even had it "fix some problems"
Sure would be nice to know what it did though...

Oh yeah, if the drive really is an MFS drive, then neither Disk First Aid or
Disk Express should be expected to be able to do anything at all with it.

     David

------------------------------

From: JSTIFF
Subject: RE: Disk Express and MacXL (Re: Msg 16140)
Date: 3-JAN-03:19: Hardware & Peripherals

Our experience has been that Disk Express does work (and works WELL) with MFS
formatted disks.  that is, as long as it can get over the initial hurdles of
verifying the basic soundness of the disk directory.  My problem is that the
directory appe ars to be damaged, and I don't want to re-initialize the HD if I
really don't have to.

------------------------------

From: MACLAIRD
Subject: RE: Disk Express and MacXL (Re: Msg 16095)
Date: 4-JAN-10:47: Hardware & Peripherals

Reinitializing the MacXL hard disk is a pain, at least if you keep it
as full as most folks do.  I find that I wind up with about a meg and
a half free no matter how big the drive is, but with the MacXL 10MB
drive, launching the Finder can be a very slow process indeed.

Therefore I keep my internal drive split at 7MB to the Lisa Pascal Workshop and
3MB to MacWorks (and about 1.5MB free in each partition).  Despite the tales of
woe about splitting the internal drive between Lisa and Macintosh modes, I have
found it very reliable.  Well, no problems I couldn't fix myself.

The 10 MB disk has gotten some press about volume allocation map problems.  The
trouble is that saving every allocation bit turns the system heap into a blivit
or something.  Me, I think that if you do not have "Hard Disk Mount" (described
in Macazine's "Orphan Support"), which does (unknown) things to the volume map,
if Disk Express finds even one bad bit in the allocation map, rebuild the disk.

By the way, "Hard Disk Mount" sector copies just fine, if a friend has one.

It is just for people like yourself that I will write my "Disk Mangler" utility
program.  This program will carefully and skillfully write garbage all over the
disk, then turn upon itself, all the while congratulating the user for choosing
it over such programs as ExCel, MacWrite 4.5 and DiskBench (not to mention some
versions of Font/DA Mover), which only occasionally trash files or disks.

I hope this helps you.

Laird                             "If I don't have its source, I don't trust it"

------------------------------

From: MOUSEKETEER
Subject: The MENU
Date: 3-JAN-01:50: Mousing Around

Having received a copy of their MacGuide, a 74 page listing of Macintosh
software, I thought a note about this software source might be in order.

Good News: The catalog is very complete and well organized, indexed both by
type of program (i.e. Productivity/Accounts Receivable) and by Vendor. The
catalog lists 36 different packages under Industries/Engineering (Civil/
Structural) alone! And where else have you seen a listing for CD-1 Concrete
Beam Design ($575.00, from ECOM Associates)?
   As well, the telephone help on inquiries is fast, well-informed, and toll
free. If you aren't quite sure about which package would best suit your needs,
they offer a SoftReport service, in which for $25, a sales rep will generate
a personal report of available programs meeting specific criteria specified
by you. The price of the report is later deducted from your software purchase.

Bad News: While nicely organized, the catalog sells for $4.95 (also deducted
from your first purchase).  You may also subscribe to the quarterly issues
at $12.95 for four issues.
   Of more importance, however, is that with a few exceptions sales are made
at list price. Recognizing that they must compete with the big houses like
MacConnection, they credit your account for 20% of the purchase price on
shipping, the credit to be applied to future purchases. This isn't as high a
discount as that offered by MacConnection or ComputerWare, so for common, easy-
to-find packages, those places remain the best deal.
   But if you NEED a copy of MacFats Storyboarder ($495, American Intelliware
Corporation), and your dealer is only offering to order at list, this place
offers a nice service and a discount.
   PLUS, to my knowledge, none of the large firms offer Apple software, since
Apple sells only to authorized dealers.  MENU is an authorized Apple dealer,
so you can get MacDraw, MacProject, and the 20% credit on items dealers will
rarely discount. In fact, the copy of the MacGuide I have was sent to all
Usergroups by Apple themselves.

If you'd like more info, give them a call at 1-800-THE MENU (outside the
US, or in Colorado 303/482-5000), or write The MENU, 1520 S. College Ave.,
Fort Collins, CO 80524, USA. They accept MC/VISA/AMEX/DC, shipping per order
is listed at $5.

Alf

------------------------------

From: DSACHS
Subject: RE: COPY II MAC & Excel
Date: 3-JAN-14:10: Network Digests

1)  The latest version of COPY II MAC (6.3) attempts to copy bad sectors AS bad
sectors of the same type.  In sector mode it will copy such programs as Orb
Quest and Fontographer.  I have kept 5.4 to do quick copies of unprotected
disks.

2)  The tools program with the latest COPY II MAC will handle HFS volumes.  It
is the FIRST program I know of that will properly PROTECT files on HFS volumes.
It still will not mke folders invisible or protected.

3) Individual cells on an EXCEL spreadsheet can be protected.  Just protect
those cells that contain formulae.

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From: DSACHS
Subject: RE: Invisible Folders
Date: 3-JAN-14:27: Network Digests

To make a folder invisible use the current version of RESEDIT.  Select (do not
double click) the folder, and use the Get Information (command-I) menu option.

------------------------------

From: HALL
Subject: RE: Distress Call from Dark Castle
Date: 3-JAN-21:40: Network Digests

To:  <FRUIN%HLERUL5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> (Thomas Fruin)
Subject: Distress Call from Dark Castle

It's actually pretty easy:  look at the prisoners when you're underneath the
key.  If they shake their heads, it's the wrong key.

Brian Hall

Cute saying:  I couldn't think of one.  Make up your own and insert it here.

------------------------------

From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: Problems with MacFlow by Mainstay
Date: 3-JAN-22:15: Network Digests

 > From: DAVEG@slacvm.bitnet
 > Subject: Problems with MacFlow by Mainstay
 I guess there may be performance reasons for using a private scrap,
but it causes problems frequently.  The original version of
WordHandler apparently wouldn't read the desk scrap.  And some
programs don't keep their scrap in synch properly (this caused
problems using Thunder in WriteNow).  I once heard a good reason for
private scraps, but I can't remember what it was.

How is MacFlow apart from violating the cut & paste integration portion of the
user interface?

------------------------------

From: RYAD
Subject: ryad's 68020/68881
Date: 4-JAN-07:40: Hardware & Peripherals

thanks for the nice phone conversation...at your suggestion, I'll have a go at
addressing some of your questions for the general Delphi audience.

Our boards address the key issues surrounding the problems and/or complaints
many users have experienced with third party memory upgrades.

#1 of course is that they haven't appreciably increased speed through higher
speed technology (vendors are just beginning to address these issues) I should
say they haven't made them reasonably priced as to be affordable to the general
Mac community.

Our boards are all secured directly to the 68000 chip, easy clip on install.

Since our conversation, we've decided to go with an upgrade path as well,
meaning 1,2 or 4 MB.  Cost is still a consideration as far as memory is
concerned so we're offering several options.

First, let me say that the developer's pricing applies to the existing versions
using 256k DRAMs (100ns) running at one wait state.  We've met the Mac's
infernal marginal power supply head on by doing the obvious... we've provided a
separate power supply for all DRAM boards.   The other version, as expandable
above, uses static RAM chips running at NO wait states (yields a further 30%
increase in performance also).
 In our statics, CMOS SOJ pack, we find an extremely small power usage...enough
so that we feel well within the existing Mac's power configuration.

As far as additional heat is concerned, yup, a piezo electric fan's included.

Hope this helps anyone listening!

ryad

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From: MADMACS
Subject: MacPlus Memory upgrades
Date: 4-JAN-15:33: Hardware & Peripherals

I seem to be seeing many more ads for memory upgrades for the MacPlus.  And the
New York Times reports that the commerce dept. has reduced its limits on ship
dumping from Japan by 41%.  So what can we expect to see in the price of 1,2,4
Mbyte upgrades.  I see some 2Mbyte upgrads for under $300.  I like the idea of
simply plugging in sims with the new 1Mbit chips on them.  I have seen one ad
for such a product in Macuser.  Are there others? -Doug (MADMACS)

------------------------------

From: MADMACS
Subject: Jasmine SCSI hard disk
Date: 4-JAN-15:35: Hardware & Peripherals

What do you know of this Jasmine SCSI 20MB hard disk advertized in MacUsers. It
looks pretty full featured and it costs under $600.  Is it a good deal?? -Doug
(MADMACS)

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From: MADMACS
Subject: McFace v2.0 FORTRAN user interface
Date: 4-JAN-17:06: Programming

If you are a FORTRAN programmer and are not aware of Dan Kampeier's
subroutine called McFace then you should be.  It provides a quick and
easy way to make your existing FORTRAN programs into true 'Mac'
programs. He provides for 5 text edit windows, graphics, clipboard
support, menus, dialogs, and _much_ more.  The new version handles
LaserWriter and Image- Writer printing for you.  It also fully
supports resources and his excellent manual explains how to use them
with ResEdit 1.0.1. What is more, Dan fully supports his product and
clearly responds to your input.  In a month or so I plan to write an
article for the MUGS online database describing more about McFace.
Until then you can write Dan at: Dan Kampmeier 1310 N. Broadway
Urbana, IL 61801 Oh, and by the way, it is a steal!  Only $50 and
worth every penny! I wish I had written it because it is a great tool
for FORTRAN programmers. -Doug (MADMACS)

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From: CHESLEY
Subject: Apple Job Opening
Date: 4-JAN-18:07: Business Mac

                Job Opening at Apple Computer
                --- ------- -- ----- --------

The position involves responsibility for the design, development, and delivery
of courses for Macintosh software developers. The courses will introduce
developers to the Macintosh environment, the development processes, and the
available development tools -- Macintosh Programmer's Workshop and MacApp.
Candidates should have extensive development experience with Pascal and C, and
have developed software programs for the Macintosh. Training experience is a
plus.

Interested parties should send a resume to:

        Denise Bridgeman
        Apple Computer, Inc., MS 9-C
        20525 Mariani Avenue
        Cupertina, CA 95014

------------------------------

From: BMUG
Subject: Warning to Expo Travellers
Date: 4-JAN-18:21: Mousing Around

Warning to Expo travellers

I just flew from Boston to Oakland on American Airlines, and got a
nice little surprise at the security checkpoint.  I was carrying on my
DataFrame 20, and I took it out of my carry-on bag to hand it to the
agent for hand-inspection, rather than have it go near the magnetic
field generated by the X-ray machine.  He said that it would have to
either be checked or go throught the machine, citing new FAA
regulations ("three weeks ago...", when a nun expressed fear that
"anything could be in that box.")  He consented to hand-inspection,
however, when I was able to whip out my Swiss Army Knife and quickly
disassemble the DF 20, so that the insides were visible.  (although I
think the inside looks more like a bomb... circuit boards attached to
a sealed box, but, luckily, he didn't see it that way).

This may have been just an extra enforcement effort by the agent I
encountered, but folks travelling with Macs or Hard Disks to the expo
should be prepared.  I recommend checking the Mac as baggage, in the
original packing material, with the box turned INSIDE OUT, so that the
pretty pictures of the Macintosh aren't visible on the sides.  Be sure
to declare the full value of whatever it would cost you to replace the
Mac when you check it in... most airlines limit reimbursement to
$700-$1500 per bag if you don't declare additional value.  You may
also be forced to sign a sticker saying that you agree that the Mac is
"improperly packed", and that the airline is liable for loss, but not
damage.  Don't panic... this is just their standard boilerplate for
when they check boxes.  Remember, your Mac made it to your local
dealer in its original packing!

If you have an internal hard disk, checking your Mac is not
recommended.  You may or not be able to bring it on board, depending
on how crowded the flight is, what type of plane, and what airline you
are traveling on.  As for the security checkpoint, be sure to allow
extra time, and perhaps bring along Mac-opening tools, although
perhaps booting up the machine will be sufficient demonstration for
the agent.  I've heard differing reports about the effects of putting
a Mac through an X-ray machine, but, in any case, be sure to have a
backup of all your data in your checked baggage (which is NOT X-rayed
on domestic flights).  Key phrases to use to security agents are
"magnetically sensitive material", "magnetic media", and "computer
equipment".  Good luck, and see you at the expo!

-- Raines Cohen / Team BMUG

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End of Delphi Mac Digest
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