INFO-MAC@SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU.UUCP (12/24/86)
INFO-MAC Digest Wednesday, 24 Dec 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 31
Today's Topics:
RE: advice on multiple stacks
LSP Wish List
Weird disk problem
Mac time reset utility
utility for split up binhex files : comb
Another Christmas card
Tech Note 110 - Processor Compatibility
MacPlus memory map
Bug found in Binhex 4.0
Request for BinHex Format Definition
CRC algorithm used by BinHex 4.0
laserwriter header (ps)
Re: Interchanging CAPS LOCK and Command Keys
Epson DX20 with Mac
Delphi Mac Digest V2 #68
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Date: Mon, 22 Dec 86 13:57 CDT
From: Mike Linnig <LINNIG%ti-eg.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: RE: advice on multiple stacks
I too am hacking multitasking on the mac. As for stacks, try creating
multiple sub-stacks in the area that the mac dedicates for the stack.
---
heap... | stack n | stack n-1 |.... |stack 3 | stack 2 | stack 1
---
^
|
mac's official end of stack
This avoids the problem of having the stack sniffer get annoyed. You
can always increase the stack size with a toolbox call (name??).
Mike Linnig,
Texas Instruments
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 86 10:24:44 EST
From: bills@CCA.CCA.COM (Bill Stackhouse)
Subject: LSP Wish List
The following is my "wish list" for Lightspeed Pascal. I have been using
LSP since the Boston MacWorld where it was introduced and I am extremely
pleased with the product as it is in version 1, but I beleive that it
can become an even better product. The list is, in general, in my priority
order (13 is really much higher in priority).
Happy Holidays
Bill Stackhouse
bills@cca.cca.com
--
1) Support for Object Pascal.
2) Optimizer. This should be an option at the unit level and perform
both global and local optimizations.
3) In line Procedures. This should allow you to specify that the code
for the procedure is to be included in line whenever a call to the
procedure is found. (especially for thoses procedures that can be smaller than
the code to call and return from it, but also for those procedures that are
only called in 1 or 2 places a large number of times.)
4) Split View Windows in the editor. This should be like MS Word/Excel
so that you can look at the definition of a data structure while writing
the code that uses it. Selecting a variable name in one window split would
cause the definition to appear in the other split part if it was in the same
source, otherwise it would appear in a "temporary" window. This would be
true also of all the Inside Mac. definitions. (Would be nice to have something
like MACMAN with wild cards for names [get* to list all names starting with
GET] as optional feature.)
5) Initial Values for Variables. Include some syntactic notation for
specifying the initial values for variables. At a minimum, global variables,
would be nice for local variables also. IBM in their Pascal compiler
defined an additional declaration called VALUE which makes it easier
to port source than having assignments mixed in with VARs. (see number 13,
this is the way the revised standard will also do it)
VAR
foo : integer;
VALUE
foo := 5;
BEGIN
foo := foo + 1;
END.
6) Arithmetic constants. The definition of a constant should allow
arithmetic.
7) Bullet Proof LightsBug. More often than not, I stop a program and
start up LightsBug to look at some data and I get a bomb (02). This
function should be very durable to be useful.
8) Interpreted data in LightsBug. When data is displayed in the stack
frame of LightsBug, it would be nice to interpret integer, real, boolean,
and char/string data. Strings could perhaps only show the first 8 characters.
9) The project should show the number of lines in a unit and in the
total project.
10) Show the compilation rate in lines/minute.
11) Flexibility in formating. The formating style used by the editor
is in general very nice. The formating of case labels should allow
labels for non-compound statement to be on the same line as the
statement. (?picky?) Maybe the ability to design a style sheet would
provide the generality to satifify everyone.
12) Case sensitive names. An option to require that the case of letters
of a variable/procedure name be checked as well as spelling. Perhaps
a tool that would force all uses of a variable name to agree with
its definition would suffice.
13) Support for the proposed Pascal language extensions as defined in
the ACM SIGPLAN Notices Vol. 21 Number 12 December 1986. this covers a lot
of ground but includeds variables in type definitions to allow variable
length arrays, initial values for variables, label ranges in case and
record variants, and sets in the for statement (for i in [1, 5..7, 10] do).
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 86 11:27:41 EST
From: Thomas Coradeschi (FSA-E) <tcora@ARDEC.ARPA>
Subject: Weird disk problem
Okay folks, how do i solve this one? I have a diskette which, when inserted
in the machine will read okay, but won't let me write any data to it. The
disk isn't locked and has about 160k (of 400k) free. A dialog box tells me
that the disk directory is full! I can copy the data to another disk, by
draggin the icons, and waiting a long time so tha isn't the real problem,
just that this has never happened before, and i don't want to end up with a
disk i can't read either.
If i try to copy the disk (using copyII, sector or bit copy), the sector
copied version needs to have its desktop rebuilt, or it causes the machine
to freeze, the bit copied version is ok in that respect, but both of them
still have "full directories". It's about what i expected, since they are,
after all, copies of the original.
Interestingly, the copy i made by dragging icons has a smaller desktop
(8k vs 16k) and about 10k more free than the original.
So, what to do? I've got all the data on another disk now, but my curiosity
wants to know how to take care of the problem. Any suggestions would be
appreciated.
Regards,
tom c
Oh yeah, the machine is an unmodified 512k mac w/hyperdrive, system 3.2,
finder 5.3.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 86 23:37:43 PST
From: David Gelphman <mrh@shasta.stanford.edu>
Subject: Mac time reset utility
I plucked this off of usenet:
This is a utility you probably didn't know you needed until now.
It dials up a standard atomic clock, and resets the mac clock
to within one second of the exact time. Pretty neat!
[ archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SETTIME.HQX
DAVEG
]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 86 23:39:49 PST
From: David Gelphman <mrh@shasta.stanford.edu>
Subject: utility for split up binhex files : comb
This is another item culled from usenet news:
/*
comb - combine split binhex files
usage:
comb file1 .. fileN > result ; xbin result
comb -m file > result ; xbin result
compile: cc -o comb comb.c
Binhex files often come across the net split into multiple parts. I
got sick of re-combining them by hand. comb is a quick hack that takes
as its arguments a set of files which are the parts
of a binhex file. It splits out the binhex file to standard output.
If the parts have been combined into a single file already, with mail
headers and such in between, the "-m" flag can be used. The text that
doesn't look like binhex goes to standard output, unless the "-q" (for
quiet) flag is specified.
It's real ugly (even has gotos!), but hey, it works.
Author: Greg Dudek
Dept. of Computer Science (vision group) University of Toronto
Usenet: {linus, ihnp4, allegra, decvax, floyd}!utcsri!dudek
CSNET: dudek@ai.toronto.edu
ARPA: dudek%ai.toronto.edu@csnet-relay
DELPHI: GDUDEK
Paper mail: 10 King's College Circle, Toronto, Canada
[ archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UNIX-COMB.C
DAVEG
]
------------------------------
Date: 22 Dec 1986 12:29-EST
From: Bruce.Horn@vlsi.cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Another Christmas card
This is my entry in the Christmas Card sweepstakes, based on an idea of
Steve Capps' (a LONG time ago). The program shows a landscape with
snow falling, and you get to decide where the snow sticks. SnowPic is
the original; SnowMask is white where snow is allowed to stick. Where
the snow doesn't stick, the bits in the first picture remain. Using
the mask you can make messages appear in the snow, stars come out in
the sky, and so on. Be patient; it takes a few minutes to see the effect.
Have fun!
Bruce
[ archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>DEMO-CHRISTMAS2.HQX
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]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 86 02:52:36 EST
From: Martin Resnick <mlr0%gte-labs.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Tech Note 110 - Processor Compatibility
Your recent posting is missing Tech Note 110.
[ archived as
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]
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Date: Tue, 23 Dec 86 13:53:11 PST
Subject: MacPlus memory map
From: eacj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Julian Vrieslander)
This was fetched from usenet news:
This is a fairly detailed Mac Plus memory map, in MacDraw format. The
existing memory maps that I had seen were either out-of-date, confusing,
or not very complete, so I decided to roll my own. You need Geneva 9
and 24 to print it on the ImageWriter. It looks even better if printed
on the LaserWriter with font substitution enabled and with Helvetica 9
and 24 available.
[ archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>MACPLUS-MEMORYMAP.HQX
DAVEG
]
------------------------------
Date: Sun 21 Dec 86 22:56:26-PST
From: David Gelphman... <INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject: Bug found in Binhex 4.0
To my surprise I found a bug in Binhex 4.0. After several complaints
about the file in the archives TECHNOTES-DEC86-TN98.HQX, I decided to
look into it further. Recently I got a copy of XBIN, which allows me to
unbinhex and check files w/o downloading. I found that even though tn98 passed
XBIN, when it was downloaded it wouldn't unbinhex in binhex 4.0
without a CRC error.
I downloaded the output from XBIN and it worked fine so I binhexed the
resulting document. If I tried to unbinhex the file I just binhexed, it
failed!!!! This is the first time I saw a binhex file which couldn't be
unhexed with the same program. I finally decided to use PACKIT on the
MacWrite document, then binhex it (which seemed to be OK) and that is what
is posted now. Wonders never cease. David Gelphman, info-mac moderator
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22-DEC-1986 10:37:01.03 +0100 (Central European Time)
From: <211037%DHHMPI5D.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Request for BinHex Format Definition
This is a request which must have been made before - sorry, but we have no
access to the archived files at BITNIC nor at SUMEX.
Could some kind soul provide me with the definition of the BinHex (4.0)
format? I'm living here in Macintosh-deserted Germany and have no easy
way to obtain a copy of the program. If someone by chance has a Fortran
or Basic version, all the better, then I'd not have to recode it myself.
Martin Heimann
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Meteorologie
Bundesstrasse 55, D-2000 Hamburg 13, Germany (FRG).
BITNET/EARN: 211037@DHHMPI5D.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 86 10:33:58 EST
From: Shane_D._Looker@um.cc.umich.edu
Subject: CRC algorithm used by BinHex 4.0
Does anybody on the net have the polynomial used in the CRC calculations
by BinHex 4.0? I could also use a good fast algorithm for computing the
CRC.
Thanks,
Shane Looker
Looker@um.cc.umich.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 86 23:44:57 PST
From: mse%Phobos.Caltech.Edu@DEImos.Caltech.Edu (Martin Ewing)
Subject: laserwriter header (ps)
The file <info-mac>laserwriter-header.ps seems to be out of step with the
current version of the laserwriter driver and its setup file. Is that
right?
Does someone have an updated version available, especially one that's
compatible with the VAX/VMS Textset software?
Thanks for all leads, and Happy Christmas all around.
Martin
mse@deimos.caltech.edu
mse@citphobo.bitnet
[ note from moderator: The new header can be generated by holding down
Command-K after selecting OK from the Print Dialog. If some kind soul
will submit this here I will post it for version 3.1 of the Prep file. DAVEG]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 86 20:26:35 EST
From: Howard Walter <howard@BRL.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Interchanging CAPS LOCK and Command Keys
During my Mac+ warranty period, I too became upset with the location of
the control key. About two weeks after the warranty was over, I opened
up the keyboard, poked around, quickly lost my nerve and re-assembled
the keyboard! After another week or so of a very fatigued left hand, I
re-opened the keyboard and performed the following steps:
1. Gently pry off the keycaps.
2. Identify the printed circuit connections for the caps lock and
control keys and carefully unsolder (using a solder sucker) both pins
on each key. If you overheat the pad around the key, it will be
destroyed. This is not a major problem but try to avoid it.
3. Gently press on both sides of the key and push upwards. The key
will pop out of the metal frame. I used two small circular files to get
to the control key.
4. Swap the two keys and resolder the connections.
5. One side of each key is connected to a common bus - leave this alone.
The other side can be traced to a pin on the keyboard decoder chip. Use a
small knife to break both traces somewhere along their paths. Solder wires
from the decoder chip pins to the pins on the appropriate keys. (I use wire
wrap wire for such work).
6. Re-assemble the keyboard. The caps lock keycap fits nicely next to the
space bar. Unfortunately, the clover keycap is too big to fit where the
caps lock used to be. I took a small saw and cut the sides off the plastic
keycap but this is a bit ugly. If anyone knows how to buy a single caps-
lock sized keycap, please drop me a note!
My keyboard has worked flawlessly for the past two months.
Warning: don't perform the above if your keyboard is in warranty or covered
by an Apple maintainance contract! I would be happy to hear about successes
but please don't try to sue me if you screw up your keyboard!
Howard
------------------------------
Date: Mon 22 Dec 86 08:40:38-EST
From: David.Zubrow <David.Zubrow@C.CS.CMU.EDU>
Subject: Epson DX20 with Mac
I have a friend who is trying to use an Epson DX20 (Daisywheel Printer) with
his Mac+. Upon the advice of sales people he also purchased MacEnhancer.
To date he has been unable to get the printer to do anything in response
to Mac commands. (The printer test routine works.) Has anyone else
encountered this difficulty or have any suggestions? The error messages he
receives lead him to believe it is a hardware problem. The sales people
have been less than helpful.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
zubrow@c.cs.cmu.edu
------------------------------
Date: 21 Dec 86 20:48:57 EST
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: Delphi Mac Digest V2 #68
Delphi Mac Digest Sunday, 21 December 1986 Volume 2 : Issue 68
Today's Topics:
RE: Nova boards
RE: 16Mhz 68000,68020,68881 upgrade (3 messages)
dMac III bought by Nantucket
MacPlus to Aladin upgrade (5 messages)
RE: Re: MPW question (2 messages)
Re: Looking for advice for using multiple stacks (2 messages)
C-P Hall Of Shame, Part II
An important Copyright decision (3 messages)
MacFind
LASER COPY PROTECT? (3 messages)
[ archived as
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DAVEG
]
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End of INFO-MAC Digest
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