INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA (Moderator David Gelphman...) (10/08/86)
INFO-MAC Digest Tuesday, 7 Oct 1986 Volume 4 : Issue 127
Today's Topics:
Scaled drawing
Lightspeed Products
Lightspeed Pascal
MacApp
A better disk performance analyser...
Fans and the Like
RE: Fritzed Power Supply
Re: Fritzed Power Supply/Fans - Thanks
Re: Hard Disk 20 sc
SCSI Harddisks for the MAC
'undocumented' Word features (IM4.118/120)
Macintosh Fonts from Boston College
Chinese WP on Mac (FeiMa)
Arabic WP on Mac (Al-Kaatib)
Pasting Full Page Documents into MacPaint
Making Transparencies with Dot Matrix Printer
Yet Another Survey...
Re: colored disks
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 86 05:13 CDT
From: <BOYD%TAMLSR.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> (Scott T. Boyd)
Subject: Scaled drawing
In response to a note from Jeff Harrow:
> ...my "fixed" version ended up working but things were drawn into the
> Overview window in "real" size (not "shrunk" to fit). Did the changes in
> your posting fix this problem, or have I missed something (I assume that
> Overview should scale the "normally drawn" image correctly...)?
That seems like a reasonable assumption. One of the assumptions that I made
early on was thinking that Quickdraw would be able to apply an arbitrary
coordinate system to any grafport. They say as much in inside mac. However,
they don't really spell it out. You can have any TRANSLATED coordinate system,
but it still has a 1:1 pixel to point ratio.
Quickdraw provides only limited mechanisms for scaling of drawings.
PICTs are the simplest and easiest way to draw scaled images. After
contacting MAC-TECH (Apple developer support), they suggested using PICTs or
CopyBits (to copy and scale changes from the screen to the offscreen bitmap).
PICTs aren't much help if you have a very complex one because they can
be so slow to replay. That's especially bad when you've only made a small
change to a document (e.g. move one object near the back in a complex
MacDraw document just a little bit).
CopyBits is fine except 1) floating windows must be hidden, CopyBits
performed, and floaters brought back into view or 2) keep the whole
image in an offscreen bitmap (no fun to add to a program you thought
was almost done), and 3) autoscrolling while drawing can present an
interesting challenge.
MapPt, MapRect, and so on work for mapping. Quickdraw evidently uses
these for mapping PICTs. Unfortunately, to make your drawing routines
flexible enough to draw into an arbitrary coordinate system with an arbitrary
pixel ratio, ALL of your drawing must map every point, rect, and region.
I'm not eager to add all that extra code to all of my drawing routines.
It might not even be worthwhile if it impairs drawing speed much.
It seems so obvious that Quickdraw would be able to scale into a grafport
that I feel I have missed something. If so, please let me know. If it
is indeed the case, it's a capability that would be reasonable to add to
Quickdraw.
scott boyd
the machax(tm) group
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 09:34 EDT
From: JDM%SMVL%rca.com@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
Subject: Lightspeed Products
I have recently purchased both Lightspeed C and Lightspeed Pascal and
I thought I would share some of my experiences with someone out there.
I bought the compilers through "Mac Rentals". For those of you who havent
seen their ads, Mac Rentals will send you the program materials for a
14 day period at some nominal fee (around $30 for Lightspeed C and around
$20 for LSP). You sign an agreement saying you promise not to copy the
materials. After the 14 days, if you don't want the programs, you ship
them back via FedEx (using the handy waybills they provide), or you give
them a buzz and they charge you for the software. The rental fee is
applicable to the purchase price.
So, after using the LSC and LSP tools, I fell in love with them both
and bought them. However, after two weeks, I still havent received my
THINK Tech registration cards. The folks at Mac Rentals are very responsive
and helpful. I think the "try-it-at-home" concept is really valuable.
However, I often wonder if I'm not somehow in violation of the law by
using the compilers without officially registering. (I have paid for them,
as my VISA bill will reflect, but how is THINK to know? And I am anxious
to get the LSC update).
Any similar experiences out there? I wonder if I can call THINK and let
them know.
Two experiences with the compilers. First, most of you already know that
the RAMSDOpen implementation in LSC is useless. It simply dosent work.
(Mine bombed with a -37, file not found, every time I called it.) The
workaround is to use OpenDriver with '.Ain', '.AOut' and do FSReads/FSWrites
or PBReads/Writes. I hope this is fixed in the LSC update.
In Lightspeed Pascal, I've found that calls to the Sound Driver,
StartSound, and StopSound are similarly useless. StartSound produces
an a hang condition where the MAC loops infinitely while polling D0
(presumably while waiting for some asychronous procedure to do something).
StopSound produces the all-to-familiar address exception. I've found
the workaround for these problems is to use PBWrite to produce sounds
and PBKillIO to stop them.
Another small problem appears when launching interrupt driven procedures.
I've found that calling such procedures from within the LSP environment
causes an address exception crash on GetNextEvent no matter what I do. If
I compile the application, and run it stand-alone, all is fine.
I wonder if anyone has had similar experiences. I make no claims about
my Mac programming proficiency. Any or all of these problems may be due
to programmer error, and not LSP's or LSC's. Also, I have no connection
with Mac Rentals other than to say I am a randomly satisfied customer.
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 09:52 EDT
From: JDM%SMVL%rca.com@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
Subject: Lightspeed Pascal
One useful feature of LSP is it's support of the 128K Rom toolbox.
I haven't used it extensively, but I was able to get window zooming to
work on the first try. I guess the true test will be to see how easy
it is to traverse the HFS b-trees using the new ROM calls.
It is necessary, of course, to consult IM-IV so you can modify the
parameters to the various calls appropriately.
Using TMON on LSP code from within the LSP environment seems to be
do-able (in those rare occasions where complete incompetancy renders the
LSP debugger helpless), although you have to "weed" your way around all of
the debugger's TRAP calls.
I have to say that LSP is probably one of the "Friendliest" development
environments I have come across.
I have no association with THINK technologies other than to say I am
a satisfied paying customer (albeit unregistered, argggggggh!).
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 86 15:48 PDT
From: PUGH%CCV.MFENET@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: MacApp
I talked with the APDA hotline today and asked about MacApp and TML Pascal 2.0.
The response was that MacApp will NOT work with TML 2.0 due to a plethora of
conditional compilation directives that are present in MPW Pascal, but not in
TML Pascal.
He also said that Tom Leonard probably has a copy of MacApp and is probably
converting it to compile under 2.0. I will call Tom and ask him tomorrow,
assuming I can remember to bring the phone number from home.
Jon
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 86 16:34:32 CDT
From: Scott Comer <wert@rice.edu>
Subject: A better disk performance analyser...
This program is a simple disk performance analyser. It is composed of
three tests. The first test writes a new file, the second test reads that
file, and the third test copies that file into a new file. Blocks are not
allocated before they are written, and there is no attempt to optimize
disk transfers. It is my opinion that this test more accurately
demonstrates the useable disk performance that may be obtained from your
particular disk drive.
Scott Comer <wert@rice.edu>
Rice University
[ archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-DISKTIMER-YETANOTHER.HQX
DAVEG
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 10:22 EDT
From: JDM%SMVL%rca.com@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
Subject: Fans and the Like
When I first got my MAC + I went through the "should I get a Fan" dilemma.
It seemed to me that any electronic "thing" that generated heat needed a fan.
After all, IBM's have fans.
Naturally, the Apple folks say that convection cooling is good enough for
the MAC. As long as there is free airflow around the machine, convection
takes care of everything according to them.
However, I was somewhat less than convinced. I dont leave my MAC on
continuously. I felt that going through the warm-up/cool-down cycle
everytime I used it would age the components on the screen driver board
more rapidly than if I never turned it off, or never turned it on :-).
So, I got a fan under the presumption that keeping the MAC cooler would
minimize the component failure risk by reducing the temprature differential
on the warm-up/cool-down cycles. However, the trade off is that fans draw
in dust,which could conceivably gum up the internal drive.
So far, I have had no failures in my drive (though I've only had
my MAC+ since May). It runs very cool using a fan of my own devices.
Tho, the sound the drive makes while seeking has changed in timbre from
a resonant humming, to a resonant humming with a small buzz. I have
done nothing to clean it. Im not sure what to do to clean it other than to
shove a DustBuster up to it an wail. (I dont trust head cleaners).
Anyway, enough of philosophy, heres how I made an inexpensive
fan/power conditioner combo.
To make the conditioner I went to Radio Sh** and got a EMF line
filter for $7. At the local electronics supply place I got a real good
spike protector for $8 (The Phillup's protector clamps to 300V.)
It is a trivial exercize to put the EMF protector in a box with a nice
LED and a Switch and attach an extension cord. Plug in the Spike protector
as you would normally and plug the EMF protector into that. Viola, you
have a $50 power conditioner for peanuts.
To make a fan setup I picked up a 3.5" boxer fan from the local
elect. supply place for $10. I got a switch, and LED, and a 4" by 6"
plastic project box from Radio Sh**. I took the metal bottom off the
box, and cut the sides off using a coping saw so that it fit over the
handle in the top of the MAC. Cut a 3.5" hole in the bottom of the box
and mount the fan. Add the switch and LED (to make it look "official")
and attach a cheap lampcord. Then take the metal bottom, and cut it in
half. Cover the halfs with tape (so that they wont scratch) and attach
them to the fan so that they angle outward. These can then be used
to create a friction fit in the MAC's handle slot. The whole mess can
be sealed with inexpensive weather stripping. There you go. Fan for
$18 bucks.
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 13:12 EDT
From: Paul Christensen <PCHRISTENSEN%rca.com@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: RE: Fritzed Power Supply
Burned-out power supplies are, according to my local serviceperson,
the most common failure in the Macintosh. I personally ran into this
problem over a year ago when I upgraded my 128K Mac to 512K. Within
one week, the display grew dim and finally lost all focus (the menu bar
was way off the top of the screen, and the disk icon that appears on
startup took up at least 1/5 of the screen!). Since its replacement
(under Apple warranty luckily) I have had no problems. However, I know
of at least four other people that experienced this same problem, usually
after an upgrade of some type.
It does appear that there is a weak component in the design, but Apple
had not responded openly to the situation. Several months ago, though,
it was rumored in one of the Mac magazines (I think MacUser) that Apple
would soon be offering a free power-supply upgrade.
- Paul Christensen
CSNET: PCHRISTENSEN@RCA.COM
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 86 11:09:09 PDT
From: gunther.pa@Xerox.COM
Subject: Re: Fritzed Power Supply/Fans - Thanks
A public thanks to Richard Siegel for the insights regarding cooling. It
appears that I, along with many others(including the tech that replaced
my PS), had only been exposed to the conventional wisdom that vanilla
Macs (without any internal gismos and RAM extensions) don't require
mechanical cooling. Congratulations on doing some real physics to get
the numbers and also for providing an inexpensive solution(A merit badge
for this man!).
Once again Info-Mac has provided a means of disseminating some
significant unconventional wisdom. Thanks Info-Mac and Moderator.
Neil.
------------------------------
Date: 6 Oct 86 21:49 PDT
From: BSF.COR@OFFICE-1.ARPA
Subject: Re: Hard Disk 20 sc
The flame from Info-Mac V4#122 which included, "FLAME ON! Drive does not come
with cables!
You have to buy a scsi cable.. WORSE YET! you have to buy a fricking SCSI
terminator! ($40!) because the drive doesnt have one builtin, as does
every single other drive on the market. I think this sucks royally!
FLAME OFF!
The author has a point about the terminator if he only wants to have one SCSI
device on his Mac. If he wants more than one, the adjustable address and lack
of internal termination on the HD-20sc become esential.
By the way, a little bird told me that the interleave factor for the HD-20sc is
a compromise between that which is best for a Mac and that which is best for an
Apple ][. I would seem that some hacking is in order here
Bill Frantz - Key Logic
Disclamer: I have financial interests in several computer manfactures including
Apple and IBM.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 86 13:28:36 ADT
From: PAUL%Acadia.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Paul Steele - Acadia
Subject: SCSI Harddisks for the MAC
I am nearing the time when I plan to purchase a SCSI hard disk for
my MAC plus. The big problem I'm having is deciding which one to
get; there seems to be quite a few available now. The type I'm
most interested in is one which sits under the MAC such as the LODOWN
or MacBottom, as well as one that might have an optional tape backup
unit. If anyone out there has any useful information about SCSI disks
I'd appreciate the information. I'd like to see info such as price,
access time, size, included utilities, reliability, etc. If I get
enough responses I'll try to make a list a post to INFO-MAC.
===> Paul@Acadia
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 09:38 EDT
From: CNNMJ%BCVAX3.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (M.J. CONNOLLY
Subject: 'undocumented' Word features (IM4.118/120)
>>[InfoMac Digest 4.118]
>>
>>There are some interesting options in Microsoft Word that are not mentioned
>>in the manual. You can Find and Replace carriage returns, soft returns and
>>tabs by typing meta characters in the Find and Replace dialog windows.
>>[examples]
>> FRUIN@HLERUL5.BITNET
>>[InfoMac Digest 4.120]
>>
>>Subject: Undocumented feature of MS Word
>>I have discovered what I think is another undocumented feature of the
>>FIND (and CHANGE) command in Microsoft Word. The question mark (?) acts
>>as a wild card (causing fairly puzzling behavior when you try to look
>>for a question mark and instead it stops at every character).
>>For example, mi?e would find mine, mile, mite, etc. Multiple ? seem
>>to work also, so ?i?e would find lite, sire, rise, etc., etc.
>>It should be noted that even though you can use this in the 'find'
>>part of the CHANGE command, you can't use it in the 'change' part,
>>as is also the case with p, t, etc.
>>You might now ask how does one search real question marks ? The answer,
>>of course (!), is to look for ?
>>Manuel C. Delfino | userid: MCD node: SLACVM network: BITNET
>>Department of Physics | (415)854-3300 x3320
>>University of Wisconsin - Madison| SLAC, P.O.BOX 4349, Stanford, CA 94305
The various 'undocumented' MS Word features mentioned in the InfoMac digests
4.118 and 4.120 have rather full treatment in both the user section (p.76)
and the reference section (pp.229f) of the (fairly old) Word manual I use. I'm
always amused to find them pop in the literature as 'undocumented' features.
If you send them into MacWorld they'll probably give you twenty-five bucks.
To tell Word that you want to search/find a real ? and not use it as a
(thank the dear Lord for it) wild card, prefix a circumflex/up-hat and,
sho' 'nuff, ^? will get you all the question marks you need. That one
point doesn't show up in the manual, but is a fairly standard convention.
M.J. Connolly
Slavic & Eastern Languages
Boston College / Carney 236
Chestnut Hill MA 02167
(617) 552-3912 cnnmj@bcvax3.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 09:26 EDT
From: CNNMJ%BCVAX3.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (M.J. CONNOLLY
Subject: Macintosh Fonts from Boston College
As part of BC's contribution to the Apple University Consortium, the
Boston College Font Project distributes for free to academic Macintosh
users a diskful of foreign-language and special-application fonts
developed in house.
Send
--two (2) best-quality double-sided Macintosh diskettes,
--a self-addressed, stamped mailer (or InternationalReplyCoupons)
--covering note/letter
to the address below. The Project returns one disk with the current full
release and keeps the second diskette as a token commission. Subsequent
upgrades require only one diskette.
Completed and in release 4.0 are bitmap (ImageWriter) fonts for Cyrillic
(Pskov, Vladimir, Lunt), Armenian (Eznik, Mesrob), Early/Modern Greek
(Saloniki, Smyrna), Coptic (Shenute), transliteration (Library),
econometrics (Tech),and some NW California Indian languages (UnifonM).
In final development testing are PostScript (LaserWriter) fonts for phonetics
(Phonetica) and Greek (Stageira) plus an ImageWriter font for Irish (Temair)
and improvements of existing fonts. We shall try to keep InfoMac readers
informed of new releases.
Please note that we are forced to batch distribution jobs and there may be
delays. We operate without a secretary or bulk-duplication facility.
Since we view the products as freeware, you may make copies for colleagues
as you wish. We ask only that substantially modified or renumbered fonts also
be renamed within the family (e.g. Pskov --> PskovB)
Prof M.J. Connolly
Slavic & Eastern Languages
Boston College / Carney 236
Chestnut Hill MA 02167
(617) 552-3912 cnnmj@bcvax3.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 09:35 EDT
From: CNNMJ%BCVAX3.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (M.J. CONNOLLY
Subject: Chinese WP on Mac (FeiMa)
I've noticed a number of queries about Chinese WP packages for the
Macintosh. This may help some who are searching.
FeiMa, distributed in several Macintosh versions and from two
different sources, represents the premier Chinese word-processing package for
the Mac.
We have been using their top-of-the-line FeiMa II, which runs on the
MacPlus only. Available from Wu Corporation, 46 West Avon Road, Avon CT 06001.
tel: (203) 673-4796. price: $545 (that's right!) as intro price until ??,
thereafter $795. Gene Wu, the developer, has produced a closed (captive)
environment for Chinese WPing, i.e. the clip/scrap and desktop will not
communicate with anything else on the Mac (except his own DB etc. to come),
screen dumping and many other parts of the Mac interface are missing.
On the other hand it does work, nicely, is very Chinese in its feel, and
runs rings around the IBM and Wang stuff I've seen.
It is not true WYSIWYG, doesn't permit mixed margins or type sizes,
the poorly drafted Roman letters and numerals stand in stark contrast to the
elegantly designed Chinese characters, one can't call in any other Mac fonts,
FeiMa won't print (and seems to have a few other problems) if AppleTalk is
connected, has no LaserWriter support yet, and the documentation runs from poor
(English) through mediocre (Chinese usage, overall presentation) to nifty
(charts & tables). Only one master disk is supplied, and that has a copy
prevention subtler than it may first seem.
Notwithstanding all that, it's good and probably will get better.
The characters are sharp on screen and on paper, you have six different ways
to enter text (han tyewriter, pinyin, radical method, stroke count, draw-your-
own, a 'rough-sketch' search method of Wu's invention distinct from the
four-corner method) and a dictionary of 2000+ characters built-in and an
auxiliary dictionary (from which you can put characters into residence)
of 3000+ characters (plus, of course, you can make your own easily enough).
FeiMa II includes a utility to convert traditional characters into the
simplified characters common on the mainland. This can be purchased as an
option with at least some of the lesser packages.
M.J. Connolly
Slavic & Eastern Languages
Boston College
Carney Hall 236
Chestnut Hill MA 02167
tel: 617 552-3912 cnnmj@bcvax3.bitnet
The usual disclaimers apply. We paid full price for our copy.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 09:37 EDT
From: CNNMJ%BCVAX3.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (M.J. CONNOLLY
Subject: Arabic WP on Mac (Al-Kaatib)
Also saw some questions out there about Arabic WP packages.
For word processing in Arabic and Persian on the Macintosh I have found
nothing yet to equal Al-Kaatib from Arabic Software Associates, 240 E.
Center St., Provo UT 84601. (801) 377-4558. Although it may be used as
a stand-alone WP, it finds its best use as a pre-processor for strings
of Arabic/Persian text, composed from right to left as they should be,
which are then transferable into Word or MacWrite. Right tabs make
alignment easy, and as long as either the application or the governing
system file has the fonts installed, gloriously beautiful Arabic script
appears on the screen. In poking around I noticed a Hebrew font hidden
away, either in preparation for an addded feature to come or as an
option which, for commercial/political reasons, must go unadvertised.
This pre-processor approach seems most sensible, since one does not
always want have documents in different formats and with differing
conventions.
Again the usual disclaimers apply. My thanks to Profs. J. Clinton and
S. Somekh (NEL/Princeton) for putting me on to this and some other
right-to-left and bi-directional materials back at last May's MacAdemia.
M.J. Connolly
Slavic & Eastern Languages
Boston College / Carney 236
Chestnut Hill MA 02167
(617) 552-3912 cnnmj@bcvax3.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue 7 Oct 86 09:11:27-PDT
From: Prasanna G. Mulgaonkar <PRASANNA@SRI-STRIPE.ARPA>
Subject: Pasting Full Page Documents into MacPaint
I am having trouble pasting full page documents from the clipboard into
MacPaint (v1.5) What I am attempting to do is to take a document from
MacDraw using SELECT-ALL and CUT to get it onto the clipboard. Show
clipboard at this stage has the full document. However, if I do a
paste in MacPaint, only a macpaint window-full gets pulled off the
clipboard into the macpaint document.
Is there any way around this problem?
Thanks.
Prasanna Mulgaonkar
SRI Intl.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 86 15:54:16 PDT
From: <MCD@SLACVM.BITNET>
Reply-to: MCD%SLACVM.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.Edu
Subject: Making Transparencies with Dot Matrix Printer
In response to a recent query about making transparencies with an Imagewriter.
There is an advertisement for 'DOT MATRIX PRINTER FILM, Make transparencies
with your printer' in a catalog from Global Computer Supplies, a mail-order
computer supply outfit. It says '...Film is coated for use with standard
black or colored ribbons to make transparencies as easily as running a
printout'. They charge $29.95 + ship. and hand. for a 25 ft. roll.
Their number is 1-800-8-GLOBAL and the stock number is C0147.
Please note: I have not used the stuff, so I don't know if it's any good.
I have never dealt with Global so I don't know if they are
any good. And finally I have no association with Global
Computer Supplies, except for being on their mailing list.
Manuel C. Delfino | userid: MCD node: SLACVM network: BITNET
Department of Physics | (415)854-3300 x3320
University of Wisconsin - Madison| SLAC, P.O.BOX 4349, Stanford, CA 94305
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 21:06 CDT
From: <MAX%TAMLSR.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Yet Another Survey...
Ok, all you microcomputer users out there, it's time to justify your
existence. Somebody asked me the other day why most Mac owners bought
Macs and not some other kind of computer. I had to tell him, "I don't
know. I can tell you about ME, but..." So, how about it? Why did you
buy the computer you own?? Would you make the same decision today? If
you don't own one, what would you buy? What do you think about the
machines you have to choose from, or the microprocessors in them?
Is there a machine you would definitely NOT buy? Why not?
So here's the deal: Tell me how you feel about microcomputers you know
about, microprocessors you know about, operating systems you
know about, and interfaces you know about, etc.... Tell me what you
like or dislike about them, and what you would do to change things.
After I compile a sufficient number of replies(i.e. till I get tired of
it), I'll post the results.
Greg Marriott
The MacHax(tm) Group
General: "Where's your drill sergeant, soldier?"
Private Winger: "Blown up, SIR"
------------------------------
Date: Tue 7 Oct 86 14:53:40-CDT
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: colored disks
the disks you are looking for are brand C.ITOH and come in a nice plastic
case - they come SS and DS and cost a little more. local dealers carry them
as well as the standard blue ones from C.ITOH ...
if you need more help to find them, let me know
------------------------------
End of INFO-MAC Digest
**********************