INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA (Moderator David Gelphman...) (10/07/86)
INFO-MAC Digest Monday, 6 Oct 1986 Volume 4 : Issue 126
Today's Topics:
LightspeedC comments/questions
Small C Problem
Lightspeed Pascal bugs
fan hack for the Mac
Fan Plans
Fortran extender adds Mac interface to generic fortran code.
PostScript
Scrap problems
UTILITY-OASIS-11.HQX
Davong 10MB Hard Disk
Imagewriter II problem
USENET readers on INFO-MAC vs. net.micro.mac
A Chinese Word Processor
Stat packages
Writing tools for the Mac
colored disks
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 86 20:35:21 edt
From: Randolph Vires <vires@ohio-state.ARPA>
Subject: LightspeedC comments/questions
Just a few questions and comments about LightspeedC.
1) I think it is great. It almost makes programming in C painless.
2) Appendix F gives a number of benchmarks and LSC generates the
smallest size applicatons in each case. I wrote a program and
compiled it using Megamax and LSC. The LSC code was 24K, the
MM code was 12K! This is no major problem, but am I doing something
wrong?
3) Appendix G, The Code Profiler, says that the statistics may be
redirected using the unix main.c module. I followed the directions
to the letter. My problem is that when I try to redirect stdout, there
are no statistic generated )zf stdout is not redirected, then
I get the statistics. Why?
4) The prompt to click the mouse that is displayed at the end of your
application is handy, but what if I don't want it. How can I turn
that option off?
Any responses will be appreciated. Randy Vires
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 86 09:40 EDT
From: JDM%SMVL%rca.com@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA
Subject: Small C Problem
I wonder if any of you more experienced MAC programmers out there
can give me a hand with this one. Im using Lightspeed C (latest version)
on a MAC+.
In response to an Update Event, Im doing the following:
BeginUpdate(myWindow)
drawMyScreen();
DrawControls(myWindow);
EndUpdate(myWindow);
drawMyScreen() is a routine that simply positions the cursor at the
top of the screen and calls DrawChar(char) a number of times.
The problem I get is that the window refreshes correctly, after
this call, but subsequent calls to DrawChar do nothing. In fact,
if I generate another UpdateEvent, the above routine correctly refreshes
the screen (indicating that DrawChar is working), but again, subsequent
calls to DrawChar do not work.
If I remove the call to drawMyScreen from between the BeginUpdate/EndUpdate
combination, everything works fine.
Anyone out there have any ideas on what I may be doing wrong.
Thanks in Advance,
Joe jdm%smvl%rca.com@csnet-relay.ARPA
-----------------------------------------
"Why does this always happen to me?" - Robert Falcon Scott(of the Antarctic) "Because you're a gutless jerk." - Ernest Shackelton(Arctic Explorer)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 11:41 PDT
From: PUGH%CCV.MFENET@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: Lightspeed Pascal bugs
I have been running into some problems with Lightspeed Pascal and it's use
of packed records. I have some boolean values packed into records and they
were being evaluated incorrectly. I traced the problem to a with clause and
replaced it with explicit references instead. The problem was solved for the
majority of the cases, but not all of them. I have spoken with Think and
will be sending them an example of the problem.
While I was on the phone, the fellow I spoke with warned me that the StringOf
function has a nasty habit of clobbering registers. Beware!
Jon
------------------------------
Date: 4 Oct 86 20:10:00 EDT
From: <bouldin@ceee-sed.ARPA>
Subject: fan hack for the Mac
Reply-to: <bouldin@ceee-sed.ARPA>
>From: mayerk@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Kenneth Mayer)
>How hot should a mac get? If it is running hot, what is the best
>course of action? Scream and yell at my local apple dealer, or by a
>fan for $$$ (The cheapest one I could find is from Kensingto Microware
>for $80, which includes a master power switch, line filter, surge
>surpressor, and mr. coffee unit.) I've tried to build my own fan unit,
>but it has been impossible to find a case that is the right size.
>Any suggestions?
Yes. You can add a fan for about $10-$15, but read on to see if you really
want to do this.
The Macintosh can be fitted with a small fan 12 volt fan that moves about 11
cubic feet/ minute of air thru the machine. The fan can be mounted in the
upper right lobe of the case. One fan small enough to fit this location is the
IMS Equipment model # HS26121, which is a DC brushless motor muffin-style fan.
Power requirement is 12V, .21 amp, which is easily available from the
Macintosh minus 12V power supply.
To electrically connect the fan:
Open the case.
Find the wiring harness that connects the analogue board to the digital board.
The red wire on the fan is (+), connect this to ground on the wiring
harness.The black wire on the fan is (-), connect to (-12V) volts on the
wiring harness.
On the main Macintosh motherboard-to-analog-board connector, ground is on pins
#7 and #9, (-12V) on pin #8, with the pins numbered sequentially, #2 position
being the unoccupied one (that is, pin#1 is next to an omitted pin #2, next
pin being #3.) I believe that Mac+ connections are different. Use a voltmeter
to be sure of your connections. Red fan wire to Mac ground, black fan wire to
Mac -12V (get the sign right!).
Electrical connection is easily made by using connectors available at an auto
parts store. Get the kind that are used to connect brake lights on a trailor
to existing tail-light wires in a car. These things have a 'u' shaped piece of
metal that presses thru the insulation on the wires in the wiring harness to
make a connection. The connector closes around the wire in the harness like a
fist and another fitting allows you to take out the -12V or ground. Displace
the ground and -12V connections by an inch or two from each other along the
wires in the harness, so that if you ever remove the connectors there is no
possibility of a short. You will probably have to cut off some sort of plastic
clamps that hold the wires in the harness together in a bundle. Remember to
make the wires long enough that you can still easily separate the two halfs of
the Mac case.
To mechanically connect the fan:
The fan is about 1/4" narrower than the right hand top vent slot. I pointed
the fan out the back of the slot and wedged it in by building up the width of
the fan with double-sticky foam tape. I also put a piece of cardboard under
the fan, running parallel to the top of the Mac's case, to form a tunnel
(plenum) for the fan to exhaust thru. I then used duct tape to secure the
whole mess. I also closed the front 1/3 of the right-hand upper vent and the
vent behind the handle using duct tape. The idea here is to pull air in the
left hand upper vent and in thru the bottom vents and out the back of the
right hand vent. Note that this is an EXHAUST fan.
If you do the electrical and mechanical connections as described here, you can
always rip the whole thing out and the Mac will be unaltered from it's
original pristine state. I seriously doubt that anyone would detect the two
tiny nicks that you make in the wires on the harness. In any event, those
cannot cause a short if you are careful to offset them from each other.
I have had this modification in my Mac for about 4 months--no problems at all.
The machine doesn't just run cool; it runs _cold_ with this fan. Sorry, I have
no quantitative measures of operating temperatures.
The fan is quiet, but again it is hard for me to be quantitative about this.
The main thing is to play with the mounting a little so that the fan doesn't
resonate against the case.
These fans are available from C and H Sales Co.
P. O. Box 5356
Pasadena, CA. 91107-0356
or
2176 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, California 91107
or
(800) 325-9465
and they do take VISA
part # DCB8550 price $10.95
or presumably from their manufacturer
IMS Equipment
model # HS26121
(714) 559-6901
PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN IF YOU DO THIS. I ASSUME THAT YOU
HAVE SOME TECHNICAL EXPERTISE LIKE SOLDERING, USING A VOLTMETER, ETC.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 13:38:35 edt
From: rs4u@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel)
Subject: Fan Plans
In repsonse to the response I've gotten for fan plans, I will begin preparing
a MacWrite document describing my Fan unit. I'll upload it to info-mac as
soon as I get it done...
Stay tuned.
---Rich
------------------------------
Date: 3 Oct 86 16:16:00 EDT
From: <bouldin@ceee-sed.ARPA>
Subject: Fortran extender adds Mac interface to generic fortran code.
Reply-to: <bouldin@ceee-sed.ARPA>
I have been using a 'fortran-extender' type of product for the last 2 days.
Obviously I do not have a lot of experience with this as yet, but I can
already recommend it given the amazingly low price for the product. Dan
Kampmeier, the author, seems to be very open to suggestions and genuinely
interested in making fortran a nicer development environment on the
Macintosh. What follows is the text that was forwarded to me from Applelink.
(* captured from AppleLink network *)
A graduate student at the University of Illinois recently completed work on a
subroutine which can be used to convert existing Fortran programs for use on
the Macintosh. I thought you might be interested in the following info:
"Announcing McFace (version 1.0e): a Fortran-callable unlinked external
subroutine which creates a Macintosh user interface for existing Fortran
programs. McFace adds access to desk accessories, file handling, text
editors, picture editing, alerts, and dialogs without a single call to the
toolbox by the main Fortran program. The McFace disk includes the McFace
subroutine, manual, and sample programs. McFace is NEITHER PUBLIC DOMAIN
NOR SHAREWARE. It is being distributed as "partnerware": registered
individual owners of McFace can resell copies to others for $20. They keep
$10 from each sale and send $10 to the author. Purchases by institutions
or businesses must be made directly from the author for $25 per individual
or Macintosh workstation using McFace. For more information contact:
DAN KAMPMEIER, 1310 N. BROADWAY, URBANA, IL 61801, (217) 328-5842.
If ordering McFace direct from the author, send $25 per copy of McFace
requested to cover the cost of McFace, postage, and handling."
One of the more interesting things which McFace can do is to work with very
large bitmaps or quickdraw pictures in a graphic window which is much larger
than the visible screen. Dan will also sell you the source code (all Fortran!)
for an additional $25. Address further AppleLink inquiries to ST0009.
(* Note that if you buy source, you do _NOT_ get it on disc, you get a paper
listing. The listing is intended for people to study the techniques used in
McFace. I think Dan is mostly concerned about a proliferation of McFace
`dialects', not to mention protecting his work.
Also note, that I, in principle now have a commercial interest in this since
I can sell the thing via 'partnerware'. However, I suggest that you just
buy it direct from Dan since the price is so reasonable. So my remarks are
fairly unbiased, after all.
Chuck Bouldin*)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 09:34:38 edt
From: mp1w@andrew.cmu.edu (Marc Russell Pawliger)
Subject: PostScript
Whenever I do a PostScript file dump (command-f after clicking OK in the
print dialog), the resulting PostScript commands are in some sort of
shorthand, obviously so that the LaserPrep file doesn't have to
contain more than it needs to. Does anyone know if this
compressed format is documented? I have the two PS books,
and the reference manual says something about 'LaserWriter shorthand',
but specifics are nowhere to be found. Any help is muchly appreciated.
Marc
[ note from moderator: The Laserprep file evidently defines many Macros
so that the files which are sent to be printed can be smaller. To obtain
the full postscript file sent to the laserwriter (including the prep file
which contains these Macros) use the most recent Laserwriter driver file
(v3.1) and hold down COMMAND-K instead of COMMAND-F. DAVEG ]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 10:20:06 EDT
From: bills@CCA.CCA.COM (Bill Stackhouse)
Subject: Scrap problems
Using Finder 5.3/System 3.2 on a Mac Plus, System folder in a 400K
MFS RamDisk and applications in the root directory of a 800K HFS disk,
(I have tried other configurations without luck) I get the following
messages.
From MacPaint 1.5: "MacPaint is having trouble reading the scrap".
From MacDraw 1.9: "MacDraw cannot now paste the clipboard outside MacDraw.
Try removing some documents from the disk".
What is in the scrap is a full screen image put there by a public domain
FKey. MacPaint displays its message when doing a paste and MacDraw when
doing a quit. Other programs like MS Word and MacPublisher have no problems
with the same scrap. MacDraw can paste.
Does anyone have any sugesstions about what is going on and how to fix it???
Bill Stackhouse
bills.cca.cca.com
[ note from moderator: the bug discussed here is a MacPaint bug (I don't
know about MacDraw in this case, maybe you really do need to clear out more
room on your system disk to make room for the clipboard file). The MacPaint
fix discussed before by several people is to use the DiskInfo DA to change
the default disk to the system disk. Evidently MacPaint sets the default
disk to the disk it is on and therefore cannot read the scrap when it is
on another disk. DAVEG ]
------------------------------
Date: 5 Oct 86 17:40:24 EDT
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: UTILITY-OASIS-11.HQX
[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman ]
Name: OASIS 1.1
Date: 5-OCT-1986 14:32 by ASMCOR
Version 1.1 of Oasis, an ultra-fast Finder replacement that is
user-configurable. You can add as many buttons as you can fit in the
window. It includes a number of utilities for file management. It has
the ability to launch documents along with applications. Oasis works
only under HFS. Oasis is SHAREWARE. This version fixes two bugs in
version 1.0-a crash if you tried to remove a non-existant button, and
a problem with copying files with a single drive. Jan Eugenides
(ASMCOR)
[ ARCHIVED AS
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-OASIS-11.HQX
DAVEG
]
------------------------------
Sender: "Ronald B. Harvey" <Harvey@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 86 11:23 MST
From: "Ronald B. Harvey" <rbh@MULTICS.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Davong 10MB Hard Disk
I have the somewhat dubious honor of being the owner of one of these
boat anchors. I am considering an upgrade to a MacPlus, so I decided to
find out whether it would work with the Plus or not.
I borrowed a plus, installed the disk drivers on a Plus boot disk, the
booted up the Plus. No crash. So far, so good. Next I plugged the disk
into the comm port of the Plus and rebooted. I saw the R/W light go on
for a bit, but when the desktop became active, my disk volumes were not
there. I gave up and started writing this mail.
While typing the previous paragraph, I realized that one possible cause
for volumes to show up was that the volumes were not marked as
Active-On-Boot... so I plugged everything in again, copied the Volume
Manager over to the Plus startup disk, booted, invoked the manager, and
Lo and Behold it found everything! I made a few volumes active and
exited to the Finder. The volumes showed up there. I invoked MacPaint
from the hard disk, modified a drawing there, re-read it, etc., to make
sure that both read and write work. What I ihaven't tried is
initializing the disk or running diagnostics... but I don't see any
reason why they wouldn't work.
Now my question is: Does anybody know of a utility I can use to make the
disk be HFS? I suppose I could reformat the disk so that the whole
thing is one volume, then play some games to make that volume be HFS...
I don't know what this would do to the Volume Manager (who would be
superfluous from that point on...) or to the .INIT resources and the
device driver routines. Anybody have any guesses? Any hard evidence?
Any code from Davong?
(I am assuming that Davong is really still out of business and that
nobody has picked up their product line... am I correct?)
Conclusions: The Davong 10MB hard disk seems to work fine with a Mac
Plus, at least as far as normal operation is concerned. I don't know
how to make the disk into an HFS, but I would like to.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 1986 17:12 PDT
From: "Andre Lehre" <GFA0009%CALSTATE.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Imagewriter II problem
We recently acquired three Imagewriter II printers; two are hooked up to Mac+'s
and one to an ordinary 512 Mac. We are using the Imagewriter 2.3 driver.
The problem: at unexpected times the printers will start printing the ASCII
character codes rather than the text. This has happened with Word, with Write,
and with Paint on all three machines. It happens erratically, but seems to
occur most often after a printer has been powered up. The bug doesn't happen
twice in a row-- once it's happened and we abort the printing, the next print
will be OK. Can anyone suggest why this is happening, and what we can do to
prevent it?
Thanks lots.
--Andre Lehre
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 86 11:22:11 pdt
From: gould9!joel@nosc.ARPA (Joel West)
Subject: USENET readers on INFO-MAC vs. net.micro.mac
I had earlier posted a survey to USENET readers of net.micro.mac asking
about what Macintosh news groups they read and liked.
The answers are below; some totals don't add up because some people
didn't give 10 answers. Not suprisingly, net.micro.mac readers
read INFO-MAC.
Predictably, those that like mod.mac deplore the low signal/noise of
net.micro.mac, particularly with the perennial flame wars (e.g, amiga
vs. mac). Those that like net.micro.mac like its timeliness. Both are
accurate assessments. Also, some USENET members say they don't know how
to post to INFO-MAC from their UUCP-only site.
Among the comments, some felt net.micro.mac was too technical; others felt
it was clutterred with too many non-technical discussions.
Personal comment:
I posted the survey because I wanted to know which of the three
newsgroups:
- to read
- to save (in printed form, in a binder)
- to post queries and comments to
I've felt recently that I must read all three (including delphi
digests) to get the most out of the net. At one point, early on,
INFO-MAC was much, much, more useful than net.micro.mac, as will
be true with a well-run moderated newsgroup with a strong readership.
I suspect its preeminence was killed during its long hiatus, when
everyone had to find an alternative.
Joel West MCI Mail: 282-8879
Western Software Technology, POB 2733, Vista, CA 92083
{cbosgd, ihnp4, pyramid, sdcsvax, ucla-cs} !gould9!joel
joel%gould9.uucp@NOSC.ARPA
SURVEY results follow:
A total of 64 responses were received.
1) Do you read INFO-MAC, either through mod.mac or as part of a mailing list?
Y) 61 (95%)
N) 3 (4%)
2) Do you read the Delphi Digests, published in mod.mac, and previously under
net.micro.mac?
Y) 55 (85%)
N) 9 (14%)
3) Do you read the Usenet Digests, available from SUMEX-AIM?
N) 57 (89%)
Y) 7 (10%)
4) Do you read net.micro.mac?
Y) 63 (98%)
N) 1 (1%)
5) Have you posted to INFO-MAC?
N) 48 (75%)
Y) 16 (25%)
6) Have you posted to net.micro.mac?
Y) 61 (95%)
N) 3 (4%)
7) Does your site receive mod.mac?
Y) 61 (95%)
N) 3 (4%)
8) Does your site receive mod.mac.binaries and mod.mac.sources?
Y) 62 (96%)
N) 2 (3%)
9) Does your site receive net.sources.mac?
N) 48 (75%)
Y) 16 (25%)
10) If you were to receive only one of the current Mac newsgroups,
which would you prefer:
A) 11 (17%) mod.mac
C) 11 (17%) net.micro.mac
B) 9 (14%) mod.mac.{binaries,sources}
D) 2 (3%) net.sources.mac
E) 27 (42%) unsure/no answer
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 86 16:22:16 EST
From: "Collins, Herman"
Subject: A Chinese Word Processor
Dennis Aebersold asked for information about a Chinese word processor
for the Mac. Being a student in a second year Chinese class and a
System Programmer, I recently sent off for some information about FeiMa,
a Chinese word processor available from:
Wu Corporation
46 West Avon Road
Avon, Ct. 06070
(203) 673-4796
The screen displayed in the literature looked much like MacWrite, except
in Chinese characters. It has different input methods, including the
Tsong Jieh method, the Pinyin method, a chinese typewriter method, etc.
It looked pretty neat, but I haven't actually tried it; the price was a
little steep for me personally, and I haven't figured out how to get my
employers to buy one, but the price is not really out of line.
If anyone has actually tried FeiMa, or if anyone has a really good line
I can lay on my employers (We've GOT to get a Chinese work processor
because ...), I'd love to hear from you.
I also found a program for the (ugh) IBM PC that teaches (drills)
Chinese characters. Ask for the Chinese Character Tutor from
Asian Languages Software, Inc.
Box 658
South Hadley, MA 01075
They were nice enough to send a demo disk (brain damaged by having only
a few characters included) and it seemed pretty neat, too. They have
different version keyed to several popular first year texts. It would
be MUCH nicer on the Mac, though.
Herman Collins
SYSHERM@UKCC.BITNET
------------------------------
Subject: Stat packages
Date: Sun, 05 Oct 86 18:20:14 -0400
From: mex107@mitre.ARPA
At last January's Mac extravaganza in SF, I saw a demo of a package called
Data Desk. It was very impressive: very MACy interface, seemed complete, the
originator, Paul Velleman (I think) was at the booth and was most enthusiastic.
I haven't needed a stat package, but have made a mental note to follow up on
that if/when I did. Does anyone know more about its status?
Mike Leavitt
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 9:58:49 EDT
From: Steve Vinter <vinter@bbn-clxx.arpa>
Subject: Writing tools for the Mac
Does anyone know of or have any experience with style checkers/writing
enhancers for the Mac? The only one I've heard of is Doug Clapp's Word Tools,
by Aegis, but I've never seen a review of it.
Also, any ideas on how the introduction of the Jonathon is likely to affect
prices for the Mac 512 or Mac+ in the next six months?
Steve Vinter
ARPA: vinter@bbn-clxx.ARPA
UUCP: ... harvard!bbnccv!vinter
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 86 10:52:50 edt
From: ms1g@andrew.cmu.edu (Mark Steven Sherman)
Subject: colored disks
Can someone tell me where to get colored disks? I saw them at MacExpo and
thought I saw a note on info-mac explaining where to get them, but neither
MacWorld, MacUser or the Boston MacExpo vendor guide seem to have any ads
from companies selling them.
------------------------------
End of INFO-MAC Digest
**********************