INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA (Moderator Lance Y. Nakata) (05/18/86)
INFO-MAC Digest Sunday, 18 May 1986 Volume 4 : Issue 72
Today's Topics:
re: problems with sequencer
INIT mechanism on Mac+
Canonicalizing file names
Weird screen problems.
StartupDesk Resource-- won't work on HyperDrive??
"Phone - Net" experience?
Bug copying files with Mac Plus
Compiled MS-Basic for the Mac -- Is it likely?
Mailing list software
Dungeon of Doom 3.0
Structured Analysis/Design Tools for the Mac
News about Macintosh TeX
ANNOUNCING THE SMUG BBS
Darin Adler's ReverseScreen-1.0b1.pit.Hqx follows
Wish list
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 09:58:07 PDT
From: <DAVEG%SLACVM.BITNET@Lindy>
Reply-to: DAVEG%SLACVM.BITNET@SU-Forsythe.ARPA
Subject: re: problems with sequencer
Date: 15 May 86 09:54-PST
From: DAVEG@SLACVM
To: INFO-MAC@SUMEX-AIM
Subject: re: problems with sequencer
Date: 15 May 1986, 09:53:25 PST
From: David M. Gelphman 415-854-3300 x2538 DAVEG at SLACVM
To: INFO-MAC at SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD
Subject: re: problems with sequencer
I also had the problem where sequencer would not run as the startup
application but otherwise worked ok. When I put it in the system folder
everything worked OK!! I suspect this is a bug with the system, not
sequencer but I haven't really investigated it.
David Gelphman BITNET address: DAVEG@SLACVM
Bin #88 SLAC ARPANET address: DAVEG@SLACVM.BITNET
Stanford, Calif. 94305 UUCP address: ...psuvax1!daveg%slacvm.bitnet
415-854-3300 x2538
usual disclaimer #432 applies: my employer apologies for the fact
that I have access to this net.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 10:11:47 PDT
From: <DAVEG%SLACVM.BITNET@Lindy>
Reply-to: DAVEG%SLACVM.BITNET@SU-Forsythe.ARPA
Subject: INIT mechanism on Mac+
Date: 15 May 86 10:04-PST
From: DAVEG@SLACVM
To: INFO-MAC@SUMEX-AIM
Subject: INIT mechanism on Mac+
Date: 15 May 1986, 09:59:15 PST
From: David M. Gelphman 415-854-3300 x2538 DAVEG at SLACVM
To: INFO-MAC at SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD
Subject: INIT mechanism on Mac+
For those with a MacPlus you can avoid having to install INITS into
the system file. Technical Note #57 says on page 18 that:
"When the system starts up, it looks for files with types INIT
and RDEV in the system folder. If it finds any, it looks in those files
resources of type INIT. If it finds any of those, it executes them."
I found this handy since I don't really like installing INITs in my
system file (hate mucking with it and having to fixup everything after
a new version of the system shows up). In this case I merely used the
resource editor to create a new file with just the INIT resource of
interest in it. I then used the GET INFO part of RESEDIT (v1.0d7)
to set the type and creator. Once you are done, put the resulting
file into the system folder and the init will be run upon startup. If
you want to stop that init from being installed, merely remove the
file from the system folder and hide it in another folder. I think
this is preferable to modifying the system file itself.
David Gelphman BITNET address: DAVEG@SLACVM
Bin #88 SLAC ARPANET address: DAVEG@SLACVM.BITNET
Stanford, Calif. 94305 UUCP address: ...psuvax1!daveg%slacvm.bitnet
415-854-3300 x2538
usual disclaimer #432 applies: my employer apologies for the fact
that I have access to this net.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 12:50 CDT
From: <BOYD%TAMLSR.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> (Scott T. Boyd)
Subject:
From: STAR::JAKANE9213 "John Arthur Kane - Texas A&M Micro Center"
14-MAY-1986 23:13
Subj: Mac Plus Bug
> I am relaying yet another Mac Plus feature found by one of our graduate
> students, Richard Thomas. It seems that if you have a Mac Plus and either a
> Mac Plus or a Mac 512K keyboard, if you press cmd-shift-enter, you do not get
> what you expect, but you get the equivalent of cmd-shift-3. This problem
> surfaced while using Microsoft File, but its effect has been throughout all of
> the software that we have tested.
>
> This problem will also occur on a Mac 512K that is upgraded to a Mac Plus,
> have not tried it on a Mac 512K Enhanced yet.
>
> We were running System 5.2, Finder 3.1.1.
>
> Has anyone had any similar problems? I will post Apple's reply to this when it
> becomes available to me.
Answer's just back from Apple. The problem will be fixed in the next release
of the System. No indication if they have heard of it before or not.
Oh Well.
bcnu
:-)
------------------------------
Date: Thu 15 May 86 03:40:11-EDT
From: GZ%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU
Subject: Canonicalizing file names
Is it possible to get the name of a file as it appears in the directory
entry, short of walking B-trees by hand or whatever? _GetFileInfo and
_GetCatInfo never seem to modify the strings I give them. I want to
get the proper capitalization of the name (i.e. if the directory entry
says "Foo Bar" and the user types "foo bar" to my program, I want to
come back with "Foo Bar").
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 02:18:07 PDT
From: csanders@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Craig S. Anderson)
Subject: Weird screen problems.
I recently replaced my 128K Mac with a Mac Plus. The extra memory
is great. However, the Mac+ has the same screen problem that the
128K Mac did. The problem is that when the screen is almost all white
I can see several horizontal bands on the screen
that start at the top of the screen and move down to the bottom of the
screen in about a second or so. The bands then appear again at the top of
the screen. The bands make the screen appear lighter (or whiter)
as it travels down the screen, which can be very disconcerting at
times. This effect is especially noticeable when I use a terminal
emulator. Has anyone else had this problem? Is it unusual?
Craig Anderson
csanders@ernie.Berkeley.EDU
csanders@ernie.berkely.arpa
------------------------------
From: John T Kohl <jtkohl@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 10:50:21 EDT
Subject: StartupDesk Resource-- won't work on HyperDrive??
Reply-to: John T. Kohl <jtkohl@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
I have tried repeatedly to get StartupDesk to work on my HyperDrive 20,
but it consistently either bombs or comes up with a bomb-shaped box and
puts the exchange-disks icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
It works just fine if I install it on a standard floppy without the
HyperDrive drivers.
Any ideas?
John Kohl
jtkohl@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
...!mit-eddie!jtkohl
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 20:22:55 pdt
From: Bernard Aboba <bernard@ararat>
Subject: "Phone - Net" experience?
Has anyone out there ever done an AppleTalk installation utilizing
BMUG-net, or "Phone-Net", which means using modular telephone
plugs and wires? Any hints? I hear that it's basically more reliable,
and can cover a longer distance than AppleTalk cable, and is cheaper
to boot.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 May 86 07:51:45 edt
From: kalagher@mitre.ARPA (Richard Kalagher)
Subject: Bug copying files with Mac Plus
I have a consistent problem when copying files from a 400K disk to and 800K
disk on a single drive Mac Plus. The problem occurs when trying to
copy all the files at once from a disk containing 50-80 files in several
different folders. I get a message for 2 or 3 of the files saying
"couldn't write file 'foobar'". If I copy the files in smaller
chunks, everything is OK or if I go back and copy the files that couldn't
be written, it works OK. Does anyone know what the "couldn't write" alert
means? In addition, when the alert comes up you have the choice of
"continue" or "cancel". The one time I clicked "cancel", the machine hung
up and I had to reboot. The above occurrs with System 3.1.1 and Finder 5.2.
------------------------------
Date: Fri 16 May 86 08:57:21-PDT
From: Tony Siegman <SIEGMAN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: Compiled MS-Basic for the Mac -- Is it likely?
I have to make a decision on which language to use for a series of programs
to be used in an engineering course (nothing fancy programming-wise, but
want to use Mac screen displays, and some moderate speed). Prime candidates
at minute are MS-Basic or MS-Fortran (sorry, NOT Pascal). Can anyone express
any knowledgeable opinion as to whether a compiled version of MS-Basic for
the Mac is likely to be brought out in the next year or two -- or how one
might best find this out from Microsoft?
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 May 86 15:25:46 PDT
From: Wayne_Carr%SFU.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Mailing list software
Can anyone out there help? I'm looking for software for the MAC
to store mailing lists and print labels as sorted by various criteria.
If you have one, could you send it to me via the network to Simon Fraser
University? Thanks in advance.
Wayne Carr
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 May 86 17:15:55 edt
From: cperry@mitre.ARPA (Chris Perry)
Subject: Dungeon of Doom 3.0
DD 3.0 definitely beats 2.0 in presentation, action, etc.; however,
it does not terminate execution gracefully. When I quit ver. 3.0,
I get an ID=26 bomb on my 512K MFS machine. Has anybody else experienced
this problem?
Chris
[FROM THE MODERATOR: DoD 3.0 will bomb with ID=26 if you do not put a
finder on the disk (I know; it happened to me!). The short documentation
included in one game menu says to put a finder and small system file on
the disk with the program. Space shouldn't be a problem for those fortunate
enough to have 800k disk capacity, but we don't all enjoy that luxury!
- Lance ]15-May-86 08:47:25-PDT,1737;000000000001
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 08:45:44 PDT
From: sml@Ford-wdl1.ARPA (Steve Lazarus)
Subject: Structured Analysis/Design Tools for the Mac
There have been several recent request regarding Structured Analysis/Design
tools for the Mac. I've not used anything firsthand, but here's what I know
about.
1. Structure Chart
Excel Software
P.O. Box 141
Marshalltown, IA 50158
(515) 753-0889
This appears to do structure charts as per Yourdon. List is $449, its
is available for $299 through July 31, and a demo copy is available
for $19 + $5 shipping.
2. ANATOOL (Analysis Toolkit)
Abvent
9903 Santa Monica Blvd
Suite 278
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(213) 659-5157
These folks had a booth at the San Francisco MacExpo. I don't know if
they have a released product yet. This package does dataflow
diagrams, data dictionaries, and mini-specs.
3. Deft
My files are letting me down one this on. Maybe someone out
there can fill in the blanks. This was a Canadian firm that exhibited
at the New Orleans DEXPO (May 1985). They had their front end running
on VMS (UNIX planned later) driving the interface on the Mac. I've
heard nothing since then so I don't know if they are still there are
not.
Steve Lazarus (415) 852-4203
Ford Aerospace ...{fortune,sun}!wdl1!sml (UUCP)
MS X-20 sml@ford-wdl1 (ARPA)
3939 Fabian Way
Palo Alto, CA 94303
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 21:14:22 EDT
From: Richard Furuta <furuta@mimsy.umd.edu>
Subject: News about Macintosh TeX
I've just received an announcement of the Macintosh version of the TeX
formatting package. It's available now in prerelease form ($495 from
Addison-Wesley/contact Brenda Cavallaro at (617) 944-6795---price includes
version 1.0 update when released).
The package corresponds to TeX version 2.0. The package requires a 512K Mac
or larger with at least 800 Kbytes of disk. It supports the PostScript
printers and the ImageWriter (I and II). They use the new TeX Computer
Modern fonts and also say they support the PostScript printers' built-in
Helvetica and Times fonts.
They include a built-in editor that handles multiple document windows and
handles very large documents quickly (multiple megabyte files with quick
relocation within the file---they quote a one second time to move from point
to point in a 1 megabyte file using an Apple HD20 hard disk). They also
provide a built-in previewer.
LaTeX is not yet included. An enhancement promised for the first released
version is the ability to paste in pictures from MacPaint and
MacDraw---that's not in the prerelease yet.
The stated timings seem to be very good---10 to 20 seconds per page for TeX
processing and 2 to 4 seconds to display a new typeset page. They don't say
how long it takes to print a page on the Imagewriter. These timings compare
very favorably with the IBM PC versions. The XT TeX's took about two times
as long to process a page. The AT versions took about half the time per
page.
Since I'm sending this note to some lists that I do not moderate, let me
state that I have no commercial interest in this product or in the firm that
created it (Barry Smith of Kellerman and Smith in Portland, OR). I have
known the author of the port for a number of years and we both serve on the
steering committee for the TeX Users Group.
--Rick
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 May 86 20:27:13 pdt
From: Bernard Aboba <bernard@ararat>
Subject: ANNOUNCING THE SMUG BBS
Yet again, for those of you who do not yet know, the Stanford Macintosh
Users Group has finally brought up their Bulletin Board System.
Phone number is (415) 853-3056, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
60 minutes per hour, 60 seconds per minute....
Aside from the usual stimulating conversation, the calendar of
SMUG events is available, E-Mail, etc., your basic Mouse Exchange
BBS, which even non-members can log into.
Call the SMUG hotline at (415) 725-0152 and leave a message for
more info.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 17 May 86 15:37:52 cdt
From: werner@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU (Werner Uhrig)
Subject: Darin Adler's ReverseScreen-1.0b1.pit.Hqx follows
this is Darin Adler's last contribution before leaving town for the summer.
He wrote the program to help a vision-impaired friend for whom it is easier
to work with a white-on-black screen.
The article includes a documentation file, and is packed with PackIt-II and
hexed with BinHex4.
[Archived as [SUMEX-AIM]<INFO-MAC>REVERSE-SCREEN-10B1.HQX.
- Lance ]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 17 May 86 00:02:26 PDT
From: woody@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (William E. Woody)
Subject: Wish list
After spending an entire afternoon trying to figure out why a program of
mine (hack together in C; it reads the directories off of floppy disks
and prints the list on the printer), and finding the mistake (by _painfully_
porting the *entire* source for the macintosh library, the header files,
and my program to a local frendly Unix Vax, and writing shell scripts to
(a) convert #include<...> into #include"..." (b) removing all asm{...}
constructs in the macintosh syslib library [This is Megamax C, by the way]
and (c) make a lint library out of the (large) number of source files for
the Megamax C library), I desided something then and there:
I WANT LINT FOR THE MACINTOSH!
I WANT LINT FOR THE MACINTOSH!
I WANT LINT FOR THE MACINTOSH!
I will personally be willing to pay $$$ (and me a starving student, too!)
to the first person/group/company with a LINT for the Macintosh! (After all,
the big blue PC in the corner has several companies with LINT; shucks, a
port of an existing LINT to the macintosh can't be _that_ bad. Shoot, I'd
even help...)
- William Woody
NET Woody%Romeo@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu
USNAIL 1-54 Lloyd, Caltech / Pasadena, CA 91126
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End of INFO-MAC Digest
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