wen@pro-mercury.cts.COM (Wendell Wyly) (11/22/87)
Is there a way that I can fool Apples Backup II program so that only files posted after a date and time will be backed up by the modified files command? I also have an old Micro-sci A82 (80 track) disk drive that will not work with any versions of prodos later than 1.01. I need a version of Prodos 1.01 that allows illegal names (i.e. those starting with a dot(.) or a numeral to allow backing up a bbs system. Glad to pay for the call to xmodem to bbs (619)697-0261 or postage to 2537 Honey Springs Rd., Jamul, CA 92035. Voice phone is (619)697-7540. If anyone has a driver for the A82 that works with Prodos 1.1.1 or later, please reply or call as that will also solve the illegal name problems. UUCP: [ ihnp4 cbosgd hplabs!hp-sdd sdcsvax nosc ] !crash!pnet01!pro-mercury!wen ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-mercury!wen@nosc.mil INET: wen@pro-mercury.CTS.COM BITNET: wen%pro-mercury.cts.com@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (I hope this works)
TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.ARPA (11/09/88)
tnx to those who gave me suggestions. I found a directory that for some unknown reason had an access field of $FF; reset it to something more reasonable and it looks like it now works (only tried saving that part of the hierarchy; haven't had time to dump the whole 20megs yet.) TMPLee@dockmaster.arpa
ALBRO@NIEHS.BITNET (11/10/88)
On the issue of what's wrong with the Apple IIgs Owner's Guide: First consider the description of the Control Panel as related to the modem port. Two of the settable options are "DCD Handshaking" and "DSR/DTR Handshaking", which can be ON or OFF. If DCD Handshaking is OFF that implies that the SCC should ignore DCD, right? No. What it means is, the SCC will pretend DCD is ON. Logical?? Then if DCD Handshaking is ON, the SCC will pretend DCD is OFF, right? No. It means the SCC will stop pretending. But will it then monitor DCD? No. In fact, the only handshaking signals that can reach the SCC are either DSR (Apple's cable) or CTS (Inmac's IIgs cable.) Even the beginning modem users NEED this info rmation, or else they will not know how to set the dipswitches in their modems (which are NOT "applications", so their manuals will NOT tell how to set up for a IIgs!) Further, new users need to know whether or not to set their modems to look for DTR from the port. Nothing is said about this in the owner's manual. Finally, having defined DSR/DTR in the Control Panel section, the port pinout diagram on p.161 gives no reference to DTR or DSR, and in fact uses non-standard identifiers throughout. Nor does it mention any where that NO application program will be able to talk to the modem port unless there is a high DSR signal from the modem (which the port will pretend is a high DCD signal.) Since my last message criticizing the handling of the control panel/modem port sections of the Guide, I have received a reply to the effect that there is a difference between "Owners Manuals" and "Technical Manuals". Being determined to find out how to set the "DCD Handshaking" option in the Control Panel, I of course went out and bought the "Apple IIgs Technical Reference". There I found out that the DCD Handshaking involves modem port pin 7. That was all the new information. Then I learned from a reply to my earlier message that there are schematics for the SCC in the "Apple IIgs Hardware Reference". Now we have $19.95 + $24.95 = $44.90 for information that I maintain should have come with the computer. And after all that, did any of these manuals point out that modem port pin 7 is not connected to anything in Apple's IIgs modem cable (or Inmac's, or Jameco's for that matter)? Of course not. How do I know it isn't? By tracing the wires. To know that I needed to trace the wires (since there obviously was a discrepancy between the manuals' info and reality) cost $44.90. $44.90 per modem user is a little silly to expect. Why isn't this in the Owner's Manual? My guess is that Apple considers the modem port an accessory to AppleTalk, which doesn't use DCD. My gripe is not that the reference manuals are published separately from the Owner's Guide, but that they are SOLD separately. It took me four months to get the Technical Reference Manual, and another three weeks waiting for the Hardware Reference to come to the dealer. Plus it cost a fortune. I argue that in many cases these "optional" manuals are the only available source of information that even beginning Apple owners badly need. They also contain much info that beginners do NOT need. The former belongs in something shipped with the computer. (Obviously many beginners do not need a Basic programming guide, as they will never program, but one of those is included with the computer.) As a change of pace, I quote one of the informative messages that to me typifies the level of useful information to be found in the Owner's Guide: "Whether you're using mouse-based or keyboard-based applications, you'll use the keyboard to type your documents." I have been informed that 2.5 million Apple users find the Owner's Guide "just fine." What are the odds that not one of the 22 users in the Apple Users Group where I work and the 200 or so in the state and local sections of the Apple Core that I belong to and the dozen or so personal friends of mine who don't belong to users groups but have Apples happens to be among those 2.5 million happy readers? Just lucky, I guess. To avoid false impressions I should point out that I consider Apple way ahead of every other computer maker in the wealth of information they provide about their computers to 3rd party developers, etc. My only gripe is with the information that is NOT provided to those who purchase the computers, in contrast to the "here're 170 pages about what can be done with our computer - sorry we can't tell you how to do it" attitude of the Owner's Guide. This would not be so obvious a deficiency if it weren't for the existance of the "Apple II Reference Manual", which was provided WITH the old II+. Disclaimer: I do not express my employer's opinions. I don't know what they are. I also do not express opinions I am unwilling to have be proven wrong.