rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) (07/13/87)
Hi.
Just received the Apple Pascal Desktop Toolkit which, according to the
APDA catalog, promised access to double-hires graphics (yea!), windowing
(yea!) and the ability to use the mouse from Pascal (yea! yea!). I thought,
wow, now I don't have to run off and buy that GS and go into debt, and
still get windowing and mice in high-level language-dom.
The demos are really quite nice. I especially like the full-blown toolkit
for double-hires interface. The text is sharp and the windows are great.
I haven't gotten the mousetext version to work, because there is no
system.startup, and I keep getting a uniclear error=2 when I compile
it under my system.
Ah, but there's the rub. I said, "Okay, I'm not really clear yet how
this toolkit stuff works. I'll try the graphics primitives first!"
I tried my own program. It hung. I thought, "Hm. All these command
lines that this program prints say '1.2'. My pascal is '1.3'. Maybe
it only works in 64K (the manual never said anything about this). I
changed my systems disk from 128K to 64K, and still, it hung. Okay,
I say, "I know *nothing* about this stuff. I'll compile the sample
program!"
It didn't work in 128K. It didn't work in 64K. It cleared the screen
and replaced it with garbage. Twice.
So, I changed the SYSTEM.PASCAL and SYSTEM.APPLE on the demo disk
(yes, I backed it up first) and booted it. Fine. Fine. Oops. It
told me the SYSTEM.ATTACH was version 1.2 while the PASCAL and APPLE
were 1.3
So what the hell? Why didn't anybody tell me that it wouldn't work.
I'm really annoyed that there's no reference in the manual. BUT it
says outright "This is only a test/blah/therefore don't expect miracles
from this manual." Fine. It's so outdated it's talking about bringing
out the rev-B motherboards for the //e. But couldn't the catalog say
anything about this? I mean, I have the *latest* version of Apple
Pascal. Do I have to go out and *buy* the 1.3 version of ATTACH?
Had I known this, I could have saved another $6.00 on postage. Carambas.
Anyway, does anyone have any hints on using the toolkit? Does it
work under 1.3 at all, or should I just show the demos and start
devoting all my energies into the ORCA/M I just got? Does it work
under 128K system or 64K system?
Enough said, I think.
Roger Espinosa
ihnp4!ihlpg!rre
BTW- Thanks to everyone who contributed to my requests for GS info,
printer info, and modem info. Thanks.
--
Roger R. Espinosa
Live from the Rabbit Ranch
ihnp4!ihlpg!rre