lippin@skippy.berkeley.edu (The Apathist) (06/29/88)
I've been playing around with CloseView, that magnifier init/cdev that came with system 6.0. And which I imagine almost everybody has thrown out of their system folders, because it makes a real nuisance of itself when it's not being used. It may be fine for people who use it all the time, but I'd like to use it occasionally, so I don't have to squint at the pixels when I'm doing detailed work. It's not as if an off switch would be a great deal of trouble; I'm sure it would be as easy to do than the warnings that keep reminding you that it's going to turn back on next time you boot. And I'd even settle for less than an off switch. Just let me set the magnification down to 1x. For all I can tell, this would remove all the visible effects of CloseView. And I could still zoom in on things with a few command-option-arrows (at least if I had arrows). --Tom Lippincott ..ucbvax!math!lippin "We'll just beam in, collect the photons, and beam out!" --Chekov
martin@home.csc.ti.com (Steven Martin) (06/29/88)
It seems to me that the activation of CloseView is handled in the
exact opposite of what would be convenient.
CloseView is the kind of utility that you would want to have off most
of the time, but turn it on temporarily when you need it. As it
comes, you are forced to have it on when you boot, then must dig into
the control panel to turn it off. How did something so
counter-intuitive make it into the System Release!
Also, here is a strange trick. Turn CloseView on. Go into the
Control Panel and open the MAP cdev. Now turn CloseView off (with the
keystroke, not the Control Panel). You will notice that you now have
a zoomed in view of the map that stays zoomed as you look around. Is
that documented or just a bizarre (and useful) bug?
Steve Martin USENET: {ctvax,im4u,texsun,rice}!ti-csl!martin
GENIE: S.MARTIN8 PHONE: (214)-995-5919, 404-1061
"When you've got a bug don't fix it. Write another piece of code to
recognize that it's about to happen and head it off." - Marvin Minskydplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) (06/30/88)
In article <52653@ti-csl.CSNET> martin@home.UUCP (Steven Martin) writes: > It seems to me that the activation of CloseView is handled in the > exact opposite of what would be convenient. > > CloseView is the kind of utility that you would want to have off most > of the time, but turn it on temporarily when you need it. As it > comes, you are forced to have it on when you boot, then must dig into > the control panel to turn it off. How did something so > counter-intuitive make it into the System Release! I think perhaps you're missing the point of CloseView. It seems to me that the primary purpose of CloseView (and of its earlier cousin Easy Access) is to make the Mac usable by people who have significant physical impairments of one sort or another. CloseView is designed to come up enabled _because_ people who really need it cannot use the Mac easily (or at all) without it. If one cannot read the Mac screen at its standard 1:1 magnification, then it's _impossible_ to pull down the Control Panel DA, hunt down the CloseView CDEV, and turn it on! Take a look at the CloseView instructions in the System 6.0 manual... they're written in oversized type so that the folks that really need CloseView can see the installation instructions. Nice touch, Apple! If you need occasional magnification of a portion of the screen, I'd suggest using one of the free "magnifying glass" desk accessories that are floating around... they don't work exactly as CloseView does, but they're an "on demand" tool rather than a "by default" aspect of the system. -- Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 493-8805 USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303 UUCP: ...!{ames,sun,uunet}!coherent!dplatt DOMAIN: dplatt@coherent.com INTERNET: coherent!dplatt@ames.arpa, ...@sun.com, ...@uunet.uu.net
jvb@gradserver.cs.duke.edu (Jack V. Briner) (10/10/89)
I am not totally happy with CloseView and was wondering if there were any
other similar programs availbable.
In particular,
I would like to get rid of the box magnifying window edge.
I would like to be able to hold the window constant and be able to move
the cursor in magnified mode.
If I cannot get those features, how about the white on black screen without
the magnifying glass at all.
Jack
jvb@cs.duke.edulong@rainbo.enet.dec.com (Richard Long) (10/11/89)
In article <15737@duke.cs.duke.edu>, jvb@gradserver.cs.duke.edu (Jack V. Briner) writes... >I am not totally happy with CloseView and was wondering if there were any >other similar programs availbable. > >In particular, > I would like to get rid of the box magnifying window edge. > I would like to be able to hold the window constant and be able to move > the cursor in magnified mode. Stepping Out II from Berkeley Systems, available mail-order for ~$50, MIGHT do what you want. It has a magnify mode (and the magnify box can be resized). Try it at a store first, and see if it does what you need. Additionally, it gives you the capability to shrink the screen image (see more at a time); you can type and edit in this mode. Finally, of course, it gives you a large "virtual screen". I like it... > If I cannot get those features, how about the white on black screen without > the magnifying glass at all. There is an INIT that can do this (white on black). I think it's called Reverse Screen. rich ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>| mcntsh::long | "This is me." /~~) /~~ / | long@mcntsh.enet.dec.com | "...guess you wouldn't /~~\ /__ /__ | ...!decwrl!mcntsh.enet.dec.com!long | lie to me about a Richard C. Long | long%mcntsh.dec@decwrl.enet.dec.com | thing like that." -MASH
kscott@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Scott) (10/11/89)
Howdy, Has anybody else thought of going into CloseView and hacking the code? My _guess_ as to the thing that puts up the rectangle (which is what most everybody despises) is a piece of code like: pensize(huge) color(black) framerect(appropriate parameters) why don't we go setting the pensize to zero (or one, if zero really doesn't work). I'll try sometime this week. --keith
gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (10/11/89)
Re: Closeview gripes.
1. Need black-on-white alone feature
2. Need a way to get rid of the annoying bounding box, while still
supporting closeview.
These are exactly the complaints I had two months ago. I wish Apple
would do something to make Closeview generally useful to the entire
population of users, rather than crippling it for handicapped people
only (weird policy -- crippling a tool for handicapped people).
When you think of the cost of distributing this tool with every system
release, I'm really surprised that Apple doesn't maximize the utility
and customer satisfaction that this tool provides, for ALL its
customers. I realize the tool was written by Berkeley System Design,
but that's a lame excuse for doing nothing.
Well, Apple?
Don Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois
1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801
ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu UUCP: {uunet,harvard}!uiucdcs!gilliesallbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery) (10/15/89)
As quoted from <8400183@m.cs.uiuc.edu> by gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu: +--------------- | When you think of the cost of distributing this tool with every system | release, I'm really surprised that Apple doesn't maximize the utility | and customer satisfaction that this tool provides, for ALL its | customers. I realize the tool was written by Berkeley System Design, | but that's a lame excuse for doing nothing. +--------------- It's not a very lame excuse at all when you consider that the "un-crippled" version of the tool is a commercial product yclept Stepping Out II. I don't think Berkeley Systems Design would allow Apple to continue distributing CloseView if Apple decided to turn it into their own version of B.S.D.'s commercial version.... ++Brandon -- Brandon S. Allbery, moderator of comp.sources.misc allbery@NCoast.ORG uunet!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery ncoast!allbery@hal.cwru.edu bsa@telotech.uucp 161-7070 (MCI), ALLBERY (Delphi), B.ALLBERY (GEnie), comp-sources-misc@backbone [comp.sources.misc-related mail should go ONLY to comp-sources-misc@<backbone>] *Third party vote-collection service: send mail to allbery@uunet.uu.net (ONLY)*
t-jlee@microsoft.UUCP (Johnny Lee) (10/16/89)
Are there any ramifications if a person posts a patch to Closeview to make it work in White on Black mode without the bounding box.. I'm no lawyer. Is there anything in the Apple copyright or license agreement which states that you can't disassemble their code? Just wondering (maybe :-)) Johnny Lee t-jlee@microsoft.UUCP ...!uw-beaver!microsoft!t-jlee
ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) (10/19/89)
Most software license agreements say that you won't disassemble the code or reverse engineer the product. For example, here is a section from section 3 of the Microsoft Software License: "You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the SOFTWARE." Since you work at Microsoft, you should be careful about using company equipment to disassemble Apple code, or who knows what lawsuits could result? Microsoft would probably not want to argue in court that such agreements are invalid, after all! Tim Smith ps: of course, I bought MacNosy only to look at my own code. Doesn't everybody? :-)
jnh@ecemwl.ncsu.edu (Joseph N. Hall) (10/19/89)
In article <23175@cup.portal.com> ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) writes: >Most software license agreements say that you won't disassemble the >code or reverse engineer the product. > I have to admit that I've never taken this provision of software licenses very seriously. It's ridiculous from the start since it is ordinarily somewhat more difficult to replicate even a complicated, non-intuitive algorithm by disassembling than by specification and original coding. It's offensive to me as a skilled user, too, since it implies that my only option is to use the program "as is," and that I'm not allowed to correct even minor bugs by patching (unless I can figure out where they are by intuition ...). Naturally most companies (Symantec is a notable exception) don't provide any recourse if the program doesn't work as stated in the documentation. Although I don't support the full range of positions held by the FSF, this is certainly one of the kinds of things that make me want to say "Keep your lawyers off my computer." >ps: of course, I bought MacNosy only to look at my own code. Doesn't >everybody? :-) And I've never used TMON to un-copy-protect a program so I could install it on my hard disk ... :-) v v sssss|| joseph hall || 4116 Brewster Drive v v s s || jnh@ecemwl.ncsu.edu (Internet) || Raleigh, NC 27606 v sss || SP Software/CAD Tool Developer, Mac Hacker and Keyboardist -----------|| Disclaimer: NCSU may not share my views, but is welcome to.