matt@ingr.com (Matt Blemenfeld) (01/17/89)
All RIGHT!!! Got a new toy! A Mac II with all sorts of memory, hard disk,
all that kinda thing..... and NO software! (OK, I lied.... it DOES have a
little software, but *none* of the stuff you REALLY need... like term
programs, and cool little DA's like... uh... don't KNOW like what! ;-) )
Right now, we have a program called MacKermit, which we can use to talk
to the VAXen in our building, as well as TALKing to the world outside.
I guess that what I'm trying to do is find out what the best/easiest
shareware (or pd) term program for the MAC II is. Any assistance would be
greatly appreciated!
On a related note: I notice that the binaries here all require a program
called 'binhex' to convert them from message to binary format. Where can
binhex be obtained? As is probably clear, we are pretty much novices at this
MAC II stuff, and need all the help we can get! Thanks.......
--
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
>matt< %#% b11!dedhed!matt@ingr.com %#% What would *I* do
%#% uunet!ingr!b11!dedhed!matt %#% with a signature?
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\erc@pai.UUCP (Eric Johnson) (01/18/89)
I thought this would be of general interest, so I am posting instead of mailing directly to Matt. In article <3540@ingr.com>, matt@ingr.com (Matt Blemenfeld) writes: > All RIGHT!!! Got a new toy! A Mac II with all sorts of memory, hard disk, > all that kinda thing..... and NO software! (OK, I lied.... it DOES have a > little software, but *none* of the stuff you REALLY need... like term > programs, and cool little DA's like... uh... don't KNOW like what! ;-) ) > > Right now, we have a program called MacKermit, which we can use to talk > to the VAXen in our building, as well as TALKing to the world outside. > I guess that what I'm trying to do is find out what the best/easiest > shareware (or pd) term program for the MAC II is. Any assistance would be > greatly appreciated! It all depends on what you want to do with your Mac. There is a large body of macintosh freely-redistributable software (Public Domain, Freeware, Shareware, et. al.). Some good places to start looking for software include any local Mac user groups (these are all over the place as Apple apparently provides some measure of support for user groups), national user groups (such as the Berkeley BMUG or the Boston Computer Society), freely- redistributable software vendors (those $4 a disk folks who make their money distributing this software), and, of course, here on the net (take a look a comp.binaries.mac). The very first thing you need for grabbing binaries from comp.binaries.mac is a version of BinHex 4.0 (this is NOT 5.0) and Stuffit (1.5.1 is the latest version I have seen). BinHex converts a binary file to ASCII-printable characters and makes files suitable for mailing with most electronic mail systems. The files in comp.binaries.mac are encoded in this manner. BinHex also decodes those files to create Mac binaries from the encoded text. Stuffit is a file archiver/compressor program. To cut down on transmission times and disk space usage, many programs are compressed using Stuffit. An older, competing standard for file compression is the PackIt format, named for the program PackIt. Stuffit can uncompress PackIt files (which usually have a .pit appended to the file name -- Stuffit files usually have a .sit appended to the file name). Stuffit can also decode BinHex files. So, Stuffit is essential for grabbing more Mac software. On file compressors, the standard in the PC world is called ARC. There is a Mac version, called MacArc. If you want to grab PC files (I find a lot of source files in PC ARC format and usually de-ARC them on the PC end, but this is not always on option). Other software you may want to pick up include: Application programs * ViewPaint A program that displays MacPaint image files. * FreeTerm A bare-bones communication program that supports XModem file transfers. I use it only when I need XModem, and use Kermit otherwise. * RedRyder A be-all, end-all terminal emulator. Versions 9.x are shareware and 10.x are commercial. Some swear by this program. Others swear at it. * Solve An equation solver. Type in the equations, compile them and see the results. It allows you to feed it initial values for some variables and solves for the rest. Fun if you do a lot of Math. * Giffer A program to view colour GIF image files on the Mac II (if you have a colour monitor). GIF is an image format sponsored by CompuServe, and GIF viewers are available for Apple IIGS, Amiga, ST, PC, et. al. * Gif Converter A program by the same author to view GIF files on B+W Macs (like my SE). * ResEdit A resource editor from Apple. The Mac uses resources for a lot of things, including menus, icons and windows. ResEdit is a handy tool, but dangerous unless you know what you are doing. Contact the Apple Prog. and Dev. Assn. (APDA) for more info. * VirusRx A virus fighter released by Apple (a recent version just came by in comp.binaries.mac). Viruses are little self-propagting nasties that computer dweebs, who, if they are smart should be able to come up with useful programs instead of viruses, foist upon the world. * Interferon Another virus fighter. * XLISP A version of the LISP AI language that is available for many different machines, including PCs, Unix boxes, and Amigas. If you ever take an AI course, get it. Desk Assesories * Virus Detective Viruses are no fun, as you can tell. * SigmaEdit * McSink * JoliWrite * miniWRITER * MockWrite These are all forms of text editors. I believe editor choice is a religious issue, so try a few and choose the one you like. I find that being able to view text files is a real handy thing to do. Although most word processors can read in text, sometimes a simple text editor cannot be beat. If you find a Unix vi-style text editor, please tell me, as I haven't been able to find one. I hate vi, but it is the only editor that is available on a multitude of systems. * ResReview * RezPeek I may have these names wrong, but if you plan on writing code on the Mac, these can come in handy. ResReview displays resources, such as icons. RezPeek de-compiles these resources to the text commands used to create the resources. Your compiler should come with a program to convert the text commands back into resources used with your program. INITS and CDEVS * Fish This is the cutest thing I have seen for Mac II colour systems. It displays randomly moving fish in the background of your screen (behind windows, etc.). It even comes with a fish editor, to create your own coloured fish. When I first saw Fish, I decided that I have to get a Mac II (if only Apple would lower the price a wee bit :-(. * Vaccine Partial protection from some known viruses. * hierDA This INIT makes the Apple menu into a hierarchical menu. This means you can call up most DAs and choose a DA menu choice all in one operation. * Application Menu If you have enough RAm, and are running MultiFinder, This allows you to pull down a menu in the top right of the screen -- a menu that contains the name of all active applications. This makes it easier than selecting the Apple menu and going all the way to the bottom to change to a particular application. * Dimmer A MacII screen saver. Also, by all means get a program that can read MacWrite files. Most sharware programs that come with documentation put that documentation into MacWrite files. (This is for historical reasons as the original mac came bundled with MacWrite. Now, most word processors read MacWrite files). > > On a related note: I notice that the binaries here all require a program > called 'binhex' to convert them from message to binary format. Where can > binhex be obtained? As is probably clear, we are pretty much novices at this > MAC II stuff, and need all the help we can get! Thanks....... I Hope this helps, -Eric > /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ > >matt< %#% b11!dedhed!matt@ingr.com %#% What would *I* do > %#% uunet!ingr!b11!dedhed!matt %#% with a signature? > /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ -- Eric F. Johnson | Phone +1 612-894-0313 | Are we Prime Automation,Inc | UUCP: bungia!pai!erc | having 12201 Wood Lake Drive | UUCP: sun!tundra!pai!erc | fun Burnsville, MN 55337 USA | DOMAIN: erc@pai.mn.org | yet?