[comp.sys.mac] MultiFinder Problems

jasst3@cisunx.UUCP (Jeffrey A. Sullivan) (01/13/88)

I just had my first experience working with Multifinder yesterday, and it left
a very bad raste in my mouth.  I was running Word Tools and Macwrite (both
separately, but in each case, Versaterm Pro was in the background).  Both
programs gave me the "x has just exited unexpectedly (2)"  Why does this happen?
I ended up not using MF because I never got anything done!!  The $%^& programs
kept quitting before they finished!  IS this a memory thing? (It was a 1M Mac+)

I also had a wierd problem using background paser printing.  When the program
ran out of space on the system floppy, it said "no more room for output" or 
some such, then it crashed ID=12.  After that, every attempt to reboot with the
system disk resulted in a crash before I could do anything!!

I was, needless to say, not impressed.  Give me back my Amiga... ;-)

-- 
..........................................................................
Jeff Sullivan				University of Pittsburgh
pitt!cisunx!jasst3			Intelligent Systems Studies Program
jasper@PittVMS (BITNET)			Graduate Student

chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (01/13/88)

>I just had my first experience working with Multifinder yesterday, and it left
>a very bad raste in my mouth.  I was running Word Tools and Macwrite (both
>separately, but in each case, Versaterm Pro was in the background).  Both
>programs gave me the "x has just exited unexpectedly (2)"  Why does this happen?
>I ended up not using MF because I never got anything done!!  The $%^& programs
>kept quitting before they finished!  IS this a memory thing? (It was a 1M Mac+)

Definitely. While I've pulled Word Tools off my hard disk because of
problems it seems to have with the new System release, I use Macwrite
without any problems. One megabyte is minimal for a Multifinder setup,
you're lucky to fit more than one application in with it. 

>I also had a wierd problem using background paser printing.  When the program
>ran out of space on the system floppy, it said "no more room for output" or 
>some such, then it crashed ID=12.  After that, every attempt to reboot with the
>system disk resulted in a crash before I could do anything!!

You don't want to use background printing without a hard disk. Period.
Laserwriter files are large. Too large for floppy systems. I make sure I
have at least a megabyte free on my hard disk, or turn off background
printing.

>I was, needless to say, not impressed.  Give me back my Amiga... ;-)

you can have it. With my blessing. I don't knw how I lived without
Multifinder.

chuq
Chuq "Fixed in 4.0" Von Rospach		chuq@sun.COM		Delphi: CHUQ

                       What do you mean 'You don't really want to hurt her?'
                                    I'm a Super-Villain! That's my Schtick!

rs4u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel) (01/13/88)

The"Application has exited unexpectedly (n)" message means that System Error n 
has occurred, and MultiFinder caught it.

It could be that you simply ran out of memory in one of your applications, and 
its error handling wasn't good enough.

In any case, 1MB is not enough to satisfactorily use MultiFinder.

		--Rich

kck@wdl1.UUCP (Karl C. Kelley) (01/15/88)

I concurr with the two previous responses...multifinder is great if you have
enough memory to do it justice, but MOST of the programs you have been using
are not set up to know what to do when they flirt with the edges of memory.
I was "blessed" with a MacII (5MB ram + 40MB HD) at work and I got so spoiled
I upgraded my home system to 2.5 MB.  But even at that, I continue to run into
instances where PowerPoint goes bizarre on me.  The people around here with
smaller configurations have had instances of tearing their hair.

Remind yourself that these are NOT swapping timesharing systems (yet).
We keep asking for more and in large measure are getting it in terms of 
improved interfaces, excellent graphics support, etc....but it does eat up
the ole memory.

dtw@F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (Duane Williams) (01/15/88)

> In any case, 1MB is not enough to satisfactorily use MultiFinder.

This isn't true.  I run MF quite often on my 1MB MacPlus and I almost never
have any problems with it.  And I don't run just one program + the Finder
either.  I run two or three programs + the Finder.

1MB does not leave much memory available for applications on a 1MB Mac, but
some programs don't require lots of memory to be useful.  The Finder, Hearts,
MacDraw, and MacTerminal will each run alright in 160K; so you can load them
all at once and have room to spare.

-Duane