abcscavc@csun.UUCP (aviram carmi) (12/22/87)
Dimmer seemed to work fine the first time I tried it. But, after
I changed from 2 to 256 colors it stopped working. It would show
on the Control Panel, but without the sliding scale and the strings
attached to the buttons. I tried again with either 2 or 256 colors.
Now it does not even show up in the Control Panel. It would still
ShowInit upon startup; sometimes with the X'ed icon, sometimes the
regular icon. When it shows the regular icon, it does work, i.e.
it would dim the screen to the level for which I had set it when it
did show up on the Control Panel the first time. Now it only shows
the X'ed icon, and does not work at all. Since I am new to the Mac,
I do not really know what is going on. Hardware configuration:
MacII, Apple HD40SC, AppleColor Monitor, Ext. Apple Video Card.
Software: System 4.1,Finder 5.5, the only other Init in the system
folder is WatchInit5.0 (makes watch hands spin).
Aviram Carmi {hplabs,ihnp4,psivax,sdcrdcf}!csun!abcscavcedmoy@violet.berkeley.edu (12/23/87)
In article <982@csun.UUCP> abcscavc@csun.UUCP (Aviram Carmi) writes: >Dimmer seemed to work fine the first time I tried it. But, after >I changed from 2 to 256 colors it stopped working. It would show >on the Control Panel, but without the sliding scale and the strings >attached to the buttons. I tried again with either 2 or 256 colors. >Now it does not even show up in the Control Panel. It would still >ShowInit upon startup; sometimes with the X'ed icon, sometimes the >regular icon. When it shows the regular icon, it does work, i.e. >it would dim the screen to the level for which I had set it when it >did show up on the Control Panel the first time. Now it only shows >the X'ed icon, and does not work at all. Yes, I'm having problems with Dimmer also. Without changing the colors, I notice that there is about a 1 in 2 or 3 chance of getting the X'ed icon on bootup. If I access through the Control Panel, it complains about a resource not being found and displays a blank control panel. I now keep a second copy of Dimmer on disk and use it to make a good copy of Dimmer to put in the System Folder should that one fail. It's a bit annoying, but at least it works. Edward Moy Academic Computing Services University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 edmoy@violet.Berkeley.EDU ucbvax!violet!edmoy
steele@thorin.cs.unc.edu (Oliver Steele) (12/23/87)
I think that Dimmer is meant to be commercial someday. In any case, the
version distributed on the net removes a resource (I forget which one; I
think the 'CNFG') at startup, and then the next time it starts up it does
nothing when it can't find the resource. I trust that Mr. Derossi will
release a commercial version or a non-cannabilistic freeware one soon.
Perhaps whoever posted Dimmer could inquire this of him; if he no longer
has commercial plans for the product I will post a simple means of
removing this feature.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oliver Steele ...!{decvax,ihnp4}!mcnc!unc!steele
UNC-CH LING Senior steele%unc@mcnc.org
"Even in this world, of course, it is the stupidest children who are the
most childish and the stupidest grown-ups who are the most grown-up."
-C.S. Lewis, _The Silver Chair_jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) (12/24/87)
In article <982@csun.UUCP> abcscavc@csun.UUCP (Aviram Carmi) writes: >Dimmer seemed to work fine the first time I tried it. But, after That's what happened to me too. Only with me it wouldn't open at all with the control panel. I quickly tracked the problem down to resource that somehow got removed from the file (in fact the cdev code!) at boot time. The following patch should work: search the hex string 6314 and replace it with 6014. Why does this happen? It looks like the code looks at the time and then makes a decision to destroy itself. Maybe this really is a beta version that is not intended to be used after xx.xx.198x, but since it should be public domain while in beta (according to the posting), I guess I have the right to make modifications. It doesn't even have a visible copyright notice... Juri Munkki jmunkki@santra.hut.fi jmunkki@fingate.bitnet lk-jmu@finhut.bitnet
herbw@midas.TEK.COM (Herb Weiner) (12/25/87)
-------- The Dimmer file seems to self destruct... That is, the size (over 10K Bytes) of the downloaded file becomes approximately 6K Bytes, at which point it doesn't work anymore. Could it be a bug trying to update a resource?
abcscavc@csun.UUCP (Aviram Carmi) (12/28/87)
In article <2319@midas.TEK.COM> herbw@midas.UUCP (Herb Weiner) writes: >-------- > >The Dimmer file seems to self destruct... That is, the size (over 10K Bytes) >of the downloaded file becomes approximately 6K Bytes, at which point it >doesn't work anymore. Could it be a bug trying to update a resource? I found out that Dimmer removes its cdev resource. Someone posted a fix, which was to replace 6314 with 6014. I used ResEdit, and found 6314 in the resource Init main at the bottom of the second page in the right column. I just replaced the 3 with a 0 and saved the file (I did it for an original copy of the program which included the cdev resource). Now Dimmer seems to work fine and it does not remove its cdev resource any more. I hope this helps. --- Aviram Carmi {hplabs,ihnp4,psivax,sdcrdcf}!csun!abcscavc
cderossi@apple.UUCP (Chris Derossi) (01/01/88)
Recently the Mac II screen dimmer "Dimmer" was posted to the net, and the poster claimed that it was a public-domain beta version of a soon- to-be commercial product. That isn't entirely true. I am the author of Dimmer, and here's the scoop: The version posted to the net was 1.0b4. I am up to 1.0b9. The Beta-4 version expired on 1 Nov 87 because it had known (nasty) bugs. So when it stops working after a few reboots, that's why. Dimmer was never public domain. But since the posted version did not come with the info file, I can understand that people would think it was PD. (After all, I'm not finished yet and the copyright notice isn't visible [but it is there].) I don't care if you use the 1.0b4 version, and the posted fix from jmunkki@santra.UUCP (Juri Munkki) will work. (Search for the hex value 6314 and change it to 6014.) However, please keep in mind the following things: That version has bugs. All of the ones that I know of have been fixed. I would, though, appreciate bug reports. 1.0b4 may lock up your machine (thereby preventing you from saving any work), but it won't destroy any volumes. Dimmer has been vastly improved. Many features and changes have gone into it since the 1.0b4 version. Dimmer is NOT public domain, and it will be purchaseable soon. I am finishing the details now. Because of this, I cannot release another beta version to the public. Thank you. Chris Derossi