brion@hounx.UUCP (B.FEINBERG) (09/30/87)
Hi everyone, This is my first posting to comp.sys.mac, but I think I finally have something useful to share. Apparently many people use the Smart Alarms desk accessory from Imagine Software. However, it has one glaring fault which makes it almost useless in many environments. When an alarm goes off, the Macintosh beeps and shows a display indicating the purpose of the alarm. That is fine. But if you aren't around to turn off the alarm, it continues to beep, at the maximum volume setting of the mac, about once every minute. This can drive anyone near the machine batty. I called Imagine and complained about this "feature," but alas, the software was developed in Australia and they offered little hope of changing the feature (in fact, they suggested plugging a phone-jack into the machine to turn off the speaker completely, but that isn't what I wanted). I really wanted all the functionality of the alarms, but I only wanted them to beep the first time the alarm came up. So, based on the conviction that anything is possible given enough perseverance, I pulled out a copy of Macsbug and traced through the code in Smart Alarms. The result is the following patch which modifies the behavior of Smart Alarms as desired. Everything works as before, except the alarm only beeps the first time it comes up. It then remains on the screen, but silently. Apply the patch to the Smart Alarms Installer program and then reinstall Smart Alarms. Please note that this patch is designed to modify version 2.5US of Smart Alarms that works with Tempo and MS Works. The first version I received crashed if Tempo was active, but Imagine software sent me the upgrade for free. Probably the patch will work with the earlier version, but I make no promises. Here is the patch old: 08f0 4eba feec 3f2e new: 08f0 4e71 4e71 3f2e For any fellow amateurs who want to know what this does - 4eba feec is a jump to subroutine call which jumps to the routine that causes the beeps. The patch simply replaces the subroutine call with a few NOPs (no operations). Incidently, with the above patch, I HIGHLY recommend Smart Alarms if you use a Mac continuously like I do. Brion Brion Feinberg uucp: ihnp4!hounx!brion arpa: "ihnp4!hounx!brion"@decwrl.dec.com Disclaimer: This posting has nothing to do with my employmer and is provided as an informational service only. I have not investigated whether or not modifying the Smart Alarms code violates any licensing agreements.
sce@runx.ips.oz (Simon Evans) (10/10/87)
Recently Brion Feinberg posted a patch to Smart Alarms that stopped its "incessant beeping". I thought I'd point out a couple of things that make this unnecessary (BTW Smart Alarms was developed in Australia, here at JAM Software and is sold in USA by Imagine Software) 1. Smart Alarms will not put up a reminder if the screen is dimmed by a screen saver. 2. Smart Alarms will not put up a reminder if a dialog is the current front window. Both these suggest methods of preventing incessant beeping if you are not in front of your Mac - if you know that you will not be at your mac for some time, put up a dialog (eg a FKEY, or a DA that uses a dialog) before leaving the mac. Alternatively, install a screen saver that automatically darkens the screen and then you son't even need to remember to do something actively to prevent the incessant beeping. In either case, as soon as the screen saver or dialog is dismissed, the alarm will appear. Note that the screen saver that installs itself as MacsBug and uses the alternate screen will probably not work for this, as SA just checks if an area of the menubar on the screen is dimmed - not the alternate screen. I hope this helps. Any queries or complaints about JAM Software or Smart Alarms may be posted to me here if you can't get an answer in the USA. Simon Evans. Simon Evans ISD: +61 2 953-7031 or +61 2 799-1888 JAM Software Pty Ltd STD: (02) 953-7031 or (02) 799-1888 27A Nowranie Street ACS: sce@runx.ips.oz Summer Hill NSW 2130 UUCP: seismo!munnari!runx.ips.oz!sce AUSTRALIA ARPA: munnari!runx.ips.oz!sce@SEISMO Disclaimer: I work for JAM, I don't make any money from Smart Alarms.
straka@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Straka) (10/12/87)
In article <1152@runx.ips.oz> sce@runx.ips.oz (Simon Evans) writes: | |Recently Brion Feinberg posted a patch to Smart Alarms that stopped |its "incessant beeping". I thought I'd point out a couple of things |that make this unnecessary (BTW Smart Alarms was developed in Australia, ... |Both these suggest methods of preventing incessant beeping if you |are not in front of your Mac - if you know that you will not |be at your mac for some time, put up a dialog (eg a FKEY, or a DA |that uses a dialog) before leaving the mac. Alternatively, install |a screen saver that automatically darkens the screen and then you |son't even need to remember to do something actively to prevent the incessant ... |Note that the screen saver that installs itself as MacsBug and uses the |alternate screen will probably not work for this, as SA just checks if |an area of the menubar on the screen is dimmed - not the alternate screen. FLAME ON!: All of the above suggestions are workarounds! You mean I have to explicitly tell SA to not bother me with its "incessant beepings". That makes it less than worthless. And as far as I'm concerned, Autoblack is the only way to go as far as current screen blankers go! (I don't know about "Pyro!") It's pretty obvious why the above workarounds don't work with Autoblack, they're workarounds. Why can't we have software that works right in the first place? FLAME OFF!: Sorry about that, but I found the workarounds mentioned above insult my intelligence as a Mac user. The original poster seems to have the right idea. -- Rich Straka ihnp4!ihlpf!straka Advice for the day: "MSDOS - just say no."
lriggins@afit-ab.arpa (L. Maurice Riggins) (10/12/87)
In article <1152@runx.ips.oz> sce@runx.ips.oz (Simon Evans) writes: > >Recently Brion Feinberg posted a patch to Smart Alarms that stopped >its "incessant beeping". I thought I'd point out a couple of things >that make this unnecessary (BTW Smart Alarms was developed in Australia, >here at JAM Software and is sold in USA by Imagine Software) > 1. Smart Alarms will not put up a reminder if the screen > is dimmed by a screen saver. WrongO! Smart Alarms will continue to beep incessantly through the provided SleepDA. (The SpaceWarp F-key blanker does keep it quite) > 2. Smart Alarms will not put up a reminder if a dialog is > the current front window. >Both these suggest methods of preventing incessant beeping if you >are not in front of your Mac - if you know that you will not >be at your mac for some time, put up a dialog (eg a FKEY, or a DA >that uses a dialog) before leaving the mac. Alternatively, install >a screen saver that automatically darkens the screen and then you >son't even need to remember to do something actively to prevent the incessant >beeping. >In either case, as soon as the screen saver or dialog is dismissed, the alarm >will appear. Wrong Again! ... at least for the provided SleepDA. After you get tired enough of listening to Smart Alarms trash your speakers voice coil at full volume (it seems to randomly use full volume on alarms after the first regardless of the control panel setting) you click the mouse to deactivate Sleep ... No Smart Alarms reminder! Not until the clock reaches the next even minute or whatever it's waiting for. You do have to wait for the next cycle of reminder to be able to handle it. (Again, SpaceWarp blanker does keep Smart Alarms totally silent AND when you deactivate it any alarms which are pending are visible immediately) > >Note that the screen saver that installs itself as MacsBug and uses the >alternate screen will probably not work for this, as SA just checks if >an area of the menubar on the screen is dimmed - not the alternate screen. > >I hope this helps. Any queries or complaints about JAM Software or Smart Alarms >may be posted to me here if you can't get an answer in the USA. > > Simon Evans. > >Simon Evans ISD: +61 2 953-7031 or +61 2 799-1888 >JAM Software Pty Ltd STD: (02) 953-7031 or (02) 799-1888 >27A Nowranie Street ACS: sce@runx.ips.oz >Summer Hill NSW 2130 UUCP: seismo!munnari!runx.ips.oz!sce >AUSTRALIA ARPA: munnari!runx.ips.oz!sce@SEISMO >Disclaimer: I work for JAM, I don't make any money from Smart Alarms. Ah Ha! you say. Sleep DA is the problem! And it's distributed by Imagine...not JAM (I'll bet). Maybe, but my recently out-of-warranty SE now has a blown speaker that buzzes with any sound. I've never had the volume setting above 2. Brian Feinberg's cure of completely silencing any alarms after the first may not be ideal, but it addresses the problem with Smart Alarms itself, the volume level. Yes, most of us dedicated Smart Alarms users do find another screen blanker that shuts Smart Alarms up completely, but there are times when you do want the Alarm to beep through the blanker, but NOT at full volume. Sleep DA is useful for this. Your reply didn't address the problem and perhaps made a few folks wonder why they should "pay" for user-supported software...not even a "Gee, we'll look at that". Com'on, Smart Alarms is great! Brian's patch made it better. You could make it better yet! How? Fix the volume level problem and add or recommend SpaceWarp F-key or some other blanker which shuts Smart Alarms up like you said in your article. -- Maurice lriggins@afit-ab.ARPA
chow@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Christopher Chow) (10/13/87)
In article <2475@ihlpf.ATT.COM> straka@ihlpf.UUCP (55223-Straka,R.J.) writes: In article <1152@runx.ips.oz> sce@runx.ips.oz (Simon Evans) writes: | |Recently Brion Feinberg posted a patch to Smart Alarms that stopped |its "incessant beeping". I thought I'd point out a couple of things |that make this unnecessary (BTW Smart Alarms was developed in Australia, ... |Both these suggest methods of preventing incessant beeping if you |are not in front of your Mac - if you know that you will not |be at your mac for some time, put up a dialog (eg a FKEY, or a DA |that uses a dialog) before leaving the mac. Alternatively, install |a screen saver that automatically darkens the screen and then you |son't even need to remember to do something actively to prevent the incessant ... >FLAME ON!: > >All of the above suggestions are workarounds! You mean I have to explicitly >tell SA to not bother me with its "incessant beepings". That makes it less >than worthless. ... I agree totally. While Smart Alarms is a very useful program, I see no reason why it should be obnoxious regarding its beeping. To have to explicitly tell SA not to bother people w/ beepings really is worthless. Parallel case in point: Stars is really nice to look at, but I don't use it as a screen saver because I never know when I might have to leave my Mac for a "moment." Often these moments have a way of turning into long periods... Another point, darkening the screen does not guarentee that SA won't keep on beeping. I use Pyro and SA beeps right through it. Luckily, I run Cheap Beep so the volume isn't too loud. BTW, I think the correct behavior for SA is to beep through a screen saver -- that way if the screen is dimmed because you've been idle you won't miss an appointment. However, the volume set on the control panel should be obeyed *** at all times ***. Christopher Chow /---------------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Internet: chow@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (128.84.248.35 or 128.84.253.35) | | Usenet: ...{uw-beaver|ihnp4|decvax|vax135}!cornell!batcomputer!chow | | Bitnet: chow@crnlthry.bitnet | | Phone: 1-607-253-6699, USPS: 7122 N. Campus 7, Ithaca, NY 14853 | | Delphi: chow2 PAN: chow | \---------------------------------------------------------------------------/