jam@philabs.philips.com (John A. Murphy) (03/24/90)
Well we got our copy of desk set which includes open look version of several tools including binder - used for binding icons to files under filemgr mailtool - very similar to old version, but old version seems easier to use calctool - same as found on SUG tapes mp - postscript pretty printer sunview - open look version complete with pin up menus clock - also with digital mode perfmeter - allows remote observation cm - decent calendar program printtool - untested cmdtool - open look version tapetool - untested shelltool - open look version textedit - untested, never used the old version either filemgr - turn you sun into a mac, mac like interface for filesystem, not bad snapshot - good for taking pictures of various parts of your screen iconedit - a little better than current, I believe you can create various sized icons BUGS/GRIPES: These may have something to do with our version or installation so I would appreciate confirmation of these if others experience the same. File manager : print filter - tries to print 3 times each time adding the filter path to the invocation : when specifying an alternate editor to textedit you have to specify shelltool first as it shelltool vi. If you only specify vi it will start a vi process that will run silently in the background. We are also getting inconsistent setups regarding number of rows in the shelltool : it seems impossible to bind shell's to the shell icon and/or I'm having a heck of a time trying to get it to bind to certain types of files via their magic numbers (ie 68020). Printtool : core dumps Mailtool : The you have new unread mail icon goes back to the no mail icon after 30 seconds Perfmeter : It is almost impossible to quit the perfmeter without iconifying first Clock : Comes up in icon mode regardless of -Wi option supplied or not Cmdtool : still doesn't allow file completion Calctool : Function keys are on same button as numbers, as if they need a shift key to activate them, but this is misleading. Why aren't the numbers grouped together? As a matter of fact the number buttons are smaller than the function buttons. If they layout is kept, why isn't it made so you have to hit a shift key to enable the functions that are on the same key as a number? No postscript previewer. I haven't been able to get sunwrite to import postscript files, even ones that its written out. I find the packages more useful than I thought I would. I prefer the open look interface. The package is buggy and annoying because of these bugs. Maybe in a release or two.... John A. Murphy jam@philabs.philips.com 345 Scarborough Road Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 One one-trillionith of a surprise: picaboo (914)945-6216
chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) (03/28/90)
I have been using a pre-FCS version of DeskSet for several weeks now, and confess that I really, really like it. More than I ever thought I would. To address your concerns: > File manager : print filter - tries to print 3 times each time adding the > filter path to the invocation Haven't seen this. I just printed with the File Manager, and it worked fine. > : when specifying an alternate editor to textedit you have to > specify shelltool first as it shelltool vi. If you only > specify vi it will start a vi process that will run silently > in the background. We are also getting inconsistent setups > regarding number of rows in the shelltool This isn't a bug. It's just that the File Manager can't know if your editor is windowed or not. Thus, you must run non-windowed tools in an explicit shelltool. We invoke emacs this way, no problem. I agree that this is not obvious, and should be better documented. > : it seems impossible to bind shell's to the shell icon > and/or I'm having a heck of a time trying to get it to bind > to certain types of files via their magic numbers (ie 68020). All the bindings I tried worked. You can only use 32x32 icons for binding, which may be a problem. I was able to bind all sorts of things. I even wrote a little tool which puts a Frame Maker logo on my Frame documents, and opens them in Frame Maker when I double click! > Printtool : core dumps This is a bug. To fix it, you must remove all entries from your printcap which don't exist. Most everyone has a few entries, like "ucbarpa" and "versatec" in their printcap has a leftover from the original BSD printcap file. This kills printtool. Remove everything but the valid entries and printtool will work. > Mailtool : The you have new unread mail icon goes back to the no mail > icon after 30 seconds I've never had this happen. > Perfmeter : It is almost impossible to quit the perfmeter without > iconifying first Why? Just make sure you click on the frame edge with the right mouse button, and not in the window itself. The frame edge will get you the window menu, and you can select "Quit". > Clock : Comes up in icon mode regardless of -Wi option supplied or not This does seem to be the case. A bug. Although I can understand why they might do this, since the naive user can just type "clock" and a clock appears on the screen. > Cmdtool : still doesn't allow file completion Mine does. Which shell are you running? We run a locally hacked version of csh, and it does completion, no problem. > Calctool : Function keys are on same button as numbers, as if they need > a shift key to activate them, but this is misleading. Why > aren't the numbers grouped together? As a matter of fact > the number buttons are smaller than the function buttons. > If they layout is kept, why isn't it made so you have to > hit a shift key to enable the functions that are on the > same key as a number? Calctool is just terrible. SUpposedly, the interface will be fixed in the next version. I recommend *my* calctool, available from the Sun-spots archive :-) [[Ed's Note: /sun-source/calctool.shar.{1,2} -bdg]] In general, I think DeskSet is fabulous. I love the OPEN LOOK interface. (Keep in mind that I hated it when it was announced in 1988). Sun has really improved on the look and feel, and it is easy to understand and use. Pinup menus are the greatest thing since sliced bread. The best part about DeskSet is the drag and drop feature. Select a file in the File Manager and drop it on another tool, and the right thing happens. Printtool prints any file dropped on it, tapetool will queue the file for writing to tape. Textedit will switch to the desired file. Mailtool will open the file as a mail archive, if possible. Even better, drop a file into the mail composition window, and it will *automatically* compress and uuencode it for you! In the same way, drop a mail message into the file manager, and it will either create a new mail archive file, append to an existing archive, or *automatically* uudecode an encoded message. This is great stuff. Mailtool's name finder finds mail addresses phonetically. I typed in "mushano" and it found "Chuck Musciano, chuck@melmac" as my address. Again, a great feature for people on large networks. The new calendar manager is interesting, but not quite as good as the public domain calentool, I think. It does have excellent transparent sharing of other people's appointment files and such, though. As you can tell, I am a real fan of DeskSet. For $295, you can't go wrong, especially since you are given an unlimited license, meaning one $295 copy can be used for an infinite number of machines at your site. The best part for us is that it lets us bring a lot of people up to speed on OPEN LOOK without having to switch to OpenWindows yet. For more info and opinions, see my review of DeskSet in the April Sun Observer. Chuck Musciano ARPA : chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com Harris Corporation Usenet: ...!uunet!x102a!trantor!chuck PO Box 37, MS 3A/1912 AT&T : (407) 727-6131 Melbourne, FL 32902 FAX : (407) 727-{5118,5227,4004} I'm glad you asked, son. Being popular is the most important thing in the world. -- Homer Simpson
david@indetech.com (David Kuder) (04/10/90)
In X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 103, message 1 you write: >I have been using a pre-FCS version of DeskSet for several weeks now, and >confess that I really, really like it. More than I ever thought I would. > >> Mailtool : The you have new unread mail icon goes back to the no mail >> icon after 30 seconds > >I've never had this happen. You apparently always hit the (Done) button while the gentleman with the problem probably never does. If you always dismiss the mailtool with (Done) then the icon shows the state of the mail inbox correctly. The flag stays up. If you just (Close) the mailtool, the icon will breify raise the flag when new mail arrives but it drops it soon after. While I'm thinking about it: What do folks think of double clicking to open? I've finally trained my right index finger to double but my left pinky now wants to double on (Close) which can close off more than intended. >The new calendar manager is interesting, but not quite as good as the >public domain calentool, I think. It does have excellent transparent >sharing of other people's appointment files and such, though. I think the new calendar manager is an improvement over the readily available calentool on several counts. It does a better job of displaying things. The layout is better and the display speed is better. It supports the drag and drop mechanism including the ability to mail appointments. Of course it is lacking the ability to include additional appointment files (I kind of miss knowing when Mickey Rooney married Ava Gardner). Also the sun and moon subwindows are missed since commuting by bicycle requires knowledge of sunset and the fullness of the moon. The solar and lunar calendar support (particularly the religous bits) are also missed. I might have missed Easter! For the moment I'd have to say its push. But if everyone in the company switched to cm I think I'd have to tag along with the crowd. >As you can tell, I am a real fan of DeskSet. For $295, you can't go >wrong, especially since you are given an unlimited license, meaning one >$295 copy can be used for an infinite number of machines at your site. >The best part for us is that it lets us bring a lot of people up to speed >on OPEN LOOK without having to switch to OpenWindows yet. I too am a fan. Way cool stuff. ____*_ David A. Kuder david@indetech.com \ / / Independence Technologies {sun,sharkey,pacbell}!indetech!david \/ / 42705 Lawrence Place FAX: 415 438-2034 \/ Fremont, CA 94538 Voice: 415 438-2003