info-mac-request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (05/18/91)
Info-Mac Digest Fri, 17 May 91 Volume 9 : Issue 111
Today's Topics:
[*] compat-check-10-table.hqx
[*] Mira font
[*] TidBITS#57/22-Apr-91
[*] Upper East Side font
7 is not your lucky number: Look and Feel
Apple Dealers
application startup problem on SE/30 after mem upgrade
Blesser and System 7.0
Changing Imagewriter page size
CricketGraph 1.3 crashing on IIsi
Data capture boards for the Mac
Differential Equations Software
dynopage demo problems
GEnie downloading
How to tranlate WPS+ to Word
Is it Jasmine Technologies fault or my bad luck?
LaserJet III+PostScript+AppleTalk? (Info-Mac Digest V9 #110)
MacX fonts
Portable brightness
Spanish Telecommunications
Status of ftp.apple.com
TYPING TUTOR PROGRAMS & SYSTEM 7.0
ZBASIC references for Macintosh wanted
The Info-Mac newsgroup is moderated by Bill Lipa, Lance Nakata, and Jon Pugh.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 12:26:14 EDT
From: Jason D. Blue <jblue@mwunix.mitre.org>
Subject: [*] compat-check-10-table.hqx
The following is the table used by the System 7 Compatibility Checker 1.0
stack. You might find it useful to use the table instead of the
Compatibility Checker when a question of compatibility comes up.
(user: so, is the MIDI Manager compatible with System 7?
support person (paging through the table): hmmm. You must use version
2.0 or newer. 2.0 will work, but APDA will have version 2.0.1
that is fully compatible. Here is the number....)
In the Compact-Pro archive there are three files:
1. A Readme file, providing information on the codes used in the table.
2. An Excel spreadsheet of the table. Print real nice.
3. A text (tab delimited) file of the spreadsheet, so you can read it
into your favorite word processor or spreadsheet. This file is known
as the anti-flame file -- I remember the amount of mail on the network
the last time someone posted compatibility information in Excel. :[
Enjoy,
Jason
* Jason D. Blue
* jblue@mwunix.mitre.org
[Archived as /info-mac/misc/sys7-compat-table.hqx; 96K]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 91 22:11:05 -0800 (PST)
From: dplatt@snulbug.mtview.ca.us (Dave Platt)
Subject: [*] Mira font
This posting contains a convertion into TrueType format of the Mira
font. What follows is a StuffIt 1.5.1 archive containing the Mira
PostScript font as it was originally received by me (bitmap,
downloadable PostScript file(s), and perhaps documentation and/or AFM
files). I've added a suitcase file which contains a TrueType version
of the font, created by FontMonger 1.0.
Dave Platt
[Archived as /info-mac/font/tt/mira.hqx; 51K]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, Apr 22, 1991 11:07:21 PM
From: Adam Engst <ace%tidbits.UUCP@theory.tn.cornell.edu>
Subject: [*] TidBITS#57/22-Apr-91
[*] TidBITS#57/22-Apr-91
(Note that there might be a lag in this file appearing due to Bill's
well-deserved vacation. -Adam)
Index of TidBITS#57/22-Apr-91
Reviews/22-Apr-91
MailBITS/22-Apr-91 - comments on TidBITS under
HyperCard 2.0, the Spaceward Ho! review, and the new
term, "bips."
Apple Shuffle - Apple reorganizes the entire company
again, just for kicks.
Silverlining or Goldlining? - Silverlining gets more
expensive for System 7.0
New HyperCard Virus - A stack virus is on the loose.
The 24-bit ROM Blues - The SE/30, IIcx, and IIx have
24-bit ROMs that limit the amount of memory the
machines can use, even under System 7.0. Clamor for an
upgrade.
[Archived as /info-mac/digest/tidbits-57.hqx; 33K]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 91 22:10:11 -0800 (PST)
From: dplatt@snulbug.mtview.ca.us (Dave Platt)
Subject: [*] Upper East Side font
This posting contains a convertion into TrueType format of the Upper
East Side font.
[...]
[Archived as /info-mac/font/tt/upper-east-side.hqx; 127K]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 10:26:11 -0700
From: RSAUNDERS@hssi.dnet.hac.com
Subject: 7 is not your lucky number: Look and Feel
I have had System7 on my macIIcx for a few days now, after having been careful
to avoid prejudicing myself with beta-test versions. (Yes, it helps to work
for a big Apple client who subscribes to updates, it came FedEx the day after
it was released.) After finding that I need a few new versions of a few minor
INITs and utilities, I thought the conversion impact on my life would be
minimal.
Alas, I was mistaken. Although almost all my programs work just fine, my
experience with the "System" has been negative. I have 8MB of RAM, so I
can't really get much out of VM because my machine has dirty-ROMs. The other
real changes are in the Finder. Sure, bubble-help is cuter than any idea
I have seen in years, but I know what the stuff on my machine does because
I use it 4 hours a day. What drives me mad is the annoying cuteness that
you CANNOT turn off (at least you can turn bubbles off!). I'm talking about
time wasted in zoom rectangles. I'm talking about trash warnings no matter
what is in the trashcan. I'm talking about no ability to use key shortcuts
for finder operations like "Empty Trash" or "Restart". If you didn't know
you could change these things - System7 is for you!!
For the rest of us, who used ResEdit on dear old Finder to adjust the look
and feel to our situation, we need 6.0.7 back. None of these things are
even resources in the Finder anymore. Apple guidelines used to tell people
to use resources, so that users who really wanted to could change things.
It was always the best mac feature that you could adjust the GUI, not just
that it had a GUI. Now it seems Apple is so proud of its creations that
it not only sues people who copy them (which I approve of) it locks them in
stone and forces them on people who want to stay current with their releases.
Don't even think of calling the 1-900-apple-help number. The people there
say that you can avoid trash warnings by holding down the option key while
choosing "Empty trash". This wouldn't be a big except I don't think it
should take two hands to convince my computer that I know what I am doing.
Now to decide if file sharing is worth being trapped with Disneyland cuteness
everytime I want to delete something??
Randy Saunders
Hughes Aircraft
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 91 17:14:00 PST
From: ISCJCW@uccvma.ucop.edu
Subject: Apple Dealers
>From: Jerry Wilcox ISCJCW@UCCVMA (415)987-0516
Subject: Apple Dealers
In V9-110, Ned Horvath posted a long diatribe about what a benefit it would be
to Apple dealers if they gave away free copies of System 7. I guess this goes
to show that there are always two sides to every view. I have a friend who is
an Apple dealer who has decided NOT to give away free copies of System 7, and
I wouldn't begin to call him a jerk. He just recognizes his business, and it
isn't K-Mart with blue light specials.
The last thing this guy wants is 300 people who have never bought anything
>From him in the past (mail order is way cool, dude - cheaper you know) and who
won't buy anything from him in the future (ditto), but who are perfectly
willing to swamp his store and his staff to make them free copies of a
multi-disk set (on the 39 cent bulk floppies they got mail order, of course)
and to complain that he (1) doesn't have the sets premade to give away, (2)
won't let them self-serve using his equipment, and (3) won't give them the
manuals that they "know Apple gives him". To top it off, since these
"giveaway" copies of the system don't come with the free Apple telephone
support, guess who these people are going to call when they can't figure out
how to use System 7 without the manuals? Bingo!
I buy stuff from this guy because he does offer tremendous support and because
he'll go out of his way to get things I need for myself and my customers.
Doesn't bother me that on D-day he wouldn't make me a copy of the System. I'm
pretty sure that he and many other dealers will revert to their former policy
of giving away copies of system software when the initial System 7 uproar
begins to subside.
Disclaimer: If UC wanted me to speak for them - I'd have a different job!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 12:59:56 BST
From: M J Sawar <sawar@cbl.leeds.ac.uk>
Subject: application startup problem on SE/30 after mem upgrade
I have recently upgraded my SE/30 from 1Meg to 5Meg, and I
have noticed an odd thing. When I delete some stuff by putting
it in trash, and then run an application, it takes ages to startup.
I have tried emptying the trash by using the command from special
menu, but it has no effect. Without any thing deleted, the
applications run normaly. Any suggestions or advice about this
problem.. (I am using system 6.0.5.)
M.J.Sawar
University of Leeds
Leeds, U.K.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 91 21:46:09 EDT
From: Loren Ryter <ST701831@brownvm.brown.edu>
Subject: Blesser and System 7.0
I have heard that the application Blesser, which allows one to switch
between two system folders on the same volume, will not work with
system 7.0. Since I use a foreign language system (Japanese) as well
as English system 6.07 right now, I will not update to System 7.0 until
switching between them is possible.
I understand the incompatibility stems from the different use of boot
blocks.
Does anyone know whether a Blesser update is imminent or possible?
--Loren
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1991 20:29:58 EDT
From: THATERW@vax.cs.hscsyr.edu (I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead)
Subject: Changing Imagewriter page size
Hi all;
I've got a problem that I'm sure that somebody has the solution to. I'm
using Microphone II to connect to a VAX to run an ORACLE application. As part
of that application we take payments, the form then puts a receipt on the
screen. This is printed by doing a screen print. So far so good, with the DEC
terminals I'm using, BUT we just got 4 MAC IIsi in and we need to go to those
instead of the DECs. I've got the Micorphone script to automaticly select and
print the screen working, but I need to print on a 3.5" long form and it uses
an 11" line feed at the end of the print. My boss is NOT happy, I am not happy.
Can somebody PLEASE tell me how to get the Imagewriter to use 3.5" and not 11"?
I know that this is a FAQ, but I've never touched a MAC untill these
came in (these things are neat!!) and after 23+ yrs. withmainframes and PCs I"m
having some adjustment problems. Please e-mail those "billions and billions" of
responses directly to me and I sumerize back to the Net.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 91 17:55:00 PDT
From: Hans Jannasch <jaha@mbari.org>
Subject: CricketGraph 1.3 crashing on IIsi
Anyone know why CricketGraph 1.3 keeps crashing on a Mac iisi when
changing an axis? We've reinstalled the program, eliminated all but the
essential INIT's, and even run it off of another startup disc. Other
programs work well, except that Excel 2.0 (not a, b or c) crashed twice
with a "coprocessor not installed" message (which it is!). We run
system 6.0.7, 5 Mb RAM, and plenty of alloted space in the GetInfo
window. (It didn't do it when the machine was new -- 1 month ago).
Mail direct to jaha@hp850.mbari.org would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Hans Jannasch
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 91 12:02:06 CDT
From: fils@iastate.edu
Subject: Data capture boards for the Mac
InfoMac readers;
It would be of great help to me if people who are currently using
Macintosh computers for data capture in laboratory experiments could provide
me with some information on the equipment they are using. In general I need;
- companies and phone numbers that I can contact
- information about boards, software and interface capabilities lab equipment
- limitations and general performance thoughts
- and cost -- was there any doubt this would be here :)
Thanks for any info you can provide,
Doug Fils fils@iastate.edu
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 09:18:40 -0400
From: David H. Dezern <dezern@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Subject: Differential Equations Software
In the Info-Mac Digest of 16 May 91, Thierry Jurand writes:
>There are two applications which are used
>as teaching aids and developed at Drexel University (MacIntosh based
>University): "Differential Equations" and "Phase Portraits".
"Differential Equations" I'm not familiar with, but "Phase Portraits"
is marketed by
Intellimation
P. O. Box 1922
130 Cremona Drive
Santa Barbara, CA 93116-1922
(805) 685-2100
David Dezern
Dept. of Mathematics, University of North Carolina at Asheville
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 09:47:59 EDT
From: bbabcock@cc.williams.edu
Subject: dynopage demo problems
I've tried the DynoPage demo without any problems on a MacIIfx with Sys7.0b4. I
use a reasonable number of inits and cdevs; however, the fact that the ones I
use work with Sys 7 probably indicates that they're fairly 'clean.'
Dynopage looks nice, although I'm not sure how often I would shrink 12 pages
onto an unreadable single page. (I suppose it would serve a purpose with
graphics.) My main interest would lie in the double-sided printing options. The
question is will the next version of MS Word have this built-in? I can handle
shrinking pages to slip in my day-timer by using multiple columns,large margins
and small fonts.
Any rumors out there about Word beyond 4.0x? Are they going to provide more
flexibility on footnotes (multiple references to the same endnote for
instance?) Is it really scheduled for Fall '91, and does that mean next Spring?
bbabcock@cc.williams.edu (Bryce Babcock)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 15:29 CST
From: <SJONES%RHODES.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: GEnie downloading
Hello folks!
I have a question concerning GEnie that maybe another GEnie user out there can
answer for me. I am new to both GEnie and this service, so please bear with
my naivete. I am trying to download software from GEnie, but am meeting with
failure, and GEnie reps have been LESS than helpful! I am using a Prometheus
2400 modem and MacKnowledge software. Genie offers XMODEM, XMODEM-1K, and
ZMODEM as protocols, but the only one MacKnowledge shares is XMODEM &
XMODEM-1K. And as I understand it (perhaps incorrectly) XMODEM does not
transmit all Macintosh data. I successfully got one file downloaded, but I
could not bin-hex it, or unstuff it, or anything! All I could do was look at
the "gibberish" is was made of with a word processor (MS Word).
MacKnowledge itself offers XMODEM, XMODEM-1K, MACBINARY, MACTERMINAL, and TEXT
options for protocols. I "think" my problem is in my use of protocols. Can
anyone out there help a "neophyte netter"? Thanks in advance for ANY and ALL
responses!!!
Steve Jones
SJONES@RHODES
------------------------------
Date: 17 May 91 14:31:30 GMT
From: mandel@vax.anes.tulane.edu (Jeff E Mandel MD MS)
Subject: How to tranlate WPS+ to Word
Thanks to Bruce Hall at PBS for the tip that got me on the right track.
First, from WPS Plus, you must export the document to a VMS file.
Now comes the tricky part. The file created by WPS Plus is a 512-byte fixed
record file with carraige-return carraige control (so that if you print it to
your terminal, and it is wider than 512 characters, the records will line up, I
suppose). If you kermit this file as a binary, kermit will graciously insert a
linefeed every 512 characters. There are two workarounds:
1) Transfer the file with Alisashare, etc.
2) Convert the file to non-carraige control with the VMS convert utility. To do
this, create a file (called wpl.fdl) with the following 5 lines:
RECORD
BLOCK_SPAN yes
CARRIAGE_CONTROL none
FORMAT fixed
SIZE 512
Now, enter the DCL command "convert/fdl=wpl my_file.wpl my_new_file.wpl",
where my_file.wpl is what you exported from WPS Plus. Note that the extension
.wpl is not critical, but is a convention. Now transfer the file to your Mac
using kermit as a binary file.
Having gotten the file to your Mac, launch AFE, select the MS-DOS WPL-Plus to
Mac translator of your preference, and you are set.
My new motto: "They don't pay me to think, so this one's on the house"
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 13:08:45 BST
From: M J Sawar <sawar@cbl.leeds.ac.uk>
Subject: Is it Jasmine Technologies fault or my bad luck?
I bought my 8 (1meg) SIMMS from Jasmine technologies, yes I
know they have an odd reputation. But I took a chance, since they
were so cheap. Well I was wrong, I orderd 8 SIMMS, and they sent
me 4 SIMMS, though charging for 8. When I faxed them about it, they
accepted their fault and promised to send the rest of 4 SIMMS, a
week later when I get the package, it only had 2 SIMMS !!
Now I have been trying to get in touch with them for more than two
weeks and no response. And they still have to send me 2 more SIMMS
which I have paid for.
M.J.Sawar
Leeds University
Leeds, U.K.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 1991 10:08-EDT
From: Tom.Lane@g.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Subject: LaserJet III+PostScript+AppleTalk? (Info-Mac Digest V9 #110)
> We have an HP LaserJet III which we want to connect to our macs. To do this
>we plan on buying a PostScript cartridge and an AppleTalk interface. However,
>both HP and Pacific make these products. Does anyone know which are better?
I have HP's PS cart and AT interface and am perfectly satisfied. I would
NOT recommend the Pacific PS cart as I have heard many negative reports
about it on the net. The HP cart is a licensed Adobe implementation of
PostScript, whereas Pacific's is a "clone" implementation which is not
100% compatible with Adobe. Pacific's cart is slower than HP's, at least
for mostly-text printout (I've confirmed this by benchmarks conducted by
myself and another net person). To judge from reports I've seen on the
net, the Pacific cart also has some outright bugs, and their tech support
is useless because they only know about DOS machines.
In fairness I should say that Pacific recently released a new version of
their cart which is claimed to be faster and less buggy. Personally, I'd
still go for the HP/Adobe cart.
>In regards to the HP AT interface, does this install in the I/O expansion slot
>in the LJIII, or is it a separate box which connects to the parallel port?
It goes in the expansion slot. You can switch between serial, parallel,
and AT input to the printer from the front panel, without touching a cable.
One caveat: if you share the printer between Macs and PCs you may want to
switch between PostScript and plain-HP printer command language. With
HP's cart you can only do this by removing the PS cart. This is trivial
but you do have to power down the printer.
Pacific's cart accepts a software command to switch modes; this is
probably its only advantage over the HP cart. The mode-switch command
reportedly causes a power-up selftest cycle, so it's not a whole lot
faster than the manual method. Worse, any data arriving during the
selftest is lost, so your software has to know to wait a minute or so
after sending the command. In other words, the mode-switch command is a
kludge; but if you have to have a software-driven changeover, it's better
than nothing.
With either cart, don't forget to buy extra memory. You want three
megabytes total in the printer for HP's cart. (It will run with only two,
but slower; and you'll have limited font downloading capability. I have
yet to exhaust printer memory with 3Mb.) In the case of memory I would
recommend Pacific over HP, since HP charges outrageous prices for memory
and I have heard no complaints about Pacific's memory boards. (Personally
I have a South Coast Electronics addon memory board, which has also given
good service.)
--
tom lane
Internet: tgl@cs.cmu.edu BITNET: tgl%cs.cmu.edu@cmuccvma
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 00:09:14 cdt
From: charles@calshp.cals.wisc.edu
Subject: MacX fonts
MacX fonts seem to be in special format. Is it possible to convert standard
fonts to MacX fonts? Is there any shareware MacX fonts out there?
What's the deal with MacX fonts anyway? Can anyone tell me?
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 11:51:56 -0400
From: dmg@mwunix.mitre.org (David M. Gursky)
Subject: Portable brightness
I have one of the new Portables with the backlite display. I'd like to turn
it off, as I have no problems read the display in low light situations and
would rather have the long battery life. According to the manual, I should be
able to do this with the brightness thermometer in the Portable CDEV, but when
I bring it up, there is no guage to change the screen brightness. I'm
running system 6.0.7 with version 1.2 of the Portable CDEV. Any clues folks?
David Gursky
------------------------------
Date: 17 May 91 08:14:37 U
From: "Glenn Fleishman" <Glenn_Fleishman@yccatsmtp.ycc.yale.edu>
Subject: Spanish Telecommunications
Subject: Time:8:13 AM
OFFICE MEMO Spanish Telecommunications Date:5/17/91
I have just heard from a friend at Oxford that there is a new virus
running rampant there called Spanish Telecommunications. It activates
after the 400th boot of your drive following infection & erases your
disk. Any confirmation, or is this just another spurious rumor?
Glenn Fleishman, Yale University Printing Service
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 11:35:51 PDT
From: "William J. Lipa" <lipa@neon.stanford.edu>
Subject: Status of ftp.apple.com
Here is a message I forwarded from comp.sys.mac.programmer:
-----
I tried to post the following last night, but it looks like it got bounced,
so here it is again with a little more information. This is an update of
ftp.apple.com. and system 7.
ftp.apple.com has been up and down for the last few days. We have added
a limiter (30 connections), but it is still having intermittent problems
which look like they are hardware related. I am headed back to Cupertino
at this moment to swap some hardware and replace a drive which appears to
have corrupted the FDHD images. We do not expect this machine to be back
online reliably until late this morning or early afternoon.
If you ask what takes so long, figure that we are
in the midst of our Developers' Conference, and when you stay up all night
working on the machine, you end up spending some daylight time sleeping. I
wish we could do better for you, but we are stretched to our limits at the
moment.
SO, look for ftp.apple.com to be back up by this afternoon, but I will post
a message to these newsgroups when we are sure it is up and stable (note that
I have not posted anything to this effect yet.) You should avoid apple.com
completely, as the content there is out of date and System 7.0 will not
be there at all. In fact, we are preparing to turn off the ftp access to
that machine completely as soon as ftp.apple.com is stable. (We are not
moving these files to apple.com since it is a production machine and we
cannot take the load ftp already has (prior to system 7). If the new Mac
and drive cannot handle the load, we will offload onto another machine.
Also please note that the FDHD images on ftp.apple.com appear to be corrupt
and must be replaced. Until I get them replaced, the directory will be locked.
I will also post a note when I have replaced these files. Do NOT assume that
they are okay if the directory does not happen to be locked (I have asked
someone else to lock it for me as I am offsite and cannot reach the machine
either at the moment).
So to quickly summarize:
1) Stay off Apple.apple.com, nothing is there and nothing will be put there.
2) ftp.apple.com does contain System 7.0, but is currently down.
3) I will post a message as soon as ftp.apple.com is back up and running.
4) If you get to ftp.apple.com before my message, do not download the FDHD
images (assuming you can get them) as they are currently corrupt. I will
post a note (and you will see new dates) as soon as I replace these files.
5) We apologize that this wasn't up reliably at 11 a.m. PST on Monday, but
that's just the way things go sometime. We are doing the best we can and
thank you for your patience.
6) If you can get the Upgrade kit from a dealer, please consider it. For the
price you get the manuals (not all of System 7.0 is intuitive) as well as
90 days of telephone support direct from Apple.
Thanks for your support and desire for System 7.0; we hope you find it worth
the wait.
--
Mark B. Johnson
Developer Technical Support
Apple Computer, Inc.
mjohnson@Apple.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 May 1991 13:59 PDT
From: "Dan Dalal @ 554-6890" <DALAL%SCU.bitnet@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: TYPING TUTOR PROGRAMS & SYSTEM 7.0
Does anyone know of any public domain or shareware TYPING TUTOR programs
available for the MAC, compatiable with system 7.0 ?
I have an SE/30 running system 7.0 and have MACTYPE but it no longer
works with system 7.0 ?
Any ideas/help would be greatly apprecaited.
Thanks in advance
dan dalal
email ==> DALAL@SCU.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 91 11:40:56 EDT
From: "Marian R. Goldsmith" <MKI101%URIACC.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: ZBASIC references for Macintosh wanted
I would like information on any basic reference material on how to
program in ZBASIC for the Macintosh. A search through a publishers'
database at a major university bookstore turned up nothing. Please
respond to one of the following:
Marian Goldsmith, MKI101@URIACC.BITNET or
Martin Baxter, 100015.153@CompuServe.COM
------------------------------
End of Info-Mac Digest
******************************