info-mac-request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (03/18/91)
Info-Mac Digest Sun, 17 Mar 91 Volume 9 : Issue 67
Today's Topics:
[*] a winning Macworld HyperCard stack from America Online
Administrativa: Signal-To-Noise Ratio
APPLELINK addressing & GRAY-SCALE/COLOR ?
Atari Sounds on Macintosh ?
Binhex4/Stuffit Decode Binhex
CAVEAT EMPTOR: MacProducts USA
DEC RRD40 CD-ROM drive and Mac II
Dvorak keyboard layout?
File information wanted
Floppy disk crashes
ftp daemon
Info-Mac Digest V9 #65
I thought I knew
LaTeX
Launch program for use with MultiMaster
MACWORLD APRIL AND LUCASFILM
Merging multiple docs (WORD)
Recording Sounds
ResEdit distribution (No, not again!)
Source for MacX 1.1 (new version)?
StyleWriter Printer
stylewriter query -- what's the catch?
SuperDrive upgrade
System Software at Apple.com
Tex vs WYSIWYG...
Type 1 to 3 & Evolution; Cheap printers
Vaporware column
X-Y Plotting With Excel
The Info-Mac newsgroup is moderated by Bill Lipa, Lance Nakata, and Jon Pugh.
The Info-Mac archives are available (by using FTP, account anonymous,
any password) in the info-mac directory on sumex-aim.stanford.edu
[36.44.0.6]. Help files and indices are in /info-mac/help.
Please send articles and binaries to info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
Send administrative mail to info-mac-request@sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 10:35 EST
From: Carol Conti-Entin <$CAROL%OCVAXC.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: [*] a winning Macworld HyperCard stack from America Online
Two readers asked if America Online subscribers would download the
winning HyperCard stacks from the Macworld library. I had downloaded
and unstuffed "El Verbo Simple" last week; here it is restuffed and
BinHexed. Since I'm about to go out of town, I don't expect to sign
onto AO again for a couple of weeks; perhaps other AO subscribers will
have uploaded other stacks to sumex meanwhile.
[Archived as /info-mac/card/el-verbo-simple.hqx; 211K]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 09:21:00 SET
From: Alexander Falk <K360950%AEARN.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Administrativa: Signal-To-Noise Ratio
Dear netfolk,
I noticed that over the past few months the discussions here in cyberspace
(or whatever you'd like to call the net) grew more and more aggressive.
Flames became rather common and a lot of the postings only dealt with personal
opinions and counter-opinions and back and forth and back and forth.....
Signal-to-Noise ratio - a term commonly used in information technology -
refers to the amount of information you can get through a channel with given
bandwidth after you subtract the noise. And noise here on the net simply
translates to messages that don't convey information. I think that we all
need to work a bit to improve signal-to-noise ratio here on Info-Mac. No,
I'm in no way suggesting that there is not enough information here - all I'm
saying is that it's fairly easy to generate too much noise.
In order to not make this message too long (and to not let it drift into
a philosophical essay) I'd like to simply suggest three things:
*) Please don't post opinions about somebody elses messages
to the net. Please mail that person directly and discuss
the subject in private electronic communications.
*) Please try to restrict original postings to contain as
much information as possible - and try to NOT touch
controversial issues (as this inevitably will lead to
another flaming war).
*) Whenever everything else fails, use common sense (nobody
is perfect)!
Peace in Cyberspace,
(A) (L) exander (F) alk
PS: By the way, as far as I remember, Murph Sewall wrote a similar
plea some time ago. But I thought it's once again time to bring
this up, anyway.
PPS: If you'd like to tell me your opinion on this subject, please
reply to me, AND NOT TO THE NET!
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1991 00:27:55 EST
From: tim@ufcia.health.ufl.edu (Tim Cera)
Subject: APPLELINK addressing & GRAY-SCALE/COLOR ?
I had a lot of trouble reaching wavemetrics a while back and I
figured out a way to get mail to them.
The WaveMetrics e-mail address in their literature is
Wavemetrics@applelink.apple.com
This did not work from my Internet machine.
applelink.apple.com does not exist in the Internet environment. You
cannot ping, finger, mail, nor is it on the Network Information Center
database. I called Wavemetrics and learned that there is a way to reach
bridged networks by using the % symbol as a place holder for the @ sign
once the first machine has processed it. Wavemetrics Internet address,
for example, is
wavemetrics%applelink.apple.com@apple.com
(Note one of the headers on the infomac mail message.)
apple.com receives the message, strips it's name off the end, replaces
the % with a @ and resends the message on the applelink (seperate ??)
network.
Mail does reach them at this address. I have since used this method to
reach several other people that communicate through bridges of some sort.
Maybe this can help others.
If you are having problems with mail bouncing because the host cannot
be found, use the Network Information Center to find a likely bridged
computer on the internet (i.e. in the same company, agency, . . . etc.)
and the address then becomes something like:
bouncing%address@internethhost
Now for something totally different -
How is color information processed on gray-scale monitors?
Could NIH or NSCA Image programs work with color images/data on a gray-scale
monitor?
I also was wondering what the overhead would be to have the CLUT be
window dependent? It seems that resetting the system CLUT to view different
images (i.e. gray-scale x-ray and a color image) is not a nice thing to
be mucking about with.
ANY input or questions are appreciated! Thanks in advance
Tim Cera / tim@ufcia.health.ufl.edu
--- End of forwarded message from Network Mailer <MAILER@ricevm1.rice.edu>
--- End of forwarded message from Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 18:04 N
From: <VJAL2314%DS0RUS54.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Atari Sounds on Macintosh ?
This is a simple (and maybe stupid) question: how do I get Atari Sound Files
to play on a Macintosh ?
I have some sound files (*.SND) that can be played on an Atari and that are
'in Mac format' (at least their documentation says so). How do I get any of
the known Mac sound programs to extract the sound information from these
files ? I believe the problem would be that if the files are simply transferred
to the Mac in binary mode, the resulting files would not contain any resources
that could be tapped with SoundMover, SoundEdit, etc.
If anyone has some tips, they would be mostly appreciated & I will summarize
for the net if this is of general interest.
___Frank Pohlemann - BITNET/PROFS/JNET: vjal2314@ds0rus54.earn___
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 17:15 CST
From: Stark Raving <TRIMPERG%LAWRENCE.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Binhex4/Stuffit Decode Binhex
I have been having an interesting problem. A lot of
.hqx files that I get, when I use Binhex 4.0 (yes, the
original Mainstay program), I get a "CRC Error
($Some Hex Number)" near the end of decoding. If I try
to Unstuff the resulting file with Stuffit 1.5.1 or 1.6,
sure enough, as the warning warns me "some files may be
corrupted. Salvage what you can and move carefully", my
mac will freeze, usually while unstuffing the last file in
the archive.
But get this: if I use Stuffit's Decode Binhex option,
everything is fine.
Things to note:
1) ALL the files are Stuffit! Archives, thus I can
only assume all have been encoded ti binhex format by Stuffit
2) I do delete the text headers. Note that the error is at
the END of decoding. I have looked at files encoded by
Binhex 4.0 and Stuffit, and can see nothing different near
the end, but then again, I don't know what to look for.
So, *What is Stuffit doing WRONG?* Yes, I have to say that
the blame lies in Stuffit's Encoding, as the original
program has been working flawlessly for 5 years. Is Ray
or anyone from Alladin listening?
Why don't I just use Stuffit, some are sure to say.
Because I don't want to register Stuffit just to use
it's Binhex Decoding. I use DD and Compactor, and those
are my archivers of choice. And I find it annoying to
have to keep stuffit around just to decode binhex files
that people have encoded with Stuffit, because they don't
want to take the extra step of using the actual program.
Greg Trimper Trimper@Disclaimer.cutsey-quote.bunch-o-dashes
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 08:50:06 EDT
From: "J. Feustle" <FAC0395%UOFT01.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: CAVEAT EMPTOR: MacProducts USA
Two weeks ago I place an order with MacProducts USA for one of their
SyQuest removable drives. This product had received an excellent review
in the February, 1991 issue of MacUser.
When I placed my order, the salesperson told me that I could expect
delivery within 10 days to two weeks. As the two weeks were about
to start into the third week, I called MacProducts USA to inquire
about my purchase. Three calls to their Customer Service (?) dept.
finally produced a return call that informed me that I will have to
wait yet an ADDITIONAL TWO TO TWO AND A HALF WEEKS. Obviously, had
the original salesperson told me I would have to wait over a month
for the drive, I would have purchased it elsewhere. Hopefully, the
drive will indeed appear within the next two weeks and it will have
been worth waiting for.
I don't know what experiences others may have had with MacProducts USA,
but mine has been decidedly negative. You may wish to take this into
account if you need something in a hurry. Anyway, buyers beware!
Joe Feustle
FAC0395@UOFT01.BITNET
PS Thanks to all who repsonded to my question about the HP printer,
especially to the kind souls who dug the information out of the archives
at INFO-MAC as I should have done.
Acknowledge-To: <FAC0395@UOFT01>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 09:21:20
From: rhz@cwns4.ins.cwru.edu (Robert H. Zakon)
Subject: DEC RRD40 CD-ROM drive and Mac II
Has anyone successfully hooked up a DEC RRD40 CD-ROM drive to a Mac II and was
able to read cd-rom discs (other than develop issue 1)?
Would a special driver be needed to get discs to mount on the desktop?
Any help greatly appreciated!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 21:35-0500
From: Carl L. Gay <CGay@alderaan.scrc.symbolics.com>
Subject: Dvorak keyboard layout?
Does anyone know where I can find a program that will change
my (extended) keyboard to the Dvorak keyboard layout? I
thought I heard mention of one some time back, but I don't
see it in the info-mac archives. Any pointers will be
appreciated.
Replies to me (cgay@symbolics.com) and I'll summarize to the
list if there's enough interest.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 18:55:29 EST
From: Murph Sewall <SEWALL%UCONNVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: File information wanted
On 15 Mar 91 10:36:00 EST you said:
>I have been looking around in the archives for a application that will
>allow me to print out the Creation date of a file.
Pull FileList (current version is 1.4 as I recall) from the archives.
It'll do what you want and lots more.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 13:02 CST
From: MONCRIEF%TCUCVMS.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu
Subject: Floppy disk crashes
Has anyone experienced the following:
Two Macintosh IIcx's both crashing floppy disks used by students to store
PageMaker 4.0 and Illustrator 3.0 files. Running System 6.0.5 and SAM virus
protection. Happens on both high density and double density disks, 3 different
brands so far. Norton Utilities for the Mac is unable to recover the disks, it
gives a message saying "Can't read Catalog BTree Header" and "Can't find
address mark". Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Karen Moncrief
Texas Christian University
BITNET: MONCRIEF@TCUCVMS
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 18:45:32 EST
From: wang@pennmess.physics.upenn.edu ( Huangxin Wang)
Subject: ftp daemon
I have installed MacTCP on my Mac, and it's really great to see that one can
ftp to my Mac hard disk from a mainframe. The only problem is: the Mac should
be running BYU_MacTCP in the background for it to respond to a remote ftp.
That means, every time when I power up my Mac, I should fire up BYU_MacTCP
and take up a few hundred kb RAM, while I rarely use it (it's too slow
on a Plus comparing with a VersaTerm in serial connection). Is there any
program such a init or cdev, which works as a daemon just to respond to remote
ftp?
Huangxin Wang, University of Pennsylvania
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 13:32:41 CDT
From: "James N. Bradley" <ACSH%UHUPVM1.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V9 #65
Maybe I just missed it, but I've been having major problems with OmniPage
since I upgraded to System 6.0.7, The application always crashes when
I quit regardless of whether I've saved or anything else.
I've reinstalled several times, tried both multi- and uni-finder, and
disabled and enabled all inits (got a bunch).
Configuration: Macintosh II/40 w/Dove MaraThon 30/33, 8 MB RAM, 2 external
80 MB drives (Apple & Ehman) and the Apple Scanner. System 6.0.7 running
multifinder, OmniPage 2.1.
Anyone else with this problem? How about a fix?
Jim Bradley
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 21:50 EST
From: FNELSON%OBERLIN.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: I thought I knew
I have downloaded a lot of useful stuff from Info_Mac. Lately, I have
been having lots of trouble due to the proliferation of packing formats
and versions. I use stuffit 1.5 and binhex 4.0 & 5.0. Recently, I have
downloaded files that cannot be unpacked with these utilities. My under-
standing was that a .sit.hqx had a specific meaning. After many minutes
of network time and downloading to my Mac I find that files want to be
fondled by stuffit 1.6, stuffit deluxe, etc. As a matter of fact stuffit
1.6 is one of the files I cannot get to work. Catch-22?
Can we think about a standardization of compression formats that will
last long enough for us to devote our time to productive work rather than
keeping current on the latest versions of compression programs?
Gary Nelson
Oberlin College
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 15:45:24 PST
From: doug@nisd.cam.unisys.com (Doug Hardie)
Subject: LaTeX
I have just been notified that I have to deliver some documents in LaTeX
format. However, I want to do the work in WriteNow. Does anyone know of
a translator from WriteNow (or RTF or MacWrite) to LaTeX?
-- Doug
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 16:04:04 -0500
From: spencer@spline.eecs.umich.edu
Subject: Launch program for use with MultiMaster
Here's the picture: I bought Now Utilities (for Super Boomerang). It
comes with an application launcher/switcher INIT (like OnCue or
HandOff) that will drop a "menu" of applications. You can attach
documents to each application, and you then get a submenu that lets
you launch the application with a specific document:
| MacWrite | ------------
| Microsoft Word > | | Other... |
| Persuasion | | Paper |
| Photoshop | | xyzzy |
| SuperPaint | ------------
With the number of applications I like to have available, the menu can
get pretty long. I saw somewhere recently (I thought on the net) a
reference to a program that launches its "document". I could name a
copy of this program "Games", and then have a menu like this:
| Draw | -----------------
| Games > | | Canfield |
| MacWrite | | Forty Thieves |
| Microsoft Word | | Shanghai |
| Persuasion | | Tetris |
| Photoshop | -----------------
Does anybody know of this program and where I can find it?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 10:18:55 SST
From: TNG TaiHou <ISSTTH%NUSVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: MACWORLD APRIL AND LUCASFILM
Has anyone read April's MacWorld yet? Dig into the feature on ethernet.
Turn to the second page of that article. There's a picture of an
employee of Lucasfilm playing LOOM on a Mac LC in full glorious colors!!!
And besides the Mac, there are about 5 boxes of games.
I have NOT seen anything from Lucasfilm games except Pipe Dream and
Indiana Jones, at least not from the mailorder houses.
Folks, can anyone confirm this, or was the game shown actually an IBM
EGA version running under SoftPC EGA/AT?
I wonder why Lucasfilm games are not porting or even writing games
for the Mac (color + sound), especially when they have such close
ties with Apple on a number of projects, notably the wonderful, colorful
Mars FlyBy Simulator.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 21:32:11 EST
From: MOISEFF%UCONNVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu
Subject: Merging multiple docs (WORD)
>Does anyone know of a way to append hundreds of small text files into
>one document. I usually use Microsoft Word but have access to other
word
>processors. A cheap or free utility would be preferable.
Use the print merge feature of word.
you place <<include fname>> commands (the << and >> are the special
characters option-\ and option-shift-\ ) at the places you want the
particular document printed.
This works well since the list of <<includes>> is easy to edit and
the global formatting can be done in the main document. In addition
the computer can number the pages contiguously.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 13:13:53 -0600 (CST)
From: Mark Davisson <markd@zeta.saintjoe.edu>
Subject: Recording Sounds
I was looking for some software to record different sounds into a snd
file. I know MacRecorder or something like that can be used but I don't
know exactly. Does anyone out there know how to do this and if so where
can I get some free software to do it. I also wanted to incorporate my
CD-ROM to extract certain parts of a song. If any one can help please
send me some mail. Thanks!
Mark Davisson
Saint Joseph's College
markd@saintjoe.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 08:56:08 SET
From: Alexander Falk <K360950%AEARN.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: ResEdit distribution (No, not again!)
A few days ago I posted a statement trying to describe the current situation
on ResEdit distribution by Apple. This was in no way intended to explain WHY
the situation is that way. All I did is relay the information that I had
collected from various sources within and without Apple. So please don't
blame me for holes in these statements - I didn't understand all of the
legal logic (or lack thereof) either.
Interestingly I found several responses to my message that made me look
like I'd defend Apples position in this distribution story, which I can
only deny. All I tried to do is convey the bottom line of the legal logic
as I've heard it from Apple: Apple has to (or at least the Apple legal
folks believe that they have to) charge some arbitrary amount of money when
they either sell ResEdit themselves or sell a distribution license to some-
body else. If this other person then gives away ResEdit for free, that's no
longer Apple's business, because he has paid for the distribution license.
apple.com is run by Apple itself, so they say that they can't put ResEdit up
there.
As to my standpoint: I do WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with you all that both ResEdit
and the latest System Software should be available from apple.com as well as
>From sumex-aim and other sources. So don't blame me for their fault....
A
L exander
F alk
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 17:11 EDT
From: RANDY HARDY <HARDY@facs.fccc.edu>
Subject: Source for MacX 1.1 (new version)?
I've been running version 1.0 of DEC's PathWorks for the MAC which includes
MacX-1.0.1. I've heard (in MacWeek) that version 1.1 includes a number of
improvements, including speed. After contacting DEC, it appears that a new
version of Pathworks is many months away (Summer?). Does anyone know where
or how we could go about getting the latest version of MacX, perhaps
directly from Apple?
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 13:02:02 EST
From: Grant Vandenberg <GILLY@vm.uoguelph.ca>
Subject: StyleWriter Printer
Last week I read a request for some information regarding Apple's new
StyleWriter
I recently had a chance to look through a product orientation guide and
talk to a computer sales representative who had seen a StyleWriter demo.
He was rather impressed- not only at the performance but of the design.
He said the unit was small, light and transportable. The print quality
is good (360 dpi vs 300 dpi for the HP DeskWriter) but it used water
soluble ink and was SLOW (.5 ppm, 1 ppm draft quality). It comes with
four TrueType font families (Times, Helvetica, Courier and Symbol and will
support others. The design incorporates two manual feed slots and a
detachable cut-sheet paper feeder; it allows for printing on photocopy
bond, coloured stock, envelopes, labels, and overheads. The StyleWriter
does not support networked systems. Retail prices are rumoured to be about
$750.00 Cdn.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has used the StyleWriter
as I am thinking of purchasing one
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 13:14 EST
From: NEUBURG@campus.swarthmore.edu
Subject: stylewriter query -- what's the catch?
Am strongly leaning towards buying new StyleWriter (who cares how long it
takes to print, I say). But all this talk of TrueType has me confused. Does
this mean I will NOT be able to just hook it up and print? I have many
type 1 fonts; will these all be useless? Will ATM allow me to print to the
StyleWriter?
Thank you for your help... Matt Neuburg = neuburg@campus.swarthmore.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sun 17 Mar 91 13:47:49-PST
From: GaryHartling@sumex-aim.stanford.edu, NOSCHawaiiLab@sumex-aim.stanford.edu, 808-449-1717 <HARTLING@tecr.nosc.mil>
Subject: SuperDrive upgrade
I have a old Mac SE with an 800K internal disk and a Prodigy board made
by Levco. I tried to upgrade to an internal SuperDrive but the newer
drive was incompatible with the Prodigy board. Is there an external
drive that is SuperDrive capable?
Gary Hartling (hartling@NOSC-TECR.arpa)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 11:48:34 PST
From: Les_Ferch@mtsg.ubc.ca
Subject: System Software at Apple.com
In the last Info-Mac I stated that System 6.0.7 was not on Apple.com.
This was incorrect. It is there in pub/dts/sw.license. I was
looking in pub/dts/mac/sys.soft. Silly me - I assumed all Mac
software would be in the mac directory. The directory also holds
DiskCopy 4.1 and now has the TrueType stuff. Thanks Apple.
On the down side though, ResEdit is still not on Apple.com.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 14:36 EDT
From: "G. Watts -- Rochester" <WATTS@urpas>
Subject: Tex vs WYSIWYG...
Hi y'all,
Thought I would put my 3 cents worth on this subject.
Recently,. A Siegman uploaded a document comparing TeX to WYSIWYG. He makes
a few good points -- TeX is *THE* way to typeset equations. Nothing on the
Mac, in my experience, comes close. However...
I don't think TeX is simple to learn. I have been using it for about 4
years, or so, and still run to the manual (well written, by the way). I think
that Word, PageMaker, etc. make the layout of a page a breeze. They also
invite experimentation -- much tougher in the ASCII environment of TeX.
In short -- if you are doing a math or physics or tech. paper with lots of
formuli and other messy stuff, consider TeX. Once you learn it... Otherwise,
I like WYSIWYG (and would use it more if I had a Mac on my desk at work!).
Gordon Watts
BITNET: watts@uorhep
INET: gwatts@rutphy.rutgers.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 10:52:45 EST
From: Glenn Fleishman <FLEGLEI%YALEVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Type 1 to 3 & Evolution; Cheap printers
Paul Baim recently made two suggestions:
1. About Type 1 to 3 conversion or vice-versa. Paul suggested Evolution
>From Image Club in Canada. I would politely say that it is a waste of
money to purchase it. If you are doing serious font work (design, etc.)
then purchase Fontographer 3.2 which reads and writes Type 1 and
Type 3 format & supplies hinting for Type 1 as well. I have found it
(well, version 3.1 which does much the same thing but not as well; I'm
waiting for the upgrade) to work without a hitch. My type looks better
& I've found only one obscure non-standard Type 3 font it couldn't
convert.
Also, Altsys is on the verge of releasing Metamorphosis Professional
2.0, which will convert IBM Windows & ATM-compatiable, Mac Type 1, Type 3,
and TrueType, and NeXT fonts across all of these platforms & formats.
I don't know the list price. Metamorphosis 1.0 (which was upgraded free
to 1.5) was about $150. Image Club's program was US$108. It was also
vaporware for six months while I had it on backorder (Image Club's
program, that is) & every time I called, they said, "two weeks." I don't
this should be encouraged either.
2. The TI Microlaser PS 17. I've had one for a month & found it to live
up to all of Paul's statements. I use a number of fonts & do TIFF image
processing, so I bought an extra meg, giving it 2.5M & got the whole
shebang for $1700 including shipping. I would say, don't buy the PS 35
which comes with the 35 standard fonts, because you could buy Adobe's
ATM Plus package which comes with the 18 fonts not in the PS 17 for about
$100. The general price difference between the PS 17 and 35 is about $200.
I don't work for Altsys, Adobe, or TI. I work for Yale University.
boola.boola...Glenn_fleishman@yccatsmtp.ycc.yale.edu
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 18:23:10 EST
From: Murph Sewall <SEWALL%UCONNVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Vaporware column
As traffic for this digest gets heavier, it becomes hard to justify space
for long messages. Hence, as of Feb, the Vaporware column has been moved
to the digest subdirectory in the info-mac archives.
10038 Jan 29 11:59 ./digest/vaporware-02-91.txt
14548 Feb 25 16:34 ./digest/vaporware-03-91.txt
Back issues also can be retrieved by email from LISTSERV@RiceVM1.Rice.Edu
(subject ignored)
$MAC GET VAPORWARE-03-91.TXT
I'll send a one liner to this digest when I've mailed future columns, so
you'll know to look for it if your interested. The April column will
be mailed in about two weeks.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 91 13:46:00 EDT
From: "J BANKS" <banks1@ncf.al.alcoa.com>
Subject: X-Y Plotting With Excel
>Did anybody already try to compose math graphs in excel. I explain: I
>thonk excel is only made for financial graphing.
You can and it's actually very easy, but it is surprising how few people know
how to do it. A few tips...
The most fundamental thing is that for normal scientific X-Y plots, you need to
select "Scatter Plot" from the Gallery menu and NOT "Line Plot" the way most of
us are inclined to do at first. Then you will get standard Cartesian plotting
like you want. In spit of the term Scatter Plot, you CAN connect your points
with various types of lines with or without symbols by using the Patterns dialog
box under the Format menu.
A very powerful feature of Excel plotting that hardly anyone uses is the fact
that curves on a plot are determined by SERIES formulas of the form
=SERIES("Title", X axis data reference, Y axis data reference, order #)
Often times the easiest way to plot with Excel is to get your data entered into
a worksheet or worksheets and have the data work sheets open. Then instead of
trying to Copy and Paste data into a Chart document simply open a chart document
and type =SERIES then just fill in the formula. The title can be a text string
you type yourself or you can click in a cell in your data worksheet and Excel
will enter the reference to that cell for you. To enter X and Y ranges just go
to your work sheet(use the Window menu) and drag through them or better yet if
you have used named ranges you can use "Go To..." and double click on the name.
You don't have to fill in the order # unless you want to rearrange your curves.
Remember, once you have a SERIES formula created you can copy it then paste it
back into the formula bar where you can modify it to easily add additional
curves to your plot. This is especially useful when you have data lets say in
columns B through F that you want to plot against X values in column A. Once you
begin directly creating and editing SERIES formulas yourself, the possibilities
are endless. Try it.
On last thing about excel plotting (really excel in general). Macros are really
easy to create and use. If you do a lot of plotting it will pay you back big
time to create a macro to set up your standard plot type including custom
modifications to axis styles, frames, legends, fonts for axis labels, titles,
etc. If you use excel a lot are no doubt many little odds and ends that you do
often where Macros could save you time. It takes a little time to learn how to
use them effectively, for me it was time well spent.
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End of Info-Mac Digest
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