Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (08/11/90)
Info-Mac Digest Fri, 10 Aug 90 Volume 8 : Issue 140
Today's Topics:
Apple's Supportools Program
Color for SE/30's, Used Macs
Comm program for videotex?
Date cdev
Date Format in Word
Does a DeskWriter server exist? Will a DeskWriter last in a lab?
Info-Mac Digest V8 #137
Japanese Language Wordprocessing
Postscript file???
Rebuilding fonts
SE Updgrades
Sharing a Laserwriter with IBM's
SHECOM COMPUTERS take 2
SIXEL to PICT code needed
solution to disappearing files
Strange Mac Plus Problem (clicking noise)
Technote 41
XMODEM
Your Info-Mac Moderators are 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 are in /info-mac/help. Indices are in
/info-mac/help/recent-files.txt and /info-mac/help/all-files.txt.
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, 24 Jul 90 12:03:11 EDT
From: "Sue Hay (tm)" <SUEHAY@brownvm.brown.edu>
Subject: Apple's Supportools Program
I'm curious - what do all you Apple Supportools Coordinators out there
(either Technical or Resource) think of Apple's Supportools program?
Is it helpful? Informative? Interesting? Worthwhile?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Susan E. Hay *
* User Services Specialist/Apple Supportools Coordinator *
* *
* Computing & Information Services phone: 401-863-7302 *
* Brown University internet: suehay@brownvm.brown.edu *
* Box 1885, 115 Waterman Street bitnet: suehay@brownvm *
* Providence, RI 02912 applelink: suehay *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 19:16 EDT
From: <RMANGALD%CLARKU.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Color for SE/30's, Used Macs
This is the summary of the replies I received regarding my query
for (a) upgrading an SE/30 to color and (b) for used Mac dealers. Thanks
to all who took the time to reply.
(a) Micron sells an 8-bit card for the SE/30 for approx. $395, and
it works with the Apple 13" RGB monitor; for 24-bit color, the RasterOps
ColorBoard 264 is a relatively inexpensive option at approx. $695, and
it also works with the Apple monitor. Its bigger brother, the ColorBoard
364, is a lot more expensive at approx. $1,395 for the card alone, but
has some fancy features (check out the August MacUser). There are other
color options for the SE/30 as well, but I only received replies from
owners of the Micron and the ColorBoard 264.
For myself, I've decided that I like color too much, so I'm
going to get a Mac IIci when the price comes down a bit -- at
educational prices, it's a great buy at $3,081, but that's a tad more
than I care to spend right now. But it comes with built in 8-bit color
video, among other things (built in 32-bit QuickDraw, 32-bit clean ROMs
which use the 68030's PMMU, etc.).
(b) For used Macs, the following names were mentioned:
i. "Shreve Systems (the name may be slightly off) out of
Shreveport. Find their ads in the small sections of the Mac
mags, as well as in MacWeek. I cannot vouch for them
personnally, but I do know they have been in business for at
least 5 or 6 years and that says something. There is also a
business that is based in Compuserve if you have access. It is a
three letter command like Go BCE or something close to
that.... One more comes to mind, SUN Remarketing who sell used
Macs (I think they do) as well as (for sure) Lisa's, Mac XL's
and other out-dated Apple Products. They have been around a
while too."
-- Ab Kuenzli
ii. "If you are looking for good prices on Macintosh and IBM call
U.S. Computer Connection at (203) 356-0444. They are located in
Connecticut and offer great savings and a lot of help. They
helped me when I was upgrading my Macintosh."
-- Garry Feldman
And finally, Greg Trimper managed to put together a Mac Plus for
$200 (yes, that's "two zero zero") by buying a used Mac 128k for $100
and getting the Mac Plus logic board from someone else for another $100!
I don't think one can get much better than that!
Rahul Mangaldas.
bitnet: rmangaldas@clarku
internet: rmangaldas@clarku.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: 24-JUL-1990 15:18:43.68
From: RADFORD@FRGAG51.BITNET
Subject: Comm program for videotex?
Can anyone suggest a communications program that does CITT V23
Vidoetex (Minitel)? I've heard of a shareware program called
Com23. Could someone post it?
Thanks, Simon Radford
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 09:47:18 EDT
From: Bob Stewart <stewart@xyplex.com>
Subject: Date cdev
Maybe I'm dense, or maybe I'm impatient, or maybe I'm lazy, or maybe I'm too
busy, but I can't tell exactly how I'm supposed to package a binary for
submission. I stuffed it with StuffIt 1.5.1 and BinHexed it with BinHex 5.0.
Didn't look right to me, but I sent it as two files (I'm using a new mailer on
my Mac and couldn't figure out how to get it to concatenate them). The
Moderators said to use BinHex 4.0 or StuffIt 1.5.1 and send as one file so
the automatic software could do its thing.
A simple, clear procedure that doesn't assume one already knows how to do most
of it would be very helpful. The procedure I already have is insufficient.
Any good tech writers out there? It might increase the level of submissions.
Bob
-----------
Bob Stewart (rlstewart@eng.xyplex.com)
Xyplex, Boxborough, Massachusetts
(508) 264-9900
[Toss Binhex 5.0, it is really MacBinary. Use the Encode Binhex in
StuffIt 1.5.1. This is Binhex 4.0, the special 64 character ASCII code
that we use. Break the file up if you have to but label each piece in
the header as 2 of 5 or somesuch. Then sit back and wait. We don't
have enough time and energy as it is. We have also run out of disk
space. For each submission we have to toss something. It has become work.
-- Jon]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 07:53:44 MDT
From: ZZMLAB%UALTAVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Date Format in Word
Some time ago, I reqested information on how the format for the glossary
date stamp in Word 4 could be modified to suppress the day of the week.
Thanks to all who replied. I also received many requests by others who
wanted to do the same thing, so rather than reply individually, I will
summerize here.
Method 1: There is a cdev in the archives called Simon, which was recommended
by a number of people. I did not try this because I already have too many
INITs and because Method 2 seemed so much easier.
Method 2: Use ResEdit. The date format is controlled by a resource in the
system file. ResEdit 1.2 allows you to open this resource and modify it.
If you try this, be sure to make the changes on a copy of the system file,
as one slip of the mouse can ruin your whole day.
- open the system file with ResEdit
- open the resource labelled "itl1"
- open "US" id=0
This will display a Mac-like window filled with buttons, fields and popup
menus that allow you to modify the date format any way you want. To prevent
the day from being displayed with the date, click the Suppress Day button.
Save the changes and quit.
Its as simple as that. Be sure to use ResEdit 1.2 or you won't get the
buttons and popups.
Reg
[This affects the whole system. Copy the itl1 to Word and change it
there for the effect to be local to Word. -- Jon]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 09:23 CDT
From: GASTINEJ%LAMB@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Does a DeskWriter server exist? Will a DeskWriter last in a lab?
I am setting up a small Mac lab that will be used more for data acquisition
and computing than for word processing its heavy printing load, and so have
decided to experiment with using a couple of DeskWriters rather than a
LaserWriter. At less than $700 educational, and with a reasonable warranty,
the things are essentially disposable. So, two questions:
1. Does anyone out there have experience with using DeskWriters
more heavily than HP's 50 page/day maximum?
2. Is there a print server that can run on the same machine as
AppleShare like Apple's Printer Server software? The Apple
server only recognizes Apple printers. I'm interested in a
*server*, not a spooler than runs on all N machines.
Reply to me, and I'll summarize to the net. Thanks!
John Gastineau
Asst. Professor of Physics
Lawrence University
Appleton WI 54911
gastinej@lawrence.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 07:06:48 GMT
From: minich@d.cs.okstate.edu (Robert Minich)
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V8 #137
> ... I've got 4 megs in the machine, so the memory test
> takes long enough that ...
If you hold the mouse button down while you power up the machine, it
will skip the RAM test. This saves so uch time on my 2048KE that I can
hardly bear to think about doubling it!
--
|_ /| | Robert Minich |
|\'o.O' | Oklahoma State University|
|=(___)= | minich@a.cs.okstate.edu |
| U | - Ackphtth |
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 90 19:42:19 +0100
From: J.Pearce@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Subject: Japanese Language Wordprocessing
I would greatly appreciate any information regarding Japanese language
wordprocessing on the Macintosh (hiragana,katakana,kanji), including
system software and applications, and of course fonts for printing.
Many thanks,
John R. Pearce
jpearce@uk.ac.ucl.cs
Computer Science Department
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
England
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 10:05:56 EDT
From: tblake%vaxa.dnet@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas R. Blake)
Subject: Postscript file???
>(Roger Kaplan) writes:
>> I know that to capture a Mac's attempts at sending to a postscript
>>printer in a file, you press Command-F while you press "OK" on the
>>Laserwriter Print screen.
>
>Am I missing something here - I try this Command-F trick and nothing
>happens - it still trys to print to the laserwriter (I have version
>5.2 of the laserwriter prep and driver and version 6.0.2 of the system.
>
>I should mention that I actually don't have a laserwriter hooked up to
>the mac (this is why I want the Postscript, so I can download it to an
>Appollo).
>
>I would appreciate email as this is for my thesis, due real soon!
Graham,
Okay, the key here is... don't press the key *while* clicking OK. Press it
immediately *after* clicking OK and _hold_it_down_ until you see a message that
a PostScript file is being created. (Command-F is not needed, just "F" will
do. If you want the LaserPrep included then use Command-K). This method has
worked flawlessly for me many times.
If you don't like this foolishness, download 'MyPageSetup" from the
Info-Mac archive (Sumex-Aim.Stanford.EDU). MyPageSetup among other wonders
will make a check-box visible on the print dialog to create a "Disk File".
After using MyPageSetup, choose Print, click in the magic box, and then click
OK. As I recall this will not include the LaserPrep with the file, (I'm not
certain).
Tom Blake
SUNY-Binghamton
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 18:37 EDT
From: <RMANGALD%CLARKU.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Rebuilding fonts
Hello, folks:
Does anyone know how to recover a font file from a LaserWriter
II NTX's hard disk? Due to a disk crash, the only surviving copy of a
custom font is on a II NTX's hard disk; I'd like to get it back to my
Mac in the original downloadable font file format.
Rahul Mangaldas.
bitnet: rmangaldas@clarku
internet: rmangaldas@clarku.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 11:08:47 EDT
From: r.aminzade@lynx.northeastern.edu
Subject: SE Updgrades
George Lai (ST701640@brownvm.brown.edu) writes:
>You can sell your SE to one of those companies which buy them
>at 50% their actual value and then sell them at 130% the price they paid you.
One other alternative that has made me happy more than once would be
a classified advertisement. The WANT ADvertiser here in boston has
extensive ads for used Macs at very reasonable prices, and I've also sold
stuff through them very successfully at higher prices than used computer
dealers would offer. It always amazes me how quickly a new machine shows
up as used! They get a 10% commission, but not until the sale is made.
Might even be worthwhile for someone from far away to advertise in
it (or an equivalent one in SillyClone valley..). I've got their address
and phone somewhere here...
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 12:20 EDT
From: RAFST3@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: Sharing a Laserwriter with IBM's
Hello out there. I hope someone can help me with some advice.
Here's the scoop: I (we) have a Mac IIcx with a Laserwriter IINT.
We also have a few IBM computers (a 386, a 286 and some XTs). We
would like them to share the laserwriter with the mac. I know I
can get appletalk boards, but what else is neccessary? How well do
these work? Has anyone had experience with such things?
I've thought about some sort of small network, but cost is a major
problem for us. We can't afford to buy a new mac to use as a
server, but we could give up the IBM '286 if we could use it well.
Has anyone out there ever run into the DaynaNet system? I think
that this might be possible solution, but I'd like to get more
information. This would allow us to do some file-sharing, but the
main point is printer sharing.
In summary: any experience with sharing a laserwriter between a
Mac and 1 or more IBM compatibles would be appreciated.
Please reply to me, and I will summarize to the net if I get some
good answers. Thank you, in advance, for any help that might come
my way.
Read Fritsch
University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh Cancer Institute,
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
RAFST3@VMS.CIS.PITT.EDU
"I'm falling, and I can't get up......"
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 90 20:02 CDT
From: "Greg Trimper, Stark Raving" <TRIMPERG%LAWRENCE.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: SHECOM COMPUTERS take 2
I recently posted a message about buying memory from
Shecom Computers. After a week, I was finally able to corner
the one person who handles returns, as she had made no attempt
to contact me. It seems that she only works after noon pacific time,
and only on M, W, and F. Ok, well, I finally called, and
explained the defective SIMMS, and she gave me an RMA and said to
ship the SIMMS to them, and they would return new ones. I said
"COD, of course?" and she said "No." I said "Yes." I was put
on hold. Two minutes later, I was told "Ok, send them COD,
and we will try to get you new ones within 2 wks." So, they
are in the mail, I consider the problem resolved. However,
I feel that I could not recommend Shecom Computers to anyone
due to the lack of service and their apparent attempts
to avoid my return.
let the buyer beware,
greg trimper
TRIMPERG@LAWRENCE.bitnet
"Disclaimer: n. a disclaiming; denial; rejection."
------------------------------
Date: 24 Jul 90 16:58 GMT
From: LAICHI.SPT@applelink.apple.com (Axis, Hector Rojas, Chile,ICC)
Subject: SIXEL to PICT code needed
In a project I am working on I need to include translation of graphics in SIXEL
format to PICT format. I've been following the discussion about SIXEL to PICT
on this forum with interest, but there remain a couple of questions:
Has anybody seen/used the SIXEL <-> PICT translator in the DEC Lanworks
package? I need to _include_ the translation in my application; a separate
utility won't do. I don't mind writing the interface code to call the
translator, from HyperCard for example, but the translator has to be callable
>From another program.
If that won't work, can anybody tell me how difficult it would be for me to
write my own translator? Where can I get the SIXEL format?
Thanks for your help,
-- Thomas Fruin Apple Chile
AppleLink: LAICHI.SPT (laichi.spt@applelink.apple.com)
------------------------------
Date: Sat 7 Jul 90 15:48:03-EDT
From: C. David Young <DYOUNG@A.ISI.EDU>
Subject: solution to disappearing files
Dear Netters,
You may have seen the recent message concerning my encounter with the
disappearing files syndrome. I am happy to report that I have
successfully repaired my hard disk directory and the solution turned
out to be very simple, just a matter of changing 2 bytes that had
gotten clobbered in the Catalog B-Tree. I wish to thank Jay Lieske
(jhl@naif.jpl.nasa.gov) for reporting his earlier encounter with this
beast. Even though his solution is a lot more complicated than
necessary (at least in my case), he did provide me with enough
information to get started. I will describe my solution here in the
hopes that somebody else may find it useful under similar circumstances.
Since Jay mentioned Fedit+ in his note and I knew of no other sector
editor that might be better, I ordered it from MacZone ($28). This
program is quite satisfactory for this task, although it is 4 years old
and I feel could be a lot better. Its documentation includes a
description of the HFS file data structures that is much better than
the one found in Inside Macintosh, but I still found it hard to follow
(and I am a professional programmer who has written similar utilities
for other systems!). Does anybody know of a *clear* description of the
HFS data structures? Does anybody know of a better sector editor than
Fedit+? One that automatically follows the Extents and Catalog B-Trees
would be very helpful for this type of task.
I will not attempt a complete description of the HFS data structures
here, but instead concentrate on the data structure that was the key to
my problem, the Catalog B-Tree. Don't worry if you don't know what a
B-Tree is. It is sufficient to know that the Catalog B-Tree contains
an entry for every file and directory on the disk and enough control
information to maintain the hierarchical structure. Part of this
information is naturally the name of the file or directory, stored as a
Pascal string (a length byte followed by the characters of the name).
One way to find the Catalog B-Tree entry for a particular file or
directory is to do a sequential search of the disk for the name.
However, since the name can appear several places on the disk, I will
describe what a Catalog B-Tree node looks like so that you will
recognize it.
A B-Tree node is contained within one disk sector (512 bytes). If you
find a sector containing the name of the file or directory you are
interested in, the first 14 bytes of that sector will tell you whether
it is a B-Tree node or not. If it is a B-Tree node, these bytes will
look something like this:
0000 0212 0000 021C FF01 0003 0000
--------- --------- ---- ---- ----
| | | | |
| | | | +-- Unused (should always be zero?)
| | | +------- The number of records in this node
| | +------------ The first byte should be FF indicating
| | a "leaf" node and the next byte should
| | be 01, the B-Tree level of a leaf
| +-------------------- Link to previous B-Tree node
+------------------------------ Link to next B-Tree node
While these numbers will be different for every node, the key to look
for is FF01. If you find a sector containing the name of the desired
file or directory and bytes 8 & 9 are FF01, it is probably the Catalog
B-Tree node containing the record for that file or directory.
Following these 14 bytes are one or more B-Tree records, one for each
file or directory contained in this node (sector). I won't describe
these records in detail except to say that the first byte on an even
byte boundary following the ASCII name (the Pascal string is padded out
to an even number of bytes) specifies whether this is a file or
directory record. If it is a file record then this byte is a 2 (0200
since the following byte is always 00). A directory record has a
signature of 1 (0100).
My problem was that the 0200 of the file record had been overwritten
with some other arbitrary values. When I changed these 2 bytes back to
0200, the missing files suddenly reappeared (after closing the directory
window and reopening it). Whew!
Now, the reason all the files past this one in the alphabet disappeared
is that B-Tree records are chained together in order (in this case
alphabetical). If something happens to break the chain, all records
beyond the break will "disappear". However, I don't understand why the
File Manager is not more robust. In this case the links were perfectly
fine, just one of the records was a little strange. The File Manager
should just inform the user that the record is corrupted (maybe with
the sector and byte number to make it easy to find) and continue
following the links. At the very least a program like Disk First Aid
should give you this information. However, when I used it to verify
the volume (and used cmd-S to see what was going on), it said it was
checking the Catalog B-Tree and then stopped with a message something
like "Unable to complete check". At least this confirmed my suspicion
that the Catalog B-Tree was messed up.
I would be interested in hearing from people who have had similar
experiences, especially if you can recommend other tools for performing
this kind of operation.
David Young
dyoung@a.isi.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 09:19:55 PDT
From: Glenn Trewitt <trewitt@wrl.dec.com>
Subject: Strange Mac Plus Problem (clicking noise)
I had a similar problem with a Mac 512KE that I resurected from the
dead, a while ago. My recollection is just a bit fuzzy, and I'm hoping
that I'm not confusing two separate problems. Here goes...
My symptoms, if things went bad when I powered up, were the same as
yours: clicking noise after it displayed the disk icon on the screen,
although I recall that the floppy drive ran incessantly. (Perhaps you
can't hear that noise over the fan?) And, it wouldn't boot. If the
problem didn't appear immediately, then some time later, the mac would
behave as if the mouse button was being pressed repeatedly (not
continuously, which would have had different "dragging" effects).
Obviously, I didn't have a hard drive, so if you do, that might affect
the situation -- you might be able to boot even with the problem.
The fundamental problem was that the Mac thought that the mouse button
was being pressed, either continuously or at regular intervals. This
occurred because the mechanical mouse switch is connected directly to a
TTL input, with no pullup resistor. I soldered a 2.7K pullup resistor
on the logic board, right at the mouse connector. This fixed the
problem nicely.
Such problems (floating logic levels) are often brought to light when
there's noise in the power supply or in the environment. I didn't find
unacceptable noise my the +5V supply, but it doesn't take much. This
could be why your problem appeared after a power supply alteration.
Glenn Trewitt, Digital Equipment Corporation, Network Systems Laboratory
{ucbvax,decvax}!decwrl!trewitt USENet
trewitt@nsl.DEC.COM Internet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 01:23:35 (GMT)
From: Sak Wathanasin <sw@network-analysis-ltd.co.uk>
Subject: Technote 41
Apropos my request for an undamaged copy of TN41: just this morning, I
received a) my CD-Rom drive b) a copy of the latest "d e v e l o p" (no 3).
On the develop CD was the latest set of Technotes (Jun 90) and it contains
an updated version of TN41, which MacWrite II can convert. I should imagine
that the Jun TNs are available from the usual places (eg apple.com).
Many thanks to everyone who responded. I knew I could rely on info-mac (:-).
--
Sak Wathanasin
Network Analysis Limited
uucp: ...!ukc!nan!sw
other: sw@network-analysis-ltd.co.uk
phone: (+44) 203 419996
telex: 9312130355 (SW G)
snail: 178 Wainbody Ave South, Coventry CV3 6BX, UK
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 90 10:34:19 EDT
From: blount@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Subject: XMODEM
Does anyone have a description of the XMODEM protocol? I need something
that says "Receiver starts by sending a NAK, then the sender sends
a SOT, followed by a packet in the following format..." or similar
low level description.
Please reply directly to blount@media-lab.media.mit.edu, as I do not
read this list.
Thank you,
Alan Blount
------------------------------
End of Info-Mac Digest
******************************