Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (02/20/90)
Info-Mac Digest Mon, 19 Feb 90 Volume 8 : Issue 34
Today's Topics:
3.5" 20.9MB Floptical drive
3D display of medical images on Mac
ADSP Connection Listeners
A dumb keyboard question...
Allegro FF Interface - With C
Beagle Bros Flash
Ehman hard drives (Summary)
Epson printers and Macs, Grappler?
Faster software floating point
FKEYs wanted
Getinfo...
HD floppy misbehavior (vs DD)
Kermit downloads solved
Monitors for Mac+ machines
PICT or TIFF format?
Power Supplies in Platinum Mac Pluses
Problems With Print Monitor
Re Printing on VAXes
Resedit 'boot' TMPL
RR10:3
SUMacIP
Superclock 3.8 bug?
Writing on Macs vs PCs
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. Indicies 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: Fri, 16 Feb 90 15:40:05 EST
From: Jurgenb%UMass.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: 3.5" 20.9MB Floptical drive
3.5" 20.9MB FLOPTICAL DRIVE
I just got more information regarding the 3.5" 20MB floptical drive that was
the subject of a query to this list several weeks ago. Here is what I've
learned...
o The drive can store 20.9 megabytes of formatted information on a (special)
3.5" floppy disk. It uses a hybrid magneto-optical technology, with the
formatting information being permanently optically encoded into the disk
(servo tracks).
o The drive can also read and write standard 720K and 1.44MB floppy disks.
o Interface is via SCSI port, so it should work with any computer that
supports SCSI.
o The drive is "...far faster than standard floppy drives..." Presumably
it is still slower than a hard disk, since there are no claims to the
contrary in the manufacturer's literature.
o The manufacturer is...
Insite Peripherals
4433 Fortran Drive
San Jose, CA 95134-2302
Phone: (408) 946-8080
Fax: (408) 946-4403
o Insite Peripherals has licensed the technology to Iomega Corp. (the maker
of the Bernoulli Box) and OEM'ed the drive to a company called "Manzana
Microsystems, Inc." who are "marketing a high capacity storage subsystem
incorporating Insite's Floptical drive.
I also received a press release stating that the "Micro Standards Committee"
(formerly the 486 Standardization Committee) has endoresed the technology
used for the 20.9MB floptical drive as the new standard in very high density
storage media, preferring the Insite drive to drives made by NEC and Toshiba.
The committee issued a Draft White Paper stating: (quote)
(1) We encourage computer system manufacturers to immediately build a 20.9MB
format drive into their future high-performance systems, serving as the
single A: drive reading and writing 720KB, 1.4MB and 20.9MB diskettes;
(2) We encourage managers of microcomputers to immmediately purchase a 20.9MB
drive from one of several vendors [who? - jb] and evaluate it as a
standard removable storage medium for their companies; and
(3) We discourage system manufacturers from using limited drives with only
2.9MB capacity, which we find wholly inadequate when more reliable and
convenient 20.9MB drives are widely available. (end quote)
Disclaimer: I have no connections with or personal or financial interests in
the above mentioned companies or organizations. I would, however, also like
to see this "floptical" drive become a standard (rather than seeing it
become a "flop" ;-)
Icon and Jurgen Botz
signature Internet: JurgenB@UMass.bitnet (possibly temporary)
should be Compuserve: 70531,600 (70531.600@compuserve.com)
here. Some Voice: US (413) 256-8610
day! sigh. Snail Mail: 11 S. Prospect St., Amherst, MA 01002, USA
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 13:23:48 -0800
From: Michael Richardson <mrich@milton.u.washington.edu>
Subject: 3D display of medical images on Mac
A colleague of mine would like to take digital images like CT or NMR slices
and stack them together with some Mac program and display them. It would
be nice if the program allowed one to make certain tissues transparent or
translucent. There are programs on the Pixar unit we have that will go this,
but are accessible only via a UNIX wizard and are far from user-friendly
(barely expert tolerant).
Does anyone out there have enough experience with the Mac 3-D display packages
that are out there to answer my friend's questions?:
1. Can he read in an image matrix (raw gray scale data, though he could
probably get a slave (grad student) to trace important structures for him)
and display the stacked slices with the program?
2. Does the program have the ability to make certain tissues transparent or
translucent? I have read that one architecture CAD program for the Mac will
do this, but don't know how much of a pain this would be.
Please E-mail any answers to me at : mrich@milton.u.washington.edu
I will post a summary of any worthwhile info gleaned. Thanks.
Michael Richardson, M.D.
Department of Radiology
University of Washington
------------------------------
Date: Fri Feb 16 19:35:05 BST 1990
From: hippo%tardis.computer-science.edinburgh.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Subject: ADSP Connection Listeners
Anyone out there used an ADSP connection listener? I'm having a bit of trouble sorting out the relationship between the listener and the dspOpen / ocAccept reply to connect requests.
If you've had any experience of using ADSP, I'd love to hear from you ...
Please mail direct (I get info-mac via a very tortuous and not terribly reliable route) to hippo@tardis.cs.ed.ac.uk.
Thanks in advance,
-- Hugh Messenger
------------------------------
Date: Fri 16 Feb 90 08:37:56-PDT
From: Elliot Bennett <ELLIOT@star3.stanford.edu>
Subject: A dumb keyboard question...
Hello Mac-netters,
This is going to seem like a really dumb question, but has Apple released
a Keyboard II in the U.S.? I've got one sitting here in front of me in
W.Germany and unfortunately they've decided to adopt the ISO standard for
keyboards.
What this means is that instead of the shift key being next to the Z key,
I've got this stupid tilde key getting in my way every time I want to shift.
As if that weren't bad enough, they've made the return key smaller and put
the backslash in between the quote and return keys. The net effect is that
I wind up having to pick my hands up off the key board to reach those
(what appears to be in Apple's opinion SELDOMLY used) keys. Thanks guys.
Anyway, I was just wondering if this Keyboard II existed in the States and,
if so, if it too was as lamely designed (on the plus side, the keyboard is
AMAZINGLY quite and feels FANTASTIC to the touch WHEN my hands aren't flying
though the air to reach the shift and return keys :-). To avoid 4,000
responses to this inquiry, how about just replying to the net?
If it turns out that this keyboard does exist w/o the European faults, I'll pick
one up when I'm there next (I can't, of course, order it through my local Apple
dealer since they don't want people here getting the [CHEAPER U.S. products]
>From there ["life is hard, and then you die"]).
Thanks in advance,
Elliot Bennett
- lost in the MacWasteland of Mitteleuropa...
Elliot@star.stanford.edu
*** My opinions are my own- and then only rarely...
-------
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 1990 16:01-EST
From: Grumman Corporate Research Center@a.isi.edu
Subject: Allegro FF Interface - With C
Hello out there !,
Has anyone had any experience with using Allegro's Foreign Function Interface
on the MAc ? I am having problems using it to compile and run MPW C routines
from Lisp. To get the example to run ( with the software) I had to add an
additional library. Now I'm trying to get several routines (C) to run from
Lisp - all they do is printf a comment - and I'm coming up with undefined
entry points. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Happy hacking,
Jeff Rosenking (rosenking at A.ISI.EDU)
------------------------------
Date: 14 Feb 90 16:08:00 EDT
From: "MICHAEL R. ROMAN" <mikero@lns61.tn.cornell.edu>
Subject: Beagle Bros Flash
Has anyone out there heard about or had any experience with FLASH from Beagle
Bros. Software? It looks like it has a nice user interface, and the price is
right -- if it works as claimed, I'd say it's a fine product. Mail replies to
me directly, and I'll summarize to the net.
_______ Michael Roman
/ | Cornell University
| | Wilson Synchrotron Lab
_________/ | Ithaca, NY 14853
> |
/ * | NYNEX: (607) 255-0688
|______________ | BITNET: MIKERO@CRNLNS
`_ | INTERNET: MIKERO@LNS61.TN.CORNELL.EDU
`__| HEPnet/SPAN: LNS61::MIKERO = 44283::MIKERO (node 43.251)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 12:15 EDT
From: <RMANGALD%CLARKU.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Ehman hard drives (Summary)
Hello, Netfriends:
Here is the promised summary of the replies I received to my
question about Ehman hard drives; all ten messages I received were from
people who had bought Ehman hard drives of all sorts.
Everybody was very happy with their drives. One person
said that the documentation for the 44MB removable was terrible
and that the INIT that comes with it, which enables one to
mount/unmount cartridges at will, was buggy but supposedly a fix
was in progress (without the INIT, the Finder will not be able
to recognize a new cartridge, i.e., if you swap cartridges, the
Finder won't be able to tell the new one from the old one. If
you don't plan on swapping cartridges, you don't need the INIT).
Another person, however, was pleased with the manuals
for the 45MB internal, but cautions one to read the fine print:
apparently, everything *but* the drive mechanism is warranted
for two years, the mechanism itself being warranted for only one
year.
Two people had problems with the drives Ehman sent them;
both said Ehman was prompt and helpful in fixing the problem,
giving them the option to return the whole drive for a
replacement or sending them a replacement part.
In brief, everybody was satisfied with Ehman's drives,
reliability, support and service. Some people had owned their
drives for more than two years and they had performed
flawlessly. Also, Ehman ships PC Tools Deluxe from Central
Point Software with all their non-removable hard drives larger
than 20MB; it can be upgraded to the soon-to-be-released
MacTools Deluxe for $15 (for some reason, they don't ship it
with the 44R).
Since posting my original message, I received my own 44MB
removable and have been using it for the past three days. The
documentation is quite good: there are two manuals, a model-specific
installation guide and a general hard drive manual. The latter is
out-of-date and needs to be revised; it is also rather repetitive. I
haven't had any hardware problems so far, although the System supplied
with the drive refused to boot. Replacing the System cured the problem,
but I have been having system crashes now and then. These, however, may
have nothing to do with the drive hardware -- most likely some
incompatibility between the various INIT's I run and/or the SCSI driver
and/or the aforementioned mount/dismount INIT. Overall, however, I am
pleased with my drive and wish Ehman well.
Rahul Mangaldas.
BITNET: rmangaldas@clarku
Internet: rmangaldas@clarku.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 11:34 GMT
From: UDUS010%OAK.CC.KCL.AC.UK@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Epson printers and Macs, Grappler?
There are two products I have heard about in the UK recently.
One allows an Epson 9-pin (MX/FX/RX) type printer to give 24-pin quality
when sent ImageWriter LQ codes via a BBC Microcomputer's serial port.....
yes you heard right... if you have a spare BBC, a spare Epson, (paralllel)
you can send it stuff from the Mac's SERIAL port to the BBC serial port
using the LQ driver in the Chooser , and persuade the Epson to give you
24-pin quality when attached to the BBC parallel user port!!!
The second is Epson's own product (I think) that will drive 24-pin SQ and LQ
printers direct (ie a suitable new Chooser driver, presumably like the old...
and I think now defunct Epstart product).
Details on the first I have if anyone wants them... the second I saw reviewed
but can't remember where!
David Riddle
King's College London
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 07:10:36 PST
From: claris!drc@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Dennis Cohen)
Subject: Faster software floating point
In comp.sys.mac.digest Garrett Pelton writes:
>I read somewhere that a software floating point package existed for the MAC
>that was substantially faster the Apple SANE. It supposedly could be used
>with MPW C. Anybody know of such a package??
XMATH by d'ART Computer GmbH, Fleethorn, Germany. They are supposed to be
opening a US office shortly. It does 881 emulation in software if you
don't have an '881 in the machine.
--
Dennis Cohen
Claris Corp.
****************************************************
Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed above are _MINE_!
****************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 90 01:44:05 EDT
From: "Scott Cherkofsky (Crusader)" <LE865C%GWUVM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: FKEYs wanted
I want every FKEY ever made! I am dying to try them all out! I have
just recentyl gotten wind of these little beauties... they are great!
If you have any that you like, I am dying to get them! send small ones,
large ones, pink and blue ones... I want them all!!! Sumex-aim has
a little smattering of them... they are not enough! I am already going
through FKEY withdrawls!! Send more! A computer hacker is a terrible
thing to waste@!!
And thanyou for your support! please senf them in binhexed form or
as stuffit archives or both! I like them all! Thanks in advance.
If you send them to me, I will post all of them to the Sumex-aim archive
list.... Scouts honor!!!
__________________________________________________________ Scott Cherkofsky
"I will not fear. Fear is the Crusader Storm Front
little death the brings total Blood_Bowl Khorne
obliteration..." - Frank Herbert Cru Blood
____________________________________________________________________________
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 90 00:18:21 EST
From: Jean Brunet <R31631%UQAM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Getinfo...
Hi! Would someone be kind enough to tell me how can I change the version #
appearing in the GetInfo command at the finder level while using ResEdit.
Thanks in advance for your attention. Jean.
****************************************** **
* JEAN BRUNET * QQQ QQQ QQQ --------
* DEPT. DES COMMUNICATIONS * QQQ QQQ QQQ NETNORTH
* UNIVERSITE DU QUEBEC A MONTREAL (UQAM) * QQQ QQQ QQQ BITNET
* C.P. 8888, SUCC. 'A', MONTREAL, QC. * QQQ --------------
* CANADA, H3C 3P8 * QQQ R31631@UQAM.BITNET
* TEL: 514-987-4897/ res: 514-659-5864 * QQQ ------------------
****************************************** ******************
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16-Feb-90 13:00:06 PST
From: ws@cup.portal.com
Subject: HD floppy misbehavior (vs DD)
A friend gave me some High-Density floppies (Sony MFD-2HD). These
will format single-sided OK in the Mac Plus next door, but when
placed in my 512k, which still has 400K drives, nothing happens
(the drive does not begin to turn after swallowing the disk.) MFD-
2DD floppies work fine, of course.
As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two disks
is the cutout on the right corner of the floppy, and as far as I can
tell, there's no gizmo in the 400K drive to sense it. Can anyone
suggest how I can get the MFD-2HD disks to work in my 400K drive?
-wiley sanders
"ws@cup.portal.com"
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 12:00:21 CST
From: Marc Cooper <MAC566F%SMSVMA.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Kermit downloads solved
Many thanks to all for an explanation of my slow Kermit downloads and,
most particularly, the solution. It seems that the current release of CMS
supports 1k receive packets, but only 90 byte send packets. When I set the
receive packets to 1016 bytes in CMS and 1016 bytes in MacKermit 9.4 the real
download rate increased to 5500 baud. Not the greatest efficiency, but I
can live with it. MacKermit 9.8 however, with the same settings,
parity even/7
flow control off
time out 5 and 10 seconds
packet len. 1016 and 1500 bytes
produced NAKs from my Mac, and aborted file transfers.
Once again, thanks to all who responded.
P.S. I hope Ms. Hallio doesn't read net chatter. It would only strengthen
her arguments.
Acknowledge-To: <MAC566F@SMSVMA>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 10:43:34 EDT
From: Michael Feldman <MFELDMAN%GWUVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Monitors for Mac+ machines
Can anyone comment on any of the new monitors for Mac+ machines? I've
seen ads for Mirror Technologies, Nutmeg, Samsung, and others. Any
experience out there? I've been contemplating buying a Radius, but
wondered if the (much) cheaper ones are any good.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 11:46:53 EST
From: Robin Rohlicek <rohlicek@bbn.com>
Subject: PICT or TIFF format?
Can anyone point me to documentation of PICT or TIFF file formats for
binary images? I need to create image bitmaps under Unix and then
transfer them into Mac applications.
I don't subscribe to info-mac so please reply directly. I'll
summarize to info-mac.
Thanks,
Robin Rohlicek
BBN STC
Cambridge, MA
617-873-3894
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 20:16:57 GMT
From: Kevin 'fractal' Purcell <KPURCELL%liverpool.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk>
Subject: Power Supplies in Platinum Mac Pluses
Do the power supplies in the latest generation of mac pluses, have
enough power left to power a internal HD or am I asking for trouble. How
much spare power, if any, do they have?
Does anybody make an internal mounting kit for a hard disk in the Mac+.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 11:01:26 PST
From: eastman@csa6.lbl.gov (Jack Eastman)
Subject: Problems With Print Monitor
In Info-Mac Digest V8 #32 Rich Friedman writes:
>I have been having an interesting problem recently with my Print Monitor.
>We have a MacIIX with system 6.0.3 and 8 Megs. Until a few days ago we
>happily would send our files to be printed using the Print Monitor so that
>we could continue to work while waiting for the hard copies. Suddenly,
>Print Monitor stopped working. I replaced PM with a new copy, removed the
>spool folder, nothing.
>
>Does anyone have any ideas?
We too have had problems with the Print Monitor dying. We found that print
files were being spooled but not to the Spool Folder--they were going into the
System Folder itself, and the Print Monitor wasn't finding them.
This gave me a clue, so I looked at the System with ResEdit. I found in a
clean System file that 'STR ' resource #-8190 contained the string 'Spool
Folder', whereas in our failing System that string was empty. I typed in the
missing words, and moved the orphan spool files into the Spool Folder, and the
system began to print.
This happened not once but several times over the course of a couple of months.
As far as I can tell, it happens after using the MacPlot driver with Claris
CAD to print to a pen plotter. It's rare and sporadic, however, so I can't be
sure that that's the link.
Just hoping to confuse the issue a little further...
Jack Eastman
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Physics Division
eastman@lbl.gov
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 12:56 EST
From: John Scudder <JSCUDDER%WATSON.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Re Printing on VAXes
In addition to Alisa's stuff, Pacer Software also sells a suite of Mac<->VAX
software, including file serving, terminal, and print spooling. They also
have an MS Mail server in beta. We've had moderately good experience with
the software and the company here at Wooster. I don't have their address/
phone number handy, but if anyone needs it, contact me and I'll dig it up.
--John Scudder
JSCUDDER@WOOSTER
"My opinions are my own, not my employer's. My employer is capable of
forming his own opinions."
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 90 12:18:44 EST
From: ASMITH%PORTLAND.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Resedit 'boot' TMPL
>Date: Fri, 12 Jan 90 22:14:10 PST
>From: Les_Ferch@mtsg.ubc.ca
>Subject: Editing Boot Blocks
>
>I need a PD or Freeware program to edit the Max # of Open files setting
Try this: a 'boot' TMPL for ResEdit, with docs.
[Archived as /info-mac/tech/resedit-boot-tmpl.hqx; 9K]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 17:29 CDT
From: BENSMANM%MEMSTVX1.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: RR10:3
When I receive mail from our Vax I get the following:
Marvin R. Bensman NEWMAI
L
In other words, the last letter of the line is on the next line.
I've checked my manual and enrything I can think of under my
customize menue, but apparently I have it set somehow to get this
effect. Any help most appreciated. Plus, lately I get CRC Error
when attempting to unstuff or unbinhex files from Bitnet@PUCC
shadow of Info-Mac. Anyone know if that is related? Thanks!
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 90 05:29:31 GMT
From: gbrown@tybalt.caltech.edu (Glenn C. Brown)
Subject: SUMacIP
When will there be a revision of SuMac IP (Stanford University
Internet Protocol) available at sumex-aim.stanford.edu
which will run under system 6.03? I hear that the current
version runs only under 6.0, and not 6.01 to 6.04.
Thank you,
Glenn Brown (gbrown@tybalt.caltech.edu)
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 09:59:00 EDT
From: "SCOTT MCGUIRE" <smcguire@gmuvax.gmu.edu>
Subject: Superclock 3.8 bug?
Hello... I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this. I think Superclock
3.8 interferes with switch-launching to Multifinder (i.e. option-command-
double click on the Multifinder icon to run it), in that my system crashes
everytime I try to do this and have Superclock running.
I tried it without any other inits to make sure that Superclock was the
problem, I also tried all my inits without Superclock (it worked fine) and
then added Superclock back in (it didn't work again). Superclock works fine
with Multifinder if you set startup to Multifinder however.
I am using an SE/30 with system software 6.0.4. Perhaps there is a new version
that fixes this problem (which someone could send to the archives)? I cannot
contact the author becuase I do not have access to CompuServe. Thanks a lot,
--Scott McGuire
(internet) smcguire@gmuvax.gmu.edu
(bitnet) SMCGUIRE@GMUVAX.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 11:33:24 EST
From: "Hugh A. Huntzinger" (CCL-S) <huntzing@pica.army.mil>
Subject: Writing on Macs vs PCs
I've noticed that tech-type people seem to have a "preference" for macs.
I mention this because the study assumed the group to be homogeneous via
uniform (combined) SAT scores. The problem is is that this type of
person tends to have lopsided SAT scores - low english & high math. In
my example, 490 vs 710, a 30% desparity. Conclusions?
-hummer
------------------------------
End of Info-Mac Digest
******************************