Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (01/23/90)
Info-Mac Digest Mon, 22 Jan 90 Volume 8 : Issue 13
Today's Topics:
AppleTalk / LAN / '020 upgrades, etc.
BattleShip
Boomerang and MasterJuggler
Building Postscript fonts
Camera DA patch
Chinese softword on Macintosh
command keys in HyperCard
DA to read TEXT, MacWrite, MSWord?
Dialog 1.0
Disk Express II
Does it pay to write shareware
Help: Serial Printer Driver
Hypermedia Navigation / Orientation
Info-Mac Digest V8 #11
Networking PDP11
Postscript to disk...the generic way
Printers on EtherTalk
RTF format
SIMM's
WindowShade / MSWord 4 CRASH!
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: Thu, 18 Jan 90 10:04:06 PST
From: dplatt@coherent.com
Subject: AppleTalk / LAN / '020 upgrades, etc.
o We are planning to increase our local Mac LAN to 37 nodes (up from
12). With the increase in network load, I am afraid that our lil
ol' SE wont be able to cut de mustard.
It's worse than that, I'm afraid. 37 nodes exceeds both the Apple
limits on nodes-per-LocalTalk-network (32), and the practical limit on
the number of nodes per network that can be doing file-access across
the net at any one time (12-15 or so in practice, from what I've
heard). If you try to configure a network with 37 nodes, all accessing
a single server, the resulting network will run like a pig no matter
how fast the server is, and portions of it will probably not work
reliably at all. LocalTalk's transmission speed is less than 30k bytes
per second; if you try to get 20 or more machines to perform network-
based disk I/O simultaneously, the network will strangle itself.
Also... it's likely that no one single-thread server machine (e.g.
AppleShare or TOPS server) can give you the throughput that you want.
The Mac's SCSI Manager is neither interrupt-driven nor reentrant nor
DMA-based... it can handle only a single request at a time, and ties up
the Mac during disk seeks and data transfers. A big RAM-cache can buy
you some improved throughput... but I think you'll find that even a
fast Mac II will bog down pretty badly if it tries to handle heavy I/O
serving for three dozen Macs at once.
The cheapest way to provide reliable and effective service for three
dozen Macs is probably to set up three different LocalTalk networks,
and have one server-machine located on each network. Duplicate the
file-storage as necessary. Have the client Macs on each network use
the file-server on that network. If you need to support cross-network
access to printers, etc., use an internetwork bridge to connect the
nets... and put each net in a separate administrative zone, so that
people are encouraged to access the file-server on their own network
rather than one of the other ones (which would be accessible via the
bridge).
Another possibility exists. If you have a BSD Unix machine (a Sun is
excellent), an EtherNet, and a Kinetics or Cayman Localtalk-to-Ethernet
gateway box, you can run an AppleShare-compatible file-server on your
Sun. You might, for example, set up a Sun to act as a central server,
set up two or three LocalTalk networks, and connect these nets to your
Ethernet with two or three Kinetics Fastpath-4 gateways. The AppleShare
server (Aufs, part of the CAP package from Columbia University) is free;
it takes some work to set it up, but once operating it's pretty much
trouble-free.
o I need any information relating to the Jasmine Products, and the
DirectServer in particular. Anything and everything will be
appreciated. Please include information about their service record
where possible.
I don't believe the DirectServer has been on the market long enough to
have a real track record. Jasmine themselves have a mixed history...
they once had a top-notch reputation for service, but ran into some
serious snafus a year or so ago and have fallen from grace. There have
been a number of horror-stories on the net, written by people who have had
their drives in for service for _months_, and have been unable to get
them serviced successfully. I understand that ComputerWare (formerly a
major Jasmine dealer) has dropped the product-line, due to Jasmine's
inability to provide acceptable levels of support. I've heard more recent
reports that the situation is improving, but I'd still be a bit leery of
"betting the farm" on a Jasmine-based solution.
Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 493-8805
UUCP: ...!{ames,apple,uunet}!coherent!dplatt DOMAIN: dplatt@coherent.com
INTERNET: coherent!dplatt@ames.arpa, ...@uunet.uu.net
USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303
------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 90 0:04 -0600
From: "C. Carlson" <umcarls9@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
Subject: BattleShip
This is the game of Battleship.
You can play it against the computer or a local opponent.
If you pay the $5.00 fee the author requests you can play it
over the modem or Appletalk network <or so the instructions say>.
Thanks to R.Scott.V.Patterson@mac.dartmouth.edu for digging it
up and sending it to me.
[Archived as /info-mac/game/battleship.hqx; 70K]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 10:08:47 PST
From: hayp04@csa1.lbl.gov
Subject: Boomerang and MasterJuggler
CB Lih asked about the conflict of Boomerang and MasterJuggler. There are
two ways to solve the problem. One is to get Boomerang 2.0, which I tested
with MJ 1.2 to find no problem. The other is to use the Control Panel and
and disable Boomerang in MJ DA. (In the Control Panel, set the popup menu
to Exclude (which is what you see when you opened the Control Panel), then
hit Add DA button, then select MJ. Boomerang is disabled in MJ).
Hiro / Author of Boomerang
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 18:59:32 -0900
From: "DANIEL K LASOTA" <FTDKL%ALASKA.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Building Postscript fonts
Hi everyone,
I'm looking for info on fonts and font builders. I need to build
a font for carbonate sedimentology. There's about a zillion little
symbols for the little critters that can be found. For report generating
purposes I need a Postscript font.
I know that Fontographer exists and that it produces postscript code for
font generation but would like some more info. Can it produce bitmapped
screen fonts also?
How easy is character generation etc?
Thanks for any info. I'll summarize to the net.
Dan LaSota
FTDKL@ALASKA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 23:18 EST
From: <UN107065%WVNVMS.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Camera DA patch
Does anyone has a patch to the Camera DA which allows it to work
under system 6.0.3.
Please reply to:
Neil Hazari
un107065@wvnvms.wvnet.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 16:08:35 EST
From: wang@pennmess.physics.upenn.edu ( Huangxin Wang)
Subject: Chinese softword on Macintosh
Can anyone give a list or review on Macintosh Chinese software? Mac seems
to be perfect for Chinese word processing. I get this impression from
the Chinese system, which works MacWrite, MacPaint or some other Mac
application. Actually I can use it even without a manual! It is very easy
and quick from Pin-Yin (I guess there is also version for Taiwanese)
to sort out the character you want. I use it for editing a newsletter.
There are some problem with the system I mentioned above:
(1) The character is 16 x 16, thus it looks not so good.
(2) There is problem with MSWord (always give a wrong tab, maybe MSWord has
trouble understanding the hidden code of the Chinese characters).
(3) If the system is installed on the hard disk, then after idling for
some hours, the system seems to be clotted (very slow in sorting out
the characters or display screen).
Anyone has a clue of what's going on?
Huangxin Wang of University of Pennsylvania
------------------------------
Date: Thu 18 Jan 90 10:17:11-MST
From: "Eric C. Kofoid" <BI.KOFOID@science.utah.edu>
Subject: command keys in HyperCard
Hypercard, for some reason, does not allow the command or
option keys to send standard trapable messages. Instead, the messages
sent by these two keys bypass the entire Hypercard hierarchy and
go directly to the program or the operating system.
This makes it impossible to create keyboard command
equivalents except by redefining the existing ones with an "on doMenu"
handler. This is a limited solution and inelegant, as the existing
commands are appropriate and should not be changed.
Has anyone a solution to this problem, perhaps using an XCMD
which traps the nonstandard messages? I don't want to use the control
key message, as many Mac users still have the smaller Mac+ keyboards.
I suspect that the prerelease versions of HyperCard *did* send
standard commandKey and optionKey messages, as many of the earlier
books - probably written from experience with beta versions -
described them as such. A case in point is Dan Shafer's "HyperTalk
Programming" (Hayden Books).
Cheers,
Eric.
==================================================================
][ Eric Kofoid ][ Internet: ][
][ Department of Biology ][ BI.KOFOID%SCIENCE@UTAHCCA ][
][ University of Utah ][ BitNet: ][
][ S.L.C., Utah 84112 ][ BI.KOFOID@SCIENCE.UTAH.EDU ][
==================================================================
-------
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jan 90 18:44:12 GMT
From: rock@sun.com (Bill Petro)
Subject: DA to read TEXT, MacWrite, MSWord?
wang@pennmess.physics.upenn.edu ( Huangxin Wang) writes:
>Does anyone know of a DA which can read text, MacWrite as well as MSWord
>format files (Somewhat like an MSWord level DA). miniWriter can only read
>text. There another DA which can read MacWrite. I am writing a DA which
>displays the text part of ALL files, including MSWord file. But MSWord
>format and some MacWrite format characters are displayed as some junk
>characters.
> Thanks in advance.
> Huangxin Wang of University of Pennsylvania
Vantage DA, from Preferred Software (commercial version of the old
MacSink) will read TEXT and WORD files. The new 1.5 version is coming
out with more filters, but I haven't seen it yet and don't know about
MacWrite.
Bill Petro {decwrl,hplabs,ucbvax}!sun!Eng!rock
"UNIX for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" Matthew 19:12
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 90 13:54:25 -0500
From: bills@xait.xerox.com (Bill Stackhouse)
Subject: Dialog 1.0
Dialog - A Very-High Level Dialog Manager
Version 1.0 1/5/90
Copyright (C) 1986-1990 Bill Stackhouse
Introduction
Dialog is a series of objects and methods to manage a dialog. In addition to
simple dialog items such as buttons, radio items, and check boxes, support is
provided for the following:
- Drawing the bold oval around the default button.
- Groups of radio items, boxed with titles at top or on side of group.
- PopUp Menus.
- Adjusting PopUp Menus to align with a StaticText items.
- Adjusting List Items to exactly display a given number of items.
- Items in a scrolling list.
- User Items.
- Keyboard equivalents for any radio item, check box, or button.
- Change the cursor over to an I-Beam when over EditText items.
- Managing update events when dialogs or windows overlap the dialog.
Complex dialogs can be displayed and information retrieved from them with
a few simple lines of source code. While Dialog uses Object-Oriented techniques
in its' implementation, the interface is a simple and can be used in any
existing program without even modifiying the event loop.
Dialog is written using Think's Pascal 2.0 and contains about 2200 lines of
code which compiles into between 3K and 10K bytes of code. The size of the code
depends on which Dialog features are selected using compile time options. The
complete source files are included. Also included is a sample program (source,
project, and resource).
Dialogs is shareware and may be used in other shareware without royalty as
long as credit is given. I will attempt to answer questions and accept bug
reports by either E-Mail or US Mail. The shareware fee is $35. Please send
checks to:
Bill Stackhouse
13 Sawin Street
Natick, MA 01760
[Archived as /info-mac/source/pascal/dialog.hqx; 80K]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 16:29:59 CST
From: Graeme Forbes <PL0BALF@vm.tcs.tulane.edu>
Subject: Disk Express II
Thanks to all who responded to my query about Disk Express II. The consensus
among respondents was that release 2.03 is stable. On the other hand, one
respondent was suspicious of it - a bad block message he didn't believe -
and removed it from his hard disk. There is also Mike Taylor's message
in today's digest.
Since I'm currently quite happy to use my older DE a while longer, I
think I'll wait to see if there are any further 2.0x releases of II
before installing it.
Graeme Forbes
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 22:09:10 PST
From: John_Klippenstein@mtsg.ubc.ca
Subject: Does it pay to write shareware
I would appreciate it if shareware authors would send me information about
how much they have made from their software. Please send me email stating
the type of program, i.e. utility or game, amount of money you requested, and
the number of fees you received over what period of time. I ask because I
have considered releasing some programs as shareware, but am also considering
other alternatives. If I get enough responses and anyone expresses interest
in the results I will summarize for info-mac Thanks in advance.
(Perhaps some major Mac magazine should consider doing a survey of
sharware authors about the profitability of their ventures and what they
learned from the experience)
John Klippenstein
Internet: John_Klippenstein@mtsg.ubc.ca
Bitnet: userklip@ubcmtsg.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 21:28:16 CST
From: GR4486%SIUCVMB.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu (Jack S. Logan)
Subject: Help: Serial Printer Driver
Greetings.
I acquired a "Smith-Corona TextPrinter-I" sometimes ago and have not
been able to make any use of it: because I don't have a printer driver
for the Mac to support such a printer.
I like some of the features of this printer: daisy-wheel, film ribbon,
and, above all, very low cost. For what I am aware of, however, there
is no Mac driver specifically designed for it. Interestingly
enough, though, I happened to be able to print a few sentences from a
friend's Mac Plus at the time I tested the printer to buy it. For what
I can recall, I run the test with Word 1.5 with the driver "Typewriter".
But I never succeeded in replicating this on my SE.
Are there anybody that have any idea about how to keep the printer
useful? Of course I can use the LaserPrinter to achieve letter quality
printing. But, I also like the typewriter-like effects - especially
when I need carbon copies for business correspondences.
Any information is appreciated. To keep the board clean, please send
responses to me. I will summarize it if anybody else is also
interested. Thanks.
- Jack <GR4486@SIUCVMB.BITNET>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 90 15:00:24 NZD
From: A.Stenhouse@massey.ac.nz
Subject: Hypermedia Navigation / Orientation
Hi! I am currently doing my masterate in Computer Science and am intending
to do my thesis in the area of Navigating Hypermedia and implications for
the User Interface.
At the moment, I think that there are a variety of tools that need to be
provided to users in order to accomodate the varying needs of different
classes of users, tasks, etc. One of the many tools that seem to be
needed is a map facility which enables a user to see where they have been,
where they currently are, and where they may go from here. i.e. a
navigation / orientation facility.
As a special project, I am thinking of developing such a map facility
for HyperCard. However, I'm sure that someone must have attempted this
before, and if not then why not?
Would you share any ideas you have about all of this with me? I'd be very
grateful for any comments, suggestions, hints :-), etc. Or any suggestions
as to what might be a better / more interesting / more useful project?
Could you please reply directly to me at the address below. Thanks a lot!
Alan
* Alan Stenhouse | Phone +64 63 69099 ext. 8745
* School of Information Sciences | Fax. +64 63 505611
* Massey University | Internet: A.Stenhouse@massey.ac.nz
* Palmerston North | Hyperspatial Navigator
* New Zealand | D O N ' T P A N I C!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 90 11:45:18 GMT
From: Kevin 'fractal' Purcell <KPURCELL%liverpool.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk>
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V8 #11
>
>These results are not quite what I had expected !!! Amax seemed to be
>a lot faster than the real thing. So i tried to time some real
>programs in action: same result, amax about 25%-40% faster than a
>real mac.
>
>Consider these facts:
> *The amiga has an 68000 which runs at about 7.2 Mhz, the mac
> has an 68000 on about 7.8 Mhz
> *The mac refreches it's screen 60 times a second, slowing down
> the computer by 15%. The amiga is not slowed down by it's screen.
Doesn't the 68000 lose about half of its cycles to the vide and sound?
> * amax uses the actual mac+ roms , slightly patched to run on the different
> hardware of the Amiga. It runs the unchanged version of system 6.0.3
> So there should be no meaningfull software difference.
>
>
>The first two (*) should rule each other out. So why the big speed
>difference? (even faster than an SE!!!)
>
>The amiga costs about a quarter of a Mac+, and yet performs better.
Well we have been saying the Plues is overpriced for some time.
>I think that's outrageous !!!!
I agree -- you'll find similar (though not quite as dramatic) results for
the Spectre GCR Mac emulator for the Atari ST by Gadgets by Small.
Kevin 'fractal' Purcell
Surface Science Research Centre
Liverpool University
Liverpool L69 3BX
UK
BITNET/EARN/NETNORTH: KPURCELL@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK
(KPURCELL%UK.AC.LIVERPOOL@UKACRL)
INTERNET: KPURCELL@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK
(KPURCELL%LIVERPOOL.AC.UK@NSFNET-RELAY.AC.UK)
JANET: KPURCELL@UK.AC.LIVERPOOL
SPAN: RLESIS::CBS%UK.AC.LIVERPOOL::KPURCELL
UUCP: ....!mcvax!ukc!liv!kpurcell
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 20:39:29 EST
From: A Moiseff <MOISEFF%UCONNVM.BITNET@rice.edu>
Subject: Networking PDP11
Does anyone have experience networking a Mac (Localtalk) with a DEC
PDP11/73? The DEC runs RT-11 or TSX-Plus. The machines are presently
connected via RS232 using Kermit, but I would like the DEC to have
access to the Laserwriter and other network devices. I have seen adds
for various 'bridges' but am not sure if they will work. Any info, or
references to specific manufacturers would be welcome.
Acknowledge-To: <MOISEFF@UCONNVM>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 21:30:11 EST
From: daap10@uchcx
Subject: Postscript to disk...the generic way
Yes there is a generic way to get Postscript files; Set up the program
to print to the printer it will eventually come out on, get to the
print dialog box, Hit OK, and *Immediately* after you hit OK, hold
down the command and "F" keys. This may not work on all applications,
but I believe it is part of the laser printer chooser device, or some
such thing.
This produces a file called Postscript 0 (or a higher number if there
already is one, up to Postscript 9).
I think it puts this file in the current folder.
Disclaimer: I don't have opinions, but my facts are local to me.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=David Charles Todd, tHE mAN wITH tHREE fIRST nAMES: daap10@uchcx.san.uc.edu=
====The key is realizing the whole world is stupid and being happy anyway.====
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 10:19:27 PLT
From: Joshua Yeidel <YEIDEL%WSUVM1.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Printers on EtherTalk
Bob Bolt asks how to hang printers off his EtherTalk network. I know of
the following solutions:
1) Kinetics FastPath LocalTalk-Ethernet Bridge. This device transfers
packets between Ethernet at LocalTalk. Your printer stays on LocalTalk.
We have one set up and it works just fine. About $2500.
2) Cayman Gatorbox LocalTalk-Ethernet Bridge. This works like the Kinetics,
but extended software is available for file sharing (AppleShare -> NFS
protocol conversion), printer sharing ("lpr" -> AppleTalk), and mail
transfer (SMTP -> Microsoft Mail and others). About the same price as the
Kinetics, with the extended software extra. We are in the process of
ordering one of these for evaluation.
3) You could always hang your printer(s) off a Unix machine and run CAP
(Columbia AppletTalk Protocol), which makes Unix machines on your Ethernet
AppleTalk-capable. As I understand it, CAP is free or low-cost from
Columbia University (home of Kermit). Some people have reported that
installation of CAP is non-trivial (but then *everything* is non-trivial
in Unix :-> ). We have no experiece with this approach.
To reassure the suspicious: I have no connection with any vendor mentioned.
I am simply a person with a similar problem to Bob's who has been around
the horn an extra time.
- -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - --
Joshua Yeidel YEIDEL@WSUVM1.BITNET
Academic Computing Services YEIDEL@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu
Washington State University (509) 335-0441
Pullman, WA 99164-1226
DISCLAIMER: I'm speaking solely for myself here, not Washington State U.
-- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- -
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 08:24:49 EST
From: gall@nexus.yorku.ca (Norm Gall)
Subject: RTF format
<SAPER%HUXTAL.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> (Mark A. Saper) writes:
| Can anyone direct me to a reference describing the RTF interchange text
| format? It's syntax seems very similar to TeX.
call up Microsoft in Washington and have them send you the complete
specs for free.... I got mine by overnight courier!!!!
nrg
--
York University | "Philosophers who make the general claim that a
Department of Philosophy | rule simply 'reduces to' its formulations
Toronto, Ontario, Canada | are using Occam's razor to cut the throat
_________________________| of common sense.' - R. Harris
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1990 20:00:21 PST
From: Leslie Zatz <zatz@sumex-aim.stanford.edu>
Subject: SIMM's
I had good luck purchasing 8 - 1 mb SIMM's, 80 ns, at $89 each. They came
with a detailed installation manual and a Torx screwdriver for the Apple.
Ordered by phone from Technology Works, 512-794-8533, Att. PAUL DALTON. They
were suggested by SMUG.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 90 23:01:11 -0500 (EST)
From: "Robert George Johnston, Jr." <rj0z+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: WindowShade / MSWord 4 CRASH!
WindowShade 1.0 has a compatability problem with Microsoft Word and
Excel while running without MultiFinder.
WindowShade 1.1 of October 26, 1989 is the most recent version of
the program. Version 1.1 corrects the problem with Microsoft products
running under UniFinder.
If anyone has problems location a copy of WindowShade 1.1, please
let me know.
Rob Johnston.
Author of WindowShade.
------------------------------
End of Info-Mac Digest
******************************