[comp.sys.mac.digest] Info-Mac Digest V7 #211

Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (11/27/89)

Info-Mac Digest             Sun, 26 Nov 89       Volume 7 : Issue 211 

Today's Topics:
                        Appleshare freeze-ups
                        BinHex and, gasp, IBMs
                 CIS/GENIE/OTHERS VIA BITNET/INTERNET
                       correct cable schematic
                    Datadesk 101/Keyboard hacking
                      Dial-Up services for Macs
                          MacIS Information
                 printing clipregions on LaserWriter
                      Quick Compacter 1.0.2.hqx
                         Same picture twice.
                SCSI-driver.hqx -- Source and binaries
                         Startup Sounds Help
                          SuperCard and Plus
              System 6.0.4: The tribulations of one user
                           TN.31.The_Dogcow
                             WDEF example

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: Sun, 26 Nov 89 04:47:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Aaron Wohl <aw0g+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Appleshare freeze-ups

We have seen this in two cases:

a)Apple Share seems to want to controll every disk that is larger than
a floppy.  We have a microtech 45meg removable for backup.
With this drive attached to the system but no disk installed eventually
all the logged in clients and the server itself would appere to lock up.
It would however be answering it's keep alive network messages and
stay this way indefinetly.  We made up a removable disk and prepared
it for apple share.  After backups we install this dummy volume and
everything is fine.

b)If the network is in a strange state, perhaps packets going one way
but not the other the client will lock up.  Unpluging the appletalk
makes it come back or reseting the gateway between server and client.
Sorry I don't know more about this one, it doesn't happen very often.

Aaron

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Nov 89 18:42 EST
From: KSBOLDUAN%AMHERST.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Subject: BinHex and, gasp, IBMs

I know it's sacrilege but,

Is there a way for an IBM to UnBinHex something? Consider that you have
a file on your Mac from a program like Word Perfect or Excel that exists
happily in BOTH the Mac and MS-DOS worlds. In fact, the two kinds of
files are emminently compatible. And you want to send your Mac file to
your friend who has an IBM. If you BinHex it to get it into ASCII so that
it's easy to send, is there any way for the IBM (MS-DOS) to unBinHex it
so that he can use it? Or is there a much simpler way to transfer files
>From a Mac to IBM via telecommunications?

Thanks.

Kevin Bolduan '91 Amherst College
KSBOLDUAN@AMHERST Bitnet Adderss

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 26 Nov 89 16:06:52 EST
From: "Gerry Greenberg: 315-443-5378" <MAXG%SUVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: CIS/GENIE/OTHERS VIA BITNET/INTERNET

A colleague of mine told me he remembers seeing something here on
Info-Mac to the effect that it is possible to send mail to information
services such as CompuServe and Genie from networks like Bitnet or
Internet.  Does anyone out there recall such an article, or better yet,
how to do this?  Either post to the Info-Mac, or send me email direct
at: 1. maxg@suvm (bitnet) or 2. ggreenbe@rodan.acs.syr.edu (internet).
Thanks very much in advance...If I get a reply that works, I'll be happy
to share with others either via email, or I'll post to Info-Mac.
---Gerry

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Nov 89 15:34:59 EST
From: zben@umd5.umd.edu (Ben Cranston)
Subject: correct cable schematic

This is cut from the 200+ line canned file I usually send in response to
serial connection queries.  Note the offending connection is not present.
I can only assume the poster added it to make his configuration work...

Macintosh Plus to modem (or other DCE device):

  DIN 8 Male                            DB25 MALE

       GROUND 4 O--+--------------------O 7  GROUND
  RECV DATA + 8 O--+
  XMIT DATA - 3 O-----------------------O 2  TD
HANDSHAKE OUT 1 O--+
HANDSHAKE  IN 2 O--+--------------------O 20 DTR
  RECV DATA - 5 O-----------------------O 3  RD

Some modems might require additional signals.  Once you understand how
RS232 works it is not hard to design a cable for a specific application.
I have done cables to connect the Mac serial port to DTE (as opposed to 
this DCE) devices, and to connect Imagewriters to Apple ][+ serial cards,
and other specific needs.  My standard advice is:

IF IT DOESN'T WORK, *DON'T* LEAVE IT TURNED ON LONG ENOUGH TO GET HOT!

The standard 1488/1489 and other drivers are usually rugged enough to take
mistreatment for ten seconds or so, but if you leave them fighting for an
hour they will probably burn out...

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Nov 89 23:34 EST
From: DASTIDAR@ecs.umass.edu
Subject: Datadesk 101/Keyboard hacking

      Hi folks.

      I just got a Datadesk 101 keyboard for my old MacPlus.  I  like  it  a
  lot, but the software is terrible, and it's not compatible with  QuicKeys.
  That is, it's not  compatible  with  the  Apple  extended  keyboard  -  it
  generates different "raw" keycodes for the function keys.  Although recent
  systems  have  a  nice  method  for  remapping  raw  key  codes  (KMAP
  resources), it doesn't work on pre-SE models. So I've been wading  through
  low memory  with  Macsbug  trying  to  figure  out  how  the  routines  at
  Key1Trans and Key2Trans work - but I've been making little  progress.  So,
  a few questions... 


      1) Am I correct in assuming that replacing the routines  at  Key1Trans
  and Key2Trans is the only  way  to  remap  the  raw  codes  of  a  non-ADB
  keyboard?

      2) Am I correct in assuming that Key2Trans is for the numeric pad?

      3) What information is passed to Key1Trans and Key2Trans,  and  where?
  From what I can tell it assumes data in D1 through D3, but I have no  idea
  what's where.

      4) Is all this worth it?

      Thanx for  any  information.  Please  reply  to  the  net  -  I'm  not
  currently receiving private mail.

      - Jurgen Botz

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Nov 89 22:09:59 EST
From: Stuart West <WESSTUC%YALEVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Dial-Up services for Macs

I just purchased a 2400 baud modem and am trying to find out about the myriad
dial-up services that exist out there.  Which provide which services?  Which
provide the widest E-mail coverage?  Which provide the best Mac PD software
(especially those which exceed Info-Mac - if any!)?  Which are cheap?

What about America Online?  I just logged on, and haven't explored much.  What
are people's reactions to it?  Effective, ineffective, fast, slow, etc.

Also, what can people tell me about the Hayes Personal Modem - why is it so
cheap?  What features does it lack?  What are the advantages?

Last but not least: how about communications software?  Which is the best PD
program, which is the best commercial, and why?

Sorry to shower you all with my ignorance.  I'll summarize replies if I get
interesting ones.

======================================================================
| Stuart C. West               BITNET: wesstuc@YaleVM                |
| Yale University              InterNet: wesstuc@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.edu |
| New Haven, Connecticut       America Online: Stu West              |
======================================================================

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Nov 89 16:01 MST
From: "DENNIS W. VIEHLAND, INFO TECHNOLOGY PLANNING & POLICY"
Subject: MacIS Information

WANTED:  Information about MacIS

A recent MacWEEK article reported on a "Managing Apple Computers in
Information Systems" conference in Dallas.  The article gave me the
impression there is some organization or association out there called MacIS
that sponsored the conference, but info about MacIS was not in the article.
IS applications for Macintoshs is of professional interest to me and I
would like more information about this or related groups.

Anyone know about MacIS?  Can you give me a name, address, phone number, or
other information to contact them?

Thanks,

Dennis W. Viehland
VIEHLAND@ARIZRVAX
(602) 621-6473

Information Technology
317 Computer Center
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85719

------------------------------

Date: 24 Nov 89 16:41:31
From: Robert.H.Gross@mac.dartmouth.edu
Subject: printing clipregions on LaserWriter

Hi all you ace programmers out there -
   I have been working on an application that does extensive graphics using
clipRegions.  These are used to facilitate drawing arcs on the screen with a
resolution of finer than 1 degree, the limitation in the QuickDraw arc
routines.  This works beautifully on the screen and prints without problems on
an ImageWriter and a H-P Paintjet.  On the Laserwriter, however, it looks
terrible since clipRegions are not supported in the LaserWriter driver.
   I really need to have resolution of finer than 1 degree and I really want
to support printing on a LaserWriter at that resolution.  As of now, to print
on the LaserWriter, we are forced to convert everything to frameArc, fillArc,
etc. and lose the resolution we worked so hard to achieve.  Is there a way
around this problem?  Any help would be appreciated.
                          - Bob Gross, Dartmouth
                            Bob.Gross@dartmouth.edu

PS - We do not want to implement a PostScript conversion routine.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Nov 89 01:13:52 PST
From: GPR001Y%CALSTATE.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Quick Compacter 1.0.2.hqx

	This file containst version 1.0.2 of the Quick Compacter
Stack. It was written to compact a large number of stacks quickly
and painlessly. I wrote this stack because I realized that the
FreeSpace of my stacks was taking up hundreds of Kbytes on my
hard disk. This stack will fix that problem.
	Features: Ability to compact one stack at a time, compact
multiple stacks, compact an entire folder of stacks and compact
a user-defined list of stacks. It will report the title of the
compacted stack, the bytes saved and percentage saved in that
stack. Also it will total the bytes saved for all stacks
compacted in the current session. Finally, it has a script that
you can install in your Home stack and by holding down a couple
of keys and the mouse button, it will compact any stack and give
you a report of its progress in the message box.
	Help files are included in the stack. Needs Stuffit.
***************************************
Mark R. Elpers
Bitnet: GPR001Y@CCS.CSUSCC.CALSTATE.EDU
GEnie: M. Elpers
***************************************

[Archived as /info-mac/hypercard/quick-compacter-102.hqx; 40K]

------------------------------

Date: Sat 25 Nov 89 18:31:53-PDT
From: WARD@nosc-tecr.arpa
Subject: Same picture twice.

I need to have the same thing come up on two monitors connected to
two separate cards at the same time.  Can this be done and how?

Thanks... gww

=-=-=
Ward@NOSC-TECR.MIL

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Nov 89 15:12:23 MEZ
From: MAMI%DHVRRZN1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Subject: SCSI-driver.hqx -- Source and binaries

Hello netland,

those of You, who read the german computer journal "c't" know
of an article in volume 8 and 10 of this year, which decribed
how to write a hard disk driver for the MAC. In addition to this
there was published sources for the driver and an utility for
the formatting and installation of the driver. The author Leo
Drizis wrote about his experience in using it on large SCSI drives-
without any problems and also with a realy partition facility..
He recommended the sources for Your adaption of other SCSI devices

I have downloaded a StuffIt archive which containes all
sources and binaries. You need Think C to compile it. But
I think the application to an ordinary SCSI hard disk does not
need a recompliation. So You only can extract the binaries for
Your non standard and unsupported hard disk -- (on Your own risk!)

For understanding the philosophy of the driver and utility You
should read the article in c't.

Michael Hartje, University of Hannover; W.-Germany
MAMI@DHVRRZN1.BITNET

P.S. I am not resonsible for that software but I trust the project.
I heard, that the German "MAC e.V." in Duesseldorf distributes it
on a public domain disk. Questions can be lead to the c't-magazine --
readers of the magazine know this!

Someone reported to me, that the compilation of the driver with
a particular Think C version need a little change in the file
<filemgr.h> -- it is not compatible with declarations found in
the Inside Mac. Compiler reports errors because of missing one line
in the declaration of PBBlock (or so) prms. Add this and it will
compile. This struct "CntrlPrms" is declared in the <Devicemgr.h>.

Sorry to those, who are not able to read the german article. I don't
know of an english reprint.

[Archived as /info-mac/source/c/scsi-driver-part1.hqx; 150K
             /info-mac/source/c/scsi-driver-part2.hqx; 135K]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Nov 89 15:38:40 EST
From: "Chris Khoury (Sari's Son)" <3XMQGAA%CMUVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Startup Sounds Help

     I am having problems with my Mac SE with 2.5 megs, 20 meg hard disk, with
Multifinder running. When I try to set a sound with the SoundMaster CDEV for st
artup, my freezes and the sound doesn't even work. I suspect that SoundMaster i
s incompatible with Multifinder. Also, why can't sound master play SND resource
s. Any help would be appreciated.

Chris Khoury
Acknowledge-To: <3XMQGAA@CMUVM>

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Nov 89 16:48 CST
From: GREENY <MISS026%ECNCDC.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: SuperCard and Plus

Has anyone out there had any experience (good and/or bad) with either
Supercard or Plus (by Olvaldi (sp?) ).....I have a Hypercard stack that could
use a little juicing up with menus and color and what not, and I'm currently
trying to decide which is the better clone to pick...

This will be running on a minimum of a Mac SE with 4MB of Ram, on an
Appleshare network, so the package MUST be networkable (like Hypercard
supposedly is....)

any help will be appreciated.....

Bye for now but not for long
Greeny
BITNET: MISS026@ECNCDC
Internet: MISS026%ECNCDC.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
GEnie: GREENY
MacNet: GREENY
Disclaimer: #include<std_legalStuff.h>

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Nov 89 17:12 PST
From: Ron Webster                          <IC6JRHW@oac.ucla.edu>
Subject: System 6.0.4: The tribulations of one user

     The most recent batch of Macs on UCLA's campus were shipped
with system 6.0.4.  I had been running 6.0.2 with no unusual
problems, but because 6.0.4 came with my latest SE, and because the
salesperson told me 6.0.2 would not fully support the SuperDrives
(which is false), I upgraded the two Macs in my office to 6.0.4.  That
was the beginning of what now seems like a terrible dream.

     For a few days (while awaiting arrival of the SIMMs I had mail-
ordered), one of my Macs was running with only 1MB of RAM--the
other has 2.5 megs.  But the problems I am about to describe
occurred on both units, and, although intermittant, could be
replicated with a little perseverance.  Thus, the difficulties I
encountered seemingly cannot be wholely attributed to insufficient
RAM.

     I use an old version of QUED (1.3) as my text editor.  I've
experienced a few minor peculiarities with this application, which I
attribute to obscelence (e.g., it doesn't reliably count the first
parenthesis when entering text, and cut, copy, and paste don't work
when running MultiFinder).  But under system 6.0.4, I couldn't even
reliably save a file!  After saving a file, either from the menu or via
the keyboard equivalent, the file would still appear on the desktop,
but the contents had have been entirely deleted!  Things might go
along fine for awhile, but sooner or later the Save command would
malfunction.  When this happened, the Copy, Cut, and Paste
commands also ceased to function.  The system didn't crash, but it
may as well have--there was no way to save the file.  (Once, after
just becoming aware of the problem and how to recognize it, I
managed to salvage a lengthy document by using the system's screen
snapshot feature--this, of course, left me with a non-editable
version, but at least I had the content.)

     This was the first negative omen, and I simply assumed the
authors of QUED had failed to adhere to Apple's interface guidelines
and that the problem was due to incompatibility between this old
version of QUED and the new system software.  So I tried Fast Eddie2
(also an old version, but more recent than the version of QUED in
terms of the evolution of Macintosh system software).  I couldn't get
the global search-and-replace function to work--"^n" was
recognized as a linefeed character by searches, but not by
replacements, so I abandoned that strategy (this, however, was no
fault of system 6.0.4--apparently, Fast Eddie2, like 99.9% of soft-
ware, was stupidly designed and, typically, never used by its
authors or publishers prior to commercial release--Guy Kawasaki
omitted the following crucial exercise from his book, The Macintosh
Way:  What is the primary difference between a beta site and a
customer?  (a) A customer purchases the software; (b) A customer
purchases the software; (c) A customer purchases the software;
(d) All of the above.)

     I next turned to the latest release of WriteNow (2.0), confident
that, as a new release from one of the more responsible companies (re
adhering closely to Apple's interface guidelines), there would be a
minimum risk of compatibility problems.  After doing a global search-
and-replace, however, the system crashed (ID=03, attempt to execute
an illegal instruction).  I rebooted the system, launched WriteNow
again, attempted the same search-and-replace on the same document,
and this time, the scroll bars reversed direction (i.e., scrolling
toward the top of the document required clicking on the down arrow,
and scrolling toward the left margin required clicking on the right
arrow)!  I was able to replicate this problem on my 2.5MB SE.

     By this time I was convinced that system 6.0.4 was a lemon.  So I
pulled out my backup floppies and began copying 6.0.2.  I had just
rebooted the system (for the umpteenth time!).  After doing a few
disk copies, I opened one of the disks on the desktop, selected a file,
and issued a Get Info command from the keyboard (Command-I).  The
system crashed (ID=03 again)!  How can a Get Info attempt to
execute an illegal instruction?  How can insufficient RAM be a
problem doing simple disk copies?  I rebooted the system, did a few
more disk copies, and again tried to do a Get Info--system error.  I
was able to replicate this problem on the 2.5MB SE.

     When I installed system 6.0.4, I did it from scratch--all system
resource files (Sytem, Finder, MultiFinder, General, Monitors, Mouse,
Keyboard, Laser Prep, LaserWriter, etc.) were from the same release.
I did (and do) have several INITs installed (Suitcase II,
SuperLaserSpool, SUM's Shield, a screen saver, etc.), and I can
understand these being problematic when running an application on a
1MB system--but the problems occurring during disk copies and on a
2.5MB system is not so readily attributable to insufficient RAM.

     Moreover, the likelihood that my problems were due to a virus
or some other similar infestation is virtually nil.  I have installed
duplicate sets of utilities, INITs, and applications with system 6.0.2,
6.0.3, and 6.0.4--only with 6.0.4 were there any difficulties (and, as
indicated above, those were numerous and extensive).  Also, the 6.0.4
software was never handled by anyone other than myself.

     I'm not seeking responses or consultation about this experience.
I've replaced 6.0.4 with 6.0.3 and I've upgraded the memory in the
newer SE.  The problems immediately ceased once I had replaced
6.0.4 with 6.0.3 (even though the one SE was still running on 1MB)--
and even the more obvious insufficient memory problems ceased
after I upgraded the unit to 2.5MBs.  So I am now content.  I am
merely dissiminating these comments to alert others to the apparent
potential "danger" of using 6.0.4.  I don't abdicate responsibility
for the difficulties I experienced--but they do seem unique to the
use of system 6.0.4, and that does incline me to suspect the
software rather than mayself.  As a respected experimental psychol-
ogist, and philosopher of science and epistemologist, I'd say that
I have convincing and converging evidence that Apple's system 6.0.4
is suspect.  I would be interested in hearing the "results" of
"experiments" from other "laboratories."

Ron Webster

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 17 Nov 89 00:22:07 -0500
From: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Subject: TN.31.The_Dogcow

This is a forged copy of TN.31.The_Dogcow.sit.Hqx, but a good one.
The Technote is in Microsoft Word 3.0 format.

Earle R. Horton

[Archived as /info-mac/apple/tn/tn-031.hqx; 18K]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 17 Nov 89 11:41:21 -0500
From: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Subject: WDEF example

This is the next version of my programmable WDEF.  This posting
contains the WDEF, the test application, and the full Pascal source to
the WDEF.  All public domain.  The source is included IN the test
application, so you get only one file when you UnStuff.

This is probably also the last version, as I am about to make a Career
Move, and may not be involved with the Macintosh so much in the
future.

Ciao.

Earle R. Horton

[Archived as /info-mac/source/pascal/wdef-example.hqx; 35K]

------------------------------

End of Info-Mac Digest
******************************