Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (10/23/89)
Info-Mac Digest Sun, 22 Oct 89 Volume 7 : Issue 183
Today's Topics:
Anti-educational-discount legislation
Anyone using Brown Univ. tn3270 on MacSE?
Boomerang 2.0B82y
Clustering methods needed
Ethernet for the Mac plus
FontShow
ImageWriter Spooler?
Info-Mac Digest V7 #181
Mac hardware tools/StuffIt
MasterJuggler information
Not a Think C 4.0 bug
PICs format
Postscript File Generation using Pagemaker
PostScript to Slide Conversion
pramset cdev
Programming / Xmodem Questions
restricting educational sales (flame, long)
SuperDrive and plastic inserts
Systat weirdness
Which 19-inch monitor?
WordRef 1.2 (Part 1 of 3)
Your Info-Mac Moderators are Bill Lipa, Lance Nakata, and Jon Pugh.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 17:41:19 EDT
From: mjkobb@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Subject: Anti-educational-discount legislation
In the last Info Mac Digest, Michael MacInerney writes:
>For instance: let's say I want to choose between a Mac and an Amiga.
>On the street, it's no contest, since Amigas are so much cheaper than
>Macs. However, at universities such as CMU, the discount on Macs is so
>great, that the price disparity is practically nil. This doesn't sound
>very fair to Commodore Amiga, because while I would've choosen an Amiga
>in the outside world, a Mac is the only reasonable choice on campus.
Give me a break. If Commodore wants it's (basically unsupported) product
to compete with the Mac on the university market, then they should offer
educational discounts. The point of these discounts, aside from establishing
a consumer base, is to provide computing power to people who need it (students
and faculty) but who can't afford it while on the restricted budgets on which
so many students operate. At least here at MIT, much of the work _REQUIRES_
computational power, which our campus system falls short in satisfying. A
physics-major friend of mine is presently using his Mac to crunch through
20 pages of raw data and produce polynomial curve fits.
>Even if Commodore did lower the price, the damage has been done: the
>Mac is firmly entrenched here on campus. And all the students here will
>graduate and go out into the real world and pay real-world prices for
>the Macs they know and love.
I hardly think that this is Apple's fault. They beat Commodore to the punch
by offering discounts to students. They deserve all the market share that
they have.
Finally, ****FLAME ON****
Doesn't it seem to folks out there that Congress is getting just a bit bloated
and abusive of its law-making power. What business do they have in interfering
with free trade? This bunch of ignorant fatheads caters to the lobbies with
money, rather than doing everything they can to restore U.S superiority in
technical fields. Where are we going to be in the coming "information age"
if few or none of the (already dwindling) supply of college students are
computer literate? What happened to Congress's incentives to get people
into higher education? If Congress weren't so busy lining their re-election
coffers, then they might actually do the country some good instead of running
it even further into the ground.
****FLAME OFF****
I feel better. Congress will be hearing from me directly...
--Mike
Disclaimer: I think that disclaimers are an incredibly sad statement about our
society. Nonetheless, nothing that I say can or should be construed as having
been said by anyone. Ever.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1989 10:44:45 PLT
From: "Victor L. Swan - Postmaster" <VLS%WSUVM1.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: Anyone using Brown Univ. tn3270 on MacSE?
Desperately need to contact anyone running Brown Univ. tn3270 full screen
terminal emulator software on MacSE to ask a couple of questions about
your experiences using the software.
Please contact me at the above address -- I promise to not consume much
of your time.
Thanks.
V. L. Swan, Academic Computing Services
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 09:59:16 PDT
From: hayp04@csa4.lbl.gov
Subject: Boomerang 2.0B82y
Boomerang is an INIT/cdev utility, which makes it easy to use
the SF Dialog (Open and SaveAs dialog), by automatically recording
files and folders used with the SF Dialog. The files and folders used
are added to the popup menu in the SF Dialog, and you can easily
open files or go to these folders just by selecting one from the
menu. Boomerang also has Smart Find File, in which files are
searched in those folders which you used recently in the first search
pass.
Boomerang 2.0B8* is Freeware by Hiroaki Yamamoto.
[Archived as /info-mac/cdev/boomerang-20b82.hqx; 81K]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 15:56:34 DNT
From: Jakob Nielsen Tech Univ of Denmark <DATJN%NEUVM1.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Clustering methods needed
We are currently doing a hypertext project where we want to draw
overview diagrams automatically of various levels of clustering.
Two algorithms are needed for this:
1) Way to cluster nodes in ever larger clusters (hierarchically)
2) Way to lay out icons for the clusters on the screen such that the
2-dimensional view represents the underlying N-dim structure as well as
possible (e.g. which elements are close together and which are far apart).
It would be nice if elements which would be clustered together in the
next level up would be drawn close togehter in the view.
We have not found any good algorithms for this - any help would be
highly appreciated.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 12:16:33 EDT
From: Marcelino Bernardo <MBERNAR%ERENJ.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Ethernet for the Mac plus
This is in response to an inquiry on connecting a Mac Plus to Ethernet.
There are at least 2 possible ways to connect a Mac Plus to Ethernet: through
the SCSI port or through the LocalTalk port of the Mac. If you are only
interested in connecting one Mac+, the SCSI is probably the more economical
and is also the faster of the 2. A number of products are available:
EtherSC by Kinetics, Inc. list: $1250.
FastNET by Dove Computer Corporation list: $1249.
These list prices are old, and I understand they have gone down quite a bit.
To connect a LocalTalk network to Ethernet, Kinetics makes a product call
FastPath which lists for about $2500.
Regards,
mbernar@erenj.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 89 10:45 N
From: "Rainer Fuchs (EMBL)" <FUCHS%EMBL.bitnet@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: FontShow
This is a little utility called FontShow that displays or prints all or
selected fonts from your system in form of a sample text, sample strings
and a character table. Nice for judging the look of a font.
Don't bother with sending me money, postcards, complaints, etc., for this
quick hack; just SMILE !
Rainer
Rainer Fuchs, Am Weingarten 13, D-6000 Frankfurt 90, FRG
The EMBL Data Library - European Molecular Biology Laboratory Heidelberg
Bitnet/EARN: fuchs@embl
[Archived as /info-mac/app/fontshow.hqx; 14K]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 16:56 EDT
From: <JEB107%PSUVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: ImageWriter Spooler?
We are currently seting up a lab for students on our campus, and are using
a Macintosh SE (1 meg, with 1-140 meg HD) for a server for a simple 15 Mac
lab. The Mac's in the lab are all dual 3 1/2" disk drives (no HD), and
therefore at a limit for system space.
The Problem : We have 2 Imagewriter II printers for general use, and we have
looked into several ways to spool information for these printers, so that the
users can get back to work soon (there will be cases where the entire lab may
be printing at the same time). I have been looking for an Imagewriter Spooler,
but up to this point, all I have found is stand-alone programs that use the
disk drive to spool.
What We are looking for : Has anyone seen a server controlled ImageWriter II
spooler, like LaserShare? It should run on the server, back/foreground to
AppleShare, and the InBox mail system.
Any help (at all) would be appreciated.
Jonathan Baker Consultant
Penn State Education Partnership Prog.
Academic Computing Services
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 13:26:14 -0400
From: William C. DenBesten<denbeste@andy.bgsu.edu>
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V7 #181
Info-Mac@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators):
> I don't have an Apple Super Drive, but it was said at our user group
> meeting that the heads are parked when the disk is removed. It would be
> potentially harmful to leave either the disk or the plastic "fake" disk
> in the drive when transporting the machine. Does anyone confirm this?
> What does it say in the manual?
My SE/30 came withOUT a yellow plastic holder. I {read in the manual,
heard on the grapevine, read on the net, made up} that you should not
use one in the machine.
The 'parking' is simply moving the head to the center track, so that the
disk doesn't snag the head and rip it out of the drive.
--
William C. DenBesten is denbeste@bgsu.edu or denbesten@bgsuopie.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 15:34 PDT
From: Ron Webster <IC6JRHW@oac.ucla.edu>
Subject: Mac hardware tools/StuffIt
Two queries:
1. Can anyone tell me from whom I can obtain tools for working on
a Mac SE? In particular, I need the case separator (the tool
that gently pries the two-piece SE case apart--I have the torx
driver to remove the screws). It need not be a dealer in my
area (Los Angeles)--a reputable mail-order firm will do.
2. Can anyone tell me the secret to adding a folder to a StuffIt
archive (i.e., as a folder, not as separate files)? I'm using
version 1.5.1 (I think that's the latest). I feel stupid asking
this, but the procedure has evaded my efforts thus far.
------------------------------
Date: 16 OCT 89 11:48:48 CST
From: Z4648252 <Z4648252%SFAUSTIN.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: MasterJuggler information
For those of us living the sticks, could some kind soul give a summary
of the benefits of the new MasterJuggler over the old? Is it a replacement
for MultiFinder? What are the system requirements? Memory? What is the
program's cost.
Many thanks!!!!
Larry Rymal: |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 13:49:23 EDT
From: abboud%cuavax.dnet@netcon.cua.edu (Hisham)
Subject: Not a Think C 4.0 bug
Oooops, I spoke too fast on this one! Thanks for all the people who clarified
my ignorance re: assigning new handles with memory subject to moving around.
Now, if only I could get away with not having to apologize to Symentec...
Hisham.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 16:25:59 SET
From: Norbert Mueller <K360171%AEARN.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: PICs format
Hello netland,
I am currently seeking an interchange format for frames being transferred
to animation programs (such as MacroMind Director aka VideoWorks Professional,
Action!, and Filmmaker). One possibility is to use the scrapbook format, but
there is also a so called PICs format, used by some of these programs.
My question does anybody know the specs of this format or can provide a
pointer or handle to the source of this information?
Thanks in advance
Norbert Mueller
Institute of Chemistry
Johannes Kepler University
A-4040 LINZ
AUSTRIA
------------------------------
Date: Mon 16 10 89 14:05 EDT
From: U009%CCIW.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Postscript File Generation using Pagemaker
I recently performed Don Gilbert's modification to the Page Setup Dialog
Box to make visible the "Disk File" selector button for creating
postscript files. (MY-PAGE-SETUP-12.HQX, I got it from Mac-Arch at RICE.)
The selector works fine with MacWrite II but Pagemaker doesn't use this
setup dialog. Is there a way to get Pagemaker to generate a PS file. Are
you aware of any other programs exhibiting this behavior, particularly
those that have non-obvious solutions?
Regards, Stu Beal, VE3MWM, (U009@CCIW.BITNET),
National Water Research Institute,
Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 12:39:31 EDT
From: Jeff Meredith <meredith@erl.mit.edu>
Subject: PostScript to Slide Conversion
A Day Early and a Dollar Short.
I recently submitted an item regarding info about converting PostScript
documents, either program made or Illustrator, for example, made into
slides. I thank people for their interest and want to briefly summarize
the results here. Tw Cook and others
clued us into the existence of Agfa Compugraphics
new PS to slide printer. We called Compugraphics, list price is $30K
and they are shipping this month. Resolution is 4000 lines per inch.
Because of the reduction involved it's so high. Many of the service bureaus we
talked to had one on order or knew about it. Just didn't have one yet. Matrix
has also developed one which should be out shortly.
Brian Doyle mentioned that Persuasion and we know that Cricket Presents also
will take encapsulated PostScript but that maps only as the QuickDraw bitmap
at 72 dpi. The same with capture screen inits as Alan Hewat mentioned.
So at least in the Boston area, this capability is just around the corner.
Back to photographic reduction for the time being.
Jeff Meredith 8-(
meredith@erl.mit.edu
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 89 17:35:30 EDT
From: USER=6WDB@ub.cc.umich.edu
Subject: pramset cdev
PramSet is a cdev/INIT that configures the RAM cache and volume
settings to whatever is chosen in the PramSet control panel display.
Its intended purpose is to allow temporary cache and volume settings
to be matched with certain system/application combinations that
require them without affecting the default settings in parameter
RAM. For instance, putting PramSet in a game disk's system folder
allows that game to be run with the RAM cache off (some games require
this) and the volume set to whatever value is desired PramSet leaves the
default settings intact so that when the machine is booted from
a system without PramSet, the cache and volume settings return to
their default values. It also occurred to me that this might be a
partial solution for Amiga users running the Mac-clone, where all parameter
RAM settings are not stored when the system is shut-down.
[Archived as /info-mac/cdev/pramset.hqx; 13K]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 10:46:30 edt
From: Rocky_Olive@dgc.mceo.dg.com
Subject: Programming / Xmodem Questions
CEO file contents:
Greetings! I've been using Macs for a while, and I've programmed on other
machines, and I'm now learning to program a mac. I've typed in the MiniEdit
program from Inside Mac #2 (I haven't bought the newer books yet), and I've got
a couple of questions:
1) When I resize one of my windows, the vertical control area becomes an
oval instead of a rectangle. Why? What should my resource look like?
2) After the program ends, I can no longer double-click anything under the
Finder. Why?
I'm just understanding the concept of events, so please pardon my ignorance!
Oh. Almost forgot. My system is a IIcx running MonoFinder, and I'm
programming in Lightspeed Pascal. I sort of understand ResEdit, although there
are many resource types that I don't know.
While I'm composing, does anyone know of a (cheap/free) terminal emulator that
will transfer using checksum Xmodem? There are some pc-clone based BBS's
around here that I would like to download stuff from using my Mac, but V-Term
only supports Text and MacBinary Xmodem, and I couldn't get either of them to
work.
Please respond directly to me since the digest gets forwarded to me. Thanks!
..........................................................................
.Rockford L. Olive...... <rocky_olive@dgc.mceo.dg.com>
..Data General Corp.....
...Technology Drive.... #define PS2 NULL
....Apex, NC 27502... #define OS2 NULL
.....919/362-4800x5392.. #define MSWINDOWS NULL
......919/362-4914 home. #define DISCLAIMER "It just slipped out."
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 01:33 CDT
From: Cerebus The Aardvark <DPK28402%MKVAX1@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: restricting educational sales (flame, long)
"Michael J. McInerny" <mcinerny+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>On the street, it's no contest, since Amigas are so much cheaper than
>Macs. However, at universities such as CMU, the discount on Macs is so
>great, that the price disparity is practically nil. This doesn't sound
>very fair to Commodore Amiga, because while I would've choosen an Amiga
>in the outside world, a Mac is the only reasonable choice on campus.
---
How can you flame apple for this, or anyone else, for that matter. The reason
Apples are firmly entrenched in the campus market is simple: apple took the
risk of providing cut-priced macs to education early on. C-A didn't, and STILL
doesn't. if they offered cut-rate ami's (or cut-rate ST's, or [your computer
here]) would you be complaining about apple being unfair?
The problem is NOT with apple's educational discount policy. The problem is
with C-A's marketing management, which fails to target the higher education
market as deserving of discounts.
---
[...]
>The situtation is worse: because the Mac is so attractive to the campus
>community, everyone buys one and people start supporting it [trimmed...] All
>because Macs are discounted here on campus.
---
no. the situation is BETTER because of the support you listed. students have
better access to computers and computer equipment. universities are better
equipped. why are you complaining? because apple is making money due to the
fact that they had the foresight to cash in on the higher education market?
there isn't, nor should there be, anything illegal about that.
---
[...]
>And all the students here will graduate and go out into the real world and pay
>real-world prices for the Macs they know and love.
>However, if Macs were sold on-campus at the prices they command in the
>real world, very few students could afford them. Then people would look
>at more reasonably priced, and more capable systems, like the Amiga, and
>start supporting that.
---
i find it VERY difficult to pity C-A or any other manufacturer in this
situation.
o If C-A chooses not to offer student discounts, that is their choice.
NeXT is offering educational discounts. so are ibm and (at least on
our campus) zenith. you don't have to be apple to offer student
discounts.
o if the other systems are indeed "more capable", then being comparably
priced with the mac should be no object. they should be able to
compete on the basis of FEATURES.
o my main thought here is: that's capitalism. that's life.
(*flame off. :-) *)
-Dave Kormann
DPK28402%MKVAX1@MSUS1
cerebus for dictator.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 08:57:26 MDT
From: "Bruce A. Carter" <DUSCARTE@idbsu.idbsu.edu>
Subject: SuperDrive and plastic inserts
Regarding the note asking about the SuperDrive and using the plastic
inserts, the answer is DON'T. Using the plastic inserts in the SuperDrive
can damage the heads. The FDHD drive has several engineering differences
>From the 400/800K drives, and this is one of them.
* BRUCE A. CARTER OFFICE: (208) 385-1250 *
** COURSEWARE DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR MESSAGE: (208) 385-1433 **
*** BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY, 1910 UNIVERSITY DRIVE, BOISE, ID 83725 ***
** BITNET: DUSCARTE@IDBSU INTERNET: DUSCARTE@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU **
* APPLELINK: U0919 CIS: 76666,511 PLATO: CARTER/IDAHO/PCA *
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 13:57:06 EST
From: Josh Hayes <JAHAYES%MIAMIU.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Systat weirdness
Hello. I have a problem that Systat's tech support can probably help
with, but they seem to take lunch breaks in durations of a week or so.
Here's the deal. I have been using a copy (licensed! licensed!) of
Systat on my Mac+ (vanilla) for about a year now, no problems aside
>From the fact that it's a port from Big Blue and is therefore rather
user-hostile.
So, I need to read some files that are Systat data files off of 5.25
floppies. Fortunately, we have a Daynafile hooked up to the office
Mac IIcx, so I figure I'll just fire up Systat on the cx, "get" the
files off the disk inserted in the daynafile, then save as... onto
Mac files, then work with them normally.
No. When I open any module of Systat on the cx, it opens up a window
with no text. No menu bar, no close box, no elevator. But the menu
bar is still there--if I click up where it's supposed to be, up pops
a pull-down menu, which is also blank. If I pull down the invisible
"File" menu then point to where "Quit" should be (at the bottom), it
quits. So the stuff is there. Presumably it's working, but invisible
output is kinda useless. Does anybody have the faintest idea what is
going on? The cx runs 6.0.3 while I'm running 6.0.2 on the plus, and
the same problem occurs on the cx in both finder and multifinder.
Weird, like I say. Thanks for any input--please mail direct to me.
Josh Hayes, Zoology, Miami U, Oxford OH 45056 jahayes@miamiu.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 13:48:52 MET
From: WBPBIAA%HUTRUU0.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu (Martijn Huynen)
Subject: Which 19-inch monitor?
Hi,
we are interested in buying a macIIcx with a 19inch 256 color
monitor. Has anyone experience with these monitors on a mac?
We're interested in resolution, price(incl. card) and "mac
compatibility".
Please send information to me, then I'll summarize to the net.
Thanks!
Martijn Huynen
bioinformatics group
University of Utrecht
Netherlands
WBPBIAA@HUTRUU0.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 89 10:27:38 EDT
From: man@cs.brown.edu
Subject: WordRef 1.2 (Part 1 of 3)
Here is the 1.2 version of WordRef. It fixes several bugs in both the
application and the stack, which could cause crashes or hangs. The
new features include:
o Citation templates for more flexible citations
o Verbose mode to make debugging easier
In case you missed the original description of WordRef, here it is:
Here is an application and HyperCard stack I developed for producing cross-
references and bibliographies using Word 3/4. It is yet another facility
which uses the Print Merge facility of Word, but I have tried to do it in
a way which is more general than any of the systems which preceded me, so
that it should be able to handle virtually any cross-referencing and
bibliography needs. It is a ShareWare package and may be distributed
not-for-profit as long as the application, stack, and document are all
kept together.
Some of the features are:
o No limit on the number of counters (variables) used for cross-
references
o Variables can be combined in general arithmetic expressions
o Increment operators are included for convenience
o Variables can have strings interspersed with numbers
o Can scan Word files directly (if Fast Save is off)
o There can be any number of Word files or bibliography files in a
single manuscript
o The bibliography files are kept in the ever popular BibTeX format
o A HyperCard stack is provided for maintaining the bibliography
files
o You can keep comments/keywords with the bibliographic references
o Several different citations styles are provided to go at the point
of reference
o A user-definable style sheet is used for formatting the
bibliography entries.
Enjoy!
--Mark
[Archived as /info-mac/app/wordref-12.hqx; 190K]
------------------------------
End of Info-Mac Digest
******************************