Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (07/31/89)
Info-Mac Digest Sun, 30 Jul 89 Volume 7 : Issue 132
Today's Topics:
Another opinion on writing XCMDs
Applecare seems to be required...
applelink.apple.com IP number?
Boomerang 2.0b7
Fontnames from Hypercard?
Font problems
How complete is THINK C++?
HyperCard field formatting
Hypercard technique
Looking for PostScript maps of Bitnet and the Internet
Macintosh Software Prices
medium big hard drives
MS Word 4.0 Line Spacing
Postscript->Quickdraw->Postscript?
Preserving GET INFO comments
Whats wrong with the Mac ....
Your Info-Mac Moderators are Bill Lipa, Lance Nakata, and Jon Pugh.
The Info-Mac archives are available (by using FTP, account anonymous,
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 09:26:16 CDT
From: Jeff E Mandel MD MS <AS01MEF@vm.tcs.tulane.edu>
Subject: Another opinion on writing XCMDs
I have recently been developing XCMDs to call Oracle's OCI
interface. I have been using MPW C 3.0, simply because I had
previously obtained MPW 2.02 on a grant, and doing the full
update bundle was something I could justify as "just an update
to software I already own." Having worked in Fortran (Absoft,
then Language Systems) and Assembler (MDS, then MPW) for
years, I am quite spoiled by just how easy C code is to debug,
especially with SADE. Of course, SADE does not permit
debugging under HyperCard, but my XCMDs all use ModalDialogs,
and only use the callbacks to get parameters, so debugging the
bulk of the XCMD as a standalone application is the best scheme
for me. When integrating the XCMD into my stack, I simply use a
makefile with the stack as the target. Since I work in
MultiFinder exclusively, I just have a button "HideFromLink"
which takes me out of the target stack when I go back to MPW
for modifications to the XCMD. I cannot say whether MPW C 3.0
is better than LightSpeed or Think, but it generally seems to
work. Of course, like all Apple products, good luck getting
technical support in timely fashion.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 17:57:06 MST
From: bklaas@cmdfs2.intel.com
Subject: Applecare seems to be required...
>> Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 10:18:54 PDT
>> From: PUGH@ccc.mfecc.llnl.gov
>> Subject: Applecare seems to be required...
>>
>> Well, just 10 days out of warrenty my SE/30 80Meg hard disk died. How
>> wonderful. Once again we see why Apple has a 90 day warrenty. Needless to
>> say, I am thrilled. I have a fairly helpful dealer, so I'll be able to get it
>> fixed, but it is still costing me a bunch of money for a brand new machine.
>> I'm going to be writing a letter to a few of the honcho at Apple to tell them
>> what I think. I recommend that others be wary too. I guess this also means
>> that you should add the cost of Applecare onto the cost of any new machine now
>> as they sure don't seem to be as reliable as they used to be.
>>
>> Jon
My father has recently purchased an SE/030 with a 40 Meg. Hard drive.
His died 3 weeks out of warranty. It looks like AppleCare is
becomming a necessity. As for me, I am ok until the soldered in
battery on my Mac II goes dead.
Has anyone else had similar problems with the SE/030?????
** Brian Klaas, Design Engineer *** DISCLAIMER: All opinions **
** Intel Corporation *** stated here are strictly my own. **
** InterNET -> bklaas%sedona.intel.com@relay.cs.NET UUCP: **
** {hplabs,decwrl,oliveb,pur-ee,qantel,amdcad}!intelca!mipos3!sedona!bklaas **
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28-JUL-1989 15:13 MST
From: POTHIERS%TUVA.SAINET.MFENET@ccc.mfecc.llnl.gov
Subject: applelink.apple.com IP number?
Can anyone tell me what the IP number for applelink.apple.com is? There
is a nice file in info-mac archives giving lots of apple adrs but I
don't seem to have the adrs in my host table. Thanks
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 03:55 EDT
From: Samuel Paik <D65Y@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU>
Subject: Boomerang 2.0b7
I can't get this version of boomerang to work. An older (INIT only)
does work. I tried removing all my cdevs/inits and MacsBug.
Symptoms: I get the icon at startup, with a slash through it.
SF{Get,Put}File dialogs don't have the boomerang icon, and
act like normal, unenhanced dialogs.
System: 1MB Mac SE HD20. System Update 5.0 (System 4.2, Finder 5.0).
INITs don't matter, as I've tried removing all of them.
Standard DAs and FONTs (I use Suitcase II to include others)
Sam Paik
d65y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
...!rochester!cornell!vax5!d65y
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 89 15:49:52 EMT
From: HDBFS%NOBERGEN.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Fontnames from Hypercard?
Is there a way in Hypercard to get the names of the fonts in the current system?
I am working on a stack that will provide userfriendly searching of
multiple fields, ditto sorting, and a report generating feature, using rtf-
file output, for any normal data stack. For this last function I need to access
all the names of the fonts in the system, so the user can choose between them.
How do I do this? Any ideas, hints, xcmds?
The stack will be selfconfiguring, and freeware, by the way.
Thanks in advance,
Espen Aarseth (of Paradigma fame...)
Section for Humanities computing
University of Bergen
Norway
HDBFS@NOBERGEN.BITNET
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 11:15:19 GMT
From: "J.M.L.Martin" <LUCTHSCH%BDILUC11.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Font problems
Jan asked me to forward this to info-mac about my font problems. I'm
Happy to say that the problem has been resolved and a summary of how it was
fixed will be along shortly.
Michael
Disclaimer: My opinions are mine!!! ALL MINE!!!! <evil laugh>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Dear fellow-Macist,
I think I know what's wrong. Probably you've got some sizes (like only 12 pt)
of Times installed in your system file, whereas you've got the full complement
in a separate suitcase file. The point is, that neither Suitcase II nor any sim
ilar utilities will allow you to split up a font family in several files (be-
cause only one FOND per family is supported in MacOS). Consequently, it retains
the first FOND of that family which is encounters in its search order. The open
application always comes first, then follows the system file, then any Suitcase
files in reverse order of opening. So if you've got only Times 12 in your sys-
tem file, and the whole gamut in a Suitcase, the system is not aware of them
because the FOND in the system file was loaded first and cannot be overriden,
and has only entries for Times 12.
Fortunately the cure is very simple: just remove all sizes of Times, Helvetica,
Symbol, ... or any fonts you'd like to keep in separate suitcases from your
system file using the Font/DA mover, and everything will come into place.
CAVEAT: the Font/DA mover will not remove Chicago 12, Geneva 12 and Monaco 9,
because the system needs them all the time. So any other point sizes of any
of these fonts should be copied into the system file, rather than kept in a
suitcase file.
Concerning your problem with MacDraw: I made the same observation. In my opi-
nion, it is simply due to New York (nor Geneva, Chicago, ...) not being a
Postscript font (and thus not in the LaserWriter). I keep telling everyone out
here to substitute Times for New York, Avant Garde or Helvetica for Geneva
and Courier (the only monospaced LW font) for Monaco, because that, in the end,
is the only viable solution to this and related problems with other packages.
The option 'font substitution' in the 'Page Setup' dialog does the same for you
but without adjusting sizes and formatting, resulting in similar problems to th
at above.
Hoping I have been of any help, I remain yours sincerely,
Jan Martin, Quantum Chemistry,
Department SBM, Limburgs Universitair Centrum,
Universitaire Campus, B-3610 Diepenbeek
LUCTHSCH at BDILUC11.BITNET
Disclaimer: IBM just changed its name to 'I'd Buy a Mac'
P.S.: please forward a copy of this item to Info-Mac at sumex-aim.stanford.edu
- we always have trouble with the gateways here
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 18:24:03 EDT
From: Michael D. Prange <prange@erl.mit.edu>
Subject: How complete is THINK C++?
I just read in MacWeek that Symantec is coming out with version 4.0
of its THINK C compiler sometime in August. This new version supports
object oriented programming by incorporating a subset of C++. Does
anyone know anything more about this compiler? For instance, how much
of C++ is included, and is all of the object oriented stuff a subset
of C++? I'm hoping, based on version 3.0's excellent adherence to
ANSI C, that version 4.0 will truly be a subset of C++.
Michael
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 11:19:42 MDT
From: Bob Bolt <BBOLT%UALTAVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: HyperCard field formatting
I keep running into a problem with HyperCard fields - it is very difficult
to format text because of the lack of tabs. Often I want to create a
single field that has a number of items on each line, but I want the
items to line up in columns in the field. Because of the proportional
fonts, this cannot be done with any accuracy. The only solution I can
see is to use a mono-spaced font like Monaco (yuk). I have never heard
of anyone else having this need for tabs - am I the only one? This
should be a natural feature for HyperCard. Does anyone know of a way
to work around this limitation? Perhaps an XCMD? There must be a way...
==========================================================
Bob Bolt Bitnet: BBOLT@UALTAVM
Instructional Tech Centre CI$: 75410,2754
University of Alberta
==========================================================
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 15:59:32 -0900
From: "DANIEL K LASOTA" <FTDKL%ALASKA.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Hypercard technique
Hi Everyone,
After reading Peter Chen's letter about error trapping for HyperCard I thought
I would post this as it may be of help to others as well.
I recently wrote a stack that allows one to edit, plot and print functions of
one variable. (I will post it soon). One of the main problems that I was
having was that if somebody tried to graph a function over a domain that the
function was not defined then HyperCard would stop executing my script and
display some SANE error.
This was of course unacceptable. I decided to play around with global
variables so that if HyperCard tried to plot the function in a region of bad
behavior then the person would see a note in the message box telling why the
function couldn't be plotted. This didn't stop the execution of the script
either.
This is the way it would work:
A person would have already written and edited a function and it would be
defined as f(x). Using HyperCard's ability edit the scripts in the stack I put
the definition for the function in the background script of the plotting card.
For instance, if a person was plotting the ArcSine function the background
script would look like:
function f(x)
return asin(x)
end f
When the person clicked on a "Plot Graph" button the following script would be
executed:
on mouseUp
global XtickInterval,YtickInterval,blowup
:
:
:
put f(x) into func
[At this point HyperCard would look for f(x) higher up in the stack and would
find it in the background script. There it would find that it had to compute
asin(x). So it would look even higher in the stack to find the definition of
asin(x). In the script of the stack it would find amongst other things:
function asin x
-- This performs the ArcSine function
global blowup
if abs(x) 2 1 then
put "The ArcSine is not defined for |x| 2 1." into blowup
return 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
exit asin
end if
return atan(x/sqrt(1-x~2))
end asin
This is where I could anticipate where things would go wrong. Each function
would have a line of script to determine if the function was trying to be
plotted in a "naughty" region. In this case if x was between -1 and 1 then
instead of trying to return a number I returned an artificial value for the
function, the long string of nines. In addition a helpful comment would be
placed in the global variable called "blowup"
After all that, script control would go back to the background and then back to
the original button script.
These were the lines immediately following the call for f(x) in the button
script:
if blowup contains "The" then
put blowup
next repeat
else
If the global "blowup" contained a message it would have the word "The" in it
and instead of trying to plot a nonexistent value the script would put the
comment in the message box :
"The ArcSine is not defined for |x| 2 1."
To summarize what I did was split up the plotting routine into the button,
background and stack script. The execution of the script would always reach
the background and if HyperCard didn't know what a function was (as in the case
of Arcsine) then the background script would act like a pointer to the
appropriate section in the stack.
If the function was misbehaving then it would return an artificial number and
put a message in a global. The user didn't have to worry about where the
function was mathematically defined and the plotting routine just kept going.
I realize this may have been a bit specific to my stack but I hope you will be
able to utilize the scheme presented here. I will try and post the stack soon.
Dan LaSota
Fairbanks, Alaska
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 23:00:39 EDT
From: "Juan M. Courcoul" <PP838474%TECMTYVM@icsa.rice.edu>
Subject: Looking for PostScript maps of Bitnet and the Internet
Does anybody have or know of an FTPable host having PostScript-format
maps of Bitnet and the Internet, suitable for printing on a LaserWriter ?
Please answer direct; I'll post a compiled listing of hosts, if desired.
At the same time, could a PostScript section be started in the archives,
with people contributing their favorite PostScript code ?
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Juan
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------\
Juan M. Courcoul | Phone:
Postmaster / Listserv coordinator | (835) 820-0000 Ext. 4151
Dept. of Academic Services |
Monterrey Institute of Technology | BitNet:
Monterrey, N. L. 64849 | POSTMAST @ TECMTYVM
Mexico | PP838474 @ TECMTYVM
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------/
------------------------------
Date: 28 Jul 89 12:29:00 EST
From: "JEFF TEMPLON" <templon@venus.iucf.indiana.edu>
Subject: Macintosh Software Prices
After seeing Gregory Fox's puzzlement over the LARGE cost of the
Scrapz DA product, I feel compelled to add some similar thoughts of my own.
When I first got involved with the Macintosh about two years ago,
the trade magazines were full of two things: 1) ads for pretty cheap software,
and 2) lots of editorials telling everybody that you should buy NOW, because
the days of wine and roses are fading; the Mac is becoming a BUSINESS computer.
And sure enough, it has turned out to be true. I have seen many
programs that have gone from about $100 suggested price to over $200 STREET
price. Usually the only difference between the old version and the more
expensive one was a snazzier package, maybe a few 'business-oriented'
features, and slicker advertisements. Very few products have been upgraded
without experiencing a large price increase.
Mr. Fox points out that the shareware arena now seems to be
experiencing this same price inflation. It does not seem (to me) as thorough
as in the snazzware area; I point out the FREE products microEmacs and OzTeX,
and reasonably priced MEdit and StuffIt shareware products as examples.
On the other side, I watched one particular shareware text editor DA go from
$20 (V4.X) to $50 (the main difference seems to be that all the bugs are now
worked out.) I paid less than twice that for WriteNow!
It seems really awful that this sort of inflation has hit the shareware
market. My impression is that most of us (at least on this network!) aren't
the 'business' users for whom the price explosion was initiated.
There seems (to me) to be only one honest method of combatting this
inflation: do not buy or use these "overpriced" products, and support the
reasonably-priced ones that you do use. If a programmer were to find,
that no one was either buying OR using his "overpriced" product, he would
have two alternatives: 1) make no money on the product, or 2) cut the price
and see what happens. This would be especially attractive in the face of
obvious support (in the form of payment) for lower-priced products.
Please understand that I am not advocating just using this
"overpriced" shareware without buying; I would suspect that doing so
contributes to shareware price inflation. If more people sent in their
fees, perhaps a shareware programmer might feel less inclined to charge big
bucks. Just don't buy it or use it. This is the power of the open market.
Jeff Templon
Indiana University Cyclotron Facility
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 21:59:28 EST
From: Robert Weaver <MAWEAVE%INDST.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: medium big hard drives
Dear Info-Mac'ers:
I am finally in the market for a hard drive. (I've been on a floppy
only system since Mar 85, and have lost patience.) What I'd like is
some commentary from the net.
The constraints:
(1) It should be >= 60Mb.
(2) It should have <= 28 ms access time.
(3) It should be external, compatible with MacPlus.
(4) It should be quiet.
Examination of several trade mags led me to the following:
WESTCOM COMPUTER
80 Mb Seagate $685 (60 Mb is $105 less)
28 ms access time; 40,000 MTBF; 1 year warr.; tech info & service avail
Some questions:
Is a quantum drive worth 40% more? Cuts the access time to 19 ms, and
seems to be more reliable. With system 7.0 going virtual, access time
is certainly important. However, I've become tolerant of floppy speed.
Someone called Peripheral Land advertises a 70 Mb "turbo"; ostensibly
25 ms access, but with some sort of a caching system that increases
average performance to 14 ms. Does anyone know anything about this?
It is 70% more expensive: is cutting the average time in half worth this
price?
I plan to use the machine for various academic pursuits: some research,
some writing, lots of file transfers, if that makes any differences.
Any comments anyone?
Robert Weaver BITNET: maweave@indst
Dept of Math and Comp. Science OFFICE: 1-812-237-7652
Indiana State University HOME : 1-812-466-4545
Terre Haute, IN 47809
disclaimer: this information was gathered from magazines and telephone
calls, and may be incorrect. I have no connection with any of the
companies above.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 22:37:03 EDT
From: pete harrison <MERCURY@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu>
Subject: MS Word 4.0 Line Spacing
In response to problems that have been mentioned with regard to
line spacing in Word 4.0 when inserting equations into paragraphs.
I have faced the same problem and found a solution in the reference
manual. Try setting the line spacing in the format paragraph dialog
box to a negative number. If you use 12 point fonts and want space
and a half, set it to -18. This overrides the automatic spacing
that Word defaults to and that causes the problems with equations,
supersripts and subscripts. I have not tried this with MathType,
but I suspect it will work.
Pete Harrison
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 13:28 CDT
From: "Sandro Corsi, Univ.of WI-Oshkosh" <CORSI@oshkosh.wisc.edu>
Subject: Postscript->Quickdraw->Postscript?
Tom Schmidt writes:
> A friend is laboriously programming a VAX laser printer in Postscript and
> can't see the effect of changes until printing...
This might not help at all, but...
If
the Mac your friend intends to use is anywhere on an AppleTalk network, and
there is any PostScript printer on that network, and while he/she is trying
things out other people have no burning desire to use said printer
then
you might want to look into "Lasertalk", an interactive PostScript
programming environment which, among countless nifty features, also has the
capability to display the bitmap from the PS interpreter on the Mac screen,
so the programmer can look at the image without printing it. Lasertalk will
put the printer's interpreter in interactive mode while talking to it,
which effectively locks out every other user on the network. The program is
put out by:
Emerald City Software
P.O.Box 2103
Menlo Park, CA 94026
Lasertalk will work from an EtherTalk Mac across a bridge, but I have no
idea whether it will work if the printer is on anything other than an
AppleTalk network (such as, DECnet).
Sandro Corsi
Art Dept.
Univ. of Wisconsin - Oshkosh
Oshkosh, WI 54901
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 11:46:24 GMT
From: "J.M.L.Martin" <LUCTHSCH%BDILUC11.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Preserving GET INFO comments
Dear fellow-Macists,
I checked out the info... desk accessory from your archives. It is nicely pro-
grammed, but I am having second thoughts about it, as well as the 'CE Info'
in Disktop 3.0.1: both utilities actually add an extra resource to your files
that shouldn't be there, which is quite similar to what a virus does (some
antivirus utilities will be less than enthusisastic). More important, a special
utility is nneded just to read them, whereas the 'Get Info' command in the
Finder sits there for John Dick (as they say in Dutch). There is a third so-
lution I accidentally discovered yesterday:
the 'Get Info' comments are actually resources of type 'FCMT' in the desktop
file. Just open it with ResEdit, open a new File with RedEdit (just tap on
the file list before selecting 'New', copy the 'FCMT' resources from the desk-
top file, paste them to the new file, and close it. Then rebuild the desktop,
and before doing anything else, open the file created before and the desktop fi
le again, Copy the FCMT resources, and PAste them to the Desktop file. Et voila
| All your comments are back to normal.
The process looks involved for a novice user, but is only required occasionally
, generally on big hard disks or server volumes with Bundle bit problems (for
which the very useful BundAid comes in handy). I'm now writing a simple utility
to do the whole thing by itself.
Happy Mack-ing,
Jan Martin
Quantum Chemistry
Department SBM
Limburgs Universitair Centrum
Universitaire Campus
B-3610 Diepenbeek, Belgium
LUCTHSCH@BDILUC11.BITNET
Disclaimer: IBM is no longer the Italian Branch of the Mafia. It's now called
I'd Buy a Mac
------------------------------
Date: 30 Jul 89 05:32:37 GMT
From: scott@heim.uucp (Scotty)
Subject: Whats wrong with the Mac ....
You know, not long ago I though Macs where cute toys. Now, consider myself a
MAC advocate. I'm constantly writing memos justifying "A MAC ON EVERY DESK"
making an analogy to the telephone etc. I like my Mac, and I also like UNIX.
But, I find it real frustrating when I want proces a group of files
on my mac and I have to go find 'em and click - Or heaven forbid I had a program
that did something to files fed to it (like unix commands tend to be written)
and I wanted to envoke a command with a list of files as entry parameters -or-
envoke that command once for each file in my list.
Is there something out there I can use like a command line interpreter?
thanx -
--
Scott Watson - "Inane little message goes here"
uucp: {rutgers,ames}!elroy!grian!heim!scott
Internet: scott@heim.UUCP
------------------------------
End of Info-Mac Digest
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