Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (06/26/89)
Info-Mac Digest Sun, 25 Jun 89 Volume 7 : Issue 112
Today's Topics:
CAD Program for Boat Design
Color XCMD?
help with "xxx.Z" files
Hiding LaserWriters on LocalTalk
Introduction
Neuro-net Stackware
program support
Sargon IV bugs
Screen Save program (to avoid updates)
Search/find functions of Hypercard
SmallTalk/V (Mac)
Spellchecker questions
Spontaneously-rebooting Mac
Your Info-Mac Moderators are Lance Nakata, Jon Pugh, and Bill Lipa.
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].
Please send articles and binaries to info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
Send administrative mail to info-mac-request@sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 19:15 CDT
From: "Sandro Corsi, Univ.of WI-Oshkosh" <CORSI@oshkosh.wisc.edu>
Subject: CAD Program for Boat Design
>From: Matthew Wall <WALL%brandeis.bitnet@forsythe.stanford.edu>:
> I have a friend who's new to computing and wants to buy a Mac. He's setting
> up his own business designing and building small sailboats. He's certain he
> heard of an excellent CAD program for the Mac that's specifically for boat
> design.
It's called MacSurf (no kiddin'!). It's put out by:
Graphic Magic, Ltd.
P.O.Box 185
Cottesloe 6011
Perth, Western Australia
ph. 011-61-9-383-2114
Un-claimer: I've never even seen the stuff. I'm just quoting from the
Winter'89 issue of the "Macintosh Buyer's Guide" -- the reason why you
couldn't find it is that it is listed under "Architecture" (as in "Naval
Architecture"!!! -- it figures, doesn't it? ;-).
BTW -- before your friend gets on the phone long distance with DownUnder,
you might want to mention that the U.S. list price is a cool $4,500. The
[many] add-on modules are about half a grand apiece.
Sandro Corsi
Art Dept.
Univ. of Wisconsin - Oshkosh
Oshkosh, WI 54901
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 17:20:27 -0900
From: DANIEL K LASOTA <FTDKL%ALASKA.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Color XCMD?
Hi everyone,
I am looking for a HyperCard XCMD that would let one call up color
displays outside of the HyperCard window.
Also is there anyhting available that would allow a sequence of
color picts to be shown in succession so as to allow
animation?
I know that there is such an XCMD for black and white picts
but I really need one for color.
Thanks,
Dan LaSota
FTDKL@ALASKA
Duna nuna nuna .... BATMAN!
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 22:02:03 +0200
From: Sigurd Meldal <sigurd@eik.ii.uib.no>
Subject: help with "xxx.Z" files
The xxx.Z files are the result of compression using the Lempel-Ziv
compression algorithm, usually output from the "compress" utility on
UNIX systems.
In order to get the contents back to their original shape, you have to
uncompress on a UNIX host, or use the "compress" utility program
(available from the info-mac archives as util/maccompress-32.hqx, I
believe). The result can be untar'ed (if it is a tar file) or handled
in the otherwise appropriate manner.
Note that the xxx.Z files are binary, and ftp has to be in the
appropriate mode.
-- Sigurd
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 22:40 EDT
From: CHGARNETT%AMHERST.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Subject: Hiding LaserWriters on LocalTalk
I just installed some Macs for student use here at Amherst,
and have run into a problem. Students laserprint here by creating
postscript files and transferring them to our VAX where they get queued to
a PrintServer 40. All the new Macs are connected to an existing
LocalTalk network in our staff offices, so they can use our FastPath box
to get decent transfer speeds for the postscript files. We have a
LaserWriter in our office, too, and that's the problem.
The problem is: The LaserWriter in the office shows up in the
chooser, so people who don't hold down Command-F at the right time are
tying up the "internal use only" LaserWriter. They don't ever see their
printouts, either! (*grin*)
So, the question: Does anyone know anything about hiding devices
on the LocalTalk network so they can only be seen from certain nodes, or
visa-versa? We could always buy another FastPath box and configure them so
they don't pass LocalTalk packets back and forth, but that's a pricey
solution. Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks!
***************************************************************************
* Craig Garnett * E-Mail: CHGARNET@AMHERST (bitnet) *
* Micro Specialist (yeah, right) * S-Mail: Box 2240, Amherst College *
* Amherst College * Amherst, MA 01002 *
* * Phone: (413)542-2526 *
***************************************************************************
* "They can put a PS/2 in my office, *
* but they can't make me use it." *
***************************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 16:22 CDT
From: Dan Miser <MISER@macc.wisc.edu>
Subject: Introduction
Hello,
I have just finished the first version of Combiner, the
utility for text file concatenation. This program will strip headers
and footers off of a file and paste the files together. Perfectly
ready for using binhex. I would appreciate any comments or bugs sent
to me. This program is free-ware. There should be a new version in
mid-July to improve the speed issue, but this is just something to get
people going, since there have been numerous requests for a program
like this.
Disclaimer:The author makes no warranties whatsoever, of any kind!!
Use at your own risk after testing on trivial data.
Binary (stuffed and binhexed) follows.
******************************************************************
** Dan Miser Phone: (608) 262-0282 **
** 1210 W. Dayton Madison, WI 53706 **
** Internet: miser@vms3.macc.wisc.edu Bitnet: miser@wiscmacc **
******************************************************************
[Archived as /info-mac/util/combiner.hqx; 22K]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 18:47 EST
From: <SEIFFER%IUBACS.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Neuro-net Stackware
I have been trying to locate a Neuro-Network stack. I thought that I had
seen one once somewhere. However, I have looked through the public domain
servers here at IU and through the Info-mac archives as well as a few other
archives. I haven't seen it anywhere.
Am I just imagining things or has someone really created such a beast in
Hypercard? The one I'm thinking of actually allowed the user to build a
small network and could watch it run.
Could anyone out there point me in the right direction? If I can't find a
stack, some other program that might be useful for assiting instruction in
the development of neuro-nets (connectionist networks) would work as well.
Thanks in advance.
Kurt A. Seiffert
IUB - UCS
seiffer@iubacs.ind.edu
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 16:23:48 EDT
From: Oliver Steele <steele@cs.unc.edu>
Subject: program support
I've entered several programs into the info-mac archives at sumex, and
I thought I'd keep people up to date on them. I've also received
several requests of similar natures, and wanted to let people know
what I was doing about them. Programs are described below by where
they occur on sumex; the names of the programs are pretty close to
the part after the '/'.
app/sphere-demo: People want source code. I'll mail the sphere
drawing routines to anyone who wants them, and I'll post them after I
comment them. I'll probably post all of the source as soon as I get a
chance to make it readable. Sorry; I don't want to spend the time to
make it a screen idler.
app/tile, app/truchet: I'll clean up my source code and post it, if
anyone's interested. Anyone want to combine tilings and cellular
automata?
cdev/dragger: Yes, I'm working on color. No, the next version won't
flicker as much. Yes, I know it bombs under VersaTerm. No, you can't
have source code (yet) (I know, I'm unreasonable). And there's a
display bug that can show up if you have two monitors. I'm working on
all of these, and should have the gleaming version 2.0 out in something
over two weeks.
init/buttons: The two comments about "Oliver's Buttons" are "I want
source code!", and "I like them all except the push button. Can you
give me the old push button back, but let me keep the others?" I'll
post source code, and add an option for a Classic Push-button.
util/menuedit-11: 1.1 is still the latest version. (Well, there's a
1.2 that I sold a (nonexclusive) license for to UpTime magazine and
that a few user groups might have, but there aren't any substantial
differences that I can think of). Right now I'm not doing any work on
it, but that's still possible. If I decide not to work on it I'll
post the source and let the net take it over. This partly depends on
how good ResEdit gets and how good ResMenu has gotten (I haven't
looked at it lately), because the only extensions I want to make will
make it nicer for programmers and ResEdit and ResMenu already address
their needs, and everything a non-programmer would want to do with
MenuEdit, I think it does pretty well already. Known bug: if you
change a single-character menu item (like -), it can mess up your
menu. But you'll see that this has happened immediately, and can do a
"Revert".
app/menu-madness, demo/picture-menu: Basically toys, more for giving
people ideas about ways to do things than for anything else. I don't
have any plans for these.
The other reason for posting is to announce my new address, for anyone
who has questions, comments, or suggestions about any of the above (or
about anything else). I'm moving to California, and will presumably
be reachable as steele@apple.com after about a week.
steele@cs.unc.edu will probably go away after a little while. The
post office and my parents will forward from my USNAIL address of 1209
Mason Farm Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514, indefinitely, and I don't know
when I'll have a permanant CA address, so that's the Post Offal way to
reach me. For what should be obvious reasons, I won't be doing much
in the way of posting or mailing source code or answering letters for
at least a week.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oliver Steele ...!decnet!mcnc!unc!steele
UNC-CH Linguistics steele@cs.unc.edu
and after Sunday:
Apple Computer, Inc. steele@apple.com?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 11:17:04 EDT
From: Michael_Webb@ub.cc.umich.edu
Subject: Sargon IV bugs
Moderator, please post this for me.
The other day, I posted a little report of bugs in Sargon IV. I called the
very helpful people at MacConnection, and they promised to send me a new one,
as they thought that I must have gotten a bad disk. It turns out that the
whole lot of disks they got from Spinnaker was bad, so they will get some
new good ones in a reasonable time frame. The service at MacConnection is
great!
I wouldn't treat this as a dig to Spinnaker. Maybe their quality control
was bad, or more probable, something happened in shipment. The Sargon IV
program is very well done, and it plays excellent chess (after all, it
never makes a mistake like most people do--to beat it you have to play
mistake free and be smart as well). The documentation could be updated, but
it is nevertheless excellent. I haven't been in contact with the people
at Spinnaker on this, so I don't know what their response is. I'm sure
there is a logical explanation. I recommend Sargon IV.
---------------------------------------------------------
| |
| Michael Webb |
| user6lnu@ub.cc.umich.edu |
| University of Michigan Physics Department |
| |
---------------------------------------------------------
Ubiquitous disclaimer:
I'm just a physics droog, even the lasers don't listen to me.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 89 17:06:29 EDT
From: sterritt%sdevax.decnet@crdgw1.ge.com (Chris Sterritt -- 354-4862 or 8*747-4862)
Subject: Screen Save program (to avoid updates)
Hello,
Doing a little recent archaeological work (that is, cleaning
off my desk) I ran across a photo-copied page from an April, 1986
Byte magazine with a neat hack in it. It's a set of calls, one
function and one procedure, that save the screen in an off-screen
area, then restore it, so that no update events happen.
The main purpose of this is to be able to put up dialog boxes,
etc., without having to redraw your screen when they go away.
Much of what it does is clever, and is PROBABLY correct,
but some of what it does (for example, always assuming that the
menu bar is 20 pixels high -- anyone know how to find this out?)
seems dangerous, so use at your own risk.
I've included a test program, and the Think pascal project
necessary to run it, so you alternate-compiler types can just
ignore that file.
Enjoy,
good luck!
-- chris s.
====================================================================
== Chris Sterritt --- sterritt%sdevax.decnet@crd.ge.com ==
== Disclaimer/Quote: ==
== "And this song can't be sued/I assume..." --- T. Tikaram ==
====================================================================
[Archived as /info-mac/source/pascal/screen-saving-routines.hqx; 22K]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 19:53 MDT
From: Keenan%UNCAMULT.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Search/find functions of Hypercard
Does anybody know of any tools (e.g. freeware) to speed up the
search/find functions of HyperCard? Thanks.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 89 17:10:16 EDT
From: sterritt%sdevax.decnet@crdgw1.ge.com (Chris Sterritt -- 354-4862 or 8*747-4862)
Subject: SmallTalk/V (Mac)
Hello,
I was wondering if someone (anyone!) who has tried the SmallTalk/V
for the Mac could send me info about it. I'm thinking of getting it, and
would appreciate email about the product.
A few easy questions:
Does it support multiple inheritance?
Does it produce standalone applications?
Does it compile, or interpret, or some combination? (Is its code
fast?)
Also, if anyone has used Apple's Smalltalk, I'd appreciate hearing
>From you as well. Of course, if you've used both and can compare/contrast,
I'd be overjoyed (well, almost :-).
I'll collect replies (email please!) and summarize to the net.
thanks very much in advance,
chris s.
====================================================================
== Chris Sterritt --- sterritt%sdevax.decnet@crd.ge.com ==
== Disclaimer/Quote: ==
== "And this song can't be sued/I assume..." --- T. Tikaram ==
====================================================================
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 12:08:15 PST
From: greydog@pro-ldm.cts.com (Steve Ebener)
Subject: Spellchecker questions
*Don Daybell asks.
*I am looking for a spellchecker that I can use while in an application,
*rather than having to quit and do a seperate spellcheck. Are there any
*such programs, and if so, which ones are the best. (Perhaps a DA?)
*Noshir Contractor asks
*Hi. Does anyone know of a spell-checker that works within Hypercard?
*My goals is to cleanse any typos before circulating stuff entered in the
*stacks.
To both of these questions, my answer is to use Spelling Coach Pro. (I'm
using it now.) I find that it will work in any application, including
HyperCard. (Although you have to change the command key codes to use it
effectively in HyperCard.)
The main draw backs of "Coach" is that it is NOT shareware, it's somewhat
expensive ($105 mail order), It must run off a HD (to use it's full
capabilities-- full definitions.), and it's large (It came on four 800k
floppies.)
Other than the things mentioned above, I have found that Coach is probably
one of the best spell checkers around. Oh, and it works as a DA.
This is my opinion only. I don't work for them, I only use it. (Every day.)
Steve Ebener
Eugene, Oregon
^<*~*Greydog*~*>^
UCCP: crash!pnet01!pro-ldm!greydog INET: greydog@pro-ldm.cts.com
ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-ldm!greydog@.nosc.mil
ProLine: greydog@pro-ldm
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 22:00:07 PDT
From: dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt)
Subject: Spontaneously-rebooting Mac
Spontaneous reboots may be a sign that your Mac's power supply is either ill,
or misadjusted. One way to check this would be to use a good voltmeter
(preferably an analog meter) to monitor the +5 voltage at one of the
external access points... say, on the output-handshaking pin on one of the
Mac's serial ports. If the voltage is more than about a tenth of a volt
more or less than 5 volts, or if it jumps up or down when the machine
reboots, then the power supply needs attention.
A power supply that's adjusted too low, or too high, can be adjusted by a
competent technician (one with Mac experience, of course).
I believe I remember reading that the power supply in the Plus contains an
overvoltage-protection circuit, which "crowbars" the +5 (shorts it to ground)
if the voltage rises too high. This protects the Mac's circuitry, but causes
the Mac to reset. This _might_ be what you're seeing.
------------------------------
End of Info-Mac Digest
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