Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (06/22/89)
Info-Mac Digest Wed, 21 Jun 89 Volume 7 : Issue 109
Today's Topics:
Astronomical Software Query (Summarized Responses)
Bawamba's Mac->IBM conversions
Color Tables
Converting Supercalc Files
Driver for Panasonic 202x Optical Disk Drive
Flight Simulator on a Mac II
How do I get side-by-side paragraph formatting in Word 4.0?
Latest ResMENU...
Mac+ keyboards work with older Macs
Mandatory booting from a hard disk
MIFF (Multimedia Interchange file format)
pucc info-mac archives
spell checker for hyper card
The amazing cdev shrinker!
The indescribable Nothing cdev...
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: Tue, 20 Jun 89 19:44:56 PDT
From: nardi@cs.nps.navy.mil (Peter Nardi)
Subject: Astronomical Software Query (Summarized Responses)
I sent a message to the net asking for input on
astronomical software for the Mac. The responses I got were very
helpful, Thanks to all! I also dug around the
interest-groups.txt file at sri-nic.arpa where I came across a SIG
called "astronomy@bbn.com." While the list deals mostly with
astronomical events in the Boston area, I was able to get some
good input from the moderator of the list.
I've summarized the responses I got (both from info-mac &
the astronomy@bbn.com moderator) and for those interested
in Astoronomy & such I think you'll find the responses useful.
-=<Pete>=-
Pete Nardi
nardi@nps.cs.navy.mil
Naval Postgraduate School
smc 1710
Monterey, Ca. 93940
------
If you have access to the usenet, you might post a message to sci.astro
which is a fairly active newsgroup, otherwise, if you send a message
to astronomy@bbn.com that will go out over the arpanet newsgroup.
------
I've seen the program called Voyager for the Mac and I can honestly say
that this is most advanced astronomy package for personal computers
I have seen to date. A professor in my department has a MacII with a
nice color monitor and he bought this program.
It is the fastest, most visually appealing and user friendily astronomical
education program. My first impressions were most lasting. I have yet to
see other program on the Mac, Apple, Amiga or PC that comes close to
the design of this package. I do not know if will perform the orbits you
wish to calculate, because I haven't been able to use the program
much. (I have an Amiga and PC, but no Macs.)
NASA JFK Space Center, Educators' Resource Lab, phone 407-867-4090, has
Apple software free for the taking, if you can get to the Center.
A couple of programs you would want to ask about is:
Astrografix (apd/02)
Go-Gravity and Orbits (apd/07)
New Go Program: Gravity and Orbits (apd/10).
There are more programs but these three should help you if you want to
port the Apple code to Mac. This stuff is intended for educators, so
I would state you're doing this as community service, etc...
Another source is a distributor from New York, if you have money.
Dynacomp, Inc., 178 Phillips Rd.,Webster, NY, 14580, phone - 800-828-6772.
They have alot of software, some public domain stuff, which you have to pay
for the disks on which it is copied.
I would also check Compuserve, and other bulletin boards. I'm sure they
have free software, if you have time to search through all their listings.
------
There is a stack that I got off the net that calculates the positions of
planets for a given day and time. it also calculates events of Jupiter's
moons. it is shareware.
There is also an educational hypercard stack called Sol's Neighbors that
permits you to plot the spacial relationships among various stars near
to us. Kind of fun, but not terribly significant.
------
You will find literally thousands of astronomy programs on
CompuServe, many of them for the Mac.
The cost is not unreasonable when you consider what you get.
-----
I bought the "Voyager" program out of impulse after reading a review of
it in the Jan or Feb issue of MacUser, and I have been amazed. MacConnection
has it for $63.
I can't begin to list everything it will do. It has a huge instruction
manual, but you really do not need to use it except for reference.
It will of course allow you to print star charts for your region. It will allow
you to draw a sky-line to produce an accurate chart for say your back
yard. You can determine what magnitude objects should be listed on the
chart, Messier objects, clusters, double stars, etc, about 17,000 total objects
I believe.
It can be customized to your lat and long, which helps in calculating time
conversions (sidereal and the like). It will run and update the stars
on the screen in real time, or you can speed them up and see how objects
track through the sky. It tracks planets for the next several centuries, and
allows you to enter satellite data (which I get from the space-research
network of internet), and displays their tracks (I have actually been able
to track these satellites, and can set up my scope in advance, something I
have never been able to do before).
It allows for different planes of observations, such as being an observer on
the moon or Jupiter.
------
I have been using "Voyager: The Desktop Planetarium" with a Mac SE/30,
both for fun and for educational demonstrations (with an nView Viewframe II+2).
Voyager is an outstanding piece of software. Besides enabling one to look at
the sky at any time from any place in the solar system
at any speed, it is possible to examine the orbital motions of all
the planets and one extra body of choice (the orbit can be programmed).
>From the standpoint of a university educator, Voyager is revolutionary.
A wide variety of astronomical concepts can now be ANIMATED in the
classroom. Furthermore, the program is so well designed that the
keyboard isn't even necessary. It is possible to execute classroom
demonstrations under mouse control only, so the keyboard need not
be carried to class. More comprehensive reviews of Voyager have
appeared in Sky and Telescope and MacWorld. At the price of $100,
you can't go wrong. Buy it from Carina Software, 830 Williams St.,
San Leandro, CA 94577, 415-352-7328.
Second, Professor Larry Staunton at Drake University has developed several
astronomical demonstrations in Basic. After some frustration with Fortran,
he chose Basic because of its speed, graphics capabilities, and accessibility
to students. The user interface is simple
and the animation effective. Demonstrations include Kepler's Laws,
retrograde motion, and two and three body orbits.
His software may be used as a template for
developing further demonstrations (I plan to develop one to demonstrate
parallax and proper motion). A brief description of his work appears
in Wheels of the Mind, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1988. For more information,
contact Larry Staunton, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Drake
University, Des Moines, Iowa 50311, 515-271-3033, Bitnet LS7301R@DRAKE.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 23:08:43 EDT
From: Eric Keller <R34334%UQAM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Bawamba's Mac->IBM conversions
Info-Mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Some time ago I asked about Bawamba, the company that is
selling a Mac-to-IBM conversion program for ANSI-C, wondering
how to get in touch with them. Thanks to the two people who
responded. In essence, the information I got is as follows:
"Bawamba's phone number is (818) 843-1627. Screenplay Systems
(Bawamba's parent company) is at 150 E. Olive Ave., Suite
305, Burbank, CA 91502, (818) 843-6557. MCP will be priced at
$995 with step license royalties starting at $2500." Of
interest is also that their implementation autosenses CGA,
VGA, and EGA format, that the sound manager and other Mac-
specific features are not supported, and that resource forks
are decompiled and recompiled as resource files. Color may
come later. I called the number, and got very helpful
information.
Eric Keller
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 23:09:16 edt
From: mcdowell@vtodie.cs.vt.edu (Brian McDowell)
Subject: Color Tables
I have a 'clut' resource that I am trying to make the active color table,
sort'a like the Klutz DA does it. I have tryed everything I can think of
using the palette manager routines and the new Window manager routines
for the Aux. Window Record, but to no avail.
What is the best way of doing this from Lightspeed C. Either setting the
system clut or a windows clut will be fine, I have managed to change the
cluts, but never with expected results.
Any help would be appreciated.
-Brian
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 13:37 EST
From: George Nassas <GEORGE%LAUVAX01.LAURENTIAN.CA@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Converting Supercalc Files
I believe SuperCalc can save files in Lotus WKS or WK1 format which Excel
can take in nicely preserving formatting and formulas for you. No need to
mess around with SYLK or DIF or text files.
- George
------------------------------
Date: 21 Jun 89 16:31 EST
From: WMLBTAM%UCCCVM1.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Driver for Panasonic 202x Optical Disk Drive
Date: 21 June 1989, 16:24:48 EST
>From: WMLBTAM at UCCCVM1
To: INFO-MAC at SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Driver for Panasonic 202x Optical Disk Drive
We are currently using a Panasonic 2026 laser disk drive interfaced to an
MS-DOS box.
We are using a dBASE III + application to go through and select the frame
numbers associated with a patient's records to show both the data (on the
computer screen) and the associated video (x-rays on the NTSC screen
hooked up to the player).
We're interested in finding out if anyone has a driver for the Panasonic
so we can interface it to the Mac and move the application over to the
Mac environment (probably using Foxbase+/Mac).
If anyone has a driver, or leads on one, or comments, etc., please
lemme know! Thanks!
Ted
==============================================================================
Theodore A. Morris, Univ. of Cincinnati|513-558-6046 AppleLink: U1091
Med Ctr Information & Communications |Bitnet: WMLBTAM @ UCCCVM1 NTS: WB8VNV
231 Bethesda Avenue, Mail Location #574|======================================
Cincinnati, OH 45267-0574 |"Call me up and I'll talk data to ya'"
==============================================================================
------------------------------
Date: 21 Jun 89 12:16 EST
From: WMLBTAM%UCCCVM1.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: Flight Simulator on a Mac II
Date: 21 June 1989, 12:15:34 EST
>From: WMLBTAM at UCCCVM1
To: INFO-MAC at SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Re: Flight Simulator on a Mac II
I KNOW this isn't what you wanted, but we've had a lot of fun watching
MS-DOS flight simulator running on our IIcx under SoftPC 1.3...
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 13:56:42 +0200
From: Sigurd Meldal <sigurd@eik.ii.uib.no>
Subject: How do I get side-by-side paragraph formatting in Word 4.0?
Word 4.0 understands the side by side format of paragraphs, since I can
import Word 3.01 documents with that style, and it works fine. Word
4.0 even lists side by side as a formatting element in the style sheet
of such styles imported from Word 3.0 documents.
However, I cannot find side by side as an option anywhere in Word 4.0,
the only way to set it is by using a style or paragraph imported from
a Word 3.0 document.
This is not acceptable. Any hints (and I am not interested in hearing
about tables - there actually is a good reason why side by side is
better than tables in my case)?
-- Sigurd
Hard mail:
Department of Informatics | Arpa:sigurd@eik.ii.uib.no
Thormohlens gt.. 55 | meldal@anna.stanford.edu
N - 5006 Bergen | Uucp: ...decwrl!glacier!shasta!anna!meldal
Norway |
phone: +47 5 54 41 53
fax: +47 5 54 41 99
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 11:03:00 -0600
From: u-atgoat%ug@cs.utah.edu (Alan T Goates)
Subject: Latest ResMENU...
This is the newest working version of ResMENU. It was originally tested with
ResEdit 1.2b4.1, but it also works with the release version of ResEdit (1.2).
There are a couple of cosmetic bugs that I know of, but this version is
completely functional. There should be a newer version sometime "real soon now".
Luv -n- Hugs
Al
[Archived as /info-mac/tech/resmenu.hqx; 27K]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 13:07:41 PDT
From: Lloyd Robinson <LROBINSON@kl.sri.com>
Subject: Mac+ keyboards work with older Macs
In Info-Mac-Digest, 14 Jun 89, Vol. 7 Issue 103, John DeSoi asks "Will a
Mac+ keyboard work properly with a 128K and 512K . . . ?" The answer is
yes. The keyboard for my original 128K got flaky about the time the Mac+
came out. I bought a Plus keyboard (I wanted the numeric keypad anyway).
Apple claimed compatibility at the time. That same keyboard is still
working with a 512K that has been extended to an E, and has had
third-party memory added as well as a SCSI port. Sorry, I don't know
where to buy Plus keyboards or stand-alone keypads.
-------
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 15:35 EDT
From: Matthew Wall <WALL%brandeis.bitnet@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Mandatory booting from a hard disk
I'm looking for a way of hacking the system so that it looks for the hard disk
(or a specified SCSI device) *first* before going to the floppy drives for
a boot volume. The idea is to ensure that a public hard disk is booted off
a particular system (loaded with appropriate anti-viral inits). Putting a
metal bar across the floppy drives is not an alternative. RSVP to me, and I'll
summarize to info-mac.
Matt Wall
Brandeis University
WALL@BRANDEIS.bitnet
Disclaimer: I would be stunned if anyone at work cared what I say.
-----------*new subject*
PS to all the TeXers out there who have tried the TeX Previewer in the
archives: I have hacked, slashed, and burned this in most ways I can concieve,
and tried umpteen different file transfer combinations, tried dvi files from
two different platforms of TeX, and I can still only get the thing to work with
the sample file included with the previewer. I'm certain that it's only a
demo, as advertised. The search for p.d. MacTeX goes on...
- m
------------------------------
Date: Wed 21 Jun 1989 10:18 CDT
From: <MSER001%ECNCDC.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: MIFF (Multimedia Interchange file format)
Has anyone seen any more information on this new and upcoming file format?
I realize that it will not be a true format till probably next year, but
would like to know if anyone has any more information on it.
It would be nice to be able to link ANY type file to a region of picture. With
the picture being different types. Of course ANY is sort pushing it!
scott hutinger
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 10:05:07 EDT
From: SHAPIRO%OUACCVMB.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Subject: pucc info-mac archives
Greetings,
I recently requested the following two files from the INFO-MAC
archives at PUCC.BITNET, they are :
/util/autoblack-new.hqx
/cdev/moire-222.hqx
I would like to report that I could not make the moire-222.hqx file
execute after running it through binhex 4.0. I am probably doing something
wrong and would like to get any instructions that are available from
someone who has made this software work.
With regards to the autoblack-new.hqx program, I have been successful
in installing this software on a MAC SE here but could not get this
program to function on a new MAC SE30 or on a MAC II. Again, if anyone
can offer any pointers I would appreciate it greatly.
Thanks!
Brian Shapiro
Assistant Manager, Information Center
Ohio University Computing and Learning Services
Haning Hall
Athens, Ohio 45701
(614) 593-1015
SHAPIRO@OUACCVMB.BITNET
SHAPIROB@OUACCVMA.BITNET
!att!oucs!uucpbds!shapiro
shapiro@pdp.cs.ohiou.edu
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 03:09:31 -0500
From: Noshir Contractor <nosh@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: spell checker for hyper card
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.
/nosh/
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 21:33:59 AEST
From: munnari!runx.oz.au!johnr@uunet.uu.net (John Rotenstein)
Subject: The amazing cdev shrinker!
Introducing the cdev shrinker!
A fully reversible utility for the dedicated Macintosh hacker.
Without giving away what it actually does (that's a surprise!), let's just
say that it is totally safe, quite useful and a reasonable simple hack.
It's fully Suitcase compatible, user friendly and fun to be with.
The shrinker is distributed under the HappiWare System:
IF YOU LIKE IT, REMEMBER TO SMILE!
But seriously, if you do like it please send me a postcard of your home town.
Is that too much to ask?
I try to reply to all the cards I get, but don't always have time. Original
cards and original locations tend to raise my interest!
(Apologies to Larry Rymal of Texas -- the Postal sorting machine chewed up
your card and I don't know your address!)
John Rotenstein
PO Box 165
Double Bay, NSW 2028.
AUSTRALIA!
[Archived as /info-mac/cdev/shrinker.hqx; 15K]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 21:35:11 AEST
From: munnari!runx.oz.au!johnr@uunet.uu.net (John Rotenstein)
Subject: The indescribable Nothing cdev...
Introducing Nothing cdev...
There's nothing to say but nothing itself.
Nothing is automatically reversed when another cdev is selected.
If you close the Control Panel with Nothing active, you'll have to choose
Nothing afterwards, then another cdev. Got that?
Nothing, by John Rotenstein.
Distributed under the HappiWare System:
IF YOU LIKE IT, REMEMBER TO SMILE!
John Rotenstein
PO Box 165
Double Bay NSW 2028.
AUSTRALIA!
[Archived as /info-mac/cdev/nothing.hqx; 5K]
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End of Info-Mac Digest
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