[comp.sys.mac.digest] Info-Mac Digest V7 #87

Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) (05/13/89)

Info-Mac Digest             Fri, 12 May 89       Volume 7 : Issue  87 

Today's Topics:
                             6.0.3 again
                   [DCGQAL]GER.XSE0010!Windows 2.0
                       A Testing of HP Driver.
                              BinHex 5.0
                            Designer Draw
                Excel-openable files (double-clicking)
                        Foghorn Leghorn sounds
                          Hard Drive Access
                            ImageWriter LQ
                       MacBinary and BinHex 5.0
                   Scanning,  Character Recognition
          Virtual Memory for the Mac (Pmmu and multifinder)

Your Info-Mac Moderators are Lance Nakata, Jon Pugh, and Bill Lipa.

The Info-Mac archives are available (by using FTP, account anonymous, any
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Send administrative mail to info-mac-request@sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 12 May 1989 15:32:20 CDT
From: CB Lih <CL06076%UAFSYSB.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: 6.0.3 again

Ok, I know those of us without an SE/30 or a Mac II(c)x  don't *need*
System 6.0.3, but is there any *harm* in using it?  We the System Upgrade
program and I know some users are going to want to get 6.0.3 just
because it's new and and free (to them).  I will probably be the person
administering the program.  Should I discourage users who don't need
6.0.3 from using it?   Thanks,
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=--> CB Lih <--=  "A man who is sometimes all he's cracked up to be."
Macintosh Support
BITNET: CL06076@UAFSYSB    AppleLink: U0669    Phone: 501-575-2905
US Mail: ADSB 220, University of Arkansas
         155 Razorback Road, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
Acknowledge-To: <CL06076@UAFSYSB>

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

Date: Thu, 11 May 89 12:20:36 PDT
From: "[DCGQAL]GER.XSE0010" <XB.DAS@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: [DCGQAL]GER.XSE0010!Windows 2.0

Windows 2.0

Copyright 1988,89 Joachim Lindenberg, Sommerstrasse 4,
  7500 Karlsruhe 1, West Germany. All rights reserved.

Windows is an INIT/control panel extension that will add a windows menu
to the finder and other applications. You can configure the running
applications (and this is the big improvement in comparison to 1.x)
in the control panel.

(For the curious programmer: Windows does not know about Multifinder)

Windows is shareware. If you like and use it, send me $10.
International users: Send your check, turning it into cash
costs me $ 0.30.

Joachim Lindenberg
GER.XSE0010@applelink.apple.com

[Archived as /info-mac/cdev/windows-20.hqx; 27K]

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

Date: Fri, 12 May 89 16:19:50 EET
From: Jouni Santara  <LK-JOUNI@fintuvm>
Subject: A Testing of HP Driver.

  Hi Guys, here we have some GOOD news...

  Frustrated to  use only  Apple's  own low-quality
or high-priced  printers?  Why don't  you switch to
HP DeskJet or LaserJet.  Now  this is  possible for
all Mac users, because a FREE driver software seems
to work with the most applications of Mac.

  Disadvantages?

    -Terrible SLOW  with the highest  quality output mode
     (300 dpi, 5-10 min/page) and

    -not  compatible  with the  applications  written  by
     "weird  programming  methods".  For this  I  can say
     that  I  have  been   able to  demonstrate  problems
     with Word (3.01,  my  favourite,  sigh)  text editor
     and HyperCard (another sigh). The available document
     lists a quite  comprehensive list of other unworking
     applications.

    -Minor  problems  with the Finder when trying to tell
     for application the  using of  LaserJet mode (eq you
     have  to  check   the   corresponding   box   BEFORE
     starting the application),

    -possible  bigger problems  with MultiFinder (haven't
     tried YET).

    -Finally,  I  did  NOT  get  it work with other speed
     than at the 19200  baud via serial line between  Mac
     and  LaserJet, although  the driver program includes
     selection button for 1200 and  9600 baud speeds.  My
     printer just returned magical error code 40.

  Advantages?

    +The price  of HP DeskJet Professional is about 900
     and the quality is said to be "uniformly excellent
     and stood up against that of most laser printers".
     My tests have been done by using HP's LaserJet.

    +No problems  when trying MacWrite, WriteNow, and a
     couple of other programs. Again, the documentation
     lists more tried applications.

    +The C source  code of program  is available and it
     could serve as a base  when wanting  to write your
     own driver for  different printer or  improve this
     one.

  A conclusion:  A  high-quality output with ALL the graphics
you believe to need does not have to be expensive any  more -
more work is needed  to make it functioning under MultiFinder
and all Mac applications.

  Still, folks: it works and that is great.

  J.Santara
  Computing Centre
  Turku university
  Finland

[This is the driver which I put in the archives recently. I believe it is
 in the util directory. -Bill]

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

Date: Fri, 12 May 89 11:46 EST
From: "Thomas R. Blake" <TBLAKE@bingvaxb.cc.binghamton.edu>
Subject: BinHex 5.0

>Date: Thu, 11 May 89 17:12:48 PDT
>From: Les_Ferch@mtsg.ubc.ca
>Subject: MacBinary and BinHex 5.0
>     
>I downloaded the program "MacBinary" thinking that it probably
>did the same thing as "BinHex 5.0" which has been around for
>years and still works just fine. After testing out both programs,
>I came to the conclusion that they do indeed do the same thing. I
>wonder why Greg Smith went to all the trouble of writing
>MacBinary when BinHex 5.0 was already available?

Is MacBinary Free?  BinHex 5.0 is Shareware.

Tom Blake

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

Date: Fri, 12 May 89 12:51:14 PDT
From: Les_Ferch@mtsg.ubc.ca
Subject: Designer Draw

It turns out that the shareware version 1.0 of Designer Draw (April 1987)
works fine on a Mac Plus, SE, or SE/30, but will not work on any Mac II
series machine.  I suspect the problem is related to the bigger screen.
We have tried it set at 1 bit video, but you still get the error message
"not enough memory to complete this operation" right after leaving the
title page.  Turning the instruction cache off doesn't help, and we're not
running under MultiFinder.  Could anyone suggest some possible fix, or is
there a newer shareware version of this program?

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

Date: Fri, 12 May 89 13:55:12 EDT
From: ckd%bu-pub.BU.EDU@bu-it.bu.edu
Subject: Excel-openable files (double-clicking)

Someone (I forgot who) wanted to know how to make the files
their program produces double-clickable (automatically opening
Excel).

The answer: when you write the file to disk, make sure the Creator
code is "XCEL".  Since Excel reads the files already, I suspect the
type code (XLBN) is already correct.

No, I don't remember how to do this--I think there's a call called
SetFileInfo or somesuch.  (I'm not a Mac programmer yet, for lack
of time.)
 
*****************************************************************************
*  Chris "Data" Davis !  BITNet: smghy6c@buacca.bitnet  !     NCC-1701D     *
*  Student Consultant !  InterNet: ckd@bu-pub.bu.edu    !        ___        *
*  Boston University  !        smghy6c@buacca.bu.edu    ! ---===========--- *
*---------------------+---------------------------------+     o  \|/  o     *
* DISCLAIMER: I said it and nobody else is responsible. !     `-< * >-'     *
* "You all look like happy campers to me." -Dan Quayle  !                   *
*****************************************************************************

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

Date: Thu, 11 May 89 14:18:57 EDT
From: djhill@rodan.acs.syr.edu ( Number_6 **)
Subject: Foghorn Leghorn sounds

The enclosed file contains several lines from Warner Bros cartoons featuring
Foghorn Leghorn.  Enjoy.  Unfortunately this will be the last series of
sounds I'll be able to post for a while since I'll be graduating from S.U
on May 14th.


Douglas J. Hill   -  djhill@rodan.acs.syr.edu
                     RSDJH@SUVM  [ BITNET ]    or
                     User #1 at Europa BBS (315)-426-8092

[Archived as /info-mac/sound/foghorn-leghorn-various.hqx; 192K]

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

Date: Fri, 12 May 89 12:59:46 PDT
From: Les_Ferch@mtsg.ubc.ca
Subject: Hard Drive Access

Is there a freeware or shareware program around that will make a
hard drive unmountable if a person boots a machine with their own
floppy? If so, using that along with Lockout 2.0 would provide
pretty good security.
 
I know that you can use some device-dependent driver when setting
up some hard drives that will render the drive unmountable unless
you have that particular driver on the floppy boot disk, but I'd
rather have something that I can install after the fact.

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

Date: 12 May 89 15:32:18 GMT
From: steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve Goldfield)
Subject: ImageWriter LQ

Apparently, it was Apple's original intention to
replace only LQs with demonstrable problems.
However, they have been deluged with replacement
requests and apparently decided to replace all.
The result is an indefinite backup. Whereas I
was told originally that I'd have my replaced
LQ within a week, I've now been waiting for
six weeks with no end in sight. I talked to
Apple Customer Service yesterday, and they
make no prediction on how long it would take.
They advised me to get my LQ back and wait
until my dealer has the new one in hand. (I
would if I didn't do most of my work on a
laserprinter.)

My information comes from Apple or from what
Apple told my dealer (actually the university).

Steve Goldfield

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

Date: Fri, 12 May 89 10:57 EDT
From: Greg Smith <SMITH%BKNLVMS.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: MacBinary and BinHex 5.0

Les_Ferch@mtsg.ubc.ca writes:

>I downloaded the program "MacBinary" thinking that it probably
>did the same thing as "BinHex 5.0" which has been around for
>years and still works just fine. After testing out both programs,
>I came to the conclusion that they do indeed do the same thing. I
>wonder why Greg Smith went to all the trouble of writing
>MacBinary when BinHex 5.0 was already available?

I haven't been able to get ahold of BinHex 5.0, yet, but I'll take your
word for it that BinHex also decodes MacBinary data files.  The reason I
bothered to write MacBinary was that we only used BinHex 4.0 here when we
DID use BinHex.  Usually, we just use StuffIt to unBinHex files, or mcvert
on our Unix box.  The problem was that some of us used NCSA Telnet 2.1 to
download unBinHexed files, and that program didn't yet know how to handle
MacBinary format.  I wrote MacBinary to address this need, not knowing about
BinHex 5.0's extra ability.  I posted it because I had seen references from
other people with needs similar to mine.  I thought that they might benefit
>From what I had done, rather than having to re-invent the same wheel that I
had re-invented.  ;-)  NCSA Telnet 2.2 has just come out and it understands
the MacBinary format, making MacBinary 1.0.1 even less necessary.  That's
the nature of the Macintosh world, though.  There is always something better
on the horizon, or already available.

+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Greg Smith                 | BITNET:   smith@bucknell.bitnet       |
| Systems Analyst            |           smith@bknlvms.bitnet        |
| Bucknell Computer Services | Internet: smith@bucknell.edu          |
| Bucknell University        |           smith@amethyst.bucknell.edu |
| Lewisburg, PA  17837       | AT&Tnet:  (717) 524-1801              |
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+

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

Date: Wed, 10 May 89 05:40 EDT
From: alanr@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Subject: Scanning,  Character Recognition

    Date: Sun,  7 May 89 16:36:27 -0400 (EDT)
    From: Nickolaos Sahinidis <ns1b+@andrew.cmu.edu>

    I would like to transform a large amount of printed data into a text
    file.

    Does anyone have experience with scanners and character recognition
    software ?

    Any suggestions would be appreciated.


    Thanks,  Nikos

I've used a program called READ-IT 

Vendor: (from the about box)

OLDUVAI Corporation
7520 Red Road Suite A
South Miami, Florida 33143

Tel: 305-665-4665

I've used it some, trying to understand when it might be useful. My
impression is that if you have a lot of text in one font (for instance a
book or at least many pages) then it might be useful, but only when
scanned at a reasonably high resolution. I've used it at 300 dpi from an
apple scanner, and found that after training it for a while, It started
to do ok, but not perfect. The reason that you want a reasonably large
text is simply that there is an overhead associated with training the
thing for your font, if it is not one of the ones supplied. I suspect
that no matter what you will still be left with some editing to fix it
up. You may want to give it a try. If you have further questions, you're
welcome to give me a call at 617-253-0608.

-alan

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

Date: Wed, 10 May 89 03:39 EDT
From: alanr@MEDIA-LAB.MEDIA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Virtual Memory for the Mac (Pmmu and multifinder)

    Date: Mon, 8 May 89 23:53 EDT
    From: "John L. Jamison x8508" <JAMISON@campus.swarthmore.edu>

    One submitter asked about the use of the PMMU and virtual memory for the
    Mac.

    Connectix has written a virtual memory INIT which makes use of an installed
    PMMU to give up to 8 megabytes of usable memory, irrespective of how much
    RAM is physically present.  

    Apparently their product has problems with certain DMA devices or boards
    which access RAM directly- this access does not go through Memory
    Manager trap routines and thus cannot be handled by system software.

    John Jamison                    jamison@campus.swarthmore.edu
    - I have no affiliation with Connectix, etc.

If you order this product, then I suggest you first request, if
possible, an evaluation copy, if you are depending on you favourite
program running correctly. A while ago I tried this with Allegro Common
lisp and found that it did not work. As I soon after upgraded with real
memory, I abandoned the project. 

I did use it with multifinder and a number of other mac applications, so
I don't mean to imply that it is likely that your application won't
work. Also, I have heard good things about Connectix support, and
responsiveness in fixing bugs and imcompatibilities. The intention of
this message is just to warn you it is possible that the connectix
product doesn't work with all software

- I have no affiliation with Connectix, etc.

-alan

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End of Info-Mac Digest
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