Moderators@SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU, Jon@SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU, (02/28/88)
INFO-MAC Digest Sunday, 28 Feb 1988 Volume 6 : Issue 24 Today's Topics: Re: Turbo Pascal Help MacNovice [tom coradeschi: Re: Reassembling Files] RE:INIT-SHUTDOWN-SOUND.HQX Bad versions of MAC kermit. TN3270 for Macintosh (Not) Printing With Sys 4.1/Find 5.5/DC I-W 2.6 Desktop Pictures on the Mac 2 Turbo Pascal Version 1.00A WriteNow->MS Word? Design 2.0 Newguy problems March Vaporware ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Turbo Pascal Help Date: Thu, 25 Feb 88 14:05:52 -0800 From: standish@madeleine.UCI.EDU Here is a simple program to draw a vertical and horizontal dashed line, then to draw a crawling ants rectangle with moving dashed lines. Exit by pressing the mouse button down for a second or more. Hope this helps. Tim Standish, UC Irvine {------------------------------<cut here>----------------------------------} PROGRAM DashedLine; USES MemTypes,QuickDraw,OSIntf,ToolIntf,PackIntf; VAR myRect: Rect; PROCEDURE DashedLine(r: Rect); VAR dashPattern:Pattern; pnState: PenState; BEGIN getPenState(pnState); {save current pen state} penNormal; StuffHex(@dashPattern,'FCF9F3E7CF9F3F7E'); penPat(dashPattern); WITH r DO BEGIN moveTo(left,top); lineTo(right,top); moveTo(left,bottom); lineTo(left,top); END; setPenState(pnState); {restore saved pen state} END; {DashedLine} PROCEDURE CrawlingAnts(r: Rect); VAR i: Integer; pnState: PenState; finalTicks: LongInt; pats:array[0..3] of Pattern; { for crawling ants rectangles} BEGIN getPenState(pnState); penNormal; {stuff hex to set up patterns for crawling ants rectangles} StuffHex(@pats[3],'FCF9F3E7CF9F3F7E'); StuffHex(@pats[2],'F3E7CF9F3F7EFCF9'); StuffHex(@pats[1],'CF9F3F7EFCF9F3E7'); StuffHex(@pats[0],'3F7EFCF9F3E7CF9F'); {RGBBackColor(myWhite); -- if you're on a Macintosh II} {RGBForeColor(myBlack); -- if you're on a Macintosh II} FOR i := 0 TO 3 DO BEGIN penPat(pats[i]); frameRect(r); delay(3,finalTicks); {delay 3 ticks} END; setPenState(pnState); END {CrawlingAnts} ; BEGIN {main program} setRect(myRect, 60, 60, 200, 120); DashedLine(myRect); offsetRect(myRect,10,10); WHILE NOT button DO {draw crawling ants rect until user clicks mouse} crawlingAnts(myRect); END. {Program} {------------------------------<cut here>----------------------------------} ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 88 9:05:16 EST From: "Hugh A. Huntzinger" (CCL-S) <huntzing@ARDEC.ARPA> Subject: MacNovice This question's probably routine by now. Sorry to bore you: "I'm a newcomer to the Mac. Where do I start?" With all the up/downloading from archives and such, what telecommunication programs, transfer protocols, uncompact routines and so forth are priorities to get ahold of to get moving on all the Shareware & Hyperdrive Stacks & so on that exist to take up disc space? Likewise, what reference guides should I be reading to learn "DOS" and all those good Macintosh tricks (ex: "change this to that to do such") as seen here in the Mac-Digests. I know that the stuff in the digest is involved & looks like assembler-level programming, but with documentation, I'm less likely to wipe out a disc from ignorance while trying to do something I can't & shouldn't ("Children will play"). BTW, I've got a ][+ system for sale - like this group really wants to revert to a 6502! Nevertheless, all offers considered. Thanks much! Hugh Huntzinger, huntzing@ARDEC.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 88 11:25:10 EST From: tom coradeschi <tcora@ARDEC.ARPA> Subject: [tom coradeschi: Re: Reassembling Files] ----- Forwarded message # 1: Date: Tue, 16 Feb 88 10:03:23 EST From: tom coradeschi <tcora@ardec.arpa> To: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@sri-nic.arpa> Subject: Re: Reassembling Files What protocol do you use to download? I use Kermit, and what I do is to ftp the files to my mainframe, and then Kermit using a wildcard designator for the unique portion of the filename. The VAX then handles sending the files in the right order and all at one time. It seems to work rather well. As an example, consider the following files: TEMP-FILE-PART1.HQX TEMP-FILE-PART2.HQX TEMP-FILE-PART3.HQX TEMP-FILE-PART4.HQX I Kermit using the command: kermit -s TEMP-FILE-PART* Where * is the wildcard designator. Give this a try. If you still have problems give me a yell <tcora@ardec.arpa> or 201-724-4348. tom c ----- End of forwarded messages ------------------------------ Date: 25 Feb 88 08:12:00 PDT From: "SEF::PIPPEN" <pippen%sef.decnet@nwc.arpa> Subject: RE:INIT-SHUTDOWN-SOUND.HQX Reply-to: "SEF::PIPPEN" <pippen%sef.decnet@nwc.arpa> The following message is posted for a coworker without an account on our MILNET computer. *************************************************************************** A recent submittal to the INFO-MAC archives is a .PIT (INIT-SHUTDOWN-SOUND.HQX)file containing a shutdown sound INIT , shutdown sound and a third file whose name is show by STUFFIT to be four boxes and when unpacked turns out to be invisible. The INIT seems to work fine without it, and the file itself is one block long and consists only of a data fork. Does anyone know what this file is for ? What with all the talk on the various conferences about virus programs, this invisible file with no apparent use has me curious. Post any reply's on the INFO-MAC conference. Mike LeVine Naval Weapons Center China Lake,Ca [ Moderator's Note: I noticed the invisible file too when I unpacked the archived file. It does not appear to be anything virulent, just an inadvertant invisible file. It is not executable and contains no resources at all. I think it was just a screw up. I will see about getting it replaced with a corrected file. Jon ]25-Feb-88 10:06:22-PST,2647;000000000001 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 88 13:04:51 est From: magill@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Operations Manager) Subject: Bad versions of MAC kermit. There have been several posting recently concerning problems with Kermit 9(36)b4. I have been supporting Kermit 0.8(34) for quite some time on the MACs around here because it works. Sometime this past Fall someone loaded a copy of what now looks like it was the infamous 9(36)b3 to one of our public hard disks. After about 30 seconds of testing it was easy to determine why Kermit no longer worked on that system - It no longer supported even parity. It appears that whoever re-wrote Kermit from version 8 decided to trash the parity provisions of that code and to simply use the Uart in the MAC. This evidently (according to the 9(36)b4 documentation) has the property, of simply ignoring any character that it sees which is of the wrong parity. Personally I find it hard to believe that someone would design a chip like that, but then I'm not a hardware type. There appear to be many parity problems in the 9(36)b4 version. And judging by the comments in the Doc file, it appears that the authors do not understand communications encodings and their implecations in their various manifestations. One nasty thing, for example, is that they seem to be of the opinion that "no-parity" means an 8-databit character. That is not necessarily true. One needs to be capable of independently determining the number of data bits in a character independently of the parity bit. Not to mention the inclusion of various numbers of whole or partial stopbits. We happen to have a rather large and hetrogenious network around here and support all kinds of wierd computers like IBM, HP, Harris, and DEC, running all sorts of wierd operating systems, not to mention even stranger things pretending to be front-ends, protocol converters, "transparent" gateways, and the like. I would strongly urge that Kermit 8(34) be left in the archives until the new version works. Even if 9(36)b4 happens to support large packet sizes and makes transferring Hypercard stacks almost painless at 9600 baud, once you get the parity problems sorted out. And in case you haven't guessed, you have to specify 1020 to get a 1000 byte packet size. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 88 18:30:08 GMT From: "Kieran Carrick,UCD,Ireland" From: <CARRICK%IRLEARN.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> Subject: TN3270 for Macintosh I need to source a good TN3270 application for the Mac - Preferably one that supports Mac II, ETHERTALK and the KINETICS Fastpath. If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be most grateful. Kieran Carrick Systems Group University College Dublin (UCD) Dublin ( One thousand years a city in 1988) Ireland Acknowledge-To: <CARRICK@IRLEARN> ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 88 22:34 EST From: <SEGAL%NYUACF.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: (Not) Printing With Sys 4.1/Find 5.5/DC I-W 2.6 Ok, I take back all of the nasty things I have been thinking about Red Ryder 9.4 (for now). I've tried priting using the above mentioned setup on my still-unmodified Mac+. I've tried printing stuff from MacWrite, WriteNow, RR9.4 and a few other things and I get BUPKIS! What's going on? Have I got one of the wrong files (Especially possible with the IW.)? What else could be wrong? I dunno. I'm sick of having to go back to older systems to get printouts. HELP!!!!! Please!!!!! Slack, Hail Eris, Richard Segal. SEGAL@NYUACF.Bitnet SEGAL@ACFCLUSTER.NYU.EDU ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If wishes were horses, the antecedent of this conditional would be true. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 88 22:43:42 EST From: Atul Butte <ST602397%BROWNVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> Subject: Desktop Pictures on the Mac 2 Is there any way to get color desktop pictures on the Mac II? Are there any public domain inits for this? _______________________________________________________________________ Atul Butte Brown University /-------\ /---------\ . ! OK ! ! CANCEL . \-------/ \---------/ ST602397%BROWNVM.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 88 21:22 CDT From: CS_SURD@uta.edu Subject: Turbo Pascal Version 1.00A When I try to run Turbo Pascal under MultiFinder, my system freezes up. Is there a patch that will make it run properly with MultiFinder? I don't really want to buy the newer version of it. Dan Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 88 12:08:26 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Siegel <rs4u+@andrew.cmu.edu> Subject: WriteNow->MS Word? Does anyone have or know of a conversion utility to take WriteNow files and convert them to MS Word 3.0 format? I have some largish (50+ pages) WN docs full of graphics, and I'd like to minimize the pain. Rich =================================================================== Richard Siegel Confused Undergrad, Carnegie-Mellon University The opinions stated here do not represent the policies of Carnegie-Mellon University. Arpa: rich.siegel@andrew.cmu.edu UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,sun}!andrew.cmu.edu!rich.siegel ================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 88 15:00 EST From: Mark Mandel <Mandel@BCO-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: Design 2.0 Does anyone out there have experience with Design/2.0? We're considering it as a tool for drawing diagrams to go with internal papers. The reported "private-palette" capability would be an advantage over MacDraw, MacDraft, MacPaint, and Cricket Draw -- if it means we could design our own node shapes -- but the old "Design 1.0" betatest that I've seen uses an awkward pulldown menu to select shapes rather than a selection palette along the margin. Any experiences, advice, pro or con, would be appreciated. Please reply by mail to Mandel at BCO-MULTICS.ARPA, if you can; if I get enough to be of interest, I'll summarize to the net. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 88 19:37:25 EST From: Bull <WCD%VTVM1.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> Subject: Newguy problems I'm new on the net, and have been trying to tap the resources available in the archived files at PUCC. Everything there assumes you have something to unstuff (or unpack) and unbinhex (hexbin, I suppose). Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Anyhow, if there are any samaritans out there who could take the time to straighten me out, maybe send me the files I need to undo the archived files, I'd sure appreciate it. Your reward will be great in Heaven... By the way, how does a Bitnic get into the stuff at SUMEX? Responses to wcd@vtvm1, please. Bull ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 88 23:29 EST From: SEWALL%UCONNVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu Subject: March Vaporware <It ought to be obvious that rumors for next month's column will be received with glee. I'd appreciate documentation of source whenever possible. Rumors related to ANY micro hardware/software/peripherals are appropriate -- MAS> --------------------------------------------------------------------- VAPORWARE Murphy Sewall From the March 1988 APPLE PULP H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford) News Letter $15/year P.O. Box 18027 East Hartford, CT 06118 Call the "Bit Bucket" (203) 569-8739 Permission granted to copy with the above citation Mac II+ (or Mac III). Although the 68030 version of the Macintosh won't arrive until next year (see last November and December's columns), rumors about what the machine will be like exist already. Look for a 68882 math coprocessor, 8 Mbytes of RAM, and a 151 Mbyte hard disk (with A/Ux taking 30 Mbytes). The new system will be priced at about the level of today's Mac II, and the SE will be discontinued (to be replaced by the Mac II). However, system software to really take full advantage of the new processor's capabilities won't be introduced until 1990 or '91 (hmmm, sounds like an IBM move). - InfoWorld 25 January and 1 February Blue's Future Looks Rosy. The awesome Intel 80486 processor, the chip that does everything (see last July's column), is ahead of schedule. Intel expects to introduce a 25 MHz version in late '89 with a 50 MHz model to follow as early as 1990. The 486 should arrive just about when needed. IBM has revealed a "game plan" of "migration" in which price categories remain the same, but hardware performance is upgraded. Current 8086 machines soon will be replaced by 80286 models, and an 80386 computer at the Model 60's present price will appear in the Fall. Analysts envision an 80386 PS/2 clone for less than $1,000 early in the next decade. - PC Week 9 February and InfoWorld 15 February Mac Hardware for '88. The "LapMac" from Apple continues to be a phantom because Apple still isn't happy with the quality of the display technology. Apple chairman John Sculley has indicated that the "Mac SE 40" (a 2 Mbyte RAM with 40 Mbyte, 28 millisecond access hard drive SE) and a lower priced Mac II (priced at roughly $5,000 and $6,000 respectively) will be introduced later this year. Either or both machines also will sport Apple's newest, 1.6 Mbyte, 3.5 inch floppy drive. - InfoWorld 1 and 15 February and Random Access 23 January Sun Killer. Sony Corporation is entering the scientific work station market with the NWS-841 (to be known as the "News") a 16-MHz 68020 box with a 68881 math coprocessor, 8 Mbytes of RAM, a 1.44 Mbyte 3.5 inch floppy drive, a 286 Mbyte hard disk and six I/O ports, including an Ethernet interface. The operating system will be Unix, and the initial retail price will be $19,900. - InfoWorld 1 February What NeXt? When last heard from (January's column), Steve Job's NeXt Computer would arrive sometime this Spring (a scheduled February intro was postponed until April, or was it June? Seeing is believing). Rumor has it that software likely to be available with the introduction will be Aldus's PageMaker, Write Now, Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, and Excel - so far, no database. - InfoWorld 25 January Hyper in Only 512K. Hyper DA will let let owners of 512K Macintoshes use (some) Hypercard applications. The program uses a subset of the Hypertalk scripting language to squeeze stackware into the smallish RAM. - Random Access 23 January Enhanced A/Ux. Only 5 percent of existing Macintosh software will run under the new Unix operating system without modification. At least 25 companies already have announced A/Ux compatible products. Meanwhile, plans to improve the operating system are well underway. Among the improvements: eliminating the need to reboot when switching between A/Ux and Mac System, support for color applications, and allowing more than one program to run on-screen at any time. - InfoWorld 15 February Excel-erating. Microsoft recently demonstrated its upcoming version 1.5 of Excel for the Macintosh that supports color, runs in background mode under Multifinder, and includes user-definable menus. Late this year, version 2.0 will be released with increased memory support, multiple fonts in a sheet, cell notes, variable row heights, and sparse memory management. - InfoWorld 1 February Mainframe Software Migration to A/Ux. Ingres 5.0, Relational Technology's fully relational database, which runs on DEC VAX's and IBM System/3X minicomputers will be offered in an Apple Macintosh Unix version. - PC Week 2 February Display Postscript on the Mac? Apple vice president, Jean-Louis Gassee has indicated that Apple has no plans to include Adobe's Display Postscript in the Mac's system software. Instead, the company plans to enhance Quickdraw (see following item). - InfoWorld 25 January Quicker on the Draw (Find the Hidden Vaporware). Software wizard Andy Hertzfeld has improved the color Quickdraw code for the Mac II. His 5K revision of parts of the system software can improve the speed of some graphics operations by as much as a factor of three in some applications. Hertzfeld has offered the improved Quickdraw code to Apple, and it may be included in September's planned update of Mac systems software (did you catch that? There's going to be an update of Mac System in September). Hertzfeld's routine also may be uploaded to Compuserve in the near future. - InfoWorld 25 January OS/3. Microsoft expects to release a multitasking operating system specifically tailored for 80386 computers next year. Among the more dramatic new features will be an "enhanced intelligent file system" and support for a multi-processor PC. - Random Access 6 February MS-DOS 3.4. IBM will soon end confusion between the PC's DOS and the old Apple II version by releasing DOS 3.4. The most obvious new feature is an optional user-shell with pull-down menus, windows, and help screens (text, not icon based). The shell can be controlled either by keyboard or mouse and contains many features commonly found in hard disk file manager programs. - PC Week 2 February Artificially Intelligent Mac. Apple and Texas Instruments are close to announcing a Lisp chip that will turn a Mac II into a (relatively) low-priced (at about $8,000) artificial intelligence delivery system. Lisp processing currently is performed on TI's Explorer II systems (at $40,000 to $100,000). Lisp for the Mac also will come with a high-performance add-in board to let Apple offer low-cost symbolic processing for AI applications. - InfoWorld 1 February 50 Mbytes on a 3.5 Inch Disk. Verbatim Corporation is developing an erasable magneto-optical drive that will store 50 Mbytes on a single sided (initially) 3.5 media (only slightly larger than current 3.5 inch diskettes). The anticipated price will be under $2,400. - InfoWorld 25 January High Performance Hard Drives. Next month Microscience International will unveil a series of 3.5 inch hard drives with capacities ranging from 40 Mbytes to 100 Mbytes and access times averaging under 20 milliseconds. The 100 Mbyte drive will be available in versions with high speed SCSI and ESDI interfaces. - InfoWorld 1 February Faster Laser Printers. Adobe Systems says that development of Display Postscript will soon result in the release of a faster page description language for laser printers. The new release will be able to support printers capable of 60 to 80 pages per minute. Meanwhile, the Postscript clone printers will offer faster drivers which will considerably improve the realized print speed of existing desktop publishing software. Alas, these faster new printers won't be any less expensive than the current, approximately, $4,000 models. - PC Week 9 February dBase IV (Continuing Saga). Ashton-Tate's new dBase with SQL (query language) looks like it will be a winner when it finally arrives. The drawback is that the existing code is still bug-laden, and chances of making the (currently) scheduled March 31 delivery date do not look good (latest guess is June). - PC Week 2 and 16 February Will IBM Pay Royalties to Apple? A little over two years ago, Microsoft signed a secret (well secretive anyway) pact with Apple conceding that the "look and feel" of Windows was derived from the Macintosh display. It is possible that agreement may lead to a claim by Apple for royalty payments on the IBM Presentation Manager (maybe that's why the planned $795 price is so steep). - InfoWorld 25 January New MS-DOS Word Processors. Palantir Software should become the first third-party vendor to ship an OS/2 application when "HoustonText" (a temporary codename) is released at the end of the month. Palantir's word processor will carry the same $495 price tag expected for DisplayWrite 4/2 which IBM will ship in the second quarter. Word Perfect 5.0 with a command for integrating graphics into a document and expanded memory support should arrive this month. Lotus's Manuscript also will be upgraded to include macros, integrated downloading of fonts, and automatic worksheet import. Both programs will support numerous "standard" graphics file formats. - InfoWorld 1 February, PC Week 2 February, and Random Access 6 February Expert Shopping System. Decision Sciences Professor Thomas A. Williams at the Rochester Institute of Technology has developed "expert system" software to advise consumers about running shoes, washing machines, automobiles and the like. The system makes recommendations by matching product characteristics with answers to questions about personal characteristics, preferences, and price ranges. For example, a running shoe brand would be recommended on the basis of the anatomy of the consumers' feet, how often and how long they run, and the kind of terrain they run on. Williams isn't sure there is a market for his program; he says "the typical consumer does not approach a purchasing decision in a logical fashion." - Business Week 7 December But When Will There Be a Modem For It? Researchers at Bellcor, and R&D center for the seven regional Bell companies, reports it has set a record for moving data across a single optical fiber. Bellcor engineers were able to send 27 billion bits of information per second (that's 27 gigabaud) through a hair thin fiber using 18 different laser beams (each on a different wavelength). - Random Access 19 December When it Starts Complaining, it's Finished. Scientists at NEC say they've made progress on a neuron computer based on parallel processing. By the end of the year, they hope to have a working prototype using four processors to simulate a neural network. The eventual goal is to form a net of 128 processors and simulate the action of eight million human brain cells. - Random Access 26 December Throw Your Hat in the Ring. Look for a new piece of software called "President-elect" that provides for planning strategy and tactics for any of 67 real political candidates in caucuses, primaries, and media. One experienced reviewer says the program is very realistic: experience, honesty, and ability get you nowhere! - Random Access 5 January --------------------- Disclaimer: My employer often is appalled by my opinions, and my facts may be only vaguely right <slippery when wet>. ARPA: sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu Murphy A. Sewall BITNET: SEWALL@UCONNVM School of Business Admin. UUCP: ...ihnp4!psuvax1!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL University of Connecticut ------------------------------ End of INFO-MAC Digest **********************