SHULMAN@sdr.slb.COM (Jeffrey Shulman) (12/14/87)
Date: Mon 14 Dec 87 09:34:56-EDT From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR> Subject: Delphi Mac Digest V3 #53 To: Delphi-List: ; Message-ID: <566490896.0.SHULMAN@SDR> Mail-System-Version: <VAX-MM(218)+TOPSLIB(129)@SDR> Delphi Mac Digest Monday, December 14, 1987 Volume 3 : Issue 53 Today's Topics: RE: MIDI & 31K baud (3 messages) Re: how strong of a magnet? (2 messages) Re: 4Dimension Re: Backups (on video tape) Sony diskette problems? (2 messages) Big Screen & Multiplan VersaTerm/QuickKeys/MF bug (3 messages) "find" function for online help RE: Math typesetting Hyper gottyas HELP! WITH FILEMAKER (2 messages) VBL's (2 messages) FKEYs and re-entrancy ** NEWS ** Filemaker Plus 2.0 RE: INFO-MAC Digest V5 #143 RE: Nerd Perfect Vaporware HyperText in HyperCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: PEABO Subject: RE: MIDI & 31K baud (Re: Msg 24104) Date: 9-DEC-09:47: Programming My impression is that the MIDI rate is selected by using external clocking from the gadget that interfaces the Mac to the MIDI bus. You have to go into the chip registers and fool with the configuration bits. peter ------------------------------ From: GDUDEK Subject: RE: MIDI & 31K baud (Re: Msg 24108) Date: 9-DEC-23:03: Programming EGad! That's what I was afraid of: having to go direct to the SCC or something horrible like that. By disassembling some MIDI software I have, it looked like that's what was necessary. In that case, if anybody can suggest some sample code for diddling the SCC, or even point out how, it would be appreciated. Thanks, Greg. ------------------------------ From: DDUNHAM Subject: RE: MIDI & 31K baud (Re: Msg 24104) Date: 10-DEC 01:51 Programming Check MacTutor, vol. 3 no. 7, July 1987, for assembly source code to send MIDI data (assuming a MIDI adaptor). ------------------------------ From: MACWEEKBOS Subject: Re: how strong of a magnet? (Re: Msg 24035) Date: 9-DEC-21:43: Network Digests Re: how strong of a magnet? My two cents worth: I thought that microfloppies were very sensitive to magnetic fields until I tried to erase a Mac floppy with a huge magnet that holds on a large CB antenna at 85 MPH on top of a car. It didn't phase the Mac disk at all. I know the idea behind tape-head demagnitizers is to vary a magnetic field a lot, so I even tried wiggling the magnet back and forth. Didn't work. Does a real tape-head demagnitizer not work? (I gues I'll have to try it!) Ric Ford ------------------------------ From: DSACHS Subject: RE: Re: how strong of a magnet? (Re: Msg 24115) Date: 9-DEC-22:23: Network Digests I would recommend a tape bulk eraser. One of those will erase anything short of Alinco. ------------------------------ From: MACWEEKBOS Subject: Re: 4Dimension (Re: Msg 24036) Date: 9-DEC-21:54: Network Digests Re: 4Dimension I've worked out my own way of using the manuals, and I've found the tutorial perhaps worse than useless, but there's one key thing to using the 4th Dimension documentation: get the computer-readable index to the whole set of documents. It should be available on Compu$erve, Delphi, and maybe here if JEFFS uploads it. It can be had in Word3 or text formats and it's a big help. Ric Ford [ If I didn't already post it (who can remember these things! ;->) then let me know if I should. - Jeff ] ------------------------------ From: MACWEEKBOS Subject: Re: Backups (on video tape) (Re: Msg 24138) Date: 10-DEC 21:49 Network Digests Re: Backups At the most recent Boston expo, Jasmine had an experimental backup tape drive based on 8mm video cassettes. The person I talked to thought it might be in the $4000 range if it were ever produced. I think there's a vendor in the IBM PC market that uses VCR's for backup. Sorry I don't remember the name. But, for 20MB drives, I feel strongly that floppy backup is the best way to go. All you need is a decent application to run things. I use DiskFit, though HFS Backup is good, too, and FastBack and OmniBackup are both promising. Ric Ford ------------------------------ From: MACWEEKBOS Subject: Sony diskette problems? Date: 10-DEC 23:03 Bugs & Features I just bought 100 Sony diskettes from ComputerWare, boxed in 10-floppy boxes with labels. Using DiskFit, I'm seeing about a 5% failure rate in formatting or subsequent read/write errors. This isn't what I expect from Sony diskettes, and I believe in spending a few extra cents for the best home I can find for my data. Anyone else seeing this problem? Ric Ford ------------------------------ From: BMUG Subject: RE: Sony diskette problems? (Re: Msg 24149) Date: 11-DEC 07:06 Bugs & Features RIC - Are these single-sided floppies you're formatting as double? We've been finding that FUJI's don't do very well at that, and perhaps SONY is now "cracking down" by putting just single-sideds into its boxes. There's a shortage on, y'know! -- Raines / BMUG P.S. Have you checked your drive lately? ------------------------------ From: SYNTHONY Subject: Big Screen & Multiplan Date: 11-DEC 00:39 Business Mac I am trying out a Nutmeg FPD and most programs seem to run fine, except Multiplan & Chart by Microsoft. They will appear to launch okay, but after a few seconds will return to the finder. The Multiplan I own is version 1.02 (I know a bit old). Is there anything I can do with this version or do I need an upgrade? Bill ------------------------------ From: JEFFPARKE Subject: VersaTerm/QuickKeys/MF bug Date: 11-DEC 02:38 Bugs & Features I have been seeing total system hangups (screen freezes) running MultiFinder on me SE with 2.5 Megs. These seem to happen mostly when in VersaTerm 3.0 and after using Quick Keys for a while. Like other reports here, the predictability of this is marginal - a particular sequence of keys will do it one time within 20 seconds of a reboot, the next time everything will work fine. I'm running with MacsBug 5.5 installed and get vectored to it only about half the time. Disconcerting! ------------------------------ From: MACWEEKBOS Subject: RE: VersaTerm/QuickKeys/MF bug (Re: Msg 24153) Date: 11-DEC 09:09 Bugs & Features Jeff, Are you using any DAs? I'm starting to wonder if applications and MultiFinder expect you to run without Macsbug and any INITs... Ric ------------------------------ From: JEFFPARKE Subject: RE: VersaTerm/QuickKeys/MF bug (Re: Msg 24161) Date: 12-DEC 00:51 Bugs & Features I use several DA's, though I haven't correlated their use with these strange bugs I've seen. I also have CPS Save Deletes installed at bootup; maybe that is implicated as well. I will try to pay more attention to what is going on and see if a reproducible sequence can be found, but, hey, I'm using this thing to do other work, and these things are hard to track. An interesting aside, DA-wise. HFS Find works fine on my SE at work with the new system (& MultiFinder) but gives the old bombola ID=2 every time on my Mac+ with System 4.2/Finder 6.0 (no MF). ------------------------------ From: MACWEEKBOS Subject: "find" function for online help Date: 11-DEC 09:42 Business Mac I've been using online help for some complicated Macintosh applications like Microsoft Word and I think there's one essential thing missing: the ability to look for any word in the online help text, a "Find" command. Word, for example, has no listing for "tabs." Yes, I can find a few subjects that relate to tabs, but it may take quite a bit of searching to determine that there's no online help, or no function at all for what I'm trying to do. It seems a simple idea to implement, and one that could be a powerful help to users. I think we can take a lesson from HyperCard here. Ric Ford ------------------------------ From: HAGIHARA Subject: RE: Math typesetting (Re: Msg 24106) Date: 12-DEC 00:24 Public Domain Something is missing in a program such as Expressionist. While I agree with MacUser and some of my friends saying that Expressionist is a fine product ( what can you deserve more with 5 mice rating!), something is not there. Math equations are very complex when it comes to highly technical subjects. As I am exposed to the way TeX works, I found Expressionist not quite as intuitive as it should be. First, it should be able to recognize certain characters as variables (thus they are automatically italicized) and certain key words as function names (thus not italicized). This is a familiar territory for TeX users as, e.g., $\sin$ will be treated as a function "sin" and so forth in Plain TeX. Second, equations under Display Mode look awful until I adjust them manually. This lowers the productivity significantly. Ultimately it came to a point where I had to abandon using Expressionist entirely. Consistency is the key to typeset good technical papers: if some equations are off-centered so they look jagged, then aestheticity of the paper is lost. (I noticed many Russian papers have inconsistent equation displays.) The only sol'n to cure this problem is to implement Expressionist as a built-in feature of a word processor such as FWP or WP so that equation displays will be performed automatically or at least with little efforts. While you could have made Expressionist intelligent by implementing features to recognize function names, to automatically italicize all the variables, and to adjust kerning among variables and functions, the Display Mode is far more than what can be handled by utilities such as Expressionist (MacEqn,...). Are you willing to make a word processor that Donald E. Knuth dreamed? Currently, a lot of onerous typing goes to user's hands which should not. ------------------------------ From: GOODHIND Subject: Hyper gottyas Date: 12-DEC 05:40 Business Mac I've noticed a few of bugs in hypercard: - In the "FONT" select for fields, if the size in points is entered by typing instead of with a menu drag, the hypercard application will bomb if a "large" number is entered into the point size field. - When printing a largish (10-30 page) report with columns (laser writer & prep 4.0 (I think)), the report will drop a an entire page of text at times, no pattern... tried rebooting printer, no go. - When using print stack on a stack of 190 cards I've had the printer "go to lunch" sending back a message that has hypercard asking for a printer reboot. (And it was taking two to three minutes per page to format the beggars... yawn...) (are these related? is it my prep & driver files? any ideas?) And a few not so bugs (hopes, dreams, asperations) - I know that hypertext applications are supposed to exist only on the screen, but my boss is from the dark ages (insists that it's only real data if it can be printed). * Print should have "RANGE" for card numbers in the report and stack print. * Print should allow a "SELECT" on the contents of a specified field. * Reports should be able to spool to disk. OK, yes I could do all of this with hypertalk scripts, but should I have to? The idea of learning file primatives to do a simple print to disk is rather sad... Oh well, flame off... I actually am having a blast with the thing, looking forward to what comes next. ljg ------------------------------ From: VASMUG Subject: HELP! WITH FILEMAKER Date: 12-DEC 08:34 Business Mac Greetings and HELP! Are there any FileMaker wizzards out there? I've got one problem - I need to perform a calculation on two summary fields and it won't let me do it. Here's the problem: Summary filed: Total deposits gives me totals across a set of records Summary field: Total Withdrawls gives me total amount of checks I want a claculation field that will give me the current balance! The program will not let me perform a calculation on a summary field. Can you help? Thanks in advance! ------------------------------ From: NWOLF Subject: RE: HELP! WITH FILEMAKER (Re: Msg 24181) Date: 12-DEC 18:25 Business Mac I dunno, Fred, that one oughta be referred to tech support. I think you can do it but not the way you want. But I'm not sure. How about a calculated field that worked on the data directly - without using a summary field. Then just putting the data wherever you needed. I'm not sure that'd work, but I think it's the only way. Have you tried Filemaker + ? - It has enhanced capabilities in this regard and might be able to handle your problem. Neil. ------------------------------ From: JOSEF Subject: VBL's Date: 12-DEC 00:41 Programming Techniques Hey paul, I didn't know you were workin' for apple--I guess that's why you moved out here! Thanx for helpin out with my VBL problem. I was stuck because of a stupid oversight. I thought a quick a dirty way to get my VBL in the system heap would be to just put it in it's own code resource and then set the system heap bit for that resource. Of course I found out the hard way (TMON) that that doesn't work since it gets there thru the jump table entry which is still in application space. My second approach wasn't so nifty either, but that was really LightSpeedC's fault. What I did this time was to compile the VBL into a stand-alone code resource. That would have worked, except that LSC inserts some preamble stuff to make globals possible, and in doing so, wipe out A0, which upon entry contains the pointer to the VBL task record. I forced this to work by using FEDIT to patch around their code, but this is clearly a poor solution. I called Think to complain about their code insertion practices, but meanwhile, will probably have to go with something along the lines of what you described. No doubt you'll be hearin' from me again. Joe ------------------------------ From: PAULMERCER Subject: RE: VBL's (Re: Msg 2233) Date: 12-DEC 22:28 Programming Techniques Err, are you refering to a reply you got via MacDTS? I always do my VBLs in assembler so its no problem to BlockMove them to the system heap. Good luck, Paul :) ------------------------------ From: DEWI Subject: FKEYs and re-entrancy Date: 12-DEC 02:03 Programming Techniques What's the "official" way of ensuring that a FKEY or other code resource isn't re-entrant? The FKEY I'm playing with at the moment calls ModalDialog, which calls GetNextEvent, which can activate the FKEY again. Unlike DAs, there's no control bit to play with. I had thought that the ScrDmpEnb global would suppress all FKEYs, but it seems to have no effect on a II under MultiFinder. I ended up borrowing the ScrDmpEnb global as a semaphore. It works, but it's not exactly elegant. On a related topic, I'm a bit dubious about Think's recommended way of saving and restoring register A4 when a code resource has global data. The RememberA4/SetUpA4/RestoreA4 combination has an utility function called _A4_ which features the following asm line: save: dc.l 0 ; keep saved A4 here. Seems to me that saving data in code space is getting to be a more and more dubious proposition every day as the Macintosh evolves. Comments anyone? Dewi ------------------------------ From: MACMAG Subject: ** NEWS ** Date: 12-DEC 21:22 Business Mac FreeHand ******** We've been playing around with this new baby and must say we like it a lot more than Cricket Draw or even Adobe's Illustrator. FRee Hand is fast, works in color on the Mac II, lets you define your own shades (by name) which get inserted in the color menu. It also lets you edit in preview mode, exports in EPSF, reads illustrator files. (in fact it is so much like illustrator that when you press command-option- space, you get the same soom icon as in illustrator). A definate winner. Cricket Brush ************* Another attempt by Cricket software to dominate the graphic market. This program tries to be another Image Studio. It lets you create a drawing surface of either 72, 75, 144, or 300 dpi. The drawing surface can be flat (bitmap) or deep (grey scale). The about box looks like illustrator's about box, except for a great mona lisa scan. Unfortunately the program is too slow to be workable. I guess it's back to the old drawing board for Cricket Software. Apple Products ************** Apple will announce at the next MacWorld expo, 3 new laser printers. LaserWriter II SC (personal SCSI QuickDraw Laser) LaserWriter II NT (mid-range model which replaces the Laser & Laser Plus) LaserWriter II NTX (high-end model, expandable) The NTX model can be expanded to 12 megabytes of storage and contains a SCSI port where the user can attach a Hard disk unit for font storage. The NT model should replace the old Laser & Laser Plusses. L & L+ will be discontinued. The SC model is a personal Laser that plugs in the SCSI port, contains a 68000 processor, 1 mebagyte of memory, works with QuickDraw instead of PostScript. All models use the NEW Canon engines. They have a life expectancy 25% greater than the older model, print darker blacks, can print up to 0.197 inches from the border of the page, print up to 300,000 copies, and are generally better all around. Models will have a 200 page paper tray, an optional legal size paper tray, and a new tray for envelope printing. The manual feed is ajustable (you can slide your envelopes without having to worry). The new machines are modular in design. They also have ADB ports for future possible expansions. Modularity will allow the user to move up to the more powerful model when the time becomes appropriate. One last note: Don't expect the CD unit or the Scanner for January. FullWrite ********* My prediction: FullWrite will not be available until the SF expo. Steve A- ------------------------------ From: CHUQ Subject: Filemaker Plus 2.0 Date: 12-DEC 23:06 Business Mac Anyone know what the difference between Filemaker plus 1.0 and 2.0 is? I've yet to see anything on the new release other than the change in rev nubmers in the 'current' boxes in the magazines. (Needless, the owner of FMP never let me know of the upgrade, either -- but I own't start that flame again...) Any reason why I ought to track this down? Or is 1.0 good enough? chuq ------------------------------ From: DSACHS Subject: RE: INFO-MAC Digest V5 #143 (Re: Msg 24138) Date: 13-DEC 22:48 Network Digests >Re: <ZSQY%CRNLVAX5.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> >Sub: Foreign Language Spelling Checkers I imagine that one problem with foreign language spelling checkers is that most non-English languages are heavily inflected and therefore have more distinct common "words". Most English verbs have only 4 distinct forms (not counting 2nd person singular which is rarely used. Nouns have 2 (not counting Genitives). Compare this with the number of forms a French or German verb has - even if it is regular, and you can see that a Foreign language spelling dictionary has to be much larger than an English one. The alternative is to write a different program for each languag, that knows every regular inflection of the language and can detect irregular words. What would be the potential sales for such programs. I believe that there are more English speaking computer users, than there are for any other language. ------------------------------ From: PEABO Subject: RE: Nerd Perfect Vaporware (Re: Msg 24226) Date: 14-DEC 00:16 Network Digests >Date: Wed, 9 Dec 87 08:21:38 PST >From: Stephen E. Miner <miner@spam.istc.sri.com> >Subject: Nerd Perfect Vaporware Is Nerd Perfect Vaporware copy protected? I won't buy it if it is copy protected! peter "In any context, half of all references PEABO @ DELPHI are local and half are global." ------------------------------ From: BMUG Subject: HyperText in HyperCard Date: 14-DEC 02:21 Programming HyperHackers - I can't hold back any longer! Here it is! The long-awaited "Improved HyperText Technique" I've been promising. I think I've generalized it enough to be useful all over. Rather than upload a stack, I'll just post the script itself for people to type or cut/paste in... [in script of home stack, or your stack]: -- The BMUG HyperText trick by Raines Cohen, 12/11/87. -- please retain this credit in your script if you use this. on mouseUp if word 2 of the target is "field" and msg is not empty and word 1 of msg is not "find" and the commandKey is down then put "find"&"e&msg"e do "send lookUp to"&&the target type return end if end mouseUp This is different from the original XREF trick, in that fields DO NOT have to be locked for it to work, so you can use it on ANY field in ANY stack, unless the mouseUp message is trapped. I send the lookUp message in order to allow overriding and special-case behavior, like: [in script of bkgnd field "Body Text"]: on lookUp put " in bkgnd field"&"e&"Keywords""e after msg end lookUp This will make lookups based on the Body Text look in "KeyWords" Another example would be to put "Go to card" into word 1 of msg or something like that to allow cross-referencing. How it works: When you command-mouseDown on any field, locked or unlocked, HyperCard "picks up" the text and puts it into the msg box. My script just puts 'Find ""' around the text, and sends the lookup message to allow a particular field, or card, or background, or stack modify or override the searching behavior. I "type return" to get HC to execute the contents of the msg box. The user is left with any occurence of the phrase "selected" with the "find" rectangle, and the command still in the message box to allow the user to press return to repeat the search. Credits: Please use this trick in your stacks, royalty-free! If you would, I'd appreciate it if you'd credit "The BMUG HyperText trick" in your script and about box if your use of it is significant. More importantly, let me know about any interesting variations or improvements you discover! You can reach me c/o: BMUG, 1442A Walnut #62, Berkeley, CA 94709. AppleLink: UG0001. Delphi, GEnie, BIX, MCI Mail,Well: BMUG. CIS: 70007,2271. FIDOnet(EchoMac): 161/444. Voice: [415] 549-BMUG. This trick was inspired by an offhand remark by Dan Winkler at a HyperCard seminar. I aspire to attain his goal of writing poetry in HyperTalk. -- Raines Cohen / Leader, BMUG HyperCard Scripting SIG ------------------------------ End of Delphi Mac Digest ************************ -------