INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (Moderators Dwayne Virnau... and Lance Nakata) (11/27/87)
INFO-MAC Digest Thursday, 26 Nov 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 140
Today's Topics:
some library routines to watch out for in Lightspeed C
Smart Quotes
Sotware AI/KBS?
HyperCard/BundledSystemSoftware
HyperCard and bundling
New versions of some inits
Compuserve Navigator needed
Gray scale fonts
DiskFit vs. HD Backup
RE: HD Backup problems and complaints & The best Backup Utilities
LaserWriter Accelerator Boards
Mac II Projection System wanted
PostScript download to Mac
How can I use a non-Apple PostScript device?
Initial impressions of PC Excel
Comic Works
Delphi Mac Digest V3 #51
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 87 12:33:15 EST
From: "Carl D. Howe" <cdh@bfly-vax.bbn.com>
Subject: some library routines to watch out for in Lightspeed C
Hi all,
I spent the weekend porting a satellite tracking program to Lightspeed
C. In the process, I discovered some nastly little bugs in the libraries
which I thought I would tell people about. If these have been fixed
and I applied the fixes wrong (my Lightspeed C is 2.01 upgraded to
2.13 via the patch posted on the net), my apologies. However, given
that the sources reproduced the problems I had, I think these might
be legitimate bugs.
1: math library: acos() returns wrong results for all values other than
1 and -1. You can fix this by changing the sources such that acos()
returns (pi/2 - asin(same_angle)). The problem here looks to me like
the code for some other routine got pasted in.
2: unix library: time() returns the number of seconds since some
time in 1904 rather than 1970. This is a bug in one of the #defines
of TimeBaseDif which needs a (long) cast immediately in front of the
expression (TUNIXbaseyr - TMacbaseyr); otherwise that definition ends
up being constrained to an int which is only 16 bits and is too small
to hold the result.
3: unix library: localtime(clock) assumes that clock is an unsigned
long * rather than an unsigned long. It tries to indirect through the
value you provide rather than use it directly, almost always resulting
in a bus error. Change the definition to remove the *.
Note to Think Technologies: Thank you, thank you, thank you for providing
the library sources so I could find and fix these problems myself!
Otherwise, I would have been extrememly frustrated trying to get my
application to work.
The good news is that the application is mostly working, and I hope to
have be able to post it to this group sometime after Thanksgiving. What
it does is produce maps of the earth with ground tracks of many
of the satellites currently orbiting the earth. It also is capable of
computing ephemerises for your site so that you can know when and where
to look for the passage of a satellite over you.
Carl
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 87 17:17:09 MET
From: Norbert Lindenberg - U Karlsruhe
From: <norbert%germany.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Smart Quotes
This is for David Dunham @delphi:
Germans usually punch in typewriter quotes (ASCII 34), this should be
converted to MacASCII 227 to open a quote and to MacASCII 210 to close
it.
Norbert
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 87 15:22:26 ECT
From: FALK%NORUNIT.BITNET@ICSA.RICE.EDU
Subject: Sotware AI/KBS?
Could somebody give me some information on available software on AI/KBS
I'm specially interested in SMALLTALK or LISP. Please respond directly
unless you assume general interest.
Regards Chris.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 87 22:48:31 PST
From: Mark Richer <RICHER@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject: HyperCard/BundledSystemSoftware
In response to Newman@Xerox, I have to disagree with his comparison of
the bundling of HyperCard to that of MacWrite/MacPaint.
MacWrite and MacPaint were never billed as System Software. Secondly,
the bundling of the two products had its good and bad points. On the one
hand it demonstrated the Mac interface and set a standard for ease of use.
But it did stifle development for a long time OR something did. The only
alternative we had for ages was Word 1.0. It took forever for MS to release
an incredibly buggy 3.0, and I'm still having nightmares with 3.01 from
time to time. Yes we have WriteNow and other programs now (still no
where near the variety available on the PC), but if you need a heavy-duty
word processor there isn't much choice and it's been several years. Yes,
we have SuperPaint, FullPaint, etc. etc They took a while also, but
consider the fact that Apple did not upgrade MacPaint. It was hard-wired
for the 128 K machines in a sense. Anyhow, Atkinson went off to do other
things and the program was ignored for a long time. HyperCard has this
status of "System Software" and we are told that Atkinson, et al. has
feature list that won't fit on your screen and they plan to keep at it
for several years. Do you want to compete with Bill Atkinson, especially
when he has all the resources at Apple at his disposal? And on top of
that the program is free. I'm not even saying it's such a bad idea they are
giving the thing away now. But I'd be hesitant to risk a quarter million
bucks on development assuming that things will work out for you if you do
hypermedia product on the Mac. If Apple was clearer about a strategy that
would encourage such development it would be different.
It's true that GUide 1.0 was not much compared to HyperCard. But Apple
knew they were competing with OWL and never indicated to them that they
were going to get screwed down the road. How much did OWL spend on GUide 2.0
development? I shudder to think about it. Has anyone seen Guide 2.0? Is
it out yet? It certainly will never get anywhere the publicity that HyperCard
got. But it would be interesting to see how it "stacks" up against
HyperCard. Imagine the scenario where Guide 2.0 is a really neat product,
much more advanced than 1.0, HyperCard didn't exist, and Apple helped
promote Guide as they do other products. Consider the current situation.
Now would you spend 1/4 million on hypermedia development for the Mac.
Someone might, but I wouldn't.
Mark
------------------------------
Date: 24 Nov 87 1633 PST
From: Tovar <TVR%CCRMA-F4@SAIL.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: HyperCard and bundling
When i first got my personal copy of HyperCard and saw what it quickly did
to the amount of available disk space, my immediate reaction was, "Gee,
what an incredibly smart thing for Apple to do would be to give it away
with every new Mac; they'll make a bundle selling disk drives!!!". From
what i've read recently, they certainly got the idea!
Why does HyperCard use so much disk space? I'm not sure, but i suspect it has
to do with using the MacPaint paradigm. Considering that Atkinson [author
of MacPaint] was involved with it, that is the obvious choice. But to me,
it has some serious problems compared to the generalized PICT representation
(for which MacDraw is a good example tool). First, bitmaps are fairly costly
to store in comparison with at least the kinds of graphics i would like to use
and for much of those used in examples. Second, since scaling bitmaps is not
what i would consider a completely straightforward operation, printing on
different devices is more problematical than i'd like to think about.
Last, but to me, most important, is that you can't scale *anything* very
effectively. You MUST get the size exactly right to begin with or you
incur considerable artistic expense trying to fix things up. If you're
better with a proverbial compass and straight-edge than a paintbrush (or
perhaps better with a ruler than a spray-can), then this fooling around
can be particularly painful.
I suppose given MultiFinder (or perhaps even Switcher) and a separate
document, you could still work with the drawing paradigm and just copy across
the result. But, that seems to be the worst of both worlds. It doesn't
just require disk space on the order of 2N (where N is the number of cards
having associated graphics), but (1+f)N, where f is a function that converts
space required for PICT opcodes into space for full bitmaps. If your graphics
are fairly ordinary, 'f' could be quite large.
On the other hand, it's wonderful that Hypercard was designed with external
function and commands built in from the start. Without alot of effort, i was
able to contruct what i needed to finally keep track of the dozens of random
floppy disks lying around, automatically putting directory listing of each on
its own card. The inheritance structure is particulary useful, especially in
filling in defaults and overriding things that are pre-defined.
I just wish it weren't such a disk hog. I also wonder if color might just fall
out of the switch to PICT opcodes. (Are you listening, Bill?)
Tovar
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 87 17:02:53 PDT
From: preese%dewey.SOE.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (Phil Reese)
Subject: New versions of some inits
Enclosed is a pit file of several inits that I find useful. First
there is MenuClock 3.0 which puts up the time in the upper right hand
corner of the screen, works on all Macs and Mac Screens. Next is a
Smart Quote init, it automatically converts single and double quotes
into smart quotes, documentation included. Next is SCSI Bus 1.0B5.
This is actaully a CDEV that shows you the address of attached SCSI
devices. It also will mount any off-line SCSI devices. The next init,
A ScrapSaver, saves the contents of your clipboard across reboots and
crashes (puts up an icon when it is read at boot time). Finally there
is Andy Hertzfeld's newest version of SFScroll init (no more frozen
mice),
Some are shareware and some are free, so check them out and use the ones
that suit you.
Phil Reese
SESAME Group
School of Ed, UC Berkeley
preese@garnet.berkeley.edu
{decvax,dual,hplabs,sdcsvax,ulysses}!ucbvax!garnet!preese
[
the file INIT-MENUCLOCK-30.HQX is already in the archives. The other files
are archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>CDEV-SCSI-BUS-10B5.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>INIT-ASCRAPSAVER.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>INIT-SMARTQUOTES.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>INIT-SFSCROLL.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 87 15:44 EST
From: Brian Campbell <EE2Y%CRNLVAX5.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Compuserve Navigator needed
Has anyone obtained Navigator, a prog. which allows you to maneuver more
easily thru Compuserve? If so, could you please either e-mail to me, or
post on comp.sys.mac/sumex-aim?
I'm interested in seeing what people think of this program.
It was too large (over 100K) for me to download.
Thanks
Brian Campbell
ee2y@crnlvax5
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 87 10:49:50 PST
From: oster%SOE.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (David Phillip Oster)
Subject: Gray scale fonts
I will soon have a commercial product out to do gray scale fonts on the
Mac II. They are better, but they take some getting used to.
You have to remember that if you move your head too close to the screen,
they look _worse_ than black and white fonts. It is only at normal reading
distance that they look better.
David Phillip Oster --This sentence is a life-like simulation
Arpa: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu --of one by Douglas Hofstadter.
Uucp: {uwvax,decvax,ihnp4}!ucbvax!oster%dewey.soe.berkeley.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 87 15:50:19 SET
From: Guenther Blaschek <K331671%AEARN.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: DiskFit vs. HD Backup
This is a reply to Paul Christensen's 'HD Backup problems and complaints'.
In this note, Paul asked about DiskFit.
Well, I'm a satisfied user of the df (=DataFrame) version of DiskFit. DiskFit
handles split files correctly. All parts of a split file are named '#.name',
and ALL of them are given DiskFit's split file icon. Other files (that fit
entirely on one diskette) are copied in a Finder-like fashion, i.e. they can
be restored without having to use DiskFit.
DiskFit also keeps track of file/folder information. When I reinitialized my
hard disk recently, I used DiskFit to restore the previous contents. All
folders appeared exactly at the same screen locations, with the same views,
and with all files in their proper locations.
Also, DiskFit is able to continue an interrupted backup process the next time
it is invoked. At least this works, when the Cancel button is pressed during
a backup. I'm not sure, if it also works when some terrorist throws a bomb ...
However, DiskFit CANNOT perform single file/folder backups. All you can do
is restricting a backup to 'documents only', in which case system files,
drivers and applications are left alone. If you plan to use a backup program
for saving (or copying) your hard disk(s), DiskFit will suit your needs.
If you want to use it for more sophisticated tasks (e.g. preparing sets of
files/folders for distribution on diskette, or folder oriented backups),
you should forget DiskFit and watch out for yet another backup utility.
e
gu
Oh, I forgot to say that I have no relations to SuperMac other than as a
satisfied DataFrame and DiskFit user ...
------------------------------
Date: 23 NOV 87 15:39-N
From: CZYCHI%CSGHSG52.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: RE: HD Backup problems and complaints & The best Backup
Subject: Utilities
InfoMac V5 #139:
) Has anyone else had the crashing experience I encountered? What do
) people say about DiskFit (before I buy it)? I'm aware that it's fast,
) and writes over files when doing its incremental backups. But how does
) it handle split files? Does it restore folder positions and sizes?
) Can you backup selected files or folders, or must you backup either the
) entire disk or one file at a time?
I know that some people are having similar complaints about backing up their
20, 40 and 80 MB hard disk. The thing I would do (and have done): Put my
HDBackup in the trash.
DiskFit from Dantz Software Development
DiskFit is the o*n*l*y program I know, with which you can make backups of
large hard disks without the usual disk shuffle. Here comes a short summary of
the online Help:
DiskFit keeps all backup files in normal Macintosh format. It backs up
files as large as 31.9 megabyte each, automatically splitting them as
necessary. Split files, normally joined automatically during restore, may
be manually joined if desired. DiskFit supports incremental hard
disk-to-hard disk duplication. It will create a text file each time you
backup that logs the time, any errors, and result, as well as a list of
folders on your hard disk and the backup disks they can be found on. - And
it restores folder positions and sizes.
If you want to restore selected files and folders, you first have to
look at the "DiskFit report" to take the wanted disk(s) and manually copy
the files with the Finder. That's not quite sophisticated, let's hope that
a new release handles that better.
HFS Backup from Personal Computer Periphals Corp.
When I have to copy a few folders to another hard disk, for example a large
HyperCard stack of some MB, I use HFS Backup. It creates one large backup file
and splits it. The handling in order to backup and restore files and/or folders
is very good.
I haven't heard of any bug or something with both products. They behave
very good and can be used with the newest system software. The latest version I
know of is DiskFit 1.21 and HFS Backup 2.02.
Gary
Gary T. Czychi
University of St.Gallen, Switzerland
EARN%"czychi@csghsg52"
EARN%"czychi@csghsg53"
Tel. --41 / 71 / 27'52'68
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 87 16:26:22 PST
From: PUGH%CCV.MFENET@NMFECC.ARPA
Subject: LaserWriter Accelerator Boards
I heard/read a rumor a while back about Laserwriter accelerator boards that
were supposed to make your Apple Laserwriter faster/stronger/better.
Does anyone have any information about these sorts of things?
Jon
N L pugh@nmfecc.arpa
M A L National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center
F T N Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
E L PO Box 5509 L-561
C Livermore, California 94550
C (415) 423-4239
------------------------------
Date: Tue 24 Nov 87 09:22:53-EDT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: Mac II Projection System wanted
We are looking for a *good* projection system to project Mac II RGB (as well
as standard composite TV) images. We are talking *clear* auditorium sized
displays of 40x20 feet.
We currently use a Barco system which *does* work but it isn't as clear as
we would like (text on the screen, in normal size, is totally unreadable.)
I've heard of the GE "Light Valve" but I don't know how good it is nor if
it does color.
Jeff
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 87 11:04:32 SA
From: Tero Siili <FYS-TS%FINHUT.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: PostScript download to Mac
I have following problem, help and advice would be appreciated:
We have an IBM mainframe and DISSPLA graphics package, which has a
PostScript driver for output. What I would like to do, is to download
the PostScript picture file to Mac and somehow paste this to documents.
Probably the easiest way to do this, would be to convert this file
to PICT-format(if it already isn't, which I can't tell) and read the file
with MacDraw and then Copy & Paste. I have, however the impression, that
PICT-files would have some type of header record preceding the actual
drawing commands. Alas, does anyone have a suitable conversion program
or could tell me, how to write one. I have Turbo Pascal compiler, so it
could be done. The PostScript driver is set for LaserWriter, if it
is of any significance.
Yours,
Tero Siili
FYS-TS@FINHUT.BITNET or FYS-TS\FINHUT.HUT.FI(Internet)
P.S. Please mail directly, I can send it afterwards to the net.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 87 22:28 N
From: Ari de Groot <ADEGROOT%HROEUR5.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: How can I use a non-Apple PostScript device?
At my university we have a Digital PostScript laserprinter which I can use
if I want.
But HOW can I use this PostScript device? I tried to create a PS-file by
pressing command-K after clicking the OK-button in the print dialog.
A large PS-file was created, but while uploading it to the VAX at the uni-
versity I encountered an error in the file.
This is a part of the created PS-file with the error (?) I located by
searching trough the PS-file:
/framedevice load
60 45{dup mul exch dup mul add 1.0 exch sub}/setscreen load
{}/settransfer load/initgraphics load/erasepage load]cvx
statusdict begin bind end readonly def}if
md begin/bigs[lnop lnop/legal load userdict/a4 known{/a4 load}{lno
/smalls[lnop userdict/note known{/note load}{dup}ifelse lnop userd
systemdict/currentpacking known{setpacking}if
currentfile ok userdict/stretch known not and{eexec}{flushfile}ifelse
-> 373A767D4B7FD94FE5903B7014B1B8D3BED02632C855D56F458B118ACF3AF73FC4EF5E81
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
cleartomark
currentfile ok userdict/smooth4 known not and{eexec}{flushfile}ifelse
-> F94E00EE41A71C59E5CAEED1EDBCF23D1DBA1EE99B9BB356492923BD8B1BA83A87CEB0E0
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
cleartomark
%%EndProcSet
The problem -- as I see it -- is that the two (marked) lines preceding the
0000-lines are EXTREMELY long. They are longer then the maximum horizontal
scrolling lenght in Edit.
The PS-file was created using the LaserWriter driver 5.0, Laser Prep 5.0,
System 4.2 and Finder 6.0 on a Mac SE HD.
By the way, the command-K trick does not work with the background printing
option on.
I have two questions:
Is this really an error in the LaserWriter driver and does someone
know how to avoid it?
How can I use this Digital -- or another non-Apple -- PostScript
printer with a Macintosh?
P.S. I have absolutely no knowledge of the PostScript language.
Ari de Groot
ADEGROOT@HROEUR5.bitnet
Erasmus University Rotterdam
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 87 14:57:35 EST
From: Henri Bulterman <henri@mitre.arpa>
Subject: Initial impressions of PC Excel
As a long-time user of Excel on the Mac, I eagerly awaited the arrival
of the PC version. The product finally arrived this week; here are some
initial impressions after a few days of using it on a PS/2 model 50.
* It's a pretty program. For someone with no prior experience with
Windows, it's nice to see Mac-style dialogue and alert boxes. The
chart colors are very lovely.
* Compared to the Mac, Excel/Windows seems to operate in a "clunky"
manner. It's not as smooth or as elegant (all very subjective,
religious stuff). Certainly, Excel consumes many resources; it
seems to fit much more comfortably on a one-meg Mac Plus.
* PC Excel has a number of new features (such as the ability to
change row height) that are nice and will eventually find their way
to the Mac.
* Installation is relatively time-consuming (seven 3.5" disks). The
manual says you should have 5MB of disk space available, though
much of this is occupied by demonstration and tutorial files.
Some "gotchas" that got me.
* If you have a PS/2, Excel automatically uses your extended memory
for its own purposes. If you use a RAM disk in this address space,
the RAM disk will be wiped out until you read the documentation and
learn to make a change to the windows initialization (WIN.INI)
file.
* If you have an HP laserjet with downloadable fonts, customization
of Excel to take advantage of your soft fonts is not a task to be
undertaken by casual users. (A three-page long README files tells
you what to do.)
* It didn't take me long to find a bug: although you can tell Excel
to send printer output to a disk file, this feature does not work
well for PostScript printers. If you include a drive specifier
(C:\EXCEL.PRN), Excel creates a file named C. (The facility works
for other types of printers.)
* A particularly irritating "feature": page orientation (landscape
vs. portrait) is associated with a printer, not the file being
printed (as it is with the Mac). This means that a given file may
print differently depending on what you printed previously; you
can't just open it, print it, and assume that it will look the same
every time. Yuck.
Henri Bulterman
The MITRE Corp.
McLean, VA
(The sentiments expressed herein are my own.)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 87 23:06 MST
From: "Paul B. Rauschelbach" <Rauschelbach@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Comic Works
Any artists out there who have a description of this program, and
perhaps an evaluation of its utility. My roomate is a very fine artist,
and has been using my SE for a canvas (figuratively). He saw the review
of Comic Works in MacGuide (which gave it a 90 out of, I assume, 100),
and thought it would help him with the type of work he's doing, but he
wanted me to ask the net before he forked out the relatively reasonable
$60. He does diptych-like (e.g. Lichtenstein) stuff and some just
general drawing and painting. He feels very limited by the Mac's
resolution (as opposed to pencil and paper), but like's the facility. I
wish we could afford Illustrator or a larger screen, but being
students...
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Paul Rauschelbach pbr%pco@BCO-MULTICS.ARPA
"...but the Moon isn't trying to get away."
------------------------------
Date: Wed 25 Nov 87 09:10:44-EDT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: Delphi Mac Digest V3 #51
Delphi Mac Digest Wednesday, November 25, 1987 Volume 3 : Issue 51
Today's Topics:
RE: multifinder problem
Mac System Software Versions
? (3 messages)
RE: System Software 5.0
LaserShare vs. PrintMaster
RE: Usenet Mac Digest V3 #93
Dir-Acta-ry 0.41
Finder 6.0 bug
re: Help for sight impaired
re: MultiFinder Impressions
Multifinder funnies (2 messages)
more multifinder glitchies
Hypercard SFputFile
RE: INFO-MAC Digest V5 #137
Where to put icons under MF (4 messages)
outliner scrolling
MacApp 2.0
Smalltalk (2 messages)
MF Menu Warning
ROM and Monaco 9 (2 messages)
RE: SE/20 and HD SC Setup (Usenet Mac D
WARNING!
typing in RSG! 4.0 (2 messages)
Mac II power switch
RSG 4.0 Tabs (argh)
Hard disk building
re: OLD ROM's no longer supported
RE: Usenet Mac Digest V3 #95
HyperDrive FX/40 vs. Radius Accelerator
Hypercard launch problems (2 messages)
[
archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>DELPHIV3-51.ARC
DoD
]
------------------------------
End of INFO-MAC Digest
************s.s.s