Moderators.David.Gelphman@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU, Dwayne.Virnau...@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU, Lance.Nakata@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (10/02/87)
INFO-MAC Digest Thursday, 1 Oct 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 122
Today's Topics:
RE: Globally overriding Hypercard commands
Re: DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS HELP
Re: Mac II memory upgrades
Hard Disks for the Mac II; Some info and some questions.
Using an Atari hard disk with a Macintosh
Resend of Cache XFCN
snd Resources
WORD 3.0 and hidden text
THINK Technologies to merge with Symantec
Apple Equipment Grant Query
Summary of Mac Sysops Pow Wow (long)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 87 08:42:14 EDT
From: JURGEN%UMass.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: Globally overriding Hypercard commands
In a recent digest someone asked about globally overriding Hypercard commands,
and in another digest (possibly Usenet or Delphi) someone else mentioned that
attempting to "edit script of Hypercard" causes a system bomb. Also several
digests ago, the question of exactly what the function of the "Home Stack" was,
other than just a mini-Finder for Stacks, came up. ...
Well, here's the answer to all these questions: All user-defined stacks are
descendants of the Home Stack. Even though it is not documented in the "Help"
Stack, any message that is not handled by your Stack is afterward passed to
the Home Stack, before being passed on to "Hypercard". This means that you
can effectively override any Hypercard command, as well as globally define new
ones, by putting an appropriate message handler in the Home Stack. The Home
Stack is also a good place for XFNCs and XCMDs, as well as snd's (Sounds),
since those will then be globally available without your having to modify the
Hypercard application.
Have fun.
Jurgen E Botz
Jurgen@UMass.Bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 87 9:23:23 MST
From: Major John Buono
From: <buono%asbf-imp.huachuca-em.arpa@HUACHUCA-EM.ARPA>
Subject: Re: DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS HELP
As with most things on the MAC there is a solution. I have been
programming the MAC since the days of LISA. The solution is to get
LIGHTSPEED C and the extender packages. There are called extender 1 and 2.
I forget the company but there are in the APDA catalogue. These are units
for LSP C (and others) that make programming the mac a breeze. MacApp is
also powerful but takes time (read lots) to learn. The LSP C environment
is very comportable and from what I have been hearing is become the C of
choice among many programmer (I still prefer Pascal but do use C). I hope
this helps. Also make sure that you get Inside MAC. It is a good reference
but the Extender Packages have excellent documentation that allows you to
start writing programs the same day you get it. The important thing in
programming the MAC is to totally understand resources. They are the key
to making the MAC work for you and not the other way around.
John Buono
ARPA buono%asbf-imp@huachuca-em.arpa
[ note from moderator: the Extender package is by Invention Software and
they usually advertise in MacTutor. Also ALSoft provides a package which
is a shell and can help you get running quickly. DAVEG ]
------------------------------
Reply-to: sdsu!crash.CTS.COM!news@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu
From: sdsu!pnet01.CTS.COM!maddie@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Tom Schenck)
Subject: Re: Mac II memory upgrades
Date: 1 Oct 87 04:56:14 GMT
The Mac II, by nature, is meant to be an easily expandable system, and in
doing so, Apple made it really easy to expand the memory of the Mac II, you
just pop in the SIMM modules you wish to use, and the Mac II will identify the
size of the SIMMs. It recognizes two sizes, 256k and 1024k. Now, not only does
the Mac II look to find the size of the SIMMs, but it also assumes that the
entire BANK is filled with the same size SIMMs, so if you fill Bank-A with
256k SIMMs and put ONE 1-meg SIMM in Bank-B, the Mac II assumes you have 1-meg
SIMMs FILLING Bank-B, and will eventually crash when it attempts to write to
the non-exsistant memory.
In short, Each SIMM Bank in the Mac II must contain the SAME size SIMMs, and
each bank must be filled.
UUCP: {cbosgd, hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, nosc}!crash!pnet01!maddie
ARPA: crash!pnet01!maddie@nosc.mil
INET: maddie@pnet01.CTS.COM
[ note from moderator: using the above terminology there are TWO separate
banks of 4 SIMM slots on the MacII. Each 4 must be filled with the same
size SIMM module. If you make bank A 1 MBIT SIMMS and bank B 256K SIMMS
then you must make sure that bank A is the one closest to the CPU for the
memory to be recognized properly. One other point is that Apple claims
that the address lines exist so that as larger memory chips are available
the Mac II can be upgraded accordingly, up to 16 MBIT chips for a total of
128M memory. Of course the current OS must be modified to go beyond the
16M limit of the 24bit address scheme but I think we'll see that before
the 4Mbit chips are available in quanity (PLEASE!). DAVEG ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 87 09:13:20 PDT
From: wbrown%lbl-ux4@Lbl.Arpa
Subject: Hard Disks for the Mac II; Some info and some questions.
We've been looking at a couple of 3rd party internal hard disks for the
Mac II and here is some of the information we've gleaned.
1) CMS PRO80-II/1 This is an 80 Megabyte hard disk, rumored to be nearly
identical to the 80 Mb drive supplied by Apple. We buy them from a local
retailer at a price considerably lower than Apple's asking price. They
run using the standard Macintosh SCSI driver.
2) Everex EMAC-91D (I hope this is the correct number - there are enough
numbers on the drive, documentation, and driver disk to make things a bit
ambigious.) This is really a CDC "WREN III" 90Mb drive. CDC "WREN" drives
have a very good reputation in the "blue" world. This drive does not work
with the standard Macintosh SCSI driver; a driver is included along with
formatting software. The price is also lower than the price for the Apple
80 Mb drive.
I used the disktimer program from SuperMac to get some relative performance
figures. Note that all 3 disks were formatted with a 1:1 interleave.
Reads Writes Step
Time
Mac II with Apple 40 Mb Drive 37 44 16
Mac II with CMS 80 Mb Drive 36 39 15
Mac II with Everex (CDC) 90 Mb Drive 24 59* 6
The absolute times probably don't mean much as the program was written
to run on a Plus or SE; the smaller numbers are better.
One thing I don't understand is the relatively large figure for write time
with the Everex unit. The software people at Everex haven't been able to
tell me much, except that they feel it is probably an artifact of the
way the disktimer works. They suggest that I try timing the write time of
some large text or spreadsheet files, but I have not tried to do so.
If anyone can add any light to this subject, please feel free to do so.
Replies may be sent directly to me; if I receive any useful answers I will
summarize for the net.
-bill
HEPnet/DECnet
lbl::wlbrown
Milnet/ARPA
wlbrown@lbl.arpa
Bitnet
wlbrown@lbl
Disclaimer: I have no financial or other interest or relation with anyone
mentioned above; anything I say does not necessarily have
anything to do with the views and opinions of my employer, and
nobody around here believes that I know which way is up.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 87 12:29 N
From: <FRUIN%HLERUL5.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> (Thomas Fruin)
Subject: Using an Atari hard disk with a Macintosh
My friend Roelof Roos - who doesn't have access to the nets - asked me
to post something interesting he's been working on.
Roelof uses an Atari SH-204 hard disk with his Macintosh. It's one of
those Atari hard disks which you can buy for an Atari ST.
The Atari SH-204 is a plain vanilla SCSI drive, but Atari has added a
little print board and a special port to hook it up to an ST. If you rip
these out, you've got a standard SCSI hard disk that works great with your
Mac.
I'm including two PackIt files: the first one contains a MacWrite file that
describes, step by step, how to upgrade an Atari drive to work with a Mac
(couldn't resist that :) and a file with formatting resources for Ephraim
Vishniac's SCSI Disk Formatter and Installer.
The second file is the SCSI Formatter/Installer itself, with documentation.
SF&I is shareware. If you use it, make sure to send Ephraim $ 10 or to
donate some blood to the Red Cross (as he suggests).
You'll have to get the hard disk yourself...
-- Thomas Fruin
fruin@hlerul5.BITNET
thomas@uvabick.UUCP
Leiden, Nethelands
[ archived as:
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SCSI-FORMATTER-INSTALLER.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SCSI-ATARIMAC.HQX
DAVEG
]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 87 09:43 EDT
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN%sdr.slb.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Resend of Cache XFCN
Date: Thu 1 Oct 87 09:43:05-EDT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR>
Subject: Resend of Cache XFCN
To: info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <560094185.0.SHULMAN@SDR>
Mail-System-Version: <VAX-MM(218)+TOPSLIB(129)@SDR>
[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman. This re-upload includes the
compiled XFCN as a separate file. Move with ResEdit. ]
Name: CACHE XFCN
Date: 14-SEP-1987 03:16 by DEWI
Those of you designing minifinder Hypercard stacks on the Mac II might find
this useful. It's a XFCN external function for controlling the 68020's cache -
setting it on and off, and finding out its status. It's all wrapped up in a
demo stack, and comes with Lightspeed C source. Unpack with PackIt III or UnPit
[ archived as:
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>HYPERCARD-XFCN-CACHE020.HQX
This replaces the earlier version of the file. DAVEG
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 87 09:36 EDT
From: <KURAS%BCVMS.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> (This Space For Rent)
Subject: snd Resources
There is a simple way to convert a digitized sound file to an snd resource.
All you need is HyperCard and a stack written by some of Bill Atkinson's
friends. The stack contains an XCMD which converts SoundCap or equivalent files
to snd resources. It allows use of any sampling frequency and automatically
installs the resource in the file you specify. (i.e. a System file, an appli-
cation like HyperCard or a stack.) The stack is enclosed in BinHex 4.0 format.
Pat Kuras
Boston College
<KURAS@BCVAX3.BITNET>
or, in the event that doesn't work,
<KURAS@BCVMS.BITNET>
[ archived as:
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>HYPERCARD-SOUNDCAPMOVER.HQX
DAVEG
]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 87 11:13:57 EDT
From: Kenneth Sussmann (PBMA) <sussmann@ARDEC.ARPA>
Subject: WORD 3.0 and hidden text
Does anyone know how to save a document created in MS WORD 3.0 as
text only WITHOUT saving any hidden text that is in the original
document? Any help would be greatly appeciated.
-Ken
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 87 14:39:10 EDT
From: singer@harvard.harvard.edu (Richard Siegel)
Subject: THINK Technologies to merge with Symantec
THINK Technologies today announced it is merging with Symantec Corporation.
Symantec is best known in the IBM PC world for its innovative natural-
language database software, Q & A. Symantec also recently merged with
Living Videotext, the makers of ThinkTank and MORE. THINK will operate
as a division of Symantec.
I want to assure everyone that this does not signal a change in product
direction for THINK. In fact, quite the contrary. Programming language
environments and desktop communications will remain the main focus of
our business, and our charter will be to maintain and expand our
position in the Macintosh market. The mergers reflect Symantec's
determination to be a major player on the Mac.
There is particular interest at Symantec in the programming language
market. Gordon Eubanks, Symantec's CEO, was the author of CBASIC and
later became VP of Programming Languages at Digital Research. And Spencer
Leyton, Executive VP of Business Development at Symantec, was until very
recently VP of Sales and Business Development at Borland International.
The transition will take place with as little upheaval as possible.
THINK's development organization, including Quality Assurance and Customer
Support, will remain at our current site in Bedford, Massachusetts.
Andrew Singer, THINK's Chairman and VP of Engineering, will be General
Manager of the THINK division of Symantec, reporting to Spencer Leyton.
We're very excited about becoming part of Symantec. With the greater
resources of Symantec behind us, we will be better able to provide
the high level of product quality and service to which we aspire.
-- Michael Kahl, THINK Technologies... uh, I mean: Symantec
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 87 14:43:29 EDT
From: alpert@bu-cs.bu.edu
Subject: Apple Equipment Grant Query
I am considering applying to Apple for an equipment grant for a service course
we are offering to non-majors (word processing, spreadsheets, graphics, etc.).
I would like to hear from anyone who has been successful in such an endeavor
and would be willing to share his or her experiences.
Please respond directly rather then through the Digest. Thanks.
Rich Alpert
Boston University
alpert@bu-cs.bu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 87 22:35:46 PDT
From: Bernard Aboba <bernard@ararat.stanford.edu>
Subject: Summary of Mac Sysops Pow Wow (long)
PRESS RELEASE
Stanford, CA -- In presentations made at the First Annual
Macintosh Sysops Pow Wow, a gathering of operators of
Macintosh Bulletin Boards, held at Stanford University,
Portal Communications Company, a Cupertino based firm,
announced a slashing of their rate structure, and gateway
authors Tim Pozar and Russell Briggs disclosed successful
testing of a link between commercial on-line services
and FidoNet, the nation's first microcomputer electronic mail network.
The Pow Wow was organized by the Stanford Macintosh Users Group
and attendees included operators of many of the nations largest
Macintosh bulletin boards. Other speakers included Tom Jennings,
author of FidoNet, and Erik Fair, USENET administrator.
As of September 21, 1987 Portal will be reducing their fees to
$10 per month for unlimited usage of the basic service. "We
think of ourselves as providing communications access to which
other vendors can add their own services," said Phil Sih,
co-founder of Portal Communications. "Communications services
today are grossly overpriced, and we intend to change the way
this industry does business." The $10/month basic charge does
not include costs of dialing into the network such as Telenet
and local phone charges, or the cost of accessing specialized
services such as financial databases. Portal also announced
thatthey were working on providing leased line access to areas
with sufficient demand, which would allow users to access the
service via a local call. This scheme would also bypass the
proposed FCC tariff. In the hope of bringing third party vendors
on board, Portal announced that vendors wishing to set up
their own "information shop" on Portal would face sharply
reduced initial setup charges.
The link between FidoNet and commercial on-line services was
the brainchild of Tim Pozar, John Galvin, and Gary Paxinos,
authors of the FidoNet/USENET gateway that DA Systems President
Russell Briggs used in the test. Through DASnet, a universal
gateway for electronic mail, DA Systems currently offers
connections between ARPANET,BITNET, UNISON, The Well, UUCP,
PeaceNet/EcoNet, The Source, MCI Mail, EasyLink, Telex,Portal,
and AT&T Mail as well as corporate electronic mail, with files
transfer capability under development. To date CompuServe has
refused to be linked by DASnet.
In a related announcement, Vernon Keenan, operator of the bulletin
board MacFido Tribune in San Fransisco, issued an invitation
to Macintosh Users Groups to join FidoNet and offer EchoMac
to their membership. EchoMac, as the Fido Macintosh Conference
is called, is currently available on 50 FidoNet compatible
bulletin boards nationwide. Implementation of FidoNet on
the Macintosh was recently announced by Michael Connick, a New
Jersey based computer consultant, and author of the Mouse Exchange
BBS. Most Fido Bulletin Boards are non-profit operations that
charge only a nominal yearly membership fee.
Fido Software, 164 Shipley St., San Fransisco, CA 94107
(415) 764-1688.
Tim Pozar, 2215-R Market St., Suite 188, San Fransisco, CA 94114
Portal Communications, 19720 Auburn Drive, Cupertino, CA 95014,
408-973-9111
DA Systems, 1503 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell, CA 95008, 408-559-7434;
Vernon Keenan, MacFido Tribune (415) 923-1235.
------------------------------
End of INFO-MAC Digest
**********************