INFO-MAC@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (Moderator Dwayne Virnau...) (06/06/87)
INFO-MAC Digest Saturday, 6 Jun 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 99
Today's Topics:
REL file format???
HELP on serial port(s)
installing 20+ DAs in System-4.1 and a resulting(?) Finder-problem
MPW Pascal versus Lightspeed Pascal: worth it?
Long files with Scholar's Aid and MS-Word
DiskFit BackUp program for SuperMac's DataFrame available
Lone Ranger 1.2
Laser printer benchmarks
Re:ImageWriter 1 and Appletalk, and fileservers...
monitor hikes MAC-II resolution to 1,600 by 1,280 pixels
(One persons) Truth About the Mac Power Supply (and a request)
Any biologists out there?
Some Macintosh II and IBM PC RT questions
TeX Output questions
does anyone know of NEW TECMAR software? (version 2.3?)
DATAFRAME XP40: Cruelty to Rodents?
Upgrading a Mac 512KE (advice requested)
Macmemory Turbomax upgrade
Cheap 68020/881 Upgrade
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 3 Jun 87 10:29:00 EST
From: <bouldin@ceee-sed.arpa>
Subject: REL file format???
Can anyone tell me if .REL OR MPW OBJECT CODE file formats are PROPRIETARY. If
they are not then I would be interested in any info that anyone can give me on
this. Put another way, what exactly does the MDS (MPW) linker have to do in
order to link two .REL (MPW) object files.
My bitnet address is: GPFRN@NBS
Thanks in advance,
Glenn F.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 01 Jun 87 17:36:31 EST
From: "William E. Williams"
From: <BSQUARE%YALEVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: HELP on serial port(s)
I am new to the game of writing for the Mac's serial ports. Could someone out
there send me some PASCAL source code that uses the PASCAL high-level
interface to do the usual stuff with serial ports - send and receive
characters, alter baud rates, and so on? Perhaps the source for a compact
terminal emulator or something. Any help would be much appreciated. Please
reply via BITNET: BSQUARE@YALEVM or WWILLIAM@TRINCC.
Bill Williams
------------------------------
Date: Fri 5 Jun 87 23:10:46-CDT
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: installing 20+ DAs in System-4.1 and a resulting(?)
Subject: Finder-problem
The Font/DA-Mover as distributed does not allow you to install
more than 15 Desk-Accessories into your System;
MacUser of April '87 described a procedure to modify Font/DA-Mover
which would allow installing more than 15 DAs; however, the patches
to use were only tested with the then available Version 3.2.
I, finally, took the time to test if this procedure still works with
System-4.1 and the Font/DA-Mover distributed with it (Version 3.5)
and found that one patch has to be changed slightly. The needed patching
instructions for the Font/DA-Mover are as follows:
1) search for 001A 5EC1 and replace with 002F 5EC1
2) search for 6708 3B7C and replace with 6608 3B7C (two occurances)
all other intructions in the article seem to be still valid.
===========================
now for the Finder-problem. I have modified the Finder with ResEdit-1.1d
to have a command-equivalent for the CLOSE command (I use a period).
When adding DAs to the System-file they get always the lowest available
slot-number. After installing 25 DAs, I noticed after a while that
COMMAND-. no longer was a functioning command-equivalent for the CLOSE under
the FILE-menu; it did not even show as such anymore. I checked with
ResEdit but the LAYO resource of the Finder still contained it. Given my
recent work with the DAs of the System, I suspected a relationship but
without having any clue why that could be so. Given that I had filled the
slots 30 to 38 with dummy DRVRs, I wondered if it had anything to do with
putting DAs into the slots above that. I rebuilt a System, adding DAs to it
filling up the slots one by one, checking if filling slots above 38 caused
the problem with the Finder. Whereas having DAs in slot 39 and 40 did not
cause it, filling slot 41 was the zinger - and COMMAND-. no longer was a
key-equivalent to the CLOSE command - independent of which DAs were put
there....
In the MacUser article, slots 40 to 47 are labeled as "RESERVED" ...
does anyone know if I discovered what they may be reserved for ???
has anyone noticed any other negative side-effects of putting DAs into
the "high" slots??
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 87 14:43:53 edt
From: rs4u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel)
Subject: MPW Pascal versus Lightspeed Pascal: worth it?
We've had MPW here at work for a while, and this morning, I said
what the hell, let's try it.
"Trying it" consisted of installing MPW on my hard drive, copying the
sources for FzzPlot into a folder under MPW's domain,, and rebuilding
FzzPlot from scratch.
The results? Four hours later, I said "Never again."
The final product produced with MPW Pascal was about 8K smaller than
the application produced by Lightspeed Pascal. However, the two
applications completed a task (loading a 512-point text file and plotting
its data) in the same amount of time, to within a tenth of a second.
I would assume that the smaller application size is because MPW strips
code on a procedural basis, while Lightspeed Pascal strips code
on a library-by-library basis.
In any case, I found that the hassle of setting up a makefile, coupled
with the long compile and link times, do not make it worth the
smaller code size and extra tools (such as PasRef and PasMat) that MPW
provides, nice though they be.
I'm sticking with Lightspeed Pascal. I see nothing to justify the
two megabytes that MPW occupies on my hard drive.
Any comments? Please mail directly to me, and I'll summarize for the net.
Rich
Richard M. Siegel
R-Squared Development Systems
134 Horseshoe Drive
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185
(804) 229-2152 [After 6pm eastern time only]
Arpanet: rs4u@andrew.cmu.edu
Uucp: {your fave gateway}!seismo!andrew.cmu.edu!rs4u
Disclaimer? I don't even KNOW 'er!
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 87 21:24:52 PDT
From: A0799@UWACDC.BITNET
Subject: Long files with Scholar's Aid and MS-Word
Too many references, figures, tables, etc., cannot be numbered by
Microsoft Word (1.05 or 3.0). The problem is with a limit on the
number of SET commands permitted by the print-merge code in MS-
Word. The limit is a total of 127 SET commands in any document. So
if your document contains references, figures, etc. totaling more than
127 you can't number them with Scholar's Aid and MS-Word. I
discovered this problem when my student tried to write his thesis.
I apologize to those who expected to use Scholar's Aid for long files.
Microsoft can fix the problem, but it may add about 5K to the memory
required for Word 3.0 and they are reluctant to do so. If you want to
use Scholar's Aid for long documents please let them know that this is
an important feature. Perhaps a patch could be made available to
make a big version of Word for these specialized purposes.
Meanwhile, an improved version of Scholar's Aid is on its way. New
features: Supports any database program which allows pasting into
the "find window" and export of text lists, easy formatting of the
appearance of the reference list (no more print-merge command
programming), other improvements. Scholar's Aid automatically
numbers references, figures, tables, equations, etc., sets up a reference
list from a bibliographies in a general purpose file manager, and which
formats the reference list. Known bugs in 9.71: Word 3.0 is sensitive
to case in print-merge variables (your codewords must be consistent,
unfortunately the sample files use varying codewords), the last of the
errors in the text is not set to a print-merge value (again producing an
error when printing the second sample file). These bugs will be fixed
in the new version.
Stuart Strand
College of Forest Resources, AR-10
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
Voice: (206)543-5350
Bitnet: A0799@UWACDC.BITNET
Arpanet: A0799@UWACDC.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
Usenet: A0799@UWACDC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
GEnie: S.Strand
------------------------------
Date: Fri 5 Jun 87 23:04:05-CDT
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: DiskFit BackUp program for SuperMac's DataFrame available
when I announced the availability of SuperMac's software for the DataFrame
a few weeks back, I also mentioned DiskFit, the new backup program; however,
I did not have time to upload it at the time.
I apologize for the delay in uploading it and getting it to the archives at
both SUMEX and SIMTEL20 - it is my understanding, however, that all 3 files
have arrived there. (a program file of 150K, an online HELP-file of 40K,
and a brief introductory text file of 3K)
Remember, that this is the "protected" version which will work *ONLY* with
the DataFrame ROMs - so don't bother with these files *UNLESS* you plan to
use them on a DataFrame. The unprotected version which works with other
disks is available commercially from SuperMac.
[
archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SUPERMAC5-DISKFIT40DF-PART1.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SUPERMAC5-DISKFIT40DF-PART2.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SUPERMAC5-DISKFIT40DF-PART3.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SUPERMAC5-DISKFIT40DF-HELP.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-SUPERMAC5-DISKFIT40DF-NOTES.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 87 14:22:35 PDT
From: PUGH%CCC.MFENET@nmfecc.arpa
Subject: Lone Ranger 1.2
After a few suggestions as to user interface improvements and a
small but important bug fix, I hereby present Lone Ranger 1.2.
This is a must have since it is currently the only program that
will let you change all your sound files from SoundCap to the
BMUG sound recorder or to the new SoundWave program (a hot mama!).
Plus it does not have to do your entire hard disk, it can do
tree subsections.
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
[
archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-LONERANGER-12.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 87 17:08:34 PDT
From: sml@Ford-wdl1.ARPA (Steve Lazarus)
Subject: Laser printer benchmarks
After the QMS report in MacWorld I arranged a loaner of a QMS 800+ and
have performed some benchmarking of this printer and the Laserwriter
Plus. I also benchmarked with the new (4.0) laserprinter driver and
prep file which gives some dramatic improvements. All tests were
performed using SuperLaser Spool. Printing was disabled, the document
spooled, and printing from the spooler enabled. Timing was from the
time of the "resume" command to the final page of output.
All tests were performed on using a Mac Plus and System 3.2. (I
assume that the system file doesn't matter for printing.)
The documents are:
1. Slides - A PowerPoint slide presentation consisting of 13
individual slide pages and handout pages which are printed 3 slides to
a page (4 pages with 3 slides per page and a final page with 1 slide).
This would qualify as graphics intensive. This is actually 2
consecutive print jobs.
2. Word 3.0 - A Word 3.0 document of 11 pages. This document has no
graphics and uses 2 built in fonts and our "Dearborn" font which
consists of one character, the Ford logo.
3. Excel - A 7 page Excel output. Each page had borders around each
printed cell. Gridlines and column headings were turned off.
Here are the timings (in minutes and seconds).
Slides Excel Word
Apple Laserwriter 3.1 18:10 18:10 4:40
QMS Laserwriter 3.1 10:30 15:30 3:10
Apple Laserwriter 4.0 13:45 10:50 2:45
QMS Laserwriter 4.0 9:10 11:25 2:25
The QMS shows across the board advantages with the old driver. With
the new driver the advantage is dramatic only with the slides. Excel
is actually slower. (I was so surprised by this that I repeated the
test. The numbers displayed here are an average of the two runs. The
QMS varied by 10 seconds and the Apple by 25.)
Steve Lazarus (415) 852-4203
Ford Aerospace ...sun!wdl1!sml (UUCP)
MS X-20 sml@ford-wdl1.arpa (ARPA)
3939 Fabian Way
Palo Alto, CA 94303
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 87 00:59 EDT
From: Marks@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Re:ImageWriter 1 and Appletalk, and fileservers...
Marc,
Try MacServe... It has performed well since we got it in July 86.
It allows the sharing of disk and printer resources. You can even
use the printer on the "server" mac's serial port, thus eliminating
the need for the T-box you mentioned.
One copy of MacServe gets you one server node, and an unlimited (at
least 32) number of user nodes. The server node's hard disk drive
dedicates one or more volumes to MacServe use. Several (up to 16)
MacServe volumes can be formatted (via the MacServe Manager) on each
"real" hard disk volume. User nodes are connected to the server node
through an AppleTalk network. The user node accesses the MacServe
through a desk accessory, that 1) allows for selecting a volume for
read only access, read/write access or release; and 2) allows for
selection of a printer, ala the chooser, but also includes choice of a
remotely spooled MacServe Printer connected to the serial port of the
server node. The volumes can be mounted by several user's if each
user mounts it read only. They can only be mounted by one user at a
time if mounted for read/write.
Printing using the remote spooler sometimes seems rather slow, but
it works! A rough average transfer rate for data read from a mounted
remote volume is about 32KBytes/sec, with no one using the server
node. Oh, I forgot to mention that the server node Mac does not have
to be dedicated to that function. It can be used just as if it were
not a server node.
If you are lucky (rich) enough to get several copyies of MacServe,
you get a really neat capability. You can make several Macs in the
network server nodes; giving each server node "owner" the ability to
define local, sharable, and password accessable volumes.
The product is available from alot of Mac dealers and from the
vendor:
Infosphere, Inc
4730 SW Macadam Ave
Portland, OR 97201
503-226-3620
Hope this helps...
Lt David L. Marks
Rome Air Development Center
Marks@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Sun 31 May 87 04:14:27-CDT
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: monitor hikes MAC-II resolution to 1,600 by 1,280 pixels
[ from Electronics, May 28, page 27 ]
Cornerstone Technology's monochrome monitor for Apple's Macintosh II features
1,600 by 1,280 pixel resolution, 67-MHz noninterlaced refresh rate, and a
200MHz video-bandwidth, strengthening the Mac-II's bit for
computer-aided-engineering and design applications. The San Josy, CA, company
claims its VISTA 1600 19-in. monitor offers the highest resolution available
for the Mac-II. Available now, the MAC-II version retails for $2,195. .....
[ nope, I don't know anything else about this monitor. ---Werner ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun 31 May 87 05:41:47-CDT
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: (One persons) Truth About the Mac Power Supply (and a
Subject: request)
MacTutor of March '87, page 4, contains a very interesting letter from Loy
Spurlock, titled: "The Truth About the Mac Power Supply"
I would like to designate this as REQUIRED READING for all of you. expect a
POP-QUIZ next week on it .... ((-: -I'm serious!! :-))
BTW, I understand that Loy also has a very reputable hardware upgrade and
repair company, (Computer Quick, Inc.) with which I have had no direct contact
yet, however. But what I have heard is good enough that I'd like to pass on
their address also, after naming the James C. Moore company recently. I'm all
for a little competition ... however, I don't have it; all I know is that
they are in La Miranda, Calif. if anyone knows more about them, I'm sure we'd
all appreciate hearing about it.
BTW, I know that *ONE* of you out there would like to contribute to this group
but doesn't feel he has anything original to say. Well, I have a suggestion:
how about typing in and posting the table of contents of MacTutor and
MacinTouch every month. Both of these publications run on a shoe-string and
do a tremendous service inproviding information which filters down to this
group quite often; so I, for one, would consider posting the TOC here a
service to the net-community rather than advertising which might be questioned.
Beats me why not all magazines publish their TOCs online regularly; would be
great for everybody !!! (and save me a lot of typing of TOCs into my DB;
something I never seem to be able to keep up with anyway)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 May 87 14:24 EDT
From: WIBR@MIT-Multics.ARPA
Subject: Any biologists out there?
There is an graduate student in Biology here at the Whitehead Institute
for Biomedical Research who is interested in interfacing a digitizer
with a Macintosh for the purpose of studying DNA sequence gels.
Does anyone on the net know of such a program? This could be
commercial, share- or freeware. Any and all responses would be
extremely welcome.
Priscilla Baybutt MITWCCF (bitnet) mit-eddie!whthd4!pris (uucp)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 87 17:14 N
From: <FRUIN%HLERUL5.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu> (Thomas Fruin)
Subject: Some Macintosh II and IBM PC RT questions
The misguided computer graphics group here is actually considering the
purchase of a couple of IBM PC RTs instead of Macintosh IIs... So I urgently
need the answers to a couple of questions. Can anybody help?
1) There were complaints that the Macintosh IIs graphics were simply too slow.
I heard that it was possible to re-implement Quickdraw's low level drawing
routines in hardware on a video card. Has any such card appeared on the
market that draws significantly faster than Quickdraw?
2) Is there a certified ADA compiler for the Macintosh II? Perhaps running
under Unix?
3) What is true about BYTE's (and other magazine's) rumours that the RT is
being dropped from production?
Thomas Fruin
FRUIN@HLERUL5.BITNET
thomas@uvabick.UUCP
Leiden University, Netherlands
------------------------------
Date: 2 Jun 87 14:00:00 EST
From: <bouldin@ceee-sed.arpa>
Subject: TeX Output questions
This may need to go to the TexHaX group, but I thought I would start here.
I use TeXtures on my Mac, but I presently print thru a QMS printer that is
hooked to our local VAX. As the QMS printer speaks QUIC, not postscript, I
cannot put embedded graphics in the TeX files. I know that there is a TeX
DVI to Postscript converter, but not the other way, since Postscript is a
superset of DVI.
However, is there any way to convert QUIC to and from Postscript. I think this
should be possible, since Postscript and QUIC are functionally about the same.
Anyone know anything about this????
------------------------------
Date: Sat 30 May 87 12:13:08-CDT
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: does anyone know of NEW TECMAR software? (version 2.3?)
I was just rereading MacTutor of November '86, when I stumbled across a note
on page 16 in the Mousehole Report by BEAKER:
FINAL REVISION OF MACDRIVE SOFTWARE
I can confirm that (as published in MacTutor) there WILL be a version 2.3 of
the Tecmar MacDrive software. I know because I have it. I'll be receiving the
second beta version of it this week. [well now, a beta-version a final product
not makes, as we all well know - Werner ]
As reported by my earlier, it does "fix" the Imagewriter problem [you can't use
the version 2.3 ImageWriter with the older MacDrive software - Werner]. What
that means, unfortunately, is that now it doesn't hang when the IW tries to
talk back, it only absorbs the data. So you STILL can't do color printing,
etc., but you CAN use the IW 2.3 (which is faster).
The driver software DOES support larger drives (up to the capacity of the ZEBEC
controller). Unfortunately, it is still not known wether the Volume-Manger
will be fortified to handle larger drives. If not, then forget it, since the
VMgr is the only way to create the necessary partitions [could there be other
software available to do this ? --W]. (Dave told me that if you replace the
controller, you could do something disgusting, like shove a Maxtor 1140 or even
a new 380MB Maxtor in there ...)
Tecmar will be distributing a pretty neat backup program called FullBack with
the new software. It was written for their large drive, which may or may not
ever see the light of day, but that's a whole other story.
The final (bad) news is that this won't be a free upgrade; it'll cost; but
I'm not sure how much (it won't be bad, though) .....
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 May 87 04:17 ADT
From: <GFJAK%ALASKA.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: DATAFRAME XP40: Cruelty to Rodents?
In Info-Mac v #97, Mike Borsetti says:
>I have a SuperMac DataFrame XP40, and I am very happy with it.
Mike goes on to ask a technical question, but I'd rather talk about
happiness.
I also have a SuperMac Top-40 (it's office nickname). Fast? Greased
lightning. Puts the IBM-AT drives in the office to shame (much to my
profound pleasure). But for everything it has in speed, it lacks in
subtlety.
The review in Info-World warned me that this was a very loud drive;
and so I wasn't surprised at the thumping and bumping it makes with
each read/write (literally; before I moved it off my desk, the thump it made
when it drove would rattle pencils on the desktop; one of the secretaries
described it as "a little brick, being flopped over and over"). But what
I wasn't ready for was the screeching.
On a bad day, the XP40 appears to be torturing mice. It emits screeching
and keening and high pitched whistling, very much like the flywheel on
my 1970 Duster before it fell off. Most days it is noisy enough to give
office personnel headaches; occasionally it becomes so bad I have to turn
it off. At its best, it is still a little to noisy to work right next to
(about 4 times as noisy as the LaserWriter). I had to buy the SCSI extender
and move it to the floor, behind the cabinet. At its worst, it threatens
the continued existence of Macintoshes in an office dominated by a Big
Blue Mentality.
Anyone else noticed problems like this, or is my XP eating itself? To
have it serviced means taking it to Anchorage, Alaska (you thought you
had it bad) and losing it for two weeks. I need to know what's normal
for this monster. Anything sent to me and not the net will be summarized
if necessary, but I'd like to see this duscussed on the net if it warrants
it.
Lost My Logo In A Fire
Joe Kennebec
GFJAK@ALASKA
In Reality: 812 Crossman Rd
Fairbanks, Alaska
99712
Voice: (907)-474-6909 work
(907)-457-2519 home
Remember: I'm four hours
BEHIND Eastern Standard Time
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 87 10:15:51 adt
From: dalcs!stars!earth..rountree@seismo.CSS.GOV (Eric Rountree)
Subject: Upgrading a Mac 512KE (advice requested)
I would like to upgrade my Macintosh 512/800 so that it has 2MB of memory and a
SCSI port. I would like to pay as little as possible for this (obviously), and
if this means that I must do the surgery myself (which it obviously does), then
I am willing, almost eager, to do it.
The question, then, is: What is the best route I can take and how much will it
cost me? Could some of you friendly Mac-land inhabitants offer some sage advice
or information? My address appears at the bottom of this message.
I would appreciate Canadian dollar amounts if you can supply them (U.S. prices
sound good until I realise they are U.S. prices).
PART II:
Okay, let's say I have my 2MB of memory and my SCSI port. Do I now have a MAC+
or is there something else I must do? I seem to recall hearing about
differences between the 512KE ROMs and the MAC+ ROMs.
Now some opinions are politely requested. Assuming that I do have to upgrade
the ROMs (or something), should I do it, and how much will it cost me? If I
don't do it, will I be setting myself up for obsolescence?
All opinions and advice will be most graciously appreciated.
Eric R. Rountree
System Manager
Business School Site
Academic Computing Services
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
UUCP: ...dalcs!stars!rountree
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 87 10:17:55 PDT
From: Jon Olson <oly@denali.stanford.edu>
Subject: Macmemory Turbomax upgrade
Has anyone seen or used the Macmemory Turbomax upgrade? It consists of
a 68000 running at 16 MHz (I think) and a floating point coprecessor, as
well as an upgrade to 2 megs RAM. I saw a demo at the Stanford MacFair,
but I really don't have any idea of how dependable or reliable the package
is. The benchmarks Macmemory provides suggest that their upgrade runs at
about half the speed of Levco's 68020 Mac for about a quarter of the price
(Turbomax list is $1299).
Any suggestions on whether the Macmemory is worth purchasing, or is the
Novy systems 68020 upgrade a better path? I imagine if you stick with a
68000 only at a higher clock speed you won't run into as many compatibility
problems as you would with a 68020. One more thing - if you are familiar
with the Turbomax, where can you get it? I would hope that there was
someone out there selling it at an amount less than full list price.
Jon Olson
------------------------------
Date: 2 Jun 87 09:00:00 EST
From: <bouldin@ceee-sed.arpa>
Subject: Cheap 68020/881 Upgrade
I now have installed in my Mac+ a Novy "MAC020 MX" board. It is a 68020
and 68881 running at 12 mhz (NO wait states) with 1 meg of 32 bit memory.
For this setup I paid $1200. The onboard memory in the Mac is still
usable, and I configure that as 1 meg of cache or RamDisc, to force
programs to load into the 1 meg of 32 bit high-speed memory.
The unit clips onto the 68K. Two clip leads attach to the Mac power
supply. There is an optional fan/power supply combo. that fits inside the
Mac case. I plan to order one of these, as the system does seem to run
quite hot. Installing the clip on the 68K is tricky, but once it is
correctly seated it seems to be secure. However, reports from other users
suggest that there are sometimes problems with the clip coming loose
after many warmup-cooldown cycles. If you are not comfortable messing
with the insides of your Mac, Novy will install the board free of charge.
They are at (904) 427-2358.
This setup makes the Mac very, very fast. Floating point calculations go
at about 40% of VAX 11/780 speed in single precision and about 65% in
double precision. TeXtures runs at 80-100% of VAX 780 speed! Fortran
compiles at 12,000-18,000 line/min when I put the source on a RAM disc.
(Standard Mac does about 1800-3000 with the same setup). Versaterm gives
a TRUE 9600 baud, at last!! A patch is supplied to trap SANE floating
point calls, MS Basic floating point and Absoft/Microsoft floating point.
So far, software problems have been few. Of the stuff that I have tried:
What works:
Fortran, Versaterm, Draw, Superpaint, Fullpaint, MS word 3.0 (and it
scrolls really fast) , Acta , Miniwriter , Stepping Out , TeXtures ,
Stars 1.6 DA , Teleport DA , Sci Calculator (from Battery Pak) , ResEdit
, Qued , Macwrite 2.2 and 4.5 , MDS assembler , MacBottom Print Spooler
(spools to disc) , Fontastic, McFace (with the 020 Inst. cache off).
What breaks:
Cricket graph, MacLightning spell checker DA, Pro 3D, Easy 3D, Copy II
Mac (in bit copy), Disk Ranger.
For the things that break, the 68020/881 can be disabled without removing
the board and the 68K takes over.
The major problem with the board is that hard drives with Seagate ST 225N
drives often have problems. These include Apple HD20 (floppy port and SCSI
versions), Jasmine, and early MacBottoms. My MacBottom wouldn't boot, but I was
able to patch the SCSI drivers with help from the MacBottom technical staff. A
fix for this is in the works in the next few weeks; they plan to ship a new set
of SCSI drivers with the board. DEFINITELY check with Novy about this before
you order a board.
The summary to date: I like this board a lot, and it compares very well
with other 020/881 upgrades that cost a LOT more. If you crave the power
of a Mac II, but don't have the $$$ for one, this board is a nice
low-cost alternative. Time will tell about reliability, but so far (1
week) the board has been totally solid.
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End of INFO-MAC Digest
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