SHULMAN@slb-test.CSNET (Jeffrey Shulman) (05/12/87)
Delphi Mac Digest Tuesday, May 12, 1987 Volume 3 : Issue 27 Today's Topics: RE: About Lap Mac (2 messages) RE: Detecting Quits. RE: VBL tasks, offscreen bitmaps, Lights (2 messages) RE: Re: VBL tasks, offscreen bitmaps, Li Re: Re: Detecting Quits. Re: Re: Change in "_Launch" interface... Re: Compatibility guidelines Finder feature FONTS RESEDIT AND FONTDAMOVER ScrapSaver problem with Juggler RE: System 4.1/Finder 5.5 Compatibility (3 messages) fun bugs Sound digitizers... SE PRAM (2 messages) LaserWriter "Faster Bitmap Printing" Laser Prep 4.0 patch/Miniwriter rubber SE screens (2 messages) SE mouse RE: DataFrame 40 problems ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: AESOP Subject: RE: About Lap Mac (Re: Msg 19620) Date: 9-MAY-08:30: Hardware & Peripherals Tak, I spoke with the folks at Dynamac (of Boulder Colorado) yesterday, and while the man I spoke with was naturally positive, some of what he said is possibly of interest: - The Dynamac will begin shipping in about 3 weeks so that an order sent now would probably be filled in late July or early August. - They are investigating setting up a dealer network but have not as yet done so. If you want to order, just send in your order form. Credit card order or checks are gladly accepted...8-{} - While the flat screen has 40% more pixels, it is 'slightly more compressed' than the regular Macintosh (but of course a pixel density was not given). I asked about "aspect ratio" and got a confused answer, but aspect ratio really is more applicable to LCD screens and Dynamac uses an electroluminescent display, which I am assured "is at least as good as the regular Macintosh." I still do not understand why a Big Pictures E-machine interface is built in as a standard feature unless the vendor assumes most of the customers will want one... - The 300/1200 baud built-in modem is a $295 option. Considering that anyone with the means to afford a 2400 baud modem should buy one of those instead, I have to wonder why it's even an option... - They _do_not_recommend_ using the battery pack they sell, as it is only good for up to a half-hour. On the other hand, a heavy- duty 12V battery can provide several hours of service, and their interface cable to a automobile cigarette lighter "works very reliably". This was my primary concern, as I generally am around either 112VAC or 12VDC when I find myself twiddling my thumbs. I could also well use a portable package to take with me on jobs. - The engineers are working on a portable package for the Macintosh SE but the company is not sure how to market it yet. They hope to provide it as an upgrade, but I commented that to do so they would have to gut most of the electronics to do so, as the SE has much more than just a different motherboard (correct me if I am wrong) and the internal expansion has size implications as well. - I forgot to ask about mouse vs. trackball (again!) I guess I'll just have to call them up (again). There are certain reasons one would not want to use the mouse in a moving car or other space- limited situations. Well, when the price starts approaching new- car territory, one is entitled to a certain number of questions. Their literature did not show the mouse, so I was wondering. Details at 11, Laird ------------------------------ From: PEABO Subject: RE: About Lap Mac (Re: Msg 19706) Date: 9-MAY-12:05: Hardware & Peripherals I can think of two hypothetical reasons for including an E-machines interface: (1) it might not be very expensive, and (2) they may be making the point that there would be no reason to have any screen smaller than an E-machine attached to it (somewhat the reverse of your implication). peter ------------------------------ From: PEABO Subject: RE: Detecting Quits. (Re: Msg 19711) Date: 9-MAY-12:35: Network Digests >From: betz@runx.ips.oz (Andrew Betzis) >Subject: Detecting Quits. >Date: 30 Apr 87 14:19:14 GMT >Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare. Sydney, Australia. > The question is: Is there a standard way of detecting Application exits? > The root of the problem is to be able to re-Trap quits. Tech Note 64 describes IAZNotify, which is a low memory hook called by InitApplZone. They describe how an application might use it, but they fail to make a recommendation about stacking IAZNotify hooks so that your hook propagates the notify to the previous hook, etc. Thus, it is not clear that a DA or FKEY can use this feature. There is also a caution that the IAZNotify routine should reside in your main code segment. Presumably this is to insure that it is locked in memory, but there may be something else going on relating to the relocation of the clipboard. peter "In any context, half of all references PEABO @ DELPHI are local and half are global." ------------------------------ From: PEABO Subject: RE: VBL tasks, offscreen bitmaps, Lights (Re: Msg 19713) Date: 9-MAY-12:53: Network Digests >From: florman@randvax.UUCP (Bruce Florman) >Subject: VBL tasks, offscreen bitmaps, Lightspeed Pascal, etc. >Date: 7 May 87 19:05:59 GMT >Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica >>1. How does one get mBarHeight from Lightspeed Pascal? > According to Inside Mac, p I-341, "The menu bar is white, 20 pixels >high, and as wide as the screen, with a 1-pixel black lower border. The >menu titles in it are always in the system font and the system font >size." So it sounds like you can just declare a constant. The advice in Inside Mac vol. I is obsolete. The Radius FPD has an option for a taller menu bar, and I would expect Kanji menus to require a taller menu bar (and window drag bar) than normal. peter "In any context, half of all references PEABO @ DELPHI are local and half are global." ------------------------------ From: JIMH Subject: RE: VBL tasks, offscreen bitmaps, Lights (Re: Msg 19718) Date: 9-MAY-22:08: Network Digests >From: florman@randvax.UUCP (Bruce Florman) >Subject: VBL tasks, offscreen bitmaps, Lightspeed Pascal, etc. >Date: 7 May 87 19:05:59 GMT >Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica This is how you get the menubar height. type integerptr = ^integer; pointervariant = record case boolean of false: (pointer: integerptr); true: (address: longint) end; var i: integer; menusizeptr: pointervariant; Procedure whatever; begin menusizeptr.address := $BAA; MenuSize:= menusizeptr.pointer^ ; end; Jim Delphi: JIMH AppleLink: V0261 ------------------------------ From: JIMH Subject: RE: Re: VBL tasks, offscreen bitmaps, Li (Re: Msg 19729) Date: 9-MAY-22:17: MUGS Online Steve, after disassembling the initwindow trap i found out that mBarHeight is set in this procedure to the height of the system font. I was trying to get rid of the menu bar by setting it to zero and it kept getting reset. I found another way to do it th ough. jim ------------------------------ From: BRECHER Subject: Re: Re: Detecting Quits. Date: 9-MAY-21:03: MUGS Online To: jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) Subject: Re: Re: Detecting Quits. > The right way is to look for a DRVRControl call of goodBye (-1), the > so-called "goodbye kiss". Set the block in the 'DRVR' header > needGoodbye. This is all well-documented in Inside Macintosh. The question was how to determine when an application was quitting. Looking for goodbye kisses doesn't work for two reasons: (1) Kisses are issued only to drivers which have dNeedGoodbye set in their DCEs; if there are no such drivers installed, no kisses are issued. (2) Kisses are also issued by Shut Down. ------------------------------ From: BRECHER Subject: Re: Re: Change in "_Launch" interface... Date: 9-MAY-21:04: MUGS Online To: huxham@apple.UUCP (Fred Huxham) Subject: Re: Re: Change in "_Launch" interface... > The Finder is the application that should be used to launch applications. ..unless the user prefers a shell with a different interface and/or certain advantages over Finder. My product, PowerStation (currently in beta test), is such a shell. Since one of the pre-release users who likes PowerStation and who has praised it in public as an interesting example of an alternative to the Finder interface is an Apple executive who has considerable influence in product development, I have reason to hope that your statement does not reflect "official policy," and that I can look forward to continuing support for third-party system software. More generally some Apple folks -- not the ones in Tech Support -- sometimes project an attitude that only Apple provides system software for Macintoshes; that third parties do only spreadsheets, database applications, etc.; and that system software details should be revealed to third parties only to the extent that is necessary to implement a spreadsheet, database, etc. The roots of this attitude lie in land tilled during 1982-84 to germinate the closed architecture appliance computer and in that context I can sympathize with it; but not in 1987 and beyond. Once stated, I doubt anyone at Apple would disagree with this; and I'm sure many at Apple would agree that what is needed is an active and agressive policy of encouragement for third party system software development and timely disclosure of low-level architectures to ensure compatibility. But it doesn't hurt to state it as antidote to remnants of the closed architecture attitude that may remain. Example: A forthcoming Apple product was discussed at the Developer's Conference last month. I doubt that detailed low-level documentation on the working of this product will be available before or at the time it is released. I guess that the reason for the lack of such documentation is not that it ought to be intentionally withheld, but simply that resources have not been allocated to produce such documentation in tandem with the software development. If I'm wrong, and we can look forward to such documentation, then ignore this message and thanks! ------------------------------ From: BRECHER Subject: Re: Compatibility guidelines Date: 9-MAY-21:06: MUGS Online To: ranson@crcge1.UUCP Subject: Compatibility guidelines > How does one use QuickDraw globals if you are not the one that > initialised it? (eg. from a DA). I have found at least 2 popular > way to set up these globals, at 0(a5) and at -4(a5). This makes > some DAs fail in the Finder. InitGraf places its argument into the location pointed to by A5. The 0(A5) you saw was probably a reference to the address of the QuickDraw globals; it was certainly not an argument to InitGraf in working software. Since 0(A5) contains a pointer to the QuickDraw globals, a DA can always get the address of the globals as follows: Move.L 0(A5),An ;An points to QuickDraw globals Actually, QuickDraw globals are allocated "backwards" -- from higher to lower addresses -- and thePort is the global at the highest address. The assembly language equate value of thePort is 0, and the offsets of other Quickdraw global fields is negative. Hence to continue the example: Move.L thePort(An),Am ;Am contains thePort (a GrafPtr) ------------------------------ From: DDUNHAM Subject: Finder feature Date: 9-MAY-20:17: Programming Techniques Apparently Finder 5.4 is closing working directories when you insert a disk. This causes great difficulties with desk accessories that try to be polite by not leaving files open all the time, instead just remembering the WDRefNum and name (for later saving). ------------------------------ From: HARDISON Subject: FONTS RESEDIT AND FONTDAMOVER Date: 9-MAY-22:13: Developers' Corner For a partial list of ResEdit bugs see cat 1 topic 49 on Genie. I think that thhe system programmers must be trying to sabotage the ROM programmers. Neither ResEdit nor Font/DAMover has heard of NFNT resources!! If you try to use a seperate resource for bold etc. you cannot move it. What a mess. ------------------------------ From: LOGICHACK Subject: ScrapSaver problem with Juggler Date: 9-MAY-23:20: Bugs & Features Anyone testing Juggler should be advised that if Juggler is set as the startup, Having ScrapSaver installed will cause Juggler to croak on bootup. I will have a fix as soon as I figure it out. Paul :( ------------------------------ From: DSACHS Subject: RE: System 4.1/Finder 5.5 Compatibility (Re: Msg 19751) Date: 10-MAY 16:36 Business Mac After deleting added fonts and Desk accessories, System 4.1 seems to be about 60K larger than a similarly configured 4.0 system. Does anyone know which resources can be safely deleted for use on a Macintosh Plus only. ------------------------------ From: DDUNHAM Subject: RE: System 4.1/Finder 5.5 Compatibility (Re: Msg 19741) Date: 11-MAY 04:55 Business Mac Some of the resources relate to color. Others add new functionality (like hierarchical menus). Programmers are going to start using these new features, assuming that 4.1 is "universal" enough to do so. ------------------------------ From: MACINTOUCH Subject: RE: System 4.1/Finder 5.5 Compatibility (Re: Msg 19764) Date: 11-MAY 09:26 Business Mac I've found no difference in speed with System 4.1. I've tested SCSI, but haven't done benchmarks on anything else. Ric ------------------------------ From: JOSEF Subject: fun bugs Date: 10-MAY 04:05 Bugs & Features Those of you who just delight in finding new bugs in Word 3.0 are going to love this one. Try this: fire up a Word document and then open a couple of DAs that use up about half of the screen area (dCAD calculator and 3-D tictactoe, for instance). Then fire up miniWRITER. Now click in mW's close box and then quickly (before the screen has a chance to get re-drawn) click on the File menu and select Open... When the dialog box comes up just click on Cancel and watch what you get (or rather, what you don't get) You may have to try this 2 or three times. If you don't have mW, I'm sure any DA that has a large modeless dialog box will work just as well. Joe ------------------------------ From: HALL Subject: Sound digitizers... Date: 10-MAY 20:23 Hardware & Peripherals Question: which digitizer is better, the MacNifty or the BMUG MacRecorder II+? Thanks, Brian ------------------------------ From: MACINTOUCH Subject: SE PRAM Date: 10-MAY 20:44 Bugs & Features I don't have this nailed down yet, but it gives me a bad feeling: I went away for the weekend and took the new Mac SE with me. When I booted it up at the destination, the clock was wrong. Uh oh, battery? 7 years? Well, I had it off for about 7 hours today (a record?), and it kept the time alright this round. But I'm a little worried. The only other cause I can think of, and it seems pretty obscure, is that I used it with an ungrounded plug for a few minutes before I got the adapters hooked up. Anyone else? Ric ------------------------------ From: PEABO Subject: RE: SE PRAM (Re: Msg 19767) Date: 10-MAY 20:54 Bugs & Features How wrong was the clock? Was anything else in the Control Panel set in a strange state? peter ------------------------------ From: PEABO Subject: LaserWriter "Faster Bitmap Printing" Date: 10-MAY 21:07 Business Mac Definitely be careful of specifying the "Faster Bitmap Printing" option in your Page Setup dialog if you are also using multiple fonts. Faster Bitmap Printing apparently requires more memory. I had a page which was printing OK until I moved a large bitmap from the top of the page to the bottom. It failed with a 'virtual memory' error duing printing after that until I remembered to try shutting of fast bitmap option. peter ------------------------------ From: PDNNOG Subject: Laser Prep 4.0 patch/Miniwriter Date: 10-MAY 21:09 User Supported Software Again, thanks for the patch. I'm not a terrific programmer, but I can hack pretty well, and I found a few additions needed for your patch for laserprep 4.1. Specifically: Change: J/|______Helvetica /Helvetica true fr 10 fz 0 fs 2 F/ |______Helvetica fnt to P/mark T /Helvetica /|______Helvetica 0 rf 10 fz 0 fs 2 F/ |______Helvetica fnt Note the change in the J to P to account for the increase in string size; also note that the first /Helvetica does NOT have a space after the slash. At this rate, I might eventually know a little about programming..heehee. ------------------------------ From: MACINTOUCH Subject: rubber SE screens Date: 11-MAY 10:12 Bugs & Features Just started using a Mac SE, and have found a worrisome anomaly with the screen. It bows in and out depending on what you're doing on the Mac. A good test case is to run Red Ryder and drag-select an area of the screen -- on this SE, it causes the screen to bow inward in the reversed sections, and moving the selection up and down gives a rubber-screen effect. Since it's not random, it doesn't seem to be a problem with bad hardware, but rather a design "feature." Folks on CompuServe have been talking about the same phenomenon, so (hopefully) it's not just this particular SE. This one, by the way, has the internal 20MB hard disk (as, apparently, do 85% of the units being ordered). Ric Ford ------------------------------ From: PEABO Subject: RE: rubber SE screens (Re: Msg 19800) Date: 11-MAY 11:59 Bugs & Features That means the accelerator potential is sensitive to the amount of current drawn from the electron beam. The more black there is on the screen, the less current is drawn, and therefore the higher the voltage is, and the straighter the beam and the smaller the linear dimensions of the scan. The fix is to improve the regulation of the high-voltage supply in the Mac. The same kind of thing happens on other Macs, to varying degrees (in fact many personal computer CRT displays exhibit this phenomenon). peter ------------------------------ From: MACINTOUCH Subject: SE mouse Date: 11-MAY 10:16 Hardware & Peripherals More impressions of the SE: I love the way the mouse feels (after I hacked the black ball-ring to make it smoother so it doesn't catch the ball), but I can't get used to the shape. It pulls back easily, but seems awkward to push forward. It also seems a little slower than the Mac Plus mouse when used with System 4.0 or 4.1. Ric ------------------------------ From: MACINTOUCH Subject: RE: DataFrame 40 problems (Re: Msg 19713) Date: 11-MAY 10:24 Network Digests >To: jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) >Subject: Re: Damaged XP 40 directory I'm curious about these DataFrame 40 problems... I've been using a 40XP which has a NEC drive inside, I believe (5") for something like 6 months with no problems at all. It makes an odd sound when seeking, but always has (I assumed it was some voice coil mechanism), and it has developed tiny additional noises after being transported (I usually leave it on all the time, reasoning that power/heat cycles are bad), but it has been the most reliable drive I've used since 1984. And it's definitely the fastest out of all the ones I've seen, and out of all the ones tested by DiskTimer II. Reliability is the crucial, overriding factor on which to base disk purchases, so let's hear more about these potential problems. Ric Ford ------------------------------ End of Delphi Mac Digest ************************