INFO-MAC@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (Moderator Dwayne Virnau...) (05/05/87)
INFO-MAC Digest Tuesday, 5 May 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 84
Today's Topics:
Networked Applications
RE: COPYING DIRECTORY STRUCTURES (drag-copy is not a solution)
Mounting disks
Mac interface/multitasking wish list
using MyBackUp
Auto Black
BigScreen INIT problems
Help in running Big Screen INIT
5.3 GetInfo, MenuEdit (again), Old ROM v. New ROM
FzzPlot Version 7.2
New Sound INITs for System 4
SCSI Bus Control Panel
DupTree
Tiler 1.5 (new & improved)
Randomizer
HD Runner
MS Word 3.0 gets weirder
new bug in MS Word 3.0?
Apple's Greediness re MacApp
Apple to drop software sales
Mac II is shipping!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 87 14:33:16 PDT
From: PUGH%CCC.MFENET@nmfecc.arpa
Subject: Networked Applications
What do you have to do to make your program runnable by more than one person
on Appletalk? My program has no writable resources or data, so anyone should
be able to start the sucker up, but I get the "That application is already
open or missing" message. Is there anything I can do to avoid this? Does
setting the SetResFileAttrs to mapReadOnly do this or something completely
different?
I am using Tops to do the networking, with my disk mounted with One Writer
protection. I assume a similar problem would occur with Appleshare. Is this
so?
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: Thu 30 Apr 87 18:34:23-CDT
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: RE: COPYING DIRECTORY STRUCTURES (drag-copy is not a
Subject: solution)
In response to a posting by me, asking for ideas how best to duplicate a folder
hierarchy, Norbert reports on a *POSSIBLE* solution: initiating a disk-copy by
dragging one icon on-top of another, and cancelling the process by entering a
(CMD-period)
1) if the receiving volume is not large enough to receive all the files, it
will not work - but rather complain that there is not enough
space on the receiving disk (thus you never get a chance to
abort using a CMD-period)
2) it seems to me, that one might want to consider it a bug, if interupting
a process like drag-copying with CMD-period does not do the proper
clean-up but leaves some empty-folders around, confusing the user.
in the past year, I discovered when drag-copying hard-disks (or even
folder(s) containing a large number of files from one SCSI-HD to
another), sometimes this would fail, leaving behind empty folders
somewhere in the hierarchy tree - a real nuisance to find, too.
This was, usually, accompanied by some cryptic messages warning that
something had gone wrong. My working solution was to delete *ALL* that
was copied and repeat the copy with fewer folder/files at a time.
so, maybe, there "still is another bug in the system" ...(-:
[
check out a posting later in this digest announcing UTILITY-DUPTREE.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 87 17:04:16 -0800
From: nakata@portia.Stanford.EDU
Subject: Mounting disks
This message is in response to Werner Uhrig's warning about mounting
damaged disks. He's correct about MacTool's MOUNT command; it writes
a blank directory to the disk. However, I've never known any version
of Fedit (or at least from version 3.05 and beyond) to write anything
to a disk unless you tell it to. This includes clicking the MOUNT
button in response to a warning message when trying to open a disk.
The Mac Zap package is pretty good, but Fedit Plus 1.0.7 (newer
version out soon) is the best utility I've used for the real tough
problems. You'll have to spend some time learning it, though.
Also, everyone take heed of Werner's suggestion: write-lock damaged
disks and then make copies of them (I use sector copies). Work only
on the copy. To do otherwise could be disastrous.
Lance Nakata
Stanford University
ARPAnet Mail: nakata@portia.stanford.edu
BITNET Mail: nakata%portia.stanford.edu@stanford.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 87 15:43:26 CDT
Subject: Mac interface/multitasking wish list
On the subject of desirable improvements for the world's best
microcomputer, my two cents worth are the following:
1. Command line equivalents for Mac interface in a Macro generator.
Creating macros on the Mac is a bit of a pain. Tempo works for
simple tasks, but is easily thrown off by a change in positioning,
particularly of desk accessories or fonts in a menu. These items
should be callable by name. Editing of a complex Tempo macro
is tedious; walking thru all previous lines to get to the error
and attempting to catch it as it executes is a very poor
alternative to editing a command listing. The macro utilities of
Excel or Red Ryder are better: create by example, edit as text.
2. Limited multitasking: If we can't have perfect multitasking of
everything, then it seems to me the most useful background
feature for the general office user (after printing, already
available) would be background searching of text files. Free
format file managers (such as AskSam for the clones) could
be written to work in the background, finding information
in the background while the user writes, calculates,
or whatever in the foreground application. Searching is
the most time-consuming task that I do with regularity. Usually
the user is searching for info to be included in a document
that can be worked on while the info is found.
Just a thought...
Stuart Strand
College of Forest Resources, University of Washington
<A0799@UWACDC.BITNET>
------------------------------
Date: 29-APR-1987 08:40
From: Jeff HALLETT
Subject: using MyBackUp
Hi all!
For anyone who has tried using the MyBackUp that was recently posted,
here is a question.. How do you get it to backup the ENTIRE harddisk to a
set of floppies automatically? I thought I had it, but it just copied the
directories over and then began duplicating the floppies onto each other.
Very Weird!
I won't pay my Shareware until I know it will work for me.
Thanks,
JAH
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 87 7:29:41 EDT
From: "Robert E. Yellen" (IMD-TSD) <ryellen@ARDEC.ARPA>
Subject: Auto Black
Auto Black was written by Tom Pittman who is the sysop of
the KAW River Macintosh Users Group located in Manhattan
Kansas. Tom I believe is a professor at the University of
Kansas. Voice (913) 776-1848
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 30 April 1987 15:45:55 EDT
From: Tom.Lane@zog.cs.cmu.edu
Subject: BigScreen INIT problems
After seeing DiGiorgi's glowing comment on the recently posted BigScreen
INIT, I thought I better post the other side. I gave up on that program
after about 15 minutes, having encountered MAJOR problems with it.
The first problem is that it's essentially unusable with SuperPaint (and
possibly other drawing programs), because *the screen does not get updated
while the mouse is down*, unless you move far enough to force the screen to
be scrolled. This means you can't see what you're drawing until you let up
on the mouse. Yech. Could be this is SuperPaint's problem, but I don't
think so ... it's a well-behaved program in most ways. [SuperPaint did do
very reasonable positioning of its windows and menus in the large screen.]
The second and far more serious complaint is that sometimes Finder disk
windows are improperly displayed: in the case I ran into, only one of four
file & folder icons in a disk window appeared on the screen! Not only
that, but when I hastily shut down and rebooted, telling the BigScreen INIT
not to install itself, the Finder STILL didn't display the other three
icons. I had to boot from a floppy that did not have BigScreen on it in
order to get a system that would correctly display the first disk's
contents. [I haven't been able to duplicate this today, but it definitely
happened yesterday! I run a vanilla Mac Plus, system 3.2/5.3.]
BigScreen's a nifty idea ... too bad the implementation is so unreliable.
tom lane
ARPA: lane@ZOG.CS.CMU.EDU
UUCP: ...!seismo!zog.cs.cmu.edu!lane
BITNET: lane%zog.cs.cmu.edu@cmuccvma
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 87 11:13:05 PDT
From: Harry Saal <hjs@lindy.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject: Help in running Big Screen INIT
I downloaded the HQX file, and made an application. Moved it to the Blessed
System Folder on my Paradise HD20. Re-booted. No effect seen. Any clues?
(Note: I am running a 512KB Mac Classic, w. 64KB ROMs. Boots from floppy,
installs HD-20 drivers from there, then switches over to Paradise, spitting
out floppy. )
------------------------------
Date: Mon 27 Apr 1987 00:47 CDT
From: Nihar Gokhale <MMAR013@ECNCDC.BITNET>
Subject: 5.3 GetInfo, MenuEdit (again), Old ROM v. New ROM
1. GetInf:
Anyone know how to make the Finder use Geneva 9 in "Get Info" boxes
(instead of the usual Chicago 12). How was this feat accomplished in Finder
5.4? If anyone helps me on this, I'll post a small version of the GetInfo
box for Finder 5.3 (which means you don't have to add another 20K to your
system folder).
2. MENUed:
I've asked around for a newer version of MenuEdit. Apparently no one has
even heard of it. So here is ver. 1.0. I'll be surprised if you think the
interface is worse than ResEdit. Again, the problem: you can only edit the
application in the default folder/disk. Hey Apple! How'about incorporating
this interface in the next version of ResEdit?
3. ROM Wars:
There seems to be a popular misconception out there that some programs
don't work with old macs (namely ResEdit1.0 and Popup 1.0). Just because a
program throws a bomb on the old roms doesn't mean it isn't compatible.
LISTEN UP OLD MACCERS: Some people said you were not supposed to use System
3.2 so you didn't. I'll give you a hint.. use it if you want to run the
programs mentioned above (or ones that give you a bomb ID=17 thru 24)
4. ROM question:
I wanted to know how much a ROM/drive upgrade costs. Is the price going
down or will it remain the same? Also, I wanted to learn more about RAM
based HFS. How much does it cost, where can I get it, and does it "emulate"
the new rom.
Sorry for being so long-winded but these questions were lying in wait for a
while. I'll summarize (in my own clumsy way) if I get enough responses.
Thank you for your attention (hey wake up! :`>
_____
/ \ MMAR013@ECNCDC.BITNET
* MMAR013%ECNCDC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
\ IL \ ...!psuvax1!ECNCDC.BITNET!MMAR013
\ / \ /
\ / \ /
\/ \/\/ __
Nihar Gokhale
[
this version of menuedit is archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-MENU-EDITOR.HQX
it replaces the .HCX version.
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 1 May 87 07:54:53 edt
From: rs4u#@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel)
Subject: FzzPlot Version 7.2
Following this message is the second release of FzzPlot (Version 7.2), in
five parts, of 36-41K apiece.
Address questions, answers, flames, problems to
Richard M. Siegel
134 Horseshoe Drive
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185
rs4u@andrew.cmu.edu (arpa)
seismo!andrew.cmu.edu!rs4u (uucp)
I acknowledge that this version has some bogosities, and all I can say is
that they've been fixed and version 8.4 is in beta test as you read this.
FzzPlot is shareware.
Rich
[
archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>FZZPLOT-72-PART1.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>FZZPLOT-72-PART2.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>FZZPLOT-72-PART3.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>FZZPLOT-72-PART4.HQX
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>FZZPLOT-72-PART5.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 May 87 10:23:30 PDT
From: PUGH%CCC.MFENET@nmfecc.arpa
Subject: New Sound INITs for System 4
Here are new versions of SoundINIT and BeepINIT that work better
with System 4. They are much more well behaved than the old ones.
I recommend replacing the existing ones with these. I will be
posting a new copy of Randomizer soon that includes these instead
of the old ones that are there now.
If you are still using the INITs that go into your system with
ResEdit, you are way behind the times.
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>INIT-SOUND-BEEP.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 May 87 10:52 EDT
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN%slb-test.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: SCSI Bus Control Panel
[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman ]
Name: SCSI TOOLS
Date: 2-MAY-1987 09:59 by LOGICHACK
SCSI Tools 5/2/87 (1.0B2)
SCSI Tools is a small Control Panel Item (cdev to us programmers) that has two
functions. One, it provides a status display of your SCSI bus with lights
corresponding to the 8 (0-7) id's. Note the Mac is always assigned number 7 so
it's always on. Thanks to Steve Brecher for hints on implementing this
function. The second function is that it can mount SCSI devices (usually hard
disks) with the mount button (buttons have drop shadows). Handy when a hard
disk has just been turned on or was dragged to the trash.
SCSI Tools is useful if you are constantly mucking around with your SCSI
setup. To use it you need to be using System 4.0 or higher. To install
SCSI Tools, just drag its icon (SCSI Bus) into your System Folder and pull
down the Control Panel desk accessory.
This is the first beta release so there might be problems. If anything odd
happens, I can be contacted through one of the addesses below.
SCSI Tools is free. Please include this text file when you give a copy of SCSI
Tools to someone or upload it to a bbs.
Enjoy,
Paul Mercer
Delphi: LOGICHACK
AppleLink: D0131
MCI: SOL
681 E. Seneca Tpk., #A4
Syracuse, NY 13205
Phone: (315) 492-3348
[
archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>CDEV-SCSI-TOOLS-10B2.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 May 87 10:50 EDT
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN%slb-test.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: DupTree
[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman ]
Name: DUPTREE 1.0
Date: 3-MAY-1987 16:49 by DEWI
I've seen a few requests on the net for this kind of functionality, so here it
is... DupTree duplicates the whole or part of the HFS tree structure on a HFS
volume -- without copying the files. Come in useful, occasionally.
[
archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>UTILITY-DUPTREE-11.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 May 87 17:25:55 EDT
From: Walter.Smith@K.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Tiler 1.5 (new & improved)
Tiler seems to have been well-received, so here's a new version. The main
difference is that you can have more than one column of windows (great for
comparing source files). Thanks to Bruce Horn, Tiler also now doubles as a
"bring-to-front" DA for those times when you can't see a window. There are
also a few performance and user-interface improvements. Keep those cards
and letters coming!
Walt
[
archived as
[SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>DA-WINDOW-TILER-15.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 May 87 16:37:39 PDT
From: PUGH%CCC.MFENET@nmfecc.arpa
Subject: Randomizer
Ok, here is the new copy of the Randomizer Packit file. It contains
Randomizer, the INIT that switches your StartUpScreen, StartUpSound, and
BeepSound. It also contains the Backdrop INIT that keeps your
StartUpScreen as your desktop, the SoundINIT that plays the StartUpSound,
and BeepINIT, which substitutes a digitized sound for your system beep.
All of these are compatible with System 4. All you have to come up with is
a Mac and some sounds. Disk space is also highly recommended as sounds are
large.
I would like to thank all the people who have helped me make Randomizer as
robust as it is. This version has yet another small bug fix that had to do
with exception handling. It will now cope with most any combination of
files and file names. In the past it just went ahead and created a file if
it did not exist. Now it reports the situation.
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
It is easy to write code that works perfectly.
It takes work to write code that works when it isn't perfect.
[
archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>INIT-RANDOMIZER.HQX
this version replaces the previous version in the archives.
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 May 87 10:51 EDT
From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN%slb-test.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: HD Runner
[ Uploaded from Delphi by Jeff Shulman ]
Name: HD RUNNER
Date: 3-MAY-1987 21:55 by DEWI
[ Updated 3-MAY-1987 17:31 by DEWI to release 1.1. Changes since
version 1.0 include the ability to have an unlimited number of
application/document sets. ]
HD Runner is a "find application and launch" and minifinder utility. It
uses the Finder's Desktop file to "know" where applications are, so it
needs no configuration. A scrolling list of applications is presented for
launch. Comes complete with documentation and source (in Lightspeed C).
Only works with HFS volumes, and is dedicated to the memory of the $PATH
feature....
[
archived as [SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU]<INFO-MAC>HD-RUNNER-11.HQX
DoD
]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 87 12:10 EST
From: <EWING@TRINCC.BITNET> (The Byte Busters)
Subject: MS Word 3.0 gets weirder
I was very pleased this morning to read the announcement of MS Word 3.01 as
a maintenance upgrade to the current V3.0, because after last night, I've
had it up to my keister with this program and can no longer trust it. Last
night I loaned my Mac out to a desperate friend in need of typing a short
term paper. About midway through typing it, she went to check the length
and makeup of her document via page-preview. The screen brought up
previews of pages 1-2, but when she hit the scroll ball to seek the next
pages, the menu bar suddenly changed from Chicago-12 to "a very tiny type
text", something I've only seen with our students who are experimenting
(incorrectly) with menu bars in Lightspeed Pascal. The inform amation
under the menus was extremely strange (read: trash), and the whole program
refused to progress any further. Lucky for her, she heeded my advice and
saved often, a lesson to be heeded. I unfortunately was not able to see
the problem directly because it happened at 4 AM (standard college paper
writing time), and the computer was shut off in panic. All I can guess
is that some handle got misplaced, walking all over the menu bar
information and God knows what else.
I think that MicroSoft should learn a valuable lesson from all this.
Although they are the biggest software house around, even they are capable
of buggy software, but buggy software in no way should be let out the
company doors. MS Word 3.0 is a best a mid-beta version of the real thing.
Faced with the pressure of getting the product out on time (already late as
it was), MS apparently just said "ship it" without further testing. I
think that delivering software with this many problems is far worse than
delaying shipment altogether. Hopefully, Aldus is paying attention to
testing, which may be why we haven't seen Pagemaker 2.0 yet. Anyway, its
back to MS Word 1.05 until I see better.
(Flame off)
Richard Ewing
Trinity Coll
EWING@TRINCC.Bitnet
EWING@YALEVM.Bitnet
Disclaimer : Disclaimers are invalid during flames.
------------------------------
Date: 4 May 1987, 10:17:20 PST
From: David M. Gelphman 415-854-3300 x2538 DAVEG at
From: SLACVM
Subject: new bug in MS Word 3.0?
I've seen lots of bug reports regarding Word 3.0 and either I missed
this one or I've found a new bug. It is rather serious I think.
A short document I have written leaves some of the text out in both
the preview window and when printed. When I look, I see the text in the
original document BUT it disappears when previewed and/or printed. I've
kept the document in its original form so it should be reproducible.
Unbelievable eh?
David Gelphman BITNET address: DAVEG@SLACVM
Bin #88 SLAC ARPANET address: DAVEG@SLACVM.BITNET
Stanford, Calif. 94305 UUCP address: ...psuvax1!daveg%slacvm.bitnet
415-854-3300 x2538
usual disclaimer #432 applies: my employer apologizes for the fact
that I have access to this net.
------------------------------
Date: 29 Apr 1987 20:48-EST
From: Duane.Williams@me.ri.cmu.edu
Subject: Apple's Greediness re MacApp
Apple is not satisfied with the more than $300 they charge for MacApp
and the development environment required to use it. If an individual
wants to distribute one or more programs based on MacApp, then Apple
requires a YEARLY distribution fee of $100. It doesn't make any
difference whether the program you're distributing is an expensive
commercial product on which you're making a profit or whether you're
posting it to the net as a free gift to the world. If you DISTRIBUTE
(and that doesn't mean sell) a program that uses MacApp, then you owe
Apple $100 for each year in which you do so.
I am told that a university can pay the distribution fee and thereby
cover programs distributed by everyone associated with it. This may
moderate the outrageousness of Apple's greed for some people. It could
raise legal questions about whether a university would acquire
ownership rights in programs distributed under its license.
------------------------------
Date: 1 May 87 05:11:12 GMT
From: jww@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Joel West)
Subject: Apple to drop software sales
Apple announced this week that they're forming a spin-off company
to sell the current Apple-label software. The products will include
megahit AppleWorks -- with more than 1 million served -- and Macintosh
programs such as MacWrite and MacPaint.
The president/CEO of the company will be William Campbell, who quits
as Apple executive VP of US sales and marketing. The company will be
wholly-owned subsidiary for a year or two, then sold off with
Apple retaining a minority interest.
The move was seen as a bid by Apple chairman/CEO John Sculley
to improve relations with third-party developers without abandoning
strategically important products. Developers are expected to be
ecstatic, as they believe that products such as MacWrite and MacPaint
have been taking sales from them and consistently ranking in the
top 5 on the charts because of the Apple name alone.
The new company doesn't have a name yet, although the company and
its products will not use the Apple name. One wag suggested that it
should be called 'Becius'. Apple employees Guy Kawasaki and Scott
Knaster left Apple earlier this month to form Acius, an Apple-funded
spin-off created to market Silver Surfer, a high-performance database.
Apple had wanted to release the program to reinforce sales in the
business market, but felt heavy pressure from its two big-name
software vendors, Microsoft and Ashton-Tate.
Campbell's spin-off should ultimately benefit Macintosh owners as
well, as it will be free to pursue software products without the
political considerations that have plagued Apple's in-house sales.
The company will publish key third party programs and develop
new products itself.
Although the new company has indicated itself philosophically
committed to Apple-only products (at least initially), it will likely
begin its existence as the fourth-largest software company (sales)
in the personal computer industry, after Microsoft, Lotus and Ashton-Tate.
Joel West
{ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!jww (ihnp4!gould9!joel once I fix news)
jww@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu if you must
------------------------------
Date: 4 May 1987, 10:20:06 PST
From: David M. Gelphman 415-854-3300 x2538 DAVEG at
From: SLACVM
Subject: Mac II is shipping!
I went to an talk by Jean Louis Gassee (sp?) about his book and the computer
revolution in general. It was quite interesting hearing his opinions I think
it was enjoyed by both computer junkies and the general public alike. Since
the date was April 30th and the Mac II was supposed to ship in May I took
the liberty of asking him if the Mac II would make it. He said it started
shipping the last week in April. He said he had personally been to the Freemont
plant and observed them shipping Mac IIs. Congratulations Apple on making the
date and I hope mine is on its way (ha ha).
David Gelphman BITNET address: DAVEG@SLACVM
Bin #88 SLAC ARPANET address: DAVEG@SLACVM.BITNET
Stanford, Calif. 94305 UUCP address: ...psuvax1!daveg%slacvm.bitnet
415-854-3300 x2538
usual disclaimer #432 applies: my employer apologizes for the fact
that I have access to this net.
------------------------------
End of INFO-MAC Digest
**********************