braner@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU (braner) (08/05/86)
[] I have recently been forced to do some work on a Mac+ (1 meg RAM), to gain access to a laser printer for text and graphics. I was using the latest Mac model and the latest software (System, Macwrite and Cricket Graph). I was impressed with the improvements made since last time I used a Mac (e.g. an option to print a (visual) catalog of the disk, a quick "shutdown" option, the faster, 800K disk drive...), and I liked the support for Fonts and the laser printer (which COULD be done on an ST, but haven't yet). But my disgust with the system resurfaced when I asked Macwrite to save a 1-page document to a different disk than the one in the (single) drive: I swear I was asked to SWAP DISKS AT LEAST 10 TIMES. (and it's a 1-meg machine, mind you.) I appreciate the uniform interface, but I personally cannot stand a system that is very much disk-oriented, especially when that is done in a very inefficient manner. Before you get too proud of your ST, however, could you tell me why, when copying a small file from one disk to another (with one drive), you have to swap disks TWICE? (I believe once is for handling the directories, i.e. checking the file exists on the source and there is space on the target, and second time for the copy proper. But that is no excuse, since the file contents could be copied into RAM in the first round, at least when it's not too long and the system knows it's a one-drive setup.) Hal Hardenbergh of Digital Acoustics calls it the NEW PARADIGM: From now on personal computers will have more RAM than mass storage, and therefore one drive is, or should be, enough. (I don't know if the claim about RAM holds in the face of hard disks and (future, write-too) optical devices. But I do think that current operating systems, from UNIX to the Macintosh, are based on an old-fashioned approach to hardware. Anybody working on a disk-caching scheme for the ST out there? And on laser-printer drivers? - Moshe Braner (former Apple ][ addict at Cornell U.) Trademark notice: "Macintosh" is the pride and joy of guess who.
rtb@ihlpf.UUCP (Todd) (08/07/86)
> > Before you get too proud of your ST, however, could you tell me why, when > copying a small file from one disk to another (with one drive), you have > to swap disks TWICE? (I believe once is for handling the directories, > i.e. checking the file exists on the source and there is space on the target, > and second time for the copy proper. But that is no excuse, since the file > contents could be copied into RAM in the first round, at least when it's not > too long and the system knows it's a one-drive setup.) There is a way to get around this. Just hit return the first 2 times the system asks you to swap disks. If you use this method it is up to you to make sure that the disks are formatted the same. R.T. Bradstrum
tim@ism780c.UUCP (Tim Smith) (08/11/86)
In article <829@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU> braner@batcomputer.UUCP (braner) writes: > >Trademark notice: "Macintosh" is the pride and joy of guess who. McIntosh Labs? -- "I *DO* believe in Mary Worth" Tim Smith USENET: sdcrdcf!ism780c!tim || ima!ism780!tim Compuserve: 72257,3706 Delphi || GEnie: mnementh