hashem@aludra.usc.edu (BaSiL hAsHeM) (04/11/91)
Dear n-ether-lan-ders,
1. What exactly does File menu command "Compact Stack" do? What is compacted?
2. I'm designing a stack with lots of sounds in it. I've used a 4:1
compression to try and save space, does anyone have other suggestions to help
reduce the size of the stack without sacrificing any more sound quality?
3. What are some techniques that some of you have used to distribute a multi-
disk stack? Supposing that the end-users don't have (or don't deal with)
StuffIt/Compactor/etc... Is HDBackup is only appropriate choice? Just
collecting before I going off to code it up myself.
Pre-thanks,
--
Basil Hashem "So watcha gonna do when ya grow up, son?"
Jet Propulsion Laboratory University of Southern California
hashem@aludra.usc.edu basil@thyme.jpl.nasa.govvanover@bcsaic.UUCP (Jann VanOver) (04/16/91)
In article <16495@chaph.usc.edu> hashem@usc.edu (Basil Hashem) writes: >Dear n-ether-lan-ders, > >1. What exactly does File menu command "Compact Stack" do? What is compacted? Deleted objects leave "holes" in the file. Especially fields that have been deleted. I have noticed that deleting resources does not change the "freesize", therefore doesn't have to be compacted. btw, make sure you have as much disk space available as the size of the stack before you compact. > >2. I'm designing a stack with lots of sounds in it. I've used a 4:1 >compression to try and save space, does anyone have other suggestions to help >reduce the size of the stack without sacrificing any more sound quality? Don't know > >3. What are some techniques that some of you have used to distribute a multi- >disk stack? Supposing that the end-users don't have (or don't deal with) >StuffIt/Compactor/etc... Is HDBackup is only appropriate choice? Just >collecting before I going off to code it up myself. Both Stuffit and Compactor have a capability to build self-extracting archives, ie. the end users don't need nothin' but a mac. These are the ONLY appropriate choices. I've never seen anything useful in any other form. The accepted form for documentation is some type of PLAIN TEXT file - preferably named README, ideally a TeachText file. So -- what's in these stacks? Give us a preview-description-sales pitch! > >Pre-thanks, Pre-welcome -- have fun! Jann E VanOver vanover@atc.boeing.com
tvex@milton.u.washington.edu (t@vex) (04/17/91)
In article <45267@bcsaic.UUCP> vanover@bcsaic.UUCP (Jann VanOver) writes: >In article <16495@chaph.usc.edu> hashem@usc.edu (Basil Hashem) writes: >> >>3. What are some techniques that some of you have used to distribute a multi- >>disk stack? Supposing that the end-users don't have (or don't deal with) >>StuffIt/Compactor/etc... Is HDBackup is only appropriate choice? Just >>collecting before I going off to code it up myself. > >Both Stuffit and Compactor have a capability to build self-extracting >form. >(text munged but this is in reference to a question about documentation) preferably named README, ideally a TeachText file. In fact, the StuffIt Deluxe package from Aladdin (folks Ray Lau is now working with) includes a couple of XCMNDs that allow the user to unstuff files from within HyperCard. Here's an idea: why not make a clean sweep and stuff the large files but provide your on-disk documentation in a HyperCard stack which also serves as an "installer" (of sorts) for your distribution? That way, you and the user would only need HyperCard and enough room on their hard drive. Thisalternative might give you even more control over your interface--just a and all the user would need would be HyperCard and her hard dri thought. In reference to the sound question: I have also used Farallon's MacRecorder, and have found their FPlay XCMNDs helpful, but one of the critical things here is the amount of available memory and (in my case, anyway) how much RAM the user has allocated to HyperCard from the finder when operating under multifinder. The sounds, when queued in an FPlay sequence, do not necessarily run seemlessly. (what a mouthful) I found that I had to make extensive use, on a product that was designed to run on 4 megs or better with an average sample size of 800k, of the handler "wait until Fsound() is done". Just another thought, and good luck. t@vex _______________________________________________________________________________ from low on the banks of elliot bay we sit and await the coming of evening. _______________________________________________________________________________
tom@wcc.oz.au (Tom Evans) (04/18/91)
In article <16495@chaph.usc.edu>, hashem@aludra.usc.edu (BaSiL hAsHeM) writes: > Dear n-ether-lan-ders, > > 1. What exactly does File menu command "Compact Stack" do? What is compacted? Garbage collection. Throws out all the waste space that collects in HC stacks. I only wish that MicroSoft Word had the same function :-). > 3. What are some techniques that some of you have used to distribute a multi- > disk stack? ... Is HDBackup is only appropriate choice? A most inappropriate choice. HDBackup has been discontinued by Apple as of System 6.0.5, so... ======================== Tom Evans tom@wcc.oz.au ** ADD ".au" MANUALLY (don't trust "reply") ** Webster Computer Corp P/L, 1270 Ferntree Gully Rd Scoresby, Melbourne 3179 Victoria, Australia 61-3-764-1100 FAX ...764-1179 A.C.N. 004 818 455
Jim.Spencer@p510.f22.n282.z1.mn.org (Jim Spencer) (04/19/91)
Basil hashem writes in a message to All BH> 1. What exactly does File menu command "Compact Stack" do? What BH> is compacted? When you add and delete cards and do other manipulations of your stacks, they will grow even though some of the space in the stack is free. You can see how much free space is in a stack by getting the Stack Info. Compact Stack removes the free space.
ralph@world.std.com (Ralph Lombreglia) (04/23/91)
>Garbage collection. Throws out all the waste space that collects in HC >stacks. I only wish that MicroSoft Word had the same function :-). It does. If you disable "Fast Save" in MS Word 4.0, it rewrites files to disk without the "free space" incurred by Fast Save. It's quite similar to compacting a stack, actually. You can use MS Word's "Command" dialog to install "Fast Save" on one of your menus, and then simply uncheck it so that your docs will never save in the "inflated" form. Ralph Lombreglia ---------------- ralph@world.std.com MCI Mail & BIX: rlombreglia
paixao@ug.cs.dal.ca (Nuno M. Paixao) (04/23/91)
>>Garbage collection. Throws out all the waste space that collects in HC >>stacks. I only wish that MicroSoft Word had the same function :-). > >It does. If you disable "Fast Save" in MS Word 4.0, it rewrites files >to disk without the "free space" incurred by Fast Save. It's quite >similar to compacting a stack, actually. You can use MS Word's >"Command" dialog to install "Fast Save" on one of your menus, and then >simply uncheck it so that your docs will never save in the "inflated" >form. > Yes, but it also slows down the process greatly if you are on a low end mac. I work with 40 pages documents and I prefer to save them as FAST SAVE until they are completed. When I choose to save them the long way, it can easily take 20-30 seconds. This is OK when you are finishing up, but when you are saving every 10-15 minutes, it is a pain. By the way, the fast save only takes 3-4 seconds on the same document. Nuno -- *----------------------*---------------------------*------------------------* | Nuno M. Paixao | paixao@ug.cs.dal.ca | dexter@ac.dal.ca | *----------------------*---------------------------*------------------------* | McIntosh Jr ... The Power to Crush the other Kids!!! (SNL) |
drz@po.CWRU.Edu (David R. Zinkin) (04/23/91)
I'd happily use Word 4.0's Fast Save if the increased file size were the only problem with it. Unfortunately, Fast Save-format files are not all that easy to recover after a disk crash, while "normally" saved files can usually be recovered fairly easily after a software crash. (I learned this the hard way...) -- Dave -- David Zinkin (drz@po.cwru.edu) * I hear, and I forget. Rochester General Hospital/Radiology * I see, and I remember. CWRU Psychology and Chemistry (WR '92) * I do, and I understand. CWRU Macintosh User Group * -- Ancient Proverb
ralph@world.std.com (Ralph Lombreglia) (04/23/91)
>Unfortunately, Fast Save-format files [in MS Word] are >not all that easy to recover after a disk crash... Right you are. Not only that, I (and others) have had problems with MS Word's "Fast Save" actually corrupting the structure of very large documents. I permanently turned off "Fast Save" a long time ago. It's true, as someone complains, that the save times are longer, but compacting a HyperCard stack takes time too. You can't have everything. At least not right now. Ralph Lombreglia ---------------- ralph@world.std.com MCI Mail & BIX: rlombreglia