[comp.sys.mac.hypercard] Visual Effects on the MAC II : Summary

luke@cs.city.ac.uk (Luke Whitaker) (08/10/89)

I got three replies.  

Craig Hollabaugh <holla@eedsp.gatech.edu> stated that all visual effects work 
on a mac II if the monitor is set to 2 bit b/w. but that unfornutely 
hypercard can't set this. 

Brian Patrick Arnold <ba0k+@andrew.cmu.edu> said:

>Graphics mode is another thing that the user should *ONLY* be allowed to set.
>It is set using the Monitors CDEV in the Control Panel, and you shouldn't
>hack anything to get around this.  Visual Effects, especially HyperCard's,
>should not be something to be concerned about on a Mac II.  Unless you've
>got stupid users using Mac II's, most will "know" that if they care to see
>HyperCard's visual effects, they will set their Monitors CDEV appropriately.
>
>Let's not get dragged back into the IBM mentality of writing software.  The
>user should be given control over his/her environment, and software should
>help this effort, not hinder it in order have more bells and whistles.
>- Brian

I have some sympathy with this general view but I don't think it applies in 
this case. I have come across a MAC II owner who was not
sure why the visual effects were not working, and I think most naive users
probably expect MAC software to come out of the box and work, not require 
setting up first. Actually, I think it is a bug in hypercard :-(.

Oliver A. Masciarotte <oam@optima.uucp> said...

>	Concerning HyperCard visual efx on a Mac II, a clean way is to 
>license the SaveColorState and SetColorState XCMDs from Donna Tyacke @ 
>Apple, 20525 Mariani Ave., M/S 38 I, Cupertino, CA 95014. Any of the 
>Apple XCMDs cost $50 a year, this being a blanket fee (no matter how 
>many).

Sounds interesting. I wonder if Apple UK have ever heard of this :-).

Thanks for the replies. My apologies for any ommisions, misrepresentations,
etc,

Luke Whitaker, Computer Science, City University, London, EC1V OHB, England.
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