[comp.unix.aux] Toolbox Doesn't Work With Viking I Monitor

dcr0@bunny.UUCP (David Robbins) (11/30/88)

I have an A/UX Macintosh II with a Moniterm Viking I Monitor.  Everything
works just fine and dandy, except for one little detail: the A/UX Toolbox
does not seem to notice that there is a mouse attached to the machine.  If
I launch a Mac application in A/UX, it puts itself up on the screen just
like it should, but the cursor doesn't respond to the mouse.  The application
responds perfectly well to the keyboard, but not to the mouse.  I gather
from Grasshopper's NeWS documentation that there is something called an
"A/UX Mouse Driver" which needs to be present, but may not exist for some
monitors.  I asked a technical phone person at Moniterm about this, but he
seemed to be unaware of the problem (as though noone had yet complained
about it).

The problem is clearly not that A/UX is totally unable to read the mouse,
because I have X11R3 working just super fine and dandy -- responding to the
mouse and all that.  My questions, then, are the following:

1) Is there really something lacking that Moniterm ought to have put into
   their ROMs (or ought to have supplied to be loaded into A/UX)?

2) Is there some reasonably straightforward magic incantation I can speak
   at A/UX to convince the toolbox that there really is a mouse out there?

I'll be happy to share any responses I get with the net (unless I'm the
only person on the net who is having this problem :-).

Dave Robbins                    GTE Laboratories Incorporated
drobbins@gte.com                40 Sylvan Rd.
...!harvard!bunny!drobbins      Waltham, MA 02254
-- 

Dave Robbins                    GTE Laboratories Incorporated
drobbins@gte.com                40 Sylvan Rd.
...!harvard!bunny!drobbins      Waltham, MA 02254

phil@Apple.COM (Phil Ronzone) (12/01/88)

In article <6298@bunny.UUCP> dcr0@bunny.UUCP (David Robbins) writes:
>I have an A/UX Macintosh II with a Moniterm Viking I Monitor.  Everything
>works just fine and dandy, except for one little detail: the A/UX Toolbox
>does not seem to notice that there is a mouse attached to the machine.  If
>
>1) Is there really something lacking that Moniterm ought to have put into
>   their ROMs (or ought to have supplied to be loaded into A/UX)?
>
>2) Is there some reasonably straightforward magic incantation I can speak
>   at A/UX to convince the toolbox that there really is a mouse out there?

Dave - this is a real puzzler. A large variety of video cards and their
monitors, both Apple and third party, work just fine on A/UX, with mouse
tracking and all. This is from early BETAs through A/UX 1.0 and on.

Normally, the code in the monitor ROM on the video card has nothing to do
with mouse handling/tracking. A GUESS repeat GUESS is that the code on the
ROM on your third party card is doing a nono and interfering (via a patch??)
with the code used to track the mouse.

A/UX comes with all the code for mouse handling.

You might ask your vendor if they are up to date on Apple guidelines for
video card ROMs -- especially in making sure that the code in the ROM
is "32-bit safe".

See also "Designing Cards and Drivers for Macintosh II and Macintosh SE",
Addison-Wesley, 1987.
+------------------------+-----------------------+----------------------------+
| Philip K. Ronzone      | A/UX System Architect | APPLELINK: RONZONE1        |
| Apple Computer MS 27AJ +-----------------------+----------------------------+
| 10500 N. DeAnza Blvd.  | There's a million things we'd like to say, but we  |
| Cupertino CA 95014     | aren't supposed to piss anybody off. Oh well ...   |
+------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
|{amdahl,decwrl,sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual,unisoft}!apple!phil                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

dwb@Apple.COM (David W. Berry) (12/06/88)

In article <21438@apple.Apple.COM> phil@Apple.COM (Phil Ronzone) writes:
>In article <6298@bunny.UUCP> dcr0@bunny.UUCP (David Robbins) writes:
>>I have an A/UX Macintosh II with a Moniterm Viking I Monitor.  Everything
>>works just fine and dandy, except for one little detail: the A/UX Toolbox
>>does not seem to notice that there is a mouse attached to the machine.  If
>>
>>1) Is there really something lacking that Moniterm ought to have put into
>>   their ROMs (or ought to have supplied to be loaded into A/UX)?
>>
>>2) Is there some reasonably straightforward magic incantation I can speak
>>   at A/UX to convince the toolbox that there really is a mouse out there?
>
>Dave - this is a real puzzler. A large variety of video cards and their
>monitors, both Apple and third party, work just fine on A/UX, with mouse
>tracking and all. This is from early BETAs through A/UX 1.0 and on.
	Would that it were only so.  Unfortunately, A/UX 1.0 requires the
video card to have a special A/UX driver on it.  The only monitors that I
know of that work are SuperMac and E-machines.  This restriction will be
removed with 1.1 since it the Macintosh Mode video driver is used.


Opinions:  MINE, ALL MINE! (greedy evil chuckle)

David W. Berry
apple!dwb@sun.com	dwb@apple.com	973-5168@408.MaBell

dcr0@bunny.UUCP (David Robbins) (12/06/88)

In article <21713@apple.Apple.COM> dwb@Apple.COM (David W. Berry) writes
(in response to my original posting and Phil Ronzone's followup):
> 	Would that it were only so.  Unfortunately, A/UX 1.0 requires the
> video card to have a special A/UX driver on it.  The only monitors that I
> know of that work are SuperMac and E-machines.  This restriction will be
> removed with 1.1 since it the Macintosh Mode video driver is used.

David Berry's observation is consistent with what I have seen and heard,
but it raises an interesting point:

   When he talks about monitors "that work" the term "work" must mean "work
   with the Toolbox."  As I said in my original posting, my Viking I monitor
   works absolutely perfectly with everything in A/UX *except the Toolbox*.
   What confuses me the most is the fact that the X Window System on A/UX
   trakcs the mouse with complete ease.  If X can use the mouse with my
   monitor, what on earth is so bizarre about the Toolbox that it requires
   a special driver?  It just plain blows my mind!

All in all, I give Apple credit for doing a good job with A/UX (even version
1.0 :-).  I am generally pleased with it, and look forward to 1.1 with its
more complete (I am hoping) Toolbox support.  But it surely does mystify me
how the Toolbox escaped into the market with such an apparently unnecessary
deficiency!

I conclude from the few responses I have received to my query that I have
absolutely no choice but to wait (patiently :-) for A/UX 1.1 to be
released before I can even begin to use Mac applications in A/UX.  The
obvious question is thus:

   When is A/UX 1.1 going to be released?  Seems like the last I heard it
   was due out before the end of 1988, but that leaves precious little
   time!

Oh well, ...


-- 

Dave Robbins                    GTE Laboratories Incorporated
drobbins@gte.com                40 Sylvan Rd.
...!harvard!bunny!drobbins      Waltham, MA 02254