[comp.sys.mac.system] Good Stuff & Bad Stuff about System 7

gross@umiami.ir.miami.edu (Mondo) (05/21/91)

Well, just to add to the fire...here are some of my experiences with 
good ol' System 7...

First off...beautiful job...my SE even seems quite responsive...more so than
some of the 386 machines running Windows I get to play with now and then.  But
I don't want this to degrade into a another Mac vs. X-product so I'll stop
this thought right here. :)

Even some of my odd games and weird apps from years back still work...amazing
job...many kudos to the System 7 development people.

But for every good side...there is a bad.

The new Clean Up is a bit draconian...if a name overlaps another,
Clean Up zings the icon into netherland.  Most annoying.  If I want my
names to overlap, by geroge I should be allowed to let them overlap!

Also, I know you can Clean Up by <whatever your last outline view was> 
by holding down the option key, but it seems a bit wasteful to have
to go to an outline view, then back to icon view, then clean up by the
last outline view.  Should be an easier way to select the cleap up method.

Oh, Apple keeps saying the Font/DA Mover is obsolete now...but just what
trick do ya use otherwise to get fonts and DAs *back* into suitcases...
ohhhhhh. :)

And printing....egads....is slow.  I mean not just slow...but slow.  I
hope the print archintecture will speed things up.  We've set up a lab
of Macs with 7.0 all hooked up to one printer.  Biggest complaint so far
is the printing speed.  Also, PrintMontior (though I tend to think it's
Word) seems to have tendency to crash on a 2.5M SE when it is in a bind
for memory (so I guess).

As for other bugs....I too have experienced the un-updated size indicators
on Finder windows...saw it 7.0b4 too...hoped they would've fixed it.  I've
also seen the blobish watch cursor occasionally...just seems to happen at
random times...(I assume that some resource is being purged prematurely
to make space for something else).  I haven't experienced the trash can
alias problem...but then again I don't have IIcx either. :)

On problem I do seem to have is random losing of one or two icons.  I mean one
time they're there...the next they're not.  Even if I rebuild the desktop they
don't reappear.  But later on...they come back.  I've seen this happen on
a SE and a Mac II (you don't want to know all the extensions we have on
that poor Mac II..suffice it to say that it's probably the most well-connected
Mac II in the South Florida area :) )

Oh just one or two more things...while I have yer attention...

1) Why didn't Apple make all the standard fotns they include TrueType fonts?
2) Now that the control panel DA is gone..how do we reset the P-ram?  I've
   got a Mac II that insists that Chicago is the default app font..and
   PRAM 5.0 can't reset it.  What to do?

And finally, despite what Apple says, 2MB is just horrid to try and System 7
under.  I've seen a Classic and LC with the 2MB configurations and
System 7...how many apps do you think you can run in the available 500
or so K left over?  Precious few.  Apple better think about adding more
RAM to those babies..just like they added another meg to the IIsi.

All in all, System 7 does a lot of neat things...especially in network
situations...so I guess you can say I'm pleased with the final product...but
look forward to 7.1 already. :)

Thanks for your time and trouble.  The world will end in 10 seconds.

-- 
Jason Gross     Comp Sci Ugrad     University of Miami     Class of '91 (?)
===========================================================================
Hey, wanna save the world? | Got sumtin' to say?        gross@umiami.bitnet
Nuke a Godless, Communist, | Pick and choose!     gross@umiami.ir.miami.edu  
gay whale for Christ.      |                      gross@miavax.ir.miami.edu
              - Anonymous  |                     jgross@umbio.med.miami.edu
===========================================================================
               The University of Miami has a lovely fountain. 

if30@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (05/25/91)

> 
> Oh, Apple keeps saying the Font/DA Mover is obsolete now...but just what
> trick do ya use otherwise to get fonts and DAs *back* into suitcases...
> ohhhhhh. :)
> 

[Lots of other stuff deleted.]
> -- 
> Jason Gross     Comp Sci Ugrad     University of Miami     Class of '91 (?)
> ===========================================================================
> Hey, wanna save the world? | Got sumtin' to say?        gross@umiami.bitnet
> Nuke a Godless, Communist, | Pick and choose!     gross@umiami.ir.miami.edu  
> gay whale for Christ.      |                      gross@miavax.ir.miami.edu
>               - Anonymous  |                     jgross@umbio.med.miami.edu
> ===========================================================================
>                The University of Miami has a lovely fountain. 

I'd like to know the answer to this one, too. I tried installing S7 on a MacII
at school yesterday, and (after I moved to one without an ethernet card) all
seemed to go well. But the old system file had about a gillion fonts in it
that I had not removed prior to installation of S7. I quickly learned that the
old fonts had been moved to the new system file yielding a wopping 3.9 meg
file. Well, I says, we better get rid of those fonts. Font/DA mover is
obsolete, and when I double clicked on the system file, S7 tried to open it
but finally gave up and told me the system file was damaged! I had seen
no signs of damage up to that point. 
Well, I decided, I'll reinstall the old system, remove the unwanted fonts the
old fashioned way and reinstall S7. So I did and the result was a svelt 2.6
meg system file(I didn't remove all of the old fonts). I tried again to get
old fonts out and got the same 'file is damaged' message. I tried to put 
some new fonts in and got the 'file is damaged' message. Have I got a corrupt
system file, or am I going about things the wrong way? Are you supposed to
be able to open the system file and drag things out? If my file is not corrupt
why was I unable to add fonts to it? Is Font/DA mover 4.1 of no use in S7?
I would like to try S7 more at school before I install it at home, but this
first effort was a little dissapointing. Nice interface, though.
BW
Bill Wright
Univ.of North Texas

drc@claris.com (Dennis Cohen) (05/25/91)

>   I've
> also seen the blobish watch cursor occasionally...just seems to happen at
> random times...(I assume that some resource is being purged prematurely
> to make space for something else).
...
> On problem I do seem to have is random losing of one or two icons.  I mean one
> time they're there...the next they're not.  Even if I rebuild the desktop they
> don't reappear.  But later on...they come back.  I've seen this happen on
> a SE and a Mac II

You stated elsewhere that you had been running 7.0b4.  You can correct the
random cursor nastiness and disappearing icons by running the new Disk First
Aid against your hard disk.  There was a problem in some of the earlier
betas that could produce the effects you've seen as a side-effect.

-- 
| Dennis Cohen     drc@claris.com   COHEN2   AFC DCohen    71076,1377
|                  Internet       AppleLink  AmerOnline    CompuServe
| Disclaimer:  Any unattributed opinions expressed above are _MINE_!

chow@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Christopher Chow) (05/26/91)

In article <12151@claris.com> drc@claris.com (Dennis Cohen) writes:
.
..   I've
.. also seen the blobish watch cursor occasionally...just seems to happen at
.. random times...(I assume that some resource is being purged prematurely
.. to make space for something else).
....
.. On problem I do seem to have is random losing of one or two icons.  I mean one
.. time they're there...the next they're not.  Even if I rebuild the desktop they
.. don't reappear.  But later on...they come back.  I've seen this happen on
.. a SE and a Mac II
.
.You stated elsewhere that you had been running 7.0b4.  You can correct the
.random cursor nastiness and disappearing icons by running the new Disk First
.Aid against your hard disk.  There was a problem in some of the earlier
.betas that could produce the effects you've seen as a side-effect.
.
Well, I've never ran any version of System 7.0 under than the official 
release and I still get the occasional trashed watch cursor. Furthermore, 
some of my application icons (e.g.: Smart Alarms) which worked find on a system
6.0.7 come up as generic icons under System 7.0. And, yes, I did run Disk
First Aid and still get the same results.

Christopher Chow
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-- 
Christopher Chow
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kiran@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (Kiran Wagle) (05/26/91)

gross@umiami.ir.miami.edu (Mondo) writes:

>job...many kudos to the System 7 development people.

Likewise.

>to go to an outline view, then back to icon view, then clean up by the
>last outline view.  Should be an easier way to select the cleap up method.

It should be.....Hierarchical!! Seems the most obvious way to me...

>I haven't experienced the trash can
>alias problem...but then again I don't have IIcx either. :)

Works real well :) on an si... i even got a buzzing video box for a
cursor when i tried to 'force quit'...

>The University of Miami has a lovely fountain. 

Not as lovely as the one in Lexington, KY...
--
	...kiran
		__________kiran@copper.ucs.indiana.edu________(812) 331-1710

From the corrections column in a July Fresno, CA _Bee_:
"An item in Thursday's [issue] about the Massachusetts budget crisis
made reference to new taxes that will help put Massachusetts 'back in
the African-American.' The item should have said 'back in the black.'"

chai@hawk.cs.ukans.edu (Ian Chai) (05/27/91)

In article <1991May25.104151.47057@vaxb.acs.unt.edu> if30@vaxb.acs.unt.edu writes:
>system file, or am I going about things the wrong way? Are you supposed to
>be able to open the system file and drag things out? If my file is not corrupt

Yeah, you're *supposed*to* be able to. I could. It could be, they didn't think
of the havoc it'd cause if you had too many fonts...

>why was I unable to add fonts to it? Is Font/DA mover 4.1 of no use in S7?
>I would like to try S7 more at school before I install it at home, but this
>first effort was a little dissapointing. Nice interface, though.

Yeah, I especially like the new action of the zoom box -- how many times have
I had to, in previous finders, resize the window to show everything exactly!

>> Hey, wanna save the world? | Got sumtin' to say?        gross@umiami.bitnet
>> Nuke a Godless, Communist, | Pick and choose!     gross@umiami.ir.miami.edu  
>> gay whale for Christ.      |                      gross@miavax.ir.miami.edu
>>               - Anonymous  |                     jgross@umbio.med.miami.edu

Hey, so what's a pacifist, conservationist Christian like me to do?

	You have heard it said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth
	for a tooth." But I tell you: do not take revenge on
	someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the
	right cheek, let him slap you left cheek, too.
				- Jesus Christ, at the Sermon on the Mount
-- 
Ian Chai      Internet: chai@cs.ukans.edu        Bitnet: 665instr@ukanvax
I don't believe in flaming. If I appear to be flaming, either (a) it's an
illusion due to the lack of nonverbal cues or (b) my sprinkler system has
suffered a momentary glitch, so just ignore me until it's fixed.