Info-Mac 3/Info_Mac_1994-01.iso/Periodical/Info-Mac/InfoMac 11-041

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Info-Mac Digest             Sun, 21 Feb 93       Volume 11 : Issue 41

Today's Topics:

      [*] Bolo 0.98
      32-bit versus 16-bit data buses (C)
      Apple Thought Police?
      balloon help
      can't find applications under system 7.1
      CD-ROMs (How-to books) (Q)
      color quickdraw question
      Computer-aided pattern drafting?
      Cyclone
      European Apple Sales
      Fax with Supra 14.4 modem (q)
      Fried printer port -- I'm sure of it!  Now what?
      Fwd: Info-Mac Digest V11 #39
      Internal-->External HD (Q)
      KERMIT and the Comm Toolbox
      La Cie drives for Powerbook
      Looking for a (classic) Latin check speller
      looking for software
      Mac Aquarium kit? Where Can I get?/Thanks
      MacCompress & ftping .Z files (A)
      Mac file servers
      MacWrite Pro (at last!)
      Midi Software (A)
      Problems Producing RFCs (R)
      Removing Balloon Help
      SAKAwards'93 rev3
      Screwed-up fonts in MacInTax
      Serial Loopback Plugs
      Shareware font recommendations wanted
      SIMM Prices
      SpaceSaver & Virus Blockade
      Tektronix Patent - Request for Info
      updating StuffIt Deluxe
      vt100 keypad on the powerbook ?
      What is it 'BIN ' 'A/UX'
      Whirling noise from LC
      WHY SHOULD I WAIT SO LONG TO GET THE CENTRIS ^!)
      Word 5.1 compatible with 5.0? (Q)

The Info-Mac newsgroup is moderated by Bill Lipa.

The Info-Mac archives are available (by using FTP, account anonymous,
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[36.44.0.6].  Help files and indices are in /info-mac/help.

Please send articles and binaries to [e-mail].
Send administrative mail to [e-mail].
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 06:35:37 -0800
From: Stuart Cheshire <[e-mail]>
Subject: [*] Bolo 0.98

Here is the rock-solid bug free Bolo 0.98.

For those who don't know, Bolo is a 16 player graphical networked
real-time multi-player tank battle game. It has elements of
arcade-style shoot-em-up action, but for the serious players who play
12 hour games with 16 players working in teams in different networked
computer clusters around an office or university campus, it becomes
more of a strategy game. You have to play it to understand.

Stuart Cheshire <[e-mail]>
 * Liliore Green Rains Houses Resident Computer Coordinator
 * Stanford Distributed Systems Group Research Assistant

[Archived as /info-mac/game/bolo-098.hqx; 642K]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 12:44 BST
From: RICHARD LIM <[e-mail]>
Subject: 32-bit versus 16-bit data buses (C)

Whenever Apple has used a 16-bit data bus in one of their lower-end Macs,
I see zillions of people posting on the net saying, "Oh, what a retrograde
step - this will slow down the Mac considerably, and if you've got more money
and any sense you'll avoid this model and buy one with a 'full' 32-bit bus."

Now, in my experience, the 16-bit data bus does not appreciably slow a Mac
down.  My evidence is the fact that my LC with FPU at home benchmarks
barely slower than a Mac II (maybe 5% down), and in real-world applications
I find there is no concrete difference.  I asked a local hardware guru (who
is no fan of the Mac, BTW) and he agreed that the reducing the width of the
data bus should only give a slight performance hit in practice.  Someone on
the net offered me the counter-example of the SE/30 and the Classic II, the
latter supposedly being much slower.  I've not used either to any
significant degree, so I can't tell.

Anyway, I'd like to try a few real-world tests involving my LC and a Mac II,
and was wondering if Digest readers can offer any examples of apps where the
width of the data bus might make a significant difference in performance.

My basic point however is that if I'm right, a lot of the criticism of the
LC, Classic II and Color Classic over their data buses is just the idle
fussing of hardware snobs.  For me, these remain sound entry-level machines
which can still do surprisingly sophisticated work at reasonable speed.  (But
whether Apple's hardware could be a lot snazzier for the same price is quite
another thread, one which I might start some other time...)

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 08:17 EST
From: Dan Rolander <[e-mail]>
Subject: Apple Thought Police?

What is the reality concerning the "Apple Thought Police"? I've been
reading for years on the net and in various publications how Apple
has "a little known squad of mercenaries whose mission it is to eradicate
applications that don't meet the interface guidelines". Is this for
real? Has anybody in Netland had any personal experience with them?
I'd love to hear some stories.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 10:10:06 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Marc Bizer)
Subject: balloon help

Dear System 7.1 users,
       I thought you might be able to explain to me why turning balloon
help on, and particularly turning it off via the menu involves delays of
5-10 seconds. It didn't do this before-- if seems to have surfaced after I
reinstalled my system software a while ago. Any ideas?
    Please answer me directly and post to the group.
    Yours truly,
    Marc Bizer

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 22:57:38 EST
From: [e-mail] (Leonardo C. Topa)
Subject: can't find applications under system 7.1

I recently upgraded a couple of Macintoshes to system 7.1 and since
then I'm experiencing difficulties launching applications by
double-clicking on the icon of one of files created by a given
application. What happens is that a message appears informing me that
the application that created the document cannot be found.

For instance, I have a whole bunch of files created with Micorsoft
Works 2.0e which I can open only if I start the application first. On
the other hand, if I start the application, create a new file, save it
quit out of Works and then double-click on the newly created file,
everything is fine. My problem seems to happen only with files created
before the upgrade. I checked with ResEdit if the creator and file
type information are correct and they are fine. I also tried to
rebuild the desktop several times, but it didn't help.

Would anybody know what's going on??? Any help is appreciated!

-Leonardo Topa

------------------------------

Date: 20 Feb 1993 11:23:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
Subject: CD-ROMs (How-to books) (Q)

Can anyone point me to a book or books that describe the process of
making CD-ROMs from beginning to end?

Gary Lee Nelson, Professor
Electronic and Computer Music
TIMARA Program
Conservatory of Music
Oberlin, OH 44074
[phone]
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 17:18:44 gmt
From: Mark Elliott <[e-mail]>
Subject: color quickdraw question

while reading a review of fetch 1.0 in MacUser i noted that the minimum
system requirements are :

68000 mac with 4 meg ram, quicktime 1.0 and color quickdraw 1.2

i didn't realise that a 68000 based mac (i have a classic 4/40) could
run color QD, never mind quicktime

is quickdraw available as a system extension (like quicktime) or is it
a case of if it isnt in rom the you are stuffed ?

or is it more likely that i am missing the point and asking a stupid
question

(i don't want to use fetch 1.0 - i would just like to be able to user
oops, use software which needs color qd - especially quicktime)

thanks

Mark Elliott

------------------------------

Date: 20 Feb 1993 17:32:11 -0500 (EST)
From: "David C. Garrett" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Computer-aided pattern drafting?

Hello, all.

Here at Salem State College, the Theatre Department operates its own costume
shop, run by two faculty members and staffed by the students.  The shop builds
all the costumes for all the plays produced at the college.  We are interested
in computer-aided pattern drafting, for designing and printing our own
clothing
patterns, but we don't know where to start.
So, can anyone tell me:

What software packages, if any, are available for this on the Mac?

Which ones are best?  Advantages, disadvantages?

System requirements (minimum RAM, hard disk space, etc.)?

What kind of output device should we get?  We'd need to make 36" wide
    printouts from a roll of paper.  Does that mean a plotter?  An
    imagesetter?  Something else that we haven't heard of?

I'm not currendly subscribed to the list, so please send replies directly to
me
via e-mail (my address is [e-mail]) and I'll summarize the
responses (if any) for the list if anyone expresses interest.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

-Dave Garrett   [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 10:38:52 +0300
From: [e-mail] (Anders Alvers)
Subject: Cyclone

Hi
Is there anyone out there who has heard anything about the Cyclone, read
somewhere that it should be out this spring. Any confirmation on that? Why
releasing the cyclone when the PowerPC soon will be out on the market.

Cheers Nille

_________________________________________
Anders Alvers  /Anders.Alvers@[e-mail]/

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 23:01:02 MET
From: [e-mail] (Jean-Philippe NICAISE)
Subject: European Apple Sales

David Steiner <[e-mail]> writes :

>> I visited an Apple dealer in Bremen on the 11th and was told that
>> Apple Germany probably will wait until after CeBit in Hannover (the
>> end of March) before announcing the pricing here. In addition, they
>> were not interested in making any deals on the IIsi or ci since
>> (in Germany) they are not officially discontinued.

In France the new official prices and machines are available. In fact
the new machines could be seen as soon as Feb 12th (same date as Tokyo's
MacWorld) on Apple booth at the PC Forum, Paris.

I've helped a friend 2 days ago moving his brand new Quadra 800 (well,
in fact I much helped moving the 16 inches monitor ...). The PWB 165c
could also be *seen* (nice colors), but not available. So is the Centris
610. All other Macs are available.

The new official list prices don't show the Classic, LC (was there
until Feb 12th), IIsi, IIci and IIvi (was there only 4 months ...).

Another good news: the Macintosh Performa line (200, 400 and 600)
is now available in France (La Fnac, Auchand, Darty, Boulanger, etc).

Sorry for our english and german neighbours if they still have to
wait ...

et voila`,
== nicky.

   Jean-Philippe Nicaise -- FDN (French Data Network) -- Paris, France
   E-Mail: [e-mail] -- Fax: [phone]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 13:39 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Fax with Supra 14.4 modem (q)

I just got a Supra faxmodem for a IIsi and can't get it to receive
a fax from another computer.  In fact, it won't receive a fax
>From anything.  It won't send faxes either--keeps sending disconnect
messages half way through.  I have 30 days to return it and I am
wondering if this is some some compatibility problem.  If it is
a compatibility problem, I'd like to return it.  Any ideas?  The
communications part of the modem works just fine.  Does anyone
unserstand all this fax incompatibility?

Thanks,
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 09:46:10 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: Fried printer port -- I'm sure of it!  Now what?

Two nights ago, while reading news, my Macintosh, running ZTerm 0.9,
suddenly and inexplicably froze.

Upon restarting, I ran ZT again, and the minute it attempted to
initialize the modem it froze again.  I tried a second time, with
identical results.

So I unplugged my modem from the printer port and my StyleWriter from
the modem port.  (They have been plugged in bass-ackwards for more than
a year, for complicated reasons.  Anyway, I heard the two were identical
ports, and they certiainly look that way.)  I restarted, changed ports
on Chooser, and ran ZTerm.  All went well, my modem communicating through
the modem port.  But when I went to print something off my ZTerm screen,
the system froze as soon as PrintMonitor attempted to handshake the
StyleWriter -- in other words, at exactly the same point when a
different peripheral, using a different cable, was accessed through
the printer port.

In other words, friends, my printer port is fried.

I MUST BE ABLE TO PRINT AND COMMUNICATE SIMULTANEOUSLY.  WHAT ARE
MY OPTIONS *BESIDES* SELLING MY MACINTOSH?  It is a Classic.

Reply any way you feel like, but if have some wisdom, don't be shy
about sharing it.  Thanks, everybody.

Aaron [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1993 14:37:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Craig O'Donnell <[e-mail]>
Subject: Fwd: Info-Mac Digest V11 #39

Adam, I don't believe ANYTHING Apple says about sound out until I test
myself.

The LC series mixes any stereo 8 bit sounds to mono oin playback , putting
the same L+R signal onto each pin of the headphone jack.

It should also put L+R into the internal speaker if it follows the LC model.

This, in recording engineer parlance, is probably called "two track mono
output" (two source tracks, mono results, the fact that there are 2
speakers or two indicidual headphones is irrelevant).

Ahh well, it sucks <grin>.

BTW an Apple engineer pointed out some bugs with the Sound Manager
(surprise surprise) resulting in muffled output from the LC series.
Apparently there is an output filter tweaked by a value stored at some
global, and on some macs the wrong value gets stuck into that global.

needless to say most of this stuff is UNDOCUMENTED.

  --- COD

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 16:13:25 EST
From: Steve Solnick <[e-mail]>
Subject: Internal-->External HD (Q)

   I have a IIsi, 40Meg Hard Drive.  If I purchase a larger internal
hard drive and replace the 40M, what can I then do with the old drive?
Paperweight is not the preferred answer.  Is there some non-complex
way to turn it into an external SCSI drive?? (Because if there is, I
can patch it through the parallel port of an old PeeCee laptop which
is otherwise mostly useless to me).
   Any advice or leads are appreciated.  Thanks.
Steve Solnick
Harvard University

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 13:58:31 -0600
From: Neil Eric Mickelson <[e-mail]>
Subject: KERMIT and the Comm Toolbox

Well, I've received some helpful replies about my recent post to InfoMac about
CTB-compatible implementations of Kermit.  Turns out I had most of the pieces
already; I just didn't know how to put them together.

First of all, get the Communications Toolbox Basic Connectivity Kit from Apple
at ftp.apple.com (/dts/mac/sys.soft/netcomm/basic-conn-set-1-1-1-image.hqx).
It's in DiskCopy 4.2 format, so you may need to get that, too.  Next, get the
following two parts from sumex:
    /info-mac/comm/kermit-tool-gh-12.hqx
              /termy-20.hqx

Termy includes most of the documentation you need, and it's easy to get
started
and running quickly.  Just put the CTB Extensions in your System Folder,
including the Kermit Tool, and you're pretty much ready to go.

I've only used this setup for a bit, but it works fine so far.

By the way, the author of the Kermit Tool has been in touch to tell me that
he's also got a YMODEM Tool on sumex.  If you need that, check it out.  I'll
be
looking for such things soon.

I'd like to thank everyone who helped me out...your replies saved me a lot of
time!!

Neil E. Mickelson
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 11:48 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: La Cie drives for Powerbook

I am thinking of upgrading my current 40Mb internal drive to
either a 120Mb or 160Mb.  Does anyone have experience with La
Cie drives (Quantum Go-drive mechanism) or with the company in
general?  I have a Powerbook 170 8/40 and could really use some
advice on drive purchasing.  I have heard that folks say good things
about the Microtech drives, but they are $300 more and only have a
1-year warranty.  Are they better?  They use the same Go-drive mechanism.

Also, any thoughts on repackaging my 40Mb?  Does anyone do this sort
of thing?  Can I do it myself (average intelligence & coordination)?

Thanks for the help,
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 23:09:30 MET
From: [e-mail] (Jean-Philippe NICAISE)
Subject: Looking for a (classic) Latin check speller

The title says it all. This is for a bunch of students who are scanning
and OXCR-ing some Latin texts and who'd like to check the result more
quickly that just reading all the stuff ...

Any kind of solution (free, share or commercial) will be gladly accepted.

Merci pour eux,
== nicky

   Jean-Philippe Nicaise -- FDN (French Data Network) -- Paris, France
   E-Mail: [e-mail] -- Fax: [phone]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 18:01:57 -0800
From: [e-mail]
Subject: looking for software

I am looking for software for electricity transmission /and power
plant control target networks.  Can anybody tell me where it is
the right place to go or any kind of relevant information?

Thanks in advance.

--yugang cui

[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 01:29 CST
From: [e-mail] (Greg Trimper)
Subject: Mac Aquarium kit? Where Can I get?/Thanks

>A kit of parts ain't available, but if you go to sumex-aim or do an archie
>>search for macquarium you'll find the forty-page instruction book I wrote in
>Word format.  You can also buy a printed & bound copy from the Boston
>Computer Society's Mac group.
A

Thanks to all the people who replied, including andy i.  I did do an archie
search, but was was looking for 'aquar' not 'acquar'.  I probably should
have thought to just look for 'quar' but did not.  I have the doc now -
it is certainly long and detailed.  I think I'll wait another month or
so, when I have more free time (yeah, right) to embark.  Let you all know
how it goes.


Greg Trimper   [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 04:27:13 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Darrah Chavey)
Subject: MacCompress & ftping .Z files (A)

Recently, two posts asked about problems with using MacCompress for
uncompressing .Z files, especially those FAQ lists at rtfm.mit.edu.
E.g.:

From: <[e-mail]>
>.. MacCompress doesn't recognize these files. Also, the names of the
>files are usually screwed up after I ftp them. ..

Although it seems wierd from a Macintosh standpoint, MacCompress requires
the name of the file you are uncompressing to end in .Z  When you ftp
these FAQ lists, the names (which are often quite long) get truncated
to 31 characters. MacCompress now refuses to uncompress them. Change the
last few characters of the filename to .Z and MacCompress handles it fine.
Note that the name of the uncompressed file is determined by the
name of the compressed file, so you should base your new name on an
appropriate abbreviation of the longer Unix name for the file. If ftp'ing
via Fetch, you might as well do this when you ftp the file.

Another poster asked about a similar problem and asked about the current
version number. That problem was probably the same. The current version is
3.2 (which that posted was using).

--Darrah Chavey                  Department of Math & Computer Science
  [e-mail]              Beloit College, Beloit, Wisc.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1993 20:16:57 -0800
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Mac file servers

 I'd like some advise on a Mac file server. Our lab of 120 PCs and 40 Mac
 IIsi's
is currently running off of a Vax 4310 using Pathworks from DEC. Network
traffic has been pretty high (the VAX does other things as well) and we are
thinking about setting up a Mac file and printer server with Appleshare to
take
care of the Macs. The 40 Macs are in fairly constant use during most of the
day. Most of it is people doing word processing (MS Word or Wordperfect Mac)
but some is page layout and graphics using PageMaker and Desk Paint/Draw.
 Will a Quadra 800 8/500 be adequate for our needs? Or will we need more then
one? The Macs will still have access to the VAX for E-mail, Telnet, FTP
services and as X-servers for our Ultrix box. The main idea is to take the
file
and print server burden off of the Vax.
 Thanks in advance for your replies.
Paul Lieberman
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 12:46 BST
From: RICHARD LIM <[e-mail]>
Subject: MacWrite Pro (at last!)

So it's to be mid-March, I hear.  If anyone has any advance information
about MWP's features, or has seen late betas, do give us the lowdown: has
it been worth the wait?  How does it compare with Word 5/WordPerfect 2.1?

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 20:21:36 -0600
From: "Paul M. Sheldon" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Midi Software (A)

>I have been wondering for awhile now to buy a MIDI software.  I would like to
>actually type in a song from a music sheet, so that I could play my drum
along
>with it.
    What I use to enter a song from a music sheet is Deluxe Music Construction
Set. If you have 800 # phone access (I think you do), their phone number is:
       800-245-4525
    Their snail mail address as of 27Jan93 was:
       P.O.Box 7530
       San Mateo California 94403

    They have a palette from which you choose note tools eg. quarter note
or quarter note rest and then click the tool on a staff. They have other
things
too!
    Others may have experience with other software, but your idea is very
possible!!! I have entered many songs and even invented a few arrangements
with DMCS.
    Opcodes vision exports keyboard midi into dmcs, last I heard they still
had a bug in importing in the latest version I bought from them. Bummer.
Maybe they have a bug fix for me, but I haven't checked.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 18:18:42 EST
From: [e-mail] (Mel Martinez x8378)
Subject: Problems Producing RFCs (R)

In infomac vol 11 #38:

Robert Shirey asks for a way to produce documents from a word processor that
are simple ascii(text) images of an otherwise fully formatted mac document and
does not want to use "Save As.."

My suggestion is that you switch to Nisus from Nisus Software.  First of all,
the standard file format that Nisus uses ALREADY stores nothing but the plain
ascii contents of the file in the data fork.  All non-ascii data such as fonts
and character styles and links are stored in the resource fork.  Hence ANY
editor on ANY system can open a Nisus file and read it in(the file TYPE is
TEXT ).  Second of all, Nisus includes a very powerful macro language to
both extend and automate Nisus' features.  Together with a truly awesome
implementation of grep search-and-replace, Nisus is pretty much the ultimate
mac text-processing tool.  It does not have (yet) some features like built-in
tables or outlines, but both are easily simulated with macros and the graphics
layer.  Also, because of Nisus programming language, it is easy to make Nisus
work smoothly with separate programs such as equation editors or table
editors. Some don't like having to buy separate tools to do a lot of these
things, but I say, "If you DON"T need a particular tool, why pay for it?"
Modular is the way to go.  Nisus does require large amounts of ram for large
documents as it loads documents entirely into memory when it opens a file.
The advantage is that it
is generally MUCH faster than pokey ol' MS-word.  Once you get used to the
speed
at which Nisus does things like scrolling & searching, then you really get
agravated if/when you need to go back to using Word again for any reason(not
that I can think of one.).  Also, Nisus can make use of the Apple/Claris XTND
technology to access as many different wp file formats as you have translators
for.  This is very handy in the modern world.

With the fact that Nisus already makes a plain-text image in it's native
format and adding the power to automatically format that text with the power
of macros and the most incredible find/replace tool in the known universe as
well as still
being able to work in a standard mac WYSIWYG mode, Nisus looks like it fits
the bill for your needs.

Disclaimer: I do not work for Nisus.  I only own & use the product.

BTW:  there is also a good support list called nisus-info that any nisus users
out there should consider joining.  I do not have the subscriber address handy
at this particular workstation, so if you need it email me and I will dig it
out for you.

Mel Martinez
The Johns Hopkins University
Dept. of Physics
[e-mail]


------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 17:33 EST
From: E=MC^2 <[e-mail]>
Subject: Removing Balloon Help

Mr. Farell,
Should be easy to remove balloon help.  Just throw the Finder help preferences
in the trash and reboot.  If this doesn't work, then ResEdit a copy of the
finder.  Sincerely,  ABRODY @ CLARKU

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1993 06:14:32 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: SAKAwards'93 rev3

This is the Swiss Army Knife Awards listings, a list of the hardware,
software,
 etc that people truly love and would like to tell others about. After the
firs
t posting a few weeks ago, happilyto receidve more entrees from people all ov
er the world, but I still need more input. I hope everyone reading this will
 be interested in what is happening and send in their votes to be included in
 the list. The format I used here is: <item> for best <category>.  (<vot
Please
feel free to tell me what you like to this address ([e-mail]).
es>).
ZTerm .90 for best Telecommunications.  (3)
Compact Pro 1.33 for best compression/encryption.  (4)
SpaceSaver for best hard drive space saving.  (1)
Stuffit Expander 3.0 for best general expansion.  (2)
MCL 2.0 for best developement environment.  (1)
THINK C 5.0 for best C compiler.  (3)
QuickDex for best personal info manager.  (1)
DeSEA for best .sea-to-archive'ing.  (1)
Drop-Change Utility for best type/crea changing.  (1)
Drop-Router 1.0 for best file organizer.  (1)
BBEdit 2.2 for best text editor.  (6)
Ray Dream Designer for best ray tracing. (2)
Magnet for best remote file management.  (1)
Address Book for best phone/address keeping.  (1)
SolarianII and Maelstrom for best action games.  (2)
Disinfectant 2.9 for best virus detection/removal.  (3)
SpeedyFinder7 for best Finder(tm) enhancements.  (1)
Fetch for the best ftp client.  (1)
Eudora for the best email client.  (1)
TurboGopher for the best information services client.  (1)
NCSA Telnet for best telnet client.  (1)

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 07:42:41 PST
From: Paul Brians <[e-mail]>
Subject: Screwed-up fonts in MacInTax

My neighbor who has been using MacInTax for some time found that this
year his forms wouldn't print out properly on his ImageWriter II.
Many of the longer lines of instruction (in Geneva) had scrunched-
together type that looks really ugly.  The dollar amounts, in Courier,
look ok.  He tried to get through to ChipSoft's support line in vain
(busy) and to their BBS (busy).  Finally I helped him get to ChipSoft
on CompuServe's APPVENA forum and we left a message.  I noted that other
people were complaining of font problems, and in each  case ChipSoft was
offering different arguments: usually along the lines of "there's
something wrong with your printer driver."  I got back PRIVATE email
>From ChipSoft suggesting turning off highest quality printing (he had
already tried that and got scrunching plus jaggies).  Then last night
I talked to a friend in Seattle who said that the boards there are
loaded with talk about the problems with ChipSoft's new fonts.

According to him, a local tax preparer has gotten reassurance from
ChipSoft that IRS will accept the forms with scrunched type, but he
is waiting to hear direct confirmation of that from IRS.  Meanwhile
his lawyer wife is researching ChipSoft's legal liability.

If you have been working onscreen only so far, try printing page 1 of
your 1040.  Line 3 is the first one likely to look bad.  It would be
very interesting to see which printers with which settings produce
satisfactory results.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 11:25:22 EST
From: Matthew B Cravit <[e-mail]>
Subject: Serial Loopback Plugs

Can anyone tell me what connections need to be connected to what connections
on
a Mac modem/printer port connector to make a loopback plug (for testing the
ports)?

Thanks,

Matthew Cravit

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 23:05:43 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Shareware font recommendations wanted

Of the many share/freeware fonts available by ftp, are there any that people
would strongly reccommend?? I am interested in any well-crafted fonts with
comprehensive character sets.
Many thanks in advance...

Kitto Weikert
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 14:12:55 -0600
From: Neil Eric Mickelson <[e-mail]>
Subject: SIMM Prices

Hello again!

Quick question--what are "current best" prices for the older-style SIMMs
(won't
fit in the new Macs), and where can you find them?

Thanks for the help!

Neil Mickelson
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 09:17:31 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Leonard Rosenthol)
Subject: SpaceSaver & Virus Blockade

> [SpaceSaver & Virus Blockade don't work together]
>
>The responsibility for the incompatibility rests as well with Aladdin which
>has declined to provide to Jeff Shulman the information or support necessary
to
>maintain compatibility.
>
    I don't know where you got this info, but it is FAR FROM THE TRUTH!

    Jeff Shulman and I have known each other for years, and at the first
"sign of trouble", I send Jeff an EMail message about this situation.  He and
I exchanged numerous messages concerning the issue, and in the end were unable
to reach a "compromise" on how to solve the problem for our respective user
bases.

>I think that authors of well-distributed utilities
>that operate at low levels with respect to MacOS internals have an obligation
>to provide, at least when asked, interface information for their products to
>other bona-fide authors of low-level utilities so that the rest of us will
see
>a compatible Mac world.
>
    I can't agree with you more, and we have worked with a number of other
companies to insure compatibility with our products including providing others
with code to directly interact with SpaceSaver to provide ADDITIONAL
funcationality when the products were used together.

    This particular situation (SpaceSaver & Virus Blockade) was one where
each product was written in such a way that there wasn't an easy way for the
two to work together happily without major changes to one or the other. I wish
it could be different since I like VB and applaud Jeff's support of it over
the years.


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 23:20:26 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Tektronix Patent - Request for Info

> This message concerns Tektronix claiming to have a patent
> that is used by nearly all multimedia products. They are
> demanding payment by companies doing nothing more than
> selling QuickTime movies on floppy disks (!)

I am searching for any use of computers combined with LaserDisc
players or Video Tape players prior to 1990.

I *really* would appreciate everyone's help in this matter, as
Tektronix is making very broad patent claims and it is going
to cost us (and ultimately you) a fortune to fight them in court.

Specifically, any magazine articles, IEEE papers, other patents,
commercial products, or even in-house use of computers with
video equipment will be helpful.  I seem to remember IBM
showing a personal computer connected to a laser disc player
in the mid 1980's at a computer show.

 Thanks,
 Eric Shapiro
 Rock Ridge Enterprises
 [phone]     [e-mail]

P.S. I will post the full text o
f the patent for anonymous ftp
this weekend.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 18:49:17+080
From: [e-mail] (Stephen Smoliar)
Subject: updating StuffIt Deluxe

Leonard,

Well, I felt really proud of myself when I used ResEdit to use the icons from
3.0.3 to fill in the icons missing from 3.0.4, just like you said I should.
It was my first ResEdit experience, so I exercised all the necessary
precautions, including making my changes to a copy.  Once I new the
copy was sane, I trashed the original;  and renamed the copy to StuffIt
Deluxe.

Now it seems that I may have been too clever in following your instructions!
When I ran the updater, I got the following error message:

    Could not make StuffIt Deluxe 3.0.5 because StuffIt Deluxe
    is not the file that this update is designed for (the icl4-3995
    resource is different).

I assume icl4-3995 is one of the icons I had to repair as per your
instructions.  So now my pride has been deflated, I am reduced back
to the status of servile user, and I have to ask, in the usual user-whine
voice, "What do I do NOW?"

Seriously, though, I assume a lot of folks out there used similar techniques
to
fix the icon problem in 3.0.4.  I really do not know if I am the only one who
has stumbled over this particular difficulty because of the way I happened to
use ResEdit.  I am sending a copy of this to Info-Mac Digest under the
assumption that I am not the only one with this problem.  I hope to hear
>From you soon.  The other updaters "took" very well;  so all that remains
is for me to get StuffIt Deluxe up to snuff.

Stephen W. Smoliar; Institute of Systems Science
National University of Singapore; Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Kent Ridge, SINGAPORE 0511
Internet:  [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 21 Feb 1993 15:14:53 +0100
From: [e-mail]
Subject: vt100 keypad on the powerbook ?

Is there any shereware (freeware) system extension that can emulate
the numeric keypad of the vt100 on the keybord of my powerbook 170 ?

                         G. Levi
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 09:55:15 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Greg Cassel)
Subject: What is it 'BIN ' 'A/UX'

I recently got a file that was macbinary and has a type and creator of 'BIN
' and 'A/UX'.

I first though it might be AppleSingle, but it is not. This was supposed to
be a mac file, but I can't seem to read it with anything.

Any suggestions?

---
Greg Cassel
[e-mail] (Unreliable)
[e-mail]
hip-hop!cassel![e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 09:59:35 PST
From: [e-mail] (Andy Lee)
Subject: Whirling noise from LC

My LC has had an occassional problem upon booting which now
seems to be getting worse.  Every so often when the computer is
turned on, there is a whirling sound which seems to be coming
>From inside the computer.  It starts out as a low pitched
whirl and makes its way up to a high pitch whine, after which
point the noise disappears.  It sounds as if something is
trying very hard to get spinning.  Could this be a problem with
the internal hard drive or a problem with the fan?  Recently, upon
booting a sad mac icon has appeared with the codes  0000000F
and 00000003.  Has anyone else seen or heard of such a problem?
Any info would be much appreciated.  Please respond by e-mail as
my access to info-mac digest is limited.  Thanks in advance.

Andy Lee        [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 20 Feb 1993 23:22:09 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Mark Rogowsky)
Subject: WHY SHOULD I WAIT SO LONG TO GET THE CENTRIS ^!)

In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (Harris Wulfson) writes:
>I'm sorry, it's still unacceptable. I certainly never expected to walk home
>with my Duo 230 on the same day. I figured four weeks would be great. Eight
>would be acceptable, 'cause I'm a patient guy. My purchasing rep finally got
>word from Apple this week (after six weeks of waiting) that it will take
>12-15 weeks. I wanted to get a new computer to begin my semester, and by the

[Ranting deleted]

>a sophmore in college and 19 years old :-). Maybe I should hunt down a Quadra
>700 and forget about portability. What do you all think.

Buy the 700 if you need the computer now. Buy retail if you need the
portable computer now. Make a decision without having it affirmed by
the multitudes, perhaps?

>      Anyway, I'm sick of seeing these fascist objectivist posts saying
things
>like "Well, you're paying less and you're only a student anyway; you deserve
>to never get your computer," and "hey! isn't it great that Apple is selling
so
>many computers that they can't deliver them fast enough," and "Sure you
>overpayed for a crappy IIvx...you must have thought is was worth the money."
>I don't care how you justify these things;it is very bad business practice,
>and it doesn't become Apple.

What is a "fascist objectivist" post? My Stanford education didn't
cover that. Understand these facts:

1) You deserve to get your computer even though you're a student.
But if you're a company and you have a backlog of nearly $1 billion
worth of product, you will ship first to those who pay full price,
i.e. your corporate customers. That is not a value judgement, it is
a fact of capitalist society.

2) It is not great that Apple is selling so many computers they
can't make them fast enough. It is bad. It has hurt the company and
hurts users. It was dreadful planning on Apple's part and
demonstrates their continued failure to understand that with
reasonable prices people will choose Apple's products. Had they
understood that five years ago, Macs would have been cheaper years
ago and much more ubiquitous.

3) Overpaid is not spelled "overpayed" and is a ludicrous concept
anyway. If one paid the price, one though it was worth it. The only
other alternative is that one is a complete idiot and knowingly got
taken. The IIvx is another story in one sense: it was built with a
crippling design flaw not unlike the LCII. The latter had the
dreaded 16-bit data path, the former has a 16MHz bus.

The IIvx retails for the same as the far more capable Centris 610.
The IIvx alleged expandability is irrelevant after you fill a slot
with an Ethernet board, and another with a video card (to drive a
monitor larger than 14"). The IIvx could've be relevant in the
product line with a 32MHz bus. Instead, it will be gone by
Christmas, if not sooner.

All that said, however, it is as capable as a IIci and cost less
(before the price cut) than the IIci did a year ago. It was,
therefore, a better deal even when you got ripped off last month
than its predecessor was in February 1992.

Therefore, while the backlog "reflects poorly on Apple" is more
objectively agreed upon [alright, I prefaced this section by calling
it facts and I have dropped into opinions], the IIvx "ripoff"
despite the computer's flaw is an obscene notion. It was impossible
to buy one before word of its mediocre performance crept out and
difficult for those who frequent the newsgroups to have been unaware
of the 040 machines that came out this month [at least to some
extent].

The one thing that is certainly true is that Apple did not intend to
bilk early IIvx buyers. It did what it always does, charges a
premium to early adopters. You will note this phenomenon among most
computer vendors, cellular phone vendors, CD player vendors, DCC
makers, etc. etc.

If I bought a Dell computer last January I could've paid $3,000 for
a 486/25MHz system. Now, for $400 less than I paid 13 months ago,
you can buy a 486/DX266MHz system. OOOOOOOH!!!!! I've been ripped
off! What?!?!?!

Until you understand the following concept you will continue to live
in the dark: When a price is cut, someone will have paid more the
previous day. Only in computers is the price routinely cut and the
feature set/performance improved. No other industry will do this for
you two or three times a year.

I will look forward to your posts in auto-affinity newsgroups
explaining that you bought a Honda Accord for $17,500 ($1,400 below
sticker) and you were ripped off because someone else paid $17,100
the same day. THAT HAPPENS THOUSANDS OF TIMES EACH WEEK IN AMERICA
AND, STILL, TWO-THIRDS OF THOSE SURVEYED PREFERRED HAGGLING OVER
ONE-PRICE SELLING [I felt like using lots of caps there].

A ripoff is when I sell you a device that's supposed to help you
lose weight and instead it gives youa hernia. A ripoff is when a
foreigner gets into my cab at JFK at I drive him into Brooklyn and
Staten Island, across to New Jersey, and then into Manhattan,
running the meter to $150 along the way.

When an international coroporation sells you and thousands of others
a perfectly functional computer at a clearly advertised price that
you knowingly agreed to pay, it is not, nor will it ever be, a
ripoff. It makes no difference that others will later pay less.

Sorry.

Mark

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 07:57:43 PST
From: Paul Brians <[e-mail]>
Subject: Word 5.1 compatible with 5.0? (Q)

One of the nice touches in Word 5.0 is its transparent compatibility
with 4.0.  Any document created in one version can be opened and read
by the other without altering it so it needs any kind of "conversion."
I got my inexpensive upgrade offer from Microsoft for 5.1 but I use
many computers at work which may not upgrade.  Will I run into any
compatibility problems if I create documents at home on 5.1 and then
use them at work with 5.0 and vice versa?

------------------------------

End of Info-Mac Digest
******************************