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TidBITS#162/08-Feb-93
=====================
We have the last of the news from Macworld Expo this week, with
information on PageMaker 5.0. We also have an article about new
products for Wallpaper from Thought I Could, useful System 7.1
enabler information, upgrade information for Canadians who want
System 7.1, news of new low-end LaserWriters, yet another ATM
hack, and finally, a long-awaited table of benchmarks from BYTE
Labs and Tom Thompson.
Copyright 1990-1993 Adam & Tonya Engst. Non-profit, non-commercial
publications may reprint articles if full credit is given. Other
publications please contact us. We do not guarantee the accuracy
of articles. Caveat lector. Publication, product, and company
names may be registered trademarks of their companies. Disk
subscriptions and back issues are available - email for details.
For information send email to info@tidbits.com or ace@tidbits.com
CIS: 72511,306 -- AppleLink: ace@tidbits.com@internet#
AOL: Adam Engst -- Delphi: Adam_Engst -- BIX: TidBITS
TidBITS -- 9301 Avondale Rd. NE Q1096 -- Redmond, WA 98052 USA
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Topics:
MailBITS/08-Feb-93
New Enablers
Connectix Does It Again
Canadian System 7.1 Upgrade
ATM Hack, Part 2
New LaserWriters
Benchmarks, Finally
PageMaker 5.0
New Wallpaper
Reviews/08-Feb-93
[Archived as /info-mac/digest/tb/tidbits-162.etx; 29K]
MailBITS/08-Feb-93
------------------
A friend writes, "As of 10-Feb-93, Apple will remove the Mac IIci
line from all price lists. The IIci is still considered to be a
mainstream business solution although Apple will no longer be able
to support the growing demands that have accumulated over the past
few weeks."
Correction/LC III
Oops, we said last week that the LC III could take a single NuBus
card. Wrong - we mixed that information up with the Centris 610,
which can take a single NuBus card as long as it's short enough.
The LC III is limited to an LC-style PDS slot.
Disclaimer
As some of you may have noticed, I now write the Beating the
System column for MacUser. I don't know what to disclaim, but
since I'm identified as the editor of TidBITS at the end of those
columns, it seems only right to mention it here. Writing for
MacUser is different in that I have an approximately four month
deadline for MacUser and a one hour deadline for TidBITS. That
said, check it out and see what you think of my writing when I
have a word limit and a professional editor.
StyleWriter II driver
Dieder Bylsma wrote to tell us that he tried the head cleaning
option from the StyleWriter II driver on his StyleWriter I, and
although the printer itself seems OK, the process ruined the ink
cartridge. This is probably why Apple isn't making the new
StyleWriter II driver readily available and doesn't recommend that
you use it with the StyleWriter I.
Information from:
Dieder A. Bylsma -- bylsma@unixg.ubc.ca
New Enablers
------------
Apple has released new versions of the System 7.1 Enablers for the
IIvx and the PowerBook 160 and 180. They're available on
AppleLink, so your dealer should be able to snag them for you. You
can also call Apple directly, or possibly get them from your user
group. The bug fixes seem to be primarily in the area of high
speed communications and support for the Apple Express Modem.
Here is a current list of the various Enablers, and please, read
the next article for important enabling information.
Macintosh System Enabler Used Current Version
----------------------------------------------------------
IIvx System Enabler 001 1.0.1
PowerBook Duo 210 System Enabler 201 1.0
PowerBook Duo 230 System Enabler 201 1.0
PowerBook 160 System Enabler 111 1.0.1
PowerBook 180 System Enabler 111 1.0.1
Finally, rumors say that Apple will soon release a Tune-Up-like
extension to fix problems with System 7.1, and also sometime soon,
a 32-bit System Enabler that will clean up those dirty ROMs under
System 7.1 for those of us (Mac II, IIcx, IIx, and SE/30) who
depend on MODE32 under System 7.
Apple -- 800/767-2775
Information from:
Pythaeus
Connectix Does It Again
-----------------------
by Mark H. Anbinder, Contributing Editor -- mha@baka.ithaca.ny.us
Connectix seems to continually fix something in the Macintosh
system software that Apple should have done right in the first
place. Virtual was the first (see TidBITS#160 for details of the
latest version), and Connectix has filled Apple's potholes with
MODE32 and CPU as well. Late last month, Connectix did it again,
releasing a patch for a bug in Apple's System Enabler files that
come with System 7.1.
According to Connectix, the System Enabler files released along
with the new Macintosh models last October, which allow these Macs
to work with System 7.1, contain a bug that can potentially cause
a system error. Affected machines include the PowerBook 160 and
180, PowerBook Duo 210 and 230, Macintosh IIvx and IIvi, and, we
assume, the Performa 600.
Connectix says the bug has caused problems for users of AppleTalk
version 58 and Suitcase 2.1 under System 7.1. Specifically, any
software making a "GetIndResource" system call with an index out
of bounds will cause two low memory globals to be set incorrectly.
This could cause a crash at a later time.
Apple engineers have verified the bug and have said that
Connectix's patch appears to produce the desired results with no
side effects. Apple has fixed the problem within their System
Enablers, but corrected versions will not be available
immediately. Most likely they will be distributed with the next
release of the System software, so users should be able to discard
the Connectix patch when they update to any version later than 7.1
of the System software.
Connectix suggests that all users of 7.1 whose Macs require these
System Enablers should use the Enabler Patch. It will do nothing
if the buggy software is not present, or if a bug fix is already
provided via a newer System version.
The patch should be available from most popular online services
and Internet FTP archives by the time you read this, and may be
distributed free of charge as long as the Read Me document is kept
with the software. Publishers interested in including the patch
with commercial products should contact Connectix first.
Connectix -- 800/950-5880 -- 415/571-5100
Information from:
Connectix propaganda -- connectix.ts@applelink.apple.com
Matthew Strange -- Matthew_Strange@baka.ithaca.ny.us
Canadian System 7.1 Upgrade
---------------------------
Macintosh users were outraged when not only did Apple charge for
System 7.1 upgrades, but also they offered upgrades in the United
States only. Users in other countries had to buy the System 7.1
Personal Upgrade Kit, which retailed for $99 in the US. I've heard
stories of inflated prices in other countries, with the kit
costing about US$200 in France, for instance.
No good news for most non-US users, but Canadian users will be
pleased to hear that they can buy the System 7.1 Update Kit for
$49 direct from Apple Canada. Call Apple Canada at 800/665-2775
ext. 700 to order. Members of registered user groups in Canada can
save an additional $10 until 26-Mar-92, but they must go through
more ringamarole. Either procure a form from your local group, or
request a from at this address:
Patricia Johnson
Apple Canada Inc.
7495 Birchmount Road,
Markham, Ontario
L3R 5G2
Apparently this deal only apples to the English version of System
7.1, but a similar offer for the French version should come this
month.
Apple Canada -- 800/665-2775 ext. 700
Information from:
Robert A. Szarek -- aa443@freenet.carleton.ca
Les Ferch -- ferch@ucs.ubc.ca
ATM Hack, Part 2
----------------
Jonathan Jacobs writes:
In TidBITS#157 Jim Burmeister reposted the hack that you can
perform on ATM 2.0.2, 2.0.3, and 2.0.4 to make it work correctly
with System 7.1. At the end of the article he says that the hacked
version of ATM won't work under System 7.0 anymore. I managed to
make that hack work with 7.0. It is a simple bit of ResEdit work,
and remember the usual Surgeon General's warnings about working
only on a copy of the file.
Open a copy of the System file, and then open the fld# resource.
Add another entry to the end of the list of these "special"
folders (extensions, Print Monitor Documents, Control Panels,
etc.). Call the folder "Fonts" (or whatever you want) and give it
the four-letter abbreviation "font" (just as you did in the ATM
driver). Save, quit, restart with the copy and you're done. The
System will create that special Fonts folder automatically on
restarting. From now on you MUST put all your PostScript fonts in
this folder. Keep in mind that you MUST use the hacked version of
ATM for this to work, and the Fonts folder we've created will NOT
work like System 7.1's Fonts folder.
Information from:
Jonathan Jacobs -- jxj24@po.CWRU.Edu
New LaserWriters
----------------
You've heard about the new LaserWriter Pro 610 and 630, and the
latest news is that Apple will ship the 610 with 8 MB of RAM all
the time, which allows the 610 to print at 600 dpi. Check this
before you buy one, though, just in case. The 610 and 630 expand
Apple's printer offerings on the high end; Apple's new LaserWriter
Select 300 and the LaserWriter Select 310 fit into the low-end of
Apple's printer offerings.
LaserWriter Select 300
This serially-connected 300 dpi LaserWriter replaces the
LaserWriter LS. Unlike previous LaserWriters, it uses a Fuji Xerox
engine that prints at five pages per minute, and it holds three
optional paper trays for a grand total of 800 sheets. The
LaserWriter Select 300 includes FinePrint and GrayShare and can be
upgraded to PostScript and PhotoGrade, but its main feature is its
dirt-cheap price - $819. This might be a good printer in a limited
number of specific cases, but we still feel that it makes more
sense to either buy a cheaper inkjet printer or to ante up the
dollars for a more versatile, normally networkable, PostScript
printer.
LaserWriter Select 310
The main difference between the 300 and 310 is that the 310
includes PostScript and a parallel interface. It uses an AMD RISC
processor and comes with 1.5 MB RAM (expandable to 5.5 MB). The
310 comes with the basic 13 fonts - Courier, Symbol, Times, and
Helvetica - and it should be quite affordable at $1,079. This
printer looks like a new funky entry, and since it will be utterly
different in terms of driver and engine and connection, we won't
be in the slightest bit surprised if some printing problems crop
up early on.
Information from:
Pythaeus
Benchmarks, Finally
-------------------
by Tom Thompson, BYTE Senior Tech Editor at Large
[My apologies for sitting on this for so long, but I wanted to get
these numbers out before the new machines come out. As you can
see, creating an ASCII table of so many numbers is a major chore,
and for that I thank Ian Feldman. As with all benchmarks, take
these with a grain of salt because as much as low-level benchmarks
can point out things you wouldn't otherwise notice and show how
different systems compare, the speed that matters is the real-
world speed that you experience running your programs under your
precise environment. -Adam]
A couple of comments before I analyze the numbers. First, these
timings were obtained on beta systems shown to me in late July,
and are therefore preliminary. However, by the time the iron gets
presented to the press, the hardware is pretty stable, so the
figures should be within the ballpark. Second, tests were run with
the screen in the black-and-white mode (1-bit) so the results
could be normalized to the Classic II's screen. Apple says that
for the new systems, screen operations in color should be a tad
faster than the same operations run in black-and-white, because
QuickDraw has been optimized for a color screen. Fine, we'll check
that out when we have the shipping systems. Again, we have to
calibrate the results to a reference Mac that has a black-and-
white screen. Finally, check out the notes at the bottom of the
spreadsheet; they're important.
As the results indicate, the Mac IIvx just barely out-guns the Mac
IIci. Note that the Mac IIci used in these tests doesn't have a
cache board. That's because the IIci at BYTE was purchased long
before Apple began shipping them with 5 MB of RAM and a cache
board as standard equipment. It's a safe bet that a IIci with a
cache board will probably out-perform a IIvx.
The Performa 600 falls in the vicinity of the 20 MHz Mac IIsi in
performance, while the Mac IIvi hangs out with the 16 MHz Mac
SE/30 performance-wise. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the reason
for the IIvx/Performa 600's less-than-expected results is because
although the CPU and FPU are clocked at 32 MHz, the bus operates
only at 16 MHz. A glance at the 8-, 16-, and 32-bit memory moves
of these computers compared to memory operations on the IIci
confirm this finding.
Why was the slower bus used? First, to take advantage of readily
available 80 ns DRAM. Second, Apple squeezed three computers out
of a single design. A prototype system I examined could be a Mac
IIvx, Performa 600, or Mac IIvi, depending upon the CPU board that
plugged into the main logic board. I'm speculating here, but
probably the only way to accomplish this easily was to lock in the
bus clock at one speed. This would simplify the overall design,
which in turn eliminates additional parts, and in turn lowers
costs.
I had hoped the IIvx would fill the void in mid-range performance
between the 25 MHz Mac IIci and 40 MHz IIfx. Instead, it looks
like it's up to the PowerBook 180 and PowerBook Duo 230 to plug
that particular hole.
(The following Macintosh benchmarks table is 71 lines long and
with little luck may therefore be printed on one sheet of paper,
but do use a monospaced font!).
_________________ LOW-LEVEL BENCHMARKS in seconds unless noted _____
__________ CPU:____________ FPU: +-------------------- Sieve
32bit move ---------------+ | +-------------- Sort
16bit move ---------+ | | | +------- Math
8bit move ---+ | | | | | +- Sin(x)
Matrix | | | | | | | e^x
========== v v v v v v v v v
Classic II 24.2 98.7 54 41.2 36.4 45.4 189.5 97 106.1
LC II 24 92.1 52.7 39.6 37 43.3 186.4 95.3 103.4
IIvi 18.4 86.6 46.2 26.4 33.1 34.2 156 80.5 87.5
SE/30 16.4 82.2 42.1 22.8 31.3 29.8 143.6 70.6 94.5
Perf:a 600 14.1 65.5 39.3 26.2 19.6 25.1 136.6 66.5 71.7
IIsi 13.4 64.1 33.5 18.2 25.1 24.4 37.5 12.8 12.9
IIvx 8.3 52.5 26.3 13.1 15.9 14.5 30.1 9.4 9.7
IIci 10.7 51.1 26.7 14.5 19.9 19.9 29.8 9.9 10.2
PB 140 16.7 83.3 42.9 21.2 32 30.2 189.7 102.2 110.3
PB 145 11.1 52.8 27.8 15.5 20.4 20.3 135.6 70.2 76
PB 160 11.2 53.4 27.9 15.6 20.4 20.4 119.5 61.4 61.1
PB 170 11.1 52.8 27.8 15.5 20.4 20.5 35.4 11.6 11.9
PB 180 8.3 39.6 20.8 11.6 15.1 15.4 25.2 8.1 8.5
Duo 210 10.6 51.1 26.7 14.5 19.9 19.3 105.1 54.2 59
Duo 230 7.9 38.7 20.2 11 15.5 15 85.5 44.4 48
========== ----------------------------------------------------------
_____ DISK:_______________ FILE I/O:_ VIDEO:____________
Write -------------------+ 1 MB write +-------- TextEdit
Read --------------+ | | | +- DrawString
Seek --------+ | | | 1 MB | | Graphics
LLseek/32 blocks ---+ | | | | read | | Slow QD
LLseek/ 1 blocks | | | | | | | | | |
========== v v v v v v v v v v v
Classic II 1103 2165 0.2 18.2 9.8 4.1 4.8 5 2 47.8 0.4
LC II 974 2008 0.2 13.2 8.7 3.6 4.8 4.9 1.9 44.9 0.4
IIvi 735 1559 0.2 9.4 6.2 3.1 1.6 4.3 1.5 38.8 0.3
SE/30 921 874 0.1 22.4 9 4.6 5 4.6 2.3 26.6 0.3
Perf:a 600 720 1296 0.1 10.6 6.1 3 1.4 3.5 1.3 32.3 0.2
IIsi 883 1799 0.1 14.7 8.3 3.4 2.4 3.2 1.1 27.9 0.2
IIvx 720 1257 0.1 10.7 6.2 3 1.4 2.4 0.8 19.7 0.2
IIci 847 1551 0.1 16.5 8.9 4 3.1 3 1.3 19.6 0.2
PB 140 1086 2384 0.2 15.9 8.8 3.8 2.7 5.5 2.6 37.5 0.3
PB 145 754 1475 0.2 12.7 7.9 3.8 2.1 4.3 2.2 16.1 0.2
PB 160 1029 2157 0 19.2 6.1 3.3 2.6 3.7 1.4 24.7 0.2
PB 170 1219 2116 0.1 16.8 9.4 4 2.4 4.4 2.2 26.2 0.2
PB 180 771 1458 0.1 10.5 3.3 2.8 1.9 2.6 1.2 17.9 0.2
Duo 210 798 1591 0.1 12.6 7.5 3.5 4.4 3.2 1.3 22.8 0.2
Duo 230 676 1206 0 12.5 7.5 3.1 2.2 2.6 1.2 17.9 0.2
========== ----------------------------------------------------------
____ _________ INDEXES: +----------------------- CPU index
68020 Dhrystone --------------+ | +----------------- FPU index
68000 Dhrystone --------+ | | | +---------- Disk index
68020 Linpack --+ | | | | | +--- Video index
68000 Linpack | | | | | | | Dhrystone
========== v v v v v v v v v
Classic II 933 n/a 2000 2238 1 1 1 1 2000
LC II 883 n/a 2000 2309 1.03 1.02 1.12 1.07 2000
IIvi 678 n/a 2631 n/a 1.14 1.21 1.57 1.25 2631
SE/30 581 233 3125 3699 1.39 1.27 1.24 1.23 3125
Perf:a 600 568 n/a 3125 n/a 1.54 1.44 1.74 1.55 3125
IIsi 508 936 3571 2309 1.74 6.79 1.45 1.7 3571
IIvx 319 n/a 5000 n/a 2.26 8.91 1.81 2.31 5000
IIci 399 154 4545 5802 2.17 8.66 1.29 1.94 4545
PB 140 592 n/a 2941 3605 1.39 0.97 1.15 1.02 2941
PB 145 417 n/a 4166 5253 2.09 1.39 1.44 1.52 (missing)
PB 160 414 n/a 4545 n/a 2.08 1.63 1.56 1.67 4545
PB 170 415 155 4166 5244 2.09 7.37 1.27 1.37 4166
PB 180 309 n/a 7142 n/a 2.79 10.41 1.93 2.18 7142
Duo 210 399 n/a 5000 n/a 2.18 1.8 1.41 1.78 5000
Duo 230 304 n/a 6250 n/a 2.56 2.2 1.94 2.21 6250
========== ----------------------------------------------------------
Measurements by Tom Thompson, BYTE; ASCII table design by Ian Feldman
=====================================================================
Note 1: IIci had no cache board
Note 2: IIsi equipped with FPU
Note 3: PowerBook Duo 210 & 230 docked; had access to FPU
PageMaker 5.0
-------------
Perhaps the most impressive upgrade I saw at Macworld was Aldus
PageMaker 5.0. On the whole, PageMaker's enhancements fall in the
category of "It's about time," but it's not worth complaining now
that they're here. I'm sure some people will write to tell me that
Quark XPress has had such-and-such feature for nigh on 39 years
and why is it a big deal that PageMaker has finally caught up. The
simple answer is that as far as I know, PageMaker is still the
most popular desktop publishing program around.
I'm not going to go through these new features in any order, and
similarly, I'm not going to talk about the standard things that
haven't changed. PageMaker has too many features to do that, and
some would say that PageMaker has too many features period.
The main new features I noticed in PageMaker 5.0 are its
capabilities in moving objects between documents and rotating and
skewing text and graphics. PageMaker 5.0 can finally open multiple
documents at the same time (welcome to the 1980s, Aldus!), but not
content to catch up to programs from the last decade, Aldus added
a feature I've only seen in a few other programs, the capability
to drag an object from one document to another without copying and
pasting. The copy-paste metaphor works best in the UniFinder
metaphor of the Mac Plus era; in today's world of multiple
megabyte machines, large and multiple screens, and constant
MultiFinder, there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to drag
data between documents, if not applications. I'd like to see this
in more applications.
PageMaker 4.2 added the ability to rotate text in 90 degree
increments, but this feature was generally greeted with derision -
90 degree rotation is unimpressive. PageMaker 5.0 should silence
those criticisms with its free rotation of text and graphics in
.01 degree increments. You can skew text and graphics with similar
precision. Oh, and by the way, you can edit text or graphics after
transforming it, something that wasn't easy even with 4.2's
limited rotation. This news will be welcome to anyone who does
single-page layout of posters and the like.
I appreciate PageMaker's new capability of printing non-contiguous
pages. If you wish to print pages 1, 5, 8, and 23 of a
publication, you just type the page numbers into the page range
box, separated by commas. Any application that prints should have
that feature. Aldus finally implemented grouping, an extremely
common command in graphics programs, though only as an Addition.
Those were by far the most impressive features I noted, but Aldus
has a list of more - I'll reproduce some of it here.
* Horizontal and vertical reflection of objects
* Enhanced Control palette
* Numerically exact positioning and rotation of any object, from
its center or any handle
* Specific "nudge" amounts for exact positioning
* Incrementally rotated inline graphics
* Cropping of rotated graphics
* Text mode of the palette visible in layout or story editor views
* Numeric kerning
* Baseline shift
* Process-color separations of PageMaker text and graphics, as
well as imported CMYK TIFF, DCS, and EPS images - all without
leaving PageMaker.
* Printing scalable up to 1600%
* Automatic centering of the page on whatever paper you use
* Overprinting for any spot or process color or tint
* Spot-to-process conversion at printing
* Choice of printing individual inks of process-color separations
* Automatic scaling of the page to the paper size
* Separate line and fill attributes
* Choice of transparent or opaque dash lines
* Support for up to 18 language dictionaries, plus any number of
installable hyphenation dictionaries
* New search-and-replace capabilities for a character's position
and case
* Sophisticated kerning and track editing
I don't wish to imply that Aldus fixed everything that might be
construed as a problem in PageMaker. For instance, although Aldus
completely redesigned the awkward modal print dialogs for the
better, I found PageMaker still extremely modal, especially in
defining a text rule in a paragraph style. This process can
require a ludicrous traverse of as many as four modal dialog
boxes. We have the screen space these days - there's no reason
these dialogs must be modal except for design laziness.
My other problem with PageMaker is that even after high-end word
processors like Nisus, low-end word processors like WriteNow, and
integrated programs like WordPerfect Works (the ex-BeagleWorks)
have implemented character styles, PageMaker lags behind. I'm sure
it's partly related to PageMaker's close relationship with
Microsoft Word, another notable laggard, but surely the
functionality of character styles is clear - whenever you want to
assign a specific style to one or more words, but not an entire
paragraph, you can do so on a consistent simple level. Consider
the words you might want to do this with, program names, book
titles, commands in a manual, and the list goes on. I'll hop off
my interface horse now, but we should praise and condemn Aldus on
interface. Overall, I think the praise wins out; PageMaker 5.0
seems like a solid upgrade to a popular program
Aldus -- 206/628-2320
Information from:
Aldus propaganda
New Wallpaper
-------------
Like the little train that chugs along as their motto, Thought I
Could doesn't give up. To judge from president Linda Kaplan's
postings on CompuServe, a small company like Thought I Could faces
innumerable obstacles in creating a successful mass market
utility. But Linda and company have held on to release the first
follow-up products for Wallpaper: More Wallpaper, Wallpaper/Zebra
edition, and Wallpaper Wraptures Two.
Wallpaper, Thought I Could's flagship product, offers hundreds of
desktop patterns, which can be configured in various ways to dress
up your screen. You can also make your own patterns. To judge from
some of Thought I Could's promotional material, Steve Wozniak is
perhaps Wallpaper's most ardent fan, and says he finds it
indispensable to his enjoyment of his Mac. Hard to beat Steve for
a celebrity endorsement. Now only if he read TidBITS too. :-)
More Wallpaper, shipping now for $39.99, consists of over 590
patterns from the Subscription One and Bonus disks previously
available to existing Wallpaper owners. In other words, if you
subscribed to the pattern disk service Thought I Could offers,
don't bother buying More Wallpaper unless you feel like donating
money to Thought I Could. Having seen most of those patterns at
one time or another, I must say that if you're a pattern freak,
you won't be able to live without More Wallpaper. I keep Wallpaper
in Randomize mode, and even after months of use I see new
patterns. I appreciate the way Wallpaper keeps my Mac fresh and
occasionally surprising.
Wallpaper/Zebra Edition should ship in March, and it should be
welcome when it appears. As you might expect, it contains only
black-and-white patterns for people using monochrome monitors on
color-capable Macs. Wallpaper/Zebra Edition includes the Wallpaper
Control Panel and will retail for $59.99. If you own Wallpaper,
you can buy the new black-and-white patterns for $15.
Wallpaper Wraptures Two contains Wallpaper versions of the
patterns contained on the Wraptures Two CD-ROM disk. These
patterns are originally high-resolution photographic scanned
images intended for desktop publishing backgrounds and they are
impressive. Wallpaper Wraptures Two concentrates on natural
patterns like stone, wood, granite, marble, paper, brick, crystal,
glass, ice, and food. Food? As Linda said when I asked, "uh...
chocolate icing and jelly beans." I could deal with food on my
screen. Wallpaper Wraptures Two sells for $19.95 and is currently
shipping, although you must order it direct from Thought I Could
at this time.
My only complaint with Wallpaper is that Thought I Could doesn't
provide a way to easily manage the thousands of patterns that you
can easily accumulate. Thought I Could makes available online a
HyperCard stack called Wallpaper Cataloger that catalogs patterns,
but it can't move files in and out of folders or delete them. With
over 1,100 patterns in a single folder for randomizing, the Finder
slows to a crawl and may not display all the files. I'd like to
see a program that catalogued all patterns in a folder, displayed
each one in a relatively large window along with the name, and
then let me move or delete that pattern. That would simplify
managing patterns and add value to the otherwise excellent
randomizing feature. Thought I Could plans to create such a
program for the next release, and I'm eagerly awaiting it.
Now if only I could run Wallpaper on these boring white walls in
our apartment!
Thought I Could -- 212/673-9724
Information from:
Thought I Could propaganda
Linda Kaplan, Thought I Could -- 75056.1733@compuserve.com
Reviews/08-Feb-93
-----------------
* MacWEEK -- 01-Feb-93, Vol. 7, #5
form*Z 2.1.2 -- pg. 43
SuperATM 1.0 -- pg. 43
OrgChart Express 1.01-- pg. 45
Audioshop 1.03 -- pg. 48
SoundEdit Pro 1.0 -- pg. 48
..
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