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TidBITS#182/28-Jun-93
=====================

 Well, what is the PowerPC and should I wait? Good question, and we
   try to answer it this issue. We also have a look at Fifth
   Generation Systems' excellent CopyDoubler 2.0, FWB's CD-ROM
   Toolkit, the shareware ZipIt compression program, information on
   speeding up file sharing startup, and how to learn more about
   the PowerPC on AppleLink.

 Copyright 1990-1993 Adam & Tonya Engst. Non-profit, non-commercial
   publications may reprint articles if full credit is given. Other
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Topics:
    MailBITS/28-Jun-93
    PowerPC developer info
    Just ZipIt
    CD-ROM Toolkit
    CopyDoubler 2.0
    PowerPC Update
    Reviews/28-Jun-93

[Archived as /info-mac/per/tb/tidbits-182.etx; 29K]


MailBITS/28-Jun-93
------------------
  But of course we all know that there are eight SCSI ID numbers
  (0-7, of which the SCSI controller always steals one), not seven
  as Jeff Needleman accidentally wrote last issue. Thanks to John
  Saxton, Frank Nagy, Ioannis Mangos, and everyone else who pointed
  this out. We don't like being wrong, but we do like correcting our
  mistakes.


**Video Spigot competition** comes from Sigma Designs and its $349
  Movie Movie, a NuBus hardware and software combination for
  capturing digital audio and full-motion video. Along with 30 frame
  per second capture in standard QuickTime postage stamp sizes,
  Movie Movie can capture a full 640 x 480 resolution window, which
  is useful for still images. Sigma Designs -- 510/770-0100 --
  510/770-2640 (fax)


**If File Sharing starts slowly** on cold mornings, try deleting
  the AppleShare PDS file that lives at the root level on each
  shared volume. Jon Pugh <[e-mail]> posted this tip on
  Info-Mac, saying that it took File Sharing about an hour to start
  up on his PowerBook, and after deleting the file, it took less
  than a minute. My Mac always seemed to start slowly as well, so I
  used ResEdit to make the AppleShare PDS files on all my volumes
  visible (at which point you can see the snazzy killer rabbit
  icon), trashed them, and then rebooted. I presume that File
  Sharing rebuilt them on the subsequent reboot, and File Sharing
  starts up much faster now. You will lose all your sharing
  preferences, but since I have nothing fancy set up, it wasn't a
  problem for me. (I just log in to my SE/30's volumes from the
  PowerBook as the owner, which allows me to avoid setting up
  sharing for each individual volume. I once heard that using the
  Finder's Sharing menu item to share the disks, which lets you
  share specific folders and set more specific privileges, exacts a
  small performance hit.)


PowerPC developer info
----------------------
  by Mark H. Anbinder, News Editor -- [e-mail]
     Technical Support Coordinator, BAKA Computers

  Everyone's talking about PowerPC, the new processor architecture
  Apple and IBM have been developing, that promises to blow away all
  the microprocessors currently on the market. If you'd like to
  sound knowledgeable about PowerPC at that big cocktail party this
  weekend, check out the new "Macintosh on PowerPC" folder that
  Apple Developer Services has provided on AppleLink. This folder
  houses general information for third-party developers interested
  in preparing for the next Macintosh platform.

  The information includes options for transitioning to PowerPC,
  what development tools will be available, what can be done to
  prepare for PowerPC, and which developers have already hopped onto
  the bandwagon. The folder can be found under the AppleLink path
  Developer Support -> Developer Services -> Macintosh on PowerPC.

  AppleLink, which previously was available somewhat exclusive to
  Apple employees, dealers, and third-party developers, is now
  available to anyone willing to fill out the form and spend the
  money. Although AppleLink costs a good deal more than other online
  services, it often has more information, more timely news, and
  better access to Apple resources and other developers. You can
  find subscription applications on (you guessed it) AppleLink,
  under the AppleLink Help Desk icon, so you can ask your local
  dealer or an existing developer to download one for you.

  Information from:
    Apple Developer Group


Just ZipIt
----------
  by Jim Wheelis -- [e-mail]

  Up to now, I've thought of zip files (a popular compression format
  on DOS machines, much as .sit files from StuffIt Deluxe are on the
  Mac) as kids from the other side of town - tolerated at best. I
  see a lot of these interlopers from bulletin boards, and I
  occasionally modem documents to someone who runs a DOS machine.
  Short of buying Aladdin's StuffIt Deluxe or the Macintosh version
  of PKWare (which I've seen advertised but never reviewed), it used
  to be awkward to create a zip file on a Mac. Unzipping wasn't a
  problem, because A.P. Maika's several incarnations of UnZip did
  that nicely. I have used MacZip to create zip files, but I found
  it awkward, and I couldn't make it work unless I placed both the
  new archive and the original file in the same folder. Tommy
  Brown's <[e-mail]> ZipIt 1.1.1 goes a long way
  towards making the .ZIP compression protocols available in Mac
  shareware.

  ZipIt's interface is (expressly) modeled after Compact Pro. It
  uses many of the same commands and has similar dialogs. The manual
  is comprehensive, and the author is attentive to bug reports. I've
  used the latest version without any snags on a Brainstorm
  accelerated Plus and on an LC III.

  Is it on a par with StuffIt Lite and Compact Pro? Not on features,
  not yet. It doesn't do folders, for one thing. You can select a
  folder containing several tiers of sub-folders, and it will
  compress the files within them, but doesn't respect the folder
  boundaries. ZipIt works its way right through the folders,
  compressing every file into one archive, and it won't allow files
  with the same name in the same archive. The manual mentions this
  limitation as something a future version will cure. Even on the
  DOS side, PKZip and PKUnzip preserve a directory structure only on
  receiving specific commands to do so - not as a default, like
  Compact Pro and StuffIt Lite.

  ZipIt lets you choose whether to strip linefeeds or save a file in
  MacBinary format. Although I didn't experience problems when
  transferring ZipIt archives between Mac and DOS, the manual
  reports some complaints about compatibility between the two
  platforms. It's not an instrument of sorcery; you still have to
  pay attention to formats - whether the TEXT file you compress has
  linefeeds, what the DOS word processor at the other end can
  handle, and so on. I had no trouble creating the archive on the
  Mac and copying it to a DOS-formatted disk.

  If you can, before you push your archive into the modem, see if
  PKUnzip can read it under DOS. If you are dealing with a text
  file, you can test it further by seeing if typing "TYPE
  textfile.txt" (where "textfile.txt" is the name of your text
  document) at the C: prompt produces the text of the file on your
  screen. This will tell you how much work you have to do before you
  archive the file. And ZipIt, though it can strip linefeeds, can't
  add them. For that, you need something else - Add/Strip on the
  Mac, for example, or your word processor conversion capabilities.

  [For those confused by the linefeed issue, the Mac uses a carriage
  return (CR) to end a line, where as DOS uses a carriage return and
  linefeed combination (CR/LF). Thus, when transferring text files
  to a Mac from a DOS machine, you may see little boxes in front of
  every line since the Mac sees the CR, ends the line, and then
  doesn't know what to display for the linefeed character that comes
  next. Hence the little boxes. In going the other direction, Mac to
  DOS, you want to add linefeeds so DOS knows where lines end.
  -Adam]

  Here are some before and after sizes (taken from the Finder
  window) and timings on compression (using my analog wristwatch,
  counting from when the program started compressing until it said
  Done). I tested Compact Pro 1.33, StuffIt Lite 3.0.5, and ZipIt
  1.1.1, all on an LC III with 8 MB RAM.


Test One = 3.9 MB TEXT only
                             Archive Size        Time
    Compact Pro                965 K         2 min 33 sec
    StuffIt Lite               890 K         4 min 58 sec
    ZipIt                      878 K         4 min 32 sec

Test Two = 198K PICT
                             Archive Size        Time
    Compact Pro                 68 K            15 sec
    StuffIt Lite                65 K            12 sec
    ZipIt                       63 K            18 sec


Test Three = 1.4 MB Microsoft Word 5.1 document with 2 PICTs
                             Archive Size        Time
    Compact Pro                420 K            60 sec
    StuffIt Lite               380 K           132 sec
    ZipIt                      358 K           152 sec

  As you can see, ZipIt was in the ballpark with Compact Pro and
  StuffIt Lite in each test, although it won't compete with them any
  time soon in the Macintosh world as a whole. ZipIt's primary
  purpose is to provide compatibility with DOS compression formats
  (one reason for not testing applications or other formats that
  wouldn't transfer), and it appears to do that admirably.

  You can find ZipIt 1.1.1 on the Internet at <sumex-
  aim.stanford.edu> as:

    info-mac/util/zip-it-111.hqx


CD-ROM Toolkit
--------------
  Those of us dismayed at the thoroughly mediocre performance of
  CD-ROM might do well to check out FWB's new CD-ROM Toolkit. Like
  FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit, CD-ROM Toolkit replaces Apple's driver
  software to improve performance. This driver works in the
  background and can improve CD-ROM performance by up to 1800%,
  although smaller amounts are more common.

  CD-ROM Toolkit works its magic by caching information from the
  CD-ROM to your hard disk, specifically, to a file in your
  Preferences folder, which is a problem for those of us who work
  with a relatively small boot partition. You can trash that file
  when it's not in use, a feature that might be handy when you need
  some free space fast. You can specify the size of the file, from
  1,500K to 5,000K, but you need that amount of _contiguous_ free
  space, so optimizing your volume makes sense, especially since if
  you don't have at least 1,500K of free space, you can't use CD-ROM
  Toolkit. In that file, CD-ROM Toolkit caches the directory
  information, along with icon and alias data and a variable-sized
  read-ahead RAM cache (which assumes that after reading some data,
  the most likely data to be needed subsequently is the next bit of
  data on the disk).

  CD-ROM Toolkit works with most CD-ROM drives, even the newer
  multi-speed ones, and supports Photo-CD single- and multi-session
  disks (the latter only on multi-session-capable drives), multi-
  platter devices, HyperCard audio XCMDs, Apple Multimedia
  specifications, ISO 9660, High Sierra, HFS, MS-DOS, ProDOS, and CD
  Digital Audio. It even comes with an audio CD player program to
  play audio CDs on any CD-ROM drive with audio jacks (if you play
  an audio CD on a CD-ROM drive without audio jacks, does it make a
  sound?).

  John Baxter, who relayed his impressions of CD-ROM Toolkit for
  this article, said that there are a number of options in the
  CD-ROM Toolkit Control Panel, and that you will need to play with
  them to achieve optimal performance. One set of options gave far
  better performance with some QuickTime movies for John, whereas
  other movies showed worse performance than without CD-ROM Toolkit
  installed. John did note that the Developer CD and the new
  AppleScript CD clearly benefited from using the CD-ROM Toolkit. On
  the negative side, twice John inserted a CD and almost immediately
  started a Finder Find command, looking for a file that he knew was
  present on the CD, only to have the Finder report that the file
  was not present. Many folders also appeared empty, which led John
  to the tentative conclusion that issuing a Find command
  immediately after inserting the CD interrupts the directory
  caching in such a way that the CD-ROM Toolkit didn't go back and
  finish creating the cache properly. FWB didn't respond to our
  query about this. When I spoke with him last, John said that he
  had stopped using CD-ROM Toolkit due to an apparent conflict with
  Stacker, which he had just installed as well. Nothing definite
  about that, but be warned. FWB just released an updater to version
  1.0.1 of CD-ROM Toolkit, and it's possible that John's
  difficulties were addressed in that release.

  CD-ROM Toolkit is only $49 mail order, so if you use your CD drive
  heavily, it's worth checking out, although I'd recommend ordering
  from a vendor that accepts returns if possible, just in case your
  applications show little or no benefit.

    FWB -- 415/474-8055 -- 415/775-2125 (fax)
      [e-mail]

  Information from:
    FWB propaganda
    John Baxter -- [e-mail]


CopyDoubler 2.0
---------------
  Too much utility software these days does an excellent job of
  solving problems that don't exist. I'm not interested yet another
  program launcher, or the latest and greatest in hierarchical Apple
  menu utilities. But Fifth Generation's Salient Software has come
  up with yet another utility that solves some of my real-world
  problems, CopyDoubler 2.0.

  CopyDoubler 1.0 did a good job at replacing and speeding up the
  Finder's copying routines, but it wasn't drop-dead impressive.
  Despite not being nearly as fast, CopyRight from CSG Technologies
  seemed snazzier, because it could work away on multiple
  simultaneous copies in the background. It was deceptive though,
  since much of the time when you copy files, you want to work with
  either the result of the copy or the source files, and a
  background copy doesn't finish as quickly as a foreground copy.
  CopyDoubler's developers figured out how to add background
  features and queued multiple copies to CopyDoubler, and in the
  process added a slew of other features that may solve some of your
  problems as they solved mine.

  CopyDoubler is a single Control Panel. Apparently there is a trick
  to putting application code in a Control Panel, so it lives in the
  Control Panels folder but can launch as an application (which is
  how you can send it into the background). By default, when you
  start a copy, CopyDoubler launches into the foreground and starts
  to copy. Since it's so fast, most of the time you don't even get a
  chance to send it into the background, but if you're copying a lot
  of files to floppy and you don't need it done immediately, you can
  click in another application to send CopyDoubler to the back. I
  seldom do this, but it can be handy. If you really like background
  copying, you always launch CopyDoubler into the background.

  CopyDoubler still comes with a number of options for verifying
  files written to different types of disks, and you can still use
  it to empty the trash faster than the Finder, or to empty the
  trash in the background. You now have notification options as
  well, since otherwise you might never know when a background copy
  had finished. But the truly interesting new features come with
  CopyDoubler's scheduled copies.

  In some ways, the name is unfortunate, because a scheduled copy
  doesn't have to have a schedule. As you copy a file, if you hold
  down the control key, CopyDoubler will let you choose to copy "Now
  with CopyDoubler," "Later with CopyDoubler," or "Now without
  CopyDoubler." In addition, you can temporarily changes the
  settings for verification and notification, and if you use
  AutoDoubler as well, expand or compress the files during the copy.
  The ability to compress while copying is especially useful for
  AutoDoubler users who don't own DiskDoubler, because they can't
  easily compress a file manually after copying.

  In any event, if you choose "Later with CopyDoubler," you can hit
  the Schedule button to bring up a large dialog that lets you
  determine when and how your copy will happen. The "When" options
  include at startup, restart, or shutdown; repeating every X number
  of hours; repeating at certain times on certain days; only via the
  keyboard; or postponed indefinitely. I'm sure you can figure out
  if timed copying appeals to you, but the option that interests me
  is copying via a keystroke. One of my big problems is that I have
  various files scattered around my hard disks that I duplicate on
  the PowerBook 100. These files are items like my Nisus Macros,
  Nisus User Dictionary, my address database, and so on. All told,
  there are ten or fifteen of them, and updating them manually is a
  major pain. None of the PowerBook synchronization programs will
  help (except reportedly Inline Sync) since I want to move these
  files from multiple source folders to multiple destination
  folders, which would require an individual setup in a sync
  program, even the one I currently like the most, FileRunner. I
  refuse to organize my life to suit a sync program.

  Here's the trick. CopyDoubler's "only via keyboard" option lets me
  start a specific copy via a keystroke. But, CopyDoubler doesn't
  force me to choose unique keystrokes for each copy, so I chose the
  same one for each. Now, by hitting a single keystroke (I don't
  want to do this at any specific time, but I could), I can update
  all of these data and support files in one swell foop. Of course,
  all this happens via file sharing, and as long as AppleTalk is on,
  CopyDoubler knows enough to mount all the appropriate volumes,
  remembering passwords where necessary, and even dismounts them
  when its done. The first time I tried this and it worked I was
  literally jumping up and down with excitement. All too often my
  problems stay unsolved, but CopyDoubler did a bang-up job on that
  particular one.

  Now, as much as CopyDoubler can in some ways double as a sync
  program or a backup program, keep in mind that it isn't
  specifically trying to do either. It has no facilities for two-way
  copying like a sync program, and it doesn't let you flexibly
  choose files like a good backup program, although its Fast Replace
  will only replace changed files (which is how I can quickly copy
  the entire folder of TidBITS issues each time). However, if you
  find yourself with a task that doesn't quite fit either a sync
  program or a backup program, check out CopyDoubler. The closest I
  can come to a complaint with CopyDoubler is that it has some
  large, nested, modal dialogs while editing scheduled copies.
  That's not something most people will do often, though, and it's a
  minor quibble. I highly recommend CopyDoubler if you've ever
  experienced frustration with copying files in the Finder, either
  in terms of speed or features.

  CopyDoubler 2.0 lists for $59.95 and upgrades are available for
  $14.95. You can test a demo of CopyDoubler if you like; it's
  available on sumex-aim.stanford.edu via anonymous FTP as:

    /info-mac/demo/copy-doubler-20.hqx

    Fifth Generation Systems -- 800/873-4384 -- 504/291-7221
      504/295-3268 -- [e-mail]


PowerPC Update
--------------
  So what's the deal here? Is the PowerPC chip real? Is the
  Macintosh line dead? Is it true that if you look at the signatures
  in an SE case in a mirror one of them reads "Elvis Presley Lives?"

  Good questions, all, except the last one, so whoever asked that
  one, go wash your head. I'm not an engineer, and I'm not an Apple
  insider, so I'm basing my impressions here on vapor, rumor, and
  gut feel. So what's new?

  For those coming late to the game, the PowerPC chip is one result
  of the Apple-IBM deal, with Motorola brought in to help with the
  design and manufacturing. The chip itself is RISC-based (Reduced
  Instruction Set Computing, or killer fast) and scalable, which
  means that it will be easy to create different versions for
  different levels of hardware, PDAs, desktop machines,
  workstations, and so on. I think Ford has even announced plans to
  put it in a car, although that strikes me as overkill unless they
  have something new and neat in mind. Apple and IBM both intend to
  use the chip in new machines, but for the purposes of this
  article, we'll ignore IBM. It's not hard if you practice.

  The current schedule, which is surprisingly on target or even
  slightly ahead, has the first PowerPC-based Macs appearing in
  January of 1994. Those machines will run current Macintosh
  applications without modification in emulation mode at about the
  same speed as the 68040-based Centris machines. It will also run
  native PowerPC applications (of which we may not see many right
  away) at speeds ranging from two to five times faster than the
  fastest Quadras right now. There's no telling where in that range
  the first PowerPCs will fall, although I wouldn't scoff at twice
  the speed of a Quadra.

  In addition, if you're concerned about Intel's forthcoming Pentium
  chip, I gather that the PowerPC 601, the first of the PowerPC
  chips, is faster, smaller, cheaper, cooler, and uses less power.
  Don't worry, though, it will be just as easy to spot Pentium-
  equipped PCs as it is to spot PCs now. Almost all of them come
  with this useful little warning required by the Truth In
  Advertising Act, saying "Intel Inside."

  So the PowerPC is going to be a winner next winter from what we
  hear now. But Apple has the Centris 660av and the Quadra 840av,
  code-named Tempest and Cyclone respectively, slated for this
  summer. They will sport all sorts of new technology, including a
  built-in digital signal processor, which will allow them to
  perform voice recognition and synthesis, as well as emulate a fast
  modem when combined with the new high-speed GeoPort for serial and
  network communications. Both machines will have built-in digital
  video, allowing them to capture and output 16-bit color video
  without additional hardware. They also feature direct memory
  access to the CPU buses, built-in Ethernet, and a faster NuBus. In
  short, these are killer Macs, especially at the $2,300 estimated
  for the Centris 660av.

  But as much as these two new Macs will represent a major
  architectural change, the PowerPCs go farther. Will these be the
  last two 68000-based Macs? Unlikely, especially until a PowerPC
  PowerBook becomes possible. Are they the beginning of the end for
  the 68000 line? Very possibly. Think back to the IIfx and its
  special SCSI/DMA controller that was supposed to improve SCSI
  performance, but languished unused without system software
  support. Could the same thing happen to the Centris 660av and
  Quadra 840av? I just don't know, but I see three possible ways to
  deal with this situation as an interested consumer.

  First, let's assume that the PowerPCs aren't going to be real for
  some time after January of 1994, in terms of available hardware
  (although Apple is rumored to be already stockpiling the PowerPC
  601 chip that the first PowerPCs will use) and software that will
  take advantage of the PowerPC's native mode. If that's the case,
  then the Centris 660av and Quadra 840av suddenly reign supreme at
  the high end, and anyone who needs that kind of speed will go for
  the known quantity of the 68040 chip. So wait until this summer
  and buy one. I don't think you'll regret it, although I'd wait
  just long enough to confirm that your applications don't have
  trouble with the new technologies.

  Second, let's continue to assume that the PowerPCs won't be real
  for some time, and that the large quantities of new technology in
  the Centris 660av and Quadra 840av scare you. That's not a poor
  assumption for those of you who don't enjoy the bleeding edge of
  technology. Almost every major change in Macintosh technology has
  required a few months of break-in time, during which the
  application vendors scramble to achieve compatibility or to take
  advantage of the new technologies. There's nothing wrong with
  that, and the Mac II, the IIci, the IIfx, and the Quadras have all
  become stable, useful, machines after those first few months. So
  if you don't wish to take risks of any sort, but you need a new
  machine soon, you should think carefully about buying a nice
  Centris 610 or 650, or perhaps a Quadra 800. If it were my money
  on the line, I'd recommend the Centris 610 since you want to
  remain flexible on the PowerPCs, so you shouldn't spend all your
  money now, even if you can't wait.

  Third and finally, let's assume that the PowerPCs are going to
  appear in January of 1994 and that all the major Macintosh
  applications will run in emulation mode just fine. If you can wait
  until January for those first few models of the PowerPC, that
  might prove to be the move of the year, although as with anything
  electronic, the first PowerPCs will be obsolete within a year or
  so. But what's obsolete when you have native mode applications
  running several times faster than a Quadra?

  Surprise surprise, I'm in this very quandary right now. I'm
  working on an SE/30 that started out life as a double-floppy SE in
  1988, and although it has served me well and has been rewarded
  with 20 MB of RAM and ever-increasing amounts of disk space, I
  fear that I am slowly becoming more in need of a faster machine.
  In some respects I can wait to see how things shake out because
  the SE/30 really is fast enough. Heck, I'm writing my Internet
  book entirely in Nisus on the PowerBook 100. If I only had a Plus,
  I would be far more inclined to jump for a Centris 610 right now,
  or maybe hold out for a Centris 660av this summer. Waiting until
  January might be just too long if I were working on a Plus.

  But then there's the technology issue. I'm actually a bit of a
  wimp when it comes to buying new technology (comes from not having
  unlimited funds, no doubt), but I want voice capabilities bad.
  Although my carpal tunnel seems to be in control, I have to watch
  how much I type, and even with the Curtis MVP Mouse (a trackball)
  and its footswitch, I find that I sometimes overdo it on mousing.
  If I could reduce the number of clicks and keystrokes with voice
  control.... So I personally have to wait for at least the av Macs,
  but then comes the question of the PowerPCs. Is it worth holding
  out just a few months longer? The PowerPCs won't have DSP chips in
  them because the Apple engineers found that the PowerPC chip could
  do the same tasks as the DSP chip even faster, so adding the DSP
  chip didn't provide any speed benefits. It's hard to ignore that
  kind of raw power.

  If pressed, I would say that the issue hasn't really changed. The
  first rule of buying computers is that you buy what you can afford
  when you absolutely need it. If you can wait, the prices will drop
  and the power will increase. So I always advise waiting as long as
  you can possibly stand it (keeping in mind that it may take a
  while to get your machine of choice even after ordering it), and
  then buying the best machine you can. Also, if possible,
  immediately start ignoring all reports of faster machines or
  cheaper prices - they just make you unhappy. Be content with what
  you have and rest assured that it was the best choice when you
  bought it. It's the only way to stay sane in this fast-moving
  world.

    Motorola PowerPC Information Pack -- 800/845-MOTO

  Information from:
    Pythaeus


Reviews/28-Jun-93
-----------------

* MacWEEK -- 21-Jun-93, Vol. 7, #25
    CricketDraw III 2.0 -- pg. 49
    DeBabelizer 1.4.02 -- pg. 49
    Hardware Diagnostic Utilities -- pg. 58
      Snooper 2.0.1
      MacEKG 2.0.6x
      Peace of Mind 1.2.3
    Text Search Utilities -- pg. 62
      Alki Seek 2.1
      Retrieve It! 1.1
      GOfer 2.0
      On Location 2.0.1


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