Date: Fri, 21 Jan 94 00:40:19 PST From: The Moderators Reply-To: Info-Mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu Subject: Info-Mac Digest V12 #11 To: info-mac-list Info-Mac Digest Fri, 21 Jan 94 Volume 12 : Issue 11 Today's Topics: [*] "Here's How to MacPGP!" guide. [*] Acid Jazz 1.1v1 [*] ctc v1.6 src [*] four-bar-11-demo.hqx [*] Inflate v1.1 [*] KOI7&8 Fonts [*] QT Movie toolBox src [*] ShowSizes 2.2.3 [*] SitC Lister 2.0 (final) [*] Translator package (Q) Object dimensions software . Minitel, access from foreign countries [Q] - Hard disk drives Alternative to Network Control Panel(Q) AppleScript 1.1 and System 7 Pro AppleTalk Zone Problems AutoDoubler...is good, how about Stacker 1.0? (Q) AutoDoubler Flame BBS Client Disable 'connnect network dialog box' [A] Disappearing Icons Driver wanted for Hewlett Packard PaintWriter [R] Fullwrite for LW8.1 and spaces - another solution Fullwrite for LW8.1 and spaces - Solved How can I get the "Software Dispatch" CD-ROM?(A) INIT icon running off screen ISDN modems (R) (2 msgs) Kid Pix 1.2 (R) LC475 upgrade? Mac X Mangia! files not found (Q) Mathematica (A) MaxFax Voice upgrade Midnight Special sound [R] Minitel, access from foreign countries (C) Network Launch Fix (Q) Prince of P II Demo problems Recording sounds from CD ROM (2 msgs) Startupscreen for second monitor? Stretch 3.0 and Duos Stylewriter II with 'old' mac? Stylewriter vs Deskwriter System Software Memory Usage Updating MacTCP Updating MacTCP to 2.0.4 WDEF/CDEF modifying extensions Word 5.1 and Endnote [A] X-Windows [sic] on the Mac The Info-Mac newsgroup is moderated by Bill Lipa, Gordon Watts and Liam Breck. The Info-Mac archives are available (by using FTP, account anonymous, any password) in the info-mac directory on sumex-aim.stanford.edu [36.44.0.6]. Help files and indices are in /info-mac/help. Mail articles for inclusion in the digest to info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu. Send binaries to be placed in the archives to macgifts@sumex-aim.stanford.edu. Send administrative mail to info-mac-request@sumex-aim.stanford.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 13:22:40 -0600 From: an48138@anon.penet.fi (Xenon) Subject: [*] "Here's How to MacPGP!" guide. Hey Mac user, having too much fun? Don't want your plans made public? You're sending e-mail on "postcards" if you don't have the free public key encryption program PGP. You heard about it in the news; here's your easy guide to getting and using it. It will get non-Mac users started too. This is a simple text file. -Xenon [Archived as /info-mac/info/macpgp-guide-18.txt; 18K] ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 1994 10:33:32 -0800 From: "Kevin Jundt" Subject: [*] Acid Jazz 1.1v1 Acid Jazz is an Apple Event based phone dialer for use with such applications as FileMaker Pro 2.0, HyperCard 2.1 and QuicKeys 2.1 or later. It is a simple application that can be controlled via the AppleEvent sending capabilities of these applications. It can be used with any application that has the ability to send custom events or the standard "Do Script" event. Acid Jazz can also be used with Apple Script. It is both scriptable and recordable. 1.1v1 fixes several problems users reported with previous versions. The most notable fixes/enhancements are: o Powerbook Power Manager - Previous versions of Acid Jazz exhibited a problem with some internal modems installed in Macintosh Powerbook models. This problem manifested itself as a timeout when trying to dial through the modem on these machines. This problem has been corrected in this version. o Long Distance Prefix - Since I don't need to dial a "1" prior to long distance numbers in my area, I did not write any provision into the initial versions of Acid Jazz to handle this situation. This version adds a new field in the Preferences dialog box (Long Distance Prefix). The contents of this field will automatically be added to the beginning of all numbers dialed when the area code does not match what's entered into the local area code field. There is also a new script command (local) that allows you to control this feature via the Do Script Apple Event. $15 shareware with a 15 day evaluation period. [Archived as /info-mac/app/acid-jazz-11v1.hqx; 149K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 18:23:16 -0500 From: markf@post.QueensU.CA (Mark Fleming) Subject: [*] ctc v1.6 src Enclose is source code for: This is a greatly modified version of V1.4 and v1.5 of ctc type convert already in the Info-mac archive. ctc V1.6 - File Typer and End of line fixer (Supports auto suggestion for TIFF, BMP, EPSF and options to only convert creator or type of file) NOTE: TranslatorPackage.sit provided in separate posting contains the compiled version. [Archived as /info-mac/dev/src/change-type-creator-16-c.hqx; 26K] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:44:27 -0500 From: dandashl@ecn.purdue.edu (Hussam A Dandashli) Subject: [*] four-bar-11-demo.hqx Four-Bar 1.1 Demo (FPU) This update corrects an error that occurs when running the previous version on a machine that does not support an FPU. This is a demo version with every thing enabled for the default mechanism, i.e. the user cannot change the dimensions of the four-bar with either the mouse or the "Set Dimensions" dialog box. The full version will cost $15 sent to Sheba Softpurr P.O.Box 3035 W. Lafayette, IN 47906 Documentation could be aquired from the previous demo version posted a while back. Please circulate this demo. This demo may be included on the archive's CD-ROM. Hussam Dandashli [Archived as /info-mac/sci/four-bar-11-demo.hqx; 121K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 16:11:36 PST From: Alex Metcalf Subject: [*] Inflate v1.1 Inflate v1.1: Balloon Help for Hypercard I've just completed a major overhaul of my Inflate XCMD, which gives complete Balloon Help support to Hypercard objects (or regions of a card, using a transparent button). Balloon contents can be: * Pictures (of any size, color or black & white) * Text using different fonts, sizes, and styles * String resources, makes it easy to change for international versions * Text entered directly in your script New features for version 1.1 include: * You now specify the balloon's position by name rather than variation code * You can use 'STR#' resources for the balloon's contents * The code has been optimised for improved speed * The help balloons now rotate round depending on the position you specify * The error messages and handling have been improved * Robust code: compatible with ANY Mac system that has Balloon Help Bugs fixed: * It's no longer possible to have problems if you use the wrong # of params * The memory leak has been fixed (free memory kept decreasing with use) And to go along with all this, the online help has been vastly improved, and there is a new examples section showing the four different types of help balloons. Alex Metcalf Best Before Yesterday alex@metcalf.demon.co.uk [Archived as /info-mac/card/inflate-11.hqx; 27K] ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 1994 04:44:41 -0600 From: Daniel_Chirkov@fourd.com (Daniel A. Chirkov) Subject: [*] KOI7&8 Fonts Contents: KOI7 Font (bitmap size 9) KOI8 Font (bitmap size 9) KOI7 Keyboard layout file KOI8 Keyboard layout file Readme-KOI7&8.txt These fonts are for reading Relcom (Russian network) newsgoups and emailing to/from Russia in Russian. The included Keyboard layout files make it easier to type using the fonts. -Dan [Archived as /info-mac/font/koi7-koi8.hqx; 9K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 18:26:51 -0500 From: markf@post.QueensU.CA (Mark Fleming) Subject: [*] QT Movie toolBox src Enclose is source code for: This is a modified version of InportExportMovie and PICTMovie source code combined originally from QT V1.5 Dev. CD-ROM. It is hoped that people will enhance and improve on the changes I have made. I find it useful to create short movie clips and converting element into QuickTime movies. QT Movie ToolBox V1.0 - enhanced movie importExport Sample code, and QT PictMovie sample code merged into one application. Allows an user to create transition movies from still pictures and import and convert images into a QuickTime movie. NOTE: TranslatorPackage.sit provided in separate posting contains the compiled version. [Archived as /info-mac/dev/src/qt-movie-toolbox-10-c.hqx; 60K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 23:23:00 -0800 From: jonpugh@netcom.com (Jon Pugh) Subject: [*] ShowSizes 2.2.3 Here's a super minor release of ShowSizes 2.2.3. The primary reason is for address information to change, but I took the opportunity to disable (optionally) a warning dialog that may not be as useful as it used to be. See the documentation for more information. ShowSizes is a program which adds up the sizes of all your files and displays folders with bar charts on them (along with numbers) which indicate where all your disk space has gone. You can save your disk profiles for later comparison and you can also dump the stats to a tab delimited text file for importing into a spreadsheet or database. Share and enjoy. Jon [Archived as /info-mac/disk/show-sizes-223.hqx; 150K] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 13:32:59 -0600 From: "Paul Lemieux" Subject: [*] SitC Lister 2.0 (final) Enclosed is version 2.0 (final) of SitC Lister. [Archived as /info-mac/comm/sitc-lister-20.hqx; 75K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 17:53:09 -0500 From: markf@post.QueensU.CA (Mark Fleming) Subject: [*] Translator package Enclose is a stuffit/binhex file of updates to my translation utilities: - AFE Translators: TIFF (IBMpc to Mac) V2.0 EPSF (IBMpc to Mac) V2.0 Windoes (.BMP) to PICT V1.02 WordStar to RTF V1.02 dBase II && III to CSV V1.0.4 B&W Bitmap (Mac to IBMpc) BMP V1.0 - XTND Translators: Window (.BMP) V1.10 (All types except compress & 24bit RGB) StartUPSCreen V1.01 PC PaintBrush (PCX) V1.0 - color support is a litte buggy on some files. - Standalong Applications: BitMapsToEPS V3.10 - test application used to test above import formats with simple QT movie player, Color to B&W converter and primitive B&W Paint editor. - Standalong Drag & Drop System 7 Applications: BMP / PICT V1.30 - A enhanced version of BMP to PICT translator (includes TIFF, MacPaint, and StartUp screen translation to BMP or PICT's). ctc V1.6 - File Typer and End of line fixer (Supports auto suggestion for TIFF, BMP, EPSF and options to only convert creator or type of file) Source provided in separate posting. TEXT Converter v1.3 - EBCDIC translator, and Macintosh extended character set to plain ascii translator. QT Movie ToolBox V1.0 - enhanced movie importExport Sample code, and QT PictMovie sample code merged into one application. Allows an user to create transition movies from still pictures and import and convert images into a QuickTime movie. Source provided in separate posting. Documentation: Information on file format listed above and documenation on all file formats. Some program are shareware see documentation for details. Note: some of the AFE translators have been posted to info-mac in the pasted. please replace the AFE TIFF and AFE EPSF translator in info-mac with this posting. [Archived as /info-mac/cmp/marks-translators.hqx; 388K] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 13:07:37 +0200 (IST) From: Michel Lewinger Subject: (Q) Object dimensions software I am in need of a program to measure dimensions (length, area) of a .pict object. Something like gel readres, or the sort. Can anyone be so gentle to point me to any software (free/share/commercial) which can do it ? Thank You Michel Lewinger BeerSheva - Israel mlewin@bgumail.bgu.ac.il ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 08:20:06 -0600 From: brousseau%aaaca1@ann-arbor.applicon.slb.com (Robert Brousseau - Technical Translator) Subject: . Minitel, access from foreign countries Dieter Muller-Greven writes: >a) Got hold of the access # to the French Minitel and wanted to > share them with you: > > 011-33-36 43 11 11 (electronic phone book + yellow pages) > 011-33-36 43 13 13 (free service 3613) > 011-33-36 43 14 14 (low cost services 3614) > 011-33-36 43 15 15 (various charge services 36 15) > >b) Who has communication software for the Mac that can use the > basic graphics of the Minitel System? I think that is a VERY expensive way to access the Minitel. I called the Minitel offices in New York and had them send me the Minitel software for the Mac (800-646-4835). The cost was FREE. This software allows me to dial a LOCAL number and access all Minitel services. Each service's cost varies and it's generally a per-minute charge. Minitel automatically bills me at the end of the month. My question is: Why would one want to make a trans-atlantic call to access these services? The charges for the phone connection alone would be exhorbitant, especially if you connect at 1200 or 300 baud. From my experience with the Minitel, it is relatively slow at 2400 baud. Rob Brousseau brousseau@ann-arbor.applicon.slb.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 11:33:09 +1000 From: Christian.Stricker@anu.edu.au (Christian Stricker) Subject: [Q] - Hard disk drives Hello netters, I want to buy a bigger internal hard disk for my Quadra 700. Does anybody out there know if there is a chance of fitting two hard disk drives into a Quadra 700 box? My next question then is does anybody know of a lab test of 200 - 500 MB drives. I am not interested in an external drive - and I saw a couple of tests in MacWorld and MacUser. The only lab test I came across so far is the one in Byte (September 93, if I recall correctly). However, I have this feeling that Byte is often a little bit biased towards the PC side and the report does not tell me if a drive is SCSI-2 compatible or not. Or does anybody know of a great drive with 200 - 500 MB capacity and a good price per megabite and great performance? Thanks for your comments. Please mail me directly. All the best from down-under Christian. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 15:57:00 -0600 (CST) From: "Barry Markovitz, M.D. 454-6215" Subject: Alternative to Network Control Panel(Q) Does anyone know of a simple extension that allows one to easily switch network connections? Many times daily, I need to switch between Localtalk and Ethernet, and often I don't even remember which network I'm on so I end up opening the Network Control Panel unnecessarily. (I do use Quickeys to access the control panel, but ...) Something a la Andrew Welch's Colorswitch would be nice so it sits on your menu bar and you could quickly tell which network connection you're on and switch readily if necessary. On a related note, sometimes I notice that after several switches, FileSharing somehow turns itself off. Is this a bug, conflict, or a "feature" ;-) . TIA, Barry P. Markovitz Internet: Markovitz@a1.kids.wustl.edu AOL: BarryM6 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 20:14:18 GMT From: watkeyeh@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu (Edwin H. Watkeys III) Subject: AppleScript 1.1 and System 7 Pro Speaking of AppleScript 1.1, I called 1-800-SOS-APPL today to ask about upgrading to AS1.1 from 1.0. They told me that there was no upgrade path for System 7 Pro users and that in order to get the new version of AppleScript I'd need to buy one of the stand-alone products. This really pisses me off. Let's count the number of times which I've bought AppleScript. When I bought the Tao of AppleScript When I bought System 7 Pro When I bought the Complete AppleScript Handbook Now, they want me to buy it again as a standalone product to update to 1.1 which consists of bug fixes and minor feature enhancements? While I'm on the subject, let's review my System 7 Pro buying experience: I had QuickTime 1.6.1 from the Internet I had AppleScript from the Tao of AppleScript I had System 7.1 on my Duo 230 (legally) So, I bought System 7 Pro for $120 or something like that so I could get PowerTalk. When I got my high capacity battery for my Duo, I had to de-install System 7 Pro, reinstall 7.1, run the installation software which came with the battery, and then finally reinstall System 7 Pro. Apple's system software situation is evil. Ed Ed Watkeys watkeyeh@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu Drexel University Philosopher-Programmer EdWatkeys@distant.com Distant Software ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 1994 16:28:20 -0500 From: "Marc Leroux" Subject: AppleTalk Zone Problems We have an interesting situation/problem that has come up and welcome any and all help in resolving it. My level of expertise in dealing with AppleTalk networks is extreamly limited, but unfortunately, it is greater than anyone else in our organization, so I get stuck with these types of problems. Please bear with me as I try to describe the problem. Our local operation (Building A) is running with a LocalTalk network bridged to an Ethernet network via a EtherWay EL bridge. Each network is represented by it's own AppleTalk Zone that appears in the chooser. There are Macs on both the LocalTalk and on the Ethernet networks. We recently added a T1 line running through a router (so all traffic is being passed) to another site (Building B) that also has a combination of LocalTalk and Ethernet. When we connect the T1 line and reboot any of the Ethernet based Macs in our location (Building A), we see only the AppleTalk Zones from the remote site (Building B) and do not see any of our zones. None of the LocalTalk based Macs see any of the Building B zones, even if they are rebooted. I have been told (I have not witnessed this myself), that people at the other site (Building B) do not see their zones, they see our zones instead. I ran a utility program (NetCheck) that came with our Farallon StarController that examines the network. All of the zones (in both locations) have different names and Net numbers so there are no conflicts there. I don't know what else to check. I would have expected that each Building would see all zones. Any help would be very, very much appreciated. I would also appreciate it if you could respond directly to me, as my copy of Info-Mac is routed to me and I do not always receive it. Many thanks in advance. Marc Leroux Marc_Leroux@ultryx.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 19:00:57 +0000 From: Ricky W C Wan Subject: AutoDoubler...is good, how about Stacker 1.0? (Q) While many people are happy about AutoDoubler, I am more interested in the comments of stacker 1.0. Why? Since I just bought it few days ago but have not install it yet. I understand that stacker is less popular than AutoDoubler, but I hope some of you can tell me about your experience in using stacker. I bought it because it got 4 mouse in UK's MacUser and it is reasonably priced from where I got it. However, I think users' comments are sometimes more valuable than the result of short-term testing. So any of you can mail me to tell if you are happy about the program. Then hopefully I can be more confident about stacker, or I can pay more attention on some potential problem, if there is any. BTW, I think that one wants to use disk compression program such as AutoDoubler or Stacker, he should get hold of a disk-fixing program like Norton Utilities or MacTools for the save side. Even a bug free program can get wrong due to some unusual hardware or software conditions. (I bought stacker together with MacTools 3.0 and try to get familiar with MacTools before I install stacker. However, I am not very happy about MacTools, mainly because my LC has only 4MB RAM. I probably mail my comment on MacTools next time.) Ricky Wan (wcw@doc.ic.ac.uk) ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 1994 10:03:57 U From: "Harris Tom" Subject: AutoDoubler Flame I have used AutoDoubler on the following Macs Mac Plus running System 6.07 with lots of init Radius 16 accel Mac SE running System 7.0 with lots of extensions Performa 475 running System running System 7.1P3 with lots of ext. Quadra 610 running System 7.1 with lots of ext. I have found AD 2.03 to work flawlessly. The only corruptions I experienced was caused by a failing hard disk. Performance was based on configured AD Cache. I recommend AD and DiskDoubler to everyone I know who needs this capability. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 12:06:03 -0600 (CST) From: Mark Vellek Subject: BBS Client Does anyone know of a Shareware BBS client that allows graphical access to both Macs and (gad) Windows? I realize FirstClass is available, but's it's too expensive for my needs: I have a window network up and running and I would like to access it via modem from home. Is this going to be possible? Please send responses to the list or to the REAL interested party, my brother at jmvarch@aol.com Mark Vellek (new dad) Columbia, MO ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 18:50:01 +0100 From: robk@stack.urc.tue.nl (Rob Kouwenberg) Subject: Disable 'connnect network dialog box' [A] Howdy ! I a previous mailing I wrote : >Whenever I enable and disable Appletalk using the chooser, I always get the >dialog box that says something like: 'make sure you are connected to an >appletalk network' Gabriel M. Schuyler pointed me to 'ToggleAT.sit' ( and sent it to me ! ), which is a FKEY that toggles the Appletalk on/off. It's clear message in the menu bar shortly reflects the appletalk state. Thanks again Gabriel, greetings to the netters, Rob Kouwenberg [ robk@stack.urc.tue.nl,Gr.Adolfstraat86,5616BX,Eindhoven,Holland ] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 22:09:14 CST From: David M. Ikenouye Subject: Disappearing Icons A fellow BBS user has asked me to post this message. Help. Could someone be kind enough to tell me how to fix an icon problem. I have a Classic. Here's my whole story... One day, I left the computer sitting around and a kid used my computer. The time I left it, the icons were still perfectly normal. I came back to it, and the mac was shut down. I restarted it, and all icons were generic including the documents. I no longer am able to double click the document. I've done everything I could do get the icons back. I zapped the ram, deleted the desktop installed new system software. Nothing. Finally. I deleted my entire hard drive. All the icons worked. Just as I finished up. I used Techtool to delete my desktop file, and then I used filetyper to set a namelock on my hard drive. I used a defragmentation programme to clean up my hard drive. I rebooted - everything went well, the desktop was rebuilding but the icons disappeared again. I'm doing something wrong. It's not the desktop file although I know for sure that it's not being rebuild properly. I am not sure if it is the finder, I've tried reinstalling system software. Oh, there's one thing I forgot to mention. When I rebuild my desktop with system 6, commandxo, the icons come back. But as soon as I go back to system 7 either with disk tools or my hd, the icons disappear again. There's something wrong. I'm either doing something wrong or there's a bug in system 7. Any suggestions? TIA. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 11:27:49 GMT-0600 From: jemian@tmnxt1.iit.edu (Pete Jemian) Subject: Driver wanted for Hewlett Packard PaintWriter [R] Keith Marshall writes: > I'm looking for a driver for a Hewlett Packard PaintWriter > has anybody heard of one? Is there a shareware one buried > at some obscure ftp site? Hewlett-Packard has an update on the driver for the PaintWriter. When I got it last year (13-August-1993), they sent me v3.0.7b. To get the update, I "simply" called 303-353-7650, navigated the voice mail system successfully, and they sent me the update for free. Maybe this also works for you if you live out of the country. Maybe you have an HP office that is more local to you down under. If you can't get the driver from HP directly, I'll check with them to see if I can post it to SUMEX or some such. Pete Jemian jemian@tmnxt1.iit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 09:02:58 +0200 From: michaels@techunix.technion.ac.il (Dr. Michael S. Silverstein) Subject: Fullwrite for LW8.1 and spaces - another solution Fullwrite was modified by disabling the custom postscript codes in order to use the LW8 driver following the 'official instructions'. The problem was extra space in printed Fullwrite documents that occured when a word contained a mixture of Geneva and Symbol fonts. The people at Akimbo (fullwrite@aol.com) suggested that the problem was that the Geneva font gets changed to Helvetica on printing and that is the source of the problem. I changed the font to Helvetica using the font sensitive change command and they were right. The kind people at Akimbo also sent me a better way to go about editing in Geneva and printing in Helvetica: >It's even easier if you do this via base styles. Set the base >style to Geneva and prepare your document. To print, change the >base style to Helvetica and like magic all Geneva text changes to Helvetica, >with any other fonts unchanged. The same thing >happens with other base style attributes. If you change from >12 to 10 pt, all 12 pt text changes and all other text remains >unchanged in size. Be careful of the following: if you >mix 10 and 12 pt sizes, and then change the base size 12->10 >when you change it back 10->12, everything will end up being >12 pt, even the stuff that was originally 10pt. > >One more note: the reason you didn't have problems before you >disabled FullWrite's custom postscript code is that one thing >that code does is try and fix things up as best as possible >when font substitution occurs. It was doing this behind the >scenes for you before and you never even noticed that all the >spacing was different! They also mentioned: >By the way, we'll be making FullWrite 2 LW8 compatible. Please note: I am in no way connected to Akimbo...just an extremely satisfied user of Fullwrite Pro. Michael Silverstein Materials Engineering Technion ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 11:19:29 +0200 From: michaels@techunix.technion.ac.il (Dr. Michael S. Silverstein) Subject: Fullwrite for LW8.1 and spaces - Solved Thanks to the people at fullwrite@aol.com for their promt and accurate reply. I have enclosed a selection from their advise and my answer below for public interest: >>You weren't very specific about what you meant by "Huge gaping >>hole" -- if you're referring to extra space rather than missing >>letters... > >Yes you were correct, I was referring to extra space, not missing letters. > > >>First, you shouldn't use geneva >>for laser printed output. The print driver substitutes Helvetica >>resulting in inferior formatting. > >BINGO!! I went through the document changing Geneva to Helvetica, leaving the >Symbol alone, and printed using the LW8 driver. Everything was perfect. > >I just realized now that I could do a global font sensitive change to change >all Geneva to Helvetica and leave Symbol alone! This is a very powerful >feature, making it easy to edit on-screen in Geneva and switch to whatever I >like for printing without affecting the Greek. Another gem discovered. > >Thanks again! Michael Michael Silverstein Materials Engineering Technion ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 15:02:17 GMT From: rlvd_cif@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Rob Levandowski) Subject: How can I get the "Software Dispatch" CD-ROM?(A) In digest <9401140817.AA27336@SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU> Info-Mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu writes: >> How can I get the "Software Dispatch" CD-ROM? >The ad in the February MacUser has an order form with the address: > Software Dispatch > PO Box 876 > Brea, CA 92622-9903 >There's no charge. Be aware that this CD quietly installs a new extension into >the system folder and some users have reported conflicts with existing >extensions. >ted.dees@stpete.honeywell.com One thing I haven't noticed people saying in all the uproar over the Software Dispatch init (which has caused me no problems) is that SW Dispatch includes a free copy of Acrobat Reader (eh, well, it's free)... but that includes a free copy of ATM 3.6. So, even if you don't plan on buying any of the software, you can get _something_ useful from it... ;) -- --Rob Levandowski Computer Interest Floor associate / University of Rochester macwhiz@cif.rochester.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:35:39 MST From: Jim Powlesland Subject: INIT icon running off screen I have so many extensions, etc. that the icons form two rows across the bottom of the screen. The problem is that the bottom row icons run right off the screen before continuing on the top row. What is causing this? And, how can I fix it? -- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 10:52:14 EST From: "Jeffrey N. Fritz" Subject: ISDN modems (R) Hans de Wolf asked: HdW> A question: does anybody know if there are ISDN modems available HdW> for the Macintosh ? We have recently moved to a new building which HdW> is equipped with ISDN, and only a few analog lines are available. HdW> HdW> Are there external ISDN modems, or internal ISDN modems on a NuBus HdW> card? I'm not sure what you are asking for Hans. Usually ISDN and modems are different devices. ISDN is digital and modems are analog. Do you mean ISDN terminal adapters (TAs) designed to work with Mac? In that case, most TAs will work just like most modems will work. Some TAs do have analog jacks on them that could work with modems. (We refer to analog jacks as RJ-11 in the U.S. I'm not sure if the same designation holds there.) If we have an application in an all ISDN building that absolutely needs a modem, we generally will install a separate analog line. If you are looking to run a modem over an ISDN line, there are TAs and ISDN NuBus cards that have RJ-11 connectors on them. It is possible to connect a standard modem to the RJ-11 and use a voice B channel for modem use. This was true of the Apple NuBus ISDN card. I'm not sure about the others (OST or Euronis Planet). Jeffrey Fritz jfritz@wvnvm.wvnet.edu West Virginia University ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 10:52:14 EST From: "Jeffrey N. Fritz" Subject: ISDN modems (R) Hans de Wolf asked: HdW> A question: does anybody know if there are ISDN modems available HdW> for the Macintosh ? We have recently moved to a new building which HdW> is equipped with ISDN, and only a few analog lines are available. HdW> HdW> Are there external ISDN modems, or internal ISDN modems on a NuBus HdW> card? I'm not sure what you are asking for Hans. Usually ISDN and modems are different devices. ISDN is digital and modems are analog. Do you mean ISDN terminal adapters (TAs) designed to work with Mac? In that case, most TAs will work just like most modems will work. Some TAs do have analog jacks on them that could work with modems. (We refer to analog jacks as RJ-11 in the U.S. I'm not sure if the same designation holds there.) If we have an application in an all ISDN building that absolutely needs a modem, we generally will install a separate analog line. If you are looking to run a modem over an ISDN line, there are TAs and ISDN NuBus cards that have RJ-11 connectors on them. It is possible to connect a standard modem to the RJ-11 and use a voice B channel for modem use. This was true of the Apple NuBus ISDN card. I'm not sure about the others (OST or Euronis Planet). Jeffrey Fritz jfritz@wvnvm.wvnet.edu West Virginia University ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 1994 09:16:42 +0000 (U) From: "Dees, Ted E." Subject: Kid Pix 1.2 (R) Well, if you truly appreciate ANY comments, here's my 2 cents: >(1) In 32-bit mode (using Mode32), selecting Samll Kids Mode freezes the >program, and requires my restarting the Mac. I'm running it on an si, using the native 32-bit mode. Small Kids Mode works with no problems. >(2) In Small Kids Mode, the ``bib'' that's supposed to prevent my girl >From selecting the Desktop doesn't work on my setup because the ``bib'' >covers only the Pivot/LE but not the SE/30's (internal) monitor, so >accidentally clicking on the SE/30's screen does bring up the Desktop and >provide access everything else. I'm using KidDesk as my "insurance" -- this program provides a simple desktop which, under adult control, provides access to only the child's applications. I don't know how it handles multiple monitors, though. >(3) The manual states, ``Press the spacebar when booting Kid Pix and the >drawing screen will enlarge to take advantage of monitors larger than >13".'' Not so on my Color Pivot/LE, i.e. the drawing screen does not >fill up the Pivot/LE's screen. No experience with this. I'm using the Apple 13" monitor. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 11:28:03 GMT From: Michael Everson Subject: LC475 upgrade? Can an LC475 be given an FPU? Can it be upgraded to Power PC? Michael Everson School of Architecture, UCD; Richview, Clonskeagh; Dublin 14; E/ire Phone: +353 1 706-2745 Fax: +353 1 283-8908 Home: +353 1 478-2597 ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 1994 22:56:20 GMT From: kerr@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Stan Kerr) Subject: Mac X Info-Mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu writes: .>When I was talking to a sales body from White Pine Software the other day the .>body mentioned that Apple was nolonger updating Mac X and that ver. 1.2 would .>be .>the last, has anyone else heard this? Any idea why Apple would do this? That would be pretty surprising, considering that one of the MacX developers was soliciting comments and suggestions in these newsgroups just a few weeks ago. Try sending your ideas to Macxideas@seeding.apple.com I'm praying they will update it, and that it will be as solid as MacX 1.2 has been. -- ----- Stan Kerr Phone:217-333-5217 Fax:217-244-7089 Computing & Communications Services Office, U of Illinois/Urbana ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 21:45:57 -0500 From: wfarkas@vt.edu (Wendy Farkas) Subject: Mangia! files not found (Q) Somewhere in one of last week's issues I found references to these files: app/mangia-bacardi-party-book.hqx; 36K app/mangia-harveys-bristol-cream.hqx; 14K I haven't been able to find these in the APP directory (all I see is the Mangia! demo). Since I just bought a copy of Mangia!, I'm particularly interested in exploring these files. Can anyone tell me where they're hiding? Thanks. Wendy Farkas Virginia Tech ------------------------------ Date: Thu Jan 20 22:50:55 1994 From: jumbo@imp.ch (David Wechsler) Subject: Mathematica (A) Hi In Info-Mac 12/008,I'm searching for ftp-server with information,programs etc for Mathematica-Applikation. I receive a lot of mails,thanks to: ROSS@TAMPHYS.BITNET robertd@dragonfly.wri.com ddkilzer@iastate.edu jvance@cearn.bitnet lips@wspcpm.pcpm.ucl.ac.be ryeburn@popserver.sfu.ca gjb@luc.ac.be The few ftp-sites are: mathsource.wri.com (aliases: ftp.wri.com, fiji.wri.com, 140.177.10.5) otter.stanford.edu (36.21.0.104) yoda.physics.unc.edu (152.2.65.137) ra.nrl.navy.mil (128.60.0.21) archives.math.utk.edu Many thanxs! -David jumbo@imp.ch ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 00:18 EDT From: RICH FRIEDMAN Subject: MaxFax Voice upgrade Has anyone had any positive experience using the MaxFax with voice upgrade. I found that unless it was in the foreground, I would get the data negotiation tones when I called in to the modem. I also had a terrible time trying to get the program to accept a replacement outgoing message. It would record the message but not save it when I told it to. Any comments??? Rich Friedman@mbcl.rutgers.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 11:44:55 GMT-0600 From: jemian@tmnxt1.iit.edu (Pete Jemian) Subject: Midnight Special sound [R] IN a recent Digest, Tom Van Vleck writes: > In the late 50s and early 60s, I looked forward to a special > radio program Saturday nights on Chicago station WFMT, > called "The Midnight Special." ... don't know if the > station or the show is still on the air. Come back to the Windy City, Tom. The temperature is now above zero Fahrenheit and "The Midnight Special" is still broadcast twice a week (second time is a repeat) on station WFMT, FM-98.7. Norm Pellegrini hosts. While not a public radio station, they must be the _best_ (IMHO, no flames) classical music station in the country. Especially because of their strong support and sponsorship of LIVE MUSIC BROADCASTS. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 15:33:26 -0500 From: mingo@panix.com (Charlie Mingo) Subject: Minitel, access from foreign countries (C) ncoast!tdi3!dieter@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu ((Dieter Muller-Greven)) writes: > a) Got hold of the access # to the French Minitel and wanted to > share them with you: > > [France telephone numbers deleted] Calling France to use Minitel will prove rather expensive ($.60/minute, plus $0.20-0.40/min Minitel charges). There is a Minitel USA service, that lets you call local numbers and connect to Minitel for $0.17-0.34/minute. > b) Who has communication software for the Mac that can use the > basic graphics of the Minitel System? Minitel USA has Minitel emulation software available for free. You can ftp it from: nic.switch.ch:/software/mac/info-mac-shadow/comm/minitel.hqx It is set up to use the US access numbers, but you could probably coerce it into calling France as well... ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 1994 14:14:01 +0000 (U) From: "Dees, Ted E." Subject: Network Launch Fix (Q) MacWeek reported last week that Apple had a fix for the problem that 040 macs have lauching applications over a network (Network Launch Fix). Supposedly this was posted at ftp.apple.com but I haven't been able to find it. Does anyone know if and where this fix is posted? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 12:32:30 EST From: "Christopher B. Hopkins (Wesley)" Subject: Prince of P II Demo problems Working off a 4/80 PB165 and an external monitor, I can't get the Prince of Persia II demo to work... It says, during installation, that my system setup should work (sys 7.1, QuickDraw, color, 4mb RAM) but then when I try to run it the program asks for over 3mb of free RAM. Well, I tried to get my System under 1 mb but that's next to impossible -- even if I startup from the Disk Tools disk (with the small System). Sadly, the PB won't run an older (smaller system) and PoP2 doesn't work with virtual memory. Any ideas? I *KNOW* it's just a game (you high-minded scoffers out there) but the first Prince of Persia was perhaps the best game I've run across fro for the Mac.... (not to mention, we're snowed in here in DC and are other- wise bored!) Thanks for any help, Christopher HOPKINS@AMERICAN.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:01:49 GMT From: vosse@ruls41.leidenuniv.nl (Theo Vosse) Subject: Recording sounds from CD ROM In Info-Mac Digest V12 #9, DAVID.D.F.O'KEEFE@BHPMELMSM.BHP.bhpmel04.telememo.au wrote: > ... Is there any > shareware/freeware product which will allow me to record sound directly from > the inbuilt CD ROM in my IIvx? A few days ago, I finished a very simply program to do so. However, it requires an Apple CD300 or CD300i player. The Apple CD and SC simply don't have the capability to grab the audio data from disk. I posted the source code last week to alt.sources.mac, but I can send the Binhex'd binary to everyone who is interested. The only real disadvantage of the program is that it requires an awful lot of memory (176k per second of sound), although it has the option of saving it as a much smaller sound (e.g. a standard mac sound requires only 22k per second of sound). So, sampling 10 seconds from CD requires over 1.5Mb, and results in a system beep of 110 or 220 k. Theo Vosse ---------- Unit for Experimental Psychology University of Leiden The Netherlands ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:10:13 MET From: An Apple a day... 20-Jan-1994 1005 Subject: Recording sounds from CD ROM In your article you write: >My apologies if this is a FAQ but I dont have access to USENET. Is there any >shareware/freeware product which will allow me to record sound directly from >the inbuilt CD ROM in my IIvx? I would like to be able to lift sounds from CD >to use as system beeps. Actually you don't need any, infact with QuickTime) (I'm using 1.6.1) you just drop in the audio CD in the SC300 and launch, say, MoviePlayer which has enough options to let you choose your output format (stereo, mono, 44Khz, 22Khz, etc..) Be aware, tho, that you may be moving megabytes for a single record in the CD! Have Fun! Giuseppe Milana Digital SpA Milan, Italy milana@mlncsc.enet.dec.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 20:17:03 -0500 From: clu@po.cwru.edu (Christopher L. Ursich) Subject: Startupscreen for second monitor? A friend of mine has a PowerBook 165c and uses an external monitor and keyboard when she is at her desk. When she starts up her mac at her desk, she would like the startup screen to appear on her external monitor rather than on her PowerBook's screen. How can she do this? Chris Ursich clu@po.cwru.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 09:01:57 +0100 From: Martin.Jourdan@inria.fr (Martin Jourdan) Subject: Stretch 3.0 and Duos If you have a Duo and are interested by the "Stretch" CP, read on. I downloaded the "Stretch 3.0" control panel which was posted to the Info-Mac archives some days ago. The purpose attracted me very much; quoted >From the posting: >Stretches your windows from any side or corner. >Iconifies and restores your windows. >IconBox application stores icons of all other windows in compact scrollable >window. But when I installed it on my Duo 250, the windows were not changed in any way. Nothing, rien, nichts, niets, nada, nitchevo. The control panel launched OK and could be configured as advertised, but had strictly no effect. Disappointing. Then I remembered having read in Nick's excellent Duo FAQ that the System Enabler for the Duos contains a special WDEF intended to eliminate the "liquid motion" effect of standard 3-D System-7 title bars on the passive-matrix 4-bit grayscale screen of the Duo 210 and 230. (Interestingly enough, my Duo 250 has an active-matrix greyscale screen and I had the standard 3-D titlebars right from the beginning; I guess the WDEF in the new "PowerBook Duo Enabler" adapts its behaviour to the type of screen it runs on.) Anyway, I checked into my Enabler with ResEdit, and indeed it contained a WDEF 0 ressource. I carefully followed Nick's indications to delete it (see end of this message), and now Stretch works perfectly well. Now I have nifty 3-D windows with Motif-like borders for resizing and moving, and I can iconify them by double-clicking in the title bar (you can configure this). Great! I hope this is useful for other Duo owners. Martin Jourdan -- INRIA, Projet ChLoE, Rocquencourt, France Indications to delete the WDEF resource in the Duo Enabler (by Nick) ========================================================== To do this make a copy of your system enabler, and open it with res-edit (if you don't know what res-edit is, you probably don't want to be doing this) and remove the [single] WDEF resource [by selecting it and choosing "Clear" in the Edit menu]. Move your active system enabler out of the system folder (save it - you might want to use it again) and put your "edited" version in it's place. Then restart the computer. I've never heard of any conflicts resulting >From this hack - but I doubt it's Apple approved. You've been warned. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 17:09 EST From: TOBIN@vms.cis.pitt.edu Subject: Stylewriter II with 'old' mac? Hi Netters, I'm trying to get a Stylewriter II (ordinarily used w. a powerbook) to work with my old 512K/E Mac that has a third party SCSI/memory board. This 'mac-plus' equivalent has 2.5 Meg RAM, 80 MB hard disk, and is running under System 6.0.8). The principal difference vs. a real mac plus is the db-9 serial connections instead of the din-8. Until now, I have never had any problems using either mac-plus compatible software or serial peripherals (modem, scanner, imagewriter II, etc.). After looking at the 'serial port docs.txt' from info-mac, I ran an imagewriter "DB-9 to DB-25" cable from the Mac through an Apple "DB25 to DIN-8" serial cable to the Stylewriter. Here's the wiring setup (adapted from serial port.doc): DB-9 (MAC) DB-25 DIN-8 (PRINTER) GROUND 3 --+------- 7 GND ---------- 4 GROUND RECV DATA + 8 --+ RECV DATA - 9 ---------- 2 TD ---------- 3 XMIT DATA XMIT DATA - 5 ---------- 3 RD ---------- 5 RECV DATA HANDSHAKE 7 ---------- 20 DTR --------- 1 DTR No other lines are connected. When I try to print, the document gets spooled to disk, and the Stylewriter page feeder and print head start to move, just like when printing from the powerbook, but then I get a printmonitor message saying to make sure the printer is connected, and turned on, etc... I tried the obvious things like checking for continuity through the cables and using both printer and modem ports, with no luck. Since there were no problems installing the stylewriter driver software or fonts, I guess the printer needs another handshake line. I'd appreciate any advice, or pointers to a tech note or whatever. Thanks in advance Mike Tobin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 17:14:47 +0200 From: michaels@techunix.technion.ac.il (Dr. Michael S. Silverstein) Subject: Stylewriter vs Deskwriter I have meant to write this note for a while...and if it helps one person make a better printer decision than it will serve its purpose. Note: All the opinions expressed herewith are mine! All mine! I decided to buy a Stylewriter II over a Deskwriter for a bevy of reasons most important of which was the fact that the drivers would always be up to date. I have since then regretted that decision daily. I look enviously at my collegues with Deskwriters for the following reasons that have superceded any concerns about driver software. a) Water based ink. Document handling instructions: No sneezing allowed. Do not eat an apple (whoa!) anywhere in the vicinity. No drinking. Do not drop on the floor. Do not take outdoors. Do not water your plants. Wear rubber gloves. I LOVE the environment but this ink is insane. What are people out there doing? Photocopying everything they print so that they will have respectable documents? b) The feed mechanism often eats, mangles and spits back paper. c) I often want to print a single page on letterhead or envelopes. Not only is the procedure inconvenient but exponentially raises the rate of mangling in (b) above. If I had to do it all over again I would buy a Deskwriter without a picosecond's hesitation.... I hope this helps someone out there... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 10:43:37 EST From: "Jeffrey N. Fritz" Subject: System Software Memory Usage bouldin@anvil.nrl.navy.mil asked: > If you do "About this Macintosh", you only get a total of the memory > used by the system. Is there some way to get more detail?? I am > trying to figure out which INITS, etc take up memory, how much, and > so on. Any utils that give more detail than the Finder provides??? Now Software's Startup Manager (part of Now Utilities) does provide information on INITs. It gives size (which I think is the file size on disk), amount of memory used and where that memory is being taken from (system heap, high RAM, etc.) Jeffrey Fritz jfritz@wvnvm.wvnet.edu West Virginia University ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 09:08:45 PDT From: ace@tidbits.com (Adam C. Engst) Subject: Updating MacTCP In Regards to your letter <199401200952.AA17309@nwnexus.wa.com>: > I have both the 2.0.2 version of MacTCP and the update available > >From seeding.apple.com. I made several attempts to update the > 2.0.2 version to 2.0.4 but I always get an error. > What do I have to do to get this patch installed successfully? Update a clean copy of MacTCP from your master disk. The updater doesn't expect a copy that you've used... cheers ... -Adam -- Adam C. Engst, TidBITS Editor -- ace@tidbits.com -- info@tidbits.com Author of The Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh -- tisk@tidbits.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 10:21:34 +0100 From: williams@tours.inra.fr (John Williams) Subject: Updating MacTCP to 2.0.4 In digest #10, Rory Clancy wrote: Hi Info-mac readers, I have both the 2.0.2 version of MacTCP and the update available >From seeding.apple.com. I made several attempts to update the 2.0.2 version to 2.0.4 but I always get an error. I've booted my mac with extensions/cp's off and even booted it from a floppy with a trimmed down OS. System details: LC II, Sys 7.1 What do I have to do to get this patch installed successfully? You have to update the *original* copy of MacTCP - I got caught out the first time, but on reading the notes in the updater folder, it did mention this fact. However, I thought that it wasn't *that* clearly explained and would suggest to any Apple people reading this that they modify their readme file and place a warning in LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS !!!!! John Williams INRA Station de Recherches Avicoles, Centre de Recherches de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France Tl (33) 47 42 78 47 Fax/tlcopie (33) 47 42 77 78 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 09:02:02 +0100 From: Martin.Jourdan@inria.fr (Martin Jourdan) Subject: WDEF/CDEF modifying extensions This is to ask the net about extensions/control panels to change the appearance and behaviour of windows and scrollbars (WDEFs and CDEFs). When I "only" had a monochrome PB 170, I was very happy with "AltCDEF 1.3" and "~AltWDEF 1.5.3" by Alex Colwell. The former gave me compact double arrows at each end of the scrollbars (plus option-click in the gray area reversed the direction of page scroll), while the latter installed an iconify box in the title bar. Furthermore, these CPs were free (as far as I know). Very nice. Unfortunately, the look was boring, 2-D, B&W, System-6-like, and they have not been updated for a long time (1991). Now that I have a Duo 250 which I use with its high-quality greyscale active-matrix screen or with various color monitors, I am more demanding on the look-and-feel. Recently I downloaded "Stretch 3.0" by Ross Tyler (to make it work on a Duo, remove the WDEF in the Duo Enabler; see my separate message to Info-Mac). This great, recent CP (1993, $10 shareware) completely subsumes AltWDEF's functionality and gives more: now I have nifty Apple-like 3-D color windows with Motif-like borders for resizing and moving, and I can iconify them by double-clicking in the title bar (you can configure this). Very very nice (although I'm less convinced by the companion application "IconBox"). I'll send my fee as soon as I can put my hands on a $10-note. To complete the 3-D, color look I replaced AltCDEF by "DoubleScroll 1.1.4" by Edward Voas (1992, $7 shareware), which perfectly simulates the look of Apple's scrollbars but gives you two arrows at each end (if the scrollbar is large enough). Very fine too, but I miss AltCDEF compact double arrows (they held in the same real estate as a standard single arrow) and option-click behaviour. Also, I read somewhere that version 2 would be there "real soon now". Questions: - Where can I find DoubleScroll v2 or later? - Anybody knows of better alternatives? - Anybody knows of other WDEF/CDEF modifying extensions and wishes to share its experience? Many thanks in advance. Martin Jourdan -- INRIA, Projet ChLoE, Rocquencourt, France ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:37:57 MEZ From: "Dr. Stefan P. Mueller" Subject: Word 5.1 and Endnote [A] Since Mark Monmonier didn't give the version of EndNote, which he found incompatible with Word 5.x, I'll have to speculate: Probably you are using and old version - it happened to me too after my upgrade from Word 4. Right now I am using EndNote Plus 1.2.1 without trouble. Niles & Associates certainely is not out of busines!! According to my documentation they can be reached at 2000 Hearst Ave. Suite 200 Berkeley, CA 94709 510/ 649-8176 (phone) 510/ 649-8179 (FAX) Upgrade! You'll get a plug-in module for Word 5.x which was not available earlier. You'll also get a newsletter. Good luck! Stefan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:27:31 -0500 From: matarese@java (Joseph R. Matarese) Subject: X-Windows [sic] on the Mac In response to Ian Young's posting the other day, I'll throw in my two cents'. My lab is set up a lot like Ian's; we have about 20 UNIX workstations (DECs and Suns), 30 Macs, a GatorBox bridge and a handful of PCs (*our* niche machines). We do most of our scientific computing on the UNIX machines using a lot of X graphics, and text- and publishing-oriented work get done on the Macs. We have also thought semi-seriously about dumping some of the workstations for more Macs. (Actually, one of our research staff who doesn't do much scientific computing *has* made the switch, replacing his low-end DECstation with a Quadra 950.) Our conclusion, based somewhat on his experience, is that doing this lab-wide would require three things: a faster MacX (I have no idea how well optimized MacX is) and/or PowerPC (the CISC 680x0s are fundamentally handicapped when it comes to performing X graphics) and Macs with >= 17" screens (X likes big desktops). We've decided to stick with the status quo for now and see what happens with PowerPC. If the high-end PowerPC machines turn out to be good price-performers with respect to low-end SGIs or DEC Alphas - BTW, Apple should use PowerPC to gun for Sun. If Apple is aggressive enough, they can do a Sherman's march through Sun's market. If you're gonna run OpenWindows you might as well run MacOS, but that's another story - then we may start trading-in. One thing I'm confused about though, Ian: why is your UNIX software maintenance so costly? We actually find Mac software fairly costly. In the UNIX world, there's too much excellent public domain software (it may not be pretty, but it gets the job done) to have to *pay* for anything. We order bare-bones UNIX boxes and maintain the OS. That's it. We usually toss the vendor X and put on the MIT core. In fact, one could argue that even maintaining the OS is a waste of money as long as you don't get an initial release. Right now we're running two-year-old Ultrix on our DECs. We don't even find it economical to maintain the hardware, and we are constantly pulling machines apart and putting them together again. If you treat a UNIX box as you would a Mac or PC, it's really not that much more expensive. With regard to Windows/WindowsNT: for our purposes it still seems like a poor compromise of MacOS and X/UNIX. When we want ease of use, we go Mac. When we want power and flexibility, we go UNIX/X. To paraphrase a well-known quote, when you come to a fork in the road it usually makes more sense to choose one direction or the other than to head off into the bushes. :-) joe ------------------------------ End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************