Since the release of System 7.5 Update 2.0 earlier this
month several reproducible bugs and some patches to deal
with them have emerged. Here is a brief list to help you
keep on track:
 
Connectix Speed Doubler has been updated to version 1.1.2 to deal with various problems under System 7.5.3. The English version of the patch also rolls Connectix's AppleShare 3.6.1 patch into the Speed Doubler package (non-English versions of Speed Doubler still have to use the AS 361 patch separately).
The Speed Doubler patch is available from the Connectix web site at: http://www. connectix.com and at the MacSense Shareware page: http://www.macsense.com/ macsense/RESOURCES/Shareware.html. 
 
There is a problem with RAM Doubler 1.6.1 and System 7.5.3, particularly on PowerBooks. On the PowerBooks the incompatibility leads to System crashes when trying to wake up the computer from sleep and there seems to be a real sensitivity to low memory conditions.
Ric Ford has reported on the Macintouch page that using Apple's MacsBug can alleviate the problem (We've had limited success with this). He also mentions a patch that works on the System to make it appear correct to RAM Doubler. The patch was written with advice from Connectix but we do not carry this unofficial patch at our shareware site as we prefer to wait for an official update to RAM Doubler from Connectix.
 
Apple's LaserWriter Bridge and Internet Router Software do not work with Open Transport (included in the System 7.5.3 update). Apple has not announced any plans to update the Internet Software Router package but has indicated to us that a new LaserWriter Bridge is in the works—although no delivery date has been set. In the meantime, a patch to LaserWriter Bridge has appeared (again, at the Macintouch site). The patch appears to be a simple matter of telling LW Bridge what version of AppleShare is in OT. However, despite its simplicity we had no consistent results with it..
 
Even though we have a brand new version of System software to play with, there are those who are using the Aaron extension to make their systems look like Copland (the codename for Apple's System 8). Aaron has been updated to version 1.3 to take care of some System 7.5.3 issues. Aaron 1.3 is available from the MacSense Shareware page at: http://www.macsense.com/macsense/RESOURCES/Shareware.html. 
  
There is big trouble at Power Computing—or at least there was
until very recently. That is what Joanna Pearlstein and Kelly
Ryer are reporting in a recent (March 25/96) issue of the
trade journal MacWEEK.
In an article entitled “Power halts meltdown after operations crisis”, the authors detail a customer service nightmare of epic proportions that was unfolding, ironically, at the same time as waves of eager cloniacs were stampeding the company's booth at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco earlier this year.
Apparently, things got so bad that last month Power CEO Stephen Kahng posted a public letter at the comany's web site admitting that the situation had gone out of hand.
According to the MacWEEK article, Power has identified its problems and moved to deal with them, including hiring new staff to take care of the customer service end.
  
A speedy shared library that accelerates MacOS math functions
appeared and disappeared from the web last month.
MathLibMoto is a shared library for the MacOS Extensions folder
created by Mark Granger. The library is designed to accelerate MacOS
math functions on Power Macintoshes running System 7.5 or later.
Motorola, whose copyright is involved in the new library asked Mr. Granger to remove the file from his web page as the company is developing an official version of the library for a May release. The library is said to greatly speed some math functions on the Mac which should be of particular interest to the 3D and virtual reality crowd.
The current version of MathLibMoto (1.0.1) has not been tested for compatibility. If you are still interested we found a copy at the UMICH Hyperarchive at: http://hyper archive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cfg/math-lib-moto.hqx. 
The Mr. Granger's MathLibMoto home page is at: http://users.aol.com/granger/MathLibMoto.html. 
  
Hewlett-Packard has introduced a new low-cost color scanner.
The ScanJet 4p scanner is a 24-bit color and 8-bit grayscale
scanner that offers 1200 dots per inch (dpi) for enhanced image
quality and 300 dpi optical resolution for good image quality, and
highly accurate scanned text. It is expected to sell for about $499 US (list).
The ScanJet 4p scanner comes with Visioneer PaperPort document management software and Caere Omni Page Lite optical character recognition (OCR) software. It also comes with HP PictureScan 2.0, which automatically scans images into documents, and HP ScanJet Copy, which provides convenient color and grayscale copying. And that's not all! The ScanJet 4p scanner is shipped with Adobe PhotoShop Limited Edition for the Macintosh.
  
Global Village Communications has produced an update to its
GlobalFax fax/modem software that improves compatibility with
third party extensions and adds compatibility with System 7.5.3,
as well as the new PowerPC upgrades to Apple's PowerBook 500 and
PowerBook Duo series.
The updater is ONLY for PowerPort Mercury internal modems in the PowerBook 500 and PowerBook Duos that are using version 2.5 of the GlobalFax software—the update does not work with earlier versions of the software.
The PowerBook Duo 500 2.5.5 Updater is available at Global Village's sites on AOL and the Global Village BBS (408-523-2403), as well as the company's ftp site at: ftp:// ftp.globalvillage.com/pub/software/mac/PP500Duo_2.5.5_Update.sea.bin. 
  
Iomega has consolidated its ZIP and JAZ drivers into
one package called the Iomega Driver 4.3.
Version 4.3 of the Iomega Driver supports Iomega Jaz and Zip
drives but NOT Iomega's Bernoulli drives—although it is completely
compatible with the Iomega driver for Bernoulli. The Driver can now unlock a protected disk when Virtual Memory is enabled without running the Tools application.
The 4.3 Driver is compatible with System 6.0.8 through System 7.5.2. (The documentation was written before System 7.5.3 appeared—Ed.) According to the company the new driver fully supports Apple's SCSI Manager 4.3 and will work with third party SCSI accelerators that support SCSI Manager 4.3 or newer.
The Iomega Guest program, which is available on the Install floppy for Macintosh, loads the 4.3 Driver and can be used to support both Jaz and Zip drives.
The update is available from Iomega's US BBS at (801) 778-5888, European BBS
at ++353-1-8075-080, the Iomega AOL site (keywod "Iomega") and Iomega's web
and ftp sites: http://www.iomega.com  and ftp://ftp.iomega.com.
  
Now Software has released a public beta of their new
Now Utilities 6.0.
The new version has:
  Three new components: Now AutoType, Now Tabs and Now Shortcuts.
Major enhancements to Now Super Boomerang.
Improvements to Now Startup Manager, Now Menus, Now QuickFiler,
Now Save and Now FolderMenus.
In Now SuperBoomerang 6.0 the menus in the Open and Save dialogs are hierarchical (10 levels deep). Now AutoType lets you create macros for frequently typed words and phrases. Now Tabs places a tab bar for open windows at the bottom of the screen. Now Shortcuts lets you hold down a modifier key (such as Control) and click on a file or folder in the Finder and get a pop-up menu of frequently used functions like duplicate, lock, share, and make alias.
Some Now Utilities modules are extensible in version 6.0, allowing Now Software and third parties to write their own utility plug-ins. You can read about more new features and download the public beta version at Now's web site at: http://www.nowsoft.com/products/utilities/NU6.html
The release version of Now Utilities 6.0 BEGAN shipping on March 29. Upgrades are $29.95—order forms are available at: http://www.nowsoft.com or by calling (503) 274-2800.  
  
A Belgian firm, FirstClass NV, has announced Tailor for
for editing virtually any PostScript file from any source.
According to FirstClass NV, Tailor for Macintosh is a true
PostScript editor, not an import filter. It allows visual manipulation of any graphic object that can be described in PostScript. When you save a file from Tailor, the result is a PostScript or EPS file, not a proprietary file format.
Features include the acceptance of PostScript and EPS input from any platform— Macintosh, Windows, Unix and others; saving a document, a page or a selection in PostScript or EPS format, or export to Adobe Illustrator 3 format; selecting, moving, rotating and scaling objects just using the mouse. Text and paths, including clipping masks, can be edited. The Tailor toolbox allows to create new objects; and editing in preview mode or in wireframe mode.
Tailor for Macintosh 1.0 GX is available now. This version requires QuickDraw GX, an optional system software component of System 7.5. A version that does not require QuickDraw GX is scheduled for release just after summer.
Tailor for Macintosh is priced at $495 for commercial users, and at $295 for educational users. More information on Tailor and a downloadable demo copy are available at: http://www.enfocus.com. 
  
Recently, MacSense reported on an INIT called Secret Finder
Features that enables some dormant features in the new version
of the Finder that comes with System 7.5.3. A program mentioned
in that report (“Finder Extension Enabler”) has just been updated
for enhanced System 7.5.3 support.
Finder Extensions Enabler (formerly known as Finder Alias Extensions Enabler) is a system extension by Nevin Liber of Sector Scan Software thatselectively enables a number of hidden features to the Finder:
  If you control-drag an item, it will create an alias instead of moving/copying
that item (System 7.1 Pro or later).
Reveal Original (Command-R) menu item is added to the File menu: if you
have an alias selected and choose Reveal Original, the folder that holds the
original item is opened and the original item is selected (System 7.5 or later).
Control-delete will move the selected item to the trash (System 7.5.3 or later).
In addition, through the use of ResEdit, you can also:
Change the command key equivalent for Reveal Original (System 7.5.3 or later).
Disable the opening and closing zoom rectangles (System 7.5.3 or later).
Disable translucient dragging (System 7.5.3 or later).
Look for Finder Extensions Enabler (and Secret Finder Features) in the MacSense Shareware Library.
  
Deneba Software has released a three disk upgrade to its
improvements as well as new file import and export tools.
A new CGM I/O tool imports and exports CGM files. Other new
external tools include a Font & Tool Checker and a Raster I/O tool.
The Font & Tool Checker tool is a new tool in Canvas 3.5.4. When this tool is active, Canvas checks the Canvas documents you open to determine if the necessary fonts and external tools are loaded.
The Raster I/O tool is also new to Canvas 3.5.4. When this tool is active, the BMP, DCX, GIF, JPEG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, and WPG file formats are added to the Open and Save As dialog boxes.
The Canvas updater is available from Deneba's web site at: http://www.deneba.com/dsi_root/softlibs/cv35mac/c354update.html. 
  
Macromedia has introduced Macromedia Director 5. It
is expected to be available at retailers by early April.
Targeted at multimedia and Web developers, version 5
has dozens of new features which are also designed to
create multimedia presentations for the Internet using
Macromedia's Shockwave for Director plug-in for web
browsers.
  Macromedia's Open Architecture (MOA) provides new Macromedia Xtras,
third party plug-in applications that let users add specialized
capabilities and extended functionality to Director as an authoring
tool and runtime tool.
  The Lingo scripting language of Director 5 now provides 50%-300% faster
execution. Movies can be pre-loaded as well as loaded in the background,
and there's a new Memory Inspector tool for optimizing system
performance.
Director 5 now supports authoring on MacOS (68K and PowerPC), Windows 3.1,Windows 95, and Windows NT systems. Developers can play back their movies on these platforms as well as OS/2, SGI, OS/9, Enhanced CD, many interactive TV formats, and the Internet with Shockwave for Director.
Macromedia Director 5 is priced at US $850 (estimated street price). Upgrades are available for US $399. The Director Multimedia Studio 2 for Windows and Macintosh, which includes Director 5, Extreme3D, xRes and SoundEdit 16 plus Deck II is priced at US $999 (estimated street price) based on special promotional pricing through September 1996.
Registered owners of Macromedia Director can upgrade to the Studio for US $499.
  
Dartmouth College's Fetch 3.0.1 is now fully compatible with
Open Transport. The FTP software used for transferring files
on the Internet has numerous fixes and now works properly on
68000 Macs, Macs with PCI cards, and Macs using Open Transport.
You can get a copy of the software from most InfoMac Archives or from Dartmouth directly at: ftp://ftp.dartmouth.edu/pub/software/mac/Fetch_3.0.1.hqx. 
  
Aladdin Systems has announced a new version of its premiere
product, StuffIt Deluxe. According to the company, StuffIt
Deluxe version 4.0 is both faster and has more Internet savvy.
Here are some of the key new features:
  Faster Stuffing And Expansion
On a Power Macintosh, Stuffing now occurs up to 20% faster than before.
The expansion of many file formats is up to 50% faster, including
StuffIt, BinHex, ZIP, and others.
True Finder Integration
True Finder Integration brings more compression, expansion, and file
translation features into the Finder. A new addition to StuffIt Deluxe
is the True Finder Integration (TFI) control panel, which acts as a
central location where users can tailor all Aladdin technologies
integrated into the Finder. The TFI control panel features an
extensible architecture including three TFI “extensions”: StuffIt
Browser, Magic Menu, and Archive Via Rename.
StuffIt Browser
StuffIt Browser allows the user to view and manipulate archives in the
Finder. Double-clicking an archive instantly displays the contents of
the archive in a new window. Using drag and drop, a file is unstuffed
by dragging its icon from an open archive onto the desktop. Conversely,
a file can be Stuffed into a StuffIt archive by dragging it onto an
open archive window. Using Apple's Find File utility, users can search
their hard drive for files to archive based on file name, date
modified, etc., and then drag and drop files from Find File into a
Browser window, or even onto a closed StuffIt archive.
Magic Menu
Magic Menu, a Finder menu for helpful compression and utility functions,
has appeared in previous StuffIt Deluxe versions, but its functionality
has been improved in 4.0. The new Magic Menu supports more Internet
archiving and encoding file formats including “tar” (from Unix systems)
and segmented and multi-part UUencoded and BinHex files. The
compression formats Magic Menu can now expand include: StuffIt (.sit),
Compact Pro (.cpt), AppleLink (.pkg), ZIP (.zip), ARC (.arc), gzip
(.gz), tar (.tar), Unix Compress (.Z), UUencode (.uu), BinHex (.hqx),
MacBinary (.bin), and SpaceSaver-compressed files. Besides expanding
compressed files, Magic Menu can Stuff files and join files segmented
with a StuffIt product. Users of Qualcomm's Eudora (see “Internet
Improvements”, below), QuickMail (CE Software) and Microsoft Mail can
easily send mail using Magic Menu's “Stuff and Mail” feature.
Archive Via Rename
Another True Finder Integration feature is Archive Via Rename. This is
not exactly new since it was offered in previous versions of the
program, but it can now be configured in the TFI control panel; a user
simply adds “.sit” or “.sea” to a file or folder name and it will
instantly be converted into a StuffIt archive or self-extracting
archive. Conversely, by deleting the .sit or .sea from a file name, the
file or folder will automatically expand.
Internet Improvements
StuffIt Deluxe 4.0 now allows users of Eudora to Stuff and mail a file
or folder right from the Finder. By selecting an item in the Finder and
choosing “Stuff and Mail” from Magic Menu, the file or folder is
Stuffed into an archive and attached to a newly-created email message.
Other Internet improvements include better support of UUencoded and
BinHex-encoded files in addition to expansion of tar archives from Unix
systems. All these features bring easy-to-use Internet tools right
to users' desktops.
Other features include new StuffIt SpaceSaver Tagging, a DropSegment dropbox, and more.
StuffIt Deluxe 4.0 will ship this April for a suggested retail price of $129.95 US. Through July 1, Aladdin is extending a special upgrade offer to registered users of Aladdin products for $29.95.
  
Syquest is helping out its customers two ways. The company is
integrating technologyfor backwards compatibility and dropping
prices.
 
Last month at the CeBIT conference in Hannover, Germany, Syquest announced the Power Disk standard. Power Disk is a new cartridge technology based on Syquest's existing Winchester removable hard drives. Along with Nomai, Syquest PDC's (Power Disk Cartridges) will be a 3.5” removable hard drive cartridge that provides a forwards and backwards compatibility path for the users of 135MB, 270MB and 540MB single disk, 3.5” removable hard drive cartridges.
The new technology will be made available to a broader base of suppliers. Besides Syquest and Nomai, Kao, Maxell, Polaroid and Xyratex will produce PDC media.
Syquest says PDC will even guarantee users a future of compatibility beyond 540MB.
 
While PDC cartridges are still in the future, Syquest prices are going down now. The company announced price drops this week on its basic drive subsystems and this includes an offer of a free cartridge to drive buyers.
The following chart requires a Browser that supports HTML tables
Drive size Old Price New Price
135 MB $239 $199
200 MB $499 $399
270 MB $499 $399
The company will provide a rebate coupon for a free cartridge for these systems. SyQuest can be contacted at (800) 245-7334.
  
MacSense has learned of a problem with Quantum Fireball hard
drives. In certain configurations, use of the drives is causing
directory corruption and loss of data. The problem seems to occur only on internal drives fitted into Power Mac or Power Mac clone computers. Here are some details (based, in part, on information obtained at the APS ftp site: ftp://ftp.apstech.com/pub/PowerTools_Updates/ATTN-Quantum_Fireball_Drives).
Quantum, the manufacturer of the Fireball drive, issued a “white paper” on March 8 (Apple was expected to release similar information). According the documentation at the APS site, this problem is not necessarily the fault of the Fireball drive alone and could “theoretically apply to *almost any* third-party hard drive that has been installed internally”.
APS says this corruption has been most prevalent with PowerMac 7100/66 Macs, but has been seen occasionally with more current PowerMacs. The corruption has never been observed on drives installed in 68XXX Macs, nor in PowerMac 6100s.
The cause of the problem is the Write Cache on these drives, and the fact that the Power Macs in which they were installed were shutting down before the data in the drive's cache could be completely flushed to the media. Apple drives formatted with HD SCSI Setup 7.3.5 or higher do not seem to be affected. External drives are also not affected since their power supply allows them to finish writing to their cache when the computer is shut down.
Users of the drives have several options:
1. Turn off the Write Cache. This can already be accomplished with some
hard drive formatters, including APS PowerTools.
Power Computing has developed a small stand-alone utility to accomplish
this called Fireball Fix: ftp://ftp.powercc.com/support/Utilities/
FireballFix.sea.hqx. 
(Turning off the write cache will result in performance loss).
2. Use a corrected formatter. Some companies are at work updating
their formatting utilities to correctly flush the cache and eliminate
the problem. APS already has an update available to the APS PowerTools
4 utility. The update is available in two forms: an updater for all
versions 4.x; and an updater for version 4.02 to 4.04. The APS updates
are available at: ftp://ftp.apstech.com/pub/PowerTools_Updates/. 
FWB, makers of the Hard Disk Toolkit and HDT Personal Edition, have weighed in with a fix for the problems with Quantum Fireball hard drives. According to FWB, the write cache problem can only affect you if you meet all of these conditions:
1. You have a Macintosh 7500, 8500 or 9500
2. It is a Quantum FireBall Drive on bus 0 of one of these machines (You
can tell if your drive is a Quantum FireBall by looking in Primer. The
Vendor will be Quantum; the Model No. will show FIREBALL.).
3. The drive is your start up drive—the drive from which your machine boots
The problem with Write Cache on the Quantum FireBall drives can be resolved using a new Drive Data file for Hard Disk ToolKit. The file for HDT And HDTPE users is available at: http://www.fwb.com/fireball.html. 
Other updaters from other third party drive manufacturers should be appearing soon.
