Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac 1993 September/September 93.iso/Archives/Mac FAQ/Mac Miscellaneous.FAQ

Internet Message Format | 1993-09-13 | 42KB

Date:  8/9/93 8:08 AM

To:  All

From:  [e-mail]

Subject:  Pt 1/4: Miscellaneous Macintosh


From: [e-mail] (Elliotte Rusty Harold)
Organization: Department of Mathematics, NJIT

Archive-name: macintosh/misc-faq
Version: 2.1.7
Last-modified: August 22, 1993

Copyright 1993 by Elliotte Harold


Changes:

     2.7)  Can I preview PostScript files on my Mac?

         Various people have reported that Canvas won't do this.
Others have reported that it will.  Since I don't own Canvas
to verify this myself, I've decided to remove this recommendation
at least until more definite info comes along.

     5.0)  Added section 5 on sound including : How can I read a track
     from an audio CD onto my Mac? How can I extract a sound from a
     QuickTime movie? and How can I convert/play a mod/wav/etc. file?

     6.4)  How do I use a picture for my desktop?

     The payware version of DeskPict is now called "FunPictures", not
     "DeskPictures."


                         comp.sys.mac.faq
                       Part 3: comp.sys.mac.misc



I.  Viruses
     1. Help!  I have a virus!
     2. I think I've found a new virus.  What should I do?
II. Printing and PostScript
     1.  How do I make a PostScript file?
     2.  How do I print a PostScript file?
     3.  Why won't my PostScript file print on my mainframe's printer?
     4.  Why are my PostScript files so big?
     5.  How can I print PostScript on a non-PostScript printer?
     6.  How do I make my ImageWriter II print in color?
     7.  Why doesn't PrintMonitor work with the ImageWriter?
     8.  Why did my document change when I printed it?
     9.  How can I preview a PostScript file?
     10. How do I edit a PostScript file?
III. DOS and the Mac
     1. How can I move files between a Mac and a PC?
     2. How can I translate files to a DOS format?
     3. Should I buy SoftPC or a real PC?
IV.  Security
     1. How can I prevent users from changing the contents of a folder?
     2. How can I password protect my Mac?
V.   Sound
     1. How can I read a track from an audio CD onto my Mac?
     2. How can I extract a sound from a QuickTime movie?
     3. How can I convert/play a mod/wav/etc. file?
VI.  No particular place to go  (Miscellaneous Miscellanea)
     1. Are there any good books about the Mac?
     2. How do I take a picture of the screen?
     3. How do I use a picture for my desktop?
     4. Can I replace the "Welcome to Macintosh" box with a picture?
     5. What is AutoDoubler? DiskDoubler? SpaceSaver? More Disk Space?
        NowCompress? DiskDoubler?  Are they safe?
     6. How do they compare to TimesTwo, Stacker, and eDisk?
     7. Where did my icons go?
     8. Where can I find a user group?

       This work is Copyright 1993 by Elliotte M. Harold
  Permission is hereby granted to distribute this unmodified document
  provided that no fee in excess of normal on-line charges is required
  for such distribution.  Portions of this document may be extracted
  and quoted free of charge and without necessity of citation in
  normal on-line communication provided only that said quotes are not
  represented as the correspondent's original work.  Permission for
  quotation of this document in printed material and edited on-line
  communication  (such as the Info-Mac Digest and TidBITS) is given
  subject to normal citation procedures (i.e. you have to say where
  you got it).

       This is the THIRD part of the this FAQ.  The first part is also
  posted to this newsgroup under the subject heading "Introductory
  Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ)" and includes a complete
  table of contents for the entire document as well as information
  on where to post, ftp, file decompression, trouble-shooting,
  and preventive maintenance.  The second part is posted to
  comp.sys.mac.system and features many questions about system
  software that often erroneously appear in comp.sys.mac.misc as well.
  Please familiarize yourself with all three sections of this document
  before posting.

       All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu
  [18.70.0.224] in the directory  pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh.
  Except for the introductory FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups
  and is stored as general-faq.Z, the name of each file has the format
  of the last part of the group name followed by "-faq.Z", e.g the
  FAQ for comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq.Z and the FAQ
  for comp.sys.mac.misc is stored as misc-faq.Z.  RTFM stores files as
  compressed (.Z) BINARY files.  If you leave off the .Z at the end
  of the file name when "getting" the file, rtfm will automatically
  decompress the file before sending it to you.  You can also have
  these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to
  [e-mail] with the line:
  send pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/"name"
  in the body text where "name" is the name of the file you want as
  specified above (e.g. general-faq).  You can also send this server
  a message with the subject "help" for more detailed instructions.

    Disclaimer:  I do my best to ensure that information contained
  in this document is current and accurate, but I can accept no
  responsibility for actions resulting from information contained
  herein.  This document is provided as is and with no warranty of
  any kind.  Corrections and suggestions should be addressed to
  [e-mail].


 ========
 VIRUSES  (1.0)
 ========

 HELP!  I HAVE A VIRUS.  (1.1)

       90% of all problems reportedly caused by viruses are actually
  due to mundane bugs in software (and 90% of all statistics are made
  up :-) ).  Check your system with the latest version of Disinfectant,
  3.2 as of this writing, by the excellent John Norstad from
  Northwestern University.  Disinfectant is absolutely free and is
  available from sumex-aim and all the other usual suspects.  It's easy
  to use and can completely protect your system from currently known
  Macintosh viruses.  Releases to protect from new viruses are normally
  made within a day or two of the first confirmed sighting and capture
  of a new virus, and make their merry way around the electronic
  highways faster than any Macintosh virus ever has.


 I THINK I'VE FOUND A NEW VIRUS.  WHAT DO I DO?  (1.2)

       DON'T post a report to any comp.sys.mac.* newsgroup.  99% of
  all suspected new viruses are merely mundane bugs in the system or
  applications being used; and even if you really have found a new
  virus, there's nothing we can do about it anyway.  You'll only
  generate a lot of panicked, follow-up reports from people who'll
  blame every crash of QuarkXPress on the new virus.

       If your system is protected against known viruses by
  Disinfectant or one of the other anti-virus packages and you suspect
  a new virus is causing you trouble, first consult with the most
  knowledgeable local guru about your problem.  Nine times out of ten,
  he or she will identify it as a boring, ordinary, known bug in the
  software.  If you are the local guru and still think you may have
  found a new virus, and have thoroughly  checked out all other
  possibilities, then, and only then, send a detailed description of
  your problem to [e-mail].  Check the Disinfectant manual
  for procedures to follow before reporting a new virus.

       Please remember that it is VERY unlikely you have actually
  found a new virus.  Around the world in all of 1992 only four new
  Macintoshes viruses were discovered.  Of all the suspected Macintosh
  viruses which were reported to Usenet before being isolated by a
  recognized virus expert, exactly none were eventually confirmed.  One
  recent public virus report, the so-called M virus, turned out to be
  the result of a boring, ordinary bug in a common extension.  The
  report which received the most attention, the so-called Aliens virus,
  remains unconfirmed and was probably the result of corrupt
  system software.



 ========================
 PRINTING AND POSTSCRIPT  (2.0)
 ========================

 HOW DO I MAKE A POSTSCRIPT FILE?  (2.1)

       First make sure a LaserWriter driver is in your System Folder.
  It doesn't really matter which one although LaserWriter driver 8.0
  is the best.  This driver is avilable from ftp.apple.com in the
  directory /dts/mac/sys.soft/imaging and works with System 6.0.5
  and later. If you're using the System 6 driver, you'll need a Laser
  Prep file in your System Folder as well as the LaserWriter driver
  and will also need to turn off background printing.  Once you've
  verified that there is indeed a LaserWriter driver in the
  System Folder, select LaserWriter in the Chooser.  A dialog box will
  probably pop up informing you that the LaserWriter requires Appletalk
  and asking if you want to turn Appletalk on.  Whether you have
  AppleTalk or not click OK.  Then select Page Setup... from the
  File menu to format your document for the LaserWriter.  Next
  select  Print... from the File menu.

       If you're using LaserWriter driver 7.0 or later, the Print
  dialog box that appears will have a radio button for Destination
  near the bottom.  Click PostScript File.  The Print button at the
  top should change to a Save button.  Click it and you'll get a
  standard file  dialog asking you what to name and where to save
  the PostScript file.

       If you're using LaserWriter driver 6.0.x or 5.2, the procedure
  is more complicated.  When the Print dialog box pops up, position
  the cursor over the Print button and hold the mouse button down and
  keep it down like you're going to click and drag.  Then, with your
  other hand, press and hold the K key.  If you'll eventually print
  the file on a non- Apple PostScript printer, especially one not
  designed with the Macintosh in mind, also hold down the Command
  key.  Using Command-K instead of plain K includes some Mac specific
  information non-Apple-oriented PostScript printers need to know
  about.  Now let the mouse button up. When you see a message box
  that says "Creating PostScript file," take your finger off the
  K key.

       After you've gotten the message "Creating PostScript file" you
  should find a file called PostScript0 in the same folder as the
  application you were printing from.  This is the file you just
  printed. Rename it before you forget what it is.  If you print to
  disk (what this whole process is officially called) more than once,
  the second file will be called PostScript1, the third PostScript2,
  and so on.  It really is much easier to use the System 7
  LaserWriter driver.


 HOW DO I PRINT A POSTSCRIPT FILE?  (2.2)

       On a Macintosh you'll need the LaserWriter Font Utility
  available on the high density TidBits disk from System 7 or the
  More TidBits disk from the 800K distribution.  A more feature-rich
  version called simply LaserWriter Utility is available for
  anonymous ftp from ftp.apple.com in /dts/mac/sys.soft/imaging.
  Both utilities allows you to send files to the LaserWriter in such

  a way that PostScript commands get interpreted as PostScript rather
  than as text to be printed.  If you're printing to a PostScript
  printer connected to something other than a Macintosh, you'll need
  to consult your local system gurus.  A simple "lpr filename.ps"
  works on my Sparc, but your mileage may vary.


 WHY WON'T MY POSTSCRIPT FILE PRINT ON MY MAINFRAME'S PRINTER?  (2.3)

       Moving PostScript files between the Macintosh and other
  platforms used to be as dark an art as existed in the Macintosh
  universe.  With the recent release of LaserWriter driver 8.0,
  it's no longer so complicated.  You will need a PPD file for
  your printer.  Many are available from ftp.adobe.com in
  /pub/adobe/PPDFiles.  While their names are unfortunately restricted
  by Mess-DOS's braindead 8.3 naming convention, the file Filename.MAP
  should tell you what PPD file your printer requires.  Be sure to
  select the options for PostScript Level 1 and ASCII text PostScript
  files in the Print dialog box.  Finally if you're still having problems
  try using only genuine PostScript fonts, no TrueType or bitmapped fonts;
  and don't include any fonts in your document that already reside in the
  printer or on the host system.  (Hugo Ayala's shareware control panel
  Trimmer will help with this if host available fonts are other than
  the standard 13 which the LaserWriter 8.0 driver has an option to omit.)

       Unfortunately the LaserWriter 8.0 driver is incompatible with
  a LOT of important software like most Aldus products, Canvas,
  and QuarkXPress.  Until these incompatibilities are fixed you
  may need to continue using an older version of the LaserWriter
  driver.  In this case you should experiment with your combination
  of application software, LaserWriter driver, and printer to see what
  works best.  If you're using the System 6 LaserWriter driver, try
  using Command-K instead of K to create the PostScript file in which
  the Laser Prep header is included.  The System 7 LaserWriter drivers
  include this header automatically though Hugo Ayala's shareware
  Control Panel device Trimmer will leave it out.  More importantly
  Trimmer also lets you select which fonts to include in your
  PostScript file.  Try using only genuine PostScript fonts,
  no TrueType or bitmapped fonts; and don't include any fonts in your
  document that already reside in the printer or on the host system.
  The freeware DMM-LaserWriter Stuff can customize your pre-8.0
  LaserWriter drivers in several different, useful ways.  Among other
  possibilities this package can modify a LaserWriter driver so that
  the PostScript files it creates are more compatible with non-Apple
  printers and printing to disk is the default.  The upload to the
  mainframe from which the PostScript file will be printed may also
  make a difference.  Normally you need to transfer the file in pure
  Binary format, neither MacBinary nor ASCII.


 WHY ARE MY POSTSCRIPT FILES SO BIG?  (2.4)

       Versions 7.0 and later of the LaserWriter driver automatically
  include all the fonts you use in your document plus the LaserPrep
  information plus the TrueType engine (if you're using any TrueType
  fonts) in the PostScript file.  Thus a 3K document formatted in 90K
  of fonts can easily produce a 300K PostScript file.  If these fonts
  are present on the system you'll be printing from, they don't need
  to be included in the document.  You can remove them with the
  shareware control panel Trimmer or the free utility StripFonts.  If
  you're using LaserWriter driver 8.0, you can manually select an
  option to leave out all fonts or just the standard thirteen faces
  of Times, Courier, Helvetica, and Symbol though for more control
  you'll still need StripFonts or Trimmer.


 HOW CAN I PRINT POSTSCRIPT ON A NON-POSTSCRIPT PRINTER?  (2.5)

  You need one of the payware applications Freedom of the Press
  or TScript.  For most users who only want to print to common
  printers  like DeskWriters, StyleWriters, or Personal LaserWriter
  LS's, the  Light version of Freedom of the Press or the Basic
  version of TScript will suffice.  ($55 street for either).  More
  expensive versions of  both products are available that work with
  more esoteric printers, particularly very-high-end color printers
  and imagesetters.


  HOW DO I MAKE MY IMAGEWRITER II PRINT IN COLOR?  (2.6)

       Applications such as SuperPaint 2.0 and MacWrite II that
  support the original eight-color model for QuickDraw graphics only
  need a color ribbon to print in color.  The shareware GIFConverter
  can open and print a variety of graphics file types in excellent
  dithered color. Jeff Skaitsis's $1 shareware CheapColor can also
  dither PixelPaint and PICT2 files on an ImageWriter II.

       If you have a Macintosh with a 68020 or better CPU, the
  payware MacPalette II provides general purpose color printing from
  any application that prints on a QuickDraw printer (e.g. NOT
  Illustrator). MacPalette II is about $45 street.  If you need  more
  information the publisher, Microspot, can be contacted  at (800)
  622-7568.


 WHY DOESN'T PRINTMONITOR WORK WITH THE IMAGEWRITER?  (2.7)

       Ask the Apple Customer Assistance Center (20525 Mariani Avenue,
  Cupertino, CA 95014, USA, [phone]) this one.  Meanwhile the
  only way to print spool to an ImageWriter under System 7 is with
  SuperLaserSpool 3.0 from Fifth Generation Systems.  This is a fully
  commercial product.  There are NO freeware, shareware, or other
  FTPable solutions that work under System 7 so get out your credit
  cards.   At $98 street price for SuperLaserSpool and only $300 for
  the vastly superior DeskWriter or StyleWriter II you may want to
  forgo SuperLaserSpool and buy a better printer instead.

       If you're still using System 6 and have no plans to move to
  System 7, there is a shareware product called MultiSpool from Italy;
  but it is not System 7 compatible and prints only under MultiFinder.


 WHY DID MY PERFECTLY FORMATTED DOCUMENT LOOK LIKE GARBAGE WHEN I TOOK IT
 TO SOMEONE ELSE'S COMPUTER TO PRINT?  (2.8)

       There are many different reasons this can happen.  Far and away
  the most common problem is using the wrong printer driver.  BEFORE
  you start formatting your document, make sure you have a printer
  driver for the printer you'll use for the final draft in your system
  folder and have selected that printer in the Chooser.  Then choose
  Page Setup... from the File menu to let the application know what
  sort of output it should try to match the display to.

       The second most common problem is font confusion.  Make sure
  you know exactly which fonts are in your document; and, if you're
  printing to a PostScript printer, make sure PostScript versions of
  these fonts are available to that printer.  On newer printers you
  might also be able to use TrueType fonts; but PostScript is still
  the standard, especially if you're eventually going to Lino for
  camera ready output.

       The third most common source of trouble is poor formatting,
  especially in Microsoft Word.  The Mac is not a typewriter, and
  you shouldn't use it as one.  Don't use tabs as a substitute for
  indentation; don't force a page break with carriage returns; and
  NEVER use spaces to position anything.  If you're writing a resume
  (by far the most common source of formatting problems for Word
  users), give serious thought to using the well-formatted resume
  template that comes with Word to help you avoid problems with
  your final printout.


 IS THERE A UTILITY TO PREVIEW POSTSCRIPT FILES ON THE MAC?  (2.9)

       Net godhood awaits the first person to write a working shareware
  or freeware PostScript previewer for the Mac.  The payware product
  TScript allows viewing PostScript files on the Mac, but this is a
  large package with other purposes and even the light version costs
  over $50.


 CAN I ATTACH A LASERJET OR OTHER PC PRINTER TO MY MAC?  (2.11)

       If your printer isn't a PostScript printer with an AppleTalk
  interface, you need either PowerPrint from GDT Softworks or the
  Grappler from Orange Micro.  Both include the necessary printer
  drivers and serial to parallel cable to connect a macintosh with
  any common PC printer including HP LaserJets and DeskJets and Canon
  BubbleJets.  If your printer is uncommon you can always ask the
  vendors before ordering. Both packages have street prices around $95.



 ================
 DOS AND THE MAC  (3.0)
 ================

 HOW CAN I MOVE FILES BETWEEN A MAC AND A PC?  (3.1)

       The simplest way to move files between a PC and a Mac is with
  a null-modem cable and a reliable communications program.  You can
  get a null-modem cable from any good electronics store.  Make sure
  the cable you buy has the appropriate connectors for the Mac and PC
  you'll be connecting.  Hook one end of the cable to the printer or
  modem port on your Mac and the other to a serial port on the PC.
  This should work just like a very high speed (57,600 bps) modem
  connection except that you'll probably need to turn on local echo
  in your communications program.

       If the computers aren't within cabling distance, you can either
  upload the files to an intermediary mainframe or put them on a
  floppy disk.  The Superdrive  sold since the introduction of the
  IIx is capable of formatting and writing to 3.5 inch PC floppies.
  Apple includes Apple File Exchange, a minimal program capable of
  doing this as part of the system software.  Apple File Exchange is
  difficult to use and violates at least half of Apple's user
  interface guidelines.  (Can anyone explain why no other software
  company violates as many of Apple's user interface guidelines as
  Apple itself does?)  For details on its use please Read the
  Friendly Manual.

       If you frequently need to use DOS floppies and you have a
  Superdrive, you may want to invest in a more transparent solution.
  The three currently available are AccessPC from Insignia Solutions,
  DOS Mounter from Dayna, and Macintosh PC Exchange from Apple, all
  of which automatically mount and format 3.5 inch DOS floppies in a
  Superdrive without requiring you to run a separate program before
  you insert the disk.  MacPC File Exchange requires System 7.  If
  you use DOS Mounter be sure to increase your Disk cache (RAM cache
  in System 6) to at least 256K.  This will substantially improve
  its performance.


 HOW CAN I TRANSLATE FILES TO A DIFFERENT PLATFORM?  (3.2)

       With the increasing popularity of cross-platform development,
  many Macintosh programs like Adobe Illustrator 3.0, Adobe PhotoShop,
  and Microsoft Word 5.0 are able to save directly to a format readable
  by DOS or Windows programs.  You'll still need to mount the DOS
  floppies in the Mac drive using one of the products discussed above
  or do a default translation from within Apple File Exchange.

       Although translators for Apple File Exchange could theoretically
  be designed to translate files made by applications without these
  capabilities, AFE has never really caught on.  The best solution is
  a payware product by DataViz called MacLink Plus.  MacLink Plus,
  about $100 street price, can translate over 700 DOS, Windows,
  Macintosh, and NeXT formats back and forth.  As an added bonus
  it comes bundled with a copy of Macintosh PC Exchange.


 SHOULD I BUY SOFTPC OR A REAL PC?  (3.3)

       The various versions of SoftPC will run most DOS software on a
  Macintosh as advertised; but even on the fastest Macs, SoftAT will
  be slower than an original AT.  On any Mac slower than a IIci or with
  any version of SoftPC less than SoftAT, you'll likely get performance
  at best of twice the speed of an original XT.  More likely you'll
  only have the speed of an original XT.  For today's software like



  WordPerfect 5.1 that's S...L...O...W.

       Of course slow is relative.  I've seen an AMIGA running a Mac
  emulator running SoftPC running a CP/M emulator.  That's slow!  As
  part of testing the 486 chip design, Intel ran DOS on a simulation
  of the 486 chip running on an IBM 3090 mainframe.  It took them
  TWO WEEKS to get to the C> prompt!  That's slow.  SoftPC on a
  Classic is actually about as fast as the original IBM PC from
  ten years ago.

       Insignia has recently released SoftPC Windows.  This requires a
  68040 based Mac with at least 10 megs of RAM and fourteen megs of
  free hard disk space (plus any disk space you want to allocate to DOS
  and Windows files).  However with a street price of only $299, it
  actually is significantly cheaper than an equivalent PC clone.  If
  you have the necessary hardware and disk space and only an occasional
  need to run DOS or Windows, this might be a reasonable choice.
  However people with lesser Macs should realize that other versions
  of SoftPC are only slightly less expensive than equivalent DOS clones
  complete with their own small hard disks, floppy drives, and
  monitors.  If you don't have a Quadra or Centris with lots of RAM and
  free disk space, you're almost certainly better off buying a cheap PC
  if you need to run any but the most trivial DOS software.



 ========
 SECURITY (4.0)
 ========

 HOW DO I PREVENT PEOPLE FROM CHANGING THE CONTENTS OF FOLDERS IN A
 PUBLIC MAC LAB?  (4.1)

       A first line of defense would be to use ResEdit, DiskTop, or a
  similar tool to set the invisible, locked, and nocopy (bozo) bits on
  the folders, applications, and documents you want to protect.  This
  won't stop a knowledgeable or determined hacker, and protecting the
  system folder in this fashion may cause problems under System 7; but
  it will cure 95% of your random-user-moving-things-around problems.

       If you want to lock out more sophisticated users, you may want
  to check out Empower II from Magna ($155 street).  The registered
  version of Art Schumer's MacPassword ($35 shareware) is also capable
  of this although the FTPable demo version is not.  You might also
  consider Brian Bechtel's freeware LockDisk 1.0, a cdev that makes the
  boot disk read only.  However this can cause problems with some
  applications that can't run from a read-only disk.


 HOW CAN I PASSWORD-PROTECT A MAC?  (4.2)

       Dr. Ralph Martin's shareware Password 1.4 provides a minimal
  level of protection for your hard disk, but can be bypassed by the
  simple expedient of booting from an unprotected floppy.  Art
  Schumer's shareware MacPassword 3.9.2 cannot be bypassed that
  easily, but the demo version available by FTP expires after sixty
  days.  Some hard disk formatters also offer optional password
  protection.  Notable in this category is FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit,
  about $125 mail-order.

       A number of more powerful payware utilities are capable of
  this and a lot more though with great security comes great
  danger.  The more secure a product is the more chance you have of
  accidentally locking your hard disk so tight that you yourself
  can't recover your data.  One notable commercial product in this
  category is Empower I from Magna ($90 street).

       Most security products are the subject of frequent complaints
  on the net, both for incompatibilities and for failure to protect
  disks as they're supposed to.  The only reason I'm including
  "recommendations" for Empower I and II  is that I don't know of any
  major incompatibilities with these products or a way to bypass them.
  However I would not be surprised to learn such problems exist as they
  do in every other password protection product I've seen so far.  If
  you need to protect sensitive data I recommend that you encrypt it
  with software such as MacUser Security 1.1.



 =====
 SOUND  (5.0)
 =====

 HOW CAN I READ A TRACK FROM AN AUDIO CD ONTO MY MAC?  (5.1)

      First you MUST have an Apple CD-300 or CD-300i.  No other
  CD player currently available lets you save audio tracks (though this
  will likely change in the future).  Next you need Quicktime 1.6.1 and
  an application that can play Quicktime movies such as Simple Player.
  Turn virtual memory off, put the CD in the CD player, and choose
  Open... from the File menu of Simple Player.  Open the audio track
  you want and click Convert.  Type a name for the new movie,
  choose a place to save it, and click save.


 HOW CAN I EXTRACT A SOUND FROM A QUICKTIME MOVIE?  (5.2)

       Movie2Snd is a freeware program available from all the usual
  places which will extract sounds from a QuickTime movie and save
  them in Mac sound file format.


 HOW CAN I CONVERT/PLAY A MOD/WAV/ETC. FILE?  (5.3)

        Balthazar 1.0 will play Windows .wav files and convert them to
  System 7 sound files.  Brian's Sound Tool 1.2 is a free drag and drop
  sound conversion utility which converts to and from Mac sound files
  and Windows .wav files.  It also converts Soundblaster .voc files,
  UNIX .au files, and AMIGA AIFF files to Macintosh sound files.
  MacTracker 1.00 and SoundTrecker 1.0 will play Amiga MOD files.
  All programs mentioned here are free or shareware and available
  from sumex-aim in the snd/util directory.



 ======================================================
 NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO  (MISCELLANEOUS MISCELLANEA)  (6.0)
 ======================================================

 ARE THERE ANY GOOD BOOKS ABOUT THE MAC?  (6.1)

       While there are a number of excellent books covering specific
  software packages, there are not many books that are generally
  useful to someone familiar with the net.  The Mac is Not a
  TypeWriter by Robin Williams and The Macintosh Bible, by Arthur
  Naiman, Sharon Zardetto Aker and a cast of hundreds are two
  exceptions.  Both are published by PeachPit Press and are available
  in finer and seedier bookstores everywhere.

       The Mac is Not a TypeWriter should be required reading for
  anyone using a Macintosh to produce printed matter.  It teaches the
  differences between typing and typography and shows you how to
  avoid looking like a moron in print.

       The Macintosh Bible is a reference book that's surprisingly
  enjoyable reading.  It's comprehensive enough to cover most
  questions that appear in this newsgroup including the not so
  frequent ones.  It also includes lots of information you probably
  need but didn't know to ask.


 HOW CAN I TAKE A PICTURE OF THE SCREEN?  (6.2)

       The Command-Shift-3 FKey that's built into all Macs will take
  a picture of the entire screen.  This won't work while a menu is
  pulled down and always includes the cursor in the picture.  In
  System 6 Command-Shift-3 only works with black and white monitors
  on compact Macs.  The results are stored in a PICT file on the
  root level of your System disk.

       Nobu Toge's Flash-It, $15 shareware, will handle almost all
  your screen capture needs.  It works in black and white and color
  under both System 6 and System 7, exports images to the clipboard
  or to PICT files, captures pictures when menus are down, and can
  capture either a user-selectable region or the entire screen.

       Baseline Publishing's Exposure Pro ($78 street) covers all the
  basics and throws in a host of editing tools besides.  Sabastian
  Software offers Image Grabber ($35 street) whose features include
  timed capture, capture of the entire screen, one window, or a
  particular rectangle, and scaling of the captured image.  If you
  order Image Grabber please note the spelling. It's two words,
  spelled correctly.  Apparently a grammatical product name is so
  unusual that three out of three mail-order companies were unable
  to find Image Grabber in their database until I spelled it out
  for them including the space between Image and Grabber.  You can
  also order it directly from the manufacturer at [phone].


 CAN I REPLACE THE "WELCOME TO MACINTOSH" BOX WITH A PICTURE?  (6.3)

       First you need an application capable of saving documents
  in Startup Screen format such as the freeware XLateGraf or the
  shareware GIFConverter.  Open the graphics file you want to turn
  into a startup screen and select Save As... from the File menu.
  Then select Startup Screen as the format to save into.  Name the
  new document "StartupScreen" (no space between Startup and Screen,
  both S's capitalized) and put it in the System Folder.  The next
  time the Mac starts up you should see the happy Mac, followed by
  the picture.


 HOW DO I USE A PICTURE FOR MY DESKTOP?  (6.4)

       If you have a Macintosh with Color QuickDraw in ROM (Mac II and
  later machines) get the init DeskPict, available from the usual FTP
  sites.  A slightly improved and less buggy version called FunPictures
  is part of the payware Now Fun.  Users of compact Macs (Plus's, SE's,
  and Classics) can pick up BackDrop from sumex-aim instead.  All
  of these will replace the normal Macintosh desktop pattern with a
  picture of your choosing saved in startup screen format. (See the
  previous question.) Before saving your picture in startup screen
  format be sure to convert it to the default  application palette,
  or your Mac may display color combinations distorted enough to
  induce flashbacks to that Grateful Dead concert in 1976.


 WHAT IS AUTODOUBLER?  MORE DISK SPACE?  SPACESAVER?  NOWCOMPRESS?  (6.5)

       Fifth Generation Systems' AutoDoubler is a transparent file
  compression utility that compresses most files on your hard disk
  and decompresses them automatically when they're opened so that
  your hard disk appears to be much larger than it really is.
  Ideally you won't know it's present once you've installed it.  The
  consensus of the net is that AutoDoubler is fast and safe.
  The only common, known conflicts are with GateKeeper, the Find
  File function in Microsoft Word 5.x, and A/UX.  If you use
  AutoDoubler, use Disinfectant rather than GateKeeper.  AutoDoubler
  is completely incompatible with A/UX.  Don't use AutoDoubler on
  an A/UX formatted partition.  Word's Find File will work on an
  autodoubled volume, but you need to set it to find all files,
  not just certain types.

       DiskDoubler, also from Fifth Generation, is a cross between
  AutoDoubler and Compact Pro.  Like AutoDoubler DiskDoubler can
  automatically decompress files when needed, but the decompression
  isn't nearly as transparent as AutoDoubler's.  Like Compact Pro it
  only compresses when and what you tell it to compress and can make
  archives for transmission via floppy or modem.  (Please don't use
  it for files you submit to the net though.  Instead use the tighter
  and more standard StuffIt 3.0 format.)

       Alysis Software's More Disk Space is a competing product
  similar in functionality to AutoDoubler.  As well as transparently
  compressing files More Disk Space can also make self-extracting and
  segmented archives for transmission via modem or floppy disk.  More
  Disk Space has several unique features that make it more suitable
  for use on a network than competing products such as a freeware
  init that allows all Macs to use files previously compressed by
  More Disk Space as transparently as if More Disk Space itself were
  installed and the ability to create a "compression server" that can
  compress files for all Macs on the network on demand.  Thus a
  network of several dozen Macs could use one $42 copy of More Disk
  Space.  More Disk Space uses the fastest compressor/decompressor on
  the market, but MDS also saves substantially less space than the
  other products.

       StuffIt SpaceSaver from Aladdin Systems is the cheapest ($35)
  entry into the file-level, transparent compression field.  Unlike
  AutoDoubler and More Disk Space, StuffIt SpaceSaver decompresses
  onto disk rather than into RAM.  This is a two-edged sword which
  improves compatibility with some programs but slows decompression
  and contributes to file fragmentation, especially on very full
  disks.  SpaceSaver is the only transparent compression utility that
  creates and decompresses net standard .sit files.  SpaceSaver's
  only known major incompatibilities are with Norton Utilities'
  Directory Assistance II and with SuperATM.  Symantec has promised
  to fix the former in the next upgrade to the Norton Utilities,
  and a ResEdit fix is available on request from Aladdin.  The
  incompatibility with SuperATM can be cured merely by renaming
  SpaceSaver ~SpaceSaver so it loads after SuperATM.

       NowCompress is the latest entry into the increasingly crowded
  compression arena.  It offers automatic and on-demand transparent
  compression plus archiving compression that's on a par with
  StuffIt's.  (However since Now has not made a freeware or shareware
  compressor or decompressor available on the net, please don't use
  NowCompress to archive files you upload to a BBS or anonymous ftp
  site.)  NowCompress is fast enough that I don't notice it's installed
  (as are AutoDoubler and More Disk Space) which is the point where I
  decide it's not worth my effort to run detailed timing comparisons.
  NowCompress does compress tighter and thus save more space than any
  of the competing products.  Furthermore it's the only program that
  will transparently compress almost anything in your System Folder.
  (This is important for those of us with five megabytes of indispensable
  After Dark modules :-)  However NowCompress is a 1.0 release, and
  I very much doubt that Now will avoid the compatibility problems that
  plagued the 1.0 releases of all its competitors.  Unless you enjoy
  being on the bleeding edge of new technology (like those of us that
  have been beta-testing NowCompress for the last year :-)  I recommend
  that you hold off on purchasing and installing NowCompress until
  whatever bugs remain seem likely to have been shaken out and
  perhaps stomped.

       Which transparent compression software to use depends mainly
  on your interface preference.  For paranoids like myself who've
  seen one too many irreversibly corrupted archive to ever fully
  trust compression software, SpaceSaver's ability to individually
  choose which files to compress is an invaluable feature since it
  allows me to only compress files for which several backups exist.
  The combination of AutoDoubler and DiskDoubler can also act like
  this but costs twice as much.  However if, unlike me, you do want
  everything on your disk compressed automatically, AutoDoubler's
  extra speed decompressing files, better performance on full disks,
  and tighter compression makes it the obvious choice.


 HOW DO THEY COMPARE TO TIMESTWO, STACKER, AND eDISK?  (6.6)

       Golden Triangle's TimesTwo is a unique hard disk driver backed
  by a misleading advertising campaign.  Unlike the transparent
  compressors discussed in the previous section TimesTwo is not an
  init that hooks into the file system.  Rather it is a hard disk
  driver vaguely similar in purpose to Drive7 or HardDisk Toolkit.
  After installing TimesTwo the Finder will report the disk as being
  twice the size it actually is, e.g. a forty megabyte disk will seem
  to be an eighty megabyte disk.  TimesTwo then uses compression to
  try to fit eighty megabytes of data into the forty megabytes that's
  really there.  If it can't compress well enough to fit the eighty
  megabytes of data it promises (and it generally can't), it creates
  a phantom file to take up the space it overestimated.

     All data written to the disk will be automatically compressed.
  This is the exact opposite of the marketdroid promises that
  TimesTwo works without compressing anything.  In fact it compresses
  everything.  File level compressors improve speed by excluding
  certain frequently accessed files like the desktop file, most
  things in the System Folder, and the hard disk data structures from
  compression.  Since every file needs to be decompressed when read
  or written, a Mac with TimesTwo is noticeably slower than the same
  Mac with a non-compressed disk or even a Mac whose disk has been
  compressed with a file level compressor.  As one Apple VAR put it,
  "installing TimesTwo is like dipping your drive in molasses."  Using
  a file-level compressor on a disk already compressed by TimesTwo
  will gain little if any space and will probably cut your disk
  access speed in half again so you should use either TimesTwo
  or a file-level compressor, not both.

       All the transparent compression programs have had a number of
  bugs and incompatibilities in their initial releases, and TimesTwo
  is no exception.  Unlike the other programs, however, there have
  been a number of reports that the first two releases of TimesTwo
  have caused data loss and even corruption of entire hard disks.
  It is as yet unknown whether these bugs are fixed in version 1.0.3.
  I recommend that you do not use TimesTwo at this time.

       Stac Electronics' Stacker and Alysis's eDisk are similar to
  TimesTwo.  Since Stacker and eDisk are added in addition to your
  current hard disk driver rather than in place of it, you don't
  need to give up your partitions or other features of your current
  formatter.  Stacker and eDisk have only been released very
  recently so their performance and reliability are unknown.  I am
  particularly concerned that eDisk 1.0 may have been rushed out the
  door to make a promised ship date before it was ready. I recommend
  that you do not use either of these products at this time.


 WHERE DID MY ICONS GO?  (6.7)

       Your icons have passed on to a better place, but with a little
  magic it's normally possible to resurrect them.  Several utilities
  including Norton Utilities for the Mac and the freeware drag-and-drop
  utility Save-A-BNDL should retrieve your icons.  Rebuilding the
  desktop (Question 4.3 in the Introductory FAQ) should also restore
  your icons.


 WHERE CAN I FIND A USER GROUP?  (6.8)

       You can contact Apple's user groups liason office at
  [phone], extension 500. They'll be happy to provide you
  with contact information for a local Macintosh user group.

--
  Elliotte Rusty Harold         National Solar Observatory
  [e-mail]      Sunspot NM 88349


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