You can use up to 1,000 feet of Apple Talk cable between a Mac and a LaserWriter.
Dark Castle
MacUser reports that when climbing or descending stairs or a ladder in Dark Castle, hold down the "duck" key. When you reach the top/bottom, tou will be "walking on air." You can even walk right over the guy with the whip and mace him over the head. You can actually stand still in the air and watch the boulders roll by underneath, if you use this option with care!
Desk Accessories
Artisto 2.01 will open PICT files and let you copy them into various applications.
You can dump a screen snapshot (Command/Shift/3) of Option and Shift/Option keyboards. And it is easy. You don't need Camera, as I have advised in the past. Here's how:
• Open Key Caps
• Hold down Option
• Press the mouse, hold it down with the cursor away from the KeyCaps display.
• Release Option (continue to hold mouse down)
• Press Command/Shift/3
• Release Command/Shift/3 (remem ber, mouse is still held down)
• Press Option key and hold it down
• Release mouse
• Wait a couple of seconds to let the Mac get started making your screen dump, then release the Option key
• Close KeyCaps and look for your Screen 0 dump
The same procedure will take a screen snapshot of Option/Shift KeyCaps. Just add the Shift key to all Option key operations above.
Excel
Excel 1.5 will recalculate spreadsheets in the background.
Fonts
Why aren’t the fonts in Microsoft Word (1.05 & 3.0 but not 3.01): listed in the font dialog (and menu) in alphabetical order? Indeed, what order ARE they in? To pacify the anti-mousers, every command in Word 3.0 (and most in 1.05) can be made from the keyboard, including font choice.
The keys used for font selection include a number key to specify which font you want. This number relates to the position of the desired font on the menu, starting with 0. So the second font on the menu is chosen by keying the number 1, the third with 2, etc. For this to work in a consistent way, the fonts are listed in order of their ID numbers.
Since Apple has reserved for itself the first couple dozen ID numbers, the first fonts on the Word font menu are consistently the original Apple fonts, and in the same order. Chicago, New York (or Boston), and Geneva, etc., come first, then the LaserWriter fonts. Non-Apple fonts are relegated to the higher numbers, too high for the key-selection convenience to work! -- Doug Miles.
General
If your Mac says "application can't be found," and you do have the application where it should be findable, rebuild the desktop. You will lose all Get Info... comments in the process. To do this, boot with the Option and Command keys held down. Now your document should be able to find its application.
Of course you know that you could alternatively enter the application itself and then Open the file from the File menu.
Labels -- finally! If you haven't discovered 1" wide Post-It Correction and Cover-up Tape #658, maybe you will try Avery S-2448 1-1/2x3 labels. They have removable adhesive!
Personally, I use PostIt tape. Hey, not PostIt NOTES. They stick in your tape drive and cause a trip to the service technician. PostIt tape is 100% adhesive back. It stays on well, and peels off in a breeze. Wish they would make it is 2" or 2-1/2" widths!
Are INITs giving you fits? These useful files, that load into memory on startup as long as they’re in the System folder, can do lots of handy things from patching bugs in the System file to providing most of the benefits of a big screen monitor. But they can sometimes interfere with one another, causing system errors on startup or screen freezes later.
Loading order is often the problem. INITs are loaded in alphabetical order by name, so changing an INIT’s name will adjust its position in the waiting line. For instance, Big Screen INIT may interfere with a couple of other INITs whose names start with C and F, thus are loaded after Big Screen. Changing Big Screen’s name to zBig Screen to make it load later seems to make them all happier. Me too! -- Doug Miles.
Automatically pack a group of files together with Packit? Sure; just drag Packit and your files (no other applications, please) out onto the grey desktop, select them all and choose Open from the Finder's File menu. Packit will pack all the files in one .pit file without your having to intervene. Then Choose Put Away from the Finder's File menu and everything will return to its proper place. -- Doug Miles.
CE Software’s new QuicKeys program gives fits to Imagine Software’s Smart Alarms. Since both programs can become essential to your use of the Mac, there must be a way to make them work together. And there is!
With ResEdit, open your System file and go to the INIT category of resources. Among the INITs you will see one called “.Rmdr” which belongs to Smart Alarms. (We’re assuming you have Smart Alarms installed). Click on “.Rmdr” to select it. Using ResEdit’s Get Info command, change the resource ID number for “.Rmdr” to some number larger than 31. Quit ResEdit and restart your Mac.
That’s all! (Why does this fix it? Since you just drag QuicKeys into the System Folder to install it, its INIT is “run” by the System file’s INIT 31. The Smart Alarms Installer puts its “.Rmdr” INIT into the lowest numbered slot available in the System file, usually 5, which would load before 31 at startup time. But QuicKeys’ INIT resource wants to be loaded into memory before Smart Alarms’ .Rmdr. This is accomplished by changing .Rmdr’s ID number to 32 or greater.)
When you double-click on a file, it knows what program created it, so it tells that program to launch itself and open the file. We knew that handy fact, but what if it doesn’t work anymore? Sometimes, even if the file and its program are next to each other in the same folder, double-clicking the file results in, “No application for this document can be found.”
It just might be that the program’s “Bundle bit” has somehow gotten turned off, possibly by a bug in System 3.2. Use SetFile, miniDOS, or another file utility to turn it back on (by clicking on the empty Bundle check-box) and you’ll have that convenience back again.
How deep can you nest folders? Michael Waitsman of Chicago's The Rest of Us got to 132 and quit out of sheer boredom. Anyone want to take up the challenge.
By the way, 132 nested folders didn't add a solitary byte or k! Where does it all go?
HyperCard
If a stack has been user-limited, but has no password protection, you can override the limits. Hold down the Command key while you lower the File menu. Guess what? There is the Protect Stack menu item. You can use it to change your user level.
If a stack shows only the Browse level, you should first go to the User Preference Card (one before the Home Card) and make sure your desired level is selected. If the author intended you to have that level, it will now be available.
HyperCard printing works better with Smoothing and Precision BitMap Alignment selected in Page Setup.
To make your phone hear Hyper Card's tone generation, add 'with modem' to your script 'dialing' command. For instance, to dial 555-1212 and have the modem get out of the way so you can talk, use this script:
dial "555-1212" with modem "ATDTS7=1"
This tells the modem to get lost one second after the dialing is complete.
If you have Sidekick, instead of the above, simply use the audio interface cable from Sidekick. It generates true dial tone signals.
When typing graphics text in HyperCard, you can move up and down through the sizes with Command key plus < or > keys. Walk through all your fonts with Command/Shift plus ≤ and > keys.
Everybody has been insulting the HyperCard manual from Apple -- too little. If that is your complaint, dig out the Hypercard Help stacks (yes, stacks plural, there are three). There is more in the Help stacks than in the manual on some HyperCard topics.
Try it, you'll like it.
And speaking of insulting Apple, Macintosh Today gave HyperCard a "1" (that's a ONE) for support on a scale of 1-5. If it were not for user groups, Apple would be in a world of trouble, since they rely on computer dealers (who pay minimum wage plus commission to salespeople) for support of Macintosh hardware and software.
Why do they fail to support anything at all? It doesn't seem that smart to me. Macintosh is succeeding in spite of this policy, certainly not because of it.
If a stack beeps and returns you to the Browse level, do this: Run through a few cards, then use Recent (Command/R) and select one. Select Stack Info... and look at the script. Remove the instruction which keeps going to the User Preference Card to reduce your user level.
If a stack always hides the menu bar, open the stack's script and look for a "hide menubar" entry. Remove it. If you don't find it in the stack script, try the card script(s) until you find it. It's in there somewhere.
Of course you could use Command/spacebar to toggle the menu bar on and off each time you need it or want to hide it.
Here's a neat script to move selected objects from a card to the Background quickly:
on function key
if whatkey is 6 then
type "x" with commandkey -- cuts whatever is selected
doMenu "background" -- enters the background
type "v" with commandkey -- pastes selection
doMenu "background" -- returns to the card layer
end if
end function keys
Here is another way:
on mouseUp
choose select tool
click at 120,100 -- selects upper left corner of image
drag from 120,100 to 350,200 -- draws marquee to select an object
type "x" with commandkey -- cut
doMenu "background" -- goes to background layer
type "v" with commandkey -- pastes
doMenu "background" -- returns to card layer
end mouseUp
We know, we know! You can't use Cut, Copy and Paste from the menu while a Script window in HyperCard is open. So use the keyboard equivalents -- Command plus X, C and V -- because that DOES work.
HyperZap will strip passwords from stacks.
Is nothing sacred?
Use it fairly, folks! (Thanks, Gold Coast Bulletin, Miami MUG [or Vice])
The latest and best "script stripper" at presstime is Script Reader 1.2 (look for higher version numbers, too). It analyzes scripts in locked stacks.
Are there occasions when you want to quickly grab a graphic from a HyperCard card? Install the FKEY Scrn to Clip. I find it absolutely indispensible! Not just for HyperCard, either!
IBM to Mac
Use a null modem cable (RS232) with Transmit and Receive reversed. Use MacTerminal on the Mac and any ASCII-capable program on the IBM. Now you can transfer ASCII text files.
Imagewriter
A dealer actually called Apple and asked how to tell a standard Imagewriter from one with a 15" carriage by looking at them. Does that give you a whole lot of confidence in computer dealers.
For Near Letter Quality (NLQ) on an Imagewriter II, set front panel to NLQ, make sure both lights are on, then indicate Draft mode in the Print Dialog box.
If your Imagewriter II starts printing garbage hex code, see if you accidentally turned on the Imagewriter with the Select button depressed. That would do it.
LaserWriter
New LaserWriters, out of the box, will read from 28 to 200 pages, depending on the length of testing cycle that was used.
Always protect LaserWriter cartridges from light. They ARE light sensitive. This include empties which you intend to recharge or sell. Use the light-tight bag it came packed in. If not, use black plastic and tie it up light-tight.
Lotus 1-2-3
A Mac version of Lotus 1-2-3 will be available soon. Lotus President Jim Manzi says Macs are being bought more and more by corporations and they want 1-2-3 file compatibility between their Macs and their IBMs.
Macintosh II
If you play with some game on the Mac II and the internal hard disk refuses to come up after a bomb, try this: hold down the Command/Shift/ Option keys and select the Control Panel. Reset parameter RAM. Of course you'll have to boot from a floppy to bring the hard disk on line in the first place.
MS Works
Works needs a patch to work with the Mac II.
MultiFinder
Here are some programs which don't work well with MultiFinder: Excel, Illustrator, SuperLaserSpool, Xpress, WriteNow, SuperPaint. Whew!
Well-behaved programs include PowerPoint, Word, Works, 4th Dimension, dBaseMac, Double Helix, Pagemaker, Sidekick, Reflex, CricketDraw and Cricket Graph.
And how about Full Write Professional? (snicker, snicker)
Any additions to this list? Drop me a line and I'll spread the word.
Some tentative early advice from Ken Peterson on MultiFinder -- not too stable, causes problems. Ken says leave the MultiFinder icon outside of the System Folder and only invoke it when you need to run two applications.
He looks for MultiFinder to improve with upgrades and get good fairly soon. This is a rough paraphrase of Ken's comments and should not replace what he has to say when he gets ready to write a column on MultiFinder.
Pagemaker
Hold down the Shift key (isn't that a marvelous key?) while selecting Fit in Window and you get… FIT IN WORLD. This view shows you the entire pasteboard, even when in facing pages mode. Makes it handy to store lots of often-used graphics all around the pasteboard. Aldus didn't put this one in the manual -- shades of Bill Atkinson!
You can save a headline in Pagemaker, or a whole page, for that matter, and "place" it like any other text or graphic. This means that it can then be resized, stretched, shrunk, or expanded.
In the Print dialog box, hold down Option and select Print. You get another dialog box. Check EPS and anything else that appeals to you. Click Print and you are back in your document.
But residing on disk is a new file containing your headline or page. Place it like you would any graphic. Now you can stretch, crop or scale to your heart's content.
PRAM
If your Mac starts acting up, one thing to check is PRAM. Remove the battery, leave it out for 2-5 minutes, reinstall it, and reset your Control Panel settings and Alarm Clock.
This cure is worth trying, especially if you get a bomb followed by failure of a hard disk to boot up at all. Faulty PRAM could do this to you.
On SE's and II's, hold down Command/Option/Shift and select Control Panel, since the battery is soldered into place.
Stepping Out
Suggested screen sizes to use in Stepping Out to exactly match the program's screen capability are:
Pagemaker 640x710
MacWrite 4.6 580x800
MacDraw 590x810
MS Word 512x810
SuperPaint 590x810
These settings will give you the full page for each of the above programs.
