PD ROM 1/PD ROM Volume I - Macintosh Software from BMUG (1988).iso/Electronic Messages/USEnet Digests/USEnet Vol. 4/USEnet 4.74

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Usenet Mac Digest     Saturday, June 11, 1988        Volume 4 : Issue 74

Today's Topics:
     Multiuser BBS i?
     ImageWriter LQ
     Help needed on L/W d/load Fonts
     Re: PT109
     Re: Soundmaster size
     Mach on a Mac???
     Re: Perhaps something really *is* amis a Jasmine.
     Re: Can FullWrite do this?
     Re: shutdownsound/conflict
     Changing the pointer icon
     Experiences with Microsoft Macenhancer anyone ?
     Re: Finder shouldn't empty trash under
     Re: Mac going to England?
     Re: FullWrite Pro stuff
     Re: Need Airport Database
     AppleLink <-> Usenet connection?
     Re: PT109
     Re: Finder shouldn't empty trash under
     Qustion acs and Layout work
     New Map cdev
     Re: humpback game - can you top this?
     why can't MacOS use National Semiconductor 8MB memory board as core?
     Re: Help! Labels get stuck in ImageWriter II
     The Mac in Forbes
     3.5 inch drives on a Mac
     Re: Problems with System 6.0????? (2 messages)
     SCSI Accelerator in comp.binaries.mac seems OK.
     Hello, an old survey, and a new database

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (David Nowak)
Subject: Multiuser BBS in Forth?
Date: 4 Jun 88 03:15:58 GMT
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Company, El Segundo  CA

A friend of mine, Bud Grove, runs a BBS which he hosts on a Macintosh][.
He is currently running Red Ryder Host, a commonly used telecom program
for this purpose.  Bud's BBS, called the Hughes Aircraft Co. BBS, has
hundreds of people from all around the world uploading software to it
and using the mail service it provides.  Bud is looking for some way to
expand the number of input ports on his Mac][ and is even willing to
consider using a different software package, if need be.

Bud has forth, but feels a bit rusty at programming in it.  However, the
fact that it has multi-process capability built into it may mean that
someone out there may have written a BBS program to take advantage of
this capability.

Please respond if you know of such a program.
--
Dave Nowak
[e-mail]


------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: ImageWriter LQ
Date: 1 Jun 88 08:49:41 GMT

I've bought an ImageWriter LQ two weeks ago and I'm quiet satisfied
about the print quality in High Quality Mode. But now I have to change
the printer head because one needle doesn't like to fire. Thery
question:
    - Has anybody some experience with LQ's (pros and cons)
    - Who is the original producer of the ImageWriter LQ
    - Is there any chance to bribbons for this printer
      on the free market and not at the next Apple deal
--
Bernd Wild        Net-Mail: [e-mail]
FZI            Phone   : [phone]
Haid- & Neustr. 10-14
D-7500 Karlsruhe
West Germany


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Paul Menon)
Subject: Help needed on L/W d/load Fonts
Date: 1 Jun 88 04:58:33 GMT
Organization: RMIT Comm & Elec Eng, Melbourne, Australia.


hi,
  I have an "LWRT" type file which has LaserWriter downloadable fonts,
in the fashion of the Mobile, GimCracks etc fonts.  Whenever I use the
fonts in any document for printing, I get a message to the effect ..

        Down loading font bit map to LaserWriter...

    With the usual horrible results.

    All I had to do previously with the Mobile and other d/l fonts was
to stick it in the System Folder.  I cannot check whether the fonts
which did work (Gimcrack, ...) do so now, as I don't have those LWRT
files.

  Is there something special I have to do so that the LaserWriter driver
knows of these LWRT files (ie binding/altering some resources ...) ?
The new  LaserWriter driver has a new icon for these file types.  has
the format  changed?  If so, how do I update the old LWRT files?  Has
this got something to do with the "FOND" resource?  If my questions
appear trivial, profuse  apologies, I must be as well.

  Any clues are appreciated.


  Thankyou

Paul Menon.

    Dept of Communication & Electronic Engineering,
    Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,
    124 Latrobe St, Melbourne, 3000, Australia
--
ACSnet: rcopm@koel
CSNET:  [e-mail]     ARPA: rcopm%koel.rmit.oz@seismo
BITNET: rcopm%koel.rmit.oz@CSNET-RELAY
PHONE:  [phone].


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Jeff Meyer)
Subject: Re: PT109
Date: 2 Jun 88 23:02:51 GMT
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA

I've played with the release version in Novice mode for a while, and I
have two major complaints:

1)  This little bugger is SLOW on loading on a Mac+.  What's interesting
is
    that it's not I/O taking the time: I set my ramdisk cache to 1 Meg,
    started the program up, quit it and restarted PT-109.  Only one
access
    to the hard disk, but it took just as long to start the game up as
it
    had without the ram cache on.  I'd be curious how it works on a Mac
II
    or something with an accelerator card.

2)  Very easy to win at level 1.  I mean, a PT boat killing 7
destroyers?
    Wow, I should head for Japan and just get the whole country to
    surrender!  I'm just starting to play at level 3, and it seems a bit
    better -- we'll see...

                        "Bring the little ones unto me, and I will get a
                         good price for them."
--
                                        Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET:     [e-mail]
Manual UUCP:  {uw-beaver, sun, microsoft}!fluke!moriarty
CREDO:        You gotta be Cruel to be Kind...
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (James A. Von Schmacht)
Subject: Re: Soundmaster size
Date: 2 Jun 88 08:17:44 GMT
Organization: People-Net [pnet06], Orange, CA

The sounds you specify for certain actions with SoundMaster MUST reside
in memory all the time in order to be used at the desired times.  If you
have a 130k (disk) of sounds specified, you'll use 130k of memory (plus
some overhead).
--
Jim von Schmacht
Ossian Productions

Disclaimer: It's good to be the King!

UUCP: {crash uunet}!pnet06!ossian1
ARPA: crash!pnet06![e-mail]
INET: [e-mail]


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Ken Wallich)
Subject: Mach on a Mac???
Date: 2 Jun 88 19:24:44 GMT
Organization: Ardent Computer

I just read an article in the May 30th issue of MacintoshToday about the
NeXT machine.  The article said a little bit about Mach, including the
fact that it was FREE, was available for most popular UNIX (tm) boxes
and ran on the MacII.  The article didn't mention, however, who to
contact, what hardware requirements there were, if it was publicly
available, etc. After all it was an article about the NeXT box, not a
MacII running Mach.

Does anyone out there have any information about Mach running on a
MacII? Do you know someone who has a brother-in-law who may know
someone? Any info would be appreciated.
--
Ken Wallich
Ardent Computer Corp
ubvax  -----\
decwrl ------+--->!ardent!kmw
hplabs -----/


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Murat N. Konar)
Subject: Re: Perhaps something really *is* amis a Jasmine.
Date: 3 Jun 88 00:44:09 GMT
Organization: Honeywell Systems & Research Center, Camden, MN

Now I'll come to Jasmine's rescue.  I placed an order by phone for an
Innerdrive 90II about 2.5 weeks ago.  I had just taken delivery of my
MacII and  so was pretty horny for a hard drive. When I asked  about
having the order  rushed to me over night, the guy on the other end
replied that Jasmine was in  the midst of moving to new facilities and
that their shipping department was in  disarray, but that they could get
it to in 8-10 days. My heart sank but I ordered anyway.  This was a
Monday.   Friday morning my drive arrived,  4-6 days ahead of schedule.
I was overjoyed. (The sucker's pretty darn fast, too.)

Perhaps the problems alluded to in previous postings are a  function of
the move.  I hope things straighten out.  If they don't, it just proves
MNK's Law (for lack of a better name)

============================================================= MNK's Law:
If something is good, it will degrade in the
       interests of increased profits.
       =============================================================

       Some examples: radio stations that used to play good music
       changing their formats to T40 or AOR, "The Equalizer" fans of
       this show
       will note the dramatic change from the quality of the first
       season or so vs. those currently in production. But I digress
       (sorry).


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Pierce T. Wetter)
Subject: Re: Can FullWrite do this?
Date: 3 Jun 88 11:00:36 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Fang Zhong) writes:
>
>       I want to have a superscript directly above a subscript in a line of
>text. I realize that I can do this in Expressionist or MacEqn then paste it
>into the text, but this is not acceptable. The problem is that the subscript
>is aligned with the text line while the character being subsripted and
>superscripted is shifted up. Is there any solution to this problem using
>FullWrite?
>
   While I havn't actually tested this, since FW allows you to kern two
letters apart or together, I think you can simply kern the sub or
superscripts until they overlap.  Pierce
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
[e-mail]     Race For Space Grand Prize Winner.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
   Useless Advice #986: Never sit on a Tack.


------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: shutdownsound/conflict
Date: 2 Jun 88 16:13:00 GMT


[e-mail](Wayne Pollock) writes in comp.sys.mac

>>...
>>]Yeah, I've noticed a problem with Quick Folder too: it conflicts
>>]in a nasty way (read: Bus Error) with the MPW tool Catenate.  ...
>> Given these errors, I think there's
>>probably something non-quite-kosher about Quick Folder, nifty though
>>it is.
>
>Does HFS Navigator suffer from these problems?

    No.  HFS Navigator does not have any incompatability problems that I
have yet to come across.  I have used it through many systems (now
including 6.0  which it works with!) and LOTS of programs and it works
wonderfully!!! One of the nicest features of HFS Nav is that the normal
menu does not have ANY cmd equivalents so that you can choose any
cmd-equivs that you want to go along with the menu items an since it is
a standard menu resource, you can always go back and edit it later.
--
+---------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+                                 +  Any thing I say may be taken as  +
+   Leonard Rosenthol             +  fact, then again you might decide+
+   President, LazerWare, inc.    +  that it really isn't, so you     +
+                                 +  never know, do you??             +
+   [e-mail]     +                                   +
+   GEnie:  MACgician             +                                   +
+   Delphi: MACgician             +                                   +
+                                 +                                   +
+---------------------------------+-----------------------------------+


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (J.Grant)
Subject: Changing the pointer icon
Date: 2 Jun 88 11:55:14 GMT
Organization: UNIKENT Plc.

I have always wanted to change the normal pointer icon, you know the

                 '`
                   \
                     \

into a left-handed person's pointer, since this one is obviously for a
right-handed person (think about where you put the mouse).

I presume (albeit probably incorrectly) that this lurks in the ROM. Is
there anyway to change it, like putting a resource with a suitable
number in the system file, for instance ...

How ??? Or more correctly what & where ?

{I have hesitated at guessing that a curs of id 0 in the system file,
might work (it wouldn't be the first hard-disk that I have had to
re-format after trying something like this - p.s. I tried all the tricks
to recover the disk, but no dice at all - most utilities would not even
admit that there was a hard disk!).}


-----------------------

From: [e-mail] (J.Grant)
Subject: Experiences with Microsoft Macenhancer anyone ?
Date: 2 Jun 88 12:01:29 GMT
Organization: UNIKENT Plc.

I am about to resurrect one of these beasts, (for those who have not
seen them they plug into a serial port and give you 1 parallel, 2 serial
and the original serial one back).

Mine has not been used for a few years - indeed the mac connector is a
DB-9! Does anybody still use one (them) and do they still work with post
64K rom machines & systems ?

If you are still using one, what version is it, eg software revision #
etc ?

P.s. The local Microsoft claimed to have never actually sold any - so
they couldn't help !


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Curt Stevens)
Subject: Re: Finder shouldn't empty trash under
Date: 3 Jun 88 16:55:38 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

In article <76000209@uiucdcsp> [e-mail] writes:
>
>Yes, I agree.  The only time the finder should empty the trash is
>(1) When the device is full (like a floppy)
>(2) When the user selects "Empty Trash"
>(3) When the system is shut down.

I also agree. I have always felt that emptying the trash without an
explicit request (Empty Trash menu item) is counter to the desktop
metaphore. Like everyone, when I put trash in the can under my desk, it
stays there until I take out the trash. I can't tell you how many times
I've looked through that can for something I recently threw out. Just
because I start doing something else (start a new application) doesn't
mean that the trash is automatically useless. As mentioned in the other
postings, this is exactly the case with multifinder. People do more than
one thing at a time, and these tasks often cross application boundries.
I have always been irritated that the trash empties when I launch an
application. It just doesn't correspond to what goes on around my
desktop. In fact, I don't think finder should do this either.

There are other situations in which the mac automatically emties the
trash which don't bother me as much since I can fit them into the
desktop metaphore. A full device is like a full trashcan; it isn't a
pretty sight. Also, since my trash gets emptied at night where I work, I
can handle the system doing this for me when I shutdown (I suppose
restart too). I just don't see an analogy applicable to the situation of
starting an application.

Maybe its time for an even newer addition to the infamous LAYO resouce
list. I wouldn't mind at all if I had to use resedit to configure my
machine to act in the manner we are all suggesting.
--
===============================================================================
|Curt Stevens        [phone] |   /   |              E-MAIL:             |
|University of Colorado at Boulder |  o o  |              -------             |
|Computer Science Department       |   |   |arpa: [e-mail]|
|Campus Box 430                    |  \_/  |csnet:       [e-mail]|
|Boulder, Colorado 80309           |       |uucp:{ncar|nbires}!boulder!stevens|
===============================================================================


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Donald A. Norman)
Subject: Re: Mac going to England?
Date: 3 Jun 88 16:48:54 GMT
Organization: UC San Diego Institute for Cognitive Science


There is one severe problem with customs in getting a macintosh (or any
computer) into the U.K.  You are supposed to post a bond to guarantee
that you will take it out again -- the bond is on the order of magnitude
of 500 pounds.

I found that the machine worked just fine once I got it there - that and
the imagewriter.  Yes, I bought a transformer (in England) -- make sure
it is a real transformer, not a cheap, solid state converter. The
problem is the plugs: best solution: buy an outlet strip in the U.S. (I
took one with various protections): then you can plug the Mac and
imagewriter into the outlet strip, cut the plug off the outlet strip and
wire that into the transformer.  When you leave, just leave the outlet
strip behind.

BUT:  customs.  I vowed I would never do it again.  That I would lease a
machine in England.  (That was before the dollar slid in value -- maybe
today I couldn't afford to do that).   I never paid the bond, but was
hounded by customs my entire stay and for 2 months after I returned.

Some friends simply carried their machines through customs at the
airport and were never stopped, so they escaped.   Some were stopped and
had to pay, on the spot.  My machine was shipped by mail, which is how I
got it, but was also how customs learned about it, and they came after
me starting a month after I got the machine.

There are bonding companies in the US where if you pay then $100 or so,
they post a guarantee to UK customs for the bond.  This is probably the
best route to go, if you can find out who they are.  I have no leads,
except that MacWorld ran an article about 1 - 2 years ago giving the
name on one of them.

don norman
--
Donald A. Norman
Institute for Cognitive Science C-015
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California 92093
INTERNET: [e-mail]    INTERNET: [e-mail]
BITNET:   [e-mail]
ARPA:     [e-mail]       UNIX:{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!ics!norman


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Jeff Meyer)
Subject: Re: FullWrite Pro stuff
Date: 3 Jun 88 19:25:46 GMT
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chuq Von Rospach)
writes:
>o The spell-checker would be nicer if it had an option to tell it to fix
>    this word in the entire document (and to quit asking me about it).

Excellent point.  Definitely needs this.

>o Here's something I could do in Word I can't do yet in Fullwrite. Hidden
>    text. I'm writing a text where I want two versions: what I keep for
>    myself and what I hand out (class notes, syllabus, etc). My text is
>    set up hidden, so it doesn't print out unless I specifically ask for
>    it.
>
>    In Fullwrite, I can use posted notes on the system, but there's no
>    way to print out posted notes. How do I do this without keeping
>    parallel documents?

Not a solution, but how placing some of your hidden stuff in outline
mode, and then altering the display so that it's hidden?  I use post-it
notes in these cases, but I admit that it's personal choice there...

>o FullWrite either has to add rulers to styles, or add named rules (similar
>    to styles) so they can be included in the document easily. argh.

Absolutely -- they ALMOST have rulers in styles, but not quite.  Need an
indent/first line indent marker on the tab ruler.

                        "Bring the little ones unto me, and I will get a
                         good price for them."
--
                                        Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET:     [e-mail]
Manual UUCP:  {uw-beaver, sun, microsoft}!fluke!moriarty
CREDO:        You gotta be Cruel to be Kind...
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Robert Dorsett)
Subject: Re: Need Airport Database
Date: 3 Jun 88 18:20:48 GMT
Organization: Austin Unix Users Group, Austin, TX


As I indicated in a post about three weeks ago, the Nati Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration distributes the navaid information.  They are
treat- ing it very seriously, however, and, in conformity with a 1985
recommendation to impose mandatory updates to data, will ONLY sell the
data as a subscrip- tion (and no, pleading as a Mac developer won't
help--I tried).

If you are interested, the data can be ordered from Richard Powell at
301-443-8761.  The prices for the data (Visa/MC/check) are:

    Magnetic tape: (ASCII or EBCDIC, 1600 BPI, 0.5"): $600.00
    Floppy disk (ASCII): $320.00
    Paper: $270.00
 no, I haven't dropped any decimal points.  The data is updated every
56 days, which should place it at about $50 a pop.  I strongly encourage
the net (software developers) to call Richard and bug him about
releasing single-edition samples.  He does not appear to have
discretionary power, but perhaps, if he can report enough demand to his
superiors, they will start to release sample copies.

The data isn't in "HyperCard" format, but any competent programmer
should be able to do something with the data.  The data appears in text
format,  one navaid per line.  Data includes mnemonic name, class,
long/lat, city or location, range, altitude, operating times, state, and
a variety of other information.

If anyohe net has this data, I would be grateful for one rel-
atiely recent (within the last three years) copy.  I'm able ted
with my project, since the NOS *does* provide extremely detailed format
information, but sooner or later, I'm going to need data to test it on.

I still have not been able to find any *airport* information, however. I
need (urgently) geometric databases: runways, taxiways, etc., in
machine- readable form.  Preferably for the entire planet, but I only
need the Southwestern US (esp. Texas) to begin with.  I am almost
convinced that  such data exists: the Jeppesen charts these days appear
to be computer- generated, and no draftsman produced the NOS plates .
If anyone has any tips, please forward them to me (earlier posters
thought that IBM and the USGS might have the data, but I haven't been
able to penetrate the bureaucracy far enough).  NOAA/NOS does NOT handle
the airport data; they, in turn, pointed me to FAA and the DOD's mapping
agency.
--
     Robert Dorsett     {allegra,ihnp4}!ut-emx!walt.cc.utexas.edu!mentat
University of Texas     [e-mail]
          at Austin    {allegra, ihnp4}!ut-emx!juniper!mentat


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Jeffrey A. Sullivan)
Subject: AppleLink <-> Usenet connection?
Date: 3 Jun 88 19:55:27 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Lab., Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

How does one use the AppleLink-Usenet connection that I have read about?
 If it's not yet implemented, when will it be?  What's the news on it?
--
..........................................................................
Jeffrey Sullivan              | University of Pittsburgh
[e-mail]          | Intelligent Systems Studies Program
[e-mail], [e-mail] | Graduate Student


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Ken Wallich)
Subject: Re: PT109
Date: 3 Jun 88 18:36:41 GMT
Organization: Ardent Computer

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jeff Meyer) writes:

>1)  This little bugger is SLOW on loading on a Mac+.  [...]
>    I'd be curious how it works on a Mac II

Well, let me satisfy your curiosity, IT'S GREAT!  I can't even play it
on my "ordinary" mac because it is just too slow.  It literally screems
on my MacII.  It takes less  load than Falcon, or Beond Dark
Castle on the II, and the playing speed is more than twice as fast.
When you turn hard to port, you go hard to port.  It's only failing on a
two is that it fixes itself in the top left hand corner of the screen.
On a 19" monitor this would be a bit irritaing.

>2)  Very easy to win at level 1.  I mean, a PT boat killing 7 destroyers?
>    Wow, I should head for Japan and just get the whole country to
>    surrender!  I'm just starting to play at level 3, and it seems a bit
>    better -- we'll see...

Of course it's easy at level 1, that's how you learn the basics of
controlling the ship and playing the game.  In the higher level)
it get's much more difficult, especially when you get an accurate gunner
on one of those destroyers blasting you to bits!


I'm addicted :-).

--
Ken Wallich
ubvax  ---\
decwrl ----+--->!ardent!amber!dworkin
hplabs ---/


------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Finder shouldn't empty trash under
Date: 3 Jun 88 17:43:00 GMT


If the Finder is changed to empty the trash less frequently, the trash
can should be reimplemented so that the files are not accessible through
normal means to other programs.

Currently, a trashed file will still show up in SF{Get,Put}File boxes,
and can be happily opened by a lot of programs.  The longer trash hangs
around, the more of a problem this could be.
--
Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office
Internet: [e-mail]  UUCP: ihnp4!uiucuxc!dorner
IfUMust:  [phone]


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (David Beckemeyer)
Subject: Qustion about Macs and Layout work
Date: 4 Jun 88 06:23:00 GMT
Organization: Beckemeyer Development Tools, Oakland CA


I have a stupid question about using Macs for publishing.

I have not yet seen any Mac Word Processors that know how to do page
layout for 2-up type printing automatically.   I may not be using the
correct terms, but what I mean is: say you have a long document, 50+
pages.  Your preparing the masters for a printing of a few thousand
copies of the finished document, which is a book say one half of a
letter size sheet sideways (4.75 x 8.5).   The final books are 2-sided.
The printer wants it layed out "2-up", or two pages next to each other
on a letter size sheet.  The placement of the pages must allow for the
most efficient printing and collating.   Like when you take apart a
magazine and you find one shh page 70 and 99 on the front and 100
and 69 on the back.

My question is: are there any products that will do this sort of thing
automatically on the Mac?   I can't believe that I'm the only one that
uses the Mac for this sort of thing.  I realize I can manually paste the
pages in the right way using something like PageMaker, but that's almost
as hard as doing it by hand the old fashioned way.

The second question is: would anyone else find such support useful? I
see a lot of nit-picking about word processing features, but to me this
layout feature is much more worthwhile than a lot of stuff I see talked
about.
--
David Beckemeyer            |
Beckemeyer Development Tools        | "MOM, where do we keep the chainsaws?"
478 Santa Clara Ave, Oakland, CA 94610    |       - Calvin
UUCP: ...!ihnp4!hoptoad!bdt!david     |


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Erik Kilk)
Subject: New Map cdev
Date: 2 Jun 88 5 GMT

I discoved that when using the new Map cdev in System 6.0,  holding down
the option key while clicking the Find button  steps through each of the
known cities.

You will have to reset your clock after you specifiy where your Mac is.


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Greg DeMichillie)
Subject: Re: humpback game - can you top this?
Date: 4 Jun 88 22:40:52 GMT
Organization: as little as possible

How about clues on how to do anything with this game.  The object of it
is pretty obvious, but the we've played around with it and gotten
nowhere.  Not that this is particularly high on my finals-week list of
things to do...
--
Greg DeMichillie      [e-mail]
                      [e-mail]
                      {ucbvax, lll-crg, sdcsvax}!ucdavis!lgdemichillie
                      AppleLink:  ST0178


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Phil Kahn)
Subject: why can't MacOS use National Semiconductor 8MB memory board as core?
Date: 5 Jun 88 00:48:46 GMT
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems, Mt. View, CA [phone]

We just got a National Semiconductor 8MB Nubus memory board. Though this
board can be used as main memory when under A/UX, it seems only usable
under MacOS as a ram disk.  We need a very large memory under MacOS (we
cannot yet use A/UX, but that's another nasty story) and we were hoping
that 16MB was achievable (8MB in SIMMS and 8MB NSC board). This
incredibly large memory is needed because we are developing a very
extensible vision system, and data space requirements are typically very
large. A/UX could offset this problem with virtual memory, but features
in MacOS which we use (i.e., some managers and other stuff) don't appear
to be available in A/UX. (Is this true? That seems to me to be the
concensus of what I've seen on the net. If not, please correct me.)  In
any event, even if we wanted to use the NSC board under MacOS, we need
to get a ROM update to avoid the current limitation on Nubus address
space...

phil...


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Nick Bhatt)
Subject: Re: Help! Labels get stuck in ImageWriter II
Date: 4 Jun 88 23:11:30 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA

    I have been quietly watching the messages go back and forth on
Usenet about the ImageWriter printing and peeling labels and I now have
some questions.
    At the end of each page, the driver rolls the paper to the point
where you can tear it off (known as last form tear-off). Then, when it
prints the next page, it rolls the paper back, so that it can print at
the top of that page.  This paper motion, which we call "the little
dance" is ONLY done to permit last form tear-off.
    My questions to those interested:
    [1] Is last form tear-off important to you (i.e.,
    do you tear paper off right there, or do you
    eject a page anyway?)

    [2] Would you like an check box in the print
    dialog such as "Do little dance?"

Please e-mail to me your thoughts (or to the net if e-mail is broken).
     --Nik Bhatt



------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Chuq Von Rospach)
Subject: The Mac in Forbes
Date: 5 Jun 88 01:59:18 GMT

For Macintosh watchers, there's an interesting article in the June 13
Forbes magazine (hard to miss. The cover is about "The D-RAM crisis" and
is truly ugly...)

Inside, it mentions some really interesting things. Among them:

o That Sculley and Scott McNealy (Chief God here at Sun) may get
together
  with some other computer manufacturers and start turning out their own
  D-Rams.

o That because of the D-ram shortage, the Mac-SE upgrade won't happen
this
  year [taking the SE to a 2Meg minimum configuration, plus color
support
  according to my rumors]

o That the Mac laptop is delayed.

There are a number of cute factual glitches (not unusual with Forbes in
High-tech stuff):

o The SE upgrade is called "long-awaited" -- the SE hasn't been around
long
  enough to need a "long-awaited" upgrade!

o Hypercard is calleMacintosh 2's personal database program" (my
Mac
  was really annoyed to find out that HyperCard wouldn't run on it
  anymore...)

Considering that Apple never talks about un-released products, I wonder
how Forbes could not only find out about the SE Upgrade and the Laptop,
but how it could definitively find out that they were delayed. I think
that what they say makes a lot of sense considering the Ram shortage,
but to purport it to be fact?

Anyway, those of you waiting for the Laguna Laptop, be prepared to wait
a while longer. Forbes has so decreed, so it must be.

(Apple, wanna comment on this? No, I didn't think so, but it's worth a
shot)


Chuq Von Rospach            [e-mail]        Delphi: CHUQ

    Robert A. Heinlein: 1907-1988. He will never truly die as long as we
                           read his words and speakme. Rest in
Peace.


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Leonard Harris)
Subject: 3.5 inch drives on a Mac
Date: 4 Jun 88 20:53:05 GMT
Organization: University of Toronto Computing Services


Hi. Does anyone know how to modify a 3.5 inch drive to work on a Mac.
I'm not worried about disk ejects, just how to interface it. On a
related note - where could I find details of how the "IWM" works and
disk formats on the mac.  Has anyonned an equivalent circuit to
the IWM?  Thanks in advance /leonard


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (David HM Spector)
Subject: Re: Problems with System 6.0?????
Date: 5 Jun 88 13:15:00 GMT
Organization: New York Univers
A bunch o'prorams are now "broken" under System 6.0.  Among them: most
Micrsoft products & ACIUS's 4th Dimension.   (*)This time it seems to be
the developer's fault.  Most of the programs that break seem to violate
Robot's Rules of Order regarding Handles.  I.e., they Manipulate the
upper handle bits directly  or are doing silly things like using fake
handles.  I was using 6.0 for a while 'til I found 4D broken.. and I
have to use it, so I wait the 3-4 weeks for ACIUS to deliver a promised
patch.

Microsoft products die because in their _infinite_ wisdom, Micrsoft
hardwired their products for 1Mb machines.   A pretty hard thing to do
on a 68000 which has no segment registers and a linear address space,...
no?   Apple seems to have gotten smart and decided not to keep kludging
the system  to move Microsoft programs around in memory... if MicroSoft
can't get their  act together and fix it in a timely fashion,... Oh,
well.  I'll know not to  buy any more MS products.

            David

(*)
  I don't mean to say that software that stops working under new system
software releases is _ever_ Apple's "fault", but usually when things
break its due to increased functionality in the OS that programs can't
handle (e.g., HFS), this time it seems to be Apple enforcing its own
rules.   (software compatibility guidelines..)

This is probably a warm-up for what's gonna happen when 7.0 comes out.
Looks like time to read TechNote 117 again to make sure I didn't miss
nuthin'!
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David HM Spector                New York University
Senior Systems Programmer            Graduate School of Business
Arpa: [e-mail]            Academic Computing Center
UUCP:...!{allegra,rocky,harvard}!cmcl2!spector    90 Trinity Place, Rm C-4
HamRadio: N2BCA      MCIMail: DSpector          New York, New York 10006
AppleLink: D1161     CompuServe: 71260,1410     [phone]
"What computer puts out work like this?"  "Hire us and we'll tell you."
XYZZYGLORP


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Ric Anderson)
Subject: Re: Problems with System 6.0?????
Date: 5 Jun 88 16:22:26 GMT
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson


Instead of blindly flaming MicroSoft, how about some specifics?  I'm
running System 6.0 on a MAC  5Mb of memory, and MicroSoft Word
3.02 and Excel 1.06 both work just fine.  There are problems with Excel
versions below 1.06 on machines with over 1Mb, so maybe you just need
the 1.06 upgrade.

I won't say MicroSoft is perfect, but they return my phone calls and
have had reasonable answers for the problems I have run in to.


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Earle R. Horton)
Subject: SCSI Accelerator in comp.binaries.mac seems OK.
Date: 5 Jun 88 22:34:19 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

I got the SCSI Accelerator INIT from comp.binaries.mac, and since I just
bought a Nova 30, and hadn't even started loading it yet, it seemed like
a good thing to try out.  Results:

I disassembled the INIT first, and the code is harmless, extremely
harmless. (Don't believe me, back up your stuff first.)

I installed it on the Nova, and it does seem to work a bit faster.  The
main problem is that I have no idea how to reformat the Nova for 1-to-1
interleave, and the manual gives no hints on that or even what the
present interleave is.  Since the Nova comes with its own formatter, I
guess I have to write to MicroTech to find out.  (The best results are
obtained with SCSI Accelerator when a 1-to-1 interleave is used.)

Summary:

Looks like a good thing to have in your system folder for Mac Plus
users, and it's not even real big.

Disclaimer:  I don't even know the guy who wrote it.
--
*********************************************************************
*Earle R. Horton, H.B. 8000, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755   *
*********************************************************************


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Alexis Rosen)
Subject: Hello, an old survey, and a new database
Date: 5 Jun 88 21:02:58 GMT
Organization: The Big Electric Cat, NYC, NY

This is my first posting since early 1986. It's great to be back!

I would like to apologize to all of you who put in so much effort on my
Mac II survey in Mar. '86; in just over a month I received almost three
MBytes of return mail, over 200 peices. Just two or three days before my
first summary was to go out, my Unix account was unceremoniously
eliminated by the sysadmin at City College, where I had guest access.
(Columbia, where I once went to college, never let students use any
network mail). I was thrown off for 'overutilizing the mail system'...

It was a lot of wasted effort, but it won't happen again; I have just
discovered the Big Electric Cat Puix. It's the greatest bargain I
have seen in years, and there'it on mail activities...

In a month or so, I will start work on a "Mac III" survey. This time, it
will concentrate far more on the software and user interface, since I
think those areas are the most controversial, and the least well
understood. Almost all of the hardware issues raised in the survey were
addressed by the Mac II, while most of the software discussed has yet to
be implemented.

In the meanwhile, I want to mention one peice of software I've been
using very heavily over the past three months. It's the best peice of
work I've seen in a long while: FoxBase+/Mac. It astonishes me that the
best, most Mac-like database program is written by people who were,
until now, hardcore DOS programmers. It's the most elegant commercial
software I've seen recently, and their code is CLEAN. Amazingly, it
really is (depending on your application) TEN to a HUNDRED times faster
than any other "relational", programmable database for the Mac. There
are missing peices, but it's fully useable now, and the rest is coming
soon. I trust them when they tell me that, because they shipped ON TIME,
unlike everyone else, and they are *responsive*. When I call them and
say that it would be nice to have a certain feature, it no longer
surprises me to see it show up in the copy I get the next week. They
also don't rest on their laurels. The day after version 1.0 shipped,
they were hard at work on the next release, which is going to be a real
killer. I've written megabytes of code in both Omnis and 4D, and put in
hundreds of hours on Helix. Already, I can do stuff I wouldn't even
think of in the others; I'll never use them again. If Fox can
only market it right, it has every reason in the world to be the #1
best-selling Mac database by next year.

I just got a Beta of their new Forms Design module. It's going to be
AWESOME! It already takes care of 4D's worst problem in that area
(difficult selection of close/covered objec will generate
user-editable code, so that the intrepid (and the consultants) can
customize anything they don't like.

If it seems to you that I'm raving about FoxBase, well, you're right.
The only software I can think of that comes close in breaking new ground
for the Mac, and doing it *the right way*, is FullWrite. There may be
others, but I can't think of any offhand.

Has anyone else used FoxBase? What are your reactions?

--
Alexis Rosen                       {allegra,philabs,cmcl2}!phri\
Writing from                       {bellcore,mcl2}!cucard!dasys1!alexis
The Big Electric Cat            {portal,well,ihnp4,sun}!hoptoad/
Public UNIX                         if mail failmcl2!cucard!cunixc!abr1

------------------------------

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