NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/comp/sys/mac/digest/321

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Subject: Info-Mac Digest V10 #201
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Info-Mac Digest             Fri, 21 Aug 92       Volume 10 : Issue 201

Today's Topics:

      [!] Rice shadow archive administrivia
      [*] converter stack
      "Bus Error" (A)
      "Bus Error" ? (A)
      Accelerator for the SE
      Adobe Type Reunion
      a Freehand problem (A)
      Another Movie!
      Bus Error (R)
      Bus errors and more...
      Caere (OP2.1 Pro) support
      Color Pivot LE & TigerSoftware
      data acquisition
      Errors (A)
      Ethernet in the Home
      Importing a postscript file [Q]
      Info-Mac Digest V10 #200
      I was lucky, PB100 & Price Club (C)
      Kermit .99(97) doesn't like ATR
      mac 512 system
      MacTools 2.0/Norton Utilities 2.0
      PowerBook Tuner?
      problem printing Postscript from PC to NTR
      QUADRA owners, run your machine with cache=on (!)
      Re "Bus-Error"
      Software Distribution tools
      Statistical Software: a cautionary note
      Suspected DeltaGraph Pro Bug (R)
      SyQuestion Answers
      System 7 print drivers
      System 7 Print Drivers (FAQ?)
      Time Stamp Versions (C)
      VGA monitors revisited (C)

The Info-Mac newsgroup is moderated by Bill Lipa.

The Info-Mac archives are available (by using FTP, account anonymous,
any password) in the info-mac directory on sumex-aim.stanford.edu
[36.44.0.6].  Help files and indices are in /info-mac/help.

Please send articles and binaries to [e-mail].
Send administrative mail to [e-mail].
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 18:18:46 CDT
From: "Mark R. Williamson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: [!] Rice shadow archive administrivia

Please note that the proper address for the mail/message-based server
at Rice University that handles requests for files from our shadow of
the Info-Mac archive changed quite some time ago from LISTSERV@RICE to
LISTSERV@RICEVM1 on BITNET ([e-mail] on Internet).
BITNET node name RICE has recently been reused for another node which
acts as a mail router for the campus.  It will try to forward mail for
userids known to exist only on RICEVM1 to RICEVM1, but in the process
changes the return address in a manner which makes LISTSERV unable to
respond or send files.  (Technically, it assumes that unqualified
addresses are meant to be in the RICE.EDU domain.)

Please address future requests to LISTSERV@RICEVM1 on BITNET or to
[e-mail] from the Internet.  Thank you.

Mark R. Williamson, Rice University, Houston, TX; [e-mail]
Coordinating BITNET redistribution of Info-Mac archive files from Rice.

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 10:13:59 EET DST
From: "JORMA LIEVONEN, VTT TIEDOTUS, TEKNIIKANTIE 4, SF-02150 ESPOO, FINLAND,
FAX [phone]" <[e-mail]>
Subject: [*] converter stack

Converter 1.0 converts units of measurement from one measure to another -
if the conversion is based on a multiplication factor.

You might find the stack useful because it presents a great number of
conversion factors, collected by Don Rittner for his Scientific Conversion
Chart DA.

Don Rittner, whom I have not contacted for this modification of his work,
is at GEnie: D.Rittner, MacNET: DRITTNER, CIS: 70057,1325, AppleLink:
UG0194, MECCA BBS: 518 381 4430. The blame for inaccuracies should be
directed at me, at the address [e-mail] (Internet).

- Jorma

[Archived as /info-mac/card/converter-10.hqx; 56K]

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 21:35:30 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Hisham A. Abboud)
Subject: "Bus Error" (A)

Leslie Ballentine writes:

> I know what a bus is - it is a piece of hardware inside my machine.
> Therefore the term "Bus Error" suggests a hardware failure, but apparently
> that is not what it really signifies.  Can anyone explain why such
> misleading terminology was adopted?

True, the bus is "a piece of hardware inside" the machine, but it is
also the path that your program and data take when moving between
the CPU, memory, NuBus cards, and other peripherals in your Mac.

The term Bus Error does not suggest a hardware failure as you thought,
but rather an error your data encountered when traveling down that
bus.  This error is usually due to a software bug, causing the program
to go where no program has gone before (and came back to tell about it!)

I hope this helps.

                        Hisham.


Hisham A. Abboud, Cedrus Corp.  [Internet: [e-mail]]

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 10:16:49 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Ed Sale)
Subject: "Bus Error" ? (A)

[e-mail] writes:
> I know what a bus is - it is a piece of hardware inside my machine.
> Therefore the term "Bus Error" suggests a hardware failure, but apparently
> that is not what it really signifies.  Can anyone explain why such
> misleading terminology was adopted?

Come on.  What did you expect from computer nerds, clarity? :-)

Allow this computer nerd to try to clarify:

There are two "busses" inside your computer which allow the different
components in your comupter to communicate with each other.  The
"address  bus" is used to make read/write requests, each of which
carries an associated address.  The "data bus" is used to actually
move the data.

A "bus error" implies that the CPU has placed an illegal address on
the address bus, not that the hardware is broken.  The CPU only places
addresses on the bus based upon the instructions that it is given, so
a "bus error" is almost always a bug in a program.  I should know,
I've written/fixed enough of them.

  -- Ed

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 00:28 EST
From: Carlo Fusco <[e-mail]>
Subject: Accelerator for the SE

Hello to all,

I am finally getting fed up with the speed of my SE.  I can't stand the slow
opening of documents and I want to give system 7 a try.  I however cannot
afford a new Mac. But, an accelerator is affordable. I have been looking at
the Mobius and the Railgun(the only two I know of).  I have read about
accelerating an SE in one of the reports at info-mac but I need more
information.

Which is better and has the fewest conflicts?  What kind of problems can I
expect by going the accelerator route?  Are there others to consider?
Does anyone have any comment about the combination accelerator/video card and
monitor?  Can I expect to find a deal at the upcoming MacWorld expo in
Toronto or is mail order the best route for one of these things?

I have a Mac SE 4/20 that is pre-FDHD. It has attached to it an Ehman 40, a
Zoom FX96/24 modem and a HP Deskwriter.

Thanks in advance, and I will post my findings to the info-mac.

Carlo Fusco
[e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 21:51:45 EDT
From: "Charles A. Patrick" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Adobe Type Reunion

As a reaction to my posting about Kermit 0.99(97) and ATR, I received the
following:

>> In MacWorld or MacUser (I can't remember which) a few months back they had
>> a tip about this sort of thing.  Basically, there's a resource you can add
>> to your application that tells Adobe Type Reunion not to bother trying to
>> work when this is the active app.  As I said, I don't remember the exact
>> resource name, but I remember that it's relatively mnemonic and that
>> Illustrator 3.0 has such a resource (if that helps)...

I guess I must have missed it. Can anyone recall the tip and provide a more
precise reference? If so, it may be more useful to post it on the net.

Cheers.

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 08:58 N
From: <[e-mail]> ([e-mail] FAX
FRANCE[33] 76-48-39...)
Subject: a Freehand problem (A)

Distribution-File:
    [e-mail]

>I've been having problems with Aldus Freehand 3.0. I have a rather large
>document which contains a number of TrueType fonts. When I try to print it,
>printer chokes on it. It usually prints out part of the document, along with
a
>message that there was a postscript error. Anyone know why this happens?

I don't know about Freehand (I use Adobe Illustrator) but a common source of
postscript errors with large files is due to excessive grouping.  Ungroup
some of the drawing, switch the printer off and on (to force re-initialising)
and try again. (BTW why bother with true-type fonts in a postscript doc. ?)

Alan Hewat, ILL, 156X Grenoble Cedex, 38042 France (email [e-mail])

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 23:44:52 -0700
From: Jon Pugh <[e-mail]>
Subject: Another Movie!

I just placed the intro to tonight's Simpsons episode on ftp.apple.com.
It is /pub/pugh/quicktime/not-the-waltons.bin and has the president saying
that he wants American families to be more like the Waltons and less like
the Simpsons. (Not in my family, that's for damn sure!)  Bart claims that
they _are_ like the Waltons.  They're both praying for the end of depression.
It's only 1.1 Meg in MacBinary format.

Jon

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 19:44:08 CDT
From: Don Walter <[e-mail]>
Subject: Bus Error (R)

     The term "Bus Error" does in fact mean what the term implies.
The hardware has detected an attempted illegal bus activity.  This
could be accessing a non-existant memory address, an odd address for
an instruction that must use even addresses, or possibly something like
"the page you asked for is not currently in memory".  The important
thing to note here is that the hardware is merely reporting that the
software requested something it could not deliver.

     I think the confusion comes from the disparate world views of
the hardware designers and the users.  The bus that gets the error is
completely internal to the CPU chip and with increasing levels of
integration is rapidly becoming an imaginary thing to all but chip
designers.  The bus that you can see and plug cards into is only a
subset of the full system bus, and is buffered and processed somewhat.

     As for the history of the term, I first saw it on PDP-11 Unix
systems as the infamous "Bus Error - Core dumped" message.

Don Walter
[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 21:00:41 edt
From: "Albert Feinstein (Spice, Reid)" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Bus errors and more...

The recent posts about bus errors detail some of the same problems that I
have been having with my IIsi since its arrival in May.  That's not all,
though.  Freqeunt bus errors (#1) are also accompanied by "stack has moved
into application heap" (#28) errors.  I get these two about every other day
with normal use and it's quite frustrating.  They show up with applications
>From PageMaker to DeHQX to Excel.  Another problem I've gotten about every
week or two is the desktop font changes (somewhat randomly) from my specified
Times to a Geneva 12 or something.  Later it will go back to the Times for no
reason at all.  I have reinstalled my Sys 7 disks twice and things really
haven't gotten much better.  Also, my internal floppy drive seems to corrupt
information on a regular basis.

Do these problems sound like they might be related in any way?  Do I need to
take the sucker into the shop or should I try another copy of System
software?  Anyone else having that desktop font change problem?

Thanks in advance.

-- Reid Spice.
[e-mail]

BTW, those of you who were amazed (or alarmed?) by the "desktop typing"
thing should read the "Finder Shortcuts" under the balloon menu.  There are
many handy keyboard commands you can use like those.  Tab, incidentally,
moves you through the icons alphabetically; shift-Tab goes back through the
alphabet.

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 20:37:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lesher Timothy Darwin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Caere (OP2.1 Pro) support

As the next chapter in the OmniPage Pro story unfurls:

I called Caere to ask about the status of the OmniPage 2.11 fix
(for those who haven't been following the thread, OP2.1 won't run
unless Virtual Memory is on--eating up a lot of HD space, and slowing
the program down needlessly.  Otherwise, it bombs with an
"Unimplemented Trap" message).

Well, if you remember, first it was "Sure, we'll send you that fix
right away."

Then it was "Well, th fix is in QC testing now."

Now, they told me, "We no longer plan to fix this error."  And the
person on the other end would not tell me _why_ they won't release
the fix.

Gee, I wonder why Caere wasn't rated in MacWeek's top five companies
for customer service.

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 21:16:34 PDT
From: [e-mail] ( John Thoo )
Subject: Color Pivot LE & TigerSoftware

Hello, folks!

I just received the Oct92 _Macworld_ today, and TigerSoftware is
advertising the Radius Color Pivot LE *with* display card for $879.
This sounds like a super deal, but I hesitate to place an order now
because I remember reading in the past some pretty bad things about
TigerSoftware.

My question is, do you think $879 for the Color Pivot LE w/card is
worth the gamble buying from TigerSoftware?

As usual, thanks for your help.

Cheerio!
--John.
<[e-mail]>

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 09:59:53 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: data acquisition

Does anyone have experience using Macs for data acquisition in science
teaching labs?  I am trying to get as much info as possible, and am
starting with no experience in this area.

We would be using the computers in cardiology labs (EKG, myograph
transducers, blood pressure), biochemistry labs (spectrophotometers), and
physiological ecology labs (pH meters, oxygen meters, temperature, etc.).
The computers would get heaviest use in the freshman laboratories.

Is LabView 2.2 from National Instruments the way to go? I've seen other
data acquisition products advertised, usually through the biological supply
companies (most recently MacPacq -- on its own or interfaced with a
Lafayette minigraph). We need something that's easy to set up (I'm not a
programmer) and easy to use (again, my limitations and those of freshmen).

Which Mac is best for these uses -- Classic? LC? II?

If using LabView, which hardware is best -- Lab-NB? NB-MIO-16? Basically,
how does one decide?

Thanks for any info.

Michael O'Donnell
[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 15:49:11 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Pete Resnick)
Subject: Errors (A)

[e-mail] (Wade Williams) writes:

>>I try and open an application and the system crashes with a *bus error*. I
am
>>able to to restart by clicking on the restart button.
>>What is a bus error, in general and in this context?
>>What is it a symptom of?

>It's just a bug in a program really.

This is usually *not* true. Unless you are talking about non-release
code (i.e. beta tests or something you are working on), bus errors
occur, not due to errors in the application itself, but due to an INIT
that does nasty things to the memory of an application.

>>I try to open an application, it opens and then it shuts down and I get a
>>message something like
>>*unknown application has unexpectedly quit, error type 25*
>>The System Errors DA tells me:
>>25    dsMemFullErr - out of memory!

>An out of memory error is caused by....being out of memory.  Try increasing
>the application's memory allocation.

Again, this will probably not work. Usually, applications run out of
memory in this way because some nasty INIT has taken up or caused the
program to improperly use the memory it has. A program that allows
itself to crash this way and not report its own error message
gracefully when it is not the fault of an INIT would never make it as a
release version. The only time increasing the memory allocation should
help is when you are knowingly going outside of the programs documented
limits.

When in doubt, suspect an INIT.

pr
--
Pete Resnick
Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 11:53:15 -0700
From: Jon Pugh <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ethernet in the Home

OK, my request for Ethernet information regarding my Quadras and LaserWriter
IIg generated quite a response, the gist of which is:

Many people are split between thin and twisted pair.  No one recommended
thick.  Twisted pair is the prefered setup for large sprawling networks,
but it requires a hub and routers to connect to Localtalk devices because
twisted is a purely star configuration.

I choose to go with thin ethernet since I am replacing a very small Localtalk
bus with a very small Ethernet bus.  The transition is simple and cheaper.
In addition, one person pointed out that twisted pair is not FCC Class B
approved, making it illegal to use in a residential environment.

The Asante FriendlyNet connectors are supposed to be under $100 and that's
all I will need besides some coax.  As an Apple employee, I get the Internet
Router at a substantial discount ;) and can apparently run it on both Quadras
which will allow me to run both Ethernet and LocalTalk simultaneously and
transparently which will be good for talking to the 2 infrequently used
devices remaining on LocalTalk.

One person questioned the sense of all of this, citing dubious performance
gains in such a small network.  Mostly I am doing this because I can and
because I am curious as to the gains we will see.  We move large scanned
images around and the wife downloads a lot of fonts to the printer, so we
are hoping to see some improvement there.  I will make some timing tests
before I actually do the conversion and will share my results.

Thanks for the advice.

Jon

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 11:18:10 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Dr. Jon Stewart)
Subject: Importing a postscript file [Q]

Fellow Mac'ers,

I have a question for the PostScript gurus on the net.  I am using a molecular
modelling program (Quanta) which runs on a Silicon Graphics workstation for
calculations on proteins.  This program will write output to a postscript
file for printing.  The local ethernet contains a Laserwriter II (NT?) and
I can print the output file from Quanta by typing "laser <filename>".  This
works with no trouble and we get good quality output.  However, I'd also like
to add some captions and otherwise tidy up the output on my Mac before pub-
lication.  I downloaded the postscript file to my Mac (SE, 2.5 meg RAM, sys
6.0.7) and tried to open it with Illustrator 3.0.  The idea is to convert the
postscript file to PICT format so I can use MacDraw II (which I am much more
comfortable with).  Unfortunately, Illustrator won't properly read in the
postscript file.  The first problem was that it didn't start with
%!PS-Adobe-.
So I opened the file with a word processor and fixed that.  Then it said that
there was an offending character - '' - which I couldn't find with the Find
command in word.  Can anyone offer any help?  I would be happy with any
solution for converting this file to PICT format; I don't care much about
how I have to do it.  Thanks very much for your help.

Jon Stewart
Department of Chemistry - Penn State University

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

Date: 21 Aug 92 01:25:08 EDT
From: Jim Haupt <[e-mail]>
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V10 #200

Dear Netters,


This is really strange.

I have a 10baseT enet connection.  Our AS file server (IICI,8m/1g,Sys 7,
tuneup
1.1.1, Andrew NetAxcess board, Sonic Systems Nubus Enet card) runs fine.

However when I plug in our new Quadra 950 into the that 10baseT socket, the
network performance is pathetic.  (Quadra is running with everything that the
CI had, except for the Nubus Enet card.  We are using an Asante friendlynet
adapter).

If I plug the Quadra into a different connection, then it works fine.

Why would a 10BaseT connection work for a CI but not for a Quadra?  Does
anyone
have any ideas?

Thanks
Jim Haupt

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 08:22:19 PDT
From: Kee Nethery <[e-mail]>
Subject: I was lucky, PB100 & Price Club (C)

I lurked at 4 separate Price Clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area for a week
when each Price Club was saying that they expected a batch of PowerBooks to
arrive "maybe tomarrow". They never came. A friend who knew someone at one
of the Price Clubs got the phone number of the small office inside Price
Club that holds on to expensive items (camcorders, watches, PowerBooks,
etc.) This week, he started calling them every 2 hours, ALL WEEK LONG.
Yesterday at 11am he called, no PowerBooks. At 1pm he called, they had
received 30 PowerBooks. He got there at 2pm, they were down to 10
PowerBooks, so he bought three. I'm certain that by 2:30pm all 30 had been
sold.

We got lucky. If you have the time to lurk at Price Club and hope that they
receive a shipment while you are there, it is a great deal. Otherwise,
consider the cost of your time (and how quickly they get sold) when you
consider saving big bucks on a PB100 at Price Club. Your odds of snagging a
PowerBook at Price Club are very very slim.

Kee
[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 14:28:27 CDT
From: Graeme Forbes <[e-mail]>
Subject: Kermit .99(97) doesn't like ATR

Charles Patrick reports that the new Kermit has trouble with ATR. In fact,
the manual promises "severe problems" with Suitcase, ATM or Mac Layers
Keyboard (whatever that is) ranging from messed-up font spacing to bombs.
I run Suitcase and ATM and found the screen display to be, indeed, a mess.
I've gone back to my old version of Kermit.

Graeme Forbes

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 23:45 CDT
From: "Dwight Lemke @ Wisconsin Oshkosh" <[e-mail]>
Subject: mac 512 system

Actually, I'd opt for Andy Ihnatko's solution of the MAquarium.
;)

-Dwight

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 23:38:13
From: [e-mail] (Dieder)
Subject: MacTools 2.0/Norton Utilities 2.0

Recently I got a really nice deal on MacTools Deluxe (bundled with my new HD)
and  I was able to upgrade to MacTools 2.0. Just got the package yesterday. I
was and still am an owner of Norton Utilities 2.0

Comments.

Norton is by far the fastest of the two packages. It analysed my disks and
corrected problems far more quickly than did DiskFix.

CPS's FileFix for Excel/Word users though seems kinda biased to me...can't
they do similar things for other application's documents? Or is CPS now a
member of the 'all users use Excel and Word' school of thought?

However, I thought that both were handy enough to keep on the HD with Norton
being my principal FileSaver/Extension package I use.

Queries

Why did Central Point Software eliminate some of their utilities from previous
versions? i.e. Secure DA?

How do I remove exceptions from the MacTools Anti-Virus CP? Also, is there any
faster way of scanning and making checksums than with the cdev? (It seems to
tie up the computer and eliminate backgrounding while it scans everything)

Big Question:

Norton and MacTools seem to have this argument over whether or not one of my
leafs in my catalogue has the correct number of nodes. You correct it with one
app, and the other one says its incorrect. Doesn't seem to make much of a
difference though...but WHICH IS CORRECT?

Anyhow, I find enough of both packages useful enough such that I keep them
both at hand on my HD.

Dieder

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 13:24:13 KDT
From: [e-mail] (Kim Jeong-hyun)
Subject: PowerBook Tuner?

There's a file named PowerBookTuner_1.0a2_hqx at RASCAL.ICS.UTEXAS.EDU
in the directory /mac/support-of-products. Whatizit for?
Thanx in advance.

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 12:35:07 SET
From: Marco Simionato <[e-mail]>
Subject: problem printing Postscript from PC to NTR

Sorry for any cross-posting.

I have a 386 with DR DOS 6 connected to an Apple PLW NTR.
If I want to print Postscritp files with TYPE or COPY commands, I easily
get a "Not ready error while writing to device LPT1. Abort, Retry, Cancel"
(I translated back in English the Italian localized string). I think this has
got something to do with port timeout. If I press R(etry) shortly after the
message
appears, the printing process proceeds normally. I can get several such
messages,
and I have to press R each time. If I don't, the printing gets aborted.
Now, is this something I have to fix at DOS level or at the printer level?
How can I set a longer timeout parameter? Or is this perhaps a "native"
NRT/DOS problem?

Please reply DIRECTLY to me. Thanks.

Marco Simionato

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

Date: 21 Aug 1992 09:26:33 +0100 (MET)
From: HANS KROEGER <[e-mail]>
Subject: QUADRA owners, run your machine with cache=on (!)

Just a note to new QUADRA owners:
With my new QUADRA 700 I turned the cache off after too many system crashes.
I thought I wait for a while until all S/W is upgraded to be compatible with
the cache. Bullshit!
It finally turned out that all the software I was using (except Excel 3.0)
was already cache compatible. The HARDWARE in my QUADRA was bad (working
marginally): crashes with cache=on, no crashes with cache=off.
I got a new board and my machine works fine since 3 weeks now with cache=on
and no crashes.

Hans Kroeger

[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 11:24:03 EDT
From: [e-mail] (William C DenBesten)
Subject: Re "Bus-Error"

[e-mail] (The Moderators):
>
>>>What is a bus error, in general and in this context?
>>>What is it a symptom of?
>>
>>It's just a bug in a program really.  It can be caused by a number things,
>>none of which should be your fault.  It's usually caused by something like
>>a program trying to use some memory which it has already released.
>
> I know what a bus is - it is a piece of hardware inside my machine.
> Therefore the term "Bus Error" suggests a hardware failure, but apparently
> that is not what it really signifies.  Can anyone explain why such
> misleading terminology was adopted?
>

A Bus is a collection of wires that typically share a common function.  The
microprocessor (68000/68030) has two major busses, the address bus and the
data bus.  The 68000 continually puts an address on the address bus and either
reads or writes data to the corresponding memory location via the data bus.
In the event that the address given does not correspond to an existing memory
location, the address-decoding hardware will drop the signal on a pin (BERR')
to inform the 68000 of the problem.  At this point the macintosh executes
special code in its rom to display the bus error dialog box.

Most people are not really interested in what a bus error is, but rather what
went wrong that caused the bus error to happen.  The general answer is that a
program spun out of control, and the message is akin to "there is a car in the
ditch".  Programs tend to spin out of control ("bomb") when something goes
wrong that the person writing the program did not anticipate, such as needing
a piece of information that another part of the program (or operating system)
has thrown away in an effort to keep the program's workspace clean.

Just as it can be difficult to determine what caused a car to go into a
ditch without having specialists at the scene of the accident, it can be
difficult to figure out what causes a bus error, especially when it happens
to someone else and you can not repeat it at will.   We can, however make
generalizations such as "these two inits won't work together".  Generally,
the cause of this is that an init will cause the behaviour of the mac to
change slightly, and some other init or program has not anticipated this
change in behavior.  This is sort of like the surge of cars in ditches
when roads ice over in the southern states.

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 13:37:36 -0600 (MDT)
From: "MAIL::\"Gabe"@rom.tcpl.ucalgary.ca
Subject: Software Distribution tools

Date    8/21/92
Subject Software Distribution tools
From    Gabe Jones
To      Tng Tai Hou, Info-Mac

Subject:  Software Distribution tools                   8/21/92    1:24 PM
[e-mail] (Tng Tai Hou) writes:
>Can someone kindly recommend me some update managers I can use?  I >have
heard
of GraceLan's Update Manager Multi-Zone, and Net Distributor. >Can anyone who
has experience with these software comment on them?

We were in a very similar situation a few months ago.  We have approximately
1,400 Macs spread out over the country (Canada). The majority of these Macs
are
in two head office locations, with the remainder in field offices along our
pipeline. Updating existing software or installing new applications/files on
our Macs was an arduous process which involved physically visiting each Mac in
the enterprise.

We have recently completed an evaluation of software distribution tools.  We
investigated tools that would allow us to update client software
(applications,
fonts, desk accessories) over the network. Also of importance to us was the
ability to create "intelligent" self installing packages that could be
distributed to clients via electronic mail, AppleShare, or floppy disk(s).

During the evaluation, we examined several applications, including:
NetDistributor and NetDistributor Pro, GraceLAN Update Manager, Version
Territory and NetOctopus.  As was expected, all applications were strong in
some areas, and weaker in others. Based on our requirements, we chose to go
with NetDistributor Pro.  The deciding factors were ND Pro's ability to update
busy/open files, its powerful scripting capabilities, and the willingness of
the vendor (Trik Software) to make requested enhancements to the product.

As an example of the last point, all software distribution applications
provide
a client INIT or system extension that registers the client on the network
using the clients Chooser name (owner name under System 7). This name is then
used by the administrator application to identify clients. As can be expected,
many Chooser names are not representative of who the client actually is. We
requested that the QuickMail user name (from the QuickMail preferences file)
be
used instead of the Chooser name, and Trik implemented this enhancement for us
(for a fee).

Please note that we are not making a formal endorsement of NetDistributor Pro
as our actual day to day usage experience is not extensive. We are currently
in
the midst of implementing NetDistributor Pro company-wide (approx. 1,400
Macs),
so our production usage experience is minimal. We would be willing to share
our
usage experiences with you and others who are using software distribution
tools. In return, we would like to hear other's experiences - both positive
and
negative - on both the tools and the procedures
used to install/upgrade users software. This type of information can help all
of us to better serve our users and clients.

A final note: as we discovered during the evaluation, software distribution is
very much an evolving market. Tools are continually being refined. For
example,
TechWorks will shortly ship version 1.1 of Gracelan Update Manager, which
claims to support updating of busy/open files on a clients Mac (without this
feature, you could not update System 6 users to the System 7 LaserWriter
drivers). Also, MacVONK has just shipped version 1.1 of NetOctopus, which
claims to allow you to use Apple installer scripts. (I say
"claims" because we have not personally seen them in action). I am sure that
the other vendors, including Trik, will evolve their products as well.

*TAI, PLEASE FORWARD US ANY OTHER REPLIES*

Hope our input helps,

Larry Schuck
Workstation Technology & Development
TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada


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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 10:12:44 +0100
From: [e-mail] (John.Williams)
Subject: Statistical Software: a cautionary note


Anyone looking for statistical software and considering buying either SYSTAT
or
Statistica should be aware of the accusations and counter accusations made by
each of these software companies against the other.  The most serious of these
concern inaccuracies in certain procedures.  I think that SYSTAT has notified
the American Statistical Association about this, but I do not know if they
have
responded or adopted any position on this affair.


The companies in question will send brochures which defend their own product
and tell you what's wrong (in their honest opinion) with the other.  So, get
the information BEFORE buying and make your own mind up.  Caveat emptor, as
always.


If any Info-Mac reader can supply a statistician's opinion on this
controversy,
I think it could be helpful.

John Williams ([e-mail])

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

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 19:37:22 EST
From: "Klaus Fechner" <[e-mail]> (by way of
[e-mail])
Subject: Suspected DeltaGraph Pro Bug (R)

In Info-Mac digest 196 Scott E Maxwell <[e-mail]> wrote:

>Am I crazy or is this actually a bug with DeltaGraph Pro? When I try to save
>document, cannot use the shift key to generate a capital letter. If I want
>capitals in my file name I must use the caps lock key. This is only for the
>SAVE and SAVE AS. This does not occur if I save as an EXPORT (ie save a graph
>as a PICT file). I have not tried saving an edition and seeing if it does it
>there. I have the latest version (v2.01). Does this happen to other people?

I have the exact same problem using different applications, but only if they
use the new file dialog box with a button allowing to create a new folder.

I am almost willing to bet that you are using SuperBoomerang 3.0.x. On AOL,
Now
has been told about SB causing this kind of behavior. As far as I know they
have not oficially acknowledged a bug. I don't know whether there is more than
one extension involved in this conflict.

Maybe we'll have to wait for Now Utilities 4.x for it to be fixed...

Have a nice day,

Klaus

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 15:27:28 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Ken Linger)
Subject: SyQuestion Answers

A week ago I asked why my SyQuest was trying to boot when I had my
computer configured to boot the internal 40 meg drive (SE/30, System
7.0.1*, 20 Meg Ram).  I got many replies and was asked by several to
post the results.

The most common suggestion was to make sure all drives had the same
driver.  My internal was formatted with whatever Apple uses for that
thing; the external 105M was formatted with OnTrack's Hard Drive
Uitilities, and the SyQuest was done with MDS Utilities (3 drives, 3
vendors, 3 different bundled software).

Before changing drivers, though, I checked my startup disk and it
highlighted my SyQuest.  (Trust me, I never changed it to this).  I
moved it back to the internal and it booted fine, for a while.  Then, it
switched again.

All drives are now using the MDS driver and I haven't had a problem yet.

As far as using Virtual Memory on a SyQuest, some drivers let you check
off whether the disk is removable, unmountable, ejectable, etc.  By
saying no, you cannot change disks, but can use it as VM.

If anyone has other questions, I'd be happy to help.

Ken Linger
---
Ken Linger                     [e-mail]
School of Computer Science
Purdue University
[phone]                 AOL:  Zinger6

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 08:18:00 MST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: System 7 print drivers

    Try upgrading to Word 5.0.  I havne't had any problems with 5.0 (except
some of the file converters leave a bit to be desired).  Word 4.0 is in my
opinion very buggy.

    Aric Friesen

p.s.
    Didn't someone mention people using old software with System 7?  ;-)

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 13:14:00 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Geoff Bronner)
Subject: System 7 Print Drivers (FAQ?)

[problem with printing SuperPaint 2.0 graphics out of Word 4 deleted]

You have run into a bug in SuperPaint 2.0 which was fixed in SuperPaint
2.0a. It was a free upgrade but I have NO idea if it is still available
now that 3.0 is out.

-Geoff

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 12:45:14 -0800
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Time Stamp Versions (C)

Al Bloom Notes:
>A fedex arrived yesterday with the complete set of Norton 2 disks. Being
>a proper dolt, I looked at the contents. Hmmm. Same version (2.0). Same
>date (Monday, April 20). Did they send me what I already have? I dropped
>another note. No, you silly goose. Look at the time stamp on each file.
>Sure nuff, my originals were created at 2:01PM. This new set was created
>at 2:03PM. Mike thought it should have been 2:02PM. They snuck a new one
>in on him. That makes the new disks 2 generations newer.
>
>Is this a hoot or what? Symantec is using the time stamp for incremental
>upgrades instead of changing the version number/date. Leslye's response
>was her ingenuous smile and a "We don't admit our errors, do we?"

Symantec also uses the file date to keep track of bug fixes in DOS q&a.
There will be no q&a 4.01, it seems, but the already have at least one new
version distiguished by the file date.

Kim Cary Systems Support Coordinator [e-mail] kcary@PEPVAX
Grad School of Education & Psychology - Pepperdine University (iMho only!)

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 16:54:36 MET DST
From: [e-mail] (Michael Bach)
Subject: VGA monitors revisited (C)

Dear Colleagues:
Mel has stated the situation of VGA monitors on the Mac very succintly.
There are 3 additional things which we learned the hard way:
    1. A monitor which chan do VGA *and* Super-VGA is often a
2-frequencies-monitor, and cannot sync to the Mac frequencies
in between. You need a real "multisync", best: try it out.
    2. The LC II has a special sense pin coding, so that it can
provide standard VGA signals:
Sense0 (#4) no connection, Sense1 (#7) tie to Sense 2 (#10).
But avoid it, it flickers noticably more than the Mac 13" standard.
    3. The quadra has an additional super-VGA mode: Connect sense pins
as for VGA, then open "Monitors" and, lo, behold the additional
super-VGA option (800x600). But don't use it, it flickers even worse.
If the monitor has a strong greenish tint, cut the connection from
#14 on the Mac side with #15 on the VGA side (this assumes that
you have proper Mac-VGA cabling in the first place.)
Greetings, Michael.

--
Dr. Michael Bach, Dept. of Ophthalmogy,
University of Freiburg, D-7800 Freiburg, Germany
(049)[phone] <[e-mail]>

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

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 8:44:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: [e-mail] (Jeff Kalinin (619)-455-3787)


  Hi,

  I am trying to find some information for the configuration of the
  atalkatab database file.  My sources indicate that I might be
  successful looking in the <info-mac> directory on your "sumex-aim"
  system.  I can't seem to find what I'm looking for.

  Could you clue me on a keyword that I could search on or tell me if
  you have the information out there.

  Thanks

  Jeff Kalinin          General Atomics
  [e-mail]  P.O. Box 85608
  619-455-3787          San Diego, Ca. 92186

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

End of Info-Mac Digest
******************************