NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/comp/sys/mac/digest/343

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From: [e-mail] (The Moderators)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.digest
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V10 #219
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Date: 11 Sep 92 21:46:04 GMT
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Info-Mac Digest             Fri, 11 Sep 92       Volume 10 : Issue 219

Today's Topics:

      [*] DataPak On-Line Help Construction Kit DEMO
      [*] Dr.Macinto 2.5C - upgraded version
      [*] Resubmission of Macbinary
      [*] Unfolder 2.0
      [*] waynes-world-grp4.hqx
      [*] ZaleskiCaps, a trueptype font
      [*] ZallmanCaps, a beautiful flowery caps font
      3.5" Read-Write Optical Disks (Q)
      Accidental frying of the battery control circuitry in the PB-100 ?
      ALL KINDS OF STUFF!
      anatomical morphometric analysis? (Q)
      Apple marketing in Europe ...
      ATM and 32 bit mode
      CASE for Macintosh
      CONNECTING VGA MONITORS TO A MAC (A)
      DA's and Multifinder
      DarkSide 3.2 (C)
      Dead Floppy (C)
      dead Mac Plus mice
      Eudora and POP3
      Eudora missing Bitnet mail
      Eudora missing Bitnet mail (A)
      External HD Sharing?
      FileGuard & SAM
      file sharing problems
      file sharing problems resolved
      help
      Info-Mac Digest V10 #217
      Info-Mac Digest V10 #218
      Jesse Jackson's "green eggs" wanted
      keyboard layout in GreekKeys for Mac
      Looking for a dBase C library (Q)
      MacTCP & EtherSC & Mac + problem
      MacTCP licensing
      Maple
      Menu Master 1.0 : help !
      Microphone II 4.0 and Sun...
      Network wiring
      Now Utilities 4.0 Bug
      Now Utilities and DarkSide
      OzTeX vs Now Up-To-Date
      plugging in a lot in my mac
      Problems with Catalog File
      QuickTime PICTs and ClarisWorks - clarification
      Shading Cells in Word 4
      Shut-down FKEY
      SpeedyFinder7 Bug
      SpinCursor Library (R)
      Tangram 3.09C - upgrade version
      Tattle Tale 1.4.1 (Q)
      TEKTRONIX Phaser III
      The Modem tool and a few questions regarding mac TCP
      Torx screws
      WingZ upgrade

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: 21-Aug-1992
From: [e-mail]
Subject: [*] DataPak On-Line Help Construction Kit DEMO

Here is a Software tool to design and build HELP files. These can be
made into a stand alone "HELP" application. Also - for developers -
the files can be activated from your own application with a proper
"Engine", thus creating a help system for the application (not
included here).

As I could not find this demo on FTP sites, I got it by Snail mail.

Here is the BINHEXed auto-extracting contents of this diskette,
checked for viruses with SAM and DISINFECTANT 2.9 .

This is a DEMO APPLICATION, so I guess it belongs to the /demo directory

All I know about this kit is from the info in this demo kit. So please
forward questions to the vendor.

BitNet address of vendor: [e-mail]

Ilan Szekely
BitNet address: [e-mail]

[Archived as /info-mac/demo/help-kit.hqx; 185K]

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 15:10 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: [*] Dr.Macinto 2.5C - upgraded version

    Warning!!! New kinds of virus are found. But don't worry. New medicine is
    developed by Dr. Macinto. New version 2.5C features 256 color blocks and
    more twist (3 new kinds of virus, diagonal remove, etc.). Dr. Macinto is
    now 32-bit compatible.
    Dr. Macinto is a single player game in which one is to remove all the
    viruses (smiling-face squres).  The blocks can be removed by arranging
    them sequences of 4 or more of the same color horizontally, vertically or
    diagonally (optional).
    Playing pills drop from the top and are comprised of two random colored
    blocks. Pills drop one at a time and may be moved left or right, or
    rotated.
    If you want to keep this game, please pay $5.00 shareware fee. See
    'About..' for more information.

[Archived as /info-mac/game/dr-macinto-25c.hqx; 88K]

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 00:26:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Les Ferch <[e-mail]>
Subject: [*] Resubmission of Macbinary

Date: Wed, 19 Apr 89 16:44 EDT
From: Greg Smith <[e-mail]>

This StuffIt archive contains the MacBinary application and a MacWrite
document.  Some methods of downloading MacBinary files (FTP to a Mac,
for example) can only download to the data fork of the Macintosh file.
The MacBinary program will translate such data files into their correct
components (info,data,rsrc).  There is an Upload feature to translate a
Mac file into a MacBinary data file, suitable for uploading via FTP.

The True MacBinary setting is for the case of catenating the three
pieces of a MacBinary file on unix into one text file prior to
downloading.  With some versions of xbin and macget, the resulting forks
on unix are not padded out to the 128 byte blocks that the MacBinary
standard specifies.  Turning True MacBinary off will handle this case.
The MacBinary utility will only create True MacBinary II files for
Uploading, regardless of the True MacBinary setting.  The Delete after
Download setting will delete the input data file after successfully
translating it to a Macintosh file.

This is version 1.0.1.

Please feel free to post this package on other servers.  It's freeware.

[Archived as /info-mac/util/mac-binary-101.hqx; 27K]

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

Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1992 14:59:25 -0500
From: Howard Shubs <[e-mail]>
Subject: [*] Unfolder 2.0

Unfolder 2.0

This program is intended for people who must download files for their
Macintosh via another kind of system, such as an Amiga, PCclone, VAX,
Sun, etc.   This program, once unBinHex'd, will reconstitute
MacBinary-encoded files.  It is not compressed, so that all you need
is a way of unBinHex'ing it.  If you can't unBinHex it, the source code
is available in C.  If you can't accept source code either, let me know
and I'll try to figure out another way to get you started.

Howard Shubs
the Denim Adept
[e-mail]

[Archived as /info-mac/util/unfolder-20.hqx; 19K]

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 15:56:34 -0400
From: jason r mihalick <[e-mail]>
Subject: [*] waynes-world-grp4.hqx

Dear Moderators,

    Here is the last of the archives containing
sounds from the Movie "Wayne's World".

    This archive contains sounds recorded in a 3:1
compression ratio using Sample Editor.  The sounds were recorded
using the built in sound input on a Mac IIsi, and I think that
you'll find that they are of good quality (for using the built
in mic).  I have found that because of Sample Editors compression
format, the sounds only work under System 7.0 and higher; sorry for
any inconveniences this may cause.

    The sounds in this archive are as follows:

        Does This Guy Know How To Party or What
        Schwing!
        She's a Babe
        She's Magically Babelicious
        Garth, Take Your Riddelen
        Garth's Tongue Story
        Uh Uh
        We Fear Change
        We're Not Worthy

    The sounds are free, so I hope you all enjoy them as much as
I have.

                    -Jason R. Mihalick
                    [e-mail]
 --------------------------------------------------------------

[Archived as /info-mac/sound/waynes-world-grp4.hqx; 483K]

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

Date: 10 Sep 1992 09:09:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jason Osborne <[e-mail]>
Subject: [*] ZaleskiCaps, a trueptype font

This is the truetype font ZALESKICAPS.  It is a caps font, serif, but
much less formal-looking.

This file has been compressed via compact pro 1.33.

If you want to see what this font looks like before you download it,
and you have downloaded font-preview from sumex, you can see what it
looks like at the middle right of PICT #2.  If you do not have font-
preview, and are interested in downloading fonts, it will save you
a lot of time and hassle.

This font uploaded courtesy of the Underground Phont Archive.
Jason Osborne
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Archived as /info-mac/font/tt/zaleski-caps.hqx; 26K]

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

Date: 10 Sep 1992 09:10:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jason Osborne <[e-mail]>
Subject: [*] ZallmanCaps, a beautiful flowery caps font

This is a truetype font called ZALLMANCAPS.  It is one of the most elegant
caps fonts I have seen, and a personal favorite of mine.  Each serif capitaol
letter is surrounded by roses and vines, much as one would see in a nice
Bible or such.

This file has been compressed via compact pro 1.33.

If you want to see what this font looks like before you download it,
and you have downloaded font-preview from sumex, you can see what it
looks like at the middle right of PICT #2.  If you do not have font-
preview, and are interested in downloading fonts, it will save you
a lot of time and hassle.

This font uploaded courtesy of the Underground Phont Archive.
Jason Osborne
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Archived as /info-mac/font/tt/zallman-caps.hqx; 59K]

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

Date: Fri,11 Sep 92 14:52:38 BST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: 3.5" Read-Write Optical Disks (Q)

Does anyone have any experience of the various makes of read-write optical
disks?  The 3.5" 120 or 128Mbyte drive seems to be fairly fast and good
value for money.  There are several makes on the market ranging in price
>From $2000-$3000 (in UK) with the disks at about $100 for the disks.

Thanks Vic Moss (Instutute of Physiology, Glasgow University, Scotland)

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 17:17 N
From: <[e-mail]> ([e-mail] FAX
FRANCE[33] 76-48-39...)
Subject: Accidental frying of the battery control circuitry in the PB-100 ?

Distribution-File:
    [e-mail]

> He swapped out the memory, reassembled everything, installed the
> batteries and ... nothing. The powerbook would not boot without attaching
> the power cord. Ultimately he swapped out the daughter board that the CPU

Well this can also happen with the PB-100 even if you never open it.  A
colleague switched off the battery power at the back as you are supposed to
before leaving it for a couple of weeks.  When he came back from vacation,
it would only boot when the power cord was plugged in.  We checked the
battery in another PB and it worked fine.

The local Apple dealer said "oh yes, he had seen that before" and sent the
logic board to Apple for repair.  This they did for free even though the PB
had been bought in New York, not Grenoble.

It appears to be not too uncommon, and something to do with the circuitry
controlling the battery, rather than the main logic, since it worked fine
so long as the powercord was plugged in.  Anybody else seen this ?

Alan Hewat, ILL Grenoble, France ([e-mail])

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

Date: 11 Sep 1992 02:03:59 -0600 (MDT)
From: [e-mail]
Subject: ALL KINDS OF STUFF!

Aloha from the mile-high city!
1: Can someone put up RapMaster on the site? I don't have AOL and I know it's
th
ere.
2: We are running AT EASE on 5 trial machines in the lab. I have DiskDupe for
ma
king copies of disks, something like Disk Acces. for copying files, and I need
s
omething to format disks without the finder.
I was going to use fast Formatter, but while running Access PC of PC EXCHANGE,
I
 need to be able to insert a DOS disk and format ti for the Mac and
 vice/versa.
I need a formatting program that will take advantage of Access or Exchange and
a
llow cross platform formatting. ANY IDEAS?!??!

3: Does anyone know how I can keep At Ease from auto log-on as a guest to a
server when it has to find an application?

Thanks in advance-
Dave in Denver!

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 11:49:28 MET DST
From: [e-mail] (Michael Bach)
Subject: anatomical morphometric analysis? (Q)

A coworker wants to do quantitative analysis on retinal
ganglion cells (area & diameter). Could you suggest a
satisfactory Mac-based (even DOS :-( if must be) setup
to do this. Probably a digitizer tablet and _good_ software
should do the job.
Please respond to: [e-mail]
Thanks, Michael.
--
Dr. Michael Bach, Dept. of Ophthalmogy,
University of Freiburg, D-7800 Freiburg, Germany
(049)[phone] <[e-mail]>

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

Date: Fri, 11 SEP 92 13:28:59 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Apple marketing in Europe ...

Recently there has beeen a string of complaints about Apple's European
prices in INFO-MAC. In no. 217, Michael Eytan points out that it isn't
just Apple who are ripping off European customers by charging roughly
twice the US prices - he gives an example of software. (And all this
is before the recent fall of the dollar exchange rate. Will this
produce the price drops that it should in Europe? Anyone care to bet?)

My impression is that the entire industry is guilty of overcharging
us. I have now bought a wide variety of SOFTWARE packages, from
programming tools to a music score processor, directly from the
US either by being there on a visit or by phone or by e-mail. The
price has always been half or less compared to the UK price. I have
also bought a Daystar Power Cache at half the UK price, and looking
at the ads the situation seems similar for other THIRD-PARTY HARDWARE.
The same picture applies for computer BOOKS. This is the most easily-
spotted, because most vendors don't bother to cover up the US price
when they put on the price label. And at least in the UK they can't
say our taxes are higher since there's no tax on books here.

This situation is actually part of a much bigger picture. Watch the
Europeans getting onto any flight back from the US and you will see
that many people are carrying a huge range of consumer goods. Ask
them how they found prices in the US and they will express their
astonishment at how cheap almost everything was, not just Macs but
restaurants and Toyotas and lawn mowers. (Of course there are things
visitors don't normally see, like services, university education,
medical care ..., but that's something else.) I don't think this is
the place to discuss why this is the case or how to change it, but
people should know if the things they spend their money on are fairly
priced or not. Factors of two or more just don't seem justified, and
the excuses normally given by way of explanation seem very feeble.

Eric Eisenhandler
Physics Department
Queen Mary and Westfield College
University of London
England

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 09:29:52 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Bruce E. Wilson, ECCR-PA, B95-A, X8886
([e-mail]))
Subject: ATM and 32 bit mode

I've got ATM v2.0, and as near as I can tell it is 32 bit allergic.
However, Adobe is being their usual self RE tech support and have
not returned my calls.  Can anyone confirm what version(s) of ATM
are 32 bit clean?  Also, who do I have to know (besides John Warnock
(sp?)) to get a 32 bit clean version?  Ordering a new copy from
MacConnection seems a bit excessive.  Thanks

        Bruce Wilson ([e-mail])

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 14:18:53 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: CASE for Macintosh

I am looking for a CASE tool on the Macintosh that supports the following
criteria:
    - data driven approach
    - rapid application development
    - follows an Object-Oriented development methodology
    - support for Object-Oriented programming

The product can be for the Macintosh/finder environment, OR can run on a
Sparc station and accessed through X-Windows for the Macintosh.

Any help will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Dr. F. J.  Van Wetering                    [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 16:15:43 +0200
From: [e-mail]
Subject: CONNECTING VGA MONITORS TO A MAC (A)

Hi all!

There has been some talk about connecting VGA (PeeCee) monitors to Macs.
Some were not very successful in accomplishing the operation.
I have succeeded. Let me share my experience:

First of all make sure your monitor is of the Multi (auto) Sync type.

You need:
- a 15 pin male D-connector (15-pin AUI transceiver shell)
- a 9 or 15 pin male D-connector (depending on your monitor type)
- 3 coaxial 75 Ohms cables (you can take the thin type of 4 mm diameter)
  or use the monitor cable that comes with the monitor in which case you
can
  forget about the monitor D-connector.
- a multi-meter to test the connections (esp. when using the monitor
cable;-)

Pin connections:

15 pin (MAC)   9 pin (NEC)   15 pin (NEC 3D)   Signal Name       Which cable
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
1                    6,7,8,9          6,7,8(,5)            Ground
the coax shield
2                    1              1                   Red              coax
wire 1
signal
4                    6,7,8,9          6,7,8(,5)         Ground        the coax
shield
5                    2              2                   Green (sync) coax wire
2
signal
9                    3              3                   Blue            coax
wire 3
signal

Connect all the coax shields together.

Setting up the monitor:

For the old NEC MultiSync monitor which has the 9-pin monitor connector:
The monitor must be set to analog mode and manual mode.
    This connection has been tested and works perfectly using a Mac
IIsi although I must say that the Nec MultiSync I used was a bit old. The
colours were flat and the picture was not as sharp as with my 13" Hi-Res
Mac monitor.
    According to the tech. note #144 this cable should also work with
equivalent monitors such as the Taxan Super Vision 770.

I tried this cable (using 3 BNC monitor connectors) on a Multi-Sync 3
colour cannon projector from SONY and I gave a sparkling Multi-media show I
developed for a collegue's going away party (with the same Mac IIsi).

Tim O'Connor tried out the cable on the new NEC 3D monitor:
he writes:
"I used a shielded video extension cable, cut off the VGA male end (on the
PC side), and attached a 15-pin AUI transceiver shell, which matches the
type used for the Mac video output.
    BTW, the results are *excellent*, easily comparable to a Mac hi-res
color monitor. I'm really delighted with it! ...
    I find now that whether I boot with the mode switch on or off, I
get perfect color and resolution. With mode on, however, the picture gets
squashed over toward the left. This is a local condition; I have the
display set up so that it gives me a nice full picture with mode off. Most
people will not experience this, I'd guess.
    I'm using the IIsi's built-in video with the NEC MultiSync 3D
monitor. I have the switches set to MODE=off, COLOR=AUTO." ... it works
using all 256 colors.

This should get you started. If you have any comments or suggestions,
please send me a note. I'll compile a report if necessary.

Good luck!

Andre'.

Andre' C. van der Ham                   EMAIL: [e-mail]

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

Date: 11 Sep 1992 14:30:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
Subject: DA's and Multifinder

I can't open my DA's when I'm using Multifinder.  I have a Mac SE, 2.5
megs, and am using system 6.0.5.  Does anyone out there have any
suggestions as to what my problem might be?  Thanks for any help.

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 01:40:43 PDT
From: Les Ferch <[e-mail]>
Subject: DarkSide 3.2 (C)

>I have been running DarkSide 3.2 on a Mac IIfx at work, so I don't get
>"Unimplemented Trap" errors, but I also was only able to access two
>Faders from "Darkside Settings", "Blank Screen" and "Random Fade" (though
>"Random Fade" is a bit silly with only one other fader to randomly select
>>From ;-)  There is a workaround, though. Just choose "Open Fader..." in the
>File menu. You will be given the choice of all of the installed faders to
>open; open one of them, and the problem magically cures itself. When you
>subsequently select "Darkside Settings..." all of the faders are accessible.
>I have no clue why this works, or why DarkSide 3.2 has this problem.
>Hope this helps...

This is not a "problem" and it is not unique to DarkSide 3.2. The same
thing happens with 3.1.1. It is in fact a feature. That is, DarkSide
faders do not have to be in the same place as the DarkSide program. The
first time you open a fader, that tells DarkSide where to look for faders.
Simple and effective. I suppose the reason Blank Screen and Random always
show up is that they are part of the DarkSide program rather than external
savers (I'm not at my Mac to check this).

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 21:33:59 EST
From: [e-mail] (Jim Kauffman)
Subject: Dead Floppy (C)

On Sun, 6 Sep 92 Christopher Barkley wrote:

CB> Got a question about deceased FDHD floppy drives.  The one in my
CB> IIcx recently decided to give up the ghost without warning.  When
CB> I put a disk in, it makes the initial chunking noise it always
CB> did, but I don't hear it spin up the disk.  The system declares
CB> the disk needs formatting.  If I tell it to format the disk, it
CB> claims that it failed and spits it out.  It has power (or it
CB> wouldn't know I stuck a disk in or be able to eject it), and the
CB> data line is tight (I checked twice).  Any thoughts on what could
CB> cause this?

My three year old IIcx is now on its third floppy drive! The
first one died of dust overload. It seams that the Mac's fan
draws cooling air (at least partially) in through the floppy
drive, thus turning the floppy drive into a defacto air filter.
The dust buildup in that drive was terrible. Hoping to avoid a
repeat of this disaster, I purchased a can of compressed freon
with the thought of blowing the dust out of my computer and the
ozone out of the atmosphere in one swell foop.

I was successful in removing large quantities of dust from the
interior of my computer in general and from the innards of the
floppy drive in particular. Unfortunately, my previously
functional floppy drive did not survive its cleaning. My friendly
local neighborhood Mac repair person informed me that blowing
compressed gas into the front of the drive had bent the fragile
head fixture. Not only that, but there was still a lot of dirt
left in the drive which my cleaning had not reached! Thus, I am
on my third drive. This time, they installed an internal "dust
cover" which is supposed to reduce future dust build up in the
drive.

Based on my experience, I'd guess your floppy drive could be
nearing an OD on dust. What to do? If you feel brave, take the
drive out, not just out of the computer, but out of all of its
mounting hardware too, and VERY carefully clean it, being very
careful of the head assembly. Perhaps a wiser choice would be to
take it to your Apple dealer and have him clean it for you. While
you're there, you could ask about the "dust cover".

Jim K.
----
ProLine:  jimk@pro-scat
Internet: [e-mail]
UUCP:     crash!pro-scat!jimk

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 10:28:06 PDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: dead Mac Plus mice

The first posting of this message had a wrong return address. Sorry
for the wasted time and bandwidth. Here we go again.

A bunch of our Mac Plus mice are deceased, and I've got a whole
bunch of ADB mice that aren't being used. If I could find a cheap
way of adapting an ADB mouse to a DB9 Mac Plus, I would give
it a try. (I don't have the time to check, solder, and replace
mouse parts).

Many thanks to those who have replied (but I still don't have
a suggestion for an adapter yet).

Scott
[e-mail]

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

Date: Friday, 11 Sep 1992 15:47:33 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Eudora and POP3

The standard port for POP3 is 110, NOT 109 (which is for POP2).
Make sure the POP server and the client are talking on the same port.

I've been running Eudora without a problem.

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 19:25:05 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Pete Resnick)
Subject: Eudora missing Bitnet mail

Jeff Needleman <[e-mail]> writes:

>What seems to be happening is that Eudora picks up from the POP server all
>mail that is listed in PROFS as being addressed to
>[e-mail], which is the way the POP account ID is configured
>in Eudora. But any unread mail in PROFS which is listed as addressed to
>rneedle@waynest1 is ignored. Eudora will not accept an address of
>rneedle@waynest1 or [e-mail] in its configuration file,
>insisting on a full legitimate internet domain.

I think the problem is the VM/CMS machine and not Eudora. When Eudora
connects to the machine, it asks the POP (Post Office Protocol) server
for the mail belonging to "rneedle", not "[e-mail]".
It only uses that second name to figure out which machine to connect
to. That explains why "rneedle@waynest1" and "[e-mail]"
won't work; there are no machines by those names that Eudora can
connect to using TCP.

My guess is that the POP server is not delivering BITNET mail because
it is not marked as mail on the VM/CMS machine. When you send mail to
VM/CMS, the mail file is stored in your spool file reader (RDR) with a
certain "class" marking. Mail should be marked as class "M", but I
have found that on some VM/CMS machines, BITNET mail does not get
marked that way, and ends up being some regular file class like "A"
instead. My bet is that the POP server is only looking for class "M"
files in the RDR. Talk to your system administrator about this (or,
have your brother talk to his sysadmin).

pr
--
Pete Resnick - [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 17:30 EDT
From: Jeffrey L. Needleman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Eudora missing Bitnet mail (A)

Problem solved. I asked for help for a problem I stated like this:

>I'm trying to help a user configure Eudora to retrieve his mail from his
University's POP server. The user happens to be my brother, who is
[e-mail] and rneedle@waynest1 on BITNET. His account is on a
VM/CMS machine running PROFS.
>
>What seems to be happening is that Eudora picks up from the POP server all
mail that is listed in PROFS as being addressed to [e-mail],
which is the way the POP account ID is configured in Eudora. But any unread
mail in PROFS which is listed as addressed to rneedle@waynest1 is ignored.
Eudora will not accept an address of rneedle@waynest1 or
[e-mail] in its configuration file, insisting on a full
legitimate internet domain.

Steve Dorner (author of Eudora) and Charley Kline (who wrote the POP3 port
used by Wayne State) were very helpful in tracking down the problem. Turns
out that PROFS was at fault. Whenever we looked at the "read mail" option
of PROFS to see what was there and then exited, PROFS automatically wrote
any unread mail to an unread mail notebook disk file, thus removing it from
the virtual reader that POP asks for unread mail. Even though the mail was
still unread (and PROFS marked it that way), it was no longer on the
reader.

You can imagine the process. You install Eudora and want to check it out.
So you send a test message, log on to PROFS to make sure it has arrived,
then exit and try to retrieve it--only to be told there are no messages
waiting. Real confusing!

Why did I think the problem had to do with the way the address was
represented? Well, Eudora properly deleted all mail it had picked up, so
the PROFS menu was left only with previous mail that had been read and new
mail that Eudora couldn't pick up that hadn't been read. Turns out ALL
unread mail appears in the PROFS menu with the bitnet address. After the
mail has been read, the actual "TO" address appears in the menu. So since
all the mail was really sent via the Internet, not via Bitnet, the menu
showed only the Internet addresses for read mail, and only the Bitnet
address for unread mail, leading to my erroneous conclusion that only the
Bitnet-addressed mail was not being retrieved.

Tricky devils, these computers!

Jeff Needleman  <[e-mail]>

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 21:09:21 PDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: External HD Sharing?

     Hi!  I've got a question for all the SCSI gurus out there.  If an
external hard drive with two 50-pin SCSI connectors has no internal
terminating resistors in place, can the drive be shared by two Macs at the
same
time (i.e. both units on and occasionally accessing the drive)?  I suspect the
answer is no, particularly because the internal HDs on both Macs would have
SCSI ID=0.

     Please e-mail me directly and I will post a summary.  If someone has the
be-all, end-all answer, though, they are more than welcome to post it.

     I will respond to the mail I receive and post the summary on Tuesday
after I return from a brief trip.  Thanks for your help!

          Steve Heckler
          [e-mail]

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

Date: 11 Sep 1992 13:39:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
Subject: FileGuard & SAM

I am helping get a lab of the ground at RIT where we will be using FileGuard
and SAM at the same time. Does anyone know of a way (preferrably one that
doesn't make FileGuard detonate all our Macs) that forces SAM to load before
FileGuard so that SAM is always on? The problem we are having now is that when
our users log in as guests, it locks out the system folder which in turn
disables SAM. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Dan Goodenow
Rochester Institute of Technology
[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 10:01:55 cdt
From: "Duckenfield,Paul" <[e-mail]>
Subject: file sharing problems

    I am running a Mac IIcx with a 2-page monitor and System
    7.0.1(tuned).
However, I have a little problem with where the dialog windows are placed
whenever a file sharing error occurs. They are placed way up in the upper
left hand corner. In fact, at least part of the window is off the screen
in some virtual wasteland invisible to the human eye. So, basically, all
I get is the last couple of words of the message and the "OK" button.
Anyone bumped into this problem? It is simply annoying.

Paul Duckenfield        Grinnell College        [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 15:45:00 cdt
From: "Duckenfield,Paul" <[e-mail]>
Subject: file sharing problems resolved

My previous message (probably in this digest) described a problem where
my file sharing dialog windows were appearing half off-screen in the
upper left hand corner of the monitor. THe problem has been tracked to
the control panel "Speedy Finder" one of only four non-standard CP's
that I run (AfterDark, SuperClock and WindowShade being the others).
When Speedy FInder is removed from the Control Panels folder, the problem
fixes itself. I sent a note to the author detailing that unexpected feature
of his program and resigned myself to live with it for the timebeing.

Paul Duckenfield        Grinnell College        [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 17:09:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Seth Ness <[e-mail]>
Subject: help

i need some advice fast. this morning our lab SE/30 running system 7 tuned
was turned on and gave only the flashing disk icon. neither our internal
40 MB drive nor our external total peripherals 105 MB drive showed up.
i booted from a floppy and checked things out with scsi probe and APS
power tools. none of them found either of our hard drives. the only scsi
device that showed up was our mac. scsi probe told me that the scsi bus
was unterminated and i looked and indeed it wasn't. now i don't know if
it ever was terminated because i didn't install this drive and i never
looked.
so, can th elack of termination have caused these symptoms? there were no
warning signs and both drives went at once. maybe someone stole
our terminator in the night? shall i just call our computer dealers or
is there something else i should try?
thanks for any help.



Seth L. Ness                         Ness Gadol Hayah Sham
[e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 20:12:55 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Russell S. Finn)
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V10 #217

You can make AlarmsClock chime the hour; just set up an alarm which
goes off on an hour boundary, repeats every hour, and resets itself
after one second.  (I'm away from my Mac now, but hopefully you can
figure out how to do this from this description.)  The only drawback
is that your Mac will chime everytime it starts up (or at least when
it starts up after being shut down across an hour boundary); but I
find this approach quite satisfactory to allow AlarmsClock to replace
SuperClock.

-- Russell S. Finn
[e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 21:29 CST
From: "NAME \"Helen Eberle\"" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V10 #218

Bardon me if I am not posing/posting this request properly.  I work at a small
computer lab at a medical school.  We have only 5 macs and limited HD space,
not to mention RAM.  We are starting to get requests for humongeous CAI
programs.  This is a good thing but unless the budget fairies work overtime we
will not have money for enough machines to dedicate to these memory sucking
beheamouth programs.
I was wondering about networking a Bernouli drive between two machines.
I realizes the disks are not particularly cheap but we have problems with some
system compatability and on Bernouli we could put the system and all the
necessaries on the disk and boot from that.  Am
I completely wrong on this call, does anyone have any expertise/experience
on these drives?

Please respond to [e-mail]
thanks
helen

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 11:28:53 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Jesse Jackson's "green eggs" wanted

I know info-mac has a snippet of Jesse Jackson's "green eggs and ham"
on Saturday Night Live, but I want the entire rendition.  Anyone
knows where I can get that?

charles c. hsieh

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 22:50:54 ITA
From: maurizio lana <[e-mail]>
Subject: keyboard layout in GreekKeys for Mac

I recently bought a MacII si, and a copy of SMK GreekKeys to type greek.
But GreekKeys has a strange keyboard layout, while I'm used to the TLG
transcri
ption so that it would be easier for me to get theta pressing "q" key, omega
pr
essing "w" key, and so on.
Does anyone know if it is some way possible to modify the keyboard layout of
Gr
eekKeys in order to make it conformant to the TLG transcription?
I think of two ways: hacking the software; getting a new layout from SMK.
Thank you.
Maurizio Lana

MAURIZIO LANA | E-MAIL: [e-mail]  | phone & fax [phone]
CISI - Universita' di Torino - V. S. Ottavio 20 - 10124 Torino Italy

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 17:01:49 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Hisham A. Abboud)
Subject: Looking for a dBase C library (Q)

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a library of functions that lets me create and
manipulate dBase III compatible databases.  I am NOT looking for
an interactive application like FoxBase, but rather something
I can call from Think C.  Anyone aware of a source of such thing?

Thanks.

                    Hisham.

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

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 14:11:19 -1000
From: Dieder A. Bylsma <[e-mail]>
Subject: MacTCP & EtherSC & Mac + problem

I have been asked by a friend to see if I can figure out the solution to
a series of strange lock-ups that have been experienced using a SCSI
Ether connection (NuvoTech), and the Mac + running System 7. The version
of MacTCP installed according to the info-box is 1.1+, so timing
shouldn't be a problem, but at this stage we don't know what to think.

Situation is that at seemingly random intervals, anywhere from months to
hours apart, a connection will be frozen and locked out. The EtherSCSI
connection box was swapped with another identical one being used with a
IIcx, yet the problem persisted with the Mac+. I'd assume it would be a
problem with the Mac+, and either MacTCP 1.1+, or the 'new' drivers that
NuvoTech sent out for System 7. Where can I get the latest incarnation
of these drivers? Any suggestions otherwise appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Dieder

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 17:25:02 -0700
From: [e-mail]
Subject: MacTCP licensing

>
>>This is a pretty interesting situation.  Legally and ethically, since
>>our campus hasn't purchased an Internal Use License, I must advise our
>>users that in order to get MacTCP for use with Telnet, they must buy
>>it from APDA for $100.  But then one of their friends finds MacTCP
>>inside a package of Eudora, gives it to them, and all of a sudden I
>>look like I'm working on commission from Apple.  It's similar to the
>>ShareWare paradox: "But someone gave it to me for free.  Why should I
>>pay for it now?"
>
Apple's assertion that free copies of MacTCP can only be used (legally)
with the software with which it came bundled is silly and impracticable.
Suppose you have two (or more) legally acquired applications, each of which
came with a copy of MacTCP.  Is each application supposed to use a
different copy of MacTCP?  Of course not - your System Folder will contain
one and only one copy of MacTCP.  So just get yourself a FREE, LEGAL copy
of Eudora and you have MacTCP. You do not even have to use Eudora, just
legally own and install it!  I think that the Apple spokesperson was just
trying to intimidate you with a legally unenforcable assertion.
(Yes, Virginia, big corporations sometimes do lie to the public!)
>
Murph Sewall suggests:
>On the other hand you could tell the "why should I pay for it" logic
>that MacTCP is free but the IP number is $100 (that is if that can't
>prove they have a legitimate license, they can't play).
>
You could say it, but it would not be true.  An IP number does not cost
$100.  And even if it did, who would get the money?  Certainly Apple or
APDA has no claim on it.  They do not own the Internet.

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92  10:56 BST
From: RICHARD LIM <[e-mail]>
Subject: Maple

Is there a version of Maple available for the Mac?  How does it compare
with Mathematica?  We're very happy with Mathematica but we're still
surveying the alternatives

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 09:17:28 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Menu Master 1.0 : help !

Hi,
I did use Menu Master to add command-P to "Print" of File Menu of Finder
system 6.0.7, and change command-P of Priviledges to something else. Under
system 7, I would like to add or change command-... for Menu Items of many
softwares like Nuntius or NewsWatcher by using Menu Master 1.0
(sumex/info-mac/util), but it seems that Menu Master doesn't work under
multifinder. For example, I open Nuntius and would like to change command-M
(Mark articles as read) under Menu Title "Threads"; next, I open Menu
Master and find no way to direct Menu Mater towards Menu Title of Nuntius.
-Is anybody successful in changing or adding command-... of menu items of
different programs including Finder under system 7 by using Menu Master ?
-If Menu Master is out of question, what do you recommend so that I get the
same result ?
I know that there are a lot of gurus on this forum who know almost of all
programs uploaded on Sumex.
Who are you ? Please give me some advice.
Regards.
       Khanh Kim, Nguyen
       internet : [e-mail]
       cc:mail: [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 05:47:16 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Peter S. Lau)
Subject: Microphone II 4.0 and Sun...

Greetings.

I am using Microphone II 4.0 to connect to Sun's through
a modem dial-in from the University. Here's the situation
that I run into:

Whenever I first connect to my account, the terminal height is also
preset to 24, even I have set the row number under the Settings menu
to 38. What happens would be all the text displays would only limit
to the top portion of the window. Now, If I issued a resize command at
this point, nothing would happen. But then if I use "telnet" to
reconnect to a second session and then issue a "resize" in the second
session, UNIX would recognize my terminal has more than 24 rows.
Just for the record, "rlogin" to the second session would not work.

Now, the question is: What happened when I use "telnet" to reconnect
to the second session? I imagine "telnet" must have clear or reset
some flags so that "resize" would work. Anyone? is there some way I
could make the resize work in the first session instead of using
telnet to reconnect to the second session?

BTW, I have set the the terminal type to be VT102/ANSI.

Thank you.

Peter Lau
[e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 21:58:43 EST
From: Murph Sewall <[e-mail]>
Subject: Network wiring

On Thu, 10 Sep 92 09:33:38 CST you said:
>I'd like to set up an Appletalk network at home for two macs and a
>printer.  Quite awhile ago I grabbed the info on how to build CAPNET
>connectors cheaply and easily.  Does anyone have any experience with
>this setup?  Also, I need to run some cable to make the connections.
>Radio Shack sells some 2 conductor twisted wire for wiring alarms. Is
>this acceptable twisted pair cable?

Why go to so much trouble when you can get three Focus connectors for
$14.99 each and connect your Macs and printer together with ordinary
telephone extension cable?  [phone].  I'm using MacWarehouse
PowerUser PhoneNet clones myself (before I saw the ad for the even
cheaper Focus connectors which are PhoneNet compatible) and everything
works fine.

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

Date: 11 Sep 1992 10:27:40 EST
From: "Randy Bytwerk"  <[e-mail]>
Subject: Now Utilities 4.0 Bug

   The enhanced dialog box Now Utilities provides has an unpleasant habit of
crashing when files are being deleted under the edit menu. When I reported
the problem to Now, I got the following response:

    "I've managed to duplicate your problem here, and unfortunately it
    seems
not to be restricted to MacWrite II. It does seem to be tied to whether
you've selected the current folder from one of the Super Boomerang menus,
however. The most I can say at this point is that we're writing it up as a
bug, and giving it a high priority for any upcoming bug fix release. I don't
have any date on such a release at this point, but we would certainly be
posting notices on CompuServe when a fix became available."

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 09:31:51 -0800
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Now Utilities and DarkSide

The recent spate of discussion on Now's AlarmsClock reminded me of a small
problem I encountered some time back.  I'll throw it out here in hopes that
someone else has noticed it and come up with a workaround.

I use the freeware screen saver 'Darkside', and am very happy with it, but
have noticed a disturbing incompatibility with Now's AlarmsClock.  All
background applications that I have running while the screen is faded seem
to have no problems grabbing CPU cycles from Darkside in the foreground
*except* for AlarmsClock.  For some reason, AlarmsClock is unable to do its
thing at all while the screen is faded.  This means that if an alarm
becomes due while Darkside is active, I'll never know it until I wake the
screen back up.  Unless I happen to be using the computer continuously,
this obviously reduces the usefulness of having an alarm/reminder utility
on the computer!

If anybody has experiences or suggestions on this problem, I'd like to hear
them.  Thanks.

                  - Greg Lyzenga   [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 00:19:25 EDT
From: Robert Harper <[e-mail]>
Subject: OzTeX vs Now Up-To-Date

There is an unfortunate interaction between OzTeX and the Now Up-To-Date
reminder service: if the reminder init is present (whether running or not),
then OzTeX loses track of the current directory during processing, causing
\input commands to fail and causing output files to show up in the wrong
place.  Has anyone else had such problems, and is there any remedy short of
the obvious solution of not using one or the other?  Is this a bug with Now
Up-To-Date, or with OzTeX or both?  (Not to lay blame, but if it's Now's bug,
then they ought to fix it, being a commercial vendor.  If it's OzTeX's
problem, then I will happily live with it because it's someone's hobby to
maintain it gratis for those of us using TeX on our Mac's.)  In case it
matters I'm running tuned-up System 7 on a PB 170.

Bob Harper

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 09:55:21 +0100
From: Reinder Verlinde <[e-mail]>
Subject: plugging in a lot in my mac

>
>The switched power from a Mac IIci is limited to 3 amps. (This is in
>an Apple tech note somewhere; I don't have the reference handy.) I
>suspect that a SyQuest and a color monitor might be approaching that
>limit.
>
'an Apple tech note somewhere'? In the manuals for my IIsi this information
can be found where it is expected, in the appendix describing the hardware.
I would be surprised if this would not be the case for a IIci (I haven't
checked the 3 amps limit you mention, though)

Reinder

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 15:56:55 EST
From: Jeff Kline <[e-mail]>
Subject: Problems with Catalog File

Hello netters I submitted a question a few days
ago about problems I have been having with a
corrupted catalog file, unfortunately i wrote the
question during a period of fatigue and stress,
and it was moderately incoherent. So here it is
again. System: Mac SE, 2.5 megs ram, internal 20
meg, external quantum 105  meg from APS (new in
january), Deskwriter.

System 7.0, tuneup 1.1.1, Apollo 0.8b3, Bongo Bob,
NoBalloonMenu, Extensions Manager, Escapade,
Mouse2, SpeedyFinder7 ,SuperClock! , Window
Wizard, Randomizer, and the standard Apple
installed inits and Cdev's.

Hard disk partioned into 5 disks, one with system
stuff, one with majority of apps and 3 others with
assorted other stuff.

Problem:

About 2.5 weeks ago I noticed that my system would
crash during the last portion of a desktop
rebuild. It would immediately enter Macsbugs, and
I would have to quit the finder. I did this 3
times over a day period. I was trying to get some
Icon information to rectify (an application's icon
and the document's icon, this may have been
connected, don't know).  After the last of the
three crashes, when my desktop rebuilt the Icon
(custom icon) for my primary partion (the
applications not system stuff) was a generic
dog-eared document icon.

At this point I became concerned, So I played
around, I tried to rebuild again and it crashed
again (probably made it worse). I called a friend
who had Mactools 1.0, and he ran it and discovered
my catalog file was corrupt. Mactools stated that
this could cause problems with loosing files and
damaged desktop files. It suggested trying disk
firstaid first to see if that would work, and or
backup disk, erase, and rebuild.

Well Disk firstAid did not work, so i backed up
the entire drive, erased, the entire drive,
reformatted it and repartioned, with the same size
partions.   I then commenced to rebuild using
Redux. Well my main app partition did not
completely rebuild it had some "problems" and
skipped 3 megs of files. I could not see a report,
because I was running Redux from a locked hard
disk, so the report was not stored .  I was able
to finish the rebuild by doing a special restore
(which compares the HD with the backup set and
restores any files not on the HD. I then finished
with the other partions.

I immediately had some problems with gettin all
of the pations to remount and had difficulty
getting my original system partion to boot. I even
crashed at least once during the boot sequence.
Got everything working. Checked the disk with
Mactools again, it said no problems with original
problem partion.

after a couple of days started having some
crashes. Crashed while modifying Randomizer with
Resedit, when quiting from Resedit, Crashed once
accessing apollo, error type 2 (i think?). I got
suspicious so we used Mactools again, and now both
the main app partion and the sytem partion have
corrupted catalog files. No evidence of other
problems. I have not been able to recreate the
crashes. I also crashed again on the reboot
during the loading of Apollo (have had no problems
with that since).

Talked to APS and they suggested that the desktop
files should not be restored when running the
restore, that might have contributted. A
programmer friend suggested that maybe when the
ResEdit or Apollo crash occurred that the already
screwy desktop file contributed to the corruption
of the catalog file.

Currently no problems, other that the fact that
when i drag a file to the trash it takes about 10
to 15 secs for the machine to return to my control
(not while emptying, just dumping stuff their). I
have dumped Randomizer, and windowWizard.

Questions: Causes? Was it apollo or WindowWizard
or Randomizer? How can I fix this, and keep it
>From happening again? If I rebuild should I just
erase the partion(s), and then just restore?
Should I rname the desktop files and have them
rebuilt after restoring? Can I fix this without
having to restore the 50+ megs of stuff? Can
Mactools' latest version fix this problem? Which
would be better Mactools, or Norton? I have been
told that Mactools would be better, and I am
thinking of buying the latest copy.

Thanks for any help, I hope this is clearer than
previous post. Please respond to me direct and I
will summarize.

Jeff Kline [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92  16:31 BST
From: RICHARD LIM <[e-mail]>
Subject: QuickTime PICTs and ClarisWorks - clarification

Well I had only one response to my query, most unusual as normally I get
several for any questions I put in.  Anyway, here's an important
clarification: I was WRONG when I said that a ClarisWorks-saved PICT
containing imported elements which were originally QuickTime-compressed will
still be QT-compressed after saving.  In fact, those elements DO REMAIN QT-
compressed even if they've been resized or whatever, but any shapes or text
you add on top are saved in conventional PICT format.  (You can verify this
by attempting to open the PICT when QuickTime has not been loaded - you'll
get that strange b&w "QuickTime PICT" diagram whenever such a PICT ought to
have been displayed.)
So I guess what this proves is - I shouldn't leap in with questions quite
so quickly I suppose, but more importantly, it looks like ClarisWorks just
dumbly uses the OS (meaning QuickTime) all the time.  Or perhaps we should
say QuickTime controls ClarisWorks to make sure its compressed PICTs are
displayed correctly

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 10:37 CDT
From: "Dwight Lemke @ Wisconsin Oshkosh" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Shading Cells in Word 4

Denis-

Your first hurdle is whether or not you're printing to a PostScript printer.
Word 4 can only shade using PostScript.  To shade a cell in a Word 4.0 table,
type the following PS commands as as a separate one-line paragraph at the
beginning of the cell:
    .cell. .75 setgray wp$box fill
Be sure to hit Return at the end of the line.  Now select the whole line and
apply PostScript style to it by pressing the shift key, choosing All Styles
>From the Format menu and double clicking PostScript in the dialog box.
The number .75 determines the darkness of the fill. To make the fill lighter,
use a number closer to 1 and vice versa.  When you print, make sure the Print
Hidden Text option is not selected.

-Dwight

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 11:48 EDT
From: RICH FRIEDMAN <[e-mail]>
Subject: Shut-down FKEY

Does anyone know of an FKEY that I can use to shutdown a MacII ci.  I really
don't want to go out and buy a macro program unless I have to.

thanks
-Rich
[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 10:02:21 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Marcus Harvey)
Subject: SpeedyFinder7 Bug

I have a feeling that SpeedyFinder7 doesn't like my Apple 8*24GC card (what
does :-( )
as finder alert dialogs seem determined to appear half off the top left of my
Apple
13" monitor screen when it's installed. Hmmm... should've checked it with my
IIci's
internal video. No such problems with the IIfx and RasterOps 19" monitor/8-bit
card at
work.

Anyone else getting this? I would quite like to run this init!

Marcus Harvey, Polytechnic of Central London IRS
[e-mail] - JANET  marcus%sun.pcl.ac.uk@ukacrl - BITNET/EARN

                              ...Bubble Up!

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

Date: 11 Sep 1992 12:56:48 -0500 (CDT)
From: Troy Gaul <[e-mail]>
Subject: SpinCursor Library (R)

David Milton writes:
>There are a couple of problems with using a VBL task for spinning the
>cursor; the advantage is obvious - smooth cursor spinning. Nearly the
>same results can be had by spinning the cursor during the main event
>loop.
>
True, you can do the same sort of thing in your main event loop, and if
that is possible, it is more desirable to do it there. However, there
are times when the task being performed does not return you to your
main event loop, so something else must be done. One other alternate
approach taken by our programs is to call a routine, SpinCursor()
periodically during long operations. This is fine if it can be done
in the middle of a loop or two, but when the long task is scattered
in many places, it gets tiresome to include this statement, and it
is easy to forget to do so.

Also, if you do it this way, you might be wasting time by calling
the routine too often, which costs you the overhead of a function call
and whatever the SpinCursor() routine does (say, checking to see if
enough ticks have passed to spin the cursor again).

>The problem I see relates to a crash or forced quit of an application.
>The cursor will keep on spinning even though the application has died;
>not too bad but it sends a false signal to the user that your program
>is doing something usefull when in fact it is dead. Related to this is
>what happens when I force quit an application with a VBL task for
>cursor spinning? I bet it crashes the Mac! This is definately not
>something you want to have happen.
>
Sorry, but you would lose that bet. According New Inside Macintosh:
Processes, Vertical Retrace Manager chapter, page 4-8, "The Process
Manager [which was handled by MultiFinder in pre-System 7] automatically
disables a system-based VBL task when the application that installed
it is no longer in the foreground." Then, on page 4-9, "The Process
Manager treats VBL tasks slightly differently when your application
quits or crashes than when it is switched out. If either the task
record or the code of the VBL is located in your application partition,
the Process Manager removes that task record from its VBL queue." So
a crash or switching out will cause the cursor to stop spinning, as
the VBL is removed for you.

>Personally, VBL tasks are for those things that are absolutely important
>time wise; the spinning of a cursor is not so important as to warrant a
>VBL task in my opinion. Have your application perform some task that
>is important in that VBL - don't waste it on spinning cursors.
>
Again, this is mostly a personal preference, but there are advantages
to using VBLs. VBLs can only operate at vertical retrace time, which is
about 60 times a second (actually, system-based VBLs, discussed earlier,
will work at that speed, even if the monitor(s) has a different retrace
speed). This may seem often to us humans, but it is a relatively long
period of time to a computer. Also, most cursor-spinning VBLs are set
to only occur every, say, 10th interrupt, otherwise they would spin
much too fast. The system handles calling the VBL only when that many
ticks have passed, so you don't even need to worry about that.

Also note that all the real work is done before you start a VBL cursor
spinning and after it is done. The task itself is VERY small. It will
usually check a global variable to see if it should modify the cursor,
get it's next frame and call SetCursor() to set it, increment its
frame counter, and reinstall itself. A total of maybe four machine
instructions plus one trap call. Considering how seldom the the cursor
spins, this is negligible, and probably wastes less CPU time than
calling a function in a loop, which has to check at least as much,
but probably will do so more often.

Now, according to New IM, "In general, the Vertical Retrace Manager is
useful for small, repetitive tasks that do not allocate or release
memory." Also, if you have something that is "absolutely important
time wise" you should use the Time Manager. Again, from New IM, "Unlike
the Time Manager, the Vertical Retrace Manager is not an absolute
timing mechanism. Its operations are always relative to the VBL
interrupt, which may be disabled (for instance, during disk access).
As a result, you should use the Time Manager in cases where absolute
time delays are important."

I would also like to note that the example VBL task given in New IM:
Processes is one that, you guessed it, spins the cursor. There is also
a VBL spin cursor described in the book _Macintosh Programming Secrets_,
which is a very good Macintosh programming book for those who no longer
consider themselves beginners (end of plug).

>This is not to say that I will not enjoy the code however; an example of
>using VBL tasks is worth a good look.
>
One of my more interesting programming projects of late was writing a
VBL cursor class. Have fun with it. I didn't mean this message to appear
as a flame, rather I'm just trying to set the record straight (or at
least only slightly crooked).

_troy gaul ([e-mail])
 MicroFrontier, Inc.

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 15:07 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Tangram 3.09C - upgrade version

    Here is the latest shareware color version 'Tangram' at last! Older demo
    version programs should be replaced with this version. If you are a
    registered user, contact the author for registration code.
    Tangram is an ancient Oriental toy which has 7 pieces, 5 triangles in
    different size, 1 square and 1 diamond. The objective of this game is to
    form a given shape using all 7 pieces.
    Thousands of shapes can be made by moving simple shaped pieces around.
    This puzzle game is specially great for children to practice matching
    skill. You may think this is only children's game, but you will find it
    challenging once you try it.
    Registered version has lots of features including editor, help and
    hundreds of puzzles.

[Archived as /info-mac/game/tangram-309c.hqx; 186k]

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

Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 22:25:01 PDT
From: [e-mail] ( John Thoo )
Subject: Tattle Tale 1.4.1 (Q)

Hello, all!

This is a Tattle Tale 1.4.1 question.

I'm having trouble generating a report of my System files
(extensions/cdevs) by selecting RWrite Std Reports to Text FileS
in Tattle Tale.  For some reason, even though Tattle Tale displays
all my active extensions and cdevs in its window, the report it
generates lists *only* the cdevs, *not* the extensions.

Does anyone know why this is, and how can I correct it?

Thanks much for your help.

Semper Fi'!

--John.
<[e-mail]>

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 10:23:12 GMT
From: Andre Carvalho <[e-mail]>
Subject: TEKTRONIX Phaser III

Dear Mac Netters:

I have been trying to use a color printer, TEKTRONIX Phaser III, with my
Quadra
700, using MacTCP and I can't...

Well, Phaser III has a Localtalk interface, which is working fine, but it is
slo
w. So, we have installed a TCP/IP device to the printer, and, I can, for
instanc
e, do a PING to its address.

The problem, is how to print anything using Ethernet. I guess that an
applicatio
n for that is needed, but the portuguese representative of TEKTRONIX still
cant'
t find a solution. Using Unix Worstations, TEKTRONIX provides a command to
print
 color postsript files, wich has been working fine.

Does anyone has had similar problems, or has any suggestions ???

Thanx in advance.

Andre Carvalho
BITNET : [e-mail]
Technical University of Lisbon
Portugal

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

Date: 11 Sep 92 13:21:29 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: The Modem tool and a few questions regarding mac TCP

    Okay, here's the scoop.  I've got a Mac Plus at home with four
megs and a 2400 baud modem, I know that I can get a local univeristy
to get me dial-in access to the internet, but I don't know how to set
up my mac for this.  Also, I'd really appreciate it if someone could
mail me or post me a lot of information about what exactly the Apple
Modem Toolbox is supposed to do, how it's installed, and how it's
installed with system 6.0.x

    Also, would any of these answers significantly change if I were
to get a Brainstorm acceleraton installed into my Plus?

    Thanks,
    AlexanderAlexander (AKA RNA)
Preferred Internet Address:  [e-mail]
But there are a lot of others too...

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 09:37:56 CDT
From: Chris Obyrne <[e-mail]>
Subject: Torx screws

Can someone please tell me where I can pick these up. I tried my local
hardware
store (you know, the one that has everything) and they neither had them nor
know (knew) where I could get them. Is there someplace I could order them? Or,
in
a couple of weeks I am driving through Michigan on business, is there
someplace
in Lansing or Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids where I could go? Thanks for the
help.

Chris O'Byrne

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

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 09:28:20 HAE
From: Michel Lefrancois <[e-mail]>
Subject: WingZ upgrade

What can we expect from Informix: a major upgrade for WingZ Mac
or not?  Did Informix definitively drop this package lately?
I'd be glad to before considering Excel 4.0.

Michel Lefrancois
[e-mail]

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

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