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1995-10-01
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Date: Tue, 20 Jun 95 16:11 PDT
From: xxltony@crash.cts.com (Tony Lindsey)
Subject: Mac*Chat#080/20-Jun-95
Mac*Chat#080/20-Jun-95
======================
Welcome to Mac*Chat, the free, weekly electronic newsletter biased
toward Mac users who are production-oriented professionals. Other
Mac users may find many, many items of interest as well. I'd enjoy
hearing your feedback and suggestions. Unfortunately, due to the
massive numbers of messages I get every day, I can't guarantee
a personal reply.
Tony Lindsey, <xxltony@cts.com>.
http://www.cts.com/browse/xxltony
See the end of this file for legalisms and info on how to subscribe.
Any [comments in brackets] are by Tony Lindsey.
Topics:
Highlights Of This Issue
Lightning Safety Tips, Continued
Searching And Archiving Tips
The Well-Connected Mac Is Moving!
Using Older Laserwriters On An Ethertalk Network
E-Magazine Lists
Special Mac*Chat Survey For Mac Online Vendors
System 7.5.1 And 7.5.2
Technical Section Starts... Here
Sharing Modems On A Network
Infobot Services?
Legalisms
Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter
Highlights Of This Issue
------------------------
We are reminded to unplug the phone cable from our modems when
lightning is present, there's a long, heartfelt review of On
Location file-searching software, one of the best Internet sites
for the Mac changes its address, Apple quietly releases its
software method of sharing a LocalTalk laser printer on an
EtherTalk network, I mention where you can find zillions of other
electronic newsletters (you really needed more reading material,
right?), I publish the results of my "Online Vendor
Questionnaire," we discuss System 7.5.1's stability and future
versions of 7.5, we hear from several folks who have discovered
useful and stable ways to share a modem over an office network,
and I ask about commercial infobot services.
Lightning Safety Tips, Continued
--------------------------------
By sauke001@gold.tc.umn.edu (Dale Saukerson)
[In response to Terry Wilson's tip in the last issue:]
>**Safe Saving In Bad Weather** If a sudden thunderstorm rolls
>into your neighborhood, wind up what you are doing, Save As, shut
>down, and unplug your power strip.
You must also unplug the modem phone line, as it too can be the
pipeline by which your computing equipment gets destroyed by
lightning. And remember, it doesn't take a direct strike to do
some serious damage. I've never had equipment damaged by
lightning, but I've had one lucky miss.
Searching And Archiving Tips
----------------------------
[I recently mentioned my own method of archiving large amounts of
text and then finding what I wanted at a much-later date. I
received many suggestions on how to make the process simpler and
faster. One such response is listed below - It's MUCH larger
than I normally like to include (uncut) in my newsletter, but I
found it fascinating and informative. I hope you do, too.]
By jbonner@cnj.digex.net (Jim Bonner)
I have used On Location for about five years. It silently
maintains indexes of every word and number in every file in my
one gigabyte file system. And since searching is done via this
index, finding a word is a lot faster than reading the files at
the time of the search.
Disclaimer
----------
Concerning On Location -- I'm just a satisfied user.
Background:
-----------
Mitch Kapor, who developed Lotus123, left Lotus Development where
he was CEO in the late eighties. Upon leaving, he turned his
attention to ON Technologies, a company he created, and started
or continued working on other ideas kicking around in his head.
On Location was the first product produced by his new company.
Personal Experiences:
---------------------
As I mentioned, I have used On Location for about five years. I
have only had one problem in all that time. When I upgraded to
Version 2.0.1 On Location would not work properly until I made
one small change to a Claris System folder. Since then On
Location has continued to work as advertised and on various Mac
setups I have used. I currently use System 7.5.1 on a Quadra 800.
On four occasions I completely set up Macs for neophyte users.
Just before turning them over I made and retain a complete
Retrospect archive of their file system. I also generated an On
Location index and it has helped me help them find things during
subsequent telephone hand-holding.
I maintain a directory with all past issues of TidBITS. To find
the review citations listed below I asked On Location to search
all 280 issues of TidBITS for occurrences of the words on AND
location. In about four seconds it produced a table citing 76
files that contained both these words. Double-clicking on each
citation then opened a text window that displayed the entire text
and highlighted the word occurrence. Then I extracted the
pertinent references.
I have two CD-ROM compilations that contain On Location index
files representing the rest of the disk's content. These indexes
require the On Location application to be useful.
Unfortunately On Location does not allow searching for a phrase.
It will only cite files containing one or more search words. You
can search for any occurrence of ALL of the searched-for words.
You can also search for any occurrence of ANY of the searched-for
words. Its table has no way of knowing where each word in a file
is. It only knows if a word occurs in a file. 'Location' is a
common word and 'on' is even more common. However 'tony' is not
as common and 'lindsey' is probably even rarer. Hold on while I
try something. . . .
. . . Ok; I'm back. What I just did was to ask On Location to
tell me all files where the words tony AND lindsey occur. It came
back with 15 files. Eleven were Info-Mac digests, six were
Mac*Chats, three were Eudora files and one was a HyperCard stack.
Both tony and lindsey were in the stack but it referred to a
different tony and a different lindsey. I timed the search and it
took 73 seconds to consider the contents of 7,615 files. That
comes to over 100 files per second or 10 ms per file. Ten ms is
about the average seek time ratings for the drives I use!
On Location occasionally locates a file that does not contain the
complete search text. I think this is a drawback of the hashing
algorithms it uses to create its small indexes. This occurrence
has never been bothersome and On Location has never failed to
locate a file containing the search text that I am aware of.
Quoting from my On Location manual Introduction page:
-----------------------------------------------------
On Location is a desk accessory that you can use to locate files
quickly, either by filename or by words in the file. Once you've
found the files you want, you can view and copy information from
them without opening their applications.
How does On Location work?
On Location builds an index of all the files on any disk. An
index contains the names of the files and, optionally, for files
containing text, all the words (and numbers) in the files. A
complete index, containing both filenames and text, will
typically occupy less than 2% of the disk space used by the files
on the disk.
After you index a disk, On Location automatically keeps it up to
date. A portion of On Location runs in the background and watches
for changes to your disk. As files are created, saved, renamed,
moved, or deleted, the index is automatically updated.
How do I use On Location?
You can use On Location to make indexes for all your disks,
including hard disks, 3.5-inch disks, CD-ROMS, and disks that you
access using a network
With On Location you can view the text in any file, even if you
don't have the application that created it. The original fonts
and styles are displayed for many standard word-processing file
formats. IF you do have a file's application, you can also open
and print the file from On Location.
In addition, you can copy, move, delete, or rename a file, create
a new folder, or even launch an application - all without going
back to the finder.
Reviews
-------
MacWEEK 04-Jun-90 pg. 63 (On Location)
InfoWorld 25-Jun-90 pg. 70 (On Location)
MacUser 02-Jul-90 pg. 57 (On Location)
MacWorld 27-Aug-90 pg.274 (On Location 1.0)
MacWeek 16-Dec-91 pg. 41 (On Location 2.0)
MacWorld 18-May-92 pg.188 (On Location 2.0.1)
MacWEEK 21-Jun-93 (On Location 2.0.1)
The Well-Connected Mac Is Moving!
---------------------------------
[This Internet Web page is very, very high-quality, and worth
visiting for ANY Mac user. I mentioned the former location in a
previous issue.]
By elharo@escape.com (Elliotte Rusty Harold)
The Well Connected Mac is moving to
<http://www.macfaq.com/>
The new site is up and running, and available immediately.
Rever.nmsu.edu will mirror the Well Connected Mac for at least
some time so that existing links won't break, but updates will
happen first at the new site, and at some point in the future the
site at rever will go away.
Using Older Laserwriters On An Ethertalk Network
------------------------------------------------
By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>
I've been hearing about this from several sources. Evidently
Apple has recently made it easier (and free of charge!) for
older, non-Ethernet-equipped Postscript laser printers to be
shared on an Ethertalk network. You won't need any extra
hardware expenses at all. Also, the Control Panel allows you to
choose whether you want to share your printer with the rest of
the network.
Step one: download the (963k byte) Network Software Installer
1.5.1, which has included LaserWriter Bridge 2.0.1 since March
1995.
<ftp://ftp.austin.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/Mac
intosh/Networking.and.Communications/Network.Software.Installer/ZM-NSI_1.5.1
.sea.hqx>
(the "ZM" means it'll work fine with International versions of
the System too).
Step two:
Run an Easy Install to update every part of your networking
component software.
Step three:
Run the Installer one more time and do a Custom Install of the
LaserWriter Bridge software.
E-Magazine Lists
----------------
By Tony Lindsey <xxltony@cts.com>
I've been receiving requests for information about Mac*Chat from
folks who publish comprehensive lists of newsletters like mine.
These lists cover hundreds of specialized interests, such as:
FURYU: The Budo Journal of Classical Japanese Martial Arts and
Culture.
DATELINE: STARFLEET - An electronic fanzine providing news and
analysis of the various Star Trek television series and motion
pictures.
RIGHT-WING DOO-DAH: An Electronic Journal Devoted to the Loopy
Right Wing.
EROFILE - Reviews of the latest books on French and Italian
studies including: literary criticism, cultural studies, film
studies, pedagogy, and software. Provides a forum for comments on
previously published reviews in an effort to create an on-going
dialogue on issues relevant to the field.
WOOLGATHERINGS: The Hooked Rug E-Zine.
---------
**E-Zine List**
John Labovitz's <johnl@meer.net> list is HUGE. (over 400k). It
covers every possible topic _I_ could think of to mention, and
John is quite aggressive about asking folks to be on his list.
Well worth a look, particularly if you are a fan of the wild and
wacky.
<http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/>
---------
**ARL's Directory of E-Journals**
The Association of Research Libraries <edirect@a.cni.org> has
started up a list of their own (over 100k). I'm currently
filling out the form allowing Mac*Chat to be included in their
next directory.
Their listing is much more scholarly in tone and content.
<gopher://arl.cni.org:70/11/scomm/edir/edir94>
Special Mac*Chat Survey For Mac Online Vendors
----------------------------------------------
[I recently sent out a questionnaire to a series of Mac hardware
and software vendors who had some form of presence on the
Internet. I'm pleased to excerpt their responses below - The ">"
symbols precede my questions. If any other online vendor wihes
to participate in this discussion, contact me directly. I'll
send you the questionnaire.]
By larry@sonicsys.com (Larry Woodard)
>I would like to know your impressions of the results you've
gotten through
>your online advertising, through e-mail or through a Web page.
We just got our Web page up and running (still under
construction, but getting there...), so it is too early to tell.
We only send email to online users who request information. We
also monitor news groups to make sure that users get the support
they need, both with our products and networking/communications
in general.
>- Has it helped you with overseas customers?
Somewhat, although I find that most overseas users still prefer a
fax. That will change over the next couple years.
>- Has it enhanced either your sales or your prestige?
Too early to tell, but it will.
>- Has it gone nowhere so far, or have you received tangible
results?
With reference to the Web page, too early to tell. We have found
that users love the fact that we are plugged into the 'net. We
use Internet mail for our internal mailer here (Eudora). If a
user sends a message to anyone here or info@sonicsys.com, they
get an almost immediate response. Very favorable impression.
Some customers have quit using the phone and all communications
are now done through email.
>- What are your expectations for the future?
Having Internet access, especially Web access for companies will
become mandatory. right now, it is in it's growth and acceptance
mode, like fax technology was in the mid '80s. Soon, if you
don't have an email address, you'll be a social outcast (a bit
extreme, but you get my point :-) ). Companies who don't make
themselves accessible via Web will be at a strong disadvantage
(even Chrysler is now getting into it)
>- Please add whatever human-interest thoughts that may occur to
you - Your
>feelings, your experiences that were sad or funny, whatever else
would make
>for a good story.
I have found that users are *very* anxious to help me with the
web site. If they find something funky or if they want something
added, they will tell me (and are real pleased when they see
their suggestions implemented). I need something that will let me
output PageMaker and Quark files to HTML (ideas? the public
domain utilities don't work properly).
***********************************************************
* Larry Woodard | E-mail: larry@sonicsys.com *
* Sonic Systems, Inc. | Web: http://www.sonicsys.com *
* 575 N. Pastoria Ave. | Tel: (408) 736-1900 x103 *
* Sunnyvale, CA 94086 | Fax: (408) 736-7228 *
***********************************************************
--------
By Robert Lenoil <lenoil@catalogic.com>
Catalogic is a CD-ROM service bureau offering turnkey CD-ROM
manufacturing services, as well as CD-ROM recorders, software,
and supplies. We have been publishing our email address
(sales@catalogic.com) in our advertisements for about a year and
a half. Our results to date indicate that email respondents to
our ads are less likely to purchase from us than those who call
our toll free number. Why? - for the simple reason that if
someone had a pressing need for our services, they would probably
want to talk to us right away rather than wait for an email
reply. A perfect example of this phenomenon is magazine reader
service cards. We send out hundreds of responses to reader
service inquiries from our ads, with truly terrible results.
Those people just aren't very interested - if they were, they'd
have taken the time to call us. The follow-through rate from
email is not as bad, but the same logic applies.
The only way to justify low-interest requesters of information is
to minimize the cost of processing those requests. Ideally,
that's where the web comes in, as a place where people can help
themselves to the information they need. We're not on the web
yet, but I'm sure we'll be there when we feel that a critical
mass of our target customers can actually make use of that
service. For now, potential customers can send us email; but if
they really want to buy something, I suggest they give us a call.
Robert Lenoil, President
------------------------------------------------------
Catalogic - "Your CD-ROM Production Source"
2685 Marine Way, Mountain View, California 94043 USA
Telephone: +1 (415) 961-4649
Facsimile: +1 (415) 964-2027
------------------------------------------------------
--------
By Sales <73423.1272@compuserve.com>
The LLB Co. is a Macintosh Mail order company selling primarily
Macintosh peripherals such as Memory, Modems, Accelerators,
Networking Cards, and CD-Rom Titles/Hardware. We try to offer
quality products at reasonable prices. We use E-mail on a daily
basis to communicate with customers around the world. We have
been using E-mail for some time now fairly successfully.
Recently we have constructed a Web page which can be viewed at
http:// LLB.COM. The Web page allows users to subscribe to our
Free Catalog, as well as view our product line. We are currently
working to accept orders on-line. You can reach us by E-Mail at
73423,1272@compuserve.com
--------
By Kip Moore at Spin Peripherals <spin@world.std.com>
In response to your informal survey question, we'd like to report
that our experiences on the internet, although brief, have
generally been positive. The only real way to access us via the
Internet is through this account; as of yet, we have no other
method of accessing us, although we have plans for both a web
server as well as getting on AOL. Interestingly enough, about
half of the messages that we get are from sites outside of the
US. Most of the questions that we get on this site are technical
and pricing questions, but that's par for the course. As the
maintainer of this site, it has been my experience that people
generally use the internet to ask non-pressing technical
questions, as opposed to my experiences answering tech support
phone calls, which always seem to be matters of life and death.
People seem to be much more laid back on the internet.
In general, the feedback on the site has been positive. We do
get people who occasionally want to ftp something off of the
site, or who want to download something off AOL, but we do have a
direct BBS number to compensate. (By the way it's 508-787-1277)
However, we are a growing company, and we definitely have plans
to take advantage of the internet as a method of generating sales
and providing customer support.
System 7.5.1 And 7.5.2
----------------------
By jthomas@pluto.njcc.com (Jay)
Filesharing in 7.5.1 is not stable. After all, they inaugurated
new filesharing code with 7.5.1. Other than that, 7.5.1 is more
stable than just about any system I've seen.
[I'm glad it's working well for you, Jay - However, Ric Ford's
"Macintouch" column in the past few issues of MacWeek have been
telling a different story.
http://www.macintouch.com/~ricford/Welcome.html
-------
By murphy@community.net (Duane Murphy)
In Mac*Chat #78 you wrote:
>System 7.5.2 is on the way!
Be careful! My understanding is that 7.5.2 is _NOT_ going to be a
general purpose release (like 7.5.1). 7.5.2 is necessary to
support the new PCI Macintoshes. It's main purpose is to release
the new Slot Manager to support the PCI system. To go along with
the PCI Slot Manager they are also releasing the first version of
Open Transport. As a side affect I believe 7.5.2 will also
include a native Resource Manager.
I believe that 7.5.2 will _ONLY_ be _SHIPPED_ with the new PCI
Macintoshes. It will (probably) not be released separately. I
would not mind having it for the new resource manager however.
[I have heard that System 7.5 Update 2.0 is on the way, which
will provide the same results for folks with older Macs. Heaven
only knows what version of the System THAT will provide us!]
Technical Section Starts... Here
--------------------------------
Sharing Modems On A Network
---------------------------
[In a previous issue, I asked for help in locating a good system
for sharing a 28.8k modem over an Appletalk network. I
specifically avoided mentioning any use of the modem for faxing,
since the client wants to check e-mail from any Mac on the
network. I received many excellent recommendations. Since then,
my client has decided to switch over to an Ethertalk network,
allowing greater modem speeds.]
---------
By holst@pegasus.ping.dk (Bo Holst-Christensen)
I have been through the same thing a few times. Here are a few
reasons why this is difficult:
Using PhoneNet (or any other net using AppleTalk through a serial
port) with Macintosh machines without a GeoPort or a dedicated
processor, results in interrupts being turned off by the
AppleTalk software for so long periods of time that characters
being received through the modem port are lost, at speeds over
9600 bps (actually Apple says that 2400 bps is all you can rely
on coming through when AppleTalk is used). This prevents software
solutions.
If a newer Macintosh machine is used for a server, or the
PhoneNet is replaced with an EtherNet, PortShare from Stalker
Software should solve the problem. If the baudrate between modem
and Macintosh is forced to 9600, there should be no problem in
using PortShare with an older Macintosh on PhoneNet. Using a
28800 bps modem in this configuration just seems to be such a
waste.
Using a Shiva LocalTalk NetSerial or LanRover seems to be a good
solution. A hardware box is used as dedicated modem server on the
net. Unfortunately Shiva implemented their hardware the same way
as Apple did on the older Macintosh machines, so even though the
Shiva boxes can be used at speeds up to 57600 bps, trying to
actually transfer data at 19200 bps or higher results in
characters being lost.
It took me more than a year to get Shiva to admit this. I have
spent a lot of time doing rather elaborate tests on the boxes, to
convince Shiva that the problem wasn't the modem, telephone line,
modem cable (supplied by Shiva), PhoneNet, Macintosh machine,
System software, terminal software, preferences, extensions,
remote host, etc. etc. I wasted a lot of resources on Shiva
LocalTalk products without getting any solution at all.
The only way I have found to reliably share a high speed modem
over a PhoneNet is to use an EtherNet modem server, such as a
Shiva LanRover/E, and an EtherNet/LocalTalk router. This is
unfortunately so expensive, that it would be cheaper to just
purchase one modem for each machine :-(
If a Macintosh machines has the old serial ports, and you are not
using AppleTalk over EtherNet, just putting a modem on that
machine doesn't solve anything either. To be able to use the
modem at reasonable speeds, you would have to turn AppleTalk off
while using the modem - if not characters would be lost. All the
fancy error correction done between the two modems is of no use
when characters are being lost between the modem and the
Macintosh.
--------
By David Dantowitz <Dantowitz@aol.com>
I had NO PROBLEMS and GREAT results with Stalker's Modem sharing
software, called PortShare.
At $150 for 10 licenses you can't go wrong. You can create
virtual ports that map to a single modem on the network or a
group of modems (first one free is used). In this way I setup a
transparent modem farm for users to access as they wish. (Had no
problems with any comm software, AOL, CompuServe's MacCIM,
AppleLink, Zterm, FirstClass, MicroPhone. This was a great
solution and it never let me down.) We ran it off a IIcx over
Ethernet. Things are sure to be slower over LocalTalk, but for
AOL mail and flash sessions I think you'll be fine.
/info-mac/comm/atlk/port-share-pro-241-demo.hqx
Here's a description:
PortShare Pro 2.2 Demo - The PortShare(tm) Pro software enables
your Macintosh to share serial communication ports (i.e.
modems/printers/etc attached to those ports) with other Macintosh
computers connected to your network. Version 2.2 - added
compatibility with one-port machines (Duo, new Powerbooks).
This is the version that can also be used with stand-alone
routers and other boxes (like Webster MultiPort(tm)/LT) that
support PortShare protocol.
Demo version: the session time is limited (It only lasts for 2
minutes).
--------
By garrym@netcom.com (Garry Margolis)
One of my clients has exactly the same situation (AOL E-mail for
multiple users) and is using HayesConnect. It's a bit of a pain
to configure and the documentation isn't all that great, but once
it's going, it works fine. The software includes licenses for a
single server and an unlimited number of client installations,
and it is reasonably priced.
Your problem, however, will be speed. The client's LocalTalk
network simply isn't fast enough in my client's situation to
support 14.4 communication at the same time as printing and file
sharing -- we had dropped packets, garbles, etc., until we ramped
down to 2400, at which speed everything works fine. This should
not be a problem using Ethernet.
It's not necessary to dedicate a Mac as a server. At my client's
location, the receptionist's Centris 610, which is a fairly busy
machine, also runs the HayesConnect server without any
perceptible performance penalty at the same time as Word 5.1 and
TouchBase Pro in multi-user mode with the data file on its hard
disk.
--------
By Rich Ruscio <RRich@aol.com>
I've the same problem, but in my home. Multiple Macs, and a need
to not buy more modems. Not to mention, no more serial ports.
So far, the only "solution" I've found is a "OneWorld Fax for
Localtalk" server from Global Village, which seems to be what I
want, for a modest $1500. Which, respectfully, is too much. I
don't know of any others.
Infobot Services?
-----------------
I'm often asked if I can recommend a good place to distribute
e-mailed (for-profit) newsletters in the same general format as
Mac*Chat. The "infobot" software handles all subscription
requests and cancellations, and mails out the newsletter when
it's time. There is a need for a human being to oversee such a
list from time to time, to clear out deadwood manually, such as
when America Online declines a whole pile of subscriptions.
I'm NOT asking on my own behalf. Shrimmy
<Macgician@monroe.temple.edu> (the Mac*Chat list owner) is doing
a superb, thoroughly professional job, and we all owe him a debt
of gratitude.
Does anyone know of a good commercial service that does this, and
how much it costs?
Legalisms
---------
Copyright 1989-1995 Tony Lindsey. Nonprofit groups (such as Mac
User Groups) or other non-commercial publications) are welcome
to use any part of the Mac*Chat newsletters if full credit is
given. All others will need to contact me.
This newsletter is intended purely as entertainment and free
information. No profit has been made from any of these
opinions. Time passes, so accuracy may diminish.
Publication, product, and company names may be registered
trademarks of their companies.
This file is formatted as setext, which can be read on any text reader.
Tips from readers are gratefully accepted. Please write them in a
user-friendly way, and if you are mentioning an Internet site,
please include a paragraph explaining why others should visit it.
Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter
-------------------------------------
You may subscribe to Mac*Chat by sending e-mail to:
listserv@vm.temple.edu
The Subject line is ignored, so it can say anything.
In the body of the message include the following line:
SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Your full name
As an example: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Juliana Tarlton
You will receive a nice long message explaining acceptance of your
subscription, how to end it (if desired) and general listserv info. You
will then automatically receive Mac*Chat in your e-mail box, for free,
every week.
============== ____ ================================================
Tony Lindsey \ _/__ Free, weekly e-mailed Mac-oriented newsletter
Mac*Chat Editor \X / xxltony@cts.com, http://www.cts.com/~xxltony/
================= \/ ===============================================