18-May-86 11:01:30-PDT,26841;000000000000
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From: Jeffrey Shulman <SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: Delphi Mac Digest V2 #19
To: Delphi-Digest-List: ;
Message-ID: <12207717606.26.SHULMAN@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Delphi Mac Digest Sunday, 18 May 1986 Volume 2 : Issue 19
Today's Topics:
RE: Mac tote
BIG mac
Acta
DA limit
bug in lightspeed
OpenResFile doc bug
ZZZZZaaaaaaapppppp!
MacPascal 2.0 PSHELL
←DIZero problems...
RE: ←DIZero problems... (Re: Msg 8088)
RE: Excalibur from Assimilation (Re: Msg 8115)
RE: 64K ROM Versions (Re: Msg 7568)
Mac+ Sound Problems
scrapbook bug
RE: scrapbook bug (Re: Msg 8199)
RE: Mac+ Sound Problems (Re: Msg 8183)
MacDraw 1.9 patches
Assimilation down the tube
Cortland???
getting screen dumps with menus
RE: getting screen dumps with menus (Re: Msg 8243)
Re: DA Number limit
beware of PMSP if you access files
Appletalk Question
RE: Appletalk Question (Re: Msg 8278)
RE: Appletalk Question (Re: Msg 8279)
DeskTop Disasters
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: RICFORD (7923)
Subject: RE: Mac tote
Date: 8-MAY-23:32: MUGS Online
In reply to:
From: julian@riacs.ARPA (Julian E. Gomez) Subject: Mac tote
I bought the Mac Tote quite a while ago; it had pockets for both an external
drive and a modem, and seemed to be well designed. I've been very happy with
it, and was amazed when the company sent me a new strap because a small
percentage of their customers had complained of problems with the clips that
connect the strap to the D-rings on the case (they seemed quite strong) -- a
free new strap, unsolicited. I paid about $100 for the case, but have seen it
discounted in a number of places.
Ric Ford
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM (7937)
Subject: BIG mac
Date: 9-MAY-02:48: Hardware & Peripherals
A couple days ago, I gave a demo of Acta on a 1024x750 pixel screen. It was
awesome (both Acta and the screen...)!
The hardware is from Micrographic Images. For $3000 they'll selll you
a high- comes out the video port. If you've got something else, you
can probably attach it instead of their monitor...we were using a
projection system, which could only go to 750 vertical. If you get the
1024x1024, you're more or less working with an area the size of six
Mac screens! Many programs can take advantage of this...MacWrite
could not, you could only drag the window to about the size of a Lisa
screen. Clicking the Acta zoom box gave you an obscenely large window.
Just think of seeing a whole screen at once with PageMaker!
------------------------------
From: RICFORD (7952)
Subject: Acta
Date: 9-MAY-16:11: Macintosh In Fact
We have finally gotten a chance to look at Acta, the desk accessory outlining
program from David Dunham. There's no longer any need to pay over $200 for a
copy-protected, environment-sensitive, unfriendly application, when Acta does
essentially eve rything ThinkTank 512 does and more for under $80.
This outlining program can transfer data to MacWrite and text files in
a reasonable format, with indentation and paragraph numbering -
something ThinkTank hasn't managed to do in all the time it's been
out. It supports pasting of graphics, it su pports different type
styles within one document, and it's a Desk Accessory, always
available. We haven't hit any bugs yet (and don't really expect to,
knowing the programmer).
One thing that's missing is a print function, but this isn't much of a problem,
because you can print easily from MockWrite or MacWrite or Word. There is even
a program ("Acta runner") for using Acta on a 128K Mac.
Acta is owned by Maitreya design, David Dunham's company, and is being
distributed by Symmetry Software. Let's hear it for high-quality, low priced,
useful software, and let's tell Living Videotext where to put ThinkTank, with
its $35 "upgrades," copy protection, non-standard interface, and ridiculous
price/performance ratio.
Ric Ford
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM (7975)
Subject: DA limit
Date: 10-MAY 01:13 Macintosh In Fact
From: Dan Winkler <daw%brown.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
>Does anyone know why the Font/DA Mover refuses to put more than 15 DA's
>in the system file?
Because Apple doesn't understand how people really want to use the
Mac. They decided to reserve some of the DRVR slots for dynamic
allocation. So far, nobody's using them. It's possible to install
more DAs using the DA Installer from Dreams of the Phoenix, or using
ResEdit. (On a Mac+, it's possible to give DRVRs IDs from 32-47, so
you can get enough DAs in to scroll!)
(DOTP is working on DA Installer+, which will take advantage of the
new slots onthe MAC+. These slots in the unit table are officially
reserved by Apple, BTW.)
------------------------------
From: RMUHA (7981)
Subject: bug in lightspeed
Date: 10-MAY 05:23 Programming
try running the temp conversion program (K&R page 11):
main()
{
int f;
for (f = 0; f <= 300; f += 20)
printf("%d %f\n", f, (5.0/9.0) * (f - 32));
}
I get some awfully funny numbers from this one. it works correctly, though, if
you compute i = f - 32 and print (5.0/9.0) * i simple programs are killers...
------------------------------
From: JEFFS (8022)
Subject: OpenResFile doc bug
Date: 10-MAY 20:11 Bugs & Features
Inside Mac says the following about OpenResFile:
If the resource file is already open, it doesn't make it the current
resource file; it simply returns the reference number.
Which is *not* what really happens! The resource file IS made the current
resource file which effectively ignores any resource file opened after that
file. The workaround is to record the current resource file BEFORE you call
OpenResFile. If OpenResFile returns a resource number of a file you have
already opened then you should call UseResFile on that recorded number.
Jeff "Another one bites the dust" Shulman
------------------------------
From: MOUSEKETEER (8045)
Subject: ZZZZZaaaaaaapppppp!
Date: 11-MAY 00:24 Hardware & Peripherals
I picked up a copy of "Chilton's Guide To Macintosh Repair and Maintenance"
today, and present the follow quickie review:
Unless you have need for one or two bits of technical info actually found in
the book, you'll find it only frustrating. Say you get the case apart and
your looking at the bright and focus pots on the analog board. The book gives
the following helpful advice "Don't fiddle with either of them". It does
outline how to remove a power supply (after a fashion), but if a novice were
to follow some of the hints, they might well get to replace a lot more. "Even
if you've let the computer sit for a while to drain off the high voltage, short
it yourself just to be sure - and safe!" This caption is under a picture of
someone shoving a soldering iron and a screwdriver to the CRT connection and
the frame. My favorite line was about testing for Incoming Power... "If power
is obviously present (i.e., the cooling fan is running, or you hear the
clicking) you can skip this first.....". Information about even the keyboard
cable is unclear, for while the author does point out that a phone cord is
quite different than the keyboard cable, he never states in what way, and then
goes on to say that if you do use a telephone cable, to be sure that it has
all four pins connected (which will hardly matter if they are not connected
in the proper order, which the telephone cord wires are not).
On the positive side, Appendix A devotes five pages to teaching you how to make
your very own "case popper" for under a dollar in less than ten minutes! All
you need are two brass keys, a small brass hinge, solder, torch, vise grips,
and a vise (hey, I keep that stuff in MY desk all the time!)
"Chilton's Guide to Macintosh Repair and Maintenance", by Gene B. Williams,
$12.50 (or cheaper if you want my copy... grin).
Alf
------------------------------
From: CVARGAS (8069)
Subject: MacPascal 2.0 PSHELL
Date: 11-MAY 19:33 Programming
I hope someone out there can help me with this. I'm writing my first
ever program of any length with MacPascal 2.0, just as an exercise in
learning Pascal and doing Mac type stuff like mouse down events, etc.
Anyway, I have a program that runs beautifully under 2.0, with either
the new or the old System/Finder. Well, when I save it as an
"application" and try to run it with the PSHELL shell, it bombs like
you wouldn't believe! Really awful looking. It runs fine, however,
under PSHELL with the OLD System/Finder... it only bombs with new
System/Finder (and yes, I'm using 3.1.1). (I should also note I do
not have the 128K ROMs). Does anyone know whether PSHELL is
compatible with the new System? I'd think it should be, since it was
distributed with it. I hope someone can help. (P.S. -- I'm not doing
anything that's obviously "risky"... my most advanced routines are
waiting for button to = true, and doing some DrawStrings. I do save
and read text files to/from disks, though) Thanks in advance.
------------------------------
From: LOGICHACK (8088)
Subject: ←DIZero problems...
Date: 11-MAY 21:48 Programming
Has anyone on this sig used the ←DIZero trap much? I have been able
to get it to work in the past but it refuses to work for my current
project. I have my own device driver which accepts all the usual
requests. I have been tracing this with TMON (for days, I might add)
and the Disk Initialization Package (PACK 2) issues a bunch of write
requests to write out the Master Directory block, volume bitmap, etc.
but when it finally goes to do a ←MountVol on the newly zeroed volume,
it hangs forever. This is accompanied by a messed up cursor. And if
I try to ←Exittoshell, the sucker usually loops someplace in
←Flushevents. I think it might have something to do with async
routines...
If anyone has info on this matter, please let me know.
Thanx,
Paul
------------------------------
From: DWB (8091)
Subject: RE: ←DIZero problems... (Re: Msg 8088)
Date: 11-MAY 22:14 Programming
I hacked RamStart to use DIZero so that it would initialize large ramdisks as
HFS volumes. For that it seemed to work fine. You do have to make sure the
size field of the device queue entry is correct.
David
------------------------------
From: SYNTHONY (8153)
Subject: RE: Excalibur from Assimilation (Re: Msg 8115)
Date: 12-MAY 23:27 Hardware & Peripherals
I tried to reach Assimilation today with no answer. I contacted Digidesigns
concerning the Midi Conductor they had designed (distributed by Asm), and they
informed me that indeed, Assimilation Process had filed for bankruptcy and had
ceased all operations. For those looking for the Mac Midi interface,
Digidesigns will be marketing the interface to dealers, after making several
modifications.
Bill SYNTHONY
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH (8158)
Subject: RE: 64K ROM Versions (Re: Msg 7568)
Date: 13-MAY 16:10 Macintosh In Fact
A subscriber just confirmed the two different 64K ROM versions with different
data at $400002 as described in previous messages here, and said that the newer
64K ROMs do have a "-B" on the chip(s). He also had heard the rumor that the
difference was to accomodate a change in the stepper motor in the Sony drive,
and said that he'd had trouble occasionally with the old 64K ROMs not
recognizing a disk inserted into the external drive.
(that might be a random problem with the external drive).
Ric
------------------------------
From: RANDOM (8183)
Subject: Mac+ Sound Problems
Date: 14-MAY 22:45 Bugs & Features
Has anyone else had problems with sound generation on the Mac+. I just
recently had my Mac upgraded to Plus, and discovered that there is now
an annoying clicking noise going continuously when I run Racter. A
friend of mine with a new Mac+ observes the same thing, so I don't
think this is specific to my machine. Also, and worse, music played
with ConcertWare+ now is often distorted by what also sounds like a
series of clicks. Any comments or suggestions?
------------------------------
From: PIZZAMAN (8185)
Subject: scrapbook bug
Date: 14-MAY 23:05 Bugs & Features
another little bug with my enhanced Mac. I have a number of things saved in my
scrapbook. When I copy number 3 to load into Pagemaker, a mysterious old
scrapbook entry materializes that was erased many moons ago. Outside of
Pagemaker, the scrapbook works fine. For instance number 3 from the scrapbook
copies fine to macpaint. Back in Pagemaker, however, the mysterious file shows
up in the clipboard every time number 3 (new) is copied. Huh?
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM (8237)
Subject: RE: scrapbook bug (Re: Msg 8199)
Date: 16-MAY 03:05 Bugs & Features
Scrapbook still has the bug where PICT items for some reason get TEXT attached
to them. I clean it out by pasting into Acta and then back.
------------------------------
From: ASMCOR (8188)
Subject: RE: Mac+ Sound Problems (Re: Msg 8183)
Date: 14-MAY 23:37 Bugs & Features
Sure is - the free-form synthesizer in the Mac+ has a serious bug that
causes it to go into an infinite loop and crash horribly. The
symptoms are a continuous sound from the speaker that gets more and
more distorted until finally the Mac crashes. MS BASIC is strongly
affect by this bug, and you simply cannot use the SOUND statement at
all. Other programs which use the free-form synth also will crash
randomly (I've had problems with MacGolf, for instance). Jan
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH (8198)
Subject: MacDraw 1.9 patches
Date: 15-MAY 11:45 Bugs & Features
Here's are some hot tips from AppleLink for patching MacDraw to handle fonts
better:
To get a set of fonts to work the same with different System files, and always
be available in MacDraw, add those fonts to MacDraw itself with ResEdit,
(FONDs and FONTs) and modify their names in ResEdit by choosing Get Info
and prefacing each of the font names with a space. (This will move them to
the top of the font menu in MacDraw.) Of course, there will still be problems
of one font being translated to another unless everyone uses the same, patched
version of MacDraw.
To fix the problem of not being able to scroll the font menu in MacDraw *1.9*,
try the following patches on a copy of it (I hope I got this right):
CHANGE:
41ED FAD6 TO 41ED F360 (9 TIMES)
0000 0C60 TO 0000 0CA0 (ONCE)
0014 6F02 7C14 TO 001F 6F02 7C1F (ONCE)
000B FACE TO 0016 FACE (TWICE)
70E1 TO 709B (3 TIMES)
0001 00E1 TO 0001 009D (3 TIMES)
10E1 TO 109D (ONCE)
0C47 0015 TO 0C47 0020 (ONCE)
4E56 FFBE TO 4E56 FF9E (ONCE)
END.
Ric Ford
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH (8200)
Subject: Assimilation down the tube
Date: 15-MAY 16:07 Business Mac
Last night at the Boston Computer Society Mac meeting, someone asked the
presenters from MacConnection about the rumored demise of Assimilation. They
said that they could no longer get any products delivered from Assimilation and
that the phones weren't being answered at all and that their representative was
no longer working there.
Kinda wraps it up.
Ric Ford
------------------------------
From: MOUSEKETEER (8207)
Subject: Cortland???
Date: 15-MAY 20:24 Hardware & Peripherals
(from Computer+Software News, May 12 issue)
Apple's 4 1/4 Mbyte Cortland to be most powerful pc yet
Apple's long awaited IIx, the vendor's most powerful pc, is set to
debut this fall with a suggested retail of $1,600, Apple sources
revealed. The unit, along with the Mac Plus, one of six CPU's Apple is
expected to introduce this year, will pave the way for price cuts on
the IIc and IIe, allowing Apple to dominate this year's Christmas
selling season, dealers maintain. The IIx, code-named Rambo by Apple
insiders, is better known as "Cortland" to domestic third-party
developers and "Zeus" to international developers, sources said. The
Cortland features 256K RAM, expandable to 4 1/4 Mbytes....features an
upgraded 65C02 chip, the 16-bit 65816, enabling the unit to run three
times faster than the IIc or IIe at 3.6 Mhz....built in networking and
Appletalk, a detachable keyboard, four expansion slots and built-in
color graphics like the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga.&.impressive
sound. The machine will reportedly be sold with unbundled drives,
allowing users to configure units with hard disk drives. The article
goes on to describe other Apple introductions expected in the next 12
months, including an open-architecture Mac and VLSI IIe, the latter to
be priced as low as $500 to schools. Two other CPU's are still under
development, it continues. Compatibility or a "bridge" between the
Cortland and Mac has not been decided, according to the story. It
appears that while a "bridge" between the Cortland and Mac already
exists at Apple (as a 3.5" disk drive and converter box) it may not be
marketed if Apple believes it's release would strip market sales from
the Mac (though the article states that if Apple doesn't market the
bridge, a third-party developer probably would). Also, an IBM bridge
is in the works for Cortland via a "small computer interface port".
"Cortland was always intended to be Apple's most powerful product,
insiders claim. It has been upgraded and redesigned three times over
the past three years. The original machine and two of it's revisions
are said to be the brainchild of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The
first unit was shown to dealers in 1983, as an 8-bit machine. Then, in
April 1984, it was upgraded to a 16-bit, 256K RAM expandable to 1
Mbyte - then to be the industry's first 1-Mbyte machine. However, the
unit never made it to market, allegedly triggering Wozniak's departure
from Apple."
Alf
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH (8210)
Subject: getting screen dumps with menus
Date: 15-MAY 21:33 Bugs & Features
I may have missed this before, but does anyone have a reliable method
of getting screen dumps on a Mac Plus that include pulled-down menus?
I just tried the Camera DA and it was a complete disaster, trashing my
System file. hoping for something better,
Ric
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH (8248)
Subject: RE: getting screen dumps with menus (Re: Msg 8243)
Date: 16-MAY 12:59 Bugs & Features
Well, I looked on Q&D vol. I and found nothing like a camera DA, so I re-
downloaded it from CIS, reinstalled it, ran HyperInstall on top of it and it
worked! There may have been some other program involved in the System crash;
I'm not sure.
By the way, it seems not to work when run from MacPaint, although it didn't
trash anything.
(Current config. is Hyper20 with new software and hardware and 512Enhanced Mac,
System 3.1.1/Finder 5.2)
Ric
------------------------------
From: BRECHER (8222)
Subject: Re: DA Number limit
Date: 15-MAY 23:59 MUGS Online
To: CML5A9%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: Re: DA Number limit
> It's not the font movers limitation, but a limit in the number of DA drivers
> permitted in the system file.
The limit is the size of the unit table in RAM (not the system file).
One entry in the unit table is required for each device driver and
desk accessory. The default size of the unit table, established by
startup code in ROM, is 32 for 64K ROMs and 48 for 128K ROMs. It is
Apple's policy to reserve certain unit table slots for device drivers;
it is this policy, rather than any technical reason, that is behind
Font/DA Mover's limit of 15.
DA Mover, on Dreams of the Phoenix's Quick and Dirty Utilities Disk #1, permits
installation of more than 15 DAs.
------------------------------
From: MARSHG (8277)
Subject: beware of PMSP if you access files
Date: 17-MAY 23:25 Programming
I just discovered a feature of HFS that every programmer MUST watch out for. If
you get back "no error" from a FS call, the file that you accessed will either
be in the folder you thought it was or in the blessed folder (where the System
and Finder are). Most of the time this is ok but if you assume that success
means the file is where you thought it was--watch out.
I have a program that copies files and was amazed when I was copying out of the
System folder, the "from" copy disappeared after the copy. To get rid of the
destination file before copying, I was deleting it and ignoring any "file not
found" errors. I hit the floor when the delete succeeded even though there
wasn't any destination file!!!
This behavior is caused by the Poor Man's Search Path or PMSP. Here's a
description of how PMSP works from Mac Tech support:
The PMSP is used for any call that can return a file not found error,
such as PBOpen, PBClose, PBDelete, PBGetCatInfo, etc. It is not used
for indexed calls (that is, where ioFDirIndex is positive) or when a
file is created (PBCreate) or when a file is being moved between
directories (CatMove). Here's a brief description of how the PMSP
works.
1) The specified directory is searched (specified by dirID or WDRefNum or
pathname); if no file is found,
2) the volume/directory specified by boot drive (low-memory global at $210 is
searched IF it is on the same volume as the specified directory (see #1 above);
if no file is found, or the volume/directory is not on the same drive,
3) the 'blessed folder' is searched IF it is on the same volume as the
specified directory (see #1 above); if no file is found
4) fnfErr is returned.
Technotes will be fothcoming about PMSP.
As you can see, you have to be really careful when doing things like copying. I
looked at the source for Util in net.sources.mac and, if you try to copy out of
your blessed folder, you will distroy the file you're copying when Util opens
the "new" file and truncates it (assuming that there is no "new" file).
Hope this helps.
------------------------------
From: BKV (8278)
Subject: Appletalk Question
Date: 17-MAY 23:47 Business Mac
I'll be moving to the Western part of the country in about a week and
will be opening my own business. I would like to use 2 or 3 Macs in this
venture via AppleTalk but am unsure as to how to go about it. The business is
video and audio and I've found a programmer who wrote a terrific template that
uses Omnis 3. I'm using a Plus and would like to have other Mac(s) hooked into
the system via AppleTalk connectors. Do they all have to be Pluses or can one
be a Plus and the other(s) 512K Macs; does Omnis 3 have to be present in all
of the Macs or can it just be in the Plus and the others act as terminals;
will I need fileserver software, such as MacServe or will multi-user Omnis 3
be enough? All Macs will be accessing an Apple HD 20 for starters. Will I
need any additional hardware?
Hope these questions aren't too dumb, but I just need some
clarification on a multi-user Mac set-up. Thanks
Brad
------------------------------
From: MUSICWORKS (8279)
Subject: RE: Appletalk Question (Re: Msg 8278)
Date: 18-MAY 00:36 Business Mac
Hi at the present time (Multiuser version) of OMNIS 3 only works with
the corvus networks and the just released version for the Ethernet
3Com (Very Expensive but much faster Network) Unfortunately up to now
as far as I know you can not just tie several Macs together and make
them as a 'terminal' for the other that is running and application,
maybe somebody would be interested in writing some kind of application
for that Like the MacDB debugger ?
Well I hope I've been helpful , good luck
Jundiu Jundi w/o the u
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH (8282)
Subject: RE: Appletalk Question (Re: Msg 8279)
Date: 18-MAY 10:54 Business Mac
Brad,
1) You can use Mac 512's and Mac Plusses together on AppleTalk, but
you must run the same System/LaserWriter software on all Macs.
2) Omnis must be present on each Mac. The way it works is that you buy a
multiuser version of Omnis that is a kit allowing you to use it on up to 5 Macs
(bigger kits are available). It's cheaper than buying 5 copies of the
single-user Omnis (which wouldn't work, anyway).
3) Omnis will work on OmniNet (high-speed, recommended), MacServe (not
quite out yet, but also well thought-of at Omnis/Blyth), and HyperNet
(not out yet). It worked on OmniTalk, but that was a bad system that
has been dropped. The 3Com solution turns out to be as slow as other
AppleTalk solutions -- as I understand it, 3Com uses the fast ethernet
only for external communications, not for communicating between Macs.
See the review of the 3Server in "InfoWorld" a month or three back.
4) For extensive multi-user appliations, OmniNet seems to be the only
way to go. For low-load applications, MacServe or HyperNet should be
ok. MacServe gives you the advantage of being able to choose any hard
disk, so you can choose one with fast access times (such as the
Bernoulli box or AST 4000) for better network performance.
Ric Ford
------------------------------
From: MACINTOUCH (8285)
Subject: DeskTop Disasters
Date: 18-MAY 11:05 Bugs & Features
Since Acta supports MacWrite 2.2 formats, I thought I'd dredge up the
old version and play with it. I copied it into the same folder with
MacWrite 4.5 (they had different names). Both icons disappeared. I
then tried to open a Red Ryder 9.2 document in another folder. RR
bombed. I restarted the system and looked at RR9.2 It was a bloody
MacWrite document instead of an application! When I tried to open it
from ResEdit to change the type and creator, ResEdit bombed.
Status: munged ryder.
Pulling out my trusty HFS Backup and three boxes of disks containing
my full and incremental backups, I proceeded to restore RR9.2 and
trash the old MacWrite.
We're back to normal now, but I ain't gonna try ←that← one again!
Ric
P.S. This is the second time I've been bailed out by HFS Backup. I like it' a
←lot←. Version 1.1b4 or something like that.
------------------------------
End of Delphi Mac Digest
************************
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