INFO-MAC Digest V3 #17
info-mac@uw-beaver
INFO-MAC Digest Sunday, 30 Jun 1985 Volume 3 : Issue 17
Today's Topics:
Missing V3 #15
Electrostatic Discharge from 3.5" Floppy Plastic Sleeves
MiniFinder
MacWrite Italics problem
MacDraw PICT format
Re:Pasting large things (MacDraw) into MacPaint
A+ Mouse and Mac
fans and noise
Broadcast packets and games
Subject: Programming Languages
Telegraph Desk Accessory (Binhex 4.0)
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Date: Fri 28 Jun 85 08:30:05-PDT
From: Rich Alderson (Temporary Moderator)
From: <INFO-MAC...@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Missing V3 #15
Due to a slight bit of confusion on the part of your temporary
moderator, there will be no issue V3 #15. Things should go more
smoothly from here on out.
Rich Alderson
"We apologize for the inconvenience." --D. Adams
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 85 09:31:38 pdt
From: per...@AMES-NAS.ARPA (James N. Perdue)
Subject: Electrostatic Discharge from 3.5" Floppy Plastic Sleeves
I have been given an ALERT from the Government concerning the use of
the plastic sleeves which the 3.5" floppy disks are packaged in. The
word is that they create sufficient static electricity when used to
store floppys containing data to destroy that data. The source says
that " a measurement on a sample sleeve gave a surface resistivity of
1 x 10E12.5 ohms/squre (maxed out the meter). The source quoted
several cases of lost data and computer hang ups on Mac's which they
suspect is caused by storing these disks in the sleeves.
The contact point listed for information is R.J. Vowles at Spar
Aerospace Ltd 514-457-2150 Ext. 3193.
Good Luck
Newt Perdue/NASA Ames Research Center
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 85 20:39:44 EDT
From: st...@harvard.ARPA (Stew Rubenstein)
Subject: MiniFinder
A couple of interesting things: I don't know if it says this anywhere
in the documentation or not (I discovered it by disassembling the INIT
resource), but if you hold down the option key as you exit from an
application, the MiniFinder is bypassed, and the real Finder starts
up. If you use MegaMax C's batch facility, you have probably noticed
that if the minifinder is installed, it gets invoked after each line
of your batch file, and you have to double-click the "batch" program
to go on to the next step. Holding down the option key throughout the
execution of a batch file is one way around this. I was thinking of
ways I could rewire my keyboard so that the caps lock would be an
"option lock" instead, when I hit upon the following solution: Patch
the INIT resource so that it checks the Caps Lock key instead of the
Option key! To do this, use FEdit to search your system file for the
Hex string 67F2 0838 0002 017B 66EA. The ascii string "Minifinder"
should appear a few lines down. Patch the 0002 to be an 0001 and
write out the block. ShutDown, reboot, and presto! The caps-lock key
is now a real-finder key!
Stew Rubenstein
Harvard Chemical Labs
ruben...@harvard.arpa
{ihnp4, ut-sally, seismo} ! harvard ! rubenstein
------------------------------
From: munnari!fac1.anu.oz!smynmath@seismo
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 85 14:17:00 AEST
Subject: MacWrite Italics problem
Concerning Mike Barton's problem with printung italics from an old
MacWrite file:
I also encountered this problem, but I don't believe the problem is
with MacWrite. The clue comes from the fact that the problem does NOT
occur on the MacXL using the same document, MacWrite, system, printer
driver! I believe the problem arises from mixing the OLD ImageWriter
driver with the NEW system; presumably there is a bug in the
PrinterManager ROM which has been patched in the MacXL and the new
system, but not in the old system (certainly the new version prints
italics with better spacing); the old printer driver however expects
the bug still to be there, and doubles up on the spacing patch. The
fix is simply to instal the new ImageWriter driver.
Simple, but unfortunately there is a bug in the new ImageWriter
driver!!! I have a mathematics font (ANUMath) which has a number of
overprinting characters. (Princeton font will have the same problem).
With the new "smart" ImageWriter driver, if you change font or style
between an overprinting character and the character to be overprinted,
the driver observes that the printhead has returned to its starting
point, thinks that a null operation has occurred, and DELETES the
first character!!!
******* APPLE PLEASE FIX, overprinting is essential for technical
printing, and is supposed to be supported according to InsideMac. Its
a real nasty, because what appears on the screen is ok.
Neville Smythe, Maths, Australian National University.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 85 11:17:42 pdt
From: Larry Rosenstein <lsr%apple...@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: MacDraw PICT format
The purpose of MacDraw PICT format is to provide a way for other
applications to read or write files that MacDraw can understand,
without having to document (or freeze) the MacDraw file format.
A PICT file consists of 512 bytes of header followed by a standard
Quickdraw picture. Applications generating PICT files can set the
header to all zeros. MacDraw also generates/accepts certain picture
comments to control things such as arrowheads on lines, smoothing of
polygons, etc.
It would be relatively easy to write a program that reads in a PICT
file and generates a MacPaint file. (The trickiest part would be
getting the program to run on a 128K machine; you would have to
generate the bitmap 1 slice at a time.)
Larry
------------------------------
Subject: Re:Pasting large things (MacDraw) into MacPaint
Date: 28 Jun 85 22:06:40 PDT (Fri)
From: cc-20%ucbcory@Berkeley
In Thurs' Info-Mac, Andrew Mallis askes whether and how one could
paste A full MacDraw page into MacPaint. To do this, you could use
the software that comes with ThunderScan (a really neat little package
that, along with the hardware, will attach to your Imagwriter and scan
and digitize pictures put into the Imagwriter), and open a MacPaint
picture, with four dots at the far corners (as the Thunderscan
software only opens as large a document as there is data in the
MacPaint picture), and paste what's on the clipboard (in your case, a
MacDraw page).
By the way, this software is also the only working solution I've found
to getting a MacPaint picture within a MacWrite or MS-Word document to
print correctly to the LaserWriter if it's larger than a window (i.e.
you can open your MacPaint picture, and cut the whole thing, rather
than parts!!!).
This will also work for cutting between two MacPaint pictures, with,
say, the switcher.
Peter Korn cc-20%cory@Berkeley
Standard disclamer: I don't work for/know personally, etc, anyone
associated with producting this product. It's just a neat thing that
does a job I need done.
------------------------------
From: <crash!rak@Nosc>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 85 21:57:45 PDT
Subject: A+ Mouse and Mac
[Bug food]
One system I am envious of is the SUN systems workstation. I miss
having a UNIX system all to myself, but what I really thought was
classy was the optical mouse attached to the one I was introduced to.
Yes, not HAVING to have a pad to operate a mouse is a definate
convenience, but in practice, I got so tired of cleaning my Mac mouse
that I got a "mouse pad" to run it on so it would pick up less dirt
from my (physical) desktop. This meant I was already dedicating desk
space to a mouse-action region already.
Then I saw the Mouse Systems (Santa Clara, CA) A+ mouse for the Apple
//c. Knowing that the circuitry of an Apple //c mouse was compatible
with the Mac (having used a //c mouse on a Mac myself), I decided to
give it a try.
Sure enough, it works great! I feel I have more accurate control over
the cursor in MacPaint, and I line the feel, the styling, the way it
stays put when I let go of it, the apparently reduced "drift" when I
pull-down a menu item, and even the high-tech look of the gridlined
mouse pad. I keep my Mac mouse in a drawer in case of emercency (the
A+ mouse is solid state, no internal moving parts at all), but I am
very impressed with and confident in the A+ mouse, and thought I'd
share my feelings about it with you all.
Disclaimer: I simply want to express my satisfaction in this product,
although somewhat expensive (at or above $100 depending on how much
discount you can get), and have nothing to gain in doing so. Nyaah,
so there.
Richard Kaapke
noscvax!crash!rak
"If you can't say anything nice about something, you're well suited to
send network messages." - R. Kaapke
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1985 02:47 EDT
From: LEVITT%MIT...@MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: fans and noise
I thought someone should respond to comments that the MAC should have
a fan. I consider the MAC's quietness a very important feature, and
if Jobs insisted on it (as one INFO-MAC message implied) he should be
applauded. It's the only quiet computer I've ever used; if it was
noisy I would never think it "personal". It's even tolerable with the
Hyperdrive fan, though that could be quieter.
I understand the next MAC hardware release will have a much quieter
800K stiffy disk drive. I suspect if Apple had used an efficient
switching power supply, no fan would be needed, even with a
Hyperdrive. Whether future rigid disks are internal or external, I
hope Apple continues to make quietness a priority, and I know many
other customers who feel the same way.
------------------------------
Date: 28 Jun 85 1125 PDT
From: Tovar <TVR%CC...@SU-AI.ARPA>
Subject: Broadcast packets and games
One of the problems of using broadcast packets for games is that hosts
which are doing "useful work" expend resources discarding them. To
avoid this, multi-player games on the ALTOs sent all of their packets
to a fake host number. They received packets in "promiscuous mode"
(e.g. accept packets addressed to *any* host) and only looked at
packets from this fake host. Thus on 3Mb ethernet, game packets were
discarded very quickly by either hardware and/or microcode.
I haven't looked at Inside AppleTalk, so i don't know much about this
flavor of network. But i can imagine conflicts with non-game users
may be more serious, especially with network bandwidth smaller and
without special hardware for packet reception. I won't be surprised
if Apple isn't excited about such usage, especially with its desire to
penetrate the corporate market. Perhaps someone else knows what their
actual arguments are on broadcast packets, as i'd be interested in the
technical points.
--- Tovar
P.S. I can't get that excited about Mazewars, although i can
certainly see why many people do. Now, if someone were to port the
ALTO's Trek program, i might be interested. That was a multi-player
game with nice graphics where cleverness and planning could dominate
over manual dexterity and fast reflexes.
------------------------------
Date: 28 Jun 85 15:11 +0100
From: Kolbjorn_Aambo_UiO%QZCOM....@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Reply-to: Info-Mac_Mailing_list%QZCOM....@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Subject: Programming Languages
A SIMULA 67 Compiler system i under development by TPH data here in
OSLO. Prerelease may be available 4.Quarter 85. This will be a full
implementation according to the Commonbase Simula as defined by
Norwegian Computing Center. The implementation ofcourse demand a
hardisk system because the entire system; Library, Sybolic debugger,
linker, loader, pretty printer and runtimesystem takes at least
2Megabytes of disk storage.
------------------------------
From: su...@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Steve Upp)
Subject: Telegraph Desk Accessory (Binhex 4.0)
Date: Tue, 14-May-85 22:30:13 CDT
Here is an interesting...if not totally useless desk accessory. It
was written by Steve Capps from Apple, evidently testing the interface
between D.A.'s and his version 4.1 of the Finder (I do not know what
he was testing...), however this is the result. The file is in
Apple's new Font/DA Mover format and as far as I can tells works only
under 4.1. I tried to install it using the Resource Editor under 1.1g
of the Finder, but it didn't work.
Enjoy....And let me know if you come up with any useful purpose for
using it.
This came from CompuServe.
Steve Upp University of Chicago Computation Center
ARPA: Staff.Steve%UChicago...@Mit-Multics.arpa
Bitnet: supp%sph...@UChicago.bitnet
Mailnet: Staff...@UChicago.mailnet
UUCP: ...!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!supp
[[This Binhex 4.0 file has been archived as
[SUMEX]<INFO-MAC>DA-TELEGRAPH.HQX --RMA]]
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End of INFO-MAC Digest
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