Subject: Info-Mac Digest V15 #226 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Tue, 21 Oct 97 Volume 15 : Issue 226 Today's Topics: [*] TidBITS#401/20-Oct-97 [A] Key into Italian....15 #223 ? SW 2500 & Custom Paper Size ? [A] Quicktime VR Apple's future in the PC world Canadian mail-order... Directory Assistance II Replacement Help Lost events - help needed ordinary TV, high res desktop pictures using time (Q) PIC programming on the Mac? Q: Apple's future in the PC world? REQ: MountImage or equivalent? SCSI Probe Alternative SCSIProbe alternative? SCSIProbe alternative? setting Mac's time from the internet stylewriter pro problem Subject: 512K Mac Sys8 Et c The Info-Mac Network operates by the volunteer efforts of: Gordon Watts, Adam C. Engst, Demitri Muna, Mike O'Bryan, Michael Bean, Matt Bauer, Liam Breck The Info-Mac Archive is available at 50 public and private sites around the world. 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We'd also like to thank AOL, who has supplied the hardware the main info-mac machine runs on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Info-Mac Digest V15 #226" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 22:22:58 -0700 From: TidBITS Editors Subject: [*] TidBITS#401/20-Oct-97 TidBITS#401/20-Oct-97 Feeling geeky? Matt Neuburg reviews Text Machine, the grep utility for more of us. We also finish off Rick Holzgrafe's Successful Shareware series, staving off accusations of it being the article equivalent of Zeno's Paradox. Other topics include details about Apple's fourth quarter loss, a pointer to extensive information on dealing with spam in the last two issues of NetBITS, Apple price reductions, and the long-awaited release of Spring Cleaning 2.0. Topics: MailBITS/20-Oct-97 Successful Shareware, Part 4 Win One For the Grepper: Text Machine [Archived as /info-mac/per/tb/tidbits-401.etx; 29K] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 08:31:30 CDT From: "Tom Kirke (312) 413-5539" Subject: [A] Key into Italian....15 #223 > Does anybody knows about an utility program called "Key Into Italian/Key > into English" (or something similar)? It's supposed to suggest translations > between italian and english, an utility for word processors. This is by Exceller Software ( http://www.exceller.com ). They also have Spanish, German, French, and real-soon-now Portugese. tom ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 22:24:20 -0700 From: tryan@axionet.com (Thom Ryan) Subject: ? SW 2500 & Custom Paper Size ? SW 2500 & Custom Paper Size Greetings I would like to create a custom paper size (4x6 inch) that would appear in the Page Size selection when the Page Setup menu option is selected. I would be quite happy to tweak the small envelope size if that is easier than creating a new document size. I am using the Color StyleWriter 2500 chooser extension installed by OS 8 on a PB 3400 and PM 8500. I am not using the GX version. I am familiar with ResEdit but unsure of what resources (PREC?) to edit. Thanks in advance for your time to read this and any helpful reply. Kind regards/tr ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 97 09:02:05 -0500 From: Chris Gervais Subject: [A] Quicktime VR >I noticed that the Quick Time VR extension loads on startup as I always see >it's icon show up during boot time. Does anyone know what the function of >this extension is? It takes up around 545 k according to Ext. Mgr. QuickTime VR provides support for panoramic images inside any application that uses QuickTime and is an integral part of Apple's QuickTime Media Layer. Although the extension takes up about 545K on disk, it's not loaded into memory until it's needed so you can keep it enabled without worrying about it taking up RAM. Hope this helps, Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 19:31:40 -0400 From: "Edward W. Ver Hoef" Subject: Apple's future in the PC world In Infomac, V15, #223, Scott Brewster expressed his concerns regarding the prospects for Apple's continued existence. His concerns resonate strongly with me. To a large degree, I believe Apples trouble can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let me illustrate. Like Scott, I too have been a loyal Mac user since about '86 or '87. When I retired in '94, I couldn't be without a Mac so I bought a Quadra 605. It had a 160 MB hard drive which seemed like an incredible amount of memory compared to the 80 MB on the Mac II I had used at work for several years. However, with the increasing size of system and application software, that soon proved to be inadequate. Often, simply to install a new piece of software or an upgrade to an existing piece, I had to remove stuff to make room for the installation. I could usually (though not always) reload the stuff I took off to enable the installation. It was getting to be a real hassle. The logical answer to this situation would be to buy a larger hard drive to replace or supplement my 160. For about $400 or so I could get one with about 1 or 2 GB capacity. However, for not an awful lot more money, I could buy a new computer with a hard drive of that size range and with significantly higher speed than my Quadra. What kept me from acting on that option was the concern about investing a couple of thousand dollars in a computer that might soon become an unsupported orphan. As a result I did nothing but wring my hands. Then, one day, while in a local discount chain, I saw that they had a couple of Perfomas that were discontinued models and the price was reduced to about 10% of what it had been. To top it off, they had 700 MB hard drives. I figured that if nothing else, I could simply swap the hard drive from the Performa into my Quadra but if all worked well, I'd have a newer, faster computer for on the order of $100 so I took the plunge. Now, if I had had any strong feelings that Apple was here to stay for the long run, I would not have hesitated to buy a current offering. But, becuase of their continual fumblings and seemingly bad decisions, I have the sense that we're witnessing a slow-motion version of them falling on their sword. It saddens me greatly because I feel they had a great big lead with a powerful product and they have lost out to a mediocre product. Now everything favors that product, from an incredible range of software to stability of market. I hate to say the sky is falling but I think the clouds are getting pretty low over Mac Land. Ed Ver Hoef ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 12:14:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Mark Fiske Subject: Canadian mail-order... Hi there: What are the names of some of the better Macintosh mail-order companies in Canada? I'm looking for something in particular. Mark. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 22:51:02 +1000 From: Bill Stanford Subject: Directory Assistance II Replacement In Info-Mac Digest V15 #217; Al Bloom (bless him) succinctly reviews Default Folder, and concludes >I would not call DF perfect. I thought DA II was about as perfect as one >could expect in this imperfect world. My values. But with DA II dead, and >Now's SuperBoomerang apparently not breathing on its own either, I see >nothing better than "Default Folder." And it is pretty good. DF's not too bad is it! (I wish Hiro Yamamoto, genius and author of Boomerang, would reissue the shareware version. But then, Now have sort of promised they'll fix Now Utilities... so we'll see... ) But Al, talking of Hiro, a _very_ good thing about DF is its author, Jon Gotow. Have you tried Sleeper? For me the absolutely indispensable program for desktop Macs... all the best (usual disclaimers apply:-) bill ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 15:38:15 -0400 From: "McGuckin, John J" Subject: Help I'm planning to upgrade the RAM in my PowerMac 7100/66 to 40Mb. I understand that I need two 16Mb 72 pin 80ns chips. My question is whether I can just pop them in and run like plug&play or is there some sort of setup procedure to follow. Any help you could give me would be great. Thanks in advance, John J. McGuckin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 22:50:47 +1000 From: Bill Stanford Subject: Lost events - help needed Re: Info-Mac Digest V15 #217, John.Bull@ansa.co.uk (John Bull) : >I have been plagued with a continuing problem where the event system >appears to get into a confused state. This is most noticable with Microsoft >Word 5.1a where the "I" bar cursur does not change to an arrow when moving >off the Window. Other symptoms generally appear as being an event behind, >so that extra mouse clicks are needed to perform other simple actions, such >as to bring up a dialogue box or print a document. Eudora also gets into >trouble, with the Window not "filling up" with information. When I try to >shut the machine down I get a system message "Cannot close down because >application unknown refuses to quit". John, in all likelihood your hard disk is in a slightly confused state; with damaged desktop files; and possibly a damaged catalogue. Your Finder preferences may also be at fault. And your Appleshare data file - like your desktop data files, this is invisible - may also be munged. It's best to fix these things manually. (Apple's method of rebuilding the desktop with Command-Option at Finder boot time doesn't delete, it merely rebuilds, the desktop files. And while Tech Tool does do this, that doesn't delete the AppleSharePDF file or the Finder Preferences file.) You're best off rolling up your sleeves, and getting a Finder bits editor like FileTyper or FileBuddy (both shareware) up on InfoMac in Disk...File. Run the editor, and in turn open your HD partition/s, and one by one open DesktopDB, DesktopDF & AppleSharePDF, dechecking the 'is invisible' box of each and going Change. Quit the editor. Now open each HD partition window (your HD if you're not partitioned), and manually put these newly 'visibilized' files into the trash. Open the Preference folder in the System Folder and put Finder Preferences into the trash also. Reboot, the desktop will rebuild, and now you can empty the trash. You'll have to reset the Views CP. If the problems persist, as they may, your HD directory is clobbered, five will get ten. Boot off Disk Tools and check things with Disk First Aid. If it fixes anything run it again. And repeat this until it stops fixing. Now run your Norton 3.1 emergency floppy, and let the Doctor check the disk. If you're unlucky and you've still damage which Disk First Aid couldn't see, fix it, but don't trust your HD until at the least its been re-initialized. Yes, I know this is a drag... and this is also conservative advice I'm passing on, it's just that a 'fixed' drive isn't the same again... >Any help appreciated, before I resort to a yucky box with Windoze! It sounds like you've a secret longing . Indulge it, you'll be back... bill ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 12:41:11 -0500 From: "Paul M. Sheldon" Subject: ordinary TV, high res desktop pictures using time (Q) I have a macintosh 8500 computer with video in and on screen display of television. Yesterday, I used Apple Video Player to snapshot television images for desktop pictures. Incidentally, the huge megabyte files could be substantially compressed without loss of resolution with conversion to JPEG. I noticed something interesting. The saved still frame, had bad resolution and graininess, but, when I looked at the "moving pictures", they looked superior both on my ordinary television and even more so on my mac screen. I have a proposal that I think must be built up to for you to understand. A lot of us have seen morphing where an image is slowly changed to another. We could imagine that image, say in one movie frame, being slowly converted to another of another movie frame (two available frames get made into more in between). Supposing a scene to change little, then actual storage of frames might be substituted with morphing with a lesser number of frames. The current availability of processor power makes affordable the compression to reduce memory or bandwidth, what you might call a time space tradeoff. Perceiving the problem as not simply broken up into a bunch of stills to be compressed, resolves the problem by changing the scenario. You compress the real information object in spacetime. I would imagine that some internet video technology codecs use this change of scenario where time gets involved. So, above, we have seen an operation on two frames synthesize several movie frames. What about the reverse? What about taking several movie frames and synthesizing into one high resolution low graininess frame? Will the change of scenario of bring time into play give a payoff? Suppose a scene is being panned slightly on TV, not absolutely still and frozen. Suppose some pixel-interpolation-located feature (say a glint of a specular surface) in that scene is tracked so that a number of pictures (some slid between pixel registration) can be "pinned together" at that common feature . Not only would the graininess of TV be averaged out, but also the pixel grid would effectively scan the picture out in time, there would be effective pixels between pixels of the raster. A whole different scenario than that of the Nyquist sampling theorem would obtain (a greater sampling rate in the scanned direction or directions, cf secatic movements of the eye) and that would mean something important. Pictures of both higher resolution and less graininess than that of rastered stills could be obtained. You would get HDTV still images. You would see the higher quality in a still that I saw in the movie. Does anyone do this? Does quicktime do this somewhat? Do codecs do this? Wouldn't anyone want to do this? Lucasfilm has a lot of papers they write on theoretical stuff like this. I wish, someone like they would use some such ideas to get us real high res desktop pictures. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Oct 97 00:15:08 -0000 From: "Lewin A.R.W. Edwards" Subject: PIC programming on the Mac? Is any Info-Mac reader into programming the Microchip PIC microcontrollers? I'm working under contract on a custom hardware project, for which I chose the PIC16C57 MCU. Unfortunately, the development tools are only for Windows 3.x/95. I am using Microchip's own PICstart Plus development programmer, and it has a serial interface so it should be possible to control it with a Mac - playing about with a terminal, however, gives me *NO* clues as to the protocols used! Is there any native Mac software, shareware or commercial, to control the PICstart Plus? Failing that, has anybody got any feedback on using this programmer on a Mac running x86 emulation software? I have tried it under Virtual PC running Win95, and it didn't communicate with the hardware properly - it doesn't work under Windows NT on a real PC either, so I guess it needs to do something clever with status or flow control. The other possibility is that Virtual PC doesn't support allowing PC programs to change DTE speed, or that it doesn't support the speed (38400bps) at which this programmer seems to operate. Anyone tried SoftWindows 95? At the moment I am doing all my dev and sim work on my PowerBook 1400 running the Microchip software inside Virtual PC, and when I have a new code revision ready to burn, I use my OS/2 PC to do the deed (yes, the software works fine in Win-OS/2). It's almost at the stage where I am ready to build my own programmer and toss the Microchip hardware. I have to build a decent EPROM programmer for myself anyway in the near future, adding PIC support wouldn't be too hard... but I don't want it to come to that. -- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 09:08:51 -0900 From: Christopher Li Subject: Q: Apple's future in the PC world? > I was wondering, what are my fellow Mac-er's thoughts on Apple's future in > the world of home computers? I was told that after they took back Power > Computing's license, they apparently blew it big time and now Apple (or so > I was told) is in major duress and quite possibly may not survive the end > of the year financially. Told by who? There are many opinions as to whether or not the buyout was a good move, but the jury's still out, and will be out for some time. Apple, on the other hand, is a long way from going under financially. > Then I hear the news that Apple pulled PCC's license. One word question. >Why? Because licensing the OS doesn't bring in nearly as much income as selling the machine yourself, even with the higher price of MacOS licenses. Win95 licenses go for around $20 to $30 per machine sold - but Microsoft sells a _lot_ of them, and that's why they do well. Still, Apple, which holds less then 10% of the market is 22 places _above_ Microsoft on the fortune 500 - this is primarily because they sell a lot of big ticket items. The problem that Apple had with PowerComputing is that almost all PowerComputing sales were to former Apple customers. Rather than expanding the market in new directions (which would be good for everybody), PowerComputing drew most of their customers at Apple's expense. Now, whatever you think of recent decisions, or of the long term consequences of recent cloning decisions, the bottom line is that without Apple there is no MacOS. Therefore it is imperitive that Apple become profitable, even if it means that total market share shrinks somewhat in the short term. With the new products and new MacOS and Rhapsody releases Apple is in a good position to move forward, but in order to move forward they _must_ return to profitibility. > Quite frankly, I still don't know who the CEO is over at Apple. I don't > know if it's Gil Amelio or Steve Jobs. Or somebody else altogether. Since > their restructuring, they've kept a lot of things under the rug, leaving > their users in the dark pretty much about new products, updates, "cool > stuff" and offers we can't refuse. I know they have their web site, but I > tried to find old system software on there the other day and they've > reorganized so heavily, they've neatened it up sooo much, I can't find > ANYTHING. =) Well, Gil Amelio officially resigned quite some time ago, so I'm not sure why you would wonder at all if he's in charge or not :-). It seems to me that Steve Jobs is the driving force right now (since he's officially been designated as CEO pro-tem), for better or worse. Bold steps are what's needed and that's what he's taking - whether they're the right steps or not only time will tell. Best, Chris Christopher Li Bridge 1 Software English/Japanese Japanese/English Software Localization and Management mailto:ChrisLi@bridge1.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 22:51:10 +1000 From: Bill Stanford Subject: REQ: MountImage or equivalent? Re: Info-Mac Digest V15 #217; "S. Brewster" : >For quite some time now I have been looking for a program which will allow >me to mount a disk image instead of having to find a blank disc and copying >the contents of the image file to the floppy. I had a program years ago >that was called MountImage, by Steve Christensen [sp?] and it has >dissapeared from my files, however now I have a need for that capability >again. At the time, MountImage was beta, I believe 1.xB2? Is MountImage >still around, or is there an equivalent OS8-happy program or utility? ShrinkWrap does this fairly reliably, but from Apple there's DiskCopy 6.1.3, an update of Steve Christensen's great DiskCopy 4.2. DiskCopy 6.1.3 is disk image oriented, in the sense that if you double click a disk image, it gets mounted on the desktop, rather than loaded for disk copying. You can still use DiskCopy 6.1.3 for its titled use, but this aspect of it is rather counter intuitive. DiskCopy 6.1.3 does mount images very reliably though, and very easily... it's available for ftp on the info.apple ftp sites. bill ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 08:35:39 -0600 From: "Bill Abel" Subject: SCSI Probe Alternative I like APS Mounter, it is part of APS PowerTools and comes with all APS drives. It usually works when SCSI Probe won't and that's when I use it. | b i l l a b e l | abel@lewisad.com | lewis communications | 2 chase corporate drive | birmingham, alabama 35244 | 205 733 0024 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 15:12:44 +0200 From: Bo Bjulen Subject: SCSIProbe alternative? S. Brewster wrote: >Hi again; just a quick question about SCSIProbe. Is there a quick >mounter >program available as an alternative? I've got a stubborn drive that >occasionally after Mac shutdown refuses to start up again unless powered >off completely and turned back on again. SCSIProbe is a major pain >to get >to recognize external SCSI chain devices and it's like four steps. I >needed quick easy access to all my devices in one list, perhaps >appleScriptable. Any suggestions? Try Mt. Everything: /info-mac/disk/mt-everything-111.hqx It works fine unless you've got a Mac with two SCSI busses and and use the same ID for different devices on separate busses. -- Bo Bjulen mailto:bbjn@pobox.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 19:18:43 +0200 From: Jesper Oersted Subject: SCSIProbe alternative? >Hi again; just a quick question about SCSIProbe. Is there a quick mounter >program available as an alternative? I've got a stubborn drive that >occasionally after Mac shutdown refuses to start up again unless powered >off completely and turned back on again. SCSIProbe is a major pain to get >to recognize external SCSI chain devices and it's like four steps. I >needed quick easy access to all my devices in one list, perhaps >appleScriptable. Any suggestions? > >Thanks. >--Scott Brewster, computer consultant. Try "Mt.Everything" or "Mount Cache" Jesper Oersted ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 13:34:27 -0400 From: "Heard, Mark" Subject: setting Mac's time from the internet greetings! is there a utility/app/script/widget-of-some-sort to set the Mac's time from a "reference" on the internet? i know of several time setting/updating apps that use your modem to dial out to one of several locations that will then deliver the correct time to the Mac -- is there anything that works like that for the i-net? TIA! mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 09:38:45 -0500 From: "Julius Rahmandar (972) 205-4591" Subject: stylewriter pro problem I have an Apple Color Stylewriter Pro printer (i.e., Canon BJE-600 series) printer has have been a constant problem for me. In the 3 years that I have owned it, it has probably been used to print about 100-200 pages, and more often than not I have had to clean the heads (via the print utility) to get it to print. The most common message is: the Black/Cyan/Magenta/Yellow cartridge is missing or empty. This is never the case, so I know that there is something wrong with this printer. Apple service has attempted to fix this problem once, but I didn't last, and the warranty is now over. Since the printer have been of no use to me in the past few months, I took everything apart per Apple Service manual, and clean everything up. I even dis-assemble the print head and purge unit (not in the instruction). I forced a print head cleaning liquid thru the jets until they ran clear and the streams are even. I replaced the ink absorber plates (they were fully staurated with ink due to previous cleaning cycles), and put everything back together. No dice. Still get the message Black/Cyan/Magenta cartridges are missing or empty (they are not). I know that the jets are not plugged since the new absorber plates are getting ink due to cleaning cycles. Has anyone been able to fix this printer themselves? Is there a way to defeat the ink sensing mechanism and make it think that the inks are just fine? Pls respond directly to: rahmsmit@flash.net , as I seemed to miss some digests every so often. Thanks. Or if someone want this printer for parts, I'll sell it to you for $50 + shipping (MANUAL AND DISKs too!) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 22:34:59 +1000 From: Bill Stanford Subject: Subject: 512K Mac Re: Info-Mac Digest V15 #223 : i.burt@netmatters.co.uk (Ian Burt) >Just had a call from a friend looking for a set of system disks for a 512K >Mac. He seems to think OS 6 will do. I doubt it. In our corner of the UK >official sources have drawn a blank. Not supported anymore. I'm not >surprised. So can any UK Mac guru suggest anything? Ian, Hi! I'd say he needs System 3.2; but I threw out my own copy of this after the ...um geological disturbance in Kobe a couple of years ago. I've just buzzed Fetch over to ftp://info.apple.com/system/ and in 'older systems' the oldest is 6.0.3. That would perhaps work. (Has he 2M RAM? will a 512 _take_ 2M RAM?) Though System 4.2 with its modular Control Panel DA might be the best compromise. But my own copies of those went west at the same time as 3.2... In a desperate moment last Christmas, someone at Apple emailed me all of System 7.1 for an aged relative! and wouldn't charge my card - the spirit that once made Apple a great organisation. I wonder whether someone at Apple UK would mail you 3.2 (be easy!) - _surely_ there must be a copy of it there somewhere. Good luck! bill ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 22:50:54 +1000 From: Bill Stanford Subject: Sys8 Et c Re: Info-Mac Digest V15 #217; Al wrote: >And it is official. MacTools Pro is dead meat under Sys8. Too ruddy bad. >I liked Trashback. The only MacTools that still work are three apps that >never made it to Pro: FileEdit, DiskEdit, and FastCopy. Al, I've got Mac Tools Clinic 4.0.0 running nicely under 8. As Ted Landau has found and reported on MacFixIt, versions of Clinic < 4.0.4 work w/o problems. I was just glad that I'd cached the orginal floppies... Clinic's still working is a relief, as I'll be hogtied if I can make the Norton 3.5.0->3.5.1 updaters work properly. And my conscience objects to buying yet another Norton CD from Symantec just yet.... it's too much like giving $$ to gangsters.... bill -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************