Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!ogccse!blake!uw-beaver!cornell!mailrus!cwjcc!hal!nic.MR.NET!eta!zeke
From: zeke@eta.unix.ETA.COM (Robert K. Scott)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Imagewriter II -and- Programming
Summary: Imagewriter problems
Keywords: Imagewriter programming compressed hex output
Message-ID: <695@wilbur.unix.ETA.COM>
Date: 18 Nov 88 21:22:23 GMT
References: <4484@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Organization: The Final Frontier
Lines: 47

In article <4484@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>, zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) writes:
> 
> 1) My imagewriter occasionally prints lines of text 'squashed', i.e.
>    about 1 pin shorter than they should be.
> 
> 2) Occasionally, when I send output to my Imagewriter, the darn thing
>    just starts spitting out reams of hex code in neat little columns.
> 
> Can anyone help me or point to a fix for these annoying MacBugs?
> 

I don't know about the first problem, since I have never had it happen.
The second is caused by accidentally bumping or holding down the online/offline
switch just below the power switch.  When this switch is held down while
powering on, the Imagewriter will print the byte stream that the Mac is
sending it, instead of translating it to internal hardware commands.  To
cure this problem, just power off and back on, and don't touch the
selection switch.

> I used to program a lot, in BASIC (shudder) and finally in assembler and
> machine code for my Apple II+.  When I began using macs, I stopped
> programming, as I had no idea how to go about it.  I find myself very
> much wanting to learn how to program the Macintosh, but I *still* have
> no idea how to go about it.  I know a little bit of C (not much) and
> nothing else.  My question is:  What language should I learn (if any)
> and do I NEED the APDA kit or whatever?  How does all this work? I would
> prefer to keep learning C to starting something else, but if I had to,
> well...
> 

Both Lightspeed Pascal and C are superb programming packages for the Mac.
Lightspeed Pascal is less expensive, and programming in Pascal has the
advantage of being able to have system call examples listed in the Apple
Inside Macintosh manuals.  The ROM interface to the outside world is
addressed most easily in Pascal, although other languages have provided
a healthy supply of "bridge" library routines.  The source code debugger
for LSP is also quite good, and it will run in a Mac Plus, whereas the
new source code debugger for Lightspeed C requires 2 Meg of memory and
Multifinder.

-- 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% From the Final Frontier %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
These are my opinions, of course.  Why the hell would my company want them?

Robert K. "Zeke" Scott        internet: zeke@sunfun.eta.com
voice: (612) 642-3493         uucp: {amdahl,rutgers}!bungia!eta!sunfun!zeke
snail: ETA Systems, Inc. ETC03J, 1450 Energy Park Drive, St. Paul, MN  55108