Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!eecae!netnews.upenn.edu!eniac.seas.upenn.edu!hodas From: hodas@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Josh Hodas) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Suitcase&Pyro updaters, Bob init? Message-ID: <6890@netnews.upenn.edu> Date: 30 Dec 88 01:43:25 GMT References: <1427@mace.cc.purdue.edu> <361@cwjcc.CWRU.Edu> Sender: news@netnews.upenn.edu Reply-To: hodas@eniac.seas.upenn.edu.UUCP (Josh Hodas) Organization: University of Pennsylvania Lines: 52 In article <361@cwjcc.CWRU.Edu> kovatch@skybridge.UUCP (Scott Kovatch) writes: >In article <1427@mace.cc.purdue.edu> du4@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Ted Goldstein) writes: >> >> Also, I did manage to download and unbinhex the Bob init. >>Now, what does it do???? There is no documentation, and I am >>not in the habit of installing mystery inits! Can someone please >>fill me in on what Bob init is? >>Thanks in advance! >> >>Ted Goldstein >>Purdue University School of Technology >>du4@mace.cc.purdue.edu > >When I picked up bob from comp.binaries.mac it was touted as a >"True graphics interface." Boy, was that ever true. bob eliminates all >(and I do mean all) text from the desktop. Filenames, disks, etc. only >have their icons showing. The only possible use I can think of is if >you have young children that can't read yet and like to use the Mac. Other >than that, I thought it was a useless piece of code, and threw it away >after about 20 minutes. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Scott Kovatch kovatch@skybridge.sdi.cwru.edu >Case Western Reserve University CompuServe: 76344,3477 Boy, you have no humor in you. I love the Bob init. Of course it's useless. That's the whole point. On the other hand it points out 2 important and won- derful points about the mac. 1) On how many machines could a 7 byte program effectively and reliably disable all text going to any screen attached to the machine. The only way I could see to do this reliably on a PC would be to phy- sically fry the character generator (and this would differ on every card). The nature of mac programming (the toolbox) allows for clean efficient patching of the system. 2) On how many machines would you have been able to do ANYTHING for 20 minutes before throwing out the init??? Just my opinions. Josh ------------------------- Josh Hodas (hodas@eniac.seas.upenn.edu) 4223 Pine Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215) 222-7112 (home) (215) 898-5423 (school office)