Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!agate!ucbvax!SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU!Info-Mac-Request From: Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.digest Subject: Info-Mac Digest V7 #19 Message-ID: <8901282226.AA11628@sumex-aim.stanford.edu> Date: 28 Jan 89 22:20:25 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: Info-Mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu Organization: The Internet Lines: 525 Approved: info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu Info-Mac Digest Sat, 28 Jan 89 Volume 7 : Issue 19 Today's Topics: Adobe screen font annoyances DeskPict Klutz 1.0 DA Lots of rumors this month !!! :-) Need help with assembly/pascal interfacing for data acquisition ScreenMaster 2.6 Staircase 1.0.2 INIT Zippy 1.0 Your Info-Mac Moderators are Lance Nakata, Jon Pugh, and Bill Lipa. The Info-Mac archives are available (by using FTP, account anonymous, any password) in the info-mac directory on sumex-aim.stanford.edu [36.44.0.6]. Please send articles and binaries to info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu. Send administrative mail to info-mac-request@sumex-aim.stanford.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 28 Jan 89 02:45:00 EST From: Greg Brail Subject: Adobe screen font annoyances As the poster of the Adobe screen fonts that everybody's been complaining about, (Palatino, Avant Garde, and the like) I suppose I'd like to apologise for any inconveniences I may have caused. However, the fact is that I don't have Font Harmony, since I haven't received my update to Suitcase II yet, even after six weeks. The font files I posted were basically what came off of the Adobe disks, although I'm not sure if the files were EXACTLY what came on the disks. I wouldn't know if the files I posted would work with Font Harmony. I also never thought that the fact that I didn't modify all the FOND resources with ResEdit so the bold, italic and bold italic styles didn't appear could be considered an "error," since I didn't know about this obviously nonstandard technique until three days ago. I use the screen fonts I posted to produce a daily newspaper using a network of Mac Pluses and Mac IIs running PageMaker and the latest system software. They work fine for me. If someone else on the network has more technically advanced versions of the fonts (assuming it's legal to post Font Harmonized fonts) no one is stopping them from posting those fonts. If not, I have more fonts I'd like to post. Greg Brail ST601396@brownvm.brown.edu P.O. Box 1020 Brown University Providence, RI 02912 (401)521-9599 [Actually, the agreement we have signed to enable us to legally distribute the fonts specifically states that we may not distribute modified fonts (presumably because we might mess things up in some way). So if that's the way it comes from Adobe, that's the way it has to be on Info-Mac. It's hard for me to believe, though, that Adobe doesn't know about these problems. Perhaps a corrected version is available from them. -Bill] ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 89 03:00:31 GMT From: stuartb@microsoft.UUCP (Stuart Burden) Subject: DeskPict Here, by request, is !DeskPict. !DeskPict, will make a desktop from a PICT2 Document. I have long since lost the docs for this, but all you have to do is call a PICT document "DeskPicture" and !DeskPict will make that your backdrop. When used in conjunction with ScreenMaster, it is possible (although slightly convoluted) to create a desktop picture from a picture that has a custom CLUT. Have fun. Stu. __Paths to my door:_______________________ microsoft!stuartb@beaver.cs.washington.edu - Usual disclaimer, that all microsoft!stuartb@uw-beaver.arpa - the above is pure fantasy microsoft!stuartb@uunet.UU.NET - and Microsoft only [DE01HB]stuartb@DASNET# {from AppleLink} - gave me the Mountain Dew stuartb@microsoft.uucp {well connected} - to dream it all in a D2012 {AppleLink - shared account} - caffeine haze :-) [Archived as /info-mac/init/deskpict.hqx; 29K] ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jan 89 17:00:19 GMT From: bytebug@dhw68k.cts.com (Roger L. Long) Subject: Klutz 1.0 DA [Klutz 1.0 DA] Klutz allows you to view, change, load, or save Color LookUp Tables (CLUTs). Klutz graphically displays all the colors available in the current CLUT. Rob Snevely (rdsesq@Jessica.stanford.edu) sent in an older copy of Klutz, prompting me to post this updated version. [Archived as /info-mac/da/klutz-10.hqx; 10K] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 89 23:30:02 EST From: Murph Sewall Subject: Lots of rumors this month !!! :-) VAPORWARE Murphy Sewall From the February 1989 APPLE PULP H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford) News Letter $15/year P.O. Box 18027 East Hartford, CT 06118 Call the "Bit Bucket" (203) 569-8739 Permission granted to copy with the above citation Laptop Supercomputing! Texas Instruments is developing an entirely new class of semiconductor devices that, in the next decade or two, could result in battery operated, laptop computers that rival the performance of today's supercomputers. The device, demonstrated by the Advanced Concepts Branch of TI's Central Research Labs, is a "quantum effect transistor," the first true "tunneling transistor." This new transistor is about 100 times smaller than conventional integrated circuits of the same capacity and operates at 1,000 times the speed of conventional transistors. Mark Reed, a senior member of TI's technical staff, said that a number of significant hurdles need to be overcome before the device can be manufactured in quantity. Mr. Reed estimates that practical applications of this new technology are probably a decade or so away. - InfoWorld 2 January Monster Floppy. Tejiin Ltd., a $4 billion a year Japanese synthetics materials manufacturer, and Optical Data, developer of a new erasable optical media that has been licensed by Tandy, Philips, and DuPont Optical, have announced an agreement to develop a high capacity floppy disk. Donald Matson, CEO of Optical Data, said his firm hopes to offer a 500 Mbyte 5.25 flexible disk for the same price as one of today's floppy disks. - InfoWorld 2 January Software Disk Drive Upgrade. The Kennect Technology division of The Engineering Department of Campbell, California will release "Lumpy" (at $295) at about the time this column appears. Lumpy is a program that increases the density of Macintosh floppy drives and allows Mac's to read MS-DOS disks. The program will format standard Mac drives to 1.4 Mbytes. The same firm also will offer Drive 2.4 (at $495) that will let Mac's format disks at 2.4 Mbytes (primarily for hard drive backup). - InfoWorld 9 January Photo Quality Color Printing. ICI Imagedata has demonstrated a dye-diffusion thermal transfer printer that allows creation of output limited only by the resolution of the output device. Traditional thermal printers transfer pigments in true binary - all or nothing (dot or not) - a method that provides poor color saturation and limits shading control. ICI Imagedata's D2T2 (sounds like a robot from Star Wars) achieves true color mixing and offers a wide range of color saturations. At present, costs are prohibitive compared to binary thermal transfer printers, but they seem likely to fall to a competitive range in the future. - InfoWorld 19 December Laserjet Driver for Macintoshes. Insight Development is offering a $149 printer driver and cable called Mac Print that permits transparent printing on a Hewlett-Packard Laserjet from any standard Macintosh application via the printer dialog box. Mac Print supports Quickdraw, text, and graphics at 75, 150, and 300 dots per inch. Release 1.1, scheduled to ship in April, will offer support for soft fonts, the Laserjet 2000, and the Deskjet. A version for popular 9-pin and 24-pin dot matrix printers is planned for August release. - InfoWorld 9 January Not a Laptop. IBM's portable Model 70, rumored for February 7, will weigh 20 pounds and won't run on battery power. It will have 3 slots, a gas plasma display, a full-sized keyboard, and Micro Channel Architecture. It's designed to offer the same functionality as a desktop with the advantage of being readily moveable. - InfoWorld 16 January New CPU's Under the Sun. Sun Microsystems plans to upgrade its 386i to Intel's 80486 chip (the 486i?) and its 3/50 workstations from the Motorola 68020 to the 68030 later this year. The 486 machine will be twice as fast as the 20 MHz 386i but will carry a price tag that "closely resembles" the present $7,990. The new workstation will run both Unix and MS-DOS applications (as does the 386i). - PC Week 19 December Topping the Sun Killer? DEC insiders view its new line of workstations announced last month as "Sun killers" (offering roughly twice the performance and about 60% of the price). However, an even better system is about to be introduced by Data General. DG's Motorola 88000-based little wonder running at 14 MIPs with 8 Mbytes of RAM and a 16-inch color monitor will be offered for under $10,000. - InfoWorld 16 January Taking a RISC. With Sun, DEC, and DG announcing new high-end work stations built around RISC processors, an update to IBM's RT line is overdue. Intel plans to announce it's own RISC chip (code-named the N10) in March. Intel reportedly will promote the chip as a coprocessor for the 80486, but it can be used as a stand alone processor, and IBM is expected to announce an N10-based product as early as April. - InfoWorld 16 January Are We on the Right Bus? Apple's new 68030-based Macintosh SE line doesn't support either existing Mac SE or Mac II (or IIx) expansion cards. In order to speed I/O processing, the new Macs use a 110-pin bus architecture to be named the 030 Direct Connection. The 030 Direct Connection avoids the bus arbitration required by the Mac II Nubus architecture. The result is improved I/O performance (at the sacrifice of potential parallel coprocessing). Meanwhile, Orchid Technologies will soon deliver Mac Sprint II, a $350 Nubus hardware cache, for the Mac II that speeds processing by up to 40%. - PC Week 12 December and InfoWorld 19 December 3-Slot Mac. Apple's "year of the CPU" continues at the Hanover Computer Show in Germany with the introduction of a three-slot Mac-030 replacement for the Mac II (Nubus architecture, but slots approximately two-thirds as long as the Mac II). This new, smaller footprint, Mac family will have both 16 MHz and 25 MHz versions, and a 25 MHz Macintosh IIx (6-slot) also is expected. A 2 Mbyte (16 MHz) system with a 40 Mbyte hard disk and 68882 math coprocessor (along with the standard 68030 CPU and internal Super Drive) could retail for less than $6,000. The 73 pound floor standing 68030-based Macintosh "tower," code-named Columbo (see last month's column) is due in August. - PC Week 26 December and InfoWorld 16 January Big Blue's 80386 Operating System. IBM has developed a prototype 32-bit '386 operating system that can run several MS-DOS as well as OS/2 programs within its windows. The software does not actually run MS-DOS itself, rather it emulates MS-DOS. The operating system also permits users to allocate variable amounts of memory to individual windows. Both IBM and Microsoft have promised a future release of OS/2 which has these features, but the prototype appears to be a separate development and may never be released as a commercial product. - PC Week 12 December Microsoft Does Windows. Microsoft is planning a new releases of both Windows 286 and 386 in August that will dramatically improve memory management. Windows 3.0 (the current version is 2.1) will use RAM above 640K (extended memory) more efficiently. The new Windows 386 also will take advantage of the 80386 CPU. - PC Week 26 December and InfoWorld 2 January Managing Some Presentations. Microsoft's Bill Gates says 1989 will be the year of OS/2 applications (at last). Microsoft expects to bring out "a critical mass of applications" within the next six months. There will be both OS/2 and DOS (Windows) versions (packaged as separate products) of PC Word 5, Multiplan 4, and all of Microsoft's character-based development tools. - InfoWorld 16 January 1-2-3 Version 3.0. Lotus is seriously considering releasing 1-2-3 Version 3.0 as a program which will not run on the 8088 and 8086 based machines that make up nearly two-thirds of the present installed base. Lotus is considering using a DOS extender to avoid having to squeeze the new version into 640K, but the DOS extender will rely on the protected mode of 80286 and 80386 processors. However, Lotus vice president Frank Ingari asserts that Version 3.0 will run on the 8088 and 8086 PC's and that the DOS extender is simply a way of providing greater support for "power users." Lotus has said all along that they will continue to enhance version 2 for the less powerful PC's. - PC Week 12 December and InfoWorld 19 December Exploring the DOS World. Lotus Development's powerful DOS shell and hard disk organizer, Magellan ($139), is scheduled to ship by the end of this quarter. The program has a tree structure directory, a macro language, point-and-shoot DOS commands, and a "browse" feature that lets users "peek" inside files. The software is designed as a time-saver for "power users." - InfoWorld 2 January Chipping In. As many as seven manufacturers are poised to release 33 MHz 80386 computers once Intel officially announces the chip and begins shipping production quantities. Prices haven't been set, but expect 33 MHz systems to cost $1,000 to $2,000 more than similar 25 Mhz pc's. IBM's 33 MHz model, scheduled for mid-year introduction will feature the enhanced (MCA2) bus (see last month's column) according to industry sources. - PC Week 2 January The Mac FAX. Apple's $699 Fax Modem (originally announced in August 1987, shipped last summer but withdrawn in October due to hardware incompatibility with several popular fax machine brands) has a new ROM and may be shipping by the time this column appears (if some remaining software bugs are eradicated). Meanwhile, Orchid Technologies should be beginning shipments of its Macintosh fax (which also doubles as a data modem) with Solutions International's Backfax software (capable of faxing in background without requiring MultiFinder) for less than $600. - InfoWorld 19 December Compaq Graphics to Outperform IBM's 8514/A. By the time this column appears Compaq should have announced its Texas Instruments 34010 graphics chip board that both emulates and outperforms IBM's top-of-the-line 8514/A graphics adapter. The $1,500 board, scheduled for shipment before all the snow melts, supports both 640 by 480 VGA and 800 by 600 Super VGA. - PC Week 19 December and InfoWorld 16 January SPSS Mac and OS/2. SPSS Inc. has announced plans to offer a Macintosh version of its multivariate statistical software by mid-1989. Because the Macintosh is not bound by the 512K memory limitation of MS-DOS, SPSS-Mac will have the "full functionality of SPSS mainframe statistical products" and a Macintosh user interface. SPSS also is working on an OS/2 Presentation Manager program which will have a similar user interface. - InfoWorld 2 January High Resolution Mac II Graphics. Matrox Electronic Systems is developing a high speed graphics board for the Macintosh with a resolution of 1,280 by 1,024 pixels. The Matrox NG-1281 graphics board is primarily for computer-aided design applications and should be available in the second quarter for under $5,000. - InfoWorld 19 December Handwritten Input. California's Go Corporation is showing a prototype of a digital "notebook" which resembles an Etch-a-Sketch pad with a stylus. The product stores handwritten notes until it's convenient to attach it a microcomputer for long term storage. Commercial release is about a year away. - PC Week 19 December AppleWorks GS Tips and Tidbits. Addison-Wesley is scheduled to publish "Using AppleWorks GS" by Douglas L. Brown this month. The 450 page paperback ($19.95) contains tutorial, tips, and advanced guides to making the most of this integrated software. Douglas Brown was a member of the original documentation team for AppleWorks GS and also authored "From Pascal to C: An Introduction to the C Programming Language." - A+ February The Latest (Late) Word (Perfect). Microsoft Word 4.0 for the Macintosh has been delayed again (until at least the end of February). When the program, originally scheduled for October and then "before the end of 1988," finally does arrive, it will offer support for creating tables, the ability to edit while working in columns, and easier commands for positioning graphics. Word Perfect 1.0.2 for the Macintosh was scheduled for "January 3, or later" (anyone seen it?). Along with interim releases of the MS-DOS version, (to purge some bugs, add functionality, and standardize operations between different PC configurations), the new Macintosh version offers optional backup files, enhanced graphic line editing, faster line editing operation. - InfoWorld 2 and 9 January I bought the latest computer; it came fully loaded. It was guaranteed for 90 days, but in 30 was outmoded! - The Wall Street Journal passed along by Big Red Computer's SCARLETT Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90] Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET] U of Connecticut {psuvax1 or mcvax }!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP] -+- I don't speak for my employer, though I frequently wish that I could (subject to change without notice; void where prohibited) According to the American Facsimile Association, more than half the calls >From Japan to the U.S. are fax calls. FAX it to me at: 1-203-486-5246 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Jan 89 14:14 CST From: "Fred Schulz (CHEE77@UHVAX1)" Subject: Need help with assembly/pascal interfacing for data acquisition Hi, I have a rather specific question which is probably not of much general interest but is of great interest to me. A member of my research group has a a infrared camera which is hooked up to an old but computerized controller. Essentially, the camera scans a 128 x 64 grid of pixels and returns an 8-bit number corresponding to the thermal level. The controller stores the value for each pixel in its memory. There is a port where the address and the data can be read from the controller's bus. There is a MacII next to this set-up. It is equipped with Data Translation's Forerunner data acquisition board which includes 16 Digital I/O lines, enough to read the 8-bits of data and some of the memory address. The camera scans across and then moves down to the next row. The scan rate is about 200,000 pixels/sec or 5 us/pixel. The idea is to hook up the 8 data lines, and the low and high order address bits to the DIO lines. When initiated, a simple assembly language routine will continuously read the DIO word. The low order address will be the trigger - when the bit flips, the new data will be on the bus. It can then be stored into memory. This check/move loop will take less than half of the 5 us(?). The sampling will begin when the high-order address bit goes from high to low. Ideally, the program which reads the data will be called from within a pascal program. The idea is to just capture several seconds of data at a time directly to memory, then return to the calling program and write the data to disk, or over the ethernet to a Vax disk and then to tape. The problem is this. We are not very familiar with programming the mac. Are there any pascal compilers avalable (or C) which allow inline assembly, or what assembler allows subroutines to be created which can be called from Pascal? Does someone out there have any experiences or insights which might save us some headaches and/or misguided software purchases? Any recommendations or warnings? Any suggestions will be welcome. Please reply directly to me - if you don't know the answers but this interests you, let me know and I'll pass on what I learn. I doubt this will be of general interest to the net, but if it seems to be I'll be glad to send in a summary. Thanks everyone... -Fred CHEE77@UHVAX1.BITNET CHEE77@UHVAX1.UH.EDU ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 89 15:01:35 GMT From: stuartb@microsoft.UUCP (Stuart Burden) Subject: ScreenMaster 2.6 [ScreenMaster 2.6] Here, due to requests, is ScreenMaster 2.6. ScreenMaster will read PixelPaint docs, with custom CLUT's and display them as startup screens. Another init is also provided to re-set the CLUT to the standard system colours. Used in conjunction with another init called DeskPict (which creates Colour DeskTops from PICT files), it is possible to have a picture with a custom CLUT, as your desktop image (in which case you would not use the init to re-set the colour lookup table). Have fun. Stu. __Paths to my door:_______________________ microsoft!stuartb@beaver.cs.washington.edu - Usual disclaimer, that all microsoft!stuartb@uw-beaver.arpa - the above is pure fantasy microsoft!stuartb@uunet.UU.NET - and Microsoft only [DE01HB]stuartb@DASNET# {from AppleLink} - gave me the Mountain Dew stuartb@microsoft.uucp {well connected} - to dream it all in a D2012 {AppleLink - shared account} - caffeine haze :-) [Archived as /info-mac/init/screenmaster-26.hqx; 37K] ------------------------------ Date: 15 Jan 89 21:09:41 GMT From: rainer@dartvax.dartmouth.edu (Robert Rainer) Subject: Staircase 1.0.2 INIT [Staircase 1.0.2 INIT] This INIT will allow one to operate menu commands from the keyboard. I hope that some people will find use for it. I found it on a BBS out of S.C. and have run it for about a week with no signs of unwanted life. Thanks. [Archived as /info-mac/init/staircase-102.hqx; 29K] ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 89 06:01:08 GMT From: kriss@AUSTIN.LOCKHEED.COM (R M Kriss) Subject: Zippy 1.0 [Zippy 1.0] The following is the son of the Talking Moose called Zippy. It works with MF and contains documentation on how to use and modify its operation. I remember some postings several months ago asking what ever happened to the Talking Moose. Guess this is it. I would like to see this application ported to a CDEV that the user can configure. I happen to be an appliance operator rather than a hacker; lets see some new work. Dick Kriss kriss@lockheed.austin.com (ARPANet) kd5vu @ kb5pm (Packet Radio) [Archived as /info-mac/da/zippy.hqx; 31K Requires MacinTalk.] ------------------------------ End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************