**************************
What's the Best SCSI Card?
------------------------------
From:
I'm curious, which is the best SCSI card for the IIgs, an Apple High
Speed SCSI card or a RamFast SCSI Card? How much do they cost, where
do I find them, and which one is better? By the way does the Ramfast
card give the IIgs extra ram? If anyone can help me here please
e-mail me or post your answer.
------------------------------
From: fmlin@netcom.com (Frank M. Lin)
Dunno which is the best ( I vote for RamFAST ), but RamFAST is the
fastest card for sure. RamFAST 256k is about $170, 1mb just over
$200. Apple High-Speed SCSI is about $100.
The cache RAM on the RamFAST can only be used by RamFAST. Which one
to get depends on how much speed you need/want and how much are you
willing to pay.
Both are good buys.
------------------------------
From: scraft@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu (Steve Craft)
HOWEVER:
I sent my Pegasus internal SCSI HD to Econ to have a HP-mechanism
220meg hard drive mounted inside the case. I couldn't figure out how
to do it, so I sent it to them. Well, these mechanisms (and a few
others, as D. Proni told me) have funny termination schemes compared
to Quantum and Conner and some others. My Apple High-Speed SCSI card
was probably having some weird times figuring out what this weird
terminator signal was, so it decided to eat my entire hard drive.
I was told that the HighSpeed SCSI card has undergone several ROM
revisions dealing with funny HD power termination. But the RAMFast
has no problems with anybody's termination. So you might want to
plunk down the extra cash for a RAMFast so you know everything will
work with it.
By the way, can anyone out there at Apple verify the latest ROM
revision on the HS-SCSI card? I'm 95% sure I'm going to have to order
new ROMs or something, since I bought my card in February and dunno
if they are free or what.
------------------------------
From: dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)
It is all a matter of opinion. I happen to prefer the Apple High
Speed SCSI card, but others prefer the RamFAST. The RamFAST is
_faster_, but not necessarily "better". The RamFAST also costs a lot
more (the price difference is as high as US$100).
My main complaint with the RamFAST is that everything is ROM-based. It
contains a "ROM disk" with utility programs and driver software (you
can install the GS/OS driver onto your system disk). If you need
support for a new device, you have to get a ROM upgrade. There seem to
have been almost monthly ROM upgrades for the last couple of years.
(This is from what I have seen mentioned in messages on the network.)
The Apple High-Speed SCSI card uses disk-based drivers for GS/OS,
which are supplied with the system software. The system software
includes drivers for hard disks, CD-ROM, the Apple tape drive and the
Apple scanner. Other drivers are available from third-party sources.
Partitioning and other tasks are performed using Advanced Disk
Utility, which is supplied with the system software.
The Apple card also comes with a disk containing ProDOS-8 based test,
partitioning and backup software.
> By the way does the Ramfast card give the IIgs extra ram?
No. It has RAM on the card which is used to cache data read from and
written to the hard drive. This is what makes the RamFAST the fastest
SCSI card. This RAM cannot be used directly by IIgs software.
------------------------------
From: unknown@apple.com (Matt Ackeret)
Date: 29 Jul 1993 15:13:01 -0700
>If you need support for a new device, you have to get a ROM upgrade.
>There seem to have been almost monthly ROM upgrades for the last
>couple of years.
Yeah, but at least for the last couple of updates, you don't
necessarily need the ROM upgrade if you don't have or plan on using
the certain type of device that the new ROM upgrade was made to
support. The support "should" have been in there earlier if you want
to be picky, but upgrades are only $15. (between some revisions some
people got free upgrades)
I say "..for the last couple.." because before that, there
were bugs that could affect normal use that were fixed in upgrades. At
least what Drew's said recently were that some upgrades were for
floptical or other support mainly.
------------------------------
From: dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)
> I was told that the HighSpeed SCSI card has undergone several ROM
> revisions dealing with funny HD power termination.
What???
I've had an Apple High Speed SCSI card since 1990, and I've never
heard of any ROM revision for it.
You must be getting the two confused - the RamFAST has had frequent
ROM upgrades since its release, but the Apple HS SCSI card has never
had an upgrade (at least, no-one has ever mentioned it here, or in
A2-Central, GS+ or InCider/A+).
The original Apple SCSI card went through three ROM releases (Rev A,
Rev B and Rev C) prior to the release of the High-speed card.
> By the way, can anyone out there at Apple verify the latest ROM
> revision on the HS-SCSI card?
Tell me the exact writing on your HS SCSI card's ROM, and I'll compare
it to mine.
--
David Empson
********************************
High-Speed Modem Recommendations
------------------------------
From: joko@well.sf.ca.us (Joe Kohn)
OK, sorry to ask the same question that I'm sure gets asked here
everyday, but finally, I'm in the market for a new 14.4 modem. What do
people recommend? Also, do any of the companies that have $200-$250
14.4 modems also offer a special deal to sysops? (I have a sysop acct
on CIS - does that count?)
Thanks for any and all advice...
------------------------------
From: blasjw@ntmtv.com (Joseph Blas)
In case you don't know, The July issue of Byte Magazine tested
and compared 69 14.4 modems. So, this would be a good place to
start. Personally, my recommendation for inexpensive modems
would be the USR Sporster 14.4 and the Practical Peripherals
14400FXMT.
------------------------------
From: dbrown@csusb
I have a Supra, and I'm very happy with it. Supra has a Sysop
discount for $149; I've heard that US Robotics and Practical
Peripherals also do. However, you usually need to be running a BBS
for the deal to work. I'd check with the individual companies, but it
probably doesn't count.
--> Dan
------------------------------
From: bill@pro-ragstock.cts.com (Bill Schanks -- Sysop)
You can get a SupraFax 14.4 for $149 on a sysop deal. I recently
bought this modem, and I have only good things to say about it. Most
people who have this modem are very satified with it, and for $149 you
can't beat it.
Supra's Address:
SupraTech@Supra.COM
------------------------------
From: musjndx@gsusgi2.gsu.edu (Jonathan N. Deitch)
> I'm sure this modem has been recommended before. The USR Sportster
> 14.4k v.32bis with 14.4k FAX is a good, reliable and affordable modem.
> I've seen it for $179 with FAX and $159 w/o FAX at the local computer
> fairs.
Another good modem, although a little more expensive, is the Practical
Peripherals PM14400 FXMT ... it's 14.4 data/14.4 fax with type 2 fax.
It's nice, small, comes in a mini tower (vents very well standing
upright in its little stand) and is the same color as a white Apple.
******************************************
Shareware Solutions II: First Impressions
------------------------------
From: jemorti@relay.nswc.navy.mil (Jack Mortimer)
I received the initial issue of Shareware Solutions II last night.
What a treat. The way Joe writes, information pours into you from all
directions. However, I did not feel overwhelmed or inundated with
details. Reading SSII is a kind and gentle way for information to be
received.
I think that Joe should consider having a letters to the editor
portion (hard to do on the first issue) and that it should be
partitioned into two sections: paper and electronic.
If you have been reading advanced comments about Shareware Solutions
II and have not yet decided if this is for you, my suggestion is to go
for it. If you use a computer in the Apple ][ family, this newsletter
is for you.
------------------------------
From: 90taobri@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (TAO BRIAN T)
I received my copy of SS2 just in time for our usergroup's
Hardware and New User SIG today. A lot of people read through the
articles and seemed rather impressed by it. I think I even managed to
sell three or four subscriptions today! :) No advertisements, no
cartoons (awww!)... all information and no fluff. A lot like
A2-Central (R.I.P.).
At $25 for 12 issues, Joe certainly isn't making much money on
this, but as long as he isn't losing money and can keep up a steady
flow of articles, I think he will continue churning out the issues.
Anyone want to volunteer a column or an article?
------------------------------
From: joko@well.sf.ca.us (Joe Kohn)
I had many more copies of Shareware Solutions II printed up than I
have subscribers, so yes, anyone subscribing now will get Issue #1. To
tell the truth, anyone that subscribes before Issue #2 is completed
will start out with Issue #1; even if I run out, I can easily get
more.
Since publishing a newsletter is something brand new for me, I still
haven't worked out the details of "back issues", and don't yet know
how it'll work when I'm working on Issue #4 and someone wants to start
with Issue #1.
Of course, there's already an exception to the above "rule", as I gave
away a number of sample issues to folks on the net and to people on
the pay networks and to everyone at KansasFest, and since they already
have Issue #1, their subscriptions will start with Issue #2, should
they like what they see.
Speaking of sample issues, what do the folks who got one think?
------------------------------
From: gachenb@eis.calstate.edu (Greg R. Achenbach)
I liked it. It seems very informative. My main disappointment (and
the only thing causing me to hesitate in subscribing) is something
that is characteristic of this board and the Apple II world at large.
The preponderance of coverage has to do with the IIgs. I don't have a
gs. I'm still on the lowly 8-bit II's. This is not necessarily a
criticism, but more of a statement of reality. I realize that a
newsletter with a greater proportion of 8-bit coverage would also be
quite a bit thinner. So, I know it is not likely to change, but it is
a frustration and disappointment none the less.
------------------------------
From: bsherman@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (Bob Sherman)
Funny you should ask. I was planning to write a note anyway. The
sample issue arrived latter part of last week, and before I even had
chance to get past the first page, it was "borrowed" by the first of 3
people. Well, I finally got to read it yesterday, and I am quite
impressed. Impressed enough to be sending a check to subscribe for 12
issues.
I also thought the advertised price for the 6 disk set of system
software 6.0.1 to be very modest, and one of, if not the best price I
have seen so far.
I do have however one complaint. In a fashion similar to the Scarlett
Newsletter from BRAC, you have included more than 3 pages of
advertising in a newsletter that promotes itself as a newsletter with
no advertising. To lose over 3 pages of Apple II news in a 20 page
publication means a loss of almost 20% of editorial content that the
subscriber is paying for, carried over the 12 month subscription
period, a subscriber will lose about 42 pages of news out of 240 pages
if the current formula is carried thru.. That is quite a large loss..
Now, I also realize that the sale of these public domain disks brings
you additional revenue, which of course you cannot be faulted for.
However my suggestion would be to give the subscriber what they pay
for, All pages of the newsletter filled with Apple II news and
information. Then enclose your advertising pages in the form of an
extra flyer folded into each issue before it is sealed for mailing.
That way it is easy to see what is the advertising free newsletter,
and what is the enclosed advertising, and that it is not taking away
from editorial content.. After all, the bottom line is that a
subscriber is paying for the editorial content, are they not?? It also
just might help to prevent problems down the line, when someone wants
to advertise in the newsletter, and they are told that it does not
accept any, but yet they see PD disks for sale in the issue. Of
course, if the 3+ pages of disks for sale listing happens to have been
a one time only thing, and is perhaps only planned for once a year or
whatever, then my above complaint is null and void.
Perhaps I am over reacting, but I still remember how A2-Central was
badly hurt when it began hyping Genie in almost every other story that
it published. It continued for many months, and caused many
cancellations in their subscription base. Money that it never was able
to get back.
With that 3 cents worth off of my chest, Software Solutions II looks
great, good luck with it, and keep up the good work (and be on the
lookout for my subscription check.)
------------------------------
From: joko@well.sf.ca.us (Joe Kohn)
Interesting comments, Greg Achenbach, as I went out of my way to try
to provide equal coverage to IIe/IIc as well as to the IIGS. I intend
to continue to try to give equal coverage to IIe/IIc/IIgs. But, as you
so accurately point out, I don;t make the news, merely report on it.
------------------------------
From: joko@well.sf.ca.us (Joe Kohn)
Bob Sherman - In defense of devoting 3 pages in my newsletter to a
listing of freeware/shareware disks out of a 20 page newsletter....if
you go back and look at the original press release, it was stated that
SSII was a 12 page newsletter. So, theoretically, go got an extra 4
pages of Apple II related news.
In reality, I have been making disks available to inCider readers for
the past 1.5 years. I realized that many SSII subscribers gave up on
inCider a long time ago, and had probably never seen that listing
before, or ever heard of some of the software offered. So, I decided
to include that listing in the first issue, as a way to get it out of
the way. Maybe a year from now, I'll re-print it as part of a
supplement.
In any case, the "charter" of Shareware Solutions is to bring the news
to people, and to inform them of new and classic freeware and
shareware, and to provide low cost disks of freeware and shareware to
readers. How can I provide it to readers if I don;t tell them about
it?
------------------------------
From: foegelle@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu (Michael Foegelle)
Well, I have to post my two cents worth saying how great I think SSII
is too! I've already got a nice long review of it in a bulletin on my
BBS and so Joe, you should be receiving an order or two (at least) due
to that. (Already had one person tell me he was going to order it.
He wished he'd known about it before he'd sent a check to QC's II
Alive the other day!)
I was very impressed with the size and information content of SSII.
It is an incredible value. There can almost be no comparison between
it and other Apple II publications. I think it far exceeds the
Resource Central publication as far as useful info per dollar (well,
what other measure should I use?) and even rivals inCider/A+ and II
Alive as far as actual article content. (Face it, take out all the
ads from either magazine and you'd probably have less than the twenty
four pages of SSII!) (Of course now it BEATS inCider/A+ hands down,
but of course that's because inCider folded! =) Not to say SSII
wouldn't have beaten it if it was still in publication!)
Anyway, great job Joe, keep up the good work, and thanks again for all
you do for the Apple II user!
*******************************************
Transferring AppleWriter files to Macintosh
------------------------------
From: mirsky@gnu.ai.mit.edu (David Joshua Mirsky)
Hi. I posted something about this on a mac newsgroup a few weeks ago.
I appreciate all the responses I received. I have decided to repost
my questions, because now I can be more specific in my inquiry.
My parents own an Apple II+ with 48K and 5 1/4" disk drives. They
would like to transfer a number of files to my Macintosh. Most of
their files were created using the word processor, Apple Writer 1.1,
whose copyright date is 1979. They also have a program called Apple
Writer Extended by Brillig Systems which allows for conversion of
Applewriter documents to plain, text files. I am wondering, though,
if there is an easier way to convert the files to text files. The
Applewriter files are on 70 or so floppy disks.
In addition, I need help figuring out how to get the files, which are
on 5 1/4" floppies onto a 3 1/4" floppy that my Mac uses. One
suggestion was to send the files via two modems. However, the Apple
II+ is equipped with only a 300 baud modem. I do have an external
Zoom 2400 baud modem that my sister uses on her Mac, but I have no
idea if this can be hooked up to the Apple II+.
Is it possible to hook up a 3 1/2" disk drive to my Apple II+? I could
then use the Apple/PC exchange software that came with my Mac to read
those disks. At present, I don't have an external 3 1/2" floppy drive
for Apple II+, but would consider buying one if it would work, enable
me to transfer files between it andmy Mac.
The best option, in my mind, seems to be to find a computer which can
read Apple II+ files and is connected to both a 5 1/4" floppy drive
and a 3 1/2" floppy drive. But I don't have access to such a
computer.
Is it possible to hook up the old, Apple II+ disk drives to my Mac?
Does it make sense to find someone with a computer which might be able
to help?
------------------------------
From: vaps2ms@prism.gatech.EDU (Michael Sheldon)
Well, I remeber using AppleWriter 1.1, and till now I didn't think I
was that old. Geez.
I had about that same number of disks full of files I made on a //e,
but since my mother was a teacher she had a //gs and I used the 5 1/4"
and 3 1/2" to convert those files to AppleWorks 2.0 and onto 3 1/2"
disks, which I then transferred to my Mac into ClarisWorks.
As far as I know, there's no way to connect a 5 1/4" drive directly to
a Mac, I think more because there is no driver I know of that would
let a Mac access that type of drive, but someone may have done a
patch if they figured out the way to get it physically connected to
the machine (which I would guess has a lot to do with whcih Mac you
have).
I don't know if the //e emulator card for the LCs lets you plug in
drives or not but that'd be my first question if you end up using
someone else's machine to transfer the files.
Good luck!!
------------------------------
From: rlee@unixg.ubc.ca (Reginald M Lee)
The Applewriter files are already text files; no translation needed. I
moved mine a few weeks ago by using someone else's Apple IIgs which
had both 5 and 3 inch drives. Since the IIgs was running System 6.x
GSOS, it mounted Apple DOS 3.3, ProDOS, and MacOS disks to the Finder,
so the whole transfer was just click and drag. (Unfortunately, it
wasn't so easy to transfer the Magic Window II files...)
I don't know if you can get 5.25" drives for 48K ][+'s, although you
certainly can for ][E's, but it would be incredibly expensive even
compared with making a road trip to the nearest Apple ][ user group
or paying a dealer with ][gs.
------------------------------
From: dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)
> The Applewriter files are already text files; no translation needed.
No, they aren't. The original poster is talking about the old Apple
II+ version of Apple Writer, which used Binary files. AppleWriter
didn't start using text files until version 2.0. AppleWriter IIe then
continued to use text files.
According to Don Lancaster's "AppleWriter Cookbook", the DOS 3.3
version of AppleWriter IIe has a facility to convert old binary
AppleWriter 1.x files into Text files. The book doesn't go into any
detail about the internal format of the files, so I don't know if they
are actually just text files with a binary file type. I'll see if I
can find out...
------------------------------
From: beejay@Micor.OCUnix.on.ca (Basil Johnson)
I think there was a program in an old issue of Call-Apple magazine
that converted the AppleWriter binary file to TXT format. My
copies are not readily at hand so I can't confirm it.
------------------------------
From: dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)
> Perhaps Applewriter version 2.0 runs on 48K ][+'s...
There are five major versions of AppleWriter II:
AppleWriter 1.1 40-column, DOS 3.3, II or II+, BIN files
AppleWriter 2.0 40-column, DOS 3.3, II or II+, TXT files
AppleWriter IIe 80-column, DOS 3.3, unenhanced IIe, TXT files
AppleWriter II 2.0 80-column, ProDOS, IIe/IIc/IIgs, TXT files
AppleWriter II 2.1 80-column, ProDOS, IIe/IIc/IIgs, TXT files
Your II+ version of AppleWriter was probably AppleWriter 2.0, which
saved standard text files. Earlier version of AppleWriter used a
strange binary format, which I haven't looked at, but isn't straight
text.
------------------------------
From: dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)
> Which of those 5 versions of Applewriter did Apple release as freeware?
The last one (AppleWriter // 2.1 for ProDOS). The earlier versions
are specifically excluded and remain commercial (but unavailable).
It wasn't Apple who released it as Freeware - it was Paul Lutus, the
program's author, and thanks are due to Tim Tobin and the GEnie "Lost
Classics" project for this and other Freeware releases.
****************
Finder 6.01 Bugs
------------------------------
From: 90taobri@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (TAO BRIAN T)
Here's what I have so far. Everyone knows about the Pointless +
6.01 bug, so I won't list it again.
1. Keyboard navigation in Finder still active when info window in
front. This is confusing (since L and I keys also used for Locked and
Inactive checkboxes).
2. Closing window always selects enclosing icon, even when other icons
are selected. This is contrary to the readme file. I've complained to
Jim Murphy about this but he tells me they decided to make it more
consistent with the Mac. I personally find this philosophy distasteful,
but what do I know about GUI design? :-P Temporary solution: use the
Piece 'O String FExt.
3. I've found a bug which is caused by (2), so maybe this will convince
Jim & Dave to put it back the way it should be. ;-) Insert a few
floppies and open a window on each of them. Select all the floppy icons
and drag them to the trash. Guess what? After the first window closes,
Finder forgets to put away the other floppy icons! Why? Because it
undoes your icon selection and highlights the floppy whose window was
just closed. Ta da. I don't like the Finder overriding my icon
selections like this. I can use the Mac's Finder for this type of
aggravation. Please put it back to the way it was before (or to the way
it is described in the System 6.01 readme file).
4. Finder still counts each icon one by one when preparing for a copy.
This slows things down unnecessarily. Can't it count all the files in
one big shot (the way it counts files hidden inside a directory)?
5. Bill Tudor's "CDev Alias" NDA no longer works under System 6.0.1.
6. When highlighting text using Shift+arrow in LineEdit box, text does
not scroll if cursor extends past edges of box (i.e., I can't see how
far I'm extending my selection).
7. Startup sound not purged after playing. I thought this was going to
be fixed for 6.01.
8. Need some way to bypass auto-select feature in the Finder, or speed
up the routine. It slows things down too much in a medium-sized
directory, not to mention a few with 100+ files. This is with a Zip
8/16 and I got a taste of what it was like on a stock 2.8-MHz GS last
night. Not a pretty sight.
9. Icon in Info window not updated when file changes (but filetype
description does).
10. Scroll bar not updated in window when icons added/removed. You have
to resize the window to update the scroll bar. I was running YankIt in
the background (in GNO, of course ;-)) and the file icons kept magically
popping up in the Finder window, but I couldn't scroll around until I
manually resized it.
11. File icon does not change in Finder when "Inactive" checkbox
changed. I have two sets of generic NDA/CDA/CDev/etc. icons. The
inactive version has a red X through it, and it is matched to auxtype
$8000. BTW, this only works for files whose native auxtype is $0000 to
begin with. I took an NDA with a X'ed out icon, unchecked the
"Inactive" box and the icon didn't change.
One suggestion: how about giving us back our horizontal scroll bars
in list views? An old, old version of the Finder (1.0? 1.1?) had this
feature, but it was taken out for some reason. Since you're trying to
make the GS Finder act like the Mac Finder.... :-P
------------------------------
From: fmlin@netcom.com (Frank M. Lin)
>4. Finder still counts each icon one by one when preparing for a copy.
Yeah, I always meant to say something about this since 6.0. Why does
it have to count it through? Back in 5.0, total number of files was
obtained very quickly, and it usually starts to copy almost instantly.
The way it counts each file is rather annoying ( slow ).
>8. Need some way to bypass auto-select feature in the Finder, ...
An option in Finder's preference will do. Although I kinda like this
new feature. In the older Finder, you aren't sure if you actually
selected all the icons you want.
>9. Icon in Info window not updated when file changes (but filetype
>description does).
Geez, how often does this happen? :)
> One suggestion: how about giving us back our horizontal scroll bars in
> list views?
I want this too.
------------------------------
From: 90taobri@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (TAO BRIAN T)
> Yeah, I always meant to say something about this since 6.0. Why does
> it have to count it through? Back in 5.0, total number of files was
> obtained very quickly, and it usually starts to copy almost instantly.
> The way it counts each file is rather annoying ( slow ).
I don't mind seeing the count updated for each *folder* (since
that gives you some measure of progress). The routine that handles
this should count all the icons (files and folders) that are selected,
then start counting the files in each folder. The file counter in
6.0.1 must be extremely inefficient if it can only count about 6 or 7
files per second on my Zipped GS...
> An option in Finder's preference will do. Although I kinda like this
> new feature. In the older Finder, you aren't sure if you actually
> selected all the icons you want.
A preference would be nice. What's wrong with letting go of the
mouse button to see the icons you've selected? 99% of the time my
icons are "cleaned up" so there's no difficulty telling which icons
will be selected. I'd probably leave this feature disabled most of
the time.
> >9. Icon in Info window not updated when file changes (but filetype
> >description does).
>
> Geez, how often does this happen? :)
Well, since the file size and file type name are updated
immediately, so should the icon. Just a matter of consistency, I
suppose.
------------------------------
From: David A Lyons
> 2. Closing window always selects enclosing icon, even when ...
I'm mostly responsible for ramming that change through--with keyboard
navigation the inconsistency became really obvious. You could
sometimes-but-not-always do a Command-W followed by a Command-Y to
eject the front window's disk, for example (when the disk icon was not
already selected).
The bug is we forgot to change the Shortcuts file. The paragraph should
read:
"For your convenience, the Finder automatically selects a disk!s icon
when you insert the disk. Also, when you close a window the Finder
automatically selects the disk or folder icon into which the window
closed."
[That is, delete the text from the end that said "..., if no other icons
would otherwise be selected (the Finder assumes that if you selected
icons in another window or on the desktop, it should leave them
selected)".]
> 3. I've found a bug which is caused by (2), so maybe this will ...
That's an interesting bug. I think my fix would be to notice that the
disk icon being closed into was -already- selected, and not deselect
everything in the case.
I didn't respond to most of your points--they are legitimate points, but
in most cases the answer is simply "Hey, it works as well as or better
than in 6.0, and resources were limited."
------------------------------
From: 90taobri@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (TAO BRIAN T)
> You could sometimes-but-not-always do a Command-W followed by a
> Command-Y to eject the front window's disk, for example (when the disk
> icon was not already selected).
"Sometimes-but-not-always"... ack! I hate inconsistencies! ;-)
Since it is possible to change between a "desktop" context and a
"window" context using keyboard nav, can you unhilite the front window
when the navigation is on the desktop? I can't tell if my keystrokes
will select an icon on the desktop or a window.
> The bug is we forgot to change the Shortcuts file.
I'd rather you change the Finder than the Shortcuts file... :-P
> [That is, delete the text from the end that said "..., if no other icons
> would otherwise be selected (the Finder assumes that if you selected
> icons in another window or on the desktop, it should leave them
> selected)".]
This, IMHO, makes a lot more sense than blindly deselecting icons
and replacing it with the enclosing icon. That's a good assumption the
Finder is making (as described above). Why can't we have that instead?
I can't think of any case where I would want the enclosing icon to be
selected, overriding my own selection. If no icons are currently
selected, then fine, highlight the enclosing icon.
> That's an interesting bug. I think my fix would be to notice that the
> disk icon being closed into was -already- selected, and not deselect
> everything in the case.
Why special case this? Why not fix it so if it notices that
*anything* is selected (in this case, disk icons), it won't deselect
everything? Am I making a case for this yet? ;-)
> "Hey, it works as well as or better than in 6.0, and resources were
> limited."
I thought the beauty of resources is the ability to add more and
more as you need them??? ;-) Too bad companies don't have resource
forks. Just create a few more rAppleIISoftwareEngineers (with
appropriate rNames, of course), enlarge your rBudget, etc... ;-)
------------------------------
From: Jim Murphy
> I think I've run into that bug. I was comparing the sizes of some of
> my SEA's in the Finder (to see how much room I saved), then I tried to
> delete them. I got a File Is Open/Busy/In Use error when I tried to
> empty the trash. This bug must be new to System 6.01...
If you have some relatively reproducible case, I'd love to hear
it. In normal operations the Finder tries very hard to close the
resource fork of files that you are doing Icon Info on, even if
something really bad happens in the process. Offhand, I don't see any
holes where a file wouldn't get closed, but I'd love to be proven
wrong.
BTW, from Nifty List you can't close files (that's what the GS/OS
Excerciser is for), but you can see what fork is still open. With the
Goodies command "\files", you'll get a list of all open files in the
system, along with other useful information. If the value for your
file under the "fork" column is not $0001, then the resource fork
isn't what's still open. In that case Finder wasn't the one that
opened the file in the first place, since it has no need to look into
a file's data fork during an Icon Info.
------------------------------
From: fmlin@netcom.com (Frank M. Lin)
> Offhand, I don't see any holes where a file wouldn't get closed, but
> I'd love to be proven wrong.
I've run into it many time. The problem is it seems to appear
randomly. One thing to note though, I'm usually under GNO &
Switch-It!. But the older Finder never had this problem.
I do Icon Info to check the rVersion and/or file size to determine if
I need to copy them, then I close the info window. When I try to
copy, it's still open. Not thing else touched the file during that
period, so it must be the Finder.
> BTW, from Nifty List you can't close files (that's what the GS/OS
> Excerciser is for), but you can see what fork is still open.
Yeah, I'll try to see which fork is open next time... I'm sure it's the
Finder though.
------------------------------
From: 90taobri@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (TAO BRIAN T)
> The Mac 7.x Finder does what you describe & unhilited the front window
> when the desktop is active. I judged this to be a high-risk change for
> the GS Finder and didn't try to make it work that way.
It is a little confusing at first. A desktop with no highlighted
windows looks very odd (like there should be an active window of dialog
in front some place).
> So now you can consistently do, for example, a Put Away to eject a disk,
> right after closing the disk's main window. The Close always selects
> the disk icon. In 6.0, it only did that "sometimes."
Hmmm... well I'm still not convinced this is the "better way".
What's wrong with using the eject button on the drive? I can understand
the Mac Finder needing this feature because the internal drive doesn't
have an eject button. Not so on the GS. I'd like to see this behaviour
governed by a preference setting similar to that which controls default
folder icon colour, etc.
How about *opening* icons? I think Finder 6.01 now deselects icons
you just opened. This makes no sense to me either. Why does this
happen?
*************************
Kangaroo from Seven Hills
------------------------------
From: prl3546@aw101.iasl.ca.boeing.com (Philip R. Lindberg)
> > For all you Kangaroo users out there...what are your opinions of this
> > product? Is it something that's absolutely a must-buy? Or is it one of
> > those utilities that's frivolous?
>
> Kangaroo is just about my favorite add-on GS/OS utility.
I would agree with Joe. There have been times when it has saved me a
significant amount of time. One I remember in particular was when I
was transfering files (through a translator so I had to do it one at a
time) from a floppy to my hard drive. Each time the transfer was
complete the path was set to the target so I would have had to go back
through the path to find the source folder, select the file,
translate, then set the path to target folder. Then repeat. With
Kangaroo I could very quickly set the path back and forth with a quick
click of the mouse.
If you don't have a hard drive, or if you have all your files at the
root directory :) then you don't need kangaroo. Need I say
more.....
------------------------------
From: 90taobri@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (TAO BRIAN T)
Kangaroo is also great for repetitive operations where you load in
one file at a time. Kangaroo remembers the last file you accessed in
that folder and positions the cursor over that file the next time you
open the file dialog. All you have to do is hit the down arrow once
to grab the next file. This is much better than hitting the down
arrow lots of times, or trying to remember which letter to type to get
you down to that file, etc.
> If you don't have a hard drive, or if you have all your files at the
> root directory :) then you don't need kangaroo. Need I say more.....
Even if you *do* keep everything in the root directory, or don't
have a hard drive, Kangaroo's OS utilities are very, very convenient.
You can use Find File to locate a hard-to-find file (and automatically
open it), format a disk, change the name/type/access of a file, etc.
All from within a standard file dialog.
------------------------------
From: jmk3@crux3.cit.cornell.edu (Jay Krell)
> Kangaroo is also great for repetitive operations where you load in one
> file at a time. Kangaroo remembers the last file you accessed in that
> folder and positions the cursor over that file
That's cool. I think I'll get it knowing it has this feature. One
questions: Does this feature apply to closing a directory while still
in the same SFGet call?
Interesting, has this type of "memory" for volumes, but not files.
While navigating, if you press Disks or apple-esc, in the disks list,
the disk you were just in is the hilited one. (that should say, SF
already has this type of "memory"... w/o Kangaroo.)
***************************
Apple Pascal on a 3.5" disk
------------------------------
From: ag471@yfn.ysu.edu (Eric S. Ford)
> Can Apple Pascal be put on an entire 3.5" drive or made to use say
> 5megs of a 32meg ProDOS partition?
Well, here I go shooting my mouth off with less than absolute
certainty, but Apple Pascal will fit on one 3.5" drive with a good
bit of space left over. To put it (Apple Pascal) on a harddrive you
will need a dedicated partition. A "Prodos" partition won't work since
Apple Pascal uses a unique operating system, i.e. not ProDos. Unless
my memory is failing me, the original Sider harddrives came with
utility software to allow mapping one partition as a Pascal device. I
suspect there are other utilities out there to do the same.
------------------------------
From: david@wraith.cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson)
> Well, here I go shooting my mouth off with less than absolute
> certainty, but Apple Pascal will fit on one 3.5" drive with a good
> bit of space left over.
True - it is distributed on 4-5 5.25" disks and duplicated on 1 3.5"
disk.
> To put it (Apple Pascal) on a harddrive you will need a dedicated
> partition.
Cirtech's SCSI card allows you to assign a chunk of your ProDOS volume
to Pascal (16MB max for Pascal). I use this and it works well
(similarly for DOS 3.3 and CP/M).
If you have an Apple or RAMFast SCSI card you could, if you were
prepared to boot Pascal 1.3 from a 3.5" floppy make the 2nd partition
on your hard disk a Pascal partition (Pascal 1.3 can only see the
first two partitions on a SCSI card [which must be in slot 4, 5 or
6]). Again, Pascal can only use up to 16MB (it must use 16 bit signed
block numbers).
------------------------------
From: dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)
> Cirtech's SCSI card allows you to assign a chunk of your ProDOS volume
> to Pascal (16MB max for Pascal).
Back in the good old days, Apple had a utility program which let you
do this, called the Pascal ProFile manager. It only supported the
ProFile hard drive (a whopping 5 megabytes). I think it came out at
the same time as Pascal 1.2.
It works by creating a large file called PASCAL.AREA on your ProDOS
volume. The PASCAL.AREA file sits at the end of the partition
(highest block numbers in ProDOS), has a special ProDOS storage type,
and must be linearly allocated (it has no index blocks).
The Pascal ProFile Manager then supports subdividing this Pascal Area
into multiple volumes, and "mounting" them as required. You can even
"Krunch" the volumes and create and delete them as required.
There was one limitation: you can't boot from a Pascal Area, since it
is accessed through a device driver which Pascal loads at the end of
the startup sequence. This means you need a dedicated boot disk
(either your first SCSI partition or a floppy).
Unfortunately, PPM seems to have disappeared. I have unearthed a
copy, but it really does only support a ProFile. I should think it
would be possible to modify it to support a SCSI device, but without
the source code, this would mean disassembling a Pascal device driver.
Pascal 1.3 also seems to have trouble with SCSI cards (at least, the
Apple High-Speed SCSI card). On my system, I can only get Pascal to
work if either the 5.25" drive or SCSI drive is swapped out of the
slots. If both are available, Pascal hangs during boot.
> Again, Pascal can only use up to 16MB (it must use 16 bit signed block
> numbers).
You wouldn't achieve much by having a 16MB Pascal partition. Pascal
supports 77 files per disk, and no subdirectoroes. Anyone for 77 200k
files? :-)
This really only becomes practical if you can subdivide a partition
into multiple Pascal volumes (it is possible to do this with a simple
device driver, which supports booting from the first "division").
------------------------------
From: snelson@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Steven Nelson)
I've drifted away from Apple Pascal over the past few years, but these
discussions bring back memories :-) Using Apple Pascal with a 10Meg
Sider the 77 file limit really limits one, so I wrote a device driver
and support pgms to "mount" files as "volumes". Remember, it is
possible to save a volume image as a file. So I made files that were
images of variable sized volumes, and would mount these pseudo-volumes
as needed and so had several hundred actual files on my drives. I
updated the routines a little for pascal 1.3 so it worked on 3.5
drives and my Vulcan 40meg drive.
Does anyone really use Apple Pascal 1.3 so much that they would be
interested in the routines? I think I still have them somewhere. You
need the device driver support tools to use them too. In hindsight,
I'm not sure I ever put a pascal partition on my vulcan HD, so I don't
know about supporting the Vulcan.
------------------------------
From: tribby@cup.hp.com (Dave Tribby)
In the Apple II Technical Notes (available on ftp.apple.com), Pascal
Note #16 is 'Driver to Have Two Volumes on One 3.5" Disk'. It includes
a description (and a driver) on how to put two 400K volumes on a
single 3.5 inch disk. The technique could be expanded to include many
more volumes on a hard disk.
------------------------------
From: david@wraith.cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson)
> Pascal 1.3 also seems to have trouble with SCSI cards (at least, the
> Apple High-Speed SCSI card). On my system, I can only get Pascal to
> work if either the 5.25" drive or SCSI drive is swapped out of the
> slots. If both are available, Pascal hangs during boot.
No trouble with my Cirtech card, a UDC card and sometimes a Disk ][
card in slots 4,5 & 6 of my //e. I found that I could not boot Pascal
1.3 from a 5.25 drive connected to the UDC as the boot blocks are
different between Disk ][ and smart drives (unlike ProDOS). I bought
1.3 2nd hand and the 3.5 disk was lost.
> You wouldn't achieve much by having a 16MB Pascal partition. Pascal
> supports 77 files per disk, and no subdirectoroes. Anyone for 77 200k
> files? :-)
Agreed. I have a 2 Meg partition which I have subdivided using the
tech note example of splitting an 800k disk in two that Dave Tribby
mentioned.
****************************
Moria 5.3 for the Apple IIGS
------------------------------
From: irie@husc8.harvard.edu (Robert E. Irie)
The new MoriaGS is great! I am getting addicted again like I was a few
years ago.
Whoever ported it (sorry, I dont remember the name at the moment):
Thanks! But can you not trap ^Z? I am running moria from gno, and
would like to suspend it once in a while.
------------------------------
From: 90taobri@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (TAO BRIAN T)
Guy will release the source code soon, so GNO people can hack away
at it. :) Three things I would like to see: signal handling (that
will handle ^Z and spawning subshells), termcap support (so we can run
moria over a terminal) and faster map generation.
------------------------------
From: uerics@mcl.ucsb.edu (Eric D. Shepherd)
It is great! I'm kind of hooked, although there are things about it that
are troublesome:
Allowing CTRL-Z under GNO would be cool. Also, the system locked up
once (jumped into a very strange bank of RAM) when I examined my
character once ("C"). It's a touch on the slow side -- was it built
with C 1.3 or 2.0? If it was 1.3, I suggest getting 2.0.1 when it
comes out and re-building (or, for that matter, when the source comes
out, I'll do it... :).
It would also be kind of cool to add sound effects (and easy, too,
under System 6). There are a few other minor things, but the game
itself is lots of fun.
------------------------------
From: 90taobri@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (TAO BRIAN T)
Sound effects would be cool. Mousetext support would be nice too
(selectable as an option, so people on VT-100 terminals won't get a
garbled display). We could get "real" walls using inverse spaces
instead of the # character, and the checkerboard characters to indicate
mineral seams or quartz veins, etc. Eventually, I'd like to see a
marriage between Dungeon Master (cool 3D graphics interface) and Moria
(tons of monsters, spells, artifacts, random dungeons, etc).
*******************************
NumberCruncher Math Coprocessor
------------------------------
From: gudat@avalon.physik.unizh.ch (gudat henrik)
Hi Net!
I got some mails regarding the Number Cruncher. It seems as if I have
to clarify some things which I have listed below.
Until now there are about five persons interested in buying a Number
Cruncher (NC). The engineer will return in 2 months and build the five
cards he has in stock (he only needs to populate/test them). When I
talked to him, he said that "selling" the five NCs is no problem. As
soon as more than 5 persons want to have this card, it's getting
problematic because he has to produce another series of 100 boards
which costs about US$700.00 (without parts, of course). The best thing
that could happen is: having 100 interested persons and placing bulk
orders for the parts. This would reduce the price enormously. He has
excellent connections to the manufacturers thanks to his job. Maybe
someone could make some kind of PR for the NC on other online service.
(I must stress again that this is not a commercial offer. WYGIWYP -
what you get is what you paid.)
Here are some often asked questions about the Number Cruncher:
> If the NC is priced at $200 without a 68882, does this mean I can call
> up the local hardware store and purchase a 68882 which will "plug"
> right in?
Yes, that's correct. It's all socketed and plug & play. Normally,
parts are less expensive in the USA so you'll save some bucks.
The NC was built for a special chip carrier - not the cheap one Apple
is using in Macs. (There shouldn't be any problems getting the right
chip at your local hardware shop.) I think it was the "ceramic"
carrier.
> So would this card speed up _ALL_ programs written with Orca/C for
> example?
Yes, if they have been compiled with the "#pragma float..." command.
This call, however, requires you to specify the slot number of the
FPE/NC, and according to the ORCA manual, "the FPE/NC must be
installed in the indicated slot, or the program will crash or give
incorrect answers." So much for progress.
Put briefly: programs that have been compiled with the pragma above
and communicate with the FPE/NC directly will be accelerated by a
factor of 120 (says the ORCA manual). Programs that have NOT been
compiled will still be accelerated via the SANE patches. Not that
much, but still significantly.
This is also true for programs in ASSEMBLY language. When calling
SANE, the pointers to Apple's routines are "bend" to a short piece of
code that has some fun with the NC. If they recognize the NC or FPE
automatically, they are mostly that clever that they do not assume a
particular slot. (I forgot the name of the apps - ask Frank :-)
> Doesn't Orca/C use SANE for all math?
Most probably it does, yep. Programs written in high-level languages
tend to use floating point stuff way too often. Maybe a FPE owner can
tell us how much faster ORCA/C and other applications are under the
FPE...
> If not, how much is the card and what will it speed up? Anything not
> specifically written for the card? What I'm specifically referring to
> is is there a SANE patch or anything?
You can use the FPE SANE patches with the NC and you have a "turbo"
SANE package. (The patches are on GEnie but we'll enclose a disk as
well.) All programs that depend on the SANE tool (quite a lot: AWGS
and most programs involving math) will profit from the patches. The
patches have been originally written for the FPE, but they work
equally well with the NC. I also saw a patch for AppleWorks Classic,
but I don't know if it works with the NC. Theoretically there is no
reason to assume it wouldn't, but I'd like to check it out first.
> If it only speeds up things written for the card, I'm not really
> interested.. If there are patches for software
No, most SANE calls will be patched.
> Nevertheless, I'm really interested in the price nonetheless.
He built the last cards ca. 1-2 years ago, and then the price was
US$170 without FPU (i.e. without the 68882). We don't know how
expensive these parts are now - eventually a bit cheaper. But I said
$200 which is probably a bit too much. The FPU costs $100.00. You can
order the board with or without.
> Just let us know how much it cost and who to pay!
As for the address, all inquiries about the NC should be forwarded to
my account.
> warranty?
The engineer said that the cards leave his office 100% error free
(tested by himself). If the board does NOT work, he will repair it. Of
course, he cannot guarantee that the FPU _you_ have bought will work.
But if a problem develops, he's willing to test the card and see if
the problem is with the FPU or the other parts. We haven't agreed on a
warranty period, but we'll offer some kind of a full replacement
within 90 days from the date of the original retail. Afterwards, he'll
repair it at very low charges. (He told me that once a user inserted
the card - the computer was ON - the wrong way. The whole computer
system was transformed into a big trashcan, but the NC needed only a
new buffer circuit. He charged only five bucks...the rest of the
computer did cost a bit, bit more...)
WHAT TO DO IF YOU WANT THIS CARD
--------------------------------
The first five cards are already reserved. This means I have to add
your name to the "top-100" list. We will also add a (really) small fee
for the enormous labour it takes for hiring some guys who can populate
the board. ("Enormous" is not the right word - triple it, take the
square and then the exponential :-) .) As soon as we have enough
orders to cover the production of the new series, we'll go for it.
Soooo, if you want one, let me know!
Thanks for your attention,
henrik
--
BRIGHT SOFTWARE * P.O.Box 18 * 4153 Reinach 2 * Switzerland
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
voice (0)61 2619454 gudat@avalon.physik.unizh.ch Simple Solutions to
fax (0)61 7115263 gudath@ezinfo.vmsmail.ethz.ch Complex Problems.