Sep 86 Mousehole
Volume Number: 2
Issue Number: 9
Column Tag: Mousehole Report
Mousehole Report 
By Rusty Hodge Mousehole BBS
Anaheim Expo A Mixed Success!
Rusty Hodge
The Anaheim MacExpo was moderately small, but that is because it was only two
weeks before the giant Boston Mac show. However, it did seem to have a lot of smaller
developers there that might have been lost at a bigger show. Some of my favorites were
Mac WeedMan (Nova Electronics & Software, Riverside, CA), an "advanced lawn care
management program" , Parameter Manager (SMS Inc., San Jose, CA), a system for
analyzing technical data and DataSpace's Laser Server (Ontario, Canada). The Laser
Server is a multi-user Appletalk print server, or a 2 megabyte printer buffer if you
must, but a real time saver for those who spend their time in que for the LaserWriter.
If the price is too high, Mac America had a software Laser spooler that does the same
thing for only $99! And I almost forgot, what promises to be the new standard in word
processing, HabaWord. Imagine more power than Microsoft Word but easier to use than
MacWrite. Imagine multiple on-screen columns. Thanks to Vision Technologies
(1-800-MAC-DISK) for demonstrating it.
Of course our PizzaFest was most fun of all. As always we ran out out of power
outlets, but Jim Reekes described it best:"Where's the power outlets"?
(chomp...chomp...munch...slurp.) "Could you gimme another piece of that one with the
olives?" (...chomp...chomp.) "Anyone got another Appletalk connector"? [moments
later] "Yer Jim Reekes,...really? I expected you to look like some....hey, where'd ya
get that shirt"?
Jim was wearing this incredible shirt covered with computers of all sorts,
including a Lisa with the old twiggy drives. I got slaughtered at Maze Wars as always
and there was a curious crowd of Disneyland tourists watching us play for the longest
time! (The pizza parlor was a block down the street from Disneyland). Now, can we do
it again in Boston? [Just give the word Rusty-Ed]
Thanks where thanks is due: Michael Sackett's Cleanup program is indespensible
when it comes to putting this column together. Cleanup lets you take four " target
strings" in a file and replace them with something else, including both printable and
control characters. Thanks Michael! Want a password to the Mousehole? Write to us at
the address shown above in our article header with enclosed SASE.
400k disks
THE ATOM
I've got a Mac+ with an external 800k drive, running HFS and I've been trying
to initialize a 400k disk that has at least 394k free. No matter how I format it I can't
get it to give me more than 387K free! The disk doesn't need to be HFS, I just need
394k. does anyone know how I can get a disk with that much free? What happens to the
other 13k anyway?
MAC SCOTTY
In the old days before HFS, Apple had a K = 1000 bytes. With the advent of HFS
they decided to do things the old fashioned way (the correct way) and make a K = 1024
bytes. This means that the disk still holds the same amount of information and reports
the K correctly!
Hard Disk Backup
RICK SCHERLE
I haven't tried this on non-Apple drives, but I have used a GREAT backup
program on the HD20. It is called MegaCopy from Dantz Software Development in
Berkeley. MegaCopy supports date/time, FileType, and individual file selection, splits
files across volumes, verifies after writing, uses a fast buffering system, etc., etc.
And, because it uses the file system correctly, should work on any "standard" drive.
One problem, it works ONLY ON MAC+. No, this is not an ad. It's just a great program.
System 3.2, Finder 5.3, Hyperdrive20 and lots of problems
The Anarchist
I have a Hyper 20 in my Mac+. I am running the new 3.2 system, etc, and the
other day, a friend came over with his SCSI hard disk to transfer some "new warez
onto my hyper. I run HFS in one single drawer and have had no problems except after he
leaves, the boot blocks seem to get written over or something. I can transfer system
and finder off the floppy back onto the hyper and it works for 3 or 4 more boots, then
crashes again. The only solution is to reformat the drive and restore all the files. Is
this a System 3.2 bug with SCSI? Is my Hyper a piece of poop? (I like it..) Help!
JIM REEKES
"Don't make the startup drawer HFS. Keep it a MFS drawer. The rest of them
can be HFS. You should make a minimal startup drawer. Then make the rest of the
space whatever you want.
800K MFS Disks
DAVE KELLY
If you want 800K MFS disks all you have to do is take any initialized 800K disk
and erase it with an old version of finder (i.e. version 4.1). It seems to works just
fine and so do those programs that don't yet support HFS.
Warp Nine Drives
R. L. Sandefur (MouseHole Mailbox)
While I have no doubt that ISOEMAC experienced the problems reported in the
May 1986 MacTutor MouseHole Report, my experience with Warp 9 in both their
support and business practices has been entirely satisfactory. I ordered my hard disk
(Warp 20) on 04-May 86; it was promised by 11-May 86. I felt the instructions for
installing the Warp 20 were a bit terse for putting a $900 piece of equipment in a
$3,000 computer but when I called Warp 9, the talked me right through the unclear
parts. In using the Warp 20 (v1.6.1) with the Manx 1.06g Shell and MS Fortran 2.1
and the MFS (as opposed to HFS) and new ROMs in a 512K Mac, I had no problems. If I
have a system crash due to applications I am developing, I reboot and reinstall the SCSI
disk using the 3.5 inch diskette provided by Warp 9. One concern under the MFS which
could be a problem under the HFS is that the Warp 20 MFS allocates files in 35K
blocks.Warp 9 provides the least expensive 20 Meg internal hard disk for the Mac (as
far as I know). If ISOEMAC's experience with Warp 9 an isolated event it would a
shame if they got a bad reputation.
TOM SHERMAN
Bought my Warp Nine 20 Meg SCSI last week and was pleased for a day. Had
been waiting for a hard drive since Feb '84! Have lost maybe 10 files since then, have
had to reformat and am not knocked out by the speed. DiskBench3 came back with
numbers around 3700 with access time=263. Thought I was getting a bargain until I
called SuperMac Technologies and found that their new developer's price was $695!
And next month they'll be giving out a free backup program... Guess I'll be taking
advantage of Warp Nine's 30 day money back... Anyone have experience with
SuperMac's 20meg drive???
Micah AT20
THE PSUEDOHACKER
I previously asked if anyone had a Micah AT20 internal drive. Only one of you
guys responded. Having various connections, I was able to get the drive at near dealer
cost. This drive is just like a Hyper. The speed is practically identical. It's quiet,
uses an internal fan, and it's own SCSI port. Fully HFS compatible!! Apple's ROMs,
variable partitions, etc. I love it. I've been putting it through the mill and absolutely
no complaints. I recommend the drive wholeheartedly.
TML 1.1 bug w/MFS?
ED DEMEULLE
Does anyone here know of a bug in TML Pascal v1.1 w/MFS? Here are the
symptoms: same source file, same compiler and linker, same disks...... two different
applications created. Both show the same size per get info at the finder but, in the
heap, the one on HFS has a code segment size of 1BEA and the one on MFS is only 38C in
size (per TMON). Sounds like the problem lies in the linker. What tipped me
(actually, me and Don) was that the one on MFS didn't work properly w/ command
keys. So I go over to Don's and recompile it and it worked (thought I was ready for a
nice padded cell at this point). Take the disks home, rename the application created at
Don's and try again. Still didn't work. Does anyone one have any insight into this or is
this REALLY weird?
More great tech tips
JIM REEKES
Whilst in the mini-monitor, type "G 40F6D8" and exit to the Finder. (ROM
address of _ExitToShell for you programmer heads) Hidden feature for ImageWriter
//s and the driver version 2.3. You can select between bi-directional and non
bi-directional printing by (are you ready for this one).... Choose Print from the file
menu, don't click on OK yet. First hold down the "Option-Shift-Cap Locks" keys, then
click on OK. Now you'll forever be printing in bi-directional mode. To select single
directional print again, choose Print, then hold down the
"Command-Option-Shift-Caps Lock" keys and click OK. This must be a soft-switch in
the ImageWriter drivers. Because it retains this setting until you select the other
mode.
Also, "Set Startup" only works if an application is in the blessed folder.
Bi-direct print
MACOWACO
The bi-directional printing in standard mode on a Imagewriter ll is faster, but,
not ideal. After printing from draw I can understand why Apple has not been overly
anxious to tell all users about this obscurely documented feature. Vertical lines look
weird, and sometimes text looks weird too. Also it don't work in paint-like printing
(read that as MacPaint, Fullpaint, Comicworks Paint cutter, etc.). It ain't easy to line
those little bitty dots up across lines!
SmallTalk-80
BOB DENNY
Alan Wootton screwed me for my 40th birthday (yup ...). He gave me a copy of
SmallTalk-80. I have been sorta interested for a while. Well, it's pretty terrific. A
great workout for us old stodgy programmers with silver threads amongst the missing.
Anyone else got into it yet? As a side issue, I build a "PAP" device driver that allows
you to do normal "PB" calls to send PostScript to the LaserWriter. (See this issue of
MacTutor). Anyway, I've added laser printing to the SmallTalk-80 system (PAP driver
& fileIn goodie). I was up at Apple today & was surprised to find out that they hadn't
done a LaserWriter package for SmallTalk-80! So I gave them mine & they said it will
probably be included with the next release. Enough bragging, anyone interested in
SmallTalk-80? I feel like a real junior birdman, but I LOVE it.
Frozen Folder
THE TOOLSMITH
I just downloaded a demo reminder program and have run across some VERY
disturbing behavior. I ran it once to see what it did, DIDN'T install it, and forgot about
it for a while. This morning, when I went to open my downloads folder, the mouse froze
the second the window started drawing. Had to reboot, tried this several times, same
thing each time. Deleted the offender using Developers Tools DA, rebooted and the 1st
time, I was OK - however, it went back to it's evil ways after that. Replaced the system
file. Duplicated the folder, tried to trash the original - no luck, busy/locked files it
said. Went thru and deleted everything I could (certain folders that hadn't been touched
in weeks were Locked, it said). Finally got rid of the original, but the duplicate folder
is just as frozen. Opening the folder freezes the mouse - period. I'm using system 3.2
with Finder 5.3 straight from Apple - no funny FKEYs or anything Does anybody have
any idea what the heck's going on? I don't get the feeling that the reminder program is
consciously a Trojan horse, but it could be very dangerous, it seems. All help will be
greatly appreciated.
HFS fragmentation
JIM REEKES
Wow. I have been using the Apple HD20 now for a few months. (I like it) It is
storing about 550 files or 15mb. I am real careful about fragmenting the disk, and
about every other month I format a fresh drive and install all my files on the new
HD20. (Good thing I work at a dealership) Out of curiosity I wanted to find out how
fragmented the old drive may have become. According to FEdit+ the old drive had a
Fragmentation Index of 0.11 whatever that means. Sometimes it got a high as 0.15.
Anyway, on the fresh disk the index was 0.00. Hurray. I check the drives with Get
Info from the Finder and the new drive has an extra 300k of space. Hmmmm. By
Finder copying all the files from one HD20 with 15mb to another blank HD20, I gained
300k of storage! Nope, this had nothing to do with the DeskTop file. I wiped it out
before testing. The moral is, Initialize your HFS hard drives on a regular basis. This
will also speed up the drive access time.
SuperMac DataFrame
TOM SHERMAN
Just received DataFrame from SuperMac and am quite pleased. ($695
developer price is nice too!). Disk bench3 gave numbers of 2138/2113 read/write
and access of 534. My Warp nine (which is going back tomorrow) was 3727/3742
and 251. The Warp Nine kept losing files (Sorry, that file had to be skipped!@*#)
and was quite noisy. The DataFrame seems faster but also suffers from a soft squeeking
noise. Hmmmm. Anyway, it is HEAVEN to finally have a hard disk! Let's here it for
400K of fonts and 15 desk accessories!!
RAMsafe & Hard Drives
ISOEMAC
When using Servant .75 and RAMsafe I have found that when you use the
shutdown feature from Servant the supposed Non-volatile RAMsafe becomes volatile!
Servant's shutdown clears RAM even with RAMsafe. The only company that had
anything excitingly new at Anaheim MacExpo was Peak Systems. They introduced a
65MB hard disk that features an advertised 23 millisecond access time and a list price
of 2495.00! A friend of mine was so impressed he purchased one on the spot. We ran
DiskBench 3.0 and received access times of 122 and 136. As far as I know this is the
fastest Mac Hard Disk currently available. The Peak drives also come with a 1 year
warranty.
No Startup Screens
JACK KOBZEFF
I've had a couple of friends tell me that they've had some wierd things happen
with the new system software and Startup Screens. Now I hear that Apple does not
recommend using Startup Screens with System 3.2, and may remove the capability for
them in future Systems. Too bad, I thought it was one of little things that made the Mac
'personal'.
New Products
MIKE STEINER
Re: "Apple will be introducing more new products in the next twelve months than
in the past nine years." Scully said the same thing on the CompuServe conference. Are
they including minor items like joysticks and interface cards? Best I can tell, not
counting minor items, Apple introduced about 12 major products in 9 years (Apple I,
Apple II, II+, //e, //c, Mac, Mac Plus, Apple ///, Lisa, LaserWriter, DMP,
Imagewriter, IW II, (There's 13 already) Scribe, three modems, five monitors).
When you deduct the non-major items from that list, you are left with about a dozen.
Prediction: New products will be announced on Sept. 15th. Rationale: the rebate
program for the // series ends on Sat, Sept. 13th.
Apple 16bitter
FRANK HENRIQUEZ
The new 16 bit Apple // is based on the 65xxx (forgot the last three digits) a
bastardized version of the 6502. Internally, it looks like a souped up 6809 with fancy
instruction and bank select registers. It certainly isn't as nice as a 68000, but it'll
make a neat upgrade for the Apple 6502 family. 68020 are the way to go for high
powered machines. Motorola is really aiming at dropping the price of the 68020 and
68881, and they've just released a 20MHZ version of the 68020. There are rumors
that they're working on the 68040...which is basically a super pipelined 68020
(with a separate data bus for the instruction cache). In a year or so, it'll probably be
cheaper (more bangs/buck) to design a computer with a 68020 than with a 68010 or
68000. Forget Intel; it's actually kinda sad that they've based all their "modern
CPU's on the old 8008. (The 80287 is to some degree compatible with the 8008. Wow.
Lots of Mark-8 software out there...I've heard there's a great teletype driver on paper
tape available for the 8008.)
Megascreen
TIM CELESKI
Had a chance to see the MegaScreen at the Business Forum. Very nice indeed. 19
1,000x900 monitor that lets you get a full size pagemaker document up at full size.
The price is a little hard to swallow with all the competition coming up. Had a talk
with a developer who is working with some of the other monitor makers, says that
Burrell Smith's new monitor is a verticle and will be very competitive in pricing.
Almost forgot to mention the price........Megascreen is $2,995. Awfully nice!!!
Faster SetIText Operation?
The Corsair
I have a dialog that has about 80 static text fields in them.The data is all 3-5
characters long and my problem is that it is incredibly slow. It takes almost 5 seconds
to print to 80 fields. I am using SetIText( itemHandle,string); what I need is some kind
of alternative to this. I am convinced that it is the rom call that is causing the speed
problem.
The way I solved the problem (just in case anyone was wondering) is I stored the
rectangles that get returned when I call GetDItem into an array that is indexed the same
way my static text fields are; then to print text to the field, I do an EraseRect, a MoveTo
and a DrawString based on which rectangle/field is indexed. It turned out to be about
4000 times faster (literally).
Referenced by (2):