Feb 87 Mousehole
Volume Number: 3
Issue Number: 2
Column Tag: Mousehole Report
Mousehole Report 
By Rusty Hodge, Contributing Editor, Mousehole BBS
We’re taking bets: What is Apple going to introduce at the MacWorld Expo in San
Fransisco? Some people think Apple will introduce the next progression of the
MacPlus. Some people think Apple will wait. IBM has bought a bunch of time during
the Super Bowl, so Apple may not have a terrific advertisement waiting for us. Oh
well, the world will be in better focus after the Expo.
ShareWare -- it works!!!
From: Go
Well, whaddya know? The shareware system of software distribution actually works!
A mere 13 months after I finished the first version of my program (the
FONT-FKEY-DA Sampler), I finally received a check for $10 from a satisfied user!
It’s good to know that there are people out there in MacLand who appreciate the value of
good programs, and make us programmers actually feel good about writing them.
Thanks people, your contributions will certainly go to a good cause (like renewing my
MacTutor subscription!). [This guy could use some money! How about sending in those
shareware fees folks? -Ed]
Job Security
From: Macowaco
A way to keep your job no matter what....write in Forth. Pro3D is all in Forth.... AND
ONLY ONE GUY KNOWS THE CODE! Something to consider when thinking about which 3D
drawing app to go with. [I used to write PDP-8 asm test programs at Hughes for the
same reason! -Ed]
Microphone Patch
From: Katz
I came up with a patch for Microphone to skip the opening dialog box.
Search for: 4EAD 0582
Replace: 600A 0582
FEdit on big disks
From: Bob Denny
For those interested, I had FEdit 1.0.1 using it on the PROApp 40MB disk I’m testing.
It acted pretty funny, with “Unknown node type in catalog...” alerts, etc. I had just
done something I wasn’t confident in anyway, so I went to reconstruct the disk. Turned
out to be FEdit. Get the later version (1.0.7). The bug is fixed since version 1.05. PS:
The bug seems only to show on 40MB disks, not 20MB, etc. [Note: MacTutor is now
shipping 1.07 of FEdit, which is the latest as of 1/5/87. The bug affects only drives
over 32MB. A new version 2.0 is due to ship sometime in February. Registered owners
will receive update information in the mail. -Ed]
EXCEL bug
From: Macowaco
We got a bug in 1.03. When trying to cut and paste between two linked worksheets up
came the bomb. It was very replicable but also due to the contents of the worksheets.
[Then there is the bug that makes the row labels dissappear, and re-calc bug, and so
on... A lot of people think the original version is less buggy! Just watch out for the
exploding print command when using old MFS-saved documents. - Rusty]
Backing Up with MacBack
From: Rick Boarman
Anyone out there use a MacBack Plus scsi tape unit? We sold one to a customer last
week and when I went to set it up I ran into problem after problem. The unit itself is
pretty well made, clean looking, quiet.... Reading through the several page
‘preliminary’ manual I found no reference to hooking it up to a Mac+. Not one word.
They did write several paragraphs about using it with their 512k SCSI port adapter.
Lot of help that does Mac+ users! Being the hacker I am I tried it anyways (What Mac
user needs instructions!). I hooked the 50 to 50 SCSI cable to my DataFrame and to the
MacBack. When I tried to boot -- nothing. Being that the Macback is silent and it has
no power light I tried several times with the power switch in each position. Still
nothing. It was time to call tech support. Looking in the manual I couldn’t find their
phone number nor their address. Not even what city they are in! After a number of
calls and some research I finally found that they are in Santa Clara. When I called I got
a recording saying that the number was disconnected. Some more calls later I found
that they moved to a new location. The tech person I eventually got through to was
friendly enough but didn’t even know what a mouse is. After each question he put me on
hold to ask someone else the answer. Finally I asked to speak to his boss and was able to
get some help. They suggested I change the ID# of the tape drive. Still no go. They also
had me try different cable configurations with no success. The verdict was DOA. Send it
back.
That was yesterday. I’ll keep you posted on how things go. So far, a terrible manual, no
power light, awful support and a dead on arrival unit leaves me unimpressed. Are
there ANY good tape backups out there? [Try the new 40meg tape backup unit from
SuperMac Technologies. Should work great with DataFrames, since both are by the
same company. New at the SF Mac Expo this week. -Ed]
Hard DIsks: This is getting silly
From: The Psuedohacker
Hey guys, this is getting silly. The continuing debate between the Proapp 40S and the
Dataframe is kind of pointless now. Everyone should be convinced that both drives are
excellent products. I’m not just saying this because Jim is a friend of mine. I recently
bought a ProApp 40S for a client and it is hot stuff. I did do some testing with it on my
own before I delivered it to the client, and yes, it’s true it’s not as fast as my Micah
AT20. But then again, Proapp is still in business! I’m having my doubts about Micah.
Jim is right. The 40S is incredibly quiet, DURABLE, and fast. Keep in mind when
you’re discussing differences of 55ms versus 162 ms, lets be real. The average
person will NEVER notice it. You’re talking 1000ths of a second.
Obviously Scott is sold on his Dataframe. I’m glad for you. Now why don’t you guys go
on to other topics like setting up a user defined bench test, i.e. how fast can Excel load a
predetermined file, of a predetermined size. How fast can it save?, etc. Get down to
some criteria that really mean something to the user.
From: Macowaco
I love the debate. I also love both drives. There is another couple of factors that must
be considered. One is the nifty factor. How nifty do the users think the thing looks or
acts....Both win. A more important factor though is how easy is it to communicate with
the HDs producers. Iomega is about to get nailed by actions taken by me and others at
my co. due to their incredible stupidity. The story will leak to the press too. Tuff
noogies on them! ProApp has been very cooperative, while DataFrame is a no show. I
just wish I could have one at home..., but I’d rather wait three months so that the only
speed factor will be the HDs performance and not the ext SCSI throughput.
Disk Drive Dementia
From: Bob Denny, Editorial Board Member
Well, here I am in the middle of the great disk war. I am testing a PROApp 40 and
(hopefully soon) a DataFrame 20XP. After bumping into Mac Scotty and finding out
what the “XP” is ... I’m AGAHST! If I understand him, the XP upgrade is essentially a
re-written SCSI manager (done the right way, I presume). They put the additional
code in a ROM in the disk drive, then their boot driver reads it in and replaces the
Apple SCSI manager with their own (or at least part of it). Uh ... at least that is my
best guess. In any case, I’m aghast because DataFrame folks had to throw out the Apple
SCSI manager to get the performance.
[I’m using the Dataframe 20XP and love it! Fast, no problems. I’ve ordered the
40XP. They also work fine daisy chained with Apple SCSI drives as I’ve tried that too.
-Ed]
Speaking of sector interleave, I beg to differ with opinions expressed here before. The
ONLY reason to interleave sectors on a disk is to compensate for an interface that can’t