All DatabasesMacTech Vol 04-1988
MacWorld Expo
Volume Number: 4
Issue Number: 10
Column Tag: Show Review
MacWorld
Expo Happenings
By David E. Smith, Editor & Publisher, MacTutor
Object Oriented Compilers
TML Pascal II Compiler
The most exciting news at Boston this year is the arrival of object oriented
compilers from Symantec and TML. Tom Leonard of TML showed off his new TML Pascal
II compiler, which is an MPW tool that uses the MPW linker, and compiles object
pascal. It also supports MacApp. But the best thing about it is that the low price of $99
includes MPW! This is by far the cheapest way to get into MPW and we expect it will
greatly expand the number of MPW users. It includes a custom user-friendly front end
called the project manager that Tom added to make MPW more palatable to those of us
who think line oriented operating systems are a dirty word. In fact, a lot of interest
was expressed in getting Tom to release this project manager as a separate product. It
really is much better than Apple’s brain damaged commando hack. The new TML Pascal
II compiler and MPW shell and linker are available from MacTutor’s mail order store
or direct from TML.
Think’s Lightspeed Pascal 2.0
Think has finally announced their long awaited upgrade version 2.0 and this baby
is really worth the wait. Like the new TML version, this one also supports object
pascal but the full MacApp support will have to wait for the next release. A good friend
of mine is working on the MacApp problem so I know it’s coming, but apparently there
is a conflict over the linking order and segmentation of MacApp that may require a
change in the way Lightspeed’s linker works. Presently, the Lightspeed linker cannot
create two different code segments within the same physical source code file. And
changing this is a major effort. However, the sentiment at the MacApp User’s Group
Meeting was that Think had better make this change if they want any MacApp members
to take them seriously.
Probably the most important change in version 2.0 is that the code size and speed
are now said to be equal or better to the code size and speed of the MPW Pascal
compiler. The product is now a two-pass optimizing compiler. The 68020 and 68881
chips are now supported. Some of the code restrictions have been fixed so large
programs can be created, and variables are no longer constrained to 32K. The built-in
debugger has been expanded even more so that now it acts like a mini-MacNosey in
displaying Macintosh data structures on the heap. The product is now in beta test. A
friend of mine managed to crash it a couple of times so they still have some work to do.
More on this product when it completes beta testing. The upgrade costs $50.
Lightspeed C has also been upgraded and the new version has been shipping for a
month or two. But the product is getting a lot of flack over the fact that it needs two
megs of memory or more to use the source-level debugger! With Apple encouraging
developers to get a refund and shop elsewhere for memory, getting two megs in your
Mac is a major headache. Both the C and Pascal support multi-segmented DA’s.
Apple & DataCopy Scanners
Apple did release one new thing at the show: a new scanner but it only does 16
gray scale levels. It appears Apple is purposely not positioning this product as an
aggressive price/performance leader. They only want it so they can open the doors of
large accounts that demand an Apple label product line.
DataCopy is one example of a company going beyond 16 gray levels. Their 830
scanner is 300 dpi with 64 gray scale levels. A new image processing software
program called MacImage 2.0 allows extensive grayscale image-processing including
gamma correction and full halftone contrast. They also have text scanning software
called MacOCR that can scan text and create MacWrite documents. If you’ve got the
money and the memory, you can go to their 840 scanner which handles 400 dpi with 8
bits or 256 gray scale levels! DataCopy is a Mountain View, California company.
Color Separations
Now that color is available on the Mac, there remains one important hole. In
order for color to be useful, you have to be able to print it. And that requires color
separations. One shot color prints are only useful for verification, admittedly an
important task. But the really vital step is creating 4-color separations so that the
color image can be re-produced by the printer.
LaserPaint Color II
LaserWare has introduced a new version of their LaserPaint program that does
full PANTONE 24 bit color separations for a 4-color process. This requires a Mac II
and the RasterOps TrueColor 24 bit color board. The image processing capabilities and
color separation available from this product look very impressive. The only drawback
is that it is copy protected, which could cause problems with Apple’s changing system
software. However, a company spokesman informs me that an unprotected disk is
available to registered users. An added feature is that the fantastic Sharp JX-450 color
scanner can be driven directly from LaserPaint. We would love to hear from any of our
readers who have had direct experience with the color separation ability of this
product. LaserWare is a San Rafael, California company.
The Real Backup Solution
Removable Hard Disks
After you shell out the big bucks for your RasterOps color board, you can move on
to Mass Micro systems new removable hard disk product. We’ve tried Apple’s tape
drive and got burned. We backed up our hard disk to tape, reformatted the disk and
guess what? When we tried to recover from tape, the software program we were using
turned out to be buggy and wouldn’t restore our disk! A trip to the company in question
recovered about half the contents. In exchange for helping me, I promised not to reveal
the company name until they have the next version ready. In any case, I’m pretty fed
up with tape drives so if you are not planning on buying Irwin Magnetics new 80 meg
tape drive, you might take a look at this new removable hard disk technology. Mass
Micro has several configurations, but the dual disk unit seems ideal. It has two
removable 45 meg disk drives. You take out the cartridge and store it away. The safety
of a tape system with the speed of a hard disk system. The cartridges hold a single hard
disk platter. Another advantage of this system over tape is that you can check the
results of the copy by looking at the finder desktop! You know at once if the copy was
successful. The cartridges are reportedly $100 each, which is not bad considering you
get 45 megs of high speed disk space. Mass Micro systems is a Sunnyvale, California
company.
Tape Drive Done Right
If you must have a tape drive, the only one that looks like it was done right is
Irwin Magnetics new 80 meg tape drive. Doug Houseman of MacHack fame is one of the
principles on the project and he showed off the software they created for the drive. I’m
convinced this unit is solid, and fast. Doug is one of the good guys, and he’s got some
great developer pricing so give him a call before you buy a tape drive. Irwin Magnetics
is located in Ann Arbor, MI.
Handy Dandy Plotter DA
For those of you who like to plot equations, as I do, a neat little DA caught my eye.
Spectra Blue of Tucson AZ has a nifty daMath program that plots and computes
functions of up to three variables. Data can be imported or exported from spreadsheets
and the plots can be cut and pasted to layout programs. It will also do families of
equations on a single plot. This one looks very handy and only $50.
If you are looking for a more powerful equation solver, Paracomp of San
Francisco, CA has what they call a WYSIWYG mathematics processor named MILO. This
program provides complete text editing, equation solving and plotting capability using
a “smart piece of paper” methodology. Paracomp also has some other impressive
engineering software including a 3D modeling program and a VLSI chip layout program
for designing CMOS custom chips. The program supports the CIF format used in Carver
Mead’s book on VLSI design. This is particularly impressive to me because I’ve always
wanted to design such a program.
If you go back far enough to remember the great equation solver from Software
Arts, you might be interested in Borland’s new Eureka equation solver. This looks like
a great re-implementation of the old Dan Bricklin program. Funny thing, but Borland
didn’t even bother to show up at Boston. Anybody know why? I was hoping to find out
about Turbo Pascal’s next update and their Reflex Plus Database. When a company as
big as Borland misses a show as important as MacWord Expo, you have to wonder
what’s going on.
WriteNow Goes to 2.0
My favorite word processor has been upgraded to 2.0. As their advertising says,
Andy Hertzfeld and I both have something in common: WriteNow is our favorite word
processor! The biggest change is that text and MacWrite formats can be imported and
exported directly without the use of the translator program. However it still doesn’t
import Word 3 files directly. Those have to be saved from Word in either RTF format
or MacWrite format. The most useful feature for those of us who use Pagemaker is that
the leading of WriteNow is easily set and is recognized by Pagemaker. This feature
alone makes WriteNow the word processor of choice for use with Pagemaker. In
contrast to Word, WriteNow wins converts by it’s simplicity. There are no bonehead
design decisions like making you type shift-command-B to get bold printing. Just try
doing that quickly with one hand, I dare you! Did Microsoft and Aldus really test that
feature with real people? Like MacPaint, WriteNow is an obvious tool with an
uncluttered design. And it even does columns on screen! WriteNow is published by
T/Maker Company of Mountain View, CA.
Lisa Life?
If you thought the Lisa was dead, you didn’t see Sun Remarketing’s booth. They
had Lisa’s all over the wall! Is there life after death for old computers? After talking
to the people at Sun, I’m beginning to think so. Looks like they have bought up every
Lisa still in existence and have upgraded and restored them to full functionality. A new
version of MacWorks has been created that is fully HFS and MultiFinder compatible.
Sun also sells parts, disk drives and everything else needed to support the old
machines. If you have a $10,000 doorstop sitting in your room, you might give them a
call and see if you can restore your Lisa or Mac XL to a useful computer again. Sun is a
Logan, Utah company.
Present Yourself Right
If you’re in the habit of giving presentations to colleagues, symposiums,
meetings, etc., then Aldus seems to have a good presentation tool kit for you. Aldus
Persuasion is for those people who are called on short notice to give a presentation.
Rather than cranking out a few notes on a word processor, Aldus Persuasion lets you
choose a template and gets you started on writing up the outline of your ideas. Then
this application takes those notes and automatically creates slides which you can
further revise.
There is a complete set of tools for adding logos, diagrams, and special effects.
With Persuasion, you can import a variety of formats including PICT, PICT2, EPS,
WKS, and so forth. This means you can bring in your spreadsheet data from Excel,
graphics from Adobe Illustrator, diagrams from MacDraw, and your text files from
your favorite word processor (which can be spelling checked in Persuasion). There is
support for 35mm slides, laser printers, and film recorders so you can produce notes,
handouts, and slides.
More Room For Junk
Are you like me? My office tends to get cluttered rather quickly with tech books,
manuals, press releases, disks, and so forth. It seems this is the curse of the
developer. You’ve got your favorite reference books out for development work plus all
your other papers, reports, and so on that you need to run your business all on you
desk. The clutter is even infecting my home as my desk has become a “toxic waste
dump” for reoprts and listings. Sound familiar?
Well, if you think it is bad now, just wait a minute. Ergotron of Eagan, MN has
come up with a terrific product called the Mac II Workstation. This little baby looks
like something NASA or George Lucas developed. What you’ve got are two long legs that
attach to a shelf to put your processor on above your work area. Then an arm that can
swivel comes down to eye level to place your monitor on. This arm can hold a 12" to a
19" monitor and can rotate 360° and tilted ±10°. It looks and feels high tech like a
product should be for developers of our standing. Good work, Ergotron!
Ergotron also has a line of accessories to make your developer life better. But
I’m not to sure about that. I can see this little baby will empty a space on my desk, but
nature abhors a vacuum. So what will go there? More junk.
A Step Beyond Scanners
I love optical scanners! They are great for scanning those pictures and articles
you want. They just seem to be lacking one aspect - page recognition. Page recognition
would give your scanned document some meaning. Taking a snapshot of your
grandmother’s life history that she cranked out on a typewriter is nice. But what if
you want to edit it? You were forced to sit down by your keyboard and type it up again.
Now there is salvation.
OmniPage by Caere Corporation of Los Gatos, CA has come to the rescue! This
little application lets you read your scanned image. Now you can scan those favorite
articles of yours and keep a computerized version of it on file - both text and graphics!
It will handle multiple columns, different point sizes, kearned characters, different
styles, and so on.
This seems to be a natural for those data entry clerks and desktop publishers who
quake pull their hair out when given some published material to enter. Beware,
though, all you plagiarists and pirates. Illicit duplication is illegal. Still, that
personal database of articles is very attractive to me.
LADY CHAT
Shellie Hunt & Alice Thompson
Shellie & Alice wanted to share some of the highlights from the MacWorld
Expo/Boston, so here they are:
• Alice is still trying to figure out why Roy would bring a raincoat to the BMUG
party. Not wishing to be left out, Ramie brought his too!
• We want to thank the Bayside Exposition Center for insufficient air conditioning,
making possible the impromptu wet T-Shirt contest at the MacTutor booth.
• We want to thank Alan Wootton for escorting us to the HyperCard birthday party.
The kitchen excursion was a little worrisome. We have never seen a suit move
that way before!
• Chris Derossi, we like your new image! Thank you and the Apple people. We had
a great time at the Comedy Store. We’re still laughing!
• Special thanks to James Plamondon who made a fashion statement; Paul
Sniveley for his dancing moves; Mark Marlow, thanks for a good time at the
Micro-D party; and Phil Lipetz just for being you.
• Fred Stauder, the “pahty” coordinator. What happened to those tickets?
All in all it was a great show, we hope to see you all in San Francisco in January!
Referenced by (40):