Jaques Law Bits 9602 (© Kevin Jaques 1996) ©(c)1996 Kevin Jaques. All rights reserved excepting that this file may be copied for non-commercial purposes, unchanged. No warranties apply. I am just a user volunteering my observations. The big news is System 7.5.3. I include an article from TidBits about it. There are bug fixes. For me, one that is fixed is one that crops up when using Stuffit SpaceSaver (as I do). It incorporates a number of other previously released updates (nobody told me about them). It replaces the network software (which I have always found buggy) with their new Open Transport 1.1, whatever that is. It takes about 14 disks. It is available online, though the servers are terribly busy. However Cable Regina has obtained it and offers it from their home page. You can also get the disks or CD by mail for a modest price. There are already reports that RamDoubler 1.6.1 has problems with it (Connectix promises a fix), and my brother claims it caused problems with his Now Utilities. Does this mean System 8 is delayed? Or is this so we can do free beta testing for it? On the interface, there is translucent dragging (big whoop) and control strips are available for desktop machines. Now those are nice! It is far more native to the Power PC. I want it desperately. MacUser mentions other aspects of System 7.5.3. OpenTransport was previously available on only PCI based Power Macs. Now it is available for any machine. It will include an updated Finder with better caching and faster copying. The control panels and extensions are fully updated. Portions of AppleScript, ColorSync, and speech will be upgraded. OpenDoc is not yet included. One thing I read about OpenTransport, is that it permits much higher speeds by permitting Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Further, I gather it is more fluent in permitting multiple protocols to be used concurrently. Apple is rumoured to be giving up on PowerTalk. Apparently less than 10% of System 7.5 users are actually using it. Netscape has released version 2.01 of Netscape Navigator, which improves on 2.0 by offering security enhancements, including a preference to disable JavaScript. Since the release of Navigator 2.0, several possible security issues have been uncovered, including the ability to surreptitiously gather users' email addresses and other information using JavaScript. One ironic side effect of disabling JavaScript, however, is that Web sites relying heavily on it - including Netscape's - may not load properly, whereas they may load correctly in browsers with no JavaScript support whatsoever. A full installer is available, and a patcher application is available for users who purchased the full not-for-export version. Netscape's beta release of a Java-enabled version of Navigator for Power Macs also expired last week, prompting Netscape to re-post the release with the expiration date set to 01-Jul-96. No other changes are included in the release. [GD] **Now Utilities 6.0 Public Beta** -- Not wanting to miss out on the public beta craze that's now de rigeur among software companies, Now Software has announced a (brief) public beta of Now Utilities 6.0, which it plans to ship on 29-Mar-96. Now Utilities 6.0 updates Now Menus and Super Boomerang, and adds three new components, including Now AutoType, which is supposed to automatically generate macros for repetitively typed words and phrases. Updates for current owners will be $29.95, with a special "buy two, get three" upgrade special. The beta expires on 01-Apr- 96. To try the beta, follow the "Download the Demo" link at the URL below. The beta is not available as we wrap up this issue; however, it probably will be by the time you read this. [GD] Jim Matthews has released version 3.0.1 of Fetch, a popular FTP client, including expanded preferences and Internet Config support, improved AppleScript capabilities, and a number of fixes and feature enhancements. Fetch is free for educational and non-profit users, others may license Fetch online for $25. If you licensed Fetch 2.1, you can upgrade for free; the download is about 1 MB. Fetch 3.0.1 is native on both 68K and Power Macs, and is Open Transport-savvy. [GD] Apple¹s OnLine service, e­World is dead. Actually, there is some sort of transition to America OnLine (AOL). It seems that MicroSoft Network was wound up even more quickly. The service reportedly garnered only about 150,000 subscribers, which is a drop in the bucket compared to AOL's five million (CompuServe currently boasts about four million). H&R Block is turning Compuserve (CIS) into a publicly traded company. TidBits suggests two scripting methods to synchronize a folder on your drive to a directory someplace on the Internet. The Aretha release of Frontier included AutoWeb, a utility for creating Web sites from specially named and formatted text files. Along with AutoWeb came an Upload script that used Anarchie to upload all the files in a special Upload folder to your Web site. In the AppleScript world, a.h.s boy has written a script called WebLoader that does much the same thing. For information on TidBITS: how to subscribe, where to find back issues, and other useful stuff, send email to: Send comments and editorial submissions to: Issues available at: ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/ And: http://www.dartmouth.edu/pages/TidBITS/TidBITS.html To search back issues with WAIS, use this URL via a Web browser: http://wais.sensei.com.au/searchform.html To allocate more RAM to Connectix¹ SpeedDoubler, use the Mac OS¹ disk cache size. At least 1 mb is recommended. Removable drives are in hot competition. Fouhse and I love our Iomega Zip Drives. Iomega has now put out the Jaz drive, which takes cartridges of 540 mb or 1 gb. But Syquest now offers SyJET cartridges at 650 mb or 1.3 gb. Syquest might be a bit faster and larger and the price will probably be comparable, but let¹s not forget that Syquest continued to flog unreliable 45 mb cartridges for $100 each, while Iomege sold its Zip stuff at a decent price even when it couldn¹t keep up with demand. Let¹s show a little loyalty! Power Computing will be offering internal Jaz drives. The drives should be about $500 US and the cartridges about $65 and $100US. Ultra SCSI doubles the theoretical maximum throughput of current Fast and Wide SCSI­2, to 40 mb/sec (20 mb/sec for just plain Fast SCSI­2). Other competing standards are Serial Storage Architecture (SSA), FireWire (actually called ³1394²), and Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC­AL). SSA is a bit cheaper. Pathlight Technology has announced a PCI card with 2 SSA ports that will go 80 mb/sec. FC­AL goes 100 mb/sec now, and promises 200 mb/sec next year. FireWire is falling out of favour, but Sony and Radius might support it. IBM and Conner are pushing SSA. Seagate and Quantum are pushing FC­AL. Queerly, Connor and Seagate are merging. SCSI is parallel, but SSA and FC­AL are serial. That means simpler, cheaper, cabling. SSA is better for multiple devices than FC­AL. The PC world just got Executor 2, which will run Mac Applications on a PC. It does not emulate the system, just runs the application. Radius is getting out of the Mac Clone business, but created a subsidiary, UMAX Computer Corporation, to do so. Thunder 7 is updated as Spell Catcher (www.casadyg.com). Suitcase 3.0 is out (www.symantec.com). Quicken 6.0 and 6.0 Deluxe are out. Restrospect got 5 stars from MacUser. It is pretty expensive for a back­up utility (over $200) but it sounds most powerful, with both AppleScript and EasyScript. It supports just about any media and works well over the network. MacUser says ³no other backup utility can match its breadth or depth². Newton 120 is the latest, and its latest system is 2.0. My brother is excited about Java. He compares it to HTML (HyperText Markup Language). HTML contains embedded commands to use helper applications to show or save or translate or transfer documents. Java takes it a step farther. Java will contain embedded commands to use or, if necessary, download, software components. Web pages will more easily be able to do things like dynamic calculation. They will be more like programs. Excitable people see a future in which you log onto the Internet, open a Java applet, and download whatever software is needed from the net, on the fly, presumably always using the latest upgrade of each component. Netscape¹s Navigator 2.1 and Sun¹s HotJava are Java­compatible. Netscape promises JavaScript, a high level version, and boasts that Java is more robust than comparable CGI (Common Gateway Interface). Apple intends to release CyberDog, an internet utility, probably mainly to showcase its OpenDoc concept. Sorry, that¹s all the time I have. This Jaques Law Bits was delivered by: Kevin Jaques, B.A. LL.B. of the Jaques Law Office #101 - 2515 Victoria Avenue Fax: 525­4173 Regina, Saskatchewan Home: 586­2234 email: jaques.law@dlcwest.com Tel: 359­3041 visit our web page at http://www.dlcwest.com/~jaques.law/