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.
Clippings from TidBits
**Newtons in the Dark** -- Apple recently announced the Newton
MessagePad 130, which resembles its predecessor, the MessagePad
120, but adds several key features, including a user-controllable
backlit screen, a new writing surface that's more durable and less
prone to glare, and 512K of additional system memory. The 130 has
8 MB of ROM and 2.5 MB of RAM, resulting in 1,361K of RAM
available to the user. Apple expects the 130 to be available
beginning in April for $799. Apple's propaganda didn't mention any
upgrade programs from previous models. [ACE]
In the wake of its withdrawal of
PageMill 1.0.1, Adobe has quickly released PageMill 1.0.2.
PageMill devotees will recall that 1.0.1 brought PageMill up to
the level of the PageMill portion of Adobe's recently released
SiteMill 1.0 (see TidBITS-317_). But, both PageMill 1.0.1 and
SiteMill 1.0 have a problem which manifested itself by damaging
graphics. The PageMill 1.0 to 1.0.2 and 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 updaters
fix the problem, as does the SiteMill 1.0 to SiteMill 1.0.2
updater.
You can download updaters for PageMill 1.0, PageMill 1.0.1, and
SiteMill from Adobe's Web site. Adobe's FTP site currently offers
a PageMill 1.0 to 1.0.2 updater and a SiteMill updater, but no
PageMill 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 updater. Adobe has also posted updated
PageMill documentation, which now includes an index. [TJE]
New Version of APS PowerTools
-----------------------------
by Florin Neumann
APS Technologies, a leading vendor of data storage devices for the
Mac has recently released version
4.0 of its disk management utility, APS PowerTools, which is
bundled with every APS drive.
**PowerTools 4** -- With version 4.0.4, PowerTools now supports a
wide range of disk drives, including IDE drives and the new low-
cost removable Zip drive. In other respects, though, version 4
offers the same capabilities as version 3, albeit with a different
interface.
APS PowerTools 3 and 4 are intended to support only APS drives and
although APS PowerTools 4's end-user license is for APS drives
only, it supports a wider range of drives than version 3, many of
which were never sold by APS.
(use with Anarchie or Fetch)
(use with Web browsers)
APS Technologies Sales at 800/233-7550 or
. The update costs $4.95 and is delivered by
regular mail. If you decide to upgrade, note that - as is usual
when switching from one disk formatting package to another -
installing a new driver requires reinitializing (and thus a full
backup and restore) the disk, because partition maps are
different.
APS also has a separate CD-ROM support package called APS CD
Autocache 1.1.2. It too is available as an inexpensive update for
APS PowerTools 3 users, and updates from previous versions are
available at the URLs below.
(use with Anarchie or Fetch)
(use with Web browsers)
On Xerox, Apple, and Progress
-----------------------------
by Bruce Horn
[Any number of people will try to tell you about the origins of
the Macintosh, but Bruce Horn was one of the people who made it
happen. From 1973 to 1981, Bruce was a student in the Learning
Research Group at Xerox, where Smalltalk, an interactive, object-
oriented programming language, was developed. While there, he
worked on various projects including the NoteTaker, a portable
Smalltalk machine, and wrote the initial Dorado Smalltalk
microcode for Smalltalk-76. At the Central Institute for
Industrial Research in Oslo, Norway, in 1980, he ported Smalltalk-
78 to an 8086 machine, the Mycron-2000.
At Apple (1981-1984), Bruce's contributions included the design
and implementation of the Resource Manager, the Dialog Manager and
the Finder (with implementation help from Steve Capps). He was
also responsible for the type framework for documents,
applications, and clipboard data, and a number of system-level
design decisions. Since then, Bruce consulted on a variety of
projects in the late 1980's at Apple and received a Ph.D. in
Computer Science from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1993. He
continues to work as a computer science consultant with Apple and
other companies.]
**Where It All Began** -- For more than a decade now, I've
listened to the debate about where the Macintosh user interface
came from. Most people assume it came directly from Xerox, after
Steve Jobs went to visit Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center).
This "fact" is reported over and over, by people who don't know
better (and also by people who should!). Unfortunately, it just
isn't true - there are some similarities between the Apple
interface and the various interfaces on Xerox systems, but the
differences are substantial.
Steve did see Smalltalk when he visited PARC. He saw the Smalltalk
integrated programming environment, with the mouse selecting text,
pop-up menus, windows, and so on. The Lisa group at Apple built a
system based on their own ideas combined with what they could
remember from the Smalltalk demo, and the Mac folks built yet
another system. There is a significant difference between using
the Mac and Smalltalk.
Smalltalk has no Finder, and no need for one, really. Drag-and-
drop file manipulation came from the Mac group, along with many
other unique concepts: resources and dual-fork files for storing
layout and international information apart from code; definition
procedures; drag-and-drop system extension and configuration;
types and creators for files; direct manipulation editing of
document, disk, and application names; redundant typed data for
the clipboard; multiple views of the file system; desk
accessories; and control panels, among others. The Lisa group
invented some fundamental concepts as well: pull down menus, the
imaging and windowing models based on QuickDraw, the clipboard,
and cleanly internationalizable software.
Smalltalk had a three-button mouse and pop-up menus, in contrast
to the Mac's menu bar and one-button mouse. Smalltalk didn't even
have self-repairing windows - you had to click in them to get them
to repaint, and programs couldn't draw into partially obscured
windows. Bill Atkinson did not know this, so he invented regions
as the basis of QuickDraw and the Window Manager so that he could
quickly draw in covered windows and repaint portions of windows
brought to the front. One Macintosh feature identical to a
Smalltalk feature is selection-based modeless text editing with
cut and paste, which was created by Larry Tesler for his Gypsy
editor at PARC.
As you may be gathering, the difference between the Xerox system
architectures and Macintosh architecture is huge; much bigger than
the difference between the Mac and Windows. It's not surprising,
since Microsoft saw quite a bit of the Macintosh design (API's,
sample code, etc.) during the Mac's development from 1981 to 1984;
the intention was to help them write applications for the Mac, and
it also gave their system designers a template from which to
design Windows. In contrast, the Mac and Lisa designers had to
invent their own architectures. Of course, there were some ex-
Xerox people in the Lisa and Mac groups, but the design point for
these machines was so different that we didn't leverage our
knowledge of the Xerox systems as much as some people think.
The hardware itself was an amazing step forward as well. It
offered an all-in-one design, four-voice sound, small footprint,
clock, auto-eject floppies, serial ports, and so on. The small,
portable, appealing case was a serious departure from the ugly-
box-on-an-ugly-box PC world, thanks to Jerry Manock and his crew.
Even the packaging showed amazing creativity and passion - do any
of you remember unpacking an original 128K Mac? The Mac, the
unpacking instructions, the profusely-illustrated and beautifully-
X-POP3-Rcpt: jaques.law@louise
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Mime-Version: 1.0
Approved-By: TidBITS Editors
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 21:41:25 -0800
Reply-To: editors@tidbits.com
Sender: TidBITS - a newsletter for Mac users
From: TidBITS Editors
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written manuals, and the animated practice program with audio
cassette were tastefully packaged in a cardboard box with Picasso-
style graphics on the side.
**Looking Back** -- In my opinion, the software architectures
developed at Xerox for Smalltalk and the Xerox Star were
significantly more advanced than either the Mac or Windows. The
Star was a tremendous accomplishment, with features that current
systems haven't even started to implement, though I see OpenDoc as
a strong advance past the Xerox systems. I have great respect for
the amazing computer scientists at Xerox PARC, who led the way
with innovations we all take for granted now, and from whom I
learned a tremendous amount about software design.
Apple could have developed a more complex, sophisticated system
rivaling the Xerox architectures. But the Mac had to ship, and it
had to be relatively inexpensive - we couldn't afford the time or
expense of the "best possible" design. As a "little brother" to
the Lisa, the Macintosh didn't have multitasking or protection -
we didn't have space for the extra code or stack required. The
original Macintosh had extremely tight memory and disk
constraints; for example, the Resource Manager took up less than
3,000 bytes of code in the ROM, and the Finder was only 46K on
disk. We made _many_ design decisions that we regretted to some
extent - even at the time some of us felt disappointed at the
compromises we had to make - but if we had done it differently,
would we have shipped at all?
**The Past and Future** -- In many ways, the computing world has
made remarkably small advances since 1976, and we continually
reinvent the wheel. Smalltalk had a nice bytecoded multi-platform
virtual machine long before Java. Object oriented programming is
the hot thing now, and it's almost 30 years old (see the Simula-67
language). Environments have not progressed much either: I feel
the Smalltalk environments from the late 1970's are the most
pleasant, cleanest, fastest, and smoothest programming
environments I have ever used. Although CodeWarrior is reasonably
good for C++ development, I haven't seen anything that compares
favorably to the Smalltalk systems I used almost 20 years ago. The
Smalltalk systems of today aren't as clean, easy to use, or well-
designed as the originals, in my opinion.
We are not even _close_ to the ultimate computing-information-
communication device. We have much more work to do on system
architectures and user interfaces. In particular, user interface
design must be driven by deep architectural issues and not just
new graphical appearances; interfaces are structure, not image.
Neither Copland nor Windows 95 (nor NT, for that matter) represent
the last word on operating systems. Unfortunately, market forces
are slowing the development of the next revolution. Still, I think
you can count on Apple being the company bringing these
improvements to next generation systems.
I'm sure some things I remember as having originated at Apple were
independently developed elsewhere. But the Mac brought them to the
world.
[This article originally appeared in Guy Kawasaki's Evangelist -
for more information send email to .]
**Apple to Lose $700 Million** -- In a press release last week,
Apple CEO Gil Amelio announced that Apple anticipates posting a
net after-tax loss of about $700 million for the second fiscal
quarter. About half of the charges are related to inventory write-
downs and another quarter to restructuring charges. Amelio said,
"I'm confident at this point that I know what the problems are and
that they are fixable," and he said that Apple would begin to
articulate recovery plans in early May. [ACE]
**QuickDNS Pro 1.1 Released** -- Men & Mice of Reykjavik, Iceland
has released QuickDNS Pro 1.1, which brings a fully-featured
domain name server to the Macintosh. QuickDNS Pro 1.1 can provide
primary, secondary, and recursive name service, and it includes a
scriptable domain editor that eases setup and administration of
domain name information. Also important is QuickDNS's support for
round-robin DNS, which helps distribute load between a number of
servers. Round-robin DNS is generally used to make several Macs
running Web servers appear to be a single server, thus
transparently distributing the traffic among them. QuickDNS Pro
1.1 costs $295 (upgrades from 1.0 are free) and you can download a
14-day evaluation copy from the URL below. Men & Mice -- (+354)
525 4938 -- (+354) 525 4991 (fax) -- [ACE]
**Motorola Math Library for Power Macs** -- Mark Granger has
compiled a shared library for Power Macs running System 7.5 or
later that accelerates Mac OS math functions. The library is built
using the math library from the Motorola C/C++ Software
Development Kit, and users claim it can provide as much as a 25
percent speed increase on floating point math operations, which
could greatly benefit some applications. If you don't use your
Power Mac to do heavy calculations, this library probably won't
help you, but if you live for transcendental functions, it's worth
a look. [GD]
But note, Motorola asked the library be
withdrawn due to possible licensing concerns and because it is
developing an "official" version, due out in May.
MacWEEK recently reported
rumors Apple aims to release a 28.8 Kbps version of the GeoPort
Telecom Adapter this summer, but it will only work with Power
Macs.
**Netscape 3.0 Preview** -- Netscape has released a "preview"
edition of Netscape Navigator 3.0. Though many of its new features
are currently only available for other platforms, the release is
Open Transport-native and offers preliminary support for Internet
Config, improved navigation through Netscape frames, and
enhancements to mail and news. The release also features ToolTips
similar to Microsoft Office products that display an essentially
useless description of a few parts of Netscape's interface -
fortunately, these ToolTips can be turned off. This release
supports Java on Power Macs (68K support is "in progress") and
expires 15-Jul-96. The download is a little over 4 MB in size; be
sure to check out the release notes if you plan to download. In my
brief testing, the release didn't prove to be particularly stable.
[GD]
System 7.5 Update 2.0 CD (or the
disks) can only be purchased through Apple, or through a Macintosh
User Group. To buy the update from a User Group, you must belong
to the group. The Arizona Macintosh User Group is offering the AMUG
Tech 1.0 CD in DealBITS this week, and the CD does seem like a
good deal. For $11 plus $5 shipping ($10 international) you get
not only System 7.5 Update 2.0, but also - as you might expect - a
one month AMUG membership, plus 800 games, 500 Internet tools, the
contents of the Apple FTP site, the AMUG Internet Installer, and
several movies of commercials, including Apple's classic 1984 ad.
You can also upgrade your one-month membership to a year, or join
for a year and get the CD free. AMUG will take orders via email at
, via a Web-based form, or by phone at 602/553-
0066. I don't know if AMUG is ramped up for enormous volume, but
the woman who took my order said it would go out the next day, and
that I should have it in about three days.
The update is now shipping in the Apple
Internet Connection Kit, version 1.1. Also, Corvallis MUG is
selling a $13 CD to members that contains a number of items,
including the update. For more information, send email to
or call 541/754-2684.
BMUG is also selling a CD with the System 7.5 Update 2.0 for $12 plus tax
(shipping and handling is free to U.S. addresses; $5 to
international addresses). The CD also includes 29 MB of goodies
from the BMUG essentials folder and includes First Class BBS
software for connecting to Planet BMUG and BMUG Boston, as well as
QuickTime movies, software demos, and so on. To buy the CD from
BMUG, you must first join the group, and prices for joining start
at $45 per year. BMUG will take orders by phone at 510/549-2684 or
800/776-2684 or by fax at 510/849-9026.
People in Canada should call Claris in Toronto at 800/361-6075
Finally, if you have the patience (or just good luck) you can also
download the update from the Internet. Here are a few URLs to try:
Cable Regina has it too.
Remember, whether you order from Apple, AMUG, BMUG, or another
source, the CD is an updater; you must use it in conjunction with
an installed version of System 7.5.
The ability to serve multiple domains from a single Mac is perhaps
the most commonly requested feature on mailing lists related to
running Macintosh Web servers. Although various hacks and partial
solutions do exist, Open Door Networks' HomeDoor offers this
feature by itself. A five-domain "lite" version of HomeDoor comes
bundled with the Apple Internet Server Solution 2.0, with a
special $249 upgrade to the full version, which normally costs
$400.
If you haven't the foggiest idea what a multihomed Web server
might be, the basic situation is that multihoming enables a single
Web server to respond to "http://www.companyX.com/" and
"http://www.companyY.com/" with different default pages. Although
it's easy to assign companyX and companyY domains to a single Mac
running a Web server, there hasn't been any good way to coerce the
Web server into serving different default pages for different
domains.
HomeDoor has become a popular utility for Macintosh Web servers
that want multiple virtual domains, but it's not quite as clean as
multihoming on Unix machines, where the returned URL isn't
"contaminated" in any way.
Highware has released MultiHome, a $189
CGI for WebSTAR that provides multihoming capabilities. It
requires the Web browsers used by users support "pushpull" and
even with that, users see a page listing the domains served by
MultiHome before they're automatically shown the proper page.
Also, as with HomeDoor, the URLs reported by the Web browsers are
"contaminated" with a directory after the proper virtual domain.
Open Door Networks -- 541/488-4127 --
**Symantec C++ 8.5** -- Symantec has announced version 8.5 of
Symantec C++ for Power Macintosh, including support for Java,
Pascal (via a Pascal compiler from Language Systems), and 68K
development. The release features significant memory optimization,
Apple Guides for users not familiar with Symantec's development
tools, improved performance, and full support for OpenDoc 1.0
development. The estimated retail price is $400, but the software
is free to Symantec C++ subscribers, and costs $149 as trade-up
from several other tools. [GD]
**FreePPP 2.5 Beta Available** -- The FreePPP Group has released
FreePPP 2.5b4, the first public beta of FreePPP 2.5. As usual, if
your PPP connection works well, we don't recommend upgrading yet
(why fix what isn't broken, especially with beta software?). The
changes are significant, and most notably, an application called
FreePPP Setup replaces the Config PPP control panel and its
elderly interface. The extension is now called FreePPP instead of
just PPP, differentiating it from MacPPP. The primary parts of the
FreePPP package missing in this release are documentation, an
Apple Guide, and some cosmetic interface changes. Be sure to read
the Read Me file in the FreePPP Folder installed for you in the
root directory of your startup drive. [ACE]
**New QTVR Tools and Developer Info** -- Finally showing motion
with its much-touted QuickTime VR technology, Apple is
distributing pre-release versions two new QTVR tools to assist
authors with making QuickTime VR panoramas and objects from
photographs or computer-generated images. Though these tools can't
add hot spots or stitch together series of overlapping photos
(these functions are still restricted to Apple's obtuse QuickTime
VR Authoring Tools Suite), they're a good first step on the path
toward letting real people make QuickTime VR movies.
Perhaps more important than these tools, however, is new developer
information on integrating QuickTime VR into applications, as well
as behind-the-scenes motion on the forthcoming QuickTime VR 1.1.
With luck, developers will be able to integrate QuickTime VR
content and authoring into applications (like Poser, Director,
SuperCard, and Bryce) more easily - and I can't imagine a Netscape
plug-in is too far off. [GD]
**AIMED Developers Consortium** -- A group of third party
developers have formed the Association of Independent Macintosh
Engineers and Developers (AIMED), a non-profit group dedicated to
Macintosh software and hardware development. AIMED intends to
evangelize the Mac to third-party hardware and software
developers, and also provide feedback to Apple on issues that
concern Mac programmers. [GD]
IBM Close to Licensing Mac OS?
------------------------------
by Geoff Duncan
Last week, reports began circulating that IBM's Microelectronics
Division was close to an agreement with Apple to license the Mac
OS. The agreement would reportedly allow IBM (in its role as one
of the primary manufacturers of the PowerPC chip) to sublicense
the Mac OS to PowerPC chip buyers. Unlike Apple licensee Motorola
(see TidBITS-315_), IBM apparently does not plan to manufacture
its own Mac clones.
Undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Apple, this agreement would also
make good on IBM's long-stated intentions to license the Mac OS.
However, many analysts quickly pointed out the agreement would be
more favorable for Apple if IBM were agreeing to make its own
Macintosh clones. As it stands, IBM is casting an eye towards its
future PowerPC Platform (PPCP) machines, which will be able to run
Mac OS, Windows NT, NetWare, AIX, or Solaris. (See TidBITS-304_.)
Licensing the Mac OS lets IBM offer more operating systems choices
to motherboard and systems manufacturers buying CPU chips from
IBM. Presently, however, manufacturers wanting to make Mac clones
would have to execute a separate hardware licensing agreement with
Apple.
If this agreement is finalized, the immediate benefits aren't all
that clear, though it has interesting future possibilities once
PPCP machines are on the market. Apple plans to release its own
PPCP Macintoshes, and though estimates vary, these machines should
appear is late in 1996 or possibly in early 1997 to coincide with
the anticipated release of Copland, the next major revision of the
Mac OS.
Pippin Appears
--------------
by Brent Bossom
The Pippin-platform "Atmark" developed by Apple and Bandai is now
on display and for sale in Japan. But you can't just drop into
your local computer store and pick one up; you'll have to either
place an order at a designated dealer or call a toll-free number
(something Bandai inexplicably calls a "Digital Distribution
System"). A unit will then be shipped directly to your home.
The Atmark is configured just as it has been reported by others: a
PowerPC 603 (66 MHz) CPU, internal quad-speed CD-ROM drive, 14.4
Kbps external modem, 6 MB RAM (expandable to 14 MB), a game
controller, and ports for connecting a television, monitor and
other peripherals. The list price has been set at 68,000 yen, or
about $635. The price includes four CD-ROMs: Internet Kit (which
includes Netscape Navigator and other Internet software), TVWorks
(an integrated email, word processing, and drawing package), and a
two others with interface software for a computer service called
Franky Online.
Bandai plans to release a number of peripherals in June. These
include a keyboard with a handwriting input tablet and pen (it
looks like a small, white PowerBook and is priced at 9,800 yen), a
floppy drive that sits under the Atmark (12,000 yen), RAM
expansion cards (2, 4, or 6 MB - no prices have been set), a
printer, and various cables for connecting Atmark accessories to a
Macintosh (or vice versa). A 28.8 Kbps modem is also said to be in
the works.
Bandai advertises over 100 software titles are for sale now or
under development, and the titles run the gamut from games and
horoscope software to quasi-reference materials ("World's Diving
Spots") and interactive music videos. Though some are priced as
low as 3,800 yen, most average 6,800 yen (about $65). Bandai has
also established an online service for Pippin Atmark users,
providing access to Internet services for 2,000 yen a month (for
up to 10 hours of use).
More information on Pippin Atmark is available (mostly in
Japanese) from Bandai's web site.
ClearInk Ports WebLint to the Macintosh
---------------------------------------
by Jon S. Stevens
Creating basic HTML pages is easy, but creating pages that comply
with HTML specifications is not. Everybody makes mistakes and not
everybody knows all the rules. Have you ever forgotten to add that
tag to the bottom of a page? Did you know that the