Jaques Law Bits 9609 (© 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 and collecting those of others. €BatteryAmnesia 1.4.0b BatteryAmnesia, formerly known as DeepDischarge, will safely and effectively run down the battery on any PowerBook that uses a NiCad or NiMH battery. It bypasses the normal warnings when the battery runs low and runs it until a hardware shutdown is forced because of low power. Apple recommends doing this once a month. Version 1.4.0b updates registration information. Shareware $10. 127K. Type its name in the search box at the top of the main MacUser Software Central Page: . €Sextuple Your Ram (if you dare!) MaxRAM is a $5 shareware program that works in conjunction with Connectix RAM Doubler 1.6 on Macs and PowerMacs, allowing you to have SIX times as much memory. To use MaxRAM, simply drop it in your System Folder (NOT the Extensions folder) and Restart your Macintosh. Please make sure 32-bit Addressing is turned on in the Memory control panel. Don¹t forget to pay your shareware fee. :-) Spencer Low LowTek Creations 130 Windward Court Vallejo, CA 94591 United States of America http://www.crl.com/~spencerl/ [Editor - he says it was formerly configurable to various ram multiples up to 6. He removed that since the speed hit doesn't depend on the setting, only on the amount actually used. If you have the guts to try this, let me know the results!] €RemoteMouse&Keys This weird little utility permits you to use your mouse and keyboard on another computer, connected by AppleTalk, on whatever type of cabling. Evidently, you move the mouse off one side of your screen and it appears on the other. Select an insertion point and type. Since your monitor doesn't display the other computer's monitor (Timbuktu would do so), you would have to be physically near. However, if you are setting up a server, you can save the cost of a keyboard and mouse. Sorry, no URL. €MacUser Utility of the Month (URL management) SiteSeer plugs into Netscape or Mosaic or Explorer and keeps track of every site you visit, creating simple dragNDrop aware windows for your bookmarks. Can drag between windows, finder, clipboard or browser. http://www.zdnet.com/macuser/ (search for siteseer) €OpenDoc Word Processor Coming Soon Digital Harbour, a start­up company founded by former WordPerfect employees plans to introduce Opal, an OpenDoc word processing editor, for about $100. It won't do styles, but will have rulers, headers, footers, RTF, and text­wrap around objects. Try the Internet, or 801-796-8213. This will be followed by Jade, a full­featured word processor, scheduled to come out in 1997, and presumably support openDoc. €Sorry, that¹s all the time I have. €Web author utilities - SiteCheck SiteCheck will verify all hypertext links on your web site remotely. $79.95. SiteEdit is a server based utility to update information on your web­site without FTP. Pacific Coast Software. 619-675-1106 http://www.pacific-coast.com/ €QuicKeys Upgrade to 3.5 Everybody loves this macro/scripting thing. 3.5 is out at $119US. CE Software - 800-523-7638 http://www.cesoft.com €Web server utility from Apple - WebFinder It is an Asynchronous Common Gateway Interface (ACGI), showing web pages in file directories much like the Finder. The user may click on files, and Web­Finder will convert it on the fly (e.g., text files to HTML, launching plug­ins if available), and permitting the server to set access privileges through Apple File Sharing. It is running on Apple's Cybertech web site (http://cybertech.apple.com) and will be supplied free. Eventually. €MacPPP 2.5 is out Yes, but Apple only supports it, like we care, if you buy it as part of the Internet Connection Kit ($49US). €Patch for AppleSearch Server Version 1.5.1 update is available for those using OpenTransport. It enables Wide Area Information Server functionality with OpenTransport, whatever that is. €MacUser gives Iomega Jazz Drives 4.5 mice Everybody loves Iomega Zip Drives. The Jazz drives are more than 3 times as fast, now the fastest in the removable media drives. Cartridges carry 1 Gb, and cost under $100 US. The cables are still queer. €Now Utilities 6.0 out Love it or hate it, v.6.0 is out, for $89US. It now offers Now Shortcuts, which supports some macro function, including macro plug­ins. It also offers Now Auto Type, which competes with Thunder 7, monitoring your typing to access a glossary. A nice feature is that it will suggest a glossary entry if you repeatedly type the same thing. It adds Now Tabs, which puts something like a control stip along the bottom of the window. 1-800-274-0670 http://www.nowsoft.com €Your Beloved Editor finds Conflict Using system 7.5.3, with Stuffit SpaceSaver and Now Utilities Super Boomerang, will result in frequent hangs when your computer is accessed over a network, especially when folders with lots of compressed files are accessed. €Font Organizers updated. Suitcase 3.0 is out (PPC native). It creates 'sets' of fonts and things, for various purposes/applications/users. It is now AppleScript aware. €CGI explanation Common Gateway Interface applications run on the web server. Then, the HTML commands in the web pages can instruct the web browser to send messages to the CGIAs which can then do calculations. For instance, a common use is image­map processing, so that a single web­page graphic element can contain multiple hot spots. A click anywhere on the graphic will tell the browser to send the click's location to the CGIA, which can then retrieve the appropriate HTML page. Another application for CGIAs is any sort of database access, especially searching. Every one is a potential security and stability risk. Several organizations offer tutorials and collections: http://www.comvista.com/net - tutorials and links to mac tools http://www.ape.com/webstar - mac evangelism site http://arpp1.carleton.ca/mac/ - Comprehensive FAQs http://www.webedge.com/resources/ - resource collection from semi­annual mac Web Development Conference. http://web66.coled.umn.edu - resources and tutorials geared toward educators €Web Browser Plug­Ins You put these files in the same folder as your browser, and they let you view files within the browser window (as opposed to helper applications which the browser just starts up for you). For instance, there are Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) readers such as Tumbleweed Software's Envoy (http://www.twcorp.com/plugin.htm) and Adobe's Acrobat Amber (http://www.adobe.com/Amber/), or video players like MacroMedia's Shockwave (http://www.macromedia.com/tools/Shockwave/sdc/Plugin/), or sound players like Networks' RealAudio (http://www.realaudio.com/products/ra2.0/) or MVP Solutions' Talker (http://www.mvpsolutions.com/PlugInSite/Talker.html). An overall list is at: http://www.browserwatch.com/plug­in.html A Mac specific list is at: http://www.zdnet.com/macweek/plugins.html €OpenTransport Explanation It is PowerPC native. It is essential on PCI macs, but not compatible on 68000 or 68020 Macs. It replaces the weird Network and MacTCP control panels with a single, simple, TCP/IP control panel. Whenever you install a network service, such as PPP or SLIP or Ethernet or AppleTalk (MacIP), it automatically appears as an option in the TCP/IP control panel pop­up menu. You can change your configuration without restarting. For instance, my office uses Ethernet, but when I bring my PowerBook, it can only connect over LocalTalk cables, so I can switch on the fly. It can cost a lot of RAM (1.5 mb on a PPC) though you can disable unused protocols to save memory (but defeat its purpose). You can save/duplicate/export/import configurations. €MacUser Floppy Tip Look for brands that offer a protective resin layer such as Kodak and Mitsui/MTC. €Control Stip Tip Press option when you select the tab. Now you can move it vertically and/or to the other side of the screen. €MacUser gives 5 mice to Microsoft Cinemania 96 This CDROM about movies gets 5 stars. €Movie Database http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/ €TVLand http://www.tvland.com/ http://www.symantec.com theFONDler 4.0 is out. It can diagnose font corruption and conflicts! http://www.rascalsoft.com FontBox collects, corrects, and organizes your fonts. http://www.theinside.com €MacUser prefers Microsoft Explorer to Netscape In their July 1996 review, MacUser gave the edge to Explorer. It is the only other browser to support plug­ins. The differences were as follows: Explorer handles background sounds, colored cells in tables, has built­in quickTime & AVI and a VRML (virtual reality markup language) browser, dragNDrop Bookmarks, and supports Internet Config. Netscape offers frames, javascript support, download status windows (permitting better work in the background), and email receiving. Neither displays FTP in a finder­like way, as Apple's CyberDog does. Both are annoyingly unstable, especially using plug­ins. Explorer 3.0 will support Microsoft's new plug­in standard, ActiveX. €OpenDoc Java viewer ResNova has demonstrated a prototype OpenDoc part that can view Java applets (thereby offering that capability to Cyberdog). €MacUser reports on CyberDog The July 1996 issue contains an interesting article on Cyberdog, the web­browsing demo of OpenDoc, the vaunted component­software standard. Oddly, launching OpenDoc and opening the CyberDog Starting Point document caused the system to grab 5 mb of RAM, and then another 1 mb to open a browser window, and another 500 kb to open CyberDog's Notebook. €How many Newtons does it take to change a lightbulb? Foux! There to eat lemons, axe gravy soup! €From: "New Apple Software Updates" LaserWriter 8.4 If you are using Adobe PageMaker 6.0.1 and you are printing to an Apple Color LaserWriter 12/600 PS, you may experience slower printing with LaserWriter 8.4. If this happens, Apple recommends using LaserWriter 8.3.4. f tp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/Macintosh/P rinting/LaserWriter Desktop PrintMonitor Version 2.0 Desktop printer icons can be moved off the desktop and into folders. A printer menu located on the right-hand side of the menu bar provides a convenient means to switch the default printer (obtainable via a custom install). A control strip module with functionality identical to above. An enhanced user interface. System Recommendations An Apple Macintosh or PowerBook personal computer with either: - a 68020, 68030, or 68040 processor - a PowerPC processor or another Mac OS-based personal computer. 5 megabytes of RAM Mac OS version 7.1 or later ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/Macintosh/P rinting/Other_Printing Name: Open Transport 1.1.1b6 Path: Apple SW Updates-US-Macintosh-Unsupported You can use this pre-release version of Open Transport 1.1.1 to preview its features, enhancements, and updates. Pre-release versions of Open Transport 1.1.1 have been tested by progressively larger audiences and are now being used by hundreds of customers and Mac OS developers. If you want to provide Apple with feedback about Open Transport 1.1.1b6, send electronic mail to the following address: OTBeta@seeding.apple.com. System requirements Open Transport is designed to work on Mac OS-compatible computers with a Motorola 68030 or 68040 family microprocessor, or a PowerPC 601, 603(e), or 604 microprocessor. You should use system software version 7.5.3 with Open Transport, although the earlier system software versions 7.1, 7.1.1 and 7.1.2 releases are also compatible. When you install OT1.1.1 on a 52xx, 53xx, 62xx and 63xx machine you may get a dialog box indicating a hardware issue was detected. If this alert is displayed, Open Transport cannot be installed or loaded until the Cache/ROM DIMM is replaced. Your machine will continue to run classic networking. The required repairs are covered under the Apple repair extension program. Please contact an Apple Service Provider to have your machine repaired. Open Transport requires a minimum of 5 MB of RAM (68030 or 68040 computers) or 8 MB of RAM (PowerPC-based compters). Open Transport memory requirements are based on total system memory including virtual memory, minus the size of any RAM disk and disk cache you're using. Network interface options - Open Transport 1.1.1b6 supports PCI bus, NuBus, communications slot, and PC Card network interface cards, as well as built-in LocalTalk, Ethernet, and Token Ring network adapters. For computers without expansion options, Open Transport 1.1.1b6 also supports a SCSI-attached network adapter. Third party network interface options available for Open Transport include Fast Ethernet, ATM, and FDDI. Color SW 1500 2.2 Color StyleWriter 1500 Version 2.2 is the most recent version of this software and replaces previous versions. This version offers improved compatibility with third party applications and fixes various bugs with printing fonts and WorldScript I/WorldScript II. ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/Macintosh/P rinting/Other_Printing Color SW 2500 2.2 Color StyleWriter 2500 Version 2.2 is the most recent version of this software and replaces previous versions. This version offers improved compatibility with third party applications and fixes various bugs with printing fonts and WorldScript I/WorldScript II. ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/Macintosh/P rinting/Other_Printing WorldScript Updater 1.1 Provides improved stability and performance for Language Kits. ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_SW_Updates/US/Macintosh/S ystem/Language_Kits Locating Apple Software Updates 1) AppleLink path: AppleLink Services - Software Sampler - Apple SW Updates 2) CompuServe: GO APLSUP 3) America Online: Use the AOL keyword: applecomputer 4) ftp: ftp://ftp.info.apple.com or ftp://ftp.support.apple.com 5) Worldwide Web: http://www.info.apple.com/ or http://www.support.apple.com/ €Applescript - Restore Active Application >I would like the script to make the application that was active when it >started active again. This script will be launched from either the Finder, >PhotoShop or QuickKeys and I want the user to be right where they started >when it is done. Try this tell application "Finder" set x to name of processes whose frontmost is true end tell You must use the plural form of an object when using it in a whose clause. Andy Bachorski - Apple Developer Tech Support €Applescript - add an additional record correctly to a list of records. You've got two choices: 1. Enclose the record in the first command in another set of braces: copy {{theFiles:{"there.html", "you.html"}, links:{"which", "me"}}} to dList *and* change the second set command to: set theList to (theList & dList) *or* 2. Change the second set command to: set theList to (theList & {dList}) Cal Simone, President Voice: (202) 298-9595 Main Event Software, Inc. Internet: mainevent@his.com €Apple Introduces Dylan From: Bill Cheng Apple Computer, Inc. is happy to announce the availability of the Power Macintosh version of the Apple Dylan Technology Release. This is a "Technology Release" because the software is unfinished. It contains a number of bugs, and will not be supported or updated through Apple's standard technical support processes. ŠDevelopers will be able to produce code targeting both the 680x0 and Power Macintosh systems. ŠWe are expecting to ship this release on August 7,1996. The ADC order # for the package is M5466Z/A and is listed at $59.95. The ADC order # for the standalone CD is M5475Z/A and is listed at $39.95. By PHONE United States 1-800-282-2732 (Toll-free) Canada 1-800-637-0029 (Toll-free) International 1-716-871-6555 By FAX APDA Fax number 1-716-871-6511 By EMAIL AppleLink................ORDER.ADC Internet................... ORDER.ADC@applelink.apple.com Web........................http://www.devcatalog.apple.com The development environment lets you create projects with all the advantages of a rapid-prototyping environment. Your project is stored in a database rather than in text files. Customizable browsers let you explore and edit your program from a number of perspectives. For example, you can browse class hierarchies graphically, find all callers of a given function, or find all the objects which reference a given object. The incremental compiler allows you to change code in a running program and see the results immediately. This gives you freedom as a programmer to explore various options and rapidly improve your software. The Dylan language is thoroughly object-oriented and contains a number of features which encourage abstraction, leading to cleaner, more maintainable code. Automatic memory management frees you from the burden of manually allocating, tracking, and deallocating memory usage in your application, saving you both programming and debugging time. The language's consistency and familiar syntax ensure that it is easy to learn. [Editors Note - Online chatter from Dylan fans is sceptical Apple is whole­heartedly supporting Dylan] € CI Labs offers Certification CI Labs announced that OpenDoc parts that have been validated by CI Labs can be identified with the trademarked name "Live Objects." To find out how to certify your OpenDoc software, see the CI Labs Web page: http://www.cilabs.org €MacOS disproportionately high on Internet According to a recent survey conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology, 28 percent of Internet users access the Internet from a Mac OS computer. €New Ways to get OpenDoc parts BuyDirect.Com is a new Web-based software distribution service that will offer customers the opportunity to purchase Macintosh Live Objects and other component software, in addition to traditional software, starting in fourth calendar quarter of 1996. BuyDirect.Com will list available software at its Web site and handle transaction details, but customers will actually purchase software directly from developers who included their software at the site. BuyDirect.Com can be found at the following Web site: http://www.buydirect.com. PartFinder is a Live Object that automatically finds Live Objects components at PartBank, Kantara's component software distribution Web site. In addition to software for downloading, PartBank includes news about component software technologies, including OpenDoc and Cyberdog, as well as resources for developers. So far, Kantara doesn't provide an option for selling component software. You can find PartBank on the Web at the following site: http://www.partmerchant.com/ €16 Certified Live Objects (OpenDoc parts) Macintosh developers introduced 16 Live Objects--software based on OpenDoc technology--at Macworld Boston and demonstrated many others throughout the show. * WAV, from Digital Harbor * Virtual Field Trips in Geology, from Addison-Wesley New Media Products Group/West * GeoInsight, from ComGrafix * C-Graph and C-Table, from Corda Technologies * WorldWrite, from WorldSoft Corporation * PageComposer!, from MetaMind * LEXI, from SoftLinc * PartFinder, from Kantara Development * Outliner, from Eclipse Services * dtF Database Toolkit, from theta group * Sizzler, from Totally Hip Software * Microbrew, from Network Multimedia * WebBurst, from Power Productions * Web Squirrel, from Eastgate Systems * AppMaker, from Bowers Development * StuffIt InstallerMaker 3.1, from Aladdin Systems €Apple Kit for OpenDoc Part Creation Apple announced the Live Objects Essentials Kit for Mac OS at Macworld. Formerly released in alpha form under the code name "KickStart" on the OpenDoc Developer Release 5 CD, the Live Objects Essentials Kit is a suite of components to help you incorporate multimedia features in your OpenDoc software. Currently available are 1.0 versions of the Apple QuickDraw 3DMF Viewer and the Apple Button, which can embed sounds, speech, and Web site addresses (URLs). Final 1.0 versions of other components are scheduled to be available soon, including QuickTime and QuickTime VR components, viewers for PICT, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF files, and editors for basic text processing, drawing, sound, and text annotation. You can find the components at Apple's OpenDoc Web site: http://www.opendoc.apple.com €Apple's VRML standard is out Apple has just posted the first draft of the VRML (or Virtual Reality Mark-Up Language) 2.0 binary file format at its QuickDraw 3D Web page. This binary format is a modified version of the QuickDraw 3D Metafile (3DMF) format. VRML 2.0 will be based on the Moving Worlds proposal originally created by Silicon Graphics and supported by over 50 vendors, including Apple (which agreed to modify the QuickDraw 3DMF format for VRML 2.0) as well as Netscape, IBM, Sony, and Adobe. In making its decision, the group rejected Active VRML, Microsoft's alternative proposal. Moving Worlds will enhance VRML so that it provides object behavior, audio, Java links, and other types of multiuser interaction and animation. The interactivity employed in Moving Worlds is based on Sun Microsystems' Java and JavaScript programming languages. VRML 2.0 will be an enabler for richer Internet-based multimedia plug-ins used for everything from games to aerodynamics modeling. Netscape has already announced that Moving Worlds will be the basis for its Live3D platform. http://quickdraw3d.apple.com/ €Applescript - toggle the locked state of the selected items tell application "Finder" repeat with f in selection set locked of f to not locked of f end repeat end tell jonpugh@netcom.com (Jon Pugh) €Accessing Internet from other Network Nodes over AppleTalk (e.g. via ARA) Your guest node (over ARA) needs to have its TCP/IP configured as if it were physically plugged into the network jack your ARA server is presently using. You should also select the "ARA Only" network connection in the MacTCP or TCP/IP Control Panel - the ARA link makes these arrangements a little weird. Your guest node must be configured with it's own unique IP address. If you're using the same IP address as your server node (actually connected to the Internet), which is also up and running, that will cause problems. Contact your network coordinator to set up an IP address specifically for your guest node and set it "Manually". The rest of the settings (Gateway and Name Servers) can come straight off the server node's Control Panel. From but edited: "John Rickard" TCP/IP does not directly flow over previous and current versions of ARA. Šyou must also have an IP Gateway of some sort (Apple IP Gateway, KIP, GatorBox, etc..). These products put AppleTalk around the TCP/IP blocks, then the blocks can be transmitted over ARA. (Tunneling the TCP/IP thru AppleTalk.) From: "Jeffrey L. Morris" Check the TCP/IP control panel and make sure the settings are as follows: Connect Via: AppleTalk (MacIP) Configure: Using MacIP Server From: Mark Miller €Duh re TCP/IP control panel Unlike most control panels, this one has meaningful menus. In fact, unless you know the key combinations, the menus are the only way to access certain things. For instance, you can make and save configurations and change the user level to normal/advanced/administration. €Tips on Increasing Network Speed We've got a network of around 100 Macs on 10BaseT accessing QuickMail, MeetingMaker, IP-based services on the campus net, and AppleShare - both locally and in other departments. I can ALWAYS tell when just one or two of our users have mounted AppleShare volumes AND their "Views" control panels are calcing folder sizes - just by watching the hub. You're right - it IS a lowest priority process, and it so far hasn't KILLED anything. But idle cycles are GONE, GONE, GONE - and network contention skyrockets. This load increases depending on the number of server folders the calcing user has open on their desktop. Any changes to those folders - by anyone on the net - puts hits on both the calcing user AND the server and all its connected clients. This was proven one day when I started getting lots of complaints about speed. I visited each of the 32 sessions listed at the server and found 3 to be calcing folder sizes (just 3!). It turns out their supervisor had told them to turn it on so he could monitor their local disk usage just by walking up behind them. The minute they turned it off, speed increased by whole integer factors. Since then, ANY slow down sends me down the hall with my "calcing hit list" of currently connected AppleShare users. Other pet peeves include Netscape, FileMakerPro sorts on shared db's, QuickMailing HUGE enclosures, and the infamous 'Chooser-left-open-and-listing- file-servers' networked CPU polling soiree. That last entry only comes up once in a while, but since we've got 20 users who insist on leaving Personal File Sharing turned on - it's felt immediately and usually by folks trying to print. Hope this helps. From: "John Rickard" €RamDoubler still not quite right More on the incompatibility between RamDoubler and System 7.5.3 which causes random disconnects . . . [with geoports at least] 2) The second solution was sent to me by Kumud & Cecilia Ajmani , who wrote "If you absolutely have to use RD, the extension "Not Virtual" will let you work around the RD/Geoport incompatibility." They were right. Not Virtual fixes the incompatibility. You still get doubled RAM, but you do lose one benefit of RD: its effect on reducing overall RAM requirements in many programs. For example: You can find Not Virtual at: http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/cfg/not-virtual.hqx Connectix has told me, "We hope all outstanding bugs [will be] addressed in the final free upgrade of version RAM Doubler 1.6.3." This upgrade was not yet available as of August 9th at the Connectix web site. Reina Pennington Dept. of History, University of South Carolina €Doom Demo Info Mac archive anywhere on path /game/arc/doom-i-101.hqx €MacUser likes CorelDraw This is a giant on the WinTel platform. It is from an Ottawa based firm, which also took over Word­Perfect. According to MacUser, CorelDraw 6.0 complies with Apple Human Interface Guidelines and supports the system extras well. €Six Primary Colors? Ink jets use three colors (cyan, magenta, yellow) plus black. You may recall different primary colors from kindergarten. Anyway, a new standard is developing called Hexachrome, which apparently makes brighter and more life­like colors. Pantone makes HexWrench, a Photoshop Plug­In to convert to Hex. Pantone also makes ColorDrive 1.5, a utility for color­consistency between applications. Adobe supports Hexachrome in Pagemaker 6.0. Quark promises to support it. Various hex printers are coming and there is already a prototype from Colossal Graphics. See http://www.pantone.com/ €Apple's Internet Server Solution Bundle Oh, it costs $2,299, $3,299, or $6,449, but the computer comes with software worth $4,000 list price. It is 300% faster than the prior version. It uses OpenTransport 1.1, WebSTAR 1.2.5, PageMill 1.0, Acrobat Pro 2.1, BBEdit 3.5.2, RealAudio Server 1.0, etc. €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/