Subject: Info-Mac Digest V16 #71 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Fri, 27 Mar 98 Volume 16 : Issue 71 Today's Topics: [*] Andrew's Disk Copy 6.2 Scripts - Minor Update [*] Ghostrunner 1.0 [*] Home Automation Scripting Addition [*] Jur 1.6.2 [*] Outside Satyricon 1.5 [*] Puzzler 1.0.2 [*] roTyx 1.06 [*] Smashing Windows [*] Space Debris 2.11 [*] Star Chaos [*] V&N Lookup 1.2.3 - dictionary, spellchecker, word-translator [*] Virtue 2.1 TrueType font--a replacement for Charcoal The Info-Mac Network is a volunteer organization that publishes the Info-Mac Digest and operates the Info-Mac Archive, a large network of FTP sites containing gigabytes of freely distributable Macintosh software. For more information, visit the Info-Mac Web site at . Email Addresses and Instructions: * To submit articles to the digest, email . * To subscribe, send email to with subscribe in the Subject line. * To unsubscribe, send email to with unsubscribe in the Subject line. * To change your address, unsubscribe from the old address, then subscribe from the new address. If that fails, try using the list maintenance form at before contacting us. * Please send administrative queries to . * To submit files for the archive, email the binhexed file with a description to . Submissions must be made by the author or with permission of the author. It may take up to a week to process; check mirror sites for the status of new uploads. FTP and Web Addresses and Instructions: * To submit files larger than 800K, email a description to and then use an FTP client to upload the binhexed file to info-mac.org, using the userid "macgifts and the password "macgifts". Or, click . * A full list of Info-Mac mirror sites is available at the URL below: * Search the archive at . Info-Mac volunteers include Gordon Watts, Adam C. Engst, Demitri Muna, Mike O'Bryan, Michael Bean, and Liam Breck. The Info-Mac Digest is sponsored in part by StarNine Technologies, developers of Internet server software for the Macintosh, including Web and email publishing systems. We'd also like to thank AOL for the main Info-Mac machine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Info-Mac Digest V16 #71" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:11 -0700 From: andrew@patsy.demon.co.uk Subject: [*] Andrew's Disk Copy 6.2 Scripts - Minor Update This file is in Apple's Disk Copy "Read-Only Compressed" New Disk Image Form= at. It contains two AppleScript applications which allow you to access the segmenting features within Disk Copy 6.2. "Segmenter" allows you to choose the number of segments. "Floppier" allows you to segment a disk image into 1.4MB floppy size parts. By putting the applications in a folder called "Scripts" beside Disk Copy, it creates a Scripts menu from within Disk Copy and allows the user to access the features of them as though they were built-in commands. I've noted in the "Read Me" that if users are grateful for these scripts then they can 'tip' me by sending a =A35 to my home address...but only if they have the money to spare. System requirements are System 7.0.1 or later, Disk Copy 6.2 and AppleScript. Hardware requirements are only those for the afore mentioned System requirements. I guess is that this file should go in the Disk & File directory, but if you feel it is best suited elsewhere then please place it there. This file may be included on the commercial distributed CD-ROM. Thanks. Andrew McNaughton. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D [Archived as /info-mac/disk/dcscripts-10.hqx; 31K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:29:54 -0700 From: jd_anoved@yahoo.com Subject: [*] Ghostrunner 1.0 Somewhere in the ethereal depths of digital doom, a single guy/gal is left with a shattering responsibility tottering on his/her shoulders. He must vaporize as many icky green ghosts as possible in under a minute. By running over them. As in 'running', not as in 'running over with a transportational device'. Yes, you see it has to do with intermeshing inertial fields and whatnot -- but the technicalities are a bunch of lies, so I won't bother you with 'em. So play Ghostrunner 1 and experience the standard in video games: oh, I see, you hafta blow 'em all up as quick as ya can. Sounds fun. And remember, its a healthy alternative to watching TV, 'cause on a computer you actually control what you see. (This programmer notices an exception: an unusually high number of those, well, non-Mac computers seem to actually control the user rather than vice versa. I hope this doesn't mean the majority of the computer-literate human populace voluntarily accepts working with an illogical unintuitive interfaces.) Anyway, I hope you like this game as much as I do. For more information, read an encyclopedia. For more information relevant to Ghostrunner, download it and look at the 'about' screen. Then play it and appreciate the pleasant wonder of nice sprite animation. [Archived as /info-mac/game/ghost-runner.hqx; 87K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:13 -0700 From: bward@scruznet.com Subject: [*] Home Automation Scripting Addition Would you rather wake up to gentle background music from your stereo and the smell of fresh brewed coffee? Ever wish your computer could turn on the printer when you want to print a file and then turn it back off when it was finished? Would you like your house to look lived in when you're away on vacation? Ever wanted to just say "Stereo On" and have your stereo turn on? Now you can do all of this and more from your Macintosh using AppleScript! This shareware package provides a collection of scripting commands that let you control appliances, lights, etc. from AppleScript using a very inexpensive CP290 interface and X-10 modules that are available at many electronics stores or via mail order. If you're new to home automation or AppleScript, the detailed manual provides lots of background information, examples, mail order companies for the interface and modules, contacts for home automation magazines, etc. For less than $60 and very little effort you can get started in home automation - check it out! This is version 1.1, which fixes a minor problem when retrieving a large number of events from the CP290 and adds an example of how you can do automation from FileMaker Pro. [Archived as /info-mac/dev/osa/x10-scripting-addition-11.hqx; 310K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:29:56 -0700 From: cjk@flash.net Subject: [*] Jur 1.6.2 Run away!!! Run away!!! Ahem. Ok, it's you stuck in an endless cavern. Your job: gather the eggs of the wild Jur, before the wild Jur gather you. Jur uses a random maze generator so that every game is different. cjk@flash.net.SPAMOFF http://www.flash.net/~cjk ICQ 4034900 PGP Key : http://pgp.ai.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xDFEB475A [Archived as /info-mac/game/jur-162.hqx; 66K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:29:58 -0700 From: bsharvy@efn.org Subject: [*] Outside Satyricon 1.5 Welcome to my fun project (and to my parlor). The project has been to play around with forms and ideas native to the interactive medium, with an eye toward artistic use. "Artistic" is, of course, a fuzzy word, and we should always get in trouble for using it; I trust you to interpret the general drift of what I mean. Never mind, no I don't: The general drift of what I mean is "individual and interesting". Outside Satyricon aims to explore forms that use elements unique to the computer--not visual art that is merely generated with a computer, and not interactive games which, while unique to the medium, lack intellectual & spiritual color. I want to expermiment with interactive "fiction," of a sort. This is my first such experiment. ...A technique with potential is to use an Eliza-like interface to create narrative voice and personality. Literature has a narrative voice; interactive media could too, with its own particular twist. Experimentation with narrative is particularly natural in forms which are story-like, such as the adventure. I've written an Eliza script into Outside Satyricon, but as of yet it isn't nearly as developed as it could be. (Eliza is a simple artificial-intelligence simultaor created by Joseph Weizenbaum.) ...The computer medium naturally lends itself to simulation, and the representation of things. This naturally suggests symbolism as a technique, since symbols are objects (compare to, say, music, which represents no objects and uses no symbols). The possibility of symbolic meaning, or resonance, for an object can define its use, and create meaning within the program as a whole. For example, if progress within an adventure game depends on the user finding the key to some locked door, that is very boring and meaningless. But imagine that "doors" open when the user breaks open a plastic red heart that he has found--say, the 20 clocks in the room all begin to melt, the floor turns to sea, and he finds himself continuing his adventure in an ocean-dream world (perhaps as a shark, perhaps as a blowfish, depending on choices he has made earlier in the program). Now the user is solving puzzles which, because of the symbolic resonance of the things in the adventure (e.g., red hearts), may suggest certain interpretations and meanings to him. This is a much more interesting way for a world to unfold than the way of unlocking a door with a key, which you got by killing the thief, outwitting the Sphinx, etcetera....Naturally, symbolism can be overt as well. In Outside Satyricon, most of the rooms are the ordinary kind--representations of physcial places such as bathrooms, roof tops, etc--but you will also find yourself in "Therapy", "Solitude" and a few other abstract places....Its object-based character makes the interactive medium especially at home with "deconstructive" or "meta-fiction" techniques, since its modelling of symbolic objects is programmable and changeable during the course of the adventure's "narrative." Thus, the player can be forced to examine his own uses of symbols as sources of meaning. Crunchy Pickle Software: http://www.efn.org/~bsharvy/crunchy.html [Archived as /info-mac/game/outside-satyricon-15.hqx; 588K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:00 -0700 From: bjorn.carlin@swipnet.se Subject: [*] Puzzler 1.0.2 This is an updated version of Puzzler. I sent the first version (1.0.0) to you 19 Feb 1998 and version 1.0.1 07 Mar 1998. Three new levels (for registered users only) and support for powerbook keyboards without any numeric keyboard have been added. (This description is the same as the last one:) Puzzler 1.0.2 is a simple and elegant puzzle game. The goal is to use small pieces to fill a marked area. It is shareware and costs only $10. You can reach the author at . Requirements =95 A screen that supports at least 256 colors =95 About one megabyte free RAM =95 About 300k free hard drive space Sincerely, Bjorn Carlin [Archived as /info-mac/game/puzzler-102.hqx; 172K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:01 -0700 From: rbauer@ds.unizh.ch Subject: [*] roTyx 1.06 roTyx 1.06 new release, bugs fixed. roTyx is a shoot em up like swoop or invaders or phoenix empire with special grafics from imp89 thanks for supporting rene b. (imp89) [Archived as /info-mac/game/rotyx-106.hqx; 1915K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:03 -0700 From: titan@indigo.ie Subject: [*] Smashing Windows Smashing Windows - is a simple Space Invaders game where you can shoot at any object that you wish - with the default settings, the evil windows. The game features a Choose Sprites... dialog which allows you to choose your particular enemy. Smashing Windows will run on any Macintosh, 68K or PowerPC, with a 256 colour 640x480 screen. Smashing Windows will set your monitor to 256 colours automatically when you run it. [Archived as /info-mac/game/smashing-windows-ii-10.hqx; 678K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:06 -0700 From: titan@indigo.ie Subject: [*] Space Debris 2.11 Space Debris 2.11 - Space Debris is my attempt at writing a modernised Cryst= al Quest style game. It's a Fat Binary (native on PPC and 68K). Recompiled both versions in MetroWerks CodeWarrior. Updated to the latest MAD-Music Library. Updated to the latest SmartShareware Library. Better Title Graphic. This software is shareware. That means that if you like the software, you must send IR =A310, UK =A315, or US $20. You control your spaceship with the mouse. You= fire by clicking the mouse button, but note that your shot goes in exactly the same direction that you are travelling in. Q will abort the game at any time. Com= mand activates your bombs. Caps Lock is pause. [Archived as /info-mac/game/arc/space-debris-211.hqx; 1089K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:05 -0700 From: titan@indigo.ie Subject: [*] Star Chaos Star Chaos - Star Chaos is a fast action Space Invaders game. What's new in v1.3? Recompiled both versions with CW9, Vastly improved the loading code (now loads in about 10% of the old time), Added my e-mail/Web contact details, No longer tells user when depth is changed as the program will automatically reset it. Program will still run even if the Speed Test fails - apparently the Speed Test fails on PowerPC PowerBooks because their display circuitry is too slow. [Archived as /info-mac/game/star-chaos-201.hqx; 1000K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:09 -0700 From: jiwanski@alpha.luc.ac.be Subject: [*] V&N Lookup 1.2.3 - dictionary, spellchecker, word-translator 'V&N Lookup' is an easy-to-use program that puts dictionary-power at your fingertips. It makes use of the dictionaries for the application program 'Verbs&Nouns'. You can use 'V&N Lookup' while you are working with other text-based applications because it searches for any word that you copy to the clipboard. Depending on which modules you have, 'V&N Lookup' can locate similar words in several languages at the same time. It can check the spelling and translate passages of text word for word. The application 'V&N Lookup' is part of my 'Foreign Language Toolkit' project. To try out the program you can download not-protected dictionaries and play with them. The examples of them are: ftp://ftp.pht.com/pub/mac/pht/e/english-dictionary.sit.hqx ftp://mirrors.aol.com//pub/info-mac/edu/lang/dictionary-of-computing-10.hqx ftp://mirrors.aol.com//pub/info-mac/edu/lang/english-german-dict-11.hqx ftp://mirrors.aol.com//pub/info-mac/edu/lang/english-spanish-dict-10.hqx ftp://mirrors.aol.com//pub/info-mac/edu/lang/italian-verbs-127.hqx ftp://mirrors.aol.com//pub/info-mac/edu/lang/italian-nouns-11.hqx ftp://mirrors.aol.com//pub/info-mac/edu/lang/italian-spelling-11.hqx You can visit http://users.netmatters.co.uk/dandaforbes to find more information. Jacek Iwanski. jaceki@geocities.com [Archived as /info-mac/edu/lang/verbs-and-nouns-lookup-123.hqx; 1987K] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 19:30:08 -0700 From: wamozart@teleport.com Subject: [*] Virtue 2.1 TrueType font--a replacement for Charcoal Virtue version 2.1, March 21, 1998 Copyright =A91997-1998 Marty P. Pfeiffer at Scooter Graphics. Price: Free! Virtue is my improvement of Apple Computer's "Charcoal" font appearing in Mac OS 8. About Virtue: There is a lot of controversy about Charcoal, and honestly, I think that most of it is unjustified. Basically, a lot of people did not want this font to appear in the Mac OS 8. I think that this feeling is based on a "reverse-engineered" font developed by Greg Landweber for his Aaron extension and Kaleidoscope control panel. Greg built his font from looking at various screenshots and did a good job at making a very complete font. However, the spacing information and special characters characters seemed a little off to me. It seems that Apple couldn't decide whether Charcoal should have two pixels between the letters or just one. This leads to a cramped appearance on screen. So here's what I did: basically, I took his work and tried to space it how I would if I was making Apple's next font. I studied the "Chicago" system font and and used it as a template for my font. After about 2 hours of tinkering, I had a bitmap font that looked really good as a replacement font for Kaleidoscope. About a week later, after tinkering some more, I made even more improvements. And then I decided to create a regular weight of Virtue to go along with it. I tried to carry the unique features of Virtue into Virtue Light. It's currently just a 12 point bitmap font, but I thought that it might be useful for those of us who have smaller screens or are just tired of looking at bold fonts all day. I'd love to hear any comments you may have about Virtue-Light. Marty Pfeiffer This file may be included on any Info-Mac CD-ROM release [Archived as /info-mac/font/tt/virtue-21.hqx; 191K] -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************