Subject: Info-Mac Digest V16 #87 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Tue, 14 Apr 98 Volume 16 : Issue 87 Today's Topics: [*] TidBITS#425/13-Apr-98 "Consultant" PIM? "Neapolitan Mac" (A) seeking LaserWriter II NT info [A2] Slow connect (Windows better?) [A]Re:System 8.1 question availability of greyscale displays Bad Zip Disks/Drive Summary Basic for Mac LCIII Calcomp Drawing Slate II Charting Durations in Excel Compatible Schedule and Email Pgms? Experience ith Office 98 on Slow PPC Macs? Free Celtic Windows MS fonts? refusal to restart Slow connect (Windows better?) TEMPO Wordperfect 3.5.5... 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 . 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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 #87" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 21:02:17 -0700 From: TidBITS Editors Subject: [*] TidBITS#425/13-Apr-98 TidBITS#425/13-Apr-98 So how does Word 98 rate? In the most detailed review you'll find anywhere, Matt Neuburg pushes the hype aside to examine how good a job Microsoft did with its flagship word processor. Also this week, we celebrate our eighth anniversary by releasing TidBITS Web badges, cover recent changes in Apple's developer and QuickTime licensing programs, and offer a tip for returning Eudora Pro 4.0 to its old two-dimensional look. Topics: MailBITS/13-Apr-98 Furor Over Developer Programs & QuickTime Licensing A Word to the Wise - Word 98, That Is [Archived as /info-mac/per/tb/tidbits-425.etx; 30K] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 07:40:08 EDT From: Bob Warner Subject: "Consultant" PIM? Anyone using the shareware PIM "Consultant"? Comments? Many thanks! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 15:57:28 -0700 From: mac@lsd.com Subject: "Neapolitan Mac" "Neapolitan" as in "three flavored" like those ice-cream sandwiches ;) My employer's MIS dept is currently significantly confused over what "company standard" wintel box (Toshiba or Dell) will run the "company standard OS" (WinNT Workstation). We're a "very large" ($B+) software company. Ironically, *neither* hardware vendor fully supports both NT Workstation and NT Server(!) without significant hardware incompatibilities. On the Toshiba, for example, if you're lucky enough to install NT Server, you can't access the network... Umm... duh? Both hardware vendors are "currently investigating how to offer full support" for both OSes. Meanwhile, there's an opportunity to demonstrate a G3 PowerBook besting them. Hopefully, the collective intelligence of this list's membership can assist me and provide a real-world argument that will be useful with MIS dept's everywhere. The primary requirement is that "the laptop" be able to run _all three_ major OSes: MacOS 8.1, WinNT (min. /Workstation, /Server a plus) AND a flavor of UNIX. Linux is preferred, as long as it's a real Linux. Solaris is OK too, but BSD UNIX is no-go due to incompatibility with some of our software, so MachTEN unfortunately doesn't fit the bill, AFAIK (someone please educate me if I'm wrong). The three OSes do not need to run simultaneously, but it would be nice to have the MacOS and the WinNT OS able to do so, as with some of the software-based Intel emulators (VirtualPC/RealPC/?). All the OSes _do_ need to be bootable from the same internal HD (partitioned, if necessary), and TCP/IP networking services _must_ be available to all three without any major hardware modifications. I believe I can win the other arguments (price, hardware specs, CPU speed, compatibility, networking, etc). The main thing I need to be able to counter is the argument that "we can't buy that because it doesn't run our 'company-standard' OS" (WinNT Wkstn). Here are some immediate questions: 1. Has anyone done this already on a PowerBook (PPC or G3)? 2. What's the baseline RAM it will take to do this reasonably well? 3. Is there specific MacOS-based software that can run WinNT Workstation? 4. Is there specific MacOS-based software that can run WinNT Server? 5. Is there a version of MkLinux that will boot from a PPC/G3 HD partition? 6. How (what formatter) does one prepare a Mac HD to boot Linux? 7. Is there software to boot (or run) Solaris 2.5.1 or higher on a PPC/G3? If you can answer "yes" to any of the above, or if you're currently a MkLinux user, please contact me directly via email with "Neapolitan Mac" somewhere in the subject. Since I need to move quickly on this, URLs and any other info you can provide is greatly appreciated. I'll post my findings back to the list, successful or not. dave __________________________________________ "Even the mad scientists called me crazy!" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 17:17:16 -0700 From: "Ton, Philong T" Subject: (A) seeking LaserWriter II NT info Paul, I bought mine way back and the puppy is still working. I don't know where you live but the last time I visited the Boeing surplus store in south Seattle, they had quite a few of those sitting on the shelves. You may want to visit their website though not so informative it has some numbers you can call. Keep in mind that it's a BIG store. http://www.boeing.com/assocproducts/surplus/retail Also, you might want to post your questions in the these newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.printing comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc When you have all the necessary parts, don't forget the switches in the back of the printer. They can be fun to figure out without a manual. I don't have the manual because I bought it used. Good luck. Philong Ton >>>>> Paul wrote Lucky me! I managed to acquire a brain-dead (doesn't respond to input) LaserWriter II NT a few weeks back. I'd love to try and get it running again, but I need a few items before I can begin diagnosing the illness. I'd like some sort of documentation (user's manual, service manual, info on common modes of failure), and I need a paper cartridge, and most likely toner, too. I've worn out Yahoo! and AltaVista searching for clues on this boat anchor, but thought I'd try the list before giving up. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks! Paul pmullen@gte.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 23:03:50 -0000 From: "Lewin A.R.W. Edwards" Subject: [A2] Slow connect (Windows better?) >>I'm using a PowerBook 1400cs with a 33.6 Megahertz modem, and I currently >>use MS Internet Explorer 4. I've noticed that my connect speed doesn't seem >>to be as fast as it should be. [...] >>When I browse the web on a much slower Windows based machine at my job, web >>pages scroll very smoothly, yet my machine scrolls web pages very >>annoyingly slow, even after they've fully loaded. > >I would suggest trying it with RAM Doubler & Speed Doubler disabled. I've [...] >And finally, I also recommend people to upgrade to Apple's OT/PPP dial-up >software, because it is the -only- software that is fully PowerMac -AND- >Open Transport native (all other software talks to the emulated MacTCP API >that's built into OT for backward compatibility). The advice about disabling RAM Doubler and Speed Doubler is good, but this item about OT/PPP is not entirely true. It is true that OT/PPP is PPC native code - HOWEVER - The serial port driver in the 1400's ROM is -68K-. Only recentish PowerMacs (GeoPort serial architecture is the deciding criterion, I'm told) have PPC serial drivers. Using PPC native comms software on PowerMacs with 68k serial driver code actually results in, overall, a *worse* CPU loading because of the large number of mode switches. Running a 68k PPP implementation like FreePPP is actually more efficient on these PowerMacs, because there are far fewer mode switches per unit time. Unfortunately, however, there are some pretty old designafossilosauruses lurking inside MacOS, and nothing short of Rhapsody is going to fix those. I'm inclined to believe that the original poster is simply noticing these artifacts of MacOS - a web browser capable of viewing active content is by nature a beast which exercises an OS's realtime multitasking potentials fairly vigorously, and MacOS multitasks very poorly. Both MSIE and Netscape Navigator on the Macintosh consist of a large number of hirsute kludges wrapped in a barefaced hack - and I only say that because I love them so much ;-) If you want to drive yourself insane one day, I suggest you sit down and try to write a Navigator plugin which works reliably. One other suggestion to the original poster: Make sure your disk cache is nice and roomy. MacOS 8.x perks up substantially when allocated large amounts of disk cache. I run a PowerBook 1400cs/133 (128k L2), 32M RAM, OS8.1 on a single HFS+ partition as my primary machine, and although it isn't exactly frisky at WWW browsing (particularly on pages with Java), I would describe the performance as acceptable. Remember too that most Windows machines (even fairly old ones, vintage 95-96 or so) have graphics accelerator cards, which make window scrolling much faster - the 1400 has no graphics accelerator hardware at all and the poor old CPU has to pump all those bits through rather slow video memory. -- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (Certified Apple Engineer) Home: Resume: ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 00:24:01 -0400 From: shorton@lr.net (Scott L. Horton) Subject: [A]Re:System 8.1 question >I have a PPC8500 with 272 megs of ram running system 8.1. My internal >startup drive is partitioned into 3 volumes. The startup volume is HFS >and the other two are HFS+. I installed System 8.0 and then upgraded to >System 8.1. >When I mount a volume, zip/floppy/jazz/CD the front most application is >killed. When the front most app is the Finder, then the Finder just >restarts itself. Onother symptom when this happens is my control strip >won't start up. Through trial and error I have found that trashing the >Finder preference file, Zap the PRAM and rebuilding the desktop files >seems to temporarily alleviate the problem. I had a similar problem on my Starmax 3000 with system 8.1 (not 8.0) I identified a conflict with Quicktime 2.5. Disable QT, and the problem went away. Only the foremost application (finder if that was it) would quit. Upgrading to QT 3.0 "fixed" the problem. (At the time I had to use an endless series of QT3 betas) Good luck, Scott Horton ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 11:00:20 -0600 From: Stoney Burns Subject: availability of greyscale displays Jack Campin < wrote: > ...Almost > everything I do with a Mac is in monochrome, and I have never seen a > colour monitor, at any price, that could match one of Apple's late-80s > greyscale monitors for sharpness and general restfulness ... > Does anybody make comparable new ones? I agree. I, too, prefer monochrome or greyscale monitors. My friends call me the King of the Greyscale Monitors because I'm always looking for good used ones. Hitachi makes three GS monitors for Macs, according to their website, http://www.nsa-hitachi.com/products/results/macmonodesk.htm. Three sizes, 15-, 20-, and 21-inch. They are marketed under the RasterOps name. I have had GS RasterOps monitors in the past (pre-Hitachi), and they were pretty good. If you get one, please give me a review. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 19:34:07 -0400 From: Jonathan Shaw Subject: Bad Zip Disks/Drive Summary Last week, I posted a message regarding problems with zip disks having read errors, clicking sounds (known as the Click of Death, or COD), and a few disks that are totally useless. Several people replied (and pretty quickly, too!), and the consensus seems to be that Iomega Zip drives are not to be used for anything valuable. Some people gave me pointers to web sites about this problem. Iomega's own web site mentions a problem with zip drives making excessive clicking noises, but they don't openly admit that they have created pretty faulty hardware and cheap disks. The crux of the problem seems to be that zip disks are floppy media, and many disks from Iomega have imperfect surfaces. The tiny bumps in the surface cause the drive heads to fall into the bump and tear the disk as it rotates on the drive spindle. When the disk is ruined, it often ruins the drive head, too (taking it out of alignment), and this causes other disks to be damaged, as well. Also, a bad disk placed in a once fine drive can cause that drive to be damaged, too. So, this whole thing is much like a virus, except there's no protection. Through reading many postings on some of the web sites, I've noticed several people saying that disks NOT made by Iomega (i.e. Fuji, Maxell, Sony) tend to be fine--it is almost always the Iomega brand disks that cause problems. Also, many people have said that Iomega will replace defective disks because they are covered by a lifetime limited warranty. However, the drive carries only a 1 year warranty, and it costs $80 (US) to replace the drive with a refurbished one. And, calling Iomega tech support (the ONLY way to contact their tech support!!) costs $15 per call for Zip drive related products. They can determine that it is not your fault and then they won't charge the $15... but they get your credit card # before they'll talk to you, and you won't know what determination they'll make beforehand. All in all, I will never buy an Iomega product again. Thanks, again, to everyone who responded. Below are the URL's. (search for 'Z Track') (address of latest driver software) (Everything you wanted to know!) -Jonathan {;-) Visit for a good laugh. There are 3 kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 10:32:57 +0100 From: adrian strack Subject: Basic for Mac LCIII I would like to write (again) BASIC to draw rather complicated graphics on the screen and for the printer. I have no time to start studying Inside Macintosh. Is there a Version that is still supported? Adrian Strack ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 00:02:50 -0600 From: Neil Fiertel Subject: Calcomp Drawing Slate II Does anyone know how ( or if it is possible ) to convert or use with an external adapter a Calcomp Drawing Slate II which is designed for the PC Serial port? There is a Calcomp Mac driver for the Drawing Slate II out there so that should not be the issue but is there a Serial to ADB or PC Serial to Mac serial port adapter that would permit the use of this very expensive slate with my G3 Mac? The company tech says no way it can be done but I wonder if he is incorrect. Please send me this information by Email but also post for those who are interested in this. nfiertel@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca Thanks in advance...Neil Fiertel "Just three rusty strands of barbed wire from the North Pole" Professor Neil Fiertel FAB-3-98 Department of Art and Design University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6G-2C9 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 23:04:00 -0000 From: "Lewin A.R.W. Edwards" Subject: Charting Durations in Excel >Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 13:09:50 -0400 >From: Allan Hunter >Subject: [Q] Charting Durations in Excel You are looking for something that will draw Gantt charts, as I'm sure many other people have told you 8-) Although I understand Claris/Apple have discontinued this product, ClarisImpact is definitely the software you need. It will generate all the business graphics you could ever want and many more; I think it's a great product. Gantt charts are part of project management, which Excel isn't really geared towards (Outlook, if it's included in Mac Office 98, might do such things... but I couldn't say fersure, I don't use MS Office at all, even on Windows machines; there is something of a groundswell towards Lotus SmartSuite amongst Win users here in Oz). -- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (Certified Apple Engineer) Home: Resume: ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 22:35:32 -0400 From: "David B. Niethamer" Subject: Compatible Schedule and Email Pgms? Peter, you wrote: >Using MS-Outlook Express 4.0 for mail, >Netscape 4.04 for browser, and Claris Organizer (demo) for contacts and >schedules. Main problems are (1) company is using Schedule+ v7.5 for >calendars. I'm having almost no luck interfacing with it; (2) want to migrate >off Outlook Express to something more robust for email (Eudora Pro 4.0?); (3) >want to have a contacts manager which interfaces with my email program so >that >I only have to enter an email address once, and from then on the mail program >will "pull" the address from the contacts manager. I have almost 700 names in >my contacts database so updating each one 2 or 3 times in different programs >is a non-starter. Request recommendations for email/contact mgmt programs >which will interface to meet objectives (2) and (3), and if it will allow me >to interface with Schedule+ that's even better. Try Claris Emailer (current version 2.0.3). On the Fog City web site, you can find two scripts, one of which will import your Claris Organizer email addresses into CEM, and the other of which will send your CEM addresses to CO. I read about 8 lists, and Emailer handles them all very smoothly. Also, Westcode (OneClick folks) have software "EmailTools" which will automate further some of the Emailer functions. Haven't used this, but some of the Emailer list folks have raved about it. About Schedule+ I don't know. But even though it is now apparently orphaned, Emailer is a great program. I dumped Eudora to use it. David Niethamer dnietham@richmond.edu http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 07:11:12 -0500 From: Eric Rogers Subject: Experience ith Office 98 on Slow PPC Macs? I've been watching the Office 98 thread now, but I have yet to see an answer to my question: can Office 98 run on a slower PPC Mac? The MS specs call for a minimum clock speed of 133 MHz (it might a little higher, but I think this is right). I use a Duo 2300c, which has a 100 MHz chip. Will Office 98 run on my machine? Should I run Office 98 on my machine? (RAM isn't a concern.) If anyone has experience with installing Office 98 on a wide variety of machines, please let me know how the slower PPC machines work out. You can contact me directly, and I'll post the results to the list. Thanks, Eric Rogers Student, Boston University School of Law rogersee@bu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 15:33:25 -0500 From: "Dennis L. Davis" Subject: Free Celtic Windows MS fonts? There was a post with instructions on converting MS Windows Celtic PC TrueType fonts to Mac to the info-mac mirrors. My question is where to get the PC Fonts? I tried looking around the MS Web site, but I have had no success. Does anyone know where I can download the MS Windows Celtic PC TrueType Fonts, I understand that they are from Microsoft and that they are free. Any suggestions? Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. ICQ#5066430 Blessings, Denny ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 23:04:05 -0000 From: "Lewin A.R.W. Edwards" Subject: refusal to restart >Lately my Powerbook 1400 refuses to re-boot when I click on "restart", and >refuses to shut down when I click on "shut down". > >When I click on ctrl-apple-power, the computer reboots normally, however. If selecting "shut down" is the metaphorical equivalent of tucking your child into bed and singing a lullaby, Ctrl-Apple-Power is the metaphorical equivalent of whacking your child over the head with some heavy object or pouring a bottle of brandy down its throat to get it to sleep. Definitely not recommended practise. The symptom indicates that some application or other task could not quit in response to the power down request, or that Finder unexpectedly quit while the broadcast was going around. It occurs to me (I also have a PB1400, which I love 8-) sometimes when I have crashed or confused something - e.g. PPP, or the HP DeskWriter PrintMonitor - which runs in the background. Although I can't say for sure if this will help you at all, the following sequence of steps may help to fix this problem if it's Power Manager related (yeah, there are three or so separate things being done at once in this sequence of steps, just trust me if you don't understand what is going on ;-) : 1. Drag Finder Preferences to the Trash. 2. Shut down the machine. 3. Remove main battery and disconnect AC power. 4. Press and hold reset button (between serial and ADB ports under hatch on rear of machine) for 45 seconds. 5. Insert battery and reconnect AC power. 6. Press Power. As soon as you hear the startup chord, hold down Cmd-Opt-P-R and hold it down. At this point, one of two things will happen: Either the machine will pause, the screen will flick, and the chord will be repeated (you can release the keys now), or the machine will shut down cold again and the sleep LED will go steady, unblinking green. If the latter happens, press Ctrl-Cmd-Power and the machine will reboot. 7. Hold down Cmd-Option while MacOS starts up. When the machine asks you if you want to rebuild the desktop, click "Yes" and let it finish. 8. You will need to reset memory settings (virtual memory and disk cache), screen brightness, contrast, sound volume and alert sound selection, Appletalk status, and other settings which lurk in PRAM. -- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (Certified Apple Engineer) Home: Resume: ------------------------------ Date: 13 Apr 98 21:20:20 -0400 From: "D. Scott Beach" Subject: Slow connect (Windows better?) David Roche Writes: >And why is it that even after a web page has completely loaded, when I >scroll through it, the browser window is VERY slow to update, in a very >jerky manner? > >My machine has 48 megs of RAM, and I've devoted 7 megs of RAM >to Internet Explorer. I've tried adding even more, but it doesn't seem >to speed things up. I also use Ram Doubler 2, and Speed Doubler 8. David: I did a test a while ago. I found that for a given page (I only tested one) it took 32 seconds to load and display in Internet Explorer 3.01, 32 seconds in Cyberdog but only 12 seconds in Netscape (I don't remember if it was 3 or 4). I still use Cyberdog 'cause I like it best, but those numbers speak for themselves. My bet is your biggest performance killer is RAM Doubler. There may be other variables like how you display graphics (faster vs. better) and how much cache you permit. --------------------------------------------------------- D. Scott Beach, sbeach@front.net A rabid Mac dude in Toronto. --------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 07:40:10 EDT From: Bob Warner Subject: TEMPO TEMPO was sort of like AppleScript, KeyQuencer, OneClick and/or QuicKeys. Anyone know what's happened to it? Many thanks! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 15:09:41 EDT From: Luskin Subject: Wordperfect 3.5.5... I wrote a few weeks ago with respect to Corel Wordperfect updater 3.5e. Through MacZone, I bought what turns out to be Wordperfect version 3.5.3, which identifies itself as version 3.5, and MacZone thinks is version 3.5.1. I downloaded an updater called 3.5e updater from a sumex mirror. And found out that it only can be applied to 3.5.5. And that I need it for what I do. A number of people on the list wrote me saying they had 3.5.5, and had gotten it in early December. If any Wordperfect users are reading this, I would like to know WHERE and HOW and WHEN they got the later version. MacZone insists that it does not exist. I appreciate the help. Michael B. Luskin -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************