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INFO-MAC Digest V2 #10 [message #85558] Mon, 17 June 2013 17:09
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Message-ID: <893@uw-beaver>
Date: Mon, 4-Mar-85 22:18:25 EST
Article-I.D.: uw-beave.893
Posted: Mon Mar  4 22:18:25 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 6-Mar-85 02:56:39 EST
Sender: daemon@uw-beaver
Organization: U of Washington Computer Science
Lines: 395

From: Moderator John Mark Agosta 


INFO-MAC Digest          Tuesday, 5 Mar 1985       Volume 2 : Issue 10

Today's Topics:
                    Administration of Usenet postings
                     Re:  getting xlisp.rsrc to work
                             XLISP and .CON
                        Object Pascal, Smalltalk
                     Information on Xerox NoteCards
                  C Compiler Evaluation:  A CORRECTION
                           RAM Serial Drivers
                      MIDI 31.25 baud rate on 8530?
                                 Mac-Zap


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon 4 Mar 85 15:25:05-PST
From: John Mark Agosta 
Subject: Administration of Usenet postings

We posted some programs twice to Usenet last week. To 
avoid this in the future, I suggest that people mention in their
message if they will post their own stuff to Usenet. This is perhaps 
the preferable way to do it. If I don't see a mention of Usenet 
postings in the message, I will repost them as a matter of course.  
The place I post Macintosh sources on Usenet from the arpa net is 
post-net-sources-mac@uw-beaver.arpa

-jma

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 2 Mar 85 02:12:29 EST
From: winkler@harvard.ARPA (Dan Winkler)
Subject: Re:  getting xlisp.rsrc to work

Programs running under the Manx shell normally use the .CON console 
driver in the Manx system file.  Some of the stdio functions, such as 
printf, rely on this.  The reason for having the .CON driver in the 
system file is, of course, to save the overhead of including it in 
every application.  But when I compiled XLISP, I had to copy the .CON 
driver into XLISP's resource fork so people could use it on their
Mac's which wouldn't normally have .CON in the system file.  The
problem with the Hyperdrive was that GCC's HDDriver driver had the
same resource id as Manx's .CON driver.

John Mark, I can't imagine how you managed to get a .hcx file with the
.CON driver and a .rsrc file without it.  I think it was only the hcx
version that I uploaded and then used xbin to get a .rsrc version on
Unix as well.  They should have been identical.

Have people been using XLISP?  David was inspired by the warm
reception it got and is hard at work on version 1.5.  Has anyone got
it running in windows yet?  Last summer, Marty Chavez (chavez@harvard)
took version 1.1 and implemented an elegant solution for binding file 
descriptors to Mac windows using the refcon field so you could fprintf
into a window.  I think he ran into problems though because he was 
using textedit to make all the text editable.

Dan. (winkler@harvard)

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 2 Mar 85 02:24:21 EST
From: winkler@harvard.ARPA (Dan Winkler)
Subject: XLISP and .CON

John Mark,

You must have meant that you found the .CON driver in the older .hcx
file but not in the new .rsrc file.  Those two are slightly different 
versions and were uploaded independently so I probably forgot to copy 
.CON into the newer one before uploading (I'm a somnambulist too).  If
you just paste in .CON from the old .hcx version into the current
.rsrc version, [e.g. with Resource edit] things should be fine and
I'll put the command to do that automatically in the Makefile so the
problem never happens again.

I can't believe noone noticed this before.

Dan. (winkler@harvard)

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 1 Mar 85 23:51:35 EST
From: winkler@harvard.ARPA (Dan Winkler)
Subject: Object Pascal, Smalltalk

Here's the latest word on Object Pascal and Smalltalk from our inside 
man at Apple.  (I'm going to translate Simutree (MacTree) into Object 
Pascal when it arrives and I'll let you know how that goes.)

Dan. (winkler@harvard)


From mark%apple.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa Fri Mar 1 23:30:10 1985 
Received: from csnet-relay by harvard.ARPA; Fri, 1 Mar 85 23:29:58 EST
Received: from apple by csnet-relay.csnet id ac02047; 1 Mar 85 23:17
EST Received: by APPLE.ARPA (4.12/4.7)
        id AA09610; Fri, 1 Mar 85 18:00:35 pst Date: Fri, 1 Mar 85
18:00:35 pst From: Mark Lentczner  
To: winkler%harvard@csnet-relay.arpa Subject: Object Pascal Status: R

-=- Hello there Dan,
   We're all really happy here at Apple: Object Pascal/MacApp &
Smalltalk-80 just went out the door.  Here's the scoop:

1) Clascal is for writing Lisa programs on the Lisa... it's the same
as
        always.  But I suspect that this is not what you want.

2) Object Pascal is what you want.  It is a descendant of Clascal,
only
        now it has the N. Wirth seal of approval on it (honest!).  It
is
        used to write Macintosh programs on the Lisa (and eventually
the
        Macintosh itself).

3) MacApp is what comes with Object Pascal.  This is the long awaited
Generic
        Application.  It is a null-application that is written in
object-o
        oriented style.  Hence, it does all an application wants to do
        except the algorythm (the windows, scrolling, re-sizing, undo
(!),
        menu mgt., printing,...).  You simply write what your
application is
        supposed to do, and over-ride anything you want done
differently (saving
        files for example).  Tada!  Instant application.

4) Smalltalk-80 is not out for the Macintosh XL (i.e.: you need 1Meg
RAM and
        2.5Meg free Hard Disk).  It is an un-supported version that is
taken
        from Xerox Version 1 of the Smalltalk-80 system (Version 2 is
what the
        books are written about, but the differences are minor).

5) Clascal & MacApp were just sent to Harry!  Have fun....

6) Smalltalk ordering info is on the way!  Have twice the fun....

Hope that answers your questions.  How is good 'ole Aiken these days?
Say hello to harry for me.
                                                        -Mark

P.S.: Unfortunatly, Object Pascal & MacApp run under the Lisa
Workshop, while Smalltalk runs under MacWorks....  Do you have two
Lisas?

------------------------------

Date: 1 Mar 85 17:41 PST
From: Halasz.pa@XEROX.ARPA
Subject: Information on Xerox NoteCards

This description of the Xerox NoteCards system is a response to 
inquiries that have recently appeared on several Arpanet discussion 
lists.

A.  Background:  NoteCards is part of an ongoing research project in 
the Intelligent Systems Lab at Xerox PARC investigating "idea 
processing" tasks, such as interpreting textual information,
structuring ideas, formulating arguments, and authoring complex
documents.  The NoteCards system provides an on-line environment for
carrying out this research.  The principal reasearchers involved in
this project are Frank Halasz, Tom Moran, and Randy Trigg.

NoteCards is implemented in Interlisp-D and runs on the Xerox 1108 
family of Lisp processors.

B.  The System:  NoteCards is intended primarily as an idea
structuring tool, but it can also be used as a fairly general database
system for loosely structured information.  The basic object in
NoteCards is an electronic note card containing an idea-sized unit of
text, graphics, images, or whatever.  Different kinds of note cards
are defined in an inheritance hierarchy of note card types (e.g., text
cards, sketch cards, query cards, etc.).  On the screen, multiple
cards can be simultaneously displayed, each one in a separate window
having an underlying editor appropriate to the card type.

Individual note cards can be connected to other note cards by 
arbitrarily typed links, forming networks of related cards.  At
present, link types are simply labels attached to each link.  It is up
to each user to utilize the link types to organize the note card
network.  Within a note card, a link is represented by a small, active
icon.  Clicking with the mouse in the icon, retrieves the target card
and displays it on the screen.

NoteCards includes a filing mechanism built around a special type of 
card called a FileBox.  In each FileBox are filed (i.e., linked by a 
Filing link) zero or more note cards as well as zero or more other 
FileBoxes.  FileBoxes serve as a kind of categorization hierarchy for 
filing note cards by "topics".

Browser cards contain node-link diagrams (i.e., maps) of arbitrary 
pieces of the note card network.  Each node in a Browser's node-link 
diagram is an active icon that can be used to retrieve the indicated 
card.  Spatially organized information is also available in the form
of Sketch cards that allow the user to lay out line drawings, text,
and link icons in an arbitrary, zoomable 2-D space.

NoteCards is an environment that integrates several packages already 
available in the Interlisp-D system, e.g., TEdit, Grapher, and Sketch.
NoteCards has a full programmer's interface.  All of the functionality
in NoteCards is accessible through a set of well-documented Lisp 
functions, allowing the user to create new types of note cards,
develop programs that monitor or process the note card network, and/or
integrate new Interlisp packages into the NoteCards environment.

C.  Research directions:  NoteCards was designed primarily as a 
research vehicle.  The following are some of the research topics that
we are pursuing using the NoteCards system.

1) User tailorability -- a system description language that a 
non-programming user could edit in order to tailor the system to his
or her task and/or interaction style.

2) Argumentation -- use of a "truth-maintenance" mechanism to help 
users develop and manipulate alternative argument structures.

3) Psychological issues -- investigations of the ways in which 
NoteCards does or does not support real-world tasks.

4) Visual summaries of large networks -- investigations of other ways 
to display network maps, including fish-eye graphs, trimmed graphs, 3D
graphs, indented outline, etc.

5) Multi-window management -- investigations of various abstractions 
for building general multi-window management tools that take advantage
of inter-card dependencies.

6) Querying networks of cards -- design of a querying interfaces that 
allow users to ask questions about the contents and structure of a 
network.

7) Multiple user, interlinked NoteFiles -- providing
distributed/shared NoteFiles with links between different NoteFiles.

8) Alternative documents -- explore alternative document concepts,
such as guided tours (i.e., suggested paths through a network of
cards).

9) Text retrieval -- investigate several methods for doing text 
retrieval based on full-text search and statistical matching.

10) Object-oriented implementation -- we are investigating the 
possibility of rewriting NoteCards in Loops.


D.  How to get more info:

A technical paper on Notecards is in progress.  For information about 
the research issues surrounding NoteCards contact Halasz.pa@Xerox or 
Trigg.pa@Xerox.

NoteCards is not at this time a Xerox product.  However, Xerox Special
Information System's Vista Laboratories offers a limited licensing 
agreement aimed at distributing NoteCards to groups doing related 
research (Contact: NoteCardsInfo.pasa@Xerox)

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 1 Mar 85 23:24:52 pst
From: hamachi%ucbkim@Berkeley (Gordon Hamachi)
Subject: C Compiler Evaluation:  A CORRECTION

Mike at Megamax called me concerning my recent compiler evaluation.
He pointed out one outright error, and one misleading piece of
information in one of my previous messages concerning the Megamax
compiler.  He is concerned that this might damage his company's
reputation.  If you had decided not to buy their compiler because of
some negative things I said, please read this message and reconsider.

First, I was just plain wrong when I said that there was an error
assigning a long to an int.  I forgot to use "l" as in "%ld" in my
printf statement, so the value my test program printed was in error.
I fixed this and everything now works fine.

Second, I found the stack overflow problem in the OLD version of the 
Megamax compiler.  The folks at Megamax were aware of the problem and
have fixed it in their new (just released?) version.  If you have the
old version, simply avoid arithmetic expressions within WHILE loops,
of the form:

        while(tickcount() <= delay*60+startTime)
        {
        }

As far as I know, all of the other things I said about the Megamax
compiler are true.  It compiles the fastest, produces the smallest
binaries, and loads and executes very quickly.  The Megamax employees
are very friendly and helpful.

I would not hesitate to recommend this compiler to anyone,
particularly if you need floating point right now, and you would
rather not use a unix-like tty interface.  In fact, a friend of mine
purchased the Megamax compiler several weeks ago after asking for my
advice.

On the other hand, I have not had very much experience with any of the
compilers.  If I did, I probably wouldn't make embarassing snap
judgements about certain of them!  I still hope to get evaluation
copies from Megamax, Manx, Consulair, Hippo, and Softworks so I can do
a more careful (!)  comparative evaluation.

- -Gordon Hamachi

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 3 Mar 85 17:36:26 est
From: Adam Beguelin 
Subject: RAM Serial Drivers


A few weeks ago I posted an article asking how one might use the RAM
serial drivers.  I got a lot of replies but they were from people who
also would like to use the RAM serial drivers.

Has ANYONE ever really used these drivers?  If so could you please
post some information about how one actually does it.  It seems I am
not alone in wanting this information.

I am using SUMacC but others seem to be using stand alone C compilers.
I did not recieve any mail from anyone using a Lisa.  Perhaps the
drivers exist on the Lisa systems.

A SOLUTION:  If you just want to use the RAM drivers to handle the
Xon/Xoff then you can get by using the ROM drivers by just checking
the fullness of the buffer every once in a while and sending a ^S if
it gets too full.  Later when you have read the buffer remember to
send a ^Q to start things back up again.  This is a hassle but it
seems to work.  Hopefully this will be eliminated if we can figure out
the RAM drivers.


Adam Beguelin Emory University Dept of Math and CS Atlanta, GA 30322

{akgua,sb1,gatech}!emory!adam USENET adam@emory CSNET 
adam.emory@csnet-relay ARPANET

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 3 Mar 85 02:42 GMT
From: HAMMON%LLL@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Subject: MIDI 31.25 baud rate on 8530?

From: Randy Hammon  To: info-mac@LLL.MFENET


 I am seriously considering building a MIDI interface for the MAC. The
circuit is trivial, but one unresolved point for me is the easiest way
to get the odd 31.25k baud-rate required by the spec. The data sheet 
for the 8530 showed 2 registers for the timing constant. I was able to
figure out a constant for 31.20k baud from that sheet. The serial 
driver documentation gives completely different ( 4 as opposed to 104 
) values that are only 10 bits long. I know those data sheet values 
are for a 3.99XX MHZ clock.

Finally my question. Is it possible to somehow get to those registers 
to set the baud rate, or will I have to have a BR generator on my MIDI
board and clock it in as an external clock.

Also, let's have a cheap MIDI interface for the MAC and start cranking
out PUBLIC DOMAIN music software.

Thanks,

-Randy-

------------------------------

Date: 2 Mar 85 3:06:40-CST (Sat)
From: Canas%ukans.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
Subject: Mac-Zap

I have used Mac Zap for about 6 months now. It is very reliable, and 
excellent for file recovery. It is a complete disk editor. Reads 
blocks or tracks (1.2 version) and you can edit ad write back to disk.
Not very reliable for copy protected programs but will indicate where 
the tracks with errors are. Also yopu can change data and track 
headers.  Overall I'm very satisfed with the product.  EXCELLENT 
SUPPORT.

Daniel

------------------------------

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