Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 13:47:15 EDT
From: wse@matahari.dfci.harvard.edu (William Edwards)
Subject: Autodoubler Problem SUMMARY: I went to Stacker

Thanks to everyone who responded.  As you'll see from the attached
mail, there was some skepticism about disk-level auto-compression,
though one person was using Stacker without any problems.  One person
suggested a new disk drive, which I am too cheap to buy at the moment.
I went ahead, installed Stacker and got rid of Autodoubler.  This
eliminated the mysterious spinup problem, *and* gained me disk space,
since Autodoubler was not compressing my System Folder.  So far so
good.  Here come the messages:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original posting:

       I am about to go this route, and was wondering if any have travelled
it before me.  I am about to dump Autodoubler (2.0.3), which is spinning my
Powerbook drive up every thirty seconds, and which is incompatible
with Quicken 4.0 and macBible 3.0.  I'm running Stacker on my HP 95,
and it just seems to work.  I want to try it on my PB 100 8/40, and
Classic II 10/40, both running System 7.1 (lots of system extension).
Please respond via email with any comments on Autodoubler vs. Stacker,
as well as going from AD to Stacker, and I will summarize.  Thanks!

Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 17:08 EST
From: Don't Panic! <ABRODY@vax.clarku.edu>
Subject: compression programs (A)
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
X-Vms-To: IN%"wse@matahari.dfci.harvard.edu"

Mr. Edwards,
In response to your comp.sys.mac.digest post about Stacker:
I have not worked with Stacker, but I do know a thing or two about compression 
programs.  If a compression program is driver level compression, avoid it!  
Driver level compression programs have the worst kind of crashes when the hard 
disk crashes.  Stick to file level compression.  In either case make sure that 
you have everything you use backed up frequently.
I currently have Autodoubler 2.0.3 (control panel),
 and have made an alias for it to my desktop.
Anytime I worry that it is running the hard disk too often, I open it and 
click on the Automatic Compression checkbox to turn it off. When I want it on 
again I click it back on.  Also use the When option to make it only turn on 
when you move the pointer to a corner of the screen.  That way you are in 
control of the time it compresses and when it doesn't.  Both methods still 
allow for already compressed files to load.  Also you can use the Autodoubler 
Utility Autodoubler Internal Compressor that came with the package.  This 
allows you to use many large files (like Quicktime) when they are still 
compressed. My copy of Quicktime which was 962k is now 560k.  It always runs 
fine.
Hope this helps.
P.S. Superdoubler is now available from Symmantic.  It includes the latest 
version of Autoubler Diskdoubler and Copydoubler.  
Sincerely,
ABRODY@VAX.CLARKU.EDU

Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 03:01 EST
From: Don't Panic! <ABRODY@vax.clarku.edu>
Subject: Re: compression programs (A)
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
X-Vms-To: IN%"wse@matahari.dfci.harvard.edu"

Mr. Edwards,
I don't know off hand of any "war stories" about Stacker.  Also I forgot to
mention, Autodoubler fancies spinning the hard disk at its leisure when 
compression is on.  Did you understand the two settings I told you about 
turning compression off temporarily?  These will stop the spinning of the hard 
disk.  If you like I can send you binhexed the images of where the settings 
are set and not set to reduce the spinning of your hard disk.  Let me know 
what what of these three formats you support if you do: JPEG, TIFF, PICT.

Have you 
contacted Symmantic about the inability to work without the power plugged in?
Do you know that Stacker will work on battery power, or are you only guessing?
Call the makers of Stacker to find out if it works, or get it on warranty no 
questions asked to test it for yourself.
I'd be happy to give a few tidbits about Autodoubler.  However, as for 
Stacker, I don't have a clue.  I just know the part about the driver level vs. 
the file level compression.

BTW the best all-around compression program IMHO is Compact Pro.  While slow 
it has the advantage of not using any extensions, and archival compression 
using Finder view style interface.  I have never had any problems with Compact 
Pro except its slowness. Beauty is that it alone creates edits .sea files, as 
well has the ability to read and write Binhex 4.0.  Check it out in 
info-mac/cmp/compact-pro-134.  The author of the program sent me back the key 
when I sent in my $25 shareware fee.  

Good luck.
Sincerely,
ABRODY@VAX.CLARKU.EDU

X-Sender: casgrain@fisher.sc.ucl.ac.be
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 13:43:46 +0200
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
From: Casgrain@ecol.ucl.ac.be (Philippe Casgrain)
Subject: Compression

        This may not be what you are looking for, but my suggestion would
be to buy a bigger HD. For the Classic II, you can get an internal 200MB
disk for under 400$ (probably 300), and for the PB, although new ones are
pricey, you can get an used 80 or 120 (or even 160 MB!) for a good price
>From someone who's buying a bigger drive.

        Auto-compression is slow on these computers, IMHO (esp. the PB).
Myself, I bought an external SQ 105 and I put seldom-used stuff on SQ
cartridges and essential stuff on my PB's 80MB HD.

Philippe

--
Casgrain@ecol.ucl.ac.be, Mac Hacker Lite
  Sirius Cybernetics Corporation

Date: Wed, 8 Jun 94 20:45:07 PDT
X-Sender: lwin@popntop.san-jose.ate.slb.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
From: lwin@San-Jose.ate.slb.com (Peter Lwin)
Subject: RE: Autodoubler vs Stacker

Hi,

Regarding to your query, I used to be a user of Autodoubler but for a
variety of reasons I have been happy on Stacker since it came available on
Mac. The only complaint I have is that Stac does not seem to care much
about the Mac market and do not keep it up-to-date vis-a-vis the features
in PC Stacker.

Autodoubler
-----------
Pros:   - freedom to choose what to compress
        - less sensitivity to disk level device drivers
        - potentially faster based upon what to compress
          (usual argument is that it is better if virtual memory is used)
        - theoretically safer since it only effect selected compressed files

Cons:   - non-transparent nature
          (always seems to be compressing when I need the machine)
        - compatibility with PB Sleep mode. It is dangerous to move PB with the
          disk active so I put it to sleep before I move. Autodoubler seems to
          busy with the disk at that time, so I wind up waiting.
          (to be fair, the new version may deal with this better)
        - too many user decisions to make
          (should I compress System Folder or not?)
        - IMHO, it is more suitable for desktop macs than PB Macs

Stacker 1.0
-----------
Pros:   - truly transparent, set it and forget it. Put it to sleep instantly.
        - high level of file compatibility since it is at device level
        - excellent on removable Syquests since it is host system independent
        - compresses everything, no user's decision necessary

Cons:   - Adds delay system wide (noticable when compared with non-Stacked sys.)
          My experience shows a slowdown of about 15% w/o virtual memory.
          Some can be avoided by partitioning the drive and stacking selected
          partition. This method also works for virtual memory usage; dedicate
          an uncompressed partition for virtual memory.
        - Potentially more dangerous since you could lose the entire disk
          True; but a trusim for all types of compression. Back-up often to be
          safe. So far I have not found anything I could blame Stacker for.
          Knock on wood! pretty good for first version on Mac.
        - Disk device driver compatibility
          Potentially true; but Stac has done a good job. I use Silverlining to
          format all my disks and I have found no problems. Cannot say for other
          low level disk formatters.
        - More tedious to upgrade to the next or newer version.
          True; my PC experience on Stacker tells me the best thing to do is to
          back-up, reformat and re-install with newer version.
        - Cannot "tune" compression level
          True on the Mac. This is where Stac's PC bias comes in. Stacker 4.0 on
          the PC is great. It is the only disk comprssion s/w that guarantees
          better than 2:1 compression. When on the Mac?
        - Poor technical support on Macs. When I started, I called their tech
          support line a couple times. Huge difficulty in finding someone who
          knows much about the Mac version.

Stats from my PB experience with Stacker:
-----------------------------------------
Originally started on PB-170 4/80; two partitions, one dedicated for
virtual memory and not compressed. Boot partition compressed. Acceptable
but found more delays due to virtual memory than Stacker.

Currently moved over to PB 160 8/80.

I have currently "stacked" the whole disk since I stopped using virtual
memory. I have, by Stacker, 131Mb of files on disk with 30.6Mb free space
left on disk. On my last back-up, Restrospect reported that 81 Mb of files
were backed up. I believe that represent the "true" uncompressed file size.
I have a mixture of 85%/15% of standard files and .sit (pre-compressed)
files on my disk.

Hope this helps. The attitude on the Net favors Autodoubler but I don't
think we are being fair to Stacker. They have a taint of the PC but they
have an excellent product. Used with an understanding of the trade-offs, I
think it is far superior to Autodoubler, especially on Powerbooks.

Good luck! if you know Stac's e-mail address, send them a copy of this or
any other you may receive. Maybe they will pay better attention to the Mac
market.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter P. Lwin
Telecom Business Manager                  Phone:  (408)437-5195
Schlumberger Technologies                 Fax:    (408)452-1752
Telecom Test ATE, San Jose, CA, USA       E-mail: lwin@san-jose.ate.slb.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--



Date: 9 Jun 1994 11:30:22 U
From: "Harris Tom" <harris_tom@po.gis.prc.com>
Subject: AutoDoubler Problem
Return-Receipt-To: "Harris Tom" <harris_tom@po.gis.prc.com>
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu

I currently use AutoDouble 2.03 and Quicken 4.0 and I have no problems.  If
AutoDoubler (file level compression) is causing your hard disk to spin up, then
Stacker (driver level compression) should solve that problem.  I have found
that several email programs will also spin up your powerbooks hard disk.

From: kylea@INS.INFONET.NET
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 1994 09:39:20 CST
Subject: .MOD file info summary

Hello fellow netters!
 
Long ago I promised a summary posting of suggestions and info regarding my
request for
information on the .MOD file format on the Macintosh. Well, I finally have
prepared
one. I realise that this is a frequent question and that this response may be
over-
due, but better late than never.
 
I will post the replies I received here.  Those recommending SoundTrecker:
 
get the newest version of the soundtrecker.
its great!
and shareware
ciao    kp <klaus-peter gores>
 
also <Alan Piszcz>
 
Try a program called SoundTrecker.. It's a German program redone in
English, but is quite good. It even lets you perform surround sound effects
on MOD files, as well as the requisite save to disk as Sys7 sound.
 
It should be in either Info-Mac or Umich archives.. if you have trouble
locating it, let me know and I'll mail it to you!
 
Joel Moses
WSMV-TV (NBC)
jmoses@edge.ercnet.com
 
There is a shareware called "the Sound-Trecker" that can
play .MOD files on the Mac. If you cannot find it on
a ftp site, I can email you a copy.
Where do you get .MOD files?
 
			Louis <Louis Moreau>
 
Try Sound-Trecker. It's avaliable at most mac ftp sites, or email me and
I'll sen it to you (230k).
 
		adamf@isx.com (Adam Fouse)
		
Try Sound Trecker 2.2. It is EXCELLENT.
 
It is available in the sounds/utilities folder of your favourite Info-Mac
mirror site. The path once inside info-mac is:
 
/info-mac/snd/util/sound-trecker-22.hqx
 
Have a nice day :-)
 
Any trouble? Let me know.
 
Arthur Day, Electron Microscopy Group
Ansto Advanced Materials Program                        Phone: 61-2-717-3457
PMB 1,  Menai (Sydney), NSW, 2234                        Fax: 61-2-543-7179
Australia
Email: ard@atom.ansto.gov.au
 
Try Sound-Treker its available from many sites. It seems pretty good and
can read many .MOD formats at various sampling rates. It seems pretty
good. I have a copy on a CD at home if you can't find it in the archives
just drop me a line and I'll bin-hex it to you.
 
Regards Ralph Buckley                     Baldrige Silver Project Manager
                                              Customer Satisfaction Group
BUCKLR at UKSSVM1 / GBIBMZGZ at IBMMAIL          ISSC Service Delivery
Ralph@vnet.ibm.com                               PO BOX 41, North Harbour
                                                 PORTSMOUTH, Hampshire
Int:(7)255504 / Ext:(0705) 565504                UK, PO6 3AU.
_________________________________________________________________________
 
Standard Disclaimer: These are my comments; not the views of IBM-ISSC.
 
X-MX-Comment: QUOTED-PRINTABLE message automatically decoded
 
Hi there... What you are looking for is a program called THE SOUND TRECKER, a
beautiful nifty interfaced .mod player for the mac. (if you are lucky enough to
own a PowerMac, you'll be pleased to know it comes with it's own PowerPlug, to
take adv
The program is definitely in SUMEX. I have version 2.2, and I believe it's the
latest. I'm sure you'll get loads of mail telling you to get Player Pro, but I
recommend The Sound Trecker instead.. It is not only faster, but niftier.
        Enjoy...!
 
Cheers,
CRISTIAN
 
aviola@conicit.ve (Agustin Viola)
 
 
Hi,
 I have a utility called sound Trekker which plays amiga mods. If you
haven't sorted your problems out by the time you get this then drop me a
line and I will post it to you.
 
 
Cheers,
 
 
Rob. \\//
 
Public service announcement: This signature file is under construction....
******************************************************************************
* Confused? You Will be! * Okay here's the way to contact me,if you want to! *
* Sodomy non sapiens..   *    w.r.brady@ncl.ac.uk is for email..             *
* Oh No, another boring  *    +44 (0)91 266 8998, answered as Digital Domain *
* signature file..Ho Hum *    +44 (0)91 266 9995, for faxes and stuff..      *
******************************************************************************
... and normal service will be resuming shortly, just like British Rail ;-)
 
 
*****The following posts were more detailed than most. Note that the
overwhelming
response was in favor of SoundTrecker. I liked Player Pro and SoundTrecker --
try
both and see which is better for your situation.  Thanx again for all the help
everyone.  Cheers!
 
====
 
There are a couple of MOD players for Macintosh.  The one I like best is
The Player Pro, which you can find at:
 
ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/snd/util/player-pro-42.hqx
 
The other one I've looked at is called Sound Tracker.  It seems to work
well; I just like The Player Pro better.
 
I don't know if you can easily convert a .MOD file to a snd file.  As
SoundApp's documentation states, MOD files are not sound files, but music
files.  A MOD player will take relatively short sound samples in a .MOD
file and play them according to the pitch and sequence score also stored in
the file.  By using this method, you can produce several minutes of music
from a very small file.  If you could convert this to a snd file (strictly
a sample, with no sequence information), the result could take up an
enormous amount of disk space.
 
I hope this helps.  If you want to find out more about music file formats,
try looking at:
 
ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/info/music-file-formats-10.hqx
 
Bill Cameron                                       sdg
camerowd@picard.ml.wpafb.af.mil
billc55122@aol.com
 
====
 
regarding your questions about .MOD files in the info-mac digest,
(also C.S.M.D? I don't have Usenet access :-( )
 
SoundApp converts only the samples in a mod file, not the wholr
song.  SoundApp plays the MODs with routines borrowed from Sound
Trecker. Sound Trecker will play the MODs just the same way, but
with a better IMHO interface, and will also convert them to AIFF,
SYS7, and Soundmover? suitcases, or such... anyway, a few different
formats. and with sampling of 11 to 44 Khz and 8 or 16 bits and
stereo or not. if you don't know about all that stuff, the higher
each of the settings is, the better it sounds, and the more it
fills up your hard drive :-)
        you might want to just keep them as MODs, though, they
take up a few megs apiece as SYS7 sound files. as MODs, they are
just a bunch of samples, and instructions on what to do with them,
so they are very small. The Sound trecker is available on info-mac
in the sound or sound/util folder, I'm not sure which. hoe this
helps. TTYL
-- 
Jim "Chr0med Aardvark" Russell of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Internet: jrussell@unibase.Unibase.SK.CA
 
=====Player Pro info.
 
From: jamal@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Jamal Hannah)
Message-ID: <199409212114.RAA24231@bronze.lcs.mit.edu>
To: kylea@INS.INFONET.NET
Subject: playerpro-info.txt (this is a little old.. sorry..)
 
THE PLAYER PRO DEMO INFORMATION FILE (FAQ)
by Jamal Hannah <jamal@gnu.ai.mit.edu>, 6/21/94, version 1.21
-------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS:
 
* What is the Player PRO Demo?
* What is the latest version of Player PRO?
* What are the features of Player PRO?
* What Hardware do I need to run the Player PRO?
* Where can I get the Player PRO?
* What Software do I need to run the Player PRO?
* What are MOD files?
* What file format is native to Player PRO?
* What do I need to do to make my own MOD files?
* Where can I find MOD files?
* How do I go About Writing MOD-Playing Code?
* How do I Register the Player PRO so I can Edit MOD files?
* What do I do if I cant get the Player PRO to work?
* What other programs for the Macintosh play or Edit MOD files?
* Seeking further technical information.
* Electronic Mailing-List Address
 
 
WHAT IS THE PLAYER PRO DEMO?
 
"The Player PRO" is a shareware music/soundtrack file player and
editor for the Apple Macintosh.  The version available on public FTP
sites and BBS systems is a _DEMONSTRATION_ version and does not have editing,
and some other capabilities activated, and is commonly known as the "BBS"
archive.
 
 
WHAT IS THE LATEST VERSION OF THE PLAYER PRO?
 
As of June 9, 1994, the latest version of the Player PRO is version
4.15(6)  (Released: 6/6/94)
 
In some erlier versions of The Player PRO, it's hard to tell exactly what
version it is, because in some places it will say one version number, and
in other places it will say another.  The best way is probabaly to check the
version in the "Get Info" window, in the Finder.  (Though even this may
not be reliable... just look at all the different version numbers and try
to find the latest one.)
 
 
WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF THE PLAYER PRO?
 
A registered version of the Player PRO can currently import and play music
module files of the following types:
 
Amiga SoundTracker 4 voice, 15 instrument
Amiga NoiseTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument (M.K. signature)
Amiga ProTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument, 64 pattern (M.K. sig.)
Amiga ProTracker 4 voice, 31 instrument, 128 pattern (M!K! sig)
Amiga Star Tracker (StarTrekker) 4 voice (FLT4 sig)
Amiga Star Tracker (StarTrekker) 8 voice (FLT8 sig) [Not tested]
Amiga Oktalyzer 4-8 voice [beta]
IBM FastTracker (ver 1.0) 6 & 8 voice (6CHN, 8CHN sig)
Macintosh MADF 1-16 voice, 8 bit instruments (Player PRO ver 4.1x? - 4.154)
Macintosh MADG 1-32 voice, 16 bit instruments (Player PRO ver 4.155 - ?)
 
The Player PRO does not yet properly import the following music formats:
MIDI, IBM 669 ("Composd" editor), IBM ScreamTracker 3.0 (S3M),
Amiga MED/OctaMED, and IBM Multi-Tracker Module (MTM), but these
are being worked on!
 
Note: The "FastTracker 1.0" 8-channel module type is actualy identical
to IBM GraveMod (.WOW files with "M.K." sig), and at least two 8-track
Atari STe formats ("FA08" and Octalyser's "CD81").. one simply needs to
change the 4-byte signature at position 1080 in the file to "8CHN" in
order to import them with Player PRO.
 
 
WHAT HARDWARE DO I NEED TO RUN THE PLAYER PRO?
 
The Player PRO will run on any Apple Macintosh with an Apple Sound Chip
(ASC) in it, or possibly a non-ASC Macintosh with System 7.1 and
Sound Manager 3.0 extension. (System 7.2 and above have Sound Manager 3.0
built-in) This includes the Mac SE/030 and the Mac LC, though they probably
do not have performance which is as good as machines like the Macintosh
Quadra family, or the AV series.
 
The Player PRO also works on the Power PC series, and has a "FAT" binary
code block in the data-fork for this purpose. The data fork contents can be
deleted by those who do not have a Power PC and wish to save some disk space.
 
 
WHERE CAN I GET THE PLAYER PRO?
 
The Player PRO version 4.15x is available from FTP site
sumex.stanford.edu, in directory path: /info-mac/snd/util
or these info-mac mirror sites:
wuarchive.wustl.edu in path: /systems/mac/info-mac/snd/util
ftp.hawaii.edu in path: /mirrors/info-mac/snd/util
 
As well as:  mac.archive.umich.edu, path: /mac/sound/soundutil
 
The file name (often) is: player-pro-415x-demo.hqx  (stored in Stuffit
Lite/Stuffit Delux format, and encoded with BinHex 4.0)
 
 
WHAT SOFTWARE DO I NEED TO RUN THE PLAYER PRO?
 
All versions of the Player PRO need System Software that takes
advantage of the Apple Sound Chip.  This includes system version
6.0.5 to 6.0.8, but is better implemented in System 7.0 and 7.1.
however, none of these contain the specific information for using
the Player PRO's current capabilities optimally.. you need
"Sound Manager 3.0" _and_ "System 7.1" specificly for this.
The Sound Manager 3.0 extension (as well as an enhanced Sound Control
Panel, version 8.0.1) is available via FTP at ftp.apple.com, in the file:
system-update-2-0-1-image.hqx, in directory path:
/dts/mac/sys.soft/7.system.updates.  The file must be
downloaded in ASCII mode, unless you have an automatic BinHex converter.
You must then un-BinHex the file, and then use the utilities called
"MountImage" (a Control Panel) or "DiskCopy" (an application), both from
Apple, in order to access the *.image file  (the file will have to be
decompressed first.)
 
If you don't have System 7.1 with Sound Manager 3.0, the sound quality
will depend completely on the performence of the Apple Sound Chip and
specialized routines that Player PRO uses for it, rather than standard
routines from Apple Computer.
 
Once you install the Sound Manager Extension, reboot your machine, and
launch Player PRO.  Go to the "Preferences" menu selection and set it
to use the "mono" Sound Manager 3.0 routines if you don't have your
Mac connected to a stereo.  This will significantly reduce problems
with the software, though it may run slower than it would with the
specialized, hardware-accessing sound routines.  Also, make sure you
turn on the "32-bit addressing" mode, in the "Memory" control panel
before running the latest version of Player PRO.
 
A Wish List:
 
All of the above is of course a lot of trouble.  It would be nice if
Antoine would add to the "Preferences" the option to use some
"Sound Manager 2.0" playing code, for use on non-32-bit-clean Macs running
system software erlier than 7.1.  (The shareware program "MacTracker 1.2"
has source code like this)  It would be even nicer if Antoine would
also include "Sound Driver/Sound Manager 1.0" routines, for the very old,
pre-ASC Macintoshes to be able to use The Player PRO!  (in Black and White,
with a small screen, of course.)
 
If you have a wish list of your own, feel free to contact Antoine Rosset
in email or with a fax, and suggest it to him.
 
A Note About Bugs:
 
Player PRO currently crashes if you attempt to "Import S3M" (IBM
ScreamTracker 3.0 MODs), so don't bother with it. (this will only
work in version 4.155 for now)  IBM FastTracker 8-voice
MODs load and play fine, however.  (Though you may run out of memory)
An actual 8-voice Amiga "StarTrekker" MOD file has not been tested yet,
but 4-voice StarTrekker (also called "Star Tracker" v 1.2) play fine.
 
Player PRO will force mod files from other Mac programs which
_already_ have an icon to have a Player PRO icon when it plays them.
You may or may not want this to happen. (too bad it isn't optional..)
 
Sometimes the icon for the Player PRO 4.15x application will look like
the icon from "The Player II", even on a color screen.  But it
also may look like a colorful Compact Disk... I have no idea why it is
sometimes one or the other.
 
Files do not always repeat correctly if they have a "pattern jump"
command at the very end.. also, there are problems with modules
that do not set the speed in the beginning: if they repeat, and the
speed has been altered, they will replay at this new faster or slower
playing speed!
 
The editor actualy displays octave ranges C2-B6, though MOD files
use octave ranges of C1-C3 (extended versions use C0-C4).  This does not
seem to effect pitch playback quality, however.  The General-MIDI and XTracker
formats support up to 9 full octaves!
 
 
WHAT ARE MOD FILES?
 
"MOD" files, also called "music modules", or "soundtrack" files, were
originally created on the Amiga computer by a man named Karsten Obarski,
in a program called "SoundTracker".  They were intended to be compact
ways of storing music inside games and demos, especially background music.
The files consist of "patterns" of musical notes inside "partitions"
(pattern lists) which can be played in different order, and more than once.
(Note: the term "pattern" sometimes refers to a single set of 4 notes &
commands in a 4-voice module, or sometimes to an _entire_ pattern list
(partition) of 64 patterns.)
 
The musical notes are played as sampled sounds which are stored at the end
of the MOD file.  The sounds are played back at different pitches to give
the effect of a real musical instrument or synthesizer.
(Note: The term "sample" sometimes refers to a single byte inside
an 8-bit digitized sound, and sometimes to the _entire_ digitized
sound (intrument or "patch".)
 
Simmilar "memory dump" formats were written by Amiga programmers like
Armin Sander (Oktalyzer), and Teijo Kinnunen (MED), though later they were
changed both to something more extensible. (see below)
 
The origional SoundTracker format was later extended by "Mahoney and Kaktus"
of Switzerland in an Amiga program called "NoiseTracker", and later even
further extended in "ProTracker" by Lars "ZAP" Hamre (PT 1.1),
Peter "CRAYON" Hanning (PT 2.3A), and eventualy various members of
an Amiga coding group called "CryptoBurners".  Version 3.10 or 3.15
is the current version of ProTracker for the Amiga.
 
Since the origional version of the MOD format spec, there have been many
new types of MOD file, some simply adding more patterns so the MODs could
hold more "voices", while others added more effects.  These types include
Star Tracker, Oktalyzer, and OctaMED on the Amiga, and GraveMod (WOW modules),
FastTracker 1.0, ScreamTracker 2 & 3.0, Farandole, MultiTracker,
XTracker (DMF modules), TakeTracker (almost identical to FastTracker 1.0),
and UltraTracker on the IBM.
 
Newer, more advanced and flexible module formats are always being written,
and future version of the IBM "ScreamTracker" and "FastTracker" programs
will have completely new, extended formats.
 
 
WHAT FILE FORMAT IS NATIVE TO PLAYER PRO?
 
The module format that The Player PRO currently uses is called "MAD",
and is commonly referred to as "MADF", though a newer, extended version
with the internal signature "MADG" is now being used.
 
 
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO MAKE MY OWN MOD FILES?
 
In order to edit your own MOD music files on the Macintosh, you need to
register the Player PRO Demo so that the editing capabilities can be
activated.  Also, you need specific information about the internal
structure of MOD files, as well as the different musical effects "commands"
which you can use within the MOD.  This information is available on
FTP site sumex.stanford.edu, in the files "mod-info.txt" and
"mod-form.txt", both of which reside in directory path
/info-mac/sound/util, or on the mirror site wuarchive.wustl.edu
in /systems/mac/info-mac/sound/util.  You _must_ have these files,
or something else with similar information, because most MOD editors
(Sound Trackers) are not like traditional music composition software,
and they do not rely on placing notes on a musical staff.  (which would
be far more intuitive.)  Rather, the user must edit the patterns directly.
The Player PRO npw offers a limited form of "Classical Partition" editing,
which is a step in the right direction.
 
Some helpful information for editing MOD music would be in the
"LESSON_1.TXT" file by Per Almered of Sweden, which origionaly
came with an Atari STe 8-track module-editor called "Octalyser".
This is available with it's accompanying module on info-mac ftp sites.
(info-mac/info/sft/mod-editing-lesson.hqx).
 
Also, the electronic magazine called "SIGNALS" has some very valuable
information about editing mods, by an IBM programmer called "Necros",
at email address: <segaag@craft.camp.clarkson.edu> (this address
seems to be out of date)... "Necros" and other IBM music programmers
and composers can sometimes be found on Internet Relay Chat (IRC),
in channel "#coders".
 
It might also be a good idea to have the Mac shareware utility "HexEdit"
(System 7 only), which is great for editing the data inside a Macintosh
file data fork.
 
 
WHERE CAN I FIND MOD FILES?
 
If you simply want to play MOD files, a good place to look is the aminet
FTP site.  You will need the Macintosh utility "MacLHA" in order to
decompress archive files with names that end in ".lzh" and ".lha".
Aminet's FTP address is: wuarchive.wustl.edu  path:
/systems/amiga/aminet/mods
 
 
HOW DO I GO ABOUT WRITING MOD-PLAYING CODE?
 
You can get source code for playing MOD files several different ways.
Antoine Rosset's MADF module playing libraries are available in info-mac
as a developer package.  Frank Seide's Sound-Trecker MOD-playing routines
are available at the same location.  Tom Lawrence & Marc Espie's Macintosh
Tracker source code is also available.  Other source-code tends to…

Showing first 20,000 characters of 37,103 total. Open the full document →

From: Info-Mac Moderator <macmod>
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 94 6:46:05 PST

for @techunix.technion.ac.il:info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu id AA00819; Sun, 6
Nov 94 09:10:03 -0800
Date: Sun, 6 Nov 1994 09:09:23 +48000
From: Guy Shaviv <guy@arshaviv.technion.ac.il>
To: info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Subject: [R] X-Windows for mac
Message-Id: <Pine.SGI.3.90.941106090824.806A-100000@arshaviv.technion.ac.il>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII




As requested by some, I am posting the smallest subset of responses 
which covers all the suggestions received concerning the question of running 
X-emulation on the mac.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From: ericb@sicom.com (Eric Brombaugh)
Message-Id: <9411022108.AA10252@sicom.com>
To: guy
Subject: X-Windows for mac
Status: RO
X-Status: 

>I have a MacIIx connected via serial port to a Unix-Workstation. Is there
>any way to emulate X-windows on the mac? I can also connect the mac via
>TCP/IP.

I have done this with my PB145 and a Sparc II machine at work.  I have
installed Suns SLIP software on the Sparc (shipped with the PC-NFS
server software), and MacTCP / InterSLIP on the Mac.  With this setup
I can get full access to the TCP/IP network via the Mac serial port.
I have used Mac X with it, but at a maximum data rate of 19.2 kbps it
is somewhat slower than is really useful.  Telnet and FTP are very
usable though.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Eric Brombaugh
ericb@sicom.com (work)
emeb@indirect.com (home)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To: guy
From: jkortg01@mpg.gmpt.gmeds.com (Jerry W. Kortge)
Subject: Macintosh X-Emulation
Status: RO
X-Status: 

Guy,
I have used both MacX and eXodus on a  Quadra 700 to run x-window sessions=
 with a unix host via TCP/IP.  Both worked fine.  I'm not sure is Apple is=
 still supporting MacX which is the reason we switched to eXodus after=
 having originally evaluated the MacX package. Good luck.

Jerry W. Kortge

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: boris@ny.ox.com (Boris Altman)
To: guy
Subject: X for the mac
Status: RO
X-Status: 

You have to connect via TCP/IP wich requires either ethernet card or
some Appletalk/Ethernet box like Gatorbox.
As far as software goes you have to get either MacX from Apple
or eXodus from White Pine software. This will transform your mac into
an Xterminal. However, it is quite slow Xterminal. It is fine for text
but real X applications with menues and graphics runn very slow.
I tried to run SaberC that way and got tired of it in about .5 hr.
IF you do not really need X, get telnet. It is free. It has multiple windows
and allows copy/paste between windows. It has ftp buil-in.
If you want to use serial connection you can get maclayers which is free,
allows multiple windows and supports X-modem protocol.
			Boris

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To: guy
From: "Markus Hatterscheid"  <MARKUS@glider.econ3.uni-bonn.de>
Date:         3 Nov 94 17:24:18 -11
Subject:      Re: X-Windows for mac
Priority: normal
X-Mailer:     Pegasus Mail v2.3 (R5).
Message-Id: <1A22F86A41@glider.econ3.uni-bonn.de>
Status: RO
X-Status: 

Hi Guy,

in the last info-mac-digest you asked about connecting your mac via a
serial line to a unix host.

It sholuld be possible to setup a TCP/IP connection between the unix
host and your mac using MacTCP and InterSLIP. Based on this TCP/IP
connection you could use MACX as a X-Windows-Server for the unix host.

Cheers
    Markus

AWOL Utilities 1.4:  Where to Find Them!
 April 24, 1998

Internet mail address:
 ab026@freenet.carleton.ca

Paper mail address:
 AWOL Software Productions
 PO Box 24207
 Hazeldean RPO
 Kanata, Ontario, Canada
 K2M 2C3

Package contents:
 Each program archive includes the "About AWOL Utilities" file, which gives a
 capsule summary of all AWOL Utilities programs.
 Virtual Desktop 1.9.2: powerful virtual desktop manager for all Macs and monitors
 Maybe 1.5.3: Finder alias enhancer, useful with Virtual Desktop
 Help on Wheels 1.3: stand-alone help server, used with all AWOL Utilities
 HoW Developer's Kit 1.3: developer's kit for Help on Wheels client applications
 PictPocket 1.3.2: window capture utility that produces small, editable pictures
 Menu Events 1.3.1: enables Apple events for inter-application menu control
 Menu Grabber 1.3.1: application using Menu Events to offer remote-control menus
 Trash Bag 1.2.2: maintains alternative trash folder to fight download clutter

Cost:
 Absolutely FREE!

Locations:
 [sumex-aim.stanford.edu and mirror sites (anonymous FTP)]
  <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/gui/virtual-desktop-192.hqx>
  <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/gui/maybe-153.hqx>
  <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/app/help-on-wheels-13.hqx>
  <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/dev/how-developers-kit-13.hqx>
  <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/gst/grf/pict-pocket-132.hqx>
  <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/dev/menu-events-131.hqx>
  <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/gui/menu-grabber-131.hqx>
  <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/disk/trash-bag-122.hqx>
 [Web site]
  <http://www.magma.ca/~awolsp/>
 People who cannot access the above services are welcome to send an envelope or
 disk mailer with adequate return postage (Canadian stamps, postal reply
 coupons, or U.S. cash in lieu) and an 800K or 1400K diskette to the address
 above for free reproduction.

Advice:
 When you pick up an AWOL Utilities program, be sure to get a copy of Help on
 Wheels too, so that you can read the help file in its best format.  The help
 file serves as both user manual and on-line help.  If you have a copy of
 Anarchie or Fetch, use the bookmark file provided in any AWOL Utilities
 program archive to get the latest version of Help on Wheels via FTP.

From: cottle david michael <cottle@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Lime Readme
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 13:29:50 -0600 (CST)


This is the README file for free anonymous ftp distribution of 
the demonstration version of Lime (version 2.15).  Lime is music 
notation software for the Macintosh, written by Lippold Haken
(faculty member at the CERL Sound Group, University of Illinois) 
and Dorothea Blostein (faculty member at Queen's University,
Kingston, Ontario). 

To use this free anonymous ftp facility, you will need:
 2 Meg or more of RAM on your Macintosh, 
 A program which can decode binhex files (Stuffit can do this), 
 and access to a PostScript printer. 

The demonstration version of Lime is for demonstration purposes only; 
it allows you to edit and print sample pieces, but you will not be able 
to save your changes.  If you have questions or comments, please call 
217-355-4500, or send Email to Lime@uiuc.edu.  If you would like to 
purchase Lime, see the address listed below.

To try demonstration Lime, follow these steps:
(These are System 7 instructions; Lime will also run under System 6.)
1)  ftp LimeDemo.sea.hqx and DemoMan.txt to your Macintosh.
    (You do not need LimeCProgrammer.sea.hqx -- that is only for
    C-language experts who want information on Lime disk files.)
2)  Decode LimeDemo.sea.hqx using a BinHex decoding program. (If
    you have StuffIt, 'Decode BinHex File' under the Other menu does
    this.)
3)  Double-click on LimeDemo.sea to expand.
4)  Read the instructions in DemoMan.txt for installing Demonstration
    Lime on your Macintosh.  DemoMan.txt is an ascii text file; it
    contains the beginning of the Lime User's Manual.  If you would
    like to look at the complete manual, ftp LimeManCom.sea.hqx
    and decode as described above.  It is written in MS word 5.0.

Please send Email to Lime@uiuc.edu if you have questions or comments 
about Lime.

Distribution (cost info) of Lime is handled through:

 	Electronic Courseware Systems
	1210 Lancaster Drive
	Champaign, IL 61821
	(217) 359-7099
	1-800-832-4965
	FAX   359-6578

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 23:52:33 -0500
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 93 13:22:45 EDT
From: Tom Coradeschi <tcora@Pica.Army.Mil>
Subject: PSPICE

Wally Patterson <patterwc@tigershark.ml.wpafb.af.mil> wrote:
>I'm looking for a MAC-based circuit simulator call PSPICE.
>Please, tell me where I can find it.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR THE MACINTOSH

[These opinions are posted by Professor A. E. Siegman, E. L. Ginzton
Laboratory MC-4085, Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305. Email responses
directed to siegman@sierra.stanford.edu on Internet or RW.AAP@STANFORD on
Bitnet will be welcomed.]

                 ----- 
    
Messages keep appearing on Mac newsgroups asking about analog and digital
circuit analysis programs and other EE-related educational programs for the
Macintosh. This is a brief summary of Mac-based digital and analog circuit
analysis programs I know about, plus a few additional programs that may be
of interest to electrical engineering students and teachers.

The programs reviewed here are:

* B^2 Logic: a moderately priced digital circuit analysis program.

* B^2 Spice: a very good moderately priced analog circuit analysis program
based on SPICE; RECOMMENDED

* CircuitMaker 3.0: commercial but relatively low-cost program (list price
$200) combining circuit layout and drawing tool and digital circuit
simulator. Haven't tried it, but review looks good.

* Design Center PSPICE: an expensive professional-grade version of PSPICE,
operable in the Mac but only in a primitive text-file-drive form.

* DigSim: a very neat little shareware digital circuit analysis program;
RECOMMENDED.

* Electronics Workbench: described as "powerful (and modestly priced)
software to build and simulate analog and digital circuits, on screen, with
click-and-drag capabilities for adding components and connecting wires".
Haven't had a chance to try it; but ads look good.

* : an OK but not great implementation of SPICE for analog circuit
analysi

* LogiMac: another quite good small digital circuit analysis program.

* LogicWorks: said to be a student version of DesignWorks -- haven't seen
this one myself.

* Micro-CAP II: student version of a SPICE-based analog circuit program; OK
but not great.

* Micro-CAP IV: commercial version of this SPICE-based analog circuit
program.

* PARAXIA: A package of laser beam and resonator analysis programs from my
own lab, now commercially available; RECOMMENDED??? - well, others like
it.

* PSpice:  A shareware version.

* TLS: A very good wave propagation and transmission line simulator;
RECOMMENDED.

The date of writing or updating is indicated for the more recent reviews
below. Undated reviews are from 1989, 1990 or possibly earlier, and may be
out of date at this point.

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

B^2 Spice
*********

(Version 1.1, review updated May 1992)

This is an neat small-scale implementation of Spice for the Mac from a new
small company, Beige Bag Software, located in Michigan. The program allows
you to graphically wire up an analog circuit on the screen and then analyze
the circuit behavior using PSPICE. At present only the dc sweep, ac sweep
and transient analysis capabilities of SPICE are implemented and the device
library is modest, but everything is in one integrated application, and
both the circuit and the graphical outputs from the analysis steps can be
sent directly to a printer.

The program also permits you to save a circuit wired up with the graphical
editor as a SPICE input deck, so that a circuit could be wired up using the
graphical circuit editor and the SPICE deck then transferred to a more
extensive SPICE program for more detailed analysis if desired.

I've used this program some and while it still has a few bugs both it and
the following B^2 Logic program look good and are being steadily upgraded.
They are available from:

        Beige Bag Software
        715 Barclay Ct.
        Ann Arbor MI 48105

        (313) 663-4309

        71620.3474@compuserve.com

List price is $130, with student versions around $35.


B^2 Logic
*********

(May 1992)

This is a companion digital circuit design and simulation program for the
Mac from the same company as B^2 Spice. The manual and description looks
good, but I haven't tried this program, only B^2 Spice. Both of these
programs are also available in PC versions.

CircuitMaker 3.0
****************

This is a commercial but relatively low-cost ($200) digital circuit layout
and analysis program produced by MicroCode Engineering (801-226-4470) and
favorably reviewed in the August 1993 issue of MacWorld. It allows you to
lay out complex digital circuits including digital and analog components
and wiring on a very large surface (48" square), including all standard
digital circuit components, switches, LEDs, and seven-segment readouts; and
then simulate the circuit operation, including observing the signals at
various points using scrolling chart displays, and watching the dynamic
operation of the LEDs and seven-segment displays.

Haven't had a chance to try this, but sounds good.


Design Center PSPICE
********************

(May 1992)

This is an extensive new professional-level implementation of PSPICE for
multiple platforms including IBM-PC with DOS, IBM-PC with Windows 3.0, DEC
VAX, SUN and Macintosh announced in 1992 by

        MicroSim Corporation 
        20 Fairbanks 
        Irvine CA 92718

        1-800-245-3022,
        (714) 770-3022 
        (717) 455-0554 (fax)

MicroSim also distributes (or used to distribute) the IsSPICE program
described below.

This package provides a very complete and extensive professional version of
PSPICE with extensive libraries including European devices, together with
schematic capture, PSPICE modeling of mixed-mode analog and digital
circuits, statistical analysis, stimulus generation, graphical waveform
analysis, and device characterization all in one package. However, the
Macintosh version of the package still operates only in a very primitive
text-file-driven mode on the Macintosh. In particular, while the Design
Center package apparently provides for graphical circuit editing and a
primarily graphical user interface in the PC Windows version, but _not_ on
the Macintosh.

The Macintosh version is priced at $550; versions for other platforms run
to multiple thousands of dollars. A free evaluation version with some
limitations was available to educators as of April 1992.


DigSim 2.0
**********

(Review updated May 1992)

DigSim is a shareware program written by Brian Rauchfuss, 8915 N 13th
Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85021 (this is an old address and is probably no longer
valid; information on an updated address would be appreciated). This
program is currently available as version 2.2 in the "app" section of the
info-mac archives at sumex-aim.

This is one of my favorite programs: small, neat, user-friendly, very
Mac-like, and cleverly done. When you open the program there is a palette
of standard digital components including toggle switches, LEDs, inverters,
and multiple kinds of logic gates and flipflops displayed at the side of
the screen. Using the mouse pointer (which neatly turns into a soldering
iron) you can click and drag these elements out onto the screen and wire
them up into a digital logic circuit of any complexity you wish.

Multiple wires can be connected to the "solder points" on each element, and
neat "square-corner" layout of the wires between any two circuit elements
is taken care of automatically by the program. A menu selection allows you
to turn the mouse pointer from a soldering iron into a pair of wire
clippers, which you can use to cut away any wires or elements you want to
remove.

As soon as the circuit is wired up you can use the mouse to switch any of
the toggle switches in the circuit ON or OFF; and by connecting LEDs to any
points of interest in the circuit you can watch the resulting logic values
at these points switch HIGH or LOW. As an example, if you want to
demonstrate one of DeMorgan's theorems, you just wire up a pair of switches
so that they drive the inputs to both forms of the logic statements
appearing on opposite sides of the theorem, and see visually that for every
possible combination of inputs, the LED responses at the outputs of the two
circuits are the same.

In addition, you can open a simulation window which will display the input
and output waveforms versus time at multiple selected points in the
circuit, just as they would be seen on a multi-beam oscilloscope. You can
draw arbitrary binary waveforms for each input point using the mouse, and
then see what the outputs will be at other points, with a choice of times
scales for the horizontal axis. There is even a small fixed logic delay or
switching time associated with each element, so that the effects of gate
delay can be envisioned.

Much more complex circuits can of course be wired up and tested, as well as
saved for future use; and in addition multielement circuits can be saved as
"black boxes" with multiple inputs and outputs for use as building blocks
in still more complex circuits.

All in all, this is everything a small educational or demo program should
be. Despite being written in 1986 (or earlier) it seems to run fine under
Multifinder. I recommend it highly as an "on-screen digital logic lab" for
class demonstrations, student experimentation, and the like.


Electronics Workbench
*********************

(Revised March 1993)

I've only seen advertisements for this program, not tried the most recent
version myself; but to judge from the brochures this is a relatively
inexpensive program (around $200 for the ``personal'' version) for wiring
up and analyzing analog and digital circuits on the Macintosh screen. The
program is described in a 1992 advertisement as "the electronics lab in a
computer" with "powerful software to build and simulate analog and digital
circuits on screen", including click-and-drag capabilities for adding
components and connecting wires. There are separate analog and digital
modules

In common with DigSim and in contrast to B^2 Spice, this program displays
all the available circuit components as icons in a scrolling "parts bin" at
the side of the screen; you select components from these, using the mouse
to drag components on the screen. There are also a number of test
instruments including a pulse and function generator, a ``Bode Plotter''
(swept frequency analyzer), and an oscilloscope in the analog module, and a
word generator, logic analyzer, and logic converter in the digital module,
which you drag on to the screen and wire into your circuit. The screen
graphics in the brochure look quite good.

According to the advertising Electronic Workbench uses SPICE as its
analytical engine. Both PC-compatible and Mac versions are available; I
would say that an earlier Mac version that I tried clearly showed its PC
origins, with the interface not being very Mac-like. Electronic Workbench
is available from

        Image Technologies 908 Niagara Falls Blvd North Tonawonda  NY
        14120-2060

        (416) 361-0333
        (416) 368-5799 (fax)

IsSPICE/PSPICE (Mac Classroom Version)
**************************************

IsSPICE/Mac is a commercial version of SPICE for the Macintosh available
>From MicroSim Corporation (see Design Center review for address) which was
available for $95 (no coprocessor version) or $295 (coprocessor version.)

MicroSim distributes a series of both student and professional versions of
PSPICE for use on a variety of Apollo, DEC, IBM DOS, Macintosh, OS/2, and
Sun machines. This student version of PSPICE for the Mac appears to be a
pretty complete professional-grade version of the well-known SPICE program,
except it's limited to about 10 transistors and 25 nodes and has a reduced
version of the SPICE library.

Unfortunately, what the program provides is just plain old 1970s-style
SPICE with the same antiquated text file data input and output methods; no
ability to wire up or view circuits as on-screen schematics; and little or
no adaptation of the program interface to the Mac. You also still have to
first run SPICE on the input data file to carry out the analysis and then
run another program, Probe, as a separate program to view the output
waveforms; and the viewing capabilities and command interface in Probe are
pretty primitive by modern standards.

SPICE itself is of course a powerful, highly developed, and widely used
piece of circuit analysis software. If you like SPICE itself, or if you
just enjoy running programs with IBM PC interfaces on the Mac, this will be
fine with you. But if you're looking for a _Macintosh_ circuit analysis
program, forget it.

[Could someone make up a HyperCard interface that would let you draw your
circuit and automatically prepare the associated input text file in
HyperCard, then launch SPICE and Probe from HyperCard buttons?  Might be
one way to put a Mac interface on this program.]


LogiMac 1.21 
************

LogiMac is a small digital circuit analysis program written by Chris
Dewhurst of Capilano Computing in Canada. It was formerly distributed by
Kinko's Academic Courseware Exchange, which is unfortunately defunct. It is
now available from the Intellimation Library for the Macintosh (see the TLS
description below for the address).

This is also a good program for digital and logic circuit analysis, perhaps
even a little more capable than DigSim. It comes with good documentation
and I give it a very favorable recommendation, though I like DigSim a
little better and therefore have used it much more. This is primarily
because the individual elements in DigSim are visible on screen in a
palette, while in LogiMac the elements are all listed in a long menu, and
you have to pull the menu repeatly to access a new element to add to the
circuit. Other than that the capabilities of the two programs are quite
similar.

One other problem is that the version 1.21 of LogiMac which I have is dated
1985 and will not run under Multifinder, at least not on my Mac II or SE/30
running System 6.0.5. On the SE/30 it gives the error message "Invalid
Illegal Instruction: ---- 3000". [Does that imply there can somehow be
"Valid Illegal Instructions" ?!?]  If a new version is or will be available
>From Intellimation, perhaps this problem will be solved.


LogicWorks
**********

(February 1993)

around $300 from

        Capilano Computing
        1168 Hamilton St.,  Ste. 501
        Vancouver BC V6B 2S2
        Canada

Substantial educational discounts are also said to be available.



Micro-CAP II (Student Version)
******************************

(Review from 1990 or thereabouts.)

This is an older student version of the analog-circuit analysis program
Micro-CAP IV which was originally developed (I believe) for the IBM PC
world. It's available commercially from Spectrum Software (see review of
Micro-CAP IV below for address). The price is right (around $40); the
general approach is right (you can wire up circuits on screen by selecting
elements from a palette and pointing and clicking on screen); and if the
details were just a little better executed, the whole program would be
just right. Unfortunately it isn't.

As mentioned, the program opens up with a Circuit Window; a Components
Window, i.e., a palette of standard components like RLC elements, diodes,
transistors, batteries, pulsed and sinusoidal time-varying voltage and
current sources, op amps, and so on; and a Library Window in which one can
select or define values for named components. Using a slightly awkward
approach one can click on an element in the palette to select it, click in
the circuit window to create a copy of the element there, and then type in
a numerical value or a logical name for the element.

Unfortunately the troubles start right there. If you want to create a 100
picofarad capacitor, after clicking to position the capacitor you have to
type "100PF" EXACTLY -- not "100 PF" or "100pF" or "100 pf". The program
will accept all of these other inputs, with no indication of any trouble --
but "100 PF" for example will give you 100 FARADS instead of 100
picofarads. Similar complications arise in trying to assign values to
resistances or inductances in ohms, kilohms, microhenries, and so on: "1K"
gives 1 kilohm, but "1 K" doesn't; I guess it gives 1 ohm. In general
neither adequate input error checking nor the "pico, milli, Mega" concepts
of SI have made it into this program yet.

To keep things interesting if hardly consistent, if you want to put in a
10-volt battery, you have to click and then type just plain "10", not "10V"
or "10 V" -- neither of which will be accepted at all.

Once a circuit is wired up on screen, you can insert, delete, or change the
value of elements, using the mouse; and then carry out transient, DC or AC
analyzes.

The transient analysis does a time-domain solution with single or repeated
pulsed signal inputs of various kinds. There are 16 adjustable parameters
(time scales, time steps, error criteria, output voltage points, etc.) for
the simulation; these can be edited (in a rather awkward fashion) in an
"edit window" which operates essentially like a Mac dialog box. You can
then run and display the transient analysis on screen, displaying 4
separate voltage waveforms versus time. The analysis parameters and the
output waveforms can also be printed or dumped to disk files.

The DC analysis finds the DC response of the circuit (which may be linear
or nonlinear) and displays a plot of the output voltage at one selected
node versus the input voltage at another selected node, with everything
else in the circuit held constant. Again there are multiple parameters,
such as choice of input and output nodes, input voltage range and step
size, and so on, that can be edited; and the results can be printed or
saved.

A third mode is an AC analysis or Bode plot which plots gain in dB, phase
shift in degrees, and group delay in time units versus frequency for
selected input to output points of a circuit. The frequency axis is on a
log scale with selectable lower and upper frequency values and frequency
steps.

The program also has user-defined waveform generation capabilities and a
Fourier Analyzer module, which I have not explored.

This program has the promise of being very valuable and useful, but
unfortunately the difficulties I mentioned above, plus others I'll mention
below, put me off sufficiently that I stopped trying to make any
substantial use of the program even though I teach an undergrad
intermediate electronics course in which it could be most useful.

My first effort, for example, was to use the MOS transistor model in the
program to wire up an elementary two-transistor enhancement-load MOSFET
logic gate such as we were analyzing in class. Neither the transient
analysis nor the dc input-output characteristics of this gate were
correctly simulated by the program. In an attempt to understand this, I set
up a simpler circuit just to display one curve (for one fixed gate voltage)
of the IDS versus VDS characteristic curves of a single MOS transistor.
That didn't come out right either. A call to the vendor revealed that this
can't be avoided, due to some problem in the MOS dc response related to the
way the body of the MOSFET is handled (though if the manual is to believed
this shouldn't even matter at all). (This may be corrected in newer
versions.)

Playing with other circuits gave somewhat better results; though in general
the numerical simulations using default parameter values seemed very crude
and inaccurate. Simulating the decay of a simple RLC circuit, for example,
gave transient results hardly recognizable as a sine wave, and with a very
inaccurate value of damping rate.

I imagine the program can probably be made to perform better with better
tuning of the parameters employed in the simulations, though probably at
the cost of considerable slowing down of the calculations. I'd want to see
a much more "bullet proof" and relia…

Showing first 20,000 characters of 26,898 total. Open the full document →

From: jskud@wv.MENTORG.COM (Joseph Skudlarek)
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 93 22:51:09 -0700
Subject: missing posting?

I think I sent this message to you about 12Aug93, yet I have not
seen it posted yet.  I may have sent it to the wrong address
(info-mac-request instead of info-mac maybe), or I may have missed
the posting, but would you please check to see if you got this
posting? If so, please let me know.  If not, please consider this
a request to post.  Thanks.  /Jskud

In-reply-to: info-mac-request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU's message of 12 Aug 93 06:09:16 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.digest
Subject: info-mac CD II OnLocation Summary
References: <9308120609.AA22691@SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU>
Distribution: world
--text follows this line--
This is a follow up to my original posting:

    >------ Begin Included Message ------
    > Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 10:46:15 -0700
    > From: jskud@wv.MENTORG.COM (Joseph Skudlarek)
    > Subject: info-mac CD II OnLocation Index
    > 
    > Is there any reasonable shareware/freeware for using the OnLocation
    > index that is included on info-mac CD II?  The index itself is about
    > 7.3MB, and is reputed to have both filenames and text within files
    > indexed, which should make searching much easier.
    > 
    > OnLocation itself costs about $129 retail, and about $75 from
    > MacConnection or MacWarehouse.  That's really more than I want to
    > spend for something I only expect to use very occasionally, and with
    > low priority.
    > 
    > I don't know much about easy-view, but I wonder if the OnLocation
    > index can be massaged into something that easy-view can use
    > effectively.
    > 
    > I will post a summary of the e-mail I receive.  Thanks.  /Jskud
    > 
    >------  End Included Message  ------

I received only two replies and one inquiry.  Here are the edited
summaries.

William Horwarth (howarth@phoenix.Princeton.EDU) wrote in to say

    On Location is the single most valuable utility I own. The August
    MacUser gave it a 5-mouse rating and a strong rave review; it's
    the very best text-searcher and retriever now on the market. If
    you use large text files and want to be able to open files
    quickly, find relevant strings of text, and copy or paste them
    elsewhere, this is the software to use. It also has
    file-manipulation ability, so you can move, copy, or delete files
    without returning to the Finder.

    My one disappointment with On Location is that its publisher
    apparently has no current plans to upgrade. Maybe the strong
    MacUser review will help them change their minds.

    Anyway, if you buy it, you will use it often and happily, I
    guarantee.

Given the glowing recommendation, I expect I will purchase On Location
eventually, but I'm still waiting for the price to come down.

Mike Cohen (isis@netcom.com) wrote in to suggest

    If you want to get On Location, buy the All Of MacTutor (excuse me...
    MacTech) CD. Besides the complete set of articles and source code,
    various demos & shareware stuff it includes licensed copies of Think
    Reference 2.0 and On Location.

    You can order the CD directly from MacTech magazine at (310) 575-4343
    or custservice@xplain.com. The CD is $299 or an upgrade for $150 if
    you have an older MacTutor CD.

Given that it's $300 for the CD, I'll pass on this offer, although
Think Reference and On Location have gotten high marks.

Cliff Miller of info-mac CD II fame (miller@defun.cs.utah.edu) wrote
in to ask what I learned.  I summarized the above, and went on to
suggest that Free Text, rather than Easy View, might be a better
format, since both On Location and Free Text are indexers by design.

So, score at the bottom of the seventh,

   0 runs   no solution for initial request -- cheap way to use On
            Location index on info-mac CD II rom
   2 hits   On Location comes highly recommended, is available for $75
            Free Text rather than Easy View, looks like better target
   1 error  On Location was available _last_ August for $29.95 from
            T/Maker, but that offer is long expired; they were kind
            but amused when I called about it.

/Jskud

Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 18:44:03 -0500
From: Scott Kaplan <sfkaplan@cs.amherst.edu>

I received email from a Chunsheng Ban <cban@math.ohio-state.edu>, who passed
on some additional information about the state of TeX/LaTeX on the Mac.  For
anyone concerned, I figured it would be worth the time to update this file
by including the rather useful paragraph below.  The rest of the file, beyond
this paragraph, contains the same group of replies I got when I asked the net
people about TeX implementations on the Mac.

Scott Kaplan
Amherst College
sfkaplan@cs.amherst.edu

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: Chunsheng Ban <cban@math.ohio-state.edu>

The current version of OzTeX is 1.6. It has been a shareware since
version 1.5. You can print DVI files on a QuickDraw printer without
using a separate utility. It has a new format NFSS LaTeX which
replaces the Times-LaTeX format. You can use many PostScript fonts
in addition to Times (NFSS=New Font Selection Scheme). It adds virtual
font capability to OzTeX.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: pjakobse@estsa2.estec.esa.nl

I can highly recommend the freeware OzTeX package found on midway.uchicago.edu.
OzTeX is a no-nonsense, but robust (at least under System 7.1) Mac
implementation of TeX 3.14 that'll let you preview the .dvi files and print
PostScript to printers or files. If you don't have a PostScript printer,
there's also an application called DVI72-MAC that will let you print to at
least some QuickDraw printers (it works like a charm with my StyleWriter at
home producing an output that rivals that of the (DEC and Apple) laserprinters
at work - hard to believe, I know.). And yes, it also supports lobotomized TeX
(a.k.a. LaTeX), INITeX and hence any other format you may care to dream up
yourself. 

I use the OxTeX package (along with the no-nonsense freeware text editor
BBedit) all the time on my PowerBook and LC at home as a portable alternative
to my main (VMS VAXstation) TeX implementation. I have yet to encounter any
compatibility problems in transferring .tex .dvi and .ps files back and forth
between VMS TeX and OzTeX. The same combination oughta work just fine with
Sun/Unix Tex as well. 

Peter Jakobsen
European Space Agency

pjakobse@estsa2.estec.esa.nl

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: "Dr Alun J. Carr" <AJCARR@ollamh.ucd.ie>

First, if you're a novice, stick to LaTeX. Read Lamport's book. {\em Don't}
under any circumstances read Knuth's `The TeXbook' until you need the
information that is in it.

As for software, what you want is OzTeX. This is available by anonymous FTP
from

    midway.uchicago.edu.

It is freeware, written by Andrew Trevorrow.

OzTeX comes with a full set of 300 dpi Pk-format Computer Modern fonts for
TeX and LaTeX, but not the AMS fonts. Also included is LaTeX 2.09.

OzTeX has a DVI (the compiled output from TeX) file previewer built in, so
you can see what your document looks like before committing it to paper.
OzTeX will generate Postscript files from a DVI file, or print direct to a
Postscript printer.

If you want to print a DVI file to a QuickDraw printer you need to use
either James Walker's DVIM-72-Mac DVI printing application (an old-ish
version is bundled with OzTeX; the latest version is available by anonymous
FTP from bigbird.csd.scarolina.edu, where you can also pick up the word-wrap
patches for BBEdit), or OzPSPrint. Note that with DVIM-72-Mac, if you
include a PICT graphic in your document, you must explicitly leave space for
it (if you don't, OzTeX will preview it OK, but DVIM-72-Mac will place it in
the wrong position on the page). It's probably worth turning OFF the `draw
offscreen' option in DVIM-72-Mac, as I've found it produces bizarre bugs on
my Centris 650. DVIM-72-Mac will not use TrueType or Postscript fonts, but
OzPSPrint will (though the quality of PICT bitmaps is reduced to 72 dpi with
this application, which is a problem---for some reason OzTeX will take a 400
dpi bitmap and render it at 72 dpi in the Postscript file it outputs).

The editor of choice is Alpha (available from sumex-aim.stanford.edu, 25 US
dollars shareware) which, when you edit a file with a `.tex' extension, will
put up a menu which allows you to insert templates for most of the LaTeX
commands (it's almost like using a word processor---if you want to emphasize
a word (let's say: Fred), just double-click on it, select Emphasize from the
LaTeX menu, and the appropriate formatting information will be put in place
(i.e. Fred becomes {\em Fred\/})).

Also available from sumex-aim is the Excalibur spelling checker (freeware)
for LaTeX documents. My problem is that it has an American English
dictionary).

If you want a more sophisticated version of LaTeX, check out AMS-LaTeX (from
e-MATH.AMS.com). The font-handling in this is superior to ordinary LaTeX.

For maintaining BIBTeX databases, use HyperBIBTeX (sumx-aim) a hypercard
stack which makes the construction of BIBTeX databases very easy. You will
also need MacBIBTeX.

I picked up a copy of MacMakeIndex from somewhere as well...

You may be interested in looking at DirectTeX (shareware, 100 US dollars) as
well, which runs under MPW. It's nowhere near as friendly as OzTeX and the
documentation is appalling. But it does have a nice method of using METAFONT
to generate PK-format fonts that you don't have (handy if you're moving up
to a 600 dpi printer).

The bottom line is that while TeX is a grossly un-Mac-like concept, the Mac
is one of the best-served platforms for TeX-ing documents.

Hope this helps.

Contact me if you need any more information.

Regards,

Alun

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: halvers@sol.crd.ge.com (peter c halverson)
 
Both OzTeX and Textures are standalone TeX/LaTeX implementations that also
provide on-screen previewing.  Textures is a commercial application from a
place called Blue Sky Research.  OzTeX is freeware; the best place to get
it is midway.uchicago.edu.

I've used both; Textures is somewhat faster, and has smoother factilities
for dealing with TeX and Macintosh fonts; OzTeX, on the other hand, uses
the more general PK format for fonts, which is good if you're trying to
keep things the same across different platforms, but a bit clunky when used
in conjunction with other Mac fonts.  OzTeX is also somewhat easier to
configure, and, of course, is free.

>From the comp.text.tex FAQ:

    OzTeX is a free version TeX for the Macintosh.  Version 1.3
    corresponds to TeX 3.0, and can be configured in "large" versions
    that can handle huge macro packages, e.g. LamsTeX.

    OzTeX uses standard pk fonts and tfm filesand creates standard dvi files.
    Includes a DVI previewer, and PostScript driver.

Hope this helps.

Pete Halverson                                      INET: halverson@crd.ge.com 
GE Corporate R&D Center                       UUCP: uunet!crd.ge.com!halverson
Schenectady, NY

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: tom prusa <TPRUSA@CCVM.sunysb.edu>

  i have used TeX on the macintosh for almost 5 years now and let
me tell you that the macintosh is an extremely friendly
environment to work with TeX.  As you probably know, LaTeX is
just a set of TeX macros so any real TeX implementation will
also work with LaTeX (once LaTeX has been configured for that
implementation).
   for the mac there are two implementations.  first, there is oztex.
oztex is a FREE version of tex.  i used it for about a year or so.
it is excellent (far better say than the expensive versions my
colleagues here use on their PCs). it is available via ftp from
tank.uchicago.edu under the pub/OzTeX subdirectory.  given the
price, it is hard to beat OzTeX.  second, there is Textures.  Textures
is a commercial implementation of TeX.  I use Textures, but that
is mostly because I bought an earlier version of it before oztex
was available.  A couple of years ago I actually thought that
oztex was superior and I switched.  Since then textures has been upgraded
(twice) and I switched back (at the cost of a $99 upgrade fee).  okay,
why did i switch?  well, first of all, textures has a bit nicer
user interface (less like a mainframe, more like a macintosh). second,
the upgrade included the CMR fonts in postscript format, which allows
me  to use them with other programs, like Canvas. textures is
available from blue sky research at 800-622-8398 (pacific time zone).

oh, by the way, both versions are unbelievable slow on 68000
level machines (like my MacPlus at home) so I hope you have
a 68030 machine or above.

Tom Prusa
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Economics
SUNY at Stony Brook

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: lawry@maths.ox.ac.uk (James Lawry student tel 2-70511)

OzTeX is what you want. It is available by ftp from
a number of places - ftp.tex.ac.uk, midway.uchicago.edu,
and I'm sure mac-archive.umich.edu has it somewhere as well.
It's up to about version 1.42 or v1.43 now, but I have
v1.3 and have yet to notice any missing features that I need.

The program is basically a .dvi compiler and viewer rolled into
one. I run it under system 7 with a text editor and my file open,
and OzTeX running as well.

What sort of printer do you have? Or are you not worried about
printing from your Mac? If your printer is PostScript, the OzTeX
program will print directly to it. I'm not lucky enough to have
a PostScript printer, so I don't know how well this works.

If you have a QuickDraw laser, StyleWriter, HP DeskWriter,
ImageWriter ... anything not postScript, then you need a separate
program to print out. It's called DVIM72-Mac, and most sites store
it with OzTeX. Warning! Get the latest version: I had difficulties
with the program at first, and I posted to the UseNet group
comp.text.tex asking about it. The author of the program, Jim Walker
promptly mailed me back (isn't the InterNet great?) and told me
that the latest version is 1.9.6, available by ftp from
bigbird.csd.scarolina.edu. It works a treat for my StyleWriter.

Incidentally the whole printing business is a little fiddly because
the program doesn't use the Macintosh system fonts, and the fonts it
does use are not in the Mac format and are bitmaps, rather than outlines.
Now before you say "What a primitive program!", this is to maintain
compatibility with other versions -- the printouts I get on my StyleWriter
are indistinguishable from the ones on the Laser printer at our
department, running of a network of Sun-4's.

The font files are called PK-files. Being bitmap fonts, you need an
awful lot of them! And which ones you use depends on the resolution
of your printer. If your printer is 300 dpi it's not too bad: all the
files are readily available. You'll see all these files in the ftp
archive like pk300.sit, pk329.sit,pk360.sit, pk432.sit etc. You'll
probably only need those four. (There are bigger sizes, but I don't
seem to ever use them. Anyway they take up megs of disk space).

If you have a StyleWriter or other 360dpi printer, you'll also need
one which is pk394. This was kindly uploaded to ftp.tex.ac.uk the
other day, but I haven't downloaded it yet. The DVIM72 program is
reasonably clever at substituting fonts if you haven't got a particular
size, but it doesn't actually scale the characters up, it just spaces the (small) letters to the spacing the larger size would have had.
Nevertheless that's fine for proof prints at home for me and I can
bring the .tex file or.dvi file into the office to print on the laser.

The only problem with both programs is resources. The OzTeX package
takes about 2.5 Mb of space on my hard disk, and that's after throwing
away all the PostScript parts and a lot of the big fonts. I wouldn't
like to run it on a less than 4 Mb machine as well. The DVIM72 program
doesn't take up much space (and the latest version doesn't require
much of a partition either); but on my system, which has the StyleWriter
on the standard Apple print spooler, the temp files are about 1.5 Mb!
I suppose the program has to generate huge 360 dpi bitmaps. But the
thing refused to print when I only had 1Mb free on my hard disk,
because it couldn't create the spool file.

Nevertheless I find this system most satisfactory for TeX. It handles
LaTeX as well: you say you're a complete TeX novice, so excuse me if
you know this already, but LaTeX is to TeX what BASIC is to assembly
language, i.e. LaTeX lets you get the job done fairly well by making
common tasks easy while the real pros can fiddle around in TeX to
their heart's content. If you've just started using TeX, then I expect
it's LaTeX you're using.

James Lawry.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: ELOISE%MAINE.BITNET@amherst.edu (Eloise Kleban)

You've probably had responses to your question about TeX on the Mac,
but just in case... There are commercial TeXs available, but they
are expensive.  The only free version that I know is OzTeX.
One warning - it's *big*.  You need lots of disk space - my TeX folder
is 10.2 meg.  Enclosed below is an item on OzTeX that was posted some
time ago:
***********
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 91 21:28:57 EST
From: dmrrsn@math.duke.edu (David R. Morrison)
Subject: OzTeX
 
Mark Perry recently asked for comments about OzTeX.  I've been a daily user
for 18 months now, and I wouldn't be without it.  It is the only public domain
version of TeX for the Macintosh, and it is much closer than its commercial
cousins to the implementations of TeX which exist on other platforms.  OzTeX
reads and writes standard dvi, tfm and pk files, which can be exchanged (in
binary) with unix boxes and presumably with other machines as well.  It produces
PostScript output, which can be sent directly to a LaserWriter or saved to disk.
There is also a facility for using built-in PostScript fonts in place of the
standard TeX fonts.
 
The interface is not completely Mac-like, but then again, TeX itself is a
rather un-Mac-like thing.  There is no integrated text editor, so you must
either use a DA (\SigmaEdit is supplied with OzTeX), or your favorite word
processor to generate the input files.  TeX itself runs in a window with
a command-line interface, although it is started with a menu selection.  Once
the document has been processed, there is a nice previewer (in a separate
window) which provides several different magnifications.  The display is not
perfect in the previewer, since it is based on 300dpi bitmaps.  However, I
believe that the maximum magnification is a 300:72 ratio, so that you can see
the final product accurately (although larger than life).
 
The most recent version, OzTeX 1.3, has implemented Knuth's final standard
version of TeX:  TeX 3.0.  It has also provided an easy way to change the
amount of memory which TeX uses, and expand the capacity considerably.  (This
is really necessary to use new macro packages like LamsTeX, AmS-LaTeX, and
even AmS-TeX 2.0.)  In this larger size, it requires a couple of megabytes
to run, but the smaller configurations will run comfortably on a 1 meg Mac.
 
My OzTeX folder (which contains a rich selection of fonts and input files, not
just the basics) currently occupies just under 8 megabytes on my hard disk.
 
The major drawback I am aware of vis-a-vis the commercial products:  the
commercial products run a bit faster during document processing, and TeXtures
uses Macintosh fonts which produce a better screen display (although they are
less compatible with other versions of TeX).
 
OzTeX 1.3 can be acquired by anonymous ftp from midway.uchicago.edu, and several
other sites.
 
     David Morrison
     (dmrrsn@math.duke.edu)
*************************
Hope this is useful!
Eloise Kleban
eloise@maine.maine.edu

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: Neal Carothers<carother@andy.bgsu.edu>

	There are public domain versions of the TeX program available
for just about any machine/system under the sun.  A (free!) version
for the Mac, called OzTeX, is available through anonymous ftp at
midway.uchicago.edu (and probably other sites, too).  The full package
includes the capability of processing Plain TeX and LaTeX files.  In
order to use the whole mess, though, you'll need roughly 10 MB of free
disk space...  TeX uses a ton of fonts, and these take up a lot of
room.  In actual practice, though, you won't need them all.  With
some experimentation, you'll easily be able to trim that down to
just a few megs (I use a stripped down version at home that takes up
only about 2 MB, and a larger version at work).  
	As a former novice myself, I can tell you one of the pleasant
things about TeX.  Everything about it is free!!  There are several
large TeX archives on the 'net, with lots of free goodies.  Helpful
hints for beginners, along with fancy stuff for experts.  Check out
the ftp site: niord.shsu.edu.  You should be able to find several
beginner's guides there; I would recommend "A Gentle Introduction to
TeX", by Michael Doob (called gentle.tex in the archives), and the
Univ. of Oregon TeX Primer (author and archive filename escapes me
just now...).  Either of these will help you get started using Plain
TeX.  After you've gotten your feet wet, you may want to invest in one
of the many books available about TeX.  A good choice for a novice is
"A Beginner's Book of TeX" by Seroul and Levy, Springer-Verlag, 1991.
	LaTeX is another animal altogether...  In brief, LaTeX is a
huge collection of Plain TeX macros which have been designed to make
TeX easier to use (the name LaTeX is supposedly short for "Lazy TeX",
or so I'm told).  The only drawback with this scheme is that LaTeX is
not compatible with Plain TeX.  In addition, it lacks some of the
flexibility of Plain TeX.  But that's not to say that it isn't the
better choice.  Just a word of warning about the differences.  I only
know of one beginner's guide to LaTeX available on the 'net.  It's
called "Essential LaTeX", but it's very brief and doesn't cover any of
the technical stuff like typesetting mathematics and the like.  
	As you can probably tell, I use Plain TeX myself and don't
know very much about LaTeX.  I think it's fair to say that with either
choice this much is true: It's not too tough to get started composing
simple documents.  You could be up and running in a few days.  But it
may take you months to feel really comfortable with it; there is a
decidedly high learning curve for doing _complicated_ things with TeX.
Personally, I think it's well worth it.  As a mathematician, I've
found no other way to typeset the things I want printed.  And as
someone who corresponds with other mathematicians through e-mail, I've
found no other way to send complicated ideas as pure text (you can't
depend on anyone having access to MacWrite or Word or whatever, but
everybody has access to TeX).
	I hope this helps.  If you have questions, feel free to ask.
You might also want to check out the newsgroup comp.text.tex devoted to
TeX, LaTeX, and related issues.  In particular, look for their FAQ
file in news.answers.  It might save you some searching.  

Neal Carothers
carother@andy.bgsu.edu

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From: herchen@navier.stanford.edu (Harold Herchen)

No, you are not offbase at all.  It is not stated in your message, but I presume
your machine at home is a Mac.  Since it is presumeably not a Quadra 950,
speed might be a consideration.  In that case, I would strongly recommend
Textures version 1.5, which is three times faster than its closest competition.
This is because Textures is written in assembler, not C or Pascal.  It is
easy to create dvi files in it.  Just do a Save As from the typeset window
and select the dvi option.

There are three main windows in Textures.  One for the input text and TeX
or LaTex commands, one for any pictures you may include, and finally the
typeset page(s) window.  This is where Texture…

Showing first 20,000 characters of 28,348 total. Open the full document →

Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 18:28:32 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Amira <brian@scs.unr.edu>
Subject: Fax STF v3.0 Info (By Request)

I have now used every Fax program made for the Mac and think Fax STF 3.0 
is by far the best. Thus I will not talk about the others.

Is Fax STF Pro worth the extra moeny?
-------------------------------------
Hummm, well the PRO version is not out yet so it is kinda hard to tell. 
STF Pro adds AutoOCR - if you need fax OCR then this is good, if not is 
is a waste. AutoPrint - Auto printing of faxes, I don't really need this. 
Bacground Fax Imaging - Something nice to always have, but it will be 
slower. FaxView - Improved on screen viewing of faxes, the one thing I 
feel I would use most often. System 7 PRO PowerTalk Support - Useless to me.

As you can see it is really on a do you need it basis. I don't need PRO, 
but I might get it if it is a VERY CHEEP upgrade from normal STF.


How about some info about Fax STF 3.0?
--------------------------------------
At $39 mail order I would say buy it. When you do use the fax it will save
you alot of time. As far as whats new this could be rather long so I will
make it short and sweet. STF Tech can fax you more detail I would think. I
will be the first to admit that STF Tech is weak, but I have descovered
how to get good tech support from them after months of dealing with them,
DON'T CALL - FAX! When you fax them it gives them time to get the right
answer from the right person, if you call they crack under pressure. If
you need any help with STF please feel free to contact me and I will see
how I can help. When all else fales, ask STF tech. I am in now way related
with STF, I just hate to see a great product ruined by bad tech support. 

The Fax Print is the same PLUS GREYSCALE, but it no longer contains the 
settings. To change the settings you run a Settings app. or call them up 
from within Fax Manager. This makes for MUCH FASTER settings control. 
There is no loger that delay between clicking the setup button and the 
options coming up. It also suports Line Manager for Data and Fax 
reception with ARA. Also, if you don't choose a person to send to, the 
button says Save instead of Fax and the fax will just be created but not 
sent. It can then be placed in Include or Archive folders (see below).

Fax Status now has neat color Icons in it.

FaxMonitor init no longer puts the modem to Auto Answer, it just looks 
for the ring signal (A big improvment to me).

Quick Fax Does the same thing but has changed to support new features 
listed below. It also has a better interface and the ability to choose 
High or Low rez for the QuickFax.

Here is were the changes really start. FaxManager now STF Manager, has an 
entirely new interface and display of windows. It is in NO WAY like the 
old Fax Manager. The Activity Log is now a fully formated document with 
VERY percise control over what it desplays. It is important to understand 
that EVERY window I talk about from this point on functions like a 
spreadsheet. You can rearange the collums of information and sort by any 
of them. The activity log is now an interactive document as is EVERY 
window. You can delete specific entries without clearing the whole thing, 
and can get detailed info about that fax transmission/reception by dubble 
clicking on a entrie. The log now has collums desplaying: In Or Out icon, 
Name, Who, Result, Date/Time, # Pages, Elapsed Time, Speed, # Dialed, 
Station Message, From. All of there collums can be rearanged in order and 
sorted by any.

There is now a window displaying all the Fax Phonebooks. It has buttons 
and stuff that are of no sence for me to describe. When you open a fax 
phonebook it creates a new window with collums and stuff like the 
Activity Log and it has buttons & such for use.

There are now seprate folders for Fax In, Out, Hold, Include, and 
Archive. Each has a corrisponding window that you can drag and drop 
between to move faxes and/or send etc. Double click on any fax and you 
get info about it like who from, to, stuff like that. The whole interface 
is now Drag and Drop so if you have a fax in hold that you want to send 
out, you drag it from hold to send. You then drag and drop onto the fax 
the names of who you want it sent to. When you send faxes you can have 
them deleted, put into Archive, or into Include. Include is a place to 
store faxes you use alot and they can be attached to any fax you send 
out. Archive is self explanitory

The whole program now has alot of info to offer. What to know how manny 
errors there were in a fax, maby view them? Number of scan lines? Percent 
of errors? This is just a sample of the control you now have.

If I did not cover something you were interested in please feel free to 
ask me for more info.

<| Brian M. Amira  | Internet E-Mail: Brian@scs.unr.edu |>

Date:         Thu, 21 Apr 94 12:15:32 PST
From: Paul Brians <BRIANS@WSUVM1.CSC.WSU.EDU>
Subject:      How to Print Crop Marks Only in PageMaker 5 Documents


Aldus made the dubious decision that most people using PageMaker print
documents containing either gray-scale or color information. Therefore
in PageMaker 5.0 checking "Printer's Marks" in the Print Dialog inserts
not only crop marks but color/grayscale bars and registration marks on
every page. Even checking "Print all colors as black" (the only option
to tell PM5 that the document is B&W) does not suppress these extra
marks, which are distracting and use up extra toner.

After waiting forever on hold and dealing with Aldus' notoriously rude
"support" and biting my tongue (why don't they hire Miss Manners to give
seminars to those people?--I was warned by our local help desk to expect
rudeness, but it was still breathtaking) I was told that the solution is
contained in FaxYI number 115101. However that fax was not available
from their automated fax number (??). So the rude but helpful support
person personally faxed it to me. I asked for email if possible so I
could just copy and paste the code, but was told fax was the only way to
go. (Have you noticed that an astonishing number of support people have
never heard of the Internet?)

On receipt it turned out to be the following memo, prepared by
Compuserve resident PageMaker guru Olav Kvern (co-author of the
wonderful Real World PageMaker (buy it! you'll love it!), snatched off
CS by Aldus.

With the smudgy, sans-serif fax in front of me (is that an I or a 1 or a
vertical line?) I painstakingly typed it up and--voila, it works! For
other users I am attaching it as a text file below, which I suggest be
placed in the archives.  Just copy and paste the appropriate sections
for your purposes.

I assume the fact that the fourth character in the first example is a
lower-case "l" and that the fourth character in the the second example
is an upper-case "L" is a mistake; but I reproduce them here as I got
them: it doesn't seem to matter.

**********************************************************************

ISSUE
When printing from Aldus PageMaker 5.0, the option to print only crop
marks, registration marks, color-control bars, or density-control bars
is not given. The only option given, "Printer's marks" in the "Colors"
Print dialog box, prints all printers' marks.

SOLUTIONS
The following solutions will work only when printing to a PostScript
printer.
To Print Crop Marks Only When the "Printer's marks" Option is Selected:
1.   Open a new file in a word processing application that can save in
text-only format such as Microsoft Word or TeachText if you're working
on a Macintosh or Windows Notepad if you're working on an IBM-
compatible.
2   Type the following text below as shown:

%%AlAfter.ps
%%by Olav Martin Kvern
%%To have PageMaker print additional printers' marks,
%%comment out the line containing the appropriate mark,
%%as indicated by the preceding comment.
ALPS begin
%%registration marks
/V` {6{pop} repeat} def
%%density-control bars
/W` {6{pop} repeat} def
%%color-control bars
/X` {5{pop} repeat} def
end

NOTE: the character :`" (e.g., /N`) is a grave accent, located on the
same key as the tilde character (left of the "1/1" [or on some older
keyboards to the right of the command key--P.B.]. Ensure that a return
character is entered after the last word "end" or the PostScript error,
"undefined; OffendingCommand: endALPS" will be received.

3.  Save as a text-only file named "AlAfter.ps" in the folder named
Aldus (Macintosh) or in the ALDUS\USENGLISH directory (Windows).

To Print Other Printer's Marks Combinations When the "Printer's marks"
Option is Selected:
1. Follow the steps above which prevents PageMaker from printing the
registration marks, density-control bars, and color-control bars, which
results in PageMaker printing only crop marks.
Comment out (using "%%") the line containing the appropriate mark wanted
to print with the crop marks.

For example, to have crop marks and color-control bars print, type the
following:

%%ALAfter.ps
%%by Olav Martin Kvern
%%To have PageMaker print additional printers' marks,
%%comment out the line containing the appropriate mark,
%%as indicated by the preceding comment.
ALPS begin
%%registration marks
/V` {6{pop} repeat} def
%%density-control bars
/W` {6{pop} repeat} def
%%color-control bars
%%/X` {5{pop} repeat} def
end

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Because most print jobs request both crop marks and density-control bars
or all possible printers' marks, the choice to have one option for
selecting all printers' marks was made for PageMaker 5.0 using the
"Printer's marks" option in the "Colors" Print dialog box.

PageMaker 5.0 allows for modification to its print behavior by creating
external patch files, containing PostScript code. The "AlAfter.ps" file,
located in the folder named Aldus, will be downloaded and executed by
all PageMaker publications at print time.

SOURCE
Olav Martin Kvern tip in CompuServe ALDUSFO (Aldus Forum)

KEYWORDS
croponly

Created 09/29/93   Updated 02/15/94

Paul Brians, Washington State University, Pullman, WA  99164-5020