Letters

SYSTEM 3.1.1 BUG

David Smith

All three versions of the new ROMs have a bug in the resource manager that causes resources to be mashed together. This bug shows up in funny Scrapbook insertions (two or more resources run together) and in Pagemaker 1.2 document trashing. Aldus has gone to the trouble of sending a postcard to all owners (a great service, which we encourage and support!) warning them of the problem. System file 3.1.1, which was supposed to fix bugs in 3.1, which was supposed to fix bugs in 3.0, does not patch the ROM code correctly. BUT, I am assured by Apple that System 3.2, which fixes 3.1.1, which fixed...and so forth, DOES INDEED FIX THIS BUG. So, stop using 3.1.1 at once and move to system 3.2, until further notice. (The foregoing information subject to change at any instant.)

Try Omnis 3

Timothy Standing

Thanks for an outrageously great programming rag. I just received the May issue this morning and have spent the day reading most of it. It is the only Mac rag I read now. The rest I just skim to see what new products are being advertised.

I am writing in response to the editorial on pages 5 and 6. I have encountered similar problems trying to print mailing labels and wanted to share my solution with you. First, if you are going to print labels in the printer, try using label sheets made for copiers. They have a tendency to get jammed much less frequently. Second, try printing labels and then copying them onto labels. This gets around the whole problem. I admit this is not an elegant solution, but it is reliable. If you only have to do it once every month, it is not very onerous. [For 5,000 labels? -Ed.]

I have written a subscription database using Omnis 3 which tracks subscribers. I had a similar problem printing on labels (I am using the 1" high variety). My solution was to use the ImageWriterII's resident fonts. They are actually quite reasonable, and they allow you to sidestep the whole print driver problem. I also had to get around Omnis 3's problems with using nonproportional fonts, and the only way that was at all feasible was to use the fonts in the ImageWriterII. It is funny using some of the most sophisticated computer equipment, one had to take a giant step backwards in order to get anything to work correctly. Thanks again for a great magazine.

TML BUG WORKAROUND

Dr. Christopher Dunn

I have just received my first two copies of MacTutor and I am pleased to say my subscription is worth it. It is hard to see how I have managed over the last two years of rummaging around in a Mac without it.

I don't know if the following has been mentioned in these pages before, but I spent several hours trying to debug "normal" code that wouldn't behave in TML Pascal. I was trying to filter out lower case characters from input and convert them to upper case. I thought the routine was fairly "standard" Pascal. Some characters would behave, but others would not.

Try the following two programs using TML Pascal (1.11). The program testA will not work as one expects (but does work in Turbo Pascal and Mac Pascal). It seems the TML has trouble recognising the elements of a straight set assignment as "if s[i] in ['a'..'z']". Even assigning individual elements to the set by doing "if s[i] in ['a','b','c',]" will still result in an incorrect result. However, if one assigns a variable to that set as in program testB, the routine works as it should.

Program testA(input, output);   { This program will bomb}
var   s:string[80];
 i:integer;
begin
 write('give me a sentence: ');
 readln(s);
 for i:=1 to length(s) do
 if s[i] in ['a'..'z'] then s[i]:=chr(ord(s[i])-32); {upper}
 writeln(s);
 for i:=1 to length(s) do
 if s[i] in ['A'..'Z'] then s[i]:=chr(ord(s[i])+32); {lower}
 writeln(s);
 readln;
end.

Program testB(input, output);   {This program will work}
var     s:string[80];
 i:integer;
 lower, upper: set of char;
begin
 lower:=['a'..'z'];
 upper:=['A'..'Z'];
 write('give me a sentence: ');
 readln(s);
 for i:=1 to length(s) do
 if s[i] in lower  then s[i]:=chr(ord(s[i])-32); {upper}
 writeln(s);
 for i:=1 to length(s) do
 if s[i] in upper  then s[i]:=chr(ord(s[i])+32); {lower}
 writeln(s);
 readln;
end.

I hope I have saved someone from wasting the same few hours that I spent trying to figure it out.

How About OverVUE 2.0?

Gerry Young

I have all the issues of MacTutor and I think that MacTutor is the best, keep it up. I read in the last MacTutor of May 1986 your punishment of the Macintosh because you could not print simple mailing labels and therefore the Macintosh could never be considered as a true business computer. Sorry, Ed, but I have found that you did not research the problem enough to find a solution. I have gotten the Macintosh, with the Imagewriter, to print mailing labels- and no jams, or stuck labels when removing them when finished.

I am presently in charge of my 20 year high school reunion which needs three mailings to over 300 students. I am using OverVUE 2.0, of which mailing labels are explained in detail in Chapter 9; Designing Simple Reports. The only problem that I encountered was the same hardware problem that you encountered, the right paper tractor of the Imagewriter would not move to the left far enough to track the labels properly. Yes I am using 1 up labels, but OverVUE can handle up to 4 labels across. And I'm sure that 4 up labels will work properly if used. You were right by saying that it will not print labels hour after hour, but I did print my 300 by just guiding the paper by hand. Next time I'll buy 4 up labels and let it run by itself.

Cobol Wanted

Another subject I would like to talk about is programming in Cobol for the Macintosh. Now calm down the snickering! I have been programming for 10 years using Cobol on the HP 3000 and Tandem computers. Both these systems lend themselves to programming very user friendly application environments, as far as a non-Macintosh computer can be programmed. When I first saw the Mac, it swept me off my feet. This was, and still is the most user friendly computer any business user has even seen. Yes, I know this has been said over and over again, but it's true. So, I decided to learn how to program it in my spare time- Ha, Ha, Ha! Trying to make heads or tails of Inside Macintosh as far as Cobol is concerned is a $null subject. Please, Cobol programmers of the world need a book published just for Cobol programming on the Mac.

I purchased Mac Cobol from Micro Focus and find the development environment to be very clean and easy to use, but you are given only two examples of Cobol programs which touch on windows and pull down menus. How about an example on subjects like printing on the imagewriter, or the Appletalk network. Oh yes, they still have not released an HFS compatible Mac Cobol compiler, they say only soon, soon. I say HELP, HELP! What the hell, I guess I'm going to bite the bullet and learn Pascal even though I didn't want to purchase another development system besides the one I already have. Speak up Cobol programmers, I know that I'm not the only one..I hope. [You share the dilemma of the Fortran people, waiting...waiting for an HFS fix. I don't have the Cobol system, and I understand it is quite expensive. However, if they would send us one for free, I'm sure we could find some articles...-Ed.]

Asm Tutorials

Gerald Bracken

I enjoy your magazine very much but find that most of your articles are slightly over my head. I am a beginning assembly language programmer with a background of Fortran programming on a mainframe. I would like to see more tutorial articles on assembly language uses of the Mac ROMs. I would also be very interested in tutorial articles on how to get the most out of the TMON debugger. I find that the entire area of debuggers is very poorly documented and any "how-to" information regarding debuggers in general would be greatly appreciated. [On tutorials, I highly recommend Dan Weston's new book, "The Complete Book of Macintosh Assembly Language Programming, Volume 1, which is now available in bookstores. I just recently received my copy. This book has it all. It's great as I said in the May issue. The Waite Group book by Keith Matthews is also very good, and at a slower pace for beginners. Both are must buys for assembly programming on the Mac. -Ed.]

One For the Editor

Scott Locicero

I read a colleague's copy of the May issue and thoroughly agreed with the editor's rather cranky assessment of the Mac as a business machine. You were right on target! I really appreciate a Mac-oriented magazine that recognizes the machine's strengths without engaging in Mac-idolatry. [Familiarity breeds contempt. (Actually, I love the Mac!) -Ed.]

Try Silicon Beach

Donald O'Shea

I read your cry of agony in the May issue. I think I understand, but I think you have directed your ire toward the wrong target. The nice thing about computers, all computers, is that they are whatever you want them to be. They are the mind toys and work extenders few of us could ever dream of, but onto which we are able to project our wishes. As to your label problem, I would claim it's a matter of software, not hardware. I enclose the introductory pages of Silicon Beach Software's "Silicon Press". I think it will fill the bill. The insert enclosed with their manual shows that at Silicon Beach, there beats the heart of a hacker. [It appears Silicon Beach may have the best label solution on the market. We recommend giving them a good look. -Ed.]

Mousehole Access & Tech Tips

Paul Mercer

I would like to request a password to the Mousehole and share some tips you might find useful:

• From the 128K ROM mini-debugger, you can exit to Finder by jumping to _ExitToShell (type G 40F6D8).

• You can skip the long power-on memory test in the 128K ROMs by holding down the mouse button briefly on power up.

• Command-period can be used to abort any disk request dialogs but it will cause most programs to get confused.

• You can get some non-HFS compatible development systems to work under HFS by giving full pathnames in file names. The trick is to use option-space instead of spaces in the pathname.

• Command-period can be used to abort any disk request dialogs but it will cause most programs to get confused.

• You can get some non-HFS compatible development systems to work under HFS by giving full pathnames in file names. The trick is to use option-space instead of spaces in the pathname.

• The standard file package can be patched so that a command-backspace will move you back up one directory level. This is just like the command-up-arrow you can use on the Mac Plus keybaord. To install this patch (at your own risk), use Fedit to search the system file for 0C40 101E 6D18 and replace it with 0C40 1008 6D18.

[Write to Rusty Hodge, Sys Op, and request a Mousehole Password. See the Mousehole column for his address. -Ed.]

DB Master and ZBasic

Anthony Oresteen

You have missed the main point on labels. As the owner of a small business that does the majority of it's business by mail, I had the need for generating mailing labels. In March of 1985, I looked at every data (uh, FILE manager) base program. The main feature I considered was how fast did it PRINT? The only program that bypassed the Imagewriter driver and printed directly to the Imagewriter via ASCII text was DB Master. DB Master does labels and does them FAST with no waste. Any size labels. After printing over 20,000 albels, I have had only about 3 or 4 jam. Change suppliers (I use Quill) if your labels constantly peel off. Now the bad news. DB Master won't print right on a Mac XL. It also doesn't print correctly with the new 128K ROMs! The work around is to save the file as TEXT and then print with a DA printer such as MockPrint or Print Text. I've contacted Stoneware numerous times but they don't respond. We don't need more print drivers. We need OPTIONS in all business software to bypass the Imagewriter Driver & Print manager and go directly to the printer.

I have been using ZBasic 3.01 for a few weeks now and this language is HOT. How about a ZBasic review/support? It compiles, doesn't have any royalty fees, and costs $89. It can't write DA's, but there's not much else it can't do. It has full toolbox support. [Dave Kelly will have a review of both ZBasic and True Basic in the August Issue of MacTutor. -Ed.]

ShareWare Books

Ken Knecht

In the spirit of the Shareware concept, I am offering a book. As long as the supply lasts (1,000), in exchange for a 6" by 9" self-addressed envelope with $.39 postage, I will send a copy of my booklet, Macintosh Hints and Kinks. This indexed booklet contains a large number of the undocumented Command and Option key combinations for the desktop, MacPaint, MacWrite, MacDraw and many other programs, together with a number of tips. If you like it, send in $3.00 or whatever seems fair. Key Knecht, 1340 W. 3rd St. #130, Yuma, AZ 85364. [I tried it and Ken does indeed send out a small booklet with a number of useful tips and shortcuts.-Ed.]

Software Version List

The recent explosion of new versions of software has everyone's head spinning, so we've decided to try and publish an updated list each month of the latest version of each program of interest to technical Mac owners. Please write with any corrections, especially languages and utilties we may have missed. Thanks to Douglas Beck of Los Altos, CA for many of this month's updates.

Program Version

System Stuff

System File 3.2 (b8)

Finder 5.3 (b1)

Scrapbook 2.0

Imagewriter 2.3 (b3)

Appletalk Imagewriter 2.3 (b2)

Laserwriter 3.1 (b6)

LaserPrep 3.1 (b6)

Namer 2.1 (a2)

Installer 2.2 (b3)

Chooser 2.3 (a3)

Control Panel 2.0

HD 20 1.0

Aldus Prep 1.2

Macsbug 5.1a1

MacinTalk 1.1

Utilities

Servant 0.3

switcher 5.0 (b1)

Red Ryder 9.1

TMON 2.585

EUA for TMON 665

Nosy V2 2.097

RMaker 2.0d2

Font/DA Mover 3.2 (a4)

ResEdit 1.0d12

REdit 1.2

Fedit 3.7

Heapshow 3.0

QUED 1.3

Fast Eddy 1.0

Edit (Consulair) 1.53

Edit (Apple) 2.0d1

Copy2Mac 5.2

Mac Tools 5.2

Hard Disk Util 1.21

Multimacs 2.8

MacZap 4.1

MockPackage 4.2b

Other DA 1.6

DiskInfo DA 1.42

WayStation minifinder 2.3

Languages

Consulair C 4.54

Aztec C 1.06g

Megamax C 3.0

TML Pascal 1.11

McAssembly 4.4

MSBasic 2.1

MS Fortran 77 2.2 (beta)

ExperLisp 1.4

Experlogo 1.1

Porta APL 3.0b

Neon 1.5

Mach1 1.25

MacForth 2.4

True Basic 1.1

ZBasic 3.01

MacScheme 1.11

Light Speed C 1.0

MacPascal 2.0

MacExpress 1.0

CLR Libraries 1.0

MacModula II 1.0

Trap Files

tooltraps 2.0a2

quicktraps 2.0a2

systraps 2.0a3

Equate Files

toolequ 2.0a2

quickequ 1.0a1

sysequ 2.0a2

timequ 2.0a2

syserr 2.0a1

scsiequ 1.0a1

sanemacs 2.0a1

packmacs 2.0a3

fsequ 2.0a1

prequ 1.0a1

atalkequ 1.1

Selected Applications

Thunderscan 3.2

MacWrite 4.5

MacPaint 1.5

MacDraw 1.9

MacTerminal 2.0

MacDraft 1.1

MacServe 1.0

Just Text 1.1

Pagemaker 1.2

Ready Set Go 2.1

Statworks 1.2

Filemaker 1.0

Excel 1.01

Jazz 1A

Helix 2.0 r5

Omnis 3 33.11

OverVUE 2.0d

MS Chart 1.0

MS File 1.01

Multiplan 1.1

MS Word 1.05

Full Paint 1.0