Mousehole Report

By Rusty Hodgee, Contributing Editor, Mousehole BBS

On November 30, 1987, MouseHole switched to our new ProLine EMS software. This software is much more sophisticated (albeit a bit more complicated for first-time users). From now on, MouseHole is automatically limited to 300 active participants at a time. Accounts that are inactive for more than 45 days are automatically purged and room is made for new members. So no more SASE’s, no more waiting (too long) to get a password. As accounts become available, MacTutor readers can call in and register online.

Non-members can still login to the MouseHole message system by calling (714) 921-2252 and login as ‘GUEST’. To register for an account (if there are any available) login as ‘REGISTER’. You can leave mail for any MouseHole member by logging in as a guest and sending mail to their username, however, they can’t easily reply to you unless you give them some other address to reach you at (since any mail to the guest account can be read and deleted by any guest don’t expect getting reliable replies!).

From: jimr (Jim Reekes)

Subject: add

The bogus FONT problem I’ve been complaining about with PageMucker also occurs in Illustrator. It is exactly the same problem where all the fonts, menus, and dialogs are totally unreadable.

I also had a similar problem today using MS Word 3.01 and the Background Print application in MultiFinder. I had a page of Palatino text, which I printed with “Fractional Widths” selected in the Print Dialog. As it began to print, the lower left corner of Word’s window became garbage. This went away as soon as the print job was completed.

But the other strange thing is when I switch over to the Print Monitor to view the job in progress. It had the same problem that PageMucker and the rest have with FONTs, menus, and the dialog. Its all full of garbage.

From: jimr (Jim Reekes)

Subject: Re: FONT problem solved!

Okay, so I spent nearly an hour trying to locate the source of my problems with PageMaker, Illustrator, Word, Print Monitor, etc...

What I did was start with a fresh new copy of the system/finder. Then added my Laser fonts (which have been renamed to +Times, +Helvetica, etc.). That still worked fine. Then I added the fancy ImageWriter fonts that I’ve used for the past few years. They are Dali, Boston, Alexis, Dover, Florence, and probably another one or two. That’s when I started getting into trouble with the above programs. Then I removed all of the fancy ImageWriter fonts, but I still had troubles.

So, started back with a fresh new system/finder. Added only my renamed Laser fonts and settled with that. Never use the ImageWriter lately anyhow. My conclusion is that the Font/DA Mover is scrambling the FONT resources. This is what got the above mentioned applications into trouble. Even after removing the offending fonts, the applications would remain screwed. So now I’m happy and using PageMAKER once again.

[In the November issue, we published a solution to font problems with Pagemaker. Check the FOND resource flag word with ResEdit and make sure it is set to $6000 for older Imagewriter fonts. Pagemaker is trying to read a non-existent width table in the FOND resource for these Imagewriter fonts and that is why the fonts are messed up. We’ve done this and have had no further problems with fonts in our system file. Pagemaker and Illustrator are the only two I know that use the FOND resources for calculating character widths. -Ed]

From: dirck (Dirck Blaskey)

Subject: Font bugs

A font bug: Starting with system 4.1 and continuing on into 4.2, the following occurred: An application has a font in it’s resource fork (e.g. Times 9). If said font is not in the system file, a setfont will get a SCALED version of the font (e.g. Times 10) from the SYSTEM file. If the font IS in the system file, a setfont will get the font from the APPLICATION file. [We recommend removing all fonts from application files. -Ed]

From: mikesteiner (Mike Steiner)

Subject: A bug?

I had an “interesting” thing happen the other day. My finder would not recognize a double click on an icon. If I double clicked on an icon to open it, the finder acted as if I had clicked only once. If I clicked on a word in the name of the icon, it selected the whole word. If I dbl. clicked in the get info window on a word in the info box, it selected the word. In short, double clicking worked as it should everywhere except on an icon in the finder. I was using system 4.2, finder 6.0, no Multifinder, and the system was acting as a server on a TOPS network. The only way to correct the problem was to shut down the network and reboot the computer. Now it works properly. Anyone have any ideas as to what caused the problem?

From: d.goss (David Goss)

Subject: Re: A bug? confirmed

I had the same thing happen in a stand-alone system. I was in system 4.2 but cannot remember if I was in MultiFinder or not. Anyway, I also had to reboot to clear the problem. It has only happened once - no idea why.

From: sam (Sam)

Subject: Re: A bug?

I’ve had the same “no double click” at the Finder bug happen to a friend of mine. The system is a Mac Plus with an AST (eeek shrill... I know..) 2000 Rodime hard disk and MacServe. The problem only occurs after a MacServe volume is opened -- I assumed it was MacServe. This is interesting. Has this happened to anyone else? [I have also seen this problem on my Mac II a few times. Don’t know what it is...hasn’t happened lately. -Ed]

From: mikesteiner (Mike Steiner)

Subject: Re: A bug?

I was using a Mac Plus (no ADB port, obviously) with system 4.2 and finder 6.0 without Multifinder active. It has happened only once so far (knock wood!). It seems that it is not an isolated case since others have reported it here. Has anyone reported it to Apple yet?

From: powerhopeful (Power Hopeful)

Subject: ADB

I mentioned awhile ago that I had many SCSI problems when I replaced my regular keyboard with an “extended” one. I’m interested to see these other ADB comments. Is there anything someone can say explicitly about how the ADB affects the other equipment connected? I just wondered if there’s a basic explanation for what now seem to be quirks?

From: davidw (David Whiteman)

Subject: Mac II problem with ADB

Has anyone heard of problems with the Apple Desktop Bus circuitry with the Macintosh II? Three Mac II’s owned by friends of mine had to have motherboards replaced because the Mac would not respond to either keyboard or mouse input. This occurred after they switched from the standard keyboard to the extended keyboard, and subsequent attempts at trying different cables, keyboards or mice did not fix the problem. Has anyone else been having this type of trouble? [I have the extended keyboard and the Mac II and no problem like this. -Ed]

From: powerhopeful (Power Hopeful)

Subject: Re: Mac II problem with ADB

Yes, I’ve had problems like that. Mine seem too to interact with SCSI. Anytime I add anything new or change the order of SCSI devices, it takes me about a day to get things to function correctly.

From: rick (Rick Boarman)

Subject: Re: Mac II problem with ADB

I had to replace the mother board on my MacII for those exact reasons. I think what killed it is that I pulled the keyboard cable out with the power still on (I know, it was stupid to do that).

From: s.winders (Scott Winders)

Subject: PRam and System 4.2

Clearing PRam with System 4.2 is slightly different. The “Shift-Option-Command key down while opening the Control Panel” function remains the same. The difference is this: Only the PRam locations that can cause problems with the system are reset. These include: Startup Device, serial port settings, sound settings, and a few more. Things like the time, date, keyboard, mouse, and sound volume settings are not affected. This undocumented change has led to the confusion about this function not working.

From: jimr (Jim Reekes)

Subject: PRam and System 4.2

I just got hold of David Ramsey’s new INIT file for Mac II users. It will protect us against the evil PRAM woes. I’m not exactly sure what it does yet, but David has expressed to me that he knows what is wrong with the PRAM and has solved it. This INIT will become part of the next system release, sometime in the first quarter of ’88. I think I already saw this file on the download, I’ll have to double check.

From: max (Jim Wolcott)

Subject: AST’s Mac286 card

I’ve been messing around with AST Research’s Mac286 board for the Macintosh II for about a month now (in fact, I am doing a magazine article on the beast). As you may recall from the glowing product announcements, this is supposed to be an IBM AT computer, completely fit on a board for the Mac II. Even has a socket for the 80287 co-processor chip. The results: Forget it! It’s junk! Running Lotus 1-2-3, the “screen refresh” takes nearly ONE SECOND, and, worse, the refresh takes place AFTER EACH CHARACTER IS TYPED! Want to do something as pedestrian as a 10-character cell-formula? Ten seconds, please. What a joke! I contacted AST, and asked about the speed (without identifying myself as a magazine reviewer). The guy said “Well, right now, it’s somewhere between molasses and...” As his voice trailed, I offered “Glacial?” “Yes, I guess you could say ‘Glacial.’ But we hope to have a software update in about 4 weeks that will help... but it won’t make it fast... the processor is whipping right along, but the user sees the screen. Even with the update, it will be slow. Intolerably slow? In my opinion, yes.” At that point, I said “Well, I guess I should have bought an AT clone, and the TOPS network. It even would have been cheaper.” His response? “Yes, if you’re a serious AT-user, that’s what I would do.” Serious AT-user? What? With the cost of the Apple PC 5.25 Drive, the end cost is about $2,000.00. If you weren’t a serious AT-user looking for IBM compatibility, you wouldn’t buy one.

At this time, everybody connected with this project (including Apple, who helped fund this boondoggle) is ticked off. Worse, AST has sold/shipped over 2,000 of these turkeys. (By the way, Mr. Jim Reekes, you are vindicated.)

From: don (Don Melton)

Subject: PrintMonitor bug & MacDraw

I discovered a peculiar bug with MultiFinder’s PrintMonitor a few weeks ago. It seems the good folks at Apple didn’t set the default memory size large enough on PrintMonitor to make it compatible with their own MacDraw.

Normally, PrintMonitor comes out of the box set at 78K. Printing several documents from MacDraw will give Apple’s favorite spooler a case of the royal hic-ups right away. In fact, it will continually beep at you requesting that the PrintMonitor be brought to the front, and then you will be informed that you need to close a desk accessory to free up some memory. And soon after that you’ll be told by PrintMonitor that you need to quit an open application to free up memory -- even if the only thing open at the time is the Finder and the Print Monitor. It’s real fun to watch. If you’re real lucky you may even get the first document you requested printed.

Here’s the fix:

From the Finder, click on the PrintMonitor and choose Get Info from the file menu. Change the preferred memory size from 78K to 80K. Close the Get Info window.

That’s it. Two stinking kilobytes of RAM! That drove me nuts for an afternoon. Has anyone else had this problem?

From: davidk (David Kosiur)

Subject: PrintMonitor Size

Where did you get your copy of PrintMonitor from? Mine came with Apple’s System Upgrade 5.0 and the size resource was already set to 80K. Someone may have played with yours before you got it.

From: don (Don Melton)

Subject: Re: PrintMonitor Size

I got my PrintMonitor from Developer Services like all the other certifieds around here ... and mine was set at 78K. Apparently they know I’m funny looking or something.

How ‘bout everyone else? What was your PrintMonitor memory size set at? 78K? 80K? Or perhaps some other enchanting number. Amaze your friends.

From: billr (Bill Rausch)

Subject: finder open command

One simple way to solve some of the folder confusion when using Multi-finder and Finder and other programs would be to have Apple modify the Finder Open command slightly. If no file is selected when Open is picked from the File menu, have Finder bring up the standard file dialog box with only applications listed. This way you could launch programs from MF without having to reorganize your desktop all the time. It would be useful from the regular Finder also although the Option-Open of the folders does the trick there.

From: alfred (Alfred Martinez)

Subject: Re: finder open command

It would also be neat if it allowed you to throw things away using a Standard File dialog type menu instead of having to re-size all your windows to find the trash can. [You can always blast a hole in the windows, as Greg Marriott showed us in the October issue! -Ed]

From: powerhopeful (Power Hopeful)

Subject: T-trash, etc.

About being able to through away files with a command-key sequence - or doing just about anything else you can think of - Quickeys can do it all. I just got it and besides having a lot of fun with it, it’s allowing to me substitute ALL the annoying Mac tasks (like dialing MH until connected) with a single keystroke!

I said I didn’t like my extended keyboard, but that has changed since Quickeys. Also, you can add any Quickey anywhere, but for access to the menu you need to boot with only Finder. (I think there’s another way..)

Anyway, I really like it and it’s saving me from many of the time-consuming Mac demands.

From: dumacker (John Vinje)

Subject: Suitcase

Alsoft is coming out with Font/DA juggler. Does anyone know if it works well with Multifinder? Has anyone seen it yet?

From: frank (Frank Henriquez)

Subject: MF observations

I just upgraded my Mac 512 to 1 meg, with a Dove upgrade, and can finally play with Multifinder at length on my machine. It’s too bad MF was released at the same time as Hypercard; it probably deserves most of the overblown hype directed at HC, but I guess fewer people get excited when they see the software equivalent of new plumbing... One thing that bugs me about MF is that when the Finder becomes active, you can still see the screen from the previous application. I guess the rationale for this is that the Finder is now to be considered just another application, but it would be nicer if the finder would always present the desktop background; it’s visually less annoying, and gives the user a psychological anchor point, kinda like a real desk...

From: powerhopeful (Power Hopeful)

Subject: Drives

I was wondering if you could help me decide what HD to get. I recently bought a 100-meg HD from a company that shall remain nameless. I used it for about a month. I disliked it from the first when I had to open the case and jumper the wires myself to change the address. And there were constant disk errors. The reason I’ll not disclose the name is that they honored their 30-day money back guarantee with no hassle whatsoever. Their product, however, was junk.

I’m again in the market. I will go this time with something with a reputation I know of...either Apple, Jasmine, or CMS. I’ve had a good experience with my DataFrame - it’s been very reliable - but it’s much too noisy. Anyone’s opinions on this subject would be helpful. My inclination is toward CMS (especially here!), but I have a few questions: is it NOISY? How does one change the SCSI address? Is there anything specific to recommend it?

I’d appreciate any comments from anyone on this subject. Thanks! [I like DataFrame drives, but the tiny little Cirrus drive has me really intrigued! -Ed]

From: rick (Rick Boarman)

Subject: Re: Drives

We use many CMS drives here and for our customers. We’ve had good luck with all of them except the SD20. Changing the ID number is done by jumper blocks on the back of the cabinet. They’re not the fastest or the quietist but they are backed by a very large company. I can rest assured they will still be around next year.

From: jimr (Jim Reekes)

Subject: Re: Drives

The CMS drive cabinet has been changed, and now uses DIPs.

From: chuck_e. (Chuck Eglett)

Subject: Re: Drives

I bought one of CMSs SD20 models, and have been very happy with it. about 2 months ago). I get the impression that they have a wide variety of sources for components, thus the quality of one model may vary from that of another, depending upon the source of the basic winchester chassis. As i understand it, there are still only a couple of manufacturing suppliers for these.

From: d.goss (David Goss)

Subject: FullWrite

According to a spokesperson at Ann Arbor Softworks (today) FullWrite will ship to prepaid orders before the end of the year and to dealers after Jan 1. I will believe it when I see it! [Let’s see if we can actually buy it and take it home from the Expo! -Ed]

From: dorourke (David O’Rourke)

Subject: Fullwrite Shipping?? Naw it can’t happen.

I just got off the phone with the nice people at Ann Arbor and they say FullWrite will be shipping as of December 30th 1987. Yes I did ask them if they meant 1987.

The lady said that they have about 6000 pre-paid copies to send out and then they are going to start with the retail market. They will be shipping UPS blue, which is two day delivery. They estimate that it will talk about 2 weeks to ship all the pre-paid copies. So you could receive it as early as 1 week in January, or as late as the first week in february.

Disclaimer: I don’t work for Ann Arbor and after seeing the way they handled Full Write I wouldn’t work for Ann Arbor. Also I am only passing on what I was told. So if it don’t happen, I don’t want to hear about it.

From: bobe (Bob Estes)

Subject: Mac II b/w monitors

I got my Mac II a few days ago. Scrimped on the monitor. A big mistake. The Apple monochrome I got was bad, but the dealer claims it is typical. The problem is rather extreme pin cushion distortion and a lack of clarity (or contrast, I’m not sure what to call it) that causes instant eyestrain when reading text. As in LSC code. I get mixed reports from my queries so far. Some people claim their monitors (b/w) are great, others say mine does sound about average. The way I look at it Apple is obligated to replace the monitors, even if 90% of them are bad. The monitor is the cheapest part of the system, but it’s critical. Using a program like Adobe Illustrator for precise drawing would be a joke with the kind of distortion I have on my screen. What is the reputation of these monitors? I did notice that a guy had started a topic on Genie on the same subject.

From: davidk (David Kosiur)

Subject: Re: Farallon MacRecorder

I don’t have a macRecorder, but I do have a copy of Farallon’s MacRecorder demo stack (750K long!) that demos its sound and interfaces for HyperCard, etc. You can record in stereo, even if you don’t have a Mac II -- just plug one Macrecorder into the modem port, another into the printer port, and record. Then you can play stereo sound through HyperCard on a Mac II. I don’t know anything about using it with VW II.

From: frank (Frank Henriquez)

Subject: MF is fast!

I had assumed that Multifinder would have a noticeable overhead, even when running a single task. I decided to test this by running MyDemo, a sample program that comes with Turbo Pascal. It has a set of built-in benchmarks, including the infamous Sieve. If MF is not running, I get a consistent 5.9 - 6.10 second result. WITH MF running, and MyDemo as the only application running, I get 5.10 seconds!. With two copies of MyDemo running, the numbers drop back down to 6.0 - 6.1 seconds. I’d LIKE to think MF is somehow letting the Mac run a little faster, but maybe MF is doing something funny to the internal timers?

From: rsiegel (Richard Siegel)

Subject: LightspeedC Update?

I don’t know what we’re planning to show/not show at the Expo, but I can tell you what to expect in the next version:

• Source-level symbolic debugging

• 68881 code generation

• A much refined user interface

• ..and more goodies.

From: dhill (David Hill)

Subject: Re: LightspeedC?

Umm, I have been hearing that for QUITE a while - I think the big question on everyone’s minds is -- when...?

From: geoffbryan (Geoff Bryan)

Subject: FKEY characteristics

Here is a question for the gurus (lsr?) -- when an FKEY is invoked and its code is loaded, is that code locked? Assuming it isn’t, isn’t it risky to call anything that might move unlocked blocks around while the FKEY code is executing? Any opinions out there?

From: lsr (Larry Rosenstein)

Subject: Re: FKEY characteristics

The system does lock FKEYs before calling them.

It should be OK for the FKEY to move memory. First, the very act of reading in the FKEY requires allocating memory. Second, FKEYs are run when the application calls GetNextEvent. GetNextEvent is listed among the routines that can move or purge memory. By extension, FKEYs are allowed to do heap allocations.

From: geoffbryan (Geoff Bryan)

Subject: Thanks

Thanks for the fast response to my question re FKEY’s. It also occurred to me, after posting the message, that there was nothing to prevent a person from setting the resLocked attribute, but that also would make the thing non-purgeable unless changed again at exit. Thanks again.

From: the_cloud (Ken McLeod)

Subject: Color Pix

In looking through the scattered documentation of Color Quickdraw that I have, I’ve found these two routines:

PROCEDURE CopyPix (srcPix, dstPix: PixMap; srcRect, destRect: Rect; mode: integer; maskRgn: RgnHandle); INLINE $A8EC;

PROCEDURE CopyPixMap (srcPM, dstPM: PixMapHandle); INLINE $AA05;

Do both of these exist, or did the second ‘replace’ the first, or...? And is it ‘final’ yet? [Addison-Wesley is releasing the ‘final’ Volume 5 of IM at the Expo. They told me they would have 5,000 copies to sell! -Ed]

From: dmark (Dave Mark)

Subject: Restoring Device CLUTs...

This is a toughy (I think)! OK, first things first - I’m writing an application that directly accesses the video memory (instead of writing directly to a window). I then use SetEntries to load my own Colors into the current device’s Color Table. My problem comes in restoring the original Color Table when my program is done. The likely candidates seem to be SaveEntries and RestoreEntries. Has anyone used these successfully? No matter what I try, my program crashes. Another method I tried was to save off the CSpecArray, and then restore it myself when I’m done. Unfortunately, when I look at the Color Table accessed via GetGDevice^^.gdPMap^^.pmTable^^.ctTable, there doesn’t seem to be any valid RGBs (just a few -1s, followed by a whole bunch of 0s). Does this mean that a default of some kind is being used? I’m trying desparately to get something running in time for the MacExpo! Any and all help is greatly appreciated. I have the latest and greatest Volume V from APDA. You can reach me at NASA headquarter’s during the day at (202) 453-8737. My name is Dave Mark.

From: lsr (Larry Rosenstein)

Subject: Re: Color Pix

I think CopyPix is superceeded by CopyBits, which can distinguish Bitmaps and PixMaps and does the right thing in either case. CopyPixMap has an entirely different function, I believe. I think this call just duplicates the PixMap structure, but doesn’t copy the actual bits. (I don’t have my Inside Mac volume 5 around, so I am going from memory.)

From: the_cloud (Ken McLeod)

Subject: CopyPix/CopyBits

That’s what I think, too. I was under the impression that IMv5 was in a state of flux still, so I asked. CopyBits will do all the tricks I need it to, anyway...

From: dhill (David Hill)

Subject: resource fork size?

I am writing a program that has data files that store information in the resource fork and I need to be able to calculate the size of the resource fork so that I can display the file size from within the program. Does anyone know which call I use etc? Thanks-- Dave Hill (formerly the Corsair)

From: rsiegel (Richard Siegel)

Subject: Re: resource fork size?

You don’t want to write data directly into the resource fork without going through the Resource Manager.

In any case, you do the following:

err = OpenRF(name, vRefNum, &path);
err = GetEOF(path, &count);
err = FSClose(path);

Now, “count” (a long) will contain the number of bytes in the resource fork. --Rich Siegel, THINK Technologies

From: the_cloud (Ken McLeod)

Subject: Tear-Off Menus in LS

The tear-off menu code in December’s MacTutor seems to have problems with the Lightspeed Pascal environment. (LS Pascal v1.11, System 4.2/6.0) The problem occurs when the tear-off window is initialized in the “main” part of the program: the windowDefProc field of the window (which is not visible at this point) is set to a pointer to the new window definition function. If this code is commented out, all works well within the LS environment (of course, the tear-off window will be a ‘normal’ documentProc type); otherwise, something gets confused badly. The patterns become garbage, and you can’t quit (in fact, you’re lucky to escape into Macsbug). Oddly enough, the code in the “MakeMenus” proc sets a pointer to the new menu definition routine in exactly the same way, and this works without a hitch. Also, if the code isn’t run under the LS environment but merely compiled directly to application form, everything works as it should. I should also mention that I removed all toolbox initialization calls from the code (InitWindows, InitMenus, etc.), letting LS handle it. Can anyone (Rich?) shed some light on the interaction of LS with new window definition routines (pertaining to Darryl’s technique?)

From: lsr (Larry Rosenstein)

Subject: Re: Tear-Off Menus in LS

The technique used to install the defprocs (both the window and menu defprocs) trashes the heap. The code is directly modifying the master pointer. Memory blocks have back links which are used if the block needs to be relocated. It is possible that when you compile the program as an application it happens to work because the heap is never compacted; when running under LSP, you probably aren’t so lucky.

The correct thing to do is allocate a 6 byte handle and place a JMP instruction in that handle. Then store the handle into the defproc field.

P.S. Although the article showed how to tear off a menu, it did not show the really tricky part: how do you make sure that the torn off menu always appear on top of all your windows? I would like to see a follow-up article to address this. [Daryl Lovato, recently hired by Apple Computer, has agreed to do an update article on his tear-off menus example showing the proper way to implement this. -Ed]

From: frank (Frank Henriquez)

Subject: PC Pursuit

I thought PC-Pursuit would be a great idea, and I joined it. I was very, very disappointed. The lines are noisy, and the system used to channel your call through to a given area code is quirky, often logging me off for no reason. I found PC Pursuit to be painfully slow, when I could get through to a BBS (if your favorite BBS is in Podunk, Wyoming, and PC-Pursuit goes there, then you should have no problems, other than the lack of speed, and the noise - if you call an area code like 212 (New York) 213 (LA) or 415 chances are you’ll get a busy message). More than once, I just gave up and called the BBS directly. Sure, it’s expensive, but I was spending HOURS downloading fairly small files (1200 baud was really closer to 300). Then I decided to cancel my PC Pursuit account. I called them up, and was told that I had to send in a LETTER to cancel (you can join by phone, but you can’t cancel by phone...) I did that, and I kept getting billed - they say they never got the letter. I ended up telling my credit card company not to accept any more PC-Pursuit charges. I suggest people avoid PC-Pursuit. It’s a major dissapointment.

From: robh (Rob Humble)

Subject: Print Report Bug

Am I alone with this bug? I have two different stacks, each set up as a simple database, each with about 400 cards. When I attempt to do a Print Report, I often get blank pages in the report. Page 1 may have cards 1-25, page 2 will have 26-50, page 3 will be blank, and 4 will have cards 76-100. If I add or delete a card, the problem may go away, or may just shift to another page. An attempt to reprint the report without changing anything will skip the same page or pages. Also, the page skipped is not the same when the print is done on the IW or Laser.

I have talked to Apple directly, and sent them a copy of the stack. They confirmed the problem, forewarded it to Cupertino, and now I can’t even get them to return my calls.

From: mick (Michael Billesbach)

Subject: Unlocking Omnis3

I just got a copy of David Swain’s new book titled “Unlocking Omnis3 Plus” He’s the only author of an Omnis book so far that knows how Omnis really works. The book is packed with formerly unprinted information. (stuff that you won’t find in the Omnis manuals or figure out for yourself). Its available from Polymath Productions, P.O. Box 2327, Alameda, CA 94501 for $39.95 plus $5.00 handling.

My only complaints (and they are minor) are: Pretty confusing text on Searches. The author keeps hyping the next book that he’s about to write.

Otherwise, this book is definitely worth the money.

From: blazer (Blue Blazer)

Subject: Dbase Mac Book

There is a book out called “dBase Mac in Business” by Jim Heid. It is an excellent aid to deciphering Dbase Mac. Its published by Ashton-Tate and can be had by calling (800) 437 4329. I was a beta site on the product and this book was welcomed like a hint book in an adventure game your stuck in.

From: davidk (David Kosiur)

Subject: Mac-VAX SQL

Okay guys, run down to DEXPO and see Bob Denny demonstrate his latest feat of legerdemaine, SequeLink. SequeLink allows you to use 4D or HyperCard as a smart front-end to an SQL database on a VAX. It’ll blow your mind! Makes “seamless integration” something that’s here now!

Slowing down a bit -- initially SequeLink supports 4D and HyperCard on the Mac, and Oracle on the VAX. A library for accessing the SequeLink driver on the Mac is part of the package, so you can write your own applications. Other SQL dbs will also be supported later. $395 for the Mac (including 4D runtime) and $1500-$10,000 for the VAX.

One last thing. SequeLink lets you run multiple processes to one or more SQL databases without a sweat. It’s also MultiFinder-compatible.