Subject: Info-Mac Digest V16 #53 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Wed, 04 Mar 98 Volume 16 : Issue 53 Today's Topics: [A] MacOS 8.1 Problem [A] Macsbug Question [A] Strange file-renaming glitch [Q] mouse problem [Q] SuperMac Monitor Compatibility Beware of DiskEssentials datebook pro and ALDUS ADOBE NOW QUALCOMM software question Erasing "shared" Zip disks Eudora for multiple user accounts HELP for MUSTEK Scanner!!! Imagesetter Printing Problems Mpeg Player need help with Midi Manager and driver num-lock light Slow performance on a 6205 CD The Info-Mac Network is a volunteer organization that publishes the Info-Mac Digest and operates the Info-Mac Archive, a large network of FTP sites containing gigabytes of freely distributable Macintosh software. For more information, visit the Info-Mac Web site at . 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We'd also like to thank AOL for the main Info-Mac machine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Info-Mac Digest V16 #53" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 09:39:19 -0800 From: Maurice Mike McNeil Subject: [A] MacOS 8.1 Problem Couple of suggestions: 1) Try configuring the Absolute minimum system for running Netscape. 2) Ensure your disk cache is set to at least the minimum required, click on defaults to get this. 3) I suspect you really need more RAM, since the system is taking up at least half of your physical RAM and maybe more. It would be well worth the investment to get to 32M. -----|----- 0-0 (_)+ ------------------------------ Date: 2 Mar 98 23:34:35 -0500 From: "Chris Gervais" Subject: [A] Macsbug Question Matt, >Question, which version of Macsbug are you all using on MacOS 8.1? Mac OS 8.x requires Macsbug 6.5.4a3c1 or later. Check out to get the latest version of Macsbug. Hope this helps, Chris ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 10:05:05 -0800 From: "C. Peter Schoenrank" Subject: [A] Strange file-renaming glitch At 15:15 -0500 Mon, 2 Mar 1998, Joseph Crowley wrote: > > When she tries to rename a file through the standard procedure of >clicking the file name, waiting for the text to become editable, and >editing it, the text will *stop* being editable very abruptly, while she's >still typing. I had the same thing happen to a user here at UVic. Restarting with extensions off made the problem go away. It turns out that the user had a corrupted print document in the PrintMonitor Documents folder (how it got there is a mystery). Desktop PrintMonitor didn't complain about the document at all; but when I restarted with extensions off, the old PrintMonitor complained. Trashing the corrupt printmonitor document and restarting solved the problem. Hope it works for you. Peter Peter Schoenrank voice: (250) 721-7696 Computing User Services fax: (250) 721-8778 University of Victoria Internet: cps@UVic.CA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 07:08:03 -0500 From: Bob Rolston Subject: [Q] mouse problem The mouse on my computer is now erratic, moving around the screen. Do I have a problem with the mouse and need to buy a new one, or could it be an extension problem? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 98 11:28:19 CST From: Mike Sisson Subject: [Q] SuperMac Monitor Compatibility I currently have a SuperMac STD9751 Dual-Mode 19" Monitor hooked up to a Spectrum/24 Series III Nubus Video Board installed in a Mac IIfx. Can anyone tell me if I can use this monitor on a PCI based Mac (7500) or whether the monitor/card combination will work on a Nubus PowerMac (7100/66). Although I won't be sad to get rid of the IIfx, I would rather not get rid of the monitors if I can get them to work on another system we have. Pointers to information sources will be appreciated as well. I don't even know if SuperMac exists anymore or who owns the rights, etc... TIA Mike Sisson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 14:24:27 +0900 From: Peter Hartmann Subject: Beware of DiskEssentials Below you find a lengthy extract of a letter to TotalRecall on behalf of my experiences with DiskEssentials. I believe it to be my duty to inform the Macintosh community about the potential dangers involved with the use of DiskEssential at its current state of development (v. 1.1.4). This is my *personal* experience, maybe other users are completely satisfied with the product and might want to share their experiences, too, to get a balanced picture. I realize that the problems described regarding ZIP media maybe related to the so called "click of death" phenomenon with Iomega's ZIP technology. But that, for sure, is only a part of the problem. Peter Hartmann Visiting Scholar Ritsumeikan University Kyoto, Japan *******My letter to Total Recall on behalf of DiskEssentials******** Returning DiskEssentials and Request for Refund Dear Sir or Madam, I hereby return the above mentioned DiskEssentials package and request the refund of the entire amount paid. Please cancel my registration. [...] I was asked by your support to try the updates for DE. I did so but without any success. [...] The reason for the return is that I don't see any perspective that the problems with this product I outlined in my original e-mail to your company around mid of December 1997 (see appendix below) will be solved in the near future. I have the problems described also with DE 1.1.2.1 and 1.1.4: DE report corrupted folder structures on my hard disk, although both DiskFirstAid and Nortons Utilities find no problems. After DE apply the "fix", both DiskFirstAid and Nortons Utilities report severe damages, and luckily Norton Utilities are able to fix them and again both DiskFirstAid and Nortons Utilities report everything to be OK. Never has a media verification been done by DE. The experiences I had with the updated versions demonstrate even more clearly than my initial report that DE for me causes problems instead of solving them. Sincerely, Peter Hartmann P.S. As already outlined in an other e-mail, I received the update for DE 1.1.2.1 in a mechanically severly damaged state, due to insufficent packaging. Furthermore, the URL given on the pamphlet which was enclosed, seems not to be correct. After a week of trying to log in without even a response from your alleged server, I found the updater to DE 1.1.4 on your main URL. Appendix The day before yesterday I received the DiskEssentials 1.1 package I had ordered directly from you. Frankly, I feel betrayed. In my experience this package is one of the most unreliable pieces of software I have ever come across. From this experience I feel that not only DiskEssentials is in no respect $BeF(J ssential(IS(J but on the contrary seems to be a piece of software that one would least want to give custody of one's hard disk. This is my experience: (I%(J The Environment: A stand-alone (no network connection) UMAX Apus 2000/200 PPC system, i.e. Machine ID 58, with a internal 1,5 MB ATA (FUJITSU M1623TAU, rev. 5245) and a single ZIP drive on the external SCSI bus (standard driver 5.0.3). The system is a German MacOS 8 with the updated JLK 1.2 installed, the drive was low level formatted, and the driver updated with Drive Setup 1.3.1 six weeks ago before installation of MAC OS 8. (I do not use the HDT driver that came with the machine.) The harddisk is partitioned into three equally sized volumes (v. 3.07), the first partition being used as the startup volume. I don't have any problems with the machine, both from my subjective impression and as far as reports by various testing tools (TechtoolPro 1.0.5 etc.) are concerned. I bought DiskEssentials in order to prevent troubles I earlier had under system 7.5.5, because of the rumors about NortonUtilities' compatibility problems with MAC OS 8 and because of favorable opinions on your product. At least the latter seem to be rather unfounded. (I%(J The Problems: (1) First, I never saw the media verification window that should be displayed after DiskRX is launched. Not once media verification has been done by DiskRX. (2) Just for a tryout I started the machine from the startup floppy, but it froze when trying to start DiskEssentials from a previously inserted ZIP medium. What do people do that don't have an external drive? It seems that the complete design of the product is problematic, since even if you were able to use DiskRX on a startup floppy there is no way to fit DiskEssentials and DiskRX, which cannot be used independently, on a single floppy. Even having a drive partitioned into three volumes does not help, since DiskRX refuses to repair anything if a single file on the disk, i.e. on any of the volumes is open: E. g. you obviously can not start from an external drive or a floppy and launch DiskRX from partition 2 to check on partition 1 of the same drive. (3) After installing a minimal system on the ZIP medium, I was finally able to launch DiskRX to scan the startup volume. DiskRX found a minor problem and reported to have fixed it successfully (I don't remember exactly what the problem was, but it had not been reported by DiskFirstAid right before the examination by DiskRX). *After* the volume had been remounted I chose Quit from the menu, and the system froze. As it turned out, I now had two volumes with severely corrupted directory structures. Please keep in mind that I started with a clean minimal system, so extension conflicts are to be excluded as the reason for the freeze. - During the examination process I wondered about the continuous access to the ZIP medium, towards the end of the process accompanied by rather untypical noise. Of course I had to choose the ZIP medium for the storage of the volume backup file (see the statement above). As it turned out, the 4MB that were free before, had been reduced to zero K. It seems that Disk Essentials continued to write to the disk without realizing that it was already full! Of course, I cannot exclude the possibility that the medium was corrupted from the start as a reason for this unreasonable behavior since I did not check the medium immediately after the installation of the minimal startup system. But again, this too has to be considered a major conceptual flaw: Norton, for instance, does not write to a disk and therefore is not adversely influenced by problems on the disk it is launched from. With DiskEssentials under a single drive situation, however, you cannot escape from the hen-and-egg-like problem, that you are forced to check the disk you want to launch DiskEssentials from before you actually install DiskEssentials in the first place! Probably, your users should consider buying Norton to check on the disk before installing your product. The essence is, that DiskEssentials seems to have crashed due to writing a corrupted file (or writing a file in a corrupted directory structure) and probably was not able to close it properly. But the real surprise was still to come. - I used DiskFirstAid to repair the problems that were produced by the system crash on the startup volume (these were obviously different from the problems that DiskEssentials had claimed to have fixed earlier) and used the copy of DiskEssentials I had previously installed on the (now repaired) startup volume to fix the problems on the ZIP medium (which were reported by DiskFirstAid). Interestingly, DiskEssentials, using scan for trees, did not report a single problem! After I repaired the ZIP medium using DiskFirstAid (an invalid B-Tree header was reported), a matter of seconds by the way, again about 4MB were reported to be free on the medium. So quite obviously and without any doubt, DiskEssentials was not only of no use, but also at least contributed to the directory corruption on a disk, if not on both. (4) I systematically used DiskRX to check on my 15 and more ZIP media: There was one more case, were DiskRX did not report a problem, but both Norton Utilities and DiskFirstAid reported a problem with keys in the B-Tree out of order and Norton was able to fix it. After the fix also DiskFirstAid reported the medium to be OK. I am, furthermore, not sure if on one occasion a problem reported by DiskFirstAid did not actually result from a fix applied by DiskRX. I can not but doubt the validity of DiskRX's analysis. (5) When previously a type error -47 was reported, one of the three volumes - one that was not under examination - was no longer visible on the desktop, i.e. dismounted, so I had to restart to get it back onto the desktop. (6) Furthermore, when launching Data Recovery Toolkit the three volumes are displayed three times each in the first dialog, i.e. nine volumes are displayed (plus the volume in the Zip drive). I have serious doubts that Disk Essentials is capable to deal with at least partitioned IDE drives properly. (7) When just for curiosity trying to recover data from a ZIP medium that I knew to be severely damaged long ago and which had already experienced several unsuccessful attempts to be low level formatted, Data Recovery Toolkit took several minutes to create a master directory block without a single disk access but reported it to be 100% completed! In reality nothing had happened at all. Error checking does not seem to be one of DiskEssentials strong points. [...] ***********End of extracted quote************* ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 15:44:46 EST From: Luskin Subject: datebook pro and ALDUS ADOBE NOW QUALCOMM software question I recently got a Mac II that had a NYMUG software collection on it. I am interested in a program called DATEBOOK PRO, but was unable to get through the registration process. The program is old and was published by Aldus. I tracked down Aldus, and found that Aldus had been sold to Adobe. And Adobe sold datebook pro and touchstone (whatever it is) to NOW software. I tracked down NOW. NOW was bought by Qualcomm So I called Qualcomm software. I was told by their tech support group that datebook pro is not now sold or supported, and, from their point of view "does not exist". Their words. They told me I can do whatever I like with the program, but there is no one there to help me. And they have no passwords to give me. So, does anyone have a password for the datebook pro registration process. As far as Qualcomm is concerned I don't have to pay for it, and they don't have the passwords anymore. I would love to try this out. Thank you for the help. Michael B. Luskin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 08:13:06 -0600 (CST) From: jmp@shoe.wustl.edu (Jerome Peirick) Subject: Erasing "shared" Zip disks Last week we upgraded a server running 4D from an old slow machine running System 7.5 to a new fast machine running System 7.5.5. We do automatic daily backups to a Zip disk, and a very non-technical person is in charge of swapping out the backed up disk, inserting the next backup disk and erasing it. If we were to add any more steps to this process, I'm afraid that I'd end up hiking over to the machine daily to do it. Anyway, after the upgrade, I've found that the Zip disks always seem to be shared whether I want them to be or not. With System 7.5, if a Zip was in the drive at boot, it was shared by default, but wasn't shared if the Zip drive was empty on boot. With System 7.5.5 this seems to not be the case, and any Zip disks inserted into the drive are shared. This wouldn't be a problem, except the OS won't let you erase a shared disk. However, you *can* move all of the files on the Zip into the Trash and then empty the Trash. I find this quite confusing my own self, and would rather not ask someone who it accustomed to the routine described above to add the step of learning the difference between erasing and deleting files. So, my question is, can I somehow make the Zip disks not be shared, or alternatively, can I convince the OS to let me erase the Zip disks? As an aside, is this a known difference between 7.5 and 7.5.5? Thanks for any help ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 16:11:39 -0500 From: Mel Martinez Subject: Eudora for multiple user accounts >On 3/2/98 abrody said: > >Dear Digest readers, >I am looking for a Eudora compatible POP3/SMTP e-mailer that supports >multiple e-mail usernames and passwords without having to go into the >settings dialog box everytime I want to switch users. It should be able >to read Eudora folders and files, as well as create ones that Eudora is >capable of reading. I am using Eudora Pro 2.1.3 and can't upgrade. I >would prefer it, if it had frames where I could simply switch between >folders and user inboxes. Cyberdog did it, but then again it doesn't >create Eudora compatible mailboxes, it only can read them. >If at all possible, it should be freeware, and PowerMac native. You can do this very simply with Eudora itself. For each user account, make a copy of the Eudora Settings file which is in the Eudora Folder. Rename the settings file appropriately for each account. Open each in turn in Eudora by double-clicking it or using Open.. in Eudora and edit the settings to point it to the apropriate user account. Put an alias to each settings file in the apple menu, or in a Now Utilities menu or on a launch pad or Quickeys shortcut or whatever you use. Now, to switch between accounts, simply select the appropriate user settings alias. No need to keep editing the settings of the same file at all. Switching settings files will switch the account settings and also switch to the folder heirarchy containing that settings file (if different). This leads to two types of strategies. For the single user, with multiple accounts, such that you want to keep using the same set of mail folders and the same In box for all your accounts, put all the settings files in the same Eudora Folder (Note - you can rename this folder and move it out of the System folder at any time - it will always be the folder used when you open a settings file within it.). This way, you can switch between accounts and all mail will be retrieved to the same In box. For multiple users who want to keep their mail separate, make copies of the entire Eudora Folder (renaming each folder appropriately). The appropriate settings file for each account should be in it's own folder. Now, when you switch to an account by opening it's settings file, new mail will be retrieved to the In box in that particular folder. This strategy is very useful when multiple people use the same mac. The key points to remember are that, once you start up Eudora for the very first time, by launching the application directly, you should not do so ever again. Each time Eudora is launched directly, it looks for a Eudora Folder in the System Folder and if it doesn't find one, it creates one. Once you have such a folder, drag it out o the System folder, rename it appropriately and always then on start Eudora by opening the "Settings" file instead. If this seems strange, think of it as similar to opening a word processor application. If you launch the application directly, most by default will create a new 'Untitled' document. If you launch it by opening an existing file, it simply opens that file. I hope this is a clear enough explanation. Cheers, Dr. Mel Martinez FUSE Science Software Developer The Johns Hopkins University Dept. of Physics mem@jhu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 22:33:30 -0800 From: Chris Schram Subject: HELP for MUSTEK Scanner!!! Recently, "Mirko Lalli" wrote: >One of my friends has give to me a old MUSTEK PARAGON 1200CX scanner (three >pass, SCSI). But WHITOUT any software or drivers... >So, can anyone help me to connect to my Mac68K and make working this scanner? >(i.e. by sending information where and what software I must catch or - >better! - You'll need an ordinary SCSI cable and possibly an external SCSI terminator. For driver software try or . The last time (September) I went looking for driver software, the "europe" site was the only one that had anything that would run on a Mac. Go figure. You can use the driver software in any application that accepts Photoshop-type plug-ins. (Color-It and Debabelizer are a couple that I use.) My Mustek scanner is not the same model as yours, but one problem I have experienced is that my computer refuses to boot if the scanner is turned ON. Again go figure. I would not buy another product from Mustek. YMMV. Chris Schram -- schram@mail.coos.or.us -- http://www.coos.or.us/~schram ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Mar 1998 20:19:56 -0500 From: Frank Williams Subject: Imagesetter Printing Problems I am having a printing problem. I'll give you a little back ground info in case it might help. I am using a Power Mac 9500 with OS 8.1 and am printing to an Agfa AccuSet 1000 & Lino-Hell Hurkules. The mac is on a ethernet network with a Unix and NT based servers with OPI swap software. Now, here is the problem, when I output from Quark XPress 3.32 to either imagesetter, for no reason, and with no warning, one plate will print low resolution. Even If I put the Hires version in, it still prints one plate lores. Has anyone had a problem like this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Frank Williams ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 22:49:30 -0800 From: Dan Frakes Subject: Mpeg Player Dave Rudance wrote: > Is there any application that will play Mpeg movies with sound. If you have the QuickTime MPEG extension installed, you can use the VideoPlayer application that came with your Mac. Dan frakes@kagi.com InformINIT: http://cafe.AmbrosiaSW.com/DEF/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 14:56:17 -0600 From: Astrolabe Subject: need help with Midi Manager and driver hello all i need some help with midi manager. ive installed apple midi manager into my extensions folder, but what folder do i place the Apple Midi Driver and my Korg Driver....i cant seem to get it o work. it worked up untill i had a hard drive crash and reinstalled the system softwear. is there a compatibility problem with MAC os8 and Midi manager?? i istalled the Midi manager whn i had sysem 7 before the crash and it worked fine, even when i nstalled system 8 it worked up untill the crash. only after the crash it doesnt work. any help or suggestions??? you can send email dirctly to my account thank you fred ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 09:50:46 -0800 From: Douglas Anderson Subject: num-lock light Hello, my Mac Friends :-) Does anyone know what it means when the (num-lock light) on the KeyBoard comes on when I startup a program? (It doesn't happen with all my programs just one or two). Thanks, Doug. Sincerely, Doug Anderson email:un162@victoria.tc.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 18:11:06 -0800 (PST) From: Daly Jessup Subject: Slow performance on a 6205 CD I have a client with a problem I haven't been able to solve, and I'm writing here and to Mac-L and IO-MUG in hopes of some insight. She has a 6205CD Performa with 24 MB of RAM and a 1 GB hard drive, not half full. She is running System 8.0. The System uses 10.1 MB of RAM. She mainly uses Word. She has several peripherals attached, including a Zip drive, a PaperPort VX, an HP Deskwriter 540 printer and a Global Village TelePort Platinum modem. When she first got the computer it ran very fast. After installing System 8, it still ran almost as fast as it originally did. She was a happy camper. Some time in the last couple of months, it started running very slowly. It takes many seconds to display a window, and it is very easy to type faster than it will display letters. The slowness is in the Finder and in applications. I have done all the usual things: I ran Norton Disk Doctor from the CD (and found many errors, including a media error). I ran it several times until there were no more errors showing up. I ran Speed Disk. I threw out the Desktop DB and Desktop DF and the Finder preferences, and rebuilt desktop twice, once with MacEasyOpen only and once with a regular set. Virtual memory is off, the cache is one notch above the default. I examined system for extensions and control panels, and turned off her AOL Scheduler and her Expresso Notifier. I ran Process Watcher and saw nothing out of line. She isn't running any other unusual or background processes. I zapped the PRAM. I'm out of ideas. Now that I think of it, I suppose I could replace the Finder on general principles, though Norton is showing nothing wrong with it. She says she has added nothing to the system, and I'm inclined to believe her, because she really doesn't know how, and besides, her extension sets had not changed at all, which tells me that she hadn't been messing around with anything. Does anyone have any other ideas what could cause the system to slow down like that, or have any ideas of what to do about it? Do you think I should do a "dirty resinstall" or a clean one, of the system? It's behaving fine otherwise, except it has trouble keeping its printer settings (trouble finding the printer - she has to order the print several times, even after resetting the printer icon in the Chooser). Any ideas welcome! Daly -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************