Path: sdcc12!network.ucsd.edu!munnari.oz.au!uunet!dziuxsolim.rutgers.edu!pilot.njin.net!tesla.njit.edu
From: erh0362@tesla.njit.edu (Elliotte Rusty Harold)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.sys.mac.apps,comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Macintosh software frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Summary: This document answers a number of the most frequently asked
questions about Macintoshes on Usenet. To avoid wasting bandwidth
and as a matter of politeness please familiarize yourself with this
document BEFORE posting.
Keywords: FAQ, Macintosh, Mac, macintosh, mac
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Date: 8 Jan 93 04:02:52 GMT
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Reply-To: erh0362@tesla.njit.edu (Elliotte Harold)
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Archive-name: macintosh/software-faq
Version: 1.17
Last modified: December 15, 1992
comp.sys.mac.faq
Copyright (C) 1992, Elliotte Harold, erh0362@tesla.njit.edu
Changes:
Question 1.1 What other information is available?
I removed the list of report files at sumex since noone seemed
to be using it and since the addition of questions 9.3, 9.4, and
9.5 pushed this list over the 64,000 character limit of some
news sites.
Question 3.1 Where can I FTP Macintosh software?
Added nic.switch.ch to the list of ftp sites for European users.
Corrected the numeric IP address for mac.archive.umich.edu (again).
Question 3.3 Where can I find Application X?
Since many Scandinavian sites can telnet to the continent only
by going through North America (and vice versa), I now recommend that
only Scandinavian users connect to archie at archie.funet.fi, and
that other European users use archie.doc.ic.ac.uk instead.
Question 3.7 What is .bin? etc.
Version 3.0.3 of StuffIt has been released.
Question 5.1 How do I make a PostScript file?
I improved the method for creating a PostScript file in System 6.
I now specifically recommend the LaserWriter 7.1.1 driver from the
System 7 Tuneup 1.1 or 1.1.1 disk or the LaserWriter 7.1.2 driver
from System 7.1 instead of just the "LaserWriter driver from the
System 7 Tuneup disk."
I corrected the numbering of the questions in this entire
section. (5.5 was missing and everything after that was one number
too high.)
Question 5.x
dmm-laserwriter-stuff is now recommended to make smaller, more
portable, PostScript files.
Question 6.1 What is System 7 Tuneup? Do I need it?
You don't need System 7 Tuneup if you have System 7.1. Questions
6.2 and 6.3 (about System 7.0.1) will probably be removed from
the next release unless someone voices strong objections. I still
see a few more questions about the Tuneup so I'll probably keep
Question 6.1 around for a couple more months yet.
Question 9.2 Why can't I throw this folder away?
I've added a more reliable method of destroying folders from hell.
Added Questions 9.3, 9.4, and 9.5
Why can't I share my removable drive?
Why can't I eject this SyQuest cartridge? CD-ROM? etc.
Why can't I rename my hard disk?
Question 11.4 How do I use a picture for my desktop?
Backdrop does this nicely on compact Macs.
Question 11.6 What is AutoDoubler? Is it safe?
AutoDoubler is incompatible with A/UX.
Question 11.7 How does Autodoubler compare to More Disk Space?
StuffIt SpaceSaver has finally arrived. Read this question for
some first impressions.
Also, the latest version of Disk Doubler, 3.7.7, can be as fast as
Autodoubler depending on the compression method chosen.
More Disk Space has some unique features to help it run a network
that the other products are lacking.
Finally this revision contains a host of minor revisions which I hope
improve the style and readability but which don't change the information.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
1. What other information is available?
2. Posting Etiquette
II. The Question of the Year:
Why is my system using so much memory?
III. FTP
1. Where can I FTP Macintosh software?
2. Can I get shareware by E-mail?
3. Where can I find Application X?
4. Can someone mail me Application X?
5. What is .bin? .hqx? .cpt? .image? .etc?
IV. Viruses
1. Help! I have a virus!
2. Reporting new viruses
V. Printing
1. How do I make a PostScript file?
2. How do I print a PostScript file?
3. Why won't my PostScript file print on my mainframe's printer?
4. Why are my PostScript files so big?
5. How can I print PostScript on a non-PostScript printer?
6. How do I make my ImageWriter II print in color?
7. Why doesn't PrintMonitor work with the ImageWriter?
8. Why did my document change when I printed it?
VI. System Software
1. What is System 7 Tuneup? Do I need it?
2. Do I need System 7.0.1?
3. How can I get System 7.0.1 on 800K disks?
4. Why do my DA's disappear when I turn on MultiFinder?
VII. DOS and the Mac
1. How can I move files between a Mac and a PC?
2. How can I translate files to a DOS format?
3. Should I buy SoftPC or a real PC?
VIII. Security
1. How can I prevent users from changing the contents of a folder?
2. How can I password protect my Mac?
IX. Hard Disks
1. Help! My folder disappeared!
2. Why can't I throw this folder away?
3. Why can't I share my removable drive?
4. Why can't I eject this SyQuest cartridge? CD-ROM? etc.
5. Why can't I rename my hard disk?
X. Floppy Disks
1. Why can't my new Mac read my old Mac's floppy disks?
2. Can I turn a double-density disk into a high density disk by
punching an extra hole in it?
XI. Miscellaneous
1. How can I preview a PostScript file?
2. How do I edit a PostScript file?
3. What does System Error xxx mean?
4. How do I use a picture for my desktop?
5. How do I make a startup screen?
6. Can I Replace the "Welcome to Macintosh" box with a picture?
7. What is AutoDoubler? Is it safe?
8. How does AutoDoubler compare to other compression products?
9. What's a good text editor for the Mac?
10. Where did my icons go?
To jump to a particular question, search for
section-number.question-number enclosed in parentheses. For example to
find "How do I edit a PostScript file?" search for the string (11.2).
To jump to a section instead of a question use a zero for the question
number.
comp.sys.mac.faq is copyright (c) 1992 by Elliotte M. Harold
Permission is hereby granted to distribute this unmodified document
provided that no fee in excess of normal online charges is required
for such distribution. Portions of this document may be extracted and
quoted free of charge and without necessity of citation in normal
online communication provided only that said quotes are not
represented as the correspondent's original work. Permission for
quotation of this document in printed material and edited online
communication (such as the Info-Mac Digest and Tidbits) is given
subject to normal citation procedures (i.e. you have to say where you
got it).
Disclaimer: I do my best to ensure that information contained in
this document is current and accurate, but I can accept no
responsibility for actions resulting from information contained
herein. This document is provided as is and with no warranty of any
kind. Corrections and suggestions should be addressed to
erh0362@tesla.njit.edu.
Apple, Macintosh, LaserWriter, ImageWriter, Finder, HyperCard
and MultiFinder are registered trademarks and PowerBook is a
trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Linotronic is a registered
trademark of Linotype-Hell AG, Inc. Quark XPress is a registered
trademark of Quark. PostScript is a registered trademark and
Illustrator and Photoshop are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc.
PageMaker is a registered trademark of Aldus Corp. AutoDoubler and
Disk Doubler are trademarks of Fufth Generation Systems, Inc.
StuffIt and StuffIt Deluxe are trademarks of Raymond Lau and
Aladdin Systems, Inc. StuffIt SpaceSaver is a trademark of Aladdin
Systems, Inc. More Disk Space is a trademark of Alysis Software
Corporation. All other tradenames are trademarks of their
respective manufacturers.
=====================
I HAVE A QUESTION... (1.0)
=====================
Congratulations! You've come to the right place. The Usenet
community is a wonderful resource for information ranging from basic
questions (How do I lock a floppy disk?) to queries that would make
Steve Jobs himself run screaming from the room in terror. (I used
ResEdit to remove resources Init #11, WDEF 34, and nVIR 17 from my
system file and used the Hex Editor to add code string #A67B45 as a
patch to the SFGetFile routine so the Standard File Dialog Box would
be a nice shade of mauve. Everything worked fine until I installed
SuperCDevBlaster, and now when I use the Aldus driver to print from
PageMaker 5.0d4 to a Linotronic 6000 my system hangs. P.S. I'm running
System 6.02 on a PowerBook 170.)
However, since the comp.sys.mac.* newsgroups are medium to high
volume, we ask that you first peruse this FAQ file, check any other
relevant online resources (listed below), and RTFM (Read the Friendly
Manual) before posting your question. We realize that you are
personally incensed that the System is taking up fourteen of your
newly-installed twenty megs of RAM, but this question has already made
its way around the world three hundred times before, and it's
developing tired feet. Finally before posting to any newsgroup
(Macintosh or otherwise) please familiarize yourself with the basic
etiquette of Usenet as described in the newsgroup news.announce.newusers.
WHAT OTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE? (1.1)
This FAQ list provides short answers to a number of frequently
asked questions from the newsgroups comp.sys.mac.system,
comp.sys.mac.misc, and comp.sys.mac.apps. Three other files are
worthy of particular note: Mike Kelly maintains a FAQ list covering
Macintosh programming for the newsgroup comp.sys.mac.programmer.
It's posted to that group on the first of the month and available
for anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.uoregon (128.223.8.8) in /pub/mac.
Eric Rosen maintains a frequently asked questions list for the
newsgroup comp.sys.mac.comm available in that newsgroup and from
rascal.ics.utexas.edu in mac/faq (where the file you're reading now
is also archived). The comp.sys.mac.comm list answers many
frequently asked questions about networking, UNIX and the Mac,
telecommunications, and foreign file formats. Finally Jim
Jagielski maintains a FAQ for comp.unix.aux covering covering
Apple's UNIX environment, A/UX. It's posted every 2 to 3 weeks in
comp.unix.aux and news.answers. It's available for anonymous ftp at
jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov.
WHICH NEWSGROUP SHOULD I POST TO? (1.2)
Posting questions to the proper newsgroup will fill your mailbox
with pearls of wisdom (and maybe a few rotten oysters too :-) ).
Posting to the wrong newsgroup often engenders a thundering silence.
For instance the most common and glaring mispost, one that seems as
incongruous to dwellers in the Macintosh regions of Usenet as would a
purple elephant in Antarctica, asking a question about networking
anywhere except comp.sys.mac.comm, normally produces no useful
responses. Posting the same question to comp.sys.mac.comm ensures that
your post is read and considered by dozens of experienced network
administrators and not a few network software designers.
Please post to exactly ONE newsgroup. Do not cross-post. If a
question isn't important enough for you to spend the extra time to
figure out where it properly belongs, it's not important enough for
several thousand people to spend their time reading. Similarly
comp.sys.mac.misc should not be used as a catch-all newsgroup.
Questions about applications should go to comp.sys.mac.apps
except for queries about communications programs, games, HyperCard,
and databases all of which have their own comp.sys.mac.* newsgroups.
Post questions about non-communications hardware including questions
about what software is necessary to make particular hardware work to
comp.sys.mac.hardware. Questions about Mac OS System Software and
extensions belong in comp.sys.mac.system. Questions about A/UX go to
comp.unix.aux. Detailed questions about Appletalk belong in
comp.protocols.appletalk.
Direct questions about HyperCard including programming HyperCard
to comp.sys.mac.hypercard. Non-HyperCard programming questions and
questions about development environments should go to
comp.sys.mac.programmer. ResEdit questions may be posted either to
comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.sys.mac.system, or comp.sys.mac.programmer;
but generally the netters who inhabit the darker recesses of
comp.sys.mac.programmer are considerably more practiced at the art of
resource hacking.
A general exception to the above rules is that any VERY technical
question about an application that actually begins to delve into the
hows of a program as well as the whats (Recent example: How does
WriteNow which is written entirely in assembly compare to other word
processors written in high level languages?) might be better addressed
to the programmer newsgroup.
For Sale and Want to Buy posts should go to comp.sys.mac.wanted
ONLY. We understand that you're desperate to sell your upgraded 128K
Mac to get the $$ for a PowerBook 180; but trust me, anyone who wants
to buy it will be reading comp.sys.mac.wanted. Political and religious
questions (The Mac is better than Windows! Is not! Is too! Is not! Is
too! Hey! How 'bout the Amiga! What about it? Is Not! Is too!) belong
in comp.sys.mac.advocacy. Anything not specifically mentioned above
probably belongs in comp.sys.mac.misc.
Finally don't be so provincial as to consider only the
comp.sys.mac newsgroups the appropriate forums for your questions. A
lot of modem questions in comp.sys.mac.comm are much more thoroughly
discussed in comp.dcom.modems. Questions about Mac MIDI often would
be better handled in comp.music even though this is not a Mac specific
newsgroup. Shop around. Usenet's a big place and not everything
relevant to the Macintosh happens in comp.sys.mac.*.
================================================================
QUESTION OF THE YEAR: WHY IS MY SYSTEM TAKING UP SO MUCH MEMORY? (2.0)
================================================================
If today Apple changed About this Macintosh (About the Finder
in System 6) to report unusable memory in its own bar rather than
lumped together with the system, this would probably still be the
most frequently asked question of the year. Under system versions
earlier than 7.0 or under System 7.x without 32-bit addressing
turned on the Mac cannot handle more than eight megabytes of real
memory. If you have more physical RAM installed, the Mac knows
it's there but can't do anything with it. When About the Finder is
selected from the Apple menu, the system reports all the extra
memory it can't use as part of the system memory allocation.
To use the memory you need to get System 7 and turn on 32-bit
addressing. If you have a Mac with dirty ROMs (a II, IIx, SE/30,
or IIcx) you also need MODE32, free from ftp.apple.com or your
local dealer. If you have an original Mac II you also need to add
a PMMU chip. If you're staying with System 6, Maxima from
Connectix ($45 street) allows use of up to fourteen megabytes of
real memory normally and can allocate anything beyond that to a
RAM disk.
If you have an LC or an LC II with four megabytes of RAM soldered
to the motherboard, you still need to add two four-megabyte SIMM's to
reach the ten megabyte maximum imposed by the LC ROM. This means
you'll always have two unused megabytes which About this Macintosh and
About the Finder report as part of the system memory allocation.
Unfortunately there is no current means of accessing this extra
memory.
===
FTP (3.0)
===
WHERE CAN I FTP MAC SOFTWARE? (3.1)
The three major American Internet archives of shareware,
freeware, and demo software are sumex-aim.stanford.edu (36.44.0.6),
mac.archive.umich.edu (141.211.165.41), and wuarchive.wustl.edu
(128.252.135.4) which mirrors the other two sites and is often easier
to connect to. Wuarchive often holds on to files after other sites
remove them for space concerns, and still has files that were recently
deleted from the formerly important site, rascal.ics.utexas.edu.
Rascal was notable for storing its files in MacBinary format rather
than the less efficient BinHex format common at the other archives.
Unless otherwise noted shareware and freeware mentioned in this
document should be available at the above sites.
To keep traffic on the Internet manageable, European users
should try connecting to ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100),
src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.1), nic.switch.ch(130.59.1.40), lth.se
(130.235.16.3), or sics.se (192.16.123.90) instead. Australian
users should try to find what they want at archie.au (139.130.4.6)
which mirrors the info-mac archives at Stanford. Japanese users
will find sumex mirrored at utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp (133.11.11.11).
A fourth very important site is ftp.apple.com. This is Apple's
semi-official repository for system software, developer tools, source
code, technical notes, and other things that come more or less
straight from Apple's mouth. Some material at this site may not be
distributed outside the U.S. or by other sites that don't have an
official license to distribute Apple system software. Please read the
various README documents available at ftp.apple.com for the detailed
info if you're connecting from outside the U.S. or if you wish to
redistribute material you find here.
Michael Gleason's mac.ftp.list, a more comprehensive list of FTP
sites for Macintosh software, is available from sumex-aim in the
info-mac/report directory as ftp-sites.txt. This list catalogs dozens
of sites and mirrors, both well- known and obscure.
CAN I GET SHAREWARE BY E-MAIL? (3.2)
The info-mac archives at sumex-aim are available by E-mail from
LISTSERV@RICEVM1.bitnet (alternately listserv@ricevm1.rice.edu). The
listserver responds to the commands $MACARCH HELP, $MACARCH INDEX, and
$MACARCH GET filename. Mac archive files are available from
mac@mac.archive.umich.edu. Send it a message containing the words
"help" and "index" (no quotes) on the first two lines of your message
for instructions on getting started and a list of the files you may
request. You can retrieve files from other sites by using the server
at ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com. For details send it a message with just the
text "help" (no quotes).
WHERE CAN I FIND APPLICATION X? (3.3)
If you can't find what you're looking for at one of the above
sites, try telnetting to your nearest archie server or sending it
an E-mail message addressed to archie with the subject "help."
Archie servers are located at archie.rutgers.edu (128.6.18.15,
America), archie.mcgill.ca (132.206.2.3, the original archie server
in Canada), archie.au (139.130.4.6, Australia), archie.funet.fi
(128.214.6.100, Scandinavia), and archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.3.7,
the U.K. and the continent). These sites serve as indexes for the
tens of thousands of files available for anonymous ftp. Login as
"archie" (no password is needed) and type "prog filename" to find
what you're looking for or type "help" for more detailed
instructions. For instance you would type "prog Disinfectant" to
search for a convenient ftp site for Disinfectant. If the initial
search fails to turn up the file you want, try variations on the
name. For instance if you didn't find Disinfectant with "prog
Disinfectant", you might try "prog dis" instead.
Please check the above archives and ARCHIE personally BEFORE
asking where you can find a particular piece of shareware. If you
follow the above advice, you should almost never have to ask the net
where to find a particular piece of software.
CAN SOMEONE MAIL ME APPLICATION X? (3.4)
No. Nor will anyone mail you a part of a file from
comp.binaries.mac that was corrupt or missed at your site. Please
refer to the first questions in this section to find out about
anonymous FTP, archie, and how to request files from automatic E-mail
servers.
WHAT IS .BIN? .HQX? .CPT? .ETC? (3.5)
Most files available by FTP are modified twice to allow them to
more easily pass through foreign computer systems. First they're
compressed to make them faster to download, and then they're
translated to either a binhex (.hqx) or MacBinary (.bin) format that
other computers can digest. (The Macintosh uses a special two-fork
filing system that chokes most other computers.) BinHex files are
7-bit ASCII text files, while MacBinary files are pure 8-bit binary
data that must always be transferred using a binary protocol.
How a file has been translated and compressed for transmission is
indicated by its suffix. Normally a file will have a name something
like filename.xxx.yyy. .xxx indicates how it was compressed and .yyy
indicates how it was translated. To use a file you've FTP'd and
downloaded to your Mac you'll need to reverse the process. Most files
you get from the net require a two-step decoding process. First change
the binhex (.hqx) or MacBinary (.bin) file to a double-clickable
Macintosh file; then uncompress it. The details of decoding are
covered in the table below.
***************************************************************************
Suffix: .sit .cpt .hqx .bin .pit .Z .image .dd .zip .uu .tar
Extractors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
StuffIt 3.0| X X X X X X
Compact Pro| X X
Packit | X
UUTool | X
MacCompress| X
SunTar | X X X X
BinHex 5.0 | X
BinHex 4.0 | X
DiskDoubler| X
UnZip | X
DiskCopy | X
***************************************************************************
A few notes on the uncompressors:
StuffIt is a family of products that use several different
compression schemes. The recently released shareware StuffIt Lite 3.0.3
should unstuff all of these. StuffIt 3.0.3 also makes smaller archives
than any other compression utility for the Mac. To allow maximum space
for files on the various ftp sites and to keep net-bandwidth down,
please compress all files you send to anonymous ftp sites with
StuffIt 3.0.3.
UUTool, MacCompress, and SunTar handle the popular UNIX formats
of uuencode, compress, and tar respectively. The UNIX versions are
often more robust than the Mac products, so use them instead when
that's an option. Translators that allow StuffIt Lite to expand
uuencoded and tar files are also available by anonymous ftp.
A few notes on the compression formats:
.bin:
These are MacBinary files. Always use a binary file transfer
protocol when transferring them, never ASCII or text. Most files on
the net are stored as .hqx instead. Only rascal stores most of its
files in .bin format. Most communications programs such as ZTerm and
MacKermit are capable of translating MacBinary files on the fly as
they download if they know in advance they'll be downloading MacBinary
files.
.image:
This format is commonly used only for system software, so that
online users can download files that can easily be converted into
exact copies of the installer floppies. Instead of using DiskCopy to
restore the images to floppies, you can use Steve Christensen's
freeware utility MountImage to treat the images on your hard disk as
actual floppies inserted in a floppy drive. MountImage has a
reputation for being buggy, so you should have some blank floppies and
a copy of DiskCopy handy just in case.
.sea (.x, .X):
.sea doesn't merit a position in the above table because these
are self-extracting archives. They may have been created with Compact
Pro, StuffIt, or even Disk Doubler; but all should be capable of
uncompressing themselves when double-clicked. For some unknown reason
Alysis has chosen not to use this industry standard designation for
self-extracting archives created with their payware products
SuperDisk! and More Disk Space. Instead these two append either .x or
.X to their self-extracting archives.
========
VIRUSES (4.0)
========
HELP! I HAVE A VIRUS. (4.1)
90% of all problems reportedly caused by viruses are actually due
to mundane bugs in software (and 90% of all statistics are made up
:-)). Before reporting a virus infection make sure you check your
system with the latest version of Disinfectant, 2.9 as of this writing,
by the excellent John Norstad and friends from Northwestern University.
Disinfectant is absolutely free and available from sumex-aim and all
the other usual suspects. It's easy to use and can completely protect
your system from currently known Macintosh viruses. Releases to
protect from new viruses are normally made within a day or two of the
first confirmed sighting and capture of a new virus, and make their
merry way around the electronic highways faster than any Macintosh
virus ever has.
I THINK I'VE FOUND A NEW VIRUS. WHAT DO I DO? (4.2)
DON'T post a report to any comp.sys.mac.* newsgroup. 99% of all
suspected new viruses are merely mundane bugs in the system or
applications being used; and even if you really have found a new
virus, there's nothing we can do about it anyway. You'll only
succeed in generating a lot of follow-up panic reports from people
who'll blame every crash of Quark XPress on the new virus.
If your system is protected against known viruses by Disinfectant
or one of the other anti-virus packages and you suspect a new virus is
causing you trouble, first consult with the most knowledgeable local
guru about your problem. Nine times out of ten, he or she will
identify it as a boring, ordinary, known bug in the software. If you
are the local guru and still think you may have found a new virus, and
have thoroughly checked out all other possibilities, then, and only
then, send a detailed description of your problem to
j_norstad@nwu.edu. Check the Disinfectant manual for procedures to
follow when reporting a new virus.
=================
PRINTING PROBLEMS (5.0)
=================
HOW DO I MAKE A POSTSCRIPT FILE? (5.1)
First make sure a LaserWriter driver is in your System folder.
It doesn't really matter which one although the driver from the
System 7 Tuneup disk is the best. You don't need System 7 to use
the System 7 LaserWriter driver. If you're using the System 6
driver you'll need a Laser Prep file in your System Folder as well
as the LaserWriter driver and will also need to turn off background
printing. Once you've verified that there is indeed a LaserWriter
driver in the system folder, select LaserWriter in the Chooser. A
dialog box will likely pop up informing you that the LaserWriter
requires Appletalk and asking you if you want to turn Appletalk on.
Whether or not you have AppleTalk click OK. Then select Page
Setup from the File menu to format your document for the
LaserWriter. Next select Print from the File menu.
If you're using the System 7 LaserWriter driver, the Print
dialog box that appears will have a radio button for Destination
near the bottom. Click PostScript File. The Print button at
the top should change to a Save button. Click it and you'll get a
standard file dialog asking you what to name and where to save the
PostScript file.
If you're using LaserWriter driver 6.0.x or 5.2, the procedure
is more complicated. When the Print dialog box pops up, position
the cursor over the Print button and hold the mouse button down and
keep it down like you're going to click and drag. Then, with your
other hand, press and hold the K key. If you'll eventually print
the file on a non-Apple PostScript printer, especially one not
designed with the Macintosh in mind, also hold down the Command
key. Using Command-K instead of plain K includes some Mac specific
information non-Apple-oriented PostScript printers need to know
about. Now let the mouse button up. When you see a message box
that says "Creating PostScript file," take your finger off the K
key.
Once you've gotten the message "Creating PostScript file" you
should find a file called PostScript0 in the same folder as the
application you were printing from. This is the file you just
printed. Rename it before you forget what it is. If you print to
disk (what this whole process is officially called) more than once,
the second file will be called PostScript1, the third PostScript2,
and so on. It really is much easier to use the System 7
LaserWriter driver.
HOW DO I PRINT A POSTSCRIPT FILE? (5.2)
On a Macintosh you'll need the LaserWriter Utility available on
the high density TidBits disk from System 7 or the More Tidbits disk
from the 800K distribution. It's also available for anonymous ftp from
ftp.apple.com in /dts/mac/sys.soft/imaging. LaserWriter Utility allows
you to send files to the LaserWriter in such a way that PostScript
commands get interpreted as PostScript rather than as text to be
printed. If you're printing to a PostScript printer connected to
something other than a Macintosh, you'll need to consult your local
system gurus. A simple "lpr filename.ps" works on my Sparc, but your
mileage may vary.
WHY WON'T MY POSTSCRIPT FILE PRINT ON MY MAINFRAME'S PRINTER? (5.3)
Moving PostScript files between the Macintosh and other
platforms is as dark an art as exists in the Macintosh universe.
You need to experiment with your combination of application
software, LaserWriter driver, and printer to see what works best.
If you're using the System 6 LaserWriter driver, try using
Command-K instead of K to create the PostScript file so that the
Laser Prep header is included. The System 7 LaserWriter drivers
includes this header automatically though Hugo Ayala's shareware
Control Panel device Trimmer will leave it out. More importantly
Trimmer also lets you select which fonts to include in your
PostScript file. Try using only genuine PostScript fonts, no
TrueType or bitmapped fonts; and don't include any fonts in your
document that already reside in the printer or on the host system.
The freeware DMM-LaserWriter Stuff can customize your LaserWriter
driver in several different, useful ways. Among other
possibilities this package can modify a LaserWriter driver so that
the PostScript files it creates are more compatible with non-Apple
printers and printing to disk is the default. The upload to the
mainframe from which the PostScript file will be printed may also
make a difference. Normally you need to transfer the file in pure
Binary format, neither MacBinary nor ASCII.
WHY ARE MY POSTSCRIPT FILES SO BIG? (5.4)
The System 7 LaserWriter driver automatically includes all the
fonts you use in your document plus the LaserPrep information plus the
TrueType engine (if you're using any TrueType fonts) in the PostScript
file. Thus a 3K document formatted in 90K worth of fonts can easily
produce a 300K PostScript file. If these fonts are present on the
system you'll be printing from, they don't need to be included in the
document. You can remove them with the shareware control panel Trimmer
or the free utility StripFonts.
HOW CAN I PRINT POSTSCRIPT ON A NON-POSTSCRIPT PRINTER? (5.5)
You need one of the payware applications Freedom of the Press or
TScript. For most users who only want to print to common printers like
DeskWriters, StyleWriters, or Personal LaserWriter LS's, the Light
version of Freedom of the Press or the Basic version of TScript will
suffice. ($55 street for either). More expensive versions of both
products are available that work with more esoteric printers,
particularly color printers and very-high-end imagesetters.
HOW DO I MAKE MY IMAGEWRITER II PRINT IN COLOR? (5.6)
Applications such as SuperPaint 2.0 and MacWrite II that
support the original eight-color model for QuickDraw graphics only
need a color ribbon to print in color. The shareware GifConverter
can open and print a variety of graphics file types in excellent
dithered color. Jeff Skaitsis's $1 shareware CheapColor can also
dither PixelPaint and PICT2 files to an ImageWriter II.
If you have a Macintosh with a 68020 or better CPU, the payware
MacPalette II provides general purpose color printing from any
application that prints on a QuickDraw printer (e.g. NOT Illustrator).
MacPalette is about $45 street. If you need more information the
publisher, Microspot, can be contacted at 1(800) 622-7568.
WHY DOESN'T PRINTMONITOR WORK WITH THE IMAGEWRITER? (5.7)
Ask the Apple Customer Assistance Center (20525 Mariani Avenue,
Cupertino, CA 95014, USA, 1-800-776-2333) this one. Meanwhile the only
way to print spool to an ImageWriter under System 7 is with
SuperLaserSpool 3.0 from Fifth Generation Systems. This is a fully
commercial product. There are NO freeware, shareware, or other FTPable
solutions that work under System 7 so get out your credit cards. At
$98 street price for SuperLaserSpool and only $300 for the vastly
superior DeskWriter or StyleWriter you may want to forgo
SuperLaserSpool and buy a better printer instead.
If you're still using System 6 and have no plans to move to
System 7, there is a shareware product called MultiSpool from Italy;
but it is not System 7 compatible and prints only under MultiFinder.
WHY DID MY PERFECTLY FORMATTED DOCUMENT LOOK LIKE GARBAGE WHEN I TOOK
IT TO SOMEONE ELSE'S COMPUTER TO PRINT? (5.8)
There are many different reasons this can happen. Far and away
the most common problem is using the wrong printer driver. BEFORE
you start formatting your document, make sure you have a printer
driver for the printer you'll use for the final draft in your
system folder and have selected that printer in the Chooser. Then
choose Page Setup... from the File menu to let the application know
what sort of output it should try to match the display to.
The second most common problem is font confusion. Make sure you
know exactly which fonts are in your document; and, if you're printing
to a PostScript printer, make sure PostScript versions of these fonts
are available to that printer. On newer printers you might also be
able to use TrueType fonts; but PostScript is still the standard,
especially if you're eventually going to Lino for camera ready
output.
The third most common source of trouble is poor formatting,
especially in Microsoft Word. The Mac is not a typewriter, and you
shouldn't use it as one. Don't use tabs as a substitute for
indentation, don't force a page break with carriage returns, and
NEVER use spaces to position anything. If you're writing a resume
(by far the most common source of formatting problems for Word
users), give serious thought to using the well-formatted resume
template that comes with Word to help you avoid problems with your
final printout.
===============
SYSTEM SOFTWARE (6.0)
===============
WHAT IS SYSTEM 7 TUNEUP? DO I NEED IT? (6.1)
If you use System 7.0, 7.0.1, or the System 7.0 printer
drivers, you need System 7 Tuneup. The tuneup includes a number of
fixes and enhancements to System 7, including substantially faster
printer drivers, a StyleWriter driver that supports spool printing,
a fix that saves several hundred kilobytes of memory on non-networked
Macs, and, most importantly, a vaccine for the disappearing folders
bug. These fixes and many others have been rolled into System 7.1
so the tuneup does nothing for Mac running 7.1.
DO I NEED SYSTEM 7.0.1? (6.2)
Officially if you don't have a Quadra or PowerBook, you don't
need System 7.0.1. Unofficially some changes were made that speed up
SANE (numerics) operations on 32-bit clean Macintoshes with a
floating-point coprocessor. These include all IIci's and IIfx's plus
LC's and IIsi's that have had a coprocessor specially installed.
(Neither of the latter machines ships with a coprocessor.)
HOW CAN I GET SYSTEM 7.0.1 ON 800K DISKS? (6.3)
You can't because all machines that gain any benefits from 7.0.1
come equipped with high density floppy drives. You can however use
the utility MountImage to mount the images of the 1400K System 7.0.1
disks (available from ftp.apple.com) on your hard drive and install
from the images rather than from floppies. Be warned, however, that
MountImage is notoriously unreliable when doing installs. Be sure
you make a complete backup of your hard disk and have a set of System
disks on genuine floppies before attempting to install from mounted
images.
WHY DO MY DA'S DISAPPEAR WHEN I TURN ON MULTIFINDER? (6.4)
You need to put the file "DA Handler" in your System Folder. It
should be on one of your System 6.0.x disks. Under Finder the Desk
Accessories load into the memory provided by your application. Under
MultiFinder they load into their own memory space provided by
DA Handler.
===============
DOS AND THE MAC (7.0)
===============
HOW CAN I MOVE FILES BETWEEN A MAC AND A PC? (7.1)
The simplest way to move files between a PC and a Mac is with a
null-modem cable and a reliable communications program. You can get a
null-modem cable from any good electronics store. Make sure the cable
you buy has the appropriate connectors for the Mac and PC you'll be
connecting. Hook one end of the cable to the printer or modem port on
your Mac and the other to a serial port on the PC. This should work
just like a very high speed (57,600 bps) modem connection except that
you'll probably need to turn on local echo in your communications
program.
If the computers aren't within cabling distance, you can either
upload the files to an intermediary mainframe or put them on a floppy
disk. The Superdrive (see the section on floppy disks) sold since the
introduction of the IIx is capable of formatting and writing to 3.5
inch PC floppies. Apple includes Apple File Exchange, a minimal
program capable of doing this as part of the System Software. Apple
File Exchange is difficult to use and violates at least half of
Apple's user interface guidelines. (Can anyone explain why no other
software company violates as many of Apple's user interface guidelines
as Apple itself does?) For details on its use please Read the Friendly
Manual.
If you frequently need to use DOS floppies and you have a
SuperDrive, you may want to invest in a more transparent solution. The
three currently available are AccessPC from Insignia Solutions, DOS
Mounter from Dayna, and Macintosh PC Exchange from Apple, all of which
automatically mount and format 3.5 inch DOS floppies in a SuperDrive
without requiring you to run a separate program before you insert the
disk. MacPC File Exchange requires System 7. If you use DOS Mounter be
sure to increase your RAM cache (Disk cache in System 7) to at least
256K. This will substantially improve its performance.
HOW CAN I TRANSLATE FILES TO A DIFFERENT PLATFORM? (7.2)
With the increasing popularity of cross-platform development,
many Macintosh programs like Adobe Illustrator 3.0, Adobe Photoshop,
and Microsoft Word 5.0 are able to save directly to a format readable
by DOS or Windows programs. You'll still need to mount the DOS
floppies in the Mac drive using one of the products discussed above or
do a default translation from within Apple File Exchange.
Although translators for Apple File Exchange could theoretically
be designed to translate files made by applications without these
capabilities, AFE has never really caught on. The best solution is a
payware product by DataViz called MacLink Plus. MacLink Plus, about
$100 street price, can translate over 400 DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and
NeXT formats back and forth. As an added bonus it comes bundled with a
copy of DOS Mounter.
SHOULD I BUY SOFTPC OR A REAL PC? (7.3)
The various versions of SoftPC will run most PC software on a
Macintosh as advertised; but even on the fastest Macs, SoftAT will be
slower than an original AT. On any Mac slower than a IIci or with any
version of SoftPC other than SoftAT, you'll likely get performance at
best of twice the speed of an original XT. More likely you'll only
have the speed of an original XT. For today's software like
WordPerfect 5.1 that's S...L...O...W.
Of course slow is relative. I've seen an AMIGA running a Mac
emulator running SoftPC running a CP/M emulator. That's slow! As
part of testing the 486 chip design, Intel ran DOS on a simulation
of the 486 chip running on an IBM 3090 mainframe. It took them TWO
WEEKS to get to the C> prompt! That's slow. SoftPC on a Classic is
actually about as fast as the original IBM PC from ten years ago.
Furthermore SoftPC is known to have problems with certain
peripherals, both for the PC and the Mac. If you need to use any
external peripherals besides a floppy drive, you should get a real PC.
Moreover SoftPC's graphics are currently limited to at best EGA. If
you need VGA you need a real PC. Considering that SoftAT has a street
price only slightly less than a new AT clone complete with its own
small hard disk, floppy drive, and monitor, you're almost certainly
better off buying a real PC if you need to run any but the most
trivial DOS software.
========
SECURITY (8.0)
========
HOW DO I PREVENT PEOPLE FROM CHANGING THE CONTENTS OF FOLDERS IN A
PUBLIC MAC LAB? (8.1)
A first line of defense would be to use ResEdit, DiskTop, or a
similar tool to set the invisible, locked, and nocopy (bozo) bits on
the folders, applications, and documents you want to protect. This
won't stop a knowledgeable or determined hacker, and protecting the
system folder in this fashion may cause problems under System 7; but
it will cure 90% of your random-user-moving-things-around problems.
If you want to lock out more sophisticated users, a number of
payware utilities are available that allow you to password protect
individual folders. They include FolderBolt from Kent Marsh ($75
street) and Empower II from Magna ($155 street). The registered
version of Art Schumer's MacPassword ($35 shareware) is also capable
of this although the FTPable demo version is not. You might also
consider Brian Bechtel's freeware LockDisk 1.0, a cdev that makes the
boot disk read only. However this can cause problems with some
applications that can't run from a read-only disk.
HOW CAN I PASSWORD-PROTECT A MAC? (8.2)
Dr. Ralph Martin's shareware Password 1.3 provides a minimal
level of protection for your hard disk, but can be bypassed by the
simple expedient of booting from an unprotected floppy. Art Schumer's
shareware MacPassword cannot be bypassed that easily, but the demo
version available by FTP expires after sixty days. Some hard disk
formatters also offer optional password protection. Notable in this
category is FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit, about $125 mail-order.
A number of more powerful payware utilities are capable of this
and a lot more though with great security comes great danger. The more
secure a product is the more chance you have of accidentally locking
your hard disk so tight that you yourself can't recover your data.
Notable commercial products in this category are DiskLock from Fifth
Generation ($127 street) and Empower I from Magna ($90 street).
=================
HARD DISK PROBLEMS (9.0)
=================
HELP! THE FOLDER CONTAINING ALL SOURCE CODE FOR MY COMPANY'S BIG
PROJECT JUST DISAPPEARED FROM OUR SERVER; WE HAVEN'T BACKED UP IN
A WEEK; AND IF I CAN'T GET IT BACK I'LL BE FIRED AND MY COMPANY
WILL GO BANKRUPT! (9.1)
Try a Find on the missing filenames; and, if they turn up, move
them to the desktop. In the meantime grab Disk First Aid 7.1 from
ftp.apple.com which should be able to fix this problem.
WHY CAN'T I THROW AWAY THIS FOLDER? (9.2)
Possibly the folder contains items that are locked or in use
and can't be thrown away. Turn off file-sharing (if it's on) and
quit all applications. Then try to throw the folder away. If that
doesn't work and you're using System 6, hold down the option-key
and drag the folder into the trash; or, if you're using System 7,
hold down the option key while selecting "Empty Trash" from the
special menu. Holding the option key down lets you throw away
locked items. If that doesn't work restart the computer, hold down
the option key, and try again. If you still can't throw away the
folder, try throwing away the items in the folder (if any) one by
one until you find the ones giving you trouble. Remove them from
the folder, and then throw the folder away. If you still can't
throw the folder away, you've discovered a "Folder from Hell."
Create an empty folder on ANOTHER disk with the same name as the
Hell Folder. Then copy the new folder onto the same disk in the
same folder as the Hell Folder. Click "Yes" when asked if you want
to replace the Hell Folder. Now you should be able to throw the
just copied folder away.
WHY CAN'T I SHARE MY SYQUEST DRIVE? CD-ROM? BERNOULLI BOX? ETC.? (9.3)
Apple originally planned to treat removables like floppies
rather than hard disks for file-sharing. At the requests of beta
testers file-sharing on removables was hacked into System 7.0 at
the last minute. However, since file-sharing was originally to be
implemented only on fixed drives, no means were created for the
host Mac to tell other Macs when a new volume went on or off-line.
Therefore sharing a removable volume requires that the disc or
cartridge be inserted and mounted when the host Mac boots up.
Reboot with the drive turned on and the cartridge already inserted
and you should be able to share it.
WHY CAN'T I EJECT THIS SYQUEST CARTRIDGE? CD-ROM? FLOPTICAL? ETC.? (9.4)
Once file-sharing gets its hooks into a disk it doesn't like to
let go. Turn off file-sharing on the volume you want to unmount.
i.e. choose "Share..." from the File menu and uncheck "Share This
Item and its Contents" for the removable volume you want to
unmount. Then drag the volume to the trash.
WHY CAN'T I RENAME MY HARD DRIVE? (9.5)
You need to turn off file-sharing as described above. If the
disk you can't rename is not shared, use Kazu Yanagahira's freeware
utility Unlock Folder.
============
FLOPPY DISKS (10.0)
============
There have been three kinds of floppy disks in the history of the
Macintosh. The original 128K Thin Mac (which used to be called a
classic Mac before the advent of the much superior Mac Classic) and
the subsequent 512K "Fat Mac" used 400K, single-sided double-density
diskettes. These disks are outdated, and it's highly unlikely you'll
actually see any. If you need to exchange data with an older
Macintosh, you'll need to use disks formatted as one-sided. Since very
few, if any, stores still sell one-sided 3.5 inch disks anymore, it's
fortunate that all Macs deal quite happily with double-sided disks
formatted as single-sided. Just click the button labeled "One-sided"
after you select "Erase Disk" from the Special menu.
***Neat Trick alert*** Sometimes disks that fail formatting as
double-sided can be formatted as single-sided. Even neater trick:
Under System 6.0.x the shareware init BAD can map out bad sectors on a
floppy disk which lets about 70% of bad disks be formatted. (System 7
does this automatically.) Neatest trick of all: All name-brand
diskettes (SONY, Maxell, etc.) come with lifetime warranties. A lot
of offices keep a bad disk box for everyone to dump their bad disks in
and send the disks in for replacement when they collect ten or so; but
it's been my experience that if you return just a single bad disk
these companies will send a whole ten pack as a replacement.
With the introduction of the Mac Plus in 1986, Apple also
introduced a larger disk drive capable of reading and writing 800K,
"Double-Sided Double-Density" disks, DSDD for short. The only way to
tell these disks from the earlier, one-sided diskettes, is by the
label on the metal cover. Unformatted these are identical to the
720K disks common in the IBM world. With the Mac IIx Apple introduced
what's alternately known as the Superdrive or "FDHD," short for
"Floppy Drive, High Density." The FDHD (pronounced Fud-Hud) can read
and write all of the previous kinds of diskettes plus double-sided
high-density disks which are distinguished by two holes in the disk
case rather than the normal one. The FDHD uses the extra hole to
recognize a high-density disk.
WHY DOESN'T MY MAC CLASSIC (SE/30, QUADRA, IIci, etc.) READ THE DISKS
FROM MY OLD PLUS? (10.1)
The Macintosh Plus and earlier machines along with most original
Mac II's and some SE's do not have the high density FDHD drive
necessary to properly read and format a high-density disk. If you
insert a blank high-density disk in a low density drive, the Mac, not
knowing the difference between a double-density and a high-density
floppy, will happily format your expensive 1.4 meg disk as a cheap
800K diskette. When you move this disk to a more advanced machine
with a FDHD drive, the newer drive will recognize the disk as a
high-density floppy by its extra hole. Since the disk has been
formatted as 800K instead of as 1400K, the FDHD drive will misread it
and ask you if you want to initialize it. As a temporary workaround
place a small piece of scotch tape over both sides of the extra hole
on the high-density disk to trick the Mac into treating the disk as a
double-density disk. This is a temporary fix only, and the tape
should be removed and the disk reformatted to the proper size as soon
as possible.
CAN I MAKE A HIGH-DENSITY DISK BY PUNCHING AN EXTRA HOLE IN A
DOUBLE-DENSITY DISK? (10.2)
Yes you can, but I certainly wouldn't trust any data I intended
to keep for more than the next minute or two to such a diskette. The
extra hole is not the only difference between a double-density and a
high-density disk. The magnetic media on a high-density disk is a
different type that is much more susceptible to formatting.
Double-density diskettes should only be formatted as 800K. With the
plummeting prices of real high-density disks, this really shouldn't be
an issue anymore.
=============
MISCELLANEOUS (11.0)
=============
IS THERE A UTILITY TO VIEW POSTSCRIPT FILES ON THE MAC? (11.1)
Net godhood awaits the first person to write a shareware or
freeware solution to this problem. The payware products Canvas 3.0
and TScript allow viewing PostScript files on the Mac, but both are
large packages with other purposes and cost over $50 each.
IS THERE A UTILITY TO EDIT POSTSCRIPT FILES ON THE MAC? (11.2)
In the most basic sense PostScript files are just ASCII text, so
if you're familiar with the PostScript programming language you can
edit PostScript in any good text editor. If you want to edit the
PostScript files graphically, the only utility currently capable of
that on some level is Canvas 3.0.
WHAT DOES SYSTEM ERROR XXX MEAN? (11.3)
Typically it means nothing at all of any use to you. Your time
is much more usefully spent trying to figure out what actions in which
application caused the crash so that you can avoid them in the future
rather than deciphering system error numbers. After all, knowing that
Error 16 means a math coprocessor is not installed doesn't help you
much in fixing the problem. Knowing that this happens in Quark XPress
3.0 every time you try to link two text boxes on a master page when
copies of those text boxes already contain text does. (And in this
case the error message isn't even accurate.) If you really want to
know what that number means, get Dr. Pete Corless's System Error 7.0.1
utility available in the usual places.
HOW DO I USE A PICTURE FOR MY DESKTOP? (11.4)
If you have a Macintosh with Color QuickDraw in ROM (Mac II and
later machines) get the init DeskPict, available from the usual FTP
sites. A slightly improved and less buggy version called
DeskPicture is part of the payware Now Utilities. Users of compact
Macs (Plus's, SE's, and Classics) can pick up BackDrop from
sumex-aim instead.
CAN I REPLACE THE "WELCOME TO MACINTOSH" BOX WITH A PICTURE? (11.5)
First you need an application capable of saving documents in
Startup Screen format such as the freeware XLateGraf or the shareware
GIFConverter. Open the graphics file you want to turn into a startup
screen and select Save As... from the File menu. Then select Startup
Screen as the format to save into. Name the new document
"StartupScreen" (no space between Startup and Screen) and put it in
the System Folder. The next time the Mac boots up you should see the
happy Mac, followed by the picture.
WHAT IS AUTODOUBLER? (11.6)
Fifth Generation Systems' AutoDoubler is a transparent file
compression utility that compresses most files on your hard disk
and decompresses them automatically when they're opened so that
your hard disk appears to be much larger than it really is.
Ideally you won't know it's there once you've installed it. The
consensus of the net seems to be that AutoDoubler is fast and safe.
The only common, known conflicts are with GateKeeper, the Find
File function in Microsoft Word 5.0, and A/UX. The latter problem
has been fixed in Word 5.1. However, Gatekeeper is pretty much
incompatible with Autodoubler 2.0. If you use Autodoubler, use
Disinfectant rather than Gatekeeper. AutoDoubler is completely
incompatible with A/UX. Don't use AutoDoubler on a disk you want
to use with A/UX.
HOW DOES AUTODOUBLER COMPARE TO DISK DOUBLER? TO MORE DISK SPACE?
TO STUFFIT SPACESAVER? (11.7)
Disk Doubler, also from Fifth Generation, is a cross between
AutoDoubler and Compact Pro. Like AutoDoubler DiskDoubler can
automatically decompress files when needed, but the decompression
isn't nearly as transparent as AutoDoubler's.
More Disk Space is a competing product similar in functionality
to AutoDoubler. As well as transparently compressing files More
Disk Space can also make self-extracting and segmented archives for
transmission via modem or floppy disk. More Disk Space has several
unique features that make it more suitable for use on a network
than competing products such as a freeware init that allows all
Macs to to use files previously compressed by More Disk Space as
transparently as if More Disk Space itself were installed and the
ability to create a "compression server" that can compress files
for all macs on the network on demand. Thus a network of several
dozen Macs could use one $42 copy of More Disk Space. However,
some netters claim More Disk Space violates a certain programming
edict from Apple which makes it likely to break under future
versions of the System. Alysis denies this. Attempts to contact
the appropriate people at Apple for the "official" word have so far
been unsuccessful.
StuffIt SpaceSaver from Aladdin Systems is the most recent
entry into the file-level, transparent compression field. Like
both More Disk Space and AutoDoubler before it, SpaceSaver is
shaking out bugs in its early revisions. Unlike AutoDoubler and
More Disk Space, StuffIt SpaveSaver decompresses onto disk rather
than into RAM. This is a two-edged sword which improves
compatibility but slows decompression and causes severe problems on
at least some disks (like my own) when performing operations that
access all files on the disk, e.g. rebuilding the desktop. StuffIt
SpaceSaver is the only single transparent compression utility that
gives you the choice of either individually selecting the files to
be compressed or compressing almost evrything on a disk. (The
combination of AutoDoubler and Disk Doubler can also act like this
but costs almost three times as much.) For paranoids like myself
who've seen one too many irreversibly corrupted archive to ever
fully trust compression software, this is an invaluable feature
since it allows one to only compress files for which several
backups exist. SpaceSaver's only known major incompatibility is
with Norton Utilities' Directory Assistance II. Symantec has
promised to fix this in the next upgrade to the Norton Utilities
and a ResEdit fix is available on request from Aladdin.
IS THERE A JPEG VIEWER FOR THE MAC? (11.8)
Storm Technology's Picture Decompress shows JPEG's on all Macs
with 32-bit QuickDraw. Aaron Giles' JPEGView previews JPEG files on
System 7 Macs with QuickTime installed. PictPixie, a QuickTime
development tool from Apple, also allows Macs with 32-bit QuickDraw
and QuickTime to display JPEG's but requires enormous amounts of
memory. All are free; the first two are available from the regular
archive sites, the last from ftp.apple.com in /dts/mac/quicktime.
JPEGView and PictPixie not only display JPEG's but can also convert
them to Quicktime format.
One more free product worthy of mention is Jeff Lewis's
Imagery/JPEG which converts JPEG format files to GIF's albeit with
some loss of resolution. They can then be viewed with any Gif viewer
like QuickGif or GifConverter.
WHAT'S A GOOD TEXT EDITOR FOR THE MAC? (11.9)
Available shareware and freeware text editors include McSink,
BBEdit, Edit II (with grep style searching), Alpha (particularly nice
for use with TeX files), Stevie (for fans of vi), and microEmacs. The
feature sets of these editors overlap somewhat but are not identical.
Since all are available via anonymous FTP, there's no reason not to
try them all and find the one you like best.
WHERE DID MY ICONS GO? (11.10)
Your icons have passed on to a better place, but with a little
magic it's normally possible to resurrect them. Several utilities
including Norton Utilities for the Mac and the freeware drag-and-drop
utility Save-A-BNDL should retrieve your icons. Rebuilding the
desktop (Hold down the Command and option keys while starting up.)
should also restore your icons.
Elliotte Rusty Harold Department of Mathematics
elharo@m.njit.edu New Jersey Institute of Technology
erh0362@tesla.njit.edu Newark, NJ 07102