Subject: Info-Mac Digest V16 #74 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Mon, 30 Mar 98 Volume 16 : Issue 74 Today's Topics: (A) Hooking G3 PB to thinnet? (A) menubar internet timer and status bar (A) Sad Mac Error (A)Extensions Manager (E)IDE and Mac, SparQ ? (Q) secret about box (Q) System 8.1 and CD-ROMs [A] How to combine modem bandwidth [A] Norton Utilities and HFS+ [A] Problem with localtalk network [A] Quirky mail issue [Q] Dos card [Q] Experience with MS Office 98 [Q] Scanner and OS8.1 Disk Essentials: just another bad experience Epson Stylus 600 installation problems Experience with MS Office 98 Freeware or Shareware? How to contact Eudora e-mail support? Insignia Tech nonsupport Internal Syjet data loss Kaleidoscope & Navigator Kaleidoscope questions Launcher/startup sound Looking for OIDS & Other Old Mac Games/Programs Obscure but dangerous Mac Office98 bug Office 98 speech recognition Stop Wintel invasion- Know good accounting software for Macs?? Unix on a Mac IIfx Voice recognition 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 . Email Addresses and Instructions: * To submit articles to the digest, email . * To subscribe, send email to with subscribe in the Subject line. * To unsubscribe, send email to with unsubscribe in the Subject line. * To change your address, unsubscribe from the old address, then subscribe from the new address. If that fails, try using the list maintenance form at before contacting us. * Please send administrative queries to . * To submit files for the archive, email the binhexed file with a description to . Submissions must be made by the author or with permission of the author. It may take up to a week to process; check mirror sites for the status of new uploads. FTP and Web Addresses and Instructions: * To submit files larger than 800K, email a description to and then use an FTP client to upload the binhexed file to info-mac.org, using the userid "macgifts and the password "macgifts". Or, click . * A full list of Info-Mac mirror sites is available at the URL below: * Search the archive at . Info-Mac volunteers include Gordon Watts, Adam C. Engst, Demitri Muna, Mike O'Bryan, Michael Bean, and Liam Breck. The Info-Mac Digest is sponsored in part by StarNine Technologies, developers of Internet server software for the Macintosh, including Web and email publishing systems. 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 #74" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 08:29:28 +0100 From: "Hans M. Aus" Subject: (A) Hooking G3 PB to thinnet? One possibility is an Asante 4 or 8 port hub with one BNC or AUI port. We have several of these hubs in our network and they work just fine. I understand that the hubs cost under $100 in your part of the world. Cheers, Hans M. Aus, aus@vim.uni-wuerzburg.de, Wuerzburg, Germany, ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 16:31:06 -0500 From: Maurice Mike McNeil Subject: (A) menubar internet timer and status bar I believe that comes with Global Village modems. -----|----- 0-0 (_)+ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 00:54:58 EST From: gelfling2@juno.com (Stephen R. Griswold) Subject: (A) Sad Mac Error Somewhat on the same subject, I had a program clobber the catalog file on my Mac-Plus about 2 weeks ago.. (If anyone has the game 'Megaroids', from the 'Software of The Month' club library, I heavily recommend against running it on a Plus, running System 7.0.1, lest it RUIN your day!) Disk First Aid 7.2 (and 7.2.2) both report back a bad node in the catalog file, and is unable to fix the problem. I'm awaiting a Norton Emergency disk from someone on the Mac-L Digest, to hopefully repair the damage. Someone else mentioned, that Disk First Aid, which is included with the Newer OS 8.x, is supposed to be more aggressive than 7.2.x is.. My only question is, will it run on a 4MB Plus, running 6.0.8 (Only boot floppy I have!) and, Does Apple have it available for individual download? (i.e. as a rescue tool.) I have only about 6MB space left on a 2ndary Non-Boot HD, to handle converting it with Stuffit Expander, but it needs to fit on a nearly blank 800K disk. Stephen Griswold _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 16:30:46 -0500 From: Maurice Mike McNeil Subject: (A)Extensions Manager > Has Apple changed the Extensions Manager or is something out of >whack? Something is out-of-whack, I have Location Manager & EM with 8.1 and both come up with the spacebar, LM first followed by EM. LM includes a preference for a Hotkey, couldn't find one for EM. -----|----- 0-0 (_)+ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 01:37:07 -0500 (EST) From: pgh1@cornell.edu Subject: (E)IDE and Mac, SparQ ? I was wondering if the mac truely supports IDE or EIDE hardware now. Can I buy any IDE drive and drop it into my IDE equipped mac internal bus? Does it need "apple roms"? If it doesnt, can I buy a Syquest Sparq internal EIDE super-cool pc only drive? Would it need a special driver? ANYONE TRIED THIS? At $174 for a 1 GB drive and $30 for each 1 GB after that seems like not too much money to risk trying. pete. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 19:36:22 -0500 From: abrody@smart.net Subject: (Q) secret about box Dear Digest readers, Back in System 7.5.2 it was possible to use the "Secret About Box" easter egg to get a nice picture of Cupertino with a flag that you could play with. Anybody know if it is still possible on a PowerMac 7200 to get that easter egg in MacOS 8? How would one get it? I tried the ResEdit hack of the System file, and only got the older Secret About Box Little Break Out game. Surely the Cupertino flag game is still available somewhere in MacOS 8. By the way, thank you one and all for the PPP status bar in the menubar info. Apparently this is a Global Village modems only feature. Thank you. Sincerely, abrody@smart.net ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 08:54:15 -0800 From: "Paul [not \"Brian\"] Brians" Subject: (Q) System 8.1 and CD-ROMs I just updated both my 7600 and my 7100 to System 8 using the CD-ROM and followed that by running the 8.1 updater. Everything seems to be working except my CD-ROM drives. I can no longer mount any CD-ROM on either desktop. Neither SCSI Probe nor Silverlining Lite 2 can force them to mount (though the latter can see them). I did a custom install, so I may have mistakenly left some crucial init out--or maybe there's some setting in a control panel that's wrong. Can anyone help? By the way, on the 7600 I did an update from 7.5.5, whereas on the 7100 I did a clean install. Both behave the same. One thing I really like about System 8 is the fact that Zip disks and Syquest cartridges mount more reliably. But why won't CDs mount? Also, one of the two computers (the 7100) reports every time I start up that the fonts needed by Adobe Acrobat or ATM Pro are damaged or missing and that I should reinstall them. Anybody have any idea which fonts these are? Paul Brians, Department of English,Washington State University Pullman, WA 99164-5020 brians@wsu.edu http://www.wsu.edu/~brians ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 08:23:37 +0100 From: mnolet@faille.unice.fr (Michael Nolet) Subject: [A] How to combine modem bandwidth >I have created a small LAN in my apt building and we have 4 modems >connected to 4 powermacs. Has anyone ever heard of a method by which we >could share the bandwidth of these modems? What I have in mind is this: >each of the macs could log on (which can be done remotely via timbuktu) >to its isp. A piece of software could then run on each of these machines >to cooperatively distribute the requests for data as needed by the >group. This would dramatically improve bandwidth for the individual at >times and would never diminish the bandwidth for anyone. > >I would love to hear what people think of this? If there are no >solutions, would any programmers care to discuss how this might be done? > >yours, >bailey ford >gt4577d@prism.gatech.edu I have personally never heard of it, and doubt of its existence. Although I am not an expert, the problem would be that you have to not just have software running on your own 4 PPC's, but also on your server. Hence you would have to write software for both your computers and the server. Would be pretty damn hard.... you can give it a try if ya want though. -Mike ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 23:01:29 -0500 From: jrr7@cornell.edu (Jonathan Rynd) Subject: [A] Norton Utilities and HFS+ Ted Logan wrote: > My local Mac shop says it will be several month before Norton offers new > version of NUM fully compatible with and fully funtional for HFS+-formatted > (Macintosh Extended Format) disks. They suggest I use TechToolsPro > meanwhile. NUM is expected to update by this fall. No word on what they define "Fall" to be -- it could be December 31st. TechToolsPlus is a competitor to Norton. I haven't heard anything about it. Why not check out their web site http://www.micromat.com The shareware version of TechTools doesn't have any of the diskrecovery features that TTP does. -- Tired of getting junk email? You can take back your mailbox! See http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemaildeal.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 23:03:27 -0500 From: jrr7@cornell.edu (Jonathan Rynd) Subject: [A] Problem with localtalk network Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 17:39:26 +0100 From: Mitja Jankovic > I have used a simple telephon bipolar wire (22 awg). It's the wire who make > the problem? My guess is that there is electrical interference with the wire. You need some sort of shielding for the wire, and probably you should twist the wire too (don't know if it will make any difference in your case, but high-quality wire is twisted). -- Tired of getting junk email? You can take back your mailbox! See http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemaildeal.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 22:43:42 -0500 From: jrr7@cornell.edu (Jonathan Rynd) Subject: [A] Quirky mail issue My guess is you are using a second ISP and trying to access the mail server on Concentric.net. This is called "Relaying" and Concentric is forbidding it from happening, because people can abuse this feature to send junk mail. What you need to do is either: Change your dialup telephone number or change your mail server to the mail server at the other ISP. -- Tired of getting junk email? See http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemaildeal.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 10:12:30 +0000 From: "NPR" Subject: [Q] Dos card How can I get the DOS card in a 6100/66 powermac to see the network? The Mac side sees the network just fine using 10baset connected to the University backbone. The local PC gurus here have tried all the methods they use to connect their own PC's to the network, but none of them work. So I believe something must be done on the Mac side to get it to connect. I'm sure someone out there has figured this out. The card was installed by Apple as a package deal and contains a 486 MP. The Mac side runs system 7.5 and the DOS side runs Windoze 95. -Nick ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 14:03:33 -0500 From: "Prof. Kazlow" Subject: [Q] Experience with MS Office 98 > Jim Hardwick asked: > > >Has anyone installed 98 yet? Care to share experiences, cautions, etc? snip > The little assistant (what we get instead of that awful > paperclip on Windows) is so cute I sometimes start Word just so my daughter > can watch the assistant for awhile. (I know that sounds stupid, but wait > until you see him!) If I could wring that little assistant's fat neck I would. You can turn it off temporarily, but it keeps on coming back. Calling it annoying is being polite. I'd like to find some method of turning it off completely. I'd try removing all personalities, but since MS Office keeps re-installing parts you remove, that won't work. I wish software companies would start treating its user's as adults or at least have adult mode as an option. ....Mike Mike Kazlow mkazlow@fsmail.pace.edu When the above link is down: mkazlow@earthlink.net Soon to be defunct MikeKazlow@aol.com, kazlowf@pace.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 09:19:47 +1100 From: Tim.Marples@anu.edu.au (Tim Marples) Subject: [Q] Scanner and OS8.1 I have a Power Mac 6100/60 40MB running OS8.1 and a ColorOneScanner 600/27. I use Photoshop 4.0 and the Apple ColourOne Plugin v1.0.2 to access the scanner. I have upgraded the scanner extension to version 2.0 (although the extension title is Scanner (3.0).sea, but it is not a self expanding archive). Under OS7.5.5, unless Photoshop was the first program to load, the scanner would hang after moving the light source a centimeter or so. As long as Photoshop was first to load everthing worked fine and I could scan as much as I wanted to. Since I loaded OS8.1 the light source moves a centimeter or so and then hangs every time. Command/Option Escape does not work although the mouse pointer is still live. I have spend hours with the extensions manager trying to locate an extension conflict, but with no success. Does anyone have any suggestions of what to try next? Please email me direct. Thanks Tim Marples ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 09:27:18 +0200 From: "Ramiro A. Varela" Subject: Disk Essentials: just another bad experience Hello everybody, After more than 3 months of unsuccesful phone calls and e-mails I decided to share to my experience with the Mac community. I ordered DiskeEssentials by fax on December. The package should would be sent by US mail, since their web site did not allow me to use a private courier such as DHL. They did NOT acknowledge my order. Even a simple message saying thank you would be nice and enough, isn'it? On December 16 they charged my MC. About one month later I called (1st international call) their customer service. Thay couldn't answer me by phone (why?), I was not on their records, but my money was on their bank, that's for sure They told me to wait 4 to 6 weeks, you know, December, a bad month, too many holidays. After that time, I called again, and again they were not able to answer me. They suggested me to write to de_orders@recallusa.com, after a long hold. Ok. I wrote an e-mail explaining everything again. They answered me that time, great, saying that the package left their facility on December 23, of course a week later than they charged my MC. Not a nice practice. They STILL want me to wait. Since I am patient, I waited. One week. Another week. Disk Essentials never arrived. I wrote to their e-mail address two times. They did not even write a single line answering me. At this point, I feel mad and frustrated, and thinking the only ESSENTIAL thing is to avoid this type of companies to do bussiness in such a way. I would appreciate very much to know some suggestions from this community to recover not my hard disk this time but my $$$ , and if any legal actions can be started from Spain. Dr. Ramiro A. Varela Universidad de Vigo Facultad de Ciencias, Campus de Lagoas Aptdo 874 36200 Vigo Tel. (3486)812643 Fax (3486)812556 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 08:19:10 -0500 From: Bob Rolston Subject: Epson Stylus 600 installation problems Has anyone else had trouble installing an Epson 600 printer to their Mac? Because of AppleTalk I have been not been able to install the printer and it is very frustrating. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 14:38:38 -0500 From: Mike Pinkerton Subject: Experience with MS Office 98 Daly Jessup, in response to Jim Hardwick, said: >I have installed Office 98. I've used it for about a week or two. I love >it. The applications open in about 4-5 seconds. The files are the same as >those produced by Office on Windows, so absolutely all formatting, fields, >graphics, and so on, cross over between platforms without any translation >needed at all. [snip] >It is very friendly. You can go into a mode where you are producing Word >5.1a documents, even using the Word 5.1a toolbar, if you need or want to. [snip] Daly, I have two questions: First, what are the system requirements for Office 98? Will it run on the old LC III (68020) running System 7.1 that my wife uses? Second, one of the great features of Word 5.1a was it lack of support for Word macros, making it virtually oblivious to Word macro virii and giving one great peace of mind. Can one disable macro support in Office 98 to achieve the same result? Thanks. Mike ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 15:23:34 +0000 From: P Kay Subject: Freeware or Shareware? This is a request to some of the authors who make contributions to info-mac. Some of us (me, anyway :-)) who have to pay for our downloading costs would very much appreciate being told by software uploaders whether the file is freeware or shareware. Some of you do this anyway, but a few don't. Since I don't intend to buy any software in the near future, I resent downloading a 685k file (as was posted recently) only to discover that the author wants some money. The shareware concept is great and some shareware is excellent, but I still want to know the nature of the transaction BEFORE I download. Thanks for your time. Peter ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 11:37:05 +0000 From: Mephistophilis Subject: How to contact Eudora e-mail support? I have been having some serious problems with Eudora Pro 3.1.3 recently but all my messages to the support address given on the Qualcomm website (i.e. Eudora-support@qualcom.com) bounce with the following error message: Subject: Insignia Tech nonsupport > >Has anyoristmne else had problems with Insignia's tech suport? >Since Christmas I've been trying to get them to resolve a problem with their >SoftWindows 3.0. It can't access the CD-Rom drive in my Powerbook 1400. >I've sent them many E-mails and have received about 10 replies. >4 requesting my serial # >2 requesting my full serial #, not the 1used by the program during startup. >1 advising that the problem was too involved to answer by e-mail and that I >should fill out an online questionaire >1 advising me to use an older version of the Apple CD-Rom extension >2 asking me to restate the problem. >All this after I gave them the problem, CD drive info, System info, and test >results using an older external CD drive that worked with SoftWindows but not >with the Apple System software. > >Their answer also stated that the don't have a Powerbook 1400 to test on so >they were at a loss to explain the problem. > How funny, I have had exactly the same story. Except I bought the upgrade from 3.0 to 4.0 too. Still no help. What's more, it can't cope with the fact that the floppy drive and the CD-ROM are either/or on a PowerBook. This much touted Turbo-start is rendered totally useless. I pushed my query like yourself, and finally got to speak to an engineer on the phone. I was told point blank that "their customers" don't want to run SW on powerbooks, so I was alone with my problem, and they wouldn't even put it on a list of requested features. Early this year I made attempts to determine if these problems had been fixed in SW 5.0. After many unanswered mails I got the same story as before from their telephone support line. My solution ? Prove them correct - I chose NOT to be a customer of theirs any longer... I bought Virtual PC. >Does anybody know if Connectix's version of the Windoze emulator works on a >powerbook? Obvoiusly Insignia's emulators don't. Even revues in one of the Mac >Magazines had problems with insignia's products on a Pb 3400. > Sure :-) VPC 1.0 is slightly slower than SW 4.0 on my PB 1400/113, making it useable for only relatively simple programs, though I do still use it. On my G3/233 desktop machine it feels like a 60+ Mhz Pentium (this figure is pure speculation - it feels like a low end PC). I run test my java software under the sun JDK quite happily in VPC on the G3. (Wouldn't try this on the 1400 though, which speed wise must be more like a 16 Mhz Pentium...) However it was so much simpler to use and set up than SW (which took me hours of frustration with the CD-ROM problems, the network driver problems...) VPC worked out of the box. I'm waiting for VPC 2.0 to arrive, which promises 30 % speed improvement. A NewerTech G3 card for my 1400 would be all I would need then !!! The features I like most is the simple strainght forward config panel, the simple switch between full screen and window modes, and most of all, the ability to mount VPC hard disks in the finder. With MacOS 8.1 you get the full length (up to 31 chars) filenames even. Interoperability couldn't be better ! VPC's turbo-start equivelent is much better, you can have multiple turbo start files, solving the problem that SW has with different machine configurations on powerbooks. Only cut+paste is better in SW, though this is apparently improved in VPC 2.0. Note that to successfully run emulators, use tons of real ram, don't use ram doubler or Mac Virtual Memory. Big improvements are had with larger Level 2 caches, and bus/cache/cpu frequency. Cheers Guy ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 08:48:26 -0600 From: jdouglas@iquest.net Subject: Internal Syjet data loss I have installed an internal syjet drive, run system 8.1, silverlining light 2.2sq and have had major problems with complete loss of data on the drive. Seems like when I initialize the disk it'll work great for awhile. TechTool Pro says that the disk and the data are ok. A few restarts later though and the drive is "unreadable" and ends up having to be reformatted. It does this with both HFS and HFS+. Once it's 'unreadable' I have not been able to restore the data using TechTool or Norton. This has happened with 2 separate cartridges. The drive itself seems to operate just fine. Does anyone know if there are some software conflicts (such as with silverlining light for the syquest) or particular hardware problems that would be erratic? Please respond to jdouglas@iquest.net as well as the list. Thanks, Jerry ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 21:23:47 -0600 From: bsegal@mcs.com Subject: Kaleidoscope & Navigator *Well, my experience has been dramatically different. Not only are Internet *Config, Eudora, Netscape and Fetch very happy to work with each other, i concur *So what makes my machine start crashing while using any TCP/IP connection? *Kaleidoscope. I've disabled almost every INIT and cdev *manually*, not *using EM because it just doesn't show you everything. I leave enough to *enable an ISP connection. Add Kaleidoscope and the crashes start happening. *This is with v1.8.1. i run 7.1 on a centris 650 w/24 meg of ram and have taken to avoiding kaleidoscope for much the same reason. whenever i add it to my (admittedly large) collection of inits, i seem to gain a tremendous amount of instability. i've tried it in a number of versions, including the latest - but it seems to be the straw that breaks my systems back ben bsegal@mcs.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 04:13:50 -0500 From: "hazelNut" Subject: Kaleidoscope questions Folks, I am vaguely familiar with the whole Win95+ desktop themes phenomenon (helps to have a Wintel tech for a bro who runs that on his box @ home). This is where I see Mac interface-enhancing utils and packages like Kaleidoscope coming up short. Or do they? The crux of it is, the DOS shell on which Windows '95+ "rides" apparently allows for near-total customization of the desktop from scheme to scheme. From what my bro' tells me, there's even a MacOS "theme" that places the root (what we would call "Finder") desktop icons in the familiar MacOS positions -- the upper right of the user's main monitor. So what is the obstacle that prevents such things as K'scope and ChurchWindows etc., from doing similar re-positioning of icons when 'running' non-Mac schemes? (I'm marginally familiar with MPW toolbox terms, so using such in a reply won't confuse me _that much.) ChurchWndows throws a heck of a pitch in that direction -- its widget and close boxes in its non-Mac frame sets are right in line, position-wise, with the OSes they emulate. But in a half-Windows, half-Unix/Linux world, you gotta admit that's a pretty lame attempt at authenticity. I've also thought, having seen so many amateur developers interpretations of Win95/NT in Kaleidoscope schemes, that at least one of them should be accompanied by a Finder patch that places those "reassuring"(!) underscores beneath the same letters in the Finder menu as in the real deal. So far the only scheme set I've seen with a patch has been KaleidosCOP, on a MacAddict CD-ROM. Am I out of the loop? Are there really more schemes accompanied by such risky sysfile augmentors, or has the trend caught on yet? Or better, is Mr Landweber considering a "flexibility patch" for future releases of K'scope itself, through which scheme-makers can further fancy-up and authenticise the look and feel of their OS-oriented schemes? To my mind, such a thing would inject a dose of true commercial viability into Kaleidoscope, and may even garner Greg L. some interest with the software-publishers known for such things (Aladdin comes to mind, as do Connectix and Deneba, among others). So anyone with any knowledge of Mac programming, or familiarity with the whys and wherefores behind the limits of finder modification, please don't hesitate to answer these questions. Asked in a moment (recurring more often the more I chat with brother-of-mine on such matters) of disappointment, I trust there are ways to reach that end before Rhapsody's vaunted new API reaches final-release. Steve Wright ============================= maiden mother and crone (you figure it out!) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 13:28:25 -0800 From: prosoul@orca.bc.ca Subject: Launcher/startup sound Does anyone know how to disable sound for the launcher? There doesn't seem to be an easy way to do it, and it's annoying since I use my Mac for audio-I get this collossal "CCLICKKETT". Since it's not an alert sound, it is not controllable. Also, the Powermac startup sound is louder than normal sound volume. Is there a way to disable/change this? I would prefer not to have to alter my system using resedit. Agent Audio maybe? Thanks, I'm sure there must be other people who would like to find out how to do this as well. Jarome Matthew Dimension Arc media http://www.dimensionarc.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 23:10:00 -0500 (EST) From: jamal@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Jamal Hannah) Subject: Looking for OIDS & Other Old Mac Games/Programs Does anyone out there have the Mac II game "OIDS"? I mean the complete program, not just the demo, which I have. I am also looking for: * Gold Disk's "Moviesetter" Animation package (Mac version) * "][ in a Mac" * "Scruffy" 1.0 * The first version of the game "Diamonds" If you have any of these please contact me in email. - Jamal Hannah jamal@bronze.lcs.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 12:25:33 -0500 From: Murph Sewall Subject: Obscure but dangerous Mac Office98 bug If you've installed Office98 and decide to remove it, be CAREFUL, how you do it as there are circumstances that cause the Microsoft Remove Utility to trash you entire System Folder. See http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,20555,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh for details. -Murph ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 98 23:23:09 +0900 From: "Yasuo Kumeda" Subject: Office 98 I recently purchased MS Office 98. It is cool, as reviewed by magazines. Out of those cool features, not mentioned in reviews, is that Word and Power Point can read files created with the Japanese version of their counterpart. They can also let me create and edit documents in Japanese. Although this feature is not advertised, I think they are WorldScript savvy. I no longer need to install both versions of Office on my Mac. I recalled that someone was looking for a file translator that could read a Japanese Word file in English Word. I hope this would help him solve his problems. I really hoped if Microsoft would have delivered this four years ago. --------------------------------------------------------- Yasuo Kumeda ykumeda@yk.rim.or.jp This mail is brought to you by Apple's CyberDog 2.0 and is printed on recycled paper. --------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 11:52:50 -0500 From: Murph Sewall Subject: speech recognition > I've seen an IBM comercial this Sunday, with a guy wearing head set and > talking into the microphone and the computer typing what he is saying. > > How much truth is in that advertising? > > Is that a PC only technology? IBM's Voce Voice uses the Dragon Systems speech engine. The premier product is Dagon Systems Naturally Speaking (Win95 and I *think* WinNT). Naturally Speaking is superior to DragonDictate and better than any product available for the MacOS. I have a stepson who is dyslexic and relies on Naturally Speaking to write college term papers (he'd prefer a Mac, but he's using a Dell and Win95). It works very well, but it is not perfect. His main complaint is that it frequently needs to be "retrained" (it trains to only one invidual's speech). When it's well-trained it types at up to roughly 120 words a minute or about as fast as just about anyone normally speaks. Unlike earlier software, it accepts natural speak (it doesn't require artificial pauses between words). I *suspect* but have not seen demonstrated that Naturally Speaking will work under VirtualPC running on a G3 (VirtualPC emulates every component that Naturally Speaking requires; or at least version 2.0's specs indicate every component and the G3 appears to offer enough processing speed to support it). I've told the folks at Connectix that running Naturally Speaking on a Mac would be the ultimate demonstration of the adequacy of VirtualPC (which IMHO is a helluva product). -Murph ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 10:13:28 -0800 From: "Ton, Philong T" Subject: Stop Wintel invasion- Know good accounting software for Macs?? Hello to anyone who knows or works with the accounting, My friend works for a company where they all use Macs. The accountants currently use Flexware because it supports multiple users. They just hired some new accountants. The new accountants (coming from PC world) are disappointed with Flexware's speed and limited capabilities - maybe due to the steep learning curve. They want to buy PCs so they can use the software they are familiar with. My friend and I are afraid this is the beginning of the Wintel invasion. We need your help: - What other accounting software are available for the Macs?? The requirements are: 1. Multiple users. 2. Security - don't export reports out to Excel where changes are easily made (the accountants' complaints). 3. Speedy (printing and calculations). Choices seem so limited for the Macs. MYOB does not seem to satisfy the requirements. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:21:11 +0200 From: Klaus Schnathmeier Subject: Unix on a Mac IIfx Hi all, I have an old Mac IIfx which and I'm thinking to operate under Unix. There are a couple of Unix flavors around for the Mac, but neither NetBSD nor MkLinux seem to support the IIfx due to special ASICs in this model. Both say they "might" in the future, but this is not of much help for me today. AUX did supprt this machine but it was commercial, extremely expensive and does seem to be available any more. Any recommendations for other alternatives ? Klaus Schnathmeier Mannheim, Germany ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 00:58:40 -0500 From: abrody@smart.net Subject: Voice recognition Dear Digest readers, I seem to remember someone asked this question not long ago. I am curious as to what other than Plaintalk is available. Is there anything that truly gives hands free operation of the computer, that is available for the Mac? I also seem to remember once Dragon Software sold its Naturally Speaking package in the "MacWorld" magazine, but nowhere on their web page is there any mention of the Macintosh version. It would be wonderful to have a dictation software, as well as one that ran through all the basic operating system commands. I have a PowerMac 7200/75 if it makes any difference. Thank you. Sincerely, abrody@smart.net -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************