Date: Sun, 2 Feb 97 16:42:35 PST From: The Info-Mac Moderators Reply-To: Info-Mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu Subject: Info-Mac Digest V15 #27 To: info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Sun, 2 Feb 97 Volume 15 : Issue 27 Today's Topics: (Q)uestion re:Font - Monaco & printing [A] Looking for best extended keyboard for new Mac [A] Multiple Cyberdog/Internet Config users on single Mac? [Q] Mac app to access MS access database [Q] Using Netscape 2 with AOL2.7 [Q] What is a good label program for the Mac? Can anyone run Britannica CD? (update) CorelDraw vs. Suitcase How is the pinconfiguration on the Macs ADB-bus and printer/modem-port? How to convert 4,000 MS Word files to Adobe Acrobat? HP LaserJet and Appletalk Info-Mac Digest V15 #25 Is Apple dying? LaserWriter NT and the PC Looking for best extended keyboard for new Mac Mac IIsi Hard Drive MapGrafix and/or GeoInsight Mystery Open File pm 8500 and cd-quality sound Powerbook printing weirdness... reading Windows help files registering printerusage in a computerlab Relysis Scanners? Startup Items Folder Problem Too-dark Web Page UMICH archive? WebArranger 2.0 URL Validator agent doesn't work Webmap for Macintosh Zoom 33600 PC modem on Mac. Init string? The Info-Mac Network operates by the volunteer efforts of: Gordon Watts, Adam C. Engst, Demitri Muna, Mike O'Bryan, Matt Bauer, Brian Wessels, Liam Breck The Info-Mac Archive is available at 50 public and private sites around the world. For the site list, request it by mail (address below), or try: Also accessible by ftp. Help files and indexes are also in info-mac/help/. Administrative queries & info: Articles for digest publication: Files for inclusion: To submit a file greater than 800K, or to avoid submitting by (and segmenting for) email, send email describing the file to and upload it to: -- username/password macgifts/macgifts at info-mac.org As with emailed submissions, non-text files must be binhexed. See our new WWW site: , where you can find all of this info and more! The Info-Mac digest is sponsored in part by StarNine Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Quarterdeck corporation. StarNine develops Internet server software for the Macintosh, including World Wide Web and e-mail publishing systems. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Info-Mac Digest V15 #27" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 01:06:05 -0600 From: Chaz Larson Subject: (Q)uestion re:Font - Monaco & printing >>My biggest question, however, is why can't I use Monaco? It shows up >>in my font list and I do have the Scalable font as well. No matter >>what I do I can not PRINT a 15 point version even though it does >>show up on my screen. It prints courier even when I try it with >>a word processor. Any ideas? There are three font substitutions that are done by default when you print through the LaserWriter driver: Monaco -> Courier Geneva -> Helvetica New York -> Times To avoid this, go into Page Setup, and uncheck "Font Substitution" chazl 1.30.97 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Feb 97 11:32:58 -0800 From: Dan & Melissa Becker Subject: [A] Looking for best extended keyboard for new Mac I use MacAlly's extended keyboard, which is a pretty-near exact clone of apple's original extended keyboard (with square corners and ADB connectors on the outside corners, rather than curved corners and ADB connectors in a recess in the center rear of the keybaord (below F6-F10 keys). Mine is two years old, and still functions quite well. It even has the feel of the old Apple keyboard. If you need lots of ADB ports, MicroSpeed has a nice keyboard with four ports; one on each side near the rear corner, and two on the back, near the F4 and F12 keys. Some people prefer the feel of the MicroSpeed, but not me. And, finally, a few people I work with have recently purchased the Adesso TruForm keyboard, which is shaped like Microsoft's Natural Keyboard. If you like that style of keyboard, the Adesso is a nice one. These keyboards are available widely from the usual mail order and web-based suspects. -Dan >I'm looking for suggestions for a good extended keyboard... >I like the Apple version, but think it's a little high-priced. I've not >heard many good things about their other keyboard... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 01:27:16 -0600 From: Chaz Larson Subject: [A] Multiple Cyberdog/Internet Config users on single Mac? At 2:31 AM +1100 1/30/97, T&B Support wrote: >To switch users, just have a few originals. To set up for a user, make an >alias to their original folder and copy that alias to the system folder >location mentioned above, replacing any existing alias. > >You can simplify this process quite a bit by creating a Mail Switch folder >containing all the users' aliases, and an alias to the app's required >enclosing folder. Switching accounts then just requires option dragging >>From one folder to another. We may be coming up with a GUI applet to >simplify this further, depending on demand. Wow, there's no need to do all that, at least not for Eudora. Start Eudora, set it up for Bob's acoount. Quit Eudora. Rename the Eudora Folder in your System Folder to "Eudora Folder- Bob". Start Eudora again, configure it for Sue's account. Quit Eudora. Rename the newly-created Eudora Folder to "Eudora Folder - Sue" Within each of these folders, you'll find a "Eudora Settings" file. Make aliases to both Bob and Sue's Eudora Settings files, rename them "Bob's Mail" and "Sue's Mail", and put them whereever you want them. Double-click the one you want to use. In fact, if you start Eudora by double-clicking on Bob's Mail, and then want to read Sue's, you can just go to the Finder and double-click the Sue's Mail alias. You don't even have to quit Eudora. My wife and I separate our two Eudora configurations on the one Mac this way, and it works perfectly. I don't use Cyberdog, and so can't comment on whether a similar system would work for it. chazl 1.30.97 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 22:34:45 -0600 From: Mark Geerdes Subject: [Q] Mac app to access MS access database I need a Mac application that will allow my lone Mac to access a Microsoft Access database. I would need to be able to read information >From this database, but not necessarily be able to change it, although this would be nice. Please help me!! Btw, I'm running a Power Computing 604/166 32M Ram. Thank you in advance ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 10:36:47 -0800 From: Alastiar Montgomery Subject: [Q] Using Netscape 2 with AOL2.7 Hi, I fed up using the "rather sad" web browser you get with the AOL software version 2.7, is there anyway of configuring netscape to uses the AOL connection? When I try to launch Netscape after I have logged onto AOL it always tried to dial up my other service provider. I have had a look on AOL for HELP,FAQ files but cannot find anything relevent. So if anyone else has figured it out I would like to know how you managed it. Thanks in advance, Alastair. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 22:25:46 -0600 From: Mark Geerdes Subject: [Q] What is a good label program for the Mac? Hi all, I'm looking for label printing software for the Mac. I work in video production and we just purchased a PowerComp clone for our label printing, but now I need to find some good, easy to use software to print labels for VHS, Beta SP, 3/4", as well as audio cassettes, DAT's, and DA-88 tapes. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Feb 1997 22:33:40 -0800 From: Chris Schram Subject: Can anyone run Britannica CD? (update) In early January I posted a message to comp.sys.mac.apps and Info-Mac Digest V15 #8 detailing the strange behavior of Britannica CD 97, punch line of which was the program deleting nearly all of its files from my PowerCenter's hard disk when a certain command was invoked. I received a few suggestions by email. (I no longer have your names, but thanks guys.) A couple of you suggested that I might be having dongle problems. This version of Britannica CD does not use a dongle, but I wonder if some left-behind security code from the older version was responsible for my files going bye-bye. No answers here. still does not respond to email. Someone suggested I send email to Brent Foust (?), the Mac version's author, who would be able to send me a patch. He, however, doesn't seem to be able to respond to email either. Someone asked whether I had tried the program on another computer besides the PowerPC. Yes, on an SE/30 and a IIsi I still get strange and weird behavior, but no files are deleted. I took a brief spin to DejaNews and found that (it would seem) no one is happy with Britannica CD, and a few have returned it for refund. Someone suggested I do the same, but it was a Christmas gift from someone far away, and I don't have any proof or purchase. At least I'm not out any money, right? In my original post I suggested that I might try to palm this piece of crap off on a Wintel type (it's dual format) who might have better luck with it. That's starting to look like the only viable solution. Chris Schram -- schram@mail.coos.or.us -- http://www.coos.or.us/~schram ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 20:21:22 -0500 From: "Clare N. Shumway" Subject: CorelDraw vs. Suitcase I need some assistance with font management in CorelDraw 6 (for the Mac) I use Suitcase 3.0 to manage fonts with all other applications, including Corel WordPerfect, but when I open CorelDraw the only available fonts are the few TT fonts in the "Fonts" folder in the System Folder. Setting up a "New Application Set" for CorelDraw in Suitcase does not result in the fonts being available within that application. Even putting the desired CorelDraw font suitcase in the "Fonts" folder does not result in their loading into the application. I tried contacting both Symantec and Corel for help but without any luck. It occurred to me that perhaps Suitcase conflicted with the drawing application; lo and behold it did; if I placed the Corel font suitcase (TrueType) in the "Fonts" folder and disabled Suitcase the fonts loaded asexpected. It is a real pain to either leave the fonts in the "Font" folder because then my other applications end up loading over 160 additional fonts that I don't need, or to transfer the Corel fonts into or out of the font folder every time I switch applications. Has anyone encountered this problem or solved it? I'd appreciate any assistance possible. Please respond directly to this address: Many thanks!! Clare N. Shumway ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 22:16:46 +0100 From: Dan Lumbye Subject: How is the pinconfiguration on the Macs ADB-bus and printer/modem-port? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3Diso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hello How is the pinconfiguration on the Mac=B4s ADB-bus and printer/modem-port= ? --=20 Dan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 15:55:25 -0800 From: park@netcom.com (Bill Park) Subject: How to convert 4,000 MS Word files to Adobe Acrobat? Dear Info-Mac mailing list group mind: What would be a good way to convert 4,000 Microsoft Word documents to Adobe Acrobat as automatically as possible. They include images and formatted text such as tables. Failing that, what would be a good way to check for conversion errors as automatically as possible? Suggestions for commercial software, shareware, freeware, conversion services, consultants, and even gonzo lateral thinking outside the box are all welcome. :) Thank you, Bill Park ========= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 20:53:16 -0700 From: Robert Zimmerman Subject: HP LaserJet and Appletalk >>Dr. Sprecher Wrote: >>[snip]>> >> Robert C. Sprecher, M.D. >> Assistant Professor Pediatric Otolaryngology and Pediatrics >> Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH > >There's a simple extension called "remote" that lets you use apple talk >without tying up a port. it's part of "open transport extras" which can >be downloaded from apple in their networking/open_transport area. > >You can run Webstar, _AND_ have a modem too! > >Uh, What's Otolaryngology? > >HTH -Aaron Otolaryngology is "Ear, Nose, and Throat" to us laymen. I'm not a doctor, but I've played a doctor's son all my life. :->) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 97 22:35:03 +0100 From: "John.Park" Subject: Info-Mac Digest V15 #25 Reply to: Mike Castle ncdh@umich.edu >Hello friends! My brother is a 4th grade teacher with a Mac in the >classroom. He'd like to teach his kids a little bit about computers >and get the point across to them that computers can be controlled by >them (i.e. they're not magic!). He is interested in having them do >some very basic programming. Are there compilers or educational >software for the Mac that allow for this sort of introduction to >programming? Have you considered Applescript? With commands like the following script: Cut between lines ---------- tell application "Finder" activate select trash set HowBigIsIt to get size of the selection if HowBigIsIt is greater than 500 then beep 3 else display dialog "There's not much in the trash." buttons {"OK"} end if end tell ________________ This script beeps 3 times if there's more than 500 bytes in the trash. Otherwise it displays a dialog saying that there's not much in the trash. they might not be frightened off by that. It's not suitable for large, complex programs, but it's free with system 7.5. You just need to activate the finder scripting extension. There are quite a few scripting groups (see below) that would probably be happy to help you come up with more good examples for the kids. John Save this mail message. It includes all the e-mail addresses you need when dealing with the Mac Scripting mailing list. *** To subscribe to this list: Send to: LISTSERV@dartmouth.edu Subject: subscribe Message: subscribe macscrpt ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Feb 1997 16:30:42 -0600 From: Joe Kudrna <73244.2615@compuserve.com> Subject: Is Apple dying? Some of these articles come from these pages and downladed February 1st, 1997. Dates are aproximate. Please read for yourself In my opinion, Dr. Amelio has FAILED to significantly improve Apples image and products. To maintain Apples profits, Gil is now contemplating to dismember Apple, which will leave it vunerable to buy-out. He is also betting the next PB will turn Apple around which is wishfull thinking because we all know the OS is the Key. In my opinion, Gibert Ameilo is not able to stop Apple slide. >From Macworld Online(date): http://stage.macworld.com/daily/daily.1005.html (1.31.97) http://stage.macworld.com/daily/daily.988.html (1.27.97) >From US News Online (1/30/97) http://167.8.29.8/plweb-cgi/idoc.pl?310+unix+_free_user_+ cgi.usatoday.com..80+USATODAY_ONLINE+USATODAY_ONLINE+ NEWS+NEWS++pippin "Both research firms estimate that Apple saw a 22 percent decline in unit shipments in 1996. Worldwide, Dataquest says, Apple slipped from thirdplace to fourth place among PC vendors, shipping about 3.7 million units compared with 4.7 million in 1995. This translates into a 1996 market share of 5.2 percent compared with 7.9 percent in 1995. IDC placed Apple's 1996 unit shipments even lower, at 3.6 million. The top three PC makers were Compaq (10.1 percent share), IBM (8.6 percent), and Packard-Bell (6.1 percent). Fifth place went to Hewlett-Packard. "The news doesn't get any better when you look at U.S. shipments. Dataquest estimates that Apple held fifth place in the U.S. PC market in 1996, shipping1.7 million units compared with 2.5 million in 1995. During this period, Apple slipped from third to fifth place in U.S. market share, declining from11.1 percent in 1995 to 6.7 percent in 1996. The top four PC vendors in U.S. market share were Compaq (13.3 percent), Packard-Bell (11.6 percent), IBM (8.7 percent), and Dell (6.9 percent). "It should be noted that Apple's figures do not include systems sold by Power Computing, Umax, Motorola, and other Mac OS licensees. Overall, Dataquest estimates that the PC industry grew by17.8 percent in 1996, reaching worldwide shipments of 70.9 million units." (Macworld, 1/27/97) Unfortuantly, all those clone makers combined probably did not sell the 800,000 units Apple could not, and the point of clone makers it to sell MORE Macs. To be a success, Apple should have been selling the same number plus the clone, or about 3 million total for its survival. "Apple CEO Gilbert Amelio, in an interview with USA Today that appeared Friday, said that the company will drop its Pippin set-top device and lay off an unspecified number of employees. Apple's Newton technology could also be on the chopping block, he said." (USA Today, 1/30/97) Remeber how Dr. Amelio earlier said the interent will be a pivotal point in Apples success? It looks like he gave up. Newton is a difficult call because it never was profitable, but support for Newton is stronger than ever. Pippin on the other hand may be critical. Microsoft and Intel are making a device very similar to Pippin. Using a new version of Windows called "WindowsNC" of all things, it aimes directly conqure Pippin and other NC's. All the major PC OEM (Compaq, HP, NEC, Packard-Bell, Gateway) are commited to making NC machines mid 1997. IBM, Oracle, and Sun also have NC's. While every one else have a NC for a server centric system, Apple will not. Only Pippin is compatible with the Mac, and NC's will become common equipment. I can point at one example, WebTV. It is an NON UPGRADEABLE hardware internet appliance, but people are still spending up to $349 for this dead end appliance at the tune of several 100,000 sold. There has be 0, none, zip advertising of Pippin, while WebTV is advertised all the time. http://ogrady.com/pippin.html "Both research firms estimate that Apple saw a 22 percent decline in unit shipments in 1996." (Macworld, 1/27/97) "In his USA Today interview, Amelio said Apple may have to reduce itself to $7.5 billion in annual revenue due to shifting break-even points for the Macintosh. The company took in $10 billion in 1995 and $9 billion in 1996; Amelio's original estimate for 1997 was $8 billion. " (Macworld, 1/31/97) Any way you look at it, Apple is being squeezed by Wintel. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Feb 1997 11:56:10 -0800 From: hlord@csupomona.edu (Harriet Lord) Subject: LaserWriter NT and the PC I need help in connecting a PC to my Apple Personal LaserWriter NT. I have the null modem adapter installed and have checked all cables, which connect the 25 pin serial ports. On the PC, I have selected the Personal LaserWriter NT as the default printer. When I try to print a test page, I get a message saying that the PC can't write to the LPT1 port and that the printer is not ready. This is the same message I get with the printer disconnected. The printer indicates that it's busy throughout this process. I have tried this with all possible pin wheel settings. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you send e-mail directly to me I will summarize the responses for the digest. Thanks in advance. Harriet Lord HLord@csupomona.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 97 22:04:00 -0600 From: Lanny Chambers Subject: Looking for best extended keyboard for new Mac >The PowerComputing keyboards seem OK for serious work, but don't like >running shooting and turning in Marathon :-) We have to let go of all keys >to register any after the three key combo. Exactly the same keys on an >Apple keyboard work fine. Anyone else had this? Here's a workaround that involves the hottest tip for playing Marathon: assign "run" to the capslock key. You've got no business walking when your life's in danger, anyway! Lanny Chambers (creative@inlink.com) St. Louis, USA Visit the Hummingbird Page: ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 97 12:30:01 -0000 From: Rodney Schmidt Subject: Mac IIsi Hard Drive Does anyone know a good, fairly inexpensive hard drive replacement for the Mac IIsi? All my usual vendors (APS, etc.) do not support the IIsi anymore. It seems to me that a Quantum of some type should fit the existing bracket. Please respond to me at my e-mail address and I will post results to the list if there is enought interest in this problem. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 18:18:24 -0700 From: "S. F. Sobczynski" Subject: MapGrafix and/or GeoInsight Hello All, Our company is a software development firm that has in the past specialized in developing GIS solutions for clients with a combination of 4th Dimension by ACI for the database side using Apple Events to access and control MapGrafix by ComGrafix for the mapping side. Several of our clients have been asking for solutions that can also work on WinDoze platforms. While 4D is already available for WinDoze and believe it or not there is also a counterpart for the Apple Event portion, MapGrafix is only available for the Mac. My question is twofold... First, ComGrafix has just recently released a new product at MacWorld called GeoInsight that is an OpenDoc part designed I believe to replace(?) MapGrafix. I also understand that it will supposedly be available for WinDoze sometime in the future. Did anyone have the occasion to see this at MacWorld?? Opinions??? Second, can anyone suggest what other mapping products available cross platform could possible used as alternative solutions? The clients would like to continue to use 4D for the database side for several reasons but the mapping program is up for grabs although it would be better if it was one of the better known names in mapping. I've always found in the past that going right to the users gets a lot better answer that asking the companies who inevitably say their products do everything but wash dishes. Oops...I forgot...we're a software development firm, too. But ours really can wash dishes...you just have to insert the dish in the floppy slot just right :) TIA, Stan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 97 11:07:55 -0500 From: Ken Sisitka Subject: Mystery Open File I have been having a few quirky problems and freezes lately on my PM 7200-75. I tried to use Norton Utilities ( which usually works great and gets me out of jams). Norton find an "open file" and cannot continue (but will not tell me what it thinks is open). Disk First aid allows me to "verify only" because of this mystery file that is stuck open. Disk First aid DOES tell me that there is a problem and can't fix I have even booted from an external Zip disk, but it still finds mystery open file. I have rebuilt the desktop. I am using System 7.5.5 Before I go thru the trouble of reformatting my hard drive and restoring from backup, is there any utility that may help me? Please respond to kmsisitka@widomaker.com ( I am sending from work now ) Thanks ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 00:06:54 -0600 From: Trevor Zylstra Subject: pm 8500 and cd-quality sound m. fletcher wrote: > i'm looking to take analog sound from tape, suck it into a mac, and > write it to compact disc. apple specs say my powermac 8500 can record at > 44.1khz in 16-bit stereo, which is what i need for cd. so: > > can i record at cd quality through the 1/8" stereo input jack, or only > through the av rca-style sound inputs? Either, but the rca-style jacks will sound better and can hook up directly to a tape deck with ordinary rca cables. By the way, that "cd quality" is sort of a weasel phrase. Sure, the analog to digital convertors are 16 bit 44.1 KHz, but they are very low quality 16 bit 44.1 KHz. If your source is cassette it will probably not be very noticeable, but with any high fidelity source, the CD you record will not sound nearly as good as CDs you buy, because your CD's sound is squeezed through the stock Apple a/d convertors. If you are serious about this, spend about $650 and get an Audiomedia III card from Digidesign or something similar. You get both digital and analog ins and outs, and the quality of the convertors is far superior to Apple's. They also throw in Sound Designer II (see below). > is there shareware that will let me record at cd quality? file size > would need to be dependent only on free ram and hard drive space. I'm not sure about shareware. The commercial programs that excel at this are Digidesign's Sound Designer II, Macromedia's SoundEdit 16, and BIAS Peak. Another program that used to do this but is apparently unsupported now is called Alchemy. > also, if anyone can recommend a decent multi-track sound editor, let me > know. For an 8500 with no additional audio cards, Macromedia's Deck II can't be beat. Trevor ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 10:09:45 -0800 From: "B.J. Major & Dennis J. Gorin" Subject: Powerbook printing weirdness... I recently purchased a used PowerBook 160 which I have grown to love very much. However, it has some odd quirks when using the serial ports. To wit: I cannot print from the printer port, only the modem port. This is true regardless of whether I have Appletalk/Appleshare turned on or off. This is also irregardless of which printer I am attempting to print to: so far, I have tried to print to an Imagewriter, a Color Stylewriter 2500 and a Color Stylewriter 2200. I have all the current drivers. I can print with no problems to all these printers using the modem port. When I attempt to print to the printer port I get a message saying "Error in the _________ printer. Please check your connections, make sure you have the proper printer selected in the Chooser, and try again." However, I know the printer port is not "broken" because I can use Appleshare on it just fine for file sharing with my desktop Macs. The exiting printer port also works fine as a modem port. Research in Apple's Technical Library has come up with no answers for me on this issue. What could be the cause for this? Any ideas, please post to this list or email me directly. Thanks!! --bj ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 23:47:09 +0000 From: Jack Campin Subject: reading Windows help files Is there an easy way to read Windows help files on the Mac? Preferably a BBEdit Lite plug-in or a converter to HTML or eDocs, but if there's a word processor that already understands that format maybe I can find somebody who has a copy of it. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 23:26:18 -0800 From: Chris Beck Subject: registering printerusage in a computerlab I am the Network Analyst of a university computer lab in which we use card readers that are hardwired into the printers. The workstations, both Mac and Windows, print to a Novell NetWare print queue (4.10 not 3.12). The print job then sits in a static print queue until it is released by the user into a dynamic queue, which is the one that the printer actually services. There is more to it than that, but if you didn't want to go that in depth (as far as I know it is a one of a kind setup because the company we contract with wrote the software from scratch for us) the NetWare utility AuditTrack from On Technology logs all bindery as well as Directory Service events on the network. You can set up different audit sets that record different, specialized information, including printing. It's pretty detailed too. It tells you the login name, hardware address of the workstation, time logged on, time logged out, server connection number, etc. Very useful especially for tracking down students that have left obscene material on a workstation after a day of 'Net surfin'. I would be glad to answer any further question you, or anybody, have about our setup and what's involved. Hope that helps. Chris Beck, Network Analyst Computer Science Major California State University, San Bernardino http://web.csusb.edu/public/csci/csbeck ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Feb 1997 14:50:58 -0800 From: Jan@Bytesmiths.com (Jan Steinman) Subject: Relysis Scanners? In article <32F1D227.4D8@cybercom.net>, woodart@cybercom.net wrote: > It has been brought to my attention that the Relysis Scorpio might be a > great scanner for $299 and it is a 30 bit scanner. Any info on these? > Good company? Bad? Thanks. Follows is a re-post of an earlier posting I made on the topic. Since my warranty expires February 16, I'm going to try one last time to see how much long-distance money I can waste on their tech-support hold line. I'm not one of those folks who just like to bitch on newsgroups. If you are >From Relisys, or know how to get warranty service out of Relisys, I'll gladly take your advice and quit bad-mouthing them if that advice works. --------------- re-posted news ---------------- After months of patience, I've become convinced that Relisys won't be in business very long. If you are considering a Relisys product, I'd advise you make the decision the same way you would if you were buying used equipment -- it may already be damaged, and it will have no effective warranty or support. None of the Relisys numbers on their web site or product literature yields a human being, even after hours of being on hold. (I have spent over $60 on long distance charges on hold so far.) In desperation, I finally used directory assistance to get a number for them, and I finally got a switchboard operator. I asked for the name and address of the company president. "You can't contact him, he's in Tapei." she said. (After several minutes of pleas, she still wouldn't give me the name and address of the company president. I also tried some financial research, but the company is apparently not publicly held.) "Well, how about consumer complaints," I asked. She gave me one of the numbers that had put me on hold for an hour. She was nice, but totally ineffective. "May I have your supervisor's name and number please?" "I'm a temp; I don't really know who I work for." "Well, it's a good thing you're a temp, because you'll still have a job after this place goes bankrupt." "You got that one right!" she said. Following is the letter I was going to send to the company president, but they apparently shield him from their irate customers. I taped the letter to the box and sent the defective scanner back, citing the RMA they had sent me earlier when they assured me only the transparency adaptor needed repair. Two days ago, the scanner arrived back. "Wow, that was fast service!" I thought, then I looked closer. On a torn scrap of paper taped to the box, this hand-written note appeared (sic): "scanner shows closed out RMA # Letter Date shows shipped after RMA shutdown & relocation To california. Shipment is being returned To customer 9 - 10 - 96" This letter is being sent to major Mac publications as well as anyone advertising Relisys products. Since they have cost me over $1000 for a non-functioning scanner (and close to $100 additional in long-distance charges and shipping changel), I am willing to spend a bit more to help others avoid wasting their money. ----------------------------- 30 August 1996 Relisys President 5100 North IH 35 Round Rock, TX 78661 USA Dear Sir or Madam, I would like you to replace my 9624T scanner, serial number 41260274, with a new unit. If you no longer manufature this unit, you may replace it with one having the same capabilities. I feel justified in this request for the following reasons. The new unit should be shipped to my letterhead address. My original complaint (reference RMA AP-00278) was that the scanner emitted smoke when using the transparency adaptor. The replacement of the transparency adaptor did not solve this problem it still smokes when using it. The smoke has left a visible residue on the inside of the flatbed glass. I assume if I can see it, it is affecting the resulting scans. Use of the scanner has significantly destablized our environment. It was first connected to a PowerMac 8100, which would go through random periods of intermittant instability for no apparent reason. We tried different SCSI terminators and cables, to no avail. We did not report this as a problem at the time, because it was not clearly isolated to the scanner. We then moved the scanner to a previously stable PowerMac 9500, which then began to have random intermittant stability problems, while the 8100 mysteriously became stable. Disconnecting the scanner from the computer vastly improves the computers stability. The bundled software (ArtScan Photoshop plugin and OmniPage Direct) has been intermittantly very unstable, on both the 8100 and the 9500. Sometimes they will work for hours without problem, sometimes they wont complete a single scan without crashing. This has happened with a cold, powerup start of both the scanner and computer, with a minimum system configuration (just the scanner driver), on a freshly installed OS on a newly formatted disk. For example, I recently OCRd 60 pages with OmniPage Direct without a problem, but the next morning with the exact same system configuration I am not able to scan more than three or four pages before it would crash. We have contacted both software vendors, who state that the problem is either with the computer or the scanner. Upon receiving the scanner, we discovered a crumpled credit card receipt >From a computer store in Illinois. We also noticed that the box had been resealed, and that the bags inside had been closed with ordinary scotch tape. These clues lead me to believe that the scanner had been returned by a previous owner, possibly for problems similar to those I encounter. In my opinion, this scanner has multiple problems that will not be easily resolved. If it were a car, I am certain lemon laws would protect my right to a replacement. I have worked as a service technician, customer engineer, electrical engineer, and software engineer, and I now operate an independent consulting practice, so I do not make this statement lightly or in ignorance. I take partial responsability for the time it has taken for this problem to get to this stage. I travel a great deal, and have tight deadlines to meet. It is extremely inconvenient to babysit a piece of equipment in order to get it to work properly. When I needed the scanner, I limped along with many re-boots and powercycles, and got by. In between critical use, I did not raise visibility of the problems, partially because it was not easily isolated between scanner, computer, and software, but also partly because of my tight schedule. I now want to take the time to resolve this issue before the original warranty expires (March 97). I should stress that the Relisys people I have been able to reach have been professional, courteous and helpful. I particular, I commend your customer support supervisor Ivan, who help me track down the replacement transparency adaptor that UPS delivered to the wrong address. On the other hand, it has been extremely frustrating getting in touch with support. I now have spent over 2 hours on tollcall hold in four attempts to obtain an RMA for this unit, and messages left on Ivans voice mail have gone unanswered. I have directly incurred over $60 in longdistance phone charges attempting to get an RMA for this unit. I would like to be a satisfied Relisys customer. I am likely to purchase a document feeder and possibly additional units. More importantly, I make recommendations to my clients that result in over $1,000,000 in annual expenditures in software, services, and hardware. I would like to be able to recommend Relisys equipment to my clients, friends, and family. To summarize: I do not want to see unit #41260274 again. If you will not replace it, you may keep it, because I have already wasted about $10,000 of billable time tracking down this problem, and writing the whole cost off as an unfortunate learning experience will be cheaper than dealing with it yet again. Sincerely, Jan Steinman : Jan Steinman : Bytesmiths : Thank you, Java! Now all those who couldn't figure out : Smalltalk will have something else to blame next time they crash! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 09:29:36 +1100 From: G.Barker@unsw.EDU.AU (George Barker) Subject: Startup Items Folder Problem I'm trying to get a compiled AppleScript (which puts up some alerts) to run at startup. I have placed it in the StartUp Items folder and in due course it starts up. Then comes the problem - the Finder cuts in on it before the alert dialogs have time to appear on screen, and I'm left with a blinking Applications menu icon to let me know that my AppleScript app wants my attention. I've searched high and low for preferences etc which may be having an effect on this (also tried changing the names to change the startup order) but nothing has made any difference. Am I missing something obvious? To make matters worse (or perhaps there's a clue here...) the machine I'm having the trouble on is a Performa running sys 7.5.5 on a 603e CPU. I've just tried the same procedure on a Mac running sys 7.1 on a 68040 and it works the awy I would have expected it to. PS: many thanks to those who took the time to reply to my query re simple alarms - I'm still working my way through them. Also the microwave is down (again) so we've lost contact with the outside world - hope this message gets through sometime soon. Thanks George B ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 97 21:53:54 -0600 From: Lanny Chambers Subject: Too-dark Web Page >I have a question.. I've created a web page on my mac and posted it online >at http://www.eurekanet.com/~chandler > >It looks fine on my mac (in my opinion.. it's my first page,though!) but >looks too dark on my friend's PC... is there any way to set my pictures to >use colors that both our browsers would see??? > >I have Photoshop... any advice or help? I'd really like for my friends to >see the page as it's supposed to look... Technically, the problem is that almost no PCs have any way to calibrate the screen gamma in anything but Photoshop. Since the average PC gamma is around 2.2-3.0, while Macs strive for 1.8, everything looks darker on their uncorrected monitors. The only way they'll see your page correctly is to buy a high-end video card that supports gamma calibration. Think they really care that much? Right, or they would've bought Macs. :-) What you can do, though, is open your Gamma control panel and set it to 2.2 (the highest setting) to partially simulate PC video. Then you can use the Photoshop Levels dialog to lighten your scans a little. BTW, you should save all photos as JPEGs, not GIFs, so folks with 16-bit or better video will see all the colors, and 8-bit users won't have everything double-dithered from an adaptive palette to the browser palette. Adaptive palettes have no place on the WWW. Lanny Chambers (creative@inlink.com) St. Louis, USA Visit the Hummingbird Page: ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 97 09:22:08 BST From: Ian.Goldby@powertech.co.uk Subject: UMICH archive? I'm unclear as to the relationship between the Info Mac archive and the UMICH archive. From a not too detailed inspection, the contents in terms of software seems similar, although arranged into different folders. I have also read that submissions to macgifts go to both. My question is, is there anything on UMICH that is not on Info Mac? If there is, is there a mailing list similar to the Info-Mac digest that will keep me informed of new submissions to UMICH? Thanks. Ian. [We both get submissions from the macgifts mailing list and distribute stuff >From one archive to the other, but I'm sure there are lots of differences. In particular, I suspect the sizes of the archives are different. -Gordon] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Feb 1997 06:23:51 -0500 From: david.harris@tcs.wap.org (David L. Harris) Subject: WebArranger 2.0 URL Validator agent doesn't work abrody said: > Dear Digest readers, Anybody else out there using CE Software's > WebArranger 2.0? I have now for about a year to keep track of my web > page sites, and make sure that I am informed when they move. > > WebArranger used to be able to detect a URL that was no longer valid > (i.e. moved or changed) by running a URL Validator agent. Lately > however, I can't seem to keep the URL Validator on for more than > three seconds. I go back to the menu and find it has stopped. Anybody > know how to keep it on while it scans through the whole list of URL > Validator sites? Try Big Brother; it does a better job faster. Go to http://pauillac.inria.fr/~fpottier/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 23:45:20 -0500 From: abrody Subject: Webmap for Macintosh Dear Digest readers, Anybody know what happened to the WebMap for Macintosh software that was available at: http://www.city.net/cnx/software/webmap.html Thank you. Sincerely, ABRODY@vax.clarku.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Feb 97 18:11:45 +0100 From: Trent Subject: Zoom 33600 PC modem on Mac. Init string? Hi all-- I'm going to buy a Zoom 33k6 modem for PC this week and I hope it will work on my Performa 6200. I heard I need a specific init string for using it on a mac so I wonder if someone can help me about this. I know I have to change &D2 into &D0 but that's all, and the PC init string is on the floppy disks that come with the modem but I cannot read it. If you are using a Zoom 33k6 modem on your mac please tell me what init string works the best. Also I will have to buy a cable to connect my mac to the PC modem and I haven't been able to find such a cable in my country... If someone know where I could find a Mac->modem cable in Brussels, Belgium (!!!) please let me know! Many thanks in advance, any advice welcome to trent@ping.be. Trent. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------From info-mac-request Sun Feb 2 11:45:17 1997 Flags: 000000000000 Return-Path: aiden@tap-assoc.co.nz Received: from Axil.wave.co.nz (Axil.wave.co.nz [202.49.46.2]) by SMI.Stanford.EDU (8.8.5/8.7.1) with SMTP id LAA01644 for ; Sun, 2 Feb 1997 11:45:15 -0800 (PST) Received: from [202.49.46.75] (wh16-12.wave.co.nz [202.49.46.75]) by Axil.wave.co.nz (8.6.12/version) with ESMTP id IAA03657 for ; Mon, 3 Feb 1997 08:43:48 +1300 Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 08:43:48 +1300 X-Sender: tap2@wave.co.nz Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: info-mac@sumex-aim.stanford.edu From: Aiden Subject: how do you ethernet between two computers This question is really from a know nothing position on setting up ethernet. I've pluged a cable from my 7200/90 to my 7600/120. I then tried switching to the ethernet setting in the Apple Talk control panel and just got a error message. Do I need special software/hardware? Or does it just seem like my cable's faulty or system software is not working like it should (I'm using 7.5.5 to 7.5.3). Thanks in advance, Aiden. P.S I wish apple guide and handbook were a bit more informative. -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************