Skip to content
Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 33 years
and the TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals
Show full articles

TidBITS#106/10-Feb-92

Infojunkies rejoice! As a controversial first, Sterling Software is putting all of Usenet on CD-ROM every month. Less controversial was our discussion with members of the HyperCard team, providing insights into HyperCard’s present and future. Also, a review of the excellent "The PC is not a typewriter," your last chance to turn in that System 7 coupon, a more detailed explanation of video memory, and a better way to rebuild the desktop.

Adam Engst No comments

Desktop Construction

Desktop Construction -- Dale Southard writes: As a longtime TidBITS reader: THANKS! To the point, you mentioned rebuilding the desktop as a fix for the "lost folder bug." I don't know about the bug, but there is an easier way to rebuild the desktop: Quit all apps but the Finder. Hit command-option-esc to force quit the Finder. Click on the "Force Quit" button and then immediately depress and hold command-option. When the Finder restarts, it will give you the option of rebuilding all mounted disks

Adam Engst No comments

SoftAT Mistake

SoftAT Mistake -- Mark H. Anbinder corrects our mistake in our recent article about SoftPC. "SoftAT is not an add-on product that's to be added to Universal SoftPC, the way the EGA/AT Option Module needed to be added to an existing copy of SoftPC

Adam Engst No comments

System 7 Coupon

Mark H. Anbinder writes, "The System 7 coupon program, which allowed Mac purchasers to send in a special coupon to receive a free System 7 kit, expired on 31-Dec-91, but Apple has extended it to cover Macs purchased through 02-Feb-92 (presumably because that's when the Right Now Rebate promotion ended)

Adam Engst No comments

HyperCard Confabulation

I appear to have opened an intellectual can of worms in TidBITS-102 with my comparison of HyperCard and QuickTime and my statement that HyperCard was, in some respects, a commercial failure

Ian Feldman No comments

Usenet on a CD-ROM, no longer a fable

The latest tempest-in-a-teacup of hurricane proportions on Usenet is raging quite nicely in the news.misc group. This time the subject matter should be of interest to many, so here comes the nitty-gritty. A company in the USA recently began offering Usenet-on-CD-ROM monthly disks for a fee (approximately US$35 per disk, if memory serves me right; $25 per issue if one subscribes to it)

Adam Engst No comments

The PC is not a typewriter

You may wonder why I'm reviewing a book for PC clones here in TidBITS. First, I'm not blind to happenings elsewhere in the computer world; I just prefer to focus on the Mac, and second, I think everyone who has a friend learning publishing on a PC should give them this book to cut down on the egregious errors that show up in desktop published documents. "The PC is not a typewriter" is a direct descendent from Robin Williams's (yes, she of "The Little Mac Book" fame) previous book, "The Mac is not a typewriter." The heredity shows - this latest anti-typewriter book checks in at under 100 pages and is written in the same concise, friendly style

Adam Engst No comments

More on Video Memory

Even with the article we did on the IIsi and IIci video memory oddities, the issue remains murky to many people. Glenn Austin was kind enough to provide more detailed information which may further illuminate the matter, although for those of you who don't speak hex, I recommend just ignoring the address information - I did and still got the basic idea. Here's the memory map under System 6 and 7 on the IIsi and IIci, assuming (for the sake of discussion) that there is 8 MB of RAM in the machine, 2 banks of 4 MB RAM each, and the machine is 256-color capable: Where Description Size Logical address Bank A Video RAM $50000 $FBB00000 Bank A Main RAM $3B0000 $00400000 Bank B Main RAM $400000 $00000000 So the memory map looks something like this (in 24-bit mode, 32-bit is similar): ----------------- | Bank B | $00000000 (low) | RAM | |