Mainly Neat Stuff --> Vintage Macintosh --> The Power User's Manual (Review) --> Power User's Manual Extracts
The infomation on this page is taken directly from the book "The Power User's Manual -- Over 1000 Hints & Tips for the Macintosh" published in 1986. It is provided owners and users of Mac 128s, 512s and Pluses running early system software. Information is presented "as-is" and there may be inaccuracies in the original book or in my scanning. Use these tips at your own peril and, when modifying program disks, make sure that you use a backup copy of the disk. None of the advice should be applied to a modern Macintosh running System 6 or higher unless you really know what you are doing.
These extracts cover general use of the Mac system. If you need tips on running early software, you'll have to find yourself a copy of the book.
If you're the type of person who doesn't backup your disk because you're worried about the disk expense, be sure to weigh the value of your time invested in -mifing your files. Even if you paid yourself the minimum wage, the time you would need to re-create your files probably would cost you more than the extra backup diskettes. At 400K or 800K, a data disk can hold a lot of archive backup files and one of those could save you thousands of dollars in time investment when you need the information again. Don't forget the option of using an old spreadsheet, layout, graphic, letter, etc as a jumping off point for a new project. The hours your old backups save may be your own.
In dire cases, eject a disk by pushing a straightened paper clip into the small hole just to the right of the disk drive slot. This doesn't work very well (if at all) on the newer 800K disk drives.
Sometimes, the disk inside the hard plastic case doesn't get aligned properly when you insert it in the drive. When this happens, you'll hear the disk brushing against the sides of the plastic case as it spins and the Mac may reject it as a bad disk. If this happens and you hear the disk scraping against the shell, eject it immediately and try reinserting it, even if the Mac has accepted the disk. If you don't have immediate problems with such a disk, some are likely to develop as you try to use it further and you may risk losing some data.
If your disk doesn't show a Bomb icon, but gets ejected, it isn't damaged. It only lacks a System file.
If your 400K disk drive won't accept a badly damaged disk for erasure or re-initialization, you can fool it into thinking it is reading a blank disk. First, use the Finder to eject any disks in the drives. Then look carefully at the right-hand side of the disk drive slot, where you'll find a small black lug next to a metal pin. Carefully press this down and the Mac thinks you just inserted a blank disk. A dialog box asks if you want to initialize it. Insert the bad disk info the slot and click the Initialize box. Needless to say, all files on the disk will be lost - but this is only a way to reclaim the disk, not the data. If you are using 800K drives and Finder 5.0 or later, you can make the Mac accept the disk for reinitialization by holding down COMMAND-SHIFT-TAB when you insert it.
Are you getting a "Sad Mac" icon at startup time, and don't know why? Look for the error code 0F00D, with the "Grumpy Mac." If you have installed the Programmer's Switch, this error message usually indicates that the switch is jammed, or in the wrong slots.
When the "Sad Mac" icon, with the code OF0064 appears on the screen when you startup the Mac, it means the System file is missing. You may have inserted a data disk first, instead of an application disk. If you want to use this particular disk as a startup disk, just put a System folder on it. If you think the disk you inserted was a startup disk, you may have to replace the System file.
Don't use the Programmers' Switch on the side of the Mac to reset the system, because it deliberately doesn't clear all memory and invoke the ROM's selfdiagnostic procedure. The only way to start with a completely clean slate is to turn off the power for a few seconds, then switch the Mac back on. The Shut Down option on the Special menu does almost the same thing, but without actually turning the power off. However, some applications leave certain bookkeeping information in RAM and Shut Down won't clear this data.
If your disk Bombs when inserted, you might be able to get around this by holding down the COMMAND and OPTION keys while the Mac tries to boot the disk. The Mac will reconstruct the disk's desktop file and if that was your only problem, the disk should be fine. Only use this procedure in emergencies, since you'll lose folder titles and window sizes -- though not folder contents.
If your startup disk bombs, insert another startup disk and wait until the Mac finishes constructing the desktop. Eject the second disk and reinsert the damaged one. If the data hasn't been totally fried, the Mac should ask if you want it to repair the disk.
Some disks, especially games and other commercially produced software, can only boot from the internal drive. So, don't get too upset if the machine claims that a heavily copy-protected disk in the external drive is "unreadable." Try it in the internal drive before tearing your hair out.
The Clipboard holds only one item of information at a time. When you CUT or COPY something new, it replaces the Clipboard contents. Sometimes the former contents of the Clipboard are gone forever. However, in many applications, choosing UNDO (COMMAND-Z) will not only take the new selection off the Clipboard, but replace its former contents, as well.
The only limitation on the size of the Clipboard is that it must be able to fit in the available memory. If the application program you're using needs some of the memory being occupied by the Clipboard, it will save it to one of your disks (which one varies according to the application, although most store it on the startup disk). The application you're using usually warns you if the information you're trying to cut or copy is too large for the Clipboard. If it doesn't, the Mac will beep to let you know that it can't do the operation you're requesting.
When the first developer's guidelines for the Mac were released by Apple, they included no provision for a program that wanted to be able to add to the current contents of the Clipboard instead of replacing them. However, a new edition of the guidelines has gone out and it includes an "append" function for the Clipboard. The guidelines state that SHIFT-COPY, or SHIFT-COMMAND-C should let the user add the current selection to the end of the current Clipboard contents.
This does not mean that most programmers have chosen to implement this feature. It definitely is not available in MacPaint 1.5, MacWrite 4.5, or MacDraw 1.7. The only current Mac application we know of that uses this feature is Laserbase 1.2.
Unfortunately, SHIFT-COPY is only likely to work in new and upgraded versions of existing packages, and in completely new packages coming to the market. The only way to find out if the software you have bought supports this feature is to try it with some unimportant data. If it's a feature you want to see implemented in a future version of one of your favorite applications, write to the publishers and let them know your opinion!
To eject a disk from the internal drive, press COMMAND-SHIFT-1. To eject from the external drive, press COMMAND-SHIFT-2.
You can use SHIFT-COMMAND-E to eject the diskettes in both floppy drives. This command is supported by the Finder and by some applications. Notably, Microsoft applications do not support it.
COMMAND, SHIFT and 3, pressed together, take a MacPaint "picture" of what's currently on the screen, if the disk has enough space to store it. If not, a beep lets you know it can't be done. You can take as many as ten "pictures" after system startup (within the limits of disk space). MacPaint stores the files on the disk and names them sequentially from "Screen 0" to "Screen 9." Later, you can use MacPaint to customize these graphics for your own use.
If you hold down the mouse button when you press the command key sequence for screen or printer dumps, the dump will delay until you release the mouse button. This can be especially handy if you want to freeze some action on the screen for your dump and you have to catch the action "on the fly" without pausing your application.
Dump an image of the active window to the immeWriter by pressing COMMAND, SHIFT and 4.
Dump the entire Mac screen to the ImageWriter, menu nor and all, by pressing COMMAND, SHIFT, CAPS LOCK. and 4.
If you inadvertently cut or backspace over important mformation, remember that COMMAND-Z (UNDO ou the EDIT menu) usually restores the last action taken. up to the last mouse click.
Now that a number of programs that allow you to add COMMAND key sequences to any menu option are on the market, here's a list of suggested shortcuts for some of the Mac's more popular applications:
APPLICATION MENU COMMAND MACRO REMARKS MacWrite File P Print Disable P for Plain text MacWrite File Q Quit MacWrite Format H Show/Hide Rulers MacWrite Style 1,2,3 etc. Font sizes MacPaint File Q Quit Finder Edit K Show Clipboard K for Klip - get it? Finder Special T Clean Up Change menu to "Tidy Up" Finder Special W Erase Disk Change menu to "Wipe Disk" Finder Special G Shut Down Change menu to "Goodbye"
You can get some of the software developed by the Apple University Consortium schools through Kinko Graphics shops in some college towns. If there's not a Kinko Graphics shop near you, you can order the software by mail or via a toll-free number (800-235-6919) or in California 800-292-6640. Call them for more details on the software that's available. Some of it is quite amazing.
Many applications store their data as tables. Most database managers and spreadsheets store their data with Tab characters between the fields or cells, and Return characters between records. Many others offer you the option of storing their data in that format so you can transfer data to other programs. When you transfer tabular data into another type of application, such as a word processor, the columns won't appear until you set the Tab stops (moving the Tab pointers on the ruler in MacWrite). You may have to make some changes to your margins, fonts, and text sizes to get the data to appear exactly in the columnar format you desire. This also helps when transferring data from one database manager to another. Just set up the fields with the same names and in the same order and send it to the new database manager.
To transfer tables from text files into most database managers and spreadsheets, you must use a Tab character to separate each column, and a Return character to separate each line of the text file's table. Each column will become a successive field or cell, and each line of the table will become a database record or a spreadsheet row. Some applications (such as stock quotes downloaded from Dow Jones via Straight Talk) use hard spaces instead of Tab characters to separate the columns. You'll have to replace each group of spaces with a Tab character. In most word processors, you can use the search and replace function to simplify this process. (See "Search and Replace Tabs Using Note Pad" for information on how to use Tab characters in the Find and Change dialog boxes of MacWrite.)
If you want to cut part of a document to reposition it elsewhere, make sure to use the CUT command (EDIT menu or COMMAND-X) once you've highlighted what you want to move. Pressing the backspace, instead, loses the information permanently if you don't UNDO immediately. When you edit with the CUT command, the data remains on the Clipboard until you cut something else. To avoid losing any work, paste the cut data where you'll want it to be immediately after cutting it.
When you take a MacPaint snapshot of a Mac screen with SHIFT-COMMAND-3, it is stored on the current default system disk. If you want to redirect your screen shots to a different disk or volume, use a disk utility desk accessory (like Disklnfo or DiskTools) to make your desired destination disk the default disk before you take your snapshots.
Deleting a file is easy - just toss it in the trashcan, right? No! The problem is that the actual data is still on the disk. What the Mac does is to change the file's block markers so the disk drive can re-use that portion of the disk again. The Erase Disk option will do a better job as it writes zeros on the entire surface of the disk and then creates a new directory. Some other utilities are available (like TheCleaners from Bear River Associates) which will remove confidential data and all references to it on the disk. But, short of incineration, the only sure way to get rid of a file completely is to use the most powerful bulk eraser you can find (copy the files you want to keep onto another disk first!). Even after using any of those three methods, law enforcement labs have the means to read the faint traces of magnetism remaining. They can determine the particular disk drives used on that disk because of the magnetic signature each head leaves on the disk - that's how Nixon got caught on the Watergate tapes.
When you're working within an application, and try to save a document, but get a disk full message, the easiest solution is to use another storage disk. Also, you can use one of the desk accessories that can delete files to make space for your document. But what do you do if you're out of disks and/or don't have that desk accessory? Simply use the Save As... option from the File menu and use the name of an old file that you don't need anymore. When the Mac asks you if it should replace the existing file of that name, click the Yes button. If your new file isn't substantially larger than the one you're replacing, this should allow you to save your new work.
You can keep your hands on the keyboard and move from field to field in all Macintosh dialog boxes. Simply hit the TAB key to move to the next field. For example, in the Page Range boxes of a print dialog box, you can enter the beginning page number in the first box and then hit TAB to move the insertion point to the ending page number box.
Remember that some applications (including MacDraw) require that a copy of the printing resource (a file in the System folder with the same name as your printer, such as ImageWriter or LaserWriter) be on the same disk as the application. This is especially important when configuring a two-disk combination for use with Switcher.
When Scrolling through a list of files in the "Open" dialog box from within an application, press the first letter or two of the file's name to "express" straight to the section you want.
If you use the fast search to jump to a specific place on a disk menu (see Express Alphabetic Scrolling), and get strange results, the reason could be that the Delay Until Repeat setting doesn't fit your typing speed. On the Control Panel in Finder 5.0 and later, the Delay Until Repeat setting not only determines how long you must hold a key down to make it repeat, but also determines how long you can pause between characters when jumping around in a disk menu. When you type in the first two letters of a file name and pause too long between keystrokes, the Mac will find the first one, then assume that the second letter is for a new search. For example, if you type in "UR" it should jump to the first file starting with those two letters. But, if you type too slowly, it will jump to the first file beginning with letter U, then jump to the first file starting with R. If this becomes an inconvenience, just change the setting on the Control Panel.
When you've found the file you want in the "Open" dialog box from within an application, just double-click on its name to open the file.
When you've highlighted the file you want in the "Open" dialog box from within an application, you don't have to mouse over to the OPEN button. Just press RETURN or ENTER to open the file.
The shortcut method of jumping to a filename in a disk menu by typing the first few letters of its name is handy especially in MFS. But, when you have a lot of files with similar names in your disk or folder, it becomes less useful because you have to type quite a few letters of a file's name to get to the exact one you want. If you're careful to remember your system, you can speed this process by placing a number in front of each of your filenames. The menu will sort the numbers before the alphabetic filenames and you can simply hit one or two number keys to speed to the file you want.
The express scrolling technique (used to find files in the disk menu) works with HFS to find and open Folders through several levels of nesting, too. If you have a file nested inside several folders, you can shuffle through them quickly by typing enough of the outermost folder's name for it to appear highlighted, hitting RETURN, typing enough of the next folder's name, and so on until your file's name is highlighted. Hit RETURN again and your file will open.
With the MFS (as opposed to HFS) filing system, the scroll window in the disk directory window can be made to scroll to a file beginning with the letter or two you type from the keyboard. (See "Express Alphabetic Scrolling"). You can use this feature to create subdirectories, storing all your files that pertain to a particular topic under names that begin with the same one or two letter code. For example, if you were a consultant working for a number of clients, including MacUser Magazine, and stored files for several clients on one disk, you could use MU at the beginning of each file that pertains to MacUser and have all of those files located in one section of the disk directory, accessible by hitting MU on the keyboard when the disk menu comes up.
When you are in the disk menu of an appiication on the Mac Plus, you can hit the TAB key instead of clicking on the button for the disk drive.
Most likely, leaving a disk in your drive when your Mac is turned off won't hurt the disk. However, when you leave a disk in the drive, the read/write head is directly over the disk, ready to go. A small burst of static electricity through it could accidentally erase a small amount of information on the disk. While the damaged area might be tiny in terms of actual number of bits erased, the missing data could disable a whole program.
Apple's technicians have calculated the odds on this happening. A disk left in the drive has a 0.02% chance of being damaged. If the disk were removed, its chances of being damaged in the average disk storage environment are half that, or 0.01%. So, on the whole, removing all disks from the Mac when you shut it off is a safer practice.
Keep all disks away from magnets. Information is stored magnetically, so exposure to a strong magnetic force will scramble data permanently.
Hewlett-Packard diskettes have a little plastic hook on the surface of the case to hold the metal shutter back. This hook sometimes becomes lodged in a Mac's disk drive, preventing you from removing the diskette. If you want to use HP diskettes in your Mac, use a knife or other tool to remove the hook cleanly from them. If you succeed, they should work just fine.
You can use the Mac's built-in printer dump facilities to make disk labels from your desktop. First, open the window for the disk you want to label. Then, choose By Name from the View menu to display the filenames. Now, use the size box to shrink the window to the approximate size of a disk label. Type COMMAND-SHIFT-CAPS LOCK-4 to dump the window to your printer. You can print out on regular paper and use tape to attach the labels, or you can print out on a page size label (available at most stationery stores) and simply trim the edges. If you want, you can use COMMAND-SHIFT-3 to create a MacPaint document from your desktop and further edit or enhance your labels in MacPaint before printing.
The write-protect tab on Mac diskettes is not completely fail-safe. The tab is not a mechanical lock that prevents saving data to that disk, but is just a slot for a sensing finger to fall into, thus tripping a switch. The Mac always checks to see if the switch is on or off before writing onto that disk. But, if you have a bug-ridden application, font, or desk accessory, and it crashes, it could, on rare occasions, bypass the tab's setting and write all kinds of random garbage as it goes down. Public domain, homebrew, and pre-release software are particularly susceptible to this problem.
If you change labels on your disks fairly frequently, you'll often see a build-up of the sticky residue left over from the old labels. The easiest way to remove it is by dabbing it with a little rubber cement thinner on a Q-tip. This cleans the disk without damaging its plastic casing. Just be very careful not to get any thinner in any of the openings. If you do, it will destroy the disk. If it contains valuable data, be sure to back it up before you use this technique - just to be sure.
Most Macintosh Database Managers use Tab characters to delineate the fields, and Return characters at the end of each record. However, database managers on other machines (such as DataStar on the IBM-PC) often use special characters for this function. Converting their files for use on the Mac is difficult, even after getting them into the Mac with PC-To-Mac-And-Back, or a similar utility.
A few file conversion programs (like Ist Port) are available to do the job for you. However, you can do it without such a utility. First, transfer your database from the alien computer into the Mac as a text file using the appropriate utility. Then, open the file with MacWrite and change all the field separation characters to Tabs and all the end-of-record characters to Returns or Enters. Then, open up the Mac database of your choice, and create an entry form that suits the data. Reopen the MacWrite file, copy a lump of data into the Clipboard, re-open the database, and paste. If your Tabs and Returns are in the right places, your data should go automatically into the right places in the Mac database's entry forms - allowing you to analyze data in the usual way.
You can use Fedit or a similar utility to look at the files on your disk and the status of their file flags.
The definitions of the various file flags are as follows:
Protected -- This file can't be duplicated by the Finder or be moved to another disk, folder, or to the trash.
Locked -- You can't use the Finder to trash, replace or rename this file.
Invisible -- The icon for this file is not displayed on the desktop.
Bundle -- This file contains all the data the Finder needs to display a file's icons and make all of the necessary cross-references between an application and its documents and resources.
System -- If this flag is used, the file is a System file.
Bozo -- This flag is left over from an old copy protection system that's ignored by recent Finders.
Busy -- The file is open on your Mac or on one of the systems on your network.
Changed -- Usually only active with a Busy file, this means that the file has been changed since it was last saved. Be sure to save it before quitting the application or closing the file.
Inited -- The icon for this file has been assigned a position on the desktop.
You can make your mouse into a poor man's tracing stylus by wedging a section of a toothpick into one of the grooves in the cable connector on the mouse. Simply wedge it into one of the spaces so that the point of the toothpick is just a little off the surface of the desktop. Then, turn on the freehand drawing tool in your graphics program and use the point of the toothpick to trace the image you want to transfer to your screen.
You don't have to spend a lot of money on disks of electronic clip art. There are many public domain printed clip art books available in book stores and through the mail. Dover Books is an especially good source. You can transfer the printed clip art onto your own disks by digitizing it or tracing it with the mouse or a graphics tablet.
To avoid having the Mac spread your System file all over the hard disk as you add and delete fonts and desk accessories, create some small dummy files or a dummy volume right after you first create your System file. Give them names that show the order of their creation (Dummy #1, Dummy #2, etc.). Then, when you want to make modifications to the System, delete some of your dummy files (in the same order you created them) or the dummy volume to make room for the modifications. This technique will keep your System file in a contiguous section of your hard disk and keep your Mac running at optimum speed.
If you frequently modify the System file on your hard disk drive, it can get spread all over the disk, linked by many pointers, so the Mac can retrieve all the pieces. When this situation gets out of hand, your operations will slow down and you're tempting fate for a crash. If you think this might be the case, back up your whole hard disk to floppies and reinitialize it. Now, restore your files one by one, System files and applications first. This will solve the problem with your System file and will "de-fragment" all the rest of the files on your disk, too. Simply restoring your hard disk from a streaming tape backup won't solve this problem, as the tape will simply restore the System files in their fragmented form.
If your hard disk makes enough noise to bother you when it's running, get an extension cable and move it further away from you or behind something that will help block the noise. If you have an older hard disk, you can use a joystick extension cable from Radio Shack. If you have a SCSI hard disk, your extension cable won't be that simple to find, nor will it be inexpensive. You could also try putting your hard disk inside a sound absorbing cabinet intended for a printer.
If you use the Shut Down option from the Special menu before you power off your hard disk, your startup time will be substantially shorter the next time you start up from the hard disk.
Are you about to run out of memory in an application? Reduce the size of the Clipboard to minimum by copying a single character into it by selecting the character and cutting or copying. Do this procedure twice to ensure that you have removed the original Clipboard contents.
The Mac's menus tell you whether it will execute a selected action immediately, or if selecting it leads to another dialog box before the Mac will act. An ellipsis ( ... ) after a menu item means that it leads to a dialog box before executing any action. For example,"Save As..." leads you to a dialog box to enter a filename before saving whereas Save executes directly with no dialog box (unless it's a new file that needs a title before the Mac can save it for the first time).
You can use the Resource Editor to add or change COMMAND key equivalents for any menu item in most Macintosh applications. After you've opened the application with the Resource Editor, find the MENU resource and open it. There, you'll see each of the menu items, listed by their MENU ID numbers. You'll probably have to open several before you find the item you want to work with. Once you find it and have its window open on the desktop, you'll see a field labeled "keyBoard equiv." If a COMMAND key equivalent for the item already exists, you'll see a character in the box. If not, it will be blank. Simply add a new character, or change the one in the box (remember that capitalization makes a difference), and close all of the windows. When the Resource Editor asks if you want to save your changes, click the Yes button.
WARNING: Be sure you don't enter a COMMAND key equivalent that's already used by another menu item. The results when you run your application are quite unpredictable. Always be sure that you're working on a backup disk to avoid serious problems and loss of data or applications.
The combination of the Mac and the ImageWriter makes a great tool for creating mimeograph masters. The Geneva font will make the clearest stencil, but the 10-pt. size will break down on the stencil and the 12pt. size will not allow you to get very much text on the page. However, if you print out a Geneva 10-pt. document using the Tall Adjusted option in the Page Setup dialog box, the Mac will add just enough space between the letters when it prints out to keep the characters from breaking down on the stencil.
The Mac and the ImageWriter work together to make great mimeograph stencils. In fact, you can do a better job of including halftones on the ImageWriter than you can on expensive stencil cutting machinery. You can digitize photos with a digitizer and then screen them with MacPaint before cutting your stencil. When your document is complete, remove the ribbon from your ImageWriter and set the paper thickness to four. You may want to experiment with screening your digitized images with different patterns to get the you want on the final mimeo output.
The Mac won't let you use a colon in any filename. The reason is that the system uses a colon in the way It remembers where a file is located. For example, if you save a file named "Profits" on a disk named Multiplan Work," the Mac actually stores the file under the name "Multiplan Work: Profits" so it remembers not only the name of the file, but where it's stored as well. If you try to use a colon in the rename it will cause confusion.
Don't name files with any words that the Mac might think are part of its operating system, like "Multifinder." It confuses the machine and often results in the file being permanently lost.
Make sure your disks have different, meaningful names, and are clearly marked. That way you won't mave to insert your entire disk collection when the Mac asks for a particular disk. Also take care to label the disk with exactly the same name as the one that appears on the desktop. If it's a data disk only, put the name of the application it relates to on the label, and in the comments box in the Get Info dialog.
The Mac will allow you to create a document title of up to 63 characters. However, short names are much more convenient. Who wants to drag icons around with 63-character names hanging onto them? Bear in mind, too, that the disk menu displays only the first 20 characters. Abbrevs are grt!
You can use an ImageWriter cable attached to the modem port on a Mac 512 (with the older port configuration) to interface your Mac and Radio Shack Model 100. First, attach the cable to the Mac's modem port and to the Model 100's RS-232 port. Make sure that the terminal program on each computer can support XON/XOFF protocol. The only special modification you'll have to make is on the Model 100. Use BASIC to POKE 63066,255. This adds linefeeds to the carriage returns on the Model 100 so the Mac can interpret the paragraph formatting correctly. To "undo" the POKE, just reboot the Model 100 when you're finished with the transfer.
The Mac's battery maintains 20 bytes of RAM, called the "Parameter RAM" in an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM). This data set remains intact even with the Mac's plug pulled out, but if the battery goes dead, or if you disconnect it, then the Parameter RAM is lost. Then you have to go back, open the Control Panel, and reset all its items. Some peripherals (such as the early versions of ThunderScan) clobber this data accidentally because of the way they use the ports. Certain processes in assembly language will wipe out the Parameter RAM too. If that happens, turn the Mac off, disconnect the battery for about 30 seconds. Reconnect the battery and turn the Mac back on, and use the Control Panel to reset the Parameter RAM (don't forget to reset the clock too). Parameter RAM maintains the following parameters in those 20 bytes:
Validity status Modem-port configuration Printer-port configuration Alarm setting Default application font Auto-key threshold Menu blink Printer connection Speaker volume Double-click time Caret-blink time Mouse scaling Preferred system start-up disk
Wheels for the Mind is a quarterly publication from Apple computer, aimed at Mac users in the Apple University Consortium. It contains a lot of good introductory information on using the Mac, many hints and tips for experienced users, and news of happenings in the Consortium Schools. The first year's subscription is $12.00. For more information, contact Beth Moore at Apple Computer, Inc., 10201 North DeAnza Blvd., MS23D, Cupertino, CA 95041. (408) 973-5040.
If you can't get a data file to run from the desktop, don't panic (at least not immediately). First, start the application you used to create the data file. Then, close any current documents in the application, choose Open, and see if you can get the damaged file to load from the disk menu. If it will load, immediately save it under another name on another disk. If this won't work, it's time to get out MacZap or another disk fixing utility and see if you can fix the file with it.
In most applications and in the Finder, you can scroll one screenful at a time by clicking in the gray area on either side of the scroll elevator. If the file doesn't have another screenful to show, the screen usually will scroll as far as it can. Notable exceptions to this are most database managers. Some of them don't recognize the click at all and others interpret it to mean scroll one record (or some other increment).
Normally, when you click and drag the cursor over text, the Mac selects text character by character horizontally, and line by line vertically. If you double-click (to select a word), hold down the mouse button after the second click, and then drag, the Mac selects text word by word horizontally, and line by line vertically.
In the Finder and in most applications, you can use the scroll bars without affecting your current text, object, or icon selection. This is especially helpful if you have selected icons from several sections of a window and want to scroll around to find others for selection with SHIFT-CLICK or if you want to look over a large section of text you've selected in a word processor before you cut or copy it.
If you want to select a large part of your document, in most applications you don't have to spend time dragging the cursor across the text. Instead, click at one end of the text, then use the scroll bar to get to the other end of the section you want. Hold the SHIFT key down while clicking the mouse. The Mac instantly highlights all text between the two clicked points.
Double-click on a word to highlight it without having to drag the cursor all the way across it. Whatever you type in next will replace the highlighted word.
In many cases, applications and desk accessories are designed to recover properly if you turn off the Mac's power switch without closing them. However, that may damage some applications and desk accessories permanently if you do so. To be safe, always make sure that you've closed all documents, applications, and desk accessories before you flip the switch.
Never shut the Mac off without first ejecting all disks. This protects against accidentally damaging disk Files.
Many Mac users are probably aware that you can make your own startup screens for your Mac with a public domain program called Screenmaker. However, special startup screens can take as much as 20K of your valuable disk space. However, you can alter the Welcome to Macintosh" message in the Mac's own stamp screen without taking more disk space. Use a utility that allows you to alter hex/ASCII code on a disk, such as Fedit, MacTools or ExamineFile. In the middle of sector 6 on any disk containing a system file, you will find the words "Welcome to Macintosh." Write the message you want over the words. Your message can be no longer than "Welcome to Macintosh," but it can be shorter - just substitute space characters for the extra letters. Save the sector and the next time you boot the altered disk, your new message will appear in the startup screen.
When you do an ASCII search on a system file with a disk editor, you can find the version number for the system software you're looking at. Open the System file with Fedit and do an ASCII Search from the Options menu. Look for the string "Version" and you should see which version of the system software you have. The possible versions are:
Versions 3.0, 3.1, 3.1.1b and 3.2 -- 04-Jan-86 and later (Versions released with or shortly after the Mac Plus that support HFS)
Version 2.1 -- 01-Sept-85 (Second major system update that came with Finder 4. 1)
Version 2.0 -- 08-Apr-84 (Released with Finder 1. 1g)
Version 1.1 -- 24-Apr-84 (Released with Finder 1.0)
Version .097 --12-Jan-84 (Still occasionally found!)
Normally, when you launch a new application on a startup disk which isn't the current startup disk, the Mac switches over to use the system software on the new application's disk. That has the effect of making the new disk the startup disk. You can modify the new application disk's System (with ResEdit or Fedit) so this switch doesn't occur. First use a disk utility to remove the invisible MultiFinder application. Then, use ResEdit or Fedit to make the Finder on the application's disk invisible. Now, if you launch the application while running under another disk's system, the mac won't switch to the new application's system.
System errors cause a dialog box to appear on-screen with the words, "Sorry, a system error has occurred," next to the Burning Bomb icon. The two buttons in the dialog box are labelled Restart and Resume. Normally, the Resume button is dimmed and pressing Restart merely resets the system, losing all the data still in the machine, but not saved to disk at the time of the crash. The box always shows an error ID number to help software developers figure out what's wrong. Over 50 different ID numbers are in use, but the most common are:
2 -- Address error -- This means that the program contains an error.
3 -- Illegal Instruction -- This is another program error.
13 -- Uninstalled interrupt -- You'll get this if you press the rear button of the programmer's switch without the correct software running.
25 -- Out of memory -- "Good" programs should warn you well in advance to prevent this occurrence, but some don't -- so, watch out for it.
26 -- Can't launch program -- This means that the Mac can't find the program you wanted to run. (For example, if you've designated a startup application and thrown away the Finder, when you quit the application, the System will look for the Finder. If it's not there, you'll get an ID 26 error message.
Some users have reported problems when using disks created with a particular Finder and ROM combination on a different system. In particular, older Macs with 64K ROMs can't read some 400K MFS disks that have been initialized under System 3.1 on a machine with the 128K ROMS. Be very careful if you're going to swap diskettes among machines with a mixture of old and new ROMs.
If you get a sad Mac on the screen, the Macintosh manual simply says "go and see your dealer." But, this is a drastic solution to what is usually a very simple problem. The only time you can get a sad Mac icon on-screen is immediately after you put a disk in after switching on the machine. Underneath the icon, you'll see a six-digit code, with some flickering pixels underneath. The code is intended to help the software or hardware manufacturer to locate the fault. If the six digit code begins with the letters 0F, it means the System file has been damaged. The cure is to start up with a working disk and copy its System file over to the damaged disk. If the first pair of digits you get is not 0F, then your Macintosh may well be faulty and you should take it to your dealer immediately.
Remember that in most applications, when you save a "Text Only" copy of a file using Save As..., the file that remains active is the original formatted file, not the new text only copy. If you use Save to save the active file after making changes, the Mac updates only the formatted file on the disk, but the text only copy remains unchanged. To make sure that a text only copy of your file is the latest version, always update it immediately after saving the formatted file.
The best rule of thumb to use when deciding whether or not to update the System files and Finder on an older copy-protected application disk is "Don't." Copy protection tends to make disks rather fragile, so updating with a new System or Finder may render your application unusable. In the case of the game Airborne!, the game file is actually called "Finder." Updating the Finder on this disk will destroy the game. If you must try updating a copyprotected application, use a copy utility like Copy II Mac or MacZap to make a backup of the application and work on that disk. Then, work with the updated disk with unimportant data, trying most of the options (printing, sorting, etc.) before you work with any data you care whether you lose or not.
Apple is constantly working to improve the Mac's system software -- the System, Finder, and the various printer drivers. Always make sure, when you update your System and Finder, that you check to make sure you have the latest versions of the printer drivers as well. MacUser publishes a list of the latest versions of most major software in each issue.
With the release of the Mac Plus, Apple started a new system to define the format of version numbers of its software. The format is N.NXM, where N.N is the intended release version number. X is a letter designation for the development level of the software: D means it's in development; A means it's an alpha test version; and B means it's a beta test version. The M is a number sub-designation for the X. For example, Finder 5.1B17 was beta release 17 of Finder 5.1.
To find out which version of a program you're running, go the the Apple menu and select the About... item. You'll then get a dialog box on-screen that will give you all the relevant details. Sometimes other relevant information such as the names of the programmers, address and phone number of the publisher, and/or help menus are also located in this box. Usually, the way to get rid of the box is by clicking anywhere outside its borders.
You can use ResEd (version 1.01D5 or later) or any resource editor to change the default sizes of the windows in any Mac application. Here is a method for making MacWrite's document, header and footer windows open to their maximum width on the screen if you frequently work with wide margins. First, open the WIND resource and you'll see MacWrite's four window resources. The document, header and footer windows are 301, 302 and 303, respectively. Open each one separately and change the "boundsRect." For the Document window, change them to 38, -58, 337 and 550. For the header and footer windows, change the BoundsRect figures to 45, -58, 205 and 550 in each. You may want to use other numbers -- these will make the windows open so the 8-inch mark on the ruler is visible and you'll have to do some shifting and resizing to bring the scroll bar into view.
This technique will work on any other Mac application, but be sure you know what window you're changing or you could end up with some very strange displays.
The Mac uses six types of windows, each with a different "procID" number. You can change the procID of a window by opening an application's WIND resource and then opening the particular window's resource window. A standard document window (like you see in MacWrite) is procID Type 0. Type I is a dialog box with a double border. Types 2 and 3 are message boxes -- Type 2 has a single line border and Type 3 has a drop shadow. Type 4 is a document window like Type 0, but without a resizing box in the lower right comer, and Type 16 is a window like the Apple Calculator desk accessory window.
The Macintosh keeps track of the keystrokes you make while it's off doing something, even though it may not indicate so on its screen. You can stay several key strokes ahead on dialog boxes IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING! For instance, you can hit the ENTER key to select the highlighted button in a dialog box before the Mac can draw the box on the screen. The Mac remembers your choice and responds as soon as it's finished drawing the box. However, make sure you know what the next dialog is going to be before you try to respond to it in advance.
How many times have you mistakenly double-clicked an application that you didn't really want to launch? You had to wait for it to launch, quit and wait for the desktop to reappear. Luckily, Finders 5.1 and later support an abort option that's already supported in many applications. If you want to stop what the Finder is doing (copying files, launching a program, etc.), hold down the COMMAND key and type a period (.). You may have to do it a couple of times to get the Mac's attention, but it should work.
When you double-click on a data file's icon, the Mac first must Open the application you used to create that data file. It looks on all the available disks and/or volumes to find the application before Opening the data file. If the Mac can't find the necessary application on one of the disks, it will tell you that it can't find the application to Open the file. Sometimes (as with text only files), you may be able to Open the file from within an application even if double-clicking on the data file won't launch that application. To find out which applications will Open a data file, select its icon and Get Info from the File menu. The file's type should give you a clue as to what applications will Open the data file.
When deleting an application from the desktop, press the OPTION key while dragging the application's icon to the trash can. This automatically trashes the application without confirming it through a dialog box.
If the sad Mac face comes up, making it impossible to eject the disk from the Finder, reset the Mac while holding down the mouse button. (To reset, depress the front button on the programmer's switch on the left side of your Mac or, if you've not installed the programmers' switch, flip the Mac's power switch off and back on again.) The disk should pop right out of the internal drive.
Once in a while, the Finder on a disk will get confused because of damage to a disk and will not boot. This doesn't mean the data on that disk is necessarily destroyed. Try booting the disk while holding down the COMMAND and OPTION keys. Ile Mac will attempt to reconstruct the desktop. (However, your folders will lose their names and become "Untitled #1, Untitled #2," etc.). If this technique doesn't work, you'll need to use a disk utility such as MacZap.
During a Shut Down, both Finders 5.1 and 5.2 fail to Close desk accessories and don't send a Goodbye Kiss. This will cause accessories with open files to have serious problems. When using these Finders, be sure to Close all DAs before shutting down.
Finder version 4.1 contains a potentially dangerous bug: If you select New Folder on a disk that's already been ejected (but still has its image on the desktop), the folder appears in white. If you then return the disk to the drive, the other files turn from their dimmed image back to black and white, but the new folder becomes dimmed. If you move files to this new folder, they may get lost forever.
Boot your Mac with a disk that has Finder 4.1 on it. You can boot using either the internal or external drive. Insert any other formatted disk in the other drive (call that Disk B). Now, eject Disk B by pressing COMMAND-E or by selecting the eject command on the File menu. (Don't drag the disk icon into the trash can just yet.) Now, insert yet another disk (not the original Startup disk or Disk B) in the vacant drive. As soon as the drive starts to spin, immediately drag the icon of Disk B into the trash. Bang! ID=02. Needless to say, avoid this procedure!
If you have a lot of windows open on your desktop, you may sometimes bury a window you want so deep that it seems impossible to find, no matter how much window shuffling you try. To bring the window you want back to the front and make it active, double-click on its hollow icon (disk or folder) on the desktop or in a window. The icon's window will jump immediately back to the front and become the active window.
If you hold down the COMMAND key while you drag an icon with the mouse, the Clean Up grid will be turned on as long as you hold down the key. As you drag the icon, it will jump from grid position to grid position. If you normally keep your windows aligned with the Clean Up menu option, this is a quick way to keep your new changes neat. This technique works with Finder 5.1 and later.
To close all of the open windows on the desktop, hold down the OPTION key and click on the Close button of any window. All of the open windows on the desktop will close at the same time. This technique works with Finder 5.1 and later.
If you hold down the OPTION key when you double click on a disk or folder icon, the window for that icon will open, as usual. However, if you Open a document or application, the windows you Opened this way will be closed when you return to the desktop. This iechnique works with Finder 5.1 and later.
Finder 4.1 has a tendency to crash if you try to copy too many files at a time by dragging them while displayed "by Name." Choose another View menu option or drag only a few files at a time.
When you are copying a large number of files to your hard disk, select all of the files and drag them. Don't drag the disk icon onto the hard disk icon. When you drag the disk icon, the Mac copies the disk's directory along with the files, and the extra directory may cause some problems.
To copy a file onto another disk, just drag the file icon over to the recipient disk. This retains the old file name, and avoids new file names like "Copy of (old filename)." For a group of files, just select them while holding down the SHIFT key, and move the entire group to the other disk.
If you want to copy a group of documents from one disk to another, you can speed the process by placing all the files you want to transfer in a single folder and then dragging the folder to the new disk. This saves you time if you're using a single-drive Mac because it minimizes the number of disk swaps.
When you drag a folder to another disk, the Finder places a copy of that folder's contents on the new disk. If that disk already contains a folder of the same name, the Finder will ask if you want to replace items with the same names with the selected items. The Finder considers a folder as an item, regardless of its contents. Therefore, if you click the Yes button, the copy operation will replace the contents of the old folder with the contents of the new one. If the old folder contained files that aren't in the new one, those files will be deleted. To be sure you're not replacing valuable files, check the contents of a folder before replacing it.
If you get this message when you're trying to copy files with Finder 4.1, the two most likely causes are that the files you are trying to copy have some form of copy protection implemented, or the disk is defective. This alert box shouldn't appear unless one of these conditions exists.
Files thrown into the trashcan are not actually removed until you specifically issue the Empty Trash command, Quit the current application, launch another application, or take any action that takes you off the desktop. To see if a file is still in the trashcan, Open the trashcan (by choosing Open from the Edit menu or by double-clicking on its icon) and look at its contents. If the file you want to retrieve from the trash is in the window, just drag it to the desktop, or to another disk or folder.
If you use an older System (previous to release 4.1 of the Finder), store the Empty Folder in the System Folder to reduce desktop clutter.
If you use Finder version 4.1 or higher, you can perform super clean-up operations by holding down the OPTION key while selecting the CLEAN UP option. This method shuffles the icons into place much faster, and puts them into locations near the top of the window.
As the Finder works with you and performs all of the file manipulations you require, it stores a little bit of information about every file you've ever copied, trashed, saved, etc. As a result, it slowly accumulates a desktop file full of information - most of which you'll never need again. If you are working with near-full disks, clean up this file occasionally. You can use a disk utility to throw away the desktop file, or you can hold down the OPTION and COMMAND keys while you boot the Mac with the disk you want to clean up. You'll have to rename your folders (they now have names like "Untitled #1, #2," etc.), but the regained disk space (which could be 15K or more) will be worth the effort. Your files and their names are not affected.
If your Finder doesn't include a Shut Down command, a quick way to eject all disks is to Close all windows, then press COMMAND-A (to select all the disk icons on the desktop). Press COMMAND-E to eject all the disks, and turn off the power switch.
To eject a disk quickly from the desktop, drag the disk icon to the trash can. This works only with Finder version 4.1 or higher, and does not work with the startup disk. With Finders version 5.1 and higher, you can do this with the startup disk, as well. However, its icon will remain on the desktop, dimmed.
If you try to choose Erase Disk from the Special menu when the current startup/system disk is selected, you'll find the command dimmed. To erase a system disk, you have to start up the Mac with a system disk other than the one you want to erase. Then, insert the other system disk in the external drive, make sure it's selected, and you'll be able to use the Erase Disk command.
Some versions of the Finder have a rather elusive bug in the way they use the Get Info comments box. If two files have names that are too short and/or too much alike, comments written in the Get Info box for one file may show up in the other's Get Info box. This is another reason to keep your file names distinct.
The Comments box in the Get Info dialog box with Finder 5.1 and later on the Mac Plus has a larger capacity than in earlier Finders. You can type in many more lines than you can see in the box and scroll through them with the Mac Plus' cursor keys.
The memory size that you see in the Get Info box for some applications is not accurate for the amount of space the application takes on the disk. The reason is that some applications work with related invisible files. Although these files take up space on the disk for the applications, the Get Info box can't report their size as included with the application.
You can keep a brief description of a file and/or instructions for using it in the Get Info box. This can make browsing through files a lot quicker because you don't have to open each one to see what's in it. When you choose Get Info from the Finder, you'll see a dialog box giving some vital data on the file you selected. Type in a brief description in the comments box.
Finder 5.0 and later uses the Hierarchical File System. Although HFS is faster and more efficient, it can't display a folder's size in its window. If you choose display by size in a folder or disk window, the folder sizes won't be shown. To find out the size of a folder, you'll have to select it's icon and choose Get Info from the File menu.
Sometimes, when you copy a document from one disk to another, the correct icon to display it doesn't go along. Don't panic. Simply Open the document (requiring the presence of the appropriate application). When you next return to the desktop, the Finder should have gotten the correct icon information from the application. If the icon still is not right, you may have other problems with the document, application or Finder.
You can make the icons in a window rearrange alphabetically, but the procedure is a little strange. First, make the window you want to alphabetize the active window. Then, select "by Name" from the View menu. Now, select all the the icons in the window, pick them up and drop them en masse back on the icon the window they came from (file folder or disk). Select "by Icon" from the View menu and all of the .cons should be rearranged in alphabetical order. You can use the same procedure to organize the icons according to the other view options. Just be sure that you choose the organization you want (date, size, etc.) before dragging all of the icons to the folder or disk.
When you copy a program from one disk to another, a number of Finder-related resources need to accompany it. These Finder-related resources include the program's icon, and icons for documents the program created. Each program has an on-off flag called a bundle bit that tells the Finder whether any such resources are present and need to be copied. If the bundle bit is set, the Finder will copy the program's bundle resource to the new disk and bring along the appropriate icons. If the bundle bit isn't set, that program's icons will get left at home on the original disk and won't be copied. Either set the bundle bit before copying the program, or, since some terminal programs such as MacTerminal don't transmit that information, set it using a Set-Filelnfo-type program or Fedit.
You can get Finders 5.0 and later to initialize a disk by holding down the OPTION-COMMAND-TAB keys when you insert it. You'll be offered the familiar options of Cancel, Single-Sided, and Double-Sided.
Important applications or files that shouldn't be tampered with should always be Locked. Choose Get Info from the File menu and click on the Locked box. An X in the box means that the file can't be thrown away, copied or have its name changed. Click on the box again to unlock.
When deleting files from the desktop, press the OPTION key while dragging a locked file to the trashcan. This automatically unlocks the file without having to go to the Get Info dialog box.
An easy way to tell if a file is locked is to select the file on the desktop and move the cursor over the filename. If the file is not locked, the cursor changes shape to an I-beam (so you can change the name if necessary); if it is locked, the cursor remains an arrow. This is usually simpler than choosing Get Info.
When the Finder (versions 4.1 and earlier) reports the size of a file, folder or disk in Kilobytes (Ks), it doesn't use the computer standard of 1024 Bytes per K. Instead, it uses 1000. Although this doesn't make much difference to the user, it can cause major confusion for programmers. Finders version 5.0 and later use the correct number of Bytes for these calculations.
Rename a disk, file or folder by clicking once to highlight it, then typing the new name. Click anywhere else on the screen to save the new name.
Did you ever accidentally erase or type over the name of a file or disk? You don't have to re-enter it from scratch. Just hit BACKSPACE until what you typed is gone and then hit RETURN (or click the mouse -- the cursor can be anywhere). The original file or disk name will reappear.
Although the method is a little awkward, you can alphabetize lists with the "By Name" option from the Finder's View menu. First, use the New Folder command to create the window in which your list will be displayed and give it a name. Then, with the window active, select New Folder again and rename the resulting icon with the first item in your list. Continue choosing New Folder and assign one item name to each folder. When you have entered your complete list, choose "By Name" from the View menu and your list should appear in the window alphabetized. You can print out the list with COMMAND-SHIFT-4 , or just use it from the screen. Theoretically, you could alphabetize as many items as you can fit empty folders into the remaining disk space. However, if you need to alphabetize lists often, or have long lists, a database manager (even a low-end "cheapie") is a better tool for this purpose.
Some combinations of documents and applications will work together, even if there's no obvious way to get the application to open the document. Normally, a document retains the name of the application that created it. Thus, if you double click on its icon, it will Open its creator application and load the document. However, sometimes you can make a document and a different application work together. On the desktop, use the SHIFT-Click combination to select the document and the application you want to use it with. Then, with both selected, choose the Open option from the File menu. This doesn't work with all combinations and may cause serious problems with some. Always experiment on backups so you don't lose any valuable data or programs.
Print several files in a row by selecting them from the desktop with the selection rectangle, then choosing Print from the File menu. The Mac will print them according to the arrangement of the icons, from top to bottom and left to right.
To print several files in a specific order, go to the Finder and SHIFT-CLICK to select the documents. After you select Print.... the Mac will print the files in the same order as you selected them.
You don't have to expand the size of windows to see other sections of them. You can use the scroll bars on the window to move around and see more icons without making the window any larger. With Finders version 5.0 and later, you can click on the small box on the right end of a window's grab bar to make it expand to the size of the screen.
You can make the Mac automatically run any application on the startup disk when you start up your system. To make an application "auto-run," select its icon on the desktop so it's highlighted and choose Set Startup from the Special menu. This command will work on any startup disk you insert, whether it's the current startup disk or not. This fact is important if you want to set an application as the startup program on a MiniFinder disk that doesn't contain a Finder. The only way to make an application "auto-run" on such a disk is while you're operating your system from a startup disk that contains a full Finder so you can get at the Set Startup command. Only applications can be made startup applications, not documents. However, some applications (like Switcher) allow you to designate a document with a special name that the application will load whenever you start up the applications, whether from the desktop or when the application "auto-runs."
Once you have made an application the startup program for a disk with the Set Startup command, it's not very obvious how you can change or turn off the command. If you want to make another application on the same disk the new startup application, simply select the new application's icon and choose Set Startup from the Special menu. If you want the system to start up with the Finder or MiniFinder, follow the same procedure. Select the Finder or MiniFinder icon and invoke the Set Startup command.
Finders versions 5.0 and later display a mini-icon with the file name if you choose any display option other than "by Icon." These icons behave just like the large ones and you can move, Copy, Open, and otherwise manipulate them in generally the same manner as the large icons.
Using Small Icons Dangerous with Older Finders and Finder 5.0
Finder 5.0 exhibits a nasty bug when you use a Finder 5.0 folder with older Finders. The problem is that older Finders can't understand certain parts of HFS. If you create a folder under Finder 5.0 and display it with Small Icons (which are not a part of the old MFS), you may run into the problem. When you are running under an old Finder, don't try to use a disk containing an HFS folder displayed with Small Icons. If you replace a file in that folder with a new file of the same name, the Mac will trash the entire contents of the folder and only the new file will remain.
Make a newly inserted disk the startup disk by Opening the new disk on the desktop. Then Open its System folder and, while holding down the COMMAND and OPTION keys, doubleclick on the Finder icon. The Finder will open (like an application) and the new Finder's desktop will appear with its startup disk's icon in the upper right hand comer of the screen.
Here's another simple way to change startup disks without rebooting. If you need to change startup disks frequently, use the Fedit utility to make the Finder's "type" an Application (APPL) on each disk that you use. To change the startup disk, insert the new one, and just double-click on the new disk's Finder.
You can prevent Finders 4.1 and later from switching startup disks when you Open an application on a startup disk other than the current one. First, do this only on a copy of your disk - Fedit can be dangerous! Open the Finder in Fedit. Find B678 0210 6738 and substitute B678 0210 6038.
In any of the 5.x series Finders, dragging a file out of the Trash onto a different volume than the one you threw it away from removes the file, permanently, from both the Trash can and the destination volume (and it's already gone from the original volume). Remember, in HFS, each folder is a separate volume. Therefore, be sure to put things back into their original folders immediately if you remove them from the Trash. Then, you can move them in the usual ways.
If you're using Finder 5.1 or 5.2, trying to Duplicate a file in the Trash window will crash the System. Why anyone would want to do this is beyond your humble author's imagination.
Finder 5.0 occasionally generates an "Application Can't Be Found" error when running with a hard disk, even when the application is present and the creator and file type are correct for the document you're trying to Open. To fix the problem, simply replace the application on the hard disk.
You can accidentally lose an icon by placing another icon directly on top of it. The effect of this is to hide the bottom icon completely when you're viewing files by icon. If you've hunted and hunted through the window and can't find a file, try viewing the files by any of the other options under View. The Mac will sort the files into a list according to your choice. Any previously hidden files will be easy to find.
Move a background window without making it active by pressing the COMMAND key while dragging the window by its title bar.
When you have connected the Mac to your audio amplifier (with both volumes. turned down first), follow this procedure to set the volume to the level you want. First, set the amplifier's volume to a safe, low level. Then, increase the volume on the Mac's Control Panel desk accessory until you have a strong signal, but not so strong as to cause any distortion. If you have a tape deck, use its meters to get a reading of 0 VU. Otherwise, you'll have to use your ears. Then, use the amplifier's volume control to adjust the volume to a comfortable listening level.
You can connect the Mac's audio output directly to a tape deck to make recordings. Be sure you check the signal on the tape decks VU meters before you start recording. If your tape deck is stereo, you'll have to use a mon-to-stereo converter cable to put the Mac's signal into both channels.
Before you connect your Mac and amplifier with an audio cable, use the Control Panel desk accessory to turn the Mac's volume way down before you turn it off to connect the cable. Also, turn the volume on your amplifier down before you turn it on after making the connection. If you don't follow this procedure, you could damage your speakers.
Be sure that you turn off the power to both your Mac and amplifier before you connect them with an audio cable. You risk damage to both your Mac and stereo system if you don't.
You can plug the audio cable from the Mac into the AUX, Tape In, Tuner, CD or almost any other component input jack, However, NEVER plug the Mac's cable into the Phono input jack.
You can use "Walkman" style headphones plugged directly into the audio output jack on the Mac. However, be sure to turn down the volume on the Control Panel desk accessory before you do so or you could permanently damage your headphones, or worse, your hearing! Since the Mac has a mono output, you may want to use a mono adaptor plug to put the signal into both earphones, but of course, it still won't be stereo.
If your audio system has a tape deck with VU meters, you can use it to adjust the appropriate levels from the Mac. First, make sure the tape deck is turned on and set to monitor the sounds coming in from the Mac. Then, set the Mac's volume with the Control Panel desk accessory to a point where the loudest sound registers 0 VU on the tape deck's meters. The meters should never go into the red zone. This procedure will ensure that you get the strongest possible signal into your audio system without overloading the inputs.
If your amplifier is so equipped, use its infrasonic filter when running the Mac's sound through your audio system. The filter will eliminate most of the unpleasant effects of the clicks and pops from the Mac's switching. Besides giving a more pleasing sound, this will eliminate wear and tear on your speakers.
Be very careful that you and the cable have discharged any static electrical charge you might be carrying before you connect your Mac and amplifier. The static could discharge through the audio port on the Mac and cause serious internal damage.
When the time comes to replace the battery (used to maintain the correct time and the Parameter RAM when the Mac's power is off), you may find yourself mystified trying to find a replacement at the local drugstore. It's not one of the more common types, and usually is available in camera stores. Use an Everready #523-13P, 4.5 volt or equivalent (such as Ray-O-Vac #RPX-21, Duracell #PX-21 and Panasonic #PX-21). How do you know when to replace it? In normal usage, it should last about two years. When the time and date become erratic and inaccurate, it's nearly dead
Some Macs try harder than others when remembering the information stored in the battery-supported Parameter RAM (clock setting, speaker volume, etc.). If your clock does not reset when you remove the battery and replace it, try the procedure again. Be sure to leave the battery out for 30 seconds or more.
Static electricity is one of the worst enemies of computers. Most of your Mac's circuitry is designed to handle a maximum of 15 volts. Your body can carry a charge of as much as 4,000 volts. Because of this, be sure to discharge yourself (touch something that's grounded) before touching any of the cable connectors on your Mac. Then, to be doubly safe, handle the cables only by their plastic casings. NEVER touch any of the pins in the connectors. If you touch one of the metal casings or pins while carrying a static charge, the discharge pulse could easily damage the chips on your Mac's logic board.
Although it looks the same, the cable the Mac uses for its keyboard is not a standard telephone handset cable. In the phone cable, some of the wires cross between the plugs whereas in the Mac's cable they are straight plug-toplug connections. Some telephone systems also require this kind of cable, so you might be able to find replacements or extension cords in phone specialty catalogs (professional equipment). At least one mail order company offers these specially configured cables: Your Affordable Software Co., 1525 N. Elston Ave., Chicago, IL 60622. Phone: (312) 235-9412.
A proper cable to connect the Mac's audio output to a stereo system is hard to find. Usually, you have to kludge it up with adaptors. But, Radio Shack has just the right cable (part # 42-2153). It has a mono, mini phone plug at the Mac end, and a pair of RCA phono plugs at the audio system end. If necessary, you can extend it with adaptors and another audio cable.
If you work in an educational setting, you know how easily diskettes that have been checked out seem to walk away. You can use monofilament fishline to attach disks to the Mac so they'll stay with the machine. First, drill a small hole in the upper comer of your diskettes, opposite the write-protect slider. ONLY WORK WITH A BACKUP OF YOUR DISK AND BE SURE THAT YOU CAREFULLY REMOVE ANY DUST GENERATED BY THE DRILLING. THIS TECHNIQUE CAN TRASH DISKS!!! Now, tie a piece of fishline through the hole in the diskette and the other end through the chain slot on the back of the Mac. This is great if you're working with a small number of applications at most of your workstations.
The Mac gets a great deal of the fresh air it uses to cool itself through the front panel vents above the plug for the keyboard. Although this looks like a good place to store the keyboard while you're not using the Mac, it blocks the vents under the front panel and may lead to overheating. Leave some extra space, or find a better place to put the keyboard on your desk.
Have you ever noticed that, at the beginning of each session, your Macintosh keyboard doesn't always work as it should? Well, the first thing to check is the CAPS LOCK key. A small bug in the ROM (pre-128K ROM) ignores the CAPS LOCK key if it's locked down while the machine is going through its initial set-up procedure. But, after booting with CAPS LOCK down, the Mac defiantly displays everything in lower case. The cure is to press the CAPS LOCK key once to release it, and then press it again. The Macintosh will respond by finally working as it should.
A sexy programmer's trick for checking the memory size of a Mac is to hold down the rearmost programmers' switch and turn the power on. If you have a 512K Mac, an angry Mac face with 0F00D as the message should appear. This is a good trick when you have to deal with a Mac you don't know, as is the case in schools and large companies.
After many months of operation, especially in a dusty or lint ridden environment, cleaning the mouse according to the instructions in the Mac manual may not do a thorough enough job to improve mouse performance. Taking the mouse apart is fairly simple. First, remove the ball according to the directions in the Mac's manual. Then, remove the two Phillips-head screws on the base of the mouse near the cord. With the base down, gently remove the top half of the mouse case, pushing the cord gently down out of its socket in the upper case. You can now see three rollers (two black and one silver) that roll against the mouse and transmit instructions to the Mac. They retain dirt and grime that normal cleaning doesn't remove. Clean them with a cotton swab and denatured alcohol. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE THE CYLINDERS; THE SHAFTS ARE DELICATE AND WILL BREAK! Use the tip of a toothpick to remove strands of hair or lint that have become wrapped around the shafts supporting the cylinders. DO NOT USE METAL TOOLS OF ANY KIND WHEN WORKING INSIDE THE MOUSE! Clean the rubber ball with a soft, clean, dry cloth. To reassemble the mouse, make sure the mouse button and spring are property seated, carefully reinsert the cord into the upper half of the case, and replace the two screws. Then, replace the ball and its mounting ring. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN PERFORMING THIS OPERATION. AN OUNCE OF PARANOIA MAY BE WORTH MANY REPAIR DOLLARS!
The two plastic "feet" under your mouse can become worn after a lot of use on a hard surface. To prevent this wear and make the movement of your mouse smoother, purchase four small peel & stick felt pads from your local hardware store and attach them to the four comers of the underside of your mouse. They'll wear out and need occasional replacement, but they're cheaper than another mouse and can act as a "poor man's mousepad." Another good solution is to use circles cut from the fuzzy side of peel and stick velcro.
Never block the vents on the front, top and sides of the Mac. The cooling system depends on cool air flowing in through the bottom vents and rising to the top as it gets heated. This sets up a convection current that keeps the Mac cool. Without air circulating through it at all times, the Mac can overheat and/or crash. Serious damage to chips an result from overheating, too. Common ways of blocking the vents without being aware of the problem are putting disk drives or other desk objects too close, or sticking loose papers between the Mac and one of those items. Never leave a file folder or stack of papers on the top of the Mac.
The following is the pin-out information for the signals the Macintosh (not the Mac Plus or port-updated Macs) sends and receives through its modem and printer ports:
PIN OFFICIAL NAME DESCRIPTION
1 Cold ground Ground connection
2 +5V Power supply output (low current)
(not present at all on newer ports)
3 Cold ground Another ground connection
4 TXD+ Transmitted data (high)
5 TXD- Transmitted data (low)
6 Filtered +12V Another power supply output
7 Handshake Control signal (DTR, for example)
8 RXD+ Received data (high)
9 RXD- Received data (low)
Macs and other Apple computer equipment sold in the U.S. are designed to work on 107 to 132 volts, 50 to 60 Hertz Alternating Current. If you are going to take your Mac to another country, check on the rating of their power "mains." Most other countries have 220 to 240 volts, 50 Hertz Direct Current. To use your Mac m one of these systems, you'll have to use a stepdown transformer rated at 60 Watts for the Mac or one rated at 240 Watts for a Mac/ImageWriter combination. If you're in doubt, call Apple before you loeave and get the necessary converters before you even think about plugging it in to unknown power outlets.
Apple calls this the "Programmers' Switch," implying that ordinary mortals shouldn't need it. But, programmer or not, you'll find this a handy attachment for the Mac if you're not the type who bumps around in the back of the Mac and may press it accidentally. The switch snaps in between the air vent bars on the side of the Mac away from the internal floppy drive, so that the two spines on the switch touch two buttons on the Mac's circuit board. One of these buttons resets the computer, and the other interrupts it.
If you press the front part of the switch, the Mac will reset itself -- a tone sounds and the screen displays the familiar floppy disk icon, complete with flashing question mark. It's almost like turning the Mac off and on, but without switching the power off. (See "Programmers' Switch Doesn't Clear All Memory.")
Pressing the rear part of the switch produces an interrupt -- it stops the currently running program and puts up one of the dreaded Bomb error messages. This facility enables programmers to interrupt their own programs just as soon as a bug appears. However, any Mac owner may find this useful -- if only to escape from any bugs you find in commercial or public domain software.
You can't hurt the Mac by hitting the programmers' switch. Indeed, it's a good idea to avoid turning the power off and on when you're dealing with such delicate electronics.
If you're having problems with your Programmers' Switch getting jammed when you press one of the buttons, remove it and check around the mold marks for excess plastic that didn't get cleaned off. You can use a razor blade or X-acto knife to remove the excess plastic molding flash and you'll probably solve your sticky switch problem.
If your Mac's screen jiggles every once in a while and acts as though it's about to collapse from overwork, don't panic. It may be a simple problem with one of the ground wires on the CRT. Don't try to fix this yourself unless you REALLY know what you're doing. The voltages around a CRT are extremely dangerous (even after you turn the computer off or disconnect it from the wall current), because the capacitors can hold a high charge for a long time. However, a friendly technician should be willing to take a look at it for you without emptying your wallet.
If you have a fan installed to cool your Mac and the screen starts to shimmer and waver, remove the fan and see if the problem continues. Some owners of Fanny Mac have reported that it's especially likely to produce some problems with the screen.
Here's a simple way to get rid of the chime that sounds each time the Macintosh wants to attract your attention -- and without altering the Control Panel settings from the Apple menu. All you have to do is put a Walkman-style mini phone plug into the rear external audio jack at the back of the Macintosh. Once done, the menu bar flashes each time the chime would normally have sounded.
Some users who upgraded their 128K Macs to 512K have reported overheating analog boards. (The analog board is the circuit board containing the sound and power supply circuits and is mounted on the left side of the Mac.)
The first 72,000 or so Macs (all 128s, obviously) used Rev. B of the analog board. All later Macs (both 128 and 512s) have Rev. C. Component for component, they are identical, although the layouts differ slightly. Rev. B has one extra part, the analog fence. The analog fence is a metal strip that sticks up from the board. It is supposed to act as a heat sink to radiate the power supply's heat into the air. The problem is that it also blocks the air flow sufficiently to cause a slightly greater problem. The heat problem does not affect 128K Macs, but 512s have more heat-producing memory chips. Most 512K Macs with the analog fence have no heat problems. However, if you have heat problems, a technician can easily remove the fence. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it! On the Mac Plus, the memory chips are in the low current drain CMOS form, so they produce less heat than the 512K's chips.
If you're having a hard time getting the right cables for your Mac Plus, try asking your dealer for the following substitutes: To connect the Mac Plus to an ImageWriter 1, a fle modem cable (A2CO311) will work. To connect the Mac Plus to a Hayes-type modem, you can use a //e printer cable (A9CO313).
The 128K ROMs shipped with the Mac Plus and included in upgrades to older Macs have a built-in debugger. The commands it supports are MacBugs commands DM, SM, G and register commands.
You'll be better off to not try to use the 128K ROMs' built-in debugger within Microsoft Word. It will exhibit quirky behavior and may crash your system.
Don't try to run the 128K ROMs' built-in debugger when you have a modem or other device connected to the Mac's modem port. When you try to use the interrupt switch, your system will freeze up.
You can quit to the desktop from the debugger by issuing the command G 40F6D8 to exit-to-shell.
If you use the disk cache from the Control Panel on the Mac Plus, be sure that you choose Shut Down from the Special menu before you turn off the power switch on your Mac. The disk cache doesn't write changes back to the disk immediately after you make them. If you power off without triggering the cache to save the most recent changes (by using the Shut Down command), you may lose some of the changes you've made from the Finder.
The disk cache on the Mac Plus (controlled from the Control Panel desk accessory), may prevent some older programs from running. Games are particularly susceptible, but watch out for others, such as HFS Backup and TML Pascal.
You can use the arrow keys on the Mac Plus keyboard to maneuver around the disk menu under HFS. If you hit the down arrow once, it selects the first available folder in the menu. Hitting it again will scroll down to tie next available folder. If you hit the up arrow once, :he last available folder will be selected and subsequent presses will scroll up the menu. COMMAND-Up Arrow moves you up one level in the disk hierarchy and COMMAND-Down Arrow moves you down one level in the hierarchy.
When you are looking at the disk menu within an application, you can use the Mac Plus' Up and Down Arrow keys to scroll through the menu of files, either in a folder or on the root level of the disk.
Games seem especially prone to problems on the Macintosh Plus. Here are some modifications that may make your favorite game compatible. First, work ONLY on a backup of the disk. (Of course, if you don't have a copy utility that will bit copy the disk or if it's protected with a scheme that prevents bit copying, you'll not be able to do this.) Then, use Fedit to change the primary screen addresses to $3FA700 from $7A700, the secondary screen buffer addresses to $3F2700 from $72700, and the primary sound buffer from $7FDOO to $1FFD00.
Some games have many problems with the Mac Plus, but some can be made compatible simply by turning off the Mac Plus' disk cache from the Control Panel.
And the beat goes on. Apple proved yet again that man is not perfect. Some of the early versions of the Mac Plus keyboards have the plus and minus keys reversed. The plus key subtracts and the minus key adds ... Sigh ... Talk to your dealer.
As of this writing, only one utility exists for recovering data from bad files on 800K floppies. The program is Fedit version 3.7 from John Mitchell. This program is distributed as shareware on many online services and user group disks. It is a godsend to the Mac community and we've been told that very few people have sent in the shareware fee. If you use the program, please send the shareware fee to Mr. Mitchell. It's the only way to encourage more people to publish their programs via this method.
On the old Macintosh, taking a screen snapshot of whatever was on the screen (with COMMAND-SHIFt-3) was easy. With the new 128K ROMs on the Mac Plus and 512K Enhanced, you'll have problems if you try to take a screen snapshot when you have a menu pulled down or if a dialog box is showing. However, you can use the Camera desk accessory (available on CompuServe or from many user groups) to take a time-delay snapshot. You can set the amount of time you want Camera to wait before taking the snapshot so you can get to the dialog box you want or pull down the appropriate menu (very handy in writing documentation). Camera will also let you hide the cursor and choose whether to save the snapshot as a MacPaint file or send it to the ImageWriter.
Some early Mac Pluses have a bug in the ROM which requires you to start up any SCSI devices you have connected before you start up the Mac Plus. Otherwise, the Mac won't start up properly. There were only a few of the machines produced with this problem and the only way to tell if yours is one of them is to try it.
The DB-25 connector used for the Mac Plus' SCSI port is used by a number of peripherals, both SCSI and other. Never connect a non-SCSI device to the Mac's SCSI port! You may do permanent damage to your Mac.
When Apple changed the port configuration for the Mac Plus, they made one seemingly minor change to the serial ports -- they no longer supply low voltage power on one of the pins. As a result, some of the peripherals that required power from the Mac (like ThunderScan) will not run on the Mac Plus. You'll have to get a special adaptor from the manufacturer (if it makes one) that will supply power from an external source to the peripheral.
If you know how to do the necessary wiring, you can get a power supply from Radio Shack for peripherals that need, but can't get, power from the Mac Plus serial ports (such as ThunderScan). Radio Shack's unit can supply both 5V and 12V, and the part number is: #277-1022. BE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!
You can skip the memory test the Mac Plus runs every time you start it up by holding down the mouse button until just after the beep. Don't hold it down any longer, or you'll eject any disks in the drives. Don't use this technique every time. Memory's not infallible and you should let the Mac Plus check it occasionally.
When you start the Mac Plus, it first looks in the internal floppy drive for a startup disk. If it finds none there, it looks in the external floppy drive and, finally, to the SCSI port. The first startup disk it finds becomes the current startup disk and the default drive.
On a floppy disk-based Mac, you can switch startup disks by Opening an application on a startup disk other than the current one. However, if you're working on a hard disk, this doesn't switch startup disks. With a hard drive, hold down the OPTION key when you Open the application on another startup disk (hard or floppy) and the System will automatically make that disk the current startup disk.
The new Control Panel for the Mac Plus doesn't have a place where you can set the system clock. To set the clock, you must have the Alarm Clock desk accessory installed in the System on your startup disk. Just click on the flag icon on the right side of the clock display to show the icons you need to reset the clock.
The System Tools disk shipped with the Mac Plus and Mac Plus Upgrades did not contain the latest version of the printer drivers as of 4/3/86 (ImageWriter 2.1, AppleTalk ImageWriter 2.1 and LaserWriter 1. 1). However, the latest versions of the ImageWriter (2.2), AppleTalk ImageWriter (2.2), and LaserWriter (3.0) were available as of that date on the Printer Installation disk shipped with the LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus. Since then, ImageWriter 2.3, AppleTalk ImageWriter 2.3, and LaserWriter 3.1 have been released along with System 3.2 and Finder 5.3. Check with your dealer to get the latest versions of all three drivers. They have been substantially improved.
The System Tools disk shipped with the Mac Plus and Mac Plus Upgrades is a double-sided disk. If you try to use the Installer program on that disk on a system with an 800K internal and 400K external drive, you'll only be able to use the internal drive to update double-sided disks and you'll swap disks forever. To simplify the process, copy the contents of the System Tools disk to a formatted single-sided disk (it will fit) and use the Installer from that disk in the external drive.
If you hook up an old external keypad to a machine that's been upgraded with the new ROMs, the first character you type on the keyboard won't appear on the Mac. If, instead, you type the first character on the keypad, it repeats until you stop it by striking another key. You'll either have to get the Mac Plus keyboard with its own keypad or put up with the idiosyncrasies.
The power supply in the Mac Plus has some components that are sturdier than in 512K Macs. When you upgrade a 512K Mac, you don't get the new power supply.
Beware of the difference between the old Choose Printer desk accessory and the new replacement, called Chooser. If you run the old Choose Printer desk accessory while in an application on an AppleTalk network, your system may freeze, Update to HFS and the new Chooser desk accessory, or always remember to run the old Choose Printer desk accessory from the Finder. See the hint, "My Network Doesn't Work," for ideas on how to recover from a frozen network.
Always turn off AppleTalk on the Control Panel after you physically disconnect your Mac from AppleTalk. If you try to print on a non-AppleTalk ImageWriter connected directly to your Mac, the printer will get very confused unless you change the setting on the Control Panel (Finder 5.0 and later). Simply selecting Shut Down and changing startup disks won't help, but you can reset it by turning off the Mac's power. Conversely, remember to use the Control Panel to turn AppleTalk back on when you physically reconnect to AppleTalk.
Don't try to print a MacWrite document from one Mac and a MacDraw document from another on an AppleTalk network and a LaserWriter. The MacWrite document will print, but the MacDraw document won't be completed.
Be careful when running RAM disk programs on an AppleTalk network. You may experience some problems, especially when printing.
When you turn off the Mac, it breaks its connection with AppleTalk. However, pressing the Reset Button on the Programmer's Switch does not break the AppleTalk connection.
Make sure that all of the Macs connected to an AppleTalk network are using the same version of the System software, printer drivers, and Finder. If you have a Mac Plus on the network with a Mac 512 or 128, you must update the system disks for the Mac 512 and/or 128 with the Installer utility on the Mac Plus' System Tools disk. The "non-plused" Macs won't be able to save to folders from within applications, but other than that, they will work very well with the Hierarchical File System.
Some programs, games in particular, initialize the printer port when they start up. This will crash AppleTalk. The way around this is either to disconnect AppleTalk before booting the disk, or just don't boot it on that machine. Here's how to recover from the crash: After ejecting the disk, shut all the nodes in the system off for about 30 seconds. When you power back up, everything should work just fine.
If your network doesn't seem to be working and you can't figure out why, the first thing to do is to shut off everything connected to AppleTalk, and check all the connections. Then restart the system. If the gremlin was caused by a loose connection, this whole-hog approach should take care of it.
If you still have a problem, turn off and disconnect each unit again. Now start connecting Macs back up to the network, one at a time, starting from the machine closest on the network to the LaserWriter. The gremlin could be anywhere, from a faulty port on the Mac itself, to a bad wire, to a piece of hardware or software that mysteriously jams up the works. Usually, it's caused by a loose connection. Once the network has been disconnected, your disks will usually have to be told the LaserWriter is connected again. (See "The LaserWriter's Not On the Choose Printer Menu.")
Sometimes, for a number of different reasons, your disks will "forget" that the LaserWriter is connected to your network. To remedy the problem, go to Choose Printer, select the printer port, choose APPLETALK CONNECTED from the buttons at the bottom of the dialog box, and wait to see if the LaserWriter appears in the scroll box. If it doesn't, select APPLETALK DISCONNECTED and hit OK. Then select Choose Printer again and go through the whole process until the LaserWriter decides to put in a grand reappearance. If you're operating on a Mac Plus or an upgraded Mac 512K, you probably won't have this problem. If you do, you can use the Chooser in a similar manner to get back in touch with your LaserWriter.
Copy Il Mac is not capable of moving copy protected applications from 400K to 800K floppy disks. It will only make another 400K copy. To move your applications to 800K HFS disks, pre-format an 800K disk with a System folder containing any System files, Finder, printer drivers, and desk accessories you want to have on your finished disk. Then, treat the external drive like a hard disk and use Copy H Hard Disk version 5.2 or later (shipped with Copy II Mac) to "install" your copy protected application on your preformatted 800K HFS disk. We've tried this with most of the Microsoft applications with great success and it should work fine with any of the applications listed in Copy II Hard Disk's listing of supported applications.
You can use the Copy II Hard Disk utility to install copy-protected applications to your RAM disk. This will prevent you from having to deal with a key-disk routine when you run some applications and will allow others to run from the RAM disk that otherwise would not run.
Ever notice the desk accessory menu's apple flashing away wildly while you work? It's the silent alarm on the Alarm Clock. You may have forgotten that you had set the alarm, or you may have set it inadvertently the last time you looked at the clock. Just select Alarm Clock from the apple menu and click on the key symbol at the far right to turn off the alarm.
You can set any section of the Alarm Clock by typing. Just select the element you want to change and type the setting you want. Move from element to element by hitting the TAB key. You cannot change the AM/PM setting by typing, so be sure to type the time in 24-hour format. For example, enter 5:22 PM as 17:22:00.
Be sure to Close any desk accessories you may have open before you quit an application or shut down from the Finder. If you don't, you can damage your System file, the desk accessories' data files, or the application you were working in when you caused the problem.
You can attach Desk Accessories directly to the applications in which you want to use them, instead of to the System file (see "Use Font/DA Mover To Attach Fonts & DAs To Applications"). By doing so, you can exceed the maximum of fifteen DAs Apple recommends for the System file (see "Maximum Desk Accessories In the Apple Menu"). When you run the application, the DAs attached to it will appear in their usual places on the apple menu just below the "About..." selection. The Mac will fill up the remaining DA slots with those attached to the System File, up to the maximum combined number. This feature is especially handy if you are running a set of applications with Switcher. You can have your favorite DAs available for each application, even though the total for all applications exceeds fifteen. See the following hint for the Mac Plus modifications to this procedure.
The procedure described in the previous hint will work fine with the old 64K ROMs. However, the new 128K ROMs automatically sort the desk accessories on the Apple menu in alphabetical order. To make the desk accessories attached to your application appear on the first part of the Apple menu for that application, you'll have to "trick" the System into thinking they come first alphabetically. To do so, use a resource editor after you've installed the DAs you want in your application. Open the name resource for each of the DAs in your application (be sure you don't change the DAs installed in your System file) and precede its first letter with a blank space. The Mac's sort routine will .,see" the blank spaces as coming before any character in alphabetical order and place your DAs at the top of the Apple menu.
Do you do a lot of mathematical calculations? Let the Mac's Cut and Paste function speed up the process of entering the numbers into the Calculator. If you've typed a mathematical formula into a document (x = 2*a + b), and then show it with the numerical values substituted for the algebraic symbols (x = 2*14 + 7), just select the numerical portion after the "=" sign.
Then choose the Copy option from the Edit menu. Paste it into the Calculator and it will automatically press the right keys and arrive at the answer. Now, Copy and Paste the Calculator's results back into your document. The font used for the result is always Geneva, so you may want to leave it selected to reformat it. The Calculator will ignore any text, except the letters "c" or "e" between the numbers of your equation. With the exception of those two letters, the Calculator disregards all text, Carriage Returns, and Tab characters, between the parts of an equation.
The Camera desk accessory doesn't run properly on the HyperDrive 20. If you you really need it, see the hints on Incompatibilities in the HyperDrive section of this book for an installation procedure that may work.
The Chooser desk accessory requires the ImageWriter driver version 2.1 or higher and the LaserWriter driver version 1.1 or higher in order to work properly. Get the latest versions from your dealer. If you find yourself stuck using an old System and printer driver for some reason, use the Choose Printer desk accessory instead of the Chooser.
At startup, the Mac loads the contents of the battery supported Parameter RAM (PRAM) into a low memory portion of RAM. When you use Chooser to make changes to your printer and AppleTalk settings (normally stored in PRAM), the changes -are only made to the copy of PRAM in the regular RAM. The Mac will not alter the PRAM settings when you turn it off. To "trick" the Mac into changing the PRAM settings, make the changes you want on Chooser, and Close it. Then select the Control Panel and make any change on any control. You can leave it, or return it to the original setting. Now, Close the Control Panel, and the Mac will alter the PRAM settings for both the Control Panel and the Chooser, and retain them in the battery supported PRAM.
When you change the settings on the Control Panel, the changes are recorded in battery-maintained Parameter RAM, not on the disk containing the Control Panel desk accessory. Don't bother to go from disk to disk, changing the Control Panel settings on each. Once is enough. Unless you need to change the settings often, remove the Control Panel from your startup disks. You'll regain almost 8K on each one. Of course you'll want to keep one disk with the Control Panel on it so you can readjust the settings when you desire, or after the battery goes dead. The only Control Panel setting that's an exception to this rule is the desktop pattern setting. That setting is stored only on the startup disk the pattern is assigned to. If you want to change the desktop pattern for a startup disk, you must install Control Panel in its System file.
The new Control Panel desk accessory shipped with Finders 5.0 and later includes a panel to set an automatic disk cache for your Mac. However, this will work ONLY with the new 128K ROMs. If you try to use it with the old ROMs, it will have no effect.
The Mac's start-up ROM has a bug that misinterprets a Key-Repeat setting of zero on the Control Panel desk accessory. The setting should turn off the key repeat function completely. Instead, the Mac interprets it as "repeat as fast as your little circuitry can." Never set the key-repeat to zero! This problem has been fixed in the new 128K ROMs.
Always leave at least one desk accessory in each System file. Removing the last desk accessory destroys the System file on that disk. The Mac will not be able to read it again until you replace the System file (not folder) with one from another disk.
If you're working with HFS, be extremely careful about using Disk Utility desk accessories. Some (like DiskInfo and DiskTools) have been released in versions which are compatible with HFS, but others may do strange things to your disk and folder directories. To be sure, check the manual or contact the publisher of the utility to find out if it's completely compatible with HFS. Always make a backup copy before experimenting.
When typing text into MacWrite, or most other applications, selecting the Key Caps DA every time you need to find a special character can be a real nuisance. To get around this, you can leave the Key Caps in the background and shrink your document window down so you can see the keyboard display below it. Then, when you press the OPTION key, you can see at a glance where all those symbols are.
Do not try to use the freeware desk accessory Label 1.0 on a Mac Plus. The system crash will amaze you!
If you are using a 128K Macintosh, you may experience memory problems if you try to Open too many desk accessories at once. Try to keep the total for all DAs under 18K -- for 512K owners, a top limit of 32K is best. You won't have as much trouble with the Mac Plus and its one megabyte of memory, but you should still Close desk accessories you're not using. Few desk accessories carry out full memory checking, and if you Open too many of them at once on-screen you may find that you get a Serious System Error dialog box before you know anything is wrong. Desk Accessories also take up useful memory when in the "background," so be careful.
The following chart shows the memory size (disk space required) for the standard issue Apple desk accessories:
ACCESSORY BYTES Alarm Clock 4069 Calculator 2505 Choose Printer 5802 Chooser 8311 Control Panel 7457 Key Caps (Old) 1645 KeyCaps (New) 2641 Note Pad 2595 Puzzle 963 Scrapbook 3256
When you're using Mock Terminal, you can Cut and Paste from Mockwrite to send text. With all the messages you wish to send stored in Mockwrite, and displayed on one side of the screen, you can Cut each one at the time you want to send it and Paste it into the Mock Terminal window at the appropriate time.
You can keep multiple Note Pads on one disk by renaming the Note Pad data file in the System folder. This is especially handy if you've filled a Note Pad with information you want to keep, but still want to put additional information in your Note Pad. Simply rename the Note Pad data file from the Finder. Then, when you next ask for the Note Pad from the Apple menu, a new System file called "Note Pad" will be created. You can get your old Note Pad back by renaming the new Note Pad data file and changing the old file's name back to "Note Pad."
The Note Pad will display text only in 12-point Geneva. However, when you Paste in formatted text from a document, it doesn't lose the formatting information it had before it was Pasted. When you "rePaste" it into another document which supports formatting, all of the original fonts, sizes and styles will reappear.
Apple Computer recommends that you install no more than fifteen desk accessories in your System file. Eighteen Desk Accessory names will fit in the Apple menu when Chicago is being used as your system font. However, you may run into some confusion if you exceed the recommended fifteen. To make more desk accessories available, use Apple's Font/DA Mover to install them directly into the application in which you intend to use them (see "Use Font/DA Mover To Attach Fonts & DAs To Applications"). Word Count, for example, is only useful in MacWrite or Microsoft Word, so you can install it directly into one of those applications and it will not appear on the Apple menu unless you are running the program in which you installed it. (See "Desk Accessories In Applications.")
'Me Mac Plus automatically alphabetizes the desk accessories on the Apple menu. With older systems, however, you'll have to alphabetize them yourself or place them in any other custom order you like. Use the Font D/A Mover to Open the System file on the disk you want to modify. Remove all the desk accessories, one by one, to a dummy file. Then, copy them back into your System file, starting with the DA you want to be at the bottom. When you return to the desktop, the Apple menu will be in the order you desire.
Since the Scrapbook always shows text in 12-pt. Geneva, you can't tell if it has font, size and style designations that will appear when you Paste it into a document in an application. If you need to know, look in the lower right comer of the Scrapbook. Most pages
have two four-letter codes to indicate the name of the file's creator and its file type (TEXT or PICT). The first code tells you whether a TEXT file contains formatting information or not. If MWRT precedes the code TEXT, the text on that page of the Scrapbook was created in MacWrite. When you Paste it into a MacWrite document, it will appear with all its formatting information.
If you do a lot of work with the Scrapbook, transferring many items back and forth between it and your document, you can save time by leaving a small portion of it visible outside the border of your document. For example, in MacWrite, resize your document window so you have a sliver of space showing outside its window on the desktop. Now, Open the Scrapbook and move it so part of it covers the sliver of space you left. When you click on your document window, you'll still be able to see a little bit of the Scrapbook showing off to the side. To make it active again, simply click on the visible sliver.
Reserve the first page or two of large Scrapbooks for an index. Otherwise, you'll have to move through them page by page. Keep your index entries short and you can move the Scrapbook page back and forth from the Note Pad to add, modify or delete entries. For a larger index, create it in MacWrite. Doing it in MacPaint takes up more disk space.
You can work with several Scrapbooks on the same disk. After you fill your first Scrapbook while you're in your application, quit to the desktop, and rename the Scrapbook File so that the Scrapbook can't access it. Adding a single character (i.e. Scrapbook Filel) is sufficient. Back in your application, you'll have an empty Scrapbook that you can fill with more words or pictures. When you need the pictures in a specific Scrapbook, just rename it "Scrapbook File." You can copy the various Scrapbooks to another disk to store them until needed. You can also keep libraries of specialized Scrapbook files for various projects.
You can use an 800K external drive with a 512K Mac that hasn't had the new ROMs installed. To do so, however, you MUST have Finder 5.1 or later, System 3. 1.1 or later, and the Hard Disk 20 system file present in the System folder on your startup disk in the INTERNAL drive. With this arrangement, you can use the extra data storage capabilities of the 800K drive, but you cannot use it as the startup drive. Remember, the Hard Disk 20 system file must be on the disk so the old ROMs can recognize a disk of more than 400K capacity. Ignore the "disassembler installed" message if it appears when you boot.
Don't put an external drive on the left side of the Mac. The magnetic field from the machine's power supply can cause interference with disk reads and writes.
If you choose to install desk accessories in applications instead of your System file, be aware of conflicts between the DAs DRVR resources. Later versions of the Font/DA Mover should adjust for this automatically, but it can be especially deadly to hard disk drivers if you're using an older version of the utility.
You don't have to use the Resource Editor to attach fonts or desk accessories directly to resources or applications. You can use the Apple's Font/DA Mover. First, launch the Font/DA Mover (holding down the OPTION key if you want to go directly into desk accessory mode). You should see the fonts or desk accessories from the System file in the left-hand window and a blank window with an Open button in the right-hand window. Hold down the OPTION key while clicking on the Open button and the disk window that comes up will allow you to Open any file on the disk and install fonts or desk accessories in it.
The Font/DA Mover, version 3.1 does not copy DAs with a DRVR ID=O.
Sometimes the mouse will lock when starting Font/DA Mover version 3.1. The solution is to reset and try again.
Most or all versions of Apple's Font/DA Mover contain a known bug. On 128K machines, it won't transfer 18-point or larger fonts. To move these fonts, you'll have to use the old Font Mover that came with your machine.
If you have a style sheet for a font or documentation on disk for a desk accessory, use Apple's Font/DA Mover to install the particular font or desk accessory that the document refers to. (See "Use Font/DA Mover To Attach Fonts & DAs To Applications.") By storing the font with its style sheet, you won't have to be sure that the fonts it uses are installed on die startup disk you're using. By storing a desk accessory with its documentation, you give the user a chance to try out the accessory while reading the documentation without having to make sure it's installed in the System file first.
If you hold down the OPTION key when you click the Close button for a file, the disk containing the file will eject.
If you are running the Font/DA Mover on a two diskdrive system, you can eject the disks from both drives when you quit by holding down the OPTION key when you click on the Quit button.
You don't have to click the Open button in the Font/DA Mover display if you want to Open the System file on a new disk and one of the two "slots" isn't displaying a file. Simply insert the disk whose System you want to Open. The System file will Open and the fonts or desk accessories it contains will appear in the previously unused "slot."
The Font/DA Mover that was shipped with Finder 4.1 doesn't recognize "old style" desk accessories. To make it do so, you have to change the creator and file types of the old desk accessories with a disk utility like MacZap or ResEdit. The old type probably is DESK -change it to DFIL. The old creator probably is DAMV -- change it to DMOV.
The Font/DA Mover defaults to font mode when launched. To Open directly into the desk accessory mode, press OPTION anytime after issuing the Open command or click on the Desk Accessory button as soon as it appears.
If you hold down the OPTION key when you click on a desk accessory in Apple's Font/DA Mover, the display will show how many bytes are occupied by its code, pictures and "other."
If you're running a system on Apple's Hard Disk 20 and want to make a floppy the startup disk, simply hold down the mouse button when you start up. The system will default to the floppy as the startup disk.
If you're working under HFS and the new ROMs, you know that MacPaint and many of the other graphics programs can get very confused as to what's on the Clipboard. Actually, they're getting confused and looking in the wrong place for the Clipboard file. The easiest way to solve this problem is to use a disk utility/desk accessory (such as DiskInfo or DiskTools) to make the System Folder/Drive the default. T'hen, the System always looks in the same place for the Clipboard file.
Apple's Hierarchical File System (HFS) will work fine on a Macintosh Plus, Mac 512, and Mac/XL. However, it will run into problems on a 128K Mac. If you own one, continue to use System 2.0, ImageWriter 1.0, Finder 4.1 and the older Macintosh File System (MFS).
When you are viewing the disk directory that applications use to Close and Open files, HFS, will allow you to access folders on double-sided disks. However, if the disk has been initialized as single-sided, only documents will show in the directory. You can still Open any document on the disk, but you can't save new files directly to folders. You'll have to move them into folders on the desktop after you've quit the application.
When you're running under HFS, be sure to keep the files an application uses in the same folder. For example, when a program looks for its help file, it will look in the folder the application's in first and then look in the folder where the System and Finder reside. If the help file is in another folder, it may have difficulty finding it.
The Hierarchical File System (HFS) has the ability to find the application for a document, as long as it's in an open volume on your hard disk. No longer do you have to keep multiple copies of an application (one in each volume) if you are using HFS on ALL of your hard disk and the application is in one of the volumes you have open. The only exceptions are certain applications that haven't been updated to use HFS. Some applications require that an application for the document you want to Open must be in the same folder as the document. Check with the publisher of your software to make sure you have the latest version and that it works properly with HFS.
If you are developing Mac software, be sure to use ICN numbers greater than 120. According to Apple's guidelines in Inside Macintosh, your application could destroy all of the user's files on an HFS hard disk if you don't follow this rule.
Microsoft (Absoft) Fortran is incompatible with HFS and won't run at all.
Version 1.5 of Neon is incompatible with the Mac Plus ROMs. It may work with disk based HFS (Finder 5.0 but be very careful. The problems should be corrected in version 2.0.
Don't run Q&D Filer under HFS. It exhibits some strange behavior and has been known to cause hard disk crashes.
SkipFinder 5.3 won't do you much good when you're running under HFS (Hierarchical File System). When you click on the Open button to Open a document, you'll go to the Finder instead.
Normally, when you initialize a disk as single-sided under HFS, the Mac treats it as an MFS volume and the folders won't show in the disk menu within applications. However, if you hold down the OPTION key when you click "OK" after naming the new disk, it will become an HFS volume and you'll be able to use folders in the disk menu within applications.
The most efficient way to use the Hierarchical Filing System (HFS) is to use a lot of folders and keep just a few files in each one.
Under the old Macintosh File System (MFS), if you launched an application from a startup disk other than the current startup disk, the Mac would make the necessary transfer of Clipboard and Desktop information and make the new application's startup disk the current startup disk. Under HFS, this doesn't happen. The current startup disk remains the current startup disk until you change it. If you want to change startup disks under HFS with the procedure described above, hold down the OPTION key when you doubleclick on the new application and the Mac will switch to its System files as the startup disk.
You must keep all of your System files in the same folder. This includes the System, Finder, MiniFinder (if you are using one), any printer driver and prep files, and any desk accessory files you are using.
Apple chose a VERY subtle way to indicate whether a window relates to the Hierarchical File System (HFS) or to the Macintosh File System (MFS). Look at the double lines under the second line of text in the window, where it says how many items are in the disk or folder. At the extreme left end of the lines, HFS windows have an extra pixel before the vertical borderline. If the pixel is missing, the disk or folder is from the MFS.
HFS windows have another box on the right side of the grab bar that looks similar to the Close box on the left side. If you click on this Zoom Box, the window will expand to the size of the screen. Click on it again and the window will return to its previous size. Some new applications also support this feature and updates to most software probably will incorporate it.
If you want to freeze the state of your files (for archive purposes) at the time of a particular backup, just make a backup of your backup disk. That way, even after you've used your first backup in conjunction with subsequent incremental backups, you can still use your "frozen" copy to go back to the versions of your files from the time of the first backup. Be sure to mark it clearly and put the date on the label so you don't confuse it with a regular backup disk.
HFS Backup operates more efficiently if you turn off the disk cache on the Control Panel. The program doesn't use the cache option, and the cache will keep the program from running at all on a 512K Mac.
The Finder is less choosy about slightly flawed diskettes than HFS Backup. If HFS Backup rejects a disk, you'll have to use another one. However, you may be able to use the same disk with the Finder and other applications with no problem.
If you are using HFS Backup on a Mac system with double-sided drives, the program assumes that you are using double-sided diskettes. To tell it you are using single-sided disks, hold down the OPTION key when you insert a diskette.
To find out how many bad blocks are on your HyperDrive, click on the drawer icon in the About the HyperDrive Manager... dialog box.
When you Close a drawer on the HyperDrive with the Drawers desk accessory, the drawer's desktop file isn't updated and the positions of your icons on the desktop may be lost. However, if you drag the drawer's icon to the trashcan to Close it, the drawer's desktop file will be updated and your icons will be where you left them the next time you Open the drawer.
You can make the names of drawers appear in different type styles on Hyperdrive's Drawers desk accessory menu Following their names, type the character "<" and the first letter of the style you want (<B is Bold, <1 is Italic, <U is Underline, <0 is Outline, and <S is Shadow).
Never use parentheses in the name of a drawer for General Computer's Hyperdrive. An open parenthesis will disable the drawer's name in the Drawers menu and it will be impossible to access.
If your HyperDrive refuses to format and continually gives you a hardware timeout error, try booting from the HyperDrive floppy. Hold down the COMMAND and Period keys and Open the Manager. This should solve your problem.
The Camera desk accessory (available on CompuServe or from many user groups) can cause serious problems with your HyperDrive if you don't install it properly. Make sure you make a backup of your HyperDrive before you install the DA in case something goes wrong, and be sure to run the HyperInstall utility after installing Camera.
Be very careful if you try to use MacTracks on a HyperDrive. It's been known to wreak havoc with the HyperDrive system software and cause problems with other hard disks.
The Rascal demo Billiards program reportedly can eat HyperDrive directories. Don't run the program from the HyperDrive or you may be sorry.
Don't run NiftyBase on a HyperDrive-equipped Mac with any RAM cache turned on. NiftyBase will crash.
Don't try to use the Click4rt Effects Installer on a HyperDrive equipped Mac. It will destroy the System file on your HyperDrive.
Some versions of the HyperDrive software have problems when you run Total Music. To get around the problems, start the system up from the HyperDrive floppy. Then, mount the Startup drawer and pass control to it.
The Dasch External RAM Disk and HyperDrive drawers have conflicting Resource IDs. To use the two together, use ResEdit to change the resource ID of the Dasch to an unused number to avoid conflicts. Then, be sure that you start the HyperDrive before the Dasch.
When you can't get your HyperDrive to startup and try to boot it with the HyperDrive floppy disk, you may still get an error message such as, "The only function you may execute at this point is 'Format."' Ignore the message and try to restart it again. If that doesn't work, replace the System file.
Some applications don't work well with the HyperDrive 20. A good way to bypass a balky startup is to boot from the HyperDrive floppy disk.
If you frequently modify the System file on your HyperDrive, your System file gets spread all over the disk, linked by many pointers, so the Mac can retrieve all the pieces. When this situation gets out of hand, you're tempting fate for a crash. If you think this might be the case, back up your System drawer and delete it. (Remember to do this from the HyperDrive floppy and to reset the Preferences options.) Now, recreate the System Drawer, restore your System files, and all should be OK.
Sometimes the mouse will lock when starting Installer version 2. 1. The solution is to reset and try again.
When using Apple's Installer program to upgrade any disk, make sure that the Font/DA Mover is in the System folder of the disk with the Installer. The Installer looks for it in its own System folder if it needs to make any modifications to the Fonts or Desk Accessories on the other disk in the process of updating it.
If you upgrade to System software 3.1.lb (on the Mac Plus), don't think that anything's wrong when the Apple's Installer application doesn't work-they're incompatible. The easiest way to update your disks in this case is to copy all the fonts and DAs from the System file you want to update into a copy of the new System 3.1.1b file. Then, when you copy the new System back to your old disk, you'll still be working with the same fonts and DAs as before.
The Archiver provided with version 2.0 of MacServe is not compatible with HFS. You'll have to use a backup utility provided by the manufacturer of your hard disk drive, back your hard disk up with a tape drive, or back up your files individually to diskettes. If your files are too large to back up on a single diskette, copy them to MFS volumes and use the Archiver.
MacServe does an excellent job of managing AppleTalk on your network. Its desk accessory takes over all the functions of the Chooser or Choose Printer desk accessory. First, install MacServe with its Installer utility. Then, to make sure there's no confusion, turn off AppleTalk with Choose Printer or the Control Panel on newer Systems, and use the FontlDA Mover to remove Chooser or Choose Printer from your System. MacServe will take over management of AppleTalk from then on.
When you're first installing MacServe on your system, its desk accessory may not be able to find AppleTalk ImageWriters connected to your network. If this happens to you, reinstall the Chooser and use it to choose the AppleTalk ImageWriter. You can now remove the Chooser and the MacServe DA will be able to find the ImageWriter from then on.
Sometimes, if one of the Users on a MacServe network experiences a system crash, the Server's system will hang if you select the MacServe DA from the Apple menu. We experienced this once, called InfoSphere, and have not been able to- duplicate the problem. Our only way out was to restart the Server Mac with the power switch.
The one operation on your Mae that cannot, under any circumstances, be interrupted by MacServe is initializing a floppy. As a result, if your system is functioning as the Server on a MacServe network, you'll not be able to initialize a floppy or you'll crash your system and freeze the network. Either use another system to initialize your diskette, or wait until you can shut down the network and initialize the disk on your system running on a local basis. If you run into this problem frequently, you may find it useful to keep a supply of pre-initialized disks at your work station so you can avoid it.
MacServe can perform what seems like magic if the Server on your network experiences a system crash. Somehow, if you restart your Server immediately, and if no Users have requested extensive disk operations, it will re-establish the links to your Users' application and document files. To make sure this works, let your Users know immediately if your Server crashes and ask them to stop working until you're restarted. In most cases, MacServe will restore your network with no problems for your Users.
If you try to erase a disk containing open files, MacServe will not allow it. If all files are apparently Closed, check the disk for a discarded Clipboard file, or for other hidden files that might be open.
The MacServe Manager will not allow you to erase the disk on which it resides. If you want to erase your hard disk, be sure to hold down the COMMAND and OPTION keys when starting up the Manager from the floppy so that the Mac switches to the System on the floppy and makes it the current Startup disk.
Volumes created with the MacServe Manager utility are always in MFS (Macintosh File System) format. To format a new volume with HFS, you must "erase" it after choosing the HFS format in the dialog box available from Erase Disk on the File menu.
Some applications for the Mac access the printer Port directly. (Terminal emulators are common examples.) To be sure that you can use such programs with MacServe, especially its print spooler, make sure that you can configure the applications to use the modem port instead.
Version 3.0 of the Font/DA Mover has serious problems with MacServe. For example, sometimes it will boot the Mac when you double click on its icon. Don't use it; get a later version.
If your network has any XL/Serve nodes on it, be sure to keep the length of the names for your disk and print servers under 14 characters.
If you want to disable MacServe's print spooler, make sum you enter a dummy printer name that's definitely NOT a variation on ImageWriter in the appropriate dialog box in the MacServe Manager.
MacServe's print spooling utility may get a little confused if you have both an ImageWriter and AppleTalk ImageWriter driver in your System file. To prevent this problem, rename the ImageWriter driver to some other distinctive name so you can identify and select it from the Manager and MacServe desk accessory for print spooling. If you're not using print spooling, remove the ImageWriter driver and leave the AppleTalk ImageWriter.
MacServe version 2.0 has problems dealing with the RAM-based HFS released with Apple's Hard Disk 20 prior to the introduction of the new 128K ROMs. Infosphere recommends that you not even attempt to run MacServe with RAM-based HFS.
Some of the support software provided with early SCSI hard disk drives has a bug which causes problems in reading and writing to the disk. This bug won't show up in MacServe until you erase the disk and its name doesn't reappear in the Erase Disk dialog box. If this happens to you, don't try to use MacServe until the drive's manufacturer has provided you with corrected software.
In general, don't make modifications to your Server System files while other Users are logged on to the network. Operations with your System files are more likely to crash your Mac than other kinds of operations and crashes at your Server can cause problems for other Users on your network. You should be able to make most of the standard modifications, like adding or removing fonts, without causing any problems.
When you update the version of the System file on your hard disk, you may damage the MacServe files on your disk. For best results, always immediately update MacServe with its Installer utility (click the Update button) after you've made any serious changes to your System software.
HFS requires that each volume on your hard disk must be internally contiguous. In other words, a volume cannot be fragmented into several different sections of the disk. To use MacServe with HFS, give careful thought to the volume number and sizes you need before you allocate any volumes on the disk. Don't plan to make any changes or additions until the next time you want to restore your disk completely. (See "Use Dummy Volume Next To System Files.")
Most hard drive manufacturers provide software to subdivide the disk. When using MacServe, you'll find it's usually most efficient to use the manufacturer's software to make the drive one large subdivision and then superimpose MacServe's volumes on top of that.
When you create volumes with MacServe's Manager, it starts at the outside of the hard disk and works in toward the center. Your System files are on the outermost rim followed by your first volume, second volume, etc. If you modify your System files later, and happen to make them larger, they won't have room in their volume to expand. The hard disk will spread them all over the disk, using any available space, with pointers leading from one fragment to another. This will slow down the performance of the hard disk and the network. To leave some room for the System to expand and prevent this problem, create an empty dummy volume with an appropriate amount of room for expansion, and designate that as your first MacServe volume. Then make your real first volume the second, and so on. When you've created all of your volumes, go back and delete the dummy volume you created at the beginning. Now, when you expand your System files, they'll have room to grow.
Don't forget to remove a file or application from the MiniFinder after you've deleted it from the Finder. If you leave it installed in the MiniFinder, you won't cause any harm, but you'll get an error messsage.
If you hold down the OPTION and COMMAND keys when you quit an application on a disk running under the MiniFinder, the MiniFinder will rebuild the invisible Desktop File. This may regain a little disk space, but all your folders will lose their names and become "Untitled #1," etc.
After you've installed the MiniFinder on a disk, you can delete the Finder and regain 47K or more of disk space. Use the Finder on another disk to delete the Finder on the MiniFinder disk, and then choose Set Startup to make the MiniFinder the startup application on its disk. Since the MiniFinder doesn't have provisions for copying, deleting and renaming files, you may want to install one of the desk accessories available for this purpose (like DiskInfo or DiskTools).
In the MiniFinder, and in dialog boxes with a Disk Drive selection button, you can hit TAB instead of clicking on the button.
When you're setting up the MiniFinder on a disk, don't waste time installing each file and application one at a time. Just use SHIFT-Click to select them as a group. Then, choose Use MiniFinder on the Special menu and Set Startup to make it the startup application on that disk.
The MiniFinder won't permit you to add or delete single applications or files. You have to start over from scratch. To change the files in a MiniFinder, work from a Finder desktop on the disk you want to change or from another disk. On the disk you want to change, use SHIFT-Click to select ALL the files and applications you want to include in your new MiniFinder, and select Use MiniFinder from the Special menu.
Speed up the process of finding and Opening groups of applications and documents on a hard disk by creating a Master MiniFinder which contains icons for other MiniFinders. This method provides quick access to as many as 132 applications and documents. First, drag all the items you want to install into your Master MiniFinder System into a single folder. Then, select any one application and choose Use MiniFinder to create a MiniFinder icon in the System folder. This icon will act as the gateway from any of your sub-MiniFinders back to your Master MiniFinder. To create the first sub-MiniFinder, use SHIFT-Click to select, as a group, the I I documents and applications you want it to contain-plus the Master MiniFinder icon. Then, choose Use MiniFinder to create the first sub-MiniFinder. Immediately rename the new sub-MiniFinder to avoid confusing the System. The Finder can't rename the icon directly, but it can change the name of a duplicate. So, duplicate the new sub-MiniFinder icon, give the duplicate a descriptive title, and trash its original. Be sure not to trash the Master MiniFinder, just the original of this duplicated pair. Repeat this procedure for each sub-MiniFinder you need (up to 12). When finished, select all of the subMiniFinder icons and choose Use MiniFinder. Leave this icon named "MiniFinder" and use Set Startup from the Special menu to make it your startup application. Now, your Master MiniFinder is the directory for all the sub-MiniFinders.
If you have a hard time remembering exactly what files were in your old MiniFinder when you want to reconfigure a new one, boot with the old MiniFinder. Use COMMAND-SHIFT-4 to dump an image of the MiniFinder window to the ImageWriter. Then use the procedure outlined in "Modifying the Files In a MiniFinder" to install your new MiniFinder, using the printout as a guide for the files you want to repeat or drop from your new MiniFinder.
You can double-click on an icon in the MiniFinder to Open it. A black outline will appear around the icon when it is selected. Although this feature works exactly like the one in the Finder and just as fast, it takes a little longer to change the screen, indicating that it is Opening the application. Don't worry, just wait another second for things to happen.
When booting a disk with a MiniFinder, but no Finder present, you may get a message from the Mac saying that it "Can't Load the Finder." This is usually caused by having installed the MiniFinder on a disk that already had another application set as the startup application. To remedy the situation, boot the Mac with a disk containing a full Finder. Insert the problem disk, select the MiniFinder icon on that disk, and choose Set Startup from the Special menu. Shut down and reboot with the MiniFinder disk and you should go straight to the MiniFinder display.
When you want to use the Finder instead of the MiniFinder (and the Finder is present on your startup disk), press the OPTION key while you insert the disk, or quit an application. If you forget and the MiniFinder appears, either hit the ENTER key (before selecting any icons), or click on the Finder button.
In the MiniFinder, the ENTER key will take you directly to the Finder (but only if no icons are selected).
Don't automatically choose the Always Convert Clipboard option when working with Switcher. It slows down the operation of the program. Hold down the OPTION key while switching to convert the Clipboard easily and comparatively quickly.
An application in a Switcher set can Open a specific document when launched from a saved Switcher set. To attach a document, select an active or nonactive application's slot in the Switcher screen. Choose Attach Document from the File menu. A box will appear with a list of all the documents the application can Open. Select the document and click Open. The document's name now appears in the application's slot in the Switcher screen. If the application is active, it doesn't open the document you just selected because the document currently Opened in the application might be destroyed before you save your changes. However, if the application is nonactive, the document will Open when you start the application. If you save the Switcher set, the document will be attached to the application every time you load the set until you change the configuration.
If you have the Back After Launch option checked in your Switcher configuration dialog box, it may confuse the disk swapping sequence when you're launching applications that are copy protected and require you to insert a "master disk." When the application is launched from its Switcher slot, it will eject the disk containing the copy and ask for the master disk. However, Switcher will take over at that point and return you to its screen, asking you to insert its own disk. The workaround for this is to continue launching applications until you have the complete set that you want. Then, rotate to the screen of the application that requested the master disk-the request should still be on the screen. Use COMMAND-SHIFT 1 or 2 to eject the Switcher disk and insert the master disk. The Mac should verify from the master disk, eject it, and ask you to reinsert the Switcher disk.
To avoid confusing you or the Switcher, put your System files (Finder, System, and desk accessory files) on one disk only.
You can save 22K of memory per application in a Switcher set by turning off the Save Screen option. Your switching time will increase slightly because the Mac must redraw each application's screen when you switch to it. Some applications (especially graphics programs) may not be able to redraw the screen properly. You can turn off the Save Screen option ("On" is the default setting) before you launch an application, by choosing Configure Then Install, from the Switcher menu --- or after you launch, by doubleclicking on the Mac icon in the slot of the application you want to reconfigure. Just click in the box beside Save Screen. A circle with a slash will appear in the screen of the Mac icon when you click OK, indicating that the application's screen will not be saved between switches. Each of the applications in a Switcher set can have a different configuration. For example, you may want Switcher to save MacPaint and MacDraw screens, but not MacWrite.
Caution: After you've turned Save Screen off, you may not always have enough memory to turn it back on, depending on what you've done in the interim. Switcher beeps in that case.
If you make Switcher the startup application using the Finder's Set Startup command from the Special menu, you can then remove the Finder from the disk (although you'll have to do it from a Finder other than the one you want to throw away) and regain another 47K or more of spare room.
You don't have to have all the applications you want to use with Switcher on the same disk. When you install programs in Switcher, it doesn't care which drive the programs are on-as long as the applications are present somewhere, Switcher will find them to install. It will even put up a polite message-without an unpleasant crashif the program you want to install is not currently present in one of the drives.
To exit the Finder and return to the Switcher screen, double-click on the Switcher icon on the desktop.
If you can afford the disk space, always include the Finder in a Switcher set. When someone walks into your office and wants a copy of a file, or when you need to throw away some documents to retrieve disk
space, you'll know why. If you use the Finder, be sure it is the first application that you install in your set and that you allocate enough memory for the appropriate version of the Finder. If you can't afford the memory, a desk accessory that provides the file manipulation capabilities of the Finder (like DiskTools from Batteries Included) may serve your needs.
Installing the Finder as one of your applications in the Switcher not only lets you shift files around between disks, but it also allows you to launch applications not already in Switcher. For example, using a typical MacWrite/MacPaint/Finder combination in Switcher, you may want to bring in a MacProject chart or a BASIC listing. Simply move to the Finder, launch the new application, Cut or Copy the material required, then switch back to the application you were in before. The Switcher's double arrow will appear in the new application's window. You many need to reinstall the Finder after quitting the new application, but it's much faster than having to reinstall the whole Switcher set.
Strange though it may seem, you can get Switcher to run automatically on a hard disk booted from a floppy by renaming it "MiniFinder." The only way to get back to the Finder is to start it from within Switcher and then quit Switcher. It's roundabout, but it works.
You may run into serious problems if you run Microsoft Word and the Finder at the same time in a Switcher set. Both programs can get confused and Word's temporary files may be damaged by the Finder.
Version 3.1.1b of the System software has a few bugs. One of them is that you won't be able to run MacWrite with Excel in Switcher 4.8. They're "working on it."
If you Open two copies of MacWrite under Switcher with different documents in each, you are courting disaster for one or both of your documents. MacWrite creates temporary work files for its own use as it works, and both copies of MacWrite are busy creating temporary files with the same names-or at least trying to. If the copy of MacWrite you're working with gets confused, it could trash your document. This is also true for MacPaint. You'll probably be safe if the two copies of either application you want to use are on two different disks, or in two different volumes of your hard disk.
If you allocate too small a partition to MacWrite under Switcher, it may truncate (without warning) any textonly files you try to load. For instance, if you try to load a 17K datafile containing 1200 lines with MacWrite running in a 144K partition, not all of the file will get loaded and MacWrite will give you no indication that it's truncated the file. However, the same file will load without any problems if you run MacWrite with a 196K partition.
Although some recent releases of applications have a size resource that automatically tells Switcher their preferred and minimum memory sizes, you have to set these options for most applications if you want them set at other than 128K. You can change these settings only before launching an application. To do so, choose Configure then Install from the Switcher menu and input the settings you want in the dialog box that appears. Switcher will first attempt to allocate the Preferred Memory Size when you launch the application. If the Mac doesn't have enough memory, it will attempt to allocate the Minimum Memory Size. If it doesn't have enough memory to do that, it will give you an error message. It will not allow you to allocate less than 64K.
The dialog box has two buttons in the lower left corner-Permanent and Temporary. Clicking on the Permanent button after changing your memory size settings will make Switcher remember these settings for all future uses of the application. Clicking on the Temporary button will make the settings in the box apply only to the current session.
If you get the message: "Sony, but you don't have enough memory to run the Switcher. Go get a 512K Macintosh." when you try to run Switcher on a 512K Mac, don't assume you've got a serious problem. Most likely, you tried to run the Svitcher after using a startup disk with a RAM Disk installed. This will not work. To resolve the problem, replace the offending System file (not the whole System folder) with a virgin copy.
The Switcher Information window in earlier versions doesn't offer an explanation of what the different shades mean in the horizontal bar chart to the right of the application list. The darker shade indicates the percentage of the memory allocated to the current application. The lighter shade indicates the currently unused portion of the application's allocated memory. The Free Memory shown is only an estimate and is usually understated. If the free memory shown is close to, but slightly less than, what you need, you can still attempt to install another application. Switcher will tell you if the Mac doesn't have enough memory.
The miniature screen shown below the application list is for the application currently checked above. If Save Screen is turned off for the application, no screen image will appear.
MacDraw works well with a 128K memory allocation in Switcher, and works with the Same One Twice option. But, it has a design flaw which limits the amount of memory you can use. Never create a document which uses more than 80% of MacDraw's available memory and never Cut or Paste within the program when doing so would consume more than 80% of the memory. (You can check the amount of memory used in the window that appears when you choose About MacDraw... from the Apple menu.) The design flaw causes MacDraw to crash under Switcher if more than 80% of the 128K allocated is used.
If you are going to use MacWrite with the LaserWriter, the default Switcher memory allocation of 128K is not sufficient. For best results, configure Switcher to allow 144K for MacWrite.
Jazz requires an allocation of 304K to operate properly with Switcher.
The 512K version of Laserbase does not really need the full 512K to work. It works-a bit slower-in 235K.
MacPaint will operate best in Switcher with a memory allocation of 179K. Also, be sure to make Switcher save MacPaint's screen to avoid problems.
MegaForm will work with Switcher. 180K works well, but experiment with slightly less to find the optimum memory setting.
Helix requires a memory configuration of 310K to operate properly with Switcher.
According to Microsoft's Excel manual, these are the optimum memory sizes for each of their products in a Switcher set: Chart - 192K; Excel - 304-512K; File - 288K; Multiplan - 160K; Word - 160K.
Finder, versions 5.2 and later, requires more memory to operate properly. Allow at least 192K in Switcher.
Switcher can not check to make sure that you have saved all of your files and have quit each application properly before allowing you to quit Switcher itself Always switch to each application, save your changes (if you want to), and quit. If the Finder is one of your applications, you can quit by switching to it and double-clicking on the Switcher icon. That removes the Finder and returns you to the Switcher screen. You can quit Switcher if only one application is still installed. The Switcher screen disappears and the remaining application appears in the screen. However, the application will be able to use only the amount of memory set for it in Switcher. If you want the application to utilize all your Mac's RAM, quit the Switcher set and start up the application from the Finder.
If one of the applications you're running under Switcher "hangs" or "crashes," don't hit the restart button or turn your Mac off and back on. First, try holding down the OPTION-COMMAND-SHIFT Period key combination. If your problem is only within the application you crashed, you should return to the Switcher screen. If this works, go to each of the application windows that didn't crash, save and quit immediately, quit Switcher, and restart the system. The crash may have d~ne damage to the System files shared by the applications, so if you don't quit immediately, further work could destroy your applications and their files.
The Same One Twice option in Switcher's configuration dialog box is a risky option. Some applications generate temporary files as they run and may be confused by two copies of the application trying to work from duplicate filenames. The following applications from Apple Computer will not operate with the Same One Twice option: Finder, FontlDA Mover, MacWrite and MacPaint. MacDraw and MacProject will work with Same One Twice.
The Switcher manual recommends the following settings as the safest for most applications. If a setting isn't listed, it has no effect on the safety of using Switcher. Also, regardless of your settings, save your work frequently to avoid possible problems:
Preferred Memory Size 128 Minimum Memory Size 128 Save Screen On Always Convert Clipboard Off Same One Twice Off Maximum Number of 128K Applications (Mac 512K) 3 Maximum Number of 128K Applications (Mac XL, 512K) 2 Maximum Number of 128K Applications (Mac XL, 1 megabyte) 6
Three keyboard shortcuts are available for switching among applications when running a system configured with Switcher. Typing COMMAND-[ switches you to the left. Typing COMMAND-] switches you to the right. Typing COMMAND-\ returns you to the Switcher screen.
Some applications (such as Microsoft Word) use the same COMMAND key sequences (COMMAND in combination with [, ], and \) as Switcher. You can use the applications' key sequences by choosing the Disable Keyboard Switching option in the configuration dialog box in the Switcher screen.
Four ways to return to the Switcher screen are available -within an application which is running in a Switcher set: 1) If you have chosen the "Switcher In Rotation" option in configuring the set, simply click on one of the arrow ends on each application screen until Switcher rolls into view. 2) If you click on the center bar of the Switcher arrow, the Switcher screen will pop up. 3) Switcher adds a Desk Accessory to the Apple menu in an application you're running with it --"Switcher." Choose the menu item and you'll be right back at the Switcher screen. 4) Use the keyboard shortcut of COMMAND-\ to do the same thing.
Switcher can handle more than the four slots that it shows on its screen-something that's easy to forget if you're used to a system without enough memory or disk space to configure more than three or four applications. However, Switcher actually has eight available slots if you have enough memory and disk space. Just use the scroll bar on the right side of Switcher's screen to get at the other slots for configuration.
You can create a turnkey Switcher system for each set of applications you use. Make Switcher the startup application on your diskette and name the Switcher document that you want to use "Switcher.StartUp". Then, you can simply insert the disk you want to work with, turn on your Macintosh, get a cup of coffee, and return to find all your applications and documents ready and waiting for you.
Hold OPTION Key Down To Bypass Startup Document If you've designated a startup set of applications in a file called "Switcher.Startup," you can bypass the loading of this document by holding down the OPTION key when you start Switcher.