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Well, they just said that Franco will probably go on the DL tomorrow.
(They mentioned a career minor leaguer as the "warm body" who would go
along...I forget.)
Also, when answering questions about the rotation, Coleman (SD
broadcaster) said that Hurst is gone in about a month-month and a half,
which is when he should finish re-hab.
Later
Dennis
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Of course not. There's more than a little difference between formulating
foreign policy and overseeing the ATF's handling of a scenario involving a
group of religious fanatics. Why do people compare apples and oranges?
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pdb059@ipl.jpl.nasa.gov (Paul Bartholomew) writes to Clayton Cramer:
The saddest thing is that most people, like Cramer's wife, learn dislike
for homosexuality early in childhood.
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Is there a comp.graphics FAQ and if so, where?
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please subscrive me.
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|
SOMEONE PLEASE BUY THESE BOOKS!!!!! I AM NOT ASKING MUCH!!!!!!
JUST MAKE ME AN OFFER AND I WILL PROBABLY TAKE IT!!!!!
* Writing good software in Fortran, Graham Smith.
* The Holt Handbook by Kirszner & Mandell (copyright 1986) 720+ page writing guide.
* General Chemistry Principles & Modern Applications, R. Petrucci, fourth
edition. Big Book! Very good condition!
* Solutions manual for Chemistry book. Paperback.
* Study guide for Chemistry book. Paperback.
Send me your offers via email at 02106@chopin.udel.edu
| 1
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: WOULD WIRETAP CHIP BE COST-EFFECTIVE?
: SUMMARY: Compared to an average monthly phone bill of sixty dollars,
: wiretaps are only worth two cents a month to police. So the
: proposed wiretap chip must raise phone costs by less than one part
: in three thousand to be cost-effective.
Robin's calculation is interesting and important, even if it's off by
an order of magnitude (for example).
Even if hardware costs for the Clipper Chip phones were ZERO, the
protocol overhead in transmitting the escrow field would be much
higher than the 1 part in 3 thousand...it depends on the exact details
of the phone call length, protocol, etc. (shorter calls get a
proportionately greater hit).
However, I suspect most Americans will not find this line of reasoning
as persuasive as the analogies about escrowing keys to one's house
are.
-Tim May
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|
On these counts, the apocrapha falls short of the glory of God.
To quote Unger's Bible Dictionary on the Apocrapha:
1. They abound in historical and geographical inaccuracies and
anachronisms.
2. They teach doctrines which are false and foster practices
which are at variance with sacred Scripture.
3. They resort to literary types and display an artificiality of
subject matter and styling out of keeping with sacred Scripture.
4. They lack the distinctive elements which give genuine
Scripture their divine character, such as prophetic power and
poetic and religious feeling.
First, to point out the obvious: While #4 would clearly be a highly
subjective issue, one would be hard pressed to point to another book
of the OT (or for that matter the NT) that doesn't, on some issues, in
some way, fail one or more of the first three of these tests.
Second, one factor the Deuterocanonicals share is the lateness of
their composition. I don't recall the exact dating of all of the
books, but most --if not all-- were written after the latest of the
canonical books (i.e. Daniel).
Furthermore, while the Deuterocanonical may or may not have been
originally written in Greek, they are clearly deeply _Hellenistic_ in
nature. Both of these features probably figured heavily in the
rejection of these books from the various canons.
These may not be strict and uniformly applicable criteria by which to
judge the canonicity of these books, but, as these discussions have
shown, I think the one thing we can see is that there _are_ no purely
objective standards for determining canonicity.
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|
: I have a question about SVGA cards. I have a Tseng 4000 SVGA with 1MB
: memory and 3x 6-bit DACs as far as I know. To display a 640x480x32768,
: Now: Can I display 640x480, 15bit/pixel bit-maps on this card?
You can. At the least, your _hardware_ is capable of supporting this mode.
I do know nothing about your video BIOS, though...
: If so, how?
Silly (but fool-proof ;) way: Install Windows with 640x480x32K colors
wideo driver and display your pictures under windows...
Cheese,
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NHL PLAYOFF RESULTS FOR 4/21/93.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS BEST OF SEVEN
PATRICK ADAMS NORRIS SMYTHE
NJ BUF (leads 2-0) STL (leads 2-0) WIN
PIT (leads 2-0) BOS CHI VAN (leads 2-0)
NYI (tied 1-1) MON TOR LA (tied 1-1)
WAS QUE (leads 2-0) DET (leads 2-0) CAL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toronto Maple Leafs 0 1 1 - 2
Detroit Red Wings (leads series 2-0) 1 3 2 - 6
1st period: DET, Lidstrom 1 - (Yzerman, Coffey) (pp) 4:06
2nd period: DET, Fedorov 1 - (sh) 0:43
DET, Yzerman 2 - (Coffey, Chiasson) (pp) 8:06
DET, Yzerman 3 - (Coffey, Sheppard) 17:40
TOR, Mironov 1 - (Gill, Gilmour) 19:10
3rd period: TOR, Gilmour 2 - (Anderson) 4:32
DET, Ysebaert 1 - (Kozlov) 5:51
DET, Drake 1 - (Kozlov, Kennedy) 18:33
Powerplay Opportunities-Maple Leafs 1 of 8
Red Wings 2 of 7
Shots on Goal- Maple Leafs 10 7 13 - 30
Red Wings 16 11 3 - 30
Toronto Maple Leafs--Potvin (0-2) (30 shots - 24 saves)
Detroit Red Wings--Cheveldae (2-0) (30 shots - 28 saves)
ATT-19,875
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Louis Blues (leads series 2-0) 2 0 0 - 2
Chicago BlackHawks 0 0 0 - 0
1st period: STL, Hull 2 - (Brown, Janney) (pp) 7:38
STL, Lowry 1 - (sh) 13:53
2nd period: NONE
3rd period: NONE
Powerplay Opportunities-Blues 1 of 5
BlackHawks 0 of 6
Shots on Goal- Blues 9 3 5 - 17
BlackHawks 16 19 12 - 47
St. Louis Blues--Joseph (2-0) (47 shots - 45 saves)
Chicago BlackHawks--Belfour (0-2) (17 shots - 15 saves)
ATT-17,339
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Los Angeles Kings (series tied 1-1) 1 0 3 - 4
Calgary Flames 0 5 4 - 9
1st period: LAK, Carson 3 - 1:11
2nd period: CAL, Otto 1 - (Roberts, MacInnis) 5:02
CAL, Yawney 2 - (Dahlquist, Ranheim) 8:02
CAL, Reichel 1 - (Fleury) (pp) 10:52
CAL, Nieuwendyk 1 - (Roberts, Musil) 13:47
CAL, Otto 2 - (Dahl) (sh) 19:37
3rd period: LAK, Carson 4 - (Granato, Shuchuk) 5:34
CAL, Reichel 2 - (Fleury, MacInnis) (pp) 7:23
CAL, Paslawski 1 - (Roberts, Nieuwendyk) 8:14
CAL, Fleury 1 - (MacInnis, Nieuwendyk) (pp) 10:37
LAK, Rychel 1 - (Blake) 11:56
LAK, Kurri 1 - (Gretzky, Zhitnik) (pp) 15:22
CAL, Suter 2 - (Skrudland, Berube) 19:15
Powerplay Opportunities-Kings 1 of 7
Flames 3 of 6
SHots on Goal- Kings 14 8 9 - 31
Flames 9 16 15 - 40
Los Angeles Kings--Hrudey (1-1) (40 shots - 31 saves)
Calgary Flames--Vernon (1-1) (31 shots - 27 saves)
ATT-19,477
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winnipeg Jets 0 1 1 - 2
Vancouver Canucks (leads series 2-0) 1 1 1 - 3
1st period: VAN, Ronning 2 - (Courtnall, Linden) 11:37
2nd period: VAN, Courtnall 1 - 6:05
WIN, Domi 1 - (King, Barnes) 6:48
3rd period: WIN, Numminen 1 - (Housley, Selanne) (pp) 0:30
VAN, Bure 1 - (Adams, Craven) 4:01
Powerplay Opportunities-Jets 1 of 4
Canucks 0 of 3
Shots on Goal- Jets 6 10 6 - 22
Canucks 14 9 9 - 32
Winnipeg Jets--Essensa (0-2) (32 shots - 29 saves)
Vancouver Canucks--McLean (2-0) (22 shots - 20 saves)
ATT-15,729
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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|
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: On-line copy of Book of Mormon
Summary:
Distribution: usa
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems, Mtn. View, CA (415) 960-7300
Keywords: BOM, Book of Mormon, Mormon
Can anyone provide me a ftp site where I can obtain a online version
of the Book of Mormon. Please email the internet address if possible.
| 8
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It's a moot point: Step out of your door go _anywhere_ (except possibly
your mailbox). You will be "subject to some ad agency's 'poor taste'"
While I'm sure Sagan considers it sacrilegious, that wouldn't be
because of his doubtfull credibility as an astronomer. Modern,
ground-based, visible light astronomy (what these proposed
orbiting billboards would upset) is already a dying field: The
opacity and distortions caused by the atmosphere itself have
driven most of the field to use radio, far infrared or space-based
telescopes. In any case, a bright point of light passing through
the field doesn't ruin observations. If that were the case, the
thousands of existing satellites would have already done so (satelliets
might not seem so bright to the eyes, but as far as astronomy is concerned,
they are extremely bright.)
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In response to alleged circular reasoning concerning the morality of
homosexuality, clh poses the following challenge:
I answer,
The circle is simple to break. The Church teaches that homosexual
behavior is immoral. This teaching is raw, impassionate, unassailable
dogma. That closes the argument for me.
--
Randal Lee Nicholas Mandock
Catechist
gt7122b@prism.gatech.edu
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|
cica.indiana.edu pc/drivers the current version is 2.0
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|
When I say "black," I mean US-born black people for the purposes of this
discussion. Hispanic players were in baseball before 1947, and one
team in the 50's signed lots of hispanics because they went over better
with the local audience than blacks did.
Don't know. But remember: this is the country that had special racial
laws for one group and one group only: blacks. Our national history
includes huge, long-term, global tensions regarding the black minority;
the hispanic minority, while often discriminated against, has never been
the object of national obsession.
Absolutely. As I said before, I expect that this effect is disappearing.
But it certainly did exist, and all out talk of TWG's and all that is
not without some small reason.
Well, there's the list. Go for it! I'll cull some more names as I go.
I expect you're right, btw.
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|
...
That is if Mario makes it.
Pat Walker sounds like the type that would bring an AK-47 to a game
and take pot shots at Mario. ("stand STILL...dam sunavbich...HMFF")
| 16
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|
But wouldn't that go for any sin. My father told me when he was growing
up Catholics were not allowed to associate with anyone who was divorced.
There are a few verses prohibitting divorce. Somehow, divorce became
acceptable (even in Catholicism anullments). Certainly it is no longer
a sin to associate with a divorced person. The point is that each person
has their own temptations to deal with. Paul repeatedly talks about the
"thorn" in his side, some think it refers to lust, others pride, but
who knows. Whatever the thorn was, apparently it was not "compatible"
with Christianity, yet does that make his epistles any less? The Bible
warns us against judging, greed, anxiety, impure thoughts, bearing grudges,
etc., etc. I suppose we should seek out all the so-called Christians
who have entertained impure thoughts and oust them. All those who have
given in to greed, get 'em outta here. Jesus pointed out that he
was the physician for the sinners. Any attempts to make homosexuals
feel unwelcome because of our discomfort with homosexuality is incompatible
with Christianity. Is our hatred so deep that rather than see someone
try to become closer to Jesus, we need to keep them away. Does Jesus need
us to screen out those guilty of a particular sin. Do we really mistrust
Jesus when he says he can forgive any sin?
Think about it. Among the people Jesus encountered were sinners and
the Pharisees. The sinners he embraced and forgave. The Pharisees,
hypocritcal, unmerciful, self-righteous, pointed out others sins and
did not seek and thus did not gain forgiveness of their own sins. What
I take from this and other verses is that if we do not admit our sins,
those sins will not be forgiven. And since those guilty of even one sin
are guilty of the whole law, those not repenting the judging of others
are guilty, as guilty as if they committed the same sin they judged others
of.
The poor in spirit, meek, humble, merciful, pure of heart, peacemakers,
those who thirst for justice, those who suffer for His sake are blessed.
| 18
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|
Well... all the way through a decreasing-radius corner, anyway...
OK (but I'm right!) :^)
If that's the "official line" taught in those rider education classes
you were refering to, that also don't teach countersteering, I have to
question the quality of the classes. The "official line" in MSF
curricula is as I described. Maximum braking is achieved by applying
both brakes equally, when the weight distribution is nominally even and
both tires have equal normal forces, and easing off on the rear to
prevent locking it, and increasing braking on the front, as more
traction is available to the front due to increased normal force due to
weight shift.
The "official line" you have been taught seems ineffective on the face
of it. Applying the rear brake after the front is not taking advantage
of all the traction available to the rear at time 0, and is halving the
available braking power by using only the front at time 0.
Not necessarily true. "Chirping" the tire indicates impending lockup
(on most surfaces), and serves as a good guide to newbies to indicate
maximum braking. I agree that totally locking the front occasionally
makes one a better rider, but it is a manuver best saved for an
experienced rider, unless you have one of those outrigger bikes like
Code used to use.
True, but from the point of view of how to best *teach* riding skills
(which is how this discussion started), "keep both wheels just on the
point of sliding" is nearly useless information. You need to teach a
*technique*, or at least a strategy, to achieve this.
| 0
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|
I knew, despite the lack of a full game telecast last week, it was still
too much hockey for Atlanta. Atlanta's ABC has declined to pick up any
playoff games till May9. And even when they show the games on MAy9 and May16,
they will continue to skip the first half hour of the telecast. I know this
is still a better situation compared to rest of Georgia, Alabama, etc., but
it is still pretty annoying. At least in PIttsburgh, we had a network preemptionchannel which showed all netwoork shows prempted by the local affiliate.
I asked them what their problem was. I told them that a local 1.9 rating was
not that bad considering it was the first NHL game shown after a long time
without much promotion. Besides, their syndicated programming in the afternoon
is usually low rated. So what did they have to lose by showing NHL playoffs.
She told me that they had contractual obligations. I asked her if golf
was shown oin ABC, would contractual obligations come in the way. And how come
contractual obligations didn't come in the way of last week's telecast? She
then couldn't give me a coherent answer.
Also, I added that Atlanta had one of the highest neutral site game
attendances and that the demographics were good. I think ABC and other networks
should begin to tie their high rated programs like Roseanne in with
thier sports programming.
I hope that everyone in Atlanta who reads this bboard calls WSB 2 and complain
bitterlyt about this. Tell them you will stop watching their news telecasts
since they seem to be very unprofessional in handling this situation.
| 16
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|
Hello,
I am considering buying the Hummingbird X-Windows software for a MS-Windows
3.1 PC (386-40MHZ, NE2000 Ethernet board). Would anyone tell me if they
are using this package in a similar environment and if they are happy with
it? I will be connecting to Sun SparcStation 10 running Sun OS 4.1.3.
Thanks very much,
| 6
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|
Brian Kendig also declares:
"Christ" is Greek for "Messiah". "Messiah" means "Annointed One".
"Annoint" means "to rub with oil, i.e. to anoint; by impl. to
consecrate" The major prophet Daniel uses the word "Messiah"
in Daniel chapter 9.
| 8
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|
STK1203@VAX003.STOCKTON.EDU Pontificated:
One of the sci.space FAQ postings deal with this. It's archived
somewhere. Perhaps someone can post where it is (I don'
remember).
| 12
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|
What tube does the Viewsonic 17 use? Does is support 1600x1280? I've been
looking a a Philips 1762DT which uses a Sony Trinitron tube, has digital
controls, supports up to 1280x1024NI, and has .25mm dot pitch - It can be
found for under $1000.
| 5
|
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|
Hello
I recently accelerated my Mac Plus (MicroMac 25MHz accelerator)
and now I can't get my Mac to boot off of the hard disk. It boots fine
from a floppy, and I can mount the hard disk using SCSI probe, but I
cannot get it to boot from the hard drive. I installed a new driver, so I
don't think that is the problem.
This poses a rather large problem. I only have 4 Meg of RAM, and
I need to run Mathematica, which requires 5 Meg. I was hoping to use
system 7 virtual memory so that I could run Mathematica. However, I can't
run system 7 from a floppy, so I can't get enough RAM.
Any suggestions? Thanks for your time--
Chrisw@yang.earlham.edu
| 10
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|
Here's a summary of Don Cherry's Coach's Corner from April 21, 1993.
The game being broadcast in my region was LA and Calgary, although
I think it was filmed during the Toronto-Detroit game that night.
(Warning... Anti-fighting people may want to skip this post.)
Topics
------
Don's Tie, Grant Fuhr, Penalties, Wings vs Leafs, Fighting, Dale Hunter.
Episode Summary
---------------
This episode began with the camera zoomed in on Don's tie. Don was
pointing out the characters on the tie... Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn,
and Yosemite Sam (who Don called Lanny Macdonald.)
Ron Maclean began by mentioning that Don was almost evicted from a
hotel where he was watching the previous night's games, because of
all the yelling and cheering he was doing over the play of Hunter
and Fuhr.
Don began to praise Fuhr, calling him the "greatest goalie", and
said that he's winning the series against Boston all by himself.
He then showed clips from earlier episodes (Nov. 14, Jan. 16) when
Fuhr was still with the Leafs, and Don advised "Don't Trade Fuhr!"
Don went on to predict that if Buffalo gets by Boston, it would
be Fuhr who wins the series. Muckler took a lot of heat for the
trade, but Don feels Muckler's been vindicated.
The next topic involved how playoff games are being ruined by
too many penalty calls. He showed a clip from a Winnipeg-Vancouver
game, where Domi hit a Vancouver player, and was given a 2 min. penalty.
Ron said that it was called a penalty because his stick was involved,
but Don stuck with the opinion that it was a good hit, with Domi
hitting the Vancouver player with his shoulder. Don: "Its sad what
they're doing for hockey... a 5 minute penalty for a nosebleed."
Next, they went to the playoff series between Detroit and Toronto.
People in Detroit were calling Wendel Clarke "Wendy" for not fighting.
However, Don pointed out that Probert was not fighting either.
This lead Don into a tirad about fighting and stickwork, and how
banning fighting leads to more high sticking: "It's like college
hockey... The little wee guy with the visor is brave as anybody.
That's why you're seeing so much stickwork. Because they know you
won't drop your gloves and give them a shot. The rules are made
by people who don't know what's going on in hockey".
The final topic Don discussed was Dale Hunter. Don pointed out
that he was leading the league in goals, and showed a clip
of Hunter from a previous game. When he was younger, Hunter was
taught to "play to win", which differs from today's idea of
just letting kids have fun.
At then end of the episode, they showed a clip from a coach's
corner, with the tape on fast forward, so that Don sounded like
one of the chipmunks.
Rating
------
Typical anti-fighting posturing, not too much humour, but some
good quotes.
I'd give it a 7.0 out of 10.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\ \ |Allan Sullivan (allan@cs.ualberta.ca)
\ \ |Department of Computing Science,
\ \_______ |University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
\ ### \ _ |---------------------------------------------------
\___###___\ (_) |My opinions are mine and mine alone.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the
credit..." - U. of A. Golden Bears Hockey Motto (C. Drake)
| 16
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|
a) Dominican
b) not all that light-hitting. .304 lifetime, .315 or so in 1966-73
when he did most of his playing.
c) Professional pinch-hitter after that. Yes, that also gives you
Jerry Hairston.
Beginning 10th year now.
Good one.
Not the same thing. LOTS of people are bad OFs.
Not all that light either. .750 OPS.
Not 10 year.
10-year this year.
Not 10-year.
Not 10-year.
Yup.
OK.
10-year this year.
*Six*-year this year.
Brock, Coleman, and Wilson were hot-dog basestealers (also Lonnie Smith);
that seems to be a special class. CFs like Pettis and Wilson also get
more of a break, especially if they actually *do* field well. And Brock
wasn't all that bad a hitter either, not until the end there when he
spoiled his ifetime .300 BA.
And again, I suspect thatthe problem is lessening over time. But if
you look at the history of the last three decades, there seems to
be a clear race-based pattern by which utility players and platoon
players and lesser talents stayed in the ML far longer if they were
white.
Light hitting? 199 HR, .793 lifetime OPS mainly with *HOUSTON*?
Also Latin, btw.
Come back in 1999 and we'll party^H^H^H^H^H talk.
| 11
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|
--> A humble response to a letter by Gordon Lang written 04-21-93 22:09.
GL> : I am interrested in the extrodinarily simple concept of the null
GL> modem : cable. (Actually I have NO idea, so don't count that last
GL> statement.) What I'm : asking is what pins does it use (or what are
GL> it's specifications?) I just want : to solder one myself instead of
GL> buying one. I don't even know what port is : used.
You may want to save yourself the trouble and go to Radio Shack. They have
a null modem adapter which is a 9 pin connector that swaps the necessary
pins to allow two machines to communicate. These are a lot easier than
soldering the connections yourself, and usually a bit more reliable.
... P.E.T.A. People for the Eating of Tasty Animals
--- Blue Wave/QWK v2.10
| 5
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|
Does anyone know of a fractal terrain generator for Mac, something
I could hopefully import into a 3D program like Swivel or Stratavision?
I know Infini-D has built in capabilities, but I don't have access to
Infini-D. I downloaded two programs from Umich, in graphics/fractals,
but both were from 1990-91 and crashed under System 7. I think they
were Black and white anyway. Please, email me if you know of anything,
as I don't check the newsgroups very often.
Thanks in advance.
Dan Bradley deb47099@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
| 7
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|
Editorial - A10, Saturday, April 24, 1993
CRIMESTRIKE HITS TOWN
With the chilling reality of crime at the hands of urban terrorists
that were noted above (a high school student and gang article in the
same column), we welcome into the ranks of those dedicated to re-
moving criminals from the streets the National Rifle Association's
new CrimeStrike project, engineered by Arizona's former chief assist-
ant attorney general Steven J. Twist.
CrimeStrike is working to reverse the disturbing trend of daily
crime. It is promoting solutions that can be applied nationally,
including tough and honest sentencing of the sort that Arizona is
applying with its Truth in Sentencing law; funding construction and
staffing of appropriate prison space; ensuring that the system is
primed to punish serious youthful offenders; strict attention to the
rights of victims; and citizen and community involvement.
Phoenix will be the home for this national organization.
The Gazette has vigorously opposed many NRA policies on issues of gun
control, and will be resolute in promoting prudent laws that seek
reasonable regulation of firearms.
But CrimeStrike is an appropriate creation, a response to a clear
need for more robust vigilance in holding legislators and judges ac-
countable when it comes to swiftly and surely punishing criminals.
When an organization has an issue, it has an issue, and Crime-
Strike has it - especially when it is willing to direct its dollars
to getting criminals off the street.
| 19
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|
My fiancee' and I do quite a bit of sporty riding 2-up. I'll tell you
what we've found and the systems we've worked out.
- On starts, accelerate MUCH slower than usual. It's tough for the rider
to judge how scary fast acceleration is, because we're holding onto something
and leaning forward. Remember this.
- On turns, have her lean forward and at the same angle as you (normally
this means she isn't leaning at all.) It's very disconcerting to be leaned
over and have your passenger leaning so that they're sitting straight up.
Much balance is lost and this can be dangerous.
- On slowing and stopping, do so MUCH slower than usual. Again, it's tough
for the rider to judge how scary fast deceleration is, because we're holding
onto something and leaning forward. However, you'll figure it out fast
because braking too fast will shove the passenger forward into you, which
shoves you into the tank at an inopportune location.
- Generally, have the passenger keep her knees against you and the bike, not
out wide. This helps balance and gives her somegrip.
- When you passenger is in fear, she will squeeze her knees against you.
Normally this means "slow down, and do it now!".
We only have a couple signals. "Slow down" is her either tapping me on
the back, or slapping my helmet with all her might. Depends on the urgency
of the matter :-)
"Turn here" is done by her pointing in the direction of an exit. This is
also the sign for "cool! Look at that." "I hafta pee" is the same sign
as "turn here". "I'm hungry" is the same sign. "Go faster" is usually
done by her jumping up and down on her pegs in glee. I usually see "slow
down" more often than "go faster".
The best thing to do before the ride is to talk to a riding buddy, and
pillion on his or her bike. It's incredibly frustrating, because you're
in almost no control. Now, multiply that feeling times ten, because
you as a rider know what your bike will do, and your passenger will likely
feel you're about to scrape hard parts all the time, or lock up the brakes
at any moment, or go careening off the edge of a volcanic mountain, etc.
Pillioning yourself is good training to take somebody on your pillion pad.
Also, remember that it's much more draining and tiring to ride 2-up
than by yourself, because you're concentrating on much more, and
"in the Zen of the moment" less. Remember this.
----------------------------------------------------
Pat Loughery [patlo@microsoft.com] Seattle, WA
DoD #393, AMA, VME, DIOC, 1KSI=2.53
'91 VFR750F, '91 Nighthawk 750, '82 Seca 650 Turbo
^^^ For Sale
| 0
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|
Archive-name: jpeg-faq
Last-modified: 16 May 1993
This FAQ article discusses JPEG image compression. Suggestions for
additions and clarifications are welcome.
New since version of 2 May 1993:
* Added info on ImageViewer for NeXT.
This article includes the following sections:
[1] What is JPEG?
[2] Why use JPEG?
[3] When should I use JPEG, and when should I stick with GIF?
[4] How well does JPEG compress images?
[5] What are good "quality" settings for JPEG?
[6] Where can I get JPEG software?
[6A] "canned" software, viewers, etc.
[6B] source code
[7] What's all this hoopla about color quantization?
[8] How does JPEG work?
[9] What about lossless JPEG?
[10] Why all the argument about file formats?
[11] How do I recognize which file format I have, and what do I do about it?
[12] What about arithmetic coding?
[13] Does loss accumulate with repeated compression/decompression?
[14] What are some rules of thumb for converting GIF images to JPEG?
Sections 1-6 are basic info that every JPEG user needs to know;
sections 7-14 are advanced info for the curious.
This article is posted every 2 weeks. You can always find the latest version
in the news.answers archive at rtfm.mit.edu (18.70.0.226). By FTP, fetch
/pub/usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq; or if you don't have FTP, send e-mail to
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with body "send usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq".
Many other FAQ articles are also stored in this archive. For more
instructions on use of the archive, send e-mail to the same address with the
words "help" and "index" (no quotes) on separate lines. If you don't get a
reply, the server may be misreading your return address; add a line such as
"path myname@mysite" to specify your correct e-mail address to reply to.
----------
[1] What is JPEG?
JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a standardized image compression mechanism.
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the
committee that wrote the standard. JPEG is designed for compressing either
full-color or gray-scale digital images of "natural", real-world scenes.
It does not work so well on non-realistic images, such as cartoons or line
drawings.
JPEG does not handle black-and-white (1-bit-per-pixel) images, nor does it
handle motion picture compression. Standards for compressing those types
of images are being worked on by other committees, named JBIG and MPEG
respectively.
JPEG is "lossy", meaning that the image you get out of decompression isn't
quite identical to what you originally put in. The algorithm achieves much
of its compression by exploiting known limitations of the human eye, notably
the fact that small color details aren't perceived as well as small details
of light-and-dark. Thus, JPEG is intended for compressing images that will
be looked at by humans. If you plan to machine-analyze your images, the
small errors introduced by JPEG may be a problem for you, even if they are
invisible to the eye.
A useful property of JPEG is that the degree of lossiness can be varied by
adjusting compression parameters. This means that the image maker can trade
off file size against output image quality. You can make *extremely* small
files if you don't mind poor quality; this is useful for indexing image
archives, making thumbnail views or icons, etc. etc. Conversely, if you
aren't happy with the output quality at the default compression setting, you
can jack up the quality until you are satisfied, and accept lesser compression.
[2] Why use JPEG?
There are two good reasons: to make your image files smaller, and to store
24-bit-per-pixel color data instead of 8-bit-per-pixel data.
Making image files smaller is a big win for transmitting files across
networks and for archiving libraries of images. Being able to compress a
2 Mbyte full-color file down to 100 Kbytes or so makes a big difference in
disk space and transmission time! (If you are comparing GIF and JPEG, the
size ratio is more like four to one. More details below.)
If your viewing software doesn't support JPEG directly, you'll have to
convert JPEG to some other format for viewing or manipulating images. Even
with a JPEG-capable viewer, it takes longer to decode and view a JPEG image
than to view an image of a simpler format (GIF, for instance). Thus, using
JPEG is essentially a time/space tradeoff: you give up some time in order to
store or transmit an image more cheaply.
It's worth noting that when network or phone transmission is involved, the
time savings from transferring a shorter file can be much greater than the
extra time to decompress the file. I'll let you do the arithmetic yourself.
The other reason why JPEG will gradually replace GIF as a standard Usenet
posting format is that JPEG can store full color information: 24 bits/pixel
(16 million colors) instead of 8 or less (256 or fewer colors). If you have
only 8-bit display hardware then this may not seem like much of an advantage
to you. Within a couple of years, though, 8-bit GIF will look as obsolete as
black-and-white MacPaint format does today. Furthermore, for reasons detailed
in section 7, JPEG is far more useful than GIF for exchanging images among
people with widely varying color display hardware. Hence JPEG is considerably
more appropriate than GIF for use as a Usenet posting standard.
[3] When should I use JPEG, and when should I stick with GIF?
JPEG is *not* going to displace GIF entirely; for some types of images,
GIF is superior in image quality, file size, or both. One of the first
things to learn about JPEG is which kinds of images to apply it to.
As a rule of thumb, JPEG is superior to GIF for storing full-color or
gray-scale images of "realistic" scenes; that means scanned photographs and
similar material. JPEG is superior even if you don't have 24-bit display
hardware, and it is a LOT superior if you do. (See section 7 for details.)
GIF does significantly better on images with only a few distinct colors,
such as cartoons and line drawings. In particular, large areas of pixels
that are all *exactly* the same color are compressed very efficiently indeed
by GIF. JPEG can't squeeze these files as much as GIF does without
introducing visible defects. This sort of image is best kept in GIF form.
(In particular, single-color borders are quite cheap in GIF files, but they
should be avoided in JPEG files.)
JPEG also has a hard time with very sharp edges: a row of pure-black pixels
adjacent to a row of pure-white pixels, for example. Sharp edges tend to
come out blurred unless you use a very high quality setting. Again, this
sort of thing is not found in scanned photographs, but it shows up fairly
often in GIF files: borders, overlaid text, etc. The blurriness is
particularly objectionable with text that's only a few pixels high.
If you have a GIF with a lot of small-size overlaid text, don't JPEG it.
Computer-drawn images (ray-traced scenes, for instance) usually fall between
scanned images and cartoons in terms of complexity. The more complex and
subtly rendered the image, the more likely that JPEG will do well on it.
The same goes for semi-realistic artwork (fantasy drawings and such).
Plain black-and-white (two level) images should never be converted to JPEG.
You need at least about 16 gray levels before JPEG is useful for gray-scale
images. It should also be noted that GIF is lossless for gray-scale images
of up to 256 levels, while JPEG is not.
If you have an existing library of GIF images, you may wonder whether you
should convert them to JPEG. You will lose a little image quality if you do.
(Section 7, which argues that JPEG image quality is superior to GIF, only
applies if both formats start from a full-color original. If you start from
a GIF, you've already irretrievably lost a great deal of information; JPEG
can only make things worse.) However, the disk space savings may justify
converting anyway. This is a decision you'll have to make for yourself.
If you do convert a GIF library to JPEG, see section 14 for hints. Be
prepared to leave some images in GIF format, since some GIFs will not
convert well.
[4] How well does JPEG compress images?
Pretty darn well. Here are some sample file sizes for an image I have
handy, a 727x525 full-color image of a ship in a harbor. The first three
files are for comparison purposes; the rest were created with the free JPEG
software described in section 6B.
File Size in bytes Comments
ship.ppm 1145040 Original file in PPM format (no compression; 24 bits
or 3 bytes per pixel, plus a few bytes overhead)
ship.ppm.Z 963829 PPM file passed through Unix compress
compress doesn't accomplish a lot, you'll note.
Other text-oriented compressors give similar results.
ship.gif 240438 Converted to GIF with ppmquant -fs 256 | ppmtogif
Most of the savings is the result of losing color
info: GIF saves 8 bits/pixel, not 24. (See sec. 7.)
ship.jpg95 155622 cjpeg -Q 95 (highest useful quality setting)
This is indistinguishable from the 24-bit original,
at least to my nonprofessional eyeballs.
ship.jpg75 58009 cjpeg -Q 75 (default setting)
You have to look mighty darn close to distinguish this
from the original, even with both on-screen at once.
ship.jpg50 38406 cjpeg -Q 50
This has slight defects; if you know what to look
for, you could tell it's been JPEGed without seeing
the original. Still as good image quality as many
recent postings in Usenet pictures groups.
ship.jpg25 25192 cjpeg -Q 25
JPEG's characteristic "blockiness" becomes apparent
at this setting (djpeg -blocksmooth helps some).
Still, I've seen plenty of Usenet postings that were
of poorer image quality than this.
ship.jpg5o 6587 cjpeg -Q 5 -optimize (-optimize cuts table overhead)
Blocky, but perfectly satisfactory for preview or
indexing purposes. Note that this file is TINY:
the compression ratio from the original is 173:1 !
In this case JPEG can make a file that's a factor of four or five smaller
than a GIF of comparable quality (the -Q 75 file is every bit as good as the
GIF, better if you have a full-color display). This seems to be a typical
ratio for real-world scenes.
[5] What are good "quality" settings for JPEG?
Most JPEG compressors let you pick a file size vs. image quality tradeoff by
selecting a quality setting. There seems to be widespread confusion about
the meaning of these settings. "Quality 95" does NOT mean "keep 95% of the
information", as some have claimed. The quality scale is purely arbitrary;
it's not a percentage of anything.
The name of the game in using JPEG is to pick the lowest quality setting
(smallest file size) that decompresses into an image indistinguishable from
the original. This setting will vary from one image to another and from one
observer to another, but here are some rules of thumb.
The default quality setting (-Q 75) is very often the best choice. This
setting is about the lowest you can go without expecting to see defects in a
typical image. Try -Q 75 first; if you see defects, then go up. Except for
experimental purposes, never go above -Q 95; saying -Q 100 will produce a
file two or three times as large as -Q 95, but of hardly any better quality.
If the image was less than perfect quality to begin with, you might be able to
go down to -Q 50 without objectionable degradation. On the other hand, you
might need to go to a HIGHER quality setting to avoid further degradation.
The second case seems to apply much of the time when converting GIFs to JPEG.
The default -Q 75 is about right for compressing 24-bit images, but -Q 85 to
95 is usually better for converting GIFs (see section 14 for more info).
If you want a very small file (say for preview or indexing purposes) and are
prepared to tolerate large defects, a -Q setting in the range of 5 to 10 is
about right. -Q 2 or so may be amusing as "op art".
(Note: the quality settings discussed in this article apply to the free JPEG
software described in section 6B, and to many programs based on it. Other
JPEG implementations, such as Image Alchemy, may use a completely different
quality scale. Some programs don't even provide a numeric scale, just
"high"/"medium"/"low"-style choices.)
[6] Where can I get JPEG software?
Most of the programs described in this section are available by FTP.
If you don't know how to use FTP, see the FAQ article "How to find sources".
(If you don't have direct access to FTP, read about ftpmail servers in the
same article.) That article appears regularly in news.answers, or you can
get it by sending e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with
"send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body. The "Anonymous FTP
List FAQ" may also be helpful --- it's usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq in
the news.answers archive.
NOTE: this list changes constantly. If you have a copy more than a couple
months old, get the latest JPEG FAQ from the news.answers archive.
[6A] If you are looking for "canned" software, viewers, etc:
The first part of this list is system-specific programs that only run on one
kind of system. If you don't see what you want for your machine, check out
the portable JPEG software described at the end of the list. Note that this
list concentrates on free and shareware programs that you can obtain over
Internet; but some commercial programs are listed too.
X Windows:
XV (shareware, $25) is an excellent viewer for JPEG, GIF, and many other
image formats. It can also do format conversion and some simple image
manipulations. It's available for FTP from export.lcs.mit.edu (18.24.0.12),
file contrib/xv-3.00.tar.Z. Version 3.00 is a major upgrade with support
for 24-bit displays and many other improvements; however, it is brand new
and still has some bugs lurking. If you prefer not to be on the bleeding
edge, stick with version 2.21, also available from export. Note that
version 2.21 is not a good choice if you have a 24-bit display (you'll get
only 8-bit color), nor for converting 24-bit images to JPEG. But 2.21 works
fine for converting GIF and other 8-bit images to JPEG. CAUTION: there is a
glitch in version 2.21: be sure to check the "save at normal size" checkbox
when saving a JPEG file, or the file will be blurry.
Another good choice for X Windows is John Cristy's free ImageMagick package,
also available from export.lcs.mit.edu, file contrib/ImageMagick.tar.Z.
This package handles many image processing and conversion tasks. The
ImageMagick viewer handles 24-bit displays correctly; for colormapped
displays, it does better (though slower) color quantization than XV or the
basic free JPEG software.
Both of the above are large, complex packages. If you just want a simple
image viewer, try xloadimage or xli. xloadimage supports JPEG in its latest
release, 3.03. xloadimage is free and available from export.lcs.mit.edu,
file contrib/xloadimage-3.03.tar.Z. xli is a variant version of xloadimage,
said by its fans to be somewhat faster and more robust than the original.
(The current xli is indeed faster and more robust than the current
xloadimage, at least with respect to JPEG files, because it has the IJG v4
decoder while xloadimage 3.03 is using a hacked-over v1. The next
xloadimage release will fix this.) xli is also free and available from
export.lcs.mit.edu, file contrib/xli.1.14.tar.Z. Both programs are said
to do the right thing with 24-bit displays.
MS-DOS:
This covers plain DOS; for Windows or OS/2 programs, see the next headings.
One good choice is Eric Praetzel's free DVPEG, which views JPEG and GIF files.
The current version, 2.5, is available by FTP from sunee.uwaterloo.ca
(129.97.50.50), file pub/jpeg/viewers/dvpeg25.zip. This is a good basic
viewer that works on either 286 or 386/486 machines. The user interface is
not flashy, but it's functional.
Another freeware JPEG/GIF/TGA viewer is Mohammad Rezaei's Hiview. The
current version, 1.2, is available from Simtel20 and mirror sites (see NOTE
below), file msdos/graphics/hv12.zip. Hiview requires a 386 or better CPU
and a VCPI-compatible memory manager (QEMM386 and 386MAX work; Windows and
OS/2 do not). Hiview is currently the fastest viewer for images that are no
bigger than your screen. For larger images, it scales the image down to fit
on the screen (rather than using panning/scrolling as most viewers do).
You may or may not prefer this approach, but there's no denying that it
slows down loading of large images considerably. Note: installation is a
bit tricky; read the directions carefully!
A shareware alternative is ColorView for DOS ($30). This is easier to
install than either of the two freeware alternatives. Its user interface is
also much spiffier-looking, although personally I find it harder to use ---
more keystrokes, inconsistent behavior. It is faster than DVPEG but a
little slower than Hiview, at least on my hardware. (For images larger than
screen size, DVPEG and ColorView seem to be about the same speed, and both
are faster than Hiview.) The current version is 2.1, available from
Simtel20 and mirror sites (see NOTE below), file msdos/graphics/dcview21.zip.
Requires a VESA graphics driver; if you don't have one, look in vesadrv2.zip
or vesa-tsr.zip from the same directory. (Many recent PCs have a built-in
VESA driver, so don't try to load a VESA driver unless ColorView complains
that the driver is missing.)
A second shareware alternative is Fullview, which has been kicking around
the net for a while, but I don't know any stable archive location for it.
The current (rather old) version is inferior to the above viewers anyway.
The author tells me that a new version of Fullview will be out shortly
and it will be submitted to the Simtel20 archives at that time.
The well-known GIF viewer CompuShow (CSHOW) supports JPEG in its latest
revision, 8.60a. However, CSHOW's JPEG implementation isn't very good:
it's slow (about half the speed of the above viewers) and image quality is
poor except on hi-color displays. Too bad ... it'd have been nice to see a
good JPEG capability in CSHOW. Shareware, $25. Available from Simtel20 and
mirror sites (see NOTE below), file msdos/gif/cshw860a.zip.
Due to the remarkable variety of PC graphics hardware, any one of these
viewers might not work on your particular machine. If you can't get *any*
of them to work, you'll need to use one of the following conversion programs
to convert JPEG to GIF, then view with your favorite GIF viewer. (If you
have hi-color hardware, don't use GIF as the intermediate format; try to
find a TARGA-capable viewer instead. VPIC5.0 is reputed to do the right
thing with hi-color displays.)
The Independent JPEG Group's free JPEG converters are FTPable from Simtel20
and mirror sites (see NOTE below), file msdos/graphics/jpeg4.zip (or
jpeg4386.zip if you have a 386 and extended memory). These files are DOS
compilations of the free source code described in section 6B; they will
convert JPEG to and from GIF, Targa, and PPM formats.
Handmade Software offers free JPEG<=>GIF conversion tools, GIF2JPG/JPG2GIF.
These are slow and are limited to conversion to and from GIF format; in
particular, you can't get 24-bit color output from a JPEG. The major
advantage of these tools is that they will read and write HSI's proprietary
JPEG format as well as the Usenet-standard JFIF format. Since HSI-format
files are rather widespread on BBSes, this is a useful capability. Version
2.0 of these tools is free (prior versions were shareware). Get it from
Simtel20 and mirror sites (see NOTE below), file msdos/graphics/gif2jpg2.zip.
NOTE: do not use HSI format for files to be posted on Internet, since it is
not readable on non-PC platforms.
Handmade Software also has a shareware image conversion and manipulation
package, Image Alchemy. This will translate JPEG files (both JFIF and HSI
formats) to and from many other image formats. It can also display images.
A demo version of Image Alchemy version 1.6.2 is available from Simtel20 and
mirror sites (see NOTE below), file msdos/graphics/alch162.zip.
NOTE ABOUT SIMTEL20: The Internet's key archive site for PC-related programs
is Simtel20, full name wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (192.88.110.20). Simtel20
runs a non-Unix system with weird directory names; where this document
refers to directory (eg) "msdos/graphics" at Simtel20, that really means
"pd1:<msdos.graphics>". If you are not physically on MILnet, you should
expect rather slow FTP transfer rates from Simtel20. There are several
Internet sites that maintain copies (mirrors) of the Simtel20 archives;
most FTP users should go to one of the mirror sites instead. A popular USA
mirror site is oak.oakland.edu (141.210.10.117), which keeps Simtel20 files
in (eg) "/pub/msdos/graphics". If you have no FTP capability, you can
retrieve files from Simtel20 by e-mail; see informational postings in
comp.archives.msdos.announce to find out how. If you are outside the USA,
consult the same newsgroup to learn where your nearest Simtel20 mirror is.
Microsoft Windows:
There are several Windows programs capable of displaying JPEG images.
(Windows viewers are generally slower than DOS viewers on the same hardware,
due to Windows' system overhead. Note that you can run the DOS conversion
programs described above inside a Windows DOS window.)
The newest entry is WinECJ, which is free and EXTREMELY fast. Version 1.0
is available from ftp.rahul.net, file /pub/bryanw/pc/jpeg/wecj.zip.
Requires Windows 3.1 and 256-or-more-colors mode. This is a no-frills
viewer with the bad habit of hogging the machine completely while it
decodes; and the image quality is noticeably worse than other viewers.
But it's so fast you'll use it anyway, at least for previewing...
JView is freeware, fairly fast, has good on-line help, and can write out the
decompressed image in Windows BMP format; but it can't create new JPEG
files, and it doesn't view GIFs. JView also lacks some other useful
features of the shareware viewers (such as brightness adjustment), but it's
an excellent basic viewer. The current version, 0.9, is available from
ftp.cica.indiana.edu (129.79.20.84), file pub/pc/win3/desktop/jview090.zip.
(Mirrors of this archive can be found at some other Internet sites,
including wuarchive.wustl.edu.)
WinJPEG (shareware, $20) displays JPEG,GIF,Targa,TIFF, and BMP image files;
it can write all of these formats too, so it can be used as a converter.
It has some other nifty features including color-balance adjustment and
slideshow. The current version is 2.1, available from Simtel20 and mirror
sites (see NOTE above), file msdos/windows3/winjp210.zip. (This is a slow
286-compatible version; if you register, you'll get the 386-only version,
which is roughly 25% faster.)
ColorView is another shareware entry ($30). This was an early and promising
contender, but it has not been updated in some time, and at this point it
has no real advantages over WinJPEG. If you want to try it anyway, the
current version is 0.97, available from ftp.cica.indiana.edu, file
pub/pc/win3/desktop/cview097.zip. (I understand that a new version will
be appearing once the authors are finished with ColorView for DOS.)
DVPEG (see DOS heading) also works under Windows, but only in full-screen
mode, not in a window.
OS/2:
The following files are available from hobbes.nmsu.edu (128.123.35.151).
Note: check /pub/uploads for more recent versions --- the hobbes moderator
is not very fast about moving uploads into their permanent directories.
/pub/os2/2.x/graphics/jpegv4.zip
32-bit version of free IJG conversion programs, version 4.
/pub/os2/all/graphics/jpeg4-16.zip
16-bit version of same, for OS/2 1.x.
/pub/os2/2.x/graphics/imgarc12.zip
Image Archiver 1.02: image conversion/viewing with PM graphical interface.
Strong on conversion functions, viewing is a bit weaker. Shareware, $15.
/pub/os2/2.x/graphics/pmjpeg11.zip
PMJPEG 1.1: OS/2 2.x port of WinJPEG, a popular viewer for Windows
(see description in Windows section). Shareware, $20.
/pub/os2/2.x/graphics/pmview85.zip
PMView 0.85: JPEG/GIF/BMP/Targa/PCX viewer. GIF viewing very fast,
JPEG viewing roughly the same speed as the above two programs. Has
image manipulation & slideshow functions. Shareware, $20.
Macintosh:
Most Mac JPEG programs rely on Apple's JPEG implementation, which is part of
the QuickTime system extension; so you need to have QuickTime installed.
To use QuickTime, you need a 68020 or better CPU and you need to be running
System 6.0.7 or later. (If you're running System 6, you must also install
the 32-bit QuickDraw extension; this is built-in on System 7.) You can get
QuickTime by FTP from ftp.apple.com, file dts/mac/quicktime/quicktime.hqx.
(As of 11/92, this file contains QuickTime 1.5, which is better than QT 1.0
in several ways. With respect to JPEG, it is marginally faster and
considerably less prone to crash when fed a corrupt JPEG file. However,
some applications seem to have compatibility problems with QT 1.5.)
Mac users should keep in mind that QuickTime's JPEG format, PICT/JPEG, is
not the same as the Usenet-standard JFIF JPEG format. (See section 10 for
details.) If you post images on Usenet, make sure they are in JFIF format.
Most of the programs mentioned below can generate either format.
The first choice is probably JPEGView, a free program for viewing images
that are in JFIF format, PICT/JPEG format, or GIF format. It also can
convert between the two JPEG formats. The current version, 2.0, is a big
improvement over prior versions. Get it from sumex-aim.stanford.edu
(36.44.0.6), file /info-mac/app/jpeg-view-20.hqx. Requires System 7 and
QuickTime. On 8-bit displays, JPEGView usually produces the best color
image quality of all the currently available Mac JPEG viewers. JPEGView can
view large images in much less memory than other Mac viewers; in fact, it's
the only one that can deal with JPEG images much over 640x480 pixels on a
typical 4MB Mac. Given a large image, JPEGView automatically scales it down
to fit on the screen, rather than presenting scroll bars like most other
viewers. (You can zoom in on any desired portion, though.) Some people
like this behavior, some don't. Overall, JPEGView's user interface is very
well thought out.
GIFConverter, a shareware ($40) image viewer/converter, supports JFIF and
PICT/JPEG, as well as GIF and several other image formats. The latest
version is 2.3.2. Get it from sumex-aim.stanford.edu, file
/info-mac/art/gif/gif-converter-232.hqx. Requires System 6.0.5 or later.
GIFConverter is not better than JPEGView as a plain JPEG/GIF viewer, but
it has much more extensive image manipulation and format conversion
capabilities, so you may find it worth its shareware fee if you do a lot of
playing around with images. Also, the newest version of GIFConverter can
load and save JFIF images *without* QuickTime, so it is your best bet if
your machine is too old to run QuickTime. (But it's faster with QuickTime.)
Note: If GIFConverter runs out of memory trying to load a large JPEG, try
converting the file to GIF with JPEG Convert, then viewing the GIF version.
JPEG Convert, a Mac version of the free IJG JPEG conversion utilities, is
available from sumex-aim.stanford.edu, file /info-mac/app/jpeg-convert-10.hqx.
This will run on any Mac, but it only does file conversion, not viewing.
You can use it in conjunction with any GIF viewer.
Previous versions of this FAQ recommended Imagery JPEG v0.6, a JPEG<=>GIF
converter based on an old version of the IJG code. If you are using this
program, you definitely should replace it with JPEG Convert.
Apple's free program PictPixie can view images in JFIF, QuickTime JPEG, and
GIF format, and can convert between these formats. You can get PictPixie
from ftp.apple.com, file dts/mac/quicktime/qt.1.0.stuff/pictpixie.hqx.
Requires QuickTime. PictPixie was intended as a developer's tool, and it's
really not the best choice unless you like to fool around with QuickTime.
Some of its drawbacks are that it requires lots of memory, it produces
relatively poor color image quality on anything less than a 24-bit display,
and it has a relatively unfriendly user interface. Worse, PictPixie is an
unsupported program, meaning it has some minor bugs that Apple does not
intend to fix. (There is an old version of PictPixie, called
PICTCompressor, floating around the net. If you have this you should trash
it, as it's even buggier. Also, the QuickTime Starter Kit includes a much
cleaned-up descendant of PictPixie called Picture Compressor. Note that
Picture Compressor is NOT free and may not be distributed on the net.)
Storm Technology's Picture Decompress is a free JPEG viewer/converter.
This rather old program is inferior to the above programs in many ways, but
it will run without System 7 or QuickTime, so you may be forced to use it on
older systems. (It does need 32-bit QuickDraw, so really old machines can't
use it.) You can get it from sumex-aim.stanford.edu, file
/info-mac/app/picture-decompress-201.hqx. You must set the file type of a
downloaded image file to 'JPEG' to allow Picture Decompress to open it.
If your machine is too old to run 32-bit QuickDraw (a Mac Plus for instance),
GIFConverter is your only choice for single-program JPEG viewing. If you
don't want to pay for GIFConverter, use JPEG Convert and a free GIF viewer.
More and more commercial Mac applications are supporting JPEG, although not
all can deal with the Usenet-standard JFIF format. Adobe Photoshop, version
2.0.1 or later, can read and write JFIF-format JPEG files (use the JPEG
plug-in from the Acquire menu). You must set the file type of a downloaded
JPEG file to 'JPEG' to allow Photoshop to recognize it.
Amiga:
(Most programs listed in this section are stored in the AmiNet archive at
amiga.physik.unizh.ch (130.60.80.80). There are many mirror sites of this
archive and you should try to use the closest one. In the USA, a good
choice is wuarchive.wustl.edu; look under /mirrors/amiga.physik.unizh.ch/...)
HamLab Plus is an excellent JPEG viewer/converter, as well as being a
general image manipulation tool. It's cheap (shareware, $20) and can read
several formats besides JPEG. The current version is 2.0.8. A demo version
is available from amiga.physik.unizh.ch (and mirror sites), file
amiga/gfx/edit/hamlab208d.lha. The demo version will crop images larger
than 512x512, but it is otherwise fully functional.
Rend24 (shareware, $30) is an image renderer that can display JPEG, ILBM,
and GIF images. The program can be used to create animations, even
capturing frames on-the-fly from rendering packages like Lightwave. The
current version is 1.05, available from amiga.physik.unizh.ch (and mirror
sites), file amiga/os30/gfx/rend105.lha. (Note: although this directory is
supposedly for AmigaDOS 3.0 programs, the program will also run under
AmigaDOS 1.3, 2.04 or 2.1.)
Viewtek is a free JPEG/ILBM/GIF/ANIM viewer. The current version is 1.04,
available from amiga.physik.unizh.ch (and mirror sites), file
amiga/gfx/show/ViewTek104.lha.
If you're willing to spend real money, there are several commercial packages
that support JPEG. Two are written by Thomas Krehbiel, the author of Rend24
and Viewtek. These are CineMorph, a standalone image morphing package, and
ImageFX, an impressive 24-bit image capture, conversion, editing, painting,
effects and prepress package that also includes CineMorph. Both are
distributed by Great Valley Products. Art Department Professional (ADPro),
from ASDG Inc, is the most widely used commercial image manipulation
software for Amigas. ImageMaster, from Black Belt Systems, is another
well-regarded commercial graphics package with JPEG support.
The free IJG JPEG software is available compiled for Amigas from
amiga.physik.unizh.ch (and mirror sites) in directory amiga/gfx/conv, file
AmigaJPEGV4.lha. These programs convert JPEG to/from PPM,GIF,Targa formats.
The Amiga world is heavily infested with quick-and-dirty JPEG programs, many
based on an ancient beta-test version of the free IJG JPEG software (thanks
to a certain magazine that published same on its disk-of-the-month, without
so much as notifying the authors). Among these are "AugJPEG", "NewAmyJPEG",
"VJPEG", and probably others I have not even heard of. In my opinion,
anything older than IJG version 3 (March 1992) is not worth the disk space
it's stored on; if you have such a program, trash it and get something newer.
Atari ST:
The free IJG JPEG software is available compiled for Atari ST, TT, etc,
from atari.archive.umich.edu, file /atari/Graphics/jpeg4bin.zoo.
These programs convert JPEG to/from PPM, GIF, Targa formats.
For monochrome ST monitors, try MGIF, which manages to achieve four-level
grayscale effect by flickering. Version 4.1 reads JPEG files. Available
from atari.archive.umich.edu, file /atari/Graphics/mgif41b.zoo.
I have not heard of any other free or shareware JPEG-capable viewers for
Ataris, but surely there must be some by now? Pointers appreciated.
Acorn Archimedes:
!ChangeFSI, supplied with RISC OS 3 version 3.10, can convert from and view
JPEG JFIF format. Provision is also made to convert images to JPEG,
although this must be done from the CLI rather than by double-clicking.
Recent versions (since 7.11) of the shareware program Translator can handle
JPEG, along with about 30 other image formats. While older versions can be
found on some Archimedes bboards, the current version is only available by
registering with the author, John Kortink, Nutterbrink 31, 7544 WJ, Enschede,
The Netherlands. Price 35 Dutch guilders (about $22 or 10 pounds).
There's also a commercial product called !JPEG which provides JPEG read/write
functionality and direct JPEG viewing, as well as a host of other image
format conversion and processing options. This is more expensive but not
necessarily better than the above programs. Contact: DT Software, FREEPOST,
Cambridge, UK. Tel: 0223 841099.
NeXT:
ImageViewer is a PD utility that displays images and can do some format
conversions. The current version reads JPEG but does not write it.
ImageViewer is available from the standard NeXT archives at
sonata.cc.purdue.edu and cs.orst.edu, somewhere in /pub/next (both are
currently being re-organized, so it's hard to point to specific
sub-directories). Note that there is an older version floating around that
does not support JPEG.
Portable software for almost any system:
If none of the above fits your situation, you can obtain and compile the free
JPEG conversion software described in 6B. You'll also need a viewer program.
If your display is 8 bits or less, any GIF viewer will do fine; if you have a
display with more color capability, try to find a viewer that can read Targa
or PPM 24-bit image files.
There are numerous commercial JPEG offerings, with more popping up every
day. I recommend that you not spend money on one of these unless you find
the available free or shareware software vastly too slow. In that case,
purchase a hardware-assisted product. Ask pointed questions about whether
the product complies with the final JPEG standard and about whether it can
handle the JFIF file format; many of the earliest commercial releases are
not and never will be compatible with anyone else's files.
[6B] If you are looking for source code to work with:
Free, portable C code for JPEG compression is available from the Independent
JPEG Group, which I lead. A package containing our source code,
documentation, and some small test files is available from several places.
The "official" archive site for this source code is ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9
or 192.48.96.9). Look under directory /graphics/jpeg; the current release
is jpegsrc.v4.tar.Z. (This is a compressed TAR file; don't forget to
retrieve in binary mode.) You can retrieve this file by FTP or UUCP.
If you are on a PC and don't know how to cope with .tar.Z format, you may
prefer ZIP format, which you can find at Simtel20 and mirror sites (see NOTE
above), file msdos/graphics/jpegsrc4.zip. This file will also be available on
CompuServe, in the GRAPHSUPPORT forum (GO PICS), library 15, as jpsrc4.zip.
If you have no FTP access, you can retrieve the source from your nearest
comp.sources.misc archive; version 4 appeared as issues 55-72 of volume 34.
(If you don't know how to retrieve comp.sources.misc postings, see the FAQ
article "How to find sources", referred to at the top of section 6.)
The free JPEG code provides conversion between JPEG "JFIF" format and image
files in GIF, PBMPLUS PPM/PGM, Utah RLE, and Truevision Targa file formats.
The core compression and decompression modules can easily be reused in other
programs, such as image viewers. The package is highly portable; we have
tested it on many machines ranging from PCs to Crays.
We have released this software for both noncommercial and commercial use.
Companies are welcome to use it as the basis for JPEG-related products.
We do not ask a royalty, although we do ask for an acknowledgement in
product literature (see the README file in the distribution for details).
We hope to make this software industrial-quality --- although, as with
anything that's free, we offer no warranty and accept no liability.
The Independent JPEG Group is a volunteer organization; if you'd like to
contribute to improving our software, you are welcome to join.
[7] What's all this hoopla about color quantization?
Most people don't have full-color (24 bit per pixel) display hardware.
Typical display hardware stores 8 or fewer bits per pixel, so it can display
256 or fewer distinct colors at a time. To display a full-color image, the
computer must map the image into an appropriate set of representative
colors. This process is called "color quantization". (This is something
of a misnomer, "color selection" would be a better term. We're stuck with
the standard usage though.)
Clearly, color quantization is a lossy process. It turns out that for most
images, the details of the color quantization algorithm have MUCH more impact
on the final image quality than do any errors introduced by JPEG (except at
the very lowest JPEG quality settings).
Since JPEG is a full-color format, converting a color JPEG image for display
on 8-bit-or-less hardware requires color quantization. This is true for
*all* color JPEGs: even if you feed a 256-or-less-color GIF into JPEG, what
comes out of the decompressor is *not* 256 colors, but thousands of colors.
This happens because JPEG's lossiness affects each pixel a little
differently, so two pixels that started with identical colors will probably
come out with slightly different colors. Each original color gets "smeared"
into a group of nearby colors. Therefore quantization is always required to
display a color JPEG on a colormapped display, regardless of the image
source. The only way to avoid quantization is to ask for gray-scale output.
(Incidentally, because of this effect it's nearly meaningless to talk about
the number of colors used by a JPEG image. Even if you attempted to count
the number of distinct pixel values, different JPEG decoders would give you
different results because of roundoff error differences. I occasionally see
posted images described as "256-color JPEG". This tells me that the poster
(a) hasn't read this FAQ and (b) probably converted the JPEG from a GIF.
JPEGs can be classified as color or gray-scale (just like photographs), but
number of colors just isn't a useful concept for JPEG.)
On the other hand, a GIF image by definition has already been quantized to
256 or fewer colors. (A GIF *does* have a definite number of colors in its
palette, and the format doesn't allow more than 256 palette entries.)
For purposes of Usenet picture distribution, GIF has the advantage that the
sender precomputes the color quantization, so recipients don't have to.
This is also the *disadvantage* of GIF: you're stuck with the sender's
quantization. If the sender quantized to a different number of colors than
what you can display, you have to re-quantize, resulting in much poorer
image quality than if you had quantized once from a full-color image.
Furthermore, if the sender didn't use a high-quality color quantization
algorithm, you're out of luck.
For this reason, JPEG offers the promise of significantly better image quality
for all users whose machines don't match the sender's display hardware.
JPEG's full color image can be quantized to precisely match the user's display
hardware. Furthermore, you will be able to take advantage of future
improvements in quantization algorithms (there is a lot of active research in
this area), or purchase better display hardware, to get a better view of JPEG
images you already have. With a GIF, you're stuck forevermore with what was
sent.
It's also worth mentioning that many GIF-viewing programs include rather
shoddy quantization routines. If you view a 256-color GIF on a 16-color EGA
display, for example, you are probably getting a much worse image than you
need to. This is partly an inevitable consequence of doing two color
quantizations (one to create the GIF, one to display it), but often it's
also due to sloppiness. JPEG conversion programs will be forced to use
high quality quantizers in order to get acceptable results at all, and in
normal use they will quantize directly to the number of colors to be
displayed. Thus, JPEG is likely to provide better results than the average
GIF program for low-color-resolution displays as well as high-resolution ones!
Finally, an ever-growing number of people have better-than-8-bit display
hardware already: 15-bit "hi-color" PC displays, true 24-bit displays on
workstations and Macintoshes, etc. For these people, GIF is already
obsolete, as it cannot represent an image to the full capabilities of their
display. JPEG images can drive these displays much more effectively.
Thus, JPEG is an all-around better choice than GIF for representing images
in a machine-independent fashion.
[8] How does JPEG work?
The buzz-words to know are chrominance subsampling, discrete cosine
transforms, coefficient quantization, and Huffman or arithmetic entropy
coding. This article's long enough already, so I'm not going to say more
than that here. For technical information, see the comp.compression FAQ.
This is available from the news.answers archive at rtfm.mit.edu, in files
/pub/usenet/news.answers/compression-faq/part[1-3]. If you need help in
using the news.answers archive, see the top of this article.
[9] What about lossless JPEG?
There's a great deal of confusion on this subject. The JPEG committee did
define a truly lossless compression algorithm, i.e., one that guarantees the
final output is bit-for-bit identical to the original input. However, this
lossless mode has almost nothing in common with the regular, lossy JPEG
algorithm, and it offers much less compression. At present, very few
implementations of lossless JPEG exist, and all of them are commercial.
Saying "-Q 100" to the free JPEG software DOES NOT get you a lossless image.
What it does get rid of is deliberate information loss in the coefficient
quantization step. There is still a good deal of information loss in the
color subsampling step. (With the V4 free JPEG code, you can also say
"-sample 1x1" to turn off subsampling. Keep in mind that many commercial
JPEG implementations cannot cope with the resulting file.)
Even with both quantization and subsampling turned off, the regular JPEG
algorithm is not lossless, because it is subject to roundoff errors in
various calculations. The maximum error is a few counts in any one pixel
value; it's highly unlikely that this could be perceived by the human eye,
but it might be a concern if you are doing machine processing of an image.
At this minimum-loss setting, regular JPEG produces files that are perhaps
half the size of an uncompressed 24-bit-per-pixel image. True lossless JPEG
provides roughly the same amount of compression, but it guarantees
bit-for-bit accuracy.
If you have an application requiring lossless storage of images with less
than 6 bits per pixel (per color component), you may want to look into the
JBIG bilevel image compression standard. This performs better than JPEG
lossless on such images. JPEG lossless is superior to JBIG on images with
6 or more bits per pixel; furthermore, JPEG is public domain (at least with a
Huffman back end), while the JBIG techniques are heavily covered by patents.
[10] Why all the argument about file formats?
Strictly speaking, JPEG refers only to a family of compression algorithms;
it does *not* refer to a specific image file format. The JPEG committee was
prevented from defining a file format by turf wars within the international
standards organizations.
Since we can't actually exchange images with anyone else unless we agree on
a common file format, this leaves us with a problem. In the absence of
official standards, a number of JPEG program writers have just gone off to
"do their own thing", and as a result their programs aren't compatible with
anybody else's.
The closest thing we have to a de-facto standard JPEG format is some work
that's been coordinated by people at C-Cube Microsystems. They have defined
two JPEG-based file formats:
* JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format), a "low-end" format that transports
pixels and not much else.
* TIFF/JPEG, aka TIFF 6.0, an extension of the Aldus TIFF format. TIFF is
a "high-end" format that will let you record just about everything you
ever wanted to know about an image, and a lot more besides :-). TIFF is
a lot more complex than JFIF, and may well prove less transportable,
because different vendors have historically implemented slightly different
and incompatible subsets of TIFF. It's not likely that adding JPEG to the
mix will do anything to improve this situation.
Both of these formats were developed with input from all the major vendors
of JPEG-related products; it's reasonably likely that future commercial
products will adhere to one or both standards.
I believe that Usenet should adopt JFIF as the replacement for GIF in
picture postings. JFIF is simpler than TIFF and is available now; the
TIFF 6.0 spec has only recently been officially adopted, and it is still
unusably vague on some crucial details. Even when TIFF/JPEG is well
defined, the JFIF format is likely to be a widely supported "lowest common
denominator"; TIFF/JPEG files may never be as transportable.
A particular case that people may be interested in is Apple's QuickTime
software for the Macintosh. QuickTime uses a JFIF-compatible format wrapped
inside the Mac-specific PICT structure. Conversion between JFIF and
QuickTime JPEG is pretty straightforward, and several Mac programs are
available to do it (see Mac portion of section 6A). If you have an editor
that handles binary files, you can strip a QuickTime JPEG PICT down to JFIF
by hand; see section 11 for details.
Another particular case is Handmade Software's programs (GIF2JPG/JPG2GIF and
Image Alchemy). These programs are capable of reading and writing JFIF
format. By default, though, they write a proprietary format developed by
HSI. This format is NOT readable by any non-HSI programs and should not be
used for Usenet postings. Use the -j switch to get JFIF output. (This
applies to old versions of these programs; the current releases emit JFIF
format by default. You still should be careful not to post HSI-format
files, unless you want to get flamed by people on non-PC platforms.)
[11] How do I recognize which file format I have, and what do I do about it?
If you have an alleged JPEG file that your software won't read, it's likely
to be HSI format or some other proprietary JPEG-based format. You can tell
what you have by inspecting the first few bytes of the file:
1. A JFIF-standard file will start with the characters (hex) FF D8 FF E0,
followed by two variable bytes (often hex 00 10), followed by 'JFIF'.
2. If you see FF D8 at the start, but not the rest of it, you may have a
"raw JPEG" file. This is probably decodable as-is by JFIF software ---
it's worth a try, anyway.
3. HSI files start with 'hsi1'. You're out of luck unless you have HSI
software. Portions of the file may look like plain JPEG data, but they
won't decompress properly with non-HSI programs.
4. A Macintosh PICT file, if JPEG-compressed, will have a couple hundred
bytes of header followed by a JFIF header (scan for 'JFIF'). Strip off
everything before the FF D8 and you should be able to read it.
5. Anything else: it's a proprietary format, or not JPEG at all. If you are
lucky, the file may consist of a header and a raw JPEG data stream.
If you can identify the start of the JPEG data stream (look for FF D8),
try stripping off everything before that.
In uuencoded Usenet postings, the characteristic JFIF pattern is
"begin" line
M_]C_X ...
whereas uuencoded HSI files will start with
"begin" line
M:'-I ...
If you learn to check for the former, you can save yourself the trouble of
downloading non-JFIF files.
[12] What about arithmetic coding?
The JPEG spec defines two different "back end" modules for the final output
of compressed data: either Huffman coding or arithmetic coding is allowed.
The choice has no impact on image quality, but arithmetic coding usually
produces a smaller compressed file. On typical images, arithmetic coding
produces a file 5 or 10 percent smaller than Huffman coding. (All the
file-size numbers previously cited are for Huffman coding.)
Unfortunately, the particular variant of arithmetic coding specified by the
JPEG standard is subject to patents owned by IBM, AT&T, and Mitsubishi.
Thus *you cannot legally use arithmetic coding* unless you obtain licenses
from these companies. (The "fair use" doctrine allows people to implement
and test the algorithm, but actually storing any images with it is dubious
at best.)
At least in the short run, I recommend that people not worry about
arithmetic coding; the space savings isn't great enough to justify the
potential legal hassles. In particular, arithmetic coding *should not*
be used for any images to be exchanged on Usenet.
There is some small chance that the legal situation may change in the
future. Stay tuned for further details.
[13] Does loss accumulate with repeated compression/decompression?
It would be nice if, having compressed an image with JPEG, you could
decompress it, manipulate it (crop off a border, say), and recompress it
without any further image degradation beyond what you lost initially.
Unfortunately THIS IS NOT THE CASE. In general, recompressing an altered
image loses more information, though usually not as much as was lost the
first time around.
The next best thing would be that if you decompress an image and recompress
it *without changing it* then there is no further loss, i.e., you get an
identical JPEG file. Even this is not true; at least, not with the current
free JPEG software. It's essentially a problem of accumulation of roundoff
error. If you repeatedly compress and decompress, the image will eventually
degrade to where you can see visible changes from the first-generation
output. (It usually takes many such cycles to get visible change.)
One of the things on our to-do list is to see if accumulation of error can
be avoided or limited, but I am not optimistic about it.
In any case, the most that could possibly be guaranteed would be that
compressing the unmodified full-color output of djpeg, at the original
quality setting, would introduce no further loss. Even such simple changes
as cropping off a border could cause further roundoff-error degradation.
(If you're wondering why, it's because the pixel-block boundaries move.
If you cropped off only multiples of 16 pixels, you might be safe, but
that's a mighty limited capability!)
The bottom line is that JPEG is a useful format for archival storage and
transmission of images, but you don't want to use it as an intermediate
format for sequences of image manipulation steps. Use a lossless format
(PPM, RLE, TIFF, etc) while working on the image, then JPEG it when you are
ready to file it away. Aside from avoiding degradation, you will save a lot
of compression/decompression time this way :-).
[14] What are some rules of thumb for converting GIF images to JPEG?
As stated earlier, you *will* lose some amount of image information if you
convert an existing GIF image to JPEG. If you can obtain the original
full-color data the GIF was made from, it's far better to make a JPEG from
that. But if you need to save space and have only the GIF to work from,
here are some suggestions for getting maximum space savings with minimum
loss of quality.
The first rule when converting a GIF library is to look at each JPEG, to
make sure you are happy with it, before throwing away the corresponding GIF;
that will give you a chance to re-do the conversion with a higher quality
setting if necessary. Some GIFs may be better left as GIFs, as explained in
section 3; in particular, cartoon-type GIFs with sixteen or fewer colors
don't convert well. You may find that a JPEG file of reasonable quality
will be *larger* than the GIF. (So check the sizes too.)
Experience to date suggests that large, high-visual-quality GIFs are the best
candidates for conversion to JPEG. They chew up the most storage so offer
the most potential savings, and they convert to JPEG with least degradation.
Don't waste your time converting any GIF much under 100 Kbytes. Also, don't
expect JPEG files converted from GIFs to be as small as those created
directly from full-color originals. To maintain image quality you may have
to let the converted files be as much as twice as big as straight-through
JPEG files would be (i.e., shoot for 1/2 or 1/3rd the size of the GIF file,
not 1/4th as suggested in earlier comparisons).
Many people have developed an odd habit of putting a large constant-color
border around a GIF image. While useless, this was nearly free in terms of
storage cost in GIF files. It is NOT free in JPEG files, and the sharp
border boundary can create visible artifacts ("ghost" edges). Do yourself
a favor and crop off any border before JPEGing. (If you are on an X Windows
system, XV's manual and automatic cropping functions are a very painless
way to do this.)
cjpeg's default Q setting of 75 is appropriate for full-color input, but
for GIF inputs, Q settings of 85 to 95 often seem to be necessary to avoid
image degradation. (If you apply smoothing as suggested below, the higher
Q setting may not be necessary.)
Color GIFs of photographs or complex artwork are usually "dithered" to fool
your eye into seeing more than the 256 colors that GIF can actually store.
If you enlarge the image, you will see that adjacent pixels are often of
significantly different colors; at normal size the eye averages these pixels
together to produce the illusion of an intermediate color value. The
trouble with dithering is that, to JPEG, it looks like high-spatial-frequency
color noise; and JPEG can't compress noise very well. The resulting JPEG
file is both larger and of lower image quality than what you would have
gotten from JPEGing the original full color image (if you had it).
To get around this, you want to "smooth" the GIF image before compression.
Smoothing averages together nearby pixels, thus approximating the color that
you thought you saw anyway, and in the process getting rid of the rapid
color changes that give JPEG trouble. Appropriate use of smoothing will
often let you avoid using a high Q factor, thus further reducing the size of
the compressed file, while still obtaining a better-looking output image
than you'd get without smoothing.
With the V4 free JPEG software (or products based on it), a simple smoothing
capability is built in. Try "-smooth 10" or so when converting GIFs.
Values of 10 to 25 seem to work well for high-quality GIFs. Heavy-handed
dithering may require larger smoothing factors. (If you can see regular
fine-scale patterns on the GIF image even without enlargement, then strong
smoothing is definitely called for.) Too large a smoothing factor will blur
the output image, which you don't want. If you are an image processing
wizard, you can also do smoothing with a separate filtering program, such as
pnmconvol from the PBMPLUS package. However, cjpeg's built-in smoother is
a LOT faster than pnmconvol...
The upshot of all this is that "cjpeg -quality 85 -smooth 10" is probably a
good starting point for converting GIFs. But if you really care about the
image, you'll want to check the results and maybe try a few other settings.
---------------------
For more information about JPEG in general or the free JPEG software in
particular, contact the Independent JPEG Group at jpeg-info@uunet.uu.net.
| 7
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1,031
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I'm trying to get MH compiled (and then xmh) and I'm having some problems.
I've got mh-6.8, using gcc on SCO 3.2.4. My MH file is listed below. Does
anyone have any suggestions on what I can add to get it to compile??
===========
bin /usr/local/bin
debug off
etc /usr/local/lib/mh
mail /usr/mail
mailgroup mail
mandir /usr/man
manuals gen
chown /bin/chown
editor prompter
remove /bin/mv -f
# if no TCP/IP sendmail is available: change mts entry to sendmail
mts sendmail/smtp
bboards off
bbdelivery off
bbhome /usr/spool/bboards
mf off
pop off
# options SEE BELOW
cc gcc
ccoptions -O -ansi -D__STDC__=0 -DSYSV -DSYSV386 -DSCO -D_SVID
curses -lcurses
ldoptions -s
ldoptlibs
lex lex
sprintf int
sharedlib off
slibdir /usr/local/lib
oldload off
ranlib off
# define BIND only of the BSD4.3 named (TCP/IP) is used
# define SOCKETS only if the system has BSD4.3 sockets (TCP/IP)
options ATZ BIND DUMB MHE MHRC MORE='"/usr/bin/more"'
options OVERHEAD SHADOW SOCKETS SYS5 SYS5DIR
options TZNAME WHATNOW
| 6
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1,032
|
Greetings all,
Does anyone use some form of 3D input device? I would like to hear any
information on any systems that people are currently using...
Please email responses. I will summarise if I get some feedback.
| 7
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1,033
|
Well, the problem just _might_ be that you can't buy any of these bikes in
North America. (Except the GSXR 400 -> Bandit 400)
| 0
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1,034
|
Getting wierd again?
Okay we have figure out that a mission specifically to Pluto is to large and to
expensive..
Okay what about launching one probe with multiple parts.. Kind of liek the old
MIRV principle of old Cold War Days.
Basically what I mean is design a mother ship that has piggy backed probes for
different missions,namely different planets. Each probe would be tied in with
the mother ship (or earth as the case may be).. This is good when and if we go
for Mars (the MArs mission can act as either Mother ship or relay point for the
probes.
Also the mother ship would be powered (if not the Mars Mission) by a normal
propulsion, but also a solar sail (main reason for solar sail race is to see
what can be done and autmoated?) the sail would get the probes to were they
needed.. I know the asteroid/meteor clouds (and such) might get in the way of a
Sail??
Main reasonf ro mother ship idea is to make it more economoical to send
multiple probes/mission/satellites/exploreres to different places and cut
costs..
The probes could do fly bys or ?? we shall see...
| 12
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1,035
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HELP! I'm stuck here at a computer in New Jersey and have no access to
a radio or TV. Could someone kindly post the score of the Canucks-Jets
game? Thanks in advance.
| 16
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|
Riddle me this. If a god(s) exist why on earth should we grovel? Why on earth
should we give a damm at all? What evidence do you have that if such a
creature(s) exist it deserves anything beyond mild admiration or sheer
hatred for what it/they have done in the past (whichever god(s) you care to
pick). That is assuming any records of their actions are correct.
Religon offers a bliss bubble of self contained reality which is seperate
from the physical world. Any belief system can leave you in such a state
and so can drugs. God(s) are not a requirement. Only if you remove such
useless tappestry can you build a set of morals to build a society upon.
It is that or keep on exterminating those who don't believe (or converting
them).
- Eric
NEW VIRUSES:
| 14
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1,037
|
Next GPS launch is scheduled for June 24th.
| 12
|
1,038
|
but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of
harm."
Proverbs 1:33
| 18
|
1,039
|
Could the guy who wrote the article "Why I am not Bertrand Russell"
resend me a copy?
| 18
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|
Why shouldn't I mind? It sounds as if you are proceeding with just
the sort of obfuscation you have accused me of. I always preceeded
my statements with "it is my understanding that..." Now, I have made
my claim clear with regard to the issue of both the Twelve Imams and
with Khomeini's supposed claim of infalibility. After hearing your
seemingly more knowledgable claim that Khomeini made no such claim
regarding himself, I have withdrawn that portion of my statement
regarding that claim. However, I have received _no_ such response
regarding the infallibility of the Twelve Imams. There is nothing
obfuscationist about my claims, which are always made clearly.
I have received no such clear response regarding the Twelve Imams
but rather abstruse references to unusual metaphysical natures and
other such opaque "concepts" often used by people to camoflage the
baselessness of their positions, particularly in matters of theology.
These are just the sorts of "concepts" used by Christian churches
the perverting of their religion.
Alaikum Wassalam,
| 14
|
1,041
|
An excellent movie. Not essentially about motorcycles, but
a very poignant look at life in rural Ireland.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0
|
1,042
|
=Hmm. The police strategy of bursting in with weapons drawn, clearly marked as
=officers and yelling "Police" repeatedly. This is used every day to bust drug
=houses. The idea is to awe the suspects into submission with surprise and
=display of firepowere in order to avoid a gun fight. As for not knocking, it's
=a sad necessity in many cases since the suspects will attempt to escape or even
=fight. Usually this strategy works; if it didn't, then it wouldn't be used so
=commonly, now would it?
How often is it used when the convoy carrying the brigade is visible for miles
before it reaches the place that's to be searched?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl J Lydick | INTERnet: CARL@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU | NSI/HEPnet: SOL1::CARL
| 8
|
1,043
|
Speaking from experience, one doesn't need drugs to become disoriented
during hospital stays. I was in hosp for 5 days in late Jan; what with
general noise at all hours of night, staff coming every time I turned over,
or whatever, to check me out, I didn't get much sustained sleep at night.
Spent days groggy & dozing, and all it was from my perspective was that I
was TIRED!
| 9
|
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|
>Clipper also allows an extraordinary opportunity for the criminal to
>conceal use of super-encryption. An automated full-system surveillance
>mechanism (quite feasible across radio bandwidth) which knows family key F,
>can validate Clipper wrappers and N:ESN associations, but it cannot reveal
>in realtime the use of super-encryption, unless it knows all unit keys,
>which we are being assured are only to be made available in two separate
>pieces, upon specific wiretap-like order.
The serial number will be in a 64 bit block, with a 34 bit filler. Doesn't
take a lot to check to see if that is correct.
Depends on whether the filler is a constant (makes checking easy,
but susceptible to replay), or variable (e.g. timer, counter, random),
which makes replay harder and can also make it easier for the
inquisitors to know if they've missed messages, or gotten them out of
sequence, or other interesting things that sort of person might care about.
It is still easy to conceal super-encryption, at least until the
inquisitors get ahold of the K key, which can take a while,
presumably not in near-real-time. (Worst-case, in which the escrow agencies
provide the U key to the local cops, still only gets one side of the
conversation per warrant, unless the same key is used for both directions,
which I suppose the CAPSTONE version of the chip will probably insist on.)
| 3
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1,045
|
My school is settinÿûg up a new network with bothe Macs and Apple II's. I'm
used to ethernet, and don't know muÿch about LocalTalk. Two things: first,
in MacWherehouse, btheÿy have PowerUser network connectors, and the caption
leads you to belÿûieve that you can plug them into the phone lines in the
building and have them work. Is this true? I've seen it done by running
sepÿerate phone cords, but never with real lines. Second, if that does work,
could you use a modem ÿhooked up to that same line while the network was
active? Help would be greatly appriciated. BTW-ÿrunning seperate phone line
is out of the question, the network wil VERRY spread o.
EriCronin
_______________________________________________________________________________
Bringing a kind word and a helpful Spirit wherever we can, we are...
-+- THE ASSOCIATION - a multi-line Macintosh BBS in Grand Blanc, Michigan!
Echoes from Fido, InterNet, FamilyNet, ICDMnet, K-12 - PLUS 2Gb files
at 313-695-6955 HST/v.32bis.
___________________________________________________________________ Testify 2.0
| 10
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|
Archive-name: Intel-Unix-X-faq
Last-modified: 30 Mar 1993
Note: This is a major re-organization (and replacement) of my
"Frequently Asked Questions About X386" FAQ list.
This article includes answers to:
I) What options do I have for X software on my Intel-based Unix system?
1. Free options
2. Commercial options
II) What is XFree86 and where do I get it?
3. What is XFree86?
4. What OSs are supported?
5. What video hardware is supported?
6. What about accelerated boards?
7. Why doesn't XFree86 support 16-color VGA modes?
8. What other hardware or software requirements are there?
9. Where can I get source for XFree86?
10. Where can I get binaries for XFree86?
IV) What general things should I know about running XFree86?
11. Installation directories
12. Configuration files
13. Determining VGA dot clocks and monitor modes
14. Rebuilding/reconfiguring the server from the link kit
V) What OS-specific things should I know about running XFree86?
15. SVR4
16. SVR3
17. 386BSD
18. Linux
19. Mach
VI) What things should I know for building XFree86 from source?
VII) Is there anything special about building clients with XFree86?
20. BSD compatibility library
21. ANSICCOPTIONS
This article does NOT include answers to general X questions, since these
are already covered by the X FAQ that is regularly posted by David B. Lewis
<faq%craft@uunet.uu.net>.
If you have anything to add or change on the FAQ just let me know.
(especially if you had a problem that someone else was able to help you with)
Send changes to steve@ecf.toronto.edu, please put 'FAQ' somewhere
in the subject line so that my mail filter will put it in the correct
mail folder.
Please DO NOT ask me questions that are not answered in the FAQ. I do not
have time to respond to these individually. Instead, post your question
to the net, and send me the question and answer together when you get it.
Frequently Asked Questions About X on Intel-based Unix (with answers)
=====================================================================
I) What options do I have for X software on my Intel-based Unix system?
1. Free options
The BEST option is XFree86, which is an enhanced version of X386 1.2.
Any other version of X386 will have slower performance, and will
be more difficult to compile. Information on how to obtain XFree86
is listed below.
X386 is the port of the X11 server to System V/386 that was
done by Thomas Roell (roell@sgcs.com).
It supports a wide variety of SVGA boards.
There are 2 major free versions: X386 1.1 is based on X11R4,
X386 1.2 is included in MIT's X11R5 distribution (ie. you
don't need to patch it into the MIT source any more).
X386 1.3 is the current commercial offering from SGCS (see below).
2. Commercial options
1) Metro Link
2213 W. McNab Road
Pompano Beach, FL 33069
(305) 970-7353
Fax: (305) 970-7351
email: sales@metrolink.com
Summary: OS: QNX, SVR3, SVR4.[012], SCO, UnixWare, LynxOS,
DESQview/X, Venix, ISC, Solaris, Pyramid, SunOS
HW: EGA, VGA, SVGA, TIGA, TARGA, 8514/A, Mach,
S3, WD, Fujistu, Matrox, Microfield Graphics, R33020
Other: Motif, OpenLook/XView, XIE Imaging Extension,
Xv Video Extension, Audio Drivers, Multi Media
2) SGCS (Snitily Graphics Consulting Services)
894 Brookgrove Lane
Cupertino, CA 95014
(800) 645-5501, (408) 255-9665
Fax: (408) 255-9740
email: info@sgcs.com or ...!mips!zok!info
Summary: OS: SVR3.2, SVR4
HW: 8514/A (ATI Ultra), S3 (Diamond Stealth), SVGA
Other: Motif, Dual-headed server
3) Consensys Corporation
1301 Pat Booker Rd.
Universal City, TX 78148
Phone: 1-800-388-1896
FAX: 1-416-940-2903
email: info@consensys.com
Summary: OS: Consensys V4.2, Consensys' version of
Unix System V Release 4.2
HW: X11R4 server support for VGA, SVGA
Other: MoOLIT, Motif, X11R5 Clients
4) The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
p.o. box 1900
Santa Cruz, California 95061
(408) 425 7222, (800) SCO UNIX,
FAX: (408) 458 4227
email: info@sco.com
Summary: OS: ODT 1.1, ODT 2.0, SCO Unix 3.2v4
HW: X11R4 server support for SVGA, 8514/A, S3, TMS340x0,
WD90C31, XGA2, assorted local bus (see SCO Hardware
Compatabilty Guide for actual card vendors).
Other: Motif
5) Answer Software & Consulting
p.o. box 14171
Columbus, Ohio 43214
614-263-XLAB
email: sales@x4coher.com
Summary: OS: Coherent 4.0.1r72 or greater
HW: works with any VESA compliant video
NOTE: Other commercial vendors (including OS vendors describing
bundled software) are welcome to submit summary information
summary information such as the above.
II) What is XFree86 and where do I get it?
3. What is XFree86?
XFree86 is an enhanced version of X386 1.2, which was distributed with
X11R5. This release consists of many bug fixes, speed improvements, and
other enhancements. Here are the highlights of the enhancements:
1) The SpeedUp package from Glenn Lai is an integral part of XFree86,
selectable at run-time via the Xconfig file. Some SpeedUps require
an ET4000 based SVGA, and others require a virtual screen width of
1024. The SpeedUps suitable to the configuration are selected by
default. With a high-quality ET4000 board (VRAM), this can yield
up to 40% improvement of the xStones benchmark over X386 1.2.
2) The fX386 packages from Jim Tsillas are included as the default
operating mode if SpeedUp is not selected. This mode is now
equivalent in performance to X386 1.1b (X11R4), and approximately
20% faster than X386 1.2.
3) Support for LOCALCONN, compile-time selectable for server, clients,
or both. This support is for both SVR3.2 and SVR4. For SVR4.0.4
with the 'Advanced Compatibility Package', local connections from
SCO XSight/ODT clients are supported.
4) Drivers for ATI and Trident TVGA8900C and TVGA9000 SVGA chipsets.
Refer to the files README.ati and README.trident for details about
the ATI and Trident drivers.
5) Support for compressed bitmap fonts has been added (Thomas Eberhardt's
code from the contrib directory on export.lcs.mit.edu).
6) Type1 Font code from MIT contrib tape has been included, and is
compile-time selectable. There are contributed Type1 fonts in the
contrib directory on export.lcs.mit.edu.
7) New configuration method which allows the server's drivers and font
renderers to be reconfigured from both source and binary
distributions.
8) Integrated support for 386BSD, Mach, and Linux.
9) A monochrome version of the server which will run on generic VGA
cards is now included.
The following key features were added with the release of XFree86 1.2
(they were not in XFree86 1.1):
1) The monochrome server has been enhanced to do bank-switching of
available SVGA memory to allow virtual screens up to 1600x1200
(see the X386(1) manual page for more information).
2) Support for the Hercules mono card has been added to the
monochrome server, and with it the ability to support a "two
headed" server - one VGA, and one Hercules. So far this has only
been tested on SVR4 (it is also reported to work under Linux).
3) SVR3 shared libraries, tested under ISC SVR3 2.2 and 3.0.1.
4) Support for SVR4.2 (There are some special considerations to
consider, due to new USL bugs; see the README.SVR4 file for
more information.)
5) Support for PS/2 mice, and Logitech MouseMan/TrackMan (some
versions of these devices were not previously compatible).
6) A new tutorial on how to develop correct video card and monitor
timing data, written by Eric Raymond (derived from previous
documentation and a lot of experimentation).
7) Greatly improved support for international keyboards, including
implementation of the Compose key functionality found on many
vendor servers (see the X386keybd(1) manual page for more
information).
8) The accuracy with which the server detects SVGA pixel clocks has
been improved, and the timings are now stored at accuracies of
0.1 MHz. Users may want to consider removing an existing Clocks
line from their Xconfig file and re-probing using the new server.
9) Many enhancements in error handling and parsing of the Xconfig
configuration file. Error messages are much more informative
and intuitive, and more validation is done. There are many new
options that can be enabled in the Xconfig file (see the X386(1)
manual page for more information on the format of this file).
Plus a number of other small things. Refer to the CHANGELOG file
in the source distribution for full details.
Also included are a tutorial on monitor timing by Eric Raymond, and the
current X386 mode database and a sample xdm configuration by David Wexelblat.
4. What OSs are supported?
XFree86 supports:
SVR4.2: Consensys V4.2
SVR4.0: Microport, Dell, Esix, ISC, AT&T, MST, Consensys, UHC
SVR3: ISC 2.2 & 3.0, AT&T 2.2
Linux, Mach 386, 386BSD 0.1
BSD/386 is not supported, but it should work. The most active
BSD/386 person is Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.de>.
Note that Esix 3.2D and SCO are not supported yet,
but anyone should feel free to submit patches.
If you are interested in tackling this, send mail to
xfree86@physics.su.oz.au
5. What video hardware is supported?
At this time, XFree86 1.2 supports the following SVGA chipsets:
Tseng ET4000
Tseng ET3000
Paradise PVGA1
Western Digital WD90C00, WD90C10, WD90C11 (these are supersets of
the PVGA1, and use its driver)
Genoa GVGA
Trident TVGA8900C, TVGA9000
ATI 18800, 28800
All of the above are supported in both 256 color and monochrome modes,
with the exception of the ATI chipsets, which are only supported in
256 color mode.
The monochrome server also supports generic VGA cards, using 64k of
video memory in a single bank, and the Hercules card. On the
ET3000, only 64k of video memory is supported for the monochrome
server, and the GVGA has not been tested with more than 64k.
It appears that some of the SVGA card manufacturers are going to
non-traditional mechanisms for selecting pixel-clock frequencies. To
avoid having to modify the server to accommodate these schemes XFree86
1.2 adds support for using an external program to select the pixel
clock. This allows programs to be written as new mechanisms are
discovered. Refer to the README.clkprog file for information on how
these programs work, if you need to write one. If you do develop such
a program, the XFree86 team would be interested in including it with
future XFree86 releases.
If you are purchasing new hardware for the purpose of using XFree86,
it is suggested that you purchase an ET4000-based board such as the
Orchid ProDesigner IIs. Avoid recent Diamond boards; XFree86 will not
work with them, because Diamond won't provide programming details.
In fact, the XFree86 project is actively not supporting new Diamond
products, as long as such policies remain in effect. Contributions
of code will NOT be accepted (because of the potential liabilities).
If you would like to see this change, tell Diamond about it.
Some people have asked if XFree86 would work with local bus or EISA
video cards. Theoretically, the means of communication between the
CPU and the video card is irrelevant to Xfree86 compatibility. It
could be ISA, EISA, or local bus. What should matter is the chipset
on the video card. Unfortunately, the developers don't have a lot
of access to EISA or VLB machines, so this is largely an untested
theory. However, we have yet to see any reports of things not
working on one of these buses and we have several reports of Xfree86
working fine on them.
6. What about accelerated boards?
At this time, there is no support in XFree86 for accelerated boards
like the S3, ATI Ultra (8514/A), TIGA, etc. This support is available
in commercial products from SGCS and MetroLink (for SVR3 and SVR4).
An S3 server is available for 386BSD and Linux. Contact
<hasty@netcom.com> for 386BSD or <jon@robots.ox.ac.uk> for Linux.
A beta 8514/A server is available for Linux. Contact <martin@cs.unc.edu>
or <jon@robots.ox.ac.uk>. Note: these servers are NOT part of XFree86.
7. Why doesn't XFree86 support 16-color VGA modes?
The reason that this is not supported is the way VGA implements the
16-color modes. In 256-color modes, each byte of frame buffer memory
contains 1 pixel. But the 16-color modes are implemented as bit-
planes. Each byte of frame- buffer memory contains 1 bit from each
of each of 8 pixels, and there are four such planes. The MIT frame-
buffer code is not designed to deal with this. If VGA handled
16-color modes by packing 2 4-bit pixels into each byte, the MIT code
could be modified to support this (or it already may; I'm not sure).
But for the VGA way of doing things, a complete new frame-buffer
implementation is required. Some beta testers are looking into this,
but nothing is yet available from the project.
8. What other hardware or software requirements are there?
Obviously, a supported SVGA board and OS are required. To run
X efficiently, 12-16MB of memory should be considered a minimum.
The various binary releases take 10-40MB of disk space, depending
on the OS (e.g. whether or not it supports shared libraries).
To build from sources, at least 80MB of free disk space will
be required, although 120MB should be considered a comfortable
lower bound.
9. Where can I get source for XFree86?
Source patches for the current version (1.2, based on X11R5 PL22
from MIT), are available via anonymous FTP from:
export.lcs.mit.edu (under /contrib/XFree86)
ftp.physics.su.oz.au (under /XFree86)
ftp.win.tue.nl (under /pub/XFree86)
(For the rest of this FAQ, these 3 location will be called $FTP)
Refer to the README file under the specified directory for information
on which files you need to get to build your distribution.
10. Where can I get binaries for XFree86?
Binaries are available via anonymous FTP from:
ftp.physics.su.oz.au - SVR4 binaries
under /XFree86/SVR4
ftp.win.tue.nl - SVR4 binaries
under /pub/XFree86/SVR4
ferkel.ucsb.edu - SVR4 binaries
under /pub/SVR4/XFree86
stasi.bradley.edu - SVR4 binaries
under /pub/XFree86/SVR4
blancmange.ma.utexas.edu - SVR3 (ISC) binaries
under /pub/ISC
ftp.prz.tu-berlin.de - SVR3 (ISC) binaries
under /pub/pc/isc/XFree86
tsx-11.mit.edu - Linux binaries
under /pub/linux/packages/X11
agate.berkeley.edu - 386BSD binaries
under /pub/386BSD/0.1-ports/XFree86
ftp.cs.uwm.edu - Mach binaries
under /i386
Ensure that you are getting XFree86 1.2 - some of these sites may
archive older releases as well. Each binary distribution will
contain a README file that describes what files you need to take
from the archive, and which compile-time option selections were
made when building the distribution.
IV) What general things should I know about running XFree86?
11. Installation directories
The top-level installation directory is specified by the ProjectRoot
(/usr/X386, by default) variable in config/site.def. Binaries, include
files, and libraries are installed in $ProjectRoot/{bin,include,lib}.
This can be changed when rebuilding from sources, and can be modified
via symbolic links for those OSs that support them. This directory is
nonstandard, and was chosen this way to allow XFree86 to be installed
alongside a commercial/vendor-supplied X implementation.
12. Configuration files
The XFree86 server reads a configuration file ("Xconfig") on startup.
The search path, contents and syntax for this file are documented in
the server manpage, which should be consulted before asking questions.
13. Determining VGA dot clocks and monitor modes
David E Wexelblat (dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com) maintains a database of known
clock settings for VGA cards and monitor settings.
The database is installed in /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc/modeDB.txt, and
is in the source tree under mit/server/ddx/x386/etc. This database is
also available from him (for the latest copy), and is kept on
export.lcs.mit.edu in ~/contrib/X386.modeDB.Z, which is updated
occasionally. Obtain a copy of this database. It just might have the
settings you need. If you create new settings, please send them to
David for inclusion in the database.
If this doesn't help you, the VideoModes.doc (by Eric Raymond) file
with XFree86 contains tutorials on how to come up with these timings.
It may be helpful to start with settings that almost work, and use
this description to get them right. When you do, send the information
to David Wexelblat for inclusion in the database.
NOTE: The old 'clock.exe' program is not supported any more, and
is completely unnecessary. If you need to determine dot
clock values for a new board, remove the 'Clocks' line from
your Xconfig file (if present), and start the server. The
server will probe for clocks itself and print them out.
You can use these values to put a 'Clocks' line into your
Xconfig file, which is not necessary, but will speed up
starting the server in the future.
14. Rebuilding/reconfiguring the server from the link kit
If you have installed the server Binary Link Kit, it is possible to
reconfigure the drivers and font renderers in the server. This is
fully explained in the README file that is available with the link kit.
V) What OS-specific things should I know about running XFree86?
First of all, the server must be installed suid-root (mode 4755).
15. SVR4
Why won't my xterm run properly?
If your kernel is not built with the consem module, you should define
CONSEM=no in you environment. Otherwise xterm won't run.
csh users should use 'setenv CONSEM no'
The Esix console driver patch 403019 is known to cause keymapping
problems with XFree86. It recommended that this patch not be
installed. Alternatively they keymap can be fixed with xmodmap.
16. SVR3
Make sure you look at $FTP/README.ISC, if that's what you are running.
17. 386BSD
Make sure you look at $FTP/README.386BSD.
Also, a separate 386BSD FAQ is maintained by Richard Murphey
<Rich@Rice.edu>. The latest version should be available in the
file XFree86-1.2-386BSD-FAQ at the following ftp sites:
agate.berkeley.edu:/pub/386BSD/0.1-ports/XFree86-1.2
wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors4/386bsd/0.1-ports/XFree86-1.2
grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr:pub/386BSD/0.1-ports/XFree86-1.2
18. Linux
You must be running Linux 0.97pl4 or greater, and have the 4.1 gcc
jump libraries installed.
Make sure the binaries X386, X386mono, xload and xterm are setuid root.
If your kernel doesn't have TCP support compiled in, you'll have to
run the server as "X -pn". The default startup configuration assumes
that TCP is not available. If it is, change the two files
/usr/X386/bin/startx and /usr/X386/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers, removing the
-pn argument to X386.
Make sure /dev/console is either a link to /dev/tty0 or has the major
number 4, minor number 0. Also note that if /dev/console is not
owned by the user running X, then xconsole and xterm will not permit
console output redirection. Xdm will properly change the owner, but
startx won't.
When running xdm from rc.local, you will need to provide it with
a tty, for example "xdm < /dev/console &".
For more detailed information, please read the file README present
with the distribution on tsx-11.mit.edu.
19. Mach
Make sure you look at $FTP/README.Mach.
VI) What things should I know for building XFree86 from source?
This section has been removed from the FAQ, since it is
fully explained in $FTP/README and the OS-specific READMEs.
Please look at those files for information on building XFree86.
VII) Is there anything special about building clients with XFree86?
20. BSD compatibility library
A lot of clients make use of BSD functions like bcopy(), etc.
The default configuration files are set up to link with libXbsd.a
which contains emulation for bcopy(), bzero(), bcmp(), ffs(), random(),
seed(). A better way of providing the 'b' functions is to include
<X11/Xfuncs.h> in source files that call them. Xfuncs.h provides macro
definitions for these in terms of the SYSV 'mem' functions. If you are
linking with a vendor supplied library which calls some of these
functions, then you should link with libXbsd.a
21. ANSICCOPTIONS
This is something that was added to allow a developer to get rid of the
ANSI-ness defined in the default CCOPTIONS without having to rewrite
the entire CCOPTIONS line. For example, with stock MIT, you'd see
something like
CCOPTIONS="-ansi -O2 -fwritable-strings"
and to get rid of the ANSI-ness, the developer would have to put
CCOPTIONS="-O2 -fwritable-strings"
in his Imakefile. With this change, you would see a default of
ANSICCOPTIONS="-ansi"
CCOPTIONS="-O2 -fwritable-strings"
and all the developer would have to put in the Imakefile is:
ANSICCOPTIONS=
to get rid of the ANSI-ness (many X clients will die a horrible death
with -ansi). The effect is even more dramatic in practice, because
CCOPTIONS is actually quite complex. The other issue is that one must
add 'ANSICCOPTIONS=$(ANSICCOPTIONS)' to a PassCDebugFlags definition.
XFree86 Contact Information
Ongoing development planning and support is coordinated by the XFree86
Core Team. At this time the Core Team consists of:
The original "gang of four":
David Dawes <dawes@physics.su.oz.au>
Glenn Lai <glenn@cs.utexas.edu>
Jim Tsillas <jtsilla@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu>
David Wexelblat <dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com>
Those supporting non-SYSV operating systems:
Robert Baron <Robert.Baron@ernst.mach.cs.cmu.edu> [Mach]
Rich Murphey <Rich@Rice.edu> [386BSD]
Orest Zborowski <obz@kodak.com> [Linux]
e-mail sent to <xfree86@physics.su.oz.au> will reach all of the core team.
--------------------------------------------------
Thanks to all the people who already sent me corrections or additions,
especially David Wexelblat (one of the major contributors of updates).
| 6
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|
I don't believe any state licenses herbologists or iridologists.
| 9
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1,048
|
Well, here in Detroit we get to see and hear Don Cherry quite regularly.
The Detroit area picks up Hockey Night in Canada from CBC (ch 9) in
Windsor where we see Don Cherry's Coaches Corner between periods. We
also get to see Don Cherry's Grapevine just before the game. The
Grapevine is a hockey talk show where Don talks to a player or coach
about what else: Hockey. It's actually a pretty good show and Don
isn't as annoying as he is on Coaches Corner. I think this is were
Don got his nickname 'Grapes' but I'm not sure. Don use to coach the
Boston Bruins. I don't know exactly when that was. Could someone fill
me in on this info?
A local radio station here in Detroit (WLLZ) talks to Don every Tuesday
morning. Personally, I've had my fill of Donny! He really pisses me off
sometimes. During the Detroit-Toronto game Monday night on CBC, Don gave
high praise to Doug Gilmour, saying he was a two-way player and not
just a designated goal scorer and that he is probably the best player
in the game because of that. That's fine and I agree that Gilmour
is a good two-way player BUT he said the EXACT same thing about Yzerman
about a month ago on a local radio talk show. What gives?
It seems like he just has a set speech that he changes when he goes from
city to city.
Don Cherry: 'I think <insert star player name for city that he is in>
is the best two-way player in the league today.'
There have been other times (can't remember exactly what he said) that he
basically changed his opinions to match the audience he was talking to.
Someone here on the net said something about how Don criticized Mario
Lemieux but when the time comes for Don to broadcast the Cup playoffs
from the Civic Center (Yes, I think the Pens will make it out of the
Wales Conference) Don will apologize left and right for his remarks about
Lemieux. In my opinion, he is an ass. And I won't change my opinion
if I'm in a different city.
Sorry, if this didn't answer your question better but I just had to get
this off my chest.
| 16
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|
I'd be willing to bet that a majority of the cost difference could be
accounted for by the AF's requirement for superfluous 2167 documentation, 5
or 6 huge requirements and design reviews, travel expenses flying personnel
around to meetings, and over specifying the hardware. I doubt that the
actual fabrication cost in materials and labor would be very different from
SDIO's costs.
| 12
|
1,050
|
In other words, "Nice camera you got dere. It would be a shame if somet'in
wuz ta happen to it..."
Good. Keep thinking critically.
What if the secrecy is actually LESS damaging than the alternative?
Make your own bite-size pieces. We'll wait.
--
| 19
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1,051
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whitsebd@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu (Bryan Whitsell) sent in a list of verses
which he felt condemn homosexuality. mls@panix.com (Michael Siemon) wrote in
response that some of these verses "are used against us only through incredibly
perverse interpretations" and that others "simply do not address the issues."
[remainder of my post deleted] The moderator then made some comments I would
like to address:
If you are referring to the terms "effeminate" and "homosexuals" in
the above passage, I agree that the accuracy of the translation has
been challenged. However, I was simply commenting on the charge that
it is an "incredibly perverse" interpretation to read this as a
condemnation of homosexuality. Such a charge seems to imply that no
reasonable person would ever conclude from the verse that Paul
intended to condemn homosexuality; however, I think I can see how a
reasonable person might very well take this view of the verse.
Therefore I do not believe it is "incredibly perverse" to read it in
this way.
Actually, I wasn't thinking of the church at all. After all, a couple
doesn't have to be married by a minister. A secular justice of the
peace could do the job, and the two people would be married. My point
was that it is easy to find a biblical basis for heterosexual
marriage, but where in the Bible would one get a Christian marriage
between two people of the same sex? And if you do see a biblical
basis for same-sex marriages, how willing would gay Christians be to
"save themselves" for such a marriage and to never have sexual
intercourse with anyone outside of that marriage relationship? Please
note that I am not trying to imply that gay Christians would not be
willing to be so monogamous, I am genuinely interested in hearing
opinions on the subject. I have heard comments from gays in the past
that lead me to believe they regard promiscuity as one of the main
points of being homosexual, yet I tend to doubt that gays who want to
be Christian would advocate such a position. So what is the gay view?
- Mark
| 18
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1,052
|
I have some MICE that have a chip numbered HM8348 and HM8350. I have not
been able to find information on these. Any help would be appreciated.
mcole@nmsu.edu
| 15
|
1,053
|
They can be detached in an emergency. But expensive hardware is not thrown
away casually (bearing in mind that nobody knew the design was defective).
If the deployment crew had found some nasty flaw -- the lid failing to open,
for example -- it would have been a bit embarrassing to have to throw the
solar arrays away to get the thing back in the payload bay.
| 12
|
1,054
|
Sadly understandable...
Yes.
To be fair, you should really qualify this as semitic-western religions, but
you basically go ahead and do this later on anyway.
Again, this should really be evaluated at a personal level. For example, there
was only one Jesus (presumably), and he probably didn't say all that many
things, and yet (seemingly) billions and billions of Christian sects have
arisen. Perhaps there is one that is totally dedicated to rationalism and
believes in Christ as in pantheism. It would seem to go against the Bible, but
it is amazing what people come up with under the guise of "personal
interpretation".
This is a good point. We have here the quintessential Christian: he sets up a
system of values/beliefs for himself, which work very well, and every
event/experience is understandable and deablable within the framework of this
system. However, we also have an individual who has the inability (at least
not without some difficulty) to change, which is important, because the problem
with such a system is the same as with any system: one cannot be open minded to
the point of "testing hypotheses" against the basic premise of the system
without destroying whatever faith is invested therein, unless of course, all
the tests fail. In other words, the *fairer* way would be to test and evaluate
moralities without the bias/responsibility of losing/retaining a system.
Interesting, but again, when it seems to basically boil down to individual
nuances (although not always, I will admit, and probably it is the
mass-oriented divisions which are the most appalling), it becomes irrelevant,
unfortunately.
Granted
In which case the people become the bullets, and the religion, as the gun,
merely offers them a way to more adequately do some harm with themselves, if I
may be so bold as to extend your similie?
Also understandable... ;)
--
best regards,
| 14
|
1,055
|
In the EC, the Corrado VR6 is rated as 'best handling car this side of a
968'. As it goes, I just read an article in 'Autocar & Motor' comparing the
VR6 to a Ford Probe (later to be launched in the UK).... The VR6 is more powerful (even more so coz its 2.9 instead of 2.8 in the EC) and more fun to drive
etc etc... but the Probe has a slightly smoother engine (thanx Mazda MX6!)...
| 4
|
1,056
|
...
That people are at risk and that some die during a hostage situation might
be considered an acceptable scenario in storming a compound.
When EVERYONE dies (save for nine people), including twenty children, the
outcome must be considered a failure.
Now was the failure due to unforseeable circumstances, incompetence, or
negligence? From the double talk and multiple stories I've seen on the news
coming from the FBI and Reno I find "it was an honest mistake" hard to swallow
Let's hope they get their stories straight for the second round of questions.
| 13
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1,057
|
Mr. Sternlight, your naivete and historical ignorance is appalling.
[ History lesson detailing 1968-74 deleted. ]
| 3
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1,058
|
It came from a reseller survey.
I don't recall any FUD here. Maybe an example?
For the most part, this newsgroup is "attack" oriented. Microsoft has been
attacked on anything ranging from the quality of our products, the
intelligence of our people, the integrity of our business, etc. ANYONE
would get defensive when being baselessly attacked. We are human beings as
well. You should expect a response when a claim that an employee might
feel is unwarranted is leveled.
| 17
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1,059
|
Right. People here believe the government is listening in on
everything. Sure. If you can't provide an answer, change the
assumptions to something you can deal with.
It's not a matter of the government listening on on everything, it's a
matter of the government listening on anyone they take an interest in.
Say, if you do something heinous like attend a computer meeting at a
mall, the Secret Service decides to go for a warrantless search, and
acquires your name. It's a matter of any number of possible wiretap
abuses that cryptology makes far less likely, and this chip can
sabotage.
Par for the course, though. I predicted that you'd be jumping in in
favor of this. The reply was that you'd justify anything up to and
including death camps as long as the government backed them and had a
written policy statement. Perhaps a little extreme, but not much.
| 3
|
1,060
|
MLB Standings and Scores for Friday, April 23rd, 1993
(including yesterday's games)
NATIONAL WEST Won Lost Pct. GB Last 10 Streak Home Road
San Francisco Giants 10 06 .625 -- 7-3 Won 1 05-02 05-04
Houston Astros 08 06 .571 1.0 7-3 Won 1 02-04 06-02
Atlanta Braves 09 08 .529 1.5 4-6 Lost 1 04-03 05-05
San Diego Padres 06 08 .429 3.0 5-5 Won 1 03-04 03-04
Los Angeles Dodgers 06 10 .375 4.0 3-7 Lost 3 03-03 03-07
Colorado Rockies 05 09 .357 4.0 3-7 Lost 1 03-03 02-06
Cincinnati Reds 05 10 .333 4.5 4-6 Lost 1 02-04 03-06
NATIONAL EAST
Philadelphia Phillies 10 04 .714 -- 7-3 Lost 1 06-02 04-02
Montreal Expos 09 06 .600 1.5 7-3 Won 4 06-03 03-03
St. Louis Cardinals 09 06 .600 1.5 6-4 Won 1 06-03 03-03
Pittsburgh Pirates 08 07 .533 2.5 5-5 Won 1 04-04 04-03
Chicago Cubs 07 07 .500 3.0 5-5 Lost 1 04-04 03-03
New York Mets 07 07 .500 3.0 5-5 Lost 1 03-05 04-02
Florida Marlins 05 10 .333 5.5 3-7 Won 1 03-06 02-04
AMERICAN WEST Won Lost Pct. GB Last 10 Streak Home Road
California Angels 09 04 .692 -- 7-3 Won 3 06-02 03-02
Texas Rangers 08 05 .615 1.0 5-5 Lost 2 04-02 04-03
Minnesota Twins 08 06 .571 1.5 6-4 Won 1 05-04 03-02
Chicago White Sox 07 07 .500 2.5 5-5 Won 2 02-03 05-04
Seattle Mariners 07 08 .467 3.0 4-6 Won 2 05-03 02-05
Oakland Athletics 05 08 .385 4.0 3-7 Lost 2 05-04 00-04
Kansas City Royals 05 10 .333 5.0 5-5 Lost 1 03-06 02-04
AMERICAN EAST
Boston Red Sox 11 05 .688 -- 7-3 Lost 2 06-01 05-04
Detroit Tigers 09 05 .643 1.0 8-2 Won 2 07-01 02-04
New York Yankees 08 07 .533 2.5 5-5 Won 2 03-03 05-04
Toronto Blue Jays 08 07 .533 2.5 5-5 Won 1 04-02 04-05
Milwaukee Brewers 05 07 .417 4.0 4-6 Lost 1 02-02 03-05
Cleveland Indians 05 11 .313 6.0 2-8 Lost 4 04-03 01-08
Baltimore Orioles 04 09 .308 5.5 4-6 Lost 2 02-05 02-04
YESTERDAY'S SCORES
(IDLE teams listed in alphabetical order)
NATIONAL LEAGUE AMERICAN LEAGUE
San Diego Padres 2 Boston Red Sox 0
Philadelphia Phillies 1 Seattle Mariners 7
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 Chicago White Sox 3
Montreal Expos 3 Baltimore Orioles 2
Cincinnati Reds 4 Milwaukee Brewers 4
Pittsburgh Pirates 5 Minnesota Twins 5
Atlanta Braves 3 Toronto Blue Jays 6
Florida Marlins 4 Kansas City Royals 3
Colorado Rockies 2 Cleveland Indians 0
St. Louis Cardinals 5 California Angels 8
San Francisco Giants 13 New York Yankees 5
New York Mets 4 Oakland Athletics 1
Chicago Cubs IDLE Detroit Tigers IDLE
Houston Astros IDLE Texas Rangers IDLE
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Hernandez | RAMS | | /.\ ******* _|_|_ / | LAKERS
jtchern@ocf.Berkeley.EDU | KINGS | |__ | | DODGERS _|_|_ | | RAIDERS
jtcent@soda.Berkeley.EDU | ANGELS |____||_|_| ******* | | |___| CLIPPERS
| 11
|
1,061
|
The whire wheels aren't chromed, they were to be painted silver/grey.
The accelerating from a stop shouldn't be "doggy" because of the light
weight of the car.
Don't pull the topto make it reach the snaps, I pulled a couple out of
the top doing that. Replacing the spanps usually doesn't work. Let it
sit in th e sun, open on the car for a couple hours, the try, GENTLY!!!!
I continually blew up the #4 connecting rod bearing, be sure your not
buring too much oil.
Don't expect too much of a smooth ride. The lever arm shocks hold the
road, and your bladder. The are ultra-expensive. Supposedly the can be
rebuilt. J. C. Whitney sell a shock replacement kit the uses standard
shocks.
I had to rebuid boththe brake and clutch master cylinder, in addition to
the clutch slave. This work made a world of changes.
Be sure the carb is the original type replacement. My 1970 had dual
Stomberg oil dampenned side draft carbs.
Ask if the clutch has ever been replaced. To replace the engine and
tranny have to be pulled as a unit.
| 4
|
1,062
|
I use it to refer to those Christians who take a more
conservative-literalist approach to the Bible, as distinct from
"liberals".
I would use the word "Christian" (unqualified) to describe someone to
whom the above definition applied. BTW, it applies to me.
[deletia: Joe Gaut indicates his interest in the BD disaster is from a
civil liberties issue, not an attempt to justify Koresh's beliefs
and/or practices.]
I agree with Joe about this: if some group wants to believe in
whatever god or Invisible Pink Unicorns and go off and live together
and have group sex, or no sex, or sex only for the leaders (but NOT
with children), then, as much as I might believe them to be misguided,
I think they should have the legal right. And I hope the
investigation will start by determining whether the feds had any
*legitimate* reason for going after Koresh in the first place (before
moving on to consider the wisdom of various tactics used).
[Joe goes on to dispute the child-abuse allegations. I'll
(provisionally) accept this, unless someone has evidence to support
the allegations?]
Actually I wasn't thinking about the (alleged) child abuse, but about
the reports that he had sex with, and fathered children by, several
women in the cult. I agree this is not a legal matter - consenting
adults and all that - but Stephen Tice seems to be defending Koresh's
beliefs and practices from specifically *Christian* perspective, not a
civil liberties perspective.
I think my question is not really aimed at Joe (and possibly not at
Ray Cote either, who seems to also be taking the political angle), but
at Stephen Tice.
| 8
|
1,063
|
This discussion on "objective" seems to be falling into solipsism (Eg: the
recent challenge from Frank Dwyer, for someone to prove that he can actually
observe phenomena). Someones even made the statement that science is
"subjective" and that even atom are "subjective." This is getting a bit silly
and the word "objective" is losing all meaning. Lets start by remembering the
definition of "objective" which has been already presented:
objective ADJ. 1. Of or having to do with a material object as
distinguished from a mental concept. 2. Having actual existence.
3.a. Unenfluenced by emotion or personal prejudice. b. Based on
observable phenomenon.
The Objectivity of a thing is not based on whether everyone agrees on that
thing (eg: the world is objectively round, regardless of the fact that there
exist flat earthers), but rather whether it is based observable and verifiable
phenomenon (instead of being based solely on peoples wishes, feeling, mental
processes, etc). Thus atoms, being based on very observable and repeatable
phenomenon, are indeed considered to be objective rather than subjective.
Even weird, high energy physics is based on observable phenomenon (even though
that observation can change the outcome). Nor are those observable phenomenon
affected by emotion, or personal prejudice (eg: chemical reactions do not
change to the whims of different people). Thus to say that science is not
objective (ie: objectively verifiable) is a bit silly, as that is the
point of science. Now I will agree that science is not objectively "good;" I
will not thereby conclude though that science is not objective.
Now some examples things which are "objective": A D-12 tractor is larger
than the average breadbox. Chlorophyll is green. Seawater contains salt.
There exists ozone in the atmosphere (at least presently). Ozone blocks
ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light increases the incidents of skin Cancer.
"Good" on the other hand is a value judgement. It doesn't seem to have an
existence apart from what we give it (unless someone can objectively show the
existence of an omnipotent entity which has defined "good"). We cannot
quantify it, touch it or collect it in any concrete sense (eg: I have a bag
full of "good"). Now we do sometimes attempt to give the word "good" an
objective meaning, e.g. "good" has been used to denote strength, resiliency,
speed, etc. That though, is a subjective definition, as some might not see
"strength" and etc, as necessarily "good" (eg: strength inspired by Naziism
is not generally viewed as "good").
As to a morality, I cannot say that I have ever seen a morality strictly based
on verifiable observable phenomenon. The closest I have seen is some form of
the "Golden Rule," which concludes that it is best not to deliberately piss
people off, as they will likely then involve themselves in your life, in a
manner you won't like. This is verifiable; when you "get in someone's face,"
they will often retaliate. Another objective fact about morality is that a
more powerful group can enforce their morality on a weaker group, and thus can
at times, ignore that form of the "Golden Rule" without fear of reprisal. Now
as to whether this enforcing of morality is "good" or "bad," is quite
subjective. By the way, remember that subjective does not mean that a thing
cannot be formally stated, or even commonly agreed upon; it only means that
that it is not verifiable from observable phenomena, or has a physical
existence unto itself. Also note that I have not stated that there is no such
thing as an objective morality, or that I could not accept any such a
morality; I have simply stated that I have seen no evidence of any such
morality.
One other thing to notice, "objective" is many times used as synonymous with
"true" and/or "absolute," and "subjective" sometimes has the connotation of
"false" and/or "relative." Tain't necessarily so. For instance, when a
conclusion is based on objective, but insufficient evidence, then it can be
both objective and false. As to "absolute," it is easy to note that while we
can objectively show that TNT is explosive, but that does not absolutely mean
that all TNT will explode, and thus objective is not necessarily absolute
either. On the other hand, something subjective can also be either
"absolutist," or "true." For instance, there are some theists who are
specifically "absolutist" in their morality, even though they have only
subjective evidence to back it up. Further, many a scientist and detective
has been motivated by subjective reasons (eg: a "gut feeling" or "hunch"), to
investigate a phenomena or situation, and gather the objective evidence
necessary to support a true hypothesis. On the whole though, I would have to
agree that objective evidence is much more trustworthy than subjective
evidence.
Later,
Dave Butler
| 8
|
1,064
|
I recently watched a an episode of "The Old West" a TV show on the
Discovery Channel (or perhaps the A&E Network), the one hosted by Kenny
Rogers. This episode was all about the Mormons and how they settled Utah,
etc.
A large portion of the broadcast was about the "Mountain Meadows Massacre".
The program very specifically pointed out that Brigham Young knew nothing
about the incident until long after it had happened (before telegraph), and
it occured as a result of several men inciting a bunch of paronoid Moromn
settlers into what amounted to a mob. All participants in the incident were
prosecuted and eccomunicated from the LDS Church.
I suggest you watch a rerun of that episode (they play them over and over)
and see what they (non-Mormons) have to say about it.
Lance
| 8
|
1,065
|
comments :
^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There is a BIG difference between the status of what you refer to as
Alexandrians (actually, this includes all Oriental Orthodox Churches
and not only Copts) and that of Nestorians. The Oriental Orthodox
Churches never even "shelter" Eutyches (the advocator of Monophysitism)
but on the contrary, it condemned (and still does condemn) him and his
heresy. That is why the Eastren (Chalcedonian) Orthodox Church held
talks with the Oriental (non-Chalcedonian) that started 30 years ago
and still continueing till today, but they have converged on many
issues the most imporatant of which is Christology (I have more
details of the inter-Orthodox dialogue, in case anyone is interested).
So I do not see how the "Alexandrians" and the Nestorians are in a
similar position.
Peace,
| 18
|
1,066
|
Well, GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format and was put forth by
Compuserve back in 1987(?) or so. It was to create a format that could be
read and displayed by any system. GIF is limited to 8 bit color but has
a built in compression scheme (LZW?).
IFF is not really a graphics format, but rather a standard way to package
images, sounds, animations, text, or whatever into one file. IFF was
created by Electronic Arts, I do believe (I could be wrong), for the Amiga.
It was quickly adopted as pretty much the standard file format for the Amiga.
The most common image format for the IFF package is an ILBM (InterLeaved
BitMap?) but many others exist. This format supports 24 bit color images.
Information on both of these and many more are available via anonymous ftp at
zamenhof.cs.rice.edu in the directory /pub/graphics.formats
(Taken from the FAQ for this news group.) :)
| 7
|
1,067
|
Simple. First, Andrew is correct, although I can see where there might be
some confusion. It is indeed possible to have two cards *configured* to use
the same interrupt. They can not *share* the interrupt in the sense that it
is not possible to have both cards active at the same time.
Here is an example. For some time, I was short of "free interrupts." I had a
tape controller (not a "floppy tape") that needed one of IRQ0-IRQ7. (It's an
*old* tape drive.) My solution was to use IRQ3 (also used for COM2, where my
modem is). I did this because I reasoned I would never be using the modem and
the tape simultaneously. When kermit runs, it installs its own interrupt
handler for IRQ3 and uses the serial port. If the tape drive were to generate
an interrupt, kermit would not have a clue what to do with/for the tape
controller. (And since the tape controller would not be serviced, it would
most likely "hang.") Likewise, when the tape backup software runs, it
installs an interrupt handler for IRQ3. That handler won't do anything for
the serial port.
Under DOS, printing is NOT interrupt-driven. Instead, the BIOS polls the
status of the parallel port to determine when another byte may be sent.
That's why you can have your sound card and LPT1 both configured to use IRQ7.
Try that on NT and see how far you'll get. :-)
--
Kenneth R. Ballou VOICE: (617) 494-0990
Oberon Software, Inc. FAX: (617) 494-0414
One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142 Internet: ballou@oberon.com
| 5
|
1,068
|
Emu Emax II Rackmount Sampler w/ 16 Bit Stereo Sampling
3 stereo inputs, 6 outs.
Internal Sequencer
32 voice polyphony
170 meg internal HD
Stock ram (2 meg I think)
Perfect Condition
5 months old
| 1
|
1,069
|
Well maintained chains, running in oil, without those little rubber 'O' rings
to cause frictional losses, might reach 99% efficiency. The average open to
the dust 'O' ring motorcycle chain probably has a difficult job making 90%
efficient.
Tony
| 0
|
1,070
|
Terry McCandlish, president of my local BMW club (Buckeye Beemers)
sells this type of tape. It comes as a strip approximately 3" x 12"
and can be cut to sizes needed.
You can call Terry at (614) 837-1960 (Columbus, Ohio).
| 0
|
1,071
|
very good.
| 9
|
1,072
|
Contradicting itself on facts, for example.
| 8
|
1,073
|
The subject says it all. I bought Adobe Type Manager and find it completely
useless. I ftped some atm fonts and couldn't install them. What's the use?
Are you supposed to be able to convert ATM fonts to Truetype?
If there's anyone out there who has this program and actually finds it
useful, enlighten me!
| 7
|
1,074
|
Too many MDs on the list and not enough RNs in my opinion.
Doug
| 13
|
1,075
|
Does anyone have any real experience with the Kubota Kenai/Denali
series of graphics workstations? They pretty much blow the pants
off SGI machines and Sun machines in the same price point, which
is about 50,000 bucks. Real nice stuff, but I've only seen the
stuff on paper. I'm wondering, is there anything NOT to like? The
specs are too massive to get into here, but if a summary is desired
I could be coaxed into uploading the spec sheet.
| 7
|
1,076
|
To: ashwin@cc.gatech.edu (Ashwin Ram)
AR>Does the "Thermoscan" instrument really work? It is supposed to give you a
ABSOLUTELY!
Ya don't have to do the other end!
(it is accurate - but technique is important)
cccbbs!rob.welder@uceng.uc.edu
| 9
|
1,077
|
First of all, I wouldn't have gone after the Davidians for a firearms
violation which I object to in the first place. Second, I wouldn't
have executed a search warrant via an armed assault when all the
Davidians were sure to have been there. Third of all, I wouldn't have
cut off all outside communication to Koresh. And I certainly wouldn't
have gone in with a tank-- time was on the FBIs side. Since they had
outside resupply, they could wait indefinitely.
| 13
|
1,078
|
----------
| 12
|
1,079
|
I am seeking any press references to how much tax Perot pays in income taxes.
I've heard the figure of 7 percent, since he gets most of his
his income from federal and municipal bond interest. Anybody read a reliable
report somewhere? Thanks!
| 13
|
1,080
|
Only on the FRONT wheel. Use the lever on the right
handlebar to accomplish this.
Michael
| 0
|
1,081
|
I've found mine ('93 Probe GT) to do quite well.
[window problem deleted, artical has been trimmed]
I've not had any of the air or leakage problems that have been reported but
do get the squeal that Bill describes. I live in Seattle so the wet weather
may be a factor.
If I recall correctly I got two keys.
This is true. I'm wondering if this may be a safety concern. IE, if people
pound on the place where the airbag lives...
No opinion.
The 5 speed is much more fun. We opted for the automatic for a number of
reasons but it's still fun, and in some ways more practical.
Ditto.
I too would suspect that this may be true.
Yes!
Ditto.
Agree. Check it out. I don't mind it but would say that if it was much
stiffer it might be a problem. (How about the '93 R1 RX-7 for suspension?!)
True.
I've had this problem and read about it. (or at least I assume the one
I had was the one I read about :-). In any case what happened was the
weld between the muffler and the pipe feeding it (ok, so I'm not a mechanic)
broke. In my case the dealer welded it, ordered replacement parts and
put them on when they got them. I suspect this is some sort of 1) design
flaw, or 2) production flaw. In any case I have an earlier model and would
expect it to be worked out on newer ones. In any case it is a warrantee
repair. (or they get the keys back!)
I second this. There seems to be some things that slipped through but the
car seems very sound. While not perfection (what is) you get an awful
lot for your money.
BTW, Bill has a Probe mailing list. You might want to subscribe to it if
you are interested in more detail. Try request-ford-probe@world.std.com
(did I get that right? never can remember if the request goes on the
front or the back :-)
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I'm having an interesting problem with my girlfriend's car. Before
I delve into its innards, I thought I'd check "net.wisdom" on the
subject. :)
It's a 1985 Buick Skyhawk (I know...I know)
2.0l EFI 4-banger
auto
35k miles
When I drive tha car long enough to get it hot (especially at
highways speeds) the transmission has this nasty habit of
getting "stuck" in 3rd gear. As a result, when you stop for
a light the motor stalls. Putting the car in park, and waiting
for 30-60 seconds before restarting sometimes allows the transmission
to "reset" and go back into 1st. Otherwise, it just stalls when
put in drive.
My thoughts: Either it the 3rd gear band is binding and getting
stuck when it gets hot (not so likely) or perhaps the lock-up
converter is not disengaging properly (seems likely). The least
likely (keeping fingers crossed) is that some critical vacuum
hose has broken/cracked and this behaviour is due to lack of
vaccuum somewhere (as used to happen with old modulator valves).
My background is that my father owns a service station and
I worked there on and off from 10-19 years of age. Please
feel free to be as technical as you want. :)
I'd appreciate hearing any tips/suggestions/offers of free
beer. <grin>
Skoal,
| 4
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|
To big for a .sig?
No way!
Keith " Home of the billdboard .sig files " Ryan
=)
---
Private note to Jennifer Fakult.
"This post may contain one or more of the following:
sarcasm, cycnicism, irony, or humor. Please be aware
of this possibility and do not allow yourself to be
confused and/or thrown for a loop. If in doubt, assume
all of the above.
| 14
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'Alone'? Sorry, but the following western scholars are forced to disagree
with you. During the First World War and the ensuing years - 1914-1920,
the Armenians through a premeditated and systematic genocide,
tried to complete its centuries-old policy of annihilation against
the Turks and Kurds by savagely murdering 2.5 million Muslims and
deporting the rest from their 1,000 year homeland.
The attempt at genocide is justly regarded as the first instance
of Genocide in the 20th Century acted upon an entire people.
This event is incontrovertibly proven by historians, government
and international political leaders, such as U.S. Ambassador Mark
Bristol, William Langer, Ambassador Layard, James Barton, Stanford
Shaw, Arthur Chester, John Dewey, Robert Dunn, Papazian, Nalbandian,
Ohanus Appressian, Jorge Blanco Villalta, General Nikolayef, General
Bolkovitinof, General Prjevalski, General Odiselidze, Meguerditche,
Kazimir, Motayef, Twerdokhlebof, General Hamelin, Rawlinson, Avetis
Aharonian, Dr. Stephan Eshnanie, Varandian, General Bronsart, Arfa,
Dr. Hamlin, Boghos Nubar, Sarkis Atamian, Katchaznouni, Rachel
Bortnick, Halide Edip, McCarthy, W. B. Allen, Paul Muratoff and many
others.
J. C. Hurewitz, Professor of Government Emeritus, Former Director of
the Middle East Institute (1971-1984), Columbia University.
Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern History,
Princeton University.
Halil Inalcik, University Professor of Ottoman History & Member of
the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, University of Chicago.
Peter Golden, Professor of History, Rutgers University, Newark.
Stanford Shaw, Professor of History, University of California at
Los Angeles.
Thomas Naff, Professor of History & Director, Middle East Research
Institute, University of Pennsylvania.
Ronald Jennings, Associate Professor of History & Asian Studies,
University of Illinois.
Howard Reed, Professor of History, University of Connecticut.
Dankwart Rustow, Distinguished University Professor of Political
Science, City University Graduate School, New York.
John Woods, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History,
University of Chicago.
John Masson Smith, Jr., Professor of History, University of
California at Berkeley.
Alan Fisher, Professor of History, Michigan State University.
Avigdor Levy, Professor of History, Brandeis University.
Andreas G. E. Bodrogligetti, Professor of History, University of California
at Los Angeles.
Kathleen Burrill, Associate Professor of Turkish Studies, Columbia University.
Roderic Davison, Professor of History, George Washington University.
Walter Denny, Professor of History, University of Massachusetts.
Caesar Farah, Professor of History, University of Minnesota.
Tom Goodrich, Professor of History, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Tibor Halasi-Kun, Professor Emeritus of Turkish Studies, Columbia University.
Justin McCarthy, Professor of History, University of Louisville.
Jon Mandaville, Professor of History, Portland State University (Oregon).
Robert Olson, Professor of History, University of Kentucky.
Madeline Zilfi, Professor of History, University of Maryland.
James Stewart-Robinson, Professor of Turkish Studies, University of Michigan.
.......so the list goes on and on and on.....
As for the genocide of the Azeri people by the Armenians:
Source: Channel 4 News at 19.00, Monday 2 March 1992.
2 French journalists have seen 32 corpses of men, women and children
in civilian clothes. Many of them shot dead from their heads as close
as less than 1 meter.
Source: BBC1 Morning news at 07.37, Tuesday 3 March 1992.
BBC reporter was live on line and he claimed that he saw more than 100
bodies of Azeri men, women and children as well as a baby who are shot
dead from their heads from a very short distance.
Source: BBC1 Morning news at 08:12, Tuesday 3 March 1992.
Very disturbing picture has shown that many civilian corpses who were
picked up from mountain. Reporter said he, cameraman and Western
Journalists have seen more than 100 corpses, who are men, women,
children, massacred by Armenians. They have been shot dead from their
heads as close as 1 meter. Picture also has shown nearly ten bodies
(mainly women and children) are shot dead from their heads. Azerbaijan
claimed that more than 1000 civilians massacred by Armenian forces.
Serdar Argic
| 2
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1,085
|
Well, it's closer to Bryce than Bryce is to Arches. I'd spend a lot
of time studying the maps, there's a lot of "you can't get there from
here" in that area. You might want to hit the Grand Canyon on the way
up from California, loop around to Canyonlands/Moab/Arches, and then
back down towards Bryce & Zion on the way home.
Make sure you ride US 12 between Capitol Reef and Bryce, it's been on a
number of "top 10 roads" lists.
A nice booklet detailing a lot of interesting paved (Byways) and unpaved
(Backways) roads can be ordered from the Utah Travel Council. I think
you can also get a state map from them just for asking.
Utah Byways and Backways
$4.00 (US)
Utah Travel Council
Council Hall
Capitol Hill
Salt Lake City, UT 84114
(801) 583-1030
| 0
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|
Archive-name: macintosh/general-faq
Version: 2.1.3
Last-modified: April 16, 1993
Copyright 1993, Elliotte Harold
Changes:
2.1: Where can I FTP Macintosh software?
I added the ftp site anl.anl.fr.
2.5: What is .bin? .hqx? .cpt? .image? .etc.?
Disk Doubler will decode Packit archives. Binhex 5.0
will decode MacBinary files, NOT StuffIt files as the
last version erroneously indicated.
2.7: I added the question
How can I get Binhex, StuffIt etc. from a PC?
comp.sys.mac.faq
Part 1: An Introduction to the Macintosh Newsgroups
I. Introduction
1. How do I use this document?
2. What other information is available?
3. Which newsgroup should I post to?
4. Someone just asked why the System was taking up sixteen
megabytes on their IIcx. Shouldn't I display my knowledge
to the world by posting the seventeenth response to
their question?
II. FTP
1. Where can I FTP Macintosh software?
2. Can I get shareware by E-mail?
3. Where can I find Application X?
4. Can someone mail me Application X?
5. What is .bin? .hqx? .cpt? .image? .etc.?
6. How can I get BinHex? StuffIt? etc.?
7. How can I get BinHex, StuffIt, etc. from a PC?
III. Troubleshooting. What to do when things go wrong
1. Identify the problem.
2. Read the READ ME file.
3. Check for viruses.
4. Reinstall the application and all its support files.
5. Reinstall the system software.
6. Isolate the problem.
7. Contact technical support.
IV. Preventive Maintenance
1. Trash Unneeded Files
2. Reevaluate Your Extensions
3. Rebuild the desktop.
4. Zap the PRAM and Reset the Clock
5. Resize the system heap.
6. Reinstall the system software.
7. Disk Utilities
8. Backing Up
9. Disk Defragmentation
10. Reformatting and partitioning your hard disk
Other FAQ lists currently available:
B. comp.sys.mac.system:
I. Memory
1. Why is my system using so much memory?
2. What is Mode 32? the 32-bit enabler? Do I need them?
3. Cache and Carry (How much memory should I allot to my cache?)
II. System Software
1. Why does Apple charge for System 7.1?
2. What does System 7.1 give me for my $35 that System 7.0 doesn't?
3. Where can I get System 7.1?
4. How can I use System 6 on a System 7 only Mac?
5. Non-US scripts and systems
6. What is System 7 Tuneup? Do I need it?
7. Why do my DA's disappear when I turn on MultiFinder?
8. Do I need System 7.0.1?
9. How can I get System 7.0.1 on 800K disks?
III. Hard Disks, Filesharing, and the File System
1. Help! My folder disappeared!
2. Why can't I throw this folder away?
3. Why can't I share my removable drive?
4. Why can't I eject this SyQuest cartridge? CD-ROM? etc.
5. Why can't I rename my hard disk?
IV. Miscellaneous:
1. What does System Error XXX mean?
2. What is a Type 1 error?
3. What is A/ROSE?
4. Easy Access or One Answer, Many Questions
C. comp.sys.mac.misc:
I. Viruses
1. Help! I have a virus!
2. Reporting new viruses
II. Printing and PostScript
1. How do I make a PostScript file?
2. How do I print a PostScript file?
3. Why won't my PostScript file print on my mainframe's printer?
4. Why are my PostScript files so big?
5. How can I print PostScript on a non-PostScript printer?
6. How do I make my ImageWriter II print in color?
7. Why doesn't PrintMonitor work with the ImageWriter?
8. Why did my document change when I printed it?
9. How can I preview a PostScript file?
10. How do I edit a PostScript file?
III. DOS and the Mac
1. How can I move files between a Mac and a PC?
2. How can I translate files to a DOS format?
3. Should I buy SoftPC or a real PC?
IV. Security
1. How can I prevent users from changing the contents of a folder?
2. How can I password protect my Mac?
V. No particular place to go (Miscellaneous Miscellanea)
1. Are there any good books about the Mac?
2. How do I take a picture of the screen?
3. How do I use a picture for my desktop?
4. Can I Replace the "Welcome to Macintosh" box with a picture?
5. What is AutoDoubler? SpaceSaver? More Disk Space? Are they safe?
6. How do they compare to TimesTwo, Stacker and eDisk?
7. Where did my icons go?
8. Where can I find a user group?
This work is Copyright 1993 by Elliotte M. Harold. Permission
is hereby granted to distribute this unmodified document provided
that no fee in excess of normal on-line charges is required for
such distribution. Portions of this document may be extracted and
quoted free of charge and without necessity of citation in normal
on-line communication provided only that said quotes are not
represented as the correspondent's original work. Permission for
quotation of this document in printed material and edited on-line
communication (such as the Info-Mac Digest and TidBITS) is given
subject to normal citation procedures (i.e. you have to say where
you got it).
Disclaimer: I do my best to ensure that information contained
in this document is current and accurate, but I can accept no
responsibility for actions resulting from information contained
herein. This document is provided as is and with no warranty of
any kind. Corrections and suggestions should be addressed to
erh0362@tesla.njit.edu.
Apple, Macintosh, LaserWriter, ImageWriter, Finder, HyperCard and
MultiFinder are registered trademarks and PowerBook is a trademark
of Apple Computer, Inc. Linotronic is a registered trademark of
Linotype-Hell AG, Inc. PostScript is a registered trademark and
Illustrator and Photoshop are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc.
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
PageMaker is a registered trademark of Aldus Corp. AutoDoubler
and DiskDoubler are trademarks of Fifth Generation Systems, Inc.
StuffIt and StuffIt Deluxe are trademarks of Raymond Lau and
Aladdin Systems, Inc. StuffIt SpaceSaver is a trademark of Aladdin
Systems, Inc. More Disk Space is a trademark of Alysis Software
Corporation. TimesTwo is a trademark of Golden Triangle Computers,
Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. All other tradenames
are trademarks of their respective manufacturers.
This is the FIRST part of the this FAQ. The second part is
posted to comp.sys.mac.system and features many questions about
system software. The third part is posted every two weeks in
comp.sys.mac.misc. Tables of contents for those two pieces are
included above. Please familiarize yourself with all three
sections of this document before posting.
All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from
rtfm.mit.edu (18.172.1.27) in the directory
pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh. Except for this introductory
FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups and is stored as
general-faq.Z, the name of each file has the format of the last
part of the group name followed by "-faq.Z", e.g the FAQ for
comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq.Z and the FAQ for
comp.sys.mac.misc is stored as misc-faq.Z. RTFM stores files as
compressed (.Z) BINARY files. If you leave off the .Z at the end
of the file name when "getting" the file, rtfm will automatically
decompress the file before sending it to you. You can also have
these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send
pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/"name" in the body text where
"name" is the name of the file you want as specified above (e.g.
general-faq). You can also send this server a message with the
subject "help" for more detailed instructions.
====================
I HAVE A QUESTION... (1.0)
====================
Congratulations! You've come to the right place. Usenet is
a wonderful resource for information ranging from basic questions
(How do I lock a floppy disk?) to queries that would make Steve
Jobs himself run screaming from the room in terror. (I used
ResEdit to remove resources Init #11, WDEF 34, and nVIR 17 from my
system file and used the Hex Editor to add code string #A67B45 as a
patch to the SFGetFile routine so the Standard File Dialog Box
would be a nice shade of mauve. Everything worked fine until I
installed SuperCDevBlaster, and now when I use the Aldus driver to
print from PageMaker 5.0d4 to a Linotronic 6000 my system hangs.
P.S. I'm running System 6.0.2 on a PowerBook 170.)
Since the Macintosh newsgroups are medium to high volume, we
ask that you first peruse this FAQ list including at least the
table of contents for the other pieces of it, check any other
relevant on-line resources listed below in question 1.2, especially
the FAQ lists for the other Macintosh newsgroups, and RTFM (Read
the Friendly Manual) before posting your question. We realize that
you are personally incensed that the System is taking up fourteen
of your newly-installed twenty megs of RAM, but this question has
already made its way around the world three hundred times before,
and it's developing tired feet. Finally, before posting to any
newsgroup (Macintosh or otherwise), please familiarize yourself
with the basic etiquette of Usenet as described in the newsgroup
news.announce.newusers.
HOW DO I USE THIS DOCUMENT? WHERE CAN I GET IT? (1.1)
comp.sys.mac.faq is currently divided into multiple pieces,
a general introduction which you're reading now, and specific lists
for the newsgroups comp.sys.mac.system and comp.sys.mac.misc. FAQ
lists for comp.sys.mac.wanted, comp.sys.mac.apps and
comp.sys.mac.hardware are in development. When ready each part
will be available in its respective newsgroup. All pieces are
available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in the
pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh directory. Except for this
document itself which is named general-faq.Z the pieces are named
as per the last part of the newsgroup they cover followed by
"-faq", e.g. system-faq.Z, misc-faq.Z. The .Z means the file is
stored compressed so you'll need to ftp it in binary mode and use
either MacCompress, StuffIt Deluxe, or the UNIX uncompress command
to decompress it. However if you leave off the ".Z" extension when
you "get" the file, rtfm will automatically decompress the file
before sending it to you.
This introductory document is posted to all of the concerned
newsgroups. The tables of contents for each of the specific FAQ
lists are at the beginning of this file so you should be able to
get at least some idea whether your question is answered anywhere
else in the FAQ even if you don't have the other parts at hand.
It's not always obvious, especially to newcomers, where a
particular question or comment should be posted. Please
familiarize yourself with the FAQ lists in all the major Macintosh
newsgroups before posting in any of them. Which questions appear
in which FAQs can serve as a basic guide to what posts belong
where.
To jump to a particular question search for
section-number.question-number enclosed in parentheses. For
example to find "Where can I FTP Macintosh software?" search for
the string "(2.1)". To jump to a section instead of a question
use a zero for the question number.
WHAT OTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE? (1.2)
comp.sys.mac.faq provides short answers to a number of
frequently asked questions appropriate for the Usenet newsgroup
comp.sys.mac.misc and comp.sys.mac.system. Four other files are
worthy of particular note: Daryl Spitzer maintains a FAQ list
covering Macintosh programming for the newsgroup
comp.sys.mac.programmer. It's posted to that group weekly and
available for anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.uoregon (128.223.8.8) in
/pub/mac. Eric Rosen maintains a frequently asked questions list
for comp.sys.mac.comm available in that newsgroup and from
rascal.ics.utexas.edu in mac/faq (where the file you're reading now
is also irregularly archived). This list answers many frequently
asked questions about networking, UNIX and the Mac,
telecommunications, and foreign file formats. Norm Walsh has
compiled an excellent FAQ for comp.fonts that answers a lot of
questions about the various kinds of fonts and cross-platform
conversion and printing. It's available in comp.fonts or by ftp
from ibis.cs.umass.edu in /pub/norm/comp.fonts/FAQ*. Finally Jim
Jagielski maintains a FAQ for comp.unix.aux covering Apple's UNIX
environment, A/UX. It's posted every 2 to 3 weeks in comp.unix.aux
and news.answers. It's available for anonymous ftp at
jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov.
WHICH NEWSGROUP SHOULD I POST TO? (1.3)
There are no stupid questions, but there are misplaced ones.
You wouldn't ask your English teacher how to do the definite
integral of ln x between zero and one, would you? So don't ask
the programmer newsgroup why your system is so slow when Microsoft
Word is in the background. Ignorance of basic netiquette is not an
excuse. If you want people to help you, you need to learn their
ways of communicating.
Posting questions to the proper newsgroup will fill your
mailbox with pearls of wisdom (and maybe a few rotten oysters too
:-) ). Posting to the wrong newsgroup often engenders a thundering
silence. For instance the most common and glaring mispost, one
that seems as incongruous to dwellers in the Macintosh regions of
Usenet as would a purple elephant to Aleuts in the Arctic, asking a
question about networking anywhere except comp.sys.mac.comm,
normally produces no useful responses. Posting the same question
to comp.sys.mac.comm ensures that your post is read and considered
by dozens of experienced network administrators and not a few
network software designers.
Please post to exactly ONE newsgroup. Do not cross-post.
If a question isn't important enough for you to take the extra
minute to figure out where it properly belongs, it's not important
enough for several thousand people to spend their time reading.
For the same reason comp.sys.mac.misc should not be used as a
catch-all newsgroup.
The breakdown of questions between different newsgroups in
this document can also serve as a reasonable guide to what belongs
where. Specifically questions about productivity applications
(software you bought your Macintosh to run, not software you bought
to make your Macintosh run better) should go to comp.sys.mac.apps
unless the application is covered in a more specific newsgroup.
Communications programs, games, HyperCard, compilers and databases
all have more topical comp.sys.mac.* newsgroups. Post questions
about non-communications hardware including questions about what
software is necessary to make particular hardware work to
comp.sys.mac.hardware. Questions about MacOS system software
belong in comp.sys.mac.system. Questions about utilities and
extensions normally belong in comp.sys.mac.misc. Questions about
A/UX go to comp.unix.aux. Detailed questions about Appletalk
belong in comp.protocols.appletalk.
Direct questions about HyperCard to comp.sys.mac.hypercard.
Non-HyperCard programming questions and questions about development
environments should go to comp.sys.mac.programmer. ResEdit
questions may be posted either to comp.sys.mac.misc,
comp.sys.mac.system, or comp.sys.mac.programmer; but generally the
netters who inhabit the darker recesses of comp.sys.mac.programmer
are considerably more practiced at the art of resource hacking.
A general exception to the above rules is that any VERY
technical question about an application that actually begins to
delve into the how's of a program as well as the what's (Recent
example: How does WriteNow which is written entirely in assembly
compare to other word processors written in high level languages?)
might be better addressed to the programmer newsgroup.
For Sale and Want to Buy posts should go to
comp.sys.mac.wanted and misc.forsale.computers.mac ONLY. We
understand that you're desperate to sell your upgraded 128K Mac to
get the $$ for a PowerBook 180; but trust me, anyone who wants to
buy it will be reading comp.sys.mac.wanted. Political and
religious questions (The Mac is better than Windows! Is not! Is
too! Is not! Is too! Hey! How 'bout the Amiga! What about it? Is
Not! Is too!) belong in comp.sys.mac.advocacy. Anything not
specifically mentioned above probably belongs in comp.sys.mac.misc.
Finally don't be so provincial as to consider only the
comp.sys.mac newsgroups the appropriate forums for your questions.
Many questions about modems in comp.sys.mac.comm are much more
thoroughly discussed in comp.dcom.modems. Questions about Mac MIDI
are often better handled in comp.music even though it's not a
Macintosh specific newsgroup. Shop around. Usenet's a big place
and not everything relevant to the Macintosh happens in
comp.sys.mac.
4. SOMEONE JUST ASKED WHY THE SYSTEM WAS TAKING UP SIXTEEN OF
THEIR TWENTY MEGABYTES OF RAM. SHOULDN'T I PUT MY BRILLIANCE AND
WIT ON DISPLAY FOR THE WORLD BY POSTING THE SEVENTEENTH RESPONSE?
No. Frequent answers are just as boring and uninteresting as
frequent questions. Unless you really have something new to add to
the traditional answers (such as the recent discovery that fonts in
System 7.1 could eat memory) private E-mail is a much better medium
for answering common questions like this one.
You might want to add a mention of this FAQ in your E-mail
response and a polite suggestion that your correspondent read it
before posting future questions. I do read all the newsgroups
covered here and have written a small script in MicroPhone II that
lets me send PWFAQ's (people with frequently asked questions) the
section of this document that answers their question with just the
click of a button so please don't feel obligated to respond to
someone who cares so little about the answer to their question they
can't be troubled to read the FAQ list to get it.
===
FTP (2.0)
===
WHERE CAN I FTP MAC SOFTWARE? (2.1)
The three major North American Internet archives of shareware,
freeware, and demo software are sumex-aim.stanford.edu (36.44.0.6),
mac.archive.umich.edu (141.211.165.41), and wuarchive.wustl.edu
(128.252.135.4) which mirrors the other two sites and several
others. Wuarchive often holds on to files after other sites remove
them for space concerns, and still has files that were deleted from
the formerly important site, rascal.ics.utexas.edu. Rascal was
notable for storing its files in MacBinary format rather than the
less efficient BinHex format common at the other archives. Unless
otherwise noted shareware and freeware mentioned in this document
should be available at the above sites.
To keep traffic on the Internet manageable, Scandinavians
should try connecting to ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100), ftp.lth.se
(130.235.20.3), or sics.se (192.16.123.90) instead. Those in
the U.K. should look first at src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.1).
Continental Europeans can try nic.switch.ch (130.59.1.40),
ezinfo.ethz.ch (129.132.2.72), and anl.anl.fr(192.54.179.1).
Australian users should try to find what they want at archie.au
(139.130.4.6) which mirrors info-mac and mac.archive. Japanese
users will find sumex mirrored at ftp.u-tokyo.ac.jp
(130.69.254.254).
A fourth very important site is ftp.apple.com (130.43.2.3).
This is Apple's semi-official repository for system software,
developer tools, source code, technical notes, and other things
that come more or less straight from Apple's mouth. Some material
at this site may not be distributed outside the U.S. or by other
sites that don't have an official license to distribute Apple
system software. Please read the various README documents
available at ftp.apple.com for the detailed info if you're
connecting from outside the U.S. or if you wish to redistribute
material you find here.
CAN I GET SHAREWARE BY E-MAIL? (2.2)
The info-mac archives at sumex-aim are available by E-mail from
LISTSERV@RICEVM1.bitnet (alternately listserv@ricevm1.rice.edu).
The listserver responds to the commands $MACARCH HELP, $MACARCH
INDEX, and $MACARCH GET filename. Mac archive files are available
from mac@mac.archive.umich.edu. Send it a message containing the
words "help" and "index" (no quotes) on the first two lines of your
message for instructions on getting started and a list of the files
you may request. You can retrieve files from other sites by using
the server at ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com. For details send it a
message with just the text "help" (no quotes).
WHERE CAN I FIND APPLICATION X? (2.3)
If you can't find what you're looking for at one of the above
sites, try telnetting to your nearest archie server or sending it
an E-mail message addressed to archie with the subject "help."
Archie servers are located at archie.rutgers.edu (128.6.18.15,
America), archie.mcgill.ca (132.206.2.3, the original archie server
in Canada), archie.au (139.130.4.6, Australia), archie.funet.fi
(128.214.6.100, Scandinavia), and archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.3.7,
the U.K. and the continent). These sites index the tens of
thousands of files available for anonymous ftp. Login as "archie"
(no password is needed) and type "prog filename" to find what
you're looking for or type "help" for more detailed instructions.
For instance you would type "prog Disinfectant" to search for a
convenient ftp site for Disinfectant. If the initial search fails
to turn up the file you want, try variations on and substrings of
the name. For instance if you didn't find Disinfectant with "prog
Disinfectant", you might try "prog disi" instead. Substring
searches often hide the gold in a pile of dross. To avoid many
erroneous matches add a ".*\.hqx" to the end of the substring, e.g.
"prog disi.*\.hqx" Most Mac software available on the net ends in
.hqx but almost no UNIX or PC software does.
Please check the above archives and ARCHIE personally BEFORE
asking where you can find a particular piece of shareware. If you
follow the above advice, you should almost never have to ask the
net where to find a particular piece of software.
CAN SOMEONE MAIL ME APPLICATION X? (2.4)
No. Nor will anyone mail you a part of a file from
comp.binaries.mac that was corrupt or missed at your site. Please
refer to the first questions in this section to find out about
anonymous FTP, archie, and automatic E-mail servers.
WHAT IS .BIN? .HQX? .CPT? .ETC? (2.5)
Most files available by FTP are modified twice to allow them to
more easily pass through foreign computer systems. First they're
compressed to make them faster to download, and then they're
translated to either a binhex (.hqx) or MacBinary (.bin) format
that other computers can digest. (The Macintosh uses a special
two-fork filing system that chokes most other computers.) BinHex
files are 7-bit ASCII text files, while MacBinary files are pure
8-bit binary data that must always be transferred using a binary
protocol.
How a file has been translated and compressed for
transmission is indicated by its suffix. Normally a file will have
a name something like filename.xxx.yyy. .xxx indicates how it was
compressed and .yyy indicates how it was translated. To use a file
you've FTP'd and downloaded to your Mac you'll need to reverse the
process. Most files you get from the net require a two-step
decoding process. First change the binhex (.hqx) or MacBinary
(.bin) file to a double-clickable Macintosh file; then decompress
it. Which programs decode which file types is covered in the table
below. Also note that most Macintosh telecommunications programs
will automatically convert MacBinary files to regular Macintosh
files as they are downloaded.
***************************************************************************
Suffix: .sit .cpt .hqx .bin .pit .Z .image .dd .zip .uu .tar
Extractors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
StuffIt 3.0| X X X X X
Compact Pro| X X
Packit | X
UUTool | X
MacCompress| X
SunTar | X X X X
BinHex 5.0 | X
BinHex 4.0 | X
DiskDoubler| X X
UnZip | X
DiskCopy | X
macutil | X X X X
***************************************************************************
A few notes on the decompressors:
StuffIt is a family of products that use several different
compression schemes. The freeware StuffIt Expander will unstuff
all of them. Versions of StuffIt earlier than 3.0 (StuffIt 1.5.1,
StuffIt Classic, UnStuffIt, and StuffIt Deluxe 2.0 and 1.0) will
not unstuff the increasing number of files stuffed by StuffIt 3.0.
You need to get a more recent version of StuffIt or StuffIt
Expander.
StuffIt 3.0.5 (Lite and Deluxe) consistently makes smaller
archives than any other Macintosh compression utility. To allow
maximum space for files on the various ftp sites and to keep
net-bandwidth down, please compress all files you send to anonymous
ftp sites with StuffIt 3.0.5.
UUTool, MacCompress, and SunTar handle the popular UNIX
formats of uuencode (.uu), compress (.Z), and tar (.tar)
respectively. The UNIX versions are often more robust than the Mac
products, so use them instead when that's an option. Translators
that allow StuffIt Lite to expand uuencoded and tar files are also
available by anonymous ftp.
Macutil is dik winter's package of UNIX utilities to
decompress and debinhex files on a workstation before downloading
them to a Mac. Since UNIX stores files differently than does the
Mac, macutil creates MacBinary (.bin) files which should be
automatically converted on download. It can't decompress
everything. In particular it can't decompress the new StuffIt 3.0
archives. :-( However, if you need only one or two files out of an
archive--for instance if you want to read the README to find out if
a program does what you need it to do before you download all of
it--macutil is indispensable. It can be found at sumex-aim in the
info-mac/unix directory.
A few notes on the compression formats:
.bin: These are MacBinary files. Always use a binary file
transfer protocol when transferring them, never ASCII or text.
Most files on the net are stored as .hqx instead. Only rascal
stores most of its files in .bin format. Most communications
programs such as ZTerm and MacKermit are capable of translating
MacBinary files on the fly as they download if they know in advance
they'll be downloading MacBinary files.
.image: This format is normally used only for system software,
so that on-line users can download files that can easily be
converted into exact copies of the installer floppies. Instead of
using DiskCopy to restore the images to floppies, you can use Steve
Christensen's freeware utility MountImage to treat the images on
your hard disk as actual floppies inserted in a floppy drive.
MountImage has a reputation for being buggy, so you should have
some blank floppies and a copy of DiskCopy handy just in case.
.sea (.x, .X): .sea files don't merit a position in the above
table because they're self-extracting. They may have been created
with Compact Pro, StuffIt, or even DiskDoubler; but all should be
capable of decompressing themselves when double-clicked. For some
unknown reason Alysis has chosen not to use this industry standard
designation for self-extracting archives created with their
payware products SuperDisk! and More Disk Space. Instead they
append either .x or .X to self-extracting archives.
HOW CAN I GET BINHEX? STUFFIT? ETC.? (2.6)
By far the easiest way to get these programs is to ask a human
being to copy them onto a floppy for you. If you're at a
university there's absolutely no excuse for not finding someone to
give you a copy; and if you're anywhere less remote than McMurdo
Sound, chances are very good that someone at a computer center,
dealership, or user group can provide you with a copy of StuffIt.
Once you have StuffIt (any version) you don't need BinHex.
If you're such a computer geek that the thought of actually
asking a living, breathing human being instead of a computer
terminal for something turns you into a quivering mass of
protoplasmic jelly, you can probably download a working copy of
StuffIt from a local bulletin board system.
If you have religious objections to software gotten by any
means other than anonymous ftp, then I suppose I'll mention that
you can in fact ftp a working copy of StuffIt though this is by
far the hardest way to get it. Ftp to wuarchive.wustl.edu and
login. Type the word "binary." Hit return. Type "cd
mirrors/rascal.ics.utexas.edu/compression" and hit return. Then
"get StuffIt_Expander_1.0.1_SEA_bin" and hit return. Of course
it's always possible that by the time you read this StuffIt
Expander will have been updated and the name changed so if this
fails look for something similar. If you've ftp'd straight onto
your Mac you should now have a self-extracting archive which will
produce a working copy of StuffIt Expander when double-clicked. If
you've ftp'd to your mainframe or UNIX account first, you still
need to use a modem program to download it to your Mac. Just make
sure that the Mac is receiving in MacBinary mode and the mainframe
is sending in binary mode. If you need more details on the last
step, consult the FAQ list for comp.sys.mac.comm and the manuals
for both your mainframe and Macintosh telecommunications software.
HOW CAN I GET BINHEX, STUFFIT, ETC. FROM A PC? (2.7)
You can't. There is absolutely NO way to get an executable
Macintosh file from an ftp site onto a PC and then onto your Mac
without some software obtained by means other than anonymous ftp.
You MUST beg, borrow, or steal the necessary software such as
Binhex or StuffIt Lite from another person. I realize this may
terrify those among you who haven't left your parents' basement
since you got an Apple II+ in 1980, but eventually you're going
to need to link up with some human being other than your mother.
(though I suppose if you're this much of a nerd you could send
your mother out to get it for you.) While you're gathering
your nerves for a venture into the strange and terrifying world
of daylight, please don't bother the net by asking this question
again. There simply is no way to move executable Macintosh
programs from a PC or other non-Macintosh computer onto a
Mac without software that is not bundled with most Macs.
=================================================================
TROUBLESHOOTING: WHAT TO DO (BEFORE POSTING) WHEN THINGS GO WRONG (3.0)
=================================================================
While the various FAQ lists cover a lot of specific
problems, there are far more problems that aren't covered here.
These are a few basic techniques you should follow before asking
for help. You should probably also perform the ten-step
preventative maintenance routine described in section four,
especially rebuilding the desktop (4.3) and resizing the system
heap (4.5). Following these steps may or may not solve your
problem, but it will at least make it easier for others to
recommend solutions to you.
IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM. (3.1)
"Microsoft Word is crashing" doesn't say much. What were you
doing when it crashed? Can you repeat the actions that lead to the
crash? The more information you provide about the actions
preceding the crash the more likely it is someone can help you.
The more precisely you've identified the problem and the actions
preceding it (Step 1) the easier it will be to tell if the
following steps fix the problem. For example, "Sometimes
QuarkXPress 3.0 crashes with a coprocessor not installed error." is
not nearly as helpful as "QuarkXPress 3.0 crashes when I link two
text boxes on a master page when copies of those text boxes already
contain text." The former will leave you wondering whether the bug
remains after a given step. The latter lets you go right to the
problem and see if it's still there or not.
READ THE READ ME FILE. (3.2)
Many companies include a list of known incompatibilities and
bugs in their READ ME files. Often these aren't documented in the
manual. Read any READ ME files to see if any of the problems sound
familiar.
CHECK FOR VIRUSES. (3.3)
Run Disinfectant or another anti-viral across your disk. Virus
infections are rarer than most people think, but they do occur and
they do cause all sorts of weird problems when they do.
REINSTALL THE APPLICATION AND ALL ITS SUPPORT FILES. (3.4)
For half a dozen reasons (external magnetic fields,
improperly written software, the alignment of the planets) a file
on a disk may not contain the data it's supposed to contain. This
can cause all types of unexplained, unusual behavior. Restoring
from original masters will normally fix this.
REINSTALL THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE. (3.5)
Bits are even more likely to get twiddled in the system file
than in the application and the effects can be just as disastrous.
See question 4.6 for a detailed procedure for performing a clean
reinstall.
If the problem continues to occur after you've taken these
steps, chances are you've found either a conflict between your
application and some other software or a genuine bug in the
program. So it's time to
ISOLATE THE PROBLEM. (3.6)
You need to find the minimal system on which the problem
will assert itself. Here are the basic steps of isolating the
cause of a system or application crash:
a. Run only one application at a time. Occasionally applications do
conflict with each other. If the problem does not manifest itself
without other applications running simultaneously, you can begin
launching other applications until you find the one that causes
the crash.
b. If you're running System 6, turn off MultiFinder. If you're
running System 7, allot as much memory to the application as you
can afford. Sometimes programs just need more memory, especially
when performing complicated operations.
c. If you're running System 7, turn off virtual memory and 32-bit
addressing. There's still an awful lot of System 7 hostile
software out there including some from companies that really
have no excuse. (Can you say Microsoft Word 5.1, boys and girls?
I knew you could.) Some of this software only expresses its
incompatibilities when certain uncommon actions are taken.
d. Boot from a virgin system floppy. If the problem disappears
you likely have an init conflict. You need to progressively remove
extensions until the problem vanishes. Use a little common sense
when choosing the first extensions to remove. If the problem occurs
when you try to open a file, remove any inits that mess with the
Standard File Open procedure such as Super Boomerang first. If the
problem remains after the obvious candidates have been eliminated,
either remove the remaining extensions one at a time or, if you have
a lot of them, perform a binary search by removing half of the
extensions at a time. Once the problem disappears add half of the
most recently removed set back. Continue until you've narrowed the
conflict down to one extension. When you think you've found the
offending init restart with only that init enabled just to make
sure that it and it alone is indeed causing the problem.
CONTACT TECHNICAL SUPPORT. (3.7)
By now you should have a very good idea of when, where, and why
the conflict occurs. If a tech support number is available for the
software, call it. If you're lucky the company will have a work
around or fix available. If not, perhaps they'll at least add the
bug to their database of problems to be fixed in the next release.
======================
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE (4.0)
======================
You wouldn't drive your car 100,000 miles without giving it a
tune-up. A computer is no different. Regular tune-ups avoid a lot
of problems. Although there are Mac mechanics who'll be happy to
charge you $75 or more for the equivalent of an oil change, there's
no reason you can't change it yourself. The following nine-step
program should be performed about every three months.
TRASH UNNEEDED FILES (4.1)
Many of the operations that follow will run faster and more
smoothly the more free disk space there is to work with so spend a
little time cleaning up your hard disk. If you're at all like me,
you'll find several megabytes worth of preferences files for
applications you no longer have, archives of software you've
dearchived, shareware you tried out and didn't like, announcements
for events that have come and gone and many other files you no
longer need. If you're running System 7 you may also have several
more megabytes in your trash can alone. Throw them away and empty
the trash.
RETHINK YOUR EXTENSIONS (4.2)
Some Macintoshes attract inits like a new suit attracts rain.
Seriously consider whether you actually need every extension
in your collection. If you don't use the functionality of an
extension at least every fifth time you boot up, you're probably
better off not storing it in your System Folder where it only takes
up memory, destabilizes your system, and slows down every startup.
For instance if you only read PC disks once a month, there's no
need to keep AccessPC loaded all the time. Cutting back on your
extension habit can really help avoid crashes.
REBUILD THE DESKTOP (4.3)
The Desktop file/database holds all the information necessary
to associate each file with the application that created it. It
lets the system know what application should be launched when you
open a given file and what icons it should display where.
Depending on its size each application has one or more
representatives in the desktop file. As applications and files
move on and off your hard disk, the Desktop file can be become
bloated and corrupt. Think of it as a Congress for your Mac.
Every so often it's necessary to throw the bums out and start with
a clean slate. Fortunately it's easier to rebuild the desktop than
to defeat an incumbent.
One warning: rebuilding the desktop will erase all comments
you've stored in the Get Info boxes. Under System 7 Maurice
Volaski's freeware init CommentKeeper will retain those comments
across a rebuild. CommentKeeper also works with System 6 but only
if Apple's Desktop Manager extension is also installed.
To rebuild the desktop restart your Mac and, as your
extensions finish loading, depress the Command and Option keys.
You'll be presented with a dialog box asking if you want to rebuild
the desktop and warning you that "This could take a few minutes."
Click OK. It will take more than a few minutes. The more files you
have the longer it will take. If you're running System 6 you may
want to turn off MultiFinder before trying to rebuild the desktop.
If you're experiencing definite problems and not just doing
preventive maintenance, you may want to use Fifth Generation's
freeware init Desktop Reset. Desktop Reset completely deletes the
Desktop file before rebuilding it, thus eliminating possibly
corrupt data structures.
ZAP THE PRAM AND RESET THE CLOCK (4.4)
All Macs from the original 128K Thin Mac to the Quadra 950
contain a small amount of battery powered RAM to hold certain
settings that properly move with the CPU rather than with the disk
such as which disk to boot from. Unfortunately this "parameter
RAM" can become corrupted and cause unexplained crashes. To reset
it under System 7 hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys
while restarting your Mac. Under System 6 hold down the Command,
Option, and Shift keys while selecting the Control Panel from the
Apple menu. Click Yes when asked if you want to zap the parameter
RAM. Since you've erased almost all the settings in the General
Control Panel, you should now reset them to whatever you want.
The one setting that zapping the PRAM does not erase is the
date and time; but since the internal clock in the Macintosh is
notoriously inaccurate you'll probably want to take this
opportunity to reset it anyway.
RESIZE THE SYSTEM HEAP (4.5)
Even after rethinking their extensions as per step two most
people still have at least half a row of icons march across the
bottom of their screen every time they restart. All these
extensions (and most applications too) need space in a section of
memory called the System Heap. If the System Heap isn't big enough
to comfortably accommodate all the programs that want a piece of
it, they all start playing King of the Mountain on the system heap,
knocking each other off to get bigger pieces for themselves and
trying to climb back on after they get knocked off. All this
fighting amongst the programs severely degrades system performance
and almost inevitably crashes the Mac.
If you're using System 7, your Macintosh will automatically
resize the system heap as necessary; but if you're running System 6
it's important to set your system heap size large enough to manage
all your extensions and applications. By default this size is set
to 128K, way too small for most Macs with any extensions at all.
The system heap size is stored in the normally non-editable boot
blocks of every system disk. Bill Steinberg's freeware utility
BootMan not only lets you resize your system heap but even checks
how much memory your heap is already using so it can tell how much
needs to be allocated. If you're running System 6, get BootMan,
use it, and be amazed at how infrequently your Macintosh crashes.
REINSTALL THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE (4.6)
System files can become corrupt and fragmented, especially if
you've stored lots of fonts and desk accessories inside them.
Merely updating the System software will often not fix system file
corruption. I recommend doing a clean reinstall. Here's how:
1. Boot from the installer floppy of your System disks.
2. Copy any non-standard fonts and desk accessories out
of your System file into a temporary suitcase.
3. Trash the System file on your hard disk. Also trash the
Finder, MultiFinder, DA Handler, and all other standard Apple
extensions like Control Panel and Chooser. These will all be
replaced in the new installation. If you're running or
installing System 7, move everything in the Extensions,
Control Panels, and Preferences folders into the top level
of the System Folder.
4. Rename the System Folder. Any name other than System Folder
is fine.
5. Double-click the installer script on your System disk. Then
choose Customize... Select the appropriate software for your
model Mac and printer. You could do an Easy Install instead,
but that will only add a lot of extensions and code you don't
need that waste your memory and disk space.
6. Once installation is finished, move everything from the
temporary folder you created in step 4 into the new System
folder. If you're asked if you want to replace anything, you
forgot to take something out in step 3. You'll need to replace
things individually until you find the duplicate piece.
7. Reinstall any fonts or DA's you removed in step 2.
8. Reboot. You should now have a clean, defragmented System file
that takes up less memory and disk space and a much more stable
system overall.
DISK UTILITIES (4.7)
Much like system files hard disks have data structures that
occasionally become corrupted affecting performance and even
causing data loss. Apple includes Disk First Aid, a simple utility
for detecting and repairing hard disk problems, with its System
disks. It's also available for anonymous ftp from ftp.apple.com in
the directory dts/mac/sys.soft/hdsc. Even if you have an earlier
version, you should get the latest version (7.1) from ftp.apple.com
and run it on all your hard disks.
Several companies have released payware disk utilities that
detect and repair considerably more problems than Disk First Aid
though, interestingly, none of them detect and repair everything
that Disk First Aid does. The three most effective for general
work are Central Point's MacTools Deluxe 2.0, Fifth Generation's
Public Utilites, and Symantec's Norton Utilities for the Macintosh
2.0. A department or work group should have all of these as well
as Disk First Aid since none of them fix everything the others do.
For individuals MacTools ($48 street) is about half the price of
Norton ($94 street) or Public Utilities ($98 street) so, features
and ease of use being roughly equal, I recommend MacTools.
All of these products occasionally encounter problems they
can't fix. When that happens it's time to backup (4.7) and
reformat (4.9).
BACKING UP (4.8)
This is one part of preventative maintenance that should be
done a LOT more often than every three months. The simplest back
up is to merely copy all the files on your hard disk onto floppies
or other removable media. If you keep your data files separate
from your application and support files then it's easy to only back
up those folders which change frequently. Nonetheless every three
months you should do a complete backup of your hard disk.
A number of programs are available to make backing up
easier. Apple included a very basic full backup application with
System 6. With the Performas Apple ships a new Apple Backup
utility that can backup the entire disk or just the System folder
onto floppies. The previously mentioned Norton Utilities for the
Mac and MacTools Deluxe 2.0 include more powerful floppy backup
utilities that incorporate compression and incremental backups.
Finally if you're lucky enough to have a Tape Drive, network
server, or removable media device to use for backups, you should
check out the more powerful payware utilities Redux ($49 street,
doesn't support tape drives) and Diskfit Pro ($74 street). There
are NO freely available backup utilities other than the old HD
Backup from System 6.
DISK DEFRAGMENTATION (4.9)
As disks fill up it gets harder and harder to find enough free
space in the same place to write large files. Therefore the
operating system will often split larger files into pieces to be
stored in different places on your hard disk. As files become more
and more fragmented performance can degrade. There are several
ways to defragment a hard disk.
The most tedious but cheapest method is to backup all your
files, erase the hard disk (and you might as well reformat while
you're at it. See question 4.10.), and restore all the files.
A number of payware utilities including Norton Utilities for
the Mac and Mac Tools Deluxe can defragment a disk in place, i.e.
without erasing it. Although the ads for all these products brag
about their safety, once you've bought the software and opened the
shrink-wrap they all warn you to back up your disk before
defragmenting it in case something does go wrong. There are NO
freeware or shareware disk defragmenters so please don't annoy the
net by asking for one.
REFORMAT YOUR HARD DISK (4.10)
Just as a floppy disk needs to be initialized before use, so a
hard disk must be formatted before it can hold data. You don't
need to reformat every three months; but when your system is
crashing no matter what you try, reformatting is the ultimate means
of wiping the slate clean. Reformatting your hard disk may even
gain you a few extra megabytes of space. Not all hard disks are
created equal. Some can hold more data than others. To facilitate
mass production and advertising without a lot of asterisks (* 81.3
megabytes is the average formatted capacity. Your mileage may
vary.) Apple often formats drives to the lowest common denominator
of drive capacity. When you reformat there's no reason at all not
to reclaim whatever unused space Apple's left on your disk.
Unlike floppies hard disks need a special program to
initialize them. Most hard disks come with formatting software.
Apple's disks and System software ship with HD SC setup, a minimal
disk formatter which will format Apple brand hard drives ONLY.
Most other manufacturers ship appropriate formatting software with
their hard drives. Normally this will be all you need to reformat
your hard disk.
A number of general-purpose formatters are also available
which go beyond the bundled software to include features like
encryption, password protection, multiple partitioning, faster disk
access, System 7 compatibility, and even compression. Two of the
best are the payware Drive7 and Hard Disk Toolkit Personal Edition
($49 street for either). While there are one or two freeware
formatters available, none are likely to be superior to the ones
bundled with your hard disk.
PowerBook users should be sure to turn off Sleep and
processor cycling before reformatting their hard drives no matter
what software they use. Otherwise disk corruption, crashes, and
data losses are a very good possibility.
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RE: Midwest Micro,
Article #61200 (61302 is last):
From: wilson@schaefer.math.wisc.edu (Bob Wilson)
Subject: Re: *** CONSUMER WARNING *** MidWest Micro (Ohio)
Date: Thu Apr 22 15:12:28 1993
I posted almost the same bad experience with Midwest Micro but our
%^*^&*^&* news program only sent one paragraph out of the middle. In
addition to the facts that:
(a) the modems (I had ordered two) wouldn't work as documented
and
(b) the tech person had NO CLUE as to how it should work,
it also turned out that:
(c) one of the two modems they sent was clearly USED but the techs
thought that was standard practice and
(d) the modems made all three of my floppy drives quit working and
my CMS250 tape drive start running away.
That they are incompetent is one thing, but that they sell used stuff
as new and won't even apologize for it is another. Stay away from
these crooks!
Bob Wilson
Shown 97%, press <SPACE> for more, 'q' to quit, or 'h' for help
wilson@math.wisc.edu
End of File, Press RETURN to quit
Bob,
I have walked into Micro Center here in the Cleveland area and bought
a new track ball and picked the only one that was sealed in plastic
rap. Only to get it home and oped it up to find a good year old USED
dirty old track ball with a warranty card for some software package.
I would never even think of installing anything that looked like
it was used at all. You should of called Medwest Micro
and made them do a PUS PULL TAG on it. They would of picked it up
and sent you out a ner one the same day.
Things get better in knowing how to but equipment after the FIRST try!
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This happens when your X server has run out of memory. You need
more memory or you need to quit any un-neccessary running clients.
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But hanging is certainly painful. Or, do you not let the condemned
know they are going to die?
Hanging is not supposed to be very pleasant. I believe that in
actuality, it is not "quick and clean". However, gas chambers can be
quite non-painful. Heck, why not give them a good time? Suffication by
Nitrious Oxide!
=)
---
Private note to Jennifer Fakult.
"This post may contain one or more of the following:
sarcasm, cycnicism, irony, or humor. Please be aware
of this possibility and do not allow yourself to be
confused and/or thrown for a loop. If in doubt, assume
all of the above.
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I have a few 12" composite monochrome monitors for sale. Magnovax Computer
Monitor 80, Model number BM7650 074B. RCA type input for video only. (no
audio). Power, Brightness and Contrast dials in front, V and H hold and
position controls on the back. Nice little monitor that can be used for
PCs, Amigas, your VCR, security monitor. Excellent condition. I am asking
for $40 plus shipping and COD (not to exceed $10) if applicable.
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In <EGGERTJ.93May9230207@moses.ll.mit.edu> eggertj@moses.ll.mit.edu
When I was in Jerusalem a couple of years ago, our guide told
us the story of that mosque - not sure if it was true.
Apparently, it was built by a Jewish convert to Islam. He had
had a dispute with his neighbours, and built the mosque "davka" to
annoy them. It's a cute story, but not sure if it's true...
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OK, with all the discussion about observed playback speeds with QuickTime,
the effects of scaling and so on, I thought I'd do some more tests.
First of all, I felt that my original speed test was perhaps less than
realistic. The movie I had been using only had 18 frames in it (it was a
version of the very first movie I created with the Compact Video compressor).
I decided something a little longer would give closer to real-world results
(for better or for worse).
I pulled out a copy of "2001: A Space Odyssey" that I had recorded off TV
a while back. About fifteen minutes into the movie, there's a sequence where
the Earth shuttle is approaching the space station. Specifically, I digitized
a portion of about 30 seconds' duration, zooming in on the rotating space
station. I figured this would give a reasonable amount of movement between
frames. To increase the differences between frames, I digitized it at only
5 frames per second, to give a total of 171 frames.
I captured the raw footage at a resolution of 384*288 pixels with the Spigot
card in my Centris 650 (quarter-size resolution from a PAL source). I then
imported it into Premiere and put it through the Compact Video compressor,
keeping the 5 fps frame rate. I created two versions of the movie: one scaled
to 320*240 resolution, the other at 160*120 resolution. I used the default
"2.00" quality setting in Premiere 2.0.1, and specified a key frame every ten
frames.
I then ran the 320*240 movie through the same "Raw Speed Test" program I used
for the results I'd been reporting earlier.
Result: a playback rate of over 45 frames per second.
That's right, I was getting a much higher result than with that first short
test movie. Just for fun, I copied the 320*240 movie to my external hard
disk (a Quantum LP105S), and ran it from there. This time the playback rate
was only about 35 frames per second. Obviously the 230MB internal hard disk
(also a Quantum) is a significant contributor to the speed of playback.
I modified my speed test program to allow the specification of optional
scaling factors, and tried playing back the 160*120 movie scaled to 320*240
size. This time the playback speed was over 60 fps. Clearly, the poster who
observed poor performance on scaled playback was seeing QuickTime 1.0 in
action, not 1.5. I'd try my tests with QuickTime 1.0, but I don't think it's
entirely compatible with my Centris and System 7.1...
Unscaled, the playback rate for the 160*120 movie was over 100 fps.
The other thing I tried was saving versions of the 320*240 movie with
"preferred" playback rates greater than 1.0, and seeing how well they played
from within MoviePlayer (ie with QuickTime's normal synchronized playback).
A preferred rate of 9.0 (=> 45 fps) didn't work too well: the playback was
very jerky. Compare this with the raw speed test, which achieved 45 fps with
ease. I can't believe that QuickTime's synchronization code would add this
much overhead: I think the slowdown was coming from the Mac system's task
switching.
A preferred rate of 7.0 (=> 35 fps) seemed to work fine: I couldn't see
any evidence of stutter. At 8.0 (=> 40 fps) I *think* I could see slight
stutter, but with four key frames every second, it was hard to tell.
I guess I could try recreating the movies with a longer interval between the
key frames, to make the stutter more noticeable. Of course, this will also
improve the compression slightly, which should speed up the playback performance
even more...
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1,093
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Bowman is in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a coach already...and unlike
Gil Stein...he didn't get their by stacking the Board of Directors! -)
Bowman is the genius...Johnson isn't. Bowman is a great coach...Johnson,
a very good one. However, Bowman is really not a modern coach, and
Patrick's solution of having him only run the team on game days, and
delegate most of the day-to-day responsibity to the assistants is
a shrewd managerial decision on Patrick's part.
| 16
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1,094
|
The Associated Press had an article on Monday March 1, I believe,
which quoted witnesses as describing BATF agents throwing grenades prior
to any gunfire on the part of the Davidians.
It was among the first of a crop of different, mutually exclusive
descriptions.
| 19
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1,095
|
I have the following Snes Games forsale. The ones with * have instructions and the other ones have no instructions.
*Romance of the Three Kingdoms II $25
*Populous $15
Legend of Zelda
A link to the past $10
Soul Blazer $10
Please reply by e-mail to jth@bach.udel.edu.
I ask for $3 for S&H for one game, if you buy more than one I still only need $3.
| 1
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1,096
|
[detailed explanation deleted..]
Indeed, you have struck right at the heart of our disagreement. To
rebut my opinion, you have made an analogy with a game of chance.
Your hypothesis assumes that the Lotto players have no impact on
the selection of the numbers, and hence their ability to win.
Well, that's certainly true in Lotto. But it has absolutely
NOTHING to do with the sport of baseball. When you start down
the wrong path, you finish down the wrong path.
I repeat. I do not think that statistical analysis of prior clutch
hitting performance is an accurate predictor of future clutch hitting
performance.
I do, however, think that analysis of prior clutch hitting performance
may, for some players, indicate a deficiency in their game that indeed
will provide a basis for projecting their particular future performance.
And I think Chris Sabo is such a player.
-- The Beastmaster
| 11
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1,097
|
Oh come on, Josh!
| 2
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1,098
|
/Yes, a lot of what OS/2 2.0 has in common with OS/2 1.x was written by you
/guys. However, many of the things that made OS/2 2.0 so much more successful
/(Win-OS/2, Workplace Shell) than previous versions were IBM work.
Yes, certainly. It was IBM that wrote the Windows code!!!
| 17
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1,099
|
The MOTIF application consists of multiple Transient shells as children
of a single TopLevel shell:
+-----------+ +---------------+ +----------------+
+-----------+ +---------------+ | +----------------+
|
| +----------------+
|-| TransientShell |
| +----------------+
|
While a Transient shell is popped-up, my application modifies the
sensitivity of a button in the TopLevel shell which is hidden by the
Transient shell window. When the Transient shell is popped-down, the
button sensitivity is correct but the button text remains unchanged
(i.e., solid/shaded). Subsequent selection of the button causes the
text to revert to the correct visual state.
When tracing event messages sent to the application, many of the events
seen under mwm are not present under OpenWindows.
| 6
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