32by32 - Macintosh History from the 1980s

BMUG Meeting minutes 10/1/87

Acta document

BMUG Meeting 10/1/87

Announcements

Wanted:

Macintosh power users, systems & application programmers, and Mac Hackers familiar with the toolbox wanted for jobs.

• Printers, plotters, LaserWriters

• Network experience

• FAX & Modem experience

• Artist who also programs or uses the Mac.

Up to $300 referral bonus – tell your friends!

Mary Stevens 829-9700

Technical Programmer

So What’s New?

Ann Arbor says will ship FullWrite Pro next week

On CIS, Phil Lipetz says 2-3 weeks

Paul Hoffman, author, says it may have problems similar to Word 3.0.

Q: Which is better: earlier or bug-free-ier?

A: Later

A: FullPaint was released early with bugs, and then updated twice.

A: People pre-paid received a letter promising 2 rather than one update.

A: Ann Arbor has a good rep, but rumors persist of buyout upon FullWrite release.

A: FullCalc, an Excel-killer is on the back burner?

A: QuicKeys shipped today. Available soon at commercial outlets.

Memory

Explanation: These are Single Inline Memory Modules, the basic components of memory and upgrades in Mac plusses and above.

A: The Chip Merchant does ship memory chips quick.

A: 1 Megabit SIMMs ramping up in Korea, Japan. Market flooded soon (2-4 weeks)? Apple dropped their prices, and has them in stock.

SIMMs are VERY vulnerable to static electricity, and installing them in an SE or plus requires clipping an extra resistor. It is labelled “256K 1-Row” (R35 on SE?) Cut it close to the board, and only your technician will know for sure. new memory goes UNDERNEATH if you are going to 2.5 megs. SE can use -15’s.

Mac II speed issues: related to cost. 100 ns, 120 ns, 150 ns. Apple’s specs say 120, but 150’s sometimes work.

Q: Why does 2 meg + 1 meg = 2.5 megs?

A: 256K chips replaced – only half of old useable.

Q: Mac II slot-filling?

A: 4 256K SIMM’s or 8 256K SIMM’s or 4 1 meg SIMM’s and 4 and 4.

Q: Is parity used?

A: No.

Q: 1 meg Apple upgrade for Mac II usable on plus?

A: Buy the 120 ns, 2 meg SIMMs…

A: 1 meg SIMMs draw much less power than the 256K SIMMs.

A: Cody’s has lots of Danny Goodman’s “Complete HyperCard Handbook” Useful as a doorstop and a good reference.

Dealers

Whole Earth Access is now an Apple dealer. There is now an authorized Apple dealer in Berkeley! They were a dealer in ‘84, but gave up on Apple, after deciding that the Mac was a dead machine. They’ve been trying for the last year-and-a-half. Likewise for Sears Business Centers.

Q: Good warranty service?

A: BusinessLand of Oakland, ComputerLand of Albany.

A: Ask if they have your part in stock.

A: ComputerLand of Albany has twice taken twice as long as they estimated.

All aboard the Desktop Bus!

Q: What’s ADB?

A: “Apple Desktop Bus”

It is the connector system used in all of Apple’s machines announced in the last year. 4-pin, friction-fit connector for keyboards, mice, and the like.

Q: Any way to make an SE use a Mac+ keyboard?

A: No.

Q: Does anyone have the Kensington ADB TurboMouse?

A: Yes, ComputerWare does. It is too high for the new keyboard. Abaton’s is curved appropriately for the standard keyboard.

Q: Is A+ mouse available in ADB rev?

A:

A: It is likely that the Mac+ will be discontinued in January.

It costs more to make and has less official expandability than the SE, as well as less ROM (128K), as well as the 512e upgrade, and perhaps the Mac+ board upgrade. The SE will be the bottom-of-the-line, and perhaps introduce something above it.

A: Perhaps ISM chips will be out then.

Integrated Sanders Machine (versus the current disk controller, the Integrated Woz Machine)

Will allow read/write of IBM 3.5” disks

Perhaps will allow 1.6 meg 3.5” floppies?

A: Perhaps an intermediate machine between the SE and the II will be out then. “3-piece SE” or “Mac II jr.”

NuBus?

fewer slots?

A: Rumor in BCS’s “Active Window” magazine of moderate-price upgrades for SE owners: new fan, analog board to solve problems.

A: Think was bought by Symantec.

Sculley was at the announcement.

Symantec already bought LVT.

Q: Has anyone tried ComputerWare’s fan swap?

A: $99 installed.

Q: Does anyone use the Infinity drives from PeripheralLand?

A: (no answer)

A: For sale: miscellaneous stuff, up front, at the end of the meeting.

Q: Where to get a SCSI extender?

A: Most local stores: ComputerWare, M.A.C., MacOrchard, CJS, Software for Less, etc.

A: Approx $50.

A: Watch out for data loss when running that distance.

A: One person has had no problem.

A: 15’ – no problem.

Q: Connecting macs to LQP’s?

A: Anyone have specific experience with a successful and easy methodology?

A: Orange Micro just announced $99 software for any printer with the Mac.

A: MacEnhancer, Granny-Smith connection, etc: disappointing.

A: Most just support text-only, draft printing.

A: MS-Word supports many serial printers.

A: Look in the back of Byte magazine for various converters.

A: Atari Joystick extension cables work well – see the Fall 1984 BMUG Newsletter or any of the 3 following that!

Q: Anything being done with voice recognition?

A: It is technically difficult and is best done in hardware, experience seems to indicate. The Kurzweil recognizes 5K words, the one demo’ed at BMUG early this year handles 0.2K.

A: Limited voice pattern ID is possible using cheap Mac hardware

A: IDD announced Mac II-compatible version of MacDraft. Version 1.2b. Upgrade $25.

Q: Accelerator cards?

A: Read today’s issue of “Macintosh Today” – concentrates on SE upgrades.

A: They are very similar, but each has trade-offs.

A: Look at perceived speed of screen redraw versus actual speed-up.

A: Job listings are now available on the ring-clipboard at the front of the room, by the Mac.