EvangeList Digest Monday, May 18 1998 Volume 01 : Number 1186
In this issue:
PR - Chroma Graphics Upgrade PR - Church Membership Keeper Released ?? - Mac OS Survey Software Followup - X-Windowing Emulation on the Mac $$ - Toy Collection -- Vintage Automobiles CD-ROM Job - Porting Windows App to Mac Followup - 3Com Encouraging Mac Conduit Development for Palm Pilot Followup - Orb Pricing ?? - Calling All Engineers Who Have Gone from PC to Mac Tidbit - Videoconferencing and CuSeeMe 3.1
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:45 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: PR - Chroma Graphics Upgrade
This announcement is from:
Robin Shiverick, <robin@chromagraphics.com>
Chroma Graphics, Inc. plans a new and improved version of MagicMask, with a release date to coincide with Photoshop 5.0. Building on the success of the original version, Chroma is expanding tool functions and adding key features including straight line "pixel perfect" clipping paths for easy printing.
Advanced Photoshop users will appreciate the increased control offered by the expanded Density Mask tool. Individual access to Hue, Saturation and Value settings (formerly only Hue) allow users to create and save unique mask settings. This is especially useful for knocking out blue/green screens and creating masks for color correction purposes. MagicMask 2.0 will also ship with a variety of common color range settings, including RGB/CMY, orange, purple, sky blue, and others.
MagicMask 2.0 will retain original features such as unlimited undo's, standard shortcuts, user set preferences, the ability to save and export masks, and a variety of selection tools for quick cutouts, including the snap-to-edge Magic Lasso. MagicMask was the first product on the market to include this type of intuitive edge detection.
Well-received by reviewers and customers alike, MagicMask stormed onto the plug-ins scene last year, answering a need for more efficient masking and selection. The first in a series of integrated plug-ins from Chroma Graphics, MagicMask has recently been awarded the prestigious 1998 Win 100 award from Windows Magazine. Already recognized as a powerhouse plug-in, it is MagicMask's new features that will set it apart in a class by itself.
The new version of MagicMask is scheduled to begin shipping for MacOS, Windows 95 and Windows NT in June. Readers can call 1-888-8CHROMA (824-7662) for product information, or to place an order. The estimated US street price is $99.95. A special upgrade price of $29.95 will be available for customers who already own MagicMask.
For more information on Chroma Graphics, please visit the Chroma Graphics web site at:
<http://www.chromagraphics.com>
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:46 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: PR - Church Membership Keeper Released
This announcement is from:
Rev. Glenn A. Lucas <PastorG@kagi.com>
Church Membership Keeper 3.5 is now available from <http://www.pacificnet.net/~pastorg/cmk.html>. This version brings several user suggested enhancements to its already powerful church management capabilities. Some of these enhancements include:
A new password protected "Youth" relational database that allows users to track such information as youth involvement, home and work numbers, school name, grade, emergency contact and phone, relate siblings to one another and quickly move between related records and databases. A new "Children" relational database that allows users to track attendance at Sunday School, store school and grade information, birthdays, print letters to the child or parents, send postcards and relate siblings to one another and quickly move between related records and databases. A new password protected "Pastor's" relational database enabling the pastor to keep confidential records apart from the CMK main file. An "Attendance-At-A-Glance" layout and report which allows users to view, mark, and print a continuous report of any number of members. There is now password protection of all financial layouts and related databases. The ability to relate records through a "Family ID#" and view and jump to related records and files from the Detail View layout. The ability to print either formal or informal form letters. Automatic computation of dates based on the first date entered. Auto-formatting of telephone related fields. A registration file that allows the user to simply purchase Church Membership Keeper through Kagi Shareware.
Church Membership Keeper has been well received by the on-line Church community. Users like its flexibility. After paying the $25 shareware fee users receive the password which allows them to customize CMK for their specific church. Because FileMaker Pro is cross-platform so is Church Membership Keeper but it is made entirely on a Macintosh. In fact many Macintosh users show it off on a Macintosh to church leaders with the hope of convincing them to migrate from Windows to Macintosh. It has literally become an evangelism tool for both God and the Macintosh! Rev. Glenn A. Lucas Ephesians 5:18-21
Church Membership Keeper A FileMaker Pro Solution <http://www.pacificnet.net/~pastorg/cmk.html>
Email: <pastorg@pacificnet.net> Personal WWW: <http://www.pacificnet.net/~pastorg>
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:46 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: ?? - Mac OS Survey Software
This request is from:
Connie Mahan, <connie@c-t-g.com>
I am looking for Mac survey software. So far, all the offerings I've seen are windoze only, though my search on the web was not exhaustive. I thought to myself, "why go through 1187 listings when I ask the Evangelists what might be out there for the Mac?" I am particularly interested in a package that would be suitable for nonprofessional survey takers, and one that is suited to doing email surveys.
By the way, I just helped convert a (very) small nonprofit from pcs to Macs. A moral victory at least!
Thanks for any ideas on the survey stuff.
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:45 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: Followup - X-Windowing Emulation on the Mac
This follow-up message is from:
Joe Gardner, <jgardne@soc.nwa.com>
A big "THANX!" to all the Evangelistas who took the time to respond to my request for X-Windowing software for the Macintosh. As usual, you showed what a helpful, giving community we are. There were far too many responses to reply individually, so I've compiled the information into this post. It's a bit long, for which I apologize, but contains a lot of useful data for anyone looking to X Window on their Mac. I tried to save some time by using direct quotes from the messages I received. These quoted remarks were taken as received and I can't vouch for the veracity of any of the quoted sections. They are the voices of the 'Listas. ;)
First, the lesson...
"X Window" (hereinafter simply X) is the graphical user interface of the UNIX world. It's similar to the Windoze 3.x system in that the X GUI runs on top of the UNIX operating system. But X is a little different. It is actually two parts - a server process and a display process. The server process can run on the UNIX box or locally on a workstation. The GUI display process can run on a workstation, an x- terminal, or a Mac or PC running emulation software (that is, acting as an x-terminal). The ability to redirect the X display to any available terminal (either on the network or over a modem to your home computer) is a big advantage of X.
The terminology used in X is a little backwards. The application running on the UNIX box or workstation is actually the "client" and the X software on the PC or Mac or whatever is called the "server". Confusing, but it helps to think of the Mac or whatever as a display server. X can run either "rooted" or "rootless". In "rooted" mode, it creates a single window that contains all the other X windows (applications). This is good because you can size the X "desktop" to be bigger than your actual screen and scroll around a huge workspace. Very convenient if the X applications you're running use big big windows (this seems to be pretty common, actually). In "rootless" mode, all the X windows open up just like normal Mac or PC windows. This may make the screen updates a little faster as part of the win- dow management is taken over by the Mac or PC processor. But if you open a window bigger than your screen size, well... the various X servers deal with that in different ways.
Here's the scoop on the products...
MacX from Apple Computer Version 2.0 Press Release from Apple: <http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q4/970805.pr>. rel.macx2.0.html> MacWorld review of version 2.0 (four mice): <http://macworld.zdnet.com/pages/february.98/Reviews.4177.html>
Pros new version 2 much improved, cheaper than eXodus (about US$120?), may be FREE in the future (with Mac OS 8.2?), "can even copy and paste between Mac and X applications", "handles color very nicely, it comes with all the fonts you could ever want... it's very reliable, and it's fast", "works with any 030 or better Mac running System 7.1", rootless mode
Cons slow over PPP/modem connection, "does not handle the most complicated windows, though that may be simply a memory problem", "very annoying about asking me for my password for each program I run", "only one user can use MacX at one time, per Unix machine", "for graphic intensive applications (things that draw the gui over and over again) [MacX is] pretty slow and unworkable"
- ---------------------------
eXodus from White Pine Software <http://www.wpine.com/exodus>
Pros time-limited (30 days) demo available, "the most stable, robust X Window implementation we've seen", "very easy to configure and maintain. Technical Support from White Pine is excellent", "absolutely the best you'll find for the Mac", "provides a stable, usable and easy-to-understand X-windowing environment", "has more flexibility", rootless mode
Cons "Exodus does not support OpenGL, so if you plan to view an OpenGL program (running on a Silicon Graphics host) on your Mac, it won't work", may require a three-button mouse (?), "had to re-enter the license and serial info every time I launched it"
- ---------------------------
MI/X from MicroImages <http://www.microimages.com/freestuf/mix> or <http://tnt.microimages.com/www/html/freestuf/mix> Australasian mirror for Mac OS files only: <ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-server-ppc.hqx> <ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-server-68k.hqx>
Pros FREE, includes its own window manager (TWM), full-featured, "a closer match to the standard", "has good documentation", "there is a program to do the initial XDM that is free too"
Cons network bandwidth may be an issue, TWM is not the most elegant interface, "the only thing that it can't do which I would find very useful is display native SGI/GL graphics, which unfortunately encompasses a large number of SGI/X-Windows apps", "not as fully featured and does not support XDM" (makes connection easier), "I suggest killing their proprietary, local window manager and running motif, olwm, etc. server-side", "you have to start the X client from a telnet session or some other way to cause the client to begin running", "it will occasionally crash", only works in 256 color mode (not sure about this; it was only mentioned once in all the responses), "recommend 32 meg of ram... using it on a PowerMac 7100, with 16,... was somewhat sluggish", no rootless mode, "I've had trouble getting this to work under MacOS 8/PPP. (a known issue with this SW)"
- ---------------------------
XTen from Tenon Intersystems <http://www.tenon.com>
Pros "supposed to be faster than the others", "very straightforward to set up on the Mac", "the most reliable x terminal emulator"
Cons "requires a good bit of UNIX knowledge and doesn't co-exist as nicely with MacOS apps as MacX", "not cheap"
- ---------------------------
MachTen from Tenon Intersystems <http://www.tenon.com> "a full UNIX implementation built on a Mach micro-kernel and BSD 4.4 UNIX", "includes all of the GNU development and X utilities, as well as an AfterStep window manager to go along with the Motif (mwm), OpenLook (olwm), Tab (twm) and FV (fvwm) window managers"
Pros "bypasses QuickDraw to achieve 10x performance under situations of high graphics load"
Cons "The downside to bypassing QuickDraw is the lack of cut and paste between your X-Window and the rest of the Mac", "pretty expensive"
- ---------------------------
Xoftware from AGE Logic (now NetManage) <http://www.age.com> (no mention of Xoftware on their products page)
Pros
Cons "no longer sold or supported"
- ---------------------------
Linux for Mac ("Both run various X windows GUIs for Linux")
We're now looking at the three most popular packages (MacX, eXodus, and MI/X) to see which one best fits our needs. Again, many thanks to the Evangelista legions for coming to the aid of a non-UNIX geek.
p.s. A pleasurable side-effect of getting swamped with all this mail was reading the .sigs used on the notes. Here's my favorite:
In a world without walls or fences, what use do we have for windows or gates?
If anyone knows the author of this, could you let me know?
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:45 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: $$ - Toy Collection -- Vintage Automobiles CD-ROM
This special offer is from:
Jim Bunte, <jimbunte@earthlink.net>
Own Toy Collection -- rare virtual toys on interactive CDrom!
Now shipping -- American Eagle Entertainment's debut release, Toy Collection -- Vintage Automobiles! Filled with vintage tin car, truck, and motorcycle toys from the classic period of toy manufacture, Toy Collection is fun, educational, witty, and darn good-looking. Think of Toy Collection as the world's coolest coffee table book that never gathers dust. Great for toy fans, pop culture fans, and vintage car and motorcycle fans.
Naturally, every bit of this product was created using Apple Power Macintoshes. Is there really anything else?
Evangelists can own Toy Collection for a very special price. Normally we charge $24.99 plus $4 shipping, but Evangelists can purchase Toy Collection for a mere $15 postpaid! That's practically half price! Where else can you have this much fun and save this much money, all at once? Exactly.
To order, visit our website's special Evangelist page at:
<http://www.ameri-eagle.com/evantc.html>
or simply send a check or money order (US funds) for $15 to
American Eagle Entertainment Inc., 1223 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 866, Santa Monica, CA 90403.
(California residents, please add 8.25% sales tax for a total of $16.24.)
And because we're now shipping, you can have your own Toy Collection in a matter of days!
Even if you're not interested in purchasing Toy Collection right away, please visit our website and download all the free, terrific MacOS 8 desktop pictures we've posted. Again, our website is www.ameri-eagle.com.
Thank you for your support, and thanks, Apple, for the best computers and system software in the world!
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:47 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: Job - Porting Windows App to Mac
This job announcement is from:
Eric Rech, <ejrinc@2z.net>
Please Contact 1 800 847 0222
Thank You.
__________________________ Digital Guy Sez:
Wow...the shortest job listing in EvangeList history... :-)
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:48 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: Followup - 3Com Encouraging Mac Conduit Development for Palm Pilot
This follow-up message is from:
Brian Hall, <brian_hall@markspace.com>
Mark/Space will be producing a MacOS conduit for PageNOW! - evangelistas will be especially pleased to know that the MacOS conduit will precede the Windows conduit as we do all of our PalmOS development on Macs!
Sorry about that. Remember, we are still in the developing stage, so we still have some things to fix. This price list is permanant.
Thanks for your cooperation!
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:48 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: ?? - Calling All Engineers Who Have Gone from PC to Mac
Peter Milburn, <elite.systems@shaw.wave.ca>
OK, listen up Mac Evangelistas who are engineers! I know you can do me proud on this one. I recently wrote a review of the PowerMac G3/266 for The Computer Paper, Canada's largest national computer publication. Afterwards, I received a response from an engineer who is seriously considering ditching his PC in favor of a brand new G3. I have provided him with some information that will assist him with migrating, but I think he would be better served by corresponding with other engineers who have gone thru a similar transition process. He has given me permission to relay his email address to other engineers who would like to correspond with him about this matter. The address is:
<echeung@creo.com>
For your listening pleasure, here is the message I received from him:
"Hi, my name is Bill Cheung. I would like to thank you for an informative article on the G3. My brother and I are discussing getting a new computer and we're both interested in getting a G3, and we wanted to call upon your expertise. My brother is an engineer and works with particular software, and we're both wondering if his software will work on a Mac. Also if they don't, would using Virtual PC help?
This is the list of the software: FrameMaker, Pagemaker, MathCad and associated workbooks, Microsoft Powerpoint, Excel, Solidworks, AutoCad, Visio, Axum, Maximizer
Do they work on Macs? I would appreciate it if you could put my in touch with some engineers who have had to make the transition from PC to Mac, esp. on the software side. Please e-mail me at <echeung@creo.com>. Thanks very much for your help.
Bill and Ed Cheung
Ladies & Gentlemen... more evidence that 'The Mac is Back!'...
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Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 02:06:49 -0000 From: John Halbig <john@garage.com> Subject: Tidbit - Videoconferencing and CuSeeMe 3.1
This tidbit is from:
jonro, <jonro@gte.net>
I like to give credit where it's due, especially when a company has made a concerted effort to produce a quality product for its Mac customers.
A couple of months ago, I bought a Panasonic EggCam to do some videoconferencing from my Mac. The EggCam is only produced for the PC, but video inputs are video inputs, so I bought one. It came with a copy of CuSeeMe for Windows. So I wrote to White Pine to ask them about upgrading from the Windows version that shipped with the EggCam to a Mac version. They quickly and politely wrote back and told me that there was no charge to switch from one version to another, and gave me the URL for downloading the software and a new password.
So far, so good. But, it turned out that the then current version of CuSeeMe was not compatible with System 8. I wrote to them again. They said they were rewriting both versions and that CuSeeMe version 3.1 would be equivalent on both platforms. The new version has been released and I want you to know that it's great. Videoconferencing couldn't be more convenient. It works with conferences (video chat rooms) and phone books and allows you to fine-tune codecs and other settings during a call. All in all, they've done a great job for their Mac users. So, I want to recommend the product and the company to anyone interested in videoconferencing with their Mac.
If you want more information about CUSeeMe, or want to download a demo version, White Pine's URL is <http://www.wpine.com>.
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End of EvangeList Digest V1 #1186 *********************************
