From: xxltony@cts.com (Tony Lindsey) Subject: Mac*Chat#099/18-Dec-95 Welcome to Mac*Chat, the weekly electronic newsletter for everyone interested in using a Macintosh computer professionally, no matter what their situation or profession. See the end of this file for further information, including how to get a free subscription and how to contribute donations to keep Mac*Chat thriving. Any [comments in brackets] are by Tony Lindsey. Highlights Of This Issue ------------------------ I mention the old American cars I'm restoring, we learn all about the Mac Consultants Conference directly after the MacWorld Expo, I conclude the topic of transferring binary files between AOL and the Internet, we learn about AOL's new help section, we learn that tall, full-page monitors DO work with just about any Mac, we get news about more hidden goodies inside Mac programs, plus iron-on images from your Mac, a new powertool that clears unclaimed memory, and I continue shopping for a local Service provider. Topics: Highlights Of This Issue Editor's Notes Let Me Introduce Myself, Part Three - My Hobbies Macintosh Consultants Network Conference America Online Attached-File Transfers New Help From AOL Portrait & Swivel Displays Easter Eggs Making Color T-Shirts With The Mac, Part One Mac OS Purge AOL Vs. Local Service Providers, Continued Legalisms Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter Editor's Notes -------------- By Tony Lindsey I'm going to be hanging-out at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, going to parties, checking-out the show and schmoozing my head off. I'd be grateful if folks would clue me in to the most neat-o parties, breakfasts and dinners to crash. I will be glad to meet any Mac*Chat readers that will be attending. Here's how: The User Group Connection has a room called the UGWUMP room: the User Group Welcoming, Unwinding and Meeting Place. It's either room 112 or 121 in the North Hall of Moscone. I'll be there at 2PM on Thursday the 18th, and at 4PM on Friday the 19th. I'll wear a brown vest so you'll know it's me! Let Me Introduce Myself, Part Three - My Hobbies ------------------------------------------------ By Tony Lindsey My main hobby is restoring my old cars: - 1953 Buick Roadmaster Woodie Wagon (one of 670 made). This is the one sucking-up all of my spare money right now, since it's stripped to the bare frame and body, and the floor-pan is being replaced. Anybody have a 1953 Buick parts-car? It's one of the very final American-made wood-bodied cars ever made, with seasoned Northern Ash, mahogany and teak woodwork. It's got chrome for the nation, with portholes, wire wheels and a waterfall grille. - 1955 Dodge LaFemme (one of around 300 made). The only US-built production car ever made for women, which came with a purse, umbrella, rain-hat and rain-coat. We have everything (unused) except for the rain-coat. I'm the worldwide authority on these cars. My definitive article on the topic (Collectible Automobile magazine, February 1988) has been plagiarized in three magazine articles so far. 1961 Imperial Crown convertible (one of 429 made). 19 feet (5.79 meters) long, 7 feet (2.134 meters) wide, 5,280 pounds (2.4 metric tons). HUGE tail-fins - The largest of any production car. The ultimate parade-car in glossy black. Some day it will have a red leather interior. It has swivel 6-way bucket seats, the factory-equipped record-player, and an automatically-dimming rearview mirror (operated by one large vacuum tube). The car was an awesome technological marvel when it was new, costing as much as two 1961 Cadillacs when equipped with all options. I also edit the monthly electronic Imperials*Online newsletter, with around 30 readers. I bought all of my old cars over a decade ago, and plan to keep them for the rest of my life - I'll be that old poop driving the old woodie wagon while all of the whippersnappers will be flying around in their George Jetsonmobiles! Next issue - I talk about my work with the newsletter. Macintosh Consultants Network Conference ---------------------------------------- [I'm going to be Master of Ceremonies at the Macintosh Consultants Network International Consultants Conference in San Francisco, right after MacWorld Expo. I urge ALL Mac consultants to make plans to be there. Here's the info:] By John Friedlander, Executive Director, Macintosh Consultants Network The MCN is an eight-year old, international, U.S. based not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the fortunes of Macintosh-oriented consultants. One of our main activities are the International Consultants Conferences we present twice annually. The next one (our 15th) is coming right up, in San Francisco January 12-15, 1996 immediately following San Francisco MacWorld. (MacWorld ends and the Conference begins on Friday, January 12.) The theme of this conference is "Communication and Collaboration in a Shifting Market." + MCN conferences feature highly detailed, technically oriented presentations by leading Macintosh hardware and software vendors. Vendors who have confirmed their presentations to date at the upcoming conference include ACI (4D), Claris (FileMaker Pro 3.0), Dayna (fast ethernet), Farallon (Netopia Ethernet/ISDN Router), Global Village (OneWorld telecom servers and internet routers), Soft Arc (First Class), Management Software (Job Order Process Management software), and Wave Research (File Wave software). (Other vendors are about to commit but can't be listed until they do.) These are not just marketing presentations, but instead are typically presented by product managers and engineers who present information needed by consultants integrating products into specialized, multi-vendor solutions environments. + Since vendors presenting at MCN conferences want to make sure attendees get the best opportunity to fully evaluate their products, it is common for conference attendees to go home with NFR software and hardware discounts worth far more than their cost of attending the conference. + MCN Conferences also present "Practice Management" sessions, designed to help you face the challenges inherent in any consulting practice: how to set rates, how to find good clients and lose bad ones, how to handle business growth, how to deal with accounting and taxation issues, how to work with teams, etc. + MCN Conferences are also unparalleled opportunities for you to build one-on-one social relationships with the people you need to know to help streamline your work: the product managers who understand the value of your experience in the real world, the support engineers who know you have already asked and answered the basic questions and therefore can operate on a high level of competence when calling for tech support, and other consultants with expertise in areas you want to know more about. + In addition, Mac evangelist extraordinaire, well-known author and Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki will keynote the conference, Power Computing Evangelist and Mac author Bob LeVitus will moderate a discussion on consulting challenges, and (drumroll, please) your friendly host and Editor TONY LINDSEY will emcee the technical presentations. + MCN Conference attendees will also be welcomed (if pre-registered) at a reception with Apple USA President Jim Buckley on Tuesday, January 9 in San Francisco. + The conference costs $695 for non-MCN members, $545 for MCN members. There is a $50 discount for online registration. There are a strictly limited number of seats available for this conference. Discounted hotel rates are available, but rooms are selling fast, and should be booked before 12/23. To ensure your ability to attend, register immediately! To get a registration form, send any email message to for an automatic reply. You can also get more information by visiting the MCN home page at . [To join the MCN, call 800/729-4626 or 212/532-3365 and Doris will take your SnailMail address and send you the application. Anybody want to help them make it digital?] America Online Attached-File Transfers -------------------------------------- By Tony Lindsey In issue #98, I asked how to safely and simply swap binary files (programs, sounds, spreadsheets, etc.) between America Online and the Internet. It's still messy, though evidently it's being worked on. Personally, I just use Stuffit and Stuffit Expander to compress the files I'm sending into one archive, and send it through. If a file ends up arriving without the correct type and creator, and Stuffit Expander won't recognize it, I use FileTyper to change the type (to SITD) and the creator (SIT!). This topic was discussed at length in a recent issue of TidBITs: and, I'm glad to say that there is a nice, new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) group at AOL: New Help From AOL ----------------- By Leslie Jones The AOL FAQ 2.6 explains the process [of swapping files], and can be downloaded from the net. AOL uses pretty much standard MIME encoding. The one trick is that if multiple files arrive in one message, you must use uucd to decode them. In the time since the FAQ was written, AOL has updated their mail gateway to correctly BinHex Macintosh files, so ignore the instructions in the FAQ that relate to BinHex. The FAQ also explains how to create home pages and FTP sites on AOL, two topics that seem to be causing a lot of confusion lately. Portrait & Swivel Displays -------------------------- [In issue #98, it was stated that portrait monitors won't work on the Performa/Quadra 630-series of Macs. In this issue, I am including the rebuttals.] ------ By Sean Elkins I am writing this on a Performa 636 with a Portrait Display Labs 15" pivot monitor attached. Allow me to say without equivocation that my monitor DOES work in vertical mode with my computer. Users just need to make sure they have a newer model with the latest version of the Pivot driver. I bought both computer and monitor from MacMall <800-222-2808/310-787-4500> in early June of this year. Am highly satisfied with both. One complaint - when you flip the monitor to vertical mode, it rearranges my desktop icons so they are all on-screen. That's OK, but when you flip back to horizontal, the icons stay scrambled. ------ By Michael Kaiser A Performa 636 has an LC ['030] processor direct slot, which will take any of a number of 16 or 24 bit video cards (LapisColor 24, Color Fusion) which are available in many Mac catalogs (MacZone, MacMall). I think these cards will support the portrait displays. ------- By Christian F. Buser, Switzerland Be warned if you want to attach a Pivot monitor to a PMac 7200/75 (and probably others): You'll need two extra adapters between the Mac and the monitor (a black and a gray one), and you need another version of the "MacPortrait" software: 2.0. It took me 3 weeks to get the adapters from the distributor here, and they didn't tell me about the software. With adapters but without software, there's no pivoting... And I didn't yet get the software! The only Pivot monitor which works (according to PDL) with the new PCI PowerMacs is the Radius Precision Color Pivot (model 0536). For more info or questions, ask Portrait Display Labs, which can be reached at ------- By David H. Brown Regarding the misinformation about expanding the 63x macs, both Focus Enhancements and XCeed Technologies make video cards for the 63x series. It goes into the PDS (processor direct slot), right where you'd expect a video card to go on a mac that doesn't have NuBus or PCI. It does, however, block some of the space needed to do the PPC upgrade. I have the technical specs for the Color Fusion from XCEED; it specifically refers to the 640x870 Apple Portrait display. While neither has a web site, they're both listed in the vendor database at XCEED's card, at least, is also compatible with older LCs, performas, the color classic, and probably other macs with an '030 Processor Direct Slot. [Yes, that's what it has!] Easter Eggs ----------- By Tom Callahan Check out this file on AOL for ALL of the Apple Easter Eggs. Apple Easter Eggs 1.3.5 It has the ones mentioned so far in your newsletter (explained more accurately and with specific how-to's about getting them) and MANY more. I just uploaded it to my ftp space on AOL: ------- By Patrick Hoepfner Another tip about the System 7.5 "Find File" DA. When using "More Choices" to select several different criterion, you can remove one of them by holding the key down before dragging it to the trash. Dragging it to the desktop created a "text clipping" file on the desktop but doesn't delete it from the list. ------ By Tim Askew ILLUSTRATOR 5.5 Open About box holding Ctrl Option Command keys down to get a slightly different About Screen. If the About screen is left open for a couple of minutes, some vaguely amusing credits are displayed. In the main Illustrator window, there is a drop down menu in the bottom left hand part of the scroll bar. If this is clicked whilst Ctrl Option Apple are held down you get some cool new options to be displayed like: -Eyes -Moon Phase -Number of Mouse Clicks whilst Illustrator has been opened -Programmers home number -US National Debt -Shopping days till xmas -Random Numbers Making Color T-Shirts With The Mac, Part One -------------------------------------------- [Back in issue #98, I asked for tips from readers because I wanted to make color t-shirts for my family as a gift. I received a LOT of tips, which I'm now breaking up into separate categories. In this issue, I'll pass-along the tips that deal with iron-on transfers.] ------- By W Clark Buchanan Pop on over to your local Kinko's (or other copy shop or quickprinter) and toss them a disk with your graphics on it. Assuming they have Macs hooked up to their Canon Color Laser Copier (which is pretty standard at Kinko's nowadays), they can simply print directly from your disk onto iron-on t-shirt transfers. Two caveats, however: 1) I have no idea what you'll pay for this. (If I recall, it's around $2.50 per print) 2) The Canon CLC tends to do a better job with copying than with direct printing. It may be worth it, for quality's sake, to get your artwork printed on a dye-sublimation printer and take those continuous-tone prints to the copier. ------- By Gayanna Magcosta The 2-color Buick design is great and shouldn't be too expensive to silkscreen. A lot of silkscreeners are taking artwork on disks now and will handle trapping issues for you. You'd definitely get the nicest t-shirt that way. An alternative is outputting from disk to color transfers that are then ironed onto the shirt. We've done this for quick turn-around, low run t-shirts. Look for this service at a Kinko's or other copy center. Kinko's does all the work, including purchasing the shirts. They seem to wear pretty well....although a few people in our office must use pretty high-intensity detergent because the color on their shirts faded quite a bit. -------- [I received many letters pointing-out a very nice article on the topic of making iron-on transfers from an Apple-compatible inkjet printer like they show in those Canon commercials. I'm loathe to re-post it here due to space considerations, but you can get Volume 2, Issue 17 of Information Alley in text-format from: To get InfoAlley in text, Common Ground or Acrobat PDF format, or learn how to subscribe to the text version, check out: In a nutshell, here's what I've learned from that article, the help of many others, and my own digging: If you call Canon at <800/671-1090/314-458-0300> and order T-shirt Transfer Paper, part number TR101, it'll cost you US$17.95 per box, and $8.00 for shipping, so order several boxes and save the extra shipping cost. This special paper works with the Color StyleWriter 2200, Color StyleWriter 2400, and Color StyleWriter Pro, and doesn't require any special ink. I'm hoping it works with my HP DeskWriter 550C, and I'll be sure to let everybody know. You print the image flip-flopped on the paper, then iron-on the image, wash the shirt first in a vinegar-water mix and then in a regular wash. This is pretty good for short runs.] ------- By Gene Wunderlin, Fresno, CA Canon T-Shirt Transfers, TR-101 (10 sheets per pack, about $17). Look for the paper at Home Depot, Good Guys, Circuit City, Sears, etc. The image is printed in the backprint mode (needs to be reversed). Located in Apple Color StyleWriter print dialog box under PAPER TYPE. ------- By WGUNSTER@ACAD1.MTSU.EDU You might want to subscribe to FLASH Magazine, "the premier journal of desk- top printing" [see info below]. These people have toner and cartridges for many different printers that can put images onto just about anything. Their mag for July-Aug 94 is how to create color transfers for t-shirts on black and white laser printers. Great magazine for ideas on how to keep a Laser- writer printer (or its equivalent) going forever. They have back issues available too. ------- By Randall Kurashige Have you seen the Flash magazine? They are a spin-off of Black Lightning which stocks toner cartridges for transfers to T-shirts, mugs, hats etc. They have articles on DTP (desk top printing) and binding and other sorts of stuff. Black Lightning does sell cartridges in several colors specifically for iron on transfer work. Toner cartridges PER COLOR run from $140-250 depending on the print engine for your laser. Although it may be a little steep in $$$ if you are doing low volume production and want four color work, it appears if you have the artwork and a printer that can take the cartridges (and there are quite a few different types) you should be able to make iron-ons for your shirt on demand. they use translucent toner inks so you could simulate a regular four color CMYK if you have decent registration on your printer. Black Lightning Publishing, Inc. (Flash magazine) Riddle Pond Road West Topsham VT 05086 Ordering: (800) 252-2599/(802) 439-6462/FAX (802) 439-6463 -------- By sdeline@deltanet.com In reference to your Buick logo being screenprinted for Xmas gifts. What is the finished size? I'm assuming this would be for short runs, such as 10-25 or so. Seiko is probably the leader in the screenprint field with their Personal colorpoint printer - it will produce wax thermal and dye-sub transfers - using 3 and 4 color ribbons. Depending on which you choose - these images can be flopped and printed to a special transfer paper and then applied to a variety of finished products including T-Shirts, hats, mugs, mousepads - etc. Fargo has a similar process - but their printer leaves a bit to be desired. We are a VAR specializing in screenprint applications nationwide. The printer itself is around $2,695.00 - street price - cost to produce an 8 x 10 transfer around $2.00 - then heat press it on. Some claim you can iron it on - but it looks pretty lousy. The heat press results are fantastic. So at cost ya got a finished T-Shirt for around $4-5 or less. And as I'm sure you know for short runs you'll never touch that in screenprinting. Now as to what they are retailing these for - probably what the market will bear - if you can find someone local who does this - trade them some consulting time for the shirts. -------- [In the next issue, I'll talk about doing t-shirt transfers using color separations.] Mac OS Purge ------------ By Dave Kramer There's a program I found on the 'Net called Mac OS Purge. This small application should be on every user's desktop, in my humble opinion. Double-clicking it clears your RAM, which is useful after using applications like games and graphics programs that call on QuickTime and other memory intensive extensions that aren't always properly unloaded after use. You'll see a quick before and after picture as your About This Macintosh dialog is called up, the program runs and then quickly exits, leaving you generally with significantly more available RAM than you had before. Frankly, I think Apple should put a routine like this into the Mac OS that kicks in to flush your RAM each time you quit a program. I've found that since I started using Mac OS Purge, I crash less, and I always have enough RAM to launch my programs. AOL Vs. Local Service Providers, Continued ------------------------------------------ By Tony Lindsey In issues #97 and 98, I mentioned that I had found 28 separate Internet Service Providers (ISP's) offering connections to the Internet for my area. Some are local, and others provide 800-number access all over the USA. I've promised many people I would explain the process of shopping for a local provider in an ongoing series. This is part three. ------- Getting A Listing And Then Modifying It: First, I went to THE LIST's web page: I found "619" down toward the bottom of the page and clicked on it, because that is the area code for my part of Southern California. There are a lot of other pre-set locations all over the world, plus a way to search for other criteria. As soon as I saw the custom-made list of providers, I pulled down my Web browser's File menu and chose "Save As..." - I saved the file's format as Source, because that creates a text file with the necessary codes for live links to the providers I've chosen. I saved that file (calling it "Local ISP.html") onto my Desktop, so I'd be able to find it later and browse through it at my leisure, when I wasn't racking-up online charges. I signed-off from my online connection and opened-up the folder that contained my Web browser. I dragged "Local ISP.html" onto the Web browser's icon. I settled back and read through the long listing, making notes as I went along. I made a list on paper of the names of the ISP's that sounded at least somewhat-relevant to my needs. I quit from the browser and then dragged the "Local ISP.html" file onto my word-processor. Replacing The Linefeeds With Carriage Returns: The file looked too jumbled for my tastes, and full of little box characters. I knew from experience that these were linefeed characters, so I copied one of them and chose "Replace..." under my Edit menu. I pasted the box character into the first field and put the code for a carriage-return character into the second field. In MS Word, that code is "^p", and in ClarisWorks I believe it's "\p". Check your program's Help Index under "Search and Replace" for specifics. After I gave the command to do the search and replace, my file suddenly stopped being all jumbled. It seemed to make more sense, though still full of funky codes surrounded by angle-bracket characters. Those are necessary for the Web browser to make the text look formatted, so we'll leave 'em alone. Eradicating Unnecessary Listings I left the funky angle-bracket codes at the top of the file alone, since those are necessary for proper display in my browser. I scrolled down to the listings that mentioned each business and saw that they were sort-of in the form of a paragraph. I started deleting the businesses that were of no interest to me, by deleting an entire paragraph at a time. When I was done, I saw some codes at the top, the specific businesses that were of interest to me, and some codes at the bottom. I saved the file again, making sure the file format was plain Text, since my browser can't read my usual word-processor file format. I made sure I quit COMPLETELY from the word-processor. That's important, to avoid errors later on. Re-Reading The List, And Signing On. I dragged "Local ISP.html" onto the Web browser's icon again, and looked to see how well my deletions had worked. I was pretty satisfied, so I quit the browser. I signed back onto the Internet, began cruising the Web again, and then chose "open file" under the browser's File menu. I opened "Local ISP.html" on the Desktop and started clicking the various links to check-out the various pages offered to me. I started sending e-mail to each of the businesses to request more information about their service. After that, my REAL shopping began. Legalisms and Information ------------------------- Copyright 1989-1995 Tony Lindsey. Whole issues of Mac*Chat may be copied freely, provided that all copies are left intact and unedited. Small excerpts of Mac*Chat may be reproduced for personal use or by nonprofit groups (such as Mac User Groups) or for other non-commercial publications if full credit is given. Please contact the editor for any other publication requests. This newsletter is intended purely as entertainment and free information. No profit has been made from any of these opinions. Time passes, so accuracy may diminish. Publication, product, and company names may be registered trademarks of their companies. ----- This file is formatted as setext, which can be read on any text reader. I'd enjoy hearing your feedback and suggestions. Unfortunately, due to the massive numbers of messages I get every day, I can't guarantee a personal reply. Send all such messages to: Tony Lindsey 3401-A55 Adams Avenue San Diego, CA 92116-2429 Tips from readers are gratefully accepted. Please write them in a user-friendly way, and if you are mentioning an Internet site, please include a paragraph explaining why others should visit it. Financial donations are gratefully accepted, to help defray the costs of putting-out one of the fastest-growing newsletters on earth. For more information, send e-mail to with "Donations" in the Subject line. Mac*Chat back-issues may be found within any Info-Mac ftp archive at /info-mac/per/chat and read with any Web browser at Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter ------------------------------------- You may subscribe to Mac*Chat by sending e-mail to: The Subject line is ignored, so it can say anything. In the body of the message include the following line: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Your full name As an example: SUBSCRIBE MACCHAT Juliana Tarlton You will receive a nice long message explaining acceptance of your subscription, how to end it (if desired) and general listserv info. You will then automatically receive Mac*Chat in your e-mail box, for free, every week. ============== ____ ================================================== Tony Lindsey \ _/__ Free, weekly e-mailed Mac-oriented newsletter Mac*Chat Editor \X / ================= \/ =================================================