🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1035@k.cs.cmu.edu>, dtw@k.cs.cmu.edu (Duane Williams) writes:
> 
> >	....  If you can afford to or find a buyer for the
> >	Apple SIMMs, you could do without them and stick 4 of MacMem.'s
> >	1Meg-byte cards into the 4 available board sockets.
> 
> I talked to someone at MacMemory about the possibility of putting four of
> their boards into a MacPlus.  I was told that this was not feasible because
> the MacPlus power supply couldn't handle it.
> 
> Duane

	yep, we talked with them also, and whereas the initial response was
	the same as yours, talking with a "higher-up" we were told: "no
	problem.  we have several running without problems for quite some
	time already".  Whom to believe?  Well, you all know of my low
	opinion of the power-supply (having been bitten more than once already
	- not on a machine with a Max-board, though!), so other than pointing
	out the "possibility" of installing more than 2 Meg, I would hesitate
	to "recommend" doing so, based on the lack of sufficient data and
	experience that I have myself with such a configuration.

	... there is, however, a new toy that just arrived here last week,
	and it is now in "test".  The item I am hinting at here is the
	"Three-to-One Touchboard" from Human Touch, which was shown at the
	Frisco show in January, and had been on order since then (ouch!!!)

	It features:

	o a 12.5MHz 68000 processor [functionally replaces the Mac's]

	o 1.5MB of RAM [works with either 128K or 512K Macs]

	o 384 KB of empty ROM-sockets [burn your favorite program into
		ROM and watch it fly (can you, legally, back up a program
		into ROM?  compilers and such? I guess, I ought to ask the
		legal eagles in net.legal about that.)]

	o ExpandaTouch(TM) external card cage [brings the signals from the
		68000 to 2 external connectors, where you can hook up
		whatever devices anyone will come out with that uses
		them.  For example, you can create SCSI ports ...]

	Given that the literature I have handy is outdated and I am not the
	one playing with the upgraded machine, all I can say so far is, that
	the speed increase is noticable immediately when working on the desktop
	opening and closing windows, putting files away, etc.  You immediately
	get spoiled and start disliking the speed of a "slow" Mac ... (-:

	Seriously, we use 2 simple little demos to show the difference.

	In one, we open all the folder-windows the system will let us and then
	use OPTION-CLOSE to order them all closed. ... and watch them disappear.

	In the second demo, we pull lots of files out of the folders and drop
	them onto the DeskTop;  then we do a "Put Away" from the DeskTop
	Menu "File" ..... and watch those get zapped.

	Of course, where the speed increase really becomes meaningfull is
	with a program like MacSpin, which really needs the faster speed
	and so far, only the "expensive" Levco monsters could help with that.
	But we also got to watch one Levco-monster here bomb a lot, whereas
	we have had no problem with the 3-on-1 yet.

	And if you are a developer, I know you would rather wait only half
	as long for your compiles to tell you that there is still another
	bug ....((-:

	We did, however, have to remove the internal Micah-20 HD from the
	machine the 3-on-1 went in, because there was no way to share space
	and 68000 to clip-on, and we did not want to 'experiment'.

	I think Human Touch advertises in all the mags now, so check there for
	more info.  Prices are around $1,000, but folks on this net should
	know better and find them for around $800 (ask if you have to).

	And before I forget, let me tell you about another new gadget which I
	happened to start playing with this week (and which is advertised
	everywhere, in case you want to follow-up).  I am very much addicted
	to my Assimilation Trackball, and here comes Honeywell's Lynx
	trackball, which has one feature that I really like: a second-button,
	which works as a "Click-and-Hold" button, such that when you click
	it on a menubar-item, it drops down the menu, which stays open without
	having to hold any button so that you can move to the item you want to
	pick, and click there with the second button, without running the
	danger of having the finger slip off the 'held button' when passing
	over 'the wrong item' with the unfortunate results that can lead to ..
	(alright, so you have never done a CUT where you meant to do a COPY,
	and lost the contents of your Clipboard.  and I could tell worse ...)

	This "click-and-hold" button was also useful with MacSpin, where you
	need to hold the mouse to keep the image spinning.  A real drag when
	you are giving a talk using a large screen monitor, and you can't
	take your fingers of the mouse-button.

	But as I like the "feel" and the larger size of both buttons and ball
	of the Assimilation better, I would prefer to figure out a way
	to convert one of its buttons into a click-and-hold button rather
	than switching to the Lynx.  It's going to be a tough choice.
	
	Of course, there is also the 'software solution' of some company (I
	forget who) which installed a mod into your system which creates
	a GEM-like behavior, where the menu drops down as soon as the
	mouse-cursor is moved onto a menu-item;  but that causes me so much
	grief with Switcher and others, that, to me, it is not a feasable
	alternative.

		---Werner  (my coffee got cold again, darnit ...)