From: strobl@gmd.de (Wolfgang Strobl)
Subject: Re: Macintosh bigots
Organization: GMD, Sankt Augustin, Germany
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 12:49:34 GMT

In <lkx1lgl@rpi.edu> johnsd2@jec327.its.rpi.edu.its1 (Daniel Norman Johnson) writes:

>In article 722000906@gmd.de, strobl@gmd.de (Wolfgang Strobl) writes:
>>In <#aw1bwg@rpi.edu> johnsd2@vccsouth16.its.rpi.edu.its1 (Daniel Norman Johnson) writes:
>>
>>>In article 7M8@news.cso.uiuc.edu, rvenkate@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Ravikuma Venkateswar) writes:
>>
>>[...]
>>>>
>>>>From Byte Magazine October 92:
>>>>
>>>>Dell 466DE i486DX2 66 MHz 
>>>>8 MB RAM, 230MB IDE HDD, 6 EISA slots, 128K cache, accel. video,
>>>>15" 1024X768 .28 monitor, one floppy drive, MSDOS 5.0 -------------$3899
>>
>>>How deep is that monitor? 
>>
>>The color depth is a feature of the video interface, not the monitor,
>>right?

>Right, sorry. How deep is the card? :)

No idea. 8 bit, probably.

>>>What sort of floppy drive? 
>>
>>Most probably a 1,44 MByte 3-1/2" drive.

>Hmmm... which formats can those guys read?
>(I get confused with all the PC formats. This is probably
>common knowledge, but I dont have it anyway..)

There are two standard DOS formats for 3-1/2" disks: 720 KByte
(DD) and 1,44 MByte (HD). The 1,44 M drive used in PCs can read
and write both formats. I.e. it physically supports these formats,
the BIOS supports it, and MSDOS supports these formats. If the
BIOS isn't broken, it is possible to read a lot of tweaked
formats, too, but I would't recommend to create such disks.
The standard software (i.e. MSDOS, Windows) cannot create
nonstandard disks, but is able to read or write them, so this
isn't much of a problem.

>>>It doens't
>>>include windows? What warranty and suchlike? How's the documentation
>>>and setup and so on for this computer? Mouse? What ports
>>>does it have (if any)?
>>
>>Most Dell computers have one parallel and two serial interfaces. 
>>This may have changed - I bought my last DELL computer years ago -,
>>but I doubt it. Add another 50 $ for these interfaces, if you like.

>Ok.

I just got a new ad from Dell in the mail. Most of the machines
(the above one isn't included) have 1P, 2S.

The price of a machine includes repair at your home (or where
the machine happens to be) for one year for free, the next
working day. All the machines come with mouse and MSDOS 5
and Windows 3.1, preinstalled. And all but one have a
single floppy disk drive for both 3-1/2 and 5-1/4" disks.

>>>>Gateway i486DX2 66 MHz
>>>>8 MB RAM, 340MB SCSI HDD, 6 EISA slots, 128K cache, accel. video,
>>>>14" 1024X768 .28 monitor, two floppy drives, MSDOS 5.0, Windows3.1, mouse
>>>>and choice of software (Excel, Word, Powerpoint, TPW, paradox) ----$3995
>>
>>>Basically the same questions; but this one has windows. :)
>>
>>>>cheap clone
>>>>Comtrade 486 EISA advantage i486DX2 66 MHz
>>>>4 MB RAM, 130MB IDE HDD,              , 64K cache, accel. local bus video,
>>>>14" 1024X768 .28 monitor, two floppy drives, MSDOS 5.0, Windows 3.1, mouse
>>>>							      -----$2375
>>
>>>Dat is a cheap clone!
>>>This one has a mouse too!
>>
>>>>Apple Quadra 950 M040 33 MHz (Note: educational price at UIUC)
>>>>8 MB RAM, 400MB HD, 5 NuBus slots, one floppy drive, mouse,
>>>>system 7 ----------------------------------------------------------$5952
>>
>>>I already know about this guy. (you forgot to mention various other
>>>things it has like ethernet, builtin video [you did mention the video
>>>cards on above clones!], sound, etc. And I think it has a PDS slot too.
>>
>>But he mentioned "accel. video" for all the computers but the "cheap
>>clone" one, and in the description for that one he said: "accel. 
>>local bus video"!

>Right.

>Odd that he left it off of the Quadra, which also has it.

I misread your remark - I read "you didn't mention ..."  Sorry. 

>[deletia- resources explained]

>>>>>And I meant that programs can't edit their own resources, or use
>>>>>resources in the files they make. They are actually rather handy
>>>>>little things.
>>>>
>>>>They can.
>>
>>>I dont think so. MS-DOS does not have a resource fork, right?
>>
>>Doesn't matter. A program can't attach a resource to a data file,
>>that's true, because MSDOS doesn't have multiple streams of data in
>>one file. But you specifically said "can't edit THEIR OWN RESOURCES",
>>i.e. resources attached to the executable. The New Executable format
>>used for Windows and OS/2 programs is quite well defined, and 
>>has both a code and a resource part.

>Oh ok; You just said "they can" and I thought you meant all of that
>stuff.

>So apps can change their own resources; I understand there is no
>system support for this- wouldn't that make it quite tricky?
>Is it done much?

No. I know no program which does it, and consider that to be an
advantage, because - as you already mentioned earlier - self-
modifying programs make sharing (on a server, for example)
difficult. It has other disadvantages, too.

There are resource editors (Borlands Resource Workshop, for example), 
which modify other programs resources.

Modifying resources can be done using the standard file system
interface. Just read that part of a program file, which contains
the resources and interpret it yourself.

On the macintosh, a single implementation concept (resources)
is used for three different purposes: to contain the programs
code, to contain the user interface part (i.e. dialog templates),
and for program parametrization. 

Windows does it differently. It uses a similar concept for
user interface components, but has other mechanisms for 
organizing code and for program parametrization.

Wolfgang Strobl
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Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy