On Monday, September 16, 2002, at 08:11 pm, Stuart Bell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> It actually raises a problem I've been toying with for years - getting a > video wall of compact Macs, nothing complex, but perhaps big text and > simple graphics sliding seamlessly from one Mac to the next. With > AppleTalk the hardware is there, but I've yet to think of the underlying > s/w that one might adapt, short of a full-blown program in BASIC or > something. Assuming that the compacts can run System 7, AppleScript is ideal as a controlling mechanism. If program linking is enabled on the compacts, a script running on a server Mac could directly control the display application; assuming that the server was fairly fast (68030 onwards) the script would send the remote AppleEvents sufficiently quickly that there would be no significant lag time between page changes on adjacent Macs . Alternatively, a separate instance of the control program could exist on each compact but you would really need to sync the clocks frequently (check the old UMich archives for AppleTalk clock/network time utilities or try Vremya which runs over IP including MacTCP to sync with any standard NTP server). If the display app is not AppleScript aware, QuickKeys does a very good job and can be controlled via AppleScript. [Thinking again, I guess that a System 7 based solution will only work with hard disk compacts and it would be a shame to exclude the better looking 128s, 512s and Pluses... For SEs onwards, I would consider using System 7.1 with the Scriptable Finder installed rather than relying on vanilla 7.0.x when working with AppleScript.] Should you fancy being totally retro, MacroMaker in System 6 would be worth looking at but an early version of QuickKeys would probably serve you better. It would be feasible to run a minimum AppleShare client with QuickKeys from an 800K floppy disk -- LocalTalk file access is about the same speed as floppy access so you could get away with running the display app and data files from a server. Maybe you could preload data onto a RAM disk for faster loading times. The only BASIC variation you could seriously consider would be RealBasic which works well(ish) with AppleEvents and AppleScript so you can use it to control . RealBasic would require System 7 onwards. The older BASICs such as MS Basic would not be up to the job, IMHO. Phil -- Compact Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/>. Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Compact Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/compact.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/compact.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
