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- Finder 7 Improvements Patches & Info by Renmhir The Moose 30-Jan-92
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Here are two versions of patches to fix/augment Finder 7/7.0.1 in the
- following ways:
-
- 1) Improved throughput on File Copies
-
- The Finder will now use all (but 20k) of remaining Temporary memory as a
- buffer for copying/duplicating files. Also, the transfer size has been
- boosted to read/write the maximum number of blocks per transaction. Not only
- does this dramatically improve throughput (see benchmarks below), but for
- single floppy users, entire floppies may be read in, requiring fewer Mac-
- wrist actions on the part of the user.
-
- Note: one can install the fast copy patch or the large buffer patches
- singly. The current Finder routine uses a 200-block buffer, which is still
- an improvement over the 32-blocks-at-time silliness the Finder currently uses.
- And for those who LIKE a slow computer, the large buffer (alone) can make
- floppy copying a little less physically taxing.
-
- APPLE: If you provided pre-emptive multi-tasking, you wouldn't need to be so
- wasteful about giving up the CPU voluntarily, killing throughput in the
- process.
-
-
- 2) Some additional fmap entries
-
- The Finder under System 7 uses a structure to map file types of documents
- whose creator applications are not available to another application which can
- presumably open/print that document's file type. Some entries I added are:
-
- TIFF->Adobe Photoshop
- WORD->Microsoft Word (WORD=MacWrite Documents)
- TEXT->MPW Shell
- PNTG->Adobe SuperPaint (PNTG=MacPaint)
- PICT->Adobe SuperPaint
-
- The format of the resource is simple: 4-byte file TYPE directly followed
- by a 4-byte CREATOR signature (application you wish to launch). BE SURE TO
- LEAVE A NULL RECORD (all 0's HEX) to let the Finder know where the end of
- the list is!
-
- >>>>> Note <<<<<
- Also, there is an optional CODE patch to remove the silly ALERT which asks
- you if you care about launching an application to open the file which is other
- than the one which created the document.
-
-
- 3) Menu Key Items
-
- The menu resource format was altered slightly for System 7, the resource
- type being 'fmnu'. The format is close enough to the original MENUs such
- that command-keys CAN be added, if one is familiar enough with the original
- MENU structures. I have added cmd-R/S for Restart/Shutdown and cmd-M for
- Make Alias. For those without an intimate familarity with MENU resources,
- just scan through the first few fmnus in a COPY of the Finder, find the menu
- item you wish to add a KEY equivalent, locate the first byte of that menu
- item's name, and count back 3 BYTES. That location is the KEY location. Use
- the ASCII entry window to highlight and change that BYTE. You are on your
- own here.
-
- These CODE patches have been loosely tested on an SE/30, running Mode-32
- 32-bit clean, with and without VM... Even so, there is NO warranty implied
- for any of these mods, and there are probably not a few laws I have broken
- to make System 7 less of a pig. Enjoy... (always work on a COPY of the
- Finder, and make sure you can boot from another device if you (or the
- patches) mess up...
-
-
- Oh yeah, in case it’s not obvious, just paste the resources you wish to
- install into a copy of the Finder. The CODE resources are labelled, and they
- are not necessarily tied to one another...
-
-
- Renmhir The Moose, 30-Jan-92
-
- Comments/flames to:
-
- Internet: moofster@world.std.com
-
-
- Copy Improvement Times
- ----------------------
- Before After
- 10 MB 1'04" 22" (1 7MB file, 1 3MB file)
- 5 MB 46" 28" (56 files totalling 1.8MB, 1 3MB file, 1 350k)
- 3 MB 20" 6" (single 3MB file)