Re: Strange IIgs Behavior

[madsci@tribeca.ios.com (Erick Dietrich)]

In article <4t0sej$nni@blackice.winternet.com>, nathan@parka.winternet.com
(Nathan Mates) wrote:

> In article <4t0qak$48@crl8.crl.com>, Joe Kohn <joko@crl.com> wrote:
> >Erick Dietrich (madsci@tribeca.ios.com) wrote:
> >: Occasionally, when in the Finder, I'll open a window and it will appear
> >: blank for a moment, and then fill up with multi-color dots.  The dots
> >: change a few times, in waves, and then the  machine becomes unstable. 
> >: Usually crashes to the monitor.
> 
> >System 6.x style rIcons get copied to an invisible file located in your 
> >Icons folder. The name of that file is Desktop. If you go to your Finder 
> >Preference menu, set it up so that there's no x in the option to "Hide 
> >Invisible Files." Once you do that, the Desktop file will appear. Drag it 
> >to the trash. Or, if you have ICE, you can examine the Desktop file and 
> >perhaps spot the conflict. I usually drag my Desktop folder to the trash 
> >a few times a year.
> 
>    I did fix one memory trashing bug in the Finder's icon code (used
> by _both_ old icons and the System 6.x rBundle code) in GUPP 1.02.
> Unfortunately, Murphy "There is always one more bug" may be
> prevailing.  Via email, I'm trying to get a copy of all of Erik's icon
> folders so that I _can_ find out where these bugs are causing problems.
> [In other words, I want a buggy setup, as they're pretty hard to
> duplicate on my machine at home-- Erik: don't delete that desktop file
> yet if possible!].


I'll bundle them up and send them along ASAP, Nathan.  I am a bit busy at
the moment, and my damn network is in la-la land, but i'm trying.

> >If it's an old style pre-System 6 Icon, it's a little more time consuming 
> >to track down the conflict. Basically, by conflict, I mean that you have 
> >your icons set up so that the file attributes point to a file that 
> >doesn't exist, or you have 2 different icons that give the Finder 
> >conflicting information.
> 
>    That's not always a problem. When hunting the Finder bug for 1.02,
> I had a lot (1.2MB, including a fair load of duplicates) of icons
> pointing to nonexistant apps, and I never got snow, gunk, or anything
> else. If you _DO_ get a problem that's reproducable, I _want_ to
> get my hands on the setup that causes it. (I currently have only a
> GSHK 1.1 anomaly on my list of things to check out on my bughunting
> runs.)

Sheesh, maybe I should wrap up my hard disk...   ;-)

> > If you have an Icon Editor, you can search 
> >through all your icons to see which attributes are messed up, or you can 
> >use Bill Tudor's Icon App Checker (a shareware program, probably 
> >available on all the major ftp sites) and that program will check all 
> >your Icons, and point out exactly which icon is the cause of your 
> >problems. 
> 
>    I have a program that I wrote that verifies the internal structure
> of an icon file, but doesn't check paths and the like. It's
> vfyicon1.0.shk, and sorta requires the Orca or GNO shell to run. I
> wrote it to make sure things were by the book before running things.


I would try using that utility, if only I had some idea of how to use
GNO.  I have a second hand copy, but no manuals.

>    Lemme repeat this offer to c.s.a2 and the Apple II community at
> large: I'm killing bugs. I need your help in finding and exposing them.
> Send me bug reports!
> 
> Nathan "The time for half measures is over. Time to die, bugs." Mates
> 
> --
> <*> Nathan Mates http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/      <*>
> # What are the facts? Again and again and again-- what are the _facts_?
> # Shun wishful thinking, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors
> # think-- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places?  -R.A. Heinlein