Lip service

More help

In your otherwise helpful Special Report ("Help!") you neglected to mention two of the best sources for detailed NeXT information. NeXT produces NeXTanswers, an extensive collection of answers to common questions about software, hardware, system administration, and programming. A service called FAQ (frequently asked questions), which is not maintained by NeXT, discusses third-party information more frankly. Both are available from Internet archives; FAQ is also posted regularly to comp.sys.next. announce.

Alex Blakemore

Reston, Virginia

Mixed semaphores

What are those guys on the cover of the latest NeXTWORLD (Fall 1992) spelling? My guess is that it's either HEEP or HLLP.

Christopher Nagel

Philadelphia

A quick search of Webster under "semaphore" reveals that the cover is a poor representation of Ð guess what Ð "NeXT." The semaphores in the "Help!" section inside NeXT-WORLD are a good representation of "Special Report." It's amazing what info resides on the NeXT's hard disk!

Art Isbell

Santa Cruz, California

We were trying for "NeXT," though we have to agree the "X" was a bit shaky. If you think we're lost at sea, take another look at the Beatles' original. Ð NW

Scripting ease

In Ben Calica's review of Xanthus CraftMan (NeXTWORLD, Fall 1992), his complaint about remembering object names when writing scripts is uncalled-for. In CraftMan you can control-drag a connection from any editing area to any visible object in order to insert the name of that object into the script.

Jesper Lundh

Xanthus International, Sweden

Lifting the fog

Simson Garfinkel's article on ISDN ("ISDN Comes of Age," NeXT-WORLD, Summer 1992) was simply the best article you have published so far. It was packed with facts about ISDN that I had trouble getting from any other source. Instead of making things religious, Simson showed he knew what he was talking about.

Jerrod Carter

Indianapolis, Indiana

PaperSight oversight?

In the review of ElectroFile in the Fall issue of NeXT-WORLD, Dan Ruby says PaperSight is a tool that needs to be modified for each customer site. This could not be any farther from the truth. While a handful of customers take advantage of our ability to add special features, a vast majority (over 95 percent) of our sales are of shrinkwrapped software with scanners.

Richard V. Nash

Visual Understanding Systems

Pittsburgh

How-not-to

There's a pretty serious flaw in the "SysAdmin Hints and Tips" article from the Fall 1992 issue. Reaching the ROM monitor in the manner described will result in a dirty shutdown, potentially corrupting the filesystem and the NetInfo databases.

Rather than going to the ROM monitor, what about using the UNIX shutdown(8) command?

It takes you down to single-user mode very nicely, without corrupting anything. If you insist on going to the ROM monitor though the NMI monitor, please recommend that people press Command-Command-back quote (`) instead.

Alan M. Marcum

NeXT Technical Support

"Detecting and Handling a Break-in" (NeXTWORLD, Fall 1992) makes no mention at all of the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). This is a grave omission, as they are basically the "911" of computer crime. Any system administrator should have CERT's telephone number handy (412/268-7090) and should report all break-in at-tempts. CERT archives contain information on correcting three security vulnerabilities specific to the NeXT and three that affect most UNIX machines, including the NeXT.

Barbara J. Dyker

Boulder, Colorado

Vital signs

Enclosed you will find a picture of a road sign I spotted on Page Mill Road near Palo Alto. For the record: I had nothing to do with the paint job.

Mary A. Bordi

La Honda, California

Perot and con

Apparently you like Perot ("Rising Tide," NeXTWORLD, Fall 1992). I consider him a menace, with paranoiac tendencies, a predilection for paramilitary adventures, and a shaky grasp of the concept of civil liberty. As a subscriber, I hope your magazine will leave political commentary to The Nation, the New Republic, and the National Review, and concentrate on subjects in which it has technical expertise.

Michael Larsen

Philadelphia

For the record

A graphic in the bound-in July issue of NeXTWORLD Extra (NeXTWORLD, Fall 1992) mistakenly stated that Matt Medeiros and Leo Hourvitz were removed from NeXT's policy team. In fact, both executives supported the team but were never actually members.

The illustration of a Ferrari sports car in "Desktop Color" (NeXT-WORLD, Fall 1992) should have credited the artist, Michael Bodily.

On page 26 of NeXTWORLD's Special Report in the Fall issue, the author of the book The RenderMan Companion should be listed as Steve Upstill. The publication date was 1989.

NeXTWORLD welcomes your comments. Please send them to Letters at NeXTWORLD, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107, or e-mail letters@ nextworld.com.