Steve wrote in message <37973D4B.F98F93DB@puzzlecraft.com>...
>>
>>
>> Funny, I've set up a multi-user, networked, automated  scanning & CD
>> burning system based around Toast, FaceSpan (an AppleScript-based
>> interface builder), PlayerPro and 4th Dimension... last time it
crashed
>> was when a hard disk died...
>
>Our CD burning stations are dedicated. Same for the scanning
department.
>Last time I launched Quark with Toast Pro active it destroyed the SCSI
>directory on the entire drive. Now I master with Toast and a minimal
>extension set.

:-) From what I've seen (little) I'd blame Quark there :-)

The sole burning station is as a data centralisation point from
distributed network of scanning stations...FaceSpan provides an
interface for scanning/burning/image transfer (contention resolution
during transfer) so that 'experts' aren't needed. 2 hours training takes
care of how to, what not to, and what to do if you committed a no-no.
(It's a custom solution for a branch of Aust Federal Govt)

I'm trying to convince the agency that I've put this in for that instead
of submitting a bill every time I should just use their A0+ inkjet for
some scenes.... :-)

BTW shouldn't have commented on it not crashing.... (user kicked scsi
cable loose on back of burning machine, didn't notice, eventually all
connection lost (24hrs later) and bizarre errors eleswhere - not
surprising given the cause...). BTW the machines are on 24/7, they
simply *don't* crash.

>Another reason for this is the fact that CPU interrupts while mastering
can
>ruin the mastering session. I never do anything else while mastering a
CD.
>I can't imagine how the CD would ever come out ok if you burn it while
>raytracing.

I think you misunderstand where I'm coming from... Or put another way,
if I were going to do this I'd render with POV set to 'sluggish' and
Toast burning at single speed (quad speed drive, dedicated partition, on
a reasonably fast disk on a G3... could probably manage) Toast
frontmost.

I never take POV back from 'tyrannical' => hence I never burn while
rendering.

>The Apple CD driver and FWB are pretty benign, unlike Toast. They are
both
>just for reading, not mastering. So when I want a little music, I just
use
>one of them.

The Toast CD Reader extension, as it's name suggests, is only for
reading. You don't need it to master a CD.
Difference between it and FWB or Apple CD/DVD: it only 'knows' about 3rd
party CDR(W) drives, rather than 3rd party CDROM drives....
(i.e. it's dealing with a smaller set of more complex mechanisms, worst
case.)

>Toast may not be the culprit but with it's long, well earned history of

I'm not actually using toast at the time. And 'well-earned' for Toast is
unfair when compared with, say, Gear MM (a POS in my experience).

>problem. Won't be the first time Apple has released a diseased OS on us
(
>remember System 7?).

I've been fiddling with resources in Mac files/apps since 1985. I've
been using Macs since the Lisa & 128 (system 1.0, Mac Paint 1.0, Mac
Write 1.0 - I still have the manuals at home somewhere, I still have
"Apple" branded floppy disks...single sided 400k...)
I stopped using MacsBug in 1986.
I've been working in 4GL development and user/network support on Macs
since 1985 (remember when Helix became Double Helix?)...now I do PC
support under Windows and Lotus Notes Development (is it any wonder I
enjoy using POV and the Mac?)

System 7 was better than some and not as good as others (my personal
most hated versions were 7.5 thru 7.5.3), 7.1 was worse than 7.0.

System 6 went through 8 revisions, one of which was shipping for less
than a day (2 hours in fact).

Have Fun
Martin
--
<Spa### [at] tesseractcomau> is a valid address
If you prefer mnemonic addresses you can use:
<Martin 'at' tesseract.com.au> or <Martin.Crisp 'at' Tourism.tas.gov.au>

My opinions should not be taken as indicative of Tourism Tasmania's
opinions

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In article <B3B### [at] 14710983.2> , "Martin Crisp" 
<val### [at] tesseractcomau> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Think this is a bug, has happened three times (across reboots of machine
> etc etc). Causes rendering to abort with a bogus (and insulting) error.
> POV says
> this:
>
> Parsing.....................................................................
> ...
> [snip].................................................
> .................Could not find file 'scene_shell.pov'
>
>    #declare yy = yy + incrementy;
>    #local indexy = indexy + 1;
>   #end (yy <= maxy)
>    #local zz = domath(xx,yy) <----ERROR
>
> Tesseract:Apps:Multimedia:3D Apps:renderers:POV-Ray
> 3:Include:math2.inc:144: error: Cannot open macro file scene_shell.pov.
> Check that the file is in a directory specifed with a +L switch
> or 'Library_Path=' .INI item.  Standard include files are in the
> include directory or folder. Please read your documentation carefully.
>
> 'scene_shell.pov' is the scene file (funnily enough), domath is defined in
> scene_shell and then again (if it isn't defined) in math2.inc.
> [Yes, I've read the manual, and the 3.0, and the 2.2 and the 1.0 manuals
> :-) I'm just a beginner, but I know where my towel is. math2.inc *is*, as
> shown in the path above, in the standard include directory]
>
> What caused the above (18 minutes into the parse - a big (to me at least)
> smooth triangle mesh) was the insertion of an audio CD. Tried it again
> (after rebooting, just in case an OS gremlin stabbed POV in the back) -
> same result, and again (data CD this time) same result. Interestingly a
> floppy doesn't cause the problem (locked or unlocked). Haven't tried other
> storage media...
>
> It *always* dies on the same line, hence I think it has something to do
> with having the same macro declared in both files. The only other includes
> are 'standard' includes.
>
> [I only read C at a snail's pace and haven't even glanced at the source]
>
> Now there's a small chance an extension to my OS is causing the problem,
> but I don't have anything running that does anything on insertion of a disk
> other than the bult-in audio CD player... which shouldn't affect data CDs.
>
> Machine is a PPC7500 upgraded to a G3@312MHz (512k of backside cache
> @124MHz). POV has 27MB of memory allocated and uses about 2/3 of that when
> rendering the scene (yes, the scene parses if I don't insert a CD).
>
> So, can anyone else confirm?
> What about on 68k machines?

I could reproduce this problem.
For those interested the problem is in a CodeWarrior library function
(__path2fss) calling PBCatInfoSync.
There is a simple workaround:
Pause POV-Ray (via the Render Menu), insert the CD and _wait_ until it
is mounted and the un-pause POV-Ray again.


    Thorsten


____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich
e-mail: mac### [at] povrayorg

I am a member of the POV-Ray Team.
Visit POV-Ray on the web: http://mac.povray.org

Post a reply to this message

Thorsten Froehlich wrote in message <37a5b284@news.povray.org>...
>In article <B3B### [at] 14710983.2> , "Martin Crisp"
><val### [at] tesseractcomau> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Think this is a bug, has happened three times (across reboots of
machine
>> etc etc). Causes rendering to abort with a bogus (and insulting)
error.
>> POV says
>> this:

[snipped]

>> So, can anyone else confirm?
>> What about on 68k machines?
>
>I could reproduce this problem.
>For those interested the problem is in a CodeWarrior library function
>(__path2fss) calling PBCatInfoSync.

Hmm, its been a very long time since I read that part of Inside Mac (6
years or so) IIRC that means that the addition of any non-native
filesystems while parsing could cause the same problem (e.g. NT/Netware
file server volumes)

<mutter>

>There is a simple workaround:
>Pause POV-Ray (via the Render Menu), insert the CD and _wait_ until it
>is mounted and the un-pause POV-Ray again.

Yep, sounds fair.

Have Fun
Martin
--
<Spa### [at] tesseractcomau> is a valid address
If you prefer mnemonic addresses you can use:
<Martin 'at' tesseract.com.au> or <Martin.Crisp 'at' Tourism.tas.gov.au>

My opinions should not be taken as indicative of Tourism Tasmania's
opinions

Post a reply to this message