Mac OS 9 Lives

General => HELP BOARD ! Installing & Troubleshooting the Classic Mac OS => Topic started by: fluidix on December 03, 2021, 11:36:29 AM

Title: Running Claris CAD
Post by: fluidix on December 03, 2021, 11:36:29 AM
I purchased a little Mini Mac G4 with OS 10.4.11/9.2.2 and installed ClarisCAD.  The program opens fine in Classic mode but as soon as you attempt to open a new or existing doc it spits up "Not enough memory" message.  The existing doc is only 4k and I have 1GB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive.  I tried downloading Claris CAD .sit file from a different source and installing it again and same thing.  I'm stuck.  Any help out there.

Thanks
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: GaryN on December 03, 2021, 01:58:20 PM
Perhaps you have forgotten that in OS9, there is a place to set memory allocation in the finder "Get Info" window.
Select the app in the finder.
Command-I to Get Info.
See how much memory is reserved - especially compared to the "preferred amount" shown.
Increase it. How much? No set rules. Since you have a fair amount available, at least 50% or even double.
The odds are good that will work.
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: fluidix on December 03, 2021, 05:34:33 PM
I did long since forget the memory allocation in Get Info but still have problem in that it shows "Suggested, Min and Max" values but the min and max are dimmed and will not let me change the value.  Any ideas there?

On a second note my research about this issue turned up a similar situation where someone solved another problem stating that the program was expecting much smaller hard drives than today's drives and it somehow generated the "not enough memory" message.  Solution was to put the program on a small partition.  Want to weigh in on the viability of that undertaking??

And, lastly there was a CAD program for Mac that I bought shortly after OS X abandoned classic support that would import Claris CAD files directly (not via conversion to DXF) that had the same look and feel as Claris CAD.  Anyone out there know the name??

BTW I love this website . . it was a walk down memory lane back to 1982 when I started my manufacturing business with two Apple 2e computers at the urging of a kid who worked for me and had used them at his high school.  Soon we had the fastest Macs of the time and were doing CAD drawings of the equipment we built for which we needed "big" monitors and I recall well paying literally $5,000+ each for two 19" CRT monitors that weighed more than a Volkswagen. I'd walk through the "engineering dept" consisting of one engineer and myself and smarting off that I'd spent $5k for a TV and it didn't even get channel 2" ; ). The good ol' days!
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: robespierre on December 03, 2021, 05:52:21 PM
I think the min and max are simply suggestions based on values in the SIZE resource.
http://mirror.informatimago.com/next/developer.apple.com/documentation/mac/Toolbox/Toolbox-87.html#HEADING87-0

They may be grayed out if the file is locked.
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: FBz on December 03, 2021, 05:56:06 PM
Might scroll through this page to see if any package “rings a bell”.
https://getalternative.net/software/claris-cad

AND when you say “Classic Mode” are you referring to OS 9.2.2 running as Classic
under Tiger - OR do you have the OS 9.2.2 hack available here and attempting
to run it when booted from that OS 9.2.2 partition on the Mini?
That might make a difference.
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: fluidix on December 03, 2021, 06:19:13 PM
Running 9 along with 10, not stand alone 9 although that is on the list of things to try to solve my problem.
Thx for site to check out for other software . .  going there next.
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: IIO on December 03, 2021, 08:17:44 PM
like rob says, you can hack the default values in resedit.

but i guess you could also boot into OS9 and change it there...
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: FBz on December 04, 2021, 03:18:41 AM
AND… might read the Compatibility section here:
https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/claris-cad
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: fluidix on December 04, 2021, 08:55:38 PM
 It is solved. The macintoshgarden site also said specifically it should work under 10.4.11/9.2.2 so I decided to play around some more before I headed in the direction of a smaller partition.  Along with the Claris CAD software there was a second program called Claris Graphics Translator which I had tried to open previously and got the same not-enough memory message but in the Get Info you could change the min and preferred memory values so I tried increasing the values to 20000k and 30000k and voila it opened a drawing so I could at least see my old drawings (although not modify them) and do a screen shot to get print out.  But apparently it also adjusted the allocated memory for the Claris CAD program as well and when I tried opening a drawing again in Claris CAD it worked and I have a fully functioning CAD program again.  I will now try to tackle printing so you may hear from me again but in the meantime . . . THANKS TO ALL YOU GUYS!
Title: Re: Running Claris CAD
Post by: GaryN on December 05, 2021, 12:58:07 AM
On a second note my research about this issue turned up a similar situation where someone solved another problem stating that the program was expecting much smaller hard drives than today's drives and it somehow generated the "not enough memory" message.  Solution was to put the program on a small partition.  Want to weigh in on the viability of that undertaking??

I decided to play around some more before I headed in the direction of a smaller partition.
It's good you didn't waste more time doing that. It's just the usual "somebody says this worked for them" even though if you really stop to think about it at all, you realize it makes no sense whatsoever. It's far more likely that while he/she/they changed the partition size they reinstalled the software and fixed whatever the real issue was.
Along with the Claris CAD software there was a second program called Claris Graphics Translator which I had tried to open previously and got the same not-enough memory message but in the Get Info you could change the min and preferred memory values…
With this additional info which you didn't previously mention, I can now explain exactly what happened with 99% certainty. The CAD app uses the Translator app as a utility to both enable it to open "foreign" documents by translating their format and save drawings in foreign formats all so you can share docs and work product with others. (AutoCAD, anyone?)
So why, you ask, would it need to resort to using Translator to open a previous CAD doc that I saved myself? Probably because you saved the work in a different version of Claris CAD and Translator is also used to smooth out any little differences. More than one developer used outboard utilities like this back in the day when apps like this were distributed on copy-protected CD-ROM. Then, any upgrade was a big effin' deal but you could spit out app updates and utilities anywhere anytime  while keeping the authorization issues locked to the original CD.
But apparently it also adjusted the allocated memory for the Claris CAD program as well and when I tried opening a drawing again in Claris CAD it worked and I have a fully functioning CAD program again.
Ahhh…… but you see you always DID have a functioning CAD app. It launched just fine when you just opened it alone, remember? When you tried to open a document, the app launched Translator to handle the job. The memory error you were getting was coming from Translator running alongside under CAD. You either didn't notice that OR Claris didn't bother to tell you which one was short of memory in the message.
However, THAT was very likely clearly explained in the…wait for it………  MANUAL…… that thick book you would have had open next to you for a long time until you learned all of the ins and outs of Claris CAD (which was no small task) and would have had on the shelf to refer to when this shit happened.

The lesson here is simply: When you go for help online for obsolete hardware and/or software, describe everything down to the smallest detail. Information is power.   :)