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~ HOT FILES / HOT MESSAGES ~
~ APPLE BYTES: Confirmed News! ~
~ APPLE II HISTORY - PART 1 ~
~ APPLE II AND THE FUTURE ~
~ ASK DOCTOR FRANKLIN ~
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
GEnie Lamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.1, Issue 03
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Publisher............................................Kent Fillmore
Senior Editor........................................John Peters
Editor (AII).......................................Tom Schmitz
Co-Editor (AII).................................Phil Shapiro
~ GEnie Lamp MAC ~ ~ GEnie Lamp IBM ~
~ GEnie Lamp ST ~ ~ GEnie Lamp Elsewhere ~ ~ GEnieLamp Apple II ~
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE II ROUNDTABLE? <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ June 1, 1992 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] APPLE BYTES ............. [BYT]
Notes From The Editor. Confirmed News!
HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY] HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]
Is That A Letter for Me? Virus Alert!
WHO'S WHO ............... [WHO] FOCUS ON... ............. [FOC]
Who's Who In Apple II. Apple II History.
TELETALK ONLINE ......... [TEL] ABOUT THIS APPLE II ..... [ABO]
Apple II BBS's Around the USA. Apple II & The Future.
THINK ABOUT IT! ......... [THI] ONLINE FUNNIES .......... [FUN]
Online Food For Thought. CowTOONS!
VIEWPOINT ............... [VIE] THE ONLINE LIBRARY ...... [LIB]
Pointless Made Easy. HOT Files For The Asking.
THE PROGRAM CLINIC ...... [ASK] LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
Ask Doctor Franklin. GEnieLamp Information.
[IDX] """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
READING GEnie Lamp GEnie Lamp has incorporated a unique indexing
"""""""""""""""""" system to help make reading the magazine easier.
To utilize this system, load GEnie Lamp into any ASCII word processor
or text editor. In the index you will find the following example:
HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]
[*]GEnie Fun & Games.
To read this article, set your find or search command to [HUM]. If
you want to scan all of the articles, search for [EOA]. [EOF] will take
you to the last page, whereas [IDX] will bring you back to the index.
MESSAGE INFO To make it easy for you to respond to messages re-printed
"""""""""""" here in GEnie Lamp, you will find all the information you
need immediately following the message. For example:
(SMITH, CAT6, TOP1, MSG:58/M475)
_____________| _____|__ _|___ |____ |_____________
|Name of sender CATegory TOPic Msg.# Page number|
In this example, to respond to Smith's message, log on to page
475 enter the bulletin board and set CAT 6. Enter your REPly in TOPic 1.
A message number that is surrounded by brackets indicates that this
message is a "target" message and is referring to a "chain" of two
or more messages that are following the same topic. For example: {58}
ABOUT GEnie GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and
""""""""""" weekend access to more than 100 services including
electronic mail, online encyclopedia, shopping, news, entertainment,
single-player games, multi-player chess and bulletin boards on leisure
and professional subjects. With many other services, including the
largest collection of files to download and the best online games, for
only $6 per hour (non-prime-time/2400 baud). To sign up for GEnie
service, call (with modem) 1-800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH.
Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99368,GENIE and hit RETURN. The system
will then prompt you for your information.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
///////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "There are probably thousands more who installed system 6.0 /
/ and have had no problems and of course you won't hear from /
/ us--and that's the way it should be. So......GO AHEAD, Try /
/ it, you'll like it!" /
/////////////////////////////////////////////// D.GILL10 ////
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
By John Peters
[GENIELAMP]
TOP OF THE PAGE Soon after the May issue was online, a GEnieLamp reader
""""""""""""""" by the name of Jim Goepel wrote to me asking if I would
consider starting up another version of GEnieLamp for all the other
RoundTables here on GEnie. My first reaction was, "Oh no! _FIVE_ issues
of GEnieLamp?" But after thinking about it for a bit, I came to the
conclusion that Jim may be onto something here. And with that, GEnieLamp
Elsewhere was born. Now you have an online magazine devoted to the "other"
computing RoundTables. To check out the premier issue of GEnieLamp
Elsewhere, look for it in the GEnieLamp RoundTable on page 515. Thanks,
Jim!
Another reader asked if it would be possible to download GEnieLamp
instead of capturing it off the menu. I was kind of surprised to see this
request since capturing GEnieLamp from the menu is free (i.e. part of the
GEnie*Basic service) and downloading the magazine would be at normal online
charges. However, there are some advantages to downloading the magazine
such as the time it takes. Another factor would be if you have trouble
with line noise. For those of you who would prefer to download GEnieLamp,
you will now find all the GEnieLamp versions in the GEnieLamp RT Library on
page 515;3.
You also might want to keep in mind that with the proper script
Aladdin could capture GEnieLamp for you. Fred Koch has come up with an
excellent script for the Atari ST. (File #23605 in the ST Aladdin
RoundTable/M1000;3). We are also working on a all platform Aladdin script
that will, with the push of a key, download any or all of the GEnieLamp
issues, do an Autopass 1 or 2 (if you like) and then log off GEnie. Look
for more info in the next issue of GEnieLamp.
GEnieLamp MAC Goes Graphics! As most of our Atari readers know, we have
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" a special version of GEnieLamp available
for the ST which includes pictures, screenshots, illustrations and other
graphics. Now Macintosh readers can get in on the excitement too! Our
Macintosh editor, Jim Flanangan has come up with a graphics issue for the
GEnieLamp MAC readers. If you own a Mac, do yourself a favor and download
the latest graphics issue available in the GEnieLamp RoundTable library
(M515;3). It'll knock your socks off!
That's about it for this month....
Take care!
John Peters
[GENIELAMP]
//////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "(I'm) Gonna have to check into that, and stop these "Whip /
/ up a program real quick, 45-minute C- language marathons." /
////////////////////////////////////////////// EXPLORER ////
[EOA]
[BYT]//////////////////////////////
APPLE_BYTES /
/////////////////////////////////
Confirmed Apple II News
"""""""""""""""""""""""
o INCIDER/A+ TO HOLD FTA CONTEST
o KANSASFEST TAKING SHAPE
INCIDER/A+ TO HOLD FTA CONTEST Summer time, for many, is vacation time
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" and a time for fun, so the next several
Shareware Solutions columns will be all about fun and games. In the July
issue, we'll be taking a look at some wonderfu l ProDOS-8 based games and
in the August issue, we'll be looking at some phenomenal GS/OS games.
We'll be looking at some of the unreleased treasures from our good friends
The FTA, and from some other French programmers you may have never heard
of before.
Also, in the August issue, timed to coincide with KansasFest, we will
be announcing the first ever Shareware Solutions Contests. One contest
will be for programmers and one will be for end users. Without giving
away any state secrets, I'll just say that the contest is being made
possible by Olivier Goguel. You know the Gog; founder of the FTA.
(Go one Joe, tell 'em a little more)
As you may have heard, when the FTA disbanded last winter, they left
behind a number of partially completed programs. Olivier Goguel has
provided me with the source code for the FTA software, and it is that
source code that will be the basis of the programming contest. That source
code is going to be released as public domain (Spread it far and wide,
please) and we will be conducting our contest to see who can create the
most mind blowing completed product from the source code. We're currently
trying to get sponsors, so we can offer prizes.
I'm very excited about the contests, as I see it as a way for the II
community to get focused again on something positive. There's been
entirely too much doom and gloom recently (IMHO) and I see the contest as a
way out of all that negativity. I hope you'll agree, and get involved in
that first contest. So does Olivier Goguel, who sends his regards to the
IIGS community. -Joe Kohn
(J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:2/M645;1)
\
[NOTE: Joe writes the SHAREWARE SOLUTIONS column and other articles
for inCider/A+. Be sure to check out his great work!]
KANSASFEST TAKING SHAPE A2-Central Summer Conference!
""""""""""""""""""""""" July 21-22: Two-day Colleges. If you come for
Tuesday and Wednesday's activities, you'll have your choice of one of three
two-day developer colleges. One of these will be an introduction to Pascal
programming on the Apple IIgs, by Mike Westerfield, developer of the Orca
series of development tools from The Byte Works. The second will be an
introduction to C programming on the Apple IIgs, by Walker Archer and Gary
Morrison. The third will be an intensive look at Apple IIgs Sound and
Graphics programming, which will be led by Nate Trost, Chris McKinsey, and
Bill Heineman.
JULY 23-24: KANSASFEST If you come for Thursday and Friday's activities,
"""""""""""""""""""""" you'll get our best summer conference ever - two
days packed with sessions about the Apple II. We're planning sessions that
will help developers keep their System 6 products compatible with each
other. We already have registrations from a group of Australian developers
and a number of interesting proposals. For example, Softdisk, which
continues to actively buy Apple II software from developers, is planning
several sessions. And we're planning sessions for HyperStudio, HyperCard,
and UltraMacros developers. Apple itself will once again attend this
portion of our conference. In addition, we'll have a bunch of old-timers
around to reminisce with you and a bunch of new-timers to tell you about
their dreams for the Apple II's next 15 years.
JULY 25-26: APPLE CENTRAL EXPO Just like last year, Events Specialists is
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" holding its Apple Central Expo in Kansas
City on the Saturday and Sunday following our conference. This is a
user-oriented show that draws Apple II users from across the midwest. The
Expo will be held in the same building as our conference. For tickets to
the Expo or to reserve exhibit space, call Events Specialists at
800-955-6630 (617-784-4531), or write them at 17 Lilac Road, Sharon, MA
02067
Call for proposals If you'd like to make a presentation at this year's
"""""""""""""""""" conference, send us a proposal by May 1. Tell us
about your topic, intended audience, and equipment and time requirements.
Presenters earn a discount!
Facilities Like last year's summer conference, most of our sessions will
"""""""""" be held at a state-of-the-art conference facility owned by
the National Office Machine Dealer's Association (NOMDA) in Kansas City,
Mo. This facility is within networking distance of Avila College, where
our conference has been held in the past and where, once again, we'll be
able to provide dormitory rooms and meals to those who want to have the
best time possible meeting and learning from other developers. Make your
plans to attend now. Whether you come for one day or more, we promise
you'll enjoy the sessions you'll attend and the people you'll meet. You
must register by June 1 to get the best prices. We have private rooms
available at Avila this year, or, if you prefer, choose double-occupancy
and save some money. Avila's prices include evening and morning meals
surrounding the nights of your stay. College and conference prices include
lunch. If you like, you can pay for the sessions only and make your own
hotel and transportation arrangements. Or you can eat and stay at Avila
for $30 a night ($40 for a private room). And, for $30 more, we'll arrange
to have you met at the airport and brought directly to Avila and returned.
This final option would cover ALL of your costs for the conference except
airfare.
Registration Information Tuesday & Wednesday
""""""""""""""""""""""""
CONF-GS Graphics & Sound College before after
CONF-P Pascal College June 1 June 1
CONF-C C College
College of choice (lunch incl) $150 $175
Thursday & Friday
CONF KansasFest(lunch incl) $300 $350
Saturday & Sunday
Apple Central Expo 1-800-955-6630
Accommodations
""""""""""""""
TRANS Airport/Avila round trip $30 $35
AVILA-1 2 Meals, Private Room, per day $40 $45
AVILA-2 2 Meals, Double Room, per day $30 $35
You must attend a college or KansasFest to be eligible for a room at
Avila. Room charge includes supper the night of your stay and breakfast
the next morning. You must indicate which nights you want to stay at
Avila.
Accommodations are available from Monday the 20th to Sunday
(RC.ELLEN, CAT23, TOP10, MSG56/M645;1)
////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Overnight there have been a dozen downloads. Now, how do we /
/ reach all those folks NOT on GEnie ? :-)" /
//////////////////////////////////////////////// L.ROCHA1 ////
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Tom Schmitz & Phil Shapiro
[TOM.SCHMITZ] [P.SHAPIRO1]
o BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS
o APPLE II ODDS & ENDS
o WHAT'S NEW W/APPLE II?
o ...THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT
>>> BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
[*] CAT2, TOP5, MSG:76.....How to make CDA's, NDA's, CDEV's & Init's work
[*] CAT2, TOP5, MSG:113....Clean-up by name -- neat new System 6 option!
[*] CAT3, TOP3, MSG:71.....How your Apple dealer can download System 6
[*] CAT9, TOP6, MSG:148....Patch to restore white folder default to 6.0
[*] CAT9, TOP6, MSG:385....What is Archiver on the system software?
[*] CAT9, TOP6, MSG:412....ZIP Chip GS Speed problems
[*] CAT9, TOP6, MSG:425....How to wire a SCSI cable
[*] CAT9, TOP13, MSG:64....SYSTEM 6.0 AND RAMFAST
[*] CAT11, TOP11, MSG:122..Zany Golf patch -- Get to the Mystery Hole!
[*] CAT13, TOP21, MSG:36...New features for TCX!!!
[*] CAT13, TOP6, MSG:47....New BrainStormer application for WriteWorks
[*] CAT13, TOP25, MSG:105..Where did my Texas II subscription go?
[*] CAT17, TOP5 , MSG:57...Word counting with AppleWorks 3.0
[*] CAT26, TOP2, MSG:71....The 911 error and what to do
[*] CAT26, TOP9, MSG:4.....Apple StyleWriter warning
[*] CAT35, TOP3, MSG:5.....ECON Announces Pegasus 0i - Internal SCSI Hard Drive Kit
>>> APPLE II ODDS & ENDS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
WHAT IS APPLE'S TIM SWIHART DOING? Now that System 6 and HCGS are done,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I've moved into a new role at Apple.
I'm now managing the development and quality engineers in the A2 group.
Same group, different role. Instead of managing products, I'm managing
people. :-) Tim Swihart
NEW Co-PILOT VERSION 2.0 I have just uploaded Co-Pilot version 2.0
"""""""""""""""""""""""" (finally!!!). It should be available as
#18389, GECoPilot.BXY, as soon as the sysops get to review it.
This version of the Co-Pilot program itself is pretty much the same as
the beta version that has been available, but with the bugs all fixed
(hopefully) and a few details improved. The scripts have been completely
revised to make them easier to understand (for those of you who care) and
easier for me to modify and improve and to work better with GEnie. There
is a new installer to make the installation easier but, due to numerous
changes in the organization of Co-Pilot, the installer can not update
configuration files from previous versions -- you will have to re-configure
them manually.
This version of Co-Pilot requires Point-to-Point version 4.0 or later
or Talk is Cheap version 3.20 or later (please note that TIC 3.20 is now
required -- the beta worked with earlier versions IC). This version will
work correctly with PtP and System 6.0.
The fee for new users remains $25. I regret that I have concluded
that I have to charge an upgrade fee for this new version, due to the
amount of time and effort that went into it, and the severe reduction in
new sales. The upgrade is $10. There is one exception to this -- in
appreciation of his support of Co-Pilot when I have not been available,
Gary Utter gets a free upgrade.
Besides squashing the inevitable bugs that will appear, I will be
devoting my time in the next few weeks to adding support for ProTERM to
Co-Pilot. (K.GLUCKMAN, CAT10M TOP11, MSG:65/M645;1)
MORE FROM GEnie LAMP When we saw the good word GEnie Lamp decided to
"""""""""""""""""""" give Ken a call and find out more about Co-Pilot:
Co-Pilot is an off-line message processor which works with Talk is Cheap or
Point-to-Point (and soon with ProTERM 3.0) to provide an easy to use IIGS
desktop interface to GEnie. Changes in the latest version allow you to
copy text from the message you are reading and paste it into the message
you are writing, or to any other program which supports the clipboard.
Other changes improve the perform ance of the scripts used to access GEnie
and make the script files easier to read and therefore to customize. Many
smaller refinements in the program have also been added to make use even
easier.
Co-Pilot was originally written as my first programming effort. It is
still the only major application that I have written. It is written
entirely in ORCA/M assembly.
I only intended to create a desktop program that would allow me to
read messages from (excuse me) CompuServe. However, it just kept growing
and soon had many features for responding, archiving, downloading files
and, eventually, fully automating an on-line session. Subsequently, I
began to notice that really cool things were happening in the Apple II
world on GEnie. However, I just couldn't deal with the GEnie interface.
Tom Hoover's GEM helped a lot, but I am not an AppleWorks person, so I was
still not comfortable with GEnie. I approached Tom Weisharr at AppleFest
in Boston and he agreed to support the creation of a version of Co-Pilot
for GEnie. I got a lot of help from all of the Sysops, Tom Hoover, Don
Elton, Gary Little and others.
I was really pleased when I was able to create a version of Co-Pilot
for GEnie that looked to the user almost the same as the CompuServe
version. I believe that one of Co-Pilot's greatest contributions has been
that it provides the same interface for both GEnie and CompuServe. I know
of no other set of programs that does that for any other computer. This
has enabled many users of CompuServe to start using GEnie and vice-versa.
In fact, it was Co-Pilot that brought the famous Gary Utter to GEnie from
CompuServe! -Ken
AII ADVERTISING THIS MONTH The following is from John Majka, secretary
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" of AII: The ads for the Apple II have been
placed in the following magazines:
National Review - Mother Jones - Discover - Sports Afield - The
Atlantic - Inc. - Electronic Musician - CQ (for ham radio operators)
They should begin appearing in the June issue due to publishing
schedules except for NATIONAL REVIEW. Our ads are already appearing there
and we have been getting responses to it.
(D.CRUTCHER, CAT5, TOP7, MSG:44/M645;1)
NO HARMONIE FOR EXPRESS From the thread here on GEnie it has become
""""""""""""""""""""""" obvious that Express is not useful with the
Harmonie printer drivers. This is due to the way Harmonie works (images a
little then sends data out the port i n little chunks). Express is most
beneficial for printer drivers like the standard ImageWriter driver and the
Independence printer drivers for the DeskJet and LaserJet. All of these
drivers image larger chunks of data and pump more data out the port in a
single shot. For these drivers Express DOES REDUCE the time waiting to
regain computer control.
We apologize for making the assumption that if it saved time with our
Independence printer drivers and if it saved time with the ImageWriter
printer driver, that it would save time with the Harmonie d rivers. {Live
and learn the hard way...}
If you are using a Harmonie driver and Express isn't working well for
you, please try to return the program to the place of purchase...we don't
want anyone to be unhappy with us or with Express. Express is a great
product; unfortunately it just doesn't benefit Harmonie users
For those who do find Express useful, please don't return the software
just to get it free...it took two years and lots of money to develop. We
don't mind refunding Kirk and others who are using Harmonie because
Express doesn't appear to be useful to them. Thanks, -Dave
(SEVENHILLS, CAT43, TOP10, MSG:21/24/M645;1)
>>> WHAT'S NEW WITH APPLE II? <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A2 RT HAS A NEW BOSS Dean Esmay (A2.DEAN) has been promoted to Head
"""""""""""""""""""" Sysop of A2 and A2Pro, the Apple II RoundTables on
GEnie. Dean has been our librarian here since early 1989. Dean follows in
the footsteps of Chet D ay, who resigned in late March to run the Religion
and Ethics RoundTable here on GEnie.
I'm renovating this room for Dean so he can have an office. Please
excuse the folding table and chairs for now, we've got a computer desk and
some file cabinets on order. If you have any ideas u'd like to share with
Dean about how the Apple II RoundTables should be run, this is where you
can catch him. -Tom Weishaar, Manager, Apple II RoundTables
(UNCLE-DOS, CAT3, TOP7, MSG:1/M645;1)
WHO IS DEAN? Gosh, Lloyd, tell you about myself? That might scare
"""""""""""" people away, but I'll give it a shot. :-)
I started working with computers in an independent study program back at a
special education High School I attended back in the early 80's. Actually
I started before that playing around with a TRS-80 Model I and Commodore 64
systems, went through a brief love affair with the IBM-PC, and finally
discovered the Apple II via an Apple IIe at school. I started reading
Open-Apple at that time and because me a fanatic (perhaps too much of one,
but I was young) from that point on.
When Tom Weishaar took over the Apple II RoundTables on GEnie, I sent
him my resume. I'd been using a modem for a while and was running my own
BBS at the time. I was also President of the Apple Tree Computer Club and
had developed a reputation with a lot of folks for being a problem-solver.
Tom, in a momentary lapse of reason, decided to hire me. I became library
and A2.HELP manager here in A2 something like three and a half years ago.
I started in December '88 I think, and after a couple of weeks of training
I took over from Doug Acker (library) and Dennis Doms (A2.HELP). Those
were pre tty scary days, especially since I'd never even used GEnie before,
but I guess it worked out. I'm still here.
I was divorced a while back, and now live in the south suburbs of
Chicago with my girlfriend Susan, owner of Digital Data Express (a small
Apple II software & used hardware dealership that also distributes the
Apple II GEM CD-ROM), with her two kids and her dad. We reside in
beautiful unincorporated Midlothian, just a few minutes south of the city.
Heck, if anyone from around here wants to get together for coffee or beer
or some such, I'd be happy to meet you.
In addition to my duties here, I've been the editor of A2-Central On
Disk ever since its inception. My first job was converting all our back
issues into text format for sale on a single package, and after that
massive project began creating a monthly disk issue jammed full of the best
PD, freeware, and shareware software I could find.
I also have that wonderful job responsibility known as "other tasks as
assigned," and have at various times done things like answered mail for
A2-Central or handled other tasks that Tom needed. Mostly it was just the
library and A2 On Disk.
Last year I became the editor of Studio City, nee' Stack-Central. I'm
particularly proud of Studio City. We made a lot of changes to it and I
now think it's one of the finest disk based publications you'll find on any
machine. It's a lot of work and terribly demanding, maybe even more than
it's worth, but I find it incredibly rewarding.
I still do the occasional article or other task for the A2-Central
newsletter, and am in the process of negotiating a deal to become a
columnist for inCider on top of everything else.
This stuff is about all I do for a living, though I occasionally teach
computer workshops or write articles for other magazines. I also sometimes
write music reviews for On-Line Digital Music Review.
I've been working more or less on my own since '88, mostly at home
though I do have an office in Blue Island, Illinois. I find it all quite
wonderful. Perhaps I don't make as much money as I might at a "real" job,
but the compensation is that I have a much greater degree of freedom in my
working hours and habits than most people ever do. It also allows me to
take occasional classes at the local community college without worrying too
much about scheduling conflicts. I never went to college after High School
so this is nice.
Though I'm familiar with and occasionally use other machines, I've
been an Apple II diehard since the early 80's and I don't see that changing
any time soon.
I stand about 5'10", weigh too much, and sport quite long blonde hair and
a beard to go with my somewhat piercingly blue eyes. I've been told at
various times that I look like either some kind of Viking or Gregg Allman,
though neither is intentional. I usually don't wear much besides t-shirts
and shorts. I own exactly one tie, which I never learned how to put it on
and haven't worn in at least three years.
(A2.DEAN, CAT3, TOP7, MSG:26/M645;1)
MORE NEW HIRES I'd like to announce that Bill Dooley (BILL.DOOLEY) has
"""""""""""""" recently joined the A2 staff as our bulletin board
manager and Chief Topic Cop. You may not all be familiar with Bill, he's
usually pretty quiet here in A2, but you may recognize him from some of the
other RTs he frequents, most notably the Jerry Pournelle RT.
I hope you'll all make Bill feel welcome in his new role. I know the
staff here in A2 is looking forward to working with him.
I'd also like to announce here that Greg DaCosta, now using the
account GREGD, has rejoined the staff, this time as an assistant to Tom
Stechow over in A2Pro. Welcome back, Greg!
(A2.DEAN, CAT3, TOP7, MSG:36/M645;1)
TRADING ZONE REVAMPED Categories 4 and 7 were completely reorganized
""""""""""""""""""""" last month. Category four, A2 RT's trading zone
has expanded its scope and sectioned off various types of products into
their own topics. GEnie's A2 RT is a unique second-hand market where great
bargains are constantly found. And if nobody is offering what you are
looking for, just ask. Somebody will be right along with a hot lead or
maybe even with the item in hand. Here is a list of the new trade zones:
Category 4 Product/Service Directory (ads, addresses, phone numbers)
Topic # Description
[*] 1 A2's Classifieds
[*] 5 Full Systems/Large packages
[*] 7 8-bit Software
[*] 10 16-bit Software
[*] 14 II+ specific expansion cards
[*] 15 Standard slot (1-7) expansion cards
[*] 16 IIe auxiliary slot expansion cards
[*] 17 IIgs memory expansion slot cards
[*] 19 5.25 floppy drives
[*] 20 3.5 floppy drives
[*] 22 IIc Hard Drives
[*] 23 SCSI Hard Drives
[*] 24 Non-SCSI Hard Drives
[*] 25 Tape and CD-ROM Drives
[*] 28 Printers
[*] 29 Scanners/digitizers
[*] 30 Monitors
[*] 31 Modems
[*] 35 II+ and II+ specific hardware
[*] 36 IIe and IIe specific hardware
[*] 37 IIc/IIc+ and IIc-specific hardware
[*] 38 IIgs and IIgs-specific hardware
[*] 39 Other hardware & misc. equipment
[*] 44 Computer shows and fairs
THE SEARCH IS ON FOR EARLY APPLE II AUTHORS In recognition of all the
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" fine support the Apple II
family of computers has enjoyed from its inception, A2 and A2PRO are proud
to announce a new effort dedicated to preserving as much of this older Cl
assic software as is humanly possible. To do this we are soliciting the
aid of all the visitors to A2 and A2PRO here on GEnie.
We are instituting a massive search for as many of the early Apple II
programmers as possible. We have several reasons for this. By tracking
down these early luminaries, we hope to get them interested in continuing
their work (for those who have since left the Apple II word), or, failing
that, to obtain permission for distribution of their programs and/or source
code via GEnie. This would involve release of Copyright, or otherwise
gaining permission for distribution. With the rumors of the loss of the
original masters for much of Infocom's early adventure games (whether true
or not), the ability to acquire older programs for safekeeping has taken
on a new importance.
At this point, a statement of our general goals would probably be the
best way to explain what we are trying to do.
>>>>> LOST CLASSICS GOALS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
1. Preserve as much Classic Apple II software as possible, including
source code, if available, to prevent inadvertent loss due to
accident or misplacement.
2. Provide a service to our clients by providing access to software
which is otherwise unavailable due to cessation of commercial
publication.
3. Provide a clearinghouse for dated software which needs update for
modern Apple IIs (ProDOS vs DOS 3.3, //e vs ][+, etc.), but which
may need other third or fourth party assistance to complete. (T
his includes both public and where necessary, private assistance
with negotiations between interested parties.)
4. Try to obtain derivation rights for non-Apple II software for
porting to the Apple II platform. (For example, Sim-City for the
GS, perhaps).
5. In the process, make A2 and A2PRO an important hub in the
continuing support of the Apple II line of computers.
These goals have been stated basically in order of importance. Our
primary consideration is the preservation of existing software which may no
longer be published. Because of this, we here at A2/A2PRO applaud efforts
by Big Red, Triton, and others to acquire distribution rights for much of
the more recent Apple II software. But they do not go far enough. In many
cases they do not obtain source code, so they cannot upgrade or update much
of the software they carry. If the current owner of the source code should
lose their disk(s), the software is gone forever. (And we know how many
people keep backups, right? :) The best that can be accomplished through
Big Red, et al, is partial satisfaction of Goal #1 and Goal #2 (which is no
mean feat, but it is not enough).
Detailed Approach We will be keeping a database of as many Apple II
""""""""""""""""" programmers as possible. The only criterion will be
that these programmers be owners of copyrights on previous commercial
(copyrighted) Apple II soft ware. We need your help. If you are an Apple
II programmer (current or past), reply in the appropriate Topic in this
category with your particulars: address, phone #, e-mail addresses (GEnie
and elsewhere), and what software you have written. Doing so will NOT
obligate you in any way. Should you know of the whereabouts of other
programmers/copyright holders, then we would like that information also.
By knowing where these people are, we can start a systematic effort to
track them down to ask for support of our project. Since storage on
GEnie's mainframes would appear to be a very safe place for storage, this
would satisfy Goal #1, even without source code. If allowed to distribute,
this would satisfy Goal #2. If it needs update, we can work to organize
the programmers which frequent A2P RO to get software updated (with
permission, of course), assuming the original programmer is unable or
unwilling to undertake the task himself. This satisfies Goal #3. Because
some Apple II programmers went on to other platforms, it may be possible to
convince them, or another programmer, to do a port to the Apple II of the
newer, non-Apple II software which is currently unavailable on the Apple
II. This satisfies Goal #4. By performing all of these, we automatically
meet Goal #5.
Privacy Issues Should you be one of the programmers we are searching
"""""""""""""" for, and do NOT want your personal information stated
publicly, then send private e-mail to T.TOBIN with your data and
instructions to that effect . All information acquired privately will
remain that way, private. If you are providing data on another individual
and are unsure if they wish their addresses publicly aired, then please
send their info by e-mail as well. All requests for privacy will be
honored. It is also assumed that there may be programmers who do not wish
their software distributed online, but would like to partake of t he other
services being offered here (safety from loss, programmer clearinghouse,
etc.).
Although this avoids Goal #2, we realize we cannot have everything,
and we will be willing to help work the problem. We are in the process of
setting up an Optical Disk Cartridge (560MB Total Stora ge, per Cartridge)
for offline storage of any and all programs and source which programmers do
not wish on GEnie initially. This provides a geographically separate
'safety' storage which can be guaranteed not to be distributed without
express permission, and which can be used to support whatever
update/upgrade plan the author may have in mind (if any).
In Summary Remember, if you are an Apple II programmer, let us know
who and where you are. If you know of an Apple II programmer, let us know
where he or she is. This will only work with your support. Show your
support for the best, most versatile computer ever made by becoming
actively involved. Apple II Forever! (And WE really mean it!)
Disclaimer As this effort evolves, we retain the right to change or
"""""""""" improve how we do this, as necessary. (But we will not
violate any confidences, regardless)
(T.TOBIN, CAT7, TOP1, MSG:2/3/4/M645;1)
>>> LOST CLASSIC TOPICS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
[*] 1 About Lost Classics
[*] 2 Who Really Owns this Stuff?
[*] 3 Lobby and Front Desk: Check in Here
[*] 4 Apple ][ Fantasies
[*] 5 Volunteer Programmers Needed
>>> ...THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
HYPERCARD MAC DEATH? I see where Apple is now denying the rumored death
"""""""""""""""""""" of HyperCard (Mac). It seems some people are
interpreting the release (pending?) of Apple script as the death knell for
HyperCard. Apple says it ain't so. Isn't strange that they have to spend
so much time and energy saying they aren't killing a product line?
HyperCard (and the Mac) will probably evolve to the point where
current users are in the same boat as we ][ users. Tools on a RISC chip to
allow it to run 680404 code? Wanna bet what kind of compatibility problems
that will cause?
But hey, system 6 is great. Thanks Tom et al.
(J.L.COFFEY, CAT5, TOP3, MSG:76/M645;1)
APPLE II GF? Readers of GEnie's paper magazine, LIVEWIRE, may have
"""""""""""" noticed a photo caption mentioning the Apple IIGF. As
always, this started the rumor mill churning so we at GEnie Lamp decided to
call our friends at Livewire and get the scoop. Here is what they had to
say:
The 'IIGF' is unfortunately nothing more than a typo of IIGS.
Somewhere along the line someone made a mistake and it was mentioned under
a screen shot of Sensei as 'IIGF', when it was supposed to be IIGS.
Being a IIGS owner myself, I wasn't exactly thrilled to see the error
appear (especially since I captured the screen shot, etc).
Sincerely,
Kevin J. McCann
Asst. Editor, LW
HEATHKIT COMPUTER PASSES Today, in the Chicago Tribune Tempo section, I
"""""""""""""""""""""""" saw some very sad, though in retrospect, not
very surprising news. Heath Co. is discontinuing the production of
Heathkits. "Actuarial tables" were cited as the determining factor in
discontinuing the kits in favor of ready-made consumer electronics items.
Just another sign of the times. Too many of Heathkit's customers were old,
and passing on, and they were not being replaced. Mr. William Johnson,
president of the company asked "Do your kids have the patience to sit down
and build there own stereo set over the course of several evenings, or a
weekend? Mine don't. They want to buy one at a store so they can listen
to it the very same day".
So easy. So convenient. No curiosity for how or why it works. No, as
Johnson called it, "Eureka!" factor needed... although some people I've
seen lately probably shout that when they manage to get the batteries in
the right way.
I guess I'm just sad. Another treasure of the past fading away, as so
many others have recently, in the name of the holy bottom line. The world
is becoming a very gray place.
Bartender, got a Coke? I'm gonna dig out my Don Lancaster books and
my IC references and have some fun, in memory of Heathkit. -Rich
(BARRACUDA, CAT2, TOP7, MSG:17/M645;1)
>>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
Category 19, Topic 13
Message 3 Mon May 18, 1992
A2.DEAN [Studio City] at 18:11 EDT
I might as well throw myself into this controversy... some of my
friends won't like that I say this, but what the heck.
BTW, I'm editor of Studio City, a HyperStudio based magazine, and am
involved on the fringes of Script-Central (some months more than others).
Using an accelerated IIgs with a hard drive and a RamFast, I have
still never seen a stack working under Hypercard IIgs that I considered
fast enough to be useful. I find it painful any time I try to do anything
with Hypercard; yes, there are neat things you can do with that language,
but anything you do with it is going to run so slow you'll probably have
time to walk down to a local restaurant for a few cups of coffee while you
wait for it to finish whatever it's doing.
I can't even imagine how horrid it would be trying to use Hypercard
on a IIgs without acceleration. If I didn't already have a Zip GS, and I
bought Hypercard IIgs, I'd want my money back.
HyperStudio is significantly faster all the way around. So much
faster that from what I've seen, a IIgs without an accelerator will be
faster with HyperStudio than a machine WITH an accelerator will be with
Hypercard.
HyperStudio excels in the tons of little things it does that other
Hypermedia programs can't do. Little things mean a lot when added up;
funky transitions, vastly better graphics and animation support, speed,
greater ease of use, flexibility, and on and on. Right now the ONLY think
Hypercard has on HyperStudio is the scripting language; if it weren't for
Hypertalk's power, Hypercard would be a complete joke. HyperStudio's
scripting is quite weak right now; not only weak, but also embarassingly
buggy. If SimpleScript were half as good as HyperTalk, and actually WORKED
right most of the time, there simply wouldn't be any question that
HyperStudio was a better environment.
I'll go ahead and say that I think that HyperStudio is a vastly
superior environment for most Hypermedia tasks on the IIgs. Hypercard is
too bloody slow and cumbersome to do anything really useful with; it's fun
to play with if you're "into" programming and want a neat and easy language
that you can do lots of stuff with, but I frankly have a hard time thinking
of it as anything more than an impressive and glorified toy.
Dean Esmay
[*][*][*]
Category 19, Topic 13
Message 5 Mon May 18, 1992
BO.MONROE [ =040 ] at 21:22 EDT
Heh heh. You're fired, Dean. (Did I mention I'm Editor-In-Chief?)
The truth is, HyperCard IIGS has been getting faster while
HyperStudio has been getting SLOWER. My gut feeling is they operate now at
about the same speed, though HyperStudio is still probably a little
snappier. This could be because this here Quadra running HyperCard
makes'em both look like they're stuck in the mud. On the other hand, I
don't find the pace of either of them to be painful; more like
"deliberate". At any rate, seems like some benchmarks are in order.
As for HyperCard being "useful"... I use a hacked-together HyperCard
IIGS stack to, believe it or not, balance my checkbook. It's eminently
useful and every bit fast enough for my needs. (Like I said, I've got a
Quadra sitting next to my GS. If HCGS was so "painfully slow", I'd just use
the Mac. But it ain't, so I don't.) Best of all I wrote it in about 5
minutes in accordance with MY particular needs. That's the promise and the
power of HyperTalk: the ability to quickly create software tailored to your
own specific needs. Remember Applesoft?
Dean hints at one of the truly cool things about HyperStudio: the
modular nature of NBAs, Extras, and Transitions. This means that if some
enterprising programmers were to write packages of these things, you could
buy them and seamlessly integrate them into HyperStudio. So far, however,
these things haven't materialized. (For that matter, scripting languages
themselves are modular, and new languages for HyperStudio could be added if
someone were to develop them. I think this idea is a more than a little
retarded, but that's another story...)
Dean rattled off some impressive HyperStudio features. On paper, it
doesn't look like a contest between HyperStudio and HyperCard. However, a
program is lot more than a list of features -- it's how well those features
work together to make you creative and productive. My experience has been
that HyperCard IIGS grows on me-- the more I work with it, the more
comfortable (and transparent) it becomes. My experience with
HyperStudio has been pretty much the opposite; the more I work with it, the
less I enjoy it, and the more I find myself fighting the program and
devising work-arounds.
That sounds like a hell of a slam, I s'pose. However, I think it
really only reflects the different natures of the two programs (and,
admittedly, my somewhat unusual use of them). One of the primary design
goals of HyperStudio has been to make it instantly accessible; this, in my
opinion, comes at the cost of depth. HyperCard is a simpler tool; you have
to master it before you can do anything neat with it.
If HyperStudio were a plastic model airplane kit, HyperCard would be
an X-Acto knife and a block of balsa. A lot of people are going to be
perfectly happy with the results of the kit. But the person with the block
of balsa doesn't _have_ to build a plane; she can carve a boat or even a
cuckoo clock if she feels like it. She may also cut her hand or never
finish the project because it's too hard. Your preference depends on your
creative inclination and whether you view mastering a tool as a challenge
or a chore.
--Bo
[*][*][*]
While on GEnie, do you spend most of your time downloading files?
If so, you may be missing out some excellent information in the Bulletin
Board area. The messages listed above only scratch the surface of
what's available and waiting for you in the bulletin board area.
If you are serious about your APPLE II, the GEnie Lamp staff strongly
urge you to give the bulletin board area a try. There are literally
thousands of messages posted from people like you from all over the
world.
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "I used to spell it correctly, until I began reading messages /
/ from others online." /
///////////////////////////////////////////// D.A.BRUMLEVE ////
[EOA]
[HUM]//////////////////////////////
HUMOR ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
Virus Alert!
""""""""""""
Compiled by Terry Quinn
[TQUINN]
! ! ! POLITICAL VIRUS ALERT ! ! !
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
* George Bush Virus: Doesn't do anything, but you can't get rid of it
until November.
* Ted Kennedy Virus: Crashes your computer but denies it ever happened.
* Warren Commission Virus: Won't allow you to open your files for 75
years.
* Jerry Brown Virus: Blanks your screen and begins flashing an 800
number.
* David Duke Virus: Makes your screen go completely white.
* Congress Virus: Overdraws your disk space.
* Paul Tsongas Virus: Pops up on Dec. 25 and says "I'm NOT Santa Claus".
* Pat Buchanan Virus: Shifts all output to the extreme right of the screen.
* Dan Quayle Virus: Forces your computer to play "PGA Tour" from 10am to
4pm six days a week.
* Bill Clinton Virus: This virus mutates from region to region. We're not
exactly sure what it does.
* Richard Nixon Virus: aka the "Tricky Dick Virus"...you can wipe it
out, but it always makes a comeback.
* H.Ross Perot Virus: same as the Jerry Brown Virus, only nicer. Fonts are
used and it appears to have had a lot more money put into its'
development.
And, for those of you that absolutely *must* have the state-of-the-
art in everything, is the recently released:
* L.A.P.D. Virus: This is a reincarnation of the Ted Kennedy Virus, but
comes with videotape coverage of the crash and the insanity which
follows.
This was contributed by Rick Bryan on another source......
(R.SCHENOT, CAT15, TOP21, MSG:1/MXXX)
//////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "P.S. There's another question that hasn't been asked yet, so /
/ I'll try to head it off. Yes, when you type keys on the /
/ keyboard, they appear on the screen. <grin>" /
/////////////////////////////////////////////// J.EIDSVOOG1 ////
[EOA]
[WHO]//////////////////////////////
WHO'S WHO /
/////////////////////////////////
Who's Who In Apple II
"""""""""""""""""""""
>>> GEnieLamp PROFILE OF KARL BUNKER <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
[This is the first in a series of profiles planned by the editors of
the Apple II version of GEnie Lamp. These profiles will spotlight
some of the uniquely creative individuals that have contributed time
and energy to making the Apple II such a wonderful computer. -ED]
[*][*][*]
1) How did you first become interested in the Apple II computer?
2) Can you share with us some anecdotes of your first forays
into computer programming?
Early in 1986, I decided to buy a computer. For the life of me, I
can't think why I wanted to do this. I literally had never touched a
computer at this time. After looking through a Consumer Reports paperback
on personal computers, I decided to get an Apple //c. I chose the //c
because I liked the look of it. I don't mean the features, or the display
options, or the available software; I mean the LOOK. I liked the design of
the external case. Also, I could afford it.
Once I had the computer, I figured I'd better learn how to use it, so
I got a book called "Understanding the Apple //c." This book just happened
to contain a lot of information about Applesoft BASIC programming. I tried
typing in some of the programs from the book, and before I knew it, I was
hooked -- I had discovered why I had bought a computer in the first place.
My first "original" program was one that continuously printed an obscenity
at random locations on the screen. I thought it was hilarious; then, as
now, I had an pretty juvenile sense of humor.
I bought a copy of AppleWriter (a word processor) along with my //c.
After I had learned a little bit about BASIC programming, I figured I could
use this knowledge to modify AppleWriter to correct some of its faults. I
was quite surprised and disappointed to learn that I couldn't just "LOAD"
and "LIST" AppleWriter. (AppleWriter, of course, was written in assembly
language, about which I knew nothing.)
3) Over the years you've released some very high quality Apple II
freeware utilities. (Such marvels as DOGPAW and Sneeze come
immediately to mind.) What was your motivation in sharing these
programs for free with other Apple II users? Do you have a personal
philosophy about such things?
Well, first off, many programs much better than any of mine have been
released as freeware. I've gotten a lot of use and benefit from things that
others have donated to the Apple II community, so I feel compelled make a
contribution myself -- and that's how the tradition is perpetuated.
With Dogpaw (a text file displayer/printer) in particular, I wanted to
create something that could be used to display or print out the instruction
files that are distributed along with freeware and shareware programs. For
this to work, I had to allow Dogpaw to be freely distributed, so I made it
public domain. Sneeze is free because it started out life as "Window", a
program written by someone else and released as freeware. I modified and
improved this earlier program, eventually putting it through about 10
zillion iterations and increasing its capabilities enormously, but kept it
as freeware. Sneeze is now probably one of the most versatile and powerful
freeware utilities available for Apple II's. (Sneeze is a combination text
viewer/printer, graphics viewer, program launcher, and file manager.)
Most of my "major" programs have been released as shareware. I love
the institution of shareware; the voluntary, honor-system nature of it, the
fact that all payments and other communication go directly from user to
programmer, with no "MBA" middle-man deciding what the customer wants and
what the programmer should do. I say in the documentation file to one of my
programs that a shareware payment "provides inspiration and moral support
that goes far beyond its monetary value", and it's quite true. I LOVE
getting those little checks!
4) Who do you consider your mentors? What about them do you most
admire?
There are many, many extraordinary Apple II programmers, past and
present. A list of the ones I admire would go on for pages. Actually, it's
easy for me to admire other programmers, because I'm not really that great
of a programmer myself. I think that I get some good IDEAS for programs,
and that I can design a pretty decent user interface, but when it comes to
being a whiz at writing code, or inventing the killer algorithm, I'm
honestly nothing special. It took me AGES to learn assembly language, and
MORE ages to learn IIgs toolbox programming, and right now I'm in the
process of learning C -- and it's taking me AGES!
Probably the most significant "mentor" in my life was William Ross, a
woodworker who gave me my first job when I was 16. He taught me a lot about
good craftsmanship, attention to detail, and that getting something RIGHT
is more important than how long it takes. These principles apply very much
to computer programming.
5) Where do you see the future of personal computing going?
It's not going in the direction of more and better Apple II's, that's
for sure. <sigh>
But the future of computer technology is an interesting subject.
There will certainly continue to be vast improvements in hardware (more,
cheaper, faster, smaller), but software will continue to be something of a
bottleneck. Programming is still difficult (even for smarter programmers
than me), and I don't see any great breakthroughs coming that will make it
significantly easier. Artificial intelligence continues to be the Great
Promise for the future of computers. Apple Inc. produces promotional videos
touting the hypothetical "Knowledge Navigator" of the future -- a
handy-dandy personal computer that you'll be able to talk to like you'd
talk to your mother, only it will understand your spoken sentences better
than your mother probably does, and have more intelligent and useful
responses than your mother probably does. This sort of thing has been a
pipe dream since the earliest days of computers, and it's still a LONG way
off, in my opinion.
6) Can you tell us a little about the types of things you like
to do for fun? (Speaking of "non-computer" fun, here.)
I read a fair amount of non-fiction, and I tend to "go through" a lot
of interests; reading about many different topics. My current favorite
non-computer subject is military history. I've also done a lot of reading
lately on the topic of failure -- great planning disasters, engineering
failures, military disasters, historical embarrassments, etc. I think that
spectacular failure is a fascinating subject.
7) What accomplishments are you most proud of?
I think one's best, proudest accomplishments should always be the
ones you haven't done yet; the ones you're still working on.
More prosaically, I especially like my IIgs program-switcher
"Quit-To". I use it constantly myself, and it makes my computering much
faster and more productive. The IIgs and its system software make for a
terrific machine, and I get a real kick out of the fact that something that
I've written can enhance the system so much.
Looking at my life as a whole (not just the computer side of things),
I'd have to say that the accomplishment I'm most proud of is my
relationship with my wife. Hokey, but true.
8) Are there any long term goals that you've set for yourself?
I'm learning Mac programming. (Boo, hiss, says the crowd.) I fully
intend to continue programming on the Apple II, but I also want to move out
into a market that isn't being actively buried by the company that controls
it.
9) Do you have any favorite motto?
Sure, lots:
"Why the *&^% did THAT happen?"
"Oops, that doesn't look right."
"I thought I FIXED that!"
"I don't understand this at all."
"I wonder what's on TV."
10) Are you active in the local user group in your area? If so,
what kinds of activities are going on involving the Apple II.
I'm too shy and antisocial to go to user group meetings. One of the
many pleasures of computers for me is that I get to interact with people
via screen and keyboard -- an environment that I feel more at ease with.
11) How long have you been on GEnie?
Since about 1988, I think.
12) Does your daytime job involve computers, too? If so, kindly
detail trade secrets and other compromising information.
My daytime profession is mechanical technician. It's boring and
doesn't involve computers, but it lets me spend lots of time thinking about
whatever program I may be working on at the time. I'm constantly jotting
down little programming-related notes to myself during the day.
[EOA]
[FOC]//////////////////////////////
FOCUS ON... /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II History
""""""""""""""""
By Steven Weyhrich
>>> APPLE II HISTORY <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""
Compiled and written by Steven Weyhrich
(C) Copyright 1991, Zonker Software
(PART 1 -- PRE-APPLE HISTORY)
[v1.1 :: 12 Dec 91]
INTRODUCTION This project began as a description of how the Apple II
"""""""""""" evolved into a IIGS, and some of the standards that emerged
along the way. It has grown into a history of Apple Computer, with an
emphasis on the place of the Apple II in that history. It has been gleaned
from a variety of magazine articles and books that I have collected over
the years, supplemented by information supplied by individuals who were
"there" when it happened. I have tried not to spend much time on
information that has been often repeated, but rather on the less known
stories that led to the Apple II as we know it (and love it) today. Along
the way I hope to present some interesting technical trivia, some thoughts
about what the Apple II could have been, and what the Apple II still can
be. The Apple II has been described as the computer that refuses to die.
This story tells a little bit of why that is true.
If you are a new Apple II owner in 1992 and use any 8-bit Apple II
software at all, you may feel bewildered by the seemingly nonsensical way
in which certain things are laid out. AppleWorks asks which "slot" your
printer is in. If you want to use the 80 column screen in Applesoft BASIC
you must type an odd command, "PR#3". If you want to write PROGRAMS for
Applesoft, you may have some of those ridiculous PEEKs and POKEs to contend
with. The disk layout (which type is supposed to go into which slot) seems
to be in some random order! And then there is the alphabet soup of disk
systems: DOS 3.3, CP/M, Pascal, ProDOS, and GS/OS (if you have a IIGS). If
you use 16-bit software EXCLUSIVELY, you will probably see none of this;
however, even the most diehard GS user of the "latest and greatest" 16-bit
programs will eventually need to use an 8-bit program. If you can tolerate
a history lesson and would like to know "the rest of the story," I will try
to make sense of it all.
I think one of the Apple II's greatest strengths is the attention they
have paid over the years to be backward compatible. That means that a IIGS
"power system" manufactured in 1991, with 8 meg of memory, a hand-held
optical scanner, CD-ROM drive, and 150 meg of hard disk storage can still
run an Integer BASIC program written in 1977, probably without ANY
modification! In the world of microcomputers, where technology continues
to advance monthly, and old programs may or may not run on the new models,
that consistency is amazing to me. Consider the quantum leap in complexity
and function between the original 4K Apple ][ and the ROM 03 IIGS; the
amount of firmware (built-in programs) in the IIGS is larger than the
entire RAM SPACE in a fully expanded original Apple ][!
This strength of the Apple II could also be considered a weakness,
because it presents a major difficulty in making design improvements that
keep up with the advances in computer technology between 1976 and the
present, and yet maintain that compatibility with the past. Other early
computer makers found it easy to design improvements that created a better
machine, but they did so at the expense of their existing user base
(Commodore comes to mind, with the PET, Vic 20, Commodore 64, and lastly
the Amiga, all completely incompatible). However, this attention to detail
is just one of the things that has made the Apple II the long-lived
computer that it is. In examining the development of the Apple II, we will
take a look at some pre-Apple microcomputer history, the Apple I, and the
formation of Apple Computers, Inc., with some sideroads into ways in which
early users overcame the limits of their systems. We will follow through
with the development of the Apple IIe, IIc, and IIGS, and lastly make some
comments on the current state of affairs at Apple Inc. regarding the Apple
II.
PRE-APPLE HISTORY Let's begin our adventure in history. I've designed a
""""""""""""""""" special interface card that plugs into slot 7 on an
Apple II. It contains an item its inventor called a "Flux Capacitor"
(something about the being able to modify flux and flow of time). The card
derives its power from a self-contained generator called "Mr. Fusion"
(another item I dug out of the wreckage from a train/auto accident in
California a couple of years ago). Connected to the card via a specially
shielded line, Mr. Fusion runs on trash (and is, therefore, the ultimate
computer peripheral, if you recall the old principal of "garbage in,
garbage out"). Let's put a few issues of PC MAGAZINE into Mr. Fusion, and
switch on the Flux Capacitor. (Incidentally, for this to work, it needs an
Apple II equipped with a specially modified Zip chip running at 88 MHz).
Boot the disk and set the time circuits for 1975. Ready? Set? Go! **
CRACKADOOM ** !!
Did you make it all right? (Just don't touch anything -- you don't
want to disrupt the space-time continuum, you know!) Now, since the first
Apple II wasn't released until 1977, what are we doing back in 1975? Well,
to understand how the Apple II came about, it helps to know the environment
that produced it. In 1975, the microcomputer industry was still very much
in its infancy. There were few "home computers" that you can choose from,
and their capabilities were very much limited. The first microprocessor
chip, the 4-bit 4004, had been released by Intel back in 1971. The first
video game, Pong, was created by Nolan Bushnell of Atari in 1972. Also in
1972, Intel had gone a step further in microprocessor development and
released the 8-bit 8008, and then the 8080 in 1973. The year 1974 saw
Scelbi Computer Consulting sell what some consider to be the first
commercially built microcomputer, the Scelbi 8-H, based on Intel's 8008
chip. However, it had limited distribution and due to the designer's
health problems it didn't go very far. The first home-built computer, the
Mark 8, was released that same year. The Mark 8 used the Intel 8080 chip,
but had no power supply, monitor, keyboard, or case, and only a few
hobbyists ever finished their kits. Overall, the microchip had yet to make
much of an impact on the general public beyond the introduction of the
hand-held calculator.
With the start of 1975 came a significant event in microcomputer
history. If you will consider the early microprocessors of the years 1971
through 1974 as a time of germination and "pregnancy" of ideas and various
hardware designs, January of 1975 saw the "labor and delivery" of a special
package. The birth announcement was splashed on the front cover of a
hacker's magazine, Popular Electronics. The baby's parents, MITS, Inc.,
named it "Altair 8800"; it measured 18-inches deep by 17 inches wide by 7
inches high, and it weighed in at a massive 256 bytes (that's one fourth of
a "K"). Called the "World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial
Models," the Altair 8800 used the Intel 8080 chip, and sold for $395 (or
$498 fully assembled). MITS hoped that they would get about four hundred
orders for clones of this baby, trickling in over the months that the
two-part article was printed. This would supply the money MITS needed to
buy the parts to send to people ordering the kits (one common way those
days of "bootstrapping" a small electronics business). This "trickle" of
orders would also give MITS time to establish a proper assembly line for
packaging the kits. However, they misjudged the burning desire of Popular
Electronic's readers to build and operate their own computer. MITS
received four hundred orders in ONE AFTERNOON, and in three weeks it had
taken in $250,000.<1>
The Popular Electronics article was a bit exuberant in the way the
Altair 8800 was described. They called it "a full-blown computer that can
hold its own against sophisticated minicomputers now on the market... The
Altair 8800 is not a 'demonstrator' or souped-up calculator... [it] is a
complete system." The article had an insert that lists some possible
applications for the computer, stating that "the Altair 8800 is so
powerful, in fact, that many of these applications can be performed
simultaneously." Among the possible uses listed are an automated control
for a ham station, a digital clock with time zone conversion, an autopilot
for planes and boats, navigation computer, a brain for a robot, a
pattern-recognition device, and a printed matter-to-Braille converter for
the blind.<2> Many of these things will be possible with microcomputers by
1991, but even by then few people will have the hardware add-ons to make
some of these applications possible. Also, despite the power that micros
will have in that year, the ability to carry out more than one of these
applications "simultaneously" will not be not practical or in some cases
even possible. The exaggeration by the authors of the Popular Electronics
article can perhaps be excused by their excitement in being able to offer a
computer that ANYONE can own and use. All this was promised from a
computer that came "complete" with only 256 bytes of memory (expandable if
you can afford it) and no keyboard, monitor, or storage device.
The IMSAI 8080 (an Altair clone) also came out in 1975 and did fairly
well in the hobbyist market. Another popular early computer, the Sol,
would not be released until the following year. Other computers released
in 1975 that enjoyed limited success were the Altair 680 (also from MITS,
Inc., based on the Motorola 6800 processor), the Jupiter II (Wavemate),
M6800 (Southwest Technical Products), and the JOLT (Microcomputer
Associates), all kits.<3> The entire microcomputer market was still very
much a hobbyist market, best suited for those who enjoyed assembling a
computer from a kit. After you assembled your computer, you either had to
write your own programs (from assembly language) or enter a program someone
else wrote. If you could afford the extra memory and the cost of buying a
BASIC interpreter, you might have been able to write some small programs
that ran in that language instead of having to figure out 8080 assembly
language. If you were lucky (or rich) you had 16K of memory, possibly
more; if you were REALLY lucky you owned (or could borrow) a surplus paper
tape reader to avoid typing in manually your friend's checkbook balancing
program. Did I say typing? Many early computer hobbyists didn't even have
the interface allowing them to TYPE from a keyboard or teletype. The
"complete" Altair 8800 discussed above could only be programmed by entering
data via tiny little switches on its front panel, as either octal (base 8)
bytes or hexadecimal (base 16) bytes. With no television monitor available
either, the results of the program were read in binary (base 2) from lights
on that front panel. This may sound like the old story that begins with
the statement, "I had to walk five miles to school through snow three feet
deep when I was your age," but it helps to understand how things were at
this time to see what a leap forward the Apple II really was (er, will be.
Time travel complicates grammar!)
>>>>> NEXT INSTALLMENT The Apple I
""""""""""""""""""""""""
>>> NOTES <<<
"""""""""""""
<1> Steven Levy, HACKERS: HEROES OF THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION, pp.
187-192.
<2> H. Edward Roberts and William Yates, "Altair 8800 Minicomputer,
Part 1", POPULAR ELECTRONICS, 7(1) (January 1975), pp. 33, 38.
The article is interesting also in some of the terminology that is
used. The Altair is described as having "256 eight-bit words" of
RAM. Apparently, the term "byte" was not in common use yet.
<3> Gene Smarte and Andrew Reinhardt, "15 Years of Bits, Bytes, and
Other Great Moments", BYTE, (September 1990), pp. 370-371.
Steve's ever growing Apple II history can be found in the GEnie A2
software library. To get a complete list of available files run a file
search with the keyword HISTORY.
////////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Given that theproduct already has some name recognition and the /
/ fact that my wife REALLY likes the name and STRONGLY suggested /
/ that I leave it alone, I believe that it will be released as /
/ Diamond Edge. (Hey, I may wash the dishes, but I am very aware /
/ of teh importance of keeping teh cook happy :-)" /
////////////////////////////////////////////////// B.LUNESKI1 ////
[EOA]
[TEL]//////////////////////////////
TELETALK ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II BBS's Around The USA
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
DOING IT ONLINE! Here is a list of BBS's which can be found promoted in
"""""""""""""""" category 10, topic 23 of the A2 RT. GEnie Lamp does
not offer any guarantees to the accuracy of this list. BBS's are listed by
area code.
o Pro-Nka (201) 944-3102
o Gng-Tff (201) 989-0545
o Unicorn BBS (206) 472-9331
o StarBase 74 (213) 695-6785
o Pro-Gateway (214) 644-5113
o Name Unknown (219) 586-7880
o Bloom County (313) 582-0888
o Apple Byte GS (408) 578-3201
o Trimuvirate (410) 486-9812
o Pro-micol (416) 731-3468
o Nexus 6 (504) 522-6607
o A.U.G. Livermore, CA (510) 294-8052
o Final Nexus (518) 298-4294
o Eagle-Eyes' Emporium (514) 337-8844
o Appletree Computer Club (708) 597-6942
o Sirius Cybernetics (808) 521-3306
o Club Playhouse (818) 781-PLAY
o Wozniak's Revenge (913) 272-5173
I also found this message which may be of interest:
On the internet, you might want to consider the following ftp sites
for apple II files. I know that this is not a complete list, but it might
get you started.
bric-a-brac.apple.com
archive.umich.edu
f.ms.uky.edu
Again, this is not a complete list by any means, but it should get
you started. -Eric
(KITCHEN.SINK, CAT12, TOP5, MSG:44/M645;1)
//////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Patience everyone. Tolerance and patience." /
/ /
/ " ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm " /
/ " ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm " /
//////////////////////////////////// JEFF.W / J.NESS ////
[EOA]
[ABO]//////////////////////////////
ABOUT THIS APPLE II /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II And The Future
"""""""""""""""""""""""
By Roger Wagner
>>> THE APPLE IIGS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""
~ What the Mac LC Should Have Been? ~
A REVIEW OF THE MAC LC in the December, 1990 issue of inCider magazine
"""""""""""""""""""""" was subtitled "What the Apple IIGS Should Have
Been?" The underlying idea was reasonable: If the Mac LC had been
introduced in 1986, rather than the IIGS, people would most likely have
been fairly happy with this transition machine to the Mac. However,
history does not accommodate "what ifs", and at this point, one can
legitimately ask, "Is the Apple IIGS what the Mac LC should have been?"
The unexpected factor today is the world of multimedia, and that the
Apple IIGS is arguably the ideal multimedia (or hypermedia) machine.
Regardless of what term you use, this environment will be more significant
in the 90's than desktop publishing was in the 80's, particularly in the
classroom.
The ideal multimedia machine should have good color graphics,
excellent sound, and the ability to connect to laserdiscs, CD-ROM, and
VCRs. It should be easy and intuitive to use, and as affordable as
possible. You should be able to present your work, and easily record and
transport it to share with others. The Apple IIGS has all this and more.
Let's suppose a student creates a multimedia report, and then
presents it to the class. With the Apple IIGS, a standard classroom monitor
or TV can be used with no special hardware. Although a TV isn't great for
displaying 80-column text screens, multimedia presentations with graphics,
larger text, and video sequences from a laserdisc will look quite nice. On
a Mac or PC, a projection system that can handle true color is likely to
cost $2000-$3000, or more.
Laserdiscs, combined with a video overlay card, add a very attractive
component, and allow anyone to create very exciting results. On the Apple
IIGS, a school can buy a Video Overlay Card for about $400. On the Mac LC
(if a card were available), using the slot for a video card would preclude
using the IIe card. Cards similar to the Video Overlay Card on other Mac
models cost around $2500. (By the way, services are now available that
will convert your own videotapes to a laserdisc for $200-$300!)
On its way to that TV or monitor, the Apple IIGS video can be routed
through any common VCR, recording both the audio and video portions of the
presentation, so Mom and Dad can see what they did at school, and keep a
permanent record of the moment. Presenters can go to conferences with just
a video tape, without lugging tons of computer hardware. Macs and PCs
require a special adapter (an "NTSC Converter"), and these can be an
expensive addition.
You heard it here first: The VCR will be the printer of the 90's. How
else to record sound, animation, graphics, video and more, and in a form
that anyone can view (virtually all homes and schools now have VCRs). Once
you're aware of what the GS can do, hearing that another computer can't be
recorded with a VCR is like hearing it can't be attached to a printer. An
article in the October 15, 1990 issue of BusinessWeek discusses Apple's
generation of computers AFTER the Mac: "At least two years off, Jaguar
will include extensive video technology and the ability to connect to TVs
and VCRs, Apple employees say." How great for Apple IIGS owners to know
that they don't have to wait for the successor to the Mac. They can have
all this now!
Schools that purchase Mac LC's, hoping for a color multimedia machine,
will be surprised to discover that HyperCard on the Mac is only black &
white. A limited ability to display single color graphics is available,
but to just draw a line or two in color, you'll need a GS with HyperCard or
HyperStudio. Want to use the microphone on the LC? You'll have to leave
HyperCard, run a separate program, and then go through some additional
steps to incorporate the sound. On a GS with HyperStudio, adding sound is
easy and perfectly integrated into the overall environment.
Last of all is the working environment itself. Stackbuilding on the
GS is significantly easier. Thousands of schools are using the Apple IIGS
for multimedia right now, and projects created entirely by 1st graders are
by no means unusual. Home users of the Apple IIGS find it perfect for not
only the kids, but fun for personal-interest uses from family trees to
hobby-related projects. Through user groups, mail-order catalogs, and
online services like America Online, CompuServe and GEnie, there are
already almost 200 megabytes of existing hypermedia applications (stacks)
of every imaginable kind - all for the Apple IIGS.
What does the future hold for the Apple IIGS? The Apple IIGS is not
an outdated technology. The Apple IIGS has features that are not currently
available in any machine, and offers a solution that couldn't be more
relevant to the next revolution in computing. I've personally travelled
extensively across the U.S. in the last year, and everywhere I've seen a
tremendous amount of interest and enthusiasm for what the Apple IIGS
offers. This interest is the result of recognizing a practical and
immediate tool. If you haven't yet seen what multimedia and the Apple IIGS
are all about, there couldn't be a better time than now to find out what
the future holds, and how you can make that future a present reality. If
you already have an Apple IIGS, then you'll be happy to know you own the
best machine possible to enter the 90's!
[*][*][*]
>>>>> From a letter to inCider/A+ magazine, March, 1991. Permission is
""""" hereby given by the author to anyone wishing to reprint this
letter. Please include this permission statement with any reprints.
//////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "I vote for Dorothy as King, Yes, that's the ticket. Nah, /
/ wouldn't work. If we made her proof reader though, that /
/ should bring the magazine to a dead stop, guaranteed! :-)" /
/ /
/ "It's far too late to vote me in as King. I appointed /
/ myself to this position (or a semblance thereof with more /
/ motherly instincts) a looong time ago. Proof-reader, eh? /
/ How much am I offered to stop this flow of information /
/ dead in its tracks? ;-)" /
//////////////////////////////////// ISD / D.A.BRUMLEVE ////
[EOA]
[THI]//////////////////////////////
THINK ABOUT IT! /
/////////////////////////////////
Food For Thought
""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
[P.SHAPIRO1]
>>>>> SOME THOUGHTS ON THE VALUE OF BEING A RESPONSIBLE ELECTRONIC CITIZEN
"""""
In the early days of our nation the pioneer settlers had distinct
views on the nature of civic virtue. People looked out for one another.
People volunteered a fixed number of hours each week for the public good.
And in times of crisis, people pulled together to help the most needy.
In the electronic age, a similar set of civic ideals is emerging in
the new electronic nations. The new civic responsibility includes pitching
in to help in various ways.
Contributions of time and energy can take many forms. Leaving
thoughtful answers to posted questions can be a way of carrying out one's
civic duty. Uploading new files to the roundtable library can likewise be a
civic good deed.
In terms of library uploads, you need not be a professional programmer
or software designer to upload files to a roundtable library. Less than ten
percent of all uploads are original programs or data files created entirely
from scratch. The great majority of uploads are programs and files
collected from other places. Such "other places" include local user groups,
local bulletin boards systems (BBS's), or commercial public domain disk
distributors.
Many times an individual might seize the opportunity to enhance a
particular program or file before uploading it. Typical enhancements to a
public domain program might be to set up an easy front end menu, or to
write some easy to understand instructions to be bundled as a text file
within the shrunk archive.
Writing instructions, or adding helpful comments to existing
instructions, requires no programming capability whatsoever. Some people
who do this choose to leave full credit with the person who originally
wrote the program or documentation. Others may choose to add a brief
mention of their own contribution to the project.
The latter course of action is actually helpful in establishing the
collaborative effort of the project. As end users come to use and enjoy
such programs, seeing multiple names on the credits helps to reinforce the
idea that we all have individual talents we can contribute to the
electronic nation.
In terms of being an active citizen in the message roundtables, the
duties of citizenship require regular reading of new messages. Someone may
post a question which you are uniquely qualified to answer. Then again,
someone may post an answer that solves a particularly troublesome question
that you yourself have had.
The duties of citizenship further require that the public messages you
post be predominantly constructive and positively phrased. It's all too
easy to use a public forum to air one's gripes. In certain circumstances
legitimate complaints can and should be discussed in a public electronic
forum. But even in such cases, the duties of citizenship dictate that care
be given to refrain from name calling and other communications that could
cause emotional hurt in others.
In thinking about such ideas, recall the image of our nation's pioneer
settlers. A publicly posted message with negative remarks is tantamount to
standing in the middle of a village green yelling out scandalous remarks
about one's neighbor. Negatively phrased electronic messages are far less
noisy, but equally injurious.
One further duty rounds out the responsibility roster. When newcomers
to the electronic nation require assistance, the role of experienced users,
the "village elders," is to give helpful and concise advice. Such advice
often involves no more effort than writing a note pointing the newcomer in
the direction of written instructions. Other times a village elder may
refer a newcomer to the counsel of another village elder. A virtuous
electronic citizen tries to keep such referrals to a minimum, ever
sensitive to burdening others with extra duties.
The value of civic virtue is that when each citizen contributes his or
her part, the entire nation benefits from such acts of goodwill. Within an
electronic nation, the entire nation is constructed on the good deeds of
its citizens. The foundations of such a nation are built on goodwill.
As you participate in electronic communities, both local and national,
take a minute to think about the time and effort being invested by others.
And consider how you yourself might make a contribution. For the goodness
you give to others is bound to resonate back in some way to yourself or
your friends.
Perhaps John Lennon said it best on the Abbey Road LP:
"And in the end,
The love you take,
Is equal to the love,
You make..."
[*][*][*]
[The author develops educational software for the Apple II
line of computers. He can be reached at Balloons Software,
5201 Chevy Chase Parkway, NW, Washington, DC, 20015. Or on
GEnie at: P.Shapiro1]
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Anyone who works with computers and doesn't recognize Woz in /
/ an Apple ad is a philistine. (:" /
////////////////////////////////////////////////// LUNATIC ////
[EOA]#20
[FUN]//////////////////////////////
ONLINE FUNNIES /
/////////////////////////////////
CowTOONS!
"""""""""
By "Hawk"
(__)
(oo) U
/-------\/ /---V
/ | || * |--| .