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~ A2/A2PRO_ductivity ~
~ WHO'S WHO: MORGAN DAVIS ~
~ CHECKING OUT INTERNET ~
~ HOT FILES ~ HOT MESSAGES ~ HOT ROUNDTABLE NEWS ~
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
GEnie Lamp A2/A2Pro ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.1, Issue 8
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Publisher.................................GEnie Information Services
Editor-In-Chief........................................John Peters
Editor.............................................Darrel Raines
~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~ ~ GEnieLamp IBM ~
~ GEnieLamp ST ~ ~ GEnieLamp Elsewhere ~ ~ GEnieLamp A2/A2Pro ~
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE II/A2Pro ROUNDTABLE? <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ November 1, 1992 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] APPLE_TALK .............. [APP]
Notes From The Editor. Changing Of The Guard.
HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY] HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]
Is That A Letter For Me? World's Fastest Chip.
A2/A2PRO_ductivity ...... [A2P] ONLINE FUN .............. [FUN]
Take Another Look! Search-ME!
WHO'S WHO ............... [WHO] THE MIGHTY QUINN ........ [QUI]
Who's Who In Apple II. Milliseconds With Mark.
REFLECTIONS ............. [REF] SOFTVIEW ................ [SOF]
Thinking Online Communications. LetterSlide: For The Asking.
TELETALK ONLINE ......... [TEL] CowTOONS! ............... [COW]
Checking Out Internet. Mooooooo Fun!
APPLE II ................ [AII] THE ONLINE LIBRARY ...... [LIB]
Apple II History, Part 6. Yours For The Downloading.
ELSEWHERE ............... [ELS] LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
Electronic Publishing On GEnie. GEnieLamp Information.
[IDX]"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
READING GEnieLamp GEnieLamp has incorporated a unique indexing
""""""""""""""""" system to help make reading the magazine easier.
To utilize this system, load GEnieLamp 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 GEnieLamp, 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 ////
/ "INCOMING!!" /
////////////////////////////////////////////// WALLY.W ////
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
By John Peters
[GENIELAMP]
TOP OF THE PAGE Hang on to your hat! The first annual GEnieLampLighter
""""""""""""""" Awards will be announced in the January issue of
GEnieLamp magazine. The awards are designed to honor PD/Shareware/
Freeware programs and their programmers for excellence and creativity in
their respective fields. Categories for the awards are as follows:
>>> GEnieLampLighter Award <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
1) PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
2) PROGRAMMER OF THE YEAR
3) Best Utility
4) Best Personal Productivity or Business Program
5) Best Desk Accessory or TSR program
6) Best Telecommunications Program
7) Best Graphics Program or Utility
8) Best Educational Program
9) Best Game
10) Best Programming Software or Utility
11) Best Sound or Music Program or Utility
12) Best Use of Graphics In a Game
13) Best Use of Graphics in a Non-Game
14) Most Used Program or Utility
15) All Time Favorite
[*][*][*]
Read A Good Bookette Lately? Electronic Publishing comes to GEnie! The
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" GEnieLamp libraries are filling up fast with
new bookettes, (A BOOK on a diskETTE), magazines, newsletters and even
online comics. Everything from poetry and short-stories to How-to-do-it
text files are being uploaded on a daily basis. Indeed, electronic
publishing is the future - you can find it NOW in the GEnieLamp RoundTable.
(M515;3)
Disktop Publishing Association Nationally known Disktop Publishing
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Association (DPA) has found a home in the
GEnieLamp RoundTable. If you have any interest in electronic publishing
you should consider joining DPA. Membership applications are now being
accepted via GE Mail for the Disktop Publishing Association. Presently,
there is _no_ fee for you to join, so what are you waiting for? (For your
convenience, you will find a DPA application at the end of this magazine).
For more information, see GEnie Elsewhere in this issue or drop by the
GEnieLamp RoundTable and visit the DPA in CAT6, or you may leave GE Mail to
the founder and president of DOA, Ron Albright. (GE Mail=RALBRIGHT)
Until next month...
John Peters
GEnieLamp E-Magazine
///////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Two bee ore knot too bea." /
///////////// STEPHENSON ////
[EOA]
[APP]//////////////////////////////
APPLE_TALK /
/////////////////////////////////
Changing of the Guard
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Darrel Raines
[D.RAINES]
EDITOR'S VIEW This issue of GEnieLamp marks the changing of the guard at
""""""""""""" the editor position. Tom Schmitz, who carried the Apple
II version of GEnieLamp from conception through the first six issues, has
decided to step down from the helm of this newsletter to better pursue his
day time job. Tom had a few things to say upon making his decision. I
reproduce here a copy of the farewell letter he placed in the Bulletin
Board area.
[*][*][*]
A FAREWELL MESSAGE Well, many of you may have noticed I haven't been
"""""""""""""""""" online much lately. And there is a good reason for
this. Recently I was promoted at the Life Foundation, the AIDS Foundation
of Hawaii on Oahu, to run the Free Legal Clinic and to be the Development
Liaison between staff and volunteers. Both are relatively full time
responsibilities and have left me little time at home with my modem. (The
only thing at home seeing much of me is my bed.)
And since I do not have the free time as before, I have stepped down
as editor of GEnieLamp A2/A2Pro. I can no longer do it justice, and if it
were not for John Peters' and Phil Shapiro's excellent work, the October
issue would never have made it.
GEnieLamp is truly something extraordinary. It is the first major
online, regular newsletter of high caliber quality. Much more than a
round-up of monthly events, it brings interviews with industry luminaries,
and timely articles on interesting subjects.
I encourage all of you to keep reading GEnieLamp and to support those
who create it with your praise and with your articles. It means a lot to
the staff when you give feedback. It tells them, hey, someone cares about
what we do.
And while I may be biased, I do think the A2/A2Pro edition has the
best damn GEnieLamp staff online and that this magazine will get even
better and bigger than even I ever imagined.
And to everyone who has ever written or edited for GEnieLamp
A2/A2Pro, all I can give you is my thanks, but let it be known you have
made it a fun experience looking foreword to being the first to see these
great articles and to viewing the final product on the first of the month.
To the A2 & A2Pro staff, I have been on GEnie, CompuServe and America
Online through the years. No one, but no one can even come close to the
fun, comraderie and quality you maintain in A2 and A2Pro.
I'll still be online, though not as much. And I will still read
GEnieLamp on the first of every month.
(TOM.SCHMITZ, CAT3, TOP3, MSG:78/M645;1)
>>> SETTING IN OUR NEW COURSE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Those of you who have read previous issues of this newsletter will
already be familiar with me. I have been writing the games column and the
somewhat sporadic programming column. Both of these assignments will be
re-evaluated during the next two months as I start to settle into my new
responsibilities as editor of GEnieLamp. For this month, both columns will
be on hold. The gaming column will return in December with a few more good
things to say about Eamon. More information about these columns will be
available in the next issue.
Despite the fact that the regular articles mentioned above will not be
included in this issue of our newsletter, we still have many new and
exciting articles available for the first time in this newsletter. Along
those lines, Jim Couch has joined the staff of GEnieLamp to provide
coverage of the A2Pro roundtable on a regular basis. Phil has written
another article that will stimulate your "thinking muscle". Mel Fowler
gives us a peek at a new shareware game available here on GEnie for all
IIgs's. Morgan Davis drops in for an interview and reveals some very
interesting history of a famous Apple software development company. Any
way that you slice this newsletter pie, the results should be plenty of
interesting reading in your future.
Be sure and note the upcoming RTC conferences that are held regularly
in both the A2 and A2Pro areas. Paul Lutus, author of AppleWriter and many
other older programs for the Apple II computer, will join us on November 10
at 9:30 pm eastern time. We hope to get some interesting information out
of Paul. Join us if you can.
In the next section I will present a variety of interesting posts
that have appeared during the last month in the bulletin boards for A2.
These messages can be identified by the footer attached to each item. (See
the introductory notes on how to interpret the footer.) If you find the
topic, excerpt, or just the interplay between various people to be
stimulating, then please jump to that topic on a weekly basis and read what
is new. Our hope is that you will find something new in this section to
keep you guessing.
And now, please enjoy the first fruits of our efforts in the post-Tom
days for Apple II GEnieLamp.
[*][*][*]
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Bribes for new EdHak features?? I don't recall ever turning /
/ down such a bribe. Are we talking money? chocolate chip /
/ cookies? eternal bliss? any of the these would probably /
/ work just fine, or even getting 2 or 3 people to request /
/ the same thing. /
//////////////////////////////////////////////// C.HARVEY ////
///////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Chocolate chip cookies = eternal bliss <grin>" /
////////////////////////////////// J.MEEHAN3 ////
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Darrel Raines
[D.RAINES]
o Apple II ODDS & ENDS
o WHAT'S NEW?
o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
o APPLE HEADS WANT TO KNOW
o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT
>>> Apple II ODDS & ENDS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
SPELL IT AGAIN, SAM I thought that I'd post this little ditty that my
""""""""""""""""""" wife brought home from work for those of you who use
the AppleWorks spelling checker:
HUMAN BRAIN NOT YET OBSOLETE:
I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC;
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it,
I'm sure your please too no,
Its letter perfect in it's weight,
My checker tolled me sew.
When I ran this through my AppleWorks checker (with no Custom
Dictionary) it innocently caught the word "revue." I don't know if that
means that the AppleWorks checker is BETTER than most PC checkers or not.
According to my Websters, while "revue" (used to indicate a theatrical
production) is acceptable, "review" is the preferred spelling, which is
what was offered up by AppleWorks.
(J.CURTIS8, CAT17, TOP33, MSG:193/M645;1)
HOW TO BURY YOUR HARD DRIVE IN FLOPPY DISKS Let me just make an
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" additional comment on top of
Gary Utter's. If you have a 32meg partition on your hard drive, and want
to back it up to standard Apple format 5.25 disks, here's what you'd be
looking at.
A 32meg ProDOS volume consists of 65536 block. Each ProDOS-formatted
5.25 disk can hold 280 blocks maximum (this is assuming that there is
NOTHING else written on the disk except backup data; most backup utilities
will either use a standard-appearing ProDOS disk, which takes up 7 blocks
just for overhead, or use the first several blocks of the disk for
information on which disk is which).
Taking 65536 / 280, we get 234.057 disks, rounding up to 235 floppy
disks if the ENTIRE hard drive is full. Since I am still backing up to
3.5 disks, I still tend to keep my 32 meg partitions no more than 20-25
meg full, so I don't have TOO many disks to use when doing a full backup.
I would need a maximum of 42 of the 3.5 disks to do a full backup, and
even THAT is a bother that keeps me from backing up as often as I should.
I'd agree with Gary; invest in a tape drive (if you are using a IIGS,
you can get a used Apple Tape drive from Sun Remarketing for about $200)
and back up to that. That's what I plan to do when I've dug myself out of
my current computer budget hole... :-)
(S.WEYHRICH, CAT42, TOP13, MSG:40/M645;1)
SUPRISING NEW DEVELOPMENT LINKING HEALTH TO COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
>> ...my wife predicted ill health for me if I bought more computer
>> stuff...
We got a good laugh off that one! [hehe]. Reminds me of another
thing that happened here once, a lady called inquiring about the Pegasus
drives, asked me to send more information, but "the prices won't be written
all over the information, will it?". I told her that no, there's a
brochure with the technical info. and a separate sheet with the prices that
she could pull off before showing it to her husband. Well, it seems that
the main reason she wanted a Pegasus over any other drive was that it would
sit inside the computer and her husband would never know!! Funny, it's
usually the other way around.
(ECON, CAT35, TOP5, MSG:43/M645;1)
HARD DISKS AND THOSE PESKY 5 1/4 IN. DISKS I just wanted to alert
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" everyone that I have just
uploaded a wonderful and fantastic IIGS utility that should be of interest
to all long term Apple II users. John MacLean's $10 Shareware DOS 3.3
Launcher, file number 19469, allows you to store, and run, DOS 3.3 software
on your previously non-DOS 3.3 compatible hard drive. It works for both
single sides and double sided DOS 3.3 disks.
DOS 3.3 Launcher is desktop based and very very easy to use. It
allows you to launch DOS 3.3 BIN files or complete disks, from the Finder.
If you want, it'll let you slow down the system to 1 Mhz (necessary for old
games), but when you quit from a DOS 3.3 program, it'll return you to the
Finder at the GS'es faster speed.
This is one of the most useful IIGS shareware programs I've ever seen.
Although it can be somewhat difficult to send shareware fees to other
countries, please send John $10 if you find this utility useful. As the
author of Roger Wagner's Graphics Exchange, John is an accomplished
programmer, and if he receives enough shareware registration fees, that
very well may serve as encouragement to him, and other Australian
programmers, to .release additional software as shareware.
(J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP10, MSG:/M645;1)
JUST FOR FUN...
"""""""""""""""
>>"do you know why the chicken crossed the road?""
1. (Metaphysical answer) Because it was too far to walk around.
2. (Realistic answer) To show the opossum it could be done.
(GARY.UTTER, CAT2, TOP13, MSG:47/M645;1)
>>> WHAT'S NEW <<<
""""""""""""""""""
UPCOMING REAL TIME CONVERENCE EVENT! Join us Tuesday, November 10, at
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 09:30 Eastern in the A2 RTC rooms
(item #2 on the main menu!) when our conference guest will be PAUL LUTUS,
legendary Apple II Pioneer and author of such recently found "Lost
Classics" as Apple Writer II and GraFORTH! Don't miss this HISTORIC event
right here in A2!
THE DEAN'S LIST Check out these exceptional files recently uploaded to
""""""""""""""" our library!
+19448 TURBO.IDE.BXY Press release for new drive card.
19475 SHOWME.NDA.BXY V1.0B2 Latest version of NDA graphic viewer.
+19481 APPLE.HIST.BXY V1.0 It's complete! The long-awaited history
of the Apple II computer.
19484 DOS3.3.LNCH.BXY Store and run DOS 3.3 programs from your
IIgs hard drive!
19495 FLOP.LAUNCH.BXY V1.1 Launch floppy-based programs via Icons.
19497 GSMEMORY.BXY NDA to show GS memory use.
19511 HWEN3.DHR.BXY Halloween Double HiRes clip art. Part 3.
19517 GSHK.BSE V1.1 Self-Extracting GS-Shrinkit V1.1.
No IIgs owner should be without this!
+19520 FILMS.ADB.BXY Over 2000 films listed in ADB format.
19531 QUIT.TO.BXY V2.02 New version of IIgs program switcher.
19544 SHOVEIT.BXY Very colorful, thought provoking game.
+19555 HWN.TH1.NPS.BXY Halloween & Thanksgiving New Print Shop art.
19567 PLASMALAB2.BXY New version of cullular automata program.
+ - denotes Apple IIe/IIc compatible file.
A NEW HARDWARE PRODUCT FOR THE APPLE IIGS! The SoundMeister is our
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" upcoming stereo
digitizer/amplifier board. It not a software product, although it does come
with some of that. :) Actually, there are going to be two models:
SoundMeister JR. which is basically the equivalent of a Sonic Blaster, both
in terms of price and capability. It will be a little bit cleaner however.
The SoundMeister, OTH is totally awesome. It uses its own pair of A/Ds to
allow one to digitize in stereo up to a hardware selectable 54khz! An
expandable buffer alleviates the software so it can perform other tasks
such as update a really groovy interface or, best of all, spool samples to
disk so you can digitize high quality sources for minutes at a time instead
of mere seconds (limited by disk space, really). Both versions share
virtually identical output stages providing 1.9w/channel or line level with
a software controlled volume level.
Is that a bit more detailed than "Its a sound board!"?
(ECON, CAT35, TOP10, MSG:/M645;1)
>>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
OLD TIMERS (YOU KNOW, PAST 30)
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> Sub: Before the Apple II: Computer Nostalgia Tales of the Good Old
> Days...
I still have the four copies of ROM, that I got when I first
subscribed to Creative Computing. Where is David Ahl? With those articles
on building a kit computer. And the center folds, they were great. Does
anyone remember what they were. One was a Z80 and one was the mother ship,
what were the others? It is fun to drag them out and see computers with
wooden side panels.
(D.HANELINE1, CAT2, TOP11, MSG:2/M645;1)
>>>>> Where is David Ahl? He's still living in Morristown, NJ; I see
""""" him at stamp shows. He went through a rough time finding work
after "Creative Computing" folded. For awhile, he produced a magazine
for....Atari? Amiga? (Until about a year ago, David Ahl was the editor
of Atari Explorer. -Ed/JP) Now he's a freelance travel writer, and does
freelance writing and publishing for others, too.
(L.DEVRIES, CAT2, TOP11, MSG:4/M645;1)
>>> APPLE HEADS WANT TO KNOW <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
IS THERE A LASER PRINTER IN YOUR FUTURE? If you want to go the laser
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" printer route, I would
recommend that you take a look at the Epson Action Laser II. I have been
using one with my GS for about six months and I am very pleased with it. It
is LaserJet IIp (and Epson LQ and FX) compatible, 6 pages per minute, has
serial and parallel ports, a 100-page sheet feeder, comes with 512K (if you
print complex documents from GS/OS you'll want to add at least 1 MB), and,
course, gives 300 dpi output. Unless you've got lots of time on your hands
I would strongly recommend using a parallel card for complex
fonts-and-graphics stuff.
The EAL II works like a charm with AppleWorks and other 8-bit
programs (where the Epson FX emulation comes in handy, as just about any
program can handle that), and does equally well with AWGS, GraphicWriter,
etc. It's a very versatile printer.
In the most recent Computer Shopper I saw it advertised for $689. I
bought mine at an Office Depot for about that price. One caveat: check on
the price and availability of the RAM expansion card (usually not included)
before buying the printer. I had a hard time finding it (finally did at
Flex-USA, and they had lots of them) and it wasn't cheap. I went to 2.5 MB
(probably more than I need) and it cost about $250. Another caveat: A new
toner cartridge (every 5,000 pages) costs about $95, considerably more the
ones for the LaserJets. I haven't yet found a source for refurbished
cartridges, which are usually much cheaper and are certainly less wasteful,
for the EAL II. I'm hoping that as more of them enter the market,
competition will drive down the price of the cartridges.
(D.CRUTCHER, CAT12, TOP8, MSG:191/M645;1)
CABLE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
>"will the cable that runs from a Super Serial card to the IW II work for
direct connection to the GS, or do I have to purchase a different cable?"
The SS to IW II cable will not work. The SS to the IW (early model)
would probably work, but if you're going to buy a cable anyway, why not get
a cable that will come off the Serial Port in the IIgs?
You need a 8-pin mini-DIN to DB-25 cable, which is also known as a
Mac+ to ImageWriter cable. Most dealers wouldn't know what you're talking
about if you said a IIgs to ImageWriter cable. Make sure you get a cable
that has a round plug on one end, and a 25 pin "D" connector on the other.
Don't let them give you a ImageWriter II cable that has a round plug at
each end. (R.MERLIN, CAT17, TOP17, MSG:100/M645;1)
WHAT ARE MY MONITOR INTERFACE SPEC'S Does anyone know the video output
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" specs for the GS? The owner's
manual doesn't list horz and vert frequency. I'm looking to get a VGA
monitor that I'd like to switch between my GS and a 486. But I understand
that there is probably a compatibility problem due to horz sync rate.
OR - does anyone have any advice re connecting a VGA monitor and the
GS? Models, video converters, etc?
(C.LYON, CAT4, TOP2, MSG:45/M645;1)
>>>>> If you have the IIgs set for 60 hz in the control panel (everybody
""""" in the USA and NTSC-speaking countries should) then the specs are:
vertical: 60 hz, non-interlaced horizontal: 15.750 khz analog RGB,
internal composite sync on all three channels external composite sync
available (I can get the pinout if you want)
Note that most monitors that accept composite sync either require it
as an external (i.e. on a wire by itself) or only need internal sync on the
Green wire (internal means the sync signal is combined with the video
signal).
Unfortunately, most PC monitors seem to require separate horizontal
and vertical sync (at least they did a few years ago when I was shopping
for a new monitor), but with the Mac market I wouldn't be surprised if most
of the good ones available now have a Mac connector that you can use
directly. It is possible (although a bit kludgy) to make an adapter cable
that will go between a IIgs and a separate-sync-only monitor; I've seen it
done and I might be able to get a schematic for you. It's really just a
normal cable with a couple resistors in the works to keep the two sync
lines that the monitor sees from interfering with each other.
(TODDPW, CAT4, TOP2, MSG:48/M645;1)
GOT A QUESTION? YOUR GEnie FRIENDS CAN HELP IN A FLASH
""""""""""""""" Does anyone have a phone number for MECC software
publishing? (K.TAGGART, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:72/M645;1)
>>>>> The phone number for MECC is: 800-685-6322 or 612-569-1500
""""" (S.MACGREGOR2, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:79/M645;1)
>>>>> I have 800-228-3504 or 612-481-3500 for MECC. Address is 3490
""""" Lexington Avenue North / St. Paul, MN, 55216-8097
(J.YANDRASITZ, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:90/M645;1)
PRINT QUALITY -- IS IT REAL OR IS IT MEMOREX?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> Is the print quality from Publish It as good as that from a GS specific
> program? Will a 16 bit publishing program be able to take advantage of
> Pointless fonts?
I haven't used PI4, but version 3 only has a "double strike" mode,
which doesn't scale down oversize fonts like Apple's ImageWriter driver
does. Hence, the output isn't quite as good. OTOH, it works beautifully
with a LaserWriter. A 16 bit program, such as GraphicWriter III, would let
you use Pointless, while you can't directly use it with an 8-bit program
(you _can_ create bitmaps of any size, and save them for use with an 8-bit
program). I published a newsletter for about a year using Publish It 3 and
a LaserWriter; people always asked me if I used Quark Xpress or PageMaker,
and which Mac I had... B-)
(D.BROWN109, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:87/M645;1)
WHICH IS BETTER: ZIP OR TRANSWARP
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
>>" BTW, on average I've heard about equal opinions about the ZIP GS or
the TWGS "
Actually, I have owned both, and I have no real choice between them.
I THOUGHT I had a problem with my TWGS (which turned out to be a bad
cable), so I replaced it with a ZIP (only to find I had the SAME problem
with the ZIP, drove me NUTS). In the process of determining just what the
problem was (and it took me weeks), I did a lot of comparisons between the
two.
Performance wise, the 7/8 mhz ZIP and the TWGS are essentially
identical.The ZIP follows Apples rules better (or so I am told) and uses
less power, but the TWGS seems a bit more reliable (based on word of mouth
reports from the field). I suspect that the performance of the TWGS can be
pushed further than the performance of the ZIP for those technoids who want
to get into hardware modifications.
The REAL killer on both cards is service, or the lack of it. I don't
see a lot to choose from there either. We sure could use a third
manufacturer of GS accelerator cards.
(GARY.UTTER, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:/M645;1)
>>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
Category 2, Topic 5
Message 48 Thu Oct 01, 1992
GARY.UTTER [Dispatcher] at 01:21 EDT
Vic,
>>"I feel Apple Computer has forced me to turn away from the platform I
truly love- the Apple ][."
This is kinda the key statement here. First of all (and I don't
intend to be defending Apple in saying this), computers evolve. The GS,
good as it is, is not a platform with sufficient development potential to
carry it into the next century. The MAC probably will not make it into the
next century. While I don't think Apples treatment of the II line is the
wisest course they could have taken, I am not prepared to say that it was
foolish, either. The fact of the matter is that the GS does not have what
it takes to be a major platform, and Apple made a serious mistake when they
released it. The LC is what the GS should have been. That is, the GS SHOULD
have been a Mac with color capabilities and built in IIe emulation.
Instead, they released a computer that has very serious design limitations
that simply cannot be overcome at a reasonable cost.
So what we have here is the bastard child of muddled thinking at Apple
Computer. But despite the fact that it was a bad idea in the first place,
and despite the fact that it does not have the capabilities that would make
it the basis of long term development program, that does not make the GS a
bad computer, or a bad choice for a computer.
When you see a 486 with a super VGA monitor and a huge hard drive for
$950, it will be because it is seriously outmoded by the 686 with extra
super VGA and a gigabyte drive. Don't waste your time waiting for it.
>>"it seems to me that the GS is on a dead end street with the
ridiculously little continuing support for it from Apple itself"
Of course it is. So what? I live on a dead end street, as a matter of
fact, and every house on the street is a very NICE house, and the
neighborhood is quiet and peaceful. Being on a dead end street is not bad
in and of itself.
Ask yourself THIS question...
"What do I want to do, and NEED to do, that cannot easily be done on a
GS with current software?" If you answer truthfully, I strongly suspect
that the answer will be "Nothing!" Especially in view of the fact that you
have been getting along for so long with a Laser. :)
What you are dealing with is the popular perception of computing, "if
it is not the latest, greatest, most powerful, most cutting edge, it is
NOTHING". That turns out not to be the case, however. The sorts of
applications that you CAN'T run on a GS are not anything you are likely to
need to run your church. Do you have a real (as opposed to imagined) need
for high end DeskTop Publishing? Do you have a real need for CAD/CAM? How
about running a major spread sheet or database program over a network? Do
you REALLY need to do that? If so, then go for a high end Mac or a 486.
Let's turn it around a bit. I'm guessing at what you would need to do
with a computer for a church, so let me know if I am wrong, but I expect
that your needs run to some small accounting/bookkeeping needs for the
church itself, perhaps several databases of members and various
projects/activities they are involved in, maybe a spreadsheet or two to
project costs for the church and determine budgeting for the coming year or
two. I would expect that you would need to be able to do the churches
correspondence on your computer, and that you would like to be able to
print letters for mass mailings, perhaps flyers to advertise church
activities, etc. Did I miss anything vital there? ALL of that stuff can be
done easily with the Laser (or was it a IIc?) that you have now. Not as
easily, or as effectively, as it can be done with a GS, but it can be done.
In fact, all of that sort of thing could be done with Appleworks and a full
suite of TimeOut addons.
Look at it realistically, and you will see that anything that you
really need to do can be done easily, and economically, on the GS. The GS
is as reliable as a stone. If you want a DOS platform that you can really
COUNT on to work, and work properly, and work for years to come, AND you
want 486 type performance, you had BETTER plan on spending at least $2500.
(Sure, clones are cheap, but there is a REASON for that. If it were ME
buying one, I would expect to spend more like $1800, but I LIKE to get into
the guts of my hardware, and as much as I might complain about it, things
that don't work properly can keep me entertained for days at a time. :) And
after you spend that money, look forward to spending a long time learning
how to USE it. And don't for get that the high powered specialty software
(the stuff that you CAN'T get for the GS) is going to cost you hundreds of
dollars per program.
Now, I'm not trying, necessarily (g) to DISCOURAGE you from buying a
PC clone, if that is what you want to do, but don't try to tell me that it
is a WISE choice because it is more economical for your assembly. That is
simply foolish. AND, chances are really quite good that the GS will still
be running smoothly when that PC clone is an outmoded clunker. Remember
that the GS has been dead for YEARS. I have a friend who dumped his GS
three years ago, bought himself a state of the art 286 clone. He has dumped
that for a 386, and now he is moaning because he is going to have to
replace THAT with a 486 because the 386 won't run the newest stuff
effectively, just not QUITE enough memory capacity or something like that.
Since he got rid of his "dead end" GS, (because there was no support,
no new products for it, and because Apple was going to discontinue the
machine and stop supporting it before the end of the quarter), we have seen
the release of the RamFast, the Quickie, System 5.0.4, HyperCard IIgs,
InWords, Pointless, System 6.... the list goes on (and someone is going to
be upset with me for leaving out something important :).
Let's go back to the first statement "the platform I truly love- the
Apple ][." Why should you punish yourself with a DOS machine? Why should
you deal with the learning curve for a DOS machine, and all the quirky
differences between every application? I suggest that the GS, which does
everything that your Laser does, and does it the same way, lets you be up
and running from the day you get it, and lets you learn all this NEW stuff
that the GS can do at your own pace. (Not that there is too much to learn,
this system is DESIGNED to be user friendly, after all. :) It seems to me
that this benefits your assembly, since they lose a lot less of YOUR
productive time.
>>"Is $950 "reasonable" when before long ....."
SURE it is. Depending on what you get with it,it is almost certainly
"reasonable" for the work you need to do. And the GS will keep ON doing
that work for years to come. The GS (as I have said MANY times) will NEVER
be less competent than it is today. This lust to be on the leading edge of
computing is silliness. What counts is that your computer can do what you
NEED to do, do it quickly, do it well, do it without a lot of hassle, and
do it at a price that you can afford. For somewhere between $900 and $1200,
you should be able to get a GS with a decent sized hard drive (minimum 40
megs) a decent amount of memory (expandable to 4 megs, minimum), an
accelerator, and 3.5 a dn 5.25 drives. At the higher end, you should be
getting a hard drive of at least 80 megs and a DMA SCSI card, AND a
printer. If it were me, I would go for a lower price, and add a DeskJet 500
printer and a hand scanner and Inwords (for what you are likely to want to
do). There are LOTS of toys out there for the GS at very good prices, and
software to do virtually anything you need to do. (realistically) And for
the budget conscious, almost everything is available used and in real good
condition. GO for it. :)
Gary R. Utter
[*][*][*]
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 ////
/ "Try and get more sleep, too. EMPIRE is not for the weak- /
/ willed. Once you get addicted, all sorts of daily activities /
/ and natural body functions become upset and put aside." /
///////////////////////////////////////////// R.COLEMAN24 ////
[EOA]
[HUM]//////////////////////////////
HUMOR ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
World's Fastest Chip
""""""""""""""""""""
From: I. B. Lyon <iefbr14@ibm.com>
Subject: IBM Zurich announces new chip
----- PRESS RELEASE ---------------------------------------------------
The Zurich laboratory unveiled the world's fastest chip this week. The
chip, code named "Timeless", is based on high temperature superconductors
and is capable of transferring data signals faster than the speed of
light. This makes it possible for a computer based on this chip to produce
answers before questions are asked.
Using this technology, the Hursley laboratory has been able to produce a
program product before the user requirements were known. Industry analysts
found the Hursley announcement humorous, citing that IBM has been writing
program products without user requirements for years. Products created
using the Hursley method are still expected to miss their ship dates due
to the excessive length of the Fall and Spring planning cycles.
The Communication Products Systems Test organization is using the same
technology to test program products in zero days. Said a spokesperson in
Raleigh, "It's amazing. Just preparing to test the software thoroughly
causes it to be tested. It's like the system can read your mind." Oddly
enough, planning experts in System Test are reporting that regardless of
the productivity gains realized by the Timeless chip, the average test
duration is expected to be nine months.
There have been rumors of some odd side-effects of the Timeless chip.
Some customers have been receiving products before they order them. Most
customers we interviewed did admit that they were planning to order the
new software when it arrived. They said that they liked the speed with
which the products arrived, but they disliked IBM's new policy of billing
them before they ordered anything. Said an IBM billing expert, "We knew
they were going to think about ordering some software, so we thought we
would think about billing them."
IBM Service has made some exciting advances in hardware and software
maintenance based on these side-effects. IBM Service worldwide has begun a
free preventative maintenance program in which the IBM Customer Engineers
think about fixing all the problems of every customer. Said an IBM Service
representative, "The program is working very well. Service calls are down
99%. The only calls we are getting now are to fix hardware and software
that hasn't been invented yet."
If you are thinking of ordering computer systems which uses the Timeless
chip, they can be ordered from IBM.
Of course, if you have been thinking about ordering one, it is probably on
its way to you right now.
////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Obstreperous comportment? The very thought terrifies." /
//////////////////////////////////////// D.A.BRUMLEVE ////
[EOA]
[A2P]//////////////////////////////
A2/PRO_ductivity /
/////////////////////////////////
Take Another Look!
""""""""""""""""""
By Jim Couch
>>> A2PRO, IT'S NOT JUST FOR PROGRAMMERS ANYMORE <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
NOT JUST FOR PROGRAMMERS Maybe you remember the old orange juice ad
"""""""""""""""""""""""" campaign that stated "Orange juice, it's not
just for breakfast anymore." The point was to get people to drink orange
juice during the rest of the day, not just at breakfast. Truth was that
many people already knew that orange juice was great stuff and drank it all
the time. The orange juice people just wanted to let everyone else know as
well! OK, by now you probably are wondering, what the heck does all this
have to do with GEnie anyway? Well the A2pro RoundTable has the same kind
of identity problem as orange juice did. Most people think that A2pro is
just for programmers, but it isn't! There is a wealth of information for
any Apple II user. You owe it to yourself to check out A2pro as ... it's
not just for programmers!
To help keep you in touch with what is happening in A2Pro I have been
engaged to write a monthly column about the RoundTable. For this month I
will content myself with a brief introduction.
I have been playing with the Apple II since somewhere around 1984.
Although I had used both mainframes and personal computers at various jobs
prior to that point the Apple II was the first computer I purchased for
myself. I purchased a IIc after looking at a number of other computers,
including the (then) new IBM PC JR, Osborne, and Compaq machines. What
attracted me initially to the II was it's history. There was something very
engaging about a machine that was initially designed in a garage! I used
the IIc for a number of tasks including financial record keeping, and word
processing. I found the machine to be a great help at work as well, and
often took the IIc into work with me.
At the time I was running a _very_ small business with my brother
selling climbing and outdoor gear. As he lived on the east coast, it made
sense to purchase a pair of modems and transfer files back and forth. From
this modest beginning in telecommunications my interest grew. In the winter
of 86 I began running a BBS part time off of our business line during the
evenings. This, like so many other things got way out of hand and
eventually came to occupy it's own phone line and run full time! The BBS
eventually became what is now the support board for my local user's group
and moved to a IIe so I could again have my IIc back full time!
About the same time as my plunge into the world of a BBS Sysop I also
ran into a little publication called Open-Apple. I subscribed and bought
all the back issues as well, this magazine helped me better understand my
machine and may me feel like I really understood what I was doing. My first
issue was October 1986. In this issue the IIgs was introduced! When my
IIc died I replaced it with a IIgs which is my current computer.
After reading about GEnie in Open-Apple (now A2-Central) for quite a
while I finally joined to see what it was all about. I primarily lurked in
the A2 area in the beginning and also checked out a few other RoundTables.
The introduction of GEnie's Basic Services saved me a bit of money, so I
began to lurk in A2Pro as well, finding much to my surprise that there was
a lot of useful information, even though I was (and am) not much of a
programmer!
On the subject of programming, you will notice that there is not a lot
of experience mentioned, that is because there isn't much to mention!
After I got comfortable with the machine, I did decide I would like to
learn to program, but found that I just never had the time. My programing
experience consists of only modifications to my BBS and some Ultramacros
task files. In all honesty I cannot claim to be a programmer. I think my
lack of background as a programmer will help me to cover A2Pro in a unique
manner. This may also make other non-programmers feel more comfortable with
the RoundTable. There is much within A2Pro that is useful to ALL of us,
come join in!
The following items appeared during the last few weeks in the A2Pro
bulletin board area. If you find something of interest, you might want to
look in on a regular basis.
[*][*][*]
TODD WITESEL STEPS UP TO BAT No comment on all that other stuff... :)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Hello! I'm Todd Whitesel, the new A2PRO
library slave. I'm supposed to write a bio for everyone to snigger at, so
here 'tis.
It was at Caltech that I discovered VMS, Macs, unix, the Internet, and
the IIgs -- in about that order. It was the summer after my first year
there that I got my own IIgs. By my third year at Caltech, I had had enough
true Computer Science pumped into me that I was able to start writing
serious programs. We had just had an AppleTalk network recently installed,
so I started by writing small Inits and utilities (some of which are in the
libraries now).
Now that I've graduated and escaped from Caltech, I work for a company
owned and operated by Caltech alumni called Green Hills Software. The meat
of our product line is compilers, and my main job for the foreseeable
future is to take over maintenance of the 680x0 code generator. I used to
avoid the 68000 like the plague, but I would rather work on it than on
something for a modern RISC machine. Like the 65816, the 68000 presents all
sorts of great opportunities for optimization that separates the truly
sneaky programmers from the rest.
And now, I think I'd better get on with the library slave part of
this... (A2PRO.TODDPW, CAT1, TOP2, MSG:99/M530;1)
A2PRO REAL-TIME CONFERENCE MOVES TO SUNDAYS The recent (and ongoing)
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" A2Pro survey showed us that
lots of you wanted to see the conference earlier, and on Sunday. In fact,
Sunday was by far the most popular choice of any day presented. So, after
considering this and asking a few people in person, we're going for it.
Effective October 18th, the A2Pro Real-Time Conference will be each
weekend on Sunday night at 8:30 PM ET (5:30 PM PT). The weekly A2Pro
conferences at 9:30 PM ET on Monday and Thursday will be discontinued after
Thursday, October 15th.
If you want to chat on Monday or Thursday, though, don't worry,
because A2U still has conferences on both those days -- Will Nelken's great
Macro conference on Monday nights and Andy McFadden's A2U Data Compression
course, both at 10:00 PM ET, on Monday and Thursday respectively.
To help celebrate the move, we'll be giving away a free non-prime hour
of GEnie time to _three_ lucky people at the first conference on Sunday,
October 18th. So be sure to be there and help us inaugurate a new A2Pro
tradition! (M.DEATHERAGE, CAT1, TOP17, MSG:42/M530;1)
DON'T, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, NOT EVER, ETC Like Matt said, NEVER use
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Control-Reset to simply
reboot or exit a program on the GS. Especially GS/OS programs. It can be
incredibly dangerous and there is the possibility that you'll lose data or
corrupt files. (Some programs actually keep files open on the disk when
the user is using them in order to support networking and whatnot.
Control-Reset could cause these files to become at worst, corrupted, and at
best they could no longer be up- to-date.)
(SOFTDISK.INC, CAT7, TOP2, MSG:86/M530;1)
WANTED: OLD TIME PROGRAMMERS Now that Lost Classics is off and running,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" with more classic software on the way, I
figured it was a good time to come on over here and get the programmers to
help us out. We brought you Apple Writer. We brought you GraFORTH. We
found the WPL Expansion Kit. We have some rocking games in the pipeline on
their way to you.
In order to truly succeed, we will need to locate quite a few more
Old- Timers. For that I am asking your help. If you know of anyone who has
written a commercial program for the Apple II, and that program is no
longer being distributed, then I want to talk to them. If you wrote
something, then I want to talk to you. To make Lost Classics really
succeed, I will need the direct and indirect help of the larger Apple II
family. How about it? :) -Tim Tobin Lost Classics Coordinator
P.S. See also A2 Category 7.
(A2.TIM, CAT13, TOP5, MSG:1/M530;1)
QUALITY COMPUTERS LOOKING FOR R&D PEOPLE! This is NOT a mere programming
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" job. Think of it as a career
opportunity. At Quality Computers we have a rather flexible corporate
organization. For example, take my job (please). While I originally
started out answering the phones in tech and migrated into taking sales
calls, I now am QC's only full- time R&D person. I write books and manuals,
I do some programming, I work with outside contractors to get products
finished, I work on videos.
We're looking to expand our R&D "department" by hiring one new person
immediately and maybe another a couple months down the road.
We're looking for someone with a good Apple II background, solid
programming skills, and decent writing ability. Experience with other
platforms, especially multimedia/HyperCard on the Mac, is a definite plus.
If you have other talents (computer art, music, whatever) that might fit
into a "creative" program like this, that may be another plus. You have to
be able to work well as part of a team.
When I moved into my position full-time a few months ago, we weren't
sure whether or not we'd be able to find enough projects for me to work on.
But it's turned out to be quite the opposite -- I'm swamped and I need some
help! I think having a full-time guy who works only on special projects
that Joe Gleason, the president, dreams up has made him dream up even more
projects than ever before!
Quality Computers offers some great benefit packages including health
insurance, 401K retirement account, and profit-sharing. Plus the pay is
good, and it's exciting and fun to work here.
If you're interested, please send a resume via Snail Mail to: Quality
Computers, Attn: Jerry Kindall, 20200 Nine Mile Rd., PO Box 665, St. Clair
Shores, MI 48080. (Please do not inquire about this job via e-mail or by
phone.) No experience is necessary -- just ability.
(QC, CAT13, TOP8, MSG:89/M530;1)
MORGAN DAVIS ACCOUNT NAME CHANGE Our old account name, M.DAVIS42, has
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" been changed. The new name is
MORGAN-DAVIS. Please make a note of it. This message will not repeat. :-)
/\/\ / /__\ Morgan Davis
(MORGAN-DAVIS, CAT32, TOP1, MSG:6/M530;1)
NOT TO LATE TO JOIN THE ULTRA 4.0 COURSE Well, folks, here's the good
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" news... The first four segments
have been RE-uploaded as:
2939 A2U.ULTRA00.BXY -- Introduction
2940 A2U.ULTRA01.BXY -- Lesson 1 (fixed)
2941 A2U.ULTRA02.BXY -- Lesson 2
2942 A2U.ULTRA03.BXY -- Lesson 3 (fixed)
_and_ Lesson 4 is also to be released today as:
2943 A2U.ULTRA04.BXY -- Lesson 4
The fourth lesson deals with the new repeat command, the <onerr>
tokens, and looping procedures, including the new for-next loops. FYI, I
have also included an appendix that lists the byte size of each and every
Ultra 4 command and function. I know you'll be referring to it often. :-)
Have at 'em. And let's hear (SEE) what you're doing with it all.
(W.NELKEN1, CAT22, TOP22, MSG:91/M530;1)
//////////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "No, I live in a little town of Corn (no jokes please), Oklahoma." /
/////////////////////////////////////////////////// K.HEINRICHS ////
[EOA]#61
[FUN]//////////////////////////////
ONLINE FUN /
/////////////////////////////////
Search-ME!
""""""""""
By Scott Garrigus
[S.GARRIGUS]
SEARCH-ME! Hi there everyone! Are you ready to have some fun?
"""""""""" Search-Me is taking on a new twist this month. Instead of
coming up with a word list about any old thing, we're going to use GEnie as
our well-spring from now on. Every month I'll visit a different area on
GEnie. I'll tell you a little bit about it, what you can find there and
then have fresh list of words for you to search for from that area. Sound
good? I hope so, because here we go...
This month I visited the fabulous Germany RoundTable. There are a lot
of things to do here, especially if you are interested in Germany. ;-) You
can learn more about German culture, German food, the German language, you
name it - if it has anything to do with Germany, it's here. You can also
find out about Austria and Switzerland while your at it. So come on over
and visit our German friends! To get there just type GERMANY at the system
prompt. But before you do, be sure to have some fun and try to complete
this month's puzzle about GERMANY! Keep on smilin'!
>>> GERMANY RoundTable PUZZLE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ PAGE 725 ~
G O C N E T I E K G I U E N T O W C R B T J C
E L Q X K T F A H C S N E S S I W B U R J W R
B Y X F X M K H D K W J R Y S P S E Y V Q C N
P R N T S Q B E X E L V R E H C I L H C R I K
C W M A J Q T P H D N N T N N Q X T W B Q L L
T Z I N M S O C T O B E R F E S T H E T S S E
X A K I N R S P D K W D P N A M R B C M G V D
Y G E E B R E A P E L I R Y U H M G C I V W P
E Q U W O U U G T X U E E V T P C O J C N K C
U K V P Y S E G C W I T I S O U V S K V W U J
U E D B T B I E R G K V S N B P W V T L I X M
O B A R M N X G O V G Z X C A A V X X R L R L
S W I T Z E R L A N D E L M H N D Q O B I I L
V A M D D G O U Y V Z D N S N L Z E A F H W W
M R L S K H C K A E H Y F Z V V A E N O B R S
S C E O T M O D E M K A R T E N T N I H J V V
O M R Y R G U H X Z I T T K V Z P I D G U L K
M S M E J T U C R F G E C C G Q S L S R E V H
Z D P I L O R V O K P L J P L I V D A B A N P
I X J I N A J C O N T B X U S E G Y T P J K Z
>>> WORD CLUES <<<
""""""""""""""""""
AUSTRIA AUTOBAHN BIER
DAIMLER DEUTSCHLAND GERMANY
KIRCHLICHER KLEINANZEIGEN KUENSTE
MODEMKARTEN MUNICH MYTHOLOGIE
NEUIGKEITEN OCTOBERFEST PORSCHE
SWITZERLAND WEIN WIESBADEN
WILLKOMMEN WIRTSCHAFT WISSENSCHAFT
[*][*][*]
GIVE UP? You will find the answers in the LOG OFF column at the end of
"""""""" the magazine.
This column was created with a program called SEARCH ME,
an Atari ST program by David Becker.
///////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Since the computer works faster than I do anyway, I really /
/ don't care about a silly nanosecond." /
///////////////////////////////////////////// D.D.MARTIN ////
[EOA]!!@
[WHO]//////////////////////////////
WHO'S WHO /
/////////////////////////////////
Who's Who In Apple II
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
[P.SHAPIRO1]
>>> WHO'S WHO? <<<
""""""""""""""""""
~ A Profile of Morgan Davis ~
~ Creator of the ProLine Bulletin Board System ~
GEnieLamp Morgan, how did you first become interested in programming the
""""""""" Apple II? Can you remember the specific time and place?
Davis I was a junior in high school (1981), when I had a short one-week
""""" introductory class on computers. Fortunately, the computer was an
Apple II. That started my (so far) life long interest in them.
GEnieLamp Over the years you've created some superlative tele-
""""""""" communications products (including ModemWorks and ProLine).
Can you tell us a little how you first became interested in tele-
communications? When was the first time you saw the word CONNECT?
Davis Actually, my communications history goes back much farther than
""""" what you suggest. While in sixth grade, after tiring of only
being able to listen to a short-wave scanner, I wanted to get my amateur
radio operators license, but succumbed a few years later to the easy access
of CB radio. My interest in communications started out in radio.
It was in 1983 when I got my own Apple IIe and had a job writing
books on BASIC programming for CompuSoft Publishing, Inc. They had an
acoustic coupler modem that I was able to take home during the weekends
and connect to the IIe. I would cruise the local bulletin boards for 48
hours and then take the unit back to work on Monday.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and decided I needed a modem I
could use all the time. So, I bought the best modem you could get for the
Apple II series at the time, a Novation Apple-Cat II with a blazing 300bps
throughput and a $400 price tag. I must have been saving my paycheck money
diligently, because it wasn't too long thereafter when I purchased the
1200bps upgrade option for about $250, as I recall.
The popular external modems at the time were Racal Vadics -- very
expensive, very cutting-edge. The Hayes Smartmodem wasn't in full
popularity until much later. I didn't have a real Hayes-style modem until
around 1984, perhaps '85.
Before I had a Hayes-compatible external modem, I had already built an
Apple-Cat-only version of ModemWorks. It was distributed as "shareware" (a
new concept at the time) through a small company a friend and I founded
called "Living Legends Software". I distributed ModemWorks, ProLine, and a
few other programs through LLS between 1984 and 1988.
On February 14th, 1989, the Morgan Davis Group was created, and I've
been selling my own products through it ever since. While the Apple II
market has shrunk over the years, MDG has expanded its product line and
increased revenues each year.
GEnieLamp In the late 1980's you worked for a year or so at Beagle Bros.
""""""""" Did your job involve software programming work?
Davis Yes. This is a minor point in history.
"""""
GEnieLamp Was it more along the lines of telephone technical support?
"""""""""
Davis Heck no! :-) I was hired in February, 1989 (the same month I
""""" started MDG) when TimeOut was really enjoying its success. Bert
Kersey had sold Beagle Bros to Mark Simonsen, and Simonsen decided that
he'd like Beagle to become a heavyweight contender in the Macintosh market.
I was hired, along with about six others initially, to work with existing
Beagle programmers (who only had Apple II experience at the time) to create
a product that would dethrone Microsoft Works, Microsoft's integrated
package with a long, successful history.
Our product, code named Cheetah, was to be designed and developed into
intercommunicating modules that included more features than Works -- all in
eight months -- a ridiculous timeframe for a group of Apple II programmers,
most who didn't even own a Macintosh (like myself) and had little or no
experience using one, let alone programming it. From 1984, I had spent a
lot of time working with Macs, but I had only developed software for the
Apple II. I bought a Macintosh IIx through Beagle and paid it off through
my salary over a number of months.
My responsibility in the Cheetah project was to develop the
communications module. Amazingly, I had it getting me online and
transferring data in about two or three months. The hard part, however, was
putting a Macintosh interface on top of it all. Familiar with the serial
port on the IIGS, getting the Mac to speak to a modem wasn't hard. But
having to learn the other 99% of the Macintosh's toolbox, operating system,
and development environments took a long time. The other programmers had
similar hurdles to overcome, and many dropped out of the project early on
(Rob Renstrom and Alan Bird, who went on to start WestCode). The team went
from 12 down to about 4 programmers, still holding the same initial feature
list and the same eight-month deadline. Not surprising, we didn't make it.
GEnieLamp Can you tell us a little about the work environment at Beagle
""""""""" Bros (formal/informal)?
Davis Beagle was a fun place to work at during the days when it was
""""" under the fathership of Bert Kersey. On many occasions, I would
stop by at the Beagle offices to visit or drop off a Living Legends product
they might have ordered. It always struck me as the greatest Apple II
company to work for, second only to Apple, of course. I'd love to continue
a happy story, but I'm afraid there isn't one.
Things were quite different after the TimeOut succe$. Beagle moved
to an expensive technical park in Sorrento Valley (the Silicon Valley of
San Diego). The atmosphere was casual, but not informal. When I came
aboard, I think they had about 25 employees. There was "management
structure", company policy manuals, legal agreements to sign, and a
marketing V.P., the only person really overseeing R&D (that was us). Not
at all like the small, attractive company I used to dream of working for.
The Cheetah project lacked serious direction and management. I became
aware of this after long time Beagle programmers, like Randy Brandt,
decided not to be involved with the project. A friend of mine who later
went on to work for Aldus (Silicon Beach at the time), left because of the
pressure and idiocy that went on up in the higher ranks. They had an
insight that I didn't. After about a year, Cheetah's team consisted of Joe
Holt (the only accomplished Mac programmer there), Tom Birchall
(experienced at HyperCard, but not application development), and myself.
In the months ahead, Beagle's employee count atrophied to about 12
following layoff after layoff. There were a few who got out before their
number came up. I stuck with the initial Cheetah plan until April 13 (a
Friday, no less), 1990, when Mark Simonsen called me into his office at the
end of the day and expressed the company's difficult financial situation,
of which I was all too aware. That was my last day. I went home that
evening in a daze, disappointed that what could have been never happened
after a year and a half. When my good friend Joe Holt heard what happened,
he left Beagle to work for Adobe Systems. I went on to pursue MDG full
time, and have been doing just that ever since.
It's a real shame. There was amazing talent at Beagle Bros in every
department except the ones that count. We had excellent writers, artists,
an established sales force, awesome Apple II programmers, a few promising
Mac programmers, and everyone (below a certain level) got along expertly.
It just seemed like we were always working against management, or more
accurately, operating under the lack of real management.
To bring a long story to a quick ending, things got worse in the two
years that followed my departure. For months, Beagle operated on a
shoestring with just five or six employees. They sold their Apple II
products to Quality. And then last Friday, they shut down for good. I'm
certain the worsening economy only helped to speed up Beagle's demise.
GEnieLamp Is Sophie a real dog?
"""""""""
Davis She was (past tense). Sophie left us for Beagle Heaven a few
""""" years ago.
GEnieLamp Your ProLine bulletin board system has earned an enthusiastic
""""""""" following with Apple II users and user groups around the
country. In what year was ProLine first released? Can you
describe some of the new features of the latest ProLine
version, ProLine 2.0?
Davis ProLine was first conceived and named in early 1984. It wasn't
""""" released until 1985 as a commercial product through LLS. ProLine
2.0 was major upgrade, entailing a nearly total rewrite of the core system.
At the lowest level, I had developed the Object Module Manager to make
ModemWorks 3.0 a reality. This allowed me to create interchangeable
modules for taking care of specific functions, like terminal emulation,
transfer protocols, serial I/O, and so on. ProLine 2.0, mostly written in
Applesoft using MD-BASIC, was able to take advantage of the new features in
ModemWorks by just "recompiling" all the existing code with some new
libraries. So, 2.0 offers additional terminal support (VT-100, 102, 220,
and ANSI), a full complement of protocols (X/Y/ZMODEM), all new online
documentation, and a new 350 page owners manual.
GEnieLamp You run the Morgan Davis Group publishing company with your
""""""""" wife Dawn. Does running the company take up all your time?
Or are you able to work a separate job as well?
Other than moral support, Dawn doesn't get too involved in MDG these
days. She's started her own licensed family day care facility (in our
home--where I no longer keep my office for obvious reasons!). With seven
kids to take care of, she's pretty busy these days, and loving it.
Running MDG does, indeed, take up ALL of my time. There are always
hundreds of things to do, and it seems like I can't keep up. Since I write
and develop our products, handle phone support throughout the day, keep up
with online tech support, write and typeset the manuals, handle sales and
marketing, fill orders and shipping, I am PLENTY busy. We're at that
uncomfortable stage of being too small to hire additional help, but too big
for one person to handle. Somehow, I manage, but I feel the company's
growth is being retarded due to lack of manpower. How I long for a 36 hour
day, and the endurance to survive one.
GEnielamp After ProLine, your next most popular software product is
""""""""" probably MD-BASIC, a structured BASIC preprocessor. The
essence of MD-BASIC is that it allows programmers to side-step
the sticky "spaghetti-code" problems inherent in Applesoft
BASIC's open-ended structure. It's even possible to write
MD-BASIC programs from within a word processor. Can you tell
us a little about your motivation for creating MD-BASIC?
Davis Actually, our most popular product is ModemWorks, then ProLine,
""""" and then MD-BASIC. I think MD-BASIC has the potential of being an
extremely successful product, but because of minimal advertising
and practically no magazine coverage, not many people know about
it.
When you market the premier Apple II bulletin board system that
encompasses over 100 BASIC programs, you have a lot of motivation for
improving your Applesoft development scheme! I love the C programming
language, so I took the best features in a C compiler and rolled them into
something that allows you to write BASIC programs in a word processing
environment (that in itself is a far cry from what you have in Applesoft's
"immediate" programming mode). MD-BASIC's source files look a lot like
BASIC, C, and Pascal, and when they get run through the MD-BASIC compiler,
extremely compact and efficient Applesoft programs come out.
So you can now write highly structured and well-commented BASIC
programs using a word processor *and* get better results in the end.
MD-BASIC optimizes your code and strips out the dead weight that bloats
most programs written the old, painful way. Its the proverbial "win win"
situation.
GEnieLamp Are there any shareware or commercial software products on the
""""""""" market that were developed using MD-BASIC?
Davis I know from product registration cards we receive that a lot of
""""" companies use it. In fact, almost anyone who is doing serious
development work that involves either a little or a lot of Applesoft is
probably using MD-BASIC. Most can't stop saying good things about it. I
love reading unsolicited endorsements like that here on GEnie.
We, of course, use it for all of our products. We don't have a single
Applesoft-only product, but almost every disk we put out includes some
short "Startup" program on it which we write using MD-BASIC. It's easy to
crank out new, impressive programs with it in short order, because you can
easily make use of work you've developed in the past by maintaining your
own set of library routines, just like with real high-level languages.
GEnieLamp If it doesn't violate any confidentiality agreements, can you
""""""""" tell us if MD-BASIC is being used by any commercial software
publishers?
Davis Of those most GEnie members would recognize, Tom Hoover uses it for
""""" developing his GEnie Master program. SoftDisk programmers use it.
There are many others. I'd have to open our customer database to find
more.
GEnieLamp Just a few months ago you released yet another BASIC
""""""""" programmer's tool, the Real-time Applesoft Debugging
Environment (RADE). Is this tool intended to be used in
conjunction with MD-BASIC? What are the most common
programming bugs that RADE helps overcome?
Davis Since RADE is invaluable for debugging any Applesoft programs, its
""""" not just for MD-BASIC programmers. It can be used to debug ANY
Applesoft programs. It is even a great educational tool, allowing you to
snoop through programs other people have written. Because of its "stop
action" ability to freeze a running program and let you analyze each
statement as it executes, it is indispensable for discovering and
understanding the tricks accomplished programmers use in their programs.
It's also indispensable in uncovering those elusive bugs that can't be
hunted down easily. For example, while a program runs, you can monitor the
flow of execution to see just which statements are being executed. At the
same time, you can watch a set of variables to see how they change in
real-time. You can modify the values of variables while a program runs to
see how that might affect your program. You can look at the program
listing. And you can do all this without having to stop your program or
mess up the screen display. Plus, RADE's history feature keeps track of
all your debugging operations so you can easily scroll back through them
and find out what might have happened way back when the program first
started running.
RADE is an awesome product that makes the BASIC development cycle a
snap. It's unobtrusive (takes up just 768 bytes of main memory), it lets
you switch between your program's display and RADE's debugging screen to
avoid disturbing your program's output. It's great for anyone who programs
in Applesoft.
GEnieLamp Outside of programming the Apple II, what are some of your
""""""""" hobbies and interests? What do you like to do for fun?
Davis With a family of four and a business like MDG, I don't have much
""""" time for myself. However, if, by some fluke of good luck, I do get
some free time, I'll spend it reading or listening to music -- something
truly relaxing. I'm a pretty good racquetball player, so I keep in shape
that way. I spend most of my time on the weekends with my kids. So we do
a lot of outings to places like San Diego's Zoo and Wild Animal Park, the
Natural History museum, Aerospace Museum, Fleet Space theater and Science
Center, parks, swimming, etc. Lots of stuff kids and grownups both enjoy.
GEnieLamp What is the accomplishment of which you're the most proud?
""""""""" What have been the most intriguing experiences for you?
At first, I was going to say that I'm not really proud of any
particular thing. But, I guess I'm proud of all my work, because I'm just
amazed that my stuff works when I complete a project (or think I have
completed one -- I don't think I have yet!). Writing a program and then
documenting it (complete with typesetting) is a long and arduous process.
It can take up to six months for one small project. When you alone work on
one project solid everyday for six months, the tendency to burn out is
prevalent. I'm really happy when we finally get to the shipping stage.
The most intriguing single thing so far was writing a PostScript
generator for ProLine's online help system. ProLine has always had
command-formatted built in help files which were processed for display on a
computer screen or dot matrix printer. But with ProLine 2.0, I wanted to
be able to ship a manual that included the online documentation in nice
laser printer output. Needless to say, I learned a lot about PostScript,
which I had always feared as being out of my league. It's pretty cool that
a BASIC program in ProLine can crank out 300 professionally typeset pages
from PostScript code in a manner of minutes. I'm sure there will be
something even more intriguing happening tomorrow.
GEnieLamp As someone who has spent a great deal of time creating
""""""""" and supporting telecommunications software products, can you
comment a little about the likely future directions of
telecommunications? A recent magazine article said that the
U.S. Postal Service forecasts hard copy mail growing to 250
billion pieces annually before the turn of the century. Rather
than spending huge amounts of money on expanding the current
postal sorting and delivery system, wouldn't it make more sense
for the U.S. Postal service to subsidize terminals for every
home and business? (Along the lines of the French Minitel
system.)
Davis I think we're coming to this. Just look at the proliferation of
""""" FAX machines. To a lesser extent, look at the people who pay
their bills electronically with CheckFree. Granted, CheckFree still
utilizes the postal service, but with direct bank deposits, you'd totally
eliminate the paper. Its the closest thing to owning a Star Trek-like
transporter we have now.
In the communications world of the future, your home address is only
valid for people who need directions to get there and the occasional
parcel package that a computerized shipper, such as UPS and Federal Express
will use. Otherwise, our address will be in the form of computer accounts
or personal access ID numbers that are used to reach us on our portables
(or pen-based systems) wherever we go. The post office won't provide this
technology. The phone and cable TV companies are more likely to develop
this simply because of their existing roots in communications technology
(fiber optic, cellular, satellite, etc.).
GEnieLamp How can Apple II software developers find out more about your
""""""""" products?
Simply write or call us at:
Morgan Davis Group
10079 Nuerto Lane
Rancho San Diego
CA 91977-7132 USA
+1 619 670 0563
+1 619 670 9643 (FAX)
+1 619 670 5379 (BBS)
We're putting together a newsletter, Groupnews, which we'll be
sending to all of our customers next month. Groupnews talks about our
latest product line and upgrades. We'll be happy to send a copy to anyone
who is not currently in our customer database by supplying us with a 29
cent postage stamp and their address.
Incidentally, our GEnie address has changed from the difficult to
remember "M.DAVIS42" to the much simpler "MORGAN-DAVIS".
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "I work with PC, ST, Amiga at work all day and sometimes mind /
/ gets jumbled (Sort of like Spock when he mind melded with /
/ Vyger. I Usually have that stupid grin as well.)" /
///////////////////////////////////////////////// M.ENGLE1 ////
[EOA]
[QUI]//////////////////////////////
THE MIGHTY QUINN /
/////////////////////////////////
Milliseconds With Mark
""""""""""""""""""""""
By Mark Quinn
[M.QUINN3]
>>> A WHOLE BUNCHA MILLISECONDS WITH MARK <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Home Conversion ~
As Bill Dunne slowly motored into the driveway of his home, its ground
floor lit up with an inviting glow. He whistled an old, bawdy tune, and
was pleasantly surprised to find his favorite magazine in his mailbox.
Bill opened his front door. A synthesized voice rang throughout the
house. "Intruder Alert", it chimed repeatedly. He punched a keypad with
dizzying speed and the litany ended. Bill went through the living room
into the kitchen, unclipped his cellular phone from his belt, then listened
to his voice mail messages.
"It's time for the six o'clock news", the same voice said above the
background warble of a pan flute concerto.
"Okay, Zamfir," Bill quipped. He grabbed a bottle of mineral water
out of his refrigerator and descended to the family room. Dunne had just
eased himself into his easy chair when the music dampened. "And now, the
six o'clock news," the voice announced.
"Here's to you, Zamfie old boy," Bill said before he gulped down the
liquid. The lights in the room dimmed, and a white screen and a projection
unit began to extrude from the ceiling. His Ovation II front projector
filled the large screen with a bright, crisp scene from an outdoor ceremony
that had obviously been taped hours before. An hour passed. The news
ended. Bill raised the bottle in his left hand in a salute and pinged it
musically with his right forefinger. He stifled a belch, and his nasal
passages tickled with the backwash. Sniffing, he unsteadily got to his
feet.
"There is someone in the driveway," the voice announced.
Bill grabbed his unified remote control and fingered one of its
buttons. A picture-in-picture display on his screen showed the driveway.
He maximized the image to cover the whole screen, and laughed when he
recognized his friend. John Lawson had heard about Bill's all-automated
"home conversion" at the office and wanted to see it for himself. Bill
watched Lawson and his wife emerge rosy-cheeked from their car and walk
sprightly toward his front door. He switched off the projector with his
remote and scurried to greet them.
He swung the front door open, and bright smiles appeared on the
Lawsons' faces, almost as if the two events were automatically associated
with each other. "What's that delicious smell?" Lawson's wife asked.
"Oh! That's the homemade bread my automatic bread machine is making,
June. In fact, it should done. Do you guys want a slice, or even one for
each of you? I usually program it to make a couple of loaves a week."
"No thanks. We just ate."
"Let me take your coats, and I'll be back after I put the loaf away,"
he said.
After he returned, Bill strode proudly through his house, showing them
feature after feature. "If the house is broken into, the system will call
the police and page me."
"I don't think I'd like that last option," John laughed.
"The system _can_ be set just to notify the police, you know. Though
I can't think of much that would take precedence over an intruder."
"How about several intruders with guns?" June joked. The three of
them laughed and climbed the stairs to the second floor. The upstairs hall
light automatically guided their way to Bill's den.
"This is "da brains of da outfit", Bill joked, directing them toward
his PC. He switched between several screens. "When I'm away from the
house at night, it puts the lights in a "lived-in look" mode. I could even
set the darned thing to warm up the hot tub for a small gathering, or the
house itself for a large one. And look at this," Bill coaxed. He hit a
couple of keys on the computer, and a view of his driveway popped into the
upper left-hand corner of its screen, then filled it. He pressed more
keys, and the Lawsons chortled when they saw some of their favorite cable
channels flip by. "I can also capture and save animated sequences from
these feeds to the hard disk on this computer."
"I keep expecting Robbie The Robot to come into the room with a drink
in his hand," June said.
"He won't be showing his sensors around here for quite some time to
come. But in the meantime . . ."
They both left the house, thoroughly impressed.
Bill plopped down in his easy chair. "Might as well watch a tape
before I go to bed," he thought. The video setup stirred to life again,
and he pressed "PLAY" on the remote just to see if there was a tape in the
machine.
There was. It was camcorder footage of his ex-wife and Ray, her
German shepherd. Bill was saddened to see it, but he let it play on.
Their twelve-year-old son was obviously having fun doing tricks with the
camcorder, which followed the dog as it raced towards Bill. Bill watched
himself, all 350 lbs. of himself, jiggle all over the screen. The mountain
of fat clapped its hands, ran back and forth and tired itself after chasing
the dog just a few feet. Its breath rasped out of its mouth; its voice
echoed in the back yard, where the movie had been taken.
Bill found it hard to believe that _he_ was the grossly fat man, and
that he had undoubtedly put on more weight since the images were recorded.
His health-consuming fascination with sedentary pursuits had cost him
his marriage, and separated him from his child. He finally had to stop the
tape before he became too drawn into his problems to extricate himself from
them.
Bill sat there in the chair a while, then walked out of the room,
which darkened as he huffed and puffed his way up the stairs.
////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Wow, gone for a 'few days' and look what happens... Let's /
/ see what I can take care of here." /
//////////////////////////////////////////////// C.HARVEY ////
[EOA]
[REF]//////////////////////////////
REFLECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Thinking Online Communications
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
[P.SHAPIRO1]
>>> THE CURSE OF THE TELEPHONE IN TIMES OF FAMILY CRISIS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Two months ago a close relative of mine became seriously ill. Family
members on both the East coast and West coast spent hours on the phone
conversing with one another. Daily briefings as to the current health
situation were interspersed with lengthy discussions as to treatment
options. The natural stress of worrying about this individual's health
were compounded by worries about the steep health care costs. And then as
if to add insult to injury, sky high phone bills were added to the picture.
The phone at the house where my ill relative was staying was ringing
off the hook seven days a week. The peace and quiet this ailing person so
desperately needed was shattered ten or twenty times each day.
Which all got me thinking about the curse of the telephone. To be
sure, real-time voice communications has its place. But phone
communications can be so annoyingly disruptive at times. And when you
factor in the added curse of call-waiting, these interruptions themselves
can be further disturbed by even more interruptions.
Electronic mail would have worked so well during this family crisis.
Daily briefings on the current health situation could be courtesy-copied to
all family members. (Thereby cutting down on much of the redundant long
distance conversations.) All family members could stay in touch with the
situation, offering their ideas and input when requested.
Curiously enough, each one of my relatives had a microcomputer in
their homes. But none of them subscribes to a national information
service.
With the stress of the family crisis, my relatives were not about to
start learning how to use a modem, send e-mail, capture messages to disk,
and send replies. In times of crisis, people are just not receptive to
learning to use a whole new mode of long distance communications.
But had they been comfortable using this technology, there would be no
doubt that they could have made good use of it. Instead of disruptive,
noisy phone calls bouncing around the continent each and every day, quiet
non-disruptive e-mail could carry the same information content. My
relatives wouldn't have felt tied down to sitting by the phone all evening
--- making sure they would be available to take the call when the phone
rang.
This is not to say that electronic mail can totally supplant phone
contact in times of a family crisis. But e-mail can help minimize the
stress and costs of lengthy long distance phone calls. And GEnie's
flat-rate, unlimited e-mail service could keep everyone in the family in
contact with one another with a minimum of expense and disruption.
Having found myself wishing that my extended family had been online
during these trying times, I've taken it upon myself to become a more vocal
advocate of online communications. Vocally advocacy need not be pushy
advocacy, mind you. The most effective social advocacy has a strong
grounding in tact - - - letting others draw their own conclusions in their
own good time.
Speaking on the subject of electronic mail, InfoWorld columnist Cheryl
Currid summed it all up well in a recent column when she said, "Lots of
people fail to understand the benefits of electronic empowerment." It
takes time before people realize that new information technologies can
greatly facilitate and reduce the costs of long distance communication.
Currid goes on to say that: "Getting benefits from information technology
is as much a cultural mission as it is a technological one." Before new
information technology can be beneficial, people need to be convinced about
what specific benefits the technology has to offer to them. It's simple
human nature to hesitate before jumping into something new.
It's interesting to consider human nature in my own family's case.
Had all family members been communicating with one another via e-mail prior
to the crisis, they would have had no problem using the technology to
address the new situation. But with all the worry of a very ill family
member, few persons would have had the mental composure to learn the
procedures for using a new communications technology.
Which all goes to say there are benefits to bringing family members
online. These benefits go far beyond being able to "stay in touch" or
"casually socialize." When the going gets tough you can be there for one
another, day and night, via online communication.
And the phone can sit quietly off in the corner --- almost
inconspicuous --- for days on end. So that healing can take place.
[*][*][*]
[The author takes a strong interest in the social dimensions
of communications technology. He can be reached on GEnie at:
p.shapiro1; on America Online at: pshapiro; and on Internet
at: pshapiro@pro-novapple.cts.com]
////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "All power corrupts. Just look at me with my own Topic! ;-)" /
///////////////////////////////////////////// R.MARTIN22 ////
[EOA]
[SOF]//////////////////////////////
SOFTVIEW /
/////////////////////////////////
LetterSlide: Yours For The Asking
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Mel Fowler
[MELSOFT]
Program Name : LetterSlide
Filename : LETERSLIDE.BXY
Program Number : 19318
File Size : 365440
Program Type : Word Game
Author : Kendrick Mock
Version Reviewed:
System Needed : Apple IIGS, 1.25 Megs minimum memory,
GS/OS 5.0.4 or 6.0
File Type : Shareware ($10.00)
[*][*][*]
>>> LETTERSLIDE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""
~ From Sound Barrier ~
Over the years there have been many game programs written for home
computers. But often times new games are nothing but a remake of older
games. Or the new games are just another shoot-em-up arcade game of some
kind. Once in a rare while, however, a software developer comes up with
something new, unique, and refreshing. LetterSlide, a new shareware game
for the Apple IIGS, falls into this category.
LetterSlide breaks new ground in word games. You will find the game
easy to play, complex to figure out, and most addictive. Kenrick Mock has
indeed come up with something unique and clever. In some ways LetterSlide
is like a book you can't put down. The day that I downloaded the game I
was up until 3 am before I got to sleep. And yet I was still only able to
reach level 9 of the game.
The object of the game if fairly simple. You move a little funny
alien-baby creature around the screen and push blocks, some with letters on
them, some without letters, with the goal of forming words.
The words can be arranged from left-to-right, right-to-left,
vertically-up, or vertically-down. Each word can be constructed from three
to nine letters. You earn points for the words you form, with each letter
being worth one point. After the word is formed, the word then magically
disappears from the screen, freeing up the screen for more game play.
By forming words you gain access to either bombs or jewels. You can
collect the bombs for blowing up obstacles (no points) or get the jewel (10
points) to advance to the next level. There may be more than one bomb or
jewel in a level. The last jewel in the level advances you to the next
level. Some of the levels are fairly easy. But others are very complex and
my take two or three tries to figure out. The more words you construct,
the higher your score will be. LetterSlide saves your highest scores to
disk. Should you wish, the game gives you the option of resetting this
"hall of fame" to zero.
There are 29 default levels ready to play when you first boot
LetterSlide. Should you ever exhaust these levels, LetterSlide provides
you with a level editor for you to make up your own levels (up to 99 per
game). Or you may choose to edit existing levels. The LEVELEDIT program
is straightforward and easy to use. You move the funny alien-baby around
the screen and by pressing various keys (listed on the edit screen) you can
deposit letter blocks, movable blocks, unmovable blocks, bombs, and jewels
anywhere on the screen.
Here are some friendly tips that may help you enjoy your LetterSlide
games. One of the main things to keep in mind when playing LetterSlide is
to figure out which words you need to spell to get to the next level. Once
you make this determination, you can then reserve the letters required. Try
not to get letter blocks stuck against a wall. When the letters get stuck
against a wall you cannot later move them away from the wall. While moving
letters around the screen, try to keep from spelling words by mistake
because you will use letters up that you may need to go to the next level.
The game comes complete with background music which can be switched off
(toggled off) with CTRL-S. Other features include saving two different
levels with CTRL-A and CTRL-B. You can load the saved levels with CTRL-C
and CTRL-D. Another nice feature is that you can restart the level you are
on with CTRL-R. CTRL-Q (the standard quit command for most Apple IIGS and
Macintosh programs) takes you back to the startup menu screen.
I only have one real problem with the game and that is the choice of
control keys to move the funny alien-baby around the screen. The game
makes use of the keypad keys; 4 goes left, 8 moves up, 6 moves right, and 2
moves down. Often I will miss a key and the funny alien-baby will either
not move at all. Or it will move in the wrong direction. I would much
prefer using the four arrow keys as they are located close together and are
clearly labeled with directional markers. This is a minor problem and
perhaps most of you can get used to the keypad keys.
One nifty little feature of the game is the easily accessed online
help screen. If you can't remember the controls for the game, simply press
the space bar for a pop up control screen. Along with the control screen
is a list of the last ten words you have formed.
In the LetterSlide documentation Kenrick Mock explains how he
developed the idea for LetterSlide by making up word games while
corresponding with his girl friend. Unfortunately the romance didn't work
out. However, we should all be grateful to his ex-girl friend because we
are now reaping the rewards of his word game correspondence. Kenrick Mock
is a gifted software developer who deserves to be encouraged. In the past
two years alone he has produced a handful of exceptionally high quality
shareware games. If you like his efforts please be sure to send him the
modest shareware fee.
Incidentally, Kenrick Mock and Sound Barrier have produced several
other outstanding programs such as Columns GS, Simple Animation Program
(SAP) and the companion game to LetterSlide, Boggled, where you compete
against the computer to make up words from a matrix of letters.
In the humble opinion of this reviewer, this is one of the best games
to come out for the Apple IIGS in a long time.
///////////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own." :^) /
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////// E.KRIMEN ////
[EOA]
[TEL]//////////////////////////////
TELETALK ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
Checking Out Internet
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Bill Garrett
[BILL.GARRETT]
>>> THE WHOLE INTERNET USER'S GUIDE AND CATALOG <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Whole Internet User's Guide And Catalog
By Ed Kroll
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Publishers
103 Morris Street, Suite A
Sebastopol, California 95472
phone (800) 338-6887
fax (707) 829-0104
INTERNET ON GEnie With GEnie open beta-testing an Internet gateway, I
""""""""""""""""" thought it was about time to get serious about learning
about the Internet. Good references on the Internet are not all that hard
to find; I located a number of downloadable files on GEnie that told me a
lot about it. However, finding good, comprehensive information in book
form was beginning to look like a challenge. Then, O'Reilly and Associates
came out with The Whole Internet Users Guide and Catalog, by Ed Krol. Talk
about synchronicity...
Krol is also the author of The Hitchiker's Guide To The Internet, a
well-known source of Internet info. He's been involved with the Internet
since 1985. In The Whole Internet User's Guide, he pulls together a wealth
of info on virtually all aspects of "the world's largest computer network".
The book is written for everyone from the total beginner to the experienced
Internet user. A guide on page xxii indicates which chapters will help the
reader most, depending on his or her level of expertise. Being a total
beginner and a Mac user, I wanted to find out just what the Internet could
do for me, and how best to access it with a Mac.
I quickly learned that the Internet is a sort of 'network of
networks', consisting largely of computers and computer networks on college
campuses, and in businesses, libraries and government institutions. They
are spread all over the USA and a great many foreign countries, forming a
gigantic spider web of computer systems. Any computer with access to the
system can connect to the other networks as a remote user and make use of
the resources at that end.
I was pleased to learn that a Mac (or any other computer) with a basic
terminal emulation program can access the Internet through one of its
'servers', and basically log on in real-time to a host computer. Many
college students and employees of some businesses can get free access
through their respective organizations. The rest of us have to find a site
that provides dial-up access and purchase an account. There are a number
of such services popping up all over the country, and the book provides
listings for a number of them.
It's difficult to describe or even imagine the breadth and scope of
information and services accessible through the Internet. It includes the
ability to access card catalogs and online databases at universities around
the world. Also on the network are private and proprietary databases,
specialized research databases maintained by schools, businesses and
independent researchers, including unusual and esoteric material that only
may be found at one or two locations in the world. How to find and access
this enormous wealth of information is the purpose behind The Whole
Internet User's Guide.
The Guide contains detailed chapters that will tell you how to log on
and use the various features of the Internet. Although the Internet
operates mainly on unix-based machines, almost any computer can access and
use it.
Since the Internet has no central office, customer service or index,
one of the most useful features of The Whole Internet Guide is the Catalog
of Resources. This is a topical listing of some of the more interesting and
useful resources accessible through the Internet. It is by no means
comprehensive, but serves as a starting place for new user.
Also included in the book are descriptions of some of the newer
software resources that make finding things on the Internet much faster and
easier. Programs like 'archie', 'gopher' and 'finger', will automate
searching for files and for the addresses of other users. Krol supplies
descriptions and instructions on how to use these programs, and throws in
some illustrations to boot.
Reading research papers isn't the only thing you can do on the
Internet. There is also Internet mail, which transfers e-mail all over the
world. And there is 'anonymous ftp', which is like having a world-wide
library of downloadable files and software, including tons of stuff that
will never be seen in stores, or even on GEnie. There are also
'newsgroups', which are the Internet equivalent of GEnie's Roundtables. The
Guide provides complete descriptions of all of these, and how to use them.
There is a lot more to the Internet than I can touch on here. Someone
wanting to explore should just log on and go for it. The Whole Internet
User's Guide includes a chapter on Internet protocol, what's allowed and
what's offensive, legal considerations and more.
I found the Guide to be both informative and readable. Given the
highly technical nature of the subject, producing an interesting guide
that's useful to novices is no mean feat. I'd recommend it to anyone
getting started with the Internet. Those who've already gotten their feet
wet should also find it a handy reference to keep by the terminal.
The Whole Internet User's Guide And Catalog is available from the
publisher, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., and bookstores including those in
the GEnie Online Shopping Mall. List price is $24.95.
[*][*][*]
NOTE GEnie's Open Beta of Internet is available at page m207. As of
"""" November 1, 1992, the pricing for Internet will be:
$2.00 registration fee - this will be a one time charge for all new
users signing up for the service. However, if a user cancels and
signs up another $2.00 charge will be incurred.
$.30 for each 5000 bytes or portion thereof for incoming or outgoing
messages.
//////////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "This is what I was looking for! Involved discussion....ooh yeah!" /
//////////////////////////////////////////////////// R.MARTIN22 ////
[EOA]
[MOO]////////////////////////////// . . . . . . . . .
CowTOONS! / . . . . . .
///////////////////////////////// . . . . . . .
Moooooo Fun! . . . . . . . . . .
"""""""""""" . . . . . . . . . .
By Chris Innanen . . . . . . . . . . .
. [C.INNANEN] . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. o ____ o . . .
\ / \ / . . ___
\( (__) )/ . /\ . / o\ .
. ( (oo) ) . . | o |
. \ \/ / () Invaders from the \___/ .
_____====_____ /__\ Planet Moo... . .
/ / \ \ . . .
. /O O O O O O\ . . .
\_-__-____-__-_/ . . .
. / . \ . . .
o . o . .
. . . . . . . . .
[*][*][*]
CowTOONS? Chris Innanen took us up on
(__) our offer and sent in this month's
(oo) ---- CowTOONS selection.
/--------\/ -----
/ | || ------- If you have an idea for a CowTOON, we
|\-----| \ ------ would like to see it. And if we pick
^ ^ ^ ^ your CowTOON for publishing in GEnieLamp
we will credit your account with 2 hours
~ Mycow Jackson ~ of GEnie non-prime time!
(Doing the Moowalk)
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Aw Mike, you shouldn't have done that because now you got me /
/ upset. So put on your flak jacket ... here it comes:" /
///////////////////////////////////////////// R.C.GOSEWEHR ////
[EOA]
[AII]//////////////////////////////
APPLE II /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II History, Part 6
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Steven Weyhrich
[S.WEYHRICH]
>>> APPLE II HISTORY <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""
Compiled and written by Steven Weyhrich
(C) Copyright 1991, Zonker Software
(PART 6 -- THE APPLE II PLUS)
[v1.1 :: 12 Dec 91]
INTRODUCTION This part of the Apple II History gives the lowdown on the
"""""""""""" version of the Apple II where I cut my teeth -- the II
Plus. The modifications made from the original II to this version I just
took for granted at the time (like using IJKM to edit, instead of the older
ABCD a character at a time -- ugh!). Also in this part, for nostalgia's
sake, is a reproduction of an original Apple II Plus packing list. Don't
read it just before bed, or you'll probably be too excited to sleep. :-)
[*][*][*]
THE APPLE II PLUS: HARDWARE We now go cruising ahead in time about one
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" year, to June of 1979. Applesoft BASIC had
been in heavy demand since the introduction in late 1978 of an improved
version. It was needed by those wanting to write and use applications that
needed the capability of floating-point math. Because of this, Apple
engineers had begun working in 1978 on the Apple II Plus, a modest
enhancement to the Apple II. The main attraction of this newer Apple would
be Applesoft in ROM, available immediately without having to load it from
cassette or disk. Also, having it in ROM would move it out of the part of
memory where RAM Applesoft conflicted with hi-res graphics (after all,
Applesoft had commands specifically written into it for manipulating those
graphics, something that Integer BASIC could only do via special CALLs to
the routines in the Programmer's Aid 1 chip).
With the decision made to upgrade the Apple II, other changes were
made to make it more attractive to new computer buyers. The cost of RAM
chips had dropped considerably, so most new II Plus systems came standard
with a full 48K of RAM. Since the disk operating system consumed about 10K
of memory, having the full complement of available RAM made it easier to
use the Disk II with either version of BASIC. Since users would not need
to add the smaller 4K memory chips, the strapping blocks that had made it
possible to use either 4K or 16K RAM chips on the original Apple II were
removed.
Small changes had already been made to the product since it first
began distribution. Most of these changes were made primarily to simplify
it and decrease costs of manufacturing. First of all, the original Apple
II motherboard, designated as "Revision 0", was changed to make it possible
to display two more colors in hi-res graphics. The Revision 0 board had
only four colors (green, violet, black, white), but Wozniak had learned
that by making a simple alteration he could get two more colors (blue and
orange) and two more varieties of black and white. The Revision 1 and
later boards were capable of displaying all eight colors. The means of
making this modification to Revision 0 Apples was described by Wozniak in
his reply to an article by Allen Watson III about hi-res graphics (in the
June 1979 issue of Byte magazine). With that change, people who were not
afraid of doing a little electrical work on their computers had some of the
benefits of an updated Apple II.
Hardware bugs that Apple engineers fixed included one that caused text
characters to be displayed with green and violet fringing, whether in
graphics mode or text mode. The "color killer" circuit they added fixed
things so that non-graphics text would display in black and white only.
Another problem involved RAM configurations of either 20K or 24K (a 16K RAM
chip plus one or two 4K RAM chips). In those systems a hardware bug caused
the 8K of memory from $4000 to $5FFF to be duplicated in the next 8K of
memory, from $6000 to $7FFF, whether there was RAM present at those
locations or not. This made a 20K Apple appear to have 24K, and a 24K
Apple appear to have 36K. The Revision 1 motherboard fixed this problem as
well.<1>
Revision 1 boards also modified the cassette input circuit to respond
with more accuracy to a weak input signal, making it easier to load data
and programs from cassette. Also, one "feature" of the original Apple II
was that any sound generated by the internal speaker also appeared as a
signal on the cassette output connector; this was fixed in the new
motherboards. Lastly, the RESET cycle was made part of the power-up
circuitry, eliminating the requirement that the RESET key be pressed after
turning on the computer.<2>,<3>
THE APPLE II PLUS: FIRMWARE More important than the minor hardware
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" changes, however, were the changes in the
ROM code. The new ROM replaced the original Monitor with one that, among
other things, better supported the new Disk II drive. Since RESET was now
automatically activated when the power was turned on, the new ROM code had
the computer automatically do a few things. It cleared the screen
(displaying "APPLE ][" at the top), and began a scan down the slots,
starting at slot 7 down to slot 1. It examined the first few bytes of code
in each card's ROM for a specific sequence that identified it as a Disk II
controller card. If one was found, control was passed to that card,
causing the disk drive to startup and begin loading the disk operating
system into memory. If no disk controller was found, the ROM code jumped
instead to the start of BASIC (instead of leaving the user in the Monitor,
as in the old ROM). This "Autostart ROM", as it was called, made it
possible to have a system that started up a program on the disk with little
action needed by the user.
The RESET code was more intelligent in the Autostart ROM than in the
Old Monitor ROM. There was now a "Cold Start" RESET (which functioned as
described above), and a "Warm Start" RESET. A Warm Start RESET could occur
without re-booting the Disk II (if it was present); in fact, it ensured
that the disk operating system remained "connected" after RESET was
pressed. This feature was implemented by setting three bytes at the end of
page $03 in memory. Two of the bytes were the address of the place in
memory to which the Apple should jump if RESET was pressed. The third byte
was a specially coded byte created from half of the address byte. When
RESET was pressed, this special "power-up" byte was checked with the
address byte. If they didn't properly match, the Monitor assumed that the
power had just been turned on, and it executed a Cold Start RESET. This
feature was extensively used by writers of copy protected software, so
users could not modify or copy the code in memory simply by pressing the
RESET key.
The other major change, mentioned earlier, was the BASIC that was
supplied in ROM. Gone was Steve Wozniak's hand-assembled Integer BASIC, in
favor of the newer Applesoft. Since these ROM versions of BASIC used the
same memory locations, they could not be used simultaneously. With the
introduction of the II Plus, Apple also released the Applesoft Firmware
card. This card, which plugged into slot 0, made it possible for previous
Apple II owners to have some of the benefits of the II Plus without having
to buy an entirely new computer. Even with that card, however, you could
not use features of one BASIC while the other was active, and switching
from one BASIC to the other erased any program that was being used at the
time. The two BASICs could be told apart by the prompt they used; Integer
BASIC used the ">" character, but Applesoft used the "]" character.
Another change made to the Monitor ROM made screen editing easier.
The original Apple II's procedure for editing a line typed in BASIC or in
the Monitor was tedious at best. To change a line of text in BASIC, you
had to list the line, move the cursor up to the start of the line, and then
use the right-arrow key to "copy" text from the screen into the input
buffer. If you wanted to skip part of the line, you had to move the cursor
past the text that you wanted to eliminate WITHOUT using the arrow keys.
If you wanted to INSERT something into the line, you had to move the cursor
off the line (above it or below it), type the additional text, and then
move the cursor back into the line to finish copying the original part of
the line.
For example, suppose you had typed this line in Applesoft and
displayed it on the 40-column screen:
]LIST 100
100 FOR I = 1 TO 100: PRINT "I
LIKE MY APPLE": NEXT : END
To change that line so the PRINT statement read "I REALLY LIKE MY
APPLE" meant either retyping the entire line, or using the edit feature.
(If the line was particularly long, it was preferable to edit rather than
retype the entire line). To edit this line, you would have to move the
cursor up to the "1" of "100" and begin pressing the right arrow key. When
you got to the "L" of "LIKE" you would have to move the cursor above or
below the line, type the word "REALLY" followed by a space, then move the
cursor back to the "L" of "LIKE", and continue copying with the right arrow
key. After editing a line, the screen might look like this:
100 FOR I = 1 TO 100: PRINT "I
LIKE MY APPLE": NEXT : END
REALLY
(In this example, I moved the cursor down one line, typed "REALLY",
and then moved it back to the start of the word "LIKE"). If you didn't
make any mistakes it would read like this:
]LIST 100
100 FOR I = 1 TO 100: PRINT "I
REALLY LIKE MY APPLE" : NEXT
: END
However, if you didn't take care to skip over the extra spaces
inserted in front of the word "LIKE" by the Applesoft LIST command, it
could appear this way:
100 FOR I = 1 TO 100: PRINT "I
REALLY LIKE MY APPLE"
: NEXT : END
The big problem with these cursor moves for editing under the Old
Monitor was that each move required two keypresses. To move the cursor up,
you had to press "ESC" and then "D" EACH TIME you wanted to move the cursor
up. "ESC A" moved right, "ESC B" moved left, and "ESC C" moved the cursor
down. With a long line that needed much editing, this would get old real
fast. Not only was it cumbersome, but the layout of the keyboard made it
difficult to remember the correct letters used for cursor movement;
although "D" (up) was above "C" (down), it seemed that "D" should stand for
"Down". Also confusing was that "A" was to the left of "B", but their
functions were the opposite of their position!
The new Autostart ROM improved this screen editing process just a bit.
Now, pressing "ESC" turned on a special editing mode. Repeated presses of
"I" (up), "J" (left), "K" (right), and "M" (down) continued to move the
cursor until a key other than ESC was pressed. On the keyboard these
letters were arranged in a sort of "directional keypad" or diamond, which
made remembering the moves a little easier. The previous ESC editing codes
were still supported, but still with their previous limitations.
Unfortunately, however, you still couldn't tell whether you were in the
regular text entry mode or in the ESC editing mode, and often attempts at
changing a line took several tries to get it right.<4>,<5>
Other features added in the new Autostart ROM included the ability to
pause a listing by pressing Ctrl-S (VERY helpful when trying to scan
through a long program!) As mentioned above, pressing RESET would return
control through the soft-entry vectors on memory page $03. This would
allow a user to exit from a runaway BASIC program by pressing RESET, and
still keep program and variables intact in memory (which could not be
guaranteed with the old Monitor ROM).<5>
John Arkley at Apple wrote the changes to the original Monitor ROM and
created the Autostart ROM in November 1978 (he's the "John A" mentioned in
the source code listing found in the 1981 edition of the APPLE II REFERENCE
MANUAL). After he had done the work and the ROMs had been created, Apple
wanted to publish a new version of the Reference Manual to cover the Apple
II Plus. The older Reference Manual (affectionately known as the "Red
Book") had included an assembly language source code listing of the Monitor
ROM. They wanted to include the source for BOTH versions of the Monitor,
but a problem came up. While developing the Monitor, Apple had used a
local mainframe computer dial-up service known as "Call Computer." They
used a cross-assembler on that computer, assembled the code, and then used
the resulting object code to create the ROM. (A cross-assembler is an
assembler that creates object code for a processor other than the one the
cross-assembler runs on. For example, if you can write 8080 machine code
with an assembler running on a 6502-based computer, you are using a
cross-assembler). Unfortunately, Call Computer had accidentally done a
system backup with the source and destination disks reversed, erasing all
the files containing the source code for the Apple II Monitors. There were
no disk or cassette copies of the source code for the Autostart ROM back at
Apple. Working from the source listing in the Red Book, John recreated the
source file for the original Monitor, and then disassembled his own
modifications for the II Plus and re-created his Autostart ROM source file.
Those reconstructed listings are what appeared in the 1981 edition of the
Apple II Reference Manual.<6>
Not everyone was pleased with the modifications made in the Autostart
ROMs, however. Some of the authors of the magazine CALL-A.P.P.L.E. liked
to refer to the new computer as the "Apple II Minus", since Arkley had to
remove some of their beloved routines from the ROMs to make room for the
new features. Missing from the Apple II Plus ROMs were Integer BASIC, the
miniassembler, and Woz's SWEET 16 interpreter (that entire space now being
used by Applesoft). Missing from the Monitor were the assembly language
STEP and TRACE features, and a set of sixteen-bit multiply and divide
routines.<5>
THE APPLE II PLUS: COST The new Apple II Plus, at $1,195, sold for over
""""""""""""""""""""""" $100 less than the original Apple II, although
it came with more memory and had Applesoft (previously an added expense
item) in ROM.
THE APPLE II PLUS: BELL & HOWELL Apple made a deal early on with Bell &
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Howell to let them sell the Apple II
Plus with a Bell & Howell name plate on it for use in schools. These
Apples were black colored (instead of the standard beige), and had screws
on the back to keep the lids on (apparently to keep students' hands out).
These Apples (sometimes called "Darth Vader" Apples) also had the
"shift-key mod" (see below) applied. Since Bell & Howell was a major
supplier of school equipment, this was a means for Apple to get a foothold
in the school environment.<7>,<8>
Bell & Howell also had electronics correspondence courses, and used
the black Apple II Plus for one of their courses. They offered a one year
warranty, instead of the ninety-day warranty offered by Apple.<9>,<10>,<11>
THE APPLE II PLUS: EARLY USER EXPERIENCES An Apple II veteran on GEnie,
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Dennis Ulm, kindly provided me
with the following reproduction of his ORIGINAL Apple II Plus packing list.
It gives a little picture of what early non-disk users had to work with:
APPLE II PLUS PACKING LIST
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This package should contain the following items:
item no. part number description
---- --- ----------- -----------
1 1 600-2023 cassette tape: LITTLE BRICKOUT, COLOR DEMOSOFT
2 1 600-2024 cassette tape: RENUMBER/APPEND, ALIGNMENT TEST TONE
3 1 600-2025 cassette tape: FINANCE I, PENNY ARCADE
4 1 600-2026 cassette tape: LEMONADE, HOPALONG CASSIDY
5 1 600-2027 cassette tape: BRIAN'S THEME, PHONE LIST
6 1 030-2057 manual: Introductory Programs for the Apple II Plus
7 1 030-0044 manual: The Applesoft Tutorial
8 1 030-0013 manual: Applesoft II BASIC Programming Reference
Manual
9 1 030-0004 manual: Apple II Reference Manual
10 1 030-0035 publication: Apple Magazine
11 1 600-0033 1 pair of game controls
12 1 590-0002 cable: to hook up a cassette recorder
13 1 590-0003 cable: power cord for the Apple II Plus
14 1 030-0001 Apple Warranty Card
15 1 600-0816 Apple II Plus System 16K
or
600-0832 Apple II Plus System 32K
or
600-0848 Apple II Plus System 48K
(LITTLE BRICKOUT was an abbreviated Applesoft version of Woz's Integer
BASIC Breakout game (the reason he designed the Apple II in the first
place). BRIAN'S THEME was a hi-res graphics program that drew lines on the
screen in various patterns. HOPALONG CASSIDY was a "guess who" program
that also used the hi-res screen).<12>,<13>
Also included in Dennis' II Plus box was this photocopied instruction
sheet:
TAPE LOADING INSTRUCTIONS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
If problems are encountered in LOADing tape programs, it may
be necessary to "queue" (sic) the tape before LOADing. To queue
a tape, use the following procedure:
1. Rewind the tape.
2. Disconnect the cable from the tape recorder (so you can hear
what's on the tape).
3. Start the tape recorder in PLAY mode.
4. When a steady tone is heard, STOP the tape recorder.
5. Connect the cable to the tape recorder and adjust the volume
and tone controls on the tape recorder to the recommended
levels.
6. Make sure your computer is in BASIC.
7. Type LOAD.
8. START the tape playing.
9. Press RETURN.
The program should LOAD properly. If an error message occurs,
repeat the procedure, but try readjusting the tone and volume
controls on the tape recorder.
Dennis says that in his experience it took at least five to ten tries
to get anything to load properly from tape!
THE APPLE II PLUS: MORE HARDWARE ADD-ONS Lower-case was still not
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" supported on the new Apple II
Plus, though it was a popular user-modification. The thriving industry for
Apple II peripherals made up for this shortcoming, with various vendors
supplying small plug-in circuit boards that fit under the keyboard,
allowing display of lower-case on the screen (and sometimes direct entry of
lower-case from the keyboard). By 1981, when the Revision 7 motherboard
was released for the Apple II Plus, a different method of character
generation was used, which reduced radio-frequency interference that was
generated. For Revision 7 boards, lower-case characters could be displayed
with the addition of only a single chip. However, unless a user changed
the keyboard encoder with a third-party product, only upper-case characters
could be typed.<14>
The keyboard itself underwent some changes, both by users and by
Apple. The original RESET key was in the upper right-hand corner of the
keyboard. The problem with that key was that it had the same feel as the
keys around it, making it possible to accidentally hit RESET and lose the
entire program that was being so carefully entered. One user modification
was to pop off the RESET keycap and put a rubber washer under it, making it
necessary to apply more pressure than usual to do a RESET. Apple fixed
this twice, once by replacing the spring under the keycap with a stiffer
one, and finally by making it necessary to press the CTRL key and the RESET
together to make a RESET cycle happen. The keyboards that had the
CTRL-RESET feature made it user selectable via a small slide switch just
inside the case (some people didn't want to have to press the CTRL key to
do a RESET).
Another keyboard limitation was addressed through a modification that
became known as the "shift-key mod". This was such a widely used trick
that Apple ended up supporting it in hardware when they designed the Apple
IIe. Since the II and II Plus keyboards could not directly generate
lower-case characters, early word processing programs had to find some way
to make up for that deficiency. Apple's own Apple Writer program used the
ESC key as a shift and shift-lock key, displaying upper-case characters in
inverse video and lower-case in regular video. Other programs suggested
installing the shift-key mod to allow more natural entry of upper-case,
using the SHIFT key already present on the keyboard. The user had to
attach a wire to the contact under the SHIFT key, and run it to the game
port where the input for push-button 2 was found. (This push-button PB2,
$C063 in memory, was for one of an optional second pair of game paddles
that third-party hardware companies supplied for the Apple II). The
program would assume that all letters being typed were in lower-case,
unless the SHIFT key (attached now to paddle button PB2) was also being
pressed; in that case the letter would be entered as upper-case. Since the
PB2 button was not often used for a second pair of game paddles, it was
unlikely that this modification would be accidentally triggered by pressing
one of the game paddle buttons. This modification did NOT use buttons PB0
or PB1, which were on the first pair of game paddles. (PB0 and PB1 now
correspond to the Open-Apple and Solid-Apple/Option keys on modern Apple II
computers).
[*][*][*]
NEXT INSTALLMENT The Apple IIe
""""""""""""""""
NOTES
"""""
<1> -----, "Memory Organization", APPLE II REFERENCE MANUAL, 1979,
1981, pp. 70-73.
<2> -----, APPLE II REFERENCE MANUAL, 1979,1981, pp. 25-27, 34-36.
<3> Bruce Field, "A.P.P.L.E. Doctor", CALL-A.P.P.L.E., Jan 1984, pp.
74-75.
<4> -----, "Apple and Apple II History", THE APPLE II GUIDE, Fall
1990, pp. 9-16.
<5> -----, APPLE II REFERENCE MANUAL, 1979,1981, pp. 25-27, 34-36.
<6> John Arkley, (personal telephone call), Sep 9, 1991.
<7> Joe Regan, GEnie A2 ROUNDTABLE, Category 2, Topic 16, Apr 1991.
<8> Dan Paymar, "Curing A Shiftless Apple", CALL-A.P.P.L.E., May 1982,
pp. 63-64.
<9> Tom Vanderpool, GEnie A2 ROUNDTABLE, Category 2, Topic 16, Mar &
Aug 1991.
<10> Tom Zuchowski, GEnie A2 ROUNDTABLE, Category 2, Topic 16, Mar
1991.
<11> Steve Hirsch, GEnie A2 ROUNDTABLE, Category 2, Topic 16, Mar
1991.
<12> Dennis Ulm, GEnie A2 ROUNDTABLE, Category 2, Topic 16, Apr 1991.
<13> Wes Felty, GEnie. A2 ROUNDTABLE, Category 2, Topic 16, Apr 1991.
<14> Bruce Field, "A.P.P.L.E. Doctor", CALL-A.P.P.L.E., Jan 1984, pp.
74-75.
////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Wow, talk about a rumor. Take no prisoners, Steve. :^) /
/ No mercy. :^)" /
//////////////////////////////////////////// E.KRIMEN ////
[EOA]
[LIB]//////////////////////////////
THE ONLINE LIBRARY /
/////////////////////////////////
Yours For The Downloading
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Mel Fowler
[MELSOFT]
>>> TOP UPLOADS: SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER '92 <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ ** 8-bit programs for the Classic Apples ~
ONLY THE BEST! These are among the best UPLOADs to the A2 Software
"""""""""""""" Library in the past month. Please check them out. You
will not be disappointed.
[*][*][*]
19318 Name: LETTERSLIDE.BXY LetterSlide is a companion piece to Boggled
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" GS. Although both programs share some of
the same graphics, gameplay is radically different! In LetterSlide, you
must push blocks around to form words so you may collect jewels and advance
to the next level. If you have played SokoBan, then there are some
similarities; except instead of pushing blocks to an area, you must push
blocks to create words. Challenging yet amusing! The program comes with a
Level Editor, so you can create your own levels and boards if you wish.
19378 Name: SOUNDSMITH.BXY V1.01 SoundSmith returns to shareware with
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" the new version 1.01! SoundSmith is
a music creation program that can make songs for playback on your IIGS.
SoundSmith uses ASIF instrument files which can be created from digitized
sounds. SoundSmith 1.01 features MIDI support as well as other minor
enhancements. A must download for the SoundSmith fanatic, would-be music
writer, or for anyone who likes neat IIGS sound software. $20 shareware.
19388 Name: GECOPILOT.BXY Co-Pilot 2.0.3 is a IIGS message processor for
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" GEnie that works with Talk is Cheap (v.3.20
or later) or Point-to-Point (version 4.0 or later) to automatically
download messages from RoundTables and GE Mail which you can then read,
reply to or save off-line. Co-Pilot then calls GEnie and uploads your
replies. You can download or get descriptions of files automatically.
Operation is simple and fully automated. This evaluation version of
Co-Pilot has some non-essential features disabled. On payment of a $25 fee
(or a $10 update fee) you will be told how to activate all features.
19444 Name: MINEFIELD.BXY This is one of the best kinds of games:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" simple and addicting! Minefield is a game
for the Apple IIgs that plays like the game Mine Sweeper. The object of
this game is to clear a grid of squares (the minefield) of mines, without
hitting any of them. Every time you click on one of the squares, it will
either be a mine or a number. The number will show you how many mines are
surrounding that square. From this, you decide which other squares are
clear or have mines. When you're sure a square has a mine in it, you can
put a flag on that square. Multiple levels of difficulty and options are
available.
19445 Name: MINESGS.NDA.BXY An NDA version of this great simple and
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" addicting game! Mines GS is a game for
the Apple IIgs that plays like the game Mine Sweeper. The object of the
NDA version of this game is a little different from the full GS/OS
application. In this NDA, all you have to do is clear a path from one
corner of a grid of squares (the minefield) to the other. Every time you
click on one of the squares, it will either be a mine or a number. The
number will show you how many mines are surrounding that square. From
this, you decide which other squares are clear or have mines. When you're
sure a square has a mine in it, you can put a flag on that square.
19471 Name: W6BBS.BXY Warp Six BBS, public domain version 1.1. Requires
"""""""""""""""""""""" a IIe Enhanced or IIGS and Hayes or compatible
external modem. Docs included, in AppleWorks 3.0 format.
19472 Name: SUPERBASIC.BXY This utility allows anyone with knowledge of
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" BASIC programming to create stunning IIgs
programs with Super-High-Resolution graphics. An 84 page manual and many
examples are included. Use Shrinkit to unpack the program files to a
blank disk called /SUPER. Then copy PRODOS and BASIC.SYSTEM to the disk and
boot it.
19475 Name: SHOWME.NDA.BXY V1.0B2 Beta release 2 fixes problems with
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" large GIF's and file selection
restriction problems. This NDA works under System software 5, but has
System software 6 Finder enhancements. You can view all IIGS graphics,
view GIF files, view MacPaint files, save graphics in Screen or APF
formats, and do some simple color conversions. Beta Release. JesusAware
released the same as Freeware.