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~ WELCOME TO GENIELAMP APPLE II! ~
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ THE REAL WORLD APPLE: Timers ~
~ APPLE ANECDOTES: My Programming Highlights ~
~ HUMOR ONLINE: Hard Disk Love Song (parody) ~
~ HOT NEWS, HOT FILES, HOT MESSAGES ~
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
GenieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET Publication ~ Vol.5, Issue 55
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Publisher................................................John F. Peters
Editor...................................................Douglas Cuff
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
~ GenieLamp IBM ~ GenieLamp ST ~ GenieLamp PowerPC ~
~ GenieLamp A2Pro ~ GenieLamp Macintosh ~ GenieLamp TX2 ~
~ GenieLamp Windows ~ GenieLamp A2 ~ LiveWire (ASCII) ~
~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~
Genie Mail: GENIELAMP Internet: genielamp@genie.com
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE II ROUNDTABLE? <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ October 1, 1996 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] FROM MY MAILBOX ......... [MAI]
Notes From The Editor. Letters To The Editor.
HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY] HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]
Is That A Letter For Me? Hard Disk Love Song (parody).
FILE BANDWAGON .......... [BAN] THE REAL WORLD APPLE .... [RWA]
Top 10 Files for August. Timers.
THE TREASURE HUNT ....... [HUN] APPLE ANECDOTES ......... [ANC]
Three Gems. My Programming Highlights.
LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
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 reprinted
"""""""""""" 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 has pricing plans to fit almost any budget. Genie's
""""""""""" services include email, software downloads, bulletin boards,
chat lines, and an Internet gateway included at a non-prime time connect
rate of $2.75. Some pricing plans include uncharged online connect time.
As always, prices are subject to change without notice. To sign up for
Genie, call (with modem) 1-800-638-8369 in the USA or 1-800-387-8330 in
Canada. Upon connection wait for the U#= prompt. Type: JOINGENIE and hit
RETURN. The system will then prompt you for your information. Need more
information? Call Genie's customer service line (voice) at 1-800-638-9636.
GET GENIELAMP ON THE NET! Now you can get your GenieLamp issues from
""""""""""""""""""""""""" the Internet. If you use a web browser,
connect to "gopher://gopher.genie.com/11/magazines". When using a gopher
program, connect to "gopher.genie.com" and then choose item 7 (Magazines
and Newsletters from Genie's RoundTables).
*** GET INTO THE LAMP! ***
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
//////////////////////////////////////// Genie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ Murphy's Law for Genie RoundTable Library searches: /
/ /
/ "The day you decide to search for a file when you know /
/ there has been only a handful of uploads using a /
/ particular keyword, there will have been over a hundred /
/ files uploaded recently using that keyword." /
/////////////////////////////////////////////// A2.TONY ////
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
[D.CUFF]
It's been a busy month at GenieLamp A2. Because last month's issue
was late, I had just 3 weeks to put together this month's issue (which is
itself a day late). During those three weeks, I also rescued all the
GenieLamp A2 back issues from the DigiPub RoundTable and put them in the A2
RoundTable. With the appearance of over 100 back issues in the A2
RoundTable library, the A2 staff decided to create a whole new library for
Apple II publications, so you'll find GenieLamp A2 in library 55 from now
on.
That wasn't quite enough to make this month truly interesting, so my
editor's account, EDITOR.A2, was closed--through an administrative
glitch--just 24 hours before the GenieLamp A2 deadline. I'm not sure
when--or even if--this account will return, so I'm completing this month's
issue using my personal account, D.CUFF. If you have urgent mail for me,
please send it to d.cuff@genie.com until you hear otherwise. (Be watching
for next month's editorial!)
Perhaps I haven't mentioned it often enough nor loudly enough:
GenieLamp A2 is the only edition of GenieLamp currently being published.
None of the other computer platforms have had an issue since June. The
DigiPub RoundTable closed in mid-July, but I was determined--or loony--to
bring out at least a July issue. When that proved possible, I pushed
forward to bring out issues for August, September, and now October. And
God willing, I'll see you all here next month.
When I was salvaging GenieLamp A2 back issues from the DigiPub
RoundTable, I began to wonder if any other Genie RoundTables had Apple II
files that we ought to be preserving. I haven't yet investigated
thoroughly, but a quick check in the DTP (desktop publishing) and ERT
(education) libraries turned up half a dozen files. If you're a Genie user
and know about Apple II files in other RoundTables, I'd sure appreciate
hearing from you!
Finally, an apology to readers of last month's HyperStudio edition.
I goofed up, and three of the buttons on the contents page were connected
to the wrong articles. I _did_ check all the buttons before releasing the
edition, but with the issues already late, I guess I was in too much of a
hurry to really be paying attention. Sorry. Thanks to David Pierce for
pointing this out to me.
-- Doug Cuff
Genie Mail: D.CUFF Internet: d.cuff@genie.com
__________________________________________________________
| |
| REPRINTING GENIELAMP |
| |
| If you want to reprint any part of GenieLamp, or |
| post it to a bulletin board, please see the very end |
| of this file for instructions and limitations. |
|__________________________________________________________|
ASCII ART BEGINS
_____ _ _ ___ ___
/ ____| (_) | | / _ \|__ \
| | __ ___ _ __ _ ___| | __ _ _ __ ___ _ __ | |_| | ) |
| | |_ |/ _ \ '_ \| |/ _ \ | / _` | '_ ` _ \| '_ \ | _ | / /
| |__| | __/ | | | | __/ |___| (_| | | | | | | |_) | | | | |/ /_
\_____|\___|_| |_|_|\___|______\__,_|_| |_| |_| .__/ |_| |_|____|
| |
|_|
ASCII ART ENDS
[EOA]
[MAI]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY MAILBOX /
/////////////////////////////////
Letters To The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
MUST-HAVE CDAs AND NDAs Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your
""""""""""""""""""""""" latest issue of the "A2 Lamp"! Thanks so much
for all the effort you put into it. It shows!
I always pick up something (or several things) new to me in the A2
Lamp. This month it was the GUPP file. I heard the chatter about it, but
seemed to have missed the preamble and had no idea what it was all about.
Thanks too, for the article on Apple II interfacing and experimenting. I
needed that!
Your piece on additional CDAs, NDAs & INITs was very good as it gave
me some reference against which to check my own pot-pourri of goodies.
Mine seemed to include most of yours and I have to agree as to their
usefulness. Without a doubt, my most actively used CDA is File-A-Trix which
I seem to access every day. I purchased it from Bunker long ago (and
received a nice freebie disk with even more goodies on it)!
There are some other useful NDA's not mentioned: II Scroll --
unbelievably handy! I've forgotten the author -- but not having to wildly
swing the mouse all over to reverse up and down is soooo smooth. Another
NDA(?) is the one that keeps a list 'open' once you've clicked on it. No
need to keep your finger down on the mouse button all the time. You have
to use it to believe how good it can be. I've heard that some either
totally love it or hate it. I love it. Btw, I'm still a die-hard
AppleWorks guy! :)
One other very useful CDA worth mentioning is Dave Leffler's
Deskcolor that let's you change the standard "periwinkle" blue to any color
or pattern of choice. From Day One on my GS, I felt the blue desktop was
too much of a "me-too" IBM thingy and never left me feeling very good at
all. Using Dave's Deskcolor, I experimented with all of the options and
discovered that a pleasant "canary" yellow always upped my psyche and made
me feel optimistic and cheerful.
Two other helpful items: the NDA, Lithium grease for the inevitable;
and the CDA, II Not Disturb (small shareware to Greg Templeman) if you use
a modem and a menubar clock program. Both have saved my hide time and
again.
Of course, these "essentials" are only the tip of the iceberg for
many folks. All in all, I'd say that those of us who have hung out here
with the Apple II and the IIGS, are now reaping the benefits of an exciting
technology that's priced right!
Best, and may God bless you and yours.
Joachim Nelson
J.NELSON56
I was very glad to hear your suggested additions to the
NDA/CDA/Inits list. I'd like to respond to all the things you
mentioned:
o Greg Templeman's II Scroll (Softdisk G-S) and II Not
Disturb (shareware) are both on my personal system, but
weren't listed in the article because they're not free.
o Thanks for mentioning Lithium Grease, from Marc Wolfgram
and Mark Collins--I had completely forgotten about it.
(File #22482, LITH.GREASE.BXY) I actually use a "rival",
stand-alone program, Back Rest by fellow Canadian Lorne
Walton. I'm not sure it's still available in stand-alone
format, so I won't quote the Genie file number for it.
o As for the init that "keeps a list 'open' once you've
clicked on it", I assume you're referring either to
MenuMagic by Harold Hislop (file #22344, MENUMAGIC.BXY)
or AutoMenus by Jay Krell (file #21216, AUTOMENUS.BXY
V3.0B7). I've installed both, but ran into minor
conflicts with them--admittedly, fewer conflicts with
MenuMagic.
o As for Dave Leffler's Deskcolor (file #17727,
DESKCOLOR.BXY V3.1), I'd never heard of it. Thanks for
pointing it out.
I left one other important file off my list--file #26120,
PATCHHFS.BXY. This patches an important bug in the HFS File
System Translator that comes with System 6.0.1.
I'm glad to hear that 'Lamp A2 demystified GUPP for you!--DGC
FINDING GENIELAMP A2 Is there some easier way to get to the current
"""""""""""""""""""" GenieLamp A2? Like before, by moving to page 645;9?
I cannot find it now without going to A2 RT and getting list of new files
for a number before downloading. A real time consuming pain in the rear.
What am I doing wrong? Thanks for your help.
Al Micheli
A.MICHELI
As you may know, the DigiPub RoundTable _CLOSED_ forever in the
middle of July. This is why it is no longer possible to get
GenieLamp A2 the way you used to. I agree, that way was more
convenient.
Still, you do not have to _LIST_ the files to get the correct
file number. Why not use the _SEARCH_ command instead? It won't
deluge you with a lot of information you don't want.
When you go to the A2 library, type 3 to use the search command.
You will be asked for a keyword. Type the month of the issue
you are interested in--for example, "September". You will then
be asked for an uploader name. You can either press Return to
leave this blank, or type "EDITOR.A2". (Another possible
uploader is "D.CUFF".) When you are asked for a number of days
to search, enter 33 or some number like it. (If you enter a
number greater than 365, you'll probably be shown both the
September 1995 and September 1996 issues.) Here's how it looks:
A2 Library>3
Enter Search String, or <RETURN> for ALL
>September
Uploader Address, or <RETURN> for ALL
>EDITOR.A2
Number of days, or <RETURN> for ALL
>33
String: September
Uploader: EDITOR.A2
Days Back: 33
ALL Libraries.
No. File Name Type Address YYMMDD Bytes Access Lib
----- ------------------------ - ------------ ------ ------- ------ ---
27745 ALMP9609.ASC X EDITOR.A2 960911 79444 26 55
Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (ASCII text)
27739 ALMP9609.AW.BXY X EDITOR.A2 960910 50560 32 55
Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (AppleWorks)
27744 ALMP9609.BXY X EDITOR.A2 960911 45952 45 55
Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (text)
27742 ALMP9609.HC.BXY X EDITOR.A2 960911 61568 32 55
Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (HyperCard)
27743 ALMP9609.HS.BXY X EDITOR.A2 960911 73856 34 55
Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (HyprStudio)
End of Directory.
Two other things you can do that will make finding GenieLamp A2
easier:
1. Read Cat 3 Top 3 in the A2 RoundTable just past the first of
the month. I _always_ post the file numbers for the current issue
there, so no one has to go searching for them.
2. Whenever you enter the A2 Library (m645;3) to do a list or a
search, _start_ by setting the library to Apple II Publications.
To do this, choose command 8 and set the library number to 55.
This will mean that you are narrowing the search to the specific
library where GenieLamp A2 is kept.
I apologize that it is no longer as convenient to get GenieLamp
A2, but there are limits to what we can do with no RoundTable to
operate out of. If you follow the tips above, I think you'll find
that a search for GenieLamp A2 will consume much less time.
Remember, with the DigiPub RoundTable gone, GenieLamp A2 no
longer has a home. We are "borrowing" space from the A2
RoundTable just to keep GenieLamp A2 alive!--DGC
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
[D.CUFF]
o BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS
o A2 POT-POURRI
o HOT TOPICS
o WHAT'S NEW
o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT
>>> BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
[*] CAT 2, TOP 32 ......... Alternate E-mail address for A2 folk
[*] CAT 5, TOP 14 ......... Gus, the IIgs emulator for PowerMac
[*] CAT 22, TOP 10 ......... Good news for Zip GS owners
[*] CAT 42, TOP 11 ......... Latest issue of II Alive
>>> A2 POT-POURRI <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""
IF YOU HAD LIFE TO LIVE OVER... Hi guys,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I've recently started taking in more UG calls ::sigh:: and I'm trying
to set up a generic, yet high performance, 6.0.1 for hard drives.
So, I have a few questions:
1) Which patches should be installed? And which are legal to be
installed (i.e. I'd love to put Greg's SDGS patches on, but I know
I can't)?
2) Personally, I'm leaning to installing the Appletalk stuff since
every machine in my posession has Appletalk on, but I'm wondering
if that's too confusing for other people.
3) What kinds of extras, other than IR and Hermes, would people want
on it?
Assume hard disk space isn't an issue, but copyright is :)
Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W.
Social Worker by Day, Apple II geek by night, KFester in July!
ANSITerm and CoPilot v2.55
(R.SUENAGA1, CAT9, TOP6, MSG:144/M645;1)
>>>>> Some suggestions - Things that I have used. All are freeware, to
""""" the best of my knowledge:
GUPP - Init Patches a number of problems
Open Any - NDA Opens docs from any available FEXT from SF dialog
IRNDA 2.0 - NDA Loads anything that IR can from SF dialog
SoundPlayer - NDA Plays rSounds
PicViewer - Init Shows most types of graphics
Refresh Screen NDA Redraws screen
ScreenSaver NDA Blanks screen
DisplayClip NDA Displays clipboard
FileATrix CDA File management and more
Winflate NDA Reduces window to menu bar
Launch.CDev CDev Sets startup path & speed for applications
ShowMe! NDA Shows most types of graphics, incl. GIF
Notes:
OpenAny works with SoundPlayer, Hermes, and PicViewer within any
application that I have tried.
ScreenSaver requires a mouse movement to initiate the blanking timer.
Was my primary blanker for about a year.
Don V. Zahniser
Delivered by CoPilot for ANSITerm
(D.ZAHNISER, CAT9, TOP6, MSG:145/M645;1)
>>>>> Ryan
"""""
One thing I would =NOT= put on those drives is the ShowMe!
NDA/FinderExtra. Many people (including myself) have had nothing but grief
with that installed. (There's also some question as to just -WHOS- code is
burried in it... per some grumbling I read in A2Pro some time ago)
Instead of SoundPlayer, I'd opt for EAR (in lib here). EYE (Also in lib
here) is a nice small (though somewhat limited) picture displayer.
-Harold
Resident Solder Slinger
Live Free or Die - New Hampshire state motto
(HAROLD.H, CAT9, TOP6, MSG:146/M645;1)
>>>>> Ryan
"""""
Some more thoughts -
SoundIt 1.0 NDA - handles a bunch of kinds of sounds without the
Sound CDev needing to be active. Can be installed as a FinderExtra. Works
better as just an NDA when outside of Finder.
GSCII+ - NDA - for decoding binscii files
A2Vendors.NDA - Essential resource
SD.Reminder - Init - Another BunkerWare item - Essential for anyone
using /RAM5 a lot.
Caps.Lock.Init - from Glynne Tolar - For ROM 01 w/extended keyboards
Ext.KB.Init - Bill Tudor - For Extended Keyboard users
BRAM.Checker - Init - Bill Tudor - Notifies of changes to Battery RAM
BRKCURSOR - Init - Jason Blochowiak - Changes cursor to X if system
crashes
Anim.Watch - Init - Jason Blochowiak - Animated watch cursor
Don V. Zahniser
Delivered by CoPilot for ANSITerm
(D.ZAHNISER, CAT9, TOP6, MSG:155/M645;1)
"LOW-TECH" TO THE RESCUE Any problems out there with sending Internet
"""""""""""""""""""""""" mail? I have sent several notes over the past
week to a listserv that normally echoes the note back to me, and haven't
seen the reflections. I have been receiving mail from others on the
listserv. I was using @inet# as the suffix. The particular address is in
my CoPilot nickname file, and I have used it a couple of dozen times in the
past.
Thanks for any responses
Don
(D.ZAHNISER, CAT35, TOP27, MSG:70/M645;1)
>>>>> Now that you mention it -- approx two weeks ago I had very bad time
""""" sending out mail. It would appear to go out okay, but the
receivers didn't receive them for two days. A day or so later, things seem
to return to normal. But this isn't the first time I've observed this --
and probably won't be the last. Btw, I mail out to a small list between
7-8am every day.
- Joachim
(J.NELSON56, CAT35, TOP27, MSG:73/M645;1)
>>>>> Not trying to make excuses for Genie, but that sort of thing is an
""""" inherent problem in the whole Internet system.
Dean sent me a very important, or at least very time critical, file
yesterday. I was having problems with my local ISP (thier server was down
for "unscheduled" maintenance, i.e. it broke :), so I asked him to send it
to me not only at my local ISP adress, but also to my Genie mailbox.
I needed the file by 9PM. It arrived on BOTH my local ISP and Genie
after midnight. I was on the phone with Dean when he sent it out, at about
5PM. It got held up somewhere along the way for over 7 hours.
I've seen this happen more times than I can count, from all sorts of
places, and for periods of up to 3 days.
(I called Dean at 8:40 and had him dictate the information to me,
took about 5 minutes. :)
Gary R. Utter
(GARY.UTTER, CAT35, TOP27, MSG:74/M645;1)
YOU CAN'T MAKE 'EM THINK Before I became the Apple 2 Librarian of our
"""""""""""""""""""""""" local Users Group I too, had problems with
"unauthorized" access.
This came in the form of software copied from my machine during my
abscence from a "What's New for the Apple IIgs" SIG. "Guard Dog" stopped
that!
On one occasion, I was asked for a copy of Seven Hills' Spectrum.
The "exchange" went something like this:
"Hey, can I get a copy of that program?"
"Why sure! Here's the '800' number of the place where I got it."
"No, I mean now, from you."
"Hey, I just got this program! I haven't even finished reading all
of the manual! But OK, since you're a member, here you go. I guess with
the shipping and handling it came to 'round-abouts $80.00.", says I, with
palm out.
"No, I meant to get a COPY, from you NOW."
The light slowly dawns... "You mean you want ME to give you FREE
something which just cost ME $80.00?"
"Well, yeah..."
The light becomes (sharp) as a knife... "I tell you what, give me
$40.00 and I'll give you half of the package; either the manual or the
disks, which-ever you want."
"Well! If you're gonna be THAT way about it, NEVER MIND!"
___(2___ "The Un-Dead Apple"
/ , _`' _\
\)|(@)m(_, Mike Brouillette / M.BROUILLET1@genie.com
~7ooood' Via: Spectrum / CoPilot - Genie's offline message manager
(M.BROUILLET1, CAT42, TOP11, MSG:56/M645;1)
RAMFAST FOR THE APPLE IIe Current Notes on RamFasts in //e's:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
SS does sell a RamFast specifically for the //e. It is called the
RamFast E and when you order it _spell out_ that you want the RamFast FOR
the //e. Make sure they understand this.
The RamFast E will work in a 1 MHz enhanced //e, in a Tranwarped
(original 3.6 MHz) enhanced //e, or even in a Rom3 GS with a ZipGS. I've
got one and have tried it in all three. It works great.
BUT, the RamFast E absolutely, positively, will NOT work in an
enhanced //e with a 8 MHz Zip Chip. Very disappointing. However...
On July 15, I ordered two more RamFasts - one RamFast GS for another
Rom3, and one RamFast E =with Zip Mod= for an enhanced //e with 8 MHz Zip
Chip.
I still haven't received the order, but have been informed that
everything is still on track. If I get this thing and it works, I'll post
it here.
Remember, if you order one, _spell out_ if it is for the //e and
_spell out_ that it needs to have the Zip mod, if you are using an 8 MHz
Zip Chip in your //e.
Hugh...
(H.HOOD, CAT20, TOP13, MSG:30/M645;1)
PUBLISH IT! TRIVIA Perhaps someone has noticed already: All those PI 4
"""""""""""""""""" font names are cities / suburbs within the scope of
someone living in Chicago or on the Chicago North Shore of Lake Michigan.
:) Does this help in deciphering? I doubt it.
Jim, in Munich
(J.DWYER8, CAT8, TOP18, MSG:101/M645;1)
WHERE WOULD THEY BE WITHOUT US? A few days ago at work, we received an
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" e-mail press release at the newspaper
where I work that had an attached file with the same BinHex message.
Nobody seemed to know how to decode it. The more savvy computer folks were
unavailable, and therefore no help.
So I stepped in, copied the file to disk, and brought it home with
me. I used Hermes to strip the control characters, and Spectrum v2.1 to
decode the BinHex file.
I returned it the next morning, loaded it back into our system, and
the file was ready for use.
"Gee," our city editor said, "do you have some sort of SuperComputer
at home?"
"Why, yes," I said. "I have an Apple IIGS." :)
Don't you just love it when that happens!
Max
(M.JONES145, CAT35, TOP15, MSG:203/M645;1)
>>> HOT TOPICS <<<
""""""""""""""""""
PARTS TO SPEED UP YOUR ZIP GS More good news for ZipGSx owners!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The chips I posted about recently are testing out even more
consistently than my original optimism predicted!!
This means that I'm not having to absorb as large a washout rate I
anticipated, so I can afford to offer the chip sets at a reduced price!
At this point I have found that every set I test with this
combination of chips will do at least 15 mhz when tested in a known good
equipment combination of Rom01 GS, Sequential 4meg card, RamFast 3.01f
SCSI, and 16mhz capable ZipGS card.
Therefor I am modifying my pricing and set specification structure as
follows:
1. Rather than offer sets tested at the full spectrum of speeds, I
will simply offer sets tested to work in my system at 14mhz (cuts
my testing labor costs too :)
2. Pricing for these sets will be $50 for 64k or $30 for 32k.
3. Sets still consist of a 600mil (wide) Data chip, and a 300mil
(narrow) Tag chip for each 32k.
Once again the reminder that it took me over a year of searching
(with the help of other A2 friends on Genie) to locate a suitable batch of
Data chips for reliable operation above 12mhz, so I hope all of you who
dream of speed will get in on this deal while the supply lasts.
Permission is granted for anyone who desires to repost this message
on other services, the internet, or local BBS's. encouraged even :)
Doug Pendleton, Zip Technology OnLine Technical Support
e-mail Doug.P@Genie.com
(DOUG.P, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:40/M645;1)
<<<<< Still More GOOD news for ZipGSx owners!
"""""
Need a fast 65C816 chip for your Zip (or TWGS) ?
You can still order 65C816-14 PLCC package chips direct from WDC for
$19.80 each plus S&H....
Or you can now order them from me for $15 each, S&H (USPS Priority
First Class) included. If you need 2 or more add $12 each for additional
chips ordered at the same time.
Permission is granted to repost this message on other services, the
internet, and local BBS's. encouraged even :)
Doug Pendleton, Zip Technology OnLine Technical Support
e-mail: Doug.P@Genie.com
(DOUG.P, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:41/M645;1)
>>>>> OK. Let's see if I got this straight... To speed up my ZipGS, I
""""" need to:
1. Get 64K RAM chips that will hit at least 14Mhz from Doug for $50.
2. Modify my Zip to take the wide and narroe chips.
3. Get a new 65C816-14 chip from Doug for $15.
4. Purchase oscillators for 14MHz and possibly a bit faster to see
how fast I can push it ;) I assume I can get these from any
'good' electronics supply place, right?
If that's it, I just have the hard part to do: find some cash for it
all :)
Brian Wells
(B.WELLS5, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:44/M645;1)
>>>>> (please excuse my full quoting of the original msg :
"""""
BW>> OK. Let's see if I got this straight... To speed up my ZipGS, I need
BW>> to:
BW>> 1. Get 64K RAM chips that will hit at least 14Mhz from Doug for $50.
BW>> 2. Modify my Zip to take the wide and narroe chips.
(sic :)
BW>> 3. Get a new 65C816-14 chip from Doug for $15.
So far, so good :-)
BW>> 4. Purchase oscillators for 14MHz and possibly a bit faster to see
BW>> how fast I can push it ;) I assume I can get these from any 'good'
BW>> electronics supply place, right?
Even though Doug is selling parts that he has personally hand-testing
and qualified for 14Mhz operation, this does -NOT- mean that a person using
these parts can 100% of the time expect to achive 14Mhz operation!
There are =MANY= variables that affect the maximum reliable speed of
a Zip or TWGS. Doug is addressing the points that he can address; some of
the others include:
1) Total bus loading and noise in the target machine
2) Other cards in the target machine that generate serious RFI (which
can cause interference between cards)
3) "Stiffness" of the power supply (as seen at the slot connectors)
4) The maximum speed capabilities of the individual chips on the
specific Zip or TWGS that is being sped up. (varies due to
manufacturing tolerances, microscopic dust particals and 'loose'
dopeant molecules floating in the silicon furnace that the chips
were made in, etc. ad-nausem)
5) The absolute contaminant levels in the material used to make the
PC board itself (including contaminants in the solder mask
coating), as well as the amount of 'under-edge etching' that
occured on the traces of the specific board in question durring
manufacture.
The above is meant -ONLY- to document the fact that different people
-will- have different end results, caused by factors -WAY- outside of their
control as well as =WAY= outside of Doug's control.
=Personally= I would start off witrh a 48Mhz oscillator (12Mhz CPU
speed) and work up from there. It is my -personal- experience that usually
12Mhz is a 'plug-and-play' improvement, but 12.5Mhz and above may involve
some additional tweaks. (note: I have run into Zips and TWGSs that flat
would not run reliably over 8Mhz, regardless of the parts used, as well as
boards that would do 18Mhz with plug-in-only chip changes. Your milage is
likely to vary as wildly (or more) as mine)
BW>> If that's it, I just have the hard part to do: find some cash for
BW>> it all :)
In =my= personal opinion, the risks of not being able to achive 12Mhz
reliable operation pale in light of the performance improvement that one
will see at 12Mhz, and the likelyhood of >12Mhz is, in my personal
experience, so high that the cost shouldn't be a consideration :-)
I simply want everyone to be -aware- of the fact that their results
=will= vary from what they may expect due to factors that -nobody- can
predict with any accuracy. Doug is, IMHO, going =WAY= 'beyond the call of
duty' in hand qualifying chips for 14Mhz operation, and he should =NOT= be
held responsible =BY ANYONE= for results that are less than 14Mhz.
-Harold
Resident Solder Slinger
Live Free or Die - New Hampshire state motto
(HAROLD.H, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:45/M645;1)
<<<<< Brian
"""""
That's about the total of what you would likely need..
I can supply oscillators at $5 each, and the necessary socket
material for the narrow Tag chips and oscillator for $5 when included with
a chip order.
Right now I only have 10, 12.5, and 15, and 16 mhz oscillators
available, but I'm negotiating bulk purchase of some other values...
Doug Pendleton, Zip Technology OnLine Support
A2 Hardware Help, A2 Promotions and Public Relations Manager
Delivered by: ProTerm 3.1 and CoPilot v2.5.5 Offline Genie Message Manager
(DOUG.P, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:46/M645;1)
<<<<< > Even though Doug is selling parts that he has personally
""""" > hand-testing and qualified for 14Mhz operation, this does -NOT-
> mean that a person using these parts can 100% of the time expect
> to achive 14Mhz operation!
Absolutely!! true, and I've tried _real_ hard to make sure that is
understood by everyone!
for example:
If you have an AE GS-RAM+ with -12 (120 nanosecond chips) it is very
unlikely that you will get operation above 8 or 9mhz.
If you have a true ROM 00 Woz, upgraded to ROM 01 by chip changes and
audio fix, rather than by mother board swap you won't get operation above 7
or 8mhz.
At higher speeds _every_ component in the system becomes more
critical, and a slow memory chip or switch state transition in any one of
them can defeat high speed operation.
What the hand-tested chips do is let you subtract the Zip Cache
memory from the list of things responsible for difficulties. _if_ your Zip
card, and all aspects of your system will do 14mhz, these chips will
support it! more than that I can not control.
Doug Pendleton, Zip Technology OnLine Support
Delivered by: ProTerm 3.1 and CoPilot v2.5.5 Offline Genie Message Manager
(DOUG.P, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:52/M645;1)
YOU'LL NOTICE THERE'S NO "BEST BEFORE" DATE... there can't be a tool
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" which tells when the IIGS
was made, 'cause the information isn't stored in battery RAM on the IIGS.
The date which TechTool shows isn't necessarily the date, the Mac was
made on. When a Mac is switched on for the first time, you probably go into
the Date/Time control panel and set the clock and the date. This date is
recorded in the PRAM and shown as manufacture date. From then on, the time
the Mac is on, is incremented in five-minute-segments, stored in the PRAM
and shown as hours by TechTool.
Udo - ... with the IIGS into the next millennium -
(U.HUTH, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:260/M645;1)
>>>>> Actually, there's a code on the IIGS motherboard that shows when it
""""" was manufactured.
It's right above the RAM expmasion slot and to the right of the Fast
RAM, and it looks like it's stamped in black ink.
I'm looking at my old GS motherboard as I type this, and the "F8712"
indicates that it was made in 1987. I'm not sure, however, whether the 12
indicates that it was made in the 12th week, or the 12th month, of 1987.
I think it's week, as I did buy the GS in early 1987.
Joe
(JOE.KOHN, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:261/M645;1)
>>>>> Mine says A8740, so it must indeed be week. This isn't my original
""""" board, so I can't use the sales date as a check.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech
cknoblo@novia.net
(C.KNOBLOCK, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:264/M645;1)
>>>>> Does anyone know what the first letter indicates
"""""
(JOE.KOHN, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:266/M645;1)
>>>>> My guess would be the factory where it was made
"""""
Jeff Carr
(LUMITECH, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:269/M645;1)
>>>>> That's the GPA of the electrical engineer that tested your
""""" motherboard for flaws at the factory. ;)
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd
Logicware, Inc.
(SHEPPY, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:270/M645;1)
APPLE IIGS--THE ONE TO EMULATE The following information has been added
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" as a link from the Gus Link Home Page,
which can be found at:
<http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/gus.html>
or
<http://www.primenet.com/~adams/gus.html>
The Gus News Mail List is Online!
The developers of Gus at Apple have set up a list server for Gus
Information Dissemination. To subscribe to the Mail List, send an email
message to gus@apple.com following the instructions below. Those of you who
already have Gus (and you know who you are) can now send feedback about Gus
to gus-feedback@apple.com.
___________________________________________________________________
Subscribing to the Mail List (follow these instructions explicitly :)
The currently accepted commands are the following and all must appear in
the *BODY* of the message. You can send multiple commands, each in one line
finishing with END.
SUBSCRIBE gus-news Your_FirstName Your_LastName
Subscribes you to the list called gus-news.
UNSUBSCRIBE gus-news
Unsubscribes you from the list called gus-news.
Other commands for the Mail List:
LIST
Shows the lists served at this site.
REVIEW gus-news
Shows the list of user currently subscribing to
gus-news.
HELP
Sends this message.
INFO gus-news
Send information on the list
INDEX gus-news
Shows a list of documents available for GET
SEARCH gus-news Key_Word
Searches the documents for a key_word
GET gus-news File_Name
Retrieves the document called File_Name
SET gus-news OPTION
Set your subscription parameters to OPTION
Currently available options are:
(default options are indicated)
ACKN : Confirms that you sent a message to the list.
NOACKN : No Acknowledgment is sent
[Default].
CONCEAL : Hides your name from a REVIEW command
NOCONCEAL : Shows your name in a REVIEW command
[Default].
ACTIVE : Makes your subscription active
[Default]
INACTIVE : Suspends your subscription until the next
ACTIVE command.
DIGEST : Sends digests rather than individual messages
MAIL : Sends you individual messages.
[Default].
REPRO : Send a copy of the message to the sender
[Default]
NOREPRO : Does not send a copy of the message to the sender
___________________________________________________________________
(D.KERWOOD, CAT5, TOP14, MSG:238/M645;1)
<<<<< Some interesting news about Gus :
"""""
Those of you that have registered yourself on the Gus Link Home Page
<http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/gus.html> or
<http://www.primenet.com/~adams/gus.html> have received notification that
the page has had some changes to it. When you get that notification, you
also get to see how many people have signed up to register themselves on
the page. Well, after tallying up both pages, I find that there are nearly
400 people that have registered. I'm impressed. :)
Also, I've been asked about what sort of messages one could expect to
see on the Gus-news Mail List that Andy Nicholas set up the other week.
What follows is the first message from the Mail List. As always, anyone can
sign up to recieve these messages. Simply type the following command so
that it appears in the *BODY* of an email message addressed to
gus@apple.com. What's in the subject line doesn't matter:
SUBSCRIBE gus-news Your_FirstName Your_LastName
^ ^
Guess what goes here? :)
David K. - Divemaster, A2 Abyss RTC, every Sat nite at 11:00 pm Eastern
(Do NOT distribute this message unless it is reposted in its
entirety, including the message header to identify the source. Do not edit,
in other words...)
From: gus-list-master (gus-list-master@apple.com)
Date: 17-SEP-1996 15:18:31.00
To: Multiple recipients of gus-news - Sent by
Cc:
Subj: Welcome to gus-news!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the gus-news mailing list.
I checked the list-server this morning and there were about 30 people
signed up for gus-news.
So what's new?
o We have received tentative approval from Apple marketing to allow us to
make Gus available for public download as long as we don't create any
support hassles for Apple customer support lines.
o We have space on an Apple web-server. We have some web pages ready.
We could use some html to do download counting, but other than that the
pages are mostly ready. Forgive us, we're not very html-savvy.
o We're still working on Gus. Jim's Murphy and Maricondo have been very
busy on Gus over the summer. v1.0d4 will contain their work. Maricondo's
stuff is especially cool.
You can send us suggestions, comments, bugs to gus-feedback@apple.com. If
the volume gets too heavy we'll create a more specific set addresses to
route stuff more efficiently.
andy
(D.KERWOOD, CAT5, TOP14, MSG:239/M645;1)
>>>>> Gus may be getting all the attention, but it's certainly not the
""""" only Apple IIGS emulator currently being worked on. I know that for
I have seen, with my own eyes, Fast Eddie in action.
Like Gus, Fast Eddie is a PowerPC based Apple II and IIGS emulator.
Unlike Gus, Fast Eddie already emulates the Ensoniq and it can run
IIGS software that Gus can't....mainly European software that has its own
custom loader...such as FTA software.
If you haven't yet visited the Fast Eddie Home Page, you can do so by
pointing your favorite web browser at the following URL:
http://www.swix.ch/clan/shadow/eddie.html
Joe
(JOE.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:284/M645;1)
>>> WHAT'S NEW <<<
""""""""""""""""""
SPECTRUM V2.1 SHIPS Sorry for the delay, but we are NOW SHIPPING the
""""""""""""""""""" Spectrum v2.1 upgrade! If you ordered SPv2.1 or an
upgrade, be watching your mailbox--it should arrive by the end of next
week! :)
--Dave
(SEVENHILLS, CAT43, TOP15, MSG:40/M645;1)
<<<<< If you ordered the full version of SPv2.1, they will finally start
""""" shipping Wednesday. I got the disks done last week, just in time
to hear about all the resource problems. I decided to fix them, but
couldn't get to it before tonight. The disks are now fixed, so we'll start
shipping the full versions tomorrow. {I also fixed the upgrade disks for
any new upgrade orders.}
If you _RECEIVED_ Spectrum at KansasFest: You're missing the latest
ANSI, as well as a couple very minor changes to Spectrum itself. I can
email both of these items to you if you email me a request. Another
option: Send us $5 and we'll mail you a replacement disk AND the printed
addendum you missed @ KF.
Thanks, --Dave
(SEVENHILLS, CAT43, TOP15, MSG:90/M645;1)
CONTACTS GS V1.0.3 NAILS ELUSIVE BUG I just conducted an experiment, the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" results of which lead me to say: I
now know the exact scenario which causes the Contactsdata file to
become...how shall we say it...prematurely truncated.
I took my Contactsdata file and loaded it as an ASCII Text File into
AppleWorks Classic. At the end of the first record, I inserted a carriage
return. That carriage return, of course, was in addition to the normal
carriage return that separates records.
I then saved the Contactsdata file back to disk as an ASCII text
file, and sure enough, when I opened it in Contacts GS, there was one and
only one record.
So, it seems clear to me that the problem some of you are
experiencing with data loss in Contacts GS is caused by the importation of
an extra carriage return into Contacts GS. Since it's impossible to
manually enter a carriage return into a field while using the actual
Contacts NDA, the only other possible way for it to get there is via
cut/paste or copy/paste.
We now know for a fact that an AWGS DB file, if cut/pasted directly
into Contacts GS, will introduce that second carriage return, but according
to Doug Cuff (who has had data loss without using AWGS) there has to be
other GS/OS programs that will also cut/paste that second (extraneous)
carriage return. At this point, I have absolutely no idea which other
program will do that.
In any case, it just might not matter anymore.
Contacts GS v1.0.3 filters out extraneous carriage returns when
cutting/pasting data into Contacts GS. So, I think it's safe to say at
this point that the problem has been identified and fixed.
To help prove that point, I'm in Co-Pilot as I write this. I just
entered a few carriage returns in the Co-Pilot word processor, and then
cut/pasted just those carriage returns into the first record in the
Contacts NDA, and sure enough, when Contacts saved itself back to disk, the
carriage returns were filtered out.
So, at this point, I think we nailed down the problem and fixed it.
Joe Kohn
(JOE.KOHN, CAT28, TOP5, MSG:75/M645;1)
500 MEGABYTE INTERNAL HARD DRIVE NEWS Flash! (Really)
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Hold on to your hard drives! This one is gonna make 'em run for
cover!!
Genie & User Group Special:
Limited Quantity (I have about 50 of them)
Focus 500 Meg utilizing a Western Digital WDAL2540 Drive Mech.
For the completly insanly incredible price of:
X
XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX
XX X XX XX XX XX XX XX XX X X X X
XX XX XX XX XX XXXXX XXXXX
XXX XX XXXXXX XXXXXX
XX XX XX XX XX XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XX X XX XX XX XX XX XX XX
XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XX
X
Thats $269.00 incase my horrible attempt at ASCII graphics arn't
ledgible. :)
DOS 3.3 is even supported now too!
(T.DIAZ, CAT46, TOP4, MSG:71/M645;1)
>>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
MUSIC COMPOSER V4.00 Just a note to let everyone know how Music Composer
"""""""""""""""""""" v4.00 is comming along.
It's FINISHED, well almost. I'm working on the documentation now.
At the moment of this writing I don't know of any bugs. But as I am doing
the documentation, I am checking out parts of the program. I have found a
few bugs and corrected them. So, its very possible that there are more
hidden bugs yet to be discovered.
After I'm done with the documentation I'll have to start looking for
beta testers.
Clay clay1@primenet.com
WWW: http:/www.primenet.com/~clay1
FTP: ftp.primenet.com directory users/c/clay1
Warning! Opinions will change due to new information.
(C.JUNIEL, CAT6, TOP19, MSG:147/M645;1)
LEMMINGS An e-mail arrived yesterday, in somewhat broken English (so I'm
"""""""" not entirely sure what it meant), but it sounded like Brutal
Deluxe's LemminGS is almost done. I was instructed to watch my e-mailbox
next Thursday.
(JOE.KOHN, CAT28, TOP6, MSG:185/M645;1)
MICRODRIVE/TURBO CARD BTW, Joachim Lange of ///SHH Systems has developed
""""""""""""""""""""" a new controller card. It's called the
Microdrive/Turbo.
You can attach IDE HD drives of up to 2 Gigabyte capacity to it, can
make as many partitions as you want or one large HFS partition. And this
thing is faster than ever. Pricing is not available yet.
Udo - ... with the IIGS into the next millennium -
(U.HUTH, CAT46, TOP4, MSG:74/M645;1)
>>>>> Product information, photographs, and specifications for these
""""" items can be found at the ///SHH Systeme home page:
<http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/shh.html>
- Turbo IDE Card hard disk controller
- MicroDrive Card hard disk controller
- BlueDisk Card floppy disk controller
- Transwarp GS 32K cache ("second source")
When I get the info from Joachim on the Microdrive/Turbo, it will be
included there as well.
(D.KERWOOD, CAT46, TOP4, MSG:75/M645;1)
WOLFENSTEIN 3-D IIGS Wolfenstein 3D is coming!
""""""""""""""""""""
<<<<< Prepare for the onslaught
"""""
<<<<< And storm the Castle Wolfenstein
"""""
<<<<< *** CHRISTMAS 1996 *
"""""
(SHEPPY, CAT13, TOP5, MSGS:1-4/M645;1)
<<<<< There is now an official source for information about the Apple
""""" IIgs version of Wolfenstein 3D on the World Wide Web (the best
information will still be here on Genie :).
Visit http://www.logicware.com/wolf3d_gs.html.
Please note that any information you get anywhere other than that
page or directly from myself is not necessarily true or accurate. In other
words, don't go looking to people that typically distribute
less-than-responsible information for Wolf 3D news.
Sheppy
(SHEPPY, CAT13, TOP18, MSG:34/M645;1)
<<<<< Here is the official status of Wolfenstein 3D IIgs as of 9/16/96.
""""" It may not be reproduced or reprinted without my permission (see
below).
Version 1.0b6 of Wolfenstein 3D is expected to go to a small private
beta test group this week or early next. DO NOT ask to get added to this
list, it is a fixed list of my regular testers and is big enough already.
I intend for version 1.0b7 of Wolfenstein 3D to be the first for the
wider beta test. DO NOT ask to get added to this list, either. I'll start
taking names in a few weeks. That version will hopefully be ready for
testing by early October, but I make no promises.
At this time, version 1.0b5 is undergoing testing. Gameplay is
fully-functional.
There is now a pause mode so you can pause the game to answer the
phone or eat or sleep if you're inclined to waste good gameplaying time in
this manner.
The sound effect player is about to be ripped out and replaced with a
more efficient one; hopefully by 1.0b7, but no guarantees here.
The introductory, intermission, and victory theme music is in, and
has been enhanced noticeably since it was demoed at KansasFest in July.
Many bugs are fixed. :)
We also have some new art.
The 1.0b6 version will have a nice display letting you know that
resizing the screen takes a while, and updated music, as well as more bugs
fixed and possibly gameplay music as well.
If you wish to reproduce this notice, you must do so in its entirety,
without distortion or alteration, and you must get permission; we've had
too much trouble with people making up stuff about this game, and it's time
for the misinformation to stop. :)
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Logicware, Inc.
(SHEPPY, CAT13, TOP5, MSG:7/M645;1)
>>>>> > What is Wolfenstein 3D ? If it is written by you Sheppy it HAS
""""" > to be good but I don't know what it is!
Nope, Wolfenstein 3D is originally (PC version) from id Software; GS
version by "Burger" Bill Heineman. Unfortunately, 90% does not a game
make, so some of us Apple II'ers at Logicware (primarily Eric) have been
finishing it up (unfortunately, mostly in our spare time, which hasn't been
very common of late).
I spoke with Bill last week and he indicated he may find time to
write a custom sound driver for it soon (but knowing Bill's busy schedule,
I'm not holding my breath; much more likely to come out of other people at
Logicware at this point).
-G.T. Barnabas
(BARNABAS, CAT13, TOP18, MSG:48/M645;1)
<<<<< The Wolfenstein 3D home page, in about five minutes, will have a
""""" QuickTime movie available which demonstrates a short bit of Wolf 3D
IIgs gameplay. If you have Netscape Navigator 3.0 with the QuickTime
plugin, this means you can even watch Wolfenstein 3D in your browser.
The URL is http://www.logicware.com/wolf3d_gs.html
Sheppy
(SHEPPY, CAT13, TOP5, MSG:9/M645;1)
>>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
Category 2, Topic 24
Message 220 Mon Sep 23, 1996
M.WADE7 [Mark] at 23:10 EDT
I found a package from Apple Computer, Inc. waiting for me when I got
home today. Inside was a pen and keychain and a letter that begins:
Dear Mr. Wade:
Thank you for your birthday wishes to the Apple IIgs. ...
stuff ... more stuff... and...
I will track down some of the engineers who worked on the
Apple II designs to pass on your card.
They spent 78 cents postage too.
:)
Mark Wade
[*][*][*]
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 GenieLamp 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.
[EOA]
[HUM]//////////////////////////////
HUMOR ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
An Apple II Parody
""""""""""""""""""
by Steven Weyhich
[104024.432@compuserve.com]
>>> HARD DISK LOVE SONG <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Copyright 1993 by Steven Weyhrich
(to the tune of "Dizzy", with apologies to Tommy Roe)
(just remember that in computer circles, "SCSI" is pronounced "scuzzy")
SCSI!
I'm so SCSI, my disk is spinnin'
Like a FOR/NEXT, it never ends
And it's you, ][, makin' it spin
You're making me SCSI!
When first I saw your processor
I knew that I just had to make you mine
But it was hard to "talk" to you
With DOS 3 hanging 'round you all the time
With me you'd have some power, yet
You kept playing hard to get
Goin' around in circles all the time!
SCSI!
I'm so SCSI, my disk is spinnin'
Like a FOR/NEXT, it never ends
And it's you, ][, makin' it spin
You're making me SCSI!
(Boom boom bah! Ba-doom boom bah! Ba-doom boom bah! ba-da-ba-da
ba-da-ba-da)
I finally got hooked up to you,
And told you just exactly how I felt
And then you shared your RAM with me,
BSAVEd it, and my bits began to melt
][, you've got control of me,
And I'm so SCSI I can't see
We need to call CAT.DOCTOR for some help!
SCSI, my disk is spinnin'
Like a FOR/NEXT, it never ends
And it's you, ][, makin' it spin
You're making me SCSI!
(repeat and fade)
[EOA]
[BAN]//////////////////////////////
FILE BANDWAGON /
/////////////////////////////////
Top 10 Files for August
"""""""""""""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
[D.CUFF]
This feature lists the ten most popular files for the month. To give
files a chance to seek their own levels, no files will be added to the list
until they've been in place at least a month. This month, we look at the
files uploaded 1-31 August 1996.
This isn't the Academy Awards ceremony, folks; it's more like the
People's Choice Awards (both of which are trademarked, by the way). The
Top 10 doesn't necessarily tell you what's new and interesting--what files
_you_ might find interesting--it simply tells you what files have been
downloaded a lot--what other people found interesting!
File # Filename Bytes DLs Short description
------ --------------- ------ --- -------------------------------------
27681 LAMBDA.DEMO.BXY 185088 81 Operation Lambda Demo
27601 CASTLE.3200.BXY 31232 66 Color scanned photo of a castle.
27519 FS1.BXY 16768 59 FlameStation 1.0 for the IIgs!
27555 TAGSAMP.BXY 75264 59 Sample Disk/The AppleWorks Gazette
27662 GUS.8.PAUG.BXY 22272 55 The PAUG transcript of the Gus RTC
27612 PT3.SETTIME.BNY 5828 47 ProTERM 3.1 macro: sets the GS clock
27520 ALMP9608.AW.BXY 73728 40 GenieLamp A2, Aug. 1996 (AppleWorks)
27654 LAMBDA.TXT 1920 39 Operation Lambda press release
27682 SEPT96.DESK.BXY 103216 38 Desktop INIs for September 1996.
27578 CINDY.GIF 152300 37 Cindy Adams at KFest '96
LAMBDA.DEMO.BXY Demonstration version of Bret "Slixter" Victor's new IIgs
""""""""""""""" action/logic game, Operation Lambda. The demo version
has the first 10 levels (of the 100 levels that come with the full-blown
version of the game). This file is reviewed in this month's TREASURE HUNT
column (below). The author seems to be claiming that the demo is
shareware, but no dollar amount is mentioned, except for the full version
($25). Presumably this demo is freeware.
CASTLE.3200.BXY This 3200-color graphic shows a castle "somewhere in
""""""""""""""" Europe". It was taken on a digitial camera by Swedish
IIgs user Martin Landhage, processed as a Seattle Filmworks (.SFW format)
file, converted into .PCX format (using a IBM-compatible computer), and
finally converted into a 3200 Apple Preferred Format file by Brutal
Deluxe's Convert 3200 program. Freeware.
FS1.BXY FlameStation v1.0 by Henrik Gudat automatically generates random
""""""" insulting messages--also known as "flames"--for your amusement
and enjoyment. The point of program is _not_ to generate messages for you
to post but rather to underline how absurd the whole process of flaming is.
FlameStation has a number of settings to help you customize your flames.
(NOTE: Because of the vulgar language used by FlameStation, this file is
in library 57, which is an "adults only" library. If you can't find the
file, then you probably don't have access to that library.) Freeware.
TAGSAMP.BXY A sample of The AppleWorks Gazette, a disk-based magazine
""""""""""" from Christian Serreau and Howard Katz. This sample issue
contains:
o Seven Features I Wish I Had in AppleWorks 5.1
o Software Review: One Touch Commands
o Deja ][: AppleWorks on the Mac--A First Look [Ryan Suenaga]
o How to Modify the AppleWorks Default Macros [Will Nelken]
o Inside AppleWorks: AppleWorks Segments
This file doesn't just include sample articles... there is also
software: new applications and updates for AppleWorks! Freeware.
GUS.8.PAUG.BXY Transcript of the PAUG meeting of August 18, 1996, which
"""""""""""""" featured a discussion of Gus, the IIgs emulator for the
Power Macintosh. This file contains plenty of details not discussed in
Genie's A2 RoundTable Bulletin Board! Freeware.
PT3.SETTIME.BNY V1.2 These ProTERM macros from Brian D. Wells are
""""""""""""""""""""" designed to call up the National Institute of
Standards and Technology's Automated Computer Time Service in Colorado, USA
and set the clock on the Apple IIgs. Requires ProTERM 3.1. Freeware.
ALMP9608.AW.BXY The August 1996 issue of GenieLamp A2, in AppleWorks word
""""""""""""""" processor format. Featured articles:
o FILE MECHANIC: New Files From Old (Gillian's Bunny Game)
o REFRACTIONS: The Disposable Computer
o PD_QUICKVIEW: Beagle Basic
o HUMOR ONLINE: Print Some Fonts (a song parody)
Freeware.
LAMBDA.TXT The press release for the Operation Lamda demo
"""""""""" (LAMBDA.DEMO.BXY, above). Gives ordering information for the
game. Freeware.
SEPT96.DESK.BXY A collection 15 desktop INIs, a few specific to September
""""""""""""""" 1996, plus several more that can be used year 'round:
o APPLECAKE.INI: birthday cake for the Apple IIgs's tenth birthday
o APPLECAKE2.INI: another version of above
o BUS.SEPT96B.INI: four schoolbuses and a calendar for Sept. 1996
o BUSCOLORCB.INI: four schoolbuses (no calendar)
o COLORAPPLEA.INI: 8 multicolored Apple logos
o COLORAPPLEB.INI: another version of above
o COLORAPPLEC.INI: yet another version of above
o COLORAPPLED.INI: still another version of above
o COLORAPPLEE.INI: final version of above
o ISHDRIVE.INI: green Information SuperHighway sign (please drive
carefully)
o ISHNOEXIT.INI: another green Information SuperHighway sign (no
exits)
o IWEB.INI: computer-generated graphic, predominantly black, white,
and green, headed World Wide Web
o SEPT.LG3.INI: a large calendar for the Sept. 1996, with an Apple
logo appearing on Sept. 15 (the tenth birthday of the Apple IIgs)
o WEB.INI: another computer-generated graphic, much more colorful
than IWEB.INI, above
o WOZGATES.INI: nice clip-art pictures of Stephen Wozniak and Bill
Gates; Woz is captioned "This is your computer" and Gates is
captioned "This is your computer on drugs"--"Any questions?"
Freeware.
CINDY.GIF This is a color GIF of Cindy Adams at KansasFest 1996, seated
""""""""" in Avila college cafeteria, wearing the only pink KFest '96
T-shirt. Freeware.
[EOA]
[RWA]//////////////////////////////
THE REAL WORLD APPLE /
/////////////////////////////////
Connecting to the World Outside
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Peter C. Brickell
[P.BRICKELL]
>>> PART 2: TIMERS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""
Last month I describe some of the project that I have built to use my
Apple IIs in the "real world"--that is, my apartment. In this installment
I am going to describe one of the simplest type of interfacing of all--the
timer.
Really timing software is not interfacing in itself, but you will
need to know how to write timing routines in Applesoft for using or
enhancing many of the devices that I will describe later as we teach our
Apples how to reach out beyond their familiar beige bodies. I promise not
to digress into programming very often, but when I do, it will be very
simple Applesoft. Bear with me this time, and your patience will be
rewarded.
The need for a timing program came to me when my trusty old darkroom
timer gave out. I quickly needed a replacement at less than the price of a
new television. I had once read an article in a photographic magazine by a
gentleman who had programmed his hand-held Texas Instruments calculator to
time his long view camera exposures in the field. He had included a couple
of lines of code in his article, so I dug it out.
Luckily the program was in BASIC and was very simple (in other words,
I could understand it!). The key part to any timing program is to make the
Apple do something "useless" repeatedly until enough time has elapsed.
After this you make the program do something "useful", such as beeping the
speaker or turning some device on or off.
The easiest way to make a computer waste its time is simply to have
it repeat program instructions over and over again. A very simply FOR-NEXT
loop will achieve this.
10 FOR X = 1 TO 10: PRINT: NEXT X
This line will execute the PRINT command 10 times. In fact, it will
also execute the FOR and NEXT commands 10 times as well. This all takes
the Apple a little time to accomplish. Not much time, mind you, but a
finite, reproducible amount. You can simplify this code a little by
omitting the PRINT statement, since the FOR and NEXT take some time to
execute on their own.
10 FOR X = 1 TO 760: NEXT X
This line of code will repeat the FOR and NEXT instructions 760 times
before exiting the loop. Conveniently, this takes about one second on and
non-accelerated 8-bit Apple (][, ][+, //e, //c). If you put a PRINT
CHR$(7) on a line following it, you will hear the Apple's speaker beep
approximately one second after starting the program. Try it for yourself.
You can see now how this can form the basic building block of a timer
program. If you nest this loop inside another one which executes 60 times
before finishing, you will have a one minute timer.
10 FOR Y = 1 TO 60
20 FOR X = 1 TO 760: NEXT X: REM ONE SECOND DELAY LOOP
30 NEXT Y: REM ONE MINUTE DELAY LOOP
40 PRINT CHR$(7): REM BEEPS THE SPEAKER
50 END
You can see how an additional loop could be added to run the minute
timer 60 times to give an hour, and so on.
What can you do with this, other than time eggs if you Apple happens
to be near your stove? Good question. This is where my first bit of
hardware interfacing comes in. It actually uses the ubiquitous joystick or
paddles that are part of almost every older Apple II system.
There is a somewhat obscure command in Applesoft which causes a
program to pause in mid-stream until one of the game paddle or joystick
buttons is pressed. Sensibly enough it is called WAIT. The command can be
used with any of the three push buttons available on the Apple. Yes, I
said THREE buttons. The third one is built into the game port connector
but is rarely used. For now we will only worry about the two which are
found on most game controls.
5 WAIT -16260,0 : REM WAIT UNTIL BUTTON 0 IS PUSHED
10 FOR Y = 1 TO 60
20 FOR X = 1 TO 760: NEXT X: REM ONE SECOND DELAY LOOP
30 NEXT Y: REM ONE MINUTE DELAY LOOP
40 PRINT CHR$(7): REM BEEPS THE SPEAKER
50 END
Now this little program will wait until push button 0 is pressed
before executing a one minute delay and beeping the speaker. (The three
buttons are named 0, 1, and 2.) Now we are starting to have something
really useful here. The Apple is able to wait for your command and then
start a timing sequence for you. In actuality, the "button" can be
"pushed" by some external electronic device as easily as by a human. The
Apple doesn't know the difference, as long as something or someone
completes an electrical circuit connected to the push button lines. The
power of this combination of hardware and software should be apparent.
The electrical connections necessary to have something else "push the
button" is beyond the scope of this installment. For now however, you
should be able to use your game controls to start (and stop) the Apple
running programs and to have some moderately accurate timing done by the
computer. This is all I used for my darkroom timer replacement. I simply
allowed input of a variable for a third level of loop to control how many
times the one minute loop was repeated before the beep was sounded. I
fitted an extension cable to my joystick and put it on my darkroom bench.
Presto! A simple darkroom timer. The Apple's monitor could even be turned
off (a good plan in a darkroom!) since the end of the time interval was
audible. I've added lots of bells and whistles to the program over the
years, but these are left as an exercise for the reader.
I have a couple of notes before concluding this segment. First, you
will need to adjust the "760" number in the one second timing loop to get
accurate timing. This is a good stating point however. Any of you who try
this with an accelerated Apple will need to either turn off the accelerator
for this, or adjust the number to a higher value depending on the speed of
your system. Remember, the whole idea is to slow the Apple down! Finally,
you should be aware that the WAIT command is actually very generic. The
general format is:
WAIT X,Y
where the program execution halts until memory location X reaches numerical
value Y. It just so happens that the memory location used in the above
example drops to zero when push button 0 is depressed. This may be more
than some of you wanted to know about WAIT, but if all you wanted to do was
turn on your computer and use it, you would be driving a PC, right?
Next installment: How to measure temperatures with your Apple II.
[EOA]
[HUN]//////////////////////////////
THE TREASURE HUNT /
/////////////////////////////////
Yours For the Downloading
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
[D.CUFF]
This month, I want to look at three files--two recent ones and a
golden oldie. I'm pleased to note that two of the files are for the 8-bit
Apple II users out there!
[*][*][*]
File #27681: LAMBDA.DEMO.BXY (185088 bytes)
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Operation Lambda by Bret "Slixter" Victor is an all-new, original
game for the Apple IIgs. As the documentation stresses, "It is not a port
or conversion." If this demonstration version is anything to go by,
Operation Lambda is a clear winner!
In the Lambda demo, you maneuver through rooms attempting to save 2-5
hostages. Some of the hostages (who are always static, not moving) are
easily accessible, while others are protected by a laser. You can shut off
the lasers, deflect them with mirrors, or stop them with stones. You have
to be careful not to run into any of the laser beams, or deflect them onto
a hostage. Once you've collected all the hostages, you can head for the
escape hatch, which takes you to the next room.
I love this demo, and am saving my pennies to be able to afford the
$25 price tag of the full-blown version. The demo has just 10 levels (the
complete version has 100) but they really whet your appetite for the game.
The demo levels are comparatively easy--they represent the first 10 from
the full game--but that didn't lessen the enjoyment for me one bit.
I didn't much care for The Tinies, which is in some way
similar--strategy puzzles plus a time limit--but I find the Lambda demo
enthralling. I have already played the same 10 levels at least four times!
I hope I can raise the price of the full game before Bret Victor becomes
disappointed with the IIgs games-playing community.
File #27889: RECRDTIMER1.BXY (33152 bytes)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
RecordTimer v1.0 by R. Hardman is that increasing rarity--a _new_
useful 8-bit program. (It does require an enhanced IIe, IIc, or IIgs.) It
exists because of the simple yet irrefutable position that "time math" is
an aggravation. What do you get when you add 3 minutes 42 seconds and 2
minutes 39 seconds? An intense desire to be somewhere else; that's what
you get.
RecordTimer is a utility for those who like to make tapes and want to
know if they can cram just one more song on a side. It allows you to enter
the times and names of up to 20 tracks per side, and keeps a running total
of the total time used and total time remaining (or time overflow) as you
do so. You can select from 60, 90, and 120-minute tapes, shift tracks from
one side of the tape to the other, and sort alphabetically or length of
track. It doesn't allow printing of the data, but the documentation
encourages you to import the data into the AppleWorks data base. When you
do so, you're faced with an extra category (time in seconds) that
RecordTimer doesn't display, but otherwise, things go reasonably smoothly.
This simple, useful utility requires Alan Bird's ProBASIC (which is
included) to run. Its user interface is extremely smooth, except for the
annoyance of having to enter times of less than 10 minutes with an initial
0. It allows 33 characters per track title, which has proved long enough
to fit even my longest title so far ("Still Crazy After All These Years").
The only improvements I can think of are a feature to blank an entire
cassette--Open-Apple-Zap?--and a check to be sure that you want to
overwrite a file when using Save As.
On the whole, R. Hardman has done a great job with this unpretentious
program. Now if we could just persuade him to abandon his reticence and
give himself a credit line for the program, either in the documentation or
the program itself.
File #16945: BOARD.THREE.BXY (44160 bytes)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This a collection of ten games are written in Applesoft BASIC. The
thing that puzzles me about this archive is why its name suggests that it
contains board games. Here's how I would categorize the games in this
collection:
Board Games
'''''''''''
Connection
Othello
Qubic
SuperNim
Card Games
''''''''''
Acey-Deucy
Concentration
Fizzbin
Computer Games
''''''''''''''
StopIt
Troll's Gold
I suppose it's just barely possible that StopIt and Troll's Gold are
based on board games. In that case, all I can say in my defense is that
I've never heard of them.
However, who really cares what class a game belongs to? Let's look
at how much fun each one is:
ACEY.DUCEY.CARD Acey-Deucy is a simple card game (not to be confused with
''''''''''''''' the backgammon-like game, which would qualify as a board
game). In it, you are dealt three cards--two face up and one face down.
You then place a bet if you think the third card is likely to fall between
the values of the first two cards. For example, if a 3 and 6 are showing,
you'd be unwise to make a large bet, since the chances are small that the
third card is a 4 or a 5.
This version uses lo-res cards, and is at least engaging. Grade: B-
CONCENTRATION In its original form, Concentration (or Memory) was a card
''''''''''''' game in which you laid out all 52 cards, face down. Each
player turns over two cards at a time in an attempt to find a pair. A good
spatial memory is clearly an asset.
In this version, there are 36 squares drawn on the colorful lo-res
board. Each of two players can use either the keyboard or a joystick to
select the square to turn over--the user interface is well done. Once a
square is turned over, a small colorful picture is revealed. Many pictures
have sounds effects or simple animation, and a few have both.
Of the games in this collection, Concentration is clearly the best.
It's colorful and fun. A good game for children and adults. Grade: A
CONNECTION.A In this game, you attempt to place four markers in a row on
'''''''''''' a 7x7 board. Whenever you place a marker in a column, it
slides down to the bottom--which is another way of saying that you can only
place a marker in an empty column, or on top of another marker.
This game uses the lo-res graphics screen. Despite the fact that the
markers are referred to as "checkers", they are not a drab black or white
but a colorful red or yellow. It automatically tells you when a player has
won, but does not indicate how.
There's nothing terribly wrong either with the game or the
implementation, but there's nothing particularly right about it, either.
Grade: C
FIZZ.BIN Fizzbin is a card game based on the wholly extemporaneous rules
'''''''' devised by Captain Kirk in the _Star Trek_ episode "A Piece of
the Action". In the scene where he rapidly devises Fizzbin, Kirk is trying
desperately to confuse the people to whom he is describing it. It is
therefore no surprise that figuring out how to play Fizzbin is a bit
complicated.
The program, which is text-based, does its best to explain the rules
of this four-player game. I'm afraid I never did figure out exactly how to
win, though I managed to play a few hands. (Once I automatically lost by
getting a shronk, and the next game I managed a Royal Fizzbin, which is the
best possible hand.) I think the key to winning is to remember that aces,
jacks, and sevens are good cards.
Actually devising a card game called Fizzbin is an amusing idea and
the program has an adequate user interface, but it's still not a lot of fun
to try to be less confused than a computer. Grade: C
OTHELLO.1 Othello is a board game played on an 8x8 board. The object is
''''''''' to capture your opponent's pieces and convert them to your
pieces by surrounding them with your own.
I'm not really a big fan of Othello--I've never won a game--but even
if I were, it would be hard to get excited about this implementation of it.
It uses the lo-res screen very poorly. The pieces are crude Xs and Os (not
even black and white pieces, which would be marginally better) and the
board is nothing more than a matrix of white dots indicating where the
pieces can go. The rows and columns are not labelled, so if you forget
whether it's the rows that are represented by letters and the columns by
numbers, or vice versa, you're stuck. The user interface is not a lot of
fun--you type your moves by separating the letter and number with a comma.
The rules are not explained. Grade: D
QUBIC.2 Qubic, or three-dimensional tic-tac-toe (noughts and crosses), is
''''''' represented twice in this collection, and both times on the
hi-res screen. You have four 4x4 boards, one atop the other. The object
is to get four pieces in a straight line.
The first representation is very good. It attempts to depict all
four boards in three dimensions, and it allows you to place your piece with
a joystick (or paddles). So far, I have a perfect record with this game:
I've lost every time. I think it's because I can't quite handle the mental
leap required to translate three dimensions into two. (I used to be good
at Score Four, which is conceptually similar, when actually played in three
dimensions.) Unless you suffer the same mental strictures as I do, you'll
quite enjoy this one. Grade: B+
QUBIC.II This implementation of 3-D tic-tac-toe isn't quite as
'''''''' successful. It shows all four 4x4 boards side by side, which
makes it more difficult still to visualize the importance of where you lay
your pieces. For some odd reason, I've actually won against this version.
I'm not sure whether this is because of the layout or because this version
doesn't understand the rules as well as the previous version.
As with Othello, there's no on-screen guide to which numbers
represent which squares, so the user interface is pretty awkward. The
error-checking is abysmal: I managed to crash the game once simply by
entering a number larger than the highest numbered square (16). Grade: B-
STOPIT I'd love to be able to tell you what the point of this text-based
'''''' game is, but I'm still not sure. You have four columns, A through
D, on the right-hand side of the screen. One of the four letters appears
on the left side of the screen, travelling rapidly to the right. You're
supposed to stop it by pressing the S key. The question is, _where_ are
you supposed to stop it? The game doesn't explain, and I couldn't figure
it out. All I know is that no matter where I tried to halt the letters, it
didn't gain me any points. I can't give this game a grade, since I still
haven't figured it out, but it seems to me to be a low-rate arcade game
done on the text screen. That means it probably wouldn't impress me if I
did spend the time necessary to play it properly.
SUPERNIM In SuperNim, you have a small board with a few pieces lying on
'''''''' it. You can remove 1, 2, or 3 (adjacent) pieces from it. The
object is to be the player who takes the last piece.
In this text-based version, you can have 2-6 boards (each of which is
2x3) and you can select from 3 difficulty levels. I'd better confess now
that I loathe and despise this sort of game. I seem to be utterly
incapable of retaining the basic theory necessary to win. Oddly, I've
managed to win one game of this version (albeit when the computer was using
its dumbest strategies).
For a text-based game, this isn't too bad. The user interface is
adequate, and you're always reminded which numbers represent which pieces.
Grade: C-
TROLL.S.GOLD In Troll's Gold, you enter a 6x6 dungeon. You are in the
'''''''''''' upper left corner, the gold is in the lower right corner,
and the troll is somewhere near the right. You try to get to the gold and
get back out before the troll gets you. The catch is that not all rooms
have doors out of them, and the doors are randomly opened and closed after
each move. You move by deciding in which direction you want to move (often
there's just one choice), and you can keep moving through as many rooms as
you like until you reach a dead end. Once there's nowhere left to move, or
once you're happy where you are, you signal the end of your turn. Then the
walls are redrawn with new doors, and the troll moves.
Troll's Gold uses the lo-res screen for display, but not to great
effect. You are a small green dot. The troll is a small red dot. The
gold is represented by four yellow dots. You will perceive that the
implementation is by no means fancy. The user interface is of a similar
caliber: you type U for up, L for left, and so on. (Using A/Z and/or the
arrow keys would be easier to deal with.) The game is terribly easy for an
adult to win, and even children will find its frustration level low. This
is a daft little game, but it has a certain charm. Grade: C+
[*][*][*]
That's pretty much it for this month. Remember, our three gems for
this month were the Operation Lambda demo, RecordTimer, and Concentration
from the BOARD.THREE archive.
[EOA]
[ANC]//////////////////////////////
APPLE ANECDOTES /
/////////////////////////////////
True Stories
""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
[D.CUFF]
I ran a bulletin board system on my Apple IIe for 4 years. It gave
me the proudest moment in my programming career.
Perhaps "career" is misleading. I only program in BASIC and
UltraMacros, and strictly as a hobby. My other programming highlights
included my first published program, earlier this year--TimeOut Calendar
Now!, published by Marin MacroWorks--and my first assembly language
program, which was a whopping 27 bytes long.
The bulk of my programming experience comes from the years I ran a
Prime BBS. Prime was written in Applesoft BASIC, with several ampersand
commands. The BASIC code wasn't easy to follow to start with, and the
ampersand commands made it more difficult: & SGN was the command to
convert a string to upper case, and & POS returned the date and time. That
wasn't easy to remember.
I was determined to under the Prime code because I wanted to modify
and customize it. Ultimately, I proved too successful. I made dozens of
modifications, but when an all-new version of Prime BBS became available, I
had to port all those changes. And I had no record of them. I ordered the
Prime update, but it sat untouched for months.
After I finally compiled a list of my modifications, my younger
brother joined me in a coding blitz--me on the Apple IIe, him on the
IIgs--that took most of our Christmas holidays. Line by line we ported my
modifications--bringing the code up to code, as it were. Amazingly, when
we combined our separate efforts, it all worked.
That took care of translating my custom code to the new environment.
I still had a list of new routines I wanted to add. They took care of the
rest of my Christmas vacation.
The last new routine on my list was complicated. I wanted to change
the BBS's timekeeping system. That meant changing sensitive, delicate
code.
After the coding blitz, which involved staring at a monitor for about
14 hours a day, my eyes were giving me trouble. (A problem that has
resurfaced as I write this, incidentally.) Eventually my coding headaches
became literal headaches, and I had to walk away from the computer.
As I walked away from the computer, I took two things with me--a pad
of paper and a printout of the existing Prime program. The printout wasn't
exactly pristine.
I sat down on a sofa, picked up a pencil, and thought hard. Then I
jotted down all the changes on a legal-sized piece of graph paper. Only
when I had finished did I check my jottings against the printout. I
couldn't see any conflicts. That seemed unlikely, so I went through
everything again. Everything seemed fine. I'd expected to be pulling my
hair for hours, and it almost seemed as though I'd thought of every
possible eventuality in less than an hour.
A night's sleep did wonders for my eyes and headache, so I took my
sheet of graph paper to the Apple IIe. I typed in the changes, then saved
them and ran the program. It worked!
I couldn't believe it. Sure, good programmers do that sort of thing
as a matter of course, but I have never been a good programmer. Eventually
my disbelief gave way to a quiet pride.
Quiet pride, of course. I hadn't set a world record--just a personal
best. But that was enough.
This unremarkable little tale has an unremarkable little epilogue: I
decided to share my timekeeping modification with other Prime BBS
operators. It was greeted enthusiastically, and I believe I'm right in
saying that the next update of the Prime BBS software took my method and
improved on it.
It's always nice when others tell you that you've done well. But
what gave me my proudest programming moment was that afternoon on the sofa
with a pad of graph paper, when I felt I had accomplished something.
//////////////////////////////////////// Genie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ I need a household search engine :-/ /
////////////////////////////////////////////// FROG.MAN ////
[EOA]
[LOG]//////////////////////////////
LOG OFF /
/////////////////////////////////
GenieLamp Information
"""""""""""""""""""""
o COMMENTS: Contacting GenieLamp
o GenieLamp STAFF: Who Are We?
GenieLamp Information GenieLamp A2 is published on the first of every
""""""""""""""""""""" month in library 55 of Genie's A2 RoundTable (page
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o To reach GenieLamp on Internet send mail to genielamp@genie.com or to
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