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~ WELCOME TO GEnieLamp APPLE II! ~
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ POLISHING GREEN APPLES: Hooked on Classics, Part 4 ~
~ TECH TALK: Apple II Hybrids and Disk Formats ~
~ APPLE II HISTORY: Part 19b, AppleWorks ~
~ HOT NEWS, HOT FILES, HOT MESSAGES ~
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GEnieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.3, Issue 23
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Editor....................................................Douglas Cuff
Publisher.............................................John F. Peters
Copy-Editor...........................................Bruce Maples
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~ GEnieLamp IBM ~ GEnieLamp ST ~ GEnieLamp [PR] ~ GEnieLamp Windows ~
~ GEnieLamp A2Pro ~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~ GEnieLamp TX2 ~
~ GEnieLamp A2 ~ LiveWire (ASCII) ~ GEnieLamp MacPRO ~
~ Solid Windows ~ Config.sys ~ A2-Central ~
~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~
GE Mail: GENIELAMP Internet: genielamp@genie.geis.com FTP: sosi.com
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE II ROUNDTABLE? <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ February 1, 1994 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY]
Notes From The Editor. Is That A Letter For Me?
HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM] REFLECTIONS ............. [REF]
If DOSes Ran Airlines. Your Online Social Skills.
BEGINNER'S CORNER ....... [BEG] TECH TALK ............... [TEC]
Polishing Green Apples, Part 7. Apple II Hybrids and GCR/MFM.
CowTOONS! ............... [MOO] DR'S EXAMINING TABLE .... [DRT]
Beef Futures II. Golden Oldies.
HARDVIEW A2 ............. [HAR] PAL NEWSLETTER .......... [PAL]
Known Bug in Apple SSC Card. February 1994 Report.
APPLE II ................ [AII] LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
Apple II History, Part 19b. 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's monthly fee is $8.95, which gives you up to four
""""""""""" hours of non-prime time access to most GEnie services, such
as software downloads, bulletin boards, GE Mail, an Internet gateway,
multi-player games and chat lines, without charge. GEnie's non-prime time
connect rate is $3.00. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem)
1-800-638-8369 in the USA or 1-800-387-3880 in Canada. Upon connection
type HHH. Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99014,DIGIPUB 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.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
//////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ /
/ "I hadn't tried it, you understand. Just thought it /
/ sounded neat." /
/ /
/ "Oh, it does! It just doesn't work. :)" /
/ /
////////////////////////////// BYTEWORKS & M.DEATHERAGE ////
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Douglas Cuff
[EDITOR.A2]
>>> EVERYBODY OUT OF THE GENE POOL <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Details are still a little sketchy, but the spring catalog from
Resource Central notes that there will be an ICON Summer Conference this
July in Kansas City. Since it's sponsored by the International Computer
Owners Network, it might not be exactly the same KansasFest of old, but you
can bet that it will attract the Apple II community. (For those of you
just tuning in, ICON runs the Apple II, Macintosh, and PowerPC RoundTables
on GEnie. The Resource Central empire seems to be changing and expanding.)
The upcoming conference, whatever its name, started me thinking.
What with one thing and another -- poverty, and formerly living on an
island, in a city within five miles of Canada's easternmost point, being
chief among them -- I've never looked in on Uncle DOS and the usual
suspects when they gather in Kansas City during the summer. Therefore I
don't really know what happens and who turns up.
From what I hear, however -- chiefly through reports in Shareware
Solutions II, in our sister publication, GEnieLamp A2Pro, and "live" on
GEnie itself -- the event attracts old-timers and newcomers. It attracts
people who are online and those who aren't.
Both these points strike me as being extremely important. We of the
Apple II community need to meet newcomers and to be introduced to people
who don't own a modem... if only to persuade them to buy one! Otherwise,
the Apple II gene pool will become extremely limited. It's not as if we
represent any serious threat to computing as it is, but unless we seek out
those just lurking outside the light of our campfire, things are going to
get mighty incestuous.
When I bought my first modem, I started looking for a local BBS.
Because of their unofficial nature, there weren't any listed in the
telephone directory, so I was forced to cast my net widely. I started on a
multi-national information/communication network much like GEnie. From
there, I tracked down a private BBS in Toronto -- Canada's equivalent of
Detroit, New York, or Chicago... depending on who you ask. The BBS in
Toronto, Ontario led me one province east to a BBS in Montreal, Quebec.
The BBS in Montreal led me to one much closer to home, in Canada's Maritime
region. (All this time, my phone bill was mounting.) I got as close as
Halifax, Nova Scotia, but could not get beyond that... and there was no way
I could afford to call long-distance for my daily telecommunications fix.
I gave up.
Some months later, I picked up a local teacher's newsletter, and
discovered that there was a local BBS within about two miles of my house.
Once I had made that first call, I soon found half a dozen other BBSes
being mentioned, and learned the first rule of BBSes: BBSes concentrate on
advertising themselves on other BBSes. Instead of looking for new
customers, they try to poach users from other system operators.
The lesson is, I hope, clear. Before you open that important first
door, you think you're alone in the house. Once you open the right door,
though, you'll find a party going on.
"Yes, but surely, by now, everybody knows about at least one Apple II
magazine or on-line service?" I hear you say. (Well, when I'm the one
writing the editorials, I jolly well hear you say it.)
"Not by a long shot," I reply.
Just two months ago, quite by chance, one poor, lost soul with an
Apple II Plus, two Disk ][ drives, and a barbarically slow DOS 3.3
application program happened to meet one of our local Apple II experts.
Upon learning of a ProDOS version of the same program -- even of the
existence of ProDOS itself -- this individual's eyes reportedly became as
wide as salad plates, and said eyes were close to filling with tears. This
person's reaction to the news flash that there was an Apple II user's group
close by, I leave to the reader's imagination.
With that insularity very much in my mind, I'm pleased to announce
that this issue contains an article from a Apple II enthusiast outside the
GEnie network... Ron Higgins has contributed a piece on a bug in the Apple
Super Serial Card. I'd like to thank Ron for helping us dispel the myth
that GEnieLamp A2 is only for those on GEnie. Not only are GEnieLamp A2
readers found on networks other than GEnie, but our contributors are
sometimes outside the fold too. We welcome your submissions, no matter
where you are! It's wonder to receive an article from outside the GEne
pool -- I hope the first won't be the last.
-- Doug Cuff
GEnie Mail: EDITOR.A2 Internet: editor.a2@genie.geis.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. |
|__________________________________________________________|
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ASCII Art by Susue Oviatt
[SUSIE]
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Douglas Cuff
[EDITOR.A2]
o A2 POT-POURRI
o HOT TOPICS
o WHAT'S NEW
o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT
>>> A2 POT-POURRI <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""
NEW HARDWARE RTC Starting last night, and every Wednesday night
"""""""""""""""" henceforth, from 11pm till 1am EST (or maybe even later?
:) I will be hosting a new RTC devoted mainly to hardware questions,
problems, etc. (of course other questions are always welcome, particularly
from newcomers :)
If you have some obscure piece of hardware, or some kind of _strange_
hardware problems, or just want to learn a bit about what makes your Apple
tick, stop on by and pull up a chair (not that one, thats where my hot
soldering iron is! :) Smokers are welcome, we have special air handling
equipment for the comfort of non smokers :)
If you have any questions about hardware, the care and feeding
thereof, modification tips, etc. please bring them to the RTC next
Wednesday night. If we run out of hardware stuff, one never knows what the
topic will turn to... (last night it was ASCII art, which Bird does quite
nicely :)
-Harold
(Wed Night RTC 11pm 1am EST)
(Hdwr probs handled live!)
(H.HISLOP, CAT2, TOP7, MSG:231/M645;1)
HOW _DARE_ WE OUTPERFORM AT LOWER COST? This is a MAJOR COMPLAINT about
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" AppleWorks 4.0. I use a Mac at
work and AppleWorks 4 is making it look bad. Most of the people at work
have either a Mac or Apple II at home, the ones that have computers anyway.
They keep coming up to me and asking why the $500 Mac program, they
just purchased, can't do some of the stuff AppleWorks 4.0 can do. What
should I tell them? Although this posting is mostly "toung 'n cheek", it
is based on fact. I know your name is "Quality", but can't you just
slack-off a little until the people at Apple give the Mac an AppleWorks.
____ ____ ___ _ ____
/ ___| | ___| / | | | |_ _| Transmitted via
\___ \ | _|_ / /| | | |__ _||_ CoPilot & ProTERM
/____/ |____|/_____| |____| |____| From Universal City, CA
(S.IMMERMAN, CAT42, TOP29, MSG:456/M645;1)
...ESPECIALLY SINCE WE'RE DEAD! Thanks for expressing your appreciation.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" BTW, I'm still self-employed. I'm
working with QC on this project and others, but they haven't hired me.
(That means I keep my freedom, _and_ get to pay lots of self-employment tax
and medical insurance.) It's been a very enjoyable arrangement for me, and
hopefully for them as well. People have warned me about the dangers of
writing Apple II software (it's a dead market!) since 1984. I started at
Beagle back then with just a wife and an apartment. By May we'll have five
kids living in our house, with virtually all payments being made by
Apple II software sales. While it's true no one is getting rich from the
A2, I'm happy just to make my payments on time and avoid commuting. It
beats working for a living!
(BRANDT, CAT42, TOP29, MSG:461/M645;1)
DISCQUEST MINI-REVIEW > If anyone has purchased DiscQuest, it would be
""""""""""""""""""""" > really nice to leave a message here about it's
> strengths and weaknesses.
I have been using the DiscQuest software with a RamFAST (with latest
SS ROM) and an Apple PowerCD. Everything works as advertised with the
CD-ROM that was sent with the package, The Family Doctor. The graphics are
not in color but much more detailed than I expected. My only complaint is
the selection of currently available CD-ROM software does not really
interest me. If I could get an encylcopedia CD-ROM, it would go from being
a good purchase to a great purchase. I would be happy to answer any other
specific questions.
Rick Light (R.LIGHT4, CAT20, TOP12, MSG:134/M645;1)
SUGGESTIONS FOR THIS SUMMER'S CONFERENCE Joe Kohn leaping out of a huge
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Apple-II cake and starting a
song and dance number featuring popular songs of the 60s?
Matt Deatherage and Stevie Wonder playing a "We are the World, We are
DTS" duet?
Tom Weishaar swipes Evil Knievel's bike and defies death by jumping
through a flaming loop over a dozen old Apple Profiles?
Roger Wagner gets shot out of a cannon and grabs a three story tall
tie while flying through the air swinging up onto the top of Ridgeway dorm?
Bryan Pietrzak recites all 423,000 routines names of GSLib in two
minutes without pausing to take a breath?
Dean Esmay morphs into a 500 ft tall Jerry Garcia and terrorizes
downtown Kansas City?
Naaah, too drab.
Nate (A2PRO.GELAMP, CAT23, TOP10, MSG:49/M645;1)
PONGLIFE LOOKING FOR INPUT PongLife will attempt to prove that our
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" computer is NOT dead. Through reviews of FW,
SW, and PD software, to interviews with Apple programmers, as well as
programming tips, and databases of all available software, WE WILL BRING
IBM TO ITS KNEES.
ps. I'm not a nut. So, you want to help out, eh? PongLife is
looking for program reviews, programmers to interview, programming tips,
and various Apple II specific bits of info. Such as Apple BBS's, etc.
Post a message here, or E-mail, if you'd like to help out.
Thanks, Ben Johnson
(B.JOHNSON17, CAT13, TOP19, MSG:1/M645;1)
BEST-KEPT SECRETS OF 1993 (#1) > Also, I understand MECC has published a
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > similar program where kids can construct
> a dinosaur park. Some of their stuff is on the GS platform
I don't know why MECC doesn't get more publicity. They continue to
produce some wonderful software for the IIe/IIgs. If you are not on their
mailing list, you can call (800) 685-MECC. In Canada, you can call (800)
663-7731.
I was told by one of their operators that they plan to continue to
release 6 new titles for the IIe/IIgs yearly. Not bad, if true.
Pax! -=-plato-=-
(A.HUTCHINSON, CAT6, TOP3, MSG:220/M645;1)
SWIM CHIP I need a bit of help...
""""""""" I have a PCT here for repair, I beleive it has a dead drive
controller chip on it... What does this have to do with SuperDrives??
Simple, the chip in question is an Apple chip! I strongly suspect that AE
obtained these from Apple, and that they may be the same chip used on the
SuperDrive controller cards.
The Apple part number is:010-0101-1 (c) Apple 1987 It is a 44 pin
PLCC (about 3/4" square surface mount chip)
If someone with a SuperDrive controller could check for a chip with
this number (it might end with -2 or higher) I'd appreciate it. (It would
at least give me an idea of where I might be able to find a chip to fix
this PCT)
Thanks!
-Harold
(Wed Night RTC 11pm 1am EST)
(Hdwr probs handled live!)
(H.HISLOP, CAT11, TOP7, MSG:67/M645;1)
>>>>> ]-[arold, that chip is indeed the same chip as used on Apple's
""""" SuperDrive controller card. It's the SWIM (Super Wozniak
Integrated Machine) chip, which replaced the IWM (Integrated Wozniak
Machine -- yes, they switched the "I" and the "W" because "SWIM" sounds
better than "SIWM" :) chip on Macs sometime after the Mac SE came out.
Applied Engineering purchased a number of those chips from Apple for use on
their PC Transporter cards, to enable the PCT to have Apple drives
connected directly to it and read and write data in MFM format with them
(they had to do some tricks in microcode to get them to do all that on 800K
drives designed only for GCR, though, and as people with PCTs know, it's
not perfect).
-= Lunatic (:
(A2.LUNATIC, CAT11, TOP7, MSG:69/M645;1)
TEXAS II WORD COUNTER
"""""""""""""""""""""
Labels
.Word.Counter
\sa-A TimeOut Word Counter // (c) 1994 Kingwood Micro Software
start
a:<all x=28 y=7:m=x+4:n=y+3:o=y+5:d=7:b=d+y+1:
k=peekword $0c6e:posn c,l:e=.eof:e=e+1:
.titlebox x,y,24,d,2,"TimeOut Word Counter":
.Writestr m,b,"(c) 1994 TEXAS II":
.Writestr m,o,"Please wait... ":
s=peek $0f18:poke $0f18,4:display 0 oa-v poke $8d1a,$80: rtn:
w=peekword $a751: esc:poke $0f18,s:
.Writestr m,n,"Word Count: " + str$ w:n=n+1:
.Writestr m,n,"File size: " + str$ k + "k":n=n+1:
.Writestr m,n,"Current line: " + str$ l:n=n+1:
.Writestr m,n,"Total lines: " + str$ e:
k=key:oa-q display 1 go:$95="Word.Counter":launch "Seg.um":>!
Contents of TEXAS II on Disk vol.8: TimeOut Word Counter - TimeOut
QuickFonts - TimeOut Catalog to DB - TimeOut Catalog to WP - TimeOut
Catalog to SS - TimeOut File Finder - TimeOut Tree Directory - TimeOut
Vital Info lists all your Standard Settings. PEEKS for the Environment
- How to use PutBlock and Relblock - Very small macros that do a very
big job: Number to Text ($15.00 to "Fifteen and 00/100 Dollars" ),
QuickPathchange. And so much more, I can't remember.
In order to be notified about TEXAS II on Disk vol.8, you must be a
TEXAS II subscriber. This is the last week we'll be asking for it...
so please subscribe now. 6 issues (+ 3 free issues of TEXAS II on
MACROS), $15 US, $18 overseas. Thanks. Last time. I promise.
Kingwood Micro Software, 2018 Oak Dew, San Antonio, Texas 78232-5471
(B.CADIEUX, CAT13, TOP15, MSG:119/M645;1)
DOS 6.2 AND PC TRANSPORTER For anyone interested, I got my PCT to work
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" with DOS 6.2 and my Hard Drive.
To do it, I had to create the Hard Drive Partitions from scratch and
do an Fdisk and Format. After doing and re-doing it a few times, it
appears that you cannot redesignate your hard drives or floppies for that
matterusing the PCT control panel once you've created your boot drive.
After a small amount of anguish, I have two 6.2 partitions on my Hard
Drives and they work fine. Not sure I would recommend this to
anyone--didn't have this problem with 3.3.
John Stankowski
(J.STANKOWSKI, CAT14, TOP12, MSG:155/M645;1)
A WORD TO THE WISE I won't go into the ugly details but take my word for
"""""""""""""""""" it:
DON'T EVER use Optimizer when you are using Prosel 16 with TheManager
active. B-(
Randy (Still has one partition de-activated) Chevrier
(R.CHEVRIER, CAT30, TOP2, MSG:252/M645;1)
EDUCATION, MODEMS, AND THE APPLE II I received an e-mail letter this
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" morning related to the education
survey that I uploaded recently. I prefer not to identify the writer, but I
would like to share with you my response to something in the letter because
I think it relates to this topic.
++++++
In your letter you said, "I think it is fair to
say that education is not interested in this medium."
referring to online communications.
I have to disagree. I believe that educators do
not frequent online services because (1) they do not
have access to the necessary equipment, (2) they do not
know what is available and the possibilities that
exist, (3) generally they do not have the time or money
necessary to explore online communications on their
own, and (4) educational institutions, particularly
public ones, do not encourage such activities for many
of the same reasons list above.
Case in point: This fall I made it possible for
two teachers at my school to have their students
participate in an exchange of writings with students in
other parts of the country. This was through the
ScrapBook USA writing project headed by Emery Roth on
America On Line. I handled all of the online work from
my home because our school does not have access to a
modem and phone line to do this at school.
The teachers and the students were excited about
the project and put a lot of effort into it. As it came
to a conclusion, I heard the same comments from many,
"It would be nice to be able to do more of this!"
However, they won't unless I make it possible.
Neither of the teachers have a modem at home. The
school is not prepared to spend the money needed to
make online communications a possibility at school. The
costs involved include long-distance phone bills since
there are no local numbers for us and we have not been
able to convince those who control the purse strings
that it is worth the expense.
Within five years I believe you will discover
that educators will be using online communications to
great advantage, because by that time education will
have caught up with _today's_ business world and the
difficulities I mentioned above will have been
overcome.
The interest is there, and it is growing. The
problem for online services is to anticipate it and be
there waiting.
+++++
Charlie (C.HARTLEY3, CAT2, TOP11, MSG:11/M645;1)
>>> HOT TOPICS <<<
""""""""""""""""""
APPLEWORKS 4.01 HAS SHIPPED Nightly (or somewhat nightly) status report:
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" All copies of the dual pack AW 4.01 updates
were shipped to the Post Office today! (yay). Unfortunately, the post
office sent them back. It seems they wanted us to print 'Third Class' on
all of the packages. To put it politely, they were being picky on this
run.
The good news is that all 500 of the last updates are packaged,
labeled, and posted, and will be in the mail as of tomorrow. That should
do it for AppleWorks. We also cleared lots more backorders today.
(W.ARCHER2, CAT42, TOP29, MSG:465/M645;1)
BUG IN SSC CHIP FIXED As I promised, I have received, installed and
""""""""""""""""""""" test the new Harris CDP 65C51AE1 replacement chip
for the standard 6551 on the Apple brand SSC. I ordered it from Lightning
Systems, P.O. Box 4, Mukwonago, WI 53149-0004. (414) 363-4282
As you know, the standard 6551 has a problem, when using CTS hardware
handshaking, with trashing the character being sent when the CTS flow
control line is asserted.
I have personally experienced this problem on my SSC, using hardware
CTS handshaking, driving a serial printer. (I use CTS handshaking rather
than DTR or XON/XOFF for reasons I won't explain here.)
I am pleased to report that the new chip has solved this problem, all
for $4.00.
But, there's more.
With the chip, I received info about a $27 replacement chip for the
6551 on the SSC, that supports additional baud rates of 38.4K, 57.6K,
115.2K and 230.4K.
From personal experience, I know my Zipped //e has enough trouble
keeping up at 19,200 baud with ProTerm, so I have seriously to wonder about
the practical effect of being able to use the higher bauds rates. Anyone
care to speculate?
FWIW, here is what the sales sheet says:
-------------------------------------------------------
Turbo ASB
Do you have a high-speed modem, or other
high-speed serial communications device? Did you know
that most Serial Interface Cards for the Apple II are
limited to only 19.2k bps?
Well, they don't have to be anymore. The Turbo
ASB can blow away that nasty 19.2k bps barrier. With
the Turbo ASB, your serial communications can run as
fast as 230,400 bps!!!
The Turbo ASB replaces that pokey old 6551 chip
on your Serial Interface Card and transforms it into a
speed demon.
The Turbo ASB supports all the standard bps rates
you are used to (slow...) and adds 38.4k, 57.6k, 115.2k
and 230.4k!
The Turbo ASB is available from Lightning
Systems. Order product "Turbo ASB". $27.00 each plus
$3.00 S&H in the States, $10.00 S&H everywhere else.
-------------------------------------------------------
Can the IIe handle 230,400 bps? For that matter, can the IIGS?
Hugh... (H.HOOD, CAT12, TOP5, MSG:170/M645;1)
>>>>> Hmmm.... "dis 'ere chip sounds neat" :)
""""" I know, from experience, that a stock //e can handle 19.2KBps, as
long as minimal screen handling is done. (ie: feeding a bunch of stuff to a
printer, or some other device) Receiving 19.2KBps is also doable, the catch
again is trying to keep a screen updated...
I would think that if the slick code was written for this new chip,
and used on a //e with an 8Mhz Zip Chip, that the max baud rate it could
handle (in bursts) would possibly be as high as 230.4KBps.
The biggest bottlenecks in handling the serial port is trying to keep
the screen updated properly, and the _long_ delays for disk I/O, should
they be needed. The disk I/O problem (for the most part) goes away with a
RamFast (Hello cached DMA, Goodby huge overhead times :) but the screen
still needs some real special handling... It's do-able, but somewhat tricky
to program (due to the 80 col screen being held in two seperate banks of
memory.) This screen handling would require hard coded line address lookup
tables, with even / odd bank information being extracted from the
horizontal posn.
PMP, (Paul) should be able to comment on what he's found as far as
high speed serial goes, after all he wrote AnsiTERM (and it handles some
high speed stuff :)
-Harold
(Running the NEW CoP/TIC scripts)
(They're Here!!!)
(H.HISLOP, CAT12, TOP5, MSG:171/M645;1)
>>>>> Hugh, why can't your Zipped //e keep up at 19,200 Bd? This is
""""" strange, as I operate a stock IIGS with 2.8 MHz at 38,400 Bd
(transferring files from and to an AMIGA via null modem cable - the AMIGA
500 can't go any faster, I suppose the IIGS still has reserves at that
speed ;-)) )
Udo - ... just a IIGS freak -
(U.HUTH, CAT12, TOP5, MSG:177/M645;1)
<<<<< I received the following response from Ron Higgins at Lightning
""""" systems concerning using the //e with his Turbo ASB replacement
chip for the 6551 in the SSC.
=======================================================
My Apple //e has got a Zip Chip 8000 (8 MHz) in
it, so may results may be better than others.
I've been able to use ProTERM v3.1 running at
57,600bps without any problems. 115,200bps overruns it
though.
The need that I see the Turbo ASB filling is
those that have modems faster than 14.4k (V.32bis).
The reason for this is that compressed files (the
most commonly transferred) achieve about 1650cps
(16,500bps), but as modems get faster and faster (I've
got a 21.6k USR) the transfer rate starts to exceed the
19.2k limit of the SSC.
I feel that 38,400bps should be just about right
for those high-speed modems. (At least for now) But
I've also provided for 57,600 and 115,200 if we need
them.
=======================================================
Hugh... (H.HOOD, CAT12, TOP5, MSG:273/M645;1)
NEW CARD FROM SSH SYSTEME... Finally, a picture is available in the A2
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" library. Now you can see how much vapor we
have produced. Even better, the vapor never disappears! Kind
of a high-quality, solid-state vapor.
Sorry that my talking often is irony, but a not-too-long time ago some
important persons here on GEnie claimed that we are producing nothing than
vaporware ("...nobody has seen the card...", see category 21, topic 6).
Joachim (J.LANGE7, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:96/M645;1)
...CALLED THE BLUEDISK CARD Vapor-Ware Leak: We have shipped the first
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" two beta boards of our new project to the US
testers. We are pleased to announce that the purpose of our new product is
to allow the Apple II comunity to utilize the inexpensive disk drives
available to the IBM compatible user.
Specifically, this card is intended to allow standard MFM floppy disk
drives to be used by the Apple IIgs _and_ IIe, directly by the Apple
operating systems (ProDOS and GS/OS) for storage of all Apple II compatible
programs and data.
We have completed both the hardware and software allowing use of
Double Density, High Density and Extra Density floppy disks in a _variety_
of capacities, and are continuing work on the software utilites that will
be shipped with the card. In addition, software for using inexpensive
MS-DOS style floppy streamers is planned but not complete.
When the first beta tests are finished, we will come up with specs
and information about availability.
The information given here refers to our uploads (see A2 library):
21878 NEWHARDWARE.BXY
Desc: A picture of a new Apple II product
(Apple Preferred Super Hires)
21899 NEW.HW.GIF.BXY
Desc: GIF pict. of an upcoming product
(higher resolution than #21878)
SHH Systeme, Joachim Lange
(J.LANGE7, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:134/M645;1)
<<<<< >> Any prelimenary guesses as to cost yet? <<
"""""
Cheap!
Cheaper than a Turbo IDE Card, cheaper than a RamFAST SCSI, cheaper
than Apple's floppy controller. Special introductory offer! Watch for the
specs.
Joachim (J.LANGE7, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:153/M645;1)
>>>>> Very simply, the BlueDisk controller card allows owners of Apple
""""" //e's and Apple //GS's to:
1) Use darn near any MS-Dos machine type floppy drive (these are
quite inexpensive, and very easy to find)
2) Read & write MFM format disks at 720k, 800k, 1.44Mb, 1.66Mb,
2.88Mb (amongst others) Even more densities may be supported (the hardware
already supports all possible densities that exist, the driver code is
currently going thru beta & enhancements)
3) Allow any Apple //e or //GS to read or write darn near any MS-Dos
disk.
4) Seamlessly works with GS/OS applications (and many P8 apps) and
provides up to three times the data storage available on 800k disks.
5) Other "floppy connector" type PC related hardware _may_ be
supported in the future.
There it is in a nutshell. (note that this is an abreviated list of
whats already in existance, future enhancements (driver code) _will_ add
more features :)
-Harold (H.HISLOP, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:210/M645;1)
>>>>> BlueDisk slot requirements:
""""" Any slot other than slot 3. (a minor bug is preventing use in slot
5, this will be fixed before public release)
The control panel needs to be set to "Your Card" to access the
BlueDisk.
So, in my setup (BlueDisk in slot 6, which is probably where most
people would place it) I can either have access to MS-Dos type disks OR
Apple 5.25" disks, but not both at the same time.
Please remember that this product is still going thru beta testing,
so it's normal that Doug and I are running into some minor bugs, anoyances,
etc. (it's not only normal, it's to be expected at this stage of the game)
The information here is accurate for the ROM & GS/OS driver we have at the
moment. However, we are expecting new ROM code and a new GS/OS driver to
arrive shortly from Joachim (bug fixes, etc).
-Harold (H.HISLOP, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:222/M645;1)
KOHN HIRES HEINEMAN TO CREATE PRINT SHOP UTILITY Bill Heineman has
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" proclaimed to me that he
will be able to create some type of program patch for Print Shop GS so that
greeting cards, signs, banners, etc can be printed to Hewlett-Packard
DeskJet 500, DJ500c, DJ550c, LaserJet and DeskWriter printers, as well as
to Apple's StyleWriter I printer.
Now that Bill has had a chance to look at PSGS, and knows what would
be involved and how much time would be needed to complete the project, he
was able to give me a revised quote on the cost.
It's a lot higher than previously estimated.
So, thinking again out loud...the pledges that have come in so far
will only cover a small percentage of that cost. So, maybe that's not quite
the way to go?
I wonder if a more realistic scenario might be that I just pay Bill
his fee, and then publish the results as a low cost commercial software
product, with a special "Such A Deal" discount offered, of course, to
Shareware Solutions II subscribers.
OTOH, being a man of my word, the reward is still open, and will go
to the first person that can create a freeware or shareware patch/utility.
The only thing that bothers me about the "contest" and reward is that
it's just so uncertain. Maybe it'll result in a Shareware Solution, but
maybe it won't? To date, no other programmer has contacted me to tell me
that they are working on such a project.
Decisions, decisions...
Feedback, as always, is appreciated.
Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:144/M645;1)
>>>>> Just how much does Bill think it will take? Is he interested in the
""""" possiblitity of pre-sales?
If this thing is doable, and we can get enough people to committ to
pre-ordering it by sending their checks to you to hold for the finished
product, then I vote we push forward.
Set a price for advanced sales. Announce it here, in the next SSII
issue, and anywhere else you can think of. Set a deadline for advanced
sales for say one month or until the following issue of SSII. If enough
people committ hard cash (ok, checks), then Bill goes ahead. If not, well
we will just have to figure out what to do next.
What do you think?
Charlie (C.HARTLEY3, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:145/M645;1)
<<<<< Charlie - After I found out that Bill wasn't too interested in the
""""" contest/reward, we basically talked about him creating the drivers
on a contract programming basis. I would pay him for his work, but he would
not retain the rights. As originally envisioned, I thought that we could do
this for the few hundred dollars that has already been pledged, and then
release it as freeware.
As it is, my job is to write and publish a newsletter. My first
thoughts on reading your comments about taking pre-orders is that it would
take a lot of paperwork to stay on top of, and probably some accounting
skills that I sure don't have (and don't especially want to acquire).
So, the way I'm thinking today is that I personally would be willing
to take the risk of putting up the money in advance, and could act as the
product manager, the marketing manager, the beta-tester and documentation
writer. Then, the completed program/patch/whatever would be sold as a
commercial product through Shareware Solutions II.
In that way, no one else besides me is taking a risk of any kind.
The completed product would then be available for the same ball-park
figures as several people have pledged ($20-$25). Maybe $20 for subscribers
and $25 for non-subscribers?
Switching gears...I just want to say that Shareware Solutions II is
the first business venture that I've ever been involved with, having always
worked for others before. I guess at this point that I'm asking for some
business type of advice. If it's inappropriate for me to be talking about
things like this "in public", someone just tell me. As I said in Issue #1,
this is all new ground for me.
Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:146/M645;1)
SPECTRUM AND SECURITY Two points about security when using "Spectrum"
""""""""""""""""""""" With some of my calls I have to dial a number which
includes a 10 digit PIN to connect to our Mercury Phone system. This would
be visible to anyone who opened the dialing menu.
Sending a PassWord from the internal store is visible & liable to be
in a capture buffer if connected to a Full Duplex system. I have proved
this.
Using scripts for dialling& log on gives you more scope for
protecting sensitive info.
My way of ensuring they do not get passed on with scripts is to store
them in a 'File' which I can hide anywhere on my 105mByte drive. The
script only needs to know the location of it. As an exercise in security I
have protected this further with a PIN. Although no one else has access to
my system I could set it so that if someone tries unsuccesfully to run the
script the file would be over written, not just deleted.
KenDawson from England - < Delivered by GECo-Pilot & TIC 4.0 >
[Still learning about 'Spectrum' & New CoPilot scripts]
(K.DAWSON2, CAT43, TOP15, MSG:223/M645;1)
>>> WHAT'S NEW <<<
""""""""""""""""""
APPLEWORKS 4 PATCHER You might want to check out RFP (Randy's Free
"""""""""""""""""""" Patcher) created by Randy Brandt (one of AW 4.0's
authors) -- it's better (IMO) and it's available on GEnie.
|
-(+)-
|
|
...Will (W.NELKEN1, CAT42, TOP2, MSG:125/M645;1)
...NOT TO MENTION APPLEWORKS 4.02 AW 4.02 goes final this week and the
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" updater should be uploaded to GEnie
next week and should be available for public downloading before the end of
the week. It will also be on TimeOut-Central, NAUG's disk, AfterWork, and
available for $10 or so from Quality if you don't have access to any of the
other sources. Obviously you can get it right here.
(BRANDT, CAT42, TOP29, MSG:649/M645;1)
NEW FINANCIAL GENIUS Financial GeniuS * v 2.0 has been released! This is
"""""""""""""""""""" a financial program similar to others on the market
today. FULL featured, cheaper, and more user friendly than ANY other
financial program. And this one is for your GS.
Financial GeniuS is a program that will store your financial records
and allow you easy access to this information in many forms. Financial
GeniuS has the ability to produce a variety of report forms which will
allow budgeting, cost projections, credit card management, investment
management, tax return reports, year-to-date analyses, and many other
useful applications. All entry of data- categories, budgets, transactions,
addresses, etc.- is incredibly easy to master and use without hassle on a
daily basis. Financial GeniuS uses the standard methods of entry on the GS
(menus, line edits, lists, text edits, radios, check boxes, pop-up
menus...) with a flexibility that few can ignore. All in all, Financial
GeniuS is the perfect program for a person or family who is financially
conscious (or attempting to become that way).
The only way to get the full perspective on this financial program is
to dowload the demo from your local BBS. If that is not possible, the demo
is available from the author for $5. Send a check or money order to:
Rick Adams
FGS Demo
1627 Ball St.
Galveston, TX 77550.
The demo includes a tutorial that will help you to understand the
basics of the program. A separate demo account has been included to
illustrate basic use of the program as well as to let you in on some
advanced features available to you while using the program.
NOTE: Financial GeniuS is being distributed as shareware. The demo
version does not allow changes to be saved to an account. In order to
receive the fully enabled version as well as written documentation, the
shareware fee of $35 must be paid to the author.
Update Notice The wait is over! The new version of Financial GeniuS is
''''''''''''' ready to ship. I listened to all of your suggestions and
fit in a few of my own as well. You will be amazed by the improvements!
Version 2.0 is a total rewrite. No more waiting for disk access; version
2.0 now loads everything when you open your account. Because Financial
GeniuS is now memory-based, you are allowed access to all portions of the
program at any time. If you discover you need to enter a category to your
account while you are entering transactions, you can open up the category/
budget section, enter your new category, and BOOM, it appears in the
transaction window for immediate use. Improved handling of all aspects of
your account has been added. You may now edit, remove, and add auto
transactions and payee addresses. Use of auto transactions has been
dramatically enhanced to allow entry of any transactions you want in any
order you specify. System 6 controls allow ease of movement through
windows to make entry of data much more fluid and controlled. Filtering of
transactions has been dramatically improved; find the transactions you need
in no time at all. In addition to the increased functionality of FGS, the
data structure has been expanded to allow larger accounts while maintaining
its goal of using only necessary memory. The new account limits include:
200 categories, 150 auto transactions, 200 payee addresses, up to 50
transactions in the clipboard, and transactions still only limited by
memory! This update is a must!
New Features :
$ Memory based to make it faster and more accurate; well tested to
prevent bugs.
$ Separation of program segments to make all sections of the program
available at all times (i.e. concurrent category, transaction, auto
transaction, and payee address abilities).
$ Re-developed menus and windows to be more accessible and
comfortable.
$ Updated for complete System 6 compatibility.
$ Finder*-like Windows menu to rapidly find or close a specific
window.
$ Customize the program by saving window positions.
$ Cut, Copy, and Paste transactions via a clipboard.
$ Expanded support of split transactions.
$ Memos in transactions.
$ Expanded support of variable budgets.
$ Better report generation: faster, more intuitive, and easier to
read. (Saves to disk in Teach or ASCII).
$ Print checks using the GS Print Manager.
$ Auto load and auto backup features.
$ Compatible with The Manager, SwitchIt!, and other program
switchers.
$ Was 16k, now uses only 9k of stack space!
$ Convert program makes v 1.0 files compatible with version 2.0 while
checking for errors in account files.
$ 130 pages of written documentation.
$ Import accounts from other programs.
$ Smaller account files.
$ Lots more!
NOTE: The upgrade price for Financial GeniuS v 1.x to 2.0 is $15.
Send check or money order AND _registration number_ to:
Rick Adams
FGS Update
1627 Ball St.
Galveston, TX 77550
Demo Account Not Yet Available Due to circumstances beyond my control,
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' the demo account mentioned in the
Financial GeniuS announcement is _not_ included in the uploaded demo. That
demo account will be uploaded separately as soon as it is completed. Since
the beginning of the year is now here (Happy New Year!), I thought it best
to let the 'public' try before they buy NOW.
A tutorial is included with the demo that will give you the basic
feel for the program and will let you know whether you want it or not. The
demo account will show a lot more abilities of Financial GeniuS and show
you more possibilities for maintaining your finances. If you're in no
rush, wait for the demo account to be released. I will re-upload a
'complete' package when that time comes.
Finally, if you desire to upload the FGS demo to another bulletin
board system, PLEASE _wait_ for the package that contains the demo account.
That way others will see a 'complete' Financial GeniuS!
Thanks,
Rick Adams, author Financial GeniuS
(R.ADAMS48, CAT8, TOP3, MSG:{22}/M645;1)
KEYBOARDING 5 UPDATED Keyboarding 5 (aka Computer Keyboarding) version
""""""""""""""""""""" 5.1.2, dated 12-20-93, has been added to the
library.
21861 KB5.HD.BXY -- this is the complete version for hard drives and
for 3.5 inch diskettes.
21862 KB5.D1.BXY -- this contains the files for the 5.25 inch STARTUP
diskette. Add ProDOS and BASIC.SYSTEM to make it
bootable.
21863 KB5.D2.BXY -- this contains the files for the 5.25 inch PROGRAM
diskette.
This version includes all previous bug fixes as well as numerous
cosmetic changes designed to make the program more user-friendly.
Keyboarding 5 is SHAREWARE. Until you pay the shareware fee, each
time the program is booted you will be reminded to pay the fee. The program
allows you to complete all of the 'home keys' lessons and begin with the
first set of new keys (e u g). However, it will lock up at that point if
the fee has not been paid. The key to unlocking the rest of the program is
given to you when you pay the fee.
The SHAREWARE fee is $10 if you download the program or obtain it
from another source other than me. When you send the fee to me, specify an
e-mail address or snail-mail address to get the password in return.
If you wish to get the program directly from me, do the following:
1. Send me $15.
2. Include your name and address.
3. Identify which size diskette you want - 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch.
4. If you are purchasing this for someone else, give me that name too.
5. Mail it all to
Charles Hartley
455 Foster Lane
Shepherdsville, KY 40165
I will send the program on bootable diskettes. I have a license with
Apple to include ProDOS and BASIC.SYSTEM with the program.
If you request the program on a 3.5 inch diskette, I will include
some extra goodies since there is ample room on that diskette.
Keyboarding 5 continues to be available as a site license for
schools. The school site license fee is $100. Address all inquires to me at
the address above.
Thanks!
Charlie (C.HARTLEY3, CAT13, TOP8, MSG:25/M645;1)
NEW HARD DRIVES A2.Bill asked me to move the discussion of new hard disk
""""""""""""""" drive products over here as a more appropriate place.
So, here we are in our new home.
Later tonight, I'll post brief reports of both the Roadrunner40 and
the AppleLeaf hard disk drives. I'll also discuss the Diplomat.
The Roadrunner is primarily aimed at the Apple IIe because the
package includes a late (read the latest) model CMS SCSI card. This holds
the price down a lot. Also included are a card for power on which any
available 2.5" Quantum GO Drive (SCSI) can be mounted. The producer was
able to obtain something just under 1,000 of these 40 meg drives, and
designed the card for the power, SCSI ID and Terminator power. Again ways
to hold the price down.....
The Roadrunner has been tested in a IIe and a IIGS at Charlie's
AppleSeeds and found to work correctly in both machines!
Retail price is a suggested $199.00
Where else can one find, for an Apple IIe, a 40 meg drive AND SCSI
card for that price? AND, don't forget, its SCSI!
Also available, a limited supply of Roadrunner20 units for a
suggested retail price of $149.00.........
Chuck Newby
Charlie's AppleSeeds
(A2.CHUCK, CAT13, TOP25, MSG:2/M645;1)
PROSEL LITE New addition to the Roadrunner: ProSel LITE
""""""""""" ProSel LITE adds the ProSel 8 (PRO)gram (SEL)ector to the
Roadrunner, so that you can have the best program selector available on the
Apple II Series in 8 bit mode.... Essentially, what you get is the ability
to create a program selector screen for your Roadrunner. The EXTERNAL
Program Selector Editor is part of the LITE package, as are all of the
screen demo files which show you what can be done. In addition, thre
(there) are about 10 pages of dox, in AWP format for how to best use the
Program Selector Screen and both the internal and external screen editors.
ProSel 8, discussed elsewhere on GEnie, can be purchased for $28.00
plus $2 postage, with proof of purchase of your Roadrunner. That
represents a $10 (25%) discount over the suggested retail price.
Chuck (A2.CHUCK, CAT13, TOP25, MSG:6/M645;1)
>>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
TWILIGHT II CONTEST Check out file #21904 for full information on a new
""""""""""""""""""" Twilight II art contest! You can win cash and prizes
:) Hurry; the deadline is Feb 14, 1994.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO OWN TWILIGHT II TO ENTER THE CONTEST!
Also included is a beta version of a toast module for Twilight II
written by Nathan Mates. Check it out! :-)
Please place all discussion of the contest right here! Enjoy and
good luck!
(A2PRO.DYAJIM, CAT13, TOP30, MSG:114/M645;1)
NEW GEM NOT SCUTTLED AFTER ALL? Just wondering if there was any news on
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" GEM for AW4....
<<<Lloyd>>> (STAMPS.RT, CAT29, TOP4, MSG:45/M645;1)
>>>>> Beta testing is vigorously proceeding...hang in there.
"""""
|
-(+)-
|
|
...Will (W.NELKEN1, CAT29, TOP4, MSG:46/M645;1)
NEW COPILOT "OPEN BETA" SCRIPTS The CoPilot scripts for Spectrum and TIC
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" are in the library, and have been since
before daybreak.:)
The library folks are aware that the CoPilot files need to be
released as soon as possible, and they will be making every effort to get
them out. If there is any delay on this, it WILL be unavoidable. (And my
apologies to the library staff for putting them under pressure like this.)
The ProTerm scripts are VERY near complete, and if nothing unexpected
comes up in THAT arena, you should see them early next week.
Gary R. Utter (GARY.UTTER, CAT29, TOP13, MSG:{85}/M645;1)
>>>>> I've been so busy trying to whip the new CoPilot ProTerm scripts
""""" into shape that I've got 800K or unread messages in my A2 buffer!
I'm not sure what Gary has posted about the ProTerm version of these
scripts but I thought I'd take a second to give a status report.
As far as I know, the scripts are done and bug free. The last set of
changes are in the hands of the Beta testers.... Since I may be going out
of town for a couple days, I'm deciding whether to bite the bullit and
upload them.... I'm inclined to upload them and see what happens :). In
any event, you should see them within a week..no matter what.
These scripts are pretty much direct translations of Gary's TIC
scripts. Because of this, I've used none of the power commands in the
ProTerm macro set. The bad side is that it makes it GOto laden spaghetti
code. The good side is that it is so like the TIC/SPECTRUM scripts, almost
anyone can look at additions to the TIC scripts and easily impliment them
in the ProTerm scripts. Also, this first order usage of the ProTerm macro
language should allow use with ProTerm 3.0 as well as 3.1. I did about
half the scripting using ProTerm 3.0 by accident. But after switching to
3.1 I didn't see any reason why 3.0 shouldn't be perfectly adequate. If
there are any problems with 3.0, please jump in and let me know. I want to
make sure they are 3.0 compatible (and I _think_ they are now).
I'll leave it to Gary to explain the 'features' of the scripts. You
can yell at me for any ProTerm bugs though...:) Watch for them. It won't
be long now....
.goose. (W.GOOSEY, CAT29, TOP15, MSG:138/M645;1)
SOFTDISK CONSIDERS ONLINE SALES We will be offering certain Softdisk
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" standalone products in a download
superstore from GEnie as well as other services.
We're looking into the possibilities of being able to download back
issues. We're also looking at allowing subscribers to subscribe
electronically and download the latest issue from GEnie and other services.
Selling back issues that way is also being talked about.
None of it is set in stone, but I imagine we'll know within a month
exactly what we're going to do.
(Oops, I should have answered this on the SOFTDISK.INC account. Hard
to keep 'em straight sometimes. %-)
Dean Esmay (DEAN.ESMAY, CAT34, TOP9, MSG:243/M645;1)
QUIET DEATH OF QFAX GS I was leafing through my back issues of the late
"""""""""""""""""""""" lamented A+/InCider and I found a press release in
the June '93 issue to the effect that Quality was soon to release a product
called Q-FaxModem GS. It stated that the software to transmit (and
eventually receive) faxes would be available seperately. Since I have
recently purchased a high-speed modem with fax capability I am very
interested in such a product. Has this software been released by Quality?
Sam King (S.KING1, CAT42, TOP3, MSG:138/M645;1)
>>>>> Alas, no. Q Fax has died a quiet death. We held every hope that
""""" the software would be completed, but after a year and a half we
have finally begun to notify our customers that we will no longer be s 8;
19A b *E"3 keeping everyones hopes up. The author continues to work
on the project, and he may even finish it for another publisher. If they
bring it to us in a finished form we will probably carry it, but we will
not be pursuing the project any further.
Walker (W.ARCHER2, CAT42, TOP3, MSG:139/M645;1)
NEW ECON SUPPORT PERSON Due to recent internal changes and events at Econ
""""""""""""""""""""""" Technologies Inc., we've been unable to provide
timely support on both of our online support areas. Unfortunately our time
resources have been severely taxed and therefore time intensive task such
as bulletin board support had to be sacraficed. In order to counter this
situation we have commissioned a new individual to provide support for Econ
Technologies here on GEnie.
Kevin Piclesimer is the new ECON dude here on GEnie! Kevin is an
enthusiastic Apple IIgs owner who has enjoyed using the Apple II for many
years. Kevin will be providing answers to general & specific questions
concerning ECON products here in our support area. He will also do his his
best to help you through any problems you may be having with any ECON
product although he may have to refer you to ECON tech. support.
Please give a kind welcome to Kevin as he joins the GEnie community!
Best Regards,
D.Proni (ECON, CAT35, TOP2, MSG:33/M645;1)
BUG DISCOVERED IN PROTERM 3.1 You just uncovered a bug in ProTERM 3.1!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Its there, its in the code! Congratulations
if you and I are ever on Times Square, I'll give you a big hug in public.
<smile>
Greg was looking over the PT3.1 code and found that during a routine
test for 1200 baud modems, he removed part of the "maintenance" code for
those modems and never put it back (blush).
It now seems apparent that not many are using 1200 baud modems as you
are the first to note the problem that the 1200 baud modes is indeed
instructed to answer the phone if it rings. <smile>
Just add
S0=0 (read that as S zero equals zero)
to the end of your Init string and it should solve the problem.
Jerry Cline @ InTrec Software, Inc.
(INTREC, CAT24, TOP2, MSG:263/M645;1)
DIGISOFT CONSIDERING CD DigiSoft is currently considering the production
""""""""""""""""""""""" of a new IIGS CD-ROM disc. How much interest
would there be? We don't want to make it and then have only 20 copies
sold, for instance... On the other hand, if we could sell 100, we'd get
the project underway immediately. So, what say the masses? Just how many
AII users have CD-ROM drives now that they are much cheaper?
Most of the stuff on the disc will be in HFS format, so AII users
with access to Macs with CD-ROM drives could copy off files and bring them
home to the GS as well.. There might also be a prodos partition for P8
programs..
<<Jim (DYA, CAT13, TOP29, MSG:31/M645;1)
>>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
Category 2, Topic 3
Message 51 Mon Jan 03, 1994
T.A.GATES at 03:09 EST
Ah, the good ol' days!
Not to mention the "other guys", but if anyone also gets on
CompuServe (hey, I use it to access my company mainframe - GEnie is where I
have my fun :) - the 'Behind the Screens' column by John Edwards in the Jan
94 magazine was interesting.
He mentions a kind of yearning for 4k RAM, Kilobaud and OnComputing
magazines, the take-over of the micro computer industry by "consultants",
the disappearance of the original hackers (in the good sense).
I still have my original 1979 Apple II in my 4-year old daughter's
room. She still gets a great kick out of making it tick. I get a much
greater kick watching her have fun with it.
Circa 1976, had taken BASIC and FORTRAN courses at the Univ of
Minnesota totally by consequence (another whole story) and fell in love
with the things. A year before my high school physics teacher was busy
building a computer from a kit (Altair I believe) and got me interested in
the kit building side. So HeathKit was a way of life for some time as
well.
Drooled over the ads in Byte magazine about the 4K RAM machines that
you put together on the "kit a month" plan. Then the ads for the Apple I,
you could get just the motherboard and add your own case, power supply and
keyboard - or - buy the works in a case already!
Even in those days, Apple was high priced compared to other
computers. I recall the month-long debate over spending my $2000 on 16K
Apple II with an AppleSoft language card, or get the Ohio Scientific
computer with 32K of memory, disk drive, monitor for the same price. The
decision on the Apple was almost a coin toss type of affair. What sinched
the deal was I couldn't find software for the O.S. machine outside of the
Montgomery Wards store. Yes, Wards! They sold them right next to the
tires and batteries. :)
I loved what the Lisa and Mac computers could do and had a part in
bringing a Lisa into our office. This eventually became a love/hate affair
as the arrogance of the Mac owners/users and the shenannigans within Apple
Inc. regarding the II vs Mac became more profound. So, when my dad saw
this neat new IIGS computer coming on the market, he asked if I'd be
interested in one. How can you say "no" to your dad. ;) I'd guess that
this Woz signature machine will last at least as long as the II in my
daughter's room. And, if Quality moves ahead with plans on a software
emulator for the PowerPC's, I'll really be in hog heaven. Finally someone
to bridge the gap that Apple was never willing to.
Ah, memories!
T.A.Gates
[*][*][*]
Category 2, Topic 4
Message 350 Wed Jan 05, 1994
R.HOSKING [WOODCHUCK] at 22:51 EST
Sometimes we Apple II users have our rewards.
I had a project at the office which would work the best using a
database. Our office is awash in messy-dos machines. The guru in charge
of software feels that if it is bigger (read more expensive), the software
must be better so in his infinite wisdom, bought rBASE as our data base
software. In an attempt to give it a fair shot, I have been trying to
learn rBASE for a year and like the other folks in the department, have
muddled along and still can't set up a data base. (If the manual is over 1
1/2 inches thick, don't buy it). Having a deadline to meet, I said to hell
with messy-dos and planned on using Appleworks database to get the project
done. As luck would have it, the nor'easter of 94 (thats what the news
media called it) gave me the chance to get Appleworks up and running at
home. My boss told me to take work home Monday night and work at home
instead of driving 35 miles to the office on Tuesday. Not one to argue
with the boss, I did just that. As the snow fell and the wind blew, I
typed away on the IIGS and got the project done.
Wednesday morning, I brought my Deskjet 500 printed custom output
into the office and showed the boss what could be done with a "SIMPLE"
database program on a obsolete computer. As he was working with my output,
I went into my office and started doing some SuperCalc work on my messy-dos
machine when the computer hung on me. It wouldn't even recognize a
ctrl-alt-delete boot. I turned off the machine and rebooted to find only a
blank screen, no cursor and the sound of the harddrive spinning. When the
service tech looked at my dead machine, he found that the motherboard was
fried and had to be replaced.
Could it be that my DOS machine saw the Apple output and threw in the
towel?
Dick (Woodchuck) Hosking
[*][*][*]
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 /
/////////////////////////////////
Fun & Games On GEnie
""""""""""""""""""""
Author Unknown
>>> IF OPERATING SYSTEMS RAN AIRLINES <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
If operating systems ran airlines:
DOS Airline Everybody pushes the airplane until it glides, then jump on
"""""""""""" and let the plane coast until it hits the ground again, then
push again, jump on again and so on.
DOS with QEMM Airline The same thing but with more leg room to push.
"""""""""""""""""""""
The Macintosh Airline All the stewards, stewardesses, captains, baggage
""""""""""""""""""""" handlers, and ticket agents look the same, act the
same, and talk the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you
are told you don't need to know, don't want to know, and everything will be
done for you without you having to know, so just shut up.
The OS/2 Airline To board the plane, you have your ticket stamped ten
"""""""""""""""" different times by standing in ten different lines.
Then you fill out a form showing where you want to sit and whether it
should look and feel like an ocean liner, a passenger train, or a bus. If
you succeed in getting on board the plane and the plane succeeds in getting
off the ground, you have a wonderful trip...except for the times when the
rudder and flaps get frozen in position, in which case you have time to say
your prayers and get yourself prepared before the crash.
The WINDOWS Airline The airport terminal is nice and colorful, with
""""""""""""""""""" friendly stewards and stewardesses, easy access to
the plane, an uneventful takeoff...then BOOM! the plane blows up without
any warning whatsoever and you're dead.
The WINDOWS NT Airline Everyone marches out on the runway, say the
"""""""""""""""""""""" password in unison, and form the outline of an
airplane. Then they all sit down and make a whooshing sound like they're
flying.
The UNIX Airline Everyone brings one piece of the plane with them when
"""""""""""""""" they come to the airport. They all go out on the
runway and put the plane together piece by piece, arguing constantly about
what kind of plane they're building.
The ATARI Airline No one knows where the ticket agents are or the
""""""""""""""""" terminal is.
[*][*][*]
Contributed to GEnieLamp by Terry Quinn [TQUINN]
[EOA]
[REF]//////////////////////////////
REFLECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Thinking About Online Communications
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
[P.SHAPIRO1]
>>> DEVELOPING YOUR ONLINE SOCIAL SKILLS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The other day I got to thinking about the two types of
telecommunications skills a person can possess. The first type is
technical skills: how to use the features in your communications software,
how to read and leave messages on local bulletin boards and national
information services, how to diagnose the problem when your modem has
difficulty connecting with a remote system.
The other type of telecommunications skill is far more subtle and
amorphous. It's the skill a person has at knowing what to say, how to say
it, where to say it, and whom to say it to. It's the "savoir faire" skill
of knowing accepted online social practices, and of playing the game
according to the unwritten rules.
It's this second type of telecommunications skill I find most
fascinating.
You can tell when a person has developed a facility at this skill.
Their public message postings sound concise, well-thought out, sensitive to
others' feelings, and inviting reply. Their private electronic mail
messages have similar attributes.
You can also tell when a person's online social skills are not fully
developed. The person who sprinkles exclamation marks hither and thither
in their writing may be unaware that their puppy-dog exuberance betrays a
certain naivete. Likewise the poor soul who has yet to learn that the
English language has evolved to where lower case lettering is indeed
permissible.
Knowing what to say online is only half the battle though. Knowing
how to say it is the real challenge.
It takes skill to choose just the right words to elicit the desired
response. Another way of saying this is that online communications gives
you ample opportunities to put your foot in your mouth.
You need not feel overly self-conscious if you do commit the
occasional social gaffe, though. Online communications is so new to all of
us that everyone can recall social gaffe's of their own.
Just last week I myself had a narrow escape. In a moment of reckless
abandon I courtesy-copied an electronic mail message. My reason for doing
so was to save myself the trouble of sending a separate e-mail message to
the courtesy-copied party.
Doesn't sound too dangerous on the face of it, does it? Aha, but
foot-in-mouth opportunities abound in the online world. No sooner had I
dispatched the message than I realized the possible perils of my action.
Some stray comments in my message could possibly be taken the wrong way by
the courtesy-copied party.
Luckily, I narrowly escaped a rather embarrassing situation. Next
time I'll think twice about using the convenience of courtesy-copying. I'm
all the wiser for having narrowly missed that precipice.
The truth is that online social skills are closely akin to the social
skills we use in conducting our everyday face-to-face affairs. Those who
have developed refined social skills in the tangible world usually have no
trouble transferring those skills to the online world.
Tact. Courtesy. Thoughtfulness. A reserved, controlled demeanor.
These are all indicia of a refined mind -- both online and off line.
These are commendable skills to hone and refine. You cannot learn
them quickly. You cannot learn them from any guidebook. You can only
learn them through experience.
As you journey through the online world, take time to reflect upon
the positive examples of online social skills you encounter. You will
enrich yourself immeasurably as a result.
-Phil Shapiro
[*][*][*]
The author takes a keen interest in the social dimensions
of online communications. He can be reached on GEnie at:
P.SHAPIRO1; on America Online at: pshapiro.
[EOA]
[BEG]//////////////////////////////
BEGINNER'S CORNER /
/////////////////////////////////
Polishing Green Apples
""""""""""""""""""""""
By Steve Weyhrich
[S.WEYHRICH]
>>> HOOKED ON CLASSICS (Part 4) <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
INTRODUCTION We finally reach the end of our tour of the Apple IIgs
"""""""""""" Classic Desk Accessory Control Panel, with a discussion of
the Printer Port and Modem Port options. If you are one of the many who,
like me, have recently updated to a newer, faster modem, this may be
helpful.
PRINTER PORT / MODEM PORT These two options in the Control Panel are
""""""""""""""""""""""""" quite similar, so I will deal with them
together. Modifying the characteristics of a serial port on the Apple II,
II Plus, or IIe required popping the top off the computer and flipping some
tiny little DIP switches. To do this on the IIgs is much easier; you just
enter our handy little CDA Control Panel and use the arrow keys to change
things.
Before describing the various entries in these Control Panels, let's
diverge for a moment and discuss parallel versus serial devices, and then
explain what a serial device needs to properly communicate. The parallel
interface was designed originally by a company named Centronics, which
manufactured printers, way back before microcomputers existed. They
designed an inexpensive way of sending data from a computer to a printer
that involved having a separate wire for each of the eight bits in a byte.
Besides these eight wires, there was also a wire from the computer to the
printer to tell it that a character was coming, and another wire from the
printer back to the computer to tell it that the character had been
printed, and it was ready for more. The only problem with the parallel
interface is that it is expensive to have a cable that runs over a long
distance (if your printer and computer can't be right next to each other).
Because of these drawbacks, the serial interface is often used as an
alternative.
Serial interfaces have been around for a LONG time, so long that a
specific standard has been defined to designate exactly how a serial
interface should work. This is called the RS-232-C standard, and that's
why you see that name on some serial devices (when they claim to be
compatible with that standard). The simplest serial interface would be one
line for data and another for a ground, but several others were added over
the years, until there were as many as 25 different lines with different
meanings. In the microcomputer world, where practicalities such as price
have reigned supreme, this has been reduced significantly. The Apple IIc,
the first Apple II to use the serial interface as a standard, used only
five of the lines coming out of the computer, although the plug at the
other end had to have 25 pins to follow the RS-232-C standard. The IIgs
and Macintosh computers use eight lines for data transmission to achieve
slightly better control. This uses one data line in each direction, plus
other lines for control (letting one device tell another when it is ready
for more).
Now that we have that out of the way, here is what these Panels look
like:
Control Panel Control Panel
Printer Port Modem Port
-Device Connected: Printer- -Device Connected: Modem-
~ Line Length: Unlimited ~ Line Length: Unlimited
~ Delete first LF after CR: No ~ Delete first LF after CR: No
~ Add LF after CR: Yes ~ Add LF after CR: No
~ Echo: No ~ Echo: No
~ Buffering: No ~ Buffering: No
~ Baud: 9600 ~ Baud: 1200
~ Data/Stop Bits: 8/1 ~ Data/Stop Bits: 8/1
~ Parity: None ~ Parity: None
~ DCD Handshake: Yes ~ DCD Handshake: Yes
~ DSR/DTR Handshake: Yes ~ DSR/DTR Handshake: Yes
~ XON/XOFF Handshake: No ~ XON/XOFF Handshake: No
Select <- -> V ^ Cancel: Esc Save <-|
(Note that as in previous month's articles, the "~" character
represents the checkmark that appears next to each line in Control Panel
setting that is the default selection for that feature.) All these
parameters are necessary to help your computer communicate properly with
alien species (i.e., printers and modems). Now, we'll take each of these
in turn to explain what they mean.
Device Connected On the ROM 01 IIgs, this is an option that can be
'''''''''''''''' adjusted by pressing the right or left arrow keys to
select "Printer" or "Modem". On the ROM 03 IIgs, the Printer and Modem
Control Panels are smart enough to tell you what setting you have made in
the Slots Control Panel. If you have Slot 1 set for "Printer", it tells
you that; if for "Modem" (yes, you could have two modems attached), it
tells you that. If for "Your Card" it will say that also, and if
"AppleTalk" (on the ROM 03), that name is displayed. If AppleTalk is
selected for either of these two slots, many of the other options are NOT
displayed; apparently only the first four are needed to properly control an
AppleTalk interface.
Line Length This option refers to the number of characters that will be
''''''''''' sent to a port before a carriage return (Ctrl-M) character is
automatically generated by the computer and sent down the serial data line.
This may be necessary when using some very old printers that REQUIRE this
type of control, or if the page that you are trying to print seems to
continually print characters off the right edge of the paper. In most
modern applications, however, the software takes care of where the line
should end and continue on the next, so most users should just set this to
"Unlimited". A modem also MUST have this option set to "Unlimited".
Delete first LF after CR Here, LF = Linefeed (Ctrl-J), and CR = Carriage
'''''''''''''''''''''''' Return (Ctrl-M). When these terms were
originally defined back in the teletype and typewriter days, a Carriage
Return meant that the movable print head was moved back to the left end of
the line. However, without a Linefeed to move the paper up one line, any
printing that continued from this point would go right over that printing
that had already appeared on the line. So, when information was sent to a
teletype it was necessary to send both a Ctrl-J and a Ctrl-M to make sure
that the next line of printing WAS printed on the next line.
From the beginning, the original Apple II would move the cursor to the
next line on the screen with ONLY the Ctrl-M character. It became
customary for printers attached to Apple II's, and later to the Macintosh
series, to also require ONLY the Ctrl-M character, rather than the
Ctrl-M/Ctrl-J (CR/LF) byte pair. This made sense in terms of saving a bit
of time during printing, and space in a text file; each line in the file
would require one byte less of storage if it only used the Ctrl-M
character.
In the CP/M world, and later in the MS-DOS world of the IBM PC, the
custom of using BOTH the CR and the LF bytes persisted, and so some
printers expect to receive BOTH a CR and LF to work properly. Other
printers (such as the Apple ImageWriter) only require a CR to work properly
(in its default setting).
Since the settings on printers differ, this can be used to change how
the serial port talks to the printer. If all the lines in your word
processing document print out double spaced, setting this option to "Yes"
will allow the serial port firmware to "eat" the extra LF character.
Add LF after CR Similar to the above discussion, an application that
''''''''''''''' does NOT send a LF after a CR may cause some printers to
print every line in a document on top of each other. If that happens with
your setup, setting this option to "Yes" will cause the serial port
firmware to burp out an extra LF character every time a CR character is
sent.
Echo When using a modem, two modes of data transmission are used.
'''' "Full-duplex" means that a character sent to the computer on the
other end is sent back ("echoed") to the computer on your end.
"Half-duplex" (which GEnie and nearly no one else uses) means that the
characters sent from your end are NOT sent back to your computer.
Therefore, to see what you are typing, your terminal program must be set to
half-duplex, or you must set this Control Panel option to "Yes". If you see
ttwwoo of everything you type, the remote computer is sending each
character you type back to you, and you need to set Echo to "No".
Buffering This option, if activated, uses a space in RAM where data being
''''''''' sent to the printer or modem can be temporarily stored up when
the device is busy and can't handle any more data for a moment. For a
modem, if you find that you are losing some data at times, turning this
option on may help. Apple's manuals suggest leaving this turned off unless
a particular program or device requires that it be on.
One "gotcha" that once hit me was turning Buffering "On" in the
Printer Port. It began to cause problems when I tried to print several
documents from AppleWorks; as each new document began to print, it appeared
to clear out the remainder of the previous document. After tearing out a
few hairs ("But this USED to work!!!"), I finally recalled that I had made
that change, and returning it to normal fixed everything. Moral: Don't
turn Buffering "On" unless you have specific instructions to do it.
You will probably find that if you use a high speed modem (9600 baud
or faster) this option will need to be turned "On".
Baud The approximate speed (in characters per second) that the serial
'''' port will send data to the device attached to it. When the IIgs was
designed, the most common speed for printers was 9600, and for modems was
1200. The baud rate for printers should be set to the fastest speed that
the printer can handle (make sure the settings on the printer match what
you set here). For many modems, this setting may NEED to be set to the
speed at which you want to use the modem; however, with newer modems, it
may be possible to have the Baud setting in the Control Panel set to the
highest speed (19200) EVEN if the modem cannot communicate faster than 2400
baud. This Control Panel setting will determine how fast the computer
communicates with the modem; the modem will communicate over the phone line
at whatever speed IT has been set to.
In general, put this option to the highest setting that allows you to
make a reliable connection.
Data/Stop Bits To allow eight bits of data to be sent on a SINGLE
'''''''''''''' electrical line between two devices, there has to be a way
to tell when one byte ends and the next one begins. Consider this series
of characters: "GODISNOWHERE". Does it mean "GOD IS NOWHERE" or "GOD IS
NOW HERE"? Without the space character it could be difficult to determine
the correct meaning of the words. In the transmission of a series of bits,
it is absolutely critical that there be a way to tell where the "space"
should go.
"Data Bits" refers to whether a byte is sent as five, six, seven, or
eight bits. Although five or six bits may not send many characters based
on the ASCII character set, some older standards require such a setting.
However, I know of no standard BBS or major online information service that
uses such a limited protocol.
"Stop Bits" refers to how a byte is terminated; by the above example,
it identifies how a "space" between bytes is identified. This is either
one or two bits.
In nearly all circumstances these days, it will be unnecessary to
change this setting from 8/1 to anything else.
Parity This option has to do with an older method of error checking.
'''''' After each character is transmitted, a parity bit may be required
to allow the computer on the receiving end to determine whether or not the
character was sent accurately. If not, that one character would be
re-transmitted.
Parity is set to either "Odd", "Even", or "None". An "Odd" parity
requires that an extra bit, either 0 or 1, is added to the end of the 5, 6,
7, or 8 bit character to make sure that it has an odd number of 1 digits.
"Even" parity means that the extra bit should make the entire transmitted
character have an even number of 1 digits. "None" means that the parity
protocol is not used, and in most cases this will be the best choice.
DCD, DSR/DTR, XON/XOFF Handshake These three Handshake options are used
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' to help the device attached to a serial
port to be able to tell the computer to stop sending data to it. A
printer, for instance, is not able to print data as quickly as the computer
can send it. If the printer could not tell the computer "Stop, I'm full
right now!," data would be lost as the computer continued to dump data to
it.
DCD stands for "Data Carrier Detect"; DSR for "Data Set Ready"; DTR
for "Data Terminal Ready"; and XON/XOFF are the names for ASCII characters
that tell the transmitting device to start and stop sending, respectively.
THE END OF THE CLASSICS Finally, we are at the end of this description of
""""""""""""""""""""""" the CDA Control Panel. Hopefully, it has made it
easier for you to make adjustments to your Apple IIgs, and to understand
what those adjustments are for. Next time, join me here as we begin to
look into the use of increasingly affordable hard disks on Apple II
computers.
[*][*][*]
Steve Weyhrich is a family physician from Omaha, Nebraska.
He has been using Apple II computers since 1981, and writing
about them since 1990. He follows closely the events that
continue to shape the destiny of the legendary Apple II and
IIgs computers, and writes a monthly column called the "A2
News Digest" for A2-Central disk magazine. He is also the
author of the "Apple II History," available on fine BBSes
everywhere. He is really getting tired, however, of talking
about the CDA Control Panel.
[EOA]
[TEC]//////////////////////////////
TECH TALK /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II Hybrids
""""""""""""""""
By Jay Curtis
[J.CURTIS8]
>>> HOW THE APPLE II READS AND WRITES MS-DOS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Macintosh world has been buzzing recently about an
Apple-manufactured 68040 Processor Direct Slot card that actually allows a
Macintosh to run MS-DOS programs. Running inside a Mac Quadra 610, this
486 co-processor does has features that take it beyond the PC Transporter;
however, I can't help but be amused by the attitude of the Mac-o-philes at
my work place. One in particular has been crowing about what an "amazing
technological breakthrough" the card represents and how "nothing like it
has ever been done before." One of these days I'll bring him to my home
and quietly demonstrate how my PC Transporter-equipped IIgs can launch and
run the latest versions of Microsoft Works, ProCOMM Plus, and Word Perfect
from GS/OS desktop icons.
The PC Transporter is, for all practical purposes, a small,
high-speed XT that is contained upon a single card. When it was
introduced, XTs were considered "aging technology" in the PC world, when
compared to the accepted 286 standard, and the just-emerging, ultra-fast,
386 systems. Nonetheless, the ability to cram an entire XT on a single
card was considered an engineering accomplishment, and the card must be
viewed, historically, as state-of-the-art technology in consideration of
what it could do.
Even today, the PCT is no slouch. People who have just enough
knowledge about computers to think that they "know" you can't run IBM
software on an Apple II, are usually amazed when they see a machine that
will do exactly that. The PCT uses a V30 microprocessor -- essentially the
equivalent of an Intel 8086, only smaller. The V30's speed is 7.14 mhz,
but subjectively it runs much faster than that. I can compare the card's
performance (using non-Windows, MS-DOS applications) with an old XT and
with an HP Vectra 386/16 at my work place. Running inside my GS, most of
the PCT's functions seem much closer in speed to the HP Vectra than the XT.
I haven't tried to verify Applied Engineering's claim that MS-DOS
programs run 3 times faster on the PCT than on a PC/XT. Many factors
govern speed and the perception of speed on personal computers, and with
Applied's claim, you could easily imagine the PCT running like a 22 Mhz
386. Don't. It probably isn't THAT fast. Think along the lines of a fast
286 running a text-based program. Yes, Windows WILL run on the PCT, but
there's no advantage in doing that. A GS user already has a (better)
windowing environment with GS/OS system 6.0.1, and according to those who
have tried it, Windows will slow down the PCT to a snail's pace. The PCT
is strictly a DOS engine, and what it does, it does with speed and panache.
According to Applied Engineering, the PCT gets its speed from the
fact that it is a "co-processor." In either an Apple IIe or IIgs, the
Apple's own microprocessor and ProDOS system software handle the I/O from
the V30 while emulating PC I/O ports. This enables the PCT's V30 to
process MS-DOS programs "at full speed" while accessing its own on-board
RAM.(1) Therefore, the PCT can be said to be running INSIDE an Apple, both
figuratively and literally, given that most of the I/O is overseen by
ProDOS.
There are, however, two important exceptions to the rule that you
need ProDOS for I/O management: First, the PCT has its own Color Graphics
Adapter (CGA) controller for generating video. In a IIgs, a "ColorSwitch"
is required to automatically switch between the GS's RGB analog color
output and the PCT's digital output. The second exception to ProDOS I/O
management is found in the PCT's on-board, MFM floppy disk controller. If
it were not for the MFM controller, there would be no way to get program
instructions from a STANDARD MS-DOS diskette into your Apple II/PC hybrid.
It is helpful to think of this controller as your principal doorway to the
MS-DOS world beyond the PC Transporter and Apple II hybrid system.
Considered by itself, the PC Transporter card is capable of working
with three types of MS-DOS volumes. These volume types are MFM, GCR and
hard disk. The PCT can read and write directly to MFM/MS-DOS volumes ONLY
through its on-board MFM floppy disk controller. The controller, in turn
must be connected to either PC Transporter "Transdrives" or to a standard
Apple 3.5 microfloppy drive to be able to read and write MFM/MS-DOS
diskettes. The PCT reads and writes to hard disk and GCR/MS-DOS volumes
through the Apple's microprocessor and ProDOS.
ABOUT "LOW-LEVEL" FORMAT "GCR" and "MFM" are sometimes called "low-level"
"""""""""""""""""""""""" formats or "disk formats." This is done to
distinguish them from "file formats," such as MS-DOS, ProDOS and HFS.
"MFM" is principally used by PCs and PC compatibles, while "GCR" is
principally used by Apple IIs. Another way to think about GCR and MFM is
that they are HARDWARE-RELATIVE terms that have to do with the schemes used
by the drives themselves, and their interface cards or controllers, for
encoding data on diskettes. MFM stands for "modified frequency
modulation." GCR stands for "group code recording." On the other hand, the
FILE formats MS-DOS, ProDOS and HFS, should be thought of as
"SOFTWARE-RELATIVE" terms for our present purposes.(2)
As file formats, MS-DOS, ProDOS and HFS can be independent of MFM and
GCR. Thus, it is possible to have MFM-encoded ProDOS diskettes, and it is
also possible to have GCR-encoded MS-DOS diskettes. The 1.4MB and 720K
ProDOS disks created by Floptical disk drives are MFM-encoded ProDOS. The
720K and 360K ProDOS disks created by the PCT's Transdrives are also
MFM-encoded. However, convention pairs MS-DOS with MFM in the PC world and
ProDOS with GCR in the Apple II world. (It should be noted that HFS is
often written to both MFM and GCR; Superdrive-equipped Macs routinely work
with both formats.)
It appears to some Apple watchers that the company will soon leave
the GCR standard behind (along with the Apple II) to make their drives and
data disks more cross-platform compatible with the PC world and to save
money. This would seem to be a logical step as Apple moves toward
promotion of the PowerPC and, therefore, a single hardware standard with
the PC world. It is all the more reason for Apple II devotees wishing to
remain with dynamite power applications like ProTERM 3.1 and AppleWorks 4.1
to develop bridges to enable them to move their data with greater ease
between their Apple and other platforms when needed.
It is important for cross-platform and hybrid users to keep in mind
which kind of diskette (GCR or MFM) that they are working with, because
each kind of diskette requires a certain kind of disk drive and/or
interface in order for it to be written or read. For example, a user
cannot write a 720K MFM/ProDOS diskette in a Floptical disk drive or PCT
Transdrive, then take it to a standard GCR 800K Apple drive and read it.
Similarly, anyone who takes advantage of the PCT card's ability to write
MS-DOS to a diskette through a standard GCR Apple drive and controller,
should not expect to be able to read one of these diskettes in a standard
PC or compatible drive.
The Apple 3.5 and Applied's Platinum 3.5 are, however, capable of
reading and writing both 720K MFM/MS-DOS AND 800K GCR/ProDOS when hooked to
the PCT card. On the ProDOS side of an Apple II/PC hybrid, a special
Applied Engineering software program called "PCT.SWAP" can turn these
drives on and off as ProDOS drives. This capability has caused some
AppleII fans to opt for the PC Transporter card in place of Apple's
Superdrive bundle.
As many know, the Superdrive and its controller card give Apple II
users the capability to rewrite high density HFS, MS-DOS, and ProDOS in MFM
and GCR. By comparison, however, the PCT's advantage is that it gives the
user the ability to not only rewrite MFM/MS-DOS and GCR/ProDOS, but also to
RUN MS-DOS. Additionally, IIe users who do not possess 800K 3.5 capability
get the added benefit of a 3.5 floppy disk controller (usable on both
ProDOS and MS-DOS sides of their machine) with their PCT card.
Unfortunately, the Superdrive cannot be hooked to the PCT's MFM
controller and cannot be accessed by the PCT as an MFM/MS-DOS device. The
Superdrive's double and high density diskettes CAN, however, be accessed by
the PCT through the Apple II's ProDOS emulation of PC I/O (in the same way
that standard Apple 3.5 drives can be accessed by the PCT through the Apple
ports). Additionally, with Peter Watson's (GS/OS) MS-DOS utilities and
System 6.0.1's MS-DOS FST, it is possible to format and rewrite MFM/MS-DOS
in both double density and high density from the IIgs side of a GS/PC
hybrid, or from ANY GS for that matter, hybrid or not.
For those who already have 3.5 capability (hopefully most of us by
now), one drawback to consider in comparing the PCT and Apple's Superdrive
bundle is that the PCT's controller will not handle high density (1.4MB)
diskettes. This is often the essential consideration for those who
purchase the Superdrive. Also, while the PCT and Apple 3.5 combination
will read and write MFM/MS-DOS, PC-compatible drives on other machines are
finicky about reading and writing MFM/MS-DOS diskettes which have been
FORMATTED in the Apple 3.5 drive. Most Apple II hybrid users who rely on
the PCT and Apple 3.5 drive combination purchase preformatted IBM
diskettes. Others may wish to consider using the PCT Transdrive system,
which not only flawlessly formats MFM/MS-DOS, but is also able to display
MFM/MS-DOS diskette volumes on the GS/OS desktop with the MS-DOS FST.
Though neither the PCT Transdrive system nor the PCT and Apple 3.5
combination are capable of reading or writing high density diskettes, there
is one MFM-capable device, other than the Superdrive, that CAN read and
write 1.4MB high density. The Floptical disk drive has been receiving much
attention lately among Apple II hybrid and cross-platform users because of
its ability to handle MFM encoding AND its ability to rewrite high density.
This gives it many advantages, especially for Apple IIgs devotees who want
to work with both the MS-DOS and HFS file system translators. It seems
important, therefore, to briefly consider use of the Floptical in this
series on Apple II hybrid computers.
ABOUT FLOPTICAL DRIVES Tulin, PLI and IOMEGA sell the majority of
"""""""""""""""""""""" Floptical drives to AppleII owners. Unlike
Superdrives, Floptical drives are limited to only MFM encoding. However,
besides being able to rewrite high density diskettes, they also can read
and write VERY high density (21MB) Floptical diskettes. These Floptical
diskettes are 3.5 floppy diskettes which have been "etched" or "stamped" on
one side with a series of small pits, laid down in concentric rings.
If you turn a Floptical diskette over, open the shutter and hold the
diskette at an angle to an incandescent bulb you get refraction, a rainbow
effect across the diskette's surface appearing much the same as when you
hold an old LP record at an angle to light. A light emitting diode inside
the Floptical drive's case shines on this surface, and an optical servo
mechanism reads the pits to position its magnetic read/write heads.
Therefore, positioning is done optically, but, unlike an optical disk,
which encodes data optically in small reflective pits, data are encoded
MAGNETICALLY on Floptical diskettes. The Floptical drive achieves its very
high data densities because of the precision which can be derived from
optical positioning.
Like the Apple Superdrive, the Floptical drive cannot be accessed
directly as an MFM/MS-DOS device by a PCT card because it cannot be
attached to the PCT's MFM/MS-DOS controller. The diskettes can, however,
be accessed as special hard disk volumes by the PCT.
Floptical drives are SCSI devices, and therefore they must be hooked
to an SCSI controller card. Once they are properly configured on the SCSI
bus, a floptical diskette, placed in one of these drives, can function like
any other hard drive volume, with one important difference. Floptical
diskettes are removable. Being removable, they can be used as backup
devices or substitute volumes containing alternative programs and data.
Therefore, they can also provide multiple hard disk volumes to both the
Apple II and PC sides of the hybrid. Used as PCT hard drive volumes, these
diskettes offer tremendous flexibility to Apple II hybrid users.
Next month, we'll talk more about PCT hard drive volumes and about
use of the PCT control panel and hardware drivers. We'll also talk more
about the kind of software that runs on the PC side of the Apple II/PC
hybrid and what benefits the user can expect. Until next month then, think
hybrid!
NOTES
"""""
(1) PC Transporter User's Manual, p. 73
(2) Before we make this definition too rigid, however, we should
acknowledge that MS-DOS and ProDOS are more than JUST filing
systems. They are also disk operating systems. As such, they
have code built into them which enables them to work with
peripheral devices. In this sense, MS-DOS and ProDOS are also
hardware-relative terms.
[EOA]
[MOO]//////////////////////////////
CowTOONS! /
/////////////////////////////////
Beef Futures II
""""""""""""""" (__)
by Mike White (oo)
[MWHITE] /~~~||~~\/~~||~~~\
| ^^ ^^ |
| |====\
(__) /~~\ | Black | ||
(oo) / | | ||
`\~~~~||~~~~||~~~~/' | Cow | ||
`\ ^^ ^^ /' | |====/
`\ \ / /' | |
~-====-~ \________________/
Cow Punch Moot Beer Float
~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(__)
(oo)
_______\/ (__)
*~||)))))) oo=======--*
~~ ~~ ^^ ^^
Short Ribs Pressed Beef
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
(___)
(o o)
/[~~~~~~\;/~~~~~~] Watch for another thunderin' herd of
/(.................) Moo Fun from Mike White in the next
* \............./ issue of GEnieLamp.
\........./
\...../ 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
Top Sirloin of GEnie non-prime time!
~~~~~~~~~~~
[EOA]
[DRT]//////////////////////////////
DR'S EXAMINING TABLE /
/////////////////////////////////
Golden Oldies
"""""""""""""
by Darrel Raines
[D.RAINES]
One of the potentially frustrating things about owning an older
computer system is that you feel left out when you see your friends going
to the nearest computer store and buying that great new game for their
system. They plop down $50 for a new dungeon game that will blow the socks
off anything that was ever created before. The package consists of music
and graphics that will make you think that you are actually in the room
with the dragon that just toasted your exploration crew.
All this sounds great to the average Apple IIgs owner (except the
high purchase price). The trouble is that there are no longer new games
coming out for the Apple. You begin to feel left out and start to consider
purchasing a new computer just so you can play the latest and greatest
computer games. Well, hold onto your mouse for just a minute. I have an
alternative that I think you should consider: used software.
Unless you were a lot wealthier than the average Apple II owner, you
did not have the resources to purchase every game that was written for the
Apple II over the years. I certainly tried, but even I could not
accomplish this feat. Therefore, many games and other useful software were
written for your computer, but escaped your clutches for some reason or
other. Now is your opportunity.
Run, don't walk, to the nearest Apple IIgs and boot up the
telecommunications software. Log onto GEnie and hop over to the Apple II
RoundTable (A2). Enter the bulletin board area (option 1) and set your
category for number 4 (SET 4). You are ready to enter the magic kingdom.
In just a few weeks, you'll have hundreds of opportunities to purchase used
software that needs a new, loving home. All that you have to do is browse
(BRO) the different topics to find the software that you managed to miss in
the past few years. There are even a number of hardware items that may
tickle your fancy.
Once you see a title that sounds good, drop a note to the person who
left the original "For Sale" message. If the price sounds too steep, then
make a counter-offer. If the price sounds fair, then shout quickly "I will
take that item off your hands." If you are the first one to make an offer
that the owner accepts, then you will be the proud owner of a new toy. The
seller will generally send the package to you and expect prompt payment in
return. You will get the original software, documentation, and many hours
of entertainment.
I should interject a word of caution at this point. I have never had
a problem in receiving merchandise or payment while using this process.
However, the possibility does exist that you could get ripped off during an
exchange. I have never experienced a problem other than slow payment. I
have also been guilty of taking some time in shipping equipment to a
purchaser. I am working on this; it only works against me in the long run.
Be sure to work out who pays for shipment and what order the payments are
exchanged with the person you are buying from. Take nothing for granted;
spell out every detail.
I have been able to find many good deals by purchasing my software in
this manner. I have also sold some items that would otherwise be gathering
dust on my shelves. Not only that, but by selling my used software, I have
more money to purchase someone else's used game for my computer. What a
deal!
I have finished many computer games, especially adventure games,
where the software and documentation look exactly like they did when I
purchased the game. The only difference is that I have completed playing
the game and killing the ultimate bad guy. Now I do not know what to do
with the game. I will not be playing again anytime soon, since I spent
long hours on the game before finishing it. Why not sell the software on
the Apple II RoundTable?
You can place an ad for a software package almost as easily as you
can find someone else's software to purchase. All you have to do is
compose a brief ad for the forum message and type it under the correct
topic in category #4. There are topics for 8-bit software, 16-bit
software, IIgs computer systems, peripherals, and so on. Find the correct
category and type away. Even if you happen to pick the wrong topic, the
forum sysop will move the message for you and leave a friendly note telling
you where to look for replies.
I have managed to find several packages just recently that I have
been wanting to purchase for years. I never got around to ordering this
software... or I didn't have the money... or something always came up. By
buying used software, I have been able to get a few games that I always
wanted, a page layout package that looked useful, and a database program
that my wife needed for her Biology Test Question Bank. These packages
were purchased for a reasonable price and included full documentation and
the original disks.
Now that you know the "Used Software Solution", why don't you clean
out the computer closet? Place ads for all your unwanted software. Make
inquiries about software you see in the Apple II RoundTable. Sell software
and equipment. Buy a new game. Trade adventure games with someone one the
far side of the continent. It might even provide you with as much
excitement as your friend who just purchased that $50 game for his IBM
clone. Maybe more.
Since we have opened this Pandora's box used software, a natural
question follows: "Which software should I try to find?" You can ask your
friends what games they have enjoyed playing. You can seek opinions in the
other categories on the RoundTable. Of course, the reason that I brought
up the subject is that I have an even better idea. You can read GEnieLamp
A2 edition.
You see, next month, and from time to time in the future, I will be
reviewing some golden oldie software packages that you can purchase on the
used software market. This will help you find that gem that you may have
missed when it first came out. Until next time, happy bargain hunting.
[*][*][*]
Darrel Raines is a staff writer for GEnieLamp A2. He is also a
remarkable computer shopper. He has been known to sniff out a
software bargain from up to a mile away.
[EOA]
[HAR]//////////////////////////////
HARDVIEW A2 /
/////////////////////////////////
Known Bug in Apple SSC Card
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Ron Higgins
[rhiggins@carroll1.cc.edu]
In the "Hey Mister Postman" column of November 1993 issue of
GEnieLamp A2, B.PERCIVAL and H.HOOD were discussing a problem with the 6551
chip in Apple's Super Serial card, frequently used as a printer or modem
interface. The 6551 chip, which the SSC uses, can lose characters when
sending. Typically, this can interfere with PTSE screens and with ZMODEM
file transfers.
Every time the CTS line from your modem goes low to tell the computer
to stop transmitting data, the current character is lost. What happens is
that the 6551, (ACIA -- Asynchronous Communications Interface Adaptor) chip
stops transmitting immediately when the CTS line is lowered, no matter
where in the current character it is.
A character is made up of 8 bits (ones and zeros that computers can
understand). These bits are sent to your modem one at a time. If the
modem is getting the bits too fast, it must tell your computer to stop
sending them until it can catch up. It does this by signaling the computer
via a control line to stop sending data.
In the old 6551 chip design, the 6551 would stop sending bits
immediately upon getting the signal from the modem to stop sending data.
It didn't matter where in the current character it was, the chip just
stopped. It would then throw away the unused portion of the character it
was sending and, when asked to start sending data again, restart with the
next character. This is, of course, bad -- we have now lost part of a
character. To the receiving end, this appears as a missing character on
the screen, or an error in a file transfer.
Now the question is whether or not you are affected by this problem.
You may be run into this "bug" if the following conditions exist:
o You are sending data from your computer to another
(it may affect uploads, but never downloads).
o You are using a high speed modem (9600 bps or faster).
o You are using hardware flow-control (sometimes called
hardware handshaking)
What do I do if affected by this problem?
The only solution to this problem is to purchase a replacement 6551
chip where the problem has been corrected. The Harris CDP65C51AE1 chip,
mentioned in the November 1993 issue, is a good replacement. I've been
using it without trouble for over 11 months now.
Where do I get a replacement?
Good question -- this is NOT something you can run to Radio Shack(tm)
for. You need to order it from a electronic parts supply house. I do not
know of anywhere that will sell just one chip, but I'm sure that they
exist.
On the other hand, I have purchased a small quantity of these chips
(about 75 pieces), and am offering them to anyone needing them. The cost
is $4 per chip with $3 shipping & handling per order in the US. Send check
or money order to the address listed below. Send E-mail to my Internet
account for information on shipping costs outside the US.
Remember, don't fix it if it ain't broke!
Ron | Lightning Systems | Lightning Systems
rhiggins@carroll1.cc.edu | (414) 363-4282 200megs | P. O. Box 4
Apple // Forever! | 14.4k USR Dual Standard | Mukwonago, WI 53149
** Ask me about the new Turbo ASB for your Apple // Computer **
[To save you the trouble of asking about the Turbo ASB, read on. Also, see
the "Hey Mister Postman" section in this issue of GEnieLamp A2. On behalf
of our readers, I asked Mr Higgins about the Turbo ASB, a product he is
currently working on. -- Ed.]
The Turbo ASB is an add-on board for an Apple Super Serial Card (or
compat.). What is does is eliminate the 19,200 bps barrier that the SSC
has. It's an external baud rate generator that pushes the 6551 ACIA to a
maximum of 230,400 bps. It also supports standard bps rates of 38,400,
57,600 and 115,200.
All you need to take advantage of all this speed is one of my add-on
cards and a 1-byte change to software. It will definitely be supported in
ProTERM, with probable support in ANSIterm, Spectrum, ModemWorks/ProLine,
and PMP drivers for ACOS.
[EOA]
[PAL]//////////////////////////////
PAL NEWSLETTER /
/////////////////////////////////
February 1994 Report
""""""""""""""""""""
By GEna Saikin
[A2.GENA]
The World Wide User Group (WWUG) is our online usergroup, which meets
the 3rd Sunday of every month. The online usergroup concept was developed
to create support for our Apple II community, support which is sadly waning
in too many areas.
A special announcement: WWUG has now been renamed PAL. T. R. Onan,
who goes by the name TRON, won the naming contest, and will choose a
publication from Resource Central as his prize. PAL -- Planetary Apple
League -- was voted in primarily because both the acronym and the words say
volumes; PAL for friend, and what they stand for indicates that we ARE
indeed a world-wide organization!
WHAT'S NEW IN APPLE II-DOM AppleWorks 4.01 has now been shipping for a
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" time, and so far, it's been proven to be a
real nifty update of the ever-popular AppleWorks 3.0, the staple of many
Apple II users.
ANSITerm 2.1 is out, and it too, is being hailed as a great
telecommunications program, that has many new features that were NOT in
version 2.0.
And, finally, Spectrum has been released and has been shipping, and
is also meeting with great enthusiasm in the Apple II world. Below, will
be a short note on the meeting with Dave Hecker of Seven Hills, and Ewen
Wannop, the author.
PAL MEETING -- JANUARY 19, 1994 Dave Hecker of Seven Hills and Ewen
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Wannop (all the way from England!) graced
us with their presence at January's meeting of PAL. Below are a few short
features of Spectrum, a GS/OS Desktop term program for the GS.
First, Spectrum is a GS/OS desktop program, therefore, all the
goodies (inits, desk accessories, etc.) that are available under GS/OS
desktop programs will be available in Spectrum! And, users of The Manager,
HardPressed and AutoArk will be able to use these programs with Spectrum,
as well! You could, as well, scribble something in ShadowWrite while still
online, or go to your calendar NDA and note a date of something you may see
online to attend!
Spectrum has many of the "common features" of most telecom programs
-- it has a chat mode, various emulations available, and a "macro" ability.
However, Spectrum goes beyond macros, into a total scripting language --
which is by far more flexible! You could even develop a script to run a
BBS!
Other features of Spectrum include disk utilities (copy, format,
delete, and so on). These are just a few goodies. To find out more, check
out SEVENHILLS category in the Apple II RoundTable Bulletin Board, #43.
THE LIBRARY STACKS Below are some great files...brought to us by our
"""""""""""""""""" librarian, Tony Ward [A2.TONY]:
22045 GS1040.93V2.BXY AWGS SS to do your 1993 income taxes
+22043 AW1040.93V2.BXY AppleWorks SS to do your 1993 income taxes
22025 DISKTIMER.BXY Measure your IIgs hard drive speed
+22012 MSDOS13.BXY Copy files from MS-DOS disk to ProDOS
22011 WRITEAWAY.BXY WriteAway v2.0 -- IIgs word processor
22000 WELCOME4.0.BXY Change your GS/OS startup screen
21996 PT3.SETTIME.BXY ProTERM macro to set the IIgs clock
21994 CPUSPEED.BXY Shows the current speed of your IIgs
21988 SYSFAILPLUS.BXY Improved IIgs system death manager
Just like the Dean's List, a (+) means it works on 8-bit Apples.
WHAT'S NEW IN A2? There are a couple new faces in A2 -- Harold Hislop,
""""""""""""""""" who is our resident "hardware guru", who hosts an RTC
on Wednesdays from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. eastern, appropriately called
"Hardware Hacker", and Donnie Grimes, who right now fills in as RTC host
where ever he is needed.
We've got a bulletin board just loaded with great information and
answers to your most thorny questions. Make sure to check it out! And
don't forget our nightly RTC's and all-day Sunday RTC, where help is
literally "at your fingertips"!
[EOA]
[AII]//////////////////////////////
APPLE II /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II History, Part 19b
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Steven Weyhrich
[S.WEYHRICH]
>>> APPLE II HISTORY <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""
Compiled and written by Steven Weyhrich
(C) Copyright 1993, Zonker Software
(PART 19b -- APPLEWORKS)
[v1.3 :: 10 Dec 93]
INTRODUCTION In this segment of the History, we look further into
"""""""""""" improvements made to AppleWorks, and then take a look at the
newest version, 4.0.
ENHANCEMENTS: BEAGLE BROS AND COMPANY The next significant AppleWorks
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" add-on appeared in June 1986. It
was a product sold by Beagle Bros and called MacroWorks.<1> Written by
Randy Brandt, this program patched itself into the keyboard-reading routine
of AppleWorks and allowed the user to automate certain functions and assign
them to a specific key on the keyboard. Previously, many of AppleWorks
features were accessed by pressing either the open-apple or solid-apple
(option) key together with another key (recall that the apple keys were
nothing more than access to the pushbutton inputs on the joystick). For
instance, open-apple and "C" (oa-C) together were used to start a "copy"
function. Before MacroWorks was patched into the program, either oa-C or
sa-C had the same effect. After adding this enhancement, the solid-apple
keys were given their own, separate identity, offering more than double the
number of functions that could be executed from the keyboard. (Pinpoint
had done something similar, by taking sa-P for its own purposes).
A macro was actually a series of keystrokes that could be entered from
the keyboard (similar to WPL programs for Apple Writer), but was automated
so that a single keypress would activate it. For example, typing a return
address could be assigned to the sequence solid-apple-A (sa-A). Or sa-S
could be defined to save ALL the files on the desktop and quit the program.
Anything that could be done manually with AppleWorks could be automated
with MacroWorks, and it could even do some things that could NOT be easily
done manually.
The idea of automating keystrokes in AppleWorks was not unique to
MacroWorks; soon after, AutoWorks was released by Alan Bird of Software
Touch, and Pinpoint Publishing got into the act with their product,
Keyplayer. Brandt upped the ante later in 1986 with an upgrade called
Super MacroWorks, which added a few new features and was made to work
specifically with the new version 2.0 of AppleWorks.
It didn't take long for the other companies to come out with enhanced
versions of their programs to work with the newer version of AppleWorks.
But the most significant enhancement yet came during 1987. Beagle Bros had
just undergone a change in management, as its founder Bert Kersey retired
and his company merged with Software Touch. Mark Simonsen and Alan Bird,
owners of Software Touch, had previously worked at Beagle before leaving to
start their own company. Aside from AutoWorks, they had released
enhancements such as SideSpread (which would allow a spreadsheet to be
printed sideways on a dot matrix printer) and FontWorks (which allowed word
processor files to be printed using different font styles and sizes, using
codes embedded in the WP text). As they merged back into the Beagle fold,
they brought with them plans for a series of AppleWorks add-ons and
enhancement. These would be accomplished via a new core program (or
"engine", as they called it) called TimeOut.
Written by Alan Bird, TimeOut installed itself into AppleWorks and
interfaced directly with Lissner's remarkable built-in memory manager. The
neat thing about TimeOut was that after the engine itself was installed,
adding other modules was no more complicated than copying them over to the
disk from which AppleWorks started. This addressed one of the problems
with all of the other enhancement programs available; if they were not
installed in the correct order, the patches would begin to step on each
other, and crashes were much more likely. TimeOut provided a
clearly-defined protocol for adding new features to AppleWorks without this
patching hassle.
The first TimeOut modules released included DeskTools, FileMaster
(which allowed file copying and more), Graph (spreadsheet graphing),
QuickSpell, SideSpread (update of the older Software Touch program),
SuperFonts (update of FontWorks), and UltraMacros (a more powerful version
of Randy Brandt's Super MacroWorks, using ideas from AutoWorks). More
followed in subsequent years, including a thesaurus module and a
full-featured telecommunications module that worked within AppleWorks.
ENHANCEMENTS: JEM SOFTWARE Over the years, Beagle Bros has been a major
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" contributor to the longevity of AppleWorks
through its many TimeOut enhancements. And they did many users a favor by
making upgrades available virtually free, through a program they called
"Beagle Buddies". Just contact your Buddy, give evidence that you really
owned the program, and he would update (for example) UltraMacros from
version 3.0 to 3.1, without charge. The down side of this service,
however, was that there was NO income received by Beagle for updates,
making it financially difficult to pay the authors of those updates for
their work. For this reason, authors like Randy Brandt (one of the
AppleWorks 3.0 revision authors) have decided to start their own private
company for release of other products for AppleWorks. Through his company,
JEM Software, he released PathFinder, which made setting the pathname for
the AW "Add Files" menu easier and faster to change. Although that feature
was built in to AW 3.0, Brandt did not stop there. With the help of Dan
Verkade, he created TotalControl, which added features to the database
module that make specific qualifications for the type of entries that could
be made in new or existing records. DoubleData changed the database module
so AW could handle twice as many categories per record as it was designed
to do. Mr. Invoice made it possible to produce invoice-type documents with
AppleWorks, and DB Pix added graphic capability to the database, displaying
single and double hi-res and Print Shop / Print Shop GS graphics. Brandt
also wrote an update to UltraMacros 3.1, called Ultra 4.0, which added
considerable power to the macro language. All these add-on programs
enhanced the usefulness of AppleWorks for very specific applications,
significantly extending the lifespan of the program.
Brandt also came up with the concept of "inits" for AppleWorks. A
small patch was made to AppleWorks to incorporate this feature. Adding an
init was simple; it was copied into a subdirectory called AW.INITS, and any
binary program found there with a name that started with "I." was
automatically loaded and patched in at startup time. These inits ranged
from one that improved the handling of the screen print function built-in
to AW, to other much larger applications (TotalControl was added via an
init, for example). The difference between these inits and TimeOut
applications was that inits were always working, whereas TimeOut programs
had to be specifically activated to work. Brandt used the same concept of
simple extensions when he designed Ultra 4.0; additional commands (called
"dot commands") could be added to the macro language in the same way as
other inits.
ENHANCEMENTS: PATCHES As with other popular programs, there have been
""""""""""""""""""""" many patches that have appeared over the years to
customize AppleWorks to do things more to a particular user's likings.
These first appeared as one to several byte patches that would be applied
using Applesoft, poking the bytes to memory and then using the BASIC.SYSTEM
command "BSAVE" to put them into the right place in the program. Patches
were published in various places to do things like changing the pitch and
duration of AW's awful error tone, make it possible for AW to access a disk
device in slot 1 or 2 (which it refused to do ordinarily), or make more
than one custom printer (not easily done in versions before 3.0). Other
patches were published to fix various bugs that were uncovered over time.
Eventually, these patches were collected into several different programs
whose purpose was to streamline the process. Randy Brandt, through JEM
Software, released Late Nite Patches for AppleWorks 2.0. John Link created
a program called SuperPatch that he provided via online services initially,
later changed it to shareware as it got more and more massive, and
eventually arranged for it to be sold via Quality Computers. Written in
Applesoft, John's program made it possible to not only apply the various
patches, but to also remove them neatly.
Beagle Bros came out with AW 3.0 Companion (later updated to Companion
Plus) which allowed not only a large number of useful changes to be made to
AppleWorks, but also included a version of Mark Munz' Patcher program to
correct some bugs that had made it into the program (and which Claris
refused to fix via an upgrade). The Beagle program followed John Link's
lead by making it possible to remove most patches as easily as they were
applied.
APPLEWORKS 4.0 The year 1993 brought a major surprise: Another upgrade
"""""""""""""" for AppleWorks. Two paths converged during that year to
bring about this unexpected turn of events. Quality Computers, a
mail-order business based in Michigan, had been steadily increasing in size
and influence during the previous several years. They began as do most
such enterprises, selling software and hardware products that various
companies around the country had available. One of their earliest
enterprises was to sell software written by Joe Gleason, the company's
founder. They were prominent in their advertising in the Apple II
magazines that remained in the market; in inCider/A+ magazine they always
had the first two to four pages of available ad space. During the early
1990s, they even began to distribute some hardware items of their own
(usually produced by another company, who allowed Quality to sell them
under their own name). When Beagle Bros decided to concentrate solely on
their upcoming Macintosh product, Quality stepped in and purchased the
rights to sell and upgrade the Beagle products, thus expanding their
influence in the world of Apple II software.
Randy Brandt, as mentioned above, had also been quite busy with
production of software products to enhance AppleWorks. Although AppleWorks
3.0 in 1989 had many of the features that he wanted to have, he
continued to come up with new ways to enhance it. Through Beagle Bros and
his own JEM Software, he continued to create add-on tools to allow users to
get more out of the program. But in the back of his mind there was always
this wish that AppleWorks ITSELF could be enhanced and fixed, to modernize
it with features that many of the MS-DOS and Macintosh products on the
market had incorporated since that last version of AW was released by
Claris. Unfortunately, Claris continued to show no interest in
doing ANYTHING with AppleWorks, not even being willing to make the effort
to release an update to fix known bugs in the program. Claris' other
AppleII product, AppleWorks GS, suffered from the same neglect.
In the spring of 1993, Brandt contacted Joe Gleason at Quality
Computers and discussed his interest in a major upgrade to AppleWorks 3.0.
Having worked on the "Spike" project to develop 3.0, Brandt knew the
program inside and out, and knew exactly how he could accomplish his goals
of program enhancement. The BEST method would be to incorporate the
changes into the program source code and recompile it; but Claris still
held the rights to it. Gleason was extremely interested in the proposal,
and began holding discussions with Claris to see if they would be willing
to sell the license for releasing AppleWorks to Quality Computers. This
would give Quality the opportunity to upgrade AppleWorks through a
rewrite, as well as to provide technical support in a way that had not
previously been possible.
Brandt and his long-time programming associate, Dan Verkade, began
working on the upgrade to AppleWorks (code-named "Quadriga"), while Gleason
negotiated with Claris. Although they all hoped that it would be possible
to release the finished product as AppleWorks 4.0, they recognized the
possibility that Claris would not relinquish its death grip on the
program. In that eventuality, it was determined that there would be no
choice but to put it out as a VERY large patch program. The proposed
product name would be "TheWorks 4.0", and in order to make use of it a
customer would need to already own AppleWorks 3.0. Installing TheWorks
would patch into AppleWorks and make use of what code in the program was
still useful, but still give access to all the new features they wanted to
include.
Many features included with the Quadriga project were like a "best-of"
list from TimeOut modules of the past: Triple Desktop, which gave access
to as many as thirty-six files at a time; UltraMacros, in the improved
"Ultra 4" version that JEM Software had released, in a form which allowed
playback of pre-compiled macros (the compiler would be available
separately); DoubleData, to increase the number of available categories in
the database module from thirty to sixty; TotalControl, which further
enhanced the abilities of the database; support for more printers,
including newer style printers such as the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 500;
links between the database and word processor; and links between
spreadsheets (similar to the "3-D" features that were currently available
in MS-DOS programs like Lotus 1-2-3).
While Brandt and Verkade worked on the program code itself, Gleason
was doing his best to convince Claris that it would be in their best
interest to sell AppleWorks to Quality. As Quadriga was nearing
completion, Gleason showed Claris executives that Quality was prepared to
release it as a patch program, even if AppleWorks was NOT sold to them.
Apparently Claris took this as clear evidence that Quality not only was
determined to follow through on the project, but could pull it
off. Negotiations became more serious, and by late August 1993 a contract
was signed by both parties. This contract allowed Quality to purchase (for
an unspecified sum) the rights to publish AppleWorks AND AppleWorks GS,
and have the right to use that product name (which was actually an Apple
trademark licensed to Claris).
With the legalities out of the way, the Quadriga project proceeded at
full steam. They had a goal of releasing the program by October 1, but
some last minute problems delayed the actual debut of the program until
November 1, 1993. As with many programs, some bugs surfaced within a week
of the distribution of v4.0. However, these were quickly resolved, and
shipping of an updated version 4.01 resumed within a week. A version 4.02
update was expected by the start of the next year, to fix some other less
serious problems that had been identified by early users. Brandt himself
wrote a small patch program to customize version 4.01 and 4.02. Compared
to four years of absolute inactivity by Claris to fixing known problems in
version 3.0, this was much better support.<2>, <3>
BEYOND APPLEWORKS AppleWorks is probably the most powerful integrated
""""""""""""""""" program ever written, in terms of speed (being
text-based) and overall useability for a wide range of purposes. The one
single problem that it has caused in the Apple II world is that it is SO
comprehensive that it has killed the market for nearly every
other text-based word processor, database, or spreadsheet program, even at
a time when new such programs were being written. At this point in time,
there would be little point in creating a new text-based program in either
of these categories, since AppleWorks 4.0 covers all those areas so
comprehensively. For most users, AppleWorks 4.0 (also known as
AppleWorks "Classic") will meet ALL of their needs in a computer program.
And on an Apple IIgs with expanded memory, the 4.0 version can make it
possible to process and manipulate tremendous amounts of data easily.
However, what AppleWorks CANNOT do on an Apple IIgs is to take
advantage of some of the features that GS/OS makes available: Easy access
to foreign disk storage formats, use of outline font technology (via
Pointless), access to a graphic-based work environment, the ability to
switch between multiple programs (via program switchers like The Manager
and Switch-It!) and many other features that IIgs users prefer. The other
Claris program that Quality purchased, AppleWorks GS, could possibly meet
the requirements for those users. AWGS (which is actually a rewrite of an
older program, GS Works, purchased by Claris from StyleWare and remodelled
slightly) is significantly different from AppleWorks and cannot be
considered an upgrade, but may meet the needs of IIgs users that want
something more like a desktop publishing program. Since Quality Computers
has also purchased the rights to AppleWorks GS, IIgs users can look forward
to a revision to THAT program as well, to correct the many known bugs that
IT contains. And, depending on how good Quality can make it,
AppleWorks GS may not be quite the killer of competing software that
AppleWorks Classic was. Other programs have been released over the years
that Claris has neglected AWGS to try to fill in the gap, and at least on
the IIgs side of this fence, some healthy competition may result in better
software for all users.
[*][*][*]
NEXT INSTALLMENT: Magazines
""""""""""""""""
NOTES
"""""
<1> Weishaar, Tom. "Miscellanea", OPEN-APPLE, Jun 1986, p. 2.33.
<2> Selur, Joseph. "Taking Off The Wraps", II ALIVE, July-August 1993,
pp. 44-47.
<3> -----. "Quadriga To Be AppleWorks 4.0", II ALIVE,
September-October 1993, p. 27.
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