_____ ______ /_____|/______\ APPLE II PROGRAMMERS AND DEVELOPERS /__/|__| ___|__| ROUNDTABLE (A2Pro) /__/_|__| /_____/ /________|/__/ __ __ __ Part of GEnie, the General Electric /__/ |__|__/______ /_//_// / Network for Information Exchange /__/ |__|________// / \/_/ APPLE ASSEMBLY LINE (ANOTHER RELEASE OF THE LOST CLASSICS PROJECT OF THE APPLE II ROUNDTABLES ON GENIE): IMPORTANT INFORMATION Welcome to A2Pro's release of Apple Assembly Line, the outstanding assembly- language programming newsletter written and published by Bob Sander-Cederlof from October 1980 through May 1988. These programming magazines are now available to all members of A2Pro on GEnie for only the cost of a download, including all source code disks and all articles! If you wish to become a part of the Lost Classics project, visit the Lost Classics headquarters in the A2 RoundTable (p. 645) on the GEnie Information Service and check out the Lost Classics Bulletin Board Category (#7). This is a continuing effort, and we wish to embrace the entire Apple II community. Your assistance is greatly appreciated, and by helping Lost Classics you help all Apple II users everywhere! The author, Bob Sander-Cederlof, retains full copyright and its protection for the product known as Apple Assembly Line. This product can be neither bought nor sold, nor may it be modified, converted to other computer platforms or operating systems without prior permission. User groups may make it available for a nominal fee, but may derive no special income from its distribution. In other words, you may charge a few dollars for the disk and postage, but no charge for the program itself. This is not to discourage the use of the code and techniques presented here in your own programs, but is instead intended to protect the author from knock-off clones where the same programs are distributed as someone else's work with only one or two things changed, or a different user interface and a feature or two added to the same code. Should you have any questions about the distribution restrictions, you may contact the A2Pro RoundTable (A2PRO.HELP) on GEnie for more detailed information. THESE ARTICLES AND PROGRAMS MAY NOT BE UPLOADED TO BULLETIN BOARDS OR ONLINE SERVICES. THE APPLE II PROGRAMMERS' ROUNDTABLE ON GENIE IS THE EXCLUSIVE SOURCE FOR ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION OF APPLE ASSEMBLY LINES. Violating these distribution agreements is an infringement of copyright. A2Pro on GEnie has exclusive license to distribute these articles and programs and they may NOT be distributed via any other modem-based service without the express written permission of the A2Pro Head Sysop. NOTES ON FILES AND ORGANIZATION Until July 1985, all Apple Assembly Lines source code and articles were created and delivered exclusively on DOS 3.3 disks. To help alleviate difficulty in retrieving the information, we have used the DOS 3.3 FST in GS/OS to transfer all files to ProDOS disks. We've also renamed the files accordingly so you can easily unpack, read and enjoy them. Starting in July 1985, Apple Assembly Lines was delivered (to those subscribers who also purchased the disks) on "hybrid" DOS 3.3/ProDOS disks. These disks contain both ProDOS and DOS 3.3 catalogs. The ProDOS side usually included ProDOS versions of the source code and programs, and would occasionally include ProDOS-specific code or discussion. Each issue in A2Pro's release of Apple Assembly Lines contains up to three folders: ARTICLES: Text files with the articles as printed in AAL that month. Articles were written using Apple Writer and still have some Apple Writer formatting commands in the files. DOS3.3: Source and object code files from the DOS 3.3 parts of disks, copied to ProDOS disks and archived PRODOS: Source and object code files from the ProDOS parts of disks, when available. Some of the information may be duplicated, but we prefer to bring it to you as it was mailed to subscribers. ABOUT THE SOURCE CODE Nearly all source code supplied is for the S-C Macro Assembler (also written by Bob Sander-Cederlof). The S-C Macro Assembler used a BASIC-like file format to store source code, including line numbers and simple compression of repeating characters. It "stole" the Integer BASIC file type (in both DOS 3.3 and ProDOS) to store its source files, making them not very useful to those without the S-C Macro Assembler. To help the code look as it did in the magazine, we've converted all the files to ASCII text files, including their original line numbers, so you can follow the descriptions of the code in the articles. The conversion was done through a custom command for the Davex eight-bit command shell. The command ("sclist") is available separately in A2Pro's library. We chose not to increase the archive sizes by including the original files as well as the text file versions. If you have need for any unmodified files from an original Apple Assembly Line disk, please let us know in the A2Pro bulletin board and we'll do what we can to make it available. --- A2Pro and Lost Classics are pleased to bring this long-gone programming information back to Apple II programmers around the world. If you have any suggestions or comments, please come talk to us in the A2Pro bulletin board on GEnie (menu option #1 on page 530), or send GEnie mail to A2PRO.HELP (from internet, A2PRO.HELP@genie.geis.com). Enjoy the Apple Assembly Line! To sign up for GEnie, follow these simple steps: 1. Set your communications software to 8N1, half duplex (local echo), at 300, 1200 or 2400 baud. 2. Dial toll-free 1-800-638-8369, or in Canada, 1-800-387-8330. Upon connection, enter HHH. 3. At the U#= prompt, enter XTX99020,A2PRO and then press . 4. Have a major credit card ready. In the U.S., you may also use your checking account number. --------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information, call 1-800-638-9636, mail feedback@genie.geis.com, or write: GEnie, c/o GE Information Services, P.O. Box 6403, Rockville, MD 20850