|||||| |||||| || || |||||| |||||| || || ||| || || || || ||| |||| |||||| || |||| Your || || || || ||| || || |||||| |||||| || || |||||| |||||| GEnieLamp Computing || |||||| || || |||||| RoundTable || || || ||| ||| || || || |||||| |||||||| |||||| RESOURCE! || || || || || || || ||||| || || || || || ~ WELCOME TO GEnieLamp APPLE II! ~ """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ~ POLISHING GREEN APPLES: Hooked on Storage, Part 3 ~ ~ HARDVIEW A2: BlueDisk Controller Card ~ ~ DR'S EXAMINING TABLE: VCR Companion ~ ~ APPLE ANECDOTES: My First GS ~ ~ APPLE II HISTORY: Part 20/21c, Magazines ~ ~ HOT NEWS, HOT FILES, HOT MESSAGES ~ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// GEnieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.3, Issue 26 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Editor....................................................Douglas Cuff Publisher.............................................John F. Peters \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// ~ 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? <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ~ May 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] God and the Bureaucrats. Economics of Electronic Mail. BEGINNER'S CORNER ....... [BEG] TECH TALK ............... [TEC] Polishing Green Apples. Macintosh Apple IIe Card. ASCII ART GALLERY ....... [ASA] HARDVIEW A2 ............. [HAR] Swallowtail Butterfly. BlueDisk and MTOOLS. DR'S EXAMINING TABLE .... [DRT] THE TREASURE HUNT ....... [HUN] Oldie review: VCR Companion. Yours For the Downloading. APPLE ANECDOTES ......... [ANC] APPLE II ................ [AII] On Getting My First GS. History Part 20/21c: Magazines. LOG OFF ................. [LOG] GEnieLamp Information. [IDX]""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" READING GEnieLamp GEnieLamp has incorporated a unique indexing system """"""""""""""""" to help make reading the magazine easier. To utilize this system, load GEnieLamp into any ASCII word processor or text editor. In the index you will find the following example: HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM] [*]GEnie Fun & Games. To read this article, set your find or search command to [HUM]. If you want to scan all of the articles, search for [EOA]. [EOF] will take you to the last page, whereas [IDX] will bring you back to the index. MESSAGE INFO To make it easy for you to respond to messages """""""""""" 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 for 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 mail gateway, and chat lines, are allowed 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. Upon connection type HHH. Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: JOINGENIE and hit RETURN. When you get the prompt asking for the signup/offer code, type: DSD524 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. SPECIAL OFFER FOR GEnieLamp READERS! If you sign onto GEnie using the """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" method outlined above you will receive an *additional* six (6) free hours of standard connect time (for a total of 10) to be used in the first month. Want more? Your first month charge of $8.95 will be waived! Now there are no excuses! *** GET INTO THE LAMP! *** """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" //////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / / / It's too bad we can't make the lawyers cease and desist. / / / ////////////////////////////////////////////// K.LUCKE //// [EOA] [FRM]////////////////////////////// FROM MY DESKTOP / ///////////////////////////////// Notes From The Editor """"""""""""""""""""" by Douglas Cuff [EDITOR.A2] >>> GOING THE EXTRA MILE <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Deadlines love to lie in wait for me. What's more, while they're waiting, they invite their friends to gang up on me. The fact is, I always have at least three monthly deadlines -- not counting the rent check -- and they're all exactly the same day: the last day of the month. GEnieLamp A2 is one of those deadlines, of course, but the one that's been giving me the most trouble lately is editing the newsletter for the local Apple II user group, the London Apple Corps. Two months in a row, my other commitments kept me from finishing the newsletter in time for our monthly meeting. (My other commitments will keep me from acting as editor for the London Apple Corps next year, but that's another story.) I was determined not to make it three in a row, and bled time from other projects to get as much advance work done on the newsletter as possible. It wasn't enough to not to be late; this time I had to be early, for my parents were paying us a visit over the Easter weekend. Once my father and mother arrived, all work would have to cease. As my wife -- the long-suffering Tara -- and I drove to the airport to greet the travellers, one computer was uploading copies of GEnieLamp A2 while another was printing out the final proofs of the London Apple Corps newsletter. When I finally dropped the proofs off at the printer, I felt great relief and satisfaction. Except that the printer, normally reliable, didn't have the newsletter ready in time for the meeting. So I couldn't hand out copies to the attendees. So the group's postage bills were going to be over budget again. Anger is powerful, but irrational anger has a greater strength. I couldn't do a thing about the fact that I had no newsletters to hand out at the meeting, but after the meeting was over, and the newsletters ready to be picked up, the thing began to gnaw at me. I had invested a lot of time in trying to keep the postage bill down. It wasn't my fault that the newsletters weren't ready, but that didn't make me any less angry. I looked at the pile of newsletters with distaste. If they'd chosen that moment to make a sarcastic remark, I would have chucked the lot into the fine-paper recycling bin. Instead, I hauled out a city map and began plotting addresses on it. It soon became apparent that there were too many to deliver, so I started culling. Anyone outside the city limits would have to rely on Canada Post. Ditto for anyone who hadn't paid their club dues. By this process, I managed to get it down to a couple of dozen. I don't know the city we live in terribly well. Perhaps that accounts for the fact that it took me three and a half hours to deliver 20 newsletters. (Some addresses I never did find. I only hope Canada Post fared better.) That's how I came to travel the extra mile -- quite literally -- this month. I'm glad I did it, too. It taught me something about the city I live in and even a little something about the members. Still, I wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been for someone who had just gone the extra mile in a less literal sense: Harold Hislop. If you hang around the A2 RoundTable, you already know how another Apple II journal reprinted some advice on hooking up hard drives that Mr Hislop had posted. Unfortunately, that journal missed a minor but important correction that he posted afterward. When a couple of subscribers to the journal followed the advice, bad things happened. We're not talking about puffs of black smoke, but something that makes your heart sink almost as much: data loss. The subscribers called a bewildered Harold Hislop, who took the view -- without pleasure, but also without flincing -- that if the advice had his name on it, then it was his responsibility to help the unfortunate subscribers. Bravo, Harold. It was remembering this that kept me trudging around peering at house numbers when I felt like slinging my stack of newsletters into the nearest post-box and charging it to the London Apple Corps. Sometimes, knowing that someone else took the responsibility of fixing a problem that s/he hadn't created is all the inspiration you need. [*][*][*] You'll notice that there's no PAL Newsletter in GEnieLamp A2. Don't worry, it'll be back next month. You'll also notice that there are no CowToons this month. They won't be back new month, because Cowboy Mike has hung up his spurs. All hail and farewall, Mike. You'll already have noticed that our profiles of Apple II personalities have been absent for a while. Is anybody missing them? Is anybody bidding a good riddance to bad rubbish. Can anyone out there hear me? Hello? -- 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. | |__________________________________________________________| [EOA] [HEY]////////////////////////////// HEY MISTER POSTMAN / ///////////////////////////////// Is That A Letter For Me? """""""""""""""""""""""" by Douglas Cuff [EDITOR.A2] o BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS o A2 POT-POURRI o HOT TOPICS o WHAT'S NEW o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT >>> BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" [*] CAT2, TOP4 ................. Software of the Month Club [*] CAT3, TOP28 & CAT10, TOP2 .. LineLink 144e modem cable [*] CAT5, TOP3 ................. Apple II laptop wish list [*] CAT13, TOP36 ............... One World Software Wizards [*] CAT23, TOP4 ................ Messages as property [*] CAT34, TOP2 ................ II Scroll >>> A2 POT-POURRI <<< """"""""""""""""""""" REPLACING SYSTEM SAVER FAN > "Is there room in a system saver for a """""""""""""""""""""""""" > second fan?" Sorta. You'll have to move some wires around, maybe, but you can MAKE it fit without a lot of effort. Gary R. Utter (GARY.UTTER, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:542/M645;1) >>>>> Just how the *&^% does one pop open the System Saver. I found two """"" small screws (besides the ones holding the fan) but there must a trick to opening up the beast. I'm just a curious type and the talk about changing fans made me want to peek inside. Whoaaaaa......Rubic's Cube time. Larry (LKRUPP, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:543/M645;1) >>>>> Larry, look under the foam, there are several screws hidden there """"" --HangTime [Script-Central] B-)> (A2.HANGTIME, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:544/M645;1) <<<<< What Hangtime said. It's not as mysterious as it looks. It's not so """"" much that they HID the screws to build a deliberate puzzle, just that the foam goes on after it is assembled. If you feel through the foam, you'll find them. I recommend cutting a little "x" over each screw with a razor blade before you take the screws out. Gary R. Utter (GARY.UTTER, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:547/M645;1) >>>>> I'm using their 3" (80mm) 32 CFM fan, part #273-242. It fits """"" perfectly where the original System Saver fan goes. However, the screws that clamp the wires to the original fan don't fit the new fan so I just dug up some screws that do fit. Tony Ward [via GEM 4.21/PT 3.1] (A2.TONY, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:549/M645;1) LACK OF RESPONSE TO FREEWARE File Passage is a freeware file utility for """""""""""""""""""""""""""" the Apple IIGS. It implements file commands such as copy, backup, move, catalog, and delete, and lets you customize how each command works by the use of a great variety of options and filters. I recently wrote to the author, Charles Bartley, to note a problem with version 2.0.1 sometimes getting a "resource not found" error during startup. Along with the fix, he responded to a question I had asked... "No I haven't heard from anyone concerning FP except another programmer on the east coast who I sent a random free copy to." No comments or encouragement after 100 GEnie downloads? After File Passage was included on a GEnie Disk of the Month and on A2-Central?! I'm surprised that no users dropped Charles a note to thank him for his efforts, but it's unbelieveable that nobody from Resource Central or GEnie let him know that his work is being distributed on their disks. The new version (2.0.2) has been uploaded to the A2 library, and will be file # 22558. If you want to send him a note of encouragement, the address is: Charles C. Bartley, 1310 Cholla Ct., Lake Havasu City, AZ 86406. -- Dave Tribby (D.TRIBBY, CAT3, TOP25, MSG:80/M645;1) MULTI GS Reply-To: ltchean@iss.nus.sg """""""" From: Lim Thye Chean Subject: Multi GS I am very excited over Multi GS v2.0. In fact I am pretty impress! As you might have known, I am a Switch It user, and have been using it for quite sometime. So I am writing this mini-review for Multi GS v2.0, from a Switch It user perspective. Btw, I have also played with The Manager (demo), and the other few switchers (including Alan Bird's and LeapFrog). Multi GS v2.0 seems to combine the best of both world of Switch It and The Manager. It uses similar metaphor of The Manager, where you can click on the window to switch application, and all application shares the same screen. Like Switch It, it has stack sharing! I am very surprise to know that Multi GS stack sharing is even BETTER than Switch It! First, it works. :) And it excels Switch It in this: Lets say you have stack sharing shares set at 4K, and under Switch It, that means that you are not able to run application like AWGS! But Multi GS allows! All it does it to create a new stack space for AWGS since it is larger than 4K. I think this feature is pretty cool, and should be implemented in Switch It in the first place. The second feature that impressed me is: it is able to launch ProDOS 8 program - and beyond what The Manager does - it is also able to launch desktop application! You see, manay applications are sure to crash. For example - GNO/ME or many games. I try launching GNO from Multi GS, and it works beautifully. And upon quitting, returns me to Multi GS. This alone can eliminate one of the major reason to buy Switch It. Up to my surprise! I can run my own Mandelbrot IIGS v2.2 on Multi GS! And I can switch it and out without any problem. Wow. Switch It and The Manager simply fails to run it nicely. And I am even more surprise to see my other applications such as Super Magic demo to run without any problems. I have tested Multi GS with many applications, and with correct setting (like some you have to set the write direct to screen as on), this software is as stable as both the commercial products. Btw, it runs Proterm fine too. It is also the only switcher than can load more than one application during startup. It can load up to 7! And like The Manager, it traps error quite nicely. Of course, I am still using Switch It right now, due to some "problems" in Multi GS. First - I hate the screen updates! Icons on desktop flashes here and there, and this is exactly why I choose Switch It over The Manager in the first place. I found that irritating. Backdrop (desktop pictures) also drops the background occasionally. When switching application and Multi GS trying to close all the DAs, if the DAs present a dialog (like ShadowWrite with "Save..."), Multi GS will enter infinite loop. I can't find the Show window option documented. The 3 major reasons I prefer Switch It over Multi GS: 1) Many times during switching, there is a noticable pause; 2) Multi GS takes up 11K of stack space! 1) Even if I request Multi GS to run Finder on Start up, it will load Finder and returns control to Multi GS. This force me to manually switch to Finder everytime. Personally I think Multi GS is now a very powerful opponent for both Switch It and The Manager. It is stable and has many features lack in the commercial software. $20 shareware price is very reasonable, and I suggest users who has not bought any switcher yet take a close look at this software. This might be exactly what you want, with a much lower price. For user who has The Manager, the only 2 advantages Multi GS offer are ability to launch incompatible GSOS application and stack sharing. Switch It seems to be having the least feature among the 3. Its main selling point - stack sharinga is unfortunately not as good as Multi GS. And since you can't launch GNO from Switch It (but you can launch Switch it from GNO), Multi GS will be more attractive to GNO users who use it occasionally (like me). But Switch It is a test and proven product, and it is faster and less irritating when switching application. I am still using Switch It. But it is a little aging now. It needs more functions to be able to fight with The Manager (new version is coming out) and Multi GS (with better stack sharing and able to launch GNO). I have the following suggestions: * Ability to launch ProDOS 8 program. * Ability to launch GSOS program (not switch. Switch it just quit Finder and itself and pass control to the software). * Needs stack sharing as good as Multi GS. * Most important - the main advantage I saw in Switch It is the compatibility with GNO - if somehow it can ALSO be an extension of GNO - this will be able to differential itself from the rest. For example, if GNO attempts to run an application while Switch It is the desktop application, and Switch It able to trap this, this will be very convenient for GNO users. * Features like memory map etc will be good. -- %% GS Lover Loves GS %% Author of Super Magic 3 & Mandelbrot II GS Lim Thye Chean: Lim is my surname. My name is Thye Chean. My address: LTCHEAN@ISS.NUS.SG or 12, College Green, Singapore 1129 <<< (B.TAO, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:274/M645;1) WHAT DOES THE MANAGER HAVE OVER MUTLI-GS v2.0? Hmmmm. Good question. In """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" my opinion, The Manager v1.0 has very little over Multi-GS. The only thing I see is that The Manager is more of an "elegant" MultiFinder-like utility. I like the extra menu, and the icon of the program you are using as that menu's "title", I like the fact that The Manager is not a separate "application"; I don't like having to scroll to the _bottom_ of my NDAs to get to another application while using Multi-GS. However, Multi-GS seems to currently be more "feature-full". The ability to set up a default of programs to run as soon as Multi-GS is loaded, stack sharing, access to a CDA that will put you in Multi-GS so that you can get to another application no matter what the "front-most" application is doing (some exceptions apply, of course). TM 1.0 is also pretty slow at doing some things because of some of its background processing... BUT, I am reserving my opinion (and my Multi-GS shareware fee (: ) until the release of TM v 1.1. I _truly_ believe it will outdo Multi-GS at that time. I think Dave and the beta testers will make TM into a rock solid MultiFinder-like utility with all of the "pluses" of Multi-GS with all of the current "elegance" that TM offers. TM will also offer some "extras" (if I remember correctly), like InterProcess Communication so that programs will know what's going on (when they are switched to, switched out of, frontmost, etc.). I feel this will offer programmers (like myself) and ultimately users a greater "power" over the environment in which they work. Anyway, that's my spur of the moment $0.02 (I could come up with more +s and -s if I had the time (; ). Rick (R.ADAMS48, CAT43, TOP15, MSG:492/M645;1) FREEWARE FLOPTICAL DRIVERS I find that by placing a RamFAST SCSI """""""""""""""""""""""""" partition map on the floptical, it becomes unreadable on an Apple HS SCSI system with Rich Bennett's freeware floptical drivers. Does anyone know if this happens with the Tulin drivers? (B.TAO, CAT11, TOP16, MSG:297/M645;1) >>>>> The reason is that when the RamFAST formats, it lay's down an Apple """"" partition map, of about 32K or so (from memory). My driver doesn't use a partition map. My reasoning was 1) Why partition 19MB? and 2) Easier to write! ;) It also means that MS-DOS flopticals *SHOULD* work OK with the MS- DOS FST and my driver, although I haven't tested it. The RamFAST will recognise a disk without a partition map, but if you reformat, it WILL lay one down for you. Regards, Richard (RICHARD.B, CAT11, TOP16, MSG:298/M645;1) <<<<< > My driver doesn't use a partition map """"" Ah, so you're the culprit. ;-) > My reasoning was 1) Why partition 19MB? I didn't mean to partition any of my disks (except one), but once it's there, you cannot remove it with the RamFAST software even if you do a low-level format. One disk *is* divided into one 15-meg and 6 800K partitions. The 15-meg one is a backup of my HD boot partition and the remaining six hold System 6.01 disk images. Very handy for distributing copies of it at the usergroup. :) > It also means that MS-DOS flopticals *SHOULD* work OK with the > MS-DOS FST and my driver, although I haven't tested it. Haven't tried that either. I can't even get the $&$#%! Macs at school to recognize the floptical without crashing. There are using the drivers and utility software provided by PLI (I bought the drive at a Mac store), although I may need a newer version. (B.TAO, CAT11, TOP16, MSG:299/M645;1) TURBO ASB WITH PROTERM 3.1 The Turbo-ASB is a daughter-board addition to """""""""""""""""""""""""" the SSC to allow the use of 38400 baud and full hardware handshaking. There is a driver for ProTERM 3.1 and the Turbo-ASB available for download from The InTrec BBS. When using the Turbo-ASB driver with ProTERM 3.1, you dont need to do anything special. From the user perspective, the only difference is that 38400 is the maximum baud rate instead of 19200. The only RlossS is that 110 baud doesnt work so well (not a big deal). In addition to the higher maximum baud rate, the Turbo-ASB also corrects a hardware handshaking problem present on many SSC boards (this problem can cause extra errors during zmodem uploads). I have used the Turbo-ASB and it works great with ProTERM 3.1. I would recommend that people who plan to use the Turbo-ASB at 38400 with a //e should have some sort of accelerator. While it is also possible to use even higher baud rates (57600 & 230K), it becomes much harder to use and I would only recommend that for hardcore hackers. Greg Schaefer @ InTrec Software, Inc. (INTREC, CAT24, TOP5, MSG:173/M645;1) TURBO ASB WITH SPECTRUM FWIW, the Turbo-ASB will work with Spectrum 1.0, """"""""""""""""""""""" straight out of the box! Contact Seven Hills for more details... Regards, Richard (RICHARD.B, CAT10, TOP11, MSG:9/M645;1) DISCQUEST INFO BUNDLE We are pleasedd to announce that we now have big """"""""""""""""""""" bundles of information available about discQuest, the discQuest CD-ROM drives, and the discQuest CD-ROM titles. If you want this extensive information, simply send your name and US Snail address to SEQUENTIAL or PROCYON.INC. Jawaid (SEQUENTIAL, CAT20, TOP10, MSG:44/M645;1) POSTING ON THE INTERNET VIA GENIE The only "public" destination you have """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" to worry about is in the "Newsgroups:" header. Use these mail commands to send a copy of your reply to the appropriate newsgroup: *CC comp-sys-apple2@cs.utexas.edu *CC comp-sys-apple2-comm@cs.utexas.edu *CC comp-sys-apple2-gno@cs.utexas.edu *CC comp-sys-apple2-programmer@cs.utexas.edu [etc.] That will mail your message to the automatic news gateway at the University of Texas. It will then post the message on your behalf to the newsgroup. Of course, once GEnie gets *real* Usenet access here, we won't have to go through this. ;-) (B.TAO, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:319/M645;1) <<<<< Oops... a few boo-boos in my note to Harold about replying """"" publically on Usenet. The correct command is: *acc,comp-sys-apple2@cs.utexas.edu@inet# The *ACC command adds an address to your Carbon Copy list. You need a comma separating the command from the first address, and don't forget to append "@inet#" to EACH Internet address. The above example should bounce a copy of your e-mail message to comp.sys.apple2. I just mailed out a test message to see if this in fact works (and to see how long it takes). (B.TAO, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:322/M645;1) >>>>> While perusing the Usenet's comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup yesterday, I """"" noticed a very interesting posting. The title of the message was "Test" and the text of the message was, "This is just a test. Please ignore." On Usenet, messages like that appear fairly often. I left one myself, just a few weeks ago, after switching Internet Service Providers. The only thing out of the ordinary was the email address of the sender. It was B.TAO@genie.geis.com. Anyone care to comment? Joe (J.KOHN, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:325/M645;1) >>>>> Ok, subtletly aside. What I'm trying to ask is if GEnie is working """"" on expanding Internet access to include more than just an email gateway? I personally believe that all the online services are trying to keep up with each other. A week or so ago, AOL expanded Internet access so that AOL members (on Mac or PC's only) can access Usenet. To my way of thinking, that would just be the first step towards providing full net access. Is GEnie far behind? I think not. But, I know not. I am merely speculating. Does anyone know, one way or the other, or am I simply reading too much into Brian's usenet "test" posting? Joe (J.KOHN, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:329/M645;1) >>>>> Brian sent that post from GEnie to test to make sure the University """"" of Texas mail-->Usenet mechanism worked right from GEnie. Eric Shepherd (Sheppy) (POWERPC.PRO, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:331/M645;1) >>>>> If I DID know something about that , I wouldn't be allowed to talk """"" about it. In fact, anyone who had real information about a product under development by GEnie would be bound by an NDA. Remember when Apple people couldn't talk about what Apple was developing or not developing? This would be the same deal. Gary R. Utter (GARY.UTTER, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:333/M645;1) <<<<< As you no doubt realize now, that was just me testing out the """"" UTexas news gateway. I had given Harold the addresses to use, but I thought it would be best to try it myself. ;-) This is the only way GEnie users can leave message to the public via netnews. Take the name of the newsgroup, convert the periods to hyphens, and append "@cs.utexas.edu@inet#" to it. comp.sys.apple2.comm --> comp-sys-apple2-comm@cs.utexas.edu@inet# rec.sports.basketball --> rec-sports-basketball@cs.utexas.edu@inet# alt.binaries.pictures.supermodels --> well, you get the idea. ;-) On second thought, the gateway *may* not work for the "alt" groups, since they tend to come and go as they please. That will require some additional experimentation (since I'm not sure who to contact at UTexas to ask). The mainstream newsgroups (comp, misc, news, rec, sci, soc, talk) will work. (B.TAO, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:348/M645;1) MUSEUM PIECE #1 >" Has anyone actually SEEN a twiggy disk? :)" """"""""""""""" I know a guy who has one cast in a block of Lucite. He attached a couple of pen holders and stuff like that to the Lucite and it sits right smack in the front center of his desk. This guy bought one of the first 100 or so Lisas made, and paid a FORTUNE for it. He says it is a reminder to himself that being on the cutting edge can be dangerous. :) Gary R. Utter (GARY.UTTER, CAT4, TOP17, MSG:371/M645;1) MUSEUM PIECE #2 The DuoUniDisk (which Apple claims to have never made, """"""""""""""" but I have one of their prototypes right infront of me :) is a dual 3.5" UniDisk type drive. It's the same footprint as a standard single 3.5" UniDisk drive, but approx twice as high. -Harold Resident solder slinger. (H.HISLOP, CAT4, TOP17, MSG:384/M645;1) NIBBLE LOST CLASSICS? How about A2 re-publishing some of the better """"""""""""""""""""" Nibble programs, or uploading them to lost classics? Ken "Kaz" Kazinski (K.KAZINSKI, CAT23, TOP4, MSG:385/M645;1) >>>>> Because they are copyrighted and still commercial. They are still """"" being sold, either from Big Red or direct from the publisher. They are =not= public domain. Tim 'The Joat' Tobin, Lost Classics & R C Font Clearinghouse (A2.TIM, CAT23, TOP4, MSG:387/M645;1) BLUEDISK AND TOSHIBA [2.88 MB] PERFORMANCE """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Times (min:sec) =================================== Copy Copy Format Format Files Files Applied Intl. Disk To From ================================================================= Prodos 2.88MB 2:1 2:00 0:32 0:28 3:1 2:00 0:40 0:36 1.6 MB 2:1 8:24 0:45 0:43 1.44MB 2:1 1:23 0:49 0:46 HFS 2.88MB 2:1 2:00 2:20 0:38 3:1 2:00 4:53 0:32 1.6MB 2:1 8:33 2:19 0:44 1.44MB 2:1 1:24 2:20 0:45 MS-DOS 1.44MB 2:1 1:28 5:07 5:10 ================================================================= Notes: (1) Copy files to and from: 10 files for a total of 717 kB. The files were copied to and from the Ram disk to minimize copying times. (2) Formating and copying was performed in the Finder, except for MS-DOS formatted disk. This was performed using Peter Watson's MS-DOS utilities (mformat, mcopy, gmcopy). (3) MS-DOS was limited to 1.44 MB and lower densities due to limitations in mformat. Files were copied using binary option (CR translation off) for fastest copies. Approx. 3 sec. was needed to load mcopy and gmcopy into memory (included in total). (4) Times are +/- 1 sec. ================================================================= How's that? David (D.WALLIS2, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:427/M645;1) PROSEL DOESN'T DETECT DAMAGED RESOURCE? If I am not mistaken, someone """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" here had a problem with getting a message from GSOS, "Volume SoandSo may be damaged", while ProSel 16 shows that the volume has no errors. I have discovered that ProSel 16 (at least on MY system) will not detect a damaged RESOURCE file. Specifically, the Spectrum Preferences file can be damaged/corrupted in such a way that GSOS can detect it but ProSel can't. This file cannot be deleted by Finder, but CAN be deleted by the ProSel 16 "problem file deletion method". The volume then needs to be FIXED with Volume Repair, and once this is done, the error message from GSOS disappears. I haven't been able to verify this other than the fact that it worked for me. (I don't know of any way to deliberately corrupt this file for testing purposes.) Gary R. Utter (GARY.UTTER, CAT30, TOP2, MSG:376/M645;1) WRITING ADVENTURE GAMES Oh, you can do a lot with SAM. But it takes a """"""""""""""""""""""" LOT of patience and a LOT of time, or you have to constrain your story inside the limits of SAM, which isn't easy for me to do (just look at my TELOS transcript for a hint of what I like to do with adventure games :). I'm still looking for a good text adventure design system for the Apple II. I've started writing a general-purpose set of routines for it in Pascal, but I've been too busy to do it. I'd really like a pre-built system that I can just pump ata into to construct my game, but I don't have one. I had a good system all set up in ORCA/C a couple years ago, but I lost it in a hard drive crash. I've got a couple dozen adventure games either totally or partially designed, either in my head or on paper, but I haven't got a good way to crank them out. :( Eric Shepherd (Sheppy) (POWERPC.PRO, CAT34, TOP9, MSG:330/M645;1) <<<<< What I want to see in a text-adventure design system (having tried """"" a lot of them :): 1. The ability to create LOTS of rooms. Many adventure design systems have a limit of less than 100 rooms, and that won't cut it for some of my more complex games. I designed a game once with over 1,200 rooms in it! 2. Directions including northeast, southwest, etc, as well as in and out. 3. Nested objects -- a piece of paper tucked in a book in a desk drawer in a desk on top of a rug. 4. Complex objects -- objects whose descriptions and information can change over time. An object may be worthless until you have done something else. 5. A reasonable parser. Commands like "Bill, put the blue onion into the rightmost pot" should be accepted. 6. Expandability -- the normal verbs go, use, open, close, eat, and take aren't enough to make a good game. I need verbs like pull, push, tie, cut, hide, and other things like that. I should be able to tack new verbs in (this is the primary thing that stalled me with SAM). There's more, but I won't get into it now. My problem with SAM and my adventure was this: The game begins in a cell at the top of a tower. The ceiling is cracked and is clearly ready to collapse, but is being held upright by a sturdy beam. A sturdy bunk is fastened to the wall, and on the bunk is a horse blanket (the really rough, scratchy kind). There's a sturdy door, very tall, and mounted above the door (too high to reach) is an axe. A window lets you see the grey and decimated landscape outside. If you stop to look at the beam, you'll notice that there's water trickling down it. If you mess with the beam, it slips and the ceiling crashes down on you. Not only are you buried under a few hundred pounds of rock, but you also notice, just before you die, that thousands of gallons of water pour down onto you. The solution to the "get out of the cell" puzzle was to be this: Get the blanket and tie it to the beam, then duck down under the bunk. Give the blanket a yank, and the ceiling (and the water above) come down. You then get out from under the bunk (still underwater) and swim to the surface, where you find yourself within easy reach of the axe. You then grab the axe and break the door open with it. The problem was that to implement this in SAM, all the player had to do was pick up the blanket, then click USE and the blanket would get tied to the beam (since there's no TIE command). Then if they clicked USE again, the beam would move and the ceiling would collapse. SAM's limited command set gave away the solution to the puzzle. Implemented in a text adventure, I think my puzzle would be pretty good (not spectacular, but reasonable). In SAM, there isn't a puzzle, really. Eric Shepherd (Sheppy) (POWERPC.PRO, CAT34, TOP9, MSG:332/M645;1) >>> HOT TOPICS <<< """""""""""""""""" A EULOGY FOR APPLIED ENGINEERING I have extremely mixed feelings about """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" the demise of Applied Engineering. At first, I just couldn't believe the news that they'd gone out of business. So, I tried calling them. "The number you have reached is not in service at this time." I own a number of AE products, including a Vulcan Hard Drive, a PCTransporter, an AE-RAM card, a DataLink modem, and a TransWarpGS. At the point when I realized that I had more AE equipment inside my GS than Apple equipment, I even affixed an AE logo sticker to the front of my computer. Like many in the Apple II world, I was upset and felt sleighted when they started charging Apple II owners for "tech support." But, I understood the reasons; they were a company struggling to stay alive. Please remember that for many years, AE provided the Apple II world with hardware galore. For a long time, they also supported several of the Apple II magazines with page after page of ads. I used to be involved with the Apple IIGS Buyer's Guide, and know for a fact that the revenues generated by AE's ads kept that magazine afloat. Over the years, AE employed many loyal Apple II engineers and programmers, and provided the Apple II world with a steady source of new (albeit expensive) hardware. I personally became friendly with several AE employees, and now feel bad for them, and their families, as they line up for unemployment. Although it's been several years since I've purchased anything from AE, I'm saddened by their demise. For the longest time, AE was the number 1 supporter of the Apple II, and I don't think that we should ever lose sight of that. As with the death of anyone, it's far better for the living to remember the dead from the era of their lives when they were vital and enthusiastic. For the longest time, AE was a great friend of the Apple II world, and I for one would rather dwell on those good times, and look back fondly at AE's contributions. I can still clearly remember the thrill of plugging in my first GS memory expansion card, and having a whopping 1.5 megabytes of RAM. Thanks AE. I can still clearly remember the thrill of adding 100 megabytes of hard disk storage to my system. Thanks AE. I can still clearly remember the thrill of stepping up to 2400 baud. Thanks AE. I can still clearly remember the thrill of inviting one of my MS-DOS friends over to marvel at my Apple that could run IBM software...faster than my friend's XT. Thanks AE. I can still clearly remember the thrill of running my GS 3 times faster than other GS owners. Thanks AE. Thanks, AE, for all the good times. May you rest in peace. Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:451/M645;1) >>>>> ][ just heard from Tony Diaz of Alltech that AE pretty much waited """"" until they had used up all their remaining stock of parts and products before they finally closed their doors. As a result, there _is no_ large (or even small) supply of specialised components left that could be bought up by anyone to continue repairs and/or upgrades of AE products. -= Lunatic (: (A2.LUNATIC, CAT5, TOP3, MSG:283/M645;1) >>>>> What most people don't realize is that the original owner of AE """"" (and true Apple II enthusiast) sold AE several years ago. The new owner decided to branch out into the Mac arena. Approximately 1 year after starting the Mac stuff the company had a huge upheaval that resulted in more or less a hostile coup of Mac people throwing out the long time Apple II folks. This was the beginning of the end, as all the really talented and innovative people who made AE a success were lost. D. Corkum (D.CORKUM, CAT5, TOP3, MSG:296/M645;1) >>>>> > With the demise of AE. Will we still be able to get heavy duty """"" > power supplies for our GS's, and if so, where can we get them? Already covered. We have a new supplier for power supplies. I don't personally know who it is, but I think it's the same manufacturer that AE used:) The prices of the supplies is still unchanged. Quality Computers --- Power for performance. (QUALITY, CAT12, TOP11, MSG:121/M645;1) LINELINK MODEM AND FAX SOFTWARE > How about the Linelink that everyone is """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > talking about. Will that wrk with the > promised Fax software FOR SURE? Well, I did a little checking on this. The following AT commands revealed some information: AT+FMFR (manufacturer ID) = SIERRA,V32BIS/F AT+FMDL (model number) = SQ322X AT+FREV (revision number) = 3.02 ,081793,SSC AT+FCLASS can be set to 0, 1, or 2. So the LineLink supports both classes. Now, I think the promised Fax software is based on the Rockwell chipset, as opposed to the Sierra chipset that the LineLink uses. It should be compatible, though.... --- later --- I just called the technical support number listed in the LineLink manual. The technician told me that the LL uses a 'new' chipset that Sierra has developed, and it's compatible with the Rockwell chipset. He also said that if a particular fax program doesn't have a selection for the Sierra chipset, use the Rockwell one and everything will be fine. He also told me that I should use the MacFax software that MacWharehouse sells, as that's the software they (the technical support line) support. :) So, if you have a LineLink, this new Fax software will work just fine. :) |) \ / |_)RIAN \/\/ELLS (B.WELLS5, CAT10, TOP9, MSG:130/M645;1) ALLTECH ARRIVES ON A2! A Short bit of historical info: """""""""""""""""""""" Alltech Electronics Co has been around since 1983. The founder/owner of the company has been around the Apple II since then. Having worked with Vista Computer Company (Which is now ACP). Vista used to make floppy drives for the Apple II, one of which was the Vista 1500. A Removable 5.25" "magazine" that would hold 5 5.25" disks and "reach out" and get the disc you requested and pull it into the drive. Very similar to todays multi-cd players. It was very popular with BBS sysops back then. Alltech has three southern California stores that specialize mainly in PC stuff and surplus electronics p arts/equipment. The Oceanside store, the newest of the three, opened in 1989 is where the Apple II operations are centered. Alltech began mail order Apple II peripheral sales around 1987 with a Disk ][ compatible, Full Size 5.25" drive, which we still sell many today. I came apon Alltech in 1989 when the store appeared here in Oceanside less than 2 miles from my house. Since opening the third location, and moving all the Apple II related operations here, we began to provide service and parts as well as expand the amount of products available and include new products as well, something we're not really known for. We do sell/stock new items as well. Mainly hardware items. For software sales, if we don't have it, we recommend other sources like Quality Computers, Big Red, Seven Hills, etc. We specuaialize in hard to find and older items, and. We do repairs on just about any Apple II peripheral. All refurbished products are fully checked out before shipping. Items such as printers are torn down to the bare bones and completely cleaned and re-assembled and tested prior to being sold. We can be thought of as "recyclers" in a way, because when we come a accross a large supply of something out there than can be used as an Apple II item, with some or no modification at all, we, we do in order to bring more products to the Apple II. Things as simple as the IBM PS/2 Model 25 carry case that fit a GS system so perfectly, it could have been called a "IIgs system transport case" from day one. Another example is the Atari ST RGB Monitor we had recently, and now the CGA for the //c, a 100% compatible RGB color monitor solution, for only $129.00. We have products and services for the Apple ][/][+, //e, //c & IIgs. We even have parts & service availble for the Apple /// and some Lisa/Mac XL stuff too! We will be moving soon, to a 30,000 sq. foot building with 2 stories and the phone numbers/address will change. The 800 line will remain the same and the exhisting phone number/address info will remain valid as the local retail portion of the current location will remain . (T.DIAZ, CAT46, TOP1, MSG:1/M645;1) MUCH ADO ABOUT SHAKESPEARE I am posting this on behalf of Larry McEwen """""""""""""""""""""""""" (L.MCEWEN) who has uploaded his 6-disk Hyperstudio stack collection called, "Much Ado About Shakespeare." [*][*][*] MUCH ADO ABOUT SHAKESPEARE was created during 1990 and 1991. During that period of time I was growing an intra-spinal-cord tumor. I finished it the night before my entry into the hospital for spinal cord surgery the next morning. On that day, my wife walked from the hospital to a nearby postal service center and sent all six disks to Roger Wagner Publishing. Roger was beginning to collect stacks created by HyperStudio users and Steven Allen was working with him to make selections. A short time after I was dismissed from the hospital, Steven Allen called me and we agreed upon $29.95 as the price of the finished product. During the next few months, v2.0 of MUCH ADO ABOUT SHAKESPEARE was finished and was advertised in the Roger Wagner Publishing Company catalog at $29.95. This is an improvement over those early versions. Because my immune system continued to deteriorate, I found that I was sick more days per month than well. Finally, I faced the fact that I could no longer work productively and was disabled. As a hobby for those very few days in some months when my energy level allowed me to dabble with the IIgs, I finished v3.11 of MUCH ADO ABOUT SHAKESPEARE. MUCH ADO ABOUT SHAKESPEARE is not in the "Public Domain" and it may not be copied and given to another. It is copyrighted by Larry B. McEwen, and may not be legally used unless $25.00 has been sent to the national office of: Immune Deficiency Foundation MUCH ADO ABOUT SHAKESPEARE 3565 Ellicott Mills Drive, Unit B2 Ellicott City, MD, USA, 21043 Please do this within two to three weeks. This is a good cause and we need help. The first case of Primary Immune Deficiency Disease which caught the public's eye and ear was the case of the "Houston Bubble Boy", a boy who lived in 1950's Texas. His story was made into a movie. A very young John Travolta starred as the "Bubble Boy" whose short life was contained within that plastic sterile environment. The Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases do not receive the attention that the HIV "AIDS" cases do. Our cases do not get the headlines, and they do not get the political attention or the budgetary appropriations. If you wish to have a Home.Stack without the appeal, I will send you one if you will send me a copy of your receipt from the IDF and your name and address. Thank you for your help and kind consideration. Thank you! Larry McEwen 603 East 5th Street Hastings, NE 68901 [*][*][*] Please send all comments regarding this stack collection to Larry McEwen (L.MCEWEN) not to me. Thanks. Tony Ward [via GEM 4.21/PT 3.1] (A2.TONY, CAT3, TOP25, MSG:101/M645;1) >>>>> Those downloading these files MUST d/l disc #1. It contains fonts """"" I designed or altered especially for these stacks. If the correct fonts are not used, the aesthetic effects will be lost. Larry McEwen (L.McEwen) (L.MCEWEN, CAT3, TOP25, MSG:102/M645;1) ALLTECH TAKES OVER SOUNDMEISTER 23 Apr 1994: """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Alltech Electronics wishes to announce the availabilty of the SoundMeister card for the IIgs. We have taken over prodiuction of the SoundMeister card, the only available stereo / digoitizer card for the IIgs. Projected price will be about $59.00 and availability should be around the last week in May. The SoundMeister card will ship together with Digital Session software and a disk or two of sample rSound files for use with System 6's Sound CDEV or Q Labs Signature GS Sonics CDev. Sonics is a replacement for Apples Sound CDev that is shipped with system 6 and a system 6 like Csound CDev for System 5.0.4 users. Available also, as a set will be the SoundMeister with a set of amplified speakers w/volume control for $74.00. For users of other sound hardware, Digital Session will also be available separatly, as soon as modules to support digitizing on other hardware are completed. (T.DIAZ, CAT46, TOP7, MSG:1/M645;1) >>>>> Someone is going to ask this, so I might as well do it. Tony, any """"" chance of reviving the SoundMeister Pro? I've been waiting for two years to buy one. Eric Shepherd (Sheppy) (POWERPC.PRO, CAT46, TOP7, MSG:2/M645;1) <<<<< The SoundMeister Pro, for the time being isn't an option currently. """"" It wasn't completely finished when the project was shelved. After the Sound Meister is done, shipping and delt with, if there is solid demand for something like the Pro, it can be looked into. (T.DIAZ, CAT46, TOP7, MSG:3/M645;1) >>>>> > It wasn't completely finished when the project was shelved """"" My memory isn't what it used to be... does this strike anyone else as being new data? Doug Cuff, GEnieLamp A2 (EDITOR.A2, CAT46, TOP7, MSG:30/M645;1) >>>>> Everything I'd heard was that the SoundMeister Pro was almost """"" finished, just needed minor tune-ups, when it was killed. (POWERPC.PRO, CAT46, TOP7, MSG:31/M645;1) <<<<< All this intrest, is quite intresting... at this time it's still """"" not something thats on the drawing board, but if a decision is made, it won't be for several weeks. Thats all I can really say on the matter. As for an upgrade, if the SMP should be produced, I think that can be worked out. There is alot to do before it can happen, including determining just how much more work would need to be done since this was never a finished product, never made it past the second wire wrap prototype. No real software support was done for it other than a couple 'raw' testing applications. Of course, there is support for it in Digital Session for digitizing (T.DIAZ, CAT46, TOP7, MSG:24/M645;1) >>> WHAT'S NEW <<< """""""""""""""""" ICONFERENCE SPEAKERS AND DEMONSTRATIONS ANNOUNCED I'm pleased to announce """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" that the keynote speaker at this summer's conference will be Randy Brandt. In AppleWorks 4.0, Randy has made major contributions to the Apple II community in the last year. We also have a confirmation from Western Design Center that they will be on hand to demonstrate their new Mensch Computer. Steve Disbrow from GS+ magazine is once again preparing to roast a Major Apple II Personality (and provide lunchtime entertainment and a technical sessions as well). We also have sessions lined up from Joe Kohn, Bill Heineman, Roger Wagner, Joseph Wankerl, and others. There are still session openings, however, so if you'd like to do a presentation, send me a proposal now! (Session proposal deadline is May 1). (TOM.W, CAT23, TOP10, MSG:118/M645;1) NEW RAMFAST DRIVERS I just uploaded a new version of the RamFAST Media """"""""""""""""""" Control drivers. This new version fixes a bug that caused crashes or other malfunctions if your RamFAST was in a slot other than 7. It will be file #22641 when released. Jawaid (PROCYON.INC, CAT20, TOP12, MSG:349/M645;1) CYNTHIA FIELD JOINS SHAREWARE SOLUTIONS II Although I'll shortly be """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" writing up a Press Release to "officially" announce a change to Shareware Solutions II, I'm so excited, I just wanted to share the excitement with all my friends online. For several years, I was proud to share the inCider/A+ masthead with Cynthia Field. Of all of us involved with inCider/A+, it was generally Cynthia's articles that I turned to first, as they always included information that I could learn from. Over the years, she just had a way of finding out about new Apple II products, long before anyone else did. Cynthia Field's credits in the Apple II wold re long and varied. She currently is a Contributing Editor to NAUG's AppleWorks Forum. Many of you may also remember that Cynthia Field was hired by Apple Computer Inc to write the Apple II Newsletter. And, more recently, many will remember that Cynthia wrote inCider/A+'s New Product section. I'm pleased and proud to announce that Cynthia Field will be sharing her knowledge of the Apple II with subscribers to Shareware Solutions II. Starting in Issue #5, due to "go to press" this month, and in every issue thereafter, Cynthia Field will be writing a new column, tentatively titled "New Apple II Products." In each issue of Shareware Solutions II, Cynthia will be writing about new Apple II commercial software products and new hardware products. Details, of course, still need to be worked out as to the exact format of Cynhias column, but knowing her as I do, I wouldn't be surprised if she wrote about 10-15 new products that even the most die-hard Apple II fan hadn't heard of before. Is this great news, or what? Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:501/M645;1) POWERGS DISKAZINE PowerGS is the latest "diskazine" available for the """"""""""""""""" Apple IIGS. It was started by Auri Rahimzadeh (who created PongLife Issue #1), and is part of the Power-GS group, which sponsors both the new PowerGS Diskazine and GS MOD Monthly, which is published by Tony Morales. Get info on both here! If you would like to contact me, you may reach me at the following places: GEnie: (email) A.RAHIMZADEH (and I'm in the RTCs almost every nite!) Internet: (email) aurir@cap.gwu.edu Home: (phone) 890-1593 BBS: (data) 890- 8771 2400-14.4k ANSI/PTSE/ASCII (email) User #1, Auri Man By the way, PowerGS Issue #2 (I started it at 2 since I did most of PongLife Issue #1) will be finished THIS WEEK, so get your modem ready and download it! [grin] If you would like it BINSCIIed to you on internet (which is cheaper for many people), please email me your internet address and I will have it off to you once it's done. Welcome to the World of PowerGS!!! -Auri Rahimzadeh Editor in Chief (A.RAHIMZADEH, CAT13, TOP38, MSG:1/M645;1) NEW A2-CENTRAL EDITOR Congratulations are in order for our own Doug Cuff, """"""""""""""""""""" who's going to take over as editor of A2-Central with the next issue! John Peters, who has been our editor, is letting go of A2-Central to concentrate on ICON's new publication for Windows users, Solid Windows, and an upcoming publication for MS-DOS users, Config.sys. Doug has long been a reader of A2-Central and brings a background in writing and publishing that should be very helpful in keeping A2-Central at the hub of the Apple II community. (TOM.W, CAT23, TOP4, MSG:399/M645;1) BLUEDISK UPDATE Due to the fact that the beta testers didn't have enough """"""""""""""" time for beta testing (and still being busy with other things), we have prolonged the introductory offer for the BlueDisk card. The software version 1.0 isn't available yet, but again, the beta versions have proved to be very stable and free of data corrupting bugs. In fact, the only "bug" we had to fix since opening sales was a small problem due to spindle motor speed tolerances of some disk drives (you might read between these lines -and from other messages- that BlueDisk works fine). Here is the updated information you may need before ordering: BlueDisk package contents: ''''''''''''''''''''''''' - Interface Card (works in Apple IIe enhanced or Apple IIGS) - English Manual (draft, preliminary) - Utilites Disk containing GS/OS Driver, GS/OS Driver Installer script, Drive Tester, special BlueDisk ProDOS 8 Formatter (including MFORMAT in the near future) BlueDisk Icons file R/W test program Warranty and Support: '''''''''''''''''''' One year limited warranty on parts and labour, free support via the GEnie A2 Bulletin Board (cat 13, top 23), free software updates up to v1.0 via the GEnie A2 library and help from our beta testers. BlueDisk Pricing: '''''''''''''''' o Pricing for U.S. Orders (Canadian add an extra US $4 s/h) US $114 plus $16 shipping/handling two packages: $114 each plus $21 s/h three packages: $114 each plus $24 s/h Shipping is via standard air mail for overseas orders. o Pricing for European Orders (surface shipping only) DM 200 plus DM 19 shipping/handling two packages: DM 200 each plus DM 24 s/h three packages: DM 200 each plus DM 27 s/h European orders only accepted if paid by cash or EuroChecque This is a (prolonged) introductory offer. The price for BlueDisk, final software/firmware version 1.0 will be $135 (prospective). -------------------------------------------------------------- >>> This intoductory offer is valid until June, 15. 1994 <<< -------------------------------------------------------------- Payment: ''''''' All orders must be prepaid. We accept payment by cash, check, travellers check or money order (American or German currency) and payment via post office. If payment is _not_ by cash, an additional fee of US $10 (DM 17) is required (we have to pay this fee to get the cash for the check). If you feel unsure when sending cash, please use registered mail. ///SHH SYSTEME Dipl. Ing. Joachim Lange Bergstrasse 95 82131 Stockdorf Germany GEnie: J.LANGE7 (no copyright claims on this message) (J.LANGE7, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:439/M645;1) >>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" THE GRAPHIC EXCHANGE MODULES > What about The Graphic Exchange by Roger """""""""""""""""""""""""""" > Wagner? Won't it handle the conversion to > GIF as well? As it comes, no. But, if you buy the Library Disk #1 for The Graphics Exchange, it has the modules you need for GIF pictures. That's one nice thing about this program. They made it modular so you can add modules later for other graphic formats. I have heard that Roger Wagner is planning another disk of modules for TGE. \ / The \/\/izz Using GEM 4.21 (B.MILYKO, CAT6, TOP5, MSG:170/M645;1) MSDOS UTILITIES V2.1 I received e-mail today from Peter Watson concerning """""""""""""""""""" the registered version of his MTOOLS package. Version 2.0 is the current publically available set. Version 2.1 (and soon to be 2.11) will be available only to registered users some time in April. Here is what you can look forward to in the new version: [*][*][*] >>> This list below is taken from the "revision notes" text for V2.10. BTW, the text has tabs in it. MSDOS Utilities V2.10 All utilities: - Better trapping of invalid device numbers and recognition of 12-bit FAT disks. Many messages edited and/or made consistent. - Support for UNIX-style parameters, eg. MDIR -iw .d7 - Support for the device number to be included as part of the MSDOS path name, eg. MDIR .d7/TOOLS; GMCOPY GSFILE .d7/TOOLS - A default MSDOS device may be set in an ORCA/GNO shell variable or in a parameter file named 'MSDOS.Device'!!! COMMAND.COM: - Strip control characters from files being 'TYPE'd - Add CREATE, DELETE, RENAME and FILETYPE commands MFORMAT: - Allow disk size and interleave as options. Fix bug where D/Density disks were actually formatted as 800K, not 720K! - Also, check for supported disk sizes _before_ formatting - Bug fixed in display of 'used' vs 'free space' - More info displayed when format is complete - Support 21Mb floptical disks (/S:21M) - Added '/X' (no auto-eject) option - Defaults for '/X' and '/Q' now easily patchable - Volume name syntax changed from '/V name' to '/V:name' MDISKCOPY: - Allow interleave to be specified when formatting (/I:x) - '/I:x' sets '/F' option - Added '/X' (no auto-eject) option - Defaults for '/X' and '/F' now easily patchable - Will now copy a disk in up to 20 passes (ie. larger disks) - Prompts for repeat copy of same disk, or copy of other disks MDEL: - Confirm if '*.*' specified or defaulted - A directory name specified deletes all files in the directory (after confirmation!) - Wildcard deletes can no longer affect '.' and '..' entries MCOPY: - Use JudgeName call to convert filenames only if necessary - Better support for copying to non-ProDOS (eg. HFS) volumes - Added '/O' option (overwrite existing files automatically) - Defaults for '/B' & '/O' now easily patchable GMCOPY: - For generated filenames, the (extra) extension (.TXT or .BIN) is no longer automatically added - Fixed a major bug when extending directories - Improved support for non-ProDOS source disks - Added '/O' option (overwrite existing files automatically) - Defaults for '/B' & '/O' now easily patchable - Unlike all other utilities, GMCopy now no longer supports the old command syntax where the device number followed the command name MRENAME: - Now renames files in subdirectories as it was supposed to do! FINDMFM: - Displays device numbers of MSDOS devices in decimal, not hex MMD: - Added utility to create directories MRD: - Added utility to remove directories MFDISK: - Added utility to display fixed disk partition details MPATCH: - Added utility to patch defaults of some MSDOS Utility options You could also add that only registered users get the MMD, MRD and MPatch utilities. V2.11 will be a minor update to support PC Transporter logical volumes larger than 16Mb (ie. with two ProDOS files), and with additions to MFormat to improve use with the BlueDisk (eg. more disk sizes supported, an option to use the GS/OS format dialogue for the low-level format). <<< (B.TAO, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:386/M645;1) MORE ABOUT AUSTRALIAN SHAREWARE In another topic, long away and far """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" away... The subject came up of paying shareware fees to Peter Watson for his MS-DOS Utility package. After getting an email this week from someone asking if they should send Peter's shareware fee to me, it was suggested that I post my reply in public. A while back, I did Peter Watson a favor. He sent me a few hundred dollars worth of US checks, and I cashed them, and sent Peter one check in return. That way, he only had to pay one bank processing fee. Right after we did that, Peter spoke to his banker again, and found out that what we'd done was unnecessary. The upshot of the whole matter is that Peter can cash personal US checks at his Australian bank. Whether he brings in one check, or twenty, he only has to pay a single $5 service charge. So, Peter is not cashing the checks immediately, but when he has $100 or $200, he'll bring them in, and be able to cash them all, for just a single $5 fee. So, feel free to submit your personal check in US dollars for MS-DOS Utilities. Send it directly to Peter Watson, whose address is listed in the documentation. Speaking of Australian shareware... Does anyone have v2.1 of John MacLean's DOS 3.3 Launcher? If so, could you please upload it. Apparently, John does not currently have use of an Apple II, but he completed an update to DOS 3.3 Launcher recently, and now swears that he sent it to me. He didn't, or if he did, I never got it. I can't track it down anywhere, and John is a bit hazy on who he sent it to. Did he send it to *YOU* ? If he did, I want it! Please upload it. Thanks! Joe (J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:513/M645;1) >>>>> I guess you've been speaking to John Maclean then? Yes, he sold his """"" Apple IIgs late last year, and everything else Apple related with it. I'll have an ask around locally about 2.1 of DOS Launcher. I know I only have 2.0. John also completed yet another Graphics Exchange toolset disk about two or three years back, that RWP never released. Devoted Graphics Exchange owners may like to pester RWP for that one. Regards, Richard (RICHARD.B, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:516/M645;1) APPLEWORKS GS RUMORS AND DATES I would say that a product advertisement """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" in our recent Apple II mailing qualifies this as a little more than a "rumor." Rumors are things that people say to each other based on wishful thinking. They are not things you receive advertising for in the mail. B) (II.ALIVE, CAT17, TOP22, MSG:89/M645;1) >>>>> I talked to Quality late last week and was told the release date """"" for AWGS 2.0 is July 1, 1994. Given delays I am hopeful for an August or September release. Michael Delivered by ProTerm and CoPilot 2.5 (M.EWEN, CAT17, TOP22, MSG:92/M645;1) >>>>> Just to be up front with all of you... I know that the salespeople """"" are saying July 1, but honestly we don't have a good solid date. The salespeople are told July 1 because that is our best and most optimistic date. We really hope that something will be available at least by mid-summer. It is a BIG job though... Basically the code is being thoroughly re-worked. Walker Quality Computers (W.ARCHER2, CAT17, TOP22, MSG:94/M645;1) GS/OS RAMFAST UTILITY? No, not yet. But stay tuned for information. """""""""""""""""""""" BTW, such a thing would make a GREAT shareware program for someone to write. The information to do it is available from the Sequential BBS. Jawaid (PROCYON.INC, CAT20, TOP13, MSG:336/M645;1) PRINT SHOP GS H-P DRIVERS > How's Bill Heineman coming on the PSGS HP """"""""""""""""""""""""" > Color Printer Drivers? The timing of your question is kind of amazing. I just got off the phone with the BurgerMeister, not 2 minutes ago. As I'd mentioned in the last issue of SSII, the project turned out to be a lot more difficult and time consuming than originally anticipated. Apparently, Bill has had to come up with patches for 17 different PrintShop GS files. Originally, he thought that he'd need to patch only one or two files. But, with the patches applied, he says that PSGS now runs much faster, and due to the changes he's made, even those who own an ImageWriter will see improvements. At this point, he is quesstimating that it'll be only a few more weeks until he sends me a full working program. Then, of course, a testing phase needs to occur, and if it passes that, then I'll need to write some documentation. So, it's still going to be a while. But, according to Bill, the drivers WILL be done, and maybe we will be printing Memorial Day signs and banners on our HP printers? Speaking of PSGS, I can't believe that I've had that program so long, and only yesterday found out about an Easter Egg. Run the program, and look at the main menu. Then, re-set your IIGS clock to December 5-31, and look at the PSGS main menu again. Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:462/M645;1) SHEPPYWARE TEASERS hehe..yeah, Sheppy has a lot of stuff going on right """""""""""""""""" now, and one of them is almost done (besides KN 1.2 :) hmm..I'd better not say anything, tho :) (T.BUCHHEIM, CAT13, TOP18, MSG:274/M645;1) >>>>> The latest piece of SheppyWare is: """"" 1) "Way past kewl" (c)Sonic the Hedgehog 2) Has had very few problems during beta testing, even on my system. 3) Not only has it found a permenent place on my system, I use it several times every day. Best I leave it to Eric to say what it is, where & when it will be published, etc :) -Harold Resident solder slinger. (H.HISLOP, CAT13, TOP18, MSG:276/M645;1) <<<<< yup, the next piece of SheppyWare is great, and I use it 4 out of 5 """"" times I boot my system. :) but, I don't think he wants betatesters telling everyone all about it, so I'll shut up now and let you all be surprised and amazed when you see his next great program :) (T.BUCHHEIM, CAT13, TOP18, MSG:277/M645;1) WHITHER PROTERM? A while back a friend brought my attention to a thread """""""""""""""" here which involved some speculation of the future of InTrec Software. I found and read through the related parts of the thread which seemed to be summed up in the following statements: > In other circles, this is popularly referred to as "pulling a > Beagle". > :-/ > Exactly my point. Let me blunt: InTrec is working on Mac & PC versions > of ProTERM. I consider ProTERM to be a great product, and would hate for > InTrec to go the way of Beagle Bros and Applied Engineering. Pardon my jousting here, I can't resist a flipant cyncal reply: Beagle only had Point To Point and AE had Ready Link -- We have ProTERM! Excuse my moment of artistic freedom, now on with the serious stuff. After reading the thread and signing off, I thought it would set minds at ease if I explained our official position and policy on the subject. The piece got lengthy and after I got to a point where I thought I had all the bases covered, I saved it and got some Zzzz. The next morning I read through the text and had second thoughts about posting what to me had been good therapy, but to others would be boring and perhaps appear self gratifying. So I have not posted my (expanded) thoughts but will give the "Reader's Digest" version. Our plans are to release ProTERM/Mac in the not too distant future (possibly during the Summer months), and when it is released, we will continue to support ProTERM/A2. In fact, our strategy is the same as it was the day Greg Schaefer and I sat down over a couple of beers and decided this is what we wanted to do and they are listed in the same order of priortiy as they were on day one. o Develop a strong telecom position by improving a product that was already established in the marketplace. o Develop a version for the Macintosh platform and establish it in the market. o Develop a version for the PC platform and establish it in the market. o Look back to see what is needed to bring the Apple II product up to date. Even then, our intention was for each product to be complimentary to the others. As planned, ProTERM/A2 built our company and gave it a solid foundation, and now ProTERM/Mac will provide the resources to build our strength. We consider the different products to be like siblings which will compliment each other in the same market. When all three are out, we will again look at ProTERM/A2 for a revise. All three of those product will allow us to support a broad base telecom market. At that point, we will look at whatever else may show promise, including another part of our original plan, offer a publishing/marketing platform for programmer-authors who want to maintain control of their products like we've done for Greg Schaefer. Will we "...pull a Beagle?" (to reference the exact phrase) Our product development of each of the ProTERM/A2 3.0 and 3.1 took longer than we expected. ProTERM/Mac has been the same. But our track record for delivering dependable products stands, and we expect it to remain. It does take time to do it right, but its a metter of not being intimidated by those who would like to see the new product. No good whine before its time. ;-) This is getting out of hand again so that's it. Hopefully that will end the speculation about our allegiance or our plans about new releases. Oh, there was one other question, "Will we be bought out by a monster?" Its doubtful. Truth is, we enjoy what we do, and if we sold the toys, the dream would end. To quote another Apple II guy who made it but walked, and is now still trying to make his NEXT venture, "The Journey is the Reward." Hey! That would be an excellent title for a book! Jerry Cline @ InTrec Software, Inc. Publishers of ProTERM telecom software. Winner of the Awards of Excellence - Best Apple II Software. Sent automatically from ProTERM's Editor. (INTREC, CAT5, TOP3, MSG:288/M645;1) OUT OF THIS WORLD NOT LONG FOR IT? > Does anybody know where I can get """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > OOTW? Big Red Computer Club 423 Norfolk Ave Norfolk, NE 68701 402-379-4680 If you've been thinking about ordering OOTW, but have put it off, don't put it off too much longer. I had a conversation the other day with the owner of BRCC, and he informed me that when the current stock is gone, there will be no more. Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT6, TOP3, MSG:62/M645;1) USER GROUP CD-ROM? our Apple IIGS SIG is in the process of producing a """""""""""""""""" CD-ROM. This CD will contain 238 disks worth of shrinked Apple IIGS public domain (fonts, pics, utilities, desk accessories, sounds, inits, CDEVs, etc., etc.) plus about 180 disks worth of Macintosh PD. The price for this CD will be around $40. Shipping from Germany to the US airmail will be $11 for the CD within the jewel case, and $5 for the CD within a 5.25" disk mailer. Are you interested in this beast?? Udo - ... just a IIGS freak - (U.HUTH, CAT20, TOP15, MSG: /M645;1) NEW COPILOT COMING SOON I have killed the "ascii airplane" in the next """"""""""""""""""""""" (coming up RSN!!! :) version of CoPilot, and it won't be reappearing. -Harold Resident solder slinger. (H.HISLOP, CAT3, TOP15, MSG:45/M645;1) WOLFENSTEIN 3-D FOR GS? I just got this message on Software Creations BBS """"""""""""""""""""""" from Joe Siegler, head of Apogee (PR at least, not sure) and sysop of The Arsenal of Freedom (Apple II) BBS: [*][*][*] Date: 04-18-94 (13:22) Number: 106339 of 107594 (Refer#106253) To: KEN GAGNE From: JOE SIEGLER Subj: Wolfenstein for the GS Read: 04-22-94 (01:39) Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE Conf: Main Board (0) Read Type: GENERAL (+) KG>I just rented Wolfenstein 3D for the Super NES. I miss the blood. :) But KG>I noticed the instruction manual says, "Developed on an Apple IIgs." KG>This makes sense since they both use the same microprocessor. Will KG>WOLF3D be released for the Apple IIgs? It seems only fair, since the KG>original Castle Wolfenstein was for the Apple II. :) I've been trying to push id Software to put it out on the Apple IIgs. Write their E-Mail boxes on the Internet about it. I'd like to see that too, since I have an Apple IIgs. Joe Siegler - Apogee Software [*][*][*] Sounds hopeful! Once I get their Internet addresses, I will post them here (unless someone else has them handy?)! -Ken Gagne (KEN.GAGNE, CAT6, TOP3, MSG:523/M645;1) <<<<< OK, if you want Wolfenstein 3D to be ported to the Apple IIgs, send """"" email to johnr@idsoftware.com, johnc@idsoftware.com, and/or carmack@idsoftware.com. (attach #INET to the end of these addresses to send them from GEnie) (KEN.GAGNE, CAT6, TOP3, MSG:98/M645;1) >>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""" Category 13, Topic 18 Message 275 Sun Apr 17, 1994 B.WEITHOFER at 13:59 EDT For those of you who might not know. Sheppy doesn't just write extradornary programs for the II. Occassionaly. he turns into a knight in shinning armour and charges in on a white horse to safe people from disasters. At our last meeting one of our members who is unemployed showed up with a hard drive problem. The partition with all his programs had disappeared from his hard drive. Obviously, he was very concerned and did not know what to do. Sheppy took a quick look at the problem at the meeting and then took the hard drive home with him. By the next morning, he had recovered almost all of the lost files. This kind of dedication and help is greatly appreciated by all of us in the Apple II community. Bob Weithofer President - Appleholics Anonymous - Oxnard, CA Delivered by Co-Pilot v2.5 Beta & TIC [*][*][*] 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. //////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / / / Hey, I insist that I be quoted at every opportunity! I / / want to be FAMOUS! / / / ///////////////////////////////////////////// D.ROGERS2 //// [EOA] [HUM]////////////////////////////// HUMOR ONLINE / ///////////////////////////////// Fun & Games On GEnie """""""""""""""""""" Author Unknown Note: This was sent to me by someone who had it sent to her by someone...well, I guess you get the point. I just don't know the origin. :) NADINE.K [Aladdin Lass] [*][*][*] What would happen if God had to do it all over again? AND GOD SAID: "IN THE BEGINNING, GOD CREATED HEAVEN AND EARTH." He was then faced with a Notice of Violation and a class action lawsuit for failing to file a Part A notification and an environmental impact statement with HEPA (Heavenly Environmental Protection Agency), an angelically staffed agency dedicated to keeping the Universe pollution free. God was granted a temporary permit for the heavenly portion of the project, but was issued a "cease and desist" order on the earthly portion, pending further review by the HEPA. Upon completion of His construction permit application and environmental impact statement, God appeared before the Heavenly Environmental Protection Commission to answer unresolved questions regarding His application. When asked why He began these projects in the first place, God simply replied that He liked to be "creative." This was not considered adequate reasoning; and God was required to substantiate this further. HEPA was unable to see any practical use for earth, since "THE EARTH WAS VOID AND EMPTY, AND DARKNESS WAS UPON THE FACE OF THE DEEP." And God said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT." He really should never have brought up this point, since one Commission member was very active in the Sierrangel Club and immediately protested, stating "How was light to be made? Would it be a nuclear-powered or coal-fired generating plant? Would there be strip mining? What about thermal pollution? Air pollution? Universal warming?" God explained that the light would come from a huge ball of fire. No one on the Commission really understood this, but it was provisionally accepted assuming (1) there would be no smog or smoke resulting from the ball of fire, (2) a separate burning permit would be required, and (3) since continuous light would be a waste of energy, it should be dark at least one-half of the time. And so God agreed to "DIVIDE THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS, AND HE CALLED THE LIGHT 'DAY', AND THE DARKNESS 'NIGHT'." (The Commission expressed no interest with in-house semantics.) When asked how the earth would be covered, God said "LET THERE BE FIRMAMENT MADE AMIDST THE WATERS, AND LET IT DIVIDE THE WATERS FROM THE WATERS." One ecologically radical Commission member accused Him of double-talk, but the Commission tabled action since God would be required first to apply for a "firmament" permit from the ABLM (Angelic Bureau of Land Management), would be required to obtain water permits from the appropriate agencies involved, and further, insure that construction of any firmament would result in no net loss of wetlands. The Commission asked if there would be only water and firmament, and God said "LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH THE GREEN HERB, AND SUCH AS MAY SEED, AND THE FRUIT TREE YIELDING FRUIT AFTER ITS KIND, WHICH MAY HAVE SEEN ITSELF UPON THE EARTH." The Commission agreed to this, as long as only native seeds were to be used. About future developments, God also said "LET THE WATERS BRING FORTH THE CREEPING CREATURE HAVING LIFE, AND THE FOWL THAT MAY FLY OVER THE EARTH UNDER THE FIRMAMENT OF HEAVEN." Here again, the Commission took no formal action, since this would require approval of the Game and Fish Commission, coordinated with the Heavenly Wildlife Federation and the Audubongelic Society. It appeared that everything was in order until God said that He wanted to complete the project in six days. At this time He was advised by the Commission that His timing was completely out of the question. HEPA would require a minimum of six to nine months to review the permit application and environmental impact statement, and then there would have to be a 45-day public comment period followed by public hearings. After any and all public comments were considered, it could feasibly take 12 to 18 months before a permit could be issued. And God said, "THE HELL WITH IT!" [EOA] [REF]////////////////////////////// REFLECTIONS / ///////////////////////////////// Thinking About Online Communications """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" by Phil Shapiro [P.SHAPIRO1] >>> SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ECONOMICS OF ELECTRONIC MAIL <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" The United States postal service has proposed raising the price of a first class stamp from 29 cents to 32 cents. Like many other people, I'm adamantly opposed to this proposed increase. It doesn't go nearly far enough. An extra three cents per stamp? Oh, come on. If the postal service truly had the best interests of the nation in mind it would raise first class postage to 40 cents per stamp. Here is why: The low price of postage stamps continues to foster an economy based on shuffling papers and envelopes around the country. Each year billions of letters get stuffed into billions of envelopes that get mechanically hauled in aging postal service trucks to technologically undernourished sorting centers that channel the mail to overaged airplanes that fly crowded skies to understaffed airports, channeling the mail back to aging postal service trucks driven by underpaid postal carriers who are mandated to deliver the mail through inclement weather even though they may not be feeling well. It's not quite that bad. But it's close. By golly, it doesn't have to be this way. If the price of postage stamps were increased to 40 cents, a lot of homes and businesses would start getting interested in using electronic mail. Suppose the Federal government adopted a policy to encourage the entire nation to get connected up online. As a hypothetical example, suppose the Federal government placed an eight cent surcharge on the new postage stamp to help fund this goal. With the revenues from such a government subsidy, computer manufacturers could produce an inexpensive dumb terminal that could sell for $50. This would be a disk-driveless machine. Just keyboard, monochrome monitor, and dedicated terminal program. Plug this device into any phone jack, and you're connected to the information highway. Using this device you can send and receive electronic mail to your heart's content. No per message charge. After all, e-mail takes up just a tiny section of network bandwidth. Now, if you want to trudge over to the post office in the freezing rain to stand in a long line to buy stamps, you should have the perfect right to do so. It's a free country. But the government should make it its business to help promote electronic communications. Listen, communications is the vital engine of all commerce. It happens to be the engine of education, medicine, science, art and a few other things that are thought to have a positive effect on the social good. Streamlined communications means streamlined everything else. Slow-poke communications means slow-poke everything else. Someone once did a study to find out the real price of mailing a business letter. Well, it takes about ten minutes to write a one page business letter. Then it takes two minutes to print it. One minute to fold it. Three minutes to address the envelope. Another minute to fold and seal the envelope. A minute to stamp the envelope and throw it in the bin to be picked up by aging postal service trucks, to be hauled to... well you get the idea. The time that it takes to send one letter doesn't seem overly inefficient. But if you multiply the inefficiencies of one business letter by a couple of billion, you arrive at a humongous collective inefficiency. One of the best ways of making this country more competitive in the international marketplace would be to raise the price of first class postage to a sufficiently high level that individuals and businesses start taking electronic mail seriously. Imagine the fear such an action would strike in the hearts of big business in Japan. The country that invented the telephone, the light bulb, the airplane, the transistor, and rock-and-roll -- all connected up with near instantaneous online communications. Such a prospect ought to cause a few people to lose sleep on the other side of the Pacific. And for good reason. It's as efficient to us as it is threatening to them. -Phil Shapiro [*][*][*] The author takes a keen interest in the social dimensions of communications technology. He can be reached on the information superhighway at: p.shapiro1@genie.geis.com; and pshapiro@aol.com //////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / / / 14 terabytes? 5 megs a second? My brain has just / / exploded. :) / / / / Well, I hope you had a cover on your GS. Biomuck / / isn't good for it, you know. / / / ////////////////////////////////// T.BUCHHEIM & A2.BILL //// [EOA] [BEG]////////////////////////////// BEGINNER'S CORNER / ///////////////////////////////// Polishing Green Apples """""""""""""""""""""" by Steve Weyhrich [S.WEYHRICH] >>> HOOKED ON STORAGE (Part 3) <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" INITIALIZATION Last month I concentrated on hard disk solutions for the """""""""""""" Apple IIc, and some tips on use for that computer. This month the discussion turns to assembling a mass storage system for the Apple IIs that have slots -- the II Plus, IIe, and IIgs. "INNIES" VS "OUTIES" Slots make adding features to a computer system MUCH """""""""""""""""""" easier. That has been the major strength with the Apple II series (except for the IIc) from the beginning. Even the Macintosh finally had to crumble to popular demand and make some sort of internal expansion slots available for users who wanted to upgrade and enhance their system. Despite the help that slots give us, there are still two OTHER choices that must be made when selecting a hard drive. The selection of an internal versus an external drive has mostly to do with cost and aesthetics (i.e., whether or not you mind having your desktop cluttered with extra boxes attached to sockets on the back panel). In some situations, an internal drive package may be available at a lower total cost than an external drive, since the external needs the addition of a controller card (which usually comes packaged with the internal drive). INTERNAL DRIVES The internal drives themselves come in two basic forms. """"""""""""""" One type is completely self-contained on a card that simply plugs into a slot. Some examples of these "hard card" types of drives include the Zip hard drive (sold by Zip Technologies, the makers of the Zip Chip and Zip GS card), several models of self-contained hard drives sold by Charlie's Appleseeds, and the Focus Hard Card sold by Parson's Engineering (which is very similar to the Zip hard drive). The primary advantage of it is ease of use; you plug it in, turn the computer back on, and you have 20 megs or more of storage available, WITHOUT any extra wires trailing from the back of the computer. The primary disadvantage of these drives is that you can ONLY have that one drive attached to the computer on that slot; if you want to add another hard drive, you will need to use another slot. On the Apple IIe this may not be too great a problem, but on the IIgs it may require disabling one or more of the built-in features that already require a slot. The other type of internal hard drive common to the Apple II series is one in which the computer's power supply (that large metallic box to the left when you remove the top from the computer) is replaced by another power supply that also just happens to contain a hard disk drive assembly. A cable runs from the power supply/hard drive to an interface card in one of the slots. Historically, internal hard drives for the Apple II series have been of the IDE type control protocol, rather than the more commonly-used SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) protocol. Examples of this type of internal hard drive include the Applied Engineering Vulcan, Applied Ingenuity's InnerDrive, and the Pegasus drive made by Econ. None of these is currently available new, but can be found on the used market. The Pegasus drive differed from the others in that it used a SCSI controller. This has usually been an advantage over the IDE type of drive, primarily because of better speed obtainable with the SCSI interface cards. TURBO IDE CARD SHH Systeme, a company located in Germany, manufactures a """""""""""""" controller card they call the Turbo IDE. It significantly improves performance of IDE drives, including older ones like the Vulcan and InnerDrive. (In fact, the online "ads" I've seen for the Turbo IDE claim that "We make IDE drives RAMfast!", a take-off of advertising done by CV-Tech for its RamFAST SCSI card.) The Turbo IDE uses DMA (Direct Memory Access) to achieve its higher speeds of data transfer. This means that the block of memory being transferred to or from the disk drive is directly accessed, rather than being moved first to ANOTHER place in memory, and THEN being sent to the disk. Since IDE drives seem to cost a bit less than SCSI drives of the same size (at least in a quick review of ads in PC-based magazines), this could be a more affordable solution without any loss of performance. Furthermore, the Turbo IDE card will significantly speed up the operation of older Vulcan drives, prolonging their usefulness. Also this card will support up to =two= IDE drives, so an older Vulcan plus another larger IDE drive could both be used. The utilities disk that comes with the Turbo IDE Card has its own formatter that is able to reformat a Vulcan drive from its original 7:1 or 5:1 interleave to 1:1 or any other value desired (which may improve performance). A complete format takes anywhere from three to eight minutes, depending on the size of the drive. The Turbo IDE supports ANY type of IDE drive; starts up in less than a second (there is no chain of devices that has to be scanned, unlike SCSI cards); and it takes only nine seconds to get to the Finder on a minimum IIgs system, and less than a second to get to ProDOS 8. Finally, it is possible to boot from any of 16 partitions on two drives at the user's request without any extra boot utility, selected at boot time. EXTERNAL DRIVES External hard drives are more widely used in the Apple """"""""""""""" world at this time, primarily because of Apple's decision to include a built-in SCSI port on their newer model Macintosh computers. For the Apple II, SCSI requires two pieces of hardware: a SCSI interface card, and the SCSI drive itself. Because of the flexible design of the SCSI protocol, it is possible to attach up to seven devices to a standard SCSI card, and not all of those devices need necessarily be hard drives. Tape backup drives, magneto-optical and Floptical drives, and CD-ROM drives can be attached to most SCSI cards. The limits may be more constrained by the system software than by the system hardware; whereas the Apple IIgs can easily accommodate all of the above mentioned devices, it may be more tricky for the IIe. If you have a IIe, you will have to look carefully to make sure that the device you want to attach can be accessed by the programs you are able to use. If you have any uncertainty about this, talk with a vendor that is used to dealing with Apple II users, and ask specific questions about compatibility with YOUR equipment. SCSI CARDS - APPLE For SCSI interface cards, you can chose between the """""""""""""""""" RamFAST SCSI card and an Apple-built SCSI card. The newest (last) Apple card is the Apple II High Speed SCSI card, which is the fastest version available. The older versions of the Apple SCSI card are identified as either Revision A or B; these have to be upgraded to be compatible with the Apple IIgs (although the Rev B card will work on the IIe). The Rev C card works on the Apple II, II Plus, IIe, and IIgs. The Apple High Speed SCSI card uses the 65c02 opcodes, and so requires an enhanced IIe, IIgs, or an older Apple II that has had its 6502 processor replace by either a Zip Chip or a 65c02 chip. The fastest SCSI interface made by Apple is the Apple II SCSI card. As mentioned above, the Apple II High Speed card is a faster choice for a SCSI interface than the older cards that Apple produced. With this card, the speed of data transfer between the computer and the hard drive is significantly improved. There are some drawbacks, however. First of all, the way in which the HS SCSI card gets faster speeds is to do Direct Memory Access (DMA), just as the Turbo IDE card mentioned above. The IIe does not reliably work with DMA enabled on this card (it may actually cause a crash), and so some of the speed improvement may not be noticed on the IIe. On the IIgs, DMA works just fine. However, the speed is not nearly as good when running ProDOS 8 applications (such as AppleWorks) as it is with GS/OS applications. If a IIgs user doesn't do much in the 8-bit world, the Apple HS SCSI card may be just fine. If AppleWorks and other 8-bit programs are frequently used, the slower speed in those programs may make this a less desirable choice. Since the Apple II High Speed SCSI card is made and sold by Apple, this may be the best way to go if you have any concerns about future compatibility and service. (Admittedly, it may take a little explanation to an Apple Dealer that this item for repair goes into an Apple II and NOT a Mac, but if all else fails, 1-800-SOS-APPL should be able to get you the needed help). Those seeking out the Apple HS SCSI card should also be aware of a couple of other points. First, Apple made a change to the ROM (firmware) code on the card after it was released, but did NOT make any changes in how those cards were labelled. Because of this, it is not easy to always tell whether a particular card is the older or newer version. One advantage of the newer version is that the card will continue to check the hard drive attached to it until it has come up to speed, and THEN try to boot that drive. The older card, and many other hard disk controller cards, will check the hard drive to see if it is ready; if it does not receive a positive response from the drive, it will return a "DEVICE NOT READY" error and stop. This simply means that the hard drive must be turned on first, allowed to come to speed, and then the computer is turned on. The other possible problem with the differences between the two versions of the Apple HS SCSI card have to do with "term power". For a SCSI chain of devices to work properly, the electronics of the link between each device in the chain (including the card) require that the chain be powered by at least ONE of the devices (in some circumstances, it may be good if term power is supplied by more than one device). The older HS SCSI card did NOT supply terminator power; the newer one does. This may cause a conflict if the hard drive attached to the card does not supply term power. If the card DOES, everything is all right; if the card does NOT, then NOTHING in the chain is supplying term power, and it won't work. There are some hardware patches that have been posted to alter the cards that do NOT supply term power so that they DO. This does, however, require some knowledge of electronics and the ability to use a soldering gun, so don't try this trick unless you REALLY think you know what you are doing. Buying an Apple HS SCSI card NEW from a mail order company does not necessary guarantee that you will have the newer version of the card. If they (or Apple) have had a card sitting in the warehouse for a long time, it may be the older card. Sometimes it is not possible to tell which version it is until you plug it in and try it out. SCSI CARDS - RAMFAST The RamFAST SCSI card, formerly sold by CV """""""""""""""""""" Technologies and now by Sequential Systems, is more expensive than the Apple card. The Apple card may be found in some places for $99, and the RamFAST has sold for as little as $139. However, there are several major advantages of the RamFAST: 1) It works as quickly under ProDOS 8 as it does under GS/OS. That means that you do NOT take a speed hit if you prefer to work in the 8-bit world (as is the case with the Apple HS SCSI card). 2) The card has BUILT-IN utilities to partition and format a SCSI hard drive. That means that you CANNOT lose a configuration disk somewhere in the pile on your desk; the configuration programs are ON the card and available at any time by pressing the "0" key when you do a RESET. 3) Some of the RamFAST utilities include tape backup software, which will even work in the background. This means that you can start a tape backup, and then exit the utility program and do some work on a disk partition other than the one which is being backed up. (Actually, you CAN work on the one being backed up, but it is locked and you will not be able to save any files to it.) 4) Like the Turbo IDE card, the RamFAST has the ability to shuffle the partitions on a hard disk so a different one can be used as the boot partition if you wish. For example, if you have GS/OS version 6.0.1 on one partition, and version 5.0.4 on another partition, you can select which one you want to boot by pressing the appropriate number key upon RESET. This is not possible with the Apple card. 5) You can specify exactly WHERE a partition will appear in the ProDOS 8 disk mapping table (which Slot and Drive number) within the RamFAST configuration program. This was not possible with the Apple card until ProDOS 8 itself was changed to work with more than four devices on certain slots after version 1.9. 6) Finally, the RamFAST is STILL being actively supported and upgraded by Sequential Systems. It is highly unlikely that any further changes to the Apple II High Speed SCSI card will ever appear from Apple. At the time of this writing, Sequential has even made it possible to play musical CD disks in a CD-ROM drive attached to the RamFAST. Upgrades are available at a very reasonable price. SCSI CONNECTIONS "Term power" was mentioned earlier in this article. """""""""""""""" Part of what "term power" is powering are the "termination" resistors that must be present at both ends of a SCSI chain of devices. The resistors decrease the extra signals that can be induced and reflected on the chain due to the high frequencies used in data transfer. To work properly, these resistors need to be powered. This power can come from only ONE device on the chain, although the newer SCSI-2 protocol suggests that each device power its own terminator resistors (if being used). If the terminator absent at the end of a chain of devices, none of the drives attached may appear to be present; or, if termination resistors are active in the middle of the chain, nothing may appear PAST that point. This is not a hard and fast rule, however; sometimes things will work properly even though the termination has NOT been done properly. If it works under those circumstances, consider yourself lucky; but set it up properly as soon as possible to avoid an unexpected loss of data. In the cases of the various versions of RamFAST cards that have appeared (up through Rev D) and on CMS SCSI cards, the SCSI card itself has termination resistors on ITS end of the chain. That means that only the LAST device attached to the SCSI chain needs to have termination resistors installed. Other devices between the card and the end of the chain should have their termination resistors disconnected or turned off, as this MAY cause problems with proper function. In the case of Apple's Rev C SCSI card, termination is NOT supplied on the card, and so the FIRST device attached to the card must have termination resistors installed, in addition to those on the LAST device attached. Also, the cable running between the Apple card and the first device on the chain should be very short. SOURCES In case your appetite has been stimulated by this explanation """"""" (and if that is the case, you really need to get out more often), here are sources of some of the various disk drives and controller cards spoken of in this month's article: FOCUS HARD CARD: Parson's Engineering 5010 Rimhurst Ave Covina CA 91724 Phone: 818-966-5538 Fax: 818-966-5701 RAMFAST SCSI CARD (and the CT-40c and CT-100c drives for the IIc): Sequential Systems 1200 Diamond Circle Lafayette CO 80026 Sales: 800-759-4549 Service: 800-999-1717 Fax: 303-655-0933 TURBO IDE CARD (and the upcoming BlueDisk card) SHH Systeme Dipl. Ing. Joachim Lange Bergstrasse 95 82131 Stockdorf Germany Phone: 49 - 89 - 8577040 GEnie: J.LANGE7 Internet: behrenss@informatik.tu-muenchen.de Note that the Turbo IDE card sells for about DM235 (that's 235 Deutsche Marks). The price in U.S. dollars will vary, depending on the current exchange rate, but was $135 up until recently. They also charge DM38.00 (about $22.00) to ship a card to the U.S., and it includes an IDE cable, a utilities disk, an English manual, and a one year limited warranty on parts and labor. Free online support is available in Cat 13/Topic 22 in the A2 Roundtable. For more details, check out files #20961 TURBO.NEWS6.BXY, and #19646 TURBO.IDE.BXY in the A2 Library. ZIP DRIVE Zip Technologies 5601 Slauson Ave Suite 283 Culver City CA 90230 Phone: 310-568-2002 Fax: 310-568-2005 CRASH Enough's enough, so I'll stop for now. Next time I hope to delve """"" into getting that new hard drive initialized, partitioned, and loaded. See you in 30. [*][*][*] 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 compiles 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. [EOA] [TEC]////////////////////////////// TECH TALK / ///////////////////////////////// Apple II Hybrids """""""""""""""" by Jay Curtis [J.CURTIS8] >>> THE MACINTOSH LC/IIe HYBRID <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" John Dvorak, an editorial writer for MacUser, recently wrote, "Suppose the Mac had been based upon the Apple II, for example. Can you imagine how horrible and limited it would be?"(1) This kind of statement is not surprising, especially coming from Dvorak. Dvorak displays a remarkable ignorance of just how far both Apple II hardware and software have come in their development. Instead of checking out his facts, he uses the Mac crowd's narrow beliefs and tired cliches about the II's limitations to try to make a point about the growth of computer technology. In his editorial, Dvorak's real target is Windows running on Power Macintosh systems, but as he shoots at Windows he hits the Apple II and perpetuates Apple's own myth about its limitations. In fact, I can easily imagine a Mac based upon an Apple II because I already own such a machine. It's called a "IIgs," and the one that I own has several desktop capabilities under System 6.0.1 that I cannot find on the System 7-equipped Mac that I use at work. Even as a used machine, the 16-bit Apple IIgs, with its accelerated Apple IIe mode, 24 bit data bus, and 8 MB addressing still offers a reasonable upgrade path for any 8-bit Apple II user. Through Apple's development of GS/OS, the IIgs has acquired what is essentially a Macintosh user interface, a Mac-style operating system and, finally, both Macintosh and MS-DOS file system translators. Today's IIgs with System 6 will drive any of the latest peripheral devices including fax-modems, CD ROM drives and high resolution printers. I can easily imagine a server-class Apple II (built around Western Designs' 65832 microprocessor) possessing an SVGA display, 32 bit bus and unlimited addressing. In truth, whatever Apple II limitations exist, exist because of APPLE MARKETING DECISIONS, not because of any inherent limitations in the technology itself. When Apple introduced its Apple Macintosh line in 1984, it also introduced a dilemma for Apple II users. Simply put, the Macintosh was not designed to run Apple II software. Unlike the users of IBM PCs and compatibles, who could take their old software with them when they "upgraded" to a new x86-based platform, Apple II users had nowhere to go. Many sales of the Trackstar and PC Transporter cards (discussed earlier in this series) were almost certainly generated because of this dilemma. With no clear upgrade path, some Apple II users began migrating to PCs rather than Macs, and they maintained their cross-platform compatibility with the Apple II through the use of the PCT and Trackstar coprocessor boards. Apple has done a number of things to insure cross-platform compatibilities between the Apple II and the Mac. The company would love to convince their Apple II customers that all Apple products are essentially the same thing so that they can feel good about "upgrading" to a Macintosh. Nonetheless, even though both the II and Mac carry the same logo, they are different computers. As it gradually became obvious that Apple had no intention of developing the Apple II architecture any further (nor allow anyone else to develop the architecture), an Apple II/Mac "bridge machine" became the hope of many Apple II users. Apple II users, however, had to wait six years after the Mac's introduction before a bridge machine would finally appear as the Macintosh LC/IIe hybrid. Yet, for many Apple II users it was too little, too late. For example, IIe users had already forged their own upgrade paths by outfitting their computers with accelerator chips, additional RAM and other improved capabilities. A good bridge machine, they reasoned, should offer them at least as much capability in IIe mode as they already possessed with their enhanced Apple IIs. After all, when PC users upgraded to a higher x86 system, they were automatically guaranteed a faster microprocessor and better addressing to use with their existing software. Apple II users, on the other hand, were getting LESS than an off-the-shelf IIe with the IIe PDS (Processor Direct Slot) card. As far as IIgs users were concerned, no bridge machine even existed, because the LC's IIe PDS card couldn't run IIgs software, and many IIgs users ran GS applications and games exclusively. It was especially the superb sound and color graphics of IIgs games that GS users would miss if they bought an LC. In addition, the multiple expansion slots found in IIes and IIGSes had always been prized by Apple II lovers, and both Apple IIgs and Apple IIe users were disappointed by the fact that the LC had only one slot, which had to be used by the IIe card. The LC's lack of slots, together with the IIe card's 1 mhz processing speed were seen as significant limitations. Comparisons between the IIe card-equipped LC and the Apple IIgs were inevitable after the LC was first introduced in late 1990. Most of these comparisons found the two computers to be nearly equal in their capabilities. Price comparisons, using mostly Apple peripheral equipment and official retail pricing, found the LC to be cheaper in price than the IIgs.(2) Most IIgs users knew, however, that the street price of a comparably-equipped IIgs remained less than an LC with IIe card, at least at the time it was introduced. However, Apple continued to hold the prices of both its IIgs and IIe at the same level while gradually bringing down the price of its increasingly more powerful LCs. It was this marketing strategy which rankled with Apple II supporters and eventually enabled Apple to discontinue both the IIgs and IIe by citing decreased demand for these systems. Despite the LC's perceived shortcomings at its introduction, Apple's LC line and its IIe PDS card have gone on to enjoy remarkable sales. The LC, including its various Quadra and Performa incarnations, has been Apple's best selling computer, helped especially by competitive pricing and replacement sales to schools. The LC's IIe PDS card remains the only Apple II still in production. At one time, Apple was reported to be sending out 75 percent of its LCs equipped with the IIe card.(3) Sales of the IIe card, especially to schools, remain strong in many places up into the present time. Additionally, anyone who has taken the time to read GEnie's Macintosh LC categories will find that the topic of IIe card compatibility remains very important to Mac users who are contemplating upgrading to the latest, 68040-based, LC-style machines. Many of the sales of AppleWorks 4 have almost certainly gone to users of LCs with IIe PDS cards. It has been rumored on GEnie's A2 roundtable that some Apple officials, surprised by the strength of their LC-line and IIe PDS card, have lamented privately that they did not continue development of the Apple II line further. Hindsight, as they say, is always 20/20, but it seems very doubtful that Apple will now reverse their policy toward the development of Apple II hardware. Although it leaves much to be desired in Apple II mode, the LC/IIe hybrid has a number of features worth exploring. As indicated in last month's article, the LC itself now comes in several versions which include the Quadra 605, Performa 475, LC 475, Performa 460 and LC-III. All of these machines possess essentially the same motherboard with IIe PDS capability. The LC-III and the Performa 460 series computers are fast 68030-based Macs, while the Performa 475, LC 475 and Quadra 605 are VERY fast 68LC040-based Macs. As reported last month, these 68040-based LC-style Macs run at 22 MIPS, about three times as fast as the 68030-based LCs. Unfortunately, while all of these machines run Apple II software with the Apple IIe PDS card, they continue to run the software at 1 mhz, and they benefit only from slight improvement in the video display speed. It is expected that, as sales of the Power Macintosh line increase, prices on these very fast, LC-style machines will continue to come down as they become Apple's low-end computers. It has been announced that a future Power Macintosh upgrade will become available for the Quadra 605s and LC/Performa 475s. At present, Apple is providing Power Macintosh upgrades for other Macintoshes but not for these LC-style machines. Power Macintosh upgrades for LCs are a virtual certainty, however, given the sheer number of LC-style machines in existence and the potential dollars that can be made by anyone who provides the "Power" hardware at a reasonable cost. The current official price of Apple's Power PDS card is $699. PowerMac upgrades will be provided in the form of complete motherboard swapouts from Apple or as PDS coprocessor cards from both Apple and DayStar corporation. The capabilities of this new hardware will vary somewhat with the type of board and the type of Mac it is installed in, but all upgrades guarantee remarkable speed improvements in Mac emulation as well as the capability to run multiple operating systems in other emulations. Apple II users must wait to see if the Apple II can play a software emulation role in the new technology. While Apple II emulation software is reportedly being investigated for the PowerMac and PowerPC systems, it has not been promised by anyone. Nonetheless, Apple II users have gotten used to waiting on new technology, and somehow it has always become available. Despite the limitations of the LC/IIe hybrid and the perception by people like John Dvorak that the Apple II is "limited," a IIe card-equipped, LC-style Mac may well represent one of the best new computer choices for an Apple II user who plans to maintain their IIe capability while expanding their software base on a new platform. It is the tremendous power of the LC 475s, their IIe compatibility, their low cost, and the promise that these Macs will soon become PowerMac compatible that make them such a good buy. Therefore, next month we will examine how well the LC/IIe hybrid works as an Apple II. Until then, think hybrid! NOTES """"" (1) Dvorak, John C. "You'll Do Windows". MacUser. May 1994, p. 230. (2) Statt, Paul. "Meet The Mac LC". InCider/A+. Dec. 1990, p. 44. (3) Statt, Paul. "Soul of a New Machine". InCider/A+. Jan. 1993, p. 30. [EOA] [ASA]////////////////////////////// ASCII ART GALLERY / ///////////////////////////////// Swallowtail Butterfly """"""""""""""""""""" by Susie Oviatt [SUSIE] ,,,,. .,,,, ;';';';%;,. .,;%;';';'; `",;%';%;' ;%,. .,%; `;%;`%;,"' `;",%',; ,%%;'', ,``;%%, ;,`%,";' `;",;%' ;%; .;%;,. .,;%;. ;%; `%;,";' `;",;%',; ,';;;',;, ,;,`;;;`,; ,`%;,";' `;",%';';;;,' .;%%;, ,, ,, ,;%%;. `,;;;`;`%,";' `;",%' ,%;' ;;%%%;;', ` ', ,' ' ,`;;%%%;; `;%, `%,";' `;",%'',;,;,';%;',;%;, )( ,;%;,`;%;`,;,;,``%,";' `;",%'',,;%,';',;%; ;%, %% ,%; ;%;, ;`,%;,,``%,";' `;",%'',;%%;',;%; ;%;',%%,`;%; ;%;, ;%%;,``%,";' `;",%'',%;; ;%',;%'%;,%%,;%`%;,`%; ;;%,``%,";' `;",;%',;; ;;;%';%;;,%%,;;%;`%;;; ;;,`%;,";' `;",;%';; ;;'%'%;;%,%%,%;;%`%`;; ;,`%;,";' `";;%';,`;'%;%';;`%%';;`%;%`;'.;`%;;"' .,,,`;%,;,`;,'%;'; %% ;`;%`,;',;,%;',,,. ,'%;`,%;;';%;`;%,'%; %% ;%`,%;';%;`;;%,';%', ,";`,%;;',%;'%; %;,'; `' ;`,;% ;%`;%,';;%,';", ,";`;%;',%;;';%%; %;,' `,;% ;%%;`;;%,`;%;';", ,";`;%;',%%;';%%;;; %;; ;;% ;;;%%;`;%%,`;%;';", ;";,;%',%%';';%%;;'; %; ;% ;`;;%%;`;`%;,`%;,;"; ;";.;',%;'%;';%%;';;;.; ;.;;;`;%%;`;%`;%,`;.;"; `;",;',%'%%;;';%';' `;' `;' `;`%;`;;%%,`,`;,";' `;",,;;%%%;;';%;, ,;%;`;;%%%;;,,";' ``;";;%%%;;';%; ;%;`;;%%%;;";' ``;,;`' `' `' `';,;'' ;,; ;,; ;,; ;,; ;',; ;,`; `'' `'' [EOA] [HAR]////////////////////////////// HARDVIEW A2 / ///////////////////////////////// BlueDisk and MTOOLS """"""""""""""""""" by Udo Huth [U.HUTH] >>> BLUEDISK CONTROLLER (Lange) AND MS-DOS UTILITIES (Watson) <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" New developments of hard- and software for the Apple IIgs do not take place in the United States alone. One firm developing new products is found in Germany. Joachim Lange (///SHH Systeme, Bergstr. 95, D - 82131 Stockdorf, Phone: ++49 89/8 57 70 40, GEnie: J.LANGE7) scored a big hit when releasing the BlueDisk controller for the Apple IIgs (and the enhanced Apple //e). This controller will accept two MS-DOS drives of any size. (These are drives which use the MFM format for data recording, whereas the "normal" Apple drives use the GCR format for data recording -- the Apple SuperDrive is capable of both MFM and GCR formats.) The formats currently supported are 5.25" disks with 360K, 720K, and 1.2MB, as well as 3.5" disks with 720K, 800K, 1.44MB, 1.6MB, and 2.88MB. Disks can be formatted from Finder with the capacities mentioned for ProDOS and HFS. (Yes, you can format 800K and 1.6MB MFM disks for ProDOS and HFS!) A BlueDisk controller with a double-drive is far cheaper than an Apple Superdrive with controller, and it's even cheaper than a SCSI Floptical drive. As I write this, the BlueDisk controller is still available as introductory offer for DM200 plus shipping and handling. The introductory offer is valid as long as the GS/OS driver and the firmware are in "official beta stadium". Extensive tests by beta testers in the US and my own findings have shown, however, that everything works and is stable. I don't know whether the introductory offer will still be valid by the time GEnieLamp A2 reaches you. With System 6.0.1 and a BlueDisk controller, you're able to read disks in ProDOS, HFS, and MS-DOS format in the above mentioned sizes directly from Finder. You can write disks in the above mentioned sizes in HFS, ProDOS, and MS-DOS. Just a moment -- write MS-DOS? Yes, you can write MS-DOS disks with a BlueDisk controller, although not from Finder. You have to use the MS-DOS Utilities by Peter Watson; but more on that later on. The BlueDisk controller comes with a GS/OS driver and a testing program. The driver provides a bit more functionality than the built-in firmware. The test program lets you test the drives connected to the BlueDisk controller. The driver operates in two modes; one mode polls the drives continuously, which generates some noise (owners of a PC Transporter will know what I'm talking about; this was the reason to develop some patches, which "hide" the TransDrives from GS/OS); the other mode does not poll the drives continuously, which will keep GS/OS from recognizing disk changes automatically. In this second mode you have to press the Control key to tell the BlueDisk controller to check the drives. You may toggle the modes with the key combination Shift-Control. When the driver is deactivated, you'll see a 5.25" disk icon on the desktop for every drive connected to the BlueDisk controller (just like for the normal Apple 5.25" drives). After inserting a disk, you have to double-click on the drive icon, to show the disk icon for opening it (just like you have to do with Apple 5.25" drives). Without the active BlueDisk driver not all of the above mentioned disk sizes are available, because they are not (yet) implemented in the firmware. The circuit board itself is very well done. You use a DIP switch to configure the slot you want to install the BlueDisk controller in. A set of three jumpers is used to tell the BlueDisk controller how many (one or two) and what kind of drives (5.25" or 3.5") you have connected to it. Two soldered jumper wires configure two signals for 2.88MB drives. After installing the controller and connecting the drives (when you buy everything from ///SHH Systeme, a cable for that is provided), I started the first tests. I took a pack of preformatted MS-DOS disks I happened to have available -- the disks were recognized by Finder just fine as MS-DOS disks. I reformatted one into a HFS disk and copied a file onto it -- and was disappointed -- it took forever and forever and forever... but more on this in a moment. It was definitely NOT the fault of the BlueDisk controller and driver. I performed the following tests (all tests were conducted with a stock IIgs running at 2.8 MHz): Writing and reading of a 490K file to the different disk sizes and formats with and without the BlueDisk driver. Write with driver/without driver: ProDOS 360K 34 sec. (345K only) ProDOS 720K 56 sec. 55 sec. (3.5") ProDOS 720K 46 sec. n.a. (5.25") ProDOS 800K 48 sec. ProDOS 1.4MB 27 sec. 30 sec. ProDOS 1.6MB 25 sec. 102 sec. ProDOS 1.2MB 28 sec. 30 sec. HFS 360K 36 sec. (345K only) HFS 720K 59 sec. 59 sec. (3.5") HFS 720K 48 sec. n.a. (5.25") HFS 800K 54 sec. HFS 1.4MB 34 sec. 180 sec. (!) HFS 1.6MB 33 sec. 198 sec. (!) HFS 1.2 MB 33 sec. 156 sec. (!) MS-DOS 720K 146 sec. 146 sec. (3.5") MS-DOS 720K 120 sec. --- (5.25") MS-DOS 1.4MB 217 sec. 217 sec. MS-DOS 1.2 MB 185 sec. 185 sec. onto an Apple 3.5" drive ProDOS 800K 35 sec. HFS 800K 142 sec. (!) reading with driver ProDOS 360K 32 sec. (345K only) ProDOS 720K 50 sec. (3.5") ProDOS 720K 41 sec. (5.25") ProDOS 800K 45 sec. ProDOS 1.4MB 25 sec. ProDOS 1.2MB 26 sec. ProDOS 1.6MB 23 sec. HFS 360K 29 sec. (345K only) HFS 720K 50 sec. (3.5") HFS 720K 41 sec. (5.25") HFS 800K 44 sec. HFS 1.4MB 24 sec. HFS 1.2MB 25 sec. HFS 1.6MB 22 sec. (in Finder with the MS-DOS FST) MS-DOS 1.4MB 26 sec. MS-DOS 1.2MB 26 sec. MS-DOS 720K 53 sec. (3.5") MS-DOS 720K 45 sec. (5.25") from an Apple 3.5" drive ProDOS 800K 17 sec. HFS 800K 17 sec. While doing those tests I made an interesting discovery; it took 245 seconds to write a file onto a HFS disk in one instance (see above "it lasted forever..."). MS-DOS disks are usually preformatted at 1:1 interleave; when the writing took so long, I had just reformatted the disks for HFS, leaving the interleave intact. When I initialized the disks from Finder, using the 2:1 interleave, things became a lot faster. All the above tests were done on 2:1 interleave disks (even the MS-DOS timings, but the MS-DOS utilities write to the disks direct, not using the BlueDisk driver efficiently). The differences you encounter when using the different interleave factors are dramatic: 1:1 interleave 228 sec. 2:1 interleave 45 sec. (!) The 5.25" 360K, 720K, and 1.2MB disks are formatted with 52:1 interleave according to Finder!? I recommend you format disks always from Finder with 2:1 interleave for use with ProDOS or HFS. MS-DOS disks can be formatted with different interleaves from within the Watson MS-DOS utilities. They are recognized by the MS-DOS FST just fine. (BTW, tests of the beta-testers and Joachim Lange found that the HFS FST is programmed for slowness deliberately! It uses SINGLE block read and write calls and writes blocks in the wrong order. That is, blocks 200-300 are written in the order 300, 299, 298, 297, I, and it uses a single GS/OS call for each block. I think you can imagine that to be slow, can't you?) GS/OS recognizes the drives connected to a BlueDisk controller as Superdrives, by the way. The MS-DOS FST recognizes a MS-DOS disk as such with the following steps: 1. Read block 0 (the boot block) 2. Byte $0000 has to be $E9 or $EB (8088 code long resp. short jump) 3. Byte $1FE has to be $55 (ID byte) 4. Byte $1FF has to be $AA (ID byte) 5. Bytes $00B - $00D have to be $200 (512 bytes per block/sector) Well, there's but one glitch in this whole picture -- when Kangaroo is used to change folders or disks, the drives connected to the BlueDisk controller are accessed about 20 times (when there are no disks in the drives), til Kangaroo displays its menu. Even when loading just a file from HD, the drives are accessed once prior to loading the file. When there are no entries in Kangaroo's file and folder submenus, this behavior doesn't occur. When there are disks in the BlueDisk drives, Kangaroo looks only about three times, before displaying its menu. When Kangaroo isn't activated, GS/OS just looks once at the drives and that's it. The testing program for the drives has the following menu: IRQ: 0 Rst:0 Dr2: yes n/a: 1 Typ2: 5.25" Typ1: 3.5" ME2: on/off ME1: on/off 1: Drive 1 Motor: OFF/ON 2: Drive 2 Motor: OFF/ON O: Select Drive 1 T: Select Drive 2 D: Disable Drive Selection 0: Recalibrate Selected Drive 9: Seek Track #79 of Selected Drive +: Step to Next Cylinder (inwards) -: Step back (move outwards) R: Try to Read From Disk Q: Quit To test a drive, you select a drive and switch its motor on. Then you can issue the commands (0,9,+,-) to the drive. The program will respondwith a message. When this is a positive message, the drive is functioning properly. BlueDisk: o has been tested with Archiver's backup function; there have been no problems with either of BlueDisk's formats and sizes. o works just fine with HardPressed o works in Slot 5, when its set to "Your Card" o works with PC Transporter (there are the same problems you encounter when using a Floptical with the PC Transporter) Things which don't work (but neither the fault of the BlueDisk controller nor the driver): o ProSel 16 does no backups to drives, which aren't connected to Slot 5 o Salvation Bakkup does not recognize non-Apple drives o ProSel 8 Cat Doctor does not format correctly [*][*][*] A software package that BlueDisk users will find useful comes from Peter Watson of Australia. Watson's MS-DOS Utilities contain the following commands: MDir reads the directory of a MS-DOS (MFM) disk MType types the contents of a file to screen MCopy copies files from MS-DOS to GS/OS GMCopy copies files from GS/OS to MS-DOS MRename changes MS-DOS file names MDel deletes files from MS-DOS disks MLabel creates a disk name for MS-DOS disks MAttrib changes file attributes for MS-DOS files MFormat formats disk for MS-DOS MDiskCopy copies whole disks findMFM tries to recognize all connected MFM capable drives Online shows all volumes online with their drive numbers MMD creates a directory/folder MRD deletes a directory/folder MFDisk shows partition info (on a HD) MPatch patches the parameters of some commands The commands need a shell to be usable. A shell called COMMAND.COM comes with the program, but you may use the ORCA/Shell, ProSel-16, or GNO/ME. The aforementioned MS-DOS commands are small programs, which are loaded from disk when requested. In addition to them there are a few built-in commands contained in COMMAND.COM: Prefix selects the standard prefix Cat shows a directory/folder Type shows the contents of a file on screen Ver shows the version number Help displays the help texts Quit quits COMMAND.COM As you may see, the necessary functions for writing to and modifying MS-DOS disks are there. After starting COMMAND.COM, the ">" prompt welcomes you and the program is waiting for you to enter something; it's solely text based. A valid entry might be "MFormat .d7 /Q"; this erases the disk in device 7, creates a MS-DOS root directory, and creates the FAT (File Allocation Table -- what the VTOC [Volume Tables of Contents] is for ProDOS, the FAT is for MS-DOS.) To copy a file from a ProDOS disk onto an MS-DOS disk, you have to issue the command "GMCopy .d7 :Hard2:Read.Me ReadMe.TXT"; this instructs Command.Com to copy the file Read.Me from /Hard2 onto the MS-DOS disk in device 7 and change the name of the file to ReadMe.TXT. Well, there isn't much more to say about the MS-DOS Utilities. They function as advertised and do their job; however, you're dealing with MS-DOS, so you might have to try a few times sometimes to get the syntax of a command right. Entering a command which needs parameters to operate without those parameters will cause COMMAND.COM to display that command with some samples on how to use the parameters. With "Help name" you'll get an explanation of the command "name". Peter Watson asks US$15 or AUS$20 for his Utilities. This is money well spent; you'll get a big bang for the buck. For $5 more you'll receive the latest version of the Utilities. All in all, still more possibilities and functionality for our "good ole" Apple IIgs! Udo Huth Apple IIgs SIG of the AUGE e.V. Leipziger Str. 16 a D -- 38329 Wittmar Phone: ++49 53 37/4 40 u.huth@GEnie.geis.com (InterNet) U.HUTH (GEnie) //////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / / / Programming Law #30: Users ALWAYS find something to / / complain about. :) / / / /////////////////////////////////////////// POWERPC.PRO //// [EOA] [DRT]////////////////////////////// DR'S EXAMINING TABLE / ///////////////////////////////// Golden Oldie Review: VCR Companion """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" by Jim Wellman copyright (c) 1989 >>> GUEST REVIEW <<< """""""""""""""""""" DR wasn't able to be with us this month, so instead we present a guest review from Jim Wellman, who was co-sysop of APPLESIG on the SOURCE(tm) at the time this review was written. While VCR Companion was a recent product when this review first appeared, you'll find it cropping up in sales of second-hand software quite frequently, and can still find it at some mail-order houses. [*][*][*] MACHINE ][e, ][c, ][c+ ][gs with 128k memory, one disk drive, monochrome ''''''' or color monitor (television). OPTIONAL Mouse/joystick, second disk drive, VCR, VCR Companion Film '''''''' Library. PUBLISHER Broderbund Software Inc. ''''''''' The VCR Companion is a unique approach to titling your home movies! I have been a "weekend" freelance photographer doing weddings and other events since 1985 and have always wanted to do movies. Well, I purchased a camcorder not long ago and started doing home video movies. You know the type: Birthdays, parties, picnics, and other events as requested. I even started taping the weekly church service. The problem I encountered was to give proper credit to those that were participating. That is where VCR Companion entered the picture. I saw this program on the shelf and just had to try it out. VCR Companion comes with the following standard features: o 12 Fonts (scripts); o 12 Boarders; o 12 Background Pictures; o 12 Background Patterns; o 12 Animations; and o 12 Background Icons. Also, you can install VCR Companion to your hard drive for easier and faster use! However, I was not successful in installing it to my 20 meg drive as it is partitioned only for ProDOS applications. As a bonus VCR Companion included: o 12 Additional Animations; o 12 Icons; and o 3 "ready made" scripts for you to examine. I found the easiest way to use this program is to just start! I had taped an office party and needed to put titles on the tape. I did the titles in about 30 minutes and placed them on the tape without problems. I took the finished tape to the boss and asked him to play it back... success! All the people in the party were just raving about it... especially the titles! A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to shoot my first video wedding. I warned the bride and groom ahead of time but they still wanted the movie of their special day. I prepared myself with four blank tapes: One for the wedding, one for the reception and the one for candid shots of that day and the last tape for the final product. I took about one hour to prepare the titles and music. I then placed the titles on the new tape followed by the wedding, reception, and candid shots! Each section had the titles announcing the section. I delivered the tape to the newly weds and watch them watch their wedding. They saw the titles start with a "cover" and an animation of the bride & groom kissing! That scene faded to listing the grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters. Well, you should be getting the picture by now... the movie was a success: They were happy and so was I! Follow the easy to read instructions to put your finished titles on tape. VCR Companion even gives you a diagram to follow so you can connect your computer to the VCR. VCR Companion allows you to import your own animations created by Dazzle Draw, Fantavision, or Animate. You must observe the size constraints placed from VCR Companion when converting from these programs to the VCR Companion. Some other uses of VCR Companion could be slide titles, "welcome to the business" tour, computer advertising, and many other ideas! I created a self run advertisement for my business that presents information, advertisement, and other items as a slide show. The uses of VCR Companion are really endless: Just let your imagination go and you will really enjoy VCR Companion. So even if you don't own a camcorder or a VCR you will find that the VCR Companion is a welcomed addition to your library... I certainly did! [*][*][*] This review, along with ten others, may be found in PublishIt! 2 format in file #9991, REVIEWS.BXY, in the A2 library. This review and the others in this file may be reproduced as long as credit is given to the author, Jim Wellman. [EOA] [HUN]////////////////////////////// THE TREASURE HUNT / ///////////////////////////////// Yours For the Downloading """"""""""""""""""""""""" by Charlie Hartley [C.HARTLEY3] Welcome back to the Treasure Hunt! This month we will take a look at a variety of files including some GS/OS stuff and some interesting text files. We will conclude with one of my personal favorites. First we will focus on HyperCard IIgs and related files available in the A2 Library. This terrific program has been available online since early February for the price of $3 an hour downloading. No doubt many of you have already taken advantage of this addition to the library. For the rest of you, here a brief description of what you need to do to get started with HyperCard IIgs. Here is a list of the HyperCard IIgs Program Files: File# Title Brief Description 22194 INST.TOUR.BXY HCGS Installer/Tour disk 22195 HCGS.BXY HCGS Program Disk 22196 STACKS1.BXY HyperCard IIgs stacks disk #1 22197 STACKS2.BXY HyperCard IIgs stacks disk #2 22198 HCGS.HELP.BXY HyperCard IIgs help disk 22199 HTALKHELP.BXY HCGS HyperTalk help disk Each of the files is a 3.5" disk image. All of the six files are required to install HyperCard IIgs from floppy disks. HyperCard IIgs _requires_ 1.5 megabytes of RAM and a single disk volume greater than 3 megabytes. System 5.0.4 or later is also required. Unpacking a disk image can be a bit of a hassle if you are not careful. I suggest that you download the files to a folder on your hard drive and then unpack them to a blank diskette using ShrinkIt GS. Also, be prepared for a long download. I suggest doing it between midnight and 6 AM, when the online traffic is lightest. Once you have downloading the six files and unpacked them to diskettes, select the Installer program from the Tour disk and follow the directions to install HyperCard on your hard drive. Now let's take a look at several neat HyperCard stacks available in the A2 Library. [*][*][*] QUICK.TUTOR.BXY File #15466 (HyperCard Stack) ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' According to A2.TYLER, who uploaded this HyperCard stack, "this is a stack created by Sebastian Foti, an instructional computing instructor at the University of Florida's College of Education. The stack gives an overview of how to use the different tools within HyperCard to write one's own stacks. There are some interesting ideas included for the use of buttons that will cause the tongues of the creators of HyperCard GS to drag on the floor and their eyes to bulge out of their heads." Foti, who calls his stack "Quick 'n Easy HyperCard Tutorial," describes it this way: "This stack was created as an introduction to the basic elements of HyperCard GS. It is designed to offer the user a chance to play with HyperCard without worrying about making a mess of the stack. The changes made to the stack will not be permanent." He begins with a brief definition of what HyperCard is. Then he explains in some detail what the various elements (buttons, fields, pictures) of a card are with ample examples of each. Foti gives you the opportunity to play with these things to your heart's content _without destroying the stack_. This is a fairly long download (182272 bytes), but in the opinion of this novice HyperCard user, well worth it. Now if someone will just tell me how Foti did the "slippery button".... [*][*][*] HCFONTVIEW.BXY File #16991 (HyperCard Stack) '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' According to Alvin Yee, the author of this stack, "Font Viewer is a stack that will let you select all Font Attributes such as Font Family, Size, Style & Color and alter them via HyperCard Buttons. It will then show you an example (more than 1 line and in color) of your choices. Also present are options for field styling and changing the background color. As a bonus, a HyperCard Screen Saver is included. The Screen Saver paints random triangle outlines in random colors on a black background." This freeware stack displays all its directions on screen as the text that serves as an example of the font choices that you make. At first glance, the scope and variety of buttons on the screen may be a bit overwhelming to the novice user. If you read the onscreen directions carefully, it soon becomes clear what you can do with this stack. You may also get a print-out of the directions by first clicking on the sample field (where the text is). This brings up a dialog box that gives you the option of printing the sample text using the current font attributes. Font attributes include style (plain, bold, italic, underline, shadow), size, height (use this to alter the default height set by size), alignment (left or right justified, or centered) and color. Once you have the font just the way you want it, you may install the font attributes onto a field in another stack. You may also save up to three different settings for the font. Aside from its uses with HyperCard, this stack will also let you see what each of the fonts in your font folder look like. As a bonus, you can select a full character set table using the font, style and size of the font that you have in the sample window. Then you can print it out. This file contains 68480 bytes, which is a relatively short download, particularly for the value you get. [*][*][*] VISUAL.FX.BXY File #14763 (HyperCard Stack) ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' This is a freeware HyperCard stack by Hangtime and Chet Day. According to Hangtime, it "demonstrates all the different visual effects available through HyperTalk. It allows the user to try all the effects at any speed (very fast, fast, slowly, very slowly), and even add an image to go to rather than a card image (all 16 colors, plus inverse) via a PopUp menu! It's VERY easy to use, and it's VERY, VERY small (only about 13k!). This stack is _not_ locked in any way, so use it, look through it, figure out how it works, but most of all have fun!" This is another stack that gives you an opportunity to experiment with HyperCard without worrying about messing up. HyperCard has a variety of visual effects that can be used to move from one card to another. These include zoom (open, close, in, out), wipe (up, down, left, right), scroll (up, down, left, right), iris (open, close), barn door (open, close), checkerboard, dissolve, fade, and of course plain. If you are a novice, as I am, and particularly if you have little experience with visual transitions, this is an excellent stack to learn from. Besides, as Hangtime says, you can take it apart to see what makes it tick. In my experience as a programmer, I have frequently learned much from working my way through someone else's code. [*][*][*] NOWORRIES13.BXY File #22323 (HyperCard Stack) ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' This final HyperCard stack for this month's column was just recently uploaded to the library. The stack was created by Brendan Bellina. He describes it this way: "No Worries v1.3.0 is a HyperCard GS stack that allows the launching of GS/OS, ProDOS, Applesoft BASIC programs, as well as opening other stacks, New Desk Accessories, and Documents, all within an environment that is very similar in appearance to the Macintosh At Ease software. Includes security to protect against unauthorized addition/deletion of applications buttons. Earlier versions published in Script-Central. This is the first freeware release." If you need security to prevent others from messing with the computer settings (school children messing with the control panels for example), this stack provides a straight forward way to do that. It uses a single system password that restricts the user to running the programs that are already set up in the stack, unless he has the password. At the same time it gives you a point and click format for choosing programs to run. Setting up the stack for these programs is easy. For example, if you want to run HyperStudio from this stack, pull down the "No Worries" menu and select "set up mode." Then pull it down again and select "Link to GS/OS Application." From there you will select the location of the HyperStudio file from the standard dialogue menu. Once you have it located, an icon will appear on the screen. Drag the icon to where you want it. It will now appear complete with the name of the program. Clicking on it will take you to HyperStudio. Quitting HyperStudio will return you to this stack. It is also possible to link to ProDOS applications (system files), to BASIC programs (requires BASIC.SYSTEM), other stacks, documents (linked to GS/OS applications), and various menu commands. If you need security, and/or if you really like the look and feel of "At Ease," then this stack will be a good download for you. If, like me, you don't need security, then you probably don't want it. If you decide to download this stack, be sure to become familiar with it before you apply the password protection. Also, be sure to read all the good information provided in the help screens. To get to them, select "help" from the "No Worries" menu. By the way, Brendan was the professor at a recent A2 University course on HyperCard GS over in the A2Pro Roundtable. To learn more about the course, visit their library and search on "HyperCard." That concludes the HyperCard stuff. Now let's look at some interesting text files. [*][*][*] NIGHT.XMAS.TX File # 4496 (Humorous Text File) ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' I like this one! As stated in the file description, "If you fed 'The Night Before Xmas' into a computer, and then asked the computer to explain the story, it would look something like this." This is a short download (6300 bytes) and well worth it. Here is a short excerpt... "T'was the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual yuletide celebration, and throughout our place of residence, kinetic activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including that species of domestic rodent known as Mus Musculus." [*][*][*] CORP.DEFS.TXT File # 4501 (Humorous Text File) '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' If you work in corporate America, or even if you don't, I think you'll like this file. This is a humorous text file containing some silly definitions for corporate terms and phrases. Here are two examples ... Clarification: Filling in the background with so many details that the foreground goes underground Committee: A group of the uninformed appointed by the unwilling, to do the unnecessary At only 3780 bytes, this download will only cost you pennies, and I guarantee that you will get at least that must satisfaction from it. [*][*][*] MATH.DEFS File # 4502 (Humorous Text File) '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Math students, math teachers, and anyone who ever struggled through a math class, will enjoy this tiny little text file created by Rainer Kock. In it he says, "Any student who ever sat or slept through a mathematics course knows that certain words and phrases occur very frequently. This glossary might eliminate some confusion." You'll smile reading it. Sorry, no quotes this time. At 2520 bytes, you will have it before you know it. [*][*][*] DISCLAMER.TXT File # 4559 (Humorous Text File) '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' It seems that everything you buy comes with some kind of disclaimer. They all seem to be saying "If it ain't right, it ain't my fault!" Well, whoever put this file together must have tried to incorporate all of them into one funny disclaimer that disclaims everything! If you haven't seen this one before, it just might be worth the 5040 byte download. [*][*][*] MUSIC.MIDI.APPLE.BNY File #4897 (Informative Text File) ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' This is an article written by Leah R. H. Weisman and Tyler D. Weisman (A2.TYLER) describing the development of music hardware and software on the Apple II line of computers. It includes a description of what MIDI is all about. While the article was written in 1988, it still makes interesting reading today, especially for the beginner. Besides, who knows, if enough of you download the file, Tyler might decide to bring it up to date. (Hint, hint!) At 8820 bytes, this is well worth the download. [*][*][*] SPELL.MACH.BXY File #18068 (Applesoft Program) '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' The Spelling Machine is an individualized spelling lessons program designed specifically for seventh graders. While it was designed for use at school, it is perfectly suitable for parents who want to help their children improve their spelling. The freeware program begins with a diagnostic test to determine a list of words that the child does not already know how to spell. Once it has collected a sufficient number of words, the program presents the child with a list of 10 words to learn. It also prepares a worksheet to be printed out that includes definitions and sample sentences using the words. Once the child has completed the worksheet and studied the words, he goes back to the program to take a test. The test is presented in a multiple choice format with several possible spellings to choose from. The program presents the words in random order and presents each word twice for correct spelling. If the child gets it right both times, it is put in his completed list. Next, a new set of words, including those missed on the previous test, is presented complete with a new worksheet. When new words are needed, the child takes another diagnostic test. There is a whole year's worth of lesson words available with this download. It is a large download (124416 bytes), but well worth it for someone who has a real need for it. This program runs on anything from an unenhanced IIe on up. Oh, by the way, the programmer is a pretty neat fellow too. [*][*][*] Well, that concludes this month's column. I would appreciate any comments that you might have concerning the first two columns, and about anything you might like to see in future columns. Until then, happy downloading! Charlie [EOA] [ANC]////////////////////////////// APPLE ANECDOTES / ///////////////////////////////// True Stories """""""""""" by Bruce Maples [B.MAPLES] >>> ON GETTING MY FIRST GS <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "Where have you been?" my wife asked. "Picking up the GS," I replied. "You know, the one I traded for... with that new client." "That's all we need around here -- another computer!" she exclaimed. I could tell, though, that she was intrigued. Hadn't she heard me talk about getting one for years? "Are you going to give it to me to use for my papers?" she asked, knowing the answer. "I could put it in the bedroom." "No, it's going right on my desk, next to the 486." "Well, don't make a big mess, Mr. GS-Man!" But she smiled as she said it. I had traded for the GS with a new client that was getting rid of it. Consulting time in return for computer. It was a ROM 3 with a 3.5" and a 5.25" drives, a straight stock machine with no hard drive and 1.25 meg memory that had cost the client thousands of dollars when bought. I knew it was going to need some additions -- a hard drive, more memory, a Zip chip, more software -- but that would come later. For now, it was enough to finally have an actual GS in the house. Quickly, I cleared out a spot in the computer area. The GS wound up next to the IIe that had served me so well all those years, and right down from the 486/33. "Got to get a SuperDrive or a BlueDisk," I thought to myself. "Or maybe that Coactive thing will come through. Well, like Margaret Hamilton once said, 'All in good time, dearie, all in good time.' Let's get this thing fired up." Quickly I discovered that there were no system disks anywhere with the machine. Bummer! Having a good Apple II friend in Dan Crutcher, I called him up and explained my plight. "So you finally got a real computer, eh? Well, I hate to see a computer go to waste, _especially_ a GS. I've got an old 30-meg drive you can borrow for a while. Come get it." I was in business! "Welcome to the IIgs! System 6.0.1." What a welcome sight! After wanting a GS for years, I finally had one in the house. And I must say, the last two weeks have been interesting, to say the least. I'm a computer professional. I spend my days _working_ with computers, of all shapes and sizes, from 8088s to Pentiums, with even a few Macs thrown in here and there. This GS, as it is right now, is in many ways outclassed by those other machines. They are faster, bigger, have much better displays, and more useful software in many areas. But even acknowledging all that, there's one thing the GS has all over those other machines: It's more FUN! That's right, I get a _kick_ out of using this machine! I love dragging files to the Bill the Cat trashcan and having him go "Ack! Phhllt!" I enjoy the "whoosh" when I open windows, and the "hsoohw" when I close them. I appreciate the filing system, and the simplicity of use, and the little nice features here and there. I hope to get a memory card soon, and a Zip chip also. Dan's going to need this drive back also, so I've got to dig up a hard drive as well. But for now, I'm grabbing a few files from GEnie every so often, and writing some things, and just generally enjoying my new machine. It's good to have a GS in the house. May it live long, and prosper. [EOA] [AII]////////////////////////////// APPLE II / ///////////////////////////////// Apple II History, Part 20/21c """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" by Steven Weyhrich [S.WEYHRICH] >>> APPLE II HISTORY <<< """""""""""""""""""""""" Compiled and written by Steven Weyhrich (C) Copyright 1994, Zonker Software (PART 20/21c -- MAGAZINES, CONT) [v1.2 :: 10 Feb 94] INTRODUCTION We conclude this month our look at the magazines that have """""""""""" helped us in the past, and in some cases continue to help us today to use our Apple II computers. This will include GS+, Softdisk, Softdisk G-S, II Alive, Shareware Solutions II, and some foreign Apple II magazines. GS+ (1989-Present) In the late 1970s, Steven Disbrow entered the world """""""""""""""""" of microcomputers with his purchase of a TRS-80 Model I, complete with cassette storage and 4K of memory. To learn more about his computer and what it could do, he picked up a newsstand magazine called "80-Micro" (published by Wayne Green, who had also started Byte and inCider magazines). He enjoyed the humor that the editors of that publication included, and the fun they showed one could have with a computer. Active also in the local TRS user's group, he originally disdained Apple IIs and those who used them. However, in 1984 he found that he needed the ability to communicate with a mainframe computer in order to do some schoolwork. After looking into the cost of upgrading his TRS-80 to be able to do this, he found that it would actually cost him LESS to buy the newly released Apple IIc with a 300 baud modem (and at that time, a new IIc went for about $1300), so he crossed enemy lines and entered the Apple camp. As he got more familiar with his IIc, his interest in that computer and the upcoming 16-bit IIgs also increased. While learning more about it from Apple magazines at the newsstand, he noticed that many of the publications that dealt with the Atari ST included a disk with each issue. Disbrow went so far as to contact several of the Apple II magazines that were in print at the time to see if THEY had any interest in a companion disk, but he did not find any interest. After purchasing his Apple IIgs, he saw that there still was no combination magazine and disk for this computer, and decided to start one himself. When Disbrow started his magazine in September 1989, he chose to make it exclusively for the Apple IIgs, and so named it "GS+". Published bi-monthly, the byline on the cover of each issue reminded subscribers of what made HIS magazine unique: "The First Apple IIgs Magazine + Disk Publication!" He recalled the humor and fun that he had always seen in 80-Micro, and determined to make his magazine fun in a similar way. Disbrow felt that this was especially important, considering the generally negative attitude that was prevalent among Apple II users at the time, as they saw less and less active support from Apple for their computer. Still in print at the time of this writing, GS+ concentrates on news, software and hardware reviews, published programs and utilities for the IIgs (some with source code), and interviews with people who are involved with the IIgs.<1> SoftDisk (Sep 1981-Present) / Softdisk G-S (Nov 1988-Present) One of the """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" survivors in the Apple II magazine world is also unusual in terms of the type of publication that it is. Rather than using the traditional paper and ink medium, Softdisk came on the scene as one of the first magazines distributed in only a machine-readable form. Back in 1981, Jim Mangham, a programmer at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, felt that the time was ripe for an Apple II disk-based magazine. It would have the advantage of providing ready-to-run programs that did not have to be typed in, yet could still be listed and modified by the "reader" if desired. Mangham's idea was not unique in the computer world as a whole; "CLOAD" for the TRS-80 began as a magazine on cassette as far back as 1978, and other paper publications offered companion disks as an extra, containing programs from a specific issue. But no one had yet put a whole magazine on disk for the Apple II, and Mangham decided to fill that gap. Originally, he planned to call it "The Harbinger Magazette", and after getting a preliminary first issue prepared, he called Al Tommervik of Softalk magazine to discuss advertising. Tommervik thought it was a great idea, and not only did he want to advertise it, but asked to be a partner in the venture. He suggested that they change the name to "Softdisk" (since it would be, in essence, a Softalk publication). By the time Mangham was ready to mail out his first issue, he had fifty subscribers. Since he needed a minimum of two hundred pieces to qualify for a bulk postage rate, his father found one hundred and fifty disks in his mailbox that month. To create his new "magazette", Mangham chose to use double-sided disks that were pre-notched on both edges, to ensure that both sides would be useable. (Recall that the Disk II drive could only use one side of the disk, and so it was common to conserve money and use the other side by cutting a notch on edge of the disk opposite the factory one and flipping the disk over.) These double-sided disks were expensive, costing him three dollars apiece, and so he set up the subscriptions to require return of the previous issue in order to get the next one (it was left up to the reader to make his own copies to keep). When the disk was returned with the five dollars for the next issue, the reader could also use a simple text editor on the disk to return any "letters to the editor" he might have, commenting on the previous issue's contents or asking other questions. This return disk could also be used for submitting programs, pictures, or articles for use in future issues of Softdisk. Some of the subscribers that became prolific contributors of material even ended up WORKING at Softdisk!<2> Softalk magazine provided free advertising for Softdisk, and the subscriber base gradually grew. Some of the revenue for the magazine came from subscription payments, and some came through advertising. Ads for Softdisk were sold by the disk sector, and provided an advertiser a unique opportunity; he could give a potential customer a chance to actually SEE how the program he was selling looked. Some of the ads could be animated (usually using the text screen to use less disk space), and were actually entertaining. This was most prominent in the ads Softdisk had for their own products; by 1983 they had begun a line of software called "Rich And Famous" (which they said was what the authors wanted to become). Consisting of programs written by regular Softdisk contributors, these disks sold for $9.95 apiece, and a $4 royalty on each disk went to the author. The disks offered various types of games, including hi-res graphics adventures and card games, office-based utility software, general Apple II utilities, and disks of music (in Electric Duet format). Each issue of Softdisk had a "cover", which consisted of a hi-res picture and the issue number. These eventually were created to look just like the Softalk logo, except the globe in the upper right corner was animated. Starting in August 1983, Softdisk expanded to two double-sided disks, and the two-way subscriptions now requested that only one of the two had to be returned. One-way subscriptions were also available by now, for those who didn't want to bother having to return the disks. By January 1984 (issue #27), Softdisk became available through retail stores (primarily computer stores, but later also through bookstores) at the price of $12.95 per issue. They also began putting out a disk magazine called "Loadstar" for the Commodore 64 computer in June 1984, at a price of $9.95 (since it was a single disk per issue it cost less).<3> As mentioned earlier, Softalk magazine folded after its August 1984 issue, leaving the future of Softdisk somewhat in doubt. In return for some benefits that Softalk had provided (free full-page ads, space in their booth at computer shows, and permission to include some programs from the magazine on Softdisk), it had part-ownership in Softdisk. Since Softalk was now bankrupt, the possibility existed that Softdisk would be absorbed into the liquidation of assets. To avoid this outcome and to ensure the future of the magazine, Softdisk purchased back its shares from Softalk's creditors (at a price probably higher than what they were worth) and continued on their own. Although a few ads were placed in remaining Apple II magazines after that, Softdisk continued primarily on word-of-mouth referrals (which didn't increase circulation by much). Sales of some side items (primarily blank disks) helped keep the company going during this difficult time.<4> In May 1985, the two-way disk subscriptions were discontinued, and Al Tommervik started a brief tenure as editor-in-chief. He helped develop a more professional appearance for the magazine (and for Loadstar), through higher quality graphics and cover design. When Greg Malone began as editor-in-chief in late 1985, he continued the improvements by starting a graphics-based presentation in favor of the older text-based method they had used from the beginning.<4> Softdisk, Inc. added a disk magazine in 1986 for the IBM PC, called "Big Blue Disk".<5> At this time Softdisk magazine itself began including re-releases of older commercial software whose publishers were willing to inexpensively release publishing rights; they also began to publish some newer shareware programs. The first series of "reprints" were games previously released by Polarware/Penguin Software.<6> By 1987, Softdisk began again advertising itself in magazines, a practice that has been continued up to the present time. This began a large expansion in circulation for the Softdisk magazette and their other disk publications.<6> Later that year saw the changeover from the older DOS 3.3 operating system exclusively to ProDOS (beginning with issue #73). This issue also saw the start of a more attractive graphic user interface that supported use of a mouse (as well as the keyboard), and had pulldown menus and animated graphics. Within the next year or so, retail distribution of their publications was discontinued (booksellers were not leaving the products on the shelf long enough to allow them to sell) and distribution returned exclusively to a subscription basis.<7> In November 1988, the first issue of Softdisk G-S was released, supporting the standard IIgs desktop interface standards. This publication has maintained a high quality standard and has done well. At the time of this writing, Softdisk, Inc. continues to put out the following monthly disk magazines: Softdisk for 8-bit Apple II's; Softdisk G-S for the IIgs; On Disk Monthly (formerly Big Blue Disk) for the IBM PC; Gamer's Edge, also for the IBM PC; and Diskworld for the Macintosh. Loadstar for the Commodore 64/128 is still available, but only on a quarterly basis. II Alive (Mar 1993-Present) Joe Gleason was the president of Quality """"""""""""""""""""""""""" Computers, an Apple II mail order company based in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He observed with considerable concern the gradual erosion of Apple II-specific information through the format of the traditional slick magazine. When inCider/A+ added Macintosh coverage, this began the gradual decline in the fortunes of that magazine, which was Quality's major advertising outlet. Quality had begun a combination magazine and catalog called Enhance, with a focus towards educators (where the Apple II was still fairly strong). But Gleason wanted something more. Jerry Kindall, who worked at Quality and was a frequent presence on the online services, made this announcement in October 1992: "When inCider/A+ decided to switch over to a primarily Macintosh focus, we decided the time was right for us to start our own Apple II publication to fill the void. II Alive will begin publication in...1993. Every single article will discuss the Apple II. Every single ad will promote Apple II products. The Mac will be mentioned only in connection with the Apple II (as will the IBM)--for example, in articles on networking or file exchange."<10> They planned to initially offer the magazine on a bi-monthly basis, and for people who subscribed before December 31, 1992 they offered a free video tape that highlighted new Apple II products.<10> A sample issue of the magazine was mailed out to everyone on Quality's mailing list in early 1993, and the first official issue appeared in March 1993. The logo on the cover had a circle around the title announcing the flavor of the magazine, "Celebrating The Apple II". Kindall was named as editor-in-chief, and eventually had some other staff hired to help him: Ellen Rosenberg, as managing editor (formerly editor of A2-Central); Doug Cuff as consulting editor (also editor of the online magazine GEnieLamp A2 and writing for A2-Central); and Tara Dillinger as Interview Editor (who was also in charge of doing online interviews on the A2 Roundtable on GEnie). Regular columns featured in II Alive included Test Drives (reviews of new products), Ask Mr. Tech (technical questions and answers), Head Of The Class (programs that were of particular interest to educators), AppleWorks At Large (tips on uses for that program), Macro Exchange (sample UltraMacros programs for AppleWorks), Modem Nation (information about telecommunications), Shareware Spy (discussion of freeware and shareware software), and more. Compared to inCider, this magazine seemed to be having fun in the various articles it presented, and attempted to capture a little of the flavor of Softalk from the old days. Because of Quality's introduction of AppleWorks 4.0 in the fall of 1993, the November/December issue was not available until late in December (Kindall also was responsible for writing the manual for that program); however, after this they worked hard at returning to their correct bi-monthly schedule. At this time, II Alive is the only glossy magazine that deals with both the 8-bit and 16-bit versions of the Apple II. Shareware Solutions II (1993-Present) Joe Kohn had been writing articles """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" and a regular column called "Shareware Solutions" for inCider for quite a while, when the rug got pulled out from under him by the demise of the magazine. He had taken extra efforts to make disks available to readers who didn't have modems, disks that contained some of the best available shareware and freeware programs he could find. To continue in these efforts, in mid-1993 he decided to begin a self-published newsletter called Shareware Solutions II. He posted on GEnie that his newsletter would "take Apple II users on an exciting journey into the future. Each month, I plan to write articles about freeware/shareware (of course) and will continue to provide low cost freeware/shareware disks to subscribers via the mail. There will also be Apple II oriented reviews and articles that focus on low cost solutions to common Apple II problems. There will be columns geared to novices and new modem owners; techies, hackers, teens, senior citizens and educators alike should find lots to interest them.... Subscribers will learn how to tame their Apple II computer, and will learn what it will take to make their Apple II a powerful computer solution well into the next century and beyond. "I believed it when Apple proclaimed 'Apple II Forever', and Shareware Solutions II will help to make that more than just an empty slogan!"<11> Rather than to try to stick to a specific publishing schedule, Kohn decided to sell his subscriptions on the basis of the number of issues, rather than by the year. As his bi-monthly schedule fell behind at times this plan turned out to be wise. And the content of his newsletter reflected the extra care that could be taken when a deadline didn't have to be rigidly adhered to; his first few issues have been excellent, including some special offers of commercial software for readers. It is to be hoped that Shareware Solutions II will be around for a long time. Foreign Apple II Magazines The Apple II not only got press in the United """""""""""""""""""""""""" States, but has also been on the newsstands in Europe in various forms, though most are no longer being published. One that began as "Windfall" (later changing its name to "Apple User") was the biggest magazine for some time. "Peeker" was published in Germany, and carried articles similar to those found in Nibble. In the Netherlands there are still a few hobbyist magazines that cater to the Apple II crowd, including "Klokhuis" (which means "Apple-Core"), "Pro-2" and "Het AppleDossier".<8> In Britain there was at one time a magazine called "Orchard Computing", published by a company named Argus Specialist Publications. Some of the issues were primarily reprints from Nibble, but they also accepted articles from local readers.<9> [*][*][*] NEXT INSTALLMENT: Telecommunications """""""""""""""" NOTES """"" <1> Disbrow, Steven. "Old Timers: Magazines", 1992 A2 CENTRAL SUMMER CONFERENCE (tapes), July 1992. <2> -----. "The History of Softdisk: Part 1", SOFT TALK (company newsletter), Oct 1987. <3> -----. "The History of Softdisk: Part 2", SOFT TALK (company newsletter), Nov 1987. <4> -----. "The History of Softdisk: Part 3", SOFT TALK (company newsletter), Dec 1987. <5> -----. "The History of Softdisk: Part 4", SOFT TALK (company newsletter), Jan 1988. <6> -----. "The History of Softdisk: Part V", SOFT TALK (company newsletter), Feb 1988. <7> -----. "The History of Softdisk: Conclusion", SOFT TALK (company newsletter), Mar 1988. <8> Crouzen, Alex. GEnie, A2 ROUNDTABLE, Oct 1991, Category 2, Topic 16. <9> Alfter, Scott. GEnie, A2 ROUNDTABLE, Oct 1991, Category 2, Topic 16. <10> Weyhrich, Steven. "But New Apple II Magazines Are Coming!", A2 NEWS DIGEST, Nov 1992. <11> Weyhrich, Steven. 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