[HEA] _____________________ ___ _ |___ ______________| | | | | | | _ | | | | | || | | | | | | || | | | | | | || | | | ____ _ _ _ _ ______ | | | || | | | / __ \ | | / \_/ \ | ___ \ | | | || |__ ____ | | / / \ | | /\ /\ \ | | \ \ | | | || _ \ | _ \ | | \ \__/ | | | |_|| | | |__/ / | | | || | | || |_|| | | \___/|_| |_| |_| | ____/ |_| | || | | || |__ | |____________________ | | _ |__||_| |_|\____/ |________________________| | | |_| | | Lighting Your Apple II Path On Delphi | | |_| >>> WELCOME TO THE LAMP! <<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREEWARE FAVORITES: Hermes WEB SLINGING 101: Apple II Web Sites AND THE BEST OF THE A2 AND A2PRO MESSAGE BOARDS :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Lamp! An Onipa'a Software Production Vol. 1, No. 3 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Publisher & Editor.......................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. Internet Email........................................thelamp@delphi.com :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ March 15, 1998 OPENING PITCH Life On The 'Net, A2 Style ------------------------------------- [OPN] GOING POSTAL Letters To The Editor ------------------------------------------ [POS] A FUNNY THING HAPPENED [FOR] The Heat Is On ------------------------------------------------- [HET] Miscellanea [MSC] Rumor Mill ----------------------------------------------------- [RMR] Public Postings [PUB] Best Of The Best ----------------------------------------------- [BOB] A2Pro_DUCTIVITY Checking out A2PRO on Delphi ----------------------------------- [A2P] FREEWARE FAVORITES Hermes --------------------------------------------------------- [FRE] WEB SLINGING 101 Apple II Web Sites --------------------------------------------- [WEB] EXTRA INNINGS About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN] [*] [*] [*] READING THE LAMP! The index system used by The Lamp! is designed to make """"""""""""""""" your reading easier. To use this system, load this issue into any word processor or text editor. In the index you will find something like: EXTRA INNINGS About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN] To read this article, simply use your search or find command to locate [INN]. There is a similar tag at the end of each article: [EOA]. :: DISCUSSED ON DELPHI :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : : : Death is just nature's way of saying : : you're fired. : : : ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: GSWOMBAT :::: [EOA] [OPN]------------------------------ OPENING PITCH | ----------------------------------- From The Editor """"""""""""""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@delphi.com] LIFE ON THE 'NET, A2 STYLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is this proof positive that not only was _Castle Wolfenstein 3D_ the most highly anticipated game in recent memory for the Apple IIgs, but the Apple II is alive and well on the Internet? Within the first two weeks of its release, its author, Eric Shepherd, registered in excess of _two thousand_ downloads from his World Wide Web page. This doesn't include any downloads from Genie, Delphi, or anywhere else, nor does it count copies that have been or will be distributed by user groups or other Apple II vendors. Not only is this an unbelievable number for an Apple II program in this day and age, it's an astounding number for any computer platform for such a short period of time. It was exciting for me to be part of Sheppy's beta team as Wolf approached completion, and absolutely thrilling to see the download count rise and rise and rise. At the same time, the Apple II community was showing less vigor elsewhere. Renewals to the few remaining Apple II publications have looked down so far this year, and one, _The Apple Blossom_ (to which I regularly contribute) has decided this volume will be its last. All around, it seems shareware fees to our loyal programmers are down, and the spirit of community seems to be lacking. The hard questions beg to be asked: if 2,000 Apple IIgs users on the 'Net can download the most highly anticipated game in recent memory, why don't we have more subscribers to _Shareware Solutions II_ or _Juiced.GS_? Why is _The Apple Blossom_ ending its run? Why are our shareware authors struggling to justify another Apple II project? Sadly, while the Apple II appears alive on the 'Net, its vital signs elsewhere appear weak. Still, two thousand downloads is an exciting number, and hopefully those two thousand files translate into two thousand excited Apple II users who will keep the faith well into the next century and do what they need to do to keep Apple II support alive. In the meantime, I'll continue to check for vital signs from time to time, and keep an eye out for other signs of Apple II Life on the 'Net. [*] [*] [*] While Wolf was unquestionably the Apple II story of the month in February, it was far from the only story. The prodigious Apple II Webmeister, David Kerwood, has initiated _The Apple II WebRing_, which you'll learn more about in this month's _A FUNNY THING HAPPENED_ column. What might be exciting for you is that _The Lamp!_ is now part of that WebRing. If you're on another site on the WebRing, it'll likely be easy for you to access back issues of _The Lamp!_ If you prefer to do that the old fashioned way, remember that our URL is: http://www.sheppyware.ml.org/~rsuenaga I am doing what I can to keep this site updated, but remember that it is a lower priority project for me. Easiest way to access any of the issues of _The Lamp!_ is simply to go to the _IIScribe_ Forum on Delphi (GO CUS 11) and download issues from the Database there. [*] [*] [*] This month, I'll close with my usual Blatant Plug: KansasFest 1998 registration is going on as I write this. Join the dozens of Apple II faithful who'll gather at Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri in July for KFest 10. Register before April 15 (Tax Day, for those in the United States) and save $100! If you want more information, you can read _The Lamp!_ and find out who to send email to, or better yet, how to join the KansasFest mailing list. On that note, I'll excuse myself. I need to use the World Wide Web to find myself a plane ticket to Kansas City in July. Who said there's no Apple II Life on the 'Net? Ryan thelamp@delphi.com ASCII ART BEGINS _________ _ _ _ |__ __| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |___ ____ | | _____ __ ___ _ _ _____ | | | | | ___ \ / __ \ | | /____ \ | v v | | v ___ \ | | | | | | | | | /__\ \ | | ____| | | /\ /\ | | / \ \ | | | | | | | | | _____| | | / ___ | | || || | | | | | |_| | | | | | | | |_____ | |____ | |__| | | || || | | \___/ / _ |_| |_| |_| \______| |______| \____^_| |_||_||_| | |\____/ |_| | | | | |_| ASCII ART ENDS [EOA] [POS]------------------------------ GOING POSTAL | ----------------------------------- Letters To The Editor """"""""""""""""""""" Tonight at 7:19PM, Wednesday the 4th of March 1998, I logged on to Delphi using PPP (PAP was also negotiated for logon). Today U.S. time it goes into testing with my beta folks, and should be ready by the end of March. Last week I completely rewrote the not yet tested PPP module which I started late last year, as the old implementation wasn't flexible enough for added network protocols like PAP and CHAP for example. So, tonight was the first time an Apple IIGS has done PPP without requiring GNO (I believe Derek had PPP working, but I have no proof). Regards, Richard richard_b@delphi.com Yowza!--RMS [EOA] [OPN]------------------------------ A FUNNY THING HAPPENED. . . . | ----------------------------------- Checking out A2 on Delphi """"""""""""""""""""""""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@delphi.com] * The Heat Is On * Miscellanea * Rumor Mill * Public Postings * Best Of The Best THE HEAT IS ON """""""""""""" [*] Telecommunications ....... Binary II For Forked Files? [*] Graphics and Sound ....... SuperConvert 4 Problems [*] Entertainment Software ....... At Last--Wolf 3D [*] The Apple II Legacy ....... All Roads Lead To Kansas City MISCELLANEA """"""""""" CHATTING AWAY WITH GENIE COURTESY OF SSII Last Spring, Seven Hills """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Software sponsored an online chat that was conducted simultaneously on both Genie and Delphi, and at the time, I was just in awe that it could be done at all. I had no idea how Syndicomm managed to pull that one off, so when I went to KansasFest '97, I had one burning question that I was determined to have answered: How? As evidenced by the last two Monday nights, it's obvious that I got the answer to my question. At 10 PM EST, Apple II users on both Genie and Delphi entered their respective chat rooms, and were able to type to each other, back and forth, holding aq conversation - in real time - despite the fact that they were logged on to entirely different online networks. My thanks go out to Dave Miller and Tony Diaz for making it possible, and of course to Syndicomm for allowing it to happen. As the official sponsor and host of these dual systems chats, I've really enjoyed myself so far. And, just as I imagined, the atmosphere has been quite freewheeling. Since these chats will be on-going, taking place every Monday night (with very few exceptions), I was just wanting to toss out for discussion whether we should perhaps structure the chats a little. What I'm thinking is that I have a lot of resources and contacts within the Apple II world, and I'd like to perhaps use some of those to enhance the chats and to, perhaps, arrange for guests that you usually won't find hanging out in the chat areas. I have nothing definite to suggest at this point, but, maybe you do. Is there anything in particular folks would like to see happen at the SSII chats, or do you prefer the 'anything goes' atmosphere? Joe Kohn (JOE_KOHN, 10179, GO COM A2 FOR) THE MOTHER OF MAC/GS HARDWARE LISTS? Is there a "list to end all lists" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" of GS compatible Mac hardware? I'd like to know which Mac KB's can be installed on a GS safely and reliably. (SFAHEY, 10553, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Bradley P Von Haden made a quite nice list; if he wants to post it """"" here, that's fine, but it's also archived in section 4.9 of the csa2 FAQ, found in the Delphi file libraries here, or by going to http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html Nathan "Blatant Plug" Mates (NMATES, 10554, GO COM A2 FOR) PROBLEMS WITH LARGE FONTS? Anyone use independence printer drivers for a """""""""""""""""""""""""" HP deskjet? I have been getting two point fonts (at a guess) when printing 60 point fonts in complex documents (particularly in GWIII) I use Pointless and Palatino TT font Kevin Noonan gswombat@delphi.com Todays quote: A cat will blink when struck with a hammer (GSWOMBAT, 9999, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> The problem here is one I've tracked for awhile, which I believe is """"" not related so much to Independence in particular as much as memory. When you try to print a font to a high resolution (300 x 300 dpi) printer via Pointless, what Pointless asks the Font Manager for is a font four times the screen font (in this case 240 points), which is close to the limit of what the Font Manager can do (255 points). I've always had problems with fonts over 50 point or so, and printing is one of the most memory exhaustive things that the GS can do. I can't say absolutely for sure, but I believe that you've run out of memory (this can happen even with an 8 meg GS). . . Ryan Think KFest '98! Delivered by OLRight! scripts for ANSITerm (RSUENAGA, 10001, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> I don't have PalatinoTT handy, but I did try printing a document """"" with a single line: 'This is a test' in New York, 64 points and Bold. Instead of the 2-point text that I sometimes get with Harmonie, I got a little (OK - about 2-point) block for each letter (including the spaces). I used New York because it is a little on the big side, and bold to presumably aggravate any problems. Discussions about similar problems by Harmonie users indicate that different fonts trigger problems at different maximum point sizes. - Don (IronTooth) Delivered by my ANSITerm off-line reader scripts... They're OLRight! (DZAHNISER, 10010, GO COM A2 FOR) COMA-PROOF ZIP DRIVES I read that the Tulin SCSI drivers would solve the """"""""""""""""""""" sleep problem with the Zip disks. Is it possible to purchase these drivers and if so where or from who? I would really like to get these as I fear one day I am going to inadvertently select initialize rather than eject and then I will be a very sad camper. (PBAUER1, 10332, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> From the Fall '97 issue of Juiced.GS (Vol. 2, Issue 4) .... """"" Tulin SCSI drivers are available directly from former Tulin associate Wing Cheung. The software driver package is available for $20 plus shipping and handling. Contact Wing at wing_cheung@compuserve.com for more details, or to work our the cost of shipping and handling before sending him a check. His snail-mail address: Wing Cheung 4901 Corona Court Union City, CA 94587 Best of luck obtaining the drivers. You'll be glad you did... Max Jones, Juiced.GS http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/juiced.gs Delivered by Spectrum 2.1 and Crock O' Gold 2.3 (beta) (JUICEDGS, 10338, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Yes, the Iomega Zip Drive problems we've been discussing involve """"" only the Apple HS SCSI Card using the Apple SCSI drivers, and occur primarily when a disk is not inserted in the drive. (With a disk inserted at all times, things work pretty well.) I did not encounter the "sleep" problem, but I'm sure I would have eventually. There are a number of problems that occur with the Apple SCSI card and drivers, including some strange behavior in the standard file dialog box and with disappearing menu items in programs and icons in Finder windows. With the Tulin drivers, these problems vanish, and that's well worth the $20 for the custom drivers. I don't think any of the serious problems we've described occur with the RamFAST. Max (JUICEDGS, 10496, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> None of the problems documented with the Zip Drive/Apple High Speed """"" SCSI card combo are in evidence with the Zip Drive/RamFAST SCSI card combination, based on my longtime use of the Zip with the RamFAST on two separate Apple IIgs's. Ryan Think KFest '98! Delivered by OLRight! scripts for ANSITerm (RSUENAGA, 10500, GO COM A2 FOR) TONY AND TONY'S DATABASE LISTINGS Now that I think we have settled on a """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" format that will work well with COG, Tony Diaz and I will be using it from now on. The only change is that the topic name will now appear in parentheses next to the filename. From this: Name: GUPP107.BXY to this: Name: GUPP107.BXY (Apple Operating System) This will allow COG (and other OLRs if their authors are so inclined) to more fully automate the download process for A2 (and hopefully A2Pro) files. ----------------------------------------------------- Tony Ward, A2 Database Manager [Delivered with Spectrum 2.1 and Crock O' Gold 2.3b] -- When in doubt, make it sound convincing! (TONYW1, 10535, GO COM A2 FOR) RUMOR MILL """""""""" BEST QUALITY ACCELERATOR CABLE COMEBACK? I spoke to Bill Shuff around """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" October or November about making ZipGS cables. He makes the high quality cables with the thicker pins that many people have used when upgrading their Zips (or troubleshooting crashes). He said he would be willing to continue making the cables but he would need a group order to justify purchasing the parts. If enough people are interested I could post the estimated price for such cables and the number of people he would like in order to justify his expenses. -- James Keim (JDKEIM, 9938, GO COM A2 FOR) GS EMULATION, INTEL VARIETY Clancy Paul Computers of Princeton, NJ, has """"""""""""""""""""""""""" announced "Et ][, PC?" --a software and documentation package which allows Apple II, //c, and //e software to run on 386 and 486 based PC computers. It will also allow 16 bit IIGS software to run on Pentium-based computers. The package includes software and documentation supporting the creation of 3.5" IBM-PC format disks of Apple II programs from original disks of both standard (ProDOS and DOS 3.3) and copy-protected (DOS 3.3) formats. The package is targeted at the Education market where, in New Jersey, schools can get 386 and 486 computers for free through local donations. In the PC world, the 386 and 486 computers are becoming obsolete and are unable to run new software without expensive upgrades and, if then, at all. Many schools already have a base of Apple II software and this package allows a school to set up many classrooms of productive and inexpensive PC's by running the Apple II software it already owns. Site licenses are now available and a single-user package is currently being developed. For further information, email QWIKQUOTE@aol.com or telephone 609-278-4500 ext. 100. Cindy (CINDYADAMS, 10462, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Apple tried to woo Apple II, //c, and //e Education users to the """"" Mac, but did not do a very good job. They first produced the //e card for the LC series, but that has fallen by the wayside. Then a group of dedicated ex Apple II enthusiasts write GUS in their spare time. Apple have not seen fit to help them in that project, so it is not yet publicly available. Bernie came to the Rescue, but with no support from Apple... Now with an emulation package that runs on a 386 or 486, it is clear that schools will move to those inexpensive machines, than stay with the Apple family. A great shame, but one we have unfortunately come to expect from the management challenged company... Ewen Wannop - Speccie Message delivered by Crock O' Gold 2.1 and Marinetti TCP/IP! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 10471, GO COM A2 FOR) <<<<< Because of the assumed belief that an "older" computer is no longer """"" useful, schools can obtain them for very little cost, if any. This will be a good thing for the schools that are hurting financially, but still need to provide computers for the students. They can use this PC emulator to run the old //e software they still have sitting around not being used. And very sadly, I was told that our district will be going to ALL IBM-compatibles within the next few years. What a shameful waste of IIgs's and Mac's, but that's another story and thread. :( Cindy Cindy Adams -- cindyadams@delphi.com Automatic reply by ProTERM Message Manager (PTMM) 2.5 (CINDYADAMS, 10473, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Is it not possible/practical to keep tabs on the prevailing status """"" of schools and their computer status with the education contacts available here at delphi? Wouldn't the IIGS be good system to introduce to limited income and "computer un-enhanced" families/environments? Just thinking from the hip, again:) Nick Heywood _ --_|\ IIGS 'What in the world do you want to do today?' / \ Delivered By Spectrum 2.1, Crock O' Gold 2.1, | ___ | about Marinetti TCP/IP \_/ \_/ <-- here from an Apple IIGS. (NICKH, 10487, GO COM A2 FOR) HOW MUCH MAC DOES BERNIE NEED (DESKTOP EDITION)? Hi, """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" can anybody elaborate how fast one can expect Bernie to run on a 160 or 180 MHz 603e? Is it tolerable? I'm thinking of buying a Performa/Power Mac 5400... Udo Ceterum censeo, Microsoft esse delendam (UDOHUTH, 10025, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> I've played with Bernie on my 100 mhz Duo 2300c and my 117 mhz """"" Powerbook 1400cs and it's more than tolerable. Gus is still faster, but Bernie's made a lot of strides in the last year, and it's actively being worked on. Ryan Think KFest '98! Delivered by OLRight! scripts for ANSITerm (RSUENAGA, 10033, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Bernie also works well enough on my grayscale 5300 (100 MHz PPC """"" PowerBook), especially if I shift-boot the 5300 first. Very close to my 11.5 MHz IIgs. (Imagine playing Tunnels of Armageddon while cruising at 35,000 feet like I just did - a great way to pass the time traversing flyover country :) Of course, on my 300 MHz 8600, it's freakin' awesome. :) { }David K. (DKERWOOD, 10054, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> On my 120Mhz 8200 (7200 UK look-alike) Bernie runs at the """"" equivalent of a 20Mhz IIgs, Quite tolerable in my opinion... > Gus is still faster, but Bernie's made a lot of strides in the last > year, and it's actively being worked on. With the recent speed improvements in Bernie, I would still put GUS at about 50% faster than Bernie. With both of them, the actual speed you see things happen depends on many factors. If you have hard disk caching active on your Mac, the second time you run, things will speed up dramatically. As an indication of speed, a shift-boot of GUS takes about three seconds to get to the desktop on my Mac. A G3 Mac running at 266Mhz would probably do that in just over 1 second. So Bernie might take 1.5 seconds to boot... I think that is a pretty tolerable speed to run your IIgs at... :) Ewen Wannop - Speccie Message delivered by Crock O' Gold 2.1 and Marinetti TCP/IP! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 10061, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> It really depends on """"" - the machine you are using - whether you're emulating sound - color depth (256 colors is fastest) - type of application Low-end Macs (66Mhz, 601, L2) deliver emulated speeds of somewhat above the original, usually between 3 to 6 Mhz. A 603e running at 200Mhz takes you to around 18 Mhz, and so on. A G3 reportedly runs at 50Mhz core CPU speed (i.e., just doing some fancy math without screen updates etc.) I hope you'll get the picture. You'll get the unique "Zip Chip" feeling on Macs starting at 100Mhz. But as I said, it's all very ballpark. Now a note that just came in from the damage control department: the difference between GUS and Bernie is definitely below 50%. They do differ in their behaviour when the CPU is getting faster. Bernie gains momentum as the machine is getting faster, so the performance gap, if there is such, will be marginalized towards the high-end. :-) - henrik (GUDATH, 10124, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> It's faster than a IIgs in some functions on a Performa 6320 with """"" 120 MHz, so it would certainly be tolerable at 160 and 180, unless by "intolerable" you mean "intolerably fast"! Jim Dwyer Bavarian Leprechaun Blarney delivered by IIgs, Spectrum 2.1 and Crock o' Gold 2.0 (PEACECHURCH, 10131, GO COM A2 FOR) HOW MUCH MAC DOES BERNIE NEED (PORTABLE EDITION)? All, """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" As I am not PowerBook literate, what would be the minimum PB one would need to reasonably run Bernie? I am not familiar with the various PB models. Background: My Better-Half would like a _minimum footprint_ system to have available in the kitchen to check email, look up recipes, etc. I'm afraid my GS doesn't quite meet the minimum footprint requirement. So that leads me to a PB. I would like to be able to run Bernie too, which means it needs to be a PPC PowerBook. Also I don't know how much difference color vs. greyscale screen makes. Is greyscale tolerable or do you lose a lot of detail/hard to read, etc. Are there any recommended places to purchase used PBs? Sun Remarketing seems to only have 030- and 040-based used PBs. I'm really not looking to spend a whole lot on a new IIGS peripheral. Those new PBs are quite pricey... Is Bernie able to do telecom yet, such as run Spectrum/COG? If not, what Mac telecom program would you recommend for doing email? Sorry for the bazillion questions but I know from experience the people in A2 have all the answers. :) Thanks. Mark Welte [Doc] (WELTEM, 10114, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> What you would need is a PowerPC based Powerbook, and they are few """"" in number: 200 series (Duo) with PowerPC upgrade 500 series Powerbook with PowerPC upgrade 5300 series 1400 series 2300 series (Duo) 2400 series 3400 series G3 > Background: My Better-Half would like a _minimum footprint_ system to > have available in the kitchen to check email, look up recipes, etc. I'm > afraid my GS doesn't quite meet the minimum footprint requirement. So > that leads me to a PB. I would like to be able to run Bernie too, which > means it needs to be a PPC PowerBook. The smallest of those would be one of the Duos, followed by the 2400. However, neither have a floppy drive. . . FWIW, I have both a 2300 and a 1400 and I like them both :) > Also I don't know how much difference color vs. greyscale screen makes. > Is greyscale tolerable or do you lose a lot of detail/hard to read, etc. I used to have a 520 with a grayscale screen and the screen was reasonable. Nowadays, you can't find Powerbooks with anything but color screens, however, except on the used market. . . Ryan Think KFest '98! Delivered by OLRight! scripts for ANSITerm (RSUENAGA, 10155, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> You must have a PowerPC version of the PowerBook to run Bernie. It """"" will not run on the 030-040 versions... > Is Bernie able to do telecom yet, such as run Spectrum/COG? If not, > what Mac telecom program would you recommend for doing email? Not as yet, though it is promised some time in the future. On the Mac there is no question, you should use ProTerm Mac for most comms use. But if you mean a program for Internet E-Mail, then Netscape, MIE and a host of other programs such as Eudora-Light will do it more easily, and most of them are free... Ewen Wannop - Speccie Message delivered by Crock O' Gold 2.1 and Marinetti TCP/IP! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 10160, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Doc, """"" The absolute minimum PowerBook needed to run Bernie ][ The Rescue (BTTR)would be the model I cited, the 5300 grayscale machine. Not that you'd ever find one - the grayscale machines were relatively rare birds. By the way, it's only grayscale on the built-in screen...attach an external monitor to it and the standard display is 640x480 with 256 colors. The grayscale display is actually more readable than the color screens of the rest of the 5300 series, primarily because it is a lot brighter than the color ones, even the active matrix displays. Another low-end powerbook that could run BTTR would be the 500 series, I believe, and then only if they had the PowerPC upgrade installed. These were solid machines, and still command a relatively high price in the used market. PowerBook 3400 prices have fallen quite a bit in the last two months - keep your eyes on these. The new thumping G3 PowerBooks command (and get) top dollar, while the "entry level" 3400's can now be had in the mid-2k range (new). But even the slowest 3400's will run rings around the 5300 series, and will of course run Bernie ][ the Rescue without breaking a virtual sweat. The only critical issue for these (or for any machine running Bernie) is RAM. 16 megs and RamDoubler is the lowest configuration you can have on any Mac and still have room for the Mac to do things like running Finder in the background. This will let you run Bernie as a full-suite IIgs with all your sounds, bells and whistles, print from AppleWorks GS (yes you can!), play mods, run HyperCard GS (Color HyperCard on a Mac!), yadda yadda yadda :) { }David K. (DKERWOOD, 10197, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> The only used PPC PB is likely to be the 5300 or another upgraded """"" model. The 5300's are being sold as Apple-refurbished machines through several outlets at the moment for about $1200. I bought mine (my daughter's) from MacResQ and was pleased with the service. Jim Dwyer Bavarian Leprechaun Blarney delivered by IIgs, Spectrum 2.1 and Crock o' Gold 2.0 (PEACECHURCH, 10256, GO COM A2 FOR) NEW FEATURES FOR COG? A suggestion for the future update of COG... """""""""""""""""""" When a person adds a new Forum, have a script check to see if a Topic list already exists. If it doesn't, then have COG automatically generate a Topic list and save it in the appropriate place. Jeff Carr Cruising the 'rainbow' path provided by: Spectrum v2.1 and Crock O' Gold v2.1 First pull up - Then pull down. (LUMITECH, 9903, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Oh my... """"" I just discovered that COG doesn't include the CC's when you Reply to an email. This, IMHO, is a mistake. :/ As an Assistant Manager here on Delphi, I get a LOT of inter-Staff-related Email, and not being able to automatically reply to everyone in the loop is going to be a problem for me... maybe for many of us? I found this out quite by accident when my Forum Manager asked me why I didn't CC everyone on a recent reply to her inquiry. :) Is there a workaround for this, or is someone working on an option to allow COG to include everyone in the CC list? I'd fix it myself, but I don't know enough about the scripts yet. Thank you. Hugs, Goldfische Conference Manager, New Age Forum (go rel new) Web: { Newage} Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Renew ... The Earth Belongs To Our Children Sent by Spectrum 2.1 & COG 2.1 for the AppleIIGS --- Brain damage? No thanks, I already have some. (GOLDFISCHE, 9977, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> The simplest workround is to build an Address Book entry with all """"" the names you want to send a copy of your reply to. Then use the nickname when you reply! If you are dealing with a regular list of people, then I would have expected you to have done this already! To pick up all the names from a message header, then present a dialog asking which of them you want to reply to, is going a bit far I think. I use Eudora on the Mac for my main email, and even it will not reply to all the people on the CC list, you have to build an Address Book entry... Ewen Wannop - Speccie Message delivered by Crock O' Gold 2.1 and Marinetti TCP/IP! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 9992, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Ewen: """"" While this would work for my Staff Reply problem (thanks for suggesting it!) it's impractical for those emails I get from friends where the names of all the participants changes from email to email. I guess I've been lucky in that every single OLR I've ever used, (Rainbow here) did this by default, so I'd just assumed that such was a given. Evidently I'm wrong. :) While I disagree that having COG do this would be going a bit far, I can see why you wouldn't want to take on the massive project of adding that feature. I'll just start using New instead of Reply. Thanks anyway. Hugs, Goldfische Conference Manager, New Age Forum (go rel new) Web: { Newage} Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Renew ... The Earth Belongs To Our Children Sent by Spectrum 2.1 & COG 2.1 for the AppleIIGS --- The careful application of terror is also a form of communication. (GOLDFISCHE, 9996, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Eudora can't respond to all recipients? That would seem to be a """"" pretty basic function. Pine can do it. In fact, if Pine sees a CC list when you reply it will ask if you want to reply to everyone or just the sender. Similarly, if it sees a "Reply to" header it will ask if you want to reply to the original sender or the "Reply to" or both. I asked Ewen about this during the beta test, but he didn't think it was necessary and that we could just use an address book. The problem is that there are often times when I get a single piece of email with a unique CC list that I would like to respond to. It's not practical to create an address book entry for just one reply. FWIW, CoPilot doesn't handle CC responses either. ----------------------------------------------------- Tony Ward, A2 Database Manager [Delivered with Spectrum 2.1 and Crock O' Gold 2.1b19] -- I'm in shape ... pear is a shape isn't it? (TONYW1, 10004, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Delphi mail does not list the CC addressees. That is, if I send a """"" letter to you, with a CC to CHunk and to Harold, EACH of you will get a letter with only your own address listed in the header. (Someone asked the other day about blind CCs, and I THINK that that is the default for the Delphi mail system.) Don't count on that information without getting a confirmation from someone in engineering, but I'm pretty sure of it anyway. Gary R. Utter (UTTER, 10011, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Ah well, I was going to say this, but it seems there is no point: """"" Then we need a volunteer to write a piece of script for COG that takes selected text on screen, and parses it into a string of names separated by spaces, so you can paste it into the reply address field! Ewen Wannop - Speccie Message delivered by Crock O' Gold 2.1 and Marinetti TCP/IP! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 10027, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> In message 'RE: Crock O' Gold (Re: Msg 9977)' UTTER said: """"" > Delphi mail does not list the CC addressees. It does for me. There might be a user preference for this, but I couldn't find anything. > That is, if I send a letter to you, with a CC to CHunk and to Harold, > EACH of you will get a letter with only your own address listed in the > header. Again, I find this not to be the case. In fact, I just ran a test by sending email to a bunch of Delphi and internet addresses and each recipient was able to see the entire CC list. ----------------------------------------------------- Tony Ward, A2 Database Manager [Delivered with Spectrum 2.1 and Crock O' Gold 2.1b19] -- A lawyer is one who writes a 30-page document and calls it a brief! (TONYW1, 10048, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Dunno, it might depend on where you send it from, or they might """"" have fixed it. But at one point this was causing a considerable problem because mail from "the high command" was being sent to multiple recipients but they are not showing as being copied. (I would get a letter whose salutation was "Dean," and which was clearly meant for Dean, but which appeared to be addressed solely to me.) There was a lot of stuff being forwarded, a lot of mail going back and forth that was duplicated, etc. Perhaps they fixed it. (I TOLD you not to count on what I said without confirming it, remember?:) Gary R. Utter (UTTER, 10099, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> When I checked back in my Archive files, I found that the 'CC:' """"" field is included in a mail message, as a string of names separated by commas. Just right for entering in the 'CC:' field when you reply. With COG2, if you select 'New', then the 'CC:' field is filled in with the correct string for you. With COG2.3 onwards, you will be asked if you want to include that string for a 'Reply' as well... Ewen Wannop - Speccie Message delivered by Crock O' Gold 2.1 and Marinetti TCP/IP! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 10116, GO COM A2 FOR) ANTICIPATION: WAITING FOR WOLF Wolfenstein 3D for the Apple IIgs """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" System Requirements Apple IIgs 4 MB RAM required Hard disk required Accelerator card recommended (8 MHz or higher preferred) Wolfenstein 3D will not work with an AppleDesign keyboard installed in your IIgs. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd (SHEPPY, 10055, GO COM A2 FOR) <<<<< You can ignore the warning about the AppleDesign keyboard. """"" Apparently it works fine; further testing shows no problems at all; even Kirk's is working fine now. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd (SHEPPY, 10152, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Thanks to the hard working minions at F.E.Systems Software """"" Emulation Technologies, a fresh version of Bernie ][ The Rescue has been released to those Apple IIgs fanatics who are chained to their Macs. This release allows you to play Wolfenstein 3D for the Apple IIgs on any Power Macintosh machine or its viable clones. Achtung baby! http://www.magnet.ch/emutech/Download/ { }David K. (DKERWOOD, 10273, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> Well, time to impact is much less than that now, but I wanted to """"" say that Sheppy sent me a pre-release copy for review yesterday, and it is phenomenal. I thought the demo was pretty darn cool, but the full version will blow you away (literally :-) The new music/sound gives the game a distinct personality, and the art from Clue (NinjaForce) is brilliantly done. We owe Sheppy and his development team a debt of gratitude for their continued work and dedication to the IIGS and for finishing up Wolf 3D with such a flare. A big moment in Apple II history is about to arrive. The official release of Wolfenstein 3D for the IIGS. Wow! And they said it couldn't be done .... :-) Thanks to Sheppy and all involved. You guys are awesome! Max Jones, Juiced.GS http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/juiced.gs Delivered by Spectrum 2.1 and Crock O' Gold 2.2 (JUICEDGS, 10277, GO COM A2 FOR) IT'S HERE! Impact. """""""""" Get Wolf at http://www.sheppyware.ml.org/software/wolf3d_gs/ Are you psyched yet? Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd (SHEPPY, 10279, GO COM A2 FOR) <<<<< By the way, the Wolfenstein 3D Scenario Converter, for converting """"" scenarios from the Mac to the IIgs, is now available as well at the same Web site: http://www.sheppyware.ml.org. The game and the Scenario Converter will be available for download on Delphi on Saturday afternoon (Pacific Standard Time). Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd (SHEPPY, 10280, GO COM A2 FOR) >>>>> I d/l'ed this incredible masterpiece, and it is everything Sheppy """"" said it would be and more, it is fantastic, stupendous...;-) APPLE II FOREVER! cknaff --- Calvin ***** Spectrum v2.1 & Crock.O.Gold v2.1 ***** (CKNAFF, 10284, GO COM A2 FOR) <<<<< By the way, there is one known bug of significance in the game: """"" The knife weapon does not draw quite right. There's a little vertical line at the right edge of the weapon that shouldn't be there. This is known and cannot currently be fixed (I don't have the source code for the part of the game that draws the weapons). I'm hoping to fix it eventually, but I can't promise anything. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 10318, GO COM A2 FOR) <<<<< Crashing when you quit Wolf 3D is caused by a GS/OS bug that was """"" discovered last week. There's a new version of Wolf 3D coming soon that works around this GS/OS bug to eliminate the problem. I'm not sure what could be causing your other problems. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 10453, GO COM A2 FOR) <<<<< If you have a Wolf 3D scenario you've converted from the Mac to the """"" IIgs, you can submit it to be included on the official Wolf 3D IIgs Web site! Just make sure the scenario works, and be sure the scenario picture for the menu has been customized as described in the documentation for the Scenario Converter program, then email a copy of the scenario to wolfsubmit@sheppyware.ml.org. I'll review the file to be sure it works, then put it on the Web site for all to enjoy! Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd (SHEPPY, 10458, GO COM A2 FOR) PUBLIC POSTINGS """"""""""""""" KFEST INFO BY EMAIL """"""""""""""""""" ______ _____ ( ) ( ) ____________________________________________ | | / / ( _____________________________'98____) | | / / | | | |/ / | | II Infinitum!! | / | |______ | |\ \ | _______) __________ ________ _________ | | \ \ | | ( _____) ( ___) (__ __) | | \ \ | | | |__ \ \ | | | | \ \ | | | __) \ \ | | | | \ \ | | | |_____ ___\ \ | | (______) (________) (_______) (__________) (_________) |___| JOIN THE KFEST '98 MAILING LIST! Join the KFest mailing list for the most up-to-date information on the Apple II event of the year. KFest '98 will again be held on the campus of Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri. It will take place from July 22 - July 26, 1998. If you register before April 15, 1998, the cost is only $265, which -includes the use of a double room in the Avila College dorms -and- meals! There are also a limited number of single rooms available for $365. (If you wish to stay at one of the many hotels or motels near the college then the cost is $165, but you would, of course, have to find and pay for your own room and meals.) But act now--prices go up on April 15, 1998. Check-in will be on Wednesday from 1-4 pm, and check-out from 11 am - 1 pm on Sunday. Computer sessions will be conducted on Thursday and Friday. A vendor fair is scheduled for Saturday morning, with software and hardware demos slated for Saturday afternoon. To subscribe to the KansasFest Information Mailing List, send email to majordomo@trenco.gno.org. In the BODY of the message, place the following text: subscribe kfest You will receive a confirmation email. In order to be signed up for the list, you will have to respond to this confirmation as the instructions dictate. You will then be sent a welcome message, including instructions on how to send mail to the list. If you have other questions about KFest, or wish to make suggestions, you can find answers via the InterNet. Just send an email message to kfest@intrec.com or kfest-help@trenco.gno.org, or visit the World Wide Web page at http://www.primenet.com/~adams/kfest.html (JUICEDGS, 10428, GO COM A2 FOR) DIVEMASTER: LORD OF THE (WEB) RINGS Official Announcement.... """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" The Mother of All Apple II WebRings is now in service! The main mission of A2-Web is to serve as the primary resource for anyone looking for Apple II products, information, and support on the World Wide Web. To that end, I've inaugurated a new service of A2-Web which will further this mission in a big way. The Apple II WebRing is now in place, and the Ring has been officially recognized by www.webring.org as a legitimate web ring! Joining the ring is as easy as filling out a simple form and dropping in some code that I've made available on the WebRing page, at this url: http://www.syndicomm.com/a2web/a2webring.html What is a WebRing, you ask? The Apple II WebRing provides a higher level of organization to the multitude of Apple II sites on the World Wide Web, a level above what is offered on A2-Web. The Apple II WebRing is a way to group together these sites with similar content by linking them together in a circle, or ring. How does it work? The idea is that once you are at one site in the Apple II WebRing, you can click on a "Next" or "Previous" link to go to adjacent sites in the ring and--if you do it long enough--end up where you started. Right now the Apple II WebRing is just getting started, so there aren't that many sites on the ring. Yet. That will change as time goes on and the word gets out. If you have a web page that you think belongs in the Apple II WebRing, then your task is relatively easy. All you have to do is insert an HTML code snippet on your page, and fill out a simple form. There is no other maintenance required on your part. When you join the Apple II WebRing, the HTML code on your homepage never changes. Links point to a special CGI script at WebRing.org that will send people to the next (or previous) site in the ring. Because the central ring database is located in one location, sites can be added and removed quickly and easily, and because the WebRing CGI allows you go continue past sites that are unreachable, you will always be able to continue around the loop. The Apple II WebRing will do quite a few tricks, actually. People can travel a ring in either direction, either jumping to (or skipping) the next site or previous site, list the next five sites in the ring or jump to a random site in the ring. One of the most powerful capabilities the Apple II WebRing gives the user is the ability to instantly get a list of all pages in the loop. In other words, giving the user a one-stop-shop to find every Apple II page that has joined the Apple II WebRing. Welcome to the Ring! { }David K. (DKERWOOD, 10264, GO COM A2 FOR) <<<<< The Mother of All Apple II WebRings now has ten sites in the ring! """"" Here they are: A2-Web A2-Web is the self-proclaimed Mother of all Apple II web sites, with links to Apple II support on the web worldwide! Marinetti Home Page TCP/IP for the Apple IIgs. Charles Hartley's Apple II Software Download Page This site contains downloadable Apple II software and related materials. The AppleWorks Gazette The AppleWorks Gazette is here to help the promise once made by Apple Computer Corp., but since forgotten by them: Apple ][ forever! The Apple II Programmers Forum on Delphi The A2 Pro Forum on Delphi is the center of the Apple II Programmers Universe. The Rhode Island Apple Group Home Page The Rhode Island Apple Group (RIAG) is the Ocean State's premier support organization for users of ALL Apple and Apple OS computers. The A2 Forum on Delphi The A2 Forum on Delphi is the center of the Apple II User Community Online Universe. Trenco Apple II FTP Archive This is an ftp server for Apple II programs, data, and information. The GNO Consortium Host site for GNO documentation, the GNO FAQ, and other GNO-related documentation. GNO is UNIX for the Apple IIgs. Applebyters of the Quad Cities The homepage for the Applebyters of the Quad Cities (Iowa/Illinois). Includes club information, sample newsletters, and relevant links. { Join the Apple II Web Ring!} David K. (DKERWOOD, 10532, GO COM A2 FOR) DELPHI'S A2 WEB PAGE: THE NEXT GENERATION The Delphi A2 web site has """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" entered its second generation, with fresh code, new articles, more files added to the Best of A2, an improved appearance in all browsers (including Lynx!), and much more. The lead article is on Don Zahniser's excellent Off-line Reader package for ANSITerm, OLRight!. Our own Pat Kern (PATZ_PIX) now has her own web page on Graphics and Sounds (what else? :), the KansasFest '97 Scrapbook is HUGE, and the site is now part of the Apple II Web Ring! http://www.delphi.com/apple2/ { Join the Apple II Web Ring!} David K. (DKERWOOD, 10335, GO COM A2 FOR) SSII AND ALLTECH: TAKING WINNING SIRIUS-LY Shareware Solutions II, in """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" association with Alltech Electronics, is pleased to announce that one very lucky subscriber to the Shareware Solutions II newsletter has been chosen in a random drawing to receive a brand new Sirius II RAM card, fully populated with 8 Megabytes of RAM. And, the winner is ... Harriet Hoxie of Quincy, MA. Ms Hoxie has been a subscriber to Shareware Solutions II since 1995. Thank you Harriet for your ongoing support of Shareware Solutions II. Joe Kohn - Publisher, Shareware Solutions II http://www.crl.com/~joko (JOE_KOHN, 10448, GO COM A2 FOR) BEST OF THE BEST """""""""""""""" 10390 18-FEB 14:42 User Groups & Publications RE: Shareware Solutions II (Re: Msg 442) From: JOE_KOHN To: JOE_KOHN After I posted that I'd announce the winner today of the Sirius II RAM card, I received the latest issue of The Apple Blossom. After reading that Steve Cavanaugh planned to produce only two more issues, I got more than a little depressed and decided to turn my computer off and get some fresh air instead. Fortunately for me, attending an astronomy lecture given by a NASA scientist always perks me up, so that's what I did instead of printing out the names of potential winners. That said...I just explained to Shiva that the entire Apple II world was waiting for the results of the random drawing, and she won't let you down. So, I _will_ post the name of the winner on Thursday. As far as TAB, I was caught completely off-guard by the announcement. I truly believed that the companies still involved with producing Apple II products were, by this point, "in for the long haul." In his announcement, Steve said that the future of HyperQuarterly was not yet decided, but that he would fulfill his obligations to mail out the two remaining issues of HQ's Volume 1 to all subscribers. So, I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage all of you with an interest in HyperCard to subscribe to HQ. If you are hesitant, Steve does have an offer to send you one issue (I don't remember the price offhand) as a Preview, of sorts. If you like it, then you can get the other issues. I'll be honest with you...I think HyperQuarterly is wonderful, and I've enjoyed the first two issues and I'd really like to see it published for years to come. In order for that to happen, it's apparent that Steve needs some encouragement. And, as 'they' say, "money talks." Please think about signing up for HyperQuarterly. If you like HyperCard, you won't be sorry, as HQ is a wonderfully creative publication that'll make you even happier that you use a IIGS. Support those who support the Apple II. Joe Kohn, Shareware Solutions II http://www.crl.com/~joko [EOA] [A2P]------------------------------ A2_ProDUCTIVITY | ----------------------------------- Checking out A2PRO on Delphi """""""""""""""""""""""""""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@delphi.com] LICENSING BYTEWORKS LANGUAGES? On a related topic, have you ever """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" considered licensing ORCA/C to run on a non-IIGs '816? Or perhaps of more commercial interest, an 8-bit version of ORCA/C to run on 65c02s? I'm thinking about the embedded systems market. Devin (GLYNREADE, 1384, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> If you mean cross compilers, I've already done one. There is a """"" version of ORCA/C that runs under MPW. Creating one that would run under Windows is possible, but I don't see a big enough market to justify the time. (Correct me if I'm wrong. I would want to see $30,000-$50,000 in sales to make it worth the time. It could be done under contract for less, but who has that kind of money and needs this kind of product?) As far as a 65c02 version, it's not likely. Creating compiled code for the c02 is just a nightmare; it doesn't have enough RAM to run the typical compiled program. And the cost of development for a decent system would be astronomical compared to the cost of porting ORCA/C to the Windows platform, so the expected return would have to be higher, too. Mike Westerfield (BYTEWORKS, 1393, GO COM A2PRO FOR) WHAT A2PRO WANTS AT KFEST Reading and taking notes at a frantic pace! """"""""""""""""""""""""" However, a little late letting everyone know I'm taking this all in:( Somewhere "upstream" - msg 1337 to be specific, I've already nabbed Ewen and designated him as the "First Confirmed [KFest '98] Presenter"! Nathan, Geoff, and Mike are "on the list" and we'll try to work out some fantastic sessions for this year's 'Fest. What would help best is everyone's input on what they'd really like to see this year. Mike has already mentioned a HyperLogo session - if there is enough interest. Tom C. has the right approach! Last year and this year he was the FIRST to mention what he'd like to see. (Thanks Tom - that's the input we want!). While we can't guarantee any specific session right now there are still many talented, knowledgeable programmers that can take on any suggestion we can put forth! At the bare minimum, posting your interests here will help you inform the programmers that attend. Although I've probably missed something, there is one more thing for now. This is more of a KFest thing than a BASIC Programming thing. So... shouldn't we move this to the "Programmers' Lounge" under the "KansasFest 1997" area (rep 7)? (Or better, start a KFest '98 subject?). BTW, Thanks to all for helping us get KFest '98 started with such a "bang"! With your help, I'll try to make this year's schedule the best ever, Godzilla (STEVE_G, 1386, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> You can entitle that 'First steps in Spectrum Scripting' and """"" subtitle it 'Spectrum scripting for Dummies', or even 'how to get Cindy to write Son of SIS in five minutes!' :) I see a slight trend emerging here with what I propose to do and what Mike may be doing. Put that in conjunction with the significance of the tenth K'Fest, and perhaps we have a trend to 'Get back to Basics'. Pun intended... From the very start of Spectrum scripting, we tried to keep in mind that anyone could write their own scripts. Just as in my early days of using a ][, everyone wrote their own Basic programs. There has been a lack of general involvement in such things in recent years, yet the tools have got more powerful. GSBasic will be the ultimate on simple programming of the IIgs, and if we can get people to do it themselves, we should have a rash of new applications! In a similar way, we have seen SIS and COG written for Spectrum, but those were done by programmers whose time can also be spent at assemblers. We should see things like this from the fingers of ordinary users... So to sum up what I am saying is that I think K'Fest 98 is a chance to get people back to doing things for themselves. It may be the only way they can keep their IIgs and //es working in the new communications age we find ourselves! Ewen Wannop - Speccie Message delivered by Crock O' Gold 2.1 and Marinetti TCP/IP! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 1387, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> Here is my 2 cents on the subject of K Fest 98 """"" 1. Class on scripting 2. class on scripting as relates to telecommunication programs 3. class on Hypercard. Due to the bridge to other platforms Would like to see intermediate and advanced but after one another so could go to both. 4. GSbasic if available for distribution. I'll try to come up with others. Allen Moore Going to KFest98 Not on my love ---AppleGS (AMOORE, 1397, GO COM A2PRO FOR) IIGS WEB BROWSER BROODING The two main stumbling blocks are screen """"""""""""""""""""""""" resolution and processor speed. The stock GS simply doesn't have the resolution necessary to display most web pages. I suppose you could convert all the images down to what the GS can display, but that brings up point two... If you have ever viewed GIFs on the GS you know how long it takes to display them. JPEGs are even worse. Combine this image conversion with the HTML processing and the GS, even accelerated, is simply out of its league. Point one can be solved by using the Second Sight card, but that would severely limit the market and it would still be slow. I would guess that the average web page with limited graphics would take at least 5 minutes to render on an accelerated GS. Add some bigger pictures, especially JPEGs, and you could go have dinner and see a movie while the GS is chugging away. And those graphic-intensive pages with dozens of large JPEGs might take overnight. That's simply not acceptable. ----------------------------------------------------- Tony Ward, A2 Database Manager [Delivered with Spectrum 2.1 and Crock O' Gold 2.1b19] -- Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill. (TONYW1, 1400, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> I would also add color depth as a stumbling block for displaying """"" graphics "as it was meant to look" on a stock GS. a 16 color fixed 640 mode dithered super-hires graphics just can't produce graphics exactly as what the original look like. Take a look at Super Convert 4.0 and it takes forever for the graphic conversion to take place. As Tony mentioned, the second sight video card will be the only option to provide the fastest possible decompression of images with the best possible display. If I recall correctly, a 640x400 JPEG can be uncompressed as quickly as 40 seconds on an accelerated GS as viewed on a Second Sight card (with highly optimized decompression routines). This doesn't consider the page layout work needed to put the graphics in the appropriate location for the web page. Also, considering there are no X or Quickdraw tools for the Second Sight, you will have to write your own font, window, cursor, drawing, etc. routines. IMO, since SIS is available, it is not worth reinventing the wheel for features which would take several years to implement. If you are really interested in writing a graphics Browser, take a look at the source code for Mosaic 2.x which is freely available and see what it would take to port to the IIgs. I would also suggest looking at the source for Lynx to implement features which never made it to Mosaic such as Cookies, extended Netscape extensions to tags, and HTTP 1.1 compliancies. Geoff (SISGEOFF, 1401, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> I admit that I've never written the code to convert GIF or JPEG """"" images on the GS, but I have written a fair amount of code--including code to convert TIFF on the GS. I tend to bite (byte?) off more than I should at times, too, but I personally think it is realistic to download and display _reasonable_ resolution on the Apple IIGS in real time. Let me define reasonable. I don't mean downloading huge, beautiful 24 bit images, converting them to dithered 256 (or even 16) color images, and displaying the full-size result. What would seem reasonable to me is downloading the original images, scaling them quickly to something that would fit on an Apple IIGS screen, and displaying them in grayscale. The actual full-resolution images could be saved to disk for later processing. Yes, it's limited. Yes, it would be slow for some sites--but so is my 200MHz 604e. As for background processing, I have to disagree flatly with a couple of comments I've seen here. I don't claim it's easy, nor always useful, but it could be useful in a significant number of cases. First, while any GS browser will spend tons more time processing information for display compared to download time than a fast Mac, with my ISP, I can promise it will have dead time. Maybe that isn't true in your area, but it sure is here. That dead time can be used to process display images. Should it be? That's a design decision for the person doing the programming. Second, I contribute a lot of dead time, too. When I'm flipping from page to page, no browser keeps up with me. But right at this moment almost any browser could keep up. Computers still process information faster than I type (or read). :) Like most of you, I know it's flat out impossible to display the typical wide, colorful, graphical web page on a stock Apple IIGS. It's unreasonable to display color at all, and the color wouldn't look good anyway. But I really don't see why a grayscale browser with scaled pictures isn't possible. Whether that would be a significant enough improvement compared to the work involved is, of course, another issue. Mike Westerfield (BYTEWORKS, 1416, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> There are plenty of things that can be done on the GS *other* than """"" cloning the latest hot program for other platform XYZ. [There's a lot of games 5-10 years old that are perfectly doable] While it's occasionally good to go attempt something that's never been done before, it's also much better to have a clue and a plan. And when the "plan" includes a fair amount of buzzwords and not enough facts, then you get real suspicious. It'd be much better for everyone if *specific* questions were asked (such as "how do I handle extended keyboard "How does the bank 01 screen work, and why bother?" "What's a handle and a refnum?"). Those can be answered with specific, concrete answers, and show that the person asking is actually implementing things, rather than just randomly daydreaming. Daydreams are nice, but you gotta turn those into code eventually if you're going to do more than produce vaporware. So daydream, but then turn it into real code (and questions) before saying what's doable. Nathan Mates (NMATES, 1421, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> Nathan says it all. """"" In my opinion, there are only three people on the IIGS who were able to make a browser that handles GIF pictures. Maybe I am wrong, but it seems to me that now we have TCP/IP but no programs using it. It all sounds like when the second Sight card was introduced, which could be nice if we had 20 programming groups who supported it. Right now, the same goes for TCP/IP. Ok, there are some people who seem to be working on ports of newsreaders, chat programs and so on, but they just port. This means that the final programs will be slow and huge, like everything ported from Unix/Linux etc. The only thing that is actually THERE is SIS. I don't know the program, the only thing I could imagine that COULD be done would be to be able to create plugins for SIS that handle graphic data (don't know if that is possible). What do you think? Jesse Blue / Ninjaforce Check out our upcoming Apple IIGS game at: http://www.igd.fhg.de/~girschik/nfc (JESSEBLUE, 1434, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> There are very few released programs that use it. Marinetti 1.0 has """"" a number of bugs which hinder development of large projects. > like when the second Sight card was introduced, The second sight is also pretty buggy, but unlike Marinetti, it has no support from its manufacturer. > Ok, there are some people who seem to be working on ports of > newsreaders, chat programs and so on, but they just port. All of my "ported" code is 100% assembly with no similarity to the C code which I used only as a reference. Marinetti doesn't have a socket interface which is found in UNIX so you have to write the TCP/IP code much differently. The problem with my FTP client is how to best optimize the code which is still in an experimental cycle--it works, but not optimized. Fortunately, I have about 5 months before I have to figure out the best optimizations since that may be part of a session at KFest this year. > This means that the final programs will be slow and huge, like everything > ported from Unix/Linux etc. This would be a potential problem with GNO based GS/TCP apps. > The only thing that is actually THERE is SIS. I don't know the program, > the only thing I could imagine that COULD be done would be to be able to > create plugins for SIS that handle graphic data (don't know if that is > possible). SIS would need heavy modifications to support "plugins", not mentioning that TCP/IP would be _required_ for downloading GIFS, WAVs, etc... As soon as Marinetti works well enough for a large scale project such as a Web Browser, I can take a look to see what it takes to implement a plug-in interface. Yes, I am interested in writing a plug-in interface, but will anybody write plug-ins for it? I see SIS needing a bunch of other improvements before a plug-in interface can be considered. Geoff (SISGEOFF, 1442, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> The others replied before I could get a chance to, but all the work """"" I'm aware of in regard to Marinetti (and there is quite a lot going on, believe it or not) is written from scratch, specifically for Marinetti. And with the new version just around the corner, addressing most of the problems with the first version, I'm happy to say we should have the very first big apps coming real soon now. As for bloated and slow, that's up to the programmer, but I have gone out of my way to make sure Marinetti conducive to simply porting UNIX source code. The various Marinetti apps WILL be Apple IIGS specific applications. I agree however that there has been less developed for Marinetti than I'd wished. I thinks more a case of too little too late, and I blame that specifically on one person... Regards, Richard (RICHARD_B, 1444, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> Within a week of Marinetti being released to the public, I posted """"" the TopCat XCMD, so that Spectrum has been supporting it ever since... But I know that TCP/IP is not going to be the same as the SecondSight card, as you do not need to install hardware and buy a new display to use it! Anyone can use it... There are numerous small utilities in the pipeline, and major ones being planned. Marinetti is the corner stone for the future survival of the IIgs in this information rich age... Ewen Wannop - Speccie Message delivered by Crock O' Gold 2.1 and Marinetti TCP/IP! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 1449, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> I still think that the best option for showing graphics on a IIgs """"" web browser would be an NDA that viewed .GIF and .JPG after they were downloaded. SIS already shows icons where graphics are supposed to be. Ryan KFest '98 registration happening now! Delivered by OLRight! scripts for ANSITerm (RSUENAGA, 1460, GO COM A2PRO FOR) DEBUGGING GS/OS I'm getting back into debugging the GS/OS boottime code, """"""""""""""" and finding lotsa quirks. [And finding that NL and GSBug are woefully inadequate when you can't get to NL to do memory searching at boottime, even though I know it's loaded... grrr. Time for me to write something RIGHT, but I need a name for the thing. Any suggestions?] Basically, sometime after Segfaulter, one of my debugging tools is loaded, memory is trashed around $30/5564. A bit of tracing, and it looks like 00/D4xx mostly refers to it, with it creating the pointer to DP:88 at 00/D469. First, anyone have a map to GS/OS or a plan of what's supposed to be there? This is bankswitched ram, so I can't guarantee easily that I can insert a breakpt in that area. Suggestions, comments, etc? Also, if a thread wants to be spun off from here of features you think should be in a debugger, go for it. [And if someone knows where the ROM keeps the tables of opcode types, lengths, etc to help in building a disassembler without me typing in lotsa tables, speak up :] Nathan "I break everything" Mates (NMATES, 1432, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> I typed in a table for use in my Debugger for the Ninjaforce """"" Assembler. I can look it up and send you the source, if you want. I believe that I've typed in the names, too, but I'm not sure. Jesse Blue / Ninjaforce Check out our upcoming IIGS game at: http://www.igd.fhg.de/~girschik/nfc (JESSEBLUE, 1435, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> I'm not sure where in ROM the table resides, but here are some """"" firmware entry points that you can look at or use: $F88C INSDS1.2 Perform LDA (PCL,X); then fall into INSDS2 $F88E INSDS2 Calculate length of 6502 instruction $F890 GET816LEN Calculate length of 65C816 instruction $F8D0 INSTDSP Display disassembled instruction These are all 8 bit firmware entry points but you can also access them using the Miscellaneous Tools FWENTRY call. This info is from the Apple IIgs Firmware Reference Appendix C. The firmware entry points I described above start on page 229. They can also be found in Inside the Apple IIgs by Gary Bond starting on page 123 which is where I originally discovered them. Jeff Blakeney sent using Spectrum 2.1, Crock O' Gold 2.0 and Marinetti! (JBLAKENEY, 1440, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> Here is the disassembler data tables. """"" dis_lens length of operand, for index in this table use command byte dis_comps offset into dis_coms table: (figure-1)*3 = offset for index in this table use command byte dis_opcs operand type specs for index in this table use command byte dis_opc_tb search op.type.spec in this table. the index can then be used to print operand prefix with dis_opc_htb operand suffix with dis_opc_etb btw.: dfb = define byte dw = define word asc = ascii data ; = comment msb on/off used for asc pseudo-op ------------------------------------------------------------ dis_lens dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,3,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 3,2,4,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,3,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 1,2,2,2,3,2,2,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,3,2,2,2,1,3,1,1,4,3,3,4 dfb 1,2,3,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,3,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,3,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,3,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,3,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,3,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,4 dfb 2,2,2,2,3,2,2,2,1,3,1,1,3,3,3,4 ; Meaning: (space) implied ; # direct ; $ dp, abs, long ; r rel, longrel ; ( (dp) (abs) ; 1 (dp,x) (abs,x) ; 2 (dp),y ; [ [dp] ; ] [dp],y ; d (dp,s),y ; x dp,x abs,x long,x ; y dp,y abs,y ; s dp,s msb off dis_opc_tb asc " #$r(12[]dxys%" ;14 Z. dis_opc_htb dw do0,do3,do0,do0,do1,do1,do1,do2,do2,do1,do0,do0,do0,do3 dis_opc_etb dw do0,do0,do0,do0,do4,do5,do6,do7,do8,do9,doa,dob,doc,do0 msb on do1 dfb "("+128 do0 dfb 0 do2 dfb "["+128,0 do3 dfb "#"+128,0 do4 dfb ")"+128,0 do5 asc ",X)" dfb 0 do6 asc "),Y" dfb 0 do7 asc "]" dfb 0 do8 asc "],Y" dfb 0 do9 asc ",S),Y" dfb 0 doa asc ",X" dfb 0 dob asc ",Y" dfb 0 doc asc ",S" dfb 0 msb off dis_opcs asc "$1$s$$$[ # $$$$" asc "r2(d$xx] y $xxx" asc "$1$s$$$[ # $$$$" asc "r2(dxxx] y xxxx" asc " 1$s$$$[ # $$$$" asc "r2(d$xx] y $xxx" asc " 1$s$$$[ # ($$$" asc "r2(dxxx] y 1xxx" asc "r1rs$$$[ # $$$$" asc "r2(dxxy] y $xxx" asc "%1%s$$$[ # $$$$" asc "r2(dxxy] y xxyx" asc "%1$s$$$[ # $$$$" asc "r2(d$xx] y (xxx" asc "%1$s$$$[ # $$$$" asc "r2(d$xx] y 1xxx" msb on dis_coms ASC "ADCANDASLBCCBCSBEQBITBMIBNEBPLBRABRLBRKBVC" ASC "BVSCLCCLDCLICLVCMPCOPCPXCPYDECDEXDEYEORINC" ASC "INXINYJMPJSLJSRLDALDXLDYLSRMVNMVPNOPORAPEA" ASC "PEIPERPHAPHBPHDPHKPHPPHXPHYPLAPLBPLDPLPPLX" ASC "PLYREPROLRORRTIRTLRTSSBCSECSEDSEISEPSTASTP" ASC "STXSTYSTZTAXTAYTCDTCSTDCTRBTSBTSCTSXTXATXS" ASC "TXYTYATYXWAIXBAXCEWDM" msb off dis_comps dfb 13,41,21,41,80,41,3,41,49,41,3,47,80,41,3,41 dfb 10,41,41,41,79,41,3,41,16,41,28,77,79,41,3,41 dfb 33,2,32,2,7,2,59,2,55,2,59,54,7,2,59,2 dfb 8,2,2,2,7,2,59,2,65,2,24,81,7,2,59,2 dfb 61,27,91,27,39,27,37,27,45,27,37,48,31,27,37,27 dfb 14,27,27,27,38,27,37,27,18,27,51,76,31,27,37,27 dfb 63,1,44,1,73,1,60,1,52,1,60,62,31,1,60,1 dfb 15,1,1,1,73,1,60,1,67,1,57,78,31,1,60,1 dfb 11,69,12,69,72,69,71,69,26,7,83,46,72,69,71,69 dfb 4,69,69,69,72,69,71,69,86,69,84,85,73,69,73,69 dfb 36,34,35,34,36,34,35,34,75,34,74,53,36,34,35,34 dfb 5,34,34,34,36,34,35,34,19,34,82,87,36,34,35,34 dfb 23,20,58,20,23,20,24,20,30,20,25,88,23,20,24,20 dfb 9,20,20,20,43,20,24,20,17,20,50,70,31,20,24,20 dfb 22,64,68,64,22,64,28,64,29,64,40,89,22,64,28,64 dfb 6,64,64,64,42,64,28,64,66,64,56,90,33,64,28,64 (JESSEBLUE, 1474, GO COM A2PRO FOR) ANIMATING THE IIGS FOR BEGINNERS Does anyone have any suggestions where """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" to start learning to program animations on the IIGS SHR? Maybe a book or two or some magazine articles? My experience is with text displays, using ORCA C or TML Pascal on the IIGS or REXX in a TSO environment on IBM mainframes but I am currently teaching myself assembly and would like to add simple animations to the desktop program I am currently converting from text. I understand the concept of draw/erase/redraw etc. but having been in text environments for years I need some background material to peruse. Any suggestions are welcome, as I am starting practically from scratch. Source examples would be very helpful if there are any available, but I am firstly interested in the concepts, especially animating small figures on complex backgrounds. Thanks, HABANERO (HABANERO, 1437, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> Having recently done a game title for the GS (Turkeyshoot, blatant """"" plug :), I think I can answer a few questions on this subject. [Keep questions to the forum when possible, please, I bet others would like to hear as much as possible] First, the basics on the SHR Screen. First off, it's primarily in bank E1 (more on that later), starting at $2000. You have 200 rows at 160 bytes per row, filling memory until $9D00. [Rows are in linear order, unlike the Hires screen] $9D00-$9DC8 are the 'SCBs', scanline control bytes. Those control what mode each line is in. Bit 7 ($80) controls mode: 1 is 640 mode, 0 320 mode. Bit 6 is interrupts (1=on), 5 is fillmode (1=on), 4=reserved (off), and 0-3 are the palette #. From $9E00 to $9FFF are 16 palettes of 16 words each. Palette 0 is at $9E00, palette 1 is at $9E20, etc. Offset +0 in the palette is color 0 for that, in $0rgb format. [65816 byte order will flip bits around in memory so it'll look backwards-- 9E00: 48 0E is red=14, g=4, b=8. However, if using words in assembler or C, go with the $0rgb format] I've got the above in slightly more detail at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/gff/shires.txt if you want to print it out. Once you've got an idea of how things act, you need to program things to act that way. First, unless you're doing some kind of a NDA or purely in a window code (can be a lotta headaches, and kinda not recommended for anything wanting fast action), your graphics code should probably be purely in assembly. Sorry, but C is just too slow for most of this kind of things. On the other hand, you can use C (or Pascal, I guess) to tweak your algorithm, and recode to asm once you're sure that you're going to use that. [Being bullheaded and/or damn sure of myself, I always start in asm :] One of the first things I'd recommend doing in any language is to generate a lookup table of where each row starts on screen. [Multiplying row # *160 is going to be too slow. Generate an array of word offsets in your code (such as $2000, $20A0, ...), probably during the startup code.] Use that table to get the starting location of a shape on screen, and when going up or down 1 row, add 160 ($A0) to the base location. Next, be prepared for a lot of headaches figuring out where everything is onscreen. Because the GS is 4 bits (1 nibble) per pixel, there's a 2:1 relationship between pixels and bytes. (And 4:1 on pixels:words). Unless you want to do a lot of slow shifting or doubled data, you're going to want to do all drawing at the byte level. If that's done, keep everything in byte offsets internally, or you'll run into a LOT of oddball bugs. [Been there, done that, pulled the hair out over] And after at least 40 lines of introductory stuff, how to actually draw stuff against backgrounds. There are 2 main approaches on this-- first is to have your draw code save off the background, and restore it on erasing, and the other is to have the background redrawable in sections to forcibly erase the shapes off. Both have some merits, and I'm going to leave it up to you which to do. If the shape is rectangular and opaque agains the background, a straight copycan be quickly coded. Here's a quick example (not the most efficient, but fairly straightforward) of a blitter in orca/m syntax: Blitter start * On entry, Y=address of shape in current bank, X=# bytes per row to copy * A=# rows high to copy, and 1,s is screen address to copy to. Stack * cleaned up before exit. sta OnRow stx NumBytes txa ;calculate offset from end of shape to start of next on screen eor #-1 inc a clc adc #160 ;We just calculated 160-A without having to use any temp varbs sta RowDelta+1 lda 1,s ; address on screen tax DrawRow anop lda NumBytes sta CurBytes shortm CopyIt lda |0,y ;get byte from shape sta >$e10000,x iny inx dec CurBytes bpl CopyIt longm txa ;Adjust screen location to be one row down from start clc RowDelta adc #0 ;selfmodded from amove tax dec OnRow bpl DrawRow pla ;clean up stack before exiting plx pha rts CurBytes ds 2 NumBytes ds 2 OnRow ds 2 end Although the above code should work (coded off the top of my head, GS not handy to check), it's not the most efficient. Copying words at a time would be more efficient, as well as partially unrolling the loop if the shape width is fixed in advance. Further, this code assumes the shape definition in memory is pointed to by the Y-reg and in the current bank (B-reg tricks would break the local varbs), and the shape def does not cross banks. If you've got a relatively small number of shapes, those limitations may be fine for you. The more serious limitations of the above code are (1) that it doesn't allow unerasing things (you could modify it to copy memory off to a backup of the screen first, then a restore function to copy back), and (2) it doesn't allow any 'transparent' areas of the shape. If your background was a solid color, that'd be easy to account for, but that's not what you state above. Transparency is handled fairly easily with the concept of a 'mask', or which bits are on. Say for example you want the screen word to end up like 'x67x' where x is the original nibbles (pixels). What you need to do is read the screen word, AND it with $F00F, and then OR it with $0670 before writing it to screen memory. That'll preserve the end nibbles, but stuff new values into the middle two. That doubles the amount of memory each shape takes up, but it'll work fine. [Tip: if you store the mask right after the shape and pass in the byte size of the shape, you could modify the CopyIt loop above to look something like this: CopyIt lda >$e10000,x and |$80,y ; self-modded in to be the constant offset to mask from shape ora |$00,y sta >$e10000 [Where the above example shows the shape definition of 128 bytes long] The above examples assume the SHR screen in bank E1. You're supposed to use a few Apple calls to figure out where the screen is, but that's pretty darn unlikely to change anytime soon. For slightly faster animation with less flicker, there's the concept of the SHR 'shadow' screen for fun stuff, but that's for another a2p posting. [Bad storm of packet lossage and don't wanna lose this post] This'll eventually go up on my web site, and might be the basis of a kfest talk if demanded. Feel free to ask more questions in followup postings. Nathan (NMATES, 1441, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> You're lucky in that a good many of people here also have """"" experience with 370 code and architectures. I think the main thing to try and grasp (I don't know if you've done any other microcomputer programming), is that the text and graphics areas aren't devices or buffers addressable via channel programs. They're simply reserved areas in memory which are directly addressable by your program. While there are also macros and toolbox calls you can use to manipulate their content, you can treat just like a memory array. Regards, Richard (RICHARD_B, 1445, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> Ok, here's an almost immediate followup to what I said earlier """"" (didn't want a telnet disconnect or problems to lose 7 screenfulls typed in off the top of my head). First, some more animation theory/ tips: (1) The way to get speed is to draw as little as possible. No matter what other optimizations you make to the code, that's probably the hands down best method. Basically, if it didn't move, don't touch it onscreen. (2) For whatever you do draw (whole screen, 16x16 chunks, etc), it can be much faster to handle redraws by redrawing everything from the background up than having your shape code first back up the background and redraw it later. (That's 1 write vs 2). Of course, that should be combined with #1 to redraw as little as possible most of the time. [Don't redraw the whole 32K background if you've got a simple 8x8 sprite in the middle animated :] And finally, for the advanced animation theory, look into compiled sprites. For the penalty of taking up a lot more ram and disk space, they can be faster. A program like Mr.Sprite can automate the compilation, or you write your own tools to turn pictures into code. [Turkeyshoot used 17-color (one for transparent) .BMPs saved from Photoshop on my pentium at home, and a program I wrote in C to convert those pictures into code] Move asm src to GS, compile and link. The best way to get animation and graphics sped up is to use the 01 'shadow' screen. First, a bit of theory as to why it's useful: The E1 bank of memory is *slow*. All accesses to it go at 1Mhz, vs the 2.5Mhz you can get to regular RAM. In the same memory region ($2000.A000), the GS can 'shadow' writes made to bank 01 to the same location in E1. That's at 1Mhz. But, if you read from bank 01, you get the 2.5Mhz speed. The 01 screen can also be used as a buffer to build up a frame (to avoid flickering/problems if multiple layers of sprites are being drawn), and then pushed to the E1 displayed screen. This is done by turning the shadowing off (read $00c035, or it with $30, write to 00c035), and then accessing the 01 screen. [Make sure that memory block is allocated and the system is set to use it in the first place--look in Toolbox Ref #3, Quickdraw chapter for one set of flags to use to do it correctly] When your frame has been built in the 01 buffer, turn shadowing back on (00c035 and with $E7, write back to c035), and then simply read and write each byte in the 01 screen to itself. MVN works ok for this kind of trick, but can definitely be improved on, with the most esoteric of animation tricks. [You certainly DON'T have to do these things unless you really are going for maximal performance. If you code your things right, you can upgrade certain parts of the graphics engine one part at a time nicely, and not break too much] For this final bit of graphics-type code, you have to do the previous stuff, *plus* note that thanks to a holdover from the //e, the stack and direct page in asm (ONLY asm works here. Don't even think of doing this with C) can be moved to bank 01. And that's where you get to do all your graphics drawing and pushing to bank E1. But, first, a small reminder that many forget: TURN OFF INTERRUPTS BEFORE MOVING THE STACK TO BANK 01! All interrupt code assumes that the stack/dp are in bank 00, and interrupts push lotsa stuff on the stack-- you don't want that on your screen displays. A simple 'php/sei' before such code, and a 'plp' afterwards. Background music players, etc do NOT like having interrupts off for too long, so you'll either want to do smaller operations with interrupts off (push no more than about 8 pages at a time), or reenable interrupts occasionally. You should be able to figure out how dp/stack can be used to draw items, but 'pei slamming' is the most effective use of it no matter what the drawing method is. [I use this method in my Toast Twilight II module, Turkeyshoot, and Sheppy incorporated some of the theory of this into WolfGS's screen updates] PEI is used to push a value off the direct page onto the stack-- and if you set things up right, you're pushing the values into the right place. An outline of it follows: PeiThru32K start * This pushes thru the whole (32K) screen from bank 01 to E1. * Make sure shadowing is on when this is called! tsc sta EntryStack tdc sta EntryDP ;these'll get munged, gotta store them safely sei ;shoulda used php/sei above the entrystack, oops shortm sta >$00c005 ; bank 01 stack & dp write sta >$00c003 ; bank 01 stack & dp read longm ldy #$2000 ;start on this page DoAPage tya tcd ;DP is here clc adc #$FF ;put stack to top of page, as it works from top to bottom tcs inc a tay ; save adding $100 later pei $FE ;push DP:FE, FF pei $FC pei $FA * You get the picture, I'm not typing in too much here. pei $06 pei $04 pei $02 pei $00 cpy #$A000 ;off bottom of screen? bge AllDone brl DoAPage AllDone shortm sta >$00c004 sta >$00c002 ;bank 00 DP & stack read & write longm lda EntryStack tcs lda EntryDP tcd cli ; Or plp if done right as above rts EntryStack ds 2 EntryDP ds 2 end According to the guys with bus analyzers at Apple, inserting a NOP after every 13th PEI speeds up things by allowing the 1Mhz and 2.5Mhz busses a little bit to get back into sync or somesuch. [Doing that and extending the pei's above is left as an exercise for the reader] Thus concludes today's lesson. The floor is now open to questions... [And all of the above is pretty much off the top of my head without an editor to go back and fix things, so hopefully I haven't made too many messups] Nathan (NMATES, 1446, GO COM A2PRO FOR) NEWLY DISCOVERED GS/OS BUG HITS WOLF. . . AND OTHERS? As some of you """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" who've been on the delphi chats and read the messages about Wolfy, I've been fixing the last few oddball bugs just before and even after release. [I break *everything* ... both a curse and a blessing] First, a bit of background on this bug-- sheppy decided to patch out _Refreshdesktop (part of windowmgr) for wolfy, and did so with the form in gs technote #101 (http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/tn/ if interested) a _SetTSPtr with a properly generated table. But, with the _Shutdowntools call later, the tool loader sees a new TSPtr from the 'default' and decides to dump the toolset from memory. Given that the default is now pointing at unallocated memory, you can see why crashes can quickly follow. Although technote #101 does not say anything about what apps should do before exiting, because the tool locator only dumps things if the current TSPtr is not the default, I made up a GUPP beta which patches wolfy 1.0 to grab the WindowMgr's tsptr before it was patched, and then restore it just before the ShutDownTools. Result: everything works. I don't like the tool locator blindly shutting down stuff in memory (and may patch that to be more sane soon), but this can be fixed easily at the app level by that same procedure I listed above. [GUPP can be shift-booted out, but app-level fixes can't] So, is there anyone else doing such a _SetTSPtr anywhere in their app's code (inits going thru SetDefaultTSPtr are immune), and seeing similar problems? I'd half like to write an addendum to Technote #101 detailing this fix; who's in charge of them to bug for permission. Any other questions/comments/criticisms? Nathan (NMATES, 1472, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> I'll have to check, but Express may do this. Let me check and get """"" back to you. Remind me if I don't. Regards, Richard (RICHARD_B, 1473, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> the GNO kernal (2.0.4 at least) patches out TLShutDown to do """"" nothing, which would mean that the TSPtr isn't reset. Of course, this would only affect programs launched from GNO/ME.... (KWS, 1483, GO COM A2PRO FOR) >>>>> I remember that. GNO needs to be fixed to cope with correctly """"" resolving patch issues when apps quit. How that can be done reasonably, I dunno. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 1503, GO COM A2PRO FOR) [EOA] [FRE]------------------------------ FREEWARE FAVORITES | ----------------------------------- HERMES """""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@delphi.com] HERMES ~~~~~~ Product Name: Hermes Distribution: Freeware; available in the Delphi A2 Database, Genie A2 Library, and Apple II ftp sites. F.E. Systems (Formerly Bright Software) Andre Horstmann Requirements: Apple IIgs; 64k disk space. Let's face it: sooner or later, we all need a good text editor. While there's always been a rich slew of word processors for the Apple II series of computers, sometimes all of the fancy bells and whistles that come with them--the grammar checkers, the spelling checkers, the control character entering options--get in the way of the real work--writing. Fortunately, there's also been a plentiful supply of Apple II text editors as well, from the freeware _FreeWriter_ and _FredWriter_ on to the powerful _EgoEd 2.0_ and _WordWorks Pro_. Somewhere in the middle of all of this lies _Hermes_, The Text Editor Formerly Known As _ShadowWrite_, from the gang now bringing you the acclaimed Apple IIgs emulator _Bernie ][ The Rescue_ at F.E. Systems, the former Bright Software. A New Desk Accessory appearing under the Apple menu, _Hermes_ can be activated with a simple open apple-! keystroke (or, for that matter, just about any other key paired with the open apple key--_Hermes_ allows you to set which key in its preferences). Once active, _Hermes_ acts just like any other graphically based text editor--you can resize the window or move it on your screen; highlight text to add or remove styles; show or hide the "ruler" which shows you tabs, margins, text justification, and gives you shortcuts to set fonts, styles, sizes, and colors of text; find and replace; or just type away. _Hermes_ sets itself apart from other text editors with its powerful file handling features. For instance, not only can you open text, Teach, source, and Appleworks Word Processor files, you can set _Hermes_ to save files as text, Teach, or source, and even set _Hermes_ up so that it will automatically open these files when they are double clicked in the Finder. _Hermes_ can also be set to show you "invisible" files when you're looking through a hard drive directory, and not only open any file as text (invaluable when you're looking at the inside of a data file for certain key information--often referred to as "snooping"), but give you a choice of opening a forked file's resource or data fork. _Hermes_ can have eight separate documents open at one time (provided you have enough memory to do so) and cut and paste using the standard Apple IIgs system clipboard, so you can cut and paste between documents. In addition, it has two features that I wish were standard in _Appleworks_--the ability to append a newly opened file to a currently opened one is one. The other is the ability to handle word processing documents with an unlimited number of lines up to the limits of memory (Even on an 8 megabyte Apple IIgs, text files with many lines--defined as many carriage returns--often cannot be opened in Appleworks 5.1). This may not be an issue for many users, but it is for me--particularly when editing the large text file of Delphi A2 Forum messages I collect at the end of each month for use in _The Lamp!_. Of course, _Hermes_ is fast in terms of scrolling speed (and, you can set a preference in _Hermes_ to let it know just how fast you want it to scroll) and has excellent find/replace features. In fact, its find/replace window lets you replace all instances of a text string and copy from the system clipboard into the "Search for" and "Replace with" windows--perfect for getting rid of all of those linefeed characters in an MSDOS text file. If _Hermes_ has a shortcoming, it's that it spoils you--you begin to expect too much from it. Because it is based on the standard IIgs TextEdit tool, it is prey to the shortcomings of that tool, including its known (and unknown) bugs as well as its single set of margins and justification per document. However, you can, of course, easily save your text into a text or Teach file and import it into a word processing or page layout program and add your fancy formatting there. I've always believed that the most perfect tools for writing are the ones that get in your way the least, and _Hermes_ is one of those tools. Simple yet powerful, elegant yet distinguished, _Hermes_ can be the Apple IIgs writer's best friend. [EOA] [WEB]------------------------------ WEB SLINGING 101 | ----------------------------------- Apple II Web Sites ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@delphi.com] WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you've successfully started cruising the Internet with a World Wide Web broswer, from the unassuming _Lynx_ or the _Spectrum Internet Suite_ (SIS) to the sophisticated _Netscape Communicator_ or _Microsoft Internet Explorer_, or any in between, you may be wondering where the hot spots are for the Apple II family computers. We're here to tell you just where to find them. First, a caveat: the Web is in a constant state of flux, and addresses can change from day to day. An address you see here (remember the term "URL" from Volume 1, Issue 1 of _The Lamp!_) that's valid today may not be valid tomorrow. Web Page maintainers may move not just from Internet Service Provider to Internet Service provider, but also from state to state or country to country, and many ISP's are only available in certain areas. Still, we'll try to give you a start on some of the most fascinating sites accessible to the Apple II user. Some all purpose sites: http://www.apple.com Apple Computer, Inc., the parent of the Apple II family of computers, has long operated its own Web site. Of course, the vast majority of the content there is focussed on its other computers, but it still has valuable information and software for the Apple II enthusiast, including all of the most recent versions of the Apple II System Software, including Apple IIgs System Software 6.0.1 and HyperCard GS 1.1. Sadly, its Web site could be better set up for those of us using the Web browsers available on the Apple II. http://www.apple2.org Operated by Tony Diaz of Alltech Electronics, one of the Apple II's chief hardware honchos, apple2.org is a relatively new site that features information and pictures that cannot be found elsewhere. Tony's slant on such things as the never-released Apple II Ethernet Card, complete with diagrams, is here, as well as pictures (many in .JPG format, which unfortunately is not particularly Apple II friendly) of rare pieces of hardware. If you want to learn what it takes to rebuild your Apple II in an alternative case such as a tower or an old portable, this is the site for you. http://www.syndicomm.com/a2web The Mother Of All Apple II Web Sites, A2-Web is maintained by the Divemaster, David Kerwood, who has assembled a plethora of Apple II oriented Web sites. A2-Web maintains one of the most extensive collections of links in the world, including links to Apple II newsletter publishers, user home pages, software repositories, online services, software houses. . . you name it, A2-Web has it. Moreover, David has made extensive efforts to assure that A2-Web is compatible with any and all World Wide Web browsers, including and especially Lynx and SIS. A2-Web is hosted on the Syndicomm server, which is the base of World Wide Web operations for the company that operates the A2 areas on Delphi and Genie. http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2 This site is maintained by Delphi regular Nathan Mates, and his listing of Apple II resources is one of the most complete in the Apple II world. You can also find the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the Usenet newsgroup known as comp.sys.apple2 here. There is an immense amount of information located there, including answers to some of the most basic questions the new or inexperienced Apple II user will have. From the history of the Apple II to general information about what an Apple II can do to where to find Apple II software and pinouts of various Apple II hardware connectors, everything is here. Also on this site is recent Apple II news and more links to other Apple II sites. Some Apple II newsletter publishers: http://www.crl.com/~joko _Shareware Solutions II_ is the dean of Apple II newsletters, an absolute "Must-Have" item for the serious Apple II user. Joe Kohn hosts this page which contains a SSII mini-index and the closest thing to a complete catalog that the SSII product line has. This is a 100% Lynx friendly web site that must be checked out by anyone serious about their Apple II. http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/juiced.gs/home.html Here we find the World Wide Web page for the exciting Apple IIgs specific newsletter, _Juiced.GS_. Published by Max Jones with the website hosted by the prolific David Kerwood, this quarterly publication is known for its beautiful layout and high quality journalism. http://people.delphi.com/appleblossom This is the new location of Apple Blossom Publishing's web page. Formerly on aol.com, Steve Cavanaugh has moved the pages to Delphi. Even though Steve's decided to end the run of _The Apple Blossom_, _HyperQuarterly_ could go on for some time, and you'll be able to find some back issues of _TAB_ here, as well as some sample articles and a real bonus: a listing of Apple II vendors. http://people.delphi.com/rsuenaga -and- http://www.sheppyware.ml.org/~rsuenaga are the homepages for _GenieLamp A2_ and _The Lamp!_ respectively. You will find as complete an archive of both publications as possible here. I host these sites, so I don't think I can be very objective in their review. I'd just suggest checking them out. In our next installment, we'll keep looking for new places to check on the World Wide Web for signs of Apple II life. See you next month. :: DISCUSSED ON DELPHI :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : : : Succumb to natural tendencies. Be hateful : : and boring. : : : ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: TONYW1 :::: [EOA] [INN]------------------------------ EXTRA INNINGS | ----------------------------------- About The Lamp! The Lamp! is published on the fifteenth of every month in """"""""""""""" the Database of the II Scribe Forum on the Delphi online service (GO CUS 11). This publication produced entirely with real or emulated Apple II computers using Appleworks 5.1 and Hermes. Apple II Forever! * The Lamp! is (c) copyright 1998 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. All rights reserved. * To reach The Lamp! on Internet email send mail to thelamp@delphi.com. * Back issues of The Lamp! are available in the II Scribe Forum on Delphi as well as The Lamp! Home Page, http://www.sheppyware.ml.org/~rsuenaga. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Delphi Online Services, Syndicomm, Inc., or Ryan M. Suenaga. Forum messages are reprinted verbatim and are included in this publication with permission from the individual authors. Delphi Online Services, Syndicomm, Inc. and Ryan M. Suenaga do not guarantee the accuracy or suitability of any information included herein. We reserve the right to edit all letters and copy. Material published in this edition may not be reprinted without the expressed written consent of the publisher. Registered computer user groups, not for profit publications , and other interested parties may write the publisher to apply for permission to reprint any or all material. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< [EOF]