[HEA] _____________________ ___ _ |___ ______________| | | | | | | _ | | | | | || | | | | | | || | | | | | | || | | | ____ _ _ _ _ ______ | | | || | | | / __ \ | | / \_/ \ | ___ \ | | | || |__ ____ | | / / \ | | /\ /\ \ | | \ \ | | | || _ \ | _ \ | | \ \__/ | | | |_|| | | |__/ / | | | || | | || |_|| | | \___/|_| |_| |_| | ____/ |_| | || | | || |__ | |____________________ | | _ |__||_| |_|\____/ |________________________| | | |_| | | Lighting Your Apple II Path On Delphi | | |_| ----------------------------------- >>> WELCOME TO THE LAMP! <<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW Second in a Series by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W, L.S.W. Opus ][ Ships! by Mike Westerfield OPUS II OVERVIEW by Mike Westerfield ABOUT OPUS II by Mike Westerfield AND THE BEST OF THE A2 AND A2PRO MESSAGE BOARDS "Teaching the Apple II user how to fish since 1998" :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Lamp! An Onipa'a Software Production Vol. 3, No. 12 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Publisher................................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. Editor.....................................................Lyle Syverson Internet Email, Publisher.........................thelamp@sheppyware.net Internet Mail, Editor.............................. lyle@FoxValley.net :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ December 15, 2000 HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN] Opus II, an Outstanding Collection of Software THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW--------------------------------------------[LYN] by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W, L.S.W. OPUS II OVERVIEW------------------------------------------------------[OTO] by Mike Westerfield ABOUT OPUS II---------------------------------------------------------[AOT] by Mike Westerfield A2 DISTILLATIONS New Owner for Syndicomm------------------------------------------[NOS] A2Central.com Public Beta----------------------------------------[ACB] A2Central.com Launch Party---------------------------------------[CLP] A2Central.com Public Beta is Live--------------------------------[ACL] Silvern Castle Comments------------------------------------------[SCC] Silvern Castle v7.0----------------------------------------------[SCS] THE BlueDisk Controller Pro and Con------------------------------[BDC] X-10 Software----------------------------------------------------[XTS] X-10 Hardware----------------------------------------------------[XTH] Connecting a IIGS to a Lan Network With PCs----------------------[CTP] Ninjaforce Website Updates---------------------------------------[NWU] Shareware Solutions II - Cryptic Mode - ?------------------------[SCM] A2P DISTILLATIONS Opus ][ Ships!---------------------------------------------------[OII] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR No Letters to the Editor This Month------------------------------[NLE] An Invitation----------------------------------------------------[LTE] KFEST 2001 Keep it in Mind--------------------------------------------------[KFT] 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]. [OPN]------------------------------- HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER | ------------------------------------ From The Editor """"""""""""""" by Lyle Syverson Opus II, an Outstanding Collection of Software ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ November 21 was an a very special day. At 6:30 AM, High Above the Rock River, there was a simple scene of outstanding beauty. The trees on the eastern horizon were silhouetted against deep red... fading into white, then deep blue as your eyes searched higher and higher in the sky. The surface of the river, partly frozen, partly open, lit by reflection from the sky, revealed a very pretty design. Reading email, Delphi A2/A2P, and A2 usenet later that morning it was evident that Mike Westerfield had been busy. He announced that Opus II was shipping. A very impressive collection of software for the Apple II on a CD... and even the source code on a second CD. See Distillations from Delphi A2P and articles by Mike for details of this collection of software. [EOA] [LYN]------------------------------ THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW | ----------------------------------- SECOND IN A SERIES """""""""""""""""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W, L.S.W. [rsuenaga@sheppyware.net] APPLE IIE MODEM CABLE AND SUPER SERIAL CARD SETUP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last time we took a look at making up a modem cable to get the humble Apple IIc online. Now let's take a look at how to get the venerable Apple IIe online. VIVA LA DIFFERENCE! What distinguishes the IIe from the IIc and the IIgs """"""""""""""""""" is the fact that it lacks ports. It does have slots, like the IIgs, but it lacks the built in serial ports that the other Apple IIs of the post-][+ generation have. So the first thing you need to get is a serial interface--a Super Serial Card or equivalent. WHAT'S A SSC? The Super Serial Card (or SSC for short) was one of the """"""""""""" pieces of equipment that Apple allowed third parties to clone (I found it interesting--they were adamantly against cloning the actual computers until very late in the life span of the 8-bit Apple II, yet certain pieces of equipment--"Slinky" memory cards, IIe 64k/80 column auxiliary slot cards, 5.25 inch floppy disk drives and disk controllers, and Super Serial Cards--were cloned by dozens of companies). There are, consequently, lots of different makes of serial cards, almost all of which will work fine with your IIe. It just has to be placed in a slot and the two banks of DIP switches and the jumper set properly. JUMPING THROUGH DIPS What's this about DIP switches and jumpers? Well, """""""""""""""""""" the Super Serial Card comes with two banks of DIP switches and a jumper that must be set. Let's start with the DIP switches. There are two sets of seven switches each. As per the ProTERM 3.1 manual (as well as my personal experience), let's set these switches up like this: (ASCII art follows, for the visually impaired) ________________ ________________ | x x x x x x | | x x x x x x | | x | | x | |_______________| |_______________| (End ASCII art) Simply place all of the switches in the up position, except the very first and very last ones. In addition, there is also a jumper on the Super Serial Card that must be set properly for telecommunications use. It is rather different in appearance than most jumpers you see on printed circuit boards. It looks like this: (ASCII art follows, for the visually impaired) M O D E M _______________ | o\ | ^ | | / \ | | --- | |_______________| T E R M I N A L (End ASCII art) For telecommunications use, you'll want the arrow pointing at "MODEM". If you need to change it, you can easily remove it with a screwdriver. Be careful prying it up and work on both sides--there are 16 pins on that jumper! THE EASY PART Once you have your Super Serial Card set up, you'll need to """"""""""""" get a cable. The Super Serial Card has a DB 25 pin female connector attached to it; the vast majority of external modems also have DB 25 pin female connectors. The cable is the easiest of all--a straight through DB 25 to DB 25 male to male cable will work fine and dandy (although some telecommunications programs, such as Talk is Cheap, recommend a different cable). These can easily be had at large computer stores like CompUSA or even small mom and pop operations. THE END? Again, this isn't the end--just a small stop along the way. """""""" We'll keep doing whatever we can do to keep the Apple II alive in the 21st century! [EOA] ASCII ART BEGINS _________ _ _ _ |__ __| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |___ ____ | | _____ __ ___ _ _ _____ | | | | | ___ \ / __ \ | | /____ \ | v v | | v ___ \ | | | | | | | | | /__\ \ | | ____| | | /\ /\ | | / \ \ | | | | | | | | | _____| | | / ___ | | || || | | | | | |_| | | | | | | | |_____ | |____ | |__| | | || || | | \___/ / _ |_| |_| |_| \______| |______| \____^_| |_||_||_| | |\____/ |_| | | | | |_| ASCII ART ENDS [EOA] ------------------------------------ DISTILLATIONS FROM DELPHI A2 | ------------------------------------ by Lyle Syverson [NOS] NEW OWNER FOR SYNDICOMM """"""""""""""""""""""" ERIC "SHEPPY" SHEPHERD ACQUIRES SYNDICOMM November 14, 2000--After several weeks of discussion and planning, Eric Shepherd and Syndicomm have agreed that Eric Shepherd will take over the operation of Syndicomm, the company that managed the Apple II RoundTables on GEnie and the A2 and A2Pro forums on Delphi. There are no plans to alter the staffing for any current Syndicomm forum, and Dean Esmay and Gary Utter, the previous Syndicomm management, will continue to be involved in operations for the forseeable future. Effective immediately, the new Syndicomm, with Mr. Shepherd at the helm, takes over the day-to-day operations of A2Central.com. In addition, the upcoming online services being constructed at A2Central.com will be the first in what will hopefully be a number of online communities provided by Syndicomm. Dean Esmay, former president of Syndicomm, said, "I am terribly excited about our agreement with Eric Shepherd. Syndicomm has been languishing the last couple of years since we had to go back to work full-time, and we badly need a talented and committed individual to carry forward with the name. I know Sheppy's going to do a kick-butt job in taking Syndicomm into the 21st century." Eric Shepherd, owner of Syndicomm, added, "With the Syndicomm name and its fantastic, highly-experienced staff of volunteers, I expect A2Central.com to develop into the best place for Apple II users to meet online. I look forward to working with Syndicomm's existing staff--and with new staff being brought on board for our new services. It's an exciting time for Apple II users." (CINDYADAMS, 34025, GO COM A2) [EOA] [ACB] A2Central.com PUBLIC BETA """"""""""""""""""""""""" A2CENTRAL.COM ONLINE SERVICE PUBLIC BETA TO START DECEMBER 8, 2000 November 30, 2000--As the second millennium draws to a close, a new era is dawning for Apple II users online. A2Central.com, the popular web site and Apple II user group, will launch an open beta test of its new online service on Friday, December 8, 2000. The open beta test will consist of telnet access to our Real Time Conference area and our Bulletin Board system, with email service available at or shortly after launch. Access to A2Central.com's services will be free of charge during the month of December, 2000. File libraries will be added in the near future, as will web-based access to the service and other services. PRICING A Standard Account on A2Central.com, including access via both telnet and the web to the Real Time Conference area, the Bulletin Board, and email, will cost US $10 per month beginning January 1, 2001. An Enhanced Account, which includes all the features of the Standard Account plus a 10 MB personal web site and FTP access to upload files to your personal web site, will cost US $15 per month once available. The availability date for Enhanced Accounts has not been set at this time, but free upgrades from Standard Accounts to Enhanced Accounts will be available. To sign up for an A2Central.com account, please visit . A2Central.com will also offer business accounts for Apple II programmers and vendors. These will be available starting early in 2001. If you have questions about our planned services, please email { service@a2central.com} for additional information. Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd Editor, A2Central.com sheppy@a2central.com http://www.a2central.com (SHEPPY, 34252, GO COM A2) [EOA] [CLP] A2Central.com LAUNCH PARTY """""""""""""""""""""""""" A2CENTRAL.COM LAUNCH PARTY THURSDAY AT 9:00 PM PACIFIC TIME December 5, 2000 -- A2Central.com will open the virtual doors to its online service at 9:00 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, December 7 (midnight Eastern Standard Time). Syndicomm will have staff in the Real Time Conference rooms on A2Central.com to answer questions and chat, and will have at least one staff member in the A2 Forum chat room on Delphi to help with any connection problems that may arise. December is a no-charge public beta test period for the new A2Central.com online service, but you still have to sign up to get online! Visit { http://www.a2central.com/join} to sign up. People that sign up will receive email on Thursday, December 7, with helpful information about how to use the service and how to log on. (CINDYADAMS, 34301, GO COM A2) >>>> """" FREE A2CENTRAL.COM LAUNCH PARTY DOOR PRIZES December 6, 2000--As part of the A2Central.com launch party that will begin at 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, December 7, A2Central.com will give an A2Central.com mousepad to the first member to visit its Real Time Conference room 1, an A2Central.com T-shirt to the second member to visit the room, and a ComputerEyes GS card to the third member to visit the room. To attend the launch party, you must have an A2Central.com account. Access is free for the remainder of the month of December. Visit { http://www.a2central.com/join} and sign up today! Syndicomm and A2Central.com staff and their families are not eligible. (CINDYADAMS, 34303, GO COM A2) [EOA] [ACL] A2Central.com PUBLIC BETA IS LIVE """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" A2Central.com chat and message areas are online and doing quite well. (Editor's Comment) [EOA] [SCC] SILVERN CASTLE COMMENTS """"""""""""""""""""""" WEll, I am still using version 5.1. Progress report: Im moving smothly along having gotten stuck but then accidentaly discovered about going back up the stairs to otherwise closed off areas. So I have found passwords, solved two of three riddles. I havent had to pass the third riddle yet. I got by the beast. I think I have covered most everything (got all of it mapped) on the first seven levels, maybe more. I am proceeding on level 10. It is getting too tough for my relatively new characters. I may have to switch to the level 22 guys. I have found a place where you can really rake in the dough. Saving just renews the stash. Wow. Still going strong but I need to finish level 10. And parts of level 9 are not done. Bruce (BRB, 34053, GO COM A2) >>>>> """"" You'll want SC version 6.0 for the 3 dozen new items. I'm sending it to Howard Katz for release next week. I spent 3 intensive weeks testing, including creating 8 new parties from scratch to make sure everything works and that the playability factor is still intact. I think I've tuned Silvern to perfection (I'm a little biased). :) Yes, you are really doing good. Did you think finding the elevator key was too hard; I mean with all the riddles? Have you discovered the identify of the "ancient enemy" yet? I have found that (with SCv6.0) that one can take a party "as-is" all the way to level 8 without having to use the change class feature, although high-level NPC's can be tough with their high-powered devices. My test mages only have 30-40hp, and with good fighting technique these levels are not too bad, but one must not become careless. But you are right, level 10 is much tougher (how else are you going to challenge your high-level characters?). If you want a tougher challenge, don't worry, the third scenario is for expert-parties only! Was this on level 10? Well, that lair was supposed to be tough and worth the loot! Caution, some areas thoughout this scenario are just "teasers". You really can't get into them (some you can!). Maybe I should include a "master key" in a future scenario to open those doors? Perhaps new scenario gateways? Let me know what you think of the finish, Jeff Fink (FINKSTERJ, 34061, GO COM A2) >>>>> """"" For help on Silvern, email may be directed at: { finkjsc@yahoo.com} Take care, Jeff (FINKSTERJ, 34097, GO COM A2) [EOA] [SCS] SILVERN CASTLE v7.0 """""""""""""""""" Re: Silvern Castle v7.0 This update is due to be released in mid-December 2000. Here's the vitals: Bugs fixed: o Thanks to Bruce Baker for pointing out that a second scenario guardian was missing! o Using I)nfo now matches all the definitions set forth in the Tome of Knowledge "Equipment Notes" section. o Fixed possible error #107-5116 when using I)nfo. New Stuff: o AUTOMAP feature added! Press in the maze to see overhead view of the current level. Option included to save a standard Apple II hi-res picture for later printing with a paint program. o The Extra's menu also has an option to view and save pictures of any scenario level automap display without having to be in the maze. o 11 new items! o 4 new spells: L3 (M) coldray: cold version of fireball L6 (C) curmore: improved version of curmuch L6 (M) acidfog: does up to 64hp of acid damage to all groups L7 (W) deathray: improved STUN that affects one entire group o Improved monster spell immunity. Some monsters are now fire, cold, acid, electric, or energy-based, and are immune to similar attacks, although a fire-based monster will take double the damage from cold attacks, and vice-versa. Other improved immunities some monsters may have include sleep, fear, and reversed cure-condition spells. o Your characaters now have partial immunity to monster fear spell attacks (like sleep). o Chests may now hold more spells and potions. Also, most monster lairs now always have chests instead of special goodies. Stuff Changed: o Incapacitated characaters cured in combat no longer can do parry "special" actions in the same round. o Text mode maze support removed. o Cold-based devices now cast coldray incantations instead. o The Heat-Shield spell is now renamed as Breathe-Shield, and protects against all breathe attacks, regardless of type. o Initial identification of the opposing monsters is now more consistent based on your party's experience. o Called monsters now appear in the next round, not the same one (chance none will respond). At the start of the next round, a message will indicate how many monsters have joined the fight. o Monsters no longer will use cure-condition potions unless one of them has the affliction the potion cures. Enjoy, Jeff (FINKSTERJ, 34305, GO COM A2) >>>>> """"" Once again I have added more stuff to Silvern Caslte after releasing the final change list. The next update will be v7.0 (not v6.1), and it will be delayed until the end of December, 2000. Extra New Stuff in v7.0: o Also added spell RESISTANCE in addition to spell IMMUNITY (see previous change list). Resistance imparts partial immunity (i.e. half damage or lessoned affect). o Because chests now contain more stuff (see previous change list), except for dragon lairs, you will now usually find (90%) chests instead of lair special goodies on the deeper levels. Also, less animal-type lairs. o Changed the availability of enchanted equipment from commonplace to uncommon AND limited the maximum enchantment range. Rationale: Originally I made enchanted items commonplace (with a large range) as a catchall for monster's to be able to be equipped with armour and weapons to match their defined AC and damage ability, because I had no easy way to check that valid combinations were available. Now that I wrote a utility to validate each monster, I changed some monster definitions so that valid non-enchanted combinations of weapons and armour are now availalble. In consolation, chests now have a greater chance to contain lesser enchanted items. This strikes a better game balance, especially money from selling high-enchantment items. o New Extra's menu option: [4] Clear Enchanted Store Stock. This option removes all enchanted items from the store. This does not affect any enchanted items your characters possess. Extra Stuff Changed in v7.0: o Depending on level, greater chance for pups in dragon lairs. o When plants call, usually non-plants will now respond. o Double-checked all monsters, made the following changes: o All spirits are now incorporeal entities. o Generic monster-subtype creatures moved over to beast-subtype. o Added fiend-subtype for corporeal demons. o Moved some monster to correct subtype (i.e. manticore to beast). o Only NPCs and humanoid monsters are now equipped with weapons and armour. Rationale: Undead equipment is mostly in rough shape, and giant stuff is too large and crude to be usable. o Less chance to be drained more than one level at a time. o Instead of having each group outfitted with the same equipment and devices, each individual monster now is equipped with its own stuff. Item spoils are now listed with the exact monster it was found on. II Infinitum, Jeff Fink (FINKSTERJ, 34416, GO COM A2) [EOA] [BDC] THE BlueDisk CONTROLLER PRO AND CON """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Since it's yet to have been mentioned here, you should know there are both advantages and disadvantages concerning the BlueDisk controller: The obvious disadvantage is any floppy drive connected will require its own powersource (and likely external enclosure). This is ideal for IIgs motherboards re-installed in a generic PC towercase but gets a bit tricky for GS's still in their original cases. In that situtation you'll need to find a suitable external enclosure for the PC drive(s) and a 36-pin floppy cable long enough to reach between the two. Another disadvantage is the BlueDisk is only capable of accessing MFM formatted media--under no circumstance will you be able to read or write Apple 400K, 800K or 140K diskettes (GCR formatted). This problem is easily overcome by leaving your Apple 3.5 and 5.25 still attached to the IIgs backport for compatibility, though admittely I've done this with even the SuperDrive for despite its dual MFM/GCR compatibility, it doesn't always boot old software. Where the BlueDisk comes ahead is its ability to use most _any_ PC floppy drives which are dirt cheap and widely available (including the cabling to connect them to the BlueDisk card). You can connect PC 3.5 drives (720K, 1.44M, 2.88M) and PC 5.25 drives (360K, 1.2M). ProDOS and Macintosh diskettes formatted as 1.44MB are MFM, so they do not suffer any sort of incompatibility with the BlueDisk which is certainly a plus. You'd be able to share data with IIgs-SuperDrive, Mac and IBM PC users without any problems whatsoever. Mitchell Spector { spec@total.net} (SPECTOR1, 34149, GO COM A2) [EOA] [XTS] X-10 SOFTWARE """"""""""""" It's been a while since I posted this request, but I am still interested in playing with the stuff. I may have contacted you earlier in the year, not sure. However, if you have come across the stuff you said you might have I am still interested in it. Drop me a note at { snoopy@accessus.net.} And if you have information on how to get ahold of the guy named Art perhaps I could get in touch with him. Thanks again. Steve (SJACOBER, 34254, GO COM A2) >>>>> """"" Steve, You're in luck, I'm the guy named Art :) AND I was getting ready to reclassify my X-10 software from shareware to freeware in January. Contact me at artcough@concentric.net and I'll see about getting a copy of the X10NDA stuff to you. The entire X-10 Survival kit will be available free once I get my web page up (February, if I get my lazy butt in gear), as well as the rest of my IIgs software, a couple of Mac Applescripts and screen shots from my home control program. I need to make some changes to the docs to reflect freeware status and changed email address, as well as fixing some minor cosmetic bugs. (This message has also been sent to snoopy@accessus.net as requested). Art (ART_COUGHLIN, 34267, GO COM A2) [EOA] [XTH] X-10 HARDWARE """"""""""""" As pointed out in the earlier postings a good source for education on the X10 hardware systems is smarthome.com. I am intending to play with a wireless interface called the "Firecracker". Apparently the normal interface into the house wiring (which is what carries the control signal throughout the house) is with an interface unit that attaches to a serial port on the computer and then into a wall outlet to provide a physical connection to the house wiring. The Firecracker does not physically plug into the wall. It connects to the serial port and then, by way of a wireless RF signal, sends the control signals to a module that plugs into the wall which in turn puts the control signal into the house wiring. According to what I have read it seems possible that software that works with the physical interface should work with the Firecracker. I am figuring on giving it a try. The Firecracker unit is apparently not available at smarthome, but is available at x10.com. The converter cable is not available at x10, but is available at smarthome. The Firecracker is a DB9 set up and the GS is a MiniDin 8. The cable is about $10.00 and converts from DB9 to MiniDin 8. The unit is supposed to have pass-through capability, as it has two DB9 connections. Plan to try to get this thing up and going shortly and use it to control some of the outside Christmas lights. It would sure beat bundling up and running outside in the snow/rain/sleet/cold to unplug the cords at night. Obviously a considerable amount of weatherproofing the outside units will have to be done. I'll let you all know how it goes. Steve (SJACOBER, 34304, GO COM A2) [EOA] [CTP] CONNECTING A IIGS TO A LAN NETWORK WITH PCs """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > Is it possible to connect an apple IIgs to a lan network of two pcs? Yes, it is much easier now then it was a few months ago. The LANceGS ethernet card (see { http://lancegs.a2central.com/} for more information except that the address isn't working at this moment, but I'm sure that will be fixed soon) is the easiest way to get the Apple to communicate with the PC. Software on the Apple IIgs side is very limited--at best, all you can do is use ftp which means you need to set up a FTP server on the PC so the two machines can transfer files. { http://www.tucows.com/} should help you find a FTP server. Geoff (SISGEOFF, 34352, GO COM A2) [EOA] [NWU] NINJAFORCE WEBSITE UPDATES """""""""""""""""""""""""" December 11, 2000 IIGS Demo Scene reviewed What is the major difference of the Apple IIGS to its predecessors? Graphics and Sound, of course! It is Christmas time, a time when we become contemplative and think of the past. Join us at { http://www.ninjaforce.com} while we take a special look at the Apple IIGS demoscene. And don't forget to vote for your favourite demos! -- Jesse Blue / Ninjaforce E-MAIL: { jesseblue@ninjaforce.com} ICQ: 8895643 WWW: { http://www.ninjaforce.com} (JESSEBLUE, 34376, GO COM A2) >>>>> """"" December 14, 2000 NFC DemoDrive available for download For emulator users, there is now a special NFC demo hard drive image available. It combines the Revenge of the Bobs Demo, the Megademo, and the Megademo "Mekka/Symposium '97 special edition" on one easy to use bootable image file. Just go to: { http://www.ninjaforce.com} -- Jesse Blue / Ninjaforce E-MAIL: { jesseblue@ninjaforce.com} ICQ: 8895643 WWW: { http://www.ninjaforce.com} (JESSEBLUE, 34419, GO COM A2) [EOA] [SCM] SHAREWARE SOLUTIONS II - CRYPTIC MODE - ? """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" You just never know, until you check out the Shareware Solutions II online store, just what type of new or discounted products might be offered to folks on a whim. In other words, if you like surprises or even, for that matter, low cost Apple IIGS products, it might behoove you to access the following URL: http://order.kagi.com/?zs3 Joe Kohn http://users.foxvalley.net/~joko (JOE_KOHN, 34420, GO COM A2) >>>>> """"" >> cryptic mode Hmmm. Let's try that again... On a whim, I made each of the two Resource-Central hypermedia CDs available yesterday on my Kagi site for $25. It's not often that someone knocks $75 off the price of a product, but on a whim, that's exactly what I did. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow or the next day and say to myself, "my gosh, what have you done?" I dunno. IOW, I'm not quite sure if this is a holiday sale, or a present, or a permanent price drop, or temporary insanity, or what? ;-) So, to quote the late-great Janis Joplin, "Get it while you can." Joe Kohn http://users.foxvalley.net/~joko (JOE_KOHN, 34430, GO COM A2) [EOA] ------------------------------------ DISTILLATIONS FROM DELPHI A2P | ------------------------------------ by Lyle Syverson [OII] Opus ][ Ships! """""""""""""" ** OPUS ][ ** * $1,680.00 worth of software * 35 commercial applications * 16 unreleased applications * Over a million lines of source * 2 commercial applications no longer in print * 9 unreleased upgrades, including ORCA/C and ORCA/Pascal * Over 50 user contributed programs, most with source The Byte Works, Inc. announced a collection of every Apple II program ever released on the Byte Works label, along with source code for all of the programs that were developed at the Byte Works! This must-have collection includes all of the famous ORCA languages, including the ORCA/M macro assembler, and compilers for C, Pascal, Integer BASIC and Modula-2. All of the support programs and courses are there to round out your development collection. You get the Quick Click spreadsheet, morph program, and movie player, too! Every program is included in three formats: Disk images you can move to 800K floppy disks, a ProDOS disk image for use with emulators, and an HFS folder that's directly accessible from any computer that reads HFS disks, including the Apple IIGS with System 6.0.1 and the HFS driver, as well as the Macintosh. The documentation is there, too. Much of it has been reformatted specifically for this release! Each of the 35 book length manuals is included in four different formats: Microsoft Word 98, PDF, RTF and ASCII. You can load, search, print or even annotate all 35 manuals! For complete information, see our web site at { http://www.byteworks.org}. If you have any questions at all, drop us a line at MikeW50@AOL.COM or phone (505) 898-8183. (BYTEWORKS, 3229, GO COM A2P) [EOA] [OTO] ----------------------------------- OPUS II OVERVIEW | ----------------------------------- by Mike Westerfield MikeW50@AOL.COM The Opus ][ collection appears on two CDs that can be purchased individually or as a collection. The CDs are in Macintosh HFS format, which also works on properly equipped Apple IIGS computers running System 6.0.1 and the HFS FST. You can access the files from Windows machines if you have software that allows access to Macintosh format disks. The software CD contains the most recent release of every commercial application published for the Apple ][ and Apple IIGS platforms by the Byte Works, Inc. Both the programs and the documentation are included. The programs exist in three forms. 1. Disk Images This folder contains ShrinkWrap disk images, which are compatible with Apple IIGS emulators like Bernie, as well as with ShrinkWrap and DiskCopy. These programs can create 800K disk images that you can carry to an Apple IIGS or Apple II that have an 800K floppy disk drive. There is one important caveat about creating floppy disk images. Apple changed the type of drive used in Macintosh computers, and eventually dropped the floppy drive altogether. The external add-on drives I've tested for USB equipped Macintosh computers will not create 800K floppy images at all. The recent Macintosh drives will not format a disk properly for an 800K Apple IIGS drive. If the disk images you create don't work on an Apple IIGS, you'll need to find an older Macintosh, put a CD drive on the Apple IIGS, or format the floppy disk on the Apple IIGS, then copy the files on a file-by-file basis from the disk image to the floppy disk using the Macintosh Finder, which can mount both the disk images and the Apple IIGS floppy. Strange as it seems, the recent Macintosh computers that still have floppy disk drives are perfectly capable of copying files to an Apple IIGS disk, they just can't create a full disk image. 2. ByteWorks This folder has all of the software. It is preinstalled, ready to run on an Apple IIGS that has a CD-ROM drive. You'll get better performance, though, if you copy the contents of the folder to the root directory of a ProDOS format hard drive. You can also access all of the files from a Macintosh or properly equipped Windows machine. 3. For Emulators This folder has a 32M disk image designed for use with Macintosh Apple IIGS emulators like Bernie. It may work with other emulators as well, but I haven't tried it. The files are identical to those in the ByteWorks folder, but dragging this 32M image to your emulator folder is considerably easier than dealing with the ByteWorks folder. The Documentation folder contains all of the documentation for the commercial products. It's available in four different formats. 1. Word All of our recent documentation was created in Microsoft Word. All of the documentation has been moved to Microsoft Word 98 for the Macintosh, checked, and when necessary, reformatted. You will find some differences between the documentation in this folder and our printed documentation, especially for older programs. That's because changes in fonts, Microsoft Word itself, and printers occasionally forced me to reformat the documentation. For the really old stuff, Microsoft Word would not read the original files, so I had to recover the ASCII and completely redo the formatting. For the truly ancient stuff, including most of the 8 bit software, I didn't have any files at all, or the ones I had could not be read on any equipment I still own. Small-C is a good example. For these programs, we used OCR software to convert the documents to ASCII, then redid the formatting. Watch for typographical errors in those older documents, especially in source code. 2. PDF All of the documents were converted to PDF format using Acrobat Distiller. Use this format if you want to print a physical copy of the documentation. Most copy shops can print PDF files on 3 hole notebook paper. 3. RTF All of the documentation was saved from Microsoft Word in RTF format. This is a text interchange format that most text editors can load. It preserves most of the formatting. Use this format if you are trying to read the documentation online, you don't have Microsoft Word, and you do have an editor that recognizes RTF. 4. ASCII If all else fails, there are the raw ASCII files. You loose all formatting and all figures, but at least the words are still there. ASCII documentation can be read with practically anything, even the ORCA programming language editors. The source CD has the source code for all of the programs on the software CD that were developed at the Byte Works, Inc. It also has the unpublished programs, including some that were never completed. The uncompleted programs do not appear on the software CD. Some of the software, like QCCalc, appears in individual folders. All of the ORCA related software is collected in the ORCA folder. The ORCA languages shared many common components, like the shell, linker and editor, so it didn't make sense to break these up by product. Bonus contains the source code for all of the unpublished programs, while Beta has the source code for commercial programs like the C compiler that were updated after the last commercial release. These beta versions are the ones I actually use, although they have not been run through the complete test cycle I used for commercial releases. The test suites for ORCA/C and ORCA/M are included with the languages. The tests for ORCA/Pascal were based on a commercially available ISO Pascal test suite, so I could not put them on the CD. [AOT] ----------------------------------- ABOUT OPUS II | ----------------------------------- by Mike Westerfield MikeW50@AOL.COM I've known and loved the Apple ][ for over two decades. I sold my only car, a fun little two seat convertible, to buy my first Apple ][ computer. So it's both with sadness and nostalgia that I type the introduction to what will surely be my last significant contribution to the Apple ][. It's been a good ride, though, and the fact that I won't be able to do more projects doesn't mean that any of us will stop enjoying this wonderful platform! This opus is both a useful software collection and a history tour. It starts with Crypto, the first program ever published by the Byte Works. I did this product more to learn how to publish a program than out of any hope for commercial success, and I got what I expected. ORCA/M started as a summer project in 1979. I couldn't find an assembler that was worth 2 cents, and a friend and mentor talked me into writing one of my own. Stupidly, I didn't see why the full-blown IBM 360 macro assembler would not work on an Apple ][, so I wrote one very much like it. That original version was published for DOS 3.3 by Hayden Software. It's ProDOS successor appears on this collection as II-03, and was the assembler Apple chose to become the standard development environment for the Apple IIGS. The Apple IIGS version is also on this CD as GS-04. In various versions it was published by us under the ORCA label and by Apple as APW (Apple Programmer's Workshop). My educational background is in Physics, not computer science. For the youngsters in the crown, you need to keep in mind that, while it's not normal, it's also not uncommon for programmers in their 40's to have started in another field. Incredible as it seems, the Air Force Academy didn't even have a separate department for CS when I attended it was lumped in with the Astronautics Department. Maybe it still is. In any case, my official training in CS amounts to a 3 semester hour course in introductory programming using Algol. Writing the assembler whetted my appetite, though, and I hit the books. My first attempt at a compiler was an implementation of Pascal on the 8 bit Apple ][. It was a failure; it just wouldn't fit. I tried again on the Apple IIGS, creating ORCA/Pascal and then ORCA/C. While you will find some warts in both if you dig through the source, I'm still pretty proud of them. Considering the budget and number of people involved, I'm still rather amazed at what we accomplished. To this day, I have never used an implementation of Pascal I like better. Some of the environments are better now, and the generated code is often quite good, but the implementation of the language itself is as good in ORCA/Pascal as it is anywhere. I'd stack it up against the offering from Metrowerks or Microsoft in a microsecond. In all of my languages, I tried to observe existing standards or establish new ones, and I succeeded in ORCA/C to an extent that actually annoyed people! ORCA/C is so ANSI compatible that one member of the standards committee used it to vet programs that used common extensions that ORCA/C would flag as errors or choke on. Even I relented, though. By the release on this CD, you can use // comments and a few other common extensions, although you can also turn the extensions off if you want. ORCA/M, ORCA/Pascal and ORCA/C formed the core for our development tools, but there were many additional products. ORCA/Modula-2 joined the list of full-blown languages. It is also the only language written by an outside author, Peter Easdown of Australia. Our biggest problem in bringing this product to market was not communication or logistics, but transferring royalties from US dollars to Australian dollars! This collection of languages has one feature that is probably not unique, but I can't name another system that duplicates it. All of these languages share a common set of run-time libraries, not just a common environment. That doesn't just mean that they can coexist, although that in itself is pretty unusual. You can write a program that has parts written in each of the languages, and the program will work just fine. Parameters will be passed, arrays can be accessed across languages, records and structs are compatible, and so forth. The (possibly) unique part is that the libraries are really the same at the lowest level. You can begin printing some text in one language and finish printing in another and it all works smoothly. And that's just one of the many examples of the libraries working together. Other languages include Integer BASIC, a toy compiler I wrote to demonstrate how to install languages in ORCA; GSoft BASIC, a pretty cool BASIC interpreter that runs under either the ORCA environment or from the Finder; and two versions of Logo, one stand-alone and one that is a scripting language for HyperStudio. There is also one incomplete language on the source CD. Pilot is another toy language that I started to show people how to install interpreters under the ORCA environment. It's not complete, but it is far enough along to execute many Pilot programs. ORCA/C was also translated to run on MPW for use with the MPW IIGS cross development tools; that's the only Macintosh program you'll find on the CD. We added several support products for the 8 bit version of ORCA/M, including Small-C, which is available for the first time in years on this CD; floating point libraries; a simple debugger; and the source code for the subroutine libraries. While open source is a fad today, making the source code for even the run-time libraries of a commercial product available for general sale was a pretty unusual move when we first did it, but we've done it with every product we ever released. In those days it was more common for a company to try to charge royalties for using the libraries in commercial programs! Four of our programming add-ons for the Apple IIGS were created by outside authors. Design Master was, in it's day, a very cool precursor to today's RAD environments. ORCA/Disassembler was one of the few products that ever surprised me by selling far more copies than I expected. We did three or four print runs on that one. Talking Tools relies on a speech engine written by an outside company, and the support materials were written by Barbara Allred after she left the Byte Works. One of our most recent additions is Marinetti, an implementation of TCP/IP for the Apple IIGS, which we released as a Byte Works product so people would have a reliable place to come for the printed documentation. It's also available free online, of course. ORCA/Debugger is a source-level debugger for high-level languages. There is another debugger in the desktop development environment, but it is limited to 640 mode graphics and desktop applications, NBAs, and text programs that are simple enough to use the shell window. I wanted a debugger that could debug anything. I'd been trying to get outside authors to write one for quite some time, and finally gave up and wrote my own. Within a few weeks, one of the aborted outside projects got going again, resulting in a competing debugger. Geeze, if they had let me know, I would have left the field clear for them! Anyway, the result was two debuggers, each basically strong products with their own strong and weak points. Merlin was the clear favorite for assembly language programmers on the 8 bit Apple. We were fighting that market hold, eventually winning on the Apple IIGS. Merlin to ORCA was a source code translator that we used to help convert Merlin fans to the ORCA fold. Roger Wagner, publisher of Merlin and a future business partner, called me after it's release to point out what he considered a pun in a review: The title was "Merlin In, ORCA Out." I don't get it. Merlin to ORCA was based on another source translator that we gave away free, so it never appeared in any literature. Edasm to ORCA translates from Apple's stock 8 bit assembler to ORCA/M. I wrote it in hopes of convincing Apple to switch to ORCA/M. I never dreamed how well it would work. At my first meeting with Apple to explore ideas that eventually led to APW, one of their project leaders brought up the point that they had a lot of source in Edasm that would be tough to convert. I think he was leading up to asking me to change the syntax of ORCA/M. Before he finished, I popped my briefcase open, pulled out the Edasm to ORCA disk, and slid it across the table to him. I told him it was a gift; the source code was there and they could do whatever they wanted with it. He grinned, and dropped the whole line of argument. Edasm to ORCA appears on the CD as well. By the time Merlin to ORCA came out, though, I'd realized one of the dirty little secrets of marketing: Most people won't attach any more value to a product than you do. If you give it away, they think it's worthless. We charged for Merlin to ORCA in part so people would take it seriously. As a result, it actually got the review Roger called me about. Utility Pac #1 is a collection of shell utilities. It never sold well, so there was never a Utility Pac #2, although you'll find several cool utilities on the CD that would have been in that package had it ever been released. The lack of a market didn't stop us from developing several utilities for our own use! You'll find all but one that later became a built-in command on the software CD, and the source for all of them on the source CD at /Source/Bonus/Utilities. Apple continued to create great additions to the System software as the Apple IIGS waned. I urged them to collect the material and create a fourth volume to the toolbox reference series. They declined, partly because Addison-Wesley was no longer interested and partly because some of the engineers didn't think the changes were extensive enough to justify a new volume. I convinced them to let me create the volume from tech notes, with Apple Engineers editing the final draft. The 468 page result convinced even the skeptics that there was enough material, so they let me do a 50 page addition for System 6.0.1. The result is Programmer's Reference for System 6.0 and 6.0.1, the volume that would have been Apple IIGS Toolbox Reference, Volume 4 if Addison Wesley had been interested. One of our most significant contributions to Apple IIGS programming was not actually a development tool. Our series of programming courses gave Apple IIGS fans entry level books that were tailored to the Apple IIGS. As far as I know, the books in the Learn to Program series are the only entry level books created specifically for the Apple IIGS market. I'm not aware of any others that used a high-level language, and the assembly language books were really all transition books targeted at skilled 6502 programmers. The companion Toolbox Programming series is still the best way to learn the toolbox. Both are available for ORCA/Pascal and ORCA/C, and the learn to program course is also available for GSoft BASIC. All are on the CD. Even if you don't need the courses, the 11 disks of source code are a valuable reference. Many of my later programs started by copying the files from one of the toolbox examples into a folder and munging the source to fit the new design. We were always known for our programming tools, but we made several forays into other markets, too. There is Byte Paint on the 8 bit Apple ][ side, which is partly a mouse driven paint program and partly an amper package for Applesoft programmers; and Voyager, a product that is like opera music: more satisfying for the author or performer than the audience. We tried the education market briefly on the Apple IIGS with the Ugly Duckling Talking Storybook, but McMillan showed up at the same AppleFest where we announced with a series of two similar programs. Who knows what would have happened if we'd been six months earlier. Our last serious effort was the Quick Click programming series. Calc is a pretty cool graphing spreadsheet. Morph was an attempt to cash in on a trend in graphics software that was sweeping the computer world; it's actually a lot of fun to play with, but it is painfully slow on an Apple IIGS. There was a third program in the series called Draw, which was intended as a simple CAD program like the one in AppleWorks GS. Had the market held up, the intent was to fill out the product line with paint, word processing and database programs, then tie them together with a multi-Finder-like switcher. Draw supports some pretty cool features, like the ability to rotate all of its objects to arbitrary angles. I was working on the printing commands, with just text, layers and libraries left when I started to talk about it online to make sure I wasn't missing any little tweaks that folks would really want. The basic message I got was, if it wasn't AutoCAD on the GS, forget it. I ended up canning the project a few weeks before completion. I still wonder from time to time if I should have finished the project. You'll find a few other noncommercial creations on the source CD. There is a copy of the executables for the first version of APW, along with a GS version of Small-C and LINKED, the scripting linker we wrote for Apple. Apple insisted we write it in Small-C; the linker I later wrote for ORCA was in assembly language. There is also an electronic version of the Sky and Telescope planet finder, an SHR screen dump utility and a quick little debug break utility. Finally, you'll find one complete application. It's a program switcher written for System Disk 3.2, the very first one ever written. I was trying to find another publisher to release it because I knew by then that my expertise was in writing, not marketing. I thought I had a deal with two different companies, but both deals foundered. Incidentally, there were strong forces within Apple that disapproved of this program: They actually didn't want people to see this sort of application on the Apple IIGS! So it's all here, pretty much everything I ever wrote or published on the Apple ][ that was worth saving and wasn't published by another company. It's been a lot of things for me, including a livelihood for a number of years, an education, and an avocation. I hope you get some enjoyment out of this collection. I certainly got a lot of enjoyment from creating it! Mike Westerfield Albuquerque, New Mexico November 2000 ------------------------------------ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | ------------------------------------ [NLE] NO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THIS MONTH """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" The mail box for Letters to the Editor remained empty this month. [EOA] [LTE] AN INVITATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Express your opinions about the comings and goings in the world of the Apple II computers. Send your comments to Lyle Syverson, Editor The Editor reserves the right to edit any material submitted. The Editor reserves the right to reject any material he considers unsuitable for publication in _The Lamp!_. [EOA] [KFT] KFest 2001 """""""""" Plan Ahead ~~~~~~~~~~ KFest 2001 is set for July 25-29 (early arrivals on July 24) at Avila College. Put it on your calender and start saving your money. You will be glad you did. [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 2000 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. All rights reserved. * To reach The Lamp! on Internet email send mail to thelamp@sheppyware.net * Back issues of The Lamp! are available in the II Scribe Forum on Delphi as well as The Lamp! Home Page, http://lamp.sheppyware.net. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Delphi Online Services, Syndicomm, Inc., Ryan M. Suenaga, or Lyle Syverson. Forum messages are reprinted verbatim and are included in this publication with permission from the individual authors. Delphi Online Services, Syndicomm, Inc., Ryan M. Suenaga, and Lyle Syverson 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]