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GEnieLamp Apple II - Vol.3, Issue 24
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~ WELCOME TO GEnieLamp APPLE II! ~
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ POLISHING GREEN APPLES: Hooked on Storage, Part 1 ~
~ TECH TALK: Apple II Hybrids and File Transfer ~
~ PROFILES: HangTime Talks About HyperCard IIgs ~
~ DR'S EXAMINING TABLE: Xenocide Review ~
~ APPLE II HISTORY: Part 20/21a, Magazines ~
~ HOT NEWS, HOT FILES, HOT MESSAGES ~
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
GEnieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.3, Issue 24
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Editor....................................................Douglas Cuff
Publisher.............................................John F. Peters
Copy-Editor...........................................Bruce Maples
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>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE II ROUNDTABLE? <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ March 1, 1994 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY]
Notes From The Editor. Is That A Letter For Me?
REFLECTIONS ............. [REF] BEGINNER'S CORNER ....... [BEG]
Shared Long Distance Billing. Polishing Green Apples.
TECH TALK ............... [TEC] CowTOONS! ............... [MOO]
Apple II Hybrids and Transfer. Career Cows.
DR'S EXAMINING TABLE .... [DRT] PROFILES ................ [PRO]
Golden Oldie Review: Xenocide. HyperCard IIgs (via HangTime).
PAL NEWSLETTER .......... [PAL] APPLE II ................ [AII]
March 1994 Report. History Part 20/21a: Magazines.
LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
GEnieLamp Information.
[IDX]"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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//////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ /
/ "My brother tells the story of a student who walked /
/ into the computer lab, pulled a 5.25 disk out of his /
/ hip pocket, unfolded it, straightened out the wrinkles /
/ as best he could, stuck it in a drive, and proceeded to /
/ read the Appleworks files he had stored on it as if /
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/ was. :)" /
/ /
//////////////////////////////////////////// GARY.UTTER ////
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Douglas Cuff
[EDITOR.A2]
>>> THE BUTTERFLIES EMERGE <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
As our collective world grows smaller, so do our individual worlds.
We're "cocooning" -- a word dreamed up to legitimize lethargy and apathy by
making them appear to be family values.
This tendency to laud emotional detachment has made me even more
grateful to be part of the Apple II community than ever (limited gene pool
or not). Our community seems to be peopled by those who have emerged from
their cocoons as butterflies -- butterflies, moreover, who have no idea how
much color they bring to the lives of others. I won't go so far as to
claim that you can be sure that everyone that's using an Apple II has never
burned down an orphanage, but we seem to have more than our fair share of
caring individuals, and less than our fair share of ivory-skulled zealots.
Of course, it is a personal incident that prompts this observation:
Recently, my copy of _II Alive_ failed to arrive. Larvae that I am, this
would have been distressing enough for me as a subscriber, but the issue in
question was my professional debut. (At last count, it was my fifth
professional debut.) That is to say, I had contributed a few bijoux to the
journal in question, and desperately needed my own copy, if only to bring a
smile to the faces of my parents. As the publisher had distributed its
entire print run to the clamouring hordes, it seemed future employers were
going to have to take my word that I had indeed written for _II Alive_.
This moving drama swiftly reached a happy ending by the simple
expedient of visiting GEnie's A2 RoundTable and pleading for a spare copy.
"Top prices paid!" I yelled from the sidewalks up to the upper-floor
apartments.
The echoes had scarcely faded when Rich Hare from Michigan had his
spare copy in the post. The cost of posting the magazine from Michigan
across the Canada-U.S. border was scandalously high given the distance
travelled, but Mr Hare cheerfully offered to eat the postage costs.
Cheerfully, mind you. Not grudgingly; blithely. Despite the fact
that I've never met Rich Hare. I have, to be sure, occasionally seen the
ASCII bunny-head with which he signs his messages here on GEnie and on
CompuServe, but that's the extent of it.
As an incident, it's probably not sufficiently remarkable to be the
subject of an editorial. But it's not the first time such a thing has
happened -- heck, it's not even the first time such a thing has happened to
me! Sara Groves, Hal Shapiro, Terry Steeper, and heaven knows how many
others have rushed to my rescue over the years.
Apple II people seem to consider a day lost during which they do not
practice at least one random act of senseless kindness. Harold Hislop's
recent arrival on the A2 RoundTable just seems to underline the sense of
community... hardly a day goes by when Mr Hislop doesn't tell some poor
caterpillar about to be crushed under the bootheels of indifference, "If
nothing else works, send your hardware to me. You pay the postage costs,
and I'll try to fix it." (I'm beginning to think the man gave up sleep at
the tender age of 8.) Mr Hislop is not the patron saint of the Apple II,
but it's only because there are too many other contenders.
It's not so unusual for computer users to care about their computers
-- if you don't believe me, disparage someone else's computer platform --
but those who own Apple II computers seem to care about the computer
owners. Even those who have little are willing to share what they have.
Someone who uses a program sees a way to improve it -- and before you know
it, that someone has taken over support for the program. People actually
*volunteer* for workloads that seem destined to cause burnout, brownouts,
blackouts, and knockouts.
The first time a complete stranger went considerably out of her way
to do me a favor, I thanked her until it became positively fulsome. I
expressed my hope that I could pay her back one day. While the
conversation that follows comes from Robert A. Heinlein's book, _Job_, it
could almost be the conversation that we had that day:
"...I'll make you a deal. You take me to dinner but I
lend you the money."
"I'm a poor risk."
"Nope, you're a good risk. What the bankers call a
character loan, the very best risk there is. Sometime, this
coming year, or maybe twenty years from now, you'll run
across another young couple, broke and hungry. You'll but
them dinner on the same terms. That pays me back. Then when
they do the same, down the line, that pays you back. Get
it?"
"I'll pay you back sevenfold!"
"Once is enough. After that you do it for your own
pleasure. Come on, let's eat."
It's because of our sense of community that the Apple II gentlefolk
will enjoy a summer conference in Kansas City, Kansas this July. It
promises to be quite a banquet. Or didn't you know that the attraction of
dinner parties was meant to be the conversation, not the bill of fare?
-- Doug Cuff
GEnie Mail: EDITOR.A2 Internet: editor.a2@genie.geis.com
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''''''''
ASCII Art by Susie Oviatt
[SUSIE]
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Douglas Cuff
[EDITOR.A2]
o BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS
o A2 POT-POURRI
o HOT TOPICS
o WHAT'S NEW
o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT
>>> A2 POT-POURRI <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""
FREE UPDATES STILL VALID As I said, I'd let you know how upgading a ROM
"""""""""""""""""""""""" 00 GS to a ROM 01 went.
In a word "SLICK".
Took it to a small Authorized Apple dealership in Rocklin CA (just
north of Sacramento) where I had purchased my first Apple system (a II+)
and also purchased my first IIGS system. I went in, walked through all the
Quadra's & Centra's etc. to the service counter and timidly asked if they
could possibly update my IIGS.
The fellow says "got a ROM 00 there, huh?' (pops off the top and says
"yup, you need the upgrade - it'll take just a few minutes until someone is
free to do it". He then went on to tell me what a great machine he thought
the GS was. In about 20 minutes I was out of there with an invoice marked
"warranty repair - no charge".
Where, but in the "Apple II World", can you get a warranty like that?!
Again, THANKS ! to all who informed me about the free update.
(D.HEYES1, CAT12, TOP5, MSG:508/M645;1)
>>>>> I called Apple today (800-SOS-APPL) to ask about the IIc upgrade
""""" for unidisk and modem compatability. The person I spoke to was
polite, but said the program was over a long time ago. I insisted he check
with a supervisor, he returned by saying, "...I like when people like you
call. I learn something new. The authorization number is _ODL660_."
Keith (K.SAGALOW, CAT26, TOP3, MSG:109/M645;1)
THE INTERNET/APPLE II GRIND SITE > How's grind iowa doing toward that
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > goal? Like how many MB are you up to?
Well, Steve Nelson (the Apple II FTP admin) is trying to get a
replacement unit because the drive they have now was coughing up bad blocks
to the tune of a couple hundred a day. It seems to have settled down now,
but he's not taking any chances. I have no idea how much is on the drive
right now, but he is mirroring at least three other Apple II sites to build
up the file collection. He is investigating the possibility of creating
accounts for off-site volunteers to aid in the maintenance of the archive.
BTW, for those who don't know what the "grind" site is, here's some
background info. Last year, a few people on the Internet decided it would
be nice to have a single, comprehensive FTP site for Apple II files. A
call was put out on the net for donations to buy a 1-gigabyte drive to
house the archive. While that was going on, the CS students association at
the University of Iowa agreed to donate their resources to maintain the
site (thus the address grind.isca.uiowa.edu). Eventually, we collected over
$1200 in donations. Hard drive prices had been dropping the whole time,
and now we found we could afford a nice 1.7-gigabyte drive.
The idea is to press a CD-ROM for every 500 megabytes of files on the
site. This could then be sold for a nominal cost and the funds put back
into running the site and pressing more CD's. The grind site, like most
FTP sites, is run by volunteers who have a desire to see the project
succeed. It only recently got off the ground (the HD was installed over
Christmas), so things are still a bit disorganized, but it'll straighten
itself out soon.
-----|----- Sent by CoPilot (beta)
*>=====[_]L) for ANSITerm 2.1
-'-`-
(B.TAO, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:180/M645;1)
IS THIS A VIRUS? The last couple of days I've had a problem show up in
"""""""""""""""" Co-Pilot, AWGS, and AppleWorks. I'll be working merrily
along and I'll look up at my screen, and there it will say "Welcome
Datacomp". Anyone know where this is coming from? Anyone know how I can
get rid of it?
Harold, this could be part of [one of the] problems I have E-mailed
you about [with your init]
(EW.CHRISTIAN, CAT12, TOP16, MSG:32/M645;1)
>>>>> That's a strange one, never heard of it, seen it, or anything else.
""""" No idea how to get rid of it. (yep it just might be causing
problems with my extended keyboard init...)
-Harold (H.HISLOP, CAT12, TOP16, MSG:33/M645;1)
>>>>> I haven't seen a "new" Apple II virus in a long, long time. Most
""""" of the original viruses were 5.25" disk-based and did numerous bad
things. Some of the nastier ones (according to The Exorciser's
documentation):
CyberAIDS (circa 1988) - can destroy the data on all connected drives by
erasing the root directory and bit map. This was spread via
"SYS" files in the root directory.
Festering Hate (1988) - advanced version of CyberAIDS that attaches itself
to "SYS" files in ALL folders, not just the root directory.
Lode Runner (1988) - destroys data on any connected drives when a certain
month/day/minute combination occurs. Spread via the boot blocks
of non-5.25" disks.
Blackout (1988?) - messes with the IIgs battery RAM making your IIgs look
dead even though it's perfectly fine. This one has been talked
about recently in the A2 BB.
You won't find any of these viruses on files in the A2 library. I
run every file through 2 virus checkers and I check executable files (SYS,
S16, TIF, PIF, NDA, CDA, ...) for suspicious disk access calls. To date, I
have found exactly one problem file and it has been deleted. You have to be
careful when downloading programs from local "pirate" BBSs that carry
illegal copies of copyrighted software. In the past, hackers would crack
software (remove the copy protection), install the virus, and upload it to
every local BBS they could find. There's really not much to worry about
nowadays because the hackers have moved on to more lucrative platforms (PC,
Mac, etc.) There's just not enough satisfaction (if you can call it that)
in planting a virus that relatively few people will ever see. Wow! Did I
really have to be that verbose? Probably not, but you asked :)
Tony Ward [via GEM 4.21/PT 3.1]
(A2.TONY, CAT12, TOP16, MSG:44/M645;1)
TWILIGHT II PASSWORD? Yeah, we're considering a password feature for the
""""""""""""""""""""" next version.. In the meantime, here's a little
known trick you can use (but you'll have to do it every time..) with caps
lock lock: after the screen blanks, hit caps lock, then hit shift-clear.
the screen will not be able to be unblanked until shift-clear is hit again
(to reactivate T2).
<<Jim (DIGISOFT, CAT13, TOP30, MSG:155/M645;1)
HFS FST CHOKES ON DISKS? Is there a new HFS format around? I just bought
"""""""""""""""""""""""" the Mac Quadra 840 AV, and it won't read HFS
disks created by the IIgs. Yet the IIgs will read disks from the 840 AV
just fine. Another intresting note is that a SE/30 will read my HFS IIgs
disks, so I know my HFS FST is fine
Mike Kingsley (C.KINGSLEY, CAT9, TOP7, MSG:82/M645;1)
>>>>> This problem is known, and it's not related to the HFS FST on your
""""" GS. The problem seems to be some of the new disk drives Apple is
putting in new Macintosh models.
There is an entire topic about this in the Macintosh RT (page 605)
and Apple has been informed of the problem, but no solution has yet been
found, other than just always formatting the disks on your Quadra 840av --
they should then work just fine on your GS and SE/30.
Bryan (SOFTDISK.INC, CAT9, TOP7, MSG:83/M645;1)
>>>>> Incidentally, that isn't exclusively a Mac/IIgs problem. Even
""""" old/new _Macs_ occasionally won't read each other's disks. (This
was making me crazy with the PowerBook.) It makes buying off-the-shelf Mac
software a real treat. :(
(POWERPC.PRO, CAT9, TOP7, MSG:84/M645;1)
TEXAS II STRAIGHT TALK Someone sent e-mail saying my prices are
"""""""""""""""""""""" confusing. I am sorry about that. Please do not
hesitate to call (210) 490-6373 for more details.
TEXAS II Subscription, 6 issues, printed newsletter ......... $15
TEXAS II Subscription (Europe, Australia) ................... $18
TEXAS II on MACROS (3 issues, printed) ................ sent free
You must be a subscriber (see above) to order TEXAS II on Disk:
Disks 8,9, and 10 (upcoming)...$24 Disks 5,6, and 7 (recent).. $24
Disks 2,3, and 4 (past)...... $24 Single disks vol.1 to 8 ... $10
Kingwood Micro Software, 2018 Oak Dew, San Antonio, Texas 78232-5471.
(B.CADIEUX, CAT13, TOP15, MSG:159/M645;1)
REVIEW OF TULIN DRIVERS This may not be the best review of the Tulin NEC
""""""""""""""""""""""" driver, but I'll bet it is one of the first.
System: Apple ][gs with Ramkeeper, 6 meg GSRam+, 10 mhz Zip, Quickie, 240
''''''' meg Quantum vanilla hard drive, 3M vanilla tape drive, NEC 3Xe
(triple speed CDROM), 3.5" drive, 5.25" drive, and a few other hangers on.
Software: sys 6.01, Quicklaunch, Find File, IR, EGOed, File Manager,
''''''''' Lithium Grease, Contacts GS, Typeset, Pointless, all latest
releases.
Good stuff: It works, I can read Mac disks, copy files with the Finder,
''''''''''' or CD Roam. I can sometimes get it to play music through the
headphone jack.
Mediocre stuff: (this is so good to begin with, there is no bad stuff):
''''''''''''''' Tulin has very sparse documentation.
Things omitted: a) you must install the Apple drivers for Multimedia and
''''''''''''''' CDROM to access the music side of the drive. Otherwise
GS/OS sees the music CD as a volume and refuses to mount it without trying
a format. So it ejects by your choice, or by failing to format. Even with
the drivers, it is an iffy thing to get the NEC CDROM to play music with
GS/OS.
b) dragging the CDROM icon into the trash disconnects the drive, it
does not eject the disk. To change disks you must change, then drag the
dimmed disk to the trash. This does not work for music CD's (see below).
c) The MAC CD shows up as three volumes, one of which is unreadable
(device 12 on my machine, so maybe that is part of the problem.
NEC.CDROM.01.00 is the one in use, the other two Prosel shows in the device
listing are mysteries to me.
d) Music CD's can be listened to if your timing is good. You must
hit play in the control panel at the right time (or be in an application
other than the Finder) to intercept the attempt to recognise the disk.
e) Prodos 8 stops the music, you lose the recognition of the disk
too, causing an eject (manually, as the CD controller is confused) and
re-insert.
So What: It's the only game in town, and Tulin will fix it if it's really
'''''''' broken.
Perhaps this needs to be closer to a removable drive type volume.
I really like listening to music while I compute, and this is the
best there is (CD's with headphones). DiskQuest requires this driver for
the Apple card. The NEC triplespeed is faster than the 5.25, slightly
slower than the 3.5 drive. I'll do some timing if requested, but for
speed, you'll get the Ramfast anyway.
If you see any glaring errors in my setup or reporting, send it here
or e-mail me.
Rainy @;^)
(L.WILSON6, CAT20, TOP12, MSG:196/M645;1)
QUALITY DISK DUPLICATOR We got our new disk duplicator in last week.
""""""""""""""""""""""" This should virtually ELIMINATE mixups like the
one with the One-Touch Commands Disk (and the AW 4.01 mailing), since
instead of having a master disk which is read into the duplicator each time
a batch of disks is made up, our new duper stores all the masters on a hard
drive, reducing the likelihood that an obsolete master could be used. The
duplicator also stores a customized label for each master disk, and applies
the labels as the disks are duplicated, eliminating mislabeling problems.
This thing is SLICK (it had better be, for what we paid for it!). In all
our disk mixups, the problem has been attributable to human error. Remove
the humans from the process and you can drastically reduce the errors. B)
(QUALITY, CAT42, TOP29, MSG:132/M645;1)
BUG STOMPED IN APPLEWORKS 4.0.1 TO 4.0.2 UPDATER The mystery is solved.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I now know why there
were reports of errors in copying SEG.DC, a file I wasn't working with at
all. Bill Carver at Quality added a program to auto-install it, but there
were some bugs. He's currently working on a new version.
If you run the existing MAKE402, your AppleWorks has been
successfully patched by my MAKE402 program by the time you get the error
message. You can reboot at that point and run AW 4.02 successfully,
although you should manually copy SEG.DC from the MAKE402 files to your own
AppleWorks startup disk if you want to autocopy the dictionaries.
(BRANDT, CAT42, TOP29, MSG:418/M645;1)
>>> HOT TOPICS <<<
""""""""""""""""""
KANSASFEST PLANS The dates are Thursday to Saturday July 21-23. The
"""""""""""""""" location is Avila College, which in Kansas City,
Missouri. (Why do we call it KansasFest? I don't know.) Last year the price
to stay in the dorms at Avila and get breakfast and supper in the cafeteria
was $30/night double room or $40/night private room. This may change this
year; we don't have a final contract yet, but it does change it won't
change by more than +/- $5/night. If you prefer, you can also stay in a
local hotel and eat in local restaurants.
Last year the price of the conference itself was $350. This included
lunch and snacks on Thursday and Friday. Our tentative plans this year,
barring opposition here in this topic, are to have the entire conference at
Avila, as we did the first two years. The last three years we've also used
the NOMDA conference center, which is a great facility, but expensive. If
we can do the whole thing at Avila the price will come down by at least
$100.
As always, we need to know what you'd like to see and hear at the
conference, and we'd like to have some folks volunteer to make
presentations. Resource Central is a MUCH smaller company than it was a
year ago, so to pull this off we're going to need more help from those of
you who love this event to get it all organized. And the more outside help
we get, the lower we can set the price. Let's talk.
(TOM.W, CAT23, TOP10, MSG:67/M645;1)
>>>>> Do you think that non-programmer, non-hacker, recreational GS users
""""" would get anything out of Kansas fest?
(C.GARRETT, CAT23, TOP10, MSG:53/M645;1)
>>>>> Would a non-programmer get anything out of Kfest? Depends what you
""""" consider "fun". If hanging out all night (and I do mean ALL night)
with a whole bunch of computer phreaks, eating pizza, bouncing from room to
room, and just partying hardy is your idea of fun, then GFI. KFest is more
programmer oriented from 09:00 to 17:00, but all the hours in between are
up for grabs (and several are usually spent at the KC Masterpiece!) --
HangTime [Script-Central] B-)>
(A2.HANGTIME, CAT23, TOP10, MSG:54/M645;1)
<<<<< The final makeup of the event will depend entirely on who comes.
""""" Yes, as an ICON event, it opens the possiblity of having info on
other platforms. Even last year, as an Apple II event, there were an awful
lot of Macintoshes around. On the other hand, as an event with a long
history as the premier gathering of Apple II folks, I'm sure the Apple II
presence will continue to be strong. Users have made up the majority of
the attendees for some time. While there are seminars that are of interest
only to developers, there are others that are of a more general interest.
There is no reason not to come because you're "just a user". There is
nothing about this event that's outside the control of any of you. Let us
know what you want and we'll either get it or delegate getting it to you
<g>. Seriously, Sally, Jeff, and I can't put this whole thing together
ourselves. We need those of you who want to come to participate in the
planning and organization, which means you can make it whatever you want it
to be.
(TOM.W, CAT23, TOP10, MSG:75/M645;1)
>>>>> To reiterate what Tom has said about KansasFest, it is not just
""""" an event for programmers. I know; I've gone 4 years in a row, and
I'm not a programmer.
I've really enjoyed myself at Kfest, and will attend Kfest 94.
I've especially enjoyed hosting a panel/talk the past 2 years, and
would like to do so again. 2 years ago, I spoke about the FTA and used
Kfest as a way to publicize the Bouncin'Ferno 2 contest that I set up. Last
year, my talk _was_ directed towards programmers, and I "shared the secrets
of the stars" (the shareware stars, that is) in an effort to help shareware
programmers maximize profits.
I'd like to host one or more sessions at KFest 1994. Of course it is
up to Tom to accept or reject a proposed panel, but before we even get that
far, I'd like to turn it over the *you*...my fellow Kfest attendee.
What would you like to hear me speak about?
Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT23, TOP10, MSG:76/M645;1)
HYPERCARD IIGS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOADING Hey, I just noticed that there
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" are several files for HyperCard
GS in the library now! Looks like Apple has released it! Thanks!
I'm _so_ glad I didn't buy it! Now I can get it for free! :)
(P.CREAGER, CAT3, TOP13, MSG:198/M645;1)
>>>>> This is a bit misguided -- had more people purchased it, Apple
""""" might have updated it past 1.1 and made it even more useful. But as
it stands, the HyperCard IIgs package comes with about 600 pages worth of
manuals that are not available online, and never will be as far as I can
tell. If you see a HCGS package for sale and you like the program, you'd
better purchase it because once everyone is out, there won't be any more
manuals available.
--Matt (M.DEATHERAGE, CAT3, TOP13, MSG:199/M645;1)
CD-ROM DRIVES AND DISCQUEST > I know the RamFAST does not currently
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > support on CD-ROMs and I know you were/are
> working on that. I wasn't sure if you had gotten there yet and if the
> CD-150 was part of the journey.
Whoa! Who said that? My RamFAST certainly works with a variety of
CD-ROM drives.
Hopefully the following diatribe will clear up all the confusion...
discQuest SCSI Controller and CD-ROM Drive Compatibility List
Card: Apple High Speed SCSI Card
Apple CD-150: Complete compatibility
Apple CD-300: Data is okay, no audio
NEC (any) : Currently incompatible, a new NEC driver is
forthcoming from Tulin
SCSI-2 : depends on the drive, some work fine, some have
various cosmetic problems (like with
inserting/ejecting CDs), no audio support
Card: RamFAST SCSI Card
Texel : Complete compatibility (Sequential's drive is a
Texel)
NEC : Complete compatibility
SCSI-2 : Complete compatibility (any SCSI-2 CD-ROM drive...
virtually all CD drives made today are SCSI-2,
ask the vendor)
AppleCD-150 : Data is okay, audio currently does not work
(The Apple CD-300 and PowerCD's are SCSI-2 drive).
New news on the CD-150/RamFAST: I have located technical information
on the CD-150, I should have it in my hands by the end of the week. This
means the RamFAST will do audio on a CD-150 very shortly.
Tulin is finishing up their updated NEC CD-ROM driver for the Apple
SCSI card. After that one, I have suggested they make a SCSI-2 CDROM
driver for that card. I encourage everyone with interests at stake to call
Tulin and encourage them to do so as well.
In short, it's all coming together rather well, and I must say I'm
quite pleased :)
Jawaid (PROCYON.INC, CAT20, TOP12, MSG:179/M645;1)
"WHAT'S YOUR RECOMENDATION FOR A RAMFAST?" Anything _but_ an Apple
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" CD-150. :) Seriously, the
RamFAST seems to work great with every CD-ROM drive we've found so far. I
do not recommend the CD-150 because of the audio support problem, but any
CD-ROM made today (the CD-150 is obsolete) should work.
Jawaid (PROCYON.INC, CAT20, TOP12, MSG:140/M645;1)
DISCQUEST NOW WITH COLOR! discQuest v1.2 is now shipping. Included in
""""""""""""""""""""""""" this release are the following enhancements:
Bug fixes :)
Color rendering of images
Various user preferences (including "page" mode mouse movement of
pictures)
Better audio support (incl. new support for the CD-150 & RamFAST!)
Additionally, by the end of next week we'll have available Media
Control drivers for all the CD-ROM drives (w/ RamFAST) that discQuest
supports.. which is to say, you'll be able to play audio CD's on a RamFAST
for the first time.
Jawaid (PROCYON.INC, CAT20, TOP12, MSG:206/M645;1)
>>> WHAT'S NEW <<<
""""""""""""""""""
MANAGEMENT CHANGE SyndiComm, Inc., the company that manages the Apple II,
""""""""""""""""" Macintosh, and PowerPC-related RoundTables on GEnie,
has been sold to Dean Esmay, who becomes the company's new President. Esmay
had been the chief sysop of the Apple II and PowerPC RoundTables.
Tom Weishaar and Kent Fillmore, former co-owners of SyndiComm, intend
to remain active on GEnie, but will no longer have any responsiblity for
the seven SyndiComm-managed RoundTables.
(DEAN.ESMAY, CAT3, TOP12, MSG:12/M645;1)
WAITLESS PRINT BUFFER FOR APPLEWORKS 4 Special Offers for NAUG Members -
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" AppleWorks 4 Print Buffer
AppleWorks 4 co-developer Dan Verkade recently announced the release
of WaitLess, a set of patches that add automatic print buffering to
AppleWorks 4. WaitLess lets you use AppleWorks while your printer generates
your output.
Using WaitLess is easy. You print normally from AppleWorks; the print
thermometer appears on your screen and fills quickly as WaitLess uses the
AppleWorks desktop memory to store your output. The program then returns
you to AppleWorks while it prints your document.
A TimeOut utility included with WaitLess lets you turn off buffering,
pause and re-start a print job, or stop the current print job and clear the
buffer.
WaitLess lists for $17. NAUG members can buy the program directly
from Clear Night Software for $15 plus $3 s/h ($8 s/h for international
orders).
Include a check or money order with your order; Clear Night does not
accept credit cards. Purchase orders accepted with payment of a $5
processing charge.
WaitLess requires AppleWorks 4.01 or later. The program works on any
system capable of running AppleWorks 4, but at least 256K of RAM is
recommended. Clear Night Software maintains a "satisfaction guaranteed or
your money back" policy for NAUG members.
[Clear Night Software, 51 Bowen Road, Perris, California 92571.]
(NAUG, CAT17, TOP42, MSG:126/M645;1)
SCAN COLOR IMAGES WITH YOUR IIGS AND QUICKIE NEW!!! Quickie-C(tm)!!! With
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" our new color adaptor for
the Quickie scanner, you'll be able to scan color images into your Apple
IIgs. This process eliminates the need to purchase an expensive hand
scanner. The adaptor comes complete with scanner cixture. built-in light,
color filters, and software. Just mount your Quickie scanner green, and
blue. The software automatically mixes the colors. After just a few
moments, a color image is displayed on your screen!
o Colorize in 16 or 3200 colors in 320-mode
o Options for using default desktop palettes to create desktop
images or 640-mode pictures for use with AppleWorksGS
o Software contrast and brightness controls allow find adjustment
of the final image
o Colorize scanned images with different settings as many times as
needed to produce the desired balance
o Wide scan option allows you to scan and colorize and image up to
8 inches wide
o Individual filter rescan functions let you correct scanning
errors without repeating the three filter passes
o Custom viewing mode allows you to scroll around a large picture,
even in 3200 color mode
o Palette sorting makes 3200-color images legible even when viewed
in 16 colors
o Monochrome toning allows you to save more interesting gray-scale
pictures using Sepia, Red, Blue, Green, and Selenium toning
effects (standard gray-scale is also still available)
o BONUS! With purchase of color adaptor above, Quickie 3.12. New,
improved algorithm for gray-scale software gives smoother shading
transitions, and minimizes dithering effects even from newsprint.
Quickie-C requires and Apple IIgs equipped with a minimum of 2MB RAM,
and GS/OS System 6.0, or later.
Introductory price: $99.95 (SRP 129.95)
(VITESSE, CAT40, TOP8, MSG:210/M645;1)
BETA BLUEDISK CONTROLLER NOW FOR SALE Silence is golden...
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
...but we don't want to be too golden (we have been busy behind the
scene). So we think it's time to open sales a bit. You might have noticed
that a lot of beta tests have been done on the BlueDisk card and the
results aren't too bad IMHO. We have discussed features of BlueDisk, we
have fixed some minor bugs, we have changed and optimized the behavior of
BlueDisk to make disk handling as comfortable as possible. You have heard
that BlueDisk's appearance in the operating system now comes very close to
Apple's original drives (this has been a rather difficult thing to do).
And you have heard that many different disk formats can be read or written
(and of course formatted). Yes, I dare to say that this is the most
versatile floppy disk controller for the Apple II. Last not least,
BlueDisk is the absolutely cheapest way to use high capacity floppy disks
with your Apple II. If you only read this message, please step back and
read all messages beginning from mid January 1994 (in addition, two
BlueDisk pictures are available in the A2 library).
BlueDisk's firmware and software have reached a state where we can
offer cards to you. Yes, you can get a BlueDisk card _now_. You would
receive a firmware/software that still has "beta version" numbers and there
still _could_ be some minor bugs. But our tests show that no bugs have
been left that could be essential to data security.
So, once again, we can offer BlueDisk cards which are in "final"
hardware condition and have "near final" software versions. If software
upgrades are required, you can get them free via the GEnie A2 library, or
our beta testers probably will help. Joachim Lange of SHH Systeme confirms
that all results about beta tests and performance published here in BB
topic 13 are authentic and true.
Here is a short list of things you get if you buy a BlueDisk now:
o A floppy disk controller that supports DD, HD and ED MFM floppy
drives (5.25" and 3.5", "MS-DOS style") in a variety of formats.
o a utility disk that contains a GS/OS driver and a program that
helps you checking MFM drive installation. Additional utilities
are in work but not complete.
o A "draft" manual (preliminary) written in English.
o One year limited warranty on parts and labour.
o support here in the bulletin board and via the A2 library.
(BlueDisk works with Apple IIe enhanced and Apple IIGS ROM01 or
ROM03)
Some important features not mentioned before:
o Tested with Archiver backup (720K to 2.88meg per disk,
uncompressed)
o Tested with HardPressed
o Tested with MTools (MS-DOS read, write (!) and format (!))
o Works in slot 5 if slot is set to your card (new)
o Tested with PC-Transporter (some restrictions apply: you cannot
boot MS-DOS, drive parameters must be set up correctly and
DRIVER.SYS must be installed, _same_ problems that occur with a
floptical drive connected to a SCSI card).
Some important things about what's _not_ working (which, in our
opinion, isn't the fault of BlueDisk):
o ProSel 16 refuses to backup on non-Apple, non-slot 5 floppy
drives.
o Salvation Backup doesn't recognize non-Apple floppy drives.
o ProSel 8 Cat Doctor doesn't format correctly.
o MFORMAT (MTools v1.3) won't allow to _change_ the low-level
format of the current disk. Blank disks aren't formatted as
expected. No GS/OS formatting dialog is presented before
formatting begins.
Pricing: This is an introductory offer and it will be valid for a limited
'''''''' time only.
BlueDisk single card package as described before:
US $109 plus $16 shipping/handling
two packages: $109 each plus $21 s/h
three packages: $109 each plus $24 s/h
Shipping is via standard air mail for overseas orders.
Payment: All orders must be prepaid. We accept payment by cash, check or
'''''''' money order (American or German currency) and payment via post
office. If payment is _not_ by cash, an additional fee of US $10 (DM 17)
is required (we have to pay this fee to get the cash for the check). If
you feel unsure when sending cash, please use registered mail.
///SHH SYSTEME Dipl. Ing.
Joachim Lange
Bergstrasse 95
82131 Stockdorf Germany
GEnie: J.LANGE7
(J.LANGE7, CAT13, TOP23, MSG:265/M645;1)
>>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
IIGS FAX SOFTWARE? I noticed several messages in A2 over the past week
"""""""""""""""""" about people asking for send/receive fax capability
right from their Apple II. Although it is more likely that Apple IIGS
users will see this wish fulfilled first, I would not hesitate to say the
//e and //c may eventually have the proper software as well (Timeout Fax,
anyone?). :) I also noticed Bill Heinemann was dropping delicious little
tidbits about SimCity GS in another category. Here is my little
firestarter. ;-)
When file #22282 has been verified and released, please download it
to see an actual transmission received by GS fax software. The original
file was twice the size in both dimensions, but it was reduced by 50% to
make the file size more manageable. I can't give out many more details at
the moment, except to say Richard Wifall is the author of the software. It
is presently in alpha, but he expects to begin beta testing in a couple of
weeks. There is already a working G3->APF converter (that's what produced
the graphic you see in the library), and there are tentative plans to
produce it as a stand-alone application, an NDA (for receiving faxes at any
time) and as a shell utility for GNO and ORCA users.
Please post your comments, feature requests, suggestions for a name,
etc. in this topic. I will forward them to Rich from time to time. If you
want to contact him yourself, he can be reached on the Internet as
rwifall@nmsu.edu (RWIFALL@NMSU.EDU@INET# from the GEnie e-mail page).
(B.TAO, CAT10, TOP9, MSG:1/M645;1)
<<<<< The sendfax portion will initially be coded as a standard GS/OS
""""" device driver. All you do is drop the appropriate faxmodem driver
in your System folder and away you go. When you're in AWGS, go into the
"DC Printers" control panel and pick your faxmodem rather than your
printer. Then you can "print" your document to the faxmodem without having
to go through a hard copy first! IMHO, this is the *only* reasonable way
to write a sendfax (i.e., as a printer driver rather than a stand-alone
utility). This means anything that uses the Print Manager will now have
fax capability.
Faxes generated directly by a computer are MUCH cleaner than the
spotty, "dirty", misaligned stuff you see with a regular fax machine. The
graphic file I uploaded will prove this nicely.
Number: 22295 Name: FAXCOVER.BXY
Address: B.TAO Date: 940224
Approximate # of bytes: 56960
Library: 23
This is the cover page of a fax transmission sent by NEC's
FastFacts(tm) document request service. The original fax image was
received on an Apple IIGS running as-yet unnamed software, converted
and scaled down to a 320-mode 864x1100 APF graphic. You will need
Platinum Paint 2.0 to view and print this graphic. The ShowMe! NDA
and FinderView 3.0 Finder extension will also view this oversized APF.
Please see Category 10, Topic 9 for discussion on fax software for the
Apple II.
(B.TAO, CAT10, TOP9, MSG:9/M645;1)
SIMCITY FOR THE IIGS Don't count out SimCity GS ...
""""""""""""""""""""
(BURGERBILL, CAT6, TOP2, MSG:158/M645;1)
>>>>> And, with that cryptic comment, Bill has set off a new wave of
""""" rumors and excitement, like nobody else can!
Way to go, Bill!! :)
-- Eric S.
(aka Sheppy)
(E.SHEPHERD, CAT6, TOP2, MSG:159/M645;1)
<<<<< It is SimCity Classic (NOT 2000) and it has the terrain editor
"""""
Burger (BURGERBILL, CAT6, TOP3, MSG:290/M645;1)
ELECTRONIC ARTS BUYS BRODERBUND Interesting note: It was just announced
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" that Broderbund will become a wholly
owned subsidiary of Electronic Arts. To be finalized in the next few
months. Maybe now _would_ be a good time to hit them up.
(P.CREAGER, CAT6, TOP2, MSG:152/M645;1)
>>>>> That is scary -- EA now really owns the market, after buying out
""""" Origin last year. Serria is about the only other really big
competitor.
Bryan (SOFTDISK.INC, CAT5, TOP3, MSG:525/M645;1)
WRITING ADVENTURES ON THE IIGS Actually, years and years ago I tried to
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" write a game using Eamon, but it wasn't my
idea of a great time. :)
I've used TADS on MS-DOS, and I can use that quite nicely, but
there's no IIGS version.
One of the other adventure design languages has been ported, but I
don't like it much.
I'm trying to compile Inform, which lets you create Infocom-format
adventures that can be played by Big Red's Lost Treasures of Infocom
package, but have run into some problems getting it to compile (ORCA/C is
running out of memory while building one of the files-- I need to split it
up :).
Another reason I haven't looked at Eamon again is that I read
somewhere that a new version of Eamon (v7.0?) would be out soon, but I
haven't seen it yet.
-- Eric S.
(aka Sheppy)
(E.SHEPHERD, CAT34, TOP9, MSG:264/M645;1)
GEM FOR APPLEWORKS 4? We're nearing completion of the beta cycle. As
""""""""""""""""""""" soon as the documentation changes are completed, we
will need to do a final short test on the installer and then we'll be
ready. It shouldn't be long now.
Greg [ A2U Guy ] ...via GEM 4.22 and Spectrum
(A2PRO.GREG, CAT29, TOP4, MSG:52/M645;1)
THE MAGIC NEWS GROUP READER
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
[Now works with:
AppleWorks 3.0 with UltraMacros 3.1
AppleWorks 3.0 with Ultra 4, 4.1, 4.2
AppleWorks 4.x with or without UltraMacros 4.3]
Allows readers of Proline USENET/InterNet news groups to quickly read and
process, WHILE OFF-LINE, their news group captures saved in an AppleWorks
file. The MNGR greatly facilitates and increase your pleasure and speed
while reading hundreds of news group messages.
For details go to GEnie / A2 / CAT 13 /TOPIC 5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(G.E.HAYMAN, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:191/M645;1)
>>>>> Gary - A few months back, you'd said that as soon as you finished
""""" the AW 4 version of your Magic News Reader, that you'd then think
about expanding its use to other than ProLine news reading.
Is that still a plan?
If so, what can I send you to show you what usenet newsgroups look
like on my site?
I'd love to have an offline usenet reader!
Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:192/M645;1)
<<<<< Right now, THE MAGIC NEWS GROUP READER relies on several
""""" standards: 1) 'CS-ID: ' starts the FIRST line of each new newsgroup
message 2) 'Subject: ' starts the FOURTH line of each message
With AW4, I feel that that could easily be adjusted to meet a variety
of headers -- provided the formats remain constant from message to message.
Why don't you send me a 'cut' of three or four messages that you
would normally capture and I could take a look at it to see if I could go
further with this and possibly expand THE MAGIC NEWS GROUP READER.
Joe, handy for you would be the Clipping feature of MNGR. Since you
are a collector of information for SSII, as you peruse the newsgroups you
can instantly 'clip' information of interest. Also, the ability to follow
threads is of great value.
TO OTHERS: If your news group messages are different than the
typical pro-line messages (CS-ID and Subject) then send me a 'cut' of
yours so that I can play with them.
PLEASE: SEND info to me at my EMAIL address of: ghayman@cap.gwu.edu
Gary Hayman - MAGICAL SOFTWARE (CAT 13 TOPIC 5)
(G.E.HAYMAN, CAT10, TOP10, MSG:194/M645;1)
APPLEWORKS GS THIS SPRING I was hoping that my mentioning it would spur
""""""""""""""""""""""""" Quality into making a official
announcement/press release here in A2. But since they have remained
silent, I will give the information that they included in the flyer.BTW
when you recieve the flyer look on the back page near the mailing
information. Here is what it says:
APPLEWORKS GS 2.0 Coming Spring 94
Dozens of new & improved features!
o Macro record & playback
o Compatible with Pointless(tm), The Manager(tm), and accelerators
o System 6 Savvy
o Import/Export to Macintosh WP format
o Print Preview
o Large fonts over 48 point
o Bezie`r curves and degree rotation in Paint module
o Text wraps around graphics
o Auto-Save
o GS/OS compatible clipboard
o Pre-defined envelope printer
o Many, many more!
NEW! $99.95 Upgrade from 1.1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
My only question is: If I order now will they wait until they ship
before they charge my credit card? Now that I think about it thats what
they did when I ordered AWKS 4.xx
My faxed order will go in today!!! Thanks Quality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(D.SINGLETON2, CAT42, TOP32, MSG:323/M645;1)
DIGISOFT TO SELL APPLE II CD A quick status report: the CD is well
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" underway. I'm not predicting a release date
yet though, as there still are too many variables :-)
Thanks for everyone's support!
<<Jim (DIGISOFT, CAT13, TOP29, MSG:56/M645;1)
LOOKING GOOD IN (LASER) PRINT In a few issues of Shareware Solutions II,
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I have referred to low cost laser printer
options. A few issues back, I mentioned that the Okidata OL400e, a 300 DPI
laser printer that offered HP LaserJet IIP series compatibility, was
available for less than $500. If I remember correctly, I may have even
offered my opinion that this printer was the printer that was going to
start a laser printer price war.
Imagine my surprise when I looked at my local newspaper today, and
saw a huge ad for CompUSA - a computer "superstore" with branches around
the country - offering the Oki OL400e for $389!?!
Imagine that? A laser printer for less than $400?! Such A Deal!!
Offering HP LaserJet IIP series compatibility, this printer is
definitely worth checking out. It is essentially "plug and print" with the
Apple II or IIGS. As you know, Shareware Solutions II is produced on an HP
LaserJet II serie printer, so you should have an idea - if you've seen SSII
- of what a LJ II is capable of outputting from an Apple II.
I have not personally used this printer, so don't take this post as
an endorsement of the Oki OL400e. But, if you are thinking of buying a new
printer, you owe it to yourself to visit a CompUSA (or other computer
warehouse stores) and see the OL400e for yourself. In the final analysis,
only you can decide if this printer is worth buying for your Apple II
system.
Joe Kohn (J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:313/M645;1)
>>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
Category 5, Topic 3
Message 507 Tue Feb 08, 1994
A2.LUNATIC [Lunatic] at 00:05 EST
|\|ot to bring up an old arguement, again (uh oh, too late...), but Woz
would have really done a disservice to those students to have bought them
Apple IIs NOW, unless he was going to write all the software for them
himself, service the hardware, and adapt many new peripherals for them on
his own. I'm sure Woz loves the Apple II as much as we all do, but the
simple fact is, for new purchases, and for longevity, it just isn't the
best buy. Yes, if he'd been allowed to buy used equipment, he could have
gotten a good deal on Apple IIs -- but I don't know of any schools that
allow large purchases of used equipment, and I don't know of any single
vendor that would have full labs' worth of appropriate Apple IIs and
associated hardware and software to sell (much less service and support).
\/\/e're here, we love our machines, they do what we want, they have
lots of life and new capabilities left in them, and we're going to stick by
them (and them by us) for a long time to come. But our world, the Apple II
world, is not growing any more, and we shouldn't expect it to. We are
still here IN SPITE of everyone else, and that's because we, as Apple II
users, owners, and programers, have the strength to weather these blows.
To ask others to join us now, as we stand shoulder to shoulder against the
crushing hordes of the MS-DOS/Windows/Mac industry, would not be fair.
][t takes strength to be an Apple II user, today.
-= Lunatic (:
[*][*][*]
While on GEnie, do you spend most of your time downloading files?
If so, you may be missing out some excellent information in the Bulletin
Board area. The messages listed above only scratch the surface of
what's available and waiting for you in the bulletin board area.
If you're serious about your Apple II, the GEnieLamp staff strongly
urge you to give the bulletin board area a try. There are literally
thousands of messages posted from people like you from all over the
world.
[EOA]
[REF]//////////////////////////////
REFLECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Thinking About Online Communications
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
[P.SHAPIRO1]
>>> SHARED LONG DISTANCE BILLING: A PHONE SERVICE LONG OVERDUE <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Each month my phone company sends me information about the new
enhanced phone services they have to offer. And each month I scan the list
looking for something that might truly be useful. It seems at times that
phone companies have gone to great lengths to provide every new feature we
don't need, and few new features that we do need.
At the top of the list of enhanced features the phone company should
be providing is "shared billing". Shared billing is a way of splitting the
cost of long distance calls between the caller and the receiver of the
call. The concept of "shared billing" has great possible uses in both the
business and residential phone market.
Take, for instance, the case of a small business that sells its
products nationwide. If the business cannot afford to set up a toll-free
phone line, it is faced with a difficult dilemma: it cannot afford to pick
up the entire cost of calls from prospective customers, yet it does not
want to shift the cost of those calls entirely onto the shoulders of those
prospective customers. Both the small business and the prospective
customer have a shared interest in the communication taking place from such
a call.
So it would be to everyone's benefit if the billing would be shared.
The end result? When each party feels that the conversation should come to
an end, the call can be terminated. Both parties can avoid being in the
awkward position of picking up the entire cost of the call.
Likewise, shared billing would be fondly embraced by long distance
lovers. With Janine in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Justin in Washington DC,
what better way to promote a harmonious relationship than to have long
distance bills split evenly on both phone bills? Chances are long distance
lovers would spend even more time on the phone than they already do if the
billing of the calls were shared.
How might this "shared billing" service be implemented, you ask?
Very much in the same way that long distance collect calls are now
implemented. The calling party might dial a special two digit prefix to
signal that he or she wanted to place a "shared billing" call. So Justin
in Washington, DC might prefix Janine's phone number with the two digits
"99."
The long distance phone company would then recognize that a shared
billing call was being placed. The next step would be for the long
distance phone company to prompt Justin to clearly enunciate his name and
city, so that Janine can be alerted to an incoming shared billing call from
her beloved.
Janine, on her side, would receive a phone call that started with an
automated message from the long distance phone company. The automated
message would run something to the effect: "A shared billing call has been
placed to this number from Justin in Washington DC. Press the two digits
99 to accept this call."
Janine could then have the option of accepting or declining the
"shared billing" call.
It seems to me that the "shared billing" concept goes far beyond a
"mere convenience". When used in a business setting, "shared billing"
could act as a serious stimulus to small business. Considering the vital
role that small businesses will be playing in the information age economy,
this new phone feature could speed up the wheels of our economy in ways
that will benefit consumers and businesses alike.
Considering its possible uses in both residential and business phone
service, long distance companies would do well to give serious thought to
bringing "shared billing" services online. In case the executives at phone
companies are too busy with their conference calls to read this article, my
message to them can be boiled down to: "Get smart. Call 99."
-Phil Shapiro
[*][*][*]
The author takes a keen interest in the social dimensions of
communications technology. He can be
reached on GEnie at:
P.SHAPIRO1; on America Online at: pshapiro.
[EOA]
[BEG]//////////////////////////////
BEGINNER'S CORNER /
/////////////////////////////////
Polishing Green Apples
""""""""""""""""""""""
By Steve Weyhrich
[S.WEYHRICH]
>>> HOOKED ON STORAGE (Part 1) <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PREAMBLE We hold these truths to be self evident; that not all computers
"""""""" or their users are created equally. Therefore, with this
Polishing Green Apples article I will begin a discussion about hard disks,
which can level the playing field somewhat between our favorite computer
and those Big Blue and Big Mac things out there. I plan to address their
internal workings (the basics), what they can be used for, their cost, how
to use them to the fullest, and anything else of interest that I can come
up with.
CONSUME MASS QUANTITIES! When talking about the resources of your
"""""""""""""""""""""""" computer (memory, storage, and speed), most
newer applications for the Apple II and IIgs tend to do just that: Consume
mass quantities. Okay, so you probably don't absolutely NEED a hard drive
in order to make use of your computer. You CAN continue to use floppy
disks, either 5.25 inch (which hold 143K) or 3.5 inch (holding 800K). You
do NOT need to take advantage of any of those ads that recently have
appeared for low cost hard disks or "floptical" drives...
...and you don't really NEED power steering, power brakes, fuel
injection, AM/FM Cassette, or air bags in your new car...
But...
...those items can sure make things easier for you as a driver. And
in the same way, a hard disk can make things significantly more convenient
for you as a computer user, whether you consider yourself a "power" user or
not. In fact, using an Apple IIgs WITHOUT a hard drive is getting
downright frustrating these days. Some newer applications require so much
disk swapping (even with TWO of the 3.5 drives) that they can become more
hassle than they are worth.
Let's face it, the "good ol' days" when a program AND its data files
would fit comfortably on a 143K floppy disk are long gone. Programs are
larger (because users have demanded more and better features), and the data
files that they create and use have also become larger. Additionally, just
keeping track of your library of programs can become difficult when they
are spread over some 30 to 50 (for some users, over 200) different disks.
As in an earlier article, let's begin with some pertinent
definitions. For a general review on how disks work at their most basic
level, I suggest you obtain the February 1993 GEnieLamp A2, which carried
part 9 of my AppleII History. (Either file #1078 or #1075 from GEnie's
DigiPub libraries.) In that segment I explained in detail the concept of
interleave, and how it affects the speed at which data can be read from or
written to disks, which is applicable to hard disks as well as the older
floppy disks.
DEFINITIONS (for disk drives)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Disk A storage device, usually made up of a plastic film coated with
'''' magnetic particles (much like the tape used in audio cassettes).
Aligning these tiny magnetic specks one way represents a binary "0", and in
another direction as a binary "1".
Floppy disk A flexible disk within a protective envelope of firmer
''''''''''' plastic. It has most commonly come in 5 1/4 (or 5.25) inch
size in the past, (and 8 inches also, but that size never penetrated very
far in the Apple II world). However, the newer 3 1/2 (or 3.5) inch size
has been popularized over the past ten years by the Macintosh and other
newer generation computers. Strictly speaking, the 3.5 disks are still
considered to be "floppy", even though the flexible part of the disk is
encased in a hard plastic shell with a metal sliding window to afford
greater protection to the surface of the disk.
Hard disk Also known as a "fixed disk", this device is significant for
''''''''' its much greater storage capacity. Where the Apple II standard
5.25 disk typically holds about 143K of data, and a 3.5 disk holds 800K
(.14 and .78 meg, respectively), a hard disk holds anywhere from 5 meg to
over 1000 meg of data. A hard disk is not usually as portable as a floppy
disk, since it is built directly into the mechanism that reads and writes
the data. However, a company known as Syquest has created a series of hard
disks that are removable, with capacities of 44 meg, 88 meg, and 105 meg.
Magneto-optical drive These drives are currently significantly more
''''''''''''''''''''' expensive than other mass storage drives available.
However, their storage capacity is quite high, and the disks are NOT
sensitive to stray magnetic fields as are most other disks used in
computers. The term "magneto-optical" means that this type of disk uses
both magnetic AND optical technology in it function.
An optical disk is much like a CD or CD-ROM, except that it can be
written to. When reading, a laser is aimed at the disk surface, and the
direction that the light is deflected determines whether it was a "1" bit
or "0" bit. When writing, a higher-powered laser heats the disk surface to
the point where its previous "1" or "0" is erased, and while it cools, a
magnetic field is used to determine the NEW bit that is written there.
Because it is more complicated, the currently magneto-optical drives
are slower than standard hard drives, but the resistance of the disks to
accidental erasure make them more reliable for long-term storage. This is
currently as close to a re-writable CD-ROM that we have gotten.
Floptical This is a trademarked term, which means "floppy drive,
''''''''' optically tracked". It is made by only a few companies that
have joined together to create and market these drives as a mass storage
alternative to the traditional fixed or hard drive. The disks look just
like a standard 3.5 floppy disk, but is very different in the amount of
data it can hold, currently either 20 or 40 megs. This type of a storage
device is similar to older drives in the way which data is stored on the
disk surface, using a magnetic read/write head. However, other types of
disk drives use a stepper motor or a mechanical screw to position the
read/write head over the disk surface; a magneto-optical drive uses an
optical sensor to determine where on the disk surface the head should be
placed. With this method, higher densities of data storage can be
obtained, 1245 tracks per inch, compared to the more typical 135 tracks per
inch on a standard floppy disk. However, it also requires a disk medium
that has been specially created to containing the tracking marks that the
optical sensor uses to place the read/write head, and so each disk is
significantly more expensive than a standard 3.5 floppy.
Another advantage of the Floptical drives are their ability to ALSO
handle the standard (in the MS-DOS world) 720K and 1.44 meg 3.5 inch floppy
disks. So with this disk drive you can have the advantages of a large
removable storage device, plus the ability to manage older types of disks.
CD-ROM drive An audio CD uses a laser to read the digitized musical
'''''''''''' "data" from the disk and relay that to other circuitry,
which turns it into sound. A CD-ROM does the same thing, but uses it
simply as data which COULD be sound, but also can be programs, pictures,
and more. These drives are getting to a critical mass in the computer
marketplace, and more CD-ROM disks are becoming available all the time.
Although SCSI CD-ROM drives meant for the Macintosh have been usable
on the Apple II and IIgs for some time, there have not been many of the
CD-ROM disks that were useful for our computer. However, the new discQuest
software from Sequential Systems makes it possible to utilize the
proprietary coded data on many of the popular CD-ROMs that are available,
opening up the CD-ROM world to the Apple II.
Tape drive The original tape drive for the Apple II was a standard
'''''''''' cassette recorder using audio tapes. It was slow and not very
easy to use. Modern tape drives are capable of higher density for data
storage, and faster access. However, because of the way that a tape works
-- in a linear fashion -- tape access will never be as fast as disk access.
(This is for the same reason that it is faster to jump between songs on a
record album or a CD in random order than to rewind and fast-forward a
cassette to do the same thing.) These are used primarily for backing up
data from a hard disk.
RAM disk Acts just like a disk drive with moving parts, but is in reality
'''''''' just a bank of RAM chips with software that designates where
data is stored in the bank. The advantage is speed (no moving parts to
wait for), but the disadvantage is data stored on a RAM disk disappears
when the power is turned off.
Backup/restore Because the law that states "Anything that can go wrong,
'''''''''''''' will go wrong" definitely applies to computers, it is
necessary to ensure that if something goes wrong with your large storage
device you have a protection from loss of important data files. Think of
it as "safe computing". In this case, it does not involve a condom, but
rather making a duplicate copy of your vital files and keeping the copy in
a safe place. With floppy disks, it may be as simple as duplicating the
entire disk, and then putting the duplicate away. For a hard disk, it is
unlikely that you just happen to have ANOTHER hard disk sitting around to
use for backing it up. In that case, you need to be able to write part of
the hard disk files to several smaller capacity disks, or perhaps to a
tape. When you load files back onto your hard disk from the backup disks,
this is called "restoring" the files.
Sector A term describing a certain number of bytes that are stored as a
'''''' group on the disk surface. In DOS 3.3, data was read from or
written to the disk in 256-byte sectors. This was felt to be the best
compromise between the limited memory available on older Apple IIs
(requiring smaller sector sizes) and the speed of disk access (which could
be improved with larger sector sizes).
With the small disk capacities available with the older Apple II
operating systems (143K for DOS 3.3, and 112K for DOS 3.2), a smaller
sector size made more sense. This is because even if a file consisted of
only 50 bytes of data, 256 bytes was still the minimum size that could be
used as a holding space for that data on the disk. The other 206 bytes
were wasted space. A larger sector size would just have the potential for
wasting more space if many small files were stored on the disk. An older
operating system, CP/M, used 128-byte sectors. However, as a file gets
larger and larger, it requires more overhead in the directory to store the
map that tells the disk system where the sectors that make up the file can
be found. A larger sector size makes for smaller file maps.
Block The Sophisticated Operating System (SOS) designed for the Apple III
''''' redesigned the data structure for disk access so 512-byte chucks of
data were used. These were called "blocks", and allowed data to be read a
bit faster with each disk operation; reading 256 bytes twice was slower
than reading 512 bytes once. ProDOS was designed as a subset of SOS, and
so used exactly the same disk format.
Track Data stored on the surface of a disk are arranged as concentric
''''' circles, one within another. These circles of data are called
tracks. Each type of disk device has its own peculiarities as to how many
tracks can be utilized on the disk surface, and how many sectors or blocks
can be placed on a single track. The older 5.25 disks used on the Apple II
have a standard of 16 sectors per track, and 35 tracks per disk (DOS 3.2
could only handle 13 sectors per track). The 3.5 disks use a varying
number of sectors per track, with fewer as you go from the outer rim of the
disk toward the center. Since the tracks are smaller in diameter at the
inner part of the disk, there is less disk media available for packing data
into blocks (fewer inches of disk pass under the read/write head until the
track starts over), and so some disk devices have fewer blocks per track on
the inner tracks.
Interleave Refers to the way in which groups of data are written to a
'''''''''' disk to achieve the best throughput and speed for the device
being used. A fast disk drive might be able to use a 1:1 interleave, where
the physical number of a disk sector corresponds to the logical number of
the data sector being written to it. A slower drive or slower controlling
software may need to use a 2:1 or higher interleave, to allow the drive to
read a sector, and while it is processing it, have one or more disk sectors
pass beneath the read/write head that are ignored. If the interleave is
set correctly, the disk should be at the right position when the software
is ready for the next sector of data to be immediately read.
DOS 3.3 (NOT the "DOS 3.3" that was released by Microsoft for the IBM PC
''''''' a few years ago.) This oldest disk operating system for the
Apple II still in use. (DOS 3.3 was preceded by DOS 3.1, 3.2, and 3.2.1,
but they are little more than historical curiosities now.) It is limited
primarily to 5.25 disks, although with some patches it can be made to work
on hard disks or 3.5 disks. This disk operating system is quite liberal in
the types of characters allowed in naming files. A filename under DOS 3.3
can be nearly ANY character in the ASCII set, even if that character would
not display on the screen; however, it may not handle lowercase characters
well, since it was designed to work with the Apple II Plus, which did not
have lowercase. A filename must start with a printable letter (A-Z), but
after that, anything goes. Examples include "APPLE-VISION", "A REALLY #$%@
FILE", or "THIS FILE IS _____". The length of the filenames was limited to
30 characters or less.
ProDOS Known now as ProDOS 8, it stands for "Professional Disk Operating
'''''' System", and is more flexible than DOS 3.3 in the types of disk
devices it will support, and how much capacity on each disk is allowed. A
filename under ProDOS must start with a letter, is limited to only 15
characters, and those characters can only be letters, numbers, or a period.
Examples include "BASIC.SYSTEM", "B1.2.3.WOW", "B.....C...D". The largest
size disk device supported under ProDOS is 32 meg, and so a hard disk that
is larger than 32 megs must be partitioned into multiple volumes that are
32 megs or smaller.
One of the other advances that came about with ProDOS 8 was device
independence. That is, ProDOS was not tied down to a specific type of disk
hardware, as DOS 3.3 was (which was designed to work only with 5.25 disks,
although it was patched many different ways to allow it to use other types
of disk devices). As far as ProDOS is concerned, if the software that
controls a disk device responds to certain types of commands in the right
way, it does not care whether that device is a 5.25 disk, 3.5 disk, hard
disk, RAM disk, or tape drive. If the right controlling software was
designed, you could even attach a computer via a phone line and modem to a
large disk storage device elsewhere, and data could be saved and loaded
from that remote device just as if it was right there on the desk next to
the computer. In fact, an AppleTalk network works very much like that
example (minus the phone line and modem, of course).
GS/OS A true chameleon of an operating system. Its earlier incarnation,
''''' ProDOS 16, was shipped with the original Apple IIgs, and in that
form ONLY handled disk input and output, and actually made use of the older
8-bit code in ProDOS 8 for most of what it did. When GS/OS came out, it
was designed to deal with nearly everything that the computer did, in
addition to disk functions.
Directory A list of files on a disk, usually including other information
''''''''' about the file's size, the date it was created or modified, and
the kind of information the file holds.
Catalog The same as a directory, but an older name used with DOS 3.3 or
''''''' earlier operating systems.
Subdirectory Just like a directory, but at a "deeper" level than the main
'''''''''''' or root directory on a disk. Makes it possible to organize
files in different groups.
Partition This refers to a method of taking a disk device and "breaking
''''''''' it up" into two or more smaller sized disks. On a PHYSICAL
basis, this does not mean that the disk is actually changed. On a LOGICAL
basis, the disk device may either have a storage capacity that exceeds what
the operating system is able to handle, or it may need to be divided up for
the convenience of the user.
A disk drive that has been partitioned into two or more smaller
devices may APPEAR to the computer and its disk operating system as if
there were more than one PHYSICAL device attached. For example, the
maximum size disk volume that ProDOS can handle is 32 megs. If a 40 meg
hard disk is attached to a computer running the ProDOS operating system,
only 32 megs of it will be usable, and 8 megs would be unavailable and
therefore wasted. Partitioning that disk into different sized volumes
(20/20 or 30/10 or 32/8) allows ALL of it to be used for storage.
With the older DOS 3.3 operating system, in which a 143K disk size
was standard, hard drives used at that time were logically divided up into
multiple 143K volumes. In this case, there was still a particular slot and
drive that was assigned to the disk controller card, but any particular
143K "disk" on that hard disk was accessed via a "V" parameter ("V" for
volume) in DOS 3.3 disk commands. A catalog command would then be issued
as "CATALOG,S5,D1,V1", "CATALOG,S5,D1,V2", and so on.
SCSI Stands for "Small Computer Systems Interface", and is usually
'''' pronounced "scuzzy". It refers to a set of commands that are used
to control storage devices of various types. The SCSI protocol even allows
the use of devices such as modems and printers, but I haven't seen much of
this penetrate into personal computers as a whole, and none have appeared
for any computer in the Apple II line.
When the term "SCSI" is used with the name of another piece of
hardware, it means that that device is intended to be used on a chain of
devices that all communicate with one another via the SCSI command set.
Therefore, a SCSI cable is used to connect a SCSI hard drive and a SCSI
tape drive to the SCSI controller card plugged into a computer.
Generally speaking, connecting a SCSI device to a computer is no more
complicated than turning off the power, plugging it in, and turning it back
on. In reality, however, this sometimes requires a bit more to be done to
make it function properly.
CONCLUDING STATEMENTS We'll stop here for now, and let you chew on that
""""""""""""""""""""" for a while. Next time I will begin to get into
some suggestions on how to organize your hard disk to get the best use out
of it. In the meantime, keep your eyes on those sale prices -- hard disks
are getting more affordable all the time!
[*][*][*]
Steve Weyhrich is a family physician from Omaha, Nebraska. He
has been using Apple II computers since 1981, and writing about
them since 1990. He follows closely the events that continue to
shape the destiny of the legendary Apple II and IIgs computers,
and writes a monthly column called the "A2 News Digest" for
A2-Central disk magazine. He is also the author of the "Apple II
History", available on fine BBSes everywhere.
[EOA]
[TEC]//////////////////////////////
TECH TALK /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II Hybrids
""""""""""""""""
By Jay Curtis
[J.CURTIS8]
>>> FILE SYSTEMS AND THE PC TRANSPORTER <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Who really needs a PC Transporter? After all, in a world that has
become thoroughly dominated by Microsoft Windows, what advantage is there
in adding what is "merely" a DOS engine to an Apple II?
When considering this question, it is good to keep in mind that
Windows must run on top of DOS, and nearly anything that can be written to
MS-DOS can be imported to a Windows application. In fact, some DOS
fanatics view Windows as little more than a specialized DOS user interface,
program launcher and file manager.(1) If you happen to be someone who
loves the capabilities of their Apple IIe or IIgs, but must routinely work
in the MS-DOS and/or Macintosh worlds, the addition of a PCT card may be a
perfect option to pursue.
Any Apple II user who has ever had to work on a PC, however, knows
that MS-DOS is a pain to navigate from the command line. More current
versions of MS-DOS (4.0, 5.0 and 6.x) have made desktop navigation easier
by supplying a shell with pull down menus, popup dialogue boxes, and mouse
capability. On the PC Transporter, the Apple mouse works acceptably with
MS-DOS programs that use the mouse. Hybrid users must, however, configure
the PCT by adding the appropriate mouse drivers through the PCT's control
panel and through MS-DOS. Several users have reported running MS-DOS 6.2
(the latest version) with no problems on their Apple II/PC hybrids. Many
more, however, continue to use MS-DOS 3.3 and 5.0, regarding them as the
most stable and least likely DOS versions to cause any difficulties.
Applied Engineering gives users the option of attaching a PC keyboard
to their Transporter or of using the Apple keyboard and mouse in PC
emulation. Apple users who are most comfortable with their Apple keyboard
will probably want to use Applied's emulation rather than attaching the PC
keyboard. The emulation relies upon the use of macro key combinations for
function keys and upon key substitutions on the numeric keypad for such
things as page up, page down, right, left, numlock, print screen, etc.
GS/OS vs MS-DOS Unlike GS/OS users, who have up to 8MB of directly
""""""""""""""" addressable, conventional RAM available, MS-DOS users
have had to beg, borrow and steal additional RAM to get beyond the basic
640K to which MS-DOS has always been limited. Consequently, there now
exists a confusing potpourri of memory protocols for "messydos" users,
which include "Conventional, Expanded, Extended, High, and Upper" memory.
DOS users, who need to run Windows or other memory-hungry applications on a
regular PC, must configure DOS to use these additional areas of memory for
storage of device drivers, TSRs,(2) and parts of the operating system
itself. Most Apple II/PC hybrid users, however, will probably not need to
bother with all of these machinations, given that GS/OS or ProDOS will be
used as their principal operating system.
As 16-bit operating systems go, GS/OS 6.0.1 pretty well beats MS-DOS
6.2 hands down. Even the most casual user can't help but notice the
superiority of the GS/OS desktop user interface over the MS-DOS shell on a
640x200 display. There are better color availability, use of icons,
resizable and movable windows, superior sound capability and much superior
program launching and file management. MS-DOS users must always add
Windows to DOS to get anything comparable to GS/OS. Even then, many Apple
users feel that Windows comes up short. Beneath the obvious cosmetic
advantage over MS-DOS is GS/OS's ability to function as a full operating
system which manages virtually every aspect of I/O. The ease with which
GS/OS can be configured and expanded through the use of desk accessories,
control panel devices, inits, system extensions and so forth, should make
PC users green with envy.
However, despite the advantages of GS/OS over MS-DOS, PC users are
NOT green with envy. In fact, millions upon millions of them blithely use
their computers each day, quite unaware that there might be anything any
better than MS-DOS or Windows. It has been said so often that it has
become cliche, yet it still bears repeating: If Apple had not held back
development of GS/OS or promotion of the IIgs, there would probably be many
fewer MS-DOS machines around now, especially in education. Because today's
students are tomorrow's business market, more earnest promotion of the
Apple II series would have made good business sense. Nonetheless, that
isn't how it all came about. The important point for Apple II users to
consider about MS-DOS is that, while it may not be especially wonderful, it
is UBIQUITOUS.
MS-DOS TERRITORY In my city, the "MS-DOS 6.2 Upgrade" package occupied
"""""""""""""""" the largest portion of software retail shelf space in
nearly every software retail store I visited this past December. In 1992,
IBM added the ability to run multiple DOS sessions simultaneously under
their most advanced operating system, OS/2.(3) Earlier versions of OS/2
could run only one DOS session. That change, along with increased support
for Windows, have probably contributed to a four-fold increase in OS/2
sales. Windows NT supports MS-DOS and can also run multiple DOS sessions
under what it calls "VDMs" (Virtual DOS Machines). "Soft PC" and "Soft AT"
run DOS on the MAC, as do Orange Micro's 486 Nubus card and Apple's own 486
PDS card.
Like it or not, MS-DOS is everywhere. Even Apple seems to be
acknowledging this fact at long last with the development and promotion of
the 486 PDS card. While the MAC 486 cards target Windows users, DOS-only
applications are the principal reasons for the existence of Insignia's
"Soft PC" and "Soft AT" emulators, and some believe that the ability to run
non-Windows, DOS-only applications will be the principal reason that many
will actually buy Apple's PDS 486 card.
SHARING FILES Despite all of this, no Apple II user should ever feel that
""""""""""""" they need to give up their computer because of
incompatibility with other machines and operating systems. In my
workplace, the MS-DOS machines run DOS 5.0, WordPerfect, ProCOMM Plus,
R-Base and MicroSoft Works for DOS. All of these are non-Windows
applications, and, with brief testing, all of them appeared to run fine on
my GS/PC at home. As mentioned earlier, the GS, even without a PC
Transporter card, has the capability to format, read and write HFS and
MS-DOS.
The Macs in my office run System 7 and Microsoft Works 3.1. With
System 7's Apple File Exchange, I can import DOS Microsoft Works files that
have been created on my GS/PC at home, and the files translate beautifully
to the MAC version of Microsoft Works. Apple File Exchange also works very
nicely with AppleWorks classic files and MicroSoft Works 3.1. When it is
necessary for me to export files to a PC from my IIgs at home, either the
PC Transporter or Peter Watson's utilities fill the bill nicely without
having to use one of the office's MACs as an intermediary.
In an earlier article we discussed the Watson utilities and the
MS-DOS FST, which run under GS/OS on the Apple II side of a GS/PC hybrid.
However, Applied Engineering also has a ProDOS file translation and file
management utility that runs under MS-DOS on the PCT side of an Apple II/PC
hybrid. This utility and documentation come stored on the "MSDOSVOL" file
which comes with the PC Transporter software. The utility, an executable
file that runs under MS-DOS, is labeled "TRANSFER.EXE."
Applied's transfer utility will catalog and display any online ProDOS
volume while IN MS-DOS, allowing the user to navigate their Apple II
directories in much the same way as they would from ProDOS. Files are
displayed in standard ProDOS fashion by name, type, number of blocks,
modification date and creation date. File transfer can be done both ways
between MS-DOS and ProDOS. However, translation is somewhat rudimentary
from MS-DOS to ProDOS, and best results come from the transfer of (ASCII)
text files.
MS-DOS's annoying habit of placing extraneous linefeed and return
characters into DOS text files can make file transfer from MS-DOS to ProDOS
somewhat less than straight forward. Two ProDOS 8 utilities that are
potentially helpful in using DOS text files on the Apple side of an Apple
II/PC hybrid are Stowe Keller's "List" utility (GEnie A2 library file
#17171, LIST024.BXY) and Mark Munz's "CR Stripper" (which runs as a TimeOut
AppleWorks enhancement). You can obtain "CR Stripper" on the TimeOut
"TextTools" disk. Munz's utility works by allowing you to highlight a
block of text within an AppleWorks word processor file when you wish to
remove extra returns. You then simply press <RETURN> to get rid of them,
then move to the next block of text. Stowe Keller's utility has the
capability to automatically add or remove linefeed and return markers with
a print-to-disk feature.
A more straight forward method of moving files between MS-DOS
applications and AppleWorks is "Cross-Works". Cross-Works has the
capability to make full translations of files (keeping file formatting
intact) between AppleWorks and several popular DOS applications (i.e.,
Lotus 1-2-3, dBase, Word Perfect and Microsoft Works). Cross-works,
currently sold by Quality Computers, has been designed to be used in direct
serial transfers and modem file transfers, but it can also be used with the
PC Transporter.
AppleWorks 4 has improved text file handling capabilities which makes
its use in both HFS and DOS import/export much easier. However, for those
who have not yet made the switch to AppleWorks 4, there are two additional
TimeOut utilities that will facilitate file movement between AppleWorks and
your most often-used MS-DOS (or Mac) word processor. These utilities are
"AWP to TXT" (available on the TimeOut "PowerPack" disk) and TimeOut
"Textloader+" (available on the "Companion Plus" disk). AWP to TXT is a
relatively fast method of converting AppleWorks WP files to TXT files
without having to use the AppleWorks "print-to-disk" feature. Textloader+
will allow the loading of up to 12 text files from disk and automatic
conversion of them into AppleWorks WP files.
HARD DRIVE SPACE While the PC Transporter card does not require a hard
"""""""""""""""" disk drive in order to operate, considering all of the
additional software that becomes necessary on both the Apple and PC sides
of an Apple II/PC hybrid, a hard disk drive is a very nice peripheral to
own. Approximately 64MB of hard disk space can be allocated on a ProDOS
hard disk to MS-DOS. The PC Transporter's system software makes use of
ProDOS's ability to create 16MB files that then serve as MS-DOS emulation
volumes. Using the PCT's control panel and system software, two 16MB files
can be linked to emulate one 32MB MS-DOS volume. The PCT control panel
will allow two hard disk volumes to be online at one time. Anyone who
finds that they require more space than that for storage of MS-DOS software
and data files, probably should consider using a regular PC.
Once the 16MB ProDOS files have been properly described to the PC
Transporter system software as available for MS-DOS use, they can be
"FDISKed" and then formatted. So far as MS-DOS is concerned, it is always
interacting with standard MS-DOS hard disk volumes. On the ProDOS side of
the Apple II/PC hybrid, these MS-DOS volumes look simply like large ProDOS
files. Their MS-DOS contents are not accessible to ProDOS. (At the time
of this writing, Peter Watson's IIgs MS-DOS utilities, which CAN access
these volumes, provide the only exception to this rule.) The PC
Transporter system software can also work with "small" MS-DOS volumes,
allowing the user to allocate any ProDOS block device as a PCT hard disk.
SYSTEM SOFTWARE Configuration of the PCT's use of the Apple's hard drive,
""""""""""""""" mouse, keyboard, printer, modem and disk drives would not
be possible without the PCT's system software, BIOS and control panel.
Being a DOS engine, the PCT has 640K of conventional RAM available for
running programs. The PCT's additional 128K of RAM is reserved for use by
its BIOS (Basic Input Output Services code) which is loaded as a binary
data file into the PCT's RAM by a ProDOS system file when the card is
booted.
The BIOS and System Software function in much the same way as the ROM
firmware functions in an Apple II. You can add or delete I/O drivers
through the PCT's control panel. This control panel can be accessed at any
time while in MS-DOS by pressing a <caps lock>-<shift> key combination. It
works much the same way as the GS's ROM control panel and system software.
Over the years, much of the refinement and updating of the PCT's functions
has been accomplished by AE's engineers through simple improvement of the
PCT.SYSTEM and drivers. While Applied Engineering has steadily worked to
improve its portware through changes and additions to its device drivers,
it appears to this writer that, even now, there remains much that could be
done to improve the PCT card's portware and therefore its versatility and
functioning.
Much has been said in this article, and in the three previous ones,
about the PC Transporter Card and its role in Apple II/PC hybrids.
However, there are two other Apple II/PC hybrid computer systems that seem
worth mentioning, and next month we will talk briefly about these systems.
Until then, think hybrid!
NOTES
"""""
(1) Dan Gookin, author of _DOS for Dummies_, expresses amusement at
Windows' "happy friendly graphical face" (p. 271). He asks, "What's the
difference between a DOS program and a Windows application?" and answers,
"About $300." (p. 61). Gookin, a onetime Apple IIgs and MAC owner,
displays the attitude of the hard core DOS user toward Windows in _DOS for
Dummies_.
(2) Terminate and Stay Resident applications.
(3) Hayes, Frank. "Personality Plus". BYTE. January 1994. pp. 155-168.
[EOA]
[MOO]//////////////////////////////
CowTOONS! /
/////////////////////////////////
Career Cows
~~~~~~~~~~~
by Mike White ,_/\_, .
[MWHITE] (oo) . .
/-------\/ /^ <\/>
/ | |X /^ ) ( ^\ oo
* ||----|| (^ ( ) ) (\/)*
~~ ~~ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ~~
Smokey the Cow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_:_ /~~~~~~~~~~T~~~~~~~~~~\
/ ^ \ | | (__) |
/ CTA \ | | (oo) |_[]
(~~~~~~~) |__________/~\____\/____|/[]
| |__) |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| |oo) | -= C T A =- |
/| |\/ | -+- |
/ | || |_______________________|
* | || [[_______________________]]
""""""""""""""~"| _[/ (__) (__)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cowmmuter Catching the Bus in Chicowgo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_ Arrrgh! Watch for the last thunderin' herd of
/o> (__) .' Moo Fun from Mike White in the next
/ ) (o%) .' issue of GEnieLamp.
/--^^----\/ '
/ | || If you have an idea for a CowTOON, we
* ||-----|| would like to see it. And, if we pick
~~ ~~ your CowTOON for publishing in GEnieLamp
we will credit your account with 2 hours
Buccowneer of GEnie non-prime time!
~~~~~~~~~~
[EOA]
[DRT]//////////////////////////////
DR'S EXAMINING TABLE /
/////////////////////////////////
Golden Oldie Review: Xenocide
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Darrel Raines
[D.RAINES]
If you remember, in last month's column we started a discussion on
how to build a personal software library of games, utilities and
applications that would make Bill Gates jealous. I described how you could
use GEnie and the A2 RoundTable to purchase used software from other people
just like yourself, and promised to help you decide what software was worth
acquiring by reviewing some golden oldie software from time to time.
I should mention that this column will be somewhat different than a
new product review. I will not be wasting your time and mine by talking
about software that I did not like. There is a purpose in reviewing new
software that does not live up to high standards. However, with such a
large selection of used software available to you, there is no need to
spend a lot of time talking about poor commercial programs.
This month I have chosen the arcade game Xenocide. Xenocide was
originally published by Micro Revelations in 1989. The software was
written by Brian Greenstone with graphics from Dave Triplett. You may
remember this team from a number of very good Apple IIgs "24-hour"
shareware games such as Cosmocade, Pirate Killers, and Orbizone. This game
was their only commercial venture.
Xenocide, much like a number of shoot-'em-up games, gives you a
scenario where you can feel comfortable blowing away the evil villains that
appear with regularity on your screen. It seems that alien creatures have
taken over the three planets that you are supposed to be protecting.
Therefore, you need to exterminate these pests and destroy the planets
before they complete a gate that will allow some bigger and more nasty
meanie into the area. Its time to pull out your joystick and go to work!
In order to start blowing away the bad guys, you first have to go
through a setup screen. The options available to you on this page allow
the external speakers or other stereo output to be used for the
better-than-average musical score. A high point total Hall of Fame is
shown so that you can ponder over your past heroics. There is also a
joystick calibration option on the main menu. I have found that this game
does not recognize when it is running on an accelerated machine.
Therefore, you will be unable to calibrate your joystick (and play the
game) if you do not set the accelerator back to a normal speed.
The final option on the main menu is for Play/"Let's get it on"/Go.
Now the fun starts. You are shown a picture of three different planets. A
message informs you that the first planet is Malachite, the rock planet.
You are then placed in the driver's seat of a hovercraft and given control
of the vehicle.
An overview of the game might be in order here. The object of the
game is to blow up each of the planets, in order, before you expire
yourself. You have three lives (men) and can get additional men only after
certain milestones. You must complete a number of different games/levels
in order to blow up a planet. There is a hovercraft level, an underground
level, an underwater level and a laboratory level for each planet. The
landscape in the levels will differ on each planet. However, the basic
play and objective will be the some on each of them.
The hovercraft level is played much like a road rally game, with a
difference. You have to watch out for some very large bugs and critters on
the road. If you happen to hit a bug, they leave a reminder on your
windshield. After a while it can be very difficult to see where you are
going. Therefore, the best advice is to stay away from the grasshoppers...
er, I mean aliens.
The hovercraft is somewhat sluggish in performance and does not have
very much fuel. You have to proceed to a docking station before your fuel
and/or shields run out. Rockets and lasers will protect you from the
potential road-kill. The supply of these weapons is limited, so you cannot
just blast away. Besides animals/aliens, the road is littered with rocks
and supply canisters. You have to avoid (or shoot) the rocks and you need
to collect the canisters. The number of canisters you collect will
determine the amount of ammunition that you can carry on the next level.
If you manage to dock your hovercraft, then you proceed to the
underground cave. In this area you are propelled by a jet backpack. You
can protect yourself from the cave dwellers with a laser and with a supply
of grenades. And believe me, there are many nasty creatures in the cave.
If you ever played the game Cavern Cobra, you will be familiar with this
part of Xenocide. The object is to collect five individual bombs that are
strewn throughout the cave. The bombs will be used later in the
laboratory. There are re-fuel and re-supply stations along the way. You
have to hop from one of these to the next before you can get more jet fuel
for your backpack and more laser power and grenades for your weapons. If
you happen to collect all of the bomb sections, then you can take an
elevator tube to the underwater level of the game.
Before moving on to the underwater level, I should spend a few
sentences describing the wildlife that resides in the cave. I do not know
where the design team got all of their ideas for this game, but I can only
assume that they ate too much pepperoni pizza before going to bed. The
resultant bad dreams would have served as inspiration for the cavern
critters. There are dragon flies, floating bowling balls, mounted canons,
falling stalactites, lava pools, bouncing barrels, blinking stars,
repelling-field generators, and deadly mushrooms to name a few. You can
get so interested in looking at the pretty (but deadly) scenery that you
could forget to avoid the bad guys. This section of the game qualifies as
one of my all-time favorite arcade games. The graphics, game play, and
objectives make for a rollicking good time.
One of the features of the last three levels of each planet are the
option pods. These little jewels are very important. They appear as
either a blue dot or a red brick, depending upon the level. Each time that
you grab one of these, you advance a notch in the option sequence. The
options available will let you have a stronger shield, shoot a meaner gun,
replenish your shield energy, or otherwise increase your chances. You will
learn to use these wisely or you will never get past the first level of
caverns. However, once mastered, the option pods become your best means of
escaping the underground cave.
Just when you thought that you had finished with the caves, you get a
nasty surprise. The next level is just like the caverns, with the
exception that the caverns are underwater. You replace your jet pack with
compressed air and your laser with an underwater gun. However, this level
of the game plays just like the last. Seaweed, eels, starfish, and other
submerged critters will make your life miserable. The object to this level
is to find a set of keys that will open doors in the underwater caverns.
At the end of these caverns is an elevator that will take you up to the
biology laboratory on the planet surface. Since this level is otherwise
just like the underground cavern, we will move on to the laboratory.
After climbing out of the elevator, you remove your underwater gear
and load up for the final confrontation. The aliens in the laboratory are
all robots that have many mean tendencies. They love to shoot at you from
behind cover. And some of them have grenades just like yours. In this
level you have a few resupply areas available for more laser power and
grenades. However, your objective is to place the five bombs collected in
the underground caves in five strategic locations within the lab. Once all
of these bombs are placed, you have a few seconds to find and activate a
transporter that will take you back to your ship above the planets. If you
manage to do all of this, then the planet will blow up for your enjoyment
and the aliens chagrin.
The hovercraft level is played from the vantage point of the cockpit
inside the vehicle. The underground/-water levels are played with a side
view of your character. You control the character while being able to see
in all directions around him/her. The laboratory level is played with a
top view of the action. You survey the scene from a god's-eye view. The
only thing that you cannot see from this view is a few robots off screen
that can shoot at you without you being able to see them. Because of the
different objectives and the different perspective of each level, you could
actually call this game a melding of three separate games into one package.
In my opinion, this feature adds to the variety of the game as a whole.
This program is one of the better arcade games ever written for the
Apple IIgs computer. The variety of levels and mini-games (with subplots)
allow the player to stay interested in this shoot-em-up long after the
boredom has set in with a standard game of this genre. Music sets the mood
for each level of play. It is not obtrusive, yet does serve to show off
the IIgs sound capabilities. Action is smooth, especially when you
consider the fact that the game only runs on unaccelerated machines.
Action is continuous and does not lag between levels. The plot, while not
necessarily believable, does a good job of setting up the rest of the game.
All in all, this is an exceptional game.
I do have a few complaints. The software really should have made
provisions for a player to visit any one of the planets. By constraining
you to a sequential movement among the planets, many game players will
never see more than the first planet. I have only managed to complete one
full planet and all but the last few seconds of the second planet. So I do
not know what the surface and caverns of the third planet look like. My
other complaint lies in the fact that the software cannot detect and adjust
for the processor speed of the Apple IIgs. It can be very annoying to work
around this problem without the proper software installed to slow down the
accelerator.
My final complaint lies in the difficulty of the game itself. You
can end up playing for about 45 minutes to an hour for each game. If you
were able to finish the whole series, it would take you about an hour and a
half. However, the levels increase in difficulty along the way. There is
virtually no chance that the average game player will ever finish this
game.
Now with all of this said, I heartily recommend Xenocide. You will
find the playing experience to be enjoyable. The graphics and sound will
amaze you. The smooth scrolling of the screen will make your Amiga friends
jealous. The joy of blasting aliens to bits will make you feel like a
proud marine. All-in-all, the game is one of the best to ever be written
for the Apple IIgs computer!
Remember, if you are having trouble finding one of the golden oldies
in your favorite mail order catalog, then use the resources of GEnie. Hop
on over to the Roundtable and check out category number 4. You will be
glad that you did. Until next time, blast a few aliens for me.
[*][*][*]
Darrel Raines is a computer programmer, hacker, and hobbyist.
When he is not writing articles for GEnieLamp, he works for NASA
as a contractor. He is still looking for real aliens to blast --
or shake hands with.
[EOA]
[PRO]//////////////////////////////
PROFILES /
/////////////////////////////////
Who's Who In Apple II
"""""""""""""""""""""
>>> WHO'S WHO <<<
"""""""""""""""""
~ HangTime, Editor of Script-Central ~
Recently, HyperCard IIgs was released for downloading in the A2 and
A2Pro libraries. To celebrate this wonderful event, we wanted to
interview someone who's an expert on HyperCard IIgs. The closest
thing we could find to that expert was our own HangTime -- A2
Hypermedia Librarian -- Host of HangTime's HyperBar and Grill in
A2Pro -- editor of Script-Central -- and HyperCard IIgs user
extraordinaire!
GEnieLamp> What is HyperCard GS?
"""""""""
HangTime> That's a question asked by many quite innocently; however, it's
"""""""" a loaded one. First of all, the name is "HyperCard IIgs"...
although it's frequently abbreviated to "HCGS".
So what IS HyperCard IIgs?
Answer: What would you like it to be? It is many things. In as few
words as possible, though, I'd say it's:
1) a HyperMedia engine
2) A complete programming environment.
GEnieLamp> Let's start with the HyperMedia engine. Isn't it a sort of
""""""""" database with sound and graphic capabilities?
HangTime> I am no authority on the definition of HyperMedia, but I can
"""""""" give you my take on it. HyperMedia is the linking of text,
graphics, and sounds. In its most simple form, a digital "story book"
would fit this description. You could have a story about wild animals
including pictures of the various creatures. You could add yet another
dimension to your story my "attaching" sounds to the pictures of the
animals. Thus after reading a virtual page of the story one could click
the mouse on a picture of say a lion, and hear it roar.
In a more complex model, one could have words in the story link to
other words in other parts of the story. Moving to an example of a
technical journal, if one were to not understand what is being explained
clicking on a keyword might bring the reader to a further discussion of the
topic. And much like the story book example, pictures and or sounds might
be included as well. In theory (and with an infinite amount of time) all
words could be linked with other words. A cross-reference, if you will.
GEnieLamp> What are the differences among a field, a button and a card?
""""""""" Which would you use, and when?
HangTime> Sticking with the simplest description, a "button" is something
"""""""" you click on to cause an action. A "field" holds textual
information, and the card is what holds the buttons, fields, and any
graphic elements. This however is not completely true in the case of
HyperCard because HyperCard is not THAT restrictive. The above
descriptions are true, however much more can be done in HyperCard.
GEnieLamp> How is HyperCard different from HyperStudio?
"""""""""
HangTime> My standard answer to that is: You can link Text, Graphics,
"""""""" and Sounds with HyperStudio, but if you want to DO something
with those things, you want HyperCard. The main difference between the two
is HyperTalk, the Scripting (or programming) language that HyperCard uses.
HyperTalk is a complete programming language that allows access to the full
range of things that an Apple IIgs is capable of. HyperTalk has been
called the Applesoft BASIC of the 90s, but again that is not an accurate
description because HyperTalk can do MUCH more and a lot easier too.
GEnieLamp> Is it hard to use?
"""""""""
HangTime> Not at all. If you want to make the computer beep, the command
"""""""" is, oddly enough "beep"! If you wanted it to beep twice the
command would be "beep 2". Sound hard to you?
GEnieLamp> No, not at all.
HangTime> For an example of how powerful HyperCard can be using only the
"""""""" tools included with the package, I was able to create a "stack"
that logged onto GEnie and send/receive text in 20 minutes. This time
includes reading the documentation to figure out how to get a stack to use
the Modem port. Try THAT in BASIC or Pascal. B-)>
GEnieLamp> What hardware requirements are there to run HyperCard?
"""""""""
HangTime> HyperCard Requires:
""""""""
1.5 Megs of memory and a Hard Drive, but I think 2 Megs is better
(and with 4Meg cards going for around $120, why would anyone want less!)
GEnieLamp> What else would be good to have on your system to get the most
""""""""" out of HyperCard?
HangTime> Other then the standard GS equipment, nothing else is required.
"""""""" HCGS doesn't take advantage of a stereo card, though pumping it
through a 100 Watt stereo system wouldn't hurt.
GEnieLamp> Isn't HyperCard supposed to be slow?
"""""""""
HangTime> An accelerator is also a really good add-on, Just a 7mhz
""""""""" Accelerator is plenty to make HCGS very useful.
GEnieLamp> Since you used the word "stack", explain what a stack is.
"""""""""
HangTime> Besides all the cute little metaphors, a "stack" is just the
"""""""" name given to the "thing" that you create with HyperCard. The
term comes from using a metaphor of a "Stack of Index Cards"... because
it's possible to imagine a HyperCard stack as being just a series of cards
that are all instantly accessible.
GEnieLamp> Okay, so let's say I have a IIgs with at least 2 meg of
""""""""" memory, a hard drive, a color monitor and I'm interested in
finding out about HyperCard IIgs. What's the first thing I do?
HangTime> Download it. From the A2 Library on GEnie.
""""""""
GEnieLamp> How many disks is it?
"""""""""
HangTime> There are 6 disks making up the complete suite. This includes
"""""""" HyperCard IIgs along with all the support stacks (Help, Tour,
Sample Stacks [2 disks worth], Ideas, Xcmds, etc)
GEnieLamp> This program sold for about $70 previously. How did A2 get
""""""""" the right to distribute HyperCard for free?
HangTime> I was speaking with Matt Deatherage, an Apple employee and head
"""""""" of the A2Pro RT on GEnie, and we were discussing how great
HyperCard is and what a shame it is that more people aren't using it.
Since Apple is no longer selling the product Matt spent a few weeks talking
with the high muckity mucks and arranged for it to be electronically
licensable. That's the long and the short of it.
GEnieLamp> But no manuals are included. What can you do without manuals?
"""""""""
HangTime> Depends how gutsy you are.
""""""""
If you check out the stacks that are included in the package and
don't mind digging into the code, you might very well figure out a LOT of
HyperTalk. Also, A2 University is just gearing up to teach a HyperTalk
course beginning February 17! This course will start you out on the basics
and take you through the nitty gritty.
GEnieLamp> And there is a HyperCard RTC in A2Pro for additional help.
""""""""" When is that? What is covered in the RTC?
HangTime> I think the _major_ RTCs are going to be the HyperTalk courses
"""""""" for awhile, but in addition to these Thursday night courses
there's a HyperCard RTC every Wednesday night as well. There is no set
agenda, all HyperCard questions are fair game.
GEnieLamp> How about stacks by other people -- are there some available
""""""""" for downloading to see what can be done?
HangTime> Yes, there are PLENTY of HyperCard stacks available on GEnie
"""""""" for download in both the A2 and A2Pro libraries. Plus with the
new availability of HCGS, you are likely to be seeing dozens more very
shortly!
GEnieLamp> Is there a way to share or sell stacks that I write myself?
"""""""""
HangTime> Sure, just like any other software, you can sell it
"""""""" commercially (if you know how, or find a company to do it), or
upload them to any BBS you might frequent.
GEnieLamp> A good example of the full range of uses for HyperCard is
""""""""" displayed in the disk based magazine "Script-Central", which
you edit. How did this magazine come about?
HangTime> Believe it or not, all I did was apply. That's the short
"""""""" story. The longer version is that I got HCGS the day it was
released (overnight delivered in fact) and spent the next 6 hours or so
reading all the manuals cover to cover. I had my first stack completed and
uploaded a couple of hours after that. From that point there was no
stopping me, I was having too much fun.
I immediately became the HyperMedia librarian for the A2 library.
Then a couple of weeks after that I logged on to find some mail from Dean
Esmay mentioning that Tom Weishaar (owner of Resource Central) was looking
for an editor for a HyperCard publication. Before I even finished reading
Dean's letter I was sending a letter off to Tom... and the rest is history.
GEnieLamp> How long ago was this?
"""""""""
HangTime> Let's see, 3 years and 14 days ago (38 minutes, 29 seconds and
"""""""" 40 ticks) HyperCard was released, and I got my copy several
hours after that. And the first issue of Script-Central was in July 1991
GEnieLamp> What does a typical issue of Script-Central contain?
"""""""""
HangTime> There's no such thing as a "Typical" issue. Every issue is new
"""""""" and different, filled with a variety of stacks and info. When
you start up an issue of Script-Central the first thing you see is some
sort of titles (some animations, sounds, whatever I feel like doing that
month). After the titles you find yourself standing before the front door
to our HyperCard School House (address 65816 School House Road). Knock on
the door by clicking on it and you enter the world of Script-Central.
Once inside the building you can move around by clicking on doors,
buttons, drawers, and even a couple of not so obvious things (I like hiding
gags in each issue). In our Regular Departments area you can find things
like Clip Art News, Rumors, Mail, Press Releases and the like.
Additionally the Work Shop is also in this area providing new fonts,
sounds, scripting tips, Xcmds, ready to use handlers, Homework, or any of
probably a dozen other things. Items in various rooms tend to change over
time, as I come up with new ideas, or become bored with the "same old
stuph". This is all on the main floor of our Virtual School House. On the
second floor you'll find the main "Feature" stacks of the month. These
cover ALL the bases, from Games and Utilities to straight HyperMedia-type
applications.
GEnieLamp> Is there a sample issue that can be downloaded?
"""""""""
HangTime> Yes there is, but it doesn't do justice to the Script-Central
"""""""" of today! That demo was created almost three years ago and the
stacks we're doing today are light years ahead of that.
GEnieLamp> Any other comments about HyperCard IIgs?
"""""""""
HangTime> There is not enough time in the day to talk about all that
"""""""" HyperCard is, let alone DO all that HyperCard can do. The end.
[EOA]
[PAL]//////////////////////////////
PAL NEWSLETTER /
/////////////////////////////////
March 1994 Report
"""""""""""""""""
By GEna Saikin
[A2.GENA]
Welcome to the March issue of PAL!
PAL (Planetary Apple League) was created to help fill in the gaps all
too often left by the availability of user groups in the local communities.
We meet the third Sunday of every month, in the Apple II Real Time
Conference area, and each month is filled with demonstrations,
announcements of what's new in the world of Apple, and in the Apple II
Round Table, as well as time for questions and answers on hardware and
software problems.
This is YOUR meeting! We want suggestions and feedback as to what
YOU would like to see! Please feel free to email GS.OZONEMAN or A2.GENA,
the leaders of PAL with your ideas and suggestions.
WHAT'S NEW IN THE APPLE WORLD As we all know, Spectrum has been released,
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" and is being met with great enthusiasm.
Though there are still wrinkles to be ironed out, that is commonplace for
new programs. Talented people are already busily creating autogreet and
other automated type scripting and are loading them into the A2 library.
AppleWorks 4 and its updated versions continue to be popular, and why
not? AppleWorks is and always has been the "workhorse" of the Apple II
world!
discQuest, the newest program out, is described below by Jawaid
Bazyar [PROCYON.INC]. discQuest (with a small D) is a revolutionary
program for the IIgs. It is a front-end program that enables people with
Apple IIgs's to "read" CD-ROM's. There are now over 15 titles available --
from Shakespeare to the Family Doctor; from Darwin to the Classics. To
quote from Jawaid's presentation:
Basically, discQuest is a "front-end" to access these particular CD's
in a user-friendly, fast, efficient, and productive manner. Before you say
"but only 15?", let me mention some of the titles available: Parenting; US
History; Countries of the World Encyclopedia; Darwin (his journals, books,
maps, and research notes); Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Complete
Sherlock Holmes; and History of the World (not the Mel Brooks version :),
just to name a few.
In short, there are a wide variety of very comprehensive titles in
our group of 15. DiscQuest allows the
user to view the text articles,
graphics images (in some cases Photographic quality!), and play audio clips
from the CD. Everything is tied together in a rough "HyperMedia" or
"HyperText" format, so that cross-references can be viewed easily. In
addition, you can export text via the clipboard, or save text out to a file
on disk, for inclusion in a report or whatever.
NEW discQuest Titles (as of January 1994)
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Total Baseball -- New 1993 Edition (CMC)
This Multimedia guide is the most comprehensive baseball
reference ever compiled.
o 2,300 pages of statistics and articles - dating back to 1871
o Player, pitcher, and relief-pitcher registers
o Top 100 All-Time Leaders: Life-Time and Single-Season
o Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Hall
of Fame awards
o A variety of rosters
o Detailed articles covering everything from hitting streaks
to scandals to controversies
o More than 600 photos and images of players, teams, and
ballparks
o Sound clips of some of the game's most memorable moments
1991 YearBooks(R) (YearBook Medical Publishers, Inc)
Medical publication yearbooks for 1989, 1990, and 1991.
Other discQuest titles
''''''''''''''''''''''
Darwin Multimedia CD-ROM (LIGHTBINDERS)
Monarch Notes(R) on CD-ROM (Bureau)
Sherlock Holmes on disc! (CMC)
The Family Doctor (CMC)
Shakespeare (CMC)
Great Literature (Bureau)
Parenting -- Prenatal to Preschool (CMC)
Multimedia Audubon's Birds (CMC)
Multimedia Audubon's Mammals (CMC)
The Best of The Bureau (Bureau)
US History on CD-ROM (Bureau)
History of the World on CD-ROM (Bureau)
Countries of the World on CD-ROM (Bureau)
This pretty much sums up DiscQuest. For further information, contact
Procyon, Inc.
THE LIBRARY STACK The A2 RoundTable has a library that contains thousands
""""""""""""""""" of public domain freeware, shareware and other assorted
programs. Here is a short listing of the best of the most recent
additions:
22235 RADTRASH.BXY Animated trash icon & "flush" rSound
+22234 TAX.FORMS93.BXY 1993 federal tax forms - AW spreadsheets
+22227 BIG402B.BXY Updates AppleWorks 4.01 to 4.02
22225 MINITALK162.BXY Telecom program in a CDA
22220 CDA.ADB.BXY CDA to view AppleWorks ADB files
22207 DISKOPEN.BXY Auto-opens Finder's disk icons
+22183 A2.DOM.0294.BXY A2 Disk of the Month, February 1994
22181 DISKTIMER2.BXY Check the speed of your hard drives
+22171 A2AWLIBLONG.BXY A2 library database - lists all files in A2
Thanks to the efforts of Matt Deatherage, we have also recently received a
license from Apple Computer that allows us to distribute HyperCard IIgs!
The complete HyperCard IIgs program comes on six 3.5" disks:
22199 HTALKHELP.BXY HCGS HyperTalk Help disk
22198 HCGS.HELP.BXY HyperCard IIgs Help disk
22197 STACKS2.BXY HyperCard IIgs Stacks disk #2
22196 STACKS1.BXY HyperCard IIgs Stacks disk #1
22195 HCGS.BXY HyperCard IIgs Program disk
22194 INST.TOUR.BXY HCGS Installer/Tour disk
We also have a "starter kit" that contains just enough files to give you a
taste of what HyperCard IIgs is all about:
22200 HCGSSTARTER.BXY HyperCard IIgs Starter Kit
Our libraries contain all kinds of interesting files. Whether you're
looking for games, graphics, music or system files, you can find it all
right here in A2!
GUEST ARTICLE I asked a newcomer to the IIgs to write a short article on
""""""""""""" her experiences. Read with a blimmer of remembrances when
YOU were once new!:
I have had my Apple //c computer for almost ten years now. My mom, a
junior high computer teacher, let me play with her classroom disks and
games. I always thought that the only things there were for the Apple were
math games.
I originally logged on to GEnie with an old IBM. But, knowing I was
going to lose access to that, I sought to find out if there was a way to
continue my stay with my Apple //c. After visiting the A2 RTC and looking
through the bulletin board, I discovered that there were TONS of things I
could do with my Apple!
With the help of Sue and Gena, I found out that I could not only
access GEnie with my Apple //c, but there were also many many software
programs out there! Between the freeware and shareware in the A2 Library,
and the commercial software available through various commercial outlets, I
have learned more and more about my Apple.
I had always considered myself an "Apple Gal" but was considering
switching to IBM, out of desperation. Now, I am DEFINITELY still am an
"Apple Gal" and plan to stay that way for a long time! I would not be on
GEnie today without the wonderful help from Gena, the rest of the A2 staff,
and the users in A2. Thanks to everyone for all their help!
WHAT'S NEW IN A2? As our library stack mentions, HyperCard GS (HCGS) is
""""""""""""""""" now available in both the Apple II RT library and the
Apple II Programmers RT library. It was once a commercial program, but now
is available to the general public! For further information on HCGS,
please read the related interview right here in this issue of GEnieLamp!
CONCLUSION Remember, we have Real Time Conferences every night of the
"""""""""" week, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. eastern time; and all afternoon on
Sunday! We're here to help you with any problems you may have.
Don't forget our Bulletin Board, with is full of advice, questions,
and answers on almost any conceivable subject. Feel free to post a
question, or if you know the answer to a question, by all means,
contribute!
[EOA]
[AII]//////////////////////////////
APPLE II /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II History, Part 20/21a
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Steven Weyhrich
[S.WEYHRICH]
>>> APPLE II HISTORY <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""
Compiled and written by Steven Weyhrich
(C) Copyright 1992, Zonker Software
(PART 20/21a -- MAGAZINES)
[v1.2 :: 10 Feb 94]
INTRODUCTION Originally, the segments on Apple II magazines appeared in
"""""""""""" two parts, 20 and 21. Since then there have been changes in
the magazine landscape, and some additional material had to be added.
Consequently, I've chosen to combine parts 20 and 21 into one large file,
and then split that file into three smaller pieces that are more
appropriately sized for publication in GEnieLamp A2. They will be called
Part 20/21a, 20/21b, and 20/21c (this will avoid the problem of changing
the numbering sequence for this segment of the history).
In this segment, we will deal with the magzines Micro,
Call-A.P.P.L.E., SoftSide, Apple Assembly Line, Nibble, Peelings II, and
Softalk.
INFORMATION AND COMMUNITY From the earliest days that Apple II user
""""""""""""""""""""""""" groups have sprung up, there have been
newsletters shared within (and often among) these groups, providing hints
and tips on how to make the best use of this computer. Some of these user
groups eventually turned their newsletters into nationally distributed
publications, sharing the information on even a wider scale. Nationally
distributed magazines that dealt with computers began to run regular
columns and special articles that dealt with the Apple II, while other
magazines began with the purpose of serving the Apple II community
exclusively. This segment of the History will take a look at some of the
publications that have grown (and sometimes failed) during the age of the
Apple II. I will be concentrating on those that were either exclusive to
the Apple II or that dealt heavily with it.
Micro (1977-1985) Micro began with the October/November 1977 issue, and
""""""""""""""""" covered the 6502 microprocessor (and later the 6809) in
all the various computers that used it, including the KIM-1, the AIM-65,
the C1P, Commodore's PET, the Ohio Scientific, the Atari 800, and, of
course, the Apple II. It was an excellent source for machine level code
for the 6502, eventually including more and more articles that applied
specifically to the Apple II. Many general-purpose machine language
articles appeared in its pages, such as "Improved nth Precision" (code
optimization for the 6502), "Precision Programming", and "Computer Assisted
Translation Of Programs From 6502 to 6809". They also carried
do-it-yourself hardware articles, such as "C1P To Epson MX-80 Printer
Interface", "PET/CBM IEEE 448 To Parallel Printer Interface", and "Apple II
Digital Storage Oscilloscope".
Micro tended to use each issue for a particular theme, starting out
with articles that concentrated on a particular brand of computer per
issue, and later expanding to topics that applied to several computers
(such as printers, games, and languages). The articles presented were
usually technical in nature and could be very useful for the advanced Apple
programmer.<1>
One feature that was unique to this magazine was the "Micro 6502
Bibliography", which presented a reference to many different computer
publications and the topics these magazines covered that were specifically
important to programming the 6502. Also, the magazine's cover was unique,
giving the impression of looking out from the INSIDE of a computer monitor,
over the keyboard to the room beyond. Graphics on the screen would be
reversed, since it was supposed to be a reverse view.
Call-A.P.P.L.E. (1978-1989) This magazine began in February 1978 as a
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" newsletter for a newly formed Apple II user
group in Seattle, Washington. This group, which called itself the Apple
Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) was begun by several early
Apple II owners in the area. They began a newsletter, Call-A.P.P.L.E., and
under the leadership of its founder and editor, Val J. Golding, it grew to
become a full magazine by 1979, and its boundaries spread well beyond the
Seattle area. As pioneers in the era of Apple II exploration and
expansion, the group's members and magazine subscribers discovered and
published many hints, tips, and programming techniques necessary to the
early Apple II community. Their major thrust, as with user groups today,
came from assisting members in getting their systems to work. This covered
anything from establishing communication between a computer and the newest
low-cost printer, to the nuts and bolts of adding memory chips to get a
full 48K. Call-A.P.P.L.E. also informed its readers with reviews of new
software and programming languages, and entertained them with short Integer
BASIC and Applesoft programs that did strange or unexpected things (in a
recurring feature entitled, "So What Did You Expect?") They also served
their members by scheduling guest speakers for the group meetings, and
printing a summary of the meeting in the magazine. Their early speakers
included notables such as Mike Scott (president of Apple Computer), Randy
Wigginton, and Steve Wozniak.
By 1980, Call-A.P.P.L.E. had become a full magazine published on
slick paper, and it carried advertising by some of the new software and
hardware companies. Their articles became more complex, dealing with
topics such as "Moving DOS 3.3 To The Language Card", and "Applesoft
Internal Structure", as well as various hardware or construction articles.
The year 1984 saw many changes for Call-A.P.P.L.E. The front cover
had previously been white, with the title logo at the top, followed by a
list of major articles. Beginning with the January issue, the cover was
now graced with color artwork, and a subtitle was included under the logo:
"The World's Largest Apple User Group". In April, Val Golding stepped down
as editor, handing that position over to Kathryn Halgrimson Suther. She
had been working with him on production of the magazine since he hired her
back in 1980, and was best qualified for the position. And finally, in
September 1984 the membership voted to change their organization to a
co-operative, officially named A.P.P.L.E. Co-op, to help improve their
efficiency and allow them, under Washington state law, to continue
expanding services in as inexpensive a manner as possible. Previously
selling software written primarily by members, they now began to carry
outside software and hardware items considered useful to their members.
A.P.P.L.E. also advanced the cause of providing useful technical
information to Apple II (and Lisa and Macintosh) programmers by helping
with the formation of APDA (Apple Programmers And Developers Association)
in September of 1987. Through a membership in this Apple-sponsored group,
a programmer could obtain up-to-date tech notes and preliminary material
directly from Apple, to aid in the refinement of his project. (Apple later
took APDA back under its own control in December 1988.)
Another change for the magazine occurred beginning in June 1988. The
cover artwork was toned down, and the thrust of Call-A.P.P.L.E. changed as
it become more of a technical journal than the "hint and tip" magazine it
had originally been. Again the cover listed the major features for that
issue, but in a smaller typeface than in the old days. Articles were now
much more complex, consistent with the increase in complexity found in the
new Apple IIgs. This was also reflected in the subtitle now found under
the logo on the front cover: "The Magazine For The Advanced Apple IIgs And
Apple II User". Topics covered included a series by Mike Westerfield about
"Programming On The GS With APW" (he was the author of the ORCA/M assembler
used in the official Apple Programmer's Workshop on the IIgs), "NDAs 101"
and "NDAs 102" (Tim Swihart writing about writing New Desk Accessories),
and "A Powerful Graphics And Sound Trio" (utilities to allow use of super
hi-res graphics and GS sound from Applesoft BASIC).
Even more significant in 1988 was the change in the name of the
sponsoring group. In her monthly editorial in December of that year,
Kathryn Suther wrote, "Sorry, Val, but the Co-op is undergoing a name
change. Apple Computer, Inc., doesn't seem to appreciate the word Apple in
our name with or without the periods. Rather than having to license the
name back from them, we opted to change the name of the co-op to
TechAlliance, a computer cooperative."<2> (Fortunately, they were not
apparently required by Apple to change the title of the magazine). The
members felt that this name more accurately reflected what the organization
was doing; support, technical journals, and access to products and
information. They also laid plans for a journal aimed at Macintosh
programmers, called "MacTech Quarterly".
With declining Apple II sales in the late 1980s, it was becoming
harder for TechAlliance to put out the type of magazine they wanted as a
monthly publication. Part way through 1989, the decision was made to
switch to a quarterly printing schedule to allow it to stay in print.
However, with the ninth issue of that year they had to announce that they
were ceasing publication. With the passing of Call-A.P.P.L.E. came the
passing of an era. Val Golding wrote to A2-Central's Tom Weishaar about
it: "The 12-year illumination of Call-A.P.P.L.E.'s guiding light is about
to be extinguished. The next issue will be the last. 'Call' was my baby
and I loved it very much, even these last several years when I didn't play
a direct role. It is, after all, like a death in the family." He went on
to mention that he believed that their research into Applesoft internals
and the use of its ampersand command made it possible for the appearance of
more advanced programs earlier than would have been possible otherwise. He
included a copy of his guest editorial from that final issue, reprinted in
the pages of A2-Central in January 1990:
The Editor Bytes Back
Val J. Golding, editor emeritus
Full Circle
Perhaps I've lived in a private dream world all this time,
where visions of ampersand faeries were real and 16K of RAM
sufficed. My 1978 world where, still wrapped in swaddling
clothes, the infant Call-A.P.P.L.E., with wise men guiding,
exploded upon the technological night sky--its contagious
fountain of knowledge spreading like a Washington wildfire, a
depth and rugged determination to share never before and never
again to be seen.
Volume 12, number Nine; there will be no Volume 13. Words
I thought would never be written blur my vision and scar the
moist paper with ugly burn marks. "Our last issue". A doorway
to another dimension has closed after 12 years.
It would take pages to list our accomplishments and firsts,
more still for our failures. But we stood proud while others
perished. And so it will be in the future, the Alliance remains
to serve its members.
None of it would have been possible without those brilliant
pioneering researchers and authors, far too numerous to even
consider thanking individually. Virtually every Apple author
writing today appeared first in these pages. It isn't fair,
however, to leave without at least expressing my gratitude to and
admiration for Kathryn Halgrimson Suther, without whom we would
not have survived thus far. I love you, Ms. K.
Still everything is O.K. I wouldn't have missed it for
anything. "The moving finger, having writ, moves on..."<2>
SoftSide (1978-1984) SoftSide was a magazine about software, begun in
"""""""""""""""""""" October 1978 by Roger Robitaille. It had a format
similar to the early issues of Nibble, with articles and program listings
to enter and try out. A version that was specific to the Apple II began in
January 1980, and lasted as a focussed publication until August 1980, when
it combined with the other versions of SoftSide that were for the TRS-80,
IBM-PC, and Atari computers. The Apple edition was edited by Mark
Pelczarski, who was also an Apple II game author and publisher.
One problem some readers had with SoftSide was with their program
listings; they were a copy of the printout from a dot matrix printer. The
dot matrix printers of the time were not as legible as they are now and by
the time it was photographed and put into the magazine, it had become a bit
illegible. One reader commented, "After a short while of typing, you felt
like you needed some of the 'coke bottle bottom' eye glasses!"<3>
Like many computer publications of the time, SoftSide fell on hard
times because of financial pressures and competition. This came during
their attempt in 1983 to increase their distribution and reach a larger
audience of readers. As a result, Robitaille made some efforts to
reorganize the publication into a new magazine called SoftSide 2.0
(directed towards the computer user), and Code (for the programmer), with
disk versions of both to be made available. Unfortunately, he was never
able to get either concept fully established, and SoftSide disappeared from
view.<4>
Apple Assembly Line (1980-1988) This was something more than a
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" newsletter, but not quite a magazine. It
was edited and printed by Bob Sander-Cederlof, author of the SC-Assembler,
and was written initially for support of that product. It included
information about how to write assembly language routines for various
projects, and one of Sander-Cederlof's favorite pastimes was finding ways
to squeeze the most code into the fewest bytes possible. Often he would
take sections of code from Apple's system software, disassemble it, and
point out how it could have been coded more tightly or efficiently. He
also included various products that he or others had written that were
useful for other programmers, including a package of extensions for
Applesoft that allowed 18 digit precision math functions.
In 1993, the Apple II Programmer's Roundtable (A2Pro) on GEnie was
given permission by Bob Sander-Cederlof to upload the complete text and
source code for every issue of Apple Assembly Line that was ever produced.
Matt Deatherage, chief Sysop for that roundtable, took on the laborious
task of converting all of the old DOS 3.3 and hybrid DOS 3.3/ProDOS disks
provided by Sander-Cederlof. Deatherage had to convert all of the old
files into a format that was accessible under ProDOS (which you may recall
has a more limited file-naming system than did DOS 3.3). Also, he had to
locate and organize all of the various source files pertinent to a
particular issue of the newsletter from the various disks that
Sander-Cederlof had previously made available to his subscribers. After
compiling all of the information, Deatherage then created individual
archives for each issue and uploaded them to the A2Pro library. They are
there available on an exclusive basis, as permission for uploading them to
any other online service or BBS was NOT granted.
Nibble (1980-1992) Begun in his living room in January 1980 by Mike
"""""""""""""""""" Harvey, Nibble survived longer than most Apple II
magazines. His original advertisement for the magazine stated:
NIBBLE is an unusual Newsletter for Apple II owners. Each Issue will
follow a major theme...such as:
* DATA BASE MANAGEMENT
* PROGRAMS FOR THE HOME
* TEXT PROCESSING
* COMPUTING FOR KIDS
* SMALL BUSINESS JOBS
* GAMES AND GRAPHICS
* PRACTICAL PASCAL
* etc.
Significant programs will be in each issue, surrounded by articles
which show how to USE the programming ideas in your OWN programs.
Examples of Upcoming Articles...
* Building A Numeric Keypad
* Home Credit Card Management
* LORES Shape Writing
* Designing Games That Last
* Arcade Shooting Gallery
* Random #'s in Assy. Lang.
* HIRES Weaving Design
And many many more. NIBBLE will literally "Nibble Away" at the
mysteries of the Apple II to help Beginning and Advanced Programmers,
Small Businessmen, and the Whole Family enjoy and USE the Apple MORE!
It costs a paltry $15.00 for 8 Issues! It will invite and publish
user ideas and programs. DON'T WAIT! Send your check or money order
right now, to receive the January issue! Mail to:
S.P.A.R.C.
P.O. Box [number missing]
Lincoln, Mass. 01773
Software Publishing And Research Co.<5>
Mike worked carefully to make sure that he was not under the pressure
of banks or investors, and so worked out of his own savings, running the
company on a "pay as you go" basis. He printed enough of the first issue,
42 pages long in black and white, to mail to the few who responded to his
ad, and the rest were sent free of charge to Apple dealers to make them
aware of Nibble's existence. Their initial schedule was for eight issues
per year, which was what he could afford to put out. By mid 1981 the
magazine had grown to the point where Harvey could quit his regular job
(president of a subsidiary of Exxon Enterprises) and work full-time as
publisher of Nibble.<5>,<6> His editorials over the years covered many
topics that were helpful for small businesses, giving advice that would
help them survive in good times and bad. He certainly took his own advice;
although Nibble expanded to the point where it went to a monthly schedule
(around 1984) and was printed as a square-bound magazine, it had to reduce
by 1990 back to a center-stapled format with fewer pages. Eventually its
newsstand distribution also had to be curtailed, and in the end it was
available only by subscription.
Nibble's articles covered a wide array of topics, from simple
Applesoft and Integer BASIC programs, to complex assembly language
applications, BASIC extensions, and games. In its prime it also included a
popular series called "Disassembly Lines", by contributing editor Sandy
Mossberg, M.D. In his series, Mossberg taught some of the tricks and
techniques of assembly language by taking parts of DOS 3.3, and later
BASIC.SYSTEM and PRODOS, and "disassembling" them into readable assembly
source code. This provided some insight into reasons why Apple's system
programs worked the way they did, and made it possible to either modify
them to fix bugs, or to incorporate the programming techniques in other
projects. Mossberg later went on to delve into the Apple IIgs toolbox
(built-in ROM routines).
Nibble was a good place to learn how to write programs. Their
published listings were well commented, and the tricks used by the
programmers who wrote their articles were available for all to see and
learn. Along with the various utilities they published were games (some
that were very complicated, with long tables of hex bytes to enter). They
also included in later issues reviews of various commercial software
products, and always made available disks containing all of the programs
from a single issue of the magazine, for those who didn't want to enter by
hand the programs.
In April 1985 a section was added to the magazine called "Nibble
Mac", to cover topics of interest to Macintosh users. Later in 1985 this
was split out and a separate publication (short-lived) with the same title
was printed to concentrate on the Macintosh users. Nibble also helped
establish the concept of copyright protection on program listings printed
in magazines. This was important to Nibble, as they sold disks of their
old programs to save readers the trouble of typing in by hand the long
listings.
With decreasing sales, a decision was made in 1991 to no longer
supply Nibble to newsstand vendors and continue the magazine on a
subscription-only basis. The market for Apple II programming-oriented
magazines continued to decline, and the July 1992 issue announced itself as
the last one. The balance of subscriptions were filled out through
A2-Central.
Peelings II (1980-unknown) Started around August 1980, this magazine was
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" devoted entirely to Apple II software
reviews.<7>
Softalk (1980-1984) Softalk ... ah, this one was special. Of all the
""""""""""""""""""" magazines that have dealt with the Apple II since its
release in 1977, none have been quite like Softalk. Their first issue in
September 1980 was 32 pages, including the cover which featured Darth Vader
with the title, "Apple Helps The Empire Strike Back". This first issue
opened with the following introductory remark. I reproduce it in its
entirety here, because it highlights what I feel is the ideal in a computer
magazine, and because the last two paragraphs are still very applicable
today:
Welcome to SOFTALK. Whether you're a hobbyist or a
businessperson, a programmer or a nonprogrammer, SOFTALK is
designed for you, because each of you has chosen Apple for your
computer; and so did we.
SOFTALK is a feature magazine, intended to pique the
curiosity and intrigue the intellect of everyone who owns an
Apple. In SOFTALK, you'll find articles about people who own and
use Apples, some of them famous, some merely ingenious. You'll
find articles about issues--those most pertinent within the
microcomputer industry, such as piracy, and those the
microcomputer is helping to solve, such as unemployment among the
handicapped.
SOFTALK'S regular columns will strive to keep you up with
what's new in software and hardware and what's new in the
companies that make software and hardware. We'll also try to
keep you informed of how the computer is making news, both in the
United States and abroad, both seriously and lightly.
SOFTALK is not a programming magazine. Beginning in
October, our programming columns will be intended as tutorials,
offering running courses on how to program. Although we believe
that those of you who are seriously involved in programming will
enjoy SOFTALK, for your programming applications we recommend
that you seek out the excellent programming articles and tips in
such magazines as APPLE ORCHARD, MICRO, CALL-A.P.P.L.E., CREATIVE
COMPUTING, and the many other fine magazines that address
themselves to this aspect of computing.
Fun is another feature of SOFTALK. There will be puzzles,
games, contests. The prizes won't be huge, but they will be fun.
This month, you'll find a contest on page 2; later in the
magazine lurks another puzzler.
We encourage you to patronize our advertisers. Those
advertisers make it possible for you to receive SOFTALK. And,
further, we hope you'll support your local computer store. A
healthy retail sector is crucial to our industry on every level;
it is to all our benefits to help our retailers prosper.
I hope you share my enthusiasm for Apple and for the
remarkable microcomputer industry, because, when you share it,
you'll find yourself looking forward to the fast-coming future
with excitement and optimistic anticipation. If SOFTALK serves
only to instill such a positive enthusiasm in you, it will be
well worthwhile.<8>
Oddly enough, Softalk owed its beginning to a television game show.
Margot Tommervik was a contestant on "Password", and with part of her
winnings she purchased an Apple II computer. She was fascinated with the
machine and what it allowed her to do. When a local computer store offered
a prize for the first person to solve On-Line's Mystery House adventure,
she dove into it headlong and had it solved in twenty-four hours. Later
that year, she came across a publishing house that was trying to produce a
magazine about software and wanted a partner. With the rest of her
"Password" winnings, Margot and her husband Al agreed to do the magazine if
they were allowed to determine its course and retain management control. It
would be as much a magazine for Apple II enthusiasts to enjoy as a platform
for software publishers to display their wares. Although it had the modest
beginning of only 32 pages printed on newsprint stock, within a year there
were over one hundred advertising pages in each issue. It was an ideal
arrangement: The readers got a magazine that was specifically about their
computer, and the software and hardware companies got a magazine with
widespread distribution that could showcase their products to those
readers.<9>
Part of the uniqueness of Softalk was due to the way it did business.
Although it was a magazine that was available by mail or in computer stores
(as were other computer magazines of the day), this one offered EVERY Apple
II owner a FREE six month subscription as a trial! One only had to provide
the serial number on the bottom of the computer, and you were in the club.
And it felt like a club, almost a family, of fellow Apple II (and later,
Apple III, Lisa, and Macintosh) enthusiasts. This unusual method of
providing a magazine lasted even until the final issue.
Softalk carved its niche among the other Apple II magazines of the
time by providing a variety of articles not available anywhere else.
Whereas Nibble was best known for its games and utilities, Call-A.P.P.L.E.
for its technical information, and Apple Orchard for its focus on beginners
and Apple user groups, Softalk concentrated on the Apple computer industry.
This included information about Apple Computer, Inc., as well as the many
companies that provided software or hardware for the Apple II. A monthly
series called "Exec" (taken after the DOS 3.3 disk command), profiled a
company that made hardware or software for the Apple II, and gave some of
the background about its products. They carried reviews of many new
releases each month, and provided news on a continuing basis ABOUT the
companies making those products. They also developed a monthly best-seller
list for Apple II and III software, and used not the sales figures provided
by the companies who marketed the programs, but rather the actual sales
figures from the software and computer stores that sold them. Their reason
for doing it this way was to get a more accurate picture of what was
SELLING, not just what was shipping.
As time went by, Softalk expanded its coverage to include columns
that dealt with specific programming areas on the Apple II, but chose to do
so in a tutorial fashion, as they promised in their introduction article.
Roger Wagner started in October 1980 with a column called "Assembly Lines"
that taught 6502 assembly language (he says that what he knew about 6502
assembly was only about one month ahead of what the readers were
learning<10>); Doug Carlston instructed users in the art of BASIC
programming in "All About Applesoft"; Mark Pelczarski expounded on hi-res
graphics techniques in "Graphically Speaking"; Taylor Pohlman (an Apple
employee) wrote about the Apple III in "The Third Basic"; Jim Merritt (who
also worked for Apple) championed Pascal in "The Pascal Path"; Greg
Tibbetts delved into Apple CP/M in "Softcard Symposium"; and Bert Kersey
and Tom Weishaar deciphered DOS 3.3 and ProDOS in "DOSTalk". Other regular
features included "Fastalk" (an annotated listing and description of
current and classic software), "Marketalk News" (product release
announcements) and "Marketalk Reviews" (detailed product reviews),
"Tradetalk" (Apple industry news), "Hardtalk" (hardware projects or
information), "Storytalk" (fiction, primarily computer related), and
eventually a column called "Backtalk", which was a look back at older
issues of Softalk itself (this began on the third anniversary of the
magazine). One unusual column, called "Open Discussion", was quite similar
to the interaction on today's online information services. They printed
letters from readers that ranged from comments on previous articles to
questions such as "How do I get Apple Writer to work with my printer?"
Rather than directly answering each question, Softalk often left it to
readers to send in replies with help. In its last year, Softalk did begin
a column called "If Then Maybe", which actually took some of those
technical questions and used some of its consulting writers (the "Softalk
Sages") to answer them.
Each month there was a new contest, usually involving a puzzle of
some sort that might or might not require the use of a computer to help
solve it. The winners of the previous month's contests were awarded a
credit towards $100 worth of products advertised in Softalk. The puzzles
were creative and unique. One issue asked to have various shapes in a
later part of the magazine identified (some that were obvious, such as a
computer monitor, some less so, such as a hand phaser from Star Trek).
Another contest consisted of only lists of five character scrambled words;
no clues, no instructions, no direction. One month had a crossword puzzle
with VERY obtuse clues. One November issue featured tiny little "hi-res"
turkeys scattered throughout the magazine; the goal was to correctly count
ALL of them. Some of the contests even allowed those entering to be
creative; one asked entrants to write a short paragraph that might
illustrate the use of an Apple computer by a fictional or non-fictional
historical figure (an example being Emperor Nero playing an adventure game
in which he is trying to figure out the correct commands to get it to allow
him to burn down Rome). In the case of multiple entries with correct
answers, the winner of the monthly contests was selected with a
random-number generator. Even if you didn't enter the contests, they were
fun to read and ponder, and some of the winning entries (when creative
writing was involved) were great.
Softalk suddenly disappeared after the August 1984 issue was mailed.
There was no announcement, nothing that had indicated that this was going
to happen, and with its disappearance the "Golden Age" of the Apple also
passed. (By this time Softalk Publishing also had two other magazines,
"Softalk For The IBM PC" and "St. Mac", for the Macintosh). This ending
could have been predicted by the way in which the magazine had gotten
smaller and smaller in size over the previous few months, but its ending
was still somewhat of a shock to the readers. One reader was reported to
have said that if he had known that they were having financial problems he
would have taken up a collection!
What led to the demise of Softalk? Several factors likely played a
role. One was the explosion in the number of magazines for and about
computers between 1981 and 1983. Each new magazine that appeared was yet
another place where a vendor needed to consider putting advertising
dollars, and for some small companies it was simply not affordable to put
ads in ALL of them. Another factor that figured in was the introduction of
the IBM PC, and the sudden need for companies to produce versions of their
programs that would run on THAT computer. When the recession of 1982-84
arrived, the computer market began to loose steam, and small single-product
companies either had to associate with larger ones or go out of business.
Lower consumer spending on computer hardware and software hurt the market
further, and the necessary advertising dollars were simply not available,
and Softalk became, unfortunately, one of the casualties.<11> Perhaps the
major factor that contributed to this was that Softalk did not have any
large publishing company backing it up; it was owned and operated by the
Tommerviks, and they didn't have the cash cushion that would allow them to
pay expenses during time of slow advertising revenue.<12> Perhaps if a
major publisher had taken an interest, Softalk would still be around today.
In its prime (December 1983), Softalk was over 400 pages long, but by
its final issue in August 1984 it had shrunk down to only 128 pages.
Although a next issue was in the works (according to the "previews" section
in the table of contents), it never made it to the printer. Remaining
subscriptions were filled out by inCider magazine, but sadly, the magic was
gone.
[*][*][*]
NEXT INSTALLMENT: Magazines, cont.
""""""""""""""""
NOTES
"""""
<1> Peterson, Craig. GEnie, A2 ROUNDTABLE, Mar 1992, Category 2,
Topic 16.
<2> Suther, Kathryn Halgrimson. "The Inside Track", CALL-A.P.P.L.E.,
Oct 1984, p. 34.
<3> Vanderpool, Tom. GEnie, A2 ROUNDTABLE, Oct 1991, Category 2,
Topic 16.
<4> Barr, Mike. GEnie, A2 ROUNDTABLE, Oct 1992, Category 2, Topic 16.
<5> Harvey, Mike. "Nibble At Seven Years...Roots And Blooms",
NIBBLE, Jan 1987, p. 5.
<6> Harvey, Mike. "Time Flies When You're Havin' Fun!", NIBBLE, Jan
1985, p. 5.
<7> Golding, Val J. "Call-A.P.P.L.E. Book Review", PEEKING AT
CALL-A.P.P.L.E., VOL 3, 1980, p. 249.
<8> Tommervik, Margot Comstock. "Straightalk", SOFTALK, Sep 1980, p.
3.
<9> Levy, Steven. Dell Publishing Co., Inc, HACKERS: HEROES OF THE
COMPUTER REVOLUTION, New York, 1984, pp. 308-310.
<10> Bird, Alan, & Weishaar, Tom. "Old Timers: Two Survivors", 1991
A2-CENTRAL SUMMER CONFERENCE (tapes), July 1992.
<11> Golding, Val J. "The Magazine That Dared To Sing",
CALL-A.P.P.L.E., Oct 1984, p. 34.
<12> Disbrow, Steven. "Old Timers: Apple II Magazines", 1992
A2-CENTRAL SUMMER CONFERENCE (tapes), July 1992.
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