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GEnieLamp A2Pro - Vol.1, Issue 07
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|| ||| |||| |||||| || |||| Your
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|| |||||| || || |||||| RoundTable
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|| |||||| |||||||| |||||| RESOURCE!
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~ WELCOME TO THE GEnieLamp A2PRO! ~
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ NAMEOBJ RTC TRANSCRIPT ~ WINDOW PROGRAMING TIPS ~
~ 8/16 CENTRAL AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON GENIE ~
~ APPLE ASSEMBLY LINES TOUR CONTINUES ~ WHO'S WHO IN A2PRO ~
~ HOT NEWS ~ HOT MESSAGES ~ HOT VIEWS ~
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
GEnie Lamp A2Pro ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.1, Issue 07
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Publisher...............................................John F. Peters
Editor.....................................................Jim Couch
Copy Editor...........................................Bruce Maples
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
~ GEnieLamp IBM ~ GEnieLamp ST ~ GEnieLamp [PR] ~ GEnieLamp TX2 ~
~ GEnieLamp A2Pro ~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~ LiveWire Online ~
~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~
GE Mail: GENIELAMP Internet: GENIELAMP@GENIE.GEIS.COM
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE A2Pro ROUNDTABLE? <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ August 1, 1993 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] A2PRO ROUNDTABLE STAFF . [DIR]
Notes From The Editor. Staff Directory.
HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY] DEVELOPER'S CORNER ...... [DEV]
Is That A Letter For Me? News from A2Pro Developers.
RTC WATCH ............... [RTC] A2U CAMPUS GREEN ........ [A2U]
A2Pro RTC News. Your GEnieLamp guide to A2U.
LIBRARY BIT BONANZA ..... [LIB] NAMEOBJ RTC TRANSCRIPT....[NAM]
HOT files you can download! Learn about this powerful tool.
LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
GEnieLamp Information.
[IDX]"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
READING GEnieLamp GEnieLamp has incorporated a unique indexing
""""""""""""""""" system to help make reading the magazine easier.
To utilize this system, load GEnieLamp into any ASCII word processor
or text editor. In the index you will find the following example:
HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]
[*]GEnie Fun & Games.
To read this article, set your find or search command to [HUM]. If
you want to scan all of the articles, search for [EOA]. [EOF] will take
you to the last page, whereas [IDX] will bring you back to the index.
MESSAGE INFO To make it easy for you to respond to messages re-printed
"""""""""""" here in GEnieLamp, you will find all the information you
need immediately following the message. For example:
(SMITH, CAT6, TOP1, MSG:58/M530)
_____________| _____|__ _|O__ |____ |_____________
|Name of sender CATegory TOPic Msg.# Page number|
In this example, to respond to Smith's message, log on to page
475 enter the bulletin board and set CAT 6. Enter your REPly in TOPic 1.
A message number that is surrounded by brackets indicates that this
message is a "target" message and is referring to a "chain" of two
or more messages that are following the same topic. For example: {58}.
ABOUT GEnie Effective July 1, GEnie's non-prime time connect rate drops
""""""""""" to $3.00 per hour, a reduction of 50% from the current rate.
The monthly fee has been restructured, and moves from $4.95 to $8.95, for
which up to four hours of non-prime time access to most GEnie services,
such as software downloads, bulletin boards, GE Mail, an Internet gateway,
multi-player games and chat lines, are allowed without charge. To sign up
for GEnie service, call (with modem) 1-800-638-8369. Upon connection type
HHH. Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99014,DIGIPUB and hit RETURN. The
system will then prompt you for your information. Need more information?
Call GEnie's customer service line (voice) at 1-800-638-9636.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
//////////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "Can you imagine the abuse it would take to jar chips out of their /
/ sockets packed in a styrofoam case, inside a box, inside a larger /
/ box full of styrofoam peanuts! It's hard enough to pull one out /
/ on purpose. :-)" /
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////// REALM ////
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Publisher
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By John Peters
[GENIELAMP]
TOP OF THE PAGE To know me personally, is to know how fanatical I can be
""""""""""""""" when it comes to Digital Publishing. Convincing people
that there are definite positive advantages to publishing electronically
has been a long and frustrating battle, and unfortunately, the battle is
far from over. However, that doesn't slow me down any, it just makes me a
little more fanatical about spreading the word. Lately, I have been
reading articles about Digital Publishing in high-profile publications like
Time, Newsweek and the New York Times so clearly, all is not lost. Digital
Publishing is finally starting to find its place in the computing world.
Along these lines, the Digital Publishing Association (a group of
folks who are just as fanatical as I am :) are coming out with their second
annual Digital Quill awards competition. Take a look...
>>> DPA ANNOUNCES SECOND ANNUAL "DIGITAL QUILL" AWARDS COMPETITION <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Birmingham, Alabama - July 19, 1993: The Digital Publishing Association,
the first and only trade organization for the electronic publishing
industry, announced the Second Annual "Digital Quill" Awards for Excellence
in Electronic Publishing.
In making the announcement, Ron Albright, founder and director of the
DPA, defined "electronic publishing" as the publication of literature and
graphic material in computer-readable, digital format; specifically,
materials created on computer and distributed in digital format for other
to read through their computers. According to Albright, the term
encompasses "everything from plain ASCII text, which can be read on any
computer, to complex, hypertext publications that rely on machine-specific
programs to view and navigate."
The Quill Award competition is open to all authors and publishers,
regardless of DPA membership status. The only requirement is that the
materials submitted for judging must have been previously published in
electronic format. Submitted materials must either have been uploaded to an
online system or distributed on disk for reading by computer as digital
materials. In clarifying, Albright said "materials that were simply created
on computer - most writers use those for composition anyway - do not meet
the criteria of having been electronically published for reading and are
ineligible."
Award Categories
""""""""""""""""
o Serial Publication - a weekly, monthly or otherwise regularly-
scheduled publication that has been issued for at least 6 months (or
at least 3 editions) available prior to July, 1993. This category
will include both fiction and non-fiction magazines and newsletters.
o New Serial Publication - a weekly, monthly or otherwise regularly-
scheduled publication that has been issued for less than 6 months
but has been published at least for two issues. This category will
include both fiction and non-fiction magazines and newsletters and
is proposed to recognize and encourage new issues.
o Fiction Book - an original (eliminating reprints of the "classics"
in digital format - who among us can hope to compete with a digital
edition of Shakespeare's classics?) electronically published novel.
Length: 50,000 words, minimum.
o Non-Fiction Book - an original non-fiction book in digital format.
Length: 35,000 words minimum.
o Short Story - a single original story appearing either alone or as
part of an anthology or magazine and published in digital format.
This category shall exclude reprints of stories originally published
in a paper publication. Length: 1000 words, minimum.
o Non-fiction article - a single originally article appearing either
alone or as part of a magazine and published in digital format. This
category shall exclude reprints of articles originally published in
paper. Length: 1500 words, minimum.
o Publishing software - a software program (Shareware or traditionally
marketed) designed for publishing text and/or graphics and
facilitating their distribution and viewing. Nominations will be
accepted from users as well as original authors.
o Miscellaneous - this niche will encompass poetry, graphic
collections, comics, and other publications outside the standard
categories.
PRIZES A certificate, suitable for framing, will be awarded to first,
"""""" second, third winners in each category. In cases where the number
and/or quality of submissions warrants, Certificates of Merit will also be
awarded. Additional prizes, including cash awards, are under consideration.
If available, these will be announced in the future.
DEADLINES Submissions will be accepted from original authors or from the
""""""""" editors of a publication in which the submitted material
appeared. Submissions must be made in digital format (via modem or on
disk) to any of the "electronic addresses" listed below. Deadline for
submissions is September 30, 1993. Winners will be announced in conjunction
with the DPA activities surrounding "Electronic Publishing Month" which is
annually celebrated in November.
Submit materials to any of the following addresses:
GEnie: RALBRIGHT / DigiPub RoundTable (M1395)
CompuServe: 75166,2473
MCI Mail: 370-7474 (RALBRIGHT)
PRODIGY: DXBD80A
You can also upload submissions to the Disktop Publishing Association
BBS at 205-854-1660 (1200/2400/9600; 24 hours/day).
Materials can be submitted on disk by mailing to:
The Digital Publishing Association
1160 Huffman Road
Birmingham, AL 35215
Ron Albright Contact: Ron Albright
Digital Publishing Association
1160 Huffman Road
Birmingham, AL 35215
Voice: 205-856-9510
FAX: 205-853-8478
BBS: 205-854-1660
[*][*][*]
If you are interested in learning more about the awards or digital
publishing, drop by the DigiPub RoundTable on page 1395.
Until next month...
John Peters
GEnieLamp/DigiPub RoundTable
[EOA]
[DIR]//////////////////////////////
A2PRO ROUNDTABLE STAFF /
/////////////////////////////////
By Matt Deatherage
[M.DEATHERAGE]
______________________________________________
APPLE II PROGRAMMERS & DEVELOPERS ROUNDTABLE
_____ ______ ______________________________________________
/_____|/______\
/__/|__| ___|__| Head Sysop: Matt Deatherage (M.DEATHERAGE)
/__/_|__| /_____/ Assistants: Steve Gunn (A2PRO.STEVE)
/________|/__/ __ __ __ Greg Da Costa (A2PRO.GREG)
/__/ |__|__/______ /_//_// / Todd P. Whitesel (A2PRO.TODDPW)
/__/ |__|________// / \/_/ Jim Maricondo (A2PRO.DYAJIM)
LOOKING AT WHO IS BEHIND THE DOOR Those five names on the door can be
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" misleading; there are a lot of people
helping provide support for Apple II programmers here in A2Pro.
The A2Pro Staff:
Matt Deatherage (M.DEATHERAGE) Head sysop
C. Stephen Gunn (A2PRO.STEVE) Assistant sysop
Greg Da Costa (A2PRO.GREG) Assistant sysop
Todd P. Whitesel (A2PRO.TODDPW) Assistant sysop
Jim Maricondo (A2PRO.DYAJIM) Assistant sysop
Dave Miller (JUST.DAVE) A2Pro Promotions
Chris Budewig (K.FLYNN) A2Pro special projects
(8/16-Central)
Our RTC hosts, a group that will soon be growing:
Hangtime (A2.HANGTIME) HyperBar and Grill (Wed.)
Nate Trost (N.TROST) Graphics and Sound (Thurs.)
Plus the folks who create that great A2Pro GEnie Lamp each month:
Jim Couch (J.COUCH2) GEnie Lamp A2Pro editor
Nate Trost (N.TROST) Staff writer
The people providing support categories and libraries:
Jawaid Bazyar (PROCYON.INC) Procyon, Inc. (#30)
Bryan Pietrzak (SOFTDISK.INC) Softdisk (#31)
Jay Jennings (PUNKWARE) Softdisk (#31)
Morgan Davis (MORGAN-DAVIS) Morgan Davis Group (#32)
Joe Wankerl (JWANKERL) GS+ Magazine (#33)
Randy Brandt (BRANDT) JEM Software (#34)
Marc Wolfgram (M.WOLFGRAM2) Lunar Productions (#35)
Mike Westerfield (BYTEWORKS) The Byte Works, Inc. (#36)
And those folks providing help in Category/Library #29:
Jim Maricondo (A2PRO.DYAJIM or DYA/Digisoft Innovations
DYA) (Twilight II)
Steve McQueen (S.MCQUEEN1) Simplexity Software
(Desktop Enhancer)
Jerry Kindall (QUALITY) Q-LABS (Phantasm)
Steve Chiang (S.CHIANG4) DreamWorld Software
(DreamGrafix)
Joshua Thompson (J.THOMPSON1) METAL/FutureVision
Eric Bush (KITCHEN.SINK) Kitchen Sink Software
(Microdot)
Plus occasional stop-ins from Roger Wagner, Jim Murphy, Steve
Stephenson, Seven Hills, Bill Heineman and more, all hanging around to
answer your questions and help with your problems.
--Matt (*new* graphics/sound programming RTC Thursdays @ 9:30 PM ET!)
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT1, TOP10, MSG:11/M530)
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Jim B Couch
[J.COUCH2]
o BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS
o A2PRO ODDS & ENDS
o WHAT'S NEW?
o PROGRAMMER'S CORNER
o HOT TOPICS
o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT
>>>BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
[*] CAT1, TOP19, MSG{8}...............Apple Assembly Line Magazine
[*] CAT1, TOP23, MSG{1}......................8/16-Central Magazine
[*] CAT8, TOP8, MSG{96}.......................GS/OS Class 1 Calls
[*] CAT9, TOP7, MSG{30}..............Applesoft BASIC help please!
[*] CAT15, TOP14, MSG{20}............................Window Manager
[*] CAT15, TOP29, MSG{26}..............................ACE Tool Set
[*] CAT36, TOP9, MSG{31}.............ORCA/M 16-bit Macro Assembler
[*] CAT36, TOP26, MSG{11}.........................ORCA/Disassembler
[*][*][*]
>>> A2PRO ODDS & ENDS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
NEW IDEAS IN A2U As the new guy in charge here, I've been busy trying
"""""""""""""""" to come up with some ideas to keep things hopping around
here and I think I've come up with some ideas.
It seems we often have these full blown courses that start out real
well, but either leave people behind or become too drawn out. So I've
decided to try doing some short courses on a variety of subjects and hope
that will stimulate participation and involvement. Here is a list of my
current ideas:
Writing the A2U shell (similar to Generic Start)
String Manipulations
Handles, Pointers and Dereferencing
Using the Window manager
Using the Menu Manager
Fun with the Control Manager
Exploring the List Manager
All about the Print Manager
Term program scripting
Writing Interrupt handlers
Intro to animation
Programming with MD-Basic
Writing T2 and Phantasm Modules
Writing Nifty List modules
Using Nifty List and GSBug
Writing Finder Extensions
Hypercard Scripting
Writing Shell Utilities
Orca Shell Scripting
Writing Macros (ORCA/M)
As I envision these courses, they could be done in three to four weeks
which should make it a little easier for people to take part and should
also make it much easier on the professors. These are things that should
be useful to just about anyone interested in programming the IIgs and
creates a basic foundation upon which to build future full courses.
I'm looking for instructors for these courses, so if you are
interested or know someone who is qualified and who might be interested,
let me know via GE Mail. I will get back to those who are seriously
interested with details on compensation, outlines and schedules.
Greg [ A2U Guy ]
(A2PRO.GREG, CAT22, TOP7, MSG:3/M530)
[*][*][*]
8/16 CENTRAL AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON GENIE! As you've probably noticed,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 8/16-Central is now
available for download here in A2Pro. This magazine, published by Ariel
Publishing and later by Resource Central, includes all kinds of wonderful
information for both eight- bit and sixteen-bit programming on the Apple
II. Animation, system software, hardware hacking and more besides. It was
one of the first places we all got to know Nate Trost, for example. :)
There's been a bit of confusion about what "available exclusively in
A2Pro" means, so here's some clarification. 8/16-Central can not be
distributed through any other means. You may not upload it elsewhere, pass
it around to friends on floppy disk, put it in user group libraries or
anything of the sort.
This is _not_ freeware nor is it public domain. It belongs to
Resource Central, which has decided to try making it available here in
addition to selling the back issues on disk through the Resource Central
catalog. There are a lot of us who believe that anything they see available
for download somewhere is "fair game" -- it can be passed around in any
way, uploaded elsewhere and generally treated as free information. We've
learned in the past few years that sometimes owners of software want to
make it available online but are hesitant to do so because they're afraid
they'll lose control of the distribution.
Resource Central is taking a gamble by making 8/16-Central available
here; please help us show that it's a good thing to do by not passing it
around or uploading it elsewhere. If we find out people are passing it
around, Resource Central probably has to remove it from online to protect
their copyrights on the material. That would be unfortunate for all of us.
(Note that there are no reported problems, just some confusion. This
is our attempt to head off problems before they start.)
----
Since this material is much more recent than Apple Assembly Line, we
felt it was appropriate to contact the authors and make sure they were OK
with their information being made available online. This task fell to
A2Pro regular Chris Budewig (K.FLYNN), who's been contacting hard-to-find
people, or trying to, since about February of this year working on this
project. He's also uploaded all of the issues, written the descriptions for
the files and put up with me shouting "Where is it? Where is it?" :)
I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Chris for all the
hours of hard detective work he did tracking down most of the people
involved. Without his help, this project would not have happened.
Chris may be starting a "tour" of 8/16-Central soon, much like Dave
Miller's ongoing tour of Apple Assembly Line. If this is something you'd
like to see, let us know!
--Matt (*new* graphics/sound programming RTC Thursdays @ 9:30 PM ET!)
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT1, TOP23, MSG:1/M530)
[*][*][*]
MISSING SOURCE CODE FOUND Sorting out the quarterly (mostly) source code
""""""""""""""""""""""""" disks for Apple Assembly Line wasn't always
easy, and I didn't always do it right.
Specifically, P.GUERTIN6 has pointed out that there are no source code
files in the March 1983 archive. This is because I accidentally put them
all in the February 1983 archive, not being able at the time to figure out
where they were supposed to go.
As far as I can tell, all the files are present, just not in the
correct archives. I'll fix it after KansasFest, but I thought you'd like
to know in case you were getting near those issues in your perusals.
--Matt
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT1, TOP19, MSG:11/M530)
[*][*][*]
WHY READ GENIELAMP A2PRO? During a particularly long session writing my
""""""""""""""""""""""""" GEnieLamp A2Pro columns I began to visualize
all kinds of great reasons to read GEnieLamp. These reasons went far
beyond the ordinary....such as the A2Pro Lamp lets you know what's new and
hot in the library, keeps you up to date of the great discussion in the BB,
and highlights the popular and entertaining RTCs. No, I went off the deep
end. Therefore, I present:
The Top 10 Not So Important Reasons to Read GEnieLamp A2Pro
10. Matt Deatherage's fun-filled column where his views
represent neither himself or Apple, but rather the
late 18th Century French historian and poet, Voltaire.
9. No Barney (tm) songs....ever.
8. Details of how A2PRO.STEVE (Steve Gunn) was involved
in the Burt/Loni breakup.
7. Exclusive ASCII photos of A2 Chief Sysop Dean Esmay
greeting an alien UFO outside Podunk, Michigan.
6. Has so much soul that editor Jim Couch is going blind
and is now appearing in Diet Pepsi commercials.
5. Great articles on how to make your programs multitask
under 6.0.1 using nothing but a new bit in TaskMaster,
ordinary dental floss, and common household chemicals.
4. Staff writer Nate Trost is single, more in the Personals
section.
3. Fun filled interview with Michael Jackson who reveals
that the real reason he's turning white is due to
spending too much time staring at ORCA/Disassembler
trying to make 6.0 multitask.
2. Todd Whitesel centerfold.
1. Complete listing of Randy Brandt's Buttafucco macro set
for UltraMacros.
Nate (G/S RTC host and A2Pro Lamp staff writer who is making mental
note to take breaks more often and stop drinking Mountain Dew by the
keg.....)
(N.TROST, CAT1, TOP15, MSG:53/M530)
[*][*][*]
ULTRA 4 QUIRK DISCOVERED Here's an unusual Ultra Quirk (and it
"""""""""""""""""""""""" demonstrates the kind of phone calls we
sometimes get):
In the Quality manual to UltraMacros 4, on page 30 under "Defining
Numeric Variables," it gives the example -
J:<all S=8 : J(8)= 89: print QUALITY(Comp)>!
I no longer have my JEM Ultra 4 manual, but I'd be willing to bet that
this example used to say:
J:<all S=8 : J(8)= 89: print JEM(Soft)>!
Apparently somebody went through the JEM manual and changed all the
JEM references to Quality without regard to whether the macros made any
sense. I thought it was kind of fun (quirky).
(B.CADIEUX [ TEXAS II ], CAT34, TOP4, MSG:26/M530)
AND HERE IS THE FIX: You're exactly right! It's on page 26 in the old
"""""""""""""""""""" manual, and says:
J:<all S = 8 : J(8) = 89: print JEM(Software)>!
For any who might be confused, the Compiler regards JEM(Software),
without quotes, not as text, but as numeric variables -- in other words,
J(S) -- which, in the above macro means J(8), or 89.
Jerry (if you're reading here), next printing, change it to:
J:<all C = 8 : Q(8) = 89 : print Quality(Computers)>!
then, at least, it will make sense. :-)
|
-(+)-
|
|
...Will
(W.NELKEN1, CAT34, TOP4, MSG:27/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> WHAT'S NEW? <<<
"""""""""""""""""""
DDT SOURCE CODE AVAILABLE SOON! I plan to upload the source code for the
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" DDT along with a sdescription of the
hardware. A number of people have asked me for help in making modifications
to the DDT firmware to better fit their needs. If anyone is interested in
this idea please post your responses here.
Don't look for any source code until after Kansas Fest. I am too busy
preparing for my sessions to write up a useful description of the DDT
hardware.
Hope to see some of you at Kansas Fest.
P.S. I may have some special deals on DDTs at Kansas Fest? Depends on
my getting busy and getting some ready to sell.
Chuck / ProDev, Inc.
(CHUCK.K [ProDev], CAT5, TOP5, MSG:48/M530)
[*][*][*]
RESLIN V0.37 NOW AVAILABLE! I just thought I'd let everyone know that
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I've uploaded ResLin v0.37 -- a significant
upgrade from the last version (0.25).
Bryan
(BRYAN.ZAK, CAT10, TOP24, MSG:1/M530)
[*][*][*]
SOFTDISK COMPRESSION CODE NOW AVAILABLE SOFTDISK.INC [Bryan Zak]
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I just wanted to let everyone
know that I've uploaded source code for decompressing Softdisk Issue Text
files. For more information on this format or the source code, stop by
Category 31 here in A2Pro!
Bryan
(SOFTDISK.INC [Bryan Zak], CAT11, TOP8, MSG:96/M530)
[*][*][*]
YOUR TOUR OF APPLE ASSEMBLY LINE - DEC. 1980 - VOL. 1, NO. 3 This file is
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" in Library
22, it's AAL.DEC.80.BXY, file #3330.
Here's the directory layout for AAL.DEC.80:
(Note that there was no ProDOS information supplied in the first issues)
Articles/
Front.Page Introduction and cover page
SmartDisasms "Intelligent Disassemblers" - an ad/announcement
about two Disassemblers for the II
IBas.Prty.List "Integer BASIC Pretty Lister" - A program to fancy
up the listing of Integer BASIC files
Listed.Xprsns "Listed Expressions with .DA Directive" - patch to
S-C Assembler to allow .DA directive to have
more than one expression
BlockMoveCopy "Block MOVE and COPY for Version 4.0" - USR routine
for S-C Assembler to copy lines in your source
Compare.16Bits "Handling 16-Bit Comparisons" - Tricks and
techniques for comparing 16-bit numbers with
8-bit registers
PrinterOnError "Keeping Printer On After Error Message" - Patch to
S-C Assembler to do just that
DOS.3.3/
S.IB.Ptry.Lstr Source for the Integer BASIC Pretty Lister
S.PATCH.DA Source for .DA directive patch
S.COPY.LINES Source for the line-copy USR routine
Setup.CopyLines Exec file to set up the line-copy USR routine
When you download this issue, pay specific attention to the 16-bit
compare routines. It may take fewer instructions to compare than you
thought :)
If anyone still uses Integer BASIC (the Apple II ROM version, or the
one provided on the DOS 3.3 System Master disk) then the Pretty Lister
would be very useful. With a little imagination, it could easily be
changed to work with Applesoft BASIC, as well. This routine basically puts
every instruction on a new line when listing the program, which makes it
much easier to follow.
For more information on Your Tour of Apple Assembly Line, see message
4 in this topic. For more information on the Apple Assembly Line project
as a whole, see message 1 in this topic. I hope you enjoy this issue!
Dave Miller GEM 4.21/PT 3.1
(JUST.DAVE [m530 daily!], CAT1, TOP19, MSG:8/M530)
YOUR TOUR OF APPLE ASSEMBLY LINE - JAN. 1981 - VOL. 1, NO. 4 This file is
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" in Library
22, it's AAL.JAN.81.BXY, file #3331.
Here's the directory layout for AAL.JAN.81:
(Note that there was no ProDOS information supplied in the first issues)
Articles/
Front.Page Introduction and cover page - added bonus: patch
locations for changing tab stops in v4.0 of the
S-C Assembler II
How.Move.Mem "How to Move Memory" - Tutorial on moving data
around in memory. Includes tricks for moving
it as quickly as possible.
Computed.GOSUB "Computed GOSUB for Applesoft" - Use variables for
line numbers with the GOSUB command
COPY.FOR.SCASM "Putting COPY into S-C Assembler II" - letter from a
reader (name isn't given) describing how to
make the COPY command described in the previous
issue a real command in S-C Assembler II
instead of patching through the USR vector
EDIT.CMD.SCASM "EDIT Command for S-C Assembler II" - Edit command
that lets you _edit_ the line, rather than
retyping it
DOS.3.3/
S.ASoft.BLTU Disassembly of the MOVE routine in the Applesoft ROM
S.General.Move Sample source of a MOVE routine to replace the one
found in the Applesoft ROMS (it's faster)
S.Amper.GOSUB Source for the Computed GOSUB routine
S.EDIT.Command Source for EDIT command for S-C Assembler II
The most worthwhile portions of this issue are the Memory Move
routines and the Computed GOSUB routine (unless you still use the S-C
Assembler II, in which case those added commands will be quite useful :)
The memory move routines given here are speedy. 'Nuff said :) These
tricks are intended for 8-bit, and I know faster ways to move memory with a
65816, but this was intended for a 6502 :)
If you use Applesoft for a lot of programming, this GOSUB routine will
very certainly come in handy. I've often wished for such a feature myself
:)
For more information on Your Tour of Apple Assembly Line, see message
4 in this topic. For more information on the Apple Assembly Line project
as a whole, see message 1 in this topic. I hope you enjoy this issue!
Dave Miller PT 3.1 Editor
(JUST.DAVE [m530 daily!], CAT1, TOP19, MSG:9/M530)
YOUR TOUR OF APPLE ASSEMBLY LINE - FEB. 1981 - VOL. 1, NO. 5 This file is
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" in Library
22, it's AAL.FEB.81.BXY, file #3343.
Here's the directory layout for AAL.FEB.81:
(Note that there was no ProDOS information supplied in the first issues)
Articles/
Front.Page.Misc Introduction and cover page - also BUG REPORTS for
programs in the previous issues, and info on
how to get the S-C Assembler II to stuff object
code into memory that's protected (such as the
language card)
AppleNoiseSound "Apple Noises and Other Sounds" - creating sound
effects with the Apple speaker.
Multiply.6502 "Multiplying on the 6502" - a faster way to multiply
16-bit values than the routine in Apple ROM.
AS.Str.Swapper "A String Swapper for Applesoft" - & command to swap
two variables.
GRAM.Hello.AS "Two Boots are Better Than One" - How to make your
disk boot on any Apple II when you don't know
if it has AppleSoft or Integer BASIC in ROM.
GRAM.Ftr.Laumer "The Future of Personal Computers" - an article
about all the new 16 and 32-bit chips coming
out and what it will mean to the home computer
industry. (written circa 1980)
GRAM.Buy.Printr "Buying a Printer for Your Apple II" - humorous
tale of a search for a new Epson MX-80 printer.
DOS.3.3/
S.Multiply Source for the 16 bit multiplication routine
S.String.Swap Source for Applesoft variable swap command
S.<eight files> Eight source files with various sound routines.
The Sound stuff is really neat! If you like playing with sound,
you'll be interested in this! If you're just interested in some neat
sounds, the sounds created by these programs are great.
If you do any Applesoft programming, the swap routine will be really
helpful. It fixes the memory problem created by using a temporary variable
since the ROM version of Applesoft creates a new storage space every time
you store a string.
There were a couple articles in this issue which really had nothing to
do with Assembly programming, but they're great anyway! I especially liked
the "Future of the Personal Computer" article. If nothing else, it's great
nostalgia!
For more information on Your Tour of Apple Assembly Line, see message
4 in this topic. For more information on the Apple Assembly Line project
as a whole, see message 1 in this topic. I hope you enjoy this issue!
Dave Miller - GEM 4.21/PT 3.1
(JUST.DAVE [m530 daily!], CAT1, TOP19, MSG:10/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> PROGRAMMER'S CORNER <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
HOW DO I USE DINFO ON 5.25" DRIVES? I'm having a problem making a DInfo
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" call on a 5.25" drive. Everything
seems to be set up OK, but about 90% of the time I get a diskSwitched
error. Is there something I have to do to make DInfo work reliably?
Somebody here must have run into this problem before? I hope.
Walker
(W.ARCHER2, CAT8, TOP8, MSG:96/M530)
RETRY THE CALL Walker, you need to check GS/OS Device Driver Reference's
"""""""""""""" chapter on the 5.25" driver.
There is no hardware to know if a disk has been switched, so the
driver return a disk switched error for _all_ calls if the previous access
was more than one second ago.
When you get a disk-switched error, you're supposed to retry the call
once and see if it succeeds. If it does, GS/OS is just letting you know a
disk switch happened. If it doesn't, you'll get an error you should return
to the user.
--Matt
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT8, TOP8, MSG:97/M530)
[*][*][*]
APPLESOFT BASIC QUESTIONS I received a couple of questions from an
""""""""""""""""""""""""" Apple IIe user who is programming in Applesoft.
He is trying to switch between 80 column and 40 column modes from within an
Applesoft program.
Is there a way to do this? If so, how?
He also asked if there is a way to prevent control-C from halting the
program and to cause reset to reboot rather than going to the monitor.
Essentially, he wanted to prevent anyone from halting execution of the
program and listing it. I know that the reset vector can be changed, but I
don't remember how to do it or whether it can be done from inside an
Applesoft program. Its been years and years since I have played with
Applesoft and I can't locate any of the reference materials that I have
that might help.
Any assistance is appreciated.
John
(J.AMBURGEY, CAT9, TOP7, MSG:30/M530)
APPLESOFT BASIC ANSWERS To change to 80 columns, use: PRINT
""""""""""""""""""""""" CHR$(4)"PR#3": PRINT CHR$(25);
To change back to 40 columns, use: PRINT CHR$(21);
To prevent Control-C from stopping the program, you can use ONERR
GOTO. However, there are bugs in Applesoft's error handling which prevent
you from resuming exactly where you left off without some fancy
programming.
To force Control-Reset to reboot, use: POKE 1011,0
(QUALITY, CAT9, TOP7, MSG:31/M530)
[*][*][*]
STANDARDIZED SERIAL DRIVER SPECS NEEDED Since it seems obvious that a
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" supported, application-
independent, high- performance, standardized serial driver interface is not
going to be done by Apple before development funds get cut off, it's up to
the development community as a whole to get down to business and write
specs.
I'll be at KansasFest, and barring an as-yet-unnamed roommate who
might want to go to bed (ack! deviant!) I'll be holding an impromptu
session of my own on this very subject. The basics, as far as a mechanism
for arbitration of the ports that does not conflict with AppleTalk and does
not get clobbered by the existing firmware, _and_ can work with multiple
concurrent applications, has been determined.
What has yet to be determined is a general interface design to the
Open/Read/Write/Close/Control functions. I'm leaning toward a tool
interface, being capable of much less overhead that the GS/OS interface
(especially since one can call individual tools directly, bypassing the
Dispatcher).
Specifics need to be considered, so anyone who is interested should be
thinking hard about this. (According to my KFEst packet, this means you,
Bennett and Gunn :-).
Details will of course be posted to GEnie after the conference.
Jawaid
(PROCYON.INC, CAT12, TOP6, MSG:95/M530)
TOOL INTERFACE IS NOT THE WAY TO GO >>> PROCYON.INC
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > I'm leaning toward a tool
> interface, being capable of much less overhead that the GS/OS interface
> (especially since one can call individual tools directly, bypassing the
> Dispatcher).
What are you, nuts? :)
Unless you steal a system tool set number (or unless Apple, at some
points, opens up guidelines for using system tool numbers without stepping
on other people's code, which is not at all a given), a user tool is only
available to applications, not DAs or other component code, unless that
code manually loads a _second_ copy and calls it without going through the
tool dispatcher, which wastes code space, memory and development time.
Providing a GS/OS device driver interface lets people treat it just
like any other character device, which I firmly believe is what most
programmers would want. If you want to provide faster access to some
routines, you make DControl/DStatus calls that return entry points for
direct access and those who wish to use them can.
--Matt (*new* graphics/sound programming RTC Thursdays @ 9:30 PM ET!)
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT12, TOP6, MSG:96/M530)
[*][*][*]
HELP NEEDED WITH WINDOW CREATION Today's question:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" How do you create a multi-windows
environment. I thought that creating a separate Window Record for each
window would do it, but whenever I draw Window B, it fills the contents of
Window A with the contents of Window B. And when I draw Window C, it fill
the contents of Windows A&B with the contents of Window C, etc, etc, etc.
Using only one window at a time, the program works fine. Closing
windows works in the reverse. Close Window C and the other Windows revert
back to B. Close Window B, and the final Window reverts back to A. Hints,
suggestions, recommendations.
R.Sant
(R.SANT1, CAT15, TOP14, MSG:20/M530)
BE SURE TO USE SETPORT TO DRAW TO THE CORRECT WINDOW You probably need to
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" do a
SetPort(myWindowGrafPortPtr) in order to make your drawing commands go to
the correct window.
I _never_ forget to do the GetPort/SetPort stuff. (Stop laughing, Bryan!)
Jay
(PUNKWARE, CAT15, TOP14, MSG:21/M530)
EACH WINDOW HAS A SEPARATE DRAWING ROUTINE If you're using TaskMaster,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" each window has a separate
drawing routine that TaskMaster calls to draw the contents. (If you're not
using TaskMaster, you have to draw the window contents yourself anyway.)
It sounds to me like you're using the same routine to draw all the
windows but not checking inside the drawing routine to see which window it
is you're drawing. In other words, if Window C is the front window, that's
always what you're drawing, even when you're updating windows B and A
behind it.
Could that be it?
--Matt (*new* graphics/sound programming RTC Thursdays @ 9:30 PM ET!)
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT15, TOP14, MSG:22/M530)
STILL HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MULTIPLE WINDOWS Your answer is correct as to
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" what I was/am doing. We
spoke (typed) of this in the conference on Sunday night, and I have tried
to implement what you were trying to relay to me. I have stored the
handles of the allocated blocks for the text in the RefCon of the window
record. But how do I retrieve it? In order to use the GetWRefCon
function, I need to know which window pointer is the current window it is
updating. I presume it goes through the window list, bottom to top (most
recent window first). At the end of my update routine I used the following
code....
PushLong #$0000
_GetNextWindow
PullLong WindowPtr
ORA WindowPtr ;OR HighByte/LowByte to check for Nul
BEQ Return ;0 = No more windows
PushLong #$0000
PushLong WindowPtr
_GetWRefCon
PullLong FileHandle
JSR Deref ;Lock, Dereference, Store Pointer Return RTL
I thought this would re-assign the pointer for the drawing subroutine
so that I could continue using the same subroutine, just modify the
pointers between updates. However, all this did was lock my system up.
Any further guidance, chastisement, or required reading would be
helpful. I must admit that I am slightly confused about this updating
process and using multiple windows.
Sincerely,
R.Sant
(R.SANT1, CAT15, TOP14, MSG:23/M530)
GETPORT IS WHAT IS NEEDED The window you're drawing in is the current
""""""""""""""""""""""""" grafPort. To get the window record, simply
call GetPort.
--Matt (at KansasFest)
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT15, TOP14, MSG:24/M530)
A GETPORT CODE SAMPLE Like Matt said, when your content draw procedure is
""""""""""""""""""""" called, it is the current grafport, so you can do
something like;
phb
phk
plb
phl ; result space
_GetPort
plx
ply
stx theWindowPtr
sty theWindowPtr+2
phl ; result space
phy
phx
_GetWRefCon
sty theWindowPtr+2
ply
stx theRefCon
sty theRefCon+2
Bryan
(SOFTDISK.INC [Bryan Zak], CAT15, TOP14, MSG:25/M530)
IT IS AMAZING WHAT 5 LINES OF CODE CAN DO! Well, I tried it & I liked it.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Amazing what 5 lines of code
can do for your life. Works like a champ. On to bigger & better things.
Next phase is to learn how to mathematically graph in a window. So I'll be
reading my SANE book for awhile, and back with more questions. Thanks again
for the help. I'll dedicate my first complete work to you.
R.Sant
(R.SANT1, CAT15, TOP14, MSG:28/M530)
[*][*][*]
WHERE IS A LIST OF SYSTEM ERRORS? Where does one find a listing of system
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" errors? I get a system error $0201
trying to launch a certain application but can't find a reference to this
error number (or any other system errors for that matter) in my manuals.
Mark Wade
(M.WADE7 [Mark], CAT20, TOP3, MSG:51/M530)
CHECK THE PROGRAMMER'S REFERENCE FOR SYSTEM 6 True system errors are
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" generally (always?) in the
range $00 to $FF. The error $0201 is the error for out of memory, reported
by the Memory Manager, and that's almost certainly where it came from.
The most complete list I know of for Apple IIGS error codes is in an
appendix in "Programmer's Reference for System 6.0."
Mike Westerfield
(BYTEWORKS, CAT20, TOP3, MSG:52/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> HOT TOPICS <<<
""""""""""""""""""
ANOP IS SUCH A PAIN... Mike,
"""""""""""""""""""""" If you happen to delve back into the ORCA/M
assembler to fix any of these bugs it'd be *REALLY* nice if you would
change things so that we could have labels on a line by themselves. Having
to specify ANOP is such a pain...
Bryan
(SOFTDISK.INC [Bryan Zak], CAT36, TOP9, MSG:31/M530)
A SECOND ON ANOP BEING A PAIN I'll second what Bryan just said. ANOP has
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" annoyed me ever since I switched over from
Merlin Pro to Orca/M. I don't even mind being required to use colons after
labels -- it's having something in the opcode field because that makes it
look like there is a real instruction there when I am skimming the code
quickly, and I end up going to great lengths to position my ANOPs off of
the usual opcode column so that they will create a visual break that I can
see later.
Todd Whitesel
(A2PRO.TODDPW [growf?], CAT36, TOP9, MSG:32/M530)
A NUMBER OF PEOPLE DISKLIKE ANOP REQUIREMENT I _really_ dislike the anop
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" requirement too. I end up
skipping lines for whitespace, though Todd's idea sounds good. I always
miss the common sense solutions :(
Jay
(JAY.KRELL, CAT36, TOP9, MSG:33/M530)
ANOP 'HATERS' ABOUND! Yeah, add my vote to the "anop"-haters :-)
"""""""""""""""""""""
<<Jim
(A2PRO.DYAJIM [Jim:DigiSoft], CAT36, TOP9, MSG:38/M530)
ANOP IS PART OF THE LANGUAGE ...Getting rid of ANOP would be like asking
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" a Pascal compiler implimentor to get rid of
:=. It's a syntactic part of the language, there for good reason. I'm
sorry it bothers you, but I don't expect to make that radical a change in
the language at this late date.
Mike Westerfield
(BYTEWORKS, CAT36, TOP9, MSG:35/M530)
JUST MAKE ANOP OPTIONAL Mike, none of us really expect you to do away
""""""""""""""""""""""" with ANOP entirely. Just make it optional, i.e.
pretend you got an ANOP in cases where you were going to give an error
because there was a label and no opcode.
Even a label followed by a colon (as an alternate syntax to ANOP)
would be better than required ANOPs.
Todd Whitesel
(A2PRO.TODDPW [growf?], CAT36, TOP9, MSG:37/M530)
GETTING RID OF ANOP WOULD HAVE SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS Todd, et. al.:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" My point about ANOP
seems to have been missed. ORCA uses a different way of dealing with the
basic structure of a line than some of the other assemblers you have used.
That's why it doesn't require extraneous semicolons on comments that appear
after the operand field, for example. Getting rid of ANOP would have
serious repercussions throughout the scanner. It probably could not be
done without breaking some old programs. It would definitely require a
complete reworking of the scanner. For all of those reasons, plus the
simple one that I have more to do now than I have time for, and can't see
any way I'd make more money by making the change, optional ANOP isn't
likely to happen. I'm sorry, but fixing C bugs, adding objects to the
other languages, and creating new languages (like Modula-2 and Logo, coming
soon) are just more important at the moment than making changes of this
kind...
Mike Westerfield
(BYTEWORKS, CAT36, TOP9, MSG:40/M530)
[*][*][*]
ACE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM INFO WANTED Hi, all! I am a //e user who works
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" with digitized sounds. I would
like to use ACEd sounds, and also be able to compress sounds into the ACE
format (especially 8:4).
The problem is that I can't find any definitive information on the
precise ADPCM algorithm used by the ACE toolset.
Does anyone have an accurate description of the algorithm (NOT just
how to call the tool!) or, perhaps, a subroutine to ACE and deACE? Of
course, my intent is to write such code for 8-bit Apples, but 65816 code
would be perfectly instructive, as would C code!
Thanks in advance, and check out my sound editor/player in the a2
library: SNDEDITV1.2.BXY, #20638. You never heard an 8-bit Apple sound so
GOOD!
-michael
(M.MAHON [Michael], CAT15, TOP29, MSG:26/M530)
ACE ALGORITHM REMAINS UNPUBLISHED To my knowledge, the exact algorithm
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" hasn't been published by Apple. Sorry.
:(
--Matt (*new* graphics/sound programming RTC Thursdays @ 9:30 PM ET!)
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT15, TOP29, MSG:27/M530)
ACE FORMAT SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED PROPRIETARY Frankly, Matt, I find it
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" appalling that what has
become, in essence, an interchange format would be considered proprietary!
I can certainly understand why a changing/changeable algorithm is best kept
secret, but once there are thousands of files out there, the sheer mass of
data makes the file format and algorithm for producing and consuming it a
suitable subject for public experimentation.
I have devised an ADPCM algorithm for 8:4 compression which is quite
good and runs very quickly in little space on a //e, but there are so many
"arbitrary" parameters in such algorithms that guesswork is probably out of
the question. (One example--the representation of numbers in the 4-bit
nibbles: 2's complement, excess 8, sign/magnitude, or what??)
Maybe someone has already reverse engineered the ACE tool--or maybe
I'll have to!
-michael
(M.MAHON [Michael], CAT15, TOP29, MSG:29/M530)
APPLE IS NOT OBLIGATED TO PUBLISH PROPRIETARY INFORMATION To be equally
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" frank, use of
ACE as an interchange format has little bearing on Apple deciding to reveal
its proprietary source code or algorithms. Apple did not promote it as an
interchange format, though they did allow for ACE (and the Macintosh
equivalent MACE) to be used to compress sounds in AIFF-C. The MACE
algorithms aren't published, either.
It's like saying 'Everyone passes around 3.5" disks, so Apple should
release the low-level formatting and hardware design for their disks to the
public.' Everyone who has the Apple equipment can use the 3.5" disks, and
everyone who has a IIgs can use the ACE sounds without Apple revealing the
low-level details.
Not a defense, but an explanation of why Apple doesn't feel obligated
to work on something and then release the methodology when it's not
necessary, except maybe to people who want to use the same algorithms on
other computers, which Apple generally doesn't want.
--Matt (*new* graphics/sound programming RTC Thursdays @ 9:30 PM ET!)
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT15, TOP29, MSG:30/M530)
ACE SHOULD BE AVAILABLE TO 8 BIT MACHINES I hear you. But it is
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" necessary to think out the
consequences of withholding such information. In particular, it guarantees
that other contenders for de facto standardization will appear, and compete
with what is, in all likelihood, a quite reasonable and useful approach.
In fact, I could argue that it is EXACTLY this kind of proprietary
thinking that led to the creation of MS Windows, and has prevented Apple
from becoming the "Microsoft of Graphical Interfaces"! Apple just doesn't
get that they are a SOFTWARE company--and a software company establishes
itself by making its interfaces de facto open standards, then working with
them better than all its competitors.
Okay, flame off. But I still say that ACE should be made useful to
ALL of the Apple II world (at least). My sampled sound player/editor for
ALL Apple II's in the A2 library demonstrates that sampled sounds are
accessible and useful for all Apple II's, and the ACE format is effectively
closing doors that could be opened. Ditto for burying sampled sounds in
"resource forks" which cannot be accessed by 8-bit OS's (at the file
system level, anyway). I have much easier access to sampled Mac sounds,
even in resource forks, through HFS. It allows me to read either the data
or the resource fork and convert it to a raw binary file--just what I want
for sounds!
When Apple published ProDOS, they provided 2-way conversion tools for
moving files back and forth. But with the introduction of GSOS, there
seems to be no intention to permit the 8-bit world to participate. I don't
want GSOS on my //e (or anything else, for that matter), but I would like
to have a 2-way exchange of data made possible--maybe even easy!
In any case, I already have two ADPCM algorithms running fine, one of
my own creation, the other adapted from Intel's DVI ADPCM algorithm. (I'm
sure that Intel considers it valuable to have their particular
parameterization and encoding widely proliferated--they submitted it for
standardization!) So, shall I launch ANOTHER ADPCM algorithm on the Apple
world? Or will someone "open" ACE just as the 3.5" disk format and the
IWM, etc. have been opened by third parties?
Even Apple seems to be wiseing up--by putting the Mac interface on
other hardware and software platforms (e.g. Un*x and Un*x workstations, and
MAYBE (after it's too late) on the x86!) so the "closed minds" may be
opening up after all.
Remember, I'm not asking for their BEST code, just a definitive
description of the algorithm (or AN equivalent algorithm) and the data
representation. God knows I can code up a storm to make my very own
implementation which I'd be happy to "bake off" against the ACE toolset.
(I'll even run in 8-bit mode ;-)
-michael
(M.MAHON [Michael], CAT15, TOP29, MSG:31/M530)
APPLE IS THE ONE TO CONTACT ABOUT OPENING UP ACE FORMAT First things
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" first, you're
flaming at the wrong people. If you really want Apple to think about
opening up ACE, contact Apple. No one on this board is formally
representing Apple Computer.
The Apple guys that are here are doing this ON THEIR OWN TIME. Apple
has two developer programs for just this sort of communication. Use of the
proper channels can only help in your request for the ACE algorithms.
I'm not even going to TOUCH your other points about GS/OS vs ProDOS 8.
Suffice it to say that such things have helped kill the Apple II...<sigh>
Bryan
(SOFTDISK.INC [Bryan Zak], CAT15, TOP29, MSG:32/M530)
APPLE AND IT'S TECHNOLOGY Michael, to address your non-ACE concerns
""""""""""""""""""""""""" briefly (and if you want to continue this part
of the discussion, we should move it out of the ACE topic into something
more suitable, like a new "standards" topic in Category 16:
Apple owns most of its technology and therefore it decides where it
wants it placed. Things like Macintosh Services on UNIX and QuickTime for
Windows are bringing some of Apple's APIs to other platforms, but by your
reasoning if Apple chooses not to do that, it should publish all the
algorithms so other people can do it. For example, by your argument, if
Apple doesn't choose to make QuickTime available for a given platform (for
argument, let's say the NeXT) then they should publish the description of
the proprietary Apple Video compression ("road pizza") so someone else
could do it.
That's not necessarily logical -- it means Apple's lost a competitive
advantage because they won't get revenues for their proprietary work as
implemented on other platforms, and it also means compatibility becomes a
problem because it's harder to revise code that deals with published
algorithms than those that deal with private ones and still keep it working
with the old stuff.
"But I'm only interested in it for Apple II computers" may be true,
but publication is publication. There's built-in system software support
on the IIgs and sampled sounds are simply not that prevalent on the
eight-bit machines because of the memory requirements and the lack of
decent-quality sound hardware.
This bit about discrimination against eight-bit types is true but
overstated. You sound as if people are deliberately using incredibly
powerful and convenient mechanism such as resources and ACE just to keep
things out of the hands of eight-bit computer owners. The truth is that
the IIgs is simply more powerful, and the eight-bit computers will not have
access to the things the IIgs does. ProDOS 8 is never going to support
resource forks, for example. ProDOS 8 has about 10 free bytes in the
kernel, scattered over the language card areas. If you can figure out how
to support a new storage type in ten bytes, I'd like to know how.
---
Back to the specific -- if you're looking for a compression method for
sounds for eight-bit computers, you can try to figure out how ACE works and
take the (reasonable) risk it won't change now, or you can come up with
your own and possibly do even better for the eight-bit machines where
memory is even more significant.
Even if Apple decided to publish the algorithm description, someone
would have to write it up and publish it and that isn't a priority for the
folks working on Apple II stuff at the moment.
--Matt (*new* graphics/sound programming RTC Thursdays @ 9:30 PM ET!)
(M.DEATHERAGE [A2Pro Leader], CAT15, TOP29, MSG:33/M530)
ALGORITHMS, INTERFACES, ECT SEEN DIFFERENTLY I agree with much of what
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" you say, but place value
differently on things like interfaces, algorithms, implementations, etc.
Clearly, many in the industry share Apple's point of view, and it keeps the
"reverse engineers" fully employed!
Back to the subject of the ACE algorithms--Andy Fadden says in lesson
2 of "Hacking Compression..." that ACE tools implement the CCITT G.721
ADPCM standard, so I'll go look that up. So much for proprietary!
Thanks for your attention.
-michael
(M.MAHON [Michael], CAT15, TOP29, MSG:34/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
Mike Westerfield was recently asked what a dissasembler was, and what
it could do. I though his answer was a great introduction to the whole
concept. (And a useful reminder about the need for backups!) I have
reproduced the original question and Mike's answer here. -ED.
WHAT EXACTLY DOES A DISASSEMBLER DO? What exactly does a disassembler do?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Does it take an object file and
create assembly code? Can it or _anything_ take a program file and create
an object file? Due to a HD crash and corrupted backup disks I've lost 1
1/2 years worth of upgrades on a program I'm developing- all the source
code is gone. :~( I can save some things if I can just recreate the .root
and .a object files from the program itself! Hope is almost lost.
Rick Adams
(R.ADAMS48, CAT36, TOP26, MSG:11/M530)
Category 36, Topic 26
Message 12 Mon Jul 19, 1993
BYTEWORKS at 17:07 EDT
A disassembler can take an executable program and generate source
code. It generally takes some work to get it into a completely useable
form, since you will probably want to add meaningful data labels, comments,
and use
reasonable DC statements for various data formats, but the
disassembler gives you some easy ways of putting these in.
Going from EXE or S16 files to OBJ files is possible, but you do loose
a lot of information. There is no pre-written program I know of that does
the job. It would be about as easy to use a disassembler, anyway.
I _have_ used the disassembler to recover a small part of a program in
a similar situation. Since you supposedly wrote the code, you'll have a
good idea what labels to use and how to break the program up, and that
will make your job a lot easier. The disassembler may not be the ideal
solution (dare I say it? Backup, backup, and backup again, for the best
solution to disk crash, but it's the only choice short of rewriting the
program.
For what it's worth, most people go through what you are going through
at least once. That's what makes us all so fanatical about backups. There
are no fewer than 8 copies of the project I'm working on now, scattered
over networks, my local hard drive, and floppies. I suspect you're going
to be one of the converted, and do the same thing from now on. :)
Mike Westerfield
[EOA]
[DEV]//////////////////////////////
DEVELOPER'S CORNER /
/////////////////////////////////
News from the A2Pro Online Developers
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Jim B.Couch
[J.COUCH2]
>>> ONLINE SUPPORT IN A2PRO <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
CAT TOP COMPANY
=== === =======
29 INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS ONLINE
2 About DYA/DigiSoft Innovations Online
8 About Simplexity Software Online
14 About Quality Computers Q-LABS Online
20 About DreamWorld Software Online
26 About METAL/FV Software Online
32 About Kitchen Sink Software Online
30 PROCYON, INC.
31 SOFTDISK PUBLISHING
32 MORGAN DAVIS GROUP (MDG)
33 GS+ MAGAZINE
34 JEM SOFTWARE
35 LUNAR PRODUCTIONS
36 THE BYTE WORKS
Each month this column feature highlights and news from various
developers who provide support via A2Pro.
[*][*][*]
>>> NEWS FROM THE INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
TWII MODULE SOURCE AVAILABLE SOON! Full Orca/C source code to "Ball", a
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" sample Twilight II module, will be
released at KansasFest '93 at the Twilight II seminar. Be there!! It will
be uploaded here afterward.
Coming soon: Orca/M, Orca/Pascal, and Merlin sample source, and T2 IPC
documentation.
<<Jim [DYA:DigiSoft]
(DYA [Jim:DigiSoft], CAT29, TOP3, MSG:13/M530)
[*][*][*]
MODEM PORT DRIVERS NEEDED FOR METAL Is anyone still interested in doing
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" some more robust modem and port
drivers for Metal? They need a bit of fine tuning, and I'd also like to
see some modem drivers specific to high-speed modems (especially drivers
that intelligently handle EC/Data Compression at various line speeds).
I guess I should upload the current modem/port driver source too, but
I just keep forgetting. :)
(J.THOMPSON1, CAT29, TOP27, MSG:22/M530)
[*][*][*]
WHAT IS KITCHEN SINK SOFTWARE? We thought many of you might be asking
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" that question. We have been writing and
publishing Apple ][ software since 1984. We like the friendly attitude of
Apple ][ people. And the machine! We intend to keep on publishing new
programs for the Apple ][. It still does the job for us. Guy and I
together must have a thousand Appleworks documents in the form of lesson
plans and student handouts. Guy has ten more years of teaching to go and
expects the Apple ][ will be his assistant to the end. Eric is a computer
specialist at The Ohio State University (kind of like early retirement) but
is still involved in education. We are now developing software for MAC and
IBM, too. So you can take advantage of future products on all three (Note:
this does not mean we are abandoning the Apple ][...but, we both have wives
to support and Guy has a family too).
We are teachers for purposes of earning a living. We like teaching.
We actually use our software in our classrooms so our programs get ongoing
testing and improvements.
Since we have to hold down other jobs to pay the bills, you may get an
answering machine when you call us. Please bear with us. Just leave your
name, evening phone number and what state you live in. We want the state
simply so we know when evening is for you. You can leave a short message
also. You might indicate when a good time to call is if you are hard to
get a hold of. We are sorry for the answering machine, but at least the
cost of the call is on us. We try to be by the phone weekdays from 3:30 to
5:30 E.T.
We appreciate you taking a look at Kitchen Sink Software. We hope
that you will keep up in mind for your software needs.
If you are interested in ordering MicroDot (which is supported here in
A2Pro) or any of the other Kitchen Sink Software products (some are
supported in Category 25 of the A2 Roundtable) you can do so by calling our
800 number or writing for details at the address below.
Again, thanks for your interest in Kitchen Sink Software.
Kitchen Sink Software, Inc. 903 Knebworth Ct. Westerville, OH 43081
(614) 891-2111 (Columbus, OH and other locals, other countries) (800)
235-5502 (in the continental US)
Eric Bush
(KITCHEN.SINK [Eric], CAT29, TOP32, MSG:2/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> NEWS FROM PROCYON INC. <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
APPLETALK LIBRARY UPLOADED I just uploaded ATalkLib.BXY, an AppleTalk
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" library for use with C. The library contains
routines for accessing the AppleTalk firmware in the IIGS, and also comes
with three sample utilities which demonstrate its use:
lprps - send raw data to a printer (can be used to download
PostScript files to a printer);
nbplist - prints a list of entities on the network;
and papstat - returns printer status strings.
This one's for you, Mr. Desrochers :-)
The code shows some points not thoroughly covered in the AppleShare
Programmer's Reference.
Jawaid
(PROCYON.INC, CAT30, TOP5, MSG:15/M530)
TCP/IP NETWORKING SYSTEM FOR GNO PROGRESSING RAPIDLY I just wanted to let
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" everyone know that
progress on the TCP/IP networking system for GNO has been phenomenal. Not
only does the system support SLIP, it also supports MacIP (the standard for
transmitting Internet packets over AppleTalk). So far, the utilities which
utilize the internet software are tftp and a simple version of telnet.
tftp is "trivial file transfer protocol", in which the 'trivial' means more
trivial implementation than trivial functionality :) telnet is the program
that allows direct communication to Internet services, such as email, news
servers, remote logins to other machines on the net, and more.
We'll probably be packaging up a special TCP-only version of GNO that
looks a lot like the University of Illinois "NCSA Telnet" package currently
available for Macs and PCs.
Many possibilities of GNO/ME are still in the imagination stage, but
the Internet connectivity software I described here is an example of what
is being done _now_, and an example of our continued support for the Apple
IIGS.
Jawaid
(PROCYON.INC, CAT30, TOP5, MSG:17/M530)
GNO DOCUMENTATION IDEAS SOLICITED I was wonder what you folks thought of
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" documentation; specifically, printed
vs. on-line. The GNO system is getting so large that full printed
documentation for all system and library calls would (oops, also all the
utilities) be frivolous for non-programmers. And yes, there are a fair
number of non-programmers using GNO these days, and there will be more as
software like TCP/IP is released for GNO.
So, what I'm wondering is whether to make full printed docs optional,
and to provide full docs on disk, viewable with the 'man' utility.
I'd hate for GNO's manuals to begin to rival those of SunOS, which are
highly intimidating and prone to generate massive tech-support calls :-)
Jawaid
(PROCYON.INC, CAT30, TOP6, MSG:25/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> NEWS FROM SOFTDISK PUBLISHING <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PSSST, NEED A HARD DRIVE? Hey! Do you "need" a SyQuest drive? How about a
""""""""""""""""""""""""" Floptical?
Would a CD-ROM drive allow you to finally read all those fris, er
developer CDs that Apple sends you?
How about a LaserWriter instead of the good ole ImageWriter?
An extended keyboard? A bigger hard drive? A SuperDrive and SuperDrive
card?
???
Just think, we often pay enough for a SINGLE submission that you could
buy any of the above items! Just think how many cool things people like
Bill Tudor and Nate Trost can buy since they've submitted more than once!
It's probably a lot easier than you think folks...:)
And this isn't just for GS programmers -- we want your 8-bit programs
as well!
Bryan
(SOFTDISK.INC [Bryan Zak], CAT31, TOP2, MSG:27/M530)
SOFTDISK DECOMPRESSION SOURCE CODE AVAILABLE I just uploaded some source
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" code demonstrating how to
decompress Softdisk Issue Text. (On some issues of Softdisk G-S we use a
proprietary format for the documentation in order to save some disk space.)
There are two parts to the source code: a snippet demonstrating how to
call the routine, and the routine itself.
Typical usage is something like this:
phl <dataHndl
phl #decompH
phw #sourceRefIsHandle+destRefIsNewHandle
jsl DecompressHuffman
bcs @cantDecompress
The source code is in MPW IIGS assembly, but should be VERY easy to
port to ORCA/M or Merlin. It's only about 120 lines or so of actual code.
If your program supports Teach documents, we ask you to also support
Softdisk Issue Text ($50/$8011).
Thanks!
Bryan
(SOFTDISK.INC [Bryan Zak], CAT31, TOP8, MSG:40/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> NEWS FROM GS+ MAGAZINE <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
GS+ PUBLISHES SOURCE CODE FOR ALL IT'S PROGRAMS! DID YOU KNOW that
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" GS+ Magazine publishes
SOURCE CODE for all its programs?
It's true!!! I ran across an individual sunday night in the A2Pro
chat area who didn't know that, so I figured that I'd share the fact with
the world.
This means that if you're looking for some source code, you might want
to pick up GS+ Magazine and take a look. In case you're interested, I've
uploaded a demo of our Cool Cursor v2.0 program in the A2 (not A2Pro)
library and hopefully it'll get released soon. The source code for the
real version is available from GS+ Magazine - you get it when you buy the
program for just $9.50. What a bargain!
(JWANKERL [Joe], CAT33, TOP4, MSG:39/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> NEWS FROM LUNAR PRODUCTIONS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
UPDATE TO FOUNDATION DEVELOPER'S KIT AVAILABLE There is an update to the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Foundation Developer's Kit
in A2Pro Library 35 which should make Foundation editor development a lot
easier. We have put together an ORCA compatible library for Foundation
that provides function- style callback support.
If you are familiar with the old parameter block structures, which are
similar to making GS/OS calls, you'll have to agree that they can be a bit
ugly in C and Pascal. Foundation.Lib provides a second means to make all
of the callbacks to the Foundation Shell from an editor in a more natural
way from high level languages. For example, the old way to release a
resource looked like this:
fResRefRec refRec;
refRec.pCount = 2;
refRec.resType = rType;
refRec.resID = resID;
fReleaseResource(&refRec);
The new call will save a bit of typing and read a lot easier too:
fReleaseResource2(rType, rID, 0);
The upload contains all the interface files required for C and Pascal.
Assembly programmers CAN use the libraries as well, but for the time being
you'll have to cook your own interface for pushing the arguments on the
stack.
Marc Wolfgram
Lunar Productions
(M.WOLFGRAM2 [Lunar Host], CAT35, TOP3, MSG:6/M530)
[*][*][*]
>>> NEWS FROM THE BYTE WORKS <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
ORCA/M SYSTEM CALL DOCUMENTATION AVAILABLE ONLINE If you are writing
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" programs from ORCA/M
that use the nre libraries and do text I/O, or if you want to call compiled
subroutines from assembly language, or make any other system calls, check
out file 3445. It documents the various system calls in the new libraries.
Mike Westerfield
(BYTEWORKS, CAT36, TOP9, MSG:36/M530)
[*][*][*]
ORCA SHELL UPDATE? Is there a new orca shell update in the works anytime
"""""""""""""""""" soon?
Don Elton (delton) or delton@pro-carolina.oau.org
(DELTON, CAT36, TOP10, MSG:118/M530)
ORCA SHELL HAS HAD MINOR UPDATES It's had minor updates a couple of
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" times. The latest version is shipping
with the updates for 6.0.1. I forget the version number; I think it's
2.0.2, now...
Mike Westerfield
(BYTEWORKS, CAT36, TOP10, MSG:121/M530)
[EOA]
[RTC]///////////////////////////////
RTC WATCH /
/////////////////////////////////
A2Pro Real Time Conference News
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Nate C. Trost
[N.TROST]
>>> A2PRO EXPANDS WEEKLY RTC LINEUP! <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
FOUR NEW RTCS ADDED! In a move to expand A2Pro's already great lineup of
"""""""""""""""""""" programming Real Time Conferences _four_ new RTCs
are being added to the weekly lineup. Now you can tune in for great
programming discussion _SIX_ times a week! It's all happening in A2Pro,
THE online resource for Apple II programmers!
A2PRO RTC LINEUP
""""""""""""""""
SUNDAY -- A2Pro Sunday Night Jam (HOST: Matt Deatherage)
8:30 Eastern Time
Our Sunday RTC is geared toward general programming discussion and
good old fashioned chitchat. The perfect place for a relaxing evening of
A2Pro Fun.
MONDAY -- The GS/OS Garage (HOST: Dave Miller)
9:30 Eastern Time
Where's the place to chat about everyone's favorite operating system?
Right here in A2Pro every Saturday with Dave Miller. Just pull on into the
garage for Real Time GS/OS!
WEDNESDAY -- HyperBar and Grill (HOST: Hangtime)
9:30 Eastern Time
Join HyperCard master Hangtime and the infamous online personality
CommThingie in this fun-filled RTC of hypermedia and whimsy. It's always
interesting at the HyperBar and Grill!
THURSDAY -- Graphics and Sound (HOST: Nate Trost)
9:30 Eastern Time
If you're into programming pretty pictures, awesome animations,
sizzling sounds, magnificent music....Thursday's Graphics and Sound RTC is
the place to be!
FRIDAY -- Getting Started with Programming (HOST: Nathaniel Sloan)
9:30 Eastern Time
Just getting into programming? Moving from the eight-bit world to the
GS? Playing with Applesoft for the first time? A2Pro's Beginners Night RTC
is for you! Stop by for help, suggestions, encouragement and conversation.
SATURDAY -- Front Line Assembly (HOST: Brian Wells)
9:30 Eastern Time
Do you drool at the thought of opcodes? Are your dreams filled with
visions of LDA, STA, and PHA? Do you want to understand assembly and learn
just why people love it so much? Join Brian Wells as he explores the
ancient art of assembly language programming in A2Pro.
[EOA]
[A2U]//////////////////////////////
A2U CAMPUS GREEN /
/////////////////////////////////
Your GEnieLamp A2Pro guide to A2U
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Nate C. Trost
[N.TROST]
>>> DATA COMPRESSION COURSE COMPLETED! <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
FINAL DATA COMPRESSION LESSON UPLOADED A2U Professor Andy McFadden has
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" uploaded the final lesson in his
Data Compression course. All twelve lessons in this popular and highly
successful course are now available in the A2Pro library. Lesson twelve
gives an overview of writing compression modules for the HardPressed
automatic disk compression software published by Westcode. If you missed
these lessons when they were first uploaded, check them out now! Thanks to
Andy McFadden for an excellent course that makes data compression much
easier to understand and implement.
Data Compression Lesson File Index:
LESSON 12: #3425
LESSON 11: #3087
LESSON 10: #3076
LESSON 9: #3065
LESSON 8: #3050
LESSON 7: #3006
LESSON 6: #2998
LESSON 5: #2984
LESSON 4: #2997
LESSON 3: #2956
LESSON 2: #2955
LESSON 1: #2933
[*][*][*]
8/16 CENTRAL NOW AVAILABLE IN A2PRO LIBRARY! The 8/16 Central magazines
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" on disk are now available
for downloading in the A2Pro Library. This is a A2Pro _exclusive_! Look
for an index of all the available issues in this months Bit Bonanza. Be
sure to download file #3382 for a complete index of every issue of 8/16
Central. If you're an advanced programmer or a beginner, assembly or high
level, eight-bit or GS, you'll find something useful in 8/16 Central, check
it out!
[EOA]
[LIB]//////////////////////////////
ONLINE LIBRARY
/////////////////////////////////
HOT Files You Can Download
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Nate C. Trost
[N.TROST]
>>> THE BIT BONANZA <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""
A2 University FILES
"""""""""""""""""""
File #3425: A2U.COMP.12.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/9/93 by FADDEN
About 11.5K (d/l time approx. 1 minute @ 2400 baud)
Lesson 12 of Hacking Data Compression. Gives an overview of
HardPressed's compression modules. Final lesson in the Data Compression
A2U course.
[*][*][*]
A2/A2Pro SPECIAL FILES
""""""""""""""""""""""
File #3444: A2PROLIBADB.BXY (ALL)
Uploaded on 7/14/93 by M.DEATHERAGE
About 75K (d/l time approx. 7 minutes 30 seconds @ 2400 baud)
This file contains an AppleWorks database file listing all public
files in the A2Pro libraries as of noon EDT on July 14, 1993. Download
this file for a convenient listing on your desktop of everything available
in our fantastic library!
It's ready-to-use for GEM users; just drop it in your GEM 'LIB'
directory and follow the GEM instructions to mark a whole bunch of files
for downloading or getting long descriptions and let GEM do all the work!
File #3417: A2NDX9307DB.BXY (ALL)
Uploaded on 7/4/93 by A2.BILL
About 14K (d/l time approx. 1 minute 30 seconds @ 2400 baud)
This is the index of A2 categories and topics as of June 30, 1993, in
AppleWorks database (ADB) form.
File #3412: A2NDX9307TX.BXY (ALL)
Uploaded on 7/1/93 by A2.BILL
About 14K (d/l time approx. 1 minute 30 seconds @ 2400 baud)
An index of A2 categories and topics as of June 30, 1993, in plain
text (ASCII) form.
[*][*][*]
UTILITIES
"""""""""
File #3443: COPYFORK.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/13/93 by BRYAN.ZAK
About 4K (d/l time approx. 4 minutes @ 2400 baud)
Yet another Richard Bennett creation. Merlin command for copying
data/resource forks. Includes documentation and a help file.
File #3442: INSTALL.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/13/93 by BRYAN.ZAK
About 3K (d/l time approx. 3 minutes @ 2400 baud)
This is another Richard Bennett creation. This little diddy installs
CDAs, NDAs, Control Panels and Inits by asking IR to do the dirty work.
It's a Merlin utility.
File #3441: RESLIN.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/13/93 by BRYAN.ZAK
About 65K (d/l time approx. 6 minutes 30 seconds @ 2400 baud)
This is another of Richard Bennett's creations...ResLin 0.37 Open
resource forks and be able to edit many aspects (although it is not a
full-featured graphical editor such as Genesys or Foundation) of resources.
Other features like copying a resource to another file and other various
resource fork maintenance options are in here. Includes documentation and
"Reslin Extras" sample source.
File #3421: IPC.SPY.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/8/93 by BRYAN.ZAK
About 12.5K (d/l time approx. 1 minute 30 seconds @ 2400 baud)
This is another little gem from Richard Bennett that creates
"snapshots" of the all the IPC traffic going on in the system. If you are
using IPC and would like to see just who is sending what, this thing is
VERY handy! Documentation is included.
File #3420: MINITALK.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/8/93 by BRYAN.ZAK
About 20K (d/l time approx. 1 minute 30 seconds @ 2400 baud)
This is the latest revision of Richard's excellent little CDA term
program (1.4). Documentation is included.
File #3405: SP.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 6/24/93 by BRYAN.ZAK
About 17K (d/l time approx. 1 minute 45 seconds @ 2400 baud)
This is Shellplay version 0.71. It uses Free Run Mode oscillators to
obtain higher quality than most Mod players for the IIgs. Documentation is
included. This program requires a Shell such as ORCA.
File #3398: MERLIN2TXT.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 6/20/93 by BURGERBILL
About 10K (d/l time approx. 1 minute @ 2400 baud)
Tired of having to Re-Tab merlin source files when reading it with the
Orca Editor or AppleWorks GS? This EXE utility will convert all the "Space"
tabs used by Merlin into real tabs so the source can be imported into
EgoEd, AppleWorks, Orca/M or Word Works. Source included.
File #3397: FIXCCOMMENT.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 6/20/93 by BURGERBILL
About 11K (d/l time approx. 1 minute @ 2400 baud)
Tired of getting "C" source from other machines and finding it full of
"//" style comments that Orca/C won't deal with? Use this EXE utility on
those source files to automatically convert all // comments to /* --- */
style comments. Source is included.
File #3395: DAC522CON.BXY (ALL)
Uploaded on 6/19/93 by M.MAHON
About 7K (d/l time approx. 1 minute @ 2400 baud)
Source for a 5-bit precision, 22 KHz. "carrier" software DAC (or
"player") for playing 11 KHz. digitized sounds with good fidelity through
the 1-bit (yes, it's not even 2-bit ;-) speaker of ANY Apple II! ORG on a
page boundary for PC-relative branch timing. 1012 bytes long. This is
FREEWARE.
File #3385: TELCOM.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 6/18/93 by PROCYON.INC
About 72.5K (d/l time approx. 7 minutes 30 seconds @ 2400 baud)
TelCom is a freeware 16-bit (text-based) communications program that
supports VT100, Xmodem and Ymodem. It's the 16-bit comm program of choice
for GNO users because it's small and fast. It is also adequate for most
general telecommunications users.
[*][*][*]
INFORMATION/DOCUMENTATION
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
File #3428: FDEVKIT2.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/11/93 by M.WOLFGRAM2
About 44.5K (d/l time approx. 4 minutes 30 seconds @ 2400 baud)
This is an update to the callback section of the Foundation
Developer's Kit. It includes a new ORCA compatible library, FOUNDATION.LIB
to provide function-style access to all 41 Foundation 1.0.3 editor
callbacks. This library can be used for editor development for Foundation
1.0.3 or earlier.
[*][*][*]
SOURCE CODE
"""""""""""
File #3422: SOFTDISKTXT.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/8/93 by SOFTDISK.INC
About 7.5K (d/l time approx. 1 minute @ 2400 baud)
On many issues of Softdisk G-S we are forced to use a proprietary
format for our documentation. This format is basically a Teach document
with the data fork compressed using a derivative of Huffman encoding. This
archive contains source code for decompressing such files, along with a
brief bit of code detailing the process.
File #3446: M16.CLIB.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 7/15/93 by JAY.KRELL
About 2.5K (d/l time approx. 20 seconds @ 2400 baud)
This file contains ORCA/M macros for the ORCA/C library.
[*][*][*]
PROGRAMMING LIBRARIES
"""""""""""""""""""""
File #3406: ATALKLIB.BXY (GS)
Uploaded on 6/26/93 by PROCYON.INC
About 70K (d/l time approx. 7 minutes @ 2400 baud)
This is a simple AppleTalk access library for programming network
utilities in C. Source is provided for this library as well as for three
sample utilities: lprps - send raw data to printer, nbplist - list entities
on the network, and papstat - return printer status. Shows how to easily
access AppleTalk.
[*][*][*]
8/16 Central
""""""""""""
Thanks to Resource Central, A2Pro has exclusive online distribution
rights to 8/16 Central! 8/16 Central is packed with valuable articles,
source code and goodies for Apple II programmers of all skill levels and
languages.
File #3382 contains indexes for _EVERY_ issue of 8/16 Central. We
highly recommend you download this file as a reference to help you find
issues of interest. Every issue is now in the A2Pro library:
October 91: #3448
September 91: #3447
August 91: #3427
July 91: #3426
June 91: #3416
May 91: #3415
April 91: #3408
March 91: #3407
October 90: #3396
September 90: #3393
August 90: #3392
July 90: #3391
June 90: #3387
May 90: #3386
April 90: #3384
March 90: #3383
INDEX : #3382
NOTE: Due to an oversight 8/16 Central issues Nov. 90-Feb. 91 were not
in the A2Pro library as this issue went to press. They should be available
by the time you read this.
[*][*][*]
APPLE ASSEMBLY LINES QUICKINDEX
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This month's index covers AAL issues from Volumes 3 and 4 (Oct 82-Sep 84).
3367 V3N1 Oct.82 (20.5K)
AAL.OCT.82.BXY
DOS 3.3 catalog arranger, why you need macros, converting toolkit source
to S-C, S-C assembler goodies and more!
3368 V3N2 Nov.82 (35K)
AAL.NOV.82.BXY
Sound patterns, digitized speech, fast primes, Applesoft program
locator, REPEAT/UNTIL for Applesoft and more!
3369 V3N3 Dec.82 (37.5K)
AAL.DEC.82.BXY
Relocatable JMPs and JSRs, adding bit-control to the monitor,
65C02 preview, garbage collection in arrays and more!
3370 V3N4 Jan.83 (42K)
AAL.JAN.83.BXY
Super Scroller, adding decimal values from ASCII strings, programming
the language card and more!
3371 V3N5 Feb.83 (46K)
AAL.FEB.83.BXY
ASCII string adding, endless alarm, Apple IIe notes, Applesoft
INPUT tuner and more!
3372 V3N6 Mar.83 (36.5K)
AAL.MAR.83.BXY
PTRGET and GETARYPT, macro-building macro, division tutorial,
prime benchmarks and more!
3373 V3N7 Apr.83 (38.5K)
AAL.APR.83.BXY
Patching DOS 3.3 for fast LOAD and BLOAD, general purpose patch
installer, 'ORG' macro and more!
3374 V3N8 May.83 (41K)
AAL.MAY.83.BXY
Displaying character generator EPROMS, ][+ chip reference, finding
address references and more!
3375 V3N9 Jun.83 (56K)
AAL.JUN.83.BXY
Spiral screen clear, binary to decimal conversion, reformatting
text, ampersand monitor caller and more!
3388 V3N10 Jul.83 (44.5K)
AAL.JUL.83.BXY
6502 mini-assembler in Applesoft, speeding up text file I/O, monitor
patch for ASCII display and more!
3389 V3N11 Aug.83 (40K)
AAL.AUG.83.BXY
Using aux memory on the IIe, speeding up spirals, reversing getting
and storing nibbles and more!
3377 V3N12 Sep.83 (41K)
AAL.Sep.83.BXY
Jump vectoring, generating machine code with Applesoft, calculating
base addresses, 80-column ASCII Monitor dump and more!
3429 V4N1 Oct.83 (65.5K)
AAL.OCT.83.BXY
Large assembly listings to text files, lower case titles,
counting lines and more!
3430 V4N2 Nov.83 (44K)
AAL.NOV.83.BXY
Commented listing of ProDOS 8's disk nibblization routines,
shapemaker enhancements, ProDOS 8 clock drivers and more!
3431 V4N3 Dec.83 (32K)
AAL.DEC.83.BXY
More ProDOS 8 disassemblies, Aztec C info, generalized
GOTO and GOSUB, and more!
3432 V4N4 Jan.84 (40.5K)
AAL.JAN.84.BXY
Code profiler, DOS patches to avoid interrupt problems, online
with Steve Wozniak and more!
3433 V4N5 Feb.84 (41K)
AAL.FEB.84.BXY
Listing buried messages, fast scrolling on 80-column screens,
macro to generate quotient/remainder table for Hi-Res and more!
3434 V4N6 Mar.84 (40K)
AAL.MAR.84.BXY
Faster table lookups via redundancy, changing VERIFY to
DISPLAY, fast garbage collection and more!
3435 V4N7 Apr.84 (38K)
AAL.APR.84.BXY
CRC subroutine, more clocks, evening with Woz, burning and erasing
EPROMs and more!
3436 V4N8 May.84 (40.5K)
AAL.MAY.84.BXY
Random numbers for Applesoft, Apple IIc, decimal floating point
arithmetic, making a difference map and more!
3437 V4N9 Jun.84 (40K)
AAL.JUN.84.BXY
18-digit arithmetic (pt 2), more random number generators, booting
ProDOS with a modified ROM, using CRCs and more!
3438 V4N10 Jul.84 (41.5K)
AAL.JUL.84.BXY
18-digit arithmetic (pt 3), prime sifter, sorting and swapping,
'gotchas' on the Apple IIc and more!
3439 V4N11 Aug.84 (35K)
AAL.AUG.84.BXY
18-digit arithmetic (pt 4), enabling and disabling IRQ from
Applesoft, slow chips and more!
3440 V4N12 Sep.84 (46.5K)
AAL.SEP.84.BXY
18-digit arithmetic (pt 5), faster ampersand routines to zero
arrays, putting messages on the screen and more!
[EOA]
[NAM]//////////////////////////////
NAMEOBJ RTC /
/////////////////////////////////
Learn About This Powerful Tool!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Jim B. Couch
[J.COUCH2]
>>> NAMEOBJ RTC TRANSCRIPT <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
_____ ______
/_____|/______\
/__/|__| ___|__|
/__/_|__| /_____/
/________|/__/ __ __ __
/__/ |__|__/______ /_//_// /
/__/ |__|________// / \/_/
The Apple II Programmers and Developers Roundtable
--------------------------------------------------
Real Time Conference Transcript
-------------------------------
Guest : Andy Wells
Company : Lunar Productions
Topic : NameOBJ
Copyright (c) 1993 by the Apple II Programmers RoundTable on GEnie.
All rights reserved.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
<A2PRO.GUEST> Hi Everyone
<A2PRO.STEVE> Andy Wells is currently working (or done with) NameOBJ,
which will allow you to add standard Procedure Names to your
Object Module Files... But here to explain a whole lot more
about that is Andy.... Take it away...
<A2PRO.GUEST> Ok.. For those who aren't aware of some of the features of
both GSBug and Nifty List, object code being traces or
listed by either of them can show you the names of the
various subroutines as you are coming to them. Basically,
any JSR, JSL, JMP, JML, (I haven't checked BRA and BRL yet)
will check for specially coded pieces of code. Adding these
names is very simple when writing assembly code, but none of
the higher level languages have a way to put them in the
code at all.
Enter NameOBJ. What NameOBJ does is read the OBJ files
created by these compilers (or the assembler), check the
type of the segment to make sure it's code, and adds the
segment name to the beginning of the OBJ segment (in a
separate file of course). This new OBJ file can then be
linked to create an executable program.. Another neat thing
about it is you can take the libraries that come with APW or
ORCA, extract the individual OBJ files, add names, put them
back together. This gives you library routines with names in
them. Very nice when tracing C or Pascal. Another
interesting point.. Unless there's some change made to the
structure of OBJ files (unlikely), NameOBJ will work for any
new languages as they become available (for instance,
Modula-2)..
I guess that's the highlights.. If anyone has any specific
questions, I'll be glad to answer any of them (unless it's
like "Can I have the source for it?" :)
<P.RUSHING> So, it's kind of like an improved ORCA Disassembler then?
<A2PRO.GUEST> No.. Not at all. It's function is to aid in debugging, not
to disassemble code..
Usually, you will already have source, and when you're
trying to locate a bug, sometimes you can lose track of
where you are. This allows you to see where you are by
allowing GSBug or Nifty List to show you the name of the
routine you're in, or are about to enter..
<P.RUSHING> Ok. I sometimes use ORCA/D to check out the way other
languages than assembly look in assembly and where the
subroutines actually go.
<A2PRO.GUEST> This is very nice for when you have routines that you know
work fine. You can just X over those..
<M.DEATHERAGE> How do we get it?
<A2PRO.GUEST> I think that one can best be answered by Marc.. Lunar
Productions is marketing a package that contains NameObj
among other nice stuff...
<M.WOLFGRAM2> NameOBJ will be available from Lunar Productions later this
month. $39.95 list. You can email your order to me
M.WOLFGRAM2, or call 414/549-9261 (evenings please).
<M.DEATHERAGE> And what does that $40 buy me?
<M.WOLFGRAM2> NameOBJ includes the nameobj utility, NiftyList by Dave
Lyons, and Apple's own GSBug. That way all the utilities
that use names are in one place. A full manual covering all
three utilities is included.
<P.RUSHING> Is there a demo version, by chance?
<A2PRO.GUEST> No.. A demo would have to do everything in order to show you
what it does, so a demo would defeat it's own purpose..
<M.WOLFGRAM2> We could put together some samples showing the difference
that names make.
<A2PRO.STEVE> No actually, I was wondering what prompted you to write
NameOBJ? do you do most of your programming in C or Pascal,
or did you just see a hole in the market, or what?
<A2PRO.GUEST> Well, actually, it was a comment (by a certain someone
present) that was made relating to it. I've fairly recently
gotten into C and the comment made me wonder just what it
would take to do it. NameOBJ was originally written in C
(1.3), but it was way too slow. I converted it to assembly,
and enhanced it from there..
<P.RUSHING> About the demo - Remember how the Beagle brothers used to
put little EXEC demos of their upcoming programs, kind of a
slide show of what can be done? That's what I meant. Could
be good advertising. (maybe Hyperstack it?)
<A2PRO.GUEST> I think that was what Marc might have been thinking about
<M.WOLFGRAM2> Actually, I was thinking about putting together a small
sample source, and providing object and executable code with
and without names...
Eddie: Do you use GSBug or NiftyList now?
<A2PRO.GUEST> That would include C, Pascal (and maybe Modula-2) source,
not to mention assembly??
<P.RUSHING> I have the GSBug init installed but don't really use it
unless it pops up.
<A2PRO.GUEST> If and when you get into writing and debugging programs, you
will find it quite valuable.. Nifty List is almost
indispensable when it comes to locating stuff, making tool
calls, etc...
<M.WOLFGRAM2> NameOBJ makes using Nifty List and GSBug a lot nicer. It's
easy to get lost debugging code, and having names appear in
GSBug is like putting up street signs.
<A2PRO.GUEST> The third indispensable program would (IMHO) be the
Exerciser CDA. Saved my bacon often enough by allowing me to
close files that shouldn't be open... :)
<M.DEATHERAGE> I think the idea of code with and without names is spiffy,
but be sure to include source code so the names make sense
to those viewing the demo. :) A DebugString call to say
"Look at this" would be helpful as well.
<A2PRO.STEVE> Maybe a BRK or too in the program (tell people about it) so
people don't have to guess for a place on the Four Finger
Salute...
<A2PRO.GUEST> And, make sure they're aware of the use of the down arrow to
bypass the BRK..
<M.DEATHERAGE> The code doesn't have to crash -- just show you how it's
easier to trace with names than without. Using DebugString
means if you don't have GSBug installed, the demo completes
without doing anything destructive.
<A2PRO.GUEST> Well Matt, they gotta get into the debugger somehow!!
<M.WOLFGRAM2> Thanks, Matt... Steve, brk is my preferred instruction. Or
in C: asm { brk 0xea }; but DebugString makes sense.
<A2PRO.GUEST> A demo would be virtually meaningless without GSBug or Nifty
List installed..
<M.DEATHERAGE> True, but there's no reason to crash to show the product. :)
<A2PRO.STEVE> Ok.. Just a suggestion toward Lunar Productions here.. I'd
like to see a Disassembler that supported DebugStrings..
They look nasty when I look at my code with Orca/Disasm...
Any possibility of this?
<A2PRO.GUEST> What's so nasty? Just hit the $7771 with SA-W, and the next
line with SA-P.
<A2PRO.STEVE> I meant to say the shell version of the disassembler.
<A2PRO.GUEST> I use shell 2.0. The disassembler don't work there..
<A2PRO.STEVE> There is a fix for it in the library that I wrote.
<A2PRO.GUEST> I guess you don't want to do the DC's then..
<A2PRO.STEVE> Its no biggie Just wondering...
<A2PRO.GUEST> Anyway, Paul Elseth (who wrote the disassembler) says he'll
be updating it. The only problem is getting Mike W to send
him the bug list!
<A2PRO.STEVE> Ok.. Guess What! There is a free copy of NameOBJ that is
going to be given away soon... Someone needs to first /raise
their hand.. the first _ELIGIBLE_ person to do this will get
to answer a question.. to win the prize...
<A2PRO.STEVE> Eddie! You got your hand up first...
<A2PRO.STEVE> Question: When does A2PRO hold its Weekly "JAM!" RTC?
<A2PRO.STEVE> Just the day is fine.
<P.RUSHING> I would venture to say Wednesday? maybe?
<A2PRO.STEVE> If you can name the person in this room who is teaching a
course on Resources in A2 University (Hint - He publishes a
Resource Editor) then we can give the prize to you.....
<A2PRO.GUEST> I know that one!
<P.RUSHING> That is Marc, I believe...
<A2PRO.STEVE> Alright! Congratulations! You just got a free copy of
NameOBJ when Marc finishes the Manual! :-)
<A2PRO.STEVE> Thanks for coming! As always, It pays to come to A2PRO RTC's
<P.RUSHING> What an honor, I hope I can live up to it. Thanks a lot.
/////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
/ "I recently tested THREE stand-alone grammar checkers for use /
/ at our newspaper office. I simply ran their own documentation /
/ through them, and canned all three when they failed their own /
/ tests. If the authors of expensive PC software don't believe /
/ in using their own product, I don't either." /
//////////////////////////////////////////////// A.FASOLDT ////
[EOA]
[LOG]//////////////////////////////
LOG OFF /
/////////////////////////////////
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[EOF]
--
============================================================================
Matt Deatherage, Developer Technical | The opinions expressed herein are
Support, Apple Computer, Inc. | not those of Apple Computer, and
Personal mail only, please. Thanks. | shame on you for thinking otherwise.
^^^^^^^^ Technical questions are not personal. Please post them instead.
============================================================================
