|||||| |||||| || || |||||| |||||| || || ||| || || || || ||| |||| |||||| || |||| Your || || || || ||| || || |||||| |||||| || || |||||| |||||| GenieLamp Computing || |||||| || || |||||| RoundTable || || || ||| ||| || || || |||||| |||||||| |||||| RESOURCE! || || || || || || || ||||| || || || || || ~ WELCOME TO GENIELAMP APPLE II! ~ """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ~ FILE MECHANIC: New Files From Old ~ ~ REFRACTIONS: The Dispoable Computer ~ ~ PD_QUICKVIEW: Beagle Basic ~ ~ HOT NEWS, HOT FILES, HOT MESSAGES ~ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// GenieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET Publication ~ Vol.5, Issue 53 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Publisher................................................John F. Peters Editor...................................................Douglas Cuff \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// ~ GenieLamp IBM ~ GenieLamp ST ~ GenieLamp PowerPC ~ ~ GenieLamp A2Pro ~ GenieLamp Macintosh ~ GenieLamp TX2 ~ ~ GenieLamp Windows ~ GenieLamp A2 ~ LiveWire (ASCII) ~ ~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~ Genie Mail: GENIELAMP Internet: genielamp@genie.com ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ >>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE II ROUNDTABLE? <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ~ August 1, 1996 ~ FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] FROM MY MAILBOX ......... [MAI] Notes From The Editor. Letters To The Editor. HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY] HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM] Is That A Letter For Me? Parody: Print Some Fonts. REFRACTIONS ............. [RFR] PD_QUICKVIEW ............ [PDQ] The Disposable Computer. Beagle Basic. FILE BANDWAGON .......... [BAN] FILE MECHANIC ........... [MEC] Top 10 Files for June. Gillian's Bunny Game. 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 reprinted """""""""""" here in GenieLamp, you will find all the information you need immediately following the message. For example: (SMITH, CAT6, TOP1, MSG:58/M475) _____________| _____|__ _|___ |____ |_____________ |Name of sender CATegory TOPic Msg.# Page number| In this example, to respond to Smith's message, log on to page 475 enter the bulletin board and set CAT 6. Enter your REPly in TOPic 1. A message number that is surrounded by brackets indicates that this message is a "target" message and is referring to a "chain" of two or more messages that are following the same topic. For example: {58}. ABOUT Genie Genie has pricing plans to fit almost any budget. Genie's """"""""""" services include email, software downloads, bulletin boards, chat lines, and an Internet gateway included at a non-prime time connect rate of $2.75. Some pricing plans include uncharged online connect time. As always, prices are subject to change without notice. To sign up for Genie, call (with modem) 1-800-638-8369 in the USA or 1-800-387-8330 in Canada. Upon connection wait for the U#= prompt. Type: JOINGENIE 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. GET GENIELAMP ON THE NET! Now you can get your GenieLamp issues from """"""""""""""""""""""""" the Internet. If you use a web browser, connect to "gopher://gopher.genie.com/11/magazines". When using a gopher program, connect to "gopher.genie.com" and then choose item 7 (Magazines and Newsletters from Genie's RoundTables). *** GET INTO THE LAMP! *** """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" //////////////////////////////////////// Genie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / What may interest a few trivia buffs is that the Skunk / / Works also has at least one tenuous connection to the / / Apple II. It's the inspiration for the name of the / / Byte Works. :) / ///////////////////////////////////////////// BYTEWORKS //// [EOA] [FRM]////////////////////////////// FROM MY DESKTOP / ///////////////////////////////// Notes From The Editor """"""""""""""""""""" by Douglas Cuff [EDITOR.A2] The news from KansasFest is the most exciting news I've heard in years. Apple is now beta-testing GuS, an Apple IIgs emulator (in software) designed to run on Power Macintosh computers. You'll read plenty about that in this month's HEY MISTER POSTMAN. It would be plenty exciting if anyone announced software emulation of the IIgs, but the mere idea that Apple themselves are involved makes my eyes light up. Let's face it, folks, however much we might curse it sometimes, Apple's meticulous works for us here. They'll make sure the emulation follows the rules. Just the announcement of GuS will mean a shift in the thinking of those who program the Apple IIgs. Even I, who no one will ever call a programmer, have made an adjustment or two. Like many who discovered the Apple II in the early 1980s, I taught myself BASIC using the Applesoft Tutorial manual from Apple, Beagle Bros tip books, _Open-Apple_/_A2-Central_, and _Nibble_ magazine. Once I discovered the various ID bytes that let you determine exactly which model of Apple II your program is running on, I became determined to use them in my own BASIC programs to do scrupulous checks of a user's hardware. The problem was that there was no single ID byte for determining if software was running on a IIgs. No official byte, that is. But while Val Golding was working for _Softdisk_, he reported on a byte that programmers could check. Golding issued a caution: "It is not officially recognized by Apple and therefore may not be valid for future versions of the GS." Yeah, right. I didn't let that worry me. I just made sure that the byte was valid on ROM 0, ROM 1, and ROM 3 IIgs's. No one, especially Apple, was ever going to put out a new IIgs. Or so I thought. It looks now as though I'll have to change my few BASIC programs that make use of this unofficial ID byte. It might just be valid under an emulator, of course. But you can bet your boots that Apple's officially-sanctioned method of check for a IIgs _will_ work on the emulator. Which is good news for all of us. [*][*][*] Last month, I told you how close you came to losing me as editor of GenieLamp A2. (Which I still think would have been a good thing for all you readers.) This month, I can tell you how close you came to losing GenieLamp A2, GenieLamp A2Pro, and all other versions of GenieLamp. As of mid-July, Genie closed a bunch of low-traffic RoundTables. Among them was DigiPub, the gathering place for all of us who publish, edit, and write for the various GenieLamps. (The problem was that it wasn't much more than a gathering place for GenieLamp staff.) Thanks to our publisher, John Peters, GenieLamp was saved at pretty much the last minute. As a result, none of us is sure what the future holds for GenieLamp. It doesn't seem likely that it will stay exactly the way it was, but I can't even guess what changes are coming. As far as I know, GenieLamp A2 is the only version of GenieLamp publishing this month. I'm publishing with John Peters' blessing, but very little more... certainly there aren't any GenieLamp facilities any more. This month, GenieLamp A2 is not _practically_ a one-person operation; it _is_ a one-person operation. I suppose this means that even if the GenieLamp structure folds, I can keep putting out some sort of magazine for Genie's A2 RoundTable, whether it's called GenieLamp A2 or something else. Now that I've soothed any fears, I have to announce that the September issue of GenieLamp A2 is going to be late. I'm actually getting a summer vacation this year, for the first time in at least five years. I won't be back until September 1, which is the day the September issue is due. Well, even if I _could_ put together an issue in less than 24 hours, I don't intend to try, so you'll have to resign yourselves to a late issue. I am hoping that by the time the next issue is due, we'll all know what the future holds for GenieLamp A2, and that I'll have joined my brother and sister GenieLamp editors in producing to a more regular schedule. See you sometime around the middle of September, I hope. -- Doug Cuff Genie Mail: EDITOR.A2 Internet: editor.a2@genie.com __________________________________________________________ | | | REPRINTING GENIELAMP | | | | If you want to reprint any part of GenieLamp, or | | post it to a bulletin board, please see the very end | | of this file for instructions and limitations. | |__________________________________________________________| ASCII ART BEGINS _____ _ _ ___ ___ / ____| (_) | | / _ \|__ \ | | __ ___ _ __ _ ___| | __ _ _ __ ___ _ __ | |_| | ) | | | |_ |/ _ \ '_ \| |/ _ \ | / _` | '_ ` _ \| '_ \ | _ | / / | |__| | __/ | | | | __/ |___| (_| | | | | | | |_) | | | | |/ /_ \_____|\___|_| |_|_|\___|______\__,_|_| |_| |_| .__/ |_| |_|____| | | |_| ASCII ART ENDS [EOA] [MAI]////////////////////////////// FROM MY MAILBOX / ///////////////////////////////// Letters To The Editor """"""""""""""""""""" NINJAFORCE PROMISES NEW GAME You might have heard that we are busy """""""""""""""""""""""""""" working on a new game for the IIgs. The game is based on the popular Bomberman, an arcade classic which is considered one of the best multi-player games of all time by many serious game players around the world. Since its initial release in 1983, Bomberman got converted for many computer and video game platforms, excluding the Apple II. And since we have always been fans of the game, we had the idea of making a GS adaption that would feature the same addictive game-play. It will be a fast action-paced arcade game for up to four players simultaneously! A screenshot has been uploaded onto Genie and comp.sys.apple2. In case you were not able to pick a copy of it, please let us know and we'll get one to you. Greetings from Germany, Jesse Blue & Clue / Ninjaforce ug0a@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de WANTED: APPLE II BBSES OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA My name is Doede Boomsma, """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" and you may know me of Dark Castle Magazine. But I am not going to promote this well-running magazine now. No, I'm going to tell something about Apple II BBSes. Maybe you are interested, maybe you aren't. More than two years ago I dialed a BBS in America. It was called Computist BBS, and it still exists. I fell in love with the BBS software, and wondered if it ran on an Apple II. After asking the sysop (Andy-C), he confirmed that it ran on his Apple IIgs. Since I wanted to start a BBS, I asked if I could get a copy of his BBS software. So he sent me two disks with the software, and I was happy. [lots of things happened] And I'm still happy with the software. There have been updates and fixes, and it even runs better now. We have internet email, usenet groups, local conferences and networked conferences. And of course huge file transfer sections. The software that my BBS and those who are connected through the network, is METAL/FutureVision 4.1. This software is great! But unfortunately, a lot of Apple II BBS's have gone down, and besides mine, there is only one other METAL/FV BBS in Europe. It is run by Magnus Ericson, and his BBS is called Aug-Sweden. Hereby I would like to ask other people in Europe, but also in America and Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, to join the group. This is THE way to get in touch with other Apple II users in the world if you can't afford an Internet or Genie account. For more information you can email me at dark_dude@darkcastle.ecore.fnet.org, and I can send you a complete and smoothly running system if you want. Or you can ftp it from the support site. Come on, and join the group. It is really worth it! You, as a sysop, will help a lot of other Apple II users in your country or region. Wanted systems: Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Austria and maybe even more in the eastern part of Europe. Mail now, and ask for the software or ftp site address. It's all free, even the Internet mail and usenet feeds! On behalf of the whole crew, -= Doede =- a.k.a. Dark Dude. Dark_Dude@darkcastle.ecore.fnet.org [EOA] [HEY]////////////////////////////// HEY MISTER POSTMAN / ///////////////////////////////// Is That A Letter For Me? """""""""""""""""""""""" by Douglas Cuff [EDITOR.A2] o BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS o A2 POT-POURRI o HOT TOPICS o WHAT'S NEW o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT >>> BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" [*] CAT 5, TOP 14 ......... GuS, the Apple IIgs emulator! [*] CAT 13, TOP 17 ......... IIe 2.0.1 for Mac [*] CAT 44, TOP 8 ......... KansasFest 1996 reports and summaries >>> A2 POT-POURRI <<< """"""""""""""""""""" HARTLEY SHAREWARE PROGRAMS NOW FREEWARE Computer Keyboarding 5 is now """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" freeware. Scavenger Hunt, World Edition, is now freeware. Scavenger Hunt USA is now freeware. Scavenger Hunt USA, Junior Edition, is now freeware. The freeware editions of these programs have been uploaded to the library, and are now available. If you previously downloaded one of these and didn't pay the shareware fee to get the passwords, you will need to download these new editions. For Computer Keyboarding 5, if you have a 3.5 drive or hard drive, then download file #27484. If you are using a 5.25 disk drive, then download files #27485 and #27486. Scavenger Hunt, World Edition, is file #27487. Scavenger Hunt USA is file #27488. Scavenger Hunt USA, Junior Edition, is file #27489. You may be wondering why I am making these commercial grade programs available as freeware. The answer is simple. I have not received a shareware payment, or had any new orders for any of these programs in quite some time. It seems fairly clear that there are few, if any, folks who are willing to spend money on these programs now. Yet, I am reasonably certain that there are lots of folks who would enjoy and benefit from these programs if they had them. So, here they are. Enjoy them. Share them with your kids. Make copies and take them to schools that still have Apple II computers. Spread them far and wide. That way, you will make me and others happy. I want to take this opportunity to thank the many many people who paid their shareware fees, and purchased the programs from me. I am indeed grateful for your support. Before I conclude this message, one thing needs to be said. I know that some will wonder if this means that I'm leaving the Apple II. The answer is NO. Charlie Hartley (A2.CHARLIE, CAT13, TOP8, MSG:90/M645;1) SECOND SIGHT PROGRAMS Just got hold of two new (or updated )programs for """"""""""""""""""""" the SS. View DL 2.0 has been upgraded to use the SS in color. Another called FLIccs (something like that) lets you look at FLIs in full color with the SS. Pretty neat. Andy (L.MIDDLETON3, CAT20, TOP14, MSG:114/M645;1) CHINOOK SCSI UTILITIES RELEASED Today I received the following letter in """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" the mail: Chuck Newby Attn: Software Licensing :) 9081 Hadley Place San Diego, CA 92126-1523 Dear Chuck, Please consider this letter as authorization from me to freely distribute the program Chinook SCSI Utilities to anyone who has an interest or a need. I believe that I own the software rights to that program. I even have the source code (in Merlin) and if anyone has an interest in that, I'd be glad to send hem a copy. I do not wish to receive any money associated with this. I consider any APple II programs that I have written over the years to be in the public domain at this time. This would include any rights hat I may have to the No Slot Clock program, the Business Card Clock program, Print Using & Friends, and any other programs you maay find written by me. Many of these I have uploaded to GEnie in my name. You may charge a small amount to cover your costs in connection with this distribution if you wish to. Best of Luck to you. Thanks. Sincerly, [signed] Craig Peterson 2434 Hill Street Santa Monica, CA 90405 NOTE: In the Chinook SCSI Utilities Manual, it is noted that the copyright to the software is in the name of Craig Peterson, while the manual is in the copyrighted name of Chinook Technologies. As to the No-Slot-Clock software, latest version, Craig Peterson may not have copyright, but if the company, SMT is no longer in business, and the software cannot be used by other than the No-Slot-Clock anyway, then Craig probably has the right to release its use......... Chuck Newby Charlie's AppleSeeds (A2.CHUCK, CAT7, TOP2, MSG:117/M645;1) >>>>> Good news, Chuck! :) And yes, I would like to see the source code """"" uploaded to A2Pro and available for download. Can you track that down for us? If you wish, I can write Craig a letter instead. Let me know. Joat (A2.TIM, CAT7, TOP2, MSG:119/M645;1) JUICED.GS NEWSLETTER TO CONTINUE While at Kfest '96 last week, I made an """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" anouncement that I would now like to share with everyone in the A2 RT .... Juiced.GS will definitely be published in 1997!!! It's been a great year so far, and there are big plans for future issues. The support and encouragement I've received from the Apple II community has been awesome, and I hope to keep this publication going strong for a long, long time. More info about the 1997 subscription drive will be forthcoming in a few weeks. I am pleased to tell you all that, thanks to the Kfest '96 Vendors Fair, Juiced.GS has burst over the 200 mark (202 to be exact) in subscribers! Thank you all!!! Apple II Forever ... Max Jones Juiced.GS (M.JONES145, CAT13, TOP43, MSG:202/M645;1) >>> HOT TOPICS <<< """""""""""""""""" KANSASFEST REPORTS I guess I get to make the first KFest report, which """""""""""""""""" only seems appropriate since I arrived here first, and I'm the "Big Cheese". The weather is warm, but doesn't seem too muggy -- yet. (Which must mean the humidity isn't too bad.) I heard that it's supposed to be near 100 before the week is over. :) I checked in with Avila, and they are ready for us!!! If you arrive during the afternoon on Wednesday, you should just go directly to Marian Centre to get your room assignment and key. If you arrive during the 7:30 - 10:00 hours, you might want to stop at KC Masterpiece (Metcalf and I-435) first, and then go get settled in your room. There will be signs on the doors at Avila telling you who to contact for late check-in. Marian Centre and Ridgway Dorm are on the north side of the campus. If you are going south on Wornall, turn left on 118th, and then take the SECOND right into the parking lot, and you will see Marian Centre, and Carondelet (sp) dorm. Ridgway is a little farther back. Just remember to bring cool and casual clothes, and plan on getting minimal sleep. See yu'all tomorrow!!! Cindy (aka Big Cheese) (CINDY.A, CAT44, TOP6, MSG:1/M645;1) >>>>> K.C. Masterpiece was very good last night """"" Today I attended Will Nelken's session on AppleWorks/Macros, which was very enlightning, and might even inspire me to write a few macros of my own. Then I went to Ewen and Dave Hecker's Specrum session, and learned a bit about scripting and works in progress. Lunch. College cafeteria fare, but I don't think anyone was complaining about starvation. After lunch GraphicWriter III with Richard Bennett & Dave Hecker, where we learned more about the new features and some planned for the future. I then went to the robotics session with Erick Wagner & Mike Westerfield, and learned that there is more to learn than can be done in an hour and a half. Mike's robots provided a lot of entertainment. Eric covered the basics and sources. It's almost time for supper, with the Keynote Address and couple more sessions to follow. I actually slept well the first night, but tonight is "Bite the Bag" night, with Pizza paid for by Roger Wagner, even though he was unable to be here. Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech From KFest '96 - Avila (C.KNOBLOCK, CAT44, TOP6, MSG:7/M645;1) >>>>> The pizza was fine, but the fire drill delayed consumption a few """"" minutes, coming as it did just after they arrived. Bite the Bag was postponed until Fri nite, because too many people decided to go out to see Independence Day instead on Thur nite. Dr. Stephen Buggie arrived tonight, late, and my Roommate, David Stephens went to the airport to pick him up. We then each bought one of his power supplies, and chatted a while, so here it is, almost 3 am, and I'm typping this final report for Thursday. More tomorrow. Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech From KFest '96 - Avila (C.KNOBLOCK, CAT44, TOP6, MSG:14/M645;1) >>>>> Well, Gary's speech is worth waiting a few minutes for. It may be """"" longer due to the major thunderstorm arriveing just now. I'm getting off before the power fails and going to watch Bite the bad postponed from last night. More about my day and the roast later. Later - The storm came close enough to give us a spectacular lightning show, but no rain, and no power problems. I shut down without sending the previous after two unsucessful attempts to call. Scott Johnson, last years runner up, won the Bite the Bag contest, which I missed seeing because I was watching the natural fireworks. I guess that means I HAVE to buy the tape. After breakfast, I went to the Apple Presents session and watched QuickTime movies, then went to Dr. Stephen Buggie's Disk ][ and Apple diagnostics session. He briefly described all the many dignostic programs for disk testing, adjustment and repair that have been introduced over the years. After lunch, I went to the Desktop Publishing and the IIGS session, presented by Juiced GS publisher Max Jones. He brought a sample of his day job work, as well talking about layout and design in desktop publishing. The next session was Tony Diaz with The Portable GS. He showed and amazing array of disk drives that have been designed for Apples over the years. Many were prototypes that never made it to market. At the same time, Doug Pendleton and Dave Ciotti were next door, working on monitor repair. I wandered back and forth, getting some of both. Then it was Banquet time, followed by a roast of Joe Kohn. Buy the video. ;) After that, it was time for the Bite the Bag and watching the Olympic opening cerimonies. And the aformentioned storm watching. Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech From KFest '96 - Avila (C.KNOBLOCK, CAT44, TOP6, MSG:16/M645;1) >>>>> Where did I leave off? Saturday morning, I chose sleep over """"" breakfast. The Vendor Fair was fairly busy, and I got a few things. Will Nelken's books, Quick Clic Morph from Mike Westerfield, a new SCSI system cable from Doug Pendleton, The Spectrum 2.1 upgrade from SevenHills, the Script Central set from Joe Kohn, a subscription to The AppleWorks Gazette, and the three back issues from Howard Katz. Then lunch in the cafeteria, my last meal there. Afternoon was product introductions. There was an update to ProTerm Mac, some games and other stuff from Joe Kohn, and the stunning introduction of Gus. Except for Gus, I spent most of that time packing and loading everything into the van. At various times during the day, there were goodbys as people departed for various reasons. Most of those who were left at 7 pm went to Jess & Jims for Supper. Since I was leaving from home from there, I limited myself to a 14 oz. fillet. There were several larger cuts available. The drive home was somewhat eventful. As I drove north on I-435, there was a constant lightning show going on ahead of me. As I turned east toward the airport and I-29, I drove into the rain. It was heavy enough for me to slow down, and when I was nearly blinded by lightning, I stopped under the next bridge, a wide one with a generous shoulder on the road. I waited there for about half an hour, not only for the rain, but also for the lightning to let up. When you get a flash-bang just as fast as you can say it, it's too close. I stopped for gas when I got past the I-35 turnoff, and by then I was out of the rain, for the moment. After that, I had light rain and drizzle on and off for much of the way home. I stopped for a snack at the second Missouri rest stop, and stopped for a nap at the Iowa rest stop. I got home about 3, unloaded with some help from my son who was still up, unpacked my suitcase and got ready for bed. By then it was 4 am, but I set my alarm for 11:30, planning to go to church. When the alarm went off, I changed my mind and went back to sleep until 4 pm. I put my system back together, using my new power supply from Dr. Stephen Buggie. Everything seems to be working OK. Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech Back From KFest '96 - Avila (C.KNOBLOCK, CAT44, TOP6, MSG:21/M645;1) >>>>> This was my second trip to Kfest, and remarkably enough, I seem to """"" have survived quite well. Kfest is the premier event in the Apple II world, and this years conference was no exception. I arrived at Avila a little bit after noon, and wandered into the Marian Center to register. The first person I saw was Cindy Adams, who, true to form, came up to me and said "You're five minutes late!" Thwap! Made me feel right at home, she did. After registrating, and getting my room key, and my Kfest T-shirt, I walked over to the dorm, found my room, and got my stuff squared away. I walked back over to the Center, and saw Richard Bennett, Dave Ciotti and son, Erick Wagner, and Max Jones wander in. (I keep using the word wander. That's what you do at Avila, you wander around, meeting people and laughing your head off). There was a new identification system in place. We all had to wear blue wristbands to identify ourselves as guests of Avila. This was not a big problem for me, though it did seem like we were all hospital patients. Wednesday evening, everyone who was there by then went over to K.C.Masterpiece. The food was good, though slightly overpriced to my thinking. Heading back to the dorm, we wandered around, visiting each other and looking at computers and just generally settling in. The next morning, after breakfast, the sessions started. My first session was 'Soldering - Which end is Hot', given by BINARY.BEAR, Dave Ciotti. I had done some soldering in the past, but Dave went though all the tricks that you can use to solder like a pro. I found out things that I never realised before, so for me it was a very informative session. Next up was '(All About) Spectrum'. Even though I don't have that program, I was curious enough to try to find out more about it. It was a very interesting presentation. So interesting, that later in the week I bought a copy. :) After lunch, It was 'GraphicWriter III', another excellent session. After that, I attended David Kerwood's 'NETSCAPE - HOW TO' session. This proved to be informative and useful for me, and I picked up a lot of tips and tricks to get around. Nice job, David. Thursday night was supposed to be BITE THE BAG night, but was postponed to the next night, since most all the contestants went to the movies. So, Pizza was bought and delivered (courtesy of Roger Wagner and Mike Westerfield) and just as we were about to chow down on the pizza, the Avila folks decided to hold a fire drill. Fun, huh? I grabbed what was important, my pizza, and went outside. After a good laugh was held by all, we went back inside. The rest of the evening and night were taken up doing the usual visiting, playing on computers, and more. Oh yes, I forgot. Gary Utter gave a keynote speech which I hope will be uplaoded here on A2. It was inspiring to hear, and I was very impressed by it. The word 'Community' was mentioned a lot. Very nice, Gary. And, later, 'Wolfenstein 3D' was demoed. I understand it will be finally released in a month or so. It is going to be a blast. Literally. :) Friday, after breakfast, Kurt Ackman of Apple Computer demo'ed some stuff that Apple Computer is working on. It was very informative, and we were gentle with him. :) After that session, I attended the Publisher's and Writers Forum, hosted by Ryan Suenaga. Howard Katz, Max Jones, and Joe Kohn were on the panel. They each explained what their publications were about, and why they were involved. To say the least, I was very impressed with these gentlemen. (Yes, even you, Howard). If you have a chance, do subscribe to their respective publications. They each fill a unique area of the Apple II world, and are not to be missed. After Lunch, I attended Brian Gillespie's HyperCard session. He demo'd Quarknet, a hypercard offline processor for Genie. And much more, too. Check it out, it's really nice. I was then going to attempt to attend Charlie Hartley's HTML session, but got sidetracked, and was unable to attend it all. But, I got the handout, and that should help a lot. Maybe. Next up was the roast of Joe Kohn. Poor Joe. He sure does have some good friends. Steve Disbrow was master of ceremonies, and as usual, Steve keeps the evening flowing. Sometimes, it's a river, sometimes its a dry stream, but he really TRIES, you know? Anyway, Will Nelken, David Kerwood, Tim Kellers, and Bill Heineman (BURGER.BILL) got up and told stories about Joe. Very interesting stories. One thing I did glean from what they said, is that Joe's Worldwide Headquarter's needs a janitor REAL bad. :) It was a good time, and over much too quickly. Later friday, back at the dorm, it was wonder around and visit again. I did this, for a while, and being not too brilliant sometimes, had me a few brews. I distinctly remember being in Ryan's room, visiting, and the next thing I remember is waking up in my bed. I have no clue as to what happened. Weird. But, Kfest is like that, there is so much going on, so many people to visit, its hard to remember all. Unfortunately, I had to cut my attendance a bit short and had to leave Saturday. I did get to the vendor fair, and promptly spent all my money. Had just enough to buy gas for the trip home. But, I was able to get some really neat things, and it was all worth the trip. Well worth it. There were new product announcements, unfortuately, I was unable to see them. I did get a preview of GUS, which I think is just wonderful. Well, that's my point of view. :) How 'bout you? APPLE II FOREVER...NOW, MORE THAN EVER (CAPTAIN.RON, CAT44, TOP6, MSG:23/M645;1) >>>>> A lot of neat things happened during Kfest '96, but here's my top """"" ten favorite moments of the festival. 10. Tim Kellers top ten list during the Joe Kohn Roast. (Perhaps it will be uploaded here one of these days. Hope so!) 9. The "Cheesehead" presentation to Kfest Big Cheese Cindy Adams. 8. Huddling with Richard Bennett and Dave Hecker about possible feature additions in the next version of GWIII 2.0 7. Steve Disbrow's creative way of waking up an unnamed Kfest attendee who dozed off during one of the afternoon sessions. (I HAVE A QUESTION!!!!!!!) 6. Listening to Greg Templeman explain (or attempt to explain) the inner workings of his soon-to-be released GS movie player at 3 o'clock IN THE MORNING. :) I don't know what he was talking about, but it was fun seeing him try to get through to a non-techie type like me. He was even drawing imaginary pictures on my door in an effort to make things clear. (Programmers ... gotta love 'em!) 5. The rather indelicate (but hilarious) manner in which Tony Diaz arranged two of Mike Westerfield's robots so that they chased each other in a circle around a table. Describing this scene further would be too crude, but suffice it to say that you've never seen a mouse and a dinosaur behave in this fashion before. :-) 4. Sheppy's demo of Wolfenstein 3D, during which he announced that the program would go into open beta testing on Genie in a few weeks, and that the long-awaited game would eventually be released as freeware!! 3. Ewen Wannop's compelling presentation about the Spectrum 2.1 upgrade and his work in creating a new off-line message handler inside Spectrum itself. When the message reader is finished, it will certainly be worth a "Crock 'O Gold" :-) 2. Gary Utter's keynote address. Truly inspiring. A special moment of Kfest '96!! 1a. The announcement that dates had been reserved at Avila College for Kfest '97!!!!!!!!!! 1. The inaugural public showing of Gus, the IIGS emulator that will run on the Power Mac. David Kerwood and Cindy Adams arranged this special showing by working closely with Apple developer Andy Nicholas. The unveiling of "Gus" was certainly the defining moment of Kfest '96. OK, those are are my highlights. I'd love to hear others .... Max (M.JONES145, CAT44, TOP6, MSG:25/M645;1) <<<<< Well, I'm home, somewhat rested, caught up on most of the laundry """"" my family saved for me, restocked the refrigerator, etc, so now I have a few minutes to post here. KFest was great!!!!! I have no hesitation in offering to organize next year's. Now would be a good time to write the dates on your calendar ---- July 30 - August 3, 1997. Those are the Wednesday to Sunday dates that we have the dorm reserved. The Conference itself will be July 31 - August 2. I have to start out by thanking Tim Kellers, who I talked into helping by saying he "only had to take the money", and Steve Gozdziewski who did a fantastic job on getting all the sessions organized. They both did a wonderful job, and made my job very easy. I was able to catch them at the height of their sleep-deprivation period, and they agreed to help next year. THANKS guys! As would be expected, there were a few minor glitches and problems. But certainly nothing we couldn't over come. It is the people there that really make KFest the wonderful event that it is. I know I'm still in awe of meeting some of the big names of the Apple II world. Getting to be part of the Gus demo was certainly a thrill for me. (read my post in the Gus topic) Hanging out in the halls after hours, seeing other people's computer set up, trying to get the frisbee throwers to calm down, learning more about desktop publishing, finding out how better to use Netscape, etc, etc, are just a few of the things that will be a part of this year's wonderful experience. Isn't it 1997 _YET_? :) I also have to thank everyone that was there, just for being there. And especially thanks to the presenters for giving KFest some credibility, so that it wasn't just one big party. :) And of course, how could I forget to mention the presentation of the Cheesehead hat that Greg Betzel sent. I can hardly wait until next year! Start planning on it now!!! Cindy (The KFest Big Cheese) (CINDY.A, CAT44, TOP6, MSG:35/M645;1) >>>>> As I'm almost recovered from Kansasfest, I thought I'd try and give """"" a capsule of it. The biggest hit of the show was GuS, no question about it. Even if it was more of a surprise for some of us than others. :) New product intros that might've been dwarfed by GuS: EGO Systems and Shareware Solutions II premiering Script Central and Stack Central/Studio City on CD Rom (Thanks guys! And yes, Joe, I did buy them! :) Spectrum 2.1, which feels more like Spectrum 3.0. UltraMax from Will Nelken and Marin Macroworks. Other show highlights: Juiced.GS and Appleworks Gazette being there, along with old faithful Shareware Solutions II. The roast of Joe Kohn by David Kerwood, Tim Kellers, Steve Disbrow, Burger Bill Heineman, and Will Nelken. Everyone still staying up all night! Roger Wagner Publishing buying pizza for Bite The Bag even when he wasn't there, and Mike Westerfield for fronting the money :) Burger Bill hacking non existant code for Tony Diaz's non existant hardware. Cindy Adams being crowned the Big Cheese. Thanks to Cindy, Steve, and Tim for putting this together! Apple II Forever! KFest Forever! Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. Social Worker by Day, Apple II geek by night, KFester in July! ANSITerm and CoPilot v2.55 (R.SUENAGA1, CAT44, TOP8, MSG:410/M645;1) GUS--APPLE IIGS EMULATOR Today, at KansasFest '96, David Kerwood and """""""""""""""""""""""" Cindy Adams gave a presentation of GUS, an Apple IIGS emulator for the Mac. GUS is a work in progress, and David and Cindy are among it's beta testers. They were given permission by GUS's developers to beginning discussing it. Since I'm sure there will be considerable discussion about this project, and other announcements will be forthcoming, this topic is being opened to handle that discussion. Charlie (A2.CHARLIE, CAT5, TOP14, MSG:1/M645;1) >>>>> Ah. Some more info. Right now Gus will not run on a 64k Mac. """"" Andy has gone on record as saying that they hope to make a version that will run on both PowerPCs and regular Macs, but right now the PowerPC-equipped Mac or Mac clone is the only machine it will run on. I've tested Gus on a PowerMac 8100/100 AV, the PowerBook 5300, and on a Mac IIsi with a Daystar PPC card (100 MHz). Gus works fine on all three, and is downright ripping on the 8100. Just as fast, if not faster, than my 11.5 MHz IIgs at the house. This message was written and formatted on CoPilot v2.5.5, running on Gus. The resulting a2.trt file was then exported to the Mac, where it was posted via ProTERM Mac. If this gives anyone any ideas. :) Gus also supports dragging and dropping of text from the Mac to itself, which the latest version of CoPilot Mac supports as well. Gus does not allow for dragging and dropping of text from Gus to the Mac, which you would expect, but the IIgs clipboard can be exported to the Mac clipboard well enough. David K. - Divemaster, A2 Abyss RTC, every Sat nite at 11:00 pm Eastern (D.KERWOOD, CAT5, TOP14, MSG:11/M645;1) >>>>> > Does GUS run on a 68040 Mac """"" Right now, it only runs on a Power Mac. In the near (or not so near future) Gus will be available to download from Apple's FTP site. You can then test it out for yourself. Watch here for more information when it is released. (Also the web pages that have been mentioned before.) Cindy (CINDY.A, CAT5, TOP14, MSG:42/M645;1) >>> WHAT'S NEW <<< """""""""""""""""" ULTRAMAX APPLEWORKS ADD-ONS """"""""""""""""""""""""""" __________________________________________ | \______________________________________/ | | | | | | | UltraMax | | | | (a new set of AppleWorks add-ons) | | | | | | | /______________________________________\ | __________________________________________ Marin MacroWorks is pleased to offer UltraMax, another collection of seventeen (17) TimeOut add-on utilities. They include: Age Detective -- Want to know just how old you (or someone you love) are today? Ask Age Detective, for an immediate readout of years, months, weeks, and days. BatchFiler -- Process multiple desktop files at once. Save them, print them, and/or remove them. Beep Tester -- Experiment with the sounds of the <.Beep> command. BlockBlanker -- Blank a block of text in a word processor document. BlockCopy -- Copy a block of columnar text (not limited to full lines) in a word processor document to another area of the same document. Calendar Now -- Display a perpetual calendar, by the month, with any date from January 1, 1582 to December 31, 9999. Context Help -- Display a Solid-Apple keystroke command helpscreen, according to the context (module) from which you call it. Shows the default macro set for AppleWorks 5. Can be modified with TimeOut HelpScreens. DBX Printer -- Prints to a file an extended record (all data base categories, PLUS the linked AWP helpfile data). DJBookletMaker -- Print an AWP in booklet format (portrait or landscape), automatically arranging the page order. Hyphenator -- Auotmatic or interactive hyphenation for the word processor. IWBookletMaker -- Print an AWP in booklet format, automatically arranging the page order. IW Printer Utilities -- Display a menu of common ImageWriter printing procedures (Quick Print, Print a Screen Block, Date a Hardcopy, Form Feed, Line Feed, Printer Reset). Just-In-Case -- Manage the case of an entire document: all upper case, all lower case, capitalize every sentence, or capitalize every word. Make FilePath -- Makes the current path the "original path" for an existing (not new) file. RestorePath -- Just a keystroke away from restoring the Standard Data Path in AppleWorks. Text Sorter -- Sort selected lines of text in a word processor file alphabetically. World Clock -- Disply the current time in twenty-four time zones. Each program's function is documented, with screen shots, where applicable, in AppleWorks files on the disk. UltraMax is available in two versions: one for AppleWorks 4 and one for AppleWorks 5. You must specify, when ordering, if you want the AppleWorks 4 version. UltraMax costs $12.95, postpaid. Outside North America, please add $3.00 per order (up to 5 disks) for airmail delivery. To order, please send prepayment (check or money order in U.S. funds) to: Marin MacroWorks 1675 Grand Avenue, Suite 1 San Rafael, CA 94901-2211 USA To contact by phone, please call (415) 459-0845 By FAX: (415) 459-4273 By Email: w.nelken1@genie.com | -(+)- | | ...Will (Cat 13, Top 11) (W.NELKEN1, CAT13, TOP11, MSG:175/M645;1) SPECTRUM VERSION 2.1 I (Dave Hecker of Seven Hills) had a great time at """""""""""""""""""" KansasFest. It was nice to see past acquaintances, meet new friends, and FINALLY meet Ewen Wannop and Richard Bennett! :) Everyone should plan NOW to attend next year! At KansasFest we released "Spectrum Version 2.1 Update" on two 3.5" disks, with no printed documentation. Word has already spread and we're being asked, "Can I order it now???" The answer is YES! However, because the printed documentation is not finished yet, and I won't be in town for the next two weeks, your order can't ship until I return (see below for shipping schedule). In addition to numerous improvements and fixes, we have (of course) included several new features. Here are a few of the changes between version 2.0 and version 2.1: + Many new and enhanced XCMDs are included, giving scripts even more power. + File transfer settings have been split into two dialogs so separate send and receive folders can be specified. + Includes great new !Help! NDA that we'll soon be releasing as freeware! + Supports new "menu item help" feature. + XCMDs can now customize Spectrum's menus... + The Kermit XCMD provides Kermit file transfer ability, and it integrates right into Spectrum's Send and Receive menus, and into its File Transfer menu! + Supports MacBinary wrappers to transfer files that have a resource fork. + Several new scripting commands and replacement items, including Make CaseChange, Store Screen, Trigger strings, and others. + More! You can order now with a Visa/Mastercard/Discover card & expiration date via email or by phone (904-575-0566) or mail a check/money order to: Seven Hills Software, 2310 Oxford Road, Tallahassee, FL 32304. PLANNED SPECTRUM ITEM SHIP DATE COST =================== ========= ==== v2.0-=>v2.1 upgrade August 9 $25 v1.0-=>v2.1 upgrade August 16 $30 New/Full v2.1 August 16 $65 <=- SPECIAL PRICE UNTIL 8/31 !!! U.S.: Add 7% tax if in Florida. Add $3.50 shipping and handling. Outside U.S.: Add $3.50 s&h for either upgrade; $5.00 for full version. Thanks for your continued support, and I hope to see you at next year's KansasFest!* --Dave *Alternate version for David Kerwood: Thanks, --Dave (SEVENHILLS, CAT43, TOP15, MSG:297/M645;1) CHECKWORKS FOR APPLEWORKS 5 Shareware Solutions II, in association with """"""""""""""""""""""""""" Dan Crutcher, is pleased to announce the release of CheckWorks 5, a complete and sophisticated Apple II based checking account program that works as a TimeOut module from within AppleWorks v5.x. With CheckWorks 5, users of AppleWorks v5 will be able to write and print checks, maintain a checkbook register, show current balances, and reconcile checking accounts without ever having to leave the friendly, familiar and integrated environment of AppleWorks Classic. Noted AppleWorks expert Dan Crutcher originally released CheckWorks 3 as a shareware program for use with AppleWorks v3 (enhanced with UltraMacros 4). After AppleWorks v4 was released by Quality Computers, CheckWorks 4 was enhanced, updated and released by Quality as a commercial add-on program for use with AppleWorks v4. At the current time, the complete CheckWorks package, available exclusively from Shareware Solutions II, includes the previously released CheckWorks 3 and CheckWorks 4, as well as CheckWorks 5. No matter which version of AppleWorks you use, CheckWorks can help you organize and keep track of your checking accounts. The complete CheckWorks package is available from Shareware Solutions II for only $20, plus $3 additional for postage to anywhere in the world. Additionally, low cost upgrades are now available to owners of older versions of CheckWorks. Those who use CheckWorks 3 for AppleWorks 3 can upgrade to CheckWorks 4/5 for only $10, plus $3 additional for postage to anywhere in the world. Those who currently use CheckWorks 4 with AppleWorks 4 can upgrade to CheckWorks 5, for use with AppleWorks v5, for only $5 with no additional postage required. To receive the special upgrade pricing, you must return your original disk to Shareware Solutions II for verification. That disk will be returned to you. CheckWorks 4 and 5 will work with AppleWorks v4 and v5 with no additional add-ons necessary. CheckWorks 3, for use with AppleWorks v3, does require UltraMacros 4. UltraMacros 4 may be purchased from Quality Computers. To order CheckWorks, make a check or money order payable to Joe Kohn, in US Funds only, and send it to: Joe Kohn Shareware Solutions II 166 Alpine St San Rafael, CA 94901-1008 USA (JOE.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:129/M645;1) COMPLETE STACK-CENTRAL/STUDIO CITY AND SCRIPT-CENTRAL ON CD I guess I """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" dropped some hints before KansasFest about some new CD-ROMs from Shareware Solutions II. They were introduced at Kfest, and actually went on sale at Kfest. As you know, Shareware Solutions II has been distributing the 2 hypermedia collections that had originally been published by Resource-Central (ICON). Those collection....Stack-Central (aka Studio City) is a HyperStudio based collection, and Script-Central is a HyperCard IIGS based collection. It is those 2 collections that are now available on CD-ROM. Each CD-ROM disk contains a single HFS partition, and each collection is presented in 2 different formats. One format contains disk images as they were originally shipped on 3.5" disk. The second format is where the disks have been uncompressed and installed on the CD-ROM, all set to run. The HyperStudio collection represents 30 (2 disk) issues of Studio City, and that is still for sale, on 3.5" disk, for $120 plus $6 shipping and handling for US delivery (or $20 anywhere else). The cost of the CD collection is $110, with no additional shipping and handling. The HyperCard collection represents 22 (2 disk) issues of Script-Central, and that is still for sale, on 3.5" disk, for $99 plus $6 for shipping and handling for US delivery (or $10 to Canada/Mexico or $20 anywhere else). The cost of the CD collection is $89, with no additional shipping and handling. To order either collection (on CD-ROM or on 3.5" disk), send a check/money order in US Funds to: Joe Kohn 166 Alpine St San Rafael, CA 94901-1008 USA All CD-ROMs are shipped in a jewel case. There are Sampler Disks of both collections available for downloading from the Genie library. (JOE.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:132/M645;1) >>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" REBIRTH OF A2-CENTRAL? Bizarre, cryptic, and mysterious mode engaged: """""""""""""""""""""" Is there room in the Apple II community for another paper based publication, with a very A2-Centralish content (lead story, news, reader questions)? Bizarre, cryptic, and mysterious mode disengaged. Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. Social Worker by Day, Apple II geek by night, KFester in July! ANSITerm and CoPilot v2.55 (R.SUENAGA1, CAT2, TOP3, MSG:232/M645;1) SPELLING CHECKER IN A DESK ACCESSORY? Well, let me try to answer a few """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" questions, and offer a few speculations. Before I go too far, though, keep in mind that I'll be here sporadically this month. I leave for HyperFest tomorrow, and can only cound on 48 hours at a modem for the next 3 weeks. The current spelling checker has these features: * 45,000+ word dictionary, with a 100,000+ word version comming soon * supports user dictionaries * makes sure words that are supposed to start with an uppercase letter really do (e.g. Washington) * Insists on an uppercase letter after punctuation marks that traditionally end a sentence ('.', ':', '!', '?'); this can be disabled * Insists on proper spacing around punctuation marks; e.g. makes sure there is no space before a comma and exactly one after; this can also be disabled * Supports words with extended characters, like resume (with an accent) * Optionally allows you to skip words with all uppercase letters or words with letters and numbers (e.g. NDA, 3rd) * provides suggestions for unknown words when asked * knows what a number is (e.g., knows that 1e4 and 3.14159 are numbers, not errors) Things it doesn't do: * Allow user editing of the main dictionary (you can edit the user dictionary) * Allow selecting from multiple main dictionaries (but this is a user interface issue. It could be changed on the Apple IIGS) * Allow storing the dictionary in a user-selectable spot (but again, this is easy enough to change) * Support Canadian/British/Australian spelling (but I'm willing to create international versions. Make that eager.) As for the interface, there are a variety of things I can think of to do on the Apple IIgs. Doing all of them is too much for a short project, but I'd be interested in your preferences: * A command-line version for the ORCA shell. This one would know about Rez files and source file rules, and would check, say, a C source file, intellegently checking strings and comments, and perhaps identifiers, but not bugging you about "printf" all the time. * A desktop program that could check a variety of file formats as a post-processor. This would work with ASCII files, and perhaps a few other formats. * A background checker that looks at the keyboard. I'm not sure how well this would work in practice, but in theory it could warn you about errors in anything, but it would be up to you to fix them yourself in some situations. This needs thought, but would be fun. :) * What I thought you were looking for: An NDA/CDA that would be available to check spelling. This could definitely check the spelling of anything in the Scram Manager's text scrap. That means it would work with pretty much any desktop program, but you would have to select the text, copy it, then invoke the spelling checker, and paste the result back into the application. I could probably futz with TextEdit based applciations to check spelling in the currently active TextEdit buffer, but this might not work as well as you would think in all programs, since they have access to the text edit data structures--and some programs make use of that access in ways that might cause a spelling checker serious problems. Besides allowing for the fact that I won't be around for timely responses, I want you to keep in mind that I'm thinking out loud. Nothing here should be interpreted--for now anyway--as anything more that discussing some interresting possibilities. I'm not (yet) commiting to any products. Mike Westerfield (BYTEWORKS, CAT45, TOP3, MSG:191/M645;1) TURBO ASB ON A CABLE Just read on the net this past week that Lightning """""""""""""""""""" Systems is working on a "cable-version" of the Turbo ASB for Power Users who can't afford to lose an extra slot. Sounds good to me! Andy (L.MIDDLETON3, CAT12, TOP39, MSG:37/M645;1) >>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""" Category 5, Topic 14 Message 9 Mon Jul 22, 1996 D.KERWOOD [Semper Gumby] at 17:03 EDT A few words about Gus, and more to follow... The demo of Gus at KansasFest '96 this past Saturday went off as planned, and for that we are very much in Apple's debt. And specifically thanks has to go to Andy Nicholas, Dave Lyons, and Jim Murphy for their work, and to Andy for allowing us to proceed with the demo. Also, as I thought it would be, Gus was the hit of the show. Literally. It was pretty near a SRO crowd in the AV room at Avila, at what turned out to be the last official event of the week's activities. The reaction of the audience when Gus booted up in the monitor had to be seen to be appreciated. Open-mouthed and dumbstruck would be putting it into a fair perspective. Rumors of the upcoming demo had been flying fast and furious all week, and a few had thought that what was going to be displayed was the "Fast Eddie" IIgs emulator from Bright Software. The sheer delight of the audience on actually seeing Gus was real, and working (mostly) was something to behold. :) This demo was a huge success, IN SPITE OF one individual taking it upon himself to do an informal demo of Gus to a few individuals in the cafeteria on Wednesday afternoon. As a result, he received the richly-deserved disgust of many at KansasFest. Naturally, as you might expect, the questions were coming in before I even had a chance to shut my mouth. The biggest one was "When?" My stock reply to everyone (I must've been asked this several dozen times during the evening) was to have patience. When Gus is available for download the location will be announced on the Gus Information Home Page that I had previously prepared at http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/gus.html. The page has an automatic email registration 'bot that would send an email message when I had posted a location for downloading Gus from you. I will also put up an additional (albeit identical) Gus Information Home Page on Cindy's server, and the address for that will be http://www.primenet.com/~adams/gus.html. The demo itself went fine. Putting Gus through its paces was a piece of cake, and Gus handled everything just fine. There were a few glitches, such as when Gus bombed on Cindy's machine (we were running Gus on two PowerBooks) while attempting to load up a game that accessed the Ensoniq chip (I think that's what happened). One very interesting tidbit that I had told after the demo was that the people who were developing the latest update to one other highly regarded IIgs desktop application used Gus to compile the program. They needed the speed. :) Gus has several parts that are incomplete. Some of the biggest were Gus's inability to successfully emulate the Ensoniq chip, the total incompatibility between Seven Hills' Hierarchic and Gus, and an awkward interface between the Mac and the IIgs clipboard. Everyone agreed however that the single biggest thing that needs to be implemented on the next version of Gus is the ability to access the serial port on a Mac. AppleTalk and printing aside, this is the only thing that really stands in the way of having a truly portable IIgs that can do telecommunications, which is highly desired in the Apple II world. As to the status of the NDAs that the Gus testers have signed, I am waiting for some clarification from Apple on that. As soon as I find out, I'll let you know (you know who you are :) So, in short, the Gus Demo was a huge success, as far as I was concerned. For that, and speaking for the organizers and participants in KansasFest '96, we are very grateful to the Gus development team for their efforts, and for their cooperation and understanding in allowing us to proceed last week. +---------------------------------------------------------+ | David R. Kerwood Naval Undersea Warfare Center | | Technical Publications & NUWC Webmaster Newport, RI | | Apple II & PowerPC Roundtables and Promotions on Genie | | A2 Real Time Conference Host every Sat nite @ 11:00 pm | | WWW: http://users.ids.net/~kerwood | | Com: (401)841-6781 Fax: (401)841-6778 | | Email: d.kerwood@genie.com _OR_ daddy@ids.net | | For Navy business - email: kerwood@am.npt.nuwc.navy.mil| +---------------------------------------------------------+ [*][*][*] While on Genie, do you spend most of your time downloading files? If so, you may be missing out some excellent information in the Bulletin Board area. The messages listed above only scratch the surface of what's available and waiting for you in the bulletin board area. If you are serious about your Apple II, the GenieLamp staff strongly urge you to give the bulletin board area a try. There are literally thousands of messages posted from people like you from all over the world. [EOA] [HUM]////////////////////////////// HUMOR ONLINE / ///////////////////////////////// An Apple II Parody """""""""""""""""" by Steven Weyhich [104024.432@compuserve.com] >>> PRINT SOME FONTS <<< """""""""""""""""""""""" Copyright 1995 by Steven Weyhrich (104024.432@compuserve.com) (to the tune of "At The Hop" by Danny and the Juniors) You can bold it, you can style it You can even outline it With a font You can shadow, you can plain it You can always underline it With a font Join the print sensation That's sweeping the nation With a font Let's go print some fonts Let's go print some fonts (oh bay-bee) Let's go print some fonts Let's go print some fonts Come on Let's go print some fonts! [EOA] [RFR]////////////////////////////// REFRACTIONS / ///////////////////////////////// The Computing Industry """""""""""""""""""""" by David C. Marriott [D.MARRIOTT] >>> THE DISPOSABLE COMPUTER <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I saw an interview on television with Bill Gates a few months ago, in which Gates began with the observation that he expected the average computer user to buy a new computer every three years. I know that there are many people in the computer industry who will agree with that observation, and who will argue that it is justified, given the advances that are being made in computer hardware. However, it seems to me that the _needs_ of computer users, especially home users, are not changing that fast. Most of us still use our computers for the same things that we used them for ten years ago: word processing, playing games, and visiting other computers online. Admittedly, the games on the market have more sophisticated graphics, and "going online" now means cruising the Internet, not just visiting a local BBS, but basically, the things we use our home computers for haven't changed dramatically. The Apple II can do all those things. You don't need 16 megabytes of memory and a 133 mHz processor to write a letter to your mother, or play a few hands of solitaire. We shouldn't be too surprised that the computer industry has adopted that attitude; it means that the public has to keep buying more and more computers. After all, Apple and other hardware manufacturers are in the business of selling new computers. Unfortunately, many software manufacturers have also accepted the dictum. More and more computer owners are finding that the computers they bought two or three years ago won't run the software that's on the market today, without upgrading the memory, the processor speed, or the operating system. I learned this lesson through personal experience. I bought a Macintosh LCII in 1993. I've had to add memory to it twice in the last three years, just to keep up with the current standards required by the software. Even so, I find there is a growing body of Macintosh software that my three-year-old computer can't use. What is surprising is that the computer-buying public has largely accepted this three-year rule. Everyday, the classifieds are full of ads for almost new computers, being sold by owners who feel the need to upgrade. Why are we so willing to accept such a short period of useful life from our computers? We certainly wouldn't accept such obsolescence from any other appliance. How would you react if you were buying a stereo, and the salesman told you that it wouldn't be able to play any new CDs or tapes in three years? What would you think if the man at the furniture store told you that you'd have to replace your new refrigerator every few years? Would you buy a car that didn't offer a three-year warranty? Why then do we accept the notion that a computer, which is probably the most expensive single appliance in our home, should have a shelf life of only three years? That's why Apple has seemed so hostile to those of us who still own Apple IIs. They want to sell us new machines, and we're still using the ones they sold us five or ten or fifteen years ago. In 1983, Apple unveiled the slogan "Apple II Forever"; now, the people at Apple Inc. seem to find the longevity of their original computer is a source of embarrassment, even annoyance. Indeed, this may be where the average Apple II owner differs from other computer enthusiasts. We have been looking for ways to make our machines do more for us, instead of looking to replace them. Surprisingly, against all odds, we are succeeding. In the past year, we've seen new morphing and facsimile programs published for the Apple II. AppleWorks, and popular desktop publishing programs like Graphicwriter III continue to improve. Shareware has flourished, filling the vacuum left by commercial publishers. Apple II home pages and ftp sites populate the Internet, and we may even see a graphical web browser for the IIgs in the next few months. The computer industry is not the first to adopt the philosophy that a product should be replaced every three years. In the 1950s and 60s, the American automobile industry had much the same approach. The wealthy bought the latest model every three years, and those with less money were expected to snap up the used cars discarded by those who could afford new ones. That attitude fostered another unfortunate view in the industry, that it really wasn't necessary to build a car with quality or durability, since the original owner wouldn't keep it, anyway. As a result, the American automobile industry's reputation for workmanship dropped dramatically in the late 60s and 70s. We all know what happened then. The Japanese auto manufacturers saw a need, and rushed to fill it. By the 1980s, American car manufacturers were asking their government to put import restrictions on Japanese cars, to allow them to recover the market they had lost. For a complete history of the rise of the Japanese automobile industry, and the corresponding decline of the American automobile industry, read _The Reckoning_ by David Halberstam. He makes the point that an industry cannot trade indefinitely on a product that is not built to last. Could the same thing happen in the computer industry? Probably not. As noted above, the rapid development of new technology in the computer field offers some justification for the attitude that computers should be regularly replaced, apart from the greed of the computer manufacturers. But I can't help but feel that the first computer manufacturer who promises to build "the computer that you'll still be using five (or ten or fifteen) years" will find a very receptive market. Wouldn't it be ironic if that manufacturer turned out to be Apple? [EOA] [PDQ]////////////////////////////// PD_QUICKVIEW / ///////////////////////////////// Yours For The Asking """""""""""""""""""" by Douglas Cuff [EDITOR.A2] Program Name: Beagle Basic Filename: BGL.BASIC.BXY and B.BASIC.DOX.BXY Program Number: 11522 and 15857 File Size: 105,840 and 20,096 bytes Program Type: programming language Author: Mark Simonsen, Beagle Bros Micro Software Inc. File Type: Freeware (license required for commerical use) FROM THE PUBLISHER Beagle Basic is a set of programs that let you enhance """""""""""""""""" Applesoft and use new commands and features in your programs. It also lets you rename standard commands and error messages, for whatever reason you might have. Beagle Basic gets around Applesoft's "permanency" by moving it from ROM into RAM (Random-Access Memory) or changeable memory. [*][*][*] . __ (^) <^> /~ ~\ \-=======_/"\_======-/ \) PD_Q RATING "\. 1 ./" """"""""""" "\._ _ _./" . __ (_____) . __ (^) <^> /~ ~\ (^) <^> /~ ~\ \-=======_/"\_======-/ \) \-=======_/"\_======-/ \) "\. 2 ./" "\. 3 ./" "\._ _ _./" "\._ _ _./" (_____) (_____) THREE LAMPS (1-5) PD_Q COMMENTS There was a time when being an Apple II owner meant being """"""""""""" an Apple II programmer, and when most Apple II programmers were BASIC programmers. Programming wasn't a vocation, it was a hobby and a diversion. I hope this explains why this file appears in the A2 RoundTable instead of the A2Pro RoundTable, and why this article is appearing in GenieLamp A2 and not GenieLamp A2Pro. In the 1980s, improving on Applesoft BASIC was a small cottage industry. Beagle Basic, Blankenship Basic, the Roger Wagner Publishing Toolbox series, Micol BASIC, AmperWorks, ZBasic, and ProBASIC were all available. And that's not even touching on the Applesoft BASIC compilers or the IIgs BASICs. Beagle Basic was a fairly early entry in the field--it was designed for the original Apple II and Apple II+ with 64K, and updated for the IIe and IIc. It wasn't really possible to update Beagle Basic _fully_ for: o the 80-column screen; o the Apple IIgs; nor o ProDOS; but many commands were translated to ProDOS (any Apple II, including the IIgs) by means of the & function. By copying Applesoft to RAM, Beagle Basic made certain changes possible: o rename commands and error messages (CLEAR to WIPE, FORMULA TOO COMPLEX to I'M CONFUSED); o new commands and functions (ELSE, SWAP, TONE, HSCRN); o enhancements to old functions (GOTO, GOSUB, LIST); o named functions replacing awkward POKEs and CALLs; and o goodies (better cursor, better beep); Beagle Basic also included a bonus utility that let you create your text screens using an editor and then automatically turned the screen into BASIC code. Beagle Basic is one of the few Beagle Bros disk archives that has a separate documentation file (#15857, B.BASIC.DOX.BXY). Anyone who wants to learn how to use Beagle Basic should also download and read that file. What features are not covered by the documentation will be touched on in this article. TECHNICAL STUFF Beagle Basic is an archive of a DOS 3.3 diskette. You """"""""""""""" must unpack the archive to a blank (or expendable) 5.25" diskette. You can't unpack it to your ProDOS hard drive or RAM disk. Beagle Basic requires 64K of memory. Anyone with an Apple IIe, IIc or IIgs has at least this much memory. It is intended for use with the 40-column screen, and does not fully support 80 columns. RENAMING COMMANDS Why would you want to rename Applesoft commands? You """"""""""""""""" might want to change the names of commands to terms you're more familiar with--GOSUB to JSR, GOTO to JMP, HOME to CLS. You might choose commands that make sense only to you so that other won't be able to understand your programs. In their advertisments, Beagle Bros suggested that you might want to translate BASIC: 10 POUR X = 10 A 20 20 ECRIVEZ X;"BONJOUR" 30 ENSUITE: FIN This can be misleading. You have a maximum number of bytes to put all your commands in. If you change FOR to POUR, you're adding a letter, so you have to make another command one letter shorter. In our example,. this is accomplished in changing TO to A. (I'm not sure what using A as a reserved word does to programs that use the variable A, nor even to programs that use AT.) Changing END to FIN can be done with no loss of space, but changing PRINT to ECRIVEZ and NEXT to ENSUITE means that you have to subtract 5 letters from other commands. Given the abbreviated nature of many of Applesoft's commands (DIM, GR, POS, REM), that's quite a task. Translating BASIC from English to French isn't as easy as the sample makes it appear. In fact, while changing the names of Applesoft commands and functions might sound neat in theory, in practice it's not such a thrill unless you're the sort of person who thinks mugs with names printed on them make neat personalized gifts. If you like customizing your programming environment, this feature of Beagle Basic will make you coo, but otherwise, it can leave you cold. RENAMING ERROR MESSAGES Much the same is true of customizing Applesoft """"""""""""""""""""""" error messages. An amusing novelty, but very little more. You're limited here because "SYNTAX ERROR" is actually two messages, "SYNTAX", plus the "ERROR" message that follows all Applesoft errors. With only the 6 letters of "SYNTAX" to work with, it's hard to turn "SYNTAX ERROR" into something more comprehensible to a beginner. Interestingly, the Beagle Bros DOS Boss disk, which offered the ability to change the name of DOS commands and error messages, should have been as frivolous, but wasn't. Changing "CATALOG" to "CAT", "C", or "MENU" was actually fairly useful. Perhaps this was because early Apple IIers typed DOS commands in immediate mode significantly more often than they typed BASIC commands in immediate mode. NEW FUNCTIONS Here we have the meat of the Beagle Basic package--it added """"""""""""" new commands to Applesoft. It made room for new commands by eliminating old ones... specifically, old ones that almost no one used--the cassette commands. Once disk drives became widely available, their benefits were so obvious and exerted such a pull that loading programs from and saving data to tape became an arcane rite. So Beagle captured SHLOAD, RECALL, STORE, LOAD, SAVE and other cassette commands and replaced them with ELSE, SWAP, TONE and others. It's important to note that the LOAD and SAVE pre-empted by Beagle Basic are the Applesoft commands, not the commands of the same name used by the disk operating system! It's vital to be clear about this. Beagle Basic also takes other Applesoft commands for which there DOS counterparts--PR# and IN#. This seems a drastic step at first, but one has to remember that it was still possible to boot a disk with PR#6, because the DOS PR# command was still there. While there's nothing wrong with this: 10 PR# 3: PRINT "80 COLUMNS" it's more usual to see that line expressed like this: 10 PRINT CHR$ (4);"PR#3": PRINT "80 COLUMNS" In the former example, Applesoft is turning on the 80-column card. In the latter, DOS is handling the task. Finally, Beagle Basic optionally took the lo-res graphics commands as well. (If you had a program that used lo-res graphics, you had to do without a few minor enhancements.) In fact, all the enhancements could be used or not used, as fitted your situation. The new functions made available in Beagle Basic were: ELSE This one command could almost justify the entire package. Many '''' other BASICs have the ELSE command to supplement IF and THEN, for the very good reason that such a command is useful! ELSE would be indispensable for anything who wanted to convert a "generic" BASIC listing to Applesoft. It's possible to do a poor simulation of ELSE with standard Applesoft, but the simulation makes the flow of the code hard to follow. SWAP This command exchanges the values of two variables. This can be '''' done in Applesoft by bringing a third variable into use: 10 TEMP=X: X=Y: Y=TEMP This workaround is a little less quick and a little less elegant... but not much. TONE This command or one very much like it seems to turn up in most '''' Applesoft enhancements--for the very good reason that getting sound out of an Apple II is not an easy task for a beginning BASIC programmer. Well worth having. HSCRN Lo-res graphics have a command called SCRN, which tells you the ''''' color of any given square on the graphics screen. HSCRN does something very similar, except for the purposes of HSCRN, there are just two hi-res colors, black and white. Still, this is enough for HSCRN to be useful in detecting hi-res "collisions". Programming arcade games in BASIC is hard enough, but Applesoft's lack of a HSCRN makes it worse. SCRLDN A decidely useful text screen command that allows you to scroll '''''' text to the bottom of the screen. (Scrolling up is not a problem. Display your text and then add enough PRINT statements so that it scrolls to the top.) I was amused to note that the Beagle Basic demo claims that this is not normally possible in Applesoft, yet demonstrates the technique despite the fact that the demo program does _not_ require Beagle Basic. Suffice it to say that it's possible to get this effect without a SCRLDN command, but that it's a lot of work. TXT2 A command to let you use text page 2, which is normally inaccessible '''' except through plenty of jiggery-pokery. As I wrote very text-intensive programs, this would have been very useful to me if I had been introduced to it early enough. G2 Similar to TXT2, this lets you access page 2 of the lo-res graphics '' screen. Not likely to be as useful, since lo-res graphics are now considered the poor relatives of the Apple II graphic format family. ENHANCED FUNCTIONS These are not new commands, but improvements in the """""""""""""""""" way that existing commands work. GOTO and GOSUB Beagle Basic made two valuable contributions to the way '''''''''''''' GOTO and GOSUB operate. First, it made it possible to GOTO/GOSUB a variable, as in GOTO START or GOSUB KEYPRESS. This makes for programs that are significantly easier to write and read--the logic is more readily apparent. Second, it made it possible to GOTO/GOSUB an expression such as GOSUB I * 100 or GOTO ((NAME$="GENIELAMP") * 10) + 100. Integer BASIC used to let you do this, and it's nice to have it return. LIST This command was not changed in terms of the parameters it can take, '''' but in terms of its display. First, Beagle Basic REM statements can appear in inverse. This technique of making remarks stand out is very valuable, and was pretty generally adopted once Apple's 80-column cards became widely available. Second, Beagle Basic's listing can have any width and indentation the programmer wishes. This means it's possible to have listing which stretch right across to the 40th column (instead of stopping at column 33), which in turn means that tracing over code is much easier. Bell Beagle Basic also lets you change the tone that you hear whenever '''' the standard control-G bell is heard. (Under ProDOS, this true for the & BELL command only.) ALIASES FOR FUNCTIONS People who programmed Applesoft BASIC eventually """"""""""""""""""""" learned that there were "secret" routines built into their Apple II that could be called from BASIC, but only if you knew the code number. For example, under DOS 3.3, POKE 49384,0 starts the drive motor, and POKE 49285,0 stops it. Beagle Bros were one of the great crusaders in making this "secret" information generally available by means of their Peeks, Pokes, and Pointers charts, issued free with every disk they sold. Still, some POKEs and CALLs were used so frequently that even looking them up on the chart became a hassle. So Beagle Bros took a bunch of the most popular commands and create English translations for them, which were much easier to remember. BELL CALL -198 rings the Apple's bell (or PRINT CHR$(7)) SCRLUP CALL -912 scrolls screen up one line (or PRINT) CLRKEY POKE -16388, 0 clear keyboard buffer CLLN CALL -868 clear text screen from cursor to right margin CLDN CALL -958 clear text screen from cursor to bottom CRSU CALL -998 move cursor up one line CRSD CALL -922 move cursor down one line CRSL CALL -1008 move cursor left one character CRSR CALL -1036 move cursor right one character MODE1 POKE -16304, 0 graphics display MODE2 POKE -16303, 0 text display MIX0 POKE -16302, 0 split-screen (graphics and text window) MIX1 POKE -16301, 0 full-screen graphics (no text) PAGE1 POKE -16300, 0 page 1 PAGE2 POKE -16299, 0 page 2 RESL1 POKE -16298, 0 lo-res graphics RESL2 POKE -16297, 0 hi-res graphics All these commands are a great convenience, but not more. They don't add much to the value of Beagle Basic. BONUS: TEXT SCREEN FORMATTER (This utility works independantly of Beagle """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" Basic. Karl Bunker has written a similar utility for ProDOS called SCLU, which works in a slightly different fashion.) Any utility that lets you type your text on the screen without having to worry about how to code it is a godsend. The only caveat is that such a utility doesn't always pick the most efficient method. If you have a dividing line of equal signs, it's considerably more memory efficient to use FOR LOOP = 1 TO 40: PRINT "=";: NEXT LOOP than it is to write PRINT "=======================================". Unfortunately, there is documentation on how to use either the 40- or 80-column version of this bonus utility. Fortunately, GenieLamp A2 is here to save you the time and trouble: To start either utility, you can either BRUN or BLOAD it, depending on your preference. Even if you BRUN it, nothing will happen. You must CALL 25000 to start the utility running. Be sure you are already in 40 columns if using the 40-column version; same for the 80-column version. Once the utility has started, there are no instructions and there is no help command, so keep this chart handy: control-A or up-arrow move cursor up one line control-Z or down-arrow move cursor down one line right-arrow move cursor right one character left-arrow move cursor left one character control-E scroll text up one line control-X scroll text down one line control-S scroll text right one character control-D scroll text left one character control-I inverse text mode control-N normal text mode control-F flashing text mode (MouseText in 80 columns) control-@ clear entire page control-L clear to end of line control-P clear to end of page control-C center text control-O (40-columns only) print ], ^, and @ characters Escape (40-columns only) toggle upper and lower case control-W framing window on/off control-Q quit utility and translate screen layout into BASIC If you'd like to continue working on a screen after you've RUN it, you can begin again _without_ clearing the screen by typing CALL 25003 instead of CALL 25000. It might be best to make the last line in your program CALL 25003. The first time you press control-Q, this utility starts creating the necessary program lines, starting at line number 10, and increasing the line numbers by 10 for each line. The next time you CALL the utility, it will start just beyond whatever line number you left off. (If your last line number was 80, the first line number for the second try will be 90.) If you'd like to change the starting line number and increment, assign values to the variables START and INC--right from the command line; you don't have to put them in a program--and use these POKEs: POKE 25006, START - INT(START/256) * 256 POKE 25007, INT(START/256) POLE 25008, INC KEEPING UP TO DATE As mentioned, Beagle Basic was written for the """""""""""""""""" original Apple II and Apple II+, and is only 100% compatible with those two machines. If you have an Apple IIe (either enhanced or not) or an Apple IIc, then you can only have access to all Beagle Basic features if you modify the Beagle programs slightly so that they will fool your Apple IIe or IIc into thinking that it is an earlier model Apple II. If you do not want to fool your Apple II or IIc, then you will be limited to altering the names of Applesoft commands and functions, and Applesoft error messages. You cannot use the extra commands in your programs. You cannot fool your Apple IIgs into thinking it is an earlier model Apple II, so it would seem at first glance that IIgs users cannot use any part of Beagle Basic whatsoever. In fact, you can, but you have to make a small memory sacrifice (1-2K) to do so. Ampersand Disadvantages Beagle has provided ampersand versions of its ''''''''''''''''''''''' commands, both for DOS 3.3 and ProDOS. This is slightly more awkward, especially in the case of the ELSE command, now the & ELSE command. The old syntax was simple: 100 IF I < 1 THEN PRINT "a" : ELSE PRINT "some" The new syntax requires you to use IF with THEN, as always, but & IF with & ELSE. (There's no such thing as & THEN.) If you try to use IF with & ELSE, it won't work. So use this: 100 & IF I < 1 THEN PRINT "a" : & ELSE PRINT "some" not this: 100 IF I < 1 THEN PRINT "a" : & ELSE PRINT "some" This means that you're going to have to keep your eyes peeled for the correct syntax. Who needs hassles like that? The syntax of the hi-res command has changed and is slightly more awkward. PAGE1 has simple syntax; & PAGE (1) gives you one more change to forget exactly the right way to type the command. Two commands have disappeared from the ampersand version--TXT2 and G2 are gone. With the original Beagle Basic, you could chose which new commands you wanted active. Now, you must have all of them or nothing. & LIST and & BELL now require complicated POKEs to make them work. Since you can access these features directly, power users will like the POKEs, but beginners will be intimidated and curse a lot, since it's one more thing to look up. Ampersand Advantages With original Beagle Basic, you originally had to '''''''''''''''''''' choose one of three groups of four commands: o CLLN, CLDN, SCRLUP, and BELL o MODE, MIX, PAGE, and RESL o CRSU, CRSD, CRSL, and CRSR That is, if you had the hi-res commands (second group), then you had to do without the cursor-move commands (third group). With the ampersand versions, you can have all the commands. There is one new command in the ampersand version: & RDKEY (A), which compliments & CLRKEY. It's now possible to use the 80-column screen with many of the commands. Exception are & SCRLUP and & SCRLDN, which will crash if you try to use them with the 80-column screen active, and & CRSU, & CRSD, & CRSL, and & CRSR don't cause a crash, which is good, but they don't all work properly either, which is bad. Give all these commands a miss in 80-column mode. & TONE and & HSCRN work okay, but they parse a bit oddly, since they both contain BASIC-reserved words, TO and SCRN. This means that listings will show & TO NE (25, 75) and & H SCRN (0, 0), which looks odd, to say the least. LEGAL STUFF Beagle Basic is one of a series of disk archives from the old """"""""""" Beagle Bros catalogs. These disk used to be available commercially, but circa 1991, Beagle made them available freely on three understandings: (1) despite the fact that they were free, Beagle still owned them; (2) despite the fact that Beagle owned them, they didn't support them; (3) despite the fact that you could own them for nothing, you had to pay Beagle if you used them commercially (that is, made any money from their free software) Beagle wasn't happy about the idea of their freebie disks showing up on bulletin boards and networks--Genie was an exception. (I know GenieLamp A2 has lots of subscribers who don't subscribe to Genie, so I'll mention this now: Please don't write me asking me to send you a copy of Beagle Basic. I can't. If you come to Genie, you'll be able to download a copy. If you can download a copy somewhere else, it's probably illegal.) SUMMING UP There are times when I feel I shouldn't be making an overall """""""""" recommendation, and this is one of them. If you've read this column, you should have the necessary information to determine if Beagle Basic is right for you. I find that I can't make a general recommendation for all Apple II computer users. If you have an old Apple II with 64K and have no 80-column card and don't mind using DOS 3.3 only, you can use all the features that Beagle Basic promises. If you have an Apple IIe or IIc, you can limit yourself to DOS 3.3 and customize BASIC to your heart's content. If you can also limit yourself to 40-columns, you can also have extra commands without having to mess with &. Or you can have the commands too, if you don't mind messing with &, in either ProDOS or DOS 3.3. If you have an Apple IIgs, then the only way you can use Beagle Basic is by using either the DOS 3.3 or ProDOS ampersand package. Keep in mind that most ampersand commands work with 80-columns, but there are a few that don't. The most valuable parts of Beagle Basic are five commands: ELSE, SWAP, TONE, SCRLDN and HSCRN. The ability to use variable in GOTO and GOSUB is also valuable. As a BASIC enhancer, Beagle Basic doesn't rate particularly high, because of the features it misses out on--where are WHILE/WEND and REPEAT/UNTIL loops? What about & MID$, which allows you overwrite a portion of a string with another string? What about & SEARCH, which searches for a substring within a string? What about & TIME and & DATE? What about & ERASE for erasing and removing arrays? There are so many possible improvements to Applesoft that could have been made. Beagle Basic may have been innovative for its time, but by today's standards, it seems just a little backward. Still, if you're just beginning to learn BASIC programming, then you may find that Beagle Basic will make life easier for you. If you been looking for a way to use ELSE or HSCRN in your programs, you could do worse than download Beagle Basic. RATING SYSTEM """"""""""""" 5 LAMPS.........What? You haven't downloaded this program YET? 4 LAMPS.........Innovative or feature rich, take a look! 3 LAMPS.........Good execution, stable program. 2 LAMPS.........Gets the job done. 1 LAMP..........A marginal download. 0 ..............GenieLamp Turkey Award! [EOA] [BAN]////////////////////////////// FILE BANDWAGON / ///////////////////////////////// Top 10 Files for June """"""""""""""""""""" by Douglas Cuff [EDITOR.A2] This feature lists the ten most popular files for the month. To give files a chance to seek their own levels, no files will be added to the list until they've been in place at least a month. This month, we look at the files uploaded 1-30 June 1996. This isn't the Academy Awards ceremony, folks; it's more like the People's Choice Awards (both of which are trademarked, by the way). The Top 10 doesn't necessarily tell you what's new and interesting--what files _you_ might find interesting--it simply tells you what files have been downloaded a lot--what other people found interesting! I was pretty pressed for time this month, so the long descriptions of the files have been omitted. If you miss them, I hope you'll write and say so. Either way, they should be back next month. I've treated QUICKIES.BXY, QUICKIES2.BXY and QUICKIES3.BXY as one file, so there 12 files in this month's list as a result. File # Filename Bytes DLs Short description ------ --------------- ------ --- ------------------------------------- 27438 A2.DOM.9606.BXY 410648 129 A2 Disk of the Month, June 1996 27333 QUICKIES2.BXY 237944 80 collected rSounds, part 3 27334 QUICKIES3.BXY 255276 76 collected rSounds, part 2 27295 APTEST.BXY 106852 76 A.P.P.L.E.'s diagnostics utility 27332 QUICKIES.BXY 117944 70 collected rSounds, part 1 27296 TUNE.5.25.BXY 20792 67 Tuneup procedures for 5.25 drives 27297 POWERSUPPLY.BXY 11612 62 Dr. Buggie's Power Supplies 27424 QUARKNET.BXY 125272 59 Hypercard Message processor 27314 BABE.JPG 58584 57 babe, the Jpeg pinup! 27437 A2.DOM.9605.BXY 499708 54 A2 Disk of the Month, May 1996 27300 MC.DEMO.BXY 276096 50 Music Composer version 4.00 demo 27325 OLDTSTMNT.2.BXY 306560 37 Old Testament 2 of 5 [EOA] [MEC]////////////////////////////// FILE MECHANIC / ///////////////////////////////// New Files From Old """""""""""""""""" by Douglas Cuff [EDITOR.A2] Welcome to the File Mechanic. In this new column, we focus on files in the Genie library that can be improved or updated. We'll give you the exact steps necessary to make the recommended changes. This month, we focus on a file that I began modifying simply to update it. While doing that, I found some code that didn't work right. [*][*][*] Program name: Gillian's Bunny Game Filename: BUNNY.GAME.BXY Program type: BASIC program Program number: 17118 File size: 14,336 bytes Author: unknown (originally uploaded by T.DAWSON) Gillian's Bunny Game is a game written by a father for his two-year-old daughter. A rabbit and carrot are drawn in separate places on the hi-res screen. The player uses the arrow keys to move the rabbit to the carrot. When the rabbit reaches the carrot, the player gets a point and starts again. Once a certain number of carrots have been eaten, a farmer will appear and chase the rabbit. If the farmer catches three rabbits, the game is over. This game is tremendously simple to play. The author (not identified in the program or its documentation) wrote it because his daughter found a simple maze game on the "Apple presents..." disk too difficult. You should bear this in mind before you download the file--let alone before you modify it. This is a game for very young children. This program will run on any Apple II, including the IIgs, without modification. My modifications make for slightly better play on any Apple II that can generate lower case key presses and proper speed on an Apple IIgs. They also fix a minor bug in the program. The documentation that accompanies the program has a section on modifying the game. This was not as helpful as was intended as many of the line numbers referred to are no longer there. I suspect that a program "compacter" (such as COMPACT on the Beagle Bros' D Code disk) was used on the program. The range of the line numbers given by the author seems correct, but in many cases the lines themselves have disappeared as a result of their having been combined with other lines. We will be using subroutines to improve the lower case and speed handling of the program. We'll place these frequently-called subroutines at the beginning of the program (a good habit to get into). The program as written starts at line 20. We'll put our subroutines before line 20, and use a GOTO at the very start of the program to hop over the subroutines: 1 GOTO 20 Our first two subroutines handle the speed of the Apple IIgs. A stock, unaccelerated IIgs has two settings, Fast and Normal. (Apple must have considered "Normal" a more encouraging term than "Slow". Fast food places don't have a size for french fry orders smaller than "regular" any more, either. Advertising types won't let us use "small, medium, or large" any more. Heaven spare us.) You can change the speed of your IIgs from BASIC by changing the contents memory location 49206. This memory location stores other important information, so we have to be a little careful about how we change the contents. (If your IIgs is accelerated with a ZipGS card, then you can set its "CPS Follow" option to On. Then the ZipGS will obey the instructions in our modifications.) Before we write the subroutines, we need a little code in the main program that checks that the program is running on an Apple IIgs. The official way to do this involves a short assembly language routine, documented in Apple II Miscellaneous Tech Note #7. Here, we POKE this routine into memory, call it, and then examine the results. My method of poking the routine into memory uses a string containing the values to be poked. Such routines often use DATA statements, but I prefer this method, as it adapts more easily to programs that already use DATA statements in their own code. 150 ROUT% = 768:W1 = 80:W2 = ROUT% - 1:A$ = "05603203125417600214400616200814202300309616901615702300314002500309600000 0000000" 155 FOR L1 = 1 TO W1 STEP 3:W2 = W2 + 1:B$ = MID$ (A$,L1,3):W3 = VAL (B$): POKE W2,W3: NEXT L1 160 CALL ROUT%: IF PEEK (ROUT% + 23) = 16 THEN IIGS% = 1 We will place the short assembly routine--longer than it needs to be, since it also returns the ROM version of a IIgs, which is not relevant to this program--at location 768 ($300 in hexadecimal) and then CALL it. We split the long string containing 80 values into 3-character strings, and POKE the value of the 3-character string into each successive memory location. Once the routine is available, we CALL it and see if the Apple II running the program has a 16-bit processor (Apple IIgs only) or an 8-bit one (all other Apple IIs). Once we know the program is running on an Apple IIgs, we can safely change the memory location that contains the speed. We will need to slow down the IIgs and of course speed it back up as well. First, the simple subroutine that slows down: 5 IF IIGS% = 1 THEN W1% = PEEK (49206): IF W1% > 127 THEN POKE 49206,W1% - 128: REM slow down GS 6 RETURN That is, if we have a IIgs, then check memory location 49206. If it's not already slowed down, slow it down now. We use the sample code with the logic reversed to speed up again: 10 IF IIGS% = 1 THEN W1% = PEEK (49206): IF W1% < 128 THEN POKE 49206,W1% + 128: REM speed up GS 11 RETURN Now that we have the ability to slow down the IIgs and speed it up, we have to consider when to do so. In some programs, it's best to slow down a IIgs as the program starts and speed it up again just before the program ends. In this case, most of the program could do with a little speeding up. The exception are the "win" and "lose" routines. These go by too quickly on a IIgs. That being the case, we'll slow down immediately before the bunny getting a carrot and speed up afterward. Same procedure for when the farmer gets the bunny. First, change line 1080 to slow down the program just before the bunny gets the carrot: 1080 IF D = 1 AND I THEN GOSUB 5: CALL 866: GOTO 1100 The only change here is that we've inserted "GOSUB 5" (slow down) before "CALL 866". Now let's remember to speed things up once the bunny has done its dance of joy: 1120 NEXT D,P:K = K + 1: DRAW J AT C,E: DRAW D AT X,Y: GOSUB 10: GOTO 1380 Again, a simple change--"GOSUB 10" (speed up) inserted before "GOTO 1380". When we slow down before the "bunny caught" routine and speed up after, we can make both adjustments on the same line: 1200 HCOLOR= 0: DRAW D AT X,Y: HCOLOR= 3: DRAW J AT C,E: VTAB 24: CALL - 868: HTAB 5: PRINT "The Farmer caught the Bunny!";: FOR B = 1 TO 11: POKE 864,B(B): POKE 865,A(B): IF I THEN GOSUB 5: CALL 866: GOSUB 10: GOTO 1300 We've put "GOSUB 5" (slow down) before "CALL 866" and "GOSUB 10" (speed up) right after it. These are the only times we need to change the speed of the Apple IIgs for the entire program. Gillian's Bunny Game allows for play on an original Apple II or Apple II+ by letting you use the I-J-K-M diamond to move the bunny. (Later computers can also use the arrow keys.) Instead of checking for lower case input (i-j-k-m), however, the program merely admonishes you to keep the Caps Lock key down. It would be simple enough to add a few lines of code to check for lower case input, but we're going to do something even simpler--convert each lower case key press into upper case. This short subroutine does the job: 14 W1$ = "": FOR W1 = 1 TO LEN (A$):W2 = ASC ( RIGHT$ (A$,( LEN (A$) + 1) - W1)):W2$ = CHR$ (W2 - 32 * (W2 > 96 AND W2 < 123)):W1$ = W1$ + W2$: NEXT W1:A$ = W1$: RETURN In this program, the length of the string to convert (A$) is always one, but this routine can be used for longer strings as well. Now that we have the routine, we need to call it (almost) every time the program looks for keyboard input--in practice, every time the programmer used "GET A$", we need to put "GOSUB 14" immediately afterward. Here are the lines to change: 520 LET A$ = "": POKE - 16368,0: GET A$: GOSUB 14:A = ASC (A$): IF A = 27 THEN 2540 2140 VTAB 12: HTAB 1: CALL - 958: PRINT "Do you want instructions? (Y/N) -->";: GET A$: GOSUB 14: PRINT A$: IF A$ = "N" THEN RETURN 2910 HTAB 14: CALL - 868: PRINT "Play again? ";: GET A$: GOSUB 14: IF A$ = "Y" THEN CLEAR : GOTO 140 With lower case taken care of, let's fix a tiny slip that the programmer made. He tries to make sure that messages about Caps Lock keys and arrow keys are printed only if the program is not running on an original Apple II or Apple II+. Unfortunately, he uses a non-standard PEEK to check this. I suspect that the author got this unsupported PEEK from Beagle Bros--it appears in their Tip Book #7 (distributed with GPLE) and on their Silicon Salad disk. Where Beagle Bros got it from, I don't know. Beagle Bros were a great source of really nifty tips. Most of them broke the rules and it doesn't seem to matter. A few of them--like this one--broke the rules and it matters immensely. Once the IIgs came out, all bets were off. Fortunately, this is simple to fix. We just replace the unofficial PEEK with the official one (from Apple II Miscellaneous Tech Note #7). The first line we can change like this: 2040 HOME : VTAB 3: IF PEEK (64435) < > 6 THEN 2080 This causes the program to check for an Apple II with a Caps Lock key and skip this line if the Apple II is an older model with no such key: 2060 HTAB 3: PRINT " Be sure key is down " Wait a minute! We've already changed the program so that the Caps Lock key does _not_ have to be pressed any longer. Line 2060 is now redundant... but it doesn't really do any harm. You can choose to keep the redundant line in there, or you make these simple changes: 2040 HOME 2060 REM The next time the program checks up on the sort of Apple II being used is when the game instructions mention the four arrow keys. Unlike the example above, we can't just skip this change; we must make it! The program doesn't print the message about four arrow keys if it's running on an original Apple II or Apple II+. Again, we just need to change the PEEK (and value being checked): 2180 HOME : POKE 33,35: POKE 32,5: PRINT : PRINT "Move the bunny to eat carrots": PRINT "=============================": VTAB 6: PRINT " I": PRINT " use J K to move the bunny": PRINT " M": PRINT : PRINT : IF PEEK (64435) = 6 THEN PRINT " or use the four arrow keys": PRINT : PRINT (As the programmer originally had it, the message about the four arrow keys was not appearing when it should have, giving the impression that all players had to use the I-J-K-M group of keys.) That's all you really need to do! I'll give you a couple more modifications for Apple IIgs users who are launching the game from the Finder. They're by no means necessary, but they might make life a little easier. They'll also work with an 8-bit program launcher, so you can use them even if you don't have an Apple IIgs. The first change goes right before the loading of the games' shapes (line 20). All this change does is find out what the prefix of the game is, and sets the active prefix there. If you didn't understand a word of that, don't worry. This line is pretty harmless, so include it anyway. 15 PRINT CHR$ (4)"PREFIX": INPUT P$: PRINT CHR$ (4)"PREFIX";P$ We also need to make a small change to the first line we created so that it reads: 1 GOTO 15 since our program begins a bit earlier than it used to. The second change has two parts. The game as written simply ENDs... that is, uses the BASIC END statement. You might find it more useful to issue a ProDOS "BYE" command instead. This will take you back to the Finder, or whatever program you used to launch BUNNY.GAME. Begin by removing the END statement from the end of line 2940, so it looks like this: 2940 TEXT : HOME : PRINT "Bye...": VTAB 23: FOR B = 1 TO 23: HTAB 24 - B: VTAB B: PRINT "]";: FOR L = 1 TO 50: NEXT : PRINT CHR$ (8);" ";: POKE 864,8: POKE 865,2: CALL 866: NEXT : PRINT Also, just before the end, we issue a GOSUB 10, which speeds up an Apple IIgs. This is absolutely redundant--every time we slow down, we are careful to speed up again when finished--but you might want to do it anyway. It's a little like bearing a belt and suspenders, but go ahead if it will make you feel safer: 2950 GOSUB 10: PRINT CHR$ (4);"BYE" Finally, if you like, you can put a "GOSUB 5" at the beginning of line 2940, so that it slows down the goodbye routine slightly. This is very much a matter of personal taste, so try it both ways. If you _do_ use the GOSUB and slower goodbye routine, be sure to use the GOSUB 10 in line 2950 If you don't care about double-locking your door and you did _not_ slow down the goodbye routine in line 2940, try just: 2950 PRINT CHR$ (4);"BYE" [*][*][*] That's all for this month. This column won't be a regular feature of GenieLamp A2; it will just run when someone on staff finds files in the Genie A2 RoundTable library that could stand some updating or fixing. Or, if no one writes to say they found it useful or enjoyed it, it might never run again. //////////////////////////////////////// Genie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / A Dogcow is a Claris trademark, their mascot. It came / / about in the days of Appleworks GS. 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