Apple II Applications
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground file: CSA2APPLICS.TXT rev010
The Csa2 (comp.sys.apple2) usenet newsgroup Frequently Asked
Questions files are compiled by the Ground Apple II site,
1997, 1998.
ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Faqs
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The Csa2 FAQs may be freely distributed.
Note: To correctly view tables and diagrams on a super-res display,
use a mono-spaced Font such as CoPilot or PCMononspaced.
____________________________
001- What Operating System environments does the GS support?
002- What GS programs are there for viewing/converting graphics?
003- What's up with IIgs emulation on the Mac?
004- What is a good file copier program for the IIgs?
005- Where can I find PEEKs & POKEs and monitor routine info?
006- Where/how can I get new Levels for Wolfenstein-3D/gs?
007- Can I do Reverse Speech on my IIgs?
008- Is it possible to run PaintWorks from hard disk?
009- How can I read a single ProDOS block into memory under BASIC?
010- Is there an Apple II program for ham radio CW code practice?
011- Can my GS do file sharing with a Mac's hard drive?
012- How can I use a Mac as a network server with my GS?
013- How can I set up an Appletalk network for 30 IIgs's
014- How can I capture a GS super-res screen to disk?
015- What programming languages are available for the Apple ][?
016- What's the difference between an Apple ][, a II, and a //?
017- How do I save a BASIC program in ASCII text form?
018- Where and how do I get System 6.0.1 from an ftp site?
019- Is a graphical user interface (GUI) available for 8-bit A2's?
020- Is there a manual somewhere on creating BASIC shape tables?
021- How can I get a Postscript file from a GS document?
From: Rubywand
001- What Operating System environments does the GS support?
The GS can support several. Some of the more popular OS
environments include ...
DOS 3.3- usually Beagle's Prontodos or some other speeded version of the
original DOS 3.3. This is the 5.25" diskette-based disk operating system
used for years on earlier Apple II's. It's commands are designed for use
from BASIC programs or from the keyboard. Many old Apple II games and
other wares are on 5.25" diskettes which boot DOS 3.3.
ProDOS 8- e.g. ProDOS v2.0.3. This is a disk operating system which
supports a variety of devices (e.g. 3.5" drives, hard drives, etc.) and
allows sub-directories. Commands are very similar to DOS 3.3 and are
designed for use in BASIC programs or from the keyboard. BASIC and
'system' programs can also utilize direct CALLs to well-defined ProDOS
Machine Language Interface routines.
Apple Pascal- This is an early 1980's implementation of USCD Pascal
which can run on 40-column and 80-column Apple II's.
GS/OS- Originally called "ProDOS 16", today's installed GS/OS will
usually be System 5.04 or System 6.0.1. System 5.04 is appropriate for
1MB or smaller non-hard disk GS's. System 6.0.1 is recommended for
larger memory GS's with a hard disk. GS/OS is the desktop, Windows-like
environment utilizing super-res displays. Both ProDOS 8 programs and 'GS
Applications' (i.e. wares that need GS/OS to run) can be started from
the desktop. The program which runs the desktop is usually called the
"Finder".
____________________________
From: Dan DeMaggio and Rubywand
002- What GS programs are there for viewing/converting graphics?
The Graphics Exchange converts between many formats of graphics.
816 Paint's File Utilities work well for converting hires or
double-hires pics to GS super-res.
Prizm v1.0 Converts .GIFs, Amiga IFFs, Raw Files, and some other types
to Greyscale (very fast), 16 colors, 256 colors, and 3200 colors!
SuperConvert (now at version 4) loads all GS formats, plus GIFS and
other non-GS specific formats and saves in all GS formats including
Finder Icon files. It has more dithering options than most of the other
programs, but you may have to play with it to find the best one.
Platinum Paint is a commercial program that can import all GS formats
plus MacPaint. It can only save in SHR and Apple Preferred. Version 2.0
can make Animations too!
ShowPic 6 is a shareware NDA that can display most GS formats. You can
also save the resulting graphic as a IIgs SHR painting.
SuperPac is a commercial program which can create/display SuperPac
format compressed pics and pic pieces
Dream Grafix supports all 3200 color picture types and also 16 color and
256 color pictures. This is a very impressive commercial paint program.
Convert 3200 will handle several popular PC and Mac formats in up to 256
colors.
Jpeg.Viewer can be used to view JPEG images in black & white.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
003- What's up with IIgs emulation on the Mac?
At present, there are three major GS-on-Mac emulators. Most of the
info presented below comes from ...
http://www.emulation.net/apple2/index.html
Bernie ][ The Rescue
>>
Bernie ][ The Rescue (formerly Fast Eddie) is the most promising
source of Apple IIgs emulation. Bernie ][ The Rescue is a third-party
product delivering completely accurate IIgs emulation via a low-level
emulator implementation ("emulating metal"). It's fast, stable and runs
almost every Apple IIgs software program effortlessly. It's also very
useful as an Apple II emulator, since the IIgs was backwards compatible
with the older Apple II series.
Bernie ][ the Rescue is also the only IIgs emulator which can run
Wolfenstein 3D ....
<<
ref. Andre Horstmann and Henrik Gudat, authors of Bernie ][ The Rescue
http://www.magnet.ch/emutech/Bernie/index.html
XGS-Mac
>>
XGS is a port of a Unix-based Apple IIgs emulator, which is free
and in the public domain. It includes tools for conversion of DSK and
DiskCopy disk images, and should work well with most Apple IIgs
applications.
XGS has definitely improved from its first incarnation. Ensoniq
support works suprisingly well in a number of titles, and the disk image
conversion process has been made much easier. The GS Finder boots up
very well under XGS, although not quite as quickly as Bernie (which has
been tuned for PowerPC, unlike XGS, a more portable application).
<<
ref. Joshua M. Thompson, author of XGS and Michael Bytnar, who ported
XGS to Macintosh.
http://www.jurai.org/~funaho/emulators/XGS/
http://classicgaming.com/xgsdos/
http://www.cen.uiuc.edu/~m-bytnar/XGS-Mac/
GUS
>>
Gus is an Apple IIgs emulator for Power Macintoshes. It is an Apple
project that many feel is a great Apple IIgs emulation package.
Currently, Apple is giving away copies of Gus to schools who will sign a
non-disclosure agreement.
<<
http://www.apple.com/ (good luck!)
Since Bernie appears to be the current GS-on-Mac front-runner, here
is some additional information from the F.E.Systems EmuTech web site:
>>
Bernie is the result of a major engineering effort. Optimized for Power
Macintosh. computers, Bernie combines compatibility and speed in an
easy-to-use package. This unique software-only emulator coexists with
MacOS. and runs virtually any Apple II and 16-bit Apple IIGS software.
In both the MacOS. and Apple II world, Bernie is a reliable tool that
gets your job done - on the Mac but still using your favorite software:
AppleWorks. Classic, AppleWorks. GS, GraphicWriter as well as hundreds
of other applications, games and tools. ....
Bernie's core module is a speedy 65816 emulator running at speeds far
beyond that of a stock Apple IIgs (approx. 6 Mhz on 601/66Mhz machines,
well beyond 25Mhz on high-end Macs).
Bernie is distributed as shareware. For a fee of $25, you can register
your copy and acquire a license for forthcoming versions 1.x for the
Macintosh.
<<
____________________________
From: Mitchell Spector
004- I'd like to have a program for my //gs that can perhaps do more
reliable file copies than Finder does, especially in the case
of a damaged floppy. Any suggestions?
I would recommend either ZZCopy or Photonix II, both are freeware
and do a very quick and reliable job at duplicating 3.5 floppies (the
former even works with 400K MFS and 800K HFS Macintosh disks). Either of
the two programs work around damaged sectors on disks.
____________________________
From: kburtch@pts.mot.com and David Empson
005- I'd like to do some 'serious' Apple II programming. Where can I
find a information about soft switches (i.e. "PEEKs & POKEs"),
monitor routines, and standard names used for these?
Most of the names (assembler "equate" names) are listed in pairs, and
the comment on the first one often represents what the second actually
does, but refers to with what function the softswitch pair are
associated.
SOFTSWITCHES
KEYBOARD = $C000 ;keyboard data (latched) (Read)
Bit 7 is set to indicate a keypress is waiting, with the ASCII
code in bits 6-0.
CLR80STORE = $C000 ;use 80-column memory mapping (Write)
SET80STORE = $C001 ; (WR-only)
CLRAUXRD = $C002 ;read from auxilliary 48K (WR-only)
SETAUXRD = $C003 ; (WR-only)
CLRAUXWR = $C004 ;write to auxilliary 48K (WR-only)
SETAUXWR = $C005 ; (WR-only)
CLRCXROM = $C006 ;use external slot ROM (WR-only)
SETCXROM = $C007 ; (WR-only)
CLRAUXZP = $C008 ;use aux ZP, stack, & LC (WR-only)
SETAUXZP = $C009 ; (WR-only)
CLRC3ROM = $C00A ;use external slot C3 ROM (WR-only)
SETC3ROM = $C00B ; (WR-only)
CLR80VID = $C00C ;use 80-column display mode (WR-only)
SET80VID = $C00D ; (WR-only)
CLRALTCH = $C00E ;use alt character set ROM (WR-only)
SETALTCH = $C00F ; (WR-only)
STROBE = $C010 ;clear bit 7 of keyboard data ($C000)
If read, it also provides an "any key down" flag in bit 7, with
the keycode in the remaining bits. (These features only apply to
the IIe and later machines.)
Bit seven of these "RD..." locations is 1 if the condition is true
RDLCBNK2 = $C011 ;reading from LC bank $Dx 2
RDLCRAM = $C012 ;reading from LC RAM
RDRAMRD = $C013 ;reading from auxilliary 48K
RDRAMWR = $C014 ;writing to auxilliary 48K
RDCXROM = $C015 ;using external slot ROM
RDAUXZP = $C016 ;using auxilliary ZP, stack, & LC
RDC3ROM = $C017 ;using external slot C3 ROM
RD80COL = $C018 ;using 80-column memory mapping
RDVBLBAR = $C019 ;not VBL (VBL signal low)
RDTEXT = $C01A ;using text mode
RDMIXED = $C01B ;using mixed mode
RDPAGE2 = $C01C ;using text/graphics page2
RDHIRES = $C01D ;using Hi-res graphics mode
RDALTCH = $C01E ;using alternate character set ROM
RD80VID = $C01F ;using 80-column display mode
TAPEOUT = $C020 ;toggle the cassette output.
SPEAKER = $C030 ;toggle speaker diaphragm
STROBE = $C040 ;generate .5 uS low pulse @ Game pin 5
If read, you get one half-microsecond low pulse on the Game I/O
STROBE pin; if write, you get two pulses. (IIe and ][+ only, not
available on the IIgs).
CLRTEXT = $C050 ;display graphics
SETTEXT = $C051 ;display text
CLRMIXED = $C052 ;enable full graphics
SETMIXED = $C053 ;enable graphics/text mixed mode
PAGE1 = $C054 ;select text/graphics page1
PAGE2 = $C055 ;select text/graphics page2
See IIe, IIc, IIgs manual for details on how these switches
affect 80-col bank selection.
CLRHIRES = $C056 ;select Lo-res
SETHIRES = $C057 ;select Hi-res
SETAN0 = $C058 ;Set annunciator-0 output to 0
CLRAN0 = $C059 ;Set annunciator-0 output to 1
SETAN1 = $C05A ;Set annunciator-1 output to 0
CLRAN1 = $C05B ;Set annunciator-1 output to 1
SETAN2 = $C05C ;Set annunciator-2 output to 0
CLRAN2 = $C05D ;Set annunciator-2 output to 1
SETAN3 = $C05E ;Set annunciator-3 output to 0
CLRAN3 = $C05F ;Set annunciator-3 output to 1
Note: "0" is near 0V, "1" is near 5V.
SETDHIRES = $C05E ;if IOUDIS Set, turn on double-hires
CLRDHIRES = $C05F ;if IOUDIS Set, turn off double-hires
TAPEIN = $C060 ;bit 7 = data from cassette (read)
OPNAPPLE = $C061 ;open apple (command) key data (read)
CLSAPPLE = $C062 ;closed apple (option) key data (read)
These are actually the first two game switch inputs (SW0 and SW1),
which are borrowed by the Open Apple and Closed Apple keys.
Bit 7 is set in these locations if the game switch or
corresponding key is pressed.
SW2 = $C063 ;game input SW2 (read)
This input has an option to be connected to the shift key on
the keyboard. (See info on the 'shift key mod'.)
PADDLE0 = $C064 ;bit 7 = status of pdl-0 timer (read)
PADDLE1 = $C065 ;bit 7 = status of pdl-1 timer (read)
PADDLE2 = $C066 ;bit 7 = status of pdl-2 timer (read)
PADDLE3 = $C067 ;bit 7 = status of pdl-3 timer (read)
PDLTRIG = $C070 ;trigger paddles
Read this to start paddle countdown, then time the period until
$C064-$C067 bit 7 becomes set to determine the paddle position.
This takes up to three milliseconds if the paddle is at its maximum
extreme (reading of 255 via the standard firmware routine).
SETIOUDIS = $C07E ;enable DHIRES & disable $C058-5F (W)
CLRIOUDIS = $C07E ;disable DHIRES & enable $C058-5F (W)
For WR-enable LC RAM, the softswitch REQUIRES two successive reads
$C080 ;RD LC RAM bank2, WR-protect LC RAM
ROMIN = $C081 ;RD ROM, WR-enable LC RAM
$C082 ;RD ROM, WR-protect LC RAM
LCBANK2 = $C083 ;RD LC RAM bank2, WR-enable LC RAM
$C088 ;RD LC RAM bank1, WR-protect LC RAM
$C089 ;RD ROM, WR-enable LC RAM
$C08A ;RD ROM, WR-protect LC RAM
LCBANK1 = $C08B ;RD LC RAM bank1, WR-enable LC RAM
$C084-$C087 are echoes of $C080-$C083
$C08C-$C08F are echoes of $C088-$C08B
Bank 1 and Bank 2 here are the 4K banks at $D000-$DFFF. The
remaining area from $E000-$FFFF is the same for both
sets of switches.
CLRC8ROM = $CFFF ;disable Slot card C8 ROM
Reading any location from $Cn00-$CnFF (where n is the Slot) will
enable the $C800-$CFFF area for that card, if the card supports
this feature. Reading $CFFF disables this area for all cards.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Example: To enable double Hi-res graphics, the following code will
accomplish this:
STA SETHIRES
STA SETAN3
STA CLRMIXED
STA CLRTEXT
JSR $C300
----------------------------
From: Rubywand
You can find listings of Apple II soft switches and popular monitor
routines in a manual for your computer-- e.g. the Apple II Reference
Manual (for II and II+), the IIe Technical Reference Manual, the Apple
IIgs Firmware Reference Manual, etc..
An excellent guide to many PEEKs & POKEs and monitor routines is
the famous "Peeks, Pokes, and Pointers" poster from Beagle Bros (early
1980's). A fairly exhaustive guide to important memory locations in the
Apple II is What's Where in the Apple II: An Atlas to the Apple Computer
by William Luebbert (1981).
With very few exceptions, soft switches, monitor routines, and
important vectors have remained stable since early Apple II models. So,
although an old chart or listing may be missing some which are available
on a newer Apple II, the ones shown will almost always work.
____________________________
From: Dan Masterson
006- Where/how can I get new Levels for Wolfenstein-3D/gs?
You can find a whole bunch of levels at Sheppy's site. They are Mac
levels that you'll have to run through the converter, but they are in
Apple II friendly ShrinkIt format rather than Stuffit.
---------------------------
From: Rubywand
A good place to look for the new Mac-to-GS converter utility is
ftp://ftp.sheppyware.net/pub/apple_iigs/ . The new converter utility is
shareware named WolfCvt101.bxy. The same folder contains a Wolf
scenarios folder. It has a few ready-to-play Levels.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
007- Can I do Reverse Speech on my IIgs?
Yes. Sound Studio and Sound Shop are two utilities which allow
loading and reversing sound samples.
(ref. David John Oates; http://www.reversespeech.com/)
-----------------------------
008- Is it possible to run PaintWorks from hard disk? Will it load
files from an HFS partition?
The Kzin Warrior published a block edit patch version in Computist
#73 which lets you do this, at least on a ROM-01 GS. Using ProSel's Zap
utility (also called "Block Warden") you search for $C9 08 00 D0 CE on
the PaintWorks Gold diskette or a copy. (I found these bytes in Block
$3D5 starting at byte $1DF.) Change the 08 to 7F and save the change.
Copy Paintworks.Gold and the PaintTools folder (with its contents)
to a folder on your hard disk.
The Patch allows you to to start PWG under System 6 and use most
PWG features. However, some Palette selection options will bomb the
program.
A few tests showed PWG will load files from an HFS partition.
----------------------------
009- How can I read a single ProDOS block into memory using
Applesoft BASIC?
After booting ProDOS, you can do a CALL-151 to enter the monitor
and type in ...
300: 4C 09 03 03 60 00 20 00 00 20 00 BF 80 03 03 85 FF 60
Do a CTRL-C to get back to the Applesoft prompt and enter ...
BSAVE PROZAP.BIN,A$300,L$20
The routine does a ProDOS Machine Language Interface CALL which
reads the block into $2000-$21FF. It saves the Error# in $FF.
300: 4C 09 03 start
303: 03 3 parms in this parms block
304: 60 unit # DSSS0000 Drv 1 (D=0) Slot 6 (SSS=110)
305: 00 20 buffer start
307: 00 00 block # Low, High ex: block 256 is 307: 00 01
309: 20 00 BF JSR to do MLI command
30C: 80 command (80 for READ BLOCK; 81 for WRITE BLOCK)
30D: 03 03 loc of parms block
30F: 85 FF save error # (00= no error)
311: 60 exit
A BASIC program could use the routine by POKE-ing the block # into
$307,$308 (775 and 776 in decimal) and doing a CALL768. The MLI command
code is POKEd into $30C (780). If a PEEK at address $FF (255) gives a
result of zero, there is no error.
100 LOMEM: 8704
105 REM Sets start of var space above $2000-$21FF buffer
110 TEXT: HOME: PRINT CHR$(4)"BLOAD PROZAP.BIN"
115 B= 2
120 REM Sets block to read/write (block 2)
125 C= 128
130 REM Sets MLI READ command ($80); MLI WRITE is 129 ($81)
135 BH= INT(B/256): BL= INT (B-256*BH)
140 POKE 775,BL: POKE 776,BH
145 REM POKEs block to read/write
150 POKE 780, C
155 REM POKEs MLI command
160 CALL 768
165 REM Does the block read/write
170 PRINT "BLOCK ";B
175 E= PEEK(255)
180 REM E= error number
185 IF E<1 THEN 195
190 PRINT "ERROR ";E;"!";CHR$(7)
195 END
After running the program for a BLOCK READ, the block contents
should be at $2000-21FF.
____________________________
From: Joseph M Barbey
010- Is there an Apple II program for amatuer radio CW code practice?
I have a such a program at home. It's called QSO Kid. It requires
a IIgs, and from what little I've used it, it seems like a really good
program.
____________________________
From: Gabriel Morales
011- Can I can use a Mac's hard drive with AppleTalk to do File
Sharing just like it was a drive directly connected to the GS?
You can. Be aware however that some software may not like to be
used over an AppleTalk system.
This is more likely to be an issue for ProDOS-8 programs. The main
problem under ProDOS-8 is with programs that insist on referring to
devices by unit number (or slot and drive). Network volumes do not have
a unit number.
Another issue is with filenames. GS/OS programs which assume
ProDOS naming conventions will have problems with AppleShare or HFS
volumes. ProDOS-8 programs have more problems: unless the file server
hard drive or shared folder (and all relevant subfolders and files) are
named using ProDOS-8 naming restrictions, then the files in question
cannot be accessed by ProDOS-8 programs on an Apple II client.
A third issue (with both GS/OS and ProDOS-8) is with programs that
bypass the file system calls and try to do block-level access to the
volume. This is not permitted for file server volumes. (Examples: Copy
II+, many functions in Prosel.)
One caveat: transmission is slow. Assuming an otherwise unused
network, you get about the speed of a 3.5" floppy.
____________________________
From: O Aaland
012- How can I use a Mac as a network server with my GS?
In order to use the Mac as a server with a useable system folder
you will have to have AppleShare version 3 running on the Mac. It sounds
like you are wanting to use a local boot disk on the GS and then log on
to the Mac to use tha Mac hard drive. This will work with file sharing
active on the Mac. The disk you need to make for the GS is a Network:
Local Startup and not a Network: Server Startup disk. When booting from
this disk you will be able to log on to the Mac and will be left in the
program launcher. There is not enough room on a 800k disk for the finder
along with the network files. I believe that you will also need to add
the HSF FST to your statup boot disk also because it is not put there in
the default install. Check in the drivers folder to be sure.
On the Mac set up a folder for the GS to use and turn on file
sharing. On the GS, from the launcher get into the finder on your system
disk and then copy the finder to the new folder on the Mac. Now you
should be able to reboot the GS and after logging on the Mac, from the
launcher, run the finder on the Mac hard drive. You will now return to
the Mac hard drive when you quit your GS applications. You can put both
applications and data files on the Mac and run them from there just like
it was a drive attached to the GS. The speed in about the same as
running from a 3 1/2 floppy, maybe a little faster. You are limited in
what you can put in your system because of the 800k disk but having the
finder on the Mac really helps.
If you can find a copy of AppleShare version 3 then you can boot
directly from the Mac without any disk on the GS and the system size can
be whatever the memory in the GS can handle.
____________________________
From: David Empson
013- How can I set up an Appletalk network for 30 IIgs's using a
donated LCII as a server? So far, I can get just 10 IIgs's
connected.
I assume you are using System 7.x File Sharing on the server? If so,
you've just discovered one of its inherent limits. Changing computers
will make no difference.
To be able to have more than ten clients, you will have to run the full
AppleShare server software.
If you use AppleShare version 3.0, the IIgses can even boot over the
network and won't require a local boot disk.
If you use AppleShare 4.0 or later, you lose the network boot
capability, but in theory the Apple IIgses should still be able to use
the server (I've never used anything later than 3.0).
You probably cannot run AppleShare 2.x on an LC III, because it only
runs under Mac System 6.x.
Apart from the number of users, the full AppleShare server adds many
useful features, such as administration tools, potentially acting as a
print server, and faster performance. It ties up more resources on the
machine than File Sharing.
AppleShare is commercial, but you might be able to get hold of a cheap
copy of version 3 from somewhere.
As far as the multiple server option goes: that should work fine. If
you have no need to communicate over the network between the servers, it
would be a good idea to break the network up into separate segments
(server and its block of clients). This will reduce confusion for the
users (seeing more than one server), and will improve network
performance.
In particular, note that LocalTalk is only intended to support a maximum
of 32 devices per network segment. If you want 30ish or more computers
on the same network, you should be using a router (which physically
separates the network segments).
____________________________
From: Rubywand
014- How can I capture a GS super-res screen to disk?
For super-res game screens and many other graphics displays an
ancient Classic Desk Accessory (CDA) known as "EA Screen Saver",
"SDUMP.EA", etc. works well. The CDA (named "ScrnCapEA.CDA") and a Text
info file have been uploaded to popular Apple II ftp sites. Look for a
.SHK file named "ScrnCap.SHK" or "ScrnCapEA.CDA.shk".
ScrnCapEA.CDA lets you capture game, etc. 320 or 640 mode graphic
screens as standard type $C1 GS unpacked Screen files which can be
loaded by Platinum Paint and many other GS utilities. To use the CDA to
capture a screen, you must be able to access the Desk Accessories menu
via the usual OpenApple-Control-Escape keypress.
Supertimer mentioned Clipit. This is a very nice capture New Desk
Accessory (NDA) which lets you grab a part or all of many super-res
displays, including desktop displays. The grabbed display is saved to
the Clipboard. You can get the pic from the Clipboard onto a Platinum
Paint work screen by going to Platinum Paint and doing a Paste.
A limitation of Clipit and similar NDA's is that you must be able
to get to the 'Apple' menu or some NDA activation list or, if there is
one, activate a 'Hot Key'. Also, these NDA's generally limit your grab
to the Clipboard. Usually, this means you end up with just one pic per
game, etc. session.
Games and other programs which shut off access to interrupts will,
often, be a problem. You will usually not be able to get to the Desk
Accessories menu and any screen capture 'Hot Key' keypresses will be
ignored. Usually, the 'Apple Menu' is not available, so screen capture
NDA's you use via the menu will not be available, either. Sometimes,
these programs include a built-in screen save feature; otherwise,
capturing a screen will take special measures.
One way to capture most otherwise un-grabbable super-res screens is
via a ProDOS-8 super-res utility which can save the super-res screen.
The utility must be one which does not, itself, change the super-res
screen upon startup (e.g. Nibble's SuperPac or a save/disp program you
write yourself).
Make sure your Startup Slot is set to Slot 5. Start the game, etc.
as usual. At some point insert a bootable ProDOS-8 diskette with the
super-res disp/save utility into Slot 5, Drive 1. When you see the
display you want to grab (and you are sure no Disk writes are occuring)
do an OpenApple-CTRL-Reset boot, start the disp/save program and save
the screen. Obviously, a disadvantage of this approach is that you get
kicked out of whatever game, etc. you are running at the time of the
boot.
----------------------------
From: TWS
You can get the ScreenPrint NDA, and save the screen to a file, or
print it out.
----------------------------
From: Mitchell Spector
In addition to several CDA's and NDA's, you might want to try
Ninjaforce's PicRipper program (useful for games and demos that lock out
interrupts, rendering any desk accessories useless). It can grab
Super-Hi-Res images still in memory and save them to disk. It is
available at: http://www.ninjaforce.home.ml.org .
----------------------------
From: Boris Guenter
Try the SHR Capture CDA which allows you to enter the Control Panel
and save as many screen pictures as you want. For programs which disable
the Control Panel, you will need PicRipper2 or Antic's PicSaver,
however.
Most of the screen capture programs mentioned here can be
downloaded from Uni-kl.de at ...
ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/apple2/gs/graphics/screensavers
or
ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/apple2/gs/graphics/misc .
____________________________
From: Rubywand
015- What programming languages are available for the Apple ][?
Quite a few, including Apple Integer BASIC, Applesoft BASIC, MD
BASIC, ..., the BASIC-like MacroSoft from MicroSparc, a beta version of
Apple's GS BASIC, and the new (1998) Byte Works GS BASIC! Users who want
to speed up their AppleSoft programs can use a BASIC compiler such as
TASC or Einstein.
Other Apple II languages are Apple Fortran, USCD Pascal, Orca
(ByteWorks) Pascal, Terrapin Logo, Apple Logo, two Logos from ByteWorks,
Isys Forth, Master Forth, (and many other Forths), Modula2, Aztec C,
Orca/C, ... . Hyperstudio and HyperCard let you create stacks.
To the above you can add several assemblers including Merlin,
Orca/M, an assembler from Ninja Force, and the MicroSparc Assembler.
You can find more languages information at Larry Virden's page:
http://www.purl.org/NET/lvirden/Misc/apple2-languages.txt .
For lessons to help learn BASIC programming check ...
http://www.iglou.com/qwerty/kb/dlfiles.html#53 .
For Orca manuals and to order the Orca languages contact Byte Works:
505-898-8183; http://hypermall.com/byteworks/bwad.html .
----------------------------
016- What's the difference between an Apple ][, a II, and a //?
None. ][, II, and // can be used pretty much interchangably for any
model of Apple II computer, although, practically speaking, there are a
few usages which may provoke a correction.
"][" is the original Apple II symbol. It appears on all early II's
and II+'s as well as on the Disk ][ drive. It is, easily, the most
attractive and distinctive II symbol; but, it is also associated with
_old_ Apple II 's. So, "][e", "][c", etc. are very likely to be viewed
as grossly incorrect by many users. Conversely, the "//" usage is often
associated with newer e and c models. "//+" would be as much an error as
"][c".
The plain "II" symbol is the one most widely accepted as 'correct',
or, at least, 'okay', for all Apple II models.
The, generally, preferred designations are ...
Apple ][, or Apple II (i.e. for pre-II+ models)
Apple ][+ or Apple II+
Apple //e or Apple IIe
Apple //c or Apple IIc
Apple IIc+
Apple IIgs or GS
Just "A2" is fairly common when referring to series-wide products
or concerns as in "Old, out-of-print A2 wares should be preserved and
archived for easy access by every user".
____________________________
From: David Cross
017- How do I save a BASIC program in ASCII text form?
The following line added to the front of your Applesoft BASIC program
will save it in a Text file named "LISTFILE". It works in DOS 3.3 or
ProDOS.
1 HOME:PRINT CHR$(4)"OPEN LISTFILE": PRINT CHR$(4)"WRITE LISTFILE":
POKE 33,33: LIST 2,: PRINT CHR$(4)"CLOSE": END
POKE 33,33 causes the text display routine to not insert any
unneccessary spacing into your BASIC program listing, which cleans up
the text file output nicely.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
018- Where and how do I get System 6.0.1 from an ftp site?
You can download the System 6.0.1 disks from Apple at ...
ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/gs.system.6.0.1/
The disks are in the from of binscii (.bsc) files of ShrinkIt disk
archive files which include a Binary II header (i.e. binscii-ed .bxy
files).
As a test, I downloaded sysdisk.bsc, transferred it to the GS via
NUll-modem, and converted it to diskette form. All of the files
Validated as Okay.
Since Apple maintains each disk in binscii-ed .bxy form, the
conversion process takes two steps. First, you need to run binscii on
the .bsc file. I used Jawaid Bazyar's GSCII Plus NDA to un-binscii
sysdisk.bsc. This produced sysdisk.bxy, a Shrinked disk archive with a
Binary II header.
Next, GS-ShrinkIt was used to unShrink sysdisk.bxy to an 800k
'diskette'-- I used an empty 800k /RAM5 RAM disk for the target diskette
because things go faster than with an actual diakette. This produced the
System 6.0.1 System.Disk. (From here I could have done a whole-disk copy
to get the System.Disk from RAM disk onto an actual 800k diskette.)
The above procedure should work fine for the other .bsc disk files
in the set.
____________________________
From: Paul Schultz
019- Is a graphical user interface (GUI) available for 8-bit
Apple II's?
For the 128k Enhanced //e and //c series, the ones which come to
mind are GEOS, Quark's Catalyst, and MouseDesk (aka Apple II Desktop).
GEOS was probably the most popular of the three although it never
reached the popularity it gained on the C64 platform. The downside with
GEOS is that it isn't ProDOS compatible. So, you are stuck with only
using the GEOS compatible programs (GeoPublish, GeoCalc, GeoWrite,....)
Catalyst and MouseDesk are both very similar. They provide a ProDOS
compatible version of the familiar Apple desktop GUI. MouseDesk was
purchased by Apple and renamed Apple II Desktop. This was included in
the original System Disk which shipped with the Apple IIgs. While
shipped with the 16bit IIgs, A2 Desktop is an 8 bit program which works
very well with my IIc+. I assume it would work with your IIe :-)
____________________________
From: Rubywand
020- Is there a manual somewhere on creating Applesoft BASIC
shape tables?
Go to Charles Hartley's Apple II BASIC info and Software site at
...
http://www.iglou.com/qwerty/kb/dlfiles.html#53
He has one or two lessons on using hires graphics; and, you can download
some software for creating shape tables.
____________________________
From: Sandy
021- How can I get a Postscript file from a GS document?
To get a Postscript file from any GS document, press OpenApple-F
when clicking "Ok" in the LaserWriter driver. This'll kick out a
Postscript file in your */system/drivers folder.