

     |||||| |||||| ||  || |||||| ||||||
     ||     ||     ||| ||   ||   ||
     || ||| ||||   ||||||   ||   ||||               Your
     ||  || ||     || |||   ||   ||
     |||||| |||||| ||  || |||||| ||||||             GenieLamp Computing

     ||    |||||| ||    || ||||||                   RoundTable
     ||    ||  || |||  ||| ||  ||
     ||    |||||| |||||||| ||||||                   RESOURCE!
     ||    ||  || || || || ||
     ||||| ||  || ||    || ||


                    ~ WELCOME TO GENIELAMP APPLE II! ~
                      """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
                     ~ THE REAL WORLD APPLE:  Timers ~
              ~ APPLE ANECDOTES:  My Programming Highlights ~
              ~ HUMOR ONLINE:  Hard Disk Love Song (parody) ~
                   ~ HOT NEWS, HOT FILES, HOT MESSAGES ~

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
 GenieLamp Apple II     ~ A T/TalkNET Publication ~      Vol.5, Issue 55
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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? <<<
           """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
                            ~ October 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?               Hard Disk Love Song (parody).

 FILE BANDWAGON .......... [BAN]        THE REAL WORLD APPLE .... [RWA]
  Top 10 Files for August.               Timers.

 THE TREASURE HUNT ....... [HUN]        APPLE ANECDOTES ......... [ANC]
  Three Gems.                            My Programming Highlights.

                     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 ////
          /     Murphy's Law for Genie RoundTable Library searches:    /
         /                                                            /
        /  "The day you decide to search for a file when you know    /
       /  there has been only a handful of uploads using a          /
      /  particular keyword, there will have been over a hundred   /
     /  files uploaded recently using that keyword."              /
    ///////////////////////////////////////////////  A2.TONY  ////



[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
                 FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
       [D.CUFF]



     It's been a busy month at GenieLamp A2.  Because last month's issue 
was late, I had just 3 weeks to put together this month's issue (which is 
itself a day late).  During those three weeks, I also rescued all the 
GenieLamp A2 back issues from the DigiPub RoundTable and put them in the A2 
RoundTable.  With the appearance of over 100 back issues in the A2 
RoundTable library, the A2 staff decided to create a whole new library for 
Apple II publications, so you'll find GenieLamp A2 in library 55 from now 
on.

     That wasn't quite enough to make this month truly interesting, so my 
editor's account, EDITOR.A2, was closed--through an administrative 
glitch--just 24 hours before the GenieLamp A2 deadline.  I'm not sure 
when--or even if--this account will return, so I'm completing this month's 
issue using my personal account, D.CUFF.  If you have urgent mail for me, 
please send it to d.cuff@genie.com until you hear otherwise.  (Be watching 
for next month's editorial!)

     Perhaps I haven't mentioned it often enough nor loudly enough:  
GenieLamp A2 is the only edition of GenieLamp currently being published.  
None of the other computer platforms have had an issue since June.  The 
DigiPub RoundTable closed in mid-July, but I was determined--or loony--to 
bring out at least a July issue.  When that proved possible, I pushed 
forward to bring out issues for August, September, and now October.  And 
God willing, I'll see you all here next month.

     When I was salvaging GenieLamp A2 back issues from the DigiPub 
RoundTable, I began to wonder if any other Genie RoundTables had Apple II 
files that we ought to be preserving.  I haven't yet investigated 
thoroughly, but a quick check in the DTP (desktop publishing) and ERT 
(education) libraries turned up half a dozen files.  If you're a Genie user 
and know about Apple II files in other RoundTables, I'd sure appreciate 
hearing from you!

     Finally, an apology to readers of last month's HyperStudio edition.  
I goofed up, and three of the buttons on the contents page were connected 
to the wrong articles.  I _did_ check all the buttons before releasing the 
edition, but with the issues already late, I guess I was in too much of a 
hurry to really be paying attention.  Sorry.  Thanks to David Pierce for 
pointing this out to me.

-- Doug Cuff

Genie Mail:  D.CUFF                            Internet:  d.cuff@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
"""""""""""""""""""""



MUST-HAVE CDAs AND NDAs   Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your 
"""""""""""""""""""""""   latest issue of the "A2 Lamp"!  Thanks so much 
for all the effort you put into it.  It shows!

     I always pick up something (or several things) new to me in the A2 
Lamp. This month it was the GUPP file.  I heard the chatter about it, but 
seemed to have missed the preamble and had no idea what it was all about.  
Thanks too, for the article on Apple II interfacing and experimenting.  I 
needed that!

     Your piece on additional CDAs, NDAs & INITs was very good as it gave 
me some reference against which to check my own pot-pourri of goodies.  
Mine seemed to include most of yours and I have to agree as to their 
usefulness. Without a doubt, my most actively used CDA is File-A-Trix which 
I seem to access every day.  I purchased it from Bunker long ago (and 
received a nice freebie disk with even more goodies on it)!

     There are some other useful NDA's not mentioned:  II Scroll -- 
unbelievably handy!  I've forgotten the author -- but not having to wildly 
swing the mouse all over to reverse up and down is soooo smooth.  Another 
NDA(?) is the one that keeps a list 'open' once you've clicked on it.  No 
need to keep your finger down on the mouse button all the time.  You have 
to use it to believe how good it can be.  I've heard that some either 
totally love it or hate it.  I love it.  Btw, I'm still a die-hard 
AppleWorks guy!  :)

     One other very useful CDA worth mentioning is Dave Leffler's 
Deskcolor that let's you change the standard "periwinkle" blue to any color 
or pattern of choice.  From Day One on my GS, I felt the blue desktop was 
too much of a "me-too" IBM thingy and never left me feeling very good at 
all.  Using Dave's Deskcolor, I experimented with all of the options and 
discovered that a pleasant "canary" yellow always upped my psyche and made 
me feel optimistic and cheerful.

     Two other helpful items:  the NDA, Lithium grease for the inevitable; 
and the CDA, II Not Disturb (small shareware to Greg Templeman) if you use 
a modem and a menubar clock program.  Both have saved my hide time and 
again.

     Of course, these "essentials" are only the tip of the iceberg for 
many folks.  All in all, I'd say that those of us who have hung out here 
with the Apple II and the IIGS, are now reaping the benefits of an exciting 
technology that's priced right!

     Best, and may God bless you and yours.

Joachim Nelson
J.NELSON56

          I was very glad to hear your suggested additions to the 
          NDA/CDA/Inits list.  I'd like to respond to all the things you 
          mentioned:

               o  Greg Templeman's II Scroll (Softdisk G-S) and II Not 
                  Disturb (shareware) are both on my personal system, but 
                  weren't listed in the article because they're not free.

               o  Thanks for mentioning Lithium Grease, from Marc Wolfgram 
                  and Mark Collins--I had completely forgotten about it.  
                  (File #22482, LITH.GREASE.BXY)  I actually use a "rival", 
                  stand-alone program, Back Rest by fellow Canadian Lorne 
                  Walton.  I'm not sure it's still available in stand-alone 
                  format, so I won't quote the Genie file number for it.

               o  As for the init that "keeps a list 'open' once you've 
                  clicked on it", I assume you're referring either to 
                  MenuMagic by Harold Hislop (file #22344, MENUMAGIC.BXY) 
                  or AutoMenus by Jay Krell (file #21216, AUTOMENUS.BXY  
                  V3.0B7).  I've installed both, but ran into minor 
                  conflicts with them--admittedly, fewer conflicts with 
                  MenuMagic.

               o  As for Dave Leffler's Deskcolor (file #17727, 
                  DESKCOLOR.BXY  V3.1), I'd never heard of it.  Thanks for 
                  pointing it out.

          I left one other important file off my list--file #26120, 
          PATCHHFS.BXY.  This patches an important bug in the HFS File 
          System Translator that comes with System 6.0.1.

          I'm glad to hear that 'Lamp A2 demystified GUPP for you!--DGC


FINDING GENIELAMP A2   Is there some easier way to get to the current 
""""""""""""""""""""   GenieLamp A2?  Like before, by moving to page 645;9?  
I cannot find it now without going to A2 RT and getting list of new files 
for a number before downloading.  A real time consuming pain in the rear.  
What am I doing wrong? Thanks for your help.

Al Micheli
A.MICHELI

          As you may know, the DigiPub RoundTable _CLOSED_ forever in the 
          middle of July.  This is why it is no longer possible to get 
          GenieLamp A2 the way you used to.  I agree, that way was more 
          convenient.

          Still, you do not have to _LIST_ the files to get the correct 
          file number.  Why not use the _SEARCH_ command instead?  It won't 
          deluge you with a lot of information you don't want.

          When you go to the A2 library, type 3 to use the search command. 
           You will be asked for a keyword.  Type the month of the issue 
          you are interested in--for example, "September".  You will then 
          be asked for an uploader name.  You can either press Return to 
          leave this blank, or type "EDITOR.A2".  (Another possible 
          uploader is "D.CUFF".)  When you are asked for a number of days 
          to search, enter 33 or some number like it.  (If you enter a 
          number greater than 365, you'll probably be shown both the 
          September 1995 and September 1996 issues.)  Here's how it looks:

A2 Library>3

Enter Search String, or <RETURN> for ALL
>September

Uploader Address, or <RETURN> for ALL
>EDITOR.A2

Number of days, or <RETURN> for ALL
>33

String:    September
Uploader:  EDITOR.A2
Days Back: 33

ALL Libraries.

  No. File Name             Type Address      YYMMDD Bytes   Access Lib
----- ------------------------ - ------------ ------ ------- ------ ---

27745 ALMP9609.ASC             X EDITOR.A2    960911   79444     26  55
      Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (ASCII text)
27739 ALMP9609.AW.BXY          X EDITOR.A2    960910   50560     32  55
      Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (AppleWorks)
27744 ALMP9609.BXY             X EDITOR.A2    960911   45952     45  55
      Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (text)
27742 ALMP9609.HC.BXY          X EDITOR.A2    960911   61568     32  55
      Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (HyperCard)
27743 ALMP9609.HS.BXY          X EDITOR.A2    960911   73856     34  55
      Desc: GenieLamp A2, Sep. 1996 (HyprStudio)

End of Directory.

          Two other things you can do that will make finding GenieLamp A2 
          easier:

          1.  Read Cat 3 Top 3 in the A2 RoundTable just past the first of 
          the month. I _always_ post the file numbers for the current issue 
          there, so no one has to go searching for them.

          2.  Whenever you enter the A2 Library (m645;3) to do a list or a 
          search, _start_ by setting the library to Apple II Publications.  
          To do this, choose command 8 and set the library number to 55.  
          This will mean that you are narrowing the search to the specific 
          library where GenieLamp A2 is kept.

          I apologize that it is no longer as convenient to get GenieLamp 
          A2, but there are limits to what we can do with no RoundTable to 
          operate out of. If you follow the tips above, I think you'll find 
          that a search for GenieLamp A2 will consume much less time.

          Remember, with the DigiPub RoundTable gone, GenieLamp A2 no 
          longer has a home.  We are "borrowing" space from the A2 
          RoundTable just to keep GenieLamp A2 alive!--DGC



[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
              HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That A Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
       [D.CUFF]

     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  2, TOP 32 ......... Alternate E-mail address for A2 folk
     [*] CAT  5, TOP 14 ......... Gus, the IIgs emulator for PowerMac
     [*] CAT 22, TOP 10 ......... Good news for Zip GS owners
     [*] CAT 42, TOP 11 ......... Latest issue of II Alive


                           >>> A2 POT-POURRI <<<
                           """""""""""""""""""""

IF YOU HAD LIFE TO LIVE OVER...   Hi guys,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     I've recently started taking in more UG calls ::sigh:: and I'm trying 
to set up a generic, yet high performance, 6.0.1 for hard drives.

     So, I have a few questions:

     1)  Which patches should be installed?  And which are legal to be 
         installed (i.e. I'd love to put Greg's SDGS patches on, but I know 
         I can't)?

     2)  Personally, I'm leaning to installing the Appletalk stuff since 
         every machine in my posession has Appletalk on, but I'm wondering 
         if that's too confusing for other people.

     3)  What kinds of extras, other than IR and Hermes, would people want 
         on it?

     Assume hard disk space isn't an issue, but copyright is :)

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, CAT9, TOP6, MSG:144/M645;1)

>>>>>   Some suggestions - Things that I have used.  All are freeware, to
"""""   the best of my knowledge:

GUPP -         Init      Patches a number of problems

Open Any -     NDA       Opens docs from any available FEXT from SF dialog

IRNDA 2.0 -    NDA       Loads anything that IR can from SF dialog

SoundPlayer -  NDA       Plays rSounds

PicViewer -    Init      Shows most types of graphics

Refresh Screen NDA       Redraws screen

ScreenSaver    NDA       Blanks screen

DisplayClip    NDA       Displays clipboard

FileATrix      CDA       File management and more

Winflate       NDA       Reduces window to menu bar

Launch.CDev    CDev      Sets startup path & speed for applications

ShowMe!        NDA       Shows most types of graphics, incl. GIF

     Notes:

     OpenAny works with SoundPlayer, Hermes, and PicViewer within any 
application that I have tried.

     ScreenSaver requires a mouse movement to initiate the blanking timer. 
 Was my primary blanker for about a year.

Don V. Zahniser
Delivered by CoPilot for ANSITerm
                 (D.ZAHNISER, CAT9, TOP6, MSG:145/M645;1)

>>>>>   Ryan
"""""
     One thing I would =NOT= put on those drives is the ShowMe! 
NDA/FinderExtra. Many people (including myself) have had nothing but grief 
with that installed. (There's also some question as to just -WHOS- code is 
burried in it... per some grumbling I read in A2Pro some time ago)

Instead of SoundPlayer, I'd opt for EAR (in lib here). EYE (Also in lib 
here) is a nice small (though somewhat limited) picture displayer.

-Harold
Resident Solder Slinger
Live Free or Die - New Hampshire state motto
                  (HAROLD.H, CAT9, TOP6, MSG:146/M645;1)

>>>>>   Ryan 
"""""
     Some more thoughts -

     SoundIt 1.0 NDA - handles a bunch of kinds of sounds without the 
Sound CDev needing to be active.  Can be installed as a FinderExtra.  Works 
better as just an NDA when outside of Finder.

     GSCII+ - NDA - for decoding binscii files

     A2Vendors.NDA - Essential resource

     SD.Reminder - Init - Another BunkerWare item - Essential for anyone 
using /RAM5 a lot.

     Caps.Lock.Init - from Glynne Tolar - For ROM 01 w/extended keyboards

     Ext.KB.Init - Bill Tudor - For Extended Keyboard users

     BRAM.Checker - Init - Bill Tudor - Notifies of changes to Battery RAM

     BRKCURSOR - Init - Jason Blochowiak - Changes cursor to X if system 
crashes

     Anim.Watch - Init - Jason Blochowiak - Animated watch cursor

Don V. Zahniser
Delivered by CoPilot for ANSITerm
                 (D.ZAHNISER, CAT9, TOP6, MSG:155/M645;1)


"LOW-TECH" TO THE RESCUE   Any problems out there with sending Internet 
""""""""""""""""""""""""   mail?  I have sent several notes over the past 
week to a listserv that normally echoes the note back to me, and haven't 
seen the reflections.  I have been receiving mail from others on the 
listserv.  I was using @inet# as the suffix.  The particular address is in 
my CoPilot nickname file, and I have used it a couple of dozen times in the 
past.

     Thanks for any responses

Don
                 (D.ZAHNISER, CAT35, TOP27, MSG:70/M645;1)

>>>>>   Now that you mention it -- approx two weeks ago I had very bad time
"""""   sending out mail.  It would appear to go out okay, but the 
receivers didn't receive them for two days.  A day or so later, things seem 
to return to normal. But this isn't the first time I've observed this -- 
and probably won't be the last.  Btw, I mail out to a small list between 
7-8am every day.

    - Joachim
                 (J.NELSON56, CAT35, TOP27, MSG:73/M645;1)

>>>>>   Not trying to make excuses for Genie, but that sort of thing is an
"""""   inherent problem in the whole Internet system.

     Dean sent me a very important, or at least very time critical, file 
yesterday.  I was having problems with my local ISP (thier server was down 
for "unscheduled" maintenance, i.e. it broke :), so I asked him to send it 
to me not only at my local ISP adress, but also to my Genie mailbox.

     I needed the file by 9PM.  It arrived on BOTH my local ISP and Genie 
after midnight.  I was on the phone with Dean when he sent it out, at about 
5PM.  It got held up somewhere along the way for over 7 hours.

     I've seen this happen more times than I can count, from all sorts of 
places, and for periods of up to 3 days.

     (I called Dean at 8:40 and had him dictate the information to me, 
took about 5 minutes. :)

Gary R. Utter
                 (GARY.UTTER, CAT35, TOP27, MSG:74/M645;1)


YOU CAN'T MAKE 'EM THINK   Before I became the Apple 2 Librarian of our 
""""""""""""""""""""""""   local Users Group I too, had problems with 
"unauthorized" access.

     This came in the form of software copied from my machine during my 
abscence from a "What's New for the Apple IIgs" SIG.  "Guard Dog" stopped 
that!

     On one occasion, I was asked for a copy of Seven Hills' Spectrum.  
The "exchange" went something like this:

     "Hey, can I get a copy of that program?"

     "Why sure!  Here's the '800' number of the place where I got it."

     "No, I mean now, from you."

     "Hey, I just got this program!  I haven't even finished reading all 
of the manual!  But OK, since you're a member, here you go.  I guess with 
the shipping and handling it came to 'round-abouts $80.00.", says I, with 
palm out.

     "No, I meant to get a COPY, from you NOW."

     The light slowly dawns... "You mean you want ME to give you FREE 
something which just cost ME $80.00?"

     "Well, yeah..."

     The light becomes (sharp) as a knife... "I tell you what, give me 
$40.00 and I'll give you half of the package; either the manual or the 
disks, which-ever you want."

     "Well! If you're gonna be THAT way about it, NEVER MIND!"

 ___(2___    "The Un-Dead Apple"
/ , _`' _\    
\)|(@)m(_,    Mike Brouillette / M.BROUILLET1@genie.com
  ~7ooood'    Via: Spectrum / CoPilot - Genie's offline message manager

(M.BROUILLET1, CAT42, TOP11, MSG:56/M645;1)


RAMFAST FOR THE APPLE IIe   Current Notes on RamFasts in //e's:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
     SS does sell a RamFast specifically for the //e.  It is called the 
RamFast E and when you order it _spell out_ that you want the RamFast FOR 
the //e.  Make sure they understand this.

     The RamFast E will work in a 1 MHz enhanced //e, in a Tranwarped 
(original 3.6 MHz) enhanced //e, or even in a Rom3 GS with a ZipGS.  I've 
got one and have tried it in all three.  It works great.

     BUT, the RamFast E absolutely, positively, will NOT work in an 
enhanced //e with a 8 MHz Zip Chip.  Very disappointing.  However...

     On July 15, I ordered two more RamFasts - one RamFast GS for another 
Rom3, and one RamFast E =with Zip Mod= for an enhanced //e with 8 MHz Zip 
Chip.

     I still haven't received the order, but have been informed that 
everything is still on track.  If I get this thing and it works, I'll post 
it here.

     Remember, if you order one, _spell out_ if it is for the //e and 
_spell out_ that it needs to have the Zip mod, if you are using an 8 MHz 
Zip Chip in your //e.

Hugh...
                   (H.HOOD, CAT20, TOP13, MSG:30/M645;1)


PUBLISH IT! TRIVIA   Perhaps someone has noticed already:  All those PI 4 
""""""""""""""""""   font names are cities / suburbs within the scope of 
someone living in Chicago or on the Chicago North Shore of Lake Michigan.  
:)  Does this help in deciphering?  I doubt it.

Jim, in Munich
                  (J.DWYER8, CAT8, TOP18, MSG:101/M645;1)


WHERE WOULD THEY BE WITHOUT US?   A few days ago at work, we received an 
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   e-mail press release at the newspaper 
where I work that had an attached file with the same BinHex message.  
Nobody seemed to know how to decode it.  The more savvy computer folks were 
unavailable, and therefore no help.

     So I stepped in, copied the file to disk, and brought it home with 
me.  I used Hermes to strip the control characters, and Spectrum v2.1 to 
decode the BinHex file.

     I returned it the next morning, loaded it back into our system, and 
the file was ready for use.

     "Gee," our city editor said, "do you have some sort of SuperComputer 
at home?"

     "Why, yes," I said. "I have an Apple IIGS." :)

     Don't you just love it when that happens!

Max
                (M.JONES145, CAT35, TOP15, MSG:203/M645;1)


                            >>> HOT TOPICS <<<
                            """"""""""""""""""

PARTS TO SPEED UP YOUR ZIP GS   More good news for ZipGSx owners!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     The chips I posted about recently are testing out even more 
consistently than my original optimism predicted!!

     This means that I'm not having to absorb as large a washout rate I 
anticipated, so I can afford to offer the chip sets at a reduced price!

     At this point I have found that every set I test with this 
combination of chips will do at least 15 mhz when tested in a known good 
equipment combination of Rom01 GS, Sequential 4meg card, RamFast 3.01f 
SCSI, and 16mhz capable ZipGS card.

     Therefor I am modifying my pricing and set specification structure as 
follows:

     1. Rather than offer sets tested at the full spectrum of speeds, I 
        will simply offer sets tested to work in my system at 14mhz (cuts 
        my testing labor costs too :)
     2. Pricing for these sets will be $50 for 64k or $30 for 32k.
     3. Sets still consist of a 600mil (wide) Data chip, and a 300mil 
        (narrow) Tag chip for each 32k.

     Once again the reminder that it took me over a year of searching 
(with the help of other A2 friends on Genie) to locate a suitable batch of 
Data chips for reliable operation above 12mhz, so I hope all of you who 
dream of speed will get in on this deal while the supply lasts.

     Permission is granted for anyone who desires to repost this message 
on other services, the internet, or local BBS's.  encouraged even :)

     Doug Pendleton, Zip Technology OnLine Technical Support
     e-mail    Doug.P@Genie.com
                   (DOUG.P, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:40/M645;1)

<<<<<   Still More GOOD news for ZipGSx owners!
"""""
     Need a fast 65C816 chip for your Zip (or TWGS) ?

     You can still order 65C816-14 PLCC package chips direct from WDC for 
$19.80 each plus S&H....

     Or you can now order them from me for $15 each, S&H (USPS Priority 
First Class) included.  If you need 2 or more add $12 each for additional 
chips ordered at the same time.

     Permission is granted to repost this message on other services, the 
internet, and local BBS's.  encouraged even :)

     Doug Pendleton, Zip Technology OnLine Technical Support
     e-mail: Doug.P@Genie.com
                   (DOUG.P, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:41/M645;1)

>>>>>   OK. Let's see if I got this straight... To speed up my ZipGS, I
"""""   need to:

     1.  Get 64K RAM chips that will hit at least 14Mhz from Doug for $50.

     2.  Modify my Zip to take the wide and narroe chips.

     3.  Get a new 65C816-14 chip from Doug for $15.

     4.  Purchase oscillators for 14MHz and possibly a bit faster to see 
         how fast I can push it ;)  I assume I can get these from any 
         'good' electronics supply place, right?

     If that's it, I just have the hard part to do:  find some cash for it 
all :)

Brian Wells
                  (B.WELLS5, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:44/M645;1)

>>>>>   (please excuse my full quoting of the original msg :
"""""

BW>> OK. Let's see if I got this straight... To speed up my ZipGS, I need
BW>> to:

BW>> 1. Get 64K RAM chips that will hit at least 14Mhz from Doug for $50.
BW>> 2. Modify my Zip to take the wide and narroe chips.
        (sic :)
BW>> 3. Get a new 65C816-14 chip from Doug for $15.

     So far, so good :-)

BW>> 4. Purchase oscillators for 14MHz and possibly a bit faster to see
BW>>    how fast I can push it ;)  I assume I can get these from any 'good'
BW>>    electronics supply place, right?

     Even though Doug is selling parts that he has personally hand-testing 
and qualified for 14Mhz operation, this does -NOT- mean that a person using 
these parts can 100% of the time expect to achive 14Mhz operation!

     There are =MANY= variables that affect the maximum reliable speed of 
a Zip or TWGS.  Doug is addressing the points that he can address; some of 
the others include:

     1) Total bus loading and noise in the target machine
     2) Other cards in the target machine that generate serious RFI (which 
        can cause interference between cards)
     3) "Stiffness" of the power supply (as seen at the slot connectors)
     4) The maximum speed capabilities of the individual chips on the 
        specific Zip or TWGS that is being sped up. (varies due to 
        manufacturing tolerances, microscopic dust particals and 'loose' 
        dopeant molecules floating in the silicon furnace that the chips 
        were made in, etc. ad-nausem)
     5) The absolute contaminant levels in the material used to make the 
        PC board itself (including contaminants in the solder mask 
        coating), as well as the amount of 'under-edge etching' that 
        occured on the traces of the specific board in question durring 
        manufacture.

     The above is meant -ONLY- to document the fact that different people 
-will- have different end results, caused by factors -WAY- outside of their 
control as well as =WAY= outside of Doug's control.

     =Personally= I would start off witrh a 48Mhz oscillator (12Mhz CPU 
speed) and work up from there. It is my -personal- experience that usually 
12Mhz is a 'plug-and-play' improvement, but 12.5Mhz and above may involve 
some additional tweaks. (note: I have run into Zips and TWGSs that flat 
would not run reliably over 8Mhz, regardless of the parts used, as well as 
boards that would do 18Mhz with plug-in-only chip changes. Your milage is 
likely to vary as wildly (or more) as mine)

BW>> If that's it, I just have the hard part to do: find some cash for
BW>> it all :)

     In =my= personal opinion, the risks of not being able to achive 12Mhz 
reliable operation pale in light of the performance improvement that one 
will see at 12Mhz, and the likelyhood of >12Mhz is, in my personal 
experience, so high that the cost shouldn't be a consideration :-)

     I simply want everyone to be -aware- of the fact that their results 
=will= vary from what they may expect due to factors that -nobody- can 
predict with any accuracy. Doug is, IMHO, going =WAY= 'beyond the call of 
duty' in hand qualifying chips for 14Mhz operation, and he should =NOT= be 
held responsible =BY ANYONE= for results that are less than 14Mhz.

-Harold
Resident Solder Slinger
Live Free or Die - New Hampshire state motto
                  (HAROLD.H, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:45/M645;1)

<<<<<   Brian
"""""
     That's about the total of what you would likely need..

     I can supply oscillators at $5 each, and the necessary socket 
material for the narrow Tag chips and oscillator for $5 when included with 
a chip order.

     Right now I only have 10, 12.5, and 15, and 16 mhz oscillators 
available, but I'm negotiating bulk purchase of some other values...

              Doug Pendleton, Zip Technology OnLine Support
       A2 Hardware Help, A2 Promotions and Public Relations Manager 
Delivered by: ProTerm 3.1 and CoPilot v2.5.5 Offline Genie Message Manager
                   (DOUG.P, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:46/M645;1)

<<<<<   > Even though Doug is selling parts that he has personally
"""""   > hand-testing and qualified for 14Mhz operation, this does -NOT-
        > mean that a person using these parts can 100% of the time expect
        > to achive 14Mhz operation!

     Absolutely!! true, and I've tried _real_ hard to make sure that is 
understood by everyone!

     for example:

     If you have an AE GS-RAM+ with -12 (120 nanosecond chips) it is very 
unlikely that you will get operation above 8 or 9mhz.

     If you have a true ROM 00 Woz, upgraded to ROM 01 by chip changes and 
audio fix, rather than by mother board swap you won't get operation above 7 
or 8mhz.

     At higher speeds _every_ component in the system becomes more 
critical, and a slow memory chip or switch state transition in any one of 
them can defeat high speed operation.

     What the hand-tested chips do is let you subtract the Zip Cache 
memory from the list of things responsible for difficulties.  _if_ your Zip 
card, and all aspects of your system will do 14mhz, these chips will 
support it! more than that I can not control.

              Doug Pendleton, Zip Technology OnLine Support
Delivered by: ProTerm 3.1 and CoPilot v2.5.5 Offline Genie Message Manager
                   (DOUG.P, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:52/M645;1)


YOU'LL NOTICE THERE'S NO "BEST BEFORE" DATE...   there can't be a tool 
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   which tells when the IIGS 
was made, 'cause the information isn't stored in battery RAM on the IIGS.

     The date which TechTool shows isn't necessarily the date, the Mac was 
made on. When a Mac is switched on for the first time, you probably go into 
the Date/Time control panel and set the clock and the date.  This date is 
recorded in the PRAM and shown as manufacture date.  From then on, the time 
the Mac is on, is incremented in five-minute-segments, stored in the PRAM 
and shown as hours by TechTool.

Udo  - ... with the IIGS into the next millennium -
                   (U.HUTH, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:260/M645;1)

>>>>>   Actually, there's a code on the IIGS motherboard that shows when it
"""""   was manufactured.

     It's right above the RAM expmasion slot and to the right of the Fast 
RAM, and it looks like it's stamped in black ink.

     I'm looking at my old GS motherboard as I type this, and the "F8712" 
indicates that it was made in 1987. I'm not sure, however, whether the 12 
indicates that it was made in the 12th week, or the 12th month, of 1987.

     I think it's week, as I did buy the GS in early 1987.

Joe
                  (JOE.KOHN, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:261/M645;1)

>>>>>   Mine says A8740, so it must indeed be week. This isn't my original
"""""   board, so I can't use the sales date as a check.

Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech
cknoblo@novia.net
                 (C.KNOBLOCK, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:264/M645;1)

>>>>>   Does anyone know what the first letter indicates
"""""
                  (JOE.KOHN, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:266/M645;1)

>>>>>   My guess would be the factory where it was made
"""""   
Jeff Carr
                  (LUMITECH, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:269/M645;1)

>>>>>   That's the GPA of the electrical engineer that tested your
"""""   motherboard for flaws at the factory. ;)

Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd
Logicware, Inc.
                   (SHEPPY, CAT2, TOP19, MSG:270/M645;1)


APPLE IIGS--THE ONE TO EMULATE   The following information has been added 
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   as a link from the Gus Link Home Page, 
which can be found at:

     <http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/gus.html>

or

     <http://www.primenet.com/~adams/gus.html>


The Gus News Mail List is Online!

     The developers of Gus at Apple have set up a list server for Gus 
Information Dissemination. To subscribe to the Mail List, send an email 
message to gus@apple.com following the instructions below. Those of you who 
already have Gus (and you know who you are) can now send feedback about Gus 
to gus-feedback@apple.com.

___________________________________________________________________

Subscribing to the Mail List (follow these instructions explicitly :)

The currently accepted commands are the following and all must appear in 
the *BODY* of the message. You can send multiple commands, each in one line 
finishing with END.

SUBSCRIBE  gus-news   Your_FirstName   Your_LastName
    Subscribes you to the list called gus-news.

UNSUBSCRIBE gus-news
    Unsubscribes you from the list called gus-news.

Other commands for the Mail List:

LIST
    Shows the lists served at this site.

REVIEW gus-news
    Shows the list of user currently subscribing to
          gus-news.

HELP
    Sends this message.

INFO  gus-news
    Send information on the list

INDEX  gus-news
    Shows a list of documents available for GET

SEARCH  gus-news Key_Word
    Searches the documents for a key_word

GET  gus-news File_Name
    Retrieves the document called File_Name

SET gus-news OPTION

    Set your subscription parameters to OPTION
    Currently available options are:
           (default options are indicated)

      ACKN : Confirms that you sent a message to the list.
      NOACKN : No Acknowledgment is sent
                   [Default].

      CONCEAL : Hides your name from a REVIEW command
      NOCONCEAL : Shows your name in a REVIEW command
                   [Default].

      ACTIVE : Makes your subscription active
                   [Default]
      INACTIVE : Suspends your subscription until the next
                 ACTIVE command.

      DIGEST : Sends digests rather than individual messages
      MAIL : Sends you individual messages.
                   [Default].

      REPRO : Send a copy of the message to the sender
                   [Default]
      NOREPRO : Does not send a copy of the message to the sender

___________________________________________________________________
                 (D.KERWOOD, CAT5, TOP14, MSG:238/M645;1)

<<<<<   Some interesting news about Gus :
"""""
     Those of you that have registered yourself on the Gus Link Home Page 
<http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/gus.html> or 
<http://www.primenet.com/~adams/gus.html> have received notification that 
the page has had some changes to it.  When you get that notification, you 
also get to see how many people have signed up to register themselves on 
the page.  Well, after tallying up both pages, I find that there are nearly 
400 people that have registered. I'm impressed. :)

     Also, I've been asked about what sort of messages one could expect to 
see on the Gus-news Mail List that Andy Nicholas set up the other week.  
What follows is the first message from the Mail List. As always, anyone can 
sign up to recieve these messages.  Simply type the following command so 
that it appears in the *BODY* of an email message addressed to 
gus@apple.com.  What's in the subject line doesn't matter:

SUBSCRIBE gus-news  Your_FirstName  Your_LastName
                             ^                ^
                              Guess what goes here?  :)

David K. - Divemaster, A2 Abyss RTC, every Sat nite at 11:00 pm Eastern


     (Do NOT distribute this message unless it is reposted in its 
entirety, including the message header to identify the source. Do not edit, 
in other words...)

From:   gus-list-master (gus-list-master@apple.com)
Date:   17-SEP-1996 15:18:31.00
To:     Multiple recipients of gus-news - Sent by
Cc:
Subj:   Welcome to gus-news!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the gus-news mailing list.

I checked the list-server this morning and there were about 30 people 
signed up for gus-news.

So what's new?

o We have received tentative approval from Apple marketing to allow us to 
make Gus available for public download as long as we don't create any 
support hassles for Apple customer support lines.

o We have space on an Apple web-server.  We have some web pages ready.

We could use some html to do download counting, but other than that the 
pages are mostly ready.  Forgive us, we're not very html-savvy.

o We're still working on Gus.  Jim's Murphy and Maricondo have been very 
busy on Gus over the summer.  v1.0d4 will contain their work. Maricondo's 
stuff is especially cool.

You can send us suggestions, comments, bugs to gus-feedback@apple.com. If 
the volume gets too heavy we'll create a more specific set addresses to 
route stuff more efficiently.

andy
                 (D.KERWOOD, CAT5, TOP14, MSG:239/M645;1)

>>>>>   Gus may be getting all the attention, but it's certainly not the
"""""   only Apple IIGS emulator currently being worked on. I know that for 
I have seen, with my own eyes, Fast Eddie in action.

     Like Gus, Fast Eddie is a PowerPC based Apple II and IIGS emulator.

     Unlike Gus, Fast Eddie already emulates the Ensoniq and it can run 
IIGS software that Gus can't....mainly European software that has its own 
custom loader...such as FTA software.

     If you haven't yet visited the Fast Eddie Home Page, you can do so by 
pointing your favorite web browser at the following URL:

     http://www.swix.ch/clan/shadow/eddie.html

Joe
                  (JOE.KOHN, CAT28, TOP4, MSG:284/M645;1)


                            >>> WHAT'S NEW <<<
                            """"""""""""""""""

SPECTRUM V2.1 SHIPS   Sorry for the delay, but we are NOW SHIPPING the 
"""""""""""""""""""   Spectrum v2.1 upgrade!  If you ordered SPv2.1 or an 
upgrade, be watching your mailbox--it should arrive by the end of next 
week! :)

--Dave
                 (SEVENHILLS, CAT43, TOP15, MSG:40/M645;1)

<<<<<   If you ordered the full version of SPv2.1, they will finally start
"""""   shipping Wednesday.  I got the disks done last week, just in time 
to hear about all the resource problems.  I decided to fix them, but 
couldn't get to it before tonight.  The disks are now fixed, so we'll start 
shipping the full versions tomorrow.  {I also fixed the upgrade disks for 
any new upgrade orders.}

     If you _RECEIVED_ Spectrum at KansasFest:  You're missing the latest 
ANSI, as well as a couple very minor changes to Spectrum itself.  I can 
email both of these items to you if you email me a request.  Another 
option:  Send us $5 and we'll mail you a replacement disk AND the printed 
addendum you missed @ KF.

Thanks, --Dave
                 (SEVENHILLS, CAT43, TOP15, MSG:90/M645;1)


CONTACTS GS V1.0.3 NAILS ELUSIVE BUG   I just conducted an experiment, the 
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   results of which lead me to say:  I 
now know the exact scenario which causes the Contactsdata file to 
become...how shall we say it...prematurely truncated.

     I took my Contactsdata file and loaded it as an ASCII Text File into 
AppleWorks Classic.  At the end of the first record, I inserted a carriage 
return.  That carriage return, of course, was in addition to the normal 
carriage return that separates records.

     I then saved the Contactsdata file back to disk as an ASCII text 
file, and sure enough, when I opened it in Contacts GS, there was one and 
only one record.

     So, it seems clear to me that the problem some of you are 
experiencing with data loss in Contacts GS is caused by the importation of 
an extra carriage return into Contacts GS.  Since it's impossible to 
manually enter a carriage return into a field while using the actual 
Contacts NDA, the only other possible way for it to get there is via 
cut/paste or copy/paste.

     We now know for a fact that an AWGS DB file, if cut/pasted directly 
into Contacts GS, will introduce that second carriage return, but according 
to Doug Cuff (who has had data loss without using AWGS) there has to be 
other GS/OS programs that will also cut/paste that second (extraneous) 
carriage return.  At this point, I have absolutely no idea which other 
program will do that.

     In any case, it just might not matter anymore.

     Contacts GS v1.0.3 filters out extraneous carriage returns when 
cutting/pasting data into Contacts GS.  So, I think it's safe to say at 
this point that the problem has been identified and fixed.

     To help prove that point, I'm in Co-Pilot as I write this.  I just 
entered a few carriage returns in the Co-Pilot word processor, and then 
cut/pasted just those carriage returns into the first record in the 
Contacts NDA, and sure enough, when Contacts saved itself back to disk, the 
carriage returns were filtered out.

     So, at this point, I think we nailed down the problem and fixed it.

Joe Kohn
                  (JOE.KOHN, CAT28, TOP5, MSG:75/M645;1)


500 MEGABYTE INTERNAL HARD DRIVE   NEWS Flash! (Really)
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   
     Hold on to your hard drives!  This one is gonna make 'em run for 
cover!!

     Genie & User Group Special:

     Limited Quantity (I have about 50 of them)

     Focus 500 Meg utilizing a Western Digital WDAL2540 Drive Mech.

     For the completly insanly incredible price of:

           X
        XXXXXXX      XXXXXXXX    XXXXXXXX    XXXXXXXX     XXXXX   XXXXX
        XX X XX      XX    XX    XX    XX    XX    XX     X   X   X   X
            XX             XX    XX          XX    XX     XXXXX   XXXXX
          XXX            XX       XXXXXX      XXXXXX   
         XX            XX        XX    XX          XX     XXXXXXXXXXXXX
        XX X XX       XX         XX    XX    XX    XX  XX
        XXXXXXX      XXXXXXXX    XXXXXXXX    XXXXXXXX  XX
           X

     Thats $269.00 incase my horrible attempt at ASCII graphics arn't 
ledgible. :)

     DOS 3.3 is even supported now too!
                   (T.DIAZ, CAT46, TOP4, MSG:71/M645;1)


                       >>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
                       """""""""""""""""""""""""""""

MUSIC COMPOSER V4.00   Just a note to let everyone know how Music Composer 
""""""""""""""""""""   v4.00 is comming along.

     It's FINISHED, well almost.  I'm working on the documentation now.  
At the moment of this writing I don't know of any bugs.  But as I am doing 
the documentation, I am checking out parts of the program.  I have found a 
few bugs and corrected them.  So, its very possible that there are more 
hidden bugs yet to be discovered.

     After I'm done with the documentation I'll have to start looking for 
beta testers.

Clay                      clay1@primenet.com
WWW:    http:/www.primenet.com/~clay1
FTP:    ftp.primenet.com    directory users/c/clay1
Warning!  Opinions will change due to new information.
                  (C.JUNIEL, CAT6, TOP19, MSG:147/M645;1)


LEMMINGS   An e-mail arrived yesterday, in somewhat broken English (so I'm 
""""""""   not entirely sure what it meant), but it sounded like Brutal 
Deluxe's LemminGS is almost done. I was instructed to watch my e-mailbox 
next Thursday. 
                  (JOE.KOHN, CAT28, TOP6, MSG:185/M645;1)


MICRODRIVE/TURBO CARD   BTW, Joachim Lange of ///SHH Systems has developed 
"""""""""""""""""""""   a new controller card. It's called the 
Microdrive/Turbo.

     You can attach IDE HD drives of up to 2 Gigabyte capacity to it, can 
make as many partitions as you want or one large HFS partition. And this 
thing is faster than ever. Pricing is not available yet.

Udo  - ... with the IIGS into the next millennium - 
                   (U.HUTH, CAT46, TOP4, MSG:74/M645;1)

>>>>>   Product information, photographs, and specifications for these
"""""   items can be found at the ///SHH Systeme home page:

          <http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/shh.html>

     - Turbo IDE Card hard disk controller
     - MicroDrive Card hard disk controller
     - BlueDisk Card floppy disk controller
     - Transwarp GS 32K cache ("second source")

     When I get the info from Joachim on the Microdrive/Turbo, it will be 
included there as well.
                  (D.KERWOOD, CAT46, TOP4, MSG:75/M645;1)


WOLFENSTEIN 3-D IIGS   Wolfenstein 3D is coming!
""""""""""""""""""""
<<<<<   Prepare for the onslaught
"""""
<<<<<   And storm the Castle Wolfenstein
"""""
<<<<<   *** CHRISTMAS 1996 *
"""""
                  (SHEPPY, CAT13, TOP5, MSGS:1-4/M645;1)


<<<<<   There is now an official source for information about the Apple
"""""   IIgs version of Wolfenstein 3D on the World Wide Web (the best 
information will still be here on Genie :).

     Visit http://www.logicware.com/wolf3d_gs.html.

     Please note that any information you get anywhere other than that 
page or directly from myself is not necessarily true or accurate.  In other 
words, don't go looking to people that typically distribute 
less-than-responsible information for Wolf 3D news.

Sheppy
                   (SHEPPY, CAT13, TOP18, MSG:34/M645;1)

<<<<<   Here is the official status of Wolfenstein 3D IIgs as of 9/16/96. 
"""""   It may not be reproduced or reprinted without my permission (see 
below).

     Version 1.0b6 of Wolfenstein 3D is expected to go to a small private 
beta test group this week or early next.  DO NOT ask to get added to this 
list, it is a fixed list of my regular testers and is big enough already.

     I intend for version 1.0b7 of Wolfenstein 3D to be the first for the 
wider beta test.  DO NOT ask to get added to this list, either.  I'll start 
taking names in a few weeks.  That version will hopefully be ready for 
testing by early October, but I make no promises.

     At this time, version 1.0b5 is undergoing testing.  Gameplay is 
fully-functional.

     There is now a pause mode so you can pause the game to answer the 
phone or eat or sleep if you're inclined to waste good gameplaying time in 
this manner.

     The sound effect player is about to be ripped out and replaced with a 
more efficient one; hopefully by 1.0b7, but no guarantees here.

     The introductory, intermission, and victory theme music is in, and 
has been enhanced noticeably since it was demoed at KansasFest in July.

     Many bugs are fixed. :)

     We also have some new art.

     The 1.0b6 version will have a nice display letting you know that 
resizing the screen takes a while, and updated music, as well as more bugs 
fixed and possibly gameplay music as well.

     If you wish to reproduce this notice, you must do so in its entirety, 
without distortion or alteration, and you must get permission; we've had 
too much trouble with people making up stuff about this game, and it's time 
for the misinformation to stop. :)

Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Logicware, Inc.
                    (SHEPPY, CAT13, TOP5, MSG:7/M645;1)

>>>>>   > What is Wolfenstein 3D ? If it is written by you Sheppy it HAS
"""""   > to be good but I don't know what it is!

     Nope, Wolfenstein 3D is originally (PC version) from id Software; GS 
version by "Burger" Bill Heineman.  Unfortunately, 90% does not a game 
make, so some of us Apple II'ers at Logicware (primarily Eric) have been 
finishing it up (unfortunately, mostly in our spare time, which hasn't been 
very common of late).

     I spoke with Bill last week and he indicated he may find time to 
write a custom sound driver for it soon (but knowing Bill's busy schedule, 
I'm not holding my breath; much more likely to come out of other people at 
Logicware at this point).

-G.T. Barnabas
                  (BARNABAS, CAT13, TOP18, MSG:48/M645;1)

<<<<<   The Wolfenstein 3D home page, in about five minutes, will have a
"""""   QuickTime movie available which demonstrates a short bit of Wolf 3D 
IIgs gameplay.  If you have Netscape Navigator 3.0 with the QuickTime 
plugin, this means you can even watch Wolfenstein 3D in your browser.

     The URL is http://www.logicware.com/wolf3d_gs.html

Sheppy
                    (SHEPPY, CAT13, TOP5, MSG:9/M645;1)


                         >>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<<
                         """""""""""""""""""""""""

Category 2,  Topic 24
Message 220       Mon Sep 23, 1996
M.WADE7 [Mark]               at 23:10 EDT
 
     I found a package from Apple Computer, Inc. waiting for me when I got 
home today.  Inside was a pen and keychain and a letter that begins:

          Dear Mr. Wade:

               Thank you for your birthday wishes to the Apple IIgs. ... 
          stuff ... more stuff... and...

               I will track down some of the engineers who worked on the 
          Apple II designs to pass on your card.

     They spent 78 cents postage too.

     :)

Mark Wade

                                 [*][*][*]


    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]



                        >>> HARD DISK LOVE SONG <<<
                        """""""""""""""""""""""""""
                     Copyright 1993 by Steven Weyhrich
           (to the tune of "Dizzy", with apologies to Tommy Roe)

  (just remember that in computer circles, "SCSI" is pronounced "scuzzy")


     SCSI!
     I'm so SCSI, my disk is spinnin'
     Like a FOR/NEXT, it never ends
     And it's you, ][, makin' it spin
     You're making me SCSI!

     When first I saw your processor
     I knew that I just had to make you mine
     But it was hard to "talk" to you
     With DOS 3 hanging 'round you all the time

     With me you'd have some power, yet
     You kept playing hard to get
     Goin' around in circles all the time!

     SCSI!
     I'm so SCSI, my disk is spinnin'
     Like a FOR/NEXT, it never ends
     And it's you, ][, makin' it spin
     You're making me SCSI!

     (Boom boom bah!  Ba-doom boom bah!  Ba-doom boom bah! ba-da-ba-da 
     ba-da-ba-da)

     I finally got hooked up to you,
     And told you just exactly how I felt
     And then you shared your RAM with me,
     BSAVEd it, and my bits began to melt

     ][, you've got control of me,
     And I'm so SCSI I can't see
     We need to call CAT.DOCTOR for some help!

     SCSI, my disk is spinnin'
     Like a FOR/NEXT, it never ends
     And it's you, ][, makin' it spin
     You're making me SCSI!

     (repeat and fade)



[EOA]
[BAN]//////////////////////////////
                  FILE BANDWAGON /
/////////////////////////////////
Top 10 Files for August
"""""""""""""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
       [D.CUFF]



     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 1-31 August 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!

File #  Filename          Bytes  DLs  Short description
------  ---------------  ------  ---  -------------------------------------
27681   LAMBDA.DEMO.BXY  185088   81  Operation Lambda Demo
27601   CASTLE.3200.BXY   31232   66  Color scanned photo of a castle.
27519   FS1.BXY           16768   59  FlameStation 1.0 for the IIgs!
27555   TAGSAMP.BXY       75264   59  Sample Disk/The AppleWorks Gazette
27662   GUS.8.PAUG.BXY    22272   55  The PAUG transcript of the Gus RTC
27612   PT3.SETTIME.BNY    5828   47  ProTERM 3.1 macro: sets the GS clock
27520   ALMP9608.AW.BXY   73728   40  GenieLamp A2, Aug. 1996 (AppleWorks)
27654   LAMBDA.TXT         1920   39  Operation Lambda press release
27682   SEPT96.DESK.BXY  103216   38  Desktop INIs for September 1996.
27578   CINDY.GIF        152300   37  Cindy Adams at KFest '96

LAMBDA.DEMO.BXY   Demonstration version of Bret "Slixter" Victor's new IIgs 
"""""""""""""""   action/logic game, Operation Lambda.  The demo version 
has the first 10 levels (of the 100 levels that come with the full-blown 
version of the game).  This file is reviewed in this month's TREASURE HUNT 
column (below).  The author seems to be claiming that the demo is 
shareware, but no dollar amount is mentioned, except for the full version 
($25).  Presumably this demo is freeware.

CASTLE.3200.BXY   This 3200-color graphic shows a castle "somewhere in 
"""""""""""""""   Europe".  It was taken on a digitial camera by Swedish 
IIgs user Martin Landhage, processed as a Seattle Filmworks (.SFW format) 
file, converted into .PCX format (using a IBM-compatible computer), and 
finally converted into a 3200 Apple Preferred Format file by Brutal 
Deluxe's Convert 3200 program.  Freeware.

FS1.BXY   FlameStation v1.0 by Henrik Gudat automatically generates random 
"""""""   insulting messages--also known as "flames"--for your amusement 
and enjoyment.  The point of program is _not_ to generate messages for you 
to post but rather to underline how absurd the whole process of flaming is.  
FlameStation has a number of settings to help you customize your flames.  
(NOTE:  Because of the vulgar language used by FlameStation, this file is 
in library 57, which is an "adults only" library.  If you can't find the 
file, then you probably don't have access to that library.)  Freeware.

TAGSAMP.BXY   A sample of The AppleWorks Gazette, a disk-based magazine 
"""""""""""   from Christian Serreau and Howard Katz.  This sample issue 
contains:

          o  Seven Features I Wish I Had in AppleWorks 5.1
          o  Software Review:  One Touch Commands
          o  Deja ][:  AppleWorks on the Mac--A First Look [Ryan Suenaga]
          o  How to Modify the AppleWorks Default Macros [Will Nelken]
          o  Inside AppleWorks:  AppleWorks Segments

     This file doesn't just include sample articles... there is also 
software:  new applications and updates for AppleWorks!  Freeware.

GUS.8.PAUG.BXY   Transcript of the PAUG meeting of August 18, 1996, which 
""""""""""""""   featured a discussion of Gus, the IIgs emulator for the 
Power Macintosh.  This file contains plenty of details not discussed in 
Genie's A2 RoundTable Bulletin Board!  Freeware.

PT3.SETTIME.BNY  V1.2   These ProTERM macros from Brian D. Wells are 
"""""""""""""""""""""   designed to call up the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology's Automated Computer Time Service in Colorado, USA 
and set the clock on the Apple IIgs.  Requires ProTERM 3.1.  Freeware.

ALMP9608.AW.BXY   The August 1996 issue of GenieLamp A2, in AppleWorks word 
"""""""""""""""   processor format.  Featured articles:

          o  FILE MECHANIC:  New Files From Old (Gillian's Bunny Game)
          o  REFRACTIONS:  The Disposable Computer
          o  PD_QUICKVIEW:  Beagle Basic
          o  HUMOR ONLINE:  Print Some Fonts (a song parody)

Freeware.

LAMBDA.TXT   The press release for the Operation Lamda demo 
""""""""""   (LAMBDA.DEMO.BXY, above).  Gives ordering information for the 
game.  Freeware.

SEPT96.DESK.BXY   A collection 15 desktop INIs, a few specific to September 
"""""""""""""""   1996, plus several more that can be used year 'round:

     o  APPLECAKE.INI:  birthday cake for the Apple IIgs's tenth birthday
     o  APPLECAKE2.INI:  another version of above
     o  BUS.SEPT96B.INI:  four schoolbuses and a calendar for Sept. 1996
     o  BUSCOLORCB.INI:  four schoolbuses (no calendar)
     o  COLORAPPLEA.INI:  8 multicolored Apple logos
     o  COLORAPPLEB.INI:  another version of above
     o  COLORAPPLEC.INI:  yet another version of above
     o  COLORAPPLED.INI:  still another version of above
     o  COLORAPPLEE.INI:  final version of above
     o  ISHDRIVE.INI:  green Information SuperHighway sign (please drive 
        carefully)
     o  ISHNOEXIT.INI:  another green Information SuperHighway sign (no 
        exits)
     o  IWEB.INI:  computer-generated graphic, predominantly black, white, 
        and green, headed World Wide Web
     o  SEPT.LG3.INI:  a large calendar for the Sept. 1996, with an Apple 
        logo appearing on Sept. 15 (the tenth birthday of the Apple IIgs)
     o  WEB.INI:  another computer-generated graphic, much more colorful 
        than IWEB.INI, above
     o  WOZGATES.INI:  nice clip-art pictures of Stephen Wozniak and Bill 
        Gates; Woz is captioned "This is your computer" and Gates is 
        captioned "This is your computer on drugs"--"Any questions?"

Freeware.

CINDY.GIF   This is a color GIF of Cindy Adams at KansasFest 1996, seated 
"""""""""   in Avila college cafeteria, wearing the only pink KFest '96 
T-shirt.  Freeware.



[EOA]
[RWA]//////////////////////////////
            THE REAL WORLD APPLE /
/////////////////////////////////
Connecting to the World Outside
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Peter C. Brickell
        [P.BRICKELL]



                          >>> PART 2:  TIMERS <<<
                          """""""""""""""""""""""

     Last month I describe some of the project that I have built to use my 
Apple IIs in the "real world"--that is, my apartment.  In this installment 
I am going to describe one of the simplest type of interfacing of all--the 
timer.

     Really timing software is not interfacing in itself, but you will 
need to know how to write timing routines in Applesoft for using or 
enhancing many of the devices that I will describe later as we teach our 
Apples how to reach out beyond their familiar beige bodies.  I promise not 
to digress into programming very often, but when I do, it will be very 
simple Applesoft.  Bear with me this time, and your patience will be 
rewarded.

     The need for a timing program came to me when my trusty old darkroom 
timer gave out.  I quickly needed a replacement at less than the price of a 
new television.  I had once read an article in a photographic magazine by a 
gentleman who had programmed his hand-held Texas Instruments calculator to 
time his long view camera exposures in the field.  He had included a couple 
of lines of code in his article, so I dug it out. 

     Luckily the program was in BASIC and was very simple (in other words, 
I could understand it!).  The key part to any timing program is to make the 
Apple do something "useless" repeatedly until enough time has elapsed.  
After this you make the program do something "useful", such as beeping the 
speaker or turning some device on or off.

     The easiest way to make a computer waste its time is simply to have 
it repeat program instructions over and over again.  A very simply FOR-NEXT 
loop will achieve this.

          10  FOR X = 1 TO 10: PRINT: NEXT X

     This line will execute the PRINT command 10 times.  In fact, it will 
also execute the FOR and NEXT commands 10 times as well.  This all takes 
the Apple a little time to accomplish.  Not much time, mind you, but a 
finite, reproducible amount.  You can simplify this code a little by 
omitting the PRINT statement, since the FOR and NEXT take some time to 
execute on their own.

          10  FOR X = 1 TO 760: NEXT X

     This line of code will repeat the FOR and NEXT instructions 760 times 
before exiting the loop.  Conveniently, this takes about one second on and 
non-accelerated 8-bit Apple (][, ][+, //e, //c).  If you put a PRINT 
CHR$(7) on a line following it, you will hear the Apple's speaker beep 
approximately one second after starting the program.  Try it for yourself.

     You can see now how this can form the basic building block of a timer 
program.  If you nest this loop inside another one which executes 60 times 
before finishing, you will have a one minute timer.

          10 FOR Y = 1 TO 60
          20 FOR X = 1 TO 760: NEXT X: REM    ONE SECOND DELAY LOOP
          30 NEXT Y: REM    ONE MINUTE DELAY LOOP
          40 PRINT CHR$(7): REM   BEEPS THE SPEAKER
          50 END

     You can see how an additional loop could be added to run the minute 
timer 60 times to give an hour, and so on.

     What can you do with this, other than time eggs if you Apple happens 
to be near your stove?  Good question.  This is where my first bit of 
hardware interfacing comes in.  It actually uses the ubiquitous joystick or 
paddles that are part of almost every older Apple II system.

     There is a somewhat obscure command in Applesoft which causes a 
program to pause in mid-stream until one of the game paddle or joystick 
buttons is pressed.  Sensibly enough it is called WAIT.  The command can be 
used with any of the three push buttons available on the Apple.  Yes, I 
said THREE buttons.  The third one is built into the game port connector 
but is rarely used.  For now we will only worry about the two which are 
found on most game controls.

          5   WAIT -16260,0 :  REM    WAIT UNTIL BUTTON 0 IS PUSHED
          10 FOR Y = 1 TO 60
          20 FOR X = 1 TO 760: NEXT X: REM    ONE SECOND DELAY LOOP
          30 NEXT Y: REM    ONE MINUTE DELAY LOOP
          40 PRINT CHR$(7): REM   BEEPS THE SPEAKER
          50 END

     Now this little program will wait until push button 0 is pressed 
before executing a one minute delay and beeping the speaker.  (The three 
buttons are named 0, 1, and 2.)  Now we are starting to have something 
really useful here.  The Apple is able to wait for your command and then 
start a timing sequence for you.  In actuality, the "button" can be 
"pushed" by some external electronic device as easily as by a human.  The 
Apple doesn't know the difference, as long as something or someone 
completes an electrical circuit connected to the push button lines.  The 
power of this combination of hardware and software should be apparent.

     The electrical connections necessary to have something else "push the 
button" is beyond the scope of this installment.  For now however, you 
should be able to use your game controls to start (and stop) the Apple 
running programs and to have some moderately accurate timing done by the 
computer.  This is all I used for my darkroom timer replacement.  I simply 
allowed input of a variable for a third level of loop to control how many 
times the one minute loop was repeated before the beep was sounded.  I 
fitted an extension cable to my joystick and put it on my darkroom bench.  
Presto!  A simple darkroom timer.  The Apple's monitor could even be turned 
off (a good plan in a darkroom!) since the end of the time interval was 
audible.  I've added lots of bells and whistles to the program over the 
years, but these are left as an exercise for the reader.

     I have a couple of notes before concluding this segment.  First, you 
will need to adjust the "760" number in the one second timing loop to get 
accurate timing.  This is a good stating point however.  Any of you who try 
this with an accelerated Apple will need to either turn off the accelerator 
for this, or adjust the number to a higher value depending on the speed of 
your system.  Remember, the whole idea is to slow the Apple down!  Finally, 
you should be aware that the WAIT command is actually very generic.  The 
general format is:

          WAIT X,Y

where the program execution halts until memory location X reaches numerical 
value Y.  It just so happens that the memory location used in the above 
example drops to zero when push button 0 is depressed.  This may be more 
than some of you wanted to know about WAIT, but if all you wanted to do was 
turn on your computer and use it, you would be driving a PC, right?

     Next installment:  How to measure temperatures with your Apple II.



[EOA]
[HUN]//////////////////////////////
               THE TREASURE HUNT /
/////////////////////////////////
Yours For the Downloading
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
       [D.CUFF]



     This month, I want to look at three files--two recent ones and a 
golden oldie.  I'm pleased to note that two of the files are for the 8-bit 
Apple II users out there!

                                 [*][*][*]


               File #27681:  LAMBDA.DEMO.BXY (185088 bytes)
               """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

     Operation Lambda by Bret "Slixter" Victor is an all-new, original 
game for the Apple IIgs.  As the documentation stresses, "It is not a port 
or conversion."  If this demonstration version is anything to go by, 
Operation Lambda is a clear winner!

     In the Lambda demo, you maneuver through rooms attempting to save 2-5 
hostages.  Some of the hostages (who are always static, not moving) are 
easily accessible, while others are protected by a laser.  You can shut off 
the lasers, deflect them with mirrors, or stop them with stones.  You have 
to be careful not to run into any of the laser beams, or deflect them onto 
a hostage.  Once you've collected all the hostages, you can head for the 
escape hatch, which takes you to the next room.

     I love this demo, and am saving my pennies to be able to afford the 
$25 price tag of the full-blown version.  The demo has just 10 levels (the 
complete version has 100) but they really whet your appetite for the game.  
The demo levels are comparatively easy--they represent the first 10 from 
the full game--but that didn't lessen the enjoyment for me one bit.

     I didn't much care for The Tinies, which is in some way 
similar--strategy puzzles plus a time limit--but I find the Lambda demo 
enthralling.  I have already played the same 10 levels at least four times!  
I hope I can raise the price of the full game before Bret Victor becomes 
disappointed with the IIgs games-playing community.


                File #27889:  RECRDTIMER1.BXY (33152 bytes)
                """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

     RecordTimer v1.0 by R. Hardman is that increasing rarity--a _new_ 
useful 8-bit program.  (It does require an enhanced IIe, IIc, or IIgs.)  It 
exists because of the simple yet irrefutable position that "time math" is 
an aggravation.  What do you get when you add 3 minutes 42 seconds and 2 
minutes 39 seconds?  An intense desire to be somewhere else; that's what 
you get.

     RecordTimer is a utility for those who like to make tapes and want to 
know if they can cram just one more song on a side.  It allows you to enter 
the times and names of up to 20 tracks per side, and keeps a running total 
of the total time used and total time remaining (or time overflow) as you 
do so.  You can select from 60, 90, and 120-minute tapes, shift tracks from 
one side of the tape to the other, and sort alphabetically or length of 
track.  It doesn't allow printing of the data, but the documentation 
encourages you to import the data into the AppleWorks data base.  When you 
do so, you're faced with an extra category (time in seconds) that 
RecordTimer doesn't display, but otherwise, things go reasonably smoothly.

     This simple, useful utility requires Alan Bird's ProBASIC (which is 
included) to run.  Its user interface is extremely smooth, except for the 
annoyance of having to enter times of less than 10 minutes with an initial 
0.  It allows 33 characters per track title, which has proved long enough 
to fit even my longest title so far ("Still Crazy After All These Years").  
The only improvements I can think of are a feature to blank an entire 
cassette--Open-Apple-Zap?--and a check to be sure that you want to 
overwrite a file when using Save As.

     On the whole, R. Hardman has done a great job with this unpretentious 
program.  Now if we could just persuade him to abandon his reticence and 
give himself a credit line for the program, either in the documentation or 
the program itself.


                File #16945:  BOARD.THREE.BXY (44160 bytes)
                """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

     This a collection of ten games are written in Applesoft BASIC.  The 
thing that puzzles me about this archive is why its name suggests that it 
contains board games.  Here's how I would categorize the games in this 
collection:

Board Games
'''''''''''
     Connection
     Othello
     Qubic
     SuperNim

Card Games
''''''''''
     Acey-Deucy
     Concentration
     Fizzbin

Computer Games
''''''''''''''
     StopIt
     Troll's Gold

     I suppose it's just barely possible that StopIt and Troll's Gold are 
based on board games.  In that case, all I can say in my defense is that 
I've never heard of them.

     However, who really cares what class a game belongs to?  Let's look 
at how much fun each one is:

ACEY.DUCEY.CARD   Acey-Deucy is a simple card game (not to be confused with 
'''''''''''''''   the backgammon-like game, which would qualify as a board 
game).  In it, you are dealt three cards--two face up and one face down.  
You then place a bet if you think the third card is likely to fall between 
the values of the first two cards.  For example, if a 3 and 6 are showing, 
you'd be unwise to make a large bet, since the chances are small that the 
third card is a 4 or a 5.

     This version uses lo-res cards, and is at least engaging.  Grade:  B-

CONCENTRATION   In its original form, Concentration (or Memory) was a card 
'''''''''''''   game in which you laid out all 52 cards, face down.  Each 
player turns over two cards at a time in an attempt to find a pair.  A good 
spatial memory is clearly an asset.

     In this version, there are 36 squares drawn on the colorful lo-res 
board.  Each of two players can use either the keyboard or a joystick to 
select the square to turn over--the user interface is well done.  Once a 
square is turned over, a small colorful picture is revealed.  Many pictures 
have sounds effects or simple animation, and a few have both.

     Of the games in this collection, Concentration is clearly the best.  
It's colorful and fun.  A good game for children and adults.  Grade:  A

CONNECTION.A   In this game, you attempt to place four markers in a row on 
''''''''''''   a 7x7 board.  Whenever you place a marker in a column, it 
slides down to the bottom--which is another way of saying that you can only 
place a marker in an empty column, or on top of another marker.

     This game uses the lo-res graphics screen.  Despite the fact that the 
markers are referred to as "checkers", they are not a drab black or white 
but a colorful red or yellow.  It automatically tells you when a player has 
won, but does not indicate how.

     There's nothing terribly wrong either with the game or the 
implementation, but there's nothing particularly right about it, either.  
Grade:  C

FIZZ.BIN   Fizzbin is a card game based on the wholly extemporaneous rules 
''''''''   devised by Captain Kirk in the _Star Trek_ episode "A Piece of 
the Action".  In the scene where he rapidly devises Fizzbin, Kirk is trying 
desperately to confuse the people to whom he is describing it.  It is 
therefore no surprise that figuring out how to play Fizzbin is a bit 
complicated.

     The program, which is text-based, does its best to explain the rules 
of this four-player game.  I'm afraid I never did figure out exactly how to 
win, though I managed to play a few hands.  (Once I automatically lost by 
getting a shronk, and the next game I managed a Royal Fizzbin, which is the 
best possible hand.)  I think the key to winning is to remember that aces, 
jacks, and sevens are good cards.

     Actually devising a card game called Fizzbin is an amusing idea and 
the program has an adequate user interface, but it's still not a lot of fun 
to try to be less confused than a computer.  Grade:  C

OTHELLO.1   Othello is a board game played on an 8x8 board.  The object is 
'''''''''   to capture your opponent's pieces and convert them to your 
pieces by surrounding them with your own.

     I'm not really a big fan of Othello--I've never won a game--but even 
if I were, it would be hard to get excited about this implementation of it.  
It uses the lo-res screen very poorly.  The pieces are crude Xs and Os (not 
even black and white pieces, which would be marginally better) and the 
board is nothing more than a matrix of white dots indicating where the 
pieces can go.  The rows and columns are not labelled, so if you forget 
whether it's the rows that are represented by letters and the columns by 
numbers, or vice versa, you're stuck.  The user interface is not a lot of 
fun--you type your moves by separating the letter and number with a comma.  
The rules are not explained.  Grade:  D

QUBIC.2   Qubic, or three-dimensional tic-tac-toe (noughts and crosses), is 
'''''''   represented twice in this collection, and both times on the 
hi-res screen.  You have four 4x4 boards, one atop the other.  The object 
is to get four pieces in a straight line.

     The first representation is very good.  It attempts to depict all 
four boards in three dimensions, and it allows you to place your piece with 
a joystick (or paddles).  So far, I have a perfect record with this game:  
I've lost every time.  I think it's because I can't quite handle the mental 
leap required to translate three dimensions into two.  (I used to be good 
at Score Four, which is conceptually similar, when actually played in three 
dimensions.)  Unless you suffer the same mental strictures as I do, you'll 
quite enjoy this one.  Grade:  B+

QUBIC.II   This implementation of 3-D tic-tac-toe isn't quite as 
''''''''   successful.  It shows all four 4x4 boards side by side, which 
makes it more difficult still to visualize the importance of where you lay 
your pieces.  For some odd reason, I've actually won against this version.  
I'm not sure whether this is because of the layout or because this version 
doesn't understand the rules as well as the previous version.

     As with Othello, there's no on-screen guide to which numbers 
represent which squares, so the user interface is pretty awkward.  The 
error-checking is abysmal:  I managed to crash the game once simply by 
entering a number larger than the highest numbered square (16).  Grade:  B-

STOPIT   I'd love to be able to tell you what the point of this text-based 
''''''   game is, but I'm still not sure.  You have four columns, A through 
D, on the right-hand side of the screen.  One of the four letters appears 
on the left side of the screen, travelling rapidly to the right.  You're 
supposed to stop it by pressing the S key.  The question is, _where_ are 
you supposed to stop it?  The game doesn't explain, and I couldn't figure 
it out.  All I know is that no matter where I tried to halt the letters, it 
didn't gain me any points.  I can't give this game a grade, since I still 
haven't figured it out, but it seems to me to be a low-rate arcade game 
done on the text screen.  That means it probably wouldn't impress me if I 
did spend the time necessary to play it properly.

SUPERNIM   In SuperNim, you have a small board with a few pieces lying on 
''''''''   it.  You can remove 1, 2, or 3 (adjacent) pieces from it.  The 
object is to be the player who takes the last piece.

     In this text-based version, you can have 2-6 boards (each of which is 
2x3) and you can select from 3 difficulty levels.  I'd better confess now 
that I loathe and despise this sort of game.  I seem to be utterly 
incapable of retaining the basic theory necessary to win.  Oddly, I've 
managed to win one game of this version (albeit when the computer was using 
its dumbest strategies).

     For a text-based game, this isn't too bad.  The user interface is 
adequate, and you're always reminded which numbers represent which pieces.  
Grade:  C-

TROLL.S.GOLD   In Troll's Gold, you enter a 6x6 dungeon.  You are in the 
''''''''''''   upper left corner, the gold is in the lower right corner, 
and the troll is somewhere near the right.  You try to get to the gold and 
get back out before the troll gets you.  The catch is that not all rooms 
have doors out of them, and the doors are randomly opened and closed after 
each move.  You move by deciding in which direction you want to move (often 
there's just one choice), and you can keep moving through as many rooms as 
you like until you reach a dead end.  Once there's nowhere left to move, or 
once you're happy where you are, you signal the end of your turn.  Then the 
walls are redrawn with new doors, and the troll moves.

     Troll's Gold uses the lo-res screen for display, but not to great 
effect.  You are a small green dot.  The troll is a small red dot.  The 
gold is represented by four yellow dots.  You will perceive that the 
implementation is by no means fancy.  The user interface is of a similar 
caliber:  you type U for up, L for left, and so on.  (Using A/Z and/or the 
arrow keys would be easier to deal with.)  The game is terribly easy for an 
adult to win, and even children will find its frustration level low.  This 
is a daft little game, but it has a certain charm.  Grade:  C+

                                 [*][*][*]


     That's pretty much it for this month.  Remember, our three gems for 
this month were the Operation Lambda demo, RecordTimer, and Concentration 
from the BOARD.THREE archive.



[EOA]
[ANC]//////////////////////////////
                 APPLE ANECDOTES /
/////////////////////////////////
True Stories
""""""""""""
by Douglas Cuff
       [D.CUFF]



     I ran a bulletin board system on my Apple IIe for 4 years.  It gave 
me the proudest moment in my programming career.

     Perhaps "career" is misleading.  I only program in BASIC and 
UltraMacros, and strictly as a hobby.  My other programming highlights 
included my first published program, earlier this year--TimeOut Calendar 
Now!, published by Marin MacroWorks--and my first assembly language 
program, which was a whopping 27 bytes long.

     The bulk of my programming experience comes from the years I ran a 
Prime BBS.  Prime was written in Applesoft BASIC, with several ampersand 
commands.  The BASIC code wasn't easy to follow to start with, and the 
ampersand commands made it more difficult:  & SGN was the command to 
convert a string to upper case, and & POS returned the date and time.  That 
wasn't easy to remember.

     I was determined to under the Prime code because I wanted to modify 
and customize it.  Ultimately, I proved too successful.  I made dozens of 
modifications, but when an all-new version of Prime BBS became available, I 
had to port all those changes.  And I had no record of them.  I ordered the 
Prime update, but it sat untouched for months.

     After I finally compiled a list of my modifications, my younger 
brother joined me in a coding blitz--me on the Apple IIe, him on the 
IIgs--that took most of our Christmas holidays.  Line by line we ported my 
modifications--bringing the code up to code, as it were.  Amazingly, when 
we combined our separate efforts, it all worked.

     That took care of translating my custom code to the new environment.  
I still had a list of new routines I wanted to add.  They took care of the 
rest of my Christmas vacation.

     The last new routine on my list was complicated.  I wanted to change 
the BBS's timekeeping system.  That meant changing sensitive, delicate 
code.

     After the coding blitz, which involved staring at a monitor for about 
14 hours a day, my eyes were giving me trouble.  (A problem that has 
resurfaced as I write this, incidentally.)  Eventually my coding headaches 
became literal headaches, and I had to walk away from the computer.

     As I walked away from the computer, I took two things with me--a pad 
of paper and a printout of the existing Prime program.  The printout wasn't 
exactly pristine.

     I sat down on a sofa, picked up a pencil, and thought hard.  Then I 
jotted down all the changes on a legal-sized piece of graph paper.  Only 
when I had finished did I check my jottings against the printout.  I 
couldn't see any conflicts.  That seemed unlikely, so I went through 
everything again.  Everything seemed fine.  I'd expected to be pulling my 
hair for hours, and it almost seemed as though I'd thought of every 
possible eventuality in less than an hour.

     A night's sleep did wonders for my eyes and headache, so I took my 
sheet of graph paper to the Apple IIe.  I typed in the changes, then saved 
them and ran the program.  It worked!

     I couldn't believe it.  Sure, good programmers do that sort of thing 
as a matter of course, but I have never been a good programmer.  Eventually 
my disbelief gave way to a quiet pride.

     Quiet pride, of course.  I hadn't set a world record--just a personal 
best.  But that was enough.

     This unremarkable little tale has an unremarkable little epilogue:  I 
decided to share my timekeeping modification with other Prime BBS 
operators.  It was greeted enthusiastically, and I believe I'm right in 
saying that the next update of the Prime BBS software took my method and 
improved on it.

     It's always nice when others tell you that you've done well.  But 
what gave me my proudest programming moment was that afternoon on the sofa 
with a pad of graph paper, when I felt I had accomplished something.











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[EOA]
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GenieLamp Information   GenieLamp A2 is published on the first of every
"""""""""""""""""""""   month in library 55 of Genie's A2 RoundTable (page 
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    o To reach GenieLamp on Internet send mail to genielamp@genie.com or to 
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