
     |||||| |||||| ||  || |||||| ||||||
     ||     ||     ||| ||   ||   ||             
     || ||| ||||   ||||||   ||   ||||               Your
     ||  || ||     || |||   ||   ||            
     |||||| |||||| ||  || |||||| ||||||             GEnieLamp Apple II
                                     
     ||    |||||| ||    || ||||||                   RoundTable
     ||    ||  || |||  ||| ||  ||               
     ||    |||||| |||||||| ||||||                   RESOURCE!
     ||    ||  || || || || ||             
     ||||| ||  || ||    || ||         

                  ~ PROFILES: Kitchen Sink Software ~
                   ~ APPLE_TALK: Industry Standards ~
                       ~ JOE KOHN:  Connections ~
                         ~ MESSAGE SPOTLIGHTS! ~

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////
 GEnieLamp A2     ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~    Vol.2, Issue 14
 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 
  Publisher.......................................T/TalkNET Publishing
   Editor-In-Chief........................................John Peters
    Editor.............................................Darrel Raines

  ~ GEnieLamp IBM ~ GEnieLamp [PR]/TX2 ~ GEnieLamp ST ~ GEnieLamp A2 ~
      ~ GEnieLamp MacPRO ~ GEnieLamp A2Pro ~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~
            ~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~
////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

          >>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE II ROUNDTABLE? <<<
          """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
                            ~ May 1, 1993 ~

 FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM]        APPLE_TALK .............. [TAL]
  Notes From The Editor.                 Apple II Corner.

 HOT TOPICS .............. [HOT]        A2 ODDS & ENDS .......... [ODD]
  Too Hot To Handle, Almost.             Here & There.

 WHAT'S NEW .............. [WHA]        THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE ... [THR]
  New and Improved.                      Rumors, Maybes and Mayhem.

 MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT ....... [MES]        HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]
  Word To The Wise.                      GEnie Fun & Games.

 TELETALK ONLINE ......... [TEL]        THE MIGHTY QUINN ........ [QUI]
  Online Communications.                 Random Access.

 PROFILES ................ [PRO]        REFLECTIONS ............. [REF]
  Who's Who On GEnie.                    Online Communications.

 CONNECTIONS ............. [CON]        ASK DOCTOR BOB .......... [ASK]
  By Joe Kohn.                           Gotta Problem?

 CowTOONS! ............... [MOO]        APPLE II ................ [AII]
  100% Lean.                             Apple II History, Part 12.

                    LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
                     GEnieLamp Information.

[IDX]"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

READING GEnieLamp   GEnieLamp  has  incorporated  a  unique   indexing
"""""""""""""""""   system to help make  reading the  magazine easier.  
To  utilize this system, load GEnieLamp into any ASCII  word processor
or text  editor.  In the index  you will find the  following  example:

                   HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]  
                    [*]GEnie Fun & Games.

   To read this  article, set your  find or search command to [HUM].  If  
you want to scan all of the articles, search for [EOA].  [EOF] will take  
you to  the last page,  whereas [IDX]  will bring you back to the index.

MESSAGE INFO   To make it easy for you to respond to messages re-printed  
""""""""""""   here in GEnieLamp, you will find all the information you  
need immediately following the message.  For example:

                    (SMITH, CAT6, TOP1, MSG:58/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.

ABOUT GEnie   GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for  unlimited evening  and
"""""""""""   weekend  access  to  more  than  100  services   including
electronic mail,  online encyclopedia,  shopping,  news,  entertainment,
single-player games,  multi-player chess and bulletin  boards on leisure
and  professional  subjects.   With  many other services,  including the
largest  collection of files  to download and the best online games, for
only  $6  per hour  (non-prime-time/2400  baud).   To sign up for  GEnie
service,  call (with modem) 1-800-638-8369.  Upon  connection  type HHH.
Wait for  the U#= prompt.  Type:  XTX99014,DIGIPUB  and hit RETURN.  The
system will then prompt you for your information. Need more information?
Call GEnie's customer service line (voice) at 1-800-638-9636.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 


        ////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
       / "Bring the Pepsi and we be doin' the Aladdin thang! ;-)" /
      //////////////////////////////////////////  R.MARTIN22  ////

 

[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
                 FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From The Editor
"""""""""""""""""""""
By John Peters
   [GENIELAMP]



CHANGES, CHANGES, CHANGES!   Change is good, right?   Well, I certainly
""""""""""""""""""""""""""   hope so, 'cause there is a whole lot of
changing going on here at GEnieLamp.  I suppose the best place to start is
the changes that have taken place on page 515, our home, the GEnieLamp
RoundTable.  (Keep in mind that many of these changes are happening as I
write this - the changes outlined below are subject to change!)  First off,
the RoundTable is no longer a RoundTable but just a single page.  Here's
the new menu you will find when on page 515:

GEnie                          GENIELAMP                       Page  515
                     Computing on GEnie Newsletter               


 1.[*]GEnieLamp IBM Magazine
 2.[*]GEnieLamp Atari Magazine
 3.[*]GEnieLamp Mac Magazine
 4.[*]GEnieLamp MacPRO Magazine
 5.[*]GEnieLamp Apple II Magazine
 6.[*]GEnieLamp A2Pro Magazine
 
 7.[*]FEEDBACK to GEnieLamp
 8.   Digital Publishing RoundTable

     As you can see the bulletin board, libraries and information files are
gone and all that is available is the GEnieLamp Magazines, Feedback and a
gateway to the new DigiPub RoundTable.  (More on that later.)  On the
negative side, this means that Aladdin no longer works on this page.  This
goes for previous GET THE LAMP scripts as well.  On the positive side, our
resident script writer, Jim Lubin has come up with a new Aladdin script
which will be available in the DigiPub library as well as the Aladdin
support RoundTables within the next couple of weeks.


But The Big News Is...   Now, instead of capturing GEnieLamp, you can
""""""""""""""""""""""   DOWNLOAD the magazine.  No more waiting through a
long capture session!   Just download GEnieLamp as you would any other file
here on GEnie.  (We recommend Zmodem for best results.)   If you prefer the
old method, just turn on your capture buffer and [L]ist the magazine to you
computer.  (Again, this is in the planning stage and may not be implemented
in time for the May 1st issue release.  However, the option to _download_
GEnieLamp is coming RSN!)

PLUS!   Starting with this issue GEnieLamp Online Magazine is going to a
"""""   twice a month publishing schedule.  Now you can get your favorite
version of GEnieLamp (GEnieLamp ST, Mac, IBM and A2) on the 1st and the
15th of every month.

AND BEST OF ALL...       ~ GEnieLamp IS STILL GEnie*Basic! ~
""""""""""""""""""
                               [*][*][*]


WHY A NEW ROUNDTABLE?   The GEnieLamp RoundTable was originally set up
"""""""""""""""""""""   primarily for the distribution of GEnieLamp
Magazine.  Our secondary purpose was to promote and distribute other online
newsletters.  But electronic publishing goes much deeper then just
magazines and newsletters.  Therefore, we came to the conclusion that the
time has come for electronic publishing and hence, the Digital Publishing
RoundTable came online.

     The Digital RoundTable (or DigiPub for short) is a GEnie*Value RT here
on GEnie for people who are interested in pursuing publication of their
work electronically whether here on GEnie or via disk-based media.  For
those looking for online publications, the DigiPub library offers online
magazines, newsletters, short-stories, poetry, informational text files and
other various text oriented articles for downloading to your computer.
Also available are writers' tools and 'Hyper-utilties' for text
presentation on most computer systems.  In the DigiPub bulletin board you
can converse with people in the digital publishing industry, meet editors
from some of the top electronic publications and get hints and tips on how
to go about publishing your own digital online book.  As an added bonus,
the DigiPub RoundTable is the official online service for the Digital
Publishing Association.

     (Whew!)  Until next month...
                                                     John Peters
                                                     [GENIELAMP]

                               [*][*][*]


                             ,_____       ,_____
                             (__  |       (__  |
                         ||     | |          | |
                        (  \   ^| |^^^^^^^^^^| |
                       /X   ^^^                 \
                      (                          \,,,,,,
                    <_=_________________________________>

    Title: Never Bite a Computer Mouse Lying in the Sink
   Medium: Phospor
   Artist: Rod Martin 
  


[EOA]
[TAL]//////////////////////////////
                      APPLE_TALK /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II Corner
"""""""""""""""
By Darrel Raines
      [D.RAINES]



INDUSTRY STANDARDS   One of the secrets to becoming a happy computer owner
""""""""""""""""""   is very simple:  standardized components.  I have
learned that I go with industry standards whenever possible.  This may
sound obvious, but there is more to this than meets the eye.

     Since the Apple II (and for that matter, any computer platform) will
not last forever, you have to have an eye toward the future.  I am always
trying to decide what hardware I should purchase based upon the ability of
that hardware to function on more than one type of computer.  I want to be
able to take most of my equipment with me whenever I change computers.  Or,
more likely, when I purchase other computers to supplement my Apple IIgs.

     An example involves my hard drives.  I decided some time ago to use an
interface standard that works across the various platforms.  Therefore, the
SCSI interface was the only logical route to travel.  These hard drives
will work on Apple II's, Mac's, IBM's and the various clones, just to
mention a few.  I do not have to worry about the ability to use my mass
storage devices on the new equipment I might purchase.  The SCSI standard
provides me that assurance.

     Another example:  my laser printer is an Epson product that conforms
to the Printer Control Language (PCL) defined by the industry standard
Hewlett Packard (HP) LaserJet IIP.  This standard insures that my printer
will work on a number of computer systems.  It also insures that the
software I purchase will support the printer.  (An Epson dot matrix
emulation adds to the functionality of the printer.)

     At this point we can see one of two problem areas begin to arise:  new
standards that replace the old.  HP has come out with a new printer, the
LaserJet III printer and an updated PCL for that printer.  If I want to
stay up-to-date with the most current printer control language, I must buy
a new printer that conforms to the new standard.  When, and if, I make this
change is dictated by my budget and the software I might purchase that
needs this updated PCL.  I have ignored the possibility of "buying a new
toy" for the sake having the latest and greatest electronics.

     The other problem area is the choice of which standard to buy into.
My laser printer will work as another case study.  The HP PCL standard is
not the only game in town.  Adobe has created a Page Scripting language
that they call PostScript.  This standard is radically different than the
HP PCL and has been around longer.  A good case could be made for
purchasing a PostScript printer instead of the HP compatible.  However,
price of the final printer was a deciding factor for me (PostScript is
fairly expense to license from Adobe).

     With these goals in mind, I have purchased computer hardware that can
be used on my current system, other computers systems that I might want to
hook up, and future systems that I may buy.  The biggest pay-back for this
planning will be immediately after purchasing a new computer platform.  I
will not have to buy new equipment for every peripheral I need to enjoyment
of my computer.  If this type of thinking has not been a factor for you in
the past, why don't you give it some consideration.  You might save some
money over the long haul.

                               [*][*][*]


     Look for a couple of graphic demo programs (from me) during the next
month.  I managed to find the time to shake off my programming rust and get
two projects finished.  One package relates to the mention I made last
month of Eamon software for the Apple IIgs.  Where do you think that you
will see these uploads first:  GEnie, of course!  See you online.



[EOA] 
[HOT]//////////////////////////////
                      HOT TOPICS /
/////////////////////////////////
Too Hot To Handle, Almost...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Darrel Raines  
      [D.RAINES]  



                    >>> BULLETIN BOARD HOT SPOTS <<<
                    """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

    [*] CAT2, TOP4 .............. Cries for help - hard to place questions
    [*] CAT11, TOP12 ............ HD questions from the uninitiated
    [*] CAT11, TOP16 ............ Removable Mass Storage Devices
    [*] CAT12, TOP8 ............. HP DeskJet and Other Inkjet Printers
    [*] CAT17, TOP6 ............. Ultra & UltraMacros for AppleWorks
    [*] CAT24, TOP2 ............. ProTERM 3.0
    [*] CAT29, TOP15 ............ Requests for GEM 5.0

                               [*][*][*]


DEGAUSSING DISKS   I've had excellent results with a strong magnet I moved
""""""""""""""""   over the disk cover of disks (either 3.5" or 5.25")
which the GS refused to format, 'cause the Finder detected some conflicting
data on them. This worked also at work on a MS-DOS clone and a Unix system.
A friend with an Amiga does this regularly, 'cause the Amiga seems to be
very picky about disks that are to be formatted.
                 (U.HUTH, CAT11, TOP16, MSG:268/M645;1)


     There is also a knack to using magnets (bulk erasers included).
Start with the item right against the magnet and then move it in a circle
against the magnet.  Then (and this is _important_) slowly (that's slowly!)
move the item away for the magnet while continuing to move it in a circle.
Also always do this to both sides of the item. (I used to use a magnetic
mount CB radio antenna, myself). -- HangTime [Script-Central]  B-)> (Oh,
how far do you move the item away?  Full arms distance, especially if
you're using a strong magnet like a bulk eraser)
              (A2.HANGTIME, CAT11, TOP16, MSG:328/M645;1)



[EOA]
[ODD]//////////////////////////////
                  A2 ODDS & ENDS /
/////////////////////////////////
Here & There
""""""""""""



CONFUSING?   Boy, I'll bet this is confusing people.  :-)
""""""""""   At 2400, the 800 line access costs $6 per hour, plus whatever
else you'd normally pay.  For a Basic Services bulletin board, that would
be nothing, so you pay only the $6/hour that 800 use costs.  For someplace
like A2, which costs $6/hour, that would be added on, so it's $12/hour.

     At 9600, the 800 line is a real good deal because THERE IS NO
SURCHARGE.  It's a flat $18 per hour, period.

     For those who have 9600 and call long distance, or pay toll calls
anyway, this is a really good deal.
                 (A2.DEAN, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:165/M645;1)


TECH TALK   Uhhh...we spent some time with this years ago (it was written
"""""""""   up in A2- Central back in Feb. 1988, p. 4.3). The "Monochrome"
setting only affects the composite output (the "RCA phono" style
connector), not the RGB output (which is _always_ color). Selecting
"Monochrome" forces the composite output to use gray-scale sans color.
(This is the same effect as setting bit 7 of $C021 to "1".)

     Apple IIe (and probably IIc) RGB interfaces normally support a tricky
softswitch toggle to enable a "monochrome" mode. Unfortunately, the IIgs
RGB interface doesn't support that protocol.

     There is a different register value (bit 5 of the IIgs Video Control
Register at $C029) that can be set to force (both RGB and composite)
graphics to monochrome while the double high-resolution graphics mode is
engaged (Annunciator 3 is set "off"); this is how the original Apple II
Desktop (a modification of MouseDesk) managed to get crisp monochrome
graphics on the IIgs using the DHR screen. By setting that bit to "1" and
kicking the screen back to 40-columns (with AN03 still off to simulate DHR
activity, but setting 80- columns off by touching $C00C or issuing a
control- Q to the 80- column firmware and letting it do it) you can get
something that simulates mono high-res. (This trick was even mentioned in
an Apple II Technical Note.)

     Two "gotchas": First, if you change $C029, when you enter the Control
Panel it will change back (the Control Panel remembers what it's supposed
to be).  That means manually toggling from something like "Visit Monitor"
is hopeless. Second, enabling the 80-column firmware to simulate the
"single- wide double high-res monochrome" mode will force you to use the
alternate character set, which means no flashing characters (and make sure
you use the right ASCII range for "inverse" characters or you'll see text
as MouseText).  If you're writing your own program, you can probably work
around these. If you're using someone else's program, $50-$100 for a
monochrome monitor (you can leave it hooked up at the same time as the RGB
monitor) is probably the quickest road to sanity.

     Incidentally, the green/purple "fringe" created by single vertical
lines on the standard high-res screen on a color monitor is _normal_ and
perfectly proper due to the way the color circuitry was originally designed
on the Apple II. Remember the Apple II was one of the first personal
computers using _any_ color, and the design had to carry through for
compatibility reasons. (I'm always getting letters from people insisting
I'm wrong and that this is "broken". It isn't; look up the original
articles by Steve Wozniak in _Byte_ and Bob Bishop in _Apple Orchard_. :)

     If you have to have a vertical _white_ line, you have to plot it two
pixels wide, effectively reducing the screen resolution to 140 across. This
isn't usually enough to simulate high-res text, so high- res simulations of
the text screen have color fringes. (Bishop's article explains this better
than anything I've seen, and maybe the information needs to be paraphrased
in _A2- Central_ someday. :)

     See, it's really easy to figure out. (NOT! :)
                (A2-CENTRAL, CAT2, TOP11, MSG:14/M645;1)


TECH TALK II   Your problem with out of memory errors in your program is
""""""""""""   NOT a reflection of your 4 MB RAM IIgs (which seems massive
enough)  It is because when you are using Applesoft BASIC you are  ACTUALLY
running a 128K Apple IIe.  To word it a different way:   Inside your 4 MB
Apple IIGS is a smaller box.  In that box is an Apple  IIe, 128K memory.
Furthermore, inside that 128K Apple IIe is a 48K  Apple II+, in a smaller
box.  Applesoft was designed in 1977 for that  48K computer, and it has NO
IDEA that is REALLY running on a computer  with 85 times the memory.

     With 48K memory, you've got 2K being used by the system for screen
display, stack, and so on, plus 10.5K being used by BASIC.SYSTEM (in  the
upper part of that memory).  That leaves 35.5K for programs, which  does
NOT take into account any space that might be needed by  variables,
strings, etc.  And don't even THINK about hi-res graphics,  which takes
another 8K right out of the MIDDLE of your program (not a  convenient
place).

     What are your options?  Well, you COULD go back to DOS 3.3 and do the
program from there (although I doubt it could be done from DOS 3.3  either,
unless you are using a utility that moves DOS onto the  "Language Card",
which was the name for the extra 16K memory that II+  users could add to
give them a 64K machine.  That memory is built into  the IIe, which you
recall is what you are actually running on in this  example).  Using the
DOS 3.3 Launcher (available here in the A2  Library) you could still have
the program on a 3.5 disk and launch it  from the Finder.

     OR, you could find the old Beagle Bros called "Extra K", which frees
up the other 64K available in your 128K Apple IIe for use of your  program
(for variable and string storage).  I am not sure, but I  believe that
Extra K may be here in the A2 Library as a freeware  program.

     OR, you will have to segment your program, so that it is in smaller
parts that link to each other as needed.

     OR, you could learn a IIGS-specific language, and write your program
to run under that language.  That kind of language would KNOW that it  was
running on a IIGS, and would be able to take advantage of the  extra
memory.

     If you need further help with this, there are many smart programmers
in A2Pro that would be glad to explain this further.
                (S.WEYHRICH, CAT9, TOP9, MSG:64/M645;1)



DRIVES, DRIVES, DRIVES   You cannot format a SyQuest yourself.
""""""""""""""""""""""   The floptical is different though.  The drive can
actually lay down a low level format, but it may be tricky if the disk was
previously formatted.  Read on.

     The "optical" in floptical refers to the mechanism which the drive
uses to align the magnetic r/w head between the servo tracks.  The hundreds
of servo tracks are "etched" into the media and are themselves impervious
to magnetic fields.  Open the shutter on one of your 21 meg diskettes and
look closely at the bottom surface.

     However, magnetic tracks written are NOT impervious.  By playing
around with a diskette with different enclosures, cards, drivers etc, I
managed to mess one up pretty well. A RamFast format would fail with an
error every time.  Thought I had ruined the diskette actually..

     But it reminded me of Apple tape media, where if you screw it up just
right, you can hopelessly confuse the drive as it tries to rely on invalid
manufacturers track info.  Also, without an erase head (like a streamer
tape would use for example) the drive may have problems overwriting an
existing format if there is not enough write current compared to the drive
which originally formatted the media.  Some of my GSTape users are very
familiar with the problem.

     The solution (as with the Apple tape) is to "bulk erase" the puppy
and wipe it "completely" blank.  (I recommend the video-tape eraser from
Radio Shack which is more powerful and thorough than the cheaper one sold
for audio cassettes.)

     Then format it with the RamFAST utility program.  Go into the SCSI
util part and insert the disk.  While the drive is spinning mindlessly,
select format.  It takes 25 minutes or so so be patient.
                 (TGRAMS, CAT11, TOP16, MSG:309/M645;1)


HEY, EASE UP A BIT!   I think you're being a little hard on the good old
"""""""""""""""""""   IIe's!  Bought mine in 1983, and it has yet to
develop a single problem  - in spite of having been dragged overseas (where
it spent 5 years  running on 50 Hz power) and back.

     Installed a Vulcan internal HD 4-5 years ago along with an  internal
modem. All slots are full and it's running on an 8 MHz  ZipChip. It's on 24
hours a day except when I'm away for more than a  couple of days or a power
outage is imminent. The only additional  cooling I use is a Kensington
System Saver (which has also been  running for 10 years).
                  (S.LORD, CAT17, TOP4, MSG:98/M645;1)


 > I was trying to track down a minor problem I was having in AWorks 3.0
 > and noticed that one of the versions had Seg.00, Seg.AM. and Seg.XM, and
 > the other version didn't.

     These three segments and one other (SEG.RM) are used to tell
AppleWorks what type of memory you have and how to use it. Only one of the
four is actually needed for whatever machine you are using it on. Here is
what you need for each type of machine.

 SEG.RM -> //GS memory segment
 SEG.00 -> //e or //c with 128k
 SEG.AM -> //e with larger memory card in aux slot
 a //c with extra memory will need one of these two, I don't know which
 SEG.XM -> //e using a standard slot memory card
                   (B.MILYKO, CAT, TOP, MSG:/M645;1)



[EOA]
[WHA]//////////////////////////////
                     WHAT'S NEW? /
/////////////////////////////////
New and Improved
""""""""""""""""


DOS 3.3 LAUNCHER   I just got Dos 3.3 launcher which launches d3.3 files
""""""""""""""""   from the finder or prodos 8 on a IIe\//c.  It is one of
the best utilities I've ever used.  I can play Defender without having to
reboot!             (D.HAND4, CAT9, TOP16, MSG:35/M645;1)

     If there is still anybody who does not know:

     When it comes to IDE drives, the Turbo IDE Card is the ultimate hard
disk controller for any IDE drive, including Vulcan, InnerDrive and
OverDrive systems. Why? The Turbo IDE Card uses DMA to make IDE drives
RAMFAST!! It is the only IDE controller for the Apple II that uses DMA.

     So if you feel your hard drive is a little bit too slow, consider
upgrading your system with a Turbo IDE Card - don't throw away your IDE
hard drive equipment and buy SCSI!

     More details about the Turbo IDE Card you can get in the A2 library on
GEnie:

     TURBO.IDE.BXY    a description of the Turbo IDE Card
     TURBO.NEWS.BXY   Turbo IDE Card supports !!any!! Vulcan drive


     The Turbo IDE Card is available from

     SHH SYSTEME Dipl. Ing. Joachim Lange
                            Schoenstrasse 80a
                            DE-8000 Muenchen  90
                            Germany
     GEnie: J.LANGE7

     new address, valid on June, 1. 1993

     SHH SYSTEME Dipl. Ing. Joachim Lange
                            Bergstrasse 95
                            DE-8035 Stockdorf
                            Germany


     !**********************************************************!
     !           "We make IDE Hard Drives RAMFast !!"           !

     !          "We make Vulcan Hard Drives RAMFast !!"         !

     !**********************************************************!
                 (J.LANGE7, CAT21, TOP6, MSG:5/M645;1)



[EOA]
[THR]//////////////////////////////
        THORUGH THE GRAPEVINE... /
/////////////////////////////////
Rumors, Maybes and Mayhem
"""""""""""""""""""""""""



\/\/ell, GSHK was _going_ to be commercial....   ][ think I mentioned it
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   before, but:  When the
 programs that pack files are commercial, changing the format is beneficial
 to the people that make/sell them, as people need to keep buying the
 updated versions to unpack the changed format.  Even when they're
 NONcommercial the programmers have few scruples about changing the format,
 as they figure "well, anyone can download the latest version, so it
 doesn't matter." It may not matter to the computer format that the program
 was written for, but it does matter to all others.  Also, think about
 this: if the programmers keep updating the formats, then people need to
 keep downloading the latest versions of the programs, which actually makes
 the online services happy.  It's like selling appliances or cars.  If you
 sell a customer one that never breaks, they're never going to need to buy
 a new one from you again.  You'll have to rely on only the allure of
 having the "latest and greatest" for people to buy new models.
                (A2.LUNATIC, CAT2, TOP17, MSG:18/M645;1)

>>>>>   R.VAWTER wrote: That sure sounds like a great deal, Diff!!!  I
"""""   will weemail you now!

>>>>>   S.WEYHRICH [ Historian ] wrote: Diff, I'm glad he's going to
"""""   weemail YOU and not ME...

>>>>>   R.DIFFLEY [Diff] wrote: Right!  I'm a little nervous about this
"""""   new form of E-Mail, so I'm being real careful <grin>.

     BTW, this guy hasn't responded to my _E-Mail_ \-:  Anyone know this
guy?  "Come out, come out, where ever you are!"
            (various authors, CAT4, TOP5, MSG:84-86/M645;1)



[EOA]
[MES]//////////////////////////////
               MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT /
/////////////////////////////////
Word To The Wise
""""""""""""""""

          Category 24                            Topic 11
          Message 3                              Fri Apr 02, 1993
          A2.DEAN [II Infinitum]                 at 20:29 EST


     A couple of tips -

     On GEnie, use a line width of 78 instead of 80.  You won't be able to
tell the difference, but, many people use this width.  Thus, if your
messages are sent with a line width of 80, some lines will wind up wrapped
improperly, as in the case with the following part from Jerry's message
above, which looked like this on my end:

How to:
  <> Log on automtically, read mail if it exists, go to favorite areas, read
     the posts of interest there and log off with just a couple of
keystrokes.

     But which he probably meant to look something like this:

How to:
  <> Log on automtically, read mail if it exists, go to favorite areas,
     read the posts of interest there and log off with just a couple of
     keystrokes.

     I thus strongly recommend setting to a "Send length" of 78 or less (75
if you want to be really conservative - some graphical based programs,
especially those on smaller Macs, can't quite manage 80 columns readably).

     Also, much as I hate to admit it, GEnie is a fairly slow system at
times.  Therefore, I strongly advise using a Protocol Speed setting of
"Slow" instead of "Medium" or "Fast."

     I recommend using everything else Jerry recommended.  :-)

                               [*][*]*]

     Here's a tip not everyone knows for making sending stuff to GEnie
easier:

     Go to the GEnie setup menu (just type SETUP at any page-numbered menu
prompt) and set up GEnie to use a "prompt character" of ASCII 62 instead of
63.  This will substitute a greater-than for a question mark at most of
GEnie's prompts - i.e. "P 645?" will be "P 645>".

     THcan do hing really neatu can set up a tefile
to do everything for yoch as in the following way:


 M645;1
 SET 24
 REP 11

 Hi Jerry!  Nice to see you giving people these handy tips for using GEnie!
ProTerm is awesomeeep the good work!

 De Esmay *ET 29
 REP 5
 To  wi you GEM users, I can do it all within ProTerm!

 Dean Esmay
*S
RO N
 YE


. so on
     I put a space in front of m215;1
everything here to prevent GEnie from
getting confused by the "*S" at the start of some of those lines - normally
you wouldn't do that.

     See, with GEnie set to send a prompt character of greather-than
instead of a question mark, that makes EVERY line start with a ">".  So if
you set ProTerm to watch for a ">" prompt, then you can set up text files
with any string of commands or text you want.

     So if you just know the GEnie commands you want, you can set up a
text file to do lots of stuff for you.  In fact, programs like GEM and
CoPilot use this very trick to do a lot of GEnie work automatically.  :-)

     By the way, in case you didn't know, BRO NOR means BROwse NOReply, so
if you type BRO NOR, it will get all new messages without stopping between
topics or categories - it'll just go VOOM like a rocket and grab everything
new.  You can also do a BRO CAT NOR if you just want to do that on one
category.  ;-)

     So the text file above, if you started to send it to GEnie from
anywhere on GEnie, would jump to page 645 (A2) and select option #1 (enter
the bulletin board), SET to category 24 and reply to Cat 11, put in that
message and save it, then SET to 29 and reply to Topic 5, then would get a
list of all new messages in the bulletin board, then log off.

     Then you could read all the new messages in your scrollback buffer
(if you have enough memory) and use the ProTerm editor to clip out, quote,
and respond to anything you want, building your text file the same way.

     This is just one way of doing things.

                              [*][*][*]

 
    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 AII, 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 /
/////////////////////////////////
GEnie Fun And Games
"""""""""""""""""""
By Cliff Allen
   [C.ALLEN17]



                    >>> ANNOUNCING THE "LIRPA 1" <<<
                    """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
           ~ The ultimate platter balancer and bit bucket! ~

     I am not quite sure if I am going to explain this correctly, but just
for grins, here it goes.  When you store information on a disk, does the
disk increase in weight?  Another way of looking at it, on a piece of blank
paper, you write something.  The substance from the pencil leaves marks,
which in turn increases the weight of the piece of paper by a very small
detectable amount.  When you erase the writing, the paper now regains its'
original weight, but look at the erased substance - a combination of eraser
and writing material.

     Now, think about the computer disks.  Initially, the disk contains
nothing but 0's (not magnetized).  When you store something on disks, it
becomes a combination of 1's and 0's (not magnetized).  Because nothing
made of different or magnetized materials weighs the same, it would imply
that a disk full of that the software 1's weigh different than one full of
0's.  Could this explain the reason that retrieving information from a full
hard disk takes longer - not only does it have to find the information but
that the disk is spinning undetectably slower due to the increase increase
in weight.

     Is it possible that the software to make information contiguous on
drives balances the platter?  Software that I have can do this in two
modes:  [1] for reading (placing "IS IT POSSIBLE THAT SOFTWARE information
closer to the center TO MAKE INFORMATION CONTIGUOUS of the disk so the head
doesn't ON DRIVES BALANCES THE have to move so far to read) or PLATTER?"
[2] for writing (placing the information on the outer rim of the disk so
the head doesn't have to move far to write new data).

     It might be possible to prove my my initial statement that 1's cause
an increase in disk weight by moving all data to the outer edge, and use
sensitive equipment to detect any increase in  momentum in the rotating
disk.  I am presently building such a device that not only detects the
slowing down of rotation, but will compensate by increasing platter speed
if needed, because I firmly believe that a majority of hard disk crashes
are caused by this uneven weighting of stored information.

     Once I have completed this, I will be tracking down another much
needed problem.  Does magnetism just disappear?  Now that I've pretty much
proved that magnetized objects weight more than non magnetized, and that
matter cannot be created or destroyed, where does the magnetism go when it
becomes unmagnetized?

     While working on a mobile radar system, I found that the twystron
transmitter tube (power output of a klystron and the bandwidth of the TWT
tube) had what was called a VAC ION pump.  It's purpose in life was to pull
electrons that for some reason have strayed from the center flow and stuck
the walls of the tube.  The VAC ION pump was like a vacuum cleaner that
attracted these stray electrons and gave them a path to ground, so that
they would not become a hindrance to the concentrated electron beam that
eventually produces the RF energy needed by the radar system.  I apologize
for straying, but I needed to produce some substantiating evidence to prove
my next point.

     A 0 bit weighs nothing, and a 1 bit weighs a little more than nothing.
When you replace a 1 with a 0, where does the 1 go?  I think I have found
out.  While looking through the schematics of several computer systems, I
came across a couple of ICs with obscure labeling.  Looking through an IC
Master book, these ICs pinned out to be compact RAM storage.  In effect,
these ICs are spare bit storage.  When data is entered into the computer,
if a 1 is needed, the MMU (memory management unit) first checks the bit
storage chip, if empty it will bring one in from outside circuits.  The
term, computer glitch is so common that it is just accepted.  My theory is
that the bit storage chip is full and the unstored 1 causes these glitches.

     The device that I'm building and testing at present will be modified
to contain additional bit storage.  Look for this much needed and
revolutionary device at the BLUE RIDGE ATARIFEST in July.  Y'all Come!  Ask
for the **********  LIRPA 1  **********

             The ultimate platter balancer and bit bucket!

 

[EOA]  
[TEL]//////////////////////////////
                 TELETALK ONLINE /
/////////////////////////////////
Online Communications
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Al Fasoldt
  [A.FASOLDT]



                     >>> ILLITERACY OF HOMONYMS <<<
                     """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
           Copyright 1993 by Al Fasoldt. All rights reserved.


     A new kind of illiteracy is sweeping the country.

     To give it a proper name, it's the illiteracy of homonyms - words that
sound the same as other words but are spelled differently. Some say it's
caused by the proliferation of spelling checkers used on computers, but
that's not the full story.

     You see, most spelling checkers are abysmally dumb. They don't know
the difference between "bear" and "bare," or "do" and "dew." All that most
spelling checkers know is that "do" is spelled just as correctly as "dew"
is.

     And that's where the disaster comes in.

     Combine a bad speller (human variety) with a bad software program that
can't distinguish between the appropriate word and the one that is just
plain ludicrous, and you have the seeds of the new illiteracy.

     A poem posted on the Internet, a worldwide computer network, shows
what I mean.  Here it is:

                              "Spellbound"
                            by Pennye Harper

                       I have a spelling checker;
                          It came with my PC.
                     It plainly marks four my revue
                         Mistakes I cannot sea.
                      I've run this poem threw it;
                     I'm sure your pleased too no.
                   It's letter-perfect in it's weigh.
                       My checker tolled me sew.

     I've brought this problem up with other writers, and many of them say
the current reliance on spelling checkers has made most of us lazy. Instead
of looking up (and learning) a word we don't know how to spell, we just
keep typing away, confident that the spelling checker will catch our
mistakes.

     This is probably true. But I look at it another way. Spelling is
supposed to be taught in school long before students do much writing on
PCs, so I don't think spelling checkers are to blame if we can't spell; I
think these brainless software programs are simply showing how poorly we
were taught at an early age.

     I say "we" so that you don't get the impression that I am just talking
about kids. Adults have this homonymic affliction, too.

     The other day, a distinguished publisher of how-to books sent me a
review copy of a book by a respected author. In the back of the book, he
explained how he had done most of the work on the book himself - even
producing the book's pages, ready for the publisher's press, on his own
desktop-publishing software and laser printer.

     I hadn't read past Page 11 when I saw his first gaffe.

     "Press the brake key," the book said.

     There were other mistakes just like that throughout the book.

     I had better things to do than wade through that sort of illiteracy,
so I put on the breaks and went back to my keybored. The book went into the
trash.
 

  
[EOA]
[QUI]//////////////////////////////
                THE MIGHTY QUINN /
/////////////////////////////////
Random Access
"""""""""""""
By Mark Quinn
     [NEWSIE]



                "A Whole Buncha Milliseconds with Mark"
                           by Mark Quinn, DOA
                         GEnie address:  NEWSIE

     "When he sits around the computer, he really sits _around_ the
computer."

     That sentence pretty much describes me.  I'll admit it:  I've tortured
my culinary sensibilities with McWendy's not-so-haute cuisine with the
worst of them.  Richard Simmons would be aghast at the sight of my daily
repast.

     While I'm baring my ASCII:  I'm 6'5" (not 6'5" through, by the way,
but the jury is out as long as the light inside the refrigerator isn't)
tall, and when I was in high school and attended family gatherings, distant
male relatives would always ask me if I played football.

     People have stopped asking me that.  Instead they'll say something on
the order of "I've got a cousin about your size.  Where do you buy your
clothes?".  My father will take a close look at me and fade into a story
about someone he vaguely knew ten years ago who died in bed after about
nine heart attacks after they had quintuple- bypass surgery, the result
requiring bashing a gaping hole in the roof of the poor deceased person's
house, the services of a crane operator, a carpenter, and a large flatbed
truck with a "Wide Load" sign fluttering in the breeze on its rear.

     I really shouldn't trivialize my plight and the plight of many others
who are ruled by their food.  Then again, no one else should -- but does
that stop every dumbarse from recycling tired fat jokes for the burning
ears of overweight targets, waddling down the main aisles of KMarts across
the country?   I've felt their dull barbs for most of my life, and my main
recourse is humor.  My main course is a double cheeseburger with the works,
but my main recourse is humor.

     I haven't always been obese.  When I was 14 years old, I starved,
bicycled, and exercised my excess weight into temporary oblivion.  I was
amazed at the easy way I became 'popular' with the jocks.  One of them
asked me how I did it, and seemed quite surprised when I said, "I don't eat
anymore.  I'm a one-serving kinda guy."

     Then summer vacation came, and my weight slowly began to return --
along with the stares and the jokes.  I can remember sitting in our living
room and scarfing down one peanut butter sandwich after another.  Why?
I've often thought that I was so afraid of living up to everyone's
expectations that I took the easy way out:  my old protective coloration.
I doubt it.  The answer was that I was on the wrong kind of diet.
Starvation diets hardly ever work, as I've since been told.

     So why don't I "buck up" and lose the weight again, the right way this
time?  Hmm . . . here's the answer:  I'm waiting for R. Simmons to
acknowledge my existence by selling his once-controversial "Deal-a-Meal"
package, long ago adapted for use on PCs, on the QVC shopping network.

     Then some rotund hacker will give in and write a "cheat program" for
it, and I'll be able to eat all the chocolate cake and Haagen Daz (now in
version 6.0, I believe) I want.

     Can you imagine the calls he'd get on the tech support line?
"Richard, this is Wanda.  My husband got so desperate last night that he
ate the Deal-a-Meal disk, and wouldn't give me a byte.  It was a
high-density disk, so he said he felt pretty full after it went down.  Now
we have no program.  Then he said he had some of the wallpaper in our
bedroom with ranch dressing, and swore it was delicious.  What do I
doooo?!"

     "Hang on, Wanda.  (Lapsing into some sort of high-pitched shriek.)
'Help me, Wanda, help-help me Wanda'.  We'll send you a backup.  About the
wallpaper, ask your husband to send me a sample of it and if it's good
enough, I'll put it in my cookbook."

     Now that my TV, VCR, and cassette deck have fallen to Sir
Richard, so far, only my computer remains unsoiled.  There's a TV in the
computer room, though.  But there is also a way out.

     ". . . I hold the fork", Simmons reads, racking up another fifty
or so sales.

     "And I hold the remote control," I say.


 
[EOA]
[PRO]//////////////////////////////
                        PROFILES /
/////////////////////////////////
Who's Who In Apple II
"""""""""""""""""""""



                           >>> WHO'S WHO <<<
                           """""""""""""""""
             ~ GEnieLamp Profile:  Kitchen Sink Software ~



     [Prefatory note: Kitchen Sink Software is a partnership currently
      owned by Guy Forsythe, Cindy Forsythe and Eric Bush.  Most of the
      following questions have been answered by Guy, the founder of the
      company.]

                               [*][*][*]


GEnieLamp>   Guy, can you tell us a little of how you first became
"""""""""    interested in the Apple II?

Kitchen Sink Software>   In 1983 I was (and still am) a Drafting teacher.
"""""""""""""""""""""    I wanted to introduce computer-assisted design,
CAD, in my classes at the local high school.  I saw some computer things
being done by teachers at a professional conference and decided I needed to
start learning.  I had just finished building my new home and was ready for
a fresh challenge.  The computer teacher at the high school had just gotten
a lab of Apple //e's and offered a short in-service in computer
programming.  I took it.  We learned a few simple commands and that was
about it.  I checked the Applesoft manual out of the library and started
reading it during my hall duty.  It seemed logical and easy to do.  A
friend of my wife Cindy had purchased an Apple //+ with one drive and an
Okidata printer.  That was a $2700 system.  In those days you could buy a
good late model used car for that kind of money!  She tried programming but
it just didn't "take" with her so she loaned me the computer over the
summer of 1983.  I wrote a few programs.  Nothing over a few hundred lines
and none of them did anything of any significance.


GEnieLamp>   When and how did you decide to start Kitchen Sink Software?
"""""""""    What was your company's first software product?

Kitchen Sink Software>   The next school year I looked into buying a CAD
"""""""""""""""""""""    system.  I bought an architectural design program
that is still popular today.  It had no scale to the printout.  You could
design a house, but it was a fantasy house that could not be built.  So I
sent it back and tried a Versawriter.  It was a graphic tablet with
software.  It was a darned good product in its day.  I found a way to
measure when using the Versawriter that allowed me to get accurate scale
printouts on an Epson MX-100 printer using Graphtrix software to dump the
hires screen to the printer.  It was workable but in the winter of 1984 I
started writing a program that would teach true CAD in the classroom.  In
the spring I bought an unenhanced //e and really sweat over all the extra
money I put out for the full 128k and duodisk (that duodisk STILL
duplicates hundreds of disks each year).  I called it CADDRAW.

     In the late spring I called a Drafting supply company that supplies
schools and has an excellent reputation.  They wanted to take a look, so
Cindy and I packed up the computer and drove 50 miles to the supplier.
They weren't interested at first but called us back the next week and we
gave another demo.  This time the said they would sell it and make it their
big new product in the Fall when school starts.  They were doing nothing
with software at that time, and were scared of venturing into the field.

     They wanted me to handle the publishing because of their initial fear.
I just wanted royalties but decided to publish it.  CADDRAW ended up being
10% of their total sales the first year.  We made good money and they
expanded their customer base as CADDRAW brought them new customers for
traditional supplies too.  They are still out biggest dealer.  CADDRAW
became the number one program in the schools for teaching CAD.  The major
press didn't think much of it though, so we didn't get good reviews.  It
was a bit crude since it was my first real program.  But, it was the only
program of the time that gave accurate scale drawings on a dot matrix
printer.  As a professional designer, that was far more important to me.
The other programs were slightly "slicker" in appearance but the output was
worthless.


GEnieLamp>   At some time in the company's early history you teamed up
"""""""""    with Jerry Kindall, who recently became editor-in-chief of
"II Alive," the new bi-monthly magazine published by Quality Computers.
How did Jerry come to work for Kitchen Sink Software?

Kitchen Sink Software>   I saw Jerry writing letters to Open Apple (now
"""""""""""""""""""""    A2-Central).  He seemed to really know ProDOS.  I
had started AccuDraw in DOS 3.3 but wanted to go ProDOS with it.  But
BASIC.SYSTEM is such a memory hog.  Jerry lived in a suburb of Columbus
exactly across town from Westerville where I am.  So I looked up Jerry in
the phone book.  I found a Kindall in Grove City, but not Jerry.  Turned
out he was a student at the local 2 year college.  He and I both had an
interest in writing a compact shell to link Applesoft with ProDOS.  He was
selling paint at Sears part time.  I offered him slightly more than Sears
and he went for it.  He started on a compact DOS shell.  He kept saying
things like "With just 28 more bytes I can add a rename command." The next
thing you know, we had MicroDot.  Then he started writing graphic assembler
routines for AccuDraw.  Then he graduated and got a real job at Quality.
CADDRAW was starting to fade badly so I could not afford to pay him anymore
so it all worked out the best for both of us that Quality wanted him.


GEnieLamp>   When did Eric Bush come on board at Kitchen Sink Software? And
"""""""""    what programming projects has Eric worked on for the company?

Kitchen Sink Software>   Eric was my student teacher in 1988.  He had never
"""""""""""""""""""""    worked on an Apple before, but he learned fast.
I told him what I thought a good grade book program should be and a year
later he showed up with Amazing Window.  A year later it went into
production, Eric and I became friends and he helped do a million little
things for AccuDraw and other projects like "Kick Start" and "Routines Vol.
I," just because he thought it was fun.  This past January Eric finally got
paid.  He now owns 1/3 of Kitchen Sink.  He still doesn't make anything,
but now I can call him anytime or have him help with a mass mailing and
have no guilt feelings.  :)


GEnieLamp>   Your two flagship products, the AccuDraw CAD (computer-
"""""""""    assisted design) program, and the Amazing Window grade book
program, are marketed to schools.  Do you use these programs in the classes
that you yourself teach?  Can you briefly describe how AccuDraw is
different from other Apple II CAD programs on the market?  How is Amazing
Window different?

Kitchen Sink Software>   I use both programs in my classes along with the
"""""""""""""""""""""    CNC Trainer (which is a G-Code editor and machine
driver for teaching Computer Numerical Control programming - for you tech
types).  Eric used them in his classrooms also along with Robot Assembly
Lab.

     AccuDraw is different because it works much like a paint or draw
program rather than like a traditional CAD system so it is easier to work
with.  It is the only Apple // product ever produced that gives you
accurate scale drawings in every scale there is on every dot matrix printer
made.  And it runs on a 128k //e (a must in the education market).  It will
do cut with rotated pastes, use Apple IIGS screen fonts (font file length
maximum is 6k), standard Applesoft shape tables (though our own AccuSymbols
are far more efficient and draw up to 20x faster than hires shapes) and
Eric's most incredible circle routine.

     It will "grow" an elliptical arc in real time on a 1 megahertz //e.
It does regular polygons, ellipses of any degree and all of the above
rotated to any angle!  You can do it faster than you can figure out all the
parameters of what I just said.  It also lets you use any symbol as a paint
brush.  It has fill routines that are accurate to common scales.  It will
make printouts up to 6 x 8 FEET ( Yes, feet) at 72 dots-per-inch (DPI) on a
standard 8 inch wide dot matrix printer.  It will make a poster of any
screen.  It can import standard hires screens.  The measurement readout is
decimal based and is constantly updated as you move the cursor.  No
counting grid lines or ruler lines on two edges.  The X, Y, True Length
distance and angle from horizontal are right together so you see them all
at once.  Just press "m" and the 0,0 point changes to the current cursor
location.  There is much more.

     Amazing Window is THE best grade book program.  It is a spreadsheet
with two windows.  One window shows student names and the other shows the
corresponding grades.  It displays 10 names and ten grades for each name at
a time.  The current student name and current grade are both highlighted so
there is no doubt which name you are on.  At the top of the screen, the
current assignment name, point value and weighted area are displayed.  You
can get a spreadsheet type printout or ten other printouts.  The most
popular is the work sheet.  It is a temporary grade book for storing a
weeks worth of grades and attendance.  I use them the first few weeks of
the year while kids are changing schedules.

     When Cindy Field (from A+/Incider) reviewed Amazing Window she gave me
a call.  One of her comments was that she was amazed at how fast the
spreadsheet scrolled and displayed all the information too.  It is a credit
to Eric's programming skill.  Cindy thought her Apple IIGS might still be
in the fast mode when it was actually in the slow mode.  It is just that
Eric's code is so fast.

     You never hear about Robot Assembly Lab but last year it was our
number one program.  It is simple enough for 5th graders to use and
interesting enough for high schoolers to use.  You design robots based on
customer specifications using the 64 components available.  Cost is a
factor and you earn commissions.  It is our biggest seller to dealers.


GEnieLamp>   Just recently Kitchen Sink Software obtained the distribution
"""""""""    rights to OmniPrint, an ImageWriter II printer utility. How
did this arrangement come about?  What do you think are the most useful
features of OmniPrint?

Kitchen Sink Software>   When Randy Brandt (creator of TimeOut UltraMacros
"""""""""""""""""""""    and other gems) first showed me OmniPrint in the
wee hours at the Kansasfest summer conference, in 1991, I told him I could
sell a hoot load.  He said he'd give me a good dealer price if we could
just come to agreement on what a hoot load is in real numbers.  We
negotiated and concluded it was a whole Byte (256).  I love Apple //
people!  They are never to busy to waste a bunch of time having fun!
Skipping all the details of why, we are now the publishers of OmniPrint.
The changes we have made to the package are that it now runs on a 128k //e
with 5.25" drives.  (OmniPrint does require AppleWorks 3.0.) It also now
includes a printed manual and two great "cheat sheets."  We also put a
couple more sample files on the disk.  The work we did to get it to this
point is why Randy let us take over publishing it.  The features I use the
most are the borders, the double-high fonts and the ability to change
Characters Per Inch and fonts mid-line.

     Also, I use OmniPrint to set the ImageWriter II to the best print mode
instead of pushing the buttons on the ImageWriter.  Math teachers will love
the math symbols.  Foreign language teachers will like the fact that you
get ALL the ImageWriter II foreign characters.  GEnie folks will like the
ability to print Mousetext as well as all the features.  And what's really
neat is that it prints out at text speed.  If you have a color ribbon, you
can change colors anywhere in the document you want and as often as you
want.  Note, though, that OmniPrint work only with the AppleWorks word
processing module.


GEnieLamp>   What is your wife Cindy's role in running Kitchen Sink
"""""""""    Software?

Kitchen Sink Software>   Cindy does the real work.  She puts together the
"""""""""""""""""""""    software packages, shipping, invoicing.  She does
all the day to day operations as well as keep me on the straight and
narrow.  She makes sure our programs and instructions are understandable by
real people and not just us weirdos.


GEnieLamp>    From what I understand your partner, Eric Bush, recently
"""""""""     finished his masters degree.  Was this a masters in
education or a masters in computer science?  Will Eric be staying on at
Kitchen Sink?

Kitchen Sink Software>   Eric has to stay.  Since he is part owner he comes
"""""""""""""""""""""    under the heading of "Slaves cannot quit."  :)
I'll let him tell you about his Master's.


GEnieLamp>   Eric, can you tell us a little about the subject of your
"""""""""    master's thesis?  Are you currently teaching full-time?
Doing any computer programming work outside of Kitchen Sink Software?

Kitchen Sink Software>   My thesis was titled "Considerations for the
"""""""""""""""""""""    Development of Educational Computer Software".
In using software, I saw programs that were written by programmers that had
no teaching background.  I saw programs that were written by teachers with
no programming background.  A model was presented in my thesis to allow
programmers to see what should be included from an education standpoint and
to allow teachers to see what should be included from a programming
standpoint.

     I taught in the public schools for three years before returning to The
Ohio State University to pursue my Master's degree.  I completed my
Master's in Education in December of 1992.  I am currently involved with a
national clearinghouse for science and mathematics related instructional
materials.  The clearinghouse collects, abstracts, and makes available
instructional materials for the K-12 teacher.  These materials will
include, software, kits, videos, filmstrips, and any other kind of media
you can think of.  My position relates to creating relational databases
that can be accessed across a network and providing the catalog records
that can be searched on-line.

     My position at the clearinghouse allows me to do some applications
programming, but it is mostly software setup and database development.  I
do most of my programming (Apple II) between 6:00 pm and 12:00 am (with
some nights a little later than that).


GEnieLamp>   Eric, can you tell us about your hobbies and interests?  What
"""""""""    would you like to do more of if you had the time?

Kitchen Sink Software>   My biggest hobby is of course computer
"""""""""""""""""""""    programming.  But, when I am not programming, I
enjoy working on my father's farm (which is about 4,500 acres).  I am
currently refurbishing two antique reel type lawn mowers which I hope to
use to maintain the yard in the house that my wife (Cheryl) and I purchased
in October, 1992.  Electricity is a hobby that has come in quite handy with
the new house.  Adding lights, switches, phones, etc. where I want them has
been an enjoyable pastime.


GEnieLamp>   Many software publishing companies that started out with the
"""""""""    Apple II are moving to cross-platform development for future
software products.  Is it possible that Kitchen Sink Software may be
releasing any Mac or IBM products in the future?

Kitchen Sink Software>   We already have a product for both.  It is called
"""""""""""""""""""""    Streamlined CNC. It is for writing G-Code program
for CNC vertical mills.  Any product we develop in the future will be
across all platforms.  In the education market, there simply is no choice
any more.  Eric is the MAC person.  He has already started a total re-write
of our Robot Assembly Lab for the MAC.  I am doing the Apple version.  And
we have a third person doing the IBM version for royalties (that means
he'll actually make some money!).  We do have an Apple // specific program
in the works and an IBM specific program in the works.  Sadly, I expect the
IBM program to be the best revenue generator.  But if it makes money, we
can afford to keep developing for the Apple.  I guess I am an Apple //
groupie.  Note that we are 8-bit people and we still think that the //e
still holds up compared to the others for the type of applications that
most people need or want.  I am sitting next to my MAC Centris 610 as I use
AppleWorks to type this in.


GEnieLamp>   Kitchen Sink Software has attended three out of the four
"""""""""    summer KansasFest conferences organized by Resource Central.
Can you share a few words about your view of Resource Central and their
work? Are you planning on making a presentation again at this summer's
conference?

Kitchen Sink Software>   Jerry Kindall went to the first KansasFest when he
"""""""""""""""""""""    was working for us.  Eric and I have gone
together to every conference since then.  We both presented at the last two
conferences, and our presentations were well attended.  We seemed to be the
major 8-bit presenters there.  We will be submitting proposals to Resource
Central to present again at this upcoming summer's conference.

     Eric and I both like teaching to people who really want to learn
something.  Which is so refreshing compared to the public school classroom.

     I think of Resource Central as the glue that is holding together what
is left of the Apple // world.  They carry on the old Apple // hacker
atmosphere that Beagle Bros started.  And Kansasfest itself...  It is as
good as going to the National Model Railroading Convention.  Now that may
not mean much to most of you, but these are the only two places I ever go
overnight without my wife and I AM FAITHFUL to her.


GEnieLamp>   For reference purposes, kindly list the Apple II software
"""""""""    products that Kitchen Sink Software distributes - - - along
with their prices and how to reach you.

Kitchen Sink Software>   Call us at 1-800-235-2205 or 614-891-2111
"""""""""""""""""""""
Kitchen Sink Software, Inc.
903 Knebworth ct.
Westerville, OH   43081         USA

     I try to be by the phone from 3:30 to 5:30 E.T weekdays.  If I don't
answer the phone you will either get Cindy or the answering machine.
Please leave a message.  We WILL call you back.

     We publish a newsletter 2 to 3 times a year called "Creativity
Update."  It is oriented toward our education market but has general
computer information and, of course, all of our products.  Call for a free
copy.  We send one out with every inquiry.  But to get onto our regular
mailing list for two years you have to purchase a product direct or through
a dealer or send us $2.00 for two year subscription.

     A note on dealers.  Naturally, we make more profit on a direct sale,
but frankly, dealers provide volume because of exposure in their catalogs.
We have found it extremely difficult to get dealers outside of education.
Call your dealer and insist they order it in for you.  We will be happy to
give them a good discount.  We want them to find out that they can make
money carrying our products.  They won't know if they don't hear from
customers.

Products (Apple //e except as noted):

     AccuDraw Electronics  $ 99.95
     AccuDraw Floor Plan   $ 99.95
     AccuDraw Floor Plan and Electronics $ 138.90
     AccuDraw Floor Plan network version $ 299.95
          (you can add the second module later for $39.95)
     Amazing Window Gradesheet $ 49.95
     Amazing Window Gradesheet building license $1.50 per teacher
     Amazing Median Gradesheet - same as Amazing Window 1/4" Scale Exterior
          Elevation Symbols for AccuDraw  $ 24.95
     1/2" Scale Kitchen Symbols for Accudraw  $ 39.95
     Robot Assembly Lab  $ 49.95
     Robot Assembly Lab pack for 6 computers  $ 99.95
     Bridge Builder $ 58.95
     Bridge Builder Lab pack for entire building  $ 118.95
     Bridge Builder  IBM  $ 98.95  Lab Pack/5 disks IBM  $347.95
     MicroDot  $ 29.95
     Kick Start  $ 9.95
     Routines Vol. I  $ 9.95
     CNC Trainer $ 69.95
     Bridgeport Mill Driver $ 39.95
     Dyna Mill Post Processor and Driver $ 39.95
     CNC Trainer with building license  $ 149.95
     Streamlined CNC  MAC or IBM  $199.95
     Streamlined CNC with building license  MAC or IBM $399.95
     Getting Started in G-Code book  $ 5.00
     OmniPrint $ 49.95

Shipping is $3.00 anywhere in the lower 48 states.
             8.00 for Canada, AK and HI
                  Actual Cost every place else.
            $5.00 extra for COD
                  Overnight or 2nd day air UPS: Actual cost

     We take checks, money orders, purchase orders, Visa,
Mastercard, or COD.



[EOA]
[REF]//////////////////////////////
                     REFLECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Online Communications
"""""""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
   [P.SHAPRIO1]


 
                         >>> ONLINE EDITING <<<
                         """"""""""""""""""""""
                     ~ Polishing the Written Word ~

     In ages past the written word served principally as a means of
communication.  In this information age, the written word is increasingly
becoming an economic commodity in its own right.  But unlike tangible
economic commodities, information commodities have the capability of
bearing greatly enhanced value if they have first passed through the hands
of an eagle-eyed editor.

     Chances are that in the not too distant future every professional,
regardless of trade, will spend upwards of two to three hours each day
writing.   When a person's livelihood depends on the clarity of his or her
written expression, you can be sure that person will give thought to making
use of editing services.

     Enter online editing.  When it absolutely positively has to be edited
before tomorrow morning, you can't beat electronic mail for speed, price,
and convenience.

     To be sure, the fax machine has great potential as an editing tool.
Editor's comments can be scribbled in the margins, or can be penciled in
right above the offending text.  But faxes take time to send.  For a simple
editing job, fax machines could work well.  But if multiple drafts need to
be sent back and forth, electronic mail works out to be both faster and
cheaper.


The Pricing of Editing Services   The pricing of online editing services
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   is likely to be pegged to the
time-sensitive nature of the editing job.  Prose that can wait a whole week
to be edited will likely be priced at a substantially lower rate than prose
that needs to be edited before tomorrow morning.  Premium rates will apply
to prose that needs to be edited before the end of the next hour.  Some
editing services may even offer live, while-you-wait, online editing.

     It's interesting to spend a little time thinking about the pricing of
online editing services.  Of what economic value would it be to a lawyer to
make sure his or her legal brief is clear, concise, and free of
embarrassing grammatical mistakes?  Would the value be $75?  $150  $350?
$500?

      If you're not sure how to answer this question, consider asking a
defendant in a criminal trial how much he or she values his or her freedom.
Ask a doctor accused of malpractice how much he or she values retaining his
or her medical license.  Ask a large corporation how much it values being
exonerated of tort liability.

     Naturally, the value of an editing service may vary depending on the
particular circumstances facing the author on that particular day.  But
it's quite conceivable that a professional worker may be willing to pay
$200 or more to have an hour's worth of online interactive editing.  When
the stakes are really high, the value of an online editing service could
rise to the $800 to $1000 level for two to three hours of late-night,
while-you-wait editing.


Online Editing in the Academic World   Thinking along the same lines, how
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   much would it be worth for a
college student to have his or her English, history, or social studies
paper looked over by an editor's eyes?  How much would an Ivy League
pre-med value getting an "A" over a "B" on an important term paper?

     This, of course, raises some thorny ethical issues.  How can a
professor be sure that a student's writing has not been entirely re-written
by a fee-based online editing service?  The best counter-argument to this
concern is that the ethical problems of "student originality" have always
been a concern on campuses.  The fact that a student makes use of an online
editing service does not itself imply that an abuse of that editing service
has taken place.

     Already steps are being taken on some campuses to verify the
originality of student writings.  College students of the 1990's should not
be surprised, then, to have professors asking them to hand in rough drafts
along with their finished papers.


Online Editing Conventions   As online editing becomes a more accepted
""""""""""""""""""""""""""   practice, online editing conventions will
surely become more commonplace.  Instead of re-sending an entire edited
manuscript back to an author, many editors will favor sending just the
suggested modifications.

     For instance, text to be deleted could be enclosed in square brackets.
["To be or not to be; that is the thing I've been thinking about a lot
lately."]

     Text to be added could be included in curly-brackets.  {"To be, or not
to be.  That is the question."}


Numbered Paragraphs Greatly Assist Online Editors   For ease of reference,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   the numbering of
paragraphs will be a big help to online editors.  In the case of detailed
technical writings, the numbering of sentences could be useful, too.
Almost any word-processing macro language can take care of numbering
sentences or paragraphs.  Look for such a macro coming to a disk drive near
you, soon.

     It's a basic law of psychology that the human mind cannot
simultaneously concentrate on the content of ideas and the expression of
those ideas both at the same time. And even if you could do so, few writers
anywhere can write prose that is so flawless as to leave an editor with no
suggested changes to make. (Whether you decide to make those suggested
changes, or not, will always be up to you.) To be sure, grammar checkers
and spelling checkers can be helpful in correcting the superficial
imperfections in writing.  But to straighten out the internal logic of
prose - - - to tighten prose so that every word carries force and meaning,
you must necessarily look to the services of a skilled human editor.

     Luckily for you, a fee-based online editing service may be soon only
an e-mail message away.   It will be interesting to see which of the
national information services takes the lead in bringing such services
online.
 
                               [*][*][*]

 
          [The author takes an interest in the social dimensions
           of communication technology.  He can be reached on
           GEnie at:  p.shapiro1; on America Online at:
           pshapiro; and on Internet at:pshapiro@pro-novapple.cts.com]
 


[EOA]
[CON]//////////////////////////////
                     CONNECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
By Joe Kohn


     Copyright (c) 1992 by Joe Kohn

     Permission is hereby granted to non-profit Apple II User Groups to
     republish this article, in whole or in part, in their newsletters.
     Electronic re-distribution is encouraged via online network and/or
     BBS.  This article may not be re-published by any for-profit
     organization without the written consent of Joe Kohn.)

                               [*][*][*]


Greetings everyone.

     * I am firmly convinced that the single most valuable peripheral
device that can be connected to a computer is a modem. Once a modem is
connected, it's possible for anyone to join that huge group of Apple II
users who frequent America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, and the Internet. I'm
so convinced of the importance of "going online" that I will be writing a
new column for inCider/A+ on the subject. By now, many of you will have
seen the first installment of "Grapevine", and I hope that it's piqued your
interest in owning a modem. Each month, I'll be sharing interesting Apple
II related tidbits found on the various online services, and I'll also be
sharing money saving hints and tips for those of you who already have
modems. Grapevine; coming monthly to inCider/A+.

     * I'd like to mention a brand new $10 Shareware program that's one of
the best brain teasing, yet enjoyable, games I've ever played on the IIGS.
Kenrick Mock, the author of that fine game Columns GS, has just released
BoggleGS, and it's something that all fans of word games should have. When
first run, a colorful grid filled with letters appears. You have 3 minutes
to find words that can be made from adjacent letters in the grid. It's a
very colorful program and even has music. If you enjoy working crossword
puzzles, you should really enjoy it, and if you're a teacher, you'll love
BoggleGS.

     * Speaking of shareware, I'd like to let you know about a fantastic
new Apple IIGS shareware utility program that may change your life. Coming
all the way from New South Wales in Australia, John MacLean's $10 DOS 3.3
Launcher should be of great interest to long-time Apple II owners who have
a large library of older DOS 3.3 software. In short, DOS 3.3 Launcher
provides an easy-to-use way to store, and run, DOS 3.3 software on any hard
drive connected to an Apple IIGS. Even if your hard drive wasn't DOS 3.3
compatible before, it is now.

     DOS 3.3 Launcher is a GS/OS desktop based program that can be launched
from the Finder. It has a standard GS/OS interface complete with pull down
menus. Once run, it will allow you to copy DOS 3.3 Binary files, or entire
DOS 3.3 disks, to your hard drive, and it will let you launch those files
or disks from the Finder, and will return you to The Finder when you're
finished using the DOS 3.3 software. DOS 3.3 Launcher works with single or
double sided disks. It even slows down old games so that they run at 1 Mhz,
and returns you to the GS'es faster speed upon exiting those programs. It
does not work, of course, with copy protected sofware.

     John MacLean, who also wrote Roger Wagner's Graphic Exchange, has
written a very useful utility program that will soon have you dusting off
your old DOS 3.3 software.

     * Speaking of new software, I finally got around to installing the new
AppleWorks Classic enhancement TimeOut Grammar. This is a grammar checker
that works right from within AppleWorks, and I like it a lot. This TimeOut
version is based upon the old Sensible Grammar, and works in a similar
manner. It checks Appleworks word processing documents for grammar usage
and punctuation. Combining that with TimeOut Thesaurus, AppleWorks V3.0 is
a writer's best friend. TimeOut Grammar is available from Quality
Computers.

     * Quality Computers will soon be releasing Finder Helper, an
incredible collection of System 6.0 Finder Extensions and Desk Accessories
written by noted IIGS programmer Bill Tudor. I really like Finder Helper a
lot, but before I provide any details, allow me the liberty to stray, and
please be patient with me as I editorialize a little.

     Many of the utilities found in Finder Helper started out life as
shareware products. Bill Tudor must have been quite proud when he saw that
his programs had been downloaded hundreds of times from the various online
networks, and were in use on thousands of System 6 equipped GS'es; hardly a
day went by when I didn't hear someone rave about how great Bill Tudor's
shareware programs were. But, something was amiss. Many of the people that
used Bill Tudor's shareware never bothered to send in their shareware fees,
so he sought a more traditional outlet for his software. Now that it's a
commercial product, he'll at least be getting some monetary reward, but, in
some ways, I can't help but feel that the Apple IIGS community has lost
something.

     It's important to submit shareware fees for programs you use. By
sending in shareware fees, you'll be helping to prolong the life of the
Apple II, because you'll be encouraging those who program these computers.
Think about it, and then take the pledge to submit at least one shareware
payment to an author whose work you like.

     Getting back to Finder Helper, it's a collection of Finder Extensions
and New Desk Accessories that provide useful new tools that can be used
when using GS/OS. It includes a very well behaved Alarm Clock that appears
in the IIGS Menu Bar. It includes Cdev Alias that allows you to control
your Control Panel Devices from a New Desk Accessory. SuperDataPath allows
you to easily instruct the Finder where it can find your data files.
HotKeys allows you to launch your favorite programs directly from the
IIGS'es numerical keyboard. Catalog will save a disk catalog's contents to
a file on disk. File Peeker shows you the contents of Text, Teach,
Pictures, Sounds, Icons and Filetype documents. Workset allows you to
double click on one small icon and have AppleWorksGS, for example, launch
and load multiple documents. Crypt allows you to encrypt all your sensitive
personal files, and MoreInfo provides, among other things, the ability to
lock and unlock files right from the Finder's Extra Menu.

     Due to the fact that Apple has trademarked the word "Finder", when
this set of utilities is actually released, it may have a different name.
No matter what it's named, it's a great package of System 6 enhancements.

     * I spent a pleasant afternoon recently with Olivier Goguel, the
founder of the FTA, when he was visiting San Francisco. If you're not
already familiar with the FTA, make sure you pick up some of their freeware
disks from your local user group or download some from your favorite online
service. The France based FTA has created a stunning collection of GS
software, and it is not to be missed.

     The FTA disbanded late last year, and are no longer actively
programming for the IIGS, but Olivier Goguel still managed to bring me some
GS news from France. And, it's from France that we might eventually see a
MultiFinder. In any case, Olivier did give me a disk of his latest
software. Alas, it requires an IBM or compatible. I brought it over to a
friend's to see, and we were both mightily impressed.

     I was able to arrange what I think of as the "Summit Meeting of the
Century" between Olivier Goguel and that GS programming master, Bill
Heineman. The two spent a day together, impressing each other with their
programming abilities. It's just possible that we'll see a joint project
coming from that meeting.

     * In the rumor department, I've been hearing a lot recently about One
World Software Wizards, a new group of Apple IIGS programmers whose plans
include a freeware CAD program and a new version of NoiseTracker. It's even
rumored that the founder of the FTA is going to be involved. Stay tuned, in
future months, to see if anything comes from these great plans.

                               [*][*][*]

 
     ** Joe Kohn is a Contributing Editor for inCider/A+ Magazine, and
        writes the monthly "Shareware Solutions" and "Grapevine" columns.
        He also writes a monthly column for Softdisk G-S, and is the
        Founder and President of Shareware Solutions: The User Group.
        Connections is his monthly column that is distributed as
        Copyrighted Freeware. Write to Joe Kohn at 166 Alpine Street, San
        Rafael, CA 94901. Send a self addressed stamped envelope if you'd
        like a personal reply. Or, contact Joe online. He shouldn't be too
        hard to locate on America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, or on the net.

 

[EOA]
[ASK]//////////////////////////////
                  ASK DOCTOR BOB /
/////////////////////////////////
Gotta Problem?  Gotta Answer!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Bob Connors
  [R.CONNORS2]

     o   4DOS, NDOS, AND THE LOADHIGH COMMAND

          o  IS MY BATTERY FADING AWAY?


Doctor Bob,

     Is the MS-DOS 6 readme correct that 4.02 will fix the LH switch
problem?  Or does one of the 4.01x versions fix this?  Also, how do I
install over NDOS which I am using now?

     Thanks,
     Daniel


Hello Daniel,

     My source tells me that 4DOS 4.02 fixes the LH switch problem
although he hasn't used it (he uses QEMM386).  He does know that it is not
fixed in 4.01 though.

     As to your second question, there are two ways to go about it:

     1) Change the SHELL command in your CONFIG.SYS file to point
        to 4DOS instead of NDOS.  Since NDOS is a subset of 4DOS,
        that should not affect things.

     2) Another alternative is to rename 4DOS.COM to COMMAND.COM
        and use that in your SHELL statement.  I haven't tried it
        (I don't use 4DOS myself) but my source has and,
        according to him, it eliminates a whole lot of
        configuration problems with applications.

     Hope this helps but a word of caution, BACKUP!

-Doctor Bob
                               [*][*][*]


Doctor Bob,

     I have a question about the IIGs battery.  I have had my 'puter for
going on 5 years now, and never changed the battery.  Lately, about 4 times
out of the last 50 cold boots, my computer lost all of my control panel
settings and went to default, except for the sound.  It goes to the max.
Is this a symptom of my battery going on me or what?  Any help would be
appreciated.  Thanks for any help,

                                       chevy chase  (R.GELLOCK)


Hi Chevy,

     What you describe does certainly sound like a weak battery to me.  I
would suggest that you get it changed or, if you are technically
responsible (you know which end of the screwdriver has the blade) and you
know the details of your computer's innards, you might be able to do it
yourself.

     If you do not know how to do it, then either take it to someone who
services the IIGS or check out the APPLE, A2PRO, or A2 RoundTables.  There
is bound to be someone in one of those RoundTables who can give you the
necessary guidance.

-Doctor Bob
                               [*][*][*]


ASK DOCTOR BOB   Do you have a question about operating systems, GEnie or
""""""""""""""   anything concerning computers?  If so, you can get your
questions answered here in GEnieLamp by Doctor Bob.  Any question is fair
game...and if the good Doctor Bob doesn't know the answer, he'll find
someone who does.  Stop wandering around in the dark, send your question to
Doctor Bob in the Digital Publishing RoundTable bulletin board, CATegory
3, TOPic 3.



[EOA] 
[MOO]//////////////////////////////
                       CowTOONS! /
/////////////////////////////////
100% lean                            (                )
    /~~~~\  /~~~~\  |       | /~~|~~\ \/~~~~\  /~~~~\/ |     | /~~~~\
   |       |      | |       |    |    |      ||      | |\    | `.
   |       |      | |   |   |    |    | (o   || (o   | |  \  |   `-.
    \____,  \____/   \./ \./     |     \____/  \____/  |    \| \____)
                                         \         /
     /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  \     /    . No Skimming!
    /    [MOO] By MIKE WHITE [MWHITE]       (. .) . '
   *        Cows from Literature,            ~~~
            History, and the Arts
                             |\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/|
   Volume I, Number 3        | |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |
                             | |                                    | |
                             | |        o]        [__]       o][o   | |
                             | |      [o            [o^]   ~        | |
                             | |    \   /   /-------\/      ~       | |
                             | |       ||    / |     ||       ~     | |
                             | |     *       *  ||----||   |: 0     | |
                             | |              ~~    ~~         |    | |
                             | |                                    | |
                             |/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\|
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    
                                             Cubist Cows
                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~
                              attributed to Pablo Piccowso, 1881 - 1973

 $
                           ...---...
                        ../  / | \  \..           $
                      ./ /  /  |  \  \ \.
              $      /  /   /  |  \   \  \                        $
                    /  /   /   |   \   \  \
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  $                   \        |        /
                       \       |       /                    $
                        \      |      /
              $          \     |     /
                          \    |    /
                           \   |   /          $
                            \  |  /
                             \ | /(__)
                              \|/ (oo)
                           /---++--\/
                          / |  || ||
                         *  ||-++-||
                            ~~    ~~
 
                         D. B. Mooper
  
                Hijacked a Northwest Boeing 727
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         November 1971



      (.....)                       
      ( ! ! )                       
       \ ' /                        
        / \              
      /     \                       CowTOONS?  Stephen Litwin took us up
     |\     /|                      on our offer and sent in this month's
     |  \|/  |                      CowTOONS selection.
     (   |   )                      
      \  |  /                       If you have an idea for a CowTOON, we
       | | |                        would like to see it.  And, if we pick
       ] | [      .'''''''.         your CowTOON for publishing in GEnieLamp 
         J..../ '          0        we will credit your account with 2 hours
                           U        of GEnie non-prime time!
                                    
       Arnold Cowl-mer
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Making a Perfect Cow Chip
            By Steve Litwin
                [S.LITWIN2]
 


[EOA]
[AII]//////////////////////////////
                        APPLE II /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II History, Part 12
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Steven Weyhrich
      [S.WEYHRICH]



                         >>> APPLE II HISTORY <<<
                         """"""""""""""""""""""""
                  Compiled and written by Steven Weyhrich
                    (C) Copyright 1993, Zonker Software
              (PART 12 -- PERIPHERALS & THE APPLE II ABROAD)
                            [v1.2 :: 12 Nov 92]


INTRODUCTION   Some information about the foreign versions of the AppleII
""""""""""""   that have been released in the past are discussed in this
section.  It also includes an introduction to computer peripherals, and the
classic ones released for this computer over the years.


THE APPLE II ABROAD   Early on, Apple got involved in selling the AppleII
"""""""""""""""""""   in Europe and the Far East.  To function in those
parts of the world called for a change to handle a different voltage (240V
instead of the 120V we use in the U.S.).  Also, the language differences
had to be overcome.  It was easiest in Europe where, for the most part, the
standard Roman alphabet was used.  The primary differences were in symbols
used together with letters for certain specific uses.  Apple's Europlus][
had a modified ROM, and certain ESC key sequences could generate the German
umlaut symbol to go with certain vowels.<1>

     When the IIe was released there were some other differences.  The
German version was built with an external switch below the keyboard,
allowing the user to change between a standard U.S. layout and a German
layout.  (American versions of the IIe lacked the switch, but had a place
on the motherboard that could be modified to allow a Dvorak keyboard layout
to be switched in instead of the standard keyboard).  The IIe auxiliary
slot, which was placed in line with the old slot 0 on American versions
(but moved forward on the motherboard) was placed in front of slot 3 on
German versions.  This was because the European AppleIIe's also had added
circuitry to follow the PAL protocol for video output used for televisions
and computer monitors in Europe (in the U.S. the NTSC protocol is
followed).  Because of the extra space needed on the IIe motherboard for
the PAL circuits, the auxiliary slot had to be moved to be in line with
slot 3.  Because the 80-column firmware was mapped to slot 3, if an
80-column card was installed in the auxiliary slot it was not possible to
use any other card in slot 3.  Versions of the IIe made for other European
countries had similar modifications to account for regional
differences.<1>,<2>

     When the AppleIIc came along, it was designed from the start to take
the foreign market into account.  If you recall, the U.S. version of the
IIc had a standard layout when the keyboard switch was up, and a Dvorak
layout when the switch was down.  European versions were similar to the
American layout with the switch up, and had regional versions that could be
swapped in with the switch down.  The British version only substituted the
British pound sign for the American pound sign on the "3" key, but the
French, German, Italian, and Spanish versions had several different symbols
available.  A Canadian version of the IIc was the same as the American with
the switch up, and had some other special symbols with the switch down.
This version was unique because each keycap had the symbols for both
switched versions.  For example, the "3" key had the "3" and "#" symbols,
plus the British pound symbol, making it a bit more crowded than a typical
keycap.

     The AppleIIGS continued the practice of making international versions
available, but improved on the design by making the various keyboard
layouts all built-in.  On the IIGS it was selectable via the control panel,
as was the screen display of the special characters for each type of
keyboard.


APPLE II PERIPHERALS   Moving on, we will now take a look at hardware items
""""""""""""""""""""   that extend the capability of the AppleII.  The
ability to add an external hardware device to a computer has been there
from the earliest days of the first Altair to the present.  In fact, the
success of a computer has inevitably led to hackers designing something to
make it do things it couldn't do before.  The more popular the computer,
the more variety you will find in hardware add-ons.  The AppleII, designed
by a hacker to be as expandable as possible, was once a leader as a
platform for launching new and unique hardware gadgets.  Today, in 1991,
the AppleII unfortunately no longer holds the front position; it has been
supplanted by the Macintosh and IBM crowd.  However, the AppleII still
benefits from the "trickle-down" of some of the best new devices from other
computers (SCSI disk devices and hand scanners, for example).  This is due
partly to emerging standards that make it easier to design a single
hardware device that will work on multiple computers, and in the case of
the Macintosh, because of Apple's decision to make peripherals somewhat
compatible between the two computer lines.

     Trying to sort out all the peripheral devices ever designed for the
AppleII series of computers into a sensible order is not easy.  In this
segment of the AppleII History I'll try to give an overview of hardware
devices that were either significant in the advancement of the II, or
unique, one-of-a-kind devices.  Obviously, this cannot be a comprehensive
list; I am limited to those peripherals about which I can find information
or have had personal experience.


WHAT IS A PERIPHERAL?   A basic definition of a peripheral would be,
"""""""""""""""""""""   "Something attached to a computer that makes it
possible to do more than it could previously do."  It is called a
"peripheral" because it usually is connected to the computer after it
leaves the factory.  An argument could be made that something built-in is
not a peripheral, but as things have changed over time there are some
devices still called "peripherals" from force of habit, though they are now
built-in (hard disks come to mind).  Quite probably, in time many devices
that were once considered optional accessories will become so essential
that they will always be built-in.

     Recall that the earliest computers came with almost nothing built-in.
They had a microprocessor, a little memory, some means of data input and
display of results, the ability to access some or all of the signals from
the microprocessor, and that was all.  For those computers, the first
things that users added were keyboards and TV monitors to make it easier to
use them.  Recognizing that the earliest hardware peripherals were
keyboards and monitors highlights one fact:  Nearly everything that is sold
as a peripheral for a computer is either an input device, and output
device, or an interface to make it possible to connect input and output
devices.  Exceptions are cards to add memory, co-processor cards to allow
it to run software from another computer, and accelerators to make the
computer run faster.


EARLY PERIPHERALS   When we come to the release of the first AppleII, two
"""""""""""""""""   important "peripherals" were built-in:  A keyboard, and
the circuitry to allow easy connection of a TV monitor.  It had, of course,
the slots for inserting expansion cards (none were available), a game port
(for attaching the game paddles that were included), a pin that could be
used to connect an RF modulator (so a standard television could be used
instead of a computer monitor), and a cassette interface.  Since there were
no cards available to plug into the slots, you would imagine that the
AppleII couldn't make use of any other hardware.  However, those early
users who had a need usually found a way around these limits.

     To get a printed copy of a program listing, for example, was no
trivial matter.  First, there were very few printers available.  Those who
could, obtained old used teletypes salvaged from mainframe computers.
These noisy, massive clunkers often had no lowercase letters (not a big
problem, since the AppleII didn't have it either), and printed at the
blazing speed of 10 cps (characters per second).  To use these printers
when there were yet no printer interface cards to make it easy to connect,
hackers used a teletype driver written by Wozniak and distributed in the
original AppleII Reference Manual (the "red book").  This driver sent
characters to the printer through a connection to the game paddle port.
One part of being a hacker, you can see, is improvising with what you
have.<3>

     Another of the earliest devices designed for the AppleII came from
Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.).  They were involved
in distributing Integer BASIC programs on cassette to members of the group.
To make it easier to send those programs to the person responsible for
duplicating the cassette, Darrell Aldrich designed a means of sending the
programs over the telephone lines.  There were no modems available at the
time, so his "Apple Box" was attached to the phone line with alligator
clips and then plugged into the cassette port on the AppleII.  To send a
program, you first called up the person who was to receive it and got the
computers on each end connected to the Apple Box.  The sender then used the
SAVE command in BASIC to tell the computer to save a program to tape.  In
actuality, the program was being "saved" through the cassette "out" port to
the Apple Box, and onto the phone line connected.  At the other end of that
phone line, the data went into the other Apple Box, which was connected to
the cassette "in" port on the other AppleII.  That computer was executing
the LOAD command in BASIC to "load" the program from the Apple Box.
A.P.P.L.E. sold about twenty of these Apple Boxes at $10 apiece.<3>


INTERFACE CARDS   One of the first interface cards made for the AppleII
"""""""""""""""   was released, naturally, by Apple.  The AppleII Parallel
Interface Card was released in 1977 and sold for $180.<4>  Wozniak wrote
the firmware ROM, and managed to make it fit entirely in only 256 bytes.
As a parallel device, it used eight wires to connect the computer with a
printer, one line for each data bit in a byte.  Various parallel devices
also used one or more extra wires as control lines, including a "busy" line
(so the receiving device could tell the sending device to stop until it was
ready for more), and a "ready" line (so the receiving device could tell the
sending device to resume transmission).  Because each of the eight bits
needed a separate wire, the cables for parallel devices looked like ribbons
and were not very compact.  Most of the early printers available required
this type of interface.<5>  A problem noticed with Apple's card, however,
was an inability to properly handle these "busy" and "ready" signals (a
process known as "handshaking").  One solution offered by a reader of
Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine in 1979 was to add a couple of chips to the card.
If that was not done, however, the only way to do printouts that were very
long was to either buy a 2K print buffer that could be used with some early
printers, or use the "SPEED=" statement in Applesoft to slow down the speed
at which data was sent to the printer.<6>,<7>

     Apple released the Centronics parallel printer card in 1978.  Selling
for $225, it was specifically designed to work with Centronics brand
printers.<4>  It was similar to the Parallel Printer Interface, but had
fewer control codes.  The "Centronics standard" used seven data bits and
three handshaking bits.<8>  It would automatically send certain control
codes to the printer when a program sent the proper command (such as a
change in line width).  As such, it was limited to properly working only
with a Centronics printer, but many companies made printers that used the
same control codes and would work with it.<5>

     In April 1978 the AppleII Communications Card came out, selling for
$225.<4>  It was intended for use with a modem, and worked for speeds from
110 to 300 baud.  The low speed (by today's standards) was for several
reasons.  One was that most modems of the time were acoustic.  With an
acoustic modem you dialed up the number yourself, and when you made a
connection you put the handset (that's the part you talk and listen with,
for you non-technical folks) into rubber sockets to seal out extraneous
sound.  A tiny speaker and microphone in the modem were then used to send
and receive signals.  This leads to a second reason for the low speeds of
the time, which was that greater than 300 baud communications was not
considered possible.  In fact, the Phone Company was quite certain that
speeds over 300 baud were not possible with any modem, although they would
be glad to lease you a special data-quality phone line so you could get the
best possible connection at 300 baud.

     The AppleII Serial Interface Card ($195) appeared in August of
1978.<4>  Serial devices required fewer data transmission lines, and so
could work with more compact cables.  Instead of sending each byte as eight
simultaneous bits as was done in parallel devices, serial interfaces send
each byte as a series of eight bits, which only took two wires; one to send
and one to receive data.  Like the parallel cards, there were a couple of
other wires that went with the data lines to control handshaking.  Also,
serial cards needed a means of letting the sending and receiving devices
identify when a byte began and ended, and the speed at which data was being
transmitted.  This meant that some additional information, such as "start"
bits, "stop" bits, and "parity" bits, was needed.

     The original version of the Serial Interface Card had a ROM that was
called the P8 ROM.  It contained the on-card program that allowed a user to
print or otherwise communicate with the card without having to know much on
the hardware level.  The P8 ROM didn't support handshaking that used two
ASCII control characters named ETX (Control-C) and ACK (Control-F), so a
later revision called the P8A ROM was released.  (ASCII stands for American
Standard Code for Information Interchange).  This worked better with some
printers, but unfortunately the P8A ROM was not compatible with some serial
printers that had worked with the earlier P8 ROM.

     The Apple Super Serial Card firmware was finished in January 1981.  It
was called "super" because it replaced both the older Serial Interface Card
and the Communications Card.  To change from one type of mode to another,
however, called for switching a block on the card from one position to
another (from printer position to modem position).  The Super Serial Card
was also able to emulate both the P8 and P8A Serial Cards, making it
compatible with most older software written specifically for those
cards.<9>


VIDEO CARDS   After getting a printer interface card (and printer), the
"""""""""""   next variety of peripheral cards popular for the AppleII and
IIPlus were ones that allowed display of 80 columns of text (which was
rapidly becoming a standard outside the AppleII world).  An early entry
into this market was the Sup'R'Terminal card made by M&R Enterprises, the
same company that made the Sup'R'Mod RF modulator for the AppleII.  One of
the most popular of the 80-column cards was the Videx Videoterm.  Videx
even made a display card that would display 132 columns card for the
AppleII, but it never made much headway in the computer world (being
supplanted by bit-mapped graphics displays, ala Macintosh).<3>

     Many other companies made 80-column cards, but for the most part they
were not very compatible with each other.  One problem was deciding on a
method to place the characters on the 80-column screen.  With the standard
Apple 40-column display, you could use either the standard routines in the
Monitor, or directly "poke" characters to the screen.  With these 80-column
cards, they often used a standard from the non-Apple world, that of using
special character sequences to indicate a screen position or other
functions.  For example, to put a character at row 12, column 2, a program
needed to send an ESC, followed by a letter, followed by 12 and 02.
Similar ESC sequences were used to clear the screen, scroll it up or down,
or do other things that Apple's built-in screen routines could do.

     When the AppleIIe was released, with its RAM-based method of
displaying 80 columns of text, nearly all the older 80-column cards
disappeared from the market.  As of 1991, only Applied Engineering still
makes one for those remaining II and IIPlus users that don't yet have an
80-column display.

     One unique video product was made by Synetix, Inc. around 1983.  Their
SuperSprite board plugged into slot 7 (which had access to some video
signals not available on other slots), and was promoted as a graphics
enhancement system.  It worked by overlaying the hi-res screen with
animated "sprite" graphics (programmable characters that moved
independently on any screen background).  Since each sprite was on its own
"plane" on the screen, they didn't interfere with each other.  Also, it
didn't take extra effort bythe 6502 microprocessor to manipulate the
sprites; once the programmer placed the sprite on the screen and started it
moving, it would continue until told to change.  This was much easier than
trying to program a hi-res game using standard Apple graphics.
Unfortunately, at the price of $395 it never took off.  (It was hard for
developers to justify writing programs for only a few users that might have
this card).  Another company later made a similar card called the
StarSprite, but it suffered the same fate.  Even Apple's own double hi-res
graphics, introduced on the IIe, had the same problem with a small supply
of supporting software until the IIc and IIGS market got large enough to
guarantee that enough owners had the capability of displaying double
hi-res.<10>


ROM/RAM EXPANSION CARDS   All peripheral cards released for the AppleII up
"""""""""""""""""""""""   to the time of the AppleIIPlus were usable only
in slots 1 through 7.  Slot 0 was designed differently, and until the
release of the Applesoft Firmware Card ($200) in 1979 nothing had been
built to make use of it.  The Firmware Card contained ROM that paralleled
the upper 12K of AppleII memory.  If you recall from the discussion in Part
3 of this History, Integer BASIC and the ROM version of Applesoft covered
the same space in memory, and so could not co-exist.  When it was clear
that a floating-point BASIC (Applesoft) was what many people wanted, the
IIPlus came out with Applesoft in ROM.  To make sure that the previous
AppleII owners were not left out, Apple released the Applesoft Firmware
Card to plug into slot 0.  It had a switch that allowed the user to select
which BASIC should be active.  In one position, the motherboard ROM would
be selected, and in the other position the Applesoft and Autostart ROM was
selected.  Because there were quite a few Integer BASIC programs that
AppleIIPlus users wanted to run, the Firmware Card also came out in an
Integer BASIC version with the old Monitor ROM, that allowed IIPlus users
to simulate owning a standard II.<4>

     One of the benefits of the Integer BASIC ROM was the lack of something
known as a "RESET vector" in the Autostart ROM.  The Autostart Monitor was
called that because it would automatically try to boot the DiskII drive
when the power was turned on, and jumped to a known memory location when
the RESET key was pressed.  This allowed the disk operating system to
reconnect itself, but more importantly made it possible to create
copy-protected software.  Since the Autostart ROM made it possible for a
programmer to do something on RESET that prevented a user from examining
his program, it was popular with companies producing programs that they
didn't want copied and freely given away.  Usually, a RESET on a protected
program would restart the program, erase the program from memory, or
re-boot the disk.  The Integer BASIC and Old Monitor ROM lacked this
feature; a RESET would just drop the user into the Monitor.  This, of
course, was just what hackers and those who liked to break copy-protection
wanted.  The users with non-Plus AppleII's or with the Integer BASIC
Firmware Card on a IIPlus could prevent a RESET from restarting anything,
allowing them to hack a program as much as they wanted.

     The next card Apple released for slot 0 was called the Language Card.
 It was released in 1979 with Pascal, and expanded a 48K AppleII into a
 full 64K memory computer.  It did not remove the upper 16K of ROM, but the
 card contained 16K of RAM that was electronically parallel to the ROM.
 Using "soft switches" (recall that these are memory locations that, when
 read or written to, caused something internally to change) one could
 switch out the ROM and switch in RAM memory.  This extra memory was used
 to load the Pascal disk system, and under DOS 3.2 and 3.3, to load into
 RAM the version of BASIC that was not in the ROM.  This a more
 flexible alternative to the Firmware Card, and opened the way to other
 languages beyond BASIC for AppleII users.

     Since the only way to get Apple's Language Card was to buy the entire
Pascal system ($495), it was too expensive for many users.  Other companies
eventually came out with similar cards that did pro bri
not require purchasing
Pascal, and some of them designed the cards with more "banks" of memory,
making 256K or more of extra memory available.  Saturn Systems was one
early suppliers of the large RAM cards.  Typically, each 16K bank on the
card would be switched in to the same memory space occupied by the Language
Card RAM through the use of a special softswitch.<11>


CO-PROCESSORS   Although it did not go into slot 0, another significant
"""""""""""""   card for the AppleII was the Microsoft Z-80 Softcard, which
sold for around $300.  It was a co-processor card, allowing the AppleII to
run software written for the Z-80 microprocessor.  The most popular
operating system for the Z-80/8080 processors was the CP/M (Control Program
for Microcomputers) system.  Although the DiskII used a different method of
recording data than was used by Z-80 computers, AppleII users managed to
get programs such as the WordStar word processor transferred to the Apple
CP/M system.  Microsoft worked to make it compatible with the 80-column
cards that were coming out at the time, since most CP/M software expected a
screen of that size.<3>,<12>

     After the arrival of the IBM Personal Computer and its wide acceptance
by the business world, there was interest in a co-processor for the AppleII
that would run IBM software.  A company called Rana, which had been
producing disk drives for the AppleII for several years, came out with the
Rana 8086/2 sometime in 1984.  This was a system that plugged into slots on
a IIPlus or IIe, and would allow the user to run programs written for the
IBM PC.  It would also read disks formatted for that computer (which also
used a completely different data recording system than the one used by the
AppleII).  One Rana owner, John Russ, wrote to A2-Central (then called
Open-Apple) to tell of his experience with it:  "We also have one of the
Rana 8086/2 boxes, with two [Rana] Elite II compatible drives and a
more-or-less (mostly less) IBM-PC compatible computer inside it.  Nice
idea.  Terrible execution.  The drives are half-high instead of the full
height drives used in the normal Elite II, and are very unreliable for
reading or writing in either the Apple or IBM format... And this product
again shows that Rana has no knowledgeable technical folks (or they lock
them up very well).  We have identified several fatal incompatibilities
with IBM programs, such as the system crashing totally if any attempt to
generate any sound (even a beep) occurs in a program, or if inverse
characters are sent to the display... The response from Rana has been no
response at all, except that we can return the system if we want to.
Curious attitude for a company, isn't it?"<13>  By August 1985 Rana was
trying to reorganize under Chapter 11, and the product was never upgraded
or fixed.

     A co-processor called the ALF 8088 had limited distribution.  It
worked with the CPM86 operating system (a predecessor to MS-DOS) was used
by some newer computers just before the release of the IBM PC.<14>

     Even the Motorola 68000 processor used in the Macintosh came as a
co-processor for the AppleII.  The Gnome Card worked on the IIPlus and IIe,
but like other 68000 cards for the II, it didn't make a major impact, with
the exception of those who wanted to do cross development (create programs
for a computer using a microprocessor other than the one you are using).

     The most successful device in this category was the PC Transporter,
produced by Applied Engineering.  It was originally designed by a company
in the San Jose area called The Engineering Department (TED).  The founder
was Wendell Sanders, a hardware engineer who formerly had worked at Apple
and was involved in the design of the Apple III and parts of the SWIM chip
(Super Wozniak Integrated Machine) used in the IIc and IIGS.  Around 1986
Applied Engineering began discussions with TED about buying the PC
Transporter to sell and market it.  At that time, the board was about four
times the size it eventually became.  AE's people were able to shrink a lot
of the components down to just a few custom ASIC chips.  The software that
helped manage the board originally came from TED also.<15>  It was finally
released in November 1987, and included a card that plugged into any of the
motherboard slots (except slot 3) and one or more IBM-style disk drives.
The PC Transporter used an 8086 processor and ran about three times as fast
as the original IBM PC.  It used its own RAM memory, up to a maximum of
768K, which could be used as a RAMdisk by ProDOS (when not in PC-mode).  It
used some of the main Apple memory for the interface code that lets the PC
Transporter communicate with the hardware.

     The PC Transporter has undergone some minor hardware changes and
several sets of software changes (mostly bug fixes but a few new features).
The major reasons for hardware changes came about because of the
availability of cheaper RAM (the original RAM was quite expensive and
difficult to obtain).  Additionally, changes were made to make the onboard
"ROM" software-based, which made it easier to distribute system upgrades
that enhanced hardware performance.<16>,<17>,<18>  The major limitation for
this product has been a reluctance by Applied Engineering to match the
changes that have happened in the MS-DOS world and come out with a version
of the Transporter that used a more advanced microprocessor (80286, 386, or
486).  As of 1991 this is slowly beginning to become more of a limitation
for those who wish to use both MS-DOS and AppleII software on the same
AppleII computer, since advanced software needing those more powerful
processors is beginning to be released for MS-DOS.


ACCELERATORS   The two things that all computer users eventually need (or
""""""""""""   at least want) are more storage and faster speed.  The 1 MHz
speed of the 6502 and 65c02 chips is somewhat deceiving, when compared with
computers that have processors running at a speed of 20 to 40 MHz.  To put
things into perspective:  Since the 6502 does more than one thing with a
single cycle of the clock on the microprocessor, a 1 MHz 6502 is equivalent
to a 4 MHz 8086 chip.  Therefore, an AppleII with an accelerator board or
chip running at 8 MHz is equivalent to an MS-DOS computer running at 32
MHz.

     One of the first accelerators for the AppleII was the SpeedDemon, made
by MCT.  This board used a faster 65c02 chip, with some high-speed internal
memory that was used to actually execute the programs (since the internal
AppleII memory chips were not fast enough).  In essence, it put a second
AppleII inside the one you could see, using the original one for input and
output.  Another speedup board was the Accelerator IIe by Titan
Technologies (formerly Saturn Systems; they had to change their name
because it was already in use by someone else).  This board worked in a
similar fashion to the SpeedDemon.  Some users felt this product ran faster
than the SpeedDemon, but it depended on the application being tested.  Both
boards were attached to the computer by plugging them into a slot other
than slot 0 on the motherboard.

     In 1986 Applied Engineering introduced the TransWarp accelerator
board.  This product has lasted in the marketplace longer than any of the
other ones, possibly because AE did far more advertising than the companies
producing the older boards.  The TransWarp did the acceleration using a
different method.  Instead of trying to duplicate all of the AppleII RAM
within the accelerator, they used a cache.  (If you recall from the segment
on hard disk drives, a cache is a piece of memory holding frequently
accessed information).  Because they used the cache, the TransWarp did not
require any high-speed RAM on the motherboard.  Instead, any memory access
was also stored in the cache RAM, which was high-speed RAM.  The next time
a byte was requested from RAM, the accelerator looked first into the cache
memory to see if it was there.  If so, it took it (far more quickly) from
there; if not, it got it from motherboard RAM and put it into the cache.
Early TransWarp boards ran at 2.5 MHz; later versions pushed this speed to
7 MHz (this was the top speed used by the TransWarp GS, released in
November 1988 for the AppleIIGS).

     The next step in accelerator technology was to put all the components
of an accelerator board into a single chip.  This happened when two rivals,
the Zip Chip and the Rocket Chip, were released.  The Zip Chip was
introduced at AppleFest in May 1988, and the Rocket Chip soon after.
Running at 4 MHz, the Zip Chip was a direct replacement for the 6502 or
65c02 on the AppleII motherboard.  It contained its caching RAM within the
housing for the processor, the difference being mostly in height (or
thickness) of the integrated circuit.  Installing it was a bit more tricky
than simply putting a board into a slot; the 6502 had to be removed from
the motherboard with a chip puller, and the Zip Chip installed (in the
correct orientation) in its place.  Software to control the speed of the
chip was included, and allowed about ten different speeds, including the
standard 1 MHz speed (some games simply were too fast to play at 4 MHz, and
software that depended on timing loops to produce music had to be slowed
down to sound right).  The controlling software also let the user determine
which (if any) of the peripheral cards should be accelerated.  Disk
controller cards, since they used tight timing loops to read and write
data, usually could not be accelerated, where many serial and parallel
printer and modem cards would work at the faster speed.  The Zip Chip even
allowed the user to decide whether to run all sound at standard speed or at
the fast speed.

     The Rocket Chip, made by Bits And Pieces Technologies, was almost
exactly the same as the Zip Chip, with a few minor exceptions.  It was sold
with the ability to run programs at 5 MHz, and could be slowed down below
the 1 MHz speed (down to 0.05 MHz).  Later, when Zip came out with an 8 MHz
version of their Zip chip, a 10 MHz Rocket Chip was introduced.

     The rivalry between Zip Technologies and Bits And Pieces Technologies
came from a mutual blaming of theft of technical information.  The Bits &
Pieces people insisted that they had done the original work on a single
chip accelerator with the Zip people, but had all the plans and
specifications taken away without their permission.  Consequently, they had
to form their own company and start from scratch to design their own chip.
Zip, on the other hand, insisted that Bits & Pieces had stolen the
technology from them.  The problem eventually came to court, and it was
decided that Zip Technologies was the originator of the technique and the
Rocket Chip had to stop production.


                                 [*][*][*]


NEXT INSTALLMENT  Peripherals, cont.
""""""""""""""""

NOTES
"""""
     <1> Huth, Udo.  (personal mail), GEnie, E-mail, Mar 1991.

     <2> Spring, Michael.  "Write-A.P.P.L.E.", Call-A.P.P.L.E., Apr
         1984, pp. 49-50.

     <3> -----.  "A.P.P.L.E. Co-op Celebrates A Decade of Service",
         Call-A.P.P.L.E., Feb 1988, pp. 12-27.

     <4> Peterson, Craig.  he Computer Store, Santa Monica, CA, Store
         Information And Prices, Aug 10, 1979, p. 1.

     <5> Bernsten, Jeff.  GEnie, A2 Roundtable, Apr 1991, Category 2,
         Topic 16.

     <6> Lewellen, Tom.  "Integral Data/Parallel Card Fix", PEEKing At
         Call-A.P.P.L.E., Vol 2, 1979, p. 113.

     <7> Golding, Val J.  "Integral Data IP 225 Printer - A Review",
         PEEKing At Call-A.P.P.L.E., Vol 2, 1979, p. 151.

     <8> Wright, Loren.  "On Buying A Printer", Micro, Aug 1981, pp.
         33-35.

     <9> Weishaar, Tom.  "Control-I(nterface) S(tandards)", Open-Apple,
         Oct 1987, pp. 3.65.

     <10> -----.  "Tomorrow's Apples Today", Call-A.P.P.L.E., Oct 1983,
         p. 71.

     <11> Weishaar, Tom.  "A Concise Look At Apple II RAM", Open-Apple,
         Dec 1986, p. 2.81.

     <12> -----.  (ads), Call-A.P.P.L.E. In Depth #1, 1981, p. 106.

     <13> Weishaar, Tom.  "Ask Uncle DOS", Open-Apple, Apr 1985, p. 1.32.

     <14> Davidson, Keith.  "The ALF 8088 Co-Processor",
         Call-A.P.P.L.E., Feb 1984, p. 54.

     <15> Holcomb, Jeff.  GEnie, A2 Roundtable, Mar 1992, Category 11,
         Topic 7.

     <16> Utter, Gary.  GEnie, A2 Roundtable, Dec 1991, Category 14,
         Topic 12.

     <17> McKay, Hugh.  GEnie, A2 Roundtable, Dec 1991, Category 14,
         Topic 12.

     <18> Jones, Jay.  GEnie, A2 Roundtable, Dec 1991, Category 14,
         Topic 12.


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