[HEA]
    _____________________   ___                                   _
    |___   ______________| |   |                                 | |
        |  | _             |   |                                 | |
        |  || |            |   |                                 | |
        |  || |            |   |                                 | |
        |  || |            |   |   ____ _   _ _   _   ______     | |
        |  || |            |   |  / __ \ | | / \_/ \  | ___ \    | |
        |  || |__   ____   |   | / /  \  | |  /\ /\ \ | |  \ \   | |
        |  ||  _ \ |  _ \  |   | \ \__/  | | | |_|| | | |__/ /   | |
        |  || | | || |_||  |   |  \___/|_| |_|    |_| | ____/    |_|
        |  || | | || |__   |   |____________________  | |         _
        |__||_| |_|\____/  |________________________| | |        |_|
                                                      | |
         Lighting Your Apple II Path                  | |
                                                      |_|

-----------------------------------


                       >>> WELCOME TO THE LAMP! <<<
                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


             THE BEST OF THE A2 BULLETIN BOARD ON A2Central
           "Teaching the Apple II user how to fish since 1998"


 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 The Lamp!            An Onipa'a Software Production       Vol. 10, No. 7
 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 Publisher................................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W.
 Editor.....................................................Lyle Syverson
 Internet Email, Publisher.........................thelamp@sheppyware.net
 Internet Email, Editor...............lutefisk at grex.cyberspace dot org
 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

                            TABLE OF CONTENTS
                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                              July 15, 2007

HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN]
     Lemons, Peaches, Apple IIs

A2 BULLETIN BOARD at A2Central.com DISTILLATIONS----------------------[DAA]
     A2Central Service Outages----------------------------------------[ASO]
     AII Keyboard Encoder---------------------------------------------[AKE]
     Woz Interview on Portal Site-------------------------------------[WIP]
     Nice alphaSyntauri on eBay---------------------------------------[NAE]
     Apple IIe as a Serial Terminal for a Linux Box-------------------[AST]
     Freeware Release-------------------------------------------------[FWR]
     Microdot Freeware------------------------------------------------[MDF]
     Command.com Freeware---------------------------------------------[CCF]
     New Files--------------------------------------------------------[NFS]

FROM comp.sys.apple2--------------------------------------------------[CSA]
     Two More Freeware Reclassifications------------------------------[TMF]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR-------------------------------------------------[LTE]
     No Letters to the Editor This Month
     An Invitation

KFEST 2007------------------------------------------------------------[KF7]
     KansasFest 2007--------------------------------------------------[KFS]
     KansasFest 2007 HackFest Rules-----------------------------------[HFR]

EXTRA INNINGS
     About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN]


                                [*] [*] [*]

READING THE LAMP!   The index system used by The Lamp! is designed to make
"""""""""""""""""   your reading easier.  To use this system, load this
issue into any word processor or text editor.  In the index you will find
something like:

EXTRA INNINGS
     About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN]

To read this article, simply use your search or find command to locate
[INN].  There is a similar tag at the end of each article: [EOA].



[OPN]-------------------------------
         HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER |
------------------------------------
From The Editor
"""""""""""""""
by Lyle Syverson  email: lutefisk at grex.cyberspace dot org

                        Lemons, Peaches, Apple IIs
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Years ago my new TV turned out to be a lemon... during the first year
it spent more time in the repair shop for repair under warranty than in my
home.

     OTOH my present TV turned out to be a peach... twenty two years old...
never been repaired... still works great.  Yet the new HDTV sets look very
tempting.

     And the Apple IIs... still work great... yet those recent Macs are
tempting.

[EOA]



ASCII ART BEGINS
_________  _                     _                                      _
|__   __| | |                   | |                                    | |
   | |    | |                   | |                                    | |
   | |    | |___     ____       | |       _____   __ ___ _   _ _____   | |
   | |    | ___ \   / __ \      | |      /____ \  | v   v | | v ___ \  | |
   | |    | |  | | | /__\ \     | |       ____| | | /\ /\ | |  /   \ \ | |
   | |    | |  | | | _____|     | |      / ___  | | || || | | |    | | |_|
   | |    | |  | | | |_____     | |____  | |__| | | || || | |  \___/ /  _
   |_|    |_|  |_| \______|     |______| \____^_| |_||_||_| | |\____/  |_|
                                                            | |
                                                            | |
                                                            |_|

ASCII ART ENDS
[EOA]



[DAA]-------------------------------------------------------
DISTILLATIONS FROM The A2 Bulletin Board at A2Central.com  |
------------------------------------------------------------

by Lyle Syverson  email: lutefisk at grex.cyberspace dot org

[ASO]
A2Central Service Outages
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
A2Central has been experiencing broadband service disruptions for the past
couple of weeks. Many incidents are seconds in length, and mostly unnoticed
but others have lasted as long as 10 or 15 minutes.

AT&T has been on site twice. Because this is an intermittent problem,
they've had difficulty finding the problem and want to blame whatever is
causing the service disruption on premise wiring.

However, I'm confident the premise wiring is fine. I've been able to
demonstrate to the technician that static occurs at nearly predictable
intervals (the static causes the modem to lose signal sync) and that it was
on their circuit coming into my building.

I asked to be switched to a new pair, and after searching, the technician
couldn't locate a clean pair because all the other circuits in the area had
static, ground faults or other issues. It's likely everyone in my area is
having the same trouble but doesn't realized it.

A construction crew has been dispatched to find or build a clean circuit
for A2Central. I don't know how long it will take, but I was told it could
begin as early as Friday. When I've been notified of completion, then we
will begin stress testing. Unfortunately, during stress testing, all of
A2C's services will be unavailable.

I'll try to keep everyone informed but often these things happen on short
notice. If you're keen to get the latest info, you'll probably find it
faster on our irc server where several people are monitoring and logging
A2C's service disruptions. You can join us at: irc.a2central.com in channel
#a2c.chat.

Thanks - and sorry for the inconvenience.

Sean Fahey
SysOp

(sfahey, a2c,system_announcements, Jun 22 2007)

>>>>>
"""""
I've been monitoring our circuit for additional outages (and giving the
weather a chance to prove it had something to do with it) and so far, we
appear to be back to normal. SBC rebuilt the circuit from the CO to my
subdivision and that appears to have corrected the problem.

Now, Mr. Murphy will appear in the form of a total outage or hard drive
crash.

<waiting expectantly for the next disaster>

(sfahey, a2c,system_announcements, Jul 09 2007)
[EOA]


[AKE]
AII Keyboard Encoder
""""""""""""""""""""
Anyone need or have extra an Apple II keyboard encoder MM7540AAE

One of these parts blew on one of my old Apple II keyboards.  After quite a
number of inquiry's I found a source for replacement parts, but the cost is
high $33(each, quantity 12) and there is an minimum order of $200.00 in
effect.  Anyone have a need for these and interested in sharing with the
cost.

If you have extra encoder of this type, let me know if you are willing to
part with it.

If I decide to order them on my own, I will offer extras for resale on my
website, at some additional cost. If you go in with me now, I will share
cost with no markup.

Regards,
Mike Willegal

www.willegal.net

(mwillega, a2c.general_chat, Jun 29 2007)
[EOA]


[WIP]
Woz Interview on Portal Site
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Ken Gagne posted an article linking to an interview with Woz. In that
piece, Woz talks about how he coded the Apple II back in the day, and how
he'd like to publish the code and schematics along with explanations of his
thinking at the time.

Personally, I'd like to see him do just that. I'd also like it if he'd take
it a step further and get the Apple II platform "open sourced" if you will,
or at least help us get it legally established that it's OK to clone the
Apple II like it's OK to clone the Apple 1.

Ideas?

(sfahey, a2c.general_chat, Jul 10 2007)
[EOA]


[NAE]
Nice alphaSyntauri on eBay
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300125604256

If only I lived in LA... and had the reserve amount... and could play the
keyboard worth a damn...

<sigh>

(sfahey, a2c.music_multimedia, Jun 29 2007)
[EOA]


[AST]
Apple IIe as a Serial Terminal for a Linux Box
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This kind of thing is probably simple and old hat to many of you but I
figured I'd post it in case it is of interest.  I recently acquired an
Apple IIe and by design of the room it sits next to my main desktop machine
- the one I'm typing this on.

Some of you on IRC might remember a dude (that would be me) dropping by to
ask about null modem connections and term programs necessary to make the
IIe useful as a Linux terminal.

Well after a little poking around, I got it working.  While this procedure
is probably obvious to most hobbyists who have had to move data around,
this is likely to be of use to Linux users who might have an old Apple
sitting in the closet:

http://www.dataswamp.net/apple2eserialterm/

There are some photographs / screenshots near the bottom of the page.

This is a "short-cut" to making an Apple useful; not as cool, obviously, as
connecting to the net natively via Contiki, but better than gathering dust!

Can anyone recommend a term program for the IIe that deals with high ASCII
characters?  As you can see in my how-to, I'm using Modem MGR which does a
good job of VT220 emulation, but prints ASCII for lines and corners in
things like menu configuration.

Thanks.

   -Quag7

(Quag7, a2c.network_telecomm, Jul 07 2007)

>>>>>
I do not think that you are asking the right question since there is no
concept of "high ASCII" text on the Apple II.  I am assuming you are using
VT102 terminal emulation (based on the screen shots).  Look at the VT102
User Guide at http://216.92.110.6/docs/vt100-tm/ek-vt100-tm-002.pdf and
note the contents of the 304th page (page A-12) and pages 6-10 to 6-12 in
general.

The IIe text character set doesn't support all the VT102 special graphic
characters.  I recall Proterm for the Apple II did a good job supporting as
many as possible.  Proterm is still commercial software the last I heard
and more information can be found on Intrec's Web site (you can atleast get
a phone number or email address).

Geoff

(geoff, a2c.network_telecomm, Jul 08 2007)

>>>>>
"""""
I can't think of anything 8-bit that would work. If you were using a GS,
you would have the option of using Spectrum or AnsiTerm.

Sorry.

(sfahey, a2c.network_telecomm, Jul 08 2007)

>>>>>
"""""
>> Proterm is still commercial software the last I heard and more
information can be found on Intrec's Web site... <<

It's $19.95 iirc, which isn't bad price wise.  Still, despite it's superior
term emulations, it doesn't do ANSI like PC people like to see it. ANSI was
never an "Apple II thing", and back in the day, kind of sneered at.

I still get some attitude from a few people about the A2C BBS using ANSI.

<shrugs>

(sfahey, a2c.network_telecomm, Jul 08 2007)

>>>>>
"""""
Well thanks for your replies.  I'd heard of Proterm; their website is still
"under construction" since December.  I'll decide whether it's worth the
money or not and try calling them.

 -Quag7

(Quag7, a2c.network_telecomm, Jul 10 2007)
[EOA]


[FWR]
Freeware Release
""""""""""""""""
Hi, for those of you who don't read CSA2, I received permission to
reclassify the Command.com system as freely usable software. Sadly, David
Sugar no longer has anything to supply us with for the archive. So, if
anyone has any version (except the shareware release) or any documentation
or source or whatever could you please contact me. The status will be
included in the archive and available on request for anyone with material
to provide.

Cheers,
Mike T

(BluPhoenyx, a2c.software, Jun 29 2007)
[EOA]


[MDF]
Microdot Freeware
"""""""""""""""""
Finally, I have managed to put together a freeware release for the Microdot
BASIC environment. Microdot is an & driven replacement for BASIC.SYSTEM
with a variety of options. Eventually, Microdot evolved into System II and
you will find some files in the archive regarding this.

Files:
 KITCHEN.SHK
 KSINK01.SHK
 KSINK02.SHK
 KSINK03.SHK
 KSINK04.SHK
 KSINK05.SHK
 KSINK06.SHK
 MICRODOT.SHK
 microdot.manuals.zip
 microdot.freeware
 microdot.freeware.msf

The microdot.freeware files are the emails regarding the freeware status.
With the exception of the manual archive, the disk images are exactly as
they were sent to me. Thanks to Paul R Santa-Maria for the archives and
Jeff Fink for the manual.

Note: the only change made to the document archives was the inclusion of
the freeware emails.

Cheers,
Mike T

(BluPhoenyx, a2c.a2pro_developers, Jul 04 2007)

>>>>>
"""""
I'm personally grateful. Thanks for pursuing this!

(sfahey, a2c.a2pro_developers, Jul 05 2007)
[EOA]


[CCF]
Command.com Freeware
""""""""""""""""""""
The command.com shell has been released as freeware by it's author David
Sugar.  You will find the files in the upload directory. Included are the
1.2 version along with several monthly update releases. The final version
(I think) will be 2.0a. On the update disks are also some programs provided
by David as well as technical documentation for the shell.

The 2.x version includes David's version of Blankenship BASIC. There is
also a stand-alone version but I have not located this. David mentioned it
along with other software which he would release. Interestingly, he wrote a
program named AmperDOS which is the same name as the software I released in
1999. My AmperDOS is available on various file sites. Unfortunately,
David's isn't. Should someone have a copy of these or other software by
David Sugar please contact me.

I am still looking for a copy of the manual. At this point I have the
possibility of one if the owner is able to have it scanned. We shall see.

I would like to thank David Sugar for re-releasing this software. I would
also like to thank Steven Hirsch for donating the archives.

Included files are:
 COMMAND1.SHK
 COMMAND2.SHK
 COMMAND8A.SHK
 COMMAND8B.SHK
 COMMAND9.SHK
 command.com.freeware

Cheers,
Mike T

(BluPhoenyx, a2c.a2pro_developers, Jul 04 2007)
[EOA]


[NFS]
New Files
"""""""""
Both command.com and microdot were placed in the upload directory for the
sysop to place wherever they belong here.

Cheers,
Mike T

(BluPhoenyx, a2c.a2pro_developers, Jul 04 2007)

>>>>>
"""""
Thanks Mike - I'll move them this weekend.

(sfahey, a2c.a2pro_developers, Jul 04 2007)
[EOA]



[CSA]-------------------------------
              FROM comp.sys.apple2 |
------------------------------------

[TMF]
Two More Freeware Reclassifications
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I'm happy to announce that the II community has 2 new freeware releases.

These freewares are currently available in the Apple II Gmail account.
Please feel free to upload them to other sites as applicable. Note that
these archives are still incomplete and we are still looking for any
additional materials i.e. disk images and/or documentation anyone may have
available. That said, there has been enough donations of materials to make
both software packages useful. Some info as follows...

Kitchen Sink's Microdot. This is a BASIC.SYSTEM replacement environment
which saves memory for program use. This software eventually grew into the
System II environment which is also freeware. Contact was also made with
Jerry Kindall the program's author. Jerry claims no copyright ownership to
Microdot as he was simply under contract to Kitchen Sink.

Command.com by David Sugar. This is a ProDOS 8 shell and environment with a
large number of commands and batch files available. There is also a goodly
amount of technical info and other associated softwares on the extra beta
disks. Sadly, the source code and original documentation was lost in a
flood (along with many other items) or this package would have included
this too. This is also a useful environment for folks who like the Kyan
Pascal development tools with which it is compatible.

Thanks goes to David Sugar and Eric Bush for re-releasing these products.
Thanks also to Steven Hirsch and Paul R. Santa-Maria for supplying
materials.

For those who don't know how to access the GMail account, you can search
this groups archive for the information or give it a couple of days for
people to repost these files. If all else fails, contact me.

Cheers,
Mike T

(BluPhoenyx, comp.sys.apple2, July 4, 2007)

>>>>>
"""""
Oops. The Command.com files are now uploaded. Thought I sent them and the
email was available in my sent directory. Go figure.

The Microdot manual is now available on the Gmail account. Thanks to Jeff
Fink for providing this archive. A copy of the freeware status emails are
included in the archive.

Cheers,
Mike T

(BluPhoenyx, comp.sys.apple2, July 4, 2007)
[EOA]



[LTE]-------------------------------
             LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
------------------------------------

NO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THIS MONTH
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The mail box for Letters to the Editor remained empty this month.
[EOA]


AN INVITATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Express your opinions about the comings and goings in the world of the
Apple II computers.

Send your comments to Lyle Syverson, lutefisk at grex.cyberspace dot org

The Editor reserves the right to edit any material submitted.

The Editor reserves the right to reject any material he considers
unsuitable for publication in _The Lamp!_.
[EOA]



[KF7]------------------------------
                       KFest 2007 |
-----------------------------------

[KFU]
KansasFest 2007
"""""""""""""""
is scheduled for July 17-22, 2007.

Go to <http://www.kfest.org> for details.
[EOA]


[HFR]
KansasFest 2007 HackFest Rules (Revised Version)

1. Contest begins at 7:00 AM on Wednesday, July 18, and ends at 7:00 AM on
Saturday, July 21 so that judging can begin.  The winners will be announced
during the Saturday morning sessions.  Entries submitted late won't be
considered.  Entries may be done by individuals or teams; however,
individual achievement counts.

2. Three judges will be selected by the KFest committee to judge the
competition; at least one of them will be available at all times, to
provide assistance and judgement calls.  At least one judge will be a
non-programmer.

3. Entries must be written entirely during the allotted time; no source
code -- printed or on any form of computer-readable media -- may be used
(although sample source code printed inside standard and acceptable
reference materials is allowed), and the program must run on an Apple 1 (or
clone) or Apple II model present at KFest.

4. Any version of any development environment and programming language may
be used; however, there may not be any libraries, header files, or macro
sets used that aren't standard-issue for that version of the development
environment or programming language.

5. Programs can't require unusual additional software or hardware; it's up
to the judges to decide what constitutes "unusual."  The participant should
ask in advance.

6. Programs can't take unfair advantage of system addons written in advance
for the sole purpose of easing the work to be done during the contest
period.  Any extensions or other system add ons used by an entry must have
been released to the general public at least three months prior to the
contest date.

7. Entries will be judged on completeness, cleverness, and the somewhat
vague "cool" factor.  Entries don't have to be useful if they're otherwise
impressive, and they don't have to be "finished."

8. All entry programs are the property of the creator, and do not have to
be released to the general public at any time; however, we hope that
entries will be distributed by some means (whether for free or otherwise)
when ready.  However, entries may be described or discussed, including
screen shots (where applicable), by the KFest committee for promotional
purposes, or by legitimate Apple II community press.

The following lists are not necessarily complete lists of everything
allowed; these are to be taken as "givens."  If it's not on the list,
please ask for confirmation.

Acceptable software:
     System software
     Development environment (no customizations)
     GSBug
     Nifty List
     Marinetti
     Exerciser
     ORCA/Debugger, Splat!
     DesignMaster, Foundation, Genesys, ResLin
     Talking Tools
     Spectrum, ProTERM, ANSITerm

Acceptable hardware:
     Apple II computer, monitor, disk drives, hard drives
     Apple 1 computer or clone
     CD-ROM drive, tape drive
     Hard disk controller card
     Sound card (speakers/headphones/etc)
     Accelerator card (any speed)
     RAM card

Accepted reference material:
     All official Apple reference materials (including manuals, technical
     notes, and file type notes).

     Reference manuals included with development tools and software.

     Commercially-available reference manuals.

Any other hardware, software, or reference material needs the approval of
the judges in advance.  When in doubt, ask the judges.

Eric Shepherd
Owner
Syndicomm
http://www.syndicomm.com

(Eric Shepherd, KFest Mailing List, June 28, 2007)
[EOA]



[INN]------------------------------
                    EXTRA INNINGS |
-----------------------------------
About The Lamp!   The Lamp! is published on the fifteenth of every month on
"""""""""""""""   the WEB at:   http://lamp.a2central.com/

This publication produced entirely with real or emulated Apple II computers
using Appleworks 5.1 and Hermes.  Apple II Forever!

     * The Lamp! is (c) copyright 2007 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W.  All
       rights reserved.

     * To reach The Lamp! on Internet email send mail to
       thelamp@sheppyware.net

     * All issues of The Lamp! are available at:
       ftp://www.a2central.com/the.lamp!/

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors, and do not
necessarily represent the opinions of A2Central.com, Ryan M. Suenaga, or
Lyle Syverson.  Forum messages are reprinted verbatim and are included in
this publication with permission from the individual authors.
A2Central.com, Ryan M. Suenaga, and Lyle Syverson do not guarantee the
accuracy or suitability of any information included herein.  We reserve the
right to edit all letters and copy.

Material published in this edition may not be reprinted without the
expressed written consent of the  publisher.   Registered computer user
groups, not for profit publications , and other interested parties may
write the publisher to apply for permission to reprint any or all material.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<



[EOF]
