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

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


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

                        THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW
                            Second in a Series
                      by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W, L.S.W.

                             Opus ][ Ships!
                           by Mike Westerfield

                            OPUS II OVERVIEW
                           by Mike Westerfield

                              ABOUT OPUS II
                           by Mike Westerfield


             AND THE BEST OF THE A2 AND A2PRO MESSAGE BOARDS
           "Teaching the Apple II user how to fish since 1998"

 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 The Lamp!            An Onipa'a Software Production       Vol. 3, No. 12
 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 Publisher................................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W.
 Editor.....................................................Lyle Syverson
 Internet Email, Publisher.........................thelamp@sheppyware.net
 Internet Mail, Editor..............................   lyle@FoxValley.net
 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

                            TABLE OF CONTENTS
                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                            December 15, 2000

HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN]
     Opus II, an Outstanding Collection of Software

THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW--------------------------------------------[LYN]
     by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W, L.S.W.

OPUS II OVERVIEW------------------------------------------------------[OTO]
     by Mike Westerfield

ABOUT OPUS II---------------------------------------------------------[AOT]
     by Mike Westerfield

A2 DISTILLATIONS
     New Owner for Syndicomm------------------------------------------[NOS]
     A2Central.com Public Beta----------------------------------------[ACB]
     A2Central.com Launch Party---------------------------------------[CLP]
     A2Central.com Public Beta is Live--------------------------------[ACL]
     Silvern Castle Comments------------------------------------------[SCC]
     Silvern Castle v7.0----------------------------------------------[SCS]
     THE BlueDisk Controller Pro and Con------------------------------[BDC]
     X-10 Software----------------------------------------------------[XTS]
     X-10 Hardware----------------------------------------------------[XTH]
     Connecting a IIGS to a Lan Network With PCs----------------------[CTP]
     Ninjaforce Website Updates---------------------------------------[NWU]
     Shareware Solutions II - Cryptic Mode - ?------------------------[SCM]

A2P DISTILLATIONS
     Opus ][ Ships!---------------------------------------------------[OII]

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

KFEST 2001
     Keep it in Mind--------------------------------------------------[KFT]

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 <lyle@FoxValley.net>

              Opus II, an Outstanding Collection of Software
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     November 21 was an a very special day.  At 6:30 AM, High Above the
Rock River, there was a simple scene of outstanding beauty.  The trees on
the eastern horizon were silhouetted against deep red... fading into white,
then deep blue as your eyes searched higher and higher in the sky.  The
surface of the river, partly frozen, partly open, lit by reflection from
the sky, revealed a very pretty design.

     Reading email, Delphi A2/A2P, and A2 usenet later that morning it was
evident that Mike Westerfield had been busy.  He announced that Opus II was
shipping.  A very impressive collection of software for the Apple II on a
CD... and even the source code on a second CD.  See Distillations from
Delphi A2P and articles by Mike for details of this collection of software.

[EOA]




[LYN]------------------------------
        THE LEAST YOU NEED TO KNOW |
-----------------------------------
SECOND IN A SERIES
""""""""""""""""""
by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W, L.S.W.
        [rsuenaga@sheppyware.net]

             APPLE IIE MODEM CABLE AND SUPER SERIAL CARD SETUP
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Last time we took a look at making up a modem cable to get the humble
Apple IIc online.  Now let's take a look at how to get the venerable Apple
IIe online.

VIVA LA DIFFERENCE!   What distinguishes the IIe from the IIc and the IIgs
"""""""""""""""""""   is the fact that it lacks ports.  It does have slots,
like the IIgs, but it lacks the built in serial ports that the other Apple
IIs of the post-][+ generation have.  So the first thing you need to get is
a serial interface--a Super Serial Card or equivalent.

WHAT'S A SSC?   The Super Serial Card (or SSC for short) was one of the
"""""""""""""   pieces of equipment that Apple allowed third parties to
clone (I found it interesting--they were adamantly against cloning the
actual computers until very late in the life span of the 8-bit Apple II,
yet certain pieces of equipment--"Slinky" memory cards, IIe 64k/80 column
auxiliary slot cards, 5.25 inch floppy disk drives and disk controllers,
and Super Serial Cards--were cloned by dozens of companies).  There are,
consequently, lots of different makes of serial cards, almost all of which
will work fine with your IIe.  It just has to be placed in a slot and the
two banks of DIP switches and the jumper set properly.

JUMPING THROUGH DIPS   What's this about DIP switches and jumpers?  Well,
""""""""""""""""""""   the Super Serial Card comes with two banks of DIP
switches and a jumper that must be set.  Let's start with the DIP switches.
There are two sets of seven switches each.  As per the ProTERM 3.1 manual
(as well as my personal experience), let's set these switches up like this:

(ASCII art follows, for the visually impaired)

________________  ________________
|   x x x x x x | | x x x x x x   |
| x             | |             x |
|_______________| |_______________|

(End ASCII art)

     Simply place all of the switches in the up position, except the very
first and very last ones.

     In addition, there is also a jumper on the Super Serial Card that must
be set properly for telecommunications use.  It is rather different in
appearance than most jumpers you see on printed circuit boards.  It looks
like this:

(ASCII art follows, for the visually impaired)

   M O D E M
_______________
|             o\
|      ^        |
|     / \       |
|     ---       |
|_______________|
 
 T E R M I N A L

(End ASCII art)

     For telecommunications use, you'll want the arrow pointing at "MODEM".
If you need to change it, you can easily remove it with a screwdriver.  Be
careful prying it up and work on both sides--there are 16 pins on that
jumper!

THE EASY PART   Once you have your Super Serial Card set up, you'll need to
"""""""""""""   get a cable.  The Super Serial Card has a DB 25 pin female
connector attached to it; the vast majority of external modems also have DB
25 pin female connectors.  The cable is the easiest of all--a straight
through DB 25 to DB 25 male to male cable will work fine and dandy
(although some telecommunications programs, such as Talk is Cheap,
recommend a different cable).  These can easily be had at large computer
stores like CompUSA or even small mom and pop operations.

THE END?   Again, this isn't the end--just a small stop along the way.
""""""""   We'll keep doing whatever we can do to keep the Apple II alive
in the 21st century!

[EOA]





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

ASCII ART ENDS


[EOA]




------------------------------------
      DISTILLATIONS FROM DELPHI A2 |
------------------------------------

by Lyle Syverson <lyle@foxvalley.net>

[NOS]
NEW OWNER FOR SYNDICOMM
"""""""""""""""""""""""
ERIC "SHEPPY" SHEPHERD ACQUIRES SYNDICOMM

November 14, 2000--After several weeks of discussion and planning, Eric
Shepherd and Syndicomm have agreed that Eric Shepherd will take over the
operation of Syndicomm, the company that managed the Apple II RoundTables
on GEnie and the A2 and A2Pro forums on Delphi.

There are no plans to alter the staffing for any current Syndicomm forum,
and Dean Esmay and Gary Utter, the previous Syndicomm management, will
continue to be involved in operations for the forseeable future.

Effective immediately, the new Syndicomm, with Mr. Shepherd at the helm,
takes over the day-to-day operations of A2Central.com. In addition, the
upcoming online services being constructed at A2Central.com will be the
first in what will hopefully be a number of online communities provided by
Syndicomm.

Dean Esmay, former president of Syndicomm, said, "I am terribly excited
about our agreement with Eric Shepherd. Syndicomm has been languishing the
last couple of years since we had to go back to work full-time, and we
badly need a talented and committed individual to carry forward with the
name. I know Sheppy's going to do a kick-butt job in taking Syndicomm into
the 21st century."

Eric Shepherd, owner of Syndicomm, added, "With the Syndicomm name and its
fantastic, highly-experienced staff of volunteers, I expect A2Central.com
to develop into the best place for Apple II users to meet online. I look
forward to working with Syndicomm's existing staff--and with new staff
being brought on board for our new services. It's an exciting time for
Apple II users."

(CINDYADAMS, 34025, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[ACB]
A2Central.com PUBLIC BETA
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
A2CENTRAL.COM ONLINE SERVICE PUBLIC BETA TO START DECEMBER 8, 2000

November 30, 2000--As the second millennium draws to a close, a new era is
dawning for Apple II users online. A2Central.com, the popular web site and
Apple II user group, will launch an open beta test of its new online
service on Friday, December 8, 2000.

The open beta test will consist of telnet access to our Real Time
Conference area and our Bulletin Board system, with email service available
at or shortly after launch. Access to A2Central.com's services will be free
of charge during the month of December, 2000.

File libraries will be added in the near future, as will web-based access
to the service and other services.

PRICING

A Standard Account on A2Central.com, including access via both telnet and
the web to the Real Time Conference area, the Bulletin Board, and email,
will cost US $10 per month beginning January 1, 2001.

An Enhanced Account, which includes all the features of the Standard
Account plus a 10 MB personal web site and FTP access to upload files to
your personal web site, will cost US $15 per month once available. The
availability date for Enhanced Accounts has not been set at this time, but
free upgrades from Standard Accounts to Enhanced Accounts will be
available.

To sign up for an A2Central.com account, please visit
<http://www.a2central.com/join>.

A2Central.com will also offer business accounts for Apple II programmers
and vendors. These will be available starting early in 2001.

If you have questions about our planned services, please email
{<mailto:service@a2central.com> service@a2central.com}
for additional information.

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
Editor, A2Central.com
sheppy@a2central.com
http://www.a2central.com

(SHEPPY, 34252, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[CLP]
A2Central.com LAUNCH PARTY
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A2CENTRAL.COM LAUNCH PARTY THURSDAY AT 9:00 PM PACIFIC TIME

December 5, 2000 -- A2Central.com will open the virtual doors to its online
service at 9:00 PM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, December 7 (midnight
Eastern Standard Time). Syndicomm will have staff in the Real Time
Conference rooms on A2Central.com to answer questions and chat, and will
have at least one staff member in the A2 Forum chat room on Delphi to help
with any connection problems that may arise.

December is a no-charge public beta test period for the new A2Central.com
online service, but you still have to sign up to get online! Visit
{<http://www.a2central.com/join> http://www.a2central.com/join} to sign up.
People that sign up will receive email on Thursday, December 7, with
helpful information about how to use the service and how to log on.

(CINDYADAMS, 34301, GO COM A2)

>>>>
""""
FREE A2CENTRAL.COM LAUNCH PARTY DOOR PRIZES

December 6, 2000--As part of the A2Central.com launch party that will begin
at 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, December 7, A2Central.com
will give an A2Central.com mousepad to the first member to visit its Real
Time Conference room 1, an A2Central.com T-shirt to the second member to
visit the room, and a ComputerEyes GS card to the third member to visit the
room.

To attend the launch party, you must have an A2Central.com account. Access
is free for the remainder of the month of December. Visit
{<http://www.a2central.com/join> http://www.a2central.com/join} and sign up
today!

Syndicomm and A2Central.com staff and their families are not eligible.

(CINDYADAMS, 34303, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[ACL]
A2Central.com PUBLIC BETA IS LIVE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A2Central.com chat and message areas are online and doing quite well.

(Editor's Comment)
[EOA]


[SCC]
SILVERN CASTLE COMMENTS
"""""""""""""""""""""""
WEll, I am still using version 5.1.

Progress report: Im moving smothly along having gotten stuck but then
accidentaly discovered about going back up the stairs to otherwise closed
off areas. So I have found passwords, solved two of three riddles. I havent
had to pass the third riddle yet. I got by the beast. I think I have
covered most everything (got all of it mapped) on the first seven levels,
maybe more.

I am proceeding on level 10. It is getting too tough for my relatively new
characters. I may have to switch to the level 22 guys.

I have found a place where you can really rake in the dough. Saving just
renews the stash. Wow. Still going strong but I need to finish level 10.

And parts of level 9 are not done.

Bruce

(BRB, 34053, GO COM A2)

>>>>>
"""""
You'll want SC version 6.0 for the 3 dozen new items. I'm sending it to
Howard Katz for release next week. I spent 3 intensive weeks testing,
including creating 8 new parties from scratch to make sure everything works
and that the playability factor is still intact. I think I've tuned Silvern
to perfection (I'm a little biased). :)

Yes, you are really doing good. Did you think finding the elevator key was
too hard; I mean with all the riddles?

Have you discovered the identify of the "ancient enemy" yet?

I have found that (with SCv6.0) that one can take a party "as-is" all the
way to level 8 without having to use the change class feature, although
high-level NPC's can be tough with their high-powered devices. My test
mages only have 30-40hp, and with good fighting technique these levels are
not too bad, but one must not become careless.

But you are right, level 10 is much tougher (how else are you going to
challenge your high-level characters?). If you want a tougher challenge,
don't worry, the third scenario is for expert-parties only!

Was this on level 10? Well, that lair was supposed to be tough and worth
the loot!

Caution, some areas thoughout this scenario are just "teasers". You really
can't get into them (some you can!). Maybe I should include a "master key"
in a future scenario to open those doors? Perhaps new scenario gateways?

Let me know what you think of the finish,

Jeff Fink

(FINKSTERJ, 34061, GO COM A2)

>>>>>
"""""
For help on Silvern, email may be directed at: {<mailto:finkjsc@yahoo.com>
finkjsc@yahoo.com}

Take care,
Jeff

(FINKSTERJ, 34097, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[SCS]
SILVERN CASTLE v7.0
""""""""""""""""""
Re: Silvern Castle v7.0

This update is due to be released in mid-December 2000.
Here's the vitals:

Bugs fixed:
o Thanks to Bruce Baker for pointing out that a second scenario guardian
  was missing!
o Using I)nfo now matches all the definitions set forth in the Tome of
  Knowledge "Equipment Notes" section.
o Fixed possible error #107-5116 when using I)nfo.

New Stuff:
o AUTOMAP feature added! Press <TAB> in the maze to see overhead view of
  the current level. Option included to save a standard Apple II hi-res
  picture for later printing with a paint program.
o The Extra's menu also has an option to view and save pictures of any
  scenario level automap display without having to be in the maze.
o 11 new items!
o 4 new spells:
  L3 (M) coldray: cold version of fireball
  L6 (C) curmore: improved version of curmuch
  L6 (M) acidfog: does up to 64hp of acid damage to all groups
  L7 (W) deathray: improved STUN that affects one entire group
o Improved monster spell immunity. Some monsters are now fire, cold, acid,
  electric, or energy-based, and are immune to similar attacks, although a
  fire-based monster will take double the damage from cold attacks, and
  vice-versa. Other improved immunities some monsters may have include
  sleep, fear, and reversed cure-condition spells.
o Your characaters now have partial immunity to monster fear spell attacks
  (like sleep).
o Chests may now hold more spells and potions. Also, most monster lairs now
  always have chests instead of special goodies.

Stuff Changed:
o Incapacitated characaters cured in combat no longer can do parry
  "special" actions in the same round.
o Text mode maze support removed.
o Cold-based devices now cast coldray incantations instead.
o The Heat-Shield spell is now renamed as Breathe-Shield, and protects
  against all breathe attacks, regardless of type.
o Initial identification of the opposing monsters is now more consistent
  based on your party's experience.
o Called monsters now appear in the next round, not the same one (chance
  none will respond). At the start of the next round, a message will
  indicate how many monsters have joined the fight.
o Monsters no longer will use cure-condition potions unless one of them has
  the affliction the potion cures.

Enjoy,

Jeff

(FINKSTERJ, 34305, GO COM A2)

>>>>>
"""""
Once again I have added more stuff to Silvern Caslte after releasing the
final change list. The next update will be v7.0 (not v6.1), and it will be
delayed until the end of December, 2000.

Extra New Stuff in v7.0:
o Also added spell RESISTANCE in addition to spell IMMUNITY (see previous
  change list). Resistance imparts partial immunity (i.e. half damage or
  lessoned affect).
o Because chests now contain more stuff (see previous change list), except
  for dragon lairs, you will now usually find (90%) chests instead of lair
  special goodies on the deeper levels. Also, less animal-type lairs.
o Changed the availability of enchanted equipment from commonplace to
  uncommon AND limited the maximum enchantment range. Rationale: Originally
  I made enchanted items commonplace (with a large range) as a catchall for
  monster's to be able to be equipped with armour and weapons to match
  their defined AC and damage ability, because I had no easy way to check
  that valid combinations were available. Now that I wrote a utility to
  validate each monster, I changed some monster definitions so that valid
  non-enchanted combinations of weapons and armour are now availalble. In
  consolation, chests now have a greater chance to contain lesser enchanted
  items. This strikes a better game balance, especially money from selling
  high-enchantment items.
o New Extra's menu option: [4] Clear Enchanted Store Stock. This option
  removes all enchanted items from the store. This does not affect any
  enchanted items your characters possess.

Extra Stuff Changed in v7.0:
o Depending on level, greater chance for pups in dragon lairs.
o When plants call, usually non-plants will now respond.
o Double-checked all monsters, made the following changes:
o All spirits are now incorporeal entities.
o Generic monster-subtype creatures moved over to beast-subtype.
o Added fiend-subtype for corporeal demons.
o Moved some monster to correct subtype (i.e. manticore to beast).
o Only NPCs and humanoid monsters are now equipped with weapons and armour.
  Rationale: Undead equipment is mostly in rough shape, and giant stuff is
  too large and crude to be usable.
o Less chance to be drained more than one level at a time.
o Instead of having each group outfitted with the same equipment and
  devices, each individual monster now is equipped with its own stuff.
  Item spoils are now listed with the exact monster it was found on.

II Infinitum,

Jeff Fink

(FINKSTERJ, 34416, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[BDC]
THE BlueDisk CONTROLLER PRO AND CON
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Since it's yet to have been mentioned here, you should know there are both
advantages and disadvantages concerning the BlueDisk controller:

The obvious disadvantage is any floppy drive connected will require its own
powersource (and likely external enclosure). This is ideal for IIgs
motherboards re-installed in a generic PC towercase but gets a bit tricky
for GS's still in their original cases. In that situtation you'll need to
find a suitable external enclosure for the PC drive(s) and a 36-pin floppy
cable long enough to reach between the two.

Another disadvantage is the BlueDisk is only capable of accessing MFM
formatted media--under no circumstance will you be able to read or write
Apple 400K, 800K or 140K diskettes (GCR formatted). This problem is easily
overcome by leaving your Apple 3.5 and 5.25 still attached to the IIgs
backport for compatibility, though admittely I've done this with even the
SuperDrive for despite its dual MFM/GCR compatibility, it doesn't always
boot old software.

Where the BlueDisk comes ahead is its ability to use most _any_ PC floppy
drives which are dirt cheap and widely available (including the cabling to
connect them to the BlueDisk card). You can connect PC 3.5 drives (720K,
1.44M, 2.88M) and PC 5.25 drives (360K, 1.2M). ProDOS and Macintosh
diskettes formatted as 1.44MB are MFM, so they do not suffer any sort of
incompatibility with the BlueDisk which is certainly a plus. You'd be able
to share data with IIgs-SuperDrive, Mac and IBM PC users without any
problems whatsoever.

Mitchell Spector
 {<mailto:spec@total.net> spec@total.net}

(SPECTOR1, 34149, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[XTS]
X-10 SOFTWARE
"""""""""""""
It's been a while since I posted this request, but I am still interested in
playing with the stuff. I may have contacted you earlier in the year, not
sure. However, if you have come across the stuff you said you might have I
am still interested in it. Drop me a note at {<mailto:snoopy@accessus.net.>
snoopy@accessus.net.} And if you have information on how to get ahold of
the guy named Art perhaps I could get in touch with him. Thanks again.

Steve

(SJACOBER, 34254, GO COM A2)

>>>>>
"""""
Steve,

You're in luck, I'm the guy named Art :) AND I was getting ready to
reclassify my X-10 software from shareware to freeware in January. Contact
me at artcough@concentric.net and I'll see about getting a copy of the
X10NDA stuff to you.

The entire X-10 Survival kit will be available free once I get my web page
up (February, if I get my lazy butt in gear), as well as the rest of my
IIgs software, a couple of Mac Applescripts and screen shots from my home
control program.

I need to make some changes to the docs to reflect freeware status and
changed email address, as well as fixing some minor cosmetic bugs.

(This message has also been sent to snoopy@accessus.net as
requested).

Art

(ART_COUGHLIN, 34267, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[XTH]
X-10 HARDWARE
"""""""""""""
As pointed out in the earlier postings a good source for education on the
X10 hardware systems is smarthome.com.

I am intending to play with a wireless interface called the "Firecracker".
Apparently the normal interface into the house wiring (which is what
carries the control signal throughout the house) is with an interface unit
that attaches to a serial port on the computer and then into a wall outlet
to provide a physical connection to the house wiring.

The Firecracker does not physically plug into the wall. It connects to the
serial port and then, by way of a wireless RF signal, sends the control
signals to a module that plugs into the wall which in turn puts the control
signal into the house wiring.

According to what I have read it seems possible that software that works
with the physical interface should work with the Firecracker. I am figuring
on giving it a try. The Firecracker unit is apparently not available at
smarthome, but is available at x10.com. The converter cable is not
available at x10, but is available at smarthome. The Firecracker is a DB9
set up and the GS is a MiniDin 8. The cable is about $10.00 and converts
from DB9 to MiniDin 8. The unit is supposed to have pass-through
capability, as it has two DB9 connections.

Plan to try to get this thing up and going shortly and use it to control
some of the outside Christmas lights. It would sure beat bundling up and
running outside in the snow/rain/sleet/cold to unplug the cords at night.
Obviously a considerable amount of weatherproofing the outside units will
have to be done.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Steve

(SJACOBER, 34304, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[CTP]
CONNECTING A IIGS TO A LAN NETWORK WITH PCs
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> Is it possible to connect an apple IIgs to a lan network of two pcs?

Yes, it is much easier now then it was a few months ago. The LANceGS
ethernet card (see {<http://lancegs.a2central.com/>
http://lancegs.a2central.com/} for more information except that the address
isn't working at this moment, but I'm sure that will be fixed soon) is the
easiest way to get the Apple to communicate with the PC. Software on the
Apple IIgs side is very limited--at best, all you can do is use ftp which
means you need to set up a FTP server on the PC so the two machines can
transfer files. {<http://www.tucows.com/> http://www.tucows.com/} should
help you find a FTP server.

Geoff

(SISGEOFF, 34352, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[NWU]
NINJAFORCE WEBSITE UPDATES
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
December 11, 2000 IIGS Demo Scene reviewed What is the major difference of
the Apple IIGS to its predecessors? Graphics and Sound, of course! It is
Christmas time, a time when we become contemplative and think of the past.
Join us at {<http://forums.delphi.com/m/> http://www.ninjaforce.com} while
we take a special look at the Apple IIGS demoscene. And don't forget to
vote for your favourite demos!
-- Jesse Blue / Ninjaforce

E-MAIL: {<mailto:jesseblue@ninjaforce.com> jesseblue@ninjaforce.com}
ICQ: 8895643
WWW: {<http://www.ninjaforce.com> http://www.ninjaforce.com}

(JESSEBLUE, 34376, GO COM A2)

>>>>>
"""""
December 14, 2000
NFC DemoDrive available for download
For emulator users, there is now a special NFC demo hard drive image
available.

It combines the Revenge of the Bobs Demo, the Megademo, and the Megademo
"Mekka/Symposium '97 special edition" on one easy to use bootable image
file.

Just go to: {<http://www.ninjaforce.com> http://www.ninjaforce.com}
-- Jesse Blue / Ninjaforce

E-MAIL: {<mailto:jesseblue@ninjaforce.com> jesseblue@ninjaforce.com}
ICQ: 8895643
WWW: {<http://www.ninjaforce.com> http://www.ninjaforce.com}

(JESSEBLUE, 34419, GO COM A2)
[EOA]


[SCM]
SHAREWARE SOLUTIONS II - CRYPTIC MODE - ?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
<cryptic mode>
You just never know, until you check out the Shareware Solutions II online
store, just what type of new or discounted products might be offered to
folks on a whim. In other words, if you like surprises or even, for that
matter, low cost Apple IIGS products, it might behoove you to access the
following URL:

http://order.kagi.com/?zs3

</cryptic mode>

Joe Kohn
http://users.foxvalley.net/~joko

(JOE_KOHN, 34420, GO COM A2)

>>>>>
"""""
>> cryptic mode

Hmmm. Let's try that again...

On a whim, I made each of the two Resource-Central hypermedia CDs available
yesterday on my Kagi site for $25.

It's not often that someone knocks $75 off the price of a product, but on a
whim, that's exactly what I did.

Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow or the next day and say to myself, "my gosh,
what have you done?" I dunno.

IOW, I'm not quite sure if this is a holiday sale, or a present, or a
permanent price drop, or temporary insanity, or what? ;-)

So, to quote the late-great Janis Joplin, "Get it while you can."

 Joe Kohn
 http://users.foxvalley.net/~joko

(JOE_KOHN, 34430, GO COM A2)
[EOA]








------------------------------------
     DISTILLATIONS FROM DELPHI A2P |
------------------------------------

by Lyle Syverson <lyle@foxvalley.net>

[OII]
Opus ][ Ships!
""""""""""""""
** OPUS ][ **
     *  $1,680.00 worth of software
     *  35 commercial applications
     *  16 unreleased applications
     *  Over a million lines of source
     *  2 commercial applications no longer in print
     *  9 unreleased upgrades, including ORCA/C and ORCA/Pascal
     *  Over 50 user contributed programs, most with source

The Byte Works, Inc. announced a collection of every Apple II program ever
released on the Byte Works label, along with source code for all of the
programs that were developed at the Byte Works!

This must-have collection includes all of the famous ORCA languages,
including the ORCA/M macro assembler, and compilers for C, Pascal, Integer
BASIC and Modula-2. All of the support programs and courses are there to
round out your development collection. You get the Quick Click spreadsheet,
morph program, and movie player, too!

Every program is included in three formats: Disk images you can move to
800K floppy disks, a ProDOS disk image for use with emulators, and an HFS
folder that's directly accessible from any computer that reads HFS disks,
including the Apple IIGS with System 6.0.1 and the HFS driver, as well as
the Macintosh.

The documentation is there, too. Much of it has been reformatted
specifically for this release! Each of the 35 book length manuals is
included in four different formats: Microsoft Word 98, PDF, RTF and ASCII.
You can load, search, print or even annotate all 35 manuals!

For complete information, see our web site at {<http://www.byteworks.org>
http://www.byteworks.org}. If you have any questions at all, drop us a line
at MikeW50@AOL.COM or phone (505) 898-8183.

(BYTEWORKS, 3229, GO COM A2P)
[EOA]





[OTO]
-----------------------------------
                  OPUS II OVERVIEW |
-----------------------------------
by Mike Westerfield
    MikeW50@AOL.COM

The Opus ][ collection appears on two CDs that can be purchased
individually or as a collection. The CDs are in Macintosh HFS format, which
also works on properly equipped Apple IIGS computers running System 6.0.1
and the HFS FST. You can access the files from Windows machines if you have
software that allows access to Macintosh format disks.

The software CD contains the most recent release of every commercial
application published for the Apple ][ and Apple IIGS platforms by the Byte
Works, Inc. Both the programs and the documentation are included.

The programs exist in three forms.

1. Disk Images

This folder contains ShrinkWrap disk images, which are compatible with
Apple IIGS emulators like Bernie, as well as with ShrinkWrap and DiskCopy.
These programs can create 800K disk images that you can carry to an Apple
IIGS or Apple II that have an 800K floppy disk drive.

There is one important caveat about creating floppy disk images. Apple
changed the type of drive used in Macintosh computers, and eventually
dropped the floppy drive altogether. The external add-on drives I've tested
for USB equipped Macintosh computers will not create 800K floppy images at
all. The recent Macintosh drives will not format a disk properly for an
800K Apple IIGS drive. If the disk images you create don't work on an Apple
IIGS, you'll need to find an older Macintosh, put a CD drive on the Apple
IIGS, or format the floppy disk on the Apple IIGS, then copy the files on a
file-by-file basis from the disk image to the floppy disk using the
Macintosh Finder, which can mount both the disk images and the Apple IIGS
floppy. Strange as it seems, the recent Macintosh computers that still have
floppy disk drives are perfectly capable of copying files to an Apple IIGS
disk, they just can't create a full disk image.

2. ByteWorks

This folder has all of the software. It is preinstalled, ready to run on an
Apple IIGS that has a CD-ROM drive. You'll get better performance, though,
if you copy the contents of the folder to the root directory of a ProDOS
format hard drive. You can also access all of the files from a Macintosh or
properly equipped Windows machine.

3. For Emulators

This folder has a 32M disk image designed for use with Macintosh Apple IIGS
emulators like Bernie. It may work with other emulators as well, but I
haven't tried it. The files are identical to those in the ByteWorks folder,
but dragging this 32M image to your emulator folder is considerably easier
than dealing with the ByteWorks folder.


The Documentation folder contains all of the documentation for the
commercial products. It's available in four different formats.

1. Word

All of our recent documentation was created in Microsoft Word. All of the
documentation has been moved to Microsoft Word 98 for the Macintosh,
checked, and when necessary, reformatted. You will find some differences
between the documentation in this folder and our printed documentation,
especially for older programs. That's because changes in fonts, Microsoft
Word itself, and printers occasionally forced me to reformat the
documentation. For the really old stuff, Microsoft Word would not read the
original files, so I had to recover the ASCII and completely redo the
formatting. For the truly ancient stuff, including most of the 8 bit
software, I didn't have any files at all, or the ones I had could not be
read on any equipment I still own. Small-C is a good example. For these
programs, we used OCR software to convert the documents to ASCII, then
redid the formatting. Watch for typographical errors in those older
documents, especially in source code.

2. PDF

All of the documents were converted to PDF format using Acrobat Distiller.
Use this format if you want to print a physical copy of the documentation.
Most copy shops can print PDF files on 3 hole notebook paper.

3. RTF

All of the documentation was saved from Microsoft Word in RTF format. This
is a text interchange format that most text editors can load. It preserves
most of the formatting. Use this format if you are trying to read the
documentation online, you don't have Microsoft Word, and you do have an
editor that recognizes RTF.

4. ASCII

If all else fails, there are the raw ASCII files. You loose all formatting
and all figures, but at least the words are still there. ASCII
documentation can be read with practically anything, even the ORCA
programming language editors.


The source CD has the source code for all of the programs on the software
CD that were developed at the Byte Works, Inc. It also has the unpublished
programs, including some that were never completed. The uncompleted
programs do not appear on the software CD.

Some of the software, like QCCalc, appears in individual folders. All of
the ORCA related software is collected in the ORCA folder. The ORCA
languages shared many common components, like the shell, linker and editor,
so it didn't make sense to break these up by product. Bonus contains the
source code for all of the unpublished programs, while Beta has the source
code for commercial programs like the C compiler that were updated after
the last commercial release. These beta versions are the ones I actually
use, although they have not been run through the complete test cycle I used
for commercial releases.

The test suites for ORCA/C and ORCA/M are included with the languages. The
tests for ORCA/Pascal were based on a commercially available ISO Pascal
test suite, so I could not put them on the CD.





[AOT]
-----------------------------------
                     ABOUT OPUS II |
-----------------------------------
by Mike Westerfield
    MikeW50@AOL.COM

I've known and loved the Apple ][ for over two decades. I sold my only car,
a fun little two seat convertible, to buy my first Apple ][ computer. So
it's both with sadness and nostalgia that I type the introduction to what
will surely be my last significant contribution to the Apple ][. It's been
a good ride, though, and the fact that I won't be able to do more projects
doesn't mean that any of us will stop enjoying this wonderful platform!

This opus is both a useful software collection and a history tour. It
starts with Crypto, the first program ever published by the Byte Works. I
did this product more to learn how to publish a program than out of any
hope for commercial success, and I got what I expected.

ORCA/M started as a summer project in 1979. I couldn't find an assembler
that was worth 2 cents, and a friend and mentor talked me into writing one
of my own. Stupidly, I didn't see why the full-blown IBM 360 macro
assembler would not work on an Apple ][, so I wrote one very much like it.
That original version was published for DOS 3.3 by Hayden Software. It's
ProDOS successor appears on this collection as II-03, and was the assembler
Apple chose to become the standard development environment for the Apple
IIGS. The Apple IIGS version is also on this CD as GS-04. In various
versions it was published by us under the ORCA label and by Apple as APW
(Apple Programmer's Workshop).

My educational background is in Physics, not computer science. For the
youngsters in the crown, you need to keep in mind that, while it's not
normal, it's also not uncommon for programmers in their 40's to have
started in another field. Incredible as it seems, the Air Force Academy
didn't even have a separate department for CS when I attended it was lumped
in with the Astronautics Department. Maybe it still is. In any case, my
official training in CS amounts to a 3 semester hour course in introductory
programming using Algol. Writing the assembler whetted my appetite, though,
and I hit the books.

My first attempt at a compiler was an implementation of Pascal on the 8 bit
Apple ][. It was a failure; it just wouldn't fit. I tried again on the
Apple IIGS, creating ORCA/Pascal and then ORCA/C. While you will find some
warts in both if you dig through the source, I'm still pretty proud of
them. Considering the budget and number of people involved, I'm still
rather amazed at what we accomplished.

To this day, I have never used an implementation of Pascal I like better.
Some of the environments are better now, and the generated code is often
quite good, but the implementation of the language itself is as good in
ORCA/Pascal as it is anywhere. I'd stack it up against the offering from
Metrowerks or Microsoft in a microsecond.

In all of my languages, I tried to observe existing standards or establish
new ones, and I succeeded in ORCA/C to an extent that actually annoyed
people! ORCA/C is so ANSI compatible that one member of the standards
committee used it to vet programs that used common extensions that ORCA/C
would flag as errors or choke on. Even I relented, though. By the release
on this CD, you can use // comments and a few other common extensions,
although you can also turn the extensions off if you want.

ORCA/M, ORCA/Pascal and ORCA/C formed the core for our development tools,
but there were many additional products. ORCA/Modula-2 joined the list of
full-blown languages. It is also the only language written by an outside
author, Peter Easdown of Australia. Our biggest problem in bringing this
product to market was not communication or logistics, but transferring
royalties from US dollars to Australian dollars!

This collection of languages has one feature that is probably not unique,
but I can't name another system that duplicates it. All of these languages
share a common set of run-time libraries, not just a common environment.
That doesn't just mean that they can coexist, although that in itself is
pretty unusual. You can write a program that has parts written in each of
the languages, and the program will work just fine. Parameters will be
passed, arrays can be accessed across languages, records and structs are
compatible, and so forth. The (possibly) unique part is that the libraries
are really the same at the lowest level. You can begin printing some text
in one language and finish printing in another and it all works smoothly.
And that's just one of the many examples of the libraries working together.

Other languages include Integer BASIC, a toy compiler I wrote to
demonstrate how to install languages in ORCA; GSoft BASIC, a pretty cool
BASIC interpreter that runs under either the ORCA environment or from the
Finder; and two versions of Logo, one stand-alone and one that is a
scripting language for HyperStudio. There is also one incomplete language
on the source CD. Pilot is another toy language that I started to show
people how to install interpreters under the ORCA environment. It's not
complete, but it is far enough along to execute many Pilot programs. ORCA/C
was also translated to run on MPW for use with the MPW IIGS cross
development tools; that's the only Macintosh program you'll find on the CD.

We added several support products for the 8 bit version of ORCA/M,
including Small-C, which is available for the first time in years on this
CD; floating point libraries; a simple debugger; and the source code for
the subroutine libraries. While open source is a fad today, making the
source code for even the run-time libraries of a commercial product
available for general sale was a pretty unusual move when we first did it,
but we've done it with every product we ever released. In those days it was
more common for a company to try to charge royalties for using the
libraries in commercial programs!

Four of our programming add-ons for the Apple IIGS were created by outside
authors. Design Master was, in it's day, a very cool precursor to today's
RAD environments. ORCA/Disassembler was one of the few products that ever
surprised me by selling far more copies than I expected. We did three or
four print runs on that one. Talking Tools relies on a speech engine
written by an outside company, and the support materials were written by
Barbara Allred after she left the Byte Works. One of our most recent
additions is Marinetti, an implementation of TCP/IP for the Apple IIGS,
which we released as a Byte Works product so people would have a reliable
place to come for the printed documentation. It's also available free
online, of course.

ORCA/Debugger is a source-level debugger for high-level languages. There is
another debugger in the desktop development environment, but it is limited
to 640 mode graphics and desktop applications, NBAs, and text programs that
are simple enough to use the shell window. I wanted a debugger that could
debug anything. I'd been trying to get outside authors to write one for
quite some time, and finally gave up and wrote my own. Within a few weeks,
one of the aborted outside projects got going again, resulting in a
competing debugger. Geeze, if they had let me know, I would have left the
field clear for them! Anyway, the result was two debuggers, each basically
strong products with their own strong and weak points.

Merlin was the clear favorite for assembly language programmers on the 8
bit Apple. We were fighting that market hold, eventually winning on the
Apple IIGS. Merlin to ORCA was a source code translator that we used to
help convert Merlin fans to the ORCA fold. Roger Wagner, publisher of
Merlin and a future business partner, called me after it's release to point
out what he considered a pun in a review: The title was "Merlin In, ORCA
Out." I don't get it.

Merlin to ORCA was based on another source translator that we gave away
free, so it never appeared in any literature. Edasm to ORCA translates from
Apple's stock 8 bit assembler to ORCA/M. I wrote it in hopes of convincing
Apple to switch to ORCA/M. I never dreamed how well it would work. At my
first meeting with Apple to explore ideas that eventually led to APW, one
of their project leaders brought up the point that they had a lot of source
in Edasm that would be tough to convert. I think he was leading up to
asking me to change the syntax of ORCA/M. Before he finished, I popped my
briefcase open, pulled out the Edasm to ORCA disk, and slid it across the
table to him. I told him it was a gift; the source code was there and they
could do whatever they wanted with it. He grinned, and dropped the whole
line of argument. Edasm to ORCA appears on the CD as well. By the time
Merlin to ORCA came out, though, I'd realized one of the dirty little
secrets of marketing: Most people won't attach any more value to a product
than you do. If you give it away, they think it's worthless. We charged for
Merlin to ORCA in part so people would take it seriously. As a result, it
actually got the review Roger called me about.

Utility Pac #1 is a collection of shell utilities. It never sold well, so
there was never a Utility Pac #2, although you'll find several cool
utilities on the CD that would have been in that package had it ever been
released. The lack of a market didn't stop us from developing several
utilities for our own use! You'll find all but one that later became a
built-in command on the software CD, and the source for all of them on the
source CD at /Source/Bonus/Utilities.

Apple continued to create great additions to the System software as the
Apple IIGS waned. I urged them to collect the material and create a fourth
volume to the toolbox reference series. They declined, partly because
Addison-Wesley was no longer interested and partly because some of the
engineers didn't think the changes were extensive enough to justify a new
volume. I convinced them to let me create the volume from tech notes, with
Apple Engineers editing the final draft. The 468 page result convinced even
the skeptics that there was enough material, so they let me do a 50 page
addition for System 6.0.1. The result is Programmer's Reference for System
6.0 and 6.0.1, the volume that would have been Apple IIGS Toolbox
Reference, Volume 4 if Addison Wesley had been interested.

One of our most significant contributions to Apple IIGS programming was not
actually a development tool. Our series of programming courses gave Apple
IIGS fans entry level books that were tailored to the Apple IIGS. As far as
I know, the books in the Learn to Program series are the only entry level
books created specifically for the Apple IIGS market. I'm not aware of any
others that used a high-level language, and the assembly language books
were really all transition books targeted at skilled 6502 programmers. The
companion Toolbox Programming series is still the best way to learn the
toolbox. Both are available for ORCA/Pascal and ORCA/C, and the learn to
program course is also available for GSoft BASIC. All are on the CD. Even
if you don't need the courses, the 11 disks of source code are a valuable
reference. Many of my later programs started by copying the files from one
of the toolbox examples into a folder and munging the source to fit the new
design.

We were always known for our programming tools, but we made several forays
into other markets, too. There is Byte Paint on the 8 bit Apple ][ side,
which is partly a mouse driven paint program and partly an amper package
for Applesoft programmers; and Voyager, a product that is like opera music:
more satisfying for the author or performer than the audience. We tried the
education market briefly on the Apple IIGS with the Ugly Duckling Talking
Storybook, but McMillan showed up at the same AppleFest where we announced
with a series of two similar programs. Who knows what would have happened
if we'd been six months earlier.

Our last serious effort was the Quick Click programming series. Calc is a
pretty cool graphing spreadsheet. Morph was an attempt to cash in on a
trend in graphics software that was sweeping the computer world; it's
actually a lot of fun to play with, but it is painfully slow on an Apple
IIGS.

There was a third program in the series called Draw, which was intended as
a simple CAD program like the one in AppleWorks GS. Had the market held up,
the intent was to fill out the product line with paint, word processing and
database programs, then tie them together with a multi-Finder-like
switcher. Draw supports some pretty cool features, like the ability to
rotate all of its objects to arbitrary angles. I was working on the
printing commands, with just text, layers and libraries left when I started
to talk about it online to make sure I wasn't missing any little tweaks
that folks would really want. The basic message I got was, if it wasn't
AutoCAD on the GS, forget it. I ended up canning the project a few weeks
before completion. I still wonder from time to time if I should have
finished the project.

You'll find a few other noncommercial creations on the source CD. There is
a copy of the executables for the first version of APW, along with a GS
version of Small-C and LINKED, the scripting linker we wrote for Apple.
Apple insisted we write it in Small-C; the linker I later wrote for ORCA
was in assembly language. There is also an electronic version of the Sky
and Telescope planet finder, an SHR screen dump utility and a quick little
debug break utility. Finally, you'll find one complete application. It's a
program switcher written for System Disk 3.2, the very first one ever
written. I was trying to find another publisher to release it because I
knew by then that my expertise was in writing, not marketing. I thought I
had a deal with two different companies, but both deals foundered.
Incidentally, there were strong forces within Apple that disapproved of
this program: They actually didn't want people to see this sort of
application on the Apple IIGS!

So it's all here, pretty much everything I ever wrote or published on the
Apple ][ that was worth saving and wasn't published by another company.
It's been a lot of things for me, including a livelihood for a number of
years, an education, and an avocation. I hope you get some enjoyment out of
this collection. I certainly got a lot of enjoyment from creating it!

Mike Westerfield
Albuquerque, New Mexico
November 2000









------------------------------------
             LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
------------------------------------

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


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

Send your comments to Lyle Syverson, Editor <lyle@FoxValley.net>

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]





[KFT]
KFest 2001
""""""""""
                                Plan Ahead
                                ~~~~~~~~~~
KFest 2001 is set for July 25-29 (early arrivals on July 24) at Avila
College.  Put it on your calender and start saving your money.  You will be
glad you did.
[EOA]




[INN]------------------------------
                     EXTRA INNINGS |
-----------------------------------
About The Lamp!   The Lamp! is published on the fifteenth of every month in
"""""""""""""""   the Database of the II Scribe Forum on the Delphi online
service (GO CUS 11).

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 2000 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W.  All
       rights reserved.

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

     * Back issues of The Lamp! are available in the II Scribe Forum on
       Delphi as well as The Lamp! Home Page,
       http://lamp.sheppyware.net.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Opinions expressed herein are those of  the individual authors, and do  not
necessarily  represent  the  opinions   of  the  Delphi  Online   Services,
Syndicomm, Inc.,  Ryan M. Suenaga, or Lyle Syverson.   Forum  messages  are
reprinted verbatim and  are included  in this  publication with  permission
from  the  individual  authors.   Delphi Online Services,  Syndicomm, Inc.,
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]


