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

                       >>> WELCOME TO THE LAMP! <<<
                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       THINKING KFEST: The KFest FAQ
              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. 2, No. 5
 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 Publisher & Editor.......................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W.
 Internet Email....................................thelamp@sheppyware.net
 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

                             TABLE OF CONTENTS
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               May 15, 1999


OPENING PITCH
     Sultans Of Swing ----------------------------------------------- [OPN]

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED                                                [FOR]
     The Heat Is On ------------------------------------------------- [HET]
     Miscellanea                                                      [MSC]
     Rumor Mill ----------------------------------------------------- [RMR]
     Public Postings                                                  [PUB]
     Best Of The Best ----------------------------------------------- [BOB]

A2Pro_DUCTIVITY
     Checking out A2PRO on Delphi ----------------------------------- [A2P]

THINKING KFEST
     The KFest FAQ -------------------------------------------------- [KFE]

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].


         :: DISCUSSED ON DELPHI ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
         :                                                       :
         :          "Who NEEDS four digits to a year!"           :
         :                                                       :
         :                   "Not comparable.                    :
         :                                                       :
         :          "You might ask who needs more than           :
         :               640K of memory, though."                :
         :                                                       :
         :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::MBROUI11ETTE and UTTER :::::


[EOA]
[OPN]------------------------------
                     OPENING PITCH |
-----------------------------------
From The Editor
"""""""""""""""
by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W.
                [thelamp@sheppyware.net]

                             SULTANS OF SWING
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Don't forget where you came from.  An important lesson for all of us
to learn, whether we're proud or ashamed of our origins.  It can inspire us
and uplift us, whether we accomplish what we can out of not wanting to go
back or making the old folk back home proud.

     I started online on Genie.

     It was nearly two years ago that I gave up the fight myself.  GEnie
had become Genie, the most expensive service of its kind in the world, and
Delphi had become a viable alternative for Apple II support.  Genie was no
longer unchallenged as the home of the best online Apple II support in the
universe.  More and more Genie users left--many for Delphi, some for the
unknown.  It was time for a change.  _GenieLamp A2_ was no more, and
shortly thereafter, _The Lamp!_ rose from its ashes, with its new home on
Delphi.

     Not all of our friends followed, however.  Our Apple II brothers and
sisters on Genie were a hardy bunch, and many steadfastly dug in, refusing
to leave Genie.

     They may not have counted on Genie leaving them.

     I write this on May 10, 1999.  It's been about three weeks since the
A2 RoundTable on Genie became inaccessible to both the staff and members of
Genie.  Not only was Genie's A2 one of the most popular places for Apple II
support anywhere, it was also among the busiest of Genie's RoundTables.
You would think that fixing a problem with your fattest cash cow would be
number one on their list of priorities.

     If it is, they're sure not acting like it.

     I'm not declaring Genie dead--in fact, it's survived a lot longer than
I ever expected it to.  But if Genie's A2 has been inaccessible this long
without it being repaired, it may be the final blow.  At the very least,
they're certainly in dire straits.

     So I make the plea again, to our old friends on Genie: come home to
Delphi.

     It may not be where you're from, but it'll be where you're at.


                                [*] [*] [*]

     Excuse Me Department: What you'll read about as a major Delphi "burp"
in this issue was a strange occurrence that resulted in several hundred
duplicate messages in the A2 Forum (among others).  Things could've been
worse, I guess--we didn't see mass deletion of messages, for instance,
which would've been a disaster.

     What fell somewhere between a disaster and an annoyance was editing
the messages in the A2 Forum for use in this issue of _The Lamp!_.  My
apologies for the tardiness of this issue.

                                [*] [*] [*]

     There's A New Club In Town Department: KansasFest 1999 is on for July
1999, on the campus of Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri.  It's time
once again to gear up for staying up all night and partying all day.  You
can get the latest word on KFest 1999 at the KFest Home page at
http://www.kfest.org.  After many twists and turns, it finally seems that I
will be there again, to shake your hand and talk II until the cows come
home. . . and go out again.

     Keep the fire.  We'll be by in thirty.

Ryan
thelamp@sheppyware.net

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

ASCII ART ENDS


[EOA]
[OPN]------------------------------
     A FUNNY THING HAPPENED. . . . |
-----------------------------------
Checking out A2 on Delphi
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W.
                [thelamp@sheppyware.net]

       * The Heat Is On

              * Miscellanea

                     * Rumor Mill

                            * Public Postings

                                        * Best Of The Best

                              THE HEAT IS ON
                              """"""""""""""

     [*] Welcome to A2            ....... What's Happened To Genie A2?
     [*] General Chatter          ....... apple2.org--Find FAQs There
     [*] Apple Operating Systems  ....... ProSel TidBits
     [*] Welcome to A2            ....... Reclassification Bonanza
     [*] General Chatter          ....... How Many Hard Drive Partitions?



                                MISCELLANEA
                                """""""""""

THAT SEVENTIES COMPUTER   As a follow up to my most recent Juiced.GS
"""""""""""""""""""""""   column. . .

http://members.home.net/dfgrant/index.htm

-
 Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W.  --  rsuenaga@apple2.org
 Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi
 Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution
                       (RSUENAGA, 21819, GO COM A2)


RAMFAST LIMITATIONS IN THE LATE 1990'S   The RAMFast SCSI Card is limited
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   in two ways:

1) No Device larger than 1 GB (Contiguous blocks) (Greater than 1024
   Cylinders) This is per device, not the sum of all devices. But it might
   as well be:

2) Only 12 Partitions per device. 12*32MB = 384MB in ProDOS Partitions.
   One could use HFS, but when, not if, it crashes you'll wish you hadn't.
   :)

You can create up to 12 partitions per drive, and using the utilities,
select and deselect them at boot time for a total of 12 active.

You can not use more than 1 RAMFast per computer. The drivers do not
support looking for an additional card, when they find one, that is the
card. This is both a driver and internal firmware limitation of the
RAMFast.

IE: You boot a RAMFast in slot 2, hold down the keypad zero to enter the
utilities and it will find the card in slot 7. (Or the other way around, I
forget which direction it scans)

These limitations are a result of shortcuts during development:

"No one will have two of these... (probably thinking, they, and the hard
disks are too expensive.. )"

"I don't want to write code to scroll the partition list in the utilities."
(Which may have meant only supporting 14 devices at the time because the
RAMFast physically mapped it's partitions to a slot prior to ProDOS 8 1.9
and  support for more than just 2 or 4 hard disk partitions.

Later version of ProDOS 8 phantom slotted starting at slot 1 and working up
until either every slot/drive that was available was mapped or it ran out
of partitions.

In effect, Extended SmartPort operation like GS/OS supported was brought to
the ProDOS 8 environment. Physical slot assignments by the RAMFast was no
longer needed and if you are still using it you should actually turn it all
off. Unmap the partitions, leaving just Slot 7 D1 and D2 mapped. Or
whatever slot your RAMFast resides in. D2 is not even needed but it's not
hurting anything.

Tony
                        (T_DIAZ, 21895, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   It's easy to criticize now, but when a 1 gig drive cost over $2K,
"""""   it was a hell of a lot more reasonable. There really WAS no point
in writing code to handle drives bigger than 1 gig.

Gary R. Utter
                         (UTTER, 21906, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Well, I've heard rumours that the RamFAST might have problems with
"""""   larger drives but I'm currently using a Quantum 1.2 GB hard drive
on my IIgs.

9 ProDOS partitions (32 MB each) and 1 HFS partition (approximately 780
MB).

I haven't had any problems that I can attribute to using this large drive
on a RamFAST (v3.01f ROM). <Knock on wood>

 Jeff Blakeney | Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro |
 --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
   sent via | HyperCard IIgs Course | GSoft BASIC Course |
   COG v3.0 | now in session | now in session |
                       (JBLAKENEY, 21965, GO COM A2)


JUICED.GS ERRATA AND USING SSL WITH LYNX   Hey gang,
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I need to clarify a bit of information that was in the latest issue of
Juiced.GS (March '99, Volume 4, Issue 1).

In the Shareware Spotlight article on gsAIM, the author stated he was
unable to access the AOL Instant Messenger sign-up page using Lynx, so
users would need access to a graphical Web browser (Netscape Navigator,
Explorer) to get an AIM account for use with their IIGS and gsAIM.

It has been brought to my attention that the AIM sign-up page can indeed be
accessed from any version of Lynx with support for secure sockets. If
you're unsure that your ISP's version of Lynx is up-to-date enough to
support secure sockets, don't hesitate to give it a try on the AIM page
listed in the Juiced.GS article.

My apologies for any confusion -- or any reluctance by users to try gsAIM
-- that this may have caused.


 Max Jones
 Juiced.GS
 http://www.wbwip.com/juiced.gs
                       (JUICEDGS, 21825, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Note that even in the latest version of Lynx, secure sockets
"""""   support is an optional install; sysadmins have to download a
separate source package, merge it with the Lynx sources, then do the
compile and install. Because of that, it's fairly uncommon to find an
SSL-enabled version of Lynx.

Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                        (SHEPPY, 21828, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Yeah, it's a shame that due to ridiculous US encryption law
"""""   (munition law, actually) it has to be such a runaround. It's really
easy to do the SSL installation, especially if the ISP already has the
ssleay package (many do.) You basically just replace a few files and change
two lines in the makefile, which you have to modify anyway to get Lynx
setup the way you like it.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------
 Tony Ward, A2 Database Manager - Fri Apr 02, 1999 11:10:07 am
 [Delivered with Spectrum v2.2 and Crock O' Gold v3.0]
 --

 "He was a man, all and all.  I shall not look upon his like again."
                        (TONYW1, 21842, GO COM A2)


HARD DRIVE POWER SUPPLY BASICS FROM HAROLD AND TONY   There are so many of
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   these, in differing
physical configurations, capacities, etc. that it is almost impossible to
track down an exact replacement for a failed one.

That's the bad news.

The good news: As long as you can find one that:

1) Will physically fit the available space (may need mounting changes)
2) Accepts the available input voltage
3) Provides the needed output voltages and current

It shouldn't be all that hard to manage to get it mounted and working.

Note: One big problem I've run into many times with switching power
supplies and hard drives (tape, CD, etc) is RF being radiated by the supply
itself and messing up the operation of the device. When this is suspected
it can often be dealt with by enclosing the supply in a piece of drafting
mylar that has had aluminum foil glued to it's outer surface. Make this
into a "tunnel" that wraps around the supply, but be CERTAIN that your
modification still allows for proper airflow for cooling or the new supply
WILL FAIL QUICKLY

-Harold
HdwrNut on EFNet and AIM
Posted by ProTERM Mac Messenger
The most damaging phrase in the language is: "It's always been done that
way."
                       (HAROLD_H, 22130, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Not necessarily 'cheap', but definitely under loaded. Think of it
"""""   as those times when you go up (or down) stairs blindly, perhaps
your carrying something and you can't see down or whatever, and you get to
the top and your still going up but the steps are done. Your foot goes up,
and then wham, onto the floor and you nearly fall over if you did it
'right'.

The power supply is designed for a PC, and in fact there are some that will
NOT work unless attached to a motherboard. Others will, but since all the
voltages are not being used, they are 'climbing stairs' that are not there.
Pushing a lawn mower as if it were going up a hill when in fact there is
down hill and no grass. Two hard disks are nothing, the P/S is expecting a
motherboard filled with cards using 4 different voltages. The hard disk
uses two of them. So unless you have a lot of hard disks, that power supply
is under loaded and could, not will, could die at a moments notice.

Apple used two vendors for power supplies for the IIgs, Astec and Dynacomp.
the Dynacomp, (Richardson, TX) supplies at first were failing due to under
loading. A typical IIgs system had the 1MB RAM card and the floppy drive.
So the power supply was not loaded enough. They had a rash of failures and
figured out it was underloading and had to replace them all. Same thing as
the 'cheap' mini tower power supply.
                        (T_DIAZ, 22799, GO COM A2)


COPY II+ 9.1--CHAOS OR COOL FOR FORKED FILES?   9.1 is okay, but some older
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   versions of C2+ do not
understand forked files and will behave exactly as Joe has described it.
I'm not sure which version of C2+ was the first to be able to deal
appropriately with forked files, but it's best not to use any version other
than the latest/last.

Gary R. Utter
                         (UTTER, 21915, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Copy II+ 9.1 is the first and only version to deal correctly with
"""""   forked files.

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
 {<mailto:sheppy@sheppyware.net> sheppy@sheppyware.net}
 {<http://www.sheppyware.net> http://www.sheppyware.net}
                        (SHEPPY, 21922, GO COM A2)


WHAT'S THE SPINDOWN ISSUE WITH THE ZIP DRIVE AND AHS?   The same as the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   "sleep problem"
that others have mentioned. Zip drives go into sleep mode when the disk has
not been accessed for a certain amount of time (I think the default is 15
minutes), causing the Zip disk to stop rotating. With an Apple SCSI card,
this causes the volumes on a sleeping Zip to sometimes not be recognized
when you go to access the disk again, as the standard driver does not wait
long enough for the disk to spin back up. I'm not sure if the same thing
happens with a RamFast.

I also find that when I don't have a disk in the Zip drive, Finder windows
sometimes don't draw initially (though they update fine when I scroll) and
volume listings in Standard File dialogs rapidly refresh themselves, making
it difficult to select things. Not a big deal once you get used to it, but
it scared me at first -- I thought something was really wrong with my
machine when all my Finder windows kept opening up blank!

Others have mentioned that the Tulin floptical driver solves both these
problems, and I've been meaning to get it for ages, but I haven't been
using my real GS much lately, so it hasn't been a priority. Like I said, I
just got used to the little quirks and tried to be careful about not
letting the drive go to sleep. I haven't had any significant problems,
though.

-- Michael
                          (SAR, 22670, GO COM A2)


THIS PART DELPHI PLANNED   *** NOTICE ***
""""""""""""""""""""""""
Delphi will be down Easter Sunday beginning 08:00 EDT for about an hour
while the Delphi clock is reset for Daylight Saving time.

Don't forget to reset your own clocks if you live in a time zone that
switches to Daylight Saving Time. :)

Chuck

CHunk_S --- Your A2 Forum Host

Delivered by OLRight! (v4.0) scripts for ANSITerm for the Apple IIgs
                        (CHUNK_S, 21859, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   **************** NOTICE **************
"""""
The Delphi engineering folks have installed some changes to the Forum
message software so that the Text and Web sides can work better together.
These changes should be mostly 'invisible', with the exception of one:

When you post a message from the Text side, instead of it immediately being
assigned a number, you will see the following message:

> Response Message 1999999999 Stored.
> (There is a short delay while the message is stored and a number is
> assigned.)

The message number is assigned within a couple of minutes. Until then, it
is not available for reading.

Apparently, the changes are being installed on a forum-by-forum basis, so
you may not see the effect in all forums that you visit until all of them
have been updated. They _are_ in effect here in A2 as of the date and time
that this message is posted.

Don V. Zahniser (IronTooth)

            Try my off-line reader scripts for ANSITerm...
                          They're OLRight!
                     (Version 4.0 Coming Soon...)
                       (DZAHNISER, 21863, GO COM A2)


THIS PART THEY DIDN'T   Well, as many of you have probably already found
"""""""""""""""""""""   out. Delphi's new software has been "burping" this
weekend.

We here in A2 got it today. My recent pass got 394 messages. Some of them
were even triplicates. But, at least at this time, we aren't having the
problems some other Forums have had. IE, Personal Law got hit twice. First
time had 250+ messages (Saturday), and today (Sunday) 567 messages.

What is happening, is that OLD messages are being picked up and reposted as
NEW messages. The only thing we can do is to try to wade through them ...
and PRAY that it doesn't happen again. :)

But there is a bit of silver lining ... There has been a problem with the
interface between Web and Text not "Following Thread". These latest passes
have had all messages following the thread. Whee!

Hang in there ... It will get better.

(Why does this kind of thing always happen on the weekends?)

Chuck

CHunk_S --- Your A2 Forum Host

Delivered by OLRight! (v4.0) scripts for ANSITerm for the Apple IIgs
                        (CHUNK_S, 22831, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   For anyone who got 'burped' by Delphi:
"""""
One command that you can issue that can be extremely useful when entering a
Forum for the first time, or if you haven't visited one for a long time, is
the 'HIGH NEW' command. This resets your message pointers to the last 50
messages in the Forum. When I got 'burped', I simply deleted the 452
messages that I received, then on the next pass issued a 'HIGH NEW', and I
had far fewer messages to wade thru...

This command is one that you SHOULD use prior to reading messages in any
forum that you have not visited previously. It can save a lot of
aggravation.

Don V. Zahniser (IronTooth)

            Try my off-line reader scripts for ANSITerm...
                          They're OLRight!
                     (Version 4.0 Coming Soon...)
                       (DZAHNISER, 22853, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   As you may all have gathered, the new 'feature' on Delphi is to
"""""   delay you seeing your messages for some hours after posting.

The changes do not affect COG directly, but if you have been used to seeing
your message replies in the captured message stream directly after posting
them, you are going to be disappointed...

If only we can get rid of all these people who read these Forums through
the Web, we can get back to some decent response times! :)

 Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Mon 5 Apr 1999 - 107 days till KFest '99
 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 3.0
 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing at 55Mhz on a G3/350
 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/
                        (EWANNOP, 21907, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   That turns out not to be the case.
"""""
What you are seeing is a side effect. It's particularly annoying right now,
because the delays in the appearance of newly posted messages have been
substantial, but the installation process is in progress. Once they get
things fully installed and tuned, the delay should be down to a few
minutes.

That will probably still be long enough so that an off line reader doesn't
pick up your freshly posted messages, but I can't find any way to see that
as a problem.:)

Gary R. Utter
                         (UTTER, 21916, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   I sent a note to one of the Delphi engineering folks this morning.
"""""   He opined that it may have been related to rebooting the VAXes from
the change to DST, and that he expects that it won't recur.

We'll just have to see how things go...

Don V. Zahniser (IronTooth)

            Try my off-line reader scripts for ANSITerm...
                          They're OLRight!
                     (Version 4.0 Coming Soon...)
                       (DZAHNISER, 21919, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   I checked back after posting this while still online. The time
"""""   stamp was about 3 minutes after I logged on. If it was time-stamped
when the message number was assigned, that would make it about 2 minutes
from the time I sent it. Worst case would be about 12 minutes, which is
what was on the online clock when I came back in to check.

Not bad in either case...

Don V. Zahniser (IronTooth)

            Try my off-line reader scripts for ANSITerm...
                          They're OLRight!
                     (Version 4.0 Coming Soon...)
                       (DZAHNISER, 21926, GO COM A2)


TROUBLESHOOTING TOUGH IIGS HARDWARE PROBLEMS   On those IIgs's that just
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   seem to be awful crashy and
there is no reason that is particularly evident, what I usually do is
remove the whole thing from the case, sit the P/S next to the board, on the
table, one at time add non essential cards, (if any, Quickie, Grappler,
Sound, etc.) back into the system and if you can not duplicate a crash then
you fixed your problem. Actually, the better thing is to first run it
loaded, on the table. I find that a lot of times the case is to blame. The
FCC shield in the bottom rises just enough to interfere with the
motherboard.

If you have a Zip/TWGS and a large RAM card then you other problem may also
be the power supply connector. If you notice subtle changes in the
intensity of the background/border colors (this is really evident on a
default color set) that means your grounding connector is becoming
corroded. Removing the P/S connector and scraping it, and retensioning the
pins will fix it. Hrmmmm.. Perhaps that's a mini KFest thing. .. Power
Supply / Monitor adjustment. (The monitor thing scares me though, it's too
touchy a subject for those not  in the know) We'll see.

In cases of P/S connector trouble I also bend the pins on the motherboard
at very slight angles to the left and right so when the connector is
replaced different tension points form. Also, a Papermate pen shoved at an
angle so that the other end rests under the wire harness coming out of the
P/S and the non-writing end wedged between the P/S and the connector
pushing on it.

That will need a picture description I'm sure.

Tony
                        (T_DIAZ, 21896, GO COM A2)


CAN YOU SET TOP AND BOTTOM MARGINS IN THE AWGS WORD PROCESSOR?   If memory
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   serves,
the way to alter top and bottom margins in the word processor is to view
the header and footer of the page and add in an appropriate number of
carriage returns. Left and right margins are set in the ruler.

-Gareth
                        (GARETH, 22044, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Try inserting a header and footer with the desired number of blank
"""""   lines. Other than this, there is no specific provision in AWGS to
set these margins.

Paul.

Paul Schultz
schultp@delphi.com
sent your way via Spectrum 2.2 and Crock O' Gold 3.0!
                        (SCHULTP, 22206, GO COM A2)


A TEMPLATE DTP TIP FROM THE JUICEDMEISTER   Here's a nifty way to use
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   template files and not risk
overwriting them at some point in time ....

 -- Create your template in whatever DTP program you choose (AWGS PL,
GraphicWriter III 2.x, Publish It! 4).

 -- Go back to the Finder, locate the template file, highlight it, and
press Apple-I on the keyboard. When the file info window opens, lock the
file by checking the appropriate box.

The next time you open the template, a "Save As" won't be required in order
to preserve the template in its original form. Just do a normal "Save".
Because your template file is locked, the "Save As" dialog window will
appear. Pretty cool!

That's the way I handle all of my Juiced.GS templates. It saves me from
losing original template files, or having to recreate them, when I have
brain cramps during magazine production. :-)

 Max Jones
 Juiced.GS
 http://www.wbwip.com/juiced.gs
                       (JUICEDGS, 22769, GO COM A2)


CABLE MODEM COBBLING   Our local cable provider is in the process of adding
""""""""""""""""""""   Cable Modem access. I wonder if the AsanteTalk would
enable a IIGS to connect to the cable modem? (a cable modem requires an
ethernet card to talk to a computer).

I was considering getting cable modem access (for my wife's PC) but without
ethernet capability to talk to the cable modem with the IIGS, I would still
need to retain my current ISP for conventional modem capability for my
IIGS.

Any thoughts?

Mark Welte [Doc]
                        (WELTEM, 22117, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   It can give you file services and printer services with the
"""""   appropriate software, but at this point it won't give you TCP/IP
services (meaning Marinetti). What you would need for that is (1) some way
of serving TCP/IP over MacIP (aka MacIPNetRouter) and (2) the mythical
MacIP Marinetti module.

What you -could- do, among other things, is use a Linux server for your
cable modem and serve SLIP or PPP out the serial port via a null modem
connect (I will have this set up sooner or later--actually, the Linux box
is set up, it's just a matter of getting the software and the null cable
set up right now).

-
 Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org
 Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi
 Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution
                       (RSUENAGA, 22118, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   There was a great article in the last Juiced.GS on how to get the
"""""   GS on a TCP/IP ethernet network (highly recommended to subscribe to
get interesting articles such as that). One solution not in the article is
to build a box based on the instructions on {<http://www.linuxrouter.org>
www.linuxrouter.org} (combined with info from the Juiced.GS article). It's
not trivial to set up, but looks very doable.

Geoff
                       (SISGEOFF, 22140, GO COM A2)


MORE ON ETHERNET TO LOCALTALK HARDWARE BRIDGING   You are correct, the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   power up of *all*
Ethernet to LocalTalk devices is very critical, every device that is
reliant on the bridge, on both sides needs to be there and ready so when
the device powers up it receives all net ID's from each and registers them
for each side of the network to see.

I am really amazed at how *little* phone calls I receive as a result of the
Ethernet to LocalTalk bridges we sell, while mainly Dayna, some Asante,
they all work the same.

Since these devices are really intended for LaserWriters, the 4 step
process for power up that I stick on top of each one shipped is:

In case of network problems, turn off the LaserWriter, unplug the
Etherprint, (and any other LocalTalk devices), Turn on the LaserWriter,
wait for it to become ready, plug in the Etherprint and wait 30 seconds. Go
to the Chooser and select the printer. Then leave it alone. :)

The Gatorbox CS is by far the best, (slim plastic tower, with a 'hole'
under it between it and the base) this one is completely self sufficient
and is compatible with every method and use of AppleTalk that I have ever
thrown at it. Works every time.

There are other devices available such as AsanteTalk, Dayna Etherprint,
Webster CC LT/Bridge and a few other less known such as Farallon
Etherbridge.

The IIgs can print with any of these devices, but will lock up ruthlessly
when Appleshare is accessed. It will even lock the Mac up if you are doing
just the right thing. :)

IIgs compatible choices, hardware wise are Farallon's EtherWave and the
Gatorbox CS, there are a few others but I can't think of the names right at
the moment. the Farallon EtherWave may exhibit a problem in that you will
have to cycle the power to the unit after a reboot. The EtherWave is for a
single computer solution, and each computer would require it's own
EtherWave. the Gatorbox and other likewise devices are for the entire
network. However an additional note on these devices, such as the Dayna
Etherprint, they will only route up to 2 or three, depending on firmware,
LocalTalk devices to an Ethernet network. You need to have the 'Plus' model
to get up to 8 devices on the LocalTalk side seeable by the Ethernet side.
The Etherprint will seek out and zero in on a printer first if it is
installed on the network with several other devices but the typical
installation is the Etherprint plugged into the hub and the printer plugged
into it with nothing else on the LocalTalk side. This is the least
problematic use. You can have up to 2 (or 3) IIgs, Mac Plus, SE, etc
computers w/o Ethernet on the LocalTalk side of these devices to access a
printer on the Ethernet side of the network, but the AppleShare services
still are a problem. I have been working with these on and off, but the
latter part of the beginning of the year was dedicated to a whole mess of
things I just had to get done, and have not had much time to do anything
else.

I have about 10 different hardware bridges, FastPath 4 and 5, Dayna,
Asante, Webster CC, Farallon, and a few others, everything does printers,
one or two of them work with genuine AppleShare servers but not with System
7 filesharing.

The whole thing is Networking Voodoo at it's best. Closely related to 'SCSI
Voodoo', but even worse. :)

I hope to, by KFest, have a whole mess of this worked out and possibly do a
session on this, but that wont be my main session, what that is, I don't
know yet, last years was really well received and it was planned on a whim,
a very last minute thing. When Richard was here, "Oh, I'll print this web
page and do this.. " Only to find out the HP Printer was going to EAT my
transparencies. That's ok.. Richard had a similar occurrence, so he must
have brought the curse with him. :) .. That night was a truly unique one.
Between train stations, getting people, confusing Kinko's with a very
simple request at 1:30AM (laminate these three pages, back to back, in this
order) so we don't crash our airplane for lack of checking the 'seat blets'
in the correct order on the check list. Oh what fun. We left at 5:30 AM
that morning from an airport 25 miles inland from the coast, where I
stashed the airplane the day before to get out from under the fog.

Tony
                        (T_DIAZ, 22810, GO COM A2)


YOU DON'T NEED TO READ THIS   _The Lamp!_ is copyright Ryan M. Suenaga and
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""   is published independently of Syndicomm; it
does, however, draw the majority of its content (only with permission from
the original authors) from the A2 and A2Pro Forums on Delphi.

Current (as well as past) issues of _The Lamp!_ are available in the
IIScribe database on Delphi at GO CUS 11.

You can also obtain issues of _The Lamp!_ on disk from _Juiced.GS_ and
_Shareware Solutions II_. I have also granted Alltech Electronics a license
to distribute (and some other places I can't recall off the top of my
head).

Past issues are available at the ftp site trenco.gno.org as well as
http://lamp.sheppyware.net. These are at least one month old, if not older.

btw, this is probably a good time to mention (to all, not to Mack, as he
doesn't fit into this category): the best way to make sure I don't update
the webpage for _The Lamp!_ is to ask me about it, especially if in the
same communication there's something that also says "I don't get any other
Apple II publications."  There is one thing that _The Lamp!_ is clearly
-not- intended to do, and that is to replace _Juiced.GS_, _SSII_, or any
other kind of Apple II publication, and there is nothing that will get me
to cease publication quicker than to hear that.  Off my soapbox, I will try
to get the April issues into the IIScribe database tonight before I sleep.

-
 Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org
 Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi
 Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution
                       (RSUENAGA, 22155, GO COM A2)


APPLE II SYSTEM SOFTWARE CHANGES ON APPLE'S FTP SITES   Today Apple posted
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   a new Tech Info
Library article. Article #30959, "Macintosh Floppy Drives: Creating Apple
IIGS Start Up Floppy Disks Issue".

This article discusses problems using DiskCopy on the Mac to create
floppies of the System 6.0.1 disk images. In particular, manual-insert Mac
floppy drives are known to often produce unusable floppies. These drives
are the kind that don't grab the disk and suck it in when the disk is
half-inserted. You can usually tell you have one of these drives: if
there's an indentation into which your fingers can go to push the disk all
the way into the drive, it's probably manual insert. Likewise,
manual-insert drives often have a flap to keep dust out of the drive.

Apple recommends using an older Mac to create the disks (contact a local
Apple service provider for help finding one to use).

If one isn't available, they suggest transferring the files to a IIgs over
a network and using ShrinkIt 1.1 to make the disks. ShrinkIt 1.1 can be
found at {<http://asu.info.apple.com> http://asu.info.apple.com.} The Apple
IIgs disk images can be found at
{<http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n10078>
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n10078.}

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
 {<mailto:sheppy@sheppyware.net> sheppy@sheppyware.net}
 {<http://www.sheppyware.net> http://www.sheppyware.net}
                        (SHEPPY, 22159, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   It should be noted that 1.4 meg high density disks work fine
"""""   between these manual insert drives and a IIgs with a high density
drive. I believe the problem is flaky 800k support with the drives and not
an issue with disk copy.

Geoff
                       (SISGEOFF, 22161, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   Yes, although Apple's article doesn't say that, that's the issue --
"""""   Mac 1.4 MB floppy drives have had a long history of being unable to
reliably produce 800k disks that the IIgs will read.

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
 {<mailto:sheppy@sheppyware.net> sheppy@sheppyware.net}
 {<http://www.sheppyware.net> http://www.sheppyware.net}
                        (SHEPPY, 22163, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   That's nice of them but did you also notice that they have removed
"""""   all the BXY archives from their site? You can only get the .sea.bin
files which are DiskCopy files I believe.

This makes it impossible for me as a IIgs and IBM compatible user to
download the System Software for the IIgs. :/

Good thing I already have it and can get it from several other places
either on disk or as .BXY archives.  :)

 Jeff Blakeney |      Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro      |
 --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
   sent via    |   HyperCard IIgs Course   |   GSoft BASIC Course   |
   COG v3.0    |      now in session       |     now in session     |
                       (JBLAKENEY, 22170, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   The DiskCopy files are still there. The ShrinkIt files appear to be
"""""   gone though. I'll be releasing ImageMaker 1.1 hopefully sometime
before this month is over, then, sometime this summer or early in the fall,
ImageMaker Deluxe, which will support creating disks from disk images. The
upgrade from ImageMaker to ImageMaker Deluxe will be discounted for people
that buy ImageMaker before ImageMaker Deluxe ships.

ImageMaker Deluxe will be very useful for people that need to regurgitate
the System 6 images from Apple, I hope.

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
 {<mailto:sheppy@sheppyware.net> sheppy@sheppyware.net}
 {<http://www.sheppyware.net> http://www.sheppyware.net}
                        (SHEPPY, 22175, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   WRT the Tech Info Library article. Article #30959, "Macintosh
"""""   Floppy Drives: Creating Apple IIGS Start Up Floppy Disks Issue".

What's particularly amusing is that a lot of us have known about this for
quite some time, and I never myself, inquired to Apple about it, figuring
they would just blow it off to user error.

They addressed the issue, but it's not just an Apple II image problem, it's
800K disk images in general.

Up until the point of manual insert drives, Sony was the drive supplier for
Apple 3.5" drives. Budget stalemates and competition forced Apple to look
in other directions for drive sources. Since the dominant force is the PC
market, all the drives in the marketplace are designed for MFM,
(720K/1.44MB, 1/2MB 'unformatted'). These drives had to be modified to
support Apple's own proprietary GCR format. 143K/400K/800K are all GCR. The
Sony drives were designed with GCR in mind, the heads, mainly.

If some of you may recall the "HFS Interchange Format" that was introduced
around System 7 Pro, System 7.1.2, just about the time the first PowerMac's
shipped. This was also about the same time as Apple was making a change to
use other vendors drives. After no very long, HFS Interchange Format (a
720K HFS volume) disappeared nearly as fast as it appeared. A system
release later, it was gone. To much, too fast, much more complicated than
they envisioned to phase out the 800K, and GCR format all together.

The drives just do not write GCR exactly the way the others do.

Maybe it's all by the book, done per spec, but you know that, that doesn't
necessarily mean it will work. Case in point, the BASIS 108, German Apple
II+ clone was cloned by the book, it was 101% compatible. So much in that
things did not work. The Franklin Ace 1000, the same way. The neat thing
about the Apple ][ design was that a lot of it was un-intentional,
characteristics of using circuits in ways never thought of when they were
designed. Double Hires is the best example, and most common. GCR is
another. Since only one vendor made the hardware it always worked.

This problem (disks created by one not read by another) also existed in a
smaller degree with the AppleDisk 3.5" and the UniDisk 3.5". That was more
of an interleave issue, and a ProDOS 'patience' thing. ProDOS would give up
to easy, if the data it was 'waiting' for did not come in time.

If you have a disk that does not read on the IIgs, format it first on the
IIgs, write the disk image to the disk after the disk has been formatted
once.

Or if you are moving files to a IIgs from a Mac, make your transit disk an
HFS disk, again, format the disk on the IIgs if you have to.

You should not write to ProDOS disks with a Mac, as *any* file will now
have a resource fork, EVEN IF IT DID NOT WHILE IT WAS ON THE MAC VOLUME.
Yes, you download a Shrinkit file on the Mac, unshrink it with Shrink II,
then write the files to a ProDOS disk, they now have a resource fork. If
these were ProDOS 8 files, they are no longer usable. If they were GS/OS
files, it's not as big of an issue, except that if the file did not have a
resource fork to begin with, now it does and you just lessened the mobility
of that file because now it can not be copied with a ProDOS 8 utility. Not
that, that should be a big problem, those with more experience can and do
use the P8 environment to move things around too, as they know what does
and does not have a resource fork.

MacOS will NOT add resource forks to ProDOS files (non-resource forked
files) just at random, but only when it writes them to ProDOS disks. On MS
DOS disks, the Mac writes the file and the resource goes in a folder called
"RESOURCE.FRK" ..which means that the files do not get modified.

Tony
                        (T_DIAZ, 22676, GO COM A2)


DELPHI DOT COMMANDS ON THE MESSAGE BOARDS   Uh - the so-called
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   'dot-commands' have been around
for a long, long time.

If you start a line with a period, Delphi will try to interpret the first
couple of characters as a dot-command. I think from your note that you
started a line with .BXY, which would tell Delphi that you wanted the line
to be blank (.B = blank line).

There are a few dot-commands listed in the Delphi manual (dated 1994) that
I have. I suppose there is a list online somewhere, but I haven't run
across it.

Don V. Zahniser (IronTooth)

            Try my off-line reader scripts for ANSITerm...
                          They're OLRight!
                     (Version 4.0 Coming Soon...)
                       (DZAHNISER, 22698, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   I guess this would be a new feature I could ask Ewen to put into
"""""   COG. Check to see if any line starts with a period and add a space
or something if it does.

I guess this is just the first time it has hit me and it is definitely the
first time I've seen a message here get messed up like that.

 Jeff Blakeney |      Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro      |
 --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
   sent via    |   HyperCard IIgs Course   |   GSoft BASIC Course   |
   COG v3.0    |      now in session       |     now in session     |
                       (JBLAKENEY, 22772, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   I have noted the problem and will see what I can do...
"""""
But what if a dot command was deliberately and correctly added to a
message. You would not want that to be removed. I guess the best solution
would be just a warning as you queued the message, so you could go back and
correct it if needed...

 Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Thu 22 Apr 1999 - 90 days till KFest '99
 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 3.0
 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing at 55Mhz on a G3/350
 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/
                        (EWANNOP, 22774, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   I would suggest instead that an alert be put up, because there are
"""""   situations in which you might _want_ to use dot-commands.

For example:

> Jeff Blakeney | Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro |
> --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
> sent via | HyperCard IIgs Course | GSoft BASIC Course |
> COG v3.0 | now in session | now in session |

Web browsers will probably show the above in a proportional font, instead
of the monospace font (Spectrum 8, most likely) that you used when
composing your 'signature'. It won't have the desired visual effect. To
preserve the formatting, a textsider would use two dot-commands: Just
before the text, you would use the '.pre' command, and after the text, if
you want to reset the note back to the default, you would use '.end pre'.

Don V. Zahniser (IronTooth)

            Try my off-line reader scripts for ANSITerm...
                          They're OLRight!
                     (Version 4.0 Coming Soon...)
                       (DZAHNISER, 22773, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   How many dot commands are there? If there aren't too many, maybe
"""""   you could check for those commands and allow them, otherwise add
the space...

---
Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                        (SHEPPY, 22775, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   From my archives, here are the listed dot commands:
"""""
----------ONLINE .DOT COMMANDS

All commands MUST be typed on a line by themselves in the first space of a
line unless otherwise indicated.

--| commands |------------| descriptions |-------------------------------

  .blank # Insert # blank lines.
  .b #
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .break Break text of next line to left margin set.
  .br #
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .center "text" Center "text." Must be on same line as text.
  .c "text"
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .end literal Ends literal text formatting. (cancels .lt) and
  .el enables auto line wrap features.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .indent # Indent text of next line # spaces.
  .i #
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .left margin # Set left margin # spaces to right.
  .lm #
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .lm # /annotate="text" Set left margin # spaces to right & insert
  .lm # /a="text" "text" in left margin on each line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .literal Everything typed on lines following this command
  .lt will be exactly how you type it in. Disables
                          forum auto line wrap features.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .line wrap # Set line wrap at # spaces from left margin.
  .lw # (does not seem to work properly at this time)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .paragraph Inserts single blank line for new paragraph.
  .p
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .page Pauses text display with a "more?" prompt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .page "text" Pauses text display with "text" replacing
                          the "more?" prompt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .pre Maintain formatting with monospaced font
  .end pre End monospaced formatting
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .right margin # Set right margin # spaces from left.
  .rm # (does not seem to work properly at this time)
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .wrap margin # This sets all lines after the first line to be
  .wm # indented by the value indicated on all follow-
                          ing lines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
  .! "text" Comment line, the "text" does not show during
                          text display in forum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---

<Editors Note: These commands do NOT work in Email.>

I found these in my archives from when we first set up A2. I cannot vouch
for the accuracy of them, at this time, because of the many changes that
are going on. But, I offer them to this discussion. :)

Chuck

CHunk_S --- Your A2 Forum Host

Delivered by OLRight! (v4.0) scripts for ANSITerm for the Apple IIgs
                        (CHUNK_S, 22776, GO COM A2)


DEALING WITH PRODOS DISKS ON THE MAC AND WITH THE DOG   If you partitioned
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   the Zip Disk on the
Mac, you ought to be able to mount the partitions using SCSI probe.

If you partitioned it on a II using a RamFAST, I think you have very little
chance of mounting them on the Mac.

I haven't used an Apple branded SCSI card for an Apple II in years, so
you'll have to research that on your own. . .

-
 Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org
 Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi
 Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution
                       (RSUENAGA, 22266, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   To mount a ProDOS formatted disk, you need a good tool or your name
"""""   is Copperfield. Since only few can claim the latter one, you need a
good tool.

Basically, you need a tool such as FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit. This software
is a commercial package, but worth every cent.

We have prepared a tutorial that shows how disks can be mounted and shared
in Bernie. Please have a look at the online tutorial at:

 {<http://www.magnet.ch/emutech/SupportCenter/>
http://www.magnet.ch/emutech/SupportCenter/}

(requires a frames-enabled browser)

Also, if you have problems with having AppleWorks recognize a disk image
that _did_ mount properly in Bernie, make sure the option "Low-Level Disk
Support" Setup menu) is disabled, i.e. does not have a checkmark.

regards,
henrik
                        (GUDATH, 22325, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Once a Zip appeared on the Mac desktop, Bernie will eat it happily.
"""""   From that point of view - whatever is required for mounting a
ProDOS zip on the Mac does also apply for Bernie and vice versa.

Just as a reminder, our "Dr. Magic" Ryan described in The Lamp (Dec 98
issue) how to mount Zips on RAMfastened IIs and Macs (and dogs). The basic
trick is to teach Macs to mount them (by letting them initialize the media)
and have the II deal with it as the latter seems more flexible in terms of
partitioning.

For a yet unknown reason Ryan gave permission to repost that article on the
Woof Woof Web, so in case the December issue of the Lamp is sitting on a
Zip you are unable to access, you'll find a copy in the dog's support
section.

Henrik Woof Gudat
                        (GUDATH, 22270, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Actually, I was able to make a Zip with multiple ProDOS partitions
"""""   that all mounted on the Mac. It was pretty much just trial and
error (some hints from Ryan's article), but eventually I found that
initializing a Zip with the Zip Tools, then partitioning it with Hard Disk
Toolkit (PE), then moving the disk to the GS and doing volume copies of a
number of ProDOS partitions to the Zip partitions, resulted in all
partitions mounting when the disk was brought back to the Mac. This was
with an Apple HS SCSI card; I don't know if it would work the same with a
RamFast.

The trick, I found, was =not= to erase or format the partitions on the GS.
Doing that first always resulted in a disk that was unreadable by the Mac.
But for some reason, the volume copies worked. (You can safely trash all
the files after copying if you wanted a blank volume.) I think it had to do
with the type of the partition not being changed from HFS to ProDOS in the
partition map. I don't know if the disks are safe to use in this form, but
it worked for transferring volumes over to make disk images for Bernie. (Of
course, a few days later, Sheppy released his ImageMaker program and made
all my work obsolete! :-)

-- Michael
                          (SAR, 22313, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   As well as my article. I now recommend ImageMaker as -the- way to
"""""   move IIgs disks over to Bernie. . .

-
 Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org
 Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi
 Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution
                       (RSUENAGA, 22319, GO COM A2)


SO, HOW DO I REACH SHREVE SYSTEMS?
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
   Shreve Systems
   1200 Marshall Street
   Shreveport LA 71101

   1-800-227-3971 to order
   (318) 424-9777 International
   (318) 424-9771 Fax

Keep in mind: they have no concept of time zones. . .

-
 Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org
 Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi
 Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution
                       (RSUENAGA, 22882, GO COM A2)


DO YOU REMEMBER A2-CENTRAL?   Hmmm...I guess I never promoted on my web
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""   site the availability of the
A2-Central-On-Disk collection, in part, because if anyone ordered it, it'd
mean that I'd have to copy a massive amount of disks, but...

Subscribers to SSII who might be interested in that collection, the details
can be found in the "Such A Deal" column in Volume 3, Issue 5.

Because of royalties paid to Tom Weishaar on each sale, my price can never
approach what Charlie is offering his complete set for...so, this is really
just a reminder that the complete A2/Resource Central collection is still
available from Shareware Solutions II. Along with many of the other
Resource Central materials; the other collections _are_ detailed at
http://www.concentric.net/~joko

Joe Kohn
                       (JOE_KOHN, 22929, GO COM A2)


DIFFERENT FONTS WITH APPLEWORKS   Actually, you can use almost any font
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   size you want with AppleWorks, if your
printer can handle them. Years ago, I wrote an article for NAUG about
downloading softfonts to a laser printer and then choosing those fonts from
AW. It does take some getting used to, and the ratio you think you're
getting isn't exact (actually, they print, if memory serves, about 4x
smaller than you'd expect, so you need larger fonts), AND you have to play
around with margins and spacing, but it can turn out good quality printing.

There was, and I thought I put it up in the library here, a font downloader
program that would take any GS font and load it to a HP-compatible laser
printer. The program came both in an 8-bit format (for which you also need
to use the Beagle.Bros Triple Dump) or as a GS/OS NDA. The program is/was
shareware; I haven't been in contact with the author for a while to see if
he's even in the same location (John Majka). If it's not in the library,
I'll get it there soon. :)

Later...........Howard
                         (HKATZ, 22951, GO COM A2)



                                RUMOR MILL
                                """"""""""

SSII REVEALS HEWLETT PACKARD ALTERNATIVE   If anyone here is thinking about
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   buying a DeskJet in the next
couple of days, DON'T!

Please wait until after the next issue of Shareware Solutions II arrives,
as I have uncovered an amazing bit of (money saving) information that
Hewlett-Packard really doesn't want you (or anyone else) to know about. My
"scoop" is so monumental that not even the big mainstream computer
magazines know what Shareware Solutions II readers will soon know.

I knew that I stumbled onto a story that would save Apple II owners some
money, and I certainly wasn't going to let HP's denials stop me from
uncovering the entire story.

That story will be arriving in subscriber's mailboxes very soon.

Actually, the article you'll read contains just factual information, and
says not a word about Joe the Investigative Reporter ;-)

After every one has had a chance to read it, I'd love to tell you the
entire story. I'd have to use a lot of journalistic cliches, I imagine,
such as "HP's PR department refused to return phone calls" and "HP's
corporate  operator denied that such a department existed" and of course,
I'd have to mention "the HP representative who spoke only after his
anonymity was assured."

In any case, Shareware Solutions II will be going into the mail before the
week is over.

Joe Kohn
                       (JOE_KOHN, 22197, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   I thought that I had a 'scoop,' but now I know it...
"""""
I just received an e-mail from an SSII subscriber who also happens to be a
distributor for that printer, and until he read SSII, he had absolutely no
idea ;-)

That warmed my heart.

Joe Kohn
                       (JOE_KOHN, 22964, GO COM A2)


SSII CHAT GOES FROM MULTI-SYSTEM TO MONO-SYSTEM   Apple IIGS owners will
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   soon have one more reason
to celebrate.

Find out all about it at the next Monday (4/26/99) multi-system chat, where
some special guests will tell you all about it.

Anyone and everyone who has the ability to read this message will be
interested in the software that our guests plan to announce on Monday
night.

 Joe Kohn
 http://www.concentric.net/~joko
                       (JOE_KOHN, 22339, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Don't count on it being multi-system. I found today that I couldn't
"""""   get past the main menu of the A2 area on Genie. No Roundtable, no
library, no conference.

  --
 Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Fri 23 Apr 99 7:55:58 pm
 cknoblo@novia.net - Via Spectrum v2.2 & Crock O' Gold v3.0
 KansasFest 11, July 21-25, 1999 - 89 days till KFest
 Using Marinetti 2.0 - Thank you, Richard.
                        (CKNOBLO, 22341, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   I've also been unable to get past Genie's A2 menu. But, I
"""""   understand that the problem has been reported to Genie, and
hopefully, they'll fix it soon.

In any case, I think I can safely say that it's the IIGS folks here on
Delphi who will be the most excited about the news that the special guests
will broadcast on Monday night.

Coincidentally, I'll be picking up the completed SSII newsletter, V4, #3,
sometime on Monday. As pleased as I am with this latest issue, SSII is not
the cause for celebration on Monday ;-)

There's some new software coming real soon now, but I'll let the guests
tell you all about it. On Monday night.

Joe Kohn
                       (JOE_KOHN, 22349, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   The Monday night multi-system chat wasn't really a multi-system
"""""   chat as Genie's A2 is currently missing-in-action, but it was great
nonetheless. At one point, we had 20 people in attendance.

The special guests were Ewen Wannop and Geoff Weiss, and they were pleased
to announce that Spectrum Internet Suite v1.1 is completed, and on the
brink of shipping.

For those who already own SIS v1.0, the update price is only $15.

The new feature list is quite extensive, so I'll just mention one new
option that I know you'll like...SIS v1.1 now works from Delphi.

To help commemorate this momentous news, Cindy Adams also announced that
Sir Ewen Wannop will be the guest of (dis)honor at the Kfest 99 Roast
;-)

 Joe Kohn
 http://www.concentric.net/~joko
                       (JOE_KOHN, 22860, GO COM A2)


A2'S THOUGHTS ON NEW FSTS   At this point, if a new FST were ever to see
"""""""""""""""""""""""""   the light of day it would probably be
reasonable to base it on a disassembled ProDOS FST. But, change the
pertinent parameters you have mentioned. Same basic structure but bigger in
a sense. Obviously, it would not be backwards compatible.

I believe that Brutal Deluxe currently has the ProDOS FST disassembled.
They posted to this effect in the past year on csa2. Perhaps this could be
a good launching point.

Paul.

Paul Schultz
schultp@delphi.com
sent your way via Spectrum 2.2 and Crock O' Gold 3.0!
                        (SCHULTP, 22204, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   The drawback with HFS is that it is so darn complex compared to the
"""""   ProDOS file system and the MS-DOS file system. Disassembling this
FST and making sense of it would be VERY time consuming compared to using a
ProDOS FST disassembly as a base. There are still IIgs programmers around
who are VERY well acquainted with the design and underpinnings of ProDOS.

Paul.

Paul Schultz
schultp@delphi.com
sent your way via Spectrum 2.2 and Crock O' Gold 3.0!
                        (SCHULTP, 22205, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Probably the best way to do this would be to increase the maximum
"""""   number of blocks in a filesystem. It's currently 65536, but adding
another byte to the block number would bump this up to 16777216. This would
allow for filesystems of up to 8GB while keeping the block size at 512
bytes. (Yes, I know that bigger drives than that are already on the market,
but what are the odds that you'll ever hook one of those to a II?)

 -=IIGS=- Scott Alfter ( {<mailto:salfter@delphi.com> salfter@delphi.com})
 {<http://people.delphi.com/salfter> http://people.delphi.com/salfter}
                        (SALFTER, 22669, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   It wouldn't have to be backwards compatible if it were written as a
"""""   separate FST. However, if we can make it close enough to ProDOS we
might be able to get away with booting from this new file system as well.

Even if we can't boot from it, I can live with one or more ProDOS
partitions for my boot partition and 8 bit programs. :-)

Now that you mention it, I may have captured a post to usenet a while back
that was the disassembly of an FST. I'll have to look through my message
archives again.

 Jeff Blakeney |      Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro      |
 --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
   sent via    |   HyperCard IIgs Course   |   GSoft BASIC Course   |
   COG v3.0    |      now in session       |     now in session     |
                       (JBLAKENEY, 22685, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Also, keep in mind that the total number of blocks is per partition
"""""   and not per drive. Being able to access 8 GB volumes with a
RamFAST, means you could have up to 12 partitions that are each 8 GB which
works out to 96 GB of accessible drive space. Even more with the Apple SCSI
cards.

No need to worry about the big drives that are out there right now.  :-)

 Jeff Blakeney |      Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro      |
 --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
   sent via    |   HyperCard IIgs Course   |   GSoft BASIC Course   |
   COG v3.0    |      now in session       |     now in session     |
                       (JBLAKENEY, 22686, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Doing what you suggest would be nice, and is doable in theory, but
"""""   since we don't have any information on how to write an FST, it's
not very practical in reality. Patching the ProDOS FST to do it would be
very hard (if not impossible), because structures on the disk would have to
be resized, which changes a lot inside the code.

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
 {<mailto:sheppy@sheppyware.net> sheppy@sheppyware.net}
 {<http://www.sheppyware.net> http://www.sheppyware.net}
                        (SHEPPY, 22688, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   If I may add my 2 cents to this talk of FSTs...
"""""
Although GS/OS is better designed (IMO) than MacOS or WindowsXX, FSTs are,
shall we say, a little too intimate with a specific version of GS/OS.

Hacking the ProDOS FST would be stupid in the same way that windows 95's
hack of FAT to support long file names is stupid. Quite frankly, we're
lucky that ProDOS could be hacked to support lower case letters.

Using a newly designed unix-ish filesystem would be much better (because of
the simplicity and they're known to work). Adding a boot block is rather
trivial. The real problem is understanding the intricate details of how an
FST works. Having a disassembly  of GS/OS and the ProDOS FST would help,
but without insider knowledge from (ex)Apple employees, a new FST is
probably a pipe dream.
                          (KWS, 22705, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   This discussion is probably best moved to A2Pro, however....I'm
"""""   never one to ignore a good topic. :-)

Obviously there are some reasons for updating the ProDOS filing structure
to support larger hard drives, but the project would have to be done for
the love of it, because I think most people would be using HFS, which is
good enough for most uses on an Apple IIgs.

As for the actual implementation, reverse engineering the FST is not the
way to go about it. The first step is sitting down in front of a hard copy
of the ProDOS file structure, and designing on paper the new architecture.
Once this is complete, you would move on to working out how to implement
the changes, whether that me by modifying the FST or whatever.

Any project which starts by disassembling the FST is fooling itself into
thinking it is redesigning ProDOS when in reality it is a project to
reverse engineer the FSTs. And from a standpoint of writing new FSTs, I
think you'll find that for the most part  this is not a straightforward
thing to do. FSTs are NOT as standard in calling interface as you would
imagine them to be.

Regards,
 Richard
                       (RICHARD_B, 22906, GO COM A2)


SHEPPY ON THE APPLE (NOT PENTIUM) ///   The /// was a great machine that
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   was shipped about three months
before it was really ready for prime time.

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
 {<mailto:sheppy@sheppyware.net> sheppy@sheppyware.net}
 {<http://www.sheppyware.net> http://www.sheppyware.net}
                        (SHEPPY, 21964, GO COM A2)



                              PUBLIC POSTINGS
                              """""""""""""""

NEWLY FOUND LOST CLASSICS   The files have already started to hit the A2
"""""""""""""""""""""""""   Database, so...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IMPORTANT DATABASE ANNOUNCEMENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In recent months, Howard Katz of the A2 staff has been working tirelessly
to contact software publishers and authors for permission to reclassify
Apple II software from commercial to freeware or public domain status. His
efforts have begun to pay off! Howard recently received confirmation from
Scantron Quality Computers that the entire line of software formerly
published by SQC under the Q Labs label is now reclassified as "Freeware".

The Q Labs titles represent some of the finest software published for the
Apple II market. These titles have already started appearing in the A2
database here on Delphi, with more on the way! For websiders, we'll try to
get them uploaded to public ftp archives - take a look, for example, at
ftp://trenco.gno.org/pub/apple2/companies/qlabs.

And - if that were not enough, look for more -significant- Apple II
software to be announced as reclassified in the very near future.

Stay tuned to Delphi A2 as this project bears more fruit...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don V. Zahniser
A2 Forum Archivist
                       (DZAHNISER, 22918, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Howard really does deserve our community's heart-felt thanks for
"""""   his efforts. Otherwise, many of us, especially newcomers to our
community, would only know about these "little gems" through old ads in
magazines and other's comments.

Howard has continued in the spirit of the "Lost Classics" project that was
started on our other home/site. Thanks to him they will now, not disappear,
but continue to be used.

Again, congratulations, Howard ... and ::MEGA-HUGS::

"Apple II Forever!"

Chuck

CHunk_S --- Your A2 Forum Host

Delivered by OLRight! (v4.0) scripts for ANSITerm for the Apple IIgs
                        (CHUNK_S, 22924, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Actually, I'm doing this for selfish reasons - the more software I
"""""   can get available to Apple II users thru legitimate channels, the
longer I can keep my Apple //e a fun and productive computer. :)

(BTW--all you ProSel users out there - if you're using it to launch your
programs from your hard drive, check out EasyDrive's interface. :) )

Later...........Howard
                         (HKATZ, 22952, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   There's more on the way, but the titles we've gotten ready and
"""""   released for public consumption are:

SixPack
SignatureGS (HD and 3.5" versions) plus the sigma patch for it
EasyDrive (suite of software)
Repairworks
QDrive
QRam

A few others are forthcoming - just either haven't been uploaded or
released yet.

Later............Howard
                         (HKATZ, 22963, GO COM A2)


NEW ONLINE HOME FOR GERMAN HARDWARE   The ///SHH Systeme web site is now at
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   a new address:

 {<http://www.wbwip.com/shh/> http://www.wbwip.com/shh/}

The old address will now automatically zap you to the new one.

///SHH Systeme products, sales & support information can be found on this
web site, supporting Apple II peripheral interface hardware:

     *  FaST506 hard disk controller (out of production, but supported)
     *  Turbo IDE Card hard disk controller
     *  MicroDrive Card hard disk controller
     *  MicroDrive/Turbo Card hard disk controller
     *  BlueDisk Card floppy disk controller
     *  Transwarp GS 32K cache ("second source")

 {<http://www0.delphi.com/powermac/> The POWER Forum }
 David K.
                       (DKERWOOD, 22024, GO COM A2)


CHUNK STOCKS UP ON HIGH SPEED 65C816'S   I'm posting this here, since this
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   is where discussion has been about
getting the faster Western Design W65816S8PL-14's for accelerators.

I have 15 of these beauties for sale. I am pricing them at $15-US or
$20CDN. This includes postage, packaging, and insurance. Money orders are
preferred, please.

Please send me email here on Delphi. I will then email you with my address.

Chuck

CHunk_S --- Your A2 Forum Host

Delivered by OLRight! (v4.0) scripts for ANSITerm for the Apple IIgs
                        (CHUNK_S, 22100, GO COM A2)


KFEST BLATANT PLUG FOR THE MASSES   Hey gang,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Less than two weeks remain before the Kfest '99 Early Bird registration
deadline. If you have not yet registered, now is the time to do so in order
to take advantage of the savings this special offer will bring you.

Things are looking VERY good for Kfest '99. Registrations are strong, and
planning is under way to make this the best Kfest ever. We've got some
great plans for this event, and we'd like for all of you to join us in
Kansas City to celebrate the Apple II community and learn more about these
computers we love.

We are reposting, for your convenience, the Kfest '99 Announcement, Rates
and Registration Form below.

 +++++

 ______      _____
(      )   (      )     ____________________________________________
 |     |  /     /      (        _____________________________'99____)
 |     | /     /        |      |
 |     |/     /         |      |                         II Infinitum!!
 |           /          |      |______
 |     |\     \         |      _______) __________    ________   ________
 |     | \     \        |      |       (     _____)  (     ___) (__    __)
 |     |  \     \       |      |        |   |__       \    \       |   |
 |     |   \     \      |      |        |    __)       \    \      |   |
 |     |    \      \    |      |        |   |_____   ___\    \     |   |
(______)    (________) (_______)       (__________) (_________)    |___|


Experience The Magic!!


 When: July 21-25, 1999
 Where: Avila College, Kansas City, Missouri

+++

KFest is back ... and it's never been more affordable!

Check out these rates, which include room and meals from Wednesday evening
(dinner) on July 21, through Sunday morning (breakfast) on July 25.
(Saturday evening dinner not included. That's Kfesters' Night Out On The
Town!)

+++  Early Bird rates (good if you register BEFORE April 15)  +++

 Double room:  $225
 Single room:  $275
 Spouse rate (in case you want to bring that special person along):  $175
 Registration only (no dorm room or meals):  $175

+++  Regular Attendee rates (if you register AFTER April 15)  +++

 Double room:  $275
 Single room:  $325
 Spouse rate (in case you want to bring that special person along):  $225
 Registration only (no dorm room or meals):  $225

Those cool Kfest T-shirts will also be available again this year for $15,
but ONLY if you order in advance. (See registration form below.)

+++  Special Early Arrivals rate  +++

For the very first time, Kfest will start early for those who'd like to
arrive a little sooner. Avila dorms will be available for occupancy on
Tuesday night for a small extra fee. No formal activities will be planned,
although the day may include the annual trek to KC Masterpiece Restaurant
for some of that world-famous Kansas City barbecue!

The rate for early arrivals (Tuesday night dorm room only):

 Double room:  $25
 Single room:  $33

For attendees planning to arrive at the normal time on Wednesday, check-in
will be on from 1-4 pm. Check-out will be from 11 am-1 pm on Sunday.

Current plans call for formal Kfest sessions to begin with dinner in the
Avila cafeteria on Wednesday evening (time to be announced), followed by
the traditional opening event, the Kfest Keynote Address. We've got some
great plans for that opening night activity. Stay tuned!!

Computer sessions will be conducted on Thursday and Friday. Software and
hardware demos are scheduled for Saturday morning, with a vendor fair
slated for Saturday afternoon.

Reminder: Meals included in the registration price are Wednesday dinner
through Sunday breakfast, with the exception of Saturday dinner.

On Saturday night, attendees can dine on their own at one of the many fine
restaurants near the Avila campus, or join groups of Kfesters at Jess &
Jim's Steak House or other local favorites.

All children under 18 years must be accompanied by a parent or legal
guardian.

 ***

KFest this year is again being sponsored by InTrec Software, Inc., makers
of ProTERM telecommunications software for the Apple II and Macintosh.

If you have questions about KFest, or wish to make suggestions, you can
find answers via the Internet. Just send an email message to:

kfest-help@kfest.org

.. or visit the Kfest World Wide Web page at:

http://www.kfest.org

If you're thinking about attending Kfest '99, please join the Kfest
internet e-mail chat:

To subscribe to the Kfest Information Mailing List, send email to
majordomo@kfest.org. In the BODY of the message, place the following text:

                subscribe kfest

You will receive a confirmation email. In order to be signed up for the
list, you will have to respond to this confirmation as the instructions
dictate. You will then be able send and read messages on the mailing list.


 ---[ The Form ]------------[ Cut Here ]----------[ Print Clearly ]---


KFest '99 Registration Form

View and print this document using 9-point Monaco font (ProTERM default) or
any other monospaced font such as Courier, CoPilot or Spectrum.

 Register for Kfest '99
  By phone, fax or email: Credit card number
   <> Complete this form and select one option:
       Send this form via email to: <kfest@intrec.com>
      Call the InTrec sales office: 602/992-5515
                    Fax this form: 602/992-0232

  <> By postal mail: Credit card, check or money order.
     Print, fill out, and mail this form with payment.

 Checks and money orders must be on a USA bank and USA compatible funds.


 Registration            Cost            Check Applicable
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Early Bird rates (before April 15)

 Double                  $225            [ ]
 Single                  $275            [ ]
 Spouse only             $175            [ ]
 Off campus              $175            [ ]

Regular rates (after April 15 and at the door)

 Double room             $275            [ ]
 Single room             $325            [ ]
 Spouse only             $225            [ ]
 Conference only         $225            [ ]

Early Arrival rates

 Double                  $25            [ ]
 Single                  $33            [ ]


 T-Shirts                $15 ea

 May we send your Kfest registration confirmation via email? [ ]Yes  [ ]No

 If NO, how can we contact you for
confirmation?:__________________________


__________________________________________________________________________


 Roommate preference:
_____________________________________________________

 Prefer a smoker/non-smoker. Check one:  [ ] Smoke    [ ] Non-smoke

 Kfest Softwear: Order a memorable collectible Kfest '99 T-Shirt? $15 ea
 Quantity:       [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]     [ ]
     Size:       SML     MED     LRG     XLRG    2XLRG   3XLRG

 Today's Date: ________/_________/_________


  1- Registration fee (see above dates & fees) ......... ______________

  2- Registration fee for spouse if applicable ......... ______________

  3- T-Shirts  Quantity [  ] @ $15.00 ea)  ............. ______________

  4- Sub-total of lines 1-3: ........................... ______________

  5- Arizona residents only add .068% tax: . ........... ______________

  6- Total cost (total of lines 4-5): .................. ______________

  Discover, Visa, Mastercard or American Express accepted.
  Checks & money orders must be payable to InTrec Software, and must
  be in US dollars from a US bank.


  _______________________________   ____________________________________
  First Name                         Last Name

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Organization (if applicable to Kfest)

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Shipping Address

  ______________________________________________________________________
  City

  _______________________________________________  _____________________
  State/Province                                   Zip+4 or Postal Code

  _______/_______________________  _______/_____________________________
  Day Phone                        Eve Phone

  [______________________________________________________________________
  Internet Mail Address

  [                                                ]     [      /      ]
  Credit Card Number (Mastercard-Visa-Discovery-Amex)    Expiration Date

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Name on Card (please print clearly)

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Authorized Signature (If printed, and mailed or faxed.)

  If you feel that using a credit card number via email may not be secure,
  considering mailing via postal service, fax, or call voice.

 Sponsored by:

  InTrec Software, Inc.
  3035 E Topaz Circle
  Phoenix, AZ 85028-4423
  Voc:602/992-1345
  Fax:602/992-0232
  <kfest@intrec.com>
  <http://www.intrec.com/a2.html/kfest.txt>

  ---[ End of Form ]-----------[ Cut Here ]---------[ Print Clearly ]---
                       (JUICEDGS, 21882, GO COM A2)


SHEPPY UPDATES IMAGEMAKER TO 1.1   ImageMaker 1.1 has just been released.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   You can get it at
{<http://www.sheppyware.net/software/imagemaker_gs/>
http://www.sheppyware.net/software/imagemaker_gs/.}

The new version supports creating DiskCopy 6 and "raw" disk images,
supports creating images from disks that GS/OS won't mount (like custom OS
disks, such as those demos), and fixes a couple of minor bugs.

In addition, there's an option to prevent the addition of Mac filetype and
creator information (adding these puts a resource fork on the created
files, and sometimes you don't want one).

Current ImageMaker owners can use the new version without any upgrade fee.
If you don't already own this valuable utility, you can register it for
just US $5 at {<http://order.kagi.com/?QGC> http://order.kagi.com/?QGC.}

---
Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                        (SHEPPY, 22834, GO COM A2)


SPECIAL OFFER FROM SHEPPY: FREE SHEPPYWARE FOR LIFE?   I'm making an
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   unusual special
offer:

RSA, the company that provides the standard security encryption protocol
used most frequently on the Internet, is sponsoring a contest, known as the
RC5 cracking contest, to test its protocol. This contest is participated in
by downloading a piece of software that attempts to break the code.

Participants download the software, install it, and run it. It receives
assignments from a central computer, and works on crunching that data. When
it's done, it sends its results back to the central computer and obtains
another block to work on.

To make things more interesting, teams have been established to add to the
fun and competitiveness. The team that cracks the code wins a cash prize,
and the individual that cracks the code gets a $1000 cash prize. You can
read specific information about this at {<http://www.distributed.net>
http://www.distributed.net.} Teams are ranked against each other, and every
night you can see the latest rankings.

I have my own team (Team SheppyWare), which has a few members
participating. You can see my team's current score at
{<http://rc5stats.distributed.net /tmsummary.idc?TM=4034>
http://rc5stats.distributed.net/tmsummary.idc?TM=4034.}

We've done pretty well so far, advancing to about 785th place (out of some
6,000 teams), but we've finally hit a brick wall. We don't have enough
participants to gain in the rankings. So that brings me to the special
offer:

Join my RC5 team, and you could win free SheppyWare for life ("SheppyWare"
is defined as freeware or shareware products released by Eric Shepherd for
any platform, and any commercial software released for the Apple II or IIgs
computer by Eric Shepherd; this does not imply that you'll receive refunds
for products already purchased (you won't), and I reserve the right to
cancel the free software if I go bankrupt or something unpleasant like
that).

The three participants in Team SheppyWare (not including members of my test
team, who aren't eligible) that have the highest number of contributed
blocks when the contest ends (in other words, when it's announced by RSA
that the code has been broken) will receive the free SheppyWare for life.

The steps involved in joining my team are:

1. Go to {<http://rc5.distributed.net> http://rc5.distributed.net} and
   download the client software for your computer. You'll need a PC, Mac,
   or the like (there's no Apple II software).

2. Install and configure the software. Be sure to set your email address.

3. Run the software.

4. Once you've submitted your first batch of blocks, you can join my team.
   Go to the Team SheppyWare status link listed above
   (http://rc5stats.distributed.net/tmsummary.idc?TM=4034) and then use the
   "Participant Search" at the top of the page to find yourself; enter your
   email address and click Search. Then click the "Email me my password"
   button to get your password. Then you can go to the following link to
   join the team; enter your email address as the username and your
   password:

{<http://stats.distributed.net/pjointeam.php3?team=4034>
http://stats.distributed.net/pjointeam.php3?team=4034.}

All your blocks (including those you've already submitted) will then be
assigned to the team, starting with the next nightly stats update.

You can get more information from rc5.distributed.net, and these links are
duplicated on my main web site at {<http://www.sheppyware.net>
http://www.sheppyware.net.}

You can use as many computers as you want (and have access to). You don't
need a full-time Internet connection (PPP is fine). If you need help
getting joined up, feel free to ask. Also, feel free to ask if you have
questions about my prize offer.

---
Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                        (SHEPPY, 22940, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   You can get more information on joining RC5 teams (a step-by-step
"""""   guide, in fact) at {<http://rc5.distributed.net/FAQ/team.html>
http://rc5.distributed.net/FAQ/team.html.}

---
Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                        (SHEPPY, 22941, GO COM A2)

<<<<<   I should point out that the RC5 software only uses processor time
"""""   you're not using; as a general rule you rarely notice any
significant performance impact while it's running. It just sits there
chugging away in the background when your computer would otherwise be idle.

---
Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                        (SHEPPY, 22957, GO COM A2)


SSII MOVES TO A NEW ONLINE HOME   Although it'll probably take me a while
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   to get fully moved in, I have a new ISP.
The new e-mail address is joko@concentric.net and the URL for the Shareware
Solutions II web site is www.concentric.net/~joko

I'll maintain the address at crl.com long enough for everyone to memorize
the new e-mail address and URL.

Joe Kohn
                       (JOE_KOHN, 22166, GO COM A2)


SSII VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3--IN YOUR MAILBOX   Volume 4, Issue 3
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The latest issue of the Shareware Solutions II newsletter is currently
being mailed to subscribers world-wide. In this 20 page issue, subscribers
will read about:

DeskJet Alert - A discussion about why some DeskJets won't work on the
Apple II, and a description of how you can easily find out if any
particular DeskJet is Apple II compatible. The article also answers the
enigma: "The least expensive HP DeskJet available isn't a DeskJet and it's
not from HP, or is it?"

Bernie ][ The Printer - Or, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About
Printing With Bernie. Woof, woof.

Y2K and the Apple II - A description of the few Y2K problems that will
exist for Apple II users, with information about the wonderfully effective
Y2K solutions available from Bev Cadieux of TEXAS II.

ProSel - A historical over-view of ProSel, along with a description of its
most powerful and useful features.

In addition, subscribers will learn about some amusing Easter Eggs in
Spectrum and GraphicWriter III, and they'll learn how to become invincible
while playing Space Fox. They'll also learn about more than a dozen newly
reclassified-as-freeware Apple II programs. There are other news items
about KansasFest 99, Inits that can cause havoc on your IIGS, and readers
are offered at least 6 new freeware/shareware disks.

Shareware Solutions II is available by subscription only.

Please visit http://www.concentric.net/~joko or http://www.crl.com/~joko
for additional information.

Joe Kohn
                       (JOE_KOHN, 22857, GO COM A2)


SPECTRUM INTERNET SUITE 1.1 RELEASED   To purchase SIS 1.1 or any other
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   Seven Hills product, please use any
of the following methods:

Fax: 904-575-2015, anytime

Phone: 904-575-0566, 9am-5pm ET, Monday through Friday

Mail: 1254 Ocala Road, Tallahassee, FL 32304-1548

Ordering Information

When ordering any product we need:

Your name
Your shipping address
Your area code and phone number (optional)
Your preferred email address if you have one (optional)
A list of the items you are ordering
Payment information

Visa/Mastercard/Discover credit card orders can be placed by email, fax, or
regular mail (see Contact Information above). Be sure to include your card
number and expiration date. You may also call and leave a voice mail
message with the details of your order if our phone is busy. Just press "7"
when you hear the greeting to leave your message. However we receive your
order, we will fill it promptly.

We also accept personal checks and money orders by regular mail.

For all orders add $3.50 shipping and handling per order, not per item
(foreign shipping is charged at actual airmail cost, minimum of $3.50,
charged to a credit card unless otherwise arranged).

Florida residents add 7% tax.

Geoff
                       (SISGEOFF, 22869, GO COM A2)


CHANGES AT SEVEN HILLS   Seven Hills have changed their name, and are in
""""""""""""""""""""""   the process of changing their web site.

Please point your browsers at <http://www.myesource.com> for the main page,
or <http://www.myesource.com/sevenhills> to get directly to the Seven Hills
Software section.

Send email to <email@myesource.com>, sales enquiries to
<sales@myesource.com> and for support contact <support@myesource.com>

 Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Fri 30 Apr 1999 - 82 days till KFest '99
 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 3.0
 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing at 55Mhz on a G3/350
 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/
                        (EWANNOP, 22949, GO COM A2)



                             BEST OF THE BEST
                             """"""""""""""""


22871 27-APR 22:56 Hardware Hacker
     IIGS error (Re: Msg 22065)
     From: MBROUI11ETTE To: DZAHNISER


..To the tune of 'My Favorite Things" from the "Sound of Music"

Micro-cracks in the solder of connections,
Broken wires inside molded connectors,
Heat-damaged insulation, leakin' voltage.

These are the things that make young techies age!

When the 'dead' wire 'bites',
after the probe says safe,
with no voltage, signal, or poll.
I remember the mystical 'repair' of some things,
that I never touched,
at all!


  __,2__    Mike Brouillette
 / _   _\   "Alas, poor Apple II of yore. I knew it well, & hoarded."
 \(o)m(_,   Delivered via Spectrum v2.1 & Crock 'O Gold v2.5
  `boood    Tue 27 Apr 99 1:13:10 pm




[EOA]
[A2P]------------------------------
                   A2Pro_DUCTIVITY |
-----------------------------------
Checking out A2PRO on Delphi
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W.
                [thelamp@sheppyware.net]


ON IIGS GRAPHICS   The Apple IIGS only has one screen buffer, at least
""""""""""""""""   there is only one for the SHR screen. The hardware
support isn't there for double-buffering.

As a result, you basically have to use other techniques for animating.
These center around reducing the amount of information you actually change,
changing it as fast as possible, and timing the changes with the vertical
blanking interrupt to reduce or eliminate tearing.

There are some pretty good FAQs floating around. If you're interested, some
of the graphics folks can doubtless point you to them. My specialty wasn't
graphics, though. :)

Mike Westerfield
                       (BYTEWORKS, 2566, GO COM A2)

>>>>>   Well, the IIgs does have a double buffer of sorts. If you use the
"""""   shadow register correctly you will be able to modify screen memory
while displaying something else. Regular screen memory is at $E1/2000 but
the shadow screen memory is at $01/2000.

However, my memory is kind of rusty on this point but I do believe there
might be some problems trying to use the shadow register while running in a
GS/OS program.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will jump in eventually.

 Jeff Blakeney | Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro |
 --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
   sent via | HyperCard IIgs Course | GSoft BASIC Course |
   COG v3.0 | now in session | now in session |
                      (JBLAKENEY, 2567, GO COM A2PRO)

<<<<<   I had forgotten about the shadow register. It's not a true
"""""   double-buffer in the traditional sense, but I can see how you might
use it almost the same way. Of course, it means you'll have to draw the
changes twice per frame; with a true double-buffer like you have for the
text and high-res screens you don't have to do that.

Mike Westerfield
                      (BYTEWORKS, 2569, GO COM A2PRO)

>>>>>   Wolf 3D uses the shadow register. It works like this...
"""""
Each pass through the game loop, shadowing is disabled. Then the various
rendering functions are called:

1. Render the walls.
2. Render the floor.
3. Render the ceiling.
4. Render the sprites.

Then shadowing is turned on, and a PEI-slamming function (different ones
depending on the screen size setting) is used to copy the screen memory
onto itself. This makes the updated screen visible.

Then the score panel is updated. Finally, shadowing is disabled again.

This gets pretty good speed. The lowest levels of the rendering are all
done in assembly, but the preparatory work is in C.

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                       (SHEPPY, 2578, GO COM A2PRO)

>>>>>   Actually, using the shadow register acts pretty much the same as
"""""   using text screens or high-res screens pages 1 and 2. You write you
screen data to $01/2000+ then turn on shadowing, the hardware then takes
care of copying that data to $E1/2000+, you then turn shadowing off and
change $01/2000+ again while that first image continues to be displayed
then turn shadowing back on again to replace the first image with the
second and so on.

Instead of changing the memory locations that are being used as screen
memory ($2000-$3FFF for HR page 1 and $4000-$5FFF for HR page 2) the
hardware takes care of copying the data from your buffer to screen memory.

 Jeff Blakeney |      Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro      |
 --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
   sent via    |   HyperCard IIgs Course   |   GSoft BASIC Course   |
   COG v3.0    |      now in session       |     now in session     |
                      (JBLAKENEY, 2579, GO COM A2PRO)

>>>>>   Jeff, just turning on the shadow register isn't enough. It won't
"""""   automatically update the slow RAM from the fast RAM; you have to
copy the data from fast RAM onto the same locations in fast RAM in order to
force the update.

The only value of the shadow register is that it lets you preconstruct the
screen image in the fast RAM before doing the copy to slow RAM.

Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
 {<mailto:sheppy@sheppyware.net> sheppy@sheppyware.net}
 {<http://www.sheppyware.net> http://www.sheppyware.net}
                       (SHEPPY, 2582, GO COM A2PRO)


JUST WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH DRAWSTRING?   DrawString (as its name implies)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   draws a NULL (0) terminated string.
You can convert integers into strings with the Integer Math toolset.

Int2Dec/Int2Hex will convert an integer to a string.  You'll need to NULL
terminate it (either before or after)

    ph2 theNumber       ; the number to convert
    ph4 #theString      ; where to store it
    ph2 #5              ; length of the buffer ( 6 if signed)
    ph2 #0              ; or 1 if it is a signed integer
    _Int2Dec

    ph4 #theString
    _DrawString
    ...

theString       dc c'xxxxx'     ; 6 xs if signed
        dc i1'0'        ; NULL terminated
                         (KWS, 2573, GO COM A2PRO)

>>>>>   I believe you are thinking about DrawCString. DrawString uses
"""""   Pascal strings which have a length byte followed by the text of the
string.

Your example program would work if you change the DrawString macro to a
DrawCString.

If DrawString is going to be used, the string must be preceded by a length
byte so your program would look like this:

      ph2 theNumber ; the number to convert
      ph4 #theString ; where to store it
      ph2 #5 ; length of the buffer ( 6 if signed)
      ph2 #0 ; or 1 if it is a signed integer
      _Int2Dec

      ph4 #theString
      _DrawString
   ...
   theString dc i1'4' ; use a 6 if signed
      dc c'xxxxx' ; 6 xs if signed

Of course, you could always leave in this line:

      dc i1'0' ; NULL terminated

and then you would have you choice of using DrawString or DrawCString
without having to modify the theString. :)

Oh and the program above could be simplified if using a later version of
Orca/M if you use the newer macro style:

      ~Int2Dec theNumber,#theString,#5,#0 ; use #6,#0 if signed
      ~DrawString #theString
   ...
   theString dc i1'4' ; use 6 if signed
      dc c'xxxx'                          ; use 6 x's if signed

 Jeff Blakeney |      Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro      |
 --------------+----------------------------------------------------+
   sent via    |   HyperCard IIgs Course   |   GSoft BASIC Course   |
   COG v3.0    |      now in session       |     now in session     |
                      (JBLAKENEY, 2580, GO COM A2PRO)


THE IIGS COMPILES SUPER NINTENDO?   I didn't see the original post, but if
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   you are talking about using an Apple
IIGS compiler to create SNES programs, yes, it works, as long as you have
the source for the run-time libraries so you can make the appropriate
environment adjustments. At least 3 teams have used ORCA/C for SNES
development.

Mike Westerfield
                      (BYTEWORKS, 2576, GO COM A2PRO)


CAN YOU MULTITASK IN APPLESOFT?   The Apple II's not a multitasking machine
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   (although the IIgs sometimes fakes it
pretty well). There's no known way to multi task in Applesoft.

-
 Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org
 Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi
 Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution
                      (RSUENAGA, 2587, GO COM A2PRO)

>>>>>   Sure. Get more than one Apple II and set them up side by side. Run
"""""   your program on both machines. :)
Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                       (SHEPPY, 2590, GO COM A2PRO)

>>>>>   While it can't be done in Applesoft Basic (ok, with some....a lot
"""""   of assembly it could be done) I'm sure it would be able to be done
in GSoft Basic available from The Byteworks. Mike will be along any moment
to give you all the detail you need to add this piece of software to your
GS, or you could check out {<http://www.hypermall.com/byteworks>
http://www.hypermall.com/byteworks}

Chris
                      (CVAVRUSKA, 2588, GO COM A2PRO)


CONTEMPLATING A NEW FST   As we discussed in conference, I strongly believe
"""""""""""""""""""""""   that an attempt to reverse-engineer the FST
mechanism and produce new FSTs will fail.

I've been involved in several attempts to do this in the past, with no
success. The Apple II world has too few top-grade programmers left (I think
there are five, maybe seven serious expert-level programmers left) to pull
this off.

I believe our efforts would best be spent organizing a letter-writing
campaign to ask Apple to either release the sources to Syndicomm, or make
the System 6.0.1 sources open source.

I would participate in such an effort, and would gladly work on updating
the system using those sources. I will not participate in an attempt to
reverse-engineer the FST mechanism as I have enough frustration in my life
already.

---
Eric (Sheppy) Shepherd
sheppy@sheppyware.net
http://www.sheppyware.net
                       (SHEPPY, 2600, GO COM A2PRO)

>>>>>   The reason why there is a limitation of 32 Mb is that only two
"""""   bytes are allocated for most entries in the directory lists. To
change this, would mean a restructuring of the entries for all directory
and file lists.

This would make the drive structure dependent on a new FST. The drive would
not be readable from an Apple //e or a Mac for instance.

We already have an HFS FST that handles larger drives, though it is not as
efficient as it might be.

I think that if any new FST is to be written, it would make more sense to
concentrate on building an HFS+ FST instead. That way you would still have
a standard volume that could be interchanged with a Macintosh, but have all
the advantages of a modern disk structure with small block sizes.

 Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Fri 30 Apr 1999 - 82 days till KFest '99
 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 3.0
 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing at 55Mhz on a G3/350
 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/
                       (EWANNOP, 2601, GO COM A2PRO)

>>>>>   Personally, I think the ProDOS naming standard is more of a
"""""   limitation than the 32MB partition size. I would much rather see
support for long filenames built into ProDOS. Of course HFS already
provides that, but there are no volume repair utilities that works with
HFS, not to mention the fact that HFS is noticeably slower than ProDOS.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------
 Tony Ward, A2 Database Manager - Fri Apr 30, 1999 8:26:26 pm
 [Delivered with Spectrum v2.2 and Crock O' Gold v3.0]
 --

 "A hospital is no place to be sick." -- Samuel Goldwyn
                       (TONYW1, 2602, GO COM A2PRO)




[EOA]
[KFE]------------------------------
                    THINKING KFEST |
-----------------------------------
The KFest FAQ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W.
          [thelamp@sheppyware.net]

                               The KFest FAQ
                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     The following article is set up in a form commonly seen on the
Internet, called Frequently Asked Questions.  It is designed to answer some
of the most common questions people have about KansasFest, the Apple II
event of the year.  It is not designed to answer general questions about
the Apple II, although there may be some overlap.

     Any questions about this article can be sent via email to
thelamp@delphi.com.

Q: What's a FAQ, and how is it pronounced?

A: The letters "FAQ" stand for _F_requently _A_sked _Q_uestions.  When
   people first hear of or learn of a subject, such as KansasFest, they
   often have a number of questions which others before them did when they
   also first learned of the same subject.  A FAQ is a document listing
   both the questions and answers most frequently associated with new
   users, to save themselves (and others trying to assist them) time and
   frustration.

   And by the way, it's pronounced "fack", nearly identical to "fact".

Q: What is the purpose of this FAQ?

A: This FAQ is set up to assist people interested in KansasFest, also known
   as KFest.  Many Apple II enthusiasts are interested in attending or just
   want some information about this event, so the most common questions are
   answered here.

Q: How can this FAQ be distributed?

A: The content of this FAQ is copyright 1999 by Ryan M. Suenaga, the editor
   and publisher of _The Lamp!_.  Distribution without the expressed
   written consent of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Q: What is KFest?

A: KansasFest, abbreviated "KFest", is a computing conference held every
   summer at Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri.  Its original formal
   name was "The Apple II Summer Conference" while its nickname was
   "KansasFest", which was abbreviated to "KFest".

Q: When was the first KFest held?

A: The first KansasFest was held in 1989.  It was originally sponsored by
   Resource-Central, the folks who brought you the wonderful _Open-Apple_
   and _A2-Central_ (among several other Apple II) publications.  After
   Resource-Central became ICON, The Apple II Summer Conference became
   ICONference.  This lasted one summer until ICON shut down.  Two
   different companies sponsored KFest before Intrec Software, publishers
   of _ProTERM_, took over a few years back.  This July will welcome the
   11th KFest.

Q: When is KFest this year?

A: KansasFest 1999 is July 21-25, 1999.  For the first time, KFesters are
   being offered an extra night, July 20, at the Avila dorms if they want
   to come into town a day early.

Q: Where is KFest held?

A: KFest is held at Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri.  The address
   and phone number are:

          Avila College
          11901 Wornall Road
          Kansas City, Missouri  64145
          United States of America
          (816) 942-8400

Q: If it's held in Missouri, why is it called KansasFest?

A: I dunno.  If it makes you feel better, the Kansas border is very close
   to Avila College.

Q: Who comes to KFest?

A: While KFest was originally devoted to programmers, nowadays all kinds of
   folk from all over the world show up at Avila College.  Programmers,
   users, newsletter publishers, and everyday folk show up from Europe,
   Canada, Australia, and all over the United States to celebrate the Apple
   II.

Q: Who organizes KFest?

A: Currently, KFest is organized by a committee headed by The Big Cheese,
   Cindy Adams.  The scheduling is done by Steve "Godzilla" Gozdziewski.
   There are several other folks on the committee as well: Jerry Cline, Max
   Jones, and Stan Marks all pitch in.  In addition to those good folk on
   the committee, David Kerwood handles the maintenance of the World Wide
   Web site, Devin Reade maintains the email lists, and Eric "Sheppy"
   Shepherd provides World Wide Web hosting services and organizes
   HackFest, the programming contest.  KFest is sponsored by Intrec
   Software.

Q: How do I register for KFest?  How much does it cost?

A: Depending on when you register, registration prices vary.  Please check
   the KFest Home Page at http://www.kfest.org/ for the most current
   information.

Q: What kind of official activities go on at KFest?

A: Officially, there is a keynote speech (this year given by Max Jones of
   _Juiced.GS_), sessions on various computing topics, HackFest, a
   celebrity roast (_Spectrum_ author Ewen Wannop being the victim of honor
   this year), product demonstrations, and a vendor fair.

Q: What kind of unofficial activities go on at KFest?

A: Unofficially, there's been movie outings, pizza nights, Bite The Bag
   contests, late night eating at Denny's, and huge groups of folks going
   to steak dinners at K.C. Masterpiece and Jess and Jim's restaurants.

Q: Has anyone attended every KFest?

A: Two people have attended every KFest so far: Tony Diaz of Alltech
   Electronics and Mike Westerfield of Byte Works.

Q: I hear that the Avila College dorm is wired for ethernet.  Is there a
   way I can access that while I'm there?

A: Yes.  You can get the information in the following article:

     While Apple Computer, Inc. never produced an Apple II that was truly
portable nor an ethernet solution for the masses (emulated IIs and
prototypes notwithstanding), ethernet has become a popular networking
solution for the computing world at large--so popular, in fact, that
ethernet has even invaded that Apple II mecca known as Avila College.

     In each dorm room in the halls of Avila are two outlets that seem to
be phone jacks.  These _aren't_ phone jacks.  They're ethernet ports--to be
exact, they're RJ-45 connectors that are compatible with 10 Base-T
ethernet.  The entire Avila dorm is connected to the Internet this way,
making for high speed World Wide Web browsing, electronic mail, and ftp
connections for KansasFesters during their stay!

     While those bringing their true blue Apple IIs will be needing to go
the tried and true modem route, those KFesters who bring ethernet-capable
computers can make full use of these high speed connections.  Let's look at
what hardware and software is needed to get this high speed resource
working with your non-Apple II.

THE HARDWARE   All Avila provides is the RJ-45 jack.  This looks like an
""""""""""""   overgrown RJ-11 jack (the kind your telephone plugs into),
and in fact, it's a close relative.  What you need to bring is a computer
with an appropriate 10 Base-T ethernet interface and a cable that ends in a
male RJ-45 jack.  There are many, many of these cables on the market.  If
you are going to purchase one, be sure it's a straight-through class 5
cable, not a crossover cable.  Additionally, due to the way the RJ-45 jack
is mounted, you will need a cable ending with a RJ-45 male jack that is not
molded with a surrounding sheath, as the cable will not fit properly.  You
want a cable end that looks like this:

ASCII ART BEGINS

      ___________
     |   |   |   |
     |   |   |   |  <--- Male RJ-45
     |   |   |   |
     |   |___| <-|------ Locking tab
     |           |
     |           |
     |           |
     |___________|
       |       |
       |       | <------ Cable
       |       |

as opposed to this:

      ___________
     |   |   |   |
     |   |   |   |  <--- Male RJ-45
     |   |   |   |
     |   |___| <-|------ Locking tab
     |           |
     |           |
    _|___________|_
   |               |
   |               |
   |               |
   |               | <-- Large, molded sheath
   |               |
   |               |
   |_______________|
       |       |
       |       | <------ Cable
       |       |

ASCII ART ENDS

     I had problems with this at KFest 1998.  If you need to get different
cables (or need other hardware in general) you can ask your fellow
attendees if they have extras, or you can run over to the CompUSA in the
area to get what you need.

     Once you have this equipment, simply plug in your RJ-45 cable into the
provided jack.  You do not need an ethernet hub unless you'll be running
more than two devices in your room.

THE SOFTWARE   The Avila ethernet server uses a protocol called Dynamic
""""""""""""   Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP, for short.  Those of
you who have set up TCP/IP connections with Windows or Macintosh computers
(or, for that matter, the Apple IIgs) probably have some familiarity with
inserting IP addresses, DNS addresses, and Gateway addresses.  The beauty
of DHCP is that it sets up nearly everything you need dynamically, meaning
that the server assigns these addresses--all you need to do is set up
TCP/IP on your computer and choose the DHCP protocol.  I am much more
famillar with the setup of DHCP for Macintosh computers than for Windows
machines, and am taking the instructions from a reference.

MAC   To set up a Macintosh running Open Transport networking for DHCP, all
'''   that needs to be done is to switch the TCP/IP protocol to DHCP
Server.  So:

(1) Get into your TCP/IP Control Panel;

(2) Select "Ethernet" (or "Built-in Ethernet" or "Alternate Ethernet" as
    appropriate) in the "Connect via:" field;

(3) Select "DHCP Server" in the "Configure" field;

(4) Quit and save the changes.


WINDOWS 95   To set up a Windows 95 machine for DHCP, there are several
''''''''''   additional steps:

(1) Get into your Network Control panel;

(2) Add or select the appropriate ethernet interface;

(3) Set the "Obtain an IP address automatically" control in the "IP
    Address" tab of the TCP/IP Properties window;

(4) Remove any existing setting for a Gateway address in the "Gateway" tab
    of the TCP/IP Properties window;

(5) Disable DNS in the "DNS Configuration" tab of the TCP/IP Properties
    window;

(6) Save the settings and reboot the computer.

     Regardless of which platform you use, if you have software set up to
share your hard drive with other computers, you probably ought to disable
it--unless you like everyone in the Avila ethernet having access to your
files.

     At this point, you ought to be connected.  If you previously had any
proxy servers set up for use with your setup before Avila, disable them.
You ought to have easy access for checking mail, browsing the Web, or using
file transfer protocol--and very high speeds.  One last caveat:

THE SMTP SERVER   As Spam on the Internet proliferates, it has become
"""""""""""""""   accepted practice to close off an Internet Service
Provider's mail sending server--usually using Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol, or smtp--to access from anyone who is not directly connected to
the ISP.  In other words, no one wants to be a relaying point for Spam.

     Because of this, it's likely you will not be able to use the same smtp
server you use at home to send mail while at Avila.  We encountered this
problem briefly last year and solved it by using the smtp.delphi.com smtp
server--however, in the last year, Delphi also closed its server to access.

     It is hoped that there is a smtp.avila.edu or similar server that can
be used while at Avila, but this has not been researched yet.  See me while
you're at KFest for the latest developments.

     So, for those of you bringing ethernet-capable computers to
KansasFest, you now have some idea on how to hook them up for high-speed
Internet access.  On to the yellow brick road.

     On to KansasFest.

Q: How can I learn more about KFest?

A: You can get more information on KansasFest by visiting the KansasFest
   World Wide Web site at http://www.kfest.org/ or sending email to
   kfest-help@kfest.org.  You could also subscribe to the KFest mailing
   list by sending email to majordomo@kfest.org.  In the body of the email
   include the text:

          subscribe kfest

   You will receive a confirmation email with instructions on finalizing
   your subscription.

Q: Should I go to KFest?

A: Need you ask?  KFest is a must for the serious Apple II fanatic.  Do
   yourself a favor--you're worth it.  Show up at KFest '99!



         :: DISCUSSED ON DELPHI ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
         :                                                       :
         :     For real sponge cake, borrow all ingredients      :
         :                                                       :
         ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: LUMITECH ::::::



[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 1999 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.,  or  Ryan M.  Suenaga.     Forum  messages  are  reprinted
verbatim and  are included  in this  publication with  permission from  the
individual authors.   Delphi Online Services,  Syndicomm, Inc. and  Ryan M.
Suenaga  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]

