Text content (OCR)
CONncact 2
the user group newsletter for june 1978 @eppic computer inc.
“INTRODUCING
contact 2/the user group newsletter for june 1978
@oppic computer inc.
The Disk II Floppy Disk Sub-
system consists of an intelligent
interface card, a powerful Disk
Operating System (DOS), and one
or two mini-floppy drives. (The
computer will handle up to seven
interface cards and fourteen drives,
for control of nearly 1.6 megabytes
of data). The combination of ROM-
based bootstrap loader and an
operating system in RAM provides
complete disk handling capability.
FEATURES
e Powerful Disk Operating
Software:
— LOAD and STORE files by
name (Up to 35 Char/Name)
— BASIC Program Chaining
— Random or Sequential File
Access
e Fast Access Time — 600 msec
(Max.) Across 35 Tracks
e Individual File Write-Protection
e Full Disk Capability in Systems
with as Little as 16K RAM
e Data Transfer Rates of 156K
Bits/sec
e Storage Capacity of 116 Kilo-
bytes/Diskette
e High-Efficiency Subsystem
Powered Directly from the
APPLE II (Up to 14 Drives)
e Completely Assembled and
Tested — Not a Kit
e Packaged in Heavy-Duty, Color-
Coordinated Steel Cabinet
SPECIFICATIONS:
Commands:
OPEN, CLOSE, READ, WRITE,
LOAD, SAVE, EXEC, RUN,
APPEND, LOCK, CHAIN,
UNLOCK, DELETE, MONITOR,
NOMONITOR, MAXFILES, IN#,
PR#, INIT, BLOAD, BSAVE
Access Method:
Random or Sequential — arbitrary
record length
Bootstrap Loader Method:
By means of Loader routine in two
256 x 8 PROMs, on-card.
Disk Drive:
Shugart 5%” floppy disk.
Track Access Time:
Varies with number of tracks
crossed. 200 msec (avg.), 600 msec
(max. across 35 tracks)
Disk Speed and Latency:
300 rpm, 100 msec avg. latency
Disk Capacity:
116K bytes (formatted), soft-
sectored
Data Transfer Rate:
156 bits per second
Physical Dimensions:
Card — 4.5” x 2.75" (not including
connector finger): fits inside the
APPLE IL. Drive — 6.1" x 8.75"
x 3.8” (WDH)
Controller Capacity:
Up to two drives per controller.
Multiple controllers can be used.
GROUPS
ComputerLand of F.
LOCAL USER
Apple's still
springing up
New local APPLE II user groups
continue to form. Again, we remind
you that we can list your group
only if we know of its existence. If
there is no APPLE group in your
area and you wish to start one, talk
to your APPLE dealer — he'll be
able to help.
Here are the new groups we've
learned about since Contact #1
Alabama —
APPLE CORPS
Computer Center, Inc.
433 Valley Avenue Plaza
Birmingham, AL 35209
Terry Woodward
(205) 942-8567
California —
Video Games & Computers
301 Balboa
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 221-8500
SILICON APPLE PROGRAMMING
SOCIETY
2485 Rossotto Drive
San Jose, CA 95130
Jim Hoyt
(408) 374-3680
Connecticut —
APPLE USER GROUP
irfield
2475 Blackbrook Turnpike
Fairfield, CT 06430
Glen Brennan
(208) 374-2227
contact 2/the user group newsletter for june 1978
@oppice computer inc.
Maryland —
MARYLAND APPLE CORPS
Computers Etc.
13A Allegheny Avenue
Towson, MC 21264
Kevin Parks
(301) 296-0520
New Jersey —
Computer Lab of New Jersey
141 Route 46
Budd Lake, NJ 07828
Dan Fischler
(201) 691-1984
Pennsylvania —
APPLE USERS GROUP
Philadelphia Area Computer Society
29 S. New Ardmore Avenue
Broomall, PA 19008
Neil Lipson
(215) 825-3800, x278 (work)
(215) 356-6183 (home)
Texas —
APPLE CORPS
ComputerLand of Austin
3300 Anderson Land
Austin, TX 78757
(412) 452-5701
THE APPLE CORPS
Greenhill School
Fulton Building
14255 Midway Road
Dallas, TX 75240
Bobbie Ferrell
(214) 661-1211 (work)
(214) 243-6347 (home)
And here are two people who'd like
to form groups.
Earl Keyser
22 Clover Lane
Mason City, IA 50428
R. V. Collins
12502 Bexley
Houston, TX 77099
LOOKING
AHEAD
...to how your
Apple will grow
DISK II — If you've read this far,
you know the news. Get ’em while
they’re hot!
APPLESOFT II — The new APPLE-
SOFT has arrived. It’s an expanded
version of Microsoft’s floating-point
BASIC, with 9-digit arithmetic and
a large function library that makes
it ideal for business and scientific
programs. Easy to use and powerful,
APPLESOFT II’s capabilities
include high-resolution graphics
routines; DATA STORE/RECALL
statements that allow saving vari-
ables to tape; IN# and PR# state-
ments to simplify peripheral use;
and an ONERRGOTO command to
allow user-specified error-handling
routines.
The tape version (P/N A2T0004)
costs $20, and is available now at
your APPLE dealer. A ROM card
version (P/N A2B0009), which
plugs into slot 0, has hardware and
software switching to select either
Integer or APPLESOFT BASIC. It
frees up 10K of RAM space for
your programs. Available in July,
the APPLESOFT ROM card’s
regular price is $200; but through
July 31 only, it will be introductory-
priced at $100 — a genuine bargain.
MACRO ASSEMBLER/EDITOR —
Just a note to let you know that we
are working on a powerful, multi-
pass Macro Assembler and Editor.
This new APPLE II package will
run with either tape or disk storage.
We plan to release it in September,
so look for more details in the
August issue of CONTACT.
from your Apple dealer:
PERIPHERALS — As a convenience
to APPLE users, starting in July we
will offer a cassette recorder, a
9-inch B/W video monitor, and two
matrix printers — the Centronics
779 and the MICROPRINTER-PI.
We'd also like to remind you that
we already stock the Heuristics
Speechlab™ voice recognition unit
(P/N A2M0015, $189), and Moun-
tain Hardware’s Introl™ a.c.
master control unit (P/N A2M0012),
and a.c. remote controller (P/N
A2MO0013, $329).
NEW SOFTWARE ~— A host of new
software is now available from the
Apple Software Bank. Watch for
description information in
CONTACT No. 3.
APPLE COMPUTER PRODUCTS
These programs are now available
REQ’D
MEMORY
16K Checkbook Cassette
crea 0 y A2T0001/$20.00
16K _ Startrek/Starwars Cassette
pee as 3 A2T0002/$15.00
4K Color Demo/Breakout
Cassette
een seas A2T0003/$7.50
16K Applesoft II/F.P. Demo
(w/Manual) Cassette
wees. aa A2T0004/$20.00
16K Hi Res Graphics/Hi Res
Shapes Cassette
+ Bam wy Be A2T0005/$7.50
4K RAM Test Cassette
shia 2 ee A2T0006/$7.50
4K Color Math Demo/Hangman
— .. A2T0007/$7.50
8K __ Blackjack/Slot Machine
Cassette
fevers ais as A2T0008/$7.50
4K Biorhythm/Mastermind
Cassette
a He 8 we A2T0009/$7.50
48K Apple II Capabilities Demo
gata. oe 4 A2T0010/$20.00
16K Finance I — 2 Cassette
Package
a ee SHE A2T0011/$25.00
8K _Datamover/Telepong
Cassette
eases oe A2T0012/$7.50
contact 2/the user group newsletter for june 1978
@oppic computer inc.
16K Wari/Othello/Dragon Maze
vee ee A2T0013/$7.50
5 seas 2 A2T0014/$15.00
APPLE-USER CONTRIBUTED
PROGRAMS
These programs are the start of
an extensive list to be released over
the remainder of the year. We have
received nearly 300 programs, most
without documentation of any sort.
As we evaluate and document
them, you’ll read about them here.
We should be ready to supply
programs from the Bank by
September.
GAMES
Life (Hi-Res Version)
4K Bagels — A Number Guessing
Game
16K Applevision — An Audio/
Visual Hi-Res Demo
4K Johann S. Apple — Makes
Apple a Musical Instrument
4K Catch — A Ball-and-Paddle
Game
4K 23 Bricks — A NIM-like
Game of Strategy
EDUCATION
16K Nations and Capitals —
Multiple-Choice Quiz
16K Differential Equation Solver
8K Classifier — For Building
Decision Trees
UTILITIES
24K Tax — A Guide to 1977
Forms 1040 and A
16K Base Conversion — For
Hex/Decimal Conversions
MISCELLANEOUS
24K Rotation — A 3D Cube
Rotates With True
Perspective
NEW SERVICES ~ Be sure to
watch CONTACT No. 3 for
announcement ofan industry first
an exciting new service that allows
Apple users to get current stock
quotes, financial news, and other
information over the phone,
through the new Communications
Interface Card.
EDITORIAL
CU
by Phil Roybal, Marketing Mor.
And now
it's your turn
Writing this second issue of
CONTACT, I’m reminded of my
favorite way to start a lecture —
with an analogy. You see, a news-
letter (and a lecture) is like a well in
the center of a village, a well from
which all the villagers draw their
water. All who pass the well have
an equal chance for the water. And
for that chance, all pay the same
fee — the journey to the well. But
while the fee is the same for all,
each leaves the well with a different
amount of water. Some get nothing
for their trouble, and some merely
a cupful. But some leave with a
full bucket.
At the well of information, the
buckets are questions. And this
brings me to the point of this
editorial. CONTACT is your news-
letter. Its purpose is to expand your
enjoyment and use of your com-
puter, and to that end CONTACT
will feature applications and intro-
duce products of interest to you.
Now, we’ve done the first two
issues of CONTACT by the seat of
our pants because the time’s been
too short to get your feedback. But
from now on it’s up to you. For
CONTACT to grow into a healthy
and useful tool it needs your feed-
back: questions . . . suggestions. . .
criticism. With such guidance,
CONTACT cannot help but succeed.
On the other hand, if your trip
to the well leaves you still thirsty,
perhaps it’s because you bring only
a cup, not a bucket. The moral? If
you don’t see what you want here
ask for it! (But please, please,
when you write us, put your full
address on your letter, not just the
envelope; and if you call, give us
your area code. That way, we'll
make contact.)
feeee
Fe
PATCHES AND
PROGRESS
... Wherein program
bugs are stomped upon
Had some printer card problems?
Here’s why, and the fix.
The original printer-card firm-
ware uses the screen window width
as the controlling parameter to set
the margin for BASIC listings and
TAB functions. This means that
when your printer’s line length is
set at 132 columns, for example,
the system display is set at 132
characters/line. We didn’t think
that this would cause a problem,
because printer margins greater
than 40 characters and screen
displays are not allowed to co-exist.
But there’s a catch when any
screen clear functions are executed.
The system uses window width to
g operations,
ommand not
detectable by the printer card. But
the keyboard input routine executes
a “clear to end of line’? when it gets
a carriage return. Since the window
width can be at well beyond the
40 columns, memory from the
current cursor position to well past
the normal boundary will be set to
“space” ($A0). If the cursor is at
the bottom of the screen, this can
cause addresses from $800-up to be
set to $AO. Simply setting the
printer width on the keyboard with
1C132 N (CR), with the cursor at
the bottom of the screen will cause
these locations to be bombed
because the window width gets set
before the (CR) is executed. Since
APPLESOFT starts at $800 and
Integer BASIC variables start at
$800, bad things will happen for sure.
contact 2/the user group newsletter for june 1978
@oppic computer inc.
So... to reduce the possibility
of problems with APPLE’s Parallel
Printer card, do these things:
1— Home the cursor (ESC @,
or CALL -936, in BASIC)
prior to typing printer
control sequences that set
the column width past 40
columns.
Do not use any screen or
line clear operations when
using the printer with the
column width set past 40
columns. Then be sure to
return the line length to
40 columns before turning
off the printer card with
PR#0.
If you’re using the revised
printer card with PROM P1-02, add
this:
w
3— To perform the vertical tab
in Integer or APPLESOFT
BASIC on the printer, the
command
POKE 36, (Tab distance)
should be used in place of
BITS AND
PIECES
... things about Apple,
handy to know
The good earth
APPLE II must be grounded —
either via its three-wire power cord
inserted into a properly grounded
three-wire outlet, or by a wire
inserted between APPLE’s metal
base plate and one of the plate’s
mounting screws. In the latter case,
vou must run the ground wire to a
(preferably very close) ground — a
long, long metal rod driven into the
the TAB or VTAB command.
earth, and connected to APPLE via
a heavy wire, or a wire connection
to the cold-water system (but make
sure you have metal piping)
Grounding eliminates any possibility
of the existence of a floating poten-
tial, which can be detrimental to
you, to APPLE, and to proper tape
cassette operation.
Get your head straight
Cassette tape recorders
whether expensive or inexpensive —
often suffer a misalignment of their
playback head during shipping and
other handling. Such misalignment
causes azimuth error, which is
death to the high-frequency re-
sponse (particularly on units with-
out a tone control) so necessary to
accurately transfer data. But any
audio shop technician can readjust
the azimuth alignment; a skilled ear
alone is often sufficient to do the
job. Your original APPLE pre-
recorded tapes are excellent align-
ment references, because they
are recorded with professional
equipment maintained to the
highest professional standards.
OUT OF
THE MIST....
... clearing up things
thought already clear
Errata for the errata
Okay, okay — so we’ve got the
correct our corrections. The errors
we're taling about show up in our
memo of April 17, 1978, ““APPLE-
SOFT II”, on pages 5 and 8.
Page 5 of the memo discusses
commands for APPLE II’s HIRES
graphics video mode. The items to
be corrected concern themselves
with the commands HGR and
HGR2, and their descriptions.
The HGR command must be
used only with ROM. Why? You'll
find out when we finish the sen-
tence we left unfinished in HGR’s
descriptive paragraph. The third
sentence should read, “DO NOT
use this command with cassette
tape (RAM) version of APPLE-
SOFT as it will wipe out APPLE-
SOFT itself, which resides in page
J of HIRES graphics between 8K
and 16K. Besides finishing the
third sentence, make it the last one
in the HGR paragraph by delet-
ing, “Example 20 sets... bottom
of screen.”
As for the HGR2 command —
it is for use with the RAM version.
Our error? To the beginning of the
last sentence of HGR2°s descriptive
paragraph we cleverly added two
simple words that reversed our
meaning — “DO NOT...” Please
delete these words; the last sen-
tence should read, “Use this com-
mand with cassette tape (RAM)
version.””
Finally, on the last page (page 8)
of the memo, the opening sentence
of Section IV reads, “. . . depress
‘RETURN’ key — or you have
accidentally depressed the
‘RETURN’ key, then type:” Well,
if you do what that sentence tells
you to do, nothing will happen.
“RESET” is the word intended;
simply delete both “RETURNS”,
replace each with “RESET”, and
the corrections to the memo are
finished.
PS. If you haven't got a copy
of the memo in question — please
write and well send you one (with
corrections, of course).
contact 2/the user group newsletter for june 1978
@oppic computer inc.
HOW TO
... things your
manual never
told you
LISTINGS — A LITTLE AT A TIME
There is a way to stop APPLE
II’s LIST operation. You must go
into the MONITOR and enter the
following bytes of hex:
3DA:A9 E3 85 36 AY 03 85 37
60 RETURN
:48 AD 01 CO 10 08 AD 11 CO
AD RETURN
:01 CO 10 FB AD 11 CO 68 4C
FO RETURN
:FD 4C DA 03 RETURN
After loading the hex code, press
CONTROL Y to activate this
StopList routine.
Now we try listing memory by
entering 0.FFF RETURN. Let
some lines go by, then press any
key. If you’ve done everything cor-
rectly, the scrolling will halt. Now
press any other key and the lines
will again scroll. This routine will
still work when you go back into
BASIC. But if for any reason you
press RESET, you must reactivate
the routine by going back into
the MONITOR and pressing
CONTROL Y.
How does it work? Well, to
print a character on the screen,
APPLE II uses a routine located in
MONITOR. APPLE goes to the
routine by finding its address in
locations 54 and 55 (36 and 37 in
hex). But entering a CONTROL Y
replaces this address with the
address of the Stop List routine.
You catch APPLE because it always
checks for a Stop List command
before printing any character. Soft-
ware engineers call such a feature a
hook, and use it to make program-
ming just a bit more handy.
Tony Hughes
THE APPLE CORE
San Francisco, Calif.
AN APPLESOFT CONVERT
PROGRAM
Programs written in APPLE-
SOFT BASIC and saved on tape
cannot be LOADed and RUN with
APPLESOFT II. But there is a way
to use them without retyping — by
means of our CONVERT program,
which we list below.
The CONVERT program runs
in Integer BASIC, accepts a tape in
APPLESOFT BASIC, and produces
anew tape in APPLESOFT IT
BASIC. To use CONVERT, LOAD
the CONVERT tape. It will ask you
if the old program (written in
APPLESOFT BASIC) used
OPTION | or OPTION 2.
— OPTION 1 was GRAPHICS
COMMANDS WITHOUT
LET OR REM STATE-
MENTS
— OPTION 2 was LET OR
STATEMENTS, BUT NO
GRAPHICS
After you answer you will be
prompted to play the old program
tape. After CONVERT has finished
reading and processing the old tape,
it will ask you to record a second
tape. This second tape will be your
original program converted into
APPLESOFT II. If any errors are
discovered during the conversion
process, you will be given self-
explanatory messages.
CONVERT
© TEXT © CALL -936 VTAB 3. PRINT “APPLESOFT CONVERSION PROGRAM: "
2 PRINT
NT
CONVERTS OLD APPLESOFT PROGRAMS TO”: PRINT "APPLESOFT J¢ FORMAT”
3 PRI
COPYRIGHT 1978 APPLE COMPUTER, INC
4 PRINT *
PUKE 94, 10
5 PRINT "WAS PROGRAM WRITTEN IN OPTION 1 OR"
"PRINT “OPTION 1. GRAPHICS COMM
NDS. WITHOUT”
6 PRINT"
OPTION 2 LET AND REM STATEMENTS BUT NO
GRAPHICS *
7 INPUT "OPTION #",0: IF O<>1 AND O¢>2 THEN
ET OR REM STATEMENTS"
PRINT “OPTION 2?
PRINT “
7
10 CALL -936 PRINT “PUT APPLESOFT PROGRAM TAPE IN RECORDER": POKE 60,2: POKE 41,2. POKE 62
2 POKE 63,7: F=1536: B=4096
20 INPUT “PRESS THE PLAY BUTTON, THEN HIT RETURN”, AS: CALL -259
25 IF PEEK (1)<¢128 THEN 30: PRINT "
TAPE READ ERROR! "> PRINT "TRY RE-ADJUSTING VOLUME CONTROLS ON
TAPEPLAYER, THEN RE-RUN THIS PROGRAM”
90 POKE 60,2: POKE 61.16.E= PEEK (2)+ PEEK (1)#256~6657: POKE 62,£ MOD 256: POKE 63,£/256: CALL
-259
95 CALL -996: PRINT "
CONVERTING.
40 IF B>=E THEN 1000: A= PEEK (B)+F MOD 256: POKE B.A MOD 256: POKE B+i, PEEK (B+i)4F/256+(A>
255)
50 FOR B=B+4 TO B+999.T= PEEK (B): IF TC133 THEN 250: IF T<>135 AND T¢>142 OR O=2 THEN 200.
c=B
35 IF
42 THEN 60: T=197: GOTO 250
60 C=C+1:U= PEEK (C). IF Us32 THEN 60: IF Us67 OR U=71 OR Us72 OR U=80 OR U=86 THEN GOTO U
PRINT “BAD STATEMENT IN PROGRAM": GOTO 250
47 T=160: coTo 90
oT 90
goto 87
cota 90
87 CC=Z.D=B
88 D=D+i: IF PEEK (D)<>44 AND PEEK (D)<>5@ AND PEEK (D) THEN G8: IF PEEK (D)=44 THEN 9: PRINT
“BAD STATEMENT IN PROGRAM!" GOTO 250
89 CC=CC+1: IF CC=1 THEN 8B: POKE D, 197
90 POKE C92: GOTO 250
199 REM -MAP OLD TOKENS TO NEW
200 IF T>195 THEN 250: TaT+1+ (T9194) 494+ (13199)+(12160)4(T>177942
250 POKE B,T: IF B/500*500=2 THEN PRINT “STILL CONVERTING! *
251 IF
0 THEN NEXT B:-B=B+1- GOTO 40
c
1000 CALL 996: POKE 60,2: POKE 61,7: POKE 62,2: POKE 63.7: PRINT "DONE!
INPUT “START RECORDING,
THEN HIT 'RETURN'", AS
1001 POKE E-2, 2: POKE E-1,Z: POKE E.Z
1008 D=E-4096: POKE 7Z,D MOD 256° POKE 1.D/256: POKE 2,7. CALL -307
1010 POKE 60,2: POKE 61,16: POKE 62,£ MOD 256: POKE 63,/£/256. CALL -307
1020 PRINT “0. K.
PRINT “THE TAPE JUST RECORDED CAN NOW BE LOADED INTO APPLESOFT 3¢.": END
contact 2/the user group newsletter for june 1978
@orpic computer inc.
HOW TO SET LOMEM WITHOUT
HARDLY TRYING
LOMEM is the start of the vari-
ables storehouse; HIMEM marks the
top of the program store. Between
the two is your working space.
Entering BASIC with BC will set
LOMEM to 2048, the normal
default value. But there are times
(when using the Heuristics Speech-
labT™M for instance) when LOMEM
must be set to a different value.
The pro will incorporate such an
operation right into his programs,
rather than leaving it to chance.
Well, then, is there an easy way
to reset LOMEM inside a program?
The answer is yes, and we guarantee
that your life will be simpler as a
result. The few statements shown
below will set anew LOMEM within
an existing BASIC program. Of
course, doing so will destroy exist-
ing variables, so do it before any are
defined in the program. You can, in
fact, insert this little routine at the
start of your program so that it
conveniently does the whole job for
you. Actually, POKE statements 30
and 40 are the ones that do the
work, the rest of the program is
shown as an example, and figures
out what data to POKE.
STRING + STRING =
CONCATENATION
A string is a series of characters,
zero to 255 cha rs in length. To
symbolize that it string being
operated upon, a string-variable
name ends with the $ symbol.
APPLE can operate on string vari-
ables, in whole or in part, just as it
operates on numeric variables. And
this ability to manipulate strings
to reformat them, etc. — is a power-
ful tool.
Concatenation is an important
facet of string manipulations. To
concatenate strings means to append
one to another, to “se connect”
hitherto independent character sets
in order to operate upon them as a
single entity. The concatenation
function does exist in APPLESOFT
and APPLESOFT II BASICs but,
unfortunately, not in Integer BASIC.
There is, however, a simple rou-
tine that will let you concatenate
strings with Integer BASIC. It’s
listed below, and operates by defin-
ing each string, finding the length
of the first, and telling APPLE to
tack the start of the second string
to the end of the first string, and so
on down the line. The example
shown here is for two strings only;
the maximum length of any con-
catenated string is, of course,
limited to 255 characters.
HOW TO GIVE A NUMBER
SOME CHARACTER
Both APPLESOFT and APPLE-
SOFT II contain the functions ASC
and CHR$. These are opposites —
complementary functions, if you
will — in that ASC returns the
decimal ASCII number equivalent
of its designated string-variable
argument, while CHR$ returns a
single character equivalent of its
designated decimal-ASCII number
argument.
Examples: Say, M$=""M” is some
string variable of interest to us in
APPLESOFT. When you tell APPLE
to PRINT ASC (M$), APPLE
responds with a “77” on its screen.
(Remember, first character only;
decimal 77 in ASCII corresponds
to the letter “M”.) On the other
hand, tell APPLE to PRINT CHRS
(77), and you get the letter “M”’.
A rather simpleminded example
of the use of this pair of functions
could be to associate them with the
RaNDom function in a program to
generate random alphanumeric
sequences.
Except that you cannot do it
in Integer BASIC, because, alas,
Integer contains only the ASC
function. But don’t despair, for all
is not lost. Below we give youa
very short routine that gives Integer
BASIC the equivalent of a CHR$
function. /nsert it in your programs
wherever you wish to and — presto!
— you can convert decimal numbers
to their ASCII character equivalents.
@oppic computer inc.
40260 Bandley Drive
Cupertino, California 95014
(408) 996-010
contact 2/the user group newsletter for june 1978
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OUTSIDE THE
ORCHARD
N€W PRODUCTS
... of interest to
Apple users
FROM VIDEO TO UHF — Another
modulator unit, this one from ATV
Research, is available to transform
APPLE II’s video output to a video-
modulated UHF signal. For B/W or
color, the unit — called the Micro-
Verter model MVX-500 — outputs
a signal tunable to one of four
channels above television channel
14. It does not require direct con-
nection to your television receiver’s
antenna terminals, and it is powered
by four AA cells, which the manu-
facturer claims will last in excess of
1000 hours. Suggested price: $35
from dealers or factory direct. ATV
Research, 13th and Broadway,
Dakota City, NE 68731;
(402) 987-3771.
HARD-COPY GRAPHICS
TERMINAL — The Panographic-84
is a precision x-y plotter with 100-
step resolution in both directions; it
is driven by zero-drift, adjustment-
free stepping motors. Plotter pro-
grams can be written in BASIC or
machine-language. Interface to
APPLE is via our Parallel Printer
card. Soon to be available is a chart
reader that will allow you to use
the plotter as an input device. The
assembled plotter, with computer-
operated pen lifter and molded
cover, sells for $1400 (delivery 60
days ARO); as a kit, without lifter
and cover ($995 (90-days delivery);
the pen lifter kit is $85; the cover,
also $85. Pan Dynamics, Inc.,
2950 Nebraska Ave., Santa Monica,
CA 90404; (213) 829-2332.
CO-RESIDENT ASSEMBLER —
Microproducts has introduced a co-
resident Assembler claimed to be
much more powerful than MOS
Technology’s Assembler for the
6502 MPU, and thus better able to
exploit APPLE II’s advanced fea-
tures. The new Assembler has two-
pass implementation, and incorpo-
rates a ten-command text editor,
and a Microproducts printer driver
for which the company makes an
APPLE II/PR-40 printer int Se.
One of the features of the Assembler
is that it permits the text file to be
saved or loaded from tape. Micro-
products, 1024 17th Street,
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254;
(213) 374-1673.
TAPE RECORDER CONTROL —
ROR and Candex Pacific have
announced a relay activator to start
and stop audio tape recorders via
the REMOTE jack. The activator
plugs into the GAME I/O connector
on the Apple II, and is controlled
with PEEK and POKE commands.
Its connector allows the game
controls to plug into it so that both
devices can be used simultaneously.
Retail price is $24.95, and
quantity discounts are available.
Delivery is 30 days ARO. Technical
questions should be addressed to
Candex Pacific, 693 Veterans Blvd.,
Redwood y,CA 94063;
(415) 364-8427.