Text content (OCR)
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the user group newsletter for dec <. 1978 @Gapple lz computer
contact 4/the user group newsletter for dec, 1978
aye you ever wanted to
mect a fast, letter-quality
rinter or a serial interface plotter
o your Apple? Ef you have, the
high-speed Serial Interface Card
is for you.
This card, which was first
announced .in our mid-summer
~ catalog, allows the Apple to com-
- municate with almost any serial
- interface (RS-232) device; and it
offers the following benefits:
_@ Programmable speed: 75-19,
200 baud
e@ BASIC control of serial print-
ers, with line feed insertion
and automatic formatting of
listings
e All control software is on-
board ROM — no programs
to write
© Switch-selectable preset con-
ditions for speed, line length,
auto line feed, and carriage
return delay
This new serial card handles
many applications that previously
required cither modifications of
the existing Communication
Card, or creation of a whole new
hardware design. It is the inter-
sagt
INR sn
g
Aggie tole teste
face to use
involving block
hard copy prin
fer speeds other tha:
baud.
With the availability of this
card, the older Communication
Card should be reserved for those —
applications requiring Apple to
act like a terminal to other com-
puters, That card still offers the
advantage of full-duplex (simul-
taneous, bi-directional) com-
munication while the Serial Card
does not. (Although it is bi-
directional, it cannot transmit
and receive concurrently.) But
because of its lack of automatic
line feed, the Communication
Card is not really suited for
control of most printers. The
Serial Card, on the other hand,
not only inserts the line feed
characters that most printers
need, but it insures that BASIC
key words are not broken into
separate lines during a listing.
The new card should be avail-
able from your Apple dealer as
you read this. It is part number
A2B0005, with a retail price of
$195,
@oppie computer ine.
6
Ov
LOCAL USER
GROUPS
... Here come
nine more
Here come nine new APPLE
user groups, with two more
waiting in the wings:
CALIFORNIA —
Computerland of Los Altos
Sarkis Kouzoujian
4546 El Camino Real
Los Altos, CA 94022
(415) 941-8154
NORTH ORANGE COUNTY
COMPUTER CLUB
David Smith
607 North Twilight
Placentia, CA 92670
(714) 993-9939
APPLE-BIZ,
Melvin Wong
301 Balboa
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 221-8500
APPLE USERS GROUP
Recreational Computer Center
Mark Wozniak
1324 S. Mary
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
(408) 735-7480
DELAWARE —
Computerland of Newark
James H. Higgins
Astro Shopping Center
Kirkwood Highway
Newark, DE 19711
(302) 738-9656
MINNESOTA —
MINDAPP’LES
Dan Buchler
13516 Grand Avenue South
Burnsville, MN 55337
(612) 890-5051
conzact 4/the user group newsletter for dec. 1978
Gorrie computer inc,
NEW YORK —
NYC USERS GROUP
c/o Computer/Mart of New York
Neil Shapiro
118 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 686-7923
NORTH CAROLINA —
APPLE CORE
COMPUTER CLUB
Alex Popper
3915 E. Independence Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28205
(704) 523-5107
OKLAHOMA —
APPLE Il USERS GROUP.
c/o The Tulsa Computer Society
Jerry Henshaw, President
P. O. Box 1133
Tulsa, OK 74101
(918) 836-7364
OREGON —
APPLE PORTLAND PROGRAM
LIBRARY EXCHANGE
Ken Hoggatt, President
9195 S.W. Elrose Court
Tigard, OR 97223
(503) 639-5505 (residence)
(503) 644-0161, x6136 (work)
And here are two people
interested in forming APPLE
user groups in their areas:
Larry Bugbee
2874 Ithaca
BOISE, IDAHO 83705
(208) 362-9132 (residence)
(208) 384-6100 (work)
Charles Kollett
32 N. Brewster Lane
BELLPORT, LI, NY 11713
(516) 286-0198
Finally, we'd like to remind
you that if you’d like to form or
join an APPLE user’s group in
your area, call or visit your local
APPLE dealer — he’ll be glad to
help. And if you know of a
group that’s not yet been listed
in this newsletter, tell us about it.
Direct your note to Phil Roybal,
‘keting manager
LOOKING
AHEAD
..- Some new things
from us, for you
We’ve selected a modem that
we think does a great job with
APPLE. It’s made by Novation,
and includes an acoustic coupler.
The unit operates in both the
full- and half-duplex modes, and
runs at both 110 and 300 baud.
With our Communications Card
and all necessary cables, our
Model IIA retails for $495 as
APPLE part no. A2M0017; with-
out the card and cables, it costs
$315, and carries part no.
A2M0021.
And, too, we’re making ready
the second entry in our Dow-
Jones series. Called PORTFOLIO
EVALUATOR, the program lets
APPLE keep track of your port-
folio. You enter the stock names,
number of shares, date purchased,
and purchase price. APPLE tells
you the current price, current
portfolio value, long- and short-
term capital gains, and the rate
of return. The new program
works in conjunction with our
existing D-J service (STOCK
QUOTE REPORTER). PORT-
FOLIO EVALUATOR will be
available in the latter part of
this last quarter of 1978.
Last but not least, we now
have a new manual out for all
you Applesoft users. It is the
Applesoft If BASIC Program-
ming Reference Manual: 170
pages of just about everything
anyone every wanted to know
about the language. From syntax
to memory maps to the token
structure of the language itself —
it’s all there! And it’s printed in
the same 6’’x 8.5" spiral-bound
format as our popular BASIC
Programming Manual. This
manual is now available from
your Apple dealer at an intro-
ductory price of $7.50.
EDITORIAL
0
by Phil Roybal, Marketing Mor.
..- Please don't
send money!
In the good old days of per-
sonal computing (about 2% years
ago), most business was handled
through mail order because there
were many small manufacturers,
and not enough sales outlets to
handle the products. Since then
the market has increased dramat-
ically, and manufacturers have
searched for a way to service
their customer base more effi-
ciently. The solution we chose
was to sell through a nationwide
network of retail dealers. This
gives our products wide exposure
and insures that you have a local
store to demonstrate, sell, and
service the product.
To maintain this dealer net-
work, APPLE sends all retail
business through it, and provides
a profit margin that suports the
field efforts. We divide the
country into regions, and set up
distributors to create and service
the dealer network in each area.
We sell to the distributor, the
distributor sells to the dealer,
and the dealer sells to the public.
To keep our sales network
healthy, we use it rather than
compete with it. This is why we
discourage individual orders by
mail.
The heavy demand for Apple
products has made it difficult to
meet the immediate needs of this
distributor/dealer network. Many
of you have called the factory to
inquire about the delivery status
contact 4/the user group newsletter for dec. 1978
@oppie computer inc.
of your order, Unfortunately, we
have no visibility into the order
level of individual dealers or
what position they have in the
delivery queue with their distri-
butor. Consequently, we are
unable to provide delivery infor-
mation on your order. To get a
delivery quote, ask your dealer
where you are on his backorder
list, and ask him to contact the
distributor for an estimated
delivery commitment. We sched-
ule regular shipments to these
distributors, and barring any un-
forseen difficulties, he can pro-
vide the information necessary to
estimate your delivery date.
For those of you that ordered
products in June, July, and
August, the demand was very
high and did not allow time for
our supplies to fill our raw
material requirements. Delivery
of the orders placed in August,
September, and October was
delayed by our effort to fill the
summer months’ needs first.
Delivery commitments on new
orders are about ten weeks after
receipt of order (ARO) presently.
As we start the last quarter
of 1978, our business plans are
directed at increasing our capacity
to the point where we will bring
our backlog down to four weeks
ARO. Whether we are able to
meet our goal will depend upon
business conditions, the capacity
of our suppliers, and acts of God.
However, as you wait for your
Disk, Applesoft ROM Card or
Apple II System, it should please
you to know that the reason you
are waiting is because they are
fine products in heavy demand.
When you get them, you know
you will be getting the best!
PATCHES
AND
PROGRESS
... Nobody is perfect
CONTACT 3’s ASCII table
In the last issue of CONTACT
(No, 3) we presented a table of
decimal-number and APPLE-
keyboard equivalents to ASCII
characters. In this issue of
CONTACT we'd like to correct
that table.
First, decimal codes 153 and
154 are generated by YC and Ze,
respectively.
Second, it seems that we
showed the APPLE keyboard as
having a lower ¢ alphabet —
which, of course, it hasn’t. So. . .
in the table’s right-most column
for ASCII characters a through z
and decimal numbers 225 through
252, please delete both the “sa.
(“same”) near the top of the
APPLE KYBD column and the
long, downward-pointing arrow
below it.
HIRES demo tape typo
Somehow we managed to
ship a number of HIRES
GRAPHICS demonstration tapes
that carry a typographical error
on the cassette labels. The error
is in the brief loading instructions
printed on the label: *800.FFFR.
This should read: *COO.FFER.
Note that the numeral “8”.
should be the letter “C”’. Pro-
grams on the tape will run
correctly when you follow the
proper loading instructions.
Making life easier in
APPLESOFT II
If you use APPLESOFT If
and enter a statement such as
IF X = A THEN PRINT T,
APPLE won't do what you want
it to do. That’s because APPLE-
SOFT IPs parsing action causes
the statement to be read as if
you entered IF X = AT HEN
PRINT T; a syntax error will
appear and you won’t know why.
To prevent this, simply en-
close the A in parentheses, which
stops APPLESOFT I]’s parsing of
the letter combination. Thus,
enter the statement as IF X = (A)
THEN PRINT T, and all will be
right with the world.
BITS AND
PIECES
.- APPLES and PIMs
Do APPLEs work with Parallel
Interface Adapters (PIAs)?
(A final word from EDN magazine)
Not too long back, Boston-
based EDN Magazine — a publi-
cation widely read in the elec-
tronics industry — somehow
became convinced that APPLE
would not work satisfactorily
with peripheral interface adapt-
ers. But now...
Apple II — no PIA problem
Our August 20 issue reported
that Apple Computer, Inc, has
supplied us with a working single-
PIA interface for a keyboard. We
have since checked and rechecked
the hardware and software designs
described in the article on pgs.
101-1106 of our March 20 issue
and have been unable to duplicate
the Apple I timing problem
“uncovered” in our May 20 issue
contace 4/the user group newsletter for dec. 1978
Gorrie computer inc.
(pgs. 105-115). This development
leads us to two important con-
clusions:
1. PIA-based interfaces will
work with the Apple II with-
out any special design con-
siderations. Delays or other
fixes are not needed.
Although the uC uses the 90
clock instead of the 0 clock,
this provision should not
prevent PIA operation,
2. The source of Indecomp’s
interface difficulties, while
not pinpointed, must lie in
human error on the part of
EDN’s staff.
(Partially reprinted by permission
from EDN Magazine, 9/20/78,
pg. 17.)
The colon as a listing formatter
for Applesoft
The basic description of the
colon’s action is that it can be
used to separate BASIC state-
ments. But with the colon you
can structure your listing in any
way you desire, whether you
need vertical spacing or hori-
zontal spacing — or both, as in
tabulating data into blocks of
rows and columns.
To do it, enter the line num-
ber, then the colon, If there is no
information following the colon
on the line, then the display will
step vertically. If information
does follow the colon, then that
information will be spaced to the
right of the colon, allowing the
interior code of FOR... NEXT
loops, etc., to be neatly indented.
You can see how the colon is
used for this purpose in this
issues’s HOW TO section. Note
the neat appearance of the listing.
Apple and Education
Apple Computer, Inc.,
announces the appointment of
Roger Cutler as Education
Specialist for the company.
Roger is organizing an educators’
user group. If you would like to
be on his mailing list, please
write him a
include an educational software
bank and advice on writing com-
puter assisted instruction pro-
grams. Watch CONTACT for
further information about educa-
tional applications of the Apple II.
Back issues of CONTACT
CONTACT 1, 2, and 3 are out
of print, and there are no back
issues left. For those of you who
missed them, we will be printing
The Best of CONTACT, a sum-
mary of the most useful informa-
tion from the 1978 issues. That
document should appear on your
dealer’s shelves in January, 1979.
Missing Here...
Our disk examples squeezed
out the promised list of PEEKS,
POKES, and CALLs from this
issue. Look for them in
CONTACT 5.
) HOW
TO
-»- Now if
only | knew how the
disk worked
The final Disk Operating Sys-
tem manual is in the works, and
its going to contain a lot of
information. But like all good
things, it will take some time.
Meanwhile, we have produced
some examples that show how to
handle the most asked-about
situations.
DATA FORMAT
The first thing to understand
about the disk is its information
format. Data can be written as
fixed-length records or random-
length records. All data is written
in ASCH. Fixed-length records
are written when you OPEN the
file with an “L” parameter.
OPEN DAN, L40 will create a
file named DAN, whose records
are all 40 bytes long. If you only
put 20 bytes of information into
each, you will waste 20 bytes per
record of disk space.
Random-length records are
actually one byte each, but are
grouped together into blocks
(logical records) which can be up
to 32K bytes long. Each logical
record ends with a carriage
return, Note that this means the
number “1” will require 2 bytes
(number followed by a RE-
TURN), and the number 10 will
require 3 bytes. If you forget this
and later replace “1” with “10”,
you will destroy part of the fol-
lowing record (poor program-
ming practice),
USING RANDOM-LENGTH
RECORDS
Example number one illus-
trates the writing of random-
length records. We simply open
the file, then start printing. Each
PRINT statement creates one
logical record, ending with a car-
riage return. Thus, to put items
into separate records, we must
print them with separate PRINT
statements. Each record is just
long enough to hold the data you
put in it.
Now run this program, using
strings of less than 20 characters.
It produces files called FILE and
FILE.PTR, which are used in the
following examples.
EXAMPLE 1
5 REM THIS PROGRAM SHOWS HOW TO
WRITE RANDOM-LENGTH RECORDS
10 HOME : DIM A%(20), BS(20),
A(2O):N =
20 LET DS = "": REM CTRL D
30 PRINT "ENTER ‘END’ TO QUIT"
PRINT "ENTER STRING #"; Ni
INPUT AS(N): TF
AS(N) = "END" THEN 60
40 PRINT "ENTER ANOTHER STRING";
INPUT B$(N): PRINT “ENTER A
NUMBER "5: INPUT ACN)
SQ PRINT :N = N + i: GOTO 30
40 PRINT DS"OPEN FILE"
70 PRINT D$"WRITE FILE"
go FOR X= 1 TON ~ 1
90 PRINT AS(X): PRINT B&(X)
PRINT A(X): NEXT
100 PRINT D$"CLOSE FILE"
110 PRINT D$"QPEN FILE. PTR"
120 PRINT D$"WRITE FILE. PTR"
190 PRINT N- 1
140 PRINT DS"CLOSE FILE, PTR"
150 END
Example two reads the files
created by example one. It first
ee
reads FILE.PTR, which tells it
contact 4/the user group newsletter for dec. 1978
@oppie computer inc.
how long the data file will be.
Then (in lines 90-100) it reads
in that many records from FILE.
This is a sequential read, where
each INPUT statement brings in
the next record.
Lines 210-220 are random
access reads (this has nothing to
do with random record length),
where we read a particular record
from the middle of the file. To
do random reads, we specify the
desired record, minus J. Note,
however, that the computer
doesn’t know how long each
logical record is. (They’re random
length, remember?) Therefore,
it uses the physical record size,
which is one byte long. (All
records are physically one byte
long, unless specified otherwise
in an OPEN statement.) This
means that if we say “READ
FILE, R3,” the next INPUT
statement will start reading at
the fourth character of the file.
Try it and see.
EXAMPLE 2
5 REM THIS PROGRAM SHOWS HOW TO
READ BACK RANDOM-LENGTH RECORDS
10 LET DS = "": REM CTRL D
20 HOME : DIM C$(20),D$(20),C(20)
30 PRINT D$"OPEN FILE. PTI
40 PRINT D$"READ FILE. PTR"
SQ INPUT PTR
40 PRINT D$"CLOSE FILE. PTR"
70 PRINT DS"OPEN FILE"
80 PRINT D$"READ FILE"
970 FOR X = 1 TO PTR
100 INPUT C&(X): INPUT D$(X):
INPUT CCX): NEXT
210 PRINT DS"READ FILE, R3"
220 INPUT C#(1),D8(1), C01)
230 PRINT DS"CLOSE"
235 PRINT : PRINT : PRINT
240 PRINT C#(1),D8(1),C(1)
1000 END
IRUN RNDREADER
OPEN FILE. PTR
READ FILE. PTR
73
CLOSE FILE. PTR
OPEN FILE
READ FILE
eTHIS IS
?AN EXAMPLE
at
20F RANDOM
PRECORD
22
2USAGE
>
23
READ FILE, RS
28 1S
??AN EXAMPLE
24
cLOse.
S$ IS AN EXAMPLE i
USING FIXED-LENGTH
RECORDS
Fixed-length records are all
of the same size and format.
They offer the advantage of ease
of use, since they always present
information the same way. On
the other hand, they are inflex-
ible. You must know when you
start a file how big the largest
record will be. Then, any smaller
records will waste disk space
(since all records are as long as
the longest one).
Example three shows the use
of fixed-length records in both
sequential and random access.
Note that when writing into such
a file (lines 120-150), we must
specify each record number in a
WRITE statement. Once the file
is written, we can replace a
random record with another that
contains more characters (lines
160-180), so long as the new
data does not exceed our 30-byte
record length.
After a change is made, we
can scan the whole file (lines
200-260) to find the change,
read it, and do something about it.
EXAMPLE 3
10 REM THIS PROGRAM PROVIDES AN
EXAMPLE OF RANDOM RECORD ACCESS:
60 REM INITIALIZATION
70: DIM A$(40):D$ = CHR (4)
80: PRINT D%i "NOMON C"
90 REM CREATE FILE OF FIXED
LENGTH, 30-BYTE RECORDS, EACH
CONTAINING SIMILAR
100 REM ASCII STRINGS,
110 : PRINT D%i “OPEN TEST2, LO”
120: FOR I = 0 TO 5
190 :: PRINT D$) "WRITE TEST2.R" I
140 :: PRINT “NAME ADDRESS "iI
150 : NEXT I
160 REM NOW CHANGE ONE RECORD.
170 : PRINT Di “WRITE TEST2,R3”"
180: PRINT "APPLE DOS VER 3. i"
200 REM NOW READ THE FILE,
LOOKING FOR THE CHANGE.
PRINT SOMETHING WHEN IT
210 REM 18 FOUND
220: FOR J = 0 TO 5
290 :: PRINT D$i "READ TEST2,R") J
240 INPUT AS
250 :: IF LEFTS (AS,5) = "APPLE"
THEN PRINT "THIS RECORD WAS
CHANGED"
260 : NEXT J
270 REM NOW CLOSE THE FILE, SO
YOU WON‘T GET AN ‘OUT OF DATA’
ERROR WHEN
THE
2680 REM PROGRAM TERMINATES.
290 : PRINT D$: "CLOSE"
goo END
JRUN
NOMON ¢
NAME ADDRESS:
MAME ADDRESS.
NAME ADDRESS:
NAME ADDRESS
NAME ADDRESS
NAME ADDRESS
APPLE DOS VER 3.1
NAME ADDRESS 0
@NAME ADDRESS 1
?NANE ADDRESS 2
APPLE DOS VER 3.1
THIS RECORD WAS CHANCED
7NAME ADDRESS 4
7NAME ADDRESS 5
EXECUTE FILES
The last example concerns
itself with EXEC files. Unlike
other files that contain programs
or data, EXEC files contain
commands, just exactly as they
would be typed on the keyboard
by a computer operator. Thus,
commands in this file are not
proceeded by a CTRL/D, since
that’s not what you would type
on the keyboard. An EXEC file
is created by a program made up
for the purpose. It simply opens
a file, and then PRINTs each
command into it, just as you
would have typed it. Example 4
shows a typical EXEC-builder
program, which creates a file
called COMMANDS, While most
operations are straightforward,
putting quotes into the file (for
string printing, etc.) is tricky.
Lines 70-90 show how to do it.
After this program has run,
you will have an EXEC file on
your disk. If you then say EXEC
COMMANDS, it will take control
of the system, do the specified
operations, and return command
to the keyboard when finished.
EXAMPLE 4
10 REM THIS PROGRAM SHOWS HOW
TO BUILD AN EXEC FILE
20 LET DS CHRS (4): REM CTRL D
30 PRINT D$"QPEN COMMANDS"
35 PRINT "FP"
40 PRINT D$"WRITE COMMANDS"
50 PRINT "FOR [=O TO 10: PRINT I:
NEXT I"
40 PRINT "RUN RNDREADER"
70 DIM 2%(100):2$ = "THIS IS THE
END OF THE EXEC FILE."
@0 @% = CHR$ (34): REM WAY TO
INSERT QUOTES
90 PRINT "PRINT": Q$; 2%; QS
100 PRINT D$"CLOSE"
110 END
APPENDING FILES
GaERHo
Example 5 illustrates the use
of the APPEND command. This
command will open a file without
|
conract 4/the user group newsletter for dec. 1978
@oppic computer inc.
“rewinding” it back to the
beginning. Thus, it allows you to
build onto an existing file. The
first item added to a file after it
is appended will appear imme-
diately following the last item of
old data in the file. Try the
following example to see how it
works.
EXAMPLE 5
LIST
100 REM APPEND FILE
110 HOME :D$ = "": REM CTRL D
120 INPUT "ENTER A STRING: "i AS
190 IF AS = "" THEN 200
140 PRINT D$"APPEND TEST"
150 PRINT D$"WRITE TEST"
160 PRINT AS: PRINT DS"CLOSE"
170 GOTO 120
180 :
190:
200 REM GET IT BACK OUT
210 ONERR GOTO 250
220 PRINT D$"OPEN TEST"
230 PRINT D$"READ TEST"
240 INPUT A%: GOTO 240
250 POKE 214,0: REM RESET FLAG
260 PRINT D$"CLOSE"
270:
280 :
300 REM THIS PROGRAM DEMON-
310 REM STRATES THE USE OF
320 REM THE ‘APPEND’ COMMAND
330 :
ago REM IT WILL CONTINUE TO
asO REM APPEND THE ‘TEST’
360 REM FILE UNTIL @ NULL
a70 REM STRING IS ENTERED.
aso :
390 REM AT THAT POINT IT WILL
400 REM READ THE RECORDS BACK
410 REM FROM THE FILE.
1
DOS ERROR CODES
The Disk Operating System
handles its error codes in such a
way that the Applesoft “ONERR
GOTO” statement is able to trap
them. Once an error has been
trapped, conditional branching
can be done depending on the
nature of the error.
The following is a list of
current DOS error codes:
CODE ERROR
4 WRITE PROTECT
5 END OF DATA
6 FILE NOT FOUND
7 VOLUME MISMATCH
8 DISK I/O
9 DISK FULL
10 FILE LOCKED
11 COMMAND SYNTAX
13. NOT BASIC PROGRAM
14. PROGRAM TOO LARGE
15 NOT BINARY FILE
The statement “X = PEEK
(222)” sets the value of the vari-
able “X’’ equal to the code of
the error encountered. (Decimal
location 222 is also the spot in
which Applesoft places it’s own
set of error codes).
Another note is in order here.
As part of any err-handling rou-
tine, your program must clear
the err flag (set in memory by
the error) in order for any other
error messages to appear nor-
mally. If this is not done, any
error, even a syntax error in com-
mand mode, will jump to your
program’s onerr “destination!”
To clear the errflag, use the state-
ment “POKE 216, 0.”
The statement “Y = Peek
(218) + Peek (219) *256” returns
“Y’? as equal to the line number
in which an error occured if an
“Onerr/Goto” statement has
been previously executed.
GETTING COMMAS INTO
APPLESOFT
Several users have called us
regarding the Applesoft comma
problem. To those of you who
haven’t run across it, what hap-
pens is this: Your program stops
for an input statement and you
type in an answer (with an im-
bedded comma) and hit return.
Then your Apple brilliantly types
back “?EXTRA IGNORED.”
And it’s done just that! The rea-
son is that Applesoft uses the
comma as a delimiter for input
statements (so you may use
“INPUT X, Y, Z”). The same
thing occurs with a colon in an
input response.
The program shown in
Example 6 shows how to make
it work.
EXAMPLE 6
\
ILIst
90; REM FIRST WE ‘GET’ A STRING
100 HOME :D% = CHRS (4): PRINT
“ENTER A STRING CINCUDE com
ash
110 GET AS: IF A$ = CHRS (1a) THEN
130
120 LET BS = BE + AB: PRINT AS:
eOTO 110
125° REM
NOW WE WRITE IT TO DISK
190 PRINT : PRINT DS“OPEN FILE
140 PRINT DS"WRITE FILE"
150 PRINT BS + CHRS (19)
140 PRINT D¢*CLOSE FILE"
165 REM
AND GET IT BACK OUT!
170 PRINT DS"OPEN FILE"
180 PRINT DS"READ FILE"
190 GET AS: IF A’ = CHRS (19) THEN
210
200 LET C# = C$ + AS: GOTO 190
210 PRINT cs
220 PRINT DS"CLOSE FILE"
Another point is that input
from a disk file converts any
lower case which you have labor-
iously constructed to upper case
as it goes through the monitor
routines. Using the above “GET”
routine also works in this case.
The only thing to watch for in
your program is that any “GET”
command must be followed by a
“Print” or the DOS will work as
if your program was in the
“Trace” mode (i.e., not at all!)
OUTSIDE
THE
ORCHARD
-.. Some new things
from others, for you
Software
Yet another source of soft-
ware intended specifically for
APPLE has come to our atten
tion. The company’s current list
12. NO FILE BUFFS
LIE
a SAEED
GLEE EEE z
10260 Bandley Drive
Cupertino, California 95014
(408) 9964010
pple connputer ine:
contact4/the user group newsletter for dec. 1978
pple computer inc.
— a varied one that comprises
games, music, financial aids, logic
development, and more — totals
sixteen programs, each on cas-
sette, at prices ranging from $5
to $49, with about half pegged
at the $10 mark. Rainbow
Computing, Inc., 17023 White
Oak Ave., Granada Hills, CA
91344, (213) 360-2171,
Joystick unit
According to its manufac-
turer, this new full-range joystick
has been designed to plug directly
into APPLE’s game I/O con-
nector. With each joystick are
two switches and two trim-pots
for adjusting to any APPLE IT
and any application. Completely
assembled, the single joystick
sells for $39.95; a double joy-
stick is available at $79.95.
Quantity discounts are available,
and delivery is 30 days ARO.
Microproducts Company, 1128
19th St., Santa Monica, CA
90403. (213) 393-8371.
Interface board
A newly announced peri-
pheral interface board contains
two 2716 PROMs, 20-mA and
RS232 interfaces, a real-time
clock, and a parallel output port.
The board also has two 16-pin
DIP sockets, which may be used
to connect the board to an
external source. Contact the
manufacturer for pricing infor
mation on the complete board.
A bare board — without compo-
nents, but with assembly instruc-
tions, diagrams, and programs —
is available for $29, Delivery, 3-4
weeks ARO. Peripheral Interface,
173-1128 McKercher Dr.,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
Canada S7H 4Y7.
Analog input card
The AI-02 is a single-card,
16-channel, analog data acquisi-
tion system for APPLE II. Each
channel is individually address-
able through software. The
analog-to-digital conversion takes
70us (8-bit resolution), after
which an interrupt or a comple-
tion flag is activated and the con-
verted value can be acquired by
APPLE. Contact the manufac-
turer for more information on
the AI-02, as well as for informa-
tion on other of the firm’s
products for APPLE, such as a
video input interface, and inven-
tory and remote data entry soft-
ware packages. Interactive
Structures, Inc.; Suite 204,
Science Center, 3401 Market St.,
Philadelphia, PA 19104.
(215) 381-8296.
Clock Interface (correction)
System Design Engineering
(mentioned in CONTACT 3 asa
source for a real-time clock) has
moved, You can reach them at
25131% Cypress, Lomita, CA
90717. (213) 370-1245
(11 - 8 p.m.); (213) 530-9891
(after 8 p.m.)
Dust cover
Protect your investment from
dust, coffee spills, and idle fingers
with a heavy duty beige vinyl
cover, custom fitted to your
Apple If Computer. For only
$6.95 (includes shipping) you
can help to insure a long and
useful life for your investment.
TO ORDER, send check or
money order to:
Henwood Enterprises, Inc.
1833 E. Crabtree Dr.
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
OR CALL TOLL FREE
800-323-7360 and use your
Master Charge, VISA, or
American Express credit card.