87.10 apple bug

€ APPLE - BUG The Newsletter of APPLE—G@: the Brisbane Users’ Group ffi = isbane — Qld. 4101 C OCTOBER 1987 31 C In this issue 1] Editorial <-> Treasurer’s Report Secretary's Notes <-> BBS Notes Software Library <-> Page Eight Feature Article <-> Selling Your Software Advertisements <-> Trading Table Nomination Forms <-> Membership Renewal Form NEXT MEETING: — 18th October 1978S7 ANNUAL. GENERAL MEETING BIRTHDAY PARTY <<< CREDITS >>> Tony Truscott Graham Black Vince Crosdale The Members ZARDAX IT EPSON LX-80 The Hooper Centre The APPLE Computer 1 He typed it all in Away on holidays He typed some too For their contributions Word Processing Typesetting Printing & Distribution The reason for it all AAKAAAAN i) vvvYVYVYVY Registered by Australia Post - Publication No. QBG 3485. APPLE-BUG <> October 1997 C Executive Committee 1 Terry Sweetser - President Ph. (07) 203-4210 Bernie Benson - Vice-President FR.(O7) 345-1545 Vince Crosdale ~ Secretary Ph.(Q7) 351-3090 Eric Conolly - Treasurer Fh. (07) 261-1860 Graham Black - Registrar Fh. (07) 883-1525 Tony Truscott - €ditor Ph. (07) 266-4795 Peter Lane-Collett - Assistant Editor Ph. (07) 398-9282 Richard Egglesfield - Hardcopy Librarian Ph. (07) 249-8888 Bob Godbehere - Software Librarian Ph. (07) 808-3892 C Bulletin Board System (BRS) 4a Apple-@ BBS : online 24 hrs Telephone : (07) 284-6145 (DATA) : (07) 883-1525 (VOICE) Baud Rates : 300, 1200/75, {200 and 2400 (CCITT and BELL) Data Specs : @ Data bits - 1 Stop bit - No Parity ‘Full Duplex) Sysops : Graham Black & Vince Crosdale BBS equipment : Apple //e 128k 1 x Smeg Profile Hard Disk 1 x 800k 3.5" drive 1 x tmeg Ram Card NetComm 1234A Smartmodem Epson LX-80 Printer Calls to the system : 6687 Registered Users + 346 (as of noon 4th October) SYSOP stands for: SYStem OPerator BBS stands for: Bulletin Board System C What’s When J at the Hooper Education Centre - Kuran Street - Wavell Heights Sunday 18th October 1987 Monday 19th October 1987 AGM - Birthday Party - Open Day Committee Meeting Hours: 9.00.am. till 4.30.pm. Starts: 6.30.pm, Sunday 15th November 1987 : Monday 16th November 1987 Open Day Committee Meeting Hours: 9.00.am. till 4.30.pm. Starts: 6.30.pm, C Membership Fees J Joining Fee: $10 Adults/Family: #20 Students/Pensioners: #12 Corporate Membership: #50 Associate Membership: $ 5 plus $5 Joining Fee. (Pro-rata till MAY 88) (Students under 21 years - Pensioners on production of Fensioner Card) { at the discretion of the Executive Committee ) APFPLE-BUG October 1967 C Editorial a This month is the Annual General Meeting and Apple-Q'’s birthday. In keeping with our ‘traditions’ we will have our Apple ice cream cake, apple pie and cream and Apple Cider (non-alcholic of course). Very little serious computing will be done on the day and wives, children and friends are all invited to share the festivities. The formal portion - election of committee is timed for around 12:30 immediately followed by ice cream cake and cider. To round out the day it is hoped there will be no shortage of volunteers to clean up the area so that the Hooper Centre will get a good impression of the new committee. Well, the end of the current Committees ‘Reign of Terror’ is coming to a close. Thanks must go out to all of the Committee members for their efforts over the past twelve months in keeping the club running in some sort of order. It has been an enjoyable twelve months with all sorts of little happenings sprinkled in just to make life that much more interesting. The BBS has planted its feet well and truly on the ground and seems as though it is here for a long time to come. This in itself has caused many a headachce, but looking at the board today, the headaches were definately worth it. The newsletter has been kept up to a high standard for the twelve editions that have been published by this Committee, and it is a reflection on the amount of time and effort that go into it. Thanks again to Bernie for all his efforts in the incorporation of the club, and to Eric for always being able to sort out Grahams cash register dockets (I‘d hate to see the books if you weren’t there!). On the subject of Graham, thanks for a home for the BBS, the membership register software, the cash register software (I think), looking after the Trading Table so well and mate, how could I forget the dropping of the printer?? To Bob and Kelvin, a hig thank you for managing the software library so well. Keep up the great work guys! To Richard for the hardcopy library, and Tony for all %:5 help with the newslette:. And how could I not Say a big thank you to Terry, just for being there. From me, a thank you to all the members that have assisted us over the past twelve months, along with a willing and able Committee. We hope you have enjoyed our small contribution to the club over the past twelve months. Please take note: Members ere required to display their membership cards on their equipment so as to allow identification of visitors using club facilities and causing inconvenience to bona-fide club members. Also, all club members and visitors should try to make the effort to sign the book placed near the door to the Hooper Centre. C Secretary’s Notes 1] by Vince Crosdale This month seems to be of little interest to those in the outside world writing in, so correspondance has been lax again. The majority of mail in was the usual magazines and requests for information, and we are still waiting to receive our disks and magazines from I.A.C. in the US. We are also waiting on a letter from the Justice Department of Queensland about the Clubs incorporation which we hope to bring into effect at the Annual General Meeting. APRLE BUG 4 Oetober Ten Qn the subiect of the Annual General Meeting, nominations have been received from the following : Bernie Benson President Eric Conolly Vice-President Vince Crosdale Secretary Tony Truscott Treasurer Graham Black Registrar Bob Godbehere Software Librarian Brett Dutton Hardcopy Librarian The position of Apple-Bug editor is still up for grabs, and if no Nominations are received for this position hefore the meeting, then nominations will be taken from the floor, or the position will remain vacant as it has done for a considerable period of time now. For people considering nominating for this position, I would like to remind you that there is a lot of work involved in putting the newsletter together (about 2 full davs worth actually) and it will require a mature person willing to work for no thanks at all (and believe me, I mean NO THANKS AT ALL). Still, it ts a rewarding position as you can see the fruits of your Labour each month and with our ever increasing mailing fist, there are a lot of people out there willing to browse over you handywork. Well, that's about it for this month. As usual | remind members that contributions for the newsletter are always gratefully received and thanks must go out to all those members who have taken time over the past twelve months in contributing articles to us. All articles for the newsletter may be forwarded to us either on disk or typed. Articles may be handed to us at the Open Days, and if you submit on disk, then all care will be taken and your disk returned. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, 1] will sign off in the usual manner. So until next month, Good computing. C BBS Notes 1} by Vince Crosdale Last month Apple-@ became the official Australian Fast Coast distributors of GBBS.PRO software and add-on modules from Feripherals + and First Word Software in the United States. This deal was accomplished through talks with the Australian distributor and they were happy to allow Apple-@ represent them on the east coast of Australia. fA price list for GBBS.FRO software and all add-on modules should be available in the near future. A word about the new file transfer section on the BBS. It has been brought to my notice by a few of the members that the file names that appear in the file transfer section are confusing and do not indicate what the actual files are. Unfortunately, there 15 no easy way around this problem, and members using the board will have to try and cope with this situation. By way of explanation, the original files come from the Apple-@ software bank, and as most of you are aware, the majority of the files contained within this are under DOS 3.3 as most of these disks are from an era previous to FroDOS. The BBS operates under ProDOS, and therefore a filename compatibility problem is created. Under FroDOS, the only legal characters allowed for file names are letters and dots. As most of you will be aware, DOS 3.3 is a bit more forgiving in it allowances for file naming. So, the catalogs under DOS 3.3 were passed through a renaming program which created a text file containing APPLE-BUG <S> October 1987 the original names of the files and renamed the files to conform with the ProDOS standards. This file contains all the relevant filenames for the files that are currently on the BBS, that is, if there are 4 sides of a Softdisk volume on-line, then the text file will contain the filenames of all 4 sides. The filename that appears on the BBS is in the form A4i.1 and this abbreviation stands for Side A, Softdisk Number 41, File Number 1. This seans that side B will appear as B4i.1, side C as C41.1 and so on. Now, the files from the Public Domain Volumes are contained in the first four file transfer areas and the catalog file and the renaming program are contained in area 5S. The file containing the catalog will be named in the form SOFTD41.CAT. The nage will vary for different volumes. The renaming program is EZYNAMER.V4.5 or another version number. Members wishing to take files from these areas should firstly either download the catalog file, or use the ‘View a file’ option in the file transfer menu and read through the catalog file to discover which files they want. The position of the file name within the catalog file is also the files position in the file areas. However, remember that the catalog contains ALL the file names for all four areas. So you will have to make sure that you have not passed into another file area when you read the position of the file name. When you list the areas available, the BBS will inform you how many files are in each area. With this information, you should be able to discover which area contains the file you are interested in. For example, if the BBS informs you that area 1 contains 45 files, area 2 43 files, area 3 36 files and area 4 57 files, then names 1-45 in the catalog will be in area 1, names 46-88 in area 2, names 89-125 in area 3 and names 126-183 in area 4. Hope that this helps those of you who were having a bit of trouble deciphering the file names. C Treasurer’s Report J] by Eric Conolly APPLE-@ INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 1987 1986 1987 3734.82 Opening Balance 1566.53 Plus receipts 1656.00 Membership - full 2972.00 342.00 Membership - student 531.00 Joining Fees 370.00 3.00 Software sales 34.65 10.00 Newsletter Advertising 357.20 Donations 230.15 117.98 Interest 46.72 508.42 Trading Table Income 3169.30 Change for Trading Table 100.00 Raffles 155.40 Bulletin Board Income 110.00 2998.60 0 nnn 7719.22 6729.42 9285.75 Oetaber 197 Less Expenditure 120.00 Audit Fees Advertising 71.08 339.18 Annual General Meeting AS 187.57 Postage / Stationary 290 170.90 Library Expenses 06 25.00 Meeting Expenses 250 976.34 Newsletter 23 170.00 Repairs / Maintenance -50 2290.40 Equipment BBS 25 8.00 Federal Debit Tax 90 78.00 Membership Cards 00 27.50 Miscellaneous 41.00 747.00 Trading Table Purchases 2546.28 P.O. Box Charges 23.00 5162.89 BANK RECONCILIATION STATEMENT Balance as per Bank Statement $ 895.56 Less outstanding cheques 641 $197.06 643 $ 25.00 ETE $ 222.06 Balance as cash book $ 673.80 Apple //e 128k Computer Green Screen Monitor 5 Meg Profile and Controller 3.5" Disk Drive and Controller NetComm 1234A Smart Modem 1 Meg Ram Card 1 Meg Ram Chips No Slot Clock Epson LX-80 Printer Auto-Ice Parallel Card Line Suppressor Super Serial Card BBS Software 50 x 3.5" disks Public Domain Software Library Trading Table Stock $1253.95 APPLE-BUG <7> October 1987 € Software Library J] by Bob Godbehere By resolution of the Executive Committee, there is now a copying fee for the Public Domain Software. The fees are being used to raise funds to purchase more software for the Library, and some disk drives for the copying of these disks. At the moment, the Software Librarian’s drives are being used, and worn-out. The fees are as follows: 50 cents per side, with a minimum charge of $2.00 (4 sides) Meabers took advantage of the Apple-@ Software Library Copying Service to the value of $7.50. I have now got a modem and communications program up and running. If you can't wait for an open day to get some software, you can download from my computer. I use Ascii Express, which has File Transfer (Upload, Download, Directory, Log Drive, View (files)) etc. You must be an Apple-@ member and have your Membership Number or you will be denied access to the files. Please ring me on 808-3892 for more information. Thanks to Delsound for the contribution of 6 x 3.5" disks of 6S programs and 3 x 5.25" disks of the Micro Educational Library. These will be available at the next meeting. STOP FID FRETTING For anyone with only one disk unit, the following briefest of patches to FID may prove useful to stop that program’s continual requests for a slot and disk information (particularly irritating when using the Copy option). The amended program will still stop, with appropriate messages, at disk swapping points. The menu will also still, apparently, offer the "Reset slot and disk” option; this will now be meaningless but no harm (or effect) will ensure if you are perverse enough to try it. Like FID, the amended version may be loaded into a language card for immediate recall, using Duncan Langford-Allen‘s routine. To apply the patch, run the Basic program, amending line 100 if you are not using the usual slot 6. Disk 1 is implicit in a single disk system (or you would not be able to boot!) and this is covered in the remaining POKEs. Subsequently. BLOAD FID EXEC FID-DLE BSAVE MYFID(or whatever) ,A2051,L4686 Note that FID loads to the same memory area as an Applesoft program - hence the indirect, EXECfile approach shown here. Alternatively the corresponding POKEs may be directly keyed in after a BLOAD of FID. 100 SLOT = 6 110 DS = CHR (4) 120 N$ = “FID-DLE" 130 PRINT DS"OPEN"NS 140 PRINT DS"WRITE"NS 150 PRINT "POKE 4895,"SLOT":POKE 4896,"SLOT":POKE 4893,1:POKE 4894,1 1POKE 2328,255:POKE 2363,96:POKE 2439,96:FOKE 4899,255" 160 PRINT D$"CLOSE" 170 PRINT D$"LOCK"NS 8 (C6806 1666) After numerous requests for some help with this column Brett Dutton came good with a program to read a clock card and neatly display the day and time however whilst it worked quite well with his equipment the program refused to read my card. This has been the catalyst for this months column. Instead of having slightly different programs to read the various types of clock cards it seems logical to have a program that is not dependant on the type of card but instead takes advantage of a facility which is part of the ProDOS program. This program is limited to information regarding the date and the time in hours and minutes only. It also assumes that you have a ProDOS compatable clock card installed. command is executed registers (49648 - Each time a disk ProDOS updates four 49843) with date and time data which it reads from the clock. ProDOS uses this information to add to the catalog file. By reading the data which ProDOS has stored in these registers we are overcoming the problem of the differences in the clock cards themselves. We no longer need to know how to read the time and date directly from the clock as we can now PEEK to the above registers and get the detail that is required. The following program does just that and then displays the date and time. Line 316 is used to maintain current time, without it the program would end and the time would not be updated. From line 138 on is up to you as to how you wish to display the detail. To update the registers to the current date and time we have toa issue a disk command and in our basic program we have used the CLOSE command, however, should you wish to use an alternative disk command the result will be the same. The time and date could also be displayed within a program with the time being updated during the period the computer is waiting for further input. This is the only way I can think of to display current time using a basic program. If there is any interest we may make it a subject for a later issue of Page 8. 18 TEXT : HOME 28 AS = ONIX = 8 28 MO$ = "222 JANFEBMARAPRMAY JUNJULAUG SEPOCTNOVDEC™ 48 PRINT CHRS <4) ;"CLOSE" 58 DA= PEEK £49848) - INT (¢ PEEK (49848) / 32) * 22 68 YE = INT ¢ PEEK 149841) / 2) 78 MN = ¢ PEEK (49041) - YE # 2) # & + INT ( PEEK (49848) “ 32) 88 MNS = MIDS (MOS,MN # 2 + 1,2) 98 MI = PEEK (49042) 168 HO = PEEK (49843) 118 IF HO) {1 THEN PM = 1 128 IF HO) 12 THEN HO = HO - 12 130 IF HO = 8 THEN HO = 12 148 PRINT : VTAB 1 158 PRINT : PRINT 168° PRINT * DATE 178 IF DA < 18 THEN PRINT * 188 PRINT DA;"-"; 198 PRINT MNE,"=";YE 288 PRINT 218 PRINT * TIME: 228 IF HO < 18 THEN PRINT * 238 PRINT HO;":"; 248 IF MI < 18 THEN PRINT "@*; 258 PRINT MI; 268 IF PM = 1 THEN PRINT * Ft 278 IF PM = 8 THEN PRINT * Aq" 288 X= X41: IF X= 5 THENX = 1 298 VTAB 5: HTAB 32 388 PRINT MID$ (A$,X,1) 318 GOTO 48 FroDOS manual bear a program If you have digested your some of the above code will striking resemtlance to the Time cn the Examples disk. STOP PRESS: For all you Appleworks users cut there next month we hope to have an AppleWorks Utility feature written ty Cecil Fretwell. Cecil if you don’t knew 1s a prominent author who has featured in most U.S, computer magazines specilising in Apple. Terc Basic Enhancements - the program featured in the September iscue if available from the Software Librarian at $5.88 collect cr $6.88 posted. This represents excellent value for a Basic Enhancements program. APPLE-BUG « C I-A~-C.~VoOluUmesse The Prefix before each file name represents TaText A=Applesoft October 1987 (21-26) a the file type. and each volume is seperated by a string of =‘s. Volume # 021 - Disk 1 : FREE SECTORS = 17 RUN THIS SECOND To SYSOP UPLOAD2 ABBS1 INSTRUCTIONS ABBS3 WAPABBS NOTES a4asasaap Volume # 022 - Disk 1: BASICALC BASICALC. COMPILED BOOLEAN LOGIC EXAMPLE COMMISSION SALES EXAMPLE IF MODEL EXAMPLE INDIVIDUALS EXPENSE SUMMARY VISICALC D FILE PRINTER VISICALC FORMULAS VISILIST saeesesssseessssssssss2=5225 io>Pepaataawnd Volume # 023 - Disk 1 : FREE SECTORS = T T T T A T A FREE SECTORS = (4.25K) UPLOAD! REM II INSTRUCTIONS OPINION REMEMBER II BUILD USERS. OBJ SYSOP INSTRUCTIONS RUN THIS FIRST seeess 103 (25. 75K) BASICALC SAMPLE DATA BASICALC. DOC CHEQUE BOOK HELLO INDIVIDUAL EXPNS REPORT FORMA VISICALC COORD FORMULAS VISICALC FILE CHECKER VISICALC FORMULAS INSTR ALPHACAT ssecs 20 (SK) A APPLESOFT AUTO-NUMBER A AUTO PROGRAM A AUTO-REDIAL A BIOGRHYTHM PRINTER A BRAKING DISTANCE T CAPTURE A CATALOG MANAGEMENT A CHECKBOOK BALANCER T CLUB OFFICERS MAIL LIST A COLOR BARS A COMPARE MODIFIED A DUMP INSTRUCTIONS.A B FLIPPER A GERMAN B HI-RES DUMP.EPSON MX-80 B HIRES DUMP B INVERT HI-RES PAGE 1 B LOGO 15 (PACKED) A MAIL LABELS A MAKE LINE CAPTURE A MINI’APP’LES B MOVE SCREEN BINARY A$8C00 A MOVE SCREEN UTILITY A PARABOLIC CALCULATIONS A PARABOLIC ERROR A PAYMENT CALCULATOR B PIX UNPACKER A POKER DICE MK V T PROG.LIST T SLOT MACHINE A TEXT WRITER BL A TRICOLOR GRAPHICS Sesesseeessessssessssssssessssessssesessassssesssssse Volume # 023 - Disk 2: A TAC COMPILER HELLO.1 T FORGOT TO BOOT DOS? T RS-232 IS STANDARD? T A COMMENT ON ERROR TRAPS wessssscsseseresssstessssssss FREE SECTORS = B T T T sunegsseeesss2ssess 359 (89.75K) TAC COMPILER.PIC WHY POKE ME? WHERE DID MY BASIC GO APPLE SOFT KEYS ive. I=Integer. Each section is seperated by a string of -'s Volume # 024 - Disk 1: AFFLE-BUG 1 B APPLE ARRAY B APPLE BARREL B DRILL B A Volume # 025 - Disk 1: Lane prwneTiww>nd Volume # 025 - Disk 2 tOAaaaaaaD Volume # 026 - Disk 1: Nl PDPPPEDPDPHHwHOSDDP BOXES VOICEPRINT HELLO HELLO. BEU BEU. 48K INTBEU.1 MASH MASM DOC SWEETI6 ALL PURPOSE DISASMB. (800) BFILE LIST MEMORY INTERPRETER MINI-ASSEMBLER ($800) MINI-ASSEMBLER TUTORIAL M/L TUTORIAL. TEXT seeeeenceees HELLO DISK COMMANDS DOS SECTOR ORDER INTRO TO M/L ONERR GOTO SHORT NOTES VIDEO GLOSSARY C.PIC2 HELLO RUBIK-RANDOM RUBIK-ROTATE CHAIN INTEGER BASIC ADDRESS2 SPACE CALENDAR FINDER FINDER DOC (DO NOT RUN) HIRES SHAPE COMPILER LABEL PROGRAM SHAPE MOVER CATALOG HEADER FROG. CRYPTOLOGIC Jf MASTER CATALOG FRINTER.REV FREE SECTORS = seesere= FREE SECTORS = : FREE SECTORS = T T T T T T a FREE SECTORS = a a a A I I 1 A B A A A A A a OQetober 1907 163 (40,75K) B FRED FRACTION B XZONE B ADRILL B MAKING CHANGE B VPRINT OFCODES 5 (1.25K) B HELLO.PIC A REU. INSTRUCTIONS B BINLOAD A MASM INSTRUCTIONS B MASMA & INTEGER BASIC I MASM SAMPLE B ALL FURPOSE DISASMB. (8B00) A MEM/DUMP TO TEXT FILE A MINI-ASSEMBLER INSTRUCTIONS B MINI-ASSEMBLER (#5400) A M/L TUTORIAL 142 (35.5K) BLOWN PASCAL DISKS DISK PROTECTION INTERRUPTS NOLIST RAM CARD SOFTBUGS TEXT FILE READER/PRINTER 0 (0k) RUBIK RUBIK-PLOT RUBIK-END HELLO. BRASIL MENU BSTAT DISK PROGRAM ELIMINATOR CALENDAR REMINDER FINDER ASM HELLO. MARYLAND HIRES TABLE FORMER MEMORY DMF APPLOGIC JC CHECK II MASTER CATALOG APPLE-BUG <11> October 1987 THE HISTORY OF STORAGE DEVICES TAPE -- DISKS -- LASER by: Brett Dutton Almost a decade ago, the cost of Winchester Disk Drives reached a level where, although expensive, most business users could take advantage of this fast and mostly reliable form of storing data. Prior to this, half inch magnetic tape drives had been all the rage. 1/2" Tape Gives Way to Disk In those early days (it really doesn’t seem like eons ago) mainframes, such as IBM, Sperry Univac and Burroughs, ruled the roost with mini‘s just starting to make a strong showing, particually in technical and tertiary environments, where the need for large storsge of data was not so great. Personal computers were no more than a gleam in most people's eyes and it was quite improbable that they would ever use Winchester disks. Floppy was ore than adequate. Cost of Disk Production Starts to Fall By the late seventies, fixed disks had, through greater demand, better production techniques and newer chip technology, become less expensive to produce, by a substancial margin. However, retail prices had come down at a much slower rate. Computer companies were able to record 66% profit (that’s 200% markup) on the sale of a disk drive, and the buyer would willingly dip his hand in his pocket. The market theories of supply and demand played a big role, but more importantly, the factor of market control prevailed. Mini Computers Make a Move Only a few of the original computer manufacturers lasted the distance over the sixties and seventies. New ones emerged as the mini market developed, for example, Digital Equipment Corporation. It was at this time that a purchaser of a computer would buy most, if not all, of his immediate and subsequent Peripheral needs from the original supplier/manufacturer, due to hitherto sound reasoning, i.e., maintenance and that the manufacturer must know his Product best, etc. But, most importantly, there was a simple lack of alternatives. Third Party Suppliers The “third party" supplier was to provide such alternatives and the marketplace adjusted to accomodiate them, albeit with a little hesitation at first. The main marketing concept behind the selling of the computer was that most manufacturers considered that, by making their CPU configeration exclusive and secretive, they would be guaranteed repeat business for all that customer’s peripheral needs. But three irrevocable forces were at work that ultimately short-circuited these long term strategies. Firstly, it became logical and cost effective for CFU designers to use disk drives from a company that knew that business best, i.e., a disk drive manufacturer with current products and a track record in production (C.D.C. @ay be cited as a classic example). This had the effect of creating a virtual industry standard in disk drive technology. Secondly, as a large number of engineers flocked to join the booming computer industry organisations, not all their ideas could be accommodated. This lead to dissatisfaction and defection; or, the ultimate trip into the Qarage with slide rule in one hand and sweet revenge in the other. This had two effects, cross pollination of ideas and technology, company APPLE-BUG ©1282 October 1987 to company, and a multitude of interfaces, CPU's and software being designed and manufactured to be compatible with the computers of the organisation from which the engineer had recently departed in abject frustration. Hard Disk Market Expands Thirdly, new disk drive manufacturers appeared on the scene hungry for a slice of this big lucrative market, all providing the industry standard interfaces -- SA4000, ST506/412 and SMD. Just some of the disk drive manufacturers that easily come to mind include C.D.C., Ampex, Tandon, Shugart, Fujitsu, Hitachi, IMI and Maxtor. Now, with a smorgasbord of disk drives to choose from and compatible controller boards to plug into most minis, the third party suppliers kicked on and, overcoming the user’s fear of "the big adventure", offered peripherals at a lower price than previously experienced. This was partly due to third parties being represented by smaller organisations, typically with limited engineering and R&D facilities and, hence, less overheads. CPU manufacturers reacted in different ways. Mainframe companies, in the main, toughed the whole show out. Others sought to hold the tide through obscure or even snappy technology. The mini companies suffered the most, and ultimately seemed contented to fight low-key rearguard actions. By now it was ‘79-'80. Third party supply was growing at a phenomenal rate and was here to stay. At this time, the Japanese third party manufacturers appeared with a vengeance and prices were further reduced. The U.S., in ‘81-'82, proved to be a battlegroud for the manufacturers of larger disk drives (80-500 Mbytes). The consumer, not slow to spot an opportunity, saw to it that price became the dominant issue and the Japanese came out of it a bit cut up but in the main quite happy with their new substantial market share. In less than four years, ('79-'82), prices on most peripheral products had come down by more than 50%, making large storge within the reach of almost all computer users. 1/2" Tape Makes a Comeback With disk drives now up around 700 Mbytes, the problem of back-up raised its head. This had slipped quietly into the background for a number of years but now started to flex its half-inch nine-track muscles and burst out from the NRZ/PE (800 BPI/1600 BPI) shackles to show the world the GCR (6250 BPI) streamer, a virtual necessity for backing up large disks. However, another market explosion screaming for small disks (5-80 Mbytes) and tapes was brought on by the emergence of "big blue’s" heart stopping PC. The PC Fhenomenon -- Just the Start PC's were by no means a new event, (Apple for example had been doing quite nicely for some time), but their price, performance and expandibility were. Now small business houses and corporations and the man on the street could afford one or more. Some U.S. manufacturers recently recorded FC sales of almost 10,000 per month shortly after release. Initially, U.K. manufacturers competed for this booming 5.25" disk drive business with Japan lagging somewhat behind, although it would seem not for long. From here, the PC disk drive market development was swift and vicious. STS06/412-SEAGATE interface became the standard, stepper motor ‘slow access or seek time) made way for voice coil (fast seek time) and full height made way for half height. The 80 Mbytes in a 5.25" box was broken and SEAGATE interface is giving ground to new interfaces, such as SCSI and ESDI, and 3.5" disk drives are now on the market, with higher density than ever before imagined possible. 5.25" Disks -- It's All Happening The up-to-20 Mbytes 5.25" disk still dominates the PC market but the manufacturers have lost most of the rough edges, so the rush is on. Super high performance, super high density disk drives are being brought up to the starting blocks in manufacturing centers in the U.S. and Asia with capacities around 200 Mbytes being claimed as the new 5.25" standard by industry gurus’ observations appearing to be brought on by the events other than sunstroke. Late ‘83 saw a sharp nosedive in 5.25" disk prices as manufacturers sought to unload quantities of ageing technology (that can mean all of six months out of date). The price has currently stabalized, but with industry journals touting figures of US$1,000 for over 100 Mbyte 5.25" disk drives, it seems there will be yet another price reduction. As disk drives on PC's became larger, backing up on floppy was time consuming and cumbersome, especially in the new office or home environment where a DP department might not exist. Here the tape drive sphinxed itself from the ashes yet again, although as straight back-up of hard disks go, the 1/4" catridge streamers are just too cost effective for the tape drives to compete. However, as disk drives grow, users will require a fully interchangeable medium which leads them back to 1/2" mag tape drives, a product that must indeed be poised for an imminent resurgence to its old days of glory. Today's Micro a la Yesterday's Mini It seems that today’s micro is heading for the same mountain top as yesterday's mini, with requirements for ever larger storage capacities. Consumers are clearly showing, in this area, that manufacturers’ beliefs, that micro users would be satisfied with only 50 Mbytes of storage on a micro, to be totally unrealistic. Capacities of 250 Mbytes or more are being claimed by users as being only adequate, especially in the 22 bit and above super-micro systems. It is interesting to note that 8" Winchesters are still outselling 5.25" Winchesters. In this area, Hitachi are Fujitsu are performing exceptionally well. Laser Disks -- Replacement for the Tape Drive on the Winchester? The laser or optical disks currently available (in the U.S.) are for backing up the Winchester Disk. The laser effectively burns tracks onto the disk, thus allowing a write to, once only situation. The optical disk can be used an infinite number of times to read back but is limited by its inability to to record information no more than once. (More recently manufacturers have found a number of methods in laser disk technology that allows one to read and write a number of times. However this is not yet available). This limitation is offset by the multi-gigabyte storage capacity of the disk. Performance such as access time and data transfer rate are marginally superior to 6250 streaming tape and substantially behind hard disk. The winning feature is simply, that in something the size of an LP record, over two gigabytes can be stored. It's early days yet and laser disk has a long way to go, so learned claias of 70 gigabyte laser disks with Winchester Disk capabilities by 1988 could be realistic. Where will it all end? As we suemarise the marketplace, prices are on a downward trend. Computing power is on the increase per dollar spent. It is hard to predict more than a few years ahead as to what is going to happen, and even then it can be dangerous. Maybe our grandchildren really will pull PC's out from cereal packets. AFFLE-BUG =14 October L737 SELLING YOUR SOFTWARE. by Brett Dutton You've just fimished writing the greatest program in the world! You want to let thousands of other micro users in on the fun, but how? You can share the code with your favourite user group (Apple-@ Inc.) or, as many amateur programmers are doing, try to sell it commercially. The market for software is booming. As the personal computer permeates everyday life, the market is wide open for innovative and well written software. Your First Decision So you've decided to sell your software. Do you want to market your software directly or work with an established software company? If you decide to market your software directly, you will probably advertise in magazines and newsletters, purchase mailing lists from direct mail brokers, ail flyers, and even visit other user groups. Don't underestimate the time and the money you must spend - typical headaches include increasing postage costs, poorly targeted mailing lists, and documentation that is not quite complete. The advantage to handling all sales and marketing yourself is that you can keep every cent sales earn. There are also distinct advantages to working with a commercial publisher. First, they have established technical support and marketing systems. Next, they have the people and the skills to adapt your program to new systems (other than the one the software was developed on) so that the entire market can be tapped. Finally, they are virtually impossible to compete with financially. They have salespeople, lots of money for advertising, and a network of retailers already in place. Let's assume you decide to sell your work through a software house. How do you go about that? Choosing a Publisher Finish your program; be sure that it operates properly without problems, and fully document its operation. (If your program is accepted by a publisher, be prepared for some final editing. What you think is the best way of saying something might indeed be the best for you, but not for thousands of users.) What are publishers looking for? In general, the things you want from your own software. It should be user friendly, able to handle errors, show good Programming practice, and be unique. Few publishers are looking for a program that can balance your cheque book. Review the advertisement in popular magazines and see what kinds of software different companies publish, and which companies advertisements appeal too you. Some deal only with business software, while others may focus entirely on arcade games. You want to target your efforts where they will Prooduce the highest likelyhood of success. Remember also that not all software firms deal with outside authors. Many commercial publishers conduct all writing and documentation using their own staff and are not interested in purchasing out-of-house materials. After you have found a company that looks right, give them a call and ask too speak to someone in aquisitions, new submissions or marketing. Depending upon the company, different departments handle such calls, so be patient in your search to locate the right person. Tell what you have done, and see if they are interested in leaning more. Many firms use a submissions packet consisting of all the materials you need to submit your work for consideration, Others might simply want a listing of the program. Under no circumstancess should you ever send your materials, either in disk, cassette, APPLE-BUG <15> October 1907 or printed form to a publisher without first making an inquiry and then fully protecting yourself (which we'll get to in a moment) against misuse of your materials. If you are hesitant to call and want to write a letter instead, be sure to include as much as you can about the program's developement, any limitation there might be (for example, memory needed) the system it was developed on, as well as a full description of what it does. Do not be discouraged by disinterested companies. Try another firm until you've at least one invitation to submit your materials for consideration. If your work is good, someone will surely be interested. Finally, although it’s a good idea to send inquiries to more than one company at the same time, be careful not to send off the actual materials to too many publishers at once. Go first with the one you feel can best serve your needs, and then work your way down if your program is not accepted. Protecting Yourself Sometimes people do make the mistake of sending their programs toa company without first making inquiries. The next thing they know, their software is being passed around and they’ve lost their chance at the market. When you deal with any company, you must protect yourself by using a nondisclosure form and by copyrighting your materials. A nondisclosure statement simply says that the company will not disclose or reveal the contents of your work to anyone else while discussions with you are underway or thereafter if they don’t choose to publish. In other words, they cannot discuss your work outside of their own company. Any company that does not suggest you complete such a form should not be considered. The next step you should take is to copyright your work, a much easier and more inexpensive procedure than most people think (see “How to Copyright"). In 1978, with the increase in the number of programs being written, the Copyright law was amended to include computer programs. It is important to understand that the Copyright Office only acts as an office of record. They will not verify whether your program works. For them, a computer program is defined as "a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer to bring about a certain result." In other words, they assume what you send them is what you claim it to be. The copyrighting of material in no way validates that clain. When you are ready to copyright your work, you should enter as a comment in your printout the word "Copyright," your name and the year. You should also have it incorporated into your program itself if there is any kind of visual output. (Next time you play Pac-man, glance at the bottom of the screen.) When you send a listing of the program to the Copyright Office, be sure that it is in a high-level language rather than machine language since the examiners will want to read at least part of it. Since some programs are very long, send only the first and last 25 pages of the listing if it is more than 50 pages. What Should You Expect from a Publisher A publisher should provide a good design and coding assistance, documentation (if yours is not perfect, which it rarely is), telephone support for users (especially if the program is very complex), on-going maintenance (enhancement and revisions for different operating systems), sales and marketing systems already in force (not just advertising), and finally a royalty rate that you find acceptable. Royalties are always a sticky situation and vary widely from publisher to publisher. In general, publishers pay around 30 percent of their net sales. What this means is that they might subtract production costs (disk, printing and binding costs for documentation, and so on) from the sales cost. In APFLE-BUG 16% October 197 numbers the net cost is 80-85 percent of the retail costs, and this figure is what your royalty would be based on. For example if the retail price of the program is #20, the net (85 percent of #20) is #17, and your 39 percent royalty is $5.10. The dealer, of course, also gets a discount of around 40 percent. In the end, the publishing company itself has perhaps 20-25 percent as their profit. You can see they need to sell a good number of software packages to recoup design and production costs. The larger the predicted sales are, the more likely it is that your royalty will be higher. In the same sense, the more the publisher has to invest in bringing your software on line, the less your royalty will be. Finally, programmers who have an established reputation can demand a higher royalty. I have not heard of any software designer getting an advance for his or her work (much like the book publishing industry does on a regular basis), but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if this is common practice in the future. What the Publisher Does With Your Software When you send your materials to the publisher, and after the nondisclosure form is signed, the company will begin evaluation. This can be done in several ways. One way is to have their own staff do the evaluation. Some companies, however, send it to outside evaluators who test the program on their own machines and get a feel for the everyday value of your idea. This evaluation process can take up to three months in some cases and only a few weeks in others. It depends upon the backlog of programs to be reviewed and the publisher’s procedure for reviewing. Don’t call the publisher every few days asking if a decision is being made yet. They want the evaluations back as quickly as you do, so you wil] both have to wait. Virtually all software that comes to a commercial firm needs some additional work, and the amount of time that it will take to get the bugs out, rewrite the existing documentation, and produce the final version are all the factors that enter the publisher's final decision whether to offer you a contract. Although it might seem to you that the computer market is saturated (because most computer magazines are full of advertisements), this is simply not the case. The potential for sales of new programs with new users, or even new programs that do a better job than others, is expanding every day. Get to work writing and stick with it until you're successful! C Advertisements J] FOR SALE -> Contact Bernard Doherty on (07) 262-5195 business hours only. NNN Apple //c expanded to 525k, one disk drive and software. $1200.00 Above with 3.5" Unidrive #1700.00 Daisy Whell Junior Printer 7 $450.00 Auto-Ice Modem, suit //e or //GS ¥ Call C TRADING TABLE 1 For the Annual General Meeting, there will be no Trading Table operating. This Sunday is a day of relaxation for all members. STOP FPRESS BES News just to hand. Delsound Electronices of 1 Wickham Street, Erisbane will be bringing a large range of computers, peripherals and software to the November Open Day. Demonstrations wil] be run throughout the day. APPLE-BUG <17> October 1987 APPLE-@ The Brisbane Users Group NOMINATION FORM Any financial member may nominate any other financial member for a position on the Executive Committee. for a position on the Management Committee for 1987/88 I (Membership #) If more than one nomination is received for any position then a ballot shall be held. for the position of Signature of person nominating: a o = B 7 cy ca < 2 o 4 2 ou * cf Signature of Nominee: APPLE-@ The Brisbane Users Group NOMINATION FORM Any financial member may nominate any other financial meaber for a position on the Executive Committee. for a position on the Management Coasittee for 1987/88 (Membership #) do hereby nominate: If more than one nomination is received for any position then a ballot shall be held. for the position of __ Signature of person nominating: Signature of Nominee: (Additional Homination forms can be obtained at the Open Day) AFPPLE-BUG =18> October 1987 ROC Pavewses ove EXP fseaieeieys & wate Membershin Number .eseseeneee Apple-@: the Brisbane Users’ Group MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL Membership to Apple-@ is on an annual basis from the month that you join. All members on our books are required to note any changes to their personal details and forward to the Registrar upon renewal of their meabership. MEMBERSHIP FEES cj $20.00 Adult and Family memberships {1 $12.00 bona fide students under the age of 21 CJ] $12.00 pensioners upon production of pension card (at the discretion of the Executive Committee) JE H I HEHE Membership Renewal Form Surnamet...seeeeeeeeeeee Beene eee tener ene weet e eens see Other mamest..cscsesvecveceveeee Private Address:..... Pree eee ete e erence eee e ener enone eeene Private telephone: (...). ec cc cu cece e cece eres LERTURN TET Mew Postal Address:..... see ane . Business telephone: (...)..eeeeeeene eee eee eee enee pee eeseane I hereby declare that the above details are true and correct, and agree to abide by the Rules and Regulations of the group. Please complete these details to allow our records to be checked. DO NOT use this form for an initial membership application. Forms for that purpose may be obtained from the Registrar or the Secretary. THIS FORM SHOULD BE COMPLETED AND RETURNED - WITH FEE - EITHER: - at the next Open Day -or- post to: The Registrar Apple-@ ( PLEASE DO NOT ) F.0.Box 698 { MUTITATE THIS ) Redcliffe. QLD 4070 ¢ FORM