Apple 2000 Vol 1 No. 3 1986 12 BASUG GB

gi My a Ed nel, Te aha es as Rai yen Rise i RTE RRR? ope wor ee: ) NATIONAL APPLE USERS GROUP You always come first with our Winning Macintosh Team here’s something very special about the Computer City Win- ning Team. Their collective talents and experience of more than 200 man (and woman!) years in busi- Ness, accounting, engineering (civil and mechanical), programming, systems analysis, printing, teaching, quantity surveying, drafting and graphic design (to name but a few!), have been brought together for one reason only - to give you our cus- tomer access to a vast pool of know- ledge and expertise to help you get the most cost effective and produc- tive system to fulfill your needs at the very best price. For example, we have supplied many Desktop Publishing Systems, but none have been identical. The combination of hardware and software has been selected to meet each customer’s true requirements. This part of our business is the key to our success, as satisfied custom- ers feel confident enough to recom- mend Computer City. The best way to take advantage of our service is to speak to one of our team. Call into one of our centres, fill in the coupon, or just ‘phone. Our team spirit is quite contageous! Computer City Owen MacHargreaves, Doris MacHargreaves, Irene MacFlaxman, Colin MacFairclough Danny MacFyne, Gill MacBirch, Bill MacPearce, Neil MacRichardson, Wendy MacStanton Laurence MacWyche, Brenda MacBrown, Jack MacHargreaves The Winning Macintosh Team There’s something very special about them all! Business Centre 78 Victoria Road Widnes Cheshire Tel: 051-420 3333 University Centre 5 Allsop Arcade Brownlow Hill Liverpool Tel: 051-709 5959 ( CONTENTS Editorial 2 Special Xmas Offers 3 Club News 4 ‘Tom wright Inside the IIGS 6 Ewen Wannop Product News 9 Jim Panks ‘What Magazine? B ‘Adam Gilinsky Local Group Contacts 16 Tom Wright Local Group News "7 Tom Wright ‘The Force 20 Ewen Wannop Two Cards for the I 2 ‘Tony Game Getting into Shape Py] A. Boardman/G. Keeler Apple IIGS Reviewed 28 Graham Attwood Ramfactor 3 Ewen Wannop Apple Pages M Show 87 35 Format 80 Scientific 38 Harry Gardiner Leuers 42 Appleworld 86 44 Cirtech Cachebox 46 ‘Tracy Rose MacCHAT 48 Norah Amold Apple Accounting 52 Irene Flaxman Comicworks 33 Norah Amold Laserpool 56 Irene Flaxman Kidstime 7 Norah Amold Network News: 58 Fullpaint 6 Ultraplan 6 Nick Hunter Bookshelf oO Open Learning Project 6 David Wardell Mac Library Disks 68 Dealer Profiles av UGS Stop Press 1 MacTel 4 David Nicholson-Cole MacChemistry 74 PJ. Wellspring Orbiter 15 M. Oshaughnessy M.LCE’87 1s Le Rear 76 Techno Man Ike 16 Ivan Knezovich Advertisers Please support our advertisers and mention App!le2000 Computer City Front Inside Apple UK Lid 5 Micro Computer Consultants 1 ‘The Wordsmith 8 Comtec 1s C.LCayman 15 Advanced Micro Products 19 DarkStar Systems 21 Celtip 2B Blyth Software 2 KeyZone 31/70 Holdens Computer Services 32 Bidmuthin Technologies 3637 The Computer Factory 4B MacSerious Software 50/51 MacTel 61 Bit 32 62/63 Elite Software 1 Glanmire Electronics B RCS Back Inside McQueens Back Cover Insert Ee \ “oso ) ecember 1986 »)\ _ spple2000 - q P.O.Box 177, St Albans, Herts AL2 2EG wre Tenn Apple2000™ is a trading name of BASUG Lid, a non- } profit making independent company limited by Bynes: The frame cae ‘artwink design are by Stefan Mucha. The contents of this journal are copyright of BASUG Lid and/or the respective authors. Permission is granted for non-commercial reproduction providing the author and source are properly credited and a copy of the relevant journal is sent. The opinions and views expressed are those of the various contributors, and are not necessarily supported by BASUG. ‘This journal is published bi-monthly by BASUG Lid as a benefit of membership in February, April, June, August, October and December. The copy date is the Sth day of the month preceding publication. Advertising rates are available on request, Apple™ and the Apple logo are wademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Macintosh™ is a trademark of McIntosh Laboratory Inc and used with the express permission of the owner. Telecome Gold™ is a tademark of British Telecom PLC. The FORCE™ and Apple2000™ are trademarks of BASUG Ltd. Printed by Target Litho, Cottenham, and ‘Apple2000 logo Cambridge. (0954) 51189 : — Administration Sheila Hirst - #27 79096 HotLine Dave Ward - Weed 2182 Monday - Friday 1900-2100 hours __. BABBS a Tony Game - (8 208 ; > , Coming in the February Issue Computing on Apples for the disabled - we hope to bring several articles on this important subject. Locksmith - Why - What - How. Review of Multi-Scribe Latest News on the GS. News, Views and Tips from the world of Apple | The latest Software for Mac and GS reviewed or previewed. A Apple2000 - December 1986 1 - ( EDITORIAL > Wi an October we have had - the AppleWorld Show went well and our stand was overwhelmed with both new and old members all wanting to get infomation on the new GS. The new GS SIG is now beyond planning and we have started to get information together which will help you all when it is released this month, The Macintosh members have been catered for in our new link-up with MacTel, this now means that we are not only the largest Mac group in the U.K., we now offer more than many large groups in the USA. This affiliation will increase the amount of information that we can get out and will stop duplication of resources and therefore allow us all to do more with the available time. WOZ WAS HERE and what a man - he kept everyone spell bound during his extended talk at AppleWorld. The journal took another leap forward in the last issue with a change of paper and a bumper 72 pages, this issue has | 80 pages and is OUR LARGEST ISSUE EVER. Remember to keep sending in your contributions! In the next few months Apple2000 will be working closely with Apple UK to produce a compatability/product selector chart for the GS - this will involve lots of hard work but we are sure it will help members in selecting the right kit for the new machine. Many members will see that subscriptions are now due for the next year, hopefully you will see that Apple2000 is more than just a magazine and will wish to stay with us over the next year when we have many exciting things to offer our members. This will start with a spectacular USER SHOW in March - we are also being involved at an early stage in the Mac User Show in May - this will be a major event with some special deals for our members. Thanks to all those that have contributed and to the many dealers and members of the Trade - without your support Apple2000 would not be where it is today. | See you in 1987 - the year of the Apple ! 3 ; - ) h 2 4 | 4 ure be Jim Panks ri} ~S — Next Issue....... | if, Please send any Apple related articles, tips etc to The Editor at the P.O.Box. or on BT GOLD 84:BSG041 — Articles prefered on (any Apple format) disk. Copy Date Sth January 1987 Contributions A pple have now revitalised the // range and from the rumours coming across the ‘pond’, looks like the Macintosh is next in line for a new up-market face lift. If we are to believe some of the rumours or even water them down slightly, it would appear that a new Super- Mac will be born during the first few months of 1987. With such a range of machines, Apple will be in a much better situation than IBM or any other Micro Company, with a whole range of machines suited for different tasks and in different price brackets. Apple have changed into a much more efficient company | and now find the time to listen to the customer, who after all is their ‘bread and butter’. One hic-cup was felt by many members over ‘Woz' and his attendence at AppleWorld. Unlike normal marketing practices where a 5% hit is a good average Apple found that they had over 70% of invitations for the conference returned and utter confusion reigned. The good thing to come out of this little hic-cup is that next time Apple will cater for the right numbers. I have been working hard on many fronts this last two months and the end results should be plain enough inside the mag, | have managed to obtain some really good prices on many products from a wide range of suppliers. The best news for the membership is that we will only obtain reliable, well made and reasonable priced items. All we ask is that you help us help you by buying the stuff ! We need help in doing some of the nitty gritty tasks of running the club and putting the magazine together and therefore would ask for the memberships help - if you have any particular skills that you think would be of assistance to the running of the group or the magazine drop me a line or ting the office. Right thats another years work finished - I'm now in training for the festive season. « Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our members and friends in the = e The Editorial Team Editor Jim Panks Assistant Editors Graham Attwood | Keith Chamberlain Ivan Knezovich | | Macintosh Editor Norah Amold Photography David Davies Advertising Julie Panks ee. 2 ; _ Apple2000 - December 1986 Micol Basic Software at below i US Prices! Micol Basic is THE structured, compiled BASIC for the Apple II range - it also “jruns on the GS, if you use BASIC and “are thinking of a GS you can be assured :|that this is the one for you. ‘| We will be offering an UPGRADE to a new version especially for the GS native mode in the early part of next year. Macintosh Programmers 'Get the POWER without the PRICE ' Special Offers on the following software packages which are the latest release versions and include the usual back-up |: ete. Lightspeed Pascal (normally £115) £95 Lightspeed C (normally £165) £140 Mac Nosey V.2 (normally £80) £65 This is a fantastic offer which could save you your membership fee - remember to add VAT and we will pay the Postage and |: 14 days for Packing. Please allow "Hardware at a SOFT PRICE...' : Clock Card for II+ & //e. The GE Clock Card comes complete with Utilities to allow use under Pro- DOS, DOS 3.3 and Pascal. Normally retailing at £95 we can offer this to members at £29.00 + £2 Postage and VAT. @ q Order your Micol now at special prices delivery. © a 64k/80 Column Card for and find out just how good it is and if you decide to upgrade to a GS we will ensure that you get the new version at a ‘very reasonable cost. Micol Basic ($89.95) £64.25 SPECIAL OFFER TO MEMBERS £50.00 (plus £2.00 packing and VAT) OFFER CLOSES 5/1/87 2S Ee _ Micol Assembler | We have a really superb Assembler editor (for the // series) that will not cost you an arm and a leg - you can get it for the same price as the States if you order it Move on up to an "Apple2000 Hard Drive' and really start using your MacPlus. A SCSI 20 Meg Hard Drive for your Macintosh Plus, as used by Apple2000 for the publication of the journal. Your's for an amazing price of £699 + VAT. The latest version of this British made Drive is now available and will make your MacPlus ‘Come Alive’. For the price of two 800k external drives you can have 20 Megabytes of fast disk storage. Send your order NOW. for delivery before Christmas. | Ile This card emulates the Apple Card and is useful when using AppleWorks ..... 7 Usually priced at £69 we offer it at £29.00 + £2 Postage and VAT. @ 640k High Density Disk Drive. Uses the normal disk controller card and gives 4.5 times the storage of a normal drive. It will also read low density disks, Usuall priced at £290 we offer it for a mere £199.00 + £5.00 Postage and VAT. @ 512k Card for the //e SouE EEE Massive memory available at a stupid quickly. Yes this full feature editor/assembler will cost you exactly £36.00 plus £2.00 postage and the usual VAT. MacPlus Port Conversion with our new Hardware add-on. Convert both Printer and Comms ports = from the new plugs to the old and add a neat Thunderscan power supply with our special piece of hardware. Members can save pounds so why not order now. Price £25.00 inc VAT Power Supply £7.00 extra inc VAT © price. Yes you can now increase your memory from 64k to 576k and also get an 80 column display. 4; With utilities to allow use under DOS 3.3, ProDOS, Pascal and CP/M. Why pay the normal price of £249 when we can offer it at £199.00 + £2.00 Postage and VAT. @ ORDER TODAY FOR XMAS Apple2000 - December 1986 Club News ». Adda "Megabyte' to your MacPlus Appleworld has been and gone, Woz came and went, the with the 'MacSnap' Upgrade. IGS made its first public appearance, more local groups have been discovered, Apple2000 obtained dealership rights for Micol Basic and Micol Assembler, MacTel are affiliated to Apple2000, about 200 new members have joined the Apple2000 family. ...... what an eventful time it's been since this column last appeared. We all owe a vote of thanks to those local group Easy to install (see article) IMB cards give you a useful 2MB of RAM and it gives you more ‘Switching’ room. Complete with software to load your system etc into a RAMDISK and then eject the 7 fae Woe this excellent POWER USERS members who volunteered to help on the Apple2000 stand upgrade for only £299.00 + £5.00 Postage + VAT. |) | 31 Appleworld they did a terific job in helping to eset i sain : enquiries and recruit members from the huge numbers ot sho ‘ayallah IMB ve ie £329.00: VAT people who visited the stand during the show. For the record the volunteers included - Joe Cade, Mike Davies, Dave Flaxman, Mel Golder, Bob Hall, Julie Panks, Colin Shirras, Noel Smith and William Watson. Apple //e plusRAM - 256k card Everybody who met the Wizard of Woz. was delighted to with onboard expansion to IMB find that they were talking to a fellow enthusiast and at least one member came away with Woz's pen as well as his PlusRAM is made in the U.K. and comes with 256k autograph (No ! I'm not selling it at any price ). RAM fitted and sockets to bring it upto a full Apple2000 gave thanks to Woz on behalf of the user Megabyte. groups and one of THOSE ties was included among the Extend your Appleworks desktop upto 1012k, have gifts to him (amazing how quickly the ties sold in view of over 5000 records or very large word processor files. the number of comments about their "refined styling” if you Fully compatible with all standard Apple II haven't seen them yet, buy one, they certainly ensure that programs. you are recognised as an Apple2000 member ! ). Automatically recognised by ProDOS, CP/M Plus, We are grateful to Apple U.K for provision of the user Pascal - use directly with Pinpoint, Mouse and PFS | groups stand and for organising the show so well, We all series. E look forward to the next one. Normal Price £99,00 but Apple2000 members can Jim Panks successfully negotiated the Micol distribution save by sending only £80.00 + £2.00 Postage + rights with Stephen Brunier who had been delighted with VAT Dave Ward's review of Micol Basic and has since used it in é his promotions. The dealership covers Eire as well as the E U.K and I understand that we just managed to beat other A 1 87 interested parties to the dealership (Micol Basic works on Pp € the IIGS as well as the rest of the Apple II range). . Negotiations which culminated in our Apple2000- THE APPLE USER's SHOW MacTel agreement were concluded during a committee Set in the splendid surroundings of the West Midland meeting on 19-10-86. David Nicholson-Cole representing Safari Park, we again offer both the Apple User and MacTel was present at the meeting and Ike led the family a superb day out. Apple2000 side of the negotiations. The agreement is Support is being even by Apple UK, Blyth designed to : (a) improve the range of services to members Software, MacSerious, Celtip Computers and many of both groups. (b) strengthen both groups. (c) avoid other experts. Come Along at a SPECIAL PRICE - duplication of effort and resource expenditure. (d) extend BUT REMEMBER SPACE IS LIMITED BOOK ceeiiccnorbothicmanenesicine: NOW at £3.00(individual) or £6.00(family) # We hope that all members will be pleased by both of the above initiatives and if you are a Macintosh user renewing in January, look for the special offer - it is unbeatable. T'm sure that we're all looking forward to the User TWO BOOKS FOR XMAS Show, and to Woz's next visit, do I hear sounds of building from the West coast of Worcestershire ? Getting the Most from your Apple II Ie IIc Right have a nice Christmas and I hope you will join by Graham Keeler (excerpt in this issue) me in a bright New Year with Apple2000. & Macintosh User's Handbook by Weber Both of these popular books now available to Apple2000 | members at £6.75 including P&P Tom Wright Z 4 Apple2000 - December 1986 Merry Christmas anda Happy New Year from all at ° * Apple Apple U.K. International Country of the Year, The power to succeed. INSIDE THE IGS A technical Overview 'The GS Machine' Introduction By now the GS has been known and talked about for some two or three months and we are beginning to get an idea of what it does, what it is capable of and what we might expect in the way of programming. At the time of writing I have not been able to work with a machine directly, however I have seen the machine in action, talked to various experts, and have read from cover to cover the Technical Introduction as released by Apple. From this back- ground I will outline some of my findings and thoughts on this new machine. In future issues of Apple2000 I shall deal with more detailed aspects of the machine. At least at the moment that is what I intend to do. However I have a sneaky feeling that many of the programmers who have been working with the Macin- tosh, will desert that seemingly now rather limited machine, and join me in writing about, talking about and passionately programming the superb GS. I rather like the description of the GS as the Granny Smith of the Apple range, a description that is supposed to have been in use at Cupertino. For the GS is indeed a thoroughbred Apple through and through, and with only a few exceptions will run Apple II software and Apple II expansion cards. Yet make no mistake, this compatablity with II software hides a powerful beast. The GS run in full 16 bit mode and with all its bells and whistles working, outperforms many a micro and in some ways its worthy stable mate the Macintosh. It is not however a rival to the Macintosh. It does not have some of the speed that machine can exercise or the very crisp display, but with its very ‘sexy’ colour and its sound facilities, will enliven many a program with the visual excitement we have come to expect from the Macintosh. I fully expect that programs and programming will become even more exciting now we have the GS to work with. This will carry on the long tradition of the Apple computer started by its creator Steve Wozniak, that it should be a ‘fun machine’ for all. How it is all achieved The target set by the creators of the GS was to make a machine that could run the existing database of II programs and was also capable of working to present day standards of display and memory management. The choice of processor chip in the 65C816 allows all of this to take place. It is a CMOS proc essor chip capable of running at speeds up to the 2.8 Mhz maximum of the GS. By simply changing one of its registers, 6 Apple2000 - December 1986 == By Ewen Wannop == it thinks of itself as a 6502 8 bit processor addressing a 64K memory or a 65816 16 bit processor addressing 8 Mbytes. This is the key to its compatability. When you switch on the GS, it thinks it is a //e, albeit working at about 2.5 Mhz. It is only when the software tells it to, that it will change to 16 bit mode and really start to show itself off properly. Although the chip has a 24 bit address bus, memory is addressed as a number of 64K banks rather than a contiguous array. In this way it is easy to emulate the 128K of a //e or //c, and allow for the expansion of memory in stages. The memory can be expanded in this way up to a maximum of 8 Mbyte of addressable RAM. By means of clever shadowing of certain banks of memory, the existing I/O, Text, Lo-Res and Hi-Res pages of display memory, can be handled easily within the limited memory map of the 6502 Apple II mode. First let me explain how the memory is actually laid out in the GS. There are up to 128 banks of 64K memory available for existing and expansion RAM. This fits within the 24 bit address bus. On a standard GS there is 256K of native RAM in four banks, Two banks of this RAM are allocated as banks $00 and $01 and emulate the 128K of a //e or //c. The remainder of the 256K of native RAM is placed as banks $EO and $E1, and is the actual RAM used for screen display. In 6502 mode, this is shadowed with the first wwo banks. When the program thinks it is writing to the text or graphic pages, it is in fact writing to these higher two banks of memory. In this way the display banks are kept clear of main RAM, In its native 16 bit mode, these display banks are written to directly. The I/O memory is shadowed in a similiar way to the display memory. There is also 128K of built in ROM, placed in banks $FE. and $FF. In 6502 mode the monitor routines that should be seen in bank $00 are read from bank $FF, A further twelve banks are available from $FO to $SFD for future expansion ROM. This is the layout of memory within the GS as seen by programs, most of this switching is achieved by various VLSI custom chips, and is quite transparent to the programmer or user. The Hardware Of course all this cannot be achieved simply, The technology behind the original Apple II could not cope with all of this without a motherboard the size of a cricket pitch, If we look inside the GS we see very few chips indeed and about the same in number as the //e. There are also the same number of RAM chips, only this time they are 256K in size not 64K. Most impressively, the whole of the //e has been reduced to one chip, and is like many of the other chips in a square package. Almost the only normal looking chip is the 65816 40 pin Do you want to trade in your old Apple II ? id For a Macintosh or Apple IIGS? Yes Phone 0942-892818 Micro Computer Consultants Ltd Barclay House, 151 Elliott Street Tyldesley, Manchester M29 8EL SS Ud For full details of our special offers Wiig eal & please phone or complete the form below ™ Authorised Dealer Micro Computer Consultants Ltd Name a Please send details on: please tick Address Trade-in Offers DeskTop Publishing PCB Design on Macintosh Macintosh Tel: A2/0187 | Apple IGS om package in the middle of the board. I think it will be impossible for the Taiwanese or even Alan Sugar to ever copy this machine! There are seven normal Apple slots at the back of the board, a special memory expansion slot towards the front, an array of built in connectors at the rear and to retain full Apple IT compat- iblity a 16 pin games socket and a //e keyboard connector. The motherboard can in fact be put into a //e, and this is a path that is available in the States, but in the UK it has been decided not to offer this option and to reduce the cost of the machine instead to a price that is said to be lower than the States. We can see in the GS a divergence from the programming standard laid down by the Apple II. Programmers will have to learn to use the software Toolboxes provided rather than try to address the devices directly, though the GS is a wuly open machine and this can be done, though rather cumbersome, if desired. The machine is naturally more complex than the II series in its full 16 bit native mode and the various event managers and toolbox facilities, operating as they do in a similiar fashion to the Macintosh will allow an ease of control from application software. The GS has several differences to the II series. Color displays are quite magnificent when in full flight and allow fast animation by means of fast block moves from extended memory. Gone are the obscure addressing modes of the old Hi- Res pages, we now have Super Hi-Res lines that lie in a linear fashion in memory. 32K of memory is used for a full screen of 640 * 200 dots and any of 16 colours may be present on any line. This may seem a limitation of colour display, but the next line may have another 16 colours and so on, The maxi- mum per screen is 256 and the 16 colours of each line are selected from one of 16 palettes. The individual colours of any palette can be selected from one of 4096 shades. The effect is to produce a picture which is quite stunning and has an almost TV like quality. Probably the most imprssive thing about the GS, aside from the colour display are the sounds that can be produced. The normal sound of the II is reproduced in the 6502 mode, though you can now change its volume if you wish. For the full works however, an Ensoniq digital oscillator chip has been fitted. This chip, originally from a music synthesizer, has 32 oscillators and 64K of its own dedicated RAM. Two of the oscillators are reserved and with a pair making a single voice, we have 15 voices available for our use. The actual sound is quite impressive and played trough a proper Hi-Fi system, digitised sound is almost as good as the original recording. Full Toolbox support is given to this chip and as it uses its own RAM and also because it generates its own notes, real time sound can be created with litte program overhead. There is a built in battery back up clock in the GS, However this is not implemented in quite the same way as clocks on the /ie and so must be read using the Prodos8 or Prodos16 clock commands rather than the old Prodos itself. Normally you would set and control this clock with the control panel and only have it read from a program. Two built in Serial Ports emulate the Super Serial Card from firmware and are similiar when used in this way to those on the //c. However the chip used is the Zilog 8530 and programs using the serial ports directly, which includes most existing communications programs, will not operate without patches to the coding. Serial cards plugged into one of the seven slots will work normally with existing programs and so should cause no problems. The keyboard and the mouse are interfaced with a single serial connector. They daisy chain from each other in a similiar way to the Appletalk network and in fact form part of a new Apple Desktop Bus. It is expected that other devices will be available to this standard in future. The GS is a fully interrupt driven machine, as is the //c. Most events are polled regularly through the interrupt seq- uences, and so it is possible to have type ahead keyboard, and input/output buffers for the serial ports. To sum up The hardware as you have seen is quite different from its Apple II predecessor. It will mean that programmers will need to work in a different way than they may have been used to. It will be safer for the programmer to use the Toolbox and its memory management, rather than address the memory map directly as was often the case on the II series. Macintosh programmers will be used to this approach and will find many similiarities in the GS. Existing programs should all run quite happily in the fast 2.5 Mhz environment. This can be slowed down if necessary from the contro! panel to the old speed of 1 Mhz. However there will be the odd program that does not work. Mainly this will occur with protected disc based software that relies on very careful timing for the protection routine to operate. There may also be a problem with software that uses non-standard entry points to the Monitor routines. The screen is seen as though it was an enhanced //e and so mousetext may appear instead of inverse characters in some programs. ‘The slots are quite standard and peripheral cards should work quite normally. However, with the memory being paged in banks, any address decoding on the cards must use the normal device select and I/O select signals to operate smoothly. Cards using the system clock signals and this includes most Z80 cards, may have trouble as the clock is no longer standard. There is no extra slot in front of slot 3, any cards designed for the //e expansion slot cannot therefore be used. All in all, it is quite an impressive machine. It is challenging for both traditional programmers and those now used to machines such as the Macintosh. It is also in the long tradition of Apple computers, a ‘hackers’ machine and also in that tradition, a ‘fun’ machine. « This is the first of a series on the technical side of the GS. THE _ _ WORDSMITH The creative writer's magazine. Published bi-monthly and costing only £6.75 per annum, The Wordsmith allows writer's to keep up with the ‘electronic age’. Send your cheque for £6.75 to: The Wordsmith, The Old House, Church Road, Kennington, Ashford, Kent TN24 9DQ ____ Apple2000 - December 1986 Mi Product News ai Compiled by Jim Panks from Press Releases at AppleWorld All items on the Product News page are from notifications by the respective vendors. MICROSOFT Word 3.0 [ Sab MICROSOFT Works =] gf) WN ASHTON - TATE dBASE MAC [2 tab Human Computer Interface MacBCPL | © i. Microsoft Word has been upgraded to version 3.0. and will be available in January 87 with an upgrade for existing users. The major new features of WORD are style sheets, spell checker, outlining, page preview and a revolutionary three level menu system. Style sheets, spell checker and outlining are features brought across from the IBM version and the page preview and three level menu system are designed to take advantage of the Macintosh user interface. The three level menu system offers Short menus, Full menus and Custom Menus. Short menus are designed for the first time user and allow access to the most common features. Once the user feels comfortable with these commands upgrading to the Full menus will allow use of the more powerful features. Experienced users can customise menus to develop their own menu system and to provide short cuts for often accessed commands. Other features include Data exchange - you may swap data between WORD and IBM's DCA and Windows environment. Context Switching allow's the user to switch between MacDraw, Paint and Excel. You can take drawings, diagrams and graphs and paste them directly intlo WORD. R.R.P. To be announced. (We hope to review this package in the near future.) @ Microsoft Works is a new integrated package with a full function word processor, database, spreadsheet with graphics and communications module. WORKS like the highly successful Apple Works for the Apple II, provides broad functionality in a single, inexpensive package. It expands on Apple Works features and is easy to use. Data from applications can be easily combined and switching between them is an easy click of the mouse. Some of the features are: Word Processor - Form Letter capability, automatic pagination, custom size option for printing labels and a new draw mode for drawing directly on the page. Database - 60 fields per form, add, delete or rename ficlds at any time, four windows on a file at any one time, and a merge facility with the word processor. Spreadsheet - 256 columns and 9999 rows, 54 built in functions, sort on three columns at once, four windows at any one time, integrated charting facility, up to eight charts can be stored with each spreadsheet file and you can merge spreadsheet or charts into the word processor. Communications - Store up to eight telephone numbers, supports XMODEM and MacBinary protocols, runs in the background whilst other WORKS tasks are performed, and all spreadsheet, database and word processing documents can be sent without conversion. WORKS is compatible with Excel and Word and requires a 512k Mac or Mac +. R.R.P. £250 (We hope to review this product in the near future) @ Ashton-Tate have launched dBASE MAC and expect it to be available early in the New Year. This ‘second-generation’ DBMS (Data Base Management System) offers power without programming through the Mac interface, it also allows full feature procedural language and direct access of .DBF files from IBM compatible bBASE. No details of price are available yet. ( We hope to review this product in the near future) @ MacBCPL is a complete program development system which allows the implementation of stand-alone applications on the Macintosh. It has a a powerful compiler, a linker, a set of library routines which allow easy access to the I/O facilities. The editor has been designed for use with source programs. To help users, a comprehensive manual describing all the special features of MacBCPL and the Mac ROM interfaces is included, together with an example program called ‘windows’ which demonstrates how to use all the standard Mac features. R.R.P. £149, More information can be obtained from Human-Computer Interface Ltd, 11 Brunswick Walk, Cambridge, CBS 8DH. Telephone 0223 314934 « Apple2000 - December 1986 9 Broderbund Animate Apple 128k //e or e Cricket Draw Heyden & Son Osborne McGraw-Hill Apple IIGS™ ‘Technical Reference. Osborne McGraw-Hill The Advanced Guide to Microsoft Works Octopus Software MouseStuff Apple //e or Enhanced //e Animate, the same sophisticated tool used by Broderbund's designers to create state-of-the art graphics, is the first double hi-res software program for creating cell-style animation. Professional programmers will want to use Animate to accent their own programs. Animate includes pre-designed backgrounds - or it lets you design new ones from scratch. It's also packed with predrawn, pre-animated objects to get you started. If desired, any drawings from Broderbund's Dazzle Draw can be put to use in Animate. As many as 16 different characters can be incorporated into a single scene. As an added feature, the characters, frames and scenes you've designed can be printed in either colour or black and white. And if that isn't enough, text and a soundtrack can be added to enhance the animation, ANIMATE (128k Ile or IIc) £59.99 plus VAT. Available from: MGA Microsystems, 140 | High Street, Tenterden, Kent TN30 6HT « Cricket Draw is the latest in drawing programs for the Macintosh. Cricket Draw is not just another drawing program it is a revolutionary object-oriented drawing package, which allows you to extend your graphics capabilities far beyond the screen limits imposed by other draw software. Some of the innovative objects available in this package are: Starbursts - elliptical arcs - freehand drawings - Bezier curves - log and linear grates - diamonds - rectangles. Users can create blocks of text, similar to MacWrite; Manipulate any object and text by drag, reflect, fountain, tilt, rotate, shadow, resize; Select line style, border, fill. Ruler varieties (picas, points, pixels, centimetres, inches); Position text along any path; Zoom and much, much more. With Cricket Draw you can also push PostScript to its limits as never before! Commands such as Search and Replace as well as a host of other editing functions are now at your disposal - even colour generation from a colour palette! The shape of things to come ? Available soon - Price not known, Contact Heyden & Son Ltd. Spectrum House, Hillview Gardens, London NW4 2JQ « OsborneMcGraw-Hill announces the book on Apple's hot new computer, the Apple IIGS™ Technical Reference. Michael Fischer, the same author who wrote the acclaimed 658/6/65802 Assembly Language Programming, now looks inside the Apple IGS and gives serious programmers detailed information on all aspects of its architecture. All three operating modes are clearly explained so you can write software that runs on 8-, 16-, or 32 bit systems. Fischer's insights on software and firmware, the Apple II GS' built -in software, lets you get performance from the hardware through ROM operating system, the disk 1/O and serial I/O and the Apple IIGS' powerful toolbox. Programming with colour graphics, sound, desk accessories, AppleTalk™ and other enhancements are thoroughly covered. The Apple ITGS™ Technical Reference shows you how to upgrade from your Apple II, design elegant software and wholly understand the inner workings of Apple's incredible IIGS. Available from Osbourne. Price and availability not yet announced. Realize the full power of Microsoft Works! with The Advanced Guide to Microsoft Works by Donald J, Scellato. This advanced guide shows you how to expand your skills with Microsoft's new integrated software. With your Macintosh™ computer and this dynamic package you can combine five functions: word processing, database, spreadsheet, graphics and communications - for a wide range of business and classroom applications. Author and software instructor Scellato gives you inside tips on troubleshooting glitches; transferring data between Microsoft Works and other software; fine-tuning printers; merging input from special hardware, including the mouse, numeric keypad and printer; and incorporating data from Microsoft Works into Excel™; Microsoft's graphics- oriented spreadsheet. Available from Osbourne. Price and availability not yet announced. Octopus Software, a new software developer in Leeds, have released a utility for Pascal programmers who possess an enhanced Apple Ile with an 80 column card, or an Apple IIc, Called MouseStuff, it is a collection of routines, written in Assembly language, that allow the programmer to use pull-down menus in his own programs. They also allow saving, restoring or clearing part or all of the screen and incorporate a very fast routine for writing to the screen, As the name implies, full use of the Mouse is possible, both to open the menus and to point to areas of the screen. An interrupt driven routine moves the Mouse arrow completely automatically. However use of a Mouse is optional, as the menus can be opened from the keyboard as well. The utility is supplied as a Pascal Unit that installs in the System Library and the routines are called as Pascal procedures and functions, so no knowledge of Assembly language is required. All versions of Apple Pascal are supported, except that Pascal 1.1 will not allow use of the Mouse. The price is likely to be under £40. For more details contact Holdens Computer Services, Preston (0772) 561321. Apple2000 - December 1986 Bookkeeper II is a simple-to-use, easily learned, reasonably priced method of keeping business books and control of expenditure and petty cash, Whilst practice makes perfect this program can be approached with confidence by someone who has never previously used a computer or has no “in-depth” knowledge of accounting, as simple non-accounting terms and instructions are used throughout the program. The program handle up to 99 Cash Book accounts, 400 Sales and Income accounts, 499 Purchase and Outgoing accounts and 30 Standing Orders. As many as 32,000 transactions can be stored providing the data storage volume is large enough. The program includes a comprehensive manual with both 5,25 and 3.5 disks supplied. Compatability with the Apple IGS is ensured. RRP £99 + VAT and it is available direct from AMP or from any Apple Dealer. (Review in Progress ) Omnis on the IIGS.... Blyth Software have announced a range of products for the new machine - these include single user versions of Omnis 2 and 3 and two Omnis 3 multi-user versions. A suite of accounting packages including Sales, Invoicing, Purchase, Stock and Nominal have been released. Existing Registered Users have no need to upgrade the software to run on a GS, however they will benefit from a new manual which has been produced and is being offered ata nominal £25. Contact Blyth Software for full details. (Review anticipated shortly ) Glanmire Electronics have announced the launch of a number of products for both the Apple Il and Macintosh range. These include the GE UniShare networking system which allows up to 256 Apple II computers to share UniDisk 3.5 Drives and/or 10 or 20 Megabyte Hard Drives. It is easy to install and use, and in addition shows a considerable cost saving over connecting seperate drives to each machine.This system is compatible with all II series including the GS. Macintosh Plus Users have now a cheap method of upgrading their machines from IMEG to either 2 MEG or 4MEG with the GE Memory Upgrades. The upgrades are casy to install and give you the memory to use all the features of the latest software, including massive ‘Switcher’ configurations. Special Prices are available at present: £299 for the 1 Meg upgrade and £999 for an extra 3 MEG. Contact Glanmire Electronics for further details. « (Review in progress ) Orange Micro - the California based company have taken the four most wanted page process- ing applications and integrated them into a single, easy to use package called "RAGTIME". The new package moves Desktop Publishing into a new relm of convenience where you design your page using frames. Just drag a box, designate it as text, spreadsheet, or picture and with a simple building block approach you can create the appearance that you want. Ragtime features - Integrated Page Processing, WYSIWYG editor, split screen with nine windows and up to 350 pages per document. Page Layout special features include Leading and Kerning, Text sizes from 1-127 points and rulers in various measurements. You will need a minimum of a 512k Macintosh. RAGTIME is available from P & P Micros and costs £299 + VAT. « (Review in next issue ) InterMail has been released as a central resource manager for the AppleTalk network, and supports directory service and list management function as well as information storage facilities. TnterMail allows users on one or any number of local or remote networks to communicate with each other and transer files quickly, easily and conveniently.InterMail is flexible and has considerable speed and power from within your applications. Intermail is available from Computers Unlimited and no RRP has been notified. (Review copy requested ) Infosphere Inc of Portland, Oregon has unveiled a new LaserWriter spooling package. LaserServe is the only professional software for AppleTalk printer spooling available and it makes it easy for users of LaserWriters and AppleTalk ImageWriters to get back to work quickly without having to wait for their own or others printer output to finish. It requires a Macintosh with at least 512k and a floppy disk drive and operates as desk accessory in the background. No price or dealer known at present. ADVANCED MICRO PRODUCTS BOOKKEEPER II for the II series including GS BLYTH SOFTWARE Omnis 3 & 3 for the Apple IiGS GLANMIRE ELECTRONICS GE UniShare for the IT series. GE MacPlus Upgrades fa ial ‘ay Orange Micro Ragtime ela) ‘ay internet InterMail ela) * Infosphere Inc. LaserServe al __ Apple2000 - December 1986 1 Blyth Software. Omnis 3 Plus Upgraded to 3.23 a a yy uh i PINPOINT New Utilities and Programs for /Ic - GS Enhanced //e LEVCO Prodigy 4™ [fa ¢! = Bidmuthin Technologies VIP PROFESSIONAL //c or Enhanced //e with extra memory board Version 3.23 of Omnis 3 Plus has been released by Blyth Software. The changes from the previous version are:1) The results of date calculations which evaluate to an empty string are set to the empty date. 2) Fields in heading and total sections of label reports which are beyond the report width are now printed. 3) Page and job setup are now saved with the report format. 4) ‘Change Omnis Date’ has been removed. 5) All system reports now use standard Macintosh printing (except within Utilities). 6) Print sequence details has a repositioned page and an indication of the percentage of sequence space which is in use. The headings for all system reports include the time. 7) The print report command now only clears the main file and its connected files. 8) A select import file command with an empty file name now closes the previous import file without displaying an error message. 9) Fixed position fields in reports fix the following text as well as the fields. 10) Copy protection has been removed. Details available from Blyth Software or your local Apple dealer. « PINPOINT publishing have released a series of new programs for the Apple IIc, enhanced Ile (65C02), and IIGS which extend and compliment their popular desktop accessories and spelling checker program. The programs are: 1) Infomerge - a full featured mail merge and reporting program for AppleWorks. This stands alone from AppleWorks and accesses database files and word processor documents for full merging. Advanced features include selective searching of databases and multiple calculated fields (e.g. for invoicing from AppleWorks). Price is £79.00 2) Point-to-Point - professional communications program which contains all the requested features in one package. Includes auto dial/answer; online printing; test editor; print formatting; online file handling; clock support PLUS a powerful macro language with 14 commands. Handles AppleWorks files as well as text files. Point-to-Point is the only communications program that lets you use all 8 Pinpoint Desktop Accessories - all at the touch of a key. Price is £119.00 3) Document Checker - Companion to the amazing pop-up spelling checker for AppleWorks. The document checker can spell check any ProDos text files, as well as AppleWorks and so can be used with other word processors, such as AppleWriter. Shares the same dictionaries and amazing accuracy as Spell Checker yet runs much faster by utilizing the full computer memory. Price is £69.00 Spelling checker plus document checker together £99.00 4) Pinpoint Toolkit - As if the power of PinPoint weren't enough, here are the tools to customise or write your own desktop accessories. Includes 8 new accessories.To write your own accessories requires either assembler, Micol Basic or Kyan pascal. Price £49.00 5) Keyplayer - At last a macro program for AppleWorks that is compatible with Pinpoint. Installs as a Pinpoint desktop accessory and is the only macro program that works with AppleWorks and Pinpoint desktop accessories at the same time. Available mid-December. Price £49.00 . Available from Bidmuthin Technologies, (or from your local dealer). « The ultimate upgrade to make your Mac like a Vax; Mainframe power at a PC price with the Prodigy 4™, Levco's latest performance enhancement for the macintosh computer. Imagine a personal computer that combines unprecedented ease-of-use with Vax processing power. The Prodigy 4™ is the first Macintosh performance enhancement to feature the new Motorola 68020 Processor. The Prodigy 4™ board simply clips on to a 128K, 512K, or Macintosh Plus motherboard for easy installation. With the 68881 floating-point math co-processor, 4 Megabytes of RAM, and an onboard SCSI hard disk controller, the Prodigy 4™ transforms the Macintosh into the most powerful personal computer in the world. Best of all, it's 100% compatible with all Macintosh software that follows Macintosh design guidelines. Dealer details and price not known yet. « Lotus 1-2-3 on the Apple II - VIP PROFESSIONAL Bidmuthin Technologies are pleased to announce VIP Professional - a new generation spreadsheet for the Enhanced Apple Ile (65C02 version) and IIc. VIP Professional brings the power of Lotus 1-2-3 release 1A to the Apple Ile (enhanced) and IIc. The integrated spreadsheet, database and graphics of 1-2-3 also adds a full-blown Mac-style interface. VIP Professional can address up to 4 megabytes of memory and requires at least 256K of memory. Memory needs to be of the RamWorks type for the Ie (not RamFactor or Apple Memory board), or Z-RAM for the IIc. Unidisk or 2 x 5.25" drives required. Mouse, TransWarp are optional. Price: £249.00 or £199 if purchased with a 1 Meg RamWorks / 1 Meg Z-RAM . Available from Bidmuthin Technologies or your local Apple Dealer. __ Apple2000 - December 1966 _ What Magazine ? A look at Apple Mags on the other side of the pond ——S— By Adam Gilinsky Bu Apple fans can cast an envious eye across the Atlantic, where users are spoiled for choice of books and periodicals easily available at local dealers, newsagents and bookstores. There are several reasons why you should consider subscribing to foreign publications, firstly to get a variety of opinions on new and US only products, secondly to save money by mail ordering US products direct and thirdly to get program listings. Take advantage of a strong pound, even with postage etc. direct ordering may save you half the price and it will take at least six months for U.K. distributors to pass along these savings, though of course there are drawbacks - slow delivery and less support. I purchased issues of six magazines while in the U.S. All but one are Apple only, two are new showing the vigour of the American market despite prophecies of a major slowdown. Periodicals are usually more expensive in the U.S. and there are mail charges, to balance this, subscriptions are heavily discounted to build circulation and attract advertising revenue. At Now in its fourth year, A+ is published monthly by Ziff Davis, a large New York publishing company, along with an annual 300 page Buyer's Guide. At 170 - 200 glossy and colourful pages, this is the largest reviewed publication and the most widely available. "In general, A+ is an extremely up- to-date publication for serious USETS ..00' The use of a cover theme, Byte-style and loads of advertising tend to interrupt and bury articles. Competition is fierce, so shop around and read the small ads. Prices can drop quickly on new items and A+ has the most recent ads in any month, which might be important, Reviews are well featured in A+, with a slight bias to software. Major new releases get a whole article and are critically compared. About 20% is set aside for the Macintosh. Features tend to be technology reviews, book excerpts and articles on installations or types of user. The regular departments get the rest of the editorial space and include industry and product news, short game reviews, a puzzle, a letters page, an excellent education column and a useful queries section, There are no program listings as such. In general, A+ is an extremely up-to-date publication for serious users who can afford to buy new items regularly. The overseas subscription cost is now $19.97 plus $6 postage surface mail, making it a bargain. APPLE II REVIEW The Apple II Review is put out by Redgate Communications of Florida and in its second quarterly issue (Winter 1985), there were about 75 pages of reviews in an 85 page issue, with only a few pictures to add colour to the easily read three column format. The first quarter of the magazine is devoted to hardware, with a special section for IIc add-ons and Apple Inc. releases, then hardware of various types - clock, memory and multifunction cards, and power and storage devices, "Unusual products, can be found as can the usual cards and games.’ The software catagories include an excellent educational section, Entertainment Personal Finance, Productivity (!) and Appleworks accessories. Many reviews could be longer and more critical, the lapses being partly due to the difficulty of catching the latest releases in a quarterly magazine. Only 20 advertisers are listed in the index, including Apple Computer. Unusual products can be found as can the usual cards and games. At $5 per copy in the US, it's a good buy but not at the overseas subscription price of $40 per year. COMPUTE! Compute! is published monthly by ABC, the American Broadcasting Company and caters for every home computer found in the U.S., including Apple, in 130 pages. The style is matter of fact and aimed at the hob! , particularly new recruits, including lengthy and detailed reviews of new entertainment and home software and well written columns discussing technique. 'The style is matter of fact and aimed at the hobbyist, particularly new TECTUIES...04." The heart of the magazine is its program listings. Usually one big game or entertainment program, with listings for each machine in machine code or Basic, some machine specific utilities and sometimes a major application, written in machine code - well worth the price of a subscription, Major discount dealers don't advertise in Compute!, it is supported by software publishers. The new classified section has only added to the grey appearance. A guide to typing in the programs is given and interactive program checkers for both Basic and machine code listings, though you may need to collect a couple of issues to get the Apple machine code editor. Quite a few of the Basic programs use data statements to poke in machine code and these run quickly. Some recent utilities: a fast disk duplicator, a memory splitter, a keyboard customiser and a text windows routine, the more recent utilities are aimed largely at the IIC, though the major programs will run on any II. Compute! is sometimes available at British newsagents for £3.00 per issue. A subscription of 12 issues for $18 plus $6 for overseas mail is good value. My only reservation is that the Apple content varies so much. Apple2000 - December 1986 ; 13 Il COMPUTING As other magazines strive to keep up with the Macintosh and its rivals by introducing new sections, this bimonthly put out by Antic Publishing of San Francisco is devoted to the older machines and only started up last year. It combines interviews, previews and reviews, discussions of advanced programming concepts and program listings - all in 100 pages! With limited use of colour and large typefaces - even in the listings section, the articles appear longer than they really are, leaving this reader vaguely unsatisfied, although the quality is high. Reviews are software oriented, with a page devoted to each package and all major areas get the same attention. Features, columns and departments take up half the magazine and articles have included an interview with Steve Wozniak, a discussion of the 65C816 chip; and Appleworks features by the authors of the software, ‘all major areas get the same attention." There is a list of the addresses of companies mentioned at the end of every piece. The sixteen page pullout section contains the program listings, a typing checker and accompanying articles. Since there are five or six programs, each is short, and I'm not sure they are really worth typing, though they sound exciting (e.g. Music Graph, Basic Graph, Hi- Res to Print Shop Converter, Mountain Skiing etc.). Only about 20% of the magazine is taken up by adverts which are unobtrusive and hardware oriented, with the usual game adverts as well. A six issue subscription at $11.97, plus $10 for overseas mail, makes it the least expensive of the periodicals reviewed. INCIDER In many ways, inCider, based in New Hampshire, is the magazine for average Apple users. It fits reviews, tutorials, reader support and a small number of program listings comfortably in about 120 pages. Perhaps a quarter of the magazine is devoted to reviews and inCider is not afraid to tell you exactly what it thinks, with star ratings on ease of use, documentation and support etc. There's lots to be done with an Apple II and InCider will tell you all about it, in features on user's successes, tutorials and advice columns. Then here are the program listings, they're not over long, which is as well since there is no typing checker, but they are available on disk. All articles list pertinent addresses and there are the adverts, from manufacturers, software houses, discount suppliers, and on-line services - over 60 in all. "There's lots to be done with an Apple II and InCider will tell you all about it..." Incider is a good buy for the critical reviews and its responsiveness to readers, although it is never right on top of the latest developments. At $2.95 per issue or $24.97 per year, $44.97 overseas, it's the most expensive magazine reviewed. It can be found on some London newsagents at £2.70 per issue. NIBBLE Nibble, billed as "the reference for Apple computers", is in its seventh year, growing into a bulky monthly magazine, peaking at 160 pages. It's heavy in every respect, with small type, few though colourful pictures and diabolically complex program listings. Nibble is about in house programs so revicws get fairly short shrift, these are software oriented and often feature unusual programs not reviewed elsewhere, A typical issue contains eight programs, some of which form a series, others include games, a home helper, a graphics feature and several utilities. Perhaps most interesting is the one and two liner section. These are as much as I can bring myself to type in, since you must buy the program checkers separately - $30 each. billed as "the reference for Apple computers" The attitude of the publisher, Mike Harvey, may strike you as mercenary, a thought confirmed by his readiness to go to the courts to protect his programs. In his defense it must be said that he, like Apple Computer, is a successful pioneer and that the programs look inexpensive, innovative and interesting - but then I wonder why they aren't found on the best seller list and why the programs are bundled, forcing purchasers to take programs they may not want. The advertisers must be happy with the formula for all the regular Apple suppliers can be found and there are a lot of adverts. To sum up, Nibble offers a great deal for $3.25 per issue, or you can wait and "buy the book" - Nibble Express is a yearly compilation of updated listings for $20 or less, plus $2.75 surface or $6.50 air mail, which compares favourably to $26.95 plus $13 surface mail for a year's subscription. OTHER MAGAZINES There are some magazines missing from this review, most notably Byte, C.A.L.L. APPLE and Open-Apple. Byte is widely available in the U.K. but has reduced its coverage of the II series significantly and I have no copies of C.A.L.L. APPLE. Apple has a huge presence in the American market and there are many channels for the distribution of periodicals; my selection could not be complete. For those of you who read French, | would like to mention Golden, “Le Magazine des Utilisateurs d'Ordinateurs Personnels APPLE". Some _ very innovative programs come from France, particularly the Mouse series which is very popular there. I can recommend Golden, which covers the scene well in 100 pages bimonthly for about 6 Francs an issue plus mailing. SUMMARY WHICH TO BUY, WHERE TO SUBSCRIBE, HOW TO PAY My first choice would be Compute! where a low price and high utility value make up for low Apple content. However, I would also pick A+ from the wholly Apple magazines, it gives the 14 Apple2000 - December 1986 fullest picture of the U.S. Apple market and both inCider and II Computing are worthy rivals. Nibble would be third choice, but is really recommended for the advanced user, or for a user's group. Finally, a note about how to pay. For any of these, you will need to pay in U.S. dollars. All take credit card orders except inCider, Visa or MasterCard (Access) will do, though A+, Apple II Review and Compute! do take American Express and credit cards usually get a better exchange rate than cash or cheque. All but Nibble and Apple II Review will take your order and bill you later. InCider insists on U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank, but a certified cheque or postal order are likely to be o.k. Remember it can take up to two months to get your first issue, in the meantime, rely on Apple2000! « - SUBSCRIPTION NFORMATION (Overseas subscription rates, surface mail) At P.O. Box 2903 ,Boulder, Colorado. 80321 U.S.A. $25.97 (£16.65) - twelve issues. Apple II Review Redgate Communications Corporation . 3381 Ocean Drive, Vera Beach, Florida, 32963 U.S.A. $40 (£26.67) - four issues. Compute! P.O. Box 914, Farmingdale, New York. 11737 U.S.A. $24 (£16) - twelve issues. II Computing P.O. Box 1922 Marion, Ohio. 43306 U.S.A. $21.97 (£14.65) - six issues. InCider. CW Communications/Petersborough. P.O. Box 911 Farmingdale, New York . 11737 U.S.A. $44.97 (£29.98) - twelve issues Nibble Nibble Pubications, 45 Winthrop Street, Concord, Mass. 01742-9990 U.S.A. $39.95 (£26.63) - twelve issues. Open-Apple 10026 Roe Avenue, Overland Park, Kansas 66207 U.S.A. Golden 185, Avenue Charles de Gaulle 92521 Neuilly-sur-Seine Cedex . France 52 f. (£5.00) - ten issues « COMTEC | COMPUTER REPAIRS * FAST TURNAROUND - NORMALLY 2 DAYS * 3 MONTH WARRANTY * COMPETITIVE PRICES ON ALL APPLE REPAIRS AND UPGRADES EXAMPLES Apple ][ + or //e Power Supply £32 Apple }[ + or //e Motherboard £32 Apple Interface cards (most makes) £25 Disk Drives - cleaned/aligned £25 Please ring for other prices or post equipment for free estimate Quantity discount available Prices include P+P and 15% VAT Also MACINTOSH UPGRADES 128k to 512k 128/512k to MACINTOSH PLUS RING FOR MOST COMPETITIVE PRICES. COMTEC, ST GEORGE'S MILL, 3 ST GEORGE'S STREET, MACCLESFIELD, CHESHIRE, SK11 6TG Tel (0625) 34691 C.I.CAYMAN Cl D ee NUMERIC KEYPAD FOR /ie...... latest design, plugs directly into port on //e mother board, 16 keys +-*"/=. ENTER £19 16k RAM CARD], J[+ £29 128k RAMCARD J, J[+, //e £69 Apple compatible half height dise drive (pancake motor mechanism). £89 13/16 sector controller for above. £25 64k/80 COLUMN CARD //e £25 80 COLUMN Videx compatible with built in 40/80 softswitch tor ][ + £35 280 CP/M board. £29 RS232 serial: £29 Serial plus card (software selection of protocol, suitable for use with a modem). £49 Printer Interfaces; Parallel (Centronics -Epson) £29 Parallel Grappler compatible. £39 Parallel Grappler with 64k printer buffer £79 7.5A HD POWER SUPPLY for ][+ and //e £49 Replacement Keyboard for ][ + £49 Fan J[+, /le £29 Reconditioned Apple //e systems, all have been brought to ‘as new’ condition, offered with our standard £225 12 month warranty (including 64k/80 column text card). (+VAT) All prices exe VAT, postal carriage £3 under £100, £5 over £100. Apple Repairs - phone for quote. 021 - 705 7097 € | Cayman Ltd. P.O.Box 77, Solihull, West Mids. B91 3LX “Apple2000 - December 1986 - __ 15 BENTWATERS APPLE USER GROUP CONTACT - John Thomas Tel : iti <2779i2i)) VENUE - R.A.F. Woodbridge MEETS - 7,00pm first Tuesday of each month NEWSLETTER _ - Published monthly BRISTOL GROUP ( B.A.U.D ) CONTACT - MIKE FARMER Tel: iz VENUE ~ Bristol Maternity Hospital MEETS - 7th day of each month, or the Friday nearest to it if the 7th falls on a Saturday or Sunday CAMBRIDGE APPLE USERS GROUP CONTACT - Ian Archibald Tel : ‘fi VENUE __- Lloyd Room, Chris's College, Cambridge MEETS - Fortnightly NEWSLETTER - Published monthly CROYDON APPLE USERS GROUP CONTACT = - Graham Attwood Tel : (fii iin BSGOOR VENUE, - 515, Limpsfield Road, Warlingham, Surrey MEETS = 7.30pm on the third Thursday of every month NEWSLETTER _ - Published monthly EAST MIDLANDS MAC USER GROUP CONTACT = Nick Helm Tel : (tisit2t ulin VENUE - Wilford Cricket & Rugby Club, Nottingham MEETS - 8.00pm on the Ist & 3rd Wednesday cach month. EDINBURGH GROUP CONTACT = - Adam Gilinsky Tel : (#ivi--fifvntimttn VENUE - Proteus Micro Systems, 55, Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1LH MEETS First meeting held on 12-11-86, probably bi- monthly after that. Check with Adam. ESSEX GROUP CONTACT — - Pat Bermingham Tel : fiiiih-tiniititie VENUE The Y.M.C.A., Victoria Road, Chelmsford MEETS - Third Friday of every month FURNESS AREA CONTACT - Alan Curtiss Tel : Hit#a7i) (11) ‘There are currently no regular meetings in this area, when held they have been at the premises of a local dealer. GATEWAY COMPUTER CLUB CONTACT - Robert D Hall Tel ; (Hei VENUE - Bob Hope Recreation Centre, R.A.F Mildenhall MEETS ~ Subject to some variation. November meeting. will be a Family Computing Day on Saturday, 29-11-86, CHECK WITH ROBERT FOR TIME AND CONFIRMATION OF DATES BEFORE GOING ALONG. NOTE : Although the venue is on a service base it is not in a security restricted area so the club is open to interested parties. NEWSLETTER _ - Published monthly GLASGOW GROUP CONTACT = - Donald Davidson Tel : (iHil/trite! VENUE - Proteus Micro Systems, 17, Park Circus Place, Glasgow MEETS - Three or four times per year, check with Donald HANTS & BERKS CONTACT — - Mike Hollyfield Tel : (iF? */tiiihi) VENUE - Thames Valley Systems ,128 High Street, Maidenhead. MEETS, ~ 7.00pm on the second Monday of every month LOCAL GROUP CONTACTS This list is compiled by Tom Wright - Please notify him of any errors. Are your local group details here ? - If not contact Tom and let him know. HARROGATE AREA CONTACT — - Peter Sutton Tel : (HiHisiii/77 No active organised group in this area but there are a number of keen Apple users in contact with each other. HERTS & BEDS GROUP CONTACT Norah Amold Tel : (#7 VENUE - The Old School, 1, Branch Road, Park Street Village, St Albans, Herts. MEETS - 8.00pm on the first Tuesday of each month KENT GROUP CONTACT - Richard Daniels Tel : (tiiitit-viitintt) VENUE - AppleCentre 5-11 London Road, Maidstone. MEETS - 730 p.m. Monday 26th January 1987 LEICESTER GROUP CONTACT = - Bob Bown Tel : iiihiiiii7ins VENUE - Shakespeare Pub, Braunstone Lane, Leicester MEETS + 7.30pm to 10.0pm on the first Wednesday of month LIVERPOOL GROUP CONTACT = Irene Flaxman Tel : (fini {iii atti) BSGO21 VENUE - 78, Victoria Road, Widness, Cheshire, WA8 7AR MEETS - Second Monday of every month. LONDON APPLE If GROUP CONTACT - Chris Williams ‘Tel : (fil-ifi2uinin’ VENUE - St Brides Institute (temporary check with Chris) MEETS ~ Check with Chnis LONDON MACINTOSH GROUP CONTACT = - Maureen de Saxe Teel : (fi) thifhi=ifiliily VENUE - Room 683, London University Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London, WC1 MEETS - 6.00pm on the second Tuesday of every month. MACINTOSH USER GROUP CONTACT _ - Patrick Winterson Tel : | te VENUE - Formal venue now established. MEETS - Every three months. This group is in the Cambridge area, if you are interested check with Patrick for details of their next meeting. MIDAPPLE CONTACT = - Tom Wright Tel : ig VENUE - LT.E.C., Tildasley Street, West Bromwich. MEETS - 7.00pm on the second Friday of every month NEWSLETTER - Published monthly. FORWARD PROGRAMME - December 12th ; Games evening. THE MIDLAND MAC GROUP CONTACT = Ivan Knezovich Tel ; (#ittiti-thinuijii BSGO14 VENUE ~ Spring Grove House, Safari Park, Bewdley. MEETS - 7.00pm on the first Tuesday of every month THE NORTH WEST APPLE COMPUTER CLUB CONTACT - Jim Rosco Tel ; (HH hth) VENUE - Horse & Jockey Pub., Winwick Road, Warrington MEETS - First Monday of every month THE NORTIL WEST APPLE USERS GROUP CONTACT - Max Parrot Tel : 061-236-3311, Extn 2055 daytime ; (ttt jit” evenings VENUE ~ Staff House ( 2nd floor ), University of Manchester - Institute of Science & Technology, P.O Box 88, Sackville Street, Manchester MEETS - 8.00pm on the last Thursday of each month. 16 ~ Apple2000 - December 1986 it LOCAL GROUP NEWS This is a regular feature of your journal and Tom Wright our Local Group Support Executive would be pleased to hear from any local group organisers or any member who wishes to start a local group. The hectic period covering preparation for Appleworld restricted the amount of time available for contacting local groups by telephone but happily the show itself provided me with the chance to meet some of you and I found the experience most enjoyable and rewarding. In the last column T apologised for providing an inaccurate telephone number for the Bentwaters group on the Force listing, this time I'm apologising for providing the wrong one in the last column. I was able to apologise in person to John Thomas at the Appleworld show and luckily for me he tured out to be a very understanding sort of chap, my doctor tells me that my bandages can come off in another two weeks, I'm happy to report that the number of local groups in our listing is still growing with both the East Midlands Mac User Group and the brand new Edinburgh Apple User Group being welcomed to the column for the first time, the new contact for the Kent group (Richard Daniels) is also now available. There must still be more groups out there so let's all hear about them folks. For the benefit of members who have joined us recently it's worth restating the aims of this column: (a) to help local groups advertise themselves, (b) help all Apple users to identify their nearest local group. (c) help improve communications between groups and members. (d) where appropriate, give advice to local groups on organisation, venues, topics, etc. In short the column is part of Apple2000's increasing efforts to help members and local groups meet and benefit from the common pool of knowledge and experience, as well as have some FUN. Although the majority of the listed groups are run by Apple2000 members they are not controlled by Apple2000, each group is an independent entity. I do however freely admit to a personal desire to see an Apple User Groups federation develop during the coming years, there is strength in numbers and the help that we give to each other can only be beneficial to us all. If any of you have ideas on this subject please let me know. EDINBURGIL APPLE USER GROUP - a new group which by the time this column appears will have held its first meeting on 12-11-86 at the premises of PROTEUS (Apple dealer), 55, Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1LH. The group is forming as a result of the initiative of Ron Gillespie (of Proteus) and Adam Gilinsky who expect to see about 15 enthusiasts at their first meeting. Ron is very enthusiastic about the groups formation and he has also arranged the Glasgow groups use of Protcus new premises in Glasgow as a venue for that groups December meeting. At present it is likely that the Edinburgh group will hold bi-monthly meetings but they may also have a social event around Christmas time. Contact for the group is Adam Gilinsky, Tel ({iiltindiM0\l, please check with him before going along to a meeting. Congratulations on the initiative and best wishes to the group. EAST MIDLANDS MAC USER GROUP - has approximately twenty five members currently although the average attendance at meetings is ten. The group has been operating for about two years and is one of two groups (the other being an Amstrad group) which have evolved over the years from what was originally a TRS-80 club. In common with most other groups the members have a wide range of background and interest including professional programmers, business, and leisure users. There is no formal structure to group evenings, the main objectives currently being to exchange information and enjoy the evening. No newsletter is published currently although they did have a “onc-off” publication some time ago, the groups close relationship with MacTel may be the reason for not having a newsletter. A feature of the club which is absolutely certain to appeal to everybody is that there are no subscriptions or attendance fees. The group has attracted people in the past from Stockport, Derby and Hinckley and they offer a welcome to all Mac users. KENT APPLE USER GROUP - the new contact for this group is Richard Daniels who has arranged the revival meeting for 7.30 p.m. on Monday 26th January 1987 at the AppleCentre, 5-11 London Road, Maidstone. It is planned to alternating meetings between Maidstone and Margate. Nice to see things near to settling for users in the Kent area, give Richard a ring to find out more about the groups plans. BENTWATERS APPLE USER GROUP - I enjoyed meeting some members of this group at Appleworld, a very friendly bunch, if you're in the Bentwaters area I'm sure that you would enjoy their companionship. The group has been operating since last October and has a membership of about twenty. A new meeting format was adopted at the October 14th meeting which included two presentations, one on the Apple IGS by R. Piazzoni (Pz to his friends) and one on communications by Don Echelberger (who apparently crammed a twenty minute presentation into forty five minutes). The November 11th meeting format included three presentations, © Wordstar, Applewriter Il, and games. Billy Keeling is trying to compile a list of Apple dealers, repair centres and general suppliers so if you know of any that might be of interest to the group please contact them, GATEWAY COMPUTER CLUB - was established three years ago as a multi-interest club. Members are drawn from the areas around Mildenhall and Lakenheath with some travelling from Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. Current membership is one hundred and ten but rises higher on occasion as service personnel are rotated. In addition to the clubs monthly meetings there are monthly meetings for Special User Groups for the Apple II series and the Apple Macintosh, a monthly newsletter (Gateway Gazette) is published. The annual membership subscription is £5.00. Expertise within cach of the Special User Groups is described as ranging from the novice to hardware hacker, programmer and circuit card builder, sounds like a clever Apple2000 - December 1986 17 lot whose companionship would be a valuable asset to any Apple user (wonder if we can get some of them to share their knowledge through the Apple2000 magazine ?). Anybody interested in the group will find a warm welcome. CROYDON APPLE USERS GROUP - change of venue for the Croydon group as follows 515, Limpfield Road, Warlingham, Surrey. There were several enquiries at Appleworld about group opportunities in this area so the group may soon sce some more new faces. CAMBRIDGE APPLE USER GROUP ~- a change of both name and venue for this group which was previously known as the Cambridge Apple2000 Club (which results in them also becoming the sccond C.A.U.G on our listing). Mectings are currently held in the Lloyd Room, Christ's College, Cambridge, and there will also be a venue change during the winter months. The group elected officers at their first formal meeting on 16-10- 86 and also established a £5.00 annual subscription with a £0.50 attendance charge for each meeting (to cover essential fuels such as coffee). I have received a copy of the groups first newsletter which includes a section on new Apple products and programs as well as a BASIC listing for a mini catalog lister. A very nice touch is the ancient (1976) Apple advertisement on the back page. MACINTOSH USER GROUP - Patrick Winterson tells me that the group now has about twenty five members which sounds as if they are firmly established. They held their first formal meeting at the premises of COMPUTER ONE during the week commencing 20-10-86 and have decided to hold formal meetings at three monthly intervals, In the intervals between formal mectings members will be exchanging information via mail, telephone and informal gatherings. THE MIDLAND MAC GROUP - the West Midlands Centre of magical, mysterious, multifarious Macintosh machinations, at Icast I think that's what Ike said. Offerings from the Appleworld show were reviewed at the groups last meeting. The next meeting which is on the first Tuesday in December will include a private christmas inebriation to which all Apple2000 members are welcome. A special Mazewars plus session is being planned for this meeting so bring your Mac along for the biggest participation Mazewars EVER !! ! LONDON APPLE II GROUP - St Bride's Institute is still in use as the club's meeting place, but a new venue is being sought. Chris Williams describes St Bride's as being near Blackfriars Bridge at the Ludgate Circus end of Fleet Strect, so if that area is suitable for you give him a ring and he'll tell you how to get there. The group usually meets on the first Wednesday in each month and if you ate interested you should check with Chris before going along to a mecting. Several people have enquired about the group recently and it sounds as if the enquiries might result in more members. THE NORTH WEST APPLE USERS GROUP - includes members with Apple interests and some with I.B.M look-a-likes. Although the club normally meets at 8pm on the last Thursday of each month the December meeting is usually the last Thursday before Christmas. First attendance is frec, members pay £2.00 per attendance there is no annual membership fee. MIDAPPLE - we welcomed a new member at the October mecting which included . Hairy Bodger (alias Harry Gardiner) demonstrated and discussed Format-80 Scientific , Micol Basic benefited from Dave Ward's presentation and the game SPY-v- SPY was demonstrated by Chris and Kevin who must be the youngest software demonstrators in any club. In November we saw Apple U.K demonstrating new Apple products. Looking ahead there is a Games evening on 12th December, Word Processors on 9th January 87, Communications on 13th February 87. All Apple users will find a welcome. HERTS & BEDS GROUP - Communications was the subject of the October meeting which began by Keith Chamberlain demonstrating Data Highway on the Apple II and dialling into The Force. Then Gordon Adams demonstrated comms applications on the Macintosh by dialling into MacTel and The Source. The November meetings subject was the Apple IIGS. Bob Sather of Dark Star brought a IGS along and started off by giving a thorough introduction to the hardware. ‘The battery,’ said Bob, ‘lasts ten years. In ten years time we will be getting computers like this in our breakfast cereal, probably so small that we will have to pick them out from beneath our fingernails.’ He went on to show many of the applications being prepared for the GS and some of the best known Apple II sofiware running on it too. GLASGOW APPLE USER GROUP - will hold a meeting at 7.30pm on 3-12-86 at PROTEUS MICRO SYSTEMS, 17 Park Circus Place, Glasgow, the evening will be one of informal discussion and presentation. Twenty group members are now listed for the group and there must be more in the Glasgow arca so let's see you folks ! Donald Davidson has already made contact with Ron Gillespie in Edinburgh and I don't doubt that the two groups can uscfully arrange joint sessions in the future. All Apple users are welcome to join in the Glasgow group, please contact Donald for more detail. LONDON MACINTOSH GROUP - a very active group which was formed in January, 1986 by a nucleus of Apple2000 members, more than one hundred members are now listed. Annual subscription is £6.00 and there is an attendance fee of £1.00 for each mecting. Members of the group have access to a helpline, software library and other facilities in addition to the monthly meetings. The forward programme includes The University Consortium on 9-12-86, and a combined A.G.M and Workshop on 13-1-87, For their October mecting the members were invited to the Apple Centre, Knightsbridge, where they were made most welcome by the staff. Several members of the group gave demonstrations of applications with which they were familiar. HANTS & BERKS GROUP - there is a new venue for this group which now meets at Thames Valley Systems, 128, High Street, Maidenhead. Anybody in the area will find a warm welcome from the groups members, meetings usually find about sixteen people present although there are other members who turn up at intervals. LIVERPOOL GROUP - this group meets on the second Monday of every month at Computer City, a venue with a name like that must attract interest quite apart from an opportunity to meet other Apple enthusiasts. Go along and meet them I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves. I hope that none of you missed Steve Wozniak on the Equinox programme, one of the things that I learned from the programme was that I.B.M really stands for " I Build Macs " ! Don't forget to let us know of any groups that we haven't got listed yet and if you're thinking of starting a group get in touch we may be able to help in some way. Wouldn't it be nice if Apple U.K organised an Apple show further north to help the many Apple enthusiasts in Scotland and the other northern areas who are otherwise faced with round trip journeys of seven or eight hundred miles. Although I understand that the dealers all did good business at Appleworld I also think that it would be nice if the next show is less " clinical “ in general atmosphere. My thanks to everyone who has supplied infor- mation for this issue. I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A MERRY XMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. 18 Apple2000 - December 1986 POD © © BOOKKEEPER II ‘@ 216 Do you have a problems with keeping your accounts or require management analysis figures to assist in keeping a better financial control of your accounts? | Then this program is for you. What is BOOKKEEPER IT ? BOOKKEEPER II is a simple-to-use, easily learned, reasonably priced method of keeping business books and control of expenditure and petty cash. Whilst practice makes perfect this program can be approached with confidence by someone who has never previously used a computer or has no "in-depth" knowledge of accounting, as simple non-accounting terms and instructions are used throughout the program. The program has been designed to keep a straight-forward, no nonsense record of a small business accounts, hence the name BOOKKEEPER. The II part of the name is because it runs on the Apple // range of computers, What are the features of BOOKKEEPER II ? It can be used as a simple Cash Book by just entering the Cash In and Cash Out transactions to and from the Bank or Petty Cash accounts. If the Sales and Purchase control accounts are used then the outstanding debtors and creditors can be seen at a glance. There is the facility to produce VAT and Trial Balance reports, which can be used when completing VAT returns or to show profitability. Standing Orders can be stored for automatic entry to the Bank account and statements can be produced for any account, which will prove especially uscful when reconciling the Bank account. Who will use BOOKKEEPER II ? Small Businesses that wish to have a simple way of keeping accounts themselves, and have problems because of lack of time or even lack of understanding of accounts. Accountants who require an incomplete records system inorder to produce a Trial Balance. Also large organisations can use the program as a Cash Book, for Petty Cash or for Trial Balances if used in conjunction with their Sales and Purchase Ledgers. What is required to run BOOKKEEPER I ? An Apple //GS, //c or //e with an 80 column card. A minimum of two 5.25 inch floppy disk drives or one 3.5 inch Unidisk. The program will also run on any hard drive that supports ProDos. A printer with a compatible interface in slot one is uscful although not mandatory as all reports will print to the screen. What are the limits of BOOKKEEPER II ? The program will handle up to 99 Cash Book accounts, 400 Sales and Income accounts, 499 Purchase and Outgoing accounts and 30 Standing Orders. As many as 32,000 transactions can be stored providing the data storage volume is large enough, As a guideline a 5.25 inch floppy disk will hold about 925 wansactions per period. A 3.5 inch Unidisk will hold about 9,370 transactions or 8,600 if the data is stored on the program volume. Monetary values may be used up to £9999999 in all entries. What is the price of BOOKKEEPER II ? £99.00 plus VAT. This includes a comprehensive manual, with the program supplied on both 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppy disks. Where can I buy BOOKKEEPER II ? From your local authorised Apple Dealer or Advanced Micro Products Ltd. 200 Court Road - London SE9 4EW Tel. No 01 - 851 3311, Apple, ProDos, Apple //GS, Apple //c, Apple //e are trademarks of Apple, Inc. The Force And how to get the best from it! First an apology. The Gremlins struck last month between my keyboard and the Editor's Pagemaker. I hope you were able to follow the article. There was a missing command instruction. It should have said that to use the *MAILSAVE* file you should enter message send, and at the TEXT prompt, issue: LOAD MAILSAVE <CR> This was a case of my forgetting how the command | was describing worked, I had put this command in the text on a line by itself and then sent it to the Editor over the FORCE, of course it actually tried to work and load the file *MAILSAVE* as the text went out! Following on from this, a bit of research has shown that the maximum linesize that can be set is LINESIZE 1024. This should cope with most text if you need to send long paragraphs. A carriage return will than be inserted by the Force at that point if none has been encountered in the preceeding 1024 characters. How the Menus are written. The FORCE menu is written in a language called CPL (Control Processing Language). It is fairly simple in its construction and looks much like Pascal or C. You can use it yourself on your own mailbox if you wish. All that is needed is to name any file that uses it with the suffix '\CPL’. I cannot give you a definitive guide to the language, as even BTG do not have a manual. The following simple program shows how it works, and is a useful little program to log off the FORCE, show you any unread mail and delete your *MAILSAVE* file at the same time. First enter the Editor: >ED <CR> INPUT MAIL QSCAN UNR <CR> &IF [EXISTS *MAILSAVE*] &THEN &DO <CR> &DATA DEL *MAILSAVE* <CR> END <CR> iD <CR> OFF <CR> <CR> EDIT SAVE OFF.CPL <CR> > To use this little program, <Q>uit the menu and: >RUN (or R) OFF <CR> A quick scan of your mailbox for unread mail will be made. If any exists you can deal with it. If none exists, or when you By Ewen Wannop = <Qouit, the *MAILSAVE* file will be deleted if it exists and you will leave the FORCE. This will save any storage involved with *MAILSAVE* but the program will of course take one block of storage itself. If you want to see more of the CPL language, you can look at how the Menus are actually constructed. I explained last month how to ‘Attach’ to a mailbox by >A BSG999. This will only work if the mailbox has been setup so that outsiders can attach to it, The BSG000 box has been setup in this way so you can all run the menus. At logon, you are in effect attached in this way and the main Menu, a file called MENU.CPL, is run. To have a look at these files, leave the Menu 'Q', and when you see the Gold prompt '>' type: A BSG000. You can now issue an 'F' to see the many files we have there. Any of these marked with an 'r’ at the end, can be 'TYped' out for you to see. Select one and then TY FILENAME.CPL to have a look. You will not be able to write to these files or delete them, as they are protected, but you can at least have a look. To return to your own mailbox, type ‘AL’, or attach local. If you feel like being a SYSOP yourself, then write some menus for your own mailbox, change your PASSWD - LONG so that others may attach and then all they need do is run your Menu program to be on your own mini-Force. Follow the construction of the menus you see on BSGOOO and away you go. Whatever you do, the security of your own box is preserved, as only files marked with an 'r' can be read or run by outsiders. Use the PROT FILENAME 7 1 command to set them up in this way. Rest assured your mail will be well protected, even the SYSOP cannot sce your mail and he has much greater access rights than anyone. Storage and all that There is still some concern amongst members of the Force that their storage charges are too high, Unread mail will not be charged for a period of a month or so, after which it is filed and you will start paying for it. Read mail that has not been deleted will be put into a file called MAIL.FILE, as will any filed mail. This of course attracts normal block storage charges. To keep your storage charges to a minimum, delete mail and filed mail once you are done with it. Delete any other files except NUMB and *TELEX* if you have that facility. I am planning a Utility menu to do these things for you and it may well be installed by the time you read this. To see the true state of your storage, type >STORAGE or >STORAGE -L. If you are unclear what it all means, type >INFO STORAGE or >INFO TELEX STORAGE to get an explanation. 20 _ Apple2000 - December 1986 This leads me on to the things you can do with mail, files and the editor. You will all have seen the NEWSBYTES area on the Noticeboard. These entries are sent to me as normal messages. I first read them to see what they are and then at ACTION REQUIRED I type SAVE NEWS. This saves them as a file called NEWS. I then need to transfer the file to PRPOST. To do this I use one of the little known commands that you can use from the Gold prompt on the FORCE. It is a file utility called FUTIL that allows us to transfer files around the whole system much in the manner of the CPM program PIP. Type FUTIL to get the *' prompt. Here we can then enter *FRO BSG999, *TO BSG990 and then *CO NEWS to first say where from, where to and then send the file where I want it to go. The *TO command will only work if the destination mailbox has been setup for PASSWD -LONG to allow you access. I now ED NEWSBYTES and LOAD NEWS into it. The Prpost files are constructed in a special way so that the various parts are seen as seperate messages. I can however edit a new header to mark this new addition as a seperate message. Finally | SAVE back the amended file. This saves me the time involved in actually downloading and uploading the new piece as a normal entry to the noticeboard. Last Word The membership of the Force is growing fast. Modems and Comms software is getting cheaper. We have two or three members who are in the Music business, they use the Force for their international dealings. The computer never goes to sleep! We reckon it is actually cheaper to send mail by the Force than to post a letter first class. Delivery takes some microseconds to achieve, worldwide, so we rightly name the humble postal service ‘Snail Mail’. Save the postage and send your cards by ilboxing a friend for Christmas', @ 'M How to join the FORCE and what you will need. The FORCE is a ‘Closed User Group’ operating on British Telecom GOLD and administered by Apple2000. Only Apple2000 Members are permitted to join and the whole BTGOLD System is available to FORCE subscribers. This includes Telex, International Electronic Mail and many databases and of course our own large Apple Related Section. Some of the BTG services incur extra charges. ‘To use the FORCE you will need a Computer, a Modem, and Communications Software. There is no joining fee to The Force or to the Telex facility. The basic monthly charge is at present £3.00 + VAT. You must then add the Packet Switching System Charges and your Online Time. The charges normally equal the cost of a Trunk Dialled Call. You will be billed each month for your usage. You MUST complete the appropriate BT and Apple2000 forms before connection is allowed. Write for further details. « — a IS YOUR EPSON PRINTER CARD A PROBLEM? If you have an Epson 8132 printer card, you know that it won't work with AppleWorks, CP/M, Pascal, Ascii Express, etc. Don't despair : The ImageMaker EPROM replaces the ROM chip on the Epson 8132 card to make it compatible with every- thing, and in addition gives your Epson card the graphics printing features of a Grappler Plus. We also make ImageMaker EPROMs for the Super Serial and Cirtech (pre-Champion) Printer Cards, to add full graphics printing capabilities. ImageMaker EPROM £25 + VAT NOW MOUSEPAINT CAN PRINT TO ANY PRINTER! When MousePaint's ‘Print a File’ leaves you few options, take a look at MousePrintz. With MousePrintz, you can magnify, stretch, crop, invert, flip, rotate, and shade your MousePaint screen image to your own specifications, then print it on virtually any dot-matrix printer, What could be simpler? MousePrintz is a straight-forward patch program, designed sp ically to enhance MousePaint's limited printing facilities. MousePrintz is fully documented and supports the Apple //c and 128K //e. If you've ever been disappointed with your MousePaint graphic printout, MousePrintz is your saving grace. MousePrintz £25 + VAT SCREENSNAPPER - TO PRINT THE GRAPHICS YOU CREATE ScreenSnapper offers not only sophisticated text and graphics printing but adds new features to your Apple Il+, //e and //c, that you would never have thought possible. ScreenSnapper lets you interrupt your program, print the screen, and resume running the program. Intended primarily for use with your own Applesoft and machine code programs (or other unprotected software) running under DOS, ScreenSnapper is compatible with virtually all interface cards and dot-matrix printers, rendering the purchase of an expensive graphics printer card unnecessary. It includes all the screen-editing features of Mouseprintz. ScreenSnapper adds an extremely useful extension to Applesoft Basic that provides graphics programmers with a complete set of commands for double hi-res plotting plus additional commands which access the ScreenSnapper on-screen utilities. ScreenSnapper £30 + VAT SYSTEMS "| DARKSTAR SYSTEMS Ltd. 78 Robin Hood Way Greenford Mddx. UB6 7QW Phone (01)-900 0104 MicroLink ID: MAG20297 Apple2000 - December 1986 ; ; 21 Two Cards for the Apple II By Tony Game Computer Factory is a firm set up by an ex Apple engineer to produce a range of hardware for Apple computers. So far they are offering two cards which I have tested. Extended 80-Column Card for the //e The extended 80 column card is a very small card, at five inches long, and holds 10 chips none of which are socketed, Now that chips tend to be so much more reliable, this is probably a good thing in that it climinates the worries about corroded sockets which can sometimes cause such obscure problems. The card runs very cool indeed in use. It is well made with no evidence of solder splashing which is often a fault of cards in the cheaper ranges originating from the Far East. There is very little to be said about the //e extended 80 column card, now that it is so very much a standard and all one can usefully say about this one, is that it does fully conform to the standard, I have tested it with a variety of software using double hi-res graphics and the full 128k of memory and it has performed faultlessly. I have used it with Applesoft, Pascal, ProDOS and CP/M, with the same results The text display is clear and legible and everything works as it should. This makes the card a considerable bargain at the price being asked, especially in view of the fact that it is made in this country and help would therefore be readily available in the event of any possible problems. The thirteen page handbook is very well produced with excellent typescript which explains how to fit the card into the computer, it also contains a very clear description of its use and of the extra control commands that are available and required (it is much clearer than Apple's manual). The card comes with a full year's warranty and is heartily recommended, Real Time Clock Card The real time Clock Card is the same size as the 80 column card and incredibly holds just five chips plus a rechargeable battery. Only one of the chips is socketed. The workmanship is first rate and it is obvious that no corners have been cut. The battery is charged when the Apple is switched on and it is claimed that a full charge will take ten hours, a fully charged battery will run for three months. The card is accompanied by a double sided diskette which contains all the ProDOS utilities on one side and those for DOS and Pascal on the other. I found the biggest feature of this card is its full support of ProDOS, which is not the case with many cheap clock cards originating from the Far East. All the other cards with this support that J have seen advertised cost considerable more. __ Apple2000 - December 1986 As ProDOS comes to be used more and more this is obviously now an essential requirement in a real time clock. Appleworks users will find it very useful to have the date and time against their files. The way in which ProDOS is set up to read the clock is by the use of an additional SYSTEM file which is automatically read by ProDOS before the BASIC.SYSTEM, or whatever the second .SYSTEM file is and which sets the pointers up to read the clock. Once this file has been copied as the first SYSTEM file to a disk nothing further will ever need to be done. There is another file called INSTALL which can be used to set up the clock just for the one boot by typing -INSTALL, but one would obviously only use this for experimentation. The time and date are set by a very elegant hi-res program which also acts as a time display and is very easy to use. The clock does not display milliseconds. The card is fully interrupt driven and a very useful example program is included which displays the time in the top right of the screen. Clockon sets this up and Clockoff disconnects it. This program, as is the case with all the programs, serves as a demonstration of how the facilities are used. For those still extensively using DOS 3.3, there is a most useful program to alter DOS so as to stamp files with the date and time as under ProDOS. This uses a program called GENDOS, which can be left memory resident or made to permanently change the DOS on a diskette so that it will be available everytime the diskette is booted. Having visible proof of which is the latest of a number of files is often an incredibly useful facility as anyone who has left a program in development saved under a number of different names will know! The only snag with this program is that it prevents the use of any of the fast DOS's. At least I was not able to make it work with any of them but no doubt patches could be found. A very useful feature is the facility to emulate other clocks, notably the Thunderclock and Mountain Hardware Clock. This works well under Applesoft and ProDOS, but I could not get a copy of Visidex, which expects a Mountain Hardware Clock, to recognise this one. Another possible limitation might be that the Mountain Hardware clock uses milliseconds which this card does not. The Pascal implementation is very full and consists of four assembly language files which can be declared EXTERNAL and linked. They allow very complete use of the clock in Pascal programs. Additionally, if the clock is in slot 2 it can be read from, or written to, as the standard serial device. The manual has 24 pages and is well written. No-one should have any difficulty in using the clock to full advantage after very little study. At the same time the advanced user has plenty of information to allow him to program the clock at machine code level. The type face is clear and I am impressed with the quality of the manuals for both these products. The only clock cards that | know of offering the facilities of this one cost nearly half as much again thus making this a considerable bargain, especially since it is made in this country and has a year's warranty. It is heartily recommended. & Extended 80 column card for //e. £59 +VAT Real Time Clock Card for the whole Apple II range. £99 +VAT Manufacturer. Computer Factory 38, Knowsley Road, Liverpool, LI9 OPG. 051-427-3144 "The only serious challenger to the IBM world, Apple,” Computer Weekly 10th July 1986 “eltip y Omputers Worcestershire's only resistance Centre Campion House, Franchise Street, Kidderminster, Worcs., DY11 6RE Telephone (0562) 744377 GETTING INTO SHAPE WITH rt YOUR APPLE Allan Boardman and Graham Keeler __Department of Pure and Applied Physics, University of Salford Vy Tn this article, which will be continued in the next edition of Apple2000, we shall try and outline how it is possible to set up shape tables in the Apple II in order to draw user defined shapes very rapidly and if desired repeatedly, on the high resolution graphics screen. We shall also descri