Apple 2000 Vol 3 No. 1 1988 02 BASUG GB

ple20005 THE NATIONAL APPLE USERS GROUP FEBRUARY 1988 VOLUME 3 (1) OE a@s | Eas Ot) | . Sa eae i eye | | 4 SS \ FA i SS Key ee call RS i 111 Sal iz ma | “We ie a (i Neat I € file =a a Az tp Print Report x\\ ; Print Report On is WX Edit Report Template \ \\\ ‘ 4, Y\ Sal Like ma. \\) WX tm x. Author Lie \\ SS a Bis ao 7 ToL : 1 ‘ al : 3 4 . promac All promac products share one objective. To be the finest you can buy at any price. No compromises have been made in achieving a thoroughbred design Meticulous incoming component inspection, careful manufacture and rigorous quality control, comprehensively tested ROM and firmware to enhance performance, and error-free software combine to achieve our objective promac products are elegantly designed and unobtrusive. They are exceedingly fast and very. quiet. With the reliability that comes from superior engineering. They meet or exceed all safety and interference standards. You owe it to yourself to consider promac before accepting any other drive. They represent outstanding value. You can’t buy faster or better MacEurope supports the full range of promac protessional products, both internal and external. 20MB, 40MB, SOMB, 80MB, 160MB, 300MB, 800MB SCSI disks, each the leader in its category WORM/CD-ROM, and the infinite capacity ProDrive, utilising removeable 10MB floppies. ProTape backs up to cassette at 3.3MB/minute. promac products are compatible with Unix and all other Macintosh environments. MacEurope provides engineering, warranty service, support software updates and advice You can see the promac range at your MacEurope dealer. If yours doesn’t have stock, or you don't have a dealer, please call us, We'll be happy to help. Call us for literature promac and ProDrive and ProTape sin: reisicred ttaviemarhs of promae GmbH Sylvie 5 TO! Merlin 12 West Germany Apple is anil Max This advert wrod by the Robin Kay JustText page compe bn softwate fren Mack The Granary, Trowse Bridge, Bracondale, Norwich NR1 2EG, England. Tel: (0603) 630636 5 Editor Jim Panks Assistant Editor Graham Attwood Macintosh Editor Norah Arnold Advertising Administration Alison Davies Irene Flaxman HotLine Dave Ward (OAM? FH Monday - Friday 1900-2100 hrs BABBS/TABBS Tony Game/Ewen Wannop (oe SHRINE ES PTT Local Groups Tom Wright F Fie P.O.Box 3, Liverpool, 121 8PY ey (OF G2) 442 CAnswerphone) Old Roan Press 051-227-4818 Stefan Mucha ‘Apple2000™ is a wading name of BASUG Lid, a non-profit making independent company limited by guarantee ‘The contents of this journal arc copyright of BASUG Led and/or the respective authors. Per mmission is granted for non-commercial reproduction providing the author and source are properly credited and a copy of the relevant journal is sent Dressed are those of the various coninbutors, and are not necessanly supported by BASUG. opinions and Views ex. Fprroarat 2 Coun News EJ Hor Linn News + Loca Guocy News 7 Moomeas Lerrexs 10 News Byres 12 ‘Urcaoine nm Apes I - Tom wmcirr 56 MacWorp 1988 - Niort Srxvowice 66 ‘Swau Avvanrs & Apvixnisexs Lxonx 80 App e ][ Features Ties Ane Looxinc Ur Corrections for previous articles by Tom Wright UmiDOS 3.3 Pus A utility to allow DOS 3.3 to use the new 800k drives Lazy Inmauzinc Or 3.3 Disks Tom Wright gives some clues to a problem and asks for some help Avrve I Sxivrers Some tips and information for the Apple II series PC Transporter Mark Whelan looks at the Latest card for your Apple // ! Kuwprcruppe & Mecu Baicape A tank driving course by Tom Wright ‘AppreWorks Questions & ANSWERS Steve Morrisby starts a new problem solving column ‘Stmpce FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMMING Andrew Menadue looks at an experimental language Snor 2000 - Srrciat Orrens 7 Items for the Apple // user at very special rates Mac2000 Mac2000 Norah Amold looks at the new system BackcRounn Jim Panks regular look at the latest HyperCard activity MownFinoer ‘The new system software update - investigated by Jim Panks ProcramMers EXTENDER John Arnold looks at a library of routines for C or Pascal Finst Foorinc HyperCard in use - John Dryer gives us his first thoughis QuicKers ‘The utility of 1987 - Make the Mac faster for under £60 - Jim Panks Fwent Fonts CasadyWare fonts - a new cast of Laser Fonts MinoWare Norah Arnold integrates her W.P. LooxUp Stephen Kelly tries to spell on his Macintosh! NetWork News The latest news, tips and gossip Executive Orrice Geoff Wood looks at this Notes °n Files for the Macintosh MacTir's Laser printing envelopes - Joe Gillespie tells you how Games For your Mac Norah Amold takes a look at games for small children Mac Lisrary ‘The latest additions to the SoftwareLibrary Mac - Twrr The ramblings of a simple end user - alias Colin Wheeler FOUNDER MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS THE APPLE USER GROUP COUNCIL sate This journal 18 published bi-monthly by Apple2000 ary, Aptil,June, August, October preceding publication. Advertising raics arc available on request Apple™ and the Apple logo ate trademarks of mark of Melntosh Laboratory Ine and used with the ex wademarks of BASUG Lid 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 30 34 36 40 42 49 52 58 62 2 4 76 738 1 benefit of membership in Febru- ‘and December. The copy date is the Sth day of the month ‘Apple Computer Inc. Maciniosh™ is a wade- tory est permission of the owner ‘Telecom Gold™is a trademark of British Telecom PLC The FORCE™ and Appie2000™ ate ss ees its PI EOTIET RETO Saas Sai SSIES SEIS AM LOA LS ASL LE a Page 1 Editorial _ a = on i New Blood As you will all know Apple2000 is a non-profit making organisation run by volunteers for the benefit of all Apple Users and relies on new blood to keep going. The present committee consists of eight mem- bers, all of whom have specific jobs and who were elected in April last year. We also have members who are non-committee members who look after certain areas. We believe that this allows more members to be involved and gives scope for those that are not interested in the committee side of things to participate and help. with the AGM coming up we are again looking for new committee members to help run the club. The tasks of committee members is to steer the club and to represent members in that task. Committee members are also the work horses of the group doing various key- jobs. Some of the present committee have been serving for over four years now and it is sad to say that ifthey left, the club would be in danger of closing. We need committee members for the coming year to ensure the continued suc- cess of our group and to build on the strengths already present. If you would like to know more about this important role please contact the Secretary Norah Arnold (0582) 573918 or the Chairman on 0732 61566 to discuss what is involved. If you do not fancy committee life we also need members to undertake interesting projects and services. We can use any help, the only thing we askis that you are committed to doing the task in hand, we can ill afford to be chasing up. We know that there are two main areas to Apple2000, that is the Apple II and Macintosh and we need users from both areas to help keep our group at the forefront in providing information. The Macintosh area is fairly easy to keep going because there is plenty of news and new prod- ucts are being launched constantly. The Apple Il area needs a major injection of enthusiasm from members - we need to be ina position to get all the information possible from the U.S. where the Apple II is still well supported. We have made an arrangement with one publica- tion in the U.S. which will give an increase in our coverage but we still need more help. We need more Apple II users to give some enthu- siasm and so keep the groups support of all Apple Machines. Comment. A Rosy Apple for 1988! Apple have made the start of 1988 one of re- newed confidence about the directions they are going. Three events that bring this confidence are: *The appointment of Keith Phillips as the new Managing Director of Apple U.K. which I con- sider to be a very important step. Mr Phillips has been the power behind the recent Apple success in this country and he has had time to get to know the U.K. business. I wish him success on behalf of the membership. ¢The launch at a reasonable price of the new Upgradeable LaserWriter series . ¢The upgrade of the existing 128/512k user base at a very reasonable cost. Add these events to the recent additions to the Apple Software Line like a new System, Multi- Finder, AppleFile Exchange and of course HyperCard and you have a real rosy year ahead. My enthusiasm is further enhanced by the possibilities for this year. We have newversions of Macintosh Software about to be released with really reasonable upgrade prices and we have the prospects of new machines including a portable, a powerful 68030 Mac II and a pos- sible high end SE with colour. So the message coming from Apple appears to be ‘stick with us, we are going places’. I am sure that you will all be looking at Apple Sy and hoping the predictions are correct. é 3) a April Issue I 5 +Major Apple Series from the United States. =y\ »AppleWorks Questions & Answers *P.C.Transporter - a full technical review. *ALGOL - An investigation. Blyth Software - Omnis Pages return. *Background - Your HyperCard pages. +Looking further into MultiFinder. And a whole 80 pages of unbiased Apple & Macintosh Reviews, News and Views. Page 2 Club News Roundup [es BABBS on the move. One of the oldest Bulletine Boards in the U.K. is our own BABBS. Set up about five years ago it has been heavily used by members and non-members alike. Our Sysop Tony Game has devoted many hours en- suring the board operated, even when he was unwell Tony has provided a sterling service toall and sundry. Alas Tony has had to give up his post under medical advice and the board has to move. This is asad event as all those that know Tony will realise and we all wish Tony well. Ewen Wannop has for many years been our top Comms expert, providing the group with unrivalled expertise in this field and helping Tony keep the board up-to-date. Ewen has agreed to take over BABBS from the end of Febru- ary and therefore keep this valuable service going. Ewen has already been prepar- ing for the move and he is busy planning a major improvement in the services offered. To coin- cide with this it has been de- cided to rename the board with a more apt name now that BASUG has been gone for so long. The new name is to be TABBS which stands for The Apple Bulletine Board Service. New features will include a greater number of areas and restructuring of the system to take it into the future. e EU HyperCard Stack from Apple2000. Look out for the Apple2000 stack on the U.K. version of HyperCard, The stack entitled Hot Mac Tips was produced by our Chairman Jim Panks at short notice and was the only User Group stack submitted. Jim said "It was nice to be able to produce something that would not only advertise the group but would show Apple and Users that Apple2000 was sincere in helping users to ob- tain more from their machines”, The stack is a cut down version of one being developed and gives_users sixty tips on vari- ous Macintosh Applications. Members will be offered the new enlarged stack at a re- duced price in the next few months. « SS . | A.G.M. in April | Plans are already well ad- vanced for the A.G.M. which will coincide with a General Workshop on April Sth at the Sir Mark Colett Pavilion in Kemsing, Sevenoaks. The venue is in ideal surround- ings close to major roads and offering easy access from the motorway network and from London just half an hour away by car or train. Come along and find out what your group is doing and also your problems. El New Layout The Apple2000 journal is about to get a new face lift with anew layout. The many enhance- ments to PageMaker in version 2.0 has allowed us to update the layout gradually over the last few issues and also given us time to look at new ideas. Some of those ideas will be put into practice in the coming is- sues to make a better pre- sented journal overall. So keep your eyes pealed for some more colour and special ef- fects! G EU Apple Il Person Wanted. We are looking for someone to collate and be responsible for the Apple Il material in the magazine. The job may sound difficult but for someone who wants to get involved in the Apple Il scene it is a chance of a life-time. The general idea is for either ‘one or two members to collate and sort tips, articles and other Apple II material for inclusion in the journal. The obvious headaches are deadlines - but this is the ideal job for someone who likes the Apple Il, can spare about six to eight hours a month and likes talking and liasing with other members. No DTP knowledge is required but you should have at least an | Apple Il machine and some | knowledge of the machine. O.Box or ring ib HUSHE for | more details. have an informative day solving | kx ==> ~~ Workshop2000 Plans are well advanced forthe first four workshops this year. March 12th sees a Macintosh Workshop in the small North Downs Village of Kemsing. The venue is a brand new pavilion with good accommodation and very close to both the rail and road network. The main aim of the workshop is for a general DTP session and a concurrent one on HyperCard. We have lined up many of those that write inthe magazine and those with expertise in both Hyper- Card, DTP and general Mac use. Itis going to be real fun and we should all go away with new ideas and techniques. No admission charge (small dona- tion for hire of hall) and Light Refreshments will be available and you are welcome to bring both your machine and your problems. The second workshop takes place on the following Saturday (16th March) in Kidderminster at the brand new Wyvern Ap- pleCentre, or as many of us know it as ‘Celtip Computers’. The chosen subjects are HyperCard and Semhing 1 Graphics. Again expect to find experts ready to answer your questions and give you sound solid advice. Many members will have an interest in the Scanning and Graphics area and this is an ideal time to gain some real information about the capabilities of the modern Mac graphics applications. The AGM will be held at Kemsing on the 9th April and we will be holding a joint Appie ll_and Macintosh Workshop. We will have a continuous ses- sion which will cover all areas on both Mac and Apple Il. You can bring your machine along if you wish but either way we would like you to come along and find out what the group is about and see if we can solve any of your problems. On the 16th April we will be holding an Apple Il only work- shop at the premises of Bidmuthin in Harrow. For Apple ll users the main event will be an overview of AppleWorks Enhancements from Steve Morisby one of the U.K.'s lead- ing experts and also a session on the newly arrived PC Trans- porter - the latest add-on to the Apple Il range. Hopefully you can attend one of these events - we are sure that you will enjoy yourself. —kx= CUlt~*~*s Wrong Number Thanks to an eagle eyed mem- bor Mr ALSALEH for alerting us to our deliberate mistake on the membership cards for this year. YES we got Dave Wards new HotLine number wrong. We have managed to correct most but some will have been sent before we spotted the mistake. Therefore we would ask members to check the HotLine Number and ensure it reads: Ll aes We are sorry for any inconvi- enience caused. z= & Graphic Artist Wanted Have we a graphic artist who uses a Macintosh? If so have we on who could give a few hours up each month to help design graphics for up and coming issues. We don't ex- pect the workload to encroach too much, and we can offer a small benefit like mentions and the chance to review any ap- propriate software. Not a lot of goodies but thats what sharing our expertise is all about. If you could spare a little time we would like to hear from you or you can ring the editor on 0732 61566 to chat about it. New Apple2000 Recommended Dealer Our latest addition to the exclu- sive A2000 User Friendly Rec- ommended Dealer List is BIT 32 the Liverpool Dealership who have recently moved into brand new premises. BIT32 have been at the forefront of helping the Disabled Computer User with the HeadStart work station, this was reported on in @ previous issue. BIT32 have a wide knowledge and understanding of the Apple range and are host to the Liver- pool Local User Group. Welcome aboard Roy Stringer and staff and thanks for putting up with us, « Page 3 Hotline News Another year has passed and I would like to thank all those Apple2000 members who have assisted with HOTLINE enquiries. Approximately 300+ enquiries are received each year about 50 of which I have to pass to other ex- pert members to assist. Any members who feel that they have expertise in any area associated with Apple computing and would not mind the odd mid-evening call please contact Tom Wright or myself; any help will be most appreciated. The HOTLINE number has passed into the unknown with the installation of a System X ex- change and the number has been changed (see page 6 for new num- ber). During the past two years a large proportion of the enquiries has been related to AppleWorks. This is probably caused by Apple- Works being so easy to use. Many questions about AppleWorks are in regard to its interfacing with printer cards and printers. If you have a hardware setup that is rare or was difficult to install, please write and let us know as there may be others out there that could benefit from such valuable infor- mation! Disabled Computing. A number of enquiries have been received concerning pro- grams and hardware for the blind such as Braille readers and gen- eral programs. Most of these en- quiries were received at a recent Macintosh show but some of the enquirers did not supply their ad- dresses! I would refer those inter- ested to the February 1987 issue of Apple2000 magazine where a few articles were published on the use of Apple computers by the blind and disabled. ProDOS 8 I receive the odd enquiry re- Page 4 by Dave Ward garding ProDOS 8. Apparently there is a little confusion concern- ing the way some ‘patches’ for ProDOS based programs are listed in the literature. The ProDOS commands BSAVE and BLOAD have been greatly enhanced compared with their DOS3.3 equivalents and under ProDOS it is possible to BSAVE or BLOAD parts of files, whatever the type! This allows one to patch a file without even BLOADing it into memory first! Let's see how :- ProDOS files are all basically the same in that the data is stored in blocks on the disk and all de- tails about the file are contained within the directory. There are 256 file types from $00 to $FF and some of these are also known by mnemonics ; $06=BIN. A few more of these relationships are listed in the in Table A below. File | Name | short type Description 04 | rer |; ceneral text file gos | wr | ; General binary file gor | pr | ; Directory file src | pas | ; applesoft BASIC file sre | pet | ; nelocatable binary file srr | sys | ; system binary file Table A A command new to ProDOS is CREATE, this allows you to CREATE any type of file but it is normally used to CREATE new DIRectory files, CREATE <FILENAME>, TSYS CREATE <FILENAME>, TSFF Both these examples CREATE a SYS file ; if you don’t specify the type a DiRectory file is CREATEd. Ifno file exists you must CREATE it before you may BSAVE to it unless the type is BIN or $06. Ifa file already exists it is pos- sible to BSAVE memory to any part of it if you specify it correctly and you can even append data to the end of it. You don't necessarily have to BLOAD it first. The method is used quite frequently for patching AppleWorks to cor- rect bugs or add what are consid- ered enhancements. To illustrate the method we will write a small AppleSoft program and then patch the file so that it does some- thing different! So write the fol- lowing AppleSoft program:- }10 REM HELLO ]20 PRINT “THERE!” ] SAVE HELLWHAT ] RON HELLWHAT ‘THERE! POKE768, 186 ] BSAVE HELLWHAT, TBAS,A768,B4,L1 )RON HELLWHAT HELLO THERE! If you were to CATALOG the disk- ette on which HELLWHAT resided you would no doubt see the fol- lowing:- HELLWHAT BAS 1 28-DEC-87 21:23 28-DEC-87 21:23 28 In AppleSoft the ‘tokens’ such as ‘PRINT’ & ‘REM’ are held as single bytes - REM = 178 & PRINT = 186 . So what we have done Is to locate the REM token in the file which is at byte 4 (start is byte 0) and then teplace it with the value of PRINT which fs 186. POKE 768,186 places the single byte in memory and the next line:- BSAVE HELLWHAT, TBAS,A768,B4,L1 specifies the file type as BAS (Ap pleSoft BASIC). The start of memory we wish to BSAVE is at memory location 768 (A768). The number of bytes we wish to BSAVE is 1 (L1) . Since we know that the token for REM is at byte 4 we specily (B4) continued on page 6 Even the most enthusiastic Macintosh owner has been heard to complain about one thing. Accounting Software. Indeed, many pundits have decided that Macintosh is “not an accounts machine”. Omnis Accounting changes all this. For the first time, you can get an accounts package for Macintosh that makes sound business sense. INTEGRATION Omnis Accounting offers you five powerful fully integrated ledgers. More than that, you can link your accounts into other Macintosh programs: from desk top publishing to databases. MULTI-USER Omnis Accounting offers you multi-user facilities simply and painlessly. Full record locking and cight-level password protection allow for data sharing with confidence. Omnis Accounting supports nine different networks including Symbiotic and 3Com file servers as well as Appleshare. CUSTOMISATION Our Registered Omnis Accounts Dealers and Developers can customise practically any aspect of Omnis Accounting to suit your business. Menus, screens, mouse commands, BLYTH SOFTWARE For more details of product and a list of Registered Omnis Accounts Dealers, clip the coupon or ring Blyth Software today. i To Blyth Software Limited, Mitford House, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 1JS. Please send me details and dealer list for Omnis Accounts. Name Company Address | I | | Position I | | Telephone ee "THERE’S NO ACCOUNTING FOR MACINTOSH. UNTIL NOW. dialogue boxes and reports can be specified in as much detail as you wish, as well as adding new data fields. MANAGEMENT REPORTS Using Omnis 3 Plus you can customise Omnis Accounting reports, to produce precisely the information you need for running your business. Omnis Accounting has been developed from Omnis 3 Plus, the world’s most widely used development tool for Macintosh. What's more Omnis Accounting comes from the Blyth Omnis team, so you can be certain that we've made the most of the power of Omnis und the flexibility of the Macintosh interface. If you've been searching for accounting software to make the most of your Macintosh, take a look at Omnis Accounting now. If you'd like the benefit of some expert assistance, we have a network of trained dealers and experienced developers who can customise Omnis Accounts to your requirements. Blyth Software Ltd, Mitford House, Benhall, Saxmundham, Suffolk [P17 1JS Telephone 0728 3011 a Hotline News @ The best thing is to try it and see! Using a variation of this method you could, from an Apple- soft BASIC program. copy files of any type even those that would be too big to fit into memory in one bite! All you do is to CREATE the destination file type and then se- quentially BLOAD portions of the file and then BSAVE them. Some ROM going on's! Many readers will have learned of the apparent existence of ROM update chips for the Apple IIGS computer in Apple 2000 maga- zine and from sources in America. In fact many magazines in the US of A were making this fact known to their readers early in Septem- ber 1987 and many readers pur- chase American magazines and read bulletin boards. Now it would appear, from a conversation with somebody from Apple Computer UK, that UK Apple IIGS owners are not in- cluded yet because they (Apple Computer UK) have not decided what to do about it! The Apple IIGS was launched world-wide on the same day so why cannot updates be handled the same way? Should we come first since we pay more for ourma- chines? Perhaps Apple Computer UK would let us know exactly just what is happening. The reason for this little note is that I have been asked the question on a few occa- sions and with some embarrass- ment had to say that I didn't know. Perhaps John Sculley or Jean Louis Gassee know the an- swer? Apple Computer UK should treat existing owners of Apple JI plus, Apple //e, Apple //c com- puters with some respect; even if its only because they haven't yet got a Macintosh II ! Incidentally similar problems with Macintosh upgrades have been bought tomy attention. Page 6 The date today is ?? Two members have contacted me regarding problems with Pro- DOS 1.1.1 which does not give the correct date in 1988. In fact the year is given as 1982. Many clocks supplied by third parties did not provide the year so this had to be input by the user. When ProDOS was introduced an algorithm was written to help cal- culate the year from data provided by clocks that did not include the year. Because there are just 7 days in a week and leap years tend to occur when the last two digits divide equally by four, excepting the last year of certain centuries where the number does not divide equally by 400 (eg 1900). It seems only possible for the algorithm to calculate 6 years at a time. ProDOS 1.1.1 works for the 6 years through 1982 to 1987. A simple patch will make it work for the six years 1985 to 1991. The following patch should work :- 1] Boot a ProDOS 1.1.1 diskette into Applesoft BASIC when the ] prompt should appear. 2] Enter UNLOCK PRODOS HOTLINE SERVICE | YOUR ANSWER TO QUESTIONS ON ANY APPLE OR MACINTOSH RELATED PROBLEMS. AVAILABLE 1900 - 2100 HOURS MONDAY TO FRIDAY. RING YOUR RESIDENT BOFFIN DAVE WARD ON ed BEIT SP 3] Enter BLOAD PRODOS, TSYS, A$2000 followed by the carriage return 4] Enter CALL 151 followed by the carriage return when you should see the * prompt. 5] Enter 4F76:5A 59 58 58 57 56 5B followed by the carriage return. 6] Enter 0G followed by the carriage return when the AppleSoft prompt | should reappear. 7] Enter BSAVE PRODOS, TSYS,A$2000,L14848 followed by the carriage return. The deed is done! Notice the sequence 5A =90 1990 59=89 1989 58= 88 1988 58=s88 1988 57 = 687 1987 56 = 86 1986 SB=91 ig91 The first column is in Hexa- decimal and the sequence can be updated by replacing the lowest value with the next number; eg. replace 56 with 5C which corre- sponds to 92 (1992). Always move up the table and note that leap years have two entries. When you reach the top start over from the bottom. Of course a simpler way would be to update to a later version of ProDOS -the latest I know of is version 1,4. This version will work until 1991. It is only possible for Apple to update their algorithm every 3 or 4 years. « Local Group News Cabbage ear! Must have been too much Christ- mas pudding about or something during the last few weeks, local group activity in some areas has very definitely been low key to say the least. My own seasonal acqui- sitions included one of those tele- phones designed for the idle (i.e. me) which can be operated with- out having to actually pick the handset up. I have been very pleased with this new toy but not a little surprised at the number of people who have pointedly asked “yew usin one of them funny phones then ? *. Funny phones indeed, the thing has already saved me considerable discomfort by helping me to avoid the ‘cab- bage ear’ complaint from which I have suffered in the past while engaged in telephone sessions in connection with club work. Down South Geof Parsons and the South- ampton Group send their best wishes for the new year to all Apple users. The Southampton Group meets every two weeks on Friday evenings with their Janu- ary meetings being timed for the 8th and 22nd of the month, work the rest out for yourselves, or better still contact Geof and make sure that you have the correct dates. Meetings start at 7.0pm and Geof tells me that the last one ended at about 1.0am when eve- tyone was thrown out. must be worth having a look at that group. The group is now firmly estab- lished having held about twenty meetings to date, with a hard core of about twelve members at each meeting. Various demonstrations have been given at past meetings including a visit to the club by MacEurope. The group is primar- ily Macintosh but all Apple Users will be welcome there. by Tom Wright Dorset Duo Our man from Dorchester, alias Ron Hoare, is still looking for other Apple }[ users in his part of Dorset. The response so far has been limited to Stuart (who hails from Bournemouth) but they have already established a fruitful ex- change of ideas. Ron will continue to seek contact with other users in the area so if you are one of the many Apple ][ owners/users in that area please contact him. During his search for contacts Ron will be approaching the local Apple dealer, that's a good idea that may be worth following up by other groups which have a good dealer in their area. Ron has tried to make contact with a Local Government based user group which suppos- edly exists in the Weymouth area but so far without success. If you know anything about that group please let him know. By the way, during my last conversation with Ron hetold me that he is now using a ribbon re-inking device (pur- chased from MGA Microsystems), I think the name of it is Macinker, and he highly recommends it. Now there's a thought fora useful group purchase to help reduce consum- able costs for members, I wonder if my local group might be interested in one ? Liverpool Town The revival of the Liverpool Group which saw the first group meeting on 11-1-88 at the prem- ises of Bit32 (dealer) which are located in the Brunswick Business Park, Liverpool. Irene reports over a dozen people at this first meeting and hopefully more at the following one. Anyone interested should contact Irene at the number pro- vided in the contacts list to find out more about the group. Users of all Apple machines will be welcome. Why not pop along and join in? Vacancy Ihave less happy news about the Glasgow Group, Donald Davidson who has been the group contact has moved away from the area and so far there is no volunteer to replace him. Donald sent me a very nice letter and it is obvious that he worked very hard to establish a sound operating base for the group which has been meeting over the last three years. The group has ceased operations until a volun- teerappears. Ifanyone from that area is interested in helping to provide themselves and other Apple users with club activities please contact me. We will give whatever help we can to help keep things going. AsI have said before local group work need not take up too much of your time and the benefits to be derived from association with other us- ers can be considerable. My con- gratulations to Donald for the excellent work that he has done in trying to provide a forum for Apple users in that area. N.East News Philip Dixon informs me that the North East Apple User Group is gong strong with regu- lar meetings being held. Meet- ings are usually attended by a small hard core of members with others turning up at various meetings. The venue has been varied a little with some meet- ings being held in member's homes but the basic venue con- tinues as reported in the con- tacts listing. The group would like to hear from anyone who is prepared to go along and talk with them, or demonstrate to them. Continued on page 9 = Page7 Oc APPLE DEDICATED GROUPS STARTING-UP DONCASTER - SOUTH YORKSHIRE Colin Withington, a Mac User in the Doncaster Area is starting a User Group. Colin can be contacted on ‘itil til) several people have contacted Colin so it could be a fiyer! DORCHESTER CONTACT Ron Hoare Tel : (iitiit. tiiartt Aeolus, 11 Redbridge Road, Crossways, Dorchester, Dorset. LEEDS CONTACT Bob Miller (jititt: T Veluppillai Both interested in helping to form a group in this area. ae ACTIVE APPLE DEDICATED GROUPS APPLE Il PROGRAMMERS CLUB CONTACT Philip Dixon TEL : (iain) VENUE — None — operates as a postal group via a monthly newsletter BENTWATERS APPLE USER GROUP CONTACT John Thomas Tel :\iiiit#: SYM) VENUE = RAF. Woodbridge MEETS — 7.00pm first Tuesday of each month BRISTOL GROUP ( B.AU.D) CONTACT, MIKE FARMER Tel - eT , Three MEETS 7th of each month, or the Friday nearest if the 7th falls on a weekend. BURNLEY APPLE USER GROUP CONTACT Rod Tumough Tel =i ii VENUE — Michelin Sports Centre MEETS — 2nd Wednesday of each month CAMBRIDGE APPLE USER GROUP Contacts fan Archibald Tel: 0223-311157 Richard Tol; ijebetwatet fray? Venue Parish Hall of St 's Church, Barton Meets Feng aoe ‘between Apple J al jn ee rangle dates are Mac 3-2-88 fipln [728k Cheek ah bar Richard CROYDON APPLE USERS GROUP CONTACT Graham Attwood Tel : 19) tiliiifiait VENUE —_ 515, Limpfield Road, Warlingham, Surrey MEETS —7.30pm on the third Thursday. EAST MIDLANDS MAC USER GROUP _ CONTACT Nick Helm Tel: iis aiiFAse VENUE — Willord Cricket & Rugby Club, Nottingham MEETS 8.00pm on the first and third Wednesday EDINBURGH GROUP CONTACT Ricky Pollock Tol = 1H) Fiat VENUE — Proteus Micro Systems, 55, Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH? 1LH MEETS — Monthly, check with Ricky. Page 8 roup hex ESSEX GROUP CONTACT Pat Bermingham Tel : ini ait rie VENUE The Y.MC.A, Victoria Road, Chelmsford MEETS Third Friday of every month GATEWAY COMPUTER CLUB CONTACT Phil Herberer Tel: (Eriswell) 2itit) VENUE — Bob Hope Recreation Centro, R.AF Mildenhall MEETS — AMS conlerence room, Mildenhall base. Normally at weekends, check with Verne. HANTS & BERKS GROUP CONTACT Mike Hollyfield Tel :\ivfits /iintit) VENUE Toanee = Valey Systams 128 Hah Maidenhead, Berkshire, SLE 1PT MEETS 00m on the second Monday. HERTS & BEDS GROUP CONTACT Norah Amold Tel =(]#iHibG;HH 1b VENUE The Oi Schoo, 1, Branch Roe, Park Street Vilage, St Albans, Herts. MEETS 8.00pm on the first Tuesday. KENT GROUP CONTACT Richard Daniels Tel : iiifiisiitiati VENUE MEETS —_ 7.30pm on last Monday of each month. LIVERPOOL GROUP CONTACT Irene Flaxman Tel : (fit <itiiitiiy VENUE —_Bit32 Brunswick Business Park, Liverpool MEETS — Check with Irene. LONDON APPLE Il COMPUTER CLUB CONTACT Chris Williams Tel :({)-cifitlititt VENUE Studio 8, Wharfedale Projects, Wharfedale Road, London, Ni SSE MEETS 6.00pm, first Wednesday of every month. LONDON MACINTOSH GROUP CONTACT Maureen de Saxe Tel : /}\ fiitisitiil VENUE ae 683, London University Institute of :ducation, Bedford Way, London, WCt MEETS A 00pm on the second Tuesday. MACINTOSH USER GROUP (CAMBRIDGE) CONTACT Patrick Winterson Tel : (iit datith VENUE —_ Formal venue now established. MEETS — Every three months. MACTAFF - SOUTH WALES MAC GROUP CONTACT Lorrain Thomback Tel » iiiiib(itintitia) VENUE — Apple Cente South Wales, Longcross Court, 47 Newport Road, Cardiff MEETS — 7.00pm on the first Thursday MIDAPPLE CONTACT Tom Wright Tel -/iiiiiiy (uit th VENUE —1T.E.C., Tildasley Street, West Bromwich, MEETS 7.00pm on the second Friday. SOUTH EAST ESSEX MAC GROUP. CONTACT Mick Foy Tel: iifHii 32 VENUE DPS, Acom House, Little Oaks, Basildon, Essex. MEETS First Monday of every month Microspot 5-11, London Road, Maidstone. THE MIDLAND MAC GROUP CONTACT Wan Knezovich Tel : (iiilisatfien ft VENUE — Spring Grove House, West Midland Safari Park, Bewdley, Worcestershire. MEETS — 8.00pm on tho first Tuesday . THE NORTH EAST APPLE USER GROUP CONTACT Philip Dixon Tol : atts siti VENUE —AppleCentre North East, Ponteland Road, Ponteland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne MEETS First Wednesday of every month THE NORTH WEST APPLE COMPUTER CLUB CONTACT vim Rosco Tel : its itt) VENUE —_ Horse & Jockey Pub., Winwick Road, Warrington MEETS First Monday of every month POOLE MACINTOSH USER GROUP. CONTACT David Huchie Tel : 0202-68441 VENUE Deverill Computers (Dealer) hec House, 34-40, West Street, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1LA MEETS Four times per year. SOUTHAMPTON CONTACT Geoff Parson Tel : (iiltutiititit | Tie | VENUE = January meetings were on the 8th and 22nd Contact Geoff for details. MULTI-INTEREST GROUPS WITH APPLE USERS AMONG THE MEMBERSHIP CREWE COMPUTER USERS CLUB CONTACT Paul Edmonds 2 tiay Fis lfiiive (Sivayey, Givativit, WP) (Lab VENUE — Christ Church Hall, Crewe MEETS Fortnightly, Fridays, 7.30pm to 10.00pm LEICESTER GROUP 7 CONTACT Bob Bown Tel :/iiithii Fai VENUE Shakespeare Pub, Braunstone Lane, Leicester MEETS — 7.30pm to 10.0pm on first Wednesday . THE NORTH WEST APPLE USERS GROUP CONTACT Max Parrot (iii ffi iat? aE a AH, Hs AE VENUE Sat House (2nd floor), University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology, Sackville St, Manchester, 8.00pm on the 3rd Thursday of month WEST MIDLANDS AMATEUR ou CLUB CONTACT John Tracey Tel : tities “iltiry VENUE Hill Crest School, Simms Lane, MEETS: Netherton, Near Dudley. MEETS — 7.00pm on the 2nd & 4th Thursday. APPLE DEDICATED GROUPS IRREGULAR ACTIVITY FURNESS AREA CONTACT Alan Curtiss Tel ; /ithdH)((7) NOTE There has been more activity in this area recently, | have been unable to contact Alan for some time so check with him yourself. APPLE USERS IN CONTACT NO ORGANIZED GROUP HARROGATE AREA CONTACT Peter Sutton Tel : (Miia Beene Sag Apple users in contact with each other. This list is updated bi-monthly Last updated 30th January 1988 Local Group News Busy Burnley The Burnley Group is reported to be alive and kicking by Rod Turnough, Apparently they may consider allowing expansion of user interest to admit non-Apple users in the future but no firm decisions have been made yet. Members in the area are invited to contact Rod to arrange to visit/ join the group. N.West changes The North West Apple User Group have changed the timing of their meetings, they are now held on the 3rd Thursday of each month, Max Parrot told me that attendance at the meetings now varies between forty and sixty, and that the number of Macintosh using members has increased considerably. Sounds as if the group's health is steadily improv- ing. MidMac Meets @ Now that I have a dual pass- port I have been along to a couple of The Midland Mac Group’s meetings and have thoroughly en- joyed myself. In the process I have discovered that my deliberate error (that's my story anyway) concerning start time for each meeting has not been picked up. If anybody is thinking of going along to one of their meetings please note that they start at 8.00pm, not 7.00pm as previ- ously reported. Both of the meet- ings that I have been to varied in number of people attending, but there was lively conversation. plenty of demonstrations and lots of friendly advice. Most of the members appear to be business oriented. MidApple thrives MidApple continues in a healthy manner with regular pres- entations/topics at every meeting. The January meeting included two demonstrations of Music creation packages on the Mac by Harry Gardiner and Guy Wilday. Both demonstrations used Bose speak- ers which I found fairly impressive, the only thing that I was left feeling a little unsure about was the fact that there ts no direct volume con- trol over the speakers. However they sounded good and if I under- stood our friendly Apple dealer correctly they cost about £250.00 - worth investigating!. Two into One Ihave just received a letter from an Archibald of the Cambridge Apple User Group. The letter is most interesting having been pre- pared with some sort of linear data recording device which is called an “On The Train No Apple !”, that’s a new one on me, perhaps Ian will find time to write us a review of it one day. Ian's news is that the group ts not only going strong, but is now organizing itself into two sections one for the Apple ][ and one for the Mac. Ian is the contact for Apple }{. and Richard Boyd is the contact for Macintosh. There is also a change of venue and timing as you will see in the contact list. Healthy group with a lot of poten- tial for helping each other and any other Apple users who are in the area, Congratulations on the prog- ress. Goodbye Bob Final group item for this issue is to mention that Bob Hall who did such a lot of work for our friends at the Gateway Club has now re- turned to the U.S.A., lam sure that all Gateway members are grate- ful to him for his efforts and a lot of friends who will miss his com- panionship and advice. The con- tact is now Verne Anderson. This club is one of the largest in the country having an average mem- bership of about 150 and cover- ing all makes of computer. The Apple part of the club is very active and is itself larger than many other clubs. Well worth a visit if you can get there. So we have suffered our first loss from the contact list since I began to cover it, I'm sad about that and would dearly like to see the Glasgow group get going again. The good news about the rebirth of the Liverpool group has cheered me up and the signs of growth in Cambridge are also encouraging. Availability of people willing to function as guest speakers at various club meetings is an area where several clubs require help. Ifanyone is willing to do so please either contact the groups that are within your range, or let me know and I'll include details in this column. Exchange of infor- mation is really what the groups are looking for so don't think that you have to be an expert lecturer, anybody with experience in a particular area will probably be surprised at the number of people who will welcome a visit from them. Work permitting, I'll be in con- tact with some of the other groups before the next issue of this magazine, anybody who wants to ensure that their group is mentioned in an issue can achieve that end by not waiting for me to contact them, drop me a line or ring me. Finally, I shall be moving house sometime dur- ing the next few weeks so if any- body has any difficulty contact- ing me that will be the reason, if you can't get me on GF F-F 845 leave a message with Irene Flaxman, or write to mevia Irene. Page 9 Members Letters Local Group - South Dorset Dear Editor, | wrote to you way back in August ex- pressing my interest in forming a User Group in South Dorset. Your advert in Apple2000 produced one interested party living in Bournemouth. | made contact and we have exchanged information on our respective machines and | at least feel “there is hope in the outbacks"! My rea- son for writing again is twofold. Firstly to thank Tom Wright (who telephoned the other night asking about how things were going), for his support and encourage- ment in my efforts to form a new group, and secondly to sign the praises of a machine | have recently purchased which Tom thought readers might be interested in, "The Machine” Ihave purchased various items from MGA Microsystems of Kent and one wet Sun- day afternoon was brousing through one of their many books when | noticed an advert for a "Mac Inker". "Mac Inker ... over 70,000 sold in the USA... re-ink your ribbons up to forty times ... better than original ribbon ... etc. etc.“ So | bought one for my Imagewriter ribbons. Well | have re-inked my ribbons, only once so far, at a cost of approximately 20p each. Yes, the quality is as good, possibly bet- ter, than the original, certainly on Mousepaint and programmes such as Printshop and Newsroom. | will let you know if they will re-ink forty times, around the year "2000". Seriously, a very good buy as far as | am concerned. Easy and cheap to use though a little expensive in initial pur- chase. | am sure it could prove beneficial for User Groups if they purchase the Universal Inker which handles, at a little extra cost, a variety of ribbons. Ron Hoare Dorchester Reply‘) Thanks for your letter Ron, | am glad to see that you are persevering with starting a local group, many members will attest to the usefulness of meeting and exchanging ideas, tips and hints with other like-minded users. | started some seven years ago on the 16k Apple Il and have found the experience rewarding in both social contacts and in gaining knowl- edge of the machines. | am glad you have found help from Tom Wright, he does try and he has made a note of your group in his Local Groups column. Let's hope that you get some more members soon! Ed. @ Page 10 More Apple Il please! Dear Sir | write to you on several subjects. | have after much deliberation just sent in my £25 membership renewal fee for 1988. | say after much deliberation not because being a member is of financial consideration, far from it, | consider that | have saved my membership fee five times over during 1987, however | could be wrong but lam finding the Journal becom- ing more Mac orientated. | do not restrict this comment only to the Apple 2000 Journal but | also find this the case of ‘Apple User’ and have written in the past on this subject to them, I do not feel | am alone in this view, but maybe we are just becoming victims of progress and our machines are becoming dated? On another subject, | feel a word of warn- ing to any of the members who at present receive a modest tlephone bill and con- sider joining The Force and Telecom Gold. My average telephone bill over the past two years has been about £20 per quar- ter, imagine my shock, ney, horror! to receive the latest bill £34.00! !!! Then just to add insult to injury | received the 'Force/Gold' charges fora ONE month poriod £20.00, Estimate that if you will to around £94 per quarter for the combined charge and, you guessed it | have sent off my intention to withdraw from use of the system, | would not mind if felt |had had something for my money but all | done was look through a few pages on about four or five occasions and I don't think | am any the better for it, the most interesting thing | found was the scale of charges and | now have some ready experience of that! Ihave recently purchased several pieces of Software (from the recommended dealers, of course) amongst them the Colour version of Print Shop and Printrix Version 1.11. While | have enjoyed using both these items (have not done too much with Printrix yet) they are both programs that cost me in excess of £50 each and | wonder can | really justify paying the prices being asked for software for my own personal use, why do we Apple Users have the most expensive machine when it comes to feeding time, the only consolation being the vast amount and variety of software available for the Apple. For all my moans | would like to say that it is my intention to stay loyal to the Apple I+, Apple //e and Apple //c machines | have at present and that if anyone wants to give mea GS | would be quite happy to add that to my collection! Finally may | say that | appreciate the way in which you keep seperate the Apple II and Mac intems within the Journal, the only comment | might make is on the quality of some of the copies | have re- ceived over the past 18 months, occa- sionally | receive a copy with a couple of pages that due to a lack of ink on paper make reading hard work. Paul Warwick Trowbridge, Wilts. Reply] Hello Paul,! will answer your letter in reverse order if | may. The print quality is something that | hold dear to my heart, after allit takes me about 250 hours every two months to put the mag together - please accept my apolo- gies for receiving a bad copy - if this happens please give us aring and we will ensure you get a decent copy. Prices of all Apple related products are high - see my comments in the last few issues - | am at a loss to explain the reasons! Your remarks about the Force are correct - we have made representations to BT about the hike in price and we have been told that OFTEL caused the rise. Anyway we will hopefully have the answer soon when our new BBS goes on line. (see elsewhere) Finally you have hit the nail on the head over Apple II material in the magazine, | can quite easily fill up the whole mag with Macintosh articles and news because members write and products appear all the time. Jon Gurr (MGA) has given the membership a good offer to keep the Apple Il going, it is now up to the members to respond. We have a few things that will ensure material including an offer by a U.S. publisherto use some of his material. We have made representations to Apple (UK) and hopefully we may have re- sponse. a Beer drinking llc Dear Sir, Ithoroughly enjoy the magazine, and look forward to receiving it. | should, however much like to meet any fellow Apple Busi- ness Users in my area. | have tried “Midapple" but they seem more interested in computing than business - apart from meeting at a very inconvenient time for a publican. | use my lic a great deal for keeping track of the cash in the business, and for stock control, printing price lists etc, but feel | don't make anything like full use of it - | only use "Appleworks” which | find excellent, but feel | am missing out. Perhaps someone could suggest a course | could attend. Barry Connoll Tinie: Seate eriiegi beth i EHD = caG THE WORLD’S\FASTEST. DISK DRIVE plusDISK isa MAJOR breakthrough in storage technology, combining the /ightning performance of a. RAMDisk with the convenience of a hard disk! No other storage device can match the sheer speed of plusDISK (over 20,000 times faster thama hard disk). \t haSno moving parts, makes no’noise and plugs straight into any*standard slot in a Il+)},//e or IGS. CHECK OUT THE PERFORMANCE: SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES: (times in mSecs) Oiski) Ook HardDnk phudisx —_— (times in Secs) Dati) Oak Hei Switch-on to AppleWorks 12.9 9.2 123 1.0 Maximum access time 1130 445 320 0.001 » Load 147K AppleWorks file 73.0 55.0 31.6 248 Average access time 490 270 90 0.001 Savel47K AppleworksFile 79.0 58.0 265 17.2 Maximum data transfer Switch-on to MouseDesk 29.3 28.0 185 3.6 rate (Kbytes/second) 62.5 31.25 530 10234 118K File Copy 111.0 93.0 32.7 11.0 {rested on /ie using 192K phusDish? plusDISK comes fitted with 128K°of superfast, law-power permanent storage Memory.and is easily expandable to 512K»on the base cardj.and up to Megabyte with an add-on Adaptor. It is 100% Compatible with all standard Apple operating systems and programs (ProDOS),ProDOS16;,, Pascal, CP/M, DOQS3.3, AppleWorks, etc.) and can eVen be used by. AppleWorks for desktop expansion! Membry.Controtier Unit ~ A full AdaDtg, connector for custom tS} CMOS%circuit expanviol to.) Megabyte specially designed by CIRTECH {D Selector Switch “plusDISK\con be Configured t0"lgok like"e, hard diak, ‘or a RAMcard Expansion sockets “forsup,.to 512K memory on the main card On-board firmware, containgtull SmartPort, ProDOS &,DOS3 3 support 128K of high speed low-power memory t MéHorye protection circuit prevents date corfuption during Apple switch-on/off You can start up any standard Apple program.in.a fraction of. the-normaltime and your data files can be’storéed on plusDISK just like any other disk, but they are /nstantly accessible as soon as you turn your Apple on! plusDISK is supplied with-partitioning software which lets you store ProDOS, Pascal 1.3, DOS 3°3 and-CP/M programs on your expanded plusDISK — a// at the-same time! And if you're thinking a device with this amazing performance must cost a fortune. —you're wrong! plusDISK costs less than an ordinary disk drive! £128 (Each additional 64K Expansion costs £16.00) Prices exclude VAT CIRTECH.(UK) LIMITED, Currie Road Industrial Estate, Galashiels Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 2BP Telephone (0896) 57790 @ Telex 265871 (Attn. 84:CPD001)~Telecom Gold Source Mailox-AANSS [FE | \\ are registered trademarks of Apole Computer In. CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Reseach Inc Members Letters Continued from page 10 Reply] Thanks for the letter and compli- ments, lam sorry to hear of your plight but can sympathise. | realise that getting to a meeting on a Friday for a publican is difficult and even more so on a Saturday when we organise a workshop - however 1 can recommend the Apple Il Workshop on April 16th, it's on a Saturday and itis in North London but | am sure that you will gain as much benefit as from a mid-week £125 course. Jim Watson, a member runs his Margate pub on his Apple system - maybe he can give you some tips? If any other members are in a position to help please contact Barry direct. Ed What Upgrade? Dear Mr. Panks In the October issue of Apple2000, Mr Attwood, in his column about the IIGS, mentioned that there were two free up- grades for this machine. Accordingly, I took this up with the dealers my GS came from, Wharncliffe Business Systems Ltd., who had not heard of the suggested updates; nor when they tele- phoned Apple UK, had they! On further pressing by me, they wrote to Apple who replied in the following terms:- 'The offer Is only available to the United States Users as the parts are not necessary for Cork manufactured equipment. We suggest that your Client's magazine should check its sources more thoroughly in future”. In the light of this rather caustic comment, Mr. Attwood may have something to say to Apple? May | say how much | continue to enjoy Apple 2000 and particularly its new for- mat? There is just one aspect that does concern me and that is the great prepon- derance of Mac material. As I recall, your own survey showed that Mac users repre- sent a very small proportion of your read- ers and it does seem a shame to devote 0 much space to the Mac. To turn to something different, there was a mave some years ago, to produce an index of BASUG's disc library with a meaningful description of each disc. Was this ever completed and, if so, is it pos- sible to obtain a copy. lam sure that there is an enormous amount of useful and entertaining material there but if nobody knows what is there.......... John Nottingham Reply) John, | was on the other end of a telephone in October attempting to give Page 12 an employee at Apple UK the reason why we published that item, at this time we are still in contact with Apple over this matter. To explain the situation would take ages so hear is the short version: We are in contact with User Groups in the States and they have been informed by Apple Inc that the ROM's and the Video chip have bugs in them. They are being changed by Apple Inc. We obviously got this info hot from the U.S. and believe that our mem- bers are entitled to this info. However Apple U.K. had not and still have not decided on the policy for the upgrade. They say it is not required we are waiting for more info. The other point about Mac v Apple Il has changed dramatically over the last six * months but we still intend supporting the i range. See my comments elsewhere. The disk library problem was never fin- ished and you point is taken - more info next issue. Ed. « MacSolicitor Dear Sirs, | was delighted to see that contrary to my beliefs there is another solicitor who wants to use Apple Macintosh in their practice. Untilnow Ibelieved that we were the only practice using them in our office. We at present have a network of 25 Macintoshes on an Apple Share network. In conjunction with the country's foremost Omnis programmer | have developed a number of packages that are suitable for solicitors practice. These packages are available for distribution. At the present time | have a Solicitors Accounts Package which will shortly be available for sale and anybody who might be interested in further details should contact me at the address below. David Steene Eyezieg), (heritage & 6 ‘Silda eaves pay aT aaa aa Tay (Date Si higi aad! (tha ati (1 7 hentai (twiaed) Sault) isizirraw Reply) Thank you for your letter, it is amazing what Mac's are used for and perhaps you may wish to let us have a small article on your application of the Mac in your business. Omnis 3 still has the upper hand in speed and | find it much easier to use than 4th Dimension which has a learning curve like learning to program ‘C’ - | hope that your package is successtul. é Calling Radio Hams Dear Jim Panks Being an oldfashioned Apple //+ user (since 1981) | have been a member since 1983 and had to decide on membership renewal for 1988. Inspite of the excellent presentation of Apple2000 in its current form there is relatively little news/earning material for the ‘//+ user’, Time is passing on, new Apple kit appears on the market and, quite understandably, the user group(s) follow suit. In the USA the situation is somewhat different. There, Apple is almost a (double) house- hold name and consequently specialised magazines like Nibble flourish, confirming the strong base Apple has in that large country. Inthe UK Appleis not all that prominent for the simple reason that Apple equipment always has been and still is grossly over- prized viz locally developed/marketed microcomputers and peripherals, However | fully agree with the calls in this magazine for more user participation if we wish to keep the */ family" alive and healthy. Consequently, | have decided to support Apple2000 for another year and hope to be able to make a perSonal contribution to the magazine in 1988. As a licenced radio amateur | make good use of my Apple, initially as a morse trainer (receiving as well as sending). Currently | apply Appleworks as an data- base-log book which provides me with a fast callsign retrieval facility. My trusty //+ also serves as an intelligent Packet Radio terminal interfacing with the transceiver via a home made modem and VIA card, making use of public domain software developed by a German amatour with callsign DL2MDL. The purpose of these lines is to find out whether there are radio amateurs among the readership using their machine in the shack. For those who are training for the morse test to obtain an "A" licence | have avail- able some very useful "morse" programs in Applesoft and Integer Basic (all public domain). Sending a 5 1/4 floppy and a ssae will do. (Preah Divvigiens Eb iWtewsssitdle: Dive (Pravaleettivese Shai iavvidl AUB 411 Reply] Thanks for your letter and sup- port. Apple have released figures which suggest that the Apple Il is doing well in other countries - Apple UK have decided that they will concentrate on the Macinosh in this country. However with the member- ships help we can keep the Apple II alive Members Letters in the U.K. | hope that any Radio Hams will contact you - perhaps a short article on using an Apple in that area would be of interest to others. é Supporting the Apple Il - 1 Dear Mr Panks Firstly, | should like to tell you how much l enjoy the user group magazine. |amone ofthe many Apple //e users who would like to see more articles and reviews of inter- estto us, we seem to be swamped by Mac related topics. As you so rightly point out itis up to the membership to try to redress the balance a bit by submitting articles for publication. Having read Jon Gurr's open letter in the recent issue | should like to take up the offer of reviewing software and submitting the reviews to you. Perhaps you could arrange for me to start off with some of the new ‘Timeout’ series. | am particularly interested in the following: Timeout Desktools - Timeout Spell - Timeout Ultramacros - Timeout Graph should perhaps say at this stage that !am not a ‘computer buff" and know virtually nothing about programming, but | am a sufficiently experienced user, of several years standing, to be able to assess soft- ware from the point of view of the user, with particular reference to its ease of use, performance, the comprehensibility of the associated manual, and value for money. Audrey F. Friend Droitwich Spa Worcs, Reply] Thanks for your support, we are at present putting together a system to ensure that all the offers we have received are dealt with. User reviews are what we want and you do not have to be an ‘expert’ to review software. All we are looking for are honest users views as to the suitability of software for the tasks they are de- signed for. We will be in touch shortly with regard to your kind offer. e Supporting the Apple Il - 2 Dear Sir, The offer made by Jon Gurr (MGA Mi- crosystems) in his letter on page 7 of the December issue of Apple2000 leads me to ask whether you might like to consider me as an occasional reviewer. Specifically | am currently interested in reviewing (a) Publish-It' and/or (b) ‘Per- sonal Newsletter’ Dr. B.P, Stark Cambridge Reply] Thanks for your offer we will be contacting you shortly to make arrange- ments for a review. « Supporting the Apple Il -3 Dear Jim, Enjoyed latest Apple2000, as usual, | would like to review ‘Apprentice C' and the Prime Plotter - in that order for MGA and ourselves. | already own Aztec Dos 33 & Prodos 'C’ which | would have reviewed by now except that there is a flaw in the Math.lib which | am in the middle of sorting with Manx. | also use a plotter. Avery helpful idea of Jon Gurr. (MGA). Michael Tickle Otford, Sevenoaks Reply] Thanks for your support - we look forward to your reviews in the future. The Apple Il section should take off again shortly! « Not Happy! Dear Sir SIMPLE LETTER WITH QUESTIONS My reluctance to renew membership 1988 and disillusionment with Apple2000 is supported by recent comment viz. lack of support for Apple Il users. To me Apple2000 is ‘support Mackintosh’ cater- ing only for high fliers - | can't speak the language. Earlier this year | purchased an Apple II Eu- roplus, disc drives and Epson printer, sec- ond hand, yes (what a relief it must have been for someone). | have Format 80 (doesn't work) Multiplan (only 40 columns) 80 column ACE (Franklyn) doesn't work. Dave Ward's ‘Hotline’? froze when | ap- pealled for help. He asked me to contact another user and promised to write me some backup. | did not relish the idea of in- vading someone elses privacy with my problems and Dave's promise was never fulfulled. Please appreciate my feeling of abandon- ment. R. Cook Sunderland. Reply]/am sorry to hearof yourcomplaints about the hotline service - Dave Ward deals with over 300 members each year and yours is the first complaint. You say that you do not relish the idea of invading someone elses privacy but you would not be if Dave has asked you to contact him. We have to rely on members expertise thats what the club is all about. No one in the club is the Guru‘ we all help each other. Your comment about the Apple II and Mac has been answered elsewhere and with the memberships help we can over- come this problem. The problems you have had with the software | can't com- menton- to say that they justdo not work is as far as | am concerned not enough. | hope that you are able to overcome your problems. é The Fractal Apple Il Dear Editor, Find attached examples of various ‘Fractal’ including the Mandelboot set generated on my Apple Ile and Epson dot matrix printer. These are mostly photocopy reductions as some of the plots are at the 1600 x 1600 pixel level. (None of them are screen dumps). | have written the programs in Applesoft. | could produce a picture gallery article with brief comment or add a discussion of the listings. On a previous occasion | did offer an article on Fractals but | am unable to comply with a requirement for a word processed script. | can supply disc listings but any text would have to be hand written. (I don't type nor do | have a word processor but | do write many items for publication by hand). Feel free to keep the ‘pictures’ either way. Although | mourn the slow demise of Apple lic | am awaiting a 440 serious ‘Archimedes’ which at 1/2 the cost of a Mac Il has to be a steal. My lle is not being pensioned off so find my renewal attached for Apple2000. Does anyone have any experience of using the ‘Zip Chip’ 7 lan D. Entwistle Reply] Thanks for your offer - we will gladly accept your articles handwritten - we obviously have to type them in which can take some time. | have put your fractal pictures in the magazine else- wher. | am trying to get info on the Zip Chip - it has not been released yet apparently but | have heard that a Zip Chip will be available forthe whole Apple Il range. If any member has any knowl- edge please let us know. é Members are invited to submit articles, letters, tips or hints on any Apple related subject. Page 13 News Bytes APPLE AND DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION ANNOUNCE JOINT DEVELOPMENT EFFORT DE Cand Apple Computer, an- nounced a joint development effort to integrate Macintosh personal computers and Ap- pleTalk networks with VAX sys- tems and DECnevOSI enter- prise networks. These development efforts will take advantage of open stan- dards for desktop integration, based onthe industry-standard n Systems Interconnection (OSI) model of the International Standards Organisation (OSI). “The combination of Digital's and Apple's technologies rep- resents one of the strongest alliances yet in the computer industry,” said John Sculley, Apple's President. “ht brings together the best technologies from two of the industry's best known innovators. a big winners will be large compa- nies and universities who will have new opportunities for powerful, highly integrated, multi-vendor office systems that are easily accessible and usable.” “Digital’s strategy is to provide networked server and desktop solutions,” said Ken- neth Olsen, president of Digital Equipment Corporation. “They include the VT terminal family, VAXmates and VAXstation worksystems, designed to al- low users with different needs to share resources, information and applications across a net- work based on international standards. Digital also integrates other quality desktop systems - the development efforts with Apple will extend that integration to our customers who use and love the Macintosh, and will advance the movement toward the OSI international stan- dards". A growing number of compa- nies use both Macintosh per- sonal computers and Digital networked systems. Studies have shown that about 36 per cent of VAX sites now use Macintosh and customers are actively seeking ways to inte- grate and enhance these sys- tems. Page 14 APPLE LAUNCHES THE LASERWRITER II FAMILY OF PRINTERS The joint development effort will address these customer needs. Also, according to the compa- nies, independent software vendors (ISV’s) will benefit. The joint development effort will provide a consistent set of application programming inter- faces which developers will use to write distributed applica- tions, leverage industry-stan- dard networks, and_ inter- change documents. Under the joint development ef- fort, Macintosh applications will be able to access information from and share resources with VAX systems and networks. These applications will use VAX-based services to con- nect Macintosh computers on an AppleTalk network to Digital systems on an enterprise-wide network, DECnet/OSI. The Digital and Apple develop- ment efforts are intended to accomplish the following: Distributed Applications Methodology. Distributed applications will be able to access VAX-based services using process-to- Process communication meth- Ss. File sharing. Macintosh computers will be able to access files stored on VAX systems using the Apple- Talk Filing Protocol (AFP). Document Interchange. Revisable form documents created on Macintosh and VAX will be interchanged utilising the ISO/ODA standard via Digi- tal Document Interchange For- mat (DDIF). Printing Macintosh and VAX users will be able to use both Digital and Apple PostScript printers on the network, Terminal Emulation Macintosh computers will be able to emulate Digital termi- nals to access computers over DECnet/OSI networks. Termi- nal emulation will support both ASCIl characters as well as X- Windows graphics. Electronic Mail. Macintosh electronic mail ap- plications will be able to com- municate with Digital electronic mail services, including ALL- IN-1 and X.400. Conferencing. Macintosh computers will be able to participate in the VAX Notes electronic_conference facility and VAXVTX corporate videotex. Database. Database standards and capa- bilities will be jointly specified allowing Macintosh applica- tions to access data on VAX systems over DECnet/OSI. Networking. DECnevOS! Phase V will be used to integrate AppleTalk networks into wide area net- works. Network Management. Customers will be able to man- age DECnet/OSI and Apple- Talk networks in a unified way. Digital and Apple are making no product announcements today. The companies are planning a joint developers conference in August where technical specificiations will be published. Digital Equipment Corporation, headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts, is the world’s leading manufacturer of net- worked computer systems and associated peripheral equip- ment and the leader is systems integration with its networks, communications, software and services. e News Bytes is compled from press releases and information received from other trade sources. Apple has announced the Las- erWriter Il family of desktop laser printers, offering users a selection of printers that span the range of activities from general office printing to so- phisticated desktop publishing, with prices ranging from £1,995 to £4,495. The LaserWriter IINTX, Laser- Writer IINT and LaserWriter lISC, which replace the Laser- Writer and LaserWriter Plus models, offer features such as improved print quality and faster output, increased stor- age, and expansion capabili- ties. One of the main features of the LaserWriter Il family is the new modular design. This means that all three printers share a common platform, the Canon LPB-SX second-generation printing engine, which offers darker bI , high reliability, longer lifespan and enhanced ad handling capabilities. is provides an easy and cost- effective method of upgrading the printers as users’ needs grow. Upgrades willbe done by authorised Apple resellers sim- py by changing controller ards, preserving the engine investment. The LaserWriter Il print engine is an eight-page-per-minute, 300-dpi print engine. Its 300,000 page rated duty cycle is triple that of the LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus, and the toner cartridge has a 25 per cent longer life. The LaserWriter Il family works with the Macintosh Plus, Macintosh SE and Macintosh II personal Computers. In addi- tion, the LaserWriter IINTX and the LaserWriter IINT are com- patible with the Apple IIGS us- ing applications that can pro- duce POSTSCRIPT. MS-DOS or OS/2 users can also use the LaserWriter IINT and the LaserWriter IINTX with POSTSCRIPT applications, either through the AppleTalk PC Card or the emulation modes provided by the printers. “Our increasing success in Bidmuthin's A-Z of //GS solutions. A complete GS accounts system, seam- Yes, once lessly Integrating sales, purchase and you've drawn Accounts general ledgers with Invoicing from Etc. a few boxes stock, stock control & management you run out of reports. Brilliantly easy to use and great ideas. - | fast. Designed for the non accountant. = z Ordo <a a) OPtions include RAMcacheing & =) you? macros. ss A=] aaa 2 |_| Based on AppleWorks expanded and en- Filing hanced with as many options and utill- Graphics tles as. you need: Spelling Checker, Hard Disks Business Macros, Comms, Graphs etc. etc. All Integration roductiy! jew oth: h. NGS J ‘Multitasking mber crunching & "of trying t letworking outside worl lons al, 1200/1200 "Printing AD modem c ‘Quality support iso external e oftware. nce a Ining a Itles » Professional ord Processing memory Kk Trilogy - after it lot everyone ds a break! - nt drawing figram nly. It Is object orientated, with masses of features. Diam ing Like a colour version of MacDraw. Inte- grates with Multiscribe for desktop ntatlons. UGS tte SS ———_—_———_ar— These are just some of the systems we can offer. If you have a problem, why not let us recommend an answer. We guarantee it will meet your requirements, News Bytes business, government and education stems not only from the acceptance of the Macin- tosh, but also of the LaserWrit- ers and their expanding use as general-purpose productivity tools”, said Keith Phillips, Man- aging Director, Apple Com- puter UK. “The introduction of the new family of LaserWriters underscores Apple’s commit- ment to continue as worldwide leader in desktop publishing, while at the same time provid- ing high-qaulity printing for a full range of general office printing needs”. LaserWriter IINTX The LaserWriter IINTX is the personal computer industry's first available Motorola 68020- based desktop laser printer. It meets the high-performance, high-volume needs _ of workgroups andis alsocapable of the sophisticated text and graphics required by graphic design professionals. Built around the Motorola 68020 microprocessor running at 16 megahertz, the Laser- Writer IINTX is up to four times tee than Applo's LaserWritor jus. Standard LaserWriter IINTX features include POST- SCRIPT, 1 megabyte (MB) of read-only-memory (ROM), 2 MB of random-access-memory (RAM), 35 standard typefaces, and built-in AppleTalk support for sharing the printer on net- works. The lINTX has three expansion options-additional ROM, ex- panded RAM and the capability to attach SCSI hard-disk drives. Internal RAM can be expanded from2to 12MB, The expanded memory increases the capacity for downloaded typeface fonts and font caching - a method of storing images made of individ- ual dots (called bitmaps) in memory for future use, This significantly reduces the time required for page processing. Memory upgrades also im- prove inprint times because the LaserWriter IINTX can print a page while beginning to proc- ess the next page. One or more SCSI hard-disk drives can be attached directly to the printer. These disks improve speed and can also be used for permanent storage of an almost unlimited number of Page 16 fonts downloaded from the Macintosh. The IINTX provides an RS-232 serial port for connection to a host computer. It also offers Diablo 630 emulation mode and Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Plus emulation mode, ensuring compatibilty with two of the most popular MS-MOS and O/ S2 print drivers. LaserWriter IINT The LaserWriter IINT is the general business laser printer, offering improved print quality and more memory than the LaserWriter Plus which it re- places. It gives users the ver- satility to perform a variety of productivity and publishing tasks from correspondence to complex newsletters and pres- entations. "The IINT offers the latest ver- sion of POSTSCRIPT, 1MB of ROM and 2 MB of RAM. The extra memory improves speed and adds room for downloading fonts. The LaserWriter lINT incorpo- rates the Motorola 68000 mi- croprocessor, 35 standard tpsteces, and built-in Apple- ‘alk support for sharing the printer on networks. A built-in Diablo 630 emulation mode al- lows MS-DOS and O/S2 com- patability, and an RS-232 serial port allows connection to a host computer. LaserWriter IISC The LaserWriter lISC is a low- cost, single-user laser printer with 300 dpi full-page text and graphics. It meets individual Macintosh users’ needs in of- fice productivity and basic desktop publishing, such as correspondence, memos, presentations and reports. It is also suited for single users or small businesses requiring high-quality output without net- working or more advanced text and graphics capabilities. Sharply defined text and full- page graphics are created internally, using the QuickDraw graphic routines that reside inside every Macintosh. The LaserWriter lISC uses the Motorola 68000 and has 1 MB of RAM required for imaging a full page of text and graphics at 300 dpi resolution with high- speed throughput. Brand-name typefaces, Times, Helvetica, Courier and Symbol The new Laserwriter showing the controller board. are included on disks sold with the printer in sizes ranging from nine to 24 point. A SCSI inter- face provides high-speed data transfer capabilities for fast printing and for daisy-chaining up to six additional SCSI pe- ripheral devices. “Coupled with Macintosh, the LaserWriter Il range gives Apple's users the most easy-to- use, high-performance per- sonal computer system tech- nology available” said Keith Phillips. “Apple sets a new standard in laser printing with the introduction of the Motorola 68020-based LaserWriter IINTX, in line with its commit- ment to make the most power- ful products available to users”. The new print engine offers all members of the LaserWriter II family improved paper han- dling capabilities. The printers have a 200 page A4 tray, and other options such as a 15 sheet envelope tray. They also feature a manual feed slot, which is adjustable from stan- dard letter width to envelope width. The standard face-down output bin offers forward colla- tion of up to 100 pages, and an alternative face-up output tray provides a complete straight- through paper path for heavier- gauge paper. The LaserWriter Il weighs only 45 pounds, 23 pounds less than the original LaserWriters. PRICE AND AVAILABILITY The LaserWriter IINT is avail- able from January 15 1988 and the LaserWriter IINTX and LaserWriter lISC are available from March. The suggested retail prices are LaserWriter IINTX £4,495 LaserWriter INT £3,295 LaserWriter IISC £1,995 Suggested prices for upgrades are as follows: LaserWriter IISC to the Laser- Writer INT, £1,495; LaserWriter IINT to the Laser- Writer IINTX, £1,495; LaserWriter IISC to the Laser- Writer IINTX, £2,795, The LaserWriter and Laser- Writer Plus will be discontinued as of January 15 1988. Future revisions of system soft- ware print drivers will support the installed base of Laser- Writer and LaserWriter Plus. Rear view of the new Laserwriter News Bytes Adobe to release new version of Illustrator and a D.A. to allow colour seperations. a) Adobe | Tllustrator Anew version of Adobe Illustra- tor should be released shortly. In the U.S. a beta-test version 1.3 has been seen around. It has a new tool which measures the distance of lines and it is also supposed to be a full col- our version. Also seen is a D.A. called Sep- erator, This allows the Laser- Writer or Linotronic to output seperations for full colour awork, No dates or prices have been announced but expect them soon. é _—k——_ New updates to old Apple Macintosh Applications expected soon. Apple's new software company Claris have been showing off to the press in the U.S. the new product line expected to be an- nounced at San Fransisco. These include MacPaint 2.0 which still has no colour, MacDraw Il is apparently a complete rewrite of the old MacDraw. It is supposed to have full colour and a host of new features. MacProject is another with many new features and en- hanced speed. MacWrite 5.0 however is reported to be just an update with the added ad- vantages of a spell-checker. No prices or release dates yet. _——_———_Y_[_ =&=2=£,+@&7«;« Stand by for MicroPro's entry to the Mac W.P. market. MicroPro the publishers of WordStar on the P.C. and Z80 based machines are believed to have bought the rights to a new W.P. application for early release. No real news of its exact speci- fications but you can assume that MicroPro will have backed a good one for their entry into the Mac market This is a good sign because with more than three good applications released within a month from three major P.C. publishers it means that the Mac market is now big enough to attract other large P.C. com- panies and competition is good for the user and for prices. « —k_ HyperCard shipments top 1/4 million. Apple have apparently shipped over a quarter of a million HyperCard packages since November. This is roughly equal to one package for every five Macs sold. é COMTEC COMPUTER REPAIRS *FAST TURNAROUND - NORMALLY 2 DAYS °3 MONTH WARRANTY *COMPETITIVE PRICES ON ALL SERVICES EXAMPLES APPLE ][ + OR //e Power Supply. APPLE ]{ + OR //e Motherboard. Apple Interface Card (most makes).£25 Disk Drive - cleaned & aligned. £25 Please ring for other repair prices or send equipment for free estimate. Quantity Discounts available. Repair prices include P&P and V.A.T. MACINTOSH UPGRADES 128K to 512K - 128K/512K to MacPlus MacPlus Extra Memory 1IMEG TO 2 MEG 1 MEG TO 4 MEG RING FOR BEST PRICE NOW IN STOCK MacPlus Connectors, Serial & AppleTalk. Price depends on quantity. COMTEC T GEORGES MILL. 3 ST GEORGES STREET, MACCLESFIELD, CHESHIRE. SK11 6TG TEL (0625) 34691 ( _ BEAGLE BROS introduces the TIMEOUT™ series. 7 NEW APPLEWORKS™ enhancements that are more advanced, more powerful, faster and easier to use than anything you've ever seen. AIL 7 programs work inside AppleWorks. TIMEOUT GRAPH «3.56 ‘Turn spreadsheets into great looking graphs from inside AppleWorks! ‘graph types Moar. Line ple. tie] * Auto o¢ manual sealing + Tides + Legend * Labeling SEAR inte = Anes eymbel and Une losing * Savy te dak = inl tn several sees TIMEOUT SUPERFONTS £47.77 Print with great looking Ireeroenly spaced share Hig oy som shaders ing Bett. ‘Taperscge 8 recat © Mx grace enh tent» Loe of fons TIMEOUT QUICKSPELL «41 Check spelling from inside AppleW ‘Shack ey lrg doraren TIMEOUT ULTRAMACROS 135.60 The most powerful macro program ever written for AppleWorks! inert human of wrk Bua. con macton * Over 80 programming commands: i Then Eee, macros for [Ushioe » Tash flee » Intedgent macro c handicapped TIMEOUT SIDESPREAD £20.81 Print spreadsheets sideways from inside AppleWorks! Ne limit on spceadaheet ale » Print al or part of Ue fie + Many fonta and ses + Iigh ‘only etn! mde * 30M reduction TIMEOUT FILEMASTER 120.81 Total control over flea and disks from inside AppleWorks! EACH PACKAGE INCLUDES BOTH 5.25” & 3.5" DISKS FOR /EC OR 6S 29 3 £ and Stccton rules © Doplay 100 fice wares Pent td TIMEOUT DESKTOOLS £29.51 The best desk accessories inside AppleWorks! ‘cauecar wan apgsnamen Schedlr Tank nt» Cabs «Napa» Dia Clphoard Cacveier + Pe Encroior + ‘Case Convener» INTRODUCTORY PRICING | MGA MiarSyters PEAR TREE, APPLEDORE. KENT TN26 2AR ot PRICES EXCLUDE VAT. (postage £2.00 plus 75p per item). Page 17 News Apple IIGS Finder Released in the United States. At long last a release version of the GS FINDER is out in the States, and is included on Sys- tem Disk versions 3.1 upwards. Although it looks like Desktop, it operates under ProDOS 16 and needs a minimum of 512K RAM. Icons can be colour- coded by type for ease of iden- tification. Let's hope it is soon made freely available over here. « Apple II range ZIP’s upto speed with the ZIP Chip. Remember the machine speed tp. cards, packed full of power hungry chips, which claimed to make your Apple // throe times as fast? Now there is a new idea called ‘ZIP CHIP’, a single chip which replaces the microprocessor in your machine, and has its own fast 4 MHz processor, a 16MHz clock, and a special RAM cache on board. It can address all available memory up to 1.9 megabytes, and has 16 key- board controllable speeds. Zip Chip is claimed to run ALL software up to FOUR times faster ona Il+, /e or //c, without using a slot space or affecting other devices. They are cur- rently working on one for the Gs! We will have a full report when we can get our hands on one ——_k_z ©; &«@@ DTP on the Apple Il using Softsync’s Personal Newsletter Personal Newsletter from Softsyne brings desktop pub- lishing to the enhanced Apple / /e, cor GS. Itfeatures different typestyles and fonts, and com- bines sharp graphics with text and can import clip art from other programs. Most dot ma- trix printers are supported. Not quite Xpress, but then it is only 10% of the price! Available at £59.95 from MGA Microsystems. ‘ _——_—_—_—————YT_ °°} Publish - It on your Apple Il and print it on a LaserWriter Another DTP programs for the Apple // is Publish-It! from Timeworks. This one has many of the features found on Mac packages including WYS IWYG, multiple fonts and styles, kerning, and graphics integration. It also has auto- matic text flow from column to Page 18 column, or to following pages. Laserprinter output is possible with an optional Accessor Pak. Must be the best DTP package yet for the Apple //. ‘. cs Copy Il Plus Version 8 for the Apple Il range. Bit copy, sector copy and block editing for 3.5" disks are now featured on the latest version 8 of COPY II PLUS. All this is added to the normal 5.25 utilities. Another major feature is the ability to use RAM to save disk swaps. Version * requires a minimum of 128k SuperPrint for big prints! SuporPrint from Scholastic will print all sorts of things from your Apple Il - from stationery and greetings cards to monster 55” high ultra-graphics. Great for the kids - hell for your printer! Use some paper NOW. and will not run on the Apple II Plus. Owners of other versions can upgrade by returning the origi- nal master together with £14.99. Priced at £39.95 it is available now from MGA Merocysioms: k= = GS BASIC in the States Apple (USA) have released GS BASIC, an uprated Applesoft running under ProDOS 16. It can use all available RAM memory, can access the Tool- box routines, and works with SANE and Integer nUTte Special Upgrade Offer for all Macintosh 128k & 512k Owners. Apple U.K. has announced a programme that allows owners of Mac 128k, 512k and 512k/ 800 computers to upgrade to Macintosh Plus at a special price. The programme makes a spe- cial bundle available at £450 which includes the full upgrade to Macintosh Plus, together with HyperCard and the new System Software (ver 5.0) in- corporating MultiFinder. The tunity to upgrade at less than half the normal price is a reflection of Apple's com- mitment to the installed base of early Macintosh users. As Chris Calvert, product market- ing manager at Apple U.K. ex- plains, “We recognise that the power and functionality of the Macintosh range has ex- panded rapidly over the last two years, This means owners of 128k or 512k machines are no longer able to take advantage of all Apple's system software | enhancements, for example MultiFinder, orsome of the new third party applications. The upgrade programme is de- signed to allow users of our first Macintosh products to grow their systems and harness the latest developments”, The Macintosh Plus upgrade contains features taht are re- quired to run Apple's latest re- lease of macintosh system soft- ware and HyperCard, as well as a growing number of soft- ware applications. these fea- tures include a memory up- grade to 1 MByte of RAM and 128k of ROM, a SCSI interface and the 800k internal disk drive. Owners of 512k/800 systems who already have the 800k drive will be able to purchase the Macintosh Plus logic board for £305. The programme runs until August 31st 1988 when the upgrade will be discontinued. Orders placed from February 15th will be delivered in April. e ALPHATRONICS (Please note that all items are compatible with all versions of Apple DOS, ProDOS, CP/M and Pascal unless otherwise stated) Floppy Disk Drive 140k half height floppy drive, pancake motor (high quality Japenese XM4 mechanism) this drive is a one for one replacement for the old full height Apple Unit. £89 13/16 sector, twin port disk drive controller £25 (suitable for use with both standard Apple or half height drives) Memory Expansion 16k RAM I/II Europlus/II+ £25 64k/80 COL extended text card Ie £25 Coprocessors Z-80 coprocessor card, to run CP/M software £25 Printer Interfaces / Serial Interfaces Epson/Centronics incl cable £29 Grappler + compatible incl cable £29 RS232 serial printer card £29 Serial plus card - suitable for use with a modem, with software selection of protocol and full Apple super serial emulation £49 80 Column 80 column extended text card for Ile, with 64k memory £25 80 column text card for Ile £19 Other hardware for II+ and Ile Heavy duty power supply 7.5A output £49 Add £2 for P&P (Items by carrier £8.95 extra) and add 15% V.A.T. (@LPMATRONICS) Alphatronics - Wolverley House - 18 Digbeth Birmingham B5 6BJ 021-643-9866 Workshop2000 FUTURE EVENTS ALG.M. & General Workshop Saturday April 91h 1988 10am + 4pm Subjects Apple IT e& Macintosh General Hands-On Workshop Venue Sir Mark Colett Pavilion Heverham Road, Kemsing Sevenoaks, Kent SS APPLE II SPECIAL Saturday April 16th 1988 10am - 4pm Subjects AppleWorks Enfancements PC Transporter Venue Bidmuthin Technologies Ltd 214 Kenton Road Harrow. Middx oe c — eee | 3.5 BIT COPIER FOR APPLE II APPLE IIGS OWNERS REJOICE! | Existing Copy I Plus owners may upgrade to version 8 by returning their original master | disk together with a cheque for £14.99, both 5.25 & 3.5" disks are in the upgrade. These prices include postage/VAT| MGA MicroSystems lexcept items under £20.00 which] peAR TREE, are subject to our standard £2.00 Peon aa Es eh (handling charge). E.&0.£.| KENT TN262AR et ) Page 19 News MicroSoft Write for the Mac MicroSoft are expected to release a new Word Processor for the Macintosh shortly. Beta versions of MS Write have been popping up in the U.S. and it looks certain that this new product will be re- ceived well. Utilising the basics of Word3 this budget version will take over where MacWrite left off. Write uses many of the nice features of Word3 but has none of the more technical features such as customised menus and styles. Aimed at the lucrative basic word processor market the new application should hold its own against such opposition as WriteNow and MacWrite. Some of the features include multiple files open at one time, split window on your active file and a spelling checker which is the same as Word3. You also get a page preview and multiple columns although these are not shown on screen. Page preview does show where the columns willbe on the page. The Font menu now lets you get a font size or style without the awkward Word3 system of selecting from a dialogue box. The ruler is the same as Word3 and you have a search and replace feature. Save as.... allows the user to save documents in a number of formats including Text only, Text with C/R, Word 1 and Works, Works MS-DOS, MacWrite and Interchange RTF format. Allin all | feel that MS Write may be users need and provide them wit ancient MacWrite. As of writing the price and date of availability were unknown, however advertising has been seen in the U.S. Press. _——_YT_ #£° Cricket Brush Cricket Software are expected to announce a new painting application called Cricket Brush in the next month or two. Our spies in the U.S. have sent us some screen dumps and it looks like being a full feature colour lication which will suit the Mac Il. Using object and bit image graphics it looks like attacking the Illustrator market. Look out for Bezier Curves and all the other goodies that make producing artwork easy. Seepade ss forascresncime. SS Apple Price Cuts in the wind. Apple are to announce price cuts on machines shortly. The prices of Mac II systems are to be cutby as much as 15% and we hope to be in a position to give full details in the March Apple Slices. & Page 20 pe what many non-technical a useful alternative to the é _—— # } Apple User Group Council Over 20 User Group's were present at a conference over the weekend 30/31st January 1988. The conference hosted by Apple U.K. was a very busi- ness like event with two days of hard work devoted to seeting up a User Group Council. At4p.m. on Sunday 31stJanu- ary 1988 the Apple User Group Council was formed officially. The Council will be an inde- pendent body consisting of representatives of all User Groups in the U.K. and will be responsible for forming a meaningfull_ relationship be- tween the Council and Apple U.K., its Dealers and other in- terested parties. Many of the problems facing usergroups and the way weare perceived by others were dis- cussed. Mary Ainsworth of Apple U.K. represented Apple and Keith Phillips (Managing Director) attended on Sunday afternoon. | A full report will appear in the | March Apple Slices. é | cs The Last Word - Postscript experts! The Last Word is a new concept in Linotronic Bureaus. Offering a simple Linotronic output service is just a small part of the services now being offered. The Last Word have set up a complete Postscript service which includes help and consultancy on all aspects of DeskTop Publishing. Headed by Alasdair Mellis an expert in all aspects of DeskTop Publishing the staff includes a graphics department and a specialist Postscript Programmer. Members can expect expert help and a special discount on services, To find out more contact Alasdair on 01 736 7656 and remember to mention you are a member of Apple2000. [soe aca PC Transporter arrives. The much awaited PC Trans- porter for the Apple Il series is now shipping and Bidmuthin Technologies have received the first batch from the States. the transporter allows the Apple Il to be used as a P.C. Clone and gives Apple users the ability to run Apple, CP/M and IBM application on the one machine. A full report on this amazi product will appear in the April Magazine and you will find a preview elsewhere in this is- sue. For more details contact Bidmuthin Technologies on 01 907 8516 ‘ _—— MacSerious Prices Down MacSerious boss Jim Mangles gave all users a bit of good news when he announced that the prices of many items will drop by as much as 30%. Jim, an Apple2000 Recommended Dealer gave the recent weak dollar as the reason for the price drop and he was confi- dent that many other products prices would follow shortly. Jim said “We'd like to see UK rices the same as American, | ut that's not possible yet. The size of the UK market, the cost of shipping, and import duties all conspire to make that impos- sible today”, | «| MacPlus made in Singapore! Apparently Apple Inc. have been looking at internal propos- als to move the manufacture of Macintosh Plus machines from Freemont, California to Sin- gapore. The reason for doing so is the cost of components. Apple have discovered that they can save nearly $15 mil- lion per yearonthis move which entails making about 20,000 machines a month. Allthe costs including shipping would come to about $400 per machine, at present it costs $460. Savings of this kind mean Apple can look at many new markets including secon- dary and primary education. The Apple IIGS is at present used in many U.S. schools but with costs down the way would be open to introduce the Macin- tosh alongside the GS. By the way don't get too happy the whole proposal relates to the U.S. market and not to the U.K. where machines come from Eire. * _——~_ #} Update for PLP The General Computers Per- sonal Laser Printer is to get a Postscript option and compata- bility with the AppleShare net- work shortly. P&P Micro Distributors who are the distributors In this country expect the two options to be in stock within the next few months. Contact P&P on 0706 217744 ¢ TABBS The Apple Bulletin Board System BABBS IS CHANGING to TABBS From the beginning of March, it will be accessed from a new phone number, with a new Sysop and a new location. But it will still bring you the best of Apple Il, Apple Il, Apple IGS, Apple Mac, Apple Mac Il and Apple Lisa. With messaging, conference, controversy, technical help, contact, latest software, news and many more features and facilities Access at V21, V22 or V23 24 hours WMO a a TABBS Sysop: Ewen Wannop WANTED Apple2000 is looking for members to fill the following non-committee positions: Apple II Co-ordinator. To help the editorial team ensure that the magazine contains Apple II material we require an Experienced Apple II User. The duties would be to assist the editor by co-ordinating reviews, articles and news on the Apple II series. This is an interesting job and will involve plenty of contact with other Apple II members, the trade and other interested parties, we will supply you with contacts and will pay any expenses incurred. A new developement will mean that you will be in control of selecting articles from a major U.S. Apple II publication for inclussion in our journal. Graphics Producer. To help make our journal more presentable to the membership we are looking for someone who is gra- phically minded and who could assist for a few hours a month by designing graphics for the group. If you would like more details on either of the jobs please contact the Chairman on @7'82 = S835 ample driver dis song Malo } ‘i incase out WOK Eeve, | sakes i pousidi 1 Macintosh 400K oF ‘Appi Unk 3 5, any Chico {00K érives te your Applet « 400K od sexier ives. 90 Special peice incising Centr Pat Bok ve 279 The quiet 3.5” drive | for the Macintosh. ‘Now you can afd 800K ot Apple Sppltier an herdale pce These $00K drives ae fui ly Westie to Apples 3.5 and Maciotoah drives, bt cat ceo Controller for Apple //e owners. Tha eauable outa card ube you to contr tuo} 3 ames to your hype Wr» wal of 6 2 med Appendak Seoopume enhanced compu Dep ie ae (hl drive port. So nurfae card or ‘ables we Drives include a mana! dk qt ton adam UD “iwi” acces lip Cole’ platinum | 199 | These prices include postage/VAT] MGA. MicroSystems There are no hidden extras! | PEAR TREE. -we are switching to PYSIWYP!! | APPLEDORE, [858% | Lithe)price you see is what you pay. | KENT TN262AR xt ) Page 21 CORRECTIONS FOR BOTH PARTS OF “THINGS ARE LOOKING UP” by Tom Wright My efforts to date with spreadsheets appear to have attracted some very unwelcome attention from the gremlins, further errors were introduced into the corrections for the June spreadsheet article as well as into the August one. Ho hum, perhaps the Rentokill mob will be able to deal with them this time. CORRECTIONS FOR JUNE ARTICLE - (all relate to page 21 of the June issue) CALCULATED DATA - section requires the following additions : Cell Content Correcting 111 @LOOKUP(S,P11...P14) Cell identity and @ 113 @LOOKUP(I5,P3...P6) sign were omitted 120 @LOOKUP(5,P28...P31) a 121 @LOOKUP(I8, P8...P9)*2 “8 8 131 (120)*@LOOKUP(I21,P21...P22)*124 Cell identity and 132 (120)*@LOOKUP(I21,S21...$22)*124 “(120)*@" were 134 (120)*@LOOKUP(I21,P21...P22)*124 missing from cells 135 (120)*@LOOKUP(I21,S21...$22)*124 131 to 143 137 (120)*@LOOKUP(I21,P21...P22)*124 inclusive 138 (120)*@LOOKUP(I2 1,S21...$22)*124 ee “ 140 (120)*@LOOKUP(I21,P21...P22)*124 * a 141 (120)*@LOOKUP(I2 1,S21...S22)*124 7 ij a 143 (120)*@LOOKUP(I21,P24...P25)*124 =. - e 145 @SUMI31...143) Cell identity L45 @SUM(L31...L43) was missing N45 @SUMINS1...N43) ‘Seal a CORRECTIONS FOR AUGUST ARTICLE - [all relate to page 36 of the August issuc). The first set of corrections concern the expressions which were contained in the box astride columns one and two, The missing items were the cell identities (ie locations for the first four entries which help demonstrate how the LOOKUP function works, le Cell Content Correcting c50 @LOOKUP(D51,H51...H54) Explained in columns css @LOOKUP(D51,H51...H54) one and two on page F50 @LOOKUP(D51,H51...H54) 36 of the August F58 @LOOKUP(D51,H51...H54) issue. In column three the cell identity (location) for ten of the formulas was rubbed out by the gremlins, te Cell Content Correcting PSL @IF(N31>7,(N31-7),0) Cell identity and the P32 @IF(N32>7,.(N32-7),0) @ sign were missing P34 @IF(N34>7,(N34-7),0) from the August P35 @IF(N35>7,(N35-7).0) “th Se Aces P37 @IF(N37>7,(N37-7),0) P38 @IF(N38>7,(N38-7),0) P40 @IF(N40>7,(N40-7),0) Pal @IF(N41>7,(N41-7),0) P43 @IF(N43>7,(N43-7),0) P45 @SUM(P31...P43) a: heats ee Ee oe i fees rae We ee VE eee: The @ sign is of course vital to anybody using Flashcalc, Visicale and many other spreadsheets on the Apple }[, so please r