Apple Orchard v5n4 1984 Apr May

aa APRIL/MAY 1984 > Hai. vies. re ees ccoozas ©69$3.25 U.S. $3.50 Canadian £2.80 U.K. oe The Premier Magazine for Apple Computer Users Macintosh Software Apple Education Foundation University Consortium From Piracy School { 04 0 71486 | ares a \) (25 winners) A Bell & Howell —— 35mm camera. The 35) complete with fine Lumina lens completely elim- inates complicated focusing. (100 winners) Camouflage Nylon Duffle Bag. This handsome bag is water repellent and double reinforced at all stress points. And thousands of Elephant Safari camou- flage T-shirts featuring the Elephant logo. ENTER THE ELEPHANT SAFARI luxurious accommodations, meals, tips, and taxes. WEEPSTAKES. GRAND PRIZE (1 winner) An exciting two week adventure for two to a wild game preserve in Kenya, Africa. The trip includes airfare, FIRST PRIZE (5 winners) A Deluxe Camping Pack- age featuring an 8’ x 10' Wenzel Cabin Tent, four Wenzel sleeping bags, plus a Coleman lantern, stove and cooler. HOW TO ENTER No purchase necessary. Just come into a participating Elephant Safari Sweepstakes dealership where you’ wil find free entry blanks and official rules. While you re there, check out our full line of quality t Elephant memory disks and accom- panying products. Entries must be received by July 31, 1984. Void where prohibited. [ Dennison | For the Elephant a dealer nearest you, call 1-800-343-8413. In Massachusetts, call collect 617-769-8150. ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS Circle HelpCard No. 13 — dd 7 B No other telegaas munications software offers you so much flexibility, speed or ease of use. Whether you're a business professional dialing up far There’s an easy to and distant places or an at home user talking on the local understand manual and bulletin board, you'll love the variety of features throughout the program only ASCII Express gives you. you'll find help menus that Exclusive to ASCII Express are features make using the such as the most extensive macro library ASCII Express an for unattended call-up and receiving of yg. absolute dream. information, a text editor for composing n pa To learn how the ASCII messages without a word processor, and r— Express can take you to paradise, see your ac handles data transfer at speeds up to ia local dealer, or call UNITED SOFTWARE 9600 baud. his 1 STREVASC Exess cupportss full 4 INDUSTRIES a oy range of 80-column boards and printer f= ASK FOR ASK-EE interfaces. It allows the sending of elec- = — * Available for Apple, a tronic mail—and it has the ability to _——— IBM PC, IBM compatibles, UN =D) emulate over a dozen different terminals. CP/M 80 and CP/M 86 machines. 1880 Century Park East, Suite 311 Apple, IBM are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. and In ively. © 1984 United Software Industries Incorporated. All rghts reserved Los Angeles, California 90067 Circle HelpCard No. 53 usiness Machines SN Articles 1 School On Wheels — Jonathan Goates A portable computer classroom. 2 Grading the Grade Programs — Joyce Conklin Reviews of four class grading programs. 2 Computers In The Elementary Classroom — Beverly Saylor When is the right time to begin. 3 Educational Software Sampler — Joyce Conklin There's more available than you might think. 3 Apple University Consortium — Dirk Van Nouhuys Don’t leave for college without your Apple. 4 Polaroid Palette — Morgan P. Caffrey “Hard copy” graphies in seconds. 4 Apple Education Foundation — Lenore Wolgelenter Grants to fund educational activities. y 5 CADRE and the Teachers’ Institute - Pamela Sharp Ph.D Computer art in schools. 5 What You See is What You Plotted — Nicole Lefcourt LOGO and plotters. 6 Macintosh Update — Gene Wilson What's available? What's available NOW? 6 Computer Piracy -— 1. M. Anonymous The inside on pirates and why they do it. 8 The “Turtle” and the Six Year Old- Gini Shimabukuro ‘A teacher's view of the pen dragger. », @ 4 “¥ Apple pchard Vol. 5, No. 4 April/May 1984 Entire contents Copyright ” 1984 by Orchard Potentials, Ine. Peter C. _Weiglin— Editor and Publisher Gene Wilson - Managing Editor Morgan P. Caffrey — Senior Editor Lenore Wolgelenter— Senior Editor Joyce Conklin - Educational Editor Nicole Lefcourt — Copy Editor Cindy C. Mack - Advertising Coordinator Mark J. Eaton — Art Director Contributing Editors: Mark L. Crosby Neil D. Lipson, P. E. A. S. (Woody) Liswood Barry D. Bayer Mike Kramer Jim Linhart ~ Miscellaneous Cartoonery Support Staff: Joanne Short —- Business Manager Dawn Brown - Circulation Manager Ellen Roznar— Accounting Eva Baragona — Customer Service Jay Eisenberg - Advertising Director JE Publishers’ Representative Company 6855 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038 (213) 467-2266 Boston - (617) 437-7628 Chicago - (312) 445-2489 Dallas - (214) 660-2253 Denver - (303) 595-4: rk - (212) 724-7767 San Francisco - (415) 864-3252 ‘ss for all subscriptions, correspondence, advertising material, manuscripts, ete.: Apple Orchard P.O. Box 6502 Cupertino, CA 95015 (408) 252-0902 Api OncILARD (ISSN 0277 - 1950) is published monthly for the International Apple Core by Orehard Potentials, Inc., 20823 Stevens Creek Blvd., Building 3C Suite A, Cupertino, CA 95014. Second Class Po: rulditional entry points. ption Rates (U.S. funds): $24.00 for 1 PO & APO: $30.00-1 yr. $55.00-2 yr., in Ca e paid at Cupertino, CA and (airmail) in Mexico, Central America, Caribbe: $36.00 (surfs (surface), $72.00 (airmail) in Asin, Middle a “Apple” and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Ine. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Publisher or of the LAC, While we appreciate the co-operation of Apple Computer, Ine. and other organizations. APPLE ORCHARD does not necessarily represent the views of any of these companies. Our existence derives from the thousands of Apple users; it is their interests which we serve. 4 Apple Orchard — April/May 1984 This issue of Apple Orchard bears the cover date of April-May because of a major change in our distribution arrangement. We have contracted with Curtis Circulation, Inc. to act as national distributors for newsstands and other outlets Curtis is the outstanding firm in magazine work, and we're happy to be associated with them. It means that Apple Orchard will be seen in more places, which is good. Outside of the U.S and Canada, another outstanding firm, Feffer and Simons, will be the folks to see about Apple Orchard. But, full international distribution takes more time, and the magazines have to get out sooner. We found that if a separate April issue had been ereated, it would have been on newsstands for about five days. We intend to produce a special issue this fall to make a twelfth issue for 1984. We also thank you for your comments on the improvements we have made in Apple Orchard: credit our Art Director Mark Eaton, new Copy Editor Nicole Lefeourt, and new Managing Editor Gene Wilson. Now look at page 73 for a new column by one of our favorite people, Scot Kamins. It’s called “Books (Sort of)”, and we're sure this feature will also be called a significant improvement. 900 computer books were published in 1983. Some of them are even worth reading, as Seot will tell us. Also, Viewport, a short look at industry news debuts on page 70. This issue focuses on the educational uses of Apple computers, thanks in large part to teacher Joyee Conklin, our new Education Editor, and your requests for information on the subject. It’s a fascinating story if you have kids in school, or even if you're just wondering what the next generation is up to these days. From elementary to college classrooms, Apples are present everywhere. And we didn’t forget the piracy problem; suffice it to say that “I. M. Anonymous” is today a student at a prestigious university. We don’t necessarily agree with the viewpoint, but you deserve to hear it. Once again: let us know what you're thinking (well, most of what you're thinking), and what we can do to help you get more from your Apple or Apple-compatible computer. That's what we're here for. —PCW NEW SUF TWARE Amazing SuperSprite now has software galore! “One of this year’s most impor- tant products for the Apple” Creative Computing February, 1984 “This peripheral has completely changed the Apple....to an in. credible machine with unlimited graphics (and sound) potential” InCider %, September, 1983 Eight exciting new software programs for SuperSprite! Colorful and animated graphics. Dramatic sound effects. Actual speech. The peripheral card that revolutionized Apple graphics now has software for learning, for playing, for fun with programming. LOGOSprite. Sprites and sound NumberSprites. Colorful join Terrapin LOGO for more learning __ sprites and speech teach fun. numbers and quantities. AlphaSprites. Children learn the KOBOR. A fast.action maze game Assembly Line Madness. A ra alphabet with the aid of sprite ani: against deadly androids with against a fast moving car assegibly mation and speech dramatic sound effects and speech. _ line to get the proper parts in é 10635 N.E. 38th Place MBDAMA Kirkdand, wa 98033 SpriteArt. Paintbrushes and a MusicSprites. Lively sprites add to BaseballiSprites. Hear the roar of 800-426-7412 palette of colors to create sprites and the fun for visually creating colorful the crowd, The call of the umpire. In Canada: Exclusively by Chevco scenery and animate the whole music. Play baseball inside famous stadiums Computing, Mississauga, Ontario picture! for real life thrills (416) 821-7600 Each program $39.95. Software requires 48k Apple ll series and SuperSprite, NumberSprites. AiphaSprites and Assembly Line Madness are regstered trademarks of Avante-Garde Creations. Inc, SuperSprite, LOGOSprite, KOBOR, SpriteArt: MusicSprites, BaseballSprtes are registered trademarks of Synetie, Ine. Apple a registered trademark of Apple Computers, Ine Dave Alpert Harlan G. Felt Louis H. Milrad Allen G. Sneider Joseph H. Budge Kenneth D. Silverman Regional Directors 15 Sydnor Rd. Willowdale, Ont, Canada M2M 229 (416) 222-8447 Agriculture Susie Allen 1055 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Rd ‘Sunnyvale CA 94087 (408) 746-0626 Apple /// Don Norris 1850 Union St # 494 San Francisco CA 94123 (415) 921-3774 Calc Applications John C. Hunter 58 McClure Crescent Scarborough, ONT Canada M1B 1/6 (416) 292-2590 Data Management Malcolm Stovin 10515 Tabor St # 1 Los Angeles CA 90034 (213) 837-3741 Dental Ellis D. Neiburger 33263 N Cove Wildwood IL 60030 (312) 244-0292 COMMITTEES IAC Librarian Software Club Activities New Club Assistance Officers President Vice - President Vice - President Treasurer Secretary Executive Director Region Area Stephen Lloyd (Region 1) (415) 571-7370 1 Jim Simpson (Region 2) (805) 492-3391 2 Mike Kramer (Region 3 & 4) (713) 358-6687 3 Bob Sander-Cederlof (Region3 & 4) (214) 324-2050 4 Barry Bayer (Region 5) (312) 798-6496 5 WI, IL, MI, IN, KY Neil Lipson (Region 6) (215) 356-6183 6 PA, NJ, FL Robert Ramsdell (Region 7) (617) 546-3104 7 Tom Wysocki (Region 8) (216) 942-7086 8 Roger Keating P.O. Box 448 Double Bay 2048, NSW Australia Auby Mandell 409 Queen St. W. Toronto, Ont. Canada M5V 2A5 Dr. Steve Bellamy #402, 5-7-18 Tajiri Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan Coordinator: Louis H. Milrad Special Interest Groups Education Ted Perry 2331 Rainbow Ave Sacramento CA 95821 (916) 485-1690 Family David Stern 6921 Old Stage Rd Rockville MD 20852 (301) 881-2543 Games Jim Eatherly 3342 18th St NW Washington DC 20010 (202) 232-6046 Handicapped David P Szetela c/o Micro Sparc POB 261 Lincoln MA 01773 (617) 259-9710 Medical Services & Education Or. Terry Mikiten 7703 Floyd Curl Or. San Antonio TX 78284 (512) 691-6367 Maj. Terry N. Taylor Dr. Charles Smith Ransom Fields Karen Zinsmeister International Apple Core (812) 648 - 1794 (408) 554 - 5211 (416) 222 - 8447 (617) 742 - 6100 (408) 554 - 5071 (408) 727 - 7652 Region Information CA zips 94100 & up, WA, OR, NV, HI, AK, & American Samoa Southern California, zips 93999 & lower AZ, MN, TX, OK, AR, MO, LA, MS, TN ID, UT, MT, WY, CO, ND, SD, NE, KS, MN, IA ME, CT, MA, NH, RI, VT, NY, DC OH, WV, MD, DE, VA, NC, SC, GA, AL (612) 389 - 2994 (416) 593 - 9862 0473 - 79 - 3610 Investments John McMullen Perry St, Jefferson Valley New York NY 10535 (914) 245-2734 Laboratory Applications Or. Jaime Prilusky San Martin 7500; 5503 Carrodilla Mendoza ARGENTINA Languages Ed Titlebaum 674 Quaker Meeting House Rd Honeoye Falls NY 14472 (716) 275-4061 Lisa Gene Pope 3901 S Elkhart St Aurora CO 80014 (303) 690-7559 Medical Office Management Alexander Kleider 28 West King's Highway Sioux City IA 51104 Telecommunications Craig Vaughan 7927 Jones Branch Dr # 400 Mc Lean VA 22102 (703) 471-0572 (218) 372 - 4134 (416) 297 - 3575 (415) 863 - 1093 (408) 727 - 7652 6 Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 Turbo Charge Your Apple The Bufferboard is the original add-on buffer upgrade for existing interfaces. Easily installed, its memory power can store up to 20 pages of your Apple text data at a time. The Bufferboard accepts print data as fast as your Apple can send it. Then the Bufferboard trans- mits to your printer, while your computer races on to its next task. The Bufferboard ‘| uses an available (Eo Apple slot and “Docks” onto most popular interfaces, including Epson, Apple and Orange Micro Grappler config- urations. No external power supplies, no clumsy boxes and cables. It’s the easiest and most eco- nomical way to add buffering. Orange Micro 1400 N. LAKEVIEW AVE., ANAHEIM, CA 92807 U.S.A. (714) 779-2772 TELEX: 183511CSMA © Orange Micro, Inc., 1983 With Buffering! If you’re just adding a printer... Grapple; + The Buffered Grappler + is the most powerful Apple printer interface you can buy. All the mem- ory features of the Bufferboard have been merged with the smartest interface available... the Grappler +. The Buffered Grappler + now gives you over 27 different built-in features. Buffer expansion capability allows up to 20 full pages of text memory. Exclusive new features give you special support of lle 80 column text, screen dumps for Epson graphic aspect ratios, and sup- port of the new Ile Double Hi Reso- lution Graphics. Other fea- tures you'll be using in no time include Dual HiRes Graphics, Mixed Mode Screen Dumps, Enhanced Graphics, text formatting and much, much more. The New Buf- fered Grappler + . So much interface power you’ll never need anything else. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Epson is a registered trademark of Epson America, Inc. Circle HelpCard No. 31 GIVE YOUR CHILDREN A GREAT TEACHER FOR THEIR APPLE. Bring Basic Math, Algebra, with stimulating graphics that of courseware for Apple II Physics, Computer Literacy, keep them motivated. They see Plus and Apple Ile microcom- Computer Concepts and their progress, and experience puters. Ask about lessons also Foreign Languages to your the rewards of real achievement. available for the TI] 99/4A and Apple II Plus or Ie Widen your child's world Atari 800. PLATO*® Educational Courseware Select from a growing library Ask for PLATO courseware is a great teacher because it's both serious and fun. This makes it a truly exciting home learning experience... one that your chil- dren will use again and again. PLATO makes a real adventure of topics that children often find dull... like Algebra. Difficult con- cepts such as roots, polynomials and quadratic equations become almost fun and therefore easier to learn. With PLATO courseware, chil- dren study by competing against themselves and by interacting wherever quality computer products are sold. Discover the excitement PLATO courseware can bring to learn- ing... in your home. For a free catalog describing all the PLATO courseware for micro- computers: call toll-free 800/233-3784. (In California, call 800/233-3785.) Or write Control Data Publishing Co., PO. Box 261127, San Diego, CA 92126. Warranty available fre from Control Data Publishing Co. 4435 Eastgate Mall, San Diego, CA 92121 Circle HelpCard No. 9 PLATO nGPon COMPUTER-BASED EDUCATION PUBLISHING YES, sign inc up! /p\[PYpIIe Orchard aq YEAR SUBSCRIPTION 412 ISSUES USA CANADA ELSEWHERE C1] $3%00 C1 &8%o C1] 86:00 LA 8% ae ea ste) Name Address | City State Zip [1 Check/Money Order intetenkite, CLE 4-digit number above your name on MasterCard LD MasterCard Charge CardNo._L LT TT TTITTITITTTTIT ttt) OO visa Credit Card Card Signature Expires Payment must accompany order and must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on U.S. bank. Make check payable to APPLE ORCHARD. ubscripuon cards “Fidp Stamp Our Magazine Theft... Give one of these coupons to people who "Borrow your copy. Er...this is your copy Isnt it? YES, sign ine up! (\ PPG L ¥ BoA RK SU ES:€ RIP TPON 2 LSS Eis USA CANADA ELSEWHERE 1 yr. 2 yrs. lyr 2 yrs. 1 yr. Surface - $36.00 C1] s3'0 LI &8%0 [1] 35:00 C1 $88%0 Lo) ee Scar eee Name | Address. | City State Zip. L Check/Money Order Interbank No. LLL] a-igt number above your name on MasterCard LC MasterCard Charge CardNo._LL TT TTT TTITTTT TTT TTT) O visa Credit Card Card Signature Expires Payment must accompany order and must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on U.S. bank. Make check payable to APPLE ORCHARD. | | | | NO POSTAGE NECESSARY 1 I | IF MAILED | IN THE UNITED STATES I ——=s_—t—iéd! BUSINESS REPLY MAIL ——— FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO. 626 CUPERTINO, CA a i} POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE ——s | a a —— | Apple Orchard = = _ P.O. Box 6502 ae | Cupertino, CA 95015 ee i] | ] | Subscription cards Fidp Stamp Out Magazine Theft. Give onc of these coupons to people who "Borrow’your copy, Ex...this is your copy isnt it? Se 4 HI | NO POSTAGE, | NECESSARY | IF MAILED I IN THE UNITED STATES | ——a Ct BUSINESS REPLY MAIL —— FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO. 626 CUPERTINO, CA pmcemtrineeeanaen ! PTT SF 1 POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE ETE TST I —— — AES j _= ——— Apple Orchard = _—| L 2 P.O. Box 6502 ——— Cupertino, CA 95015 _—————— | | | | | I Apple Peripherals Are All We Make That’s Why We're So Good At It! THE NEW TIMEMASTER II CS S NEW 1984 Automatically date DESIGN stamps files with An offi ial PRO-DOS PRO-DOS Clock ST ify © Just plug it in and your programs can read the year, month, date, day, and time to 1 millisecond! The only clock with both year and ms. NiCad battery keeps the TIMEMASTER II running for over ten years. Full emulation of ALL other clocks, Yes, we emulate Brand A, Brand T, Brand P, Brand C, Brand S and Brand M too. It’s easy for the TIMEMASTER to emulate other clocks, we just drop off features. That's why we can emulate others, but others CAN'T emulate us. @ The TIMEMASTER II will automatically emulate the correct clock card for the software you're using. You can also give the TIMEMASTER Ila simple command to tell it which clock to emulate (but you'll like the Timemaster mode better). This is great for writing programs for those poor unfortunates that bought some other clock card. @ Basic, Machine Code, CP/M and Pascal software on 2 disks! @ Eight software controlled interrupts so you can execute two programs at the same time (many examples are included). © On-board timer lets you time any interval up to 48 days long down to the nearest millisecond. The TIMEMASTER II includes 2 disks with some really fantastic time oriented programs (over 40) including appointment book so you'll never forget to do anything again. Enter your appointments up to a year in advance then forget them. Plus DOS dater so it will automatically add the date when disk files are created or modified. The disk is over a $200.00 value alone—we give the software others sell, All software packages for business, data base management and communications are made to read the TIMEMASTER II. If you want the most powerful and the easiest to use clock for your Apple, you want a TIMEMASTER I PRICE $129.00 Super Music Synthesizer Improved Hardware and Software Complete 16 voice music synthesizer on one card. Just plug it into your Apple, connect the audio cable (supplied) to your stereo, boot the disk supplied and you are ready to input and play songs, It's easy to program music with our compose software. You will start right away at inputting your favorite songs, The Hi-Res screen shows what you have entered in standard sheet music format. Now with new improved software for the easiest and the fastest music input system available anywhere. We give you lots of software. In addition to Compose and Play programs, 2 disks are filled with over 30 songs ready to play. © Easy to program in Basic.to generate complex sound effects. Now your games can have explosions, phaser zaps, train whistles, death cries. You name it, this card can do it. © Four white noise generators which are great for sound effects. © Plays music in true stereo as well as true discrete quadraphonic. Full control of attack, volume, decay, sustain and release. Will play songs written for ALF synthesizer (ALF software will nottake advantage of all our card’ features. Their software sounds the same in our synthesizer.) @ Our card will play notes from 30HZ to beyond human hearing. © Automatic shutoff on power-up or if reset is pushed, @ Many many more features, PRICE $159.00 Z-80 PLUS! @ TOTALLY compatible with ALL ‘CP/M software. @ The only Z-80 card with a special 2K “CP/M detector’ chip. @ Fully compatible with microsoft disks (no pre-boot required). Specifically designed for high speed operation in the Apple Ile (runs just as fast in the II+ and Franklin). @ Runs WORD STAR, dBASE II, COBOL-80, FORTRAN-80, PEACHTREE and ALL other CP/M software with no pre-boot. @ A semi-custom I.C. and a low parts count allows the Z-80 Plus to fly thru CP/M programs at a very low power level. (We use the Z-80A at fast 4MHZ.) @ Does EVERYTHING the other Z-80 boards do, plus Z-80 interrupts. Don't confuse the Z-80 Plus with crude copies of the microsoft card. The Z-80 Plus employs amuch more sophisticated and reliable design. With the Z-80 Plus you can access the largest body of software in existence. Two computers in one and the advantages of both, all atan unbelievably low price. PRICE $139.00 Viewmaster 80 There used to be about a dozen 80 column cards for the Apple, now there’s only ONE. @ TOTALLY Videx Compatible. 80 characters by 24 lines, with a sharp 7x9 dot matrix. On-board 40/80 soft video switch with manual 40 column override e e © Fully compatible with ALL Apple languages and software—there are NO exceptions. © Low power consumption through the use of CMOS devices. All connections are made with standard video connectors. © Both upper and lower case characters are standard, © All new design (using a new Microprocessor based C.R.T. controller) for a beautiful razor sharp display. @ The VIEWMASTER incorporates all the features of all other 80 column cards, plus many new improvements. ViewMasTeR 179 YES YES_-—«YES-—YES'-«VES'-«YES_-«YES-—YES. SUPRTERM MORE NO YES NO NO NO NO YES YES. wizards) MORE NO NO NO NO YES NO YES YES VIsioNso © MORE ~—YéS_—sYES_-«SNO.| «NOYES. NO. NON. OMNIVISION MORE NO YES NO NO NO NO YES YES VIEWMAX80 ~MORE YES YES. «NO. NOYES. «NO-NO YES. SMARTERM MORE —-YES_—YES_—«s NO. = NO. NOYES YES-—NO VIDEOTERM MORE NO NO YES NO YES YES. NOYES ‘The VIEWMASTER 80 works with all 80 column applications including CP/M, Pascal, WordStar, Format II, Easywriter, Apple Writer II, VisiCalc, and all others. The VIEWMASTER 80 is THE MOST compatible 80 column card you can buy at ANY price! PRICE $179.00 © Expands your Apple Ile to 192K memory. Provides an 80 column text display. © Compatible with all Apple Ile 80 column and extended 80 column card software (same physical size as Apple's 64K card). © Can be used as asolid state disk drive to make your programs run up to 20 times FASTER (the 64K configuration will act as half a drive). © Permits your Ile to use the new double high resolution graphics. © Automatically expands Visicalc to 95 K storage in 80 columns! The 64K config. is all that’s needed, 128K can take you even higher. @ PRO-DOS will use the MemoryMaster Ile as ahigh speed disk drive. MemoryMaster Ile 128K RAM Card © Precision software disk emulation for Basic, Pascal and CP/M is available at a very low cost. NOT copy protected. © Documentation included, we show you how to use all 192K. Ifyoualready have Apple's 64K card, just order the MEMORYMASTER Ile with 64K and use the 64K from your old board to give you a full 128K. (The board is fully socketed so you simply plug in more chips) MemoryMaster Ile with 128K $249 Upgradeable MemoryMaster Ile $169 Non-Upgradeable MemoryMaster $149 Our boards are far superior to most of the consumer electronics made today. All .C.’s are in high quality sockets with mil-spec. components used throughout. P.C. boards are glass- epoxy with gold contacts, Made in America to be the best in the world. ll products work in the APPLE IIE Il, I+ and Franklin, The MemoryMaster Iles Ile only. Applied Engineering also manufactures a full line of data acquisition and control products for the Apple; A/D converters and digital /O cards, etc. Please call for more information. Allour products are fully tested with complete documentation and available for immediate delivery. All products are guaranteed with a no hassle THREE YEAR WARRANTY. Send Check or Money Order to: APPLIED ENGINEERING P.O. Box 798 Carrollton, TX 75006 Texas Residents Add 5% Sales Tax Add $10.00 If Outside U.S.A. Dealer Inquiries Welcome Call (214) 492-2027 8 am, to 11 p.m. 7 days a week MasterCard, Visa & C.0.D. Welcome No extra charge for credit cards Ask Us/Tell Address your questions, answers and comments to: Apple Orchard P.O. Box 6502 Cupertino, CA 95015 --JK.,from Lewiston, Idaho, Asks Us if we didn’t err in Apple Orchard’s February, 1984, in stating that the Lisa 2’s will run at 8Mhz. John is curious because... “On Page 11 of the Draft-version 1.8, of Apple 82: A Developer’s Handbook, (2/16/84) it is stated that the Lisa 2’s MC 68000 operates at 5 MHz.” Our information sources, from within Apple, Tell Us that the Lisa and Macintosh computers (the entire 82-bit Family) run at 8 Mhz (well, let’s be precise -- for the record -- it’s actually 7.8336 MHz). The original Lisa ran at approx. 5MHz, and will be speeded up as part of the upgrade program. It is true that Motorola has versions of the MC68000 chip running as fast as 12.5 MHz. With the newly im- proved operating system software we think you will be impressed (amazed?) with the speed of the Apple version running at “only” eight MHz.! What about the handbook? Like the title says, it’s only a “draft” verion. ® Craig Nansen, from Minot, North Dakota, teaches a high school pro- gramming course in Pascal. He knows that people are interested in getting materials and information, and that it is difficult to get started with a new language. Craig has 21 disks mostly packed full of demonstration programs, notes, quizzes, tests, etc. He is willing to copy these disks for five dollars each. If there is enough interest, he would like to form some type of organization for teachers of Pascal to exchange information. For further information, please contact: Craig Nansen 1112 Glacial Drive Minot, ND 58701 12 Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 In response to numerous inquiries, Allen Watson III offers the follow- ing elaboration: Several people have tried to imple- ment the 16-color subroutines in the January, 1984, issue of the Apple Orchard, by typing the machine code from the listing, only to find that they don’t work. The problem is that three bytes of machine code don’t appear on the listing. The EdAsm assembler lists at most four bytes of machine code for an ASCII string, even when the string is longer than four characters. This occurs in lines 164, 177, and 179, where there are five-character strings. To successfully implement the sub- routines by typing in the machine code, you must include the three miss- ing bytes. Address Value Meaning $6079 $45 letter E $6093 $48 letter H $6099 $44 letter D Helpful Hint: If you have already typed in the code without these bytes, you can avoid a lot of typing by using the Monitor’s MOVE command to make room so you can insert them. Of course, if you try to use the MOVE command to move memory over itself, it just propagates the first byte. You'll have to move the rest of the code somewhere else temporarily, then move it back. “WPL-The Sleeping Giant,” a recent series of articles by Richard Loggins, certainly ““woke- up” a large number of WPL followers. Many letters have been received containing suggestions further uses for WPL. Several will appear soon for the edification of us all. We had no idea that WPL was ALREADY so popular! Frank Uzzolino, from Westfield, NJ, offers the following corrections to Richard’s articles: From December, 1983’s Apple Orchard; WPL1, Part III. For Apple //e owners, the CTRL- Backslash does not clear the display. Replace the CTRL-Backslash with a CTRL-L and the display will clear. From January, 1984. WPL PROGRAM: WPL2.2, Part I: When attempting to renumber a file, the program would print the title and then go into an endless loop of print- ing blank lines. Line 5 should read PSZ-1. The way it was printed, Z would never reach zero and the loop never would end. WPL PROGRAM: WPL2.2, Part III: You could not exit from the renumber program with a ‘Y’ or‘N’ as printed. Insert this line PGO START, after the eigth line of part III. The comparisons will now work properly and return to the main program. WPL PROGRAM: WPL2.1, Part Ill: Line seven reads F/{X}/, and should read: F/{X}/{(X)/ ? This is to prevent an error from occurring with the Find Command alone if what is being searched for is not found. If an error does occur, pro- gram execution will resume. - Thank You, Frank. e We’ve had questions requesting further information on training for Apple’s new 32-bit family products. Linda Merrill, of Apple Computer, Tells Us that a number of technical conferences are being planned by the Apple 32 Product Division. One week, in-depth conferences covering ‘Pascal Development Tools for Macintosh and Lisa’ have been scheduled on May 14- 18, in Palo Alto, CA, and June 18-22, in Boston, MA. Other seminars will be held in a number of locations, worldwide; other topics will be pre- sented, as well. For further informa- tion, contact: Apple Computer, Inc. Developer Relations 20525 Mariani Drive Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 973-4538 PEEL OFF THE COMPLICATIONS OF DATA BASE ACCESS FOR JUST $49.95 SIMPLIFIES: © Payroll e Accounts Payable © Inventory Control ¢@ Accounts Receivable © General Ledger © Sorting © Mailing Lists © Random Access Of Variable Length Records Flexibase lets you build and access data base files in a language that you already know. You can use Flexibase with Applesoft, Integer Basic, Fortran, Pascal, or whatever language you use on your Apple. Flexibase is a card that you plug into a peripheral slot on your apple. It'll let you write application programs you never dreamed possible before. Or, you can select one of our application programs that use Flexibase. Each comes on a separate 5% inch floppy disc and sells for just $42.50 each. Flexibase must be installed before using our application programs. A Data Base is a special organization of your Data files using “Keys.” You can read your files either sequentially or randomly. For example if your file key was by name, reading your file sequentially would produce records alphabetically by name (regardless of the order you wrote the records in). Or you could read the file randomly to find a specific name without searching the whole file. Examples of keys: Social Security number, name, (payroll) bar code, stock number, (inventory) name, company, zip, (mailing) purchase order or account (accounts receivable and payable). The file can be read by either of two keys. Variable length records eliminate extra spaces used to make the records all the same length. © Sorts by two keys © Read sequentially © Read randomly © Duplicate keys allowed © One or more disc drives © Mix Apple and Flexibase files on © Copy with standard utility © No new language to learn the same disc a —_ — - To receive your Flexibase Name —W____________ Please send the following: and any application Street —_ Programs you would like, Apt. No, ———____"9. ___ . ITEM NO COST TOTAL fill out this coupon and City —____________________ Flexibase ——— 49.95 Mail To: Stare | Rayrll at 4950) CAE I it —s», 42550 JOHNSON Propucts =“? pventory ae Gen Ledger 42.50 P.O. Box 555 If you would like to eee Mail List 42.50 Draper, Ut 84020 Charge to your Visa or Ace ec 4250 : Mastercard please fill aig bas a Utah Residents add 5% Acct. Pay. 42.50 Out the following: OVisa (Mastercard No, © ______ TOTAL Expire date ———___ Sales Tax Shipping and handling wy La io Make all checks payable to: Johnson Products. Flexibase and all application programs come complete with instruction manual Flexibase runs on Apple II, Apple II Plus, and Apple II E. Circle HelpCard No. 23 80 COLUMN PRINTER SALE—$149.00* COM-STAR TIF Tractor Friction Printer e75 Day Free Trial -180 Day Immediate Replacement Warranty ¢ Lowest Priced, Best Quality, Tractor-Friction Printers in the U.S.A. ¢ Fast 80-120-160 Characters Per Second ¢ Word Processing *STX-80 COLUMN PRINTER—$149.00 Prints full 80 columns. Super silent operation, 60 CPS, prints Hi-resolution graphics and block graphics, expanded character set, exceptionally clear characters, fantastic print quality, uses inexpensive thermal paper! Best thermal printer in the U.S.A.! (Centronics Parallel Interface). **DELUXE COMSTAR TIF 80 CPS PRINTER—$199.00 The COMSTAR TIF (Tractor Friction) PRINTER is exceptionally versatile. It prints 8%" x 11” standard size single sheet stationary or continuous feed com- puter paper. Bi-directional, impact dot matrix, 80 CPS, 224 characters. (Cen- tronics Parallel Interface) Premium Quality—120 CPS COMSTAR T/F SUPER-10X PRINTER—$289.00 COMSTAR TIF (Tractor Friction) SUPER- 10X PRINTER gives you all the features of the COMSTAR T/F PRINTER plus a 10” carriage, 120 CPS, 9 x 9 dot matrix with double strike capability for 18 x 18 dot matrix (near letter quality), high resolution bit image (120 x 144 dot matrix), underlining, back spacing, left and right margin settings, true lower decenders with super and subscripts, prints standard, italic, block graphics TO OTHER COUNTRIES EXCEPT CANADA J Enclose Cashiers Check, Money Order or Personal Check. Allow 14 days | for delivery, 2 to 7 days for phone orders, 1 day express mail! Canada 4 orders must be in U.S. dollars. VISA — MASTER CARD ACCEPTED. We | I ship C.0.0, | 494 $17.50 for shipping, handling and insurance. WE DO NOT EXPORT | and special characters, plus 2K of user definable characters! The COMSTAR T/F SUPER-10X PRINTER was Rated No. 1 by “Popular Science Magazine.” It gives you print quality and features found on printers costing twice as much!! (Cen- tronics Parallel Interface) (Better than Ep- son FX 80). Premium Quality—120 CPS COMSTAR T/F SUPER-15%” PRINTER—$379.00 COMSTAR T/F SUPER 15'" PRINTER has all the features of the COMSTAR TIF SUPER-10X PRINTER plus a 15%" car- riage and more powerful electronics components to handle large ledger business forms! (Better than Epson FX 100) Superior Quality SUPER HIGH SPEED— 160 CPS COMSTAR TIF 10” PRINTER—$489.00 SUPER HIGH SPEED COMSTAR TIF (Tractor Friction) PRINTER has all the features of the COMSTAR SUPER-10X PRINTER plus SUPER HIGH SPEED PRINTING—160 CPS, 100% duty cycle, 8K buffer, diverse character fonts, special symbols and true decenders, ver- tical and horizontal tabs. RED HOT BUSINESS PRINTER at an unbelievable low price!! (Serial or Centronics Parallel Interface) SUPER-10” © 40, 46, 66, 80, 96, 132 Characters Per Line Spacing ¢ Print Labels, Letters, Graphs and Tables ¢ Print Out Data from Modem Services ¢ List Your Programs e “The Most Important Accessory for Your Computer’ Superior Quality SUPER HIGH SPEED—160 CPS COMSTAR TIF 15%” PRINTER—$579.00 SUPER HIGH SPEED COMSTAR TF 15'4" PRINTER has all the features of the SUPER HIGH SPEED COMSTAR TIF 10” PRINTER plus a 15%" carriage and more powerful electronics to handle larger ledger business forms! Exclusive bottom paper feed! ! PARALLEL INTERFACES For VIC-20 and COM-64—$49.00 For All Apple Computers—$79.00 NOTE: Other printer interfaces available at computer stores! are Double Immediate Replacement Warranty We have doubled the normal 90 day war- ranty to 180 days. Therefore if your printer fails within “180 days" from the date of purchase you simply send your printer to us via United Parcel Service, prepaid. We will IMMEDIATELY send you a replacement printer at no charge, prepaid. This warranty, once again, proves that WE LOVE OUR CUSTOMERS! PROTECTO ENTERPRIZES w«ircourcustomens BOX 550, BARRINGTON, ILLINOIS 60010 Phone 312/382-5244 to order ABCDEFGHIIKLMNOPORSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPORBTUVWXYZ 1 PS ASOT Aa9O Circle HelpCard No. 37 @ SANYO MONITOR SALE!! 9” Data Monitor 80 Columns x 24 lines Green text display Easy to read - no eye strain Up front brightness control High resolution graphics Quick start - no preheating Regulated power supply Attractive metal cabinet UL and FCC approved e 15 Day Free Trial - 90 Day Immediate Replacement Warranty 9” Screen - Green Text Display *$ 69.00 12" Screen - Green Text Display (anti-reflective screen) *¢ 99.00 12” Screen - Amber Text Display (anti-reflective screen) *$ 99.00 14” Screen - Color Monitor (national brand) *PLUS $9.95 for Connecting Cable. Display Monitors From Sanyo With the need for computing power growing every day, Sanyo has stepped in to meet the demand with a whole new line of low cost, high quality data monitors. Designed for commercial and personal com- puter use. All models come with an array of features, including up- front brightness and contrast controls. The capacity 5 x 7 dot characters as the input is 24 lines of characters with up to 80 characters per line. Equally important, all are built with Sanyo’s commitment to technological excellence. In the world of Audio/Video, Sanyo is synonymous with reliability and performance. And Sanyo quality is reflected in our reputation. Unlike some suppliers, Sanyo designs, manufactures and tests virtually all the parts that go into our products, from cameras to stereos. That’s an assurance not everybody can give you! OWEST PRICES « 15 DAY FREE TRIA! BEST SERVICE IN U.S.A. * ONE DAY EXPRESS MA ada $10.00 for shipping, handling and insurance. Illinois residents I please add 6% tax. Add $20.00 for CANADA, PUERTO RICO, HAWAII | Orders. WE DO NOT. EXPORT TO OTHER COUNTRIES. 1 1 Enclose Cashiers Check, Money Order or Personal Check. Allow 14 § | days for delivery, 2 to 7 days for phone orders, 1 day express mail! | § Canada orders must be in U.S. dollars. Visa - MasterCard -C.0.D. Circle HelpCard No. 38 *$239.00 90 DAY FREE REPLACEMENT WARRANTY VER 500 PROGRAMS « FREE CATALOGS PROTECTO ENTERPRIZES “«:ovcourcusrouers BOX 550, BARRINGTON, ILLINOIS 60010 Phone 312/382-5244 to order THE VERDICT IS IN “Odesta has set the standard against which everyone else in this industry will be measured...’ lan Chadwick, InfoAge 6/83 Checkers 2.1 by David Slate Chess 7.0 by Larry Atkin Odin by Larry Atkin & Peter Frey “It’s a textbook tutorial on a disk., “Chess 7.0 is the definitive chess “Odesta has developed a program that a primer on artificial intelligence.” game available on the Apple and Atari Not only plays a devastating game of Softalk 3/83 computers... It is certainly the best Othello, but also helps you get the hang chess program that | have seen for of it as you go along.” any microcomputer.” Softalk 11/82 The Boni of Abple Somwars 1283 “Odin is the definitive Othello program...” The Book of Apple Software 1983 “...@ gold-plated edition of a classic.” Apple Dayton Journal 3/83 _ Siege inteipenc Css in mei oetnave Wirocaplie Strategic inteligence Classics in their Definitive Microcomputer Versions eckers By PND SU C H ES S BY LARRY ATKIN THANKS We gratefully acknowledge the many positive comments that we have received in response to Chess 7.0, Checkers 2.4, and Odin. Chess 7.0 - Then and Now In 1982, we introduced Chess 70, by Larry Atkin. For the first time, the chess player could save games to disk, take back moves easily, learn from classic games, use a real manual, enjoy an extensive opening library, fast play, a smart end-game, and in general work with a program designed to extend his or her own reach. Chess 70 also played better than any other chess disk on the market. And although other programs are now beginning to offer some of Chess 70's features, Chess 70 is still, by far, the learning, analytical tool for the chess person. Decide for yourself — ask your dealer to show you the interactive chess game where you get better, not bored. The Best are Now Boxed! The perfect gift for the whole family. °.. if you are parents looking to offer your children an alternate, non-violent learning-plus-enter- tainment option to arcade mindlessness, then these are simply the best products.” InfoAge. Save $25.00 on this specially priced set. Announcing New Versions Chess 7.0, Checkers 2.1, and Odin are now available for the IBM PC and Commodore 64. Thanks for waiting, More Feedback From Neil Shapiro, Popular Mechanics “PM Software Monitor" 5/83: “The Best in Chess... all the options make playing a game with Chess 70 more like having a conversation with a chess teacher than playing against a machine.” From Jonathan Cerf, former World Othello® champion “...an extremely formidable opponent — in most situations, Odin’s play is world class by human standards,” Othello Quarterly, summer ‘83. Another First — A Program Designed to Teach Chess “How About A Nice Game of CHESS! CA Very Special Program with Unique Features Designed to Teach CHESS to a Beginner & Help Any Player Play Better CHESS. Based on Chess 70, with the emphasis on teaching asit challenges. On-screen tutorials show how pieces move and capture. Sub- menus demonstrate important principles and strategies, including development and end-game techniques. A must at $29.95. 3186 Doolittle Drive Northbrook, IL. 60062 (USA) Chess 70: $69.95 Checkers 24: $49.95 Odin: $49.95 How About A Nice Game of Chess: $29.95 Mind of Man Set: $145.00 For Apple® I Il Commodore® 64 IBM® PC Atari® 400-1400 ©1983 ODESTA ON mobile classroom that will introduce the computer and its various capabilities to school administrators, teachers, students and businesses has been introduced by MSC Computer Store in Orem. Donald J. West, manager of MSC Computer Store in Orem, said the “Mobile Computer Classroom” will service schools and businesses in outlying areas where there are too few computers to do an adequate training job. The classroom, which measures eight feet wide and 20 feet long, resembles a mobile home on wheels. It sits on tandem axles and is pulled by a 3/4 ton van. Cost is $12,000 plus the computer equipment. Ten individual training sections inside the classroom are equipped with computer, two disc drives and a monitor. Training capacity is 40 per- sons a day, or 15,000 a year. Some 600 teachers and administrators in the Alpine School District will be trained in the mobile classroom between now and the end of this school year. Also, the Nebo School District and Utah Parks Council will receive training classes this year. At present the classroom uses Apple //e computers for its training, since Apple has the largest number of computers -- about 5,000 -- in Utah schools. But Mr. West said that once 18 Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 SCHOOL WHEELS By Jonathan Goates the concepts are learned, they could be applied to most any computer ap- plication with positive results. The major benefit offered by the mobile classroom, according to Mr. West, is that it is easier to provide busi- ness and school districts with training, without having to make a huge capital investment. The training ses- sions include a course on introduction to com- puters, word process- ing, file management and a horizons course for business or edu- and easier for many to accept.” In addition to the basic courses offered, specialized courses are taught on drill and practice programs for teachers in helping students increase their proficiency. The mobile classroom is an exten- sion of MSC’s full education centers that offer full courses of computer instruction at each of its three stores in Orem, Sandy and Salt Lake City. Courses in the mobile classroom are offered at $150 to $250 per session and cover the costs for up to 10 students. The same course is offered at $25-35 per person for individuals taking the session in the store. A mobile trailer classroom sponsored by MSC Computer Stores in Orem, Utah, brings the computer classroom to the school where administrators and students are being taught. cation. A typical day would include a ses- sion with administrative personnel in the morning at one school, and the same session for another school in the afternoon. From 3 to 5 p.m., teachers will be trained, and from 5 to 6 p.m., children and PTA groups will have an opportunity to use the classroom. “We stress the ‘hands on’ approach,” said Mr. West, “because it gets people involved and they learn much faster. The mobile classroom eliminates the resistance many have in learning about computers. Going into the classroom is an adventure. It is fun “We have found that there is a real need for training people in the use of computers,” said Mr. West. “That is why we have taken computer hardware to the schools and businesses and trained administrators, teachers and students.” “As far as we know, this specially- built mobile classroom is the first of its kind in use. We hope to maximize its use in training people to use com- puters in their various capabilities, and to provide service to adults and acquaint children with the computer's potential.” Mr. West concluded. e APPLESEED™ Apple Compatible Hardware for Dedicated Applications Design and program a system ona standard Apple computer and then market it with the low-cost APPLESEED system... Designed for use in systems where a full Apple computer may not be necessary or desired, the APPLESEED Bus system retains all the essential features of an Apple system, including mother board compatibility with almost every plug-in board available for the Apple ][. Programs are developed in assembly language on a standard Apple ][. Upon completion, a set of EPROM’s are blown and inserted into the APPLESEED Bus system, which then takes control of program execution. You buy only what you need for your application; gone are the built-in keyboard, the consumer- oriented packaging and graphics subsystems. Cost, size and power consumption are substantially reduced while flexibility is greatly increased. Compatibility with a multitude of sophisticated programming and hardware add-ons, widely available for the Apple ][, has been fully retained, providing a wide range of options for designing customized systems. (Applesoft PROM’s are not included.) A sampling of APPLESEED Bus components: CPU BOARD The 6502 has been removed from the mother board and included in this card, which also contains the clock circuitry for the system. 64K RAM BOARD 64K of dynamic RAM with provision for control to be used in the normal Apple ][ conventions; deleting COOO-CFFF and software control over the DOOO-FFFF area. EPROM BOARD Jumper selectable for 2716 (EPROM) or 34199 (PROM); blow 2716 assembly language programs and then run them in this EPROM board. Jumpers allow selection of software on/off, initialize on/off and other controls. UART BOARD Software/hardware select all standard EIA baud rates. The board supports four 6850 UART’s which allow four independent input and output EIA lines. Each UART is fully programmable for parity, bit length, baud rate, etc. UNIVERSAL BOARD The APPLESEED Universal board contains the following: One 2716 socket for an F8 PROM, one 2K x 8 bit RAM (0-7FF), one UART channel for serial communications, 8 parallel INPUT lines (TTL), 8 parallel OUT- PUT lines (TTL), device decode for one additional standard slot-dependent board, support for standard Apple J[ style keyboard, and a power supply connection. Each feature is independent and any combination may be used simultaneously. The Universal board is designed to be used with the APPLESEED CPU board. TEXT BOARD The TEXT board is designed to add the conventional TEXT (page 1 and page 2) to an APPLESEED system. The board generates composite video to plug into a standard monitor or T.V. modulator. The board provides 40 columns x 24 rows in each page and is not slot dependent. MOTHER BOARD 10-slot motherboard is fully compatible with most Apple add-on cards currently available. ee Please call or write for prices and more detailed information on these and other APPLESEED Bus products. DOUGLAS ELECTRONICS 718 marina Biva. « San Leandro, CA 94577 « (415) 483-8770 APPLE is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Corporation Circle HelpCard No. 14 Grading The Grade Programs By Joyce Conklin ho needs a grade book program? Why don’t you just use VisiCalc? That was my response when I first saw these entries in the educational software race. But after thinking about it a little while, I realized that not every teacher is so computer-oriented as to want to spend the time necessary to learn what “/BCDEFGIMPRSTVW-” might mean! A teacher wants to have a reliable, relatively quick and easy (never quick- and-dirty in a school room!) method of recording informa- tion about each of the students, and assistance in printing out this information to satisfy the great administrative maw which never seems to get enough paper for nourishment. If in addition you can have statistical information about the members of the class (see article by this author in Apple Orchard, March 1983) this will be of assistance in planning next year’s work. Each program will be reviewed individually; there is a summary of these four at the end of the article. Teacher’s Apple Publisher: Simple Software System P. 0. Box 41069 San Jose, CA 95160 Price: $34.95 Back-up Disk: Program disk copyable with CopyA Replacement policy: $10.00 after 30 days Maximum # of students/class: 50/disk Maximum # of grades/student: 200/disk Maximum # of classes/disk: 1 System Requirements: II Plus or //e with 48K, 1 disk drive, DOS 3.3 Manual: preliminary edition 20 Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 Due to the always-restricted funds available for school supplies (the “rising tide of mediocrity” never seems to be stemmed by a comparable increase in fiscal ability) the ini- tial choice might well be Teacher’s Apple, for a couple of reasons. The cost of the program is within the limits set for petty cash expenditures in some school districts and well within the limits for supplies. In addition, the chance to copy the disk for your own use (not one disk with multiple copies for a school, please!) makes this an attractive package. The screen display is never crowded and areas for data entry are outlined with square brackets. Error checking prevents improper characters being entered (%856123 for example, instead of a name) and you are prompted to enter last name first so that the information can be sorted when it is time to print out the reports. When setting up a class disk, the first step is to transfer the program to your data disk, as each class must be on a Separate disk which contains both program and data. Although the documentation indicates that you will be warned about the erasure of student data (not the program) and then presented with the menu, I did not find that this happened. If you are uneasy about formatting your main disk, be aware that what you should do first is to make a complete copy using CopyA or some other regular copy pro- gram and then format the disk. If there is anything on the main disk (documentation indicates some sample data) you will still have it. When entering student names (no provision is made for student ID numbers) you are asked to confirm each entry and then that one is printed to the disk. That’s a rather slow process if you are setting up 150 or more students, which is a normal load for a high school teacher. In addition, although 17 spaces are indicated for the last name, you can only enter 16; if you try the seventeenth space the program beeps. (Incidentally, do you suppose that the next major upgrade from Apple Computer, Inc. will be a more pleasant sound for Control-G?!) To save the 17 student records shown in the accompanying illustrations required 1 min. 24 sec.; the screen shows which student record is being updated and also flashes a message indicating that you should not open the disk drive door or type on the keyboard or any other “doodling” motions. When it comes to editing the information, you must read the manual carefully. To enter corrected values for the pos- sible points, you must enter DATA when asked for the last name. If you want to change class information (name or period) you must enter CLASS in the place of LAST NAME. To finish corrections and return to the main menu, you must press CTRL-Q. Neither of these directions is available on the screen although there is plenty of room for both in addi- tion to the information. In printing out the information, you must ask for special printouts in order to return to the main menu, which seems to be an oversight at the very least; you should be able to return to the previous level menu from any menu in which you find yourself. Figure 1 ARLESS, FRANCINE... . 4... WOLFE, PETE Figure 2 MARX, SPENCER. Figure 3 ARLESS, FRANCINE 1.15) 1 ON LINE 2. 14 20 10.15.83 2 ON LINE Sl 20 0 20° «11,11.85 1 PROGRAM 4.43 103 1.26.84 FINAL EXAM ARLES, FRANCINE... a 2 BUNKER, BETSY 5 1 ON LINE 2) 16. 20 10.15.85 2 ON LINE Boo | 20 14.11.83 1 PROGRAM 4. 62 103 1.26.64 FINAL EXAM BUNKER, BETSY. +++ CHEESE, CHARLIE 1,0 1 ON LINE 29 «200 10.15.85 2 ON LINE 3) 00 © 20. 11,41.85 1 PROGRAM 4. 42° 103: 1.26.84 FINAL EXAM CHEESE, CHARLIE. . DAWN, DORIS + 1S 1 ON LINE 2. 15 20 10.15.83 2 ON LINE 5 0 2011.11.83 1 PROGRAM 4. 60 105 1.26.04 FINAL Exan DAWN, DORIS. « «=. Figure 4 POSSIBLE ARLES, FRANCINE. - +92. OUT. OF. 143. @5.0UT. OF. 143. 105. 0UT- OF. 143. 131,0UT.OF.143.. + 92.OUT.OF. 143. +85. OUT. OF 143. se eeee 51. OUT.OF. 143, se eeee 6 90.0UT. OF, 143. Figure 5 * CONKLIN’S PER.1 ORCHARD CULTI *# GRADEBOOK AS OF 01/23/84 ENTRY NUMBER Name 1 3 4 SUM PCT GRADE ARLESS, FRANCINE is 14 2 43 92 «Se BUNKER, BETSY 5 16 @ 62 83 53 D CHEESE, CHARLIE 2 9 @ 42 st 32 OF DAWN, DORIS 15 15 9 48 98 57 D EAGER, EDDIE 15 20 14 7% 128 79 B FORD, OPAL 15 18 9 Si 84 sz D GLENN, GERTRUDE 18 16 18 44 98 56 D HADDAM, A 1447 13 41 195 46 oC MANOR, "HEATHCLIFF 9 2 16 8 131 8s B MARX,” SPENCER 5 17 16 57 95 6 D POPPINS, MARIE 15 20 6 463 194 66 OC QUEUE, SUZY 9 28 16 44 89 56 D ROJO,” IVAN 2 16 7 49 72 4 F SPLYCER, JEANNE 19 2@ 14 «57 181 64 oC TURNER, NAT 15 17 18 54 104 46 C UPBRINGING, JOYOUS: 15 2@ 19 72 126 eB OB WOLFE, PETER 1519 28 62 116 73 Cc TOTAL POINTS 15 20 28 18s 158 * () INDICATES @ SCORE LEFT OUT Reports available from Teacher’s Apple include a sum- mary in alphabetical order, with percentage indicated to two decimal points (Figure 1); a ranked summary from top to bottom score (Figure 2). (Notice the error in Spencer Marx’s grade, discussed in the following paragraph.) Individual scores could be cut into strips and handed to the student if you desired, although they are not appropriate for delivery to the home; and a printout which looks much like a grade book. Set Up Your DOT MATRIX PRINTER With a Touch of a KEY! P C, ™ PRINTER No longer do you have to enter long “set Up strings" to take advantage of your {PSON PRINTER CONTROL PROGRAM DOT MATRIX PRINTER'S capabilties. Just select from the MENU. .let your “ ‘computer dothe rest! Condensed Char- 2B coupense Sg unesiince acters, Double Strike Printing, Empha- auc sized Characters, Special Line Spacing, and more! Comes complete with PROGRAM DISKETTE and OP- ERATING MANUAL. Includes informa- tion on how to program your printer in Basic, VisiCalo®, Applewrter. PCP is avery handy utilty program you willuse ‘again and again! VERSION: RETURN To STANDARD SETTINGS Apple Il, 1+, lle and It WITH Apple DMP & Imagewriter Epson MX*, RX & FX Printers C.ltoh Prowriter I & I NEC PC8023A Okidata 82A, 83A, 92, 93 & 84 Gemini Star 10, 10X & 15 PRO/PAC 14925-A Memorial Drive, Dept. A Houston, Texas 77079 (713) 496-1179 * Rogues Gratvax Plus™ For Ful Fetues ‘TVPE LETTER, PRESS RETURN (0 ENDS) THIS IS WHAT THE EPSON MX VERSION MENU LOOKS LIKE Be sure to specify BOTH microcomputer and printer to obtain correct version. ONLY$29.95 lus $2.00 sipping and handing USA ish and MasterCard Credit Cards ‘See Your Dealer or Write or Call Us! Circle HelpCard No. 36 Apple Orchard — April/May 1984 21 The major problems with this program were the documen- tation, which is gently called “preliminary.” It has a mul- titude of typographical errors, although the material has been duplicated using a letter-quality printer and a good xerographic machine. The worst thing was the bug in the disk that came with the review copy, causing the program to hang up when an attempt was made to edit points for a par- ticular student. Entering the name correctly did not allow you entry to the indicated menu for correction of grades. As you can see in Figures 2 and 4, the points for Spencer Marx’s program were incorrectly entered, much as I am sure he would like to have 161 of a possible 20 points! Class Rx Publisher: Educational Systems Engineering 2-1645 East Cliff Dr., #40 Santa Cruz, CA 95062 Price: $85.00 (Limited introductory price $50.00) Back-up Disk: none mentioned Replacement policy: none mentioned Maximum # of students/class: 40 Maximum # of grades/student: 50 Maximum # of classes/disk: 6 System Requirements: I/II Plus or //e with 48K, 1 disk drive, DOS 3.3, printer Manual: preliminary version Class Rx allows you to keep 6 classes on one data disk, but requires that you use the data diskettes provided with the package; you cannot use your own blank disks for data, which is not very flexible. There are two data disks provided (color-coded yet!) and you must make a data back-up before Double Byte you can leave the program. To prevent a lot of re-typing time when setting up a class record, names are saved after each nine entered. The program will automatically alphabetize the names so it is not necessary to enter them in this man- ner, although I cannot conceive that the teacher would not have a pre-alphabetized list from which to enter the data. If you press «RETURN» instead of «ESC» after entering the final student name, you are locked into entering some name (any name) in the next record. The documentation suggests that you use ZZZ; I used NONE in trying to use the program with only on-screen helps, and found NONE neatly alphabetized in the middle of the list! You are prompted to enter Last Name, First Name, Book Number, Gender, and Special Problems. The first two are ordinary (limit is 20 characters each); the Book Number is limited to 3 digits so you may not substitute a 6-digit student ID number; GIRL is the default for gender if you just «RETURN» past that item! Special Problem asks for only a Y/N entry; you would have to have the specific infomation elsewhere. This pro- gram has solved the CTRL-G problem mentioned above with a lower-pitched tone; although still not entirely pleasant, it does alert the touch-typist to unacceptable entries. When entering grade information for each student, you are first asked the name of the item (Test #1, Homework #5, ete.) and then the date and the possible points. You must enter all numeric values as a two-digit entry - the program will not accept “9” for “09”. The “D” key works much the same way as the space bar in Apple II VisiCalc - it is a toggle switch to control the direction to be followed by the cursor when you hit the arrow keys. A hyphen in the upper-right corner of the screen indicates that the arrows will move the Send To: Why pay more for double-sided disks when you can use both sides of a single-sided disk. How? With OVERBYTE! OVERBYTE is a self-aligning, heavy duty metal hold punch which doubles the capacity of a normal single- . s 8621 Laurel Canyon Blvd. sided disk. v Sun Valley, CA 91352 04-0309 OVERBYTE punches a write-protect notch on the left (213) 5 side of a single-sided disk allowing the reverse side to be used. Please rush me OVERBYTE for $19.95 Please include $3.00 for shipping & handling (California OVERBYTE can be used with Apple, Rana, Franklin, residents add 614% sales tax.) Atari, Commodore, and Victor 9000 disk drives NAME (and other compatible drives). ADDRESS _ Disks are expensive. city Double your memory at half the cost! | oe O MASTERCARD PHONE J a © CHECK 1 MONEY ORDER _ CREDIT CARD NUMBER EXPIRATION DATE OVERBYTE ONLY $19.95 SIGNATURE (for charge cards) 22 Apple Orchard — April/May 1984 Circte HelpCard No. 12 ——— = ag Make back-up copies of protected software quickly, easily, with just a push of a button. Now! Two models of the leading copy card. One is right for you. WILDCARD *109* WILDCARD 2 $139* Wildcards are the copycards that stack the deck in your favor. Rather than copying protected disks track by track like the old “nibble copiers,” Wildcards ignore the disk and any copy protection on it. Instead, Wildcards take a snapshot of your Apple’s memory. This creates an accurate copy of the original program. WILDCARD Our original. Perfect for the Apple Il + ® with 64K. Over 10,000 satisfied customers. ® Wildcard copies both 48K and 64K programs. ® Wildcard creates DOS 3.3 compatible, autobooting copies. @ 40 column text screen dump. @ Files can be placed on a hard disk. ® Wildcard Utility Disk (included) contains: Automatic program compression and BRUN filemaker, Applesoft recover program—makes locked ” up Applesoft programs listable. Print graphics screen. WILDCARD 2 Designed for the Apple Ile® with 64K or 128K. @ Fast! Copies 64K programs in 25 seconds, 128K programs in 50 seconds. @ New, self-prompting software. Absolutely no technical expertise is required. @ Text screen dump has been enhanced to print 40 or 80 columns. @ Utility Disk is included for making BRUN files. = New! Automatic compressor for compact BRUN files. ® Access Apple monitor, allowing for program changes and listings. Order by phone, (212) 505-5470 or complete the coupon below and send your check, money order, Visa or MasterCard No. to East Side Software Co., 175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3375, New York, NY 10010. Dealer inquiries welcome. Name on Card Name ‘Address (UPS delivery) Gity State Zip Phone ean ee al | _ Please send (indicate quantity) | | Wildcard(s) $109.95 each. $. | | Franklin 1000/1200 owners require mod kit. $8.00. $. | | (For use with Wildcard only) | | Wiles 2) $109.95 each. 8 | In U.S. add $4.00 for sh \d handling. Outside U'S-add $10.00 8 $ | NewYork Sate residents add sales tax $. | CiCheck enclosed 1 Visa O MasterCard Total § | | Card No. Expires | | | | | | | | | | | I | East Side Software Co., 175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3375, New York, NY 10010 IMPORTANT NOTICE: WILDCARDS are offered for the purpose of enabling you to make archival copies only. Under the Copyright Law you, as the owner of a copy of a computer program, are entitled to make a new copy for archival purposes only and the WILDCARDS will enable you to do so. WILDCARDs are offered for no other purpose and you are not permitted to utilize them for any other use, other than specified. Software is not copy protected. System requirements: Wildcard: Apple I+ w/64K, Apple Ile, Wildcard 2: Apple Ile, II +, II. All cards work with Franklin computers. An $8.00 mod kit is required for Franklin 1000, 1200. Wildcard and Wildcard 2 are trademarks of East Side Software Co. (© 1964 East Side Software Co, Circle HelpCard No. 15 cursor horizontally; an exclamation point indicates vertical motion. The program will not accept grades greater than the possible points indicated; you may pass over a missing score by pressing “E”’; you may correct an incorrect entry by mov- ing the cursor to the proper location and typing over. The package comes with stickers which you may attach to the keyboard to convert a section of the keyboard into a ten-key entry area, or you may use the regular number keys. The screen design for grade entry includes a large amount of inverse (black letters on white, green or amber, depending upong your monitor). This can create skewing of the picture if your monitor is not finely adjusted, especially at the top of the screen. You may select to title pages in your grade book so that you may show all the homework on one report, all the quizzes on another, the tests on yet another, etc. It is also possible to erase the grades from the file without erasing the student names, so that you may enter new information for the next grading period. If you have reached the maximum of 6 classes on a disk, you may erase the entire file and re- use the disk. Warning!! You should definitely have a hard copy of the file before deleting it; students are sure to come back for verification of their grades just after you press the «RETURN» key!! The grade-cut percentages can be selected by the teacher; the hard-copy printouts include Grade Sheet, Score Distribu- tion, Student Progress Reports, and a Daily Attendance Form. A Printer is required for these forms; there is no way to display the reports on the sereen only. Grade Book Plus Publishers: Educational Microcomputer Associates, Inc. P. O. Box 339 Los Altos, CA 94022 (415) 326-1585 Price: Individual version: $49.00 School-site version: $125.00 Back-up Disk: Contains copy program on disk Replacement policy: none mentioned Maximum # of students/class: 40 Maximum # of grades/student: 60 Maximum # of classes/disk: 6 System Requirements: II/II Plus or //e, 48K, one drive, DOS 3.3 Manual: Loose-leaf, 8-1/2” x 11”, very detailed. The programmer worked to make this program usable by the minimum Apple system possible - i.e. with a single disk drive; therefore all data is stored on the same disk as the program. Grade Book Plus presents you with a menu to start, which includes an option to receive on-screen instruc- tions. After reading these, if you wish, you should select the option to make a complete copy of the disk. The program disk is protected, but will copy itself if you also have the password which is supplied with the complete package. Any data files copied in this manner cannot be copied by an ordinary copy program, but it is possible to save data files in CopyA-able form or even in DIF format. You are asked to enter your last name, which is written to the disk; multiple teacher use of a single-buyer disk is thus inhibited. The copy-program currently on the disk, from the Lawrence Hall of Science, allows you to make unlimited back-ups of your disk. The one-disk drive version has an unusual characteris- tic in that you must enter the same volume number for your 24 Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 backup disk or the copy program will not work, even though you are switching disks during the procedure. EMA states that the next revision of the program will use a different copy program and thus will allow you to use different volume numbers if you so choose. A special school-license version of Grade Book Plus is available from EMA, allowing backups for all teachers at one school site. This type of program distribution is a welcome improvement on the usual copy-protection schemes which mandate a separate package for each station. The finances of schools are limited enough; EMA deserves credit for initiating this method of selling educational software. The maximum number of characters in a student name is twenty, and the last and first names are separated by a hyphen when entering; this is a bit awkward at first, but commas and colons are prohibited, so the hyphen is the next best choice for a delimiter. You can select unweighted grades (everything counts proportionally to the points assigned) or weighted (e.g. quizzes count twice as much as homework, even though each quiz and each homework assignment is graded on a ten-point scale). The method suggested in the manual is a bit unwieldy, but the best available, given the constraints of memory space; enter the homework score normally - “tell the computer” that 20 points are possible on the quiz - double each student’s score before entering. I thought the computer was supposed to do the computing!! (The illustrations used in this article for Grade Book Plus assume all assignments have equal weight.) You may also keep track of bonus points by assigning them to an entry which has 0 possible points. If you have very large classes and many entries for each stu- dent, it is possible that the disk capacity may be exceeded, in which case you will need to split the classes between two data disks. You do this by making a complete backup and then removing three classes from each disk (classes 1-3 from disk #1, classes 4-6 from disk #2) Figure 6 EAGER, EDDIE SCORES AS OF: @1/23/84 41) ON LINE 15/715 (2) ON LINE 2G/28 (3) PROGRAM 1; 14/28 (4) FINAL EXAM: 76/193 TOTAL POSSIBLE POINTS: 128/158 79% = B Figure 7 EAGER, EDDIE SCORES AS OF: @1/23/84 (1) ON LINE is (2) ON LINE 2: 28/26 (3) PROGRAM i: 14/20 (4) FINAL EXAM: 76/193 18/15 TOTAL POSSIBLE POINTS: 25/1 Figure 8 #* CONEL IM STATISTICS 4S Oo 1 ORCHARD CULTI #* : B1/23/84 17 STUDENTS MEAN: 97,41 Nr 1? MEDIAN: STANDARD TION: 2, 38 TOTAL POINTS: 158 @® FANTASTIC’ S @ WHEE! 17S 1 NOT BAD'S = 131 SOAK. 126 125 114 YOU'RE SLIFPING'S 105 194,104 191 95 8 OOOFF!?S 92 96 a9 ae a4 a3 72 Sa cA Output of results may be either to the screen or to the printer, and you may select 80-column or 132-column print- outs, depending on your printer. You may select a complete gradebook printout (Figure 5) (the 132-column format would be mandatory as the end of semester approaches!), or individual student reports by student name or by assign- ment. You can include the student’s grade to date in the report, as shown in Figure 6 or leave that out. When select- ing the grade cuts, you may have as many as you want (5, 12, 15 ete.) and you may name them what you want. Figure 6 shows the normal grade name (B); Figure 8 shows the statistical analysis of the “semester” grades, with the other type of names for the grade (“Fantastic” A+,‘Whee” A, “Not Bad” B, ete.) When displaying the statistics for a single assignment or test, the grades are displayed in de- scending order; if more than one student obtained the same grade, it is printed multiple times, thus allowing the use of this printout as a histogram, although the orientation of the grades will be reversed if you try to make a bell-shaped curve by turning the printout sideways. Grade Master Publishers: Micro-vision P. O. Box 61553 Houston, TX 77208 Price: $75.00 (introductory price) Back-up Disk: sent upon reciept of warranty card Replacement policy: $10.00 after 30 days Maximum # of students/class: 50 Maximum # of grades/student: 36 Maximum # of classes/disk: 7 System Requirements: II Plus or //e, 48K, DOS 3.8, 2 disk drives Manual: loose-leaf binder, 8” x 9”, very detailed Additional: Self-running demo available for dealers. Grade Master shows evidence of much thought as to what is needed by a teacher. Although the number of grades per student is less than for the other programs discussed, this is the major lack that I can see, if I were to use it in my classes. Thad three classes last year that had more than 50 compo- nent grades by the end of the semester! But most teachers do not have that many individual grades, and the memory space had to be saved in some way, to allow for all the other features. There has been excellent publisher support during the review of this program, with updated versions to utilize the latest hardware capabilities from Cupertino. Version 1.21 will work on the Apple //e as well as Apple II Plus (the original equipment); it does not support the Videx 80- column card at the moment, but may well do so in Version 1.3! Updates of the manual are possible because the format is a loose-leaf binder. Considerable editorial work has been done to make the manual useful to a complete computer novice, with illustrations of each of the menu screens. Features found in Grade Master include the ability to specify student ID number as well as name, to weight grades by giving more credit for tests than homework, and to ignore certain categories of grades if you wish. In select- ing the weighting, you may skip over any of the categories you wish to ignore, but the percentages which are assigned must add up to 100 or you cannot leave this section of thé program. Types of grades include tests, lab reports, quizzes, daily work, homework, projects, class work, notebook, book report, research paper, final exam, and other. The categories selected for this article were limited to tests and projects which were weighted at 50% each. When specifying the titles for printed reports you must put something in each category including which semester and which marking period (6 week or 9 week); the program will not let you blank any of these and seems to be missing the heading stating that it is a final grade; I suppose you could indicate a final grade by using “4th six weeks” of an 18 week semester! Figure 9 CLAS? 1 URADE SUMHARY ORCHARD CULTIVATION 1 AST SEMESTER SAD SIX WEEKS — 9/12/85/ TO 1/26/88 10, 249998 Hit eseese Figure 10 Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 25 Figure 11 class 1 ROSTER 1/26/88 (ORCHARD. CULTIVATION 1 PAGE 1 OF 1 comm 1ST SEMESTER SRO 1X WEEKS eSiTES: Figure 13 ‘ORCHARD CULTIVATION 1 PROGRESS. REPORT ARLESS FRANCINE 1s) SEMESTER SRD SIX WEEKS” 9/12/85/ TO 1/26/04 tivities (GRADE PERCENTS ave xx = PTS Tests too 7042) 7 5 36 100 100 5050 PROJECT Figure 12 ORCHARD CULTIVATION 1 1st SEMESTER SRD 51x WEEKS ‘CLASS 1 TEST GRADE NO. 5 26/e8 ee In printing out reports, you have the option of listing stu- dent name, ID# or both; you could print one with just ID numbers to post outside your classroom door. That way you don’t have to answer each student individually about what they earned, and at the same time you are not displaying the names for all and sundry who happen to be walking through the hall. The grade summary in Figure 9 is shown with just the ID numbers, the class rosters in Figs. 10 and 11 show both. Notice that you have the option of printing a blank class roster which will serve as a grade-book page, or of printing out updated rosters which include the grades. You may, with this second option, select which grades should be printed, so that you may include only tests, only projects, or all, as in the case of Figure 11. The most interesting report is the statistical one (Figure 12), which can be for any given grade. This information can- not be done using VisiCalc unless you have the Advanced Version or one of the add-on programs which will allow you to sort your information. Notice that the printout appears at first to be upside down with the lower grades at the top of the picture, but when you rotate it 90 degrees counter- clockwise, then the frequency distribution bars (shown with X’s) are in their usual orientation with higher grades to the right. 26 Apple Orchard — April/May 1984 ‘SHOWS SINCERE EFFORT cone RESPECT FOR OTHERS. LACKING. Tac HIGH SCHOOL, WORK, NOT SUBMITTED. ON TIME 585-0001 EXT. 999 BUNKER BETSY 1ST SEMESTER SRD SIX MEEKS9/12/93/ TO 1/26/04 RADE PERCENTS. ave x x= PTs jess 3300 60 se 5029 ° 0 508 rane 29 ? RESPECT FOR OTHERS LACKING The progress reports (Figure 13) give the grades as per- centages of the possible points, and show the weighting. In addition, notice that there are four possible comments which may be checked for each student. I am used to having a mark-sense card which will allow 55 comments, but then, that one must be read by a mainframe computer bought from a large company before Apple advanced technology. These comments are fixed, and are the same for all classes. The progress reports are printed two to a page, so they may be easily separated for mailing or hand delivery. (If you think Betsy Bunker’s progress report would actually reach home by hand delivery, you haven’t taught school recently!) An additional, unexpected effect of a computer print-out is that the students will check out their work and let you know immediately if something is missing, which is an aid in keeping the grade book accurate. I post my most recent print-out on the board and am told almost immediately if there are any clerical errors! The students can also see exactly why their grade is what it is; without a print-out such as the class roster with grades, the students often lose track of what has been assigned and what they have or haven’t done. You can print out a new grade sheet (class ros- ter) anytime you wish so your grade book always looks neat. I would conclude that for anyone teaching in a district or school which does not provide adequate computer services already, Grade Book Plus and Grade Master are much bet- ter programs, and will enable you to obtain much informa- tion on your students, and pass it on to them with your printer doing the most of the work. As between the two, only Grade Master prints out the graphical display of statistics. Any method which reduces the clerical work of the teacher is welcomed because then the time can be spent with the students, sharing both information and the enthusiasm for learning which should be a part of all our lives. e by Bevery Saylor here are many uses for a computer in the elemen- tary school classroom, many of which can also be effective for home use. You are probably sick of hearing about all the ways computers can be used to prac- tice and gain proficiency in a subject area (known in the wonderful world of teaching as computer-assisted instruc- tion). Though a computer can help to teach a new concept, it is a rare student who will be able to grasp a concept when taught this way. Some of the most potent uses of the com- puter, for both home and school, are: to help develop and improve critical thinking skills, to experience situations not normally in the child’s realm of experience through simulations, and lastly, word processing. We've all heard and read many arguments as to how and why games such as Pac Man can be beneficial; the need to develop a strategy, improves hand-eye coordination ete. Why not make use of software that will not only achieve these benefits, but will encourage children to think and solve problems? There are now so many quality programs avail- able that will do this. The most appealing programs are those that are interactive (the user controls what is happen- ing by manipulating objects on the screen), use good color graphics, have sound, contain different skill levels, and offer variety. The Learning Company has many programs that satisfy these requirements. (And they are fun too!) I have field tested the Learning Company’s programs, in my classroom, for several years. I believe that they really do help students develop their critical thinking skills when used in a sequential order and reinforced by computer activities. I'd suggest that students begin with easier programs before moving on to the more complex programs (those requiring a higher level of thinking.) Programs like Moptown Parade, Moptown Hotel, Gertrude’s Secrets, and Gertrude’s Puzzles (all available for the Apple) all deal with recognizing attributes (inherent qualities). In the classroom,a teacher would begin by using shape pieces and have students arrange them according to size, color, and shape. Once they understand the concept then the student should continue reinforeing this skill by playing the game on the computer. The computer is an excellent bridge from manipulative learning (being able to move objects around by hand) to more abstract learning. How can classifying objects be applied to real life? When a child has to reorganize their drawers and still fit all the “junk” back in, it might help to think of what they learned from the attribute games. If they have six drawers, what are six major classifications that most of the “junk” will fit into? Besides learning to categorize, the user is also developing their hand-eye coor- dination by moving the objects around on the screen using the keyboard or a joystick. Sunburst Communications also has programs dealing with attributes, but their programs are mostly targeted for schools. DesignWare’s “Creature Creator” is an excellent interac- tive program that not only develops concentration and sequencing skills, but requires the user to notice similarities and differences. It is fun to use the computer to create a Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 27 je Katon, age 33. monster and then make it do a dance. The user has to simu- late the dance being done by the creature. The creature can move its head, arms, and legs; each in two ways. The num- ber of dance steps can be increased and there are three levels of difficulty. Rocky’s Boots (The Learning Company) might be even more practical for home use. It takes more computer time than is usually available in the classroom. The child learns how to build machines using AND, OR, and NOT logic gates. These machines are then used in games. Rocky’s Boots is actually teaching about computer circuits, while developing logical reasoning. This requires a higher level of thinking. A child might then be stimulated enough to actually want to try and build their own circuits with bat- teries, wires, bulbs, ete. If the child is unsuccessful with Roc- ky’s Boots, building the actual circuits using the real objects might help his or her understanding; or perhaps the pro- gram is above their “thinking” level. Our (my class and mine) current favorite on our software list of hits is Apple LOGO.This is actually a programming language which can be enjoyed from kindergarten on up (including adults). Though it does help children grasp some mathematical concepts, it seems to help develop logical thinking. It can be as simple or complex as the user will allow. There is no complex language to master before you can program, LOGO is usually begun by using the part that consists of manipulating a “turtle” with a pen tied to his tail. By writing a series of ordered steps one can make the turtle draw graphics and use color. In the classroom, I encourage the students to get up and move around like the turtle in order to solve a particular problem. This is a marvelous learning tool for home and school use. Do you have a Big Track tank sitting unused? Dust it off. It moves very much like the turtle in Logo. Now have your children use it to make programs—not war ! Apple LOGO can be used to write quite complex programs which consist of manipulat- ing words, numbers, and lists. The Factory, by Sunburst Communications, is another outstanding, interactive program. You make a geometric product by having machines on an assembly line punch holes, draw stripes, and turn the product at different angles. It is both fun and challenging. This goes hand-in-hand with the turtle portion of LOGO. The knowledge of angles that they gained from turtle geometry would help them be more sucessful here. Children rarely have an opportunity to run a business. (Perhaps they will set up a lemonade stand if the weather is nice.) The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) has several simulations that let the students run a business on different skill levels. There is the chance to run a lemonade stand without competition. You can open a bicycle plant, but you will have competition, taxes, and even employee strikes. These too, are targeted for educational institutions. Good simulations require keeping accurate records, organizing your information making predictions, and making decisions. There are several excellent simula- tion programs that are better suited for home use (time con- suming) such as Spinnaker’s Snooper Troops 1 and 2 and In Search of the Most Amazing Thing. “God Bless word processing” one of my students recently said when she had a large number of corrections and add- ons to make to a story she wrote. She happily went to the 28 Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 computer, inserted her file diskette and made the necessary corrections. Without a word processing program, she pro- bably would have made very few of the necessary correc- tions. (Can you blame her?) Here is another excellent use of the computer for both home and school. Word pracessing when used effectively can really improve writing skills. It is easier to organize your writing when you can move words, sentences, and paragraphs around. The finished product looks so good when printed out. In many cases it is also easier to read than the hand written page. (Of course, it would require a printer to achieve maximum effectiveness) Our favorite word processing programs (for home and school) on the elementary school level, are Bank Street Writer or Homeword. Word processing is being used even at the first grade level. There is a place in the school curriculum for drill and prac- tice. If you child needs to practice a certain skill, why not buy a software program that will let you or them easily type in the information that needs to be practiced. Square Pairs, by Scholastic (they have an excellent family software catalog featuring software for Apple computers) lets you do just this. It is a game like Concentration. It does come with some ready-made games or you can supply your own catagories and put in the information. Having trouble getting a loved one to learn their spelling or vocabulary words? Spellicopter, by DesignWare comes with words already in the program, or you can type in your own words and clues. It is interactive; you control the helicopter using a joystick or keyboard. You fly through dif- ferent scenes (there are obstacles) in order to rescue letters scattered over the field. The different skill levels keep it challenging at home and at school. The Koala Sketch Pad offers some wonderful oppor- tunities. Use this if you really want to develop hand-eye coordination. It is fun to use as a drawing tool. We use it to fill in the pictures we create with LOGO. Koala Technologies has some truly interactive software. Their spelling program, Koalagrams, lets the child move boxes with letters in them until they haye them in the order needed to spell a word. Clues are given. You can even add your own words. While field testing this program, I had to unplug the computer to get some students to stop. They really had fun developing a strategy to spell the word more quickly. They loved being able to move their fingers on the sketch pad and having the boxes move on the screen. Wouldn't it be nice if more software developers add a sketch pad option along with the joystick option? Developmental Learning Materials (DLM) offer several arcade game type programs that truly encourage students to learn their basic math facts. There are separate addition (Alien Addition), subtraction (Minus Mission), multiplica- tion (Meteor Multiplication), and division (Demoliton Divi- sion) programs, as well as one that combines addition and subraction (Alligator Mix) and one that combines mul- tiplication and division (Dragon Mix). These do not let you input your own math problems. These are appropriate for the home and classroom if you don’t object to the violence of Space Inyader-type games. When used effectively, the computer can be a superlative learning tool, at school and in the home. What's most excit- ing is that the future is likely to bring even more useful pro- grams for education, as our collective experience grows. @ . 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Allow ame LONE BUR SRTOUERS 14 days for delivery, 2 to 7 days for phone orders, 1 day express I ENTERPRIZES | mail! Canada orders must be in U.S. dollars. VISA — MASTER ! BOX 550, BARRINGTON, ILLINOIS"60010 | CARD ACCEPTED. We ship C.O.D. J Phone 312/382-5244 to order Circle HelpCard No. 39 EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE SAMPLER by Joyce Conklin “Psssst - are you sure you’re doing the right thing for your kids?” “Oh, be quiet, conscience!” “But you know what they’re saying - if your kids aren’t conversant with computers, and soon, they'll be the next generation of illiterates; now would you want that?” “But conscience, I don’t know anything about those awful machines - in fact they scare me more than a little bit!”’ “Nah—just spend some time with your kids and they’ll teach you about the machine— you can learn together.” oes the above imaginary conversation sound like something that might have happened to you? How do you decided which “educational” software is right for your kids? There’s so much to select from. Where do you start? There really is a tremendous amount of software current- ly on the market which purports to be educational, and you need some guidelines for selecting the most useful for your purpose. The earliest software was essentially “flash cards for the computer”. It works, but you can accomplish much the same job with manual methods at considerably less expense. You should find software that not only addresses the particular segment of learning (math, English, reading, early concepts, ete.) which you need, but also utilizes the capabilities of the computer to react to the input of the child. These reactions should be non-threatening and helpful. It isn’t good to indicate an error without guiding the child to the correct answer. 30 = Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 For pre-school and elementary students, color is also desirable; it’s nice for secondary students but not as necessary as they will often be working with text rather than graphic material. Text on a color screen is often less legible than on a monochrome monitor. Another criterion could be the reputation of the company which produces the software, and their age-group specializations, including “children” over 21! If you are really the type to research a topic thoroughly, you might discuss the selection of software with your local school teacher in charge of microcomputers. There are two annual books (The Book of Apple Software, and The Blue Book—with a yellow cover!) which list “all” (well, almost all) of the software available for the Apple. This article will attempt to give you a brief look at some of the educational software which is currently available, although it will only seratch the surface. My local county office of education li- brarian said that they had fifteen thick binders full of announcements and catalogs of educational software! Ages 4-10 Gertrude’s Secrets The Learning Company 545 Middlefield Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 $44.95 Using a flying goose and colored shapes, this series of programs teaches discrimination of shapes and colors, categorizing, solving a loop (Venn diagram) puzzle, follow- ing directions, sequencing, similarities and differences, and reasoning and problem-solving. If that sounds like a lot for a four-year old, you’d be surprised at what they can do. Each type of puzzle has both an easy and a hard version; the hard versions might be difficult for some children over 10! For the younger set, the games need to be demonstrated as the children will probably not be reading yet at age 4. Bumble Games The Learning Company $39.95 Find Your Number introduces the concept of a number line; Find the Bumble works with 4 matrix, like reading a map. The Tic Tac Toe game is 5x5 rather than 3x3 and con- tinues play until all 25 locations are filled unless you press «ESC» to indicate a cat’s game. Bumble Dots allows you to select the location of the next dot on a 10x10 grid and the program fills in the intervening line to construct a picture. Skills in this set of games included gaining spatial aware- Inside Peelings is the heart of the Apple... Please 0 Enter O Renew my subscription for 1 year (9 issues) USA ($21) * US Ist Class, Canada, Mexico, APO & FPO ($36) + South America & Europe (848) + All Other Countries ($57) Sample Copy USA ($4) # Elsewhere ($6) 1D Payment Enclosed O Bill Me 0 VISA (MasterCard Card No. Expires. Signature, —_ Name = Address city State 2. funds and drawn on US bank — make checks payable to: PEELINGS I, Inc., P.O. 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Subscribe to Peelings II — the ultimate Apple consumers’ guide. THE MAGAZINE OF APPLE gs | If SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE EVALUATION ness, up/down, right/left, discovering game strategy, using standard number pair notation, and thinking creatively. Moptown Parade The Learning Company $39.95 Using creatures called gribbits and bibbits with various structural characteristics (fat/thin, tall/short, red/blue) the child learns matching and similarities, differences, opposites, pattern sequences and problem-solving strategies. The games range from Make My Twin and Who's Different to Who Comes Next and Moptown Parade, where the child needs to make decisions about patterns. Clubhouse has as its object determining the membership rule (only tall creatures? only reds?) but eventually everyone can join as each new game has its own rule. The manual comes with suggestions of ways to vary the games by using cards or dice. Ages 8-13 Microzine Scholastic, Inc. 730 Broadway New York, NY 10003 This magazine with a disk is published bi-monthly from September to May. There are four different programs per disk, running the gamut (on the particular issue reviewed) from a_pick-your-own-plot story to a word ladder vocabulary builder. The directions will require middle grade (3-6) reading ability; the graphics are well done and the text fonts are large enough to be legible on any type screen. In the word ladder game, you need to select the word which the computer has in its memory but you may get three clues for each, although asking for a clue reduces your score. You can keep typing in new words without asking for clues; if it isn’t the one the computer wants, it will beep at you but it doesn’t cost you points. The level of difficulty can be easy or hard depending on how much you try to do it without clues. Word ladders may be created by the user and saved on a data disk. An excellent simulation and game involving hot-air balloon- ing is also included; the game portion can be played by one or two, and the second player may be the computer. Gertrude’s Puzzles The Learning Company $44.95 Covering similar learning skills to those in Gerturde’s Se- crets, Gertrude’s Puzzles contains more difficult systems. The manual also contains additional suggested games which expand on these experiences. Moptown Hotel The Learning Company $39.95 More games with Gribbits and Bibbits, the range is from the analogy game of Who’s Next Door, through Change Me (like word ladders, but with creatures), Spot Me (find the one which is different from the rest), on to Moptown Map and Moptown Hotel where the player must discern or follow the rules governing who lives where. Hotel is a two player game which would be challenging for adults as well as children. 32 Apple Orchard - April/May 1984 | AER ee ee ee Bumble Plot The Learning Company $39.95 An extension of Bumble Games, this set includes exposure to such skills as identifying positive and negative numbers, greater than/less than, predictions, identifying and plotting points on a grid, and developing reasoning skills. The most advanced game is Roadblock which is played against a (computer) clock; fortunately you can stop the clock while you plan your move, but you'd better be quick on the spacebar or the target will get away! Fay: The Word Search Game Didatech Software No. 2301 - 1150 Jervis St. Vancouver, B.C. V6E 2C8 This find-a-word game utilizes a scuba-diver to find the words in the grid; the aim is to help the students to increase their sight-word vocabulary. This is a good idea but it doesn’t seem to work on screen quite the way it says. The diver is to locate the word in the grid and then shoot at the columns and rows surrounding the word, eliminating the random letters of the grid, thus isolating the words from the list at the bottom of the screen. A few of the random letters disapppeared but even at the lowest level I was unable to get the shots to work completely, even though I was able to locate all the words. The program is said to work with either the joystick or the I-J-K-M keys; I could only make it work with the joystick. The game is a good idea but either the pro- gramming or the documentation needs a little more work. Fay: That Math Woman Didatech Software This program works exactly the way the documentation indicates. There are 6 levels to the program; #1 is 15 addi- tion problems, #2 is 15 subtraction problems, and #3 a com- bination of both operations. #4 is 15 multiplication problems, #5, 15 division problems, and #6 combines all four operations. The program is designed to accept numbers 18 or less for the answers. Levels 3 and 6 play as games, with Fay going up the elevator for each problem correctly solved and being chased by “random numbers” if the stu- dent is too slow in giving the answers. The game ends when the Random Numbers catch up with Fay. The program also keeps track of high score, and in both this and the previous program you can toggle the sound effects on or off with Control-S. The program is also childproofed, in that when it asks the student to type in his/her name, it will check fo