Australian Apple Review The Vol 1 No 7 1984 08 Gareth Powell AU

The ===> Australian Apple Review A Gareth Powell Publication . the new operating sys; ts In search of a g “td 3 Registered by Australia Post Publication No. NBG6313 *Recommended retail price Applicard a new generation in CP/M" for your Apple” II, I+, //e, or /// @ Shift key modification @ 6MHz Z-80B processor @ Optional counter/timer chip e@ 64k RAM on-board @ 64k &/or 128k RAM extender @ 2k EPROM (expandable) @ 64k or 128k RAM disk under @ CP/M 2.2 + utilities CP/M e@ 70 Column Hi-Res capabilities @ 64k, 128k or 192k RAM disk @ 80-column video board under Apple DOS support e@ Supports most Apple peripherals @ Interface for networking and @ Up to 90k printer buffer (with 80- communications col extended board) @ SAMS CP/M primer e Fast //e video driver e Full installation manual e //e programmable function keys @ OEM documentation available @ Apple /// Applicard comes with WORDSTAR free & has many features utilizing the unique features of the Apple ///. e@ Support of CORVUS, RANA & other mass storage devices @ DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME e alphaSyntaur. The computer music system that enhances your ability to: O CREATE, O LEARN O IMPROVISE O) PLAY O EDUCATE O EXPLORE O COMPOSE COMPUMUSIC PO Box 57 - 103 St. Johns Rd, Glebe, NSW 2037 XQ 4 692 9293 PHONE 692 9875 oe Australian Apple Review The Australian Apple Review Top Rear, 4 Carrington Rd, Randwick, NSW 2031 Phone: (02) 398 5111 Published by Gareth Powell Pty. Ltd. Editor: Gareth Powell Art Director: Roy Bisson Production Manager: Sian Powell Production Assistant: Gary Williams Photographer: Gary Williams Subscription Manager: Tina Spathos Typesetting: Printaction Pty. Ltd. Distribution: Network, SYDNEY Printed by: lan Liddell Commercial Printing . The Apple Review Contents 2 EDITORIAL 3 APPLE NEWS 5 LETTERS DISK MAGAZINE TRENDS IN SPREADSHEETS SNAPSHOT AND WILDCARD - HARDWARE REVIEW PRODOS - THE NEW OPERATING SYSTEM PROGRAMMERS AID IN SEARCH OF A GREAT GAME ACCELERATOR Ile - HARDWARE REVIEW MICROSOFT BASIC FOR THE MAC TIPS AND TECHNIQUES REPAIRING YOUR APPLE CAD. ON THE CHEAP APPLE PROGRAM COMPETITION ONERR GOTO MESSAGE ROUTINE GLOSSARY OF CUSTOM CHARACTERS THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES ENDS - UTILITY PROGRAM FOR APPLESOFT BASIC WORM IN THE APPLE Australian EDITORIAL his magazine is designed by either Roy Bisson or Avrille Williams, depending on who is on holiday, who is the busiest and so on. Both have strong, indeed robust, mental constitutions. Both are being reduced to nervous whimpering wrecks by having to bromide very faint copies of programs sent in by contributors. Some printouts are so faint that they can only be deciphered under a north light with a strong magnifying glass. If you are sending in a copy of a program, would you please use a newish ribbon in your printer. As far as we can ascertain, most program- mers start with the original ribbon in their printer and hang on to it through the years without ever investing in another. | know the feeling. | used to keep my ribbon until the printing turned into grey on grey in grey. Then | tried to recycle our ribbons in a series of weird and wonderful ways — none of which worked, but they left my hands permanently dyed. Now | buy my ribbons. through Contact Computer Supplies - nice people to deal with — and change them at regular intervals. If you are going to send us in a program please, please, make sure that the printing is legible and fairly dark. Otherwise we have the devil's own job reproducing it. Thank you. Following on with that theme, we have now closed our program competition because we had difficulty in working out a fair system of judging the very few entries we received. Taking the coward’s way out we have closed the contest. This does not mean that we want you to stop sending in programs that you feel will be of interest to other readers. Simply that there is no contest involved anymore. Life is enough of a contest, anyway. On a separate note, please observe that the new Apple disk magazine is being launched next month. As it is unprotected it may be that you'll be making copies for your friends. That's perfectly OK. This disk magazine is more of a service to Apple users than a money making proposition. An order form appears elsewhere in this magazine. oO MEMOREX THE DISC FOR EVERY APPLE 8” 5.25” 3.5” Syd. (02) 908-2211 Melb. (03) 267-2955 Adel. (08) 79-9951 Bris. (07) 376-5677, (07) 52-7333 Perth. (09) 446-6100 Cnbra. (062) 81-1977 Remember: For your Data... ‘When it matters make it Memorex’ Apple news The CMOS 6502 he Apple llc has made a fairly major impact on the market. Partially it is the design. Partially it is the machine's inherent compatibility. And part of it is the new microprocessor which drives the machine. It comes from Rockwell, is designated 65CQ2 and is the CMOS (that stands for Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) version of the standard 6592. The chip offers various advantages, such as low power consumption and lack of heat output It is software compatible with the standard chip but also contains some functions which fill in a number of gaps in the original 6592's instruction set. The standard 6592 microproces- sor probably had as much to do with the computer revolution as any other microprocessing chip in the world. It had a simple, straight-forward instruction set and simple interfacing requirements. It worked extremely well in comparison with other eight- bit processors such as the Z-89 but it did have restrictions on the use of certain addressing modes and there were a few minor anomolies. Better instructions For example, on the 6592 several instructions did not behave quite the way the documentation suggested. One of the main problems with the 6502 was the branch instruction timing. The problem lay, in the main, with the documentation. Although it was correctly specified on the original data sheets, several tutorials incorrectly stated how long a branch instruction took. Nearly all of these glitches in the 6502 have been corrected in the 65C2 and already there is a library of literature building around this chip. Several of the instructions built-in are quite new, and the 65CQ2 also enables some existing addressing modes to be used with instructions which did not accept those modes on the original 6502. The 65C92 has the electrical characteristics you would expect from a CMOS integrated circuit in that it uses minute amounts of power and therefore creates little or no heat. Six times the speed Most importantly, the chip can be made much faster in operation with relative ease. Versions for speeds up to six megahertz will probably be available sometime in the nottoo- distant future. The standard Apple 6592 worked at one megahertz, so such a speed increase is quite dramatic. Bear in mind the IBM PC works at 4.77 megahertz and you can see what a difference this speed increase will make. The chip's consumption is also extremely low which will make battery-powered operation feasible when this chip is combined with the new CMOS memory chip. Nevertheless, its most impressive feature is that it is almost totally compatible with 6592 specifications. This permits all of Apple hardware and software to be used with the new processor. The 65CQ2 represents a major step. forward in Apple technology. College education at home In the United States it is now possible to take your college courses at home using a computer- telephone modem link-up. The most advanced stage is at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. They have spent a fortune and a large amount of time to set up an electronic information exchange system which offers 14 complete continuing educational seminars. The system was developed by the Professor of Computer Science at the New Jersey Institute of Tech- nology, Murray Turoff, who has been working on the system since 1976. The system went on line in 1983 with a very short series of continuing educational seminars. This has attracted the attention of educators and institutions around the world. Participation of students is not restricted to the New Jersey area. Differences The lessons conducted on this computer telecommunications system are very different from those offered in the conventional classroom setting. The first big advantage is that limitations of time and _ location virtually do not exist. You can access your computer at any time of the day or night. You can take as long or short lessons as you need to. Doctor Turoff points out with justifiable pride that the offering of courses via the computer is very flexible. It allows people whose business commitments would other- wise prevent them extending their education, to join a seminar group. He says one of the major areas where they have attracted students is in the middie management level. Executives are taking the opportunity for professional enrichment courses. Another major difference is that a computer classroom has a group far more widespread than a conven- tional classroom. The NJIT has set up a seminar conferencing system which allows students to see each other's answers to questions and remarks in discussion. In the normal classroom once a question has been answered that is the end of it. Not in this electronic environment. Each student works at home to get an answer to the question and then keys it in. Only after it has been transmitted can the sender see what the other students have said and compare answers. This system encourages partici- pation and stimulates curiosity. 3 It has another big advantage. It allows anonymous answers. Students who are shy about put ting up their hands in class — and that is most of us — often feel more com- fortable working in a computer set- ting. A group member who wants to try an unusual or outrageous idea may do so without fear of embarrassment. Unlimited communication The system allows unlimited communication between each of the participants and the instructors. As soon as a user logs on he checks to see if there is any mail waiting for him. Worm in the Apple Flash your Mac | am, as everyone knows, not a prude. | do not even support Fred Nile. But even | look a little askance when | see that Apple is running Macintosh education schemes. And that the walls of the classrooom are covered with graffiti, put up by Apple staff, which reads, “Flash your Mac”, “Cuddle a Mouse” and “Orwell had one”. Not, | think, in the best of taste. The Macintosh is named, so | am assured, after a variety of apple. Not after dirty old men who flash, most of whom, | am quite sure, are computer programmers between jobs. All | can say is thank heavens this incident didn’t happen in Australia. Rodent plague If there is justice Apple manage- ment are about to get their knuckles severely rapped. They have now introduced the abominable mouse to the Apple Ile, which until that moment had been a lovely machine of which | was particularly fond. Is nothing sacred? Qo One of the great attractions of the system is that members can schedule their class times to suit their own needs. There is no actual need for a member to be sitting at his terminal at a specific time, although the system is capable of supporting on- line conferences, if they want to discuss a specific subject at a specific time. Whenever the student accesses the system the current lesson prepared by the instructor is waiting. A member may find other members of the group have already responded to the topic and the instructor has passed comments, all of which can help in the educational process. If the student is still living in the dark ages and prefers hard copy it can be dumped onto the printer. Sending in. lessons requires a word processing program on the student's computer. The copy can then be transmitted in the normal way through a modem. No tests, no quizzes In this particular system there are no tests or quizzes as the seminar course progresses and no grades are given at the end. This means the user has to be extremely disciplined and willing to use free time in working on the educational material. This may be fairly easy in the case of a mature executive who has invested serious money in taking part in it The same may not be true of younger students. Some may duck courses and fall behind, some will stay current with the work. It may be some sort of mark encouragement is going to be needed before the system will work properly with young students. There is a charge for this New Jersey system. Tuition for one three month course is $525 with additional fees for text and modem connect charges. The only other outlay is for a modem and a communications package. Itis going to be very interesting to see when the idea will arrive in Australia. Of course, in a modified form, it has been here for many, many years indeed. It has been the basis of most of the bush radio schools. This is merely the modern extension. Qo POSIGONO oasis, Rates within Australia DIRECT SUBSCRIPTION The Australian Apple Review Please enrol me for ... issues subscription to the Australian Apple Review, commencing with the ... ... issue. | enclose postal order/cheque for $ ... NENIGec cee ioon SOE Se SS ee lets (Please print in BLOCK letters) Subscription rate for 6 issues $18.00 Subscription rate for 12 issues $36.00 The Australian Apple Review Top Rear, 4 Carrington Rd, Randwick, NSW 2031. LETTERS Letters Additions to mailing program (Vol 1, No 5) Dear Sir, For the mailing of journals registered in Category B, Australia Post requires that they should be presented in bundles assembled in numerical order of Post Code (PC) within a number of sorting divisions. Due to the rather eccentric arrange ment of post codes with divisions, a simple sort of addresses in numerical order of post code does not suffice. For example, the following table shows the divisions of Sydney south of the harbour (ND = 4) — has been done by computer. This is particularly irritating if the job is being done by volunteers! The enclosed additions to Birth- isel’s program cause the post code of a new entry to the list to be “tagged” by prefixing it with a CTRL character. This will not be printed but will be sorted in order of its ASCII number. The resulting sort thus provides a list in which all the CTRL— A members appear first, arranged in numerical order of post code, followed by the CTRL - B members and so on. The DATA in line 3090 are appropriate to the Divisions given above, the first item being the number of Divisions (ND = 4), and each group of post codes being preceded by the number of post code ranges within the division (NZ). Sorting Division Post code range Sydney City 2000 - 2005 Rushcutters Bay 2019-2011 Mail Centre 2021 - 2030 Southwest suburbs 2127-2144 2160 - 2202 2555 — 2574 Southern suburbs 2006 - 2009 2012-2020 2031 - 2059 2293 - 2249 Program Tag NZ CTRL-A 1 CTRL-B 2 CTRL-C 3 CTRL-D 4 If there is a large number of journals to be mailed, sorting manually is time consuming, even if an initial sort into numerical order The CTRL characters G, H, M and U have a special function and cannot be used so they must be excluded if the number of Divisions 1932 2c = 1936 PCS = CHRS (1) + Pos: GOTO 1939 4038 NEXT J: NEXT I 1939 RESTORE 15920 PRINT A2BCI); SPCC 3) 1732 PRINT © IF PE 2": GET LOS: GOSUB 2780: GOTO 1758 4738 HOME + GOTO 1720 IF POSS) < = PCSCJ + D> GOTO 2838 soto 2770 VAL POS): READ ND: FOR I = 1 TO ND: READ NZ: FOR J = 1 TO NZ 1034 READ C1: READ C2: IF PC < C1 OR PC > C2 GOTO 1296 RIGHTS CPOS(T),4) LEFTS <1$,1) = "Y" THEN PRINT "FOR ALPHABETICAL ORDER"; TABC 35); "TYPE 1": PRINT © PRINT "FOR POST CODE ORDER"; TAC 35):"TY FOR J = 170 1 STEP - D: IF LOS = "i" DATA 4, 1,2000, 2005, 2, 2010, 2011,2021,2090,3, 2127, 2144, 2160, 2202, 2555 12374, 4, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2020, 2031, 2059, 2203, 2249 GoTo 2769 on the list is large, and line 1529 has been modified because a_ string which starts with a CTRL cannot be displayed on the screen. A program for “tagging” an existing list is easily written. E D Poppleton Hunters Hill, NSW Graham Black’s “help” call Dear Graham, Regarding your “help” call related to the underscore cursor. I'm not into 89 column cards on Ile, but perhaps the pokes to location $30F mentioned on page 43 of March 84 Softalk will help. bytes E9 49 at $30F nonflashing AQ AQ at $30F invisible AQ DF at $3F underline These are effective when the following routine is used as an input exit. 320: AO OB A2 03 85 38 86 39 308: 4C EA 03 48 31 28 38 E9 319: 49 91 28 68 3C 21 FD | seem to have this out of sequence, but you may see what is intended (1. | wish | had a photocopier, 2. | should have used the word processor. Ah, well.) How did | track this down? Using “Daryl's Apple Digest’, of course. Daryl Jones Malvern, Vic. Ed: “Daryl's Apple Digest” searches the major Apple computer magazines and records all articles and items relevant to Apple |! users. For more information, apply to 26 Parslow St, Malvern, Vic 3144. wf Puzzle program Dear Sir, | found your June edition very interesting and informative and | am including with this letter my cheque for 12 months subscription. | noticed the program submitted by Greg Bailey (the Lotto selector program) that was printed in the June edition. In case you are looking for more such programs to include in the programming section of the magazine, | am submitting a small puzzle program with this letter. The program simulates one of those little 4 x 4 square puzzles you used to find in showbags, containing 15 tiles and one blank space. You have to shuffle the tiles around to make words or number patterns. Actually, | saw such a program as this working on a _ Macintosh recently, and so | wrote this one for my Apple. Errol Chopping Dubbo, NSW The program presents a 4 x 4 grid containing 15 characters and one blank space. The aim is to shuffle the characters about, trying to make words or number patterns. 1 2 3 4 5 6 YG 8 9 v1) A B Cc D E Only those characters adjacent to the blank space may be moved and they are moved into the blank space. To move the cursor, use the key | (up), J (left), K (right), M (down) and to push a character into the space use the space bar. You may exit the program at any time by pressing ESC. The constants defined in the subroutine at line 1099 are as follows: CX horizontal position of top left corner CY vertical position of top left corner XY grid co-ordinates of current cursor position D__ distance between characters on grid W_ length of word entered KB address of keyboard buffer SB_ keyboard strobe BX,BY co-ordinates of blank space PX,PY screen co-ordinates of cursor position P (4,4) array containing status of each cell. (= not allowed to move, =1 allowed to move) The routine at line 2000 allows you to enter the characters you want in the puzzle. These are held in the string W$. Line 2015 pads out W$ with random characters if you enter less than 15. The loop at 2030-2050 prints the characters of W$ on the screen and substitutes the hyphen () for any blanks you may have entered. The main part of the program, from line 49 to line 289, works like this: LINE 5 collects the ASCII| code from the screen and converts it into the string A$. Note, memory locations 49 and 41 hold a pointer to the address of the current vtab line and location 36 holds the horizontal position of the cursor. So the statement VTAB_ PY:HTAB_ PX:P=PEEK(42)+ 256*PEEK(41)+PEEK(36) will set P equal to the memory location of the screen position VTAB PY: HTAB PX. LINE 70 looks at the keyboard to see ILIST REM (CONSTANTS? 30 GOSUB 2000: REM (GET LETTERS) 40 xX = (PX «PY - CY) 7D 50 UTAB PY: PEEK (40) + (P) = 128:0% = CHRS (P) 60 INVERSE : PRINT @$;: NORMAL 70K = > GOTO 3000: ON <K = 32) GOTO 200 80 PX = PX + D # ¢ 90 PY = PY +D * ¢ 100 GOTO 40 200 IF NOT P(X,Y)-THEN 70 210 UTAB PY: HTAB PX: PRINT " "3 220 TAB BY: HTAB BX: PRINT A$; 230 BX = PX:BY = PY 240 FOR I = 1 TO 4: FOR J = 1 TO 4:P¢ 250 PCK,Y - CY > 19) = 1EPKX,Y + CY ¢ 260 POX = OK > 194%) = TEREX + OK CD 270 PKX,Y) = 0 280 GOTO 40 290 REM 75) * (x <4) = 77) * OY 6) = DEFINE CONSTANTS 1000 DIM Pca,4> 1010 CX = 20:CY = 5:X = 4:7 1020 8X = X * D + CX:BY = Y 1030 PC4,3) = 1:P(3,4) = 1 1050 RETURN + REM GET CHARCTERS FOR PUZZLE 2000 TEXT : HOME : SPEED= 255: NORMAL P TO 15 CHARACTERS (NO SPACES)": RETURN’": UTAB 22: HTAB 12: FOR I + VTAB 22: HTAB 12 2010 INPUT "";wWs 2015 IF LEN (W$) < 15 THEN Ws = Ws + 2015 2017 WS = LEFTS (uis,15>) +" " 2020 HOME : VTAB 20: PRINT " ‘ESC’ TO “1,J,K,M TO MOVE": NORMAL 2030 FOR I = 1 TO 4: FOR J = 1 TO 4: what key you are pressing and when one is pressed clears the keyboard strobe and sets K equal to its ASCII value. LINES 89 and 99 adjust the position of the cursor according to a keystroke of |, J, Kor M. LINE 200 sends contol back to line AQ if you try to push a character into the space from an illegal position. LINES 219-239 swap the chosen character with the blank space. LINES 249-270 adjust the status array P(X,Y) so that only those cells adjacent to the blank space may be legally moved according to the new grid pattern. 256 * PEEK (41) + PEEK (36):P = PEEK PEEK (KB): ON (K ¢ 127) GOTO 70:K = K - 128: POKE SB,0: ON (K = 27 : UTAB PY: HTAB PX: PRINT AS; D* (K = 74) * (X > 1) D * (K = 73) * CY > 1) 1,J) = 0: NEXT Jy1 a= 4 a4 WW = O:KB = - 14384:SB = - 16368 X = BXiPY = BY 2 NOTRACE : VTAB 18: PRINT “ENTER U UTAB 20: HTAB 11: PRINT "AND PRESS * = 1 TO 15: PRINT CHR® (95);: NEXT CHR® ( INT ( RND (1) © 26) + 44): GOTO EXIT ": PRINT "/SPACE’ TO PUSH": PRINT =W+ 1: VTAB I # D+ CY: HTAB J * D+ CX: IF MIDS (W8,W,1) = * * THEN PRINT "-"s: GOTO 2050 2040 PRINT MIDS CW$,W,1)5 D+ CY: HTAB X * D + Cx + PRINT “ "5 3000 VTAB 1: HTAB 1: PRINT "ANOTHER GAME (Y/N)?";1 GET 2: PRINT 285: IF 2% = "Y* THEN RUN 3005 2% = "Y" THEN UTAB 23: END 3010 IF 26 = "N* THEN VTAB 1: HTAB 1 = 868: GOTO 70 anen anitn anan UTAB 2: HTAB 1: PRINT “WANT TO QUIT (Y/N)?";1 GET 2$: PRINT 231 IF + CALL - 868: VTAB 2: HTAB 1: CALL When you can't afford mistakes. eae gsnpigatis There really is a difference in diskette brand: It’s in the way they are made. Because the computer industry cannot afford variation in the quality of diskettes, at Nashua we looked for, and founda way to ensure absolute consistency. Here’s how we do it. Quality Circles. the best way to attain this ‘consistency’ is to ensure that at each stage of production our diskettes are statistically checked to make sure the quality is ‘built-in’ every step of the way. Rather than long production lines, we have ‘Quality Circles’ — small groups of people whose job itis to make sure that each Nashua diskette is right in the first place. The result is a diskette with such consistency, that itis chosen by those people who can't afford mistakes. Phone Sydney 958 2044, Canberra 47 0511, Melbourne 428 0501, Brisbane 369 4244, Adelaide 42 0021, Perth 3281888, Darwin 816204, Auckland 77 5468, Wellington 85 1965, Christchurch/Dunedin Whitcoulls Ltd, PNG 256766. There really is a difference. ‘Rawal & Skinner 402 NA/A INNOVATION Our new disk magazine e have been looking at the W possibility of launching an Apple disk magazine. To do this we got hold of some of the disk magazines which are available in the United States. We expected to see a screen version of what appears in the text with a few programs thrown in. Not at all. The ones we looked at are not translations of paper magazines into floppy disk format but are intelligent and original entities with their own editorial approaches. There are several currently available in the United States. Impressive The one which impressed us most was Mentor which is intended for users of PCs. This was not the first disk magazine on the market. That honour goes to IB Magazette (a horrid title) which came out in August 1982. The IB Magazette in its introduction section says “IB Maga- zette will play several valuable roles: software supply, magazine, user group, amusement, trouble shooter, forum.” In fact, the function it handles best is as an unofficial user group. The magazine costs $15. Everything on the disk is available for the reader to copy, use, keep ina software library. And this is the great advantage of disk magazines. While any computer program can be listed in a printed magazine, it is the devil's own job to type it in carefully and correctly. With a disk magazine you can copy directly onto another disk. Interestingly, |B Magazette accepts no advertising whatsoever. Mentor Mentor first came out in 1983, almost a year after the 1B Magazette. It has taken a slightly different road. Mentor uses professional writers and provides program enhancers to upgrade popular software such as WordStar, dBase I! and Lotus 1-2-3. Mentor also accepts advertising. The advertisements are listed in the main menu so if you want to see an advertisement, you must call it up from the main menu. These advertise- ments are in themselves fascinating, because they frequently contain teasers (an interactive demonstration of a program) to show you the sort of thing for sale. Rather similar to the trailers they are now putting on video tapes. Mentor obviously has disk space problems but sometimes program demonstrations for new products .are included on separate disks. Mentor also gets round the problem of disk space by issuing you with a master disk which contains the operating system. Putting the operating system on a separate disk makes Mentor only slightly less user-friendly but leaves far more space for lengthier programs and articles. The future We believe there is a future for this sort of magazine in Australia. So that is what we are going to do. In August we will be releasing the first of our new monthly disk magazines. The price will be $10 including postage which we think is an extremely fair price, all things being taken into consideration. It makes it, as far as we can ascertain, the cheapest disk magazine in the world. It will contain programs, sub- routines, advertisements, a minimum of editorial, practical tips and suggestions. As well, it will occasion- ally be accompanied by another disk which will be manufacturer's offerings, so you Can test before you buy. If you would like to be in on the genesis of a new magazine please send your cheque or money order (payable to The Australian Apple Review) to Top Rear, 4 Carrington Rd, Randwick 2931. Include your name, address, age and the number of months you wish to subscribe for. There is no minimum, so it is quite acceptable to send only $19 for the first month. Qo and Gareth Powell Pty Ltd Top Rear, 4 Carrington Rd, Randwick, NSW 2031 Have you seen the other Gareth Powell Computer Magazines? Australian Business PC Report The Australian Commodore Review Available from newsagents and computer stores, or by direct subscription ($18 for six issues, $36 for 12 issues of each magazine) from . ; ARTICLE Trends in spreadsheets simple programs. They let a user put information into a worksheet and manipulate it to a degree. The first was VisiCalc, and whether it was that amazing piece of software that started the personal computer revolution or the Apple machine it ran on, is now immaterial. What is important, is that in the spreadsheet the personal computer found a reason for being, a justification for its existence. From those early beginnings we have come a long way with fairly sophisticated products. Hen spreadsheets were fairly Trends The following trends appear to have evolved: 1) Integration of increasingly com- plex functions into the software. You can get anything ranging from linear programming to calculus depending on your needs and the program that you use. 2) The ability to read information from files created by other programs. Many programs allow you to read out the information to another program such as a word processor. Many of the programs allow you to access information from programs such as databases. Both of these attributes increase the flexibility of the spreadsheet tremendously. 3) The integration of other related programs to the spreadsheet as exemplified by Lotus 1-2-3 and Framework. This is an area that will be expanding tremendously in the future. So far Lotus 1-2-3 is available on the Macintosh but it will certainly be available for the Apple Ile early next year. The follow-up program, Symphony, will come some months later. Note well that several other software houses already have similar programs in the pipeline and this area will be the scene of a ferocious sales battle between the major companies. Only the consumer can benefit. 4) A movement towards the standardisation of data formats. More and more we are finding spreadsheet programs are using the same sort of information entry styles, so moving from one spreadsheet to another does not mean you have to start at square one and re-learn everything. 5) The use of macro commands to allow the user to set up spread sheets to a predetermined formula with the minimum of effort. Writing these macros, as they are called, is not easy and the skills required are somewhat akin to programming. But the difference they make in setting up a new spreadsheet is measured in hours of work, not minutes. No doubt we will see simpler versions of macros available in the near future. Still evaluating Integrated packages are still, of course, being evaluated. But there is no doubt programs such as MBA, Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony and Frame- work are the way of the future because spreadsheets do not exist in a vacuum. They are part of a total business process. As a result they need access to data bases. by Duncan McCann Pe _ ee | _ — oe They need access to word processing. They need to be used with a graphing facility. And they need to be fast, very fast. If the user is going to be kept hanging around, the user will not buy the program. Which is why Lotus 1-2- 3 was a great success and MBA, on which it was possibly based, was not. Lotus 1-2-3 is a relatively fast program. MBA was not, although it has since been totally rewritten in machine language. The new version, which we have not tested, apparently performs like a Formula | racing car. Simplicity still has a place There is no doubt VisiCalc and SuperCalc III will remain perfectly viable for some years to come, especially for the simpler forms of programming. Indeed SuperCalc III has now expanded so you can use a graphing program which is already integrated. And MicroSoft's Multi- Plan has a lot of mileage left. Nevertheless the future of the spreadsheet is going to be in programs which contain at the minimum a functional database, a word processing program with some relatively sophisticated features, a total graphing system and a spread- sheet program which is completely flexible and contains selectable mathematical functions. And the 10 HARDWARE REVIEW programs that are successful will allow the user to select the level of sophistication needed in each area. If the spreadsheet needs to be continually accessing a large rela- tional database then it will have the facility to graft dBase II or Ill on with no problems and with a complete compatibility of instructions and commands. Memory problems The big problem is always going to be that such a program will take a very large amount of space on the computer. Until recently, when we were all stuck with the theoretical limit of 64K on an eightbit computer, this problem was almost unsurmountable. It is almost impossible to cram such a program into 64K of memory, although brave attempts have been made. The only apparent way to make such a program operate was frequent access to the disk to shift pieces of the program in and out of the memory. This is far from ideal. It wears out the disk. It takes up time. And it allows errors to creep in. Big memories For the sort of advanced spread- sheet total concept program we have in mind, the computer will need at least 256K of Random Access Memory on board and very possibly something in excess of half a megabyte. This is already possible with the Ile using extra memory boards. It is, of course, axiomatic that the Macintosh and the Lisa were almost designed for such a configuration. The traditional spreadsheet will be with us for some while but the way of the future is now quite clear — totally integrated programs that can be modified to suit precisely the users specific needs. Watch out for them Real Soon Now. a Snapshot gives you another picture, Wildcard gives you AN. EXELA ACE s ovncsnmecann on morality; software piracy is an obvious and deliberate criminal act and is now punishable by law. Notwithstanding this fact, pirates rarely accept or understand the risk they run. Piracy proliferates in both hardware and software. | read recently that Atari managed to stop the. sales of a ROM-copying device . primarily because the copier had no secondary purpose. But what happened to the convention that one is allowed to make back-ups for one’s own personal use? Not that | believe the ROM copier was being used so carefully. What difference exists between backing up software froma floppy disk or from a ROM? No one is quite certain of where the law stands. But there seems to be a consensus of opinion. It is fair enough to make a back-up copy of a program for your own use but not to distribute, sell, or give away programs in any way whatsoever. This means, in our opinion, that Wildcard, Snapshot and ReplayllF among others (all hardware copying devices) and software such as the infamous Locksmith, Nibbles-Away, Crazy Copier will never be outlawed. Because they have a real and legitimate purpose — to provide back- up copies for the original purchaser. (Anyone who believes they will be used exclusively for this purpose needs their head read, but it does provide a legal justification for the existence of these devices and programs). B efore the review, first a rundown Wildcard Before we look at Wildcard and Snapshot, perhaps | should mention how | came across the idea of such acard. | was in England and saw an advertisement for a company called “Dark Star” which made this remark- able card called “Snapshot”. Its technology is very similar to Wildcard and, indeed, my opinion is the two may originate from the same fertile brain. The advertisement gave the impression of high technology and there was a telephone number where you could make enquiries. | tele- phoned the number of this company on the cutting edge of modern technology, and a lady's voice said, “Could you call back after lunch, luv, he's still in bed.” In fact | telephoned two days later and found that one half of Dark Star had gone to the USA to negotiate a deal (which may have been the genesis of Wildcard) whilst the other half — his girlfriend — was staying at home answering the telephone and, neat touch this, rubbing the numbers off chips so the board could not be copied. She told me her boyfriend designed the board and she put them together. That was two years ago. No doubt the situation has improved since then. What it does Both Snapshot and Wildcard are electronic circuits. The way they are HARDWARE REVIEW set up is slightly different. With my version of Snapshot | have one 16K RAM card that has to fit into slot 0 and a small card that can fit in any other convenient vacant slot It is intended for an Apple I!+ as it gives an extra 16K to bring it up to 64K. The Wildcard slots into any 64K Apple Il or //e. They are both designed to make copies of software loaded in RAM. Once installed, the program to be copied is booted or loaded in the normal way... then with the push of a button (like the button and tube that extends from professional studio cameras on the Wildcard, but using the paddle controls on the Snapshot) the process begins. | won't describe the whole method here, because it is adequately described in the manuals (much improved over the earlier one for Snapshot which was typed out by the aforementioned girlfriend). The idea is for the board to find the program in RAM and then to create a bootable disk containing the plundered program. Normally easy Making copies of programs that run in 48k or less is usually easy, unless you have a combination of graphics, text and one or more slots initialised at the time the copy is taken. You will then also have to make choices from the options, which may not be that easy for people unfamiliar with Apple hardware. 64K copies need two takes. First, while the card works from the upper 16K, it copies the program hiding in the lower 48k reaches, and then again the other way around. Naturally, for the two halves to ever work synchronously again, the moment chosen to make both copies must be identical. That's usually easier than it sounds. Simply choose any convenient stop in the program. Neither card can copy anything over 64k. Quirks There may be more quirks than those I’ve encountered, but say for example you copy VisiCalc on a 64k system that shows 34k of available space; you'll end up with what appears to be a working copy of that software. However, if you try to load a model that would reduce the counter below 15k (ie to use the upper reaches of 64k machines), then the system hangs. For some reason, you need to clear an apparently already clear screen and to connect the additional 16k before you can use the full 34k indicated by VisiCalc. One area that | have never clearly sorted out is why copies made using either of these cards tend to be less satisfactory than copies made with other, software-driven, methods. Time and time again | have had a copy fall over after only being used three or four times. It very much depends on the program you are copying, but these cards are not universally succesful and do not always make satisfactory copies, no matter what the advertisements say. The manual also says it is difficult to copy software that does not load itself completely into RAM (ie reads more files during the normal use of the program such as PILOT, and nearly every other commercial program). Turnkey copies In practice, if the files are stored on disks initialised with DOS 3.3 the copied program will probably. still work. Wildcard and Snapshot create turnkey copies on a blank disk which they first initialise with a DOS based on 3.3... and this is why they will usually read ordinary DOS files. The Wildcard — Legal! But moral? Another feature common to both will allow you to make BRUNable files that work under normal DOS, instead of booting the turnkey disk made by Wildcard with its multitude of binary segments and unusual DOS. Not so useful, | think, but interesting, is an option to recover Applesoft from the copied program. lf successful, you'll get statistical information about where the program starts and ends, and therefore also the length and runtime flag. Also included in the utilities are a screen viewer and dump facility, the ability to patch vectors and pointers to modify the RESET vector and to locate and save the RWTS and DOS areas of memory. All in all, Snapshot and Wildcard both require some effort to make successful copies. This makes me think they are unsuitable for busi- nessmen who are keen to back up commercial programs with minimal fuss. It is more likely that an Apple enthusiast would buy Wildcard or Snapshot. OG 11 12 SOFTWARE REVIEW ProDOS - the new operating system ast year Apple introduced [ yProd0s as a new operating system for the Apple I! family which would complement but not supplant DOS 33 of blessed memory. This new operating system rep- resents a significant advance over previous operating systems. But it is important for all Apple users to realise the difference affects pro- grammers far more than it does users. Users will see benefits in speed and flexibility but no, repeat no, systems or programs will be outdated by the advent of ProDOS. The story from Apple head- quarters in Cupertino - from whom all wisdom flows — is that “software developers have expressed great interest in a standard operating system for the Apple I! that produces advanced capabilities and such applications as networking, business graphics, and large database man- agement. ProDOS is our response to this need.” American business jargon at its finest. Greater sophistication This appears to mean that more sophisticated programs can be written to take full advantage of mass storage, specifically hard disks, and multi-user systems will be available for the Apple II family of computers. This seems logical. Apple are more convinced than ever that a large part of their fortunes for the forseeable future are tied to the Apple Il series. Continuing upgrades will be the order of the day. There are two versions of ProDOS. The developers version which is 10 D and the end user's version, that's you and me, called version 1.01. To use ProDOS to its full advantage, programmers need the ProDOS Assembler Toolkit plus a machine code debugger called Bugbyter. Programs using ProDOS can be set up in one of two ways. Either the programmer can expect the user to load ProDOS into the system - which seems fairly silly — or the programmer can build it in to the program, invisible to the user, which seems far more sensible. Using utilities Probably the only time the average user will ever load ProDOS with malice aforethought is when programming and using certain utility programs. Otherwise ProDOS will be built in to most application programs and automatically loaded on booting. One of the stated reasons for the creation of ProDOS was to make it possible for the Apple I! to support mass storage beyond the 149) kilobytes provided by the Apple I! disk drive. It was the users, you and me, who created the pressure for the Apple II to show it could support data communication and networking as well. Perhaps we had more faith in the Apple |! then Apple did. DOS 3.3 was never designed to handle these facilities because it was never imagined it would be used in this way. ProDOS is completely new. It is not a modified DOS 3.3. Widely usable ProDOS will run on any Apple Il with at least 64K memory (that means any Apple Ile or Apple Il plus a language card.) Note that ProDOS goes into the RAM card or its equivalent so that there is no room for Integer — not a great loss. When Applesoft Basic is required the Applesoft ROM must be installed on the motherboard as in the Apple Ile. Most programmers we _ have talked to consider that ProDOS is a vast improvement on DOS 3.3 from their point of view. At the moment the choice of languages available is limited to Basic and Assembler The ProDos User's Kit. which to some may appear to be worse than no choice at all. Faster running Users will find that programs which use ProDOS run faster because of the more efficient use of memory and infinitely more efficient way of managing files. ProDOS maintains as much compatibility as possible with DOS 3.3 when it is being used with Applesoft Basic. Interestingly, ProDOS was originat ly seen as a logical step up to the Apple III and its SOS. As the Apple lll has now gone to that great computer graveyard in the sky, any step upwards to SOS (such an aptly named operating system) would not, in itself, be a good thing. The III has gone but ProDOS remains. Main improvements The main improvements of ProDOS are its hierarchical filing system, its support of mass-storage devices and its support of a defined interrupt protocol. (A defined interrupt protocol is an almost essential feature of any efficient networking system. During World War II there was a British radio show called ITMA which had a catch phrase “After you, Claude. No, after you, Cecil.” Which is a early form of defined interrupt protocol. It lays down the rules as to which machine has priority at any given point in time in a network) Defined interrupt protocol is > PROGRAMMING Apple Basic programmers’ aid f you have ever written a I program directly into an Apple, you will realise exactly how difficult it is. If you are going to do any serious programming, you need a program line editor. The one we are using at the moment is the Global Program Line Editor (GPLE) which works extremely well. When you boot the disk, the only way to tell whether the program has been loaded is a selection menu on the screen. If you have an Apple II+ with a 16K card in slot Q, the program is loaded automatically onto that card. Otherwise the program locates itself just below DOS. The program has several features. First of all, it allows modification of program lines. Secondly, it allows a series of characters to be defined and then executed with only two key strokes. Thirdly, there is a listing control which gives you the capability to easy stop, start, end a listing to the screen. Then it allows you to type in lower case letters and at the same time it gives you totally programmable cursor control. The latest listed edition allows you: * Global editing, including search, edit and replace routines. * The ability to use 89-column display on several popular add-on boards including Vision-80. * A type ahead buffer which stores characters when you are writing a program * A utility program which allows the automatic numbering of Apple softline. With this program you can do some elegant pieces of editing, including auto-packing which is extremely useful for removing unnecessary spaces if you have too long a line. You can also convert your program into, as it were, a book and read through it at a rate of twenty lines at a time. This is one of the useful features of the program. The great virtue of Global Program Line Editor is that you actually do not notice it is there at all. You only use it when you need some of its capabilities. There is good documen- tation provided and extremely easy directions for use of the program. Global Program Line Editor is produced by Synergistic Software, and it shows the intelligence of the manufacturers that they have left the program unlocked so you can copy it, if necessary. If you are doing any serious Programming in BASIC then you absolutely must have a line editor. Of those | have tested, the Global Line Editor is currently my favourite. However, John Lehane has just shown me this new program... Oo almost essential if you are going to use hard disks. It is absolutely essential if you are going to network. Because ProDOS uses the hier- archical filing structure you can keep files in sub-directories and organise your stored data far more efficiently than in a_ single level directory structure. This filing structure is not a million miles away from that used in Unix. It means that you have a directory, then a sub-directory, then a sub- directory and if necessary yet another sub-directory. Large files ProDOS allows the Apple Il to handle large files up to 16 mega- bytes in size, which, when you consider we are talking about an 8 bit machine, sounds faintly ridiculous. The hierarchical filing structure gives the hard disk user an organised system of getting and accessing an immense number of files. Let us take an example. Supposing you had a five megabyte hard disk attached to your Apple Il. DOS 3.3 would not allow you to store information into a file larger than 140K. ProDOS frees you from this restriction and, with its hierarchical filing structure, allows you not only to store it more efficiently but access it more efficiently as well. There are some DOS 3.3 com mands which are not supported in ProDOS but there are many new ones which enhance ProDOS immensely. End result The end result will see an immense amount of new application software taking advantage of the larger data storage and _ interrupt Capabilities. We are going to see local area networking, data communication, animation, word processing, spread- sheets and other applications set up, so they can use to the full the facilities of hard disk drives. It is most important that users realise the difference between ProDOS and the standard DOS merely makes the programmer's life easier and, as a result, we will see faster, more flexible programs. But the vast ocean of programs that have been written in DOS 3.3 will continue to function. And new user programs will have ProDOS builtin. All of these programs will be self-booting. And when new programs come along - like the Lotus 1-2-3 clone for Apple which we are promised in the near future — it will be very easy to convert DOS 3.3 text files to ProDOS text files, and, indeed, vice versa. O 13 14 GAMES In search of a great Same e often find ourselves very W bored when reviewing Apple games. They all seem to be variations on either adventures or shoot'em-up space wars. Now. we have found a program which is a genuine educational adventure game AND _ interesting and exciting. Called “In Search of the Most Amazing Thing”, it was created by Tom Snyder Productions for Spin- naker Software, distributed in Australia by Imagineering. This is an educational adventure game set in a world called Porquatz. Half of the world is fairly dull and the other half is covered by a mere mist which is filled with deadly crabs, fascinating tribes and _— erratic characters. The game lets you explore this world on a quest for a hidden object and you are given clues as you go along. What raises this game above the level of almost all others are the graphics, which are delightful and exquisitely done. You are in a non-violent search for an object called the Most Amazing Thing, lost by Uncle Smoke Bailey many years ago. Uncle Smoke wants you to return the booty to his home in Metallica, a city in the Dark Zone Mire. To help you he provides a Beeliner which is partly a hot air balloon and partly a dune buggy. You have to fly through storms, drive over land covered with bogs, deal with aliens and even compose music before you find the Most Amazing Thing. Uncle Smoke is always ready to give you plenty of advice. The start You start off standing next to a trapdoor and when you enter it you find you are in an elevator of the underground city, Metallica. You can either go to Uncle Smoke’s apartment or to the galactic store or to the great Metallica auction. After that it gets really complicated. However, all the time you are playing the game you are given hints, ideas and directions which will help you, with a modicum of intelligence, to recover the Most Amazing Thing and bring it back safely. This is just not a normal game. This is software within software within software. There is a map which locates every hut in the mire. The program tells you all about the people of each mire culture. There is a dictionary which translates important words and phrases used by all the 25 cultures in the Dark Zone Mire. There is a program called Musix, that shows you how to create the songs that are used for trading with the mire cultures. | am assured that most adults who know about playing computer games can complete this adventure in 10 to 12 hours. For us it just went on and on and on. i) Repeat sessions Once you have played the game you can play it again because the creator of this immensely enjoyable fantasy game, Tom Snyder, changes the location of the Most Amazing Thing in every game that is played. It is most reassuring and delightful to see that violence is not necessary to make an adventure game interesting. This is an educational game, a game that requires the keeping of careful records and organisation of the records for quick reference. It involves the use of basic mathematics, map-making and map- reading skills and an understanding of the differences in cultures and the need to make good decisions, Finally, In Search of the Most Amazing Thing also encourages reading by using a story book. It would be difficult for us to recommend In Search of the Most Amazing Thing too highly. It is possibly the best adventure program ever written for computers. Certainly it shows a direction in which computer games can now travel. a : HARDWARE REVIEW eee Make your Apple go faster with Accelerator Ile °°" ELERATOR Ile. Hoard for Apo’ Hh: ‘ya nts 0502 CoPro“ente’ or those who use the Apple //e H for number crunching, the Accelerator Ile card could — but not necessarily should — prove a godsend. And please note carefully we said that it applies if you use it for number crunching. The advertisements in the United States boast that it “will make your Apple //e run three and half times faster’ — indeed, it says it on the carton the board comes in - and the advertisements are indeed true as far as the programs | tested — alas, none of them involved serious number crunching when the speed increase should be far greater. The board is easy to instal and within seconds you are away and racing That term is not used lightly as the first program | tried was a game program called Autobahn. If you don’t know it, you have to drive through heavy traffic on a freeway where a lethal ambulance has right of way and where you encounter lots of other traffic, sudden narrowing of the road, tunnels, oil spillages etc. It is not a game at which | excel, but even those friends with higher skills wiped out almost immediately. To see the images zoom around at high speed is very funny and produced a lot of laughter. However, this is hardly a convincing demon- stration of the utility of Accelerator lle. For that it took Sargon II. This is, in case you don’t know, probably the best chess program available on Apple. It has seven levels and provides a good contest for beginners through to pretty good players. The problem is that above level 4 the response time is slow and one can wait 15 minutes or so for the computer to make a move. The Accelerator Ile brings this down to a tolerable span and increases enjoyment dramatically. Technicalities The board is based on a fast (8.6MHz) 6502 microprocessor with its own memory. This processor takes over all calculations, while the Apple's own 1MHz 6592 controls only the video display. Pre-booting The 64K of memory includes a built in language card. For maximum efficiency, the program you run must be in the Accelerators memory, so a pre-boot disk moves the language from ROM to the fast Language Card on the board. However, with programs (such as VisiCalc) which run in the 48K of main RAM, the Accelerator auto- matically grabs everything from RAM, so pre-booting is unnecessary. As the Accelerator is a direct memory access co-processor, it cannot be used at the same time as the Microsoft Z-82 Softcard, which does the same thing with a different type of co-processor. When you run CP/M software on the Z-89 Softcard, therefore, you need to turn off the Accelerator. However, if you are using a Z-80 card such as Personal Computer Products ‘Appli-card’, which does not use direct memory access, this does not apply. Impressive The board is certainly an im- pressive looking beast. It is about the same size as an ordinary board, but crammed with chips — 43 of them plus the 6502 microprocessor, the DIP switch block and a mysterious little gizmo simply labelled Saturn Systems. The fear with putting so powerful a board into one’s Apple //e, especially when most of the slots are already occupied, is that the power supply may prove inadequate, or that the whole shebang may overheat. The first proved no problem, and the cooling fan coped with the second. | do not consider that games, even Sargon, are a fair test of the board's ability: one really needs to try it out on a number-crunching program. However, Accelerator II clearly does speed up processing dramatically and professional users especially should find it a good investment. Editors note: Far from me to quibble with a reviewer but the whole point regarding these go-faster boards is they are only relevant if you are seriously into number crunching. Most time lag in programs comes from disk access - not from deficiencies in the speed at which the CPU works. To take the greatest advantage from such a go faster board you need to load the program into the board — which is standard in most cases - and you need to load the data you are manipulating into a RAM pseudo disk card. — This prevents any access to disk being required while you are working with the program and makes the whole setup operate very quickly. a Distributed by Compumusic, 103 St. Johns Rd, Glebe 2307. (02) 692-9293. Cite] Bait The Accelerator Ile “turbo-charger’. 16 LANGUAGES Microsoft Basic for the Macintosh } IT coo Basic was taken a step forward with the Apple Macintosh to reflect the increased power and the special features of the machine. At the same time it managed to maintain compati- bility with earlier versions of MS- Basic. The new Macintosh version is different in two ways. First, it is easier to use. Because it runs on the Macintosh, it uses the pull down menu and the window and mouse-oriented user interface as do all Macintosh applications. Second, it is much more powerful The language supports strings up to 32,767 characters long. All numeric versions are assumed to be double precision. The decimal math pack- ages posts to 14 decimal points. All of this reflects the potent and inherent power of the 6899, the 32- bit chip microprocessor at the heart of the Macintosh. When writing programs in MBasic you can make use of the Macintosh's windowing facilities. For example you can have one window showing one section of your program and another window showing a sub-routine. You can scroll backwards and forwards in one window while the other remains stationary. Long file names Not only can you have massively long strings to the point of excess, you can also have file names 255 characters long. This is as long as a string in normal MS-Basic. Why you should want such a feature beggars the imagination, but effectively there is no limit to the length of your file name. Unless the only language you know is spoken by the Abenaki Indians on the West Coast of Canada or you wish to program in Welsh. Arrays can have up to 255 dimensions and both numeric and string variable names can be up to 49 characters long. Although you cannot use a reserved word as a variable name it is possible to use a reserved word embedded in a variable name. You can access all the standard goodies on the Macintosh including the clip-board. Which means you can use the Mac's cut and paste abilities to transfer output from your Basic program to another Macintosh application. Graphics supported This new MS-Basic has a host of statements to support Macintosh graphics. An option allows you to define and draw a hollow or filled box with one command. The circle statement lets you draw hollow and filled circles or ellipses. The get and put statements alSo have graphics applications. When you have finished messing around with your graphics you can use the L COPY statement. This will send an exact image of your screen to your image printer. The standard MS-Basic state ments are very similar to their counterparts from earlier versions, although now there are several more a. reserved words to take full advantage of the Macintosh’s capabilities. As a language MS-Basic_ is remarkably easy to use and gives limited support to the Macintosh Toolbox, which is in the ROM and contains useful sub-routines - 41 in all. Not total usage It is fair to say that MS-Basic does not use all the power and the advantages of the Macintosh. It does not let you create your own pull-down menus, nor does it support all of the Macintosh Toolbox routines. For that you are going to have to wait for Apple's own MacBasic which becomes available in the next few months. However MS-Basic is a logica. step forward and it exploits fully the Macintosh’s 68920 central processing unit. Best of all it retains compatibility with previous generations of Micro- Soft Basic, which means thousands of existing MicroSoft Basic programs can be run virtually unchanged on the Macintosh. And that is a major plus indeed TIPS AND TECHNIQUES Up in the dumps Here is a simple graphics dump program that can be called from BASIC to pro- duce a C.Itoh 851@-printed copy of any picture on your hi-res screen. It can also be adapted to other printers. of a high-resolution graphics image produced on the Apple Il. While this can usually be achieved using a commercially available graphics utility, not all of these can be called from a program without user input. This simple graphics dump program written in 6592 machine code is intended for an Apple |! microcomputer together with a C.ltoh 8519 printer. The program can be called from a BASIC program and produces a horizontally oriented copy of the image on hi-res screen 2. The program has purposely been kept simple and no options such as scale changes, inverse printouts, etc have been incorporated. With some changes, it can be adapted to most other printers which allow address- ing of individual print head pins. Or often wants a printed form Program philosophy An Apple II hi-res screen consists of an array of. 289 dots horizontally by 192 dots vertically. Each dot is represented in the Apple's memory as a single bit and shows up white when the bit has the value 1 (on) or black when its value is @ (off). The bits (dots) are arranged in the Apple's memory as 7 bits to a byte; the value of the remaining bit (the high-order bit) determines the colour of the other 7 bits (dots). Thus the 280 bits representing a_ single horizontal line on the high resolution screen are represented in_memory by 4 successive bytes (49x7=289). To produce an image of the high resolution screen on the printer it is simply necessary to print a dot wherever the bit corresponding to the screen dot has the value 1. While this could be done line by line, 192 times, to cover the entire screen, this would be slow, cumber- some and lead to needless wear and tear on the printer. Dot addressing The C.ltoh printer allows address- ing of 8 of the 9 pins of the print head when in the bit image graphics mode; thus 8 horizontal lines of the screen image can be printed at a time and this is done here. In the bit image graphics mode the C.ltoh printer expects a command specifying bit image graphics fol lowed by a number of bytes equal to the width of the image to be printed. Each byte contains 8 bits represent ing the individual dots of 8 successive screen lines. The right most bit (bit No @) addressed the topmost pin of the print head, but 1 the second pin from the top, etc. In this program, the bits of 8 successive screen lines at a time are converted into a sequence of 289 bytes which are then sent to the printer together with the required bit image graphics command. This process is started at the top of the high resolution graphics screen and repeated 24 times (24x8=192) to cover the entire screen. In doing so the program changes the original position of the bits and thereby destroys the hi-res image. Therefore, before transfer takes place, the contents of the screen image memory section is copied to another section of memory and the original image is not affected. Operation A disassembly of the graph dump program is given in Listing 1 and the corresponding machine code is shown in Listing 2. The graph dump program consists by F. Walraven of a number of sections. The main program starts at location $1 E99 (the $ indicates hexadecimal notation) and takes care of the rearrangement of the screen image bits into a form suitable for transmission to the printer. It calls a number of subroutines used for setting up the printer (located at $1E5Q), resetting the printer for normal use ($1E72) and for sending a line to the printer ($1F6Q). An output buffer used to store the 289 bytes to be sent to the printer is located at $1 DQ0 to $1 E1D. The six-byte bit graphics com- mand needed for the C.ltoh 8519 is located at $1E1E to $1&23. The output buffer is written to and read from back to front (this simplifies programming) so that each output line is sent to the printer as “ESC SQ 280” followed by 289 bytes from the buffer. Zero page memory locations between $09 and $19 are used and the program therefore starts by saving the contents of these locations on the stack and by also saving the CPU register contents (code at locations $1 E90 to $1 E9B). The code at $1 E9F to $1 ECB copies hi-res screen 1 onto hi-res screen 2 from where it is converted to printer format. Eight byte blocks The program operates on blocks of 8 bytes at a time, one byte from each of the 8 screen lines being transferred to the output buffer. Starting with the block containing the leftmost bytes of the topmost 8 lines of the screen, the 7 low-order bits of these bytes (that is bits @ to 6) are transferred by shifting-via the carry bit into the last 7 bytes of the output buffer (code from $1EF2 to $1F2). Zero page location $03 and the CPU's X-register are used as counters for the 7 bits and 8 bytes respectively. They are initialised by the code at $1 EEC to $1EF1. Note that the addresses operated on by the shift instructions ($1 EF3, $1EF4, $1EFend $1EF7) are set up TIPS AND TECHNIQUES and maintained by the program itself. Locations $1 EF3 and $1 EF4 contain the address of the screen byte and $1 EF6 and $1 EF7 the address of the output buffer byte being operated on. For the first block of each set of 8 lines block the address of the topmost byte is obtained from the table starting at $1 E29. This is done by the code at $1EFE to $1EEB. A table is required here because in the Apple Il successive screen lines are not stored sequentially in memory. Anti-purist Note: the procedure used here is an example of self-modifying code, something frowned upon by purists. In this instance, however, it is very efficient and does not lead to undue complications. Its use is therefore quite justified. Zero page location $05 is used as a block counter and is initialised at $1EDA and maintained by the code at S1F32. After the required bits of the first block are transferred, the pointer to the next block is incremented and the operation is repeated. Once 49 blocks have been transferred, the output buffer is full and its contents are sent to. the printer. The process is then repeated for the next set of 8 screen lines. A counter for the screen line sets (zero page location $94) is initialised at $1ECC and incremented by the code at $1F3D to $1F44. Once the screen, restores the zero page locations and CPU registers, displays hi-res screen 1 and returns control to the program that called it. Program use As noted in the introduction, the graph dump program can be used from within a BASIC program. After entering the machine code shown in listing 2 at location $1E£18 and $1F93, the program should be saved using the command “BSAVE GRAPH DUMP,A$1 D2, L$2FF’. Any program that is to use GRAPH DUMP should first load it into memory with the command “BLOAD GRAPH DUMP”. The program can then be called from BASIC with the command “CALL 7824". Note: this location of the graph dump program within the memory uses up space below hi-res page 1 which could clash with longish programs. The author has found it more convenient, however, to place long programs that use high resolution graphics above hi-res page 2. In this case placement of GRAPH DUMP below hi-res page 1 represents a more economical use of memory space. Modification for other printers The graph dump program should easily adapt for use with printers other than the C.ltoh 8519, provided APPLE GAME PORT EXTENDER Features %& Four Switchable Gameports + Diode Isolation %& Long Cord with Strain Relief ‘& Plugs into Apple Gameport ONLY $20 (+ $2 postage) WD. AUTOMATION & CONTROL 4 Emily Ave, Emu Plains 2750 After Hours (047) 35 5023 P———— AUTO REPEAT <i dust Clips on Inside & Apple Il Plus %* Europlus ONLY $7 (+ $1 postage) ‘Send Stamped S.A.E. for Brochure be required only in the code sections relating to the setting up and resetting of the printer. The bit image graphics command preceding the output line would probably have to be changed and the order in which the bits are transferred to the output entire screen has been printed, the the print head pins can be individually bytes might possibly — require program switches output back to the addressed. Changes would probably changing. i} Program listing 4. Disassembly of the program Graph Dump. AG F2 LDY WSF2 1E96~ BS oO LDA $00,x 1EBC- £0 20 crx #820 B? 6D 1D LDA $1060, 1E98- 48 PHA 1EBE- DO EE BNE S1EAE 20 ED FD JSR $FDED 1E99- cA DEX 1ECO- 20 50CO. BIT $c0s0 ce INY 1E9a~ 10 FA BPL $1€96 1EC3- 20. 52.CO BIT. sco52 DO F7 BNE $1ES2 1E9C- 20 50 1E JSR $1650 1EC6- 2c 55 co BIT $coss 20 SE FD JSR SFDSE 1E9F- ay oo LDA #800 1EC9- 2c 57 co BIT C057 60 RTS 1EAL~ 85 06 STA $06 1ECC- AP 00 LDA #800 SEAS=. BS 08 STA 906 1ECE- 85 04 STA $04 1EAS- AA TAX 1ED0- AY IE LDA MSIE. 1E72- Ag FB Loy #SFB 1EAS6— Ay 20 LOA #820 1ED2- 8D F7 1E STA $1EF? 1E74- B? 86 10 LDA $1086, 1EA8- 85 07 STA $07 1E77- 20 ED FD JSR $FDED 1EAA~ AP 40 LDA #840 Gee aes eee gals ce INY 1EAC- 85 09 STA $09 He ne arse 00 F7 BNE $1E74 1EAE- a0 oo Loy #00 epee ew oe ret See 1E70- 20 BE FO «JSR SFDGE = 1EBO- BI 08 woh esoay veer 1eoee 65-15 ora se - TS 1EB2- 91 08 STA ‘ 1E60- 7 Ln 1EB4- ce INY SEAR x 1EEO~ BS 20 1E LDA $1E20,¥ ‘~ 1EBS- bo F9 BNE $1680 1EE3- 8D F4 16 STA S1EF4 1E90- 20 4A FF JSR SFF4Q 1€B7- E6 07 INC $07 1EES- By 38 1£ LOA $1E38,Y 1E93~ 78 SEI 1EBS- E6 09 ING. $09 TEE? 8D F3 1E STA S1EFS 1E94- a2 0A Lox #804 1EBB- £8 INX listing continues 18 ARTICLE hen the Apple was first W designed it was a marketing sensation for several reasons. Firstly, it was the first totally self contained personal computer within the strict meaning of that name. Secondly, it was a brilliant single- board design — perhaps the best single piece of electronics design of its decade. Thirdly, as a computer it was singularly easy to adapt and modify. It did not occur to the original purchasers that because of its ease of adaptation and modification the Apple was also an extremely easy machine to repair and maintain. But they soon found out. Repairing your Apple yourself, once it has gone out of warranty, can be a comfort and joy and can also save a bundle of money. With the cost of repairing com- puters soaring by the day ($50 an TIPS AND TECHNIQUES Program listing 2 continued 1EEC- A? 07 Loa #807 1F25- 69 01 apc e601 1Fe0- AP 1€ LOA SIE 1EEE- 85 03 sTa $03 1F27- 8D FQ 1E STA S1EF3 1F62- 8D 6C IF = STA. IFC 1EFO- a2 08 Lox #$08 1F2Q- AD F4 1E LDA $1EF4 1Fé5- AO 1E LOY = #S1E 1EF2- 4E F843 LSR $43F8 1F20- 69 00 ADC #800 1F67- a2 02 Lox #802 1EFS- 6E FF IC ROR Si1CFF 1F26- 80 F4 1E STA SiEFS 1F69— 88 DEY 1EFe- 18 cLe 1F32- £6 05 INC $05 1Féa- BP OO 1C = LDA $1.00, 1EF9- AD Fa 1E LDA $1EF4 1F34- a5 05 LDA $05. 1F6D- 48. PHA, 1EFC- 69 04 ADC | WSO4 1F36- C9 28 CMP «#628 1F6E- 8D 90 CO STA $0090 LEPE= 80 F4 1E STA S1EFS 1F3e- DO B2 BNE S1EEC AF71- Ag 34 LDA #934 1FOi- CA DEX 1F3A- 20 60 IF JSR $1F60 1F73- 8D 91 CO STA $C091 1F02- D0 EE BNE $1EF2 1F3D- £6 04 INC $04 1F76- 49 08 EOR #808 1Fo4- 38 SEC 1F3F- AS 04 LDA $04 1F78- 8D 91 CO sta $casi 1FOS- AD Fé 1E LDA S1EFS 1F41- cy 18 CMP “sis 1F7B= .AD 91 CO LOA scovt 1F08- £9 O1 ‘SBC wool 1F43- DO 8B BNE $1 EDO 1F7E- 29 80 AND #980 1F0A- 8D FS 1E STA $i1EFS 1F45- a2 00 Lox #00 1F80- FO F9 BEG $1F76 1FOD- AD F7 1E LDA $1EF7 1F47- 68 PLA 1F82- AD 90 CO LDA $ca70 1F10- E9 00 sec #800 1F4s- 95 00 STA $00,X 1Fe5- 68 PLA 1F12- 8D F7 1E STA S1EF7 1F4a~ ES INK 1Fes~ co. 00 cry #800 1FIS- Aa 04 Loy $04 1F4B- £0 OB CPX #808 1F88- 0 DF BNE $1F69 1FI7= B? 20 1E LDA $1E20,Y 1F4D- DO FS BNE $1F47 1F8A- CE 6c 1F DEC SiF6C IFl€~ 8D F41E STA SIEF4 iFar- 58 chi asset a 1F10- Cé 03 DEC $03 1FS0- 20 3F FF JSR $FFSF 1FSE- bo DF BNE S1F 6? 1FiF- DO CF BNE $1EFO 1F53- 2C 54 CO BIT $cos4 1F90- 20 8E FD JSR $FO8E 1F2i- 18 cL 1F56- 20 72 1€ JSR $1£72 1F93- 60 RTS 1F22- AD F3 1E LOA $1EF3 1F59- 60 RTS Listing 2. Machine Code Dump of the program Graph Dump BO BB BZ BO D3 9B 00 00 1E98- 4& CA 10 FA 20 50 1E AY iFIG- 20 1E 8D F4 1E Cé 03 DO 40 40 41 41 42 42.43 43 1EA0- 00 85 06 85 08 AA AP 20 1FZ0- CF 18 AD F3 1E 69 01 8D 40 40 41 41 42 42 43 43 1EAS- 85 07 AY 40 &5 OF AD OO 1FZ28- F3 1E AD F4 1E 69 00 BD 1E30- 40 40 41 41 42 42 43 43 1EBO- BI 06 91 08 CS DO F9 ES 1F30- F4 1E ES 05 AS 05 CP 28 1E38- 00 80 GO 80 0G 80 00 80 1EBS- 07 E6 OF ES EG 20 DO EE 1F38- DO Bz 20 60 IF ES 04 AS 1E40- 28 AB 28 AB 28 AB 28 AB 1ECO- 2C 50 CO 2C 52 CO 20 55 1F40- 04 CP 18 DO BB AZ 00 48 1E48- 50 DO 50 DO S50 DO 5G DO 1EC8~ CO 20 57 CO AY OO 85 04 = 1F4e- 95 OG EB EO OB DO Fe 58 1E5SG- AO F2 BY 6D 1D 20 ED FD 1ED0~ A 1E 8D F7 1E AY 17 BD 1FS0- 20 3F FF 2C 54 CO 20 72 C8 DO F7 20 SE FD 60 9B 1EDS- Fé 1E AY OO 85 05 A4 04 1 FS8- 1E 60 EA EA EA EA EA EA 1E60- CE 98 BE 9B D4 B1 Bé 9B 1EE0- B 20 1E 8D F4 1E BP 38 1F60- AY 1E 8D 6C IF AD 1E AZ 1E68- CC BO BI BS 8D EA EA EA 1EES- 1E SD F3 1E AY 07 B5 03 1F6e- 02 BE BY 00 IC 48 BD 90 1E70- EA EA AO FB BY 86 1D 20 1EFO- AZ 08 4E FS 43 6E FF IC 1F70- CO APY 34 BD 91 CO 49 08 1€78- ED FD CS DO F7 20 BE FD 1EFS- 18 AD F4 1E 69 04 8D F4 1F78- 8D 91 CO AD 91 CO 29 BO 1E80- 60 9B BC 9B Ci 8D EA EA 1F00- 1E CA DO EE 38 AD Fé 1E 1F80- FO F9 AD 90 CO 68 CO G0 1E88- EA EA EA EA EA EA EA EA 1FO8- EY O1 @b Fé 1E AD F7 1E 1F88- DO DF CE 6C IF CA DO DP 1E90- 20 48 FF 78 A2 0A BS 00 1F10- EF 00 8D F7 1E A4 04 BY 1F90- 20 BE FD 60 49 ARTICLE Repairing your Apple hour is not uncommon) obviously anything that you can do to keep your Apple in reasonable repair yourself is a great saving. We are not trying to put repairmen out of business, nor are we going to suggest that you fiddle with your Apple unnecessarily. But there are ways and means of making sure that your Apple works without you having to drag it down to the repair shop every time it blinks and hiccups. This series of articles is designed to help you get at least to the stage where as a happy home _ handy- person you can solve many of the basic problems that arise. Four parts The Apple was designed in four major parts. 1. The case. 2. The power supply. 3. The mother board. 4, The keyboard. Let's take them one by one. The case The chances of anything going wrong with the case is almost zero. In all our experience with Apples (and that is probably a_ wider experience than most people's) we have never seen an Apple computer body crack or break. The only major problem that can arise is if you use too much force to insert or take out screws. Then they can jam permanently. All you have to remember is to use the right sized screwdriver whenever you are working on the Apple and not to use too much force. Brute strength and ignorance will create problems. Also, it is not a bad idea to clean the case occasionally. We use liquid Ajax which seems to work very well. The power supply If you are working with a genuine Apple power supply (as opposed to a fake or imitation Apple power supply) the only problem that you are probably ever going to have is with the switch. The switch has a tendency to break down after incessant use. How to fix it? jf, ae. The silver or gold box inside your Apple, called the “power supply’. Open your Apple by lifting the lid at the rear of the case, pulling up and sliding it back and away from you. Put the lid in a safe place. There on the left hand side is the power supply. It will either be silver or gold coloured. (If it's a different colour you may be dealing with a fake Apple in which case the situation changes slightly.) The power input is at the back of the power supply and the switch is next to it If your switch goes you do not need to take the whole of the power supply apart. In fact it is very difficult to do so, as Apple in their wisdom rivetted it together. That is not meant as a sarcastic remark. Once the power supply has con- verted the mains power to the low direct current the Apple uses, the chances of you getting a shock are minimal. But inside the power supply box there is a large amount of 240 volt alternating current floating around, which can be extremely injurious to your health and weil- being. Whenever you are working with an Apple, earth any static electricity which may be in your body by touching the top of the power supply box. You won't feel a thing, promise, but you will have been neutralised. Then take the power plug out of the wall socket and out of the socket at the back of the Apple. If you think tha that makes us sound like old women, we don't mind. But it is truly much better to be safe than frizzled. The switch is next to the power inlet and is a press-fit. You can ease it out with a flat-bladed screwdriver inserted under the edge. Take it slowly, gently and easily. Rest assured that the switch will come out and that is replaceable with almost precisely the same switch available at your local Tandy’s. Presumably your Apple dealer will sell you one but we have never checked. Make careful note of the way in which the two connections lie on the switch, then unsolder them and re- solder on the new switch. Your new switch will now press back in the hole in the power supply and you are back in action. Getting around the problem There is another way of getting around this problem, and that is to use one of the hang-on fans which has a builtin power switch which will take the strain off the switch on your computer. Alternatively, you can use a_ substantial household switch inserted in the power supply cord and screwed to your desk or table near the computer, so that you can use that switch to power the computer on or off without using the switch at the back of the Apple. The switch is one of the first parts of the Apple to go wrong and is, fortunately, one of the easiest of faults to rectify. If the power is working you can nearly always tell because of the beeping sound that comes when you switch on, or the light that appears at the front of the computer. Suppose you switch on, there is a beeping sound, the light on the keyboard glows and nothing else happens. Your disk drive sits there and ignores you. No little red light comes up on the front, no whirry noises happen on the inside, nothing comes up on the screen. The first step is to suspect any peripheral cards that you have in the machine. As a first step, switch OFF - very important this - switch OFF and after you have switched off, take out every peripheral card in your machine. The lot As you take them out note carefully with pencil and paper which slot they go into and the way in which the slots are numbered. Eight slots For absolute beginners, there are eight slots on the Apple motherboard which you can see as soon as you ARTICLE RING TODAY AND GIVE UP WRITING! 6 BUTTON TYPEWRITER AND WORDPROCESSOR * simple to learn and easy to operate. * no typing ability required — produce typed text the same day. * world’s most powerful hand held id wordprocessor Se A Tr * $790.00 sales tax. ".. it's easier to learn than riding a bicycle...” including The Australian “The Microwriter is ... a replacement for every known method of putting thoughts onto paper” ‘Newsweek PHM | avsrrauta pry. rrp. NEY: SUITE 8, 5th FLOOR, 22 CENTRAL AVE, P.O. BOX 696, MANLY NSW 2095 PHONE (02) 977 6600 TELEX 25015 SBANE: PHONE (07) 394 2388 TELEX 40280 RTH: — PHONE (09) 387 6396 TELEX 95905 (UIC) _ microwriter!| DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME open the lid. These slots are marked with maddening consistency from 0 on the left through to 7 on the right. The Apple lle, just to confuse matters a little, has slot 0 in the middle of the motherboard and its seven other slots in the standard position at the top of the motherboard. These slots are one of the delights of the Apple - but also one of its weaknesses. Into these slots go peripheral boards which allow your machine to perform in the various wondrous ways that it does. When you look down into these slots you will see a series of grippers which look as if they are plated with gold. And by damn they are. This is to preserve the best possible contact with the gold teeth of the peripheral boards when they are inserted. Having removed all your periph- eral boards and noted with great care where they came from and the way in which they were aligned, try switching on your Apple again. If you get a satisfactory beep and the light comes on at the keyboard you know that the trouble lies with one of your peripheral cards. Disk controller Now, switch off again and have a careful look at your disk drive controller card that was in Slot 6 before you removed it. At the bottom you will see a series of gold teeth which are there to be gripped once the board has been inserted. They should be shining bright. If they are not, give them a quick clean up with a pencil eraser. And do it away from the computer or you will be letting a lot of nasty dirty crumbs fall in your Apple. At the same time make sure that the connector from Drive 1 is fitted correctly at the top of the disk controller board on to the set of prongs marked for Drive 1. We found a machine three weeks ago in which the plug had been fitted on with one prong over at one end and one prong short at the other. Make sure the plug is on properly and squarely pushed home. We know you wouldn't be so daft as to make the mistake of putting the plug on backwards, but it does happen. The flat multi strand wire is NOT crushed up against the disk control ler card but is attached on the outward edge and is therefore not subject to any severe bending. Trying again With the computer OFF insert your disk drive card into Slot 6. (You may think we go on like a two bob watch about this switching on and switch- ing off. But if you insert your disk controller card into your Apple when the power is switched on, you will stuff one of the chips permanently. In fact, you will blow a large and very visible hole in the side of one of the chips. As we have done this maybe halfa-dozen times ourselves we know what we are talking about) Recommended technique The recommended way of insert- ing the card so that it fits properly is to insert one end first and then rock the card down into the gripping teeth (they are spring loaded) until it is firmly and correctly in position. In deference to our old eyes, we always use a torch to check that we have got it right before we go a step further. Once you know the card is instal- led properly, and only then, switch on and the disk drive red light should come on and there should be whirry whirry noises and some form of life will appear on the monitor. If this is the case one of your other peripheral cards is suspect. Either it hasn't been fitted properly or a chip has blown. We'll talk about these and other matters involving the mother board in our next issue. —_— 22 r CAD on the Cheap.. Barry Kauler explores the fascinating potential of COMPUTER AIDED DRAFTING on his Macintosh. Apple's Macintosh is one of the lowest-cost and fastest serious graphics machines around, which was one of the many intriguing features that drew me to it in the first place. | dreamed about the possibilities for draftspeople, education, artists, architects, engineers, etc, but at the time when | bought my Mac there wasn't much software: just MACPAINT, with vague promises of something else called MACDRAW sometime in the future. At the time of writing MACDRAW still hasn't been released, but | have been able to play on a pre-release version..... and boy am | excited! In thié artiole In mit fooling around, doing a few things with Macdraw, and hopefully you'll pick up the feeling! have for Mac's potential. Of course for a price around the $3000 mark (Australia) don't expect too much. For example the graphics resolution is a little bit coarse for serious professional work, at 512 by 347 pixels, but no worries, | found that particular limitation easy to live with. Some of the possibilities are so intriguing, such as the in-built Local Area Networking, which should allow a room-full of Macintoshes to be linked together and onto a common plotter. Perhaps also a Lisa computer with hard disk should be included in the network for a serious drafting system. My own background is in education, so | tend to see things from that viewpoint: | can envisage the above-mentioned classroom-full of Mac’s being used to teach people about CAD. Certainly it’s the most cost-effective option Ive ever encountered. FIGURE ONE. What you see when first opening up Macdraw: File Edit Type Font Layout Arrange Fill Lines Pen : Sa === tg ReCOOo/E {oe Pe a ed 7) A) Be Oe cs ows LLL ABOUT MAC: Firstly a brief description of Mac himself. his brain is a Motorola 68000. Memory is 64K of ROM operating system subroutines, and 126K of RAM, expandable to 512K. Mass storage is one 3.5 inch microfloppy drive holding 400K, with a socket for external microfloppy or hard-disk drives. Two 230Kbit/sec serial interfaces are for Local Area Networking, a printer or Modem. Other standard features include a mouse, battery-backed clock, and voice-synthesis. ‘As mentioned above the screen is 512 by 347 pixels, and is alsomonochrome only. Due to Mac’s popularity in the U.S., a very wide range of software is becoming available. Now for my personal comments about Mac. I'm currently running “Microcomputer Appreciation” short courses at the Collie Technical Collegein W.A., and ve been bringing my Mac in for the students to use. now this is fine as It gives them a chance to compare Mac with the other machines in the course, which are CP/M-based..... but there is now a problem, as Mac is so much easier and fun to use that there is a fight at every session over who gets to use Mac. That's one comment. Ease of use is the one main comment | want to make: it's my over-riding impression and also that's what impresses other people to whom ive shown Mac. But there are also some negative aspects, one of which Is the limited memory. 126K RAM and 400K disk just isn't enough for this kind of machine. Solution: buy the RAM memory upgrade when it becomes available, and also improve disk capacity somehow. This latter requirement has a few options: buy an external floppy or hard disk, or wait until the double-sided microfloppy drives become available, and upgrade the Mac. The present standard Mac system is workable but a bit limiting and frustrating at times. MACDRAW OVERVIEW: Now for the heart of this article, which is to Jook into CAD on the Mac. Macpaint, which was supplied free with my Mac, along with Macwrite, is a fascinating piece of software, and is reviewed quite thoroughly in earlier articles in various journals. However Macdraw is stilllurking in the shadows, at least at the time of writing. I'm not going to give a detailed description of all the ins and outs of Macdraw, as | find such reviews boring whenever | read any of them. Instead Ii just flit around and give you a taste of some possibilities. Firstly | must emphasize again that my version of Macdraw may not have allthe features of what willfinally be offered to the public. FIGURE TWO. Playing with rectangles: EI Untitled 2 3 4 5 6) ef 8] 10) 11 12] 13) 14]K> LI : corners. WW fine thickgess. 23 ARTICLE 24 When Macdraw is first entered, a grid appears on the screen, with a menu bar along the top and another menu of drawing selections on the left-hand side of the screen. Figure One shows this. Notice also the rulers along the top and side: when the mouse pointer is moved anywhere in the drawing area, littlecrosshairs appear in the rulers showing the exact X and Y coordinates of the pointer. This enables precise positioning, but also Macdraw will compute the horizontal and vertical components of any line. curved or rectangular shape, in real-time, so drawings can be made to precise dimensions. Mac's screen is so small, only 9 inches, but the paper size youre working on can be from 8 inches by 10 inches up to a huge 50 inches by 96 inches, and the screen is likea window that can be scrolledaround to look at any section of the drawing. There is a reduce-mode that allows viewing of the whole drawing on the screen, though of course detail is lost. The rulers and grid can be imperial or metric units and the number of increments between numbered divisions can be selected. In this example shown in Figure One the divisions are in centimetres and there are 10 increments per division. An option can be selected to make any lines drawn, automatically snap into the nearest increment, which makes it easy to draw lines that meet each other exactly. Any area of drawing can be shrunk or expanded as required and also moved around on the “paper”, which is reallyhandy. Figure Two shows some varistions possible with the basic rectangle. The top row shows a rectangle with square edges, which was then duplicated three times and the copies moved to the side. So duplication of a selected shape is an available feature. Then | modified the radius of the corners, and the three different rectangles were produced as shown. So itll also round corners to a given radius. Also there's a curye function in the left-hand menu, which can be used for such purposes, or anywhere that curves are required. For example a curved arch-way in an architectural drawing. Then from the fill menu on top | selected some patterns and put them into rectangles as shown. Then by drawing one rectangle on top of another, slightly offset, and filling the back one with black, | produced the shadow effect shown. A range of line thicknesses are available, and | drew a couple of rectangles with different line thicknesses. Allof these rectangles were drawn using the rectangle selection from the left-hand menu. All of these menu selections are so easy to use, and once something is drawn onto the screen, one can come back at any later stage and modify what one has drawn: the flexibility of this and other features is so much easier to demonstrate than explain. FIGURE THREE. Drawing that has been cut from Macdraw and put in the Clipboard: File Edit View Special Macdraw Moet z 313K in disk SSS Clipboard 4 VIEW OF BOLT 72cm licm ae n 45cm 2.2cm ¢ = WINDING UP: Figure Three is interesting. | drew a bolt using Macdraw, then | got the idea to include the picture in a report that | was going to write using Macwrite. One feature of Macintosh is that graphics and text storage is standardized, allowingeasy transfer of information between different applications. The usual procedure is to select what is to be cut out of the Macdraw picture, select cut or copy from the edit menu at the top of the screen, which then places the picture into an intermediate storage area calledthe clipboard. After quiting Macdraw and opening up Macwrite, | can then select paste from the edit menu and put the picture into my report. It's quite easy. The clipboard itself can be viewed on the screen, and Figure Three shows the clipboard, behind which is the Macdraw-disk directory window. APPLICATION EXAMPLE: I'm an electronic engineer by qualification, so | had an interest in using Macdraw for such purposes, and | found to my pleasant surprise that it's a piece of cake. Figure Four shows an example. What | did was create amenu of electronic symbols, then these can be pulled out at willand dragged to the required position. Also they can be rotated as required. | placed the menu right at the top of the page. It's saved on disk so | can get it anytime | want to do an electronic drawing. However once any symbol has been dragged from the menu and used in the drawing, there's no need to go back to the main menu, as the symbol already placed into the circuit diagram can be duplicated and the copy dragged wherever required. In fact the menu could be pulledoff disk to get going fast, then disposed of, that is, erased from the drawing. What | found is that | can draw electronic circuit diagrams with Macdraw faster than | could do freshand with a pencil, with the added bonus of complete freedom to rearrange anything. With the selection feature, any symbol or section of the circuit diagram, or even the whole circuit, can be moved around on the paper to allowmore room as required as the drawing progresses. The quality of drawing is quite acceptable, as Figure Four shows. Also there’s virtually no limit to the size of the drawing: it could be up to 50 by 96 inches if required. The drawing can be shrunk or expanded as required. It can even be printed out sideways on the paper. Figure Four shows a direct screen dump, so it looks exactly as it would on the screen, but by selecting the print option from the inenu the circuit diagram can be printed out without allof that stuff around the edges and also without the grid. The electronic symbols menu could also be erased before printing. FIGURE FOUR. Using Macdraw for electronic circuit diagrams: Electronic egeyes SPS IM KR ror NIP Ue qeqoonvit? Plotter interfacing and local networking are on the way, So I've heard. Yes I'm impressed, I'm wondering what software 1s on its way... printed Mac !s so new on the market, and so different, that it's taking time for the circuit board layout?... interfacing to an X-Y plotter?... 3-dimensional graphics?.... zooming effects?... Macpaint has some very nice features: how about @ program that blends the best of Macpaint and Macdraw? At the moment that can be done, though awkwardly, via the clipboard. software houses to come out with the applications programs, but the avalanche is imminent. Maybe even by the time this article appears on the news stands there'll be a whole new exciting range of software out. Go along to your local Apple dealer and find out.) 25 26 COMPETITION Wall Street Stimulation by Kevin Leong For the Apple Il computer LINES 121-135 Documentation and instructions LINES 1290-1410 amount to start off LINES 1635-1646 Company names on the sharemarket list LINES 1660-1665 Company shares at opening LINES 6400-6510 Company amount set to split in half Players and LIST 6 REM 7 REM RY KEVIN LEONG 8 REM 10 CALL ~ 936 20 PRINT "$$$eseesasessseassass PESESREESHESEHDGE” 30 FOR Z = 1 TO 3: PRINT "": pee NEXT 40 PRINT * $$% WALL STREET ST IMULATION ‘4 m 50 FOR ¥ = 1 70 3: PRINT": NEXT Y 60 PRINT "SSESESSSSSEeeS Sh Rib SHH SSSSSHEDSSHDSOSSE" 70 FOR X = 1 TO 6: PRINT “": NEXT x 90 FOR W = 1 TO 6: PRINT "*: NEXT W 93 PRINT * PRESS @ KEY TO CONTINUE GET 7% 95 CALL - 936 100 INPUT "DO YOU WANT INSTRUCTI ONS CY/N 25 25 110 IF Z@ = "N" BUTO 190 112 IF Z& = "Y" THEN 120 115 CALL ~ 936: GOTO 160 120 CALL = 936 er {2 PRINT "VOU WILL BE SHOWN THE DAILY WALL STREET PRINT “STOCK MARKET REPORT. ¥ QU HAVE THE x PRINT “OPPORTUNITY TO BUY OR SELL SHARES. WHEN” 124 PRINT "YOU WANT TO SELL TYPE @ HYTHEN (-) us 125 PRINT "BEFORE A FIGURE.EG. 900,88 YOU ARE - 126 PRINT "GIVEN $5000 YOU MAY B UY OR SELL ANYTIME 130 PRINT "EACH DAY THE VALUE OF THE SHARES * PRINT “WILL FLUCTUATE @ND TH & CHANGES WILL BE" 132 PRINT "INDICATED. COMPANIES M AY GO BANKRUPT AND" PRINT "THEY May NOT RECOVER. THE MARKET CAN # PRINT "CAN ALSO SUDDENLY COL LAPSE.ONE TO FOUR PRINT "PLAYERS MAY PLAY." 140 VIB 20: INVERS 150 INPUT "PRESS S TO START GAME "9As 160 IF S@% = “S" THEN 190 170 NORMAL + GOTO 120 190 PRINT “PRESS Ahly LETTER TO ONTINUE.": GET Ys S40 10 1280 1285 1290 1300 1305 1310 1320 1330 1340 5 KS NORMAL : CALL ~ 936: GOSUB 1280 CALL ~ 936: INVERSE ; SPEED= PRINT "HERE IS THE MARKET BE FORE. THI PRINT "COMMENCEMENT OF TRADI has NORMAL : SPEED= 255 FOR Z = 1 TO 700: NEXT Z GOSUB 1400 2: PRINT + NEXT : PRINT "NE WS FLASH !™ NORMAL, V = INT (RAND <1) # 12) GOTO 8000 IF ¥ = 0 GOTO 400 IF Vv GOTO 410 IF v BOTO 4z0 IF V = 3 GOTO 430 IF V = 4 GOTO 440 IF V = § GOTO 450 IF V = 6 GOTO 460 IF V = 7 GOTO 470 IF ¥ = 8 GOTO 480 IF Vv = 7 GOTO 490 IF V = 10 GaTO S00 11 GOTO 380 X# = 98:05 = GOTO 520 aS xe GOTO S20 BS Xe GOTG S20 cs xs GOTO 520 DS xa soto 520 eS xe GOTO 520 5 FS. xe GOTO 520 65 xe GOTO S20 HS xe TO S20 15 xe BOTO S20 Js Xe eoTo X# = LS:L5 = .9 PRINT X#5" AND THEIR BOARD 9 F DIRECTORS" PRINT “ANNOUNCE @ STRONG FIN ANCIAL STANDING. FOR BB = 1 TO 12008 NEXT BE Bet GOTO 2000 FOR Z = 1 TO 13: PRINT z CALL = 936 PRINT "HOW MANY IDK (4) INFUT x CALL ~ 936 PRINT “INVESTOR 1 18 * INPUT M#zMZ3 = S000 IF X <2 GOTO 1500 PRINT “INVESTOR 2 18" 1620 1630 1635, 1636 437 1638 1439 1640 16at 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1650 1460 1465 1670 1480 1690 1700 1710 1720 1730 1740 1750 1760 1770 1780 1790 +1800 1805 1810 1820 INPUT N$:NZ3 = S000 IF X < 3 GOTO 1500 PRINT “ INPUT 8. If X < 4 GOTO 1500 PRINT "INVESTOR 4 18 "3 INPUT P$:PZ3 = 5000 RETURN INVERSE : SFE 79: PRINT MARKET AT OPENING. ": NORMAL. 1 SPEE PRINT ~am PRINT “STOCK HARES VALUE" PRINT as Be cs De Es Fs as "GWA" “DAC! ioee PRINT BS;" 000 PRINT C$;" 900 PRINT DS;" 000 PRINT Ess" ‘000 PRINT F#3" 200 PRINT G3 000 PRINT H85" 000 PRINT I 6 PRINT 38} 000, PRINT Kes" 900 PRINT Les" 900 PRINT INPUT mies GOTO 1800 RETURN: PRICE CHANGE S 900 000 000 000 000 "3.63" 000 000" "aHes" 000 900" “ples 000 000" 000 000 "eles" 000 900" “PRESS N TO CONTINUE" THEN 1820 COMPETITION { 2000 IF B : 2010 GOSUB 2015 5 = AS + Tz GOSUB 5000 ; BS S000 cs 5000 2040 5000 i 5000 - 5000 5000 080 5000 5000 | 5000 H IS2d6 = J6 + J5:k6 | 5000 Lé = Lé + LS GOTO 7000 IF B 2128 21350 4 THEN ¥Z5 = MZS X GOTD 6390 2 THEN VS = Nb:Vi = va = N N7:VB8 = NVO:VML = Nl : 2140 : 2150 Nez VVO NX 2 THEN VZ3 = NZS TO 6390 3 THEN Vs Wir VX2 155 IF B= 2160 2170 2175 2180 190 se Pre x GOTO 6590 2198, IF B (40 - 7 100) INT ( % 100) RND. ya VS * E6:W6 = Vo * ForW7 = V7 * G6:WO = VB * HOzW9 Ié:WVO = WYO * JésWWL Ke:WX2 = VxX2 * L& vo * VW IF RZ > 0 GOTO 5195 GOTO 9200 IF Dit = "A" GOTO S195 PRINT “ween 0 4 DIS +" DE CLARES @ 10% DIVIDEND ###*" 5195 INVERSE + PRINT "STOCK REPO RT FOR "3V83" DAY "34: S200 PRINT 5210 INT "STOCK PRICE CHANGE SHARES VALUE" 5220 PRINT “s=== IF Ab < = 0 GOTO 6200 PRINT A®; TAB( @)5A63 TABS 15)3A5s TAB( 25)5V1; TABC 31 Dewi 5235 IF Be < © BOTO 6210 5240 PRINT Bi TAB( 83863 TAB( AS) $BS1 TAB( 23)5V25 TAB 31 swe 5245 IF C6 < = 0 GOTO 6220 5250 PRINT C$ TAB( 8406s TAB( 15)3C5% TAB 2325 V3s TAEC 31 Pe IF Dé <= 0 GOTO 4250 PRINT D$s TAB( 8)sD6s TABI 15) 4D5s TAB 23)4V4s TABC 31 deW4 5265 IF Fé < = 0 GOTO 6240 5270 PRINT E$} TAB( 8)4E6} TAB( 15);E53 TABC 25)4V5t TAB 31 2305 IF Fé < © GOTO 6250 PRINT F#; TAB( 8)4F6} TAB( 15)3F53 TAB( 23)4V4s TAR( 31 D5 We IF G6 < = 0 GOTO 6260 PRINT G8} TAB( 8)5G63 TAB( 15)3655 TAB( 23)5V7} TABC 31 >3W7 S295 IF He < 0 GOTO 6270 500 PRINT H$} TAB( 8)sHO: TAB( 15);HS! TAB( 23)svas TABC 31 348 5305 IF.16 < = 0 GOTO 6280 S310 PRINT I$} TAB( 83163 TAB( 15) 4153 TABC 23)5V9% TAB( 31 2509 IF J6 < = 0 GOTO 6290 ‘PRINT J%% TAB( 83363 TAB( 15)305s TAB( 23);VVOs TAB( & 1) WYO IF Ké < = 0 GOTO 4300 PRINT K#$ TAB( 8)5K63 TAB( 15)3k53 TABC 235) ;VWis TABY 3 1) 5 WwL S335 IF Le < = 0 GOTO 4310 S340 PRINT Ls TAB( 8)5L6% TAB( 15) 3L53 TAB 25) 5VX25 TABC 3 Ay sWx2 5350 PRINT VZ3 = VZ3 + DI 7 10 vy4 = VZS + Wl + W2 + WS + 4+ WS + We + W7 + WE + WF + WYO + WH + Wx2 5342 DI = 0 IF VY4 > = 0 BOTO 5370 PRINT “SORRY, "VS", BUT YO U ARE": PRINT “BANKRUPT AND PRINT VIS = ARE QUT GF THE GAME.": RESS NTO CONTINUE. = 10000000: GOTO 5400 PRINT "AVAILABLE CASH = "5V PRINT "TOTAL ASSETS = "3¥¥4 PRINT "WHAT COMPANY ? (PRESS N IF NONE) s NORMAL 5400 5410 5420 5430 5435 5440 1560 580 590 600 405 610 5720 5730 5740 5750 5755 5760 S770 5780 578s 5790 5800 S810 Sa15 5a20 5830 5840 seas S850 Se60 5870 S875 5880 S890 S900 5905 5910 5990 000 6100 INFUT @% IF G$ = "NY BOTO 6100 PRINT “HOW MANY SHARES INPUT 0 RZ = RZ + 1 IF G% = A% THEN VAS (a6 * + GOTO S560 IF @$ = B% THEN VAS = * @: GOTO 5590 IF Q% = C$ THEN VAS (C6 * ©: