Hardcore Volume 6 No. 2 1986 04 BASUG GB

lhgracore April 1986 Volume 6(2) The All Round Apple Dealer MAC PLUS Apple //C Unidisk Mouse 35 Desk F Balance, Hela Vu Of Power OPP User Clip Art MacUser Omnis 3 MacPallet Campion House, Franchise Street Kidderminster, Worcs, DY11 6RE Tel (0562) 744377 | The contents a ihe ee are copyright of the | British, “Apple Systems User Group, and/or the respective authors. However permission is granted tor the non commercial rapraduction by User. Groups, providing that the ee source is properly credited, APPLE is the registered trademark of Apple. Computers Inc. Telecom Gold is @ trademark of British Telecom PLC. THE FORCE isa trademark of The British Apple Systems User Group. [Copy S “prepared | on a Mac | using Pa Maker. Tt he art work was printed on a Laserwriter. Thanks to AMP for use of the Laserwriter. Celtip for: help with PageMaker. Vol 6:No2 4 NEWS FROM apple” A CP Apple /// News f{3|"Mac Chat - all the latest on the “¢=ea Mae World a Articles on all aspects of Apple Computing including Telecomunications, Programming, Hardware and Software. See page 2 for full contents of this bumper issue. EDITORIAL | Editorial Club News Apple Centres Page Maker - A Review Increase your Storage ‘Space with Omnis Copy A - Enhanced Version Word Processing Language News of Omnis Data Highway 2- A Review Letters to the Editor Apple Show 86 This is my life (Appplewise) Pocket Word Processor Disc Zaps and all that Pt.2 Plusworks XM Calendar Program Listing Local Club Contacts Letters to the Editor Puzzle Comer Can anybody hear speak Polish Sproadsheot Templates Peanut Computer 126k Ram Card ProDos fix for Mountain Hardware Clock Card Binary Data to Variables Software Library News Group News New Disk Drive Mac Chat ‘An Icon Album Your Own Icons Macintosh Error Codes. New Macintosh Products: Mac Snippets Macsig Library Update vim Panks Richard Boyd Ewen Wannop John Cooper Q. Reidtord John Lee Ewen Wannop: Dave Ward Rev. W. Rees Nick Hunter Phil Rowley Robert Clegg Ray Harris ‘Shmuel Browns, ‘Shmuel Browns Upgrading your Macintosh Shmuel Browns ADVERTISERS Celtip Computers Advanced Micro Products Peanut Computer Holdens Computer Services Rosco Keyzone Comtoc Computer Troubleshooters Lid Mac Serious Sofware Inprint Ltd Bidmuthin Technologies P&P Micro Distributors MGA Page 2 PageS Pagea Page 6 Pages Page 10 Page 13 Page 15 Page 16 Page 19 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 30 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 38 Page 40 Page 41 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 48 Page 50 Page 53 Page 53 Page 55 Page ss Frontinside cover Pages Page 11 Page 21 Contre Pages Page 33 Pago4a Page 35 Page si Page 54 Back inside cover Back Cover Insewst Copy Date for June. Monday 5th May 1986 Printed by: Target Litho, Cottenham, Cambridge. Tel:0954 51189 Well at the third attempt, Hardcore is starting to look the way | feel members want it. Plenty of nice juicy articles with things to do and lots of news. Apple have arranged for us to get all the latest news from the company and they have also loaned a MacPlus for evaluation. We had a representative at the Apple University Consortium Meeting in Cambridge during the last week of March and you will be able to read a full report on this major Apple event in the next Hardcore. Anyway back to this issue - the response from members is getting better and to all those that have enqired about writing or have sent articles in thanks. We have some good offers this issue - read the letters page re an unbeatable offer from Inmac and you will also see our special offer of equipment from Pace. This offer represents outstanding savings and | hope that this is just the start of this type of exclusive offer to the membership. Please support us so that we can negotiate further deals, The advertisers in Hardcore help make the journal a success and therefore | would ask that you support them so that they can continue to support us. | also would like to thank A.M.P. Eltham for the loan at short notice of a very hard to find 800K Mac Drive. | would like to start a series on the dealers that you use. If you have a dealer that is helpful and you could recommend to others write and let us know. Please include some reasons - may be we can have a User Friendly Dealer award each year! | enjoyed myself at Apple Show 86 and was glad to get all those remarks about your journal - If you have any helpful tips on how we can improve the layout please let me know. Well the AGM will be on us soon | hope to see you all there and | look forward to the presentation | will be doing on PageMaker - you may get a sneek preview of some of the next Hardcore | This should arrive before Easter, if it does have a nice one - if it does not | hope you had a nice one. Bye for now --- Foe — Jib Vones dim Panks. Page 2 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 - CLUB NEWS _ _ SPECIAL OFFER | BASUG proudly brings you a never to be repeated offer, at up to 40% off the recommended retail price. You have no excuse not to join the FORCE now... Nightingale Modem Popular, best selling, BABT approved modem. 300/300 V21 answer/originate full duplex, 1200/75-75/1200 V23 Prestel, Viewdata and Telecom Gold. Self test button, auto line drop on carrier loss. Mastercard Il S232 serial and 8-bit parallel interface card, Through software control of the baud-rate, the serial port will allow true split-baud rates. The parallel port allows the use of the optional Nightingale autodial/autoanswor board. It can be used by itself as a parallel printer interface, with suitable software. Teletext Palette Gives a genuine full colour viewdata display on an RGB monitor. It soft- switches the Apple black and white display and is fully supported by Data Highway. It comes with a Utility disc allowing full colour displays from ordinary Basic, as well as frame editing and carousel display of stored frames. Data Highway V2.0 A truly comprehensive communications package. It will allow full access of all information services from BABBS to the Force and to Prestel. Apart from the normal black and white Prestel display, Prestel can be displayed in full viewdata colour using the Palette card. With an extended //e or a //c, Data Highway will give a full eight colour display ‘on a normal television set. For further information on the program, see the review in this issue of Hardcore. Please Note: The Nightingale/Data Highway combination is suitable for the //c. Data Highway alone, can be used with the //c, an Apple Super Serial card, a CCS7710A serial card or of course with either the Mastercard | or Mastercard Il. It can be used with any modem, and with Hayes compatible modems. It also fully supports the optional Nightingale accessory board. Any of the other packages are suitable for the Apple ][, the Apple ][+ or the Apple //e. 1) NIGHTINGALE/DATA HIGHWAY COMBINATION £119+ VAT 2) NIGHTINGALE/DATA HIGHWAY/MASTERCARD COMBINATION £165 + VAT 3) NIGHTINGALE/DATA HIGHWAY/MASTERCARD/PRESTEL COLOUR PALETTE COMBINATION £199+ VAT 4) DATA HIGHWAY ONLY £49 + VAT 5) CABLE NIGHTINGALE TO APPLE //c £5 4 VAT WE ARE NOW OFFERING FREE FORCE MEMBERSHIP TO ALL MEMBERS We have again been able to offer substantial benefits for members of the group - the special offers on communictions packages together with free membership of the BASUG section of BT Gold [The Force] now allows many more members to get into communications. The news gets better by the month and we hope that we will be in a position to obtain more exceptional deals for our members. If you wish to partake in the special deals please complete the enclosed order form. The Force Membership offer saves you £20.00 - whats the catch you may ask ! Woll there is no catch as such but free membership does not entitle you to the comprehensive manual. However you will receive the BT Guide to GOLD this is helpful but to really enjoy the facilities you will need to purchase the Disk with the manual in the form of text files. The price is £5.00 for Apple // or Macintosh formats. AGM - 12th April 1986. Don't forget the AGM - it should be a good meeting with some useful demo's. You will also be able to purchase Software Library Disks at a discount. £1.00 off all disks sold at the meeting. Bits and Pieces Future events - we need some feed-back on the events you want and where we should be holding them - if you have any suggestions please let us know. Early plans for a workshop/show event in the Autum are being made - it is hoped that this will be in a suitable location to allow the maximum attendence. Any suggestions of a venu would be gratefully received. To enable Hardcore to thrive we are seeking members to help is specific areas including - Graphic design - Sub editing - advertising - packing. It you are interested in helping with this fine journal then please contact the P.O.Box. HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Page 3 Z apple’ CENTRES KNIGHTSBRIDGE & SWISS COTTAGE [ AppleCentre - Knightsbridge | Apple Computer have now joined forces with dealers to offer a new concept - ‘APPLECENTRE’. AppleCentre will be in effect a dedicated Apple retail outlet with training and service facilities of a high standard. Bang & Olufsen offshoot ExpoCompetence, a specialist shopfitting company have been retained to design the Centres. The outcome has been a very subtle environment which enhances the Apple image. The first ‘AppleCentre’ has been opened in the heart of London at 28/30 Knightsbridge. This is in effect a new branch of Advanced Micro Products of Eltham . This dealership has been around since 1981 and has had a steady growth culminating in plans to open a central London Store. Apple decided that AMP were suitable in terms of experience and support offered to customers, to be the first joint venture under this ambitious scheme. Apple hope that 50 AppleCentres will be in operation by the end of 1987. The good news is that already the second one has been opened in Swiss Cottage, North London. This is under the ownership of another long term Apple Dealer ActionData Ltd. It is located on the first floor of Swiss Cottage House, 8-13 Swiss Terrace London N.W.6. The Interior colour is quite stunning with a combination of white, grey and red . The whole design is very up market, it should improve the overall image of Apple and its dealers. Some of the ideas are quite good, each dealership must have a training area and must provide level one servicing on a 24 hours basis. Apple expect the dealer to ensure that they have ample stock available and they also require the dealer to provide a fully trained staff. The one make dealer should attract more support from Apple, because he will have to rely totally on the company for his living. Apple have not gone into the franchise business unlike some other large computer manufacturers - what they have done is to provide the dealer with the right kind of image so that he can sell Apple Computers. These dealers will be supplying the whole range of machines and they will also have access to third party software. | hope that this idea is successful because Apple have been getting it right for the last few months, with a new image they may actually penetrate the business market and eventually knock the IBM of its pedastall. Interior of AppleCentre - Swiss Cottage (Training Area) ] The machines are slowly changing and now we see the public image of Apple changing with this massive investment in marketing the machine. This venture is being watched by the main company in the USA and if it goes well | am sure that AppleCentre could become an International venture. | must wish AppleCentres success because it is the future in the UK for Apple. AppleCentre Knightsbridge, 28-30 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7JN Telephone 01-245-6555 AppleCentre Swiss Cottage, 1st Floor, Swiss Cottage House, 8-13 Swiss Terrace, London NW6 4RR Telephone 01-586-3203 Page 4 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 AppleCentre Knightsbridge 28-30 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7JN 01-245 6555 Park Lane Hyde Park Knightsbridge Piccadilly Corner Knightsbridge ~O>| P=) Wilton Hyde Place Park (2&4Hr Corner Sloane Parking Street Meters) We are open from 9.30 a.m. until 5.30 p.m. every day except Sundays and Bank Holidays. We carry a large range of Macintosh and Apple // Software, as well as the range of Apple Hardware. If you would like to come in and browse around, chat with the staff - and maybe get a coffee - we would enjoy your company. If you need Laser Printing for your work, bring the document. If you need Comms facilities through One to One, bring the mailbox or Telex number. AppleCentre Knightsbridge is a branch of Advanced Micro Products, 200 Court Road, Eltham, (01-851 3311). AMP is on the A20, Sidcup Bypass, right by Mottingham Station. AMP is open from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday through Saturday. All Apple Hardware and lots of software is there - if its nearer than Knightsbridge, why not pop in? PAGE FE MAKER - A REVIEW By Jim Panks VERSION 1.1 Available al any Apple Dealer £450 Page Maker is the first really easy way to produce page layout, yes you can produce camera ready art-work without any ‘Cow-Gum’ what so ever. The ideal machinery for this is at least a 512k Mac and external drive. You will also need access to a Laserwriter or other postcript compatable typsetter to produce your final hard-copy. To write a useful review it is nice to be able to put the software through some sort of simulated use, well we used the last edition of Hardcore to try out Page Maker. The test was quite difficult, we only had ten days to produce the finished art work. Stage one in using any software is to read the manual through, well like many other users | skipped that stage, opting to refer to the manual if any difficulties arose. The manual is fairly thorough in its description. | found that the reference section in the back gave enough information for the average user to get by. When I sat down later and read the manual | found that it was similar to the Apple produced books for the Mac with plenty of drawings and explainations. It covers the subject very well. The package comes on two disks, a start-up disk which is placed in the internal drive and contains the System, Finder, Laserwriter Driver, Imagewriter Driver and a Help file. The other disk called the program disk contains the Page Maker Program and a Quick Tour. The Quick Tour is used in conjunction with the manual to get you used to the various tools and methods of doing things. It is an ideal system for beginners as it shows all the main features . The major problem with Page Maker at this stage is the amount of disk space used and you will have to plan things before you start. If you do not have a hard drive or the new 800k drives then planning is essential. Aldus advise that you strip all the unwanted items from the disks and use the Start-up disk for any files you will be using and the program disk for your Page Maker file. You can save a lot of space by removing the Laserwriter files and the Help file from the start-up disk. You should start with only the Application file on the Program disk. Even after you have removed all these files you are limited by the disk space and | have found that the optinum number of pages that can be produced in each Page Maker file is about six pages. This can be a problem if you are producing a mammoth publication. If you intend to use Page Maker for serious business use, you will need a Hard Drive or a Mac Plus and an 800k external drive. As they say its horses for courses and you do need to think hard about what equipment you will need for your particular use. Page6 Aldus have a good policy when it comes to the protection of the software, this package is heavily copy protected and this sometimes can be a problem. Aldus will supply you with a free second copy of the program when you return your registration card. You can copy the disks normally however when you first boot up it will ask you to insert the original in the internal drive. Providing you do not re-boot you will not need to use the originals again. This system works and is not as painful as others that | have come across. You can install Pagemaker on to a Hard Disk but again you will have to verify each time you boot-up. When you first start up PageMaker you have to inform it of the page size, number of pages and margins. This takes no more than twenty seconds and you can change margins and pages at a later stage if you wish. Once this has been done you will see the page set up on the screen (see fig. 1). At the bottom left hand side of the screen will be a representation of the number of pages that have been selected plus a left and right page symbol. The left and right page symbols allow you to set master items that will show on all pages. This system is flexible, you can delete the master items from individual pages that do not need them. The master items allow the easy setting of headers and footers, column guides and standard ruler guides, you may also have automatic page numbering. The major bonus of this system is that it saves you time and all pages will look similar. Once you have set up the two master pages you can then go to work on the layout of individual pages, to help you do this you have various tools which includes a rudimentry text editor, drawing instrument and ruler set up. The toolbox gives you eight tools (see figure 2) . 1. Pointer for selecting objects. 2. Line for drawing lines at any angle. 3. Constrained line for horizontal or vertical lines. 4. Text Editor for entering or altering text. 5. Box for drawing rectangles. 6. Rounded Box for rounded corners on boxes. 7. Circle for drawing circles. 8, Picture Cutter for trimming pictures. These tools are all the same as found in other text and graphics programs, they all work well and in conjunction with other features give a wide range of options. PageMaker has a facility to import text and graphics from other Mac programs - this is called PLACE and it allows you to access files from MacPaint/Write/Draw and Microsoft Word. You can also use straight ASCII text files created with other programs i.e. MacTerminal, Red Ryder and MockWrite. The options that this allows is quite wide, for instance you can download files from BT GOLD and place them straight inta your PageMaker document. When you PLACE files they will be formated to the rulers that are on the page. This means that you do not have to re-format the whole document. If you place a picture you can use the Picture Cutter to trim the picture to the correct size. You can also reduce or enlarge in Proportion although | found this option slightly disappointing. If you use MacPaint files then you will need to study the Laserwriter documentation to get the best results. A good guide is that any PageMaker Document will need to be reduced to 96% when printed. HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Text handling is very easy, you can either enter it straight into the program by using the Text symbol or you can PLACE it. Whatever method you use the facility for moving text around and changing the formating is the same. You have a TYPE menu item which allows the choice of fonts and styles, you also have the choices of formating and Black or White text. The last choice allows the printing of black boxes with white text just like the newspapers. Text is stored in blocks with a starting marker and ending marker, if the text block is longer than the space available you can PLACE it any other area, the program remembers the location of text and allows you to move the text around. If you place text and have some in another place it will move text between them if you enlarge or decrease the area of either piece. If you change margins and then replace the text it will automatically realign any following text. This allows for flowing around pictures and drawings. This facility works across page boundaries so you can place text on two or three seperate pages in the same publication. The page has some space on either side this is called the cutting board and allows you to manouover pictures and text before incorporating it into the page layout. You can also do some precise measurements using the ruler and markers. You can have either metric or Imperial measurements. The whole layout proccedure takes no more than an hour of practice before you can produce fairly profesional results. To illustrate the ease of use the system | used to produce the February Hardcore went something like this. 1. Set up the marginsand columns. 2. Set up the left and right page master items. (Headers etc.) 3. Copy the file to another disk (Standard Format File). 4. Get articles together and place on Start-up Disk. 5. Get MacPaint Files in to Scrapbook. 6. Re-boot and start on pages 1-6 7. Do heading and then place text file etc. 8. Check spelling and tidy up pages. 9, Repeat the above 7 times. 10. Take disk to local dealer and print on Laserwriter. 11. Send to printers. You can draw lines, boxes and circles with various shades and line thicknesses. You can then put the boxes and lines behind or in front of other objects including text. This enables you to put text into shaded boxes and overlay objects: You can put text over shades. The various line thicknesses and shading patterns available are shown below - these give a fairly comprehensive number of variations: () =Y 8 o The ability to produce good quality publications is now within the reach of the small business and | can see tho whole area of Desktop Publishing becoming a very competetive market. Apple have with the Macintosh, Laserwriter and PageMaker made a very large inroad into this market and it will be some time before the others catch up. | can through my experience with PageMaker reccommend it to anyone desiring a good quality publication without the hassle of typesetting. The other good point is that this set-up does not work 9-5 and therefore those urgent jobs can be produced without relying on someone else. The quality of the output can be gauged by this journal as PageMaker is used for all the artwork. Remember the limitation when used without a hard drive or twin 800k drives. Stop Press. I have been able to use PageMaker with a MacPlus and a 800k external drive and the extra speed and drive capacity has saved about an hour on disk swapping and file transfers. This was on only twelve pages and therefore is about a 20% saving overall. If you are going to use PageMaker in a business environment then you must look to a MacPlus and as much disk space as you can afford. As Hard Drives fall in price | feel this is the only route to take. | have also heard that a new version of PageMaker will be available during the Summer. Not that there is anything wrong with version 1.1. ‘PageMaker by Aldusis distributed in the U.K. by | McQueen Systems Ltd, 18 South Goathill Avenue, Edinburgh, EH4 2LN - Telephone 031-343-3191 i HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 | INCREASE YOUR STORAGE SPACE | : WITH OMNIS) | lf you have the Omnis Data Base Management program and would like to have an extra disk drive on-line, and also speed up the use of this program, then this is the way to do it. REQUIREMENTS. 1 Disk Drive and 128k Ram Card = Gives one data storage disk. 2 Disk Drives and 128k Ram Card = Gives two data storage disks 3 Disk Drives and 128k Ram Card = Gives three data storage disks You need not have a 16k or language card in slot Zero if the 128k Card resides there, however it is a good idea to maximise the versatility and storage to put the 128k card in another slot ie. 7 and use a 16k card in 0. The method of operation is to utilise the 128k ram card as a fast PSEUDO drive allocated as drive 10. The method is to use one of the utility programs on your Pascal Disk that comes with the 128k Ram Card. If you do not have one, the Satur Systems 128k Card has a full suite of disks for CPM, PASCAL & BASIC and providing your ram card is based on the Saturn System then it should work. You will also require Apple Pascal for the successful transfer of the data across to a Pre-Boot disk Ihave tried to utilise the Version 1.2 Pascal FILER that is used by Omnis but have not yet obtained a satisfactory solution to a writing problem that occurs. Obviously the different versions of Pascal are not quite compatible. Firstly prepare a formatted Pascal Disk and name it Omnis Pre- Boot. Copy the Pascal Disk 1, using a normal copy program and boot. After initialisation you will get:- Command: E(dit, R(un, File, C(omp, L(ink, X(ecute, A(sem, D(ebug, ? (1.1) TYPE F [e/r]. The Response will be:- Filer: G, S, N, L, R, C, T, D, Q(1.1) Insert 128k Utility disk in drive 2 Type L [c/r]. The Response will be:- dir listing of ? Type #5 [c/r] You will now get a listing of all the files on the Utility Disk. Type T [e/r] The FILER will respond Transfer ? Type CAREFULLY #5:PSEUDO.CODE [e/r] The FILER will respond : To where ? Type CAREFULLY #4:PSEUDO.CODE [c/r] The drives will now work and show the transfer has taken place. Repeat the above procedures with the following files; ATTACH.DATA; ATTACH.DRIVERS; PARAM.DATA. Now reboot your preboot disk to the prompts:- Command: E(dit, Run, Fiile, C(omp, L(ink, X(ecute, A(sem, D(ebug, ? (1.1) Type X The System will Respond : Execute what file? Type PSEUDO [c/r] After a little disk Access the following Menu will be displayed on the screen :- APPLE PASCAL PSEUDO DISK COPYRIGHT 1982 Kenneth Roe COPYRIGHT 1982 Saturn Systems, Inc. <1> LOOK AT CONFIGURATION <2> CHANGE CONFIGURATION <3> PUT CONFIGURATION IN ATTACH.DRIVERS AND EXIT <4> EXIT ENTER 2 and follow the prompts to select your particular configuration of slotram card and exit to the above front Menu. Check all is well with <1> LOOK AT CONFIGURATION before selecting <3> and installing your particular system configuration in the file ATTACH.DRIVERS and finally exiting the program. It is this part of the procedure that will not work with the Omnis version of Pascal, if anybody can advise me why and how one can get over this problem then we will advise in an update to this article. Re-Boot the Pascal Disk 1 and transfer from the Utility disk, in drive 2, the following files-SYSTEM.ATTACH & FASTCOPY.CODE Your Pre-Boot Disk is now ready for action Now boot Omnis and select (H) Hardware definition and on the 3rd screen ammend Default drive to 10 ie. enter 10 where there is at present a blank space against Default directory. Press Esc to write this to your disk. Leave all other information alone. What you have advised Omnis to do is to Look at drive 10 (what your pre-boot will set up) before any other drives. Re-boot with your new (write protected) pre-boot and when you get the line:- Command: E(dit, R(un, Fiile, C(omp, L(ink, X(ecute, A(sem, D(ebug, ? (1.1) Replace your Omnis Boot Disk in drive 1 (#4) and TYPE I [c/r] This will re-Initialise the system and warm-boot Omnis. When Omnis is up, go to Disk Management and you will see that Drive #10 is now present. You can now copy your Library file to Drive #10 using the Copy command and you will see the speed that screens are loaded from the 128k Card when you access Omnis. You will have to extend your data disks by one, using the appropriate Disk Management function of Omnis if you wish to utilise the extra drive now available. Pages HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 At the end of your session of Omnis, if you have amended the library file, do not forget to go to Disk Management, insert the library disk, and re-write your amendments to the library disk. One other facility that you can use is the FASTCOPY file that we transferred onto your pre-boot disk. This facility will Upload or Download your Library file to the 128k card with remarkable speed, a 180 block move takes 20 seconds. To utilise this facility after loading the pre-boot, TYPE X to get the Execute what file, then TYPE FASTCOPY. By following the prompts you will transfer your library files to and from the 128k card, After this is done you may either exit or Type I to enter Omnis, having first placed the Omnis boot disk in drive 1 (if you are at the beginning of a session). If you are sure of your power supply, there is no reason why you should not use the 128k card for storing data and leaving the library disk in a drive. As a footnote to the above instructions, | would like to encourage you to have a go at preparing the pre-boot disk. | have no knowledge of PASCAL, (otherwise | might have recognised how to fix the Apple/Omnis Pascal Bug) and yet managed. The Speed difference and extra storage drive facility adds a new dimension to the poor non-Hard disk owners. Try it - you will never use Omnis without it again, | promise. Do not forget to back up your Pre-Boot and write protect it. Next issue - how to do the process totally automatically by amending your existing Pre-Boot disk. The Club would like to. thank Blyth Software for donating a copy of Omnis 2 for the Apple / u and the lates! Omnis 3 for We believe that this type of interaction between Software Publishers, Dealers and User. Groups can be of value to all those concerned | and eventually lead toa much more informed yee base. (This information is taken direct from Advertising sent to BASUG - Please check with the Dealer that it is what you want - we will endevour to get independent reviews wherever possible.) The PEACOCK RGB colour module connects your //c to an RGB colour monitor producing coloured text and graphics. Background colour is selectable using DIP switches. A special price is offered to BASUG members of £36.00 inc. V A T with delivery of £3.00. Available from DMS, Bretton Court, Manor Road, Wales Village, Sheffield S31 8PD A screen designer called FOUR-SIGHT is available which allows screens to be assembled which can have multiple lines with multiple input or output fields per line. Control characters may be defined to read, write or print the entire screen of information. The object modules are relocatable. The program will run on DOS 3.3 or PRODOS. For 80 column display you will need the APPLE //e 80 column card or for the APPLE Il+ the Videx Videoterm card. Available from Four-sight Software, Inc, P O Box 147, Colonia, New Jersey, USA for $19.95 From Micro-W comes the Font Downloader and Editor, it is designed to be used with Apple //+ and //e machines and is compatable with the Epson FX-80, C.ltoh Prowriter 8510AP, Apple Dot Matrix and OkiData 92/93. It can be used with any word processor capable of sending printer control codes. The disk contains four type styles and you can purchase further font disks, Apple //c Parallel Printer Interface - c-Print turns the standard serial printer port of a/c into a parallel port. The cable has a standard 36 pin printer interface on one end and a 5 pin DIN connector at the computer end. Just plug it in and you have a parallel interface. No software is required and it costs $99.95 Available from Micro-W Distributing Inc, 1342B Route 23, Butler, New Jersey 07405 Computer Bookshops Ltd 30 Lincoln Road, Olton, Birmingham B27 6PA have noiilied that they have a wide range of Apple Books in stock. Ticy list 24 books for the // range and 15 for the Macintost 1 have any problems obtaining books why not get in tou.) with them, They also can arrange for books Not available nurmally in this country. Remembcr inat we may beinapositionto | n licrs not generally available, why not ring Sticiia and see if we can help you. HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Page 9 The following modification to that old favourite COPYA, has been around same of the bulletin boards for some time. | now pass it on to you all. Use it with the COPYA.OBJ program in place of the usual COPYA. It will allow you to copy up to 40 tracks (//c owners note!) It will allow you to copy any range of tracks with or without initialising the destination disc, very useful for copying DOS onto a data disc. It will initialise up to the end track specified, or the catalog track, whichever is the greater. Have fun with it, and thanks to Apple for writing the original in the first place. 0 TEXT 10 REM **ARAAAAAAARARA RARE ARERR 20 REM * DISK COPY * 30 REM * COPYRIGHT 1980 BY * 40 REM * APPLE COMPUTER INC. * 50 REM * ADAPTED BY EWEN me 60 REM **kRRAR RARER RRR Re 70 POKE 697,173: POKE 698,184: POKE 699,2: POKE 700,32: POKE 701,218: POKE 702,253: POKE 703,96: IF PEEK (768) = 8 AND PEEK (769) = 201 GOTO 90 80 PRINT CHRS$ (4)"BLOAD COPY.OBJO": REM A$2C0 90 HOME : PRINT " APPLE DISKETTE DUPLICATION PROGRAM": PRINT : PRINT 100 ID$ = "Y": PRINT CHRS (4) "NOMON” 110 CALL 704:CS = PEEK (718) / 16 120 POKE 715, PEEK (110) + 1: REM BUFSTART 130 POKE 716, PEEK (112) - 1: REM BUFEND 140 I$ = " ORIGINAL":N = CS:A = 718: GOSUB 710:MS = N:N = PEEK (720): GOSUB 720:MD = N:A = 717 150 I$ = "DUPLICATE":N = MS: GOSUB 710: SS = N:N = 3 - MD: GOSUB 720:SD = N 152 Fr = 0 155 VTAB 5: HTAB 25: PRINT " ms VTAB 8: HTAB 25: PRINT " " 158 CALL 704: POKE 717,SS * 16: POKE 718,MS * 16: POKE 719,SD: POKE 720,MD 160 POKE 770,35: POKE 863,35: VTAB 11: HTAB 1: CALL - 958: PRINT “INITIALISE DISK: 7: HTAB 23: INVERSE : PRINT "DEFAULT = ";ID$;: NORMAL : HTAB 20 170 GOSUB 850: IF I$ < > CHRS (13) AND Ig < > "N" AND TS < > "Y" THEN HTAB 20: GOTO 170 180 IF I$ < > CHR$ (13) THEN ID$ = I$ 190 HTAB 20: PRINT IDS;" " 210 VTAB 13: HTAB 1: CALL - 958 220 II$ = "":IP = PEEK (721) + 1: IF IP = 256 THEN IP = 0 Page 10 230 PRINT " START $00-$27: ";: INVERSE : HTAB 23: PRINT "DEFAULT: $";: POKE 696,IP: CALL 697: NORMAL : HTAB 20 240 GOSUB 850: IF T$ = CHR$ (13) THEN HTAB 23: PRINT " "Fs GOTO 260 250 PRINT I$;:II$ = II$ + I$: GOTO 240 260 IF IIS = "" THEN 300 270 GOSUB 870: IF VAL (II$) > 39 OR VAL (I1$) < 0 THEN 210 280 II = VAL (IIS) - 1: IF Ir= -1 THEN IT = 255 290 POKE 721,II: POKE 722,II:IP = II+l: IF Ip = 256 THEN IP = 0 300 HTAB 1: PRINT " START TRACK $: "; POKE 696,IP: CALL 697: VTAB 14: HTAB 1 :CALL - 958 310 II$ = "":EP = PEEK (770) - 1: IF EP = - 1 THEN EP = 255 320 PRINT " END $00-$27: AS INVERSE : HTAB 23: PRINT "DEFAULT: $"; :POKE 696,EP: CALL 697: NORMAL: HTAB 20 330 GOSUB 850: IF T$ = CHR$ (13) THEN HTAB 23: PRINT " 32 GOTO 350 340 PRINT I$;:II$ = II$ + I$: GOTO 330 350 IF II$ = "" THEN 370 355 GOSUB 870:2P = VAL (IIS) 360 EP = ZP:IF EP >39 OR EP<O THEN 300 370 IF EP < IP THEN 300 380 HTAB 1: PRINT " END TRACK $: "; POKE 696,EP: CALL 697: POKE 770,EP + 1: POKE 863,EP + 1 420 VTAB 17: POKE 34,16:HOME:POKE 222,0 430 PRINT "-- PRESS 'RETURN' KEY TO BEGIN COPY --";: INPUT " ";1$ 440 HOME 450 DK$ = " ORIGINAL": GOSUB 790: REM GET ORIG DISK 460 VTAB 5: HTAB 25: INVERSE : PRINT "READING": NORMAL 470 CALL 707: REM READ A HUNK 480 IF PEEK (713) = 2 THEN 660: REM ERROR! 490 VTAB 5: HTAB 25: PRINT “ ": IF PEEK (713) = 1 THEN 670 500 IF FT THEN 590: REM NOT FIRST RD 510 DK$ = "DUPLICATE": GOSUB 790: REM GET DUP DISK 520 ONERR GOTO 640 530 IF ID$ = "N" THEN 560 540 VTAB 8: HTAB 25: INVERSE : PRINT “PORMATTING": NORMAL 545 IF PEEK ( - 16643) = 201 AND EP > = 17 THEN POKE - 16642,EP + 1: POKE - 20811, (EP + 1) * 4: POKE - 19473,EP +1 CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 New LOW PRICES Deal! From Peanut 1C TESTERS IC TESTER Plugs into Apple and with remote ZIF socket indentifies and tests lover 500 74 and 4000 series IC’s . £99.00 MEMORY TESTER Similar but tests all common memory chips - DRAMS. ISRAMS. EPROMS, PROMS. Also programs EPROMS, PROMS ..... £119.00 Both include full manual and software. 18M PERIPHERALS < 1BM Add-Ons MULTIFUNCTION card, max. 384K RAM, clock serial and printer nor's, OSA! . £148.00 512KM 'Y card,O RAM £60.00 64K (9 chips) add-on RAM, set .... £13.50 MONO/GRAPHIC Hi-Res card. 720 x 348 res. with printer port . £148.00 COLOUR/GRAPHIC card, 320 x 200. 16 colour with printer port . £103.00 10 MBYTE HARD DISK upgrade kit. PC to XT, complete with I/F card, manual and all cables, 5 minutes to fit .... £780.00 + FREEPOST, DEWSBURY, WFI3 18R. (No Stamp required) (Normal delivery: Law Mill Dewsbury. WF13 SLX) PHONE: 0924 499366 (24 HOURS ANSWERING SERVICE) Add 15% VAT to all pricas iage (for s under £100) ~ £3.00 Wor orders over £100) ~ £5.00 Monitors £7.00 ~ Printers £7.00 ~ PC2000 £15.00 Prices mey Muctuate with £ rate, goods will be charged at prices ruling at date of dispatch We will match the price of any item elsewhere, provided documentary proof is Given, and the item is ex-stock. Dealer enquiries welcome = inc. IBM Money wack gua! c VISA Ee MONITORS |= al SANYO CRT 36 Hi-Res mono, 12"£119.00 PHILIPS Monitor 80 12” screen Green - Amber .... £79.00 £83.00 = ~ a __— ee RUNTERSSe EPSON NEW LX 80, friction feed NEWLX 80, tractor/triction . FX80 : RX 100 .... SHINWA CPABO matrix 100 cps £189.00 CPBEO matrix IBM .... £209.00 Daisystep 2000, daisywheel. 20 characters/second £239.00 PEANUT NLQ, near-letter-quality 65 cps, draft auality 160cps ...... £249.00 \ asi ‘ACCELERATOR for |I+, 3.5 times faster! : £175.00 SPEECH synthesiser software ........ . £45.00 IEEE4S laboratory interface ....... £79.00 CLOCK card, mountain compatible £135.00 80 COLUMN card with built- softswitch, Auto 40/80 switch inc. inverse video chip £44.50 40/80 columns switch £12.50 Z80 runs all CP/M .... (ITT version, 280) 16K RAM adds 16K memory to 48K computers CP/M and Pascal compatible ... £33.50 WHAT'S NEW! la Disc notcher .... . £4.95) 100 dise storage box £14.95] Tilt/swivel monitor base £14.95} Graphics tablet, hi-res, artwork/text creation .. .. £49.50) Economy clock card £42.00} mm | DISK DRIVES |_) LOW PRICES ae (ropa Budget Disk Drive, 140K .. £92.00 ) PDD6 Apple llc compatible ...... £119.00 PDD7 half height, direct drive 140K capacity~ Chinon mechanism ... £105.00 PDD8 Double sided, double density, 640K capacity, inc. patch s/w for Pascal 1.1, CP/M 56, CP/M 60, Prodos 1-1-1, Diversidos, Dos 3-3 ..... ». £270.00 PDD9 NEW Teac 56A 140K ....... £95.00 PLUG IN CARDS \’ PARALLEL PRINTER standard Centronics interface, recognises all cur codes. including cable, full graphic dump feature .. - £34.02 PRINTER/BUFFER CARD free computer of time-consuming delays — dump text straight into buffer. Printer takes it out at own rate. Full graphic and sideways print capability, Grappler compatible, CP/M Appleworks inc. cable. 32K ........ £74.00 CIRTECH CARDS — DISCOUNT PRICES NEW Champion printer card .... .. £44.50 Champion printer card + 16K butfer £85.50 Champion printer card + 64K buffer £119.00 Cache box, 64K butter, parallel ....... £120.00 = Flipper card .... answer, auto dial, 300/1200 baud, file EPROM WRITER programs popular 80 column for lle with 64K mem transfers, includes full terminal and eprom chips with compare, verity, 280 card for CP/M .. Prestel software £155.00 ere +» £47.00 | New Ile Z80 modulo for CP/M DATA HIGHWAY for Pigeon .... £69.00 ) id 10 Peawer HARD ORIVE 33 CP/M, pyaar anit running all DOs contract available Programs. Full service sseeeeee £750.00 SOFTWARE /__ software ‘at Peanut prices MICROLEDGER the perfect integrated accounts package for the small business, Microledger 1 Dos 3.3 Low price exclusive to Peanut . .. £99.00 Microledger 2 enhanced CP/M ... £195.00 Microledger 2, MS-DOS, PL-DOS ... £295.00 FORMAT-80 ENHANCED the ultimate word processor — both Prodos and DOS 3.3, now with spreadsheet ... .. £99.00 ACCESS database. power. speed. versatility, excellent value .. .. £69.00 FLASHCALC the new advance: spreadsheet program from the makers of Visicatc. Compatible with Visicalc files. Forlle, Ile ..... om seve £69.00 Many other programs available — check prices. PRACTICALC - spreadsheet. database word processor, bargain ... £55.00 AURORA INTEGRATED accounts package. De-luxe, professional software, only available from Peanut in the Apple format. This is a complete business system to run on hard drive. Dealer enquiries welcome .... . £295.00 Y KEYBOARD detac keys, separate numeric and operator section, independent four way cursor control — 96 keys in all, IBM style, fully Apple I+ compatible . £89.00 JOYSTICK now self centreing .... £13.95 New ASAD super joystick, fits IBM or Apple. optional self-centreing, fine trim .. . £19.50 POWER SUPPLY 7.5A heavy duty . . £59.50 NEW PEANUT DISKETTES, Fuji-brand SSDD top quality 5 year guarantee. Packs of 10 (Add £1.00 carriage) . Clip-on cooling tan . X £13.95 a) sector disks auto-run 1/O FOUR PORT, 6522 chip: card colour ae +. £42.00 NEW Grappier compatible printer card in two versions. These cards have printer selection switches: No buffer inc. cable £47.00 64K buffer inc. cable £87.00 128K RAM blockbuster extra RAM, increases spreadsheet memory. for ‘example, by 128K ... .- £95.00 PIGEON MODEM CARD Combined RS232 and Modem with auto 550 PRINT CHR$(4) "INIT XXX, S"7SS;",D";SD;",V"; PEEK (714) :FT =1 555 VTAB 8: HTAB 25: FLASH : PRINT "PRESS A KEY";: NORMAL : GET A$ 560 VTAB 8: HTAB 25: PRINT " ™ 570 POKE 216,0: POKE 222,0 590 DK$ = "DUPLICATE": GOSUB 790: REM GET DUP DISK 600 VTAB 8: HTAB 25: INVERSE : PRINT "WRITING"; : NORMAL : PRINT " ” 610 CALL 710: REM WRITE A CHUNK 620 VTAB 8: HTAB 25: PRINT " 630 IF PEEK (713) < > 2 THEN 450 640 IF PEEK (222) = 255 THEN STOP 650 VTAB 18: INVERSE : PRINT "****** UNABLE TO WRITE ******": GOTO 670 660 VTAB 18: INVERSE : PRINT "****** UNABLE TO READ *A*#AKA™ 670 VTAB 19: NORMAL : POKE - 16368,0: PRINT : INPUT "DO YOU WISH TO MAKE ANOTHER COPY?";I$: IF LEN (I$) = 0 THEN 690 680 IF LEFT$ (I$,1) = "Y¥" THEN 152 690 IF LEFT$ (I$,1) < > "N" THEN 670 700 TEXT : END 710 PRINT : GOSUB 780: PRINT N;: NORMAL : HTAB 1: PRINT I$;" SLOT: ";:L =1 :H = 7: GOSUB 730: POKE A,N * 16: RETURN 720 GOSUB 780: PRINT N;: NORMAL : HTAB 4 : PRINT " DRIVE: ";:L = 1:H = 2 : GOSUB 730: RETURN 730 K = PEEK ( — 16384): IF K < 128 THEN 730 740 POKE —- 16368,0:IF K = 141 THEN 770 750 K = K-176:IF K < L OR K > H THEN 730 760 N= 770 HTAB 20: PRINT N;" "; RETURN 780 INVERSE : HTAB 23: PRINT "DEFAULT = ";: POKE ( PEEK (41) * 256 + PEEK (40) + 14),96: RETURN 790 IF MS < > SS THEN RETURN 800 IF MD < > SD THEN RETURN 810 HOME : IF LEFTS (DK$,1) = "D" THEN PRINT 820 PRIN’ INSERT ";DK$;" DISK AND PRESS RETURN’ INPUT " ";DKS 830 CALL —- 936 840 RETURN 850 K = PEEK ( — 16384): IF K < 128 THEN 850 860 POKE —- 16368,0:1$ = CHRS (K - 128) : RETURN 870 IF LEN (II$) > 2 THEN IIS = "255" : RETURN 880 K = 0: FORI=1 TO LEN (II$) 890 J$ = MIDS (IIS,I,1):J = ASC (JS) 900 IF J < 48 OR (J > 57 AND J < 65) OR J > 70 THEN II$ = "255":I = LEN (ITS): RETURN 910 J= 9 - 48: IF J > 9 THENJ=J9-7 920 If I = 1 AND LEN (IIS) = 2 THEN J = g* 16 930 K = K + J: NEXT :II$ = STRS (K): RETURN Small Ass Free to members FOR SALE Apple /// (new) with 256K ram, 80 columns, RS232, SOS & Business Basic. Tel: O88 278 GIS Apple /// with software and Catalyst ///, Profile 5. £600 plus £600 for the Profile. Contact Craig Lsigh on BABBS bulletin board, (iii!) Apple // Europlus for sale: 64k machine, 1 Disk Drive £300. 64k machine, 2 Drives, 80 Col Card & Shift key Mod £450. Applewriter 1 £20. Applewriter // £70. Colour Card £30. Epson Printer Card £40. Epson MX80FT printer £100. Telephone Gitar 7G (ILesmetionn MNT). Articles Required Members are reminded that Hardcore needs articles on any aspect relating to the Apple range of computers. Please send any contribution to The Editor, P.O. Box 177, St Albans, Herts AL2 2EG Page 12 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 It has been suggested that many users may not be using the power of Apple Writer to its full. Certainly, the WPL (word processing language ) available in Apple Writer gives the system a great deal more power than other WP systems around and the ability to tailor the requirements of a user in areas such as Formletters is considerable. One side to Apple Writer that the average user may not appreciate is the ease at which the system is geared to control the printer. When | first encountered this program | had been used to using other systems which boasted facilities such as Bold Print, Columning, Superscripts, Subscripts etc. Like most people | needed to use Apple Writer virtually straight away and therefore did not have the time to explore the higher echelons of the system before needing a working practical knowledge. The priorities were text insertion, editing and printing out in fairly standard business formats. All was bouncing along very well and in the fullness of time | mastered the W.P.L (made somewhat easier | suspect by the fact that | am a COBOL and BASIC programmer and therefore concepts such as variables, branching, subroutines etc. fell easily at my door). Then | needed to produce a document similar to the contract example on the Apple Writer master. For those not familiar you might like to try this. Boot in the Apple Writer Master disk and when the data line display has appeared type CONTROL-P then type do DO DEMOS and RETURN. This runs a demonstration WPL program called DEMOS which gives a good idea of the scope of the W.P.L. Anyway, as | was saying, | needed to create a W.P.L. Program similar to the contracts example. However there was one major difference, | wanted to produce two columns of text each fully justified. In themselves two columns were easily produced using differing left and right margin embedded commands. However the problem came when | needed to command the printer to roll backwards to the exact spot where the first column started so that the second would be level. | knew what needed to be done but it was just finding the right way to do it. Somehow | had to get Apple Writer to accept special printer codes to tell the printer what to do. In this case time was short so taking the most cost effective way out | put a Pin command in my W.P.L. (similar to input in basic, halts execution and will display a message on the screen. Although it is nicer in one way that you do not have to assign a variable if you don't want one - RETURN will continue.) which told me to rewind the printer by hand at the appropriate time to the appropriate spot. This worked and | was able to produce two columns of print as required. But | was not happy. Surely Apple Writer had to be able to send special codes to the printer to enable negative line feed and other goodies. Well it had to hadn't it, the underline token sent a code to toggle the underline on and off. Every time it met a carriage return it produced line feed and so on. Thumbing through my printer manual made me more frustrated. The printer | was using was a Qume Daisy wheel and the manual showed in graphic detail the abilities of the printer. Here | name but a few Bold print - Shadow print, half negative line feed, half positive line feed (the last two useful for super/subscripts), absolute vertical tab to a line number. All of this would give me total control aver my printer. I don't know if you're anything like me but it often happens that the first time | go to look something up in a manual | can never find it. This was a particularly good example. | couldn't find anything under printer codes in Apple Writer tech manual index, nor Bold nor negative line feeds, so |_ thought all was lost. Was Apple Writer a genuine WYSIWYG program in that the only special codes that could be sent to the printer were the ones pre-programmed into the system ( underline, form feed, carriage return and suchlike)? On the system | use, to print a pound sign | have to use the CONTROL and V to put the system into "insert control characters” and type in ESCAPE and SPACE, then CONTROL V again to toggle out of the “control character insert" mode. This was the answer and the proof that total printer control was available in APPLE WRITER. To produce total printer control is relatively easy. First, look up the codes in your printer manual and then using CONTROL V to toggle on and off the “special code insert" mode enter your desired code n characters, rather than in ASCII values or hexadecimal. Here is an example. Say for instance you wish to print a3 to the power of 5. Type the figure 3 as normal then CONTROL V, type the code for a half negative line feed, CONTROL V, the figure 5, CONTROL V, the code for a positive half line feed and finally CONTROL V. The positive half line feed at the end will return the printer onto the correct line for the rest of your text. For a Qume printer the screen will look like this:- 3[D5[U The square bracket denotes ESCAPE, on the Qume ESCAPE D is negative half line feed and ESCAPE U is positve. The act of pressing ESCAPE will put the bracket on the screen. Look up the codes for your printer as they may well be different. As | have said earlier it is often, well for me anyway, a case of working something out and then inadvertently running across the answer some time later in the manual where | didn't expect it to be. This happened with regard to special printer codes. | was rummaging through the APPLE WRITER Master files when | came across a file called SPECIAL. After loading it it was abviously a glossary file of special printer codes and lo and behold there was a partial explanation on pages 58 and 59 of the Apple Writer tech manual, showing how you could take the system one stage further to create programmable function keys to insert your special codes in a slightly more user- friendly way by creating a glossary file. The only problem being that the predefined codes on the special file may not HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Page 13 work for all printers, but creating your own glossary file is easy. The manual explains this side very well. Having said that | find it just as easy to enter the codes straight in when | need them. Remembering the glossary commands is no different from remembering the direct commands albeit the glossary system removes the need for toggling CONTROL V all the time as it is done in Glossary creation. Of course it was after this that | found a copy of Apple User (Windfall May 1983) in the filing cabinet with an excellent article by Mike Glover and Christopher Roper on controlling the Epson. Although | suspect that non Epson users might have skipped it to their possible regret. The glossary technique and the use of CONTROL V are both outlined there. Anyway | am happy now that | feel in command of my printer and my appreciation of the power of Apple Writer as a word Processing system is that much more. | noticed in my printer manual that there was a graphics capability on the daisy wheel. Maybe | should look at that next. Remember the day that Prince Philip's Prestel mailbox was broken into; or the excitement about the film "Wargames" in which youngsters are portrayed “hacking” into a US national defence system that nearly starts a world war. Wasn't there a television series, too. Well, whatever, over the past couple of years great interest has been shown in these stories of accessing other computer systems (or hacking). There would appear to be a continuum of hacking activity. My order would not necessarily be yours but how about:- Government snooping, industrial espionage, bank fraud, petty crime, and "hackers". The "hacker" would appear to be a beast who reads computer communication literature by day and who sits up all night at the keyboard. His pleasure is derived from successfully cracking a password gate and having a "walkabout" in some-one else's computer, He would seem to have a symbiotic relationship with computer systems security managers who take delight (and doubtless other feelings) in devising systems to keep him out. Such is the view of the pseudonymous author of “The Hacker'sHandbook” who regards “hacking” as a legitimate sport; and “hackers” to be largely responsible people intent only on winning a game and not being being destructive to other computer systems. This publication is geared to explain the techniques deployed in playing this game.Therein are chapters on equipment and software; on the various computer systems; on passwords and how to find them. There are hard facts and tips galore. Much of the book is written in the first person and | felt could be subtitled something like “Or How To Win At.....” The author tells us that 90% of the information the hacker needs is publicly available and much of the rest may be inferred from that. He tells us that despite heightened security consciousness passwords are still chosen based on easily remembered names from personal life (such as the name of one’s spouse, house or dog) or numbers from telephone numbers. Passwords on sticky labels may be seen on VDUs. | have seen (as the author mentions) FRED chosen as a password because the keys form a square on the keyboard, Much of the information in the book will be of interest to anyone who uses a modem. Networks and packet switching are covered in some detail and | found the glossary and tables in the appendices most useful. There is an informative chapter on how radio is used for the transmission of data and may encourage more amateur radio/computer users to experiment with the exchange of files over the airwaves. CONCLUSION Whoever he is, Hugo Cornwall is a self-proclaimed APPLE computer user. | would suspect that the sale of his book may have added at least a fan to his topless machine. The book is well written and nicely put together. It is crammed with facts of general interest to anyone into communications. It will appeal most to anyone who owns a modem - and would-be hackers. Computer systems security managers and people who run training courses in communications were probably among the first to buy copies. What is CD-ROM? Compact Disks Read-Only Memory! There is news from the States that a compact disk controller is being developed, to allow storage of around 500 megabytes of read-only data. That's the equivalent of about 1250 Macintosh diskettes or about 3500 Apple // 5.25" diskettes! All this on a disk of 120mm diameter! Microsoft is sponsoring the First International Conference on CD-ROM in March, but you'd have to travel to Seattle in the USA if you wanted to attend. At least it demonstrates that this is a serious new product, with a massive capacity for storage and speedy data retrieval. Just imagine - a spelling-check program could use the Oxford English Dictionary as its database! The capacity of one of these small disks is about 500,000 typewritten pages.Just think, too, of the educational value of that amount of storage. Few details are available yet, but this new type of product is being developed for use with Apples, so we're at the forefront of technology. We'll keep you posted on any developments. Page 14 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 _ BLYTH AND BASUG JOIN FORCESIN | ‘ANEW CONCEPT IN USER L FRIENDLINESS STARTING FROM JUNE............. OMNIS TALKBACK | Odette, Peter and Simon are the Technical Support team at Blyth Software. During the coming months we will be writing in our own page about many interesting topics. These will include specific technical hints and queries, conceptual understanding of Omnis 3, application of Omnis 2 and Omnis 3, connectability, time saving routines, sequences, updates and many more! In the meantime, write to us with any suggestions you may have or any queries which may be of interest to other people. Have you any interesting or unusual applications for Omnis? Are you using, or thinking of using, any unusual hardware i.e. interface cards, printers, terminals, etc? If so, why not tell us about them. The Omnis family of products are used by thousands of companies in this country, and as an innovator in the software world, we have a great deal to share with you. See you in the next issue. | Another Good Idea by Mr K. Kishimoto Monitor Resident Assembler Enhanced //e Do you have an enhanced //e ? Do you want to dabble in machine code ? Then do not despair, your Monitor RROM has aresident Mini-Assembler. To start the Mini-Assembler, enter the Monitor by typing CALL - 151 [RETURN]. Then enter ! [RETURN]. The prompt will cahnge from the Monitor '*" to the Assembler ‘I’. This assembler is identical to the Integer Basic variety. The $ [Monitor Command] option, however, seems to be missing and the Assembler does not support the extra 65C02 instructions, Terminating the Assembler and re-entering the monitor can be achieved by pressing [RETURN] at a blank line. Small Adverts. Free to members. For Sale. Vicom 1.6 Communications Software, Complete with manual, for Apple J[+, //e £25.00 Phone: ((ivttiti) Gai) For Sale Apple //e - 2 Disk Drives - 80 Column Card Microsoft Z80 with Software/Manuals etc. Kaga Amber Monitor. Parallel Printer Card. Manuals for equipment. Masses of other documentation and programs. £750.00 o.n.o. [May Seperate] Multiplan, AppleWriter, PRODOS Development System, all as NEW with Manuals. Offers £ 2? Please Contact Richard Daniels on :- 5 (Weve (Mikuni) avn at nny VARA) Were coat} Palleersiinme ti (Foallbeetsiiainie HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Page 15 Data Highway is a comprehensive communications package which fully supports the Apple II, the Apple //e and the Apple /ic. Support does mean FULL support in that Ewen Wannop has covered as many options and variations on these machines as is practically possible. With the II+,which is my model, I was delighted to find that not only was my lower case modification suppoerted but also my Videx 80-column card. In fact most of the popular 80 column cards for the Il+ have been accomodated in an automatic selection. Version Two differs from version One mainly in the area of display variations, Pace, who market Data Higway have introduced their Apple Palette card which gives true Teletext on an RGB monitor and can be used with either the I+ or the He. Just so that //c users won't feel left out, the software will use the extended 80 column card on a //e or the extra memory of the //c to produce a colour display using the double hi-res capabilities of these machines. This review started out on my II+ until I decided to prove that static electricity did indeed destroy chips !! However my ham- fisted attempts to clean tarnish from the legs of some chips (and that's another story) has allowed me to use the full capabilities of an extended //e and, for good measure the Pace palette card. Initial impressions of the package are enhanced by a 154 page manual in a good quality AS ring binder, The manual I found to be very good, not just because it described the functions of the program well, but that it did a great deal to 'de-mystify' communications, especially for the first time user. There are two disks included in the package, one being a back-up as the program is copy protected. On initial booting the user is shown a configuration page which automatically indentifies the machine type and asks a variety of questions depending on the machine and what cards the program has found and recognised. Serial cards supported are the Super Serial card, Pace Mastercards 1 and 2 (the latter is their autodialling card for the Nightingale modem) and the CCS 7710 card, If the program has discovered that it's being used in a //c then the selections are made for you for obvious reasons !_ Apple Il+ users will be asked if they have an 80 column display and then if they can display lower case. Apple //e users are of course not asked if they have lower case as that is asssumed. I like this type of ‘intelligence’ in a program because in removes a lot of the unnecessary pre-ambles found in many other products. Once you have finished with your configuration you are then asked if you want to save it to disk and, after doing so, you find yourself faced with a menu of primary choices. It is worth a mention that Data Highway has been placed under a remarkable fast loading system called 'Speedloader’ which was written by Cornelius Bongers and Willem Schouten. This is available from BASUG.. When I was using my II+ with Data Highway the machine was fitted with a CCS 7710 serial card. With version One of this program that meant that Prestel type systems were beyond the reach of the card as it has no split baud rate generator, However, with version Two, Ewen has devised a means of allowing the CCS card to access Prestel and any other systems which use a split baud rate. To allow the CCS card to do this you must be sure to set the internal DIP switches on the card to the highest baud rate, therefore for 1200/75 the switches have to be set for 1200 baud. I have used the program with each of the supported cards and they all work faultlessly. Pressing '1' from the main menu will load the terminal program and display either a 40 column sub-menu over most of the screen or, with an 80 column display, over the top one quarter. pressing 'G' at this point will allow the user to change defaults such as <C>opy buffer on etc. The baud rate and data word length are also set from this menu. The selection can either be saved as a new default on booting or, by pressing ‘ESC’ you drop into the command mode. In this mode disks can be catalogued and file transfers invoked. Pressing 'T from command mode will effectively allow you to communicate with the modem ,and, if connected, with a remote computer system. The menu system is comprehensive and easy to use, normally the lowest level menu is not used too often which leaves the command menu as the most frequently used. Commands are mnemonic such as <F>ile which displays a secondary file menu giving a choice of <S>end or <R>eceive. There are further selections after this offering either <S>tandard (ASCII) or <P>rotocol (X-modem) data transfer, All the prompts are clear and logical. The file transfer area of Data Highway has the unique (as far as I know) feature of offering a whole disk transfer. At 1200/75 baud this means that a complete disk can be sent over the telephone with full error checking in about 25 mins. for a full disk. Compare this with the two hours that the operation would take at 300 baud ! One of the command options allows the user to <I>nitialise a disk in a specified drive. Very handy for those awkward moments which other programs don't provide for when the ‘disk-full’ message appears on the screen just as you are trying to save a buffer full of text. Assuming that you have selected the option as a permanent feature the buffer will hold approximately 26k of text, when full the contents will either be saved automatically to the disk with a sequential default name, or the user will be prompted either to save the text or to overwrite it with new text. Page 16 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Pressing 'E' from the command menu will allow the user to enter a mesasge which can be stored on disk as a text file for later transmission. The program prompts the user for the line length and the text is word-wrapped to fit within the limits. However if you make a mistake in a previous line there is no way of editing that out. If the file is to be sent up to say Telecom Gold then you must <V>iew the file first which will add ‘hard’ carriage returns at the end of each line, without this the text will upset the Telecom Gold message entry routine as it will be passed without any apparent carriage returns. While I was reviewing this program I wanted to have some information telephoned through one evening, but I was not going to be around to receive it...Data Highway to the rescue. Really I had two problems, one was that I didn't want the Apple switched on all night particularly as I knew my friend would call at a fairly specific time. The other was that I didn't want the system accessed by anyone else during the time. The latter problem was easy to rectify as there is an option in the terminal program's configuration menu to change the default remote password to one of my own choosing, also you have the option of specifiying the level of access to your disks. This excellent feature will prevent the ‘loss’ of certain programs or files. I could, at this point have chosen the 'R' option from the command mode which would have set the system up to monitor the line all evening, however | found that the main program menu could offer an alternative, so I <Q>uitted’ from the terminal program. Wait a few seconds while the program re-boots to display the primary menu. From this I selected the utilities menu and then the option for configuring auto-boot. Choosing auto-boot remote as the option all that was left for me to do was to leave the Apple on a time switch for the evening. I am pleased to say that it all worked beautifully, my friend was able to leave a 26k file on my disk and, by using another remote feature, he even managed to write directly onto my disk a couple of his last minute thoughts. Luckily the auto-boot feature can be overidden by pressing "ESC' while the system is booting which then allows you to deselect the facilty from the utilities menu. I wied using the remote myself and found that it was intelligent enough to know that if I was sending at 75 baud when I tried to send a file to the Apple, the low speed was not suitable (on the basis of time and resultant cost) and displayed a message to that effect. I found that the program was full of these prompts which was a welcome change from either nothing at all to the ubiquitous ‘Error #32’. Given that using a computer to send data around should be as painless and efficient as possible then automation of some, if not all, of that process should also be possible. Again Data Highway caters for that with the extensive use of a macro facility. Macros are really just a shorthand way of getting the computer to respond to series of commands depending on specific circumstances. Data Highway can be programmed HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 through the macro facility to dial a remote system (assuming an auto-dialler modem), log you on if the system is available, and then take a series of actions for example collect all your mail then log-off. One of the very few niggles that I have with the program is that you cannot access the macro editor from within either the viewdata or the terminal program. As most conditional macros depend on very specific characters being sent as prompts from a remote system I usually find that I get the wrong one first (or second) time around and keep having to nip back and edit the macro. The macro editor uses the "' as the delimiter so that '*D' would precede the number which the Pace auto-dialling modem would use for the particular service. Modems which use other conventions, such as Hayes protocol, would use the ‘*T’ which means ‘execute the next group of characters immediately’. For a Hayes type modem the syntax would be: “*] AT D 01-222-2222 <RET>". Conwol characters, including ‘Return’ show as inverse and each macro line is terminated with "*E', Once the macro is saved it can be loaded from the terminal program using the <Mbacro option and envoked from terminal mode by typing "ESC'l to n where n is the highest line number used during the creation of the macro. Pressiing only the numbers from command mode will start things rolling and allow you to sit and watch all those easily forgotten and miss-typed numbers flow smoothly down the lines. Up to now all the display has been in monochrome, however, unless you have a Apple II+, all that will change as you enter the option for Viewdata from the primary menu. First entry into this area of the program will show a configuration menu which will allow you to enter your identification number and password. You can also enter special printer codes for graphic dumps of the Viewdata screens and a selection of frequently accessed pages which you use. These pages can be accessed from the program during connection by two key presses. Saving the configuration will leave you with a screen display while the modem, or you, dial the service telephone number. Users of the Pace auto-dialling modem board will be shown another option page on entry to the Viewdata program which will allow a series of system telephone numbers to be typed in for easy use. You should enter the most frequently used number first as this can be accessed automatically if you choose to auto-boot into the viewdata terminal program. If you use an intelligent modem you will have to press return from the viewdata title page. Faced with a blank screen type in the instruction needed to wake up the modem and dial the number. To end the dial sequence you will have to type Control D which sends a true carriage return out to the modem as the return key has been re- configured to give the Prestel ‘hash’ sign. Once the remote system has been dialled and the carrier locks Page 7 on the program then sends out your identifier, automatically signing you on. To make life a little easier the program has re- asigned some of the Apple keys to generate Prestel characters. The two principal keys used on Prestel are the *' symbol which precedes a page number and the '#' (hash) sign which is in effect a carriage return. The Apple's Return key has been re- assigned to generate the hash and the colon / semi-colon key will give you the '*’, this allows much more simplified keying of page numbers but you must remember NOT to use the return key as a carriage return in message entry as that will end the message instead of giving a true carriage return. If you want to enter new lines you must use cither the cursor keys ‘on the //e or the ‘Esc’ I,J,K.M keys on the II+. Data Highway also provides the user with a level of escape commands which will be displayed if you just press the 'Esc' key, these commands allow the user to Catalog disks, print Out pages, save pages and prepare messages off-line. The ‘front page’ of this escape menu contains a selection of the pages you wish to access most frequently. The page numbers of these are added during the configuration sequence and can be recalled at any time during execution by pressing ‘Esc’ and the relevant number. Actions such as printing or saving a page are simply envoked by pressing ‘Esc’ followed immediately by the key. If you have forgotten the correct key just pressing ‘Esc! will display the menu and pressing the space bar from that point will display the second page of key characters. Further help can be obtained from the escape menu level by pressing '?'. Preparing messages off-line is made simple by using the 'Esc- E' option which presents the user with a blank message entry page. As with the on-line entry page, you type in the Systel number of the recipient and then type in the message which is terminated by pressing the return key. The user is then prompted to enter a file-name which will be used for on-line Tecall. As with the Terminal program, there is a Macro facility in the Viewdata program too. The use of macros here will allow you to build a ‘route map’ through several pages which you frequently want to access and read. For example ou may have a requirement to retrieve financial information on a daily basis from many Information Providers on the Prestel system. Using the Macro editor each of the page numbers is typed in with delimiters of “' or ‘.’ depending on the length of time that you wish each page to be displayed. Entering the page numbers without these delays will simply flick through the pages without actually having time to see the contents. There is another unique feature in Data Highway which I found to be very useful while searching through Prestel for odds and ends of information and that is the ability to ‘flag’ pages. Pressing the ‘Cul-Z’ key will mark that page in memory and add it to a table which can then be used to recall any flagged page by simply pressing 'Ctrl-E’. This will display a list of the flagged pages each with a number against it which, if selected, will route you immediately to the desired page. Even if you have not used the flagging facility, you can display a list of the last 31 pages accessed by pressing ‘Ese-D'. The actual screen display is very good indeed, the use of the optional Pace Palette card gives true Teletext in brilliantly sharp colour and is a joy to use. However it is the display available to those with either monochrome II+'s or, in particular, expanded //e's which really impresses me. There are a notorious sequence of pages on Prestel which demonstrate the use of the ‘dynamic cursor’ display and these can cause havoc with many programs which have to interpret graphics because they do not have a Teletext chip. The pages are from *601601601 to *601601605 and if you want to see how well a viewdata program really handles the graphics try these pages, then try Data Highway on them....The use of the double Hi-res screen on the expanded //e or the //c is quite the best colour representation I have seen on a ‘standard’ Apple. Without using a special monitor, but just a colour TV the Apple //e or //c owner will get a clear coloured display which, although it does not compare with the sharpness of the true Teletxt screen, will give a a very legible, slightly muted full colour Prestel screen, even down to coloured text. Monchrome display is obviously not going to be as visually exciting as a colour display but the graphics are clear and the text is very legible, Prestel features such as Flash and Reveal are also fully supported which does help to make the monochrome display enjoyable to use. Data Highway is one of those increasingly rare Apple programs which fully supports all Apples from the I+ to the ‘ic, All to often I find that new programs are written to optimise features only found on the //e, particularly in respect of 80 column support and the use of lower case chips. Data Highway does not make the II+ user feel like a second class citizen although I wish some-one would discover how to persuade a II+ to display double hires colour ! Both the terminal and Viewdata programs are literally packed with features, some of which are quite unique, The error handling is superb, menu selection is logical and clear. The first time user will find the program easier to use than many other communications programs and the experienced user will find that features such as the Macro facility will save time and money. Any criticisms are small, I would like to have seen a line editor included as a utility in the terminal program and I would also like to access the Macro facility from within the main program, However the very fast loading routine removes much of the inconvenience in leaving the host program to edit the Macro. By itself Data Highway is very good value for money indeed and, when used in conjunction with the Pace options of autodialling modem, Mastercard and Palette card the user has the most flexible and versatile communications program available for the Apple II family. Page 18 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 I have noted with interest your enthusiastic appeal to the membership of Basug for contributions to Hardcore. While my latest compilation of a Basic number crunching programme runs through several hours grind on my Ile accelarated by Speedemon, I thought I would address you on some possibilities for a contribution, and also tell you about my own Apple facility. I have a Ile which runs DOS 3.3 attached to two standard Apple disc units. Output is to an Apple /// monitor and a colour TV (using the Apple video output board in Slot 7). When free, 1 borrow an Apple Dot Matrix Printer (and Grappler+). Slot £1 normally contains an Apple Pic interface, slot £2 a Speedemon, Aux 3 an extended 80 column card (Apple), slot £4 a Microsoft softcard (this doesn't work if slot £1 is occupied). Slot £6 contains the disc controller. Apart from the above problem (no one wants to own up to its solution!) my system has worked fine for over a year. For input control I also have an Apple joystick and Bitstick 500. All this sits in my spare room at home and is used entirely for entertainment of my "brain". I do own two games programmes - Flight Simulator Il and a chess programme. Primarily the 280 is used for running the database Cardbox, and when I need to translate an IBM PC program for Apple use. In general I am interested in Graphics. En route to writing and setting up a database of 'Flags' of the world and a Cardbox file of 35mm slides, travel books etc., I learn how to write Applesoft. Currently I am assembling programmes to illustrate "Fractal" calculations, In particular a programme for studying the variations of the Mandelboot set. This is an area of fascinating graphics (especially on such as VAX 8600) which I am trying to make worthwhile on the IIe. Although a number of computer routines have appeared for various micros, I have not been able to find any for Apple II, so I have had to rejig, rewrite and invent (with some help from a programmer who doesn't believe in Basic on micros, as he writes 150,000 line Fortran programs and works with a Cray!). All this helps me learn how to write Basic - the standard manuals and many texts don't seem to do very well. To date I have had little recourse to other Apple users, but the deeper I get hooked the more I think I ought to make use of other users knowledge - and indeed share any I have acquired by long hours of frustration. One definately has to be an enthusiast to persevere with the Ile, or for a big Beeb or an Amiga. My list of problems would fill your pages, so | haven't really had the nerve to call up for fear of becoming a BT shareholder! Perhaps however if you thought other members may be interested in the background to "Fractals", there utility in real life and explanation of the relatively simple mathematical background to programmes which produce fascinating and imaginatively variable patterns, then I could contract to do so - let me know what length and how much space for graphics would be allowed, Also your deadlines for receiving copy. I should warn you that while I endeavour to make my Applesoft efficient, my routines are a bit short at this time on user friendliness. Would listings need to be made "idiot proof"? Mostly I would prefer to produce the starter version, and let the programmer expand the scope. At some time if other members would like it (I certainly always appreciate such items in other Apple publications), 1 would be happy to pass on my comments on the use of a number of software packages. e.g. Beagle Graphics (certainly more effective than "Doublestuff"). I use a number of Penguin and Beagle programmes, and the TASC Applesoft compiler. As yet I have not got going with Assembly language - although I do have quite a few texts and discs. Mostly I have not been able to find a “learn it yourself" approach, or choose the best Assembler. I am interested in other Basics and how they effect better programmes. Applesoft I think is very low on the efficiency list! As a hobby there is of course far too much to do and learn, to worry much about Ile deficiencies - it would be challenging and entertaining for years to come - especially if software and hardware suppliers continued to be interested. I am currently contemplating importing a Ramcard II (512K) from America in order to cope with large numbers of packed DHRG pictures. A review sometime from a member on this card would be useful. Well all the foregoing is a little hurried but if you have any comment I would be pleased to hear from you. My three hours run on yet another Mandelboot set plot is just about to finish, SO it is time to get back to the keyboard. It is still quicker for me to handwrite, Applewriter Ile has to be the duff programme of all word processors!! What a fiddly way to write anything - Oh for my Lexitron! Yours sincerely, Tan D Entwhisle Sittingbourne Kent [REPLY] Thank you for your very interesting letter. This is exactly what I meant when I asked for contributions from the members. We have all got a different reason for coming to use an Apple, and we have all attained different levels, and have differing problems. As a self-help group, BASUG can spread all this knowledge to further our own interests in computing. There is a great danger in the whole thing becoming too focussed, unless we hear from the members, like you, in this way. HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Page 19 First may I say, Applewriter Ile may be no great shakes, but is the only word-processor many have. If you had sent your contribution in on disc, it would have saved me some time typing it all in using the dreaded program! We return any discs sent in in this way, and it does save time. If you are on the FORCE or BT Gold, of course you can send in your files to me directly. This way we do not have to convert later to the MAC format! Deadlines come and go, we accept items any time, though 5 weeks before the next production date, is really the limit. Make an article any length from a part of a page, to ten pages, if it is too boringly long, we will use the dreaded knife on it! Any listings must be submitted on disc, too many mistakes might ensue if we typed them in! It is helpful if the programs are ‘idiot proof’, this should always be a consideration of a good program, but if the routine is valuable, someone can always polish it up to suit them, later. I have various points that spring to mind on reading your letter, I will comment on them, not necessarily in order, and I will make some of them into general points that might be of help to others. First, I notice you say your Apple runs under DOS 3.3. Of course you can run your Apple under PRODOS, DOS 3.3, CPM and PASCAL, all you need are the correct system discs. There is some confusion with some members, that it is the machine that has DOS or PRODOS built in. The system Program is on disc, and so any machine can run any of the systems. One proviso though, a 48K Apple II+ cannot run the full version of PRODOS or run PASCAL, but a 16K ramcard to solve this problem is not expensive these days. Appleworks needs Plusworks to run on a II+, and if you are lucky cnough to have a 128K ramcard, Plusworks will give you a much bigger desktop than is normally available, even on an extended Ie, A word about Ramcards here, I see you want to get a 512K ramcard. Apple have introduced a bit of 2 compatablity problem here. The original ramcards had their extra memory simply paged in as needed, Many programs expect this type of card and nearly all were seen with no problems. A new standard has now been set up by Apple. The cards are treated in a different way, being used more as disc drives than ramcards, however this allows vast amounts of memory to be online, Trouble is, not many programmes yet see them, though Prodos does, and there are some differences in the compatablity between the different cards, Check the card does what you want before launching out on that expense. Cirtech, a British company, produce Flipper, and this does follow the new Apple standards. I counted three mentions of other machines, how dare you, in Hardcore! You don't have the VAX at home do you? You must have a big garden shed! I do agree however, that Basic on machines like the B**B, is something else. The B**B is an excellent machine to learn assembly language on, as you can bring it in in small stages as procedures, and merge with a Basic program. Applesoft is now some many years old, but if you compare it with P*T or the original TRS80 Basic, you will see that it was better than most when it was young, Assembly language is a very difficult thing to get to grips with, the learning curve is very steep before you can actually do anything with it. I don't know of any books that make it really easy, you simply have to plug away till you can do something that works, then it is all plain sailing learning as you go. There are two good assemblers around, though most people have their favourites, one is Apple's own Prodos based assembler, the other is Merlin, both in its DOS 3.3 and its Prodos versions. The original DOS Toolkit assembler, is OK if you are only handling small programs, but it is terribly slow when the program gets of any length. I see you have not used the Hotline, it is there for people like you who have problems, don't be afraid to use it. Have you tried one of the clubs that meet nearby, see the list published in Hardcore. | go to one group regularly, and enjoy meeting the members. We share our problems, and advance our knowledge and horizons, As you are doing a lot of number crunching, and you are working in Basic, have you thought of using Routine Machine, Ampersand Array or Beagles Treasure Chest. There might be a machine code routine that fits your problem, and it would run much faster than even a compiled program. I am sure someone would like to know about Fractals, I for one only have a vague idea what they are. Write the article, I will try and fit it in. Please write some reviews on the Programs you use. Even if we have done them before, a review from someone who really uses the program is always of interest, rather than someone who has only had a brief glimpse. Finally you say that the Ie has some deficiencies (you should try a Il+ sometime!), but you sce that it has a future if it continues to be supported. Apple themselves have come round to this way of thinking. They are now supporting, and expanding, the //e and //c, as well as developing the MAC Tange. The software now available for the enhanced //e and //c is quite stunning. Appleworks has been around sometime, but wih the addition of 3 1/4 inch drives, a 1 meg Ramcard and finally ‘Pinpoint’ desk accessories, you have a machine almost as powerful and as easy to use as a MAC. When you want to word-process, use 'Mousewrite’ and if you want a spreadsheet use 'Mousecalc’, all the ease of pointing a mouse, cutting and pasting etc. Windows and concurrent programs are available on the // series as well now! Thank you again for your letter, come on the rest of you, let us have more like this please. Ed. Page 20 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Apple llc 3.5 At last the Apple System you've been waiting for - Portable Apple llc with built in 5.25" Drive and 800K External Drive Special Holden Bundle comprising Apple IIc computer, Unidisk 3.5, Monitor and Stand, Appleworks 3.5, Mouse, MousePaint, MouseDesk, Mailmerge, Carrying Case. Supplied with our specially configured 3.5 Disk £999.00 + VAT Apple Il Holden Price Apple Ile 64K Computer 375.00 Apple Unidisk 3.5 (New Product) 329.00 Apple Unidisk 5.25 150.00 Apple Unidisk 5.25 with Controller 175.00 Duodisk Drive 325.00 Monitor II 99.00 Systematics || Ledgers and Payroll,each 195.00 Numeric Keypad 80.00 Appleworks 130.00 Apple llc 128K Computer (With free Carrying Case) 475.00 External Disk Drive (New Reduced Price) 119.00 Monitor llc (With free Stand) 79.00 MACINTOSH Holden Price Macintosh Plus 1895.00 Macintosh 512K 1595.00 Macintosh HD20 Hard Disk (New Product) 1395.00 Macintosh External Disk Drive 800K 339.00 MacDraft (Unbelievable New Drawing Package) 180.00 Omnis 3 350.00 Pagemaker (Desktop Publishing Package) 395.00 Systematics || Ledgers and Payroll, each 195.00 Imagewriter 15" 415.00 Imagewriter Il (New Product) 339.00 Imagewriter Il Sheet Feeder 175.00 Imagewriter Il 32K Memory Option 75.00 Laserwriter 3995.00 Education 350.00 300.00 140.00 165.00 295.00 89.00 85.00 450.00 110.00 75.00 Education 1650.00 1095.00 290.00 395.00 319.00 150.00 65.00 3600.00 STOP PRESS! NEW DESKTOP PUBLISHING SYSTEM - COMPRISING Macintosh Plus, 800K External Disk Drive, Laserwriter Printer, Two Appletalk Connectors, MacDraw, MacPaint, Microsoft Word and Aldus Pagemaker £6250.00 Access, Visa and Applecards Accepted. Please Add VAT @15% MULTIPLE ORDERS A SPECIALITY - ASK FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTE holdens COMPUTER SERVICES 191-195 Marsh Lane, Preston PR1 8NL Tel 0772561321 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Page 21 The day dawned. A deep frost hung over the sea-lion enclosure. The sun glinted on the giant corkscrew ride. One by one the white boxes were gently placed in position. The scene was set. Apple Show &6 had begun. BASUG was there in force. We had the best and most prominent stand in the show, and the committee, well labelled, were on hand everywhere. Ivan Knesovich, a flash of lightning, was seen everywhere at ‘once. He was the man with a telephone in his hand. He was the mastermind of the whole event. it was simply the best show that this country has ever seen. It combined all the best elements of the Apple User Shows, the BASUG regional meetings, local group meetings and computer bargain basements. Over 200 people attended. Such had been the response, Ivan had to turn people away, he had not thought that so many would want to come. The catering stretched itself, but it simply could not cope with any more. The Mid-Apple group did wonders, they were the stewards, manning the gate and the registration. They did a magnificent Job of all the signs for the BASUG stand, and they were all there to the end, clearing up. We had Dave Ward from the Hotline, manning his stand throughout the day, answering a plethora of questions. Apple UK were there in force, both the management and the technical team. They gave us a glimpse into the future with their presentation of the MacPlus. Celtip, the local Apple dealers, had a large stand. They showed Mousedesk, and ran a Laserwriter service. We also had MacSerious, Dark Star, Greengate, Electrohome, MacTel, Computer City, MacMart and the Computer Bookshop. Just enough to keep us all interested, but not too many to swamp the day. The MacAbusers group from Dublin were represented, and we had Alison Hjul the editor of MacUser interviewing anything that stood still long enough. Some real bargains were on offer, an Accelerator for the //e for £50, Multiplan for £10, a //c for £350 and even DOS 3.2 for £1! Old friends met, new friends were made, many of us met people we had met on the phone or by reputation, but had never actually come face to face with. Problems were solved, deals were made. It was a very successful day in all respects. From midday on, a series of lectures took place. They were kicked off with Richard Boyd and Ewen Wannop demonstrating how to access Telecom Gold through the FORCE, PRESTEL and BABBS bulletin board. However, the phone line was so bad to Felixstowe, that it proved impossible to get successfuly logged on to Tony Game's BABBS board. After lunch, we were treated to a talk from Bob Sather of Darkstar, on the Shuttle. He concluded with a discussion on copy protection. MacTel then briefed us all on their Bulletin Board for the MAC. Finally we had perhaps the greatest accolade of all, a presentation from Keith Phillips Director of Marketing for Apple UK.He was accompanied by Tony Fraser (Product Marketing and Developement Manager), Mary Ainsworth (Public Relations Executive), Richard Brown (Dealer Manager - North & Midlands Area), Andy Seymore (Technical Support Supervisor) and lan Summerfield (Technical Suppor Specialist). We were given a resume of the last twelve months and the problems that Apple had faced last year. We were then given the plan of action for the next twelve months. This included a Video presentation of the MacPlus Laynch in the U.S. We can expect a large range of new products, both for the // series and the Mac series, as both are now being treated tightly equal in importance. When asked what they actually planned to launch, Keith of course would not be drawn. But we were all intrigued by his answer, he said that if all those in the room were to pool their ideas on what they would like to see being launched, we might well be surprised and delighted by what actually appears. Finally, Apple put themselves on the line, and answered questions and criticism from the floor. At the end of the day, all concerned were well pleased with the days events. We are resolved to have this kind of event again, and soon. All the Apple enthusiasts out there, really want and need this kind of show. The atmosphere was just right. That other Apple show, watch out... For the Basug committee, the day came to the perfect conclusion. Apple UK asked if they could meet us for a private brainstorm. We settled down near the bar, and much to the fascination and confusion of some of those still hanging on, had an extremely worthwhile discussion on topics of mutual interest. We can, | feel, expect a great deal of sympathetic ‘support and liasion with Apple in the future. An event that | would not have missed for the world. | think all those present will wish to join me in the biggest thank you we can possibly give to Ivan. He made it the most memorable day possible in the Apple calendar for this year. Page 22 HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 Greetings to all the many members of the Apple family out there in the wide wide world. There follows a small dissertation on my use of the Apple, and how it has changed my life after contracting Multiple sclerosis in my mid life. At a time when the way forward to that golden age of retirement looked rosy, and after a not uninteresting period of high activity and wonderful experience of raising a family in the Australian continent. My introduction to the world of computers came as a sharp shock. At that time in the early 1960's it gave me many a sleepless night. | was employed as a professional model engineer in charge of a small department. It was charged with the design and production of design and test model's, for study purpose of very large construction projects for the Australian Government. Like so many large organisations, strange building works began to appear on the site. These were later to be replaced with very large battleship grey boxes in profusion, and of course miles of multi colour cable. These were all to be operated by the white coat brigade. When all the dust of construction was cleared, and the site boffins had returned to their new dream land, there came the command from on high that this was the answer to all our dreams. Never again would we produce projects that did the required job only by luck and good will of the people concerned. My worry, like so many at that time, was if the contraption was so good, should | take take up market gardening or some other more useful occupation. If you knew my ability in the garden you would understand that I was in a state of panic!!! Of course the truth turned out to be totally different from what we had expected. The first people to have work done on the contraption, were the accounts departments. The result was that our pay cheques did not appear at the bank on time, and half the staff were plunged into immediate debt, or faced the bailiff. After months of worry and the usual answers being given that the computer was never wrong, they turned back to the old system, and the dust settled ever thicker on the grey boxes. The only worth while thing to come out from the boxes, in our estimation, were the glorious girly image's, printed life size by the printer. These were programmed as a demonstration by the manufacturers of the system. One of these adorned the wall behind every draughtsman's table, and | think cost a packet of cigarette's. In time useful work was churned out by the beast, and surprise surprise the demands on my work doubled over night. To get results out, you needed hard facts to be put in. | was convinced the computer was a good thing, and | fancied one of the special photo-identity tabs worn by all those allowed near the monster. How my image would go up in the typing pool then! HARDCORE - APRIL 1986 After some years had passed, | departed from government service to the outside world. No more ‘Yes Minister’ for me! | set myself up as a private consultant to universities, and other government departments and private industry. The work came in thick and fast for nine years, when disaster struck with the onset of MS. A disabling disease, that is hard to cope with for a very active person. Just before this event, while in a large drawing office of a client one day, | was aware that great interest was being generated by a small cream box. This was in the process of being demonstrated by a visiting engineer from the USA. Not to be left out, | pushed through the crowd to be confronted by my first Apple 1. It cost about £3000 plus, without any extras. | knew then one day | had to have one. Nothing more could be done about it at the time, due to large university fees for my three children, which were looming with increased rapidity. Months later, lying in despair on a spinal bed, | was trying to come to terms with the remarks made by one of the doctors. He had said that he thought | was not going to walk again. | got to thinking about what | was going to do, and how to keep going without the ability to earn a living. | was also concerned how to keep the old brain from becoming clogged up with self pity. My thoughts went back to that cream box. This must be the answer | thought, to a whole new world of experience. Instead of dashing around, perhaps | could make the world come to me. With our children educated and started on the road to self sufficiency, and with the advice of the medical profession, we fulfiled our ambition of returning to the UK. Soon | was able to buy one of Clives ZX80's. This little machine confirmed my ideas with regards to the use of computers for entertainment. It also showed a possible way for a disabled person to work. Although very limited a great deal of fun came out of that little unit. Friends helped me to get hold of a CP/M machine, it had 48k of memory, but it had no software or manuals. It had come from a company that suffered liquidation. After contacting the makers agents, they kindly supplied the necessary missing software, and now I was in business. But what to do with it!. The local Social Services had heard about my situation, and they approached me with the request that | take on the voluntary job of running a disabled information service from my home. After a lot of work, and many hours collecting data, the local TV station featured the service in a community broadcast. The result was, that over 300 requests came in. From then on | had a purpose, but | still looked longingly at the Apple advertisements, though | was without the means to obtain one. Finally one came my way. Once again without any software and manuals or internal boards. But with a lot of help from all sorts of wonderful people, | got it running. There was another interest | wanted to develop, this was CAD graphics. Only then perhaps, could | get back to technical work, and sometime out of the poverty trap of invalidity benefits etc. That is the stage | am at the moment. Page 23 | still have the constant need for financial help to run the disabled information service. This service is free to all callers, and all funds that come in, are used to pay the phone bills and other running costs. With my personal project of CAD graphics as well, my time is taken up to the full. All this depends on my friend the “Apple Ile". | have been able to introduce some other disabled friends to the world of computing, with good results. This is one area that needs to be developed, but is held back by the one great problem of cost. For to try to live on minimal income, leaves nothing for this type of equipment. There is some help available from government departments, but it is only a drop in the ocean. | look forward to the future, and hope cheap and easy access to large databases becomes a reality. This could be similar to the local library, based on cheap Laser disks of files. Better graphic screens, more compatability and cheaper phone bills for data transfer. This would to the average person open up the world for anyone that is locked into the situation of immobility. All | might add, with the continuing help from my Apple. If! can help anyone at any time, you can get me on iis? iit [Eds Note] John is a remarkable man, though without the use of his legs, he refuses to use