Text content (OCR)
-A2-Central’
ls
A journal and exchange of Apple II discoveries
NuFX eases file transfers
Thanks to Andy Nicholas, a college student at Moravian College in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, uploading and downloading Apple II files to
and from local bulletin board systems and services such as Com-
puServe and GEnie will soon be easier and faster. As a project for a
spring semester independent-study course in computer science,
Nicholas developed a new, publicly-documented file format, called
NuFX, for archiving files and disk images. In addition, he wrote a pro-
gram, called ShrinkIT, that can create and extract from these NuFX
archive files. ShrinKIT will be distributed as freeware.
During June, Nicholas and staff members from Apple, Com-
puServe's Appie Il Forums, and GEnie's Apple Il RoundTables met at
two online conferences and hammered out standards that Apple will
soon publish as Apple Il Technical Notes and that CompuServe and
GEnie will implement in their online libraries. Under the new stan-
dards, online files will be smaller, which means they can be transmit-
ted faster. NuFX files can be received with their file type intact, which
means they will show up in the Finder with the correct, double-click-
able icon. And only one utilily program, ShrinkIT, will be needed to
process all types of the files typically found in online libraries.
The tech notes discussed at the online conferences include two
File Type Notes, one for Binary II files (lype $E0, aux type $8000) and
one for NuFX Archival Library files (ope $10, aux type $8002). A third
tech note, Miscellaneous Note #14, covers guidelines for telecommu-
nications programs.
Telecommunications and file transfers are complicated
enough to intimidate many users. Let's cut through the intimidation
and start at the beginning. By the end it will be clear why NuFX and
‘ShrinkiT are about to make life in the Apple II community better,
Telecommunications involves using a device called a modem to
hook your computer to the telephone network. Besides a modem,
you also need telecommunications software to run on your computer
and another computer, also equipped with a modem and also running
telecommunications software, to call up. For a complete introduction
to all this, see ‘Crossing telephones with computers, in our March
1988 issue, pages 4.12-4.14.
One of the things you can do once you're connected to the phone
system is call up local bulletin board systems or national online ser-
vices and exchange messages with other people. We covered this in
‘Twisting talk into data," May 1988, pages 4.25-4.27.
Another of the things you can do once you're connected to the
Phone system is call up local bulletin board systems or national
online services and upload (send) or download (receive) files. The
files can be data files such as word processor documents, spread-
sheets, graphics, fonts, or digitized sounds or music; or they can be
program files,
But the phone system isn't as error-free as the cable that runs
between your computer and your disk drive. In fact, noise in the
phone line commonly introduces errors (popularly known as
“garbage’) into data being transferred. Your ears do a very nice job of
filtering this noise out when you're talking on the phone and state-of-
the-art high-speed modems handle noise well, too. But older, slower,
modems have almost no abilily to tell noise from data.
Consequently, in the early days of telecommunications, it was very
difficult to transfer a file without errors. A CP/M programmer by the
formerly
Open-Apple
iF
August 1989
Vol. 5, No. 7
ISSN 0885-4017
newstand price: $2.50
photocopy charge per page: $0.15
name of Ward Christensen: addressed this problem in 1977 by devel-
oping a communications protocol called XMODEM.
Under XMODEM, the sending computer divides the file to be
transferred into 128-byte packets (a byte is a unit of information that
holds a number between 0.and 255; in many cases the number in a
byte represents’a single letter of the alphabet). Then the sending com-
puter adds a two-byte packet number to the front of the packet and
calculates a one-byte checksum that if adds to the end of the packet.
Then, when the receiving computer signals that it is ready, the send-
ing computer transmits the first packet.
The receiving computer captures the packet and calculates its own
checksum. If the checksums match, the packet is accepted and the
receiving computer tells the transmitting computer to send the next
packet. If the checksums don't match, the receiving computer tells
the transmitting computer to resend the packet. This continues, pack-
et by packet, until the entire file has been transmitted.
XMODEM took the personal telecommunications world by storm.
Today it's still the most widely-used protocol for avoiding errors while
transmitting data. A newer version (KMODEM CRC) uses ‘cyclic redun-
dancy checking" to create a two-byte checksum that will catch all but
the most improbable errors (damaged files could occasionally slip
through the fingers of the older one-byte checksum under some con-
ditions).
Faster protocols that use bigger packets and that allow the transfer
of several files at once (‘batch’ transfer), called YMODEM and ZMO-
DEM, are now also widely used. Another protocol, called KERMIT, is
often used to transfer files between personal computers and universi-
ly mainframes. And there are versions of XMODEM that use LK (1,024
Regan —
“MISS LAMONT, WILL YOU GET ME TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT
STRIPOC INTERACTIVE PLEASE?”
5.50 A2-Central
bytes) and 4K packets. Nonetheless, around GEnie we always recom-
mend that people start with standard XMODEM and use it until they
are comfortable with downloading, The more advanced protocols
often cause unnecessary confusion for novice telecommunicators.
Obviously, the communications software on both your computer
and on the remote computer must support XMODEM if you're going to
use it to transfer a file. Almost all personal-computer-based bulletin
boards and all the national online services support XMODEM, but
there are a few university and private computer systems that don't. All
the current Apple II communications packages support XMODEM, but
there are a few older packages that don't.
To make an XMODEM transfer, you first tell the remote computer
what you want to do. When the remote computer says it is ready to
begin the transfer, you enter the commands that tell your own com-
munications software what to do. Do not enter the XMODEM com-
mands on your own computer until the remote computer tells you to
begin, no matter whether you are uploading (sending a file to the
remote computer) or downloading (receiving a file from the remote
computer).
Everything that the CP/M operating system (which XMODEM was
originally written for) knows about a file is either in the file itself or in
the filename. CP/M filenames always include a dot and a three-charac-
ter suffix that indicates the file's ‘type’-that is, whether the file is a
program file, a text file, a graphic, or whatever. In making an XMODEM
transfer under CP/M, the person making the transfer types in the file-
name and suffix and XMODEM transfers the rest of the file.
Neither Apple DOS 3.3 nor ProDOS are so primitive. In addition to
the information in the file and the filename, these operating systems
keep information about each file's type and status in the file's directo-
ry entry. XMODEM made no provision for transferring this additional
information. Consequently, in the early days of Apple telecommunica-
tions, successful file transfer took a great deal of expertise. Some
types of files, such as AppleWorks spreadsheets, were nearly impossi-
ble to distribute by online means.
The Binary If file format solved this problem in early 1987.
Binary Il was hammered out at online conferences similar to those
just held for NuFX. The originator of the Binary II format was Gary Lit
tle, author of the telecommunications program Point-to-Point, among
many other things (see "Sending files by carti-
Apple's tech fer bunny," Aprii 1987, page 5.17).
The Binary Ii format adds a header to the
" te cals Py front of a ProDOS file. The header contains a
2 file's original name, type, auxiliary type, cre-
featured archival Jation and modification dates, and ali other
standard for the information normally stored in the file’s direc-
Apple Il series. tory entry. In online libraries, such files have
The standard .BNY’ appended to their filenames (pro-
I for full nounced "bunny’). Binary II formatting can be
al lows for ful added or removed by a separate utility pro-
archiving of Pro- \qram before or after transfer, Alternatively, it
DOS and GS/OS_|can be added or removed on-the-fly, as a file
files...” is being transferred, by the user's communica-
tions software.
Even though automatic Binary II handling is
built into most of the Apple If communications programs on the mar-
ket today, up until now both GEnie and CompuServe have recom-
mended that users turn this feature off when transferring files.
Instead, users have been instructed to use a separate program, Moyd
Zink's Binary I! Library Utility, or BLU, to create Binary II files before a
transfer or to remove Binary IJ formatting after a transfer. Here's why.
in addition to storing the information in a file's directory entry, the
Binary Il format also allows several different files to be combined into
one Binary Ii ‘envelope’. This feature was added to ease the transmis-
sion of software packages that consist of several related files. The
Binary ll format even allows some of these files to be subdirectories.
But, unfortunately, on-the-fly subdirectory creation is difficult, and
some telecommunications packages don't support it. Inevitably, one
of the first files a novice will try to download will include an embed-
ded subdirectory, and if automatic Binary II handling is turned on, the
transfer will fail and the novice won't be able to figure out why.
Moreover, Zink's BLU has the ability to make files smaller as it puts
them into the Binary Il format. The "squeezed' files inside the Binary II
envelope have '.QQ' added to the end of their ProDOS file names.
Vol. 5, No. 7
Binary II files holding one or more of these squeezed files are identi-
fied on the online services with the suffix ".BQY' (say “bucky’). Since
squeezed files are much shorter than the originals, they can be trans-
ferred in_less time, which saves users of fee-based online services
money. Consequently, right now most of the files you'll find in online
libraries are BQY files.
However, if on-the-fly Binary Il handling is done to BQY files, dupli-
cate filename problems caused by the appended .QQ can occur. And
since the .QQ files have to be processed with BLU anyhow to make
them whole again, and since it's easier to select one BQY file than
several .QQ files for BLU to deal with, automatic Binary I] handling for
BQY files doesn't make sense.
On the other hand, the Apple II world would be a better place if
users could turn automatic Binary I! handling on and leave it on. For
example, files to be sent could be chosen by icon (icons are associat-
ed with a file's type and aux type); files that had been received would
have the name, lype, and aux type they had when the sender trans-
ferred them. In order to accomplish this in the sweetest way, howev-
er, we need an a file format that allows one or many files to be com-
pressed and stored into a single file with a defined type and aux type
of its own. Binary II formatting could then be automatically added-and
removed from this file during transfer.
This is just one of the features of the NuFX format developed
by Nicholas. Apple's tech note calls NuFX ‘a robust, full-featured
archival standard for the Apple II series. The standard allows for full
archiving of ProDOS and GS/OS files while keeping all file attributes
with each file, as well as providing necessary archival functions such
as multiple compression schemes."
Some of the advanced features of NuFX include the ability to have
multiple files in an archive, the ability to add files to or remove files
from the archive, the ability to include entire disk images in an
archive (this is a convenient way to transfer DOS 3.3 and Pascal files
with ProDOS communications software), the ability to include com-
ments with a file, and the ability to indicate the compression or
encryption scheme used when a file was added to the archive. In
addition, NuFX provides ways to support GS/OS files that contain
resource forks and to support filenames longer than 64 characters
(GS/OS can create 8,000-character filenames),
Apple has assigned NuFX files a file type of $E0 and an auxiliary
type of $8002. Each Binary Il file that contains a NuFX archive will
have ".BXY’ appended to its filename in online libraries {say ‘boxy'}.
ShrinkIT is the utility program Nicholas wrote to create and extract
from NuFX archives. ShrinkiT runs on the enhanced lle, Ilc, ligs, and
Laser 128. Nicholas has also written a version of ShrinkiT for the Il-
Plus and unenhanced Iles. A GS/OS ShrinkiT GS is in the works,
ShrinkIT uses a compression scheme called LZW. LZW works by
removing redundant characters from the data. It does this by tokeniz-
ing large strings of characters, The more times something fike the
word ‘THE* appears in a file, the more times LZW will save space by
tokenizing. LZW compression is both faster and stronger than the .QQ
squeeze algorithm used heretofore in the Apple Il world,
In addition to handling standard NuFX files, ShrinkIT can also
extract from .BXY files (those who don't yet have a communications
program that can remove the Binary I formatting on the fly need this
feature). It can also extract from and unsqueeze the components of
-BQY, .BNY, .QQ, and .ACU files (ACU files are a special format used
only on AppleLink Personal Edition). This means it's the only utility
program a user needs to process any type of file found online.
ShrinkiT can even add Binary II formatting to NuFX files-uploaders
who don't have a communications program that can do this automati-
cally need this feature (if you write telecom software, however, please
check to see whether the file being uploaded is already in Binary Il
format before adding a second envelope).
The only thing the ProDOS 8 version of ShrinkIT can't do is extract
GS/OS files that include a ‘resource fork’ from an archive. This is a
limit of ProDOS 8, which doesn't know how to deal with such files.
The GS/OS version of ShrinkIT will be able to add and extract this
kind of file from NuFX archives, however,
If you've never downloaded files before, it's time to fire up your
modem, figure out how to get your soflware to do XMODEM transfers,
and get yourself a copy of ShrinkIT, Nicholas has made the program
available to all Apple lI users for free, although I understand some
college students like to receive boxies of cookies in the mail.
Miscellanea
Claris expects to start shipping AppleWorks 3.0 in August. As
I wrote last month's newsletter, the ship-date was scheduled to be
about a month earlier, but beta-testers kept finding new bugs and the
people at Claris decided to go for a more perfect 3:0 than for earlier
release. Claris asked us to hold the coupon in last month's catalog till
this month, but production was too far along to stop it. Those of you
who called Claris immediately after receiving last month's newsletter
found the Claris order desk wasn't ready for your calls. But theyte
ready now.
We've gotten a number of questions about what the difference will
be between the Claris upgrade offer and the one in our catalog last
month. The only difference is that if you are already a registered Claris
user, you won't have to send your disk in to get the $79 upgrade, This
means you can place your order over the phone, if you have a credit
card handy, rather than by mail.
Applied Ingenuity has created a stir with it's full-page ads mock-
ing Applied Engineering's ads for an internal hard disk drive for the II-
Plus, Ile, ligs series. Applied Ingenuity had a similar product available
before Applied Engineering. The internal drives from. both companies
replace the power supply inside the computer with a larger supply
that includes the hard disk inside it. Applied Ingenuity's drives are
much less expensive and, according to subscribers who have used
them, well made. Applied Ingenuity also makes a 1 to 4 megabyte
memory expansion card for the igs called the GS Juice Plus. At $299
for a card with 1 meg of memory installed, the card is very competi-
tively priced (14922M Komona Blvd., Baldwin Park, CA 91706 818-
960-1485 800-346-0811).
Meanwhile, Cirtech has announced its intention to make a hard
drive that fits on a card in a slot and that will include a SCSI port.
The Boston Computer Society, in conjunction with Apple
Computer, Inc., will award 25 Apple Il Video Overlay Cards to
winners of a contest on the most creative uses of video overlay. The
contest is open to all members of official Apple user groups and
Apple computer Clubs.
Entries should be in written form and include a descriptive title of
the proposed project, an equipment requirements list, and a brief
(less than 500 word) project description, focusing on how video over-
lay will be used. Supplementary materials (e.g. graphic story boards)
can be included with the entry, but are not required.
Winners will be required to submit a videotape to the society one
month after receiving the Video Overlay Card that shows the work
theyve done to complete the project. Winners will be asked to sign a
release that allows Apple to use their video for promotional purposes.
Asoclety panel will judge the entries based on how well they meet
the following criteria:
1.) Example shows a compelling use of overlay (i.e. results could
not be achieved as effectively in software or video alone),
2.) Example shows an innovative use of overlay (i.e. no duplica-
tion of examples shown on the April User Group Connection
video on.the video overlay card).
3.) Example demonstrates some form of positive social contribu-
tion (e.g. educational or community service uses).
continued on next page
Ask
Grmr...1 hate it when { debug a program but
then forget to put the fix in the version we
print in the newsletter. In line 30061 of the
program in last month's issue, page 5.48, the
second number in parentheses should be
1403. Fortunately, the version of the routine
that was on last month's disk did not include
this mistake.
You can also pencil in a correction at the
bottom of column 1 on June's page 5.38.
Everything after the word ‘PEEK’ in the fifth line
of the routine should have parentheses around
it, as in PEEK (49164 + (SLOT*256)).
Apple VAR program, cont.
In the June 1989 issue of A2-Central there
was a question about Apple's Value Added
Reseller program (page 5.39). About a year ago
I started attempting to get Apple computers at a
discount through this program. I have written
software, a co-worker developed hardware, and
a local business agreed to market an Apple ligs-
driven eqg grader, which we call the 621 Sys-
tem. We have sold about a dozen of the units,
I inquired at the local Computer Factory
(Lawrenceville, New Jersey) about becoming a
VAR. They asked me if I was prepared to spend
$250,000 a year. | said no and was told about
the Dealer-Supported Value Added Reseller pro-
gram and was given the phone number of
Apple's district sales office. Several calls later, 1
lalked to someone at Apple's office who sent
me a 16-page Dealer-Supported Value Added
Reseller Application and Business Plan.
On August 4, 1988 | sent the application to
the District Sales manager. About a month later
I called them’ back and asked about the
progress of my application. They said they need-
ed a form letter, available on AppleLink, from
my dealer. Two months later, in November, they
got the letter.
Meanwhile, the local business that is market-
Ing the 621 System, Modern Poultry Supplies,
contacted the Computer Factory. and asked
about reselling Apple llgs computers. They were
told that under no circumstances was anyone
allowed to resell Apple products. A few more
phone calls to the district sales office and Com-
puter Factory graciously agreed to sell us llgs
computers at a discount. We've purchased
eleven systems from the store, of which four
were missing cables and other parts on the
packing slips. We're getting a decent discount
on the systems, however, so I'm not completely
outraged.
In January [ called the Computer Factory
about once a week and asked about my applica
tion. In February I tried twice a week. March saw
three calls a week and April was about every
day. On May 4, 1989 | received another 16-page
application because my first one, which every-
body in the Apple district office remembers,
was lost. Apple did send me the new applica-
tion by Federal Express to avoid the unneces-
sary extra two days postal delay. It also arrived
with a postage-paid return envelope and a hand-
written note from someone in the office.
In midJune | had a conversation with an
Apple sales representative and learned that my
DSVAR application had been rejected. Apple
wanls Modern Poultry Supplies to apply for the
VAR. They should have no problem. being
approved even though they have no expertise
with computers. Because | don't deal with the
end users directly, | don't qualify for VAR status,
Apple says. The Apple sales rep said he would
send me another 16-page application; it has not
yet arrived,
The only constructive criticism that Apple's
rep had to offer was for me to convert the soft-
ware and hardware to run on a Macintosh! |
asked him, a senior sales representative, what
earthly advantage, other than increased revenue
to Apple, the conversion would provide. He
could not answer me. | then asked him if Apple
was willing to sell me a Macintosh system, with
slots, for what | am presently paying for the IIgs
system and again he was at a loss for words.
Then | asked him who made an analog to digital
converter for the Mac, silence. | also told him {
needed about 45 channels of digital I/O and
asked if he knew where I could lay my hands on
a Mac card for that. Silence. So it appears that
the only thing he was sure about was the inabili-
ty to do anything worthwhile with an Apple Il.
If Apple's upper management is providing
support for the Il line, they certainly have not
expressed this to all their underlings with much
conviction. | felt like | was talking to an Atari
salesman about the ability to do work with an
Apple II computer. These guys must think that
only games run on Apple Il computers. He also
told me not to expect anything new for the II
line,
My attempt to become a Dealer Supported
Value Added Reseller with Apple has been my
only contact with the company. [ can't tell you
how educational this experience has been. If it
werent for the Princeton Apple Users Group,
A2-Central, Computist, and the Genie Apple Il
Round Table, | would never have attempted a
project like the MPS 621 system. I would like to
thank all the wonderful Apple II users who have
made life with Apple Computer bearable.
David Ciotti
Trenton, N.J.
I've tried twice to contact the people behind
Apple's VAR program on Apple's AppleLink but
5.52 A2-Central
Entries must be postmarked by August 31, 1989 and mailed to:
Video Overlay Contest
c/o Boston Computer Society
215 Hartman Road
Newton, MA 02159
The third annual Applefest San Francisco will be held Septem-
ber 22-24. As In earlier years, the show will be held at Brooks Hall
and Civic Auditorium. For registration and seminar information call
617-860-7100 (800-262-FEST). Advance discount prices range from
$10 for exhibits only up to $99 for a half-day seminar, all conference
sessions, and exhibits.
Back in September 1986 (page 2.58) we mentioned the Aca-
demic Courseware Exchange, managed by Kinko's Photocopy
Centers, as a possible channel for developers to earn royalties on
educational software they've developed. Word that the Association of
American Publishers has filed suit against Kinko's for unauthorized
photocopying and sale of copyrighted material gives us second
thoughts. The suit claims that Kinko's copied substantial portions of
copyrighted works and sold the copies to students at a profit. The suit
states that Kinko's ‘has engaged in such...infringing practices repeat-
edly in the past and is continuing to do so at the present,’ according
to a newsletter we receive from the Copyright Clearance Center.
Addison-Wesley has announced a new educational site
Vol. 5, No. 7
license policy for its Wordbench word processor (see October
1988, page 4.66-4.67). The Educator License entitles an individual
teacher or lab coordinator to make as many copies of Wordbench as
necessary for use in one Classroom or lab. There is no cost to the
license other than buying one original copy of Wordbench through
normal channels. The license guarantees program updates and revi-
sions free of charge for six months. The license atso allows the pro-
gram and documentation to be used in the educator's home to pre-
pare classroom materials and assignments. To obtain a license, con-
tact Jane Tamlyn at Addison-Wesley's Consumer Software Depart-
ment, Route 128, Reading MA 01867 617-944-3700 ext 2626.
A2-Central is finding itself quoted in other company's adver-
tising quite a bit, which is fine with us as long as the quote isn't
made to appear better than it was. For example, Addison-Wesley has,
with our permission, reprinted our review of Wordbench on the wall
of the booth they use at trade shows. But they include the entire
review, both good parts and bad. I'm less happy about the reprint per-
mission I gave for Micol Basic's current ad, which starts with a three
line head quoting me, but drops the italicized part of the following
quote, ‘However, if youre a weekend programmer who wants to
escape the many limits of Appfesoft and take advantage of the full
power of the IIgs, | have yet to see a better programming language for
you than this one."
they dont appear to have anyone answering
their mail.
As a side note, on June 22 an Apple
employee named David Ramsey was fired for
Jeaving a message in CompuServe's Macintosh
forum that Apple said contained confidential
information. Since Appie's management has
repeatedly stated that it intends to continue
supporting the Apple il, any Apple employee
who knows what he's talking about and who
tells you not to expect anything new in the
Apple Il line is divulging confidential informa-
tion and will be dismissed as soon as Apple's
management finds out about it.
If, as is more likely, the Apple employee is
degassing false and malicious rumors about
the Apple Il, Apple's management should know
about that, too. This is the second report we've
heard of Apple's own regional sales personnel
telling our subscribers that Apple would pro-
duce nothing new for the Apple Il (the other
report came from Washington state). I need
names, dates, and witnesses to attempt getting
these guys fired, though, folks. Write it down
and send it in.
Boards on fire
My Ile recently started smoking. My son, who
was using it at the time, was smart enough to
turn it off.
The problem turned out to be my Applied
Engineering RamWorks III card, which does not
have a conductorless border around its edge, as
is standard industry practice. Instead, along the
top of the card, the copper traces come all the
way to the edge of the card.
There's a protective coating on the card, but
on my Ile there is a lid stiffener that extends
downward in the area of the lid angle. The
inside of the lid has a conductive coating on the
underside to stop electromagnetic emissions.
The lid stiffener and the RamWorks Ill were in
contact with each other. Once the computer
table jiggled enough to wear the protective coat-
ing off the card, the lid created a high-current
short between the power bus and ground. This
burned the board and the lid. If left unchecked,
it could have potentially started a serious fire.
Users should check all their cards to confirm
that the traces do not come all the way to the
edge of the board. If they do, protect them from
contact with other parts of your computer!
Tom Vier
Reston, Va.
Files on ice
You can save disk space when archiving your
data files by squeezing them with BLU before
sending them into deep storage. | estimate |
have reduced by 40 per cent the storage space
required to back up my data files.
Good planning is necessary for a smooth
squeeze-and-save operation and to avoid the
confusion created by a pile of disks on the table
as they are prepared for the deep freeze. A hard
disk was a tremendous advantage to my opera-
tion.
Quentin Packard
Troy, N.Y.
You'll get even smaller archives with the
NuBX files ShrinkIT creates. But ShrinkIT's big
advantage for this type of application is it can
extract just one file from an archive. With BLU
you have to unsqueeze all of the files within an
archive file to get at any one of them.
Network notes
We have four, soon to be five, AppleTalk net-
works in three separate buildings here at the
State University of New York, Geneseo. The
AppleTalk networks are each bridged to the
campus Ethernet with Kinetics FastPath boxes.
Two of the networks have their own file servers
as well as many printers. The Ethernet is main-
tained by a DEC VAX8530. We have PacerShare
software running on the VAX to create an Apple-
Share partition. Unfortunately, Pacer is using a
early version of AppleShare that doesn't support
ProDOS. This means that I can't yet get onto the
VAX from a Ilgs. An ‘incompatible version of
software’ message is returned. This problem is
supposed to be solved this summer with the
next release of PacerShare from Pacer. Right
now only our Macs can use the VAX as a
Superdisk. The VAX appears as an icon on the
Mac screen. But soon I should have the IIgs
doing the same thing. What color should I make
the VAX icon?
Back on page 4.62 you complain that
‘AppleTalk, if you want to use it, takes up both
slots 2 and 7.’ You repeated the same com-
plaint on page 5.31. But things aren't quite that
bad. We have a couple of ligs computers
hooked to AppleTalk in slot 7, with slot 1 set to
"Your card’ and AppleTalk plugged into the print-
er connector. In slot 1 on each machine we
have Apple SCSI cards connected to hard disks.
The Startup Slot is set to 1 so that the machines
boot off the hard disks. One of the machines
has a Cross-Works cable (page 4.87) hooked to
the modem port for transferring files to the MS-
DOS environment (but we have to turn off
AppleTalk to get the program to work), the
other computer's modem port is connected to a
wide-carriage_ImageWriter I. 1 used the control
panel to configure the port as a printer port and
to make suitable adjustments in baud rate, and
So on. I was forced into trying this because |
couldnt find a way to put the ImageWriter | on
an AppleTalk network.
A member of our physics department has
used TML Pascal to create a figs version of a
program widely used by students in our physics
labs. The bad news is that it won't run on the
network. A SFGetFile command from TML Pas-
cal locks up the computer when it's on the net-
work,
We've had great success using AppleWorks
GS as a postprocessor for AppleWorks classic.
The ligs FONT subdirectory has been loaded
with the 11 fonts resident on the LaserWriter
(Avant.Garde, Bookman, Courier, Helvetica, Hel-
vetica.Nar, NewCentury (Schoolbook), Palatino,
Symbol, Times, Zapfchancery, and Zapfdingbat)
plus the Geneva, Monaco, and Shaston fonts
AppleWorks GS needs. An AppleWorks file creat-
ed elsewhere can be loaded into AppleWorks
GS, have its fonts manipulated, and be printed
on a LaserWriter over AppleTalk.
AppleWorks classic can also print over the
network but Chooser must be run to download
an ImageWriter emulation (IWEM) program
before AppleWorks is booted. AppleWorks must
be set to print to an ImageWriter in slot 7. There
are only two fonts available this way. You can
switch between proportional-] (Courier) and
Proportional-2 (I forget) in AppleWorks to get dif-
ferent LaserWriter fonts.
SuperFonts will print over the network, too,
but it doesn't access the LaserWriter's fonts. You
August 1989
get a dotly-looking 72 dpi ImageWriterlike
bitmap graphic. The same problem exists in
SideSpread and Graph. Beagle Bros knows of
the problem but has not worked out a solution
yet.
Bruce Ristow
Rochester, N.Y.
Thanks for letting us know that Apple's SCSI
card works in a slot when an AppleTalk cable
is plugged into the equivalent ‘port’. We tried
to get a standard-slot RAM card and AppleTalk
to cohabit this way, but they fought over an
area of memory called the ‘screenholes’ and
the RAM card Jost.
Hewlett-Packard Inkjet
Where in the world is an affordable letter-
quality printer for the Ilgs? Can a Hewlett-
Packard inkjet printer be made to work with
graphics-based text? This is my sorest point
about the entire Apple II line.
Rob Gallagher
Los Angeles, Calif.
Years ago ! started my computer experience
with a Commodore 64. At that time I acquired a
Star Gemini 15X as my first printer. Later, I
upgraded to a lic and used the Gemini for a
couple of additional years until my need for let-
ter quality arose. | currently am a marketing
manager and do all my own customer corre-
spondence and quotations from my Uc,. | pur-
chased an ImageWriter II and felt that the print
quality and feed mechanism (many misfeeds
and wrinkled pages) left a lot to be desired. [
recently sold the ImageWriter II to someone
who thought it was the greatest thing since
sliced bread.
I replaced the ImageWriter with a Hewlett-
Packard DeskJet Plus inkjet printer. The quality
is exceptional as you can see from this letter.
Hooking it up was easy. {t has built in serial and
Centronics parallel ports. To use the serial
interface with my llc all I needed was an Apple.
lic to ImageWriter I or Scribe printer cable ($7).
1 configured AppleWorks 2.0 using the custom
printer option and within 15 minutes | was up
and running.
HP also makes an Epson FX emulation car-
tridge (Model 22707F) for this printer, which 1
plan to purchase. With that cartridge I should be
able to do graphics as well as text. | plan on
purchasing Publishit? and doing newsletters at
500 dpi resolution.
The rea} bonus was that I purchased the
DeskJet for $650 mail order, which made it a
far jess expensive alternative than the
ImageWriter LQ with a cut sheet feeder.
Ken Mirabella
Brea, Calif.
Your letter really does look as if it was print-
ed in text mode on a LaserWriter, but you'll be
disappointed if you expect to get 300 dpi
graphics out of the Epson emulation cartridge.
If it works at all, you'll be limited to the maxi-
mum resolution of the Epson, not the DeskJet,
which is about half that. But go for it! We all
want to hear about your results. (Do you know
someone with a ligs? We'd also like to hear
how it works with the GS/OS Epson driver.)
Watch those controls, cont.
1 was recently demonstrating !lgs control
panel slot changes to a new Apple owner and
inadvertently changed slot 1 of my computer to
‘Your card’. The version of AppleWorks that 1
use would only partially load. The problem
drove me crazy for about a week; suffice it to
say that | cleaned drives, removed and reseated
the memory card, fasted, prayed, swore, and
was considering human sacrifice when | finally
reviewed Just exactly what | had been doing
before the problem occurred. Upon checking
the control panel, of course, a littie key press
cleared my problem.
Bill Hatcher
FPO New York
Icon directory
What publication, if any, illustrates desk top
icons along with their full significance?
Charles Palmer
Pasadena, Calif.
The new GS/OS utilities manual on the
Finder shows the major icons. Since icons can
be user-defined, however, no reference could
be complete. The best way to figure out an
icon's significance is to use an icon editor to
determine what files it is associated with.
There are several freeware and shareware icon
editors available. Check out your user group
library or our ICON library on GEnie, or send
$15 to DAL Systems (address in next letter)
and ask for a copy of DICED, You'll also find a
copy on our May disk,
More on panel straighteners
DAVEX is a shareware ‘command shell’ for
ProDOS by David Lyons ($25, DAL Systems, P.O.
Box 875, Cupertino, CA 95015). It includes a
command to change the Ilgs contro! panel set-
tings. Settings can be saved to files and loaded
back in later. This may be useful to teachers
who have to constantly reset the control panel.
Dan DeMaggio
Detroit, Mich.
Here's another way to solve the problem of
Students having fun by messing up contro!
panel settings (‘Control Panel straightener,’
February 1989, page 5.7). The following Apple-
soft program disables access to classic desk
accessories, including the control panel. It will
remain in effect through control-teset, but not
through the three-finger open-apple/control/re-
set, so it should be on all startup disks.
10 DATA 169, 24,143, 72, 0,225,169, 107, 143, 73, 0,225, 96
20 FOR 1=768 to 780 : READ D ; PORE 1,D : NEXT
30 CALL 768
At location $£1/0048 in your llgs (ROM 01)
there is a jump table to the classic desk acces-
sory Interrupt handler. The program above
makes the open-apple/control/escape combina
tion inoperative. It is the same in theory as
putting a RETURN statement in the first line of a
subroutine called by a GOSUB.
Using similar routines it's possible to make
open-apple/control/escape do anything from
crash the machine to having it play a loud siren.
Like any protection scheme, this one has a
weakness. If the operator presses control-C
while the startup disk is booting, the startup
program will be loaded, but not run, which will
leave classic desk accessories accessible.
David Bonnell
Ann Arbor, Mich.
DAVEX is a complete command-line environ-
ment for manipulating ProDOS files, including
wildcards, exec files, hierarchical catalog list-
ings, text and AppleWorks word processor file
viewing, and lots more.
A2-Central 5.53
And dont miss Lome Waltons shareware
Program, BACK-REST, mentioned in ‘A
straighter straightener,” March, page 5.13 and
included on our April disk. It's a 16-bit applica-
tion that also allows you to save and restore
control panel seitings.
(We've had a report that a few students have
figured out they can change the year on the
clock in such a way that AppleWorks chokes at
its initial date-entry prompt, particularly on ver-
sions containing the ‘don't pass go" patch that
skips this screen. Programs that reset the con-
trol pane! probably dont reset the clock.)
Double precision Applesoft
Is there a way to implement double precision
in Applesoft comparable to the one that's avait-
able in some other languages? ~
E.J. Martin, Jr.
St Louis, Mo.
Bob Sander-Cederlof of S-C Software pub-
lished an 18-digit, binary-coded-decimal arith-
metic package for Applesoft in his newsletter,
Apple Line, between May 1984
and Februaty 1985. He also wrote a 21-digit
arithmetic package that doesn't use binary
coded decimal and consequently has the same
rounding errors as Applesoft, On the positive
side, it uses about one-third the memory of the
18-digit package. Apple Assembly Line has
ceased publication, but you can still get either
package from S-C Software, P.O. Box 280300,
Dallas, Texas 75228 for $50.
In addition, hardware floating point cards
are now available from Applied Engineering
(FastMath, $179, includes Applesoft support)
and Innovative Systems (Floating Point Engine,
$229, 7892 Covington Ave, Glen Bumie, MD
21061 301-987-8688, SANE and AppleWorks
support; Glen Bredon has written Applesoft
interface routines for this card.)
‘A2-Central ADB index
Is an AppleWorks data base index to your
newsletter available?
Benjamin Homenick
Westbury, N.Y.
We don't produce such an index ourselves,
however, the Kula Index from Kula Software
(2118 Kula St, Honolulu, Hi 96817 808-595-
813!) uses an AppleWorks data base to index
articles and reviews from al! major Apple Ii
Publications, even us. Disks are $6.95 each
and are available in annual editions from 1985
through 1988. Kula also offers an index for
1984 and prior years and a complete index to
Softalk, for those of you old enough to
remember it, for $6.95.
For $8, Kula will send you a complete index
covering all prior years available for any single
magazine.
3-up AppleWorks labels
How do you print labels three across with the
AppleWorks data base?
M, Nelson
Darien, Conn.
The new AppleWorks 5.0 has that capabillty
built in. With older versions there's no easy
way, but as with most things AppleWorks, there
is a way.
First create a one-labe! wide format, contain-
ing 10 or fewer categories, and print it to disk.
You'll have to type a complete pathname when
you chose this option, such as /MY.DISK/TEMP.
5.54 A2-Central
Next go back to the main AppleWorks menu
and choose Add a file to the desktop; then
Make a file for the data base; then From a text
(ASCII) file. When asked how many categories
per record, specify exactly’ three times the
number you used in the one-label wide format.
if you used 5 categories, specify 15. if you
used 10, specify 30.
Now enter the entire pathname of the file,
as before. You'll end up with-a new database
where every record contains three names and
addresses. Now create a labels-format report
that will print three labels across the page. Use
the open-apple-Z(oom) feature while designing
the report so that you can see the actual
names and addresses.
space $ = trouble
Ive discovered a significant but difficult-to-
spot difference between AppleWorks 2.} and
earlier versions. The difference might never
appear for many people but in my case it could
have had disastrous and embarrassing effects.
T use a large data base to pay bills for the law
office ! work for, to keep track of the checking
account balance and of client costs and a host
of other bookkeeping chores. When { print
checks using the data base, |- start smaller
amounts with space characters to have the
checks print out more evenly. Since checks are
written for amounts as little as under $10 or as
much as over $10,000, starting the smaller
amounts with a space or two has been a simple
and convenient way to line up the payment
amount with the space provided on the checks.
Ive been doing it that way for years with ver-
sions 2.0 and earlier. All entries include a dollar
sign, so one entry might be $1,000.00 and the
next might be ***$10.00, where the carets rep-
resent spaces.
But {ve just discovered that AppleWorks 2.1
doesn't recognize numbers that begin with a
space, then have a dollar sign, then a number,
It doesn't add. such numbers into column totals
or use them in calculated fields. 1 nearly over-
drew the office's checking account because of
this difference!
Char Roberts
Lafayette, Calif.
That's interesting. The beta version of Apple-
Works 3.0 we're using at the moment works
Just like 2.1. However, did you notice that if
you start an entry with a dollar sign, then enter
spaces, then the number, that AppleWorks will
treat it correctly?
Sorting birthdays
I have an AppleWorks data base with about
180 names in it. I decided it would be nice to
sort by birthdays so 1 could send out cards.
AppleWorks was glad to sort birthdates, includ-
ing the year, bul not birthdays. Eventually 1
solved the problem by shifting the data to a
spreadsheet, sorting alphabetically, and then
moving the months in blocks to restore chrono-
logical order. Was there an easler way?
J Eric Schonblom
Chattanooga, Tenn.
We don't know of an easier way, but after
reading your letter I'm sure a lot of people set-
ting up personal data bases. like this for the
first time will put birth-day-and-month in a dif-
ferent category from birth year. If you organize
the data in two categories to begin with, with
the word ‘date* in the birth-day-and-month cate-
gory's name, youll be able to sort the file
chronotogically into the list you want. Apple-
Works has no problem with dates that don't
include a year (and puts dates that don't
include a year before ones that do during a
sort),
Vol. 5, No. 7
ADB.READER and OOP$
Once again your newsletter has helped me
‘out of a minor jam and I thought I'd pass along
a modification that helped me use one of your
published programs more effectively.
One of my AppleWorks data base files
stopped working a few months back. It loaded
to a certain point then froze AppleWorks com-
pletely. | suspected that the file had been cor-
Tupted somehow. Your ADB.READER program
from the March 1987 issue helped me deter-
mine that a single byte had been transformed
from a $32 (a legal character) to a $12 (a con-
trol character that AppleWorks couldn't digest).
When I fixed the errant character (using the
Copy Ii Plus sector editor) the file worked fine.
ADB.READER is far more robust than Apple-
Works-it doesn't choke on illegal characters. To
use the program as a diagnostic device | added
lines 1048 and 5163 and modified line 5162 as
follows:
1048 OORS=CARS(7) + CARS(127)
5162 Cf2™ ; FOR IsPNTR 10 PWIR + CBYTE-1 :
IF PEBR{I) < 32 OR PEER{I) > 126
‘THEN CS=C$+002$ : NEXT
5163 C$=C$ + CAR$(PSER(I}) : NEXT
Line 1048 initializes the variable, OOP$, for
an auditory and visual marker that will be dis-
played wherever the program encounters an ille-
gal character. In this case, the BELL and ‘blot’
are printed, since | used the program in real
time on the monitor. Line 5162 inserts OOPS
into C$ when an illegal character is encoun-
tered. Line 5163 builds C$ when no illegal char-
acters are found.
Thanks for the article and the program-they
gave me a langible context for understanding
what AppleWorks does with the data. Whatever
AppleWorks patches
We surrender! We can no longer
handle requests for AppleWorks
patches. The volume of mail we
get on this subject is sinking our
ability to answer other types of
questions.
if there's a patch you want for
AppleWorks 2.0, 2.1, or 5.0, we
suggest you contact:
John Link
3382 Sandra Drive
Kalamazoo, MI 49004
Link is the author of Super-
Patch, a program that adds (and
removes) AppleWorks patches for
you. Link has just released Super-
Patch 5.0, which he'll send you
for $20 (please specify whether
you want the program on a 5.25 or
a 3.5 disk). SuperPatch 5.0 can
make 187 different patches to
AppleWorks 2.0 or 2.1. Link will
soon be at work on SuperPatch
6.0, which will patch AppleWorks
3.0 as weil as the 2.x versions. its
Price will be $10 to SuperPatch
5.0 owners or $30 to new buyers
(thus, there's no reason to wait for
id.
If you want a patch for Apple-
Works I.x or a patch to make
AppleWorks running on a il-Plus do
something, we dont know where
to send you. If anyone has a col
fection of these types of patches,
please let us know.
Another excellent source of
AppleWorks 2.x patches is:
JEM Software
P.O. Box 20920
EI Cajon, CA 92021
JEM has three disks available~
PathFinder, Late Nite Patches,
and PatchMania. Each disk sells
for $20. For complete information
on what these programs do,
please see our December 1988
issue, page 4.84.
Here is a list of what's in John
Link's SuperPatch 5.0
1. No spacebar on bootup.
2. No return after date.
3. Overstrike instead of insert cursor on
bootup.
4, Enter control-@ into printer codes.
5. Substitute any mousetext character
for insert cursor,
6. Substitute any mousetext character
for overstrike cursor.
7, Eliminate expansion card preloading.
8. Change error tone to beep.
9. Alter blink rate for insert cursor,
40. Alter blink rate for averstrike cursor.
11. Continually display desktop space.
12. Mousetext checkmarks instead of
arrows for menu item selection.
18, Eliminate return after selecting menu
number.
14. Limit desktop expansion into slinky
type ram cards.
15. Disable all error tones,
16. Leave slot 3 devices connected and
nized.
17. Replace error tone with ligs SysBeep
(gs only).
18. Print current time in upper right cor-
ner (gs only).
19, Print up to 255 copies.
20. Don't disable underline at end of line.
21. Don't disable boldface at end of line.
22. Don't disable superscript at end of
line.
23. Don't disable subscript at end of line.
24, Allow up fo 116 files in a subdirectory.
25. Change <cr> character to bent-arrow
in WP.
26, Retain previous cursor location when
WP is joaded.
27. Prevent extraneous <cr> insertion
when printing to a TXT file.
28. Mousetext checkmarks instead of
arrows in menus.
29, Double underline column titles in DB.
30. Change overflow in SS from "#" to ">"
or’
31. Blank cells instead of "NA" in SS.
32. Change "Carefully’ to "Carelessly" on
file save screen,
33. Don't mark as changed a file that has
been merely printed.
34, Customize “Add files* menu.
35, Customize “You made changes”
menu.
36. Insert current date in DB reports
automatically.
97. Insert current date in SS reports
automatically,
38. Eliminate query when adding new
records to DB.
39. Reverse all No/Yes queries to
Yes/No.
The other 148 patches in Super-
Patch 5.0 won't fit here, but they
all relate to printers. Patches are
included to enhance the operation
of the imageWriter, the Epson FX,
and the Star Gemini 10/15x. The
included patches do such things
as replace boldface, underline, or
super/subscripts with italics, for
eign language character sets, or
color, imageWriter-only patches
also allow printing MouseText,
half-high characters, and down-
loaded fonts,
Unidirectional printing and addi-
Honai characters-per-inch are also
added,
August 1989
happened to the article on writing to a data
base file? Anything on spreadsheets?
Douglas Sietsema
Culver City, Calif.
The ADB.WRITER you're looking-for was part
of the article on making AppleWorks relational
(June 1987). We havent done anything with
AppleWorks spreadsheet formats, but the infor-
mation is available in a number of places,
including Apple's file format tech notes that are
part of our March disk,
AppleWorks snapshots, cont.
Here's an UltraMacros trick that saves snap-
shots of the AppleWorks screen, as requested
by one of your subscribers in March (page
5.15).
start
Ii<all
fepeek $C54
n=n+1 oa-q esc>l<rtn>3<rtn>l<rtn>
Sereen.<print n : rta
oa-o>IMcrtn>0<rtm>RM<rtn>O<rtn
e=peek §C54
1-0
in
ifnot 124 then
Iel41
sa-2
$l=screen 1,1,80
ca-q print e : rtn
print $1; rta
mpt>!
2:alb
<oa-q : print f ; rtm!
Bring up the screen you want a snapshot of
and press sa-l. A new word processing file will
be added to your desktop that contains a copy
of the screen. It can then be printed or.saved to
disk,
If you want to capture a menu screen rather
than an application screen, you have to take an
additional step. Press oa-X and record a new
macro 2 over the one shown above. Use the
keystrokes needed to reach the screen you
want to take a snapshot of, always starting with
oaQ (for example, "oa-Q escape’ if you want a
snapshot of the main menu.
The macro creates word processor files
named Screen.1, Screen.2, and so on. Be sure
you have enough space on the desktop for
another file.
Note that AppleWorks word processing files
have a maximum line length of 78 characters.
As a full screen holds 80 characters, lines will
wrap around in the screen-dump documents
when you view them. But if you set your printer
options generously enough, the screens will
print correctly on your printer.
Christian Piard, Editor
Pom's
Versailles, France
Also, it works best in the word processor
when zoom is off. The little fuzzy boxes that
indicate returns in the word processor are actu-
ally ‘deletes’. And guess what, when you print a
line with a delete in it, it actually deletes the
character to its left.
Carets, sticks, and control
How do you enter a printer code in Apple-
Works that requires the use of a caret (shift-6)?
My printer, a NEC PC-8023A, requires *R to put
it into enlarged letters mode and “T to clear
enlarged letters. | have not found a way to enter
these codes into AppleWorks since the entry of
the caret ends my effort before I can even get
started.
Fred Nelson
Colorado Springs, Colo.
AppleWorks 3.0 allows this, but Dennis
checked our manual of printer codes and dis-
covered that what you really need to enter are
Control-R and Control-T. The caret is used in
some documentation, apparently including
your printer's manual, to indicate control char-
acters.
For future reference, you might find our
ASCH Control Code Rosetta Stone (Novem-
ber 1985, page 1.85) helpful.
Print head control .
On page 4.59 of your September 1988
newsletter, John Tegelaar asks how to defeat
the intelligence of his printer and get it to move
its printhead one space and stop {for each posi-
tion across a page).
There are a number of commands that cause
the printer to print the contents of its buffer.
Return is one, linefeed is another, and back
space is a third. Thus, if you send ‘x, x, back-
space” repeatedly, the printhead will step across
the page, Unfortunately, the sequence ‘space,
space, back-space” won't work as the printer
knows that spaces are special and do not need
to be printed. The solution is to send something
that looks like a space but isn't. For example,
my Panasonic KX-1091 look-alike will do the
Job if you send italic spaces (chr$(32+128)),
provided you use an interface that sends all
eight bits. Another possibility would be to down-
load a user-defined character sel with a space
in an unusual place and use that.
David E. A, Wilson
Wollongong, NSW
Nice trick, but a couple fast tests show it
doesn't work with an imageWriter.
Kyan lives!
L read with interest the letter ‘In search of an
8-bit Pascal’ in your March newsletter (page
5.13). Kyan Software is not out of business. I
have started a Pascal class for some of the
members of our computer club and some are
using Ayan Pascal. | contacted the company just
a couple of weeks ago regarding their current
prices and received a prompt reply. While it's
true that they don't advertise anymore that Im
aware of, you can contact them by mail or talk
to their answering machine at:
Kyan Software, Inc.
1850 Union St., 4183
San Prancisco, CA 94123
415-626-2080
The advantage of Kyan Pascal is that it is Pro-
DOS-based. You can also- easily: incorporate
assembly language routines into programs,
which extends Kyan's usefulness. Kyan Pascal
Plus adds on their KIX operating shell for Pro-
DOS, which may appeal to those familiar with
UNIX. Yes, Orca Pascal or TML Pascal are better
for the IIgs, but Kyan Pascal will work on any
Apple II.
James W. Patton
Littleton, Colo.
We've been able to confirm that Kyan Pas-
cal is still available, Support for the product is
minimal, but it does give schools a ProDOS 8
Pascal,
A2-Central 5.55
Invoices & Statements
Could you recommend a business software
Program to be used with an Apple Ite that would
produce invoices and monthly statements for a
small business? If possible, I'd like the program
to be flexible enough to be used with a pre-
printed form.
David R. Flannery
Carlisle, Mass:
If you want flexibility, the best route would
be to look into either DB Master, from Stone
Edge Technologies (P.O. Box 3200, Maple
Glen, PA 19002 215-641-1825), or TimeOut
ReportWriter from Beagle Bros (requires
AppleWorks; 6215 Ferris Square, Suite 100,
San Diego, CA 92121 619-452-5500). Both
allow you to create an "Invoice file’ and import
data from that file into a ‘statement file’ that
you Can print in any format you like,
Jf you want something that doesn't require
as much up-front design on your part, Manzani-
ta Software has two complete accounting pack-
ages. Each includes an account receivable
module that does what you want. The Busi-
ness Accountant is a DOS 3.3 accounting sys-
tem that works with 5.25 disks and costs
$395; BusinessWorks is a ProDOS system
that requires 3.5 disks or a hard disk and costs
$495. These prices are for a complete account-
ing system-you can get the accounts receiy-
able module alone, for either system, at a
ower price (One Sierra Gate Plaza, Suite 200-
A, Roseville, CA 95678 916-781-3880).
Don't quit yet
In the course of writing an Applesoft program
selector | came across the following problem.
Whenever my program would attempt to launch
Print Shop’ GS, my program would call the QUIT
routine instead, returning: me to the Finder. |
have the program stored in a subdirectory on
my hard disk and I put the keyed master disk in
slot 5, drive 1.
Baffled, | attempted to launch the program in
immediate mode by typing:
~/DOWS.DATA/PS.GS/PS, SYSTEM
This generated a call to QUIT, too. I kept
plugging away and finally solved the problem by
rewriting my program so that it set the PREFIX
to /DONS.DATA/?S.GS, and then ran PS.SYS-
TEM. This worked, but why?
Donald Lipman.
Newburgh, N.Y.
Many software packages lovk for their pro-
gram and configuration files in the PREFIXED
subdirectory and QUIT if they dont find them.
It wasn't Applesoft quitting on you, it was Print
Shop itself.
IIgs programmer's bootstrap
If you were just starting out with a ligs and
wanted to write commercial-quality programs,
where would you start your education?
Allen Stiles
Ferndale, Mich.
First, realize that there's a long learning
curve involved. There are some good places to
start, however-Koger Wagner's Apple Hgs
Machine Language for Beginners, Kon Lichty
and David Eyes’ Programming the ligs in
Assembly Language, and Apple's own Pro-
grammer's Introduction to the Apple lgs.
The 's Introduction takes a
rather involved application called Hodge-
5.56 A2-Central
podge and examines it in sections, explaining
pertinent points about most of the commonly
used figs Toolbox functions as if goes. Com-
plete source code is provide in (TML) Pascal,
APW C, and the APW assembler in separate
appendices and on disk; most of the examples
in the book use Pascal. The advantage of this
book is that the example uses a wide
variety of the toolbox functionality (windowing,
menus, printing, file access, etc.) The disad-
vantage is that the program, though not as
complicated as a commercial program, is large
enough that someone new to desktop pro-
gramming may not be able to easily grasp the
interactions of the component parts.
anes meee the Apple ligs in Assembly
je takes the user through the develop-
here of a desktop-based program by starting
with a small text-based program and gradually
expanding it into a full-blown desktop applica
tion. The resulting program is not as intricate
as Hodgepodge, but you get to see the devel-
opment in digestible stages. The book uses
assembly language exclusively, however.
Apple figs Machine Language for Begin-
ners starts with simple examples of assembly
language routines, working primarily from the
Applesoft (Basic.system) environment, up
through simple examples of tool calls. The
book then shifts to the ‘full native’ environ-
ment for a few desktop examples. it's a gentler
introduction to assembly language, but has
less information on desktop programming.
To advance to commercial quality programs
you'll need the complete set of Apple igs tech-
|_|
© Copyright 1989 by
A2-Central
‘ax sgnfcant others may bzaln pemission Wo rein artes tom time te
by specie writen request
‘Whiten, edited, and putishad by
Tom Weishaar
wih elp tom
Dennis Doms Sally Dwyer = Dean Esmay
Joyce Hammond Steve Kally
Tom Vanderpool Jean Weishaar
‘A2-Centrat ed Opes-Apple twoxgh Jarry. 1983—has been pub-
(hed monthly since Jaruary 1985. Worktwide prices (rn US. colar, aimal
<alvery nuded at acttonl chap): $28 fo 1 year, $54 or2 years $78 or
3 yrs. A back sues are currently avalable for $2 each; bound, indexed ek
‘ons of out fs our volumes ae $1495 each. Voumes end wi the January
‘sue; an inex or the pr vue is inckded wih ho Fray ise.
The [ul txt of each issue ot AZCentral savalabla on 3.5 disks, along
wih a selection of the best new pubie domain ana shareware Ales and pro-
gram, fot $84 a yoar (newsletter and disk combirad}. Sing disks are $10
Please son al comesporcence
A2-Central
P.O. Box 11250
Overland Park, Kansas 66207 U.S.A.
A2-Centrat is sold nan unprotected format for your convenience. You
_are encouraged to make back-up archival copies or easy to-tead eriarped
‘copies for your own use witout charge. You Tay also copy A2-Central or
‘srbuon to hers, The cistbuton fee is 15 certs per page per cony dis-
‘ibved
WARRANTY AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. | warrant at most ofthe
iniomaion in A2-Centra is usetul and covect, hough dive, ard mis-
takes are induded fom time to tire, usualy unnientorally. Unsatsios
‘sbsorbers may cance their subscripfon 2 any time and recewe @ tel
sna tat wn pager Te ta pt of ry ae
wil be retunded even to satisfied subscribers
{TY FOR ERRORS AND OMISS ONS & LIMITED TO TS
FUBUGATIONS PURCHASE PPNE. eo case sal |r my couues
be labo fr ary incental or consequential damages. ror for ANY cam-
ages in excess of the tons paid by a subseriver
SSSN 0086-4017 GE nie mail: AMCENTRAL
Volce: 913-469-6502
Printed in the U.S.A. Fox: 913-4005507
nical manuals and you'll have to buy a develop-
ment language that you like. Other manuals
may help, but Apple's own manuals are the
basic resource. You may also find some gener-
ic books on programming algorithms helpful.
Worldwide points of light
Apple France has recently installed a new
team of people who are concerned about the
Satisfaction of our Apple Il customers. But.
unfortunately, customers get bad impressions
very quickly and it's not easy to reverse the situ-
ati
ion.
We localized GS/OS 4.0 by November 1989
and are awaiting version 5.0, which we intend
to translate as quickly as possible. We wrote
and are distributing free of charge Le Guide de
TApple H, which lists all of the Apple Il hard-
ware and software actually available in France
as of January 1989. We are doing everything
possible to recover first place in the hearts of
our customers, even if it's not an easy task.
Emile A. R Schwarz
Apple H Product Manager Coordinator
Apple Computer France
In your April 1989 issue, many readers from
European countries complained about the non-
existing support from Apple for the Apple II
community. | am an official Apple dealer and
have been serving Apple Il customers all over
Europe for the last three. years. | specialize in
Apple Ils, including the Il-Plus, Ile, IIc, and IIgs.
1 might not be known to many of your readers,
as my advertising budget is small (I'd rather
keep prices low). I do all sorts of ROM and soft-
ware upgrades, battery exchange without moth-
erboard swap, and so on. I'd appreciate it if you
could publish my address in A2-Central.
Urs Brunner
musicomp
Computer + Zubehér
Bottmingerstrasse |
CH-41-2 Binningen, Switzerland
phone 061 / 47 05 06
I was very interested to read all the letters
complaining about lack of Apple support for the
Apple II around the world. I recommend anyone
in an EEC country get in touch with either or
both of the two companies below. They offer a
good selection of software and hardware for the
Apple Il series, they run a mail order service,
and will send you a catalog if you write and
request one (Pandasoft's catalog is in German,
MGA‘s is in English):
Pandasoft MGA Microsystens
Uhlandstzasse 195 Pear Tree
D-1000 Berline 12 Appledore, Kent ™H26 2AR
West Berlin Ingland
Another problem is the bad habit several
American companies have of ignoring Europe.
In all fairness, however, | must mention that
there are a few notable exceptions to this habit
of ignoring Europe. Your own publication, for a
start. I was also amazed that Computist actually
sent me the free starter disk they offered new
subscribers. And Applied Engineering sent me
the free catalog I requested.
June Baker
Wiesbaden, West Germany
1 am writing in reply to the letter from T.C.
Dawbarn in your May issue (page 5.32). You can
get the GS/OS upgrade free in Australia by tak-
Ing two blank 3.5 inch disks to your dealer and
copying the system disks. The price Dawbarn
Vol. 5, No. 7
quoted is for the GS/OS disks and manuals.
You can also get a free copy of the disk from
any Apple user group. One group, the Australian
GS Users Association, mailed out a copy of
GS/OS to each member just two days after its
release at Applefest last fall. In Queensland, the
Apple-Q Inc Users Group has the GS/OS disks
available free for members.
Apple Australia seemed to be heading the
same way as elsewhere, however, things have
changed in the last six months. Frank Revill has
been appointed the marketing manager for the
Apple Il range in Australia. Since then he has
visited users groups all around Australia. At the
beginning of April we had the inaugural Apple
User Group Convention in Sydney. Members
from user groups from all around this nation
attended the convention. This will become an
annual event, where groups get together to dis-
cuss ways to improve their services to mem-
bers. Apple Australia sees the user groups as
giving the after sales support that the dealers
are unable to provide.
The addresses of the mentioned user groups
are:
Australian GS Users Assn — Agple-Q, Inc.
P.0. Box 210 P.O. Box 721
Wentworthville, NSW 2145 South Brisbane, QLD 4101
Dale Rodgie
Bundall, QLD
A couple of months ago you suggested that
people write to the top people at Apple to com-
plain about service but added that you didn't
believe they would have the time to take mes-
‘Sages about the Apple II seriously. That is not
my experience. The only time | have gotten ser-
vice on my llgs was after having written one of
the chief honchos at Apple. Writing Jean-Louis
Gassee got me a version 1.0 ROM and writing
Del Yocam got my 3.5 drive upgraded. In nei-
ther case did they answer me themselves but
the action was prompt and thorough.
Bill Robbins
Osaka, Japan
At your suggestion | wrote Del Yocam, head
of Apple Pacific, concerning the lack of
response from Cupertino. | also saw that you
printed a portion of my letter to you in your
April issue. The combination of the two appears
to have brought results.
I am happy to report that a Mr Woo, from
Apple Computer International Ltd., Hong Kong,
called me on April 19th saying that 150 of the
buffer modules for Apple's llc flat screen dis-
play, which Cupertino reported in September
1988 as out of production, were found in Singa-
pore. Hong Kong shipped the module to me on
May 9th, On May 29th the connecting cable was
sent, coming from Campbell, Calif.
This is a happy ending to my saga of replac-
ing my missing display module. I hope for an
equally happy ending to the situation in this
country. Today two factions of the Peoples Lib-
eration Army are preparing for battle with tanks
on the bridge right outside my apartment (hope
their aim is good).
Thanks again for your assistance. My flat
screen display is now up and running with my
Apple IIc, ready for travel should | be on the
next plane leaving China.
Stuart C. Keen, Jt.
Bejing, China