peelings ii v4n5 1983

VOL. 4, NO. 5 THE MAGAZINE OF APPLE SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE EVALUATION COMMUNICATIONS Hayes Terminal Program DOS File Exchange II Tekterm Teletext Data*Trans Intelligent Terminal System-80 Super Smart @ STC Call eoeeveee | nn 4 Fi) | BEGINNER COLUMN “‘The Anything Machine’ CHAPTER FIVE: ‘‘Pascal’’ ecords, change files easily. List and edit addresses, Compares stocks. Stores expenses. It even calculates. Used with LUK, INC. + 7852 Big Bend Bivd,, St. Louis, MO 63119 » (314) 962-1855 © LK Inc. 1983 ° 000 2° 0° oo Announcing The best 6502 Assembler in the World Now. The kind of high-level support you'd only expect to find on a main frame. ORCA/M (Hayden's Object Relocat- ° able Code Assembler for Micros) lets you develop sophisticated applications with the speed and ease of a high-level language, yet retain the control and efficiency that only assembly language can give. Here’s what ORCA/M gives you: The Assembler Macro language features: Conditional assembly of source and macro files Separate source and macro files Nestable macros Parameter mid-string and string search functions Symbolic parameter assignment Numeric, string, and boolean type parameters Parameter subscripting Global communication between macros Macro expansion loop control Count, length and type parameter- attribute functions ° ° ° ° ° ° e000 Extensive Macro Libraries Memory Constant Declarations: Integer Character Four-byte Integer Hexadecimal Floating Point Relocatable object module generation Fast assembly directly to disk Program segmentation: Selectively assembly individual subroutines Global and local scope of symbols 0° The Linker Produce executable binary files from relocatable object modules Link routines from library files ink subroutine re-assemblies 20000 Define a new origin for previously assembled code Invoke at assembly time or by command Subroutine libraries: Floating point and double-precision routines ‘Transcendental functions Hi- and lo-res graphics Multiple-precision integer math Input and output © Global search and replace The Editor Co-resident screen editor: Operating system interface: o Supports a variety of configurations © User-modifiable to allow linkage of custom drivers for peripherals 64k RAM supported, 48k required Block move Entry of non-keyboard characters Supports lower case adapters and shift-key modification 80-column: horizontal scrolling wit 40-column displays This unique array of features and h functions speaks for itself: the power of ORCA is unsurpassed. All features are documented clearly and extensively. Source listings for the subroutine and macro libraries, as well as the operating system, are The System Monitor: transparent control of system from one command level included. Extended Disk Commands: File copy ORCA. If you're serious about File undelete developing 6502 software, it’s the Catalog sort ‘one to have. Wildcard filenames Disk ZAP: Built-in disk sector editor Optimized DOS 3.3 compatible operating system ‘Available from your local dealer, or call: 800-343-1218 (In MA call 617-937-0200) ORCA/M: 21609 Apple I or Ile disk, 48k, DOS 3.3 ‘Two drives and 64k recommended Introductory Price $99.95 95 S95 —S After September 30, 1983 ORCA/M is now also the best 65C02 assembler, supporting all 27 new opcodes. New hardware support includes the IIe 80 column board and disk emulators for the Legend ™ 128K card and Ile extended memory card. | HAYDEN SOFTWARE | Whether you're a businessperson accessing the latest data from Wall Street, a student researching an elec- tronic library or a home user exchanging electronic mail, “The Professional” series will instantly make you a part of the exciting world of electronic communi- cation. Imagine being able to log into communication services putting the latest financial, national and international news at your fingertips. You'll be able to research sta- tistics, bank by computer, confirm airline reservations, call local computerized “Bulletin Boards” and even dial into restaurant guides recommending the best dining around the country. “THE PROFESSIONAL” SERIES The most valued Communication Software ever published for the Apple 11* Computer. To help expand your exciting world of communications, “The Professional” series includes valuable offers to: - BRS/AFTER DARK « Delphi » CompuServe - Newsnet You had the insight to buy a computer—use it to the fullest! Treat yourself to this new and exciting world with “The Professional” series: ASCII Express 0083.3 $129.95 * P-Term Apple Pascal 1.1 $129.95 * Z-Term Apple CPIM $149.95 (supports all modems and baud rates to 9600) (supports most modems and baud rates to 2400) (supports most modems and baud rates to 2400) Plus $3.00 shipping * CA residents add 6% sales tax For more information call or write. southwestern data systems" THE LEADERS IN INNOVATIVE COMMUNICATION SOFTWARE 10761 Woodside Avenue, Suite E, Santee, CA 92071, 619-562-3221 “Also Apple I+ and tle compatible The SOURCE is a service mark of Source Telecomputing Corporation, BRSIAFTER DARK is a trademark of BRS. Delphi is a trademark of General Videotex Corporation Compuserve is a trademark of CompuServe Incorporated & H&R Block Co, Newsnet is a trademark of Newsnet Incorporated. Apple, Apple Il, Apple Il + and Apple Ile are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. \ IN i | i} THE DTACK GRANDE: Above is a photograph of the prototype for the DRAM version of our Apple compatible 68000 board. We have modestly named it the DTACK Grande because it has a Grand(e) amount of memory: a megabyte! That's called a full gallon here in California. (You can buy one with on- ly 128K if you like.) This one has a 25MHz Xtal oscillator which we divide by two to generate the 12.5MHz clock for the 68000. DTACK is not grounded; there is one wait state. Refresh is performed in software, with a hardware assist so that the overhead is exactly the same for a megabyte as for 128K (4%). Thus the effective speed of this board is equivalent to 10MHz with no wait states. Which makes our one megabyte 68000 exactly twice as fast as another one megabyte 68000 system that you Ap- ple types may have heard of. The other one doesn’t work with Apple Il’s, of course. Ours does. Because the refresh is interrupt-driven, this board is in- herently capable of multi-tasking so all you print spooler and type-ahead buffer fans should /ove this board. We think it will make a dandy RAMDISK. Oh, yes: it has a big, fast 68000 microprocessor (we almost forgot while we were admiring all that memory!). TRUTH IN ADVERTISING: Many of you have seen that ad with the tricycle falling apart which asserts that the iAPX 286 is faster than the 68000. Here are the facts: 1) The board pictured above, with one wait state, can perform a 32 bit add in less than half a microsecond and an 8MHz can’t. 2) Intel is currently running ads offering 6MHz 286 boards, projecting delivery of 7.7MHz boards early next year. What 8MHz 286? 3) The 68000 has exactly seventeen more 32-bit registers than the 286. That’s because the 286 doesn’t have any. 4) Back to that tricycle ad: have you noticed the fine print that says the speed of the 68000 has been “ad- justed”? 5) AMD and Intel like to compare against a slow 8MHz 68000, burdened down with a memory management chip for multi-user systems. We are offering 12.5MHz 68000s for single-user applications. BIG difference! L__Apple, Applesoft and Apple Il are trademarks of Apple Computer Company. 6) The 68000 can linearly and directly address up to 16 megabytes of RAM. The 286 can’t. That’s important when you have a megabyte of RAM! However, since we believe in ‘truth in advertising’ ourselves, that prototype pictured above doesn’t work yet. We have not yet programmed the PAL memory decode chips or the bootstrap PROMs. This ad is being written on 23 May '83, so things may have changed by the time you read this. THE ‘STUFFER’ BOARD: In our last ad we told you about a ‘block DMA’ interface we were developing. The production boards just walked in the door and we will be shipping that interface this month. It works with both the static and the dynamic RAM 68000 boards we make. (However, it was designed before the Apple lle was available, so it is not compati- ble with the Ile.) SOFTWARE: All the stuff we mentioned in our previous ads is still available. We are well along the road developing HALGOL, a high speed BASIC-like language that runs at close to 68000 assembly language speeds - and that is very fast! Right now we are finishing up the BIOS. That stands for Basic I/O System. It turns the 6502 in the Ap- ple into an I/O handler exclusively, and lets the 68000 take over and run things. SHOULD YOU BUY OUR BOARD? Our board is still not suitable for persons who just want to turn on their computer and run canned software. You must have some interest in doing some programming yourself, or you will not want to buy one of our boards. We still provide lots of 68000 source code on unlocked, easily copyable disks. Three disks with demo programs and source code are shipped with each board. Aside from that, we can only think of a million reasons why you might like to buy one of the boards pictured above. DIGITAL ACOUSTICS 1415 E. McFadden, Ste. F Santa Ana, CA 92705 (714) 835-4884 Peelings ||| THE MAGAZINE OF APPLE SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE EVALUATION Volume 4, Number 5, 1983 COMMUNICATIONS 14 Communications Introduction 14 STC Call Published by David Meredith 16 Super Smart Published by Softspoken 18 Data*Trans Published by ABT Microcomputer Software 21 SSM Modem Card Published by SSM Microcomputer Products 23 Intelligent Terminal System-80 Published by Unisoft 25 Hayes Terminal Program Published by Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. 29 DOS File Exchange II (DFXII) Published by Arrow Microware 30 TeleText Published by Micro-SPARC 31 Tekterm Published by Fountain Computer Products BEGINNER COLUMN: 9 The Anything Machine Chapter 5: PASCAL BUSINESS AND FINANCE 34 Stock Overview 35 Stock Market Advance/Decline Timing Program Published by Dr. Roger Altman 36 Millionaire Published by Blue Chip Software 37 Market Illustrator Published by N-Squared Computing 38 EZ-Ledger Published by Highlands Computer Service COMPILERS 41 Interpreters vs. Compilers 42 The Compiler Plus Published by Hayden Software 43 The Einstein Compiler Published by The Einstein Corporation 47 Compiler Comparison Chart LANGUAGES & ASSEMBLERS 49 EnBASIC Published by COMPress 52 ORCA/M Published by Hayden Software 56 The Assembler Published by Micro-SPARC, Inc. 58 Macrosoft Published by Micro-SPARC, Inc. 60 The Visible Computer—6502 Published by Software Masters 61 Assembler Comparison Chart MISCELLANEOUS 64 Diskfiles Manufactured by Diskus Products DEPARTMENTS 5 Authors 6 Peelings Ratings 7 Cut And Dried 63 Letters 65 Software Index ADVERTISER INDEX Advertiser APPLE ORCHARD ... APOGEE SOFTWARE . AXLON .. CRAWFORI ATA SYSTI CRAZYQUILT GRAPHICS . DAVID DATA ....... DARK STAR SYSTEMS DIGITAL ACOUSTICS EAST SIDE SOFTWARE . FOUNTAIN COMPUTER HAYDEN SOFTWARE .... INTERACTIVE MICROWARE KENSINGTON MICROWARE LK ENTERPRISES . MICRO-ANALYST MICRO-SPARC . . NAVIC SOFTWARE OHM-ELECTRONICS . SANSOFT PLUS.... SENSIBLE SOFTWARE SIERRA ON-LINE .. SOF-TECH .... SOFTKEY PUBLISHING . SOUTHWESTERN DATA SYSTEMS: WALL STREET MICRO SYSTEMS . WILDCAT COMPUTING THE AUTHORS Edward Burlbaw is staff scientist and the regional manager for Science and Technology Corporation. His background is in physics, electronics, and mathematics. He has a B.S. in physics, an M.S. in mathematics, an M.S. and a Ph.D. in physics. His other interests include snow skiing and electronics. William K. Daugherty is a Professor of Accounting and Business Computer Systems at New Mexico State University. Dr. Daugherty has a Ph.D. in Business Ad- ministration from the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and a Cer- tified Information Systems Auditor. In his spare time he enjoys collecting stamps and working on his own genealogy. Tom Little has a B.S. in physics and computer science. He is currently pursuing his studies in physics at Oxford University. Tom’s hobbies are writing com- puter languages and writing science fiction. John Martellaro is an operations research analyst for TRASANA, White Sands Missle Range working in computer graphics and combat simulation models. He has a B.S. in astrophysics and a M.S. in physics. John enjoys computer chess, science fiction, astronomy and soaring. John Mitchener is a Personnel Management Specialist at White Sands Missle Range. He is a former Elec- tronics Warfare Analyst for the U.S. Army and has a B.S. in psychology. John’s hobbies are ballooning, cooking and ham radio. Michael Weasner is a U.S. Air Force Captain and a fighter pilot/instructor with multiple FAA ratings. He is currently assigned to the Air Force’s Space Divi- sion in Los Angeles where he is manager of the Com- puter Resources Division in the Launch Vehicles Pro- gram Office. Mike holds a B.S. in astrophysics. Besides flying, his interests include space exploration and computers. STOCK MARKET DATA INSTANT DATA ON APPLE® FLOPPIES SAVE TIME — SAVE MONEY © Slash time-sharing costs! © Eliminate manual input and editing © Reduce storage and CPU charges INTRODUCTORY SPECIALS HISTORICAL PRICES Closing price, last 18 months ALL NYSE—listed common stocks plus fast I/O routine $199.00 WEEKLY PRICES* [B] * Open ® No,Trades ¢ All NYSE © High © NoShares commons *low ® Beta * Close $29.95 EARNINGS PER SHARE* Ie] Super Special! All NYSE Commons © 1980EPS © 1983 Estimated eps © 1981 EPS © 1984 Estimated eps © 1982EPS ® Shares outstanding $124.00 BOND STATISTICS* bp] 1400 ISSUES! (2 disks) © Issuer © Issue size © Coupon ¢ Maturity © Anni. % refunding required © 1st call price ® 1st call date $189.00 TWO-PENNY DATA BASES E] Any data item on our files — Over 150 variables to choose from You specify the stock (NYSE only) You specify the variables You specify the record format $20.00 per disk plus 2¢ per item Circle 'E' for list of data items Balance sheets 1981* and 1982* Cash flow data file* Revenues and cost 1981 and 1982* Technician’s data file* Daily/weekly pricing service* and list of all data items pti Ticker Symbol Directory [F| | WALL STREET MICRO SYSTEMS LTD. 500 Fifth Ave., #520, N.Y., N.Y. 10110 (212) 354-7430 | | | | | | <~ Circle to order: Price $. | [AB C|Q Check enclosed Tax $____ | H DE F/O Bill company | | | ! | | O Visa MCO AEXP Card No, Exp. Date PEELINGS RATINGS The Peelings Rating is a letter grade designed to indicate an overall im- pression of the product. It is a measure of how well the publisher did the job he intended to do taking into consideration comparison to other similar products, price to per- formance, ease of use, documenta- tion, and sophistication. We stress that you should not skip a review or disparage a program be- cause it receives a low rating. The rating alone can never tell the whole story. Only reading the entire review will give you all the information you need. For this reason, the rating should never be quoted alone with- out reference to text of the review. The Peelings II rating categories follow: some example criteria are given for the categories, but they are not meant to be all inclusive. AAA — Absolutely astounding soft- ware. We have seen one program in two years that fits this category. AA — Top notch, superb. These programs generally use the most sophisticated programming techni- ques and have excellent documen- tation. A — Very good. Software in this class incorporates very good pro- gramming techniques and has clear and informative documentation. B— Good. This software may have minor errors or be slightly flawed, it may be lacking in thorough doc- umentation, or it may just be unex- citing. C — Average. Software of a medi- ocre nature. There may be a lack of good programming concepts or poor error trapping. It may be a repeat of other work, or have a low perfor- mance/price ratio. D — Below Average. Software with a blatant disregard for the user in terms of programming design, unacceptable documentation or per- formance/price ratio. F — Unacceptable. Software of such poor quality or usability that it should not be marketed. Publisher Peelings Il, Inc. Associate Editors Edward Burlbaw John Martellaro John Mitchener Contributing Editors William Daugherty Tom Little Alan Shalette Michael Weasner Administrative Assistant Pamela Carmody Director Marketing & Communications Rebecca Winecup Copy Editor Richard Bishop Editorial Assistants Jane Trego Jack Moran Ruth Moran Circulation Director Lorie Browne SUBSCRIPTION RATES 9 issues (1 year) $21.00 18 issues (2 years) $38.00 27 issues (3 years) $54.00 Sample Copy $ 4.00 Back Issues $ 4.00 Canada, Mexico, APO, FPO (First Class) 9 issues $36.00 Back issues $ 5.00 South America & Europe (Air Mail) 9 issues $48.00 Back issues $ 6.00 All Other Foreign (Air Mail) 9 issues $57.00 Back issues $ 6.00 All remittances must be in U.S. funds and drawn ‘on U.S. bank. Cover Art: Richard D. Bishop Credits Printing: Meredith Corp., Albuquerque, NM. Typesetting (via modem): CrazyQuilt Graphics® Las Cruces, NM. Apple and Applesoft are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Ine Copyright 1983 by Peelings Il, Inc. All rights reserved. ‘Material in this publication may not be stored or reproduced in any form without permission. Requests for permission should be directed to Rights and Permissions Editor, Peelings Ul, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 88004. 1SSN:0744-2475, Peelings Il is published monthly except June, Aug., and Oct. by Peelings II, Inc., 2260 Oleander, Las ‘Cruces, NM. Second class postage paid at Las Cruces, NM and additional mailing offices. Telephone: (505) 526-8364 The Source: TCT120 Postmaster: Send address changes to Peelings Il, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 88004. ‘Correspondence: Send all regular mail to Peelings II, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 86004. U.P.S. Address: 2260 (Oleander, Las Cruces, NM 88001. New product information and other editorial correspondence should be sent to the at- tention of Pamela Carmody. Dealer inquiries should be sent to the attention of Lorie Browne. Change of address and all subscription correspondence should be addressed to Peel- ings Il, P.O. Box 625, Holmes, PA 19043. For address changes please include your old address as well as new and enclose, if possible, an address label from a recent issue. Volume 4, Number 5, 1983 CUT AND DRIED Guest article by Michael Weasner Anaheim, California was the place to be in April and May of this year. First there was Applefest as reported on by John Martellaro in this column last issue. In May there was the Na- tional Computer Conference or as it is better known, NCC. For four days, computer hardware, software, and paperware were on display. NCC is actually two events. The first one is the display of the wares and the sec- ond is a series of conferences and seminars, which this year had over 100 sessions in such areas as per- sonal computers, office automation, software engineering, human and social issues, and career develop- ment. | was unable to attend any of these, but the speakers listed were tops in their fields. The sponsors of NCC had a logistics nightmare at Anaheim and | must applaud both them and the City of Anaheim for pulling it off almost without a hitch. At the Convention Center, a big circus tent was set up in the lot used for parking during the Applefest in April. After registering, | proceeded to the west end of the tent, had a seat, looked over the list of ex- hibiters, and unfolded the big floor map. | noticed the tent top seemed to be flapping in the breeze and several people remarked that they hoped the tent would stay up (it did), but the famed Southern California Santa Ana wind was making its ap- pearance at NCC. While looking at the map, | made a discovery: the en- tire Convention Center and two areas at the Disneyland Hotel were used for NCC. And that wasn’t enough, so Peelings 1 some inflatable buildings were set up in the parking lot next to the circus tent. These bubble structures were to become the worst of the nightmares for the sponsors. | moved outside (hastily, since | was getting concern- ed about the ability of the tent to stay up) and up to the doors of the Con- vention Center. A large crowd of people must have had the same idea since | was not alone in my exit from the tent. At 10:00 am the doors were opened, and men and women in business suits and others (gender in- determinate) dressed in normal Southern California attire all began pressing to enter the hall simulta- neously. Some comments were made about Bernoulli's theorem. After violating theory, we all manag- ed to enter the hall where | made another discovery: the West Coast Computer Faire and Applefest were never like this. There were big booths, little booths, booths with raised floors, two-story booths, booths with entrances from four sides, booths with pretty girls, booths that enticed you to approach them with free jellybeans or mouth- fresheners (Apple Computer gave away 20,000 Disneyland tickets; there’s a message in that some- where), and oh yes, booths with computers, disk drives, printers, and just about everything else imaginable. Since | only had one day to spend at NCC, | necessarily rushed to see everything. | think | succeeded in seeing it all but none of it to the ex- tent | would have wished if | had Cut And Dried been able to spend all four days at NCC. What follows are some obser- vations and comments about new or just different products that were shown at NCC. Not everything | will mention can be used with your Ap- ple Il or //e, but they all have relevance to the world of computing and that’s where we live regardless of the machine we use. Apple Computer was showing the /le, Lisa, and their line of printers. Unveiled at NCC was AppleNet, which allows almost any configura- tion of Apple Computers to be net- worked. Expect to see more about AppleNet. VisiCorp demonstrated their new VisiOn (Operating eNvironment) in- tegrated software package. The soft- ware is indeed good (the version used for the demo was a little slow) and it can be used on various micro- computers. A mouse is provided for easier interface with the computer. My first impression on seeing the demonstration was that the script the lady was reading (yes, she read it word-for-word) must have been writ- ten by Apple Computer for the first Lisa demonstrations back in January. It did sound very much the same ex- cept that the Lisa demonstrators didn’t use scripts. So much for originality. Integrated software packages are the current market trend and there were several others on display. Many companies were showing their briefcase computers. Sharp had one, Radio Shack had their Model 100, the Grid Compass was there (nice if you can afford $8000 for one), and a new entry called the Gavilan Mobile Computer (watch out for this one). Also in abundance were larger portable computers but no Apple Il compatible ones. The most impressive of the portables was the new KayPro 10 with a built-in 10 MegaByte (MB) hard disk. For the Apple II, there were a cou- ple of detached keyboards; the nicest-looking one came from Key Tronic. Look for reviews of these keyboards in upcoming issues. Printers and thinline floppy disks were well represented. The newest addition to the low end of the printer price range was the Canon Color Printer for $795 (currently OEM on- ly). This seven-color, medium-speed (40 cps), high-resolution (640 dots per line), quiet printer uses the new ink-jet technology that recently cost upwards to $3000. The improvement in quality of ink jet printing over that of color ribbon printing is con- siderable. At this price, one hopes to see this area expand. PrintaColor also had their ink jet printer on display. Two of the more impressive 5-1/4 inch floppy disk drives were from Trak Microcomputer Corp. and Drivetec. The Trak Pi-3 intelligent drive for the Apple II has a pressure sensitive panel to control the write protect, a display of the read/write status and a digital track counter. The Drivetec drive claims 3.33 MB ona standard double-sided 5/1-4 floppy diskette with its 320 SuperMiniflop- py drive. Vista was showing its V1200 cartridge mass storage drive with 6 MB. One drive caught my eye because it was the cutest. The Taiwanese booth had a 2-1/2 inch microfloppy drive and disks on display. Whether it will gain any popularity in the States remains to be seen. With the current battle over the standardization of the sub 5-1/4 drives, | doubt it will ever take hold, but it certainly was ‘‘cute’’. Finally, the book companies were much in evidence at NCC. Sams, Prentice-Hall, Hayden, John Wiley and Sons, and Van Nostrand Reinhold were just some of the com- panies with booths. Van Nostrand Reinhold had some of its line of Ap- ple Il Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) software on display. We hope to begin reviewing this line of CAI products in the near future. The Anaheim NCC was definitely an event worth attending no matter what your computer persuasion might have been. It didn’t have the relaxed atmosphere of the Anaheim Applefest but it was an enjoyable event. The only major problem that surfaced was a result of the high air temperatures brought by the Santa Ana winds. The Convention Center remained comfortably cool at all times, the Disneyland Hotel areas became slightly warm, but the in- flated structures became downright hot. Overall, NCC was good for both the exhibiters and the visitors. Next year’s NCC will take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, 9-12 July. Make plans now to attend. For infor- mation about NCC ’84, write to or call: NCC '84 P.O. Box 9658 Arlington, VA 22209 703-558-3624 When it has to be there NOW, the TELE-PORTER" data transfer program expresses it Apple” to Apple? How to work harder, smarter and faster with less effort: turn the telecommunications data transfer work over to TELE-PORTER™ and your Apple ™ computer! If you need to send individual DOS 3.3 disk files or even entire 5-inch diskettes (including Apple Pascal, CP/M, DOS 3.3, and SOS diskettes) from one Apple computer to * Get sophisticated CRC error checking (even on messages) to automatically detect and correct errors caust by noisy phone lines, © Enjoy the flexibility of unattended, late-night transmissions. No clock card is needed. © Only one copy of the TELE-PORTER diskette is needed to send data. Other features include a graphic progress display, support up to another, you need TELE-PORTER! No matter what operating system you use, the TELE-PORTER pro- gram provides a speedy, ver- satile, money- > saving way to send and receive data using your Apple computer, modem, and phone. You can even send and receive data simultaneously in both directions - an exclusive feature of the TELE-PORTER program that can ‘save up to 40% of your telephone time! Start with one menu, select what you want sent and received, from where to where, and let the TELE-PORTER program do the 2400 baud, wildcard selection of file names, and diag- nostics for checking connections. You also get ‘support for a wide variety of communi- cation cards, the ability to read the directory at the other computer with a “Remote Catalog” command, and on-line help when you need it— even while sending date. And there's sfill more! Compare the TELE- PORTER to any other data ‘transfer program and see how much more you or your business can accomplish for less. The TELE-PORTER program is available for only $79.95 at your local computer store. Or by mail (please add $1.25 for shipping). Visa, Mastercard, COD ‘and checks welcome. For more information or to order: rest of the work automatically — even while you're asleep and the phone rates are low. Now you can get full use out of your modem and your data with this new program from Sensible Software. G Sensible. West Bi oo ta ee © Send individual DOS 3.3 disk files or send the entire disk at once. Only the Software, Inc. 13) 7 sectors actually used on DOS 3.3 disks are sent fo save on transmission time. G (313) 399-88: * Get automatic data compression to save transmission time and money. Data Dootirecnent Apple l,™ //@ or /// (in emulation mode) computer with 48K and one or more isk drives is aufomaricaly restored alter fransmission Apple, Apple ll, Apple //e, Apple ///, Apple Pascal, DOS 3.3, and Apple SOS are registered trademarks © Both parties can “chat” during file transmission. Of Apple Computer, Inc.; CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research Corporation. THE ANYTHING MACHINE Chapter Five: PASCAL by Tom Little BACKGROUND Originally (thirty years ago), all pro- gramming was done in machine language. The programmer would create a sequence of numbers which, when read by the computer's pro- cessor, would result in some useful actions taking place. This kind of numeric programming was very tedious and difficult. Assembly language is basically the same as this, with the difference that some of the numbers can be given by names or abbreviations. Then came FORTRAN (short for “FORmula TRANSslator’’), a sophisti- cated program whose main purpose was to allow programmers to type in- structions for mathematical computa- tions in a way that looked more like a formula and less like a sequence of machine instructions. This was the first high-level programming lan- guage. A great deal of effort and time went into its development. The idea caught on. All kinds of new languages were created, offer- ing this or that set of special features. Some, like BASIC, were imitations of FORTRAN designed for small sys- tems and beginning programmers. Others, like ALGOL, were designed by computer scientists to reach even greater heights of abstraction. FOR- TRAN is more abstract than machine language because each operation is not specified explicitly: Peelings I! F=Q1*Q2/(4*PI*EO*(R**2)) is equivalent to a long and involved se- quence of machine instructions. ALGOL is more abstract than FOR- TRAN because the operation of the machine is even more concealed: special control words such as WHILE replace enigmatic GOTOs, and data need not be numbers but can be thought of as TRUE/FALSE values, character strings, and complex com- binations of other simple types. ALGOL, however, has more than its fair share of tricks and gimmicks, and some dangerous features as well. Pascal was developed by Niklaus Wirth as a language for students which was both sophisticated and safe. It keeps many of the abstrac- tions of ALGOL, but constrains the subtleties of the language to the ex- tent that the results of a program can be easily anticipated by reading it! Pascal was implemented for micro- computers at the University of Cal- ifornia at San Diego. The combina- tion of the Pascal language and the UCSD operating system became quite popular, and Apple Pascal is ‘one version of this system. Since the Apple comes with BASIC installed, what reasons are there for going to the trouble of buying an ex- tra 16K RAM memory board and the Apple Pascal disks and manuals? Is Pascal enough ‘‘better’’ than Ap- plesoft BASIC to warrant the expense and trouble? The Anything Machine There is no type of program which cannot be written in either language. The differences lie in the ease with which the program can be written and debugged and in the execution speed of the final product. A lot depends on the “‘style”” of the pro- grammer—not just the technical as- pects of the languages. So we'll put off our question about the relative worth of Applesoft and Pascal until we discuss how the ‘‘Pascal style’ differs from the “BASIC style’, which is what this column is about. THE OPERATING SYSTEM Applesoft runs under the Apple DOS operating system, described in the previous issue (V4N4, 1983). The UCSD Operating System is different. So different, in fact, that the two systems can’t use each other's disks. What the user sees is different, too. Apple DOS is always there, listening for possible commands (CATALOG, LOAD, etc). UCSD is like a house with many rooms (see figure 1). You have to be in the right room to give a certain command. Coming in the front door when you boot a Pascal disk, you find yourself in the Command Level. From here you can compile or ex- ecute a program which has already been written, or enter another room. The top of the screen displays a prompt line which lists your choices. EDITOR | — insert text D — delete text FILER L — list directory R — remove file S — save workfile G — get workfile E 4d L/ Cc — compile X — execute COMMAND LEVEL ‘A a —— R—compile and execute Qa 44___L 1 t T enter here FIGURE 1. Floorplan’ of UCSD operating system. You need type only the single letter which corresponds to the option you choose. Remember that Pascal programs must be compiled, that is, translated into an executable form all at once before they can be run, rather than being translated a line at a time dur- ing execution, like a BASIC program. Typing “C” will compile a source program (a text file) into an ex- ecutable program (a code file). Typ- ing ‘‘X’’ will execute (run) a code file, and typing “R” will compile first (if necessary), then execute. These are the three important actions available from the Command Level. Typing ‘‘E’ puts you in a new room: the Editor. Here is where you may type a Pascal program. You may type anything else, too. Since the Pascal language really only comes in- to play when the text is compiled, you are free to type a FORTRAN pro- gram, an assembly language pro- gram, or a love letter. The Editor doesn’t care. (Try typing a love let- ter when BASIC is expecting a pro- gram and see how far you get!). Because only editing can be done in this room, the Editor is much more sophisticated than the few meager facilities provided by Applesoft. The Pascal Editor is, in fact, a full-feature word processor. 10 An “F’ from the Command Level puts you into the Filer. This is where many of the functions like those of Apple DOS are available. You can list the files on the disk (’“L”), remove them (’‘R’”’), and get them into, and save them from, the Editor's workfile (G" and “S’", respectively). This workfile shows up on the disk as a special file, SYSTEM.WRK.TEXT. The Editor and Compiler automatically use this file if it is present. Wherever you go in UCSD Pascal, there is a prompt line explaining what your options are. You always know what commands you can use. Already there is a stylistic dif- ference between UCSD Pascal and Applesoft/Apple DOS. With Ap- plesoft/DOS you get a single prompt, ] and everything that you can possibly do, can be done when you see this prompt, if you know what to type. With UCSD Pascal, you have to spen some time going back and forth between the rooms, but your options are always explicit (in the prompt line), and the capabilities are generally greater. (The Editor and Compile: do more than BASIC, the Filer does more than DOS.) THE LANGUAGE The preceding section was just about the UCSD operating system. It The Anything Machine is no more or less connected to Pascal than DOS is to Applesoft. The Pascal language was written without a particular operating system in mind, and it is the language itself we'll now focus our attention on. Because Pascal is compiled, it need not (and does not) éxecute each line with total disregard to its place in the program. The Compiler studies the whole program at once, figuring out what the context of each instruction is. For example, consider a large pro- gram. One part might be written to sort a list of numbers. Perhaps there is a variable named N whose value is the number of entries in the list. Elsewhere in the program | might want to use the name N for the I.Q. of the programmer (well, | might!). In Applesoft, the two N’s MUST BE THE SAME, because the Applesoft inter- preter goes blindly ahead one line at a time and really has no idea what it is doing. In Pascal, though, | can use the same name for two different variables if they are in different blocks of the program. And it goes much deeper than this. Pascal blocks are logically indepen- dent of each other. This means I can write a sorting procedure and put it in all my Pascal programs without having to worry about whether the names and line numbers interfere with those in other parts of the program. In order to make this logical in- dependence really happen, Pascal creates a new area in memory every time a procedure or function is entered (a procedure is like a subroutine in Applesoft—when the procedure is called, the computer ex- ecutes the procedure, then returns to carry on where it left off before the call; a function does this but also returns a value, a datum). Thus memory is structured in Pascal, and is just a vast wasteland in BASIC (see figure 2). There are no line numbers in Pascal. All the procedures and func- tions have names, and you call them by giving their names. In effect, this means that you create new com- Volume 4 Number 5 HARDWARE |~> HARDWARE |*~( Applesoft +t rz MEMORY MEMORY program a; 10 procedure x; begin 30 GOSUB 100 storage end; for all procedure y; storage 60 GOSUB 500 ‘ab procedure q; for q's vanesee begin variables 90 END | T 100 REM SUBROUTINE Y end; begin storage 130 GOSUB 300 a for y's end; variables 290 RETURN begin 1 300 REM SUBROUTINE Q storage a % for a’s 400 RETURN % variables 500 REM SUBROUTINE X end. 600 RETURN Cc] = current line FIGURE 2. Memory organization with Pascal and Applesoft. mands for the language. A procedure call looks just like a command state- ment. If you name your procedures well, this can make the whole pro- gram trivially easy to read and understand (see figure 3). In Pascal, all variables must be declared before they are used. The compiler must know what type they are (integer, real number, character string, etc.) so that it knows how much space to set aside for each ac- tivation of each procedure or func- tion. Applesoft doesn’t need variable declarations because it uses up memory with wild abandon—it im- poses no structure—until it runs out. But the variable declarations have the further advantage that the com- piler will catch a misspelled variable name or a nonsensical use of a variable. Now we come to controlling pro- gram flow in Pascal. In Applesoft, you remember, the GOTO statement is used to cause the ‘‘control”’ to Peelings Il transfer to a different line rather than just executing the next statement in program easy-to-read {variable declarations and procedures} begin input (information); sort (information); while (more__requests) do begin getname (item); search_for (item); printout (item) end; end FIGURE 3. Using procedures and functions as new commands, (Input, sort, getname, search_for, and printout are procedures, more_requests is a function returning a value TRUE or FALSE, and information and item are variables.) The Anything Machine the program. With GOTO’s and IF’s it is possible to execute a section of program repeatedly if some condi- tion are true: 10 1=1 20 IF | > 64 GOTO 60 30 PRINT I*1 40 1=2*1 50 GOTO 20 60 END The example shows a complete Ap- plesoft program, which prints the square of the numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. There is one IF and two GOTO’s. It’s not clear at a glance that’s what it does—you have to figure out where the GOTO’s go to! In Pascal, the same program would be written like this: program squares; var i:integer; begin end. The statements between the BEGIN and END immediately following the WHILE are the body of the loop. The word WHILE makes the intention of the programmer clearer than do the IF’s and GOTO's of BASIC. Both languages have their own fluff: in Pascal, it is BEGIN’s, END’s and semicolons. In BASIC, it is line numbers. Besides taking more concentration to read correctly, GOTO’s have another problem: they are danger- ous. You can GOTO a nonexistent line or into the middle of a loop or some other place. You can’t tell by looking at part of a BASIC program if somewhere else there are GOTO’s leading into it. Pascal has enough special words like WHILE and IF that you never need a GOTO. Again, this makes part of a program (say the in- side of a loop) independent of the rest. If you figure out how a part works, you can move on to the next part without worrying about them being connected by GOTO’s or in some other strange way. You can almost understand a Pascal program without knowing about the flow of control. Pascal reads enough like English that this is possible. BASIC does not. Another exciting feature of the Pascal language is that variables may be of any type, not just numbers or character strings. There is a Boolean type which can have a value of either true or false. This is handy, for exam- ple, in keeping information about in- dividuals. You could declare a variable named MARRIED which would have the value TRUE for a married person and FALSE for a single person. In Applesoft, you would be inclined to use a code: the variable M might have a value 1 for married, and 0 for single. But such a code would be arbitrary, and look- ing at the program a month later, the js and Os might be hard to interpret. And what happens if there’s a mistake and M ends up with the value 2? This can’t happen in Pascal because a Boolean variable can’t be given any value except TRUE or FALSE. You can define your own types: type marital_status = (single, married, divorced, widowed, looking); var M:marital__status; Now any of the words in the list in parentheses can be used as a value for variable M. In situations like these, the worth of a new type over some elaborate code is apparent. (Could you tell what M = 4 might mean in a BASIC program, where numbers were used as a code for the marital status of an individual, if someone else had written it or you had forgotten the code?) These are the main features of the “Pascal style’: programs are easy to read and understand and are divid- ed into independent units with all in- terconnections explicit. Everything is systematic, orderly, and in the open. The rules of the language encourage this style. 12 THE ANSWER To try to answer our question ‘‘Is Pascal worth it?’”’ let’s compare the two languages and systems, UCSD Pascal vs. Applesoft/DOS: serious projects involving a substan- tial investment in time and subse- quent use. Applesoft’s flexibility and compatibility with other software make it often preferable for day-to- Operating System Program Development Program Maintenance Disk Space Required Language Capa UCSD Pascal Sophisticated and powerful; prompt lines show options at all times; screen-oriented editor Programs easier to write in Pascal; editor helps make complicated changes; compiler finds many errors before run time Programs easy to read much later if only minimal care is taken writing them: Pascal is “self-documenting”; new code can be added as separate blocks without disturbing rest of program. A lot: system files take up space, and two files (text and code) must be saved for each program (this can be a problem with Apple 5” floppies). Abstract data types, records, sets, procedures, and functions—all useful and toil- Applesoft/DOS Much software available for use with DOS but not UCSD; no time wasted going between levels Changes can be made in a program without having to recompile entire text; no time wasted going from editor to compiler to run, then back to editor. No benefits here—BASIC actually discourages program- ming documentation because REMark statements waste space and slow execution. Not much: BASIC is compres- sed when stored; no big system files to worry about. Easier access to hardware (PEEK, POKE, CALL, PR#, IN#); more Apple-specific. saving Execution Speed Fairly fast Compatibility Pascal is standardized (more or less): a text file can be compiled and run on a different machine Status Shows class With all these things in the balance, | must say | usually use Ap- plesoft, though | prefer the Pascal language for any program over about 50 lines long. Pascal really requires two disk drives to work well, and | feel better with important files on an Apple DOS disk where | know they can be used with all sorts of software. Pascal is a first choice for writing a database program, adventure game, or anything that requires large amounts of nonnumeric information to be stored in an organized manner. Pascal’s strong points—data/con- trol abstraction, maintainability and execution speed—make it suited for The Anything Machine Very slow: Applesoft must waste time interpreting each line All Apples run Apple- soft/DOS: all Apple-compat- ible products support Apple- soft/DOS Indicates a hacker. day jobs and small programs. Is there such a thing as an ideal computer language? Will there be? It seems unlikely. The best that can be hoped for is to find a language that suits the task at hand and the disposition of the programmer. Perhaps from this month’s column you have a sense of what Pascal has to offer, and whether it’s worth ex- perimenting with or embracing. Two languages down, n to go. This column won't tell you about all n languages available for the Apple. But number three deserves a fair shake: Assembly language next! Volume 4 Number 5 THE DEFENDANT IS GUILTY! ... but can you prove it? A crime is committed! A suspect stands accused, and there are witnesses who must testify at his trial. YOU ARE THE PROSECUTOR. Your opponent is an unscrupulous defense attorney, and up to four other players can be witnesses, but — THE COMPUTER IS THE JUDGE! JURY TRIAL is high-tension courtroom drama that pits your skill against the tactics of your scheming opponent. Start by choosing a case from thousands of possible scenarios. Find the facts. Select a jury, and then try to prove your case in court. Everyone knows the defendant is guilty. It’s your job to put him behind bars, but your opponent is devious. His witnesses will lie. He will try to thwart justice at every turn in order to save his client. By questioning the witnesses yourself (and objecting when your opponent tries to get favorable testimony), you build points with each of the 6 jurors. Some jurors are harder to convince than others. It all depends on how cleverly you present your evidence. ° CAN YOU RECONSTRUCT THE CRIME SCENE? *¢ CAN YOU PICK FAVORABLE JURORS? ° CAN YOU TELL WHEN AN UNFRIENDLY WITNESS IS LYING? ¢ CAN YOU AVOID YOUR OPPONENTS OBJECTIONS? ¢ CAN YOU PERSUADE THE JURY TO CONVICT THE SUSPECT? Justice prevails when you outwit your opponent with devastating courtroom strategy, and see the defendant sentenced by the computer. If you fail to win your case however, you can appeal to a higher court and try again. A Fascinating Game Of Wit And Strategy (for Apple II*- 48K, Dos 3.3) $ 2 9) SEE YOUR DEALER, OR ORDER DIRECT ORDER TOLL FREE 1-800-327-2133 in Florida, call 305-627-4132) NAVIC SOFTWARE Box 14727, North Palm Beach, Florida 33408 (305) 627-4132 DATA COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE INTRODUCTION Over the past two years, several data communications packages for the Apple II have been reviewed in Peelings II (see the Software & Hard- ware Index in V4N1 (1983), page 50 and in this issue). In this issue we will review the following: Super Smart STC-CALL ITS-80 Data*Trans Hayes Terminal Program DOS File Exchange TEKTERM TeleText Due to the length of time since the earlier reviews and due to the diverse nature of all the programs, no com- parison chart will be provided. Please refer to all the articles before making your decision on which package to purchase. As you will notice from the reviews of these communications programs, there is a large range in the capabilities. One of the first points to consider in selecting a communica- tion package is the extent of your need for data communication. Are you a serious user with a require- ment to access mainframe systems and use screen editors that require a particular terminal emulation? Is your projected use limited to timesharing services such as the Source and Compuserve? Do you communicate solely from Apple to Apple? Do you operate with Apple DOS, CP/M, and pascal, or do you use only one of these operating systems? What types of data communications do you an- ticipate in the future? Answering these types of questions will help you establish your requirements and perhaps, keep you from purchasing a program that does not support what you want to do. STC CALL by David Meredith Old Blood Road Merrimack, NH 03054 Source ID: CL1011 $16.00 Rating: B- 14 Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner INTRODUCTION STC CALL is strictly for use with The Source information network and requires a 48K Apple Il+, with a Hayes Micromodem II. It simplifies Communications the transfer of text files to and from The Source, but it does have some serious limitations. DOCUMENTATION There is no hard-copy documenta- tion provided, but when the unlock- ed program disk is booted, a CATALOG of the disk is provided. Volume 4 Number 5 There you will see two files of instruc- tions: one for displaying (40-column format) and one for printing (80-column format). Since most Source users probably have a printer, this presents no problem. Instruc- tions are also available from within the main program. The instructions are clear and sufficient, even though there are only one-and-a-half printed pages of text. OPERATION When STC CALL is RUN, you are asked if you want to send a file. If you answer “Y’’, then you are prompted for the filename to read from your disk and the filename to write to on The Source. If this is the first time you have run STC CALL, you will be prompted for the phone number you use to call The Source. All subse- quent uses of the program will ask if you want to change the number. No other logon information is used by the program. After reading the file, the number is dialed and you are placed in terminal mode to logon The Source. When you are ready to send or receive a file, you do a CTRL- A CTRL-X sequence to return to the STC CALL program where you are shown a menu of four options: send file, receive file, hang up, or return to terminal mode. While at the com- mand level of The Source, the pro- cess of sending or receiving files is totally automatic. Received files are written to disk as they are received and are named SOURCE-O, SOURCE-1, etc. When you are finish- ed with a Source session, you logoff normally and then access the STC CALL menu (CTRL-A CTRL-X) to hang up. A program on the disk can be used to read the text files, but as they are standard sequential text files, any word processor that can read normal DOS sequential text files can be used. No program is provided that will write the text file, but again, you can use a word processor to create Peelings Il the file as long as it writes normal DOS sequential text files. LIMITATIONS STC CALL has two basic flaws. The first flaw is that you can “upload” on- ly one file per run of the program (as many as you want can be “‘down- loaded’). If you have several files to send, you will have to send them one per session since you must logoff and restart the whole process. This could result in considerable extra expense due to the logon/logoff process be- ing excessively used. The second flaw is that STC CALL is structured around the COMO-type of Source file. The COMO files are normally used to create a file on The Source which will contain everything that is sent to or received from The Source as long as the file is open. If you open the COMO file and then read a UPI news story, all the com- mands you used plus the story will be written to this file. The flaw is that if the file you download does not have ““— >COM’ as the last entry, the program “‘hangs’’, and you must press RESET to disconnect from The Source and hang up the modem. This is not a proper or acceptable way of disconnecting from The Source. While most of the time The Source will automatically log you off after three minutes of inactivity, | have had some disconnects that left me on the system for up to 52 minutes. You can call Source Customer Service to advise them of the improper disconnect if you have this problem, but this is an unaccept- able mode of operation. During a transfer operation no text is echoed to the screen. Thus you are unable to monitor the progress of the transfer and will not know if the transfer is proceeding normally. When the transfer is successfully completed you will receive a prompt. Another limitaition is that the pro- gram as written runs only on the stan- Communications dard Apple 40-column screen. If you access an 80-column card before running the program, you will find very quickly that you can’t see anything happening since all the ter- minal mode activity is going to the 40-column display. While nota limitation, it should be noted that the STC CALL program re- quires that a line count of the text be the first line of the text file. This is not anormal entry when writing sequen- tial text files from a word processor, but STC CALL will not read a file without this entry. If you plan to read the file back from The Source, then the ‘“— >COM” entry must be the last line; again, this is not normal. The maximum file size (bytes) is not indicated, but the program is DiMensioned for 200 lines. There is no auto-save when the buffer becomes full. SUMMARY STC CALL is a limited-use program. It cannot be used (as written) to send text to the Source mail system. The lack of 80-column card compatibili- ty is not serious if the program is just used to upload/download COMO. files for use with your word pro- cessor. Since the program is modifiable and written in Applesoft BASIC, a user can correct the error and deficiencies to customize the program as desired. The price is right considering the limitations of the pro- gram. However, for more general capabilities and for use with other than The Source, you will have to turn to one of the standard terminal programs. One last point: the name of this program is misleading. It is not an STC (Source Telecomputing Corp.) call program since it really doesn’t “call’’ The Source. It is not a general Source utility program as the name implies. All the program does is transfer files, and it should have been named more appropriately. SUPER SMART by John V. Longawa Softspoken P.O. Box 7000-863 Redondo Beach, CA 90277 $60.00 Rating: A - Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner INTRODUCTION SUPER SMART is another com- munications package that works on- ly with the Hayes Micromodem II on a 48K Apple Il. The main program has many of the features of much higher-priced packages but lacks some of the features of other com- parably priced ones. With SUPER SMART you can communicate Apple to Apple or Apple to timesharing system (such as The Source) in order to transfer text, programs, and Hi-Res pictures. The main program is also a full-screen editor when not in ter- minal mode. The disk can be copied or you can move the machine language programs to another work disk with FID. DOCUMENTATION The 28-page, 5 1/2 X 8-inch man- ual is an explanation of the program's use and its features. It includes a thorough discussion of making some custom changes to the SUPER SMART. program, and though the changes re- quire working at the monitor level (machine language), the explanations should be understandable by the novice. Most of the changes can be performed automatically by the SET- 16 UP program on the disk. The manual was printed on a dot-matrix printer and reproduceg; it is, however, very readable. OPERATION When you boot the SUPER SMART diskette, you will see a short descrip- tion of the programs on the disk and will be given the option of running the INTRO file. This INTRO program displays the title and author and plays sounds such as those heard if you pick up the phone during a ter- minal communication session. The INTRO program is not required, so you can exit and then BRUN SUPER SMART. No menu of options is available from the boot program. When SUPER SMART is run, you will be presented with a main menu of 14 options: MODEM CONFIG EDIT MODE PHONE LIST SAVE BUF CALL LOAD FILE HANGUP ERASE BUF REDIAL PRINT BUF AUTO ANSWER BLOCK XMIT RESUME Quit The program scans the Apple’s slots to locate the Micromodem, so no slot configuration is necessary. If a Micromodem is not found, only the menu items on the left are disabled; you will receive an ERRor notice and be placed in the monitor. If you have a properly installed Micromodem, then receiving the ERR message may be an indication of a modem pro- blem. If you do not have a Micro- modem, then follow the manual for instructions about using the editor function only (menu items on the right). When | first tried to use SUPER SMART, | could not get it to locate Communications my Micromodem. Since | knew my modem was operational with other programs, | felt something was wrong with my copy of SUPER SMART. | called Softspoken and talked to the author about my problem. | found the customer support to be excellent, and although he couldn’t solve my problem, we did eventually identify the cause. SUPER SMART does a string search of the Micromodem firmware and hence requires the Hayes firmware chip. The Videx firm- ware chip | had installed to make the modem prompts display properly on my Videoterm 80-column card ap- parently changed the locations of the search string, and so the program could not find my modem. When the Hayes chip was reinstalled (after not being used for over two years) the program worked properly (and so did the Micromodem). To select one of the menu options, you move the cursor—called a “light bar’ because it INVERSEs the selected text—with the Arrow keys and press RETURN to use the select- ed option. The light bar will wrap from the MODEM COMFIG option to QUIT or back, so you don’t have to move through the complete list to quit. The MODEM CONFIG option allows you to change the parameters for communication (baud rate, duplex, carriage return delay, parity, data, and stop bits, etc.) either before or during a terminal session. To change the default values you can run the SETUP program which will configure SUPER SMART to come up in a different configuration if the cur- rent defaults are not what you like. The PHONE LIST option will CAT- ALOG the disk and prompt for a Volume 4 Number 5 filename. This file can have more than 500 entries of a name and number format. When the file is loaded, you are asked for a search key, and the program will then display each name and number that matches the key. When you find the one you want to call, the program will dial the number for you. This file can be edited with the editor portion of SUPER SMART. The CALL option will prompt for a telephone number or, if you enter “7 the program will use an ‘‘Instant Access’’ number. The SETUP pro- gram will configure this number for you. The functions of the HANGUP and REDIAL options are obvious; the RESUME option will return to the previously selected mode, i.e., to ter- minal mode if connected to another computer. The AUTO ANSWER mode is a slick message retrieval system. Your computer will answer the phone, receive messages and place them in the text buffer, hangup the modem when the calling party disconnects, increment a counter of the number of calls received, and allow you to in- tervene at any time. The received text can be saved or printed. Except for the garbage received when the calling party disconnects, this func- tion is very well done. Although there is no way to automatically transmit sign-on messages to callers, this mode can come in very handy at those times when you need to leave your computer unattended but still want to receive messages. The EDIT MODE functions just like ascreen-oriented text editor; in fact, many of the control sequences are similar to other word processors that | have used. Only the more basic of the text editing functions are avail- able: move. cursor, delete or insert characters and lines, scroll through document, go to top of buffer, etc. The editor has a 21,224-byte buffer and so is big enough for most ap- plications. The LOAD and SAVE op- tions use a standard binary file; so if your word processor does also (as does PIE), then you can use the word Peelings Il processor to create or edit text for use with SUPER SMART. | found this to be a worthwhile ability even though the SUPER SMART editor is fairly good. The ERASE BUF option will do just that, without asking for confirmation. This is really the only lack of user friendliness in the SUPER SMART program. The PRINT BUF will prompt for a slot for your printer; if you specify slot 0, the text will be routed through a routine at $300 (a common location for printer drivers). Default values for page width, linefeeds, etc. can be changed with the SETUP pro- gram. During the printing there is a display of the number of bytes left to be printed. Printing can be aborted or paused at any time. The BLOCK XMIT option will send the entire buf- fer to the other computer. The text is not displayed during transmission, but you will see a count of bytes re- maining; not echoing to the screen speeds up the transmission. Since the SUPER SMART program uses binary files, a CONVERT pro- gram is provided on the disk which will convert normal text files (type “T’" in the CATALOG) and BASIC programs to binary files or from SUPER SMART binary files back to either text or BASIC files. It also can convert to upper case only. Other options will allow use of DOS Toolkit Hi-Res character sets with SUPER SMART, or vice versa. Since SUPER SMART uses a Hi-Res character set for display instead of the normal text page of the Apple, this feature can be useful if you have the DOS Toolkit package from Apple Computer. LIMITATIONS There are two major limitations in using SUPER SMART. (1) Even though the text is Hi-Res, the author chose to stay with a standard Apple display width of 40 columns. Using Hi-Res does allow for lower-case display, but true descenders are not allowed in the character set. No shift- key modification is accepted (in- cluding the Videx Enhancer Il), so you will have to use the ESCape key Communications for a shift key. To some this is not an inconvenience, but to others it might be. The use of 40 columns may prove to be a limitation when using some timesharing systems that are format- ted for 65 to 80 columns. According to the author an 80-column version may be forthcoming. Use of the Hi- Res screen does not slow down com- munication since 300 baud (the max- imum for the Micromodem) is fairly slow itself. (2) The other major limitation is that the program works only on the entire buffer; there is no capability to transmit, save, or print part of the buffer. Since the ‘text capture” is on at all times when in terminal mode, you will have to save the buffer when you have completed receiving each separate piece of information, be it text or programs. When you have several things to send, you will have to load and send each file; there is no merge-files feature; loading a file erases the buffer. Two minor limitations are no auto- logon capability and no auto-save of the buffer when it becomes full. SUPER SMART will give an audible warning when the buffer approaches full, but then writes over the previous contents of the buffer when it becomes full. SUMMARY For the price, SUPER SMART is a good program that has some very nice features. Its limitations may not be of concern in your normal mode of operation. The Apple-to-Apple capabilities are useful for transferring programs. A test of communicating with another Apple running COMM- WARE and the Novation Apple CAT modem was performed, and we were successful in transferring Hi-Res pictures, an Applesoft program, and text; SUPER SMART is not required at both ends. The program CON- VERT could be useful at both ends but is not necessary. When com- municating with a system such as The Source, SUPER SMART is useful but slightly inconvenient due to its “entire buffer’ mode of operation.0 7 Data* Trans by Mingche M. Li ABT Microcomputer Software 55 Wheeler Street Cambridge, MA 02138 617-492-7100 $100.00 Rating: B- Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner Editors note: A new version is available which corrects the 80-column bugs and most of the others, as well. It was not received in time to rewrite the review. Please bear this in mind when reading the following review. The new back-up policy is: one back-up is provided free of charge upon receipt of the Warranty Registration Card. Additional back- ups are available for $15.00 each. INTRODUCTION Data*Trans is a communications program with many features and op- tions. It works with a Hayes Micro- modem II, SSM AIO Serial/Parallel card, SSM AIO-II card, or an Apple Communication card. An acoustic coupler, modem, or Hayes Smart- modem is required for use with all but the Micromodem II. The only re- quirements of the Apple are 48K and Applesoft; a 16K card is not sup- ported. A Videx Videoterm 80-col- umn display card or lower-case 18 display chip is optional as is a printer. A built-in editor, auto-dial, auto- logon, total control over communica- tion parameters, and text buffer on/off toggles are just some of its features. The major portion of the program is Applesoft BASIC with some short machine language files to support display modes and some other features. Because the disk is locked and a modified DOS is used, modification of the programs is not possible. The program only transfers DOS sequential textfiles, but its editor can be used to write the files. A utility is provided to convert Ap- plesoft programs to textfiles for transmittal. The Hayes Micromodem Il was used for the evaluation. DOCUMENTATION The manual is wire-bound and contains sixty-seven 6 X 9-inch pages printed on both sides. The manual first discusses getting started and each of the program’s options in depth. Next are the configuration in- structions, and finally 15 short tutorials on using the major options. The manual provides all the informa- tion necessary to get comfortable us- ing Data*Trans in a minimum amount of time, and would have been excellent except for one minor detail. The program is advertised as being for use on either the Apple II Plus or //e computer, but the manual was written for the II Plus only; references to characters are for the Plus keyboard and not the //e im- proved keyboard. For II Plus owners this is fine, but for new //e owners it may cause some brief confusion. Communications OPERATION When the disk is booted the first time, the title display appears on the standard 40-column screen. At the bottom of the screen you are prompt- ed to press any key to go to the con- figuration menu (called a mainte- nance program). This option is avail- able for only about two seconds before the default programs are load- ed. This is a good method for those who may have to change parameters or defaults often, but for those who configure once for their system, the two second delay everytime can get to be annoying. A separate mainte- nance program that can be run at anytime is preferable. As was mentioned earlier, the DOS is modified, but the author thought- fully provided a disk utility to delete, unlock, or lock files. Unfortunately it too is only available during the two seconds following bootup and ONLY works on the files on the Data*Trans diskette. This means that all files on your other disks will have to be set properly before running Data*Trans, and then you will have to catch the maintenance option during the two- second period if you need to perform some disk operation on the files on the program disk. Using a nonstan- dard DOS does have its drawbacks and inconveniences for the user. Also available from the mainte- nance program are: change to dif- ferent versions (40 column at 300/1200 baud, 40 column at 1200 baud, or 80 column at 300 baud) and modify several program parameters (buffers on/off default, lower-case display, auto linefeed, delay loops, Volume 4 Number 5 ) TO SUBSCRIBE or RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Please See Postage-Paid Subcri Cards Attached fon (7%) = = = i—a = = = CS @ i=) = 74) in @ a] i i=) <f = = 3 a] i cS qo pa CT) _— n 73 = DEALER INQUIRIES Bee o 2 = = = Cty o ee bh —_ ‘o = ay Ss a — cal a = N 2 = — t-E) “a —) Cty o i= = i= o > i= (J o aoe Ss So > ~~ So fede, g nN fF Pa 00 LO =p o } S oO INVITED ¢)R — READ Read diskette textfile into buffer C)S — SAVE dave buffer to disk ¢)T — TRANSMIT Transmit disk file directly ¢)U — UPLOAD Upload buffer to another computer Vv — VISI-TRAN Convert data into DIF format Ww — WAIT Await calls ()X — SP.CHAR Special characters ON/OFF Commands available only in terminal mode are: *H — Help menu “G — Verify/Echo ON/OFF “J — Control character ON/OFF *M_ — Load logon Macro file “Vv — View a disk file *Z > — Send logon Macro Since the use of most of these op- tions is obvious, | will mention only those that are not normally available in terminal programs for the Apple. The Dial option will display the default values as loaded from the file MACRO#O: It will prompt for any changes to the above. Using the Macro option from the menu, you can load ina different file of numbers. The current options can be modified, saved to disk, and used as modified. The H/F is for Half or Full duplex, and the FSW is a code for parity, word length, and stop bits. This is one of the few programs that gives you such total control over the configuration of your system. The Edit option provides a power- ful line-oriented text editor for use off-line to create text to send or to edit text before saving or printing. It has all the expected features of line insert/delete, character search/re- place, and the unusual function of “delete a range of columns in a range of lines.” This last function is design- ed for use in the DIF conversion process. The Remote and Wait call options are similar in operation but have one major difference: the remote call op- tion is supposed to allow the remote caller to have complete access to your Apple system. When connect- ed, it is just as if he were sitting .at your keyboard; he can CATALOG any disk, LOAD or RUN programs, etc. The Data*Trans program is removed from memory when the MODEM CONFIGURATION IN SLOT #2 = >A. HAYES MICROMODEM II B. SSM AIO CARD C. APPLE COMM. CARD/SSM AIO-II CARD SEQ. NAME PHONE NUMBER H/F BAUD FSW 1 ROLM 1 H 30021 2. DOWJONES — 482-7035 F 300 21 3 CALLAPPL 1-206-935-9119 H 300 «17 4 PRIME 492-7243 H 1200 9 = >5 SOURCE 338-1400 F 30021 Communications Data* Tran by Mingche M. Li ABT Microcomputer Software 55 Wheeler Street Cambridge, MA 02138 617-492-7100 $100.00 Rating: B- Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner Editors note: A new version is available which corrects the 80-column bugs and most of the others, as well. It was not received in time to rewrite the review. Please bear this in mind when reading the following review. The new back-up policy is: one back-up is provided free of charge upon receipt of the Warranty Registration Card. Additional back- ups are available for $15.00 each. INTRODUCTION Data*Trans is a communications program with many features and op- tions. It works with a Hayes Micro- modem II, SSM AIO Serial/Parallel card, SSM AIO-II card, or an Apple Communication card. An acoustic coupler, modem, or Hayes Smart- modem is required for use with all but the Micromodem II. The only re- quirements of the Apple are 48K and Applesoft; a 16K card is not sup- ported. A Videx Videoterm 80-col- umn display card or lower-case 18 display chip is optional as is a printer. A built-in editor, auto-dial, auto- logon, total control over communica- tion parameters, and text buffer onloff toggles are just some of its features. The major portion of the program is Applesoft BASIC with some short machine language files to support display modes and some other features. Because the disk is locked and a modified DOS is used, modification of the programs is not possible. The program only transfers DOS sequential textfiles, but its editor can be used to write the files. A utility is provided to convert Ap: plesoft programs to textfiles for transmittal. The Hayes Micromoderr Il was used for the evaluation. DOCUMENTATION The manual is wire-bound anc contains sixty-seven 6 X 9-inch page: printed on both sides. The manua first discusses getting started anc each of the program’s options ir depth. Next are the configuration in structions, and finally 15 shor tutorials on using the major options The manual provides all the informa tion necessary to get comfortable us ing Data*Trans in a minimur amount of time, and would have been excellent except for one mino detail. The program is advertised a: being for use on either the Apple | Plus or //e computer, but the manua was written for the II Plus only references to characters are for th Plus keyboard and not the //e im proved keyboard. For II Plus owner this is fine, but for new //e owners i may cause some brief confusion. Communications oo © ° Ww > st oO par —" NO GALIANI SaIMINONI uaTvaG aad ° = < ° < od oO ° 4 = 3 =f o S o ro) — a o wl = a i -— > > = o by < ar a an Ls o ro) = r 3 7 ® £ | 48]88Q / S19P10 VSIA F PAegiaysew payse}jy Spsed uol}diJoqng pleg-e3e}s0q aag aseaid NOILdINISANS UNOA MINIU 40 JaINISANS OL ( sauinbu stop/start list character, default logon file). Once you are finished with the maintenance option, the changes can be saved to disk and the proper program loaded and run. All future boots will come up in the configured display mode, 40 or 80 columns. When the main program is loaded, the main menu is displayed. This menu contains all the options available in Data*Trans and is always available by pressing the ESCape one or more times. The commands that are functional while in terminal mode, on- or off-line, are also im- mediately available from the terminal mode screen by using the f char- acter to tell the program that the next character is for program use only and is not to be transmitted or placed in the text buffer. A help screen can be immediately displayed by pressing *H. The following is a list of options displayed on the main menu_ (the * means the option is also available from terminal mode without return- ing to the menu): ()A — BUFFER Keyboard buffer copy ON/OFF () B — BUFFER Incoming buffer copy ON/OFF C)C — CLEAR Clear the buffer D — DIAL Automatic or direct dialing QE — Edit buffer EDIT () F — DUPLEX FULL/HALF duplex H — HANG UP Hang up phone ()K — CATALOG Catalog a disk C)L — Lust List or print the buffer M — MACRO Phone directorylmodem configuration O — REMOTE Remote control of the Apple (¢) P — PRINTER Printer ON/OFF Q — Quit Quit with or without disconnecting Peelings 1! C)R — READ Read diskette textfile into buffer C)S — SAVE Save buffer to disk ()T — TRANSMIT Transmit disk file directly ¢)U — UPLOAD Upload buffer to another computer Vv —_ VISI-TRAN Convert data into DIF format Ww — WAIT Await calls C)X — SP.CHAR Special characters ON/OFF Commands available only in terminal mode are: *H — Help menu *G — VerifylEcho ON/OFF “J — Control character ON/OFF *M_ — Load logon Macro file “Vv — View a disk file *Z — Send logon Macro Since the use of most of these op- tions is obvious, | will mention only those that are not normally available in terminal programs for the Apple. The Dial option will display the default values as loaded from the file MACRO#O: It will prompt for any changes to the above. Using the Macro option from the menu, you can load ina different file of numbers. The current options can be modified, saved to disk, and used as modified. The H/F is for Half or Full duplex, and the FSW is a code for parity, word length, and stop bits. This is one of the few programs that gives you such total control over the configuration of your system. The Edit option provides a power- ful line-oriented text editor for use off-line to create text to send or to edit text before saving or printing. It has all the expected features of line insert/delete, character search/re- place, and the unusual function of “delete a range of columns in a range of lines.” This last function is design- ed for use in the DIF conversion process. The Remote and Wait call options are similar in operation but have one major difference: the remote call op- tion is supposed to allow the remote caller to have complete access to your Apple system. When connect- ed, it is just as if he were sitting at your keyboard; he can CATALOG any disk, LOAD or RUN programs, etc. The Data*Trans program is removed from memory when the MODEM CONFIGURATION IN SLOT #2 = >A. HAYES MICROMODEM II B. SSM AIO CARD C. APPLE COMM. CARD/SSM AIO-II CARD SEQ NAME PHONE NUMBER H/F BAUD FSW 1 ROLM 1 H 300 21 2. DOWJONES — 482-7035 F 30021 3 CALLAPPL 1-206-935-9119 H 300 (17 4 PRIME 492-7243 H 1200 9 = >5 SOURCE 338-1400 F 300 21 Communications caller is connected, and so it will not interfere. However, this mode did not work correctly during this evalua- tion and was no different than the wait call mode. The wait call mode just connects two systems for com- munications and file/buffer transfers. The Printer option has several nice features. You can print text as receiv- ed if your printer is fast enough or is buffered. You can also print directly from a disk file without disturbing text in the program’s text buffer. This doesn’t mean you can edit the buf- fer and print a file simultaneously, but at least you won't have to save the buffer just to print a file. This print mode is slow but is a nice feature. The Transmit option differs from the Upload option in that it will transmit a file directly from disk. This allows transfers of files that are too large to fit in the text buffer of 19,000 characters. There is no similar write- directly-to-the-disk option during download operations. When the buf- fer fills up, the stop list character is sent, and after a short pause to receive the last few characters, the buffer is automatically written to disk. A problem surfaced during my test- ing: the file was not successfully writ- ten, but the program proceeded as though the write was successful. It cleared the buffer, sent the Start List command, and continued to capture text. So my first text was lost without my being notified of the disk error and given the chance to correct it. This is unacceptable. The Visi-Tran option converts received text into the Data Inter- change Format (DIF) for use with Visicalc, Visiplot/Visitrend, and other programs that can use the DIF for- mat. This option was not evaluated but should prove useful to heavy users of data communications and DIF. The Special Characters option allows display of lower-case letters (if you have a lower-case chip or 80-column card) and entry of certain characters not normally available from the Apple II keyboard. If you do not have lower-case display capabili- 20 ty, then turning off the Special Characters option will convert all in- coming lower case to upper case, eliminating what would appear to be garbage from the screen. The commands only available in terminal mode are used to control options that you would need while on-line. Only two are not obvious: the * M to load the Macro logon file and the * V to view a disk file. Once connected to a host computer such as The Source, you can use the ~M command to quickly load a previous- ly set up sequence of logon com- mands that the program will send just as though you had typed them from the keyboard. The * V command will prompt for a filename to display on the screen. This displaying of the file does not disturb the existing text buf- fer and so can be used to preview a file before transmitting it with the send-direct-from-disk option. A nice feature to have. At all the prompts for a filename, a CATALOG can be displayed by just pressing RETURN for the filename. However, in the 80-column mode the lower half of a long CATALOG will be erased almost as fast as it is displayed, so you won't have much of a chance to see a filename. LIMITATIONS Several problems surfaced during my use of the program that seriously hampered its use. Some screen for- matting errors were noted. | don’t mean misspellings but flags that weren't cleared (buffer empty and keyboard ON/OFF) and failure to clear the 80-column screen before writing to it, resulting in overwriting existing displays. On several occasions the program bombed during access to drive #2. There is no clean exit from a re- quested disk access; you have to enter a filename or reboot. A bug in the Edit mode caused the last line number to edit entry to become the first character of the next line entered. Trying to delete the character only results in the line number being placed at the begin- Communications ning of the next entered line. And around and around and... During one session | could not send a file because all the DOS buf- fers were full; one of the benefits (?) of the modified DOS. | had to reboot. How the buffers became full | have no idea. During uploads or saves, the entire text buffer is used. There is no way to specify a range of line numbers to use. This means you have to have a file for each item you wish to transmit; i.e., separate letters to send via Source electronic mail must be in separate files—not very convenient. During the transfer no text is displayed on the screen as it is sent; this may cause concern about the progress of the transfer. And finally, the acceptance of lower-case command inputs is not uniform. For some commands lower case is accepted and on others it isn’t. SUMMARY | found Data*Trans to be simple to use and very capable for many data communications requirements. It has most of the features you need and adds some that you normally don’t expect in terminal programs, such as a BREAK key using CTRL-B. The program disk is locked, but ac- cording to the manual, a backup is available for a reasonable price. | contacted ABT to find out what this reasonable price is. While the peo- ple at the Customer Service were very kind and courteous, they were very unknowledgeable about their product. No one was able to tell me the cost of a backup, so messages were left for the author, Mr. Li, to contact me. As of the deadline for this article, no return call has been received. The concept of Data*Trans is very good, but the implementation still needs work. This program should have received more testing before being marketed. Once the errors are corrected, Data*Trans has the poten- tial of being a very good program, but for now it must receive a B-.O Volume 4 Number 5 SSM MODEM CARD SSM Microcomputer Products 2190 Paragon Drive San Jose CA, 95131 408-946-7400 $299.00 Reviewed by: John Martellaro The SSM Modem Card is a single card that provides all the features of a conventional 110/300-baud modem device. That is, the serial card and modulator/demodulator cir- cuitry all fits on one card which can go into any Apple II or //e slot except slot 0. The entire package is Hayes Micromodem II compatible, which means that software designed to use the Hayes system should work on the SSM Modem Card. | used the SSM Modem Card in its normal dumb-terminal mode and found its operation to be identical to that of the Hayes Micromodem II. | also exercised it with Southwestern Data Systems’ ASCII Express Pro, Southeastern Software’s Data Cap- ture 4.0, and Arrow Micro Software's DFX. All worked as usual. These packages were all used on an Apple Ile. The SSM Modem Card has some features that the Hayes system does not. The most important are the ad- dition of Touch-Tone dialing and an audio monitor through the Apple speaker. When dialing a number, a “'T"’ prefix invokes Touch-Tone dial- ing. An ‘‘A”’ suffix causes the audio of the dialing process to be sent to the Apple speaker. This is useful for verifying that the dialed computer Peelings Il has answered and turned on a car- rier. Since the card fits entirely inside the Apple, there is no Microcou- pler™ to go bad on you. (My three- year old Hayes Microcoupler has fail- ed twice in the last year—the serial card inside never has.) A six-foot telephone cord is supplied, ter- minating in an RJ-11 jack. DOCUMENTATION AND WARRANTY The documentation is less than it should be. It covers only the bare rudiments of operation and is only 11 pages of text. It appears that it is a preliminary manual, but Peelings has not received, as of this time, any up- dates. The section marked ‘‘soft- ware” is left blank. The manual assumes that the user knows everything about the device except the basics of its operation. There is a list of the important hardware ad- dresses, but it somehow seems as terse as the rest of the manual. Even if the manual is preliminary, | don’t think this is the kind of manual that a user wants to see after paying $300. The ad for the card states that it has self-testing, but | could find no men- tion in the manual of how to initiate any self-testing. The Hayes Micro- modem II comes with a substantial manual which also explains the operation of the diskette of software supplied (and its self-test program). There is a two-year warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. CONCLUSION With respect to the hardware and the operation of the SSM Modem Card, | was very pleased. The one Communications disadvantage that it has compared to the Hayes system is that there is no visible ‘‘off-hook” light. | have got- ten used to this indicator light, and | like it. With respect to the documentation, | look forward to do- ing an updated review that will discuss a considerably expanded manual and sample software. If you already own a Hayes Micromodem II and are planning to supply a second Apple II with a modem that will support your cur- rent software, the SSM Modem Card is an excellent choice. You already know a lot about your system. If you are a first-time buyer, you will have to make a choice between the Hayes system with its superior documenta- tion and software and the SSM Modem Card with its advanced features. Congratulations, PEELINGS I, on your new format. We are pleased to bea part of your continuing SUCCESS. 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Box 71, Morton Grove, IL. 60053 CALL 312-729-4821 7 DAYS A WEEK TILL 10 P.M. | INTELLIGENT TERMINAL SYSTEM-80 by Art English Unisoft 5520 12th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55417 612-824-4131 $29.95 Rating: A- Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner INTRODUCTION Intelligent Terminal System-80, or ITS-80, is a terminal program for use in the Apple Pascal operating system. Requirements for use are a printer in slot 1 (optional), Hayes Micromodem lin slot 2, an 80-column display card in slot 3, one or two drives, and the Apple Pascal Language System. It of- fers the standard call, send, receive, save, and print options as in most other terminal programs, but has the added feature of full-screen editing while on-line. The program disk is unlocked and can be copied using the normal Pascal Transfer routine. DOCUMENTATION The documentation provided is twelve 8 1/2 X 11-inch pages of dot- matrix printed text. The manual has a description of the program, list of requirements, instructions for con- figuring the program to your printer and keyboard, details of the full- Peelings II screen edit mode, explanation of the menu commands, instructions for configuring the communications parameters, and finally, tips on using ITS-80 with slow 80-column boards (like the Apple //e 80-column card). Notice that | didn’t mention operating instructions; that’s because there aren’t any. While you guess at the operating instructions by reading the manual and then calling up a system, | feel there should have been a sample session included in the manual. | felt a little lost the first time | tried using the Full Screen mode while on-line. The rest of the data in the manual is simple to follow and use. OPERATION Once you have the Pascal system up, you can then eXecute the ITS-80.CODE file. This file can be transferred to any of your system disks to simplify use. The first time the program is executed, a configura- tion file will be created. This file is configured for your printer and keyboard. You first enter the ASCII codes for setting your printer to 80 columns/line, then for 132 col- umns/line. Codes are supplied in the documentation for 11 popular printers. Next you indicate whether you have the SHIFT key (game pad- dle port) modification installed. Answering “N” will allow lower-case characters to be entered using a replacement keyboard (Videx En- hancer or detached keyboard). The Communications Apple //e keyboard is also recogniz- ed by answering “N’’. That com- pletes the hardware configuration. To reconfigure the system, just Remove the ITS80:ITS80.DATA file and it will be recreated. The title page will next be displayed with a two-line command menu at the top of the screen. Press- ing the ESCape key will display the second set of commands menu. The ESC key is used to toggle between these menus or to call up the menus when on-line to a system. Selections are made by pressing the appropriate number key; no RETURN is required. One minor distraction was noted. Any error messages are not cleared from the screen without toggling the two menus a few times to get the message to scroll beneath the menu. The first menu has these options: . Home cursor . Home cursor and clear screen . Clear to end of line . Clear to end of screen . Printer ON/OFF (for simultaneous printing on-line) . Capture buffer ON/OFF/CLEAR . Display buffer . Save buffer . Print buffer 0. Call ESC Go to second menu wena peue The second menu has these options: 1, Change communications configuration 23 . List Directory . Send file . Dial . Hang up telephone Suawn . Exit program ESC First menu (off-line) or terminal mode (on-line) A little more logical organization of the menus would be helpful—for ex- ample, placing all the file options on the first menu and all the terminal op- tions on the second. But when on- line, you will have to press ESC twice anyway in order to return to terminal mode. The file options do not have an option to back out if you change your mind; pressing RETURN for the filename only results in a name of “ TEXT" being used. At least there is a directory option available in the menu. The simultaneous print option will only work if you have a print buffer--none is provided in the pro- gram. The capture buffer has a 17,499-byte capability, and when less than 2K bytes are remaining, the incoming text is displayed in IN- VERSE as a warning of the ap- proaching full buffer. Some 80-col- umn cards will not display this war- ning if they don’t recognize a CTRL- O as the INVERSE command. If the title page appears INVERSE, then you will have this feature. To change the communications parameters, you select that option, and after a momentary disk access, you are presented with a display of the cur- rent configuration. Configurations are named, and many different con- figurations can be saved or recalled. Besides all the standard data com- munications parameters (baud rate, duplex, stop/start bits, etc.), you can also specify: one phone number, print-page length and width, charac- ter to indicate the start of a line, and the name of the configuration. When you select the Call option, you are prompted for the name of the system you wish to call, and this name will be the one you saved the configura- tion under. The configuration data is not saved as separate files but as part of the program data file. The Dial op- 24 tion only prompts for a telephone number. All of the menu options are straightforward and can be used with little or no experimentation. Once connected to a system, you have the option of activating the Full Screen editor. The current version of ITS-80 uses a CTRL-F as the toggle key be- tween Full Screen and normal mode; a future version will use an ESCape F sequence as the toggle. In normal mode (the default) the program acts just like a dumb terminal in com- municating with another computer. The capture buffer can be turned on and text received or sent. But when the Full Screen editor is turned on, you have a feature not present in any other Apple II terminal program known to Peelings II. FULL SCREEN EDITOR When you first turn on the Full Screen editor, the cursor is homed and the screen cleared. This is the only indication you will have that Full Screen mode is on. Whether or not the Full Screen editing com- mands are functional is another in- dication, but they should not be used to test this since these commands are sent as text if you are in the dumb ter- minal mode. The concept behind the Full Screen editor is to wait for a carriage return before sending the line of text. ITS-80 even allows you to specify where the line starts if not at column 1 on the screen. In use, you type a line of text to be sent. You can then use the Left and Right Arrow keys to position the cursor over your mistakes and edit them. Pressing CTRL-I allows for the insertion of a single character at the cursor posi- tion, and CTRL-D deletes the character. Both options move the text to the right of the cursor to cor- rect the display, but 80 columns is the maximum; any text pushed past 80 columns is lost. Once RETURN is pressed, the line of text left of the cur- sor will be transmitted. Nothing will appear to be happening during the transmission since each character Communications has to be sent. Once the line is transmitted, the cursor moves to col- umn 1 of the next line down to allow you to enter the next line of text. If you should desire to repeat some text that is displayed elsewhere on the screen, you can use CTRL-O and CTRL-L to move the cursor up or down, respectively, and the Arrow keys to position the cursor left or right. You can make any changes necessary, and then place the cursor one column past the text to be sent. Press the RETURN key, and the repeated text will be sent. If the screen becomes messy, you can clear the screen. The Full Screen editor is a good way to be certain that text you are sending is correct. It is simple to use and it gave me a good feeling to know that my typing mistakes while on-line could be corrected without receiving nasty error messages from the system or having to edit the lines using the system’s editor. One pro- blem did surface and this concern- ed answering system prompts when the Full Screen mode is on. If the answer is on the same line as the prompt, the prompt will also be sent, as you might expect, since it is part of the line on the screen. This means you have to toggle the mode on and off, but even then there is a problem (see LIMITATIONS below). LIMITATIONS Only a few minor limitations were noted during the use of ITS-80. Most of these can be overcome by ex- perience in using the program. Since only files can be sent, you must have a way to create text to send (the Pascal editor can perform this func- tion); but you might wish for the capability to type text directly into the buffer while off-line and then save the buffer. There is no auto-save of the buffer when it becomes full, so you must stop the text from being sent from the other computer and call up the menu to select the Save Buffer command. However, | found | could not stop the other system and still get the menu; the system could Volume 4 Number > be stopped, but the ESC key would not call up the menu. | had to restart the text and then press ESC. This resulted in lost text. Should the buf- fer fill up, the remaining text is lost and you are notified that the buffer is full. When configuring the com- munications parameters, one must use caution when entering text for phone numbers or names; the Back Space key is interpreted as a character, so your entry will be incor- rect. There is no good indicator of whether the Full Screen mode is on or off, and this can result in un- wanted text being sent if you think you are in Full Screen mode but ac- tually are not. The CTRL-F to turn off the Full Screen mode is also sent to the other system and will probably result in an error message. A future version should correct this problem. There is no auto-answer capability, although the Micromodem has this feature. SUMMARY ITS-80 is a good buy at $29.95 if you are a heavy user of the Pascal operating system. Its basic features will allow you to have a nearly com- plete communications package, and the Full Screen mode will give you a capability that is very worthwhile and not found in other terminal pro- grams. If its limitations are not impor- tant for your data communications needs, then ITS-80 may be a program worth investigating. HAYES TERMINAL PROGRAM Author unspecified Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. 5923 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. Norcross, GA 30092 404-449-8791 $99.00 Rating: A+ Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner INTRODUCTION The Hayes Terminal Program is an optional item when purchasing a Hayes Micromodem II, Smartmodem 300, or Smartmodem 1200. It can also be purchased separately. The program performs all the expected communications functions available in the Hayes modems: auto-dial, auto-answer, and file transfer. However, unlike most other data Peelings 1! communications programs, it will operate in the DOS 3.3, CP/M, or Pascal environments and can transfer files of any type in any of these operating systems. The software will recognize 80-column display cards and will work with most printers and interface cards. Lower-case text can be generated but Apple II and Apple Il+ require a Shift Key Modification or the installation of a lower-case keyboard such as the Videx En- hancer II or EPS detached keyboard. Lower-case characters will only be displayed with a lower-case chip or 80-column card installed. One to six disk drives can be defined fo