Shareware Solutions II Volume 2 Issue 2 1995 01 Kohn Joe US

Shareware Solutions II An Exciting Apple II Journey Into The Future Volume 2, Issue 2 Winter, 1995 A Visit With Steve Wozniak As the short e-mail message scrolled across my computer screen, my eyes stared at the seven words with disbelief, my hands started trembling and my heart started racing. I read the words over and over again, not quite believing them. Sent by Auri Rahimzadeh, publisher of the freeware (soon to be shareware) HyperStudio based “diskazine” PowerGS, the e- mail asked the truly magical question: “Do you want to meet. The Woz?” Steve Wozniak, inventor of the Apple II computer, is a legend of mythical proportions who turn- ed his dreams into reality and forevermore changed our world. With imagination, diligence, vision, and a sense that nothing was beyond his capabilities, he is truly one of the few heroes of our times. Auri thrilled me with his invita- tion. He had been in contact with The Woz and had arranged to interview him. Auri had spent over a month researching the life and times of The Woz, and had prepared an extensive set of interview questions. I was just “going along for the ride.” We arrived at The Woz’s office in Los Gatos, California at the appointed time, but The Woz was running a little late. When he eventually arrived, he told us that we’d have to wait for a while as he was very busy. After waiting nearly an hour, The Woz came out and told us that he was so busy that he would have to cancel the interview. With obvious disappointment, Auri tried to reschedule it but Woz was non-committal. As we were preparing to leave, I approached The Woz and said, “Before leaving, I just want to thank you for changing and en- riching my life.” I told him that Td been working with the Apple II for nearly 10 years and gave him a package containing all of the issues of Shareware Solu- tions II. As he edged us closer to the door, I blurted out, “Steve, you just don’t understand what a wondrous effect you’ve had on my life. You’ve had a greater influence than even Bob Dylan.” And with that, The Woz grinned from ear to ear and said, “Why don’t you guys come in and we can talk for a few minutes.” Those few minutes turned out to be a few hours. The talk was rambling, and Auri never did get to ask his questions. Woz wasn’t really interested in talking about the Apple II, and after we'd brought it up at least 10 times, he fin- ally said, “That was a real long time ago for me.” Woz talked about his current mission in life - to teach the uses of technology to 5th grade students. He clearly loves to teach and share his knowledge with children; he has six of his own. He also makes his knowl- edge freely available to fellow teachers, and during our talk, he even “took a tech support call” from a frustrated teacher who was having modem difficulties. As with most California school districts, The Woz’s is strapped for funds. Like the saintly prince he is often portrayed to be, he told us how he had personally purchased 100 computers for “his kids” - 50 for use in the school computer lab, and 50 for the children to take home. He also pays for 100 accounts on America Online, so that his stu- dents can experience life online. He did express some frustra- tions about America Online, and I suggested that for an even more rewarding experience, he might want to think about exposing his students to The Internet. He professed that his experience with the Internet was limited, and that was my cue. I explained to him the wonders of the World Wide Web, and I invited him to share my articles about the Internet with his students. Before we knew it, two hours had flown by, and Woz had to rush off to teach a class. Before leaving, I told him that Apple II users would love to read a trad- itional interview with him, and that if he ever wanted to grant one, he should let me know. We felt as if we were walking on air as we left Woz’s office. We knew that we’d just had our own dreams fulfilled and that we would soon be the envy of all our Apple II friends. After all, life just doesn’t get any better than meeting with the inventor of the Apple II computer! @ Shareware Solutions II 1 Shareware Solutions II Volume 2, Issue 2 Shareware Solutions II is published bi-monthly by Joe Kohn, 166 Alpine Street, San Rafael, CA 94901-1008. Writer/Publisher: Joe Kohn Roving Reporter: Cynthia Field Proofreader: Jane Kos All contents of Shareware So- lutions II Copyright (©) 1995 by Joe Kohn. All rights reserved. ‘Nothing may be reprinted or reproduced, in whole or in part, in any media without the prior written consent of Joe Kohn. Available by subscription only, the North American rate is $35 for a 12 issue subscription; for overseas air mail delivery, the cost for a subscription is $50. Shareware Solutions II comes with a pro-rated money back guarantee. Make all checks or money orders out to Joe Kohn. US Funds Only. Sorry, but no charge cards, purchase orders or COD orders will be accepted. This newsletter was created entirely with an Apple IIGS. All articles written in AppleWorks. Page Layout prepared in Apple- Works GS. Printing was done on a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet TIP Plus, connected to the IIGS courtesy of Vitesse’s Harmonie. The use of TrueType fonts is courtesy of WestCode Soft- ware’s Pointless. E-Mail Addresses: CIS: 76702,565 GEnie: JOE.KOHN Internet: joko@crl.com 2 Shareware Solutions IT Grapevine Easter Eggs Sterett R. Prevost III reports that while experimenting with Print Shop GS (PSGS) and The Print Shop Companion (PSC), he made a discovery. The PSC manual states that if you want to have access to PSGS’s built-in graphics from PSC, just install PSC in the same folder on your hard drive as PSGS. Sterett accidentally discovered an undocumented feature of this install method. While at the main menu of PSC, hold down the Option key and double click on the “Exit Program” button. A message quickly flashes on the screen: “Switching to the Print Shop;” you are immediately taken to the main menu of PSGS. If you do this but PSC and PSGS are not in the same fold- er, you get a screen that flashes by quickly and says, “Sorry, La La Land is no more...” At that point, depending on which ver- sion of Print Shop GS you have installed, your computer may crash. Spotted in High Places Those who attended Apple II trade shows — AppleFest in the late 1980s or Apple Expo in the early 1990s - may remember visiting the booth for Power Industries. That company pro- duced Delta Drawing, an Apple Tle/IIc menu driven logo-like graphics program for school age children. Perhaps you even spoke with Jock Gill, a distin- guished looking gentleman, who was the enthusiastic Apple II proponent manning the booth. Mr Gill has since left Power Industries but he has gone on to bigger and better things. Since 1992 he has been employed at the White House, serving as President Clinton’s Director of Media Affairs. ContactsMover By the time you read this, the Contacts GS add-on product TimeOut ContactsMover for use with AppleWorks v5, should be completed and shipping. At the same time, an update for ContactsMover for use with AppleWorks v3 and v4 will also become available. We made a few changes in the way that the new versions of ContactsMover operate. First and foremost, ContactsMover v1.1 now creates a temporary substitute AppleWorks Data- base, so that no changes are made to your original database file. Several people had reported that ContactsMover failed to work if hot-keys were activated; that problem can’t possibly surface with AppleWorks v5 since some basic design changes were made to UltraMacros itself. Likewise, the new version seems to handle all AppleWorks v5 patches that we've tried it with. If you’ve been using the initial release of ContactsMover with either AppleWorks v3 or v4, and it’s been working as great for you as it has been for me, there’s no real need to update to Contacts- Mover v1.1. On the other hand, if you've recently received Apple- Works 5, you'll need to update to ContactsMover v1.1. As stated in the Contacts GS manual, updates to Contacts- Mover are available to owners of Contacts GS from Shareware Solutions II for only $5, and that includes shipping anywhere in the world. Brutal Deluxe Cogito, the truly incredible IIGS freeware puzzle game from Brutal Deluxe, has its fair share of Easter Eggs, one per back- ground screen. Activate the Happy background egg by click- ing on the left eye near the reflected light. On the Ludy background screen, click on the dot above the “i.” On the Planet background screen, click on the small planet underneath the moon. And on the Xeno back- ground screen, click on the re- flected light, third from the top. Cogito contains an item that was quite a thrill and honor to see. If you click on the About Box, you'll see the following message: “All our productions are freeware. If you think you would have bought them if they had been sold, we will be really very happy if you could use the money you have kept to sub- scribe to the Shareware Solu- tions II newsletter.” While hunting for other Easter Eggs in Cogito, I examined the files with a sector editor, and was vastly amused to see such hidden comments as, “Good luck to find the Easter Eggs in the game” (sic) and “There is noth- ing interesting here!” As I continued to examine the code with a sector editor, I was even more surprised and a- mused to discover several more messages that were secreted away within the code that were personal messages directed at me. Those personal messages came about as a result of a visit made by Olivier Zardini of Brutal Deluxe to the Shareware So- lutions II Worldwide Head- quarters. While visiting here, Olivier inadvertently left an Apple IIGS book that I had been wanting to purchase for years but had been unable to locate. The book was the fabled “Le IIGS Eplauche” — a tech- nical programming book written in French by several members of the defunct FTA programming team. I was quite thrilled to spy the words, while examining the Cogito code with a sector editor, “Keep the book, Joe.” Thank you very much Olivier! And thanks for all the great Brutal Deluxe freeware! Despite the fearful image con- jured up by the Brutal Deluxe name, Olivier Zardini is a soft- spoken college student from Bordeaux, France. He traveled alone to California on this, his first visit to the United States. I was quite honored that Olivier would choose to visit Shareware Solutions II rather than spend- ing time visiting the natural and beautiful wonders of Cali- fornia. I hope that his visit here was as memorable for him as it was for me. During Olivier’s visit we spent a very pleasant afternoon talking about the Apple IIGS, and I was treated to a sneak preview of several Brutal Deluxe works in progress. Some, like Cogito and The Opale Demo, have since been released, while others like the Tinies Construction Set and Convert 3200 are still being perfected. Olivier explained to me that The Tinies and Cogito had been created in France by program- mers at Atreid Concepts, and that those games were com- mercially available for both Mac and IBM PC computers. Brutal Deluxe approached Atreid Con- cepts and volunteered to port both games to the Apple IIGS. Apparently, Atreid Concepts did not want any money for their source code, and although Atreid really had nothing to do with the JIGS versions, they couldn’t have been created without their coop- eration. I was very curious as to why a commercial software com- pany would sell a program for some computer systems, yet give them away for free for other computers. Olivier simply said, “We have friends at Atreid.” Upon further questioning, the name of one Atreid programmer definitely sounded very familiar. That was our old friend Olivier Goguel, founder of The FTA. In many ways, it was truly re- markable to be able to spend a most wonderful afternoon with a person who lives halfway around the globe and who primarily speaks a language that I don’t even understand. Even if Olivier spoke no English at all, I’m sure that we still would have been able to communicate — simply because of our mutual love for and involvement with the Apple TI computer. Needless to say, Olivier and I discussed the Apple II commu- nity and how wonderful it felt to be making contributions to that community and doing our small parts to enrich our neighbors. While spending time with Olivier, I was reminded of that phrase coined by The FTA: “We are everywhere.” Apple II users span the globe, and despite the fact that we speak different languages and observe different cultural customs, there’s just something about the Apple II that makes us all friends. It really is a remarkable computer and we really are a unique com- munity. Cherish the fact that you own an Apple II! After all, if Shareware Solutions IT 3 you owned a Mac or a PC, you'd have to pay $30 or $40 for a game like The Tinies or Cogito. We're actually quite fortunate that those games are available to us as freeware, thanks to the efforts of Olivier Zardini and Brutal Deluxe! Big Red Lives On In a surprise reversal, Big Red Computer Club announced in mid-December that they would not close their doors at the end of 1994 as had been previously announced. BRCC plans to con- tinue operating in a stream- lined fashion for at least another year. The 1995 incarnation of Big Red Computer Club will be very different from the BRCC we have all come to know and love over the past 13 years. For starters, BRCC founder John Wrenholt will be spending most of his time developing enter- tainment software for the Mac. In a recent conversation, he did reveal that he didn’t intend to forget his roots, and whenever possible he will also create IIGS versions of his upcoming Mac games. By choosing to program with the transportable C lan- guage, it may very well be easy for him to create both Mac and IIGS versions at the same time. Sadly, Big Red will no longer publish Scarlett, so in many ways all that will remain of BRCC is a sales office. They will continue to sell and support software for which they own the rights, and they plan to continue to sell software that they have licensed from others, but they have no real plans to continue to license new software. Depending on how sales go, they may or may not renew the licensing agreements they've made with 4 Shareware Solutions IT other software companies. So, the words of warning issued before — if there’s anything you want to purchase from Big Red, you better buy it soon — are still applicable. Tm sure I can speak for the entire Apple II community when I say, “Thanks, Big Red, for your many contributions to the Apple II. We wish you luck and success in all your future endeavors.” CD-ROM Now that many Apple IIGS owners have purchased CD- ROM drives in order to access the multitude of educationally oriented CD-ROM disks made possible by Sequential Systems’ DiscQuest series, you may want to consider purchasing a CD- ROM disk which includes Apple TIGS software. Udo Huth, a German Apple TIGS user, helped to create a CD-ROM disk for the Apple IIGS SIG of the Apple User Group Europe which includes 200 Megabytes of compressed Apple IIGS freeware, shareware and public domain software. Using ShrinkIt to uncompress the files, approximately 400 megabytes of Apple IIGS soft- ware are available on this CD- ROM disk (400 megabytes is the equivalent of 500 3.5" 800K disks). Additionally, there are 300 Megabytes of Macintosh software included on the CD- ROM disk. At the present time, the AUGE CD-ROM disk is available only by mail order from Germany. Purchasers can elect to receive the CD-ROM disk in a plain floppy disk mailer or for a few dollars more, can get it sent in a protective CD jewel case. Payment can be accepted by per- sonal checks in US, Australian or Canadian currency, by checks drawn on a US, Australian or Canadian bank, or by Euro- Check. The price of the AUGE CD-ROM disk, sent in a floppy disk mailer, is US $51.25, CAN $71.75, or AUS $74. The price for those who want it sent in a jewel case is US $56, CAN $77, or AUS $79. Details on payment method options available to those living in other countries are available by sending an e-mail to u.huth@genie.geis.com or by the mail. For those living in Europe, send a Eurocheck for DM 80.00 for the CD-ROM (with a jewel case). Within Germany the price is DM 72.00 for nonmembers of AUGE. Please endorse all checks to Udo Huth, and send to: Udo Huth Leipziger Str. 16 a 38329 Wittmar Germany Another CD-ROM disk filled with Apple IIGS public domain, freeware, and shareware soft- ware is currently being compiled by Jim Maricondo of Digisoft Innovations, the publishers of the highly acclaimed Twilight II screen-saver software. That CD- ROM disk will be available sometime during the month of February, 1995 and it will cost $65. When completed, DigiSoft’s Golden Orchard CD-ROM will include 600 Megabytes of Apple II and IIGS programs and files. In addition to applications, sounds, graphics, hypermedia stacks, AppleWorks related- material, TrueType fonts, and Finder Extensions, DigiSoft has recently finished negotiating with Apple and you will find many megabytes of Apple mate- rials and technical documen- tation that previously were available only on hard-to-find Developer CDs or the System 6 Golden Master CD. If you’d like to be placed on DigiSoft’s Internet e-mailing list, you'll receive electronic notification of the release of the CD and/or progress reports. Just direct your e-mail to: jagaroth@leland.stanford.edu SCSI-2 CD-ROM Drives Sequential Systems has an- nounced the release of a SCSI-2 CD-ROM device driver for use with the Apple II High Speed SCSI Card. The device driver allows full use of the features found on Quality Computer’s “Q-Drive CD” product and other brand SCSI-2 drives. Until now, users of SCSI-2 drives con- nected to an Apple High Speed SCSI card were unable to play CD audio discs or use the CD- audio features of Sequential’s DiscQuest. The SCSI-2 CD-ROM driver also comes with a Media Con- trol Toolkit interface, so that regular audio CDs can be played with the Media Controller desk accessory. The price of the driver is $24.95. For additional information contact: Sequential Systems 1200 Diamond Circle Lafayette, CO 80026 800-759-4549 (Sales) 303-666-4549 (International) Where Are They Now? Several Apple II companies and shareware authors have recent- ly moved. Please update your records with their latest ad- dresses: Alltech Electronics Co., Inc. 2618 Temple Heights Oceanside, CA 92056 619-724-2404 (Voice) 619-724-8808 (Fax) Alltech repairs Apple II com- puters and peripherals, sells hard to find Apple II parts and components, and sells entire Apple II systems. William W. Basham, M.D. 10400 Connecticut Ave., #407 Kensington,MD 20895-3910 Dr Basham is the author of DiversiCopy, DiversiKey, Diver- siCache, and DiversiTune. Byte Works, Inc. 8000 Wagon Mound Dr. NW Albuquerque, NM 87120 The ByteWorks is the one stop shopping mall for all Apple II books, technical manuals, com- pilers and programming lan- guages. ICON 6405 Metcalf Avenue Ste. 106, Box 22 Overland Park, KS 66202-4080 913-831-4266 (voice) 913-831-7635 (fax) ICON is the sponsor of the annual KansasFest Conference, and the publisher of various disk-based magazines including A2-Central, TimeOut-Central, Script-Central, and Studio City. William H. Tudor 10 Blue Jay Way Rexford, NY 12148 W.TUDOR@genie.geis.com Bill Tudor is a very prolific Apple IIGS shareware utility programmer and the author of Quality Computer’s “Six Pack.” United Software Industries 748 Arlington Ave, Ste 103 Naperville, IL 60565 708-416-7459 CompuServe: 76004,1430 United Software Industries pub- lish and support two different telecommunications programs: ASCII Express (more commonly called AE Pro) and MouseTalk. Corrections 1) In the KansasFest article that appeared in Volume 2, Issue 1, it was mentioned that because there was no Internet Service Provider in Kansas City, we had to dial long distance in order to be able to connect to the Internet. As it turns out, there is an Internet Service Provider in Kansas City. The telephone number for Tyrell is 816-459- 7584. 2) In the KansasFest article that appeared in Volume 2, Issue 1, it was mentioned that no Apple II Desktop Publishing program provided an option for auto-hyphenation. As it turns out, PublishIt4 does have that option for auto-hyphenation. Unfortunately, TimeWorks went out of business earlier this summer, and neither Big Red nor Quality Computers has any copies of PublishIt4 remaining. 3) In Volume 2, Issue 1, readers were told to contact InterNIC via e-mail for an up-to-date list- ing of all commercial Internet Service Providers. The updated e-mail address for Internic is: info@is.internic.net @ Shareware Solutions II 5 Modem Madness Low Cost Modems A number of Shareware Solu- tions II subscribers have report- ed that the low cost $99 Line- Link 144e modem is no longer available from MacWarehouse. Have no fear; the LineLink 144e is not the only low cost depend- able 14.4 baud fax/modem. In fact, in their latest catalog, MacWarehouse lists a Magnum 14.4 fax/modem for $89, a Power User 14.4 fax/modem for $110, a Mac&Fax Sportster 14.4 fax/modem for $120, and a ProModem 144e fax/modem for $120. The ProModem 144e, like the LineLink, is manufactured by Prometheus Products, and suspiciously looks exactly like the LineLink. Reports have been posted online from happy purchasers of Mac- Warehouse modems, and they do, after all, come with a 30 day money back guarantee. Some of you must be wondering why these same modems cost $300 to $400 just a year or so ago, and you must be curious about why the cost of these modems has dropped so quickly. The answer is simple: these 14.4 modems are going to be obsolete soon. They are going to be replaced by modems that operate at twice their speed. In fact, MacWarehouse already carries 28.8bps modems for as little as $139! Their Magnum 288 is already in use on Apple II computers, and nary a com- plaint has been heard. For additional information, con- tact MacWarehouse: MacWarehouse PO Box 3013 1720 Oak St Lakewood, NJ 08701-3013 6 Shareware Solutions IT 800-255-6227 908-370-4779 (Note: Any Hayes compatible 14.4 external modem can be connected to an Apple II or TIGS. All that’s needed to get it to work properly on a IIGS or IIc is a Hardware Handshaking Cable and a telecommunica- tions program. To work with a Tle, a Super Serial card is also required.) GEnie And The Internet As we've witnessed before, when one of the major online services implements a new feature or offers a new service, its competi- tors rush to offer similar fea- tures or services. Within several weeks of CompuServe’s an- nouncement that they would provide full Internet access, GEnie made a very similar an- nouncement. Set to be instituted in phases, GEnie’s initial Internet access will include: FTP Service (File Transfer Pro- tocol) — Provides users with the ability to download the tens of thousands of files and software programs available for public access on the Internet. Usenet Newsgroups Service — Allows users to participate in thousands of global discussion groups collectively known as The Usenet. Outbound Telnet Service — Enables users to connect to other host computers that are connected to the Internet. Gopher Service — Provides a set of easy-to-navigate menus that are designed to help users ac- cess files, participate in Usenet discussion groups and connect to other host computers on the Internet. Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) Database Service — Provides users with access to “no cost databases” that are located on the Internet. Since GEnie is the most popular of all the online services for Apple II users, it is anticipated that many GEnie A2 regular users will soon be exploring the net for the first time. For that reason, I’d like to encourage you to re-read all of the Internet related articles that have ap- peared in Shareware Solutions II, paying special attention to the “All About The Internet” article that appeared in Volume 1, Issue 3. Although all of the Internet services that will be available from GEnie have been described in that article, and all of those descriptions are still fairly accu- rate, GEnie users may find that the “look and feel” of GEnie’s Internet access may be very dif- ferent from what was described previously. If there is a need for a special tutorial on accessing the Internet via GEnie, please let me know as I’d be happy to try to make things easier for Apple II using “net newbies.” In the meanwhile, if any GEnie members are confused or have questions about the Internet, please feel free to post those questions in the Shareware So- lutions II Online area, which can be found in the A2 Round Table as Category 28, Topic 4. CompuServe & The Internet CompuServe has been phasing in Internet access, but those who access CompuServe with an Apple II computer are going to be greatly disappointed the first time they type “GO INTER- NET.” Apparently, the only In- ternet access available to Apple II users will be limited to Use- net Newsgroups. While attempting to access CIS’s menu item for File Trans- fer Protocol, we were informed that access was only allowed to those using either Macintosh or PC computers equipped with CompuServe Information Man- ager ( CIM) software. A telephone call to Compu- Serve’s Customer Support con- firmed that Internet access via CompuServe will be extremely limited to those who are unable to run CIM, and they informed us that there are no plans to implement an Apple II compat- ible version of CIM. Internet World Whether you are a “net newbie” or a long time Internauter, you will find a wealth of information in “Internet World,” a magazine that may very well make obso- lete most available books about the Internet. Because the Inter- net is growing at such a phe- nomenal rate, and because new services and resources are sprouting up daily, it’s simply impossible for books to contain information on the latest Inter- net developments. But with its much shorter lead time, a mag- azine can keep you informed on all the latest and greatest that the net has to offer; “Internet World” is doing just that. Each issue will afford you a view of the Internet that you just might not have seen before. You'll learn of new services and how to use them. You'll meet all the “movers and shakers” of the Internet via interviews. You'll hear information about all the latest publications to go online and you'll learn about taking “virtual guided tours” of far away lands. Available at newsstands for $4.95 per copy, or $29 for a one year subscription delivered to a US address ($41.73 for delivery elsewhere in North or South America), “Internet World” is highly recommended for anyone who uses the Internet, or for anyone who wants to learn more about the Internet. For addi- tional subscription information direct an e-mail message to info@mecklermedia.com To subscribe to Internet World (with delivery to North or South America), send your check to: Internet World PO Box 713 Mt Morris, IL 61054-9965 International subscriptions for Internet World are available for 29 British Pounds. Send Inter- national subscription orders to: MecklerMedia Ltd Artillery House Artillery Row London, SW1P 1RT, UK Lynx 2.3 and ProTerm 3.1 When the Internet's World Wide Web was first mentioned in Shareware Solutions II, specific recommendations were offered to those of you who use ProTerm to access the web. The ProTerm Preference items first described in Volume 1, Issue 5 were spe- cifically geared towards Lynx v2.1. Since that time, Lynx has been updated to v2.3, and if you use ProTerm to dial up the Internet, you'll need to make some changes in your ProTerm’s Preference options. With ProTerm 3.1 and Lynx v2.3, set your ProTerm prefer- ences to display Reverse (and only Reverse!) in Inverse. By doing that, the hypermedia- based links will appear in inverse only when your cursor lands on them. If Lynx is installed on your In- ternet host system and you'd prefer to see all the links high- lighted in Inverse, you can con- tinue to use the settings recom- mended for Lynx v2.1 (Reverse and Underline as Inverse). If you do that however, you'll want to start up Lynx by using the following option: lynx -show_cursor By doing that, all of the links on a screen will be displayed in inverse, but you'll know where you are because your cursor will be flashing. Personally, I much prefer to have just the links highlighted when my cursor lands on them. Change Of Address On January 18, 1995 the Cal- tech Computing Organization is moving the anonymous ftp direc- tories to another server. As a result, you will no longer be able to find the Caltech Apple II ftp archive at either cco.caltech.edu or ccosun.caltech.edu. The new address is “ftp.cco.caltech.edu”. The Apple II files will remain in /pub/apple2. The only change, effective immediately, is that the “uploads” directory has been renamed to “incoming” to accom- modate a new ftp daemon that was recently installed. Internet Resources As is often said, “the early bird gets the worm.” Those of you Shareware Solutions IT 7 who followed the advice offered in the last issue joined the Internet’s NewbieNewz Mailing List and were able to partake in both NewbieNewz’s Introduc- tion to the Internet Tutorial and in the RoadMap interactive workshop. After receiving a write up in Time Magazine, both RoadMap and NewbieNewz were inun- dated with new subscribers, and the work load of the list pro- viders became unbearable. Due to the unexpected success of NewbieNewz, that fine service is no longer available free-of- charge. Effective immediately, the sub- scription rate for NewbieNewz is $100 per year. Although NewbieNewz was an excellent free resource for new- comers to the Internet, it’s not quite worth $100 per year. For $100, you could purchase Ed Krol’s “The Whole Internet User’s Guide and Catalog,” take out a subscription to Internet World, and still have $50 left over. For an even better alternative, if you have Internet access, you could simply download the Elec- tronic Freedom Foundation’s “Guide to the Internet” (former- ly known as “The Big Dummy’s Guide to the Internet”). The EFF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to insuring that everyone has access to the newly emerging communications tech- nologies vital to active partici- pation in the events of our world. To that end, they make their 150 page guide available online, free of charge. That electronic publication is available in several different ways. If you have access to ftp or 8 Shareware Solutions IT neftp, you can open a connection to ftp.eff.org and download it. If you've never used ftp before, after anonymously logging in, type this series of commands, exactly as they appear below, and The Guide will be trans- ferred to your home directory on your host system. From there, you can quickly download it by using Xmodem or Zmodem, or by capturing the entire text in your scrollback buffer after issuing the “cat netguide.eff” command. ced pub cd Net_info cd EFF_Net_Guide Is ascii get netguide.eff There are several other methods to get The Guide that might be easier for you. If you have access to the World Wide Web, you can point your web browser (either Lynx, Mosaic or NetScape) to http://www.eff.org/ and down- load the Guide from there. If you have access to an Internet e- mail gateway, you can send an e-mail request for the Guide. Direct that e-mail request to netguide@eff.org and the entire Guide will be e-mailed to you in 18 segments. If you have a modem but no access to the Internet, you can call the EFF’s BBS at 202-638-6120. The World Wide Web Although the World Wide Web has been operational for several years, its meteoric growth really began in February, 1994 when details about the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) were released to the public. That HyperText Markup Language essentially allows anyone with Internet access to create his or her own World Wide Web “Home Page.” As discussed previously, the Wide Wide Web is a HyperText based system that allows any- one to travel the Internet’s high- ways and byways by using his or her arrow keys rather than by having to know about Unix commands and utilities. Now, even Ist grade students can easily retrieve information from the Internet by using Lynx, the text based World Wide Web “browser” that can best be thought of as a “front end” for the Internet. Since February, 1994, thou- sands upon thousands of World Wide Web “Home Pages” have been created by individuals and organizations. Since each “Home Page” also contains links to other “Home Pages,” it’s quite easy and convenient for denizens of the World Wide Web to follow other people’s links to “cool sites on the web.” From Lynx’s main menu, there’s already a wonderful web jump- ing off point — InterLink. Inter- Link’s main menu contains only seven items (Internet Resources, Fun and Games, Guides and Tutorials, News and Weather, Library Resources, Reference Shelf, and Miscellaneous) but those menu items contain links to thousands upon thousands of other web “Home Pages” and therefore provide an excellent introduction to the World Wide Web. One of Lynx’s most versatile commands is “G” which stands for “Go To.” After accessing that feature, Lynx prompts you for a Universal Resource Locator (URL); a URL is, in essence, the HTML address for a particular web site. Equipped with only a few URLs, it’s quite possible to wander the far reaches of the Internet. Following are a number of sample URLs that you may find of interest. To visit the described sites, just press G from within Lynx, and when prompted for the URL, enter it exactly as listed in boldface in the next section. @ Hot Links On The World Wide Web http://www.cesf.caltech.edu/~dmz/a2archive.html This is the Home Page for one of the major Apple II ftp sites — ftp.cco.caltech.edu. Accessing an ftp site via the World Wide Web makes it much easier to find out what files are available via ftp or neftp. Some ftp files can actually be downloaded from Lynx itself. This Home Page also contains links to all the other major Apple II ftp sites. http://www.uges.caltech.edu/~nathan/apl2.resource.html Maintained by Nathan Mates, this Apple II oriented Home Page provides an Apple II resource guide, links to Home Pages maintained by other Apple II users, and links to all the major Apple II ftp sites. http://webcrawler.cs.washington.edu/WebCrawler/Home.html WebCrawler is a hypertext-based database of World Wide Web Home Pages. Just enter any keyword, and WebCrawler will display a list of Home Pages that correspond to your keyword. By using just your arrow keys, you can easily access any of the Home Pages displayed by WebCrawler. http://cui_www.unige.ch/meta-index.html If WebCrawler can’t locate what you're looking for, try one of these World Wide Web searchable databases. http://hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov/NASA_homepage.html This is NASA’s Home Page! In addition to providing information on all current and past NASA missions, it provides links to all the NASA facilities that provide materials to the general public. Make sure to follow the link to SpaceLink, a NASA run BBS that provides Apple II software that you can download. http://ceps.nasm.edu:2020/NASMpage.html This is the Home Page for the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cashman/humor.html The Wrecked Humor Page is a hilarious collection of humor and satire. Not to be missed. http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/bin/menu The Yahoo Home Page contains both serious and fun links. Whether you have an interest in art, comics, literature, or humor, you're bound to find lots of interest here. Make sure you try the random link. http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/misc/internet-services.html This is the Home Page for Scott Yanoff’s famed “Internet Services List.” If what you're looking for isn’t here, it probably doesn’t exist. http://www.ushmm.org/ This is the Home Page for the Washington, DC based US Holocaust Museum. http:/att.net/dir800 This www site contains a searchable database containing all of the toll-free 800 numbers listed in AT&T’s phone books. http://www.fedworld.gov/ FedWorld includes links to every single US Federal agency that maintains a World Wide Web Home Page. http://www.stones.com/ If you saw the Rolling Stones in concert last year, you can relive some of the excitement here. This Home Page includes photos and sound clips that you can download, and articles and interviews that you can read. It’s only rock ’n roll, but I like it. gopher://info.umd.edu:925/1 This is the Home Page for CNN Headline News. You can read the latest news, updated hourly, or search the database by keyword. http://www.mecklerweb.com Maintained by Internet World magazine, this Home Page contains fascinating articles about the Internet and includes lots of links to other Home Pages. http://www/etext.org/ This Home Page provides links to hundreds of electronic jour- nals and classic books that you can download or read online. Shareware Solutions IT 9 http:/nearnet.gnn.com/gnn/GNNhome.html This is the Home Page for the Global Network Navigator, a free offering from the book publisher O'Reilly and Associates. GNN provides a lot of links to serious activities on the Internet. http://educom.edu/edupage.new Published three times a week, the EduPage news- letter provides a summary of news items about computer and information technology. http://www.exploratorium.edu/ This is the Home Page for the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s widely acclaimed science museum. http://voyager.paramount.com. Beam aboard the Star Trek Voyager Home Page to boldly go where no web site has gone before. http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/ This Home Page provides a link to the Internet’s searchable database of movies and films. http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new. html This is, without a doubt, one of the the most meaningful and important Home Pages available on the World Wide Web. Updated three times a week, the “What’s New” Home Page contains information about, and links to, all the newest Home Pages that have just been added to the World Wide Web. @ Apple II Product News With its 20th anniversary just two years away, the Apple II is still the computer of choice for many individuals and schools. Fortunately, those of us who use Apple IIs are not “limited” to the 15,000 or so commercial programs that were released in the last two decades. That’s because companies are bringing new Apple II products to mar- ket even today! The Apple II’s staying power is unprecedented, and 1995 may be just as good a time as any to enhance your software library with some of these newest products. As a service provided by Share- ware Solutions II for its sub- scribers, Apple II Product News is for information purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement of any product. All prices are for single packages. Lab packs, network licenses, and site licenses may be avail- able. Contact the companies directly for free catalogs or to inquire about preview policies, money back guarantees, and other support services. 10 Shareware Solutions IT By Cynthia £. Field, Ph.D. Tom Snyder Productions Decisions, Decisions: Violence in the Media Is violence on the tube neces- sary? Does televised violence promote real violence? Are some kinds of violence acceptable? Can we censor television in a society that seems to be push- ing the limits of free speech? This role-playing, group activity will get your kids (grades 5 to 12) talking and thinking hard. $149.95 Tom Snyder Productions, Inc. 80 Coolidge Hill Road Watertown, MA 02172-2817 800-342-0236 Animasia Animasia 3-D Animasia 3-D is a new desktop animation application for the Apple IIGS. The program’s graphics tools let you create and animate three-dimensional ob- jects. You can then play the animations on your GS, record them on a VCR, or include them in your HyperStudio and Hyper- Card IIGS stacks. Animasia 3-D requires System 6.0.1, 2 Mega- bytes of RAM, and a color moni- tor. A hard drive, accelerator, and 4 Megabytes of RAM are recommended. $99 (plus $3.50 shipping) Animasia 3324 Vishaal Drive Orlando, FL 32817 407-380-9932 animasia@genie.geis.com Logo Foundation Logo Toolkits The Logo Foundation has an- nounced new reduced prices on Logo Toolkits. Logo is the pro- gramming language created by MIT’s Dr Seymour Papert. The toolkits work with your existing Logo software (LogoWriter, Logo Plus, or Terrapin Logo) and pro- vide numerous activities and project ideas. Each package includes software and extensive written materials. You should also contact the Logo Founda- tion to request a free subscrip- tion to their newsletter, Logo Update. For use with LogoWriter: LogoWriter Hypermedia Tools LogoWriter Graph Tools LogoWriter for Special Needs LogoWriter Language ArtsTools For use with Terrapin Logo or Logo Plus: Logo Data Toolkit $9.95 each Logo Foundation 250 West 57th Street New York, NY 10107-2228 212-765-4918 212-765-4789 (fax) michaelt@media.mit.edu Vitesse Inc. FAXination This NDA/CDEV (New Desk Accessory/Control Panel Device) combination gives your IIGS send and receive fax capa- bilities that rival those of full- featured fax software programs for the Mac and PC. FAX- ination’s many features include a phone book, deferred send capability, send and receive logs, call progress window, and a PrintPicker NDA for quickly switching between your fax/ modem and printer. FAXination supports only external fax/ modems and requires System 5.04 or higher, 1.5 Megabytes of RAM, and a hard drive. System 6.0 or higher and 2 Megabytes of RAM are highly recommended. $79.95 (for FAXination) $189.95 (for FAXination plus a 14.4 bps external fax/modem) Vitesse Inc. P.O. Box 929 La Puente, CA 91747-0929 818-813-1270 818-813-1273 (fax) Kingwood Micro Software Bev’s Free Patcher For Apple- Works Bev’s Free Patcher (BFP) is a collection of more than five dozen patches that work inside the TimeOut environment of AppleWorks 4.02, 4.3, and 5.0. The patches, which are reversi- ble, help you customize the word processor, spreadsheet, and database modules as well as the general AppleWorks work- ing environment. BFP is free to subscribers of the TEXAS II Newsletter and Disks ($39 for 6 issues and 8 disks; $42 over- seas). Others may purchase the BFP disk for $10. Kingwood Micro Software 2018 Oak Dew San Antonio, TX 78232-5471 210-490-6373 (NOTE: Bev’s Free Patcher for AppleWorks v4.02 and v4.3 is now available from the Share- ware Solutions II Library, on either 3.5" or 5.25" disk, for $5. Bev’s Free Patcher for Apple- Works v5 is only available from Kingwood Micro Software.) Kitchen Sink Software AppleWorks to RTF Ok, so it’s not an Apple II prod- uct. But AppleWorks to RTF (rich text format) can make life a lot easier for those who want to use their AppleWorks files with Macintosh programs such as ClarisWorks. Where Claris- Works lets you convert only one AppleWorks file at a time, AppleWorks to RTF lets you convert all of your files simul- taneously. Moreover, the utility preserves formatting options such as tabs, boldface, under- line, and headers. The Mac anti- virus program Disinfectant is included free. AppleWorks to RTF requires Macintosh System 6.04 or higher. $29.95 Apple Mouse Button Repair Service Kitchen Sink Software is now offering repair service on broken Apple mouse buttons. A new mouse costs nearly $80. If the only problem is a broken button, the company can fix your mouse for only $29.95 (plus $3 shipping and handling per order). The company offers a one-year war- ranty on parts and labor. What’s more, mouse cleaning and ball rejuvenation are performed free with the repair service. Kitchen Sink Software 903 Knebworth Court Westerville, OH 43081 800-235-5502 614-891-2111 kitchen. sink@genie.geis.com LEGO Dacta LogoWriter Robotics Kits LEGO Dacta is offering special pricing on these kits for stu- dents in grades 4 to 6 who want to integrate LEGO models into their LOGO programming proj- ects. The LogoWriter Robotics (4.5 volt) kit includes Logo- Writer software as well as proj- ect software to create a merry- go-round that counts as it turns, a car that measures distance, a clock that can time traffic lights, a conveyor belt that sorts and counts, and a robotic “turtle” that follows a path. If you already own a LogoWriter site license, you can purchase the Shareware Solutions IT i Expansion Pack which includes just the projects. The TCO Con- trol Pack contains beams, gears, lights, motors, interface boxes, cables, and other elements for each computer station that controls your students’ LEGO models. LogoWriter Robotics (4.5 volt) $199 Expansion Pack $130 TCO Control Pack $354 LEGO Dacta 555 Taylor Road P.O. Box 1600 Enfield, CT 06083-1600 800-527-8339 203-763-2466 (fax) Barnum Software The Quarter Mile Estimation & Math Tricks! This new product (for children in grades 8 to 9) is the latest in a line of classic, award-winning math programs. All programs in the series feature a dragster which gains speed each time you answer a math problem cor- rectly. Lanes scroll faster and faster as dragsters accelerate — with screeching tires and smok- ing, screaming engines. Topics in this latest release cover estimating with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, per cents, and money. Helpful math tricks topics make problem-solving faster and easier. The Quarter Mile For students in grades K-9, this newly updated version of The Quarter Mile includes 12 new topics in keyboarding, whole numbers, the alphabet, estima- tion, and math tricks. The pro- gram generates more than 12 Shareware Solutions IT 13,000 problems. The Quarter Mile Whole Numbers! Recently updated, this Barnum Software program includes 100 new topics covering place value, counting, making 10s, rounding, mixed operations, powers of 10, sequences, exponents, missing operators, and more. For grades K-6. All programs come with The Quarter Mile TOURNAMENT HANDBOOK! The handbook describes numerous kinds of tournaments which students and/or teachers can conduct. (Call to request a free copy of the handbook.) $50 each (Home Edition) $60 each (School Edition) (Call for upgrade pricing.) Barnum Software 3450 Lakeshore Ave, Ste 200 Oakland, CA 94610 800-553-9155 800-553-9156 (fax) Please send announcements of new Apple II software and hard- ware to Dr. Cynthia E. Field, 60 Border Drive, Wakefield, RI 02879-3802. You may also send press releases via Internet e-mail to cefield@aol.com or fax product information to 401-782-0380. @ Such A Deal! DigiSoft Innovations In the second issue of Share- ware Solutions II, a special money saving offer was offered to subscribers on the amazing Twilight II screen blanking utility for the Apple IIGS. The response to that offer was very positive, and DigiSoft Innova- tions would now like to extend an even more attractive pricing offer to subscribers. Twilight II allows a IIGS user to select from a variety of more than 40 dazzling full color ani- mation and special effects mod- ules that automatically display when no user interaction has taken place for a user-defined period of time. Some of the ani- mated special effects included are 3-D fractal mountains, wire- frame animations, rotated and scaled 3-D worms taking over the screen, a simulated trip through the universe, plasma cloud generation, dazzling color fireworks, analog and digital bouncing clocks, melting screens, kaleidoscopic-like effects, moire patterns, and a module that allows you to create the ani- mation yourself with any IIGS paint program. It even includes a random mode that allows a different animation to be run each time the screen is blanked. Twilight II is a Control Panel Device for use with System Disk 6.0 or 6.0.1. It requires 1.125 Megabytes of RAM memory, but 1.5 Megabytes of RAM memory or more is recommended for optimal performance. It also requires either two 3.5" disk drives or one 3.5" disk drive and a hard drive. Twilight II is generally avail- able for the suggested retail price of $39.95. Previously, it was offered to Shareware So- lutions II subscribers for $25, plus shipping and handling. The newest special Such A Deal pricing now permits readers to purchase Twilight II for only $20, plus $2 shipping and han- dling for delivery to US ad- dresses, or $5 shipping and han- dling for delivery anywhere else in the world. To order Twilight II, send your check or money order, along with a note indicating that you are a Shareware Solutions II sub- scriber, to: DigiSoft Innovations PO Box 380, Trumbull, CT 06611-0380 DigiSoft Innovations would also like to extend to you a special money saving offer on their soon to be released Golden Orchard Apple II CD-ROM disk. The suggested retail pricing for the CD-ROM disk will be $65, plus shipping and handling fees. As a subscriber to Shareware Solu- tions II, you can purchase that CD-ROM for only $60, plus $2 shipping and handling for delivery to US addresses, or $5 shipping and handling for delivery anywhere else in the world. To order the Golden Orchard CD-ROM disk, send a check or money order (made payable to Jim Maricondo), along with a note indicating that you are a Shareware Solutions II sub- scriber, to: Jim Maricondo PO Box 11005 Stanford, CA, 94309-1005 Marin MacroWorks AppleWorks 4 broke new ground by providing all AppleWorks users the ability to use macros with the supplied UltraMacros Player. AppleWorks 5 broke even more ground by including the full UltraMacros program built-in right into the program. Unfortunately, the UltraMacros manual that explains how to create and use macros was not included as part of AppleWorks 5, so there are a lot of people who now have the ability to create their own macros, but have no idea how or where to get started. If you're in that position, you could always purchase the full UltraMacros package as that includes the program manual, or you could purchase one or both of Will Nelken’s excellent self-published books. Will is one of the world’s fore- most experts on UltraMacros, and he was the one I contacted when I wanted an UltraMacros based add-on product for Con- tacts GS; Will developed Time- Out ContactsMover. He is also the Associate Editor of Icon’s TimeOut-Central, a disk-based publication all about Ultra- Macros. I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that Will is also a very good friend and neighbor of mine. His ULTRA-AppleWorks is a twelve-lesson tutorial (116 pages, 11"x 8.5", comb-bound) designed for those who want to enhance and customize the high performance power of Apple- Works. Well organized, carefully written and humorous, ULTRA- AppleWorks offers fundamental training in using, recording, and writing macros with TimeOut UltraMacros. Although written specifically for AppleWorks 3 and UltraMacros 3, much of this book is still applicable to newer versions of AppleWorks and UltraMacros. ULTRA-AppleWorks takes a step-by-step, progressive ap- proach that will lead the novice comfortably and still enhance the veteran user’s capabilities. Complete descriptions of all macro tokens are included, plus an abundance of helpful tips, useful sample macros and reference charts. For the power macro user, a list of over 150 PEEK and POKE addresses are included. The manual includes a Table of Contents and is fully indexed for ease of use. ULTRA-AppleWorks covers such themes as: how Ultra- Macros enhances normal use of AppleWorks, anatomy of a mac- ro, how to record, save, display and revise macros, writing mac- ros from scratch, using varia- bles, using screen data, design- ing looping tasks, and making use of user input. It also con- tains chapters on organizing and debugging macros. It also in- cludes a 3.5" disk that contains all of the sample macros. The retail price of ULTRA- AppleWorks is $28.95, but as a Shareware Solutions II sub- scriber, you can purchase it for only $22. Will’s second book ULTRA-to the Max! is a sequel volume to ULTRA~AppleWorks. It pro- vides clear, concise, yet thorough explanations in non-technical language of the changes from UltraMacros v3 to UltraMacros v4, including the multitude of new features. ULTRA-~to the Max! is a fifteen- lesson reference (200 pages, 11"x 8.5", comb-bound) designed with a step-by-step, progressive approach that will encourage the intermediate user to learn and employ effective macro writing techniques, while building the advanced macro programmer’s skills. Complete descriptions of Shareware Solutions IT 13 all UltraMacros 4 macro tokens are included, plus many helpful tips, sample macros, reference charts and a complete index. For the power macro user, several helpscreens, plus data- bases listing over 1000 Apple- Works memory addresses have been included. ULTRA-to the Max! covers such themes as: labeling features, variables, advanced loop writ- ing, task file launching and caching, inits, dot commands, menu tools and advanced de- bugging techniques. It also in- cludes a 3.5" disk that contains all the sample macros. The retail price of ULTRA-to the Max! is $28.95, but as a Shareware Solutions II sub- scriber, you can purchase it for $25. For additional information, contact Will Nelken at: Marin MacroWorks 1675 Grand Avenue San Rafael, CA 94901-2211 W.Nelken1@genie.geis.com Parson’s Focus Hard Card The internal IDE-based Focus Hard Card was introduced by the team of Bill Heineman and Steve Parsons of Parsons En- gineering at the final Apple Expo West trade show in 1993. Soon afterwards, Shareware So- lutions II subscribers were of- fered a special Such A Deal pric- ing on these internal hard disk drives for the Apple Ie and TIGS. Over the past year a lot of very positive feedback has been received from satisfied pur- chasers. Most have commented on the great pricing and the fact that these hard drives are really “plug and play” on a IIe or IIGS. Over the past year, prices of 14 Shareware Solutions IT hard disk drives have been steadily dropping and a recent phone conversation with Steve Parsons has led to the latest Such A Deal offer. If you haven't yet installed a hard drive on your computer, now is the time to seriously consider purchasing one. If pricing was the last obstacle preventing you from buying a hard drive, you don’t have any more excuses left. The Focus Hard Card is com- pletely self-contained on a sin- gle interface card that takes up just one slot. The drive comes pre-formatted with either the latest version of ProDOS-8 or GS/OS, and the hard drive can be installed by even a computer novice in less than 5 minutes. The special “Such A Deal” offer made by Parsons Engineering is very different from any other special pricing deal offered in the past. In a sense, it’s a group purchase plan. Steve Parsons will accept payment between now and March 1, 1995 and at that time he will pool all the monies and he will purchase the highest quality and fastest hard drive mechanisms available. He will then incorporate those hard drive mechanisms onto the pre- assembled interface cards, and will ship all orders on or before March 15, 1995. The special pricing offer is $249 for a 120 megabyte complete hard drive system! This exact same system would have cost over $500 if it were not for the group purchase plan. Such a deal! Parsons Engineering can accept payment by check or money order (US Funds Only) or can accept the American Express Discovery card (with a 3% sur- charge). Add $15 for shipping and handling to US or Canadian destinations, or $45 for shipping anywhere else. Your check will not be cashed until 2 weeks before shipment of your hard drive, and your credit card won't be charged until your drive ships. When ordering the Focus Hard card, please specify which Operating System (ProDOS-8 or GS/OS) you want included. For additional information, contact: Parsons Engineering 5010 Rimhurst Avenue Covina, CA 91724 818-966-5538 818-966-5701 (Fax) Vitesse Until the end of February, 1995 Shareware Solutions II sub- scribers can take advantage of an astonishing discount offered by Vitesse for its Quickie hand held scanner. The Quickie can be used on IIGS and Ile computers. Included in the special Such A Deal offer is the Quickie scanner and interface card, the latest version of the Quickie software, and as a special bonus, you'll also receive a copy of WestCode Software’s InWords Optical Character Recognition software. The Quickie scanner is a hand held device that employs a technology similar to that used in Xerox copier machines. It allows you to scan any paper- based graphic image onto your computer screen. You can scan photographs or line art from a newspaper or book, and the image will magically appear on your computer screen. The Quickie software allows you to crop or edit the image and it also provides you with the ability to save or copy that image into any of your standard paint or graphics software. Just as the Quickie software allows you to scan graphic images, InWords provides an entirely new method to enter text based information into your computer. InWords lets you scan a piece of paper, whether it’s a newspaper or textbook, and it captures the text into its word processor-like editor. It further allows the manipulation of that text, and lets you save it to disk as either a standard ASCII Text File, or as an AppleWorks word processing document. InWords comes with the ability to read a variety of different typefaces, but more importantly, it can be trained to recognize virtually any other typeface from any book or magazine. Previously available as a “bundle” for the special price of $250, you can now get this com- plete scanning package for only $99.95! When ordering it, you must identify yourself as a Shareware Solutions II sub- scriber! For delivery to US addresses, please add $6 for shipping and handling. California residents also need to include sales tax. For those who want the Quickie bundle shipped overseas, you must contact Vitesse and tell them what method of shipping you prefer. For additional infor- mation, contact: Vitesse PO Box 929 La Puente, CA 91747-0929 818-813-1270 800-777-7344 818-813-1273 (Fax) @ Looking Good In Print, Part 2 Looking Good In AppleWorks In the last issue of Shareware Solutions II, the article about KansasFest was meant to pro- vide an overview of the sessions for those of you who were unable to attend. Despite that limited intention, the “Looking Good In Print” section generated a lot of questions from readers. Although the clear cut focus of my KansasFest session was to describe how to use high quality inkjet and laser printers with Apple II or IIGS Desktop Pub- lishing software, the typical Apple II user seems to have much more interest in using a word processor to generate let- ters and reports than in using a Desktop Publishing program to generate brochures and news- letters. Keeping in mind that 2/3’s of all Shareware Solutions II sub- scribers use AppleWorks Clas- sic as their primary word proc- essing program, it’s important to let them know just how easy it is to use Hewlett-Packard DeskJet, LaserJet and Laser- Jet “clones” with AppleWorks Classic. Both AppleWorks v4.x and v5 come with DeskJet support built right into the program. Setting up and using a DeskJet printer with those newer versions of AppleWorks is no more difficult than setting up and using an ImageWriter printer. All it takes to set up AppleWorks 4 or 5 to work with a DeskJet is to run the special Install.DeskJet TimeOut application supplied with AppleWorks. By simply accessing your TimeOut menu, you can have AppleWorks be fully DeskJet compatible in as little as 10 or 15 seconds. To install and use a DeskJet with AppleWorks v3.0, or to install and use a LaserJet or HP compatible laser printer with any version of AppleWorks is quite easy. In fact, you actually have several options. The most time consuming option is to set up a Custom Printer from within AppleWorks, and to enter all the special printer codes from your HP manual. Those special codes instruct AppleWorks how to perform such routine functions as starting and stopping underlining or boldface printing. Although it’s not diffi- cult to enter those codes, it is easy to make a mistake as some of the codes are quite long, and since you have to copy them from a book, it’s always possible to make a typographical error. One of the main keys to having a successful and happy experience with computers is to “not re- invent the wheel” every time you are doing something new with your system. What that really means is that there is often a difficult way and an easy way to accomplish the same goal, and the happy computer user gener- ally likes to take the easy route. Entering Custom Printer control codes for AppleWorks is, quite frankly, re-inventing the wheel. The simplest and easiest way to set up AppleWorks v3 to work with HP DeskJets, or to set up any version of AppleWorks to Shareware Solutions IT 15 work with HP and HP compati- ble laser printers is to purchase or download the freeware “NAUG Printer Disk.” NAUG is The National Apple- Works User Group, and it is an indispensable resource for any- one using AppleWorks Classic! In addition to publishing a fine newsletter devoted to Apple- Works, NAUG also maintains a huge library of freeware and shareware disks that contain AppleWorks related materials. Created by a NAUG member — Howard Katz - the NAUG Printer Disk contains numerous AppleWorks’ SEG.ER files; it is this file that contains all the custom printer codes. So, all a laser printer owner needs to do is copy a small file from the NAUG Printer Disk to a copy of his or her AppleWorks disk. The NAUG Printer Disk contains different SEG.ER files for both LaserJet II and III series printers, and is available for AppleWorks v3, v4.x and v5. The various NAUG Printer Disks can even be downloaded from the NAUG BBS by having your modem dial 615-359-8238. Alternatively, they can be down- loaded from the NAUG area of GEnie’s A2 download library. For those who do not yet own a modem, the Printer disk can be obtained from NAUG via the mail. The cost of the NAUG Printer Disk, which by the way also contains forty other cus- tomized SEG.ER files that support nearly 100 different dot-matrix printers, is only $4 for a 5.25" disk, or $6 for a 3.5" disk. For additional information about the National AppleWorks User Group and its Printer Disk, contact: 16 Shareware Solutions IT NAUG PO Box 87453 Canton, MI 48187 313-454-1115 (voice) 313-454-1965 (fax) Looking Good For Less The key to purchasing a low cost laser printer is to purchase a printer that offers Hewlett- Packard LaserJet compati- bility. While scanning ads for laser printers, the keywords to look for are generally “HP Compatible,” “LaserJet Com- patible” or “PCL Compatible.” As stated in the last issue, just about every 300 Dot Per Inch laser printer that is sold for the IBM PC market includes the above-mentioned compatibility, making them all “plug and print” on an Apple II. The cost of laser printers is falling. The HP 4L printer can actually be purchased for less than $500! Although the list price of that printer is over $700, it has a “street price” of $599. Yet, until January 31, 1995, HP is offering a $100 rebate on the 4L printer. You cannot possibly go wrong by purchasing the LaserJet 4L. There are other printers that are even more affordable. Just about a year ago, I told you about the Okidata OL400e and was excited that a laser printer was finally available for less than $500. A year later, that same printer can be found for a “street price” of $399. A similar “street price” for the Brother HL630 laser printer can also be found at such stores as Circuit City and The Good Guys. The Brother HL630 provides LaserJet [Ip compatibility, out- puts text at 6 pages per minute, comes with 512K of RAM and sports a Parallel interface. Brother has even made a special version of this exact same printer available for as low as $379 from warehouse outlets such as Price Club or Costco. That special “warehouse model” is the Brother HL650. Just as there are low-end HP compatible clones, there are also high-end option-laden laser printers that cost in the range of $700-$1,000 or more, such as the DEClaser 1152 and the net- workable Hewlett-Packard 4MP. In addition to providing compat- ibility with LaserJet printers, the more expensive printers also offer support for PostScript. Whether you purchase an HP, a low-end HP clone, an HP clone that supports PostScript, or a $299 DeskJet 540, it’s very important to repeat the words of advice offered in the last issue. Since you have to live with your purchase, you are the only one who can decide which printer to purchase. To help you make your decision, you must visit printer dealers in person, and you really should “take the black page test” for any printer you are considering purchasing. All that test involves is printing out a single sheet of paper. Use a paint program to blacken the entire screen, and then print that out. Take it outside and examine it in the sunlight. If you do not like what you see, per- form the test on another printer. Eventually, you will like what you see; let your eyes make the decision, and you will be happy with your purchase. Print Shop and HP Printers The only problems that you'll run into using an HP DeskJet or LaserJet printer on an Apple II or IIGS system is that ProDOS- 8 based graphics programs do not offer drivers for those print- ers. The greatest disappoint- ment to most Apple II owners is that they cannot use HP brand printers with any version of Broderbund’s Print Shop. Nearly two years ago, from within the pages of inCider/A+, I urged Apple II owners to con- tact Broderbund to let them know that we were interested in, and would pay for, an up- dated Print Shop that worked with HP printers. The letters fell onto blind eyes and the phone calls fell onto deaf ears. More than a year ago, Share- ware Solutions II tried to em- power the Apple II community to take the matter into its own hands by offering a $100 reward to the first Apple II program- mer who could devise a method to output Print Shop greeting cards and signs to HP brand printers. Soon after that announcement was made, a number of other Apple II companies and individ- uals agreed to pledge money in order to “sweeten the pot.” Several hundreds dollars were eventually pledged to the Print Shop Project. Over the next month or two, we waited to hear if any skilled programmer was willing to accept our challenge. Not a one stepped forward. Rather than wait for a set of printer drivers to magically appear, I decided to do something more about it, and just about a year ago, I commissioned the Apple II programming master — Bill Heineman — to create a set of HP printer drivers for the IIGS version of Print Shop. Over the past year, Bill Heineman has spent literally hundreds of hours trying to patch Print Shop GS so that it would recognize HP printers. Bill ended up modifying 17 different Print Shop GS files, yet in the end. he was unable to achieve satisfactory printed output. Several months ago, it became apparent that we would not be able to proceed without some assistance from Broderbund. If we had the source code, we would be able to complete the job in no time at all. Unfortu- nately, many telephone calls were made and many e-mails were sent, and no one from Broderbund came foward to offer any assistance whatsoever. It’s with great sadness, there- fore, that I have to announce that we have failed in our efforts. But, we didn’t fail for lack of trying. Nonetheless, I truly feel bad for having raised the hopes of the Apple II community. But the truth of the matter is, if Bill Heineman couldn’t do it, it couldn’t be done. But wait! For nearly 18 years, Apple II programmers have been doing what can’t be done. Maybe we still can! Although it may be impossible to patch the actual Print Shop program to work with HP print- ers, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that some ingenious Apple II programmer could write a brand new stand-alone program that produced Print Shop-style greeting cards on HP printers. To that end, Shareware Solu- tions II will re-institute a cash reward to the first person who can meet a great need of the Apple II community. All we want is the ability to create beautiful 2-fold greeting cards with our HP printers. That’s not too much to ask, is it? To make the reward more of an incentive than before, Share- ware Solutions II is willing to pledge $300 to the first pro- grammer who creates a freeware or shareware Apple Ile/IIc or IIGS program that permits Print Shop-style greeting cards to be printed on HP printers. Think of this as a contest with no rules and with no end date. To further demonstrate the commitment, Shareware Solu- tions II is willing to commit resources to develop yet another method that will allow Print Shop-style greeting cards to be printed to HP inkjet and laser printers. There are currently three popu- lar Apple II Desktop Publishing programs that will output to HP printers, including PublishIt4 for the Ile, IIe and IIGS, and AppleWorks GS and Graphic- Writer III for the Apple IIGS. Those programs are all quite versatile, and with the proper template set up and with clear and easy to follow instructions, any Apple II desktop publisher can create greeting cards using those programs. Shareware Solutions II is genu- inely committed to spear- heading the Apple II Greeting Card Project, and to that end will develop those templates if need be. The truth of the matter is that some of you are already using desktop publishing programs to create greeting cards, as was evidenced by several beautiful Shareware Solutions IT 7 looking greeting cards that arrived at the Shareware Solu- tions II Headquarters during the holiday season. To those of you who are already creating sophisticated greeting cards with your Apple II, I’d like to urge you to share the secrets of your success with the rest of us. I know you're out there! If you are an accomplished greeting card creator, please send any and all materials that you may have already developed to Shareware Solutions II. We're specifically looking for templates for AppleWorks GS, GraphicWriter III and Publish- It4! Additionally, if you’ve writ- ten an article for your user group newsletter that describes how to use a desktop publishing program in creative and imagi- native ways, please send those, on disk or via e-mail, to Share- ware Solutions II. After materials are sent to Shareware Solutions II, we'll go through everything, adding in- structions or hints if needed, and then make the disk(s) avail- able to the rest of the Apple II world. Don’t give up hope yet. There’s always more than one way to accomplish the same goal. Or, as a great philosopher once said, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try some time, you just might find you get what you need!” @ Shareware Solutions [e/IIc/Igs Internet ’95 If you are unable to download the EFF’s “Guide to the Inter- net,” Shareware Solutions II has secured permission from the EFF to make it available to subscribers via the Shareware Solutions II Library. Previously, in Issue #3, you were told about an Internet Resource disk. Since that original disk is now so old, it will be replaced in the library with an even more extensive offering that includes many of the Internet related resources discussed in this and previous issues of the news- letter. In addition to the EFF’s “Guide to the Internet,” permission has also been secured to provide you with all of the lessons that were offered in the Roadmap inter- active tutorial. But wait, there’s still more. Included with the above files is the latest InterNIC listing of every single commercial Inter- net Service Provider on the planet. Whether you are in Africa, Australia, Atlanta or 18 Shareware Solutions IT Alaska, you should be able to find Internet access in your locality by searching the latest edition of InterNIC’s guide to Internet providers. Additionally, you'll find the latest version of the Apple II Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file, along with listings of information resources that can be accessed once you're online to the Internet. Titled “Internet ’95,” the files are supplied on either 3.5" or 5.25" disk. There is well over a megabyte of information sup- plied on this multi-disk set. In an effort to encourage everyone to learn about the Internet in more depth than is possible from the pages of this news- letter, this multi-disk set is being provided to readers of Shareware Solutions II for only $6. Please specify which disk size you prefer. Bev’s Free Patcher Created by Bev Cadieux, the publisher of the highly acclaim- ed AppleWorks related TEXAS II newsletter, Bev’s Free Patch for AppleWorks v4.02 and v4.3 provides nearly 90 patches you can apply to AppleWorks. Some patches alter the way Apple- Works looks; others alter the way it operates. All patches are applied from right within Apple- Works since they are provided as TimeOut Modules. Extensive documentation is pro- vided on the disk. Available on either 5.25" or 3.5" disk for $5, this disk is a “must have” for AppleWorks v4.x users. A2 Disks Of The Month The Sept/Oct DOM disk contains two months’ worth of issues of the GEnieLamp newsletters; one is for users and one is for programmers. Software for the Ile/IIc includes John Graham’s excellent NightFall II planetar- ium program, and SCSI.Hacker, a formatting utility for hard drives connected to Apple’s High Speed SCSI card. Software for the Apple IIGS includes all the latest System 6 and 6.0.1 share- ware utilities and Finder exten- sions by Bill Tudor, the author of Quality Computers “Six Pack” utilities. DeskTop Doctor fixes all your DeskTop and icon files, File Finder is an improved Find File that helps you locate files, Minimizer adds a “minimize” feature to all Apple IIGS win- dows that have a zoom box, and XManager is a program that manages all of your active and inactive Finder Extensions. Additionally, there’s AutoCalc, which will automatically push the calculator button for you when you open Icon Info win- dows, and FixBoot, which adds boot blocks to RAM disks so you needn’t format them when you want to boot from them. The November DOM includes both versions of GEnieLamp, and some fantastic freeware and shareware software! For the Apple Ile/IIc, there’s an AppleWorks v4.3 TimeOut mod- ule named FileViewer and three AppleWorks inits. Also included are several text files describing new Apple II products. Software for the IIGS includes Stalac- tites, an addictive $10 share- ware arcade type game by Bill Heineman, Space Invaders GS, a math flashcard program Math FactsGS, and Sonobox, a New Desk Accessory music player for MOD format songs. The December DOM includes both versions of GEnieLamp, and the transcript of an online talk I gave about the Internet. Although not quite as eloquent as the words that appear in the newsletter, the talk was most informative. The only Apple Ile/IIc software included on this month’s disk is an AppleWorks v5 printer driver for LaserJet 4 series printers. The IIGS soft- ware contains several more of Bill Tudor’s shareware offerings including a wonderful game of Solitaire and RAT, a mouse driven word processor. Addition- ally, there’s Fix Quit, a freeware Finder Extension that moves the “Shut Down” menu item from the Finder’s Special menu and puts it into the File menu. There’s also GScii+t NDA, an indispensable utility for those who download Apple II software from the Internet, and Thoughts for the Day v2.0 shareware by PegaSoft Software. Each A2 DOM is available only on 3.5" disk for $5 from Share- ware Solutions II. Order two, and your cost is only $8. Or get all three for $10. @ Shareware Solutions IIGS Blockade GS Blockade is Brutal Deluxe’s lat- est freeware strategy game. It contains 80 levels of thought provoking puzzles. It’s a game that’s played by sliding differ- ent colored and shaped blocks. By pushing blocks into each other, they change shape or color, or disappear completely. The goal is to remove all the blocks from each level. There are special blocks that change the colors or shapes of the blocks pushed over them. There are even teleporter blocks that result in unpredictable movement. Blockade is a brain teaser that’s great fun. It has music and sounds, and Easter Eggs that seem to be activated on different days of the week; on some days, your screen border may even flash in time to the music. Blockade requires System 5.0.4 or higher, and 1.25 Megabytes of RAM. It can be controlled by mouse or by keyboard. Blockade is available from the Shareware Solutions II Library for $5. rSounds If you use System 6.x, chances are you get a lot of enjoyment from the IIGS Sound Control Panel which allows you to assign resource-based sound effects to certain activities. If you like having your IIGS mak- ing all sorts of different sounds, you'll like this disk. It contains more than 45 wild sound effects. There are plenty of blips and bleeps, chimes and chomps, ani- mal sounds and alarms, laughs and assorted whooshes that are sure to bring a smile to your face. Included with the rSounds is a sound playback jukebox, created by your humble publish- er. The rSound disk is available from the Shareware Solutions II Library for $5. PixMix PixMix is a truly classical and wonderful IIGS freeware jigsaw type game. PixMix can load in just about any standard IIGS graphic file, and it will scramble the graphic into 6 to 80 small pieces. You can then try to re- assemble the original graphic by moving the smaller pieces with your mouse. Because PixMix is such an ideal game for children to play, there are numerous graphic files in- cluded that should be of great interest to kids. Of course, you can just as easily use any graph- ic you already have. PixMix is nearly 5 years old, but it’s just as much fun to play today as it was when it was new. PixMix is available from the Shareware Solutions II Library for $5. @ Shareware Solutions IT 19 Fite, ~opple] Joe Kohn Shareware Solutions I 166 Alpine Street San Rafael, CA 94901-1008 FIRST CLASS - AIR MAIL