Shareware Solutions II Volume 2 Issue 3 1995 04 Kohn Joe US

Shareware Solutions II An Exciting Apple II Journey Into The Future Volume 2, Issue 3 April, 1995 Heard It Through The Grapevine Newsletter Notes As 1995 started, Shareware Solutions II had great cause for celebration as two very signifi- cant milestones had just been surpassed. The newsletter now had the distinction of having subscribers in each of the 50 US states, and it could finally proclaim that it had more than 1,000 subscribers worldwide. For helping to pass those two significant levels, I’d like to extend a great big thanks to you, the subscribers, for making it all possible. Your letters and e-mails of support have been inspirational and your word-of- mouth advertising has been invaluable. Not content, however, to rest on laurels, it’s time to look to the future. Although 99% of you are paid up subscribers through Volume 2, Issue 6, I’d like to offer you an incentive to re- subscribe today for another six issues. For the vast majority of you, a renewal will extend your subscription through Volume 3, Issue 6 (Issue 18). Until May 15, 1995, you can renew your subscription for only $20 for US or Canada delivery; $35 for delivery elsewhere. After May 15, 1995 the one year, six issue renewal rate will rise to $25 for US delivery; $40 for delivery elsewhere. Please make all checks payable to “Joe Kohn.” Remember, the exciting Apple II journey into the future has only just begun! The Apple II Cafe A number of you wondered whether the “Apple II Cafe” graphic that appeared on the back cover of the last issue of Shareware Solutions II was some type of trick photography or optical illusion. To those who doubted the authenticity of the graphic, I can assure you that the Apple II Cafe is a real cafe, and of course, there’s a story behind the graphic. As an officer of the GravenStein Apple User Group (PO Box 964, Petaluma, CA 94953-0964) I quite often get to see user group newsletters from around the world, since GravenStein takes part in a newsletter exchange program with dozens of other Apple II user groups. One of the user group news- letters that I get to see via the exchange program is the “Apples BC News’ from Burnaby, Brit- ish Columbia, Canada. While perusing the November, 1994 issue, my jaw fell and I started smiling when I spotted the photograph of the Apple II Cafe. Below the photo was a caption: “Michael Crout reports that this establishment is in Metropol- itan Manila, in the Philippines.” Through the wonders of tele- communication by modem, I just happen to know a gentleman named Al Crout who is involved with the Apples BC Group and I wondered if there might be a relationship. So I sent Al an e- mail asking if Michael was his brother and if so, wondered how I might be able to contact Michael. Al wrote back and told me his brother’s e-mail address and I promptly wrote to Michael. Michael, as it turns out, is a Macintosh owner but when he strolled by the Apple II Cafe on a recent visit to Manila, he saw a photo opportunity that he just couldn’t pass up. After all, he just knew the wonderful kind of reaction he’d elicit from bother Al and Al’s pals at the next user group meeting. Little did he know at the time that his photo would end up adorning the back cover of a newsletter that is sent out to more than 20 countries. Through e-mail, Michael sent me a GIF graphic of the Apple II Cafe. He told me that there is an integrated circuit factory located just down the street from the cafe, and it was at that plant that Apple used to manufacture the integrated circuits that were used in Apple I+ computers. Since many of the factory work- ers stopped by the cafe for lunch, the owner decided to pay tribute to his favorite customers by naming the cafe in their honor. Although the Apple II is no long- er manufactured, the Apple II Cafe is still a popular “watering hole” in Manila. In fact, Michael and I made very tentative plans to meet there at some undeter- mined time in the future. Maybe you'd like to join us there for a ManilaFest? If so, the Apple Cider and Apple Pie will be cour- tesy of Shareware Solutions II! Shareware Solutions II 1 Shareware Solutions II Volume 2, Issue 3 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 Solutions 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 Classic. Page Layout prepared in AppleWorks GS. Printing was done on a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIP Plus, connected to the IIGS courtesy of Vitesse’s Harmonie. The use of TrueType fonts is courtesy of WestCode Software’s Pointless. E-Mail Addresses: CIS: 76702,565 GENIE: JOE.KOHN INTERNET: joko@crl.com 2 Shareware Solutions IT System 6.0.2? Brutal Deluxe caused quite a commotion when they posted a message in early March, 1995 on comp.sys.apple2 — the Apple II discussion group on the Use- net — informing the Apple IIGS community that they were work- ing on a “bug fix” update to the last version of GS/OS that was released by Apple. That first message was some- what cryptic: “After 2 months of hard work, we are proud to an- nounce that we have made the source code of the whole Apple IIGS 6.0.1 System.” Brutal Deluxe further stated that they were looking for other program- mers to assist them in this proj- ect. They concluded, “We per- fectly know that the Apple IIGS system is not a public domain software and the fact of re- leasing a new version is proba- bly illegal. But, if we and you don’t do it, who will do it? Apple has decided to leave the Apple II community and will never change its mind. But, if some- one at Apple Computer wants to help us, that will be a good thing.” With visions of Apple’s attor- neys filing copyright infringe- ment lawsuits, the announce- ment was met with some skep- ticism, some concern, and many warnings. Fortunately, Brutal Deluxe heeded those warnings and announced several days later that they did not intend to invoke the wrath of any of Apple’s legal eagles; instead, they envision releasing some type of patch disk to fix specific problems that have been discov- ered in System 6.0.1. In an effort to get some advice to pass along to Brutal Deluxe, I contacted Bob Consorti, the pro- grammer responsible for the recent BOS update to the Apple III Operating System. I specifi- cally asked Bob about legal problems and was informed that when someone calls Apple with a question about the Apple III computer, they refer the caller to none other than Bob. He assured me that he has not had a single communication from anyone who is involved with Apple’s legal department. Of course, the Apple III is much older than the IIGS and there is simply no one left at Apple, according to Bob, who knows anything about the Apple III. We just don’t know what Apple’s reaction would be if they knew of the plans of a couple of very talented IIGS programmers; I guess we'll soon find out. In any case, Brutal Deluxe needs information and they need help. They do not have a complete list of “bugs” that exist in System 6.0.1, so if you have ever had any problems with System 6.0.1, please write to Brutal Deluxe and offer them as much detailed information as you possibly can about the problems you've en- countered. They also need some assistance to test and further de-bug the system software. As an exam- ple, Brutal Deluxe doesn’t have a network set up, so they would need someone with a network to test the capabilities of the new system on their configuration. With help from the Apple IIGS community and with the under- standing that there will not be any copyright infringements, Brutal Deluxe’s plans could very well help to make the IIGS a vibrant and supported computer system well into the next cen- tury and beyond. You can contact Brutal Deluxe by sending Internet e-mail to: zardini@ixl.u-bordeaux.fr Alternately, you can contact them at either of the following addresses: Olivier Zardini Res. la foret du Conte 33140 CADAUJAC FRANCE Tel: (33) 56.30.73.36 Rtel: 3615, 3614 Bal ZARDOS Antoine Vignau 11 rue Emile Fourcand 33000 BORDEAUX FRANCE Tel: (33) 56.48.00.94 Rtel: 3615, 3614 Bal LOGO Sun Remarketing For the past 12 years, Sun Re- marketing has been a reputable mail order vendor of used Apple II hardware. Over the years, their catalogs have always listed page after page of reason- ably priced Apple brand periph- erals, 3rd party interface cards, and complete Ile, IIc and IIGS computer systems. Sun Remarketing is very com- mitted to repairing, supporting and selling used Apple brand equipment, and the proof is evident to anyone who sees their catalog and realizes that Sun remains today as one of the very few sources for Apple III equip- ment. In fact, it’s long been ru- mored that Apple itself sup- plied Sun Remarketing with all of its remaining stock of Apple III computers when it ceased production of that computer ten years ago. After seeing the very latest Sun Remarketing catalog, it’s quite easy to draw the conclusion that Sun has recently struck some type of similar deal with Apple Computer that allowed them to acquire Apple’s remaining stock of new Apple Ile computer systems. No matter how they secured them, Sun Remarketing is cur- rently selling brand new 128K Ile computers for only $99 (plus $15 shipping to US destina- tions). That is for the very latest Enhanced Platinum model Ie that sports the numeric keypad. That pricing is simply unbeliev- able, considering that a refur- bished Ile keyboard alone would cost at least $50 and a used Ile power supply would cost just about the same. Try to imagine what an Apple authorized deal- er might charge you to repair a broken Ile, and you'll realize that a $99 replacement CPU is the deal of the century! For additional information, con- tact: Sun Remarketing PO Box 4059 Logan, UT 84323-4059 800-821-3221 801-755-3393 801-755-3311 (Fax) If you have access to the Internet’s World Wide Web, just point your favorite web browser to http://www.sunrem.com/ for an electronic version of Sun’s catalog. Easter Eggs Richard Bennett’s freeware MiniTalk is a telecommunica- tions program contained within a IIGS Classic Desk Accessory. Unbeknownst to most, it also sports a fairly amusing Easter Egg. To activate it, access any version of MiniTalk and sim- ultaneously press your Open Apple key and the * key located on your numeric keypad. Surely Richard Bennett must have realized that by including the line “Calling Joe Kohn, call- ing Joe Kohn” within the code of his program, some Easter Egg sleuth would eventually discover his hidden greetings. Richard Bennett also wrote Express, the IIGS Print Spooler program that is published by Seven Hills Software. I wonder if Seven Hills knows about the hidden Easter Egg in Express. It takes several steps to acti- vate the Express Easter Egg. First, you'll need to run a IIGS application that operates in the 320 mode and that displays the Apple Pull Down menu. Once you have launched such a pro- gram, open up the Express Con- trol Panel. Then, simultaneously press down on your Shift key and your Control key, and with your mouse, click on your name which is displayed near the top of the Express Control Panel. If you own Express v1 and v2, try this with both versions, as the Easter Eggs are slightly differ- ent. Suffice it to say, the Easter Egg in Express might be the first one discovered that con- tains a scanned photograph of the program’s author. In Animasia, the brand new and incredibly sophisticated IIGS animation system, there’s also an Easter Egg although some might rightfully claim that it’s really a Non-Easter Egg. Like many other IIGS programs, Animasia sports a credit screen that can be read from the Apple Pull Down menu by accessing the “About Animasia 3-D” menu item. If you press the Option key Shareware Solutions IT 3 and then access “About Ani- masia 3-D,” you'll see some text that is just a little out of the ordinary. It says: “What?!? You want a great ap- plication AND a clever Easter Egg?!? Well, ya can’t have both because there isn’t enough time in a programming day. Which will it be?” At the bottom of the screen, two buttons are then displayed. One is labeled “Easter Egg” and the other is labeled “Great Applic- ation.” If you click on the Great Application button, you'll then see another box of text appear that says, “Well I guess you don’t want to see the slick 5-D Bromitron I’ve cooked up for you, now do you?” When you click on the button labeled “Nope,” you are then returned to Animasia. If you activate the Easter Egg a second time, but this time click on the “Easter Egg” button, you'll see the following appear in a text box: “Easter Egg! Easter Egg?!? Is that all you want? A person could write the World’s Greatest Application and all you’d want to do is play with the Easter Eggs! Well! Tl just start writing software that’s one huge EASTER EGG in the hopes that you look for a hidden application. Harumph.” At the very bottom of the text box is a single button labeled “Elvis Lives.” Click on that, and you'll be returned to Animasia. ICON In early February, the Apple II world was very saddened and stunned by an announcement that was posted on GEnie’s A2 RoundTable. Written by Tom Weishaar, the owner of ICON, the message declared that his 4 Shareware Solutions IT organization had run out of money and was being forced to shut down operations. In early January, we received what was to be the final issues of Studio City, Script-Central and Time- Out-Central. In early February, we received the final issue of A2-Central. For many years, I had eagerly awaited the arrival of the ICON publications in my mailbox and was never disappointed. For the past 5 years, Tom Weishaar had also provided me with the high point of the year by spon- soring KansasFest. Tom had given me the opportunity to meet my peers and to make many new friends and for that, Til always be appreciative. Over the years, I’d gotten many HyperCard derived laughs from Script-Central, thanks to the wild and wacky crew of Hang- Time and his former associate Bo Monroe. I’d learned how to make my HyperStudio buttons dance, thanks to the Stupid Button Tricks published in Studio City. I'd gotten to read some of the best computer related writing ever, penned by Dennis Doms and Doug Cuff in Resource Central/A2 Central. Td learned to tame AppleWorks through the efforts of Randy Brandt and Will Nelken in TimeOut-Central. It’s truly a sad day that the Apple II community won’t have those ICON envelopes filling our mailboxes anymore, and it’s going to be a lonely summer without KansasFest. Rather than dwell on what will no longer be, I’d just like to thank Tom Weishaar for all the good years and wish him luck in all his future endeavors. His efforts have truly been prodigious and consistent, and I believe that if there’s anyone who qualifies for Apple II Saintdom status, it is Tom Weishaar. I shed a tear for the Apple II community, as we have lost a truly valuable and irreplaceable national treasure. I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say that Tom Weishaar will be greatly missed. The Need For Speed After reading about the faster 14 Mhz 65816 chips that can dramatically boost the perform- ance and speed of Zip GS and TransWarp GS accelerators, many subscribers contacted the Western Design Center and were duly disappointed when they received a form letter by return mail. In part, that letter stated, “We currently have those microproc- essors available at a cost of $19.80 each. We require a $100 minimum for each individual order. Shipping charges are $4 for UPS Ground and $6 for UPS Blue. The microprocessors are sold on a non-refundable, non- replaceable and non-returnable basis only.” The $100 minimum order is ob- viously a major stumbling block for individuals but fortunately, it’s not an unsurmountable ob- stacle. Of greater concern are the modifications that are needed, and the additional parts that are required, to “soup up” a IIGS so that it will run at 14 Mhz. In addition to the faster 14 Mhz rated 65816, both the Trans- Warp GS and the Zip GS require that you install a replacement of the oscillator crystal with one that is rated to run four times the speed desired; thus to run a Zip or TransWarp at 14 Mhz, you'd need to install a 56 Mhz oscillator. Oscillators are very inexpensive and in the US can be purchased from Digi-Key Corp. (1-800-344- 4539). The correct crystals to use are listed in their catalog as being from Epson America, Inc and they are listed as CMOS Crystal Oscillators, Case SG- 531H. The sequentially num- bered Digi-Key parts range from SE1101 (for a 32 Mhz crystal) up to SE1110 (for a 60 Mhz crystal). Those crystals cost less than $4 each. The only IIGS accelerator that can be upgraded with just the 14 Mhz 65816 and a new oscil- lator are those TransWarp GS cards that have been previously upgraded to contain the 32K cache daughter-board. If you check your TransWarp Classic Desk Accessory and it shows that you have a “TransWarp GS v8/32S - Revision 1.8s,” then you can dependably boost the speed of your IIGS by just swapping two chips. Absolutely no soldering or de-soldering is necessary with that revision of the TransWarp GS; it’s just “plug and play.” Unfortunately, the TransWarp uses many proprietary parts that are no longer available be- cause Applied Engineering has gone out of business. Because of that, it is simply not advised for you to even contemplate up- dating any other revision of the TransWarp GS aside from the Revision 1.8s accelerator. With other revisions of the TransWarp GS, it may be possible to boost the speed by a modest 1 or 1.5 Mhz by simply inserting a new crystal. Before I purchased the 32K cache, I was able to dependably run my TransWarp GS at a little more than 8 Mhz for more than a year by simply inserting a 33.3 Mhz oscillator (Digi-Key Part Num- ber SE1102). Since every IIGS is different, it cannot be accurately predicted at which speed yours will run dependably. If you have all 7 slots filled with Interface cards, you may not be able to run fast- er than 11 or 12 Mhz. The volt- age that your IIGS power supply is generating is also a factor. In short, you will not know just how fast you can go until you actually plug in a new oscillator and run your system for hours. For that reason, it is suggested that you purchase, in addition to the 14 Mhz 65816, a number of different rated oscillators. The Zip GS requires additional modifications that involve de- soldering the socket for the cur- rent oscillator and re-soldering a new socket for the new oscil- lator. Also required are faster (20ns or faster) cache SRAMs, which in turn require that the sockets existing on the Zip GS be either removed or cut and a new row of socket pins installed, since the faster SRAMs are normally .3" wide, and most Zip GS models came with .6" wide SRAMs and sockets. Addition- ally, it has been reported that the cache manager chip on some of the earlier Zip GS models cannot handle the higher speeds and will burn out. Tf you still want to upgrade your TIGS to run faster after you have read all the caveats, you need to contact Ken Lucke. Ken has taken it upon himself to purchase 65816s in bulk from Western Design Center. He charges $35 for the 65816; con- sidering the costs involved, the price is not unreasonable. If purchasing just the 65816 from Ken, you will need to purchase oscillators on your own. Ken also has a kit available for Zip GS owners that includes everything you need to modify your accelerator, including the 65816, a 55 Mhz crystal, re- placement sockets, replacement chips, new cables, and complete instructions on how to perform the modifications yourself. That kit is available for $120. Please be aware that Ken is an Apple IIGS owner just like you, and he has no involvement with Western Design Center or any other Apple II company. He is providing the chips and kits as a public service, and for that rea- son, he cannot be held respon- sible for any damages caused in the course of the upgrade. That said, I have heard numerous positive reports from those who have purchased chips and kits from Ken and haven’t heard of any problems at all. Send checks, in US Funds only, to: Ken Lucke 1639 Lea Way Seaside, OR 97138-7766 Late Breaking News Just as we were going to press, The Byte Works announced that they would soon be releasing Quick Click Morph for the IIGS. According to the Byte Works: “Morphs are those amazing movie clips you sometimes see on high budget films and com- mercials. You start with two or more original pictures, identify a few similar points, like the eyes on a girl and a cat, and the program creates a smooth movie Shareware Solutions II 5 that changes one picture to an- other. The middle frames, show- ing a mix of the two pictures, can be amusing, informative, or thought provoking.” Byte Works uploaded a sample morph animation to the GEnie A2 library, and it showed the author’s daughter changing into a cat. The animation was fluid and smooth, and the morph was created by combining two Super Hi Res scanned photographs. The morph was quite impres- sive, and Quick Click Morph sure looks like a lot of fun to me. Quick Click Morph is due to be released sometime during April, and it will cost $60, It requires System 6.0.1 and 1.125 Mega- bytes of RAM. For additional information, contact: Mike Westerfield Byte Works, Inc. 8000 Wagon Mound Dr NW Albuquerque, NM 87120 505-898-8183 @ Modem Madness NASA By E-Mail NASA press releases and other space related materials are freely available by sending an Internet e-mail message to “domo@hq.nasa.gov”. In the body of the message (not in the subject line) you need to type the words “subscribe press- release” (without the quotation marks). NASA’s system will reply via e-mail with a confir- mation of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information about NASA’s e-mail services. Lynx And Scrollback A scrollback buffer is a very ef- fective means to capture or re- view incoming information as it scrolls off the top of your screen. Unfortunately, recent updates to Lynx (v2.3 and above) have caused problems with all Apple II programs that offer a scroll- back buffer. Apparently, the code that Lynx is currently us- ing to re-draw the screen has the nasty side effect of pre- venting scrollback capture rou- tines from ever adding anything to scrollback. Greg Schaefer, the author of Proterm, explains why Lynx acts this way. “The scrollback capture problem is related to how Lynx re-draws the screen. If you were to slow 6 Shareware Solutions IT down the process enough, you would see that Lynx never really erases or scrolls anything. In fact, when it needs to put some- thing on the screen, it draws over the existing text. Worse, it actually looks at the existing text to see if it can reuse any of it. If it can, then it may fill ina few characters here or erase a few characters there. Scroll- backs are, in general terms, a fancy capture buffer that oper- ate using certain heuristics. That is to say, the capture rou- tines “watch” the incoming data, and try to capture infor- mation when it is about to be destroyed. The two most com- mon cases of this are scrolling (when the top line would other- wise scroll into oblivion) and erasing (when all the text is cleared). Scrollback capture rou- tines look for these events and save the text that would other- wise be lost. In the case of Lynx, no text is ever scrolled. There- fore, the capture algorithm is unable to add any text to scroll- back that way. In addition, the screen is never cleared. Once again, the capture algorithm is unable to add any text to scrollback.” Fortunately, there is a “work around” solution to this prob- lem. If you press Control-W or Control-L while you are viewing any screen from within Lynx, that screen will be refreshed in the traditional manner, and the contents of the refreshed screen will be saved in your scrollback buffer. Although it’s not very convenient to press a Control Code after viewing every screen, at the current time it’s the only way to capture text successfully in your scrollback buffer. Downloading With Lynx Lynx is so much more than just a search and retrieval tool for text based materials stored on the Internet's World Wide Web. It can also be used to download Apple II software from File Transfer Protocol (ftp) software library sites around the world. Once you make the switch and start using lynx to download software, you'll never again have to type a single ftp or neftp command. Before using lynx to download Apple II software, it’s important to understand some basic tech- nical information about both the Internet and about the world wide web. Keep in mind that the Internet’s predecessor - ARPANET — was developed during the height of the Cold War, and it was essen- tially designed to allow the mili- tary to communicate with con- tractors and researchers before, during and after a nuclear war. Also keep in mind that when the backbone of what is now the Internet was first put into place, there were no such things as file transfer protocols like xmodem or zmodem, and that the materials transmitted via the Arpanet were sent from mainframe to mainframe. For those reasons, users of the current Internet have had to design certain “work around” solutions to transfer programs, as opposed to text files, via the Internet. As described in previ- ous issues, BinScii is a ProDOS based program that converts ShrinkIt archive files into a format that can be successfully transmitted via Internet e-mail. Files that have been encoded by BinScii can also be transferred via Usenet newsgroups (such as comp.binaries.apple2) and can be successfully downloaded from ftp sites via ftp or lynx without any special precautions. By definition, BinScii encoded files are text files. BinScii encoded files are nearly 130% the size of a compressed ShrinkIt file and after down- loading them, they must be processed first by BinScii and then by ShrinkIt. Although Bin- Scii works just fine, it’s neither efficient nor very much fun to use. A much better and simpler method to transfer files on the Internet would be to transfer them as compressed Shrinklt archives. The Internet’s file transfer pro- tocol has a built-in toggle that allows you to switch between Text (TXT) and non-Text (BIN) file transfer mode. If you at- tempt to ftp a ShrinkIt archive in TXT mode, the file will transfer, but it will be garbled, corrupted and useless. Unfor- tunately, the TXT file transfer mode is ftp’s default transfer mode and it’s easy to forget to type BIN before downloading. An improved version of ftp exists in ncftp and fortunately, BIN is the default transfer mode in ncftp, so you don’t have to toggle anything to download ShrinklIt archives via ncftp. Lynx, of course, make both ftp and ncftp obsolete, mainly because it’s so easy to use. You can navigate ftp directories with your arrow keys, and when you see a file you want to download, all you need do is press your “D” key which instructs lynx to download the file. It couldn’t be easier. There is, however, no toggle in lynx to switch between BIN/TXT transfer. Instead, lynx itself determines which method to use to transfer files by consulting the lynx configuration file (lynx.cfg) that is found on all Internet host computers where lynx is installed. That lynx.cfg file is located in the /usr/local/lib directory of Unix based hosts, or the Lynx_Dir directory of VMS based systems, and it’s a good idea for all lynx users to take a look at that file. Lynx determines whether to send a file by TXT or BIN mode based on the actual filename extension. Stored within the lynx.cfg file is a limited list of common MS-DOS and Macintosh filename extensions that, for example, instructs lynx to send a file named XYZ.ZIP (Zip is similar to ShrinklIt in that it is the standard compression scheme used by MS-DOS computers) using the BIN transfer mode. The lynx.cfg file is maintained by the system administrator as it con- trols how lynx operates on a system wide basis. Nonetheless, Apple II users of the Internet can easily set up a file that contains common Apple II filename extensions so that lynx will know to download files such as ABC.SHK or XYZ.BXY using the BIN transfer mode. They key is to have a file named “.mime.types” residing in your home directory. The information contained in the “.mime.types” file takes precedence over whatever information is contained in the lynx.cfg file. To set up your own “.mime.types” file, simply run your favorite Unix or VMS based text editor, and copy these two lines to the editor: application/x-Shrinkit shk SHK sdk SDK application/x-BinarylI bny BNY bqy BQY bxy BXY Simply save that file with the name “.mime.types” (without the quotation marks, but with the leading period) and you'll be able to easily download any and all Apple II software stored on ftp archive sites using lynx! Once you’ve downloaded with lynx, you'll never want to use ftp or even neftp again. You can test out just how easy and effective downloading via lynx is by accessing either of the two major Apple II ftp sites via lynx. The URLs for the Grind and Caltech ftp sites are: file://grind.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2 file://ftp.cco.caltech.edu/pub/apple2 Shareware Solutions IT 7 Home Sweet Home Page Several days after mailing out the last issue of Shareware Solutions II, I received the following e-mail message from Eric Bush of Kitchen Sink Software fame: “As a charter subscriber to Shareware Solutions II, I have read all your articles about the Internet and witnessed your excitement over the World Wide Web. In my day job, I am a computer specialist at the ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environ- mental Education at Ohio State University. I maintain the Gopher and WWW servers there. As I looked through your list of “hot” places to point, I couldn’t help but think it was time for Joe to have an even bigger presence on the Internet.” His e-mail concluded with the suggestion that I use Lynx to access the following URL: http://www.ericse.ohio-state.edu/SSILhtml Lynx quickly sprang into action and magically transported me to the “Shareware Solutions II Home Page.” I was stunned, surprised, proud and absolutely transfixed when I saw that web site for the very first time. What Eric did was translate the “Hot Links On The World Wide Web” article from the last issue into HTML format. The words that I had written only a week or two before had been transformed into the hypertext based environment of the world wide web. All of the recommended URLs from that article became operative links to other web sites which can be visited by clicking on the linked URLs with your arrow keys. Even though Shareware Solu- tions II had no active part in creating the web site, the site has been officially adopted as the unofficial home of Share- ware Solutions II on the web. I was, and continue to be, thrilled and amazed at what Eric Bush has created. I hope that you enjoy accessing the Shareware Solutions II Home Page on the World Wide Web as much as I do. Correction In the last issue, the URL for the Electronic Journal Home Page was listed incorrectly. The correct URL for that Home Page is http://www.etext.org/ @ Apple I Product News By Cynthia E. Field, Ph.D. Just because the Apple II “cup” may never again runneth over is no reason to conclude that the product flow has completely dried up. In fact, if you are in the market for reading compre- hension programs or hardware add-ons, you'll find some com- pelling new products described in the paragraphs below. If you are merely looking for some great deals, we have those, too. Among the best: a 50% discount from Sunburst Communica- tions, one of the most well- regarded educational software publishers. As a service provided by Share- ware Solutions II for its sub- 8 Shareware Solutions IT 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. Optimum Resource, Inc. The Optimum Resource Reading Comprehension Series Each of the four titles in this new series is packed with in- triguing, multi-level stories that capture the interest of children ages 6 to 10 while teaching them crucial reading comprehension skills. Teachers or parents can tailor each program to meet individual needs. The programs run on the Apple II, I+, Ile, Ic, IGS, Laser 128, and Macintosh LC with Apple Ile Card. Sports covers everything from superstars to sports facts. His- tory in the Making includes a broad range of timely stories from Dr. Suess, Walt Disney, and (don’t have a cow!) Bart Simpson to World War II, Hurri- cane Andrew, and Israeli peace efforts. In Geography, children take trips to the North Pole, the ocean floor, and dozens of other locations. Science teaches kids about the invention of velcro, the digestion of food, and the fastest animals on earth, among other things. Sports History in the Making Geography Science $49.95 each Optimum Resource, Inc. 5 Hiltech Lane Hilton Head, SC 29926 1-800-327-1473 803-689-8000 803-689-8008 (Fax) Laureate Learning Systems 50% Off Sale Extended Laureate has extended its Apple Ile software sale (see Shareware Solutions II, Volume 2, Issue 1, p. 3) to May 31, 1995. If you are looking for programs for pre-school, Head Start, Title I, or ESL, take a moment now to call for the company’s new 1995 catalog. Laureate Learning Systems, Inc 110 East Spring Street Winooski, VT 05404-1898 1-800-562-6801 Seven Hills Software Spectrum 2.0 Seven Hills Software recently announced the release of version 2.0 of the Apple IIGS telecom- munications program Spectrum. According to the company, the new version runs scripts some three times faster and includes significant new features as well as bug fixes. Among the im- provements is the capability to work with “Spectrum External Commands.” The supplied XCMDs include Debug (helps script authors debug their scripts), RadioCheck (displays a custom window with radio but- ton groups and checkboxes), and Speech, which speaks any given phrase if Byte Works’ Talking Tools is installed (see next paragraph). Talking Tools Talking Tools is a set of system tools which provides voice syn- thesis on the IIGS. Because the speech is computer generated instead of recorded, scripts can speak any phrase, not just pre- recorded ones. Balloon This NDA (new desk accessory) lets you easily create and man- age NuFX (ShrinkIt) archives from the Apple Menu. In the Finder, you double click on an archive to extract it. Creating an archive is almost as easy. Just select the files and choose “Archive Files.” With Balloon you also get a Spectrum XCMD that remembers all the files you download. As soon as you hang up, Balloon pops open and auto- matically unpacks the files you received. Created by Joe Wank- erl at GS+ Magazine, Balloon is also available from the maga- zine’s publisher, EGO Systems, for $25. Spectrum 2.0 $129.95 (call for special 30% discount pricing through April 30, 1995) $65 (trade-up from another tele- comm. program such as Talk Is Cheap, ProTERM, or even the AppleWorks GS telecommuni- cations module) $35 (upgrade from version 1.0) Talking Tools $30 Balloon $20 Please add $3.50 to all orders for shipping and handling. Flori- da residents add 7% sales tax. Seven Hills Software 2310 Oxford Road Tallahassee, FL 32304-3930 904-575-0566 (M-F, 9am - 5 pm) 904-575-2015 (Fax) Internet: sevenhills@aol.com Computer Marketing Corp. Apple IIe Hardware Deals A new division of Computer Marketing Corp. offers a com- plete line of Apple Ie cables, cards, connectors, and accesso- ries. Many discontinued and hard-to-find items are available. The company is a national cen- ter for closed-out, refurbished, used, and traded-in computer accessories and peripherals. Computer Marketing Corp. 5000 Linbar Drive, Ste 225 Nashville, TN 37211 1-800-416-6338 The Byte Works Inc. Special Pricing on Apple II Books The Byte Works has managed to rescue several boxes of classic Apple II books. Some were writ- ten by Apple’s staff and pub- lished by Addison-Wesley. Other titles were published by Com- puter Books and Quality Books. Many of these books are out of print and available on a first- come first-served basis at dis- counts of 5% to 20%. E-mail or call the company for a current list of offerings. Quick Click Cale Update If you've ever used a spreadsheet on the Apple IIGS and wished it would do just a few more things, Mike Westerfield’s Quick Click Cale is the program you’ve waited for. From your spread- sheets the program can generate Shareware Solutions IT 9 business graphics including pie charts, line graphs, and bar graphs in a variety of styles. You can format spreadsheet cells and link spreadsheets via Apple’s latest publish and sub- scribe technology. You can open AppleWorks spreadsheets dir- ectly or import spreadsheet in- formation from AppleWorks GS, earlier versions of Quick Click Cale, and ASCII files. Quick Click Cale requires System 6.0.1 and 1.125 Megabytes of RAM. Quick Click Cale $60 The Byte Works Inc. 8000 Wagon Mound Drive NW Albuquerque, NM 87120 505-898-8183 Internet: MikeW50@aol.com Sunburst Communications 50% Off Sale From now through July 1, 1995, Sunburst is offering a 50% dis- count on orders of $1,000 or more to educational institutions purchasing Apple II products. Even if you are not a teacher or administrator yourself, this is a good opportunity for your PTA to help beef up the school’s software library. You can select from more than 150 products. Sunburst publishes some of my all-time favorites including A Field Trip into the Sea, Gears, Muppetville, and The Voyage of the Mimi. The discount applies to lab packs, site licenses, and network versions as well as to single products. Sunburst Communications 101 Castleton Street P.O. Box 100 Pleasantville, NY 10570-0100 1-800-321-7511 Internet: sunburst4@aol.com Sequential Systems Second Sight If it’s time to replace or enhance your Apple IIGS color monitor, it’s time to consider Second Sight. The video-display card supports Apple II text and graphics modes but can be used with a standard VGA (video graphics adaptor) monitor. VGA monitors are typically used with IBM PCs and compatible com- puters. Because newer PCs usu- ally come with Super VGA mon- itors, VGA monitors are consid- ered older technology and are, therefore, usually very inexpen- sive. The Second Sight video card comes with software to dis- play TIFF (tagged-image file format), GIF (graphics inter- change format), PICT (the Mac- intosh standard), and Kodak Photo CD images. Introductory Price: $179 + s/h (until April 30, 1995) Sequential Systems 1200 Diamond Circle Lafayette, CO 80026 1-800-759-4549 @ The Greeting Card Project Good News/Bad News Ihave good news and I have bad news; first, the bad news. In the last issue of Shareware Solutions II, I requested those of you who are proficient in cre- ating greeting cards using Apple II desktop publishing programs to please send me examples, templates and articles about your methods. The bad news is that no one responded to my plea. So, what’s the good news? In that same issue, I threatened that if no one sent in any mate- rials, I’d be forced to create greeting card templates myself. 10 Shareware Solutions IT Well, guess what? I’ve since printed out dozens of Print Shop style greeting cards on my HP LaserJet using the Page Layout Module of AppleWorks GS! In fact, the first greeting card that rolled out of my LaserJet was roguishly sent out to a Share- ware Solutions II subscriber who wrote inquiring about my progress. It was with great glee that I printed on the cover of that card, “Who Needs The Print Shop?” and on the inside printed, “When You Have Shareware Solutions II?” I was nearly hysterical with joy when I printed on the back cover in small type, “Printed on an HP LaserJet with AppleWorks GS.” That first card was quite simple as it contained only text. But within 24 hours, I was printing much nicer looking cards with actual Print Shop GS graphics and graphic based borders. Within several days, I even managed to incorporate some 320 mode Super Hi Res scanned photographs into my designs. So, I think I can safely predict that the Greeting Card Project will be an overwhelming success. But it’s not going to be limited to just creating greeting cards. I also plan to share with you all of the other components of the Print Shop that can be dupli- cated within a desktop pub- lishing program. Soon you too will be able to create mailing and disk labels, monthly cal- endars, and beautiful looking letterhead stationery. Creating those picture-perfect completed templates will take some time and some effort, but they will surely become avail- able to you, from the Shareware Solutions II Library, within the next several months. In the meanwhile, I’d like to share some basic information with you that should assist you in designing and printing your own greeting cards. Please keep in mind that these remarks are being written mere days after the first successful greeting card rolled out of my LaserJet, so they are not intended to be the definitive word. Instead, I’m hoping that my remarks will offer just enough information to help you to get started on your own, and that you'll soon discov- er some improvements and en- hancements to my methods, and that you'll share those with the rest of us. Before providing those step-by- step instructions, I feel obli- gated to tell you just how sim- ple a process it was to devise the following method. In a way, it’s quite ironic that the solution to printing greeting cards to HP brand printers had literally been staring me in the face for two years, and I just didn’t real- ize it until I had put my mind to solving a problem that seemed to be insurmountable. An apt conclusion to make from all this is that with an Apple II, you can do anything you want; all it takes is a little determination. Picture This Before doing anything else, I’d like you to try to visualize how and why my work-around meth- ods work. Take a blank piece of 8.5" by 11" paper, and fold it as if it were a completed Print Shop greeting card; first, fold it in half lengthwise and then fold that in half widthwise. As an exercise, get out a pen or pencil. Take your folded blank card and on the front cover, draw the number 1. Open the card, and on the inside left page, draw the number 2. On the in- side right page, draw the num- ber 3. Finally, close the card and draw the number 4 on the back cover. When you unfold that piece of paper, you'll have a sheet that has been evenly divided into four quadrants. Those four quadrants are the building blocks for creating greeting cards using any desktop pub- lishing program. Each of those numbers repre- sents a panel where text, graph- ics and borders can be placed. While that sheet is laid out flat, you'll notice that only two of the numbers will appear to be fac- ing you; the others will appear upside-down. The key, of course, to easily creating a greeting card that has text and/or graph- ics, but where 2 of the quad- rants need to be printed upside down, is deceptively simple. It requires running that single page through your printer two times. On the first pass through the printer, the quadrants marked 1 and 4 (those being the front and back covers) are printed first. Then, the sheet of paper needs to be turned around so that when quadrants 2 and 3 are printed, the text and graphics will be facing the opposite direction from the text and graphics that appear in quadrants 1 and 4. Once the page has been printed twice using this method, you can just fold the sheet as if it were an actual Print Shop greeting card, and with it folded, all text and graphics will appear facing you. Because so many of you reported that you own and use Apple- Works GS, let’s use that pro- gram for our example. Keep in mind, however, that the concepts and the basic over-all steps taken in AppleWorks GS are the same as would be employed in either GraphicWriter III or Pub- lishIt4. Although we are lim- iting our focus here to Apple- Works GS, when the Greeting Card Project disks are released, they will include templates and examples for all three Apple II desktop publishing programs. Step By Step To create your own greeting cards, just follow these simple directions: 1) Start up AppleWorks GS and open up a new Page Layout document. 2) Before doing anything else, access the File Pull Down Menu and choose the Page Setup option. 3) If using the Harmonie printer drivers, choose the Condensed and Portrait settings. If using Independence, click on the box for Vertical Condense. Then click on OK. 4) Click on the small “M” at the bottom left of your screen; for- matting options entered on the Master Page will automatically be copied to both pages of your greeting card template. 5) Access the Options Pull Down Shareware Solutions IT i Menu and choose the option to Set Guides. Next: 5a) Set Left/Right Margin to .5" 5b) Set Columns equal to 2 5c) Set Top/Bottom Margin to 5" 5d) Set Column Spacing to 1" 6) Once your formatted Master Page document reappears on screen, move the dotted line at the top of the page — the horizontal ruler guide — down to the 6" mark. 7) Access the Edit Pull Down Menu and pick the Insert Page option. Add one page after the current page. 8) Save this file. As hard as it may be for you to believe, that really is all that is required to do in order to gener- ate a blank greeting card tem- plate. Use this template as a starting point for all of your greeting cards. Just Do It If you’re unfamiliar with using a desktop publishing program, create your first greeting card as a very simple card containing only text. Start out with the front cover which will be the bottom right-hand quadrant of Page 1. With your mouse, click on the Text Tool in the Tool Palette; that’s symbolized by the letter “A.” Your cursor will change to the I-beam text inser- tion cursor. When you click any- where in a quadrant with that particular cursor, a text box will appear that is perfectly sized to take up the entire quadrant. You should then go to the Font 12 Shareware Solutions IT Pull Down menu and choose your font, pick the point size and indicate what type of styl- ized text you prefer. Next, go to the Text Pull Down menu and click on “Center” as that will center your text so that it will be symmetrical and evenly spaced between the borders that you'll later add. Once you've finished the cover of the card, click on the number 2 Page Icon and follow the steps above. When you're done en- tering your text, choose the Print command from the File Pull Down menu, and when the print dialog box appears, choose the 300 DPI setting and choose to print both pages. After page 1 rolls out of your printer, simply reposition the sheet in your pa- per tray, making sure to have turned the sheet, and then sit back smugly and wait for your first greeting card to be com- pleted. Just be prepared to be stunned with the results. Pointless To The Rescue If you are not impressed with your printout, chances are that you do not yet own WestCode Software’s Pointless. That util- ity allows you to use TrueType fonts with GS/OS based appli- cations. TrueType fonts always look fantastic and never print out with the “jaggies.” Pointless will make all your greeting card projects look their best. For that matter, it will make all of your text based documents look much better than if you were using the Bit Mapped fonts that are supplied as part of Apple’s system software. Pointless is a must-have if you wish to look your best in print. Border Patrol Now you're ready to add a bor- der to that same card. With your mouse, click first on the Rectangle Tool in the Tool Pal- ette and then click on the Hollow Icon that is found near the bottom of the Tool Palette. Next, click on one of the lines found in the Line Palette, which is located just below the Hollow Icon. Since the quadrant you are going to add a border to is actu- ally larger than can be displayed on screen, you'll find it easier to add a border if you access the Options Pull Down menu and select “Fit In Window” so that you can see the entire page at one time. Once you've done that, move your cursor to the upper left hand portion of the quad- rant you want to add a border to, click your mouse and with the mouse button depressed, move your mouse to the lower right edge of the quadrant and then release the mouse button. You now have a full panel border. Before proceeding, go back to the Options Pull Down menu and choose to display the screen in its “Actual Size.” Adding Graphics The last part of the formula for successful greeting card design involves adding graphics. Be- cause this entire project was started out of frustration over not being able to use The Print Shop GS with HP brand print- ers, let’s look at how to in- corporate actual Print Shop GS graphics into our designs. AppleWorks GS has the ability to import standard IIGS Super Hi Res graphics. So the first step youll need to take is to convert your Print Shop graphics into a format that Apple- WorksGS can import. There are many different programs avail- able that will allow you to do that including SuperConvert, Platinum Paint, or Print Shop Lovers Utility Set GS. My per- sonal favorite is David Leffler’s freeware graphic utility Show- Me. Because ShowMe is a New Desk Accessory, it can be called up from right within the Page Layout module of AppleWorks GS and all conversion work can be accomplished without ever having to leave AppleWorks GS. In actuality it doesn’t really matter which program you use to perform the conversion; what does matter is that the Print Shop GS graphic is converted and saved to disk as a Super Hi Res image. To add your newly converted Print Shop GS graphic to your greeting card, access the file Pull Down menu and choose the Import File option. When the standard dialog box appears, choose your Super Hi Res graph- ic. You'll then be asked where on the page you want to place the graphic. Please remember that because we will eventually be printing from the Condensed mode setting, your graphic needs to be stretched so that when it appears on screen, it will be twice as high as it was originally. There’s an undocu- mented feature in AppleWorks GS that automatically stretches a graphic to twice its height. Simply depress the Option key and then place the graphic on screen. It may look awful on screen, but it will print out beautifully. Due to a small quirk in the manner that AppleWorks GS imports graphics, there’s just one final step needed before printing. Using the standard arrow pointer cursor, click on the graphic. Then go to the Arrange Pull Down menu and choose the option “Send to Back.” You're now finished and ready to print your greeting card. Overcoming Adversity Upon seeing the completed card, you may have your breath taken away, or you might wonder how that vertical line got in there. If you do see a vertical line that you hadn’t placed, you've just run into the AppleWorks GS quirk described above. The only way to get rid of that unwanted line is to really make sure that the imported graphic has been sent all the way to the back. You can do that by clicking with the arrow pointer cursor on the text box, and by using the “Bring to Front” option found in the Arrange Pull Down menu, you bring the text box to the front, and at the same time the graphic is sent to the back. The above procedure is really all that is involved with creating greeting cards with a desktop publishing program. As you'll see it’s really much easier to do than it sounds. By employing these methods, you'll know true computer bliss when that first beautiful greeting card comes forth from your ink jet or laser printer. But maybe you won't really know true computer ecstasy un- til you start experimenting with running a page through your printer three times! By doing that, I’ve even been able to add Quickie generated 320 mode Super Hi Res scanned photo- graphic images to my greeting cards. As you are experimenting with these methods, please remem- ber that three cliches apply when using these procedures: “Practice makes perfect,” “You're only limited by your own imagination” and “Time flies when you're having fun.” @ Such A Deal! AppleWorks Forum AppleWorks is surely the all- time most popular Apple II pro- ductivity program ever released. Combining a word processor, database and spreadsheet into one integrated package, Apple- Works is easy to use for the beginner and powerful enough to please even the most advanced user. Over the years, AppleWorks has become even more friendly and powerful through updates and through the TimeOut series of add-on products. AppleWorks has currently reached such a so- phisticated plateau that many people and organizations use the program exclusively, and it meets all of their personal and business needs. Many companies have been in- volved in the on-going develop- ment of AppleWorks over the years, including Apple, Claris, Beagle Bros, JEM Software and Quality Computers. At this point in its evolutionary cycle, AppleWorks is up to version 5.0 and it’s hard to imagine that it could ever become more powerful than it is now. In fact, Apple- Works v5 has so many new features and improvements, chances are that the average or casual user is tapping into only a small percentage of all those available features and options. Shareware Solutions IT 13 Fortunately, there are many AppleWorks power users who are using AppleWorks “to push the envelope” and many of them are more than happy to share their knowledge with you; they do it 10 times a year in the 24 page AppleWorks Forum, the acclaimed newsletter that is published by NAUG (the Na- tional AppleWorks User Group). Each issue of the newsletter contains useful articles from people who are using Apple- Works in innovative ways. Even though I have used AppleWorks on a daily basis for many years, many a time I have read an ar- ticle in The AppleWorks Forum and thought to myself, “I didn’t know you could do that with AppleWorks.” In addition to the newsletter and its informative articles, the benefits of NAUG membership are substantial. NAUG pro- vides discounts to members on AppleWorks related products. It also maintains a huge library of AppleWorks related disks; the disks can be downloaded from CompuServe or GEnie, from the NAUG BBS, or they can be purchased from NAUG via the mail. Possibly the most helpful benefit of membership is being able to take advantage of NAUG’s “Members Helping Members” directory of helpful volunteers. Several times each year, NAUG publishes an extensive list of members who volunteer to an- swer questions by phone. Each member is listed according to his or her area of expertise, and chances are very high that there will be one or more people living in your area who would be happy to help you over the telephone. I know I’ve always been pleased when I’ve been 14 Shareware Solutions IT able to get my AppleWorks’ related questions answered by my local NAUG volunteer. Until May 31, 1995, NAUG would like to offer you a $3 discount on membership; that works out to 10% off on their standard subscription rate. To take advantage of this discount, just use the magic words — Such A Deal — when you send in your order. This offer is valid only for new NAUG members. NAUG offers you a number of different subscription options. Following are the discounted rates available to you: 2nd Class Mail to US: $27 2nd Class Mail to Mexico or Canada: $37 1st Class Mail to US: $43 1st Class Airmail to Mexico or Canada: $49 Surface Mail Elsewhere: $41 Air Mail Elsewhere: $64 NAUG can accept payment by check, VISA or MasterCard. International orders by credit card only. For additional infor- mation, contact: NAUG Box 87453 Canton, MI 48187 313-454-1115 (voice) 313-454-1965 (fax) 615-359-8238 (BBS) FAXination Have you ever sent or received a fax transmission from your TIGS desktop? You will, and the company that will make it all possible is Vitesse. Vitesse actually released FAX- ination in February, 1995. It is a combination of two different files - a New Desk Accessory and a Printer Driver. Once those two files are installed in the System folder on your hard disk drive, all you need to do to send or receive a fax is to change your JIGS Control Panel DC Printer setting to FAXination. You can then create a fax in your favorite GS/OS based word processor, desktop publishing program or paint program, and print it just as if you were printing it to paper. With the FAXination driver in place, the fax is re- directed to your fax/modem in- stead of to your printer. When FAXination was initially released, beta testing had been conducted successfully on a number of different fax/modems and Vitesse and all their beta- testers were most pleased with the results. Unfortunately, the vast majority of IIGS owners who purchased FAXination were not able to duplicate Vitesse’s success. Working round the clock, Vitesse released four free updates with- in the first several weeks, and with each update they were able to correct more and more of the problems. The initial version of FAXination that I received was v1.0.4 and with that, I was able to send faxes to stand-alone fax machines and to fax/modems connected to friends’ Windows- based PC systems. With my LineLink 144e, however, all of the incoming faxes were garbled. Because I had reported that problem to Vitesse, they decided to volunteer me as a beta-tester for v1.0.5. As I installed that version, I was anxiously hopeful. I decided to enlist the aid of Apple Computer itself to help me test out this new version. I first set up FAXination in re- ceive mode and then used a touch tone telephone to dial Apple’s FaxBack service at 1- 800-505-0171. Since I had never used a fax machine before, I wasn’t familiar with how a Fax- Back Service operated, so I sim- ply entered the option to re- quest a catalog of all faxes available from their service. I hung up the phone and waited anxiously for no more than 30 seconds. The phone rang, and FAXination sprang into action. It took just about one minute for each page of the catalog to be transmitted, and the trans- mission proceeded with abso- lutely no glitches or surprises. After receiving the six page fax, I reset my IIGS Control Panel DC Printer setting back to my printer, and with great antici- pation, clicked on FAXination’s “Print Fax” option. Everything worked flawlessly and exactly as it should have, and the six page fax printed out just fine! I can now send and receive fax transmissions, and I didn’t have to go out and purchase a $400 fax machine to do it; I can do it all right from my IIGS desktop. During the first several weeks after FAXination shipped, Vit- esse came under considerable fire from the online community. Undeterred by the many nega- tive and skeptical messages posted, Vitesse continued work- ing on FAXination and contin- ued to purchase additional modems in order to more fully test the FAXination software. It took only three weeks for the vast majority of bugs to be erad- icated and from my testing of v1.0.5, it really seems like most problems with the initial re- leases of FAXination have been addressed and corrected. Owners of the earlier releases of FAXination will be able to download a free update from Vitesse’s brand new BBS. New purchasers of FAXination will receive a functional send and receive fax program. During the past five years, Vitesse has proven over and over again that they are staunch supporters of the Apple IIGS. With FAXination v1.0.5, they once again show us that the TIGS can do everything that newer and more state of the art computers can do. However, Vitesse’s fine reputa- tion has been slightly tarnished by some unbelieving and angry TIGS owners who doubted that Vitesse would be able to over- come the problems of the earlier versions of FAXination. In a public relations effort to recon- firm its commitment to the Apple IIGS and to its communi- ty of users, Vitesse is making a special “Such A Deal” offer to subscribers of Shareware Solu- tions II. Until May 31, 1995, you can purchase FAXination for $20 off the retail price. The normal list price for FAXination is $79.95; the “Such A Deal” price for you is $59.95. There is an additional, but small, shipping charge and sales tax must be paid by California residents. If you do not yet own a high speed 14.4 fax/modem, Vitesse sells a “bundle” that includes a fax/modem and the FAXination software. The regular pricing for that bundle is $189.95; the special “Such A Deal” pricing is $159.95 plus shipping and sales tax where applicable. To take advantage of Vitesse’s generosity, identify yourself as a subscriber to Shareware Solu- tions II when placing your order. FAXination requires System 5.0.4 or higher, 1.5 Megabytes of RAM, and a hard disk drive. System 6.0 or 6.0.1, and 2 Mega- bytes of RAM are recommended! FAXination works with external fax/modems only. For additional information, or to order FAXination, contact: Vitesse Inc. P.O. Box 929 La Puente, CA 91747-0929 818-813-1270 818-813-1273 (fax) Kitchen Sink Software Kitchen Sink Software was founded ten years ago by Guy Forsythe, a Mechanical Drawing and Architectural Drafting and Design teacher, in an effort to make high quality software available to teachers who used Apple II computers. In 1986, Guy realized that there wasn’t any affordable Apple Ile Com- puter Aided Design (CAD) soft- ware, so he started writing his own. In 1989, AccuDraw v1.0 was released, and in 1992, an updated v1.1 was released. AccuDraw works on any Ile, Ic or IIGS computer and it is a powerful drawing program that produces accurate scale draw- ings on any dot matrix printer. Some of the many drawing commands include: copy, paste, paste rotated, radial lines, erase, invert area, mirror area, flip area, sketch, brush, and multiple parallel lines. Accu- Draw allows you to input your drawings by mouse, keyboard or joystick. AccuDraw generated drawings can actually span mul- tiple screens, and when printed out, those multiple sheets can be taped together to produce a final drawing that is up to 18 by 24 feet in size! Shareware Solutions II 15 Included with AccuDraw are hundreds of pre-drawn symbols that will allow you to use the program to generate floor plans that include furniture, electrical symbols and landscaping. Ad- ditionally, as part of their spe- cial Such A Deal offer, Kitchen Sink will include AccuDraw Electronics, which contains symbols for electronic, electri- cal, and PC Board artwork, as well as a complete set of plans for building I/O slot and game- port interfaces. Once printed, your completed design is copy ready to make silk screen plates for printed circuit boards. Although AccuDraw is a truly amazing and very sophisticated design and drawing program, it does have a few drawbacks; it uses the Single Hi Res screen and it only works with dot mat- rix printers. Despite those limi- tations, it is an ideal package for home hobbyist builders, drafting and mechanical draw- ing teachers, and architects. AccuDraw’s retail price is $99.95. If both the Floor Plan and Electronic symbol sets were to be purchased, the retail price would be $189.90. But, as a spe- cial Such A Deal offer, Kitchen Sink is making AccuDraw, along with the Floor Plan and Elec- tronic symbol sets available to subscribers for $49.95 for the entire package. That is not a typo; it is a $90 savings! Additionally, there is a small shipping charge of $3 for US delivery, $5 for Canada delivery, or $8 for delivery anywhere else. This special “Basement Clear- ance Sale” is available to you only until June 30, 1995. AccuDraw requires a IIe, IIc or IIGS with 64K and two 5.25" disk drives or one 3.5" disk drive. It is not copy protected 16 Shareware Solutions IT and it is hard drive installable. Kitchen Sink accepts payment by check, money order, VISA, MasterCard or school Purchase Orders. For additional info, or to order AccuDraw, contact: Kitchen Sink Software 903 Knebworth Court Westerville, OH 43081 614-891-2111 If youre unsure whether Accu- Draw will meet your needs, Kitchen Sink Software has gen- erously submitted a demo copy of AccuDraw to the Shareware Solutions II library. By ordering that demo, you can get hands-on experience to see for yourself if AccuDraw is a program that you would like to purchase. The demo is available on either 3.5" disk or 5.25" disk for $5. Softdisk Publishing For more than 10 years Softdisk Publishing has been releasing wonderful software, month after month and year after year. Available in two varieties — Softdisk for Ile/IIc and Softdisk G-S — both are monthly maga- zines on disk that contain com- mercial quality software. Each issue contains a real pot- pourri of programs and a verita- ble smorgasbord of software. Some of the greatest Apple IL software in recent years has been released as part of the monthly disk offerings from Softdisk Publishing. Softdisk for the IIe/IIc will generally include ten or more Print Shop graphics, one or two arcade games, an educational puzzle type of game, and perhaps an AppleWorks Spreadsheet or Database for your use. A typical issue of Softdisk G-S will gen- erally include a few screens of stunning Clip Art, a software review, an arcade game, several useful utilities, and maybe an educational program. Obviously, each issue is different, but gen- erally each one contains at least several programs that you are bound to love. Over the years Softdisk Pub- lishing has even licensed older software that is no longer com- mercially available, and has in- cluded it on their monthly disk. As an example, a recent Soft- disk G-S contained MiniPaint, the forerunner of Platinum Paint. Other formerly commer- cial Apple Ile/IIc programs that have appeared on Softdisk in- clude such titles as Arcade Boot Camp, Bilestoad, Crisis Moun- tain, IO Silver, Odyssey, and Pensate. But, it is the original software in each issue that really makes Softdisk and Soft- disk G-S shine. To give you an example of the types of pro- grams that appear, the following were on the most recent issues of Softdisk. Softdisk, Issue 160, contains 20 Easter related Print Shop im- ages in a variety of formats that will work with any version of Print Shop. It also contains a program for those filing a 1040EZ tax return that will cal- culate how much tax you owe. There’s a series of legal docu- ments that can be used with AppleWorks and a wacky arcade game named “Dangerous Dave Goes Nutz” that may drive you nuts trying to figure out how to help Dave escape from his padded cell. There’s a word puzzle game entitled “Criss Cross” that’s vaguely similar to a crossword puzzle. “American Highlights” displays informa- tion of historical interest for every day of the year. Addition- ally, there’s a question and an- swer column and several Soft- disk back issue database files. On Softdisk G-S, Issue 64, there are 11 different graphic files that contain beautiful clip art related to both anniversaries and Easter. In the text depart- ment, there is an Apple II re- source guide and a question and answer column. There’s a lovely looking Hamster font in both TrueType and Bit Mapped for- mats. There’s a Memory Mon- itor New Desk Accessory that shows you how much RAM each of your programs or Desk Ac- cessories require and a shoot ’em up arcade game named “Ether Quest.” There’s a perpet- ual calendar offered as an AppleWorks GS spreadsheet file and a fix for an obscure but devastating GS/OS bug. There’s also a Finder Extension that allows you to use your Space Bar as a key equivalent to the Finder’s Open File menu option. A 12 month, 12 issue sub- scription to either Softdisk or Softdisk G-S generally costs $89.95. But as a Shareware Solutions II subscriber, you can get a subscription to Softdisk or Softdisk G-S for only $69.95. That’s less than $6 a month! To take advantage of this Such A Deal offer, contact Softdisk and tell them you want to take ad- vantage of offer GRCA09. For additional contact: information Softdisk Publishing PO Box 30008 Shreveport, LA 71130-0008 318-221-8718 800-831-2964 @ Shareware Solutions [e/IIc/IIgs Disk Of The Month Club Just as I predicted, the GEnie A2 Disk of the Month (DOM) has been a very popular and welcome addition to the Share- ware Solutions II Library. Each DOM contains informative and useful articles and a collection of the best of the newest Ile/IIc and IIGS freeware and share- ware software. Because DOMs are released once a month and Shareware Solutions II is a bi-monthly, subscribers have received those disks as much as 60 days after they are released. In an effort to improve the delivery system and to get those DOM disks out to you in a more timely manner, Shareware Solutions II would like to introduce the Disk Of The Month Club. DOM Club members will receive each month’s DOM within just a few days of its release. By joining the club, you'll no longer have to wait until you read about a new disk in the news- letter. Instead, it will auto- matically be sent to all club members soon after it is made available for downloading from Genie’s A2 RoundTable. By joining the club, you will automatically receive 12 disks. If you’d care to start off with the first GEnie A2 DOM that was available through the library, just indicate that you'd like to start your membership with the July, 1994 DOM. If you'd like to start your membership with the current disks offered in this issue, just indicate January, 1995 as the starting point. If you'd like to receive disks that haven’t been released yet, in- dicate your starting point as March, 1995. Whenever you choose to start, you will receive the next 12 DOMs. Sorry, but The Disk of The Month Club is only available to those who own a 3.5" disk drive. Cost to join the club are $35 if you live in the US or Canada, $40 if you live anywhere else. As usual, all disks will be mailed out by First Class Air Mail. A2 Disks Of The Month The January, 1995 DOM disk contains two issues of the GEnieLamp newsletters; one is for users and one is for pro- grammers. Software for the Ile and IIe includes the NAUG Business.02 collection, which provides 17 useful spreadsheets that can be used to help control your business, while the NAUG Home.04 collection has a variety of word processor files, spread- sheets, and database examples that can help you maintain your home expenses. Also for Apple- Works, TimeOut Loader is a TimeOut application that you can add to your TimeOut direc- tory. Included are separate ver- sions for AppleWorks 4.x and AppleWorks 5. The documenta- tion for both versions is con- tained in the AW5 directory. Software for the IIGS on the January, 1995 DOM includes Brutal Deluxe’s PicViewer, a Finder Extension to view all kinds of graphics. It comes with a picture converter to shrink the size of your graphic files. Also Shareware Solutions IT 7 included is MegaBox, a New Desk Accessory that plays SoundSmith songs in the back- ground. And, rounding out the DOM is an amazing program called The Beauty of Fractals which allows you to create really beautiful fractal images. The February, 1995 DOM also includes both versions of the GEnieLamp newsletter. Soft- ware for the Ile and IIc includes several useful files for use with AppleWorks, including a simple Federal Income tax spread- sheet, database lists of the 104th Congress, and a TimeOut Calendar for 1995. Also includ- ed is SlotScan, a program that scans your computer’s slots and/or ports to tell you what is present in each one. It will describe in detail the individual devices attached to SmartPort cards or ports, and SCSI cards which may be in your system. It will identify the capacity of any drives which are supported by ProDOS. Software for use on the IIGS includes Tim Meekin’s freeware imageQuant, a picture viewer that supports multi-formats. There are also two small text viewing programs for the IIgs, SpeedRead and Zoetrope. Music Composer v3.21a is a musical sequence editor that is also included. Finally, there are two transcripts included from A2 Real-Time Conferences. One is about AnsiTerm and the other is about Spectrum 2.0. The A2 Disks of the Month are available from the Shareware Solutions II library for $5 each, or $8 for both. ProDesk Helge Malmgren, a programmer from Sweden, recently released 18 Shareware Solutions IT a very nice $25 shareware Pro- DOS based program selector and utilities package for the Apple IIc, IIc+, IIGS or 128K Enhanced Ile. He sent it by Internet e-mail, and requested that it be made available to subscribers via the library. ProDesk Plus v4.2 performs a lot of functions, and it would be a useful program to employ as a program launcher on a hard drive connected to a Ile or Ile. It can be used to launch a variety of different types of files, including Basic and System files. If used on a IIGS, it can also launch S16 files if GS/OS is loaded. It also allows you to BRUN files with BIN filetypes and it has a Hi Res and Double Hi Res graphic viewer built in. With the included Dogpaw, you can also read or print Text and AppleWorks word processing files directly from the main menu of ProDesk. The utilities portion of ProDesk lets you create new Subdirec- tories, and lets you delete, copy, rename, or unlock and lock files. There’s even a Find File func- tion, and an option that allows you to register information about all files on all your disks in a Library file. Additionally, Pro- Desk reads any ProDOS com- patible clock and shows the time and date at the top of the menu. It has an alarm clock option as well. ProDesk also has a built-in screen saver which means that you can leave the screen on when you leave your computer, without having to worry about phosphor burn. ProDesk is available from the Shareware Solutions II Library, in either 5.25" or 3.5" disk format, for $5. Please specify disk size when ordering. @ Shareware Solutions TGS Star Trek: TNG In late 1990, I submitted an article to inCider/A+ about the best HyperStudio based free- ware and shareware stacks. At that time, I wrote about Scott Everts’ “Star Trek: The Next Generation” stack. I wrote, “Scott’s $10 Shareware stack was created as a labor of love, and it is stunningly beautiful while conveying volumes of information and little known trivia about the crew of the USS Enterprise and their 3 year TV voyage. By combining digitized graphics with sound effects and providing detailed information on every episode ever aired, every character who ever ap- peared, and every location ever explored, Scott Everts has pro- duced a stack so creative and packed with so much informa- tion that every “trekkie” who owns a IIGS will feel like they’ve gone to Star Trek heaven as they first run the stack and hear the familiar Star Trek theme song emanating from their IIGS’s speaker.” As a long-time Star Trek fan, I was ecstatic when Scott recently contacted me to let me know that now that the series has concluded, he finally finished his HyperStudio stack. It now cov- ers all seven years of broadcasts and includes information on the latest Star Trek feature film. The stack is no longer share- ware; it is now freeware! Obvi- ously, the stack has also grown in size, and takes up 3 mega- bytes of disk space. Because of the size, it is supplied on three 3.5" disks as a self-extracting ShrinkIt archive. Just double click on the one file on each disk, and the entire stack will be copied to your hard disk drive. Included within the archive is the HyperStudio run-time mod- ule, so you don’t even need to own HyperStudio to go where no one has gone before. The Star Trek stack requires System 5.0.4 or later, and a hard disk drive. It is available from the Shareware Solutions IT Library for $10 Power GS-5 As Auri and I drove away from Steve Wozniak’s office back in January, we wondered if Auri would ever be able to convince Woz to answer his interview questions. We discussed meth- ods that Auri might employ to get his interview completed, and we agreed that e-mail might be the best approach to try. Auri sent his questions to Woz, and several weeks later, he got back the longest and most ex- tensive interview that Woz has granted in years. As it turned out, it was probably much better that Woz answered the questions by e-mail, as it gave him plenty of time to answer them in a detailed and thought- ful manner. As the Founder and Editor of Power GS, Auri has included the interview in the latest issue of Power GS, and it’s something that every Apple II owner would really love reading! Power GS, Issue 5, also includes an article on setting up a music studio using an Apple IIGS, and it is complemented by scanned photographs and diagrams. There are also reviews of the Turbo ASB add-on that boosts the effective maximum transfer speed of a Super Serial Card from 19.2K up to 230.4K bps. Finally, there’s a review of SonoBox, a New Desk Accessory which plays music files that are in the MOD format. Power GS includes a nice musi- cal soundtrack, creative art- work, and eye-catching transi- tions between articles. All in all, Power GS shows you just what you can do with Hyper- Studio, information to share, and an active imagination. Power GS is now shareware, and Auri requests that you send him a $5 shareware registration fee if you like his efforts. Supplied on a single 3.5" disk, the HyperStudio run-time mod- ule is included on disk. There is also a IIGS Toolset that needs to be installed on your IIGS System Disk (instructions on how to do that are provided). Power GS is available from the Shareware Solutions II Library for $5. (Note: In an effort to encourage Auri and the Power GS staff, 50% of the net pro- ceeds that Power GS generates will be shared with Auri.) The Tinies Construction Kit Nearly six months ago, Brutal Deluxe released The Tinies, an arcade style timed strategy game. In that original release, there were 100 levels of in- creasingly more difficult mazes to traverse and puzzles to solve. (See Volume 1, Issue 5 for a more complete description.) The Tinies Construction Kit is actually two programs in one. It includes The Tinies game itself, with the 100 original levels and 100 brand new levels. But best of all, the latest Tinies release allows you to create your own levels, quickly and easily. And like all Brutal Deluxe software, new Easter Eggs are included. To activate the Speedy Gonzalez mode of play, simply hold down your Open Apple key as you launch The Tinies game. The Tinies Construction Kit is an editor that allows you to create new levels with just a few clicks of your mouse. Complete instructions are included from right within the editor. You can set the time for any level and place Tinies and their corre- sponding Sleeper pads wherever you want on the screen. You can make simple levels for your children, or frustrating and com- plex levels for yourself or friends to try to solve. If you liked The Tinies, you’re going to love The Tinies Construction Kit. The Tinies Construction Kit is freeware, and is available from the Shareware Solutions II Library for $5. Ordering Disks When ordering disks from the Shareware Solutions II Library, please order by disk name and specify the disk size you want. All prices include shipping and handling. Please keep in mind that you are still obligated to submit shareware fees directly to the author of any shareware program that you like and continue to use after the initial evaluation period. Only checks or money orders, in US funds, can be accepted for library disks. Please make all checks payable to Joe Kohn. @ Shareware Solutions IT 19 @& File Edit Options Arrange Text Font Size Style Color do zo Issue.i57 (PL) Show Clipboard MUM NAO GSI Issue.57 (PL) A 1 Applell.Forever (GR) # +] Fa O ow. @) OW = «i = a M ty Joe Kohn Shareware Solutions II 166 Alpine Street San Rafael, CA 94901-1008 FIRST CLASS - AIR MAIL Time To Renew! See Page | For Details