Shareware Solutions II Volume 2 Issue 4 1995 07 Kohn Joe US

Shareware Solutions II An Exciting Apple II Journey Into The Future Volume 2, Issue 4 July, 1995 Heard It Through The Grapevine KansasFest 1995 Due to some unexpected delays encountered while producing this issue, we apologize pro- fusely for not being able to provide you with more timely information concerning this year’s KansasFest. Just a few days after ICON an- nounced that they were going out of business, several Apple II owners, spearheaded by Auri of PowerGS, formed a committee to determine whether it would be feasible to hold another KansasFest at the same Avila College location. It didn’t take long for the committee to an- nounce that KansasFest would be held July 27-29, 1995. This year’s KansasFest is being sponsored by Paul Parkhurst of AnsiTerm fame, and it will con- sist of two days of general inter- est Apple II sessions followed by a mini Vendor’s Fest, during which time attendees will be able to purchase Apple II hard- ware and software products at special “trade show pricing.” Shareware Solutions II will be leading two sessions: “The Internet: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly” and “A Fire Side Chat With Joe Kohn.” If you’re in the neighborhood, please plan to attend KansasFest. If you are unable to get there on such short notice, there will be a complete wrap-up and guided tour of KansasFest ’95 offered in the next issue of Shareware Solutions II. For additional information, contact: KFest ’95 c/o Parkhurst Micro Products 2491 San Ramon Valley Blvd Suite 1-317 San Ramon, CA 94583 510-837-9098 (Voice) Power GS As pledged in the previous issue, Shareware Solutions II was pleased to present a check for $80 to the staff of the shareware, HyperStudio based magazine on disk — PowerGS. Shareware Solutions II strongly believes in “supporting those who support the Apple II” and providing some financial sup- port for Power GS was simply a case of implementing that phil- osophy. Thank you all for mak- ing that small endowment to Power GS possible. Alltech Electronics The Focus Internal Hard Card was designed, built and mar- keted by Parsons Engineering and was previously available to Shareware Solutions II sub- scribers as part of a special promotional “Such A Deal” pricing arrangement. Parsons Engineering has re- cently transferred all the rights to another Apple II company, Alltech Electronics, and the cur- rent Alltech Focus pricing is simply unbelievable. Effective immediately a complete 20 Megabyte Focus drive is availa- ble for only $89, and a 170 Megabyte Focus drive is availa- ble for only $189. Additional shipping and handling fees add up to only $7 for delivery to addresses in the US. The Focus Hard Card works in either Ile or IIGS systems (specify which computer model you own when ordering) and it includes everything you need in order to add a hard drive to your system. The Focus Internal Hard Drive combines a speedy (18 millisecond access) IDE type hard drive with a controller card into a single “plug and play” unit. No additional interface cards need to be purchased. Simply plug the Focus into any available slot (except slot 3) and you'll be up and running within just a few minutes. For the price that Alltech is selling the Focus for, you can no longer afford not to have a hard disk drive connected to your Apple II. With a Focus installed, you'll have near instant access to all your software, and you'll never have to swap disks again. Since the Focus can load pro- grams and data so much faster than any floppy disk drive, everything you now do on your computer will be speeded up. If you've never owned a hard drive before, adding one will make you feel as if you had a brand new computer system. Alltech Electronics carries a large inventory of Apple II hard- Shareware Solutions II 1 Shareware Solutions II Volume 2, Issue 4 Shareware Solutions II is pub- lished bi-monthly by Joe Kohn, 166 Alpine Street, San Rafael, CA 94901-1008. Writer/Publisher: Joe Kohn Roving Reporter: Cynthia Field Proofreader: Jane Kos Entire contents of Shareware Solutions II copyright (©) 1995 by Joe Kohn. All rights reserved. Nothing may be re- printed or reproduced, in whole or in part, in any media without the prior written consent of Joe Kohn. Available by subscription only, several options are available: A) The first 12 issues: $35 for US/Canada; $50 elsewhere. B) The first 18 issues: $55 for US/Canada; $75 elsewhere. C) The next 6 issues: $25 for ‘US/Canada; $40 elsewhere. 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 IGS. 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 ware products, and they are an excellent source for many hard to find hardware items. Alltech also sells some Apple II soft- ware, sometimes at rock bottom pricing. Currently available (please sit down before reading any more) is AppleWorks v3.0 and AppleWorks GS v1.1 for only $15 each! Both versions of AppleWorks contain only the labeled Claris disks; no printed documentation or manuals are included. Apple- Works v3, available only on 3.5" disks, comes with both the AppleWorks program disk and the AppleWorks Training Disk. AppleWorks GS v1.1 is supplied on four 3.5" disks. Shipping and handling is $5 extra, and Cali- fornia residents must include 7.75% sales tax. For additional contact: information Alltech Electronics 2618 Temple Heights Oceanside, CA 92056 619-724-2404 (Voice) 619-724-8808 (Fax) 619-724-4660 (BBS) II Alive The Editor-In-Chief of II Alive, Jerry Kindall, stunned the Apple II world when he posted the following information on all of the online services: “There will be exactly six more issues of II Alive, including the May/June issue which is cur- rently in production. (There is no March/April issue. However, this doesn’t mean you have missed an issue; when you subscribed, we signed you up for six issues; we don’t just blindly cut you off after a calendar year).” He went on to say, “Since we will cease publishing after six more issues, we are not accepting re- newals. We are, however, consid- ering making individual issues available as they are released, for those whose subscription runs out before we stop pub- lishing II Alive.” Jerry further informed us that he would no longer be employed by Quality Computers and that Il Alive had a new Editor, Doug Cuff, the last Editor of ICON’s Resource-Central publication. A few weeks later, Jerry dropped an even bigger bombshell when he posted online, “Quality Com- puters was bought last week by Scantron Corporation and is now known as Scantron Quality Computers.” Fame And Fortune Would you like to be famous? Would you like to receive free products from such illustrious Apple II companies as GEnie, Seven Hills, Vitesse, Shareware Solutions II or the National AppleWorks User Group? Would you like to be respected and admired by fellow members of the Apple II community? All that, and more, is possible. All it will take is for you to sub- mit your entry to the Desktop Publishing Template Contest! What could be easier? Now that many Apple II and TIGS owners are using desktop publishing programs to create greeting cards, letterheads, cal- endars and assorted stationery, Shareware Solutions II is eager to collect that work and to make it available to others as part of the Greeting Card Project. The Greeting Card Project got jump started in late 1994, when greeting cards that were most obviously printed on Hewlett- Packard printers were sent to the Shareware Solutions II office by readers Bob Hewitt and Glenn Sapaden. Those cards served as an impetus to overcome the single problem confronting owners of high quality inkjet and laser printers — the inability to use those printers with The Print Shop. Inspired by Bob and Glenn, some basic and simple instruc- tions were provided in the last issue that showed readers how they could use a desktop pub- lishing program to recreate the greeting card function of The Print Shop. Based on the num- ber of completed cards that were sent to the Shareware Solutions II office, it’s apparent that many of you learned your lesson well, and even improved on my suggested designs. Alas, the call for disks with templates and completed de- signs once again went unheeded. In an effort to encourage you to share your work with other Apple II owners, we have se- cured several corporate spon- sors who are willing to donate software to the prize winning entries. All you need to do to claim some of these prizes is submit your completed greeting cards and other desktop pub- lishing gems, on disk, to Share- ware Solutions II before the September 15, 1995 deadline. The contest has three cate- gories: PublishIt4, Graphic- Writer III, and AppleWorks GS. The best entries in each cate- gory will be determined by criteria ranging from artistic mastery to ingenuity of design. Impress the panel of judges, and fame and fortune will soon be yours. Please submit all templates and designs on disk. Include a printed version of your design, along with a note that describes what printer you used, and in the case of HP printers, which set of printer drivers and set- tings you used. If you used any specialized fonts, please include them on disk as well. Do not limit yourself to sub- mitting greeting cards only. Anything creative that you have designed using a desktop pub- lishing program will be con- sidered for the purposes of this contest. discQuest Discounts Seven Hills Software has uncov- ered an inexpensive source of discQuest compatible CD-ROM titles, and they are passing those savings on to you! The vast majority of the 20+ discQuest compatible CD-ROM titles carry a suggested retail price of $69 to $79, but Seven Hills is offering nine of these titles for $24.95 each, plus shipping and handling. In order to use any of the disc- Quest compatible series of CD- ROM disks, you will need to own Sequential System’s discQuest “front end” software. Couple the discQuest software from Se- quential with CD-ROM disks from Seven Hills and save lots of money. For additional information about discQuest, contact: Sequential Systems 1200 Diamond Circle, #D Lafayette, CO 80026 303-666-4549 (Voice) 800-759-4549 (Voice) 303-666-7797 (BBS) 303-665-0933 (Fax) For additional information about the CD-ROM titles cur- rently available from Seven Hills, contact: Seven Hills Software 2310 Oxford Road Tallahassee, FL 32304-3930 904-575-0566 (Voice) 904-575-2015 (Fax) Updates Animasia, the highly sophis- ticated three dimensional ani- mation studio that was recently released for the IIGS, has been so successful that the company has been forced to move to larger accommodations. You can now reach them at: Animasia 12175 Science Drive, #3 Orlando, FL 32826 USA 407-380-9932 (Voice) When Animasia was first released, we reported that it was available only from the publisher for the full retail price of $99.95. Since that time it has become available from GS+ Magazine for $89; that price in- cludes shipping to North Amer- ican addresses. For overseas delivery, add $5. For additional contact: information, GS+ Magazine P. O. Box 15366 Chattanooga, TN 37415-0366 615-332-2087 (Voice) 800-662-3634 (Order Line) 615-332-2634 (Fax) Shareware Solutions IT 3 Peter Watson, the Australian shareware programmer whose MS-DOS Utilities program allows IIGS owners to save data to disks formatted for use on IBM and clone computers, has a new e-mail address. He can now be reached at: paw@acslink.net.au Corrections In the last issue, step 7 in “The Greeting Card Project” article should have read, “Add one page at the beginning or at the end” rather than “Add one page after the current page.” In reference to last issue’s Modem Madness item about “Lynx And Scrollback,” sub- scriber Gary Hayman informs us that a much easier “work around solution” exists for capturing incoming data in your scrollback buffer while using Lynx. He suggests that at any Lynx screen, just press “p” and choose the “Print to Screen” option, and then capture the resulting text in your scrollback buffer. @ Coloring Your Apple II World Imagine a meadow exploding with wildflowers. Picture a sun- set on a tropic isle. Now think about the last greeting card, business card, or other desktop published piece that you created with your Apple II. You might have had grand ideas about how the document could look but resigned yourself to the fact that maybe black-and-white was your best alternative. Well, think again. Even if you use a color capable printer and your favorite program’s color printing options, the colorizing methods described in this arti- cle will give you more attractive results. Best of all, the tech- niques are sure to get your crea- tive juices flowing. You'll see how much fun it is to use both sides of your brain simultane- ously. Not only that, but these methods are truly “hands on” and kids can enjoy them, too. (Adult supervision is advised for methods that involve heat.) On the practical side, most of the color methods I describe in this article make few demands on your budget. You use the same hardware and software you use now. Whether you prefer Publish It! on an Apple IIc, AppleWorks v4.x or v5.x and 4 Shareware Solutions IT By Cynthia £. Field, Ph.D. TimeOut SuperFonts on a Ile, or AppleWorks GS on an Apple TIGS, you can add clever new twists to those ordinary looking printouts by using some imagi- nation and the colorizing meth- ods described below. Some em- ploy traditional artists’ materi- als. Other methods require ac- cess to a photocopier. But none of them requires a fine arts degree! Artists’ Materials Among the more straightfor- ward ways to color your crea- tions is printing them as usual and coloring parts of the print- out with traditional artists’ materials. (See “Color Re- sources” at the end of this arti- cle for the names of companies that sell the supplies and materials mentioned here.) For best results, when you are designing your document choose clip art graphics that would be suitable for a coloring book — pictures that have areas that you can color by hand easily. Don’t reject unpromising clip art right away, though. If you have a lovely, solid black silhouette that you would like to use, you may still be able to do so if your paint program offers an “Invert” feature that will change the graphic from filled to hollow so you can color it later on by hand. In short, do not be afraid to experiment with your paint pro- gram’s tools and graphics man- ipulation features. You will be surprised at the things you can do with the Print Shop and other graphics you already have if you take time to flip, mirror, rotate, stretch, copy/paste and distort them. Some paint programs offer more features than others, but all of them let you play with your ideas. You can create neat effects with text, too. For headlines or other large text (your name on your business card or the “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” on a greeting card, for example), I like to use an 18- point or larger font formatted in “Outline” style. After printing the document, I color the space between each character’s out- lines. You can even make each letter a different color for a rain- bow effect. It’s surprisingly easy to color your creations with an assort- ment of traditional artists’ mat- erials, even some of which you might not think of right away. For example, most people would discount acrylic or “poster” paints because they are just too thick for ordinary computer paper. But you can photocopy the printout on heavier stock be- fore painting your small sign or poster. You can also ask the local quick print shop to enlarge your design. For a neighborhood get together last summer, I made some 11" x 17" posters from an 8.5" x 11" original. The signs were large enough to use outdoors to advertise the event. The quick printer laminated the finished posters for less than $2 apiece. Laminating made the posters more weather resistant. Because watercolor paints have a thinner consistency, these art- ists’ materials are appropriate for smaller documents such as greeting cards. You can paint graphics, text, and even back- grounds with gentle, pastel hues. As with signs and posters, you may want to print or photo- copy your card designs on better quality paper before picking up a paintbrush. While paints require a little bit of practice, color markers or pencils require almost no skill. If your personal style leans toward the New Age or avant- garde, you don’t even need to worry about staying inside the lines! Watercolor pencils are a nifty compromise between color pen- cils and watercolor paints. You can buy these pencils in art and office supply stores or by mail order. After coloring a printout with the pencils, dip a paint- brush in water and lightly brush all or selected parts of your document to give it a watercolor appearance. Glitter isn’t just for kids, either. It’s a quick, easy, and inexpen- sive way to add color to your cre- ations. A glue stick and tradi- tional glitter work OK, but glit- ter pens are easier to control. Glitter pens look like fat foun- tain pens that are filled with a glue and glitter mixture. The pens are available in a range of colors Whether you use watercolor paints, pencils, markers, glitter, or any other traditional art material, you can simultane- ously brighten and smudge proof your artwork by spraying the document with a light coat of clear acrylic spray. The spray has a fairly noxious odor, so be sure to use the spray outdoors or in a well ventilated room. (I spray my artwork in a bathroom with the exhaust fan turned on.) You can make a “spray box” to help contain the spray by stand- ing an old cardboard box on its side. Use removable putty such as UHU HOLDiT (available in office supply stores) to secure your artwork to the inside back wall (formerly the bottom) of the box. Lightly spray the art- work and let it dry completely before removing it from the spray box. Two light coats of spray work better than one heavy coat. Foil Stamping You've probably seen those ele- gant (and pricey) greeting cards with their bright, shiny letters and graphics. You can foil stamp your own designs easily and inexpensively. Begin by photocopying or laser printing your original. The foil stamping process requires toner; it doesn’t work with computer printer ink. Cut out appropriate size pieces of foil and attach them to the areas you want to color. Use removable adhesive dots (they look like tiny, circular labels) to attach the foil. Carefully feed the document through a photo- copier to bind the foil color to the toner particles on the design. After the document cools, slowly remove the spent foil. Because the foil sticks to the toner, the more dense your graphics, the better the results you will get. With this method you probably would not want to invert the black silhouette clip art described above before foil stamping the graphic. You might also want to boldface your text to make it more prominent. Foil is available in a wide varie- ty of colors. You can create mul- ticolor documents by carefully placing different color foils at different locations on your de- sign. If you plan to do a lot of foil stamping, consider investing in Letraset’s Color Wand kit. The kit includes some color foil, adhesive dots, a protective foil stamping pad, and a hand held foil stamping unit. After heating the device, you slide it over the foil to stamp your design. The heated unit is very hot; younger children should use it only with supervision. Embossing Embossing powders are colored powders that stick to the ink on your dot matrix printouts. When you apply heat from a toaster oven, a naked light bulb, or an erect flat iron, for example, the plastic powder melts and ad- heres to the printout. This gives your design a raised appearance. You have probably seen raised printing on business cards or greeting cards. Commercially, the process is called thermog- raphy, literally “writing with heat.” Shareware Solutions II 5 Embossing is a snap. The ink from a dot matrix printer stays moist long enough for you to take the fresh printout to a ta- ble or countertop some distance away from your Apple II. (Em- bossing powder is extremely fine and could damage your hardware.) Pour a thin layer of powder on top of the design. Let the powder sit for 15 seconds or so. Then carefully tap the print- out over a clean sheet of paper to remove and capture the ex- cess powder. Use the clean pa- per like a funnel to pour the ex- cess powder back into its con- tainer for future use. Preheat a toaster oven to 350 degrees, insert the powdered de- sign, and watch very carefully as the embossing powder melts. The process should take less than 15 seconds. Be extra cau- tious with this method! You do not want to scorch the design or start a fire. If you are reluctant to use a toaster oven because of the possibility of fire, you can hold the printout over an uncov- ered light bulb or near a hot flat iron instead. (In any case, never allow the printout to touch a hot surface directly.) Embossing powders are avail- able in a range of colors. It’s a little tricky to create multicolor documents because you have to separate the different color powders. Embossing powder doesn’t auto- matically stick to laser toner or ink jet printouts. However, a recent issue of Flash Magazine describes a natural citrus ex- tract that you can lightly spray on your laser printouts to make the powder stick. (See “Raising H*ll with Puffed-Up Laser Prints!”, Flash Magazine, April 1995, page 38.) 6 Shareware Solutions IT Screen Printing If you truly want to be more cre- ative with color, consider invest- ing in a Print Gocco B6 Hi Mesh Set. This fun and flexible desk- top screen printing kit lets you color all kinds of artwork, not just the documents you create on your Apple II. For several years now, I have been using my Print Gocco unit to make multi- color pin-on buttons, notepaper, greeting cards, memo pads, and lots of other items for personal use and for gift giving. Begin by creating a design on your Apple II. Photocopy the design. (This method requires toner.) Place the photocopy on the Print Gocco platform. When you squeeze the handle, two flash bulbs in the unit’s cover “develop” the design by burning the toner particles into a special high mesh master stencil. You add colored ink to the stencil. When you press the handle, the colored design is transferred from the stencil to paper you have placed on the platform. Print Gocco inks have a paint like consistency and are avail- able in bright, pastel, and even fluorescent colors. You can mix the inks as you would oil or acrylic paints to generate fan- tastic results. Because the ink stays moist for a while, you can even emboss your Print Gocco creations using the method described earlier. In the next issue, I’ll show you how to make attractive, practi- cal, much appreciated, person- alized, and economical (less than $10) gifts using the Print Gocco kit and the designs you create on your Apple II. Even if you haven’t invested in a Print Gocco B6 Hi Mesh Set, the ar- ticle will provide inspiration for creating other kinds of colorful gifts with your Apple II. Til Next Time If you want to add some spark to your GS creations, you owe it to yourself to try some of the color- izing tricks described in this ar- ticle. I can’t guarantee that you will be pleased with all of the re- sults right away, but I promise you will have fun exploring the different techniques. Color Resources BlackLightning Publishing, Inc. West Topsham, VT 05086 802-439-6462 802-439-6463 (Fax) Internet: info@flashmag.com Flash Magazine $29.70/year (6 issues) Dick Blick Art Materials 1-800-447-8192 309-343-5785 (Fax) A wide assortment of art supplies including color markers, blank cards, and the following items that were specifically mentioned in this article: Watercolor Pencils $8.90 (set of 12) $35.90 (set of 48) Print Gocco B6 Hi Mesh Set $89.90 Embossing Arts Company P.O. Box 626 1200 Long St. Sweet Home, OR 97386 503-367-3279 503-367-3259 (Fax) Embossing powders, heat guns, and decorative papers. Fidelity Graphics Products 1-800-326-7555 1-800-842-2725 (Fax) Letraset Color Wand (foil stamping kit) $35.95 Quill 1-800-789-5813 1-800-789-8955 (Fax) MultiColor Foil Pack (for foil stamping) $11.96 Other Companies (call to request free catalogs) Computer Sensations, Inc. 1-800-848-9001 310-396-2292 (Fax) Co-op Artists’ Materials 1-800-877-3242 404-872-0294 (Fax) Craft King 1-800-769-9494 813-688-5072 (Fax) Discount School Supply 1-800-627-2829 Enterprise Art 1-800-366-2218 813-536-3509 (Fax) Flax Art & Design 1-800-343-3529 Ott's Discount Art Supply 1-800-356-3289 919-756-2397 (Fax) PaperDirect. 1-800-A-PAPERS Sunshine Discount Crafts 813-538-2878 813-531-2739 (Fax) @ A+ Home Organizer When Cynthia Field and I were involved with inCider/A+ Maga- zine, we both accepted responsi- bilities that were beyond the scope of merely writing reviews and articles about the Apple II computer. My extracurricular activities involved making disks of freeware and shareware soft- ware available to readers, while Dr Field’s outside activities were focused on creating special project disks using her Apple II. Since she is such an enthusiast of AppleWorks, AppleWorks GS and PublishIt, Dr Field’s special projects involved using those programs in innovative ways. Originally, all of those special project disks were offered to inCider/A+ readers for $29.95. After inCider/A+ ceased publi- cation two years ago, Dr Field reacquired all the unsold copies of her special project disks from the inCider/A+ warehouse, and offered them directly to Share- ware Solutions II subscribers for the “Such A Deal” price of Such A Deal! $10 plus shipping and handling. As originally announced in Volume 1, Issue 2, the Apple- Works Classic and PublishIt project disks are still available at that discounted rate directly from Dr Field, but she has decided to make her Apple- Works GS based “A+ Home Organizer” available to Share- ware Solutions II subscribers at the unprecedented cost of only $5, with no additional shipping and handling charges. Air mail delivery to anywhere in the world is even included as part of the $5 cost. Such a deal! Dr Field’s “A+ Home Organizer” is now available exclusively and directly from Shareware Solu- tions II. Despite the fact that this creative set of AppleWorks GS templates now costs the same as freeware and share- ware disks available from Shareware Solutions II, the “A+ Home Organizer” remains a copyrighted commercial soft- ware product. “The A+ Home Organizer” is a collection of AppleWorks GS templates designed to assist you in organizing your personal and family information. There’s acredit card registry, a personal balance sheet that allows you to create a statement of net worth, several mortgage related tem- plates that will help you through the maze of refinancing your home, a vacation planner, a tem- plate to create address labels, a template that lets you enter information about friends and family and that serves as a reminder for important dates, a medical authorization form, a home inventory worksheet, and a template that tracks the details of your financial life. All documentation is provided on disk and a two page printed insert is included. In order to use the templates that comprise “The A+ Home Organizer,” you must already own AppleWorks GS. As usual, Shareware Solutions II can accept checks or money orders, in US dollars (or drawn Shareware Solutions IT T on a US account) and made payable to “Joe Kohn.” No credit cards or school purchase orders can be accepted. Please remit payment for the “A+ Home Organizer” to: Joe Kohn c/o Shareware Solutions IT 166 Alpine Street San Rafael, CA 94901-1008 CD-ROM Drives Vitesse would like to make you aware that they have uncovered a source for very inexpensive CD-ROM drives, and that they are making those available to subscribers via a “Such A Deal” special offer. Businesses often have a need to have more than one CD-ROM disk online at any one time, so there is a type of CD-ROM drive that could best be described as Industrial Strength. This type of CD-ROM drive comes in a large case with four bays that can hold half-height CD-ROM drives or SCSI based hard drives. The cases themselves are quite large, weighing in at nearly 20 pounds, and resemble in size the mini-tower cases that many PCs use. The drives that Vitesse has found are used but they have been tested and they do come with a 90 day warranty. The cases include a power supply and all internal connections and cabling for four devices. Vitesse is currently selling drives and the enclosures in a number of different configurations: Empty CD-ROM Case: $39.95 Case with one single speed CD- ROM: $54.95 Case with two single speed CD- ROMs: $74.95 Case with one double speed CD- 8 Shareware Solutions IT ROM: $84.95 Raw single speed CD-ROM mechanism: $29.95 Raw double speed CD-ROM mechanism: $60.00 These low cost CD-ROM drives require a RamFAST SCSI interface card, and a CD caddy which is available from Vitesse for $5. Due to the weight of these drives, shipping to a US address costs $15. California residents must add 8.25% sales tax. Additionally, Vitesse has other configurations available and they also have SCSI termi- nators, cabling and connectors. For additional information contact: Vitesse Inc. P.O. Box 929 La Puente, CA 91747-0929 818-813-1270 (Voice) 818-813-1273 (Fax) vitesse@genie.geis.com ProTerm v3.1 T’ve been asked by many sub- scribers why the Shareware Sol- utions II library doesn’t contain any freeware or shareware tele- communications programs. My response is that telecommuni- cations can be either a very re- warding experience or an exer- cise in frustration. The major factor that determines whether a new modem owner delights in or detests the online experience is the telecommunications pro- gram he or she uses to drive the modem. So, although there are a number of shareware telecom- munications programs availa- ble, it is my honest and sincere belief that newcomers to modems will have a far more rewarding and trouble free experience if they use Proterm v3.1. Although I personally own all of the current crop of Apple II and IIGS telecommunications programs, ProTerm is the pro- gram that I have selected for my own daily use, and it’s the pro- gram that I generally recom- mend to anyone who asks for my advice. ProTerm is a text based Pro- DOS-8 program that is ideally suited for use on IIc, IIGS, and 128K Enhanced Ile systems. ProTerm’s commands can be issued by pointing and clicking your mouse at pull-down and pop-up menus, or for those who prefer command driven soft- ware, ProTerm has equivalent commands that can be invoked from the keyboard, using Open- Apple commands. ProTerm includes a complete and powerful macro scripting language. Macros can be used to automate online sessions by having, for example, your com- puter dial GEnie in the middle of the night, retrieve all your electronic mail, download a couple of games, read messages posted on A2, send letters to your electronic pen pals, and then log you off the system. Pro- Term provides elegant means to automate online sessions, and it allows even novices to use many of its advanced features. Pro- Term allows mastery of its macro capabilities by use of an auto-learn feature. Rather than having the novice user attempt to master customized macro scripting, ProTerm can actually record keystokes for playback later. When accessing a remote computer system for the first time, you enter logon infor- mation manually. ProTerm then saves that logon information as a macro, automatically, and you'll never need enter that information again. In a similar manner, one can have ProTerm learn how to retrieve messages automatically, or download a series of programs. ProTerm comes with a built-in mouse driven word processor as an editor. That editor can be used to prepare text for upload- ing or to edit text that’s been downloaded. The editor contains many of the features that most of us desire in a word processor, including cut and paste, and find and replace. The editor can load in either ASCII text files or AppleWorks word processing documents, and can save docu- ments in either format. File transfer protocols include such standards as Xmodem, Ymodem and Kermit, as well as supporting true batch Ymodem and Zmodem Resume. If the remote system you're calling also supports Zmodem Resume, you can download a large file in more than one online session. Ymodem Batch mode follows the industry standard by sup- plying the file name, meaning you don’t have to type it in, leading to more automation and fewer keystrokes. ProTerm has so many other fea- tures it would be hard to cover all of them here. Suffice it to say that ProTerm is an extremely powerful and flexible telecom- munications program that is designed to grow with you. It may take you awhile to master ProTerm’s macro scripting lan- guage, but as a novice, you'll be able to create time saving and money saving macros within an hour of first booting the disk. ProTerm’s use is intuitive and easy and a telecommunications novice can get all of his or her questions answered by reading the excellent documentation that covers everything from in- stallation to disk copying and ProDOS file naming conven- tions. The manual includes a complete detailed tutorial and may very well be the best and most thorough manual ever written for any Apple II soft- ware program. As efficient and wonderful as ProTerm is, it does carry a hefty suggested retail price of $129, and that price is prohibitive to many. Most Apple II mail order companies offer ProTerm for $79, and I was quite surprised to learn recently that InTrec, the publisher of ProTerm, actually sells ProTerm for $80, plus shipping and handling. I was even more surprised when I learned that ProTerm could be purchased from InTrec for as little as $60, plus shipping and handling. In the normal course of business a certain number of ProTerm packages are returned. They are in good condition but there may be signs that the manual had been opened, or there may be some cosmetic marks on the cover. Returned products are offered by InTrec as “Recycled Refurbished Products.” Each refurbished package of ProTerm is guaranteed to be as complete and usable, with the same functionality, as a brand new package. All returned disks are recopied with the latest release, and all parts are re- serialized with a number desig- nating a refurbished unit. This group of serial numbers is listed as being licensed to the pur- chaser, who agrees that these refurbished products will not be resold as a retail product. The only catch in trying to pur- chase a refurbished ProTerm package is that InTrec may not have any available when you contact them, in which case you will be placed on a waiting list that is maintained on a first come, first served basis. For more information, contact: InTrec Software 3035 E Topaz Circle Phoenix, AZ 85028-4423 602-992-5515 (Voice) 602-992-0232 (Fax) 602-992-9789 (BBS) Big Text Machine Big Text Machine is a ProDOS-8 based text presentation toolkit which allows you to display, on screen and in a variety of large fonts that can be read from up to 20 feet away, any ProDOS-8 based text file or AppleWorks word processing document. Big Text Machine was designed to assist visually impaired stu- dents, but due to its user con- trollable rate of display, it could easily be used as an electronic message display system in a store or as a teaching tool in a large lecture hall. There are a number of different display vari- ables and options that can be used, depending on the intended audience. Whether used to help children learn how to read, as a text screen magnifier for visually im- paired people, or as a sales tool, Big Text machine is a flexible program that can be adjusted to display the same message over and over again, or it can pause after each screen. The colors of the text and the background can be changed and a number of different large sized fonts, in- cluding foreign language display fonts, are included with the program. Shareware Solutions IT 9 Big Text Machine places no limit on the size of the text file that it can display, so that if you were to download an entire book from the Internet, you could read it on screen, in its entirety. The program works on any Apple II with 64K, and it works just fine on Laser 128 systems and on Macintoshes with a IIe card installed. The program comes with an excellent 77 page manual that was obviously written by some- one with a great deal of knowl- edge about the Apple II and with the resources available for Apple II owners. There are even files included on disk that explain, for example, how Big Text Machine can be used in con- junction with WestCode Soft- ware’s InWords optical charac- ter recognition software. Big Text Machine is supplied on either 5.25" disk or 3.5" disk (please specify with order) and was previously available for $35. But thanks to the pro- gram’s publisher — long time Apple II developer and educator Phil Shapiro — you can purchase this amazing text display system for only $12. This low price includes shipping to US addresses. For delivery outside the US, include an additional $8 for air mail delivery. All you need to do to take advantage of this special offer is to contact the publisher and say the magic words, “Such A Deal.” Balloons Software 5201 Chevy Chase Pkway NW Washington, DC 20015-1747 202-244-2223 (Voice) @ Lost And Found: Script-Central About Script-Central Earlier this year, when ICON announced that it was going out of business, there was a lot of sorrow expressed by members of the Apple II community. Not only had we lost Tom Weishaar, a long time Apple II supporter and evangelist, but we also lost four valuable and informative disk based journals that had been published and distributed by Tom’s ICON organization. Or, did we? Soon after the dust raised by ICON’s demise settled, I con- tacted a number of people who had been active in the ICON organization, in an attempt to persuade some of them to continue with their efforts. As it turns out, each of the ICON publications was largely created, written and edited by, at most, one or two individuals who worked on their own, far from the ICON offices. One of the people I contacted was a man whose nom-de-computer is 10 Shareware Solutions IT HangTime, the Founder and Editor of the HyperCard IIGS based Script-Central publica- tion. HangTime expressed a great interest and an ongoing commitment to the publication he launched back in July, 1991. HangTime contacted Tom Weis- haar to inquire about the legal status of Script-Central, and asked whether it would be possible for ICON to transfer all the copyrights over to Hang- Time. Tom Weishaar readily agreed. Soon afterwards, Hang- Time and Shareware Solutions TI reached an agreement where- by all the back issues of Script- Central, nearly four years worth of HyperCard IIGS based information, resources, utilities, tutorials, commands and exam- ples, would become available once again to those new users of HyperCard IIGS who had missed Script-Central in its first incarnation. Script-Central lives on! Script-Central was originally published from July, 1991 to January, 1995. All in all, 22 issues, each comprising two 3.5" disks, were produced. Originally available by subscription only, Shareware Solutions II will be making all those back issues available for purchase, and there is a very good chance that HangTime will be able to be convinced to produce new issues of Script-Central in the future! Script-Central had a dual focus and served as both a showcase for the very best HyperCard- generated software ever created, and as an ongoing tutorial and resource guide for those who wanted to learn how to use HyperCard to create their own software or presentations. Script-Central is an interactive hypermedia-based publication. Starting out with 1.5 megabytes of data contained within each of the early issues, Script-Central eventually grew in size, via the use of compression technology, so that up to 2.5 megabytes of information was able to be included within each later issue. In either case, there’s an in- credible amount of information to go through and digest in each and every issue. Each issue has a similar layout. Before anything else, you'll run the supplied Installer to copy all the stacks, icons and special- ized fonts to your hard disk drive. Then, as you launch any issue, you'll find yourself stand- ing on the virtual front steps of the Script-Central building, a beautiful brick structure that is often seasonally adorned. Knock on the front door to enter the lobby. Ring the bell to display that issue’s table of contents and an editorial. Click on the picture of Tom Weishaar for an amusing surprise. Click on vari- ous graphic depictions in the lobby for even more surprises and an occasional Easter Egg. All of the regular and ongoing features are disguised as “offices.” Enter the “Regular Features” door on the right, and you'll discover offices that are dedicated to articles about HyperCard techniques, clip art, letters from readers, rumors and press releases, sounds and tools, XCMDs and buttons, ani- mations and utilities, and much much more. The regular features that ap- pear in each issue are humor- ous, illustrative and education- al. In each issue, news and ru- mors are dispensed from the highly innovative Rum-R-Matic machine. Sounds can be played back or copied to your own stack by the HyperSonics digital tape recorder. Programming tools such as new XCMDs or utility programs are found in the Scripter’s Workshop, an area that will surely look familiar to those of you who have a wood working shop in your garage. Letters from readers are dis- played as they wend their way on a rusty old conveyor belt to- wards the incinerator. The “Tips & Trix” section is presided over by a couple of wisecracking rab- bits, and you just never know what kind of HyperCard tricks they are going to pull out of their hats. In the Lounge area, a fly on the wall listens in on technical HyperCard and other Apple II related discussions, and passes along the informa- tion to you. In the “Q & A” room, you'll find yourself attending a meeting and listening to a talk on the fine points of HyperCard or some other computer related discourse. Or you can take the virtual ele- vator upstairs and see a selec- tion of some incredible and in- novative HyperCard stacks that were created by HangTime or submitted by subscribers. Although all issues start out with your wandering through the virtual offices of the Script- Central building, what you will find behind the office doors will differ greatly from issue to issue. About the only thing that each issue has in common is a similar “look and feel,” an off- beat sense of humor, various Easter Eggs, and enthusiasm for HyperCard IIGS. Come on in and explore; you never know what excitement awaits you! Just keep in mind that Script- Central is not always what it appears to be; each issue con- tains at least several unex- pected special effects or humor- ous surprises. Some of the hu- mor will be very apparent, some of it will pop out at you only after typing the magic password (joke) that activates the hidden joke mode, and some of it you'll have to go searching for. As you go through each issue of Script- Central, just remember that HyperCard will display all of the links on any screen when the Open Apple and Option keys are pressed simultaneously. Quite often you will discover hidden buttons that you didn’t know existed, and when you click on those hidden buttons, strange and wondrous or weird and wacky things may happen. Expect the unexpected. A major focus of Script-Central is to teach about HyperCard, and because Script-Central is so highly artistic, clever, innovative and cutting-edge, all of the mat- erials on all of the issues are completely unprotected. That means that you can examine and study all the scripts and cut and paste them into your own stacks, display all the cards in a stack to see just what type of animation techniques are used, or use the clip art, sounds, XCMDs, New Commands, or animations in your own cre- ations. In addition to all of the tutorials, you can learn how to “push the HyperCard envelope” by examining and studying HangTime’s scripts, stacks and programs. Whenever you discov- er a hidden button, if you contin- ue to hold down the Open Apple and Option modifier keys and click your mouse on any of the buttons, the HyperTalk script -— the actual code that HangTime used to create those special effects — will be revealed. As you're sure to agree, Hang- Time is expertly skilled in all aspects of using HyperCard and he wants you to learn and mas- ter and improve on his tech- niques. Follow HangTime and his zany antics through all 22 issues of Script-Central and you too will become a HyperCard expert. Best of all, you'll be Shareware Solutions IT i laughing as you are learning. Following is a brief description of all 22 issues of Script- Central. Issue 1: In the Regular Depart- ments, the Q & A is devoted to answering beginner HyperCard questions. As we enter the Lounge, we eavesdrop on a con- versation that took place on GEnie about the features of HyperCard IIGS. We also encounter in the washroom the “Rum-R-Matic” machine that contains some Apple II related rumors. As we move to the Scripter’s Workshop, we find two stacks that HyperCard designers will find invaluable: HyperUtility, a HyperCard re- source handler and icon editor intended to assist in moving and copying Icons, XCMDs and Sounds, and Visual FX, which includes 21 visual effects that you can cut and paste into your own HyperCard stacks. There are 13 different sound effects that can be enjoyed as is or copied to your own stacks. There are several animated clocks that can also be used in your own stacks, and there’s even a brand new HyperTalk command included. Tips & Trix includes miscellaneous tips for new users of HyperCard, informa- tion on HCGS shortcuts, and finally, some HCGS pitfalls to watch out for. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 1 are Haiku Master, which generates random Haiku poetry, Scan For Gold, a tutorial stack that describes graphic re- sources for owners of scanners, Read AWP, a stack that im- ports AppleWorks word pro- cessing documents into Hyper- Card and exports them as Text Files, and Pronounced Eks- Kom-Man4d, a tutorial on how to 12 Shareware Solutions IT use the XCMDs supplied with HyperCard. Issue 2: After entering the lobby, please look very closely at the picture of Tom Weishaar. Then move your mouse around, and you will see Tom’s eyes fol- lowing you around. In the Regu- lar Departments, the Q & A is devoted to answering ten dif- ferent HyperCard related ques- tions, with many of the answers supplied by Apple’s HyperCard TIGS Product Manager. As we enter the Lounge, we eavesdrop on a conversation that took place on GEnie that offered some HyperTalk tips, infor- mation on using XCMDs and details about several 3rd party add-on products for use with HyperCard. The Rum-R-Matic machine spits out rumors about the soon-to-be-released System 6. Please make sure you click on the Dunce Cap, and definitely go into the Office and look at the file cabinet drawer labeled “legal junk;” what you'll find in there is hilarious. As we move to the Scripter’s Workshop, we find ten different sound effects that can be enjoyed as is or copied to your own stacks. There are five ready to cut and paste scripts, three new scripting tools, a Print Button that allows you to easily add print capabilities to any stack, and a listFont command that lists all the different fonts used in any stack. Tips & Trix includes tips for scripters and the trix section shows you how to create wan- dering eyeballs and slippery buttons. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 2 have a heavy emphasis on assisting people who want to create their own HyperCard stacks. You'll find Get Graphic, a tool that allows you to easily add clip art to a stack. There’s also XFCN Xprt that shows you how to create pop up menus in HyperCard. Pronounced XCMD (notice the serious name change) illustrates how to use the displayList XCMD, and Auto- Scripter allows you to create sophisticated scripting with the click of a mouse. Issue 3: This issue has a Halloween theme, with lots of ghosts and goblins floating around, spooky sound effects galore, and plenty of unexpected animated apparitions, specters and spirits abound. In the Regular Departments, we find the first installment of ITB (In The Beginning), an ongoing thought provoking tutorial that focuses on teaching effective methods of stack design. The Q & A is devoted to answering ten different HyperCard questions. The Lounge is where we learn about debugging custom menus and learn how to modify Hyper- Mover for greater efficiency. The Rum-R-Matic machine is bro- ken, and we meet Arty Fufkin and learn that it’s all his fault. As we move to the Scripter’s Workshop, we find rCruncher, a new XCMD that compresses the resource fork of any HyperCard stack. There are also eight amusing sound effects. There are five ready to cut and paste scripts, a new command that creates a closeStack handler, and a tutorial that is complete with cut and paste examples of animated indicator icons. Tips & Trix includes several general tips and a tutorial on how to make your icons look vibrant and beautiful. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 3 include Rap Master, a humorous stack that generates random rap songs that actually sound quite good. There’s a two player game of No Rules Chess; beware that there are no rules, so if you turn your head away for even a moment, your opponent’s pawn may very well checkmate you. Screen Blanker is a user configurable screen blanker that installs itself into HyperCard and it comes with a complete explanation of how it works. Lastly, we have HyperUpdater, a scriptable stack updater that allows a minimally sized up- date script to make changes to a stack. Issue 4: In the Regular Depart- ments, the Q & A answers ten HyperCard related questions. In the Lounge, we listen in on a conversation that took place on GEnie about the problems en- countered when using Hyper- Card as a program launcher for ProDOS-8 based programs. The Rum-R-Matic machine spits out rumors about the future of the IIGS. In the Scripter’s Work- shop, we encounter MultiScroll, a utility and tutorial showing how to set up multi-scrolling tables. There are ten different sound effects. There are five ready to cut and paste scripts, three new XCMDs, and a get- Script new command that cop- ies scripts from one stack to an- other. Tips & Trix includes tips, with concrete examples and demos, on how different cursors can be used to speed up a stack. The Trix are astounding, as we learn how to set up scripts that actually modify themselves. Using self-modifying scripts, we learn how to create a piano from within HyperCard. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 4 include Dr Ken Frank- lin’s wonderful game for chil- dren, Make-A-Face. There’s an- other game, Slide Puzzle, in which you attempt to rearrange 24 numbered squares so that they appear in sequential order. There’s also The Incomplete Guide to Home Brewing, a very complete and informative stack for those of you who want to try brewing beer at home. Finally, this month’s edition of ITB is devoted to explaining user levels, describing several Hyper- Talk concepts including hand- lers and scripting, clarifying how to use the script editor and how to examine scripts, and offering nine guidelines for stack designing. Issue 5: In the Regular Depart- ments, the Q & A answers ten HyperTalk related questions. In the Lounge, the dialogue is be- coming much more technical as HyperCard owners are getting more sophisticated with their techniques and the talk turns to HyperTalk. The Rum-R-Matic machine spits out rumors, several of which actually came true. The Scripter’s Workshop includes seven digitized sounds of HangTime doing his Sam Kinnison imitation and a tutori- al showing several new text for- matting commands. As usual, there are five new XCMDs, and a Makelcon new command that lets you easily add new Icons anywhere. Tips & Trix includes tips, with concrete examples and demos, of how to create a math exam using HyperTalk. The Trix show us how scriptless buttons work. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 5 include Lunar Lander, a game in which you try to fire your thrusters so that you can safely land on a mountainous region of the Moon. Aces is another type of game involving flight. As a pilot of a World War I biplane, you'll attempt to disable your enemy’s balloon in this colorful board game. The ITB series continues by offering more general design guidelines and it shows exactly how to change the color of the border surrounding any card. Issue 6: This issue is slightly different from all the previous ones because it contains the actual HyperCard v1.1 updated program. Because the Hyper- Card program takes up so much disk space, only the Regular De- partments appear in this issue. The Q & A section sheds light on nine questions submitted by subscribers. In the Lounge, the talk turns towards using Hyper- Card as the control center for a computer regulated X-10 home controller system. Also included is a discussion about incorpo- rating graphics and digitized sounds into HyperCard stacks. The Rum-R-Matic machine spits out rumors. The Scripter’s Work- shop includes the standard five new XCMDs, along with a new text formatting function that lets you search text fields and easily replace any of the text. The new command in this issue allows you to calculate the distance, expressed in pixels, between two objects on screen. Tips & Trix includes tips, with concrete examples and demos, of how to make text appear in a pop up box. The Trix include a discussion of how programmers can use arrays in HyperTalk. Issue 7: In the Regular Depart- ments, the Q & A answers ten different Apple II and Hyper- Card related questions; one answer includes a schematic for those who would like to build a gizmo that will allow them to digitize sounds without a sound digitizing card, and another tells people how to access Script- Central’s built-in hidden joke department. In the Lounge, we eavesdrop on a conversation Shareware Solutions IT 13 that took place on GEnie about Apple Computer Inc. The Rum- R-Matic machine spits out rumors about the IIGS, and quite a few of those rumors actually came true. As we move to the Scripter’s Workshop, we find an explanation about the brand new Text Window XCMD. There are nine different sound effects, five animated icons, and a wonderful new XCMD that switches the HyperCard display to 320 mode, thereby allowing 320 mode graphics to be used within HyperCard stacks. In conjunction with the new 320 mode XCMD, there’s also a grab bag of 320 mode fonts, icons and cursors. Tips & Trix includes tips for understanding and working with System 6’s new styled rIcons. The Trix teach you how to incorporate color cycling animations into your stacks. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 7 include The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, which contains Longfellow’s famous poem, complete with maps and historical information that help to explain the circumstances surrounding the incident that inspired the poem. There’s also Menu Mania, a very complete tutorial and information stack that explains how to incorporate menus into your own stacks. Additionally, there’s a Hyper- Card based database of all articles and stacks that have appeared on Script-Central. Finally we have ITB which continues to offer guidelines for stack designing. Issue 8: In the Regular Depart- ments, the Q & A in this issue is short on quantity, but long on quality; information is included on how to use HyperCard as a statistics program and how to generate statistical graphs. In the Lounge, we overhear a 14 Shareware Solutions IT discussion on the merits of HyperCard versus HyperStudio. The Rum-R-Matic machine con- tinues to spit out rumors, but this month it also displays lots of official press releases. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find the Color Edit New Desk Accessory. This NDA allows you to edit the colors used by the current application and it was designed to address the lack of basic color editing capabilities in Hyper- Card. The workshop contains nine digitized sounds from the Dr Who TV series, six more ani- mated cursors, two animated icons, and the Xcat new function that allows you to capture a catalog of file names contained in any directory on disk. Tips & Trix includes a discussion about using the HyperTalk “item” statement and the Trix section examines a fundamental and useful programming technique called Recursion. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 8 include a stack about the various actors who played Dr Who and it contains a mini- episode guide to the TV series. Puzzler is a puzzle game that displays nine black and white tiles. If you click on a tile, Puzzler will change the color of that tile as well as the color of several adjacent tiles. The goal is to make all the tiles white. There’s also a great game of Concentration for kids, named HyperAnimaux, that uses pic- tures of animals. Finally there’s Mile Minder, a stack that lets you keep track of all your auto- mobile related expenses. Issue 9: This is the first issue where file compression is em- ployed. After the Installer cop- ies all the files to your hard drive, double click on the file named “Double.Click.Me” to complete the installation. In the Regular Departments, the Q & A answers five important questions, several of which con- cern HyperMover and converting stacks between Apple IIGS and Macintosh. In the Lounge, we overhear a lively discussion about Script-Central, Apple User Groups, and The Lost Classic Project. The Rum-R- Matic machine continues to spit out rumors and press releases, but this month it also includes a hilarious set of instructions for converting a Macintosh into a fish tank. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named PostCrypt and nine digitized sounds. There’s also a set of scripts, and an article that describes their use, that will allow you to perform multiple sorting of data stored within a HyperCard database or table. There’s a SysSounds.XCMD that lets you access from within HyperCard all the rSounds found on your startup partition. Lastly, there’s a Timer New Command that can be used to keep track of or display elapsed time. Tips & Trix has been replaced in this issue by ArtWerk, a stack with 40 clip art objects that can easily be copied to other stacks. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 9 include Memory Game, a concentration game where you try to find matching pairs of cards that are all turned face down. There’s the second stack in the Dr Who series; this segment is about all Dr Who's enemies. HyperGraf creates nice looking bar graphs from any sets of data that you enter. Finally we have System Soundr, a stack that looks like a CD player but that plays back resource based rSounds. Issue 10: In the Regular Depart- ments, the Q & A section pres- ents us with eight HyperCard lessons. In the Lounge, we over- hear a lively discussion about Apple Expo East and listen in as Apple II owners bash the company that built the com- puter that they love. The Rum- R-Matic machine spits out rumors and ten Apple related press releases. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named Igloo- Laser. Unfortunately, Arty was assigned the task of overseeing this issue’s digitized sounds, so there are none but there’s an interesting error message in its place; good going Arty! We do have six more of HangTime’s animated cursors and the new SysSounds command, which plays all the rSounds found on your system. We’re also pre- sented with a homework assign- ment; beautify the accompa- nying Biorhythm stack. Tips & Trix has, yet once again, been replaced in this issue by Art- Werk, a stack with 42 clip art objects that can easily be copied to other stacks. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 10 include the third stack in the Dr Who series; this seg- ment is all about Dr Who’s com- panions. There’s a two player game of Tic Tac Toe, complete with wacky sound effects. There’s a very sophisticated Genealogy stack that allows you to keep family trees within HyperCard; make sure you access the built-in help system. Finally, we have a stack about the 1992 Presidential election, complete with state by state statistics. Issue 11: On this issue, every- thing has been compressed. After running the Installer, just launch the HyperCard stack and it will oversee that all the files get uncompressed. In the Regular Departments, the Q & A section deals with some possible conflicts between HyperCard and IIGS Desk Accessories. In the Lounge, we sit in on the historical meeting held at Apple Computer Inc during which Apple announces the discontinuation of the Apple TIGS product line. Since I was in attendance at that meeting, I assure you that the transcript, recorded and transcribed from a hidden tape recorder, is at least 98% accurate. The Rum-R- Matic machine continues to spit out rumors and Apple related press releases. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named Oswald Black. There are 22 sound ef- fects included. We also have a set of fully scripted utilities that import text and graphic files into HyperCard; as usual, these can be used with your own stacks. Tips & Trix has again been replaced in this issue by ArtWerk, a stack with five screens of clip art that can be copied to other stacks; these screens were created by pro- fessional computer artist Mary Ann Trzyna. We also have a new XCMD - SetPrefix.SRC - that was created to help uncompress this entire issue by copying the files to a very specific path- name; feel free to use this in your own stacks. And, finally, we have a stand alone GS/OS application program, rSounder, which allows you to convert your old “raw binary” sound files to resource based rSounds. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 11 include Biorhythm II which is HangTime’s improved version that he created as his homework assignment from the last issue. There’s also a Smart Quotes stack that converts regu- lar quotation marks into curly quotation marks, quickly and automatically. There’s a stack devoted to the rock group Led Zeppelin, complete with a his- tory of the band, scanned album covers, and a discography. And finally we have Fortune Cookie, a stack that displays more than 1,000 fortunes that sound like they were written by our old friend Mr Murphy; a typical fortune: “For every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong.” Issue 12: Beware! This is the April Fool’s issue. In the Regu- lar Departments, the Q & A sec- tion offers ten more informative HyperCard mini-lessons. The Rum-R-Matic machine spits out rumors and 14 Apple related press releases. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named Albatross. There are 15 sound effects included as part of HyperSonics. We also find six more ready to run scripts that can be used with your own stacks. ArtWerk contains five more of Mary Ann Trzyna’s beautifully crafted screens of clip art that can easily be copied to other stacks. We also have an xVolumes XCMD that determines the names of all the online volumes. Finally, we have yet another homework assignment. Included is a stack that determines if you are overweight; the stack was ported from the Macintosh ver- sion of HyperCard using Hyper- Mover. Your assignment, should you decide to accept it, is to beautify and colorize the stack and then to compare your results to HangTime’s results. HangTime’s version of the stack is also included on this issue. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 12 include Fortune Cookie II, a stack containing 1,064 pearls of wisdom, silly quotes and assorted gibberish. There’s Shareware Solutions II 15 also a Word Scrambler stack that generates all possible com- binations of the letters con- tained within any word or phrase. Finally we have a fact filled stack about all the First Ladies of the United States from Martha Washington up through Nancy Reagan. Issue 13: In the Regular De- partments, the Q & A section offers seven more informative HyperCard mini-lessons. The Rum-R-Matic machine spits out rumors and 25 Apple related press releases. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named LynzFont. There are 12 sound effects included as part of HyperSonics. ArtWerk contains six more of Mary Ann Trzyna’s beautifully crafted screens of clip art. We also have a brand new depart- ment, the Game Room, which contains HyperJumble, a brain teaser type of word puzzle. In it you are presented with a picture that has a partial caption. Your goal is to try to complete the caption from a scrambled word list that must first be unscram- bled. We also find the new FunctionKey command that works with extended keyboards by allowing the F1 function key to jump between two stacks. Finally, we have another home- work assignment. Included is a stack that lets you maintain a detailed database of all your books; the stack was ported from the Macintosh version of HyperCard using HyperMover. Your assignment is to beautify and colorize the stack. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 13 includes one named Phone Mnemonics, a stack that will let you find out all the words your phone number spells out. There’s a review of Twilight Il. NoWorries is a HyperCard 16 Shareware Solutions IT stack that can be used in place of the GS/OS Finder as a program launcher. Finally, there’s The Creative Universe, an academic treatise about the physical processes that may have taken place during the creation of the universe. Issue 14: This issue’s front desk will keep you more entertained than usual, as there’s a new fea- ture there, inviting you to par- ticipate in an ongoing contest that challenges you to solve riddles or visual logic puzzles. You'll also find HangTime’s description of the 1993 edition of KansasFest; that description is aptly subtitled, “A Trip Into HangTime’s Warped Little Uni- verse.” And also from Kansas- Fest, you'll find a transcript of HangTime’s hilarious roast of Tom Weishaar. In the Regular Departments, the Q & A section offers five more informative HyperCard mini-lessons. The Rum-R-Matic machine continues to spit out rumors and 18 Apple related press releases. In the Lounge, we get to meet the sysops of GEnie’s A2 RoundTable. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a TIGS Bit Mapped Font named ArtDeco. There are 18 sound effects included. ArtWerk con- tains four more of Mary Ann Trzyna’s screens of clip art. We also find a new AboutWindow command that permits stack designers to incorporate model- style information windows into any stack. We also find a wonderful utility stack named Hacker that will actually re- build a corrupted HyperCard stack. Finally, we have a home- work assignment. Included is a stack that lets you maintain a detailed database of all your software; the stack was ported from the Macintosh version of HyperCard using HyperMover. Your assignment is to beautify and colorize the stack. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 14 include a detailed Star Trek: The Next Generation stack that provides plot summaries of the 25 episodes that comprised the first season. There’s also an updated Memory game of Concentration that appeared on an earlier issue; the update let’s you play against the computer. There are two product reviews for software from Seven Hills — Express and The Manager. You'll also find a HangTime stack that contains four unique clocks, and a brand new Depart- ment named The Store Room which contains a stack-based screen saver that emits random and insane sounding screams. Issue 15: In the Regular Depart- ments, the Q & A section offers five more informative Hyper- Card mini-lessons. The Rum-R- Matic machine continues to spit out rumors and eight Apple related press releases. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named Albuquerque. There are seven sound effects included. ArtWerk contains six more of Mary Ann Trzyna’s beautiful screens of clip art. We find a new SmartQuote command that permits straight quotes to be converted to curly quotes. We also find an updated version of the corrupted stack rebuilder that was included on the last issue; the update has options to copy Icons, sounds, XCMDs and XFCNs from corrupted stacks. We also have another homework assignment. Included is a stack that lets you maintain a detailed database of all your Star Trek related video tapes; the stack was ported from the Macintosh version of Hyper- Card using HyperMover. Your assignment is to beautify and colorize the stack. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 15 include the second sea- son of the Star Trek: The Next Generation stack that appeared on the last issue. There’s two games included in the Game Room: HyperJumble and Maze. There is a stack that provides a comparative review of the two compression programs availa- ble for the IIGS - HardPressed and AutoArk. There’s a Tic Tac Toe stack that contains a tradi- tional version of that game, as well as two variations as de- scribed in Scientific American. Finally, we have a stack that provides a history and overview of Apple’s Lisa computer. Issue 16: In the Regular De- partments, the Q & A section offers something new — three issues of the electronic version of the Silicon Times newsletter. The Rum-R-Matic machine con- tinues to spit out rumors and eight Apple related press re- leases. In the Scripter’s Work- shop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named Alderney. There are ten sound effects. ArtWerk contains five more of Mary Ann Trzyna’s beautiful screens of clip art. We find a new ResDir command that re- trieves the directory of an ex- tended file’s resource fork and an updated version of the cor- rupted stack rebuilder that was included on the last issue; the update has options to copy any resources from corrupted stacks. We have yet another homework assignment. Included is a scien- tific calculator stack that was ported from the Mac version of HyperCard using HyperMover. Your assignment is to beautify and colorize the stack. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 16 include the third sea- son of the Star Trek: The Next Generation stack that appeared on the last issue. There are two games in the Game Room: Slide Puzzle and HyperMaze. In the Store Room, you'll be able to apply an update to the previ- ously published NoWorries pro- gram launcher stack. We also find Chomp, a two player strat- egy board game, and a detailed product review of the Sound- Meister stereo digitizer. Finally, we have Guitarist’s Friend, a stack that shows the proper finger placement to play any guitar chords. Issue 17: There have been a few changes made in the Regular Departments; the News Room contains eight issues of the Sili- con Times newsletter and the door marked Article contains an article about the computer in- dustry. The Rum-R-Matic ma- chine spits out rumors and six Apple related press releases. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named Arlington. There are 14 sound effects. ArtWerk contains four of Mary Ann Trzyna’s beautiful screens of clip art. We also find an xHject XCMD that ejects all removable media currently on- line. There’s an updated and complete version of the Librar- ian stack that was given as a homework assignment. There’s Disk Names, a stack that will poll your 3.5" disk drives every few seconds and add the disk names to a scrolling list. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 17 include the fourth sea- son of the Star Trek: The Next Generation stack that has ap- peared on the last few issues. There’s also a great Guess Word game that displays a four letter word and you need to change one letter to derive a new word. In the Store Room, you'll find HangTime’s idea of a practical joke; a stack that appears to be a IIGS password protection sys- tem. We also have a review of Shanghai II and lastly, we have a Talking Clock that can be customized to suit your needs. Issue 18: In the Regular Depart- ments, the News Room offers seven new issues of the Silicon Times newsletter. The Rum-R- Matic machine spits out rumors, but no press releases are found in this issue. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find an Art Nouveau IIGS Bit Mapped Font. There are 36 sound effects. Art- Werk contains five of Mary Ann Trzyna’s lovely screens of clip art. We find the FontZ XCMD which allows you to keep spe- cialty fonts within a stack’s re- source fork and to load the fonts as the stack loads. In conjunc- tion with that, we have the new InstallFont command that in- stalls a font into a stack’s re- source fork. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 18 include the fifth season of the Star Trek: The Next Gen- eration stack. In the Store Room is an April Fool’s joke that will have to remain a surprise. There’s a review of Seven Hills Software’s Spectrum, and a graphic filled stack about Dino- saurs. Finally there’s Pedigree, a HyperCard based version of the commercial genealogy software package from Bright Software. Issue 19: In the Regular Depart- ments, the News Room offers three issues of EduPage, a news- letter of interest to anyone using a computer. The Rum-R-Matic machine spits out rumors. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named AvantGarde. There are 12 sound effects. ArtWerk contains five of Shareware Solutions IT 7 Mary Ann Trzyna’s fanciful screens of clip art. There’s an ar- ticle about the wonderful world of telecommunications. We also find 24 Icons that can be cut and pasted into your own stack, and a Text Import stack that imports text into a HyperCard stack and even creates a new text field if one didn’t previously exist. There’s also a new Copy- Btns command that lets you easily copy navigational buttons from one stack to another. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 19 include a Star Trek: The Original Series stack that contains cast lists, a synopsis of each episode, and episode notes. There’s a stack that contains the full text of all of Shake- speare’s 154 sonnets. There’s a Roman Numeral stack; enter any Roman Numeral and an animated Julius Caesar will show you the Arabic equivalent. Finally, we have Journal, an electronic version of a diary. Issue 20: In the Regular De- partments, the News Room of- fers seven issues of the Edu- Page newsletter. The Rum-R- Matic machine spits out rumors and Apple II related press re- leases. In the Lounge, we get to read reports of KansasFest ’94. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find the Bangkok Bit Mapped Font. There are seven sound effects. ArtWerk contains four of Mary Ann Trzyna’s exquisite screens of clip art. We find 23 more Icons that can be cut and pasted into your own stack, and an Icon Editor stack that modi- fies HyperCard’s Icon Editor to allow you to fine tune the size of your icons. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 20 include Star Trek: The Game. The goal is to find the cloaked Romulan war bird and 18 Shareware Solutions IT blast it out of the sky. There’s the Roman Numeral II stack; enter an Arabic number and an animated Julius Caesar will show you the Roman Numeral equivalent. There’s a HyperTalk Tutor stack that provides an in- troduction to programming with HyperCard. Finally we have Wedding Planner, a stack that lets you keep track of all the details involved in planning a wedding. Issue 21: In the Regular De- partments, the News Room of- fers six more issues of the Edu- Page newsletter. The Rum-R- Matic machine spits out rumors and nine Apple II related press releases. There’s an Internet ar- ticle that discusses some nega- tive, and little talked about, aspects of that global network. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named Banner. There are ten sound effects. ArtWerk contains five holiday related screens of clip art by Mary Ann Trzyna. We find 23 more Icons that can be cut and pasted into your own stack, and an update to the Icon Editor stack that appeared on Issue 20. Lastly there’s a new ImportColors command that lets you import custom color palettes. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 21 include the second installment of the HyperTalk Tutor stack that appeared on Issue 20; please note that this stack updates the stack that appeared on the last issue and will not work without the first part. There’s a Trick or Treat stack that includes some spooky Halloween animations. A Vita- mins stack provides infor- mation about which foods con- tain needed vitamins and min- erals. Finally, we have Day Cal- culator, a stack that determines what day of the week any date falls on. Issue 22: When the final issue went into the mail in January, 1995, not even HangTime knew that it would be the final issue. In the Regular Departments, the News Room offers eight more issues of the EduPage news- letter. The Rum-R-Matic ma- chine dispenses rumors and four Apple II related press releases. In the Lounge, you can see Joe Kohn in action, as he leads a GEnie online discussion that focuses on the Internet. In the Scripter’s Workshop, we find a IIGS Bit Mapped Font named Black Chancery. There are 12 sound effects. ArtWerk contains 11 holiday screens of clip art by Mary Ann Trzyna. We find 24 more Icons that can be cut and pasted into your own stacks, and a Multi-Selection Field tool that allows you to click items in a field and show with a checkmark that they are selected. There’s also PrintBtn which allows you to place a Print Button in any stack. The other HyperCard stacks on Issue 22 include Pyramid Soli- taire, a game whose goal is to eliminate all the cards in a pyramid by matching cards into pairs whose value totals 13. There’s Tibetan Rites, a stack that purports to teach you how to super charge your energy with five Tibetan rejuvenation rites and there’s a HyperCard Quick Reference Guide that offers lots of hints and shortcuts. Finally we have two Christmas ani- mated greeting cards complete with holiday music. Requirements In order to run any issue of Script-Central, your IIGS must meet the minimum require- ments that are necessary to run HyperCard — a hard disk drive and 2 Megabytes of RAM. You must also own HyperCard IIGS. Ordering Information Shareware Solutions II is mak- ing Script-Central available as single issues or multiple issue sets. Following are all applica- ble pricing options: Single issues are available for $7 each. A six issue combo pack (choose any six issues) is available for $36. Shipping charges are $3 for US destinations or $5 elsew- here. As a bonus, we will include a one disk “HyperCard Player” that will allow you to launch each issue of Script-Central. You can purchase all 22 issues for $99. As a bonus, we will include the full six disk set that comprises HyperCard IIGS. Due to the weight involved, shipping charges are $6 for US or Canada delivery; $20 elsewhere. For those of you who wish to purchase the one disk “Hyper- Card Player,” it is available for $5, with no additional shipping charges required. Please be aware that the one disk version of HyperCard is just fine for using Script-Central, but in order to use HyperCard to create your own stacks, you will need the complete six disk set. That complete HyperCard IIGS disk set is available for $15. Lastly, we have a one disk demo version of Script-Central availa- ble for $5, or $8 for both the demo disk and the one disk “HyperCard Player.” All orders will be shipped by air mail, and as usual, Shareware Solutions II can accept money orders or checks made payable in US funds to “Joe Kohn.” @ Shareware Solutions [e/IIc/Igs A2 Disks Of The Month The March issue of the GEnie A2 Disk of the Month has been combined with the April issue so you'll find two issues of both GEnieLamp newsletters on this disk. Software for the Ile/IIc in- cludes 43 updated custom print- er drivers for AppleWorks v5.x and macros for AppleWorks 4.x and 5.x to weed out duplicate records in a database. You will also find the latest version of Change-A-File and an updated version of QuickView that will properly display mousetext. Software for the IIGS on the March/April DOM includes a Finder Icon for AppleWorks v5.x, Fielder which is a line edit box cursor control INIT from Seven Hills, the latest version of Key- Notifier, a LaserJetIII printer driver, MacBin for those of you who need to decode MacBinary files, Magic Cursor, ReadSpeed which will read the speed of any block device and SHR.Screen- Saver which is a variable timed SHR screen capture CDA. The May, 1995 GEnie A2 DOM includes both issues of the GEnieLamp newsletter. Soft- ware for the Ile/IIc includes a slew of Roy Barrow’s latest AppleWorks v4.x and 5.x Time- Out applications. In addition, you'll find a wonderful new Apple II oriented newsletter, Blossom, that includes articles on souping up a Ile and where to locate Apple II resources on the World Wide Web. Software for the IIGS on the May, 1995 DOM includes a New Desk Accessory that converts line feeds to carriage returns, a HyperStudio Recipe Stack and the latest version of Ultra Blanker, a screen blanking pro- gram that works in both GS/OS and ProDOS-8. The June, 1995 A2 DOM in- cludes the two latest issues of GEnieLamp and the latest issue of the electronic news- letter produced by the online Planetary Apple User Group. Software for the Ile/IIc includes Fork Splitter, a ProDOS-8 based utility that can extract the data and resource forks from IIGS extended files. Software for the IIGS on the June, 1995 DOM includes ASCII Helper, an NDA that can remove line feeds, carriage returns, or all other control characters from ASCII text files. There’s also Auto DA, an Init file that allows certain Desk Accessories that use interrupts to be safely run without interfering with your telecommunications program. There’s also Memory Cards, a wonderful Super Hi Res game of Concentration. The above A2 Disks of the Month are available from the Share- ware Solutions II library, on 3.5" disk only, for $5 each, or all three disks for $10. AppleWorks v5.1 Updater Perhaps by now you've heard Shareware Solutions IT 19 that Randy Brandt’s next pro- gramming project is Deja II, a utility that will allow Mac users to run AppleWorks v5. Since Randy has five young children to feed, he has informed us that he will soon be leaving the Apple II world to develop Mac software. Before leaving Randy wanted to provide us with one last update to bring AppleWorks v5.0 up to version 5.1. And, as he has done before, he has agreed to allow Shareware Solutions II to make the updater disk, which also includes Randy’s Free Patch v5.1, available to subscribers. It is available on 3.5" disk for $5. TEXAS II Sampler In recent issues, both Cynthia Field and I have written about TEXAS II, an AppleWorks v4 and v5 oriented newsletter pub- lished by Beverly Cadieux. Bev’s knowledge of AppleWorks is astounding and in each issue of TEXAS II she shares detailed information about AppleWorks, supplies custom TimeOut appli- cations, describes AppleWorks bugs, furnishes Inits and pro- vides patches and pokes to over- come some AppleWorks quirks. TEXAS II is available both as a printed newsletter and as a disk-based newsletter. If Cynthia and I haven’t yet convinced you to subscribe to TEXAS II, perhaps Bev Cadieux will be more convincing. She has generously agreed to allow us to make available to you a 3.5" TEXAS II Sampler Disk that is chocked full with AppleWorks related files that are bound to supercharge your use of Apple- Works Classic. The files on the TEXAS II Sampler Disk were compiled from several recent TEXAS II disks, and they include macros and TimeOut applications for AppleWorks v4.x and v5.x. In addition, an entire TEXAS II newsletter from March, 1995 is included on the disk. Users of AppleWorks really owe it to themselves to drink from the fountain of knowledge that Bev Cadieux offers in each and every issue of TEXAS II. The TEXAS II Sampler Disk is available from the Shareware Solutions II library, on 3.5" disk only, for $5. End Note Modem Madness and Shareware Solutions IIGS will return in the very next issue of Shareware Solutions II. @ Joe Kohn Shareware Solutions II 166 Alpine Street San Rafael, CA 94901-1008 FIRST CLASS - AIR MAIL