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[HEA]
_____________________ ___ _
|___ ______________| | | | |
| | _ | | | |
| || | | | | |
| || | | | | |
| || | | | ____ _ _ _ _ ______ | |
| || | | | / __ \ | | / \_/ \ | ___ \ | |
| || |__ ____ | | / / \ | | /\ /\ \ | | \ \ | |
| || _ \ | _ \ | | \ \__/ | | | |_|| | | |__/ / | |
| || | | || |_|| | | \___/|_| |_| |_| | ____/ |_|
| || | | || |__ | |____________________ | | _
|__||_| |_|\____/ |________________________| | | |_|
| |
Lighting Your Apple II Path | |
|_|
-----------------------------------
>>> WELCOME TO THE LAMP! <<<
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE BEST OF THE A2 BULLETIN BOARD ON Syndicomm Online
AND THE BEST OF THE DELPHI A2 AND A2PRO MESSAGE BOARDS
"Teaching the Apple II user how to fish since 1998"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The Lamp! An Onipa'a Software Production Vol. 6, No. 5
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Publisher................................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W.
Editor.....................................................Lyle Syverson
Internet Email, Publisher.........................thelamp@sheppyware.net
Internet Email, Editor................................lyle@FoxValley.net
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 15, 2003
HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN]
Fresh Baked Cinnamon Rolls
KFest is About Sharing
A2 FORUM AT Syndicomm Online (A2Central.com) DISTILLATIONS------------[DAS]
Woz Announcement Chat in Library---------------------------------[WAC]
Silvern Castle v7.5 in Library-----------------------------------[SCL]
SAFE v1.4 Available----------------------------------------------[SFA]
Changes Made in SAFE v1.4----------------------------------------[CIS]
An RSS Client for the IIgs?--------------------------------------[RSS]
Praise for May 2003 Juiced.GS------------------------------------[PJG]
Reading the Game Buttons From Within Spectrum--------------------[RGB]
Choosing a Programming Language----------------------------------[CPL]
Problem Using List Manager---------------------------------------[PLM]
Electronic Entertainment Expo Coming Soon------------------------[EEE]
Problems With EgoEd 2--------------------------------------------[PWE]
ILLUMINATING THE LAMP-------------------------------------------------[ITL]
An overview of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!
We Can Work it Out
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SYNDICOMM------------------------------------------[ANS]
To Sign up for Syndicomm Online----------------------------------[TSU]
THE TINKERER'S CORNER-------------------------------------------------[TTC]
Constructing Your Own Printer Cable
You are Invited
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR-------------------------------------------------[LTE]
No Letters to the Editor This Month
An Invitation
KFEST 2003------------------------------------------------------------[KFT]
KFest 2003 - Plan to be There!-----------------------------------[PBT]
KFest Registration Form------------------------------------------[KRF]
Steve Wozniak to Keynote KansasFest 2003-------------------------[WKK]
KFest Trivia Time------------------------------------------------[KTT]
Some of the Great Sessions Lined up for KFest--------------------[GSK]
Transportation, Airport to KFest---------------------------------[AKF]
New Unofficial 802.11B Antenna Contest Rules---------------------[ACR]
The KFest FAQ Version 4.0----------------------------------------[KFQ]
For More Information Visit The KFest Home Page-------------------[VKF]
EXTRA INNINGS
About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN]
[*] [*] [*]
READING THE LAMP! The index system used by The Lamp! is designed to make
""""""""""""""""" your reading easier. To use this system, load this
issue into any word processor or text editor. In the index you will find
something like:
EXTRA INNINGS
About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN]
To read this article, simply use your search or find command to locate
[INN]. There is a similar tag at the end of each article: [EOA].
[OPN]-------------------------------
HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER |
------------------------------------
From The Editor
"""""""""""""""
by Lyle Syverson <lyle@FoxValley.net>
Fresh Baked Cinnamon Rolls
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
High Above The Rock River, the hall is filled with the aroma of baking
bread and cinnamon. Anna is at it again... she loves to bake... cinnamon
rolls are her favorite. And she gives most of them away to her neighbors.
A Knock at the door... cinnamon rolls warm from the oven... we have
been chosen today to share these delectable morsels... the best cinnamon
rolls you will ever eat.
KFest is About Sharing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The formal presentations share people's knowledge and experience in
how-to-do-it with the Apple II. At the meals, in the hallways, in visits
to individual rooms, and out on the lawn people are sharing tales about
their use of the Apple II.
It would be worth your investment of time and money just to
participate in this sharing. Add to that the opportunity to share some
time hanging out with Woz.
You will kick yourself later if you miss KFest 2003. See the KFest
section of this issue for details on how to register.
[EOA]
ASCII ART BEGINS
_________ _ _ _
|__ __| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | |___ ____ | | _____ __ ___ _ _ _____ | |
| | | ___ \ / __ \ | | /____ \ | v v | | v ___ \ | |
| | | | | | | /__\ \ | | ____| | | /\ /\ | | / \ \ | |
| | | | | | | _____| | | / ___ | | || || | | | | | |_|
| | | | | | | |_____ | |____ | |__| | | || || | | \___/ / _
|_| |_| |_| \______| |______| \____^_| |_||_||_| | |\____/ |_|
| |
| |
|_|
ASCII ART ENDS
[EOA]
[DAS]----------------------------------------------
DISTILLATIONS FROM The A2 FORUM at Syndicomm.com |
(A2Central.com) |
---------------------------------------------------
by Lyle Syverson <lyle@foxvalley.net>
[WAC]
WOZ ANNOUNCEMENT CHAT IN LIBRARY
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
There is a new upload in the a2central.com_archives/Chat_Transcripts
directory:
File: wozannounce.txt
Size: 16719
Date: Apr 30
This is a transcript of the April 19, 2003 chat, where it was announced
that Steve Wozniak would attend KFest 2003.
Tony Ward, A2 Librarian
(A2.TONY, Cat 2, Top 37, Msg 12)
[EOA]
[SCL]
SILVERN CASTLE v7.5 IN LIBRARY
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
There is a new upload in the games/adventure/prodos8 directory:
File: scupdv75.bxy
Size: 362496
Date: May 11
This is update version 7.5 of the fantasy role-playing game Silvern Castle,
uploaded on behalf of the author Jeff Fink. Numerous bug fixes, speed
enhancements and new features are included. Here are some highlights:
o You now get to keep all spells known when changing class!!!
o As a consequence of being able to keep spells when changing class, it has
now been deemed appropriate to allow fighters to cast spells and to acquire
mage spell scrolls, beginning at level 25 (adjusted for intelligence).
o New unlisted combat command: Go B)ack. This new feature simply allows
you toredo the combat choice for the previous character (instead of using
<ESC> which redoes all characters).
o New unlisted camp command: M)inimum Weapon Damage. This command allows
you to determine the minimum damage your character can inflict, depending
on the weapon selected and your character's strength and class.
o New unlisted camp command: Equivalent H)uman Age. Allows demihuman
(non-human only) characters to determine how old they are in "human" years.
o New preferences: Changeable sound parameters (including muting sound).
Tony Ward, A2 Librarian
(A2.TONY, Cat 2, Top 37, Msg 13)
[EOA]
[SFA]
SAFE v1.4 AVAILABLE
"""""""""""""""""""
I have posted SAFE 1.4 to my web site.
This update addresses two bugs that arose. The first makes it easier to
cancel a download, as the default button will now respond more readily. The
second allows SAFE to login to some clients that it had difficulty with
before. Specifically it should now work smoothly connecting to Mac OS X
computers.
Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Mon 28 Apr 2003 - 85 days till KFest '03
Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR 1.0b11
Setup: Bernie ][ the Rescue 3.0 and a dual G4/800Mhz GeForce3
http://www.ewannop.btinternet.co.uk/
(CONDUCTOR, Cat 10, Top 60, Msg 68)
[EOA]
[CIS]
CHANGES MADE IN SAFE v1.4
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
I can confirm that SAFE 1.4 fixed two issues brought up in my recent
Juiced.GS review.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 10, Top 60, Msg 69)
>>>>>
"""""
Are those two issues 1) speed and 2) connecting to your iBook?
For the first issue, how much of an improvement did you get?
Mark Percival - Apprentice
Delivered by Spectrum v2.5.1 & SOAR v1.0b10
The Apple ][ Fanatic and Wednesday Night RTC Host
(MARK, Cat 10, Top 60, Msg 70)
>>>>>
"""""
Speed was not one of the issues fixed. The two issues that Ryan refers to
are the non-functioning Stop button during transfers, and logging in to
Macs over a local network.
The speed issue unfortunately cannot be addressed without rewriting SAFE in
machine code of one form or another. I do not recommend using SAFE with a
IIgs running at less than at least 7Mhz, as data handling in Spectrum
scripting language just takes much longer than any other method.
SAFE works at a reasonable speed if you use it with Bernie and at least a
400Mhz Macintosh! :-)
Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Mon 12 May 2003 - 71 days till KFest '03
Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR 1.0b11
Setup: Bernie ][ the Rescue 3.0 and a dual G4/800Mhz GeForce3
http://www.ewannop.btinternet.co.uk/
(CONDUCTOR, Cat 10, Top 60, Msg 71)
[EOA]
[RSS]
AN RSS CLIENT FOR THE IIgs?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
>> There is now an RSS feed of A2Central.com's news available for those of
you who aren't Mac-heads or for some reason don't like MacReporter. Feed
this into your RSS type client program. <<
Is there a RSS client for the IIgs?
Lyle Syverson <lyle@FoxValley.net> Editor, _The Lamp!_
published monthly at: http://lamp.a2central.com/
(LYLE, Cat 11, Top 11, Msg 64)
>>>>>
"""""
Not that I know of, but it would be something that would be welcome.
Especially since the GS would majorly benefit from only seeing smaller
amounts of data and not the pictures.
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 11, Top 11, Msg 65)
>>>>>
"""""
That's an excellent point. An RSS NDA would be very nice.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 11, Top 11, Msg 66)
[EOA]
[PJG]
PRAISE FOR MAY 2003 Juiced.GS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I received my copy on Friday last and read it cover to cover. Another
excellent issue! I enjoyed Doug Cuff's interview with Steve Weyhrich very
much but the highlight for me was Ryan's SAFE FTP client review. Nicely
done. :) The review might actually compel me to update Spectrum so I can
run it.
Mark Percival - Apprentice
Delivered by Spectrum v2.5.1 & SOAR v1.0b10
The Apple ][ Fanatic
(MARK, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 458)
[EOA]
[RGB]
READING THE GAME BUTTONS FROM WITHIN SPECTRUM
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Is there a way to read the game buttons from within Spectrum?
I'd think there is, I just can't figure it out :)
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 26, Top 6, Msg 30)
>>>>>
"""""
As the game controller is an external device, the only way is through a
PEEK using the WorkBench XCMD.
The syntax of PEEK is: Ext WB 10 (Address) VarName
and this would be used as: Ext WB $$E0C062 Result
If I have my shadowing right, you should be checking in bank $E0, and the
result would be a decimal number for the location that is read. You will
find all the various WorkBench functions listed in the Spectrum Extras
!Help! entry.
Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Mon 14 Apr 2003 - 99 days till KFest '03
Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR 1.0b11
Setup: Bernie ][ the Rescue 3.0 and a dual G4/800Mhz GeForce3
http://www.ewannop.btinternet.co.uk/
(CONDUCTOR, Cat 26, Top 6, Msg 31)
[EOA]
[CPL]
CHOOSING A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
If you were going to work on a IIgs project that involved a lot of text
handling (specifically sorting text and moving text from one file to
another) would you choose Pascal or C?
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 50, Top 7, Msg 1)
>>>>>
"""""
I'd probably choose unix, because there are already a lot of standard tools
for manipulating text (sort, uniq, split, awk, sed, perl, etc).
I'd choose C over pascal though, because pascal's IO facilities suck.
Orca/Pascal let's you use GS/OS calls to read/write files, but that's extra
work. The standard C library (fprintf, fopen, fclose, fscanf, fread, etc.)
make it easy to work with files.
Also, if it's a command-line tool, C breaks the arguments into nice pieces
for you. Orca/Pascal lets you access the command line, but you need to
parse it yourself... more extra work.
Kelvin
(KWS, Cat 50, Top 7, Msg 2)
>>>>>
"""""
I agree with Kelvin: C is a better choice for text processing, given the
Pascal/C choice.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 50, Top 7, Msg 3)
[EOA]
[PLM]
PROBLEM USING LIST MANAGER
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I'm having a problem that I can't figure out. I have a list control, and I
need to tag existing items as inactive so they can't be selected anymore.
I have code that sets the memFlag to memInactive (0x20), but the List
Manager is still allowing them to be selected, even after I do a NewList2
call to redraw the list. I'm very confused. The code in my item draw
routine is properly drawing them as dimmed, so the flag is correct in the
member records, but the List Manager seems to be ignoring them.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 56, Top 28, Msg 1)
>>>>>
"""""
Turns out there are two flags of importance in the memFlags field of a list
member record. memDisabled and memInactive both have to be set in order to
keep the item from being pickable. The Toolbox reference is not clear on
this.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 56, Top 28, Msg 2)
>>>>>
"""""
I remember having this problem with MUG!.
I think the idea was that it was a valid concept to be able to select
dimmed items from a list control. For example, to show help about a dimmed
item... perhaps to show how to undim it!
Peter peterw@syndicomm.com
Palm OS Community Bulletin Board Manager
(PETERW, Cat 56, Top 28, Msg 3)
>>>>>
"""""
Yeah, the main problem is the reference doesn't really make this clear. :)
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 56, Top 28, Msg 4)
[EOA]
[EEE]
ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT EXPO COMING SOON
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, looms in Los Angeles,
beckoning the select few who can call themselves members of the industry to
witness all that will be released in the next year. Gamebits will be at
the show with exclusive coverage of all the games and systems being
showcased not only by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, but third parties such
as Konami, Capcom, Atari, and Activision.
Press events begin on Monday the 12th, and after a week-long flurry of news
reports and web site updates, this live coverage will conclude with an
interactive conference held on Sunday, May 18th, at 6:00 PM PDT in the
Gamebits Forum chat room. Bring your questions about specific titles,
platforms, or the industry itself, and Gamebits sysop Ken Gagne, fresh from
Los Angeles, will relate the answers.
At the end of the hour-long conference, each attendee will be asked a
trivia question about a game recently reviewed by Gamebits. Get the right
answer and win a free video or computer game for the system of your choice!
Gamebits can be accessed from page 850 on Syndicomm Online, or via the Web
at
http://www.gamebits.net
(KGAGNE, Cat 2, Top 35, Msg 40)
[EOA]
[PWE]
PROBLEMS WITH EgoEd 2
"""""""""""""""""""""
Howdy all,
If any of you use EgoEd 2, I'd like your analysis on why this little NDA
text editor might go bad after some time. Back in April 1998, the software
was exhibiting the same symptoms as it does now:
it locks up the computer if one goes into Prefs and tries to change things
it opens text files but displays nothing (which makes editing a bit of a
chore)
it opens Teach files (content portion of web docs, for example) just fine.
Any suggestions on how to tame aberrant software would be appreciated. Ray
M will be sending me another disk (Jan.-Feb. 1994 Vol. 5 - Number 3) as
he's done in the past. Most curious, though, on why this little bit of
software won't behave. Ideas?
Greg
(GREGN, Cat 8, Top 28, Msg 11)
>>>>>
"""""
Greg,
I see that you refer to EgoEd 2 as giving you troubles. If you have EgoEd
2.0, that is your problem. It had a bug. The last version of EgoEd was
2.0.1, which was the bug fix. I have 2.0.1 and just finished playing
around with it, changing the Prefs, to see if I could duplicate your
problem. It works fine, no troubles. So, check your version number.
MT Steve
(S.BERNBAUM, Cat 8, Top 28, Msg 20)
[EOA]
[ITL]------------------------
ILLUMINATING THE LAMP |
-----------------------------
An overview of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Steven Weyhrich
WE CAN WORK IT OUT
Welcome back to the year-by-year review of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!
Before diving into this month's article, I need to make two corrections on
what was presented last month. I had mentioned in the "Interviews" section
about the staff of Kitchen Sink Software. Unfortunately, I identified one
of the company members as "Guy Bush"; his name actually is Eric Bush.
The other very significant omission was neglecting to mention the official
discontinuation of the Apple IIe in November 1993. I likely missed that for
two reasons: First, I was late getting the article submitted to the editor,
and probably rushed through my review of the December 1993 issue. Second,
that issue of GEnieLamp was released on the first of the month, just a few
days after Apple released the price list that excluded the IIe, and so
there was only a brief mention of it in the "Hey Mister Postman" column.
With those corrections out of the way, let's get on with the story.
So far, we have covered the origins of this digital publishing phenomenon
and its first two years of existence. During 1993, Apple II users on GEnie
continued to deal with the official discontinuation of the Apple IIGS, but
still enjoyed continued availability of the Platinum Apple IIe. However,
this consolation was tempered by the knowledge that the life of the IIe on
Apple's assembly lines also had to be limited. The enjoyment of the new
energy given to AppleWorks with its 4.0 update by Quality Computers and
Randy Brandt was tempered by the announcement that the era of Apple II
production had officially ended.
And on that note, let us boldly go forward into 1994.
First, let's bring the year into focus. Soap operas spilled into real life
in 1994. Ice skater Nancy Kerrigan sustained an attack by the boyfriend of
opponent Tonya Harding prior to the Winter Olympics. President Clinton
began to get into trouble with the launch of an investigation into his
involvement in the Whitewater scandal. Accusations were made towards North
Korea regarding its work on a nuclear weapons program (sounds familiar,
doesn't it?). Accusations also were directed towards former pro football
player OJ Simpson in regards to the murder of his wife. A strike called by
major league baseball players over a contract disagreement led to the
cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
In the realm of computers, the new frontier of the World Wide Web was
picking up steam, with Web traffic passing Gopher traffic for the first
time. The Netscape Corporation was formed and released the first beta of
its commercial Navigator web browser. Web pioneer Yahoo began operation of
as a list of web sites (the name stood for "Yet Another Hierarchical
Officious Oracle"). Microsoft Windows was updated to version 3.11, but the
company also moved forward with its next operating system revision,
releasing the beta for Windows 4.0, code-named "Chicago" (later to be named
"Windows 95"). Intel's new Pentium processor was found to have a bug in its
floating point operations, leading to much merriment in the Apple world.
Apple Computer decided to get in on the online service explosion, launching
its own eWorld service in June. The company released its first
PowerPC-based Macintosh computers, the PowerMac 6100, 7100, and 8100
models, and also began to license other companies to produce
PowerMac-compatible computers in an effort to compete against Intel's
larger market. Finally, Apple made its first attempt at modernizing its
operating system with the announcement of "Copland".
To review events in the Apple II segment of the computing universe, surge
forward with me into GEnieLamp A2's reports for 1994, where AppleWorks
occupied much of our attention, both for good and for bad.
TIME IS ON OUR SIDE
The GEnieLamp A2 Masthead in the January issue reflected the large number
of digital publications that T/TalkNET was helping manage, as well as the
inclusion of the non-paper version of A2-Central that Doug Cuff was at that
time editing, in addition to GEnieLamp A2.
_________________________________________________________________________
| |
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////|
| GEnieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.2, Issue 22 |
| """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| Editor....................................................Douglas Cuff |
| Publisher.............................................John F. Peters |
| Copy-Editor...........................................Bruce Maples |
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// |
| ~ GEnieLamp IBM ~ GEnieLamp ST ~ GEnieLamp [PR] ~ GEnieLamp Windows ~ |
| ~ GEnieLamp A2Pro ~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~ GEnieLamp TX2 ~ |
| ~ GEnieLamp A2 ~ A2-Central ~ LiveWire (ASCII) ~ GEnieLamp MacPRO ~ |
| ~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~ |
| GE Mail: GENIELAMP Internet: genielamp@genie.geis.com FTP: sosi.com |
| ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|
|_________________________________________________________________________|
By the end of the year, the masthead had changed only slightly, primarily
with the removal of A2-Central and Copy-Editor Bruce Maples, and the
addition (temporarily) of ICON publications Solid-Windows and Config.sys:
_________________________________________________________________________
| |
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////|
| GEnieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.3, Issue 33 |
| """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| Editor....................................................Douglas Cuff |
| Publisher.............................................John F. Peters |
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// |
| ~ GEnieLamp IBM ~ GEnieLamp ST ~ GEnieLamp [PR] ~ GEnieLamp Windows ~ |
| ~ GEnieLamp A2Pro ~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~ GEnieLamp TX2 ~ |
| ~ GEnieLamp A2 ~ LiveWire (ASCII) ~ GEnieLamp MacPRO ~ |
| ~ Solid Windows ~ Config.sys ~ |
| ~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~ |
| GE Mail: GENIELAMP Internet: genielamp@genie.geis.com FTP: sosi.com |
|/////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|
|_________________________________________________________________________|
Cuff was now firmly established as editor of GEnieLamp A2, holding
responsibility for editing, writing his own articles, and assembly of each
issue in time for its release on the first of the month. Each issue began
with his editorial, often telling a story of some personal experience and
then fitting that story to an aspect of the current Apple II scene. In some
cases, he would relate a technical bit of information that helped GEnie A2
members do more with their computers or get online more easily. He also
began the tradition of Lamp editors in doing some promotion for the annual
July KansasFest conference (called "ICONference" in 1994). He also finally
had the opportunity to attend the event this year, thanks in part to
sponsorship offered by Resource Central for its newsletter editors and
major contributors.
The editorial in the June issue ("In Which We Consider Serpents' Teeth")
addressed the touchy problem of copyright infringement. The conflict
between the rights of authors and programmers and those of consumers had
been a long-running one, going back to the early 1980's when copy
protection of software began to appear as a defense against widespread
duplication of disks. In the case of this editorial, the topic did not
involve improper copying of SOFTWARE, but rather from copying and
reproduction of WORDS. Although GEnieLamp did not prohibit free
distribution of the publication as a whole in its digital form, it did
specify how individual articles should be reproduced elsewhere, and what
citation should appear with that article. Cuff had found that there were
some Apple II user group newsletters across the country that did not seem
to feel obliged to adhere to these reference rules. This might have
happened simply because some newsletter editors did not understand the
importance of properly giving credit for the work of others, or it may have
been a time and space-saving measure. But it was a problem; not only would
some newsletters fail to refer to GEnieLamp as the source of the article,
but they might even leave out the name of the author or a portion of the
article itself! In a way, this was analogous to the situation that high
school and college teachers experience when students turn in a paper that
was copied almost word-for-word from a previously published source, trying
to call it their own. Cuff felt (rightly so) that it was perfectly
reasonable, especially for a FREE newsletter, to ask that the copyright
rules be followed.
This problem continued to nag at GEnieLamp and The Lamp! over the years.
(Personal note: When I was writing the GEnie News Digest in the early
1990's, I personally discovered the problem caused by improper article
reproduction. I always PRESUMED that my articles were reproduced just as I
had written them. On one occasion, however, I was made aware that Henrik
Gudat of Bright Software was upset about an article of mine that he had
been made aware of. This news article, complete with a quote by Gudat I had
found on GEnie regarding a program he had written, had been incorrectly
reproduced in the newsletter. The condensation of the article had made it
look as if I were trying to make it appear that I had written the author's
words myself. Naturally, he was upset about this, and posted something
rather derogatory towards me in an Internet newsgroup. When it was brought
to my attention, I reviewed the article and felt that I had properly cited
him as the source of the statements made. I e-mailed him, apologized for
the way in which it had appeared, and showed him how the article was
SUPPOSED to have appeared. When he saw that it was not ME but the
newsletter who was at fault, he also graciously apologized for the flame,
and was kind enough to send to me a free copy of his program Symbolix to
make up for it! What I learned from this was to ASK FOR PERMISSION from
anyone whose words I specifically quoted. This way I could make sure the
person in question knew he or she was BEING quoted, and gave them the
opportunity to correct any mistakes in their words.)
As editor, Cuff also felt obligated to address concerns raised by people
who used hardware to have GEnieLamp read aloud to them by their computer
(primarily for those visually impaired readers). The problem that he became
aware of had to do with ASCII art that often appeared in GEnieLamp. The
random characters that made up an art picture made drove these people
crazy, as they didn't know if the software was crashing, or if the text was
garbled. To help with this problem, Cuff added the phrases "ASCII ART
BEGINS" and "ASCII ART ENDS", to signal that a lot of audible "garbage" was
coming.
ROUNDTABLE NEWS
Offline readers have always made it easier to keep track of reading and
replying to messages on a text-based system like GEnie (or CompuServe or
Delphi). On GEnie, GEM and CoPilot continued to be in use, working with the
terminal programs Talk Is Cheap, Spectrum, and ProTERM and using AppleWorks
with UltraMacros to process the messages. Efforts to update them
continued. GEM was no longer a shareware product, having been acquired by
GEnie A2, but programmers contributed time to it to provide maintenance
updates. This was done to accommodate the new AppleWorks 4.0, as well as to
keep up with changes that had been made in the GEnie bulletin board
software. Another program, PowerGuide, was announced in July as a
stand-alone product with which to navigate GEnie.
With the start of October, competitor America Online announced that it was
discontinuing support for text-based computers such as the Apple II. This
decision was made because of changes being made in the software to access
AOL, for enhancement of the services offered. Macintosh and Windows users
would have their software updated, but AOL felt it could not justify making
the updates available for the relatively fewer number of Apple II
subscribers it still had.
This change was scheduled to take effect on October 31, 1994. Although
there were yet no announced plans to close down the Apple II forums, it
would now require a Macintosh or PC to be able to ACCESS those forums.
Although AOL offered Apple II users free hours to entice them to change
over to using a Macintosh or PC, many who owned Apple II's wanted nothing
more to do with that service. For these disenfranchised users, GEnie A2
sysops stepped forward and began to market their service to those
soon-to-be-orphaned AOL members, and worked at finding ways to make the A2
RoundTable an attractive alternative.
In November, GEnie announced reduced online costs for those accessing the
service using a 9600 baud modem. Prior to that time, access at 9600 baud
was possible, but there were fewer access phone numbers for that service,
and those doing so were charged a higher per-hour rate. Even with this
reduction in rates, for many people using a modem faster than 2400 baud was
just not cost effective.
SIDE BAR: ONLINE SERVICES AND THE INTERNET
By 1994, the increasing availability of graphic browsers (Mosaic and the
new Netscape Navigator) to access the "World Wide Web" were causing the
Internet to capture a higher amount of nationwide attention and interest.
To maintain its market share, GEnie continued to update its system, and was
promising "full Internet access" by the end of the year. To explain the
significance of the Internet phenomenon on events that happened beginning
in 1994 and afterwards, I need to interrupt this story for a moment to give
some background about online services like GEnie, and their relation to the
Internet.
When the microcomputer became available in the mid 1970's, one of the first
pieces of hardware that was designed to attach to it was a way to allow one
computer to connect with another. Initially, this served the purpose of
helping transfer programs between the machines, but with time expanded far
beyond that. Serial and parallel cards allowed computers in the same
vicinity to connect; modems connected to those cards (or modems on cards)
made it possible to dial up and access other computers located far away.
Aside from teletype connections to mainframe systems, some early computer
users set up their computer as destination for OTHER computers to call up
and post messages or share files. These early bulletin board systems
(BBS's) were popular and proliferated greatly in the 1980's and early
1990's. However, to call a SINGLE phone number and interact with MANY other
computer users required a subscription to a larger computer network. The
Source and CompuServe began in 1979, joined by Delphi in 1982, GEnie in
1985, and America Online (in its early forms) in 1988. Aside from America
Online, these were command-line, text-based systems whose function
initially was little different with a personal computer than it was with an
older printing teletype. They were run on mainframe computers that were
used for business purposes during the day, and then sold their unused
after-hours capacity to consumers to use as a gigantic bulletin board
system. They all provided messaging, file transfer, and chat services, and
the various services competed with each other based primarily on their
variety of additional content (games, access to news feeds, etc.) and on
price.
These networks were all self-contained, and isolated from each other. Just
as it was generally not possible to send an e-mail message to someone who
was on Bob's BBS if you only called The Pirate's Den BBS, it was not a
supported feature to send mail to someone on GEnie if you were on
CompuServe. There was no availability of inter-network communication using
the consumer software on these mainframes. Part of this limitation had to
do with variations of mainframe hardware being used. These (usually) OLD
systems were designed without concern about making a connection to other
computers. In addition, each system had its own quirks about how to make a
connection with an outside computer. GEnie was unique in requiring an older
"half-duplex" setting, where other systems typically used "full-duplex".
There were also variations in "stop bits" and "parity bits" required to
send and receive accurately.
On the other hand, the "Internet", a network of networks, had been in
existence since the early 1970's. Over time, various protocols had been
developed into standards that allowed diverse systems to successfully
communicate with each other. Being designed originally as a means for the
military to communicate in case of a national emergency with failure of the
normal telephone or radio system, this maze of interconnected networks had
built-in redundancies to guarantee effective transmission of messages and
data. Many tools to manage these interconnected networks were designed and
modified by university computer centers. The Internet was designed to grow,
mature, and adapt to changing technologies; the proprietary commercial
online services were designed to just keep functioning. Enhancements in
function depended heavily on whether those were needed by the business that
used the mainframe in the daytime, or if it would attract additional
subscribers to the service.
The sheer vastness of the Internet gave it resources that no single online
service could possibly hope to match. Graduates of "connected" universities
that had been accustomed to accessing that massive database often felt
constricted by the relatively locked-in nature of a consumer online
service. As growth continued in the size and number of computer networks
that were part of the Internet, the commercial online services began to
realize that they could not expect to continue to grow in the way they had
done previously. All feared that a competing service would open up access
to the Internet at large in such a way that would make it attractive for
users to SWITCH to that service. Consequently, by the early 1990's most of
these services were looking for ways to adapt their old hardware, software,
and networks in such a way as to be able to fit into the Internet.
To further explain the march towards the Internet of today, consider the
analogy of cities. The traditional online service would be like a large,
isolated city with its own mail system, government, entertainment venues,
and storage facilities. Cities like these were completely self-contained,
having no access at all to other similar nearby cities. Each city might
have gasoline power engines, but one city may only offer diesel fuel,
another 95-octane gasoline, and yet another kerosene. If a road were built
to connect with another city, it would require changes in either the
hardware (engines) or software (fuel) to allow those vehicles to operate
when away from "home". Furthermore, a risk of developing this openness to
travel raised the possibility that people might actually MOVE to that other
city and STAY there. However, these cities (online services) HAD to make
the change; people were hiking by foot to the other cities anyway, lured
there by promises of a better land. The individual cities each decided that
it was better to aid and streamline the process of inter-city travel, while
continuing to build up the services WITHIN the home city as much as
possible, to make it more attractive to stay than to move on.
Accordingly, GEnie was doing its best during 1994 to build a better highway
to the Internet than the two-lane cart path that they had first designed.
The engineers doing the construction did not yet know if it would prevent
or slow emigration from GEnie to other "cities". Unlike America Online,
which had chosen to specifically exile certain types of citizens from its
borders (those who lived in smaller neighborhoods in the older part of
town, some of whom had helped to FOUND the town years earlier), GEnie was
doing its best to keep its borders open for all citizens. Whose plans would
work best in the end? No one yet really knew.
Now, back into the lamp to look at what appeared in GEnieLamp magazine
during 1994.
HARDWARE NEWS
I mentioned early in this article that I had missed giving the news about
the discontinuation of the Apple IIe that happened in late 1993, as there
was only scant mention of it in the December issue. Actually, in a further
review of the early issues of GEnieLamp A2 in 1994, there was very little
discussion of it AT ALL in the RoundTable messages that were reprinted.
Compared to the larger discussion that appeared a year earlier, when the
IIGS was taken off the product catalog, this seems like a quiet response.
What were the reasons for these differences? It is possible that editor
Doug Cuff was so upset about it that he just could not bring himself to
acknowledge the event. However, since he included later in the January
issue a long dissertation that I myself wrote about it (see below) this is
unlikely. What is probably the correct explanation is that most members of
the A2 Roundtable who still were using the Apple IIe just didn't care any
longer about what Apple chose to do. Apple's decisions had become a
non-issue with anyone. They all expected the IIe to be dropped; it was just
a matter of time. And so they continued to do what they had been doing in
the years Apple IIGS was introduced in 1986; use the computer, and share
amongst themselves information to support it.
Drowning out the non-event of the loss of the IIe were other discussions
about Apple's hardware. Perhaps Apple's management didn't support the
platform with new revisions of it, but they did do a fairly good job of
supporting those existing owners. It was mentioned by one member that he
was still able to get his ROM 00 Apple IIGS computer upgraded to a ROM 01
by his Apple dealer. Another member even found that he was still able to
update his early model Apple IIc to be able to use a UniDisk 3.5 (although
it took a little coaxing of the Apple telephone technical support person to
find that the program was still in effect).
Applied Engineering, long a provider of accelerators, RAM cards, and other
hardware items for the Apple II and IIGS platforms, was another casualty of
the waning of Apple II sales. It officially closed down in March 1994,
causing mixed feelings in the community. The company had irritated some
Apple II aficionados by beginning to branch out into hardware products for
the Macintosh platform (supposedly by financially supporting this effort
through the sales of their Apple II products, much as Apple Computer had
kept the Macintosh alive in its early years through sales of the Apple II).
Printer upgrades also occupied bandwidth on the A2 RoundTable. They
discussed the difference between the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet and DeskWriter
inkjet printers, for the sake of those who were interested in moving beyond
their older, noisy dot matrix printers.
Although it was currently the favored son in the Apple II world, Quality
Computers cautioned the enthusiasm worked up by the rumor mills. Jerry
Kindall stated for the company that it had NO intentions to try and
purchase the Apple II line from Apple Computer.
Mysterious posts appeared in January about a coming product from ///SHH
Systeme, a German company that produced Apple II hardware. This card,
eventually identified as the BlueDisk card, made it possible to use
inexpensive standard PC floppy disk drives on an Apple IIGS or IIe. The
card became available in a beta form in February, with later posting of
timing information that compared performance between ProDOS, HFS, and
MS-DOS formatted disks.
The Turbo ASB chip was advertised to help in overcoming speed problems in
the venerable Super Serial Card. This replacement chip made it possible for
serial communication to go from the current maximum of 19.2 kbps to as high
as 230.4 kbps (if the computer in which it was installed was fast enough to
allow it to keep up in regards to disk activity, screen drawing, etc).
Chuck Newby of Charlie's Appleseeds continued to supply hard drives to the
Apple II community. During 1994 he introduced the Roadrunner 40 and
AppleLeaf drives, sold usually with the CMS SCSI card and a "light" version
of ProSel to help with drive management.
Vitesse updated the Quickie hand scanner to include a color adapter, which
they called the Quickie-C. A later software update to version 3.2 allowed
better quality scans to be created and modified.
In the later part of the year, Sequential Systems announced the Second
Sight VGA card for the IIGS. This product allowed use of the more commonly
available (and higher resolution) VGA monitors, instead of the traditional
IIGS RGB monitor. A competing product, the TurboRez card, was also still in
development, but was going through its third redesign, having first been
announced at Apple Expo East in 1992.
Roundtable members also contributed their knowledge about hardware
problems. Gary Utter explained how to repair certain problems with the
Apple IIGS RGB monitor, and how to replace the fan in a Kensington System
Saver. Harold Hislop provided much education and service for many types of
hardware problems.
SOFTWARE NEWS
Considering the lack of new hardware from Apple for the platform, there was
still quite a bit of activity in regards to the software scene during 1994.
Because there is so much to say, I'll divide this up in to sections.
:: APPLEWORKS GS ::
After the success of the updated AppleWorks 4.0, Apple IIGS users eagerly
awaited a revision and upgrade to this GUI productivity product. In
February, Quality Computers put out press releases that still promised
AppleWorks GS 2.0 was going to be released in the spring of 1994. However,
they had previously promised a bug-fix upgrade from the old v1.1 to a new
v1.2 by the end of 1993, and this had yet to materialize. By July, the
company shocked the GEnie A2 community by announcing that the project had
been cancelled.
This generated much discussion and complaints on the A2 RoundTable. After
many years of neglect by Apple, they had finally found a company they
thought would SAVE them from using buggy, outdated software. There was no
response by Quality for several days, but finally Jerry Kindall posted a
public apology and explanation for their decision.
The reason given for the project cancellation was the poor state in which
the AppleWorks GS source code had been "preserved". The original version of
AppleWorks GS released by Claris had appeared before the GS/OS operating
system was available, back in the days of ProDOS 16 (the "bridge" operating
system between the older 8-bit ProDOS and the a comprehensive 16-bit
operating system). As a result, AppleWorks GS didn't follow many of the
rules that GS/OS enforced in both its System 5 and System 6 releases.
According to Gary Utter (from the July 1994 issue of GEnieLamp):
____________________________________________________________________
| |
| That code is such a mess that even patching it to provide GS/OS |
| compatibility took Claris many months, and making it "compatible" |
| with [System] v5.x took (as I recall) over a year. AWGS v1.0 will |
| will not even run under System 6, and just barely runs under v5.x. |
|____________________________________________________________________|
Jerry Kindall's detailed message, reproduced in that same July issue, is
fascinating as to the insight it gives to the story of the product:
_____________________________________________________________________
| |
| When we took over AppleWorks and AppleWorks GS, we assumed that |
| updating AppleWorks GS was going to be a fairly straightforward |
| task. Unfortunately, we were wrong. The source code for AWGS is 7 |
| megabytes in size. Those who have seen it have called it the most |
| poorly organized and documented source code they've ever laid eyes |
| on. Claris was unable to provide us with any form of documentation |
| for the source code, nor were they able to provide us with their |
| official bug list. |
| |
| The source code was designed to build under an old version of MPW |
| (Macintosh Programmer's Workshop). I have it on good authority |
| that even the old MPW wasn't actually capable of compiling the |
| source code as it was provided to us; it seems likely that it was |
| compiled in pieces and then patched together by hand. We did not |
| receive any documentation on this process -- in fact, there |
| probably never was any. |
| |
| To give you an idea of how bad the AWGS source was, consider that |
| it took Jim Merritt [the coordinator of development of the IIGS |
| System 5 Finder], who we originally contracted to lead the |
| project, four months just to get the source code Claris sent us to |
| produce an executable version of AppleWorks GS 1.1. Even then, the |
| program was not 100% byte-for-byte identical with the shipping |
| version because of the hand-patching which was used in the original |
| version... |
| |
| ...the source code simply was not arranged in any coherent fashion. |
| I've been told that there are sections of the AppleWorks GS source |
| code which exist mainly because nobody knows exactly what they do |
| -- Claris was afraid that removing them would cause the program to |
| stop working! |
|_____________________________________________________________________|
Other posts associated with this announcement in the July issue include
further intriguing information about the history of the original product,
which Claris had purchased under the name "GSWorks" from StyleWorks.
Many of the other programmers Quality had contacted to look at the project
had said that it would be less expensive to completely re-write the program
than to fix what they had and make it executable (and workable!). At a
later date, one programmer was quoted as saying that he HAD been able to
get it to compile and execute, and that he thought the project was possible
to accomplish. However, Quality Computers apparently felt that the time and
money that would have to be put into the project would be far in excess of
any income they would derive in sales of it. Needless to say, there was
significant disappointment about the project's cancellation.
:: PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE ::
Quality Computers was busy keeping up with its new position as publisher of
AppleWorks. They had to correct a mistaken mailing of AppleWorks 4.01
update disks sent to registered customers, having found that some of them
had not been duplicated properly. Meanwhile, author Randy Brandt issued yet
another update, this time to version 4.02, fixing more bugs that had been
identified since the original 4.0 release. An AppleWorks 4.0 screen saver
module called "AfterWork" was also released during the early part of the
year.
In June, an update to AppleWorks 4.1 was announced, although Quality later
changed the version number to 4.3, trying to avoid confusion amongst
customers between this version and the previously released 4.01 and 4.02
updates. And just to keep things interesting, Brandt announced mid-year
that sales of AppleWorks 4.0 had been sufficient to justify a further major
update to the program. AppleWorks 5.0, code named "Narnia", included many
enhancements, including a built-in UltraMacros playback function. Brandt
did say that an AppleWorks 6.0 for the Apple II series would never be
possible, as there simply was not enough space left in main memory to add
any other features. For the 5.0 revision he found it necessary to reduce
the number of letters in some menus, just to squeeze out a few more
available bytes of space for code.
The Byte Works, supplier of programming tools for the Apple II and IIGS,
announced a non-programming product. This IIGS program was a spreadsheet,
called Quick Click Calc, and could be considered what the spreadsheet
module in an updated AppleWorks GS could have been. Westerfield also
designed a feature that had been appearing in Macintosh programs, called
"publish and subscribe", which allowed one spreadsheet to update info on
another spreadsheet. Westerfield asked for input from users as to what
other type of productivity software they would like to be next in the
"Quick Click" series (although he stated that he was really not interested
in producing a database or word processing product).
HyperCard IIGS, which had been released by Apple in the same status as
Apple II system software (free when distributed by Apple II user groups)
suffered a blow. It was discovered mid-year that the 2,000 remaining copies
of the Script Language Guide printed by Addison-Wesley had all been
"recycled", leaving no further new copies of it available anywhere.
Also:
Seven Hills Software announced plans to update GraphicWriter III, its word
processing application for the IIGS, to version 1.2.
Procyon's discQuest software was updated to v1.2, which allowed better
audio support, as well as the display of color images.
Rick Adams updated his shareware program Financial GeniuS to version 2.0.
Steve Peterson's Your Money Matters financial software was in beta testing
for a new version.
Charles Hartley updated Computer Keyboarding to v5.1.2.
Larry McEwen uploaded a six-disk HyperStudio stack called "Much Ado About
Shakespeare", and asked for a shareware fee of $25, which accepted as
donations to the Immune Deficiency Foundation (treatment of the disease
"primary immune deficiency", the disease the "bubble boy" had).
:: TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE ::
With the success of AppleWorks, there were other places where Quality found
itself under strain. One other project that they had been working on for
quite a while had to be cancelled. Q-Fax GS was a program to allow sending
and receiving faxes on the Apple IIGS. Unfortunately, the author had not
yet been able to complete it, and over a year following its first
announcement by Quality, they decided to cancel their contract to sell it.
However, programmers outside of Quality were reporting progress on fax
software. Paul Parkhurst, the author of ANSITerm, announced work on PMPFax
was beginning. Another programmer, Richard Wifall, began work on
FAXplosion. But it was Vitesse who was actually first to release their
product, FAXination, near the end of the year.
Seven Hills Software shipped Spectrum 1.0, a GS/OS telecommunications
program written by Ewen Wannop of Great Britain. On one occasion soon after
its release, Ken Lucke posted his concern about a possible virus when he
suddenly found on his screen a British flag with a trumpet sound. He was
reassured that this was not a strange virus, but rather an easter egg that
had been inserted into the program.
Gary Hayman released the Magic News Group Reader, as a set of
AppleWorks/TimeOut extensions to handle reading and managing Internet news
groups on the Apple II.
A2 RoundTable members raised concerns when it was learned that inTrec was
planning to release a Mac and possible a PC version of its popular ProTERM
software. The company was accused of "pulling a Beagle" (referring to
Beagle Bros switch to Mac software, and their subsequent disappearance as a
company). Jerry Cline responded to this by reaffirming their plans to
continue with support of the Apple II versions of the product. (Since then,
the company has not released any further upgrades to the product, but it
has continued to sell and supported it, and for years has been a loyal
sponsor of KansasFest).
:: SYSTEM SOFTWARE ::
One important problem that began to appear was one involving the HFS FST
(file system translator) that allowed IIGS users to read and write
Macintosh-formatted disks. The bug that seemed to intermittently appear
would destroy the directory structure of the HFS disk, making this method
unattractive for more than just a simple file transfer between computers.
This problem plagued Jim Maricondo of DigiSoft Innovations. As the CD-ROM
drive made further penetration into the Apple IIGS community, it was
becoming feasible to use the CD, with its massive 650 megabytes of storage
space, as a way to distribute Apple II-specific programs and files. This
made it much easier to acquire a massive collection of files that would
otherwise take a very long time (even at 14.4K baud) to download. As
Maricondo began to work on the project, he had to map out how the files
should be stored on the disk. Since the ProDOS file system could not manage
more than 32 megs per disk volume, it would make sense to partition the CD
into a couple of "smaller" 32 meg ProDOS volumes, and then partition the
rest of it as a single large Mac-HFS volume. However, the recurrent problem
with scrambled disk directories bogged down the project, making it
necessary instead to use multiple smaller HFS partitions.
A new Apple II emulator for the Mac was announced, "STM" (or "Stop The
Madness") by Jim Nitchals. The author was also planning to release this
product on a CD that contained old software for the Apple II for which he
had gotten permission from the original authors. (A later mention in The
Lamp in 2002 stated that the project had never come to completion).
Not to be outdone, Udo Huth of Germany announced a CD-ROM full of Apple
IIGS and Mac software collected in Europe.
:: UTILITY SOFTWARE ::
The increasing rate of purchase of inkjet printers (commonly the HP DeskJet
500 or similar) caused frustration to users of Print Shop. Since the
program was no longer being supported or updated by Broderbund, people were
searching for a way in which they could print their creations on these nice
new printers. To help with this, Joe Kohn spearheaded an effort to look for
a programmer who would be interested in making a utility or driver or patch
that would help Print Shop and these printers function together. This
effort actually included a reward, with contributions being made by
Softdisk and others. Bill Heineman was identified as a candidate to
accomplish this, but it turned out to be a far more expensive proposition
than Kohn had originally hoped for.
Kitchen Sink Software released System II, a graphic desktop interface for
8-bit Apple II computers, allowing a simple way of launching programs and
returning to the menu after quitting the program. (This may seem like no
big deal today, but remember that in most cases, DOS 3.3 and ProDOS
operated as a command-line oriented system, which was difficult for an
inexperienced user to manage.)
The Foundation resource editor from Lunar Productions was released as
freeware.
Andy McFadden, author of the disk files compression utility Hardpressed,
had to release an update to fix a potentially dangerous bug that under
certain circumstances would trash archived files and make them
unrecoverable.
Peter Watson updated his MS-DOS utilities (to allow access to MS-DOS disks
on compatible hardware) to version 2.1.
Multi GS 2.0, another "switcher" type of utility for GS/OS System 6, was
released, and was contrasted with The Manager 1.0 (released the previous
year).
Tulin's driver for NEC CD-ROM drives was released.
:: GAMES ::
iD Software was a PC game company derived from an older shareware group
named Apogee Software. It included the talents of some former Apple II
programmers that had at one time worked for Softdisk G-S. They had written
many successful side-scrolling shareware games for the IBM PC. These games
often were divided up into three large segments, the first available as a
free download, and the other parts available once the shareware fee had
been paid.
They had come up with a totally new type of game that represented the next
level of sophistication, and used an old Apple II game "Castle Wolfenstein"
as inspiration for the story behind the game. Released as "Wolfenstein 3D",
it used the same escape-from-the-Nazis scenario as the original game, but
allowed the player to experience the game from the point of view of the
main character, in what would come to be called a "first person shooter".
While playing, it appeared that you were actually moving through rooms,
opening doors, and fighting bad guys around every corner. The game was such
a success on the PC that a version was created for the Super Nintendo.
The interesting thing about the Super Nintendo version of Wolfenstein 3D
was that it was actually developed on an Apple IIGS. This was possible
because the Super Nintendo ran on the same 65816 processor that powered the
Apple IIGS. When this was discovered, people were encouraged to send mail
to id Software and ask that a version be released for the IIGS. And by the
end of 1994, Vitesse advertised in their catalog an Apple IIGS version of
Wolfenstein 3D, with a special price if ordered before the end of the year.
Vitesse was already involved with another game for the IIGS. That game was
a re-release of Ultima I, a classic Apple II game originally published by
Origin. Vitesse was able to license the game from Electronic Arts, who now
owned Origin. To make it better than a simple re-release, Vitesse added
enhanced music, sound, and graphics.
Brutal Deluxe, a IIGS software company from Europe, paid a visit to Joe
Kohn in the summer, and brought him some samples of their work, including a
beta for their game, Opale.
PUBLICATIONS
II Alive was fighting for its survival during 1994. Quality Computers was
finding the many different things it was trying to do to be a stretch for
the company. Originally a software and hardware catalog company (and
supplier of these especially to education), it had expanded to software
development and sales (AppleWorks and AppleWorks GS) and larger scale
publishing (moving from Enhance, a newsletter for education, to II Alive, a
glossy magazine, trying to fill the gap left as inCider/A+ dropped out of
the market). Even with the enthusiastic Apple II crowd on GEnie and other
online services, the number of subscriptions was not as great as it needed
to be. Quality was finding it more difficult than had been anticipated to
manage a paid subscription list (it was more involved than mailing out
catalogs). In the middle of 1994, Quality announced that the decision had
been made to publish only six more bimonthly issues of II Alive before they
would discontinue publication. Jerry Kindall continued in his position as
editor.
Resource Central announced Doug Cuff's appointment as editor of A2-Central.
John Peters, who had started the GEnieLamp publications, had been editing
A2-Central for a few issues; he was making the change to concentrate on
Solid Windows and Config.sys, Resource Central's publications for PC users.
Auri Rahimzadeh and Ben Johnson began work on a new hypermedia publication
called PongLife, which later evolved into PowerGS.
Joe Kohn of Shareware Solutions II announced the inclusion of articles by
Cynthia Field (who had also been a writer for inCider/A+).
EGO Systems, publisher of GS+ Magazine, announced a move to Chattanooga,
Tennessee, as well as their purchase of AutoArk from Econ Technologies.
An announcement of "The ?Bad Apple Newsletter" was made in October.
However, it was never mentioned in GEnieLamp again.
COMPANIES
The Big Red Computer Club, based in Norfolk, Nebraska, was a combination
company and club, selling products as well as publishing a newsletter,
called "Scarlett". In the middle of 1994, it was announced that the club
(often referred to as "BRCC") was planning to close by the end of the year.
John Wrenholt, the club's founder, had worked hard to bring new software
and preserved software to the Apple II community. Unfortunately, the return
in sales for all of his effort was simply not sufficient to support the
business that he had built up.
Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II was expanding from a publication to also
being a distribution source for certain shareware products. During this
year, SSII began as publisher for Contacts GS, a IIGS desk accessory to
display address information. He had previously had connections with Big Red
Computer Club, but stated clearly that he did not have plans to take over
Wrenholt's business.
Resource Central, the print publishing and mail order arm of ICON, closed
its doors at the end of September, continuing publication of its disk-based
publications.
ECON Technologies exited the Apple II business, focusing instead on
creating Macintosh software.
Broderbund discontinued work on Apple II products, including Print Shop.
KANSASFEST
This year the A2 Central Summer Conference was called "ICONference", from
Resource Central parent company name, ICON ("International Computer Owner's
Network"). Randy Brandt, project manager for AppleWorks 4.0, was selected
as the keynote speaker. Speakers included Bill Mensch of Western Design
Center, Joe Kohn, Bill Heineman, Roger Wagner, Joe Wankerl, and others.
There was a presentation by Apple about the new Macintosh System 7.5, and
even a preview from Microsoft of the coming update to its Windows operating
system (see introduction at the start of this article). Both the Apple and
Microsoft representatives were given some harassment by those attending
their talks, primarily about features in their respective new operating
systems that had been present on the Apple IIGS for several years. Also,
some creative hackers changed the startup picture on one of Apple's
Macintosh computers to say, "Welcome to the Apple IIGS" with the II
Infinitum logo (see later in this article), instead of the usual Mac
startup screen.
REVIEWS
Darrel Raines, former GEnieLamp A2 editor, continued to contribute to
GEnieLamp by reviewing WestCode Software's TypeSet, a TrueType font
management utility. He also reviewed the games Xenocide, Bard's Tale, and
ChessMaster 2100. He also reviewed his vacation WITHOUT a computer or
online access.
A different type of review appeared in the April issue. Charlie Hartley,
author of Computer Keyboarding, began a column called "The Treasure Hunt",
in which he reviewed OLD software, programs that were in the GEnie A2
library, but which had often been overlooked (easy to do in a library
containing over 20,000 files). Some of them he even discussed how to update
(if a very old program) to work with one of the more modern Apple II's that
had not been in existence when the program had originally been written.
Jay Curtis conducted a combination interview and program review with
programmer Jawaid Bazyar of Procyon, and his product discQuest.
An older review of VCR Companion by Jim Wellman was reprinted (it had
originally been posted on APPLESIG on The SOURCE).
"Much Ado About Shakespeare" (mentioned above) was reviewed by Charlie
Hartley in his Treasure Hunt column.
Udo Huth reviewed the hardware products, specifically the BlueDisk
controller and MS-DOS utilities. He also reviewed the AppleDesign Powered
Speakers and their use on the IIGS. The designers of the not-yet-released
TurboRez card reviewed their card and compared it with the Second Sight VGA
card.
Phil Shapiro reviewed the books "Doing Business On The Internet" (by Mary
Cronin) and "The Internet Business Guide" (by Rosalind Resnick and Dave
Taylor).
WRITERS
Ken Gagne, a frequent contributor to GEnie (and later on Delphi and
A2Central.com) made his first appearance in GEnieLamp A2 with a post about
identifying an Easter Egg in the Quickie v3.1 scanner software.
My own contributions to GEnieLamp included the continuing Apple II History
reprinting, from Part 19 to the end. The "Polishing Green Apples" series
went through a description of the built-in ROM control panel features of
the Apple IIGS, as well as going into ways of managing large storage
devices. Both of these series concluded with the July issue. I also was
motivated to create a eulogy to the lately departed Apple IIe. This
appeared in the January issue in the form of a song parody called "Apple II
Pie" (from "American Pie"). Another song parody of mine, "Internet
Fileman", appeared in June. And not only did I contribute in a literary
sense, but I also had a long post about conversion of TrueType fonts from
MS-DOS to the IIGS that appeared in the November issue.
Phil Shapiro's REFLECTIONS series dealt with telecom training centers,
anticipation of shared long distance minutes (which he envisioned as being
split between the caller and the receiver, rather than between different
users on the same cellular phone account). He outlined a possible future
e-mail technical support service. He suggested that e-mail could decrease
the load on the U.S. postal service (although we have seen that it had
increased the load of junk mail that we receive via e-mail). He discussed
online literary collaborations; this has actually occurred with Apple II
publications at least since the days of the II Scribe forum on Delphi,
where various authors would confer about articles that they had written,
offering suggestions or pointing out errors. (This exists today in an
Internet mailing list of the same name.)
"E.SHEPHERD (aka Sheppy)", a student at the University of California, Santa
Barbara, made his debut in GEnieLamp A2 in March, commenting on games for
the IIGS (a possible Sim City port, and Eamon adventures). Most of his
later posts appeared under his POWERPC.PRO name (he was chief sysop in the
PowerPC RoundTable). He also was hard at work on his many IIGS shareware
and freeware projects, distributed under the Sheppyware name.
Tony Diaz also had a first appearance in GEnieLamp. He was mentioned
indirectly first, having been seen at an auction ("...the guy sitting
towards the back of the room? Kind of ethnic looking and sort of nervous...
He told me he had 800 IIGSs in a warehouse back home..."). In May's issue
he announced information about Alltech Electronics, as well as their plans
to take over production of the SoundMeister stereo/digitizer card for the
IIGS from ECON Technologies. In August he gave more background information
about the never-completed SoundMeister Pro card. By the end of the year the
card was finally ready to ship, including ECON's Digital Session software
for it.
INTERVIEWS
o Randy Brandt, about the new AppleWorks 4.0 and other products from JEM
Software, interviewed by Tara Dillinger
o HangTime (editor of Script-Central)
o Eric Shepherd, by Charlie Hartley, (quoted as saying, "Today's networks
will look puny and toylike compared to the networks at the beginning of the
next millennium. The Internet is big and growing fast, but we haven't yet
reached the point where being online is _necessary_. In five years we'll
be there...")
o Pat Kern (prolific computer graphic art collector and producer), by
Charlie Hartley
o Tony Ward (GEnie A2 chief librarian), by Charlie Hartley
MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
The World Wide User Group (GEnie A2's virtual Apple II user group) met
regularly in the RTC (real time conference) chat room. Some of their edited
RTC transcripts appeared in GEnieLamp A2. They also began to have a monthly
column by Gina Saikin that acted much as a user group newsletter, reporting
on news and products for Apple II computers. Early in 1994 the group's name
was changed to "Planetary Apple League" (or "PAL" for short), and in
September it was changed again, this time to "Planetary Apple User's Group"
(PAUG).
Jay Curtis wrote a series of articles about Apple II hybrids, referring to
a computer that can act as a foreign computer (such as the PC Transporter
allowing an Apple II to also work as an MS-DOS computer). He also addressed
issues involved in how to read and write MS-DOS disks on an Apple II, the
use of the Apple IIe card on a Macintosh Lc, and discussed early Apple II
emulation software.
Syndicomm, Inc. was a company that Tom Weishaar and Kent Fillmore had
formed to manage the Apple II, Macintosh and PowerPC RoundTables on GEnie.
It was designed to be separate from Resource Central. In early 1994,
however, Weishaar and Fillmore decided that they did not want to continue
to be responsible for operating the company, and elected to sell it to Dean
Esmay, the chief sysop of the Apple II and PowerPC RoundTables.
The April issue reproduced "The Apple II Led The Way", a post from an AOL
user (his true name unknown), who took a wistful look at many of the firsts
that the Apple II pioneered.
A regular addition to GEnieLamp A2 was the inclusion of ASCII art by Susie
Oviatt. Most of these were amazing pictures done entirely with characters
that could be typed at the keyboard.
GS Resources promoted their "II Infinitum!" T-shirts. (See the main page of
my Apple II History site at http://apple2history.org for a button that
nicely shows the logo). They also included a text version of the II
Infinitum logo:
___________________________________________________
| |
| ________________________ |
| | | |
| |____ ____ ____| |
| ********* | | | | ********* |
| *************| | | **************** |
| ***** **| | ******** ***** |
| **** | |******** | **** |
| **** | ****** | **** |
| **** | ********| | **** |
| ***** ******** | |** ***** |
| *************** | | |************* |
| *********_| |____| |_********* |
| | | |
| |________________________| |
| |
|___________________________________________________|
(Gotta love ASCII art, eh?)
Phil Shapiro featured the disabled user in an article in October, where he
discussed Autism and the Apple II. He also addressed a different medical
problem in another article, which reviewed the possible benefits of playing
Tetris for those suffering from acute attacks of asthma.
HUMOR ONLINE
A funny series of posts appeared in the A2 RT that expanded on the concept
"If Operating Systems Ran Airlines" (which appeared in the February issue).
(By the way, if anyone still has a transcript of the variations that
appeared for Apple DOS, ProDOS, GS/OS, etc, I would LOVE a copy; mine was
lost years ago in a poof of bits on a damaged hard drive...). Other topics
included Politically Correct Computer Terminology, children's kitchen
terms, and the ten laws of cartoon physics.
Dean Esmay related a story about a disk that Syndicomm received from Apple
Computer to use as a master to duplicate in distributing DOS 3.3 on GENie
A2 (which was designated as a user group, and so had authorization to
distribute it). This System Master disk from Apple, which included all of
the official labels and envelopes as if it had been shipped with a new
Apple II, did NOT, however, contain the DOS 3.3 software. Instead, it was a
COPY of Locksmith, a classic program from the early 1980's for breaking
copy protection. So, not only did someone at Apple accidentally (?) copy
Locksmith onto a DOS 3.3 System Master disk, but they put a CRACKED COPY of
Locksmith on the disk.
STATS
Here I have calculated for you some statistics for you about the first
three years of GEnieLamp. The numbers refer to the size of each issue in
"K" (kilobytes):
Year Min Max Avg
---- ---- ---- ----
1992 116K 212K 156K
1993 80K 256K 172K
(the 80K issue here was the 2nd May 93 issue)
1994 124K 216K 165K
I'VE HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE
As with the prior year, 1994 included many positive and some negative
events in the Apple II world. Despite Apple's non-involvement with the
Apple II, we managed to continue to do what we had done for years: Take
care of ourselves. The GEnieLamp newsletter itself had matured under the
consistent editorship of Doug Cuff, as well as the talented authors that
helped him by contributing articles. Would 1995 be a better year? Join me
next time for answers to this and other questions in our ongoing review of
GEnieLamp.
Steven Weyhrich
a2history@syndicomm.com
http://apple2history.org
References for 1994 historical info:
Apple Computer, Inc.: A History
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3682/applehistory.html
Apple History Timeline
http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/history.html
Computer History For 1990-2000
http://www.computerhope.com/history/19902000.htm
History Of Hypertext Timeline
http://www.robotwisdom.com/web/timeline.html
Timeline of the 90s, 1994
http://www.inthe90s.com/generated/time1994.shtml
[EOA]
[ANS]-------------------------------
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SYNDICOMM |
------------------------------------
by Lyle Syverson <lyle@foxvalley.net>
[TSU]
TO SIGN UP FOR SYNDICOMM ONLINE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Please visit our web site at http://www.syndicomm.com for information or to
sign up!
(Logon message)
[EOA]
[TTC]-------------------------------
THE TINKERER'S CORNER |
------------------------------------
By Lyle Syverson <lyle@foxvalley.net>
Constructing Your Own Printer Cable
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This project was inspired by a find in the local As-Is store... a well
cared for HP DeskJet 500C printer for $5. It came with the user manual,
the power supply, the software for PC DOS/Windows, and a parallel cable to
connect to the IBM/clone.
The HP DeskJet 500C has both a parallel port and a serial port. This opens
up the possibility of keeping it connected to two computers and printing
from either one at a time.
Finding a cable to connect the IIgs printer port to the serial port of the
printer was proving difficult so I decided I could make my own.
A Google search found the specifications for the necessary cable at
http://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/MiscInfo/Cables/gsser.pinouts
The same file can be found cached on Google at
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:Y7a7yTwLPFgC:ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/MiscInfo/Cables/gsser.pinouts+imagewriter+cable+pinouts&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Material Used
'''''''''''''
1. Spare serial printer cable, Mini-Din-8 connector on both ends.
2. (Radio Shack) DB-25 connector, male, designed for your own wiring
project.
Procedure
'''''''''
1. Cut one end off the spare serial printer cable.
2. Strip end of each wire in cable.
3. Using continuity tester identify which pin each wire is connected to.
4. Make the necessary connections to the DB-25 connector.
5. Double check all connections.
6. Finnish assembly of the DB-25 connector.
7. Connect IIgs to the printer and test.
The project was a success. If you are having trouble finding a cable you
need consider doing some research and assembling your own.
[EOA]
YOU ARE INVITED
"""""""""""""""
You are invited to submit your favorite Tinkerer's Project for the Apple II
computers.
Send your write up or idea to Lyle Syverson, Editor <lyle@FoxValley.net>
The Editor reserves the right to edit any material submitted.
The Editor reserves the right to reject any material he considers
unsuitable for publication in _The Lamp!_.
[EOA]
[LTE]-------------------------------
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
------------------------------------
NO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THIS MONTH
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The mail box for Letters to the Editor remained empty this month.
[EOA]
AN INVITATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Express your opinions about the comings and goings in the world of the
Apple II computers.
Send your comments to Lyle Syverson, Editor <lyle@FoxValley.net>
The Editor reserves the right to edit any material submitted.
The Editor reserves the right to reject any material he considers
unsuitable for publication in _The Lamp!_.
[EOA]
[KFT]------------------------------
KFest 2003 |
-----------------------------------
[PBT]
KFest 2003 - PLAN TO BE THERE!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
KansasFest 2003 is planned for July 22-27, 2003 at Avila University in
Kansas City, Missouri.
(Entrance banner, Cat 5, Top 5)
[EOA]
[KRF]
KFest REGISTRATION FORM
"""""""""""""""""""""""
The KFest registration form with instructions in PDF format can be
downloaded here:
http://lamp.a2central.com/klo/registration_forms/KFestRegForm2003g.pdf
If you can not access PDF documents with your computer contact Jerry Cline
at Intrec Software and request a form by mail. Contact information can be
found below.
Sponsored by:
InTrec Software, Inc.
3035 E Topaz Circle
Phoenix, AZ 85028-4423
Voc:602/992-1345
Fax:602/992-0232
kfest@intrec.com
[EOA]
[WKK]
STEVE WOZNIAK TO KEYNOTE KANSASFEST 2003
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
April 19, 2003--Ryan Suenaga, editor-in-chief of Juiced.GS magazine,
announced today that Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, Inc. and
inventor of the Apple II computer, will attend KansasFest 2003 and will
give the keynote address. Woz will share with KansasFest attendees stories
of his experiences in the computer industry.
Register before May 15 and pay only $265 including a bed in a double room
and most meals. For more information on KansasFest 2003, or to get a copy
of the registration form so you can attend, visit the KansasFest web site
at http://www.kfest.org. Space is limited, so be sure to register soon if
you would like to attend.
(A2.RYAN, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 32)
>>>>>
"""""
Woohoo! My thanks to all the guys that put this together. This is huge!
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 33)
>>>>>
"""""
WOW!
I had to double-check the date posted to be sure it wasn't an April Fool's!
Kudos to the organizers!
Jeff
(LUMITECH, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 34)
>>>>>
"""""
Wow, that is an awesome coup! Congratulations to the organizers. This might
just be enough to get me off my butt and back to KFest after missing the
last several years.
Tony Ward
(A2.TONY, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 35)
[EOA]
[KTT]
KFest TRIVIA TIME
"""""""""""""""""
Okay, it's KFest trivia time!
Can anyone name for me who are the six people who have both GIVEN a keynote
speech at KFest, and have also been ROASTED at KFest (obviously not in the
same year)?
And who has given the keynote speech on TWO different occasions?
(and for that matter, does anyone here know who were the keynote speakers
prior to 1993? Roastees before 1992?)
Steven Weyhrich <IX0YE>--<
Apple II History
http://apple2history.org
(A2HISTORY, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 40)
>>>>>
"""""
Time to sharpen my research skills!
>> Can anyone name for me who are the six people who have both GIVEN a
keynote speech at KFest, and have also been ROASTED at KFest (obviously not
in the same year)? <<
Here is the list I came up with:
1) Roger Wagner
2) Mike Westerfield
3) Eric Shepherd
4) Max Jones
5) Tony Diaz
6) Ryan Suenaga
7) Tom Weishaar? (Roasted but did he formally do a keynote?)
>> And who has given the keynote speech on TWO different occasions? <<
Roger Wagner in 1991 and 1995
>> (and for that matter, does anyone here know who were the keynote
speakers prior to 1993? Roastees before 1992?) <<
I find if very difficult to find details on the first two KansasFests. It
seems that Tom Weishaar wanted to keep the first "Developer's Conference"
in 1989 low key so that he didn't have tons of non-developers showing up.
I can only find a vague mention of the first conference in A2-Central (V5N1
page 5.7).
The 1990 "A2-Central Summer Conference" was first discussed in the
September 1990 issue of A2-Central (V6N8 cover story). There is quite a
bit of detail here but no mention of either a keynote or a roast.
It seems that the 1991 KansasFest was the first conference that was openly
discussed as it was heavily covered on GEnie. Roger Wagner is mentioned as
keynote speaker but no mention of a roast.
Here is my list of keynotes and roast victims:
Year Keynote Roast
==== ================ ================
1989 ? ?
1990 ? ?
1991 Roger Wagner ?
1992 Tim Swihart ** Roger Wagner
1993 Mike Westerfield Tom Weishaar
1994 Randy Brandt Mike Westerfield
1995 Roger Wagner Steve Disbrow
1996 Gary Utter Joe Kohn
1997 Dave Kerwood Richard Bennett
1998 Mike Westerfield Tony Diaz
1999 Max Jones Ewen Wannop
2000 Ryan Suenaga Eric Shepherd
2001 Eric Shepherd Max Jones
2002 Tony Diaz Ryan Suenaga
2003 Steve Wozniak Geoff Weiss
** In 1992 I'm not sure if Tom Weishaar or Tim Swihart is considered to be
keynote. Both spoke but neither is labeled as such.
How did I do?
Mark Percival - Syndicomm.com Apple II RTC Host
"Midweek Madness!" every Wednesday night.
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM PDT
(MARK, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 41)
>>>>>
"""""
Outstanding! Excellent researching and reporting!
Don't you think he needs to be promoted from apprentice?
Steven Weyhrich <IX0YE>--<
Apple II History
http://apple2history.org
(A2HISTORY, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 45)
>>>>>
"""""
As an attendee in 1992, I remember Tim Swihart as the Keynote Speaker.
Peter peterw@syndicomm.com
Palm OS Community Bulletin Board Manager
(PETERW, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 42)
>>>>>
"""""
I recently found out why Roger Wagner did the 2nd keynote. Apparently he
was a stand in for Dean Esmay who was unable to make KFest at the last
minute. I also believe that the 1995 KFest was the last run by Tom
Weishaar and gang before it was handed over to Cindy Adams and gang. With
the recent collapse of ICON (the previous February) it must of been a very
emotional KFest.
Mark Percival - Syndicomm.com Apple II RTC Host
"Midweek Madness!" every Wednesday night.
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM PDT
(MARK, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 47)
>>>>>
"""""
>> I also believe that the 1995 KFest was the last run by Tom Weishaar and
gang before it was handed over to Cindy Adams and gang. <<
Close, but not quite. 1995 was the first KFest run by a committee which
Cindy headed as the big cheese. Uncle DOS was there and participated in
the roast of Diz.
Quick now, which three companies have sponsored KFest since ICON ceased
operations?
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 49)
>>>>>
"""""
>> Quick now, which three companies have sponsored KFest since ICON ceased
operations? <<
Intrec, Kellers' Auto Garage, and, uh...
(KGAGNE, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 51)
>>>>>
"""""
>> Intrec, Kellers' Auto Garage, and, uh... <<
Parkhurst Micro Products in 1995.
Mark Percival - Syndicomm.com Apple II RTC Host
"Midweek Madness!" every Wednesday night.
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM PDT
(MARK, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 52)
[EOA]
[GSK]
SOME OF THE GREAT SESSIONS LINED UP FOR KFest
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Here are some of the great sessions that are lined up for you at KansasFest
2003:
Steve Wozniak's keynote address: Join us as the inventor of the Apple II
and co-founder of Apple Computer, Inc. tells us about the old days of
computing and answers the questions you've always wanted to ask, but never
had the chance to. A truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Ryan Suenaga uses the years of experience he's had with the IIgs and
desktop publishing to discuss fonts on the Apple IIgs and to go into depth
on publishing the last survivor of paper Apple II publications, Juiced.GS.
Eric Shepherd shows aspiring Apple II programmers how to use the MPW
programming environment on the Macintosh to program the IIgs. Get tips
from the accomplished master programmer
Howard Katz still uses an Apple IIe and is darned proud of it. Join Howard
as he shows how to use a UNIX "shell" account to cruise the Internet
IIe-style.
Eric Shepherd's "other" session shows you how to program for the PalmOS,
and illustrates the surprising and sometimes striking similarities between
the leading PDA platform and the good old Apple II.
Ryan Suenaga shows his mastery of the top dog in the Apple II emulation
world by showing newcomers how to set up Bernie ][ the Rescue, the
venerable Apple IIgs emulator for the classic Mac OS.
Currently, Tony Diaz, Geoff Weiss, and Jay Edwards have "mystery" sessions.
Will they reveal the mysteries before KansasFest? Only they can tell you,
but the one way to know for sure is to show up at KansasFest 2003.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 44)
[EOA]
[AKF]
TRANSPORTATION, AIRPORT TO KFest
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
For those flying in on commercial airlines (or taking the train) we have
been very successful in supplying ground transportation from your terminal
to Avila in past years, and intend to continue the tradition this year.
About the first day of Summer (or Winter depending on which hemisphere you
live in) we will start putting together the taxi list.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Mon 24 Mar 03 5:38:20 pm
cknoblo@applelinc.org - Via Spectrum v2.5.2 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2003, July 22-27, 2003 - 120 days till KFest
On cable via LANceGS & Marinetti 2.0.1 - Thank you, Richard.
A2 RTC Staff - Sunday Night House Party - carlk@syndicomm.com
(CARLK, Cat 5, Top 5, Msg 23)
[EOA]
[ACR]
NEW UNOFFICIAL 802.11B ANTENNA CONTEST RULES
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Antenna specifications
1. Antennas can be any shape or design.
2. Antennas cannot be powered by battery or power outlet. They must be
passive. The only electrical or electronic connection they can have is to
the router used for testing.
3. At the time of testing, the top of all antennas must be no more than six
feet off of the ground.
4. All antennas must have a readily accessible female N connector for
testing purposes.
Materials
1. Non-exhaustive list of materials:
Food containers (such as a Pringle's can)
Wire
Washers
Bolts
N connector
Can lid
Nuts
Aluminum foil
2. The only material used in the construction of your antenna allowed to be
brought to KansasFest at the time of your arrival is one female N
connector.
3. All other materials used in the construction of your antennas must be
obtained while the entrant is attending KansasFest through "legal" means.
Theft is disallowed; "dumpster diving" is generally permitted, but
trespassing to do so is not.
4. Purchased materials exceeding the N connector cannot exceed $20 total
cost; all receipts must be kept and presented at the time of judging.
5. Any non-purchased material must include written documentation as to its
origins, such as, "This length of wire given to me by Kirk Mitchell in
exchange for a Budweiser on Tuesday, July 23, 2003 at 9 am."
Tools and supplies
1. Non-exhaustive list of tools:
Soldering iron
Knife
Awl
Drill
Hacksaw
Tubing cutter
Screwdriver
Pliers
2. Tools may not be part of the actual antenna!
3. Tools may be brought with you to KansasFest. Tools may also be
purchased during the event.
4. Non-exhaustive list of supplies:
Solder
Tape
Epoxy
5. Supplies may be brought with you to KansasFest. Supplies may also be
purchased during the event.
6. Plans may be brought with you to KansasFest or made during the event.
Contest procedure
1. Entrants -must- be registered KansasFest 2003 attendees.
2. Contest begins at 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 23, and judging begins
after lunch on Friday, July 25. Entries must be ready for judging
immediately following lunch on Friday, July 25. Late entries will not be
considered.
3. Individuals or teams can enter.
4. Two judges will be selected to judge the competition.
5. All entrants will have an opportunity to position their antenna. The
antennas will be judged by attaching each antenna's N connector to a
wireless router. The same wireless router will be used for all entrants.
A Titanium PowerBook will be placed along a pre-set path some distance away
from the antenna and will be moved away until connection is lost for five
seconds. At the distance connection is lost, a marker will be placed on
the ground to mark that entrant's results.
Other issues
Any questions should be brought to the attention of the judges during the
event.
Disclaimer
CansasFest is not an official KansasFest event. Please refer to the
appropriate FCC rules on use of antennas. You are responsible for your own
equipment and any damages to your or anyone else's equipment.
(Ryan M. Suenaga, KFest Mailing List)
[EOA]
[KFQ]
THE KFest FAQ VERSION 4.0
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
The KFest FAQ--Summer Camp for Apple II Geeks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W.
[editor@juiced.gs]
The KFest FAQ Version 4.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following article is set up in a form commonly seen on the
Internet, called Frequently Asked Questions. It is designed to answer some
of the most common questions people have about KansasFest, the Apple II
event of the year. It is not designed to answer general questions about
the Apple II, although there may be some overlap.
Any questions about this article can be sent via email to
editor@juiced.gs.
Q: What's a FAQ, and how is it pronounced?
A: The letters "FAQ" stand for _F_requently _A_sked _Q_uestions. When
people first hear of or learn of a subject, such as KansasFest, they often
have a number of questions which others before them had when they also
first learned of the same subject. A FAQ is a document listing both the
questions and answers most frequently associated with new users, to save
themselves (and others trying to assist them) time and frustration.
And by the way, it's pronounced "fack", nearly identical to "fact".
Q: What is the purpose of this FAQ?
A: This FAQ is set up to assist people interested in KansasFest, also known
as KFest. Many Apple II enthusiasts are interested in attending or just
want some information about this event, so the most common questions are
answered here.
Q: How can this FAQ be distributed?
A: The content of this FAQ is copyright 1999-2003 by Ryan M. Suenaga.
Distribute freely, provided the content is unchanged.
Q: What is KFest?
A: KansasFest, abbreviated "KFest", is a computing conference held every
summer at Avila College (now Avila University) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Its original formal name was "The Apple II Summer Conference" while its
nickname was "KansasFest", which was abbreviated to "KFest". Today, the
conference's official name is "KansasFest".
Q: When was the first KFest held?
A: The first KansasFest was held in 1989. It was originally sponsored by
Resource-Central, the folks who brought you the wonderful _Open-Apple_ and
_A2-Central_ (among several other Apple II) publications. After
Resource-Central became ICON, The Apple II Summer Conference became
ICONference. This lasted one summer until ICON shut down. Two different
companies sponsored KFest before Intrec Software, publishers of _ProTERM_,
took over a few years back. This July will welcome the 15th KFest.
Q: When is KFest this year?
A: KansasFest 2003 runs from Tuesday through Sunday, July 22-27, 2003. The
very popular early arrival day is now officially rolled into KansasFest
proper. Meals, however, will not be served at Avila until Wednesday
dinner.
Q: Where is KFest held?
A: KFest is held at Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri. The address
and phone number are:
Avila University
11901 Wornall Road
Kansas City, Missouri 64145
United States of America
(816) 942-8400
Q: If it's held in Missouri, why is it called KansasFest?
A: I dunno. It does take place in Kansas City, and if it makes you feel
better, the Kansas border is very close to Avila University.
Q: Who comes to KFest?
A: While KFest was originally devoted to programmers, nowadays all kinds of
folk from all over the world show up at Avila University. Programmers,
users, newsletter publishers, and everyday folk show up from Europe,
Canada, Australia, and all over the United States to celebrate the
Apple II.
Q: Who organizes KFest?
A: Currently, KFest is organized by a committee headed by The Grand Gouda,
Steve "Godzilla" Gozdziewski, who has taken over from The Big Cheese, Cindy
Adams. Cindy remains on the committee. The scheduling is done by Tony
Diaz, of Alltech Electronics fame. Tony also handles the maintenance of
the World Wide Web site, Devin Reade maintains the email lists, and Eric
"Sheppy" Shepherd provides World Wide Web hosting services and organizes
HackFest, the programming contest. KFest is sponsored by Jerry Cline of
Intrec Software.
Q: How do I register for KFest? How much does it cost?
A: Depending on when you register, registration prices vary. If you
register early, you'll get a better deal. Please check the KFest Home Page
at
http://www.kfest.org/
for the most current information. You can download the registration form
in PDF format from
http://www.kfest.org/KFest2003Reg.pdf
If you cannot download the form or print a PDF file, please contact Jerry
Cline at Intrec Software (contact information is elsewhere in this file)
and he will send you a form by fax or postal mail.
Q: How do I reach Intrec/Jerry?
Jerry Cline
InTrec Software, Inc.
3035 E Topaz Circle
Phoenix, AZ 85028-4423
Voc:602/992-1345
Fax:602/992-0232
kfest@intrec.com
Q: Which airport do I fly into and how do I get from there to Avila?
A: The major airport nearly everyone flies into is Kansas City
International, which goes by the code letters MCI (not KCI, which will get
you to Indonesia). There's a couple of small commuter airports which are
closer, but unless you're Tony Diaz (who flies his own plane), you're not
likely to use these.
Even though MCI is the "closest" major airport, it's still most of an
hour's drive from there to Avila, so walking is out of the question and cab
fare would be substantial. Your best bet would be to try and catch a ride
with another KFester who'll be flying in or passing by around the same time
you'll be arriving. Carl Knoblock unofficially organizes rides to and from
the airport. The best way to get in on the ride planning is to join the
KFest email list (information on subscribing is elsewhere in this
document).
Q: What kind of official activities go on at KFest?
A: Officially, there is a keynote speech, sessions on various computing
topics, HackFest, a celebrity roast, product demonstrations, and a vendor
fair.
Q: Who is this year's roastee?
A: Just announced by KFest Roast MC Ken Gagne: Geoff Weiss, author of
Spectrum Internet Suite and many other Apple IIgs programs, will be the
guest of honor at this year's roast.
Q: What if I want to host a session?
A: Email sessions@apple2.org with your ideas for a session. Sessions can
include new ways to use programs, new programs, networking, or just about
anything you can imagine. Everyone has something they can teach.
Q: What kind of unofficial activities go on at KFest?
A: Unofficially, there's been movie outings, pizza nights, Bite The Bag
contests, late night eating at Denny's, runs out to Krispy Kreme, Floppy
Disk Ninja, Apple II Jeopardy, and huge groups of folks going to eat huge
pieces of beef at K.C. Masterpiece and Jess and Jim's restaurants. And
there's a new contest this year called "CansasFest", a homemade 802.11b
antenna contest.
Q: Has anyone attended every KFest?
A: One person: Tony Diaz of Computer Circulation Center (formerly known as
Alltech Electronics).
Q: I hear that the Avila University dorm is wired for Ethernet. Is there a
way I can access that while I'm there?
A: Yes. In each dorm room in the halls of Avila are two outlets that seem
to be phone jacks. These _aren't_ phone jacks. They're Ethernet ports--to
be exact, they're RJ-45 connectors that are compatible with 10 Base-T
Ethernet. The entire Avila dorm is connected to the Internet this way,
making for high speed World Wide Web browsing, electronic mail, and ftp
connections for KansasFesters during their stay!
The Avila Ethernet uses a protocol called Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol, or DHCP, for short. Those of you who have set up TCP/IP
connections with Windows or Macintosh computers (or, for that matter, the
Apple IIgs) probably have some familiarity with inserting IP addresses, DNS
addresses, and Gateway addresses. The beauty of DHCP is that it sets up
nearly everything you need dynamically, meaning that the server assigns
these addresses--all you need to do is set up TCP/IP on your computer and
choose the DHCP protocol.
Regardless of which platform you use, if you have software set up to
share your hard drive with other computers, you probably ought to disable
it--unless you like everyone in the Avila Ethernet having access to your
files.
At this point, you ought to be connected. If you previously had any
proxy servers set up for use with your setup before Avila, disable them.
You ought to have easy access for checking mail, browsing the Web, or using
file transfer protocol--and very high speeds. One last caveat:
As Spam on the Internet proliferates, it has become accepted practice
to close off an Internet Service Provider's mail sending server--usually
using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, or smtp--to access from anyone who is
not directly connected to the ISP. In other words, no one wants to be a
relaying point for Spam.
Because of this, it's likely you will not be able to use the same smtp
server you use at home to send mail while at Avila. There is, however, a
mail.avila.edu smtp server that can be used while at Avila. That ought to
keep your email flowing freely.
Q: I hear that there's wireless Internet access in the Avila dorm. How do
I get hooked up?
A: Ah, the infamous wireless. Several KFesters have set up Apple Airport
Base Stations and other equivalents. Please see one of them (Sean Fahey,
Dain Neater, Eric Shepherd, and Ryan Suenaga are likely candidates) if
you'd like to get on the wireless 'Net.
Q: How can I learn more about KFest?
A: You can get more information on KansasFest by visiting the KansasFest
World Wide Web site at http://www.kfest.org/ or sending email to
kfest-help@kfest.org. You could also subscribe to the KFest mailing list
by sending email to majordomo@kfest.org. In the body of the email include
the text:
subscribe kfest
You will receive a confirmation email with instructions on finalizing your
subscription.
Q: Should I go to KFest?
A: Need you ask? KFest is a must for the serious Apple II fanatic. Do
yourself a favor--you're worth it. Show up at KFest 2003, the summer camp
for Apple Geeks.
[EOA]
[VKF]
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT THE KFest HOME PAGE
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
KFest Home Page
http://www.kfest.org/
[EOA]
[INN]------------------------------
EXTRA INNINGS |
-----------------------------------
About The Lamp! The Lamp! is published on the fifteenth of every month on
""""""""""""""" the WEB at: http://lamp.a2central.com/
This publication produced entirely with real or emulated Apple II computers
using Appleworks 5.1 and Hermes. Apple II Forever!
* The Lamp! is (c) copyright 2003 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. All
rights reserved.
* To reach The Lamp! on Internet email send mail to
thelamp@sheppyware.net
* All issues of The Lamp! are available at The Lamp! Home Page,
http://lamp.a2central.com/
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors, and do not
necessarily represent the opinions of A2Central.com, Delphi Online
Services, Syndicomm, Ryan M. Suenaga, or Lyle Syverson. Forum messages are
reprinted verbatim and are included in this publication with permission
from the individual authors. A2Central.com, Delphi Online Services,
Syndicomm, Ryan M. Suenaga, and Lyle Syverson do not guarantee the accuracy
or suitability of any information included herein. We reserve the right to
edit all letters and copy.
Material published in this edition may not be reprinted without the
expressed written consent of the publisher. Registered computer user
groups, not for profit publications , and other interested parties may
write the publisher to apply for permission to reprint any or all material.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
[EOF]
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