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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. 11
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 15, 2003
HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN]
Strong Opinions... and Tolerance
A2 FORUM AT Syndicomm Online (A2Central.com) DISTILLATIONS------------[DAS]
Kit Graham and Spectrum Scripts----------------------------------[KGS]
Hard Drive Setup for 8 BIT Apple II------------------------------[HDS]
Latest Version of Diversi-Cache?---------------------------------[LVD]
Speed Record for Internet Data Transfer--------------------------[SRT]
Clever Spam Scam-------------------------------------------------[CSS]
The Telemarketing Do Not Call List-------------------------------[DNC]
Identifying an Apple Brand SCSI Card-----------------------------[IAS]
Too Much on Networking in Juiced.GS?-----------------------------[TMN]
The Bernie Emulator Under Mac System X---------------------------[BMT]
The KEGS Emulator Under Mac System X-----------------------------[KMX]
The KEGSwin Emulator---------------------------------------------[KWE]
ILLUMINATING THE LAMP-------------------------------------------------[ITL]
An overview of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SYNDICOMM------------------------------------------[ANS]
To Sign up for Syndicomm Online----------------------------------[TSU]
November 2003 Issue of Syndicommotion Available------------------[NSA]
THE TINKERER'S CORNER-------------------------------------------------[TTC]
The Tinkerer's Corner Will Return Next Month
You are Invited
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR-------------------------------------------------[LTE]
No Letters to the Editor This Month
An Invitation
KFEST 2004------------------------------------------------------------[KFF]
KansasFest 2004--------------------------------------------------[KF4]
Watch for More Information at 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>
Strong Opinions... and Tolerance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
High Above The Rock River the heavy fog inspires thoughts of long ago.
Sixty some years ago the adventures in a one room country school led to
Larry becoming my best friend. Walking to/from school and recess provided
lots of opportunity to talk with your friends.
Now good friends don't necessarily agree on everything. Larry was
convinced that John Deere tractors and Chevrolet cars were superior to
other makes... after all his father had chosen those brands... and he had
great respect for his father. I was equally adamant that Farmall tractors
and Ford cars were superior.
If you have a strong opinion as to what computer you like or dislike
you might want to consider a more tolerant point of view. Learning to use
the other brand(s) gives you the opportunity to keep up with your email and
other online activities while you are traveling by using borrowed
computers... you know, uncle Harry's or your friend's computer... or that
computer in the motel lobby for the use of the guests.
[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>
[KGS]
KIT GRAHAM AND SPECTRUM SCRIPTS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Wasn't there a Kit Graham who wrote scripts to make CoPilot work on
CompuServe using Spectrum 2.0?
(KGAGNE, Cat 2, Top 31, Msg 42)
>>>>>
"""""
Yes indeed. Kermit Graham did work on those scripts, and I remember at the
time helping him with the scripts. If I remember correctly, I eventually
evolved the scripts into COG for Delphi, which then evolved into SOAR for
Syndicomm.
I have not heard from him for many years now, perhaps someone else knows
what he is doing now.
Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Sat 25 Oct 2003 - 269 days till KFest '04
Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR 1.0b11
Setup: IIgs running at 95Mhz thanks to Bernie ][ the Rescue 3.0
http://www.ewannop.btinternet.co.uk/
(CONDUCTOR, Cat 2, Top 31, Msg 46)
[EOA]
[HDS]
HARD DRIVE SETUP FOR 8 BIT Apple II
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I've never had a hard drive installed on an 8 Bit Apple II and I was
curious as to how one goes about getting Prodos installed on a drive. What
I have is a Platinum IIe with either an Apple High Speed SCSI card or an
Apple SCSI card Rev C. I'd rather install this on the IIc plus, but alas
there is no hard disk solution (or should I say no viable solution for me).
Thanks,
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 7, Top 23, Msg 21)
>>>>>
"""""
For the IIe with one of those Apple cards, you could either use Apple's
utils or, better, use the Chinook SCSI utilities, which are available from
our library. Once it's formatted and partitioned there, it'd need to be
formatted from ProDOS 8 (ProSEL is a good one for this) and ProDOS
installed (probably also want to put BASIC.SYSTEM on there too).
Remember that the "PRODOS" file on your GS System Disks is not really
ProDOS. The P8 file is really ProDOS.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 7, Top 23, Msg 22)
[EOA]
[LVD]
LATEST VERSION OF Diversi-Cache?
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Does anyone know what the latest version of Diversi-Cache is?
I have v1.00B, and it doesn't seem to work on my ROM3 machine with 1.25M,
although it works on all the ROM1 machines I have (1M-4M). This is with a
standard Apple 3.5" drive connected to the built-in smartport (in case you
think I have a superdrive interface card on my ROM3).
Has anybody used v1.00B of Diversi-Cache on a ROM3 Apple IIgs? Did it
work?
-Jeff
(FINKSTERJ, Cat 8, Top 7, Msg 18)
>>>>>
"""""
I haven't used DiversiCache in years.
The latest I can find is a version 1.0, not designated as 1.00B.
Ryan
(RSUENAGA, Cat 8, Top 7, Msg 19)
>>>>>
"""""
I would be VERY surprised if Diversi-Cache worked on a ROM 03 GS. It was a
very clever piece of code that was incredibly reliant on everything being
where it was supposed to be in the ROM. This is why it doesn't work with a
SuperDrive card (although it doesn't do any harm either as there's lots of
checks before it activates itself).
Peter peterw@syndicomm.com
Palm OS Community Bulletin Board Manager
(PETERW, Cat 8, Top 7, Msg 20)
[EOA]
[SRT]
SPEED RECORD FOR INTERNET DATA TRANSFER
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
In March, I posted in this topic that a new speed record for Internet data
transfer had been established.
That speed has now been doubled, according to the story at
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/10/15/internet.speed.reut/index.html
Excerpts follow:
"CERN, whose laboratories straddle the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva,
said it had sent 1.1 Terabytes of data at 5.44 gigabits a second (Gbps) to
a lab at the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech, on October 1.
"This is more than 20,000 times faster than a typical home broadband
connection, and is also equivalent to transferring a 60-minute compact disc
within one second -- an operation that takes around eight minutes on
standard broadband."
(KGAGNE, Cat 10, Top 4, Msg 28)
[EOA]
[CSS]
CLEVER SPAM SCAM
""""""""""""""""
Talk about bad spam!! I just got an email that looks like it's from PayPal
and has a link to a website. Once there, it ask for about every possible
bit of information, including mother's maiden name.
It's obviously very clever spam, since I don't have a Pay Pal account. It
is also very dangerous because of identity theft.
Cindy
(CINDYADAMS, Cat 2, Top 6, Msg 79)
>>>>>
"""""
I hope you didn't fill in any of the info on the email form, Cindy. As you
pointed out that is more than spam, it is a fraudulent attempt to gain
information from you. I got the same (or similar) email, and reported it
to PayPal, who confirmed that it was fraud.
I was suspicious when I got it, and looked at the html source behind the
email, which revealed a Form:Post address, that looked something like:
http://www.paypal.com/01001000101001010010100101010010010101001010101010101
010101010101101010101001010010101010010010100101010010100101010100101001100
1010010101010010101010010101001010101001//some.bogus.site.de
Any request for any account or personal information should be treated with
suspicion.
What was amazing was that they even used a real link to the real paypal
site for the paypal banner that appeared in their bogus email.
_________
| homas
(TCOMPTER, Cat 2, Top 6, Msg 80)
>>>>>
"""""
Sadly, there are similar scams (this is more scam than Spam, I think) using
eBay and Citibank, among others. Be careful out there.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 2, Top 6, Msg 81)
>>>>>
"""""
>> I hope you didn't fill in any of the info on the email form, Cindy. <<
Nope, I didn't even go to the link. I don't have a PayPal account.
Cindy
(CINDYADAMS, Cat 2, Top 6, Msg 82)
>>>>>
"""""
I do have a PayPal account, but recognized it as fraud right away. The web
site was already down when I tried to check it out.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Thu 13 Nov 03 7:30:29 pm
cknoblo@cox.com - Via Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2004, July 20-25, 2004 - 250 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 2, Top 6, Msg 83)
[EOA]
[DNC]
THE TELEMARKETING DO NOT CALL LIST
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Say - has that anti-telemarketing law gone into effect? My phone hasn't
rung in days... I've enjoyed the silence.
-Ken
(KGAGNE, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 83)
>>>>>
"""""
Yes, it went into effect on October 1.
An interesting new tactic I've seen. Telemarketers now call and when I
complain and mention the do-not-call list, they say that only applies if
they try to sell me something, which of course they didn't call to do.
Yeah, right.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 86)
>>>>>
"""""
Yes it did, but I started getting calls from veteran's groups every day.
I finally just told them to "drop dead", since there was no point in asking
them to put me on their "do not call" lists. They have stopped now.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Sat 8 Nov 03 8:53:26 pm
cknoblo@cox.com - Via Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2004, July 20-25, 2004 - 255 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 11, Top 26, Msg 84)
>>>>>
"""""
I haven't been getting as many calls, but I've been getting more junk
faxes.
Cindy
(CINDYADAMS, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 85)
[EOA]
[IAS]
IDENTIFYING AN APPLE BRAND SCSI CARD
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I have an Apple Brand SCSI card that is pre-Apple II High Speed SCSI card.
I've seen various references to a Rev C, Rev B etc. Does anyone know how
one would go about determining which rev of card I have. Any markings or
possibly Software that would reveal this information for me?
Thanks,
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 17, Top 32, Msg 5)
>>>>>
"""""
Basically the cards are identical except for the EPROM. If the EPROM has a
sticker then Rev A is 341-0112A Rev B is 341-0112B and Rev C is341-0437-A.
If there's no sticker then the Rev A can be distinguished from the Rev B
and C because the Rev A is a 2764 and the Rev B & C are 27128. The card is
also marked with the original Rev version. At the bottom to the left of the
B) 1986 should be written A, B, or C. Still a lot of cards have been
updated to Rev C.
If you have the card you can try booting GSOS off it. You need a Rev C for
that.
Wayne
(WAYNES, Cat 17, Top 32, Msg 6)
>>>>>
"""""
Wayne's correct. One of the revisions (I think B but I'd have to go back
and check) fixed a problem (I'm not sure I would call it a bug or just a
poor design) that had the SCSI card's low level format command the same as
the command to eject a 3.5 inch disk--yikes!
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 17, Top 32, Msg 7)
>>>>>
"""""
Okay, it looks like this thing is a Rev. C SCSI card. It didn't have a
sticker, but it did have a 27128 and there is a "C" stamped to the left of
the 1986.
Thanks for the info.
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 17, Top 32, Msg 8)
>>>>>
"""""
The Rev. C (Apple) SCSI card is actually somewhat faster in an accelerated
Apple IIe than the Apple High Speed SCSI card. The AHS relies on DMA to
make it faster, but no IIe accelerators (aside from maybe a TWIII that
somehow escaped AE's test labs) are DMA friendly.
The RamFAST will beat both of the Apple cards for speed in a IIe,
accelerated or not, DMA or not.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 17, Top 32, Msg 9)
[EOA]
[TMN]
TOO MUCH ON NETWORKING IN Juiced.GS?
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Question for the audience: is there too much networking coverage in
Juiced.GS?
Hard working writers want to know.
Ryan
(RSUENAGA, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 483)
>>>>>
"""""
In a word:
No.
In more than one word:
The evolution of the personal computer has been a never ending search for
faster and easier ways to share information between computers. From
punched paper tape (I still have programs stored on that media) to sneaker
nets, to the Internet, to ethernet; the pursuit of the goal of the perfect
exchange of data continues. As long as the articles contain new or
different means of inter-connectivity, or cheaper and easier approaches,
I for one will welcome each and every article.
Roger A. Schnorenberg - Roger
"Roger A. Schnorenberg" <AB0MX@ARRL.net>
Delivered by Spectrum v2.5.2 & SOAR v1.0b11 with NiftySpell 1.0
Via Marinetti 2.0.1 TCP/IP stack on a ROM 0 IIGS upgraded to the max!
(SCHNORENBERG, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 484)
>>>>>
"""""
I can always stand to learn more about networking -- especially from a
source that I can understand.
Steven Weyhrich <IX0YE>--<
Apple II History
http://apple2history.org
(A2HISTORY, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 485)
>>>>>
"""""
I hope we can be understood (although that editor-in-chief clown leaves a
lot to be desired). . .
Because we don't get too many responses specifically for "How about
covering this?" I think we just generally write whatever we're interested
in at the moment, and a lot of times it's how to get your Apple II working
with other computers. So, that tends to be an ongoing theme.
I just don't want us to get in a rut on one topic.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 486)
[EOA]
[BMT]
THE BERNIE EMULATOR UNDER MAC SYSTEM X
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Has anybody tried running Bernie under Panther? It's not working right for
me. Everything is very slow, it almost seems to be stuttering rather than
running smoothly.
Tony Ward
(A2.TONY, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 130)
>>>>>
"""""
I haven't run Bernie in a long time. I don't even have it installed
anymore. Anyone else see this problem?
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 131)
>>>>>
"""""
I have. It's totally unusable under 10.3. I had to go back to 10.2.8 to
use it, and even then there are similar problems (always had 'em), but not
nearly as bad.
We really need to look at OS X emulation some more. This could cause huge
problems for Juiced.GS production, for one thing.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 132)
>>>>>
"""""
Time for an email campaign to harass the guys at F.E. Systems. :)
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 133)
>>>>>
"""""
Hmm.... I just installed 10.3, and Bernie runs pretty well there.
Of course, my computer is a bit faster than most. B-{)
Kirk
(A2.KIRK, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 134)
>>>>>
"""""
The problem I've had with Bernie under OS X has been that I need to boot
Classic by launching Bernie. Bernie will launch but just leave a blank
classic window. I Quit Bernie then relaunch it and it works fine. The
mouse emulation seems quite a bit choppier than I'd like. The really bad
thing happens when you switch to Power Mode. It goes into stutter mode.
Also Wolf 3D is uncontrollable.
I hope the Bernie boys get some motivation. I guess I could just try KeGS
again. I just have this hatred for editing text files to switch disks:)
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 135)
>>>>>
"""""
We have had a postal strike in the UK, so I am still waiting for my copy to
arrive.
However I never run Bernie under Classic, as I do not get access to the
modem port with Classic. I always reboot to OS 9.2.2, and run Bernie from
there. I realize that is not an option with many of the newer Macs.
I presume that by running Bernie under 9.2.2, things will remain the same,
even with Panther installed.
Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Thu 6 Nov 2003 - 257 days till KFest '04
Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR 1.0b11
Setup: IIgs running at 95Mhz thanks to Bernie ][ the Rescue 3.0
http://www.ewannop.btinternet.co.uk/
(CONDUCTOR, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 136)
>>>>>
"""""
>> Time for an email campaign to harass the guys at F.E. Systems. :)
If they can solve that problem, perhaps they can also solve linking
Marinetti into the Panther networking, so we do not have to reboot to 9.2.2
to get access to the Internet...
Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Thu 6 Nov 2003 - 257 days till KFest '04
Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR 1.0b11
Setup: IIgs running at 95Mhz thanks to Bernie ][ the Rescue 3.0
http://www.ewannop.btinternet.co.uk/
(CONDUCTOR, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 137)
>>>>>
"""""
Ewen,
It's fine for folks like you and me who still have a Mac that will boot
into OS 9.2, but any recently shipped Mac save one or two will not boot
into 9 anymore:( Kind of a shame since it's always nice to have that as
an option.
I took a look at the Bernie board the other night and there hasn't been a
post in months. It's possible the Bernie boys thing there is little to no
interest. Let's prove them otherwise.
Harass away:)
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 139)
>>>>>
"""""
I only use OS 9 for two things now: Virtual PC and Bernie. I guess
emulation is just too funky for OS X at this point. :)
Tony Ward
(A2.TONY, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 140)
[EOA]
[KMX]
THE KEGS EMULATOR UNDER MAC SYSTEM X
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I just tried out the KEGS version 0.82 for OS X and it runs fairly
smoothly. There are some mouse issues with it, but these may have to do
with something new the Mac OS does with Expose`. Basically you can end up
not being able to shut the emulator down with out F9-ing (expose) then
switching to a window other than the GS window then switching back. It
also has a Disk selection menu that I've never seen before that takes the
"text editing" out of changing kegs.conf (or whatever that file is called).
Check it out.
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 40, Msg 28)
>>>>>
"""""
Is there a place to get a COMPILED version of the KEGS 0.82 emulator?
I downloaded the file that was on the KEGS site, and the Mac executable
file starts and then quits with no error messages.
Steven Weyhrich <IX0YE>--<
Apple II History
http://apple2history.org
(A2HISTORY, Cat 29, Top 41, Msg 9)
>>>>>
"""""
The OS X version is compiled, but to get it to run you have to actually
launch it from the Terminal...and you have to give it some obscure path
that you can't find in Finder, but that I cut and pasted from the readme
file.
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 40, Msg 29)
>>>>>
"""""
Yeah... it's a really cornball hack of a port.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 29, Top 40, Msg 30)
>>>>>
"""""
KEGS for OS X has both a version by Kent Dickey, the actual KEGS guy, and
some other guys. The version by Dickey I guess is "official", but the
other one is more polished.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 29, Top 40, Msg 31)
>>>>>
"""""
I'm not sure I'd call it corny since it works and fairly well on OS X and
Bernie has gone from one of the coolest emulators in existence to something
that is struggling for life.
Kent, the guy who has done the work has done really good work and like most
Unix apps it doesn't have much of an interface. I'm sure some individuals
will eventually add a more workable UI.
I've seen corny and this is much better than that. (remember XGS or iGS:)
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 40, Msg 32)
>>>>>
"""""
>> have to give it some obscure path that you can't find in Finder <<
Have you tried creating a shell script and launching the shell script from
the Finder? I don't know enough about Mac OS X if that would work.
The docs for the Windows version of KEGS says to launch it from a shell or
DOS window. I find that it launches fine from the Windows GUI.
But I do have a need to have arguments passed when KEGS starts up so I
wrote a BAT file to run KEGS. Launching the BAT file from the Windows GUI
also works fine.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 40, Msg 33)
[EOA]
[KWE]
THE KEGSwin EMULATOR
""""""""""""""""""""
I download KEGSwin 0.82 today and I am impressed by some of its new
features. The border effects in demos such as XMasDemo and GS-IRC now
work. I thought that something like that would never be made available on
a IIgs emulator without major hardware. My 750MHz Windows 98 box handled
it just fine. I did find that _slowing_ the emulator to run at 2.8MHz
yielded the best results to prevent flicker.
I've had some mixed results with the newly supported 3200 color mode.
I only had a chance to use an old version of Prism to try out the 3200
mode. Prism's "true color" mode (wide and normal) worked perfectly--the
palettes changed correctly to give the correct illusion of 12-bit true
color. The viewing of gif in 3200 color mode did not flip palettes unless
the mouse was moving and even then, the illusion of 3200 colors was very
difficult to produce.
It would be interesting to know what 3200 color software does work
properly.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 41, Msg 7)
>>>>>
"""""
I downloaded the OS X version and noticed that the KEGs Menu now supports
selecting disk images in kind of a way that reminds me of some programs
that allow you to navigate a directory tree in Prodos. Does the Windows
Version support this? I assume so. It's a welcome feature for me. It
does do some funky things with mouse handling in OS X. I'm going to try the
Windows version later.
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 41, Msg 8)
>>>>>
"""""
Yep. The Windows version also lets you select disk images too. It is a
neat concept to be able to add/remove/change disk images as if it was part
of the IIgs itself. It makes the development of KEGS that much easier so
there aren't multiple configuration interfaces to maintain. And from a
usability standpoint, all ports of KEGS also all have the same "look and
feel." There isn't much software that can boast that and also be available
for Windows, MacOS X, OS/2, and many flavors of UNIX.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 41, Msg 10)
>>>>>
"""""
The KEGS package wasn't the only IIgs emulator that was updated recently.
ActiveGS has also been updated to version 1.7. Its super cool new feature
is that the IIgs mouse now tracks better when the native Windows cursor is
displayed. Native GS/OS apps are now much more controllable. It is still
a good idea to hide the Windows cursor when playing games, though.
Kudos to the FTA for making IIgs emulation that much more enjoyable!
Oh, and it now works correctly under Windows 98.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 41, Msg 11)
>>>>>
"""""
Well, it turns out that 3200 mode works fine as long as KEGS is running
under the standard "fast" IIgs emulated speed.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 41, Msg 12)
>>>>>
"""""
Sure enough, the KEGS README says that 3200 mode needs to have KEGS running
at "fast" speed and demos should generally be run at "fast" speed too.
As the quoting the old adage: If at first you don't succeed, follow the
directions.
(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 41, Msg 13)
>>>>>
"""""
I'm very impressed that they got 3200 mode working. That takes doing.
I sure hope someone does a decent OS X port soon.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 29, Top 41, Msg 14)
[EOA]
[ITL]------------------------
ILLUMINATING THE LAMP |
-----------------------------
An overview of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Steven Weyhrich
WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS
I have been a fan of science fiction for a very long time. And yes, I even
like watching Star Trek in its various incarnations as they have appeared
on television. One episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that I enjoyed
involved Dr. Beverly Crusher faced with a mystery. The crew, the ship, even
the universe itself seemed to be contracting around her. First she finds an
old friend missing -- but no one even acknowledges that he ever came on
board. Then the population of the ship has decreased dramatically -- but no
one else seems to find it unusual that a ship built to carry over 1,000 has
a crew of only a few hundred. As the problem accelerates, she ultimately
finds herself the only person left on board the ship, and the definition of
the nature of the universe (as given by the ship's computer) is a sphere
not much larger than the ship itself. She eventually deduces that it's her
son Wesley's fault, and she is trapped in a static warp bubble that is
contracting slowly down to nothing. She must make a run from the bridge to
the place on the ship where it was originally created, to escape back to
the real world.
This is much the situation facing our valiant crew aboard the USS Genie
during the year 1997. Not only was the Apple II universe continuing to
contract around them, as it had every year since Apple Computer pulled the
plug on their foundation microprocessor, but their ship was becoming
steadily less populated. Their crew quarters were becoming smaller. And
yes, even their Ship's Computer was showing some signs of malfunctioning.
To find out more about these and other mysteries, read on with me as we
look at GenieLamp in the landmark year of 1997.
BALL OF CONFUSION (THAT'S WHAT THE WORLD IS TODAY)
In the world at large in 1997, the cult known as Heaven's Gate convinced
its members to commit mass suicide, expecting aliens to take them out of
this planet. Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City
federal building bombing. Convictions were also handed down for the bombing
that had previously occurred at the World Trade Center in New York. The
movie "Titanic" made its debut as the most expensive motion picture of all
time. A new British female author named J. K. Rowling had her first book
published in the U.K under the title, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone" (later changed slightly for the American market). Britain's Princess
Diana is killed in a car crash in Paris, and another beloved figure, Mother
Teresa, died in Calcutta, India.
The first DVD's (Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc, depending on
your interpretation) went on sale. Microsoft released Office 97, and
announced the next version of its operating system, Windows 98. They also
released version 2 of Microsoft Windows CE (sometimes called "WINCE" by the
press, and designed as an operating system for non-Palm pen-based
computers). The speed of the Intel Pentium was bumped up to 233 MHz. The
first version of IEEE's 802.11 wireless networking standard was released in
June. America Online bought out CompuServe, but rather than merging with
it, left it as an independent online computer service. And the Internet
bookseller Amazon.com made shares of its stock available for public
trading.
With Apple's purchase of the NeXTSTEP operating system from NeXT, intended
for use as the basis for their next version of Mac OS, Steve Jobs also
returned to Apple in an advisory role. Although new CEO Gil Amelio did his
best to cut expenses, by the middle of 1997 he had been removed from his
management position. It was at this point that Steve Jobs took on a more
active role within the company. By September, his position was identified
as "interim CEO". One of his first actions was to discontinue the Macintosh
licensing program that earlier CEO's had started. The rationale for this
move was that since hardware sales were the major income producer for the
company, and since clone makers could produce and sell the computers for a
lower cost than could Apple, every sale of a Mac clone was draining money
away from Apple. It was in September that the license program was
terminated, and Apple acquired the assets of Power Computing, one of the
clone manufacturers. By November, a new series of Macintosh computers based
on the G3 processor was announced, and was expected to have greater power
than similarly configured Pentium-based computers. The Apple Store was
opened for sales directly from the Web, and an agreement with CompUSA
resulted in plans for an "Apple Store within a store".
Mac OS 8 was released in July, and in September Jobs shocked the Macintosh
faithful with his announcement of an alliance with rival Microsoft. This
deal involved agreements by Microsoft to buy $150 million worth of Apple
stock, and commitments to continue to produce Macintosh versions of its
Office software. Apple in turn agreed to bundle the Mac version of
Microsoft's Internet Explorer on its new computers, displacing Netscape
Navigator completely.
GENIELAMP INFO
1997 began with a new editor for GenieLamp. Ryan Suenaga took over the
reigns of the newsletter from Doug Cuff, who had concluded his record run
with the December 1996 issue. The new masthead read like this:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////|
| GenieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET Publication ~ Vol.5, Issue 57|
|""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""|
|Publisher.................................................John F. Peters|
|Editor...................................................Ryan M. Suenaga|
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////|
| ~ GenieLamp IBM ~ GenieLamp ST ~ GenieLamp PowerPC ~ |
| ~ GenieLamp A2Pro ~ GenieLamp Macintosh ~ GenieLamp TX2 ~ |
| ~ GenieLamp Windows ~ GenieLamp A2 ~ LiveWire (ASCII) ~ |
| ~ Member Of The Digital Publishing Association ~ |
| GE Mail: GENIELAMP Internet: genielamp@genie.com |
|////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|
|________________________________________________________________________|
The other GenieLamp publications, although no longer being produced, were
mentioned at least in memoriam.
By the April issue, Suenaga had decided to drop John Peters' name, as he
really no longer played any role in the publication (except as the
originator of the concept). Starting in May and continuing for the rest of
the year, he placed former editor Doug Cuff's name on the masthead with
his:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////|
| GenieLamp Apple II ~ A T/TalkNET Publication ~ Vol.6, Issue 63 |
|""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""|
|""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""|
|Editor...................................................Ryan M. Suenaga|
|Editor Emeritus................................................Doug Cuff|
|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////////|
|________________________________________________________________________|
GEnieLamp A2Pro had gone out of production a full year earlier. Still,
Richard Bennett had been saving pertinent postings from the A2Pro
Roundtable, and gave Suenaga a distillation of these messages for inclusion
in GenieLamp A2. These messages ran over the next several issues.
Though no longer in the editor's seat, Doug Cuff kept his hand in by
contributing the File Bandwagon column from March through September. He
also helped with creation of the HyperStudio and HyperCard versions of
GenieLamp during part of the year.
With a recurrent struggle to release GenieLamp on its traditional first of
the month, Suenaga made the decision in July to change the publication date
for the newsletter to the fifteenth of the month. This made it easier to
fit it into his own busy schedule.
Because of the significant decline in A2 Roundtable activity that occurred
after July (see below), Suenaga also had to come to a difficult decision,
which he announced in his September editorial. He decided to terminate
GenieLamp A2's run after the October 1997 issue. With sadness and regret,
Suenaga created the last issue (Volume 6, Issue 68) of GenieLamp A2 in
October 1997, but vowed to return soon with a new publication based from
Delphi.
ROUNDTABLE NEWS
By late 1996 it was becoming obvious that the new owners of Genie were NOT
doing all they could to make it a successful online venture. In fact, every
move Yovelle had made since taking over the service seemed calculated to
discourage new users from signing up, and to annoy seasoned veterans enough
to make them decide to leave. In particular, the price increase they had
implemented had made Genie THE most expensive online service available.
Some members voiced the suspicion that Yovelle was actually trying to KILL
OFF the service, likely having some other use in mind for Genie's
mainframes.
Because of these changes, the biggest problem facing the Apple II community
on Genie during 1997 was an accelerating decline in membership. Some moved
over to CompuServe, and others migrated to Delphi (which still had a
text-friendly interface).
Even Gary Utter, long-time A2 leader and co-owner of Syndicomm (which ran
the Apple II Roundtables on Genie) was feeling the squeeze of A2's
contraction. Posts of his (from December) that appeared in the January
issue actually recommended to people that they look at Delphi as an
alternative to Genie. Delphi was continuing to upgrade its service, and had
established an Internet access pathway before Genie had done so. This was a
bold statement from one whose job it was purportedly to encourage use of
Genie; however, he was likely aware of activities behind the scenes that
were not evident to the average user. In addition, Syndicomm was
diversifying its influence by starting A2 and A2Pro forums on Delphi.
Utter's reasoning was that if Genie WAS going down the tubes, Delphi was a
good alternative. If Genie DID survive, Delphi would make a good additional
access point.
In February's issue of GenieLamp, Utter's personal announcement of January
1st was reprinted. This message indicated that he had finally given up his
Genie membership and was moving over to Delphi. The comments in this
message are pertinent to the real feeling of community that had built up
over the years, a community that was disintegrating right before
everybody's eyes:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
|Category 2, Topic 7 |
|Message 358 Wed Jan 01, 1997 |
|H.MOST [Hindmost] at 02:04 EST |
| |
|Well, gang, this is my last night on Genie. |
| |
|After something more than 8 years, I'm leaving. |
| |
|I was tempted to post this with my original DISPATCHER account (which |
|has had a name change to SOAPY.SUE and is being used by The Lovely |
|Susan). |
| |
|(Come to think of it, the ORIGINAL name on that account was G.UTTER.) |
| |
|I want to talk about all the good times I've had here, I want to |
|reminisce about so many of the friends I've made here (many of whom left|
|a long time ago), I want to say a LOT of things, but there doesn't seem |
|to be much point. I'll just start crying, and won't be able to read the |
|screen anyway. |
| |
|I'm on Delphi now, committed to Delphi now. I'm over there because I |
|believe very strongly that Genie is doomed, that Genie will die in mere |
|months. I can't bear to watch. It's been hard enough already. |
| |
|If Apple II support has a future, its on Delphi. Genie only has a past. |
| |
|That's a hard thing to say, and many of you won't want to hear it, or |
|accept it, but I think it is true. |
| |
|(I certainly wouldn't leave if I didn't.) |
| |
|I don't know what I mean to say here, and I know I'm not doing it well, |
|but this is HARD people, REAL hard. |
| |
|I'm not going to say how much I'll miss you all, because I really hope |
|that you all will join me on Delphi. |
| |
|GO COM A2APPLE II FOREVER!!!! |
| |
|Gary R. Utter....................................utter@delphi.com |
|________________________________________________________________________|
There were certainly differences of opinion on this matter. Tom Zuchowski,
another of the A2 sysops, stated that although Delphi might represent the
FUTURE for Apple II users, he maintained that their PRESENT was still on
Genie. He was concerned that the fall of Genie would be guaranteed if
everyone who still remained decided to abandon it for Delphi.
The "mere months" that Utter predicted did not actually come to pass.
However, declining numbers in various Roundtables did result in Genie's
management making the decree that lower traffic areas be removed. The A2
sysops learned only shortly before it was to happen that the A2Pro RT had
been slated for termination by the last week in June. The sysops decision
was to merge A2Pro with A2; and on a single day, June 26, 1997, they made
the transition. Aside from the confusion that occurred by moving all of the
existing content in A2Pro into A2 (there were also a large number of "new"
messages that suddenly appeared) the merger was successful, and it saved
the content in A2Pro that had been collected over many years.
To add to this ball of confusion and turmoil, Genie's management announced
in July that as of September 1, 1997, some major changes would be made to
the service. These changes in how the Roundtables worked and displayed
their messages would result in causing ALL of the existing offline readers
for Genie to stop working. This would cause big problems for those who
depended on those offline readers to read and post messages. In regards to
GenieLamp, this would also significantly affect the ability of GenieLamp
editor Suenaga to obtain the postings that made up a significant portion of
each issue of the newsletter. This announcement became just one more reason
to make the exodus from the A2 Roundtable to Delphi.
By early September, the Delphi A2 Forum was swelling with refugees from
Genie. Back in July, Delphi had opened its forums to free access via the
Internet and a web browser. August saw activity in the A2 Forum increase
significantly. The primary drawback to using Delphi instead of Genie was
the few number of files in the library on Delphi. However, the A2 sysops
from Genie had been for years keeping copies offline of all files uploaded.
This safeguard measure would make it possible for most of the library to be
reproduced elsewhere if and when it became necessary.
HARDWARE NEWS
Bill Shuff had written an article for II Alive on how to create a
replacement cable for the TransWarp GS accelerator. He was, however, upset
to see that the II Alive editor had seen fit to make changes to his article
that made the instructions actually to be in error. Being true to the
giving spirit of most Apple II users, Shuff vowed to make cables for anyone
who was unsuccessful in making a cable based on the botched instructions
printed in this article.
A recurring theme in messages reproduced in GenieLamp (and The Lamp!) has
been distinguishing differences between Apple 3.5 drives, SuperDrives, and
their respective controller cards. This was again discussed in February.
EMULATOR NEWS
Gus, the Apple IIGS emulator for the PowerMac developed by some former
Apple II programmers at Apple on their own time, was reported to perform at
about the same speed as an accelerated IIGS (when run on a PowerMac 6100 at
60 MHz). In April, a statement was made which clarified that this project
would NOT be an official Apple product. It made a brief appearance at
Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference in June (during a demonstration
of one of the versions of Apple's next operating system).
In January, F.E. Systems' emulator "Fast Eddie" Beta 1 was available for
public testing. By the April issue, the official name of the product was
reported to be "Bernie ][ The Rescue". In July, the team writing the
emulator had successfully gotten it to print on the Macintosh on which it
was running.
SOFTWARE NEWS
:: PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE ::
The Byte Works, long a supplier of computer languages for the Apple IIGS,
came through again in 1997 with the March announcement of development of
GSoft BASIC. This comprehensive BASIC compiler was designed to be backward
compatible with Applesoft BASIC (which had undergone almost NO changes
since it first appeared on the original Apple II back in 1978), but took
advantage of the extended memory and power of the Apple IIGS. It also was
an interpreted BASIC, as was Applesoft, but had significantly more power.
It worked within the same ORCA shell environment as all other Byte Works
languages, and could also create self-contained GS/OS applications out of a
GSoft BASIC source file.
Publish-It! also made a little bit of news in 1997. Hugh Hood had plans to
release some patches to the program that improved its function,
particularly with laser printers. The delaying factor on release of this
was a pending "important announcement" that prevented him from making these
patches available. Unfortunately, the outcome of either this announcement
or this patch did not ever appear in GenieLamp (or later in The Lamp!)
Jawaid Bazyar and Procyon released GNO/ME 2.0.4 to freeware status
(although the manuals still sold for $30).
:: TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE ::
Back when Tom Weishaar was in charge of Syndicomm, Richard Bennett had been
approached about writing a program for the Apple IIGS to manage access to
GEnie. This was to be a more inclusive approach than GEM or CoPilot, which
required use of more than one program to manage messages (reading and
replying), and more like the all-inclusive programs that were available for
other platforms. He got started on the project just after Syndicomm was
transferred to Gary Utter and Dean Esmay, but what often delayed the
project over the years was the continuing changes to the GEnie user
interface programming requirements (the API).
The original code name for the program was "Jasmine". This name was
included in the online poll for a potential product name, and a majority of
the A2 Roundtable members liked it also. An early version of the program
was demonstrated at KansasFest that same year.
Beta testing for this program happened over an extended period of time.
Dave Miller had been involved in the A2Pro Roundtable for quite a while,
and as a sysop. One other position that he had during 1997 was as a beta
testing coordinator for Jasmine. Miller made an announcement in January
that the final beta version of this program had been uploaded to the A2
library. It was expected that with the decline in Genie, it was unlikely
that the program could ever get fully completed, so releasing it as an
unsupported beta program would allow it to at least be used.
Derek Taubert's GS/TCP continued to generate excitement about the
possibility of direct Internet connection. However, completion of this
project was delayed, and without a functioning TCP/IP stack, Internet
access for the IIGS seemed unobtainable.
In spite of this apparent road block, Seven Hills Software announced in
March a long-awaited product for the Apple IIGS: A real web browser.
Spectrum Internet Suite (SIS) functioned much like the commercial Netscape
Navigator web browser available for the Macintosh and Windows platforms,
with the exception of not displaying the GIF and JPEG graphics those
browsers were capable of. More amazing was the fact that it did this as a
set of SCRIPTS and XCMDS for use with the Spectrum graphic terminal
program. It did require a Unix shell account for actual Internet access,
but had also been designed to work with Genie's Internet gateway. The
original concept came about with an impromptu meeting at KansasFest 1996
between Geoff Weiss, Ewen Wannop, Dave Hecker, and others. This first
version of SIS made it possible to access the Internet WITHOUT the need for
TCP/IP.
Don Zahniser made his contribution to the Apple II community by releasing
for the IIGS an offline reader for Delphi access called OLRight! In the
spirit of its predecessors GEM and CoPilot, this script set pulled together
ANSITerm, Hermes (Andre Horstmann's freeware text editor NDA), and Instant
Replay (a freeware NDA macro environment written by Jason Simmons) to do
its magic. Using the Genie Internet gateway, OLRight! could go to Delphi,
get new messages, post replies, and log off. An account on Delphi was, of
course, a necessary requirement. OLRight! updates were delivered in
January, and by June version 2.2 was made available.
Deciding that offline reading of Delphi should not be limited to ANSITerm,
Ewen Wannop released Crock O' Gold, a set of scripts to use with Spectrum
(which he had written for Seven Hills Software).
Ryan Suenaga discussed ways of accessing e-mail via an ISP using a VT-100
terminal program. Talk Is Cheap v4.02 from Don Elton was still available in
a limited fashion with disks and manual. CoPilot for ANSITerm v2.5.6 was
uploaded in January.
:: UTILITY SOFTWARE ::
A few new products appeared in this category. Chris Vavruska released
several Finder Extension utilities in 1997, including FinderFlipper,
FinderRefresher, WorkSets, and CD Remember. Eric Shepherd released Shifty
List 2.0, a significant update to his previous Softdisk G-S utility.
SlixSecurity was a security NDA for the IIGS released by Bret Victor. It
prevented access to the computer without a password. Seven Hills Software
released an update to Hierarchic, bringing it to version 1.6.3.
:: GAMES ::
Defender Of The World, an unfinished game by David Ong Tat-Wee of
Singapore, was uploaded.
Brutal Deluxe's LemminGS game, announced by Joe Kohn in 1996, was available
for beta testing in January, and a demo was available for download soon
afterwards.
Eric Shepherd was spending what time he had available to finish up
Wolfenstein 3D and release it as a final product. However, since it had
become a freeware product, it had to take a back seat to other projects
that would actually produce an income for him. Testing on the game
continued through 1997, but the finished version was not available during
the year.
HACKING
Modifications to the function of ProDOS and GS/OS were common themes in
these days of no direct support from Apple Computer. Discussions included
how to remap slot assignments in ProDOS 8 without moving peripheral cards
(especially intended for use with a Laser 128EX and an expansion box).
INTERNET NEWS
David Kerwood opened "A2-Web" in the first part of 1997. Billing itself as
"The Mother Of All Apple II Web Sites", it was hosted on the new
www.syndicomm.com web site. It included links to all Apple II-related
companies on the Internet, as well as Apple II user groups and other
related information. Although it displayed just fine on the graphic web
browsers that ran on Macintosh or Windows computers, it was also optimized
to display well on text-based web browsers (both SIS and Lynx). In fact, he
had included some special things for people coming to the site with the SIS
browser.
PUBLICATIONS
Juiced.GS began its second year with a cover story about Spectrum Internet
Suite, and stayed on schedule for the remainder of the year. It continued
to receive enthusiastic comments from its readers in posts they made on the
A2 Roundtable.
The Apple Blossom was running a little behind in late 1996, but publisher
Steve Cavanaugh had plans to resume a timelier schedule.
Cavanaugh's Apple Blossom Publishing branched out with an additional
publication during 1997. This new disk-based magazine was called Hyper
Quarterly. Designed to work with HyperCard IIGS, and edited by Hangtime and
Gareth Jones, it presented stacks and stack design information and tools,
much as Script-Central did when Resource Central was in business. Its first
issue was shipped in June.
The AppleWorks Gazette experienced problems with keeping up with the
planned publication schedule, but co-editor Howard Katz expressed his
intentions to get caught up. Chris Serreau, the other editor, was a
CompuServe member and did not directly participate on Genie.
Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II published a couple of issues during the
year, and one issue included an article on networking by Steve Disbrow
(formerly of GS+ Magazine).
Softdisk G-S ended its run as a disk magazine for the Apple IIGS, with its
final issue (#82) released in March 1997.
II Alive was still in print, but was struggling to gather enough articles
to put out an issue. Even when there WERE enough articles to print, there
were problems (see the above note regarding Bill Shuff's article).
COMPANIES
Tulin, distributor of Floptical drives and CD-ROM drives for the Apple II
community for several years, went out of business in January 1997. One of
Tulin's employees, Wing Cheung, acquired their remaining stock of drives
and Flopitcals, and was making them available for purchase, along with the
software drivers to use with these units.
In the March issue, it was reported that Carl Kenepaske, owner of Caloke
Industries, had died suddenly. Caloke was a mail-order public-domain
software provider, and with the death of the owner of the company, so did
his company die.
Steve Disbrow of EGO Systems had to announce the closure of his Apple II
mail order business at the end of June, yet another casualty of the
shrinking Apple II market. Joe Kohn of Shareware Solutions II arranged with
him to continue distribution of Addressed For Success and other EGO
products.
Shareware Solutions II also continued its function as a distributor of
software, by offering an updated version of the Harmonie printer driver for
the IIGS. He also made available the entire run of Open-Apple, A2-Central,
and A2-Central-On-Disk as a CD-ROM compilation. He also was a distributor
for Harmonie and for the software line from Kitchen Sink Software.
KANSASFEST
Sponsored by InTrec Software, KansasFest 1997 was held July 30 through
August 3, again at Avila College in Kansas City, MO. Coordinated by the
"Big Cheese", Cindy Adams, it included presentations by Joe Kohn, Max
Jones, Geoff Weiss, Steve Cavanaugh, and Ryan Suenaga. Also, planned were
demonstrations from Apple Computer (who did not show up), Apple Blossom
Publishing, SheppyWare, and F.E. Systems (featuring "Bernie ][ The
Rescue").
To the disappointment of the organizers of the event, attendance was lower
than in previous years. David Kerwood gave the keynote address, and Richard
Bennett was roasted. Kerwood also kept his web site, "A2-Web", updated
regularly with news of the goings-on at the conference.
The most significant product introduction at the conference was that made
by Richard Bennett. His Apple IIGS control panel, Marinetti, made TCP/IP
communication possible, and Bennett generously made it available as
freeware.
REVIEWS
There were a few products, some new and some old, that were reviewed during
1997 in GenieLamp:
o Quick Click Morph, by Doug Cuff
o Focus Drive, by Ryan Suenaga
o Change-A-File, by Doug Cuff
o Hyper Quarterly, by Ryan Suenaga
o Marinetti, by Ryan Suenaga
WRITERS
Max Jones (of Juiced.GS) contributed an article in the February issue of
GenieLamp, as well as a interview about SIS in a later issue.
Peter Brickell's "Real World Apple" series reappeared in the April issue,
with a description of how to build a temperature sensor that interfaced
with an Apple II, and later how to make use of the push button inputs and
annunciators.
Doug Cuff wrote about issues involved in getting permission to make use of
other people's graphic and audio content, and reprised his "Accidental
Tourist At KansasFest" column, updated for 1997.
INTERVIEWS
o Bret Victor, by Max Jones
o The Spectrum Internet Suite development team, by Max Jones
MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
Suenaga did some research on his own to determine the truth about a rumor
floating around the Internet. It had been suggested somewhere that
WordPerfect for the Apple II had been released as freeware. When he
communicated with someone at Corel, the company that at that time owned
WordPerfect, it was discovered that the rights to the Apple II version had
been sold years earlier, but no records had been kept as to whom it had
been sold.
An Applesoft programming course was hosted in A2Pro, and the five lessons
were uploaded to the A2Pro Library in June.
Joachim Nelson made a comment about software piracy, and how useful it
would be to have a serial number in ROM to use in identifying a paid owner
of a program. Although this practice has not been possible to implement on
the Apple II (since no new models have been manufactured), it HAS become
standard practice to use a unique unlock code on modern software.
STATS
Here are statistics for the six years of GEnieLamp's run. The numbers refer
to the size of each issue in "K" (kilobytes):
Year Min Max Avg
---- ---- ---- ----
1992 116K 212K 156K
1993 80K 256K 172K
1994 124K 216K 165K
1995 92K 176K 125K
1996 80K 192K 116K
1997 44K 124K 85K
Clearly, the decreased amount of available material and contributions
affected the size of GenieLamp significantly during this, Ryan Suenaga's
first year as editor.
BACK IN TIME
So far, we have covered the five years 1993 through 1997, the GEnieLamp
portion of the era of the Lamp publications. Next time we move into the
second portion of this period, looking at the Apple II world through the
eyes of the ascendancy of Delphi. Until then, stay clear of static warp
bubbles and the shrinking worlds within them!
Steven Weyhrich
a2history@syndicomm.com
http://apple2history.org
References for 1997 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
The Apple Museum
http://applemuseum.bott.org/
Computer History For 1990-2000
http://www.computerhope.com/history/19902000.htm
History of Computing Industrial Era 1994-2000
http://www.thocp.net
Information Please: 1997
http://infoplease.lycos.com/year/1997.html
Timeline of the 90s, 1997
http://www.inthe90s.com/generated/time1997.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]
[NSA]
November 2003 Issue of Syndicommotion Available
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The November 2003 (Volume 2, Number 11) issue of Syndicommotion has been
emailed to subscribers. The HTML edition can be found online at the
following URL:
http://www.syndicomm.com/syndicommotion/v2n11.html
(KGAGNE, HelpDesk BB, Cat 5, Top 4, Msg 15)
[EOA]
[TTC]-------------------------------
THE TINKERER'S CORNER |
------------------------------------
By Lyle Syverson <lyle@foxvalley.net>
The Tinkerer's Corner Will Return Next Month
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[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]
[KFF]------------------------------
KFest 2004 |
-----------------------------------
[KF4]
KansasFest 2004
"""""""""""""""
KansasFest 2004 is planned for July 20-25, 2004 at Avila University in
Kansas City, Missouri.
(Heading: Cat 5, Top 22)
[EOA]
[VKF]
WATCH FOR MORE INFORMATION AT 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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