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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. 7, No. 2
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 15, 2004
HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN]
A Reminder of Summer Fun
More Summer Fun
A2 FORUM AT Syndicomm Online (A2Central.com) DISTILLATIONS------------[DAS]
Syndicomm Lane - a Song Parody-----------------------------------[SLP]
New in A2 Library------------------------------------------------[NAL]
SIS Can Browse Gopher--------------------------------------------[SBG]
Security on the Internet-----------------------------------------[SOI]
Spam-------------------------------------------------------------[SPM]
Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online----------------------------------[EAG]
ROM 01 vs. ROM 3 Apple IIgs--------------------------------------[1V3]
Upgrading a IIe to a IIgs----------------------------------------[EGS]
Don Lancaster's Writings-----------------------------------------[DLW]
Don't Forget to Renew Juiced.GS----------------------------------[RNJ]
Amazed By Juiced.GS----------------------------------------------[ABJ]
The KEGS Emulator on Solaris X86---------------------------------[KOS]
The KEGS Emulator on FreeBSD-------------------------------------[KFB]
Apple II Technical Notes and Apple II File Type Notes------------[TFT]
ILLUMINATING THE LAMP-------------------------------------------------[ITL]
An overview of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!
1999
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SYNDICOMM------------------------------------------[ANS]
To Sign up for Syndicomm Online----------------------------------[TSU]
SyndiChat v1.2 is Now Available----------------------------------[SNA]
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR-------------------------------------------------[LTE]
Enjoying the Monthly Column, "Illuminating The Lamp"
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>
A Reminder of Summer Fun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking off in the distance from High Above The Rock River we see a
most unusual structure... the edifice of the Starlight Theater.
For many years plays have been presented on summer evenings on the
campus of Rock Valley College. The Starlight Theater was an outdoor
theater... hence the name. After a hot, busy day, it is a delightful
experience to take in a play in the cool of the evening under the stars.
But every so often the weather didn't cooperate. A performance had to
be cancelled. Sometimes a play was finished in the rain... members of the
audience had brought their umbrellas!
The man in charge of the theater had a dream... what if you had a
folding roof that could be moved into place above the theater if needed.
He built a model of his concept of how it would look and began promoting
his idea. The idea caught on and private donations provided the funds to
build it. So starting last summer you could see a play under the stars and
leave your umbrella home... if it rained they closed the roof!
More Summer Fun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some people decided during KFest 2003 that they would be attending
KFest 2004. Others missed last summer but plan to make it this year.
And there are those who have told themselves they would like to go
sometime. They didn't have time... or the didn't have the money.
Planning is what can make it happen. Talk to the boss about time off.
Start saving up some money. It is just five short months until KFest.
KansasFest 2004 is planned for July 20-25, 2004 at Avila University in
Kansas City, Missouri.
[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>
[SLP]
Syndicomm Lane - A SONG PARODY
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
After an absence of several years, here is yet another song parody for your
enjoyment...
Syndicomm Lane
(sung to the tune of "Penny Lane" by the Beatles, with no apologies since
they are being unreasonable about the use of the name "Apple" in
association with music)
On Syndicomm, we find Bruce Baker posting photographs
Of every KFest head found sleeping on the flo'
And in the chat room those that come and go,
stop and type "hello"
On the Quill, we find Ken Gagne musing writing craft
And then there's Gamebits, Showbits;
He just never slacks
Then there's Dave and Sheppy with their Macs,
to update a page
not so strange.
Syndicomm is on the Net and on my screen
There with telnet text or World Wide Web I browse,
and meanwhile back
On Syndicomm, they have a filter for the data flow
To try and keep the spam from filling up my screen
They try to keep their system server clean,
It's a clean machine
Syndicomm is on the Net and on my screen
For the Palm and Apple II, plus Newton,
meanwhile back
In topic 5 I see there's talk about the "AnyCard"
It should be here some year, at least that's what they say
And while the Big Cheese hears her iTunes play
She just knits away
At Syndicomm, the online store sells stuff to customers,
Suenaga's getting his "Juiced" deadline in
And in an RPG match they spin, just to make a play
Very strange
Syndicomm is on the Net and on my screen.
It's for the Apple II and Palm plus Newton,
meanwhile back
Syndicomm is on the Net and on my screen
There with telnet text or World Wide Web .......
Syndicomm!
Steven Weyhrich <IX0YE>--<
Apple II History
http://apple2history.org
(A2HISTORY, Cat 2, Top 13, Msg 123)
>>>>>
"""""
Steve :)
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 2, Top 13. Msg 124)
>>>>>
"""""
We can expect this to be performed at KansasFest, I presume?
Lyle Syverson <lyle@FoxValley.net> Editor, _The Lamp!_
published monthly at: http://lamp.a2central.com/
(LYLE, Cat 2, Top 13, Msg 125)
>>>>>
"""""
Well, what I think would be better would be to have a competition to come
up with song parodies, and have them performed for a prize. (I'll judge,
rather than perform, right?)
Steven Weyhrich <IX0YE>--<
Apple II History
http://apple2history.org
(A2HISTORY, Cat 2, Top 13, Msg 126)
>>>>>
"""""
>> ... (I'll judge, rather than perform, right?) <<
Either way. :)
Lyle Syverson <lyle@FoxValley.net> Editor, _The Lamp!_
published monthly at: http://lamp.a2central.com/
(LYLE, Cat 2, Top 13, Msg 127)
>>>>>
"""""
>> We can expect this to be performed at KansasFest, I presume? <<
Sounds like a candidate for Karaoke Revolution to me.
KaraokeFest?
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 2, Top 13, Msg 128)
[EOA]
[NAL]
NEW IN A2 LIBRARY
"""""""""""""""""
There is a new upload in the games/strategy/prodos8 directory:
File: MazezaM.bxy
Size: 19841
Date: Feb 6
MazezaM (pronounced "may-zam") is a simple puzzle game. You enter the
mazezam on the left and you have to get to the exit on the right by pushing
rows of blocks left and right. If you get stuck you can retry the mazezam,
but this will cost you a life.
Tony Ward, A2 Librarian
(A2.TONY, Cat 2, Top 37, Msg 26)
[EOA]
[SBG]
SIS CAN BROWSE GOPHER
"""""""""""""""""""""
For more information, see http://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/
It contains a link so Web Browsers that do not support gopher (i.e. IE 6,
some versions of SIS, Mozilla, Safari, etc.) can access gopher pages. It
looks like the "Lite" proxy can give SIS the ability to browse Gopher.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 11, Top 5, Msg 5)
[EOA]
[SOI]
SECURITY ON THE INTERNET
""""""""""""""""""""""""
I just received an email, supposedly from service@paypal.com, asking me to
confirm my PayPal account information. I clicked on the link in the email
and it sent me to a site that looked very much like PayPal, except for two
items: the URL was a dotted address, not paypal.com, and was not employing
SSL; and the site hadn't asked me to log in. (for security reasons, PayPal
apparently never uses cookies to remember your login.) The fields on this
page asked for my mailing address, credit card number, mother's maiden
name, and the like.
It all looked very convincing, and I can see how someone may have been
duped. How sad and frustrating that such scams exist. Please keep an eye
out for these emails.
-Ken
(KGAGNE, Cat 11, Top 24, Msg 2)
>>>>>
"""""
I've gotten several, supposedly from eBay, Citi, and generic banks. I've
taken the trouble to forward a few to the fraud addresses on the real web
sites.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Tue 3 Feb 04 7:35:21 pm
cknoblo@cox.com - Via Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2004, July 20-25, 2004 - 168 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 24, Msg 3)
>>>>>
"""""
I've gotten several of these, none of them on my actual paypal email
address, which is how I tell it's a scam.
OTOH, I got an email recently from eBay (apparently) which I haven't looked
into which said they are changing my user ID since mine was an email
address and they don't want those as user IDs any more. Anyone hear if
this is a scam?
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 11, Top 24, Msg 4)
>>>>>
"""""
This is indeed legit; I changed mine myself about a week and a half ago,
just before they did it for me.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 11, Top 24, Msg 7)
>>>>>
"""""
See http://www2.ebay.com/aw/marketing.shtml
Quoting the relevant section:
Trust & Safety: Email Address Transition to User ID
Date: 01/16/04 Time: 03:55:31 PM PST
In an effort to enhance the safety of the eBay marketplace and reduce the
risk to members from bspoofb emails, last August we announced that all
members with an email address as a User ID must pick a non-email User ID.
This initiative has been made in conjunction with a number of other steps
to ensure the safety of our Community, including limiting the ability to
look up email addresses and discouraging the use of email addresses in Sign
In.
Over the last few months, we have been regularly messaging to active
members with email addresses as User IDs to encourage their voluntary
selection of User IDs. We are in the last phase of this initiative. All
members who still use email addresses as User IDs will be automatically
assigned a non-email User ID by January 31, 2004.
To learn more about this safety initiative, please read our Frequently
Asked Questions. Enhancing the overall safety of the Community by reducing
the risk that public email addresses pose is critical. We appreciate your
support and understanding, as we work together to keep eBay a safe place to
trade.
Regards,
eBay
You might want to see what your username is now since it is past January
31.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 11, Top 24, Msg 5)
>>>>>
"""""
I just checked my ebay UserID and sure enough, my email address no longer
works as my UserID. Now I need to figure out how to change my UserID to
something less dorky than what ebay set it to...
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 11, Top 24, Msg 6)
[EOA]
[SPM]
SPAM
""""
I'm not sure how or even if CAN-SPAM is being enforced. Today alone I had
at least 100 pieces of non-CAN-SPAM-compliant Spam show up in my various
mailboxes.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 118)
>>>>>
"""""
In the last few weeks my spam count has increased dramatically. Although
much of it is stopped from getting to me by filters on the mail servers of
my ISP, some gets all the way through to me.
I do not open the spam, so have no idea where it has come from. I would
hazard a guess that the CAN-SPAM law has just made the spammers feel more
secure, and so they are increasing their efforts to spread their rubbish...
Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Sat 31 Jan 2004 - 171 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 11, Top 26, Msg 120)
>>>>>
"""""
After not checking for 9 hours, I just had 50 spams waiting for me. I agree
that my spam has also increased.
Cindy
(CINDYADAMS, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 121)
>>>>>
"""""
My spam is way up - especially the offers for drugs and pharmaceuticals.
I disabled spam tagging on my domain (gamebits.net) since it seemed
redundant, having it all filtered through SpamCop; some legitimate emails
were getting through with "#SPAM#" in the subject.
I started using Apple's Mail.app only since Jan 1. I've been manually
tagging and de-tagging emails as junk, and figure a month is long enough to
train it. I'll turn on the program's automatic filtering tomorrow (Feb 1)
to let it handle anything that SpamCop does not.
-Ken
(KGAGNE, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 122)
>>>>>
"""""
My Spam is up, too. Time to let my congresscritter know what I think.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Sun 1 Feb 04 10:26:53 pm
cknoblo@cox.com - Via Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2004, July 20-25, 2004 - 170 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 124)
>>>>>
"""""
I've recently started using a program called SpamSieve, which integrates
with several popular email programs, and it's doing an amazing job at
catching the stuff Syndicomm's filters don't. After just a few days, it's
got a 94% accuracy rate, and I haven't seen a spam wind up in my inbox for
at least three days now.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 125)
>>>>>
"""""
I've been using it for some time now, and find that the few errors are all
false positives, meaning I need to check the junk box before dumping it.
Most days there are none, but some legitimate mail from commercial sources
does get caught now and then. It only happens once, however, and thereafter
it is sorted properly.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Tue 3 Feb 04 12:17:11 am
cknoblo@cox.com - Via Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2004, July 20-25, 2004 - 169 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 126)
>>>>>
"""""
Regarding spam:
I agree that the count seems to be quite a bit higher recently than it used
to be. I've got my Mail.app program in OS X sending anything with "spam" in
the subject directly to my Junk box (which is how Syndicomm's filter is
identifying things it believes are spam).
The weird thing is this: I had been using Mail for spam filtering for
months, and then upgraded to Panther, and did it as a clean install,
copying over settings from my old Jaguar setup. And after I did this, I
would have messages appear in my Junk box marked with the spam icon that
were NOT spam, and messages marked as NOT spam that WERE spam. So part of
the re-training has been to point out (again) what is and what is not spam.
I'm finally getting more messages in that Junk box that are correctly
identified. It would be really messy if I didn't have the Syndicomm
screening.
Steven Weyhrich <IX0YE>--<
Apple II History
http://apple2history.org
(A2HISTORY, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 129)
>>>>>
"""""
Mail's spam filter was only about 70% effective for me, and eventually
seems to hit a limit where it just doesn't want to learn anymore.
SpamSieve is now up to 95.6% accuracy after just under a week of training.
It's a marvel.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 130)
>>>>>
"""""
And it is now official that spam has increased since the CAN-SPAM act, at
least if BrightMail are to be believed! Of course they do have a vested
interest in saying so, but my experience confirms their findings.
Check out
<www.brightmail.com/pressreleases/020204_can-spam-impact.html>.
So how long before there is a CANT-SPAM act passed?
Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Thu 5 Feb 2004 - 166 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 11, Top 26, Msg 131)
>>>>>
"""""
Well, one of the reasons CAN-SPAM isn't doing anything yet is because the
agencies tasked to enforce it are still writing the necessary regulations;
CAN-SPAM authorizes agencies to regulate commercial email, but doesn't
specify the details, so until those agencies finish putting their ducks in
a row, there won't be any enforcement.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 136)
>>>>>
"""""
CAN-SPAM to me is like lots of other laws that get passed and don't get
enforced or don't get enforced well. This is not unlike what is taught in
a parenting class--if you don't enforce the rule, it's useless.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 11, Top 26, Msg 137)
[EOA]
[EAG]
EAMON ADVENTURER'S GUILD ONLINE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online has a web site at this URL:
http://www.eamonag.org/
(KGAGNE, Cat 14, Topic 1, Msg 101)
[EOA]
[1V3]
ROM 01 vs. ROM 3 Apple IIgs
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Hi! I am getting a mix of ROM 01 and ROM 03 boards (and hopefully some of
each will work!) Are there any times anyone can think of situations
(particularly with newer mass-storage devices or with LANceGS) where ROM 01
would be preferred over ROM 03? Thanks! Fun
(FFONG, Cat 17, Top 7, Msg 4)
>>>>>
"""""
There is a small number of programs that were designed on a ROM 01, and
will not work (either correctly or at all) on a ROM 03. But, as stated,
that number is small.
-Ken
(KGAGNE, Cat 17, Top 7, Msg 5)
>>>>>
"""""
There are also some expansion cards -- especially RAM cards -- that only
work in the ROM 01.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 17, Top 7, Msg 6)
>>>>>
"""""
I use a ROM 3 Exclusively and have only once ran across a limitation where
the program wouldn't work. It was on the original version of Print Shop GS
that I had.
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 17, Top 7, Msg 7)
>>>>>
"""""
At this point in time there are very few programs (at least, the latest
versions) that will run on one ROM version and not on the other. There
are, however, exceptions; not long ago in this forum Diversi-Cache was
noted as working with a ROM_01 but not a ROM_3.
Motherboards are so cheap nowadays my thought it to just get one (at least
:) of each.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 17, Top 7, Msg 8)
[EOA]
[EGS]
UPGRADING A IIe TO A IIgs
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
This is one of the answers I was looking for in the ROM 01 vs ROM 03 topic!
Another issue is finding the GS base plate these days. Is there anyone
selling the //e to GS upgrade any longer? Or is there another source for a
GS base plate that fits a //e? I have a few //es that could possibly be
upgraded.
(FFONG, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 6)
>>>>>
"""""
Whoo... I have no idea where you'd get one of those base plates. I bet
that's going to be hard to come by. :)
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 7)
>>>>>
"""""
The only thing I've ran across has been a IIE to IIgs upgrade manual still
shrinkwrapped. I'd hoped to find the rest, but no luck.
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 8)
>>>>>
"""""
>> Another issue is finding the GS base plate these days. <<
Those were originally made by Apple for the upgrade kits they sold. I doubt
if anyone else made them. I suspect the only place you will find them is on
already converted //e-gs machines.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Mon 12 Jan 04 12:16:12 am
cknoblo@cox.com - Via Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2004, July 20-25, 2004 - 191 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 17, Top 8, Msg 9)
>>>>>
"""""
Is it possible to use a dremil tool to modify the IIe plate? I know the
rom03 gs's don't have a kbd conn that is compatible with the iie but I
believe the rom 01 gs's do.
(TECHNERD, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 10)
>>>>>
"""""
That's possible. I don't know. Anyone?
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 11)
>>>>>
"""""
I have not done any work on trying to put a IIgs motherboard into a IIe
case, but what Mark says is true--the ROM_3 IIgs motherboards lack the
keyboard connector for the IIe keyboard; the ROM_01 motherboards have the
connector, although it may need to be soldered on with some of the boards.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 12)
>>>>>
"""""
I have a Enhanced IIe and I have a few spare Rom 01 GS Motherboards.
I was looking at the motherboards and It should be possible with a drill to
put in holes in the IIe base so you can use standoffs and install a generic
rom 01mb.
Then all I have to do is purchase a keyboard and a numeric keypad socket.
Then the next step would be to CAREFULLY solder the sockets into place.
Would i need a Apple IIgs power supply? or are they plug compatible?
(TECHNERD, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 13)
>>>>>
"""""
They're not plug-compatible, so you'd either need a GS power supply, or
need to do some work on a IIe one.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 14)
>>>>>
"""""
The MBs Apple made for conversion or replacement had both power connectors,
as well as the keyboard connectors installed. If you don't have one of
those MBs, you will need a GS supply or a new connector for the old //e
one.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Sat 17 Jan 04 11:21:20 pm
cknoblo@cox.com - Via Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2004, July 20-25, 2004 - 185 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 17, Top 8, Msg 15)
>>>>>
"""""
Can a IIgs PS fit in a IIe case? Or would you need some creative
metalworking?
(TECHNERD, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 16)
>>>>>
"""""
I'm pretty sure it fits. I believe it even has the proper mounting holes in
the bottom.
Carl Knoblock - Telephone Tech - Sun 18 Jan 04 11:13:21 pm
cknoblo@cox.com - Via Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b10
KFest 2004, July 20-25, 2004 - 184 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 17, Top 8, Msg 17)
>>>>>
"""""
The ROM_01 motherboards have a connector for the IIe power supply just as
they have a connector for the IIe keyboard. Whether the actual physical
connector is soldered on or not isn't known; some are, some aren't. Good
luck. :)
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 17, Top 8, Msg 18)
[EOA]
[DLW]
Don Lancaster's WRITINGS
""""""""""""""""""""""""
Back in the late 80's, I would regularly read Computer Shopper. Amongst
all the ads, there was an ongoing column called Ask The Guru written by Don
Lancaster. In a magazine that was targeted to sell PCs and parts, it was
refreshing to see an article which usually had an Apple II tidbit or two.
I found that Don's website has reprints of many of his articles. Links to
Ask The Guru Volumes in PDF format can be found at:
http://www.tinaja.com/glair01.asp#comshop
He would often venture into areas of Apple II computing that was not
available in any other Apple II publication.
If you explore the website, you will even find links to Apple II books that
he has written that can still be purchased.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 20, Top 15, Msg 10)
>>>>>
"""""
Thanks for the URL -- but where did you find books you can buy? I've been
poking around for a while, and the site is very confusing. :)
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 20, Top 15, Msg 11)
>>>>>
"""""
The site crams a lot of information in a little bit of space--I relied on
the color coding to determine how to best find information throughout the
site.
The direct link to Don Lancaster's books is:
http://www.tinaja.com/books/bkdons.asp
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 20, Top 15, Msg 12)
>>>>>
"""""
I see. The links appear to just be Amazon.com links by ISBN, under the
hope that they have used copies for sale. They don't seem to for a number
of them.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 20, Top 15, Msg 13)
>>>>>
"""""
Most of the books that I checked provided a quantity available (numbers
ranged in the single digits). And since some of the book links goto an
email address instead of Amazon, odds are that Amazon would be able to
fulfill an order.
I've had good luck getting out-of-print material from online retailers. It
took a couple of months for the order to be fulfilled, but the item arrived
at the advertised cost.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 20, Top 15, Msg 14)
>>>>>
"""""
Don Lancaster also had a PostScript forum (or, I guess, in those days,
RoundTable :) on Genie.
Ryan
(A2.RYAN, Cat 20, Top 15, Msg 15)
[EOA]
[RNJ]
DON'T FORGET TO RENEW Juiced.GS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Literally 50% of our subscribers have yet to renew for 2004. C'mon, guys,
you're making life hard on me. :)
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 508)
[EOA]
[ABJ]
AMAZED BY Juiced.GS
"""""""""""""""""""
Juiced.gs consistently amazes me. Before I subscribed, I figured I knew
everything that was going on in the A2 world between csa2 and delphi.
I didn't know how much I didn't know. News, rumors, interviews, obscure
hardware and more, it's wonderful.
Kelvin
(KWS, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 509)
[EOA]
[KOS]
THE KEGS EMULATOR ON Solaris X86
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I just tried running KEGS.0.85 on Solaris X86 and the F4 config screen is
accessible when System 6.0.1 starts up (i.e. when the Finder is running).
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 14)
[EOA]
[KFB]
THE KEGS EMULATOR ON FreeBSD
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Anyone have a URL for a src tarball for KEGS? Or failing that, a Linux
binary (not a .rpm). I want to see if I can build it on FreeBSD 4.9 and/or
5.2. I have successfully compiled XGS on FreeBSD, but it segfaults right
after startup and I just can't force myself to spend any more time on it.
Tim
(KELLERS, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 15)
>>>>>
"""""
Tim,
There is a KEGS listing on sourceforge.net at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/kegs/
Good Luck,
Dain
(A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 16)
>>>>>
"""""
If you look at kegs.sourceforge.net, you will find the recent release
contains, Windows and Mac binaries as well as the source in a single gzip
archive. The direct link is:
http://kegs.sourceforge.net/kegs.0.85.tar.gz
Make sure you follow the instructions for compiling so you can build KEGS
correctly for your platform.
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 17)
[EOA]
[TFT]
Apple II Technical Notes and Apple II File Type Notes
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Syndicomm is going to publish its next update to the Apple II Technical
Notes and Apple II File Type Notes in March. If you're aware of errors in
the existing notes, or have suggestions for new Notes that would be of
value, please let me know.
In addition, if there are file types that you know of that are not covered
in the File Type Notes, or if you have a file type that you feel needs to
have a File Type Note, please let me know so we can work on getting one put
together.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 59, Top 3, Msg 23)
>>>>>
"""""
I haven't downloaded the zip file with the new Tech Notes so this may be a
moot point. Is there a document that describes what has changed from the
last revision? Should I also assume the last revision of the Notes (as a
whole) was 1992?
Was the source of the PDF's from Apple's Word version or the ported text
version?
Also, are the PDF's available separately or only in the zip archive?
Geoff
(GEOFF, Cat 59, Top 3, Msg 24)
>>>>>
"""""
The PDFs are not at present available separately; they will be for the
March revision I plan to upload.
Note #0 as usual includes indications of which notes have been revised or
are new. Because of how long it's been since the last reposting of the
Notes, some of the ones that are "new" or "updated" were actually touched
years ago.
:)
The newest changes are actually from as recently as 2001, and there are
already some Notes that have been updated for the March 2004 revision, with
more changes planned (which is part of why I'm asking for input, because
I'd like to do a major update round, since it's been over 10 years since
they got a good thorough overhaul).
The PDFs were generated from Apple's Word files; I converted them all to
Word v.X format then used Acrobat to generate PDFs.
Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com
Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com
Building communities, bit by bit.
(SYNDICOMM, Cat 59, Top 3, Msg 25)
[EOA]
[ITL]------------------------
ILLUMINATING THE LAMP |
-----------------------------
An overview of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Steven Weyhrich
EVERYBODY PLAYS THE FOOL
One of the little blunders that I tend to do at least once a week
involves not keeping track of which exam room I am to go into next. It
happens like this: I pick up the patient chart from the door, and then step
over to my pull-down desk to review what is in there. Why is the patient
here for this visit, what is the blood pressure today, what lab was done
last time and is any lab to be done on this visit, and so on. I also make
sure that the papers I need in the chart are in the right order, so I can
find them at the right time. Sometimes while I am doing this quick review
before I actually see the patient, I might be interrupted by a
pharmaceutical company representative who wants me to sign for samples, or
to tell me of some great new breakthrough. Or it might be a notice that
there is a phone call from the hospital that I have to take. Or possibly it
might be that precariously balanced stack of charts that have phone
messages that need to be done about an hour ago. In any case, after my
review and after whatever other interruption had come my way, I pick the
chart up and head to the exam room. Which room? Why, that one over there
with no chart on the door, of course. Except... Mr. Green with the
hypertension is looking rather different today; he is only 6 years old, and
is banging his sister on the head with a book. Ooops, sorry; you'll be
right after the patient I am seeing now. I leave the room and head to the
CORRECT room, vowing to pay better attention next time to the room NUMBER
written on the front. And, of course my nurse is laughing at me, because I
did it AGAIN. Makes me feel kind of foolish.
Well, as we examine this last year of the century (depending on your
definition of when the century truly ends), many people were caught up in
the media-led hysteria of all the terrible things that were going to happen
at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000. All of these old computers
that RUN EVERYTHING were going to have the digital equivalent of a memory
lapse as their primitive two-digit year counter swung around from 99 to 00,
and suddenly were cast into the start of the 20th century. Banks would have
locked vaults, planes would loose control and fall from the sky, cars would
fail to start, and equipment from here to China would malfunction as they
tried to figure out what to do with 1900 instead of 2000. And the worst
part of it all was that there simply was NOT ENOUGH TIME to get out there
and fix this problem before disaster struck. It would be a cascade effect
of computer failures that would risk civilization-as-we-know-it.
To prevent (or at least prepare for) this disaster, corporations spent
BILLIONS of dollars upgrading equipment, or testing it to make sure it was
Y2K-proof. At the hospital where I work, many types of equipment were
tested and certified as Y2K-ready -- even the DIGITAL THERMOMETERS used to
take patient's temperatures!! ("Oh, look Betty! This patient's temperature
is 124 degrees! It must be the one they missed that HAS the Y2K bug! Run
and hide! We're all going to die!!")
However, we that were in the Apple side of the computer world could
afford to be smug about the whole problem, since OUR favorite computer was
impervious to the Y2K bug. Unlike our Intel-based rivals, OUR internal
clocks did not keep track of time based on MM/DD/YY, but rather on seconds
elapsed since the early part of the twentieth century, and so didn't really
CARE about the transition from 12/31/99 23:59 to 1/1/00 00:00.
Nevertheless, in the midst of this smugness, there were some cracks
beginning to appear in the walls of the new Apple II home at Delphi, and
the universe got a little bit smaller. Let us now move the story into this
landmark year of 1999.
FOOL ON THE HILL
During 1999, Turkey was shaken by an earthquake of 7.4 magnitude,
which killed over 15,000 people. War broke out in Kosovo, Yugoslavia, as
president Slobodan Milosevic began the massacre and deportation of
Albanians, which resulted in a NATO military response. Two (disgruntled)
students invaded Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, and initiated a
killing spree that claimed the life of twelve students and one teacher, and
ultimately themselves. George Lucas released the long-awaited movie, "Star
Wars Episode I--The Phantom Menace". Although the U.S. House of
Representatives had impeached President Clinton of perjury and obstruction
of justice, the Senate voted to acquit him. George W. Bush, governor of
Texas, announced his candidacy as a Republican for the 2000 presidential
election. And computers became a focus of daily news reports, as the media
stirred up fears of a digital Armageddon due to the Y2K bug.
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) introduced
the 802.11b protocol for wireless data transmission. Intel released the 500
MHz Pentium III. Microsoft released Windows CE 3.0 (sometimes abbreviated
as "WinCE", possibly referring to the difficulties in using it) for
handheld PocketPC computers. Color versions of these handheld computers
begin to appear. Prodigy, one of the early text-based online services,
discontinued that text service in January due to Y2K-based
incompatibilities, with the company planning to focus on its Internet
service. And the wild ride of the Internet explosion itself continued, with
Disney getting in on the action with the creation of the Go Network. The
computer viruses Melissa and Chernobyl caused more problems than Y2K
ultimately did, causing several large corporations to shut down their mail
servers to defend against its effects.
Apple Computer released its next iteration of the wildly popular iMac.
Available in five translucent colors, the iMac 266 was similarly
successful. Later in the year it was replaced by the faster iMac 333. The
PowerMac G3 came out in a blue and white case that was the easiest Apple to
open up and get into since the original Apple II. It started at 300 MHz and
was bumped to 450 MHz mid-year. Slimmer and lighter than its predecessors
by two pounds, the PowerBook G3, code-named Lombard, was released. In
August, the new PowerMac G4 was announced, featuring a math accelerator
called the Velocity Engine. Because it could do over one billion floating
point operations per second (a gigaflop), it was classified as a
supercomputer. And in September, Apple's consumer laptop computer, the
iBook, was released. It was the first commercial product to promote the
IEEE 802.11b wireless networking protocol, which Apple marketed under the
name "AirPort".
THE LAMP! INFO
Editor Suenaga started what became an annual event for several years.
The 1998 Apple II Achievement Awards appeared in the January issue, and
awarded the Best Commercial Product to GSoft BASIC; Best Shareware Product
to Shifty List; Best Freeware Product(s) to Wolfenstein 3D and GShisen;
Best World Wide Web Site to Tony Diaz's Apple II Information Resource, with
A2-Web coming in as a close second; Best Publication to Juiced.GS, with
honorable mentions to Shareware Solutions II and The Lamp!; Outstanding
Apple II Related Development to Marinetti 2.0, with honorable mention to
the Bernie ][ The Rescue and Sweet16 IIGS emulators; and Outstanding
Individual Achievement to Ewen Wannop for his work on Spectrum, Crock O'
Gold, BabelFish 1.0, Disk Access II, the TABBS CDROM, and for help in
testing Nifty Spell.
In February he gave his assessment of the "State Of The II, 1999",
declaring that the presence of quality emulators like Bernie ][ The Rescue
and Sweet16 were making it possible for the Apple II to have yet another
chance to make a comeback. Whether or not it would do so was up to those
who used it.
In the September editorial, Suenaga announced that due to work
schedule changes, he was finding it necessary to stop doing The Lamp! as of
the December issue. He had missed his personal deadline of a mid-month
release one time too many, and he felt that he had to let go of SOMETHING
in his life to regain control of things. In October, he announced that the
new editor would be Lyle Syverson, who had an article appearing in that
issue.
One thing that I had forgotten to mention when I was going through
1998 was a small change in the masthead for The Lamp! Whereas it had
originally listed Suenaga's Internet mail address as "thelamp@delphi.com",
by the December 1998 issue it had changed to "thelamp@sheppyware.net", and
remained that way through 1999:
________________________________________________________________________
| |
|::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|The Lamp! An Onipa'a Software Production Vol. 1, No. 12|
|::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|Publisher & Editor.......................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W.|
|Internet Email....................................thelamp@sheppyware.net|
|::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|________________________________________________________________________|
In his final editorial, Suenaga discussed the balance needed in life,
and how his change of work had put things OUT of balance for him, thus the
need to remove something (being editor of a monthly publication) to restore
that balance. He also vowed to stay very involved with articles for The
Lamp! and Juiced.GS, as well as a "few other projects which you all might
be interested in (and unfortunately I can't really talk about right now)."
He also thanked those in the Apple II community who had been his supporters
and helpers, and turned things over to his new editor, Lyle Syverson.
FORUM NEWS
During the entire year, Delphi was working on mirroring their
text-based content to be accessible from a standard web browser. By the end
of the year, their focus was almost exclusively on the Web part of their
service.
In the A2 Forum, the issue was raised again about the files from the
Genie A2 library archive, and when would they be available in the Delphi A2
library. The same answer was given as before, that there were copyright and
permission issues to overcome in some cases, but for the vast majority, it
was simply a matter of the volume and the time needed to upload them all.
Tony Ward was the A2 Database Manager on Delphi and was working on it as he
was able. Gary Utter mentioned the possibility of the creation of a CD-ROM
of software from the Genie A2 library that could legally be reproduced.
In his role as librarian, Ward posted some detailed information in the
March issue as to the rules for uploading files to the Delphi A2 library.
These were primarily rules on naming the files, and creating ShrinkIt and
Binary II archives.
Also in the March issue was the announcement from February that the
Apple II User Forum on CompuServe (APPUSER), the one that was still
accessible with a standard Apple II, had finally been closed down. Joe Kohn
was the one who first discovered this, and in the Apple II area that had
been created within the Mac Forum it was also Joe who managed to post the
very first welcoming message. The content of that message was, of course,
"Apple II Forever!"
Interestingly, the text-based forums on CompuServe had been run for
years on old _36-bit_ mainframe computers, and the corporation had been in
the process of changing to newer 32-bit computers to support their online
service. Unfortunately, keeping ASCII access available was a cost that
CompuServe had decided not to spend, and so those text-based forums
disappeared.
As before, when America Online discontinued access for Apple II users,
it was suggested that they be encouraged to come over to Delphi A2, where
the major part of the Apple II online community had moved.
Daylight-savings time weekend in April saw a nuisance bug hit the
Forum as a result of Delphi installing an upgrade to synchronize the text
and web message posting. This bug caused a large number of messages to be
duplicated in the A2 Forum (as well as most other Forums hosted by Delphi).
This played havoc not only with those doing automated offline message
processing, but also for editor Suenaga in his efforts to collect messages
to include in the May issue.
In March, Mike Westerfield began an online course "Learn To Program In
GSoft BASIC". It was divided into fourteen lessons, based on his tutorial
book of the same name, and followed the Advanced Placement Computer Science
curriculum.
Shareware Solutions II's multi-system chat became a mono-system chat
in April when Genie became inaccessible (and CompuServe had already
disappeared). After the Genie A2 Roundtable chat area was again functional,
the multi-system chats resumed.
Late in the year, Delphi became less friendly for the Apple II users
accessing it via direct dial-up. Delphi announced that it was no longer
going to have its own dial-up numbers via SprintNet as it had traditionally
done. Instead, to get to the text side of Delphi, it was now necessary to
log on using telnet. In essence, Delphi took one more step away from the
traditional online service, and one step closer to being an Internet-only
content provider. In the November issue, Suenaga, Howard Katz, and Lyle
Syverson wrote an article detailing how to get to Delphi via text.
GENIE INFO
Some people on Delphi were still asking for information about how to
sign up for Genie; the costs and advantages (primarily the huge file
library) were mentioned in brief in February. However, Apple II users on
Genie began to experience "blackouts" during 1999. The May editorial
mentioned that as of late April and for the three weeks following, the A2
Roundtable on Genie had been completely inaccessible both to staff and
non-staff members. Repair efforts were apparently not being made very
quickly to resolve this problem, further clarifying that the focus of the
company that was operating Genie did NOT have service of their current
customers in mind. Dean Esmay commented that a major part of the problem
was that there were no longer any programmers or staff engineers working at
Genie who knew anything about the GEIS (General Electric Information
Systems) network. The result was that if something stopped working, it was
not possible to fix it. He pointed out that it had not even been possible
to sign up for a new Genie account for the prior TWO YEARS, due to a Y2K
bug that would not allow the system to accept credit card expiration dates
past 1999.
By early summer, the A2 Roundtable on Genie was again functioning, but
its access was not reliable. By the latter part of the year, some A2
refugees were hanging out in the Mac Roundtable, since THAT was still
working.
The number of people using the Genie service as a whole (A2 and all of
the other forums) had been steadily dropping in the years since the sale to
Youvelle/IDT, and the quality of customer service provided by Genie's
management was questionable. They had the habit of announcing lofty plans
that never came to pass, and also of making sudden changes with very little
prior warning. Near the start of December an announcement was made that not
all Genie subscribers noticed: As of December 27, 1999, the text-based
service that Genie had used from the beginning would be discontinued, and
Genie content (what remained) would be available only from a web browser.
Since Genie contracted with individuals to host and manage the Roundtables,
there was also disagreement as to the ownership of the messages and content
posted therein. Some sysops disagreed with the transition to the Web
without Genie management even asking permission to mirror their messages.
The disagreement escalated in some cases to the point that some sysops took
pains to delete as much as possible from their Roundtable, before it was
taken beyond their control.
According to newsgroup messages (found on http://groups.google.com, in
the alt.online-service.genie topic), some members of the SFRT (Science
Fiction Roundtable) were planning on a wake to be held on that
discontinuation date, 12/27/99. They were then likely to migrate to one or
more independent web sites to continue their community.
On that same newsgroup, Nic Grabien, the Managing Sysop for the Genie
SFRT, posted an official "time of death": 12/30/99 14:15 PST. His message
stated that the system still answered the dial-up, but it did not respond
with any content. (Sort of like someone whose body is maintaining a beating
heart, but who has no brainwave activity, and is declared to be clinically
dead). At this point, any remaining contact with Genie was purportedly to
be via the Web only, at www.genie.com.
HARDWARE NEWS
In the January issue, Tony Diaz gave a detailed description of the
history of Apple IIe motherboard revisions, including ways to identify a
specific board. Later in the year, he and Jeff Blakeney discussed the
RamFAST card, focusing on its use with the larger-sized hard disks that
were affordable in the late 1990's, as well as issues associated with using
more than one RamFAST card at one time.
Tony and solder slinger Harold Hislop also gave a short tutorial about
power supply replacements for an Apple IIGS, and how to pick what type to
use. It was pointed out that "underloading" the power supply (having a
stronger supply than was needed by the computer) could be just as much of a
problem as OVERloading it.
The Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 500 series had been a favorite of Apple II
users for several years. In 1999, HP was releasing some new models to
replace these, and Joe Kohn discussed which ones would NOT work on the
Apple II, and how to identify those that would.
A nugget of information from the past was posted by Chuck Stiles about
the ImageWriter II printer, regarding the special button-presses necessary
to set print darkness and run a self-test on the ImageWriter II. Honeybee,
Gary Utter and others, gave further information in April.
Stiles also posted news about placing an order for 65816 processor
chips (for the Apple IIGS) built to run at 14 MHz, at a price of only $6.18
each. However, this price was only good for orders of at least $100 sent to
a single address, and so he was looking for others who also were interested
in placing such an order.
The lifespan of the Apple IIGS clock was brought up as a topic of
discussion in August. This clock is based on a 32-bit integer that counts
seconds from January 1, 1904 to the present. As a result, this number will
overflow on February 6, 2040 after 6:28 am. At that time, the IIGS will
have its own "Y2.04K" problem, and the clock will reset to 1/1/04, 12:00
am. And that bridge will have to be crossed when it comes...
Sequential Systems was planning on making one final run of RamFAST
cards, after they had received at least 200 pre-orders. This was likely to
happen, as Habanero in his announcement about it said that he had placed
order #199.
EMULATOR NEWS
Bernie ][ The Rescue 2.0 was announced in the January issue, and it
had been updated to v2.5 by September. That revision introduced Bernie
Total Integration, which simplified file transfer between the emulated
Apple II and the Mac on which it was running. This was accomplished by
fully implementing "drag and drop" and through the vehicle of targeted
folders on the Mac and on the emulated IIGS. A modification to this release
was soon needed, after it was found that some Delphi messages were
triggering an Easter egg in the program that caused the program to "bark"
when certain text strings were received through the serial port. Bernie was
also quickly updated to 2.5.1 because of an error that prevented the launch
of ProDOS 8 programs from the Finder.
February saw the introduction of a beta version of Sweet16, a
translation of Bernie designed to run under the BeOS on Intel-based
computers. In May, Eric Shepherd had taken over the project from F.E.
Systems (although they still maintained ownership). By early July, it was
ready for release. One advantage Sweet16 (informally known as "Ernie")
offered over Bernie ][ The Rescue was the ability to make use of multiple
processors if present on the computer running it. A new web site was set
up, www.emulate.gs (using the ".gs" country code designated for the South
Sandwich Isles). Bug fixes and enhancements resulted in Sweet16 updates to
v1.1 by September, and v1.2 the next month.
Some discussion ensued about whether or not to allow an emulated Apple
IIGS to exceed the hardware features of a true Apple IIGS. The advantages
of evolving it centered around adding "hardware" features that would never
appear in a real IIGS (since they were no longer being manufactured),
versus leaving the hardware alone, since all of the existing software
depended (to some extent) on a predictable hardware architecture.
Benchmarking the various real and emulated Apple IIGS computers was
also a topic of discussion. Mike Westerfield of The Byte Works used as his
benchmark the time needed to do a full compile of GSoft BASIC. He used his
PowerMac G3 running at 300 MHz to compare Gus (the emulator started at
Apple and then abandoned), Bernie ][ The Rescue, and a true Apple IIGS
running at 9 MHz. The results:
PowerMac G3/300, Gus........ 66 seconds
PowerMac G3/300, Bernie..... 72 seconds
Apple IIGS, 9 MHz ......... 753 seconds
Sheppy chimed in with his own benchmark, which he called the WolfyMark
(the time required to compile Wolfenstein 3D in ORCA/C):
Apple IIGS, 9 MHz .................................... 6300 seconds
PowerMac 8100, Bernie ................................ 2700 seconds
PowerMac G3/266, Bernie ............................... 105 seconds
PowerMac G3/266, Gus ................................... 92 seconds
PowerMac 8500 dual 180 MHz, Sweet16 (BeOS) ............. 82 seconds
PowerMac 8500 dual 180 MHz, Bernie (SheepShaver MacOS).. 72 seconds
SOFTWARE NEWS
:: PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE ::
The Byte Works released FREE.GSOFT, a free scaled-down version of
GSoft BASIC. GSoft BASIC itself was updated to version 1.2.
Patches were posted in January to make I.CALENDAR, the AppleWorks 5
calendar add-on, work for the year 1999. In October, patches were posted to
make it work for the year 2000.
Juiced.GS announced the release of Animasia 3D as a shareware product,
although not including the manuals that had been part of it when it was a
commercial product.
Self-proclaimed Applesoft-aholic Gerry Wright offered a method of
transferring The New Print Shop from 5.25-inch disks to 3.5-inch disks.
Howard Katz and The Lost Classics Project received permission to
release Q Labs software as freeware. He also was able to get Deja II (the
AppleWorks 5.1 emulator for the Macintosh) and Kitchen Sink Software titles
released.
:: TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE ::
Sheppy wrote gsAIM, an America Online-compatible instant messaging
(AIM) client, based on Marinetti technology. The beta version was released
as a Delphi-only product (since it was a just a beta). In February, the
official 1.0 version was released. Unfortunately, gsAIM had a short life,
after AOL added code to lock out other instant messaging clients
(specifically MSN Messenger). He also wrote an NDA called ShepPing, to
allow a user to "ping" a network web site or address. It was not completed,
however, due to some difficulties with the available version of Marinetti.
Don Zahniser's offline Delphi message manager for ANSITerm, OLRight,
was updated to v4.0. Ewen Wannop's Spectrum-based offline manager, Crock O'
Gold, was near to a 3.0 release in February, and when it did become
available was well received. A bug release bumped the version to 3.1 by
mid-year, and v3.2 appeared in September.
Geoff Weiss released GWFTP, an FTP client for the Apple IIGS. SIS
(Spectrum Internet Suite, the Apple IIGS web browser) was updated to 1.1 in
April.
Jeff Blakeney and others debated the merits of BinSCII vs BinHex for
file compression and transmission.
:: UTILITY SOFTWARE ::
In February, a long discussion was reprinted that outlined differences
and advantages between two competing IIGS printer drivers, Independence and
Harmonie.
Chuck Newby of Charlie's Appleseeds had for many years been the
official sales source of Glen Bredon's ProSel and ProSel-16 Apple II
utilities. On March 6, 1999, he announced that Bredon had changed both
products to public domain status. Consequently, the full versions of these
programs were made available in the Delphi A2 library. Charlie's Appleseeds
planned to continue to provide copies on a floppy disk for a nominal cost,
to cover disk costs and shipping. Bredon stated in his e-mail to Newby that
he was NOT planning on supplying the source code, primarily because his
IIGS hard drive had been getting "touchy" in its latter days and it would
be hard to put it all together. Additionally, he was concentrating on
digital photography with his new PowerMac G3, and offered a web site
address to go and see his pictures. (Interestingly, even though Bredon has
since passed away, this photography web site is still up -- you can view it
at http://www.sierratel.com/bredon). Later in the year, Tony Diaz released
a patched set of ProSel files, intended to address some Y2K issues.
Ewen Wannop announced the availability of the !HELP! NDA from his web
site. Previously it had been available only on disks with the software he
had written.
:: GAMES ::
NinjaForce announced another delay in the release of KABOOM!, an Apple
IIGS game they had been working on since at least 1997.
Silvern Castle by Jeff Fink was released at KansasFest 1999. The game,
written in Applesoft BASIC, had originally been sold in 1988 to Softdisk
but was never published. Fink, who still retained rights to the program,
improved upon the original game and finally made it available to the world.
Written in the style of the older Apple II game "Wizardry", the game
involved creating characters and going into a maze to fight monsters. The
ultimate goal was to recover the lost Crystal Orb of the Wizard Drachma. It
was sold as a $15 shareware game. By the end of the year, he had updated
the game to v2.1.
HACKING
In the February issue, Scott Alfter posted info about how to patch
ProDOS for the year 1999 and beyond, giving a detailed explanation on how
to do it for future years in which the clock code would need to be changed.
The ProDOS filing system had its own date related bug, related to the
original Thunderclock driver on which it was based. Instead of having a
limit of two digits for the year, as was the problem with the Y2K bug,
ProDOS had NO place to keep the year for a file. Instead, a date for file
stamping was determined from a look-up table that was good for only about
seven years before it had to be patched. Based on the patch for ProDOS
2.0.3 that Alfter posted, the next time that it would be necessary to patch
ProDOS would be after February 28, 2004. (Hmmm, that's not too far from
now...)
Much discussion took place in the April issue about how to create an
Applesoft window in the Finder desktop on the Apple IIGS, similar to the
MS-DOS window in Windows. Possible uses for this included being able to use
Applesoft as a scripting language. Some also wanted to hack the ProDOS FST
in order to modify it to be compatible with larger disk volumes. On further
discussion, it was suggested that to have a utility to repair the HFS FST
(when a volume went bad) would be more useful (and manageable).
INTERNET NEWS
The Apple II Web Ring expanded further in 1999, with the addition of
George Wilde's web site (author of UtilityWorks and UtilityLaunch); HAAUG
(a user group); Russel Nielson's software web site; and the Apple II Gaming
Resource.
"Ask Jeeves" was first mentioned in April as a new search engine
allowing queries to be made in full sentences. (This is still available at
http://www.ask.com).
NETWORKING
More messages appeared on how to connect an Apple IIGS into a
Macintosh AppleTalk network, with the additional benefit of bridging it to
that Mac's Ethernet connection. It was recommended to obtain (relatively)
inexpensive Macintosh SE/30 or similar computers on the used market,
install an Ethernet card, and then use these to hook up the IIGS into the
Mac network. Mike Westerfield presented some of the most detailed
information in the April issue.
PUBLICATIONS
Juiced.GS continued publication throughout 1999. The start of the year
saw a listing of the contents of the final issue for 1998, and each
subsequent issue's contents were posted when it was ready to ship.
Shareware Solutions II mailed out Vol 4, Issue 3.
The AppleWorks Gazette received its first mention in over a year.
Co-editor Howard Katz posted an explanation for the absence of the
publication. The person who was working with him on the project, Chris
Serreau, had disappeared (literally) in 1997. In the two years since, Katz
had not been successful in any fashion in making contact with him, plus job
changes made it difficult to try to continue the publication on his own. To
this very day, the fate of Chris Serreau is unknown to Katz or anyone else
with whom he has spoken.
COMPANIES
Sheppy announced that the computer SheppyWare was using as an Internet
server had been upgraded to have 120 MB of RAM, and an additional 500 MB of
disk storage, which he felt would provide room for future expansion. As
mentioned above, he released gsAIM, ShepPing, as well as IdleTime. Updates
were posted to these products: Shifty List v2.0.2 and v2.0.3, WebWorks GS
1.2.1, and ImageMaker 1.0.
An unfortunate turn of events was announced in the October issue, when
Sheppy stated that he was putting his Apple II software development on
hold, due to hassles from a few complainers that dampened his enthusiasm.
Joe Kohn and Shareware Solutions II came to an agreement with Vitesse
and Bill Heineman to allow him to become the new publisher of Harmonie. He
also got permission from Steve Disbrow to sell EGO Systems' unsold
inventory, specifically Balloon, Cool Cursors Volume 1, IPC Spy Modules
Volume 1, AppleWorks GS WP translator for GraphicWriter III, and the RTF
Translator for GraphicWriter III. Kohn also reminisced on May 21st that it
had been 12 years ago to that day (May 21, 1987) when Applesig on The
Source (which he had set up for them) went online.
Seven Hills Software made a change in web server to MyESource.com, but
then began to fade from the Apple II world. They announced a sale on IIGS
software later in the year.
NinjaForce announced a new web site in late 1999,
http://www.ninjaforce.com (which is still working today).
KANSASFEST
The 11th KansasFest was held in 1999. The mailing list was re-opened
in January, and in February, registration was opened. InTrec Software, Inc
sponsored the event.
At the event, Max Jones gave the keynote speech, and the guest of
honor at the roast was Ewen Wannop.
Ryan wrote "The KFest FAQ" to answer those, well, frequently asked
questions. Doug Cuff's "Accidental Tourist at KansasFest" was updated for
1999.
Pat Kern was again offering pictures of past KFest's on a CD, covering
1994 through 1998. After KFest 1999, she added the pictures for that event
onto the CD.
HackFest this year included fourth place awarded to Jeff Blakeney (a
GSoft BASIC program), third place to Richard Bennett (an iMac mouse
emulator for the IIGS), second place to Shawn Beattie (for a Y2KFest
countdown program), and first place to Ken Gagne for a Spectrum database
program. Also, Cindy Adams was awarded fifth place for writing a Spectrum
script "because she could".
Sessions included one on GSoft BASIC; how to use Print Shop GS and
Print Shop Companion; Tony Diaz' new CD-ROM collection, A2-ROMulan; a
demonstration of QuickTime 4 from Craig Foos of Apple Computer; and Sheppy
did a presentation on BeOS.
New products included Keepsakes of KFest CD (by Pat Kern), The
Compleat Lamp CD, the Friends For Life CD (by Max Jones), SpeedReadPlus (by
Terry Morris, demonstrated by Max Jones), the Bernie ][ The Rescue Starter
Kit (by Ewen Wannop), the Marinetti MacIP Link Layer module (by Richard
Bennett), and Silvern Castle 1.0 (by Jeff Fink).
The planning for KansasFest for 2000 was so ready that the
registration form was placed in the December 1999 issue (perhaps they were
worried that there wouldn't be anywhere to post it for a while after
January 1, 2000?) The event was nicknamed "Y][KFest", in honor of the
famous Y2K bug that did NOT affect the Apple II or IIGS.
REVIEWS
Ryan Suenaga reviewed these Apple II products:
o BabelFish 1.0
o FontPimp 1.0
o Castlewood Systems Orb Drive
WRITERS
Suenaga was pleased to add content written by Tee Cashmore in the
April, June, July, and November. He contributed articles on computing
devices to assist the disabled, use of the PC Transporter, accounting
software for the Apple II, and the results of a survey that she had posted
on Delphi about Apple II users on Delphi, and how they connected to the
Net.
Though not strictly an article, it could have been submitted as one of
the old "Humor Online" articles from GenieLamp. Habanero had posted a story
that was reproduced in the April issue, all about Bill Gates and Paul Allen
and their programming practices from back in 1974. (His two previous
stories appeared in the 1998 series of Lamp newsletters; check out the Lamp
Index if you are interested in finding these.)
Finally, editor-to-be Lyle Syverson submitted his first article in the
October issue about the use of HP DeskJet printers and the Apple II.
MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
Sheppy announced that he had written some new technotes for the Apple
II, specifically documentation of new IPC request codes, and how to
identify whether or not a program was running on an emulator (and if so,
which one).
Suenaga wrote an article about scripting with Marinetti in the July
issue. In December he wrote "Y][K", briefly extolling the positive aspects
of using a 20-year-old computer platform, and all it could do, despite the
angst the rest of the computer world was experiencing in its anticipation
of the unknown passage past 12/31/99.
STATS
Here are statistics for the first eight years of GEnieLamp and The
Lamp! 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
1998 68K 156K 102K
1999 59K 120K 91K
WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN
Did the world come to a screeching halt when that big ball dropped in
Times Square on December 31st? Did a new dark age come across the planet?
Did the humans, now shrouded in darkness with the loss of their electrical
power, automobiles, and airplanes, fight each other for the rotting remains
of groceries in vandalized Wal-Mart stores? Well, you'll have to wait until
next time to get that answer. In the mean time, you might want to set the
clocks in your non-Apple computers back a ways to avoid disaster...
Steven Weyhrich
a2history@syndicomm.com
http://apple2history.org
References:
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: 1999
http://infoplease.lycos.com/year/1999.html
LowEndMac.com
http://www.lowendmac.com/history/1999dk.shtml
Timeline of the 90s, 1999
http://www.inthe90s.com/generated/time1999.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]
[SNA]
SyndiChat v1.2 is Now Available
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
SyndiChat v1.2 is now available. SyndiChat is a freeware chat client
designed for use with Syndicomm's real time conferences and works under
Windows 95/98/98SE/ME/NT/2000/XP. New features in this update are:
- Auto-login.
- Status bar showing connect status, user ID, connect time, scrollback
buffer size and line length.
- Virtually unlimited scrollback buffer. (Previous versions had a 30,000
character limit)
- Saves window size and position between sessions.
Available from http://www.syndicomm.com/~mark/SyndiChat/
Mark Percival - Apprentice
Delivered by Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b11
The Apple ][ Fanatic and Wednesday Night RTC Host
"Midweek Madness!" from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Pacific Time
(MARK, HelpDesk BB, Cat 3, Top 4, Msg 17)
[EOA]
[LTE]-------------------------------
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
------------------------------------
Enjoying the Monthly Column, "Illuminating The Lamp"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 08:22:40 -0500
From: Mark Percival
To: Lyle Syverson
Subject: Letter To The Editor
I just want to let you know how much I have been enjoying Steven Weyhrich's
recent monthly column, "Illuminating The Lamp". His "Der Fuehrer's Face -
Wolfenstein 3D" was particularly enjoyable with lot of interesting tidbits
and rarely told information. Steve has a talent for taking what could be a
dull subject and turning it into a great story. I eagerly anticipate his
next installment!
Thank you Lyle for your efforts in editing this great Apple II publication.
It is one of a kind.
Mark Percival
(Via email)
[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 2004 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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