[HEA] _____________________ ___ _ |___ ______________| | | | | | | _ | | | | | || | | | | | | || | | | | | | || | | | ____ _ _ _ _ ______ | | | || | | | / __ \ | | / \_/ \ | ___ \ | | | || |__ ____ | | / / \ | | /\ /\ \ | | \ \ | | | || _ \ | _ \ | | \ \__/ | | | |_|| | | |__/ / | | | || | | || |_|| | | \___/|_| |_| |_| | ____/ |_| | || | | || |__ | |____________________ | | _ |__||_| |_|\____/ |________________________| | | |_| | | Lighting Your Apple II Path On Delphi | | |_| >>> WELCOME TO THE LAMP! <<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIZZLING SHAREWARE: FontPimp 1.0 AND THE BEST OF THE A2 AND A2PRO MESSAGE BOARDS "Teaching the Apple II user how to fish since 1998" :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Lamp! An Onipa'a Software Production Vol. 2, No. 2 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Publisher & Editor.......................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. Internet Email....................................thelamp@sheppyware.net :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ February 15, 1999 OPENING PITCH State Of The II, 1999 ------------------------------------------ [OPN] A FUNNY THING HAPPENED [FOR] The Heat Is On ------------------------------------------------- [HET] Miscellanea [MSC] Rumor Mill ----------------------------------------------------- [RMR] Public Postings [PUB] Best Of The Best ----------------------------------------------- [BOB] A2Pro_DUCTIVITY Checking out A2PRO on Delphi ----------------------------------- [A2P] SIZZLING SHAREWARE FontPimp 1.0 --------------------------------------------------- [SIZ] 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]. :: DISCUSSED ON DELPHI :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : : : We just act as mentors toward each other until : : there's just one person standing. : : : :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: D_CUFF ::::::::: [EOA] [OPN]------------------------------ OPENING PITCH | ----------------------------------- From The Editor """"""""""""""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@sheppyware.net] STATE OF THE II, 1999 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last month I declared that it was time for the Apple II Community to seize the day like we did in the late 1970's, my point being that _GSoft BASIC_ gave us the tool we needed to do just that. This month, it's still time to seize the day--this time by voting with our wallets for the continued development of Apple II products. It's now been 22 years since the Apple II was first sprung on an unexpecting world--a virtual generation of computer users has been raised on this most humble of platforms. At every turn, you'll still find those who use the II (or used the II) in every aspect of life. Today, the teenagers of yesteryear who hacked 8-bits in the Monitor of the Apple //e are system administrators at Internet Service Providers, and authors of Apple II software from the early 1980's are putting out packages for the Macintosh or Windows. Those of us with an Apple II in our past find that the skills we learned back then have translated well in the information age of today. The future of the Apple II is now assured, thanks to the work of F.E. Systems. _Bernie ][ The Rescue_ and _Sweet 16_ will run on the two major hardware platforms available today, with abilities mostly equal to (and speed far in excess of) even the most hot rodded Apple IIgs around. So do we honor the Apple IIs of our past and ensure the Apple IIs of our future--but what of the present? We stand at a crossroads with the Apple II--again. 1998 could have been the year of the Apple II comeback--and in fact, we had enough new and exciting software (at least for the Apple IIgs) to make it so. But it wasn't. Almost a year ago in this publication, I wrote these words: "The hard questions beg to be asked: if 2,000 Apple IIgs users on the 'Net can download the most highly anticipated game in recent memory, why don't we have more subscribers to _Shareware Solutions II_ or _Juiced.GS_? Why is _The Apple Blossom_ ending its run? Why are our shareware authors struggling to justify another Apple II project? Sadly, while the Apple II appears alive on the 'Net, its vital signs elsewhere appear weak. "Still, two thousand downloads is an exciting number, and hopefully those two thousand files translate into two thousand excited Apple II users who will keep the faith well into the next century and do what they need to do to keep Apple II support alive. "In the meantime, I'll continue to check for vital signs from time to time, and keep an eye out for other signs of Apple II Life on the 'Net." Those other signs of Apple II life stayed weak. Since the time I wrote those words, we've had a large influx of new and exciting products (introductions were centered largely around KansasFest)--from freeware and shareware to commercial software to reclassifications of classic favorites. Yet almost a year later, the Apple II marketplace continues to struggle. Those Apple II developers and publishers who continue to produce software and hardware do so mostly as a labor of love, but without enough financial support to keep them in business, how long will that last? Will we learn from the lessons that the last year has taught us? There's still time to seize the day. Make 1999 the year that 1998 could have been--the year of the Apple II comeback. [*] [*] [*] Guess I'll Pack My Bags And Run Away Department: Kevin Noonan, aka GSWOMBAT@delphi.com produced a fabulous little printed newsletter called _Apple II Update_, based in Australia. I was lucky enough to get a few issues and was thoroughly entertained by it. Sadly, the January 1999 issue was the last. Although it was little-known outside of Australia, it will definitely be missed. Thanks, Kevin. For everything. [*] [*] [*] This Just In Department: Per Devin Reade, Head Geek and Tool Push, the long-awaited GNO 2.0.6 has just been released! Head over to http://www.gno.org/~gno to take a look. We'll try to have some GNO coverage next month. [*] [*] [*] Blatant Plugs 'R Us Department: Time for your monthly dose of KansasFest information. For the most fun you won't sleep through, follow the Yellow Brick Road to KansasFest 1999, being held from July 21-25 on the campus of Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri. Registration information is coming soon, and you can get the news hot off the press at the KFest Home Page (http://www.kfest.org). It's time. Take the present of the Apple II in your hands. And I'll see you in a month. Ryan thelamp@sheppyware.net ASCII ART BEGINS _________ _ _ _ |__ __| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |___ ____ | | _____ __ ___ _ _ _____ | | | | | ___ \ / __ \ | | /____ \ | v v | | v ___ \ | | | | | | | | | /__\ \ | | ____| | | /\ /\ | | / \ \ | | | | | | | | | _____| | | / ___ | | || || | | | | | |_| | | | | | | | |_____ | |____ | |__| | | || || | | \___/ / _ |_| |_| |_| \______| |______| \____^_| |_||_||_| | |\____/ |_| | | | | |_| ASCII ART ENDS [EOA] [OPN]------------------------------ A FUNNY THING HAPPENED. . . . | ----------------------------------- Checking out A2 on Delphi """"""""""""""""""""""""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@sheppyware.net] * The Heat Is On * Miscellanea * Rumor Mill * Public Postings * Best Of The Best THE HEAT IS ON """""""""""""" [*] General Chatter ....... Apple Manuals Online? [*] Entertainment Software ....... SMB and SSII? [*] Telecommunications ....... Using Delphi As An ISP [*] General Chatter ....... Fine Tuning Harmonie MISCELLANEA """"""""""" ZIP ACCELERATOR UTILITIES MAKE IT INTO A2 Good news! I found out today """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" that we =do= have permission to upload the Zip accelerator utilities disk to our Database. To make life easier on everyone, I'm going to apply Greg Templeman's freely available patches to the Zip CDev and CDA (which are buggy in their original form) and upload the files as a disk archive. This is necessary because the installer program requires a specific disk name, which can only be preserved by archiving the entire disk. Look for it in a few days. - Tony Ward, A2 Database Manager (TONYW1, 19754, GO COM A2) NOW THAT I CAN TELNET, WHERE DO I GO? You could try: """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" lost-gonzo.com This is a BBS that you can telnet to and one of the "doors" on the BBS will connect you to a IIgs running Apple II BBS software. You need to sign up for an account but it only took a day for me to get mine. Heck, the sysop even called me (long distance I might add) when he saw me having problems logging on one night. Mind you, the problem wasn't with his BBS but was due to me beta testing Marinetti. :-) Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro ** HyperCard IIgs Course now in session! ** (JBLAKENEY, 19009, GO COM A2) BERNIE BONES UP AGAIN We're not fixing this bug in Bernie. It's already """"""""""""""""""""" fixed. :) There will be a maintenance release (aka MS service pack :) this evening or tomorrow latest that will address the SpeedNanny bug as well as the earlier completed but unreleased Marinetti fix. If you are subscribed to the Bernie news mailing (a very low traffic mailing list), you will learn about the maintenance release as soon as it's out. (http://www.magnet.ch/emutech/Bernie/List) Woof, henrik (GUDATH, 19884, GO COM A2) MUSCLING UP WITH MARINETTI Well, this might not help much but it never """""""""""""""""""""""""" hurts to try. Have you set the serial port speed in Marinetti to 57600 bps? This might be a little fast even for your accelerated IIgs so dropping to a slower speed like 38400 or even 19200 bps might help and make sure that your modem is set to not connect at a speed faster than the serial port speed. I don't think the serial port speed is really the problem but your mentioning that your modem uses a Rockwell chipset might mean your modem is an RPI modem. This type of modem expects the computer to handle data compression and, more importantly, error correction. If modems have difficulty talking to each other they try to do error correction to make sure the data gets through. If your modem is an RPI one, then your modem, connected to your IIgs, is incapable of doing the error correction and you will most definitely get line noise and such when running at higher speeds. Now, I'm sure others will come along and mention that Marinetti does error correction by virtue of the fact that TCP/IP is an error correcting transfer protocol. However, if Marinetti or the machine it is connected to keep getting errors, they have to request that the data get resent and the errors can occur in this data again and so on. The faster your modem is set to go, the more errors you will usually run into and the more time that will be wasted by Marinetti requesting packets be resent as well as resending packets. This could end up causing your Domain Name Server and connection requests to "time out". This would also explain why it works some times and doesn't others because the telephone line conditions can be better some times than others which would mean less errors some times than others. I hope this helps. Otherwise, I just spent a lot of time typing for nothing. :-) Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro ** HyperCard IIgs Course now in session! ** (JBLAKENEY, 19994, GO COM A2) THIS MONTH'S BLATANT HARDWARE PLUG FWIW, Paul Lawson recently offered a """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" few 1/3 height IBM SCSI drives (model DSAS-3720) for sale at an excellent price. I ordered a couple and have been fooling with them for about three days now. These are very very very nice drives particularly for the price, speedy and spacious with built in active termination (if you want it). Specs on the drives are available at: http://www.storage.ibm.com/techsup/hddtech/dsas/dsasjum.htm Although you can probably figure everything out using Lynx or SIS, a graphical browser would be best to see the accompanying diagrams. To make a long story short, the question was posed to me: "Do these drives work with an Apple II?" With the standard qualifications, the answer is yes. What qualifications am I talking about? 1) The drive does -not- supply terminator power, so you must have some other SCSI device supply it. If you have a RamFAST, set the jumper on the Rev. D card or the DIP switch on the Rev. B/C cards to supply power; if you have an Apple High Speed or Rev. C SCSI card, do the term power modification; or use a drive on the chain that does supply terminator power. 2) If you use this drive with a RamFAST, you are limited to 12 partitions on the drive. As you can see, that's at most 11 ProDOS partitions, with about 350 megs or so left over which can be made a single HFS partition if you'd like. Aside from that, this drive is a great deal for Apple II users, as well as for users of other platforms who can use a relatively small boot drive or a drive to master CDROMs with. I think Paul will be getting more soon although maybe not at quite a good a price as last time. Rest assured that even at double, maybe even triple the price of his previous offer, these are a total steal. (Unsolicited Blatant Plug, copyright 1999). - Ryan -- rsuenaga@apple2.org -- http://lamp.sheppyware.net Posted by ProTERM Mac and PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution (RSUENAGA, 18910, GO COM A2) ASCENDING ACCENTIT This is a Temporary Initialization File that always """""""""""""""""" checks the GS keyboard translation preference to make sure it is set to "Standard" at boot time and when changing applications. This has been a valuable system extension for me, because Spectrum does adjust keyboard translation when online, and under certain rare circumstances (like a system hang or crash) might leave your translation preferences changed, thereby forcing you to manually go into the General Control Panel and change it back from "None" to "Standard." Max Jones, Juiced.GS http://www.wbwip.com/juiced.gs Delivered by Spectrum 2.2 and Crock O' Gold 3.0b5 beta (JUICEDGS, 18984, GO COM A2) IRONTOOTH'S SPEAKERPHONE SCRIPT Well, I was going to post this to the """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" database, but if you would like to try it, and let me know if you have any problems... The following is an ANSITerm script for Rockwell-based modems with speakerphone capability (look for a microphone and speaker jack on the modem). I have to adjust the settings a bit to reduce feedback on my system using the microphone that came with my Phoebe V1456VQE modem (from JAMECO) and its internal speaker. If you copy this script, make sure that labels (e.g. #intro) that are alone in a line don't have any spaces preceding them. ************************** *| SPEAKERPHONE |* *| |* *| By Don V. Zahniser |* ************************** * * ANSITerm script for controlling a Rockwell-chipset modem with * speakerphone capabilities * * - Adjust defaults for your modem/microphone performance * * Mute Parameter * (0 = Microphone off, 1 = Microphone on, 2 = Room monitor) as n0 1 * * Speaker Attenuation * (0 to 15 in 2dB steps - 0 to 30dB attenuation, 16 is Speaker Mute) as n1 5 * * Microphone Gain * (0 to 3 - 0, 6dB, 9.5 dB, 12dB gain) as n2 1 #intro if off #intro2 no "Can't use the phone while online!" go #exit #intro2 fo wh ba bl de me "^L" re "at#cls=8^M" wa "OK" #menu de me "^L" ba db wi 10 7 60 12 lo 12 8 me "1 - Dial" lo 12 9 me "2 - Pick up/Answer" lo 12 11 me "0 - Exit" key n0 str s0 n0 up s0 if s0 == "1" #dial if s0 == "2" #answer if s0 == "0" #exit #dial de me "^L" re "at#vrn=0^M" wa "OK" re "at#vls=6^M" wa "OK" ge "Phone number to dial:" s9 re "atdt" s9 "^M" wa "VCON" go #menu2 #answer de me "^L" re "at#cls=8^M" wa "OK" re "at#vls=6^M" wa "OK" re "ATA^M" wa "VCON" go #menu2 #menu2 re "at#spk=" n0 "," n1 "," n2 "^M" wa "OK" de me "^L" ba db wi 10 7 60 12 lo 12 8 me "Change Speaker Level (+/-)" lo 12 9 me "Change Microphone Gain ( )" lo 12 10 me "Microphone Mute Toggle (M)" lo 12 11 me "0 - Hang up & Exit" key n9 str s0 n9 up s0 if s0 == "+" #volup if s0 == "-" #voldn if n9 == 11 #micup if n9 == 10 #micdn if s0 == "M" #micmute if s0 == "0" #exit #volup if n1 == 0 #fullvol sub n1 1 go #menu2 #voldn if n1 == 16 #voloff add n1 1 go #menu2 #fullvol no "Speaker at maximum Volume" go #menu2 #voloff no "Speaker is muted" go #menu2 #micmute if n0 == 0 #micon as n0 0 no "Microphone Muted..." go #menu2 #micon as n0 1 go #menu2 #micup if n2 == 0 #gainup add n2 1 go #menu2 #micdn if n2 == 3 #gaindn sub n2 1 go #menu2 #gainup no "Microphone at full gain..." go #menu2 #gaindn no "Microphone at lowest gain..." go #menu2 #exit de me "^L" re "ath^M" wa "OK" re "atz^M" wa "OK" exit * ch at+"/olright" - Don (IronTooth) Delivered by my ANSITerm off-line reader scripts... They're OLRight! (DZAHNISER, 18932, GO COM A2) OLRIGHT! 4.0 ODDS AND ENDS I don't think I mentioned that OLRight! v4.0 """""""""""""""""""""""""" directly supports most of ANSITerm's Command-keys, so can be used as a default script for start-up of ANSITerm for general use. As an example, the ANSITerm dial menu is now accessible from OLRight!'s menus and by using Command-D. I just added preferences for _not_ archiving mail online each time and for _not_ checking for Delphi Binary Mail each time. Saves a few seconds on each online session... - Don (IronTooth) Delivered by my ANSITerm off-line reader scripts... They're OLRight! (DZAHNISER, 18933, GO COM A2) DOES BABELFISH NEED SFUTILITY? It was indeed written to be used with """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Babelfish, but it is not necessary for the current version. It is reported by some people to cause problems, but others see none. We have never been able to track down why it should on some machines but not on others. It is safe to remove it. Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Mon 4 Jan 1999 - 198 days till KFest '99 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 2.6 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing on a PowerMac 8200/120 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 19030, GO COM A2) A POTPOURRI OF TELECOMM THOUGHTS II Not Disturb will help if you are """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" launching ProTerm after starting GS/OS, but to get the optimum speed out of ProTerm, with the minimum dropped characters, you should not be launching it from GS/OS in the first place. All P8 telecomm programs will run screamingly fast if you boot directly into P8 then run the application. There will be no interrupts generated that might interfere with the data, and even a stock unaccelerated IIgs should connect cleanly at 57600 baud. Under GS/OS there can be a whole chain of things in the interrupt loop that either grab system time, or just take too long to execute. It is for these reasons that desktop telecoms programs like Spectrum, need as clean an environment as possible to get high baud rates with no dropped characters. The faster your IIgs is, the less this is will be a problem. So an accelerator helps things enormously. Running Spectrum under Bernie ][ the Rescue on a G3 PowerMac, emulating a 40Mhz IIgs, means you can have whatever extras you like on the system, and can even forget II Not Disturb, and still get 57600 baud cleanly! Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Sat 9 Jan 1999 - 193 days till KFest '99 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 2.6 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing on a PowerMac 8200/120 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 19198, GO COM A2) TEXT VERSUS WEB ON DELPHI A2--BUILDING BRIDGES For those of us who do """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" (most of) our access via the web-side, ASCII art tends to end up as a compressed, unreadable jumble because the nicely formatted monospace text displays in a proportional font. So I really have no idea what you posted! I'm not sure if it works when posting from the telnet side, but I've had some success when I need to retain the format of a posting, by enclosing part (or was it "all") of the text in 
...
(which is HTML for PREformatted data). This tends to work pretty well, since most browsers display this in a monospace font. I'd love to be able to get the joke! While I'm up on my soapbox... As other web-side users may have noticed, if you "Preview" your post before posting, what little formatting you get by default (for example, paragraphs usually stay as separate paragraphs) goes completely out the window! If you must preview the post, go back to the standard "Compose" screen and post from there directly. -- Peter Watson -- Write to MSDOS disks on the Apple IIgs? -- Impossible! ;-) (PETERWATSON, 19048, GO COM A2) >>>>> From the text side (dial-up or telnet), you can do the same thing """"" with dot-commands (a period preceding the command alone on the line). The command for 
 is '.pre' and the command for
is '.end pre' I use these for the Topic/Subject lists (Yes, I know one is overdue...). The preceding paragraph was formatted using these commands. - Don (IronTooth) Delivered by my ANSITerm off-line reader scripts... They're OLRight! (DZAHNISER, 19049, GO COM A2) WHAT'S UP WITH PRODOS 8 Y2K COMPLIANCE ON THE IIGS? This is what I """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" believe to be the case, although I haven't yet fully checked it out: The officially supported ProDOS clock, and we're talking ProDOS, pre-ProDOS 8, pre-ProDOS 16, pre-GS/OS is the Thunderclock, which does not support years. In order to figure out years, ProDOS uses the date and day of week along with an internal year table, so every seven years it needs to be patched and updated. The IIgs clock -does- support years, and the only person to report the 1993 issue is a //e user, so I do not believe it's needed for IIgs users at this point. - Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution (RSUENAGA, 19162, GO COM A2) DESKJET AND IIGS COMPATIBILITY UPDATE I have good DeskJet news and I have """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" bad DeskJet news. First, the good news. HP has recently released the DeskJet 420, a IIGS compatible color capable ink jet printer which costs $119 Retail. Now, for the bad news... The following DeskJet 700 series are not compatible with the IIGS: 710, 712, 720 or 722. During the past few years, HP has offered several models of DeskJet that could not be used with the IIGS. Those printers (such as the short-lived DJ 820CSe) had a silkscreen designation on the front of them that said: "For Windows." The 700 series of IIGS incompatible printers no longer have the silkscreen "For Windows" designation. And, to make things even more confusing, the 722c comes in two different boxes; the older box clearly states that the printer is for use with Windows only, but the newer box doesn't. There _is_ information listed on the side of the boxes and in HP's literature which indicates which DeskJets will work on the IIGS, but only if you know exactly what you are looking for. ALL DeskJet printers which work on the IIGS have two things in common: they support HP's PCL Level 3 printer language, and they are compatible with MS-DOS. Since PCL is backwards compatible, PCL Level 4 and 5 printers can also be used on a IIGS. It appears as if all other current models of DeskJet (aside from the 710, 712, 720, 722) do support PCL3 and are MS-DOS compatible, and so they are IIGS compatible. So, if you are looking for a new DeskJet, you are going to have to look at the box and/or at HP's literature. If the box says MS-DOS (or DOS 3.3 and later) and PCL, then it'll work on the IIGS, with Harmonie. If it says only Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT, it will not work with a IIGS. Joe Kohn Publisher of Harmonie (The GS/OS printer drivers which work with HP printers.) http://www.crl.com/~joko (JOE_KOHN, 19149, GO COM A2) <<<<< Considering that the vast majority of DeskJets work great on the """"" IIGS, it would be much more efficient to simply list the models that do not work, as I already did with the 710, 712, 720 and 722. IOW, every DeskJet currently sold by HP, except for these four models, work great on a IIGS. To save Barry and any one else some time and effort, I already have the answers I was looking for, and have posted the information. And, if all works out, I should soon have a list of ALL DeskJets which are incompatible with the Apple IIGS. There are only a couple, though. And, all the others say on the front of the printer: "For Windows." But, in short, if it's designated as a For-Windows, Windows-Only, or as a WinPrinter, then it's just not going to work on a IIGS. Or a II, II+, IIe, IIc or IIc+. Or, on any of Tony Diaz's prototypes. Joe (JOE_KOHN, 19177, GO COM A2) <<<<< In my quest to get answers, I visited three local stores yesterday """"" that sell HP printers, and fortunately, managed to avoid talking to any salespeople. Since I knew exactly what I was looking for, I looked at all the printers, grabbed all the HP sales brochures I could find, and looked at the actual boxes that the DJs come in. To that end, I can assure everyone that the current DeskJets that work with the IIGS are noted on both the literature and the boxes as being MS-DOS compatible. Or, you could just say the heck with the reading of fine-print, and just buy the DeskJet 420 for $119. When used on a IIGS, even the newest, top of the line DeskJet is only going to operate as a PCL Level 3 printer, which is what the 420 is. Aside from print speed, there is nothing to be gained by buying a more expensive DJ if all you have is a IIGS. Joe (JOE_KOHN, 19179, GO COM A2) <<<<< Two other IIGS incompatible DeskJets are the 820C and 1000C series """"" printers. Neither of these models are currently available; they have both been discontinued. In the case of the DJ 820Cse, I know for a fact that this one has the "For Windows" designation silkscreened on the front. I have not seen the DJ 1000c printer to know whether it carries that silkscreen designation. So to re-cap, the following won't work on the Apple II: DeskJets 710c, 712c, 720c, 722c, 820c and 1000c. There may be just one or two others, but I need to do a little more research before I can say for sure. Joe Kohn (JOE_KOHN, 19180, GO COM A2) THE FUTURE OF THE IIGS ONLINE These days, I generally continue to use """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" ProTerm 3.1 for manual logins, and Spectrum for its script-driven add-ons like SIS and COG. But yesterday, for the first time ever, I actually imagined that at some point in the future, I might be retiring ProTerm. I spent some time yesterday getting Spectrum v2.2 all set up, and finally got around to installing and trying Sheppy's gsAIM (I'm JoeKohn99) and Geoff's ftp-client. And, then it struck me... Unless I make the switch to Spectrum as my exclusive telecomm program, I'm not going to be able to take full advantage of all these really neat Marinetti-aware apps. After all, in order to get gsAIM Instant Messages, you need to be online with GS/OS. I'm typing this message off-line using COG. But, by having flat-rate unlimited access to the net, I could just as easily be typing this message in COG, while still connected to the net with TCP/IP...and be chatting with a gsAIM "Buddy" at the same time! Multi-tasking (of sorts) has arrived, and the full impact of that just didn't hit me until yesterday! Thanks for opening my eyes to that Richard, Sheppy, Geoff and Sir Ewen! ;-) At some point, when we have a full suite of Marinetti-aware apps, I imagine that ProTerm will lose some of its allure for me. Old habits are hard to break, and I do really like ProTerm, but... I'm now 100% convinced: Marinetti and Spectrum are the future of the IIGS online. Then again, bringing it back to the subject of NiftySpell and Spectrum, I'm sure glad that NiftySpell picked up that typo a few paragraphs upstream ;-) Joe (JOE_KOHN, 19430, GO COM A2) NIFTYSPELL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE One NiftySpell...coming right up. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" In a response to my e-mail request, Chris Vavruska says that he'll put together some technical info so that other programmers can call up NiftySpell's spell check functions directly, without having to first open up the NiftySpell NDA. I do not know how long that will take. As it is now, all it takes to spell check an outgoing gsAIM message is to access the NiftySpell NDA and click on the Check Window function. By providing direct support for NiftySpell in gsAIM, you'll save users from having to access the NDA directly. But, aside from "the cool factor" of having a Spell Check button in gsAIM, the two already work together quite well. Speaking of "the cool factor," let me ask a question...does AOL's Instant Messenger have the ability to spell check messages, or is that something only the IIGS can perform? Joe Kohn (JOE_KOHN, 19456, GO COM A2) THE FUTURE OF THE II IS IN EMULATION Speaking as a developer, it is """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" important for us to have a level playing field before we start to do any coding. This is one of the reasons why you have seen very little written for the Second Sight display, as it is not stable, and very few are in use. If everyone was using an emulated IIgs under Bernie, then we could indeed improve the resolution or screen size of the IIgs. But then we might as well just write the programs for the Mac, as it already has those attributes without expanding Bernie any further. The level playing field for me is a IIgs, preferably accelerated, with at least 4Mb of Memory, a hard disk drive, and running System 6.0.1. Anything less than that will not necessarily work with any of my software. I think the same will be true of most other developers. I did make the plea some time ago that everybody should have that minimum specification. Certainly it is necessary for most of the new software issued within the last year. Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Tue 12 Jan 1999 - 190 days till KFest '99 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 2.6 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing on a PowerMac 8200/120 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 19292, GO COM A2) >>>>> Actually, the reason I want to see extra features added to Bernie """"" above a real IIgs is this: I like programming the GS more than anything else. The more power I can get out of GS apps running on Bernie, the less Mac programming I have to do to write the apps I want to write. :) Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19295, GO COM A2) >>>>> I thought I'd throw in a few cents. """"" It is rather simple to add a few extra features. However, Bernie is an emulator in first place, and it will be measured against a physical Apple IIgs. As long as Bernie is not considered a "stand-alone" platform (the little Bill Gates inside me is already cheering :-), it doesn't make much sense offering software that is limited to Bernie-specific features. (With the notable exception of Woofenstein 3D.) Of course, there will be sporadic lapses on our part, and if a developer depends on non-standard features there's a chance it will be implemented. As long as there are Apple IIgs features missing, such as SmartPort bus support, we better get our job done in that department. - henrik woof woof (GUDATH, 19296, GO COM A2) >>>>> As far as I'm concerned, Bernie is a real IIgs. I do most of my """"" work and testing on Bernie (with the notable exception that I test my 'netti apps on a real GS, because it has a modem and my Mac doesn't). To be honest, I figure that if Bernie adds some special features that I want, I'm likely to stick around as a IIgs programmer longer, because I have new challenges. The real IIgs is too limiting for some of the projects I want to do. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19306, GO COM A2) >>>>> I'm pretty much in agreement with this. """"" There are occasional compatibility glitches between Bernie and a IIgs, but consider: as much compatibility as we have with the Apple II series, we don't have perfect backward compatibility. Even the ROM_3 IIgs doesn't perfectly emulate a ROM_01 (or ROM_00 for that matter), an enhanced //e isn't 100% compatible with unenhanced //e's, the ][+ isn't 100% compatible with the original ][, and so on. The difference the other way is larger. Let's do a hypothetical: say Apple released a computer with a G3 processor that looked just like the new PowerMac G3 mini towers, had MacOS 8.5.1, _Bernie_, the IIgs ROM image, and System 6.0.1 bundled and set up, and sold it under the name "Apple IIg3". Would we call this an Apple II? Well, Apple itself would call it a II, and it would run Apple II software under Bernie, as well as Macintosh software. Are there things it's not compatible with on the Apple II side? Sure. 5.25 inch floppies would be the first thing we could point out. But if it's just like the G3 that Apple started selling, it would be missing serial ports and 3.5 inch floppy disks too, among other things. People still call those G3's Macs. I call those G3's Apple II's :) The newest Macs aren't 100% compatible with older Macs, and similarly, the newest Apple IIs aren't going to be 100% compatible with older Apple II's. It's the price to pay of progress. - Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution (RSUENAGA, 19310, GO COM A2) >>>>> You know, it's a long time since anyone has been able to make me """"" say (about the Apple II), "Gee, I've never thought of it that way before!". He's right - it *would* be an Apple II! I've always looked at upgrades using a variation of the 80/20 rule (hopefully closer to 95/5!) which says that if I can get all the shiny new features (80% benefit) in exchange for losing some backwards compatibility (20% cost) then the change is worth it. So each time I upgraded, ][+ to //e to IIgs, some of the old software or hardware no longer ran. For that matter, even installing my SuperDrive card cost me the ability to run some software. But it was always worth it, and it was always still an Apple II. As I think Ryan was saying, I believe a G3 based "Apple IIg3" would be as much an Apple II as the original PowerPC were Macs. It was all done with smokescreens and mirrors anyway! All we need now is for someone to put together some stick-on labels, create an appropriate appearance manager "theme" (what is the Mac terminology for this?) and take a "made-over" G3 system to a trade show. I think the reactions (from horror to joy) would be beyond price! B-) -- Peter Watson -- Write to MSDOS disks on the Apple IIgs? -- Impossible! ;-) (PETERWATSON, 19323, GO COM A2) DEALING WITH COLOR GRAPHICS IN GRAPHICWRITER III So, do you have """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" something against psychedelic? :-) I don't do much color work in GW III, but I don't believe there is a way to do what you want. Maybe others will know more on this topic. Max (JUICEDGS, 19308, GO COM A2) >>>>> Richard may certainly correct me, but I've tried many things in """"" GWIII with color, and it seems to me that the palette is fixed. There are two things you might want to try. Both involve a lot of work, and I've had marginal success. The first thing is to make a "palette document" in GWIII, using every color on the GWIII palette and print it out, giving you a color reference chart for printing on whatever your printer is. The other (tougher) part, is to copy your objects into Platinum paint, and save it as a paint file. Now you have a "reference document" in Platinum paint... (Gee, it's been a while since I did this, please forgive any lapses I might have) You can use this reference document as a template to create new pictures that should carry their colors over to GWIII. Bring your picture with the custom palette into Platinum Paint. (here's where my memory is real fuzzy) I don't remember if there is a load palette option, or if I went through and wrote down the rgb values for each color in my GWIII palette. Anyway, in your new picture, edit the palette, and change the colors to the values in the reference picture, then remap the picture to the (now-edited) palette. This explanation is most certainly be incomplete, but it might Give you enough to go on and experiment with. __________ | homas (TCOMPTER, 19330, GO COM A2) >>>>> In a word. No. If the colors in the graphic are not a match or """"" close match, GWIII substitutes the closest color which may render undesirable results. The closest color from GWIII's own color palette. I would love to see palette switching in GWIII, but for now I use AppleWorks GS to accomplish graphic imports if I can't get a good match with GraphicWriter III. Barry Delivered with the help of Marinetti v2.0. (BARRY_REES, 19339, GO COM A2) >>>>> Yep, unfortunately the palette is fixed. Also a lot of the internal """"" conversions routines between formats, especially cut/paste system clipboard have reverse mapping palette tables, making it harder to patch. If you have a specific requirement, then perhaps we could look at a possible solution. Regards, Richard (RICHARD_B, 19391, GO COM A2) HARMONIE AND INDEPENDENCE--COMPARING TWO GREAT PACKAGES Harmonie and """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Independence are both simply Printers Drivers. They both work with programs that support the GS/OS Print Manager. Personally, I find that Harmonie yields acceptable results with standard 320 or 640 mode graphics if I use Harmonie's External Rendering option. That said, sometimes it takes a bit of fiddling within a paint program to get the graphic 'just right.' For those who read Shareware Solutions II, the NiftySpell / GShisen graphic that appeared on the back cover of the latest issue took more than 25 attempts before I deemed it "a keeper." Printing 3200 color graphics is, in a sense, a very special case because 3200 color graphics aren't exactly standard. There is a freeware program available, written by my former associate John Wrenholt, that is called Print3200. But, because Print3200 does not work with GS/OS's Print Manager, it only prints to an ImageWriter II. But, surprisingly, it does do a real good job. DreamGraphix does work with the Print Manager, so you can print 3200 color graphics on a DJ if you own that program. But, the results you get will vary, and to be truthful, most of them will not look very good when printed out. OTOH, most 3200 color graphics really only contain 256 distinct colors. So, it's always possible to convert a 3200 mode graphic to 256 colors, and then that can be loaded into a IIGS paint program such as Platinum Paint, and the results will be much more visually pleasing. I should add, in my humble opinion. Since I'm the publisher of Harmonie, I'll answer your questions about pricing and ordering, but because I'm obviously biased, I should perhaps let users of the two sets of Printer Drivers answer your question about which is best or better. Joe Kohn (JOE_KOHN, 19347, GO COM A2) >>>>> Both are acceptable, but Harmonie is superior. If you're going to """"" have just one, Harmonie is definitely the way to go. That said, I use Independence when I need real nice detail on a black and white graphic. I find it easier to get what I need without a lot of fiddling around. Still, if I had to choose, Harmonie would win out without question. Max Jones http://www.wbwip.com/juiced.gs Delivered by Spectrum 2.2 and Crock O' Gold 3.0b7 From a Virtual GS running Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 -- Woof Woof (JUICEDGS, 19356, GO COM A2) >>>>> I'm not sure I could say one is "better". I own both. Harmonie """"" does color, and supports more printers. Independence hasn't been updated as recently. Both are from quality publishers. I'd get both. Actually, I did that already :) - Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution (RSUENAGA, 19361, GO COM A2) >>>>> I have both Harmonie and Independence, which I use with a DeskJet """"" 500. I would deal with the issue of which is 'better' this way: Advantage: Harmony o External rendering - Gives you the ability to print text-based files using the fonts that are built into the printer - MUCH faster than any printing that Independence can do. You can also use software print buffers (several are available) to dump the external rendered text to a print buffer of up to 64K through the GS Serial Port. o Speed - No matter which way you print, Harmonie is faster. o Color - If you have a color printer o Flexibility - Lots of settings and controls to get printing to come out exactly the way you like. Advantage: Independence o Accuracy - Working with the Page Layout module of AWGS or with GWIII, the objects and margins are printed with Independence exactly where the software indicates. On my system, Harmonie offsets the printing by almost 1/8" along the long axis of the paper from where indicated. This is not really that noticeable in portrait layout, but I do a lot of 2-column 'booklet' landscape printing for a church bulletin, and it is _really_ noticeable then. Also, with _some_ print sizes and aspect ratio selections, Harmonie can't seem to calculate the character/line widths correctly. Margins and justified text can be far from where indicated in the software that I am printing from. This does not happen with Independence. o Simplicity - Fewer controls and easier to use, (but see flexibility, above) I use Harmonie as my general-purpose printer driver, and Independence for the really critical work. If I _had_ to do without one, it would be a difficult choice. - Don (IronTooth) Delivered by my ANSITerm off-line reader scripts... They're OLRight! (DZAHNISER, 19403, GO COM A2) SWEET-16 BEOS INTEL RELEASED As the marketing schmuck I'm only interested """""""""""""""""""""""""""" in shareware fees, potential Y2K law suits, Ryan's commission, the cost of my internet connection and taking Sheppy's RC5 crack team to place 1 for some extra PR. It is true that Sweet-16/BeoS/Intel ("BetelBernie") has been released. I must pass full credit to Andre who has done it completely on his own. Granted, I bet he warezed a few things from Bernie :), but Sweet-16 is Andre's work and not mine, and maybe this 50% manpower also explains why Bernie is somewhat ahead. Due to my pitiful arsenal of Macs I couldn't even help him with testing. I'm still glad you like it and hope you'll spend a great time with it! If you would like to e-mail comments on Sweet16, I'm sure Andre would appreciate a copy. You can contact both of us by using the woof@kagi.com address. - henrik (GUDATH, 19227, GO COM A2) >>>>> After a few days of playing with the Be/Intel version of Sweet 16 """"" on my (shudder) Cyrix 233, I can say that while it has a ways to go, it's very impressive and most promising. The BeOS, otoh, is extremely impressive. Aside from various versions of UNIX, I've never seen an OS for the consumer that is so network-ready and Internet-ready from the get-go, and the GUI is definitely something that any Mac or Apple IIgs fan can get accustomed to quickly. Yes, I did buy the BeOS primarily to test _Be_rnie, but it does shine in its own right. Anyone who has the equipment to try it out ought to (and while Be has a somewhat small list of compatible systems on its web page, if it works with this incredibly generic clone I built with cost as the primary object, it ought to work with most anything, graphic cards notwithstanding :) - Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution (RSUENAGA, 19957, GO COM A2) >>>>> Sweet16 should improve greatly over the coming months. As soon as """"" gsAIM 1.0 is out the door, my attention will focus fully on Sweet16. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19998, GO COM A2) CDRW ON AN APPLE IIGS? I have a Yamaha CDRW drive here, but I've never """""""""""""""""""""" attached it to a IIgs. Even if I did, at most it would only work as a read-only drive. CDR and CDRW drives don't function (from a user's point of view) like hard drives. You need to prep a hard drive or removable drive cartridge with the data you want and then use specialized software (such as Toast) to burn the CDR or CDRW. The IIgs does not have this type of software. - Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution (RSUENAGA, 19512, GO COM A2) PATCHING PRODOS 8 FOR Y2K. . . MINUS ONE A post on comp.sys.apple2 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" reminded me that the year look-up table in ProDOS 8 expires periodically. Specifically, the look-up table in version 2.0.3 (the last version released by Apple) was only good through 1998. 1999 is here, of course...I don't know if this subject has been brought up on Delphi, but if you're using a clock card in a IIe, your computer now thinks it's 1993 again! Here's some of the text from a message I posted to comp.sys.apple2 on this subject: ProDOS will need to be updated once every five or six years. Apple released a version of ProDOS specifically to deal with this problem happening once before, in 1992. I found a directory on my hard drive that I'd forgotten about; it had a version "1.9A" of ProDOS that I had hacked on New Year's '92 to get the clock to work right again (I was running a BBS on my IIe at the time, so having the right date was important). ProDOS 8 v2.0.1, which fixed the problem, was released on 4 Mar 92 (I don't recall if there was a v2.0 that was released earlier). Since ProDOS was designed with the Thunderclock (a clock card that didn't keep track of the year at all) in mind, it used a look-up table to determine the year. I haven't looked at the actual code, but I imagine it uses the current Julian date mod 7 and the day of the week to index into the table. I found the table in the then-current version of ProDOS and changed it to cover a different range of years. Here's something I came up with on my own to figure the current year from the current month, date, and day of the week. First, convert the month and date to a single number. Add the date to the appropriate number from this table: Jan=0 Jul=181 Feb=31 Aug=212 Mar=59 Sep=243 Apr=90 Oct=273 May=120 Nov=304 Jun=151 Dec=334 Divide this number by 7. Subtract from the remainder the day-of-week number; the day-of-week number is a simple progression where Sunday is 0, Monday is 1, and so on up to 6 for Saturday. If the difference is positive, it's your offset into the look-up table. If it's negative, add 7 and use that as your offset into the look-up table. I'm guessing that the Thunderclock driver inside ProDOS does something similar; I crunched the numbers, and they agree with the tables I've found in different ProDOS versions. I diff'd my "v1.9A" and the actual v1.9, which I had backed up on floppy. The year table was at offset 0x3276-0x327C in both files. v1.9 had a table to cover 1986 to 1991 (the decimal value of the last two digits of a year is in each byte...the sequence from v1.8 is 0x5A (90), 0x59 (89), 0x58 (88), 0x58 (88), 0x57 (87), 0x56 (86), 0x5B (91). The revised table I put together covered 1992 to 1996: 0x60 0x5F 0x5E 0x5D 0x5C 0x5C 0x60. In v2.0.3 (the last version of ProDOS 8), the table lives at offset 0xF76-0xF7C and covers 1993 to 1998. Leap years appear twice in each table, which is why they're only good for five or six years each instead of seven. From this information, you can figure up revised tables for any range of five or six years. For instance, here's a sequence that ought to be good until 28 Feb 2004 (from 29 Feb 2004 to the end of that year, the year would mistakenly be reported as 1999): 0x01 0x00 0x00 0x63 0x04 0x03 0x02. In case someone hasn't already done this, here are some "cookbook" instructions to patch ProDOS 8 v2.0.3 for years beginning with 1999. Go to a BASIC.SYSTEM prompt and enter the following commands one at a time (snip this out and put it in a script to EXEC if you want): BLOAD PRODOS,TSYS,A$2000 POKE 12150,1 POKE 12151,0 POKE 12152,0 POKE 12153,99 POKE 12154,4 POKE 12155,3 POKE 12156,2 BSAVE PRODOS,TSYS,A$2000 You might want to make a backup copy of your ProDOS file before you do this, of course. When 2004 rolls around, you'll want to make up a new table from the "formula" given earlier in this message; I'll leave that table as an exercise for the reader. :-) I figured someone might find this useful...wish I'd kept the patch program I whipped up in '92 to fix v1.9 as it would've taken less time to figure it out this time around. :-) -=IIGS=- Scott Alfter ( { salfter@delphi.com}) { http://people.delphi.com/salfter} (SALFTER, 19250, GO COM A2) CONTACTING SEVEN HILLS The correct email address for Seven Hills is """""""""""""""""""""" . If you do not hear from them within a few days, try again. There is also a voice number (850-575-0566) you can try if you still don't get a reply. Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Thu 14 Jan 1999 - 188 days till KFest '99 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 2.6 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing on a PowerMac 8200/120 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 19366, GO COM A2) TONY ON IIGS DMA In my seemingly life-long dealing with hardware, I have """""""""""""""" *NEVER* seen, ANYWHERE I've been, any of these DMA 'horror stories'. Other than a problem that can be traced to a hardware problem. The original above 4MB problem stems from ROM 0. Put simply the Apple IIgs will DMA into the first 4MB of EXPANDED RAM. Meaning the first 4MB of RAM in the slot. If all these horror stories were true to what the were being told as, then every ROM 3 with a 4MB card would be crashing or whatever it is they do. If the RAM area being accessed is higher than the 4MB DMA range the computer simply does not DMA there. The original AE RAM cards hated DMA, remember, AE did not necessarily do things the simple way. They would go out of the way to make sure their supplied software would not work with any other hardware. (Not such a bad idea..) but when it gets to your hardware only working with your other hardware it's time to stop that practice. :) I have never had to disable DMA simply because I have more than 4MB plugged into the memory slot. The original Sirius RAM (4+4 R8) has a problem with DMA and Transwarps that did not exist with the prototype cards. In trying to eliminate jumpers completely and allow for any number of SIMMs, 1 to 8, not just the traditional steps of 1,2,4-8, I used a whole 'complicated' mess of boolean logic. Never again. :) It became evident that in some systems that card was Plug 'n Pray (that the boolean) logic would work. The CV Tech method of DMA is what I call Force Feed DMA. It's called Hey!, here it comes and you better not miss! :) Now take a look at a Focus drive with 16 bit driver installed, damn near gives that RAMFast & DMA a run for it's money. In some cases Focus statistics beat the RAMFast. This all depends on the drive attached to the Focus card, but even so, no controller cache, and it's pretty speedy. The down side, it's IDE, 1 drive, no chain, not easy to swap, but you simply take the whole drive with you and pop it in a system where your going. Tony (T_DIAZ, 19952, GO COM A2) WHAT'S OLD IS NEW--HOW TO GET A NEW GENIE ACCOUNT I have indeed been """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" investigating your questions and have trying to come up with an all-inclusive, accurate answer for you. From what I can find so far, it would cost you $23.95 per month, and that gives you nine hours before the $2.75 per-hour rate kicks in. What I have not been able to find, however, is if the first month is free, as is the case with many on-line and Internet services. That's what's delayed me posting a reply to you. I would suggest you visit the Genie Internet web site at: http://www.genie.com It might not tell you a lot, but it will tell you a little. Meanwhile, let us know exactly where you would be calling from, and I'll check and see what local access numbers are available to you. Once we find out if you'd be dialing in to sign up from a SprintNet line or a Genie line, I can then give more specific instructions on the signup process. IMHO, if the first month is free (up to nine hours, that is), I would suggest you go ahead and try it. You would be absolutely awestruck by the size and depth of the library. It's incredible. Max Jones Juiced.GS http://www.wbwip.com/juiced.gs (JUICEDGS, 19619, GO COM A2) <<<<< This just in ..... :-) """"" To sign up for Genie, set your telecom software to 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, and half-duplex. Then dial toll-free to 1-800-331-8544. When you connect, type HHH. When you see the U#= prompt, just type SIGNUP. Everything is prompted automatically from there. You can go through the process to see what it's like, then cancel your signup at the last moment. You can also obtain info about Genie and their pricing plan as you go through the process. I suggest you turn your capture buffer on if you decide to experiment with the signup process, then save the capture for offline reference. I haven't tested the process, and I probably should, just to make sure it still works. But I suspect it will. We currently know of no special signup offers, such as first month free, etc. That means unless you find out otherwise during the signup process, you would have to pay your first month's fee right out of the chute. Max (JUICEDGS, 19665, GO COM A2) CONTEMPLATING THE GENIE LIBRARY A listing of the entire contents of the """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Genie A2 Library (two lines per file) results in a text file of about 1.5 megs. A listing that includes full file descriptions would be at least 5 times larger. If anyone is really interested in such a beast, I'll see about uploading it here. It's certainly =way= too large to post as a message in the Forum. A much shorter list would be the one that contains Apple II files that are not available on Genie. Remember the Genie Library contains over 15,000 files totalling about 900 megs (compressed.) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tony Ward, A2 Database Manager - Thu Jan 21, 1999 11:03:08 am [Delivered with Spectrum v2.2 and Crock O' Gold] -- "Why be a man when you can be a success?" -- Bertold Brecht (TONYW1, 19679, GO COM A2) CONTEMPLATING A GENIE A2 CDROM Well, there is no downloading required. We """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" kept copies of everything. Syndicomm has it's own A2 library, and A2Pro library as well. All of those files are safe on Syndicomm hard drive space. There are a couple of problems, though. We always kept our backups in the same format as the GEnie library, so the file descriptions, etc, are identical. Before we could put it on a CD we could distribute, OR do mass uploading to Delphi, those file descriptions have to be modified. Additionally, there are some files on there that we don't (currently) have the right to make available through any other source than the GEnie library (Bulletin Board archives, RTC transcripts, etc). AND, there are a number of files that have distribution restrictions that would keep them from being put on the CD (such as Applewriter, for one example). Sorting through those files and eliminating (from distribution, not our archive) the ones we can't upload, then modifying the descriptions, etc on the others to avoid copyright questions, is a task of formidable proportions. That's why it is not done yet. Gary R. Utter (UTTER, 19808, GO COM A2) COPY PROTECTION AND HARD DRIVE RESOURCE For those of you who have """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" software that you can not install on a hard drive or unable to make a backup of due to copy protection... like my situation with having to stick the Printshop GS disk in everytime I run it from the hard drive.. I have found a place with the answers... Point your browser to: http://wuarchive.wustle.edu/systems/apple2/umich.edu/Mics.game.stuff There are a few text documents there you can capture and use to help you get things working correctly on your hard drive.. The only problem I have had is trying to capture the text in a readable format for printing... anyone have a suggestion on how to capture this file so that it is formated the same when I open it from my Hard drive as it did while I was reading it on the screen during capture... seems the file does not keep the formating and it all gets jumbled together... Leon (SARGENLE, 19027, GO COM A2) RUMOR MILL """""""""" WILL SIS 1.1 INCLUDE TCP/IP SUPPORT? To the best of my knowledge, there's """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" not a firm commitment to adding TCP/IP support for the next upgrade of SIS (1.1). Geoff, of course, is the final say on this. - Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. -- rsuenaga@apple2.org Editor and Publisher, _The Lamp!_, published monthly on Delphi Posted by PTMM v2.5 - The integrated information solution (RSUENAGA, 19814, GO COM A2) >>>>> Geoff will scold me if I'm wrong on this, but I think this is the """"" right answer. :-) SIS 1.1 may or may not include =direct= Marinetti support. I don't know the answer to that, although Geoff might. However, you don't need it to use SIS 1.1, as long as you can Telnet into Delphi. So, Barry, with SIS 1.1, you will be able to use Spectrum 2.2/Marinetti 2.0 to make a PPP connection with your ISP; then Telnet to Delphi, where you will be able to launch SIS and surf the Web. Version 1.1 WILL offer Delphi as a new Web connect method. :-) At least that's my understanding. Max (JUICEDGS, 19846, GO COM A2) >>>>> Geoff has been having some problems with the direct TCP/IP links """"" with SIS 1.1. As a result, he is not promising that direct TCP/IP support will be in SIS 1.1, as he does not want to hold up its release much longer. But SIS 1.1 has many more connection options than SIS 1.0, and I can confirm what Max has just said. If you can make a TCP/IP Telnet connection to Delphi, then you can use the Delphi library option in SIS to surf the web under an error-free TCP/IP connection. So although this is an indirect way of using Marinetti, it does work. I would guess that as soon as Geoff can resolve the problems with direct connections, he will make the TCP/IP library available as a freely available update. Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Tue 26 Jan 1999 - 176 days till KFest '99 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 2.6 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing on a PowerMac 8200/120 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 19853, GO COM A2) NO GSICQ FROM SHEPPY I have no plans to do an ICQ for the IIgs. I have a """""""""""""""""""" strong dislike of ICQ; it's not very reliable, even on machines that are officially supported. I can't imagine that a hack on my part would be very good. AIM, on the other hand, is stable and reliable and, frankly, has more features (at least on the Mac it does, as compared to ICQ for Mac, which is just awful). Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19305, GO COM A2) COG 3.0 APPROACHES COG has no way of deleting a single message within the """""""""""""""""" archive. It would just take far too long to achieve this using scripting. If you stop reading, then when you come back, you should pick it up from that point. You can archive individual messages separately, and so build a file of your favourite messages. COG3 will more powerful message reading facilities, so you can choose to read threads, and then pick an individual message from that thread to read. COG3 also has a 'Housekeeping' function which 'cleans' your archives into more manageable sized files. There is a very powerful search function to look through those files for up to two target strings. As a result, as long as you have enough hard disk space, you will not ever need to delete anything, as it will be very much easier to find an individual message from the archives. COG3 is getting nearer day by day... If you have not already updated to Spectrum 2.2, now would be a good time to do it. Without Spectrum 2.2 you will not be able to utilise COG3... Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Sun 31 Jan 1999 - 171 days till KFest '99 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 2.6 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing on a PowerMac 8200/120 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 19983, GO COM A2) SSII AND SMB? Let me put it this way... """"""""""""" A few friends of mine have Nintendo machines, and there's only been one Nintendo game that I've played that really grabbed me. That was Super Mario Brothers. I really enjoy playing that game, and for the past few years, have actually been silently wishing for a IIGS version of the game. So, yes, I would love to become involved in a Super Mario Bros project on the IIGS. And, as an added (yet personal) benefit, it might just help me break my addiction to GShisen in much the same way that GShisen finally cured me of my addiction to Freecell, and how before that, Freecell broke me of my Mah Jongg addiction ;-) Joe Kohn (JOE_KOHN, 19336, GO COM A2) PUBLIC POSTINGS """"""""""""""" KFEST 1999 BLATANT PLUG--#1 IN A SERIES, COLLECT THEM ALL For the past 10 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" years, Apple II enthusiasts from around the globe have made an annual pilgrimage to Kansas City, Missouri, to learn more about their computers, share their knowledge with others, and rekindle the spirit that has made their virtual community unique and powerful. Kfest has become a rich tradition. We are pleased to announce that in 1999, the tradition continues ... From July 21 through July 25, Kfest '99 will be in session on the campus of Avila College in Kansas City. Sessions on a wide variety of Apple II topics will be conducted July 22-23. A vendor fair and product demos will occur on July 24. As always, the Kfest committee is working to make this year's event the best ever. Kfest '99 will provide the perfect opportunity for attendees to make new friends, renew acquaintances, see the faces of on-line neighbors they've chatted with through the years, meet some of the programmers, developers, writers and publishers who help keep their computer platform viable in today's world, and hear lectures on computer issues and witness demonstrations of new and old hardware and software. Most of all, they'll have fun! So, you may ask, does this mean Kfest has everything an Apple II user would want? Well, no. There are some things Kfest '99 won't provide. We can almost guarantee you won't get much sleep. We can also guarantee that you won't mind a bit. In fact, you won't want to sleep much for fear you'll miss something! Last year's Kfest was one of the best ever, and was highlighted by a steady stream of new product releases, announcements and demonstrations. Among the software titles released were GSoft BASIC, WebWorks GS, Disk Access II and the TABBS CD-ROM. Among new titles announced were NiftySpell, Marinetti 2.0, Spectrum 2.2 and Spectrum Internet Suite 1.1 It's too early to know what Kfest '99 will produce. Be assured it will once again be a special event. Now is the time to make plans for Kfest '99. As always, staying in the Avila dorms is the recommended method of attendance. Much of the special magic occurs after hours, and being on hand for informal, spontaneous events will make your Kfest experience even more enjoyable. Avila College will be providing up to 80 rooms for Kfest '99 attendees. So there should be plenty of room for everybody on campus. If you would prefer to stay off-campus, there are a number of hotels and motels close by. Off-campus registrations are also available. Ready to sign up? We hope so! You won't regret it. Stay tuned for registration information. It will be posted as it becomes available. And that will be very soon!! Meanwhile ... JOIN THE KFEST '99 MAILING LIST!! To subscribe to the Kfest Information Mailing List, send email to majordomo@kfest.org. In the BODY of the message, place the following text: subscribe kfest You will receive a confirmation email. In order to be signed up for the list, you will have to respond to this confirmation as the instructions dictate. You will then be able send and read messages on the mailing list. If you have other questions about KFest, or wish to make suggestions, you can find answers via the Internet. Just send an email message to kfest@intrec.com or kfest-help@kfest.org, or visit the World Wide Web page at http://www.kfest.org. The Kfest '99 Committee Cindy Adams (Kfest Big Cheese) (JUICEDGS, 18998, GO COM A2) PROBOOT AND Y2K A ProBOOT-related announcement. """"""""""""""" Some or all of you may need to use Apple's date patcher to get ProDOS 8 to work with dates from 1999 onward. If so, and you have ProBOOT installed, you need to REMOVE ProBOOT using the ProBOOT Installer program BEFORE running Apple's date patcher utility (otherwise, the utility will tell you you're not using a compatible version of ProDOS). Once the update has been completed, you can reinstall ProBOOT. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19063, GO COM A2) THE SAGA OF GSAIM a gsAIM progress note... """"""""""""""""" Initial Buddy List support is in place. I'm going to add the buddy list editor window today. Status dialogs now display while connecting to the Internet and connecting to AIM, and errors are handled better. Icons are now drawn in the buddy list indicating if the buddy is online via AOL or AIM, and if they're currently idle. Warning level information is displayed in the buddy list, so you know if your buddy has been "warned" by other users for inappropriate behavior. In general, it's coming along really well. I have high hopes of releasing the first beta version to the public this month, at which point I'll start accepting shareware payments. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19204, GO COM A2) <<<<< I'm pleased to announce that the BETA preview release of gsAIM, """"" version 1.0b4, is now available for download from the official gsAIM web site at . gsAIM is an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) compatible internet messaging NDA that lets you hold up to 20 two-way conversations at once with other people using AIM compatible software (including AOL's own Windows and Mac software). gsAIM is SHAREWARE. Every time you open it, you'll be reminded of this, until you pay the $10 shareware fee, which can be paid at . In addition, the preferences and buddy list information will not be saved until you register the software. Note that gsAIM 1.0b4 is still in beta testing, and there may be bugs (possibly serious bugs) in the software. However, the software now has all the features that the 1.0 version will have when it's completed. gsAIM 1.0b4 features: Buddy Lists - Add your friends to your buddy list, and whenever they're online they show up in an onscreen window. You can then send them a message by double-clicking their name. And if they're away from their computer for a few minutes, an icon will indicate that they're away. Talk While You Work - gsAIM is implemented as an NDA, so you can use it from any Apple IIgs desktop application, while you work. Talk a Lot - You can have up to 20 conversations going on at a time! Talk to lots of your friends! Every conversation appears in its own window, with the username of the person you're talking to in the title bar. I hope everyone enjoys gsAIM. Please email sheppy@sheppyware.net if you have questions, or if you encounter a bug. Bug reports posted online somewhere may not be seen, and we all want this software to be as good as possible! Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19478, GO COM A2) <<<<< gsAIM 1.0b4 has been uploaded here on Delphi as well. Watch for an """"" announcement from the staff when it's released. Until then, you can get it from my Web site, or at ftp://ftp.sheppyware.net/pub/apple_iigs/gsAIM10b4.bxy. Enjoy! Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19479, GO COM A2) <<<<< In a bizarre quirk of poor timing, the day I chose to release """"" gsAIM, AOL changed the format of its instant message network data packets. :) I just replaced gsAIM on my web site (http://www.sheppyware.net/software/gsAIM) with version 1.0b5, which is compatible with both the old and new formats, and will probably work if they change the format again later. Sorry for the inconvenience. :) Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 19486, GO COM A2) LOOKING GOOD IN PRINT AND OTHERWISE WITH SSII Based on an e-mail question """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" just sent to me, it's apparent that not everyone reading Delphi's A2 knows about Harmonie, so.... Harmonie _________________________________________________________________ Use An HP LaserJet Or DeskJet On An Apple IIGS An agreement has recently been reached between Shareware Solutions II, Vitesse, and Harmonie author Bill Heineman that results in Shareware Solutions II becoming the new publisher of the Harmonie set of GS/OS printer drivers. Harmonie is a collection of GS/OS printer drivers that permits IIGS owners to output data onto the printed page using three different types of high performance, high quality printers: 1) Laser printers that emulate the widely used Hewlett-Packard LaserJet standard, including the LaserJet IIp, III, IV, 5L, 6L and 1100. 2) Inkjet printers that emulate Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printers, including the DeskJet (or DeskWriter) 340, 400, 500, 520, 560c, 600, 660c, 670, 672c, 680c, 682c, 690c and 800 series printers which are not designated as Windows only printers (or DeskWriters that are not designated as PowerPC Only). Please note that the DeskJet 710, 712, 720, 722 820 and 1000 series are Windows-only printers and will not work on the IIGS. 3) 24-pin dot-matrix printers and inkjets that emulate Epson LQ printers, including models manufactured by Epson, NEC, Panasonic, and many others. Additionally, Harmonie also includes greatly improved GS/OS drivers for the ImageWriter II and ImageWriter LQ dot-matrix printers, and for Apple's original StyleWriter I printer. Harmonie also provides driver support for several Parallel Interface Cards including the Grappler Plus, ProGrappler, AE Parallel Pro, Epson APL, FingerPrint G, II Print and the Marcey Parallel card. Harmonie also includes a special serial Port Driver that enables printers that have a serial interface to be used with Harmonie (Note: Most HP printers manufactured in the last few years include only a Parallel interface; some older DeskJets included only a serial interface.). Harmonie works with all standard IIGS programs that use the IIGS Print Manager, such as AppleWorks GS, Platinum Paint, HyperCard IIGS, and Quick Click Calc; the most notable exception of programs that do not work with the Harmonie drivers is The Print Shop GS. Aside from The Print Shop GS, Harmonie should work just fine with all of your GS/OS based software. Harmonie allows you to take full advantage of high quality printers, up to a certain point. On HP laser printers, Harmonie will output data to the printed page at a maximum of 300 dots per inch resolution, even on laser printers that are capable of printing at higher resolutions. On DeskJet printers, Harmonie is limited to printing in color at 300 dots per inch, and at 600 x 300 dots per inch resolution in black and white. Despite those limitations, tens of thousands of Apple IIGS owners who purchased Vitesse's Harmonie are thrilled with the high quality output that they can achieve at 300 dots per inch or at 600 x 300 dots per inch. Harmonie is, in essence, an extension to the GS/OS Operating System. Once the Harmonie drivers are installed and you've gotten used to having a high quality ink jet or laser printer connected to your IIGS, you'll soon come to think of Harmonie as such an integral component of GS/OS that you'll be printing to those high quality printers with nary a second thought and with all of the ease of use you now associate with the ImageWriter. In other words, thanks to Harmonie, printing on laser and ink jet printers is simply a matter of "plug and print." Vitesse has been selling the Harmonie package of printer drivers for $29.95, and Shareware Solutions II is very pleased to be able to lower the price to $20, which includes postage to anywhere in the world. Because Vitesse's activities in the Apple II world have been decreasing for the past year or two, the v2.11 update was never really promoted, and many current owners of Vitesse's Harmonie have absolutely no idea that Harmonie had ever been updated to support 600 x 300 dpi printing. For that reason, Shareware Solutions II would like to extend a low cost update offer to those of you who have older versions of Vitesse's Harmonie. The cost of the update is $7, but in order to qualify for that lower cost update, you must return your original Harmonie disk for verification (it will be returned to you) or submit a copy of your Vitesse receipt. To order Harmonie, send checks or money orders to: Joe Kohn Shareware Solutions II 166 Alpine St San Rafael, CA 94901 (JOE_KOHN, 19186, GO COM A2) <<<<< Q: What are some of the benefits of being a subscriber to Shareware """"" Solutions II? A: The exclusive software available from Shareware Solutions II. In just the latest 24 page issue of the newsletter, subscribers were informed how they and they alone could purchase the following for $5 each: - The Gate - Space Fox - Martin's Travel Photos - A 2 disk collection of IIGS 3200 color Super Hi Res graphics that have been converted from Seattle FilmWorks' digitized 35 mm photographs. - Beyond Kfest '98: A 2 disk collection including GShisen, an Applesoft to ASCII plug-in for Babelfish, the LILAN program launcher, 5 updates to Sheppy's IIGS software, press releases issued at Kfest 98, a transcript of a Kfest 98 chat, FontPimp, Word Works Pro Unplugged, and six recent issues of Delphi's A2 Lamp newsletter. - AWGS Desktop Publishing Disk - A 2 disk collection that includes all the winning entries in a Desktop Publishing contest for AppleWorks GS that was conducted by Shareware Solutions II. - Telecomm 98: A collection of IIGS freeware that includes Marinetti v2.0, Crock O' Gold v2.7, Time Zone Cdev, and DeskTop Alarm NDA. In addition to the above _exclusive_ software titles, Shareware Solutions II subscribers learned how they could get non-exclusive software such as Bernie ][ The Rescue, HardPressed and Return of Cogito delivered right to their door for $5. And, they learned all about the $25 TABBS CD-ROM collection. Subscribers were even told how they could get GSoft BASIC - The FREE Version delivered to their door for free. And, how to get Brutal Deluxe's LemminGS for free. All that, and much, much more appeared in the latest 24 page issue of the Shareware Solutions II newsletter. A 6 issue subscription to Shareware Solutions II is $25 for delivery to US or Canada; $40 for delivery anywhere else. Joe Kohn Shareware Solutions II 166 Alpine St San Rafael, CA 94901 http://www.crl.com/~joko (JOE_KOHN, 19335, GO COM A2) LOW COST GS'S FROM FARGO Hey gang, """""""""""""""""""""""" I received the following e-mail from an Apple user who apparently found the Juiced.GS home page on the Web. I wanted to pass it along in case anyone is interested on contacting the fellow about his offerings .... Max +++ My name is Todd Kaste and I am from Fargo, North Dakota. I am emailing you to give you news on a number (around 40) of nice IIgs systems I've bought from a local organization. These systems are in great shape, come with keyboards, monitor, 3.5 and 5.25 drives. I didn't get much in terms of software for these units though, so they just come as is. I'm not a business or do not represent one...I'm just a serious mac nut. I'm looking to get $20 per system plus shipping. They are fully guaranteed. Thank you for your time. Todd Kaste 1345 2nd Avenue South Fargo, ND 58103 701-271-0370 tkaste@forumcomm.com +++ (JUICEDGS, 19434, GO COM A2) UPDATED DOWNLOADING OF FREE.GSOFT GSoft BASIC, The FREE Version! is """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" available for download at http://www.hypermall.com/byteworks. The download was giving some people problems, though. I've made some changes to the download for GSoft BASIC, The FREE Version! It seems to work with at least one of the combinations of browser and machine that it failed with before. If you had trouble with the download before, or just never got around to trying to download the free version of GSoft BASIC, please stop by and give the new file a try. Let me know if you can't download this version; if you couldn't download the last one, but can download this file, let me know that, too. Thanks, Mike Westerfield (BYTEWORKS, 19670, GO COM A2) A THREE RING CIRCUS Several recent additions to the Mother of All Apple """"""""""""""""""" II Web Rings (http://www.syndicomm.com/a2web/a2webring.html) are highlighted. Of particular note is George Wilde's homepage at http://www.wilde.org/grwsystems/; Mr. Wilde has made his popular IIgs shareware apps UtilityWorks and UtilityLaunch free - the only caveat is that you have to register them on his web page. * http://www.haaug.org/a2webring.html HAAUG HAAUG's meetings are held the 3rd Saturday of each month. The Main Presentation is held at 11:15AM. Hour-long sessions on topics as diverse as Quicken, spreadsheets, ClarisWorks, Powerbooks and Mac fundamentals begin at 9:00AM and continue through 4:00PM. Visitors are encouraged to come and go according to interest. * http://www.wilde.org/grwsystems/ grw Systems Home page for two highly acclaimed Apple IIGS utilities - UtilityWorks and UtilityLaunch. UtilityWorks is a do-almost-everything utility that can read and display most Apple II file formats and perform numerous Apple II file and disk operations, including disk backup. UtilityLaunch is a general purpose Apple IIGS launcher that provides launch buttons which can be easily customized by the user. * http://nj5.injersey.com/~russell The Official Russell Nielson Software Website Exclusive 8-bit software and Zip disks full of Apple II software. * http://www.cgocable.net/~apple2 Terence J. Boldt's Apple II Page This site has the latest updates on a hardware project (ProDOS compatible ROM-Drive). It also has some personal Apple II pictures and miscellaneous Apple II info. * http://ww2.dixie-net.com/jnaron3/Apple2/index.html Apple II Gaming Resource This site is devoted to gaming on the Apple II platform, whether through emulation or on the actual machines. Contains information on various genres of games, as well as information on emulation and emulators. Welcome aboard! { Join the Apple II Web Ring!} David K. (DKERWOOD, 19731, GO COM A2) REVISED A2-WEB CLASSIFIEDS I've had to make one substantial change to """""""""""""""""""""""""" A2-Web (http://www.syndicomm.com/a2web/) which hopefully will make visitors happier, and my life easier... The Mother of All Apple II Classified Ads web page was just getting too darned popular, and I wasn't able to spend the time on a daily basis editing ads and putting them in place manually. To fix that, I've automated the process completely. The same instructions still apply: * Ads are restricted for personal and non-profit use only, * Each ad is limited to no more than 250 unformatted characters, * You can have one email or web link per ad, * Your ad can run for one calendar month from the time it is posted. http://www.wbwip.com/a2web/a2wantad.html { Join the Apple II Web Ring!} David K. (DKERWOOD, 19733, GO COM A2) BEST OF THE BEST """""""""""""""" 19307 12-JAN 22:11 Productivity Software RE: GraphicWriter III V2.0 (Re: Msg 19291) From: JUICEDGS To: BARRY_REES What a fascinating discussion your posts about Bernie have triggered! :-) Here I sit, staring into the screen of a 10-year-old computer on a 13-year-old platform, reading posts from talented and accomplished programmers and dedicated, expert users discussing the FUTURE of the Apple IIgs, NOT the past. It does my heart good. :-) I've only explored Bernie's emulation with a few programs so far, telecom-related mostly. Those who have not seen the IIgs in operation on a Power Mac will be amazed at what this emulator accomplishes. It's almost as if the Bernie Boys =have= created an entire new platform because of the way it brings our old programs to life. I have been using SIS in Bernie a lot in recent days, and the enhanced performance of the web browser is incredible. The display is crisp and easy to read, and those scripts really rip at the higher processing speed. Likewise, COG's performance is greatly enhanced, if you can imagine that. COG already runs pretty fast on a power GS. I am seriously considering creating the next issue of Juiced.GS via Bernie and GW III 2.1, just to see how it goes. (I would have to transfer the files from the PowerBook to the GS for printing, but that's not big deal.) We'll see. I'll bet GW III rips and snorts under Bernie, just like the other apps I've tried do. OK, enough out of me about Bernie. I have only one thing left to say: Woof Max [EOA] [A2P]------------------------------ A2Pro_DUCTIVITY | ----------------------------------- Checking out A2PRO on Delphi """""""""""""""""""""""""""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@sheppyware.net] SHEPPY RELEASES IDLETIME EXTENSION I released my IdleTime extension """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" today. This extension lets applications and the like find out how long it's been since the last user activity, and what the last event to be posted was. gsAIM uses this to implement the "idle user" feature. I've made it, and the developer docs, available so that other developers can use it, and avoid having to implement toolbox patches of their own for the same thing. It's freeware, and I will grant just about anyone that asks permission to distribute it with their software, but I do ask that you check with me first. Hopefully it'll be released here in A2Pro soon, but for now you can get it from my FTP site: ftp://ftp.sheppyware.net/pub/apple_iigs/IdleTime10.bxy. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 2415, GO COM A2PRO) >>>>> So, what you're saying here is that an application or extension """"" (ie. an NDA) could use your IdleTime extension to wait until the user hasn't done anything with the system for a predetermined time and can then do something? That still doesn't sound very clear but basically what I'm getting at is that it lets programs that want to do stuff in the background do so without slowing down the application the user is using while the user is actually trying to do something with it? That's a little better but I think I'll let you try to understand those before trying to do a better job. :-) Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University in A2Pro ** HyperCard IIgs Course now in session! ** (JBLAKENEY, 2429, GO COM A2PRO) <<<<< Well, there are a few things you can do. """"" For example, gsAIM uses it to check to see if the user has been idle for 10 minutes. If they have, gsAIM sends a message to the AIM server that says "my user is idle, tell their friends that they're idle." This causes the icon next to that user's name to change to a little clock on all the online AIM users that have you in their buddy lists. Another use would be this: you're an FTP program, running as an NDA. To be nice to the user, your RunAction is scheduled to occur only 5 times per second. But this limits your file transfer rate somewhat. You could watch IdleTime to see if the user has been idle for five minutes. Once they become idle, you change your RunAction time so it gets called 30 times per second, so you can do your networking stuff more often. Or you could have a telnet NDA that automatically logs the user off if they've been idle for more than 30 minutes. These are just a few Internet-related examples. You could use it for non-Internet type stuff. For instance, you write a file backup INIT or DA, and use IdleTime to watch for the user being idle for an hour, then automatically start a backup at that point. There are lots of uses for it. :) Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 2431, GO COM A2PRO) >>>>> Think of it as providing the functionality of the Spectrum script """"" command 'Set IdleTimer' at a system level, to any application that requires it ... Ewen Wannop - Speccie - Sun 24 Jan 1999 - 178 days till KFest '99 Delivered without using a IIgs by Spectrum 2.2 & Crock O' Gold 2.6 Bernie ][ the Rescue 2.0 woofing on a PowerMac 8200/120 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ewannop/ (EWANNOP, 2434, GO COM A2PRO) DOMODALWINDOW MAYHEM I have code that started crashing under very """""""""""""""""""" specific circumstances yesterday. I traced the problem to four bytes of garbage being blasted into the code of the fopen() function. I eventually traced down where the blasting occurs -- the DoModalWindow call is blasting four bytes of memory. Can anyone think of a reason why? Here's my call: id = DoModalWindow(&eventRec, NULL, NULL, NULL, mwUpdateAll|mwIBeam); id is a local "long", eventRec is a global EventRecord. The window is a standard alert-frame dialog box. It happens the very first time DoModalWindow() is called in this code (but, oddly, not any of the other times it gets called just like this). Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 2424, GO COM A2PRO) <<<<< Turns out this was a reentrancy problem. DoModalWindow was calling """"" SystemTask, which was causing my NDA's Action handler to get called again, which would loop and cause major disaster. :) Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 2425, GO COM A2PRO) <<<<< I added a mutex (mutual exclusion) flag in my action proc handler: """"" void doaction(word code, long parm) { ... if (mutexFlag) { return; } mutexFlag = 1; ... do stuff mutexFlag = 0; } This isn't a true semaphore because I'm ignoring recursive calls entirely instead of blocking and letting them run. However, in my case, the only recursive call that will occur should be runAction, so this should be fine. And doing a true blocking semaphore would probably chew up the stack fast, especially with doaction() being called six times a second or more to handle a runAction code. :) Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd Macintosh & PowerPC Programmers Forum (SHEPPY, 2447, GO COM A2PRO) [EOA] [SIZ]------------------------------ SIZZLING SHAREWARE | ----------------------------------- FontPimp 1.0 by Lysergic Software """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" by Ryan M. Suenaga, B.A., M.S.W., L.S.W. [thelamp@delphi.com] FONTPIMP ~~~~~~~~ Program Name: FontPimp File Name: FONTPIMP.BXY Database: Utility Software File Size: 21632 Program Type: GS/OS Application Author: Lysergic Software Version Reviewed: 1.0 Distribution: Charityware, recommended donation of 10 cents per converted font to a charity; see documentation for details Requirements: 20.5K of drive space, _Pointless_ Given recent events, it may seem hard to believe, but Apple Computer, Inc. and Microsoft teamed up to develop the TrueType font format. This was an outline font (as opposed to bitmapped font) format which allowed smooth scaling of fonts no matter what size was requested. While Apple itself did not build this technology into the IIgs System Software, our friends at Westcode Software created the wondrous Control Panel _Pointless_ which brought TrueType fonts to the Apple IIgs. Simply use _Pointless_ on TrueType fonts developed for the Macintosh and you suddenly have beautiful, smoothly rendered fonts on your IIgs. Over time, however, more and more TrueType fonts have become available on the Windows platform than have been on the Mac, and there was no straight forward way of using these fonts on the IIgs. While both the Windows and Mac fonts are TrueType, there are differences in how the data that make up the fonts are stored, and _Pointless_ only knows how to deal with the Macintosh version TrueType. While there are several Macintosh products that can do the font conversion, for the Mac-less among us, what to do, what to do? Lysergic Software comes to the rescue with _FontPimp_, their IIgs TrueType font utility. _FontPimp_ has several features, but it does one thing very well--it converts fonts. It will take a TrueType font ready for the Windows platform and make it usable with a IIgs running _Pointless_. It opens the door for literally thousands of fonts that were previously unavailable on the IIgs to liven up those _AppleWorks GS_ and _GraphicWriter III_ documents. To test _FontPimp_, I simply spent some time downloading some Windows TrueType fonts from Delphi's IBM PC & Compatibles Forum Database. Windows files usually come packed as .zip archives, analogous to the Binary II and NuFX (.bxy) archives that Apple II software is seen in online. To unzip the files, I used the shareware _PMPUnZip_. I then started up _FontPimp_ and let it do its thing. Of the six fonts I downloaded, _FontPimp_ was able to convert three of them. While a 50% success rate is not impressive, this is far from a scientific study, and it's not uncommon to have problems using even Macintosh TrueTypes on the IIgs. While the TrueType standard is well known, many of the public domain or freeware fonts don't follow it as closely as it could, resulting in some incompatibilities which show up when you try to convert fonts to different platforms. Others have had more success than I did using _FontPimp_ to convert the fonts, and what fonts did convert correctly were absolutely stunning. _FontPimp_ has a somewhat hidden feature as well--it allows you to convert your IIgs fonts back into the Windows format. You can do this using the Edit command in _FontPimp_'s File pulldown menu, then hitting the "Save TTF" button. That way you can match up your fonts between your IIgs and, say, the Windows box at work. There are several other features of _FontPimp_ for use with fonts, many related to such obscure things as a font's ID# and internal name. There is documentation included with _FontPimp_ that explains these options at some length. You may well learn more than you ever wanted to do about fonts on the IIgs just by reading the documentation! So, for those of you who've been looking at the fonts on your office's Windows machine in envy, wait no longer--you finally have the tool you need in _FontPimp_. And for those who haven't been suffering this way, you now have a whole new world of fonts to choose from. Have fun with it. :: DISCUSSED ON DELPHI :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : : : WYTYSYDG: What you thought you saw, you didn't get. : : : ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: LUMITECH :::::: [EOA] [INN]------------------------------ EXTRA INNINGS | ----------------------------------- About The Lamp! The Lamp! is published on the fifteenth of every month in """"""""""""""" the Database of the II Scribe Forum on the Delphi online service (GO CUS 11). 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 1999 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. All rights reserved. * To reach The Lamp! on Internet email send mail to thelamp@sheppyware.net * Back issues of The Lamp! are available in the II Scribe Forum on Delphi as well as The Lamp! Home Page, http://lamp.sheppyware.net. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Delphi Online Services, Syndicomm, Inc., or Ryan M. Suenaga. Forum messages are reprinted verbatim and are included in this publication with permission from the individual authors. Delphi Online Services, Syndicomm, Inc. and Ryan M. Suenaga 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]