NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #26

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Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca!ee.ualberta.ca!jpenne From: jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca (Jerry Penner) Subject: GEnieLamp Nov 1992 [4 parts] Message-ID: <jpenne.721126159@ee.ualberta.ca> Sender: news@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca Nntp-Posting-Host: eigen.ee.ualberta.ca Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 08:49:19 GMT Lines: 1006 This is GEnieLamp, an Apple II newsletter. It's in four parts. This is part one. --------------------- cut here --------------------- |||||| |||||| || || |||||| |||||| || || ||| || || || || ||| |||| |||||| || |||| Your || || || || ||| || || |||||| |||||| || || |||||| |||||| GEnie Lamp A2/A2Pro || |||||| || || |||||| RoundTable || || || ||| ||| || || || |||||| |||||||| |||||| RESOURCE! || || || || || || || ||||| || || || || || ~ A2/A2PRO_ductivity ~ ~ WHO'S WHO: MORGAN DAVIS ~ ~ CHECKING OUT INTERNET ~ ~ HOT FILES ~ HOT MESSAGES ~ HOT ROUNDTABLE NEWS ~ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// GEnie Lamp A2/A2Pro ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.1, Issue 8 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Publisher.................................GEnie Information Services Editor-In-Chief........................................John Peters Editor.............................................Darrel Raines ~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~ ~ GEnieLamp IBM ~ ~ GEnieLamp ST ~ ~ GEnieLamp Elsewhere ~ ~ GEnieLamp A2/A2Pro ~ ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ >>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE APPLE II/A2Pro ROUNDTABLE? <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ~ November 1, 1992 ~ FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] APPLE_TALK .............. [APP] Notes From The Editor. Changing Of The Guard. HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY] HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM] Is That A Letter For Me? World's Fastest Chip. A2/A2PRO_ductivity ...... [A2P] ONLINE FUN .............. [FUN] Take Another Look! Search-ME! WHO'S WHO ............... [WHO] THE MIGHTY QUINN ........ [QUI] Who's Who In Apple II. Milliseconds With Mark. REFLECTIONS ............. [REF] SOFTVIEW ................ [SOF] Thinking Online Communications. LetterSlide: For The Asking. TELETALK ONLINE ......... [TEL] CowTOONS! ............... [COW] Checking Out Internet. Mooooooo Fun! APPLE II ................ [AII] THE ONLINE LIBRARY ...... [LIB] Apple II History, Part 6. Yours For The Downloading. ELSEWHERE ............... [ELS] LOG OFF ................. [LOG] Electronic Publishing On GEnie. GEnieLamp Information. [IDX]""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" READING GEnieLamp GEnieLamp has incorporated a unique indexing """"""""""""""""" system to help make reading the magazine easier. To utilize this system, load GEnieLamp into any ASCII word processor or text editor. In the index you will find the following example: HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM] [*]GEnie Fun & Games. To read this article, set your find or search command to [HUM]. If you want to scan all of the articles, search for [EOA]. [EOF] will take you to the last page, whereas [IDX] will bring you back to the index. MESSAGE INFO To make it easy for you to respond to messages re-printed """""""""""" here in GEnieLamp, you will find all the information you need immediately following the message. For example: (SMITH, CAT6, TOP1, MSG:58/M475) _____________| _____|__ _|___ |____ |_____________ |Name of sender CATegory TOPic Msg.# Page number| In this example, to respond to Smith's message, log on to page 475 enter the bulletin board and set CAT 6. Enter your REPly in TOPic 1. A message number that is surrounded by brackets indicates that this message is a "target" message and is referring to a "chain" of two or more messages that are following the same topic. For example: {58}. ABOUT GEnie GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and """"""""""" weekend access to more than 100 services including electronic mail, online encyclopedia, shopping, news, entertainment, single-player games, multi-player chess and bulletin boards on leisure and professional subjects. With many other services, including the largest collection of files to download and the best online games, for only $6 per hour (non-prime-time/2400 baud). To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 1-800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH. Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99368,GENIE and hit RETURN. The system will then prompt you for your information. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" /////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / "INCOMING!!" / ////////////////////////////////////////////// WALLY.W //// [EOA] [FRM]////////////////////////////// FROM MY DESKTOP / ///////////////////////////////// Notes From The Editor """"""""""""""""""""" By John Peters [GENIELAMP] TOP OF THE PAGE Hang on to your hat! The first annual GEnieLampLighter """"""""""""""" Awards will be announced in the January issue of GEnieLamp magazine. The awards are designed to honor PD/Shareware/ Freeware programs and their programmers for excellence and creativity in their respective fields. Categories for the awards are as follows: >>> GEnieLampLighter Award <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 1) PROGRAM OF THE YEAR 2) PROGRAMMER OF THE YEAR 3) Best Utility 4) Best Personal Productivity or Business Program 5) Best Desk Accessory or TSR program 6) Best Telecommunications Program 7) Best Graphics Program or Utility 8) Best Educational Program 9) Best Game 10) Best Programming Software or Utility 11) Best Sound or Music Program or Utility 12) Best Use of Graphics In a Game 13) Best Use of Graphics in a Non-Game 14) Most Used Program or Utility 15) All Time Favorite [*][*][*] Read A Good Bookette Lately? Electronic Publishing comes to GEnie! The """""""""""""""""""""""""""" GEnieLamp libraries are filling up fast with new bookettes, (A BOOK on a diskETTE), magazines, newsletters and even online comics. Everything from poetry and short-stories to How-to-do-it text files are being uploaded on a daily basis. Indeed, electronic publishing is the future - you can find it NOW in the GEnieLamp RoundTable. (M515;3) Disktop Publishing Association Nationally known Disktop Publishing """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Association (DPA) has found a home in the GEnieLamp RoundTable. If you have any interest in electronic publishing you should consider joining DPA. Membership applications are now being accepted via GE Mail for the Disktop Publishing Association. Presently, there is _no_ fee for you to join, so what are you waiting for? (For your convenience, you will find a DPA application at the end of this magazine). For more information, see GEnie Elsewhere in this issue or drop by the GEnieLamp RoundTable and visit the DPA in CAT6, or you may leave GE Mail to the founder and president of DOA, Ron Albright. (GE Mail=RALBRIGHT) Until next month... John Peters GEnieLamp E-Magazine ///////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / "Two bee ore knot too bea." / ///////////// STEPHENSON //// [EOA] [APP]////////////////////////////// APPLE_TALK / ///////////////////////////////// Changing of the Guard """"""""""""""""""""" By Darrel Raines [D.RAINES] EDITOR'S VIEW This issue of GEnieLamp marks the changing of the guard at """"""""""""" the editor position. Tom Schmitz, who carried the Apple II version of GEnieLamp from conception through the first six issues, has decided to step down from the helm of this newsletter to better pursue his day time job. Tom had a few things to say upon making his decision. I reproduce here a copy of the farewell letter he placed in the Bulletin Board area. [*][*][*] A FAREWELL MESSAGE Well, many of you may have noticed I haven't been """""""""""""""""" online much lately. And there is a good reason for this. Recently I was promoted at the Life Foundation, the AIDS Foundation of Hawaii on Oahu, to run the Free Legal Clinic and to be the Development Liaison between staff and volunteers. Both are relatively full time responsibilities and have left me little time at home with my modem. (The only thing at home seeing much of me is my bed.) And since I do not have the free time as before, I have stepped down as editor of GEnieLamp A2/A2Pro. I can no longer do it justice, and if it were not for John Peters' and Phil Shapiro's excellent work, the October issue would never have made it. GEnieLamp is truly something extraordinary. It is the first major online, regular newsletter of high caliber quality. Much more than a round-up of monthly events, it brings interviews with industry luminaries, and timely articles on interesting subjects. I encourage all of you to keep reading GEnieLamp and to support those who create it with your praise and with your articles. It means a lot to the staff when you give feedback. It tells them, hey, someone cares about what we do. And while I may be biased, I do think the A2/A2Pro edition has the best damn GEnieLamp staff online and that this magazine will get even better and bigger than even I ever imagined. And to everyone who has ever written or edited for GEnieLamp A2/A2Pro, all I can give you is my thanks, but let it be known you have made it a fun experience looking foreword to being the first to see these great articles and to viewing the final product on the first of the month. To the A2 & A2Pro staff, I have been on GEnie, CompuServe and America Online through the years. No one, but no one can even come close to the fun, comraderie and quality you maintain in A2 and A2Pro. I'll still be online, though not as much. And I will still read GEnieLamp on the first of every month. (TOM.SCHMITZ, CAT3, TOP3, MSG:78/M645;1) >>> SETTING IN OUR NEW COURSE <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Those of you who have read previous issues of this newsletter will already be familiar with me. I have been writing the games column and the somewhat sporadic programming column. Both of these assignments will be re-evaluated during the next two months as I start to settle into my new responsibilities as editor of GEnieLamp. For this month, both columns will be on hold. The gaming column will return in December with a few more good things to say about Eamon. More information about these columns will be available in the next issue. Despite the fact that the regular articles mentioned above will not be included in this issue of our newsletter, we still have many new and exciting articles available for the first time in this newsletter. Along those lines, Jim Couch has joined the staff of GEnieLamp to provide coverage of the A2Pro roundtable on a regular basis. Phil has written another article that will stimulate your "thinking muscle". Mel Fowler gives us a peek at a new shareware game available here on GEnie for all IIgs's. Morgan Davis drops in for an interview and reveals some very interesting history of a famous Apple software development company. Any way that you slice this newsletter pie, the results should be plenty of interesting reading in your future. Be sure and note the upcoming RTC conferences that are held regularly in both the A2 and A2Pro areas. Paul Lutus, author of AppleWriter and many other older programs for the Apple II computer, will join us on November 10 at 9:30 pm eastern time. We hope to get some interesting information out of Paul. Join us if you can. In the next section I will present a variety of interesting posts that have appeared during the last month in the bulletin boards for A2. These messages can be identified by the footer attached to each item. (See the introductory notes on how to interpret the footer.) If you find the topic, excerpt, or just the interplay between various people to be stimulating, then please jump to that topic on a weekly basis and read what is new. Our hope is that you will find something new in this section to keep you guessing. And now, please enjoy the first fruits of our efforts in the post-Tom days for Apple II GEnieLamp. [*][*][*] /////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / "Bribes for new EdHak features?? I don't recall ever turning / / down such a bribe. Are we talking money? chocolate chip / / cookies? eternal bliss? any of the these would probably / / work just fine, or even getting 2 or 3 people to request / / the same thing. / //////////////////////////////////////////////// C.HARVEY //// ///////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / "Chocolate chip cookies = eternal bliss <grin>" / ////////////////////////////////// J.MEEHAN3 //// [EOA] [HEY]////////////////////////////// HEY MISTER POSTMAN / ///////////////////////////////// Is That A Letter For Me? """""""""""""""""""""""" By Darrel Raines [D.RAINES] o Apple II ODDS & ENDS o WHAT'S NEW? o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE o APPLE HEADS WANT TO KNOW o MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT >>> Apple II ODDS & ENDS <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""" SPELL IT AGAIN, SAM I thought that I'd post this little ditty that my """"""""""""""""""" wife brought home from work for those of you who use the AppleWorks spelling checker: HUMAN BRAIN NOT YET OBSOLETE: I have a spelling checker, It came with my PC; It plainly marks four my revue Mistakes I cannot sea. I've run this poem threw it, I'm sure your please too no, Its letter perfect in it's weight, My checker tolled me sew. When I ran this through my AppleWorks checker (with no Custom Dictionary) it innocently caught the word "revue." I don't know if that means that the AppleWorks checker is BETTER than most PC checkers or not. According to my Websters, while "revue" (used to indicate a theatrical production) is acceptable, "review" is the preferred spelling, which is what was offered up by AppleWorks. (J.CURTIS8, CAT17, TOP33, MSG:193/M645;1) HOW TO BURY YOUR HARD DRIVE IN FLOPPY DISKS Let me just make an """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" additional comment on top of Gary Utter's. If you have a 32meg partition on your hard drive, and want to back it up to standard Apple format 5.25 disks, here's what you'd be looking at. A 32meg ProDOS volume consists of 65536 block. Each ProDOS-formatted 5.25 disk can hold 280 blocks maximum (this is assuming that there is NOTHING else written on the disk except backup data; most backup utilities will either use a standard-appearing ProDOS disk, which takes up 7 blocks just for overhead, or use the first several blocks of the disk for information on which disk is which). Taking 65536 / 280, we get 234.057 disks, rounding up to 235 floppy disks if the ENTIRE hard drive is full. Since I am still backing up to 3.5 disks, I still tend to keep my 32 meg partitions no more than 20-25 meg full, so I don't have TOO many disks to use when doing a full backup. I would need a maximum of 42 of the 3.5 disks to do a full backup, and even THAT is a bother that keeps me from backing up as often as I should. I'd agree with Gary; invest in a tape drive (if you are using a IIGS, you can get a used Apple Tape drive from Sun Remarketing for about $200) and back up to that. That's what I plan to do when I've dug myself out of my current computer budget hole... :-) (S.WEYHRICH, CAT42, TOP13, MSG:40/M645;1) SUPRISING NEW DEVELOPMENT LINKING HEALTH TO COMPUTER EQUIPMENT """"""""""""""""""""""""" >> ...my wife predicted ill health for me if I bought more computer >> stuff... We got a good laugh off that one! [hehe]. Reminds me of another thing that happened here once, a lady called inquiring about the Pegasus drives, asked me to send more information, but "the prices won't be written all over the information, will it?". I told her that no, there's a brochure with the technical info. and a separate sheet with the prices that she could pull off before showing it to her husband. Well, it seems that the main reason she wanted a Pegasus over any other drive was that it would sit inside the computer and her husband would never know!! Funny, it's usually the other way around. (ECON, CAT35, TOP5, MSG:43/M645;1) HARD DISKS AND THOSE PESKY 5 1/4 IN. DISKS I just wanted to alert """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" everyone that I have just uploaded a wonderful and fantastic IIGS utility that should be of interest to all long term Apple II users. John MacLean's $10 Shareware DOS 3.3 Launcher, file number 19469, allows you to store, and run, DOS 3.3 software on your previously non-DOS 3.3 compatible hard drive. It works for both single sides and double sided DOS 3.3 disks. DOS 3.3 Launcher is desktop based and very very easy to use. It allows you to launch DOS 3.3 BIN files or complete disks, from the Finder. If you want, it'll let you slow down the system to 1 Mhz (necessary for old games), but when you quit from a DOS 3.3 program, it'll return you to the Finder at the GS'es faster speed. This is one of the most useful IIGS shareware programs I've ever seen. Although it can be somewhat difficult to send shareware fees to other countries, please send John $10 if you find this utility useful. As the author of Roger Wagner's Graphics Exchange, John is an accomplished programmer, and if he receives enough shareware registration fees, that very well may serve as encouragement to him, and other Australian programmers, to .release additional software as shareware. (J.KOHN, CAT28, TOP10, MSG:/M645;1) JUST FOR FUN... """"""""""""""" >>"do you know why the chicken crossed the road?"" 1. (Metaphysical answer) Because it was too far to walk around. 2. (Realistic answer) To show the opossum it could be done. (GARY.UTTER, CAT2, TOP13, MSG:47/M645;1) >>> WHAT'S NEW <<< """""""""""""""""" UPCOMING REAL TIME CONVERENCE EVENT! Join us Tuesday, November 10, at """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 09:30 Eastern in the A2 RTC rooms (item #2 on the main menu!) when our conference guest will be PAUL LUTUS, legendary Apple II Pioneer and author of such recently found "Lost Classics" as Apple Writer II and GraFORTH! Don't miss this HISTORIC event right here in A2! THE DEAN'S LIST Check out these exceptional files recently uploaded to """"""""""""""" our library! +19448 TURBO.IDE.BXY Press release for new drive card. 19475 SHOWME.NDA.BXY V1.0B2 Latest version of NDA graphic viewer. +19481 APPLE.HIST.BXY V1.0 It's complete! The long-awaited history of the Apple II computer. 19484 DOS3.3.LNCH.BXY Store and run DOS 3.3 programs from your IIgs hard drive! 19495 FLOP.LAUNCH.BXY V1.1 Launch floppy-based programs via Icons. 19497 GSMEMORY.BXY NDA to show GS memory use. 19511 HWEN3.DHR.BXY Halloween Double HiRes clip art. Part 3. 19517 GSHK.BSE V1.1 Self-Extracting GS-Shrinkit V1.1. No IIgs owner should be without this! +19520 FILMS.ADB.BXY Over 2000 films listed in ADB format. 19531 QUIT.TO.BXY V2.02 New version of IIgs program switcher. 19544 SHOVEIT.BXY Very colorful, thought provoking game. +19555 HWN.TH1.NPS.BXY Halloween & Thanksgiving New Print Shop art. 19567 PLASMALAB2.BXY New version of cullular automata program. + - denotes Apple IIe/IIc compatible file. A NEW HARDWARE PRODUCT FOR THE APPLE IIGS! The SoundMeister is our """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" upcoming stereo digitizer/amplifier board. It not a software product, although it does come with some of that. :) Actually, there are going to be two models: SoundMeister JR. which is basically the equivalent of a Sonic Blaster, both in terms of price and capability. It will be a little bit cleaner however. The SoundMeister, OTH is totally awesome. It uses its own pair of A/Ds to allow one to digitize in stereo up to a hardware selectable 54khz! An expandable buffer alleviates the software so it can perform other tasks such as update a really groovy interface or, best of all, spool samples to disk so you can digitize high quality sources for minutes at a time instead of mere seconds (limited by disk space, really). Both versions share virtually identical output stages providing 1.9w/channel or line level with a software controlled volume level. Is that a bit more detailed than "Its a sound board!"? (ECON, CAT35, TOP10, MSG:/M645;1) >>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" OLD TIMERS (YOU KNOW, PAST 30) """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > Sub: Before the Apple II: Computer Nostalgia Tales of the Good Old > Days... I still have the four copies of ROM, that I got when I first subscribed to Creative Computing. Where is David Ahl? With those articles on building a kit computer. And the center folds, they were great. Does anyone remember what they were. One was a Z80 and one was the mother ship, what were the others? It is fun to drag them out and see computers with wooden side panels. (D.HANELINE1, CAT2, TOP11, MSG:2/M645;1) >>>>> Where is David Ahl? He's still living in Morristown, NJ; I see """"" him at stamp shows. He went through a rough time finding work after "Creative Computing" folded. For awhile, he produced a magazine for....Atari? Amiga? (Until about a year ago, David Ahl was the editor of Atari Explorer. -Ed/JP) Now he's a freelance travel writer, and does freelance writing and publishing for others, too. (L.DEVRIES, CAT2, TOP11, MSG:4/M645;1) >>> APPLE HEADS WANT TO KNOW <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" IS THERE A LASER PRINTER IN YOUR FUTURE? If you want to go the laser """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" printer route, I would recommend that you take a look at the Epson Action Laser II. I have been using one with my GS for about six months and I am very pleased with it. It is LaserJet IIp (and Epson LQ and FX) compatible, 6 pages per minute, has serial and parallel ports, a 100-page sheet feeder, comes with 512K (if you print complex documents from GS/OS you'll want to add at least 1 MB), and, course, gives 300 dpi output. Unless you've got lots of time on your hands I would strongly recommend using a parallel card for complex fonts-and-graphics stuff. The EAL II works like a charm with AppleWorks and other 8-bit programs (where the Epson FX emulation comes in handy, as just about any program can handle that), and does equally well with AWGS, GraphicWriter, etc. It's a very versatile printer. In the most recent Computer Shopper I saw it advertised for $689. I bought mine at an Office Depot for about that price. One caveat: check on the price and availability of the RAM expansion card (usually not included) before buying the printer. I had a hard time finding it (finally did at Flex-USA, and they had lots of them) and it wasn't cheap. I went to 2.5 MB (probably more than I need) and it cost about $250. Another caveat: A new toner cartridge (every 5,000 pages) costs about $95, considerably more the ones for the LaserJets. I haven't yet found a source for refurbished cartridges, which are usually much cheaper and are certainly less wasteful, for the EAL II. I'm hoping that as more of them enter the market, competition will drive down the price of the cartridges. (D.CRUTCHER, CAT12, TOP8, MSG:191/M645;1) CABLE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS """"""""""""""""""""""""""" >"will the cable that runs from a Super Serial card to the IW II work for direct connection to the GS, or do I have to purchase a different cable?" The SS to IW II cable will not work. The SS to the IW (early model) would probably work, but if you're going to buy a cable anyway, why not get a cable that will come off the Serial Port in the IIgs? You need a 8-pin mini-DIN to DB-25 cable, which is also known as a Mac+ to ImageWriter cable. Most dealers wouldn't know what you're talking about if you said a IIgs to ImageWriter cable. Make sure you get a cable that has a round plug on one end, and a 25 pin "D" connector on the other. Don't let them give you a ImageWriter II cable that has a round plug at each end. (R.MERLIN, CAT17, TOP17, MSG:100/M645;1) WHAT ARE MY MONITOR INTERFACE SPEC'S Does anyone know the video output """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" specs for the GS? The owner's manual doesn't list horz and vert frequency. I'm looking to get a VGA monitor that I'd like to switch between my GS and a 486. But I understand that there is probably a compatibility problem due to horz sync rate. OR - does anyone have any advice re connecting a VGA monitor and the GS? Models, video converters, etc? (C.LYON, CAT4, TOP2, MSG:45/M645;1) >>>>> If you have the IIgs set for 60 hz in the control panel (everybody """"" in the USA and NTSC-speaking countries should) then the specs are: vertical: 60 hz, non-interlaced horizontal: 15.750 khz analog RGB, internal composite sync on all three channels external composite sync available (I can get the pinout if you want) Note that most monitors that accept composite sync either require it as an external (i.e. on a wire by itself) or only need internal sync on the Green wire (internal means the sync signal is combined with the video signal). Unfortunately, most PC monitors seem to require separate horizontal and vertical sync (at least they did a few years ago when I was shopping for a new monitor), but with the Mac market I wouldn't be surprised if most of the good ones available now have a Mac connector that you can use directly. It is possible (although a bit kludgy) to make an adapter cable that will go between a IIgs and a separate-sync-only monitor; I've seen it done and I might be able to get a schematic for you. It's really just a normal cable with a couple resistors in the works to keep the two sync lines that the monitor sees from interfering with each other. (TODDPW, CAT4, TOP2, MSG:48/M645;1) GOT A QUESTION? YOUR GEnie FRIENDS CAN HELP IN A FLASH """"""""""""""" Does anyone have a phone number for MECC software publishing? (K.TAGGART, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:72/M645;1) >>>>> The phone number for MECC is: 800-685-6322 or 612-569-1500 """"" (S.MACGREGOR2, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:79/M645;1) >>>>> I have 800-228-3504 or 612-481-3500 for MECC. Address is 3490 """"" Lexington Avenue North / St. Paul, MN, 55216-8097 (J.YANDRASITZ, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:90/M645;1) PRINT QUALITY -- IS IT REAL OR IS IT MEMOREX? """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > Is the print quality from Publish It as good as that from a GS specific > program? Will a 16 bit publishing program be able to take advantage of > Pointless fonts? I haven't used PI4, but version 3 only has a "double strike" mode, which doesn't scale down oversize fonts like Apple's ImageWriter driver does. Hence, the output isn't quite as good. OTOH, it works beautifully with a LaserWriter. A 16 bit program, such as GraphicWriter III, would let you use Pointless, while you can't directly use it with an 8-bit program (you _can_ create bitmaps of any size, and save them for use with an 8-bit program). I published a newsletter for about a year using Publish It 3 and a LaserWriter; people always asked me if I used Quark Xpress or PageMaker, and which Mac I had... B-) (D.BROWN109, CAT2, TOP4, MSG:87/M645;1) WHICH IS BETTER: ZIP OR TRANSWARP """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" >>" BTW, on average I've heard about equal opinions about the ZIP GS or the TWGS " Actually, I have owned both, and I have no real choice between them. I THOUGHT I had a problem with my TWGS (which turned out to be a bad cable), so I replaced it with a ZIP (only to find I had the SAME problem with the ZIP, drove me NUTS). In the process of determining just what the problem was (and it took me weeks), I did a lot of comparisons between the two. Performance wise, the 7/8 mhz ZIP and the TWGS are essentially identical.The ZIP follows Apples rules better (or so I am told) and uses less power, but the TWGS seems a bit more reliable (based on word of mouth reports from the field). I suspect that the performance of the TWGS can be pushed further than the performance of the ZIP for those technoids who want to get into hardware modifications. The REAL killer on both cards is service, or the lack of it. I don't see a lot to choose from there either. We sure could use a third manufacturer of GS accelerator cards. (GARY.UTTER, CAT22, TOP10, MSG:/M645;1) >>> MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT <<< """"""""""""""""""""""""" Category 2, Topic 5 Message 48 Thu Oct 01, 1992 GARY.UTTER [Dispatcher] at 01:21 EDT Vic, >>"I feel Apple Computer has forced me to turn away from the platform I truly love- the Apple ][." This is kinda the key statement here. First of all (and I don't intend to be defending Apple in saying this), computers evolve. The GS, good as it is, is not a platform with sufficient development potential to carry it into the next century. The MAC probably will not make it into the next century. While I don't think Apples treatment of the II line is the wisest course they could have taken, I am not prepared to say that it was foolish, either. The fact of the matter is that the GS does not have what it takes to be a major platform, and Apple made a serious mistake when they released it. The LC is what the GS should have been. That is, the GS SHOULD have been a Mac with color capabilities and built in IIe emulation. Instead, they released a computer that has very serious design limitations that simply cannot be overcome at a reasonable cost. So what we have here is the bastard child of muddled thinking at Apple Computer. But despite the fact that it was a bad idea in the first place, and despite the fact that it does not have the capabilities that would make it the basis of long term development program, that does not make the GS a bad computer, or a bad choice for a computer. When you see a 486 with a super VGA monitor and a huge hard drive for $950, it will be because it is seriously outmoded by the 686 with extra super VGA and a gigabyte drive. Don't waste your time waiting for it. >>"it seems to me that the GS is on a dead end street with the ridiculously little continuing support for it from Apple itself" Of course it is. So what? I live on a dead end street, as a matter of fact, and every house on the street is a very NICE house, and the neighborhood is quiet and peaceful. Being on a dead end street is not bad in and of itself. Ask yourself THIS question... "What do I want to do, and NEED to do, that cannot easily be done on a GS with current software?" If you answer truthfully, I strongly suspect that the answer will be "Nothing!" Especially in view of the fact that you have been getting along for so long with a Laser. :) What you are dealing with is the popular perception of computing, "if it is not the latest, greatest, most powerful, most cutting edge, it is NOTHING". That turns out not to be the case, however. The sorts of applications that you CAN'T run on a GS are not anything you are likely to need to run your church. Do you have a real (as opposed to imagined) need for high end DeskTop Publishing? Do you have a real need for CAD/CAM? How about running a major spread sheet or database program over a network? Do you REALLY need to do that? If so, then go for a high end Mac or a 486. Let's turn it around a bit. I'm guessing at what you would need to do with a computer for a church, so let me know if I am wrong, but I expect that your needs run to some small accounting/bookkeeping needs for the church itself, perhaps several databases of members and various projects/activities they are involved in, maybe a spreadsheet or two to project costs for the church and determine budgeting for the coming year or two. I would expect that you would need to be able to do the churches correspondence on your computer, and that you would like to be able to print letters for mass mailings, perhaps flyers to advertise church activities, etc. Did I miss anything vital there? ALL of that stuff can be done easily with the Laser (or was it a IIc?) that you have now. Not as easily, or as effectively, as it can be done with a GS, but it can be done. In fact, all of that sort of thing could be done with Appleworks and a full suite of TimeOut addons. Look at it realistically, and you will see that anything that you really need to do can be done easily, and economically, on the GS. The GS is as reliable as a stone. If you want a DOS platform that you can really COUNT on to work, and work properly, and work for years to come, AND you want 486 type performance, you had BETTER plan on spending at least $2500. (Sure, clones are cheap, but there is a REASON for that. If it were ME buying one, I would expect to spend more like $1800, but I LIKE to get into the guts of my hardware, and as much as I might complain about it, things that don't work properly can keep me entertained for days at a time. :) And after you spend that money, look forward to spending a long time learning how to USE it. And don't for get that the high powered specialty software (the stuff that you CAN'T get for the GS) is going to cost you hundreds of dollars per program. Now, I'm not trying, necessarily (g) to DISCOURAGE you from buying a PC clone, if that is what you want to do, but don't try to tell me that it is a WISE choice because it is more economical for your assembly. That is simply foolish. AND, chances are really quite good that the GS will still be running smoothly when that PC clone is an outmoded clunker. Remember that the GS has been dead for YEARS. I have a friend who dumped his GS three years ago, bought himself a state of the art 286 clone. He has dumped that for a 386, and now he is moaning because he is going to have to replace THAT with a 486 because the 386 won't run the newest stuff effectively, just not QUITE enough memory capacity or something like that. Since he got rid of his "dead end" GS, (because there was no support, no new products for it, and because Apple was going to discontinue the machine and stop supporting it before the end of the quarter), we have seen the release of the RamFast, the Quickie, System 5.0.4, HyperCard IIgs, InWords, Pointless, System 6.... the list goes on (and someone is going to be upset with me for leaving out something important :). Let's go back to the first statement "the platform I truly love- the Apple ][." Why should you punish yourself with a DOS machine? Why should you deal with the learning curve for a DOS machine, and all the quirky differences between every application? I suggest that the GS, which does everything that your Laser does, and does it the same way, lets you be up and running from the day you get it, and lets you learn all this NEW stuff that the GS can do at your own pace. (Not that there is too much to learn, this system is DESIGNED to be user friendly, after all. :) It seems to me that this benefits your assembly, since they lose a lot less of YOUR productive time. >>"Is $950 "reasonable" when before long ....." SURE it is. Depending on what you get with it,it is almost certainly "reasonable" for the work you need to do. And the GS will keep ON doing that work for years to come. The GS (as I have said MANY times) will NEVER be less competent than it is today. This lust to be on the leading edge of computing is silliness. What counts is that your computer can do what you NEED to do, do it quickly, do it well, do it without a lot of hassle, and do it at a price that you can afford. For somewhere between $900 and $1200, you should be able to get a GS with a decent sized hard drive (minimum 40 megs) a decent amount of memory (expandable to 4 megs, minimum), an accelerator, and 3.5 a dn 5.25 drives. At the higher end, you should be getting a hard drive of at least 80 megs and a DMA SCSI card, AND a printer. If it were me, I would go for a lower price, and add a DeskJet 500 printer and a hand scanner and Inwords (for what you are likely to want to do). There are LOTS of toys out there for the GS at very good prices, and software to do virtually anything you need to do. (realistically) And for the budget conscious, almost everything is available used and in real good condition. GO for it. :) Gary R. Utter [*][*][*] While on GEnie, do you spend most of your time downloading files? If so, you may be missing out some excellent information in the Bulletin Board area. The messages listed above only scratch the surface of what's available and waiting for you in the bulletin board area. If you are serious about your APPLE II, the GEnie Lamp staff strongly urge you to give the bulletin board area a try. There are literally thousands of messages posted from people like you from all over the world. ////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / "Try and get more sleep, too. EMPIRE is not for the weak- / / willed. Once you get addicted, all sorts of daily activities / / and natural body functions become upset and put aside." / ///////////////////////////////////////////// R.COLEMAN24 //// [EOA] [HUM]////////////////////////////// HUMOR ONLINE / ///////////////////////////////// World's Fastest Chip """""""""""""""""""" From: I. B. Lyon <iefbr14@ibm.com> Subject: IBM Zurich announces new chip ----- PRESS RELEASE --------------------------------------------------- The Zurich laboratory unveiled the world's fastest chip this week. The chip, code named "Timeless", is based on high temperature superconductors and is capable of transferring data signals faster than the speed of light. This makes it possible for a computer based on this chip to produce answers before questions are asked. Using this technology, the Hursley laboratory has been able to produce a program product before the user requirements were known. Industry analysts found the Hursley announcement humorous, citing that IBM has been writing program products without user requirements for years. Products created using the Hursley method are still expected to miss their ship dates due to the excessive length of the Fall and Spring planning cycles. The Communication Products Systems Test organization is using the same technology to test program products in zero days. Said a spokesperson in Raleigh, "It's amazing. Just preparing to test the software thoroughly causes it to be tested. It's like the system can read your mind." Oddly enough, planning experts in System Test are reporting that regardless of the productivity gains realized by the Timeless chip, the average test duration is expected to be nine months. There have been rumors of some odd side-effects of the Timeless chip. Some customers have been receiving products before they order them. Most customers we interviewed did admit that they were planning to order the new software when it arrived. They said that they liked the speed with which the products arrived, but they disliked IBM's new policy of billing them before they ordered anything. Said an IBM billing expert, "We knew they were going to think about ordering some software, so we thought we would think about billing them." IBM Service has made some exciting advances in hardware and software maintenance based on these side-effects. IBM Service worldwide has begun a free preventative maintenance program in which the IBM Customer Engineers think about fixing all the problems of every customer. Said an IBM Service representative, "The program is working very well. Service calls are down 99%. The only calls we are getting now are to fix hardware and software that hasn't been invented yet." If you are thinking of ordering computer systems which uses the Timeless chip, they can be ordered from IBM. Of course, if you have been thinking about ordering one, it is probably on its way to you right now. ////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE //// / "Obstreperous comportment? The very thought terrifies." / //////////////////////////////////////// D.A.BRUMLEVE //// [EOA] [A2P]////////////////////////////// A2/PRO_ductivity / ///////////////////////////////// Take Another Look! """""""""""""""""" By Jim Couch >>> A2PRO, IT'S NOT JUST FOR PROGRAMMERS ANYMORE <<< """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" NOT JUST FOR PROGRAMMERS Maybe you remember the old orange juice ad """""""""""""""""""""""" campaign that stated "Orange juice, it's not just for breakfast anymore." The point was to get people to drink orange juice during the rest of the day, not just at breakfast. Truth was that many people already knew that orange juice was great stuff and drank it all the time. The orange juice people just wanted to let everyone else know as well! OK, by now you probably are wondering, what the heck does all this have to do with GEnie anyway? Well the A2pro RoundTable has the same kind of identity problem as orange juice did. Most people think that A2pro is just for programmers, but it isn't! There is a wealth of information for any Apple II user. You owe it to yourself to check out A2pro as ... it's not just for programmers! To help keep you in touch with what is happening in A2Pro I have been engaged to write a monthly column about the RoundTable. For this month I will content myself with a brief introduction. I have been playing with the Apple II since somewhere around 1984. Although I had used both mainframes and personal computers at various jobs prior to that point the Apple II was the first computer I purchased for myself. I purchased a IIc after looking at a number of other computers, including the (then) new IBM PC JR, Osborne, and Compaq machines. What attracted me initially to the II was it's history. There was something very engaging about a machine that was initially designed in a garage! I used the IIc for a number of tasks including financial record keeping, and word processing. I found the machine to be a great help at work as well, and often took the IIc into work with me. At the time I was running a _very_ small business with my brother selling climbing and outdoor gear. As he lived on the east coast, it made sense to purchase a pair of modems and transfer files back and forth. From this modest beginning in telecommunications my interest grew. In the winter of 86 I began running a BBS part time off of our business line during the evenings. This, like so many other things got way out of hand and eventually came to occupy it's own phone line and run full time! The BBS eventually became what is now the support board for my local user's group and moved to a IIe so I could again have my IIc back full time! About the same time as my plunge into the world of a BBS Sysop I also ran into a little publication called Open-Apple. I subscribed and bought all the back issues as well, this magazine helped me better understand my machine and may me feel like I really understood what I was doing. My first issue was October 1986. In this issue the IIgs was introduced! When my IIc died I replaced it with a IIgs which is my current computer. After reading about GEnie in Open-Apple (now A2-Central) for quite a while I finally joined to see what it was all about. I primarily lurked in the A2 area in the beginning and also checked out a few other RoundTables. The introduction of GEnie's Basic Services saved me a bit of money, so I began to lurk in A2Pro as well, finding much to my surprise that there was a lot of useful information, even though I was (and am) not much of a programmer! On the subject of programming, you will notice that there is not a lot of experience mentioned, that is because there isn't much to mention! After I got comfortable with the machine, I did decide I would like to learn to program, but found that I just never had the time. My programing experience consists of only modifications to my BBS and some Ultramacros task files. In all honesty I cannot claim to be a programmer. I think my lack of background as a programmer will help me to cover A2Pro in a unique manner. This may also make other non-programmers feel more comfortable with the RoundTable. There is much within A2Pro that is useful to ALL of us, come join in! The following items appeared during the last few weeks in the A2Pro bulletin board area. If you find something of interest, you might want to look in on a regular basis. [*][*][*] TODD WITESEL STEPS UP TO BAT No comment on all that other stuff... :) """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Hello! I'm Todd Whitesel, the new A2PRO library slave. I'm supposed to write a bio for everyone to snigger at, so here 'tis. It was at Caltech that I discovered VMS, Macs, unix, the Internet, and the IIgs -- in about that order. It was the summer after my first year there that I got my own IIgs. By my third year at Caltech, I had had enough true Computer Science pumped into me that I was able to start writing serious programs. We had just had an AppleTalk network recently installed, so I started by writing small Inits and utilities (some of which are in the libraries now). Now that I've graduated and escaped from Caltech, I work for a company owned and operated by Caltech alumni called Green Hills Software. The meat of our product line is compilers, and my main job for the foreseeable future is to take over maintenance of the 680x0 code generator. I used to avoid the 68000 like the plague, but I would rather work on it than on something for a modern RISC machine. Like the 65816, the 68000 presents all sorts of great opportunities for optimization that separates the truly sneaky programmers from the rest. And now, I think I'd better get on with the library slave part of this... (A2PRO.TODDPW, CAT1, TOP2, MSG:99/M530;1) -- Jerry Penner jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca Try a 1-line .sig today.