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