From: jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca (Jerry Penner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: GEnieLamp Oct 1992 [4 parts]
Summary: GEnie online magazine for the Apple II
Date: 6 Oct 92 07:43:13 GMT
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada

This is part 3 of 4 parts.

This is GEnieLamp, an online magazine produced by various people on
the GEnie information service.  It is posted to the Internet by
request of Thomas Schmitz (TOM.SCHMITZ on GEnie), the Apple II editor
for GEnieLamp.  He is resigning his post as editor (as you can read in
this month's issue) but I will keep posting this to the Internet in
all likelihood.

There are four (4) parts, each of which is approximately 1000 lines +
the regular Internet header lines.

Enjoy.

---8<--- snip ---8<--- snip ---8<--- snip ---8<--- snip ---8<---


DEAN ESMAY> I didn't just work for "a while" as librarian.  It was the only
""""""""""  thing I ever did on GEnie!  <wink>  Well actually I did that
            and answered almost all A2.HELP mail at the same time.  I did
            both for something like four years before becoming chief sysop,
            which was only just a few months ago.

            I always tell people the same thing about being software
            librarian on GEnie.

            The greatest thing about it is getting to download and play
            with so many files!  It really is neat to see so much stuff and
            get to mess with all of it.  You have to make sure it all works
            and all that, right?  So when the latest new shareware game
            comes along, of course I have to spend some time playing it to
            make sure it works... right?

            But the worst thing about being file librarian is... having to
            download and mess with so many files!  Seriously, it's both the
            greatest plus and greatest drawback.  When you see EVERY file
            that goes up, and when you HAVE TO look at all of it, it starts
            to lose some of its attraction.  Some days you just can't stand
            the thought of having to deal with any more new files... but of
            course you have to, because it's your job.

            I kind of thought I'd miss the job after I turned it over to
            Tim Tobin a few months ago, but you know what?  I really
            haven't.  A2 gets anywhere from a few dozen K to a megabyte or
            even several megabytes (and I mean megabytes AFTER being
            compressed with ShrinkIt) every single day.  Having to wade
            through all that can be fun, but I find that after a having had
            a few years of it I don't miss it near as much as I thought I
            might!

GEnieLamp>  What do you consider your most proud accomplishment?  (In terms
"""""""""   of your work with the Apple II.)

DEAN ESMAY> My work on Studio City.  Studio City is a bi-monthly
""""""""""  magazine-on-disk that I edit.  It uses HyperStudio as its main
            environment.

            It used to be called Stack-Central, but we thought Studio City
            was more catchy and would help people more clearly distinguish
            it as a HyperSTUDIO product.  (We also have Script-Central, for
            HyperCARD, but I'm only involved peripherally with that.)

            I pour a lot of my soul into Studio City, and it's a lot of
            work.  I've been doing it for about 14 months now and, while
            I'm starting to feel a real strain to keep up with it, it's
            still the work I'm proudest of.  I look at those back issues
            since I took over, and I think that much of what is in them
            represent some of the best work I've ever done in my life.

            I'm also proud to say that we've attracted some people who
            aren't HyperStudio owners but who really like and can use the
            stuff we put on each issue!  I really like that; you can use
            HyperStudio stacks without owning HyperStudio, due to the free
            "runtime" module we include with each issue, but most people
            don't seem to have caught on yet.  We publish loads of good
            software that people can use every issue, much of it stuff you
            just DON'T need HyperStudio to use or enjoy.

            HyperStudio is such an exciting environment.  There's all
            sorts of opportunity it represents from the enterprising
            person; you don't have to be a "real" programmer to do some
            very exciting stuff with it.  Although if you are a "real"
            programmer there's stuff for you in it, too.  Again, since
            people DON'T have to own HyperStudio to use what you create
            with it, there's just lots of opportunities there if you want
            to develop products people might buy (or at least enjoy
            downloading from our library!  <wink>).

            Unfortunately, at the present time HyperStudio is in a new
            release stage (version 3.1) which has some significant bugs.
            This doesn't affect "average" users much, but those of us who
            push the environment to its limits keep coming across
            frustrating bugs that cause real problems.

            Fortunately it's been getting more stable, and I hope that
            Roger Wagner Publishing gets them all ironed out soon.

GEnieLamp>  Who do you look up to as your mentors?
"""""""""

DEAN ESMAY> I don't really have any mentors; I never really have had them.
""""""""""  I suppose you could say I am a self-made man.  I didn't go to
            college, and in fact I barely squeaked through a Special Ed
            High School (they made me Valedictorian but considering that it
            was a graduating class of about a dozen, with an average GPA of
            maybe 2.0 that's not saying much!).  I was always a loner who
            kept to himself and read.

            I suppose you could say my mentors were books.  I feasted on
            them; especially SF books, but other books of many types, not
            to mention magazines.  Certainly the Open-Apple newsletter and
            those who wrote in it (not just Tom Weishaar but Dennis Doms
            and the many people who wrote letters that were published in it
            over the years) had a big effect.

            But many others would include those authors who taught me ways
            of looking at life, taught me facts about the world, and even
            sometimes taught me how to think (especially how to think for
            myself).  As a kid I read three to five books a week, and even
            now I read at least one a month on the average (which isn't
            near as much as I'd like, but I'm too slow and too busy to
            handle much more).

            There are some names that come to mind though - Mark Twain,
            Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov... and Albert Einstein (not that
            he wrote much that I read, but I spent so much time and energy
            trying to teach myself Special and General relativity, he had
            an effect anyway, if you see what I mean).

            I guess this is a kind of weird answer but it's the only one I
            have.  I grew up reading, and books were my mentors; not just
            my mentors, but my friends, allies, and partners in crime.
            Guess that means I was a weird kid, but so what?  <grin>

GEnieLamp>  Dean, speaking as someone with quite a lot of
"""""""""   telecommunications experience, where do you see the future of
            telecommunications moving in the next five to ten years?  Do
            you think the new Internet capability of GEnie will be opening
            up a lot of doors?  (In terms of allowing GEnie subscribers to
            communicate with people on other information services.)

DEAN ESMAY> I think it's really hard to say where the future lies.
""""""""""  Certainly telecommunications will get faster and more
            efficient and more powerful.  We'll also see things that are
            much more advanced in terms of graphics, and even sound, being
            generated across modem lines.  How much so is very hard to say.

            Not to get all political (though I love to talk politics),
            much of it depends on how soon the government gets around to
            regulating the industry.  I'm confident they'll do it sooner or
            later.  No matter how much we fight it, they'll have their way
            with us eventually.  And once the on-line services are hostage
            to government control and restriction, then the technological
            advances we see, and what companies are allowed to offer
            consumers, will be slowed down significantly.

            So it really depends on how long we have until the government
            finally comes in and screws up a good thing.  <grin>  It's
            inevitable; I merely hope it's later rather than sooner.  If we
            have a decade or so more without much interference, I think
            what we'll see will be mind-blowing.  If we only have another
            year or two, don't expect too much more exciting than what we
            have now (which I'll admit is still pretty neat!  :-).

            The Internet links thousands of different computer systems
            around the world.  So yes, that makes it likely that there will
            be a lot of new opportunities for communicating with people
            on-line.  You won't have to require that other people you know
            have GEnie accounts before they can send messages to you;
            they'll be able to send mail to you from all kinds of other
            systems.  That should be very nice.

            I'm not really an expert on the Internet, so I can't say much
            else about it than the fact that it will give us access to
            quite a lot of information and quite a lot more people!

GEnieLamp>  What sorts of things do you like to do for fun (i.e.
"""""""""   non-computer hobbies)?

DEAN ESMAY> I'm a rabid music listener.  I have a fairly nice stereo and
""""""""""  several hundred CDs.  I listen to many different kinds of
            music, mostly rock and blues but a smattering of everything -
            jazz, pop, country, classical, industrial, rap, folk, and
            avant-garde stuff.

            I also still read quite a lot.  A majority of the fiction I
            read is Science Fiction, but I read lots of other things.  I
            seem to have a perverse interest in economics, as well as
            certain odd kinds of historical and sociological areas.

            I also used to love to go to places like the Jerry Pournelle
            RoundTable to talk about everything from politics to physics,
            but since taking over A2 I haven't had enough time for that.

GEnieLamp>  Along with everything else you do, Dean, you also edit
"""""""""   A2-Central On-Disk. Since some Apple II enthusiasts may not
            know what A2-Central On-Disk has to offer, can you give us a
            brief synopsis of its contents? Does editing A2-Central On-Disk
            take up a lot of time each month?

DEAN ESMAY> A2-Central On Disk (A2 On Disk for short) is a monthly
""""""""""  companion to the A2-Central newsletter.  Now, A2-Central
            (formerly Open-Apple) has won many awards and much acclaim as
            an Apple II periodical.  What doesn't get mentioned as often is
            the monthly disk that you can get with it as an option.

            Each issue of A2 On Disk is a single 800K 3.5 disk that
            contains, first, a copy of the A2-Central newsletter itself in
            a text file.  Each month I convert the newsletter into a usable
            text file.

            That may not sound all that exciting until you realize that we
            provide software to let you search through that text for items
            of interest.  One thing you can do is take all the text files
            from your back issues and use software such as Sneeze (which is
            free), or Fastdata Pro (which costs a little but is awfully
            nice) to search through back issues very quickly.  It becomes a
            highly useful technical reference, much more convenient and
            flexible than standard indexes.

            There's TONS of useful information in back issues of
            A2-Central, so it's neat to have it all quickly at your
            fingertips.

            Now, the newsletter text only takes up a small fraction of the
            disk.  So each month it is also crammed - and I do mean crammed
            - full of the best public domain, freeware, and shareware
            software I can find.  Not only do I get stuff from on-line, but
            people send me stuff all the time.  Many shareware authors send
            me their programs, and quite often subscribers from around the
            world will send me disks with neat stuff on them.  It's really
            cool when you get a disk from a place like Australia full of
            new software you've never seen before.

            While most of the software on A2 On Disk is IIgs-specific,
            every month I try to include as much quality 8-bit stuff as I
            can find. And it usually winds up being at least enough to fill
            up a 5.25 disk or two.

            You see, we compress all the files on each issue with
            ShrinkIt, which means your 800K disk actually has well over a
            megabyte worth of programs on it.  So there's lots of things I
            can do with it now.

            As for how long it takes - you know, it takes up a lot more
            time than you might think.  Usually I get the raw, unformatted
            text from Ellen Rosenberg (the current editor) about four days
            before it has to be done.  And it usually takes me about two
            working days to finish the issue at that point.  I spend a lot
            of time fitting stuff on there, trying to develop a theme, and
            trying to make sure everything on it is really interesting and
            that there's a variety of all kinds of things.  I put a lot of
            effort into that, and making sure there's stuff for all
            machines on there.

            I also work really hard to fit things together well; each
            issue usually has well under 10K of free space left on it by
            the time I'm done, and that's not as easy to do as it sounds.
            Let's say you have ten files to choose from; but if you use
            these two files, you can't use this other file because you'll
            be out of room, and so you dump those two for later and then
            you realize you've got a bunch of space left over and have to
            go find something to fill that gap, and so on.  It really does
            take some effort, and a sort of intuition that you develop for
            it over time.

            And there's work the rest of the month, mostly in collecting
            materials, weeding through what I've gotten lately for things
            that are appropriate, and contacting the authors of the
            programs we feature.

            Though the material is mostly shareware and freeware, it's
            important to us that we actually contact the author whenever
            possible to obtain permission to use it.  So there's a lot of
            chasing people down in e-mail (which not everybody answers
            unfortunately), trying to find their phone numbers and getting
            them on the phone, keeping track of who I've gotten permission
            from and who I haven't, who I still have to call, and so on.

            I've been doing it for years now and I've got most of it down
            to a system.  But it's not as easy as it might appear!

GEnieLamp>  As a person who works out of a home office, can you share any
"""""""""   special insights as to the benefits and drawbacks of working
            at home?

DEAN ESMAY> Working at home has obvious advantages.  No "boss" looking
""""""""""" over your shoulder or riding you to work on certain things at
            certain times.  No need to "look busy" when you have nothing
            to do.  And not near as much office politics to deal with as in
            a standard work environment.

            No need to dress up; I wear comfortable clothes at all times
            and NEVER wear a tie (heck, I don't even own one anymore).  I
            can listen to my stereo as loud as I want.  I can sleep late
            pretty much whenever I want.

            And I like to say that I have a thirty-second commute in the
            morning - that being about how long it takes me to stumble out
            of bed and stump over to my computer to check my morning mail!
            :-)

            It saves money, too.  You don't spend near as much on clothes,
            gasoline, or upkeep on your car.  Then again your phone bills
            shoot way up, so it kind of evens out.

            There are drawbacks; you don't get a lot of office
            socializing, chatting around the water cooler type stuff.  You
            spend a lot of time on your own, or without adult company
            anyway.  Sometimes there are interminable delays when you can't
            reach someone on the phone and have to wait 24 hours or more
            for e-mail to be returned on what should be a simple matter
            that would only normally take 30 seconds to get answered.

            You also tend to get fat I'm afraid.  Not only do you not even
            get the exercise it takes you to walk out to your car in the
            morning, but it's insidiously easy to run downstairs to the
            refrigerator to snack on stuff.  No one's going to notice or
            care if you eat at your desk, right?  Well that's nice but it's
            easy to do too much of it.

            Another drawback is that sometimes other people have a hard
            time believing that you actually do work much, or work very
            hard.  I've had people more or less tell me that they don't
            believe I really have a job, that I just sort of horse around a
            bit.  When you don't have a firm schedule, and don't have to GO
            somewhere to work, well, to some people it doesn't seem like
            WORK.

            This is a double problem for me because I generally keep a
            night schedule; many people who work at home don't do that, but
            I personally find that I work much better that way.
            Unfortunately, this leads some people to consciously or
            unconsciously think of you as "lazy" because you're usually
            asleep at 9 or 10 in the morning.  They don't realize that you
            were still working while they were snug in their beds.  (I
            usually don't go to sleep until around 5:00 a.m., sometimes
            later.)

            So, sometimes I have to put up with a little snootiness and
            sniffing because of the hours I keep.

            But overall it's great.  I much prefer it to working in a
            regular office; I did that for several years and sure don't
            miss it much.


          ////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
         / "Wow, three new messages waiting for me when I posted my /
        / last message!"                                           /
       ////////////////////////////////////////////  OUTRIDER  ////



[EOA]
[QUI]//////////////////////////////
                THE MIGHTY QUINN /
/////////////////////////////////
Milliseconds With Mark
""""""""""""""""""""""
by Mark Quinn, DOA
   [M.QUINN3]



             >>> A WHOLE BUNCHA MILLISECONDS WITH MARK <<<
             """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

     They are out there.  Those logjams in the bit stream; those dropped
characters (there are a few characters I'd like to drop, but they seem to
be more prevalent than ever); those I/Os (I/O, I/O, so CompuServe I owe),
and those lows.  But what _really_ bugs a modem geek (or, as someone I know
chooses to refer to them, a "modemhead")?  (I rustle the card, and try to
screw my expression up, to the delight of the audience.)


          TOP TEN THINGS THAT GIVE A MODEMHEAD A HEADACHE
          """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
    10.  Soap.
     9.  Hardware incompatibilities between modems.
     8.  The Danger Man from Domino's.
     7.  Those nasty things hooked to modems called
         "computers".
     6.  Actually paying to download a MIDI or GIF file
         after seeing its description, which begins,
         "This is my first attempt at this sort of
         thing . . .".
     5.  Rugrats belching into the family phone in the
         middle of a download.
     4.  When the 9600 bps modem gives out in the middle
         of the night, and the spare 2400 bps internal model
         is found at the bottom of a stack of dirty dishes.
     3.  Thinking that you bought a Hewlett Packard product,
         and discovering the next morning that it was
         manufactured by that _other_ company.
     2.  After you've moved, your spouse insists on unpacking
         inconsequential items like children's toys _before_
         the computer equipment.

    and (give us a digital drum roll, will you, Hal?) . . .

     1.  Getting "pulled into chat" by the sysop of a local
         BBS, and discovering that he/she is normal.


         ////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
        / "cmp.l LET_A,d0   That would compare the contents of address /
       / 65 with d0.  It would also generate an address error since   /
      / 65 is odd and you're looking for a long.  Also, bus error    /
     / since you may not be in supervisor mode.                     /
    /                                                              /
   / Keep at it, it'll come to you in a blaze of light one night  /
  / when you are just about to fall asleep....."                 /
 //////////////////////////////////////////////  C.WALTERS1  ////



[EOA]
[FOC]//////////////////////////////
                     FOCUS ON... /
/////////////////////////////////
Thinking Out Loud
"""""""""""""""""
by Phil Shapiro
   [P.SHAPIRO1]



      >>> THINKING ABOUT PEOPLE'S AFFECTION FOR THEIR HOME COMPUTER <<<
      """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

     The other day I got to thinking about people's affection for their
home computers.  These thoughts were raised when I took my computer in for
a motherboard upgrade.  As the dealer took my computer out of my clutches,
I hesitantly asked: "So how many days is this going to take?"

     If the upgrade were going to take five days, that would be an
eternity.  Three days would be barely manageable.  Two days would be
difficult, but I'd get over it.

     It turns out that putting in the new motherboard would take three
days.  Barely manageable.

     But as I walked out of the store it struck me how very similar my
feelings for my computer were to the feelings for my classical guitar when
I took it to the store to have an electronic pickup installed.  When I
handed over my cherished guitar, I hesitantly asked:  "So how many days is
this going to take?"

     If the upgrade were going to take five days, that would be an
eternity.  Three days would be barely manageable.  Two days would be
difficult, but I'd get over it.  The answer:  "Three days."  Arrgggh.
Barely manageable.

     The reason people's affection towards their home computers is so
similar to their affection towards their cherished musical instrument is
because both computer and instrument are extensions of the human
personality.  Both computer and instrument provide unlimited opportunities
for creative expression.  Both, too, provide unlimited opportunities for
creative exploration.

     Computers are sandboxes for the mind.  Musical instruments are
sandboxes for the soul.

     But the comparison doesn't stop there.  The parallels grow stronger on
closer investigation.

     About six years ago my older brother Ian showed me a new tuning for
guitars, the lovely-sounding "dropped-D" tuning.  The moment I heard that
tuning I knew it would open up vast new areas of musical exploration.  In a
sense the new tuning was a new "operating system" for the guitar.  It
allowed me to produce the same music I produced before, but in a whole new
and interesting way.

     The parallels between computers and instruments continues when you
consider that both computers and musical instruments provide opportunities
for a lifetime's worth of study and mastery.  After mastering the basics
you can go on to study endless intricacies.  You can stand in awe at what
virtuosos have accomplished in the past.  You can develop a fine
appreciation of the art and the craft.  You may even develop enough skill
to extend the boundaries of the craft yourself.

     Perhaps these parallels are all centered around the "appeal to the
creative temperament."  Could anybody doubt that if Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
were alive today he'd be spending much of his free time sitting at a
computer keyboard --- playing, learning, composing, exploring?  Knowing
Mozart, he'd find a way to get Salierni's computer to print musical notes
backwards, from right to left, on Salierni's computer screen.

     Likewise, could anyone doubt that Da Vinci, were he alive today, would
be online three or four times a day with other artists/inventors in other
Renaissance villages?  Chances are Da Vinci would be at his computer so
much he'd never have a chance to take a good look at his screen saver.
(You know --- the one with sketches of parachutes, gliders, and other
mechanical contrivances.)

     Moving ahead five hundred years, it's intriguing to consider that Alan
Kay, an awesomely creative research fellow at Apple Computer, is himself a
world class pianist.  And it's hardly surprising to hear that his special
talent is extemporaneous composition.

     Other microcomputer visionaries have had similar musical passions.
Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, likes to do nothing more than to jam
with his rock-and-roll band.  Microcomputer legend Steve Wozniak organized
and sponsored two large rock concerts in the early 1980's.

     People who don't use a computer regularly can sometimes have a
difficult time understanding how other people could get emotionally
attached to such an "inanimate object."  If you need a quick explanation of
your emotional attachment to your computer, drawing the comparison to
musical instruments can serve as a useful analogy.  If such non-computer
using persons had every experienced the joy and wonder of playing a musical
instrument, they'll nod their heads in understanding.  Some things in life
you just can't put into words.

                               [*][*][*]

NOTICE!   Last month GEnieLamp printed an article about how Apple II
"""""""   computers are being used for "cognitive therapy" in a
psychiatric hospital.  GEnieLamp would like to spotlight other inspiring
stories where Apple II computers are assisting and uplifting people with
special needs.

     If you happen to know of Apple II's in your area being used in a
children's hospital, adult literacy center, special needs school, or other
community organization, please contact GEnieLamp co-editor Phil Shapiro
(p.shapiro1) here on GEnie.

     We are also interested in putting together a story on how Apple II's
are the favored computer for public access use in our nation's libraries.
Anyone with anecdotes or interesting stories on this subject are invited to
contact us about that article.

-Phil Shapiro
                               [*][*][*]


     Phil Shapiro   Shapiro is the founder of Balloons Software, a
     """"""""""""   new Apple II educational software company. He can
     be reached  He can be reached via electronic mail on GEnie at:
     P.Shapiro1; on America Online at: pshapiro


        /////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
       / "I'm still sold on LiveMouse.  It's a one-size-fits-all kinda /
      / deal. If it's too small when you buy it, you just feed it     /
     / until it's the right size.  Then you pull the Freeze Tab      /
    / and voila...instant mouse."                                   /
   //////////////////////////////////////////////  J.EIDSVOOG1  ////



[EOA]
[GAM]//////////////////////////////
               GAMES PEOPLE PLAY /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II Games
""""""""""""""
By Darrel Raines
      [D.Raines]


                         >>> HIDDEN TREASURE <<<
                         """""""""""""""""""""""
             ~ The Public Domain Eamon Adventure Game Series ~

Introduction   "Fade in to a dimly lit tunnel that has moss hanging on the
""""""""""""   walls.  The source of light is a few torches hung every 10
feet along the sides of the tunnel. On the floor of the tunnel you can see
a pile of diamonds that would buy you a kingdom and ensure a happy future
for the king into the foresee- able future. Now, there is only one little
problem with your plans for a glorious retirement.

     You swing your trusty sword, Trollsfire, at the giant orc and hit.
The giant orc is at death's door, knocking loudly!

     The giant orc swings his heavy axe and hits.  Your armor absorbs the
blow.  The lesser orc shoots an arrow at you and misses.

     The orc guard stabs at you with his sword and hits. You are badly
injured!

     The question of the moment is whether you should flee now and return
to fight another day. You have the giant orc on the floor, if you can just
finish him off before you are finished yourself.  Unfortunately, for the
giant orc, that pile of diamonds sure does look like your destiny.

     You thrust Trollsfire back at the giant orc and ...

     ... as you look around the tunnel that is now littered with the
bodies of fallen orcs, you find that you have no more enemies at hand.
With a sigh of relief, you put Trollsfire back into your belt until the
next battle.  Your body feels like you just tried out a new carriage by
letting the horses drag it over you.  With a coarse whisper you utter the
words of healing.  Immediately you can feel the wash of energy through your
body.  You are now in good shape.

     With a confident stride you walk over to the pile of diamonds.  This
was a rough dungeon to conquer, but it looks like the reward will make it
worth the effort.  As you bend down to scoop the diamonds, you meet an
unexpected resistance.  Something is wrong here.  The diamonds don't seem
to be laying loose in a pile like you first thought.  Instead, they seem to
be embedded in a tough hide!  As you draw your head back to look for the
edge of the seemingly endless stretch of hide, you see a large pair of
gleaming eyes inspecting you from the dark shadows of a tunnel recess.  You
have managed to irritate a very large dragon.

     As you draw out Trollsfire, you think to yourself that you should have
stayed back in that warm, cozy tavern with the sweet tasting ale.  Fade out
to the sounds of metal biting into bone and the roar of fire blazing out in
a hot blast."


History   The section of history related in the previous section could
"""""""   have easily come from one of the many adventures awaiting the
daring game player within the varied worlds of Eamon.  Eamon is a public
domain, adventure gaming system for the Apple II computer that has been
around for many years.  As best I can tell, it was created about 1980-1981.

     The original idea was brought to life by Donald Brown.  I was first
introduced to Eamon in 1983-1984.  Even at that time, no mention was ever
made of Donald Brown still being around to support his creation.  But the
wonderful thing about Eamon is that the software was written to be an
expandable, changeable, unrestricted environment for people to create their
own adventure games.  Eamon provides a shell that can be adapted by the
programmer to make an adventure of any variety.  Indeed, many different
styles of adventures already exist within the Eamon gaming system:
Tolkien-type adventures, science fiction, fantasy, Dungeon and Dragons, and
many more.

     Eamon adventures are written in Applesoft Basic and run under the
standard 40 or 80 column screen mode.  Don't let this fact fool you.  There
are many Infocom text adventures that outshine the graphic adventures
produced since then. Eamon adventures are as good or bad as the creators of
the individual games themselves.  Some are outstanding.  Others are at best
only fair.  When you get tired of playing a game, you can sit down and
create a game.  The possibilities are endless.

     Even if you do not want to write your own adventures, you can still
enjoy the more than two hundred games that have already been written.  All
of them can be run under ProDOS and many of them make use of 80 column text
screen to provide magnificent descriptions of the adventure creatures and
surroundings.

     It wouldn't be fair to describe the history of Eamon and not say
anything about the best thing to happen to Eamon since its creation:  Tom
Zuchowski.  Tom has been keeping Eamon alive and well now for some time.
He has written a number of games himself. But more importantly, he has
spear-headed many of the efforts to keep Eamon working on modern Apples
with modern operating systems. Eamon was first written on 5 1/4' disks
under DOS 3.3 .  After you play a few Eamon adventures, see if you don't
think that Tom's efforts have been worthwhile.


Next Time   Eamon is too big and too exciting to do justice with a single
"""""""""   article.  Therefore, I must ask you to look back in on this
column in the November issue of GEnieLamp.  We will then do some critical
analysis of the gaming system.

     Next month I will describe how to play a typical game of Eamon.  I
will go through the process of setting up the game on your hard drive or
3.5 inch floppies. I will give you a rating for the Eamon system itself and
a few of the better adventures.  Finally I will have a few parting words
about this wonderful freeware system.  Some of you will be itching to try
out Eamon before next month.  Therefore, I have listed below some good
starter files that are available on GEnie right now for your gaming
pleasure.  Until next time, happy exploring!


  No. File Name             Type Address      YYMMDD Bytes   Access Lib
----- ------------------------ - ------------ ------ ------- ------ ---
16728 BEST.EAMONS.BXY          X T.ZUCHOWSKI  910929  348544    100  36
      Desc: An incredible role-play experience!
16750 STARTER.KIT.BXY          X A2.DEAN      911002  331008    160  36
      Desc: Very Best role playing system!


Author   Darrel Raines (D.Raines) welcomes any feedback or comments via
""""""   electronic mail to the listed user name.


        //////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
       / "In my experience GEnie management has always been very    /
      / attentive to my problems, and very helpful, and even       /
     / nice :) They give me the benefit of any doubts every time."/
    /////////////////////////////////////////////  S.JACQUES  ////



[EOA]
[COW]//////////////////////////////
                       CowTOONS! /
/////////////////////////////////
Moooooo Fun!
""""""""""""
                                                           *
                           *
                                 *
                 (________)         *
                    ()()               *
             /-------\/                          *
            / |     ||                *
           *  ||----||                        *
              ~~    ~~

                     " Extraterrestrial Longhorn "
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                 in the
                         Space/Time Cowtinuum
by Mike White
  [M.WHITE25]


               (__)
            __( oo )__             CowTOONS?  Mike and Robert took us up
            \  \  /  /             on our offer and sent us this month's
   =|========|  ''  |========|=    CowTOONS selection.  Thanks, guys!
     \       |\|><|/|       /
      \      | \  / |      /       If you have an idea for a CowTOON, we
       \     |  \/  |     /        would like to see it.  If we publish it
        \    |  /\  |    /         in GEnieLamp we will credit your account
         \___| |__| |___/          with 2 hours of GEnie non-prime time!
             (@)   (@)
         COWnt Dracula
         by Robert E. Santosuosso
                   [R.SANTOSUOSS]


        ///////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
       / "Trouble is, someone will BELIEVE that stuff.  You wouldn't /
      / believe how gullible some people are.  I will be reading on /
     / the nets that someone on GEnie said a full disk weighs more /
    / than an empty one... Sigh."                                 /
   ///////////////////////////////////////////////  NTACTONE  ////



[EOA]
[CON]//////////////////////////////
                     CONNECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Joe Kohn On A2
""""""""""""""
by Joe Kohn
   [J.KOHN]



                         >>> CONNECTIONS <<<
                         """""""""""""""""""
                 ~ Copyright (c) 1992 by Joe Kohn ~

     Permission is hereby granted to non-profit Apple II User Groups to
republish this article, in whole or in part, in their newsletters.
Electronic re-distribution is encouraged via online network and/or BBS.
This article may not be re-published by any for-profit organization without
the written consent of Joe Kohn.)


Greetings Everyone   I am firmly convinced that the single most valuable
""""""""""""""""""   peripheral device that can be connected to a computer
is a modem. Once a modem is connected, it's possible for anyone to join
that huge group of Apple II users who frequent America Online, CompuServe,
GEnie, and the Internet. I'm so convinced of the importance of "going
online" that I will be writing a new column for inCider/A+ on the subject.
By now, many of you will have seen the first installment of "Grapevine",
and I hope that it's piqued your interest in owning a modem. Each month,
I'll be sharing interesting Apple II related tidbits found on the various
online services, and I'll also be sharing money saving hints and tips for
those of you who already have modems. Grapevine; coming monthly to
inCider/A+.

     * I'd like to mention a brand new $10 Shareware program that's one of
the best brain teasing, yet enjoyable, games I've ever played on the IIGS.
Kenrick Mock, the author of that fine game Columns GS, has just released
BoggleGS, and it's something that all fans of word games should have. When
first run, a colorful grid filled with letters appears. You have 3 minutes
to find words that can be made from adjacent letters in the grid. It's a
very colorful program and even has music. If you enjoy working crossword
puzzles, you should really enjoy it, and if you're a teacher, you'll love
BoggleGS.

     * Speaking of shareware, I'd like to let you know about a fantastic
new Apple IIGS shareware utility program that may change your life. Coming
all the way from New South Wales in Australia, John MacLean's $10 DOS 3.3
Launcher should be of great interest to long-time Apple II owners who have
a large library of older DOS 3.3 software. In short, DOS 3.3 Launcher
provides an easy-to-use way to store, and run, DOS 3.3 software on any hard
drive connected to an Apple IIGS. Even if your hard drive wasn't DOS 3.3
compatible before, it is now.

     DOS 3.3 Launcher is a GS/OS desktop based program that can be
launched from the Finder. It has a standard GS/OS interface complete with
pull down menus. Once run, it will allow you to copy DOS 3.3 Binary files,
or entire DOS 3.3 disks, to your hard drive, and it will let you launch
those files or disks from the Finder, and will return you to The Finder
when you're finished using the DOS 3.3 software. DOS 3.3 Launcher works
with single or double sided disks. It even slows down old games so that
they run at 1 Mhz, and returns you to the GS'es faster speed upon exiting
those programs. It does not work, of course, with copy protected software.

     John MacLean, who also wrote Roger Wagner's Graphic Exchange, has
written a very useful utility program that will soon have you dusting off
your old DOS 3.3 software.

     * Speaking of new software, I finally got around to installing the new
AppleWorks Classic enhancement TimeOut Grammar. This is a grammar checker
that works right from within AppleWorks, and I like it a lot. This TimeOut
version is based upon the old Sensible Grammar, and works in a similar
manner. It checks Appleworks word processing documents for grammar usage
and punctuation. Combining that with TimeOut Thesaurus, AppleWorks V3.0 is
a writer's best friend. TimeOut Grammar is available from Quality
Computers.

     * Quality Computers will soon be releasing Finder Helper, an
incredible collection of System 6.0 Finder Extensions and Desk Accessories
written by noted IIGS programmer Bill Tudor. I really like Finder Helper a
lot, but before I provide any details, allow me the liberty to stray, and
please be patient with me as I editorialize a little.

     Many of the utilities found in Finder Helper started out life as
shareware products. Bill Tudor must have been quite proud when he saw that
his programs had been downloaded hundreds of times from the various online
networks, and were in use on thousands of System 6 equipped GS'es; hardly a
day went by when I didn't hear someone rave about how great Bill Tudor's
shareware programs were. But, something was amiss. Many of the people that
used Bill Tudor's shareware never bothered to send in their shareware fees,
so he sought a more traditional outlet for his software. Now that it's a
commercial product, he'll at least be getting some monetary reward, but, in
some ways, I can't help but feel that the Apple IIGS community has lost
something.

     It's important to submit shareware fees for programs you use. By
sending in shareware fees, you'll be helping to prolong the life of the
Apple II, because you'll be encouraging those who program these computers.
Think about it, and then take the pledge to submit at least one shareware
payment to an author whose work you like.

     Getting back to Finder Helper, it's a collection of Finder Extensions
and New Desk Accessories that provide useful new tools that can be used
when using GS/OS. It includes a very well behaved Alarm Clock that appears
in the IIGS Menu Bar. It includes Cdev Alias that allows you to control
your Control Panel Devices from a New Desk Accessory. SuperDataPath allows
you to easily instruct the Finder where it can find your data files.
HotKeys allows you to launch your favorite programs directly from the
IIGS'es numerical keyboard. Catalog will save a disk catalog's contents to
a file on disk. File Peeker shows you the contents of Text, Teach,
Pictures, Sounds, Icons and Filetype documents. Workset allows you to
double click on one small icon and have AppleWorksGS, for example, launch
and load multiple documents. Crypt allows you to encrypt all your sensitive
personal files, and MoreInfo provides, among other things, the ability to
lock and unlock files right from the Finder's Extra Menu.

     Due to the fact that Apple has trademarked the word "Finder", when
this set of utilities is actually released, it may have a different name.
No matter what it's named, it's a great package of System 6 enhancements.

      * I spent a pleasant afternoon recently with Olivier Goguel, the
founder of the FTA, when he was visiting San Francisco. If you're not
already familiar with the FTA, make sure you pick up some of their freeware
disks from your local user group or download some from your favorite online
service. The France based FTA has created a stunning collection of GS
software, and it is not to be missed.

     The FTA disbanded late last year, and are no longer actively
programming for the IIGS, but Olivier Goguel still managed to bring me some
GS news from France. And, it's from France that we might eventually see a
MultiFinder. In any case, Olivier did give me a disk of his latest
software. Alas, it requires an IBM or compatible. I brought it over to a
friend's to see, and we were both mightily impressed.

     I was able to arrange what I think of as the "Summit Meeting of the
Century" between Olivier Goguel and that GS programming master, Bill
Heineman. The two spent a day together, impressing each other with their
programming abilities. It's just possible that we'll see a joint project
coming from that meeting.

       * In the rumor department, I've been hearing a lot recently about
One World Software Wizards, a new group of Apple IIGS programmers whose
plans include a freeware CAD program and a new version of NoiseTracker.
It's even rumored that the founder of the FTA is going to be involved. Stay
tuned, in future months, to see if anything comes from these great plans.

      ** Joe Kohn is a Contributing Editor for inCider/A+ Magazine, and
writes the monthly "Shareware Solutions" and "Grapevine" columns. He also
writes a monthly column for Softdisk G-S, and is the Founder and President
of Shareware Solutions: The User Group. Connections is his monthly column
that is distributed as Copyrighted Freeware. Write to Joe Kohn at 166
Alpine Street, San Rafael, CA 94901. Send a self addressed stamped envelope
if you'd like a personal reply. Or, contact Joe online. He shouldn't be too
hard to locate on America Online, CompuServe or GEnie.


        ////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
       / "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss 3 bucks goodbye!" /
      ///////////////////////////////////////////  D.MCNAMEE  ////



[EOA]
[AII]//////////////////////////////
                        APPLE II /
/////////////////////////////////
Apple II History, Part 5
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Steven Weyhrich
      [S.WEYHRICH]



                        >>> APPLE II HISTORY <<<
                        """"""""""""""""""""""""
                Compiled and written by Steven Weyhrich
                  (C) Copyright 1991, Zonker Software

                          (PART 5 -- THE DISK II)
                            [v1.1 :: 12 Dec 91]

INTRODUCTION   The second most important device that Steve Wozniak
""""""""""""   invented, after the Apple II itself, was the Disk II drive.
It was the availability of the floppy disk that catapulted this computer
into prominence beyond its competitors of the day, and ensured that it
would survive for the long haul.  Certainly, something was necessary to
overcome the less-than-intuitive cassette interface built-in to the Apple
II.  That was one place where the TRS-80 had it over the Apple II:  A real
cassette operating system.  Of course, which computer survived the long
run...hmmm?


THE DISK II   Let's put some more trash into Mr. Fusion to fuel the next
"""""""""""   leg of our trip.  How about one of those KIM-1 computers
over there in the corner of the Computer Faire auditorium?  We might have
to break it up a bit to make it fit ... Okay, now we'll just make a small
jump, to December of 1977.  By this time the Apple II had been generally
available for about six months.  Most customers used their television as an
inexpensive color monitor, and used a cassette recorder to store and
retrieve their programs and data.  Apple's major competitors were the
TRS-80 and the Commodore PET.  The products made by these two companies,
together with Apple, could be considered as the second generation of
microcomputers; they all came fully assembled and ready to use out of the
box, with a keyboard and cassette interface.  The TRS-80 and the PET even
came with a monitors and cassette recorders.  The strength of the Apple was
expandability and graphics, while the strength of the others was cost (both
the TRS-80 and the PET sold for around $600, half the price of the Apple
II).

     By late 1977, Apple had introduced some enhancements to the II,
including their first version of a floating point BASIC (called
"Applesoft") on cassette, and a printer interface card to plug into one of
the slots on the motherboard.  But the Apple II still needed something to
make it more attractive to buyers, to stand out above the TRS-80 and the
PET.  One area that needed improvement was its program and data storage and
retrieval system on cassette; it was a continued source of frustration for
many users.  The cassette system used on the TRS-80 was more sophisticated
than that of the Apple II, allowing named files and easier storage of files
and data on the same tape.  On the Apple II it took VERY careful adjustment
of the volume and tone controls on the cassette recorder to get programs or
data to successfully load.  The Apple cassette system also needed careful
attention to the location on the tape where a program was stored, and was
no more accurate than the number on the recorder's mechanical tape counter
(if it had one).

     Apple president Mike Markkula was one Apple II user that was
dissatisfied with cassette tape storage.  He had a favorite checkbook
program, but it took two minutes to read in the program from the tape, and
another two minutes to read in the check files.<1>  Consequently, at the
executive board meeting held in December 1977 he made a list of company
goals.  At the top of the list was "floppy disk".  Although Wozniak didn't
know much about how floppy disks worked, he had once looked through a
manual from Shugart (a Silicon Valley disk drive manufacturer):

     "As an experiment Woz had [earlier] conceived a circuit that
     would do much of what the Shugart manual said was needed to
     control a disk drive.  Woz didn't know how computers actually
     controlled drives, but his method had seemed to him particularly
     simple and clever.  When Markkula challenged him to put a disk
     drive on the Apple, he recalled that circuit and began
     considering its feasibility.  He looked at the way other computer
     companies--including IBM--controlled drives.  He also began to
     examine disk drives--particularly North Star's.  After reading
     the North Star manual, Woz knew that his circuit would do what
     theirs did and more.  He knew he really had a clever design."<2>

     Other issues that Wozniak had to deal with involved a way to properly
time the reading and writing of information to the disk.  IBM used a
complex hardware-based circuit to achieve this synchronization.  Wozniak,
after studying how IBM's drive worked, realized that if the data was
written to the disk in a different fashion, all that circuitry was
unneeded.  Many floppy disks sold at that time were "hard sectored",
meaning that they had a hole punched in the disk near the center ring.
This hole was used by the disk drive hardware to identify what section of
the disk was passing under the read/write head at any particular time.
Wozniak's technique would allow the drive to do self-synchronization ("soft
sectoring"), not have to deal with that little timing hole, and save on
hardware.

     Wozniak asked Randy Wigginton for help in writing some software to
control the disk drive.  During their week of Christmas vacation in 1977
they worked day and night creating a rudimentary disk operating system,
working hard to get the drive ready to demonstrate at the Consumer
Electronics Show in the first week of 1978.  Their system was to allow
entry of single letter commands to read files from fixed locations on the
disk.  However, even this simple system was not working when Wozniak and
Wigginton left for the show.

-- 
Jerry Penner   jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca   Try a 1-line .sig today.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2