From: jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca (Jerry Penner)
Subject: GEnieLamp Aug 1992 (Vol 1 No. 5) (5 parts)
Summary: part 3
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 07:46:59 GMT


GEnieLamp Vol 1/Num 5	August 1, 1992

Part 3 of 5

This article first appeared on GEnie and I was asked to post it on the
Internet.  My GE-Mail address is J.Penner1 and my internet address is
jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca if you need to discuss something regarding this
posting.  I don't work for GEnie or anything to do with the Internet.

----8<----8<----8<----8<----8<-- cut here --8<----8<----8<----8<----8<----
MORE KANSASFEST   Dateline:  KansasFest - The annual A2-Central Summer
"""""""""""""""   Conference.  Thursday July 23,1992.
This morning at 9:05 Kansas time, Resource Central Founding father,
Uncle-Dos, otherwise known as Tom Weishaar, opened the Conference with a
brief talk on the 15 years of the Apple Ii computer.  Tom followed   his
talk with a surprise video of a telephone conversation with Steve Wozniak,
taking Steve on a 30-year trip down memory lane, including discussions of
15 years of Pre-Apple II History.  Steve praised many early contributors of
the Apple II line.  Mike Markula, Del Yocam, Mike Scott, Chris Espinosa,
Randy Wiggington, and Rod Holt were all praised by Steve.  The 150
Conference Attendees were suitably impressed by the video, and really
enjoyed it (despite the large numbers of hangovers in evidence from the
impromptu arrival parties which took place in the dorm rooms of Avila
College last night).

     The NOMDA Conference Center has provided excellent facilities for the
Conference, including an outstanding menu for lunches this year.  Many
participants enthusiastically commented on the menu.

     Following the break from Tom's opening and video, Tim Swihart -
Manager of the Apple II Continuing Engineering Team - gave a talk on the
status of the Apple II.  Included was a review of the past year since the
announcements made at last year's KansasFest.  Three of the four product
announcements were actually brought to fruition, including Apple IIgs
System Software v6.0, the Apple Superdrive Controller Card, and Hypercard
IIgs.

     Tim brought a few figures from Apple USA showing that there are nearly
1 million Apple IIgs' in circulation.  Of these, nearly 2/3s are Rom 01s,
and about 3/4s are in Education environments.  Very few have been accounted
as "Retired".  Tim gave these figures to explain Apple's current direction
with regard to the Apple II.  The company has decided to reduce the level
of staffing allocated to Apple II development and support.  There are
currently approximately a half dozen people with _some_ support staff
assigned to the "Apple II Continuing Engineering Team", managed by Tim.
Apple has decided to place its efforts to maintaining and supporting the
established User Base, as listed above.

     With this in mind, APDA products have been turned over to Resource
Central for distribution.  What this means, is that the Apple II products
from APDA will receive more attention from the distributor, and because
Resource Central is already set up for it, there will continue to be
WorldWide availability.  Some products have been dropped from the line,
such as APW-C.  The Byteworks' ORCA/C is better maintained and supported,
more bug-free, and it is felt that in the best interests of the developers
and users, it was better to discontinue the products.

     Developers were informed that other decisions have been made which
affect them in a hopefully more positive light, such as the granting of
permission to the Byteworks to publish the Official System 6.0 Reference
manual.

     It was stressed that proper development under 6.0 _required_ this
reference.  It is less time consuming and expensive to do this, than for
Apple to continue publishing documents such as this, itself.  Additionally,
extensive effort has been put into updating the Techinical Notes.  Steve
Gunn was praised by Matt Deatherage of Apple's Developer Technical Support
for taking on the thankless job of converting the Tech Notes into ASCII
Text files for uploading to the major Online Services.

     The Apple II activity level at Apple, as previously reported, has been
reduced, but it is certainly a non-zero level.  The products fall under a
"Continuing Engineering" group, which handles all post-release product
issues.  This includes handling bug reports, manufacturing difficulties,
distribution difficulties, etc.  The Apple II C.E. group, as time allows,
plan _some_ new work.

     This has been identified to include System Software enhancements, but
nothing at all in the way of a Major (i.e. System 7.0) update.  What is
planned, are some new features, improved compatibility with 3rd party
products, some enhancements for both the 8-bit and 16-bit platforms.

     Tim proceeded to provide a few "Sneak Peeks" at the future, including
the one previously announced, but not-yet-released product - the Ethernet
Card (announced at last year's KFest, but not mentioned since).  The
original design was discarded and the project was re-started.  This, of
course, wreaked havoc with the original schedule.  As of this morning, the
project was nearing Beta Testing, and plans are to begin Seeding this week
(during late Alpha phase). Apple hopes to begin shipping a finished product
by the end of this year.

     The card uses Friendlynet connectors.  There is an expected
significant speedup on crowded, multiple-machine systems.  There is not
expected to be that significant a speedup noticed on smaller, isolated
workstations.  The Ethernet card will require an Enhanced Apple IIe, or an
Apple IIgs.  On the IIgs, System Software v6.0.1 !!!! will be required.

     Apple IIgs System v6.0.1 is planned for release with the Ethernet
Card.  Support for the Ethernet Card is the Number 1 Priority.  It will
contain new drivers, updates to some Control Panels, and it is expected
that there will be a few Low-Level changes, including bug fixes for
compatibility problems.  The focus of the release will be user-oriented,
not developer-oriented (i.e. no new Toolsets).

     Apple is currently investigating an MS-DOS FST.  It is currently a
read-only FST, but it is hoped that upon completion, it will be a
read/write FST.  It hasn't been fully tested yet, and may very well be
deferred beyond v6.0.1 rather than hold up release for supporting the
Ethernet Card.

     Keyboard Navigation is being added to the Finder.  What this means is
you will be able to highlight a file in a window in the Finder by pressing
a letter on your keyboard, as you are currently able to do inside
applications when opening a file.  A more in-depth peek at System Software
updates will be forthcoming during the Apple Team's System 6.0 session on
Friday morning.

     Following Tim's presentation was a lengthy Question and Answer period.
One question was about which drives do the MS-DOS FST work with?  The
answer, provided by Apple's Greg Branche, was "Any way you get it into the
computer, the FST will recognize it".  However, it should be noted that a
Disk II, or Apple 5.25 drive _cannot_ physically read an MS-DOS formatted
disk.  The Apple drives are only capable of reading the GCR encoding for
the Low Level Format. MS-DOS disks are formatted with MFM encoding.  Any
MS-DOS formatted 3.5 disk can be read in a 3.5 High Density drive hooked up
to an Apple SuperDrive Controller Card.  If you have an MS-DOS formatted
Syquest Cartridge and a Syquest mechanism in your SCSI bus, the MS-DOS FST
will be able to read it.  An MS-DOS 5.25 disk can be read from a 5.25 drive
hooked up to an Applied Engineering PCTransporter card, if the driver for
it is installed.

     Another question was whether the Superdrive Card supports 5.25 drives.
The answer was categorically NO.  Any Apple brand 3.5 drive, such as the
Unidisk, 3.5 drive, or High Density 3.5 drive are supported.  It was
reported by a Conference Attendee that Applied Engineering's High Density
drive works with the Superdrive Card.

     A participant asked for more information about the Ethernet Card.  Tim
explained that, because it does not support TCP/IP, a networking protocol,
the engineers wanted to call the card the EtherTALK card.  It was decided
that, to avoid Customer Confusion, it would remain the Ethernet Card.
Apple hopes to support TCP/IP in the future, perhaps with a ROM revision.

     There was much discussion, some of it with kind of vague direction,
looking for clues about the future of the Apple II.  Tim was not able to
satisfactorily answer all of the concerns.  Decisions concerning these
questions  are made at levels above Tim's area of responsibility.  To be
fair, Tim did the best he could.  Unfortunately, many people appeared
disappointed by his answers.

     KansasFest is off and Running!  More information will be forthcoming
as it becomes available! -Donald A. Grimes
                (DON.GRIMES, CAT44, TOP1, MSG:3/M645;1)


>>>>>   I have a pair of Roger Wagner Tie Reports:
"""""   Today, at NOMDA, Roger was wearing a mootiful Cow tie....Udderly
ridiculous!  This evening, during the Creative Black Tie Dinner, Roger
managed to win 1st prize with his "SlideShow" tie.  It was basically a tie
made from some Film strip.

     Donnie (The Enforcer) Grimes
(DON.GRIMES, Category 44,  Topic 5, Message 25, M645;1)

  Last night, while wandering around, I happened upon Lunar Productions. I
managed to get a sneak preview of the long-awaited Foundation.  It appears
at first glance to be a well thought out application....Light-years beyond
Genysis.  It was, at the time, working over a netwoeve 4) files open at
the same time.  It seems that it is easily expandable, and will be a HOT
item RSN. -Donnie
                (DON.GRIMES, CAT44, TOP9, MSG:1/M645;1)

>>>>>   I've been somewhat regretting trying to build excitement about our
"""""   coverage of this year's KansasFest.  Why?  Well, I'm being quite
honest when I say that there hasn't been a lot in the way of "newsworthy"
items.

     The first two days of the event were devoted to Apple IIgs
"colleges," which were devoted to various aspects of Apple II programming.
Unfortunately there's not a whole lot to say about them.  People learned
about programming with things like C and HyperStudio.  Those who attended
the colleges that we asked about them said that they enjoyed them and
learned about how to program these environments, but otherwise not much can
be said except that people had fun, learned things, and enjoyed meeting
other Apple II users from across the country.

     It's been a great deal of fun renewing old acquaintances and meeting
new faces.  One of the neatest things about KansasFest is meeting people
from across the country, especially meeting people I've seen many times
here on GEnie for the first time.

     But the first two days were odd, because, well, the programming
colleges were exactly that - colleges.  People learned about how to do
things with C, or with HyperStudio, or whatever.  Not a whole lot to say
about those. <wink>

     Yesterday KansasFest "proper" started with the hourly sessions and new
announcements, and I think Donnie Grimes covered that real well.  There
are a few other things to talk about besides some of the things he
mentioned.

     Probably the session that has the most people interested would be the
one on Bill Heineman's Avater project.  Avatar, for those who haven't
heard, is supposed to be a "next generation" Apple IIgs computer.

     Boiled down to its essence, what was revealed about the Avatar was:

 A) It will use a 10 Mhz 65816 chip,
 B) It will use an Ensoniq chip for sound, perhaps the one Apple currently
    uses or perhaps a more advanced one,
 C) Instead of using Apple type equipment, such as ADB devices, it will
    rely extensively on off-the-shelf MS-DOS compatible equipment,
 D) It will use a complicated bus-arbitration scheme to share processing
    with other computers.

     Those last are probably the most interesting two.  Avatar will use a
great deal of IBM-style equipment, including four IBM "AT" style slots, IBM
style keyboards, and IBM-style interfaces for such things as hard drives,
disk drives, and CD-ROM drives.

     Avater is also designed to share processing with other, plug-and-play
processing units.  So, for example, you'll be able to plug in a card that
uses an 80386 processor, and with software supplied by the manufacturer
you'll be allowed to run MS-DOS software on it.  But not just MS-DOS cards,
it will be theoretically possible to design plug-in cards to run Macintosh
(if the ROMs could ever be made to work), Amiga, Atari ST, Nintendo, Lynx,
or other systems.

     Avatar will require its own custom operating system, which Mr.
Heineman is anticipating having to "clean room" design (meaning, have
someone write the software from the ground up, using programmers who've
never even seen Apple's code but who have seen the publically available
specifications to the system software).

     Bill said he is almost certain he'll get sued if he goes through with
Avatar, in which case he says he hopes to either get Apple to license the
toolbox to him, or to be able to weather the lawsuit if not.

     He also says that he hopes to have working prototypes available for
programmers by the next KansasFest, and if all goes well he hopes to have
it available for sale to consumers by spring of 1994.

     When asked where he was getting funding, Heineman was rather evasive,
saying that he couldn't actually give full information on that.

     After the presentation, it appeared that a great number of people were
skeptical.  Programmers and engineers who saw the project stated that they
thought the idea was all very interesting, but reactions ranged from, at
its most negative, "I wonder who his drug dealer is," to, at its most
positive, "it's an interesting fantasy, but I won't believe any of it until
I see a working prototype."

     Heineman seems to think he can make his machine Apple IIgs compatible
by using a whole lot of custom chips to duplicate or work around Apple's
patents and copyrights without infringing on them, while at the same time
offering a machine with a whole new purpose - a sort of "chameleon
computer" that supports parallel processing that boasts the ability to have
compatibility with many other systems, while starting with a base unit that
already runs an established base of software - i.e. Apple II and Apple IIgs
software.  He said that he sees his main competition as being the Macintosh
LC II, and that the education market appears to be his biggest potential
market.

     Whatever the truth of Avatar, it appears that a lot of experts are
highly skeptical if not outright scoffing, and at best this machine can't
possibly be available to consumers in less than two years or so.

     Time will tell.

     In the meatime, KansasFest has been an exciting even for Apple II
users, serving as a meeting ground for Apple II users from all over the
world, and a place where at least a few significant new announcements have
been made.

     More in the next few days as things progress.

     By the way, be sure to check out A2Pro's bulletin board, especially
Category 1, Topic 17, for some interesting programmer-related stuff on this
year's KansasFest!  ;-) -Dean Esmay
(A2.DEAN, Category 44,  Topic 4, Message 6, M645;1)

>>>>>   The Down Under crew are very talented programmers.  The author of
"""""   Express, (his name escapes me at the moment) solved a printing
problem I was having.  They also had the neatest looking tie at the Black
Tie dinner Thursday night but dye to sentimental reasons Roger Wagner won
the contest.

     Last night Resource Central threw a buffet party in the cafeteria.
Steve Dizzzbrooow was the MC of a "Roast" of Roger and a good time was had
by all!  Bill Heineman talked about his Avatar project at a well attended
conference session.  If you are interested in what he said, order the tape
of the session from RC.  Tape #AT2-09 price $3.00.  I am not sure if that
is a special price on the tapes to KFest attendees or not.  Such a deal!

     Chester Page demonstrated PageWriterGS, a very impressive inexpensive
($35) word processor based on AppleWriter.  There is a demo in the library,
and they are trying to solve copyright confusion right now.

     The Lee Golden, Jay Jennings show on making billions was a treat.  Not
only is SoftDisk a great way for programmers to fine tune their skills, it
should keep Jay in Shreveport for another year.

     The days festivities started off with Uncle DOS selling hot dogs to
the hungry programming masses in the auditorium, and then a real treat.
Tom had recorded a telephone conversation with our favorite engineer the
Woz.  Steve wanted to be here this year and but scheduling problems
prevented it.  He did say he wanted to come to a future KansasFest.
-Bear            (A2.BEAR, CAT44, TOP7, MSG:10/M645;1)


>>>>>   I spoke with a conference attendee from the user ranks.  His
"""""   impression of the Avatar project is that it would be an exciting
product, but he was not convinced that Heineman has the business acumen to
bring the product to market and gain adequate market share to support a
going business.  He wasn't really negative, just uncertain.

     This is no time to be throwing wet blankets on any new possibilities
in the Apple II world.  I hope Avatar succeeds, and I'll be up front
brandishing my MasterCard when the time comes. -Bill Dooley
                  (A2.BILL, CAT44, TOP4, MSG:7/M645;1)


>>>>>   Last night, I wandered into Roger Wagner's room and wound up in
"""""   front of a video camera while Roger demonstrated some really nifty
video tricks using new, inexpensive video chips for picture-within- picture
effects.  It's too early to tell if a new product will result from these
experiments, but a few people in the room felt that a basic unit could be
made to sell at under $200 list.

     I watched in amazement as Roger hauled the tools of his trade out of
his shipping cartons while setting up the demo: a crazed rat's nest of
cables and one gadget after another, including a breadboard video gadget,
video camera, an 8mm VCR/color TV in a package roughly the size and shape
of a 5 lb. sack of flour (didn't catch the maker), a Canon video still
camera that stores 50 images on a 2 inch magnetic disk, and lesser items.
He had composite and RGB monitors on the GS and a Video Overlay Card
inside.  Sitting amid this jumble, Roger enthusiastically demo'd the
concepts he's working on to a crowd spilling out into the corridor.  After
a couple of hours, about 11:30, I got tired and went off to bed.  Roger
was still going strong.

     He can generate video letters on 8 mm tapes with a HyperStudio demo
on the main screen and himself in the inset screen, or vice versa, and
mentioned many variations on this theme.

     He has ideas for enhancements to HyperStudio that will enable
preschoolers to use it with a mouse or even a touch screen, a purely
audiovisual approach for non-readers.

     Roger's enthusiasm is catching, and representative of the overall
mood at KansasFest this year.  Few negative comments to be heard. We know
what to expect from Apple now, and we're focusing on the new and nifty.
Despite the lack of spectacular announcements thus far, there are plenty of
new things happening to keep Apple II enthusiasts pleasantly and
productively occupied. -Bill Dooley
                  (A2.BILL, CAT44, TOP9, MSG:3/M645;1)

>>>>>   I thought some of you might enjoy a clip from some of our late
"""""   night follies.  In this case it was a "Roger Wagner Roast".  This
was so incredibly funny, I really wish I could post an entire transcript of
the event (I must admit I wasn't expecting it to be very funny at all, but
_man_ was I surprised ... it was great!) , but not only doesn't one exist
(yet, at least), but I wouldn't want to be the one to type it all in
<grin>.  What I _did_ do was write down an especially funny bit from
MoMan's routine ... so without further ado:

  The Top 10 Reasons Why HyperStudio Crashes.

      10) "Something you did"
       9) "It must be a bug in your System"
       8) "It must be a bug in the System Software"
       7) "Ummmm, define 'Crash' "
       6) "We can't seem to reproduce it"
       5) "Next time, try exporting the scripts first"
       4) "It's not a 'Crash', it's just a detour into GSBug"
       3) "Real programmers don't use 'goto' "
       2) "Oh yeah ... 'goto' doesn't"
       1) "We've got an update coming up for that RSN"
                 (A2.GUEST, CAT44, TOP9, MSG:4/M645;1)


         ////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
        / "Congratulations on your honorary membership in SPUDS.   /
       / (Semi-Professional Users and Developers Society) <grin>" /
      ///////////////////////////////////////////////   MUSE  ////



[EOA]
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                     FOCUS ON... /
/////////////////////////////////
SHARED MINDS Book Review
""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
   [P.SHAPIRO2]



      >>> SHARED MINDS: THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES OF COLLABORATION <<<
      """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Michael Schrage
Random House, NY, 227 pages, $19.95
ISBN 0-394-56587-8

     Each one of us is born into the world with different talents and
skills. Most of us spend a lifetime trying to hone and develop these native
born talents to maximize both our own potential and our contribution to the
greater social good.

     But rarely can anybody these days maximize his or her talents working
cloistered and alone. In this world of increasing specialization and
complexity, rare indeed is the individual who achieves great success
working independently on his or her own.

     Long ignored and overlooked, the wonders of collaborative creativity
are just beginning to be understood and appreciated. In an important and
revealing new book, Shared Minds: The New Technologies of Collaboration,
syndicated columnist Michael Schrage examines both the nature of the
collaborative process and methods of "fanning the collaborative flame."
With frequent reference to legendary creative collaborative teams of the
past (Orville and Wilbur Wright, Watson and Crick, Jobs and Wozniak, Lennon
and McArtney), Schrage articulates truths that well deserve to be lifted to
the forefront of our consciousness.


How This Book Came to be Written   Initially Shared Minds was to be a book
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   about the social dynamics of business
meetings, and how new technologies can help streamline these dynamics. But
the author soon realized that the most interesting group work doesn't occur
in large business meetings, but in small, energetic teams. So instead of
writing a book about business meetings, he decided to closely examine the
nature of creative "small group" collaborations. After interviewing many
famous scientific and artistic "collaborative teams," Schrage spent a year
as a visiting scholar at MIT's Media Lab synthesizing the ideas in this
book.


The Personal Attributes of
     Successful Collaborative Teams   One of the probing questions
     """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""   examined in this book is: "What
personal attributes contribute to successful collaborative joint ventures?"
How is it that the family team of Orville and Wilbur Wright worked so well
together, when other sibling pairs find it a struggle to order pizza
together?  And what role did Orville and Wilbur's parents play in fostering
their creativity and perseverance.  (Apparently Orville and Wilbur's mother
played a decisive role in showing her sons the methodology of creative
invention.)

     Along the same lines of thought, what personal qualities allowed
Watson and Crick to work together to formulate their landmark
three-dimensional model of DNA? True, they had differing and complementary
scientific backgrounds. But more than that, they both had a hunger to
understand the physical structure of DNA. That intellectual hunger united
them in a focused scientific quest.

     Speaking on the subject of collaboration, Crick, in his memoirs, sheds
light on the nature of his successful teaming with Watson: "Our...advantage
was that we had evolved an unstated but fruitful methods of
collaboration....If either of us suggested a new idea, the other, while
taking it seriously, would attempt to demolish it in a candid but
nonhostile manner." Good collaborative teams, therefore, have a tacit
understanding that individual ego must necessarily be subsumed to the
larger team goal.


Examples of How a "Sharing
"""" Ideology" Can Develop   Another subject examined in the book is the
     """""""""""""""""""""   similar "sharing ideology" used by great
artists and great scientists.  There comes a time when human beings rise
above the possessive attitude of "that's an idea I thought of first" to the
grander attitude of "that's an idea I had a part in creating."

     One moving anecdote about collaborative artists occurred when Picasso
and his close associates stopped signing their paintings for a brief period
in their lives. These artists worked so closely together in producing new
art that they genuinely believed that signing any of their paintings would
be a misrepresentation of "authorship." In this case, keeping track of who
produced which paintings became subservient to the group goal of producing
excellent group paintings.


Thoughts About "Idea Development"   At another point in the book Schrage
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""   examines the concept of "idea
development." How is it that ideas get developed from nascent whims to
full-fledged notions? Quoting a modern expert on the subject, John Cleese
(the gifted comic writer of Monty Python fame):  "The really good idea is
always traceable back quite a long way, often to a not very good idea which
sparked off another idea that was only slightly better, which somebody else
misunderstood in such a way that they then said something which was really
rather interesting.... [That's] actually why I have always worked with a
writing partner, because I'm convinced that I get to better ideas than I'd
ever do on my own."

     One perceptive observation in Shared Minds is that some of the best
collaborative work occurs in informal, playful settings. The proverbial
doodle, hastily sketched on a cafeteria napkin, serves as a forceful
reminder of how creativity can best be unleashed in informal settings.
Likewise, brainstorming sessions in a formal conference room seldom yield
memorable creative results.

     All in all, Shared Minds is an important, thought-provoking book. If
you've ever spent time thinking about the wonders of collaborative
creativity, you ought to find a rich vein of ideas to mine in this book.
The very act of reading the book ought to stimulate those areas of the
brain responsible for the "open-minded" reception of new and interesting
ideas.


Want To Know More?   If you're interested in reading further about the
""""""""""""""""""   subjects of creativity and collaboration, you might
be interest in some of the recommended readings at the end of Shared Minds.
Here is a list of some of the juicier sounding titles.]

     Bijker, Wiebe E., Hughes, Thomas P., and Trevor Pinch, eds.
     The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New
     Directions in the Sociology of and History of Technology.
     Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987.

     Boettinger, Henry. Moving Mountains: The Art and Craft of Letting
     Others See Things Your Way. New York: Macmillan, 1969.

     Briggs, John. Fire in the Crucible: The Self-Creation of
     Creativity and Genius. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1990.

     Crouch, Tom. The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville
     Wright, New York: W.W. Norton, 1989.

     Eisenstein, Elizabeth L., The Printing Press as an Agent of
     Change, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

     Gardner, Howard. The Mind's New Science: A History of the
     Cognitive Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 1985.

     Heim, Michael. Electric Language: A Philosophical Study of
     Word Processing. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.

     Koestler, Arthur. The Act of Creation. New York, Macmillan, 1964.

     Levine, Howard, and Howard Rheingold, The Cognitive Connection:
     Thought and Language in Mind and Machine. New York, Prentice-Hall,
     1987.

     McLuhan, Marshall. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic
     Man. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962.

     Nelson, Theodor, Computer Lib/Dream Machines.
     Self-published, 1974.

     Stent, Gunther. Scientific Genius and Creativity, San Francisco, W.H.
     Freeman, 1975.

     Turkle, Sherry. The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit. New
     York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.

     Winograd, Terry and Fernando Flores. Understanding Computers and
     Cognition. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1986.

     Zuboff, Shoshana. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work
     and Power. New York: Basic Books, 1988.

                               [*][*][*]

     Phil Shapiro   (Shapiro is the founder of Balloons Software, a
     """"""""""""   new Apple II educational software company. He can
     be reached at Balloons Software, 5201 Chevy Chase Parkway, NW,
     Washington, DC 20015-1747, or via electronic mail on GEnie at:
     P.Shapiro1, on America Online at: pshapiro)


            ///////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
           / "I think you misspelled that, I believe the correct /
          / spelling is "THPPPT" or "THPTHPT"  (at least        /
         / according to Bloom County)."                        /
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[EOA]
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                     SOFTVIEW A2 /
/////////////////////////////////
A2 Software Reviews
"""""""""""""""""""
By Mel Fowler
    [MELSOFT]



MUSIC LOVERS TAKE NOTE   I was asked to write a review of some of the
""""""""""""""""""""""   programs currently in the A2 Software Library.
So what I decided to do was to write an article reviewing three music
programs, NoiseTracker GS 1.0,  SoniqTracker 0.5, and MODzap 0.8.  This is
not a review in the strictest since of the word because I am not a
programmer nor a musician and also SoniqTracker and MODzap are not
completed programs.  This article is written from the stand point of a
music lover and an Apple IIGS fanatic.

     First a bit of back ground concerning the Apple IIGS and music
programs.  Music Construction Set was one of the first, followed by Music
Studio.  Music Construction Set was mostly just a music player were as
Music Studio was more a word processor for music.  Both programs had there
limitations and regardless how hard they tried they still didn't sound
like violins or horns.  Mostly they sounded like organs trying to sound
like violins or trumpets.  They did fairly well with pianos and guitars but
when it came to holding long notes or adding color to the music, forget it.
The music sounded like computer generated music. We were happy with these
programs at the time because they sounded great when compared to previous
Apple II music programs.  Diversi-Tune sounded a bit better but again was
mostly just a play back program, although I loved the bouncing ball.

     The next great music composition program was SoundSmith.  The first to
incorporate a spreadsheet like front-end for the IIGS, SoundSmith made
writing original and cover music relatively simple with a minimum of
complexity.  As its newer versions progressed, new features were added
making it possible to breathe greater life into the music.  And while the
professional software community often ignore d the effort, SoundSmith
quickly became the new standard in IIGS music.  Recently, the SoundSmith
fairy tale came to a bitter end when a beta tester for a commercial version
broke the non-disclosure agreement and caused the author to abandon work
on the application.

     Then came NoiseTracker GS from the french base group the Free Tool
Association or FTA.   With its rich, full basses and quality, high
fidelity, and full dynamic range of instruments this was indeed the next
generation in music software for the Apple IIGS.  This was the first music
program to break the 64K size barrier for instruments and could provide
full rich sounds never before heard on any Apple computer.

     NoiseTracker GS is SoundSmith compatible so all the available
SoundSmith songs and instruments could be used.  NoiseTracker GS also
includes an editor which can be used by musicians to create a full range
of musical sounds only limited by their imaginations.  Just about any sound
can be made into an instrument including human voices.

     Even a novice like myself can re-orchestrate compositions with the
Instrument Add, Replace and Delete features of the program.  I was able to
setup the stereo effects that I wanted by setting instruments to the right
or left channels or both.  I was also able to set the tracks to a desired
right or left channel. If the bass drum is too loud, just lower the volume
on that one instrument. Does the song seem to be playing to slowly for
you, change the tempo.

     The main difference between NoiseTracker GS and all previous music
programs was its ability to sustain long notes and the ability to import
Amiga Mods.  Music can be saved in two different formats, a songs file with
a separate instrument wave file or as modules which include the instruments
in one file.

     Speaking of modules, Amiga MODs.  It is somewhat limited in this
capability in that NoiseTracker does not support all the special effects
required by Amiga MODs.  However, you can load in an Amiga MOD file and
save it as a NoiseTracker module.  If you then load the NoiseTracker module
you can use the NoiseTracker program to change tempo, change instruments,
etc., as with any other NoiseTracker son g.

     The music editor screen is well organized and easy to use.  To play a
SoundSmith or NoiseTracker song you simply "Open Musicfiles" from the Music
pull down menu, then select the "Scrolly Player" which shows you a 15
channel VU meter.  Like all FTA software there are "Easter Eggs" hidden
inside the program.  Click on the Scrolly Player and notes will come flying
around the screen.  Click on the song title location and the program
changes colors, gray, blue, green or black.

     There appears to be a running gun battle between SoniqTracker and
MODzap as to who can write the best Amiga MOD player for the Apple IIGS.
Both programs have jukebox features and you can load in a list of your
favorite Amiga MOD songs and listen for hours on end.

     I like the "Dancing Lights" in SoniqTracker and the more conventional
look of the player.  The Player controls are more in line with those of a
standard CD player with Volume control and Mono or Full Stereo or even 25%,
50%, or 75% Stereo.  In Jukebox mode the N key takes you to the next song.
The Track Meter is also a nice feature. The Volume control is especially
nice for those of us without external volume controls on our speakers.
SoniqTracker is indeed an impressive program and plays Amiga MOD song with
crisp, clear sounds and superior channel separation.  The documentation is
adequate but a bit preachy.

     MODzap is more technically oriented and supports more features in
setting up the player.  For example there is a "Force 31 Inst" and "Force
15 Inst" in the "File" pull down menu.  I have never had an occasion to use
these selections but they are there.  Another feature is the ability to
loop the music so if you like a particular song you can have it played over
and over in a continues loop. Under the Option menu are options such as
Ignore Tuning and Ignore Arpeggiatos, also Turbo, Normal, Enhanced and
Premium.  The documentation is not very clear as to what Tuning or
Arpeggiotos means or when to use these options. Turbo, Normal, Enhance and
Premium has to do with the quality of the play back. However again the
documentation is not to clear as to what the differences are between them
or when to use them.

     MODzap version 0.8 added a keyboard so that you can select an
instrument from the currently load Amiga MOD and play it on the keyboard.
The sound quality is superior on some selected Amiga MODs but t his mostly
has to do with special effects such as bends up and down.

     Overall the music outlook for the Apple IIGS is tremendous.
SoniqTracker and MODzap are still in there development stages but already
show a great future for music on the Apple IIGS.  The developers of these
two wonderful programs are to be congratulated and encouraged.  Although
both of these programs are currently freeware,  your monetary
considerations would help to keep things going.  The dream music program
would be a combination of all three of the music programs.  Compatible with
Sound Smith, NoiseTracker GS and play Amiga MODs with all the required
special effects.  Editing capabilities currently available in SoundSmith
and NoiseTracker GS should be compatible with all formats.  Hopefully this
is what the developers of soniqTracker and MODzap are working towards.  We
can only hope.



[EOA]
[COW]//////////////////////////////
                       CowTOONS! /
/////////////////////////////////
Moooooo Fun!
""""""""""""
By Patrick Hart
      [P.HART4]

                                 ______
                                |      |
                                | (__) |
                                | (OO) |
                                |  \/  |
                                |      |
                                 ======
                         "Cow Caught at Bootup"

            _________________________________________________
          |  ______                                         |
          | |      |                                        |
          | | (__) |        Welcome to MacCOWintosh         |
          | | (OO) |                                        |
          | |  \/  |                                        |
          | |      |                                        |
          |  ======                                         |
          |_________________________________________________|

            _________________________________________________
          |_____________About This MacCOWintosh_____________|
          |                                                 |
          |                        System COWware 1.0.7*    |
          | MacCOWintosh IIcow     (c) Cow Computer, Inc.   |
          |                                                 |
          | Total Memory: 307,200K Largest Unused Block: 1K |
          |_________________________________________________|
          | System Usage: 307,199K |||||||||||||||||||||| | |
          |_________________________________________________|

            _________________________________________________
          |  ______                                         |
          | |      | The application 'unknown' has          |
          | | (__) | unexpectedly quit, because an error of |
          | | (OO) | type C occurred.               ______  |
          | |  \/  |                               |      | |
          | |      |                               |  OK  | |
          |  ======                                |______| |
          |_________________________________________________|

            _________________________________________________
          |  ______                                         |
          | |      | Force The Cow to quit?                 |
          | | (__) | System failure will occur.             |
          | | (OO) |                ___________   ________  |
          | |  \/  |               |           | |        | |
          | |      |               | Force Out | | Cancel |J|
          |  ======                |___________| |________| |
          |_________________________________________________|

            _________________________________________________
          |  ______                                         |
          | |      | The application has unexpectedly quit. |
          | | (__) | The Cow suggests user error.           |
          | | (OO) |                             _________  |
          | |  \/  |                            |         | |
          | |      |                            | Restart | |
          |  ======                             |_________| |
          |_________________________________________________|

            _________________________________________________
          |  ______                                         |
          | |      |                                        |
          | | (__) | There is not enough memory to open     |
          | | (OO) | TapplicationU (100,000K needed, 1K     |
          | |  \/  | available).                            |
          | |      |                                        |
          |  ======  To make more memory available, try     |
          |          adding more RAM.               ______  |
          |                                        |      | |
          |                                        |  OK  | |
          |                                        |______| |
          |_________________________________________________|

                               [*][*][*]


             (__)        CowTOONS?  Patrick took us up on our
             (oo)        offer and sent us this month's CowTOONS
    /---------\/         selection.  Thanks, Pat!
   / | x=a(b)||
  *  ||------||          If you have an idea for a CowTOON!, we
     ^^      ^^          would like to see it.  If we use it here
    Mathematical         in GEnieLamp, we will credit your account
        Cow              with 2 hours of GEnie non-prime time!
    (developer of
     cow-culus)


      /////////////////////////////////////////// GEnie_QWIK_QUOTE ////
     / "Question from the floor is:  If the "Gno/Me" gang is writing /
    / the system software for Avatar, will it be called "Gno/Way"?  /
   /////////////////////////////////////////////////  A2.GUEST  ////



[EOA]

-- 
Jerry Penner   jpenne@ee.ualberta.ca  |   "Wanna buy a duck" (Hi Joe :)