Shareware Solutions II
fAn 'Exciting SlppCe II Journey Into The future
Volume 2, Issue 2 Winter, 1995
A Visit With Steve Wozniak
As the short e-mail message
scrolled across my computer
screen, my eyes stared at the
seven words with disbelief, my
hands started trembling and
my heart started racing. I read
the words over and over again,
not quite believing them. Sent
by Auri Rahimzadeh, publisher
of the freeware (soon to be
shareware) HyperStudio based
"diskazine" PowerGS, the e-
mail asked the truly magical
question: "Do you want to meet
The Woz?"
Steve Wozniak, inventor of the
Apple II computer, is a legend of
mythical proportions who turn-
ed his dreams into reality and
forevermore changed our world.
With imagination, diligence,
vision, and a sense that nothing
was beyond his capabilities, he
is truly one of the few heroes of
our times.
Auri thrilled me with his invita-
tion. He had been in contact
with The Woz and had arranged
to interview him. Auri had
spent over a month researching
the life and times of The Woz,
and had prepared an extensive
set of interview questions. I was
just "going along for the ride."
We arrived at The Woz's office
in Los Gatos, California at the
appointed time, but The Woz
was running a little late. When
he eventually arrived, he told us
that we'd have to wait for a
while as he was very busy. After
waiting nearly an hour, The Woz
came out and told us that he
was so busy that he would have
to cancel the interview. With
obvious disappointment, Auri
tried to reschedule it but Woz
was non-committal.
As we were preparing to leave, I
approached The Woz and said,
"Before leaving, I just want to
thank you for changing and en-
riching my life." I told him that
I'd been working with the Apple
II for nearly 10 years and gave
him a package containing all of
the issues of Shareware Solu-
tions II. As he edged us closer to
the door, I blurted out, "Steve,
you just don't understand what
a wondrous effect you've had on
my life. You've had a greater
influence than even Bob Dylan."
And with that, The Woz grinned
from ear to ear and said, "Why
don't you guys come in and we
can talk for a few minutes."
Those few minutes turned out to
be a few hours.
The talk was rambling, and
Auri never did get to ask his
questions. Woz wasn't really
interested in talking about the
Apple II, and after we'd brought
it up at least 10 times, he fin-
ally said, "That was a real long
time ago for me."
Woz talked about his current
mission in life - to teach the
uses of technology to 5th grade
students. He clearly loves to
teach and share his knowledge
with children; he has six of his
own. He also makes his knowl-
edge freely available to fellow
teachers, and during our talk, he
even "took a tech support call"
from a frustrated teacher who
was having modem difficulties.
As with most California school
districts, The Woz's is strapped
for funds. Like the saintly prince
he is often portrayed to be, he
told us how he had personally
purchased 100 computers for
"his kids" - 50 for use in the
school computer lab, and 50 for
the children to take home. He
also pays for 100 accounts on
America Online, so that his stu-
dents can experience life online.
He did express some frustra-
tions about America Online, and
I suggested that for an even
more rewarding experience, he
might want to think about
exposing his students to The
Internet. He professed that his
experience with the Internet was
limited, and that was my cue. I
explained to him the wonders of
the World Wide Web, and I
invited him to share my articles
about the Internet with his
students.
Before we knew it, two hours
had flown by, and Woz had to
rush off to teach a class. Before
leaving, I told him that Apple II
users would love to read a trad-
itional interview with him, and
that if he ever wanted to grant
one, he should let me know.
We felt as if we were walking on
air as we left Woz's office. We
knew that we'd just had our own
dreams fulfilled and that we
would soon be the envy of all our
Apple II friends. After all, life
just doesn't get any better than
meeting with the inventor of the
Apple II computer! •
Shareware Solutions II
Grapevine
Shareware Solutions II
Volume 2, Issue 2
Shareware Solutions II is
published bi-monthly by Joe
Kohn, 166 Alpine Street, San
Rafael, CA 94901-1008.
Writer/Publisher: Joe Kohn
Roving Reporter: Cynthia Field
Proofreader: Jane Kos
All contents of Shareware So-
lutions II Copyright (©) 1995 by
Joe Kohn. All rights reserved.
Nothing may be reprinted or
reproduced, in whole or in part,
in any media without the prior
written consent of Joe Kohn.
Available by subscription only,
the North American rate is $35
for a 12 issue subscription; for
overseas air mail delivery, the
cost for a subscription is $50.
Shareware Solutions II comes
with a pro-rated money back
guarantee.
Make all checks or money
orders out to Joe Kohn. US
Funds Only. Sorry, but no
charge cards, purchase orders or
COD orders will be accepted.
This newsletter was created
entirely with an Apple IIGS. All
articles written in AppleWorks.
Page Layout prepared in Apple-
Works GS. Printing was done
on a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet
IIP Plus, connected to the IIGS
courtesy of Vitesse's Harmonie.
The use of TrueType fonts is
courtesy of WestCode Soft-
ware's Pointless.
E-Mail Addresses:
CIS: 76702,565
GEnie: JOE.KOHN
Internet: joko@crl.com
Easter Eggs
Sterett R. Prevost III reports
that while experimenting with
Print Shop GS (PSGS) and The
Print Shop Companion (PSC),
he made a discovery.
The PSC manual states that if
you want to have access to
PSGS's built-in graphics from
PSC, just install PSC in the
same folder on your hard drive
as PSGS. Sterett accidentally
discovered an undocumented
feature of this install method.
While at the main menu of PSC,
hold down the Option key and
double click on the "Exit
Program" button. A message
quickly flashes on the screen:
"Switching to the Print Shop;"
you are immediately taken to
the main menu of PSGS.
If you do this but PSC and
PSGS are not in the same fold-
er, you get a screen that flashes
by quickly and says, "Sorry, La
La Land is no more..." At that
point, depending on which ver-
sion of Print Shop GS you have
installed, your computer may
crash.
Spotted in High Places
Those who attended Apple II
trade shows - AppleFest in the
late 1980s or Apple Expo in the
early 1990s - may remember
visiting the booth for Power
Industries. That company pro-
duced Delta Drawing, an Apple
Ile/IIc menu driven logo-like
graphics program for school age
children. Perhaps you even
spoke with Jock Gill, a distin-
guished looking gentleman, who
was the enthusiastic Apple II
proponent manning the booth.
Mr Gill has since left Power
Industries but he has gone on to
bigger and better things. Since
1992 he has been employed at
the White House, serving as
President Clinton's Director of
Media Affairs.
ContactsMover
By the time you read this, the
Contacts GS add-on product
TimeOut ContactsMover for use
with AppleWorks v5, should be
completed and shipping. At the
same time, an update for
ContactsMover for use with
AppleWorks v3 and v4 will also
become available.
We made a few changes in the
way that the new versions of
ContactsMover operate. First
and foremost, ContactsMover
vl.l now creates a temporary
substitute AppleWorks Data-
base, so that no changes are
made to your original database
file. Several people had reported
that ContactsMover failed to
work if hot-keys were activated;
that problem can't possibly
surface with AppleWorks v5
since some basic design changes
were made to UltraMacros
itself. Likewise, the new version
seems to handle all AppleWorks
v5 patches that we've tried it
with.
If you've been using the initial
release of ContactsMover with
either AppleWorks v3 or v4, and
it's been working as great for you
as it has been for me, there's no
real need to update to Contacts-
Mover vl.l. On the other hand, if
you've recently received Apple-
Works 5, you'll need to update to
ContactsMover vl.l.
As stated in the Contacts GS
manual, updates to Contacts-
Mover are available to owners of
Contacts GS from Shareware
Solutions II for only $5, and that
includes shipping anywhere in
the world.
Shareware Solutions II
Brutal Deluxe
Cogito, the truly incredible IIGS
freeware puzzle game from
Brutal Deluxe, has its fair share
of Easter Eggs, one per back-
ground screen. Activate the
Happy background egg by click-
ing on the left eye near the
reflected light. On the Ludy
background screen, click on the
dot above the "i." On the Planet
background screen, click on the
small planet underneath the
moon. And on the Xeno back-
ground screen, click on the re-
flected light, third from the top.
Cogito contains an item that
was quite a thrill and honor to
see. If you click on the About
Box, you'll see the following
message: "All our productions
are freeware. If you think you
would have bought them if they
had been sold, we will be really
very happy if you could use the
money you have kept to sub-
scribe to the Shareware Solu-
tions II newsletter."
While hunting for other Easter
Eggs in Cogito, I examined the
files with a sector editor, and
was vastly amused to see such
hidden comments as, "Good luck
to find the Easter Eggs in the
game" (sic) and "There is noth-
ing interesting here!"
As I continued to examine the
code with a sector editor, I was
even more surprised and a-
mused to discover several more
messages that were secreted
away within the code that were
personal messages directed at
me.
Those personal messages came
about as a result of a visit made
by Olivier Zardini of Brutal
Deluxe to the Shareware So-
lutions II Worldwide Head-
quarters. While visiting here,
Olivier inadvertently left an
Apple IIGS book that I had
been wanting to purchase for
years but had been unable to
locate. The book was the fabled
"Le IIGS Eplauche" - a tech-
nical programming book written
in French by several members of
the defunct FTA programming
team.
I was quite thrilled to spy the
words, while examining the
Cogito code with a sector editor,
"Keep the book, Joe." Thank you
very much Olivier! And thanks
for all the great Brutal Deluxe
freeware!
Despite the fearful image con-
jured up by the Brutal Deluxe
name, Olivier Zardini is a soft-
spoken college student from
Bordeaux, France. He traveled
alone to California on this, his
first visit to the United States.
I was quite honored that Olivier
would choose to visit Shareware
Solutions II rather than spend-
ing time visiting the natural
and beautiful wonders of Cali-
fornia. I hope that his visit here
was as memorable for him as it
was for me.
During Olivier's visit we spent a
very pleasant afternoon talking
about the Apple IIGS, and I was
treated to a sneak preview of
several Brutal Deluxe works in
progress. Some, like Cogito and
The Opale Demo, have since
been released, while others like
the Tinies Construction Set and
Convert 3200 are still being
perfected.
Olivier explained to me that
The Tinies and Cogito had been
created in France by program-
mers at Atreid Concepts, and
that those games were com-
mercially available for both Mac
and IBM PC computers. Brutal
Deluxe approached Atreid Con-
cepts and volunteered to port
both games to the Apple IIGS.
Apparently, Atreid Concepts did
not want any money for their
source code, and although Atreid
really had nothing to do with the
IIGS versions, they couldn't have
been created without their coop-
eration. I was very curious as to
why a commercial software com-
pany would sell a program for
some computer systems, yet give
them away for free for other
computers. Olivier simply said,
"We have friends at Atreid."
Upon further questioning, the
name of one Atreid programmer
definitely sounded very familiar.
That was our old friend Olivier
Goguel, founder of The FTA.
In many ways, it was truly re-
markable to be able to spend a
most wonderful afternoon with a
person who lives halfway around
the globe and who primarily
speaks a language that I don't
even understand. Even if Olivier
spoke no English at all, I'm sure
that we still would have been
able to communicate - simply
because of our mutual love for
and involvement with the Apple
II computer.
Needless to say, Olivier and I
discussed the Apple II commu-
nity and how wonderful it felt to
be making contributions to that
community and doing our small
parts to enrich our neighbors.
While spending time with
Olivier, I was reminded of that
phrase coined by The FTA: "We
are everywhere." Apple II users
span the globe, and despite the
fact that we speak different
languages and observe different
cultural customs, there's just
something about the Apple II
that makes us all friends. It
really is a remarkable computer
and we really are a unique com-
munity. Cherish the fact that
you own an Apple II! After all, if
Shareware Solutions II
you owned a Mac or a PC, you'd
have to pay $30 or $40 for a
game like The Tinies or Cogito.
We're actually quite fortunate
that those games are available
to us as freeware, thanks to the
efforts of Olivier Zardini and
Brutal Deluxe!
Big Red Lives On
In a surprise reversal, Big Red
Computer Club announced in
mid-December that they would
not close their doors at the end
of 1994 as had been previously
announced. BRCC plans to con-
tinue operating in a stream-
lined fashion for at least
another year.
The 1995 incarnation of Big Red
Computer Club will be very
different from the BRCC we
have all come to know and love
over the past 13 years. For
starters, BRCC founder John
Wrenholt will be spending most
of his time developing enter-
tainment software for the Mac.
In a recent conversation, he did
reveal that he didn't intend to
forget his roots, and whenever
possible he will also create IIGS
versions of his upcoming Mac
games. By choosing to program
with the transportable C lan-
guage, it may very well be easy
for him to create both Mac and
IIGS versions at the same time.
Sadly, Big Red will no longer
publish Scarlett, so in many
ways all that will remain of
BRCC is a sales office. They
will continue to sell and support
software for which they own the
rights, and they plan to continue
to sell software that they have
licensed from others, but they
have no real plans to continue to
license new software. Depending
on how sales go, they may or
may not renew the licensing
agreements they've made with
other software companies.
So, the words of warning issued
before - if there's anything you
want to purchase from Big Red,
you better buy it soon - are still
applicable.
I'm sure I can speak for the
entire Apple II community when
I say, "Thanks, Big Red, for your
many contributions to the Apple
II. We wish you luck and success
in all your future endeavors."
CD-ROM
Now that many Apple IIGS
owners have purchased CD-
ROM drives in order to access
the multitude of educationally
oriented CD-ROM disks made
possible by Sequential Systems'
DiscQuest series, you may want
to consider purchasing a CD-
ROM disk which includes Apple
IIGS software.
Udo Huth, a German Apple
IIGS user, helped to create a
CD-ROM disk for the Apple
IIGS SIG of the Apple User
Group Europe which includes
200 Megabytes of compressed
Apple IIGS freeware, shareware
and public domain software.
Using Shrinklt to uncompress
the files, approximately 400
megabytes of Apple IIGS soft-
ware are available on this CD-
ROM disk (400 megabytes is
the equivalent of 500 3.5" 800K
disks). Additionally, there are
300 Megabytes of Macintosh
software included on the CD-
ROM disk.
At the present time, the AUGE
CD-ROM disk is available only
by mail order from Germany.
Purchasers can elect to receive
the CD-ROM disk in a plain
floppy disk mailer or for a few
dollars more, can get it sent in a
protective CD jewel case.
Payment can be accepted by per-
sonal checks in US, Australian
or Canadian currency, by checks
drawn on a US, Australian or
Canadian bank, or by Euro-
Check. The price of the AUGE
CD-ROM disk, sent in a floppy
disk mailer, is US $51.25, CAN
$71.75, or AUS $74. The price
for those who want it sent in a
jewel case is US $56, CAN $77,
or AUS $79.
Details on payment method
options available to those living
in other countries are available
by sending an e-mail to
u.huth@genie.geis.com or by the
mail.
For those living in Europe, send
a Eurocheck for DM 80.00 for the
CD-ROM (with a jewel case).
Within Germany the price is DM
72.00 for nonmembers of AUGE.
Please endorse all checks to Udo
Huth, and send to:
Udo Huth
Leipziger Str. 16 a
38329 Wittmar
Germany
Another CD-ROM disk filled
with Apple IIGS public domain,
freeware, and shareware soft-
ware is currently being compiled
by Jim Maricondo of Digisoft
Innovations, the publishers of
the highly acclaimed Twilight II
screen-saver software. That CD-
ROM disk will be available
sometime during the month of
February, 1995 and it will cost
$65. When completed, DigiSoft's
Golden Orchard CD-ROM will
include 600 Megabytes of Apple
II and IIGS programs and files.
In addition to applications,
sounds, graphics, hypermedia
stacks, AppleWorks related-
material, TrueType fonts, and
Finder Extensions, DigiSoft has
recently finished negotiating
Shareware Solutions II
with Apple and you will find
many megabytes of Apple mate-
rials and technical documen-
tation that previously were
available only on hard-to-find
Developer CDs or the System 6
Golden Master CD.
If you'd like to be placed on
DigiSoft's Internet e-mailing
list, you'll receive electronic
notification of the release of the
CD and/or progress reports.
Just direct your e-mail to:
j agaroth@leland. Stanford .edu
SCSI-2 CD-ROM Drives
Sequential Systems has an-
nounced the release of a SCSI-2
CD-ROM device driver for use
with the Apple II High Speed
SCSI Card. The device driver
allows full use of the features
found on Quality Computer's
"Q-Drive CD" product and other
brand SCSI-2 drives. Until now,
users of SCSI-2 drives con-
nected to an Apple High Speed
SCSI card were unable to play
CD audio discs or use the CD-
audio features of Sequential's
DiscQuest.
The SCSI-2 CD-ROM driver
also comes with a Media Con-
trol Toolkit interface, so that
regular audio CDs can be played
with the Media Controller desk
accessory.
The price of the driver is $24.95.
For additional information,
contact:
Sequential Systems
1200 Diamond Circle
Lafayette, CO 80026
800-759-4549 (Sales)
303-666-4549 (International)
Where Are They Now?
Several Apple II companies and
shareware authors have recent-
ly moved. Please update your
records with their latest ad-
dresses:
Alltech Electronics Co., Inc.
2618 Temple Heights
Oceanside, CA 92056
619-724-2404 (Voice)
619-724-8808 (Fax)
Alltech repairs Apple II com-
puters and peripherals, sells
hard to find Apple II parts and
components, and sells entire
Apple II systems.
William W. Basham, M.D.
10400 Connecticut Ave., #407
Kensington,MD 20895-3910
Dr Basham is the author of
DiversiCopy, DiversiKey, Diver-
siCache, and DiversiTune.
Byte Works, Inc.
8000 Wagon Mound Dr. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87120
The Byte Works is the one stop
shopping mall for all Apple II
books, technical manuals, com-
pilers and programming lan-
guages.
ICON
6405 Metcalf Avenue
Ste. 106, Box 22
Overland Park, KS 66202-4080
913-831-4266 (voice)
913-831-7635 (fax)
ICON is the sponsor of the
annual KansasFest Conference,
and the publisher of various
disk-based magazines including
A2-Central, TimeOut-Central,
Script-Central, and Studio City.
William H. Tudor
10 Blue Jay Way
Rexford, NY 12148
W.TUDOR@genie.geis.com
Bill Tudor is a very prolific
Apple IIGS shareware utility
programmer and the author of
Quality Computer's "Six Pack."
United Software Industries
748 Arlington Ave, Ste 103
Naperville, IL 60565
708-416-7459
CompuServe: 76004,1430
United Software Industries pub-
lish and support two different
telecommunications programs:
ASCII Express (more commonly
called AE Pro) and MouseTalk.
Corrections
1) In the KansasFest article
that appeared in Volume 2,
Issue 1, it was mentioned that
because there was no Internet
Service Provider in Kansas City,
we had to dial long distance in
order to be able to connect to the
Internet. As it turns out, there is
an Internet Service Provider in
Kansas City. The telephone
number for Tyrell is 816-459-
7584.
2) In the KansasFest article
that appeared in Volume 2,
Issue 1, it was mentioned that
no Apple II Desktop Publishing
program provided an option for
auto-hyphenation. As it turns
out, Publishlt4 does have that
option for auto-hyphenation.
Unfortunately, Time Works went
out of business earlier this
summer, and neither Big Red
nor Quality Computers has any
copies of Publish! t4 remaining.
3) In Volume 2, Issue 1, readers
were told to contact InterNIC
via e-mail for an up-to-date list-
ing of all commercial Internet
Service Providers. The updated
e-mail address for Internic is:
info@is.internic.net •
Shareware Solutions II
Modem Madness
Low Cost Modems
A number of Shareware Solu-
tions II subscribers have report-
ed that the low cost $99 Line-
Link 144e modem is no longer
available from MacWarehouse.
Have no fear; the LineLink 144e
is not the only low cost depend-
able 14.4 baud fax/modem. In
fact, in their latest catalog,
MacWarehouse lists a Magnum
14.4 fax/modem for $89, a
Power User 14.4 fax/modem for
$110, a Mac&Fax Sportster
14.4 fax/modem for $120, and a
ProModem 144e fax/modem for
$120. The ProModem 144e, like
the LineLink, is manufactured
by Prometheus Products, and
suspiciously looks exactly like
the LineLink.
Reports have been posted online
from happy purchasers of Mac-
Warehouse modems, and they
do, after all, come with a 30 day
money back guarantee.
Some of you must be wondering
why these same modems cost
$300 to $400 just a year or so
ago, and you must be curious
about why the cost of these
modems has dropped so quickly.
The answer is simple: these
14.4 modems are going to be
obsolete soon. They are going to
be replaced by modems that
operate at twice their speed.
In fact, MacWarehouse already
carries 28.8bps modems for as
little as $139! Their Magnum
288 is already in use on Apple
II computers, and nary a com-
plaint has been heard.
For additional information, con-
tact MacWarehouse:
MacWarehouse
PO Box 3013
1720 Oak St
Lakewood, NJ 08701-3013
800-255-6227
908-370-4779
(Note: Any Hayes compatible
14.4 external modem can be
connected to an Apple II or
IIGS. All that's needed to get it
to work properly on a IIGS or lie
is a Hardware Handshaking
Cable and a telecommunica-
tions program. To work with a
He, a Super Serial card is also
required.)
GEnie And The Internet
As we've witnessed before, when
one of the major online services
implements a new feature or
offers a new service, its competi-
tors rush to offer similar fea-
tures or services. Within several
weeks of CompuServe's an-
nouncement that they would
provide full Internet access,
GEnie made a very similar an-
nouncement.
Set to be instituted in phases,
GEnie's initial Internet access
will include:
FTP Service (File Transfer Pro-
tocol) - Provides users with the
ability to download the tens of
thousands of files and software
programs available for public
access on the Internet.
Usenet Newsgroups Service -
Allows users to participate in
thousands of global discussion
groups collectively known as
The Usenet.
Outbound Telnet Service -
Enables users to connect to
other host computers that are
connected to the Internet.
Gopher Service - Provides a set
of easy-to-navigate menus that
are designed to help users ac-
cess files, participate in Usenet
discussion groups and connect
to other host computers on the
Internet.
Wide Area Information Server
(WAIS) Database Service -
Provides users with access to
"no cost databases" that are
located on the Internet.
Since GEnie is the most popular
of all the online services for
Apple II users, it is anticipated
that many GEnie A2 regular
users will soon be exploring the
net for the first time. For that
reason, I'd like to encourage you
to re-read all of the Internet
related articles that have ap-
peared in Shareware Solutions
II, paying special attention to
the "All About The Internet"
article that appeared in Volume
1, Issue 3.
Although all of the Internet
services that will be available
from GEnie have been described
in that article, and all of those
descriptions are still fairly accu-
rate, GEnie users may find that
the "look and feel" of GEnie's
Internet access may be very dif-
ferent from what was described
previously. If there is a need for
a special tutorial on accessing
the Internet via GEnie, please
let me know as I'd be happy to
try to make things easier for
Apple II using "net newbies." In
the meanwhile, if any GEnie
members are confused or have
questions about the Internet,
please feel free to post those
questions in the Shareware So-
lutions II Online area, which can
be found in the A2 Round Table
as Category 28, Topic 4.
CompuServe & The Internet
CompuServe has been phasing
in Internet access, but those who
access CompuServe with an
Apple II computer are going to
be greatly disappointed the first
Shareware Solutions II
time they type "GO INTER-
NET." Apparently, the only In-
ternet access available to Apple
II users will be limited to Use-
net Newsgroups.
While attempting to access
CIS's menu item for File Trans-
fer Protocol, we were informed
that access was only allowed to
those using either Macintosh or
PC computers equipped with
CompuServe Information Man-
ager ( CIM) software.
A telephone call to Compu-
Serve's Customer Support con-
firmed that Internet access via
CompuServe will be extremely
limited to those who are unable
to run CIM, and they informed
us that there are no plans to
implement an Apple II compat-
ible version of CIM.
Internet World
Whether you are a "net newbie"
or a long time Internauter, you
will find a wealth of information
in "Internet World," a magazine
that may very well make obso-
lete most available books about
the Internet. Because the Inter-
net is growing at such a phe-
nomenal rate, and because new
services and resources are
sprouting up daily, it's simply
impossible for books to contain
information on the latest Inter-
net developments. But with its
much shorter lead time, a mag-
azine can keep you informed on
all the latest and greatest that
the net has to offer; "Internet
World" is doing just that.
Each issue will afford you a
view of the Internet that you
just might not have seen before.
You'll learn of new services and
how to use them. You'll meet all
the "movers and shakers" of the
Internet via interviews. You'll
hear information about all the
latest publications to go online
and you'll learn about taking
"virtual guided tours" of far
away lands.
Available at newsstands for
$4.95 per copy, or $29 for a one
year subscription delivered to a
US address ($41.73 for delivery
elsewhere in North or South
America), "Internet World" is
highly recommended for anyone
who uses the Internet, or for
anyone who wants to learn more
about the Internet. For addi-
tional subscription information
direct an e-mail message to
info@mecklermedia.com
To subscribe to Internet World
(with delivery to North or South
America), send your check to:
Internet World
PO Box 713
Mt Morris, IL
61054-9965
International subscriptions for
Internet World are available for
29 British Pounds. Send Inter-
national subscription orders to:
MecklerMedia Ltd
Artillery House
Artillery Row
London, SW1P 1RT, UK
Lynx 2.3 and ProTerm 3.1
When the Internet's World Wide
Web was first mentioned in
Shareware Solutions II, specific
recommendations were offered
to those of you who use ProTerm
to access the web. The ProTerm
Preference items first described
in Volume 1, Issue 5 were spe-
cifically geared towards Lynx
v2.1. Since that time, Lynx has
been updated to v2.3, and if you
use ProTerm to dial up the
Internet, you'll need to make
some changes in your ProTerm's
Preference options.
With ProTerm 3.1 and Lynx
v2.3, set your ProTerm prefer-
ences to display Reverse (and
only Reverse!) in Inverse. By
doing that, the hypermedia-
based links will appear in
inverse only when your cursor
lands on them.
If Lynx is installed on your In-
ternet host system and you'd
prefer to see all the links high-
lighted in Inverse, you can con-
tinue to use the settings recom-
mended for Lynx v2.1 (Reverse
and Underline as Inverse). If you
do that however, you'll want to
start up Lynx by using the
following option:
lynx -show_cursor
By doing that, all of the links on
a screen will be displayed in
inverse, but you'll know where
you are because your cursor will
be flashing.
Personally, I much prefer to
have just the links highlighted
when my cursor lands on them.
Change Of Address
On January 18, 1995 the Cal-
tech Computing Organization is
moving the anonymous ftp direc-
tories to another server. As a
result, you will no longer be able
to find the Caltech Apple II ftp
archive at either cco.caltech.edu
or ccosun.caltech.edu. The new
address is "ftp.cco.caltech.edu".
The Apple II files will remain in
/pub/apple2. The only change,
effective immediately, is that
the "uploads" directory has been
renamed to "incoming" to accom-
modate a new ftp daemon that
was recently installed.
Internet Resources
As is often said, "the early bird
gets the worm." Those of you
Shareware Solutions II
who followed the advice offered
in the last issue joined the
Internet's NewbieNewz Mailing
List and were able to partake in
both NewbieNewz's Introduc-
tion to the Internet Tutorial and
in the RoadMap interactive
workshop.
After receiving a write up in
Time Magazine, both RoadMap
and NewbieNewz were inun-
dated with new subscribers, and
the work load of the list pro-
viders became unbearable. Due
to the unexpected success of
NewbieNewz, that fine service
is no longer available free-of-
charge.
Effective immediately, the sub-
scription rate for NewbieNewz
is $100 per year.
Although NewbieNewz was an
excellent free resource for new-
comers to the Internet, it's not
quite worth $100 per year. For
$100, you could purchase Ed
Krol's "The Whole Internet
User's Guide and Catalog," take
out a subscription to Internet
World, and still have $50 left
over.
For an even better alternative,
if you have Internet access, you
could simply download the Elec-
tronic Freedom Foundation's
"Guide to the Internet" (former-
ly known as "The Big Dummy's
Guide to the Internet"). The
EFF is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to insuring that
everyone has access to the newly
emerging communications tech-
nologies vital to active partici-
pation in the events of our
world. To that end, they make
their 150 page guide available
online, free of charge.
That electronic publication is
available in several different
ways. If you have access to ftp or
ncftp, you can open a connection
to ftp.eff.org and download it. If
you've never used ftp before,
after anonymously logging in,
type this series of commands,
exactly as they appear below,
and The Guide will be trans-
ferred to your home directory on
your host system. From there,
you can quickly download it by
using Xmodem or Zmodem, or
by capturing the entire text in
your scrollback buffer after
issuing the "cat netguide.eff"
command.
cd pub
cd Net_info
cd EFF_Net_Guide
Is
ascii
get netguide.eff
There are several other methods
to get The Guide that might be
easier for you. If you have access
to the World Wide Web, you can
point your web browser (either
Lynx, Mosaic or NetScape) to
http://www.eff.org/ and down-
load the Guide from there. If you
have access to an Internet e-
mail gateway, you can send an
e-mail request for the Guide.
Direct that e-mail request to
netguide@eff.org and the entire
Guide will be e-mailed to you in
18 segments. If you have a
modem but no access to the
Internet, you can call the EFF's
BBS at 202-638-6120.
The World Wide Web
Although the World Wide Web
has been operational for several
years, its meteoric growth really
began in February, 1994 when
details about the HyperText
Markup Language (HTML) were
released to the public. That
HyperText Markup Language
essentially allows anyone with
Internet access to create his or
her own World Wide Web
"Home Page."
As discussed previously, the
Wide Wide Web is a HyperText
based system that allows any-
one to travel the Internet's high-
ways and byways by using his or
her arrow keys rather than by
having to know about Unix
commands and utilities. Now,
even 1st grade students can
easily retrieve information from
the Internet by using Lynx, the
text based World Wide Web
"browser" that can best be
thought of as a "front end" for
the Internet.
Since February, 1994, thou-
sands upon thousands of World
Wide Web "Home Pages" have
been created by individuals and
organizations. Since each "Home
Page" also contains links to
other "Home Pages," it's quite
easy and convenient for denizens
of the World Wide Web to follow
other people's links to "cool sites
on the web."
From Lynx's main menu, there's
already a wonderful web jump-
ing off point - InterLink. Inter-
Link's main menu contains only
seven items (Internet Resources,
Fun and Games, Guides and
Tutorials, News and Weather,
Library Resources, Reference
Shelf, and Miscellaneous) but
those menu items contain links
to thousands upon thousands of
other web "Home Pages" and
therefore provide an excellent
introduction to the World Wide
Web.
One of Lynx's most versatile
commands is "G" which stands
for "Go To." After accessing that
feature, Lynx prompts you for a
Universal Resource Locator
(URL); a URL is, in essence, the
HTML address for a particular
web site. Equipped with only a
few URLs, it's quite possible to
Shareware Solutions II
wander the far reaches of the
Internet. Following are a
number of sample URLs that
you may find of interest. To visit
the described sites, just press G
from within Lynx, and when
prompted for the URL, enter it
exactly as listed in boldface in
the next section. •
Hot Links On The World Wide Web
http://www.ccsf.caltech.edu/~dmz/a2archive.html
This is the Home Page for one of the major Apple II ftp sites -
ftp.cco.caltech.edu. Accessing an ftp site via the World Wide Web
makes it much easier to find out what files are available via ftp or
ncftp. Some ftp files can actually be downloaded from Lynx itself.
This Home Page also contains links to all the other major Apple II
ftp sites.
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/apl2.resource.html
Maintained by Nathan Mates, this Apple II oriented Home Page
provides an Apple II resource guide, links to Home Pages maintained
by other Apple II users, and links to all the major Apple II ftp sites.
http://webcrawler.cs.washington.edu/WebCrawler/Home.html
WebCrawler is a hypertext-based database of World Wide Web
Home Pages. Just enter any keyword, and WebCrawler will display a
list of Home Pages that correspond to your keyword. By using just
your arrow keys, you can easily access any of the Home Pages
displayed by WebCrawler.
http://cui_www.unige.ch/meta-index.html
If WebCrawler can't locate what you're looking for, try one of these
World Wide Web searchable databases.
http://hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov/NASA_homepage.html
This is NASA's Home Page! In addition to providing information on
all current and past NASA missions, it provides links to all the
NASA facilities that provide materials to the general public. Make
sure to follow the link to SpaceLink, a NASA run BBS that provides
Apple II software that you can download.
http://ceps.nasm.edu:2020/NASMpage.html
This is the Home Page for the Smithsonian's National Air and Space
Museum.
http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cashman/humor.html
The Wrecked Humor Page is a hilarious collection of humor and
satire. Not to be missed.
http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/bin/menu
The Yahoo Home Page contains both serious and fun links. Whether
you have an interest in art, comics, literature, or humor, you're bound
to find lots of interest here. Make sure you try the random link.
http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/misc/internet-services.html
This is the Home Page for Scott Yanoff s famed "Internet Services
List." If what you're looking for isn't here, it probably doesn't exist.
http://www.ushmm.org/
This is the Home Page for the
Washington, DC based US
Holocaust Museum.
http://att.net/dir800
This www site contains a
searchable database containing
all of the toll-free 800 numbers
listed in AT&T's phone books.
http://www.fedworld.gov/
FedWorld includes links to
every single US Federal agency
that maintains a World Wide
Web Home Page.
http://www.stones.com/
If you saw the Rolling Stones in
concert last year, you can relive
some of the excitement here.
This Home Page includes
photos and sound clips that you
can download, and articles and
interviews that you can read.
It's only rock 'n roll, but I like it.
gopher://info.umd.edu:925/l
This is the Home Page for CNN
Headline News. You can read
the latest news, updated hourly,
or search the database by
keyword.
http://www.mecklerweb.com
Maintained by Internet World
magazine, this Home Page
contains fascinating articles
about the Internet and includes
lots of links to other Home
Pages.
http://www/etext.org/
This Home Page provides links
to hundreds of electronic jour-
nals and classic books that you
can download or read online.
Shareware Solutions II
http://nearnet.gnn.com/gnn/GNNhome.html
This is the Home Page for the Global Network
Navigator, a free offering from the book publisher
O'Reilly and Associates. GNN provides a lot of
links to serious activities on the Internet.
http://educom.edu/edupage.new
Published three times a week, the EduPage news-
letter provides a summary of news items about
computer and information technology.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/
This is the Home Page for the Exploratorium, San
Francisco's widely acclaimed science museum.
http://voyager.paramount.com.
Beam aboard the Star Trek Voyager Home Page to
boldly go where no web site has gone before.
http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/
This Home Page provides a link to the Internet's
searchable database of movies and films.
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html
This is, without a doubt, one of the the most meaningful and important Home Pages available on the
World Wide Web. Updated three times a week, the "What's New" Home Page contains information about,
and links to, all the newest Home Pages that have just been added to the World Wide Web. •
Apple II Product News
% Cynthia <E. Jkld, •Sh.'D.
With its 20th anniversary just
two years away, the Apple II is
still the computer of choice for
many individuals and schools.
Fortunately, those of us who use
Apple lis are not "limited" to
the 15,000 or so commercial
programs that were released in
the last two decades. That's
because companies are bringing
new Apple II products to mar-
ket even today! The Apple IPs
staying power is unprecedented,
and 1995 may be just as good a
time as any to enhance your
software library with some of
these newest products.
As a service provided by Share-
ware Solutions II for its sub-
scribers, Apple II Product News
is for information purposes only
and does not constitute an
endorsement of any product. All
prices are for single packages.
Lab packs, network licenses,
and site licenses may be avail-
able. Contact the companies
directly for free catalogs or to
inquire about preview policies,
money back guarantees, and
other support services.
Tom Snyder Productions
Decisions, Decisions: Violence in
the Media
Is violence on the tube neces-
sary? Does televised violence
promote real violence? Are some
kinds of violence acceptable?
Can we censor television in a
society that seems to be push-
ing the limits of free speech?
This role-playing, group activity
will get your kids (grades 5 to
12) talking and thinking hard.
$149.95
Tom Snyder Productions, Inc.
80 Coolidge Hill Road
Watertown, MA 02172-2817
800-342-0236
Animasia
Animasia 3-D
Animasia 3-D is a new desktop
animation application for the
Apple IIGS. The program's
graphics tools let you create and
animate three-dimensional ob-
jects. You can then play the
animations on your GS, record
them on a VCR, or include them
in your HyperStudio and Hyper-
Card IIGS stacks. Animasia 3-D
requires System 6.0.1, 2 Mega-
bytes of RAM, and a color moni-
tor. A hard drive, accelerator,
and 4 Megabytes of RAM are
recommended.
$99 (plus $3.50 shipping)
Animasia
3324 Vishaal Drive
Orlando, FL 32817
407-380-9932
animasia@genie.geis.com
Logo Foundation
Logo Toolkits
The Logo Foundation has an-
nounced new reduced prices on
Logo Toolkits. Logo is the pro-
gramming language created by
MIT's Dr Seymour Papert. The
toolkits work with your existing
Logo software (Logo Writer, Logo
Plus, or Terrapin Logo) and pro-
vide numerous activities and
project ideas. Each package
includes software and extensive
written materials. You should
10
Shareware Solutions II
also contact the Logo Founda-
tion to request a free subscrip-
tion to their newsletter, Logo
Update.
For use with Logo Writer:
Logo Writer Hypermedia Tools
Logo Writer Graph Tools
Logo Writer for Special Needs
Logo Writer Language ArtsTools
For use with Terrapin Logo or
Logo Plus:
Logo Data Toolkit
$9.95 each
Logo Foundation
250 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10107-2228
212-765-4918
212-765-4789 (fax)
michaelt@media. mit.edu
Vitesse Inc.
FAXination
This NDA/CDEV (New Desk
Accessory/Control Panel Device)
combination gives your IIGS
send and receive fax capa-
bilities that rival those of full-
featured fax software programs
for the Mac and PC. FAX-
ination's many features include
a phone book, deferred send
capability, send and receive
logs, call progress window, and
a PrintPicker NDA for quickly
switching between your fax/
modem and printer. FAXination
supports only external fax/
modems and requires System
5.04 or higher, 1.5 Megabytes of
RAM, and a hard drive. System
6.0 or higher and 2 Megabytes of
RAM are highly recommended.
$79.95 (for FAXination)
$189.95 (for FAXination plus a
14.4 bps external fax/modem)
Vitesse Inc.
P.O. Box 929
La Puente, CA 91747-0929
818-813-1270
818-813-1273 (fax)
Kingwood Micro Software
Bev's Free Patcher For Apple-
Works
Bev's Free Patcher (BFP) is a
collection of more than five
dozen patches that work inside
the TimeOut environment of
AppleWorks 4.02, 4.3, and 5.0.
The patches, which are reversi-
ble, help you customize the word
processor, spreadsheet, and
database modules as well as
the general AppleWorks work-
ing environment. BFP is free to
subscribers of the TEXAS II
Newsletter and Disks ($39 for 6
issues and 3 disks; $42 over-
seas). Others may purchase the
BFP disk for $10.
Kingwood Micro Software
2018 Oak Dew
San Antonio, TX 78232-5471
210-490-6373
(NOTE: Bev's Free Patcher for
AppleWorks v4.02 and v4.3 is
now available from the Share-
ware Solutions II Library, on
either 3.5" or 5.25" disk, for $5.
Bev's Free Patcher for Apple-
Works v5 is only available from
Kingwood Micro Software.)
Kitchen Sink Software
AppleWorks to RTF
Ok, so it's not an Apple II prod-
uct. But AppleWorks to RTF
(rich text format) can make life
a lot easier for those who want
to use their AppleWorks files
with Macintosh programs such
as ClarisWorks. Where Claris-
Works lets you convert only one
AppleWorks file at a time,
AppleWorks to RTF lets you
convert all of your files simul-
taneously. Moreover, the utility
preserves formatting options
such as tabs, boldface, under-
line, and headers. The Mac anti-
virus program Disinfectant is
included free. AppleWorks to
RTF requires Macintosh System
6.04 or higher.
$29.95
Apple Mouse Button Repair
Service
Kitchen Sink Software is now
offering repair service on broken
Apple mouse buttons. A new
mouse costs nearly $80. If the
only problem is a broken button,
the company can fix your mouse
for only $29.95 (plus $3 shipping
and handling per order). The
company offers a one-year war-
ranty on parts and labor. What's
more, mouse cleaning and ball
rejuvenation are performed free
with the repair service.
Kitchen Sink Software
903 Knebworth Court
Westerville, OH 43081
800-235-5502
614-891-2111
kitchen.sink@genie.geis.com
LEGO Dacta
LogoWriter Robotics Kits
LEGO Dacta is offering special
pricing on these kits for stu-
dents in grades 4 to 6 who want
to integrate LEGO models into
their LOGO programming proj-
ects. The LogoWriter Robotics
(4.5 volt) kit includes Logo-
Writer software as well as proj-
ect software to create a merry-
go-round that counts as it turns,
a car that measures distance, a
clock that can time traffic lights,
a conveyor belt that sorts and
counts, and a robotic "turtle"
that follows a path. If you
already own a LogoWriter site
license, you can purchase the
Shareware Solutions II
11
Expansion Pack which includes
just the projects. The TCO Con-
trol Pack contains beams, gears,
lights, motors, interface boxes,
cables, and other elements for
each computer station that
controls your students' LEGO
models.
Logo Writer Robotics (4.5 volt)
$199
Expansion Pack
$130
TCO Control Pack
$354
LEGO Dacta
555 Taylor Road
P.O. Box 1600
Enfield, CT 06083-1600
800-527-8339
203-763-2466 (fax)
Barnum Software
The Quarter Mile Estimation &
Math Tricks!
This new product (for children in
grades 3 to 9) is the latest in a
line of classic, award-winning
math programs. All programs in
the series feature a dragster
which gains speed each time you
answer a math problem cor-
rectly. Lanes scroll faster and
faster as dragsters accelerate -
with screeching tires and smok-
ing, screaming engines. Topics
in this latest release cover
estimating with whole numbers,
fractions, decimals, per cents,
and money. Helpful math tricks
topics make problem-solving
faster and easier.
The Quarter Mile
For students in grades K-9, this
newly updated version of The
Quarter Mile includes 12 new
topics in keyboarding, whole
numbers, the alphabet, estima-
tion, and math tricks. The pro-
gram generates more than
13,000 problems.
The Quarter Mile Whole
Numbers!
Recently updated, this Barnum
Software program includes 100
new topics covering place value,
counting, making 10s, rounding,
mixed operations, powers of 10,
sequences, exponents, missing
operators, and more. For grades
K-6.
All programs come with The
Quarter Mile TOURNAMENT
HANDBOOK! The handbook
describes numerous kinds of
tournaments which students
and/or teachers can conduct.
(Call to request a free copy of
the handbook.)
$50 each (Home Edition)
$60 each (School Edition)
(Call for upgrade pricing.)
Barnum Software
3450 Lakeshore Ave, Ste 200
Oakland, CA 94610
800-553-9155
800-553-9156 (fax)
Please send announcements of
new Apple II software and hard-
ware to Dr. Cynthia E. Field, 60
Border Drive, Wakefield, RI
02879-3802. You may also send
press releases via Internet e-mail
to cefield@aol.com or fax product
information to 401-782-0380. «
Such A Deal!
DigiSoft Innovations
In the second issue of Share-
ware Solutions II, a special
money saving offer was offered
to subscribers on the amazing
Twilight II screen blanking
utility for the Apple IIGS. The
response to that offer was very
positive, and DigiSoft Innova-
tions would now like to extend
an even more attractive pricing
offer to subscribers.
Twilight II allows a IIGS user
to select from a variety of more
than 40 dazzling full color ani-
mation and special effects mod-
ules that automatically display
when no user interaction has
taken place for a user-defined
period of time. Some of the ani-
mated special effects included
are 3-D fractal mountains, wire-
frame animations, rotated and
scaled 3-D worms taking over
the screen, a simulated trip
through the universe, plasma
cloud generation, dazzling color
fireworks, analog and digital
bouncing clocks, melting screens,
kaleidoscopic-like effects, moire
patterns, and a module that
allows you to create the ani-
mation yourself with any IIGS
paint program. It even includes
a random mode that allows a
different animation to be run
each time the screen is blanked.
Twilight II is a Control Panel
Device for use with System Disk
6.0 or 6.0.1. It requires 1.125
Megabytes of RAM memory, but
1.5 Megabytes of RAM memory
or more is recommended for
optimal performance. It also
requires either two 3.5" disk
drives or one 3.5" disk drive and
a hard drive.
Twilight II is generally avail-
able for the suggested retail
price of $39.95. Previously, it
was offered to Shareware So-
lutions II subscribers for $25,
plus shipping and handling. The
newest special Such A Deal
12
Shareware Solutions II
pricing now permits readers to
purchase Twilight II for only
$20, plus $2 shipping and han-
dling for delivery to US ad-
dresses, or $5 shipping and han-
dling for delivery anywhere else
in the world.
To order Twilight II, send your
check or money order, along with
a note indicating that you are a
Shareware Solutions II sub-
scriber, to:
DigiSoft Innovations
PO Box 380,
Trumbull, CT 06611-0380
DigiSoft Innovations would also
like to extend to you a special
money saving offer on their soon
to be released Golden Orchard
Apple II CD-ROM disk. The
suggested retail pricing for the
CD-ROM disk will be $65, plus
shipping and handling fees. As
a subscriber to Shareware Solu-
tions II, you can purchase that
CD-ROM for only $60, plus $2
shipping and handling for
delivery to US addresses, or $5
shipping and handling for
delivery anywhere else in the
world.
To order the Golden Orchard
CD-ROM disk, send a check or
money order (made payable to
Jim Maricondo), along with a
note indicating that you are a
Shareware Solutions II sub-
scriber, to:
Jim Maricondo
PO Box 11005
Stanford, CA, 94309-1005
Marin Macro Works
AppleWorks 4 broke new ground
by providing all AppleWorks
users the ability to use macros
with the supplied UltraMacros
Player. AppleWorks 5 broke
even more ground by including
the full UltraMacros program
built-in right into the program.
Unfortunately, the UltraMacros
manual that explains how to
create and use macros was not
included as part of AppleWorks
5, so there are a lot of people
who now have the ability to
create their own macros, but
have no idea how or where to get
started.
If you're in that position, you
could always purchase the full
UltraMacros package as that
includes the program manual,
or you could purchase one or
both of Will Nelken's excellent
self-published books.
Will is one of the world's fore-
most experts on UltraMacros,
and he was the one I contacted
when I wanted an UltraMacros
based add-on product for Con-
tacts GS; Will developed Time-
Out ContactsMover. He is also
the Associate Editor of Icon's
TimeOut-Central, a disk-based
publication all about Ultra-
Macros. I'd be remiss if I didn't
tell you that Will is also a very
good friend and neighbor of
mine.
His ULTRA-AppleWorks is a
twelve-lesson tutorial (116
pages, ll"x 8.5", comb-bound)
designed for those who want to
enhance and customize the high
performance power of Apple-
Works. Well organized, carefully
written and humorous, ULTRA-
Apple Works offers fundamental
training in using, recording, and
writing macros with TimeOut
UltraMacros. Although written
specifically for AppleWorks 3
and UltraMacros 3, much of this
book is still applicable to newer
versions of AppleWorks and
UltraMacros.
ULTRA-AppleWorks takes a
step-by-step, progressive ap-
proach that will lead the novice
comfortably and still enhance
the veteran user's capabilities.
Complete descriptions of all
macro tokens are included, plus
an abundance of helpful tips,
useful sample macros and
reference charts. For the power
macro user, a list of over 150
PEEK and POKE addresses are
included. The manual includes a
Table of Contents and is fully
indexed for ease of use.
ULTRA-AppleWorks covers
such themes as: how Ultra-
Macros enhances normal use of
AppleWorks, anatomy of a mac-
ro, how to record, save, display
and revise macros, writing mac-
ros from scratch, using varia-
bles, using screen data, design-
ing looping tasks, and making
use of user input. It also con-
tains chapters on organizing and
debugging macros. It also in-
cludes a 3.5" disk that contains
all of the sample macros.
The retail price of ULTRA-
AppleWorks is $28.95, but as a
Shareware Solutions II sub-
scriber, you can purchase it for
only $22.
Will's second book ULTRA-to
the Max! is a sequel volume to
ULTRA-AppleWorks. It pro-
vides clear, concise, yet thorough
explanations in non-technical
language of the changes from
UltraMacros v3 to UltraMacros
v4, including the multitude of
new features.
ULTRA-to the Max! is a fifteen-
lesson reference (200 pages,
ll"x 8.5", comb-bound) designed
with a step-by-step, progressive
approach that will encourage the
intermediate user to learn and
employ effective macro writing
techniques, while building the
advanced macro programmer's
skills. Complete descriptions of
Shareware Solutions II
13
all UltraMacros 4 macro tokens
are included, plus many helpful
tips, sample macros, reference
charts and a complete index.
For the power macro user,
several helpscreens, plus data-
bases listing over 1000 Apple-
Works memory addresses have
been included.
ULTRA-to the Max! covers such
themes as: labeling features,
variables, advanced loop writ-
ing, task file launching and
caching, inits, dot commands,
menu tools and advanced de-
bugging techniques. It also in-
cludes a 3.5" disk that contains
all the sample macros.
The retail price of ULTRA-to
the Max! is $28.95, but as a
Shareware Solutions II sub-
scriber, you can purchase it for
$25. For additional information,
contact Will Nelken at:
Marin Macro Works
1675 Grand Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94901-2211
W.Nelkenl@genie.geis.com
Parson's Focus Hard Card
The internal IDE-based Focus
Hard Card was introduced by
the team of Bill Heineman and
Steve Parsons of Parsons En-
gineering at the final Apple
Expo West trade show in 1993.
Soon afterwards, Shareware So-
lutions II subscribers were of-
fered a special Such A Deal pric-
ing on these internal hard disk
drives for the Apple lie and
IIGS. Over the past year a lot of
very positive feedback has been
received from satisfied pur-
chasers. Most have commented
on the great pricing and the fact
that these hard drives are really
"plug and play" on a He or IIGS.
Over the past year, prices of
hard disk drives have been
steadily dropping and a recent
phone conversation with Steve
Parsons has led to the latest
Such A Deal offer. If you haven't
yet installed a hard drive on
your computer, now is the time
to seriously consider purchasing
one. If pricing was the last
obstacle preventing you from
buying a hard drive, you don't
have any more excuses left.
The Focus Hard Card is com-
pletely self-contained on a sin-
gle interface card that takes up
just one slot. The drive comes
pre-formatted with either the
latest version of ProDOS-8 or
GS/OS, and the hard drive can
be installed by even a computer
novice in less than 5 minutes.
The special "Such A Deal" offer
made by Parsons Engineering is
very different from any other
special pricing deal offered in
the past. In a sense, it's a group
purchase plan. Steve Parsons
will accept payment between
now and March 1, 1995 and at
that time he will pool all the
monies and he will purchase the
highest quality and fastest hard
drive mechanisms available. He
will then incorporate those hard
drive mechanisms onto the pre-
assembled interface cards, and
will ship all orders on or before
March 15, 1995.
The special pricing offer is $249
for a 120 megabyte complete
hard drive system! This exact
same system would have cost
over $500 if it were not for the
group purchase plan. Such a
deal!
Parsons Engineering can accept
payment by check or money
order (US Funds Only) or can
accept the American Express
Discovery card (with a 3% sur-
charge). Add $15 for shipping
and handling to US or Canadian
destinations, or $45 for shipping
anywhere else. Your check will
not be cashed until 2 weeks
before shipment of your hard
drive, and your credit card won't
be charged until your drive
ships. When ordering the Focus
Hard card, please specify which
Operating System (ProDOS-8 or
GS/OS) you want included. For
additional information, contact:
Parsons Engineering
5010 Rimhurst Avenue
Covina, CA 91724
818-966-5538
818-966-5701 (Fax)
Vitesse
Until the end of February, 1995
Shareware Solutions II sub-
scribers can take advantage of
an astonishing discount offered
by Vitesse for its Quickie hand
held scanner. The Quickie can be
used on IIGS and He computers.
Included in the special Such A
Deal offer is the Quickie scanner
and interface card, the latest
version of the Quickie software,
and as a special bonus, you'll
also receive a copy of WestCode
Software's InWords Optical
Character Recognition software.
The Quickie scanner is a hand
held device that employs a
technology similar to that used
in Xerox copier machines. It
allows you to scan any paper-
based graphic image onto your
computer screen. You can scan
photographs or line art from a
newspaper or book, and the
image will magically appear on
your computer screen. The
Quickie software allows you to
crop or edit the image and it
also provides you with the
ability to save or copy that
image into any of your standard
paint or graphics software.
14
Shareware Solutions II
Just as the Quickie software
allows you to scan graphic
images, InWords provides an
entirely new method to enter
text based information into your
computer. InWords lets you
scan a piece of paper, whether
it's a newspaper or textbook,
and it captures the text into its
word processor-like editor. It
further allows the manipulation
of that text, and lets you save it
to disk as either a standard
ASCII Text File, or as an
AppleWorks word processing
document. InWords comes with
the ability to read a variety of
different typefaces, but more
importantly, it can be trained to
recognize virtually any other
typeface from any book or
magazine.
Previously available as a
"bundle" for the special price of
$250, you can now get this com-
plete scanning package for only
$99.95! When ordering it, you
must identify yourself as a
Shareware Solutions II sub-
scriber!
For delivery to US addresses,
please add $6 for shipping and
handling. California residents
also need to include sales tax.
For those who want the Quickie
bundle shipped overseas, you
must contact Vitesse and tell
them what method of shipping
you prefer. For additional infor-
mation, contact:
Vitesse
PO Box 929
La Puente, CA 91747-0929
818-813-1270
800-777-7344
818-813-1273 (Fax) «
Looking Good In Print, Part 2
Looking Good In AppleWorks
In the last issue of Shareware
Solutions II, the article about
KansasFest was meant to pro-
vide an overview of the sessions
for those of you who were unable
to attend. Despite that limited
intention, the "Looking Good In
Print" section generated a lot of
questions from readers.
Although the clear cut focus of
my KansasFest session was to
describe how to use high quality
inkjet and laser printers with
Apple II or IIGS Desktop Pub-
lishing software, the typical
Apple II user seems to have
much more interest in using a
word processor to generate let-
ters and reports than in using a
Desktop Publishing program to
generate brochures and news-
letters.
Keeping in mind that 2/3's of all
Shareware Solutions II sub-
scribers use AppleWorks Clas-
sic as their primary word proc-
essing program, it's important
to let them know just how easy
it is to use Hewlett-Packard
DeskJet, LaserJet and Laser-
Jet "clones" with AppleWorks
Classic.
Both AppleWorks v4.x and v5
come with DeskJet support built
right into the program. Setting
up and using a DeskJet printer
with those newer versions of
AppleWorks is no more difficult
than setting up and using an
ImageWriter printer. All it
takes to set up AppleWorks 4 or
5 to work with a DeskJet is to
run the special Install.DeskJet
TimeOut application supplied
with AppleWorks. By simply
accessing your TimeOut menu,
you can have AppleWorks be
fully DeskJet compatible in as
little as 10 or 15 seconds.
To install and use a DeskJet
with AppleWorks v3.0, or to
install and use a LaserJet or HP
compatible laser printer with
any version of AppleWorks is
quite easy. In fact, you actually
have several options.
The most time consuming option
is to set up a Custom Printer
from within AppleWorks, and to
enter all the special printer
codes from your HP manual.
Those special codes instruct
AppleWorks how to perform such
routine functions as starting and
stopping underlining or boldface
printing. Although it's not diffi-
cult to enter those codes, it is
easy to make a mistake as some
of the codes are quite long, and
since you have to copy them from
a book, it's always possible to
make a typographical error.
One of the main keys to having a
successful and happy experience
with computers is to "not re-
invent the wheel" every time you
are doing something new with
your system. What that really
means is that there is often a
difficult way and an easy way to
accomplish the same goal, and
the happy computer user gener-
ally likes to take the easy route.
Entering Custom Printer control
codes for AppleWorks is, quite
frankly, re-inventing the wheel.
The simplest and easiest way to
set up AppleWorks v3 to work
with HP DeskJets, or to set up
any version of AppleWorks to
Shareware Solutions II
15
work with HP and HP compati-
ble laser printers is to purchase
or download the freeware
"NAUG Printer Disk."
NAUG is The National Apple-
Works User Group, and it is an
indispensable resource for any-
one using AppleWorks Classic!
In addition to publishing a fine
newsletter devoted to Apple-
Works, NAUG also maintains a
huge library of freeware and
shareware disks that contain
AppleWorks related materials.
Created by a NAUG member -
Howard Katz - the NAUG
Printer Disk contains numerous
AppleWorks' SEG.ER files; it is
this file that contains all the
custom printer codes. So, all a
laser printer owner needs to do
is copy a small file from the
NAUG Printer Disk to a copy of
his or her AppleWorks disk. The
NAUG Printer Disk contains
different SEG.ER files for both
LaserJet II and III series
printers, and is available for
AppleWorks v3, v4.x and v5.
The various NAUG Printer
Disks can even be downloaded
from the NAUG BBS by having
your modem dial 615-359-8238.
Alternatively, they can be down-
loaded from the NAUG area of
GEnie's A2 download library.
For those who do not yet own a
modem, the Printer disk can be
obtained from NAUG via the
mail. The cost of the NAUG
Printer Disk, which by the way
also contains forty other cus-
tomized SEG.ER files that
support nearly 100 different
dot-matrix printers, is only $4
for a 5.25" disk, or $6 for a 3.5"
disk.
For additional information
about the National AppleWorks
User Group and its Printer
Disk, contact:
NAUG
PO Box 87453
Canton, MI 48187
313-454-1115 (voice)
313-454-1965 (fax)
Looking Good For Less
The key to purchasing a low cost
laser printer is to purchase a
printer that offers Hewlett-
Packard LaserJet compati-
bility. While scanning ads for
laser printers, the keywords to
look for are generally "HP
Compatible," "LaserJet Com-
patible" or "PCL Compatible."
As stated in the last issue, just
about every 300 Dot Per Inch
laser printer that is sold for the
IBM PC market includes the
above-mentioned compatibility,
making them all "plug and
print" on an Apple II.
The cost of laser printers is
falling. The HP 4L printer can
actually be purchased for less
than $500! Although the list
price of that printer is over
$700, it has a "street price" of
$599. Yet, until January 31,
1995, HP is offering a $100
rebate on the 4L printer. You
cannot possibly go wrong by
purchasing the LaserJet 4L.
There are other printers that
are even more affordable. Just
about a year ago, I told you
about the Okidata OL400e and
was excited that a laser printer
was finally available for less
than $500. A year later, that
same printer can be found for a
"street price" of $399. A similar
"street price" for the Brother
HL630 laser printer can also be
found at such stores as Circuit
City and The Good Guys.
The Brother HL630 provides
LaserJet Up compatibility, out-
puts text at 6 pages per minute,
comes with 512K of RAM and
sports a Parallel interface.
Brother has even made a special
version of this exact same
printer available for as low as
$379 from warehouse outlets
such as Price Club or Costco.
That special "warehouse model"
is the Brother HL650.
Just as there are low-end HP
compatible clones, there are also
high-end option-laden laser
printers that cost in the range of
$700-$l,000 or more, such as
the DEClaser 1152 and the net-
workable Hewlett-Packard 4MP.
In addition to providing compat-
ibility with LaserJet printers,
the more expensive printers also
offer support for PostScript.
Whether you purchase an HP, a
low-end HP clone, an HP clone
that supports PostScript, or a
$299 DeskJet 540, it's very
important to repeat the words of
advice offered in the last issue.
Since you have to live with your
purchase, you are the only one
who can decide which printer to
purchase. To help you make your
decision, you must visit printer
dealers in person, and you really
should "take the black page
test" for any printer you are
considering purchasing.
All that test involves is printing
out a single sheet of paper. Use
a paint program to blacken the
entire screen, and then print
that out. Take it outside and
examine it in the sunlight. If you
do not like what you see, per-
form the test on another printer.
Eventually, you will like what
you see; let your eyes make the
decision, and you will be happy
with your purchase.
Print Shop and HP Printers
The only problems that you'll
run into using an HP DeskJet or
16
Shareware Solutions II
LaserJet printer on an Apple II
or IIGS system is that ProDOS-
8 based graphics programs do
not offer drivers for those print-
ers. The greatest disappoint-
ment to most Apple II owners is
that they cannot use HP brand
printers with any version of
Broderbund's Print Shop.
Nearly two years ago, from
within the pages of inCider/A+,
I urged Apple II owners to con-
tact Broderbund to let them
know that we were interested
in, and would pay for, an up-
dated Print Shop that worked
with HP printers. The letters
fell onto blind eyes and the
phone calls fell onto deaf ears.
More than a year ago, Share-
ware Solutions II tried to em-
power the Apple II community
to take the matter into its own
hands by offering a $100 reward
to the first Apple II program-
mer who could devise a method
to output Print Shop greeting
cards and signs to HP brand
printers.
Soon after that announcement
was made, a number of other
Apple II companies and individ-
uals agreed to pledge money in
order to "sweeten the pot."
Several hundreds dollars were
eventually pledged to the Print
Shop Project.
Over the next month or two, we
waited to hear if any skilled
programmer was willing to
accept our challenge. Not a one
stepped forward. Rather than
wait for a set of printer drivers
to magically appear, I decided
to do something more about it,
and just about a year ago, I
commissioned the Apple II
programming master - Bill
Heineman - to create a set of
HP printer drivers for the IIGS
version of Print Shop.
Over the past year, Bill
Heineman has spent literally
hundreds of hours trying to
patch Print Shop GS so that it
would recognize HP printers.
Bill ended up modifying 17
different Print Shop GS files,
yet in the end. he was unable to
achieve satisfactory printed
output.
Several months ago, it became
apparent that we would not be
able to proceed without some
assistance from Broderbund. If
we had the source code, we
would be able to complete the
job in no time at all. Unfortu-
nately, many telephone calls
were made and many e-mails
were sent, and no one from
Broderbund came foward to
offer any assistance whatsoever.
It's with great sadness, there-
fore, that I have to announce
that we have failed in our
efforts. But, we didn't fail for
lack of trying. Nonetheless, I
truly feel bad for having raised
the hopes of the Apple II
community. But the truth of the
matter is, if Bill Heineman
couldn't do it, it couldn't be
done.
But wait! For nearly 18 years,
Apple II programmers have
been doing what can't be done.
Maybe we still can!
Although it may be impossible
to patch the actual Print Shop
program to work with HP print-
ers, it's not out of the realm of
possibility that some ingenious
Apple II programmer could
write a brand new stand-alone
program that produced Print
Shop-style greeting cards on HP
printers.
To that end, Shareware Solu-
tions II will re-institute a cash
reward to the first person who
can meet a great need of the
Apple II community. All we
want is the ability to create
beautiful 2 -fold greeting cards
with our HP printers. That's not
too much to ask, is it?
To make the reward more of an
incentive than before, Share-
ware Solutions II is willing to
pledge $300 to the first pro-
grammer who creates a freeware
or shareware Apple Ile/IIc or
IIGS program that permits
Print Shop-style greeting cards
to be printed on HP printers.
Think of this as a contest with
no rules and with no end date.
To further demonstrate the
commitment, Shareware Solu-
tions II is willing to commit
resources to develop yet another
method that will allow Print
Shop-style greeting cards to be
printed to HP inkjet and laser
printers.
There are currently three popu-
lar Apple II Desktop Publishing
programs that will output to HP
printers, including Publishlt4
for the He, lie and IIGS, and
AppleWorks GS and Graphic-
Writer III for the Apple IIGS.
Those programs are all quite
versatile, and with the proper
template set up and with clear
and easy to follow instructions,
any Apple II desktop publisher
can create greeting cards using
those programs.
Shareware Solutions II is genu-
inely committed to spear-
heading the Apple II Greeting
Card Project, and to that end
will develop those templates if
need be.
The truth of the matter is that
some of you are already using
desktop publishing programs to
create greeting cards, as was
evidenced by several beautiful
Shareware Solutions II
17
looking greeting cards that
arrived at the Shareware Solu-
tions II Headquarters during
the holiday season.
To those of you who are already
creating sophisticated greeting
cards with your Apple II, I'd like
to urge you to share the secrets
of your success with the rest of
us. I know you're out there!
If you are an accomplished
greeting card creator, please
send any and all materials that
you may have already developed
to Shareware Solutions II.
We're specifically looking for
templates for AppleWorks GS,
GraphicWriter III and Publish-
It4! Additionally, if you've writ-
ten an article for your user
group newsletter that describes
how to use a desktop publishing
program in creative and imagi-
native ways, please send those,
on disk or via e-mail, to Share-
ware Solutions II.
After materials are sent to
Shareware Solutions II, we'll go
through everything, adding in-
structions or hints if needed,
and then make the disk(s) avail-
able to the rest of the Apple II
world.
Don't give up hope yet. There's
always more than one way to
accomplish the same goal. Or, as
a great philosopher once said,
"You can't always get what you
want, but if you try some time,
you just might find you get what
you need!" »
Shareware Solutions Ile/IIc/IIgs
Internet '95
If you are unable to download
the EFF's "Guide to the Inter-
net," Shareware Solutions II
has secured permission from
the EFF to make it available to
subscribers via the Shareware
Solutions II Library.
Previously, in Issue #3, you were
told about an Internet Resource
disk. Since that original disk is
now so old, it will be replaced in
the library with an even more
extensive offering that includes
many of the Internet related
resources discussed in this and
previous issues of the news-
letter.
In addition to the EFF's "Guide
to the Internet," permission has
also been secured to provide you
with all of the lessons that were
offered in the Roadmap inter-
active tutorial. But wait, there's
still more.
Included with the above files is
the latest InterNIC listing of
every single commercial Inter-
net Service Provider on the
planet. Whether you are in
Africa, Australia, Atlanta or
Alaska, you should be able to
find Internet access in your
locality by searching the latest
edition of InterNIC's guide to
Internet providers.
Additionally, you'll find the
latest version of the Apple II
Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) file, along with listings of
information resources that can
be accessed once you're online to
the Internet.
Titled "Internet '95," the files
are supplied on either 3.5" or
5.25" disk. There is well over a
megabyte of information sup-
plied on this multi-disk set. In
an effort to encourage everyone
to learn about the Internet in
more depth than is possible
from the pages of this news-
letter, this multi-disk set is
being provided to readers of
Shareware Solutions II for only
$6. Please specify which disk
size you prefer.
Bev's Free Patcher
Created by Bev Cadieux, the
publisher of the highly acclaim-
ed AppleWorks related TEXAS
II newsletter, Bev's Free Patch
for AppleWorks v4.02 and v4.3
provides nearly 90 patches you
can apply to AppleWorks. Some
patches alter the way Apple-
Works looks; others alter the
way it operates. All patches are
applied from right within Apple-
Works since they are provided
as TimeOut Modules.
Extensive documentation is pro-
vided on the disk. Available on
either 5.25" or 3.5" disk for $5,
this disk is a "must have" for
AppleWorks v4.x users.
A2 Disks Of The Month
The Sept I Oct DOM disk contains
two months' worth of issues of
the GEnieLamp newsletters;
one is for users and one is for
programmers. Software for the
Ile/IIc includes John Graham's
excellent NightFall II planetar-
ium program, and SCSI.Hacker,
a formatting utility for hard
drives connected to Apple's High
Speed SCSI card. Software for
the Apple IIGS includes all the
latest System 6 and 6.0.1 share-
ware utilities and Finder exten-
sions by Bill Tudor, the author
of Quality Computers "Six Pack"
utilities. DeskTop Doctor fixes
18
Shareware Solutions II
all your DeskTop and icon files,
File Finder is an improved Find
File that helps you locate files,
Minimizer adds a "minimize"
feature to all Apple IIGS win-
dows that have a zoom box, and
XManager is a program that
manages all of your active and
inactive Finder Extensions.
Additionally, there's AutoCalc,
which will automatically push
the calculator button for you
when you open Icon Info win-
dows, and FixBoot, which adds
boot blocks to RAM disks so you
needn't format them when you
want to boot from them.
The November DOM includes
both versions of GEnieLamp,
and some fantastic freeware
and shareware software! For
the Apple Ile/IIc, there's an
AppleWorks v4.3 TimeOut mod-
ule named File Viewer and three
AppleWorks inits. Also included
are several text files describing
new Apple II products. Software
for the IIGS includes Stalac-
tites, an addictive $10 share-
ware arcade type game by Bill
Heineman, Space Invaders GS,
a math flashcard program Math
FactsGS, and Sonobox, a New
Desk Accessory music player for
MOD format songs.
The December DOM includes
both versions of GEnieLamp,
and the transcript of an online
talk I gave about the Internet.
Although not quite as eloquent
as the words that appear in the
newsletter, the talk was most
informative. The only Apple
Ile/IIc software included on this
month's disk is an AppleWorks
v5 printer driver for LaserJet 4
series printers. The IIGS soft-
ware contains several more of
Bill Tudor's shareware offerings
including a wonderful game of
Solitaire and RAT, a mouse
driven word processor. Addition-
ally, there's Fix Quit, a freeware
Finder Extension that moves
the "Shut Down" menu item
from the Finder's Special menu
and puts it into the File menu.
There's also GScii+ NDA, an
indispensable utility for those
who download Apple II software
from the Internet, and Thoughts
for the Day v2.0 shareware by
PegaSoft Software.
Each A2 DOM is available only
on 3.5" disk for $5 from Share-
ware Solutions II. Order two,
and your cost is only $8. Or get
all three for $10. «
Shareware Solutions IIGS
Blockade GS
Blockade is Brutal Deluxe's lat-
est freeware strategy game. It
contains 80 levels of thought
provoking puzzles. It's a game
that's played by sliding differ-
ent colored and shaped blocks.
By pushing blocks into each
other, they change shape or
color, or disappear completely.
The goal is to remove all the
blocks from each level.
There are special blocks that
change the colors or shapes of
the blocks pushed over them.
There are even teleporter blocks
that result in unpredictable
movement. Blockade is a brain
teaser that's great fun. It has
music and sounds, and Easter
Eggs that seem to be activated
on different days of the week; on
some days, your screen border
may even flash in time to the
music.
Blockade requires System 5.0.4
or higher, and 1.25 Megabytes of
RAM. It can be controlled by
mouse or by keyboard. Blockade
is available from the Shareware
Solutions II Library for $5.
rSounds
If you use System 6.x, chances
are you get a lot of enjoyment
from the IIGS Sound Control
Panel which allows you to
assign resource-based sound
effects to certain activities. If
you like having your IIGS mak-
ing all sorts of different sounds,
you'll like this disk. It contains
more than 45 wild sound effects.
There are plenty of blips and
bleeps, chimes and chomps, ani-
mal sounds and alarms, laughs
and assorted whooshes that are
sure to bring a smile to your
face. Included with the rSounds
is a sound playback jukebox,
created by your humble publish-
er. The rSound disk is available
from the Shareware Solutions II
Library for $5.
PixMix
PixMix is a truly classical and
wonderful IIGS freeware jigsaw
type game. PixMix can load in
just about any standard IIGS
graphic file, and it will scramble
the graphic into 6 to 80 small
pieces. You can then try to re-
assemble the original graphic by
moving the smaller pieces with
your mouse.
Because PixMix is such an ideal
game for children to play, there
are numerous graphic files in-
cluded that should be of great
interest to kids. Of course, you
can just as easily use any graph-
ic you already have. PixMix is
nearly 5 years old, but it's just
as much fun to play today as it
was when it was new. PixMix is
available from the Shareware
Solutions II Library for $5. •
Shareware Solutions II
19
Joe %pfin
Shareware Solutions II
166 Mpine Street
San%afael, C& 94901-1008
FIRST CLASS - AIR MAIL
