Don Lancaster’s ASK THE GURU
Selected reprints
Copyright c. 1987 by Don Lancaster and Synergetics, Box 809, Thatcher, AZ 85552. (520) 428-4073
Electronically self-published using the Apple IIe computer and the Laserwriter Plus. All graphics were done in their entirety by ProDOS Applewriter 2.1. ASK THE GURU
Introduction
In early 1985, Stan Veit of the Computer Shopper magazine asked me to put together a series of columns for him. While the Ask the Guru columns were all purportedly supposed to have at least something to do with Apple computing, Stan assured me he would use a "hands off" editorial policy with minimum editing, combined with the fastest possible turnaround time. Apparently I would be given the opportunity to say what I felt like whenever I felt like it, and have it rapidly and reliably appear in print. To tightly close the reader feedback loop, I would maintain a "free" user helpline, to be followed up later with some reader contests and a no-charge BBS system. What you have here is a compilation of quite a few of my columns, re-edited, updated, and corrected. All of the individual Names and Numbers have also been gathered together in one place and newly revised for you. So, what are these columns about? If you ever do find out, please be sure and let me know. I’ve always gone along on the assumption that, if I am interested in something, or if it catches my attention, then there’s others of you out there that also might find that something of value. And that’s regardless of whether you are an Apple person or not. As on ongoing experiment, these reprints are self-published using the Applewriter word processor, the great PostScript page description language and are printed on the Laserwriter Plus. Yes, all of the text and all of the graphics you see was done solely with Applewriter. Yes, the economics of this are quite outstanding. No, there was no pastup or camera work involved. Zero. And, no, this is not a copy you are holding. It is an original that has been custom printed just for you. If you like what you see here, you can get further involved by subscribing to Computer Shopper magazine at (305) 269-3211, calling me on my voice helpline at (602) 428-4073, during any weekday 8-5 mountain standard time, or checking into our great PostScript BBS at (409) 244-4704. ASK THE GURU
About the Author
As he said in his classic Incredible Secret Money Machine, Don Lancaster writes books. And quests tinajas. Microcomputer pioneer and guru Don Lancaster is the author of 21 books and countless articles. He is considered by some to be the father of the personal computer, for his early ground-breaking work with hacker digital electronics and low cost video terminal displays. Some of his other titles include his CMOS and million-seller TTL Cookbooks, Micro Cookbooks volumes I and II, Enhancing your Apple II, volumes I and II, the Applewriter Cookbook, All About Applewriter, the Active Filter Cookbook, Apple Assembly Cookbook, and Don Lancaster’s PostScript Secrets, along with his Introduction to PostScript videotape. Don’s current software offerings include both his PostScript Show and Tell, and his PostScript Technical Illustrations, plus numerous companion disks for his various books. Don is the head honcho of Synergetics, a new-age design and consulting firm specializing in Apple computing, laser printing, electronic prototyping, desktop publishing, technical writing, and in innovative software development. His avocations include firefighting, cave exploration, bicycling, and, of course, tinaja questing. ASK THE GURU
Table of Contents
Cassette tape reliability Vaporlock bugs ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 Dual IIe monitor Free technical magazines Isometric drawing 1 Programming an EPROM 9 ProDOS diskspace Random number generator Customer complaints
Low cost air valves HIRES entry points Pneumatic actuators New Apple ramcard Secret Apple manuals Vaporlock interrupts 2 Your own tech venture 10 Getting barcode info Applewriter IIe stretchifier Laserwriter vs Laserjet
Option picking Laserwriter rumors Laser printer info Electronic halftones A tough I/O circuit Printing a video image 3 Motors for robotic use 11 Post processing techniques Diablo daisywheel stuff Translating computer programs
E. T. watching Postscript typesetting Apple IIe "upgrade" ProDOSApplewriter 2.1 A Softalk replacement ASCII control commands 4 Dual character generator 12 The IIc "3.5" monitor upgrade Applewriter triple header A copy protected monitor ROM?
Disassembly aliasing Curve tracing A shuffling algorithm The VIP computer Machine language study VIP user applications 5 Getting inside information 13 Apple’s Laserwriter plus Apple II+ to IIe conversions Accessing USGS data bases
Typesetting an ad WPL and [Q]-C Diablo 630 emulation Laserwriter Plus bugs ProDOS TYPE command New Apple RAM card 6 Educational software sales 14 A new control computer Laserwriter first impressions Postscript schematic drawing
II+ reset hassles Anti-aliasing IIc/IIe absolute reset Laserwriter gossip Laserwriter prefeeding The Imageworks card 7 Aliasing contest winners 15 Ripping off a type font Commodore integrated circuits Digital image processing
The cubic splines A keyword indexer Using Bezier curves Laser printed badges Postscript curve tracing Postscript circular text 8 Applewriter boot tricks 16 Apple rumors mongered Editing BASIC programs Applewriter WPL versions ASK THE GURU
Table of Contents, continued . . .
Dual IIe monitor IIgs books and manuals A great mouse surface Applewriter IIgs patches HIRES Applewriter dump More on the Omnicrom color 17 Desktop publishing secrets 25 A new Postscript rubber grid Postscript Puss De Resistance De-putrifying Laserwriter grays
Tech consultants list Mass teleportation Toner cartridge secrets Postscript fontpath Flushing copy protection IIgs old drive adaptor 18 Postscript window decals 26 Applewriter tweedleifier Hex and Decimal to ASCII Apple technical literature
Care of floppy disks IIgs monitor options Repairing blown disks Postscript point ruler Applewriter clock access Die cutting with a laser 19 Toner cartridge reloading 27 Applewriter promptifier Postscript surface mapping Improved IIc absolute reset
Apple i.d. bytes Postscript labelmaker Laser letterheads Speeding up Postscript RAM card snooper IIgs disappearing drive 20 Applewriter nullifier 28 Appletalk -vs- 9600 baud Machine language contest Laser printing economics
Password horror stories Apple resources The hidden grand piano IIgs serial firmware Disassembly on the Mac Applewriter fast boot 21 Applewriter Scrunchifier 29 Desktop publishing tools Appleworks virtual memory Postscript step-and-repeat
Updates on the new IIgs Curve tracing secrets Applewriter swallowifier Binding systems survey Omnicrom and Omnicolor IIgs Applewriter modem 22 Appleworks screen macros 30 Toner cartridge reloading Solar energy breakthrough IIgs cables and connectors
Appleworks utilities Far Eastern typefaces Postscript signatures Postscript lockwashers Help on Apple clones Paper folding machinery 23 The most used Mac graphic 31 IIgs linear RGB monitors Applewriter 2.1 Stretchifier IBM and IIc file exchanges
Serial cables for the IIgs T-shirt printing Multiple video monitors Pixel line remapping $5 toner cartridge reloads Printusing and firends 24 Applewriter 2.1 Creepifier 32 Applewriter’s 47K limit Finishing materials contest The ultimate hacker food Don Lancaster’s Cassette tape reliability ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 ASK THE GURU Free technical magazines Programming an EPROM March, 1985 Random number generator
elcome to a brand new Show me a Simple chess move, or getting "noise Computer Shopper Random Number that repeats" for industrial Wfeature column. I will Generator. testing. do what I can here to find The usual way to get a ran- answers to reader hardware, First, note that there are dom number is to ask for a software, or supply problems. two types of "random" num- user response and then rap- Just give me a call or write bers. Truly random numbers idly count until they hit a per the address in the end can assume any one of many key. That flea-bitten "Hi – box. Best calling times are equally likely values. Instead, What’s your name?" prompt 8-5 on weekdays, mountain pseudorandom numbers are is often one sneaky way of standard time. Other times are the next number available in a picking up a genuine random catch as catch can. I will send contrived series that appears number. a product and freebie list to on the surface to be any one The Apple does this auto- you when you respond. of many equally likely values. matically, with two page zero While I will try to fairly There are computer uses machine language locations cover all of the bases, don’t for both types. called RNDL and RNDH in expect any unbiased miracles Real "random" numbers are $4E and $4F. Just read these from someone who is over- truly unpredictable, but they and you have a truly random whelmingly pro Apple. I’ll are hard or inconvenient to number. Similar code is easy call things as I see them. generate and there is no way to add to virtually any micro- We will gather all of the to get the same random se- computer. names and numbers together quence back over again at a Unfortunately, this will get in a box at the end. I am very later time. On the other hand, you only one random number, much into ferreting out ob- pseudorandom numbers are and your user may get tired scure and unique sources. easy to generate, and you can of typing his name in every Thus, some of these sources easily get the same short se- time you need a new number. might be very hard to pin quence back again. One random number can be down elsewhere. Be sure to Repeating any random se- most useful, though, as a seed save these listings. quence is handy for replaying to generate a sequence of Here goes Alpha 1.0 . . . a hand of cards, reviewing a pseudorandom numbers.
1. Put a random number into four memory locations. Make sure the values are not all zero. To repeat or replay a sequence, reuse this old seed.
PSR4 PSR3 PSR2 PSR1
2. To generate a new random one 3. Rotate the carry left into PSR1. or zero, take these two bit Rotate left into PSR2. Rotate locations, EOR them together left into PSR3. Then, rotate left and put them in the carry into PSR4. The carry will now flag. hold a one or a zero out of a pseudorandom sequence that is a total of 2,147,483,687 bits 4. Repeat once for each needed in length. bit of your random number.
Fig. 1 - A good random number generator.
1.1 ASK THE GURU
Generating pseudorandom more or fewer words unless (1962), 368-369. numbers is not trivial. Apple- you know exactly what you Many more details on all of sloth tried it and they failed are doing, for any very long this appear in my Assembly miserably. As is well known, useful sequences are few and Cookbook for the Apple II/IIe there is a fatal flaw in the far between. (SAMS) #22331, including Applesloth random number There’s a fourth possible full 6502 source code for generator. Some of its con- gotcha: The individual bits EDASM and the ready-to-run trived sequences can almost you will get on a single shift object code, along with links be acceptably long. Others are easily pass all sophisticated for BASIC, the screen plot as short as 191 values before randomness tests. Believe it test, a card shuffling demo, repeating. This leads to dis- or not, though, certain com- user examples, etc. It’s also tinct "unrandomness" in many binations of sequential bits available on disk. BASIC game programs. And, grouped into words can some- As another and seperate no, the published reseeding times fail certain very subtle use, you can route this gen- fixes don’t help much – all and very exotic tests. erator to a speaker to generate they do is bury the problem Chances are that you are a hissing white noise that and make it slightly more interested in the real world. really sounds awful. subtle. There is a quick, simple, and Show us the sneakiest use Figure one shows a good devastatingly effective ran- you can come up with for pseudorandom number gen- domness test that Applesloth these unique pseudorandom erator that has no bad habits and several other so called sequences. and easily passes the less "random" functions fail mis- exotic randomness tests. It is erably. This pseudorandom What is The Word On a model of a circular pipe sequencer passes the same ProDOS Applewriter 2.0? with 2,147,483,687 marbles in test with flying colors. it. The pipe has a one marble All you do is plot the dots There is a brand new wide glass window in it. Half on a graphics screen, such as upgrade of Applewriter out. It of the marbles are red and Apple’s HIRES page one. If runs under the ProDOS op- half are blue. The marbles sit the screen "sticks" (as it will erating system, and has lots in the pipe in an apparently with Applesloth), you have a of new features. These do haphazard order. By picking a short and useless random include faster operation, much random starting place in the sequence. If there is ever any improved compatibility with pipe, you can get a random shading, lines, unexpected other ProDOS programs, easy bit stream out. Take six bits patterns, etc., then you have hard disk access, a built-in for a random number up to blatently preferential num- transmit and receive modem, 64. For a deck of cards, take bers. This test applies your settable screen margins for out six bits, and only keep eyeball as an optical corelator "what you see is what you those whose values are in the that will pull subtle random- get", spreadsheet editing up to range of 0-51, and so on. ness failures right out of the 240 columns, an optional To get the same sequence woodwork. page and position display, and back, just start at the same Which should tell us that many other improvements and entry point. using groups of bits as a performance upgrades. I have shown you only the random word will be useful Best of all, the new version essentials in figure one, done and effective for most real is unlocked, unprotected, and so you can easily translate it world needs. Note that this freely copyable for any num- to any machine language code method is very fast and very ber of backup copies. Even of your choice. You could simple to do. the source code is capturable. also use a higher level lan- Beware of playing games What is wrong with it? guage if you are willing to to make things "more" ran- Very little. A few parallel use and accept pitifully slow dom. Believe it or not, just printer cards will not work execution speeds. about any attempt to make properly on first try, notably Four gotchas: You must something "more" random the Grappler and the Pkaso. never allow your pseudoran- will almost certainly do the You can write me for a free dom word to contain all zeros exact opposite. patch, or else make use of the or the randomizer will hang. If you really want to get 2.1 upgrade that corrects this You should "seed" the word into some gory details of why defect. with a truly random number this generator works, check The NULL patch for Epson for a new starting point and a into Knuth’s Seminumerical superscript use is no longer new sequence. If you want an Algorithms, on pages 1-160 needed, since a [_] can be old sequence back again for a (Addison Wesley). Or, if you substituted. The "shortline" replay or "noise that repeats", want to go completely off the problem remains, but you can just save the old seed some- deep end, do check into E.J. write me for a seperate free whare and reuse it. Watson’s listing in Math- patch on this. Thirdly, do not try using ematical Computing 16 for Many people still grossly,
1.2 March, 1985 utterly, and completely under- Electronic Products are all most often free, and are estimate Applewriter. It is the first rate technical electronics certainly worth checking into. ONLY word processor I use, maga- zines. And there are Or, in a larger technical and once you really get into dozens more. library, ask to see their public it, there is virtually nothing it A pair of mechanical trade serials list. This is a pile of cannot do in a fast and very journals essential for robotics computer printout, a video friendly manner. Its greatest include Machine Design and disk, or a stack of microfilche abilities lie in its being totally Design News. Similarly, there that tells you everything the programmable through a com- are dozens of "old line" mini- library has in stock. They panion programming language computer journals, and lots of may call this listing by a called WPL. Thus, word pro- magazines for the computer different name. Get recent cessing tasks can very easily retail trade. issues of target magazines, be customized or else auto- Let me know if you want a liberate the qualification card, mated "hands off" in any way more complete listing. and you are home free. you like. You "qualify" for any and Incidentally, there is one I’ve been able to personally all of these by requesting a sure fire way to get at least add a full microjustify and qualification card and telling one free copy of any mag- proportional space, author’s them exactly what they want azine, no matter how high the keyword indexing, multiple to hear on the card. subscription price or issue columns, HIRES dumpings, Sometimes you can find cost. Just write the adver- unique self-prompting glos- qualification cards ready to tising department and request saries, code extensions, and use. If not, a business letter- a sample issue and a rate many other goodies to it. head is a must. Note that card. On your letterhead, of Cost of the lastest ProDOS custom letterheads are free course. Sometimes you will 2.0 version is $150 from your these days if you have any get several issues or even a local Apple dealer. There is a access at all to a laser printer. free subscription out of one $50 upgrade service if you To date, nobody has ever single request. send in any older Applewriter been tarred and feathered for first factory disk and a man- willfully and maliciously say- How can I improve ual cover to Apple’s Apple- ing that which is not so on a cassette tape reliability? writer Product Manager. Uh, qualification card. apparently, this upgrade even Creativity counts. Cassette tapes are still used applies to old mangy Apple- I personally subscribe to on many smaller microcom- writer 1.0 or 1.1. Thus, the hundreds of these in wildly puters, particularly orphans upgrade is a fantastic bargain. different fields. How do you like the Timex/Sinclair or the find out what’s available? Go TI-99. The cassette routines Where can I Get to any library and they will on Apple computers, while Bowker Free Tech Magazines? have a book called seldom used, remain the "save Uhrlichts Periodicals Diction- of last resort", either to try It never ceases to amaze ary. Which does list all of the and recover from a blown me how many people have magazines in the US or in the DOS operating system, or to never heard of the controlled world, depending on the vol- save any part of any program circulation magazines. These ume you pick. Those marked at any time for any reason. are publications which are "controlled circulation" are (Continued on page 2.5) totally and absolutey free to a select group of insiders who allow the magazine to qualify for a special postage rate. And, they are usually chock New 330 Ohm Resistor full of the latest and most ( orange - orange - brown) needed information you are Amplifier likely to see anywhere. Better still, most of them have bingo cards for immediate advertiser and product info requests. Speaker I would guess there’s over 20,000 titles of controlled Speaker Jack on circulation magazines avail- Ground able, and most of them are Cassette Recorder absolutely free. Let’s start with several electronic examples. Electronic News, EE Times, Fig. 2 - Improving cassette tape reliability. Electronic Design, EDN, and
1.3 Don Lancaster’s Low cost air valves Pneumatic actuators ASK THE GURU Secret Apple manuals Your own tech venture April, 1985 Applewriter stretchifier
elcome once again to Any Ideas Involving literally beat one of these the second release of Low Cost Robotics? systems out on a brick in Wour brand new Com- your back yard, and still puter Shopper column. I’ll do It never ceases to amaze come up with a promising what I can to find answers to me that low-pressure pneu- and useful product. reader hardware, software, or matics has never taken off. You’ll need an air source. supply problems. Yet, air pressure systems in The larger aquarium pumps Just call or write per that the 3-to-6 psi range have are ideal, when combined address in the end box. Best enormous advantages. with a small storage tank. calling times are 8-5 week- First off, low pressure air is Small tanks are easily built days, mountain standard time. cheap and low tech. It gives from plastic toilet tank floats. I’ll send a free booklist and a you lots of linear force easy You can instead use a larger special goodies list to you and simply. It can amplify, tank filled with a tire pump, when you respond. And even since most of the muscle or even use a scuba tank or a more neat stuff if you are an comes from the air source. Scott Airpack bottle. Apple hacker. This means you do not Hoses and connectors are As before, we will gather directly have to provide high no big deal. Get your hoses all of the names and numbers power electronic drivers as from Hygenic and the con- together in an appendix at the you do with solenoids or nectors from Value Plastics. end. We’ll try to keep them servo motors. Air also goes A regulator is also needed. all current. Some of these around corners beautifully, I’ve had the best luck running sources are very hard to pin particularly robotic elbows. at 3.5 psi, although you get down elsewhere, so be sure to Most important to us, low much more force up in the save these listings. pressure air has fantastic 5-7 psi range. You can get Here goes . . . hacker potential. You can regulators for around seven bucks from most of the sur- plus houses mentioned below. Now for the fun part. You need a control valve. Unlike electricity or electronics, you cannot simply connect your air supply to an actuator to move it and then disconnect it to return. Try this and the air stays stuck in the pipe and the actuator will remain extended. Instead, you need three-way air valves that act like elec- tronic SPDT switches. When powered, the air supply gets connected to the actuator. When the control signal is turned off, the pressure re- maining in the actuator vents to ambient through the sec- ond valve arm. 213-65A You simply will not believe the price of an new electronic three way air valve for low pressure robotics. How does thirty cents sound? Thirty cents! They are called automotive EGR valves, and originally Fig. 1 - A 30 cent, robotic 3-way air valve. were made by the Carter Carburetor people. For many years now, they, have been 2.1 April, 1985 available surplus from C&H uators that do not have any How can I Eliminate Sales, Jerryco, Herbach and moving seals. That rolling Applewriter "Shortlines"? Rademan, BNF Sales, Surplus diaphram is available as a Center, and all of your usual stock Bellofram part. All versions of Applewriter mechanical surplus outfits. I like the bellows actuators do have a nasty bug in their Your nearest handy dandy myself. I actually had a bunch printer routines. junk yard is also crammed of these blow molded long If you try to imbed printer full of them. ago, for use in a pneumatic commands in your text, the Incredibly, these have gone attachment that let you use a commands will get imbedded begging. Selectric typewriter as a com- and will get used correctly. You’ll find that Jerryco has puter printer. It worked, more The trouble is that they will far and away the lowest valve or less, but never became a also get counted as "real" pricing, the most outrageous viable product. Polypropylene characters, and will shorten catalog, and the most mind is probably the best choice of any printed lines they happen blowing array of other good- material, although EVA or to appear in. ies. Where else under one urethane might also be con- Figure 3 shows you a fix roof can you get a genuine sidered. The scientific supply for both DOS 3.3e versions of joystick for a B-17 bomber, houses sell bellows pipettes Applewriter. You can run this lumber grading crayons, a that are almost useful as bel- patch as an Applesloth pro- matched set of 24 official US lows actuators. gram and then you insert your Army urine speciman bottles, I’ve even ripped apart those third or higher backup copy candle molds, or a dummy "pump the water" toys that when asked to. The shortline howitzer shell? Be sure to were available a few years patch is then permanantly check them out. back. The bellows pump in- installed on your third or Figure 1 shows you a typ- side these worked just fine. higher backup copy. ical valve. You power it with Chances are that you will Do NOT make this patch to +12 volts DC to connect the prefer the bladder or balloon either factory diskette! Use air source to the load. actuators instead, since these only your third or higher Removing power vents the are the cheapest and are the copy. One way to backup load to ambient through a mechanically simpliest. AWIIe is with Copy II+ and a filtered vent at the rear of the By the way, if you must parameter change of 10:96. valve coil. The side pipe goes have a seal anywhere at all, After the patch is made, to the air source. You can use an O-ring. These are far any embedded sequence that make a simple manifold for and away the best route, be- consists of an escape that is several valves by taking a sides being reasonably cheap followed by a single letter piece of thick, large diameter and standard. gets perfectly repaired. If you tubing and punching one pin- Let me know what you can want to fix shortlines on any hole in it for each valve. come up with here. There is a longer commands or repair Then, push the front arm of fantastic opportunity going non-escape imbeddings, just each valve into the pinhole. A begging. And you can be in use an [esc][esc] to bank two push-on pressure seal is all on the ground floor. Your characters, or else use an you need at 3.5 psi. Medium feedback and networking is [esc][esc][null] to bank one power electronic drivers, such most important to other character. Such banking is as a Sprague ULN-2813, eas- readers and this column. rarely needed. ily power the valve under direct computer control. What do you use for actuators? Traditional mini- ature air cylinders have been available through Clippard. Unfortunately, they are also available at traditional prices. Instead, let us get non-tra- ditional. There is a very little known key secret to any use- ful low power, hacker based pneumatic actuator: Never have a seal that must move! rolling bellows bladder All of your low power air diaphram will either be wasted trying to move the seal or else will leak right by it. Figure 2 shows us three Fig. 2 - Actuators with non-moving seals. different ways to build act-
2.2 ASK THE GURU
An "alike but different 100 REM somehow" STRETCHIFIER is needed for the new ProDOS 110 REM *********************** 120 REM * * Applewriter 2.0. Listings of 130 REM * "STRETCHIFIER" FOR * both appear in my Apple- 140 REM * * writer Cookbook, and ready 150 REM * APPLEWRITER IIe * 160 REM * * to run versions are on their 170 REM * (DOS 3.3) * respective companion disks. 180 REM *...... * 190 REM * * How Can I Start My 200 REM * COPYRIGHT 1984 BY * Own technical venture? 210 REM * DON LANCASTER AND * 220 REM * SYNERGETICS, BOX * Funny you should ask that. 230 REM * 809, THATCHER AZ. * For a mere $7.50 you can 240 REM * 85552. 602-428-4073 * 250 REM * * find out how I make money. 260 REM * ALL COMMERCIAL * It’s an underground classic 270 REM * RIGHTS RESERVED * I wrote a while back called 280 REM * * 290 REM *********************** The Incredible Secret Money Machine, and it is still going 300 REM This mod changes a strong. It’s been in the Whole 310 REM backup copy of AWIIe 320 REM so imbedded escape Earth top ten for a long time. 330 REM commands pass through Here you can learn all about 340 REM the justify routines. the dangers of two crossed
350 REM This eliminates the Granfallons, the black widow 360 REM "shortline" problem routine, the DOT technique, 370 REM and lets you fully the CAP effect, the steam cal- 380 REM use a fancy printer. liope fund, all of those super 390 REM important honchee guidelines, ...... plus much more. Hey, this stuff works. I’ve 400 TEXT : HOME : CLEAR 410 HIMEM: 8000 used it and thoroughly tested 420 VTAB 1: HTAB 7: everything in it over and over A$ = "Applewriter IIe STRETCHifier": again. Forever, it seems like. GOSUB 980 Over and over again. 430 PRINT : GOSUB 1030 If you want to get in ahead 440 PRINT of the hoarders, just use the 450 FOR N = 1 TO 39: PRINT CHR$ (127);: GOSUB 1020: NEXT N help line. We’ve been known 460 GOSUB 1030 to take an order or two over 470 VTAB 5: HTAB 1: the phone. A$ = "This program will patch Applewriter IIe": GOSUB 980: PRINT 480 VTAB 6: HTAB 1: A$ = "to eliminate the short lines created by": Where do I Get Those GOSUB 980 Secret Apple manuals? 490 VTAB 7: HTAB 1: A$ = "imbedded printer escape sequences.": They weren’t supposed to GOSUB 980 be secret. Only a monumental 500 : GOSUB 1030 communications foulup made 510 VTAB 10: HTAB 4: A$ = "Patch ONLY your THIRD BACKUP copy!": them that way. GOSUB 980 You see, there is a "secret" 520 GOSUB 1030: GOSUB 1030 manual for the IIe called, of 530 VTAB 14: HTAB 4: A$ = "Please put your THIRD BACKUP copy": all things, the IIe Technical GOSUB 980 Reference Manual. There is a 540 VTAB 15: HTAB 4: similar "top-secret" manual A$ = "of AWIIe into Drive #1. Then push": GOSUB 980 pair for the IIc called the IIc 550 GOSUB 1030 Reference Manuals. And there 560 VTAB 17: HTAB 12: is one humongous pair of A$ = "
2.3 April, 1985 out of line with their contents. who is into sumo wrestling once. You do this with some In fact, they are worth far and frowns a lot, bring him friends or through your local more than the asking price. along for effect. school or club. The Iic manuals are stock Renting a Bengal tiger just Note that borrowing one of #A2L4038, while the IIe might also prove useful. If these manuals will not work, manual is stock #A2L2073. that does not work, group at since no one in their right The Mac stuff is now pub- least three, or preferably five, mind would ever let one out lished by Addison-Weseley. orders for the same manual at of their sight for more than a So, what is the problem? Apple reasoned that if they 620 REM came out with thorough, in- Check Validity dispensible, and complete tech manuals that they really 630 PRINT 640 PRINT "[D]BLOAD OBJ.APWRT][E,A$2300 would not need full page Wall 650 IF PEEK (14720) < > 235 THEN 950 Street Journal ads to promote 660 IF PEEK (17396) < > 153 THEN 950 something so obviously good 670 IF PEEK (17436) < > 252 THEN 950 and so obviously needed. 680 PRINT "[D]BLOAD OBJ.APWRT][F,A$2300 690 IF PEEK (15063) < > 100 THEN 950 Particularly if all of their 700 IF PEEK (17771) < > 153 THEN 950 machines are utterly and to- 710 IF PEEK (17811) < > 117 THEN 950 tally useless without access to 720 POKE 15062,96: POKE 15063,153 730 POKE 15064,00: POKE 15065,22: POKE 15066,201: these manuals. POKE 15067,155: POKE 15068,208: POKE 15069,04: In addition, since hackers POKE 15070,230: POKE 15071,211 would be beating the doors 740 POKE 15072,230: POKE 15073,211: POKE 15074,96: down of their dealers to get at POKE 15075,196: POKE 15076,220: POKE 15077,240: these manuals, some book- POKE 15078,14: POKE 15079,185 keeping could be eliminated 750 POKE 15080,00: POKE 15081,22: POKE 15082,201: POKE 15083,155: POKE 15084,208: POKE 15085,04: by asking those dealers to POKE 15086,198: POKE 15087,211 order the manuals in lots of 760 POKE 15088,198: POKE 15089,211: POKE 15090,136: five or more. POKE 15091,208: POKE 15092,238: POKE 15093,76: POKE 15094,117: POKE 15095,71 Since the average dealer 770 POKE 17771,32: POKE 17772,215: POKE 17773,58 could easily sell a thousand of 780 POKE 17810,76: POKE 17811,227: POKE 17812,58 these a month if he wanted to, 785 IF PEEK (20365) = 176 THEN POKE 20365, 182: surely buying five would not REM RECONNECT HELP SCREENS 790 PRINT "[D]UNLOCK OBJ.APWRT][F" inconvenience anyone at all, 800 PRINT "[D]BSAVE OBJ.APWRT][F,A$2300,L$30D3" would it? 810 PRINT "[D]LOCK OBJ.APWRT][F" Well . . . 820 PRINT "[D]BLOAD OBJ.APWRT][E,A$2300" 830 POKE 14719,96 John Q Hackerturkey walks 840 POKE 14720,153: POKE 14721,00: POKE 14722,22: into his Apple dealer and asks POKE 14723,201: POKE 14724,155: POKE 14725,208: for a book the dealer never POKE 14726,04: POKE 14727,230 850 POKE 14728,211: POKE 14729,230: POKE 14730,211: heard of. John, of course, POKE 14731,96: POKE 14732,196: POKE 14733,220: does not know the exact name POKE 14734,240: POKE 14735,14 of the book, nor the Apple 860 POKE 14736,185: POKE 14737,00: POKE 14738,22: POKE 14739,201: POKE 14740,155: POKE 14741,208: part number. POKE 14742,04: POKE 14743,198 During his fifth trip, John 870 POKE 14744,211: POKE 14745,198: POKE 14746,211: finally convinces the dealer POKE 14747,136: POKE 14748,208: POKE 14749,238: POKE 14750,76: POKE 14751,252 that the book really exists. 880 POKE 14752,69 The dealer finally checks, and 885 IF PEEK (19988) = 176 THEN POKE 19988, 182: sure enough. Suprise, suprise. REM RECONNECT HELP SCREENS And all the dealer has to do is 890 POKE 17396,32: POKE 17397,128: POKE 17398,57 900 POKE 17435,76: POKE 17436,140: POKE 17437,57 send Apple a check for $150 910 PRINT "[D]UNLOCK OBJ.APWRT][E" to close a $50 sale. 920 PRINT "[D]BSAVE OBJ.APWRT][E,A$2300,L$2F5A" Dealers have lots of names 930 PRINT "[D]LOCK OBJ.APWRT][E" 940 TEXT : HOME :A$ = "IT WORKED!": GOSUB 980: for transactions like this, the PRINT : PRINT : PRINT : PRINT : END nicest and least obscene of 950 TEXT : HOME : which is negative cash flow. A$ = "Will not verify as AWIIe; patch ABORTED": GOSUB 980: PRINT : PRINT : PRINT : For some strange reason, they PRINT : PRINT : END do not agressively seek out 960 GOTO 960 such deals. 970 TEXT : HOME : CLEAR : END
O.K. Here’s how to get the (( more . . . )) manuals. First, politely but firmly go to a large Apple dealer with the exact part numbers and try and buy Fig. 3B - Applewriter Stretchifier, continued . . . them. If you have a friend
2.4 ASK THE GURU
(Continued from page 2.4) 980 REM Noisy screen machine few moments, if at all. Note
990 FOR N = 1 TO LEN (A$): PRINT MID$ (A$,N,1); also that the IIe and IIc man- 1000 GOSUB 1020: REM Clickety clack uals are normally ordered 1010 NEXT N: RETURN through dealers, while the 1020 ZZ = PEEK (49200) + PEEK (49200): FOR M = 1 TO 17: NEXT M: RETURN Macintosh stuff must be or- 1030 FOR N = 0 TO 700: NEXT N: RETURN dered directly. Rumor has it that the Mc- ...... Graw Hill Bookstore is one Do NOT use this program on either "factory" diskette! good mail order source that Use only on your THIRD or higher backup copies! normally stocks and quickly ships the IIe and IIc manuals. This patch gives an exact repair for two-character escape sequences. For three-character imbedded There is another rumor that sequences, "bank" characters by using [esc][esc] to Addison-Weseley will shortly bank two characters, or [esc][esc][@] to bank one republish the manuals as a character. This also works for non-escape imbedded commands. stock bookstore item. (UPDATE: Those A.P.D.A In the above listing [D] stands for "control-D" people now stock all these All other brackets are real. books, along with most other Apple technical info. More Fig. 3C - Applewriter Stretchifier, concluded. volumes have been added to the Mac book series.)
(Continued from page 1.3) speaker. When something is in cuneiform on fired clay plugged into the jack, that tablets. Provided, of course, Naturally, the best way to something ends up between that you sort them properly improve your cassette tape the amplifier output and the and then pack them with a reliability is to use a floppy ground, while the speaker 0.03 cubit spacing of papyrus disk instead. gets disconnected. reeds. Nonetheless, there is a very All you have to do is solder Arrgh . . . old, and little known trick a resistor across the switch Probably the cheapest local that can dramatically improve contacts that disconnect the way of getting an EPROM the reliability of most any speaker. If you are careful, burned is to check your near- cassette system. you may not have to do a est hacker club, or leave a If you could quietly listen completely disassembly of message on a regional elec- to the tones as they are going your recorder. If you can get tronic bulletin board. Fairly into the computer, you can down to where you see the complete lists of most clubs immediately spot most pro- solder side of the circuit and bulletin boards appear blems, level settings, noise, board holding the output jack, right here in the Computer hum, or low battery hassles. you can often solder the new Shopper. Most clubs and You can also bypass starting resistor on the foil side of the bulletin boards do have an clicks and pops. board, eliminating a need for up-to-date listing of all the This just takes a ten cent the full disassembly. After others in your neighborhood, modification to your tape soldering, make sure you can so find one, and you have recorder. The mod is shown still plug an output jack in found them all. in figure 2. and out, and make sure that I know of only one hacker The trick is to alter your the case will still fit over the EPROM burning service. It’s output jack so the speaker is circuit board without stressing called E-Tech Services out of connected in series with a 330 the board or the resistor. Everett, Washington, and they ohm resistor (orange orange do good work. brown) whenever anything is Where can I get For input, they want a hex plugged into the output jack. an EPROM burned? image stored on a binary file We have shown this jack as on an Apple disk. Presumably an "old fashioned" one to Any "old line" electronics they will eventually have a make the connections clearer. distributor will be happy to direct modem burn process, Regardless of its shape, program an EPROM for you. as well as a way to convert when you inspect your output All it requires is $300, and what’s-their-name diskettes. jack, you should find three either an exact working and Cost is unbelievably low. leads. One permanently goes debugged EPROM for them to Your EPROM or theirs. Yes, to ground or a supply line. copy, or else the code submit- they can handle anything up One permanantly goes to the ted on punched paper tape. to the big 27128 (16K x 8) amplifier output stage. And They will alternately accept EPROM you need for Apple one switchedly goes to the your duodecimal code written IIc monitor rework. 2.5 Don Lancaster’s Option picking Laser printer info ASK THE GURU A tough I/O circuit Motors for robotic use May, 1985 Diablo daisywheel stuff
ere we go with cut first right to left pass after same paragraph. 3.0 of our brand new going into fill justify, any I have more specific details HComputer Shopper thing fancy like an underline on this under WPL. Call or feature column. As usual, I’ll or a "funny" spoke access write if you are interested. do what I can here to find any will garble the line and foul Beware of the words Dia- answers to reader hardware, up the left margin as well. blo Compatible. This usual- software, or supply problems. Since you nearly always ly means that the prongs on Just give me a call or write want to kill the justify on the the power cord of the printer per the address in the end last line in a paragraph, what have the same spacing and box. Best calling times are happens is that any second shape as that on a Diablo 8-5 weekdays. That’s mount- line in the next justified para- 630, and will sometimes fit ain standard time. I’ll send a graph will louse up if you try into the same AC wall outlet free booklist and a special anything funny in it. with a minimum of excessive goodies list to you when you One sledge hammer cure is force. Most toy daisywheel respond. And even more stuff to print your entire document manufacturers are flat out if you are an Apple hacker. right to left only. This slows lying through their teeth when While I will try to fairly up your printing time con- they claim they are Diablo cover all of the bases, don’t siderably. What I usually do compable. expect any unbiased miracles is suppress all of the right to Kiddies, if it doesn’t have a from someone whose vehicle left printing only on the prob- ready to use, built-in wall to license plate number is 6502. lem paragraphs. The normal wall proportional space and a I’ll call things as I see them. way I can handle this is to full firmware microjustify, Again as usual, I’ll gather print any paragraph that has can not do any HYPLOT vect- all of the names and numbers any underlining at all in it or graphics, won’t accept a together in a master list at the right-to-left only. Should a metal or plastic daisywheel end. Note that many of these "funny spoke" get called on with 88, 92, or 96 petals, does sources are very hard to pin line two, I will try to find any not have near perfect print down elsewhere. old excuse for underlining quality, has no bidirectional Thanks to your response so something, somewhere in the tractor feed, or will not run far, I’ve had to buy a power letter opener. While the twin Allison diesel engines on it sure are impressive, the noise APPLE TITAN 10 BOLD PS and fumes get kind of exces- sive at times. Looks like a [ [ C skip loader will be needed to ] ] fill the hopper, since snow { { ¶ shovels take far too long. At any rate, keep writing. } } § Well, here’s the warm boot < < [ on V3.0 . . . > > — ^ ^ ! What is the Diablo 630 ! ! | "Second Line" problem? \ \ < The WP-enhanced Diablo 630 daisywheel printer is the ‘ ’ > de-facto standard in daisy- | | R wheel printers. Sadly, there is ~ ~ † a bizarre bug in it called the TM second line problem that can @ @ royally foul up the works. [esc] Y ¢ @ The bug appears to be [esc] Z ‘ ] caused by sloppy or wrong initializing of certain varia- Fig. 1 - Differences in daisywheel petals. bles in the on-board firmware. What happens is this: On the 3.1 ASK THE GURU continuously for 2000 hours Apple keyboard symbols, and wheel elements are not all before any adjustment, then it these two wheels. that expensive, especially if just flat ain’t Diablo compat- As you can see, the TITAN you only need a single special ible at all. 10 closely follows a standard character or two. Camwil has While on the subject of computer keyboard. On the a special process that breaks Meleagris Gallaprovos, be- BOLD PS wheel, eight spokes off one petal of a stock wheel ware of those epsilon minus are in the wrong position, and and replaces it with your own yahoos who use words per seven are wildly different. custom symbol. minute instead of the indus- The usual method to rear- characters per try standard range daisywheel spokes is to Where’s Enhance II? second when specifying the do a search and replace with daisywheel printer speeds. your word processor, just Would you believe right Thus a toy daisywheel rated before printing. I have some here in my hot little hands? at "120" is much slower than WPL based solutions on this My Enhancing your Apple a real one rated at "40". if you need them. II, Volume II (SAMS #22425) Gobble gobble. Note that there are two is at long last in print. You problem spokes on any 96 can get one now either locally Why Does a BOLD PS petal daisywheel element. or else autographed copies are Daisywheel Foul up Since there are a total of 96 available directly from me. Some Punctuation? printable ASCII characters, What’s in it? Unconditional and since space and delete are and absolute reset for the IIe, Not all snap-in daisywheel needed for their own uses, superb print quality tech- elements have the same petals you end up two codes shy. niques for word processors, a in the same positions. De- Thus, there are two hidden Castle Wolfenstein playing pending on whether it is a spokes on most daisywheels. aides set, a brand new and business, computer, or custom The Diablo way of accessing software-only VAPORLOCK wheel, certain symbols may these is with an imbedded exact field sync, more on the end up on the wrong petal or [esc]-Y for the one petal and "tearing method" of quickly may be missing entirely. an [esc]-Z for the other. analyzing unknown machine One very popular business On the TITAN 10, the two language code, and a com- wheel is the BOLD PS one. hidden spokes are the cents plete disassembly script of Fifteen spokes are either in and the closing single quote. Applewriter IIe that includes the wrong place or are totally On the BOLD PS wheel, they all the inside details plus full different from a standard are the "@" and the closing detailed source code capturing "computer" wheel such as the bracket. instructions. TITAN 10. Figure one shows And, changing the subject The usual companion disk- us the differences between the slightly, customized daisy- ettes are also available.
LOAD LOAD LOAD LOAD LOAD LOAD LOAD LOAD #7 #6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1 #0
Loads may be (+)
lamps, relays, 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 air valves, low Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 PROT power steppers, power supply coils, etc. ULN2813 up to +40 IN1 IN2 IN3 IN4 IN5 IN6 IN7 IN8 GND volts DC Up to 500 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 milliamperes each maximum. 76543210 parallel micro port micro ground
Fig. 2 - A tough medium power I/O driver.
3.2 May, 1985
Show me a Tough control characters. code as a subroutine, then Integrated Circuit Power The forced return theory is you’ll end up JSRing to your Driver elegant, sneaky, and excruc- option. iatingly simple. Say you go to This method is consistent, O.K. Figure two shows one a subroutine in a machine lan- fairly fast, and short. It also of my favorite interface cir- guage program. The return bypasses a bug in the jump cuits. It uses the Sprague address of the subroutine gets indirect code in early 6502’s. ULN 2813. This beauty has remembered on the stack, so It does this by eliminating eight seperate drivers in it the program can remember any need for indirect jumps. that can handle half an amp where to go back to. On a There’s two very important each at up to forty volts DC, subroutine return, the pro- gotchas: The addresses MUST complete with internal spike gram goes back to whatever get shoved on the stack HIGH protecting diodes. It is easily called it. BYTE first and LOW BYTE driven from most any parallel Now for the sneaky part. second. Also, the addresses in microcomputer port. What if you force a fake sub- the address table must all be Note that the load and the routine address onto the stack ONE LESS THAN the inten- computer must share a com- and then call for a return? ded addresses. The reason for mon ground connection. Do Instead of going where you this is that the RTS on a 6502 this exactly as shown. Cost is came from, you "return" to goes one beyond the address under $3. the new fake address and pick on the stack when returning I need a Good Book on up there. from a subroutine. Motors for Robotics. Figure three shows you a With the code shown, the 6502 example. First you de- addresses go into the table How about a great book cide which option you need frontwards, or high byte first. instead, costing – are you as a hex number. Next you If you put the addresses in the ready for this? – only $3.50? range check that option to usual 6502 "position-page" or It is called the Small Gear- make darn sure you can go "low-hi" form, be sure that motor Handbook, and Bodine where you think you want to. you end up shoving the high publishes it. See the listing at Next, you double the num- byte onto the stack first. the end for an address. ber by doing an accumulator This older text is very read- shift left or ASL. Then, you Where do I get Information able and very heavy on the transfer the doubled option On Laser Printers? fundamentals. number to an index, such as the X register. Then go to a Apple has a brand new $75 What is a "Forced Return" table of addresses. Grab the Inside Laserwriter notebook. Option Picker? HIGH address byte and shove This does include a thorough it on the stack. Grab the LOW discussion of Postscript, the It is a powerful way to let a address byte and shove it on brand new, Forth-like type- computer jump six ways from the stack. Then RTS. Viola. setting language that placess Sunday that works especially Should you have jumped to this laser printer head and well with the 6502. Figure the option picker code, you shoulders above all its shoddy three shows details. end up jumping to your new look-alike imitators. There are lots of times and address. If, instead, you have Also included are the driver places in a program where JSRed to your option picker (Continued on page 4.6) you want the code to go to any of a large number of dif- ferent routines. As examples, Enter with the range-checked option number loaded in the a word processor’s [S] for the accumulator. Then . . . save command, or when an adventure program discovers OPICK ASL A ; Double pointer that the giant clockwork arm- TAX ; and move to index adillo is indeed awake and is feeling on the mean side. LDA ADDFILE,X ; Get HIGH address byte Routines that let you go to PHA ; and shove on stack any of a number of different LDA ADDFILE+1,X ; Get LOW address byte places in a simple and orderly manner are known as option PHA ; and shove on stack pickers. They are usually used RTS ; "Return" to option whenever you have to go to six or more different locat- Important: Addresses in the address file must all be ONE ions, particularly if all of the LESS THAN the intended option address. selections involve more or less random keystrokes, or Fig. 3 - A "forced subroutine return" option picker. wild mixtures of letters and
3.3 Don Lancaster’s E. T. watching Apple IIe "upgrade" ASK THE GURU A Softalk replacement Dual character generator June, 1985 Applewriter triple header
ee, Toto, I don’t think For you see, when you haul will end up trashed after you we are in Kansas any your IIe and $70 off to your do the upgrade. Gmore. My, are there friendly local Apple dealer, While most of the older ever a lot of you out there. he will steal your existing and existing software can be The helpline phone has lit- monitor and character gen- repaired with some simple erally been ringing off the erator ROMs and refuse to patches, doing so on a locked hook. And mostly with in- give them back to you. This and protected program from a telligent and well thought out will prevent you from ever non-cooperative or bankrupt questions. And, amazingly, again running stock copies of software vendor ceases to be some of them are even solv- most of your favorite existing a joy real quick like. Espec- able one way or another. software, including Visicalc ially if you are in the middle As a reminder, I am some- and Applewriter IIe, among of something when you try what of an Apple freak and countless others. Figure one the upgrade. an assembly language person, sums up this warning. Things get really nasty if so the further you stray from Apple’s claim of "95 per- you have several hundred pro- the way, the truth, and the cent compatibility" includes grams on hand that will not light, the fewer and the man- some carefully chosen weasel run properly. gier the rabbits I can pull out words. If you read between Now, from Apple’s point of of the hat. To join in the fun, the lines on the fine print, this view, and from the desires of write or call per the box at 95% compatibility only exists a brand new Apple owner, the the end. Calling is better than if you buy all new software, upgrade is a very good thing. writing, and best calling times and then use only the newest The upgrade makes the IIe are 8-5 Mountain Standard and latest version of each and and the IIc much more simi- time. every software package. lar, so that identical or nearly This month’s news item is The 95% compatibilty fig- identical new software can be super important . . . ure is what the Houyhnhnms run on both machines. The would very politely term "that new monitor chips accept What is The Real Word On which is not so". lower case Applesloth and The Apple IIe upgrade? In reality, if you have lots monitor commands, can scroll of older software around, the much better, includes a mini- Firstoff, this is not an up- compatibility is something assembler, do provide some grade at all. It is a lateral under 15% and is falling fast. new search and ASCII mon- arabesque. If you have had Particularly if you measure itor commands, and support your IIe for a while and if your software compatibility in full management of interrupts. you have lots of your favorite terms of actual use hours. In The mini-assembler is not all software, the "upgrade" is general, if the software uses that great. Bugbyter is better. really a deadly trap that may inverse text or uses a software The upgrade does include a cause you no end of grief. flashing cursor, the display new 65C02 microprocessor. This dude runs cooler and provides a handful of new instructions. All of which are WARNING! interesting and useful addit- ions, but none of which are The Apple IIe upgrade is really a lateral arabesque. earth shattering. Any attempt Your dealer will steal your old ROM’s, preventing you to use these new instructions from ever again running stock and favorite older automatically excludes the programs, such as Visicalc or Applewriter IIe, among software from running on a II countless others. or II+, since many of these 65C02 instructions can hang Be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you make some EPROM firmware backup copies of the CD monitor ROM an older 6502. (2764), the EF Montitor ROM (2764), and, above all, While hand-crafted code the F4 video ROM (2732) before you even remotely that uses these new instruc- consider an upgrade. tions can end up 10% shorter and 10% faster, no speed or Fig. 1 - You read it here first. length difference will auto- matically happen with older or existing code. 4.1 June, 1985
By the way, if you only into the EPROM burn socket a toggle switch! And, unplug want a 65C02, you can get and read the ROM code back both ends of the Apple line one for free. Which is $70 to disk. A 2732 EPROM can cord and rest your hand on cheaper than the Apple up- later be used to clone this the power supply when instal- grade. But please, do not tell ROM. ling the adaptor. Make sure Rockwell who told you to Note that an EPROM pro- that the dot and notch points write them on your business gramming service isn’t able to the front of your machine. letterhead for a free 65C02. to legally sell you ready to By the way, I have a free And don’t let them catch on. run EPROMS unless you first CLARIFIER patch that lets Keep all requests very profes- send them your disk based you run Applewriter IIe on an sional and business-like. If copy of your own code to be enhanced IIe or a IIc with they didn’t want you to have burned. You must send them minimum problems. I also do a free 65C02, they would not the code, and not vice versa. have a free listing of all the have said so in so many of This is the way it is. changes needed to do an ab- their full page ads. Figure two shows us a way solute "old monitor" reset on Anyway, most of the com- to have the best of both the new IIe. Write or call for patibility problems lie in the worlds. With a simple adaptor full details. new character generator chip. and a hand-burned double Let’s briefly run down the An area of the chip has been sized 2764 character gener- reasons your old Apple pro- set aside to hold a mouse nest ator EPROM, you can now grams may be incompatible. full of mouse screen symbols. use either the old or the new By far the most common pro- But this misses the point. The character generator at the flip blem is the mouse nest in the real use of the mouse nest is of a switch. This gives you an character generator. Those that you can now use pull- enhanced generator for new screen codes between $40-5F down or pop-up menus on the stuff, and an old one for your will appear as mouse char- stock text screen, letting you existing software. Burn a new acters instead of in inverse pick up all sorts of Mac-like ROM clone for the bottom upper case. While there are features. 32K and the old clone on the two possible codings for in- So, for future use, the up- top 32K of a 2764. To use, if verse uppercase on older grade is a great idea. What anything ever looks funny on Apples, the $40-5F range is can you do here and now to the screen, just change the far more common, especially live with it? switch to the other position. for software flashing cursors. Use this key rule: Make Several gotchas: Be sure to The adaptor of figure two EPROM backup copies of all use only premium, machined will solve these mouse nest your firmware! Do this before pin contact sockets and strips problems. If you are a ma- you make the upgrade. for your adaptor. Do NOT use chine language person, it is Figure threee is an Apple- sloth routine that is named SNATCHMON. It will auto- matically capture all of your existing monitor ROMs onto disk, under the filenames of IIEMON.C, IIEMON.D, IIE- 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 MON.E, and IIEMON.F. I’ve 24 Pin DIP Plug purposely left these in four pieces so that an older style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 EPROM burner can be used if you know what you are up to. Normally, the C and D code goes into one 2764 EPROM, while the E and F code goes into a second 2764. 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 One prompt and low cost 28 Pin DIP Socket source of EPROM program- ming are the E-TECH Services 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 NEW people. More details appear in OLD my absolute reset package from Synergetics. Capturing that character generator ROM code is a little trickier. The easiest way is to borrow an EPROM program- ming card and another Apple, Fig. 2 - A IIe dual character generator adaptor. put the character generator
4.2 ASK THE GURU usually a simple matter to (SAMS #21822) makes this There are other, and more find the screen routines in super easy. subtle reasons why some of your problem code, and trap You can also write those the oddball older programs out anything in the $40-5F people who sold you all the may not work with the IIe up- range and subtract $40 so it software, but chances are they grade, even when using the becomes $00-1F instead. The will try to sell you a new up- old character generator. tearing method in my En- grade, rather than give you a For instance, a few pro- hancing your Apple Vol. I free patch. grams use "illegal" monitor entry points. Many of these locations have been moved 10 REM 18 REM *********************** somewhere else in the new 20 REM * * monitor ROMs. Some wacky 22 REM * "SNATCHMON" * protection schemes used a 24 REM * IIE MONITOR GRABBER * 26 REM * FOR EPROM BURNERS * bug in the old 6502 jump 28 REM * * indirect command as a silly 30 REM * VERSION 1.0 * attempt to confuse any Apple 32 REM *...... * user under six years old. No 34 REM * * 36 REM * COPYRIGHT 1984 BY * bug, no access. Interrupts can 38 REM * DON LANCASTER AND * now cause royal foulups in 40 REM * SYNERGETICS, BOX * programs that neither expect 42 REM * 1300 THATCHER AZ. * 44 REM * 85552. 602-428-4073 * nor allow them. Some very 46 REM * * oddball 65C02 instructions 48 REM * ALL COMMERCIAL * have different timing than 50 REM * RIGHTS RESERVED * 52 REM * * they would on a 6502. This 54 REM *********************** can ruin any extremely time- critical code, such as might 80 REM THIS PROGRAM "CAPTURES" 82 REM THE APPLE IIE MONITOR be used for disk access, a 84 REM INTO FOUR 4K WORKFILES copy protection scheme, or as 86 REM FOR USE WITH AN EPROM an exact video screen lock. 88 REM BURNER WHOSE WORK FILES 90 REM BEGIN AT HEX $8000. So, by all means make the 99 REM IIe upgrade. But, be sure to ...... backup all firmware first, and expect to have compatibility 100 TEXT : HOME : CLEAR : GOSUB 2000: REM GET TUTORIAL 110 VTAB 12: HTAB 7: PRINT "MONITOR SNATCH IN PROGRESS" problems with most, if not all, 120 PRINT : FLASH : HTAB 14: PRINT "PLEASE WAIT": NORMAL of your favorite software. The 199 REM chances are the double char- ...... acter generator adaptor will 200 REM : $C100-CFFF GRAB solve the worst of your com- patibility hassles. 210 POKE 32763,160: POKE 32764,00: POKE 32765,76: POKE 32766,44: POKE 32767,254: REM CLEAR Y REGISTER BEFORE MOVE! How Can I Start 220 POKE 32768,0: POKE 60,00: POKE 61,128: POKE 62,254: E. T. Watching? POKE 63,128: POKE 66,01: POKE 67,128: CALL 32763: REM ZERO $8000-$80FF The proper name of this activity is called SETI, short 230 POKE 49159,0: POKE 49163,0: Search for Extra- REM READ INTERNAL C3 AND CX ROM for the Terrestial Intelligence. 240 POKE 60,00: POKE 61,193: POKE 62,255: POKE 63,207: Suprisingly, there are a POKE 66,00: POKE 67,129: CALL 32763: large number of amateur radio REM MOVE $C100-$CFFF astronomers that are doing 250 POKE 49158,0: POKE 49162,0: lots of very interesting, very REM READ USUAL C3 AND CX SLOTS impressive, and very legit-
260 PRINT : PRINT "[D]BSAVE IIEMON.C,A$8000,L$1000 imate research these days. 270 REM : SAVE $C100-$CFFF TO DISK All on their own, without grants or federal help. Their 299 REM ...... own trip, rather than someone elses. And done in their own, 300 REM : $D000-DFFF GRAB bureacratic free way. 310 POKE 60,00: POKE 61,208: POKE 62,255: POKE 63,223: POKE 66,00: POKE 67,128: I feel that an extra-terrestial CALL 32763: REM MOVE $D000-$DFFF contact is possibly imminent. (( more ... )) Why do I feel this way? Three main reasons. First, our Fig. 3A - Applesloth SNATCHMON monitor grabber. sun suddenly and dramatically became a radio star in the
4.3 June, 1985 early 1950’s, thanks to Uncle way down. Antenna mounts down the ET watching if you Milty, Captain Video, and the and tracking mechanisms, of expect to be treated seriously Roller Derby. Kukla, Fran, course, scream robotics. and get behind the scenes. and Ollie are now our good Another thing you can do is Magdalena lies within the will ambassadors to those out stop at the free visitor center greater Datil–Pietown–Que- there, and they by now have at the VLA radio astronomy mado metropolitan area. Take traveled 35 light years from Very Large Array facility out- that outer loop expressway us. This distance is now great side the town of Magdalena, through the theater and the enough to attract attention in New Mexico. All visitors are industrial district. Then turn many candidate star systems. definitely welcome, but play left at the fifth cow. And, yes, we could detect them sending the same radio 320 PRINT : PRINT "[D]BSAVE IIEMON.D,A$8000,L$1000 energy levels back to us with 399 REM what we have today in the ...... way of receiver and computer 400 REM : $E000-EFFF GRAB technology. Secondly, if we were being 410 POKE 60,00: POKE 61,224: POKE 62,255: droid-watched, all of the pre- POKE 63,239: POKE 66,00: POKE 67,128: CALL 32763: REM MOVE $D000-$DFFF vious messages transmitted would probably have said 420 PRINT : PRINT "[D]BSAVE IIEMON.E,A$8000,L$1000 "No problem" for the past 499 REM ...... several million years. Current messages would instead sud- 500 REM : $F000-FFFF GRAB denly be of the "Oh oh, we now got a problem" variety. 510 POKE 60,00: POKE 61,240: POKE 62,255: POKE 63,255: POKE 66,00: POKE 67,128: And, thirdly, we have much CALL 32763: REM MOVE $F000-$FFFF more powerful listening tools available to dedicated individ- 520 PRINT : PRINT "[D]BSAVE IIEMON.F,A$8000,L$1000 599 REM uals on a sane budget than we ...... ever did before. And, my oh my, do we now have scads of 600 TEXT : HOME : CLEAR 610 FOR N = 1 TO 30:ZZ = PEEK (49200) + PEEK (49200) + powerful computers. PEEK (49200): NEXT N: REM BRACK As personal and convivial tools. And as mind amplifiers. 900 PRINT "MONITOR SNATCH COMPLETE": PRINT : END 910 REM Anyway, the center of the ...... amateur SETI activities seems to be a group known as the 2000 REM : TUROTIAL AND PROMPT Society of Amateur Radio 2008 POKE 49167,0: REM ALTSET ON Astronomers, which is headed 2010 VTAB 1: HTAB 12: FOR NN = 1 TO 15: PRINT CHR$ by one Jeffrey M. Lichtman. (127);: NEXT NN: PRINT Jeffrey has self-published 2012 HTAB 12: PRINT CHR$ (127);" SNATCHMON "; CHR$ (127) several very interesting and 2014 HTAB 12: FOR NN = 1 TO 15: PRINT CHR$ (127);: very useful books. One is NEXT NN: * Microwave Radio Astronomy, PRINT 2015 PRINT : PRINT An Amateur Introduction. A 2016 PRINT "This program ’captures’ the Apple IIe’s second title is Solar Amateur monitor ROM into four 4Kx8 binary files named Radio Astronomy, and a final IIEROM.C thru IIEROM.F": PRINT 2017 POKE 1677,162: POKE 1686,162: nuts-and-bolts book is the REM REAL QUOTES WITHOUT TEARS Amateur Radio Astronomers 2018 PRINT "Default use address is $8000, as needed Circuit Cookbook. Cost is by the MPC ap-ep EPROM burner.": PRINT : PRINT 2020 PRINT "Please insert SAVE disk into Drive 1.": around $35 total for all three. PRINT : PRINT : PRINT "Then press < space > to It’s interesting to note the CONTINUE": PRINT * similiarity between all of the 2022 HTAB 15: PRINT "-or-": PRINT 2024 HTAB 13: PRINT "< escape> to ABORT": PRINT : PRINT radio astronomy circuits and 2026 HTAB 13: PRINT "---< >---"; CHR$ (08); CHR$ (08); those things that electronic CHR$ (08); CHR$ (08); CHR$ (08); hackers are already doing, 2028 GET Z$ such as legal access of satel- 2030 IF Z$ > < " " THEN TEXT : HOME : CLEAR : END 2040 TEXT : HOME lite broadcasts, and not quite 2050 POKE 49166,0: REM PRIMARY CHARACTER SET so legal piracy of MDS dis- 2100 RETURN tribution systems. Much of the same circuitry can be used Gotchas: [D] means
4.4 ASK THE GURU
And, while you are in the mise, Softalk was far and more compact replacement neighborhood, drop in and away the "best" Apple maga- for Softalk now exists, edited help me quest a tinaja or two. zine, when measured in terms by Tom Weishaar, who was The VLA is only half a day’s of user interest, enthuasiasm, one of the better of Softalk’s drive away. commitment, and on their no contributing editors. nonsense, no bullshit cover- The magazine is now called Open-Apple Is There a Replacement age of beginner to mid-level , and it is now up for SOFTALK? technical and programming to its sixth issue. information. By special arrangements, a Before their untimely de- A much leaner and much free sample copy is available to any Computer Shopper subscriber, provided you use xx p pnd the secret password "tinaja" ppr[L] in your request. ppr Don Lancaster’s TRIPLE HEADER WPL Utility Cost is $24 per year. There ppr ======ppr are no vaporware ads, no ppr This module will print a document with a three misleading ads, no bait and ppr line single spaced header, using print constants switch ads, no not-in-stock ppr built into the WPL code itself. ppr ads, no ads for overpriced ppr To continue, you must have the document to be products, and no pure puffery ppr printed inside your Apple, and a disk having ads. In fact, as you might ppr this program AND lots of space left must be ppr placed in the active drive. have guessed by now, there ppr are no ads at all. Just be- pin OK to continue (Y/N) ------> =$A ginner to mid-level Apple ppr tech information in the most pcs/Y/$A/ pgoaa solid and concise form, just pcs/y/$A/ as you’d expect from Tom. pgoaa pqt aa pin Top Header -----> =$A Show me an Applewriter pin Middle Header --> =$B pin Bottom Header --> =$C Triple Header. ppr pin Left Margin ----> =$D Figure four shows you a psx$D WPL routine that will auto- pin Right Margin ---> =$D matically handle a triple psy$D psz$D header of any combination of psz-(x) left, centered, and right side p entries, with or without page p NOTE: (z) is RM-LM p numbers in any position. ppr This particular version will pin OK to continue (Y/N) ------> =$D work best on ProDOS Apple- pcs/Y/$D/ writer 2.0 or 2.1. Changes pgobb pcs/y/$D/ may be needed for certain pgobb printer and I/O card combin- ppr[L] ations, on other versions, or pgoxx bb ppr to suppress the first page ppr *** formatting - may take several minutes *** headers. p To use it, you put the file p print third header to width RM-LM plm0 you want printed in your IIe prm(z) or IIc. Then, you put a disk ppn1 that has TRIPLE.HDR.WPL ptm4 pbm4 and lots of scratch space into ppl58 the active drive. Finally, a DO ppi63 TRIPLE.HDR.WPL will next pli0 psp0 prompt you for the header ppd8 info and then do all the nasty pcr0 stuff for you both invisibly put and automatically. plj ptl$C When prompted, you enter pbl each header line exactly the (( more . . . )) same way you would a TL or a BL entry, using delimiters and a "#" to substitute for the Fig. 4A - WPL Triple Header for Applewriter page number. Only minus the TL or BL prefix.
4.5 June, 1985
Since this new WPL routine By embedding a TL com- (continued from page 3.3) does the impossible, it takes mand as a TL line (!), you and support software disks its good old time about doing can neatly handle even and that let you link your own it. Up to several minutes may odd page formats on your routines to control the printer. be needed to format and then successive pages. Now for the neat part. The print a longer textfile. All the You can alter the code for part the Mac people do not sneaky stuff is handled by a any number of header and want you to hear. Try and trip or two through PD8 land. footer lines. If you wanted to, guess which software package Neat, huh? you could even use a 33 line makes the best use of Post- If you get tricky enough, header and a 33 line footer, cript and the Laserwriter. you might have single spaced provided you do not have too No, not MacPaint. Why? headers and double spaced much to say in the body of Because MacPaint has no text, or vice versa. Any way your text file. way to use high resolution you like at all. So there. typography. No, not MacWrite. Why? Because MacWrite does not p pnp handle Postscript very well. ZZZ No, not MacDraw, first y because MacDraw is far and p p print second header away the most user-vicious of p all Mac software, besides its ny not existing at all in usable p lZZZ form. The inability to use p bitmaps totally cripples Mac- b Draw. Besides, every seven f<<.rm240>< y? weeks, Apple very carefully p takes MacDraw apart, and pcr0 then removes all of the old ptm0 bugs. Then Apple carefully pbm0 ppm0 puts lots of brand new bugs plm0 back in, so the next seven prm(z) week cycle can continue. And ptl$B ppi64 there’s still no way to directly ppl64 command Postscript. put So which is the best pro- pnp ZZZ gram to explore Postscript ? y Are you ready for this? p Applewriter IIe ! p print final with first header p That’s right. A good old ny Apple IIe can explore Post- lZZZ script far easier and far better p b than a Mac can, at least right f<<.rm240>< now at reasonable cost. WPL y? speaks Postscript as if it were p its native tounge. Even bit- ppi66 ppl65 mapped graphics are trivially ppd1 includable as text files. And, ptl$A you don’t need an Appletalk pcr1 plm(x) connector or driver. All you prm(y) do is plug the RS232 output put from your IIe serial card into pnp p the RS232 input on the laser p erase old scratch file printer. p Proof that this is far and oe ZZZ away the best route to explore p Postscript is the derogratory pyd and underhanded name the pqt ...... Mac people have put on such a sneaky "low-tech" trick. Gotchas: [L] means
4.6 Don Lancaster’s Disassembly aliasing A Shuffling algorithm ASK THE GURU Machine language study Getting inside information July, 1985 Apple II+ to IIe conversions
ounds. We are already umn firmware is active, and hancing your Apple II, vol II up to release 5.0. This if the mouse nest is switched (#22415) left. It severely hurts Z month, I can use your off. an author’s credibility and help on something. If some- Unfortunately, many, if not reputation if a book does not one calls me with an Apple most, of these popular and sell out its first printing with- question or a 6502 machine higher quality older Apple in ten days of its release. language problem, I can often programs use their own dis- Now, I hate to get nasty, immediately help or else may play routines, particularly for but if certain of you do not know where to send them to direct pokes of inverse char- shape up by next month, I get an answer. acters directly to the screen. will be forced to publish the But not so with all those Naturally, the programs you names of the remaining 17 CP/M, Compac, Commodore are most likley to use – such Computer Shopper readers 64, Timex, Kaypro, the Rat’s as older Applewriter and Visi- who have not yet seen the Mouth Zero, Atari, Heath, et. calc – are the ones that have way, the truth, and the light. al. problems. Could some of the worst hassles with the This, of course, will ex- you out there clue me in to upgrade. clude you from ever getting the best user groups, specialty The best and the cheapest invited on a tinaja quest. magazines that are actually solution remains the character Oh well. used and read, help lines, bul- generator switcher shown you As usual, be sure to keep letin boards, or other generic last month. Unless you want the post office hacked off and places to get effective ans- to buy all newer software or the phone lines jammed up. wers to all of the stock and install bunches of patches. As Use the number and address common problems on these a reminder, I have some free in that end box to get in on machines? "detrashing" patches available all the fun. One clarification from last for Applewriter IIe. These do On to Release 5.0 . . . month. The IIe upgrade will work on either the IIc or the Where do I get Apple handle inverse uppercase on new IIe. Just ask. Gonzo Insider Information? old programs without hassles, On to some utter ignomity. provided that the older pro- Oh, the shame and horror of Getting the real insider in- gram uses the stock $FDF0 it all. formation on all those Apple "Fideyfoo" or $FDED monitor SAMS tells me we still do goodies can be a real hassle. entry points and if the 80 col- have over 17 copies of En- There is so much garbage out there masquerading as useful or needed info, and lots of gaps in what is really needed. And it is often hard to get a ❍ ❍ ❍ straight story about the warts ✑❁✄ ✎ on a product. Or the interface between two competing third 123 n party products. Or the bugs and their fixes. And partic- ularly the buggy fixes that do Take the object in Bin #1 and exchange it with not apply to you. the object in a random bin #1 to #n. That’s no bug, its a feature! Where to start on all this? Then, take the object in bin #2 and exchange it with the object in a random bin #2 to #n. Firstoff, see if you can’t beg or borrow a copy of the Then, take the object in bin #3 and exchange it older Apple Tech Notes, as with the object in a random bin #3 to #n. published by the International Apple Core and available Repeat this process until all objects have been through member IAC clubs. exchanged either with themselves or with an This is a big fat notebook that object in a higher numbered bin. held the answers to all of the questions that were asked to Fig. 1 - How to shuffle "n" objects. Apple on all of their products. While a pre-IIe era book (1981-82), there is plenty of 5.1 July, 1985 good stuff in here, especially know this, but if you are an can get your stuff into the the very rare Applesloth mat- Apple developer, a dealer, or pipe. Uh, better not tell them erial in section 2600. a manufacturer of Apple re- who sent you, but be sure to The best insider book on lated products, you qualify check it out. Applesloth that I know is All for access to the AppleLink About Applesoft, published by network. This is where all of How do I Shuffle a CALL A.P.P.L.E. Included is the inside stuff comes down. Deck of Cards? complete and thorough cov- And, since this is the first erage of pointers, variables, place dealers go for info, if The proper name for this memory space, arrays, etc., you can get your material into sort of thing is called ran- that you need to know to in- the network, you have "first domizing without a replace- telligently use this language. dibs" on zillions of customers ment. Besides the obvious use A rather good Applesloth that otherwise would never in card games, the problem source code capturing process hear about you. also comes up in educational that includes extensive and AppleLink is reasonably software where you want to thorough comments is called open, but since it is primarily give a student a set of pro- Applesoft Source Code On a dealer service, they don’t blems in random order, yet Disk, and is available from want it jammed up forever never repeat or miss. S-C Software. To avoid copy- with end user requests. The A first, and an incredibly right hassles, the program dealers have been told that stupid, stab at shuffling might does require an Apple with they may give out the access grab a random integer. Then Applesloth in it before it can number and the password to a grab a second random integer. run. This utility is best used few select customers. Whoops, better check to make under the S-C assembler. Please, if you access this sure you did not get the same On to DOS and ProDOS. resource as a user, do so after one over again. Repeat this 52 The finest DOS book is, of hours and preferably very late times for a card deck. course, Beneath Apple DOS at night. Among the many problems by Quality Software. the All There is a special Apple- with this route is that, when about DOS, again by CALL Link resource called the Third you get near the end of the A.P.P.L.E. is another good Party Library that, for a fee, deck, you will be throwing choice, and the two books very much complement each other. For ProDOS, there’s 0E 4C 69 ASL $694C Beneath Apple ProDOS by 6E 65 73 ROR $7365 Quality Software, and the ProDOS Technical Reference 20 70 65 JSR $6570 Manual (#A2W0010) directly 72 ??? from Apple. While no All 20 69 6E JSR $6E69 About ProDOS exists at this writing, you’ll find excellent 63 ??? tutorial and technical articles 68 PLA on ProDOS scattered through- out various issues of CALL Fig. 2 - ASCII message disassembly aliasing. A.P.P.L.E. On Applewriter, there’s All About Applewriter, again by CALL A.P.P.L.E., the 16 disk side Applewriter Toolkit pack- 98 TYA ages by Synergetics, and my 15 43 ORA $43,X Don Lancaster’s Applewriter Cookbook. I do stock all of 15 3F ORA $3F,X these here. 15 49 ORA $49,X Turning now to all of those 15 51 ORA $51,X on-line resources, the MAUG (Micronetworked Apple Users 15 75 ORA $75,X Group) on Compuserve seems 15 A0 ORA $A0,X to be the center of the action. 16 0E ASL $0E,X There is a bewildering and mind-blowing collection of 16 16 ASL $16,X goodies here. The MAUG is 16 21 ASL $21,X currently moving over to the Delphi network as well. Now for the real insider Fig. 3 - Address list disassembly aliasing. stuff. You are not supposed to
5.2 ASK THE GURU hundreds of cards away for or even known, and the ut- from 2 to 10, and interchange each of those good ones you terly attrocious substitutions what is in bin #2 with what- end up with. that people dream up for it. ever bin the random integer This takes forever, even in Figure one shows us the points to. Repeat the process machine language. In BASIC, details. Assume you have ten ten times. it takes forever cubed. objects in ten bins you want On pass three, interchange Which might be just fine to shuffle. You pick a random bin #3 with a bin picked at for modeling earth tides, snail integer number from 1 to 10. random from 3 to 10. On pass geriatrics, or congressional re- Now interchange what is in four, interchange bin #4 with form, but is nowhere near real bin #1 with whatever bin the one picked at random from 4 time at all. random integer points to. If to 10, and so on. Instead, there is a simple, the random integer is also 1, Note that any object can fast, and easy way to shuffle then interchange the contents end up in any bin. A few n objects. Its even got the of bin #1 with itself. Put objects might end up back in stamp of approval from the another way, you do nothing the same bins, just as you traditional dino people. Even when and if this happens. would expect if you shuffled Knuth. What amazes me is Now, grab a second ran- the objects by hand for hours how little the method is used dom integer number, this time and hours. You could even end up with all the objects back in the same bin where ( wrong ) they started. The odds of this ever happening are, of course, 7E 6A AD ROR $AD6A,X quite remote. 64 ??? As most people know, there 79 D0 0A ADC $0A0D is a fatal and unfixable flaw in that Applesloth random 20 7B 10 JSR $107B number generator. Instead, A9 00 LDA $00 you will get the best and the 85 21 STA $21 fastest results through use of a machine language pseudo- ( right ) random integer generator. AD 64 79 LDA $7964 In fact, on the Apple, a machine language card shuf- D0 0A BNE $7863 fle happens so fast that you 20 7B 10 JSR $107B purposely have to slow it A9 00 LDA $00 down by using a sound effect that sounds just like a deck of 85 21 STA $21 cards being shuffled. Other- wise, nobody will believe it Fig. 4 - Wrong start disassembly aliasing. really happened. You can even redeal from the same shuffled deck, for replays, repeat student drills, or for industrial "noise that ( wrong ) repeats". Complete details on 20 00 BF JSR $BF00 this, including source code, the object code, and working CA DEX programs appears as Ripoff FF ??? Modules #7 and #8 of my 6E D0 03 ROR $03D0 Assembly Cookbook (SAMS #22331). See you there. 60 RTS And for heavy background ( right ) theory, check into Knuth’s The Art of Computer Pro- 20 00 BF JSR $BF00 gramming, volume II, chapter CA DFB $CA three. Addison-Wesley pub- lishes it and it is a classic in FF 6E DFW $6EFF every sense of the word. D0 03 BNE $6ED4 The Knuth algorithm sim- 60 RTS ply swaps each of the bins with any other bin selected at random. This does have a Fig. 5 - Embedded values disassembly aliasing. slight bug in that it introduces some bias if you do not have
5.3 July, 1985 many bins. The bias bug is ing are bunches of question and $5X entries, combined eliminated by always inter- marks denoting illegal op with many $20 spaces and changing a bin only with it- codes, or else highly unusual $0D carriage returns. Usually self or with a higher bin. op codes working in strange the aliasing will clue you in For most uses though, the address modes that involve to the file, and the patterns bias becomes very small for bizarre addresses. will tell you whether you shuffles of eight or more ob- Normally, when you first have ASCII messages or not. jects, so you might prefer begin a disassembly, you may Thus, aliasing is useful to pin using the simpler and faster not know where the valid down text and disk message "swap with anything" code. entry points exist in valid and files. runnable code. So, you will In figure three, we try to How can I convert an get bunches of aliases on the disassemble a list of module Apple II+ into a IIe? first disassembly pass. By a address vectors. Once again, careful study of these aliases we get a bunch of aliases, this Simply remove your line and by recognizing how and time involving off-the-wall cord from the II+. Save the why they occur, you can then operand addresses. Note here line cord and throw every- make a second pass that gives the pattern with each second thing else away. Then find a you a clean disassembly on byte being the same number IIe that is missing a line cord. only the good parts of your and the addresses usually, but Then plug your II+ line cord actual code. not necessarily always, work- into the IIe. Recognizing and working ing their way slowly upwards The update is that fast and with aliasing is thus a very through memory. Finding op- that simple. This route is also powerful analysis tool. tion picking lists is essential far and away the easiest, the Let us look at several good to cracking any longer code. cheapest, and the technically examples of this disassembly In figure three, we dis- cleanest as well, resulting in aliasing. We’ll speak 6502 assemble legal code but start 100% compatibility. here, but the same idea will at an illegal entry point. The In fact, it is the only way. hold for any micro family. first two or three addresses In figure two, we have will alias, but the code us- What Causes Aliasing attempted to disassemble a ually will straighten itself up During Disassembly? textfile of ASCII characters. and fly right after several Since there are no valid op- lines. The key here is reason- A disassembler is some codes here, you get lots of ableness. Often, other parts of software, firmware, or people- aliasing. Uppercase ASCII the code will show you the based routine that takes a text will often be lots of $4X (Continued on page 7.5) block of machine language code, and tries to convert it back into assembly language 32 ??? computer op-code listings. 00 BRK Disassemblers are extreme- 4B ??? ly powerful debugging and analysis tools. Examples do 00 BRK include the Apple "L" mon- 6E 00 87 ROR $8700 itor command or Bugbyter for 00 BRK an "automated pocket card" disassembly, and programs 96 00 STX $00,Y like RAK-Ware’s Disasm IIe 2C 01 58 BIT $5801 that automatically can try to 02 ??? capture source code simply by reading the final ready-to-run B0 04 BCS $1234 object code. 08 PHP But just about any disas- 07 ??? sembler will sometimes lie like a rug. 60 RTS You see, a disassembler 09 10 ORA $10 will only work properly if it 0E C0 12 ASL $12C0 starts at a valid entry point in valid working code. If you do 20 1C 18 JSR $801C not disassemble from a valid 25 00 AND $00 entry point in valid working 4B ??? code, you will get aliasing in which the disassembler will tell you "that which is not Fig. 6 - The great aliasing contest (see text.) so". The usual signs of alias-
5.4 Don Lancaster’s Typesetting an ad Diablo 630 emulation ASK THE GURU ProDOS TYPE command Educational software sales August, 1985 Laserwriter first impressions
e have got us some each type of program, even if And, of course, all of the really heavy topics they are otherwise the same. superficial bugs must com- Wthis month, so let’s Secondly, you cannot do a pletely and totally mask all of just jump right in with both TTXT unless the text file has the fundamental bugs. feet . . . been previously created and If you check all of the ed- opened. ucational software available all Explain the ProDOS today, you will find of the TYPE Command What are The Secrets to best sellers strictly and ab- Selling Educational solutely follow the triple-B That TYPE command in Software? and the total masking rules. ProDOS lets you change any file type into any other file Here, revealed for the first What’s the real word type. While extremely pow- time, are the two key secrets On the Laserwriter? erful, it is not too widely used to successful marketing of nor well known. educational software. These I have had mine only for a Let’s look at two examples two secrets involve passing week or so. My, oh my what of what you can do with this the triple-B test and obeying a machine. beauty. Say you want to load the masking criteria. You know all those slide a SYS type file as a binary In order to get through the rule manufacturers, mechan- image. SImply do a BLOAD administrative selection pro- ical adding machine people, MYFILE, A$2000, TSYS. Or, cess, the program abolutely the alarm clock builders, and say you have a binary text must pass the triple-B test. such? Well, they are about to image in your machine. To For educational software to be joined by a great heaping capture this code as a text be bought at all, it must be bunch of ad agencies, sign file, just create and open a Banal. It absolutely must be painters, printers, quick-copy textfile and then do a BSAVE Boring. And, above all, it has centers, author’s agents, van- MYLIST, A$3456, E$3A52, to be just plain Bad. ity publishers, graphics arts TTXT. The triple-B test is only the suppliers, and the zillions of The TSYS is short for type- beginning. In addition, for a others who will not have the system. The TTXT is short for program to even be remotely slightest idea what hit them or type-text. The other type com- considered for use as educa- why. mands include TBIN for type tional software, all superficial Kiddies, the price of type- binary, TBAS for type Basic, design flaws in the program setting with full graphics has and so on. must completely and totally just dropped below a dollar a Two gotchas: Be sure to mask all of the fundamental page. Not one red cent more. use different file names for design flaws. Changes and revisions are now, of course, free. Where to even begin? The Laserwriter sets ANY size type you like, mixed in with ANY style of graphics in PLE ANY size you can imagine in AP GR O ANY configuration. You can Y W E easily handle such things as L E homecoming posters and side- L TINAJA R
S walk sized centenial banners.
A QUESTING
V
A Signs of any size and shape
S. I. G.
S
A are trivial. S
L N
I There is even a neat new
. G Postscript procedure that will automatically chop up the sign or poster into as many 8-1/2 x 11 pieces as are required. Later, you tape the Fig. 1 - Club shoulder patch done with Applewriter. pages back together to get up T to whatever size you need. It is trivially easy to move, 6.1 August, 1985 spin, repeat, or stretch your image every which way but % Requires Don Lancaster justify routines for cj & pj. loose. Any shade of gray you % Free printed copies of these on request. want. And even four colors with repeated passes. Variable % outline black box size and slant text along a /bl 137 def /bw 330 def /br bl bw add def /bt 750 def /bh 576 def /bb bt bh sub def /rad 20 def newpath /strt br bl add 2 div def strt bt circular or even an arbitrary moveto br bt br bb rad arcto br bb bl bb rad arcto bl bb bl bt rad path is easily done. arcto bl bt strt bt rad arcto closepath 0 setgray fill Actually, Apple so far has refused to state the maximum % white inset box type size on the Laserwriter. /xcen bw 2 div bl add def /ytop bt def /ybot bb def /sidewidth 8 def /bl bl sidewidth add def /bw bw sidewidth 2 mul sub def /br bl bw I’ve used it at 16,000 point to add def /bt bt 56 sub def /bh bh 152 sub def /bb bt bh sub def /rad create letters that are eighteen rad 5 sub def newpath /strt br bl add 2 div def strt bt moveto br bt feet high. While this is fine br bb rad arcto br bb bl bb rad arcto bl bb bl bt rad arcto bl bt strt for putting names on water bt rad arcto closepath 1 setgray fill 0 setgray towers, Apple is leaving us up % reverse stuff in the air as to the maximum /Helvetica-Bold findfont [20 0 0 16 0 0] makefont setfont /ypos ytop size of airport hangar roof 21 sub def 1 setgray /kern 2 def xcen ypos (NEW FROM) cj /ypos that can easily be labeled. ybot 47 add def /yinc 18 def xcen ypos /kern 2 def One thing not well known (guess why?) is that Apple- (Box 809-CSL Thatcher, AZ 85552 writer on an Apple IIe does as (602) 428-4073) cj good if not a better job than the MacIntosh does in driving /ypos ypos 24 sub def /Helvetica-Bold findfont [28 0 0 24 0 0 ] the Laserwriter. And yes, that makefont setfont /ypos ytop 45 sub def /kern 2 def xcen ypos includes graphics. Graphics (DON LANCASTER) cj /ypos ybot 69 add def /Helvetica-Bold findfont [30 0 0 24 0 0 ] makefont setfont /kern 3 def xcen ypos so fancy that they are simply (SYNERGETICS) cj not available out of any of the common Mac programs. % visa We’ll note in passing that 0 setgray /ypos bb 8 add def /xpos br 70 sub def /Helvetica-Bold MacPaint has no way to han- findfont [14 0 0 14 0 0] makefont setfont xpos ypos moveto 0.5 0 dle all those high resolution (VISA/MC) ashow alphabets, MacWrite is not % big print good at larger or integrated /xcen bw 2 div bl add def /ypos bt 45 sub def /Helvetica-Bold graphics, and MacDraw is a findfont [38 0 0 38 0 0] makefont setfont /yinc 40 def /kern 0 cruel joke at best. def xcen ypos HIRES dumps or any other (APPLEWRITER bit-mapped graphics are done LASERWRITER by converting them to hex UTILITIES) cj ASCII character pairs that are easily handled by Applewriter /ypos bt 344 sub def xpos ypos /Helvetica-Bold findfont 45 scalefont setfont ($49.95) cj /ypos bt 160 sub def /xpos bl 20 add def and its WPL supervisory lan- /linewidth 272 def /Helvetica-Bold findfont [20 0 0 22 0 0 ] guage. But the best graphics makefont setfont /yinc 24 def are done by using the direct Postscript commands, which (Five diskette package gives are infinitely more stunning, unmatchably superb page graphics for your Apple IIe. more flexible, and more pow- ) pj erful than anything that Mac’s Quickdraw routines can even /ypos ypos 12 add def dream about. The Appletalk network (Unlocked. Requires ProDOS Applewriter, Apple IIe and stuff is also not needed. In an Apple Super Serial Card. fact, this can severely limit )pj what you can do with the Laserwriter. Among other /ypos bt 376 sub def /Helvetica-Bold findfont [17 0 0 18.5 0 0 ] things, it excludes you from makefont setfont /yinc 20 def xcen ypos using the so-called Diablo (FREE Demo Pack emulation mode. FREE Laser Helpline) cj And, yes, I will put my money where my mouth is. showpage In front of me are five Laserwriter images created with Applewriter on a IIe. I’ll Fig. 2 - Postscript code for a Computer Shopper ad. be glad to send you some free
6.2 ASK THE GURU copies of them. I’ll also form letter by putting the exactly what you want, the gladly give a free SAMS book letter in the printer and then same software on the same to anyone who can show me changing only the name and machine can give you arbi- ANY way at all to do these on address for each repeated trarily good typeset quality, to a Mac that is even remotely pass. A IIe, again with Apple- 2600 dpi and beyond. as cheap, as easy, as pow- writer, can simply and easily Instead, an awful lot of erful, and as convenient as process hundreds, of letters at people are going to have a using Applewriter on a IIe. a whack. rather obvious response if Figure one shows us a Watching customized form they were asked to accept a typical image. This was done letters quietly pour out of a slight reduction in "typeset" on a IIe under Applewriter. machine at an eight letter per quality for 1/100th the cost, Once you know exactly what minute rate is a joy to behold. 1/100th the time, and with 100 you are doing and have built Yes, I do have automatic soft- times the convenience. a library of goodies up, this ware for both form letters and Hail yaess. complex an image should take envelopes. Just call or write. A second obvious problem you around ten minutes to There are some problems. is that there is no way at all program and seventeen sec- The quality is not quite what to tractor feed anything, so onds to print. Materials cost a printer would call "typeset", things like envelopes, labels, is under four cents. since the resolution is "only" or business cards have to be One neat thing that is not at 300 dots per inch. A printer hand fed. all obvious is that it does not might call this tabloid quality. Turning to nit picking, the matter what order you put the One route to beat this is to laser engine itself does show image onto the Laserwriter’s work double or triple size and some rather bizarre human bitmap. You are free to, say, then photoreduce the result. engineering. You need con- do your backgrounds first, the Another way is to find one tinuous access to all four of artwork second, your head- of the many "real" typesetting the sides and the top of the lines third, and your fine print machines that speak the same printer, including the ability last. Postscript language the Las- to simultaneously observe More importantly, you do a erwriter does. Once you have status lights at both the front and the back of the machine. An unreachable and often- First, select a daisywheel number from this list: used selector switch requires that you add a shaft extender 0 - Courier 8 - Helvetica before you can even put a 1 - Courier Italic 9 - Helvetica Italic knob on it, let alone use it. 2 - Courier Bold 10 - Helvetica Bold The paper tray is far too 3 - Courier Bold Italic 11 - Helvetica Bold Italic shallow to the point of being a joke. An unnecessary "U" 4 - Times 12 - symbol turn in the paper path adds to 5 - Times Italic 6 - Times Bold the jam potential and limits 7 - Times Bold Italic paper weight, but accomplis- hes nothing useful. And while To change the "normal" daisywheel, use this Postscript ridiculously quieter than most command in the Postscript mode: other printers, a laminar fan redesign could make the si- /normalwheelchoice 8 def lence totally eerie. That eight pages per minute serverdict begin 0 exitserver statusdict begin rating is the absolute top 62 normalwheelchoice seteescratch speed on repeat copies, and then only after you custom To change the "bold" daisywheel, use this Postscript flip a magic prefeed software command in the Postscript mode: switch that ups the wear and tear on the laser engine. It is /boldwheelchoice 10 def very easy for a fancy image to take several minutes or serverdict begin 0 exitserver statusdict begin more to process and output. 61 boldwheelchoice seteescratch Which is like buying a "165 mile per hour" bicycle and Do not change daisywheels more than 10,000 times over then finding out it only goes the life of the machine. that fast when dropped off a very high cliff. On the moon. Still, the print speed is very Fig. 3 - Postscript code to swap daisywheels. respectable. Awesome, even. The print quality is quite
6.3 August, 1985 impressive on a wide range of different papers. The gray 1 p images tend to blotch a little psr0 p on high rag papers. Giant qclsrd black areas aren’t quite solid psz0 either, but they are certainly 2 ppr usable. You aren’t supposed pin Starting Page Number ------> =$A to use thermal "raised print" ppn$A pin Left Margin in tenths of an inch ----> =$A letterheads, but I suspect you psx$A can get away with it. pin Printed width in tenths of an inch --> =$A Yet another problem is that psy$A their Diablo emulation mode, pin Printable characters per line ------> =$A like everyone else’s, just flat prm$A plm0 out does not emulate a real pin Print how many copies (0 = none) ? --> =$A Diablo. I have found out how p to fix this, so that you can pin High legibility mode (Y/N) ? ------> =$B easily do a true wall-to-wall ppr microjustification and propor- pin Top line --> =$C ptl$C tional space in this mode. ppr One thing that is absolutely pin Is everything OK (Y/N/esc) ? ------> =$C infuriating. ppr The toner cartridges are ppr NOT the same as the stock pcs/Y/$C/ pgo3 Canon photocopier cartridges. pcs/y/$C/ In fact, through the use of pgo3 special Torx "tamperproof" pcs/N/$C/ screws, missing notches, the pgo1 brackets which are slightly pcs/n/$C/ pgo1 different, etc., they went to an pqt awful lot of trouble to make 3 p darn sure you would not cas- psr0 ually interchange the two. p needs pm0 or pm6 Thus, printer cartridges will p ppr fix centering cost you more and will be p harder to get, particularly in b colors. 4 f<>.cj><>.lj[esc]U[esc]=[esc][Q][B][esc]O< The toner cartridges also y? look like they will be more pgo5 pgo6 than a little bit tricky to refill 5 p on your own. Be sure and u stay tuned. f<><[esc]D>< UPDATE: Feb 87 y? The way to get started on p 4 this fantastic trip is with a h copy of Inside Laserwriter pgo4 from Apple. It gives you all 6 p the complete details on the ppr write transfer file Postscript language and has p p all you need to get in on the p ground floor. Note that this pnp $50 notebook must be ordered zzz directly; it is normally not y available through dealers. p p The next thing, of course, pnd is to get some hands-on ex- ny perience. A very few of the lzzz more aware quick-copy cen- p ters are snarfing these up. So plm0 prm240 far, availibility is limited only ay to those copy centers that still psr0 intend to be in business six (( more . . . )) months from now. The terms and access vary, so be sure to Fig. 4A - WPL Diablo/Laserwriter auto formatter. check around. Several local
6.4 ASK THE GURU
outfits charge $12 per hour ppr set margins (including a Mac) and 50 p cents per page. Another one b p is rumored to offer real 2600 f<<>[esc]M< DPI typesetting off of a Mac y? based Postscript disk for a p [F] = Helvetica; @ = Courier buck a page. b Including free corrections. f<<[esc][Q][F]< y? 7 f// / How can I typeset my Own y? p Computer Shopper Ad? psx-1 How about with the Laser- pgo7 f//[esc]9/ writer at your local quick y? copy center? It shouldn’t cost p over a dollar or two. 8 f// / A sample ad is shown you y? in figure two. It was written p psy-1 completely with Applewriter pgo8 on an Apple IIe. Including the p graphics. f<<[esc]0[esc]Y< Postscript is a Forth-like y? language whose commands p p start with values and end with u what to do with those values. u Strings to appear on the page u are placed in parenthesis. The u X, or horizontal value always ppr justify top line p comes first, followed by the p must be customized! Y or vertical value. The full p details appear in Adobe’s f<>Lanc<>[esc]MLanc< industry, those Laserwriter p people are telling you "that pgoa which is not so" when they pgob claim that their Diablo 630 a p emulation either works at all f<><>[esc]X< y? or even approximates all the pgo9 features available on a Diablo b p 630 daisywheel. e Needless to say, if you c f!?#! unplug the RS232 cable from p pgod your 630 and plug it into the pgoe Laserwriter, the chances are d p very good that nothing at all f<><>[esc]X< will happen. y? But, unlike everyone else pgoc e p who lies about their Diablo p compatibility, with a little ppr fix paragraph indents chainsaw and sledgehammer p work, the Laserwriter is able b to beat the 630 at its own f<> <>[esc]X [esc]M 6.5 August, 1985 emulation mode in that you day and age, except for key wheel settings are stored in simply feed in plain old text portions of those very few non-volatile RAM that can files and out come profes- technical listings that abso- only be written to a total of sionally "typeset" results. And lutely must be fixed pitch. 10,000 times over the life of better yet, you can add bells Figure three shows you the the machine. Do not change and whistles with a simple Postscript code needed to the wheels continuously, or WPL post processing routine change daisywheels. I also you may end up in deep applied to your already writ- have an WPL routine that trouble. Plan your work so ten text files. does this automatically with you have an average of three There is only one severe full promtping. Run this in wheel swaps or less per day. present restriction to the Di- the Postscript 9600 mode be- Fourth, bypass the micro- ablo emulation mode in that fore you move over to the justify bug. The key test for everything does in fact have Diablo mode. You can have Diablo compatibility is the to be 12 point text, without two different "wheels" in use magic "[esc]-M" command to any fancy graphics or dif- at any one time. do true fill microjustification. ferent font sizes. But that is One very big gotcha: The Without this command, you most of what most word pro- cessing is all about anyway. ppr no justify beyond marker You do have the ability to p p mix and match normal, bold, b italic, shadowed, and under- f/!lsr2/ lined text in many different p combinations. You can also p stretch titles out any amount f/[esc]M/ /a p you like. p Let’s outline the process of e getting your Laserwriter’s f/!lsr2// Diablo emulation mode work- y? ing on an Apple IIe, par- p pcs/$B/Y/ ticularly one running under pgof the ProDOS Applewriter 2.0. pcs/$B/y/ We will be rather brief here pgof to cram everything in. I have pgoh much more information avail- f p ppr increasing legibility able, some free, some not so p free, so call or write if you g f<><>[esc][Q][A][esc][Q][A].<>. 6.6 ASK THE GURU just flat do not have Diablo zero left margin with your with the proportional space compatibility. Wonder of all word processor. Then set the fonts is to space out to where wonders, there actually is a Laserwriter’s left and right you want the left margin to more or less working [esc]-M margins to handle the page be, and set the margin with an feature on the Laserwriter. centering. [esc]-9. Then you continue But, sadly, there is a major To recap, set your word spacing out to the right mar- and nasty bug in the Laser- processor left margin to zero gin and do an [esc]-0. writer’s [esc]-M. A working and set your right margin to Which leads to three more microjustify routine should the number of printed charac- nasty suprises. Firstoff, the start at the first printable ters you want per justified space character varies with character in a line. Leading line. Always use the tab key the font. To bring a space up spaces should not be justified. to enter the fixed paragraph to an exact tenth of an inch, You guessed it. Laserwriter indents. Let the Laserwriter add [F] kerning offset to Hel- microjustifies those leading set the actual left margin and vetica or [G] kerning offset to spaces as well. the actual width of the printed TimesRoman. This is done So what’s the big deal? line on the page. with an [esc] [Q] [F] or [esc] For one thing, any para- There is nothing built into [Q] [G] as needed. graph indents not repaired by Laserwriter to automatically Next, what the Laserwriter hand will end up variable cancel the microjustification calls a right margin is not a width, since the indents will on the last paragraph line. right margin at all, but is the get squashed or unsquashed Further, the microjustification printable line width. If you to suit the rest of the text apparently must be cancelled change the left margin, the line. Worst of all, any left at the start of the last para- right margin "tracks" with it, margin set by your word graph line, and not the end. keeping a constant width of processor will also get Fifth, understand how the printable line area. microjustified, leaving you margins work. Because of the Finally, resetting the mar- with a ragged left margin. microjustify bug, you have to gins once they have been set There are several cures for use both the Diablo margins is tricky. I have found no this. One obvious solution is to do a full microjustify. Both reasonable way to reset the to individually mark each line margins are also needed to left margin left of where you at the point where you want center proportionally spaced first set it, short of using the the microjustification to start. titles, especially if you are Laserwriter’s 30 second job The second, and program- stretching or offset kerning timeout. Unless I have missed mable, solution tells you to them at the same time. something, this tells us you always use a fixed paragraph The only way I have found must remove all the margin indent (say six spaces) and a to set the margins that works settings from your file for repeat copies of multi-page b ppr remove margins text files. f/[esc]Y/ You can use your word p processor for temporary mar- p gin shifts, so long as you do u u not both move the left margin d and microjustify at the same x time. You can also hand patch k psrl each line that has to have a psz-1 non-standard left margin. pgok p Sixth, post-process your p restoring margins textfile. Figure four shows an b automatic WPL routine that lmargin will take a more or less stock p textfile and set it up for full pqt l ppr printing copy #(y) professional quality Diablo psy+1 proportional space and micro- pnp justification, sets both your p margins for you, dejustifies prt all last paragraph lines, and 0 pnd ppr [L] automatically handles offset, ppr Don Lancaster’s DIABLIFIER automatic Laserwriter formatter stretched, and bold centered ppr ...... titles for you. ppr The routine also runs as prt many copies as you request, automatically taking care of Fig. 4D - Auto formatter, concluded. margin hassles on all repeat multi-page copies. 6.7 Don Lancaster’s II+ reset hassles IIc/IIe absolute reset ASK THE GURU Laserwriter prefeeding Aliasing contest winners September, 1985 Commodore integrated circuits nd our big winner is get out of Applewriter run- Synergetics to stock the auto- Harold Melanson from ning on a IIe. graphed copies of practically AMinneapolis, MN, who Speaking of which (isn’t it all of my books, SAMS and took first place honors in the utterly amazing how all these otherwise. This should ease great aliasing contest. Besides things just happen to come greatly any hassles you have a SAMS book, Harold also up?), my brand new five been having with your local wins that all expense paid volume Appplewriter/Laser- bookshop or computer store. (FOB Thatcher, AZ) tinaja writer Utilities Package is all Write or call for a complete quest for two, compliments of ready to go. Its many features and free list. the Gila Valley Apple Grow- totally boggle the mind. Call And, as usual, this is your ers Association. or write for more info. column to handle all your Runner-ups included Steve I have also arranged with questions and your problems. Harris of Alhambra CA, Step- hen Bach of Scottsville VA, Paul Santa-Maria of Monroe The absolute reset for the old Apple IIe will not work MI, and Douglas Roth from on a new IIe or a IIe upgraded to the new ROM set and Huntsville, AL, who all have should definitely not be used. each received a SAMS book. Many thanks to the many Instead, an "alike but different somehow" patch should be used. This patch goes in a different location, is hundreds of correct entries slightly longer, and has a different checksum. that came in too late to win. The correct solution? The To build an absolute reset for the new IIe: listing in the great aliasing contest consists of one typo- 1. Use SNATCHMON to copy the new IIe monitor. graphical error that had been cleverly buried deep inside a 2. BLOAD IIEMON.C, A$8000 list of standard baud rates. Several entrants questioned 3. CALL -151 just how and why such a list would be used, reasoning that 4. 82C8: EE F4 03 A0 1C A9 C5 20 standard serial interface chips A8 FC 2C 61 C0 10 0B 88 use special internal codings to D0 F3 4C 59 FF C0 C0 00 set their baud rates. 00 00 Well, any time a program asks a user to set a baud rate 5. BSAVE KREBFMON.C NEW IIE, A$8000, L$1000 by inputting human type num- bers, a comparison must be 6. Burn the new CD EPROM. Use KREBFMON.C made against the baud rate NEW IIE for the low 32K and IIEMON.D table. Should a "hit" be found for the high 32K. on the table, the proper com- mand is then sent to the serial If your burner can handle a whole 2764 at once, combine interface chips as needed. and move your files downward to a suitable buffer space Among quite a few other in memory. For instance, do a BLOAD KREBFMON.C programs, both Applewriter NEW IIE, A$2000 and then a BLOAD IIEMON.D, A$3000. and Appleworks do require This gives you an 8K buffer starting at $2000. internal tables of this type. On our current contest, I Note that you will plow DOS if you try using an 8K have yet to receive -ulp- even buffer that starts at $8000. one entry. As you may recall from last month, the goal of Note also that the self-test on the new IIe behaves the contest is to show me any differently on the new IIe than the old. Expect some way at all to get Laserwriter page two garbage and an ocassional flash, followed by graphics out of a Macintosh a "System OK" message" after a minute or two. that are even remotely as good, as convenient, as pow- Fig. 1 - Absolute reset for the enhanced Apple IIe. erful, or as fast as the great Laserwriter graphics you can 7.1 ASK THE GURU Just be sure to call or write firmware are NOT identical. And, time once again for per the end box. Best calling In fact, they are not even the usual reminder: A legal times are on weekdays 8-5, vaguely similar. Among other EPROM burning service can Mountain Standard Time. differences, the IIc has to burn and ship you an EPROM On to the goodies . . . provide for serial port settings only after you send them the and control. What happened exact image of the EPROM How do You do a IIc or in this "new" IIe "upgrade" you want burned. must A New IIe Absolute Reset? was that some new monitor The code to be burned features were added to the originate with you, even if the I have recently shown you IIe. These features are some- service gets a thousand iden- how to do an absolute old IIe what similar to some of those tical orders per day. reset to the "old" monitor that on the IIc. Rumor has it that there are eliminates the hole blasting Under no circumstances some top secret and "magic" and returns complete control should you try using a IIc EPROM’s available directly back to you. You can find monitor code image in a IIe from Apple that include an details in Modern Electronics, or vice versa. The complete absolute reset, total memory February and March of 1985, listings of all three monitors management access, and do or in enhancement ten of my can be seperately found in the bunches of other analysis and Enhancing your Apple II, vol- IIe Reference Manual ("old" debugging goodies. I have no ume II (SAMS #22425), or in IIe #A2L2005) in the Apple further information right now my Absolute IIe Reset soft- IIe Enhancement Programmer as to when, or where, or to ware package. Guide or in the IIe Enhanced whom, or for how much these A listing of the SNATCH- Owners Manual ("new" IIe will be made available. MON, one of the key pieces #A2L2072 and #A2L2073), or Chances are they will cost of the software involved, did the IIc Reference Manual (IIc much more than doing your appear a few columns back #A2L4030). own burn for a simple absol- right here in the Computer Regardless, that "new" IIe ute reset. Shopper. monitor patch is almost the What is involved here is a same as the "old" IIe monitor What About Resetting new EPROM chip swap. After patch. It is in a slightly dif- The Old Apple II+? burning and installing the ferent location, is just a tad new chip, a [control] [open- longer, and has a different It amazes me how many apple] [reset] does the usual checksum. As with the "old" people are still desperately cold reboot unless you hold IIe, a tad of C006:00 black clinging onto their older II+ down the [open-apple] key for magic has to be invoked machines. Yes, there are a lot an extra three seconds. following an absolute reset. of them still in use. And yes, If you do that, you will Only the "CD" 2764 EPROM there are bunches of people automatically drop down into needs changed. still trying to use them far the original old monitor, just The IIc has all of its mon- beyond their original capabil- as if you could do a CALL itor placed in a single and ities. -151 from any point in any electrically larger type 27128 But the simple fact is that program at any time for any EPROM. The patch will not most genuinely useful current reason. The monitor changes quite fit in one piece, so three Apple software will not run at overwrite that obscene hole individual patches have to be all on a II+, or at least not blaster code, while preserving made. Note that these patches without major compromises. the overall checksums. are made to the "F" area of And future software releases With the preserved check- the ROM on the IIc, compared are even less likley to work sum, the patch is invisible to the "C" area patches used on a II+. and transparent to virtually all for the old or new IIe. With So what it boils down to is software. the IIc, that C006:00 black this: A II+ user forever limits At any rate, this particular magic is not needed after an his options to older and less patch works only on an "old" absolute reset, although doing useful software. This dearly IIe. It will not work on a so will not hurt anything. will cost the II+ owner time, "new" IIe or on a IIc. So, It seemed necessary to steal money, power and conven- here for the first time in print, four bytes from the bootup ience. More to the point, it is are "alike but different some- title, so the IIc absolute reset letting his competition gobble how" patches that let you do now prompts "Hello", rather him gone. an absolute reset for either than "Apple IIc". Sorry about Put another way, the per- the "new" IIe (figure one) or that. Let me know if you find hour operating cost of a II+ is for the IIc (figure two). a better way. substantially higher than that Let’s get one point clear As before, I’ve found that of a IIe. Ridiculously so. And right off the top. E-Tech Services does a great that loss in time and money, The new IIe monitor firm- job of burning EPROM’s at power and convenience can ware and that IIc monitor very reasonable costs. easily pay for your upgrade 7.2 September, 1985 costs many times over. you from ever forcing an from $F000-F700. Strictly Anyway, I sure get lots of unconditional reset. speaking, these are not part of II+ calls every day. Some other goodies, most the monitor image itself. One person called me and notably a mini-assembler, the You can still find copies of told me he installed a IIe single step, trace, debug, and this ROM in original Apple monitor in his II+ but that it the unique sweet sixteen 16- II’s. While they used to be didn’t seem to work for some bit emulation software code available in these Computer reason. I tried explaining to were also dropped during this Shopper ads for $10, they are him that there was 6K of "upgrade" to Applesloth. But now extremely rare. These are monitor code in a IIe and the mini-assembler and the also theoretically available only 2K in a II+, and gently sweet-16 were really part of from an Apple dealer, but tried to ask him where he the Integer BASIC ROM area only at horrendous prices. physically put the extra 4K. Somehow it just did not compute. The absolute reset for either Apple IIe will not work Other callers are trying to on a IIc and should not be used. Instead, a three-piece cram Applewriter IIe down patch that overwrites part of the "F" ROM area should into a II+, minimizing those be used. Note that the entire monitor gets written major problems with all the into a single 250 nanosecond 27128 EPROM. cursor keys, all the memory management, lower case, 80 To build an absolute reset for the new IIc: columns, the live screen, the auxiliary memory needs, the 1. Use SNATCHMON IIC to copy the IIc monitor. relocated and semi-custom 2. BLOAD IICMON.F, A$8000 DOS, and the totally different screen imaging and type- 3. CALL -151 ahead buffering. Even if it all fell together, 4. 8B64: 05 the only possible result would be a poor to utterly awful 5. 8CCA: EE F4 03 A0 1C A9 C5 20 rendering of an absolutely A8 FC 2C 61 C0 10 05 88 outstanding word processing D0 F3 F0 2A program. And even Apple- writer IIe itself now has been 6. 8D03: C8 E5 EC EC EF 4C 59 FF 91 completely and totally eclip- sed by the newer ProDOS 7. BSAVE KREBFMON.F IIC, A$8000, L$1000 Applewriter 2.0 and 2.1. But the majority of all II+ 8. Burn the new CDEF EPROM. calls are still asking for an absolute reset. So, at the risk If your burner can handle a whole 27128 at once, of encouraging the continuing combine and move your files downward to a suitable loss of time, money, power, buffer space in memory. For instance, do a BLOAD and convenience, let’s look at IICMON.C, A$2000, a BLOAD IICMON.D, A$3000, a BLOAD IICMON.E, A$4000, and, finally, a BLOAD what is involved in doing a KREBFMON.F IIC, A$5000. This gives you a 16K II+ absolute reset. buffer starting at $2000. The original Apple II had an "old" absolute reset 2316 Free plans for a simple 27128 adaptor for older burners ROM in it. This was called are available on request and are included in the reset the "F8" ROM and resided in package software. memory from $F800 on up to $FFFF. When you pressed the The new booting prompt is Hello. Note that the IIc reset button, you absolutely self-test never ends. The C006: 00 black magic is also and unconditionally went into not needed on the IIc. the monitor. No ifs, ands, or buts, and no way for a pro- To install the chip, unplug IIc power and remove the gram to stand between you six outermost screws from the bottom. Press into the and absolute control. front crack directly in front of the "N" key with a 1" This was replaced with an dull putty knife to release the front snap. The monitor "improved" or autostart ROM is the chip directly under the keyboard center at D-18, in the II+. While the autostart slightly to the left of the speaker. Make sure the dot ROM would automatically and notch go to the left. boot a disk for you on a cold start, all programs could now Fig. 2 - Absolute reset for the original Apple IIc. grab reset vectors and keep 7.3 ASK THE GURU There used to be a per- switch and then reset. Note code image was changed to ipheral known as a language that a CALL-151 from Apple- have that autostart monitor card. This was a plug-in card sloth drops you down into the code, thus eliminating any that fit slot zero and held six autostart ROM, while a CALL absolute reset access. You 2316 ROMs. If Integer BASIC -151 from Integer BASIC gets also lost the single step and and that old absolute reset you into the old absolute reset the trace debugging. You do ROM went into the card, it ROM. This happens regard- retain the sweet 16 and the was called an Integer card. If less of where the ROMs are mini-assembler with the new instead, the card held the sitting. INTBAS disk image, as these autostart ROM and Apple- These language cards got are part of the Integer "F0" sloth, then it was called an replaced by plug-in RAM ROM from $F000-F7FF. Applesoft card. These cards cards, that let you run other A third route to an absolute had a magic red switch that languages, that include Pilot, reset is to customize either let you flip between operating Fortran, Pascal, etc. At this INTBAS or FPBAS so they systems, making your Apple a time, images of both BASIC hold the old absolute reset II or a II+ per your choice. versions were placed on the image. Some software pack- If you can still find a lan- system master disk. On a cold ages can defeat the use of a guage card with an original start with a RAM card, what- RAM card for monitor access, Integer BASIC ROM set in it, ever language that was not in though. this gives you a second route the machine got loaded into In fact, many of them do. to an absolute II+ reset. the card. Thus, on a II, you The kicker is that the 2316 But note one detail. The ended up with Applesloth in ROM is NOT directly inter- red switch does not immed- RAM. On a II+, you instead changeable with a standard iately switch you between got Integer BASIC in RAM. 2716 EPROM, since there are monitors. To do an absolute Unfortunately, when they problems involving three pins reset, you have to flip the red went to the disk, the INTBAS that must be gotten around. The clones and Hong Kong knockoffs beat this compat- ibility problem by designing for 2716 EPROMs in the first place. Thus, on a clone or a 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 +5V A8 A9 VPP OE A10 CE Q7 Q6 Q5 Q4 Q3 knockoff, all you usually have to do is program your own 2716 EPROM, picking up any type A7 A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 Q0 Q1 Q2 GND of monitor you like any way 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 you like. Back to the 2316. A 2316 has three programmable chip select lines. Apple chose to make two of these active low (pins 20 and 21) and one of them active high (pin 18). 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 This was done as a factory +5V F FEEDD option at the time the mask 74HC04 was created for the 2316. A ABACC GND On a 2716 EPROM pin 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 is also active low, so there is no problem on this pin. Pin 21 should be held at +5 at all times to prevent program- ming. Note that pins 20 and 21 are shorted together on the nc Apple motherboard. Finally, 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 +5V A8 A9 CS3 CS1 A10 CS2 Q7 Q6 Q5 Q4 Q3 pin 18 is made active low, or the exact opposite of what PLUG you really want. A7 A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 Q0 Q1 Q2 GND Several plans have been 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 published that involve only some jumpering of some 2716 EPROM pins. But this ignores the INH inhibit line from the expansion slots. If some slot Fig. 3 - EPROM Monitor adaptor for the Apple II+. based card tries to make use of that high ROM address 7.4 September, 1985 space for its own use, then back that eases the unmiti- (Continued from page 5.4) you get memory contention, a gated disaster of the "new" the correct starting point to fight, and possible damage. IIe lateral arabesque. enter the code. And since just about every Sometimes, a short file will embedded "modern" II+ has at least one Where Can I Get Oddball purposely be with- RAM card in it, such conten- Commodore Integrated in legal opcodes. One text tion is inevitable. Circuits? printing scheme, called the Anyway, to make a long embedded file method does story short, to do an absolute While I have not personal- this. Others, notably in Apple- reset on a II+, you have to ly checked them out, Boufal works and in all the Adam’s add an adaptor socket that fits Services lists a wide variety Adventures, will pass param- between your you-program-it of Commodore chips and eters that are needed by a 2716 EPROM and the mother- stuff, including the rare and subroutine immediately fol- board. This adaptor socket hard to get 6560 and 6567 lowing that subroutine call. has to be an "active" one that VIC chips and the 6581 SID The subroutine messes with has a single inverter built in. integrated circuits. the stack so that, after grab- The lead to pin 18 goes Wonder of wonders, they bing all of its parameters, it through the inverter. Pin 20 is also have KIM-1’s at very returns to the valid code just held at +5 volts. All other attractive prices. The KIM-1 beyond the passed values. pins do go "straight through". was far and away the greatest In figure five, we have a The inverter needs +5 volts microcomputer Commodore very common instance of an on pin 14 and ground on pin 7 ever built. Since then, it has embedded file pair that causes and on all unused inputs. been downhill all the way. aliasing. This aliasing is often Figure three shows details. To this day, there is no caused by those ProDOS MLI You can use a pair of 24 better way to learn all of the machine language interface pin machined contact DIP fundamentals of machine lan- calls. Typically, access of a sockets, the premium kind guage programming than on a disk command involves a JSR with the smooth pins that can KIM-1. The KIM-1 is also an $BF00 followed by a three be safely plugged into another excellent choice for a ded- byte file. The first byte gives socket. These can be sep- icated micro for a solar panel, the command. The second erated by a pair of dip strips, a cattle feeder, a weighing byte pair points to a longer leaving room for the 74HC04 station, a pump monitor, or file in which more informa- inverter between the two soc- whatever else you dream up. tion will appear. kets. The 74HC04 can have its Boufal Services also carries Usually, this second infor- pins bent up over its own top most of the manuals, includ- mation file will follow the and can be directly soldered ing the obscure and harder to MLI call. Most MLI calls will in place. find ones. end with a branch to an error The adaptor normally is Check them out. processor followed by an only needed for the F8 ROM RTS. The correct and aliased socket. How can I do a listings are both shown. You then can plug a 2716 Laserwriter Manual Feed? Disassembly aliasing can EPROM into the adaptor, be both a confusing nusiance creating any monitor funct- The manual feed feature and an essential tool at the ions you like any way you lets you hand feed one sheet same time. want to. at a time instead of using the Let’s have a contest. Figure Should you run into card paper tray. Manual feed is six is a mystery aliased dis- clearance problems, consider essential for envelopes, labels assembly that could only be adding a short piece of 24 or for very stiff paper stock. one possible thing. I’ll send a conductor flat cable as an To activate this manual free SAMS book to the first extension socket. Keep the feed, from Postscript you do a five Computer Shopper read- cable as short as possible if "statusdict /manualfeed true ers that tell me exactly what you do this. put" command. that thing is. If you really want to get To shut down your manual Yes, its a toughie. But you fancy, you could use a 2732 feed, either wait for the 30 will know for sure when you EPROM instead, and a switch second automatic job timeout, have it. By the way, the same to flip between a stock and a or else do a "statusdict /man- code is likely to appear in any new custom monitor. Put one ualfeed false put". machine, so it is pretty much monitor on the bottom half of By the way, I haven’t had microprocessor independent. the 2732 and the other on the much luck with Laserwriter Much more information on top half; then switch the most envelope printing quality. The disassembly techniques does significant address line. results have been very poor to appear in the tearing method This would be similar to date. Please let me know if of Enhance I and also in my the dual character generator yuou come up with a solution Assembly Cookbook for the we looked at a few columns or two on this. Apple II and IIe. 7.5 Don Lancaster’s The cubic splines Using Bezier curves ASK THE GURU Applewriter boot tricks Postscript curve tracing October, 1985 Editing BASIC programs s you know, we have results. With those multiple column that handles all your this contest going. A wheel spokes on odd angles, questions and your problems. Afree SAMS book to the fine panel work, and the Just call or write per the end anyone who can show me any sweeping and graceful bil- box. And now . . . way at all to get graphics out lowing cover curves, it was of a Mac that even remotely not even close. Can I Edit BASIC approaches the quality, speed, To find what this is all Programs by Using and convenience of the Las- about and to get in on the A Word Processor? erwriter graphics you can get fun, write or call me per the out of Applewriter running on end box for your free demo As some of you found out an Apple IIe. pack of Applewriter/Laser- the hard way, you cannot do As the dearth of entries to writer images that I have put this by using that ProDOS date shows, there is no catch. together for you. TYPE command. Instead, a I am still waiting. A reminder that I have simple and quick process I did award one book so arranged with Synergetics to exists that lets you do all of far, but only because I felt now stock autographed copies your BASIC editing with your sorry for the entrant. It was of practically all of my books, favorite word processor. just like taking candy from a SAMS and otherwise. This Applewriter, of course, is a baby. should ease greatly any has- top choice, since you can He was a knowledgeable sles you have been having enter all BASIC commands MacPaint power user and had with your local bookshop or directly from the glossary, spent nearly four hours work- computer store. Send for a and since you can handle ing up an image of a covered complete and free list. macro sequences by using the wagon. Admittedly, he did My latest new book is the WPL supervisor. have some hecklers, and there Applewriter Cookbook. I do That same process will was some divine intervention have some autographed cop- convert a BASIC program to a in the form of – believe it or ies on hand for you here. textfile in either Dos 3.3e or not – a conveyor belt fire. I’m told there are still a ProDOS. Add a small code Anyway, to make a long few copies of Enhancing your module into your program, story short, it took 20 minutes Apple II & IIe left. By the either at the end or the begin- to redraw the wagon in Ap- way, this dude is also for the ning, per your programming plewriter, and there was an IIc. It’s just that you don’t style and the utilities you are immediate and obvious 29.3 like to change titles right in using. This module should decibel improvement in print the middle of a multi-volume name a textfile and open that image quality. Take a peek series. textfile, list all of the lines of ahead to figure five to see the And, as usual, this is your the BASIC program except the module lines, and then close the file. The module can then optionally delete itself. One example routine does appear in the Dos 3.3e man- uals. All you do is open a text file, write the original BASIC listing to the file, and then close the textfile. Then, you load the textfile to any word processor that can accept standard textfiles. You will now have free-form entry, full program editing, unbroken comments, single- key entry of all the BASIC key words, powerful copy and append routines, search and Fig. 1 - This Roman "O" is trivial with cubic splines. replace, and bunches of other neat features that make things fast, fun, and simple. 8.1 October, 1985 You do, of course, still from Applewriter on a IIe, the many splines as you need, have to obey all the BASIC cubic splines are conspicu- connected end to end, to get listing rules, terminating each ously absent from all of the the job done. line with a carrage return, and Mac Quickdraw routines. Figure one shows us a good so on. I’ll try to give you some example. A mere four cubic Getting back to BASIC is fundamental background here splines having a total of only easy enough. You just add a and show you where to go for sixteen data points are needed NEW command before the enough info that you can, to draw this Roman "O", re- first line of your text file with lots of personal effort, gardless of the font size. listing. Get into BASIC with add cubic spline ability to By way of comparison, the DOS up and running, and most any graphics program on figure one original measured EXEC your file. The EXEC most any microcomputer of roughly two inches by three process will then "type" the your choice. inches. At 300 dots to the textfile into your machine as A plain old spline is just a inch resolution, a bit map of a BASIC listing, just as if you plastic coated lead ruler that 540,000 pixels would be re- keyed it from the keyboard. the drafting, engineering, or quired instead! Extra spaces and such used architectural people use to The first spline covers the for pretty printing will get draw a curve that won’t "fit" top half of the outside edge. ignored. When you do want the usual compass or French The second does the bottom printed listings, just use the Curve contours. First, you half, while the third does the textfile instead, since you can carefully bend the spline to top inside edge. The fourth easily edit it further with page the desired shape. Then you handles the bottom inside breaks, boxes and lines, more use this shape to draw or ink edge. A fill routine then uses pretty printing, or whatever. your line. an "even-odd" rule to blacken Editing a BASIC program Cubic splines use the same the inside of the letter. is so much faster, so much general idea. By picking the You can approach cubic fun, and so less error prone right data points, you can splines from two different when you use a word proces- force a line to go from its ways. Chances are you will sor that you will never go start to its finish by way of a like the intuitive or "try it and back to the "old" way. route that is both smooth and see" route, instead of the controllable. Change the data analytical or "mess with all What are Cubic Splines? points, and the shape of the that hairy math" method. The curve changes. cubic splines lend themselves Cubic Splines are a major These are known as cubic beautifully to experimenting breakthrough in the computer splines because all of the and playing with them. graphics field that let you hairy math behind them in- Anyway, figure two shows create smooth and accurate volve a pair of polynomials of us what is involved in using a freehand or freeform curves order three that use a con- cubic spline, once the micro- as easily as you would draw a stant term, a linear term, a computer or printer has been plain old box. square term, and a cubic term. internally set up or program- Cubic Splines are also a Should the curve end up too med to handle them. The superb way to let you handle complicated for a single cubic object of the game is to build typographic fonts, since the spline to handle, you use as a curve from a point marked fonts can be stored in an extremely compact form. More importantly, the fonts can be easily scaled to any size and any shape desired, FIRST I.P. SECOND I.P. with both the resolution and smoothness increasing as the font size increases. Compare this to scaling a bit-mapped font that gets "chunkier" as the size increases. The Laserwriter uses cubic splines for many of its font characters and for its curveto and rcurveto operators. This ability places the Laserwriter START END head and shoulders above its "one size font in an outrage- ously costly cartridge" shoddy imitators. Fig. 2 - Cubic Splines use "influence points". Although easily accessable 8.2 ASK THE GURU START over to a point named powerful versions go by the and END. END. To get from START to seperate names of B-Splines If both influence points are END, you go by way of two and Beta-Splines. There are between START and END, influence points. The posit- also Conic Splines available, then you will get nothing but ioning of the influence points among lots of others. Many of a straight line. If one or both set the shape of the curve you these fancier splines are more influence points are on will get. powerful and more flexible, extensions of the straight line The direction you leave but they are not as easily or between START and END, from START is decided by as quickly done on a smaller then you will get a straight the first influence point. The microcomputer. Some are line that "overshoots" either direction you enter END is set three dimensional. at START, at END, or at both by the second influence point. One way to get different of them. The distance from START to curves is to move the influ- If one influence point is the first influence point, or ence points around and see above and one is below, then the distance from the second what happens. Let’s see if we you will get a somewhat sine influence point to END sets can’t second guess what we looking curve that crosses the the "enthuasiasm" at which can or cannot do with a single main axis between START the curve will move in the cubic spline. and END. intended direction. Firstoff, rotate figure two You get symmetrical curves Once you have left START, around 360 degrees. Obvious- if the influence points are the smoothest possible curve ly, the same shape curve can related to START and END in that can be drawn with a pair be generated in any direction, the same or mirrored ways. of X-Y cubic polynomials can so long as the relative posit- You get asymmetrical curves then be drawn. The first cubic ion of the influence points if one influence point has polynomial handles the hori- with regard to START and different bias or tension than zontal motion. The second END does not change. the other. takes care of the vertical. Now, let us get back to Now for the neat part. If The direction you head in figure two right side up. If the first influence point is to is known as the bias by the both influence points are the far right of the second computer graphics people, above START and END, then influence point, then the new while the enthuasiasm is call- the curve will remain above curve may cross, creating a ed the tension. START and END. If both sharp cusp or a loop. The size The oldest of cubic spline influence points are below and sharpness depends on techniques are called Bezier START and END, then the how far away the influence Curves. The newer and more curve will stay below START points are from the START and END points, as well as how far apart they are from each other. You can get an "open" loop if only one of the two influ- ence points are far left or far right of normal. Thus, it seems that you can use one cubic spline to do a smooth symmetric or asym- metric curve, a curve with one change in its curvature direction, a curve with one cusp, or a curve with a loop in it. Anything fancier can be built up with repeated cubic splines. Sometimes one of those influence points gets placed directly over START or END. This can be used to either sharpen a corner or smooth out a result, depending on the need. Reviewing, to do a cubic spline on a microcomputer or printer set up to handle them, Fig. 3 - Sample page from a cubic spline catalog. set a START point, an END point, and the two influence 8.3 October, 1985 points. Then tell the software up. END is always six blocks ference. This will make the or firmware to have at it. right and four blocks up. The lines fatter in some places and Once again, the first influence first influence point shows as thinner in others, just like point sets the direction or bias round dot. The second influ- "real" engraving. you leave START, while its ence point is a square. In the I have a free Postscript distance sets up the enthuas- upper left figure, the dot and listing of figure four available iasm or tension the curve will square are sitting on top of for you. Just ask for a copy. head in that direction. The each other. This particular border takes second influence point will Should you widen out the around twenty seconds to behave in a mirror manner influence points, the curves create using the Laserwriter’s with END. will gain in impact, grace, internal computer. All of the Note that the curve usually and all around impressive- cubic splines do need lots of will not pass through either ness. As it is, the catalog does processing time. While ideal influence point. More often show all the possible shape for laser printing or creating than not, it will miss these families you can get with a final bitmaps of fixed visual points by bunches on the single spline. Note that even images, splines are not well "inside", since the smoothest on one catalog page, you have suited for real time animation, possible curve is being drawn. concave and convex shapes; unless you have a humongous Many curves will stay inside shapes both symmetrical and computer available. a "fence" drawn between the asymmetrical; shapes with Figure five shows us the four points. cusps, loops, open loops; and covered wagon. Eleven cubic Here’s how simple it is to shapes with or without any splines are needed. Do you draw the curve of figure two changes in the direction of see where each cubic spline on a Laserwriter: curvature. starts and ends? Note partic- There are a near infinite ularly that the smoothness of 2 2 moveto possible number of splines the curve remains, no matter 3 10 9 10 10 2 curveto that you can draw between how much you magnify it, stroke START and END. Those in- and no matter how much you fluence points do not have to reduce it, unless you get it This says to move two be integer values. down to a really tiny size. blocks in and two blocks up Figure four shows us a This image was part of an to set START. Then define totally different and totally award that used the figure the first influence point at mind-blowing use for splines. four border, the wagon, and a three blocks in and ten blocks Fancy borders like this are few words. Something magic up. Then define the second utterly trivial to handle with happens to the Laserwriter influence point at nine blocks cubic splines. Only five dif- toner when it is heat fused to in and ten blocks up. Next, ferent splines are needed! parchment-like calligraphic set the END point at ten These are the main side loop paper. The toner gets super blocks in and two blocks up. from the crossover point, the black and literally leaps out at Finally, activate the curveto inner arc, the diagonal end you. operator to draw the curve. loop, and the two transition Also rather neat is doing You will also, of course, arcs connecting the corner customized certificates and have to scale and translate the loops to the edge loops. awards at a production cost of curve to where you want it, as To really get fancy, you around thirty cents each, most well as setting your line width can use a double border like of which goes for the fancy and shade of gray. this with a slight size dif- paper. It turns out that the curve of figure two is actually eas- ier to draw than a plain box! Figure three is a page out of a spline catalog I worked up. Not too shabby for old Applewriter on a IIe eh what? At any rate, these cubic spline curves may seem a little dull, because the catalog is based Fig. 4 - A Fancy cubic spline border. only on a 9 x 9 integer grid. Even at this grid size, there are over 6500 splines in the 81 page catalog! Many of these are rotations or mirror images of each other. START is always set two blocks right and four blocks 8.4 ASK THE GURU So, how can you tap these would be to apply them dir- STARTUP to start off your cubic splines for your own ectly to Apple or any other application. And ProDOS profit and enjoyment? HIRES graphics routines, so Applewriter may want to use You can do this with or that free-form curves can be a wildly different program without a Laserwriter. One handled as gracefully as named STARTUP to run a route is to get yourself a copy ordinary boxes can. They are WPL supervisor, or just to of Inside Laserwriter, study it also sorely needed by the load glossaries and so on. and then log some hands-on Mac. What would be really How can two wildly dif- time on a rental Laserwriter neat is to be able to real-time ferent programs share the at your nearby copy center. move the influence points. same filename and not get Otherwise, it is off to the mixed up? They cannot. nearest full technical library. Can I Run Applewriter So, what I did was change Bezier’s original papers, for From BASICS.SYSTEM? a single byte in BASICS.SYS- some strange reason, are all TEM so that the name of the in French. He is translated in Doesn’t seem to work very new startup program is now Numeric Control – Mathemat- well, does it? STARTUX. I then named the ics and Applications, by A. You might like to boot modified routine as BASIX. Forrest and A. Pankhurst, and ProDOS Applewriter from SYSTEM. published by Wiley in 1972. BASIC if you are adding a The key information need- This seems to be out of print, hard disk system, setting a ed to do all this appears in so check a large technical modem, are writing a com- the supplement to Quality library or a microfilm service. bination program that can Software’s Beneath Apple The best and the most include both Applesloth and ProDOS. You first BLOAD consistent source I’ve found WPL routines, or if you are BASICS.SYSTEM, A$2000, for information on the cubic integrating things into a large TSYS, D1. Then you find the splines, along with many RAM card. I needed this two file that stashes the name for excellent bibliographies, are language ability for my brand the startup disk. On ProDOS the various SIGGRAPH pro- new two volume Applewriter/ V1.0.1 or V1.0.2, the needed ceedings, available from the Laserwriter Utilities. STARTUP file will begin at Association for Computer The solution is very simple, $21E6 and is coded as 21E5: Machinery. These usually do once you spend the hours 53 54 41 52 54 55 50. Change appear in the number three needed to ferret out the real the $50 at $21EB to $58. issue of each year’s ACM culprit. The BASICS.SYSTEM Then save to a new diskette Computer Graphics quarterly. does not automatically set by doing the BSAVE BASIX. Those 1983 and 1984 pro- prefixes for you. Before you SYSTEM, A$2000, E$47FF, ceedings are especially useful. do the –AW.SYSTEM, just do TSYS, D2. I have yet to see the 1985 a PREFIX, D1, and you are You can thus end up with SIGGRAPH paper listings. home free. two programs on your disk. The advance promotion does There is a second more STARTUX is one that BAS- promise at least one new subtle and rather stickier ICS.SYSTEM will boot, while conic spline paper. problem, though. BASICS. plain old STARTUP is the one An obvious money-making SYSTEM may want to use a that Applewriter will use. idea that involves splines program that is named as Since they have different names, there are no mixups possible. My STARTUX on the new utilities package boots up in Applesloth and gives you a choice of running your Apple- writer, of doing the HIRES bitmap conversion using a mixed Applesloth and Ass- embly routine, or of exiting to Applesloth. The Applewriter STARTUP loads the PGLOSS Postscript single key glossary for the Laserwriter, sets the prefix to drive two, and boots a WPL supervisor that gives you a menu of all the utilities. From this menu, you select any of Fig. 5 - Covered wagon built with cubic splines . the mind-blowing routines that are available. 8.5 Don Lancaster’s Vaporlock bugs Dual IIe monitor ASK THE GURU Isometric drawing ProDOS disk space November, 1985 Customer complaints or all those of you that lurking somewhere in the Thus, a few characters above just can’t survive on a middle of the list. You will 511 can cost you dearly on F single fix of all these obviously want to flush these. overall diskette space. goodies per month, please Second, if you have several The trick is to go through note that I have a Hardware disks, see if rearranging the the directory and note each Hacker sister column that ap- contents cannot more nearly entry that needs three sec- pears in Modern Electronics fill up each individual disk. tors. Then find the ones that magazine. While there is Dropping the ProDOS oper- have less than 600 characters some overlap between the two ating system, the formatter, in them. Finally, see if you columns, this one over here in and BASIC.SYSTEM from the cannot lightly edit the file to Computer Shopper leans more successive disks in a multi- get it down to that magic 511 towards software and Apples, disk package can also help, if character length. while the Modern Electronics this does not overly inconven- Fifth, any file of any length one has much more hardware ience your users. that has only several more stuff in it, which involves Third, if you have lots of characters than a multiple of both computers and older disk files, you may be getting 512 would also be a prime stand-alone electronics. a DIRECTORY FULL error candidate for light editing or As usual, we have some message, instead of the ex- compaction. freebies available for your pected DISK FULL message. Finally, see if there are not when you call or write. First, The magic number is 51 files. any other compaction tricks a no-charge Synergetics tech- If the files are all short, you you might use. For instance, nical helpline. The answers could still have lots of usable you can find lots of different are free, but the call is your sectors left. ways to reduce HIRES pic- dime or whatever. There’s The cure here is to logic- tures down to much smaller also a free book and product ally group the files and create sizes than you you’d expect. list, bunches of free patches one or more subdirectories. One very simple trick to pick for Applewriter, and a new Each new subdirectory adds up one free sector per save is laser printing demo package up to 51 additional files. to do a BSAVE HIRESPIX, that makes Mac graphics look Fourth, note that a file or A$2000, E$3FF7, instead of worse than a dull crayon on program of 511 or less char- using E$3FFF. used notebook paper. acters requires only a single The last eight bytes of a On to whatever it is we are ProDOS sector. A file of 512 HIRES screen are invisible supposed to be doing here. If characters needs three sectors. and do not appear on the you ever figure it out, please This "extra" sector is needed screen. Yet, they cost you an be sure to let me know . . . to hold the track and sector entire extra sector per picture. listing for subsequent blocks. There are quite a few other How Do I Get More Room On a PRODOS Diskette? I always try to cram all of 2 - 28 pin machined contact dip sockets my for-sale diskette products as full as possible. To me it 2 - 11 pin machined contact dip strips seems kind of dumb not to 2 - 13 pin machined contact dip strips use all of the available disk space when you are selling 6 - machined contact dip pins something. An extra demo or 2 - miniature SPDT slide switches two and a few more tutorials never hurt anything. What can you do when you Misc: 6 inches of #24 green insulated wire; need just a "little" more room 6 inches of #24 red insulated wire; on a supposedly full ProDOS diskette? epoxy or superglue; solder. First, if you have lots and lots of files on your disk, the chances are that one or more Fig. 1 - Parts list for a IIe dual monitor adaptor. older versions or any other unnecessary stuff might be 9.1 ASK THE GURU graphics and textfile compac- advertising department. pretty much useless when it tion schemes available, once The first thing you want to comes to running older Apple you tune yourself into them. do is seperate your customer software. And more than a So, send me your favorites so service phone from the order few epsilon minues did get we can share them. phone. Select a suitable Sub- sucked into letting an Apple Saharan African nation for dealer steal their old monitor My Customers Are Bitching your customer service depart- ROMs when they attempted That My Software Won’t mant. Then, make sure that doing the "upgrade". Run Properly. HELP! the employees can only speak Sadly, this "upgrade" is Swahili using a very heavy needed for future releases of Naturally, there is no pos- Icelandic accent. Above all, software, even if it utterly sible way that you could stay be certain that your recep- demolishes the value of most competitive if you actually do tionist has latent tendencies of the older software that you spend all the time and effort towards cannabilism. already own. needed to get your software But the quickest and simp- Both the old and new mon- working properly before you lest cure for most unhappy itor chips are compatible with shipped it. Besides, software customers is to print up some industry standard 28 pin 2764 buyers are expected to pay for small and bright labels that EPROM chips by Intel or the programmer’s mistakes, say "BETA RELEASE", and Hitachi. education, and their overall then attach them to all your The usual dual monitor sol- klutziness. disks before you ship. Beta ution is to take a physically It’s the American way. release software is not sup- similar but electrically double Worse yet, any software posed to work and all your sized 27128 EPROM and put that actually works is suspect customers will be overjoyed two monitors on it, another of being obsolete, and cer- in participating in the leading on the top half and one on the tainly could not possibly be edge of software development bottom. One quick and dirty state of the art. This can very technology. way to switch btween the two seriously damage your Can I Put Two Different is to lift pin #2 from the soc- credibility. It would be almost Monitors In an Apple IIe? ket and jumper clip pin #2 to as stupid as letting one of ground for the "low" monitor your programmers – horror of By now, it’s more than and to +5 volts for the "high" ultimate horrors – actually painfully obvious that the monitor. speak to the people in your "enhanced" IIe monitor is Figures one and two show us a cleaner and safer way to handle dual monitors at a cost 1. ( ) Place the 28 pin machined contact 28 of only a few dollars. You DIP socket pins up and identify pin 2 plug two adaptor sockets into Carefully bend pin 26 towards 26 the center as shown. your Apple where the CD and EF monitor chips are sup- ( ) Pins are numbered "backwards" from usual posed to go. Then you plug when they are viewed from the bottom. two 27128 EPROMs into that adaptor. A pair of switches is 15 14 then flipped left for the high monitor and right for the low monitor. 2. ( ) Push a single bare machined 27 28 One very good source for contact socket pin onto pins 14, 27, and 28 as shown. EPROM chip programming is 26 E-TECH Services, who do ( ) NOTE: In any soldering steps, snap low cost and prompt work. an extra DIP strip onto the cool end of the pins being soldered. This keeps 14 Note that you have to send the pins aligned should the plastic soften. them the exact images of the code that you want burned Solder pin to socket at pins 14, 27, and 28. ( ) into your 27128 EPROMs. DON’T GET ANY SOLDER ON THE PIN TIPS! The key to the adaptors is 27 28 to use the premium machined contact sockets that may be 3. ( ) Push a 13 pin machined contact DIP strip safely and reliably plugged onto pins 1-13 as shown. into each other. ( ) Push an 11 pin machined contact DIP 14 These sockets are spaced strip onto pins 15-25 as shown. apart by machined contact DIP strips that give enough seperation to make room for Fig. 2A - Building your IIe dual monitor adaptor. the switch. Be sure to use a slide switch and not a toggle 9.2 November, 1985 switch, and be sure the SPDT Full details appear in my some autographed copies on switch is the usual type that book Enhancing your Apple II hand here for you. breaks before it makes. and IIe, volume II, and pub- That vaporlock had been There are several obvious lished by SAMS. I do have thoroughly alpha tested over modifications and improve- ments you might like to try. 28 You could replace one switch 4. ( ) Carefully roughen one side of the SPDT slide switch and the bottom of the 28 pin DIP socket 26 with a wire that reaches over between pins 14 and 15. Use very fine to the center of the other sandpaper or steel wool. GLUE SWITCH switch on the other adaptor. IN POSITION ( ) Glue the switch to the 28 pin DIP socket SHOWN This way, only one single as shown using superglue or epoxy. Let switch flip will be needed to sit overnight and then verify that the pick one monitor or the other. switch still works. 15 14 Switch flipping is best done DON’T GET ANY GLUE INSIDE THE SWITCH! cold. If you try to flip the switches during a program, strange things may happen, 28 depending on whether either 5. ( ) Prepare a 3/4 inch length of bare #24 wire. Connect this wire to pin 14 of the 28 pin 26 monitor is being accessed at socket and then to the nearest pin on the the time the switched is flip- SPDT slide switch. ped, and whether the code ( ) Solder both connections, using a spare DIP 3/4 " being used at this instant is BARE strip as a safety backup heatsink. WIRE any different between the two Cut off any remaining wire. Be very careful monitors. not to get any solder on the tip of pin 14. 15 14 One really neat trick would be to use a pair of 27512’s instead, whose eight 64K banks are selected by an eight 28 way selector switch. This 6. ( ) Take a 1-3/4 inch piece of green #24 solid insulated wire and strip 1/4 inch 26 would let you have an old from each end. monitor, a new monitor, a word processor, a spread- ( ) Solder one end of this green wire to pin #26 and the other end to the center pin on the sheet, a graphics program, SPDT slide switch. and three other programs all resident in your machine for 15 14 instant access. A different adaptor scheme would be needed, and each program 7. ( ) Take a two inch piece of red #24 would have to tow along its solid insulated wire and strip 1/4 inch 28 own needed monitor routines. from each end. 26 Be sure to keep me posted ( ) Solder one end of this red wire to the far on all of your multi-monitor unused pin on the SPDT slide switch. activities. Solder the other end of this wire to pin #28 2" RED after looping it. WIRE Are Their Bugs in ( ) Make sure that no solder gets on the tip of pin #28 and that there is no short to 15 14 The Vaporlock? adjacent pin #27. There didn’t used to be. The Vaporlock is a fast 8. ( ) Turn the Apple IIe power off and remove software-only way of locking the line cord at both ends. Carefully CD ROM EF ROM the Apple II+ IIc or IIe screen remove the original CD and EF CPU monitor chips and to the timing. Among its store them in protective foam. other abilities, this lets you mix and match text, HIRES, ( ) Plug one adaptor into the CD ROM slot at D8 and the other adaptor and LORES graphics any into the EF ROM at D10 as shown. place on the screen in most Plug your already programmed any combination. You can 27128 EPROMs into these adaptors. also do windows, glitch free ( ) Be sure that the CD EPROM goes in the CD C66 C67 animation, software based slot, and that the notch and dot on both color killing, and fancy wipes EPROMs point forwards, towards the keyboard. between display pages that require no remapping, plus lots of other largely unex- Fig. 2B - IIe dual monitor, continued . . . plored new possibilities. 9.3 ASK THE GURU two years with no reported games in use? Are special let you do the Laserwriter serious problems. chips used to alter timing? Is graphics directly out of Ap- But, all of a sudden this the memory area needed by plewriter. My cl, cr, and ct week, I got two calls from the vaporlock sub somethow commands handle the circles two wildly different people protected or overwritten? Are as ellipses slanted just the having problems using the these cards trying vaporlocks right way for left, right and vaporlock on a IIc or IIe. The of their own? top faces. My al, ar, and at do problem always seems to be It is very hard to trouble- the same thing for arcs. The related to some exotic plug-in shoot over the phone, but im, irm, id, and ird commands card, notably the Ultraterm, what seems to be happening handle left moves and left the Niceprint, and the SCRG is that the i.d. patch in the draws, both relative and ab- Switch cards. HIRES screen holes is some- solute. Similar commands do I don’t have any of these how getting trashed. exist for the other two axes, cards and I am at a total loss UPDATE: Dec 85 while the im, irm, id, and ird as to why they should cause commands do a triple isomet- any problems on either the How Can I Do An ric move or draw all in one old or the new IIe. The IIe Isometric Drawing? single command. These are has a fully buffered data bus, needed for positioning or for so there should be no loading Why, with Applewriter on a slanting lines that go in two that would swamp out those IIe, of course. How else could or three dimenions at once. fumes needed by the vapor- you prossibly do an isometric The dashes are done by lock. And, indeed, the fumes drawing? using the SETDASH operator. appear to be still readable Figure three shows us some Compound curves are hand- from the monitor, even when details. Isometric drawing is led with cubic splines. the vaporlock seems to be one standard way of showing Neatest of all are the pr, pl, unable to find them. three dimensional objects on and pt commands that print Even if these cards did a flat sheet of paper. The right, print left, and print top, access some of those invisible original X axis leans up by 30 automatically slanting and ar- HIRES "screen hole" memory degrees to the right. The orig- ranging the letters so they locations, needed by the vap- inal Y axis leans up to the left seem to "belong" on any face. orlock, they should not do it by 30 degrees. The original Z The actual isometric trans- during the time the vaporlock axis still goes straight up and formations are not really all is actually in use. down. You can measure the that bad. They are . . . Are special connections to actual scale lengths along all unusual points in the IIe in- of the three axes. vertical = Z + 0.5 (X + Y) volved with these cards? Are I have put together some wierd interrupts or any NMI Postscript routines that easily horizontal = 0.86 (X - Y) Here, X, Y, and Z are the original three dimensions, ISOMETRIC while vertical and horizontal are the final directions on the final two-dimensional page. Circles are done as ellipses with a magic angle of 35 degrees and 16 minutes, either ISOMETRIC flat for the top, or rotated plus or minus 60 degrees for the sides. Trig freaks will note that ISOMETRIC 0.86 are the respective sine and cosine of 30 degrees, while 35 degrees and 16 minutes is the angle whose tangent is 0.5. The lettering is nothing but a stock font that gets slanted and rotated. You either lean the letters forward or back- wards by 30 degrees. The other nine lettering orien- tations not shown in figure Fig. 3 - An Applewriter isometric tech illustration. three are also easily done. (continued on page 10.5) 9.4 Don Lancaster’s HIRES entry points New Apple ramcard ASK THE GURU Vaporlock interrupts Bar code info sources December, 1985 Laserwriter vs Laserjet y, oh my, did I ever advertise in Printing Impres- Hey, it works. Does it ever. find a way to pay for sions and also in Paper, Film, On to the goodies . . . M a laser printer in a and Foil Converter trade big hurry. The key secret is – journals. These include Avery, What’s the word on bumperstickers. Fasson, and Mac-Tac. Apple’s new RAM Card? These are trivially easy and Only certain papers and quick to do, and there are no vinyls will properly accept Actually, there are two steep minimum orders or any heat fused toner. Those that words: Very nice. totally ridiculous setup charg- do give outstanding results. You can now plug up to six es involved. You can easily Those that do not will turn megabytes of RAM into an expand into virtually any step out really awful. Apple IIe that has a beefed up and repeat "peel-n-stick" use, Naturally, you never want power supply, or "only" one from disk labels, business to have only a "one-product" extra megabyte or two wit- cards, placards, nasty signs, venture going. Around here, hout. Memory is added in impractical jokes, pornogra- the bumper stickers are added 256K chunks. phy, political bull, whatever. to certificates, awards, artists The card is set up wildly All with Applewriter and announcements and business different from all those third Laserwriter, of course. cards, discount software sales, party RAM cards you may Most importantly, you can full color diskettes, writing already be familiar with. handle the small onsie-twosie books and articles, technical Since this is an Apple sup- orders that the old line bum- consulting, monitoring tele- plied product, it is almost persticker people positively phone voice helplines, hand certain to set the future de- refuse to touch. Lots and lots crafting specialized software facto standard for any add-on of people could think up do- toolkits and companion disks, memory cards of any type. zens of uses for a few custom real estate scams, typesetting There are several different labels or bumperstickers of services, etc. . . levels at which you can use their own. Very few want to Plus, of course, growing the card. shell out $80 or so for a min- pecans and questing tinajas. Let’s look at the highest imum order to the traditional While I may have men- level first. On first bootup, suppliers. tioned this a time or two, I do the entire RAM card automat- So, step right up folks. Tell have a few copies left of this ically becomes a virtual disk. ya what wer’e gonna do. here book that is called The The advantages of a virtual The Abeja Laser Printing Incredible Secret Money Ma- disk over a real one are that branch of the Synergetics fine chine, and it does tell you all you can read and write to it family of scams is now in the about doing stuff like this for extremely fast. The big dis- custom bumpersticker busi- your own fun and profit. advantage, of course, is that ness in a big way. And, you are completely free to "steal the plans" on this one and go with it on your own. To get in on the fun, write or call Bee at Abeja for your Data R/W Byte $ C 0 D 3 free sample bumpersticker. Next, send or phone her a sketch and $5.95. We’ll then Address High Byte $ C 0 D 2 send you your choice of (A) 6 custom bumperstickers, (B) 36 Address Mid Byte $ C 0 D 1 custom shipping labels, (C) 36 custom diskette labels, or else Address Low Byte $ C 0 D 0 (D) 40 custom business cards. Why shucks, yew caint beat that with a willow pole. ( Values shown are for slot FIVE. ) Should you want to get into this on your own, one good source of small quantities of Fig. 1 - Apple RAM card low level entry points. bumpersticker stock is Dick Blick. Large volume suppliers 10.1 ASK THE GURU the contents of a RAM disk Note that all reads and processing time is involved at are volatile and will go bye- writes to this card go through all. Which is very fast. bye on power down. a single data location. This I can see all sorts of neat When using a virtual RAM way, you can substantially things to do with these cards. disk, you will want to back speed up memory swaps for One obvious possibility in- up your work to real disk such things as HIRES ani- volves flipping back and forth files much more often than mation. Direct memory moves between programs, similar to usual. Nuff said on that. are much quicker than the Mac’s switcher. Under ProDOS, the entire already fast RAM disk access. Better yet, we now have megabyte can be used as a Since we are talking far enough memory available for single virtual disk. But with more than 64K here, you need truly stunning long sequence DOS 3.3, you are limited to three address byte locations, animation. slightly less than 500K max- rather than your usual two. Entire Apple snapshots can imum, since this is the largest You can think of the low be taken and saved to a RAM disk size DOS 3.3 is able to address byte as the position card, opening up all sorts of recognize. byte on a 256 byte page, the nearly concurrent processing Now for the unusual part. mid address byte as the 256 or coprocessing options. The Apple RAM card is not byte page in use, and the high Programs such as Apple- bank switched. address byte as which bank of writer and Appleworks should While superb for storing 256 byte pages is to be used. be very easy to link to the just about anything, you can- The address will auto inc- RAM card, although custom not directly run a program rement on each read or write. patches or upgrades will most while it is still sitting in the This way, all you have to do definitely be needed. RAM card. You first have to is use repeated LDA $C0D0 Even without the custom move that program to either commands to extract as many patch, Appleworks will appear main or auxiliary memory and bytes as you want in sequen- to run much faster, since all only then can you run it. tial order. Note that there is parts of the program will be Figure one shows us all no 64K limit on this. in the machine at once. Most four of the low level RAM If you do not want to read time lost to whirring disks card entry points. Only four or write in sequential order, can now be saved. address space locations are you can preset the address One big advantage that all needed for each card. Those bytes to any chosen location. programmers now have is a locations are the four lowest Do this just before each read newly standard and now well slot bytes in the I/O area. or write. Naturally, it is far defined expansion environ- While we have shown the faster to have the card auto- ment. This is far better than addresses for slot five, similar increment whenever you are having to do custom patch addresses for slot two would able to do so. Since that auto- work for each and every third be $C0A0-C0A3, and so on up incrementing is done by using party add-on memory card the slot sequence. gate array hardware, no CPU that comes along. How Can I Find Out All About Bar Codes? ere’s a laser printer test paragraph that shows you whole word breaks and full wall-to-wall Bar codes are those funny product code labels you’ve no Hmicrojustification of ten fonts all at one time. doubt seen at the grocery Note the automatic justification cancel on the last line store. The best running com- of the paragraph. Professional features do include an mentary I’ve run across on the societal impact of bar automatic initial capital, a progressive three stage codes appears on the cover of microjustification, and "hanging" punctuation at the every issue of MAD magazine line ends. Both italics and bold italics can be freely over the past several years. intermixed. You can even include superscripts gracefully, Chances are that you would prefer some more technical and print subscripts with equal ease. Nothing very fancy information than this, though. is needed for a 51Ω resistor, or when π = 3.14. While It turns out there are at least the mixed fonts may be any shape or size, ranging five major bar code standards. from 3 point thru 20,000 point, most Special Effects are The one you already know the most about is called the best used rather sparingly UPC, short for the Universal Product Code. You can get a copy of the Fig. 2 - A standard Laser Printer Test Paragraph. UPC standard from, of all places, the UPC Council. 10.2 December, 1985 Actually, they just renamed What’s Different Between loose, besides allowing very themselves UC for Uniform Laserwriter and Laserjet? fancy matrix transformations Code. While this sounds a tad on both text and graphics. presumptious, they do seem Comparing these two is The Laserjet does not. to be running away with all like comparing a skateboard The Laserwriter has real the marbles. against a Porsche. Yes, the internal font machinery that Other competitive bar cod- skateboard is cheaper. You will automatically give you ing schemes include the Code can also argue that the skate- any font size from two points 3 of 9, used by the military board corners better and has to well beyond 20,000 points. and the automotive people; more headroom. (There are 72 points in one the Interleaved 2 of 5 used But, outside of that Missus inch.) There is a nearly in- for containers and transport- Lincoln, how was the play? finite variety of font styles ation; the Codabar also used Very briefly, the Laserwrit- and sizes available inside the for transportation; and the er has enough memory to stock Laserwriter. For letters European EAN. hold an internal bitmap of an larger than a sheet of paper, A few further details on entire printed page at full there is even an automatic these standards appear in the resolution. This lets you mix process available that uses as Hewlett-Packard bar code and match any sized graphics many sheets as you need to components folder, publicat- and any size text in most any get up to size. ion number 5954-2152. H-P combination anywhere you The Laserjet does not. has lots of fairly expensive want on the page. You can independently set solutions to bar code scanning The Laserjet does not. your choice of the Laserwriter and reading, including their The Laserwriter lets you font height, the font width, HBCR1000 series component magnify or enlarge any image the amount of lean, and even bar code readers, their HBCS- through an enormously wide the kerning, or the individual 4300 industrial code wands, range. You can even magnify spacing between characters. and their HEDS-1000 reflec- or reduce anamorphically, Besides the dozen stock fonts, tive sensors. Check out their letting you change the hori- you can easily download any Optoelectronics Designer’s zontal size seperately from number of those custom fonts Catalog for more details. the vertical size. of your own. One company that I have The Laserjet does not. Instead, the Laserjet forces found has bar code compon- Anamorphic size adjust- you to buy outrageously ex- ent parts at fairly low prices ments are very useful if you pensive font cartridges that is Scan-A-Matic. are trying to run a similar can only provide a very few For a complete list of all display ad in several different type styles, typically limited major bar code manufacturers magazines. Often, the exact to plain old twelve point. In and suppliers, contact the size and shape of each quarter this day and age, the fixed AIM Automatic Identification page ad will vary all over the size font cartridges are an Manufacturers trade group. lot and then some. inexcusable and totally un- Their free membership dir- The Laserwriter also lets justifiable ripoff. ectory lists dozens of major you twist or rotate any image The Laserwriter has a most bar code outfits. almost any which way but powerful page composition NAME LOC A X Y WHAT IT DOES HGR2 $ F 3 D 8 - - - Clear and init page two HGR $ F 3 E 2 - - - Clear and init page one HCLR $ F 3 F 2 - - - Clear current page to black BKGND $ F 3 F 6 - - - Clear current page to color HPOSN $ F 4 1 1 vpos hposlo hposhi Position without plotting HPLOT $ F 4 5 7 - - - Position with plotting HLIN $ F 5 3 A hposlo hposhi vpos Draw line from last point HFIND $ F 5 C B - - - Current position ---> E0-E2 DRAW $ F 6 0 1 - shapelo shapehi Draw a shape XDRAW $ F 6 5 D - shapelo shapehi Erase (EOR) a shape SETHCOL $ F 6 E C - color - Set Color 0-7 SHLOAD $ F 7 7 5 - - - Load shape from tape Fig. 3 - Accessing Applesloth HIRES routines from machine language. 10.3 ASK THE GURU computer built in that speaks makes you do all the work in the performance for fifty or Postscript, a language related the host if you require a more percent of the cost. to Forth that is fast becoming wall-to-wall justify with a No way, Jose. a de-facto typesetting stand- custom font. You have to ard. Postscript is available provide your own external Any Vaporlock Solutions? now on many of the leading width table and do all the font "real" typesetting machines. calculations yourself. This As you may recall from last The Laserjet does not. makes it extremely difficult to month, my Vaporlock is a fast Which means, that, once use the word processor and and simple, software-only, you have what you want, a personal computer of your way to mix and match text, single phone call can instantly choice when doing fully jus- LORES, and HIRES in any upgrade the 300 DPI (dots per tified text on the Laserjet. combination on the Apple inch) resolution of your Las- So, the essential things you screen, besides letting you do erwriter to 2560 DPI or even should demand in a laser flawless animation, screen higher "true" typesetting. Yes, printer are (1) a full page, full switching, and true video things do get smoother and resolution bitmap giving an wipes. Full details appear in sharper when you do this. unlimited text and graphics my Enhancing your Apple II And that’s still done using mix; (2) a powerful and up- and IIe, volume II (SAMS nothing but Applewriter on an wardly mobile and standard #22415). Apple IIe, along with your typesetting language; (3) Font While the vaporlock has original textfile. machinery with no sane size been around for quite a while The Laserjet can’t do this. limits and without plug-in and had (I thought) been very Typesetting from Postscript cartridge scams; (4) the ab- thoroughly tested, all of a is now available at rates that ility to anamorphically rotate, sudden problem cards have average a dollar a page. Nat- translate, scale, or transform been showing up that hang urally, that does include free any image; (5) powerful and the Vaporlock. corrections. Run that one by useful internal justification The culprit? Interrupts. your local printer. machinery, (6) an immediate The present vaporlock will The Laserwriter has a built compatibility with the unmod- not work properly if an in- in ability to handle cubic ified word processor and the terrupt arrives from most any splines. This will let you do stock personal computer of source during those screen graceful, free form curves. your choice; and (7) Cubic locking time intervals. More important, the cubic splines for free-form curves Interrupts are seeing more splines let you create very and efficient font handling. and more use on new cards compact and ultra smooth Figure two shows you a intended for use on the IIc typography whose resolution standard test paragraph with and on the "new" IIe. Partic- increases with increasing font the sorts of things in it that ularly nettlesome are mouse size, rather than getting chun- are absolutely essential for cards and fancy video cards. kier as is the case when using decent laser printing. Have There are several obvious bitmaps. the dealer demo this para- solutions. One is to not allow The Laserjet does not. graph for you. Make certain use of problem cards. For instance, a three inch nothing is needed except a A second solution is to high Roman "O" can be done routine loading followed by a read the processor status byte with as few as fourteen data stock paragraph or two on before starting the vaporlock points when you use cubic your favorite word processor locking routine. If the inter- splines. This compares rather running on your favorite un- rupt flag is set, do nothing. If favorably with the 560,000 modified personal computer. the interrupt flag is cleared, bits needed for a straight bit The actual paragraph used set the flag with a SEI. Then, map of the same character. does have a few imbedded do the lock. Finally, reset the On second thought, it does escape commands in it, and is flag with a CLI after locking not compare at all. about as complicated as what is complete. The Laserwriter has very you need when switching an Epson powerful internal font ma- to bold print and back. How Can I access the chinery that lets you do just Yes, that initial "H" is def- Applesloth HIRES Routines about any style of justific- initely an internal part of the From Machine Language? ation using nothing but a few test paragraph. external words in a totally The argument that the You wouldn’t believe how standard text file. Particularly Laserwriter is expensive just many helpline calls we get on powerful is the stringwidth does not wash. Compared to this one. command that automatically what? Most of the competive While there’s lots of places calculates how wide a string products are really empty to go for an answer, perhaps of characters will be. boxes masquerading as laser the best three are the IAC The Laserjet does not. printers, giving you substant- Tech Notes, the All About Incredibly, that Laserjet ially less than one percent of Applesoft from A.P.P.L.E. or 10.4 December, 1985 the Applesoft Disassembly and then JSR $F601. (continued from page 9.4) Disk, from S-C Software. The XDRAW works just Isometric is ideal for any Figure three shows us the like DRAW, except that it "exploded" views that show details. Each internal Apple- exclusive-OR’s the new shape how things go together, par- sloth HIRES routine may be against the screen. If used ticularly when lots of round accessed by calling it as a properly, this can erase a parts are involved. One limit- subroutine. For instance, a shape without hurting most ation is that boxy subjects JSR $F3D8 will clear and init backgrounds. seem a tad out of proportion the HIRES page two screen. The color is set by putting with the far corner looking Several of these routines the color number $00-07 into "too big". You can see this if require that you pass infor- the X register and then doing you stare at figure three long mation to them using the A, a JSR $F6EC. enough. This is caused by X, and Y registers. Note that Note that only half of your your brain being used to see- there is no rhyme or reason to dots will plot on original ing things in perspective. which register gets used for HIRES when using any color Actually, isometric is only what. other than white. Thus, cer- one of an infinite number of Since there are 280 pos- tain green vertical lines may possible axonometric project- sible dots on a stock HIRES be completely invisible unless ions. Tech illustrators will line, you need two address you move them over a dot. typically avoid all the other bytes. The high byte is a zero Many beginners start with viewing angles, since they for dots less than 255, and a black and white only. They used to be a royal pain to one for dots greater than 255. also may shorten their HIRES draw. Oftentimes, some really The low byte equals the num- screens to 256 dots wide so offbeat projection will show ber of dots for dots less than they can get started with min- an object or a drawing in its 255 or the number of dots imum hassles. best light. minus 256 for dots of 256 or Anyway, yes, you can sub- But, neither Applewriter greater. stantially speed up graphics nor Postscript could not care For instance, to position and animation by directly less. A trig calculation is a yourself on the HIRES screen, using the Applesloth internal trig calculation, no matter you put the vertical line HIRES routines directly from how funny the ellipses. There number $00-BF in the ac- machine language. And, it’s are a nearly infinite number cumulator, the low byte of the lots of fun to do so. of ellipse templates sitting horizontal dot count into the But, most all Applesloth inside the Laserwriter, and X register, and the high byte internal routines were not they all are equally access- of the horizontal dot counter designed for speed. No way. able. Thus, axonometric or into the Y register. Then you These routines were instead even perspective drawing is JSR $F411. designed for minimum space now easy to do. To draw a line, you must and were done as compactly Some more axonometric first have a position set, either as possible. In a day when options appear on page 77 of by using HPOSN or by hav- 16K ROM’s were extremely Wellman’s Technical Des- ing drawn a previous line. expensive, this was the only criptive Geometry, which is Then you put the vertical line way to go. published by McGraw Hill. number $00-BF into the Y Perhaps the worst example Actually, is there anything register, the low byte of the of Applesloth HIRES sloth- that Applewriter cannot do? horizontal dot count into the ticity involves calculating the All parts of all the figures and accumulator, and the high position of any dot on any all the text you see here were byte of the horizontal dot horizontal HIRES line. The done with Applewriter on a count into the X register. internal routines do this by IIe. I even have a neat routine To draw a shape from a repeatedly casting out sevens, here that lets Applewriter play shape table, first you have to a process that can take more "Stars and Stripes Forever" as learn all about and use shape than ten times the obviously an error message. tables under Applesloth. The fast method of using a lookup So, how about a second DRAW and the XDRAW com- table instead. contest this month? A free mands work only with a Sure, go with these routines SAMS book to the first five single shape at a time. You on your own. But, do not Computer Shopper readers have to manage accessing that expect for even an instant to that show me the best ways to shape from a shape table by be able to put them into a milk cows by using Apple- yourself when doing machine commercial product. These writer on a IIe. And a tinaja language access. internal routines are far too quest for two (FOB Thatcher To do a DRAW, you put slow and too ungainly for AZ, of course) to the overall the low byte of the shape start that. winner. address into the X register, But they are a great first WINNER: Feb 86 place the high byte of the step, so be sure to play with Assuming you are in the shape start into the Y register, them along the way. moood for a contest, that is. 10.5 Don Lancaster’s Laserwriter rumors Electronic halftones ASK THE GURU Printing a video image Post processing techniques January, 1986 Translating computer programs here are bunches of ex- disk, and a CAD package. But and standard typesetting lan- citing new Laserwriter you should beware of prices guage built in. T happenings this month. that are hundreds of dollars Speaking of which, Adobe Firstoff, Apple has slashed the under dealer cost. The odds Systems, the Postscript peo- list price of their old Laser- are pretty good that they will ple, now have two fine books writer by $1000 to a new list find someway to make it up available. These texts largely of $5995. But, even this fig- somehow. replace the older and hard to ure is virtually meaningless, And guess who pays. get Inside Laserwriter. since the street price is now All of which tells us that Addison Weseley publishes around $4300 if you shop there is now virtually no cost both of them. These are the around or can find a hungry advantage to all those gutless Postscript Reference Manual enough dealer. imitation Laserwriters that are and the Postscript Tutorial I have even heard of a chronically unable to give and Cookbook. I do have a "lowball" Laserwriter offer of you full page graphics, can few extra copies of these on $2600 when the printer was not handle large type sizes, hand here. bundled with a Mac, a hard and do not have a powerful The Laserwriter also made Infoworld’s product of the year award. By the way, if you ever do want to keep something a secret, be sure and stay out of their review responses column. My demo pack letter there on November 5th. has pulled thousands of requests so far. There are also lots of new fonts in the works. These are available from quite a few different sources. As I will show you someday, it is a simple matter to build your own custom fonts. Many of the stock printshop packages are also quickly picking up a full Laserwriter compatibility. There are also rumors of a new ROM set for the Laser- writer that will give you 42 standard fonts in a stock for- mat that can be accessed from any word processor on just about any computer. More on this when I get full details. Some disk-based fonts are also newly available directly from Adobe, but unfortunately these are not viable products as they now stand. Why? Because of three nearly fatal flaws. First, these new fonts are priced at $175 for a Figure One - Stock 60 line Laserwriter screen related set of four. This is gives 26 grey levels but has a very twenty times what compar- grainy "sunday funnies" look. able fonts are worth today and ten times what the market will bear. 11.1 January, 1986 The perceived value of a computers can range from Note that there are no ma- font in a personal computer trivially easy to just about chine limitations that become environment is 99 cents, as totally imposssible. involved with this technique, set by any number of popular There are two main steps so long as each machine has "printshop" packages that can involved in translating a pro- enough memory to receive the offer you fifty or more fonts gram from one make and file, and so long as the hand- for $49.95. model of a computer to an- shaking on the serial channel Besides that, most any idiot other. The first step is to works. The brand of micro- with a cheat book can rip off move the actual image of the processor and the operating Laserwriter fonts quickly and program or text file over to system does not matter in the simply. With only slightly the second machine. The least. greater smarts, he can also second step is to modify that In those cases of a program dramatically compact those image so it will run in its new written in a higher level lan- same fonts at the same time. home. guage, it is usually far better Because of their current The first step is suprisingly to transfer a textfile copy of perceived value, the days of simple. To move anything the listing of the program to licensable type fonts are over. from one personal computer the other machine, rather than Sorry about that, but that’s to another, just convert that transmitting the actual pro- the way things are today. anything to a disk-based text- gram itself. The reason for Secondly, there are some file and then send that file this is that the parsing and in- half-assed and totally inane over a serial interface to the terpretation of the program protection schemes that were second machine. Often, serial may differ wildly between the added to both the disks and to RS232 communication at 1200 two machines. the fonts themselves. These baud is a good choice, using The new ProDOS operating severely penalize the honest standard printer or modem system on the Apple IIe very user, while strongly reward- utility software. This will easily and instantly lets you ing the dishonest ones. Such result in a literal and exact change the type of any file to useless protection schemes transfer of the text from the or from a textfile. This is and the thinking behind them first machine to the second. done using, of all things, the have no place whatsover in personal computing, let alone in personal publishing. Thirdly, these fonts are intended for Macintosh use. Right now, the Apple IIe or IIc is a far better choice as a Laserwriter driver. This is mostly because of the crip- pling limitations of much of today’s Macintosh software. There is also that present forced Macintosh use of that slow and highly restrictive AppleTalk access mode. These disk based fonts will become a major product only when and if they are dropped to the $19.95 retail level, are totally deprotected, and are offered for computers that are genuinely useful as Laser- writer drivers. As a reminder, even after the Infoword onslaught, I still have a few Laserwriter demo packs remaining. Call me for a free copy. How can I Translate Programs or Text Figure Two - Custom 100 line Laserwriter screen Between Computers? only has 10 gray levels, but gives solid grays and video images. The task of moving things between different brands of 11.2 ASK THE GURU TYPE command. For instance, matter entirely. Some lan- to become a very knowledge- to change a machine language guages, particularly PASCAL, able machine language hacker binary file or program to a may end up more or less in both the old and the new text file, first load that pro- machine independent. Other machines. gram into your IIc or IIe. languages such as BASIC, Then do a CREATE TXT. will be pretty much compat- What is Post Processing? MINE, TTXT, followed by a ible, so long as the same BSAVE TXT.MINE, A$2000, dialect of BASIC is in use at A magic technique called E$39F6, TTXT. The starting both ends. post processing lets you add and ending address may both Should each machine use a custom features to your word change with the position and different dialect of BASIC, processor, literally letting you length of your program. the chances are that most of leap tall buildings in a single To convert your BASIC the commands might carry bound. Such things as user pro- gram to a textfile on a over. The usual way to debug friendly interaction, a wall-to- disk, just write a short header things is to run the program wall microjustify, HIRES or to your program that opens a until it blows up and then other graphics dumps, and textfile, lists that program to find the specific command just about any special feature the textfile, and then closes that is causing the problem. that you can dream up can be the file. Fix the commands one at a easily accomodated. To return from a textfile time until your new program Best of all, use of post pro- listing of a BASIC program, works properly. cessing does not normally just EXEC the textfile. Unless Any PEEK and POKE com- require any machine language the program is up to some- mands must be rearranged to smarts, nor any specialized thing strange, the program suit the new machine. In patches to the word processor will first run and then will many cases, you will have of your choice. This solves a leave you with a listing in the totally different ways of using crucial dilema I have had on machine. This listing can then PEEKs and POKEs. In par- the helpline when I get a be saved as an Applesloth ticular, those graphics and request for a patch that does a pro- gram file. sound mechanics will differ very special task for an odd- So, moving either text pro- widly from the one machine ball printer or an off brand gram images or text program to the other. printer card. files between one machine In general, the more sop- Post processing works on and another is more or less histicated and the more ele- any word processor that lets trivial, once you get all the gant the program is, the more you print a fully formatted details worked out. hassles you will have when text image directly to disk. Getting the code to work in you translate. To get around While Applewriter is ideal for its new home is a different these problems, you may have this sort of thing, any pro- cessor that lets you print to disk can be used for these post processing ideas. What you do with post processing is first print to disk. Then you later use the disk image and further 60 DPI modify it, depending on what you are trying to do. In some cases, you run the disk image back through the same word processor. In ot- hers, you can use Applesloth or some other high level lan- guage to make any changes before your final printing. Let’s look at a dozen good 133 DPI examples of post processing. This will give you an idea of how general and how pow- erful this very little-known, yet extremely powerful tech- nique can become: Figure Three - How the two grays compare. (1) To improve the final appearance of a daisywheel printer, you might "double whap" each character, thus 11.3 January, 1986 printing everything bold. Just by putting markers into your post processing a tad on the print to disk and then get the text and then printing to disk. slow side. Even so, this may disk image back. Now search You then read the disk a line be the quickest and simpliest and replace every carriage re- at a time by using Applesloth. way to get the effect you are turn with a new carriage When the marker comes up, after. Once you have what return followed by a "print you stop the printing and start you want, things can almost everything bold" command. doing a graphics dump. When always be made to run faster. (2) Some of the dot matrix the picture or graph is fin- Let us briefly review those printers will continue their ished, you pick up the proper various ways we can speed up underlining of the right mar- printing in the proper position post processing, once you gin or the next left margin and continue with your text. have exactly what you want. every now and then. To cure (9) A "real" proportionally The entire Applesloth routine, this, print to disk, reload the spaced wall to wall microjust- or else just the time-critical new image, put a "no under- ification can be added to most parts of it, can be rewritten in line" command at the end of modern printers by initially machine language. the problem line, and then printing to disk. Then the disk A less drastic solution is to print to paper. is read by a suitable routine eliminate the very slow, line- (3) To change your daisy- that counts all the individual by-line disk access. One way wheel in mid-line for italics widths of each character in to do this is to use the files as or whatever, print to disk. the line. After that, each and they sit in the word proces- Then read the disk image every space on that line is sor’s workspace. Since Apple- with Applesloth, looking for widened just enough to force writer text files reside over in some keying markers. If no the text between left and right auxiliary memory and are marker is found, one line at a margins. When you do this, unaffected by a switch over to time is printed. If a marker is be sure to not justify leading Applesloth, this dual access found, the appropriate wheel spaces or else all your para- can be easily done. swap prompt is output. graphs will end up ratty. Several other methods to (4) Sometimes you might (10) For printers that al- eliminate those line-by-line want to print on two wildly ready have microjustification disk reads exist and may be different brands of printer or ready to go, a trip to disk lets suitable for other brands of even on both a printer and a you insert those special com- word processors as well. For typesetter. To do this, do a mands only at print time, so instance, you can load your print to disk using generic they stay out of your files. entire file at once into your commands. Then read your (11) Lists can be sorted and machine and then do an in- disk image and search/replace numbers can be totaled by ternal search. Or, you can use the generic commands with grabbing them just before a memory expansion card or a the specific ones. their final printing and rear- RAM disk to load the post- (5) To switch between two ranging their order. processed image. From RAM, word processors that have (12) Daisywheels having the files can be rapidly read. wildly differing commands, "funny" spokes might be re- Here’s an Applewriter post- print to disk first. This strips coded so they will print prop- processing tip: Do your final off all imbedded commands erly, again by printing to disk printing of the disk image by of the first word processor, and then doing a replace. using "wide open" print con- leaving you with a pure text You might find Applesloth stants. These do include lm0, image. Then read that image with the second program. (6) Headers and footers can DENSEST GRAYS: be customized beyond the limits of the word processor 133 28 {dup mul exch dup mul by repeated trips to disk. To add 1.0 exch sub} setscreen do a triple header, print to disk two lines shy, including BEST OVERALL GRAY: the bottom header line. Then reprint to disk one line shy, 100 45 {dup mul exch dup mul adding the middle header line. add 1.0 exch sub} setscreen Finally, print to paper while adding the top header line. DEFAULT: (7) Even and odd pagin- ation can be picked up by 60 45 {dup mul exch dup mul printing first to disk and then add 1.0 exch sub} setscreen doing a search/replace on every second header. Figure Four - Postscript halftone screen commands. (8) HIRES dumps or other graphics images are handled 11.4 ASK THE GURU pm0, tm0, bm0, rm240, pi66, tionally spread so far out that Other screen angles may be pl66, lj, and a blank for ut. you get that "Sunday funnies" used in higher quality work or Remember that you want no appearance. for special effects. further formatting added to I suspect that the reason for The standard Laserwriter your disk image. What is on the lousy stock grays involves screen is a very coarse "60" the disk is what you want to purposely degrading the Las- DPI, which explains why it actually print. erwriter grays so they are looks so lousy. Because the Well, by now you get the compatible with the lower Laserwriter resolution is 300 general idea. If you want to resolution Quickdraw routines DPI in both directions, 60 DPI get some special effect out of in the Mac. translates to a 5 x 5 square your word processor, just ask Fortunately, it is quite easy having a total of 25 dots. As if a print to disk and some to restore the grays back up figure one shows us, you can sneaky post processing cannot to Apple IIe and Applewriter get 26 gray levels out of this resolve things for you. quality, resulting in a dramat- screen by selectively printing Tellyawhat. A free SAMS ic improvement in all your or not printing each dot. book to the best five uses of images. In many cases, your Which dot gets printed post processing you send me. grays will look almost as if when is set by the dot spot Any old word processor at they were painted on with an function. The default spot all. Fair enough? india ink wash. function is 1 - (X*X + Y*Y), There is only one way to a math function that starts at How can I Print Black print a truly gray image on a the middle and works its way And White Photographs sheet of paper. And that is to to the edge of the 5 x 5 array. Or Other Video Images? use gray ink. Should you Each X and Y value, as mea- want several different shades sured from the center spot is Naturally, we’ll start out of true gray on the page, sev- dithered slightly, so that as with our stock answer. You eral passes through the press you get darker and darker, do this with Applewriter on would be needed, each with only one new dot is picked up an Apple IIe. How else could an ink change to a new shade. at a time. you possibly process video Since this is very ungood, To visualize what is hap- images or print good grays? the eye is instead tricked into pening here, get yourself a It looks like acceptable looking at bunches of dots on few long balsa strips that are quality photographs and video the page that are so close to- a quarter inch square. Now images can be easily handled gether they appear as a gray cut the strips so the first is by Applewriter. By "accept- image. As you’re purposely one inch long, the next an able" I mean something 75 to exceeding the eye’s angular eighth inch longer, and so on 100 gray dots per inch, with resolution, those black and until you have 25 strips. nine to sixteen possible gray white areas get integrated Next, glue these strips to- levels. Just like most of the together and you end up be- gether so they form a 5 x 5 halftone screens you see right lieving you are looking at array with one end flat, and here in Computer Shopper. gray, when there is actually the other end tallest in the This all started when I first no gray present. middle and forming a spiral got my Laserwriter. I was With traditional printing, to the edges. extremely dissapointed with grays are converted to black Finally, find a ring that can how crude the grays looked. and white dots by using a loosely fits the array. As you The standard grays were so special halftone screen mask. raise and lower that ring, note putrid they looked like they Halftone screens will pro- how more and more dots are came out of a Macintosh. duce a dot whose size dep- added to or removed from Worse yet, any thin gray ends on the gray scale at that your spot function. lines would disappear entirely point in the photo or video Things do get a tad more every now and then, unless image. You might want to complicated when you rotate you used the painfully slow magnify some of the ads right the halftone screen out to 45 setdash operator. Such lines here in Computer Shopper to degrees. It actually turns out are essential for overprinting see how those dots change that the stock 60 DPI, 45 layout grids onto artwork to shape and size as the areas degree screen has much less be digitized for laser printing. lighten or darken. than 60 DPI resolution. The The gray lines are also nice Most halftone screens are oblong array used has 32 dots on business forms. rated in dots per inch. One and gives 33 gray levels. This Recently, I checked into popular traditional screen size only averages out to a 53 DPI how the grays are imaged and is 120 DPI, which means that screen equivalent. came up with some suprising there are 120 * 120 = 14,400 There are restrictions on results. For some strange rea- gray dots per square inch. the size and rotation of the son, the stock grays on the Screens are usually twisted to screen, since everything has Laserwriter are spacey and a 45 degree angle, so that the to exactly work out in integer crude, with the dots inten- dot structure is minimized. (continued on page 12.5) 11.5 Don Lancaster’s Postscript typesetting ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 ASK THE GURU ASCII control commands The IIc "3.5" monitor upgrade February, 1986 A copy protected monitor ROM? e will start out with the contest a bit more and to the AppleTalk bus. our usual reminder award several more books. To More importantly, the new W that this is your col- win, just show me the most monitor includes a 65C02 umn, and you can pick up off the wall, the oddest, or the mini-assembler, along with technical help by using that most creative current use of trace and debug features. Not phone number shown below. Applewriter. nearly as good as Bugbyter, Your best calling times are 8 Nuff nonsense. On to the of course, but still rather AM to 5 PM — Mountain good stuff . . . handy. The min-assembler is Standard Time. ROM resident, so no extra Apple has apparently just What is the Apple room is needed while asssem- dropped their $50 bargain IIc Monitor Upgrade? bling or debugging. ProDOS Applewriter trade in The new monitor also adds offer for owners of any older You will find a newer and many of those Super Serial versions of Applewriter. They now double sized monitor Card commands that were left must have reasoned that a ROM available for the IIc. It out of the original IIc mon- year was long enough. I feel is called the IIc 3.5 ROM and itor. This means you can now that this move was extreme- has quite a few new features. run the Laserwriter off a IIc ly stupid, and that upgrade This new chip provides the almost as easily and conven- availability should go on for a firmware protocol converter iently as you can a IIe. minimum of at least one more required by the new 3.5 inch The 3.5 ROM is now a 32K year. One reason for this is disk drives. In fact, you must device, arranged as two banks that people are just beginning upgrade to this new monitor of 16K words. Each word is to discover the remarkable if you are going to add these eight bits long. That bank hidden powers lurking within new smaller drives to your IIc switching is done through the Applewriter. The beauty of system. use of machine language loc- the WPL to Postscript linking The new monitor also has a ation $C028 in what used to is one newly discovered use. built-in AppleTalk driver. You be the cassette recorder out- Apple’s steadfast refusal to now can connect your IIc on put area of the address space. sell any replacement manuals is equally short sighted. If you agree, then do rattle Apple’s cage. Or at least run a 1. ProDOS has been updated to version 1.1.1. stick over the bars. We have a winner in our 2. The length is some thirty bytes longer, with the latest contest. Mark Bannis- code now running from $2000 to $6009. ter from Huntsville, Alabama wins a free book as well as an 3. AWB.SYS, AWC.SYS, and AWD.SYS are now all expense paid tinaja quest $0C file types, instead of SYS files. for two (FOB Thatcher, AZ.) for his winning entry in our 4. The modem screen prompts are now carats, great Applewriter contest. As instead of brackets. you may recall, all you had to do to enter was show the best 5. Characters are output in high ASCII during way that you could milk cows printing and in low ASCII on PD0 or PD8. while using Applewriter. To quote Mark "It is com- 6. The DOS Options menu has been converted to mon knowledge that the "forced subroutine return" option picking. whirring sound of the Apple II disk drives can cause milk 7. The modem REFQ commands are compared cows to lactate on their own. Just put a bucket under the against file values, rather than immediate old gals and set your disks to code values. spinning. My neighbor tells me that it works on goats as Figure One - Changes made in the upgrade to well." ProDOS Applewriter 2.1. Since we’ve only had a few entries so far, I’ll "open up" 12.1 ASK THE GURU On reset, the main 3.5 bank There would be two big original IIc ROM. $FBBF is a is first selected. Each succes- advantages to Apple for the $00 in the new 3.5 IIc ROM. sive addressing of $C028 will motherboard swap. Many At any rate, there is a new toggle, first going to the aux- earlier IIc’s had a problem on free manual titled Apple IIc iliary bank, and then back to the 1200 baud modem. Apple Programmer’s Guide to the the main monitor bank. tried to use a baud rate that 3.5 ROM. It is publication To install the new ROM, a was pretty nigh but not quite number A2L4037, and should change in the motherboard plumb. A new crystal and two be available directly from must be made, cutting one trace cuts can solve this pro- Apple. A complete monitor line, and jumpering the un- blem, and current IIc boards listing is included. used cassette line over to the include this fix. A mother- As far as my products are additional address pin on the board swap would pick up concerned, this new ROM 3.5 ROM. any older IIc’s that still do will now let you run all of my I have heard of two dif- not have this defect corrected. Applewriter/Laserwriter Util- ferent ways the upgrade is Another reason for doing a ities on a IIc as easily as you being made. Developers can board swap is the reliability can on a IIe. I also have an buy a kit and do the cutting involved in the jumpering and improved absolute reset patch and jumpering themselves. cutting, which could lead to for the IIc that can be used This kit may be available at a repair and warranty hassles. with either the older or newer dealer, but it is equally likely A fourth i.d. byte is now IIc ROM. Write or call if you that they will want to swap needed to tell the old and new need more information. out the entire IIc motherboard IIc monitors apart. Location instead. $FBBF is an $FF back in the Tell me About the ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 Update The original release of ASCII HEX DEC KEY ORIGINAL USE ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 had a very serious bug in it. This NUL $ 0 0 0 [ @ ] Do nothing or null SOH $ 0 1 1 [ A ] Start of heading bug affected many users of so STX $ 0 2 2 [ B ] Start of text called "intelligent" IIe par- ETX $ 0 3 3 [ C ] End of text allel printer cards, including EOT $ 0 4 4 [ D ] End of transmission the Grappler and the Pkaso. ENQ $ 0 5 5 [ E ] Enquiry The usual syptoms included ACK $ 0 6 6 [ F ] Acknowledge bizarre printing, such as a BEL $ 0 7 7 [ G ] Bell or alarm burst of 23 spaces every 237 BS $ 0 8 8 [ H ] Backspace characters, or else the com- HT $ 0 9 9 [ I ] Horizontal tab plete ignoring of imbedded LF $ 0 A 10 [ J ] Line feed printer codes. VT $ 0 B 11 [ K ] Vertical tab Part of the fault lies in FF $ 0 C 12 [ L ] Formfeed older versions of the ProDOS CR $ 0 D 13 [ M ] Carriage return SO $ 0 E 14 [ N ] Shift out operating system, while an- SI $ 0 F 15 [ O ] Shift in other part is caused by Ap- plewriter 2.0 outputting its DLE $ 1 0 16 [ P ] Data link escape characters in low ASCII form DC1 $ 1 1 17 [ Q ] Device control #1 (MSB = 0), instead of a high DC2 $ 1 2 18 [ R ] Device control #2 ASCII (MSB = 1) format as is DC3 $ 1 3 19 [ S ] Device control #3 DC4 $ 1 4 20 [ T ] Device control #4 done under DOS 3.3. NAK $ 1 5 21 [ U ] Negative acknowledge The patches to upgrade to SYN $ 1 6 22 [ V ] Synchronous idle ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 are ETB $ 1 7 23 [ W ] End block transmit available free from your local Apple dealer. These patches CAN $ 1 8 24 [ X ] Cancel are very minimal. None of the EM $ 1 9 25 [ Y ] End of medium SUB $ 1 A 26 [ Z ] Substitute stuff that really needed fixed ESC $ 1 B 27 [ { ] Escape got done. All that was re- FS $ 1 C 28 [ | ] Form seperator paired was a few of the user GS $ 1 D 29 [ } ] Group seperator problems involving a few RS $ 1 E 30 [ ^ ] Range seperator third party interface cards. US $ 1 F 31 [ _ ] User seperator Figure one sums up the DEL $ 7 F 127 [ DELETE ] Delete main changes to the new 2.1 version of ProDOS Apple- writer. There are only a few Figure Two - Standard ASCII control codes can be dozen bytes of code that do shown in many different ways. change; unfortunately they make the program longer. 12.2 February, 1986 Thus, any custom patches And they all were getting control commands. These designed for the 2.0 version for their effort was fatal read commands form the bottom will NOT work on the new 2.1 errors. Why? 32 codes in that standard version! Well, because the monitor ASCII character code. These Changes in this upgrade chips used in an Apple IIe are control commands are used include a later version of the not 2764 EPROMs. They are for such non-printing things ProDOS operating system; a instead 2364 factory program- as carriage returns, escapes, switch to high ASCII output med ROMs. A 2364 turns into form feeds, line feeds, bells, but primarily while you are a 2764 only when pins 26, 27, and so on. actually printing; a change of and 28 are all externally con- Unfortunately, you might the actual program modules nected to +5 vdc. The Apple find many different ways of to type $0C files instead of IIe motherboard does do this showing these ASCII control SYS files; some slight jumpering for you, but a big commands as well as finding changes to the modem code; and old stand-alone EPROM many different ways of reach- and a very minor alteration to burner will not when it is in ing them. the DOS Options menu. its copy mode. Figure two shows us five Many of the Synergetics The solution? Just use a different ways of naming the patches to ProDOS Apple- cheap EPROM burner instead ASCII control commands and writer can be modified to run of an expensive one, and the their equivalents. under ProDOS Applewriter copy protection problems will The ASCII column shows 2.1. But they will not run as all magically disappear. us the memonic for every is and should not be installed. control command. As some Write or call for more info on What is the Difference Ferinstances, CR is a carriage these. Between a Formfeed, return, FF is a formfeed, BEL UPDATE: Oct 86, etc.. Control-L, [L], FF, is a bell, and BS is a back- CHR$(12) and space. This mnemonic is a Are the Apple Monitor ASCII $0C? reference for people only, and ROM’s Copy Protected? is not recognizable by most Nothing whatsoever. These personal computers. The amazing answer to are all exactly the same thing. The hex code column will this question is that, yes, the All of these are different show us the same ASCII code Apple monitor ROM chips ways you can show the ASCII in hexadecimal, accessed by are copy protected! But only if you try to copy them with a ridiculously expensive stand- alone EPROM programmer. is really [ K ] or And therein lies a tale. VT I started getting these wierd helpline calls a few weeks ago in which the people were is really [ J ] or LF claiming they were unable to copy those Apple monitor ROMs. Naturally, the Apple is really [ U ] or NAK itself is able to read its own monitor. My Snatchmon pro- gram can also read the same monitor chips, again with no is really [ H ] or BS problems. What could be happening? It turns out that all of these ESC is really [ [ ] or ESC people were making those absolute reset mods that I’ve shown you a few columns back, and all were doing so TAB is really [ I ] or HT on expensive and stand-alone EPROM burners. Instead of using my Snatchmon, they RETURN is really [ M ] or CR were simply trying to read the original Monitor chips by plugging these IC’s into the burner, and hand-patching Figure Three - Here’s the secret ASCII control codes that absolute reset mod into as used by the special Apple keys. the programmer’s memory, and then burning a new 2764. 12.3 ASK THE GURU a machine language program ASCII was first standardized. you, ASCII is a seven bit code or subroutine. Here CR is an Most of the original uses do that has a mere 128 defined $0D, FF is an $0C, BEL is still apply today. It would be states. Since most of the per- $07, and BS is a $08. You are extremely stupid to redefine a sonal computers work with likely to see this hex notation carriage return as anything eight data bits at once, the when you’re reading machine else. On the other hand, the remaining most significant language code. more oddball and obscure bit, or MSB, is free for any The dec code column shows commands, such as the group special uses as decided by the us the very same ASCII codes seperator or range seperator, system designer. in decimal, as would be need- are easily diverted to special This eighth MSB can be ed by Applesloth or another new commands that better used to tell any differences high level language. Here CR suit personal computers or between a key pressed and is a 13, FF is a 12, BEL is a software routines. not pressed, between normal 7, and BS is an 8. Some of the Apple keys are and inverse text on a screen, As decimal use examples, really hidden control keys. to mark the end of a word you might print a CHR$(13); Figure three shows us a few processing screen line, to tell CHR$(4) during DOS 3.3 disk of these. Ferinstance, the [tab] the difference between Apple- access. This will output a key is really a [I] HT for a sloth tokens and real text, or carriage return followed by horizontal tab command. in any of many other ways up the "Control-D" DOS access I recently had a big flap to the system designer. command. Or, you might do a with a none-too-bright editor Thus, there are two dif- POKE 28756, 13 to force a who reasoned that, since there ferent ASCII codes, as set by carriage return into a textfile. were no carriages on personal who uses the MSB for what. The 28756 is the address of computers, there could not be If the MSB is zero, we are that particular location in any carriage returns. using low ASCII. Low ASCII which you want to put the Now, stop laughing. This is often used for standard carriage return. This will, of was serious. Heavy even. non-Apple textfiles, and for course, change with your use Well, even if we ignore the use with Apple textfiles when application. The 13 here is fact that most all personal under ProDOS. the actual ASCII code for the computers are used with im- If the MSB is a one, we are carriage return. pact type printers that most using high ASCII. Now, high The Apple Keys column can assuredly do have carriages, ASCII is common in older show how you would enter a the standard ASCII $0D CR Apples, both for the normal certain control code from the is defined as a carriage return. screen display and for DOS Apple keyboard. As an ex- Thus, any time that $0D is 3.3 textfiles. Since many third ample, a [L] means to press placed in a textfile, we most party printer cards expect the control key, hold the definitely have and are using high ASCII as input, ProDOS control key down, press shift carriage returns. Applewriter 2.0 had to be and L, release shift and L, It is interesting to note that upgraded to version 2.1 to and then release the control the original ASCII carriage make sure these cards would key. This gives you a form return did just that. It moved not get confused. feed entered directly into your the carriage back to the left of Note that high ASCII and textfile or whatever. the page without doing a line low ASCII differ by hex $80 Some word processors will feed. Should you want to go or decimal 128. A high ASCII want you to use a verbatim to the next line down, two carriage return is decimal 141 entry mode. For instance, to commands were needed, a or hex $8D. place a form feed into an carriage return to get back to Applewriter file, press [V] [L] the left side, and a line feed OK, How Did You Do It? [V]. The first [V] says to be- to move down a line. gin verbatim entry. What will So, it would seem that type- Ah! We have a typesetter in follow will be placed directly writers do not have carriage the audience. Section WW, into your textfile, rather than returns, but that all personal row X, seat 97. The one with immediately acted upon. The computers do. the green eyeshade and the [L] is the form feed that gets Today, of course, most all ink all over their hands. placed into your file. The carriage returns are really Figure two is very hard to final [V] cancels the verbatim combined carriage returns and typeset on most of your big entry so that any new control line feeds. Most word pro- mutha typesetting machines, characters can actually be cessors and printer drivers because of the proportionally used for control purposes, in- usually give you a choice of spaced text. For a very good stead of going into a textfile. how many line feeds to use. example of how not to do Finally, the Original Use This often can eliminate any this, check page 26 of my column shows us what the line skipping or line overwrit- Enhancing Your Apple II&IIe, intended purpose of the con- ing problems. Vol. II (SAMS #22425). If trol command was whenever Just to thoroughly confuse you try to bracket or put a 12.4 February, 1986 "$" hex on a proportional (continued from page 11.5) grays look as if they were an typefont, the columns will all arithmetic, modulo 300. So, ink wash. Yet they still re- end up ratty. Will they ever. while there are zillions of main readable as a halftone Since it doesn’t matter in screen options you can call by most printing processes. the least which direction you for, only a small handfull will Figure four shows you the build up a Laserwriter bitmap end up unique. Postscript commands needed image, you simply work dir- Figure two shows us our to set these special screens. ectly with each column, rather first improved halftone. It is You can also design custom than with each row. Which called a 100 DPI, 45 degree screens with background pat- ends up far easier and far screen and gives you nine terns or anything else you faster. gray levels. The actual resol- want. Full details on these Now for the tricky part. ution turns out to be 106 DPI. pattern screens appear in the Each column in the figure is This is "four times grayer" two Postscript books. treated as an individual and than the stock tones, and sure We can now see from both very narrow paragraph. The looks better. figures one or two exactly ASCII column paragraph is This screen would seem to why certain grays drop out on left justified. be one excellent choice for one-pixel lines. There is a The HEX column paragraph printing of photographs and minimum amount of "gray- is fill microjustified, placing a video images. You would do ness" needed in those spot space between the $ and the this by digitizing an image so functions to be sure that all first numeral and a second there are around 100 gray horizontal and all vertical space after the first numeral. dots per inch in both the X single pixel lines encounter at The spaces automatically get and Y directions. least one black dot in the compressed just enough to Then you would reduce the halftone. keep all of the hex values at resolution of your digitized So, if your gray lines oc- an exact constant width, yet gray image to nine levels. casionaly drop out, either still hold attractive characters These digitized levels are switch to a denser screen or that are spaced proportionally. next converted to hex-ASCII else change to a darker gray. Note that the spaces get pairs and grabbed by Apple- So far, I have been unable squashed bunches, rather than writer as part of your text to find any dense halftone your usual stretch. file. From there, the image screens having 7, 8, or 16 The Dec column is right command in Postscript takes gray levels. Please do let me justified. The Key column is over and draws the picture. know if you find any. fill justified through use of an You can trade off gray There is one restriction to opening bracket, a space, a levels for screen resolution. the use of very dense screens. symbol, another space, and a The more grays, the farther The lightest available gray closing bracket. Once again, apart the gray dots have to be ends up fairly dark. This is the pair of spaces get squash- placed. caused first by the limited ed just enough to keep the With a stock Applewriter, number of dots, and secondly brackets at a constant width. you could handle a tad under by the fact that each dot will The final Use column is left five square inches of picture "overprint" somewhat so the justified. in one piece. This can be dra- toner dot ends up larger than Total user time? Around matically increased by going its intended size. If this did fifteen minutes for the entire to some suitable compaction not happen, solid lines and figure. This could be sped up scheme or else by using a any blacks might not end up further with some practice RAM card for textfile length continuous. and a little help from WPL. expansion. Thus, a halftone function Note that this entire figure I don’t happen to yet have with half of the dots printed was typeset; no pasteup was any digitized video or photos and half of the dots blank will involved. on hand, but if you send me appear considerably darker One very big advantage of some on disk, I’ll be happy to than a 50% gray. working by columns is that play with them for you. Be- You are free to mix half- the content of any column tween all those tinaja quests, tone screens in any way you holds identical stuff, while of course. like. Thus, you can use your the usual row holds a mish- At 106 DPI, these dots are 133 line screen for medium mash of wildly conflicting barely discernable. and dark grays, and the 100 character strings. For line artwork, you might line one where you have to In fact, this entire Guru prefer even denser dots and have the lighter grays. column was written, "drawn" fewer gray levels. My favorite To find out what great and typeset on an Apple IIe. screen is a 133 DPI, 28 deg- Laserwriter grays really look And, yes, that includes all of ree one that gives you six like, just write or call and I the final "camera ready" art- gray levels. As you can see will gladly send you a free work as well. Even the initial from figure three, the dots are gray scale demo that you drop cap. so close together that the simply will not believe. 12.5 Don Lancaster’s Curve tracing The VIP computer ASK THE GURU VIP user applications Apple’s Laserwriter plus March, 1986 Accessing USGS data bases will try and be around writer Plus is that eight pre- fully for who is calling what the Computer Shopper viously empty ROM sockets a font. I booth at the West Coast have been newly filled and a On the gutless, imitation Computer Faire April 3-6 in program block got moved. Laserwriter knockoffs, one the San Francisco Moscone Inside all those new ROM single font gives you only one Center. I am also hoping to chips are 22 brand new fonts way of showing one size of speak on the Apple IIe and that are most exciting and one particular typestyle only laser printing, but I may have quite useful. in one page direction. already missed their paper Now included are two new On a real Laserwriter or on deadline. san-seriff style fonts named a Laserwriter Plus, one font Stop in and say hi. Avant Garde and Helvetica can be shown in any size I now have a new Apple- Narrow. There are also three from 2 points on up to 65,000 writer Cookbook out from new Roman style fonts called points in quarter point inc- SAMS (#22460). If you can’t Bookman, Century School- rements. That font may be find one locally, I do have a book, and fancy Palatino. imaged in any direction or few autographed copies on Each of these fonts are along any path, besides being hand here that I could be available in normal, in bold, stretchable. leanable, or twist- persuaded to part with. in italic, and in bold italic able in any direction and cap- And, our usual reminder variations. Rounding out this able of being outlined, shad- that this is your column and new super font collection is a owed, gray shaded, clipped, that you can get in on the fun calligraphic font named Zapf three-dimensioned, patterned, by writing or calling per the Chancery and a collection of and who knows what elsed. end box. I also have lots of printer’s icons and "dingbat" Thus, one Laserwriter font neat freebies available for you symbols. equals at least several billion if you call or write. All the old fonts are still knockoff laser printer fonts. there, including Symbol, Hel- That’s assuming you are not vetica Times Courier What’s the Word on The , , and . very creative. If you are, then New Laserwriter Plus? The total number of resident one Laserwriter font equals a fonts now total 35, when you totally ridiculous number of The only real differences add up all the variations. imitation knockoff fonts. between the old Laserwriter But, before we go on, be Beware of knockoff hype! and the brand new Laser- sure to watch out very care- Back to that brand new Laserwriter Plus. Some very subtle bugs in the old ROMs were fixed in this upgrade. There also are some speed improvements of interest to those intent on using a new Macintosh Plus as a Laser- writer driver. Using an Apple IIe still remains faster, however. Par- ticularly since you can now serially communicate at up to 57600 Baud. The Laserwriter Plus also proudly supports "download- able fonts". But this needs some clarification, for things are not at all what they seem. You always had the ability to download custom fonts Apple IIe Las Figure One - To draw a smooth curve, first pick from an to the - erwriter, either with each job a few data points . . . or once on initial power up. Thankfully, this ability still does remain. 13.1 March, 1986 What has been added is a by the font description are is faked by an 8K x 8 CMOS method of downloading a new completely independent of the memory that plugs into an series of extremely expensive, final character sizing on the "intelligent socket" that has a highly protected, and strictly page. Further, only a single backup battery in it. Just the site-licensed fonts. font description is needed for sort of thing you would want Since any idiot with a cheat all possible output point sizes for a bare bones controller for book can easily scarf up his and image directions. most any dedicated or experi- own downloadable fonts for Over on the RAM side, one mental use. And very easily the Laserwriter, I can see a megabyte is used for the full expanded to boot. great battle shaping up be- page bitmap. Another 256K is Now for the neat part. This tween cheap, unprotected, and used for a font cache that computer is also a plug-in unlicensed fonts on one hand, converts any currently active card for an Apple IIe! and very expensive, locked, fonts into a character bitmap To initally develop your protected, and site licensed so they can be rapidly read. application, you plug the VIP ones on the other. This solves the dilemma of into the Apple. The Apple Yet this entire battle can be having a very compact des- takes over, letting you write easily avoided by (A) rem- cription of a font, yet still to or read from the VIP, and oving ALL protection from providing both a very high turning loose all of the pow- both the fonts and the font resolution and fast imaging of erful Apple development tools access, (B) eliminating need- the characters when they are including EDASM, the disk less and utterly unworkable needed. drives, BUGBYTER, modems, site licensing, and (C) reduc- What is New In Small a printer, and whatever else. ing the price of downloadable Control Computers? After your VIP is first pro- fonts below the level that grammed, you haul it off to makes using a cheat book so I just ran into a brand new the shirtsleeves world where attractive in the first place. control computer that I am it belongs and use it as a ded- Time will tell. really impressed with. It’s icated stand alone computer Several readers have asked called the VIP and is made by or controller. what the internal Laserwriter Bukowski Robotics. VIP is an Should your application be computer looks like. Well, abbreviation for a Very Intel- doing some data acquisition, there are really two internal ligent Peripheral. once your data is acquired, computers, one that’s built by 65C02 of course. But with a you can plug your card back Canon as a mechanism cont- crucial difference. Start with into your Apple and upload roller, and one built by Apple a bare bones 65C02 style mic- whatever it is you just have as a Postscript interpreter. roprocessor and your usual measured. The Apple manufactured 6522 sixteen line parallel port. From a memory mapping computer is very big, very No ROM. No dynamic RAM. standpoint, the VIP memory simple, and very awesome. A Instead, 8K of non-volatile is split into a "low" 6K and a 68000 CPU with 1.5 mega- static RAM. The static RAM "high" 2K. The high 2K maps bytes of RAM and 1 meg of ROM. A total of 48 RAM chips and either 8 or 16 ROM chips. Two ports, one for the laser controller, and one for serial I/O. A rather unusual pair of stablemates as port chips: a 6522 along with – brace your- self – a Z80 SIO. Presumably, some features are available in the Z80 chip that aren’t available in the 6551 that you would expect to find in this socket. The ROM holds the Forth- like Postscript interpreter, along with the resident fonts. The average font uses around 12K of memory, but this can vary all over the lot. A "sec- ret" compaction scheme has Figure Two - . . . and then use my curvetrace been used to squash the fonts routine to connect the dots. down to this size. Note that the bytes needed 13.2 ASK THE GURU into the Apple I/O space from control of just about anything. picker shim setting process, $C800-CFFF. To the VIP it- Let us use our own Gila besides greatly increasing the self, this 2K sits from $F800- Valley Apple Growers for yields and the grade of the FFFF, just where you would some examples. I’m extreme- recovered cotton. expect your monitor, control ly proud of each of these Phil is building intelligent program, and reset vectors to people, for they are doing taps for the cable tv system reside. some really amazing hands-on he manages, allowing indiv- The all CMOS design VIP computer type stuff. idual customer services to be draws very little current and They’re also doing it in a remotely switched on and off. is easily battery powered. It is low tech part of the country Newer and much more flex- not, however, a micropower that is so remote that over- ible cable services can now controller that will run for- night delivery services take a be offered, besides complete- ever on a tiny battery. week and where driving to ly thwarting the midnight CMOS controller computers the nearest decent library pole climber. have long been available from takes six hours. Claude is now retrofitting outfits like John Bell and While the VIP computer ancient paper tape numeric Onset. At $129, the VIP does does not immediately solve control machine tools so they compare favorably with these all of their problems, it sure become fully Apple compat- older devices, besides offer- will be a big help, particularly ible. Now the full resources ing the big convenience of for initial feasability work. of an Apple, including disk immediate Apple compatib- We sure had been getting storage, printing, etc., are ility and immmediate use of tired of burning EPROMs for available to these early tools. Apple development tools. each and every code change! Anne is designing a robotic There’s also rumors of a We also were getting tired of router for the sign making new 65C02 family single chip having a dozen "alike but trade. You simply type in that includes multi channel different somehow" designs your message, the size, and D/A converters, internal step- on hand, none of which ever the type style, and out comes per driver logic, serial ports, quite got fully debugged. your ready to sell carved lots of parallel lines, real time Anyway, here’s a list of wooden sign. Ron is doing the clocks, and a soft ice cream what real people are doing same thing for an ultra high dispenser. Combine this dude right now that involve VIP- pressure water knife used in with the VIP, and you will like small control computers: fabric cutting. really have something. Dave is automating the Terry is working up an adjustment of cotton picking elaborate control system for a Who Could Use The machinery by using his small hydroponic greenhouse that VIP Computer? handheld controller that ad- involves hundreds of individ- vances a linear stepper used ual water control valves. The Just about anybody that as a micrometer. This very timers previously used were wants to play with computer much speeds up the exacting really raising havoc after they got out of phase with each other. Jim has made a brilliant breakthrough in solar pump engineering. By dynamically changing the pump stroke in proportion to the available sunlight, his small controller completely eliminates a need for any batteries, inverters, or other costly, hard to maintain, and inefficient add-ons. Jay is a wildlife biologist and ornithologist living in a primitive area. He is very interested in remote data ac- quisition and recording of any environmental and weather data. He is also involved in spectral analysis of bird calls. Gary is into model rail- Figure Three - A variable line width is handled by roading in a big sort of way. tracing a pair of curves and filling Instead of simply detecting the area between them. whenever a train goes past a certain point, a bar code 13.3 March, 1986 sensor reads a label pasted new Apple XVIII, hit a few the secrets that lets good old underneath each car. Not only keys, and then instantly print Applewriter on an Apple IIe do you detect the presence of yourself a high quality full produce umatchably superb a train, but you can also tell color laser copy of any map graphic images directly from which train it is, along with of any part of the country to the Laserwriter. the speed, direction, and exact any detail level you care to. As we’ve seen before, these arrangement of all of its cars. Maps are a nearly ideal sub- images are vastly better than Bill is developing an ultra- ject for videodisk or CD ROM those that are available from cheap video frame grabber storage and delivery. any screen oriented graphics that lets the Apple do most of program on any other per- the work. A small control What is Curve Tracing? sonal computer. computer is invaluable when Curve tracing easily draws working out the initial timing Some black magic invol- straight lines, square corners, details, without the need of ving curve tracing is one of sharp vees, and very complex, any costly custom hardware changes. Elaine is working on a temperature controller for a new fusion process that should lead to full Laser- writer color, and do so at a tiny fraction of the going rate for these systems. As I said, these are all real people doing real things that the VIP can and will greatly help. All of these people do welcome inquires and con- sulting work. They also do accept cash in small bills. Just write or call if you want me to put you in touch with any of them. Are USGS Maps Available As Data Bases? Figure Four - Pipes or wires are done by using a triple-stroking technique. Yes. Much of the contents of most USGS topographic maps are now available as computer readable tapes un- der the Geodata program from the National Carto- graphic Information Center. The format is your choice of big dino computer tape or else in cuneiform on fired clay tablets, packed with a 0.03 cubit spacing of papyrus reeds. The price is not cheap, but it is not bad either – if you really need the data. Charges around $100 per tape are more or less typical. Typical data bases include survey boundaries, state and county lines, place names, and water features. The actual topographic contours are not yet available, since a vastly bigger data base would be Figure Five - Cusps or sharp corners are done by required. Some day, though. re-using the same data point twice. In fact, some day, you will flip a CD videodisk into your 13.4 ASK THE GURU smoothly flowing curves. It done in figure one. The points results. The fewer points you does so with an astonishingly will obey two crucial rules: use, the shorter the file, and small number of input data (1) Each point must be on the faster the image will get points. As examples, a large the curve you want to draw. drawn. circle needs only four data (2) The slope or tangent of Not so obvious is how you points, and a full page gray- the curve at any point will be choose the spacing between shaded cartoon character ends parallel to a line drawn be- adjacent points. But if you up with a file length shorter tween the previous point and follow the two rules, and than a typical business memo. the next point coming up. remember that the slope at Let us travel step by step The locations and the exact any point is set by the ad- through a curvetrace and see spacing of the points is up to jacent point pair, things will just how it works. you. Obviously, the more work out pretty good. You start out by picking points you use, the closer the Next, you punch these data some data points, as we have curve fit, and the better the points into Applewriter, then bracket them, and follow them with the magic word curvetrace, and out comes figure two, an unbelievably smooth curve. You should have previously installed my curvetrace routine into your text file. Both ends of the curve do need special treatment. At the start, you tell the curve the direction you want to head in, expressed in degrees. At the end of the curve, you tell the curve the direction you want to come from, also expressed in degrees. My routine takes the points and then converts them into the data values needed by the Figure Six - Curve tracing can include straight cubic spline feature of the Laserwriter. Once converted lines, corners, and smooth curves to cubic splines, the rest is as in this Roman "I". trivial. You can think of my curvetrace routine as an "in- verse spline transformer". Hint: should certain areas look a tad ratty, pay close attention to the difference be- tween any two adjacent data points, making sure these are changing in a smooth way. I’ll be most happy to send you the free listing of my curvetrace routine if you call or write. I will also throw in some cartoon samples and some other goodies. Don’t forget that I also have a free Laserwriter demo pack that’s available just for you. Back to the program. Figure three shows us how you handle a variable width curve. What you do is trace two adjacent curves and then Figure Seven - Varying the tension produced this fill in between them. Applewriter graphic art. Only seven Figure four shows how you data points were used! would draw a wire, a pipe, braiding, or even an elaborate 13.5 March, 1986 border. You start out with a you want them. obvious candidate. One ex- curvetrace. Then you repeat A tension of zero does the ample would be an indian this path three times. The first exact opposite, and shows head for a silk screened Tee time, you draw a wide white you the tangent line through shirt. line. This line will then erase each point. This is also useful We have already seen how anything the wire or pipe runs as a debugging tool. our pipes and wires can be over, giving you the neat little Tension values positive and handled for tech illustrations. break that you can see at the above normal tend to flatten The very same ideas can be crossover. the curve. Any tension values abstracted for borders, braid- Next, you draw a slightly positive and below normal ing and such. narrower black line. This sets tend to loop or "destabilize" One thing that radically the "outside diameter" of the the curve. Positive tension excites me about curve trac- pipe or the wire. Finally, you values near zero (say 0.3) ing is that you can eliminate draw an even narrower white give you "spirograph" effects, the need for any digitizer, line. This produces the inside while negative tension values scanner or video camera when of the pipe or wire. near zero (try -0.3) give you grabbing your artwork! Those The apparent black line "inverse spirograph" effects curvetrace points are sparse width you end up with is one with all the loops on the enough that you can quickly half of the difference between inside, rather than the outside and easily digitize almost the width of the black stroke of the curve. anything by hand. and the white one. Finally, our just for fun Here’s how I currently Comprehende? figure seven shows you the digitize stuff. First, I enlarge Now that may look like a effects of varying tension of a the original art on a copier, plain old wire to you. But for simple curvetracing. What making the image as big as years I have been searching utterly and totally boggles the possible. I then run off for a way to quickly and be- mind is that this entire figure several copies. These copies lievably show natural looking is derived from only seven are then put into the Las- wires for electronic pictorials data points! erwriter paper tray, and one and such. Thanks to good old of the gray grids from my Applewriter/Laserwriter Util Applewriter, wires are now a So, What Good is - ities trivial task. Curve Tracing? package is overprinted Let us move on. Figure five onto them. shows us how to handle a There are all sorts of in- In the case of a character in cusp or a sharp edge. All you credibly powerful things you a font, a special grid is used do is double the data point, can do with curve tracing. instead that is carefully scaled repeating the same point pair The biggie, of course, is and rotated until the character twice. Figure six shows us a downloadable type fonts. By is squarely sitting inside a Roman "I" that combines a curvetracing, you can have 1000 x 1000 box. mix of straight lines, cusps, very smooth letters and char- Continuing, you then put and smooth curves. acters that even get better as the combined grid and art Now for the artsy-craftsy they are magnified, and yet image on a piece of cork and stuff. There is a parameter in need only one compact file to stab your data points with a my curvetrace routine called handle any and all different pin or needle. Then you hand the tension. Normally, you sizes and orientations of text enter the points into Apple- hold the tension to its op- on the page. writer and you are all set. A timum value of +2.82. Next on the list are sig- light box helps a lot here. The tension determines the natures. There are two ways Any variations from your "enthuasiasm" with which the to handle laser printed hand original art are also easily curve leaves or enters the signatures. You can create a done. You can pick off only next point. With the optimum bitmap of a signature with a the part of the image you tension, you do get the most digitizer, or else you can use really need. You can also accurate possible curvetrace. a curvetrace. The curvetrace change the shape and size of But being accurate is no will almost always end up far everything as you go along, fun. At least not all the time. smoother and vastly more adding or dropping detail. Try Instead, some very neat convincing, besides taking up doing that on a digitizer or a things happen when you vary far less file space and not scanner! the tension away from its needing any costly equip- Once again, remember that optimum value. If you use a ment, skills, or special setup. you need suprisingly few data tension of 1000 or greater, Cartoon characters are one points for a curvetrace, so you will get straight lines obvious possibility. As I men- doing things by hand is not between all the points. These tioned above, I have a few I that tedious or time consum- straight lines are a useful would like to share with you ing a job at all. And the final debugging tool that make sure if you call or write. Free form results quite often will be the points are really where art of any style is another absolutely spectacular. 13.6 Don Lancaster’s WPL and [Q]-C Laserwriter Plus bugs ASK THE GURU New Apple RAM card A new control computer April, 1986 Postscript schematic drawing e sure to stop in at most readable history of the But, we will have to save the Computer Shopper roots of the microcomputer details on this mind-blower Bbooth at the West Coast revolution. for a future column. Computer Faire April 3-6 in And Tom Weishaar sent On with this month’s San Francisco’s Moscone along his Your Best Interest goodies . . . Center. I will try and be on book on calculating interest What is the Word on the hand to meet you all four rates by using a spreadsheet. New 6502? days. I’ll also haul along a Tom reveals many of those bunch of autographed books things that banks and other I just ran into one really and software, particularly the lending institutions definitely exciting new microprocessor new Laserwriter Utilities, my do not want you to know. chip that should be ideal for new Ramcard Disassembly I also just got word on an most any small controller, Script, and my freshly re- incredible new card for the trainer, or data gathering use. printed Micro Cookbook. IIe that can let you cheaply Its the Mitsubishi M50734 and Bee should be there with display real photographs and sells for $12 in singles, dealer all of her demos to answer all video images directly on your stock. It is built in CMOS and your desktop publishing Apple IIe monitor screen with speaks 6502, so it should be questions, and I’ll probably full gray scale. I’ll be using quite easy to use with any be speaking on laser printing this exciting new system to Apple, Commodore, Atari, or with the Apple IIe. directly print photographs the rest of the 6502 gang. Drop by for a while. using Applewriter along, of Internal bank switching is So much is happening so course, with the Laserwriter. used to create a double size fast, that I don’t know where One obvious use is for real 128K address space. That to even begin. Forrest Mims estate people who can print a second 64K switches only on sent me a copy of his brand "photograph" directly on their indexed instructions, so it is new Siliconnections book, a home listings. primarily intended for use as data storage. No RAM or ROM inside, but you simply won’t believe --- HIGH LEVEL ENTRY -- all of the ready-for-your-use $C500 - Initialize Ramcard peripheral circuitry stuffed $C50A - Memory test entry point into this beast. How does 40 $C551 - ProDOS device driver entry I/O lines, 9 timers, a four $C54E - Protocol converter entry input A/D converter, two dual $C5DB - DOS RWTS entry phase stepper motor drivers, a $C5F7 - Turn on card ROM Centronics port, a pulse pos- $CFFF - Turn off card ROM ition modulator, a two-way UART serial interface, and a --- MID LEVEL ENTRY --- synchronous serial I/O sound? $C800 - Command interpreter The operating power is $C8F9 - Read RAM block around 150 milliwatts, but $C964 - Write RAM lock this can be greatly reduced by $CAB2 - Find installed RAM lowering the clock frequency, $CAEF - Format Ramcard as diskette and can be almost entirely $CCF0 - Memory test routines shut down (to 5 microamps!) with a sleep provision. --- LOW LEVEL ENTRY --- If that’s not enough for you, there are enough pins on $C0C0 - Address low byte the package that you can also $C0C1 - Address mid byte put it to use as an emergency $C0C2 - Address high byte cheese grater. $C0C3 - Data read/write The obvious uses would include such things as data Figure One - Here’s the entry points to Apple’s recorders, hydroponic garden- Ramcard. Slot 5 values are shown. ing controllers, cattle feeder setups, cable tv intelligent taps, student trainers, hot tub 14.1 April, 1986 pump cyclers, solar powered two titles for you. that the operating system array interfaces, for general I’ve got a contest going on should already have flushed. robotics, weigh scales, cotton this chip in my Hardware The error at $CFF2 is so picker tooth setters, student Hacker column in Modern embarrasing that we cannot trainers, numeric controlled Electronics, so I’ll let you in even talk about it in a family machine tools, etc . . . on the fun as well. A free magazine such as Computer Several minor gotchas. The SAMS book to the best ten Shopper. 64 pin, 70 mil shrink DIP uses for the M50734. The There are two extremely package is oddball, so sockets overall winner gets an all ex- important use rules. The ad- may be very hard to find. An pense paid tinaja quest for dresses must be set in low 8X clock is needed, and a two (FOB Thatcher, Arizona). byte, mid byte, and high byte large block of the page zero One suggestion: Several of order to prevent overflows addresses are reserved. the local Mitsubishi reps seem from trashing those address In addition, there are not to be suffering from acute bytes you have already set. enough pins to go around, so recto-cranial inversion prob- And that data word access they used the $#@% Motor- lems, so go directly to their must be done using absolute ola style pin multiplexing on main office and plant for data addressing. Since the data the data/low address lines. At sheets, ap notes, and further access will auto-increment the the very worst, this can mean information. addresses, indexed addressing you will have to provide for a or indirect indexed addressing 74HC373 addressing latch in Any Further Details on will move you along by two your final circuit. Apple’s Ram Expansion memory locations, due to a It might even be possible to Card? double access. drop this dude and an adaptor Another solution is to go directly into the 65C02 socket I’ve only played with this ahead and use the indexed on an Apple IIc. II+, or IIe, new memory expansion card addressing, but be certain that and then run everything else for a week or two, and I am you cross a page boundary. out of a humongous new I/O convinced it is far and away For instance, a $BFF8,X will connector. the best route to adding extra work just fine, but a C000,X But you would have to be memory to your Apple IIe. will double whap. very sneaky to convert Ap- Let us get several of the Note that this very strange ple’s 1X system clock with its gotchas out of the way right and double whapped indexed very precisely controlled and off. There are at least nine access does apply both to the intentional jitter into the 8X bugs in the 2732 firmware on 6502 and 65C02, but does so clock as needed by this chip. the card. Locations $C15E, for different reasons. Switching around the page $C25E, . . . and $C75E should One big surprise is that the zero locations can get rather all be CPY $C0 rather than Ramcard does not signifi- tricky, and a few of the Apple the CMP $C9 commands. For- cantly speed up any Apple- signal lines would have to get tunately, this code is only writer file access. As a timing faked somewhow. needed to trap an input error example, a 25K text file takes But stay tuned. The beauty of being more or less Apple compatible is % plusbugfix that the full resources of the % ...... Apple become available for your design, debugging, and % repairs copypage and prefeed bugs. testing of what you want to % insert at beginning of textfile. do. No costly ROM masks or emulation software is needed, /intendcopypage { gsave initgraphics 100 and the whole design process gets fast and fun by using 100 translate 1 1 true [ 1 0 0 1 0 0 ] standard assemblers, debug- {<00>} imagemask grestore} def gers, printers, disk drives, and so on down the list. /copypage {systemdict /copypage get exec An obvious thing to do is intendcopypage} def combine the VIP peripheral card we looked at last month intendcopypage with this exciting new chip. You’ll find lots of infor- % ...... mation on the programming of 6502 style chips such as the M50734 in my two Micro Figure Two - This "workaround" will bypass two Cookbooks (SAMS #21828 serious Laserwriter Plus bugs. and 21829). I do stock these 14.2 ASK THE GURU 16 seconds to read from disk Why Does [Q]-C Foul up What are the bugs in the and 10 seconds when reading A WPL Program? Laserwriter Plus? from the Ramcard. The reason for this is that In Applewriter, when you As with any major upgrade Applewriter reads files one are running a WPL program, in any computer system or block at a time so its internal an attempt to load new print peripheral, the Laserwriter powerful searching delimiters constants with that [Q]-C op- Plus Version 38 ROM’s have can be used to retrieve por- tion will, of course, load new several bugs in them that did tions of a file. print constants. Included in not come out of the wood- For a 25K textfile, a total the print constants are new work until many users started of fifty ProDOS calls will be values for the WPL variables exercising their machines in needed, each of which grabs (x), (y), and (z). Should any ways unexpected by the pro- one 512 character block. current use be presently made grammers. At any rate, I’ve just put of these numeric variables by The good news is that the together a complete disas- the WPL program, bizarre worst two bugs can be easily sembly script and source code and unpredictable things will repaired with a single "work- capturer for this card, along almost certainly happen. around" paragraph that you with some utility routines. One cure is to save crucial can add to the start of your Included are full secrets of (x), (y), or (z) values to the files. The bad news is that how the card is initialized for $A-D string variables, and one of the bugs affects the all of the DOS, ProDOS, Pas- then to restore them after the most used command and the cal, and Protocol Converter new constants are loaded. A other one simulates a major operating systems. Included second cure is to hand load paper path failure. After per- also are details on how to each of the print constants forming a two day complete safely and selectively reserve from within WPL. printer overhaul, it sure had memory areas for your own I’ve got a few new Apple- me fooled. That’s no bug – its personal use. writer patches almost ready, a feature! Figure one gives you a some mine, some by others. The first bug involves the preview of some of the legal These do include various 2.1 copypage command. There and not so legal entry points patches, more WPL variables, are lots of times when you to this card. and real time clock access. want to print a copy and then Write or call if you are We’ll have much more on go on and create several interested in a fresh copy of these next time. changes and then reprint some this new script. I hope. of the old image mixed in with the new. For instance, the fast way to do a form letter is to put the entire letter into the Laserwriter and then erase and change only the name and address for each successive letter. Yet another major use of copypage is as a debugging tool when it is used as a breakpoint. Sadly, a "broken" copypage routine can introduce more bugs than it can find. The second bug involves prefeeding. To speed things up, the new Laserwriter plus looks ahead of where it is processing and starts feeding paper before it is actually needed. For 95 percent of the time, the processing finishes before the paper motion is complete. For another 3 per- cent of the time, there is a slight delay of a few seconds. But for the remaining two percent of the time, the mac- Figure Three - To draw an Applewriter schematic, hine just sits there spinning start with a gray rubber grid . . . its wheels, running its laser and making strange noises, 14.3 April, 1986 for as long as five minutes. flexible, and the most exact Applewriter/Laserwriter Util- Figure two shows you the way of wringing the ultimate ities package. What I would workaround that repairs both perfomance out of your Las- like to do here is share with problems. Simply place this erwriter or Laserwriter Plus. you some of the key secrets routine at the beginning of By the strangest of coin- and show you how its done. your Postscript code any time cidences, I’ve put together an As figure three shows us, you want to use copypage for electronic schematic routine you can start out with a gray repeat imaging or any time that is a small portion of my rubber grid that will let you else you get that "stuck in the snow" wheel spinning. It probably is not a good idea to use this patch all the time as it slows things down somewhat and only adds to your program length. There is also apparently a third bug that involves a fatal limitcheck on the frame de- vice buffer. This one is way out of the mainstream and so far has not been pinned down. 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 But it certainly is real. 1Y 2Y 3Y 4Y 5Y 6Y 7Y 8Y +5V +5V 4A 4B 4Y 3Y 3B 3A ULN 2803 4093 By the way, the new Las- (top view) (top view) 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A 8A GND 1A 1B 1Y 2Y 2A 2B GND erwriter Plus has these main 123456789 1234567 differences over the original machine: The amount of ROM has been doubled by going to double sized chips. There are some exciting and useful new built-in fonts. Operation is now slightly faster when using an Apple IIe and considerably faster Figure Four - . . . Now, drop your symbols in when using a Mac. However, place where you want them. the apparent speed of a IIe remains faster than that of a Mac when running most of your typical applications. In addition to the previous ability to download low cost, unprotected, and unlicensed user defined fonts from any source, the new machine also offers you a special feature to download from one single source of expensive, protec- ted, and site licensed fonts. How Can I draw an 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 1Y 2Y 3Y 4Y 5Y 6Y 7Y 8Y +5V +5V 4A 4B 4Y 3Y 3B 3A Electronic Schematic? ULN 2803 4093 (top view) (top view) 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A 8A GND 1A 1B 1Y 2Y 2A 2B GND Why, with Applewriter on 123456789 1234567 an Apple IIe of course. How else could you possibly draw an electronic schematic? The image quality and the flexibility both end up vastly better than anything that’s currently available from any screen oriented graphics rou- tine on any microcomputer. Why? Because an exact text Figure Five - . . . Next, slide the wiring under description is far and away the symbols. Note the breaks. the most powerful, the most 14.4 ASK THE GURU TRAINER I/O INTERFACE Surface mount components on foil side; Test Points (10) Use sockets for both integrated circuits. ORN ORN RED YEL GRN RED YEL GRN CdS Light Sensor 330 Ω 20K µ 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 0.1 F 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 1Y 2Y 3Y 4Y 5Y 6Y 7Y 8Y +5V +5V 4A 4B 4Y 3Y 3B 3A ULN 2803 4093 (top view) (top view) 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A 8A GND 1A 1B 1Y 2Y 2A 2B GND 123456789 1234567 3.3K 0.1 µF 22 1 A 44 Pin 0.153 Edge Connector Figure Six - . . . Then add the lettering to complete the final schematic. stretch or squash the drawing are put down, they erase and tegrated circuit pictorial is the to the size you desire. Nor- then overwrite whatever hap- center of pin number one. mally, one unit of the grid is pens to be under them. Some symbols make use of defined as the space between Thus, you could put down an automated DIP pictorial adjacent pins on an integrated one continuous wire first, and generator. To draw a com- circuit package. You can turn then drop a resistor on top of plex 40 pin integrated circuit, the grid on and off as needed. it. This is far faster and far you use a special routine. All Unlike the screen graphics easier than worrying about you have to tell this routine is grids, you can easily use any exactly where each connec- the number of pins, the name fractional grid positions. No tion to each part of each of of the chip, and two strings of matter how fine the grid or the symbols has to go. Sym- callouts as needed for the top how nervous the programmer, bols can later be slid along a and bottom pin rows. Thus, horizontal and vertical lines wire for best appearance. an entire DIP pictorial can be always will stay that way. The symbols all use action drawn with a few keystrokes! Next, as figure four shows points. Rather than define the Complement bars are easily us, we put down some opaque position of a symbol from its and automatically added when symbols. A symbol can be corners, you define it from a and as you need them. something like a resistor or an logical connection point. Symbols can be simple or integrated circuit or perhaps a The usual action point for a complex. To show the resis- logic gate. resistor would be its center. tance omega, you just type Whenever these symbols The action point of an in- (continued on page 15.4) 14.5 Don Lancaster’s Anti-aliasing Laserwriter gossip ASK THE GURU The Imageworks card Ripping off a type font May, 1986 Digital image processing ello again. There are Directors’ Work Book of Type command becomes either 100 lot of really great new Faces from Arco Publishing. times slower or else 100 times Hthings happening, so The curvetrace routine in my more inconvenient. let’s just jump right on in. Applewriter/Laserwriter Util- I’ve got two new freebies ities makes grabbing your Any New Laserwriter for you. A pair of handouts own high quality fonts very Gossip? on RS-232-C interfacing. One easy to do. details the pinouts, while the The Laserwriter normally Let us see. My spies report other shows how to build uses analytic fonts that are today’s street price of the your own breakout box. Write described in the Postscript Laserwriter at $4100 in many or call if you want these. language. Important advan- parts of the country. That’s I have also just personally tages of analytic fonts are that the price a hungry dealer will reprinted my hard-to-find they look better, can enlarge ultimately accept on a quick Micro Cookbook, Volume I, smoothly, take up much less and no-hassle cash sale. The and am also shipping my new memory, and can be scaled, asking price quoted over the Apple RAM Card Dissasembly rotated, or stretched over an phone is some $800 higher. Script that reveals all the hid- incredible range, while being Many of theos initial bugs den secrets of this exciting routed along an arbitray path. are now out of the Laser- new memory expansion card. Apparently, Apple’s utterly writer Plus. I showed you a Moving right along . . . ridiculous font protection is a work-around to the copypage contractural licensing oblig- problem last month. Apple What does the Law say On ation from the original source has just released upgrades of Ripping off Type Fonts? of their typography. two new Mac disks. The One of the more absurd February 10, 1986, Version Nothing whatsoever. features of this incredibly 1.0 releases of Laser Writer To quote: "Typeface des- stupid protection scheme is Fonts and Printer Installation igns in the United States, with that the crucial stringwidth should now be available. rare exception, are not pro- tected. Typeface names are % timer.p stopwatch module (Postscript) protectable." %...... This statement is from a house trade journal of the /timerstart { usertime /starttime exch def} def leading proponent of contin- uing type font licensing. What /timerstop {usertime starttime sub /duration exch it says is that you can rip off def (time duration is ) print duration an exact copy of just about 20 string cvs print ( microseconds.) any type font and can do so print 500 {37 sin pop} repeat flush} def completely legally. On the other hand, "they" will nail % demo: you to the wall if try to use "their" name on your ripped- ( off font. An empty repeat loop ) print As a practical matter, I would suggest avoiding out- timerstart 1000 {1 pop} repeat timerstop right theft of any newer fonts ( from any of the major typo- A single character stringwidth command ) print graphy houses. I would also suggest using /Helvetica findfont [12 0 0 12 0 0] makefont setfont Apple’s convention of naming 0 0 moveto your custom fonts after cities. To go one step further, I per- timerstart 1000 {(A) stringwidth pop pop} repeat sonally use very small towns timerstop instead. Towns such as Guth- rie, Mule Creek, Granville, Figure One - This "stopwatch" will help you Elgin, or Bonita. debug slower Postscript code. My favorite cheat book is J. Biegleisen’s very old Art 15.1 ASK THE GURU I’m still fighting a bad That translates to several min- As you can see, there are Framedevice Limitcheck error utes to justify a page of text, two severe jaggies in the line, bug on the plus that seems unless you get very sneaky. caused by the pixel sampling related to the Apple IIe serial We’ll end the gossip with process. communications. Please be the usual reminder that I have Exact anti-aliasing is used sure and immediately call me a free demo pack for you that in figure three. If you drew collect if you find a way to shows you the superb and the exact line over the boxes, reliably activate this bug. unbeatable graphics you can the shade of gray you get Apple’s internal service get out of plain old Apple- each time would equal the manuals are not especially writer running on a IIe. Call percentage of the box that noted for being stacked on the or write for your free copy. was covered by the line. street corners everywhere for Observe that this line did free distribution. I’ve found What is Anti-Aliasing? get a little wider. But at the out that the Hewlett-Packard same time, the jaggies got Laserjet manual 02686-90904 By now, just about every- much less severe. has bunches of useful stuff in body has stared at those The only problem with it that applies directly to the "jaggies" on an Apple HIRES exact anti-aliasing is that you Laserwriter print engine. The screen or wherever and has have to make seperate and manual costs $50. wished there was some way very complex calculations for Most of the mechanical to get smooth diagonal lines every line on every screen. parts are interchangeable be- and believable circles. Things get particularly nasty tween the two printers. One obvious route is to when several lines cross the Of particular interest is the increase the resolution. This same pixel at once. detailed troubleshooting is a really dumb approach that Instead, figure four shows section for the various print ups system complexity, and us a quick and simple ap- quality problems. slows things down bunches. proach to anti-aliasing known Several surprises from this Instead, there is a rather as low pass filtering. What manual: There are three dif- simple way to get rid of the low pass filtering does is re- ferent sensitivities to the screen jaggies. This method is place any given pixel with the toner cartridges, set by small called anti-aliasing. While weighted sum of adjacent clips at the cartridge left rear. anti-aliasing is used all the pixels. That "fried toner" smell is time in movie and television For instance, we might use really ozone. And the special production, it has seen this low pass matrix: cleaning pad also contains a very little usage in personal special silicon fuser oil, so computers. 06 12 06 any cleaning and reusing of Anti-aliasing requires that 12 50 12 these pads is a no-no. you be able to smoothly dis- 06 12 06 There’s a quick cure for play any shade of gray on a Laserwriter’s "reverse collat- black and white screen, or What this says is to take ing" hassle. Just put your any saturation value on a half the blackness of the pixel printer on a two-drawer filing color screen. What you do is we are on and add it to an cabinet and open the top replace any pixel that is eighth of the adjacent pixels drawer. As the pages spill touched by a line with that and add one-sixteenth of the out, they will flop over auto- amount of gray that is pro- diagonally adjacent pixels to matically into the drawer, portional to the percentage that. You then replace the stacking up in the right order. area of the covered pixel. center pixel with this value. How long does a Post- The picture gets slightly less But isn’t this the same as script routine take to execute? sharp, but all of the jaggies purposely blurring a photo- Figure one shows you a rather nearly disappear. graph or de-focusing a lens? simple "stopwatch" listing Let’s look at three exam- Well, yes, except for one key that you can temporarily build ples. Figure two is your usual point: The highest frequency into a program to find out diagonal line on a black and information in a digital dis- where the time is being spent. white only screen. play is caused by the process This is most useful for speed- Since we cannot trust the of pixel sampling. ing up your programs. Computer Shopper printing Therefore, when you low One of the nasty suprises press with exact gray shades, pass filter, you remove a lot the stopwatch revealed is that you’ll have to insert your own of the jaggies while you only the crucial stringwidth com- grays. Using a soft pencil, somewhat blur the image you mand takes an intolerably and coloring only inside the are after. The net result is a long 12 milliseconds and is lines, shade all the boxes of tremendous improvement in nearly independent of the figures two, three, and four. viewability. number of characters in the Leave 0 white. Shade 100 Note that you can do low string being imaged. All the black. You then make 50 a pass filtering on just about time is wasted deprotecting! medium gray, and so on. any image of pretty near any 15.2 May, 1986 size. You can easily apply 640 by 1600 pixels, along edges or to improve contrast. anti-aliasing to all of your with dedicated graphics firm- Which lets you do things existing HIRES images! ware that’s much faster than that photographers can do More information on anti- Mac’s Quickdraw graphics. with variable contrast paper aliasing appears in various And there is also a new or dodging and burning. A Siggraph issues of Computer Copyscan text scanner from histogram adds up the values Graphics that should be avail- Image Peripherals that gives of all 65,536 gray shades and able in most large technical you an ASCII textfile for any then plots how many of each libraries. printed page you feed it. gray shade you have. The eq- Uh, the only little gotcha is But, all these pale totally ualization process then will that we need some cheap and when compared to the new assign nearly the same num- powerful way to show decent ImageWorks card made by ber of pixels to each of the grays on your Apple screen. Redshift Limited. This $200 gray scale values. For such a mind boggling jewel plugs into slot seven of This can let you eliminate breakthrough, we will have to an Apple IIe, and then sup- camera nonlinearies, improve move clear on up to the next erimposes a 256 x 256 video contrast, and do a number of question . . . image of 256 grey levels on other neat things. top of any Apple screen. Speaking of which, there What’s new in Digital You can now show full is a $98 piggyback compan- Image Processing? gray scale photographs and ion subcard which directly other images on your Apple digitizes input video to 64 Digital image processing is screen, all under your direct gray levels. The price is held any manipulation of visual program control! down by requiring a station- data bases, photographs, or Bunches of fancy bells and ary image for eight seconds. video by a computer. Until whistles available. You can Unlike expensive digitizers, recently, this was strictly lim- load and store images from plain old Apple software does ited to large and expensive disk or wherever. Two or all the work. dino mainframes. three photos fit on a disk Full RGB color options will Today, though, there’s a side, while 20 fit onto a 1 be shortly available, as will flood of new digital image megabyte RAM card. You other versions. processing products for the can instantly reverse, invert, Only two, or at the most Apple IIe and other personal or rotate the image. You can three, pictures will fit on a computers that are now hit- set to full or half brightness. floppy disk side. So, this card ting the market. You can tuck a half, quarter, is best used with hard disks Ferinstance, there’s a new or even a one-eighth image or an Apple RAM card. integrated circuit called the onto you screen. The card’s organization is MV1001 by Multivision. This There’s some amazingly unusual in that there is zero chip lets you inset a digital sophisticated image proces- resident firmware. The entire picture inside another video sing built in that is seldom 256 bits of slot I/O space are image, doing all that nasty found in personal computers. used to pass a video line to gen-locking, frame grabbing For instance, you can low or and from the Apple. The and synchronization for you. high pass filter. Low pass sixteen "scratchpad" I/O slots Then, there is the Grafex filtering is used for anti- are used to send the various card, new from Ray Dahlby aliasing and to remove any flag commands to the card. Electronics that adds a magic graininess or excessive scan Redshift is to be highly NEC 7220 chip to the Apple, lines from an image. High commended for their totally giving you a display of up to pass filtering is used to find open and unlocked software, 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 63 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 75 25 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 88 12 0 0 0 0 0 6 30 66 18 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 88 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 66 30 6 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 37 63 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 75 25 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 63 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 75 25 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 88 12 0 0 0 0 0 6 30 66 18 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 88 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 66 30 6 0 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 37 63 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 75 25 0 0 0 Fig. 2 - A Jaggy HIRES Fig. 3 - True anti-aliased Fig. 4 - Anti-Aliasing by line (see text.) HIRES line. lowpass filtering. 15.3 ASK THE GURU and, wonder of wonders, a (4) Adventure games can (continued from page 14.5) complete schematic diagram have both the map as well as the word ohms. To show a included in their user manual. a full screen text description capacitance mu, you just type The easily modified software present at the same time. the word micro and so on. uses machine language mod- (5) Gray or white block- Things such as arrowheads, ules that can be ampersand out areas can be added to clock pulses, and connection linked directly to Applesloth. help in filling out a form or dots are similarly handled. How good is the quality? to hiding answers in student You do not have to redefine That all depends upon your quizzes and drills. these in each textfile for a perspective. From a personal (6) CD disks can now hold particular schematic; they are computer standpoint, this is both digitized photo- graphs already predefined in the pre- far and away the finest image and program materials. The loaded schematic routines. you have ever seen on a potential here is utterly Next, as figure five shows microcomputer screen. awesome. us, comes slide-under wiring. Anyway, ever. (7) Blink Comparison can Since these symbols are all On the other hand, a 256 x be used to find out if two opaque, they will position 256 image is by no means pictures are nearly identical. themselves over the top of photographic quality. It is not Important uses would include any wires. even "Polaroid" quality. It is both astronomy and quality By putting the wire des- not broadcast television qual- control. criptions early in the textfile ity. Let’s call it near the high (8) Fancy video wipes can and the symbols late in the end of premium "home video" easily be done. A RAM Card textfile, all of the wires will quality. wipe takes between 0.4 and magically stop at the exact I’ve been linking this card 1.2 seconds. edge of each symbol. Usually, to the Laserwriter, of course. (9) Image rectification can you put your symbols down One thing that becomes very be used for improving the first, and then slide the wires obvious very fast is that peo- quality of a low cost video under them. ple’s expectations of image camera, reducing any non- This mind-boggling trick is quality are vastly lower on a linearity and improving gray done simply by entering wire video screen than they are on scale. descriptions above the symbol the printed page. (10) Architects can super- callouts in your textfile, but The image size depends on impose a HIRES sketch on while entering the wires after the halftone screen. For top of a site photograph. you enter the symbols. instance, a 100 line halftone (11) Microbiologists can Note the sneaky use of self- screen gives you a full res- automate culture and cell breaking wires. Observe the olution picture that is 2-1/2 counting. HIRES crosshairs white space every time the inches on a side. The smaller are easily added under game vertical wire ducks under a pictures lose details; larger paddle control. horizontal one. This can get ones have redundant dots. And, of course . . . handled automatically through (12) photographs can now the drawing of a thick white So, What Good is be easily printed on your horizontal wire and then the Laserwriter black the ImageWorks Card? , so long as you redrawing of a thin are willing to trade off the horizontal wire on top of the Well, first I will tell you. halftone screen density versus white one. Then you can tell me in two the number of available grays. Finally, the lettering and seperate contests. So much for my ideas. the callouts are added to get Here’s a dozen good uses Now, what are yours? A free the final and full sized result for the ImageWorks card: SAMS book to the top ten shown in figure six. Note that (1) By loading a HIRES ImageWorks new ideas, with any font of any size can be image and doing a low pass an all expense paid tinaja used, and that you are free to filtering, you can anti-alias, quest for two (FOB Thatcher, stretch or squash the font eliminating practically all of AZ) to the overall winner. either in the vertical or the the jaggies from your existing On top of that, Charlie horizontal direction. screen pictures. Springer of ImageWorks will If the "slight rattiness" of (2) Realtors can now print seperately judge any and all this final image is not good custom pictures of houses on entries as a second contest. enough for you, a single their multiple listings. These On any entries he "deems phone call to someone with a can be sent over phone lines meritorious", he will either Linotron 300 will instantly with ordinary modems. lend you or outright give you upgrade the image to a 2650 (3) Art Instructors can now an ImageWorks card and pos- dot per inch resolution. You show you actual paintings sibly some other goodies. also have the option of print- along with overlays that em- For the best odds of win- ing oversize and reducing the phasize both the form and the ning, mail one copy to me final result with a litho cam- composition. and one to Charlie. era or reducing copier. 15.4 Don Lancaster’s A keyword indexer Laser printed badges ASK THE GURU Postscript circular text Apple rumors mongered June, 1986 Applewriter WPL versions he publishing deadlines being what they are, I pnd Tam actually writing this ppr [L] a few days before the West ppr Coast Computer Faire. But, if pin Name of textfile to be scanned ------> =$A I got there, and if you got ppr there, and if the great quake pin Name of file to save key words ------> =$B of 86 is far behind schedule, ppr many thanks for stopping in pin New (N) or Append (A) index file --> =$C and visiting. ppr As per usual, this is your ppr [L] column and you can get tech- ppr Place your work disk into drive #2. nical help per the ending box. ppr I also have some new freebies pin Press any key when ready ---> for you. Besides the Apple- ppr [L] oh,d2 writer/Laserwriter demo pack, p you can now pick up free p handouts on RS-232-C inter- ppr *** busy - please wait *** facing and the ASCII code. ny Just call or write. l$A New products include my pcs/A/$C/ disassembly script for the pgo ap Apple 1 Megabyte RAM card. pcs/a/$C/ This script shows all of the pgo ap innermost secrets of the for- pas =$C matting and the disk access pgo nw firmware, including a few ap pas+=$C things Apple might not want nw pas [esc] [\] =$A you to know about. pas [esc] []] =$D As I mentioned in our last b column, I like this card very a f!$A! much and think it is the way [esc] to go for both Apple II+ and pgo b IIe memory expansion. pgo c Apparently AST agrees with b u u me, since they have just s$B!$D!$C knocked off a clone that im- y itates Apple’s version. Their p clone optionally piggybacks a p second megabyte of RAM on pas+=$C the same card if you need it. pgoa I have also just recently c ny reprinted my Micro Cook- l$B book, Volume I, so this once p hard-to-get text is now back p in stock here. b And now . . . f<$D<> 65C816 CPU that is capable They are also "opening up" quitely been removed from of emulating both the 6502 that internal Apple Link some current price lists. I do and the 68000, meaning it telecomm and bulletin board not know whether it is an may run both Apple II and network. This net was orig- outright flush or simply some Macintosh software, or at ionally intended mostly for last minute bug repairs. least some of it. The memory dealers and developers, but These SANE packages are will probably use 256K x 8 selected user groups can now (were?) most useful for any plug-in cards, similar to the qualify. The first user group floating point mathematics Macintosh Plus. There will hour per month is free, and and similiar calculations. probably be some use of sur- then $25 per hour after that to Worse yet, much of the old face mounting. tap all of Apple’s inside sec- DOS 3.3 support has been Apple has also quietly rets and tech documentation. dropped. The DOS Toolkit, introduced a new Apple IIe! There is a ten hour per month DOS users manual, and the It is different enough to have use limit to prevent outright Programmers manual have a changed part number of ripoffs. been dropped from some A2S2100 instead of the old Speaking of opening up, current price lists. A2P2104. None of my spies apparently tech information What are the two single know anything about this yet. and tech literature is becom- things Apple could do right My best guess is that it is ing much more available. For now that would benefit them only a minor modification to openers, there’s three Support the most? (1) Unbundle the the main board that either lets Training Library manuals IIe and offer anybody and or will let the IIe have a available. Part numbers are everybody a very substantial double-wide monitor toggled 072-0187 for the Apple II; trade-in allowance for a II+, by a $C028 bit test. This is 072-0186 for the Macintosh; and (2) Make all the servicing the same thing that has been and 072-0188 for peripherals. information and all the ser- done on the IIc to pick up Technical note mailings are vice routines very much more compatibility with the new also now available. The 1985 widely available than they are Protocol Converter stuff. If, Apple II tech notes cost $45 at present. so, this means a SCSI inter- for a complete set, with a face for the IIe is just around current bimonthly subscrip- Why are Applewriter WPL the corner. tion available for $25. Similar Routines Version Apple has also announced Macintosh tech notes are $25 Dependent? student rebates of $150 on an for1985 and $25 for a bi- Apple IIe. To qualify, you do monthly subscription. WPL is the macro super- have to be a full time student So much for the upbeat visory language used by most at a college, trade school, or stuff. Now for the flip side. newer versions of Applewrit- university. Just about any em- The highly touted SANE, or er. Without WPL, Apple is an ployee at these institutions Standard Apple Numeric outstanding word processor. can also qualify. Environment, products have But with WPL, Applewriter is incomparable. Many users are finding out that some WPL routines written for the older DOS 3.3e version of Applewriter will d, Ari not run on the newer ProDOS or zo ff n Applewriter 2.0 or 2.1, and a a vice versa. S Why? There are enough signif- icant differences between the two versions that many, if not most, WPL routines will need A at least minor changes if they F F A are to run on both operating C systems. o 6 Firstoff, the old DOS 3.3e n 8 v 19 version allows long filenames en n that include spaces and some tio punctuation. The ProDOS file names must start with a letter, can only be letters and num- bers, and must be less than 16 Fig. 2 - A typical convention badge. characters long. Second, those stored print 16.2 June, 1986 constants files are now wildly translating my old keyword and a "phrase end" marker different, since the ProDOS indexer for DOS 3.3e over to that will only appear on the print constant file has to tow ProDOS. All that really need- screen. This means that the along some serial port info. ed done was a change to "!" markers must not change the The names are also different. disk searching delimiters, and length of any line comput- The old DOS 3.3e Applewrit- some answer lines needed in- ations, and that they must not er automatically prefixes a serted for the "Destroy Old?" be either recognized nor used "PRT." to the print constants prompts. by the printer or I/O card. filename. ProDOS Applewrit- Figure 1 reveals all. For many printers, a good er automatically postfixes a What you do is carefully starting marker is an "[esc] \" ".PRT" tag. chose a "phrase start" marker form seperator. You can use Third, some of the user functions have been renamed or renumbered. This is es- initgraphics pecially true of those [Q] Additional Functions com- /outsideclover {135 45 [-82 23 -119 62 -154 100 -180 mands, and [O] Disk Access 130 -189 150 -170 156 -130 160 -88 176 -29.5 189 29 176 70 160 111 156 130 150 121 130 95 100 60 62 commands. Some WPL rou- 23 23] curvetrace closepath } def tines may end up requesting the wrong action because of /insideclover {135 45 [-71 35 -106 75 -134 108 -155 this relettering. 134 -155 134 -110 140 -70 155 -29.5 162 11 155 51 Fourth, any disk-based text 140 96 134 96 134 75 108 47 75 8 35] curvetrace searches made in the ProDOS closepath} def Applewriter versions are only allowed to use the "!" as a /buttonproc { gsave outsideclover 8 setlinewidth 0 delimiter. Many older DOS setgray stroke insideclover 5 setlinewidth 0 setgray 3.3 disk-based searches used stroke grestore } def the "/" instead. Fifth, attempting to write to 0 setlinewidth gsave an existing file may pro- duce a "Destroy Old File Y/N ?" /buttonproc1 { gsave 0.475 dup scale 30 40 translate prompt under ProDOS buttonproc grestore} def gsave 300 300 translate 4 Applewriter. When this oc- {buttonproc1 90 rotate} repeat grestore curs under WPL, you have to add a new line of "(space)Y?" newpath 2 setlinewidth after each disk access. 300 300 65 0 360 arc gsave 1 setgray fill grestore These five are the major 4 setlinewidth stroke 1 setlinewidth 0 setgray newpath 0.90 setgray 0.3 setlinewidth differences, although there are probably a few more as well. gsave 300 300 translate 7 { 65 0 moveto -65 0 rlineto The ultimate way to translate 13.8 rotate 65 0 rlineto closepath gsave 0 setgray a WPL program is to rewrite stroke grestore 13.8 rotate } repeat grestore the entire program out in very simple declarative English /starpath{ dup 0 exch 2 div rmoveto /starheight exch sentences. Then do each sent- 0.3635 mul def 18 rotate 0 starheight neg rlineto 72 ence by hand, watching the rotate 5 { 0 starheight neg rlineto 36 rotate 0 prompts and the results of starheight rlineto -108 rotate } repeat} def each command. Then modify your sentences so they work 0 setgray 300 300 65 0 360 arc 4 setlinewidth stroke under ProDOS Applewriter. Finally, rewrite your original 0 setgray gsave 300 300 moveto 50 starpath gsave 1 program to pick up any of setgray fill grestore 2 setlinewidth stroke grestore the needed changes. gsave 300 300 translate 0 setgray Show me a WPL /NewCenturySchlbk-Bold findfont [30 0 0 30 0 0] Keyword Indexer makefont setfont (Convention 1986) 55 -90 152 Keyword indexing is very insidecircletext (Safford, Arizona) -40 90 138 outsidecircletext useful whenever you want to generate an index for a book /NewCenturySchlbk-Bold findfont [25 0 0 25 0 0] chapter, or any other time you makefont setfont (AFFA) 53 -90 56 insidecircletext want to save a list of certain key words or phrases into a seperate textfile. Fig. 3 - A Postscript badge drawing program. I finally did get around to 16.3 ASK THE GURU an "[esc] [ ] ]" group sep- or appending an older one. text is a big advantage when erator makes a good ending Note that this is a middle- doing many badge styles. marker. These are ignored by weight routine that will put The automatic step-and- most printers, but be sure to the words into a list for you. repeat routines in my Apple- check yours. Further, since It does not search for any writer/Laserwriter Utilities let they are an escape command duplicates, nor put the results you do lots of badges on a followed by a single char- in alphabetical order. You can single sheet of paper. You acter, the stretchifier patch in easily extend the routine for can also do such things as my Applewriter Cookbook fancier features. automatic sequential number- will automatically ignore all A gotcha or two on this ing, or "real time" insertion of of them in justification line listing: Where you see a [L], the "badgees" name, even in character counts. this means to insert a con- calligraphy. To use your new keyword trol-L into the WPL program. By now, you have surely indexer, mark the start of Where you see the phrase seen those "Badge-a-Minit" each word or phase you want marker definitions, you insert kits available from many mail to keep with your starting an escape and the "control- order suppliers. This is bas- marker, and the end with the backslash" for an [esc][\], and ically a hand-held press that ending marker. You can mark an escape and a "control- will convert a message on a multiple words, but the length closing bracket" for [esc][ ] ]. flat sheet of paper into an limit on any single phrase is attractive badge. In quantity, 64 characters. These markers What is this month’s the badges themselves cost remain in your textfile and Laserwriter Scam? around 13 cents each. will appear on screen only. You can get away from Then you run the WPL. Badges. The Laserwriter is black and white by using a KEYWD.INDEX routine. This absolutely ideal for custom colored paper, such as Astro- will automatically scan your badge printing at fairs, shows, brite or something similar, by text file and create a list of all conventions, sporting events, using Kroy Kolor, or else by the keywords. You have the and wherever. Its ability to using denser grays. option of starting a new list quickly and easily set circular Figure two shows a badge we did for a local convention. Figure three shows much of the Postscript used for this e i badge. Also needed are the siz s -8 insidecircletext and the out- t 0 sidecircletext routines from p Adobe and my own curve- trace routine. I’ll be happy to ize is + send you a free copy of the ts 24 later on request. p Most badges will use a far simpler and far shorter rou- ze is + tine. This one is long because tsi 80 of the fancy quad curvetrace p used for the background, and the detail in the star and the sunburst. Once you get a library of stock shapes and formats built up, it only takes two or three pt 0 minutes to create the badge size is -8 from a cold start. Should you be making repeat badges, the per-badge time will be much pt 4 less than this one. size is +2 Any Secrets Involved in pt 0 Setting Circular Text? si +8 One or two. First, be sure ze is you have on hand copies of both the Postscript Reference Manual, and the Postscript Fig. 4 - Using ptsize can get very tricky. Tutorial and Cookbook. These (continued on page 18.5) 16.4 Don Lancaster’s A dual IIe monitor Great mouse surfaces ASK THE GURU HIRES Applewriter dump Desktop publishing secrets July, 1986 Postscript Puss De Resistance have just gotten back call per the end box. Besides whiskers down. from a several day visit lots of freebies, the latest two So, run on down to your I with the folks at Apple products are an upgraded friendly neighborhood divers Computer. And while there’s Applewriter/Laserwriter Util- supply or scuba shop, and get lots of great stuff I am not ities and my new Apple RAM yourself some 1/8 inch or 1/4 allowed to talk about, I think Card Disassembly Script. inch nylon wetsuit material. its safe to tell you this: Let’s start off with a great The cost is around a dollar First, and foremost, there find . . . per square foot, and you use has been a total and complete it fuzzy side up. It comes in turnaround in the Apple II What is the Ultimate decorator colors. You can cut division ever since they flush- Mouse Surface? it with plain old scissors. ed old what’s-his-name a year There are lots of styles ago. Many aggressive new Some Tucson cave divers available. The best one I have Apple II products are most have put me onto the ultimate found so far is a 1/4 inch certainly in the works. mouse working surface. thick material with a bright Apple is now going out of Besides being cheap and blue working surface. The their way to work closely easy to get, it beats just about back side has a no-skid "fish with user groups and is ac- all the commercial products scale" pattern on it. tively seeking input from both users and hackers. And tech info is becoming much more available, both through the monthly technical notes, and user group access to their newly expanded Applelink BBS system. Second, many of the new II family products will now strongly support an open and fully expandable architecture. Third, and as much as is possible, all of the newer II products will be able to run older and existing II software. Apple has gone to extremes to maintain very strict upward compatibility. Fourth and finally, some definite upgrade paths will be provided. These might take the form of a board swap for the IIe or else a very sub- stantial trade-in allowance for a II or II+. And that is for everybody, not just for the schools as is their current policy. Beyond that, I will let you know what I find out just as soon as I am legally allowed to. With Computer Shopper’s tight publishing schedules, you will hear all about it right here first. So stay tuned. Fig. 1 - A typical AppleWriter text file. As per always, this is your column, and you can write or 17.1 ASK THE GURU What is so Special available today, it is a simple Best of all is the ability to About the Laserwriter? matter to create and download make a "small change" at the custom fonts of your own. last minute without any cost I receive an unbelievable The Laserwriter includes a or hassle. Run that one by number of calls on this one, fantastically powerful internal your local printer. so let’s repeat ourselves one computer. In fact, it is the And Bee has really gotten more time: biggest and most powerful into custom printing in a big Those knockoff imitation computer that Apple builds. way, doing bumperstickers, laserwriter ripoffs are not Because of this, any old badges, logos and letterheads, even in the same league. In word processor on most any data sheets, greeting cards, fact, most of them are an out- computer can easily control menus, batik patterns, cer- right joke. the Laserwriter without any tificates, business cards, and The Laserwriter has an overhead hassles or excessive whatever for local people. internal full page and full res- CPU time. Many knockoffs In fact, the only negative olution bitmap giving you will totally tie up the host thing I’ve noticed is how the unlimited text and graphics computer to do such essential Laserwriter absolutely and mixes in any combination in laser printing tasks as jus- totally dominates your life- any drawing order. The tifying characters. style once you have one. This knock- offs do not. The Laserwriter has a beast is clearly and obviously The Laserwriter has an built-in cubic spline ability both physically and psychol- incredibly powerful Postscript that easily lets you do free- ogically addictive. typesetting language built in form curves, super smooth Chapters of "Laserwriters that easily handles full page typography, or virtually step- Annoynmous" are bound to mixed text and graphics des- less curves of any type. start cropping up everywhere, criptions. Postscript is 100 Automatic signatures are followed by Laserwriter re- percent compatible with many particularly fast and easy with hab centers and withdrawal "real" typesetting machines, cubic splines. clinics. A toner junkie is not so you can instantly upgrade Check out figure one for a a pretty sight to behold. your output to 2650 DPI at totally different curve tracing Anyway, how do you get any time with no change in example. To put my money started on all this? textfiles or applications pac- where my mouth is, I’ll give As with any field, reading kages. The knockoffs do not you a free SAMS book if you the trade journals, magazines, even dream of this. can show me how to print this and reference books are the Postscript often lets you same figure any way on any best place to start. And, won- dramatically speed things up. of the imitation laserwriter der of wonders, many of the For instance, with Postscript, knockoff clones. personal publishing inform- you put your form letter into UPDATE: No takers! ation sources are absolutely the printer only once, and free of charge. then simply erase and reprint How do I get Started Let’s see. First you should the name and address each In Desktop Publishing? start off with my free laser time. Which is ridiculously printing demo pack which faster than resending the en- It’s been said before, but you can get by either calling tire letter for every name on the power of the press lies in or writing. the list. owning one. After that, there are two The Laserwriter has some I guess I have been doing "must have" books. No, I did extremely flexible and built in some personal publishing for not write them, but I hope to font machinery. Any single almost a year now. It sure is contribute to the same series font can be shown in any size nice to be able to send in in a big sort of way. from 3 point to 65,000 point "camera ready" artwork for These two are called the in any direction or along any my stories and columns and Postscript Reference Manual arbitrary path and put down know that what I send in will and the Postscript Tutorial in any order anywhere on the be exactly what appears in and Cookbook. We do try to page in any of many different print. keep both of these Addison- styles. Since many of these Its even nicer to be able to Weseley titles in stock at all fonts use analytical descrip- do all of my own ads without times. tions, as the fonts get bigger, having to tangle with grossly As we saw in the previous they get smoother, unlike the overpriced printers, incom- question, important examples "Hershey Bar Effect" typical petent ad agencies, misguided of Postscript printers are the of the clones. copywriters, and so on. Laserwriter Plus and the Al- The Laserwriter is also, So is that ability to print lied Linotron 300. A typical mercifully, free of any plug- letterheads, labels, and so on example of a non-Postscript in cartridge scams. "on demand" as they are used, speaking printer would be the Besides the hundreds of rather than tying up money in Model 28 Teletype. ready-to use Laserwriter fonts horrendous minimum orders. Back to the literature. The 17.2 July, 1986 % Meowwrrr - the Postscript puss de resistance initgraphics 1 setlinecap 1 setlinejoin /tension 2.8 def /ctf {curvetrace gsave 0.95 setgray fill grestore 2 setlinewidth 0 setgray stroke}def /ctfd {curvetrace gsave 0.4 setgray fill grestore 2 setlinewidth 0 setgray stroke}def /ct {curvetrace stroke} def /showtick false def % tail [310 262 -10 360 330 100 308 368 -170 308 368 45 330 380 0 392 285 -100 340 210 -160] curvetrace gsave clip newpath [340 200 25 390 290 90 350 350 170 300 260 0 340 200 -70 ] curvetrace gsave 0.95 setgray fill grestore 0.5 setlinewidth stroke 2 setlinewidth grestore 2 setlinewidth stroke % left foot [322 111 -110 330 75 -45 385 53 0 406 65 90 368 90 185] ct [406 65 -45 424 75 90 400 98 165] ct [424 72 -25 440 85 90 420 110 150 380 115 170 360 122 135] ct % right leg [216 130 25 298 175 25 298 175 -160 223 166 150 186 208 120 186 208 -115 168 145 -90 196 107 -30 230 97 0 250 113 90 233 139 125] ctf % right foot [180 87 -160 160 60 -90 185 46 0 200 50 40 248 82 40 256 100 100 250 112 120 ] ct [164 51 -160 142 60 90 163 93 30] ct [141 60 180 130 75 90 160 104 0 197 106 10] ct % left bod [270 213 -90 310 140 -60 326 110 -15 365 120 70 330 250 135 250 325 135 200 310 -80 220 245 -60 272 197 -10] ctf % upper bat [60 480 -30 90 480 78 130 700 78 109 725 170 73 700 -93 60 480 -93] ctfd [85 696 -25 121 695 35] ct % lower bat [40 348 90 60 360 0 80 345 -90 65 334 180 40 348 90] ctfd [50 350 -40 72 348 40 72 348 80 78 377 80 50 387 -90 50 350 -90] ctfd % right arm [140 487 0 199 435 -70 173 410 120 140 445 180 100 430 -150 108 465 55 140 487 0] ctf % right fingers [56 482 -170 50 448 -45 65 442 0 83 461 85] ct [47 453 -120 50 430 -40 65 428 0 84 450 105] ct [61 497 -80 70 482 -45 84 470 -90 62 459 150 54 474 115 61 497 35] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore stroke [95 436 30 112 465 90 92 492 180 77 465 -90 83 450 0 98 467 80] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore stroke % left fingers [80 386 -150 50 388 135 40 406 60] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore stroke [46 402 135 38 424 45] ct [44 443 -150 44 418 -40] ct [96 400 80 90 415 150] ct [95 412 40 98 430 110 82 438 170] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore stroke % right bod [186 208 120 140 340 90 172 408 25 188 412 20 188 412 75 195 435 75 ] curvetrace gsave 240 440 rlineto clip newpath [176 210 105 158 330 85 172 390 60 195 405 85 210 440 85 100 400 0 100 200 0] curvetrace gsave 0.95 setgray fill grestore 0.5 setlinewidth stroke grestore stroke % left arm [74 383 -70 120 320 -40 220 300 0 255 330 80 255 370 100 235 390 180 200 350 -110 200 350 170 145 351 170 145 351 135 95 400 125 95 400 180 74 383 -110] ctf % listing continues . . . . Fig. 2A - Postscript Listing for Meowwrrr - The puss de resistance. 17.3 ASK THE GURU % continuing Meowwrrr . . . . % ...... % left ear [270 530 40 340 560 20 340 560 -55 312 490 -120] curvetrace gsave 0.4 setgray fill grestore stroke [300 520 45 338 553 30 338 553 -70 312 504 -130] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore 0.5 setlinewidth stroke 2 setlinewidth % head [156 508 -80 228 406 -30 274 390 10 306 401 40 306 401 0 335 432 80 335 432 95 325 447 125 325 447 70 320 508 120 238 540 -160 170 500 -160 170 500 145 156 508 145] curvetrace gsave gsave 0.95 setgray fill grestore clip newpath [210 418 140 196 455 80 235 480 -40 254 437 -60 270 422 -20 298 430 -80 318 430 60 326 433 -50 318 404 -150 260 370 180] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore 0.5 setlinewidth stroke grestore stroke % mouth [213 448 25 240 445 -35] ct [226 450 -75 275 400 0 300 411 35] ct [300 411 -155 308 402 0] ct % right ear [223 501 150 262 580 30 262 580 -60 275 518 -85] curvetrace gsave 0.40 setgray fill grestore stroke [232 502 85 262 570 50 262 570 -70 270 520 -90 270 520 -135 232 502 180] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore 0.5 setlinewidth stroke 2 setlinewidth % nose /tension 3.8 def [300 428 60 315 425 -90 302 413 180 300 428 60] curvetrace 0 setgray fill /tension 2.8 def % right eye [255 482 -45 295 450 -15 295 450 -120 272 442 160 262 474 80] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore stroke % left eye [310 450 60 329 470 60 329 470 -95 321 450 -150 310 450 150] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore stroke [318 454 70 329 462 30 329 462 -100 326 453 -90 326 453 -170 318 454 150] curvetrace fill % eyebrows 0.3 setgray [264 498 20 280 488 -60 296 471 20 296 471 -160 280 473 150 264 498 155] curvetrace fill [312 468 60 327 492 75 327 492 -70 328 482 -90 328 482 -120 312 468 -160] curvetrace fill 0 setgray % right eyeball [277 445 100 280 458 70 280 458 -30 291 450 -20 291 450 -155 279 445 -160] curvetrace fill % whiskers [210 392 30 282 412 0] curvetrace 1 setlinewidth stroke [205 404 20 286 416 -5] curvetrace stroke [318 416 -10 388 416 0] curvetrace stroke [322 422 15 385 431 10] curvetrace stroke [325 427 25 383 442 20] curvetrace stroke % neck fill 2 setlinewidth 236 391 moveto 241 398 lineto stroke showpage % --- end of listing --- Fig. 2B - The rest of Meowwrrr. 17.4 July, 1986 best magazine specifically for pairs. The product is called When finished with the personal publishing was Tony the Switchback and sells for dump, keep reading textfile Bove’s Desktop Publishing. $59.95 plus $2.50 shipping lines one at a time and then This has since gone big time and handling. printing them. as Publish! It is now put out To use this board, unplug If things seem a tad slow, by the PC World people. your present ROMS, plug in get the process working any- There are two free house the switchback module, and way. Later on you can speed organs you’ll most definitely then plug in both your old things up with a hard disk, a want to pick up. One of these and new ROMs. RAM card, a total load, or is Colophon, which is edited This method is far easier some machine language code. by Adobe Systems. This gem than programming your own The same post processing has far and away the most EPROMs. There is both an in- idea works well for wall to outstanding examples of laser ternal and an external change- wall microjustification for printing art available today. over switch available. printers that do not have this The second freebie house The only little gotcha is to feature built in. It is also organ has to be both the most make absolutely sure your good for such things as soft fantastic and the most bizarre dealer does not try to steal hyphens, sticky spaces, to magazine ever published any- your old chips when he does prompt for daisywheel swaps where. It is called U&LC, and your upgrade. Two ways of in mid-line, and so on. is published by the Internat- preventing this are to do the ional Typeface people. upgrade yourself using the How can I draw You are supposed to sound Apple kit, or else remove Cartoon Characters? like a commercial artist or art both monitor chips and the director when you request character generator before Why, with Applewriter on your free copy. you take your IIe in. an Apple IIe, of course. How Three trade journals that I else could you possibly draw have found rather useful are How do I do an decent cartoon characters? Printing Impressions Paper, ; Applewriter HIRES Dump? Figure one shows you a Film, and Foil Converter; and typical cartoon character, as Electronic Publishing. And yet one more repeat drawn by the Applewriter question that’s good for at word processor on the Laser- writer How can I have Two least four help line calls a . The text cartoon file Monitors in a IIe? day. The easiest way to do a ends up the size of a business HIRES dump with Applewrit- memo, mostly since I did not Here’s another question er is with post processing. bother compacting it much. that keeps coming up over the The big advantages of As you can see, you can help line. To recap: That post processing are that it very easily draw outstanding so-called enhanced IIe mon- works with just about any cartoon characters using Ap- itor is incapable of running mix of printer, printer card, plewriter on an Apple IIe. much of the older II+ and and graphics dump software; Also as you can clearly early IIe software. Worse yet, and that it takes no program observe, the quality of the the dealer doing your upgrade mods and needs little in the Applewriter and Postscript will try to steal your existing way of programming smarts. graphics is absolutely superb. monitor and character gen- To do a HIRES dump, put Oh, yes. You do need a erator ROMs from you when some magic marker in your digitizer. A safety pin makes the upgrade is done. Applewriter file where you a very good one, but if you I have shown you one want the dump to take place. can not afford such expense, solution in a previous column. A suitable marker might be a just use a needle instead. What you can do is program a carriage return followed by an Although little known as a "double-wide 27128 EPROM "!hdMYPIXFILENAME" or computer peripheral, a safety for each of the CD and EF something similar. Then do a pin digitizer easily will out- monitor ROMs, and similarly magic PD8, and print your perform just about any other program a "double wide" fully formatted file to disk. personal computing input dig- 2764 EPROM for the char- Finally, you can read your itizing device. acter generator. A changeover PD8 formatted file not with Here is how you use your switch on each socket then Applewriter, but with Apple- safety pin digitizer: Firstoff, flips you from old to new. soft. Have Applesloth read make your original as big as But there is now a better one line at a time. If there is possible, using an enlarging way. Computer Accents now no magic marker present, then copy machine. Note that you makes a small plug-in board print the line as is. If a magic can easily reposition, rotate, that fits your IIe and accepts marker is found, load your scale, stretch, remap or distort both the old and the new picture, activate your HIRES your final Postscript file most character generator and the dumper and print the picture any which way but loose. old and new monitor ROM in its intended place. (continued on page 19.5) 17.5 Don Lancaster’s Tech consultants list Toner cartridge secrets ASK THE GURU Flushing copy protection Postscript window decals August, 1986 Hex and Decimal to ASCII ats off to both the PFS For lots more on personal that most of my helpline users Software people and to value added, check into my already do. Hthe crew at Dollars and The Incredible Secret Money Ferinstance, be certain to Sense. Word has it that both Machine book. check the area code against these outfits have completely Turning to other news, I the time zone, and never call dropped all copy protection keep hearing persistent rum- before 8 am or after 9 pm, from their software. ors that future Apple products local time. Remember that all Actually, more and more might not be compatible with of the California clocks are software houses are waking devices that plug into that laid back. up to the obvious facts that existing "slot zero" IIe mem- Do not ask for or expect a copy protection (1) does not ory expansion slot. Thus, any return call, unless the tab is work, (2) hacks off users, (3) third party slot zero memory on you. Keep the call length creates all sorts of hard disk expansion cards might not be under ten minutes max. hassles, (4) dramatically in- usable after an upgrade. And, if the call is useful to creases the number of bootleg A related rumor (and some you, pay for it somehow. copies in circulation, (5) div- plain old common sense) says Perhaps by buying one of erts resources from useful that cards that plug into slots their products, or by using tasks, (6) costs money, and 1-7 might get into very deep one of their services. At the inevitably, (7) loses sales. compatibility trouble unless very least, lay some original If you are writing com- they slavishly make exact use software on them or else send mercial software, there’s two of the I/O SELECT and I/O them some local produce, key secrets to coping with STROBE lines. Should future nuts and berries, or whatever. bootlegging and piracy: address spaces end up wider Play fair and everyone will The first is to not sweat it, than 16 bits, the partial de- win and win big. since actual cash lost out of code as done by some cards your pocket is much smaller could cause all sorts of con- How do I Convert than you might first imagine. tention problems. Decimal to ASCII? Consider the average software This might get very sticky collector or trader who has, on multifunction peripheral There are lots of times and say, a mere 10,000 bootleg cards that do a "phantom slot" places in microcomputer programs in their primary decoding. software when you might like trading stack. On to this month’s vast to convert a decimal value to Even if he stopped trading collection of goodies . . . its printable ASCII equival- for a while and actually used ent, or vice versa. one of his stolen programs, Where do YOU go For instance, you might the chances are overwhelming For Technical Help? have the decimal score of a it wouldn’t be yours anyway. game stashed somewhere and The second big anti-piracy Why, to the Gila Valley you might want to route it to measure is to include as much Apple Growers, of course. a video screen. personal value added in your You will find no finer col- Or, you might want to software products as possible. lection of technical expertise show the number of char- At the very least, this must available anywhere, ever. acters already used or still include a free and courteous Tellya what I’m gonna do. available in a word processor. unlimited helpline service, a Figure one is my super secret Decimal numbers are us- "no questions asked" return list of where I go to get my ually represented by four bit policy, and a $5 no-hassle own technical help. bytes with 0000 = 0, 0001 = exchange for blown or broken Those people with (602) 1, 0010 = 2 . . . up to 1001 = disks. area codes are charter mem- 9. One byte is used for each You should also concen- bers of the GVAGA; those decimal decade. One 4-bit trate on those parts of your without are honorary mem- byte coded this way is called package that are not on disk, bers but members none the BCD, short for Binary Coded such as tutorials, guides, man- less. Decimal. Each byte holds one uals, reference cards, user Most of these people are decimal digit. aides, and anything else that willing to listen to your help Figure two shows us how puts the perceived value of requests. Provided, of course, to get between BCD decimal your product on the overall that you extend the usual and ASCII, which is the package rather than on disk. courtesies in the same way standard character code. 18.1 August, 1986 The rules are simple: To get from BCD to ASCII, just ACADEMIC COMPUTING: add decimal 48 or hex $30. Ed Hunter (602) 428-1133 To get from ASCII to BCD, just subtract decimal 48 or ANIMATION: hex $30. And that’s all there David Meyer Sr. (801) 359-2790 is to it. Sometimes, a pair of BCD APPLE II: bytes might be combined into Tom Weishaar (913) 649-0567 an 8-bit word. This is called Packed BCD. If you are us- APPLE III: ing packed BCD, you must Val Golding (818) 708 2382 first unpack the bytes before ASCII conversion, and then ASSEMBLY: later repack them after being Bob Sander-Cedarlof (214) 324-2050 converted from ASCII. CABLE TV: To unpack a low BCD byte, logically AND it with hex Phil Nelson (602) 428-1850 $0F. To unpack a high BCD PC CLONES: byte, shift or rotate the word to the right four times, and Sherry Romberger (602) 526-8512 then AND it with hex $0F. C PROGRAMMING: To pack a BCD word, just Henry Schneiker (602) 325-5884 shift the high BCD byte to the left four times and then OR it DISASSEMBLY: with the low BCD byte. Bob Kovacs (201) 325-1885 Several add-on provisions might be needed for your EPROMS: software if you want to right Bob Gardner (206) 337-2370 justify the number or suppress leading zeros. Zero suppres- IMAGE PROCESSING: sion is done by replacing a Charlie Springer (415) 322 7373 $30 zero with a $20 space. The 6502 microprocesor INTERFACE: has a special decimal mode John Bell (415) 592-8411 that works directly in packed MECHANISMS: BCD. Other micros usually do have ways of faking some- Claude Martin (602) 428-4830 thing similiar. These days, OPTICS: though, you usually do not Forrest Mims (512) 372-0548 pack the BCD decades. POSTSCRIPT: How can I Convert Liz Bond (415) 961-4400 Hexadecimal to ASCII? PROGRAMMING: Things do get a tad more Gary Crockett (602) 428-3256 complicated when you try to convert between hexadecimal SIGNAL PROCESSING: and ASCII. Roger Cox (303) 641-4240 You might want to do this when you are displaying a SOLAR ENERGY: "hex dump" of a computer’s Jim Allen (602) 428-6993 monitor program on a screen. Some stand-alone EPROM SPEECH SYNTHESIS: burners also require their hex Bruce Fette (602) 834-3370 bytes be passed back and WPL and APPLEWRITER: forth as ASCII characters, as does any bit image informat- Don Thompson (714) 855-3838 ion for laser printing. 65808 and 65816: There are both advantages and a penalties to converting Will Troxel (619) 672-0670 hexadecimal to pairs of ASCII characters before sending it Fig. 1 - My super secret technical consultants list. somewhere else. The single 18.2 ASK THE GURU greatest advantage is that or more, add decimal 54 or Enhancing your Apple II, vol- everything is sent as ordinary hex $36. ume I (SAMS #21822). numbers or letters. There is To get from ASCII to hex, thus no possibility of confus- you first have to test to find Tell me All About ing a hex $0C for a formfeed, out if you are converting a Toner Cartridges or interpreting a hex $0D as a valid letter or a numeral. carriage return. Such range checking is al- The Canon laser engines, Illegal characters cannot be ways a good idea anyway. If such as the LaserWriter or sent since there aren’t any. As you have a numeral (CHR$ LaserJet use a plug-in cart- a further bonus, an ordinary 48-58 or hex $30-39), then ridge that includes toner, the word processor can also be subtract decimal 48 or hex photosensitive drum, corona used to process hex charac- $30. If you have a letter (such charging, and includes just ters in their ASCII form. as a CHR$ 65-69 or a hex about everything major that is The penalties of hex to $41-46), subtract decimal 54 likely to need servicing in a ASCII conversion do involve or hex $36 instead. xerographic copy machine. both speed and storage size. The actual conversion de- These cartridges cost from You’ll need two printable tails will depend on your $65 to $100 each and are only characters to show a single programming style and on the good for 2500 copies. 8-bit hex word pair. Thus, it microprocessor and language Worse yet, there are def- will take you twice as long to that is in use. In the Apple IIe inite quality control problems, send converted bytes over a monitor, there are several and not every cartridge is serial interface than it would built-in machine language usable over its whole life. to send straight hex. routines for hex to ASCII and Every once in a while, a It also does take twice the ASCII to hex conversion. cartridge flat out refuses to space to store hex values in Specifically, $FDE3 will give decent blacks, partic- ASCII form. Which gets par- convert the low hex accum- ularly over larger areas. ticularly nasty when you laser ulator byte to ASCII. $FDDA What can be done to both print video or photographs. will convert the entire accum- lower cartridge costs and im- To review, a four bit byte ulator to a hex ASCII pair. prove the output quality? can be shown in hexadecimal. $F941 will print first the X First, note that you can There are sixteen possible register and then the accum- NOT and must NOT use an 4-bit states. The first ten ulator as four successive hex ordinary copier toner cart- states 0000 through 1001 are digits. ridge or ordinary copier toner. shown as decimal digits, Finally, $FFA7 will rev- Besides mechanical interlocks exactly as is done with BCD. erse the process and convert that prevent you from doing The final six states are often the ASCII characters in $003E this, copiers use a positive shown as uppercase letters, (low) and $003F (high) into a acting toner (light = white), with $1010 = A, $1011 = B, two-byte hex value. while laser printers use a on up through $1111 = F. You can tear apart this negative acting toner (light = Figure three shows us how code for a quick study on black). to do these conversions. To conversion details. The inner- Second, that box means get from hex to ASCII, add most secrets of easily and exactly what it says on that decimal 48 or hex $30 if the rapidly tearing apart machine 104 degree Farenheit max number is nine or less. If ten language code appear in my temperature warning. Should cartridges scunge around in a hot warehouse or in a sunny truck, their quality will rap- 0 0000 - 0011 0000 $30 idly deteriorate. So, be sure to cool it with all your toner 1 0001 - 0011 0001 $31 cartridges. 2 0010 - 0011 0010 $32 Third, be sure to often do 3 0011 - 0011 0011 $33 the routine maintenence. The corona wire inside the toner 4 0100 - 0011 0100 $34 cartridge must be wiped every 5 0101 - 0011 0101 $35 so often with the little green 6 0110 - 0011 0110 $36 wiper tool. The corona wire 7 0111 - 0011 0111 $37 inside the laser printer needs cleaning every now and then 8 1000 - 0011 1000 $38 with a Q-tip. Be very careful 9 1001 - 0011 1001 $39 to not stress the wire when you do this. It is also a good idea to Fig. 2 - Decimal and ASCII equivalents. keep a solder sucker or childs rectal syringe on hand. Every 18.3 August, 1986 time you open the machine up yourself. A cartridge can be Why, it is almost enough to for whatever reason, be sure reloaded three to five times at give you the impression that to dust things off thoroughly. a cost of $20 per reload or Canon might not be totally in Fourth, keep that fusion less. One supply source is favor of letting you do 1/5 wiper pad clean. It pays to Laser Printer Products, but cost reloads. lightly scape it with a knife dozens of others are showing Reloading is fairly simple, every 500 copies or so. And up. I’ve found their toner to though, if you forget about be sure to change it when you be somewhat blacker and the plug. Just add your own change the cartridge. denser, but also somewhat filler hole in a sane place. Fifth, rock the cartridge less crease and scrape res- Remove the large card- every now and then to redis- istant than the original. board label, popping it off tribute the toner. Present pricing is $20 for from the middle with a dull Sixth, don’t try fighting the one toner reload, and $1.50 knife. Then, scrape a 5/8 inch drum’s life cycle. Fresh cart- for a new wiper pad. They square hole in the top end of ridges are usually somewhat will also buy old cartridges the inside toner tank, using a too badly washed out for the outright for $10 each. plexiglass cutting tool. Pour first few hundred copies. In I have yet to discover the the toner into the tank using a fact, most drums do not get original source for bulk toner. plastic funnel, shaking gently up to their best blackness Let me know if you find it. as you go along. Then tape until several thousand copies the hole shut. after they first run out of How can I Reload Please send me your toner toner! a Toner Cartridge? tips and horror stories so they So, always keep two or can be passed on. And be more cartridges on hand. Run Few people are aware that certain to return the defective the first one until it starts there is a snap-on, snap-off cartridges so the quality con- putting out solid blacks. Then filling plug in the toner car- trol people at Canon can immediately switch to the tridge. The reason they don’t clean up their act. second one for all the rough realize this is that it takes a And, should you have any copies, internal memos, and special screwdiver, some car- opinions on a poor design that anything else that does not ving, spring popping, shaft purposely goes out of its way need a super-black output. removing, getting fingerprints to make a refillable cartridge Use the old cartridge for and light on the drum, and unrefilliable, you might men- quality work and the new one enough other hassles that this tion this to them one way or for anything non-critical. filler cap is simply not worth another as well. Seventh, pick your paper accessing at all. UPDATE: Feb 87. carefully. Some papers give excellent results, some mar- ginal, and some others are totally unusable. For everyday use, the plain 0 0000 - 0011 0000 $30 old xerox paper from your 1 0001 - 0011 0001 $31 local price club at $1.80 a 2 0010 - 0011 0010 $32 ream should work ok. For the 3 0011 - 0011 0011 $33 blackest black on the whitest white, the best paper I have 4 0100 - 0011 0100 $34 found is Classic Crest Avon 5 0101 - 0011 0101 $35 Brilliant White. This is made 6 0110 - 0011 0110 $36 by Neenah Paper and is now available through most paper 7 0111 - 0011 0111 $37 distributors. We get ours from 8 1000 - 0011 1000 $38 Ingram Paper. 9 1001 - 0011 1001 $39 Eighth, yes you can repair cartridges. About one in six A 1010 - 0100 0001 $41 or so will fail some other way B 1011 - 0100 0010 $42 than running out of toner. It C 1100 - 0100 0011 $43 may be permanantly gray, or have bad shading, or may D 1101 - 0100 0100 $44 have a scratch, a ghost, or a E 1110 - 0100 0101 $45 dropout. If this happens, you F 1111 - 0100 0110 $46 can move the toner from the sick cartridge over to a good one that just ran out of toner. And finally, yes you can Fig. 3 - Hexadecimal and ASCII equivalents. easily reload the cartridges 18.4 ASK THE GURU (continued from page 16.4) How Can I get Filthy glass, you will see frontwards Rich This Month? reading black 8-6 and DAILY are written by Adobe and are on a blue background, a black published by Addison-Wes- Naturally, you can use my border, with HOURS in red. eley. I do try to keep extra Applewriter/Laserwriter Util- All quickly and at an ut- copies of both in stock at all ities and Applewriter on a IIe terly negligible cost, when times. driving the Laserwriter. compared to traditional sign Second, there is a ptsize Surprise, surprise. shop methods. And in vir- command that is included in The scam this month is -- tually unlimited colors. Adobe’s insidecircletext and window decals! You can also create vinyl outsidecircletext routines that You can easily create pro- letters, and most any com- can cause all sorts of con- fessional, full color window mercial sign most any way fusion if you do not exactly decals that show store hours, you like. It should also be understand what it is and giant letters, etc. through a possible to get the toner to what it does. window or glass door. You interact with Scotchcal photo- The actual horizontal and can do so in a few minutes at sensitive vinyl, but this is one vertical point size of your a tiny fraction of the price a exciting area I simply haven’t circular text is set by the font sign shop charges. Being all gotten around to yet. definition you create ahead of on the inside, the decals are One hint: If the chosen time. Thus, 21 point type will pretty much immune to most material will not accept toner always appear on the circle as vandalism. well, then print backwards on 21 point type. Figure four shows you a the backing strip instead, and What ptsize does is set the typical decal as printed, while then cut things to size with spacing of the chosen sized figure five shows us the way scissors. characters around the circle. it appears when you view it Practically any larger paper Figure 4 shows you details. through the glass. distributor can get you bulk The troublesome part is as The key secret lies in the materials, but the best source follows: On the insidecirc- Laserwriter’s ability to print I have found for any small or letext routine that would go backwards. To do reverse experimental quantities of all on the bottom of the badge, printing, just send out a -1 1 the self-stick acetate, mylar, the ptsize command works SCALE 612 0 TRANSLATE vinyl, or fluorescent bumper- exactly as you would expect command. You then print on sticker material is Dick Blick. it to. The bigger ptsize, the transparent, self-stick acetate. They have several catalogs. further apart the letters. A Now for the sneaky full The one that you want is for good starting point is to use a color gimmick. Say you want signmaking and silk screen ptsize somewhat larger than the HOURS to be red and the printing. your actual point size. rest of the decal blue. Mask Call or write, and I’ll be The puzzlement comes in all but the HOURS and spray happy to lay some free win- when you try to use ptsize on it with red paint from the dow decal samples on you. the outsidecircletext as you hobby store. Then, spray Plus, of course, the usual free would use at the top of a everything blue. Next, add a laser demo pack, and the badge. The larger ptsize gets, second protective acetate framable picture of Meowwrrr the closer together the numb- overlay. Finally, apply the from last month’s column. ers get. And a zero ptsize will decal to the inside of the By the way, Meowwrrr has only slightly spread the letters window by the usual peeling now been traded to those apart. What to do? and sticking. Tigers. You simply will not Use negative values for UPDATE: Mar 87. believe his new uniform. ptsize on the top of the badge. When viewed through the Yipes. Stripes. The more negative the num- ber, the further the spread of the characters along the top of HOURS HOURS the badge. Summing up: the font def- inition will decide how high the letters will be. On the bottom of the circle, a bigger ptsize will spread the letters. 8-6 8-6 On the top of the circle, a bigger but negative ptsize will DAILY DAILY spread the letters for you. Once you have preloaded these routines, you can type Fig. 4 - You print a window Fig. 5 - . . . view it this way. circular text just as quickly decal this way to . . . and easily as you would type a plain line of characters. 18.5 Don Lancaster’s Care of floppy disks Repairing blown disks ASK THE GURU Applewriter clock access Toner cartridge reloading September, 1986 Postscript surface mapping f you are ever visiting the And now, for our feature the first place. Boston area, be sure and attractions . . . When you have a diskette Isee the Computer Museum in your hands, there are two and check out their incredible How do I keep from and only two allowable places collection of historic comput- Blowing Up a Diskette? to put it. And that’s directly er goodies. They have just in the drive or directly and recently placed a few of my It seems I blew up a disk immediately back into its case original prototypes from the the other day, so now is as or protective sleeve. TV Typewriter and Decimal good a time as any to review Setting a disk on the table Counting Unit days on per- how you prevent blown disk and then being "very careful" manent exhibit. hassles. As with fire preven- never to touch it is incredibly The big news this month is tion, the cheapest and best stupid. You see, it is the that Apple’s new Applelink way to fix a blown disk is to bottom side of the disk that user group technical info ser- prevent it from blowing up in plays, so all that cat hair and vices have gone on line at CompuServe. What you want to do is become an ambas- sador for your user group. 1. Make a backup copy of ProDOS Applewriter 2.0. This entitles you to some free connect time as well as access 2. Get into BASICS.SYSTEM. Then CALL -151. to insider info that is other- wise unavailable. 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6030, TSYS Among other goodies, all of the latest versions of all 4. Verify: that Macintosh and Laser- 2C97- 20 writer system software are on 2C98- 43 35 20 F6 4C A0 00 A9 line and downloadable, not to 2CA0- 70 A2 56 20 4D 50 20 7E mention all the IIe technical 2CA8- 22 AD 00 02 20 F7 3C CD notes. For more details on all 2CB0- 2C 5C D0 57 AD 4F 21 of this, you may want contact Ellen Leanse over in Apple’s 5. Change: evangelist group. 2C97- A0 I have personally been a 2C98- 3F A9 00 99 00 1E 88 10 little slow to get into modems 2CA0- FA A9 29 20 0B C5 20 08 in a big way, since I live a 2CA8- C5 A2 00 BD 01 02 9D 00 very expensive distance from 2CB0- 1E E8 E0 0E D0 F5 60 the nearest access numbers. But it is getting to the point 6. Verify: today where you simply must 5DE1- 51 75 69 74 20 41 70 have and use a modem. So 5DE8- 70 6C 65 20 57 72 69 74 much is out there now. And 5DF0- 65 72 so much of it is free or very nearly so. 7. Change: Hey, did you catch that 5DE1- 44 61 74 65 2F 54 69 July cover on A+? Of course, 5DE8- 6D 65 20 20 3E 20 24 41 since you are a very faithful 5DF0- 20 20 Computer Shopper subscriber, you knew all about this stuff 8. UNLOCK AWD.SYS long ago. If you have not already 9. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6030, TSYS done so, be sure and send for your free Applewriter/Laser- 10. LOCK AWD.SYS writer demo pack. As usual, this is your col- umn and you can get both Fig. 1 - A ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 Proclock patch. technical help and rumors mongered per the end box. 19.1 ASK THE GURU furniture polish is merrily do- and jelly and the chances are A disk cleaning diskette ing its thing. that you can recover most, if should be used at most every I personally never put a not all of your data. But it is three months or so. More fre- disk drive within 18 inches of all over once you start an init quent use probably does more any computer monitor or tv or a format. harm than good. set. People who smoke, of Never press the carriage Every now and then it pays course, must never be allowed return following an init or to reseat all of those cards in the same building as your format command. Instead, and cables. Use of a very diskettes, let alone in the very carefully open all doors modest amount of Radio same room. on all drives. Then remove Shack tv tuner cleaner at the Everybody knows they are the disk that is to be for- card fingers and the expan- supposed to back up their matted. Put your finger on the sion sockets is also a very disks and do so very often. write protect notch. Then good idea. But it never ceases to amaze carefully and out loud spell Note that this product has a me how many people stupidly the label backwards one letter dry film lubricant in it. It store the backup right beside at a time. should never be sprayed all the original! If the backups You did write on the label over the place, and should must stay in the same build- before you put the disk in the never be sprayed directly onto ing, hide them as far away drive, didn’t you? or near a disk. from the originals you pos- If you are copying a disk, What appear to be disk sibly can. The backup disk is always be absolutely certain problems are often caused by supposed to be just that. to write protect the original some other card in some other Besides blowups, there is before continuing. slot. Keep only your often- theft, fire, flood, stupidity, Never turn power off or hit used cards slotted and remove and mischief to contend with. reset when the red drive light the others. I do use a notcher some- is on. Wait till the light goes If you have lots of cards in times, but I would never use a off. If the light insists on use, keep things cool with a double sided disk inside a staying on for more than a fan or by removing the lid. single sided drive if the sum minute, open the drive door Using oddball, orphan, or total of all files on both sides and then wait some more. unusual drives and cards is get spun more than ten min- You should check your generally never a good idea. utes per month. drive speeds at least once a Stick with mainstream drives, That same pad that picks month. Note that many speed or else with second sources up dirt on the one side ends checking utilities may destroy that have been around for a up grinding that same dirt a track on whatever disk is in while. back into the other side when the drive. you flip over. On an older stock 5-1/4 How Can I "repair" The casualness with which inch Apple or u-Sci drive, the A Blown Diskette? some people INIT their disks speed adjustment trimpot is at is unbelievable. INIT kills! the lower right rear, and is Naturally, nobody pays any You can take a diskette and not the big and obvious ad- attention to preventing disk run over it with a truck and justment smack in the center blowups until well after the then boil it in peanut butter of the top board! blowup occurs. What can be done? Firstoff, the more you know about your disk system, WPL Routine: the better off you will be p date.n.time when disaster inevitably p puts Proclock date and time into $A strikes. Some "must have" p ...... books include Beneath Apple p DOS and the Beneath Apple qj ProDOS from Quality Soft- f{{$A{ ware, All About DOS from y? A.P.P.L.E., and the ProDOS pqt Technical Reference Manual directly from Apple. Two major utilities that are Glossary entry: almost indispensible for disk repairs are Copy II+ from d[P]dodate.n.time Central Point Software and the Bag of Tricks II from Quality Software. Fig. 2 - Single key Applewriter to Proclock access. OK. That nasty old I/O ERROR appears. Now what? 19.2 September, 1986 Let’s first assume that you Init or format a new disk. To perform surgery, you did not just init or format the Then use the INIT feature of will need a new diskette of disk, permanantly destroying Bag of Tricks II to copy the the same brand and series as everything previous. We will old files onto new and "clean" the damaged one. You will assume that there is no ob- tracks, while preserving data. also need a pair of cotton vious diskette damage. We With my particular blowup, gloves from the photo store, a will also assume a stock and this was all that was needed. sharp knife, and some tape. unprotected disk format. Should there be more pro- If a diskette got run over Your first attempt is to blems, try using FIXCAT to by an office chair, eaten by simply try again. Open and correct the catalog. If that the post office, or tricycled by close the drive door the in- fails, use ZAP to inspect and a three year old, it is possible stant the light comes on. This study each track to find out that the creases in the cover should recenter the diskette. what problems are where. are slowing down the drive Should a file sometimes be If all else fails, you can use enough to create errors. readable and sometimes not, a block or sector reading Cut the extreme top off you have something flakey utility to strip off the files both diskettes, so that you can going on. Init a new diskette 256 or 512 bytes at a time, remove the magnetic media and move all of the files over. saving them to disk, and then itself. Inspect the media, and Do this one file at a time. Try recombining them into the see if it is nice and round and again any time you get a read proper file type. Note that the shiny without any creases. error. little known and little used Then put the blown media If the error continues, try ProDOS "TYPE" command is into the new cover and see if rebooting. Sometimes the extremely handy for this sort it works. DOS or the ProDOS operating of thing. If the blown media was system in memory might get As a general rule, most smeared with peanut butter trashed for one reason or an- files can be recovered. Nat- and jelly or something sim- other. Note that it is usually urally, the one file you need ilar, get a can of freon cleaner not a good idea to adjust the most will be the one that from Radio Shack and care- drive speed at this particular is damaged beyond repair. fully spray the gunk off. Be time. A change in speed could If the disk is physically sure to use the type of freon only add to your present pro- damaged, then surgery may cleaner that does not have a blems. be called for. Do not attempt dry film lubricant in it. TV If that fails, try rebooting what follows until after you tuner cleaner is a no-no! on someone else’s system have tried everything else and Do try and minimize the using a different disk drive. have talked it over with a thermal shock to the media by This will seperate any me- gonzo hacker. spraying from a distance and chanical or system problems from actual disk damage. Should you be unable to read the disk on another ma- chine, the chances are there really is something wrong with it. At this point, you will want to decide how many hours of recovery effort you are willing to spend, com- pared against the value of the s lost data. Sw er’ The next thing to do is to ampfeld copy protect the diskette and IN DUSTRIAL then make a second bit copy, S TRENGTH preferably using the latest version of Copy II+. Any at- P tempt to repair a diskette can OISON possibly do permanant dam- age, so work only with this backup copy. IVY IN Y More often than not, the STA-SPRA disk damage will happen to either the catalog or directory tracks, since these are the ones most often referenced and the ones that are easiest Fig. 3 - Just what you have been waiting for. to foul up. 19.3 ASK THE GURU and by using the absolute put together the best stories cards. These do include the minimum spray needed to get and recovery secrets together Timemaster, Thunderclock, the job done. in a later column. and Proclock. And that should get you Next is an expansion up to started in the wonderful world How Can I Access a Clock eight WPL string variables of blown disk recovery. Card with Applewriter? from the usual four. And the Nothing elevates you to a final enhancement does a two hero status any faster than Don Thompson of Thom- way expansion of those num- "saving" someone else from pson and Thompson has just eric variables, giving you six their own stupidity. put together a remarkable variables, each with a 24 bit While you are at it, how Applewriter WPL Expansion resolution. about sharing your diskette Kit. This jewel provides three The normal price is $39.50, recovery horror stories and major enhancements to Pro- but Don has offered to pro- experiences with our other DOS Applewriter. vide Computer Shopper sub- Computer Shopper readers? The first one is automatic scribers with a special one Write or call, and we will support for many major clock time price of $34.50. Be sure to use the secret password "tinaja" to receive this special % cylindrical text demo (Postscript) offer. If you pronounce tinaja correctly, then Don will even /circradius 150 def /pstring ( ) def /alpha 0.5 def throw in a bonus program of some sort. /arg { oldrunningpos pstring stringwidth pop 2 As a compacted sample of div add circradius div 57.926 mul} def Don’s work, figure one shows you the listing for the patches /positioncalc { arg sin circradius mul /circposn needed to read the Proclock exch def} def card. These mods overwrite /forshortencalc { arg cos /fs exch def} def the useless [Q]-J quit option. After patching, a [Q]-J will /slopecalc { oldrunningpos circradius div 57.296 automatically put the time mul sin circradius mul circradius div alpha and date into the WPL $A mul /slope exch def} def string. Figure two shows you a /wraponly {/intcharvalue exch def pstring 0 brief WPL routine and a glos- intcharvalue put pstring stringwidth pop sary entry that will let you oldrunningpos add kernstuff add /newrunningpos insert the time and/or date exch def positioncalc forshortencalc pstring into your textfiles using a gsave circposn fs circradius mul alpha mul neg single keystroke. moveto slopecalc currentpoint translate Note that a space must [fs slope 0 1 0 0] concat pstring stringwidth preceed all lines in the WPL pop 2 div neg 0 moveto fs 0 le {.99 setgray} routine. {0 setgray} ifelse show grestore /oldrunningpos Contact Don directly for newrunningpos def} def patches to other Applewriter versions, or to be able to % ...... show the date only. And, of course, if you want 300 300 translate to know more about this /NewCenturySchlbk-Bold findfont [60 0 0 70 0 0] unmatchably superb word and makefont setfont full graphics processor, check into my Applewriter Cook- gsave book (SAMS #22460). /oldrunningpos -140 def 0 103 translate /kernstuff 3 def (POISON) {wraponly} forall Any More Info on grestore Toner Cartridge Reloading? gsave I have been intentionallly /oldrunningpos -65 def 0 36 translate pushing a Laserwriter toner /kernstuff 5 def (IVY) {wraponly} forall cartridge to see how many grestore reloadings it would take. On the fifth reload, at something showpage like 17,000 copies, the cart- ridge sensitivity started to Fig. 4 - A Postscript cylindrical text demo. drop, and a persistent edge streak appeared. 19.4 September, 1986 As we found out last with popular modems over (continued from page 17.5) month, you get the blackest standard telephone lines) is Next, overprint a gray grid images and the best looking currently in devlopment. This onto the big image, using the copies somewhere around should also revolutionize tele- gray grid routines in my 7500 pages. This will usually phone courtesy. Besides put- utilities. Then punch a hole at takes place after the second ting a real crimp into phone each end of each line, and at cartridge refilling. solicitation, and it, mercifully, each tangent point, or any Reloading, of course, will will eliminate music on hold other point where you want dramatically change the laser once and for all. total control. Very few points printer economics. If you pay Marcia strongly suggests are needed, and, in general, $100 list for a cartridge and wearing rubber gloves when the fewer the better. get 2500 copies out of it, you using this product. Then, tape the artwork onto are talking four cents of per- a light box or a window, and sheet toner cost. Seriously . . . punch the magic numbers into On the other hand, if you your IIe, entering an X, Y, pay $60 wholesale for a Who, me? and direction for each point. cartridge and then do five Now that I’ve got your Figure two is a listing of reloadings at $18 per reload, attention, check out the fine the Postscript code involved. your per-sheet toner cost print in figure three. Thanks to all of my newly drops to almost exactly a Note that we not only have revised curve tracing routines, penny per sheet. Note that the isometric lettering, but that an astonishingly low number first figure is well above that lettering is also wrapped of points is needed to do this of jiffy printing, while the around an isometric cylinder stunning graphics quality. For second is quite competitive. at the same time! instance, only four points are But I suspect that the $18 Applewriter on a IIe, of needed for a circle, ellipse, or refill cost may be a scam. course. Helped along with my oval. Thus, you often end up Yes, you do have to use the Applewriter/Laserwriter Util- working with an extremely special negative acting toner. ities. To let you in on all the sparse data set. But ordinary old toner costs secrets at no charge, just Reviewing, the curvetrace around $4 for a comparable check out the listing in figure routine works by inputing an amount. What I think may be four. X location, a Y location, and happening is that toner refiller This is intermediate level a slope for the ends and supply houses are buying case Postscript code. Each letter is tangents of each curved path lots of generic toner from a seperately compressed to the desired. yet unknown source. proper width, slanted the right Those numbers are then And toner costs of half a amount, and raised as needed converted into a form that is cent per page would turn the to map into its proper place. useful by the cubic spline jiffy print industry on its ear. As you can see, sines and routines already inside the UPDATE: Feb 87 cosines do most of the work. Laserwriter. The paths can Variations on the same then be stroked, filled, or What is the Feature code will run all the way even used as a clipping win- Product for This Month? around the cylinder, showing dow for future paths. the rear lettering in gray, The curve tracing speed is Marcia Swampfelder sent rather than black. You can normally quite fast, but since me a press release on her also do helix or spiral effects I intentionally used several major new product intended of either constant or ever irregular clipping masks on to solve once and for all any diminishing character heights. this particular character, this interpersonal relationship pro- Besides "gee whiz" uses, particular image does take blems you may have had with this will very nicely handle over a minute to print. computer salesmen, waiters, perspective lettering for an If you want to view the bureaucrats, car mechanics, upcoming perspective draw- location and direction of each admininstrators, or whom- ing add-on to my utilities. point, just change /showtick ever. Figure three shows you Scanning conversion will from false to true. This is a this exciting breakthrough. be rather slow, perhaps taking powerful debugging tool. Note that there is usually an hour or more for a full You will also need a listing no fear whatsoever of any page of perspective lettering. of my curve tracing routine. reprisals, since the level of The obvious reply to any You can get one that is all technical expertise needed to criticism of this speed would ready to go on my various point the nozzle in the proper be "Uh, compared to what?". Applewriter/Laserwriter Utilit direction is well beyond the A demo or two should be ies, or else I will send you a abilities of nearly all of your available by the time you read free listing of this new super intended targets. this, so write or call for a dooper routine, along with a Price is $4.50 per 12 ounce much improved self-portrait figure one original, when you can. A remote unit (for use of Marcia’s latest. call or write. 19.5 Don Lancaster’s Apple i.d. bytes Laser letterheads ASK THE GURU RAM card snooper Applewriter nullifier October, 1986 Machine language contest et’s start off with a few is ideal. What you do is melt me know . . . a cold reset. loose ends. First and out a 1/2 inch circle and then Which Apple is Which? L most importantly, don’t stop 9/10ths of the distance miss next month’s issue of around. Then you snap the This is a favorite question Computer Shopper. You just disk off with a pair of small on the help line, and it has might find a thing or two in it pliers. As before, you seal the been a while, so here goes. that just may be of more than hole with Scotch tape after There are obvious dif- passing interest to you. refilling. ferences between the Apple For those of you that are UPDATE: January 87 II, the II+, the III emulator, into creating your own type I heard a rumor that some the old IIe, the new IIe, the faces for most any display, sort of a modification can be old IIc, and the new IIc. If plotter, or printer, there’s an made to laser printers that you pretest the machine your interesting book you should allows foil hot stamping and software is about to be run know about. It is called the embossing. I’ll believe this on, you can selectively add or National Bureau of Standards one when I see it, but my, oh remove features, letting you Special Publication #424 and my, the potential. Let me optimize your program for the the price was only $3. know if you have any details target machine. The first little gotcha is that on this. There are two ways you this item is permanantly out UPDATE: December 86 can identify these different of print. Possibly you can Oh, yes. Some of you seem machines. borrow a copy from a library to be having trouble picking The method that always with a large government doc- up both of Adobe’s two works is to verify those four uments section. The original Postscript books locally, so monitor bytes shown to you catalog number was SD C13. we are now stocking them as in figure one below. Every 10.424. a special service for all of byte combination is unique The second gotcha is that you Computer Shopper read- for that machine. their fonts are intended for ers. These two books are ab- The second method works stroke graphics, rather than solutely essential to wring the only under ProDOS and uses for raster scanned graphics, maximum performance out of location $BF98 in main mem- so there’s not a lot here that your Laserwriter. ory. Figure two shows you you can immediately put to As always, this is your details. This location will also use. column and you can get tech- tell you whether a compatible I have also found a better nical help per the end box. I clock is installed, how much way to open a Canon copier also have bunches of free memory is present, and if any or laser printer toner tank for stuff available for you when 80 column firmware exists. refilling. Instead of cutting or you call or write. UPDATE: November 86 scraping a hole in the tank, Let’s move on to whatever By the way, there are two you simply melt one. A min- it is that we’re up to here. If free Apple manuals that have iature 25 watt soldering iron you ever find out, please let lots of this sort of information in them. These are the Apple IIc Programmers Guide to the MACHINE $FBB3 $FB1E $FBC0 $FBBF 3.5 ROM (#A2L4037) and the About Your Enhanced Apple $38 IIe (#A2L2072). You may Apple II $EA $AD Apple II+ want to pick both of these up. $EA $8A Apple III I Need a RAM Card $06 $EA Snooper Routine Apple IIe (old) $06 $E0 Apple IIe (new) Figure three is a listing of a $06 $FF $00 short routine that will copy up Apple IIc (old) $06 $00 $00 to 56 pages (or 27 ProDOS Apple IIc (new) blocks) from a slot #4 Apple one megabyte RAM card into Fig. 1 - Monitor i.d. bytes for various flavor Apples. main memory. It will do so with or without an operating system and can be used after 20.1 October, 1986 This new routine has some #2 of figure 3 is written in a mands. Write or call me if outstanding diagnostic and/or secret, very mysterious, and you need a free copy of this analysis possibilities. highly arcane code. Just tell DOS 3.3 Applewriter patch. You can set the number of me, in English, exactly what The problem was sort of pages read by the hex value is happening here, along with fixed in ProDOS Applewriter poked into $0F01. Use $01 for your suggestions for some 2.0 or 2.1. But, the stock a single page of 256 bytes, heavy duty new uses. solution introduced a new $02 for one ProDOS block of Only let’s play fair. You problem for other printers. 512 bytes, up to a maximum are automatically disqualified And Apple never bothered to of $38 for 28 blocks. if you can "sight read" step tell anyone about handling The actual memory dump two. And, if you eat this sort NULLs in the first place. will begin in the RAM card at of thing for lunch, how about What they did was let you the address you select, and $20 57 FC instead? Or else substitute a [ _ ] (control- will be moved down into the take a $00. underline) for a NULL. [ _ ] main memory starting at hex Actually, this super secret also goes by the names of a $6000. The upper limit is set encryption technique is so US user seperator or as a to $9900 to prevent inter- powerful and so good, that CHR$31. Anytime you need a ference with a DOS 3.3 or maybe we could even talk NULL in either one of these ProDOS reboot. Apple into using it someday. programs, all you have to do The starting address is high is verbatim insert a [ _ ]. enough in main RAM that you Tell me all About Unfortunately, many high can perform a warm reboot of Applewriter NULLs performance printers demand ProDOS around it without a US or a CHR$31 to activate hurting the copy. Many printers require the certain special features. For Several reminders about the ASCII $00 or NULL com- instance, the HMI commands RAM card. Always set your mand to do certain things. on daisywheel printers, and addresses in a low-mid-high This is incredibly stupid, be- some extended text modes in order. Remember that any cause the NULL command is dot matrix printers require RAM card read or write will specifically reserved as an this ASCII control character auto-post-increment the RAM ASCII control command that as part of a command string. card address. Finally, re- is not supposed to do any- So, some of you may need member that you must not try thing, anywhere, anytime. a way to undo the stock auto- to read or write to the RAM Nonetheless, things being matic substitution of [ _ ] for card using indexed addres- the way they are, certain a NULL. The solution for the sing, unless you intentionally printers and some cards need ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 cross a page boundary. NULLs to operate properly. appears as Patch B.12 in my To use with a slot other In the DOS 3.3e version of Applewriter Cookbook. than slot #4, note that $C0D0 Applewriter, all NULLs were The gist of the 2.0 patch is through $C0D2 are the low- specifically excluded, and a to change $4C37 of AWD. mid-high address for slot #5, custom patch was needed to SYS to match your desired while $C0D3 is the data read let you imbed any NULLs in substitution character. Use location, and so on up and all your printer control com- $1F for default operation. down the line of slots. Thus $C090 starts slot 1, $C0A0 slot 2, and so on. More insider information 0 0 - - 0 - - - is an Apple II on all of this appears in my 0 1 - - 0 - - - is an Apple II+ new RAM Card Disassembly 1 0 - - 0 - - - is an Apple IIe Script. 1 1 - - 0 - - - is an emulating Apple III 1 0 - - 1 - - - is an Apple IIc How About an Easier - - 0 1 - - - - is a 48K machine Contest This Time? - - 1 0 - - - - is a 64K machine Right on. As usual, a copy - - 1 1 - - - - is a 128K machine of my Incredible Secret Mon- ey Machine to the best ten ------0 - has no 80 column card entries, and an all expense ------1 - has an 80 column card paid (FOB Thatcher, AZ) tinaja quest for two to the ------0 has no compatible clock ------1 has a compatible clock overall winner. Since not just anybody can be trusted with such a powerful and useful module Fig. 2 - Using the ProDOS $BF98 i.d. byte. as a RAM card snooper, step 20.2 ASK THE GURU Use a $00 if you want no major patching difference then substitute $1F. If you NULL substitution at all. And, between 2.0 and 2.1. The must have both a US and a for version 2.1, we’ll have to AWD.SYS found on 2.0 is a NULL, then you will have to go clear on to the next SYSTEM type file. But, the find some different control question . . . AWD.SYS on 2.1 is a $0C character that you do not type file. Thus, 2.0 requires a need, and substitute it instead. Tell me about the ProDOS ",TSYS" following a patching Stay tuned for next month’s Applewriter 2.1 patches BLOAD or BSAVE, while the exciting new 2.1 patch. Be version 2.1 requires a ",T$0C the very first one in your ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 is instead. neighborhood to collect them a variation on the older 2.0 Let’s get the easy patches all! version. Its main difference is out of the way first. The that certain older third party Prefixifier "patch" stays the What is This Month’s dot matrix printers and in- same. The AIOifier and the Laserwriter Scam? terface cards can now be Grapplifier patches are no made compatible with both longer needed, as 2.1 solves Uh, would you believe ProDOS and Applewriter. this particular problem on its custom business stationary? A free upgrade has been own. And the Bootifier patch Done, of course, with both available from your Apple also stays the same, since it the Applewriter word pro- dealer now since November occurs so early in the code. cessor and the Laserwriter, of 1984. But there is no point As we’ve just seen, the $00 helped along with a few of in upgrading unless you have character is reserved for a my whiz-bang utilities. these problems to start with. marker in all newer versions Every business, large or Most printers and cards have of Applewriter, so the stock small, needs their share of long since corrected their program will accept and then letterheads, envelopes, bus- firmware to be fully ProDOS substitute a US or a [ _ ] iness cards, and such. The compatible. (control-underline) for the traiditonal suppliers of these Unfortunately, the 2.1 new NULL character. often require very large min- version progressively gets a So, if your printer or imum quantities, have long few dozen bytes longer than whatever needs a NULL, all setup and delivery times, do the 2.0 version. Which means you have to do is use [ _ ] the not give you exactly what you that most of the essential 2.0 same way you did with want, and leave you with a patches shown in my Apple- ProDOS Applewriter 2.0. But, staggering bill. writer Cookbook will not run if you need [ _ ] for a US or a There are two different properly on 2.1. CHR$31 printer command, ways the Laserwriter can For far too many months Figure 4 shows you the solve these hassles once and now, I have been promising Nullifier patch for the newer for all. You can use the many of you a full set of version 2.1 code. Laserwriter just for pre-press, patches for ProDOS Apple- What you do is make a one or you can actually print the writer 2.1. So, what I think byte substitution for the letterheads on demand when we will do is run a patch a NULL character. If you want and as they are needed. month here for a while. no NULLs, substitute $00. If The on-demand method In general, there is one you need no US or CHR$31, will appeal to most small business, technical venture, or craft needs. No letterheads ever need to be pre-printed 1. Do a reset or an absolute reset WITHOUT ahead of their actual use. turning of the power. Then CALL-151 Small quantities are a snap. to get into the monitor. Any changes or adjust- ments, however major, can be 2. Enter: made at any time. You can $0F00: A2 38 A0 00 84 06 A9 60 even print custom letterheads $0F08: 85 07 AD C3 C0 91 06 C8 instantly at a fair, swap meet, $0F10: D0 F8 E6 07 CA D0 F3 60 yard sale, mall, or trade show, and sell as few as a dozen of 3. Set the RAM card address at $C0C0 low, $C0C1 each at a profit. medium, and $C0C2 high. (Slot #4 values.) Thanks to the magic of Postscript, you can put the 4. Do a 0F00G. The selected pages or blocks of letterhead image, the body of the RAM card will be moved to main memory, the letter, and even your starting at $6000 and ending at 98FF. signature directly into the Laserwriter. You have to do Fig. 3 - A "snooper" for the Apple RAM card. this only once. Then you simply erase and rewrite each 20.3 October, 1986 new name and address, letting halftones can be done using to use a Postscript speaking your fully custom letters pour the internal Laserwriter half- printer in the first place. It out at maximum speed. tone machinery. Just do not also dramatically drives home If you are very careful forget that the screen size why you will want to work about your choice of paper changes as you enlarge or directly in the unique Post- and your artwork images, the reduce the image. And, of script language, instead of quality will be more than course, you have an infinite using someone else’s canned acceptable for all but the most range of type styles, shapes, layout routines. critical of business uses. I and sizes, compared to the Check closely, and you will have found that a black and fixed height and fixed width find lots of subtlety here. The grey letterhead on Guilford of "old way" instant transfer company name is imaged by Gray classic laid stationary lettering. using the charpath operator in seems to work well for me. Let us look at an example. a forall loop. Each letter is Best of all, there is no hint Figure five shows you one imaged three times. The first whatsoever of any "comput- typical letterhead and some of time, a fairly wide white out- ereeze" about the final letter. the Laserwriter special ef- line is put down. This will Except that the result is so fects you can easily do. Once automatically break the base good that it could not pos- again, you can print this hairline exactly when and sibly be anything else. letterhead on demand as it where needed. Next, the letter You can experiment with sits, or else you can use the is filled in with gray, using a various colors of paper and image as master artwork for custom and very dense half- toners. Repeat passes through traditional printing processes. tone screen. Finally, the letter the printer can be used for Figure six gives you the outline is traced in black. color and duotone effects. Postscript listing for this Some extra kerning is re- The advantages of the letterhead. This listing also moved between the "r" and on-demand letterhead method shows why it is so important the "g" to force a much more are that it is fast, easy, and gives acceptable results for most people most of the time. This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version The disadvantages are that AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 you are stuck with 300 dots column IIc or the 128K IIe. per inch resolution, have few colors available, and are lim- This patch lets you redefine the substitute NULL ited to the durability and control command from its default value of [ _ ], $1F, inherent appearance of heat US, or CHR$31. fused toner. Thus, you’ll find the final This patch works by replacing the control command to the desired substitution. on-demand results can in no way directly compete against, Note that this patch is needed ONLY if you require say, full color, raised ink, hot use of [ _ ] for another printer command. stamped foil, extreme detail, thermography, embossing, or any of the other goodies that 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS you can coax out of the Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. traditional printing processes. UPDATE: The Kroy Kolor 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get and Omnicrom processes can into the monitor. now give you stunning full color from your LaserWriter. 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 See column 21 and later for more details. 4. Verify $4C40 as a $C9 and $4C41 as the current If high print quality is a null substitution character. (stock value = $1F) must, then you can instead use the Laserwriter to prepare 5. Change $4C41 to the intended control character. your original artwork for Use $1F to return to a default [_], or $00 for traditional printing. Note that no NULL character at all. you can work oversize and 6. Verify $4C40-4C41 for a $C9 followed by the then photo reduce. This can control command you just selected. stretch the 300 dots per inch limit as far as you want to go. 7. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. You can even do full color by printing seperations when and as needed. Fig. 4 - A NULL patch for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1. Outstanding pastels and 20.4 ASK THE GURU Synergetics 746 First Street, Box 809, Thatcher AZ 85552 (602) 428-4073 Fig. 5 - A custom letterhead design done entirely in POSTSCRIPT. visually attractive spacing. while, a beautiful envelope and use a WPL routine to The street address and the shows up in the mail that has "semi-automate" the envelope phone number are done by obviously been laser printed. feeding process. All you have stretching Helvetica out so far Others assure me that there is to do is hold the envelope in that it now picks up a totally no problem at all reliably place and flip the bail back different set of gothic vibes, printing laser envelopes. And and forth. The WPL routine bordering almost on a Cop- lots of people are trying to and some time delays take perplate or Steelplate image. sell horrendously overpriced care of all the feeding and Once again, your own custom envelope feeder mechanisms. ejection. And it is consid- Postscript routines make this So, perhaps I don’t know erably faster than a manual utterly trivial. something about this, or else I feed laser printer. I’ll be happy to lay some am doing something obv- I once used continuous free samples on you. iously wrong. form "tip-in" envelopes, but My own approach right they cost too much, took far What About Envelopes? now is to do the return ad- too long to get, looked awful, dress prepress artwork using had lousy glue, and often Funny you should ask that. the Laserwriter, and then have jammed. I have yet to find any way to a local printer "crash print" Another thing I tried was to print decent or even accept- the envelopes. Cost is well use transparent matte labels able envelopes with any laser under a nickel an envelope if with the Laserwriter. The printer at all. you buy your own quality toner turns ultra black and It may have to do with the envelopes and then use jiffy very sharp on acetate. double paper layer in an printing. You can quickly and very envelope giving you charge But what about the main quietly run a dozen of these transfer hassles, or with the address? at once and they do not look lack of any uniform spacing I have tried quite a few half bad. You can also get between the top envelope methods. The one that works "classic laid" labels that are surface and the image drum. the best so far is to go back exactly the same color and But, every once in a long to my noisy old Diablo 630 finish as your envelopes. Direct mail people tend to be superstitious, and I am no exception. I do feel that an /letterhead {save /snap exch def 100 45 {dup mul envelope that has the address exch dup mul add 1.0 exch sub} setscreen 40 720 directly on it might have translate 0 0 moveto 0 setlinewidth 533 0 rlineto slightly higher odds of getting stroke newpath 0 0 moveto /Bookman-DemiItalic opened than mail with an findfont [34 0 0 34 0 0] makefont setfont /kernstuff obvious stick-on label. 1 def ( Synergetics) gsave -13 0 translate {dup /ggg exch Which may or may not be def /workstring ( ) def /char exch def workstring 0 true. Or reflect reality. char put /chardist workstring stringwidth pop def Obviously, there is a big workstring false charpath gsave 1 setgray 3 problem here. I suspect that setlinewidth stroke grestore gsave 0.99 setgray fill future laser printers will have grestore 0.5 setlinewidth stroke chardist kernstuff some sort of a flip-down en- add ggg 114 eq { 1 sub } if 0 translate 0 3 moveto} velope pressure roller that forall grestore /Helvetica findfont [12 0 0 9 0 0] will solve these hassles once makefont setfont 450 -10 moveto 0.15 0 and for all. Meanwhile, how ((602) 428-4073) ashow 285 4 moveto 0.15 0 about clueing me in on what I (746 First Street, Box 809, Thatcher AZ 85552) am doing wrong? ashow snap restore} def Let me know if you want a free listing for the Diablo letterhead showpage auto-feeder. As usual, I’ll be happy to give you some free Fig. 6 - The POSTSCRIPT letterhead listing. letterhead and other demos when you call or write. 20.5 Don Lancaster’s Password horror stories The hidden grand piano ASK THE GURU Applewriter Scrunchifier Dissassembly on the Mac November, 1986 Appleworks virtual memory ssuming that all of the bricht and Quist. Some very you such a total feeling of non-disclosure stuff got interesting revelations appear absolute control. Or of such Asigned, and if they ever in this prospectus. For in- awesome graphics power. got that pesky alligator out of stance, Apple now holds A brief reminder that we editorial, you ought to find a around 17 percent of Adobe. have a new free stuff list, and story of interest elsewhere in Another stockholder of note we are now stocking Adobe’s this month’s issue. is Evans and Sutherland, the two new Postscript books as I apparently missed telling super whiz bang computer a service for all of you Com- you about the i.d. bytes in the animation people. puter Shopper readers. main story. These new IIgs The most stunning news in With Haloween not that far machines have the same i.d. this prospectus is that Adobe off, let’s start out kinda real bytes as the Apple IIe. As we has now placed Postscript in scary like . . . saw last month, you’ll find the public domain! I per- these i.d. bytes at $FBB3:06, sonally feel that Postscript is Tell me a Horror Story. $FBC0:EA and $FBBF:$00. far and away the best page To tell the new machines makeup language avialable Do passwords serve any from a IIe, do a JSR $FE1F. If today. Making the language useful purpose on a network? you return with a set carry more accessable should dra- The sad answer is probably flag, then you have a IIe. If matically increase its use and yes. You may not want just you return with a cleared car- acceptance. anyone changing what the ry flag, then you have a IIgs The one thing that Post- system function and setup is or something newer. You also script really has going for it going to be. get some system info returned is that this is far and away the Next question: If the pass- in the A, X, and Y registers. most fun computer language, word is forgotten or misused, I also may have leaned on anywhere ever. Postscript is should it result in the sudden the vertical resolution a tad absolutely, totally, and utterly and total destruction of the too heavy. The stock IIe can addictive, both psychologic- entire system? display 26,880 pixels in any ally and physically. Before you give a sensible of six colors, or 53,760 in No other language gives and logical answer to the last black and white. The IIgs can display 128,000 pixels in any of 256 colors from a palette Virtual Apple of 4096. The Mac can display Memory RAM zero color pixels, or 173,000 pixels in black and white. By way of comparison, the $FFFF - IIgs full color display has just - $BEFC about the same resolution as the Macpaint window. Auxiliary So, which is the better Memory choice? 128,000 pixels in full (44 K) color, or 173,000 black and white ones? The jury is out and will now decide. - $0800 Need a hot stock tip? $5B7D - Adobe Systems, who are the Postscript people, recently - $B5FC went public. The market price $3400 - at this writing is somewhere Main Memory around 14, and it’s symbol is $15FD - ADBE on the NASDAQ over- (10 K) the-counter market. It’s listed $0001 - - $8702 in the Wall Street Journal, $0000 - and in many other financial newspapers. Fig. 1 - Appleworks virtual memory mapping. You can get a prospectus from Steve Piper at Ham- 21.1 ASK THE GURU question, consider this: If the This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version machine does not immed- AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 iately blow up with a misused column IIc or the 128K IIe. password, then there has to be some method of circum- This patch shortens the ProDOS options menu to venting the password use. In four lines, leaving more of a previous catalog which case, that password on the screen. It also frees room in the code accomplishes nothing useful for other patches. in the first place. Here’s the horror story. It Note that this patch is REQUIRED if the Cursifier turns out Apple was much too and Stretchifier patches are to be used. zealous in all their password 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS protection on the Laserwriter. Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. If you do forget your pass- word, or if someone else un- 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get knowingly or else maliciously into the monitor. changes it, or if some system software blows up in the 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 worst possible way, then your Laserwriter will self-destruct! 4. Verify 5937- 20 20 20 50 72. Screw up your password, and you first have to swap the 5. Change: internal computer board out, 5937: 50 at a cost of nearly $1000. 5938: 72 6F 44 6F 73 3A 20 28 Then you have to send many 5940: 41 29 20 43 61 74 61 6C of your downloadable fonts 5948: 6F 67 20 20 28 43 29 20 back to the software house, where they will be physically 5950: 4C 6F 63 6B 20 20 20 20 exchanged only once. 5958: 28 45 29 20 44 65 6C 65 The bottom line: Mess up 5960: 74 65 20 20 20 28 47 29 your password and you are 5968: 20 53 75 62 64 72 63 74 out $1000, three weeks time, and some utterly unbelievable 5970: 79 20 28 49 29 20 46 6F hassles. 5978: 72 6D 61 74 20 20 20 0D Say you wanted to do in a 5980: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 quick-copy service chain that 5988: 28 42 29 20 52 65 6E 61 rents Laserwriters. In half a morning’s time, you could 5990: 6D 65 20 20 20 28 44 29 easily cause them $50,000 in 5998: 20 55 6E 6C 6F 63 6B 20 damage and shut them down 59A0: 20 28 46 29 20 4F 6E 2D 59A8: 4C 69 6E 65 20 20 28 48 for three weeks or more. The solution: First, leave 59B0: 29 20 50 72 65 66 69 78 your Laserwriter password at 59B8: 20 20 20 28 4A 29 20 50 the default value. Any attempt 59C0: 72 69 6E 74 65 72 20 2D whatsoever to change it will 59C8: 3E 00 99 00 11 11 11 11 increase the likelyhood of a blowup. 59D0: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 I do not know what the 59D8: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 best answer to this one is. A 59E0: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 two-step approach of socket- 59E8: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 ing the non-volatile startup memory, and providing for 59F0: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 some password reset proceed- 59F8: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 ure will probably be best. A 5A00: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 "wrist slap" rather than a 5A28: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 (stop!) "kick in the teeth" might be instead used for password 6. Verify 5937-5A2E per the above code. misuse. Requiring that the lid Verify 5A2F- 3A 51 7C 50. be physically removed from the machine to reset your 7. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. password should do the trick. Removing that idiotic and Fig. 2 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 Scrunchifier patch. stupid single machine protect- ion scheme from the fonts 21.2 November, 1986 would also help things out expense paid (FOB Thatcher, up with the concept of virtual bunches. Meanwhile, do not AZ) tinaja quest for two for memory. These days, though, under any circumstances, try the best overall reply. the term memory management and change your password Help! is often used instead. from its default value. With virtual memory, you Any ideas on this? How does Appleworks set up a "fake" or imaginary Virtual Memory Work? memory area. Into this imag- How About Another One? inary area, you put one or Suppose you had some more linked lists of real mem- Hmmmmm. Once upon a free RAM available in several ory addresses. time, long ago and far away, different locations in your Each segment of virtual there was this programmer computer. Say further that memory, or VM, has a length who very much wanted to you wanted to put lots of and a link. make a printed disassembly different work files into these The length equals the total listing of a file he had on a areas. How would you do it? number of vm bytes used by diskette. If you decided to do the this particular segment. The If that programmer was obvious and start placing files link is the starting vm address using an Apple IIe, all he where they would "fit" in of the next segment of this would have had to do is memory, things might be ok particular file. punch in these keystrokes: for a while. But, then say that For instance, a word pro- one of your earlier files got cessor file might start off BLOAD FILE, A$2000 longer. This might happen with a segment of vm that CALL -151 because you have added a starts at vm address $1356. PR#1 few new paragraphs to a word This particular segment of 2000 LLLLLL processor text file. What available memory may be too now? To make room for the small to hold the entire file, But this programmer was new stuff, you either have to so it links to another vm seg- so incredibly stupid that he rearrange everything that is ment at $39FC, and so on. was instead trying to use a already in memory, or else The last file in the chain will Macintosh disk and was try- split up the longer file into have a $00 link, so we know ing to do his listing directly two or more disjoined pieces. we are at the end of the file on his Mac printer. To get around having to as well as the end of the list. How silly can you get? continuously rearrange what Each vm address will be After three weeks of work is already in memory and to related in some fixed way to and innumerable trys at var- elegantly solve other awk- "real" RAM. The linked list ious software packages, that ward problems, the computer lets you connect many dif- programmer still does not people long ago have come ferent pieces of real RAM have his disk file properly disassembled to paper. After five disk blowups, though, he finally did find a poor way of doing the listing in very tiny and almost totally useless segments. This programmer simply could not believe that the single fundamental most im- portant task of a personal computer – the ability to very quickly and conveniently list – appears to be totally un- available on the Mac! If you know how, please send me any workable way to disassemble a Mac disk file onto paper. Oh yes, the file is 68000 code, but is not Mac code. I have a hunch this will be far and away the hardest contest we have ever run. As usual, an Incredible Secret Money Machine to the first Fig. 3 - Bee’s Piano. dozen entrants, and an all- 21.3 ASK THE GURU /pedals {[276 375 -90 276 365 -90 276 365 0 305 365 0 305 365 90 305 375 90 305 375 180 276 375 180] ctf [297 366 -90 297 312 -90] ctb [280 366 -90 280 314 -90] cta [291 366 -90 291 312 -90] cta [293 316 55 321 345 55 ] cta [280 316 55 321 363 55 ] cta [280 354 -5 298 353 -5 ] ctd gsave 0 5 translate [270 307 90 270 310 90 270 310 5 278 312 5 278 312 -8 301 308 -8 301 308 -90 301 298 -90 301 298 -175 294 297 -175 294 297 90 294 302 90 294 302 170 270 307 170] ctf grestore gsave -0.5 5 translate [269 300 90 269 302 90 269 302 0 270 302 0 270 302 -90 270 300 -90 270 300 180 269 300 180] ctf grestore gsave 6 3.9 translate [269 300 90 269 302 90 269 302 0 270 302 0 270 302 -90 270 300 -90 270 300 180 269 300 180] ctf grestore gsave 10.5 2.9 translate [269 300 90 269 302 90 269 302 0 270 302 0 270 302 -90 270 300 -90 270 300 180 269 300 180] ctf grestore gsave 0.5 6 translate [284 296 90 284 299 90 284 299 -1 289 298 -1 289 298 -90 289 295 -90 289 295 1 284 296 1] ctf grestore [276 306 -1 289 304 -1] ctb [289 302 1 295 303 1] ctb} def /legs{[355 372 -90 355 367 -90 355 367 180 328 296 -90 328 296 0 330 296 0 330 296 -92 328 285 -92 328 285 180 320 285 180 320 285 92 318 296 92 318 296 0 320 296 0 321 296 90 296 367 180 296 367 90 296 372 90 296 372 0 355 372 0] ctf [370 377 -90 370 372 -90 370 372 180 310 372 180 310 372 5 370 377 5] ctf newpath 324 280 2.8 2.8 360 arc closepath 0 setgray 1 setlinewidth stroke gsave 0.7 dup scale 300 180 translate [355 372 -90 355 367 -90 355 367 180 328 296 -90 328 296 0 330 296 0 330 296 -92 328 285 -92 328 285 180 320 285 180 320 285 92 318 296 92 318 296 0 320 296 0 321 296 90 296 367 180 296 367 90 296 372 90 296 372 0 355 372 0] ctf newpath 324 280 2.8 2.8 360 arc closepath 0 setgray 1 setlinewidth stroke grestore gsave 0.74 dup scale 0 145 translate [355 372 -90 355 367 -90 355 367 180 328 296 -90 328 296 0 330 296 0 330 296 -92 328 285 -92 328 285 180 320 285 180 320 285 92 318 296 92 318 296 0 320 296 0 321 296 90 296 367 180 296 367 90 296 372 90 296 372 0 355 372 0] ctf newpath 324 280 2.8 2.8 360 arc closepath 0 setgray 1 setlinewidth stroke grestore clear} def /lidandbody{[290 442 45 367 522 45 367 522 -2 410 520 -2 410 520 -135 385 494 -135 385 494 -55 387 490 -23 472 465 -130 405 419 -155] ctf [405 419 0 467 420 0 467 420 -90 467 385 -90 467 385 -175 300 372 -175 300 372 90 300 447 90] ctf} def /keyboard {[300 372 177 207 379 177 207 379 90 207 393 90 207 393 20 225 407 75 225 407 180 221 407 180 221 407 90 221 417 90 221 417 -1 256 418 2 256 418 70 268 440 5 314 430 -120 303 412 -120] ctf 1 setgray 1 setlinewidth [292 442 45 365 519 45 365 519 7 391 512 -75 392 512 90 391 510 110 368 515 -178 368 515 -135 298 442 -135 298 442 180 292 442 180] ctfd [389 514 -75 385 495 -70] ctc } def /support{[355 497 45 360 503 45 360 503 -75 385 420 -75 385 420 180 379 420 180 379 420 106 355 497 106] ctfd [387 421 0 395 421 0 395 421 -95 394 392 -105 383 380 -150 383 380 88 387 397 90 387 420 90] ctfd [312 405 -110 308 390 -130 302 386 -170 303 385 -5 312 388 50 318 405 71 318 405 180 312 405 180] ctfd [304 373 90 304 384 90] ctc [308 412 0 313 412 0 313 412 -90 313 405 -90 313 405 180 308 405 180 308 405 90 308 412 90] ctfd [222 415 0 227 415 0 227 415 -90 227 408 -90 227 408 180 222 408 180 222 408 90 222 415 90] ctfd [211 394 20 226 406 75 226 406 0 230 406 0 230 406 -95 211 394 180] ctfd} def /keyboardwhite{[219 385 177 298 378 177 298 378 90 298 386 90 298 386 -3 219 392 -3 219 392 -90 219 385 -90] ctfd [280 378 -3 295 377 -3] ctc [375 415 5 307 417 5 307 417 -120 304 412 -120 304 412 4 375 415 4] ctfd [310 440 -15 315 431 -120 303 413 -120] ctc grestore clear} def /piano { 1 setlinecap 1 setlinejoin /tension 2.8 def /ctf {curvetrace gsave 0 setgray fill grestore 1 setlinewidth 0 setgray stroke}def /ctfd {curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore 1 setlinewidth 0 setgray stroke}def /ct {curvetrace stroke} def /cta {curvetrace 7 setlinewidth stroke} def /ctb {curvetrace 2 setlinewidth stroke} def /ctc {curvetrace 1 setgray stroke} def /ctd {curvetrace 4 setlinewidth stroke} def /showtick false def pedals legs lidandbody keyboard support keyboardwhite} def 60 150 translate piano showpage Fig. 4 - Postscript Listing for Bee’s Piano. 21.4 November, 1986 together so they appear to high 8-bit byte of our vm (actually $0001) starts off the create a contiguous text file, address can pick which of the main memory piece at $8700 or whatever. While the pieces 256 pages we are going to (actually $8702). Segment may vary all over the real lot, start on or link to. The low $3400 starts off the auxiliary they are tightly connected 8-bit byte can tell us the memory piece at $0800. together in a vm linked list. position on the vm page. Virtual memory is used in Should a file get longer, it But note that we can only two major ways by Apple- simply tacks a new piece of reach 256 addresses with a works. The desktop files are free vm to the end of its list. low 8-byte word. Thus, this purgeable or removable only Thus, you never have to move particular vm address can if you decide to remove them. existing files around in RAM. only hit every second byte, Meanwhile, as the 42 working The linked lists of the virtual since there are two bytes code modules are loaded from memory will automatically do needed to describe 1/256th of disk, copies of them are made this for you. a 512 byte page. and stuffed into vm on a You can even insert or When a memory card is purgeable basis. delete stuff from the middle used, the number of vm pages What this does is let you of your file, by breaking the stays the same, while the go to RAM instead of to disk list and inserting or deleting page position byte can only the next time you need a vm segments from the list. reach certain locations. For module. This is much faster. Several vm lists can be instance, an unused 512K As each new module is added used. The free list can hold RAM is set up so it has 256 to vm, the priority of all all of the available memory. vm pages of 4096 bytes each. previous code modules is A non-purgeable list holds all Each value of the low 8-bit upped a notch. Should the vm of the files that must not be address can only hit a mul- manager need more memory deleted or changed. A purge- tiple of sixteen RAM bytes, for a desktop file addition or able list holds program mod- since 4096/16 = 256. extension, it flushes as many ules that can be bumped out So how does Appleworks of the oldest code modules as of vm if something more im- vm work? Figure one can get it has to. portant needs the area. us started. The Appleworks disk file Virtual memory manage- A vm address space of formats are available free of ment consists of maintaining 128K is used if there is no charge from Elizabeth Geb- linked lists of free memory, expansion RAM available. hardt, who is the Appleworks purgeable memory, of and The starting vm address of product manager over at non-purgeable memory. As a $0000 is reserved, since a vm Apple Computer. Copies of vm area gets removed from link of $0000 means that we this should also be available one list, it gets added to are at the end of the linked on MAUG or AppleLink. another. The tricky part is to list. Thus, vm address $0001 make sure that things don’t is the first useable address. Show me another ProDOS end up in very tiny segments The relationship of vm Applewriter 2.1 patch. involving very long lists. address to "real" RAM can be Normally, the total am- arbitrary so long as it is Figure two shows us ount of vm will exceed all the known. There are usually two another ProDOS Applewriter real RAM available. This RAM areas that are available 2.1 patch. This one is called helps the fragmentation pro- for the Appleworks desktop. the Scrunchifier. It does blem considerably. These are addresses $8700- several things. First, it short- In the case of the original BF00 in main RAM (a 10K ens up the DOS options menu Appleworks, the virtual mem- space), and addresses $0800- to four lines, leaving much ory is 128K bytes, although BFFF (A 45K space) over in more of your previous listing only 55K of this is mapped to auxiliary RAM. on the screen. This is quite "real" RAM. The actual desktop size will handy whenever you are In new Appleworks 1.3, the change with the machine and renaming, locking, unlocking, size of vm depends on how the RAM card. A 64K "short" or deleting lots of files at much memory expansion card IIe can thus only use the main once. you have in use. For instance, 10K. An available RAM card Secondly, that extra text with no card, you still usually does not use any desktop space freed up by your get 55K, while with a 512K space in the machine; the shortening can now be used card, you get a desktop area desktop is all handled by for those two heavy duty of 503K bytes. direct machine access to a Stretchifier and Cursifier It is convenient to always fake ProDOS file on the RAM patches that we’ll see in use a 16-bit vm address, card itself. future columns. regardless of the number of All of these vm memory Equivalent patches for the bytes in vm. A 128K vm segment addresses are related ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 do memory consists of 256 pages to real RAM areas as shown appear in my Applewriter of 512 bytes each. So, the in figure one. Segment $0000 Cookbook, 21.5 ASK THE GURU Why Have You Been Hiding stack overflow if you tried actually print the final cards Laserwriter The Grand Piano? defining it all as one pro- 10-up on your . ceedure. That is why this The advantages here are that You’re right. Not once in routine is broken up into you can make a profit on as the entire history of our Ask several pieces. few as ten cards, can deliver the Guru column have we on the spot, and can easily even once published a picture And This Month’s Get Rich make changes and revisions. of a grand piano. Quick Scheme is . . . ? And that final quality, So, to now correct this un- while somewhat modest, is speakable oversight, figure Business cards. How did more than acceptable to most three is a picture of Bee’s you guess? individuals, craft persons, or Piano. Applewriter on an That Applewriter word small business users. Par- Apple II, of course. Helped processor on an Apple IIe can ticularly for those people who out by my six disk Apple- easily be used along with the simply would not pay the writer/Laserwriter Utilities. Laserwriter to produce small going rate for traditional This is done in the highly quantities of business cards at cards from an old line printer. traditional art style of a incredibly low cost. This can Normally, you would print "printer’s tradesman cut", as even be done in "real time" at on a hand-fed heavier paper, you might use on a more a mall, trade show, fair, or such as the Dorian Gray or conservative business card or swap meet. Baronial Ivory Classic Crest letterhead. Then again, grand A typical card is shown in cover stock by Neenah Paper. pianos tend to be a tad on the figure five. Ten cards are After printing, it is usually stuffy and conservative side normally printed at once, a good idea to spray some anyway. using a 2 x 5 step and repeat matte fixative from the art Figure four gives you a procedure. I’ll be happy to store onto the cards. This will complete Postscript listing of lay a great Postscript step- greatly improve their scuff the grand piano. To use this and-repeat on you for free if and wear resistance. code, you’ll also need a free you ask. The disadvantages of the listing of my curvetrace rou- Anyway, there are two ef- cheap route is that, at least tine. You can get this one by fective routes to Applewriter right now, you can’t do things calling or writing. created business cards. Let’s like raised color ink, coated By the way, this particular call them the cheap route and papers, foil or paper emobos- Postscript listing is just long the fancy route. sing, thermography, and such. enough that you could get a With the cheap route, you There is also a very slight "rattiness" to the 300 dots per inch resolution. One major way around the rattiness is to print all smaller TUNING REGULATING REPAIRING fonts with some extra kerning between all the letters. This makes a dramatic difference, MICHAEL RUCKS and is one of the key secrets 428-7569 why my IIe stuff looks so much better than their Mac stuff. NEW BALDWIN PIANOS GUARANTEED USED PIANOS For the fancy route, you RT 1, BOX 10 SAFFORD, AZ 85546 simply use Applewriter and your Laserwriter to generate the pre-press artwork for a "real" business card printer. TUNING REGULATING REPAIRING By working oversize, the virtual resolution can be in- creased as much as you want. MICHAEL RUCKS The printer will then photo- 428-7569 reduce your art to final size when he makes his plates. Major advantages of using NEW BALDWIN PIANOS GUARANTEED USED PIANOS the Applewriter and Laser- RT 1, BOX 10 SAFFORD, AZ 85546 writer combination for pre- press art are that this can quickly and simply can give you full custom card art, with Fig. 5 - Typical step-and-repeat business cards. no limitations at all on any text and graphics mix. 21.6 Don Lancaster’s Updates on the new IIgs Applewriter swallowifier ASK THE GURU Appleworks screen macros Solar energy breakthrough December, 1986 Omnichrom and Omnicolor ell, I bet you thought legibility, system perform- joysticks, and also gives you last month’s column ance, and battery life hassles the annunciator outputs that Wwould be a very hard can be fixed. are superb for ultra-cheap act to follow. Not so. This The IIc now has a new local networks or to interface month, behind the mauve circuit board that does include to an ultrasonic BSR power curtain, we have our biggest plug-in memory expansion up controller or whatever. blockbuster ever. How about to one megabyte of RAM. No, there is no provision real ink in stunning full color Check your Apple dealer for for a RF modulator. The old out of your stock and un- more details on upgrades and four pin internal connector is modified Laserwriter? Using such. gone, and the IIc external RF Applewriter on an Apple IIe, Let us see. My free stuff modulator will not fit. Not of course, helped along by my list has just been updated, so that a RF modulator would do utilities. And all this sanely write or call for your personal you very much good. Direct priced to boot. copy. We are now shipping antenna entry to a stock color But first, let’s fire up the the pre-release of our brand tv set would hopelessly smear rumor mill. We’ll set it to a new Appleworks Disassembly 80 column color text, besides medium fine grind. Script, as well as stocking trashing the new super HIRES There is now a major new Adobe’s Postscript books as a color modes. source for Apple developer reader service for all of you Speaking of which, that insider information. And it is Computer Shopper readers. new Apple color monitor is open to anyone anywhere. But now . . . absolutely stunning. Not only Check into the new Apple is the 80 column color text Programmers and Developers What is the Latest fully legible, but it is actually Association. Membership is Word on the IIgs? pleasant to use with your full $20 per year, and it gives you choice of text, background, instant access to all of the Lots of new info on this and border color. This is the technical manuals, third party exciting new machine. Yes, first time I have ever seen a new programs, some beta test there is an internal game pad- 80 column color text display goodies, and much more. dle connector. This is handy that I would actually be wil- The APDA is run by the for really old paddles and ling to use. CALL A.P.P.L.E. people, who publish one of the top three Apple magazines. The other two are Open Apple and Ap- $01 - Clear rest of line ple Assembly Line, of course. $02 - Clear entire line Nothing else is even within $03 - Clear rest of window shouting distance. $04 - Clear entire window Available are development $05 - Relative to absolute cursor tools, system software, tech- $06 - Backspace nical notes, some operation $07 - Frontspace manuals, languages, and even $08 - Cursor up; scroll down at top the entire Addison-Weseley library of Apple books. $09 - Cursor down; scroll up at bottom Apparently the IIc liquid $0A - Set inverse text crystal display flat screen $0B - Set normal text option has been flushed. $0C - Set bottom right of window Mostly because it was totally illegible, I guess. But $0D - Move cursor to left of window that does not seem to slow $0E - Set upper left of window down the competition, whose $0F - Open window to full screen flat panel displays are all $10 - Blork the speaker completely unreadable under all lighting conditions. $11 - Do a horizontal scroll I’m not convinced there is any market at all for fully and Fig. 1 - Appleworks screen macro commands. truely "portable" computers until such time as the display 22.1 ASK THE GURU There is also a new plug- detail, Applewriter seems to changes of any kind. in SCSI interface card all work ok at normal speed, but There are also some very ready to go. This can remove in the fast mode, you have to severe problems involving once and for all the paltry make some patches to keep hard disks. Some disks, IIgs limit of a mere 128 disk the tones normal, the cursor particularly the ProFile, will drives of a pitiful five giga- flashing rate under control, lose data or may else plow bytes each. and to set the proper inter- themselves in the fast mode. The IIgs bugs are starting character delay for serial For now, do not use an older to pour in. Naturally, any new printing. I will have patches hard disk with the IIgs, until machine will have at least a on these shortly. this problem gets fixed. few teething problems, and At the faster speed, you’ll A few of the earlier IIgs the IIgs is no exception. find Applewriter to be much machines tend to have sound That 90 percent compati- smoother, and even more fun that sits there muttering to bility claim is a pipe dream. to use. The speedup is most itself. While this sound level Even Applewriter and Apple- noticable on things like WPL is very low, it could drive a works have major problems. routines, long searches, and "night person" up the wall if Version 1.3 of Appleworks on the reformatting that takes they are working in a totally will not let you use an ex- place after disk access. silent room. pansion RAM card on the Very nice. Some of the routines seem IIgs, so you are stuck with There seems to be one big to mutter on purpose as a user 55K. It also gives you a problem with the power sup- prompt. I don’t much care for garish tweet instead of the ply. The rundown time is way this. If muttering is used, it usual buzz in the fast mode. over 30 seconds. The good should be a selectable option. Apple did announce a brand news here is that you can now Another big compatibility new Version 2.0 of Apple- coast through more and deep- problem with earlier programs works that will give you er power line glitches without is that the built-in clock does extended memory access and any problems. The bad news not use the same access rules reasonable tones. is that you can zap a board if as do the earlier Apple clock Applewriter won’t print on you insert or remove it within cards. Software modificat- the IIgs! One temporary cure half a minute of turning the ions will definitely be needed is to use your older super power off. for access. serial card instead of the in- So, be sure to wait at least The IIgs built-in clock is ternal IIgs serial ports. 40 seconds after power down seperately available as a desk Outside of that nit-picking before making any IIgs card accessory. My own IIgs clock seems to gain 4 to 5 seconds a day. This seems a tad high. This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 How do the Appleworks column IIc or the 128K IIe. Screen Macros Work? It eliminates the potential ability to overwrite Much of the Appleworks the glossary and destroy the program. Corrects fancy text screen "filing card" a byte in the original code that is just plain manipulation is done using 17 wrong. screen macros. These macro commands are passed on to This patch works by replacing a "glossary full" the screen routines just as if test byte with the correct value. they were ordinary printing characters. 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS Since control commands do Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. not appear on the screen anyway, the codes for the 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get initial 17 ASCII control com- into the monitor. mands were usurped and re- 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 placed with these new custom screen macros. 4. Verify 2B56- 67 Figure one shows us these commands. Some of these are 5. Change 2B56: 0F obvious. Clears are available to clear line, rest of line, win- 6. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. dow, and rest of window. Macro $05 is particularly interesting, since it converts a Fig. 2 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 Glossifier patch. window-relative horizontal and vertical position into a 22.2 December, 1986 screen absolute one. To use service and perform poorly as can possibly be done. this macro command, start with erratic winds and drop- So, Jim reasoned that he with an $05 and then follow ping water tables. On the would design the pump to fit it with the in-window horiz- other hand, most solar pow- the sunshine, rather than us- ontal and vertical cursor pos- ered pumps have simply been ing inverters and batteries to itions for the screen. too expensive to use. make the sunshine fit the For instance, an $05 $03 Why? pump. What he came up with $04 will automatically move Because each solar array is a new variable displace- you four characters in and had to drive a costly inverter ment pump mechanism. When five lines down, regardless of and a bank of expensive and the sun is shining brightly, where the window is on the hard-to-maintain batteries. the pump makes long strokes screen. Note that a zero horiz- Worse yet, the efficiency of and lifts lots of water. When ontal value is the leftmost and the inversion and storage the sun shines a little, the a zero vertical value is the process gets so low that you pump makes short strokes and topmost. lose all the way around. lifts less water. At night, the Continuing down the list, Jim got to thinking that pump makes zero strokes and there’s both a frontspace and solar energy would make a lot does not lift anything. backspace, followed by upline more sense if you could What about clouds? Jim put and downline commands. throw away the inverter and a hefty flywheel on the pump These later two will scroll the batteries, getting rid of so it can coast through brief in the proper direction when both their cost and their cloudy times. A very simple, they reach the top or bottom inefficiency. Now, in a water small, and rather efficient of the window. pumping operation, you have CMOS microcontroller then The next two macros set one goal and one goal only: monitors the flywheel speed. normal and inverse text. They You want to put as much of Every now and then, it will are followed by four window the water into the tank as you adjust the pump displacement setting commands. The first can, and do so as efficiently to exactly match the energy ($0C) sets the bottom right of the window. The second ($0D) resets the cursor to the This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 version left of window. The third AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 ($0E) sets the upper left of column IIc or the 128K IIe. the window, while the fourth ($0F) opens the window back The patch eliminates a complete trip through the to full screen. glossary whenever an "open apple <--" or an Macro $10 is used to beep "open-apple -->" is done, greatly clarifying the speaker for an error alert. repeat saves or restores of saved characters. Finally, macro $11 does a It works by trapping out these two open-apple horizontal scroll with the next commands before they are processed as glossary byte deciding how far to go commands. in which direction. Positive $00 to $4F values go to the right, while negative $FF to 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS $CF values go to the left. Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. Much more detail on all this appears in the brand new 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get pre-release of my Appleworks into the monitor. Disassembly Script. 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, TSYS, D2 What’s new in 4. Verify 2A5A- D0 01 60 Solar Energy? Jim Allen of the Solarjack 5. Change 2A5A: 4C 6B 45 company has come up with a genuine breakthrough in solar 6. Verify 456B- A0 FF C8 B9 energy economics. And he has done so with a production 7. Change 456B: F0 0B C9 08 F0 4570: 07 C9 15 F0 03 4C 5D 2A product that has been quite 4578: 60 thoroughly field tested. Windmills have tradition- 8. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, TSYS. ally been used in remote areas of the arid southwest for livestock and game watering. Fig. 3 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 Swallowifier patch. But windmills are costly to 22.3 ASK THE GURU that is coming in from "up patch for ProDOS Apple- glossary search process. there". A small secondary writer 2.1 that eliminates a Figure four is the same motor using a worm screw rarely activated glossary bug SWALLOWFIER patch inten- drive is used to adjust the that can cause all sorts of ded for ProDOS Applewriter pump stroke. problems. This is similar to version 2.0. Besides its Thanks to the big flywheel, the ProDOS 2.0 GLOSSIFIER slightly different location, the pump runs at an optimum patch that appears over in my note that 2.0 files are SYS and nearly constant speed, so Applewriter Cookbook. type files, while 2.1 files are long as any power at all is Figure three is the new $0D type files. coming out of the panel. SWALLOWIFIER patch used Many thanks on this to Don I guess I am particularly with ProDOS Applewriter 2.0. Thompson. Who, by the way, proud of all this, because Jim This one eliminates the screen he has several brand new is one of my students. And, hassles when trying to swal- Applewriter patches and util- he is successfully doing some low or barf characters to the ities ready for your use. very exotic things in a dis- left arrow/right arrow buffer. I am working on several tinctly low tech part of the It turns out that this command patches for fast IIgs operation country. Give him a call if used to have to go all the way of Applewriter, while Don is you want any more details. through the glossary before it working on the automatic did anything. With long glos- clock link. More on this as it Show me Some More saries, especially self-prompt- happens. ProDOS Applewriter ing ones, this extra trip time Patches. royally fouled things up. So, Where’s the Big This patch operates by Blockbuster? In continuing our ongoing trapping out the swallow and Applewriter patch series, barf commands before they Patience. Patience. figure two is a GLOSSIFIER have to go clear through the I told you I would believe it when I saw it. I have seen it, I use it daily, and I still do This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version not believe it. AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 I don’t think I was ever column IIc or the 128K IIe. more amazed when Woody Baker of The Copier Store The patch eliminates a complete trip through the mailed me back one of my glossary whenever an "open apple <--" or an very own laser printed bus- "open-apple -->" is done, greatly clarifying iness cards -- redone in real repeat saves or restores of saved characters. ink in an almost "embossed" gold! Turns out Woody had It works by trapping out these two open-apple found an older Omnicrom commands before they are processed as glossary machine scunging around commands. unsold in the back of his warehouse and fired it up. Lo and behold, the instant con- 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS version of any toner image to Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. real ink in stunning colors! The Omnicrom stuff has 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get been a loser to date because into the monitor. the manufacturer was laboring 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 under the delusion that you needed one of his $1300 heat 4. Verify 2A5A- D0 01 60 fusion roller machines to use the Omnicrom process. 5. Change 2A5A: 4C 75 45 I got to thinking about just what their machine did, and 6. Verify 4575- A0 FF C8 B9 concluded that it was no different whatsoever from the 7. Change 4575: F0 0B C9 existing fusion rollers in the 4578: 08 F0 07 C9 15 F0 03 4C Laserwriter. Just for kicks, I 4580: 5D 2A 60 ran some Omnicrom sheets back through the Laserwriter 8. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. and it fused acceptably well. So what is Omnicrom, and how does it work? Figure Fig. 4 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 Swallowifier patch. five shows you all. Toner is really a mix of two things: 22.4 December, 1986 black stuff and hot glue. Most heavier stock should more or pastel colors by using half- people use toner to see the less work, provided it has a tone screens, provided you black stuff. Instead, you can sane paper path. are extra careful. You can think of any laser-printed (or The many uses include: also use this tape to process for that matter, any xerox Letterheads, Business cards, several different colors onto copy) as a sheet of paper that badges, bumper stickers, ad your copy at once. One fusion has had hot glue selectively displays, and point of pur- pass can give you a few to a applied in certain locations. chase signs. Also obvious are dozen or more colors. An Omnicrom sheet con- multiple color presentation There are sixty colors in sists of a carrier that has a charts and graphs. all. Around thirty of these are smooth layer of "real" ink ap- For those places where you usually in stock, while more plied to it in any of 60 colors. absolutely must have a solid stock items are being added. These sheets cost around 35 black, just use some black Sheets are available in boxes cents each, but any unimaged Omnicrom on top of the black of 100 of one color. Rainbow portion of any sheet can be toner. This gives you excel- packs of 100 assorted sheets reused later. lent blacks for advertising in metallic or normal colors Once the word about the copy and similar camera- are also available. cubic goodness of this vir- ready needs. Besides plain colors and tually unknown process gets The Omnicrom process also metallics, there are also golds, out, you can probably expect will give you an "instant silvers, and a nice pearl. competition and deep dis- negative" of your image as There is even a clear material. counts. I predict the ultimate well. These are useful for This will convert dull but ac- sheet cost will be less than a such things as overhead pro- ceptably black toner into a nickel, maybe less. jection sheets, dialplates, and high gloss, and obviously What you do is take the printed circuit negatives. But, "printed" black. It can also laser printed image and put some fine detail may some- add a high gloss finish to the the Omnicrom sheet in con- times end up missing in the regular colors. tact with it. You then apply negative. I have found the gold a tad heat and pressure, usually in Sometimes, a slight excess garish for business cards. I the form of rollers at 160 amount of ink will be trans- instead use the more sedate degrees C. ferred but not fused. This and cheaper Pale Bronze. But The heat and pressure melts may happen inside the "e" of the gold certainly is snappy. the hot glue, grabs the ink off very small text, or between Actually, the Laserwriter is the carrier, and gives you a halftone dots. To cure this, not quite ideal for fusing solid color ink where the just get some 3M Post-It Omnicrom. Before reaching toner was. Cover Tape from your local the fusion rollers, there’s Which leaves you with a office supply. Apply the tape some electrostatic charging bright, real-ink image that is very lightly and then gently and some edge feeding done actually more durable than peel it off. Presto, a perfect along a long and not quite the original toner. Of course, image usually results. straight paper path. for high wear uses, you may Yes, you can even handle (continued on page 23.5) still want to overspray a fix- ative or else use plastic lam- inating or page protectors. For most uses, the durability is just fine. There are at least three Heat and pressure fuses ways you can transfer the ink. ink to re-melted toner As we have just seen, the Omnicrom ink Omnicrom ink Laserwriter does a reasonable and carrier opaque negative job of this, simply by shoving the page back through while doing a hand feed of a blank image. You could instead buy the expensive custom fusion ma- Toner original Ink coated chine, and this might be a toner original good choice for high volume work. Finally, certain of those Minolta copiers are set up to directly handle the Omnicron material. In fact, any copier Fig. 5 - How the Omnicrom color process works. that will let you hand feed 22.5 Don Lancaster’s Appleworks utilities Postscript signatures ASK THE GURU Help on Apple clones Applewriter 2.1 Stretchifier January, 1987 The most used Macintosh graphic et’s see. Just where did JSR $1000 ($3E25) - Original booting link we leave off last time? JSR $1003 ($1186) - Get program disk back L There are bunches of JSR $1006 ($11A1) - Load or run program segment news and rumors this month, JSR $1009 ($1341) - Append string so let’s have at it. JSR $100C ($1366) - Erase screen window Congratulations to Lynette JSR $100F ($136E) - Scan keybuffer for escape Schnebly of Tucson, who has JSR $1012 ($139D) - Init screen window newly broken the all time JSR $1015 ($14D1) - Character to screen Macintosh high score by man- JSR $1018 ($179D) - Hex to decimal ASCII conversion aging to get the bomb icon to JSR $101B ($1815) - Diagnostic hang appear 4,671 times in a single marathon Mac work session. JSR $101E ($17D1) - 16-bit divide u/v Using the knockout combo of JSR $1021 ($1818) - Blork speaker & clear keybuffer Macdraft, Appletalk, and the JSR $1024 ($1823) - Relative cursor to absolute various Laserwriter drivers JSR $1027 ($1837) - Screen help prompt all together. JSR $102A ($1842) - Flagged desktop full check Even if you can’t enter JSR $102D ($1850) - Desktop full check such world class competition, JSR $1030 ($1850) - Bottom screen line prompt there is a new and top secret JSR $1033 ($186C) - Load and run desktop manager Mac program that you prob- JSR $1036 ($187A) - Save screen line to $0900 buffer ably will be interested in. JSR $1039 ($18B4) - Grab stack passed parameters It is called Passport, and JSR $103C ($191D) - Get numeric selection instantly will let you convert JSR $103F ($1A77) - Hilight part or all of screen line almost any IIc/IIe/IIgs file to JSR $1042 ($1AFC) - Close RAM bitmap almost any Mac file in either JSR $1045 ($1B00) - Open RAM bitmap direction. Including word pro- JSR $1048 ($1B0B) - Init applications screen cessor files, Appleworks, and JSR $104B ($1B2B) - Set change flag even those EDASM assembly JSR $104E ($1B34) - 8-bit multiply x * y listings. JSR $1051 ($1B4E) - 16-bit multiply u * v There are a few gotchas, JSR $1054 ($1B84) - Move down in memory though. The program only JSR $1057 ($1BAC) - Move up in memory runs on the Mac side and then only with a Mac plus and a JSR $105A ($1BDF) - Revert to previous screen hard disk. You also have to JSR $105D ($1BF1) - Press space to continue work with 3.5 inch disks so JSR $1060 ($1C21) - Print string to printer they can fit in the Mac drives. JSR $1063 ($1D0F) - Open new screen Finally, the early versions are JSR $1066 ($1D35) - Get keystroke very buggy and are prone to JSR $1069 ($1E80) - Restore saved cursor position blowups. JSR $106C ($1E8A) - Save current cursor position At this writing, the release JSR $106F ($1EB4) - Force character to upper case of Passport is still hush-hush. JSR $1072 ($1EBF) - Force text string to upper case JSR $1075 ($1ED9) - Compare text strings So, you’ll just have to inquire through the usual sources for JSR $1078 ($1EF8) - Copy text strings your copy. Try out the gold JSR $107B ($1F3E) - Justified string to screen channel with a R2 priority, by JSR $107E ($2029) - String to screen with number using a password of KNOCK- JSR $1081 ($1FD1) - Stall Y/8 seconds WURST.ALA.KING. JSR $1084 ($1FE0) - Reset key buffer to empty Five minutes beyond the JSR $1087 ($2093) - Message to screen at cursor deadline for last month’s col- JSR $108A ($1FE9) - Print one character umn, Apple dropped the price JSR $108D ($20AE) - Print character full screen of the LaserWriter by $1000. JSR $1090 ($20BE) - Print n identical characters Naturally, nobody would have JSR $1093 ($1FF5) - Message to bottom screen line the unmitigated gall to quote JSR $1096 ($20D6) - Verification prompt you the Apple list price of $4995. The Laserwriter street Fig. 1 - Appleworks Low Core Utility entry points. price is now somewhere in the $3450 area if you shop 23.1 January, 1987 around carefully enough. for procedural fonts. And the someone introduced a new What is the story on the ultimate kicker is that, at least high end laser printer with an Laserwriter plus? The only for now, this language has to internal 48 megabyte hard difference between a Laser- reside in the host and not in disk. The only little problem writer and a Laserwriter plus the printer. is that the operating system are eight missing EPROMS. Dumb. was written in UNIX, and it These EPROMs do give you a One bright side to all this, was so bloated that there was few new and interesting fonts, though. There is nothing that absolutely no room at all left but the yield and the service anyone, anywhere could have in the 48 megabytes for a user problems on these chips has conceivably done that would program or application! been an absolute disaster for more positively and more ab- Rumor has it that the next Apple to date. solutely guarantee Postscript generation Laserwriters just Since these chips are both gaining its well-earned place may appear sometime this ridiculously overpriced and in as the industry standard page spring. Expect an under $2000 fact are undeliverable, bootleg description language. four page per minute Post- sets of the Laserwriter plus Thanks, HP. script speaking personal laser EPROMs are showing up in But this month’s ultimate printer using the new Richoh many larger cities at costs of laser printing sick joke is that (Savin) engine, and a super $95 or less. Naturally, you can clone your own for $35 if you have a large enough This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version EPROM programmer. AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 There is one thing that column IIc or the 128K IIe. needs the record set straight on this, though. The Apple It eliminates the "shortlines" caused by counting claim that the plus chips are embedded printer commands as real characters. required to download fonts is For every escape character found and actually used simply "that which is not so." in the line, two extra counts are added to the line You always had the ability to length. This exactly compensates an embedded download any custom, un- escape command followed by a single character. locked, and low priced fronts from any old source on any The 2.1 Scrunchifier patch MUST be previously Laserwriter. installed. The new chips now give you the additional ability to 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS download overpriced, single Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. sourced, and highly protected fonts as well. 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get Speaking of laser printers, into the monitor. did you see where HP shot themselves in both feet at 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 once this time? The LaserJet always has been a hopeless 4. Verify $49D1- 99 00 1C cripple when compared to the Laserwriter, since it lacked Change $49D1: 20 CA 59 any full screen, full resolution graphics, a useful page des- 5. Verify $49F8- 4C DE 4B cription language, the any- Change $49F8: 4C D6 59 size-at-all procedural fonts, cubic spline smooth curves, 6. Verify $59CA- 11 11 11 11 11 ... flexible scaling, rotation, and translation transforms, and Change $59CA: 99 00 1C C9 1B D0 freedom from font cartridge $59D0: 04 E6 75 E6 75 60 C4 7E ripoffs, to mention a few of $59D8: F0 0E B9 00 1C C9 1B D0 the more obvious defects. $59E0: 04 C6 75 C6 75 88 D0 EE Rather than go with the $59E8: 4C DE 4B industry standard Postscript page description language that 7. Verify changes per 4,5, and 6 above. would eliminate all these hassles in one swell foop, HP 8. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. choose an obscure and arcane page description language from so far out in left field Fig. 2 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 Stretchifier patch. that it does not even provide 23.2 ASK THE GURU deluxe high end version with Apple’s new IIgs memory part that stays can be called zillions of built in fonts, a expansion card seems to have the low core utilities. fast 32 bit microprocessor, a some interesting thoughts be- The low core utilities do dual page memory, and all hind it. This is a very con- provide around half of the sorts of other neat stuff. servative and very low cost fundamental low level sub- The software compatibil- design, created by removing routines needed by Apple- ity percentage for the IIgs parts from the older slot 1-7 works. There are 51 low core continues to fall dramatically. based IIe RAM card. It uses utilities. Included here are the One recent casualty is the older 256K individual chips, screen macro commands we Imageworks card, because a rather than going the cheaper, looked at a few columns ago. three cent internal video con- smaller, more reliable, and Figure one gives you the nector was left off the IIgs. more obvious route of using names of these utilities and Even AppleWriter has its plug-in SIMM modules. shows you their entry points. problems. If you want to run At $129, the pricing is very stock ProDOS AppleWriter aggressive. The most likely Where can I Get Help on a IIgs, the simpliest way to reason for the older memory on Apple Clones? do it today is by providing technology is so that any IIe your own super serial card owners will not be totally I guess I am personally instead of using the internal hacked off when they find out down on Apple clones. Over serial firmware. their older third party mem- on the Incredibly Boring I have been working on ory cards will not fit the IIgs. Machine side of the fence, patches for IIgs Applewriter, At least you can move 3/4 of clones are clearly the price and should have them for you the chips from your old card and performance leaders, and shortly. to the new one. only an epsilon minus would I’ll be publishing the bare I’m still not fully happy buy IBM rather than a clone. bones essentials here, while with Omnicrom full color In fact, big blue’s onager is Don Thompson of Thompson performance on the Laser in a sling because their sales & Thompson will add them writer, both because of its have dropped dramatically, and many more to his already reliability and the wrinkling the bottom has fallen out of excellent new utilities. problems. Seems I was at a their stock price, and key The new patches are an auction and lucked into an old scapegoats have been given absolute joy to use. In fact, I beastie called a Viewfax lateral arabesques. All this am temporarily back on my Model six. The cost was $6, because of a blatant failure to IIe and it feels like I’m work- which is some $1294 cheaper either innovate or to be a ing in a tank of molasses. The than the Omnicrom fusion price or performance leader. speed and the smoothness is machine. I don’t have the On the Apple side, you almost unbelievable, par- slightest idea what this mac- have an odd mix of clones, ticularly on searches, WPL hine was intended for, but I ranging from serious and use- routines, long deletions, and intend to try and modify it for ful machines, through Hong on [A] screen formatting. The use as an Omnicrom fuser. Kong alley sweepings sold by immediate availability of time The message here is that refugees from a carnival and date and a humongous there are probably all sorts of midway, down to junior high RAM disk are even better. obsolete office machines and school kids in a garage that But the best of all is the worn out copiers scunging claim compatibility without built-in print buffer that lets around that could be easily so much as checking out their you almost immediately re- converted into suitable Omni- bus noise or clock phasing. turn to processing your words crom fusers. What you need Our helpline has been full while your printer goes mer- is two powered rollers and a of horror stories. One person rily on its way. temperatare of 170 degrees C. had their "100 percent com- This can be particularly im- Let me know if you can patible" clone for six months portant for Laserwriter error beat the $6 price on this. before discovering that it had messages. Except for Apple- no HIRES graphics. writer on a IIgs, very few Where are the Appleworks Another has a thermal word processors anywhere Low Core Entry Points? intermittent that seems almost have a ready-to-use and built impossible to service. Yet in telecommunications cap- As part of its booting another has a clone with bus ability, despite the great need process, Appleworks loads a lines so noisy as to be use- for this feature in desktop module called APLWORKS. less. Countless others have publishing. SYSTEM. This module is first had really major problems You also now have the loaded at the usual $2000 in with software compatibility. Appletalk driver resident and main RAM and then is moved I guess the worst problem on line, so you can network down to $1000 where much of is that the wrong people buy Applewriter with other com- it stays for the rest of the Ap- clones for the wrong reasons. puters and other printers. pleworks work session. The The key test on building an 23.3 January, 1987 Apple clone kit is this: If you AZ.) to the overall winner. normally use your own per- The new operating system sonal Tektronix oscilloscope for the Apple IIgs has the Thanks again, more than two hours a day, ability to select up to 128 disk then you might be able to drives, each of which can successfully build your own now address up to 4 gigabytes Apple clone kit. If you use of on-line data. your personal oscilloscope Combined together, you Don Lancaster less than two hours a day on now have the ability to place SYNERGETICS the average, then you should half a terabyte of data on line. not even think about it. The contest is simple: Show Fig. 3 - An AppleWriter What is really sad about all the best concept for a HUNT signature. this is that Apple could in- THE WUMPUS game using stantly eliminate the entire half a terabyte of memory. clone market with one simple Only to be completely fair greatest invention since blank and painfully obvious step. about this, UNIX program- counter checks. Just offer some very sub- mers are not allowed to enter. Figure three shows you a stantial trade-in allowances sample signature, while figure for Apple II or II+ owners How can I Sign my Name? four shows you the simple when they upgrade to a IIe or Postscript code needed for IIgs. Do this, and the clones Why, with Applewriter on a the first name "John", and a will all magically dry up and IIc, IIe or IIgs, of course. sample printout. Oh, yes, you blow away. Driving a Laserwriter. And, will also need a free copy of as is usual, helped along a tad my new curvetracing routine, Show me Another ProDOS by a utility or two of my which you can get by calling AppleWriter 2.1 Patch? own. How else could you or writing. possibly sign your own name? With some practice, it takes Sure thing. In continuing In fact, the International around 20 minutes to enter a our one-a-month series of Brotherhood of Forgers and signature, using nothing but a patches for ProDOS Apple- Embezzelers Local #106 has surprisingly few stabs from a writer 2.1, in figure 2, you’ll voted Applewriter to be the safety pin. No scanners or find the much asked for Stretchifier patch. What this patch does is not % John’s Signature (Postscript) count any embedded printer % ...... commands as part of a real line count. This eliminates the 1 setlinecap /tension 2.8 def /showtick false def "shortlines" caused by exten- sive printer commands, es- [87 82 100 80 130 85 93 158 0 94 122 -105 pecially while fill justifing. 69.5 76 -135 58 69 160 60 81 65 115 120 0 ] curvetrace Details on this patch for the older ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 [115 120 -160 106 110 -105 111 100 0 have appeared in my Apple- 118 103 45 120 120 160 ] curvetrace Writer Cookbook. Incidentally, Apple has now [120 120 -30 144 132 70 146 152 180 140 142 -110 quietly reinstated the $50 128 100 -110 128 100 75 138 118 35 145 116 -75 upgrade policy for owners of 147 100 0 155 110 60 165 120 0 160 100 -120] curvetrace DOS 3.3 Applewriter who [160 100 55 177 120 0 176 100 0 188 110 45] curvetrace wish to upgrade to ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 or 2.1. You 50 100 translate 300 300 moveto can contact them directly for more information. The up- 2 setlinewidth stroke grade delivery is apparently a tad on the slow side, but it is most definitely available. How About Another Contest? As usual, an Incredible Secret Money Machine to the best ten responses, along with an all expense paid tinaja Fig. 4 - John’s Signature. quest for two (FOB Thatcher, 23.4 ASK THE GURU digitizers of any type are admit that, yes, there are (continued from page 22.5) needed. As you can see, the flaws in Applewriter graphics. wrinkle or two can show up final results are absolutely In fact, until this column, the on the first pass. If you get a exceptional. single most often used Mac- wrinkle, you just tape a small If you wanted to, you could intosh graphic image has been new strip of Omnichron mat- easily add pen skips and completely and utterly lack- erial over it, and then shove it variable line weights, ink ing from Applewriter, and just back through again. spatters, etc. to the signature not available there in any You will want to tape the grabbing process. way, shape, or form. Omnicrom material to your So, admitting defeat, in copy at the top, being careful Are Applewriter Graphics figure five you will find a to keep the leftmost 3/8 inch Postscript Really That Good? listing that we can free so the seperation belt and call Applewriter’s Glaring drive roller do not wrinkle the They sure are. I’ve seen the Omission. You are right. It sheets. At present, you can publisher of the leading Mac was absolutely inexcusable expect around a 50 percent magazine state in his industry for the Apple IIc/IIe/IIgs success rate on the first pass, newsletter that if you want community to not be able to and a 90 percent success on good graphics, you should share this mainstream Mac the second pass. definitely be making use of graphic. So sorry. If you are using entire Applewriter. I’ve now got lots of new sheets of Omnicrom, be sure At a recent trade show, a Postscript goodies available, to trim them so they clear the minicomputer company was some free, some not so free. mylar seperation belt and the introducing a high end new Some will now even run drive rollers. laser printer, so they plastered under Appleworks, some on I suspect that some sort of their entire booth with Apple- the Mac, and even some for carrier could be added to writer graphics, printed, of one of those Incredibly optimize Omnicrom for the course, on a Laserwriter. And Boring Machines. There’s Laserwriter. Something like it sure packed their booth full even some Atari stuff. Write a 9-1/2" x 11" mylar sheet of customers. or call for your usual free folded 1/2 inch on either edge But, I guess I will have to samples and whatever. and sprayed with anti-static gunk or metallization might work out fairly well. % Applewriter’s Glaring Omission (Postscript) Mostly, I think it is just a % ...... matter of getting to know the material and working closely gsave 1 setlinecap 5 setlinewidth 0 setgray 450 520 with it. Let me know all your translate 27.5 rotate 8 {newpath 15 0 moveto 20 0 experiences on this. rlineto 10 0 rmoveto 12 0 rlineto stroke 45 rotate} Tellyawhat. For the con- repeat grestore test this month, just tell me about a copier machine that newpath 0 setgray 300 400 100 0 360 arc fill gsave 1 works with Omnicrom, or setgray newpath 200 305 moveto 10 setlinewidth 200 find any way to improve the 0 rlineto stroke 200 495 moveto 170 0 rlineto stroke reliability and convenience for direct Laserwriter use. A grestore gsave 300 520 translate 1 setlinecap free Incredible Secret Money newpath 0 0 moveto 50 100 125 -60 150 0 rcurveto Machine to the best ten gsave 1 setgray 16 setlinewidth stroke grestore entries. As usual, we will 12 setlinewidth gsave stroke grestore 8 setlinewidth provide an all expense paid 85 35 {dup mul exch dup mul add 1.0 exch sub} tinaja quest for two (FOB setscreen gsave 0.99 setgray stroke grestore Thatcher, AZ) to the overall winner. UPDATE: Kroy Kolor has gsave 350 340 translate 0 0 moveto 35 40 35 80 0 120 largely replaced Omnicrom. rcurveto 20 -40 20 -80 0 -120 rcurveto 1 setgray fill There is also a superb new grestore laminating material that is now available. See column 25 and later for more info. Write or call, and I’ll be 0 setgray newpath 270 511 moveto 60 0 most happy to send you some rlineto 0 -30 rlineto -60 0 rlineto closepath fill Omnicrom samples to play with. We can also do custom showpage printing for you using this Fig. 5 - Applewriter’s Glaring Omission. positively mind-blowing new material. 23.5 Don Lancaster’s Serial cables for the IIgs Multiple video monitors ASK THE GURU $5 toner cartridge reloads Applewriter 2.1 creepifier February, 1987 Finishing materials contest he helpline has been using one of these . . . reprints of this entire series rife with several heavy back to day one. (601) 264-2466 T duty problems on the Thanks to a new custom (617) 881-4100 new 2.0 release of Apple- thermal binding process, the (800) 447-2326 works. Apparently, several reprints are always up to date (800) 257-8263 internal pointers can get badly and have a current index. You fouled up, dropping parts of Also, the Viewfax model can write or call for details. older 1.3 files as well as six machine didn’t turn out Our biggie this month re- messing up fast cursor mo- quite as good as I first re- veals the key secrets behind tions. It is not yet at all clear ported. Good thing I am the those new $5 toner cartridge whether this is caused by the training officer for our local refills. early "768K" memory access fire department. Oh well. Its But first . . . bug in the IIgs, or whether back to the drawing board on there are actual program bugs. this one. Tell me About the There are also some helpline To best fuse the Omni- IIgs Serial Cables complaints over how the new color material, you’ll need a mail merge feature works. line contact heat roller whose There are four types of The dust has by no means temperature is precisely regu- cables you will need when settled on this, so go slow for lated. There is some sort of you use your IIgs in various now. Do not upgrade to 2.0 anti wrinkle bar in the real printer, modem, and mach- just yet. If you have already Omnicrom fusion machine ine to machine configurations. upgraded, drop back to ver- that in part explains why it Your Apple dealer does stock sion 1.3 for a while. The best does a more reliable job than these for around $30 each. and most current information the Laserwriter or Laserjet. Let’s see if we can not beat on this probably will appear Well, I finally got the Ask this price. in MAUG on Compuserve. The Guru reprint act together. Figure one shows you the Turning to a brighter side, You can now get corrected, IIgs modem cable. This is the fatal flaw in the ProDOS edited, updated, and bound used to go from a IIgs over to 1.1.1 operating system has finally been stomped into no- thingness. Many thanks to IIgs modem Tom Weishaar, to his readers, RS423 RS232 and to Tom’s really outstand- ( mini-DIN 8 male ) ( DB25 male ) ing Open Apple magazine. It appears that some sloppily done initialization in DTR 1 20 DTR ProDOS 1.1.1 would rarely and at random trash blocks 0, 1, or 2 of the ProDOS direc- DSR 2 6 DSR tory of your favorite and most used diskettes. The problem TXD- 3 2 TXD- previously had been blamed upon poor power supplies, on RXD- 5 3 RXD- Appleworks, on AppleWriter, and even on the price of yak DCD 7 8 DCD butter futures. Quite a few power supplies seem to have been needlessly swapped out SG 4 7 SG over this. There is a quick and sim- RXD+ 8 ple patch that once and for all eliminates this problem. Just TXD+ 6 n.c. contact Tom at Open Apple for your free copy. Uh, I may have given you a bad Omnicolor phone num- Fig. 1 - A IIgs serial cable for MODEM use. ber two columns back. Try 24.1 ASK THE GURU where you do want to cross the data paths and the hand- IIgs printer shaking paths. Figure three shows you a RS423 RS232 ( mini-DIN 8 male ) ( DB25 male ) very simple DB25 modem eliminator that lets you auto- matically convert a modem DTR 1 20 DTR cable back into a printer cable or vice versa. This eliminator is handy to have around, for DSR 2 6 DSR there are almost always times when the cable you have will TXD- 3 2 TXD- not be the one you want. A most interesting RS232 RXD- 5 3 RXD- adaptor box kit is available for $10 from L-COM. You can DCD 7 8 DCD configure this jewel as the modem eliminator of figure three, or else solve just about SG 4 7 SG any other RS232 interface problem with it. The kit is RXD+ 8 just a pair of male and female connectors and an attractive TXD+ 6 n.c. case. You can do the internal wiring any way you like. Crome plating costs two bucks extra, for those of you Fig. 2 - A IIgs serial cable for PRINTER use. that are into Perrier filled birdbaths. Finally, figure four is the a RS232 "DB25" modem or Figure two is the IIgs IIgs machine cable. This one for any other RS232 usage printer cable. This one gets lets a IIgs talk directly to a where you do not want to used to go from a IIgs over to newer Macintosh, to another cross the data paths and the a RS232 "DB25" serial printer IIgs or to anything else that handshaking. or for any other RS232 use uses the same mini-DIN con- nectors and needs the crossed data and handshake paths. printer printer Can More Than one -or- -or- Monitor be Connected modem modem to a Personal Computer? RS232 RS232 Yes, provided you are ( DB25 female ) ( DB25 male ) careful enough about it. If you are lucky, you might even be able to put some of DTR 20 20 DTR the monitors several hundred feet apart. DSR 6 6 DSR There are some gotchas involved, though. First, it is far and away best to run one TXD- 2 2 TXD- continuous cable from moni- tor to monitor, rather than RXD- 3 3 RXD- using a rat’s nest of seperate cables from the computer to DCD 8 8 DCD each monitor. Second, just about all monitors have provisions to SG 7 7 SG terminate or not terminate their inputs. Termination is done by putting a 75 ohm resistor directly across the Fig. 3 - MODEM to PRINTER converter for RS232. video input. Sometimes, this is done with a switch at the 24.2 February, 1987 back of the monitor. Other times, you may have to use a solder jumper, or else a cus- tom plug of some sort. IIgs IIgs Regardless of the method used, only the final monitor in RS423 RS423 ( mini-DIN 8 male ) ( mini-DIN 8 male ) the entire daisy chain should be terminated! All of the in- termediate monitors should be DTR 1 1 DTR switched to their unterminat- ed, high impedance mode. Naturally, you should keep DSR 2 2 DSR all your cables as short as possible, and never use a long TXD- 3 3 TXD- cable without terminating its far end. For longer runs, you RXD- 5 5 RXD- will get the best results with "real" coaxial cable and BNC DCD 7 7 DCD connectors, instead of plain old audio cable and the usual RCA plugs. SG 4 4 SG For extremely long cable lengths, you might require a RXD+ 8 8 RXD+ video buffer of some sort. RCA has a 3450 video op TXD+ 6 6 TXD+ amp that could be useful here. There’s also a new product called the Rabbit, that’s in the Heath catalog, among many Fig. 4 - A IIgs serial cable for MACHINE use. other places. This gives you one way to extend VCR sig- nals all over your house by cable. I am not sure if this product also handles baseband This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version video. AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 column IIc or the 128K IIe. Show me another ProDOS It eliminates one form of page creep caused when AppleWriter 2.1 patch. the right margin and the interface card column In continuing our ProDOS width are both set to 80. Applewriter 2.1 patch series, figure five is the Creepifier The patch works by eliminating an extra space patch that can eliminate one that inadvertently got printed at the end of any form of page creep that will header or footer. lower headers on successive pages. This bug is infuriatingly 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. subtle. It appears that an extra space used to be added at the 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get end of any header or footer. into the monitor. Big deal, right? But, as countless of you 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 seem to be doing, if you set your Applewriter right margin 4. Verify $47F7- 20 5D 46 to 80 and if you leave your printer interface card set to Change $47F7: 20 62 46 80, then you get page creep because of this bug. 5. Verify the above change. Other obvious solutions to the page creep bug include 6. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. (A) use an Applewriter right margin of 78 or less while using a printer card 80 col- Fig. 5 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 Creepifier patch. umn width, or (B) use any old 24.3 ASK THE GURU Applewriter right margin you If you are an owner of a First, you will need a want, but set the printer card laser printer, you’ll gain dra- reliable source of refill toner. to an infinite, or at least much matically lower toner costs Three sources that I have wider, right margin. while at the same time pro- found extremely useful are ducing much blacker images. the EP-350 refills from most Tell me About the $5 These blacker images result any Minolta copier dealer, Toner Cartridge Reloads. first because the cartridgewill kits and pads from Laser not get up to full blackness Printer Products, and bulk The toner cartridges used in until after the second or third wholesale CX toner from the both the Laserwriter and the reload, and second, because Repeat-O- Type folks. Their Laserjet laser printers cost the refill toner is most often a CX toner sells in bulk for as nearly $100 each and are only much denser black than the little as $5 per refill. good for 2500 copies, giving original. Around 170-225 grams of you an operating toner cost of If you do not own a laser toner (0.4 pound) is needed around four cents per page. printer, this could be an in- for each reload. Yet, you can easily reload teresting and most profitable One big gotcha here. It is these cartridges up to six or sideline business for you, extremely important to use more times, by using a three since toner cartridge refills monocomponent and negative minute process that costs $5 can easily be resold for up to acting toner that is intended and needs no special tools. $19 each. specifically for organic drum laser printers. The ordinary copier toner refills most def- initely will not work. Two simple modifications must be made to the cartridge to allow refilling. Note that you do not have to disas- semble the cartridge. What you have to do is add a filling hole to the top of the fresh toner tank and then add an emptying hole to the bottom of the spent toner holding tank. First, you pop off the large cardboard label by lifting an end with a pocket knife. The toner tank will be under this label. As figure six shows us, you melt a 1/2 inch diameter Fig. 6 - Add this hole to the fresh toner tank top. "C" shaped hole in the end of the tank using a soldering iron. Then, while the plastic is still hot, you snap this hole off and trim the bead with a pocket knife. Be very careful to get no plastic chips into the hole and do not under any circum- stances sand the hole or use steel wool on it. The actual refilling is done by using a plastic funnel and dumping one bottle of toner into this hole, all the while tilting and shaking slightly. After refilling, scotch tape the hole shut and replace the label. Add a new label on top of the existing one and write the cartridge history on it. Include the date, the brand of Fig. 7 - Add this hole to the spent toner tank bottom. refill, the number of the refill, (continued on page 25.6) 24.4 Don Lancaster’s IIgs Books and Manuals Applewriter IIgs Patches ASK THE GURU A Postscript Rubber Grid More on the Omnicrom Color March, 1987 De-putrifying Laserwriter Grays f you at all like to keep match the price of the bootleg is ancient history. score on who is doing plus ROM sets. Uh, let’s tie up a few other I what to whom, then get I suspect that the "unplus" loose ends before we untangle yourself a free subscription to version might be dropped some new ones. Computer Reseller magazine. entirely when these new ma- Hats off to the Japenese For instance, we see that the chines arrive this spring. who recently told the US re- Macintosh computer once Incredibly, the new low end cording executives to take again leads in unit sales, and "personal laser printer" is ru- their inane and useless copy the Mac people should be mored to not be able to speak protection scheme for digital rightly proud of this. Why, Postscript, and to be strictly a audio tape and shove it side- this means that those Mac Quickdraw machine. This is ways. Score one for the good people have finally gotten to so stupid that it could not guys. the point where they are a possibly happen. Particularly I’ve just had a lot of fun mere five percentage points since everybody and their going through Infocom’s new behind the combined IIc and brother are now offering new X-rated Leather Goddess of IIe unit sales. snap-on Postscript interpreters Phobos text adventure. Its And, as will come as no for just about every low end more or less up to their usual suprise whatsoever to long laser printer. high standards, and I par- term Ask the Guru readers, the I sure get a lot of calls from ticularly liked the part with very best selling printer in the people who’ve had serious the horse and Catherine the world today is – The Apple problems with the older plus Great. But, it would be much Laserwriter! That’s in terms ROMs. One major sign of more interesting if the roles of of dollar volume, while the trouble is broken, truncated, Tiffany and Trent were inter- Imagewriter printer leads in or misspelled error messages, changed. unit sales. caused by the frame device Only, Infocom, there is one Epson does beat out Apple blowup. Some machines have big thing I have noticed that in total units sold, spread out taken as long as ten months to someone really ought to bring over several machines. correct. Hopefully, all of this to your attention. You have And those sales figures are for all printers on all personal computers, as reported in a trade journal that has a "fair to Apple IIgs Assembler Tool Interfaces middlin" bias towards the In- credibly Boring Machine side Apple IIgs C Tool Interfaces of the fence. Apple IIgs Firmware Reference Our helpline bears out the unbelievable impact of the Apple IIgs Hardware Reference Laserwriter and the newer Laserwriter Plus. Today, the Apple IIgs ProDOS 16 Reference new people that are screaming for Postscript routines out- Apple IIgs Programmer’s Workshop number the "Hey, who could ever afford one of those?" Apple IIgs Toolbox Reference, volume I calls by nearly ten to one. Er, I told you so. Apple IIgs Toolbox Reference, volume II And, speaking of the Laser- writer Plus, Apple has finally Programmers Introduction to the Apple IIgs cleaned up their act on the defective plus ROM upgrade Programming the 65816 kits. All kits are now factory installed and factory burned Technical Introduction to the Apple IIgs in. Some of these machines will even work. Reasonable The Apple IIgs dealers are now charging as little as $80 to $100 extra for Fig. 1 - Some Apple IIgs Books and Manuals. the Laserwriter Plus, which, strangely, exactly happens to 25.1 ASK THE GURU Passport two types of text adventures, That program we What IIgs Publications "unprotected" ones that any- looked at a few columns back Are Available? body can run from any copy, that lets you transfer IIc, IIe or and the "protected" ones that IIgs files to Mac and back? Figure one lists all of the demand certain oddball mat- The APDA people have it for major Apple IIgs technical erials, maps, clues, etc... in the $10. A must have for sure. books and reference manuals original package. By the way, some of the old that either are now available Ignoring the fact that most Macintosh power supplies will or else shortly will be. While of these materials are easily melt if you do your upgrade many of these should be in misplaced, particularly in any improperly. Which isn’t quite stock at your local bookstore, family with several children, as bad as all those Compaq the best source is the APDA have you ever noticed that the machines that can literally ex- people. You can even arrange all of your "protected" games plode when you try the same with them to automatically are absolutely and irrevoc- thing. See your dealer or user receive all of the IIgs ma- iably inferior and second rate group for some more details terials the instant they become to those that are unprotected? on either of these. available. Consistently, on adventure For the name of your local More on Apple’s non-IIgs after adventure, with no ex- Apple user group, either check publications next month. ceptions whatsoever? out the listings right here in Computer Shopper Apparently, some of your , or else What’s the Latest game authors are so hung up call toll free (800) 538-9696, On Omnicrom Color? over protection that they’ve Extension 500. forgotton to be creative, play- Time for a brief 23 word So much is happening so able, or even humorous. Let’s message from our sponsor: fast in the printing of "funny flush this "protection racket" Bound Ask the Guru reprints stuff" on copier machines and once and for all, and get on are now available from me laser printers that it is safe to with reality. This is a serious back to day one. Write or call start ridiculing those poor un- disservice to your customers. if you want a complete set. fortunates who still insist on black toner images on plain old white paper. This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 version The Omnicrom full color AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 process has been taken over column IIc or the 128K IIe. by the Kroy Sign Systems people, and has been renamed The patch allows printing on a IIgs by defeating Kroy Kolor. Which should any attempts at setting serial data values mean much wider availability to a non existant 6551 port chip. and much lower prices. Several add-on products, It works by trashing the i.d. bytes for the including a cheaper fusion super serial card and by aborting any [O]-J. machine, a binding system, sign holders, and laminating materials are now also newly 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS available. For more details Applewriter 2.0, using the filer utilities. Plainly label this disk FOR IIGS ONLY! and samples, contact Randy Bailey over at Kroy. 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get Four tips on the original into the monitor. Omnicrom stuff: (1) Stick with those metallic colors, 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, TSYS, D2 because they will fuse much better. (2) Use a lightly coated 4. Verify 4DB0- A0 paper stock, such as Paloma Change 4DB0: 60 Matte from Butler Paper Inc, (3) Seperate the image from 5. Verify 4F67- 01 the carrier as soon as possible Change 4F67: 10 after fusion, and (4) An iron can be used for the transfer, 6. Verify 4F6E- 31 provided you use a pressing Change 4F6E: 13 cloth or an additional sheet of paper. 8. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, TSYS. And there’s lots of other new products that beautifully use toner for new and won- Fig. 2 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 IIgsifier patch. drous things. Some new mylar sheets are available from the 25.2 March, 1987 Meadowlake people that will shown you in figures two and Just show me how to win let you immediately transfer three for ProDOS Applewriter the swordfight and solve the toner onto a printed circuit versions 2.0 and 2.1. angle problem over in board where it can be used as These patches perform by Leather Goddess of Phobos. an etch resistant. A hot iron is defeating the testing made for Or else tell me the exact used for the transfer. Cost is the Super Serial Card. If this Centigrade and Farenheit under a dollar per sheet. test fails, no 6551 serial port equivalents for the normal This will ridiculously sim- firmware will be assumed, home iron settings of cotton, plify hacker printed circuit and no damaging pokes will wool, synthetics, silk, etc . . . board construction. It also be made to exactly the wrong As usual, a free Incredible means that you can now place in the IIgs. Thus, no Secret Money Machine to the transfer toner to virtually any blowups will occur. ten best entries, and an all surface that will sit still long Be sure to use the control expense paid tinaja quest for enough for a toner transfer panel on the IIgs to set your two (FOB Thatcher, AZ) to from a hot iron. Yes, you can printer values. Option [O]-J is the overall winner. use Kroy Kolor on top of a no longer active. Medowlake transfer. By the way, be sure to use What is Postscript? You will find many more the printer cable connection details on this in my Hard- from last month to get proper Postscript is that exciting ware Hacker column over in printing using Applewriter on and new page description lan- Modern Electronics. a IIgs. There are lots more guage from Adobe Systems And for some even more IIgs patches to follow, so be that is rapidly becoming the intriguing materials, do check certain to stay tuned. de-facto desktop publishing into those translucent and This Month’s Contest . . ? standard for laser printing and opaque vinyl Form-X Films typesetting. from Graphic Products that We will split this month’s There are plenty of highly accept toner and cost around contest so you’ll have two outstanding advantages to 70 cents a square foot. Signs wildly different ways to win. Postscript. First and foremost, were never easier. Why not print toner onto diffraction gratings, or gold This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version foils, plastics, whatever? For AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS runs only on the 80 full information, just contact column IIc or the 128K IIe. the Coburn people who have a very wide variety of these The patch allows printing on a IIgs by defeating materials available at most any attempts at setting serial data values reasonable prices. to a non existant 6551 port chip. Write or call me for some free samples, or just use the It works by trashing the i.d. bytes for the Ask the Guru helpline to keep super serial card and by aborting any [O]-J. up to date on the incredible happenings in this new field. 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. Can I run Applewriter Plainly label this disk FOR IIGS ONLY! On an Apple IIgs? 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get Except for one tiny and into the monitor. nit-picking detail, ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 or 2.1 runs 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 reasonably in the fast mode on a IIgs. The only trivial 4. Verify 4DC7- A0 hangup is that Applewriter Change 4DC7: 60 blows up the IIgs when you try to print. 5. Verify 4F7E- 01 I can’t imagine any of you Change 4F7E: 10 Ask the Guru diehards fussing over such an insignificant 6. Verify 4F85- 31 bug, but for those of you Change 4F85: 13 purists and perfectionists out there that absolutely insist 8. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. that a word processor should really be able to print as well as to process words, a few Fig. 3 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 IIgsifier patch. minimal printing patches are 25.3 ASK THE GURU it is fun to use. In fact, the typesetting machine for much onto virtually any surface. language is downright ad- higher print resolution. Postscript is both threaded dictive. Postscript generally Text and graphics can be and extensible. Which means lets you build much higher mixed up in any manner any- that you can simply add your quality images much more where on the sheet to the full own custom routines that can flexibly and with incredibly available printer resolution. become an integral part of the more power. You can very easily translate language. Thus, you can very Another major advantage is (move), scale (to magnify or easily customize Postscript to its device independence. This reduce), or rotate (twist) any do what you want in exactly means that the very same image any way you want to. the way you want it done. textfile that is sent to a laser You can even arbitrarily map As many of you already printer can later be sent to a any text and graphics image know, all of the Ask the Guru text and graphics is done by using Postscript, and working 50 37 39* 42*35 42* from the Applewriter word processor that is driving a 55 27 30 33 Laserwriter Plus. Many hundreds of Post- 60 26 26 script fonts are now available, 65 21 and any individual font can be shown any size from 3 70 19 point to 65,000 point. (72 points equals 1 inch) Thus, 75 17 18 you can letter anything from a tiny model railroad sign to the 80 name on your town’s water tower, all done with a single 85 14 procedural font. Fonts are easily stretched 90 in any direction, leaned, out- 95 11 lined, clipped, or modified for other special effects. You can 100 10 even create your own very high quality fonts. 105 9 Postscript does have a very strong cubic spline drawing 110 and curve tracing ability that can let you draw smooth and 115 continuous curves six ways from Sunday. Photographs 120 Screen density in dots per inch and grays are easily included, 125 although the final halftone quality depends on the actual 130 printer you have in use. In fact, it is Postscript that 135 6 has made Apple’s Laserwriter Plus the best selling printer in 140 the world today. There’s several good ways 145 to get started with Postscript. Two methods do include the 150 5 Postscript Cookbook and the 175 Postscript Reference Manual. If you can’t find these locally, 210 3 I have a few extra copies on hand here. No, I didn’t write 300 2 them, but I sure wish I had. My own Postscript books are 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 still in the works. You’ll also Screen angle in degrees want to subscribe to Colo- phon, which is Adobe’s free Postscript newsletter. Fig. 4 - A map of the secret Laserwriter grays. I have lots of free printed Postscript goodies, listings, 25.4 March, 1987 demos and routines that you can run if you call or write. I have also got a fancy Post- script Show and Tell that now BEST FOR 1:1 COPIES AND GRIDS . . . will run under just about any word processor, editor, or 105 45 {dup mul exch dup mul comm program, and do so on add 1.0 exch sub} setscreen just about any computer. You can also use the Ask BEST FOR REDUCED PREPRESS . . . the Guru phone number for free Postscript help. 85 35 {dup mul exch dup mul And, if you want to tackle add 1.0 exch sub} setscreen a really advanced hacker pro- ject, just write and then debug your own Postscript intrep- INDIA INK WASH EFFECT . . . eter for the Imagewriter. I must get around thirty help 135 25 {dup mul exch dup mul line calls a day requesting add 1.0 exch sub} setscreen this. The language itself has been placed in the public domain, so there’s nothing DEFAULT (urp) . . . stopping you except for some personal time and effort. 53 45 {dup mul exch dup mul add 1.0 exch sub} setscreen Tell me About the Secret Laserwriter Grays. Fig. 5 - Some of the best Laserwriter grays. Have you ever wondered why the Macintosh grays look so putrid when printed on a Laserwriter? Or why any fine gray grids on the Mac nearly % rubbergrid (Postscript) always have hideous dropouts in them? Well, its all because % enter first with (xaxis) (yaxis) (size) setgrid ... much of that Mac software absolutely insists on using the /setgrid { gsave 300 72 div mul 4 div round 288 mul seventeenth lousiest gray that 300 div /size exch def translate size dup scale} def is available from the Laser- writer, instead of selecting % enter later with (#hlines) (#vlines) showgrid ... something decent looking. Grays for the Laserwriter /showgrid {gsave /#vlines exch def /#hlines exch def are specified by picking both 100 45 {dup mul exch dup mul add 1.0 exch sub} a screen density and a screen setscreen 0.9 setgray /gs 1 def /lw 1 def drawlines /gs 5 def /lw 3 def drawlines /gs 10 def /lw 5 def angle. These can be changed drawlines grestore} def with the setscreen command. Because of the odd integer /drawlines {72 300 div lw mul size div setlinewidth arithmetic involved, not every /hpos 0 def #hlines gs div 1 add cvi { hpos 0 moveto combination of screen density 0 #vlines rlineto stroke /hpos hpos gs add def} and screen angle is possible. repeat /vpos 0 def #vlines gs div 1 add cvi {0 vpos Figure four shows you a map moveto #hlines 0 rlineto stroke /vpos vpos gs add of many denser Laserwriter def} repeat} def grays, while figure five shows you how simple it is to mod- % //// demo- remove before use /// ify your Postscript code to pick up grays so good that /xaxis 100 def /yaxis 200 def /size 16 def they will even look like they xaxis yaxis size setgrid were done by using Apple- writer on a IIgs. /#hlines 20 def /#vlines 10 def The numbers show you the total number of gray shades #hlines #vlines showgrid showpage (including black and white) you will get for any selection Fig. 6 - Dropout-free Postscript gray rubber grid. inside any region. That num- ber is centered on the exact 25.5 ASK THE GURU screen density and the screen density Postscript machine. invoices, or whatever. This angle that will result. Finally, if your paper can grid ends up both dropout The stock grays use what is handle it, and if six somewhat free and glitch free. called a 60 line screen, but it darker grays are all you need, All the code that follows really only gives a "Sunday then try out a 135 line, 25 the rubber grid routine will be funnies" density of 53 dots degree screen. This will give locked to it, and can easily be per inch. An excellent set of you grays that look like an expanded and contracted as grays for most reducing rep- india ink wash, and can even needed. You can also lock the roduction use an 85 line, 35 make the Laserwriter output grid to automatically track a degree screen, while an all rival the Linotron 100. border or inset. purpose "final copy" gray is Several gotchas: The grid done using the 105 line 45 Show me a Postscript works best at 1:1 and may not degree screen. Utility. scale well. Also, those in- For 300 DPI photos, you grid font sizes will typically may want to experiment with I will even do you one be very small. Use 0.7 point the 75 DPI, 15 degree screen better. Starting in this issue, as a starting baseline. or else the 65 DPI, 30 degree we’ll run at least one most Your grids can be easily screens. These will give you needed Postscript utility each turned on or off by putting or 18 and 21 gray shades. month. I’ll even be careful to not putting a percent sign in Photos good enough for, make sure most of these will front of each showgrid line. say, a realator’s listing, a car run on virtually any Postscript I do have bunches of Post- shopper, or a catalog cut can printer driven from just about script stuff in stock for you be gotten at 300 DPI with any mini or microcomputer. here, some free and some not enough care and attention to This month’s Postscript so free. Write or call for the detail. utility is the gray rubber grid. usual listings and whatever. You will, of course, get far The listing appears in figure Also, be sure and let me better photos if you either six. This gives you an ad- know if you want to see a reduce your final image or justable gray grid background quasi public domain Post- else set the final copy on a for such things as schematic script program exchange BBS Linotron 100 or other higher diagrams, flowcharts, graphs, started up. (continued from page 24.4) Keep the toner cartridge ularly interested in low cost and any drum defects are then right side up as much as pos- corner rounding punches, un- noted. sible when you perform your ique cover materials, binding To provide an emptying refilling. It is definitely not systems, color options, unusal hole in the holding tank, turn feasable to try and ship any papers, etc. Any stuff that the cartridge upside down and refilled cartridges, except by exists but is obscure enough find the area shown in figure hand carrying. that nobody knows about it. seven. Then, melt a 1/4 inch There is absolutely no need As usual, a free Incredible hole as pictured. This hole to take the cartridge apart. Secret Money Machine to the edge can be sanded smooth But, if you really want to best ten entries, and an all without major problems. open one, the special screw- expense paid tinaja quest for Finally, go outside and driver needed is the #10 two (FOB Thatcher, AZ.) to shake the used toner out of tamper proof torx insert bit the overall winner. this hole. Since there are found in EVCO’s 945B700 UPDATE: My favorite refill some baffles in the holding set. This set is also available toner source today is through tank, you will have to rock at Jensen Tools. Arlin Shepard at Lazer Pro- the cartridge back and forth a ducts in Colorado. Current few times to get rid of all the How About Another pricing is $7.60, which spent toner. When finished, Contest? includes a new fusion wiper tape the hole shut with scotch pad. Don Thompson of transparent tape. Sure thing. We’ll have an Thompson and Thompson For successive refills, just easy one this month. The next now has an independent toner untape the toner holding tank, big market to open up will be testing service that reports on empty and retape. Then, un- the area of finishing processes the best refill toner quality tape the fresh toner tank, fill and materials for use with and price on a weekly basis. and retape. You should also laser printing. Sure, the laser Remember that this is your now use the special tool to pages are nice, but it is the column and you can get tech- clean the corona wire. complete final package that nical help, gossip, and off the Instead of replacing your really counts. wall networking per the end fusion wiper pad, just remove So, just tell me about any box. Be sure to phone or the wiper portion of it and lay finishing products that are write for your copy of the a new wiper in place. The suitable for small quantity new free stuff list, and your wipers cost around fifty cents. laser printing. I am partic- Laserwriter Demo Pack. 25.6 Don Lancaster’s Mass teleportation Postscript resources ASK THE GURU IIgs old drive adaptor Applewriter tweedleifier April, 1987 Apple technical literature pple has just released IIe look very similar to a IIgs, to become excessively horny, a new version of the and have narrowed the price if you were purposely were A IIe. It is now packaged differental between the two trying to develop a human in a platinum color case and machines to a mere $170. lung carcinogen, you prob- now uses the IIgs keyboard, Any disinterested outsider ably would pick a very fine including the numeric keypad. might conclude that Apple is black powder full of soot and A few other changes were trying to quash the identity of fancy organic chemicals. made to reduce the production the IIe and eventually replace A little common sense is in cost and standardize the use it outright with the IIgs. order here. Do the refilling of IIgs type components. Just like they quashed it outside and in a slight breeze. Instead of eight 64K x 1 with the Lisa and the Apple Hold your breath or wear a memory chips, you now have III machines. Uh huh. mask when actually dumping two 64K x 4 dynamic RAMS. Apple has also dropped the the toner into the cartridge or And, instead of that pair of EDASM assembler and their emptying the holding tank. 64K monitor ROM chips, a ProDOS Assembler Tools disk For this month’s contest, single 128K chip is used. (#A2W0013) from the current just tell me of a cheap, local, The list price is $829, and developer services listings. and no-nonsense place to buy the dealer cost is half that. Apparently they feel that the specialty papers that are Except for the brand new everyone is now immediately suitable for laser printing. Out numeric keypad and a newly supposed to shift to the new here in Arizona, Paper Plus introduced and very bizarre "C" language development is the outstanding winner. bug, the performance of the tools and use a sophisticated What we need for future new IIe should be identical to assembler named ORCA/M column coverage is some the older units. The power that can handle the full re- nationwide listing of similar supply might possibly run sources of the 65C816. places. As per usual, a free very slightly cooler, and a tad Several CS readers have Incredible Secret Money Ma- more power might now be questioned the safety of toner chine to the best ten entries, available for peripheral cards. cartridge refilling. While the and an all expense paid tinaja The very bizarre new bug toner has not yet been shown quest for two (FOB, Thatcher, resulted from a change to to cause laboratory hamsters AZ) to the overall winner. allow mouse cards to auto- matically sense the shift key. DB19 male connector from last IIGS 3.5 inch drive If you have any peripheral 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 that uses the SW2 input and if 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 you simultaneously press the DR1 shift key, then you throw a +5 V GND GND GND -12 V PHI 0 PHI 1 PHI 2 PHI 3 +12 V +12 V EN 3.5 HD SEL EXT INT WR REQ RD DATA WR DATA dead short onto the power WR PROT supply, trashing everything 1 GND GND 1 2 PHI 0 PHI 0 2 currently in the machine. 3 GND GND 3 Uh, Apple there is this 4 PHI 1 PHI 1 4 product out there that has a 5 GND GND 5 6 PHI 2 PHI 2 6 linear voltage and current 7 GND GND 7 relationship and is able to 8 PHI 3 PHI 3 8 automatically restrict currents 9 -12 V -12 V 9 WR REQ WR REQ to selected levels. You might 10 10 11 +5 V +5 V 11 not have heard of them, but 12 +5 V +5 V 12 these are called resistors, and 13 +12 +12 13 ENBL ENBL they cost around half a cent 14 14 15 +12 V +12 V 15 each in production quantities. 16 RD DATA RD DATA 16 Why, even IBM has made 17 +12 V +12 V 17 use of this emerging new 18 WR DATA WR DATA 18 19 +12 V +12 V 19 WR PROT WR PROT 20 pin male header to 5.25 inch Drive #1 technology. A complex set of 20 Pin male header to 5.25 inch Drive #2 20 20 math theory has also been 4.7 K developed and seems to stand up to experimental verifica- Circuit 1 - Apple IIgs old disk drive adaptor. tion. It is called Ohm’s Law. Apple apparently made the 26.1 ASK THE GURU So much is happening to the works and in the hands of product will be retrofittable to Postscript this month that I some super secret developers. earlier Laserwriter machines don’t even know where to The new code is purportedly through a simple chip swap. begin. Sources close to the much faster, particularly with Here at Computer Shopper, barber of an associate of a regard to character imaging we have already started a usually reliable spokesperson and in the handlng of down- once-a-month listing of the seem to feel that a major loaded bitmaps and similar Postscript utilities, beginning overhaul of Postscript is in images. Presumably the new with last month’s column. Starting with this issue, you’ll also find a Don Lancaster’s About your Enhanced IIe (030-1141) Laserwriter Corner sidebar Apple Color RGB Monitor Manual (030-3106) that will give you short and Apple II Dot Matrix Printer Manual (030-0739) simple Postscript ideas and Apple II Memory Expansion Card Man. (030-1209) problem solutions that are Apple II Monitor Users Manual (030-0598) very hard to find elsewhere. There’s also now a new Apple II Mouse Users Manual (030-0243) national Postscript on line Apple II Numeric Keypad Manual (030-0463) Apple II System Utilities Manual (030-2028) bulletin board. It is open and Apple II Utilities guide (030-1264) free to all beginning users. Apple IIc Memory Expansion Card Man. (030-1330) Advanced users can get at the real goodies at a higher level Apple IIc Owners Manual (A2L4038) on a "put one on, take ten Apple IIc Owners Man & System Util (030-1030) off" basis. Commercial ads Apple IIc Scribe Users Manual Part 2 (030-0993) are welcome and placable Apple IIe Enhanced Owners Manual (A2L4073) here at a nominal charge. Apple IIe/IIc Color Monitor Manual (030-1224) All of the many Postscript routines in this column will Apple IIc Mouse Manual (030-0961) be available on this BBS on a Apple IIc Reference Manual part I (030-0814) downloadable basis, and I’ll Apple IIc Reference Manual part II (030-1022) try to add some extra goodies Apple IIc Technical Reference Manual (17728-5) * of my own from time to time. Apple IIe Guide to the New Features (030-0622) The board is independent, so hacks and cracks should also Apple IIe Hand Controller Manual (030-0200) be listed. Apple IIe Joystick Manual (030-0563) Oh, yes, the Postscript BBS Apple IIe Numeric Keypad Manual (030-0564) phone data number is (409) Apple IIe Technical Reference Manual (17720) * 244-4704 and is up 24 hours a Apple IIgs Manual (030-1292) day. Standard baud rates are Apple IIgs Setup Guide (030-1294) 300, 1200, and 2400. Apple II+ Vital Importance Manual (030-0209) There is also a brand new Apple III Dot Matrix Printer Manual (030-0740) magazine called The Post- Apple III Monitor Manual (030-0193) script Journal. This one looks Apple III Read Me Manual (030-0662) like it is going to have some great goodies in it, but it is Apple Monochrome Monitor Manual (030-3110) still too soon to tell. The cost Apple Numerics Manual (17741-2) is $15 per year to all charter Apple Personal Modem Users Guide (030-2001) subscribers. Apple 5.25 Drive Owners Manual (030-2040) Briefly turning to another AppleColor Monitor Manual (030-0976) of those insidious advertor- ials, my own unlocked and Appleline Manual (030-0975) unprotected Postscript Show Applesoft Reference Manual (17222-6) * and Tell is in stock here for Applesoft Tutorial (17724-2) * the Apple, Mac, and the IBM DMP Reference Manual (030-0607) PC. Now newly available is BASIC Programming (17721-8) * an Introduction to Postscript user group videotape I put Cable and Connector Manual (030-0623) together that includes toner DOS 3.3 Manual (030-0115) DOS Programmer’s Manual (030-0209) cartridge reloading, Kroy Domestic 9 inch Monitor Manual (030-0976) Kolor details, plus bunches Duodisk Owners Guide (030-0715) more. It is in VHS format. And the usual reminder that Fig. 2A - Apple technical books and manuals . my Applewriter/Laserwriter Utiities and the complete set of reprints to this Ask the 26.2 April, 1987 Guru column remain avail- the newer Apple drives use a can build that will let you able. So are the usual free DB-19 connector. But, many connect a pair of older 20 pin laser printing demo packs and of those older Apple drives drives to a single DB19 other goodies. We return you used a 20 pin DIP header connector. This connector can now to our program already connector instead, that has either be plugged into the IIgs in progress . . . wildly different pinouts. What itself for a 5-1/4 inch only can be done here? system, or else into the last How can I use Older Disk There are at least two ways 3-1/2 inch drive in use. Drives on the Apple IIgs? you can use these older 20 This adaptor is certain to pin drives on the IIgs. The become commercially avail- The Apple IIgs has an quickest and simplest is to go able soon, but for now, you incredible variety of disk ahead and use an old slot six might want to build your drive options. For instance, controller card, and change own. I would start with a there is a plug-in SCSI card the IIgs front panel selection small printed circuit board, that can access any number of to "your card" for slot six. being sure to use the type of floppy or hard disk drives that Instead, figure one shows 20 pin DIP header that has a make use of this optional you a simple adaptor that you plastic box around it. interface. Then there are all the RAM disk plug-in card oppor- Graphics Tablet Manual (030-0076) tunities. Today, you could go Hard Disk 20 Manual (030-1228) as high as 8 megabytes of Hard Disk 20SC Manual (030-3138) RAM disk. Just as soon as the Imagewriter II Appletalk Manual (030-1313) prices drop a tad more on the Imagewriter II Owners Manual (030-2002) 1 megabyte RAM chips, you can quadruple your storage up Imagewriter II Sheetfeeder Ins. (030-2005) to 32 Megabytes. Imagewriter Technical Reference Man. (17739-0) * In fact, you can do it today. Inside Macintosh Volume 1 (17731) * Inside Macintosh Volume 2 (17732) * One megabyte RAM chips are Inside Macintosh Volume 3 (17733) * certainly available, but they are not yet cost competitive Inside Macintosh Volumes 1-3 Hardback (17737) * with older 256K dynamic Inside Macintosh Volume 4 (05409-4) * RAMs. Instant Pascal Reference Manual (17740) * And, should you attach a Language Card Manual (030-0217) single "intelligent" drive to Laserwriter Owners Manual (030-1094) the usual DB19 disk con- nector on the IIgs, you can Laserwriter Plus Manual (030-1292) control up to 128 different Lisa Cluster Controller Man. 1 (030-0611) drives at once. This would, Lisa Cluster Controller Man. 2 (030-0667) obviously, take a beefed up Lisa Motorola 16-bit Micro Manual (029-0055) power supply, but it can Mac 512K Enhanced Owners Manual (030-1326) definitely be done. Astoundingly, the present Mac 512K Disk Upgrade Manual (030-1327) firmware (but not the drives Macintosh Manual (030-0687) themselves) is capable of Macintosh Plus Internal Drive Manual (030-1245) supporting up to five giga- Macintosh Plus Manual (030-1246) bytes per drive, for the mind Multilingual 9" Monitor Manual (030-0943) numbing total of a half a terabyte of data on line at Parallel Card Manual (030-0371) ProDOS Technical Reference Manual (17728-5) * once! ProFile Owners Manual (030-0993) Which is not too shabby for SCSI Card Manual (030-3118) a personal computer. And SOS Driver Manual (030-0143) particularly since next year’s CD ROM’s should drop in SOS Reference Manual Vol 1 (030-0441) just fine, thank you. SOS Reference Manual Vol 2 (030-0442) The normal and usual setup Unidisk 3.5 Manual (030-1151) for most IIgs users is to daisy Unidisk Owners Manual (030-0416) chain four dumb disk drives, Universal Parallel Card Manual (030-0255) placing a pair of 3-1/2 inch drives nearest the IIgs, and 80 Column Text Card Manual (030-0408) using a pair of 5-1/4 inch drives as tail end Charlies. The only little problem Fig. 2B - Apple books, continued. here is that the IIgs and all of 26.3 ASK THE GURU Countless early Apple drive well, who are a first rate It sure is refreshing to see a cards have been destroyed by source for all Apple technical scholarly journal that always plugging in a drive connector information. remains simple, practical, and offset by one pin or by an yet easily understood by lay entire pin row. Do make sure What is New in people. It looks like the your adaptor prevents this. Mass Teleportation? technology to watch is the Unfortunately, that DB-19 quark-muon dissociation and connector has been a bear to The rate at which science regeneration process. find. One good source is JDR. and technological fact out- So, I guess I was not too These are usually available in paces science fiction does overly suprised when Marcia solder tail only, so a short continue to utterly astound Swampfelder shipped me her cable may be needed between me. Nowhere is this more latest peripheral cards for the your pc card and the DB19. apparent than in the emerging Apple II Plus, her MTT-T1 field of mass teleportaion. mass transferrence transmitter What Apple Books and The exciting center of all and her MTT-R1 mass trans- Manuals are Available? that has recently been hap- ferrence receiver. Marcia is a pening is the outstanding tad on the conservative side, As I promised last month, International Journal of Tele- so she insisted on using figure two is a listing of most portation and Mass Transfer. illegal monitor entry points of the current non-IIgs Apple In particular, do check out that precludes the use of these and Macintosh books and Barfoot and Gentry’s tutorial cards on newer Apples. manuals. Some of these are material way back in Volume The pricing is rather stocked by your Apple dealer, XVIII, pages 1146-1198, along attractive at $68.50 for the and others are distributed with their outstanding bib- MTT-T1 and a mere $43.50 through Addison-Wesley. The liography. And, for lots of for the seperate MTT-R1. You Addison-Wesley titles are hands-on construction details, can order direct from Marcia. shown with asterisks. check out Chediski, Colcord, Anyway, you first plug the Just about all of these and Elden’s medium budget transmitter card into one should be directly available project on pages 1245-1277 of Apple II Plus and as many as from the APDA people as the same issue. four receiver cards into four receiving Apple II Plus com- puters. Any object placed in This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 version the transmitter’s dissociation AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS initially ran only on the chamber then will appear 80 column IIc or the 128K IIe. reconstructed in the receiver’s regeneration chamber. The patch improves the prompting tones when in The effective range does the fast mode on a IIgs. depend on the telephone line in use, but for your average It works by lowering the pitch and lengthening quality voice grade line, you the duration of each tone in the pair. can teleport objects up to 500 miles with a single receiver, 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS 200 miles with two receivers, Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. 100 with three, and 50 miles Plainly label this disk FOR IIGS ONLY! with four receivers. The little understood methodology of 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get conjugate phase decongru- into the monitor. ence does prevent you from 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, TSYS, D2 reliably using more than four receivers, regardless of the 4. Verify 2260- 80 distance. Change 2260: D0 The Apple power supply and baud rate considerations 5. Verify 2265- A0 both limit the size of the Change 2265: FF teleportation chambers. Those chambers on the MTT-T1 and 6. Verify 2267- 80 MTT-R1 are slightly larger Change 2267: FF than a quarter. In the usual demo of these cards, you 7. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, TSYS. place a quarter in the chamber on the MTT-T1 card, and it reappears intact approximat- Fig. 3 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 tweedleifier patch. ely 12 minutes later over on the MTT-R1 card. 26.4 April, 1987 For a real "Golly Gee Mr. Science" demo, you can use This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version four regeneration cards from AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS initially ran only on the each dissociation card. The 80 column IIc or the 128K IIe. single quarter you placed in the dissociation chamber will The patch improves the prompting tones when in simultaneously reappear in all the fast mode on a IIgs. four receiving cards, again in a twelve minute dissociation- It works by lowering the pitch and lengthening regeneration time interval. Put the duration of each tone in the pair. another way, the quad demo returns a dollar in change for 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS every quarter that is invested. Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. Marcia reports that all of Plainly label this disk FOR IIGS ONLY! her current production is going to the importers of 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get specialty herbs and spices. into the monitor. Her new teleportion system eliminates all of those long 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 delays at customs, besides 4. Verify 2260- 80 allowing users to set their Change 2260: D0 own international currency exchange rates. 5. Verify 2265- A0 Change 2265: FF How About Some More Applewriter Patches? 6. Verify 2267- 80 Change 2267: FF Sure thing. This month, we will just do a cosmetic pair of 7. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. patches for both ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 and 2.1. When you run Applewriter Fig. 4 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 tweedleifier patch. in the fast mode on the IIgs, the tweedle gets ricidulously high in pitch and very garish. The Tweedleifier patches of figures three and four reduce For Laserwriter version 38 or earlier the pitch down to tones that % ...... sound acceptable both in the slow and fast modes. initgraphics 100 100 moveto This patch is recommended only for IIgs use. /Palatino-Bold findfont [100 0 0 100 0 0] makefont setfont Show me a New (S) false charpath clip Postscript Utility. newpath 90 90 moveto 0 250 rlineto 250 0 rlineto In continuing our once-a- 0 -250 rlineto closepath clip clippath month series of the Postscript utilities for the Laserwriter save /snap exch def fill snap restore clear and similar printers, figure five is a listing of the single /fix {] == flush mark 10 {37 sin pop} repeat} def most often asked for Post- script code routine. mark This listing lets you return {{moveto} fix} the exact path of any imaged {{lineto} fix} character in any font to the {{curveto} fix} host. It works with all fonts {{closepath}fix ( from all sources, including all ) print flush} pathforall internal fonts, all externally downloadable fonts, and all pstack flush showpage custom fonts of your own. The returned path is in its Fig. 5 - A Postscript fontpath utility. "open" or "trapezodial" form, and is easily adapted. 26.5 Don Lancaster’s IIgs monitor options Postscript point ruler ASK THE GURU Die cutting with a laser Applewriter promptifier May, 1987 Improved IIc absolute reset he horror story for this and a very aggressive upgrade utilities. month involves several program. If you are using Except, there is one glaring T readers who are having hard disks with this software, stupidity in these guidelines. their hard disk subdirectories be certain you do have the Adobe does want Postscript trashed when they were using latest version, and call them to appear to be fast running, the Copy II Plus utilities. with any futher problems. so they are insisting you do Apparently this is rather Adobe Systems, the Post- as much processing in your well plowed ground. There script people, have a new and host as possible. Besides definitely have been major free set of Postscript Devel- being just plain wrong, this defects in earlier versions of oper Guidelines. These are in concept (1) slows you down, this code, which, supposedly, the "must have" category. (2) is elitist, (3) favors the have been fixed in current There’s also a pair of $10 developers of the expensive releases. companion disks for the Mac applications programs over Central Point Software, who and IBM that include a great users, and, worst of all (4) are the suppliers of Copy II+, error trapper and several other severely limits which compu- does have a quite low cost useful and all ready to run ters you can use. No, you always want to do as much of your Postscript Apple Sony work inside your laser printer as you possibly can. All that IIgs KV1311CR you should require of your VIDEO OUT AMP 1-102397-5 host computer is your favorite ( DB15 male ) (34 pin male ) and unmodified word proces- sing or editor program. And (red) Red Video 2 25 nothing more. We’ll note in passing that the totally ab- Red Ground 1 8 surd concept of host-resident (green) downloaded width tables went Green Video 5 26 out with the introduction of the Diablo HYTYPE-1 twelve Green Ground 6 10 years ago, and what makes all (blue) of the non-Postscript laser Blue Video 9 27 printing ripoffs so bad is that totally unreasonable overload Blue Ground 13 12 they throw onto their hosts (white) just to save some RAM. Comp. Sync 3 30 Can’t you just picture the (Ground) 1 16 third assistant cook for a Grosse Pointe, MI housewife (brown) Sound 11 24 going down into the Detroit getto, knocking on a door, (Ground) and asking "Madame is a bit short this week. Could she Cable Shield borrow a cup of sugar?" Is this any different from a RGB Enable 470 33 super fast 2.5 megabyte 68000 Postscript computer knocking (yellow) Sound Enable 34 on the I/O port of, say, a Commodore 64 and saying 680 "Uh, I’m feeling a little elitist today, would you mind jus- Belden #9506 cable +12 Volts 8 tifying a few characters for me?" Dumb. Adobe’s reasoning is that Fig. 1 - Apple IIgs to Sony KV1311 monitor interface. externally compiled code is much faster than internally interpreted Postscript. Sadly, 27.1 May, 1987 the compiled code can get independent national Post- Show and Tell is now av- enough longer that any sav- script bulletin board you can ailable for use on virtually ings in the internal processing access at (409) 244-4704. any word processor or comm time is more than gobbled up There is no access charge, program on the Apple II+, by the much longer file trans- except for your own ads. Alan IIc, IIe, IIgs; what’s their mission times. Kalka is the sysop for this name’s PC, AT, XT, and Take Meowwrrr, our puddy exciting new resource. Only clones; the Atart ST; the Mac, cat, ferinstance. He is full of he is having trouble coming Mac Plus; and even under horrible trig calculations and up with a good name for the UNIX. irregular clipping intervals, so board. I also have a brand new he would appear to be a For this month’s contest, Postscript Technical Illus- prime candidate for compil- just name our Postscript BBS. trations package for Apple, ing. Since compiling Post- As usual, an Incredible Secret Mac, and IBM. This includes script code is fairly trivial, I Money Machine to the best some outstanding schematic, tried it. Sure enough, the ten entries, and an all expense isometric, pictorial, curve execution time got shorter. paid (FOB, Thatcher, AZ) tracing, and layout examples. On the other hand, the tinaja quest for two to the All are unlocked and easily transmission time got enough overall winner. Alan will also adaptable to your own needs. longer that the final printing throw in some small prizes of My Introduction to Post- actually took longer to do. his own. script VHS user group video And, no, Appletalk is NOT By the way, most of the tape is now shipping, as is my any faster than 9600 baud. In Ask The Guru Postscript self-published Ask the Guru fact, it is considerably slower routines will be available on reprints that cover everything and creates its own problems. this board, ready for your worthwhile clear back to day Full details on this cage rat- instant downloading. There one, edited, indexed, and tler right here next month. are two levels to the board. fully updated. Besides, who says the host To get at the real goodies, Onward and upward . . . is going to be using compiled you have to put one Postscript code? Asking TI BASIC on, routine on for every ten you What Monitors Work say, a 99/4 to calculate all of take off. With the Apple IIgs? your justification widths for We’ll be continuing our you, will guarantee cobwebs new Don Lancaster’s Laser- Our helpline is overloading on all of your Laserwriter writer Corner sidebar this with people who want to use output. month. Be sure to look for it different RGB monitors on The bottom line: At least near the end of this column. their IIgs. Which monitors for low-end applications, you Oops, I almost forgot to will work with the IIgs, and will always get the fastest throw an advetorial at you. how can they be connected? Postscript code operation by Heaven forbid. My Postscript Firstoff, note there are two always having your Postscript printer do all of its required tasks internally. Use nothing 1. Place the existing IIc monitor chip into your but a word processor or plain EPROM burner and clone a copy of the monitor old editor on your host. image into RAM. I found a great new source of toner and wiper pads for 2. Search the RAM image for an EXACT MATCH to cartridge refilling. This is the following bytes, which should begin at Alan Shepard and his new the start of your RAM image plus $3CCA: Lazer Products outfit. Alan A0 B0 64 3C A2 BF 86 3D does manufacturer all his own A9 A0 91 3C 88 91 3C CA wiper pads, so there is no E0 01 D0 F2 supply problem. And, no, he doesn’t mind your using his 3. Overwrite the exact match to the above RAM pads with toner from other image with this sequence: sources. Alan even has custom "lite" EE F4 03 A0 12 20 A8 FC pads available with less than 2C 61 C0 10 07 88 D0 F5 the usual amount of silicon 4C 59 FF 3C oil impregnant. These are handy to up the quality on 4. Burn a new 27128 (old IIc) or 27256 (new IIc) your Kroy Kolor output, but EPROM using the above patched code. should not be used over large numbers of copies. As you know from last Fig. 2 - An improved absolute reset for the Apple IIc. month, there’s this hot new 27.2 ASK THE GURU fundamentally different types and being several hundred and his great Open Apple of RGB montitors. These do dollars cheaper than the stock magazine pass on these part include the linear type and Apple monitor, this dude also numbers of other television the digital, or TTL type. A has a composite video input sets that include a direct linear monitor can display all for IIe use, a remote control, linear RGB input . . . 4096 of the IIgs colors. A and even has a tuner so you digital monitor can not, and is can watch Captain Video or J.C. Penny 2220 usually limited to a total of 8 the Roller Derby. Magnavox RF4254WA or 16 colors. Maybe even watch Kukla, Magnavox RG4378BK Thus, even if you could Fran, and Ollie. Quasar TT6290XE adapt a TTL monitor to your Figure one shows you an Quasar TT6298YW IIgs, it would not show all of adaptor cable that will let you Sanyo AVM210 the intended colors in their use this KV1311-CR with Sanyo 12C700 intended way. your IIgs. One source for Sears 42701 Further, it is not a simple these monitors is 47th Street Sony KV20XBR matter to get attractive and Photo. readable 80 column text on a There is one minor gotcha Naturally, the interfacing RGB monitor’s screen. Many you do have to watch for. The details may vary with these of the bargain priced monitors Apple DB-15 monitor connec- other sets. If you use one of simply cannot handle IIgs text tor does not have a +5 volt these, please send along your attractively. So, your first rule output. Instead, a resistive interface circuit so we can is to never buy a monitor for divider has to be used to get share it with other IIgs users. IIgs use unless you have seen from the +12 volt source to And a question for all you exactly how sharp the text the inputs that activate RGB IIgs people: Do you want to and the Super HIRES images and sound as shown. see a Lancaster cookbook on will appear. Many thanks to Courtney IIgs interfacing solutions? One monitor that has a lot Jackson, who did most of the of helpline interest is the new debugging and testing on this What Causes Picture Sony #KV1311-CR. Besides interface. Noise in the IIgs Monitor? having an acceptable picture In addition, Tom Weishaar A linear RGB monitor is a wideband analog electronic This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 version system, and thus, is highly AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS initially ran only on the sensitive to any noise source 80 column IIc or the 128K IIe. of any type. At the normal brightness levels in the usual The patch unconditionally uses " \ " as the load room illumination, any pic- to screen prompt. This allows the use of self- ture noise in the stock Apple prompting glossaries. IIgs monitor will range from It works by substituting " \ " for the underline totally negligible to barely token during a screen load. observable. But, if you are a night 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS person, and if you try turning Applewriter 2.0, using the filer utilities. the monitor’s contrast and the brightness down to low late 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get evening settings, you may into the monitor. find the picture noise and the snow to become objection- 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, TSYS, D2 able. What you have done, of course, is reduce the signal to 4. Verify 396E- CD DE B8 noise ratio in the process of Change 396E: C9 5C EA reducing the brightness and contrast. 5. Verify 396E-3970 per above. I have had a handfull of callers insist that this was a 6. UNLOCK AWD.SYS major "defect" in the Apple monitor that absolutely must 7. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, TSYS. be immediately "fixed". In reality, it is just about impos- 8. LOCK AWD.SYS sible to build a video monitor that is noise free over all of Fig. 3 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 promptifier patch. the possible brightness and contrast levels. What Sony did on the Apple monitor, of 27.3 May, 1987 course, is to optimize for the How About Some More question is that yes, you can minimum noise at the usual Applewriter Patches? easily do die cutting on a brightness and contrast levels. laser printer. The Kroy Kolor There is a simple solution There is a "feature" in the people now have a super new for this "night person" pro- ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 and material that is more or less blem. Just run your monitor 2.1 that you might want to do like the vinyl and carrier used at the usual daytime contrast away with. For some reason, by all the professional sign and brightness and put some the "load to screen" trailer people, except for one major neutral density filter, such as command was made the same difference. This material is a piece of transparent gray as the underline token. Should not cross linked properly until plexiglass, between you and you use no underline token, it is exposed to light and then the screen. you loose the ability to load chemically treated. to screen for a preview. Here is how you use it: Show me an Improved Worse yet, since the load to With your laser printer, print Apple IIc Absolute Reset. screen command can change the die cut outlines onto a with time, many unique self- clear acetate sheet. Then you I’ve had an absolute reset prompting glossaries will no place the sheet in contact with package available for some longer work. the diecut material and next time that will let you uncon- So, figures three and four expose it to strong sunlight or ditionally drop down into the show you the two Promptifier one of the usual UV exposure monitor on a IIe, an enhanced patches that will modify your boxes. The toner prevents the IIe, and for those earlier IIc ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 and light from cross linking the monitors (non-3.5). What this 2.1 to always use the reverse material. When you next wipe does is perform an EPROM slash " \ " as your load to the material with a develop- monitor chip swap to do the screen prompting trailer. ing chemical, every place that equivalent of the CALL-151 the toner has covered will from any point in any pro- Can I do Die Cutting dissolve, leaving you with gram, regardless of the copy On a Laser Printer? perfect "die cut" letters or protection in use. whatever ready to use. The absolute reset remains The amazing answer to this Contact Randy Bailey over invisible until called upon. A normal [control reset] resets in the normal way as intended This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 version by the program. And a normal AWD.SYS only. AWD.SYS initially ran only on the [control open-apple reset] does 80 column IIc or the 128K IIe. the cold boot in the normal way, including all the "hole The patch unconditionally uses " \ " as the load blasting" that destroys your to screen prompt. This allows the use of self- code besides putting bulldozer prompting glossaries. tracks into the HIRES images. It works by substituting " \ " for the underline But, should you keep your token during a screen load. finger on the open apple key for four seconds after doing 1. Make a third or higher backup copy of ProDOS the [control open-apple reset], Applewriter 2.1, using the filer utilities. you will automatically get dropped down into the "old" 2. Get into /BASICS.SYS. Then CALL -151 to get monitor with your program into the monitor. intact and with no trashing of the HIRES screens. 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C, D2 Figure two shows you an improved way you can do an 4. Verify 3974- CD DE B8 absolute reset on your IIc, Change 3974: C9 5C EA which may be used both on the original and on the new 5. Verify 3974-76 per above. IIc enhanced "3.5" monitors. Unlike the previous version, 6. UNLOCK AWD.SYS this patch is all in one piece and does not change the title 7. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6020, T$0C. of your bootup screen. 8. LOCK AWD.SYS This new IIc method does require the use of an EPROM programmer that’s capable of Fig. 4 - ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 promptifier patch. directly handing either of the 27128 or 27256 EPROMs. 27.4 ASK THE GURU at Kroy for samples and more one out and laminate it in 0 info on this new material. plastic, but printing as many copies of your own as you need is a better choice. Show me a New Fig. 6 Postscript Utility. The ruler is printed dia- 50 gonally on the sheet. You can For this month’s Postscript then cut it out to the usual utility, I’ll show you how to ruler shape. There are two make your own point rule, the main reasons for the diagonal single most needed and most layout. First, you can print a 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 asked for Postscript end user ruler 11 inches long this way, accessory. and still do so on a plain old While you can use any unit piece of paper while using the of measurement you like in stock Postscript letter frame Postscript, including inches, device. centimeters, pixels, or even in Second, most Postscript furlongs. But the default mea- speaking laser printers nor- surements are always made in mally will not have precisely printers points. In Postscript, the same scale in the X and Y there are 72 points per inch, directions. A scaling error of POINT RULE compared to a "real" printers one to two percent is normal, point, which is very slightly and is at least partially caused smaller. by paper stretch. Anyway, figure five shows A diagonal ruler, if printed you a ruler you can easily on the same machine, will create. These are most useful tend to "average out" all these for just about any layout task scaling errors, and thus be that involves Postscript. The just as accurate for both your actual ruler appears in figure horizontal and your vertical six. You may want to cut this measurements. -30 220 translate -125 rotate % 2 tick /xstrt -776 def /vstrt 200 def /tick1 -6 def /pos xstrt def 436 {pos vstrt moveto 0 tick1 rlineto /pos pos 2 add def 0.20 setlinewidth stroke} repeat % 10 tick newpath /pos xstrt def /tick2 -12 def 88 {pos vstrt moveto 0 tick2 rlineto /pos pos 10 add def 0.20 setlinewidth stroke} repeat % 50 tick /pos xstrt def /tick3 -18 def 18 {pos vstrt moveto 0 tick3 rlineto /pos pos 50 add def 0.20 setlinewidth stroke} repeat % point numbers newpath /Helvetica findfont [ 12 0 0 13 0 0 ] makefont setfont /vstrt vstrt 32 sub def /xstrt xstrt 12 sub def xstrt vstrt moveto -688 168 moveto 1.66 0 (100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850) ashow -734 168 moveto 1.66 0 (50) ashow -780 168 moveto (0) show -465 146 moveto /Helvetica findfont [40 0 0 15 0 0 ] makefont setfont (POINT RULE) show newpath -776 135 moveto 870 0 rlineto 1 setlinewidth stroke showpage Fig. 5 - Postscript listing for a point rule. 27.5 Don Lancaster’s Postscript labelmaker Speeding up postscript ASK THE GURU IIgs disappearing drive Appletalk -vs- 9600 baud June, 1987 Laser printing economics here’s a new literature version of Freewriter that is Dave will be most happy to program now available much better documented and send you several finished T directly from Apple has been classroom proven. samples, provide you do help Computer that you might not Dave Blair of Blair Des- him along with his hobby of yet be familiar with. This one igns has solved the Coburn collecting federal reserve is called the Apple Devel- problem. And elegantly. As notes. He also does custom oper’s Express. It consists of you may recall, the Coburn magnetic truck signs and bus- a humongous quarterly binder people have some absolutely iness cards. that is sent free to dealers, outstanding graphics materials I have found at least one clubs, and developers. The available, things such as gold competitor to Coburn. Try the ambassador for your local foils, diffraction grating stuff, Flormel people as an alternate user group has a copy. glow-in-the-dark sheets, and source for unusual foil and And, of course, to find various other wonders. film materials. your local user group, you Unfortunately, toner won’t Some blueish computer call (800) 538-9696, and then properly stick to any of their outfit in upstate New York ask for extension 500. products. has just gone Postscript for At any rate, each package So, what Dave suggests is all their desktop publishing consists of bunches of data this: Print a negative black products. sheets, literature, and product toner image on plain paper. Which once and for all announcements. There are us- Then Kroy Kolor or else guarantees that Postscript is ually a few demo disks, some Omnicrom this sheet. Next, now officially the standard magazines, and several other throw the sheet away and page description language. oddments. save the Kroy Kolor carrier. One side effect of this has This service is definitely Finally, Kroy Kolor the been the 2:1 splitting and worth looking into. If you do new Coburn material with the quadrupling in value of the want to participate in this for used carrier. It turns out that Adobe stock to an all time your own products, the cost is Kroy Kolor sticks totally all record high. So, I’ll reverse around $1000 or so. Which over the Coburn overlay film. that hot stock tip I previously can be a real media bargain. The results are unbeliev- gave you: Sell Adobe and Apple also just released two ably spectacular. For instance, take your 400 percent profit. public domain sampler disks. if a used car salesman shows After all, there’s no need to These are so bad that they up and asks you for "some- get greedy. should immediately be des- thing sedate" in a new custom Speaking of Postscript, do troyed on sight. Out of the business card, you can give not forget we have this hot 40,000 or so public domain him gold and pearl ink over a new BBS on line at (409) programs now available glow-in-the-dark diffraction 244-4704. Most of the Com- today, these two disks are grating background. puter Shopper listings on definitely in the bottom forty. One disk boots up with Laser Printing "Click to Clunk" times (v.47.1) "ProDOS not Available". The ...... other comes up with "This is not a Macintosh disk, shall I A. MEOWWRRR (Puss De Resistance) initialize it?" No menus at all, no internal operating system, Appletalk on a Mac ...... 90 seconds and both totally user vicious. 9600 Baud on a IIe ...... 70 seconds The ProDOS diskette does 19200 Baud on a IIgs ...... 58 seconds have a copy of Freewriter on it. This is a stripped zero cost version of Applewriter that is B. IIGSBLK (IIgs Block Diagram) an ideal first word processor for most junior high school Appletalk on a Mac ...... 45 seconds students. 9600 Baud on a IIe ...... 30 seconds If you can, though, try and 19200 baud on a IIgs ...... 22 seconds get a free copy of Fredwriter instead, through many of the California BBS systems. This Fig. 1 - Appletalk is slower than 9600 baud! is an updated and improved 28.1 ASK THE GURU Postscript are now download- 1. Defeat the test page on power up. able from this new board. Please note that, while the 2. Let the machine run continuously. board is free, advertisers and sponsors are urgently needed. 3. Arrange your work so that similar jobs are For this month’s contest, processed together. just send me the best recipe 4. Use a fast communicating computer (such as for coconut-anchovy pizza. a IIe) rather than a slow communicating one Or almost anything else that (such as a Macintosh.) would be palatable only to a gonzo computer hacker that is 5. Avoid Appletalk like the plague. well beyond the point of taking his Dr. Pepper intra- 6. Download persistent utility routines on first veneously. power up, rather that prefixing each file with Other acceptable entries the needed code. would be knockwurst ala king, butterscotch pudding au 7. Use the latest available ROM version for your jus or road kill de jour. The laser printer or typesetter. absolute worst of these may someday appear in Marcia 8. Do not use irregular clipping intervals, pixel Swampfelders latest book. As line remapping, or elaborate charpath stuff usual, an all expense paid except for "Uh-Compared to What?" applications. tinaja quest (FOB Thatcher, AZ) for two to the overall 9. Use the usertime command as a stopwatch to time winner, and a copy of my The out the critical portions of your code. Incredible Secret Money Ma- chine to the ten best entries. 10. Run at the fastest possible baud rate, preferably 57200. Make sure your comm software’s de-facto I was hoping to get into baud rate is near the intended baud rate. binding systems this month, but there just isn’t any room. 11. Have postscript do as much internally as possible. So for your next homework Any host-based manipulations or calculations are assignment, write or call Ron almost always much slower. Leonard over at Lonards Distributing for info on the 12. Use hard disks, rather than floppies. Unibind system. Then call the people at Velo-Bind and get 13. Use a 5 in 1 program that will create, edit, send info on the Personal Velo- code, receive error messages, and record error Binder and their Cold-knife messages, preferably without any manditory disk Velo-Binder systems. access. ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 is nearly ideal. These are definitely the big winners to date. 14 Use your own custom Postscript code, rather than Time for our usual – bleep a canned applications program. – commercial. Bound sets of Ask the Guru reprints are 15. Aviod any and all attempts at putting anything on available, as is the brand new the video screen, except for Postscript listings. Introduction to Postscript VHS videotape and the Post- 16. Keep the serial files as short as possible. Use shorter variable names. Use rubber grid systems. script Show and Tell for the IIc/IIe/IIgs, Mac, PC, and ST. 17. Leave such things as form letters, letterheads, And now, instead of raising label art in the PRINTER. Erase only the parts the curtain, let’s lower the that change, such as the names and addresses. stage instead . . . 18. Use a IIgs at 19200 baud or higher, rather than Which is Faster – a Mac at anything. Appletalk or 9600 Baud? 19. Quickdraw does not, so do not. Why, 9600 Baud of course. Why else would I ask such a 20. Yellow single flashing means your speed is stupid question? Postscript limited. Yellow double flashing in In theory, Appletalk should the absence of errors means your speed is be roughly 25 times faster communications limited. than standard 9600 baud serial Fig. 2 - How to speed up your Postscript code. data transmission. In reality, the current software and use 28.2 June, 1987 protocols can hopelessly crip- card and configure it as a publishing, and the economics ple AppleTalk to the point RAM disk, and the second are absolutely amazing. where 9600 baud is faster. real drive vanishes in a whiff Let’s start out with some Figure one shows proof. of purple smoke. All you can numbers. First, there are no I’ve taken two identical files now access are your first economics whatsoever to a from my Postscript Show and drive and the RAM card. non-Postscript speaking laser Tell and run one of them at And, of course, much of printer. Since only a thousand 9600 baud on a IIe, and the your older IIc/IIe software is copies or so are printed out other over AppleTalk on a now useless since the second before the user finds out how Mac. As you can see, the IIe drive is nowhere to be found. bad they have been had, and at 9600 baud is significantly The problem is caused by since all these totally useless faster than AppleTalk on a the order in which the drives machines cost around $2000 Mac. The IIgs is even faster. are selected by the IIgs. The each, you are talking a flat $2 To get your 9600 speedup first drive is usually Slot 5, per page operating cost. though, it is very important Drive 1. The RAM card is That is before a new $3000 that the de-facto baud rate is often Slot 5, Drive 2. The Postscript attachment lid is also remotely near 9600 baud. second drive is usually Slot 2, inevitably purchased and then Some telecomm programs are Drive 1 when the RAM card installed. written so cumbersomely, re- is in use. The real Postscript printer quire so much disk access, The solution ranges from costs are very sensitive to and execute so slowly, that trivial to impossible, depen- who is buying it how. There their actual transmission rate ding on the protection scheme are three main costs involved is ridiculously slower. used on the original software. here. These are the amortized The worst offender in this It turns out that ProDOS 1.1.1 cost of the machine, the paper sort of thing is MacTerminal. or earlier operating systems cost and the toner cost. It is so slow as to be totally can only recognize two drives For simplicity, we’ll ignore useless. The effective baud per slot. All you have to do is the time value of money, and rate of Applewriter is around upgrade the operating system the actual production labor. In 7800 Baud in the 9600 mode, on each disk to ProDOS 1.2 these days of low interest but this can be very greatly or ProDOS 8 or something rates, the former does not improved by using the IIgs. that’s newer. amount to much, while the We’ll note in passing that If you are using unlocked latter can often be your own the Laserwriter lets you run software, just make a backup children or a teenager from at 57600 baud, so I will copy and replace ProDOS down the street. eventually let you know what with ProDOS 8, renaming it If a doctor or dentist pays the ultimate transmission as ProDOS. If your software the Laserwriter full list price speed will be. disk is locked, find the CEO and buys a newer toy at What does all this prove? of the software house that 80,000 copies, his amortized Well, this conclusively proves sold you the product and then capital cost is $5000/80,000 = that (1) An Apple IIe is much stake him to an anthill. 6.25 cents a page. If a more faster than a Macintosh, that average buyer pays $3600 and (2) you should always beware What Are the Economics gets 120,000 copies, his cost of people bearing bench- Of Laser Printing? is 3 cents per page. If a gonzo marks, and most especially buyer pays the low street of bench cats, and finally (3) Do Suprisingly good. I’ve just $3300, and maintains his own avoid AppleTalk like the gotten into some heavy self- machine to get over 200,000 plague unless you are into snail geriatrics, glaciers, or congressional reform. At least until Apple cleans Synergetics up their act. While a speed Box 809 Thatcher AZ 85552 advantage of 25:1 is possible, let us at least shoot for a breakeven before year end. Stan Veit, Editor What Causes that IIgs COMPUTER SHOPPER "Disappearing Drive" Syndrome? 407 South Washington Ave. The IIgs disappearing drive Titusville, FL 32761 syndrome goes like this: You start out with two 3-1/2 drives and everything works fine. You add a memory expansion Fig. 3 - Auto-addressing Postscript shipping label. 28.3 ASK THE GURU copies out of it, his per copy $100 cartridge is good for to seven refillings of his bulk cost is around 1.7 cents. Let’s 2500 copies, so his toner cost purchased toner to get toner assume a three cent per page will be 4 cents per page. An cost way down to 0.65 cents a average amortized cost. average user will use three page. The toner costs will like- $25 refill kits per cartridge, so So, let’s assume a one cent wise vary all over the lot. The his toner cost will be 2 cents per page average toner cost. doctor or dentist will always a page. Finally, the gonzo Finally, even a doctor or pay list for a new cartridge. A user will nurse each cartridge dentist ought to be swift enough to buy paper in case % Requires your own mylabelproc for the fixed lots from his local price club % portions of the labels. at $1.80 a ream, or 0.36 cents per page. Better quality paper % Requires Synergetics pj justify routine. Free copy from an intelligent supplier % available on request. Version 38.0 needs plusbugfix. will be higher, so we might assume a one cent per page /NewCenturySchlbk-Bold findfont [14 0 0 14 0 0] average paper cost. makefont setfont /linewidth 500 def /filljustify false Add these up, and a nickel def /yinc 12 def /indexcount 0 def /numlabelspersheet per page turns out to be a 4 def /vertlabeloffset 180 def /nameleftstart 350 def reasonable operating cost of a /nametopstart 150 def /eraseheight 90 def /erasewidth Laserwriter, neglecting labor 250 def /xlabelset 300 def /ylabelset 60 def and the time value of money. For a number of reasons, I gsave xlabelset ylabelset translate numlabelspersheet decided to self-publish the {mylabelproc 0 vertlabeloffset translate} repeat Ask the Guru reprints. When I grestore added up all the costs of the traditional jiffy printing route, /poscalc {/indexcount indexcount 1 add def I found that we are talking indexcount numlabelspersheet gt {/indexcount $7000, all of it up front, and 1 def} if} def none of it guaranteed. /eraseoldname {gsave nameleftstart 20 sub What if we print each copy vertlabeloffset indexcount 1 sub mul nametopstart on the Laserwriter? We are add 15 add moveto erasewidth 0 rlineto 0 eraseheight now talking 100 double-sided neg rlineto erasewidth neg 0 rlineto closepath 0.8 pages, at six cents a page setgray fill grestore} def (you do use toner on both sides of the page), and throw /placenewname {/xpos nameleftstart def /ypos in a buck for the cover. nametopstart vertlabeloffset indexcount 1 sub mul Wonder of wonders, laser add def currentname pj indexcount numlabelspersheet printing also costs $7000 per eq {copypage} if} def thousand, and is thus about the same as jiffy printing! /cleanuplastpage{ indexcount 1 add 1 But whoa. How about the numlabelspersheet {/indexcount exch def risk here? With laser printing, eraseoldname} for showpage} def you never need print more than 20 books at a time. You /nameproc { save /snap exch def /namelist exch def are talking a short term $140 namelist {/currentname exch def poscalc eraseoldname versus a long term $7000 risk. placenewname} forall cleanuplastpage clear snap Even more important, if the restore } def book bombs, you may have to eat most of those thousand % list format: [ (stuff) (stuff) (stuff) ] nameproc jiffy printed copies, and thus [(Don Lancaster will lose your shirt. And what SYNERGETICS happens if your ultimate mar- Box 809 ket is around 1326 copies or Thatcher, AZ, 85552) so? Nothing good. There’s some more subtle (Stan Veit, Editor advantages to laser self pub- COMPUTER SHOPPER lishing. Any additions and 407 South Washington Avenue revisions can be made at any Titusville, FL 32761)] time. Review copies of the final bound book can be sent nameproc out ninety minutes after the author makes his final copy Fig. 4 - Shipping label Postscript listing. submission. Each customer can have his own name on the 28.4 June, 1987 a p shiplabel.w p p p psr1 e ppr This module will address and print custom 4-up p D in next line is [D]! ppr shipping labels. Labels after the first one in the f<<] nameproc>>D>>< ppr batch are produced at maximum Laserwriter y? ppr speed, approximately 32 per minute. p ppr d ppr This super-fast operation results by keeping the f/(// ppr label art inside the Laserwriter, and then changing y? ppr only the address for each successive label. p ppr b ppr Note: The label art must be in Postscript, but u ppr the address list is a standard text file. f//[ (/ ppr y? psr2 p psx-1 pgoa p psr1 b p ppr getting letter psr1 p ppr For a demo, use DEMO.LABEL and DEMO.LIST. b ppr l$B pin Name of Postscript label art ----> =$B pgog ppr pgoz p d2 unless demo g p pcs/$B/demo.label/ p pgof p pcs/$B/DEMO.LABEL/ oh,d1 pgof p psx2 p pgoff qcwide f psx1 p ff oh,d(x) ppr printing labels p ppr p ppr pin Is the list loaded (Y/N) ? ------> =$C ppr *** busy-please wait *** pcs/$C/Y/ p pgoc pnp pcs/$C/y/ p pgoc pgox ppr pin Name of list to be loaded ------> =$C z p p pnd p ppr[L] ny ppr Uh - There was a filename or disk access error. l$C ppr Now returning you to the snoopervisor. pgoc pgoxxx pgoz c psr2 x p psx-1 psr1 pgob ppr Computer is now free. p ppr p xxx pin Press return --> psr1 xx oh,d1 pin Remove hidden lines? (Y/N) ----> =$A p psr2a p pdosnoop.v1.w psx-1 p pgod pqt b f<>.=><> =$A prt psr2a psx-1 2 ppr pgoe pin OK to continue (Y/N/return) ----> =$A b ppr f< =><>><)>>(x Fig. 5 - Shipping label WPL supervisory controller. 28.5 ASK THE GURU title page in gold foil. You the demand really is there, two lists many of the things never need print more than you are guilty of the heneous you can do to substantially you are about to reasonably and unpardonable crime of speed up your printing times. sell in the next few weeks. "skimming". And, ten years from now, you Fourth, mergers and buy- What is this month’s can still print and sell one outs have reduced the number Postscript Utility? single copy at a profit. of publishers, so there are less Wait. There’s even more. places to submit books. It is an automatic multiple Some very ugly things have Fifth, the services that a label printer with quite a few been happening over in the traditional publisher can offer unique advantages. traditional book publishing an author have been greatly A sample label is shown in business that have been and diminished. You can now do figure three, while the Post- continue to be a living hell on your own arwork, all of your script code appears in figure authors. Let’s look at a few of own layout, your own editing, four. What this does is take the highly negative factors your own typesetting, and any group of labels of any involved with traditional pub- even your own printing with shape and size. It then puts a lishing today . . . quality that is more than permanant picture of the First and ugliest, the IRS competitive, and much more non-changing parts of the now pays publishers to shred likely to give you exactly label into the Laserwriter. A books, much the same way what you want. Before, you mailing list is then read, and the feds pay farmers not to had no resonable choice but the address or changeable part grow crops. to use a publisher for these is put down for the total In fact, the IRS has caused services. needed number of labels. more books to be shredded in Sixth, older publishers will A mailing list is input in the last few weeks than were fight you tooth and nail over the form of an array of destroyed in all of the dark any innovative and low cost strings. One single string is ages. This means that back (e.g. Postscript) way of doing used for each and every name lists no longer exist, and that things, for all those computer and address group. The code all existing copies of your illeterate managers, pasteup is set up to process a hand fed book will summarily be and layout people are not strip of four labels at once. shred- ded the instant it drops about to admit they’re ornery, You keep feeding till all of a notch or two on any of the obsolete, and obstructionist. the names get used up. best sellers list. Finally, any book returns The label routine is easily Second, those failing mom charged against an author’s adjusted for any number of and pop book stores normally royalties were virtually un- labels of any size. carried between 45,000 and heard of several years ago. I get my blank labels from 65,000 titles. The chains that Today, an author is extremely Hy-Tech, first because they are driving the older stores lucky if half his royalties are are down the street, second out of business only carry not recalled at a later date. because they have a large die 4500 to 6500 titles, while On one side we have some selection, and third, because stocking many more copies of unique new opportunities. On they are reasonably priced. each title. This causes a 10:1 the other we have everything Figure five shows you a reduction in available shelf literally going to hell in a fairly user friendly new WPL space for your work. handbasket. pre-processor that works Third are the infamous Kiddies, we are looking at under ProDOS Applewriter publishers committees, made a new total revolution in self- 2.0 or 2.1. This starts with an up of total idiots that do not publishing. Let us start up address file consisting of have the slightest idea who some new networking on this. name and address lines, each you are or why your material Your modem or my tinaja? total address seperated by will sell. The committee will double carriage returns. usually sit on your book for How can I Speed Up The addresses can be any fourteen or more months, and Postscript? number of lines. then tell you the manuscript is As many hidden informa- rejected because they feel it is A lot of the criticisms tion lines as you want can be "not timely". about Postscript speed has added to each address and The marketing people are nothing whatsoever to do coded any way you care to. even worse. If lots of other with the Postscript language. Subject to the rule that the books exist, then that market Instead, user misinformation, hidden code line must start is "overcrowded". If no other system constraints, very bad with a period. One product books are competing with software, and communications code can be added to each yours, then your market is stupidities all gang up on printed address line, but sub- "unproven". But if you print poor old Postscript. ject to the rule that your up a few copies on your own If you are creating your product code have three or and sell them to demonstrate own Postscript code, figure more spaces in front of it. 28.6 Don Lancaster’s Apple resources IIgs serial firmware ASK THE GURU Applewriter fast boot Desktop publishing tools July, 1987 Postscript step and repeat am slowly but surely trick we used (CS Feb 87) for laser printing with a Laserjet. getting the IIgs to turn the big cartridges will work All at a combined cost that is I into a decent driver for here. Please mail me an a mere $1500 or so above the the Laserwriter. In fact, if empty cartridge if you get a street price of having used a you use my patched version chance. Laserwriter in the first place. of Applewriter on the IIgs at The new HP machines use The product is called the 19200 baud, you’ll end up this engine. Sadly, since HP PS-Jet, One source is Woody with an effective baud rate refuses to speak Postscript, Baker at The Copier Store. around 18200. This rate is their new machines are utterly I will say this about HP roughly three times faster and totally useless. though: Their policy on laser than using a Macintosh (with There is hope, however, for replacement parts and man- or without Appletalk) as a older Laserjet owners. You uals is light years ahead of Laserwriter driver. can now get a new snap-on Apple. In fact, just about all The actual speedup you get Postscript lid that at long last knowledgeable Laserwriter depends on how much time is actually lets you do useful buyers run out and get a copy spent serial communicating and how much time is used running Postscript, but the Using the BASIC protocol in slot #1 . . . speedup is always significant. By the time you read this, To INIT, do a JSR $C100 or a CALL 49408. the IIgs version 2.0 system To READ, do a JSR $C105 or a CALL 49413. software disks should now be To WRITE, do a JSR $C107 or CALL 49415. available. Check your dealer. Included are new print drivers (Note that READ will hang the machine until and various other mods and such time as a valid character is input.) improvements. Using the Pascal protocol in slot #1 . . . Apple stock has 2:1 split and is now paying a small To INIT, read the routine offset value in $C10D. dividend. But it is the time to Then set X = #$C1, Y = #$10, A = anything, and be getting yourself out of JSR to $C100 PLUS the offset value. On exit, X stocks, not into them. will hold the error code, with 0 = no errors. There are plenty of laser printing developments for this To find the READ STATUS, read the offset value month. Rumor has it that the in $C110. Set X = #$C1, Y = #$10, and A = #$01 Riccoh laser engine has some JSR to $C100 PLUS the offset value. On exit, fatal or near fatal long term a set carry means an input character is ready print quality flaws and is to be read. quietly being discontinued by several printer manufacturers. To READ, read the routine offset value in $C10E. Meanwhile, Canon is moving Then set X = #$C1, Y = #$10, A = anything, and some of its laser engine and JSR to $C100 PLUS the offset value. On exit, A its cartridge production work will hold the read input value, while X holds over to Tennesee. the error code, with 0 = no errors. Canon now has a new laser To find the WRITE STATUS, read the offset value engine they call the SX in in $C110. Set X = #$C1, Y = #$10, and A = #$00 production. It is heavier duty JSR to $C100 PLUS the offset value. On exit, and gives far blacker and a set carry means an output character can now much more consistent print be accepted. quality. The new cartridge is also smaller and somewhat To WRITE, read the routine offset value in $C10F. cheaper. Then set X = #$C1, Y = #$10, A = low ASCII character No, I do not have any to be written. JSR to $C100 PLUS the offset value. refilling information on these On exit, A is trashed, while X holds the error code, as of yet. I think the toner is with 00 = no errors. different, perhaps a finer grind or whatever. Chances Fig. 1 - IIgs intermediate level serial I/O access. are that same hole melting 29.1 ASK THE GURU of the HP service manual. printing. I have no idea when What Apple Resources That’s part #02686-90904. or whether they will do so. Are Available? Which, of course, results in Be sure to get a free copy Apple paying to HP a $50 of the April 1st issue of There are many good and cash rebate for most every Outside Apple. Among other useful sources for information Laserwriter that’s sold! More gems, they advise you that on your Apple computers, if on this in a future column. any strange hissing and low you just know where to look Meanwhile – and I’m not frequency thumping noises in or who to ask. sure you are supposed to a IIgs on turn-on can often be A local club or user group know this yet – Apple just cured by carefully opening is the best place to get useful might happen to be working the lid and letting the cat out. contacts and hands-on local on a new set of ROM chips A quick reminder about our help. You can find the user for the Laserwriter. These a hot new independent Post- groups in your area by using chips run some 33 percent script BBS at (409) 244-4704. the listings right here in faster and have gotten rid of Hundreds of new Postscript Computer Shopper or else by the frame device blowups, the tips and routines are now calling (800) 538-9696, and bugs that had made copypage downloadable, including most asking for extension 500. useless, and have finally sped of the stuff you read here. An outstanding source of up the stringwidth command While the board is free, technical information on all to the point where it is now sponsors and advertisers are the Apple products is the just plain slow, instead of most definitely welcome and A.P.D.A people. They stock being an outright joke. needed. just about everything on disk On the other hand, the font And the usual word from or paper that’s available for protection has been tightened our sponsor: Bound sets of just about everything Apple. up. This is so stupid and so Ask the Guru reprints remain They should be your first and shortsighted as to be beneath available, as do my IIe/IIc foremost resource. comment. Absolute Resets, Incredible Besides Computer Shopper, The version number may or Secret Money Machines, Post- far and away the greatest two may not be 47.1, and earlier script Show and Tells for all Apple magazines are Tom machines probably should be major computers, and an Weishaar’s Open-Apple and upgradable by one means or Introduction to Postscript Bob Sander-Cedarlof’s Apple another. Logically, Apple VHS videotape starring yours Assembly Line. should also upgrade to the truely. Write or call for info The best Apple books are new SX engine, and should on these and some great new often published by Addison- throw in more fonts and a freebies. Weseley. While carried by double sized bitmap so the And now, let’s throw a A.P.D.A., many of these are next sheet can be processing bone or two at all you new- stocked in larger bookstores. while the current one is busy comers to this column . . . My own Apple books do include Enhancing your Apple II and IIe, volumes I and II, 1. Initialize a new 3.5 disk on the IIgs using the the Apple Assembly Cook- IIgs system 2.0 utilities. Do NOT use a third book, the Micro Cookbooks, party product or an earlier INIT routine! both volumes I and II, my Applewriter Cookbook, and 2. Copy AW.SYSTEM as the FIRST system program my Ask the Guru reprints. I on this disk. Use either Applewriter 2.0 or 2.1. do stock autographed copies 3. Copy a patched version of AWD.SYS, SYS.PRT, of these as a reader service. and TAB.PRT. You can also copy your favorite Apple publishes a series of WPL STARTUP program and glossaries. Optional technical notes, one set for HELP routines may also be copied at this time. the IIe/IIc/IIgs, and another set for the Macintosh. While 4. Copy the program P8 from your IIgs system master anyone can subscribe to these, disk 2.0. Then RENAME the P8 file as PRODOS. free copies are usually down- loadable from a BBS or else Your disk will rapidly boot as ordinary ProDOS. can be borrowed from your To access the control panel from within local user group. Applewriter, do an {open-apple}{ctrl}{esc}. Some other Apple Com- puter corporate resources do Note that you have a choice of using unmodified include their Developer’s Ex- AWD.SYS with a Super Serial Card or of making the press and Outside Apple. ongoing patches shown here in CS. Electronic bulletin boards are an excellent source of info Fig. 2 - Applewriter IIgs control panel and fast boot. and technical help. A good listing appears, right here in 29.2 July, 1987 Computer Shopper. Since to the 8535. While this is do is go to a standard entry board listings go out of date ridiculously faster than the point to find the offset to very quickly, the trick is to other methods, Apple strongly reach the real starting point. get on to any local board. does NOT want you doing Then you call or JSR to the Chances are they will have a this. Yet, because the other real entry point. Four routines complete and current listing methods are so much slower, are avilable, including init, of all the other boards in your you may be left with no read, write, and status. neighborhood. choice in the matter. Note With status, you might Public domain software and that you usually lose all inquire ahead of time whether shareware is another resource control panel access this way. a character can be written or that should not be ignored. Some intermediate level read. Thus, you can stay in We will have some more on access is done by making complete control at all times. this in a future column. jumps to the Cn00 address The highest level is done Compuserve is a very use- space. As figure one shows by using the tools in the ful BBS, but they do charge us, you can do this in two toolbox. These offer such for their many services. Two different ways. Apple calls sophisticated capabilities as outstanding resources here are one the BASIC access proto- buffering and background Apple’s very own AppleLink col and the other the Pascal printing, and a standard network and the MAUG Apple access protocol. access from high level code. user group. These names have nothing On the other hand, that Your nearby community to do with what language you toolbox is rather slow. I often college can often be a very are using; in fact both proto- wonder if the main purpose of good source of Apple infor- cols are most often accessed the toolbox isn’t really to mation and study courses. from machine language. prevent the IIgs from out- Check out both the data The BASIC protocol is very performing the Macintosh. processing and the electronic simple. You just call or JSR More information on the technology departments. to a routine in the I/O space, serial toolbox routines does Last, and by all means and you are home free. But, appear in the Print Manager least, there is always your only three I/O routines are stuff in chapter fourteen of local Apple dealer. available, namely init, read, volume II of The Apple IIgs and write. Toolbox Reference. APDA How do the IIgs There are two major dis- stocks it. Serial Ports Work? advantages to the BASIC protocol. The first is that you Any More Applewriter That serial communications lose control on read until a Patches for the IIgs? firmware inside your Apple character is in fact input. IIgs trys to emulate and There is no way to check to I had hoped to have solved improve on the features of the see if a character is available the big Applewriter modem Super Serial Cards used in before you go and grab it. problem for the IIgs by now, the older II+ and IIe. Secondly, there are some but I’m not quite there yet. Unfortunately, a new 8535 fancier extended access tricks Hopefully, next month. If you comm chip is now used that are not available. must have modem access instead of the 6551 that was The Pascal protocol cures right now, just temporarily used on the SSC. Any earlier these problems at somewhat keep using your Super Serial software that made direct more complexity. What you Card. access to the 6551 for max- imum speed (e.g. most of the CASSETTE T-120 serious and useful Apple VHS software) will hang up a IIgs VIDEO unless patches are made. INTRODUCTION TO POSTSCRIPT So, the first way to use the CASSETTE T-120 VHS IIgs serial software is to VIDEO ignore it and use a Super INTRODUCTION TO POSTSCRIPT Serial Card instead. This will CASSETTE T-120 VHS be needed for the vast major- VIDEO ity of unmodified earlier INTRODUCTION TO POSTSCRIPT Apple commercial software CASSETTE T-120 that requires serial inputs or VHS outputs. VIDEO There are several different INTRODUCTION TO POSTSCRIPT levels at which you can use your IIgs serial firmware. At the lowest level, you can Fig. 3 - Typical step-and-repeat videotape labels. make direct peeks and pokes 29.3 ASK THE GURU /stepnrptparams 40 dict def /setrepeatparams {cvn stepnrptparams stepnrptparams begin exch get aload pop /seqnumber exch def /ticktrue exch def /ticklen exch /admitonetick def /portrait exch def /vertstart [6 5 9 150 60 25 25 true 10 true true] def exch def /horstart exch def /incvert exch def /inchoriz exch def /numvert /babybumper exch def /numhoriz exch def [1 2 10 270 72 40 30 false 20 true false] def /numpages exch def portrait {-90 rotate -792 0 translate } if} def /badgeaminit [1 2 3 220 220 90 60 false 250 true false] def /onetick { 0 ticklen 2 div rmoveto 0 ticklen neg rlineto ticklen 2 div neg /bigbumpstick dup neg rmoveto ticklen 0 rlineto 0 [1 1 3 792 205 0 0 true 40 true false] def setlinewidth stroke} def /businesscard /drawticks {gsave ticktrue {0 0 [1 3 4 256 143 12 20 true 20 true false] def moveto onetick inchoriz 0 moveto onetick 0 incvert moveto onetick /decaapus inchoriz incvert moveto onetick} [1 2 5 306 158 0 0 false 50 true false] def if grestore}def /hexsplit /stepandrepeat { setrepeatparams [1 2 3 306 264 0 0 false 50 true false] def numpages {gsave horstart vertstart translate gsave numhoriz {gsave /lilbumpstick numvert { drawticks save /rptsave1 [1 1 5 610 150 0 20 false 60 true false] def exch def repeatproc rptsave1 restore seqnumber {/runningnumber /octopus runningnumber 1 add def} if 0 [1 2 4 306 198 0 0 false 50 true false] def incvert translate } repeat grestore inchoriz 0 translate} /quadsplit repeat grestore showpage grestore} [1 2 2 396 306 0 0 true 50 true false] def repeat } def /seqbuscard % . . . . . [1 3 4 256 143 12 20 true 20 true true] def % DEMO -- remove before use: /shiplabel [1 1 4 290 180 314 75 false 0 false false] def /Helvetica-BoldOblique findfont [11 0 0 11 0 0] makefont setfont /stdplabel [1 1 11 254 74 320 5 false 20 true false] def /startingnumber 673 def /runningnumber startingnumber def /readerservice /numstring 10 string def [1 12 25 25 -15 120 450 false 0 false true] def /repeatproc {57 70 moveto /vhsvideospline (This is business card #) show [1 1 13 424 56 80 35 false 0 false false] def runningnumber numstring cvs show } def /3.5disklabel [1 2 3 216 226 100 60 false 20 false false] def (seqbuscard) stepandrepeat /5.25disklabel [1 1 7 316 110 275 35 false 0 false false] def end Fig. 4 - Postscript step-and-repeat routines. 29.4 July, 1987 At any rate, figure two (2) A $39.95 machine for bumperstickers to labels to shows you how to create an Kroy Kolor fusion. tickets to whatever. For any Applewriter disk for your IIgs (3) A perfect binding sys- time you want several images that boots very fast and lets tem that allows many cover on a sheet of whatever that you access the control panel materials and uses glue only. are either identical or in some from within Applewriter. To (4) A cheap jogger that can manner related. access the control panel, just align sheets of paper. Sequential numbering is do the usual {open-apple} (5) A corner rounder that is very easy to include for tags, {control}{escape}. fairly priced. tickets, and such. By the way, on the IIe, IIc, (6) A way to die cut your Figure three shows you or IIgs, don’t forget that you own labels any way you like. some sample output. In this can simply and quickly get (7) An acurate way to fold example, the step and repeat from BASICS.SYSTEM into brochures and such. is used for cassette videotape Applewriter by first doing a (8) Simple perforating and labels. PREFIX,D1, followed by a scoring systems. Figure four shows you the –AW.SYSTEM. This is a (9) A handy padding press. fundamental step and repeat powerful booting trick. (10) A paper drill. Postscript routine. You can (11) A sanely priced saddle either use the predefined A Finishing stapler or alternative. values in the stock dictionary, Materials Contest? (12) Any way to laser print or else define your own for envelopes that works. whatever step and repeat Changing any laser printed (13) Cheap thermal binders. function you need. sheets of paper into final (14) A system for varnish- There are several ground out-the-door products needs ing or laminating. rules. Your image must be any of a number of finishing (15) A semi-automatic way named repeatproc and must materials and techniques. As to collate pages. be well enough behaved that you probably have already (16) Ways of printing color you can save and restore found out, this will usually T-shirts and fabrics. around it. involve ridiculously costly (17) Packaging staplers that Should you have a very machines made even more are easy to use. long routine, just split it up expensive through distributors (18) Greatly improved color into individually called mod- and the final no-discount systems. ules so as to prevent any resellers. (19) Some paper embossing stack overflows. Since laser printing is a methods, both plain and foil. You also have to remember new ball game, it stands to (20) Raised ink techniques that you cannot print within reason that we need new such as thermography. 1/4 inch of either side or 1/8 ways of cheaply and quickly (21) Reasonable punching inch of the top or bottom of doing tasks that the traditional systems or alternatives. your sheet. You can show or printer machinery and acces- (22) Ways to increase the not show the cut marks by sory people have been grossly durability of toner. using a /tick true def or else a overcharging us for. (23) Economical sources of /tick false def command. So far, I have two simple specialty papers, particularly The particular repeatproc projects of my own. These are self-stick, transparent, and shown includes a sequential a $6 paper folder and a $9 fluorescent. numbering routine. In fact, replacement for the $500 your output will be a dozen Vellobinder binding machine. (24) None of the above. business cards with sequential Let me know if you want any numbers on them. The num- details on these. Well, you get the general bering is done by creating a I’d like to make a contest idea. Next month, we’ll look numeric variable and then in- out of all of this. As usual, an at several of the binding crementing it for each repeat. Incredible Secret money Ma- systems that are available The numeric variable is then chine to the twenty or so best today. Without no exceptions, converted into a string and entries, and an all expense all of them are grossly over- printed as needed. paid (FOB, Thatcher AZ) priced. What can you show Variations on this theme tinaja quest for two to the me that is better? will let you select a different very best. routine for each position on So, just show me all the What is this Month’s the sheet. This is handy for, cheapest and simpliest substi- Postscript Utility? say, printing three different tutes suitable for laser self bumpersticker messages at printing that replace these Another of my most asked once, or doing a three panel products . . . for routines, of course. This brochure. one is an automatic step and Be sure to write or call for (1) A clamping paper cut- repeat, used for most any- more info on all my neat ter that is cheap. thing from business cards to Postscript goodies. 29.5 Don Lancaster’s Curve tracing secrets Binding systems survey ASK THE GURU IIgs Applewriter modem Toner cartridge reloading August, 1987 IIgs cables and connectors didn’t expect to be able to third party lids for the H-P lids is the PS Jet by QMS. report this to you until a printers that let them speak All of which raises two big I few weeks after the Aya- Postscript, at a price that’s questions. The first is – What tolla’s Bar Mitzvah, but the only a mere thousand bucks will happen to DDL, the page Hewlett-Packard people have or so above getting a Laser- description languge that H-P gone Postscript! Honest. writer like you should have in was highly touting until very Actually, if you remove all the first place. And, at some recently? Well, it turns out the hype and all the wishful future unspecified time and in that DDL should remain as a thinking from their announce- some future unspecified man- specialty language of par- ment, all they really did was ner, H-P will offer far more ticular interest to vintners and acknowledge the status quo. substantial Postscript support. oenophiles, because DDL is To wit: You can now buy One source of the Postcript vastly superior to Postscript when it comes to the creation of images of sour grapes. This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter version AWD.SYS The other obvious question only. It restores modem communication on the IIgs via is – What will Apple do now? the internal IIgs printer port. It works by linking to A major announcement is custom port drivers for Init, Status, Read, and Write. almost certainly imminent at this writing. But right now, 1. Make a backup copy of ProDOS Applewriter 2.1. Plainly label this disk FOR IIGS ONLY! and the situation goes something FOR INTERNAL IIgs PRINTER PORT ONLY! like this: The new QMS laser printers now have Postscript 2. Get into BASICS.SYSTEM. Then CALL -151. firmware that is 33 percent faster. The new H-P machine 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, T$0C uses a greatly improved and second generation engine that 4. Verify: 4F35- AD D4 B8 48 C9 03 B0 17 is blacker, now feeds heavier Change: 4F35: 60 20 02 stock, handles most envelopes 4F38: 4D A2 C1 A0 10 A9 00 20 well, plus other advantages. 4F40: 45 C1 60 A2 C1 A0 10 A9 There is absolutely no way 4F48: 01 20 48 C1 60 A2 C1 A0 that anybody else’s first gen- 4F50: 10 20 46 C1 60 A9 11 80 eration engine will be able to 4F58: 02 A9 13 A2 C1 A0 10 20 hold a candle to the Canon 4F60: 47 C1 60 11 11 11 11 11 SX engine, at least in the for- seeable future. Canon is also 5. Verify: 2D1C- 20 02 4D moving their laser engine Change: 2D1C: 20 36 4F production to Tennessee. And IBM, as usual, is threatening 2364- BD 89 C0 29 08 6. Verify: to do all sorts of incredibly Change: 2364: 20 43 4F EA EA B0 2B stupid things. 7. Verify: 23A3- BD 88 C0 Apple has bunches of new goodies available. Check out 23A3: 20 4D 4F Change: their six tape video series that 8. Verify: 2515- BD 89 C0 includes Alan Kay, Woz, and Change: 2515: 20 43 4F EA EA B0 01 bunches more. The tapes do go for $10 each, or $50 for 9. Verify: 251D- BD 89 C0 the set. They must be ordered Change: 251D: 20 4D 4F through your local user group. Some free tapes on the IIgs 10. UNLOCK AWD.SYS and on the new Macs are also available, again through your 11. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$6030, T$0C user group. There is also now a revised 12. LOCK AWD.SYS Laserwriter Reference that’ll be mostly of interest to the Fig. 1 - Applewriter 2.1 serial patch for the IIgs. Mac people. This jewel does include lots of details on the 30.1 August, 1987 magic Postscript dictionary programs most of the time. IIgs. Besides all the grossly that can interact with Quick- The unlocked and unprotected overpriced stuff at your local draw. One source is APDA. routines may be used as is or Apple dealer, I’ve found four Another thick publication else dropped into most any interesting sources. binder is called the A.D.S. application that accepts direct The first is JDR, and you Information Exchange. This Postscript code. can check out their ads over includes, wonder of wonders, Our biggie this month is in Computer Shopper. These the actual names and phone my Postscript curve tracing good people were the first to numbers of who does what to code. But first . . . stock the DB-19 connectors. whom at Apple. For more A second source is KGB Enterprises information, do contact Carol Where can I get IIgs , who should have Lockwood over at the Apple Cables and Connectors? old drive adaptors and other Developer Services. goodies available by the time And, our usual reminder to At long last, some cables you read this. check out the new hot and and adaptors at sane prices A third source is Redmond independent Postscript BBS at are starting to show up for the Cable. They have printer A-B (409) 244-4704. Most of my Computer Shopper programss that you see right here are WARNING: Interim code for gonzo hackers only! downloadable from this great resource. This patch is for ProDOS Applewriter version AWD.SYS only. It allows XON/XOFF two-way communication with Far and away the best entry the Laserwriter at an honest 19200 baud. This is three so far in our hacker recipe times faster than Appletalk! contest was for those Hostess Twinkies, Szechwan style. But It works by altering the scrolling routine and by since it would be redundant to stopping character input during scrolling. One present award a tinaja quest to an bug: A [Q]-I MUST be done at least once before doing Arizonian, I’ll keep this con- any [O]-A catalog or [L]-? load. test open for another month. Otherwise, you can enter my 1. Make a backup copy of ProDOS Applewriter 2.1. Hardware Hacker contest that Plainly label this disk FOR IIGS ONLY! and you’ll find over in Modern FOR INTERNAL IIgs PRINTER PORT ONLY! Install Electronics – just dream up a the serial patch of figure one to this disk. new and off the wall use for one or two linear stepper 2. Get into BASICS.SYSTEM. Then CALL -151. motors that offer 25 pounds of force over an 8 inch stroke 3. BLOAD AWD.SYS, A$2000, T$0C in .002 inch steps. And hey, no fair writing a 4. Verify: 24B7- C6 A6 A5 22 48 20 FA librarian of some nearby town Change: 24B7: EA to try and find out what a 24B8: EA EA 20 07 25 20 59 4F tinaja quest is. All that this 24C0: C6 A6 A5 22 48 20 FA 24 resulted in was the librarian 24C8: A5 28 85 26 A5 29 85 27 going on one and thoroughly 24D0: 68 18 69 01 C5 23 B0 18 24D8: 48 20 FA 24 20 07 25 8D enjoying herself. 24E0: 54 C0 20 00 61 20 07 25 She’ll never tell. 24E8: 8D 55 C0 20 00 61 80 D8 I’ve got a brand new series 24F0: A0 00 20 7E 25 20 55 4F of products shipping this month. These include my new 5. Verify: 4C8A- 2A Postscript Technical Illus- Change: 4C8A: 60 trations, and are available for the Apple, Mac, IBM, and for 6. Add to end of existing code: the Atari ST. 6100: 18 FB C2 30 A6 28 A4 26 Included are schematic and 6108: A9 27 00 54 00 00 38 FB isometric drawings, pictorials, 6110: 60 pixel line remapping, curve tracing, charts, graphs, rubber 7. UNLOCK AWD.SYS grids, layouts, plus lots more. While only your preferred 8. BSAVE AWD.SYS, A$2000, E$61FF, T$0C word processor or editor is needed, the final results are 9. LOCK AWD.SYS ridiculously higher in quality than what most people can Fig. 2 - Applewriter 2.1 fastalker patch for the IIgs. get from most of the graphics 30.2 ASK THE GURU switch boxes that will work with the new IIgs mini-DIN 8 connectors, along with all the usual cables, gender changers, whatever. And a final source that just showed up in today’s mail is from Micro Computer Cable. Their prices are super low. As a ferinstance, the IIgs printer cable costs a mere $5.50. Can I use the Applewriter Modem on the IIgs? Question: Which is faster, a twelve year old, 8-bit micro- processor, or a brand new and state of the art 16-bit one us- ing a high speed clock? The answer, of course, is that the old 8-bitter is very significantly faster, because Sg the programmers of any new chips always insist on using software and firmware that is hopelessly bloated beyond be- lief. As a general rule, any time you give a programmer a three times faster machine, they will write code that runs nine times slower than it did on the original machine. Case in point. It takes an Apple II+ six microseconds to find out whether a character is available to be received on a serial port. But, it takes an Apple IIgs one hundred and twenty microseconds to do the same thing. That’s in its fast mode, of course. If you want to count clock cycles, it is 6 cycles on the II+ versus 314 on the IIgs. Arrgh. Which, of course, will give Applewriter fits when it is trying to run at 9600 baud, let alone at 19200. At any rate, I now do have some interim patches avail- able for Applewriter that does restore the modem operation and even lets you talk to your Laserwriter at a 19200 baud rate. Figure one shows you the patch needed to get any modem operation at all out of ProDOS Applewriter 2.1, and Figure two shows you the scrolling speedups needed to allow XON/XOFF commun- Fig. 3 - Some uses for my curvetracing routine. ications at 19200 baud. Uhm, the code in figure 30.3 August, 1987 two is not quite optimum yet, funnel, and less than one- A key reminder or two: but I thought you would like tenth the mess. Copier toner and laser printer an advance look at it. It does Other ways of making the toner are different and must in fact let you receive and holes in the cartridge include not be mixed up. The toner record any shorter 19200 baud the Unibit plastic drill from used in those new laser SX error messages sent from your Vise Grip or hot-melting with engines is also different than Laserwriter. a .45 caliber cartridge. the older CX stuff. Be sure to use a copy from To shatter several of the For more info on cartridge an original v2.1 disk. The myths going around: A com- refilling, check out my new simple printing patches I’ve plete cartridge disassembly An Introduction to PostScript shown you earlier will defeat and rebuild is almost certainly video tape. this new code. Yes, the figure guaranteed to cause lots more one code also lets you print problems than it solves. And Tell me all About properly. using a vacuum cleaner to Binding Systems One interesting result of empty the toner holding tank the patched code: Applewriter can short out the commutator The big desktop publishing on a IIgs at 19200 baud com- on the motor and start a fire. revolution has now created all municates your Postscript to Not to mention that all the sorts of needs to hold pieces the Laserwriter approximately toner dust goes right through of paper together. three times faster than does most vacuum cleaner bags Now, the binding systems anything on a Mac that is like they weren’t there. manufacturers want a product using the Appletalk network. % copyright 1987 by Don Lancaster and Synergetics What’s new in Toner % Box 809 Thatcher AZ, 85552 (602) 428-4073 Cartridge Reloading? % All commercial rights reserved. Personal, and Well, firstoff, both H-P and % non-commercial use permitted so long Canon are spreading all sorts % as this header remains present and intact. of horror stories on the many /curvetrace {/curvelist exch def tension 0 eq unspeakable evils of toner {/tension .000001 def} if curvelist length 3 cartridge refilling. When they div 1 sub cvi /#triads exch def /ptr 0 def ever do catch you filling a firstpoint morepoint} def cartridge, they will spank you and send you to bed without /tension 2.83 def % default for best fit any supper. /showtick false def % don’t show points It seems that there’s this /ticklen 15 def % length of ticks horrible side effect of doing /tickhead ticklen 4 div def the $5 to $15 toner cartridge refills. Would you believe /prvx { curvelist ptr 3 sub get } def that there are people out there /curx { curvelist ptr get } def that actually would stoop to /prvy { curvelist ptr 2 sub get } def paying $15 for a black car- /cury { curvelist ptr 1 add get } def tridge, compared to spending /prva { curvelist ptr 1 sub get } def over $100 for a grayish one? /cura { curvelist ptr 2 add get 180 sub} def The cartridges, of course, do not get up to their max- /showtic1 { showtick true eq {gsave currentpoint imum blackness until after newpath translate cura 180 add rotate ticklen their second refill. neg 2 div 0 moveto ticklen 0 rlineto tickhead The best source I have neg dup rlineto tickhead dup rlineto tickhead dup neg exch rlineto 0 setlinewidth stroke 0 found for wiper pads and for ticklen neg 2 div moveto 0 ticklen rlineto stroke refill toner is through Arlin grestore} if }def Shepard at Lazer Products. You can also get a product /firstpoint { curx cury moveto showtic1 /ptr ptr known as a wide mouth wash 3 add def}def bottle from any lab supply house, such as the B7893-1L /morepoint {#triads { curx prvx sub dup mul cury from American Scientific prvy sub dup mul add sqrt tension div /zdist exch Products. Pull off the inside def prva cos zdist mul prvx add prva sin zdist mul riser tube, and cut the snout prvy add cura cos zdist mul curx add cura sin zdist so it sticks up two inches or mul cury add curx cury curveto showtic1 /ptr ptr 3 so from the cap. You then add def} repeat} def dump the toner into the bottle and gently squeeze the bottle Fig. 4 - My Postscript curvetrace routine. into the cartridge. Presto. No 30.4 ASK THE GURU % requires curvetrace routine of figure four %pants [320 460 10 350 475 30 /showtick false def /tension 2.6 def 350 475 -70 355 440 -95 326 384 -150 326 384 30 1 setlinecap 1 setlinejoin 344 401 65 344 401 -100 345 375 -60 345 372 -150 /ct1 {curvetrace 1 setlinewidth 0 setgray stroke} def 275 370 150] curvetrace closepath gsave 0.4 setgray /ct2 {curvetrace 2 setlinewidth 0 setgray stroke} def fill grestore 2 setlinewidth stroke /ct3 {curvetrace 3 setlinewidth 0 setgray stroke} def [316 379 -150 285 370 -180] ct2 % ears %buttons [ 107 614 35 165 605 -45 162 544 -135 100 550 135 /tension 3 def 107 614 35] curvetrace fill [150 720 40 220 710 -60 [ 342 462 -10 347 444 -100 337 431 170 332 447 80 342 200 655 -135 135 660 125 150 720 40] curvetrace fill 462 -10] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore 1.5 setlinewidth stroke % face oval [319 445 -20 323 429 -110 312 420 160 306 434 70 319 [230 516 165 170 600 90 245 673 0 320 612 -80] 440 -30] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore curvetrace gsave clip newpath [80 560 -30 1.5 setlinewidth stroke /tension 2.6 def 202 529 145 195 580 50 230 585 -25 230 585 145 208 655 45 267 646 -45 % inside book 267 646 120 258 668 35 285 662 150 301 473 moveto 330 468 lineto 287 360 lineto gsave 310 770 80] curvetrace 270 365 lineto closepath 0.9 setgray closepath 0 setgray fill grestore 2 setlinewidth fill grestore 2 setlinewidth stroke stroke /tension 3.4 def %book pages % left eye [306 470 -55 322 464 0] curvetrace 282 362 lineto gsave [290 640 30 310 622 -70 310 598 -150 294 613 120 250 370 lineto closepath 1 setgray fill grestore stroke 290 640 30] curvetrace gsave clip newpath [295 627 20 306 612 -80 304 597 -150 290 610 120 %book 295 627 20] curvetrace fill grestore 1 setlinewidth 156 509 moveto 310 480 lineto 270 380 lineto 124 410 stroke /tension 2.6 def lineto closepath gsave 0.99 setgray fill grestore stroke % main nose % pages [297 580 80 338 617 0 354 595 -90 290 533 180 229 318 463 moveto 303 425 lineto 0.25 setlinewidth stroke 564 120] curvetrace gsave 315 463 moveto 309 448 lineto stroke closepath 1 setgray fill grestore 2 setlinewidth stroke 313 465 moveto 293 416 lineto stroke [221 558 60 240 567 0] ct2 311 466 moveto 306.5 455 lineto stroke % nose knob %right arm [338 600 0 350 620 75 345 645 135 325 645 -135 [180 454 15 208 448 -30 208 448 70 240 498 40 325 615 -60 338 600 0] curvetrace fill /tension 3.2 230 516 100 230 516 -150 180 454 -90] curvetrace fill def [330 640 45 341 641 -45 338 630 -150 330 630 135 330 640 45] curvetrace 1 setgray fill 0 setgray % book spine /tension 2.6 def [124 406 -12 270 376 -12 270 376 -75 286 359 0 286 359 170 134 391 170 134 391 150 124 406 90] % mouth curvetrace gsave 0.9 setgray [229 564 -80 260 518 -10 290 532 35 290 532 180 fill grestore 2 setlinewidth stroke 229 564 125] curvetrace fill [238 537 45 257 530 -60 257 530 45 275 522 -70 % right sleeve 275 522 220 238 537 110] curvetrace gsave 0.9 setgray [172 438 100 177 455 30 210 445 -50 210 432 -140] fill grestore 2 setlinewidth stroke [253 535 -40 curvetrace gsave 262 524 -50] ct1 closepath 1 setgray fill grestore stroke % right eye %left foot main /tension 3 def [317 319 10 388 280 -90 333 241 180 251 270 145 ] ct3 [256 625 30 280 609 -60 281 579 -150 258 596 120 256 [244 318 15 260 320 5]ct3 625 30] curvetrace gsave clip newpath [294 288 60 330 312 20] ct2 [260 610 20 273 597 -70 268 582 -160 257 592 110 260 610 20] curvetrace fill grestore 1 setlinewidth stroke % right foot main /tension 2.6 def [246 304 -55 252 285 -90 174 236 180 120 280 90 192 320 -10] ct3 % eyebrows [172 308 -15 215 285 -50] ct2 [229 636 100 240 648 -20] ct1 [273 656 65 287 656 -45] ct1 % left cuff [300 335 -10 316 322 -90 290 305 170] ct2 % appendage [282 306 170 261 326 90 281 340 -10] ct2 [168 369 -120 130 354 -160 86 322 -135 [273 331 -65 288 320 -15 308 324 35] ct1 86 322 45 131 351 20 172 367 55] curvetrace fill %right cuff % chin detail [240 320 -40 246 305 -90 220 296 169] ct2 [224 530 -80 260 507 0 302 532 60] ct2 [211 298 157 194 323 70 220 331 -15] ct2 [209 328 -115 218 311 -20 240 312 60] ct1 % main bod [230 516 -30 260 508 0 300 530 60 300 530 10 394 557 %right hand 20 394 557 -100 398 528 -50 398 528 -160 [159 377 220 138 400 90 160 440 40 180 445 0 205 330 508 -160 330 508 -60 350 465 -90 300 440 180 215 436 -45 220 418 -10 252 415 -70 235 395 180 490 90 230 516 30] curvetrace fill 206 395 -135 197 377 -80] curvetrace gsave 1 setgray fill grestore 2 setlinewidth stroke % left leg [155 400 -90 158 380 -80 178 369 45] ct2 [275 328 -50 300 320 30 300 320 70 324 380 70 290 [177 392 -100 190 363 0 203 376 80] ct2 370 -115 275 328 -110] curvetrace fill % right glove detail % right leg [179 444 -120 168 421 -110] ct1 [210 319 -60 234 308 15 234 310 60 270 365 60 241 [186 445 -115 177 420 -95] ct1 370 -125 210 320 -125] curvetrace fill [192 443 -110 188 419 -90 ] ct1 more . . . Fig. 5a - Postscript curve tracing study aide . . . 30.5 August, 1987 that demands an expensive binding in this day and age, kit, and around a quarter for machine and needs a contin- since it is such a gross insult the strips and fifty cents for uous source of non-standard to your customers. the covers. and expensive supplies, sold Another big comb binding Some tips: You must use a through a two-tier distributor outfit are the HOP Industries minimum of four hands while and retailer network that is people. While you wouldn’t you are punching. Be ab- absolutely forbidden to ever want to buy comb binding solutely certain the punch is discount anything. stuff from anyone, HOP does clear of snitzels and be sure On the other hand, the laser have far and away the lowest the pages are completely set printing user just wants some price for unpunched 5 mil home before you punch. You cheap way to attractively hold clear acetate stock. Cost is get only one chance to punch pages together. under a nickel per sheet in things correctly. Blow it, and Thus, there is no way that a larger quantities. your pages are lost. binding systems manufacturer By the way, the very best Pages can be added or else will ever provide a cheap and looking covers I have done so removed at a later date. For a simple method to attractively far are done in one of two permanant document, just add hold pages together, for it is ways. You can laser print a dab of PVC/ABS cement to not in their best interests to onto heavy weight parchment "weld" the pins to the strip. ever do so. and then use one of these You’ll also find a larger I have now sorted through clear acetate overlay sheets, system called the Cold Knife dozens of different binding or else you can laser print Velobinder. This binder usess systems, and have concluded onto other heavy cover stock heavier strips with a ratchet that we need something new and then use Kroy Kolor and system to lock the two strips and exclusively suited for the Kroy lamination materials. together. The thickness is one new age, small quantity laser If you want any specialty inch maximum. printing. cover materials, do check into You can bypass the need Something easily built by Catalina Plastics, who, for a for their $450 punching and the end user. But, until that price, will custom cut all sorts binding machine with $5 certain something shows up, of interesting stuff for you. worth of parts, a drill press, I’d like to tell you about the For a real joke, check out and some free plans I will be dozens of systems that I have the Scotch Binding System. happy to send you. Bound checked into, picking the best This one sticks to the sides of cost is around 40 cents, plus of the worst. each page, shingle like, and is the cost of the cover itself. Let us start with the saddle bizarre even for 3-M. This is Winner #2 is the system I staplers. Talk about sticker perfect bound and handles up am presently using to bind shock! At any rate, if you do to 25 pages. I guess I’m down my self-published Ask the scrounge around a junk store on this system because (1) Guru reprints. This is the new or a Hong Kong junk direct their demo fell apart in my Unibind II system that is now mail catalog, you’ll find a hands, and (2) $120 is too available through Leonards gadget called a Rorostapler much to spend on a machine Distributors. that sells for around $3 and that can be replaced with a This is a perfect binding has a built in swivel so the short scrap of sewer pipe. system that consists of 11 x staples end up at right angles Winner #1 to date is the 17 clear vinyl covers with a to the main arm. Thus, you Personal Velobinder binding colored backing strip. Hot staple in from the top or from system. This method is not a glue is pre-applied to the the bottom, and do not need a perfect binding system in that cover. You put the pages into long throw on the arm. two ingenious snap-in plastic the cover and then pop the For a very complete catalog strips clamp all the pages to- works into a toaster-style of overpriced and obsolete gether. The maximum limit is machine for half a minute or binding systems, check into around 25 pages. Some good so. Then you whop the cover the GBC catalog. Nobody in looking, already prepunched onto a cooling plate and set it their right mind would con- covers are stocked. The cost aside to cool. tinue to use a plastic comb is around $30-50 for a starter Several tips on all this: %left hand % left sleeve [408 544 -95 450 500 -10 480 499 10 502 508 90 480 [412 562 150 391 550 -110 391 540 -90 410 528 25] ct2 520 175 459 519 170] ct2 [498 502 -30 516 508 90 500 525 155 467 540 170] ct2 [511 520 75 500 538 135 newpath 450 568 135 455 580 45 455 608 135 145 255 moveto 350 0 rlineto 0 455 rlineto -350 0 428 608 -135 432 585 -90 408 555 -100] ct2 rlineto closepath fill % left hand detail showpage [413 548 70 442 546 -50] ct1 Fig. 5b - curve tracing aide, concluded. 30.6 ASK THE GURU Patience and close attention two books per second. But form one continuous curve. to detail is absolutely essen- there’s something about this For most uses, the data set is tial. Be sure to thoroughly jog machine that makes it seem a suprisingly sparse, and an the pages before you begin. A tad pricey. Maybe it is the astonishingly few points are real mechanical jogger is 115 foot length or the 275 ton usually needed. almost a must. Watch the weight. Or perhaps the fact The triads are arranged centering between the top and that it looks like it might need inside a matrix. For instance, the bottom of the pages and three full-time, highly trained a simple wire might be coded the oversize cover. operators. [100 200 10 300 240 -20] Use a spoon to sharpen the On the other hand, this just curvetrace. crease on the front and back might be a loss leader, since Note that curve tracing covers. While cooling, be they are really interested in only generates a path. You sure to check the spline for selling you an entire turnkey have to stroke, clip, or fill it both squareness and overall book production facility. afterwards. For a wire or uniformity. pipe, gsave, stroke it a fat And before shipping, give a What is this Month’s black, grestore, and then re- tug to the first and last pages Postscript Utility? stroke it as a thin white. to make sure they all got To do a cusp, use two properly set. A final edge Curve tracing is one of the triads that have identical X trim using a clamping paper features that does seperate and Y values but differ in cutter greatly improves the Postscript printers from their their entry and exit angles. out-the-door appearance. useless low end imitators. For a variable width line (as Leonard’s Distributing will Figure three shows you the in fine calligraphy), use a lend you the Unibind toaster many things you can do with pair of curves and then fill in if you buy enough covers a good curve tracing routine. between them. over a one year period. An These include smooth typo- For any Bezier cubic spline alternate source of these graphy, fancy borders, nifty freaks in the audience, yes, covers with lower published cartoon characters, electronic we do preserve the first order prices is Vulcan. Cost is in wiring pictorials, the circuit continuity and make a reas- the 60 cents to a dollar range. symbols, and abstract art. onably fast and fairly good Taking a sudden jump in Figure four is a listing of stab at preserving the second price, the "standard" medium my Postscript curve tracing order continuity. There’s zero quality binding system is routine. This elegantly solves interaction involving remote apparently the 750-II binding many problems and requires points. Sneaky, Eh what? system by Xerox/Cheshire. nothing in the way of an in- If you want to get real This one just applies a strip put digitizer, except possibly artsy-craftsy, there is a par- of tape and hot glue to the for a safety pin. ameter called the tension. The edge of your document, using Please note that this is optimum tension value is 2.8. the individual covers of your copyrighted and properitary Higher values will flatten the choice. Cost is around $900 code. You may use it for your curve, with ridiculously high for the machine, and around personal work so long as values simply connecting the 22 cents per each document suitable credit is given in dots with straight lines. The for the binding tape. Fancy each and every copy of the lower values make the curve covers are also stocked. code actually used. No com- more agressive, eventually From there, the costs on mercial use of any sort will doing fancy loops. A zero binding systems get totally be tolerated in any manner. tension draws tangents to out of hand for small quantity To use my new curvetrace each data point triad. And uses. But do check into the routine, you pretend you have small negative tension values Standard Bind-Fast 5, or the a fairly flexible ruler, and create "inverse spirograph" imported Planax Thermomatic decide how far along the effects. 380, and the Rosback Bind-O- curve you can get with that There is also a parameter Mat 200. These machines will one ruler. You then enter called showtick. Make this allow most any cover material triads of data points for each true and you will see all of and cost in the $2000-4000 end of each new ruler you your points and directions on range. need. These data points can your curve. Make this false Just about any of these consist of the X position, the and you get only the curve. could be duplicated for Y position, and the angle at Note that the showtick stuff is around $80 in junkyard parts, which the curve is to pass scale sensitive. so be sure to get all of their through this particular point. Figure five is a Postscript catalogs and then steal the Note that zero degrees goes self-study curvetrace aide. plans. to the right +90 is straight up, Let’s hear from you on any The final machine in our and -90 points straight down. new and exciting uses for binding survey is the Kolbus As many triads as you want curve tracing that you can Ratiobinder, which will bind may be grouped together to come up with. 30.7 Don Lancaster’s Far Eastern typefaces Postscript lockwashers ASK THE GURU Paper folding machinery IIgs linear RGB monitors September, 1987 IBM and IIc file exchanges here is some really tions for any new merchant such things as concert piano, bad legislation pending accounts. and all for a system that is T that you might want to Let’s lighten up a bit with only (4) marginally improved rattle a few cages over. First, something that is hilarious, over the recording that can be and probably worst, the FCC except for the sad fact it has done today in a suitably high has decided that they do not prevented you from getting a tech living room. like any computer hackers, so super cheap and very reliable Are you still there? they are going to tax them out 1/3 gigabit tape backup sys- It turns out there is another of existence. The initial tax tem for well over a year now. Postscript bulletin board BBS charges will only be a mere Certain of those Hollywood system up. Besides our great $5.50 per hour extra on your congress people have man- board at (409) 244-4704, you connect time to most popular aged to now create a de-facto just might also like to try out BBS systems. Later on, of moratium on all those Digital the other (415) 261-4813 BBS. course, the tax will be sub- Audio Tape, or DAT, systems. Our own board does have stantially raised when they It seems they are afraid that over 200 downloadable Post- really get serious. someone with a tape recorder Script routines. You can also And, yes, this definitely is might – horror of unspeakable get these all on disk in most a hacker-only tax. Fortune horrors – actually go out and popular formats, which is far 500 companies are all spec- record something. cheaper than doing on-line ifically exempt. They also are now threat- downloads. As usual, any and Meanwhile, the IRS has ening to add a manditory and all sponsors, advertisers, and now decided that they do not lunacy-based hardware lock contributors are welcome. like consultants, so they have system that (1) any idiot can I am still not fully happy ruled that, while you can still bypass, (2) degrades all music with the IIgs modem interface remain a computer consultant, run through it, (3) prevents for ProDOS Applewriter. For whoever is hiring you must you outright from recording right now, if you need actual now treat you as a full time employee, and you are now expressly forbidden from de- ducting any of your costs incurred while doing any of IBM Apple their consulting work. This COM1 Serial I/O travesty is currently known as ( DB25 female ) ( DB25 female ) the Section #1706 code. Want another travesty? My pleasure. TXD 2 2 TXD Congress has now decided to outright eliminate all mail RXD 3 3 RXD order and telephone order businesses. They are propos- ing a national law that would RTS 4 4 RTS require any mail order outfit to charge all the sales taxes CTS 5 5 CTS collectable from the point of origin. Thus, an automatic DSR 6 6 DSR 6% or so penalty would be built into any direct mail SG 7 7 SG sales. Your paperwork would also get 500 times worse. At the same time, the VISA DCD 8 8 DCD and Mastercharge people are both compounding the direct DTR 20 20 DTR mail hassles. In many parts of the country, it is now virtual- ly impossible to get both of Fig. 1 - IBM to Apple textfile comm adaptor. the TO (Telephone Order) and MO (Mail Order) authoriza- 31.1 ASK THE GURU modem communications, you most computers, along with DB25 connectors. A pair of are most likely still best off my Introduction to Postscript soldered #12 wire loops can using your Super Serial Card VHS video. Write or call for be used to hold the two con- instead. more info. nectors together. I have gotten hacked off Offward and downward . . . At the IBM end, you need a just enough with those lousy card that gives you COM-1 and pitifully slow IIgs serial Can An Apple IIc and serial interface. You will also interface circuitry and firm- an IBM PC Exchange usually need some sort of a ware that I have gone to the Their Text Files? telecommunications software bare metal. So, I should soon package. I use PC-Talk. have an honest 57500 baud You can exchange text files At the IIc end, I prefer the Laserwriter link that should from most any computer to ProDOS Applewriter v2.0 or now communicate up to seven most any other by using serial v2.1. This program lets you times faster than Appletalk. communication ports and then send, receive, or edit text all Naturally, you will have to sending the characters from within a single program. To use the game paddle connec- one machine to another. receive, you can use the [Q]-I tor when you do this. Figure one shows you a command. To transmit, you Just when you thought you simple adaptor I built to let use [P]-NP. were going to get out of it, it you get between an IBM PC A plain old printer cable, is now advetorial time . . . and an Apple IIc, IIe, or IIgs. as might be used between the Some of my current best You build this adaptor from IIc and an Imagewriter I, is sellers do include the newly $5 worth of parts from Radio used between the IIc and the revised Ask the Guru reprints, Shack. It plugs directly into adaptor. the Postscript Show and Tell the COM-1 port of your IBM It is quite important that and the Postscript Technical machine. both ends are speaking the Illustrations now available for Be sure to use two female same data rate and format. A good starting point is 1200 baud, with seven data bits, no parity, and two stop bits. You can speed things up later after you do get the basic comm process working. Note particularly the treat- ment of pins 4 and 5. The COM1 port uses these CTS and RTS auxiliary handshake signals, while their use and support on the Apple side is very rare. It is thus super important that your adaptor go on the 0.025 Spacers 5/16 x 9-3/4 x 1/8 Brass or Aluminum IBM end of your cable, since many printer cables do not 2-1/2 x 9-3/4 x 12 Gauge Sheet Steel have any connections on pins 4 and 5. Watch this detail. Should you elect to use a comm program on your IIc end, you should also cross over pins 2 to 3, 3 to 2, 6 to 20, and 20 to 6 inside your adaptor. 6-1/2 x 9-3/4 x 1/2 Oak What Monitors are now Available for the IIgs? Several help line callers seem to be after alternates to the stock Apple linear RGB monitor that is used with the IIgs for color output. The stock Apple monitor is exceptionally sharp and works Fig. 2 - A $5 manual folder for index stock . very well. On the other hand, it does list at $500, is strictly 31.2 September, 1987 strictly limited to linear RGB it in correctly. To keep the There simply is not any systems, lacks a handle, and cost down, their connector is color monitor that’s available has video noise problems for neither keyed nor is it idiot- anywhere that can attractively night people using very low proofed. display 80 column text from a settings for their brightness So how good is it? NTSC coded composite color and contrast. The picture quality and the video input. The reason for We will first note that you color is every bit as good as this, of course, is that there is must use a linear RGB moni- the stock Apple monitor. But, not enough bandwidth avail- tor in order to tap the full since there are only 192 or at able in that NTSC encoding to performance from your IIgs. most 200 active scan lines on allow display of more than 45 The digital, or "TTL" color the IIgs video, their 13 inch or so characters maximum ac- monitors common to the IBM display tends to break up the ross the screen. This is why world simply will not do. characters into individual dot you go RGB in the first place. Now, purchasing an unseen scan line. This set does work with all monitor on price alone is Thus, I do feel the original stock horizontal frequencies insane. So, rule number one is monitor does have a tad near 15,735 Hz. Thus, some to not buy any monitor unless higher character readability, IBM EGA modes that require you can see exactly how it that is particularly noticable a multisyncing monitor prob- will look when running your when doing word processing. ably cannot be used here. own programs. On the other hand, 13 So, yes, you can use this A few helpline callers have inches is often too small to be monitor receiver with a IIc or asked about using the Amiga pleasant for such things as a IIe. But your 80 column text monitor. Apparently it can be group VCR watching. So, I will only be legible when you done, but only with circuit guess one problem with the have added either a digital or modifications. My spies KV1311-CR is that the screen linear RGB card to either of report the blanking widths of is both too big and too small. the machines. the color channels on the IIgs Rumor has it that the low That smallish speaker in are much too narrow to suit street price is caused by this the KV-1311-CR does sound the Amiga blanking circuit. being a discontinued model, bunches better than the tiny Please let me know if you and that something better is Apple speaker, but it is not in have a solution on this. now in the works. But "some- the least suitable for serious The real winner seems to thing better" is always in the music synthesis use. A fairly the be the great new Sony works. And probably will be simple way to get the audio KV-1311-CR combined mon- much more expensive. back for hi-fi amplification is itor and receiver. The praise One warning. One person to use the earphone jack and lavished on this machine by bought this for his IIc and a suitable cable. all you helpline callers was tried using a composite NTSC It is quite nice to have a enough for me to actually go (Never The Same Color) vid- real volume control handy, in out and buy one to test. eo input. He was appalled addition to your usual front What you have here is a 13 when he found that all his 80 panel firmware settings. A inch, $400 street price every- column text was hopelessly pair of snap-on feet allow you thing machine. It is first a smeared out. to angle the display for use as television receiver with 196 channels of off-the-air and cable capability, including a handy remote control. On the side is a fancy panel that has inputs for composite video, digital RGB, linear RGB, for audio, and even teletext! The outputs include video, audio, multiplexed sound, and VCR editing. A special cable is required to interface the DB15 con- nector on the IIgs to the 34 pin DIP header connector over on the monitor receiver. We saw this cable in the March 87 ATG column. You can also get these for $20 from Redmond Cable. If you use the ready-to-go Fig. 3 - Part of the great lockwasher contest. cable, be very careful to plug 31.3 ASK THE GURU a monitor or to flatten it for tv watching. % (requires curvetrace routine from july ATG) There’s also no handle, a major defect that this monitor /hside {srad 6.282 mul} def /xside {hside dup mul receiver does share with the pitch dup mul sub sqrt} def /fudge1 {pitch abs original Apple display. The xside atan pitch 0 lt {neg} if} def /fudge2 {pitch center of gravity of both of abs 0.866 mul xside atan pitch 0 lt {neg} if} def the monitors are in a most unexpected place, making /isospiralsetup{ /pitch exch def 2 div /srad exch def /pitch1 pitch 8 div def /sp0 {srad 0.86 mul them very easy to drop. The srad -0.5 mul 30 fudge2 add} def /sp45 {srad Apple monitor is much worse 0.818 div 0 pitch1 add 90} def /sp90 {srad 0.86 on this, though. mul srad 0.5 mul pitch1 2 mul add 150 fudge2 sub} def /sp135 {0 srad 0.705 mul pitch1 3 mul add 180 Where can I get Some fudge1 sub} def Heat Transfer Ink? /sp180 {srad -0.86 mul srad 0.5 mul pitch1 4 mul An awful lot of helpline add -150 fudge2 sub} def /sp225 {srad 0.818 div callers seem to feel that the neg 0 pitch1 5 mul add -90} def /sp270 {srad -0.86 Spinnaker charges for their mul srad -0.5 mul pitch1 6 mul add -30 fudge2 add} Tee-shirt color ribbons are def /sp315 {0 srad 0.705 mul neg pitch1 7 mul add both unconscionable and just 0 fudge1 add} def plain inexcusable. One alternate source is I/O /sp360 {srad 0.86 mul srad -0.5 mul pitch1 8 mul Designs. The thermal ribbons add 30 fudge2 add} def} def /sccw360 they offer list for $14.95. {isospiralsetup sp0 sp45 sp90 sp135 sp180 sp225 We saw two months ago sp270 sp315 sp360 } def /sccw45 {isospiralsetup how Gerber Scientific has a sp0 sp45} def /sccwrear {isospiralsetup sp45 heat transfer flock available. sp90 sp135 sp180 sp225 } def It also turns out that one /sccfront {isospiralsetup sp360 180 sub sp315 180 leading manufacturer of "real" sub sp270 180 sub sp225 180 sub} def /scw360 heat transfer Tee-shirt ink is {isospiralsetup sp360 180 sub sp315 180 sub sp270 Van Son. In fact, they are the 180 sub sp225 180 sub sp180 180 sub sp135 180 sub leading manfuacturer of just sp90 180 sub sp45 180 sub sp0 180 sub} def about any ink product. Typical heat transfer inks /lockwasher { go for $50 per pound. But a pound of ink is good for a % rear bottom loop zillion and a half Tee-shirts. gsave 0 thickness neg translate newpath mark Two interesting additional diameter width 2 mul sub pitch sccwrear ] sources you might like to curvetrace stroke grestore check into: For all sorts of printer stuff, including heat % main loop sensitive ink, corner rounders, mark diameter pitch sccw360 3 copy pop 150 bumpersticker stock, and the 3 copy pop exch width 0.866 mul sub exch width Coburn like materials try the 0.5 mul add 150 diameter width 2 mul sub pitch Supply Line people. Another scw360 ] curvetrace closepath gsave good source is Southern Sign currentlinewidth 4 mul setlinewidth 1 setgray Supply. stroke grestore gsave 1 setgray fill grestore stroke Are Far Eastern % the black end Typefonts Available? diameter 2 div dup 0.866 mul exch 0.5 mul neg moveto 0 thickness neg rlineto width dup neg Sure thing. Just contact the 0.866 mul exch 0.5 mul rlineto 0 thickness Institute of Typographical rlineto gsave fill grestore stroke Research. Their many fonts include Arabic, Bengali, Bur- % the right side mese, Combodian, Denvana- gsave 0 thickness neg translate mark diameter gari, Gujarati, Gurumukhi, pitch sccw45 ] curvetrace 0 thickness rlineto Kannada, Lao-Tian, Limbu, stroke grestore Malayalam, Meetai, Oriya, more . . . Simhalese, Tai-Ahom, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, and Fig. 4a - Postscript for the lockwasher contest . . . Urdu. They also stock some of the more obscure fonts. 31.4 September, 1987 What is the Appleworks then sharpen the creases with What is this Month’s "Slot 2" IIgs Bug? a spoon. Postscript Utility? Since then, I have recently It’s all caused by the fan. come across one astounding I was going to get into my Huh? Here is how this piece of machinery called the rubbergrid utilities for forms week’s wierdest helpline call Execufold letter folding ma- and such this month, but there went. It seems the fan on a chine. You hand this stylish just isn’t room. Instead, let’s real IIgs interferes with put- toaster-beast one, two, or once again prove just how ting any reasonable sized card three sheets of paper. It then easy it is to go off the deep in slot one. If you place a does a Whap-Whap-Ploot and end when (not if) you become parallel printer card into slot throws a perfectly folded and addicted to Postscript. #2, it will work fine for most accu- rate-edged result back Figure three shows us an other programs, but Apple- at you. That fast. isometric lockwasher, and its works will refuse to print to it Pricing is $140 net and code is shown you in figure at all. It may even hang up. $220 list. Which is insanely four. As far as lockwashers What happens is this: the cheaper than the traditional go, this is a pretty good one, IIgs operating system assigns old line units. On the other eh what? Slot 5, Drive 1 to that first 3.5 hand, I’d like to see the same The trouble is that I have inch drive, and then assigns machine go for less than half well over ten hours blown on the RAM card to Slot 5, Drive that. Right now, though, it is developing this universal 2. The second 3.5 inch drive a good buy. lockwasher module for all my is then assigned to Slot 2 and Good enough that I have isometric illustration utilities. Drive 1. Appleworks checks switched from one sheet of So, to spread the addiction slot 2, finds it is a disk, and index stock over to two astro- misery around, I would like refuses to print to it. bright sheets in our mailers. I to make a contest out of this. There’s several cures to will be happy to send you Send me your very finest this. You can use an upgraded several samples. Please let me lockwasher. It doesn’t even IIe that does not need the fan. know how they stand up have to be Postscript. It does Or, you can switch over to a when sent through the mail. have to be (1) storable on a shorter printer card. You can The stops are fixed for a disk and (2) universal enough leave the IIgs lid off. Or, you business envelope three-fold. that you might change the can turn off the RAM disk, You can’t easily adjust them. position, size, pitch, width, or which will slow down Apple- Light index stock can be thickness without resetting to works somewhat. You can folded (They advise against zero each time. also move to slot 4 or slot 7 this), but a slight edge trim As per usual, an Incredible with your parallel card, might be needed. Heavier Secret Money Machine to the trashing your choice of either index stock just jams the twenty best entries, and an the mouse or Appletalk. machine. Real bad like. all-expense paid tinaja quest I’ve even made them one for two (FOB Thatcher AZ) to How can I Fold a of the winners in our latest the overall winner. Sheet of Paper? economical finishing stuff Let’s make this the greatest contest. Give them a call for lockwasher contest that ever As we found out a few more info. was held anywhere. OK? issues back, folders and any similar printing machinery are outrageously priced, making % front bottom all of them totally unsuitable gsave 0 diameter 2 div dup 0.866 mul exch 0.5 mul for most desktop publishing pitch sub neg moveto 0 thickness neg rlineto 0 needs. thickness neg translate mark diameter pitch The Quill Office Products sccfront ] curvetrace 0 thickness rlineto stroke people did recently loss-lead grestore} def a folding machine so it cost only five times what it should % demo -- remove before use: have instead of ten, but this might have been a one-time 200 300 translate 10 dup scale special sale. Figure two shows you a /width 2.5 def /diameter 15 def /pitch -4 def totally manual folder that I /thickness 2.5 def 0.067 setlinewidth built for $5. It will accurately 1 setlinecap 1 setlinejoin align even the heaviest index stock. All you do is insert the lockwasher showpage paper, snap it with a flick of Fig. 4b - Postscript lockwasher code, concluded. the wrist, reverse the paper and repeat the process. You 31.5 Don Lancaster’s T-shirt printing Pixel line remapping ASK THE GURU Printusing and friends Applewriter’s 47K limit October, 1987 The ultimate hacker food umor has it that the than being RAM based. Some ignored and two non-existent newer version 2.2 of previous bugs have also been drive entries now get created R Appleworks is now in corrected. I think the System for slot 6, drives 1 and 2. the final beta testing stage. Utilities disk, version 2.0 will Wonderful. Supposedly included is a remain current, at least for the Any ideas on this? spelling checker of some sort time being. Be sure to catch Sculley’s and a cure for the IIgs 768K A board swap really should act in the September issue of page crossing bug. It is not be made to eliminate nearly Playboy. He has some very clear whether the ability to all the gruesome noise pro- interesting things to say. handle proportionally spaced blems with the sound synth- Apple might also end up a columnar text in the spread- esizer circuitry. It seems the victim of the Toshiba flap as sheet or data base modes has routing on the main circuit their Imagewriter II, the best yet been picked up. board couples far too much selling printer in the world to- By the time you read this, digital noise into the sound day in terms of units sold, is the new IIgs ROM upgrade output. Sorry, but I do not made by Toshiba. should be available. Check have any more on this. Apple has been penalized your dealer for further details. Meanwhile, my own IIgs five yards for delay of game Among its numerous changes, has had its third major failure. in their contined refusal to some of the toolbox utilities This time, the second 3-1/2 release nearly all of their new now do reside in ROM, rather inch drive gets completely Laserwriter goodies. But it ought to be "real soon now". Hopefully even by the time HOSTESS TWINKIES you read this. (Szechwaun Style) At the same time, AST has entered another laser printer 14 - Hostess twinkies that matches the Laserwriter 26 - Stale fortune cookies Plus specs into the fray. 8 oz - El Fumarole Salsa De While all the PR and hype Mucho Caliente people are now proclaiming 1 can - Dr Pepper this new beast an incredibly 1 can - Jolt spectacular major price break- 2 pkgs - Lime Jello through, I do not see how an 1 cup - Tapioca identically performing printer 6 - NoDoz tablets that is priced some $450 8 oz - Honey above the current $3500 "low 34 - Cloves street" price of the Laser- writer is that revolutionary. Secure the necessary OSHA, EPA, SPCA, WCTU, Adobe Systems now has and state haz-mat permits for one-time use of two interesting new type fonts the El Fumarole sauce. available. One called Sonata is used for printing of musical Break or bend open the fortune cookies and remove the messages. Put all ingredients except scores, while the Carta font is the Hostess Twinkies into a blender and run intended both for maps and on high for five minutes. Be sure to secure cartography. They also have a the lid on the blender. new and freebie typography poster available, besides their Grease a large baking pan and arrange the usual free subscriptions to twinkies on it. Pour the contents of the blender Colophon and their older set over the twinkies. Bake at 325 degrees for 55-60 of the Postscript Developer minutes or until it looks about right. Guidelines. Contact Liz Bond at Adobe for details. Variation: For Hostess Twinkies Enchilada style, Turning to shoptalk, I have substitute 3/4 pound of stale Doritos moved my Hardware Hacker Corn Chips for the fortune cookies. column on over to the Radio- Electronics magazine. One of Fig. 1 - The ultimate hacker food. the first orders of business will be restoring most of the 32.1 October, 1987 previously censored and ex- of most any length whatso- expansion memory. Add an purgated material. You’ll also ever. There is no 47K limit! 80 column expansion card to find Radio-Electronics much We’ll first note that, if you bring yourself up to 47K. easier to find locally. are still stuck with a 22K file The 47K of textfile area is I’ll skip the advetorial this length limit, this means you located in auxiluary memory month. I won’t even tell you have an old IIe without any from $0800-BEFF. If you are about all my Ask the Guru reprints, my Introduction to Postscript video (now in both p VHS and beta), my Postscript p WPL optima.oblique downloader Show and Tell or my Post- p script Technical Illustrations, p preface all lines with a space or any of the free goodies you p can get if you call or write. pnd A reminder that there’s a p great Postscript BBS you can p use control-L below reach at (409) 244-4704. A p new newsletters and some on- ppr [L] disk downloads are also now ny available. p We return you now to our ppr downloading optima oblique . . . program in progress . . . ppr ppr WARNING: disk flip will be required! p What is the Ultimate p Hacker Food? p The tinaja quest winners in loptima.obl.1 our hacker foods contest are p Chuck and Sherry Romberger p pnp of SoftROM Computers up in p Flagstaff. Who, by the way, p run just about the best IBM ny clone shop in all of Northern p Arizona. Their winning recipe loptima.obl.2 for Hostess Twinkies, Szech- p waun Style, appears right here p in figure one. pcp There are several strengths p of the El Fumarole Salsa De p Mucho Caliente available. Be ny sure to select the local blend loptima.obl.3 one that has the picture of the p broken thermometer on it. p use control-g below The second place winner p was Lorna Greenway for her ppr [G] [G] [G] [G] [G] [G] [G] [G] Apples and Salsa recipe. ppr ppr PLEASE FLIP THE DISK NOW! pcp How can I beat the p Applewriter 47K p Length Limit? ny p Quite a few of you helpline oh,d2 callers have wanted to be able p to handle much longer files in p ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 or loptima.obl.4 2.1. My own problem along p these lines is that I had to be p able to download Adobe fonts pcp that, at 146K were even too p long for one side of a 5-1/4 p disk, let alone for the 47K file pqt limit of Applewriter. But, rest assured, Apple- Fig. 2 - Managing a 146K Applewriter file. writer can easily handle files 32.2 ASK THE GURU using a third party RAM card, ments of a long file into or the eexec command in Post- be sure to reserve bank 1 (the out of the RAM disk space. script only accepts the valid usual auxiliary memory area) Global indexes can be created values and will nicely ignore for exclusive Applewriter use. using my author’s keyword everything else. At any rate, if you do look indexing routine. Downloading a font could into some of the more unique One interesting trick is to not be simpler. Put the disk in and more powerful features of use text markers. Any line the drive. Have you or your Applewriter, you will find all that begins with two periods glossary type in the [P] DO sorts of ways to beat the 47K will be completely ignored by OPTIMA.OBLIQUE. You can limit. All that this limit says Applewriter. For instance, a then flip over the disk when is that the piece of the textfile [L] myfile !..part1!..part2!n you are prompted to. you are currently working on will load only part of your That disk flipping could, of in active RAM has to be 47K file on a single glossary key- course, be gotten rid of by or less. But that should not stroke. That "n" at the end using a 3-1/2 inch drive, a even slow you down. says to not load the markers. hard disk, or a RAM card. For instance, you can load Let us look at a specific So, with a little thought, any part of any file of any example of how you print or you can easily handle files of length by use of the powerful transmit a long file direct- ly just about any length at all searching delimiters in the under Applewriter. with Applewriter. All it takes various [L]oad options. The Figure two shows you a is a bit of planning and the only little trick is that the WPL routine that will take the magic of WPL and your own piece loaded has to be 47K or 146K long Optima-Oblique self-prompting glossaries. less. The usual command to font from Adobe and send it A disassembly script for load one part of an arbitrarily to a Laserwriter, and do it all Prodos Applewriter 2.0 and long file is [L] myfile !start- from within Applewriter. much more on all this appears string!endstring!. Four files were previously in my Applewriter Cookbook. You might also string as created, and named OPTIMA.- By the strangest of coinci- many of the Applewriter files OBL.1 thru OPTIMA.OBL.4. I dences, I do seem to have a together as you want to into a did these by using Apple- few autographed copies on final save file of any arbitrary writer’s internal modem to hand here. length. Just use the append receive the entire Optima feature of [S]ave. As a good Oblique file, beginning 0, 6, Tell me all about example, a [S] myfile+ will 12, and 18 minutes into the Print Using. append your current file to transmission. All these time the material already on disk values are for Freeterm at Every once in a long while, under the same filename. A 1200 baud at the Mac source. something gets buried so deep WPL routine might also be The files are then cropped in the Apple lore that years created to instantly grab all of and adjusted for continuity. can go by without someone your individual 47K or shorter Very conveniently, there are even mentioning the totally files and string them together. "notches" in the hex paired obvious. Which, of course, WPL can similarly be used encrypted file values that do will both mystify and befud- to handle a global search or make this very easy. dle any of you newcomers. replace over any number of Be sure to use the "text Uh, about that largish dead files, or to print any number only" Adobe font output. dinosaur that’s rotting in the of files into one continuous In this example, you are front yard... Why, everybody document. A self-prompting also allowed to add as many knows about that. Uh huh. glossary might easily be built extra carriage returns and/or Quite a few dialects of the up to rapidly transfer the seg- spaces as you care to, since BASIC language do have a printusing command that lets you decide the exact format tabular data will appear in. Which is particularly impor- tant for dollars and cents, ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ especially when you do not ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ want zeros suppressed in the ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ pennies and the dimes slots. It ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ is also handy any time you ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ want to set the overall pre- cision of a math result. When Applesloth BASIC was translated for the Apple II+, there was exactly 10K of Fig. 3 - A trivial example of pixel line remapping. code space available for it. Lots of new HIRES graphic 32.3 October, 1987 features had to be added to UPDATE: There is now a compatible with any existing Applesloth to pick up Apple’s new BASIC available for the Applesloth code. Yes, it does unique color capabilities. IIgs that does in fact provide offer some very powerful new Something had to go. And useful and ready-to-use print- features. A.P.D.A. does stock the main something to go was using routines. No, it is not it. The list price is $50. printusing. No, there isn’t a printusing present in the core Applesloth % Copyright c 1987 by Don Lancaster and code. There never was, and % Synergetics Box 809, Thatcher AZ, 85552 there probably never will be. % (602) 428-4073. All Rights reserved. Meanwhile, Applesloth has % Personal use permitted, so long as this become so entrenched that it % header remains intact. would be very foolish indeed to select another BASIC just % requires an unmapped image called pixelproc because it provided a resident % whose origin is 0,0 and whose height is printusing command. What % defined as pixelprocheight and whose width you may gain in column for- % is predefined as pixelprocwidth. matting, you would lose in % requires a mapping function predefined as color graphics and in overall % mappingproc that decides how each of the comptaibility with all of the % pixel lines of pixelproc will be mapped zillions of existing Applesloth % into their final page position. programs out there today. Instead, printusing has been % mappings involving large text areas may take left as a "rite of passage" to % an hour or more. Compiling can speed this up. beginning Applesloth BASIC programmers. Your first non- % This code is for vertical pixel lines. trivial program assignment is always to come up with a /pixellineremap{0 1 pixelprocwidth 300 mul printusing module that you 72 div cvi {/scanlinenumber exch def gsave can add to all your programs mappingproc newpath scanlinenumber 72 mul as needed. Later on, as you 300 div 0 moveto 0 pixelprocheight rlineto build your skills, this can be 0 0 rlineto 0 pixelprocheight neg rlineto replaced with a much faster closepath clip newpath pixelproc grestore} ampersand-linked machine for } def language printusing routine. So, no I will not give you a % //// demo - remove before use //// printusing routine. You have % This first demo simply moves the pixelproc to do it yourself. % to the center of the page But, if you insist on cheat- ing, you will find ready-to-go /Times-Bold findfont [40 0 0 40 0 0] makefont printusing modules in various setfont bargain priced Applesloth utilities that you can obtain /pixelproc {newpath 5 5 moveto 0 45 rlineto from either Beagle Brothers 60 0 rlineto 0 -45 rlineto closepath 6 or else from Roger Wagner setlinewidth stroke 10 5 moveto 0 45 rlineto Publishing. stroke 60 5 moveto 0 45 rlineto stroke 25 14 There are nearly a zillion moveto (S) show} def different printusing routines of varying quality in most any /pixelprocwidth 100 def club library or in just about /pixelprocheight 50 def any public domain collection. /mappingproc { clear 265 300 translate} def Two of the best lower cost collections of public domain pixellineremap disks are available from the Call A.P.P.L.E. people or the % this second demo stretches the pixelproc Public Domain Exchange. % so you can see the individual mapping lines By the way, the best two /mappingproc { clear 125 300 mul 72 div ways to find all of the secret scanlinenumber 4 mul add cvi 72 mul 300 div insider details of Applesloth 400 translate} def are still with the All about Applesoft book from the Call pixellineremap showpage A.P.P.L.E. people, or with the Applesoft Source Code from Fig. 4 - Postscript pixel line remapper. S-C Software. 32.4 ASK THE GURU Can I print my litho negative, and then cut a As I may have mentioned a Own T-Shirts? photo silk screen. The silk time or two before, I do all of screen process is then used to my laser printing work dir- Sure thing. But it’s usually print the actual shirts. Since ectly in Postscript by using a lot easier if you take the this business is both highly nothing but the Applewriter T-shirt off first. competitive and quantity sen- word processor on a IIe or While I know of no instant, sitive, you are probably far IIgs. I’ve found that this route full color and high resolution, better off in using an existing consistently gives me a much super quality, single quantity, service for your actual shirt higher quality, a vastly more ultra low cost way of printing production. flexible and a faster printing T-Shirts, there are at least A Postscript speaking laser output than by going to any half a dozen methods that are printer, such as the Laser- of those fancier canned appli- "pretty nigh but not plumb". writer is absolutely ideal for cations packages. One of these might be just generating the original over- You can get ribbons for the right for you. size art for T-shirt printing. Imagewriter and for other dot The traditional way to print Particularly useful is the ease matrix printers that can create a T-Shirt is to start with some with which you could handle a full color thermal transfer oversize black-on-white art- large typography along a cir- image that can be ironed into work, reduce that artwork to a cular or arbitrary path. a T-shirt. These often take a long time to print. The rib- bons are quite expensive and % Copyright c 1987 by Don Lancaster and get used at an alarming rate. % Synergetics Box 809, Thatcher AZ, 85552 One source for thermal % (602) 428-4073. All Rights reserved. ribbons is I/O Designs. % Personal use permitted so long as this There is an interesting new % header remains intact. material called Transfer Ma- gic that you will find at your % requires pixellineremap of figure four local sewing or notion store. What you do is create a black /ZapfDingbats findfont [60 0 0 60 0 0] makefont and white or color original in setfont toner or ink. Then you stick /sprockethole { moveto 0 8 rlineto 5 0 rlineto 0 -8 the transfer magic to it. You rlineto closepath fill} def next soak your original in water and dissolve all of the /filmclip {0 0 moveto 0 100 rlineto 65 0 rlineto 0 paper out from under the ink -100 rlineto closepath fill 1 setgray newpath 2 15 or toner. The transfer sheet is moveto 0 70 rlineto 61 0 rlineto 0 -70 rlineto finally ironed in place, fusing closepath fill 4 3.5 sprockethole 17 3.5 the image to the cloth. Retail sprockethole 30 3.5 sprockethole 43 3.5 cost is around $2. sprockethole 56 3.5 sprockethole 4 88.5 The Xerox people do have sprockethole 17 88.5 sprockethole 30 88.5 a new thermal transfer mater- sprockethole 43 88.5 sprockethole 56 88.5 ial intended for their color sprockethole 0 setgray 2 setlinewidth 0 0 copiers. This stuff irons full moveto 65 0 rlineto stroke 0 100 moveto 65 0 color and permanant images rlineto stroke gsave 12 78 moveto -90 rotate onto just about any fabric or ($) show grestore} def textile surface. Retail cost is around $3 per sheet. I have /film {gsave 5 {filmclip 65 0 translate} repeat seen some gallery-quality re- grestore} def sults done with this process. It is not at all clear how a /pixelproc {film} def thermal sensitive process can /pixelprocwidth 325 def /pixelprocheight 100 def be sent through a copier with heat fusion rollers. The best /mappingproc {clear 200 300 translate way to use a laser printer here scanlinenumber 7.522 div cos dup 0 eq {pop would seem to be to create 0.001} if /short exch def 0 1 short sub the originals with the laser pixelprocheight mul 0.5 mul translate 1 and then use the Xerox copier short scale} def to actually produce the tran- sfer sheets. pixellineremap There is also a process showpage called Sublicolor that consists of a color seperation scanner Fig. 5 - Postscript code for the twisted film. and an imager that puts some sublimation inks onto sheets 32.5 October, 1987 From what I have seen of this you would need for individual demos that move the image to process, the final colors tend perspective lettering. the center of the sheet and towards the pastels. All the Instead, there is a rather stretch it out so you can see examples in their ads are very little known but astonishingly all the individual scan lines. highly reduced. The process powerful Postscript technique The actual code used to twist and/or the pricing also would that is known as Pixel Line the filmstrip in figure three is seem suspect because they do Remapping. What pixel line shown to you in figure five. advertise primarily in the very remapping does is let you Note that the scissors are re- scroungiest of those "get rich map just about any character ally a character in the Zapf quick" publications, right be- or any image onto pretty near Dingbats font. side all of the usual "Find out any surface. Picture line remapping is how I make money. Just send Important uses of pixel line fairly slow for graphics, and $19.95 to . . ." ads. remapping include perspec- can be excruciatingly slow for Which reminds me. Did I tive lettering, labels wrapped text, particularly for very long ever tell you about my classic around an isometric cylinder, messages or large fonts. But, Incredible Secret Money Ma- and for anywhere else you are once again, there’s that good chine book? Oh, well. after a stunning or "gee whiz" old "Uh, compared to What?" You can also buy your own graphics result. factor, since you can now do thermal transfer ink and use it Figure three shows you a things with pixel line remap- on an ordinary offset printing simple example of what you ping that would seem nearly press. Van Son is a leading can do when using pixel line impossible otherwise. supplier of these inks. remapping. A single "flat" There are various ways to Finally, you can get fuzzy film clip is first created. This compile remapped code that or felt-like thermal transfer clip is then scanned ver- can substantially speed things vinyl that might be cut with a tically five times. Each time up after you have the exact knife or a special signmaking the image is broken down image you really want. More machine. The main source of into individual scan lines that on this some other time. this new product seems to be are exactly one pixel wide. There are quite a few other Gerber Scientific. Six colors As the scan lines are mapped, techniques you can put to use are now available. the scale and position of each to minimize all the processing And that just about wraps line is changed to create the time involved in pixel line my collection of T-shirt stuff. twisting. remapping. You may want to If you know of anything else The basic remapping code avoid ever using remapped or anything better, please let is shown you in figure four. lettering. When any lettering me know so I can pass it on. You first will create a flat must be used, keep it as small There’ll be one of my usual film image that starts at 0,0. and as compact as possible. Incredible Secret Money Ma- You then name this image as Use of the very latest version chine books to the twenty pixelproc. Then, you specify firmware on the fastest pos- best entries along with an all its height as pixelprocheight sible machine also can help expense paid (FOB Thatcher, and seperately spec its width significantly. AZ) tinaja quest for two for as pixelprocwidth. It might also be possible to the best info of all. After that, you next create scan the final output image a mappingproc code that can and then convert it back into What is this Month’s decide what to do with each a bipmapped image. This is a Postscript Utility? one of the individually gen- whole new world to explore. erated scan lines. Usually, One of Postscript’s gravest All of the usual Postscript you will translate, rotate, or shortcomings is its inability to transformations that involve scale each of the scan lines output or return portions of scaling, rotation, translation, differently to get the specific its final bitmap page image. and matrix manipulation can effect you are after. As with most Postscript give you a very wide variety The poison ivy can in my stuff, you are better off using of ways to present both text Postscript Show and Tell uses a two-step process. First, you and graphics. Unfortunately, pixel line remapping for the get the image you want in the these are all linear transfor- larger letters. This one ac- way you want it, no matter mations that must be applied tually wraps all the individual how long it takes. Then, if the to an entire character or to an letters around the can, rather image is to be often reused, entire image. than pasting any "flat" letters you can rewrite your routines For instance, a square or a around the surface. to optimize for speed. letter could be converted into This image appears back on So, as a second contest this another square, a rectangle, or page 19.3. Write or call for month, just send me your best a parallelogram of any size the latest code on this. suggested use for pixel line and orientation. But you just Figure four shows you the remapping. I’ll publish the cannot use a linear transfor- basic pixel line remapping very best of these. Let’s hear mation to do a trapezoid, as code, along with two simple from you soon. 32.6 Ask the Guru Help Page NEED HELP? Phone or write your Ask the Guru questions to: Don Lancaster SYNERGETICS Box 809 Thatcher, AZ, 85552 Voice Helpline: (924) 428-4073 H.1 Index Index Aliasing contest winners – 7.1 Customer complaints – 9.2 Anti–aliasing – 15.2 Apple books and manuals .4 Desktop publishing secrets – 17.2 Apple clone help – 23.3 Desktop publishing tools – 29.5 Apple developer’s express – 28.1 Diablo daisywheel stuff – 2.1 Apple i.d. bytes – 20.1 Diablo 630 emulation – 6.5 Apple IIc "3.5" monitor – 12.1 Die cutting – 27.4 Apple IIc new absolute reset – 27.4 Digital image processing – 15.3 Apple IIc/IIe absolute reset – 7.2 Disassembly aliasing – 5.4 Apple IIe dual monitor – 9.2 Dual IIe character generator – 4.1 Apple IIe "upgrade" – 4.1 Dual IIe monitor – 17.5 Apple IIgs books and manuals – 25.3 Apple IIgs cables and connectors – 30.2 Educational software sales – 6.1 Apple IIgs color monitors – 27.2 E.T. watching – 4.3 Apple IIgs disappearing drives – 28.3 Apple IIgs new ROMs – 32.1 Far Eastern typefonts – 31.4 Apple IIgs picture noise – 27.3 Finishing materials contest – 24.4 Apple IIgs old drive adaptor – 26.3 Floppy disk care – 19.1 Apple IIgs serial cables – 24.1 Flushing copy protection – 18.1 Apple IIgs serial firmware – 29.3 Free technical magazines – 1.3 Apple IIgs updates – 22.1 Apple II+ to IIe conversions – 5.4 Getting inside information – 5.1 Apple II+ reset hassles – 7.2 Great mouse surface – 17.1 Apple memory expansion card – 10.1 Apple RAMcard entry points – 14.2 Hacker foods contest – 28.2 Apple RAMcard snooper – 20.1 Halftone imaging – 11.5 Apple resources – 29.2 Heat transfer ink – 31.4 Apple rumors mongered – 16.1 Hewlett-Packard Laser Jet – 29.1 AppleTalk -vs- 9600 baud – 28.2 Hewlett-Packard and Postscript – 30.1 Applesloth printusing – 32.3 Hex and decimal to ASCII – 18.1 Appleworks slot 2 IIgs bug – 31.5 Hidden grand piano – 21.6 Appleworks utilities – 23.3 HIRES applewriter dumps – 17.1 Appleworks virtual memory – 21.3 HIRES entry points – 10.5 Applewriter booting tricks – 8.5 Applewriter clock access – 19.4 IBM and IIc file exchanges – 30.2 Applewriter 47K limit fixes – 32.2 Imageworks video card – 15.4 Applewriter IIe stretchifier – 2.2 Isometric drawing – 9.4 Applewriter IIgs modem use – 30.3 Applewriter IIgs patches – 25.3 Keyword indexer – 16.3 Applewriter 2.1 stretchifier – 23.4 Kroy Kolor – 25.2 Applewriter creepifier – 24.2 Kroy Kolor over Coburn – 28.1 Applewriter fast boot – 29.3 Applewriter nullifier – 20.2 Laser printer info – 2.4 Applewriter scrunchifier – 21.5 Laser printing economics – 28.3 Applewriter swallowifier – 22.4 Laserwriter badges – 16.4 Applewriter triple header – 4.5 Laserwriter first impressions – 6.1 Applewriter tweedlifier – 26.5 Laserwriter gossip – 15.1 ASCII control commands – 12.3 Laserwriter gray deputrifaction – 25.5 Laserwriter letterheads – 20.3 Bar codes – 10.2 Laserwriter plus – 13.1 BASIC program editing – 8.1 Laserwriter plus bugs – 14.3 Bezier curves – 8.3 Laserwriter reference – 30.1 Binding systems survey – 30.4 Laserwriter rumors – 11.1 Laserwriter versus Laserjet – 10.3 Cassette tape reliability – 1.3 Low cost air valves – 2.1 Commodore integrated circuits – 7.5 Copy protected monitor? – 12.3 Machine language contest – 20.2 Cubic splines – 8.2 Machine language study – 5.1 Curve tracing – 13.4 Macintosh disassembly – 21.3 Curve tracing with Postscript – 30.7 Macintosh most used graphic – 23.5 I.1 ASK THE GURU Mass teleportation – 26.4 USGS data bases – 13.4 Meowwrrr puss de resistance – 17.1 Motors for robotics – 3.3 Vaporlock bugs – 9.3 Multiple video monitors – 24.3 Vaporlock interrupts – 10.4 Video image printing – 11.5 New 50734 control computer – 14.1 VIP computer – 13.2 VIP user applications – 13.3 Omnicrom and Omnicolor – 22.4, 25.2 Option picking – 3.3 WPL and [Q]–C – 14.3 ORCA/M – 26.1 WPL version dependence – 16.2 Paper folders – 31.5 Your own tech venture – 2.3 Password horror stories – 21.1 Pneumatic actuators – 2.2 Postscript BBS – 26.2 Postscript BBS other system – 31.1 Postscript circular text – 16.4 Postscript curve tracing – 8.5 Postscript developer guidelines – 27.1 Postscript fontpath utility – 26.5 Postscript Journal – 26.2 Postscript label maker – 28.6 Postscript lockwasher contest – 31.5 Postscript pixel line remapping – 32.6 Postscript rubber grid – 25.5 Postscript ruler – 27.5 Postscript schematic drawing – 14.4 Postscript signatures – 23.4 Postscript speedup techniques – 28.6 Postscript step and repeat – 29.4 Postscript surface mapping – 19.5 Postscript typesetting – 12.5 Postscript window decals – 18.5 Post processing techniques – 11.3 ProDOS Applewriter 2.0 – 1.2 ProDOS Applewriter 2.1 – 12.2 ProDOS disk space – 9.1 ProDOS TYPE command – 6.1 Programming an EPROM – 1.4 Random number generator – 1.1 Really bad legislation – 31.1 Repairing blown disks – 19.2 Solar energy breakthrough – 22.3 Shuffling algorithm – 5.2 Softalk replacement – 4.5 Technical consultants list – 18.1 Toner cartridge reloading – 19.4, 24.3 Toner cartridge secrets – 18.3 Toner reloading update – 30.4 Tough I/O circuit – 3.3 T-shirt printing – 32.5 Translating computer programs – 11.2 Type font ripoffs – 15.1 Typesetting an ad – 6.5 Ultimate hacker food – 32.2 I.2