mini app lesapple computer user group newsletter

OCTOBER 1979 Vol II No 9Daniel 1.Buchler Presidei t 1 890-5051 CONTRIBUTIONS

Act iv i ty Coord inator COMPLAINTS D .Buch le r .Chuck Thiesfeld T r e a s u r e r 1 830-5020 C0RRESPONDANCE 13516 Grand Ave S

Newsletter Editor 831-0009 Burnsv i l l e M in i . , 55337Chuck Boody Secretary 873-2227 --Keith Madonna L ib ra r i an 474-3876Rob Uentworth Progra* Editor I E M B E R S H I P C . T h i e s f e l dJanes Henke Technical Advisor 869-0361 8416 Xerxes Ave. SDean Anderson Bib l iographer 466-5562 Bloonington, Hinn ., 55431

IN THIS ISSUE: Page

Next Meeting 1 Classes in Basic 6User Bank StatusReview of STARFLEET ORION

12

DAN on PrintersUser Bank Status (Concluded)

66

Minutes of Sept 5th Board Meeting 34

Dan's EditClassified Advert isements

77

Minutes of Regular MeetingHail Order DiscountsMusic Board

445

Chess TournanentBunker Rano Printer NewsTimesharing for Apple Users

778

Assembler Listing Special Format firBunker Rano Pr i i t t r 5-

NEXT MEETINGi weds OCTOBER 17th USER BANK STATUS

Progra* Exchange Night.Bring your prograns, subroutines, whateverAlso br ing enpty disks or tapes - you fonthave to have a progran to svap although thatswhat wakes the evening work!No copyrighted prograns please! And i f youdon't want to swap or take just cone to talk.Ue plan to have 4 or 5 Apples, nost eith 2drives and at least oie tape recorder.Meeting starts at 7x30

FOLL8UIN6 I0NTN: MEETINS date officially isN o v 2 1 s t . T h a t t u r n s o u t t o b e t h e d a ybefore Thanksgivi ig - to an i ten of busi iessa t t e x t t e s t i n g w i l l b e w h e t h e r o r n o t t ochange the date, and if so to when?Ue have tentatively scheduled that evening tobe a quest ion and answer session l ined atbeginners.3 o r 4 e x p e r i e n c e d A p p l e u s e r s w i l l b estationed around the root* te answer questionsoi a predefined range of topics.

A gli tch developed in the distr ibution of thel i b r a r y c o p y o f v o l u n n I o f t h e b a n k a tC o n p u t e r l a n d . T h e p r o b l e n h a s n o w b e e nrectified. Ue apologize to all you users whowa i ted pa t ien t l y so long . Ue have lea rnedfro* this experience that book-keeping of thee x a c t w h e r e a b o u t s o f t h e c o p i e s r u i s t b eMeticulously undertaken at al l t ines.

S ince the s ign-up l ishor t and we be le ivp lan to wove tha t cthe Conputerland HopkConputer land, Bloonit o c o n s i d e r n o v i n gConputer land , lopk innear the end of the 1review the denand nontransfers is necessar

Concluded on page 6

s t a t Tean-He*nep in ist a l n o s t s a t i s fi e d , w eopy i n to c i r cu la t i on a tinn store. Users on theigton list are encoraged

y o u r n a n e t o t h es l i s t i f y o u r n a n e i si s t . U e w i l l o f c o u r s ethly, and nay nake otherv to.satisfy the danand.

MINI'APP'LES OCT 79 NEWSLETTER

REVIEU - STARFLEET IRION

Starflett Orion is a new gone fren AutonatidSinulations of Mountain View, California. Itis supplied on tape in two versions to runeither on • 16k systen or on a 32k systen.Unless you are willing to bonb IDS, thatneans 32k and 48k respectively for l iscusers. The 32k version utilizes HIRES toacheive fair qual i ty audio/visual effects.The 16k version uses TEXT node entirely.The Concept e f the. gane is s in i lar toStartrek except that the gane is playedbetween 2 players. Each player connaads afleet ef 1 to 9 spaceships. The spaceshipsappear on the screes as aunbers 1 thru 9 forplayer A and as the letters A thru 1 forplayer B. A planet nay be incorporated inthe picture such that oie of the players naybe based o t the p lane t . The p lane t i srepresented in the 32k version as a disk onthe HIRES screen. It the 16k version theplanet is a square (inverse blank).The gane is supplied with two 'scenarios' anda scenario build progra*. A scenario definesthe spaceships available to each player,their init ial posit ion and their attr ibutes.The attributes of a ship consist oft--Output of it's powerplant-naxmun shield power-Nunber of nissiles on board-Range of nissiles-Nunber of nissile launchers-Dest ruc t i ve capab i l i t y o f an ind iv idua lnissi le-Nunber of torpedoes-Destructive Capability of individual torpedo-Range of a torpedo-Tractor bean qualityOne can also specify the danage that eachship has sustained prior to start of gane,the ex i s tance , co lo r and pos i t i on o f ap lanet , and o ther n isce l laneous th ings.Obviously, when one sets up a scenario, thedistribution of firepower between the twosides nust be reasonably even unless onewishes to introduce a handicap! Scenariosare stored on tape and identified by nine.The progran looks for one that Matches thenane yeu type in when you start a gane.Instructions te convert progran for use withdisk are included.

The gane is played as follows. Each playertakes a ' turn ' . Dur ing a ' turn ' , a p layeranswers questions for each ship in his fleetas to such things as-novenen t o f sh ip spec i fied as an X -Ydisplacenent. The screen is divided into a40 * 20 natrix.-■capons to be fired-deploynent of tractor bean-etc.He can ask for such infornation as range tospecified target and for the status of eachship. The status shows his position, nunberof weapons left and danage incurred.After a player has run through all the ordersfor each ship in his fleet, the ether playertakes his turn. The scene will not change-until after both players have entered theirorders. For nax inun rea l isn, one p layershould leave the roon while other is enteringhis orders.

After all the orders have been entered, theturn takes place. Missi les are launched,torpedoes are launched, beans are deployed,danage is sustained and the ships neve totheir new positions if their engines are notdanaged.

It is obvious fron the start that the gane,written in INTE6ER BASIC, was originallydeveloped to work on a variety of hardwaresuch as the TRS-80 and the PET. I Think its u f f e r s f r o n t h a t h e r i t a g e . T h e 1 6 kversion nakes little use of Apple features.The 32k version does use HIRES, but only as asort of substitute for the TEXT in the 16kversion. Interaction between the player andthe conputer is through the keyboard. Theconputer displays the questions using INPUTs t a t e n e n t s w h i c h a r e u n i n a g i n a t i v e l yformatted. It takes quite a while to answerthe questions. The execution of the turn isof course exciting, but the weapons novo realslowly (because of BASIC inplenentation).However the gane has considerable nerit frona t a c t i c a l p o i n t o f v i e w, f o r o n e n u s tanticipate the eneny's novenents in advance.Its nain drawback is the quantity/fornattingof the order entry screen. A nenu selectiontechnique and other inprovenents would not bewasted. If yeu like strategy gases, and arewilling to spend hours at a single gane, thenStarfleet Orion is for you, but don't buy itfor a 12 year old - will get bored with itquickly. Price it around $20.

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MINI'APP'LES OCT 79 NEWSLETTER

MINUTES IF SEPT 5th, 1979 NINI'APP'LES BOARDHEETIN6

Meeting was called to order at ti20 pn withthe following beard nenbers presents-D.luchler, C.Boody, C.Thiesfeld, J.Henke andK.Madonna.

The president noted that this wan the firstofficial neeting of the board, the previousneet ing having taken place pr ior to theelection of officers.Discwssitn on bylaws as published in theA p r i l , 7 9 N e w s l e t t e r a n d w h i c h w e r eoffic ia l ly adopted as by laws by generalnenbership during the July general neeting.It was agreed that no changes to those bylawsare required at this tint.Discussion en dues structure for 1980. Thetreasurer repor ted that the c lwb's cashbalance as of Sept 1st was approxinately$250. A balance of $109 is projected for theend of the year without allowance for newnenbersor 1980 dues.Board nenbers were queried by the Presidentas to their wi l l ingness to cont inue theirduties into 1980. All present replied in thea ffi rna t i ve .It was agreed that no special effort need benade at this tine to pronote advertising inthe newsletter even though advertising is asource of incone to the club.The treasurer reported that there were 97nenbers of record as of the distribution ofthe August newsletter.Discussion on status of the user bank. Thelibrary distribution systen seens to work.Sone ninor glitches were noted, but nothingserious. I t was agreed that out of townnenbers would be provided for by nailing thefirst volune set after local distribution iss a t i s fi e d . W h e r e p o s s i b l e , n e n b e r sconcentrated in a particular local should gettogether so that distribution turn around isnot conproniied and nailing costs' can bereduced. (Rochester area nenbers please note' - one o f you shou ld con tac t boa rd o rMadonna). It was also reported by J.Henkethat the Bell * Howell activity in startingan Apple distribution network nay include ad i s k c o p y i n g c a p a b i l i t y . H e n k e w i l linvestigate as to whether NINI'APP'LES nightbe able to nake use of such a service. Thiswould be particularly useful for User lank

distribution to out of touneri who, in such acase, would need only tn provide the noney topurchase blank diskettes plus any espyingcharge which B i l l t Nowe11 s ight levy.K.Nadonna will inforn out of towners when avolune set is ready to It nailed.Discussion on services which the club shouldprovide. The consensus of the board was thatenphasis should be p laced tn provid ingeducationnl type aid to the less experiencedusers. 8a will look into providing classesand an upenning neeting will be dedicated toanswer ing ques t i ons o f use rs . Seve ra le x p e r i e n c e d n e n b e r s w i l l e a c h a n s w e rques t ions in spec ific ca tegor ies . Thosealready knowing answer will be politely askedto keep quiet. The first such neeting willprobably be held in Nov.The question of what services can the clubo f fe r t n Bus iness use rs was ra i sed . Asuggest ion was nade that we can of teni d e n t i f y u s e s f o r t h e A p p l e w h i c h t h eBusiness user had not thought of.It was agreed that no discount should begiven to student nenbers.The President asked the board for theirsupport on the following ideas Tn contactCall Apple offering to participate in blockdistribution of their newsletter. This neansthat all Mini'App'Les nenbers desiring groupnenbership in Call Apple nould pay a joistCall Apple-Mini'App'Les nenbership fee inreturn for receiving the Call Apple nonthlyn a g a z i n e a n d t h e l o a d N i n i ' A p p ' l e snewsletter. The purpose here is that CallApple have already established their nagazinea s a d o n i n a t e d o c u n e n t i n t h e A p p l ec o n n u n i t y . O u r o w n n e w s l e t t e r o f t e ndup l i ca tes what they pub l i sh . Vi th th i sschene we would nake no attenpt to nake ourown neusletter anything nore than n short (1page) report on local affairs. All technicalnaterial of nerit would be forwarded to CallApple for consideration of publication and wewould perhaps assist then where they nightdesire help. It MUST BE NOTEI that CallApple have net offered this service. Theydid however state that such a suggestion hasbeen proposed previously. The President willcontact Call Apple tor pursue- this- natterfu thur.Regarding discission on placing subroutineson the aser bank. It was agreed that thiswould be a good idea provided that suchroutines were either significant in saving

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MINI'APP'LES OCT 79 NEWSLETTER

the progranner coding and/or design tine. Insone cases rnutines cnn be provided whichwould be beyond the technical ability nf theuser to provide hinself.

The board neeting adjourned at 11.4Spa.

MINUTES of the Sept. NeetingOld Business

1. Anyone interested in dnvelooim sonesort of free table ft prograns on tanoutlTthe APPLE should contact Bloonington CableTV.

2. Dnn B. will bring n BASIC teachingprogran to the next neeting and poblish areport on it in a coning newsletter.

3. Those interested in receiving theMECC User's Newsletter should contact KenBrunbaugh at this addressi

MECC Tineshare Newsletter2520 Broadway DriveLauderdale NN 55113

The newsletter will not be seat to everyoneon the club list because not nil nenberswould be interested in receiving it. Thoseinterested in the NECC neusletter shouldrealize that though it will contain naterialsof interest to APPLE users it is NOT an APPLEusers letter.New Business

1 . The c lub i s ve ry in te res ted inhe lp ing users expand the i r use o f andknowledge of the APPLE. The Novenber nestingwill be structured as a neeting where vnrious"experts" fron the club wil l be stationedaround the roon to answer questions aboutproblens users nay have. Every effort willbe nade to keep the jargon to n nininun andto respond to all nenbers questions. Pleasehelp us is this endeavor by letting us knowyour spec ific prob lens. The on ly s tup idquestion is the one that is not asked. Uesolicit your suggestions too for ether waysthe club nay be helpful tn you.

2. If you nre interested in receivingCall A.P.P.L.E. (the best source fnrnuchinfornatioa about the APPLE uould do well tojoin soon. Fron Oct-Jan you can still joinfor 127.30. After that it will cost $40.00to join. Once you have joined nenbershipwill be an additional $15.00 (for each yearafter the first one).

I. lie have received tuo requests forinfornation fron foreign user groups.

4 . For the Chess fnna t i cs i ChessChallenger apparently bents Hicrochess 2.0and Sargon. Sargon beats Nicrochess 2.0.Sargon seens to have sone bwgs, nnd is verya l o w . S a r g o n I I i s r e o p r t e d l y u n d e rdevelopnent.

5 . There was nuch d iscuss ion o fSnartsysten nnd other nn line systens forusing APPLE to search data banks, send andreceive nessages, and/or down load prograns.Ue need a progran on this—Volunteers???6. Users were warned that the autostart ROMdeletes severnl rout ines fron the APPLEnonitor. Those routines are used in nanyconnercially available prograns, and usersnay experience difficulties because nf then.Mentioned were the ALF pitch board (they havesince updated their naterials to work withautostart and with DOS 3.2, so should be O.K.now), Nicrochess, and SCA II (the assenblerby Bob Sander-Cedarlof). There are fixes forthis latter available through Chuck Boody,and Sander-Cedarlof has an updated versionavailable too.

7. One user reported problens withSyntax Errors causiaga reboot of the I0S whenencountered using the new Language Board.Has anyone any infornation about this???

Meeting adjourned 8:13.

NAIL ORDER DISCOUNTS

As nost of you are aware, you can oftenobtain a lower price on Apple conpatiblehardware itens by ordering fron one of thenany discount houses which advertise in thenicroconputer news nedin. Uhen you do so,you trace off, against a iouer price, theservice and support which only your localApple conpwter denier cnn offer.You nust be the judge of the value of such atrade off.. For those nf you interested ind i s c o u n t p r i c e s , N e i l D . L i p s o n n f t h ePhidelphia Apple User group at29 S New Ardnore aveBroonal, Pa, 19008offers group purchase discounts on curtainitens to Apple user group club nenbers only.

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.MINI'APP'LES OCT 79 NEWSLETTER

MUSIC BOARB by B.Buchler

lit finally got hold of one nf the new GeneralInstruoent Programmable Sound Generatorintegrated c i rcui ts ( IC) . (Thank you J inWhite for your assistance in that natter).The capnbility nf that IC has been docunentedin Byte Magazine idulj v79) and ElectronicDesign (March '79).A hobty project is plnnned in which will bedeveloped-1) A sinple Nusic/Sound Effects board for theApple. The board would contain one AY-3-8912(the IC) with expansion capability to 3 ornore chips.2) A nachine code driver which eventuallycould be stored in RON3) Appropriate applications software (ChuckBoody has expressed interest in helping outhere)The chip is in fact a general purpose soundgenerator. Ue nre houever nore interested inthe Nusic capability than special effects.The 8912 IC has the following featuresi-3 Sinultaneous Voices (Tones or frequencies)-Selection of tone or pitch for each voice.-Selection of anplitude for each voice.-Overal l envelope defini t ion in tern 's ofattack, decay and tining.-Noise generator.-Conbined, or separate ( for s tereo l ikeeffects), audio output which can be fed toany anplifier or Hi-Fi systen.There are in fact 2 versions of the IC. The8912 is as described above and cooes in a 28pin package. The 8910 is a 40 pin packagewhich includes 2 ports that nay be used tointerface to on bonrd ION.Sone interesting npplicntions are suggestedby 6.1. in their docunentations(1 ) A Mus ic syn thes i ze r wh ich ne a rediscussing in this article.(2) An organ - by sensing the contactclosures of n conventional organ keyboard(nanual) and of a conventional nrgan tab stopselector for voices, the conputer (an APPLEor other 6502) can control the IC tn selecttones and wavefnrns consistant with the keyspressed. The output nay be saved on disk nrtape, or played in real tine. The advantageof such n systen over current technologyorgans, is that software nay be used toexpand indefinitely the functinnnlity nf thevoicing ns selected by the tab steps.

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Also a pnor organist,like nyself nay play apiece with lots nf errors. The errors naythen be corrected af ter the fact , nnd aperfect error free recital played back!(3) A rhythn ncconpanynent nf druns, synbols,or anything yot want cnn be keyed to theabnve organ, or to a synthesizer, or be astand alone device.( 4 ) A s o u n d e f f e c t s g e n e r a t o r f o racconpanying ganes. Supposedly excellentbonb no ises and s in i la r e f fec ts nay becreated.All nf the functions on the IC are controlledby loading registers. In BASIC these nighttake the forn of POKEs or specific values ofvariables which will be passed to the IC witha sinple CALL to n special routineUith appropriate application softuare, theuser can be provided easy to use tools suchas those provided by ALF for their board.The na in po in t to be nade i s tha t theconputer once it loads the registers can godo other tasks. This is not the case withnusic created by the Apple speaker where theApple has to constantly create the tone'being'fed to the speaker.It is beleived that the quality of nusic thatcan be generated by this proposed systen willequal or exceed that provided by availableboards such as the ALF.Also, the flexibi l i ty wil l be nuch greater,and the cost nucb lover.If anyone has any ideas for features whichthey think should be included in such asysten, you are encouraged tn call D.Buchleror Chuck Boody. Besign work has startedalready I

Assembler Listing in Special Fornat forBunker Rano Printer

5 4 4 5 ' m328Q PTfU .HS 60 LAST CHAR OF EN

D ND5446 00

3290 PTR2 .HS 00 INTERMEDIATE INBEX5447 00

3300 S .HS 00 SNITCH S5448 00

3310 GAP .HS 00 POINTER TO 1STCHAR FOLLOWINGNEXT AVAIL. SLANK<S>

MINI' APP' l.FS OCT 79 NEWSLETTER

CLASSES IN BASIC

Discussions on the need for 'BASIC educationare a frequent occurence at both regular cluband board neetings. This Full hns seen ap r o l i f e r a t i o n n f c l a s s e s e n ' B A S I Cprogranning and nther nicroconputer relatedsubjects. These classes are offered by locals c h o o l d i s t r i c t i n t h e f n r n o f a d u l teducation prograns, by junior colleges and byvocational schools. For exanple in the Bakotacounty area there ares-'BASIC' COMPUTER LAN6UA6E FOR BE6INNERSusing tinesharing on the CYBER-64 and anApple. I ts a 10 night course for I4S.0Ooffered by the Dakota Co. area VocationalInstitute in Rosenoont.-An 8 aight cnurse offered by the BurnsvilleSchool District 191 on 'BASIC progranning.An Apple will be used.-A 2 n ight course on se lect ing a NoneConputer offered by the Burnsvil le/EaganSchool District 191.A course offered by Hennepin county was nntedi n o u r Se p t . N e u s l e t t e r. I t i s s t r o n g l ysugges ted tha t anyone des i r ing BASICeducation should investigate the availableeducation within the area in which you live.You nay be too late for the Fall senester,'but dases will undoubtably be repeated inthe wiater starting in January.

DAN ON PRINTERS

In recent editions of the newsletter, I havelisted various low cost dot-natrix printerssuitable for hone conputer or low utilizationbusiness environnents. A new nodel hasa p p e a r e d i n t h e a d v e r t i s e n e n t s . I t s aMICROTEK and lists for 750 dollars. It hasrepectable specifications with the followingdesirable features:- regular paper- 9*7 dot natrix- bi-directional printing- adjustable forns feed- 80 or 120 colunns, software selectableReliability and quality art unknown at thistine. However the nanufacturer dains theyuse a high qual i ty Japanese nade pr intnechanisn with US packaging and electronics.Talk ing nbout Qual i ty, I fee l nven norestronly now, that in order to get resonablelegibil ity in lower case, nne nust gn for

a 9*7 dot natrii rather than 5*7. The 9*7nust have descenders. Alternatively a nonnatrix printer such as the Biablo daisu wheelo r t he IBM Se lec t r i c w i l l p rov i de h i ghquality nnd legibility. None of the 5*7 dotn a t r i x a r e v e r y l e g i b l e i n l o w e r c a s eincluding the one we have used for thisnewsletter) Most of the problen stens fronthe lack of descenders in a 5*7 natr ix.Houever 5*7 na t r i ces a re adequate fo ru p p e r c a s e l i s t i n g s , n a i l i n g l a b e l s , e t c .Based on personal observations of qualityre l iabi l ty etc, I s t i l l favour the Teletype43, even though it is slouer(IOcps) thnnnost. I also like the IBM selectric uhich isslower still at 15 cps. I have'nt seen a dotna t r i x p r in te r uh ich o f fe rs h igh qua l i t y,high legibil ity and grnphics. The IBS 5*7natrix Paper Tiger does offer graphics andcould be progranned to print 9*7 charactersusing the graphics, but it night be slot*.Even so the Paper Tiger is probably the bestbuy if you don't nisd the 5*7 dot natrix.Recent newsflash! There's a runour thatHeath has found sone flaw with the left col.alignnent.

User Bank Status - Continued fron page 1

Because of the glitch, ue are unable to put acopy into nail circulation this nonth as hadoriginally been planned. Ue hope to be ablet o p u t i t i n t o c i r c u l a t i o n i n t h e n a i lsonetine in Novenber. Out of towners, pleasedon't send in enpty disks with requests forspecific prograns. Ue ask you to wait al i t t l e l o n g e r , o r i f y o u r e a l l y w a n tsonething in a hurry, cone to town!

As nentioned elsewhere, we are having aprogran swap this nonth. It is hoped thatthis will result in sone new prograns for theuserbank nnd will give us trading power withother user grnups.

Please note - we hope to have a set of theuser bank volunes at the Progran Swap aight.If tine pernits we will allow people tocopy the disks. So consider bringing diskpacks with you ia large quantities!

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-MINI'APP'LES OCT 79 NEWSLETTER

BANS EDIT

Baa wants tn apologize to the several userswho have experienced problens with Dans Editwhile attenpting to prepare input for theNewsletter. Nost of the problens were tiedin to the fact that Dan could not debug the48k Non-ROM version on his 32k systen. A new-version called FULL EBIT 9/8 seens to havecured the known ills. It has been tested nna 48k Non-ROM systen and worked. Specificchanges include-addition of check for alnost overflowing astring (nore than 248 chars causes loudbeeping)-renappiag of nenory elininate the need touse FRE(O) te avoid out of nenory errors.LOHEN is now above the I/O buffer. This alsofixed the 48k problen, nnd speeds it opsonewhat. I'n working on a sub to replace thevery slow stains to buffer POKES with nachiaecode,-upper case is now selected with the ESC keyrather than the paddle but ton. Takes alittle getting use to but works OK.Dan wishes to thank Chuck Boody and KenSlingsby for their useful critique and nods.

For the newconers, Dans Edit is a sort ofword processor which—allows input and display of upper/lowercase letters using NINI'APP'LES user bankHIRES character display routine— a l l o w s e d i t a n d r e v i e w o f i n p u t t e dtext—saves text in 1900 character binaryfi les on d isk o r on tape. F i les can bereentered for review and futhur correction.D a n i s c u r r e n t l y w o r k i n g o n n nassenbly-language colunn justifier that canb e u s e d i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h B a n sEdi t !

CLASSIFIES ABVERTISEMENTS

For Salei Apple II - 'Kitchen Sink' card;Inagine all this in a single slot....-Paral le l Port , Ser ial Port (20na currentloop or RS232), a real tine clock and 4k ROMspace. Partially conpleted card includes: 2Intel 2716s (unprogranned), 6550 ACIA, 6520PI A, Unl, Sockets and nisc. TTL, all on onePC card with plated thru holes and goldflashed edge connector. Intnrfaces to outsideworld with H-pin l ips and flat cable.Oneonly -$100 (the 271 as are worth IIOO bythenselves ((>• Contact Judd Elners (he isi n n e n b e r s r o s t e r ) a t 2 0 1 - 3 9 1 - 0 9 8 4 ,6-11E.S.T.

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BUNKER RAMO PRINTER NEUS

By the tine you read this there sheuld be 12or nore ex Red-Owl cash-register terninals,otherwise known as the Bunker Rano EPC 1900with 32 colunn printers, connected to Applesi n t h e t w i n c i t i e s a r e a . S i n c e t h i srepresents a resonable proportion nf Appleusers in the a rea , i t i s appropr ia te todevote n little space in the Newsletter tothe sub jec t . The fo l lowing i tens are o fin terest :(1) SC assenbler source code listings and/ordisk files of the driver and its derivativesare now available.(2) An inproved driver checks for leadingblanks and refrains fron loading the blanksinto the print buffer. Thus the print headwill not space left beyond last non blankcharacter.(3) A special purpose driver for the SCassenbler listing and or ASM output providessone l ine fornatt ing to inprove legibi l i ty.See exanple below. The variation night uorkwith the Nicroproducts Assenbler also.(4) The ribbon shift can be disabled bydisconnecting one of the black wires (pin IIor B5) on the AC board. Make sure free endis insulated. The AC board is the little PCboard on the printer itself.(5) Red print can be obtained with two colorribbons by placing a standard office erasureunder the ribbon carrier on the left side.(6) Ribbon life estinate has been reduced toabout 2 or 3 rolls of paper. I have used 1and ha l f ro l ls and ink ing has not icab lyd e c r e a s e d . S e e p a g e 5 f o r e x a n p l e .

CHESS TOURNANENT

A chess tournanent took place during lunchhour oa Sept 4th between a Honeyuell ownedApple and A challenger VII (A packaged chessplaying gane) The Apple, under control ofNicrochess II, uas soundly beaten by theC h a l l e n g e r ( A f o r g o n e c o n c l u s i o nunfortunately). The gane lasted 40 ninutesand the Apple, playing white, wns down 2rooks and a queen after 20 ninutes. Thechallenger played at level 3,_ Microchess atlevel 8.It is runoured that Sargon the 2nd has nowchallenged the Challenger for a shot nt thet i t l e — i t i s f u r t h e r r u n o u r e d t h eChallenger is likely to keep the title.Infornation about the above natch is curtesyNorn Buckinghan. The gnne was pronoted by AIConover.

MINI'APP'LESTIME SHARIN6 FOR APPLE USERS

During the Septenber MINI'APP'LES neeting,sone discussion was held cnncerning varioust i n e s h a r i n g s e r v i c e s a v a i l a b l e t o t h eh o n e / s n a i l b u s i n e s s u s e r . T h i s i s afollow-up article. Sone of us have accessto large industr ial /corporate t ine sharingservices, but access to such systens isgenerally beyond the finnncial reach nf atypical Apple user. Hnwever, do not loseheart! *There are now a few tine-sharingservices available to the low budget conpanyor individual. Three of such services aredescribed following:MECC (Ninnesota Educat ional ConputerCoasort iun) is avai lable to residents ofMinnesota. A 50 hour block of tine valid for3 nonths costs $50. Anong ether things itprovides 2 libraries of Apple Educationalprograns, APPLE - appl icat ion prngransdeveloped by MECCSEEDS - user contributed prograns

These prograns uritten in INTEGER BASIC erAPLESOFT nay be downloaded to your Apple.MECCs address is2520 Broadway Drive,Lauderdale,Mn, 55113 Telt 374-1132

OCT 79 NEWSLETTER

SOURCE. This service provides local phonec o n n e c t i n n t o a l a r g e s y s t e n . P a s c a l ,Fortran are avai lable plus an infornationbank covering such things as Stock ExchangeInfornation, Business Software Inf., TravelInf., Consuner Bata, etc. Cost is $100 forhookup or $125 with software package, and$2.75 per hour non-prine tine or weekends.There is a nininun charge of 15 per nonth.Their address is-Teleconputing Corp of Anerica1616 Anderson Rd.,Hdean, Va., 22102

SNART SYSTEMI don't have nuch infornation at this tineexcept that the cost is approxinately thesane as fnr SOURCE. They nny not have localphone capability. Their address is-1301 Uest Estes Avenue,Chicago, Illinois, 60o26

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MINI'APP'LES13516 Grand Avenue SouthBurnsvi l leMinnesota, 55337.