Just a quick note for those of you that have a No Slot Clock, Daylight Savings Time was this past weekend. The No Slot Clock does not automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time so if you have one and are in an area under Daylight Savings Time, you should go in and adjust the time ahead one hour. I just noticed mine needed to be reset.
On csa2, under Name That Program, Sneeze was suggested (by gld…@sasktel.net).
I went to Asimov and downloaded a copy to try out. Sneeze 2.2 comes on a diskette image with an assortment of programs. The READ.ME.FIRST TXT file calls this an Apple II Telecomm Starter Disk.
It is a bootable diskette image and when you are done booting it SNEEZE is automatically run. SNEEZE will run BAS and BIN programs, open directories and print or display TXT or AWP files. It is supposed to display most graphic files, and copy or delete files.
It has a very clean and professional look to it. I haven’t thoroughly tested it but believe it deserves a good look if you are looking for a program selector.
Once again I have missed entering the Spring Thing. For several years I have thought about entering, but always seem to miss the deadline. The Spring Thing is an annual Interactive Fiction competition.
I had forgotten about it until I read a post on another blog, The Digital Antiquarian. The deadline to submit an intent to enter was on March 1st.
On the other hand there is always The Interactive Fiction Competition in the fall. This year will be the twentieth and hopefully many will enter good projects.
MENU2 reminds me of AppleWorks, visually. When you run it it draws a file tab across the top of the screen with the prefix on the tab. If you choose a sub-directory it draws another tab under that tab with the new prefix on it. This program open sub-directories, runs programs and EXECs text files.
MENU1 displays a directory of the disk and labels each file with a letter. If the file is a text file it displays it on the screen, one screen at a time. If it a sub-directory it opens it and displays the new list, with letters. Programs get run.
KOKO.START.2 displays the directory under a header that looks like a couple of trusses (I believe they used mouse text hour glasses). It only lists files it can work with; programs or directories. (Command keys are upper case.)
Finally, PROFINDER is the smallest of them all, at 5 blocks. It displays the directory and lets you move a highlighted bar up and down the list; pressing return operates on that file. Programs get run and directories get opened. To backup a directory level, just push the escape key. It is small, simple and clean.
MENU3 which I mentioned yesterday is the largest of the AppleSoft programs at 26 blocks, while SQUIRT.SYSTEM tops out at 35 blocks.
— CORRECTION —
The program I discussed yesterday as the first, STARTUP, is not actually the program selector. It is a small program that displays the Big Red Computer Club disk name and contact information, then runs the selector called WINDOW.
On MacGUI, I searched for program selector and right near the top was a disk image from Big Red Computer Club (235 ProDOS Menu Programs), full of program selectors, 10 in AppleSoft and one .SYSTEM program.
There is one that starts up when you boot the disk. The other nine AppleSoft programs are kept in a sub-directory called MENU.PROGRAMS and they all have different features. The .SYSTEM program called SQUIRT.SYSTEM is in a sub-directory called SQUIRT.SELECTOR and is for starting .SYSTEM programs.
All, but three start by generating a directory listing and letting you work from there. LAUNCH.2PLUS and SUPER.STARTUP both want to set the date and time before displaying the directory.
SUPER.HELLO was a puzzle to me. It prints a title screen and the only thing I could figure out how to do was exit (^e).
The first program, STARTUP lets you move up and down the directory listing to choose programs to run or sub-directories to open. If you want to change the prefix to another disk, you better spell it right or the program crashes.
LAUNCH.2PLUS after requesting the date and time, displays a list of file names only, with letters to choose with. It is limited to 31 file names according to the help. When entering the date and time it took a while to figure out the time needed to go in in 2400 format with no colon, even though it showed it with one on the screen (9:01pm is 2101).
LOCATOR.1.0 uses a short list of names only.
SUPER.STARTUP lists names and file types and numbers them, although the numbers aren’t used. (Command keys are upper case.)
MENU3 is simple and uses names and file types,with the arrow keys to chose.
The rest of this disk I will discuss tomorrow.
Looking through Asimov, you kind of have to go by file name and guess if the file is what you are looking for.
On csa2 there was one direct suggestion, so I downloaded that one, select10.gz, to try out.
It’s on a bootable disk which requires an 80 column card. It comes up with a clean display listing the files on the disk in three columns and a forth column lists available commands. Across the top is the program name and disk space information and at the bottom is a place for messages.
You use the arrows to highlight the file you want and the command from the right column to perform an operation. This program allows you to change ProDOS volumes, lock/unlock files, rename and delete files.
Of course, it allows you to open files. Opening a program just runs it, but opening a TXT file is where it seems to fall apart. I selected the on disk documentation SELECTOR.DOCS TXT and got a ?SYNTAX ERROR which appears to be caused by the program EXECing the text file. With out digging too far, I listed the program after the syntax error and there were new lines added to the beginning that looked like chapter headings.
I loaded AppleWorks and then added SELECTOR.DOCS to the desktop as a word processing document. Sure enough section 5.2 on opening a file says if the file type is BAS, BIN, TXT or SYS it will be EXECed. It futher warns bad things happen if the file is not really meant to be run.
Personally, I would prefer that if the file was of type text, it was opened and displayed on the screen. This would allow you to read on disk notes and documentation.
I was reading csa2 yesterday and somebody called Harry Potter was asking about a ProDOS program selector.
It started me thinking. In the past, if I wanted a program selector, I wrote a quick and dirty Applesoft program and saved it as Startup. On csa2, there were three categories of suggestions: write a system program, write an Applesoft program, or find one that is already written on the internet.
As I’ve said, I have already written some of them in Applesoft. I’ve never published them because they were just quick and dirty programs. They did what I needed, but nothing more or fancy.
I got curious about what was out there on the internet, so I did a little looking. I started with Asimov. They aren’t as easy to find as I figured they would be. With that in mind I am going to keep looking and when I find some I like I’ll post about them.
Today I downloaded GSport, a front end for Kegs. I downloaded the Windows version, because I have read you could use the Windows printer to print Apple II stuff.
I spent several hours with GSport and did not get to a point where I was comfortable running it. This struck me as strange, because with the Android version, I just had to find the right folder/directory to put the ROM and disk images in and it worked.
I am more familiar with AppleWin, and find it easier to run. AppleWin opens one window to run in, where GSport opens two windows, one for the display and one for status and you tend to jump back and forth between them.
Below is a direct copy of my post from my Vintage Mac Blog
—
I like emulators.
I use them as a convenience, not a replacement to the real computer. I have an Apple //e and an Apple //c. The //c is set up on a smaller desk right next to my regular computer desk. It is sometimes easier to use AppleWin to move files from disk to disk, building new disks.
Between my Apple //c and my regular desk is my Macintosh SE, very handy. I’ve still had occasion to load up Mini vMac on my PC and try something out.
Recently, I found a copy of Kegs (Apple //gs emulator) that had been ported to Android. I have an iRulu tablet, with keyboard that runs Android and have been playing with that.
I found a copy of Mini vMac that has been ported to Android, so I installed that and have been trying it out also. I haven’t done anything in particular, but it is up and running.
It is kind of fun to plug the keyboard into my tablet and run either emulator and have a portable mini Apple // or Macintosh.
—
In addition to setting up Mini vMac on my Android, I also set it up on my Windows machine, which lets me move around disk images.
I got AppleWorks up and running on the tablet and started playing with some numbers in the spreadsheet. It has been many years since I last used the spreadsheet in AppleWorks, but I have used others so it should be no problem, right?
I could not remember how to put a formula into a cell. My manuals are in storage, so I had to go online and look it up. (I wish that had been a useful option 25 years ago.) I tried starting the formula with an equals sign but, I should have used a plus sign.
Just like that I was back up and spreadsheeting in AppleWorks.
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