[HEA] _____________________ ___ _ |___ ______________| | | | | | | _ | | | | | || | | | | | | || | | | | | | || | | | ____ _ _ _ _ ______ | | | || | | | / __ \ | | / \_/ \ | ___ \ | | | || |__ ____ | | / / \ | | /\ /\ \ | | \ \ | | | || _ \ | _ \ | | \ \__/ | | | |_|| | | |__/ / | | | || | | || |_|| | | \___/|_| |_| |_| | ____/ |_| | || | | || |__ | |____________________ | | _ |__||_| |_|\____/ |________________________| | | |_| | | Lighting Your Apple II Path | | |_| ----------------------------------- >>> WELCOME TO THE LAMP! <<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE BEST OF THE A2 BULLETIN BOARD ON Syndicomm Online "Teaching the Apple II user how to fish since 1998" :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Lamp! An Onipa'a Software Production Vol. 8, No. 12 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Publisher................................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. Editor.....................................................Lyle Syverson Internet Email, Publisher.........................thelamp@sheppyware.net Internet Email, Editor................................lyle@FoxValley.net :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: TABLE OF CONTENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ December 15, 2005 HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN] Gifts That Inspire A2 FORUM AT Syndicomm Online (A2Central.com) DISTILLATIONS------------[DAS] Bert Kersey in Syndicomm Chat on Saturday, Nov. 26---------------[BKG] DiskMaker 8 v1.0 Available in A2 Library-------------------------[DME] Development of DiskMaker 8 Challenging and a Lot of Fun----------[DM8] John Carmack to be Inducted Into the "Walk of Game"--------------[WOG] Classic AppleWorks-----------------------------------------------[AWS] Deja ][ from JEM Software----------------------------------------[DJA] Content Management System for Web Sites--------------------------[CMS] Silvern Castle v9.0 Released-------------------------------------[SCR] GUI Gallery------------------------------------------------------[GUI] XGS32------------------------------------------------------------[XGS] Apple II Oasis---------------------------------------------------[A2O] Bernie II the Rescue---------------------------------------------[BTR] KEGS for UNIX / Linux--------------------------------------------[KUL] GS Development Tools... Compatibility With Modern Source Code----[GDT] ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SYNDICOMM------------------------------------------[ANS] To Sign up for Syndicomm Online----------------------------------[TSU] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR-------------------------------------------------[LTE] No Letters to the Editor This Month An Invitation KFEST 2006------------------------------------------------------------[KF6] KansasFest 2006--------------------------------------------------[KFS] EXTRA INNINGS About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN] [*] [*] [*] READING THE LAMP! The index system used by The Lamp! is designed to make """"""""""""""""" your reading easier. To use this system, load this issue into any word processor or text editor. In the index you will find something like: EXTRA INNINGS About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN] To read this article, simply use your search or find command to locate [INN]. There is a similar tag at the end of each article: [EOA]. [OPN]------------------------------- HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER | ------------------------------------ From The Editor """"""""""""""" by Lyle Syverson Gifts That Inspire ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this season of gift giving, it is good to remember that the best gifts are those that inspire the receiver's imagination. Imagination opens up the possibility for one to be creative. Many creative people have played a roll in the evolution of the Apple II computers and what can be done with them. This issue reminds us that a lot of people have been using their imagination to develop emulators of the Apple II's and software to facilitate moving files between the Apple II's and the emulators. So if you are choosing a gift for a child... look for something that will inspire his/her imagination. [EOA] ASCII ART BEGINS _________ _ _ _ |__ __| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |___ ____ | | _____ __ ___ _ _ _____ | | | | | ___ \ / __ \ | | /____ \ | v v | | v ___ \ | | | | | | | | | /__\ \ | | ____| | | /\ /\ | | / \ \ | | | | | | | | | _____| | | / ___ | | || || | | | | | |_| | | | | | | | |_____ | |____ | |__| | | || || | | \___/ / _ |_| |_| |_| \______| |______| \____^_| |_||_||_| | |\____/ |_| | | | | |_| ASCII ART ENDS [EOA] [DAS]---------------------------------------------- DISTILLATIONS FROM The A2 FORUM at Syndicomm.com | (A2Central.com) | --------------------------------------------------- by Lyle Syverson [BKG] Bert Kersey in Syndicomm Chat on Saturday, Nov. 26 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Bert Kersey, Founder of Beagle Bros Micro Software Inc, will be the Syndicomm Apple II forum's guest in its chat room on Saturday, Nov. 26th at 7:00 PM PST. We hope to see you there! Old time Apple II users will remember the '80's, and the cool Beagle Bros ads in magazines that included one-liner BASIC programs that you could type in to have your Apple II do strange and wonderful things. Bert's products were definitely fun! (A2.KIRK, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 595) >>>>> """"" This is really, really exciting! Bert Kersey's been really hard to find for a long, long time! :) Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit. (SYNDICOMM, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 596) >>>>> """"" Kirk, You rule. Not that I'd say that in public or where you would hear it or anything. Ryan Chief Sysop and Head Geek (A2.RYAN, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 597) >>>>> """"" And the hits just keep on rolling! Way to go, Kirk! I still have a Beagle Bros. peek and poke chart stuck on my bulletin board by my computer. :) _________ | homas (TCOMPTER, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 598, Msg 598) >>>>> """"" >> I still have a Beagle Bros. peek and poke chart stuck on my bulletin board by my computer. << LOL I use mine almost every day when I'm doing AppleSoft programming. :) I've worn out 2 so far, the last one I scanned so I don't have to use my last mint-condition chart. :) -Jeff (FINKSTERJ, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 600) >>>>> """"" Thanks, guys! It helps that everyone I've ever asked to be a guest has uniformly been a great guy! Hmmm.... Anyone know of any Apple II gal celebrities I should ask? Kirk (A2.KIRK, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 599) [EOA] [DME] DiskMaker 8 v1.0 Available in A2 Library """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" There is a new upload in the utilities/prodos8/disk_utilities directory: File: dm8v1.0.bxy Size: 20480 Date: Dec 3 DiskMaker 8 v1.0 Copyright 2005 by Mark Percival DiskMaker 8 is an 8-bit version of Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd's GSOS program, DiskMaker. DiskMaker is a utility to convert disk images back to physical media. The intention is to bring the ease of use and functionality of Sheppy's program to the 8-bit world including an optional mouse interface. Requires a 128K Enhanced Apple IIe, IIc, IIc plus or IIgs. Shareware: $5. Uploaded by the author. Tony Ward, A2 Librarian (A2.TONY, Cat 2, Top 37, Msg 62) [EOA] [DM8] Development of DiskMaker 8 Challenging and a Lot of Fun """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" After 17 months, 13,686 lines of assembly code and 5 beta releases, DiskMaker 8 is finally ready for prime time. It has been a long development cycle but a lot of fun too. :) If you want to try it out you can download it either from the library here or from DiskMaker 8's web site which has some screen shots and downloadable in various formats including Contiki friendly .dsk images. http://www.syndicomm.com/~mark/DM8/ Feedback on how I can make DiskMaker 8 better is always appreciated. -- Mark (MARK, Cat 20, Top 22, Msg 5) >>>>> """"" Very cool Mark. I congratulate you on this release. I know you worked hard on it. I'll get it going once I have my computer area set back up and get an 8-bitter running again. Dain (A2.DAIN, Cat 20, Top 22, Msg 7) [EOA] [WOG] John Carmack to be Inducted Into the "Walk of Game" """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" According to , John Carmack is among this year's inductees into the "Walk of Game". The article notes that "Before co-founding id Software in 1991, Carmack worked at Softdisk Publishing." (KGAGNE, Cat 2, Top 31, Msg 58) >>>>> """"" The name is very familiar from Softdisk programs. He was one of the original high scores on some games. Without looking I don't remember specific games and stuff he wrote, but his name was on quite a few things. Come to think of it he wrote the Dark Designs series. He created it anyway. Silvern Castles has a similar look and feel to Dark Designs. DD was a nice pretty straightforward adventure game. Bruce (BBAKER, Cat 2, Top 31, Msg 59) [EOA] [AWS] Classic AppleWorks """""""""""""""""" This program is "abandonware" - commercially unavailable and yet not freely distributable, correct? I suppose that goes for the manual as well? I use the program daily, yet there are some functions with which I'm unaccustomed. It's been so long since I upgraded to it from Quality Computers, I'm unsure where my manual(s) may be these days. An online edition would be handy. -Ken (KGAGNE, Cat 9, Top 19, Msg 10) >>>>> """"" By that definition, yes (I prefer the term "trapped in the private domain"). The whole rights thing has gotten rather messy in recent years... there was an episode of This Week in Tech not long ago that had some discussion on it (including the role Creative Commons is taking in some of these issues). I know I have a spare AppleWorks 5.0 manual somewhere (which is basically an addendum--delta--to the 4.0 manual). Additionally, Doug Cuff wrote a 5.1 delta addendum (a delta delta?) which was published in the July 1996 issue of GenieLamp A2. But yes, the manual is in the same legal limbo as the program itself. Ryan Chief Sysop and Head Geek (A2.RYAN, Cat 9, Top 19, Msg 11) [EOA] [DJA] Deja ][ from JEM Software """"""""""""""""""""""""" Howard reports getting this program to work under OS X as long as it is the first program launched at startup. I don't recall specifically, but I don't think that has been my experience, so YMMV. (KGAGNE, Cat 9, Top 40, Msg 8) >>>>> """"" Kelvin mentioned, oh, a year and a half ago: >> Deja ][ was reclassified to freeware and renamed "OpenPhoenix" a few years ago. The source code is included in the archive here: << I tried that URL, and got a 404 error. I tried backing up to just http://emulation.net and got a login prompt. Whose site is emulation.net? Is the archive Kelvin mentioned available anywhere else (like here)? _________ | homas (TCOMPTER, Cat 9, Top 40, Msg 9) >>>>> """"" >> http://emulation.net/apple2/openphoenix.sea.bin I tried that URL, and got a 404 error... Is the archive Kelvin mentioned available anywhere else... >> Go to: http://www.gno.org/pub/apple2/mac.tools/ Scoll down and click on: openphoenix.sea.hqx Lyle Syverson Editor, _The Lamp!_ published monthly at: http://lamp.a2central.com/ (LYLE, Cat 9, Top 40, Msg 10) [EOA] [CMS] Content Management System for Web Sites """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I've heard some webmasters speak of using or moving to a "content management system". What is that? -Ken (KGAGNE, Cat 11, Top 29, Msg 111) >>>>> """"" I believe what they are talking about is something that allows "ordinary" users to provide content directly to the site, while the site's look and feel and programming is managed by the administrators. In the Macromedia world, there is something called "Contribute" which (I believe) allows webmasters to set up sites with style sheets using Dreamweaver and programmed with a number of different technologies, but which allows the subject matter experts for each page or subsite to directly update the actual content. _________ | homas (TCOMPTER, Cat 11, Top 29, Msg 112) [EOA] [SCR] Silvern Castle v9.0 Released """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Silvern Castle v9.0 has been released! http://www.syndicomm.com/~finksterj/SilvernCastle/ Bugs Fixed in v9.0: -Fixed a bug with maze teleporters which was not setting the internal X,Y coordinates correctly, causing the automap to crash with error 53-5495. Thanks to Bruce Baker for reporting this. -If very powerful parties engage very weak monsters, the integer variable holding the monster's flee rate could overflow, causing error 53-1145 and possibly others. Now this variable is type real. Thanks to Bruce Baker for reporting. Stuff Changed in v9.0: -In Camp, if you have more than 8 items, the last item's index number on the first page of items displayed is inversed to give you an indication you have another page of items. New Stuff in v9.0: -Graphics! By default, a picture of the monster type in the first group is displayed during combat. In addition, loot graphics are shown when getting spoils. -New preference: Show graphics? (default=Y) If you don't want to see the new pictures, you can turn them off. (FINKSTERJ, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 195) >>>>> """"" Wow, Jeff. Has there ever been a more advanced Applesoft game than Silvern Castle? Ryan Chief Sysop and Head Geek (A2.RYAN, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 196) >>>>> """"" Well, many games from the past were AppleSoft/Assembly hybrids like Pirates, Space Vikings, Taipan, and almost all SSI titles like the RoadWar series and Imperium Galactum to name a few. But perhaps the AppleSoft vs. Assembly ratio, exclusive of MicroDot, is much higher in SC: 130,202 bytes of AppleSoft 11,725 bytes of Assembly -Jeff (FINKSTERJ, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 197) >>>>> """"" I've got SC 9.0 up and running on my pc emulator. It looks very cool. It does remind me of wizardry somewhat. Neat job Jeff. Bruce (BBAKER, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 198) [EOA] [GUI] GUI Gallery """"""""""" Ran across this on http://www.tuaw.com .... GUI Gallery GUI Gallery is one of my favorite sites; it's a collection of screenshots from pretty much every GUI-based OS ever released, from GEM to Apple System v1.1 to BeOS to different iterations of Mac OS X. This site has been around quite a long time, and I've used it many times in teaching Introduction to Computers classes. I'm a firm believer that people brand new to computers need to have a sense of the history of computers and nothing shows the evolution of our computer platforms better than this site. There's even screenshots of the hilarious and misguided Microsoft Bob. Hours of entertainment, especially if you check out his links to other GUI sites. Enjoy! What's missing here is the picture of the Apple IIgs startup screen! Check it out! http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/25/gui-gallery/ Jeff (LUMITECH, Cat 16, Top 1, Msg 6) [EOA] [XGS] XGS32 """"" Has anybody used XGS32? It has a better user-interface then KEGS, but XGS has problems. For one, it won't boot my hard drive image with System 6.0.1 with ProBoot, but it will boot a 3.5" System 6.0.1 disk and ProDOS 8 hard drive images. -Jeff (FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 1) >>>>> """"" >> For one, it won't boot my hard drive image with System 6.0.1 with ProBoot... << Well, it works. But I have to exit and relaunch for it to work. So far, minus all these little annoying issues like above, it looks like a good alternative to KEGS. At least I can get full-screen now (my major problem with KEGS). http://xgs32.emucamp.com/ -Jeff (FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 2) >>>>> """"" I used XGS (X-Windows and DOS), before Kegs was available. I found it to be almost unusable due to the bugs. (I think the cop and adc [dp],y instructions didn't work correctly). Kelvin. (KWS, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 3) >>>>> """"" >> I used XGS (X-Windows and DOS), before Kegs was available. I found it to be almost unusable due to the bugs. (I think the cop and adc [dp],y instructions didn't work correctly). << The latest version of XGS32 is v1.6.92 (dated 3/31/2000). I'm booting with System 6.0.1, I ran ORCA/M, Arkanoid, and Silvern Castle. No problems. Wolf3D didn't work. Seems very stable so far. The biggest missing feature is Apple II speaker emulation, although Ensoniq output is, the II speaker isn't. -Jeff (FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 4) >>>>> """"" When Bernie and Gus was hitting it big on the Mac scene, there was a pang of jealousy since I didn't have a Mac. I compiled XGS on my system at work in early 1998. Boy, was it horribly slow--I don't think I even got 1 MHz emulation. I got KEGS working in early 1999 and I was getting 8-9 MHz on a 233 MHz PC. My mind was made up that KEGS was the only choice of emulators for me. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 5) >>>>> """"" >> ...XGS on my system at work in early 1998... << XGS32 is a Win32 port of XGS. Sounds like too many had bad experiences with the old DOS XGS to try XGS32. It's by a different author. Now, I still prefer KEGS, and XGS32 is a little slow (20Mhz max vs 200Mhz on my PC) and has other annoying issues, but it is good enough to be usable. -Jeff (FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 6) >>>>> """"" I like KEGS better too. I tried XGS, but since I am a Linux fan, I liked KEGS. It performed better for me. I compiled KEGS on an HPUX workstation also when I had one of them for a while. Thanks, Gene Linkoski - gleinnek Delivered by Spectrum v2.5.3 & SOAR v1.0b11 (GLEINNEK, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 7) >>>>> """"" No, never used DOS XGS (or the Windows version)--I had used the UNIX version. It was a horrible disappointment to see Gus and Bernie running so well and XGS just was not stable and slower than molasses. I found no reason to even look back at XGS since KEGS does everything I need so much better with a GS emulator. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 8) >>>>> """"" Except KEGS only has that tiny window, sometimes I want full-screen. (FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 9) >>>>> """"" I used XGS 32 before switching to kegs because of how it handled disk image swapping. (TECHNERD, Cat 29, Top 12, Msg 10) [EOA] [A2O] Apple II Oasis """""""""""""" Has anyone used or tried the Apple II Oasis emulator? I downloaded it recently and I like it. Compared to AppleWin, Oasis has fast and snappy video output, whereas AppleWin video output is slow and sluggish even at the fastest emulation speeds. I still prefer KEGS overall, but KEGS lacks a full-screen mode. Oasis does do full-screen, as AppleWin, but the video output is as fast as KEGS, so I've been using Oasis more often for 8-bit stuff. -Jeff (FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 16, Msg 1) >>>>> """"" OK, I can see why people might prefer AppleWin over Oasis. AppleWin is free, Oasis is $25 shareware, and the unregistered copy only allows 20 minutes per session. (FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 16, Msg 2) >>>>> """"" But Apple ][ Oasis's disk image software is almost worth the cost... It is almost as good as ciderpress. (TECHNERD, Cat 29, Top 16, Msg 3) >>>>> """"" Another thing Oasis does better is sound-it's as good as KEGS. AppleWin's audio output goes away at the faster emulation speeds. As for disk image software, another one I found (but haven't really used) is Apple Commander: http://applecommander.sourceforge.net/ -Jeff (FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 16, Msg 4) [EOA] [BTR] Bernie II the Rescue """""""""""""""""""" I would like to have a Mac as an accessory to my GS to be a laptop GS. I have a few questions regarding this: 1. What is the last version of the Mac OS that fully supports Bernie to the Rescue? 2. What are the last versions of the Powerbook and iBook that fully support the version of Mac OS in question #1? I would also like the machine to have SCSI, parallel, and serial ports, so I can hook it to my current peripherals when at home. 3. What is/are good sources of refurbished or new (still gathering dust in the stockroom) Macs from question #2? I am not interested in ebay or other auction sites. I would rather deal with a known to be reputable dealer. I have just ordered a Mac Mini, on which I will learn about Macs and use to access the web. So, I would also like to be able to ethernet the two machines to transfer files between them. MT Steve (S.BERNBAUM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 160) >>>>> """"" 1. What is the last version of the Mac OS that fully supports Bernie to the Rescue? Mac OS 9.2.2. 2. What are the last versions of the Powerbook and iBook that fully support the version of Mac OS in question #1? I would also like the machine to have SCSI, parallel, and serial ports, so I can hook it to my current peripherals when at home. Any Mac that can boot Mac OS 9 will work. There are no Macs with parallel ports; there never have been. To get SCSI or serial ports, you'll have to go back to the PowerBook G3 line. You probably need a "Wall Street" model, as it's the last one to have both SCSI and serial ports. The "Pismo" model was the last PowerBook to have SCSI. No iBooks have ever included either SCSI or serial ports. 3. What is/are good sources of refurbished or new (still gathering dust in the stockroom) Macs from question #2? I am not interested in ebay or other auction sites. I would rather deal with a known to be reputable dealer. You might try SmallDog.com. Otherwise I can't think of anyplace I'd rather go than eBay. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit. (SYNDICOMM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 161) >>>>> """"" I run Bernie 2.5.9 on OS 10.4.3 without any trouble. In some ways, it works even better this way than it did under OS 8.1 on my Wallstreet. (In Juiced.GS, Ryan once wrote a review of a Wallstreet he got from SmallDog; I believe he called it the best/perfect model for a laptop GS) (KGAGNE, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 162) >>>>> """"" That may have been true at that time. There are now better GS emulators and much better laptop options. At least for the speed and features I want from GS emulation. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 163) >>>>> """"" I find Bernie to be rather unreliable and kludgy in Classic, which is why I haven't used it in years. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit. (SYNDICOMM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 164) >>>>> """"" Sheppy, Ken, and Geoff, Thanks for answering my questions. From what I have read here over the past few years, I gather that Bernie cannot access the ports from OS X. Since I would want to be able to print from AppleWorks classic and telnet from Spectrum, it sounds like I should look for a Wall Street PowerBook. As far as using other emulators, I have gotten the impression from conversations on the RT here, that the other GS emulators for Mac OS X are either online based or not fully functional. I don't want to be tied to the internet when using an emulator. For me that rather defeats the point in having a laptop GS that I can use anywhere, including out in the middle of nowhere (of which we have a lot in Montana ;). That is why I decided to look for one that would allow Bernie to be fully functional. Once my Mac Mini arrives and I get is set up and figured out, I will look at SmallDog.com. Thanks again. MT Steve (S.BERNBAUM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 165) >>>>> """"" What GS emulator is online-based? (KGAGNE, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 167) >>>>> """"" The only GS emulator that I can think of that is not fully functional (defined as missing some capabilities that will prevent emulation of some standard GS programs) is MESS. By this definition, KEGS is much more functional than Bernie since it has more accurate super hires support (i.e. able to support 3200 color mode). It is true that Bernie supports clipboard sharing with the Mac desktop, but that doesn't effect the functionality of GS emulation. The ActiveGS emulator which is commonly used for running Apple II apps from a Web Browser doesn't have to be used online. There is a stand alone version which works perfectly well without any Internet connection. The stand alone version is a regular application and won't run in a Browser window. It doesn't sound like you are getting the best advice from your sources. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 168) >>>>> """"" I like to stick with what I know, which is why I'm still word processing with AppleWorks Classic. It's also why I still use Bernie: it's the first and only Apple II emulator I've ever used since I bought my first Mac in 1997. It may not be the best one, just the most familiar - a quality which doesn't hold for someone who's never used it before, so a first-time emulator-user may be best trying something else. Geoff is correct that Ryan's suggestion was likely appropriate for the era in which it appeared. OTOH, it's also true that interfacing a SCSI drive with a IIgs emulator on any PowerBook newer than a Wall Street will prove challenging. -Ken (KGAGNE, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 169) >>>>> """"" Geoff said: >> It doesn't sound like you are getting the best advice from your sources. << There is nothing wrong with my sources. They are you guys. :) The problem is with my interpretation of what I have read, in following your conversations about emulators that I have never seen. I was under the impression that ActiveGS was only a browser usable emulator. I was unaware that there was a stand alone version. Similarly, I was under the impression that the fully implemented KEGS was only available for Windows. Do both of these have full port access under Mac OS X, so that I could use Spectrum to access the modem and AppleWorks Classic to access the printer, and have access to the floppy drive? (I am getting a USB floppy drive for my new Mac desktop system.) If so, where would I look to find these emulators? >> It is true that Bernie supports clipboard sharing with the Mac desktop, but that doesn't effect the functionality of GS emulation. << For me, functionality of the emulator means that I can use it for everything for which I now use my GS, irrespective or how closely it emulates every detail of the GS. I use my GS as my main computer, with all my business, data bases, spreadsheets, and finances on it. Do these other emulators stack up well by this definition? Ken said: >> Geoff is correct that Ryan's suggestion was likely appropriate for the era in which it appeared. OTOH, it's also true that interfacing a SCSI drive with a IIgs emulator on any PowerBook newer than a Wall Street will prove challenging. << This is indeed an important point. Without a SCSI port, I would have to transfer all my programs and data one HD floppy at a time, instead of using my spare SCSI hard drive or one of my Syquest drives. I have seen USB/SCSI adapters in catalogs. Does anyone know if these work well enough that I could use one as an interface? Thanks for all your advice. Steve (S.BERNBAUM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 170) >>>>> """"" KEGS (the version maintained by Kent Dickey) works almost the same on Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX. There are several branches of the code that other developers spawned their own versions: KEGS32 and KEGS/SDL. ActiveGS is a new branch based off the KEGS32 code. CasaGS is a new branch based off the KEGS/SDL. This gives a total of 5 different versions of what some may consider to be KEGS--all with varying levels of features. I am not familiar enough with the XBox and Amiga ports to determine if they should be categorized as new branches or if they are similar enough to older versions of Kent's KEGS. I'll let those who are familiar with them comment on that. IMO, when one talks about "KEGS", one should only refer to Kent's distribution. It will ease a lot of confusion. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 171) >>>>> """"" I wish CasaGS had been kept up; it actually had promise of being a nice emulator to use. Kent's own KEGS for Mac OS X is really user-unfriendly and not really worth bothering with, IMHO. Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit. (SYNDICOMM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 172) >>>>> """"" I don't mind KEGS's interface, but I really miss things like being able to drag files from the desktop into Bernie and having them appear in the Bernie.Transfer folder on System 6.0.1. My problem now is that KEGS has changed it's code more than a few times and I can't seem to get my disk images to work with it any longer. Dain (A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 173) [EOA] [KUL] KEGS for UNIX / Linux """"""""""""""""""""" I am using KEGS emulator 0.86 under Linux. Using Slackware 7.1 with kernel 2.2.19. I believe this is the version of KEGS that should be used with the KEGSethernetPatch.tar file available from A2Central.com. The README.ethernet file doesn't mention the KEGS version. I have applied the patches as indicated in the TAR file. But it doesn't seem to be working. I have run into the following problems and have some questions for someone (Geoff?) who maybe has this working. 1. Has anyone besides Geoff got this working with KEGS? 2. Is 0.86 the correct version of KEGS to use? What version of Linux was used to create the KEGSethernet patches? 3. What version of libpcap and libnet was used? I used version 1.1 of libnet and version 0.8.3 of libpcap downloaded from the sites in the README.ethernet file. 4. I had to also make the following modifications before it would compile correctly: a. sim65816.c has a call to "ethernet_update();", but that function isn't defined in ethernet.c. I changed it to "ethernet_transmit();". That makes me wonder if the patch tar file has the correct ethernet.c source. b. I had to add the following to the vars file in addition to those mentioned it the README.ethernet file because "pcap" was installed in /usr/local otherwise I got errors about pcap_if_t being undefined: OPTS = -DKEGS_LITTLE_ENDIAN -DETHERNET -D_THREAD_SAFE -I/usr/local/include EXTRA_LIBS = -lXext -L/usr/local/lib -lpcap -L /usr/lib -lnet -pthread After making the above changes, I was able to get KEGS to compile. I have a LanceGS in my regular GS, so I used the routing LANceGS.DRIVER from the disk for the LanceGS and patched it with the LANCEPATCH1.SHK also available from A2Central.com as described in the README.ethernet. KEGS runs everything else normally, but when I try to actually use Marinetti to telnet to something using the telnet application that came with Marinetti 3.0b1. I configured the LANceGS Ethernet to have a Primary Domain Server of my Linux box, 192.168.1.3, on my local office network. And when I "connect to network" from the TCP/IP Control Panel, it appears to connect OK, as I get no errors and then the "disconnect from network" button is active. But when I try to telnet to syndicomm.com, it hangs KEGS. I tried using the IP of my router, 192.168.1.1, but when that is used "connect to network" fails. Just seeing if anyone else has used KEGS in this manner and if so what mods from Geoff's original documentation did you have to make? I also, tried making the modifications to the latest 0.91 version of KEGS, but the "add_irq" call now takes an argument of the type IRQ_PENDING_xxxx that is for the handling IRQs in the scc.c logic, I haven't been able to decipher that logic yet, so i just commented out the "add_irq" call and it seems to do the same as for the 0.86 version -- everything but TCPIP works. I wonder if the IRQ logic is complete in ethernet.c as it calls "add_irq", but never calls "remove_irq". Thanks, Gene Linkoski glinkoski @ tampabay.rr.com (GLEINNEK, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 58) >>>>> """"" I downloaded the ethernet patches on a system which I have not built KEGS and can confirm that the instructions provided in the KEGSethernetPatch.tar archive do not work. I haven't had a chance yet to figure out what changes were implemented to cause this. I could have sworn I performed one last compile and install of KEGS with the released patches to verify it all worked. It doesn't help that the KEGS I use has additional changes which don't exist in Kent's version. It is a curse of open source. Thank you for the tip for remove_irq. I couldn't figure out why I was overflowing the GS IRQ buffer. That was an example of code I had added, but ended up never getting called since it broke too much stuff (but left to prove that open source csn work). On a side note, Linux wasn't used for development of this code. I recently installed openssl on a Slackware system (had to get the latest version of openssl which is not available for the version I was using) and found that Slack's default gcc configuration is not what I'm used to. I couldn't believe it didn't search the /usr/local/* hierarchy of files during compiling. I ended up linking stuff from /usr/local/lib into the /usr/lib. What a pain. I had similar issues with Red Hat Linux not searching libraries correctly either. I am so glad I don't develop on Linux. But Linux is close enough to UNIX that I can provide work arounds if issues are brought up here. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 59) >>>>> """"" I confirmed that the distributed version of ethernet.c is the correct version. I do have two errors in the documentation: * As you discovered, sim65816.c has to call "ethernet_transmit();" instead of "ethernet_update();". This is a problem introduced with this release. * In the EXTRA_LIBS lines in the vars file, replace "-pthread" with "-lpthread". This was a problem that apparently did not get noticed from the first release. When kegs starts up, you should have some lines that look like this go stdout (where eth0 may be the name of your ethernet interface if your OS supports that, and xxx, yyy, zzz, and zz are appropriate numbers for your network and/or interface): 1. eth0 (No description available) Loopback: no Address Family: #2 Address Family Name: AF_INET Address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Netmask: yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy Broadcast Address: zzz.zzz.zzz.zzz DEV: eth0 NET: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx MASK: yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy pcap interface:1 Ethernet IP:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Ethernet Netmask:yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy MAC address:zz:zz:zz:zz:zz:zz There is a bug in the code which prints the wrong information for "Ethernet IP:" and "Ethernet Netmask:", but that is irrelevant since it is supposed to be debug information from the libnet library. The "pcap interface" should show the numeric entry of the correct ethernet interface in the list above. The assumption is libnet figures out your primary ethernet interface and the kegs ethernet modules matches that information to the information given by the pcap library and that number is displayed here. If you don't see this text, make sure the xkegs permissions are 4755 and the owner is root. All incoming and outgoing packets are shown as well to stdout (each byte is listed in hex). Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 60) >>>>> """"" I have verified that libnet 1.1.2.1 and libpcap 0.8.3 work fine. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 61) [EOA] [GDT] GS Development Tools... Compatibility With Modern Source Code """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Orca sucks. I have found that the GS development tools are severely lacking compatibility with modern source code. Looking at the amount of work to attempt to port something shows that it is more efficient to write new code instead. I once had spent several weeks trying to compile javascript with Orca/C and just gave up since it became obvious that it will never work. With so much potential code that can be useful on the IIgs, there has to be way to get it to work. I recently discovered that the GNU development tools have some support for the 65816 architecture. This means a set of cross-development programming languages can be easily developed, and with a little effort, may be able to port itself directly to the GS. The steps to build a cross-development platform is to build binutils which include the assembler, disassembler, linker, object tools, etc. Then you can build the programming language of your choice: i.e gcc, g++, etc. The compiler converts the source into assembly, passes it to the assembler, and passes it to the linker to generate an executable. Take a look at what has been done with support for the 68HC11, an 8-bit processor. gcc now even generates code for this platform. I was wondering if there is anybody interested to help support the 65816 so it will actually be usable for IIgs applications? The maintainers of binutils have stated that they will drop support for this chipset if no maintainers come forward. The assembler, called gas (GNU Assembler), works. There is no support for OMF, GS/OS's executable type. There has never been an open source linker for the GS. ld, the GNU linker, is already written and supports several link formats. It should not be that hard to add OMF support. And finally getting gcc support looks very easy. The 68HC11 is very similar to the 65816 from an op-code perspective. One can base much from this existing code. I'll accept the challenge for adding the 65816 support for gcc, but this can't be started until there is a working linker. Here are some of the tasks which would be needed to complete this: - OMF support in ld (linker) - static library support (unknown? This may just work or may require a level of effort) - add the GS toolbox macros to gas (assembler) (a simple perl script could be written to convert an existing GS macro file to a format used by gas) - add the GS toolbox includes - port common libraries - add gcc support - add the GS toolbox macros to gcc (a simple perl script could be written to convert an existing GS macro file to a format used by gas) - probably more which I can't think of right now. It would be so cool to have an open source development platform for the GS. And by using the same tools as the rest of the open source community, there is a zero learning curve. Send me an email or post here if you have interest in this development. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 4) >>>>> """"" Geoff, Sounds great, but I'm not up to giving much but moral support. If there is a better development system, though, I can guarantee I'll use it. Ryan Chief Sysop and Head Geek (A2.RYAN, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 5) >>>>> """"" I'd love to see this happen, and would be willing to pitch in, but my time is pretty constrained these days. I also am fairly confident I don't have the skills necessary to write a viable linker. I agree that that's the key, though -- if we had a functional, portable linker for OMF, we could do a lot of great stuff. Anyone think they're up to it? Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit. (SYNDICOMM, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 6) >>>>> """"" Linker development can probably be split up into several stages. The first stage (and simplest) would be to get linking support from gas. This should be very straightforward since code exists for the COFF and ELF formats. A little research would be needed to determine the best approach to add library support. It does not appear that one has to be a whiz-bang programmer to succeed. From a feature standpoint, OMF appears to be very similar to COFF. Understanding COFF and applying it to make the necessary changes to existing code so the output is OMF may just be all that is needed. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 7) >>>>> """"" Well, I don't even know what COFF is, except that I'm guessing it's some kind of object file format. :) Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.com Owner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit. (SYNDICOMM, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 8) >>>>> """"" >> I don't even know what COFF is, except that I'm guessing it's some kind of object file format. :) << No, that would be KOFF! :-D Peter peterw@syndicomm.com Palm OS Community Bulletin Board Manager (PETERW, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 9) >>>>> """"" I would hate to be the one trying to make gcc emit 65816 code. A couple thoughts of my own: 1) LCC is another (mostly free) C compiler, and is easier (imo, having fooled around with it) to modify. I think there's a backend that emits z80 code. The LCC authors now work at Microsoft, and created a back end that emitted .NET (Stack based) byte code. The Orca/C Orca/Pascal compilers actually generate stack-based intermediate code and then convert it to 65816 code. 2) Does anyone write code for gas directly? I thought the macro support was via cpp or m4. 3) Having gas emit OMF files would probably be a good first step. 4) Actually, you might be able to convert COFF (or ELF, or whatever) object files into OMF object files. Kelvin. (KWS, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 10) >>>>> """"" >> I would hate to be the one trying to make gcc emit 65816 code. A couple thoughts of my own: << Making gcc emit 65816 code doesn't look bad at all. Making gcc emit efficient 65816 code is a path to hell. >> 1) LCC is another (mostly free) C compiler, and is easier (imo, having fooled around with it) to modify. << gas, ld, and gcc all work together. What will it take to add a GS compatible linker to lcc? How much work would be needed to modify third party make files and gcc code to work with lcc? Since there is so much code which assumes the gcc semantics (ignoring the fact that gcc does change some of its semantics with new releases), it seems that gcc would be a better choice over lcc. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 11) >>>>> """"" >> gas, ld, and gcc all work together. What will it take to add a GS compatible linker to lcc? << lcc spits out assembly code, which is assembled and linked by the native facilities (nasm, gas, gnu binutils, or whatever). It could emit orca/m, merlin, or mpw iigs assembly code (of course, gcc could do that too). I would think 32-bit, memory, stack assumptions, and even functions exceeding 64k would be a far bigger problem than people using nonstandard gcc extensions (based on my experiences porting unix utilities to work with gnome). Kelvin. (KWS, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 12) >>>>> """"" >> I would think 32-bit, memory, stack assumptions, and even functions exceeding 64k << 32-bit is a non-issue. Make the assumption that the word size is 32-bits. This adds overhead to the code, but ensures greater compatibility. The current code in binutils assumes the word size is 16-bits. So a possible solution can be to add another a new parameter such as "word32bit" to force an assumptions to use 2-bit words. This would put the onus on the porter or developer to understand the different memory models. It seems more straightforward to force a 32-bit word assumption and just deal with the extra instructions that get generated. memory won't be an issue for most things. The GS is a single-task computer so you aren't needing to run multiple things at the same time. Apps that require tons of memory will probably run too slowly to be useful anyway. As long as you don't actually use the stack to pass parameters--just a pointer in memory to where the parameters are stored, you save a lot of potential stack usage--three bytes for the return address and three bytes for the pointer to the parameter block. This does add overhead which don't occur with other processors. Again, 64k function limit can be worked around as well. Assume long addressing and long jump (no branching) and functions can be as big as you want. Special care will be needed at bank crossing to add a jump instruction from one bank to the next. As I said before, you don't get efficient code, but with GS emulators running at 100+ MHz with 14 megs of RAM, there is a lot of potential to see new software available for the GS that just wasn't capable before. The added benefit is that some things will work on real hardware in a reasonable manner as well. The 65816 was not designed to handle C development--it is very hideous when attempting to design a C compiler for it--there are a lot of compromises one has to make. But 65816 assembly is a dying art so an alternative needs to be made available to ensure any future. Geoff (GEOFF, Cat 58, Top 2, Msg 13) [EOA] [ANS]------------------------------- ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SYNDICOMM | ------------------------------------ by Lyle Syverson [TSU] TO SIGN UP FOR SYNDICOMM ONLINE """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Please visit our web site at http://www.syndicomm.com for information or to sign up! (Logon message) [EOA] [LTE]------------------------------- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | ------------------------------------ NO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THIS MONTH """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" The mail box for Letters to the Editor remained empty this month. [EOA] AN INVITATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Express your opinions about the comings and goings in the world of the Apple II computers. 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