mini'app'les · macsig:non tech users mon. july 15 6:30/7 pm. southdale area library 7001...

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mini'app'les WHICH WHEN WHERE Board Meeting Tue. July 9 7:30 pm. To be determined Dakota County Branch Tue. July 9 7 pm. St. John Neumann Church 4030 Pilot Knob Rd, Eagan Pascal & Apple /// Wed. July 10 7:30 pm. Mn Federal S&L Hopkins St. Cloud Branch No summer meeting MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom. Office. Bldg. Ri apple computer user group newsletter Volume VIII No 7 July 1985 WHAT Business SIG. note 10 Wed. July 17 Investment SIG., Note 4 Wed. July 17 Applesoft BASIG. Minnetonka Branch & Northwest Branch Main MacSIG. Board Meeting Mon. July 22 7:00 pm. Wed July 24 7:30 pm. Mon. July 29 6:30/7 pm. Wed Aug 7 7:30 pm After Regular Mini'app'les mtg. After Regular Mini'app'les mtg. Highland Park Library 1974 Ford Parkway, St. Paul Ridgedale Area Library 12601 Ridgedale Dr., Minnetonka Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina To be determined MacSIG Non Tech Users Mon. Aug. 12 Southdale Area Library REGULAR MINI'APP'LES Business & Investment Main MacSIG Northwest Branch WEDNESDAY Tentative: Oak Grove School Aug 21,7:30 See Next Month's Newsletter Wed Aug 21 After Regular Mini'app'les mtg. Mon Aug. 26 Southdale Area Library Tue Aug. 27 Rockford Road Library 7:00 pm. 6401 42nd Av N, Crystal Twin City Computer Show Oct 31 - Nov 3 St Paul Civic Center Notes: (See page 4 for telephone numbers) All members welcome. Please call Dave Laden for location - 488-6774. Open topic Note 7 Note 1 Note 15 Latest OverVue & Resource Editor demo demo of latest DOM. Note 16 Computer Broadcasting Company Ray Douglas, Note 2 Q& A Q&A Text files Tom Alexander, Note 17 Apple Works Note 8, 12 1st Anniversary of MacSIG! Hints for the Mac, Note 9 All members welcome. Note 16 Seminar Format: Magic Office System Demo & Apple ][ DOM show. Note 2 New member intro. Note 10, 4 Music! Note 9 Newsroom demo, Note 12 You know - like last year! 1. John Schoeppner 2. Dave Laden 3. Fred Woodward 4. Eric Holterman 5. Mark Abbott 6. Dan Buchler 7. Bob Pfaff 8. Dick Peterson 9. Mike Carlson 10. Dick Marchiafava 11. Bill DeCoursey 12. Jere Kauffman 13. Stewart Haight 16. Steve Bibus 14. Steve George 17. Tom Alexander 15. Frank M. Ringsmuth 698-8633 Branch and SIG Coordinators - Please Call Steve Bibus in order to have your meeting correctly listed!

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Page 1: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'lesWHICH WHEN WHERE

Board Meeting Tue. July 97:30 pm.

To be determined

Dakota County Branch Tue. July 97 pm.

St. John Neumann Church4030 Pilot Knob Rd, Eagan

Pascal & Apple /// Wed. July 107:30 pm.

Mn Federal S&LHopkins

St. Cloud Branch Nosummer meeting

MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 156:30/7 pm.

Southdale Area Library7001 York Ave. So., Edina

REGULARMINI'APP'LES

WEDNESDAYJuly 17, 7:30

U of M - ST. PAULClassroom. Office. Bldg. Ri

apple computer user group newsletter

Volume VIII No 7 July 1985WHAT

Business SIG. note 10 Wed. July 17Investment SIG., Note 4 Wed. July 17

Applesoft BASIG.

Minnetonka Branch &Northwest Branch

Main MacSIG.

Board Meeting

Mon. July 227:00 pm.

Wed July 247:30 pm.

Mon. July 296:30/7 pm.

Wed Aug 77:30 pm

After Regular Mini'app'les mtg.After Regular Mini'app'les mtg.

Highland Park Library1974 Ford Parkway, St. Paul

Ridgedale Area Library12601 Ridgedale Dr., Minnetonka

Southdale Area Library7001 York Ave. So., Edina

To be determined

MacSIG Non Tech Users Mon. Aug. 12 Southdale Area Library

REGULARMINI'APP'LES

Business & Investment

Main MacSIG

Northwest Branch

WEDNESDAY Tentative: Oak Grove SchoolAug 21,7:30 See Next Month's Newsletter

Wed Aug 21 After Regular Mini'app'les mtg.

Mon Aug. 26 Southdale Area Library

Tue Aug. 27 Rockford Road Library7:00 pm. 6401 42nd Av N, Crystal

Twin City Computer Show Oct 31 - Nov 3 St Paul Civic Center

Notes: (See page 4 for telephone numbers)

All members welcome. Please callDave Laden for location - 488-6774.

Open topicNote 7

Note 1

Note 15

Latest OverVue & Resource Editor demodemo of latest DOM. Note 16

Computer Broadcasting CompanyRay Douglas, Note 2

Q& A

Q & A

Text filesTom Alexander, Note 17

Apple WorksNote 8, 12

1st Anniversary of MacSIG!Hints for the Mac, Note 9

All members welcome.

Note 16

Seminar Format: Magic Office System Demo& Apple ][ DOM show. Note 2

New member intro. Note 10, 4

Music! Note 9

Newsroom demo, Note 12

You know - like last year!

1. John Schoeppner2. Dave Laden3. Fred Woodward4. Eric Holterman

5. Mark Abbott6. Dan Buchler7. Bob Pfaff8. Dick Peterson

9. Mike Carlson10. Dick Marchiafava11. Bill DeCoursey12. Jere Kauffman

13. Stewart Haight 16. Steve Bibus14. Steve George 17. Tom Alexander15. Frank M. Ringsmuth 698-8633

Branch and SIG Coordinators - Please Call Steve Bibus in order to have your meeting correctly listed!

Page 2: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'lesThe Minnesota Apple Computer Users' Group Inc.,

P.O. Box 796, Hopkins, MN 55343Board MembersPresident

Past President

Vice-Presiden

Treasurer

Secretary

488-6774David E. Laden1215 W. Laurie Rd,Roseville, MN 55113C h a s e A l l e n 4 3 1 - 7 2 7 815718 Hayes Trail,Apple Valley, MN 55124To m E d w a r d s 9 2 7 - 6 7 9 04521 Xerxes Ave. S.,Minneapolis, MN 55410Open

Communication DirSoftware DirectorTechnical Dir.SIG Director 1SIG Director 2Branch Director

CoordinatorsAdviser - SpreadsheetsBeginners' Consultant ][+Shows and conventionsMembership Co'torSpcl Int. - Apple ///Spcl Int. - Applesoft BasicSpcl Int. - BusinessSpcl Int. - EducationSpcl Int. - FORTHSpcl Int. - HandicapsSpcl Int. - InvestmentSpcl Int. - MacintoshSpcl Int. - PascalTech. Adviser (hdw)

Ken SlingsbyRoute II, Box 182,Welch, MN 55089

Dan BuchlerSteve GeorgeHugh KurtzmanKeith MadonnaDick MarchiafavaOpen

507/263-3715

Mike CarlsonS.K.JohnsonSteve GeorgeAnn BellDave RasmussenTom AlexanderDick MarchiafavaDave Laden (Acting)Mark AbbottSteve LyleEric HoltermanMike CarlsonJohn SchoeppnerRoger Flint

Branch CoordinatorsDakota CountyMinnetonkaNew HopeSt. CloudSt. Paul/MahtomediLiaison (t) - CP/MLiaison (t) - GeneologyLiaison (t) - Medical

Bob PfaffDick PetersonJere KauffmanFrank RingsmuthFred WoodwardPeter GillesBill DecourscyStewart Haight

t To provide contact with non-Mini'app'les SIGS

Software Director's StaffApple // Software Editor Steve George

Assistants:D O M s H u g h K u r t z m a nC P / M P e t e r G i l l e sE a m o n D a v e N o r d v a l lI A C R i c h a r d P e t e r s o nDOM Sales - Meetings Terry SchoeppnerMacDOM Editor/Prod Mark RichardsAssistant MacDOM Ed. Curtis Juliber

Circulation this issue: 1900

890-5051935-5775544-7303474-3876572-9305

866-3441869-3447935-5775544-4505938-7348698-8633572-9305488-6774854-8304894-2991822-8528866-3441455-8613771-2868

452-2541473-5846535-6745253-6032426-4060475-3916574-9062644-1838

935-5775

544-7303475-3916724-9174

455-8613925-3625

This is the Newsletter of Mini'app'les, the Minnesota Apple ComputerUsers' Group, Inc., a Minnesota non-profit club. Articles may bereproduced in other User Groups' publications except where copyrighted byauthor.Questions

Please direct questions to appropriate board member or officer. Technicalquestions should be directed to the Technical Director.Membership

Applications for membership should be directed to the MembershipCo-ordinator: Ann Bell 544-4505

8325 39th Avenue N.New Hope,Minnesota, 55427

$12 buys membership for one year. New members and persons renewingafter letting membership expire, pay a $5 administration fee. Membersreceive a subscription to this newsletter and all club benefits.DOMs and MSDs

DOMs (Disk of the Month) are available at meetings for $5/disk(S8/MacDOM) or any DOM may be ordered by mail for $6.00/disk ($9.00/MacDOM). MSDs are $15/disk at meetings or $17.50/disk by mail. Sendorders to Mini'app'les at PO Box 796 (see above), attention DOM Sales.

Members may have DOMs copied to their own media. See classified Adsfor details.Dealers

Mini'app'les does not endorse any specific dealers but promotes distribution of information which may help club members to identify the bestbuys and service. Consequently, the club does participate in bulk purchasesof media, software, hardware and publications on behalf of its members.Newsletter Contributions

Please send contributions on Mac 3 1/2" disks or via telecommunications directly to the Newsletter Editor. Contributions on 5 1/4"disks should be sent to the club PO Box, and marked: "NewsletterSubmission".

Deadline for publication is the 1st Wednesday of the month precedingthe month in which the item might be included. An article will be printedwhen space permits if, in the opinion of the Newsletter Editor, itconstitutes suitable material for publication.Meeting Dates

Please telephone calendar announcements to Steve Bibus - 374-1612.Advertising

Direct Advertising inquiries to our co-ordinator Eric Holterman at:PO Box 8266Minneapolis, MN 55408 612-822-8528

E-Mail: Source, BBR490; CompuServe, 71445,400

Newsletter Publication StaffDirector & Daniel B.Buchler ..390-5051

Editor 13516 Grand Avenue S.Burnsville, MN 55337

Ass is tan t Jo Hornung 922-7665 S teve N imchukE d i t o r s R i c k T h o m p s o n

Announcements Kent Edwards 452-4956C a l e n d a r S t e v e B i b u s 3 7 4 - 1 6 1 2Contributing Arsen Darnay 933-0399 Steve George 93t 5775

E d i t o r s T o m E d w a r d s 9 2 7 - 6 7 9 0 " *C o m p . / L a y o u t J o a n K i s t n e r 9 LM a i l i n g H u g h K u r t z m a n R i c h a r d P e t e r s o nAdvertising Eric Holterman 822-8528

-2-

Page 3: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

fh mini'app'les

C56

6

In This IssueA n n o u n c e m e n t s 4C l a s s i fi e d - 2 2FlashCalc: A Review by Fred Woodward 14I A C S o f t w a r e B u g . b y S t e v e G e o r g e 11July

Doms

J u l y D O M s b y S t e v e G e o r g e .I A C D O M # 3 9 }Bank'N (Personal Domain) }

J** ' min i ' ipp ' le i

.14

brfe•Fruit-of-the-Lime

. ,

Mac

(5

(3

3

by Tom Edwards 17J J P D A T E S b y T o m E d w a r d s 1 6

M a p o f M e e t i n g P l a c e - 2 2MegaWorks: A Review by John Hansen 12M i n u t e s @ b y K e n S l i n g s b y 1 5Newsroom: A Review by Fred Woodward 9The Mockingboard by Gavin Clarkson (Apple Dino. 11P r o D O S i . o i F i x . b y S t e v e G e o r g e 1 5P r o g r a m m i n g H i n t s b y D i c k W i g a n d 7Switcher 1st Impressions by Dan Buchler 19/ / c U t i l i t i e s B u g b y S t e v e G e o r g e 9

July 1985

AdvertisersCity Desk Computer Warehouse.. 23Computer Buying Service 10C o n n e c t i o n , T h e 8Day tons (Repair Service) 21Hagen Office Equipment 18H o u s e o f F o r m s 3P . C . S u p p l i e s . 7T e l e s o f t M a r k e t i n g 5University of Wisconsin 15Yukon Computer Products BC

ouse >Snap-a-part and ContinuousForms• Office and Data Processing

Supplies• Wedding Invitationsorms

20 NO. 1ST STREET • MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55401

OPEN MONDAY thru FRIDAY - 8:30-5:00Visa and

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C o n t i n u o u s P o s t c a r d s a n d I n d e x C a r d s n t sAsk About Our

CALL 332-4866For More Information and Prompt Service

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Continuous Address Labels Sold in Large and Small Quantities

Also: MANY OTHER SIZES AND TYPES OF PRINTER PAPER (Stop in and see our selection]DATA PROCESSING AND OFFICE SUPPLIES.

-3-

Page 4: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

AnnouncementsSt. Paul Branch Hiatusby Fred Woodward

The St. Paul Branch meetings usually experience a dropin the attendance during the summer months. As this hasbeen true for the past two years we are certain that the trendwill continue for this summer also. As a result, andbecause the St. Paul Branch director enjoys summer as muchas the next person, we have decided to take a summerhiatus. The last meeting before summer will be the Maymeeting. We will not be meeting for the months of June,July, and August. During this time feel free to contact mewith suggestions for topics and/or format changes for thefall.

Northwest Branch Newsby Jere Kauffman

A demo of APPLEWORKS will be the main topic at theJuly 24th meeting. We will have a joint meeting at theRidgedale Library with the Minnetonka Branch for thismonth. PLEASE NOTE!!! the meeting this month is onWednesday. THE NEWSROOM software will bedemonstrated on August 27th by Member Stevie Johnson.All friends in the Northwest suburbs are encouraged to joinand participate in our Branch meetings held the fourthTuesday of each month at 7PM. Watch the Calendar ofEvents for specific topics and meeting location.

NORTHWEST BRANCH CALENDAR

July 24 Appleworks DemonstrationWednesday Combined meeting with Mtka branch at

Ridgedale LibraryAugust 27 Newsroom Demonstration by Stevie JohnsonTuesday at Rockford Road Library

Non-Profit SIG?by Dick Marchiafava

Over the last year I have been contacted by severalmembers who are engaged in efforts at non-profitorganizations. We recently received an inquiry from arepresentative of such an organization which was referred tous by Apple Computer asking if we have a Special InterestGroup to address the needs of non-profit organizations. Atthis time we do not have such a SIG.

I think that the time has arrived to see if there areenough persons involved in non-profit organizations whoare using Apple computers to form a Special Interest Group.The purpose of such a group might be to explore thecomputing needs of non-profit operations, provide a forumfor an exchange of ideas and information and to getdemonstrations of products or techniques to help meetthose needs.

There are many types of non-profit organizationsusing computers in their operations from charities raisingfunds to Development Achievement Centers. Many of theseorganizations include persons who are Mini'app'lesmembers. Those who are not members can join.

If you would be interested in such a SIG, contact DickMarchiafava, Director, Application SIGS at 612-572-9305.I will try to set up a meeting to discuss starting anNPOSIG.

business SIGby Dick Marchiafava

Meeting notesDuring the summer months the Business SIG will not

have an active meeting schedule. A committee person fromthe Business SIG will be at each main meeting in order tomeet with persons who are interested in business and toanswer questions. The dates for this summer schedule areJuly 19 and August 21st The first date of an active meetingschedule should be Thursday, September 12th. Watch theannouncements and calendar for details.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS MOVENew committee persons sought!

Some of the committee persons of the Business SIGare moving to new areas to live and pursue new endeavors.I wish to extend my thanks to the committee for theirefforts during the last year. I extend special thanks to SubirChatterjee who first formed the SIG, and to Alan Petermanwho has been involved in the SIG since the beginning. Inrecognition of their contributions to the SIG and toMini'apples, thank you!

The Business SIG committee will hold their firstplanning meeting in July. We need some new members tobe part of the committee in order to plan the comingmeeting schedule.

Some time those of us who are more experienced inusing our computers do not perceive what the needs of theless exprerienced user are. We need the insights and inputof the new members in order to reflect their needs in arelevant program. If you are interest in businessapplications and would like to help plan a meeting schedulethat meets your needs you are invited to call Dick at572-9305.

Update on Regular ClubMeetingsby Dave LadenAUGUST => August will again bring a seminar format.

The following presentations have been setup (as of press time). Dick Marchiafava willdemonstrate Magic Office System and HughKurtzman will host an Apple // DOM Showand tell session.Additional presentations are being arrangedso watch next month's newsletter for details.

SEPTEMBER => We have tentatively scheduled arepresentative from First Class Peripheralsto be the speaker for the September meeting.As you may be aware, First Class marketsthe Sider, a low cost lOmb fixed disk drivefor the Apple // computers.

-4-

Page 5: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

f mini'app'lesAnnouncements (Continued)

Treasurer and Branch DirectorResign!by Dan Buchler

Less than one month into the new fiscal year, twoMini'app'les officers have tendered their resignation, bothfor personal reasons. We will miss the support of bothSteven E. Baker and Ron Androff as club Treasurer andBranch Director respectively. Steve is leaving Minnesota,so we wish him luck in his new endeavours.

Jobs OpenThese resignations mean that there are two important

club jobs open! If you want to get involved with the club,meet new people and gain some interesting experience,please call Dave Laden.

New MacDOM EditorFollowing in Steve Baker's footsteps, it is with

pleasure that we welcome Mark Richards as the newMacDOM editor. If you have any Mac contributions,please call him at 925-3625.

SIGioi'app'la

by Dan BuchlerA report by Tom Edwards on the May MacSIG meeting,

»Frul-of-fl»»JJmi]is detailed elsewhere in this newsletter. We are continuingour twice-a-month differently flavored monthly meetings ofthe MacSIG. The alternate meeting, is now being chairedby Steve Bibus (374-1612), and is targeted "for the rest ofus". The name of this subgroup is the MacSIG NTU(Non-Technical Users.) See calendar for dates and topics.Next month's main MacSIG meeting topic will be Hints -How to do some special things with the Mac!

DOM Productionby Steve George

DOM production is almost back up to full tilt. Withthe help of several individuals, I'm starting to get thingsturned around so that we will be able to look forward tonew disks each month. Contacts from around the countryhave been very helpful and generous with what they'vebeen willing to make available.

An excellent example is Blankenship BASIC which isneither Personal nor Public domain! It is fully copyrightedand owned by John Blankenship. We made arrangementswith him to allow our members to get it from Mini'app'les.No other user group may distribute BB in this manner.

Recently, several members have stepped forward andhave been helping with the testing and de-bugging ofprograms for us: Dick Peterson (Minnetonka Branch Pres.)

July 1985found several files on a recent IAC disk which either didn'trun or had other problems. His corrections will beincorporated when the disk is released. Tom Alexander,besides contributing the majority of the programs for ourDOM #36, helped significantly in the testing of theremaining materials. Hugh Kurtzman has also volunteeredto help with DOM Editing. Dave Nordval will continuewith his efforts in the Eamon series, while Peter Gilles haspromised some CP/M software.

If you too would like to get involved, I'm sure we canfind an interesting project for you to tackle!!

Amateur Volunteersby Steve George

The Amateur Fair this year was more exciting thanever! Most of the vendors which attended last year wereback for a repeat performance due to good sales and leadslast year. Mini'app'les again participated with the generoushelp of Hugh Kurtzman, Dick Peterson, Tom Ostertag, DanKrotz, Bill Bellinghausen, Tod Abrahamson, & FredWenthe. Thanks too to all our friends who stopped by tovisit during the slow periods. I'm not sure whether thisyear's Fair fared better than last year's, but it was generallyquit busy (especially when a few showers corraled mosteveryone into the Dairy Building!

Thanks too, to the Amateur Fair for invitingMini'app'les and providing the booth, & coffee, & donuts.

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-5-

Page 6: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

by Steve George

IAC #39 (DOS format){WHAT?? you say, last month was 45 and this

month's is 39?? Well, 'tis true. About a year ago ourmembership in IAC lapsed and we missed a few disks. Nowthat a few of them are trickling in (and seeing that 2 disksthe IAC released this year alone had been previously issuedby Mini'app'les as DOMs) we are going to start to fill inthe gaps. Anyhooo that's the reason ...}

IAC #39 is called The Graphics Disk by its creators:Apple User Group Europe. AUGE, and more specificallyGuenther Reich and Frank Pohlemann, have put togethersome terrific graphic demos and utilities. The majorprograms are: HIRES ROUTINES, VSCROLL, LOHICONVERT, THE LORES WIZARD, SUPER LORESGRAPHICS, MULTI MOVE, and FAST DISPLAY / SMOOTHDISPLAY.

The HIRES ROUTINES program is a collection ofsophisticated graphic utilities that manipulate whole orparts of whole Apple Hires screens. The main menu offersa variety of choices including: 1) View Hires Screen 1 2 or3 (yes, effectively there is a 3rd screen!), Switch Screens 1& 2, Swap 1-2 2-3, Enlarge Screen Area, Stretch ScreenArea, Shrink Picture, One-way Shrink (Horiz or Vert), etc.As you can see, this one program is very extensive andcould be an entire article. This is a good one, and VERYfast.

VSCROLL produces a machine language routine thatmay be used from your own programs. The final effect isthat one Hires screen appears to move 'over' another. Thisroutine is used in the impressive HELLO program by AUGE.

LOHI CONVERT gives you the possibility toconvert Lores pictures into Hires ones. This was writtenprimarily to be able to dump Lores pictures to the printer.

THE LORES WIZARD lets you design Lorespictures with ease. You can plot points by selected Color,Fill Screen, Frame, Box, Triangle, Paint, Window, etc.

SUPER LORES GRAPHICS lets you scroll widerthan the normal 40x40 Lores screen. You end up with anarea of 120x144 with a portion in the 'view port' at onetime. PLOT and SCRN functions are supported. The demoprogram for this one is really nice.MULTI MOVE enables you to move the TEXT screenor a Lores pic in all four directions. This can provide someinteresting ways of clearing your Text or Lores screen.

And finally, FAST DISPLAY / SMOOTHDISPLAY transfers up to 16 Lores or TEXT pages fromhigher memory into the normal text/lores screen forviewing. These could be great for a 'Help' menu.

bSnK N (Personal Domain)If you like this program and want to use it, please send

a $10 donation to Hal Carter, 3245 Pursell Dr., Pensacola,FL 32506

The first time you use this disk you'll probably wantto choose menu selection 4: the Install portion of theprogram. It will prompt you for your name, accountnumber, beginning check number, and balance. When youexit Install and enter the Checkbook program via mainmenu selection 1, you should immediately build a table ofexpense codes (composed of any 2 alphanumeric characters)for future use. Examples might be:

U U t i l i t i e sUG Garbage

U E E l e c t r i c i t yUP Phone e tc

The command codes listed below are used in the Checkbookprogram (also while building expense codes):

CTLB -CTLC -

CTLE -CTLF -CTLG -CTLI -CTLJ -

CTLK -

CTLP -CTLQ -CTL R-

CTLS -CTLT -CTL Y-

ESC

Display balance.Change transaction entry (cannot change checknumber).Position to the end of checkbook.Temporarily remove transactionRestore transaction removed with CTL FTab to next field (TAB on lit).Scroll in reverse (Up Arrow on //e).T worksalso.Scroll forward (Down Arrow on lit). 'K' worksalso.Delete transaction (cannot delete checks).Quit (return to main menu).Place reconciliation flag on transaction.(Spacebar removes reconciliation flag.)Switch to expense code display/data entry.Position to beginning of checkbook.Remove all reconciled transactions in theCheckbook prior to the first transaction that isnot reconciled. The bank balance is adjustedaccordingly. This option is normally usedonly at the end of the year.Abort this transaction. Used to 'back out' ofentering a transaction.

Checkbook Program:When in the Checkbook, headings are provided to

guide you in entering transactions. Headings include thefollowing: Date, Transaction type (entries must be eitherC)hecks, D)eposits, Withdrawals, or S)ervice charges),Check number, Split indicator, Payee, Expense code, andAmount.

Checks must be entered in sequence and numbers maynot be skipped. Transactions may be split between two ormore expense codes.

Commas and decimals are allowed when enteringtransaction amounts.

As you scroll through the checkbook, new transactionsare entered at the current position of the cursor.

All checks must be accounted for. If you need to voida check, enter the check, but with an amount of 0. Theprogram will accommodate approximately 1,300transactions. If the transaction buffer becomes full, use -—»■CTL Y to remove all reconciled transactions.

-6-

Page 7: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini 'app ' les July 1985

July

DomsContinued.

Reconciliation Program:If you select 2 from the main menu, you will enter the

Reconciliation Program. You will then be asked to enterthe current date and bank balance from your statement.

Transaction Query:If you select 3 from the main menu, you will enter the

Transaction Query program. This program allows you toselect and display transactions based upon some selectioncriteria. You will be prompted for the various elements onwhich you may select transactions to be displayed. If youdo not desire to select on a particular element, simplydepress carriage return. An asterisk in the Payee fieldindicates a wildcard. Up to 63 Expense codes may beentered.

Be sure to backup your Checkbook diskette often.Also, at the end of each year be sure to backup yourdiskette for your permanent record before entering CTL Y.You may backup the entire diskette or only the Transactionfile (CHECKS).

Happy Bank'N!!

Cr

ProgrammingHints

by Dick Wiganda teacher of programming

My students who discover the "flash" command canbecme infatuated with it and use it to excess. On occasion,it will mess up the 80-column screen, making the outputlook like a foreign language. The fix is easy. Typing"NORMAL" will return the screen to readability.

Quite often the choice of variable names will run intothe reserved words in Basic. The result is the Applerewriting your code... most usually with a

you type in IF J > A THEN GOTO 400and you see IF J > AT HEN GOTO 400

The fix is easy, and was supplied by a foreign exchangestudent from Swecden: Put parentheses around the variable:

type in IF J > (A) THEN GOTO 400

Much easier to add a few parentheses than to go throughthe program changing all your variable names.

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Page 8: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

; mini'app'les

Announcements (continued)

Mini'app'les Markdown Marketby Dave Laden

One of the advertised club benefits the ability to savemoney through bulk purchases. Also, as stated on thenewsletter title page, the club "does promote distribution ofinformation which may help club members to identify thebest buys and services."

With these goals in mind, we would like to make you,the member, more aware of the "good buys." MarkdownMarket will make its debut with the September 1985 issueof the newsletter. What this continuing column will do isto list all of the retail establishments willing to giveMini'app'les members a discount on purchases.

Now that you get the picture ($5$ in your pocket) let'sget to the details. The purpose of this column is to listvendors offering a Mini'app'les discount. The discountmust be offered on a continuing basis (i.e. this column cannot be used to "advertise" one time promotional discounts).The discount may apply to all purchases or just purchasesof selected items or categories (i.e. 10% discount ondiskette purchases, or 10% discount on software, 15%discount on hardware). Even if the discount is limited tocertain categories, the important thing to remember is thatit must be offered consistently for those categories (thecatcgory(s) can not change from month to month).

July 1985It is the dealers responsibility to establish the

discount amount and items to which the discount applies.Dealers are also responsible for verifying Mini'app'lesmembership (each member is issued a membership card forsuch a use).

Vendors interested in participating in this service maydo so by calling Keith Madonna at 474-3876 after 5:00p.m.

July Regular Meetingby Dave Laden

The next regular meeting of Mini'app'les will be heldon Wednesday July 17, 1985 at 7:30 p.m. The meetingwill be held in room B35, Classroom Office Building onthe University of Minnesota St. Paul campus.

The speaker for the evening will be Ray Douglas. Rayis president of Computer Broadcasting Company (CBC) andhost of the Computer Line talk show heard each Sundaymorning on WWTC am radio. In addition to the radio talkshow, CBC supports a bulletin board system. Ray willspeak on past, present, and future happenings at CBC.

And, of course, we will hold our regular question andanswer period and there will be plenty of time for talkingto other members on a one-to-one basis. See you there!

=» 21

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Page 9: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

Newsroom: A Review

A here is

by Fred Woodwarda new software package for the Apple ][ family

of computers called THE NEWSROOM. It will allow youto create a newspaper complete with "pictures" on yourprinter. The documentation claims that it "was created forjournalists of all ages". The software is easy to use, thedocumentation is well written, and it really will produce atwo-column newsletter format printout on almost anyprinter. The program also includes over 300 pieces of clipart that can be used as is or can be modified to suit yourtastes.

When you boot the program you see the a graphic thatrepresents the entire newsroom. You can use the keyboard,joystick, or Koala Pad to move from room to room tocreate your newspaper. The general instructions suggestthat you have four disks ready before you begin. Thesewill be where you save the pieces of the newsletter beforeit is assembled into one document. You will probably wantto follow their suggestion (and don't attempt to "cheat" byusing two double sided disks because you will regret thatalso). These disks will be labeled BANNER, PHOTO,PANEL, and PAGE.

The first area of the newsroom you will visit to createyour newspaper is the BANNER work area. This is whereyou create the text and art work that will appear at the topof the first page. This is the area that identifies thenewspaper by printing the paper's name, like the top of thecover of your Mini'app'les newsletter. You can make anykind of banner you can imagine. You can start with one ormore of the pieces of clip art, you can add your ownoriginal artwork (perhaps a company logo), and follow thatwith text in any combination of 3 different fonts availablein two sizes.

Next you create your photos that will be used in thePHOTO work area. Photos can be original art work, clipart, or a combination of the two. When creating originalart or when changing the clip art you do have the OOPSoption available. When you select the OOPS icon the lastthing that you did will be un-done.

The last area you visit to create your newsletter is thecopy desk where you create your PANELs. Each page ofyour newsletter can be made up of a banner and six panelsarranged in two columns of three or eight panels in twocolums of four. In the copy desk area you will create thesepanels. Each panel consists of text and, if desired, one ormore pictures. The easiest method of creating a panel witha picture is to first get the picture created earlier (and savedon a PHOTO disk) and "paste" it onto the work area. Nowas the text is entered it will avoid the picture and you willautomatically be typing around the area. If, however, youbegin entering text before you have placed the picture inthe work area you can simply leave the text editor and getyour PHOTO. When the PHOTO is placed in the properposition the text rearranges itself to make room. If youhad entered too much text to allow space for the PHOTO theexcess will be moved off the bottom of the screen.Repositioning or eliminating the PHOTO will cause thedisplaced text to reappear.

Now that all the parts of the newsletter have beencreated you can go to the layout area. This is where youassemble the BANNER, and PANELs into a PAGE. The

banner must always appear at the top of a page but panelscan appear in any one of the six remaining portions of thepage. If each panel were a complete story you couldchange the arrangement of the individual panels to createthe best look in the finished productThe printing press area of the newsroom is where you canspecify which of many printers/interface cards you areusing. You can print just the banner, just one panel, or theentire page as you wish.

The remaining area in THE NEWSROOM is the wireservice area. There are versions of THE NEWSROOM thatwill mn on (someone else's) IBM PC, PCjr, orCOMMODORE 64. Using MODEMS you can send orrecieve pages, panels, banners, or photos. This wouldallow portions of the newsletter to be created in separatelocations but the final editing and assembly could be doneat a central site.

This software is created by SPRINGBOARD which is alocal organization located in Minneapolis. The list priceis under $50 and it will mn on Apple ][+, Ut, or //c (and onthe previously mentioned off-brand machines). If you havea budding.journalist in the house, are the newsletter editorfor the local scout troop, or need some flash for the nextfamily Christmas missive, this package is for you. tx

lie Utilities Bugby Steve George

I decided a few months ago that I'd just have to learnabout Apple's new operating system ProDOS. So, likemany of you I'm now going back through magazines whoseProDOS articles I'd skipped over the first time. Cameacross a GOODIE last evening! Its a major bug in the //c's/UTILITIES disk.

Almost a year ago Apple Assembly Lines had a pagearticle describing the fact that the /UTILITIES disk for thelit changes the Volume number when copying DOS disks!Not TOO handy when a program expects and requires aspecific volume number. I gave it a try and its true. The/UTILITIES disk I tried had a date of 15-MAR-84 for theSTARTUP file. AAL's solution was to suggest usingCOPYA (which they now include on their S-C MacroAssembler disks). For those of you who do not have theirsoftware or access to a DOS 3.3 system master, I'd suggestthat you buy Bill Bosham's Diversi-COPY from our softwarelibrary. It's a Personal Domain disk, so you should sendBill his small fee if you continue to use this excellentcopy/formatting software. It is presently labeled DOM#32.

PS- if you're interested in assembly language, the ins-&-outs of DOS & ProDOS, etc, Bob Sander-Cedarlofs AppleAssembly Lines is an excellent monthly magazine writtento support S-C Macro Assembler owners. Most articles areapplicable to other assemblers. Write to them at: S-CSoftware Corp., P.O. Box 280300, Dallas, TX 75228

&

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Page 10: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

AMDEK SpecialPurchaseAMDEKCOLOR

300$199Reg. $349

While SupplyLasts

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• Fully compatible with Apple II,II+ , He & lie • Low Profile •High Performance • Fast HeadSeeking • Stable Circuit usingSITL • Ic • 40 Tracks Available

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$15000T w o f o r $ 2 9 5 . 0 0with Controller . . 325.00

lie

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f o r A p p l e 3 9 0MULTITECHM u l t i m o d e m l i e 1 9 9M u l t i m o d e m P C 3 5 9M u l t i m o d e m H C 3 5 9ZOOMNetworker-Netmaster combo .135US ROBOTICSC o u r i e r ( 2 4 0 0 B d ) 4 5 9

DISK DRIVESTeac DS/DD (IBM Comp.) . 139D r i v e C o n t r o l C a r d 4 510 MB Hard Drive System 5992 0 M B 7 9 9

DISKETTES10 - 5'/4" Floppy Diskettes(packed with a storage box)

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S e n t i n e l S 2 1 . 0 0 S 2 4 . 0 0C e n t r o n 1 7 . 0 0 1 9 . 0 0Maxell 5'/4" HD for AT 55.00

CALL FOR QUANTITY PRICING ON10 OR MORE BOXES

PRINTERSOKIDATAM L 1 8 2 $ 2 5 9M L 8 3 5 5 9M L 8 4 6 8 9M L 1 9 2 3 8 9M L 1 9 3 5 5 9PANASONICK X - P 1 0 9 1 ( 1 2 0 C P S ) 3 1 9K X - P 1 0 9 2 ( 1 8 0 C P S ) 3 9 9KX-P1093 (160 CPS

w i d e c a r r i a g e ) 5 5 9SILVER REEDE X P 4 0 0 2 9 9E X P 5 0 0 3 4 9E X P 5 5 0 4 4 9E X P 7 7 0 8 2 5GEMININ e w S G 1 0 2 5 9S G 1 5 4 0 5E P S O N F u l l S e l e c t i o n

ACCESSORIESQuadram eRAM 80 card80 columns w/64K (lie) S115Numeric Keypad for Apple lie 75G r a p p l e r + 8 9Para l l e l Cab le f o r IBM 302 5 x 2 5 R S - 2 3 2 . 2 5

-1

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SymphonyLotus 1,2,3Wordstar 2000Wordstar 2000 +dBase IIIFrameworkP F S - F i l e 8 5 . 0 0PFS-WritePFS-ReportCross Talk XVI .Flight SimulatorDollars & SenseTurbo PascalTurbo Toolbox. .Sidekick

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Viewmaster 808 0 c o l . . I I . I I + 1 0 9

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Z-80 C (He only) w/software 139Timemaster II HO

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MONITORSAMDEK3 0 0 1 2 " g r e e n $ 1 4 53 0 0 A 1 2 " a m b e r 1 2 0V310A 12" amber (for IBM)... 175ZENITHZ V M - 1 2 2 1 2 " a m b e r 11 5Z V M - 1 2 3 1 2 " g r e e n 1 1 5PRINCETON GRAPHICSMAX-12 amber (for IBM) 189H X - 1 2 ( R G B ) 4 8 9PANASONICCT-1300D 13" RGB& composite w/speaker 265T V T u n e r f o r a b o v e 7 5

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0-

Page 11: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'lesThe Mockingboard

July 1985

by Gavin Clarkson(Apple Dilb User Group, Texas)

SummaryCompany: Sweet Micro Systems

Cranston, RI 02920Phone: (800) 341-8001

Purpose: Add sound/speech to your computerPrice: [A] Mockingboard (music & sound only)

[B] Speech Upgrade (for board [A])[C] Mockingboard (music, sound & speech)[D] Mockingboard for lie (see below)

Machines: [A B & C] II, II+, lit; [D] is for lieEquipment required: 2-8 ohm speakers for [A B & C]Optional Equipment: Joystick for [C] (see below)Accompanying software: See belowRating (scale of 1 to 5): 6 (it's that good!)

$124.95$99.00

$219.00$229.00

Review

I f you have ever wanted to kill your little Apple speakerbecause it sounded trashy, the Mockingboard is for you. Ifyou have ever dreamed of an extremely versatile speechsynthesizer that could sound like a bellowing mad scientistor a whimpering baby, or one that could sing to musicalaccompaniment, then the Mockingboard is for you. If youhave ever wanted a fairly inexpensive toy to show off tothe extremely non-computerized relatives well, the listgoes on and on. The fact is, the Mockingboard is a well-designed, extremely versatile tool that is very fun!

There are three versions of the Mockingboard and oneupgrade kit. Lets start with the basic unit:

The Mockingboard [A] is strictly sound and music. Itcomes with it's own sound editor and is supported by manysoftware companies (see list following). The board runscompletely independent from the computer. By that, Imean that while the Mockingboard is playing a song, youcan be executing something else (until you hit RESET).Thus, you can add background music to any of yourprograms very simply.

The speech upgrade, or Mockingboard [B], is just achip that plugs into the Mockingboard [A], converting itto the Mockingboard [C]. This allows you to add speechto your programs. The chip comes with a program andsome demos.

The Mockingboard [C] is the unit that I used for thisreview. It comes with all of the other software plus astereo arcade game that uses the speech chip as well. Thegame can be played with either keyboard or joystick.There is a "rule" editor for the speech chip that allows youto change how certain words are pronounced. This allowsyou to make the Mockingboard sound like a Texan, a NewYorker, or anything you want. It will even enable you tospeak in foreign languages.

The manual is extremely well written. It runs youthrough all of the basic aspects of the music, sound, andspeech processes. It also shows you how to program theMockingboard from both BASIC and assembly.

The Mockingboard [D] is for the lit only. It plugsinto one of the serial ports in the back of the machine.The Mockingboard [D] is funct ional ly l ike theMockingboard [C] except that the [D] has 2 built-inspeakers. There are jacks to attach another set of speakersor an amplifier, but it is not necessary.

Overall, I think the Mockingboard is a very goodproduct It does everything it is supposed to, and more.Perhaps the best thing about the Mockingboard is that somany software companies support its use in their products.Here is a partial list of some of the companies and theirproducts:

CompanyElectronic Arts

Penguin Software

Silicon Valley SystemsMind SystemsDatasoftOrigin SystemsCalifornia PacificEarthwareDatatrekStrategic Simulations Inc.Avion HillSierra Online

ProductMusic Construction SetDr. J & Larry Bird: One on OneThe Spy Strikes BackBouncing KamungasCrime WaveLancasterAirsim ///ZaxxonExodus: Ultima ///Lady TutZookeeperMaze GrazeBroadsideTactical Armor CommandApple Cider Spider

And the list goes on. A woman at Sweet MicroSystems told me there would be many new productscoming out, especially for the Apple lit version. I highlyrecommend the Mockingboard, if for no other reason,because it's FUN!

(The Apple Dillo club would like to thank SweetMicro Systems for loaning us the Mockingboard forthis review.)

f t

IAC Software Bugby Steve George

An error in the IACs DOM #42 has been corrected on alldisks purchased since approximately l-MAY-85. If youpurchased your disk before or around that time, check thedate of the HELLO file in the FIN directory:CAT/IAC.42/FIN

If the date is 27-OCT-84, then your disk has the problembecause it was purchased before I had a chance to correctthem. To fix the bug, follow this procedure:

boot the disk and exit to BASIC(menu choice #10)

PREFIX/IAC.42/FINUNLOCK HELLOLOAD HELLO120 F$ = "IAC.42/FIN"460 PRINT D$;"RUN"P$(N)SAVE HELLOLOCK HELLO f t

-11-

Page 12: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

MegaWorks ^ %

A Reviewby John L Hansen

Megaworks, a product of Megahaus of San Diego,California, is a program designed to work only withAppleworks, Apple's integrated program for the lit and He.Megaworks adds mail-merge and spelling-correction featuresto the spreadsheet/word processor/data base capabilities ofAppleworks. A lit must have 128K of RAM to use theprogram. Megaworks will work with a single disk drive,but it will be necessary to do a lot of disk swapping; twodrives are much better. The Spelling Checker includes a50,000-word dictionary to which you can add an additional10,000 words.

Megaworks' menus are presented in the same manneras those of Appleworks. All Appleworks files can be used.

There are some problems with the manual. Forexample, when the program is booted, the initial screenasks for the current date and states that it must be in theformat MM/DD/YYYY. The manual, however, says, "Makesure you enter the date in this format: MM/DD/YY." Theyboth work: (A more significant problem withdocumentation is described below.) The last date entered isalways displayed the next time the program is booted.

The initial menu allows you to select from thefollowing choices:

1. Merge two AppleWorks documents together2. Check the spelling of an AppleWorks document3. Quit MegaWorks

Mail MergeThe primary use of the mail-merge feature is to combine aform letter and a mailing list. However, it also providesthe capability to take words, sentences, and paragraphsfrom one document and merge them into another.

Special markers are typed in the form letter wherepersonalized informaton is to be added. The personalizedinformation is typed in a separate list. Both the letter andlist are typed using AppleWorks. MegaWorks finds theinformation in the list and automatically (with a littlework) inserts it in the letter at the designated spot.

The instructions state that the list to accompanythe form letter can be prepared using the word processor ordata base. As an example, instructions for creating thefollowing list with the word processor are given:

$$First:$$Last:SSStreet:$$City:SSState:$$Zip:SSSalutation:SSProduct:

Using the Copy and Paste commands, thisformat is copied and then pasted to itself as many times asnecessary to create the number of sets you need for your

list A blank template with this format is included on anExamples disk. Unfortunately, when you type in a firstname and press Return, the standard procedure forchanging fields in the AppleWorks' data base, a blank lineis added between $$First: and $$Last:. It would appear thatmovement between the lines must be done with the cursorkeys, a very slow process. No information on dataentry into a form created with the word processor is givenin the manual.

The same list can be created more conveniently withthe data base because the above format needs to be enteredonly once and the Return key is used to move to the nextdata line when the mailing list is typed in. Additionally,the list can be created from a data base that you alreadyhave by inserting the dollar signs and backslash (the latterseparates sets of information). Because new categories canbe added easily to an AppleWorks data base, $$Salutation:and $$Product: can be added to a list that did not containthem. The new merge list can then be renamed and saved.Unfortunately, that's only the beginning of the story.

A list prepared with the word processor can bemerged with a letter, also prepared with the word processor.A list prepared with the data base is not recognized by theword processor. To convert the database file to one thatcan be used by the word processor, the following stepsmust be carried out:

1. Enter the report selections and create a new labelformat.

2. Enter the print options and turn off the header option.3. Use the Open-Apple-V command at each field in the

list to tell AppleWorks to print each field name alongwith the information in the field.

4. Print the list to the Clipboard. Because the Cupboardcan hold only 250 lines (or about 25 of the labels inthe example), it may be necessary to use the Open-Apple-R command to select a portion of your list

5. Set up a new word-processing document to receive thelist from the Clipboard. Transfer the Clipboard to thisdocument. Select another portion of your list andtransfer. Repeat until all records have been transferred(if your list contains 500 names, it will be necessaryto divide it into 20 portions to transfer it). Asomewhat underwhelming feature is that you can useOpen-Apple-R with selection rules to transferselected portions of your file for a mailing to onlypart of your mailing list

With the database file converted to a form usable by theword processor, you can select the first option of theMegaWorks menu. You are asked to select the letter andthe list from your AppleWorks files. A portion of eachlist is displayed so that you can verify that you haveselected correctly. After your selections, you are offeredthe opportunity to change either of them or begin merging.Merging is not done "on the fly", but requires that youcreate a new document If the name you select is already inuse, you are given the option of deleting it and the new fileis deleted before merging is started (a good feature thatprevents overwriting an existing file). If the name isacceptable, the files are merged. If you have any records

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Page 13: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

MegaWorks (continued)that have fields containing no data, the program will stopat each empty field and ask if you want to add anyinformation. This means that if you have any records withempty fields in your list, including street address, you mustmonitor the program continuously if you want to keepthings moving.

The new document containing the merged mailinglist and letter can then be used with AppleWorks to printyour letters.

Spelling CheckerMegaWorks' spelling checker has a 50,000-word

dictionary. An additional 10,000 words can be added to it.The dictionary must be on one disk.

My other experiences with spelling checkers havebeen The Sensible Speller and the speller included in theIBM PC word processor, MultiMate, both of which have80,000+ words. I compared the MegaWorks speller andSensible Speller using a 162-word letter copied from thebook, The Power of AppleWorks.

MegaWorks determined in 8.8 seconds that the lettercontained 162 words and, in another 39.6 seconds, that 18of them were misspelled (I added a few errors to the samplemistakes in the book; what kind of a test would it be ifthere were no mistakes to find).

Sensible Speller required 5.1 seconds to count thewords and determine that 122 of them were unique.Sensible Speller offers the option to list the words;MegaWorks does not. Sensible Speller has a maindictionary disk containing 40,000+ most common wordsand a supplementary dictionary disk containing a similarnumber of less common words. Using the main dictionary,Sensible Speller found 15 suspect words in 59.0 seconds.A search with the supplementary dictionary took 63.4seconds and reduced the suspect words to 14. Again,Sensible Speller allows you to view the words;MegaWorks does not

Sensible Speller, after the supplementary dictionary,asks if you would like to use another dictionary. It allowsyou to create a special dictionary on another disk. By-creating such dictionaries with chemical names, plantnames, process engineers, product numbers, etc., I canproofread such special items without having to use themain dictionary if I desire. Both systems do allow you toreview words before addition to a dictionary.

MegaWorks (and the MultiMate speller mentionedabove) has an idiosyncracy that offends my sensitivenature. I object when it tells me that "Hansen" ismisspelled. I prefer Sensible Speller's statement that it isa "suspect" word because it is not in the dictionary.

I like some of MegaWorks' correction features betterthan those of Sensible Speller. MegaWorks begins "word1 of 18 misspelled words" and shows nine lines of text,including punctuation, to help you determine the context ofthe word. Sensible Speller shows only three lines andpunctuation is not shown, sometimes making it difficult todetermine where sentences begin and end. The correctionoptions allowed by MegaWorks include:CORRECT just this occurrence of the highlighted wordREPLACE this and all other occurrences of the

highlighted wordSKIP just this occurrence of the highlighted word

IGNORE this and all other occurrences of thehighlighted word

ADD the highlighted word to the dictionaryQUIT the Spelling CheckerThe options are selected by striking the first letter of thecapitalized word. Sensible Speller's options are:

S - Suggest spellingL - List words from dictionary

A - Add it to a dictionaryI - Ignore itR - Replace it with a new wordM - Mark it as misspelled

If you elect to replace the word, MegaWorks requires thatyou type the entire word. Sensible Speller prints thesuspect word, often making it possible to correct bydeleting only a portion of the word. Sensible Speller willalso search the dictionary for possible spellings.

A few examples from the letter will show some of thedifferences. "Attn" was not in the MegaWorks dictionary,but was in the Sensible Speller supplementary dictionary.MegaWorks listed "Promotions" as misspelled; SensibleSpeller did not. Both programs ignore initial capitalletters. Both selected the name, "McCulers", as a suspectword, not because it was in fact misspelled, but because itwas not in the dictionaries. The final exampledemonstrates the need to proofread your work even if youuse a spelling checker. Neither speller reported "warsaw"as misspelled because the dictionaries included "Warsaw".Similarly, neither would help you if you typed "their" for"there" or "too" for "two".

Summary1. I do not like the MegaWorks combination of mail-

merge and speller checker programs. If you need onlyone of these, you must buy the other even if you willnever use it

2. The manual does not have adequate information on theuse of the AppleWorks word processor to make amailing list for the mail-merge portion of theprogram. Transferring a mailing list prepared with thedata base to word-processor format is a lengthyprocess if your list contains several hundred names.

3. The need to merge the mailing list and letter to aseparate document before you can print also adds to thetedium. Hayden's PIE Writer lets you create a letterand mailing list and combines them during printingwithout the need to prepare a combined file.

4. The Spelling Checker is the best and most easily usedfeature of MegaWorks. The 50,000-word dictionary,with provision to add 10,000 more, would be veryadequate for most users. MegaWorks uses theAppleWorks desktop; Sensible Speller does not.MegaWorks does not have the large dictionary andoverall capability of Sensible Speller and does notallow you to prepare specialized dictionaries. Itsdisplay of text around misspelled words to allow youto determine context is superior to that of SensibleSpeller. It is unfortunate that it is necessary to alsobuy the mail-merge program to get it

My thanks to David Shea of Digital Den who let me borrowa copy of MegaWorks for this investigation.

-13-

Page 14: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

Flashcalc: A Review

Iby Fred Woodward

am employed in the administrative office of a largemetropolitan school district Like every other schooldistrict in the state (and probably those from other states,also) we do not have unlimited dollars to run our operation.Somehow the taxpayers just can't see their way clear togive us a blank check. This means that as we have fewerschool age persons in the population we have fewerfamilies receiving our services. Everyone is lucky enoughto be able to pay taxes, however, so it seems that we areconstantly desigining, building, and cutting budgets. Whata boon to this process a personal computer with aspreadsheet is! We couldn't do the job as well or as fastwithout several of them; Apples, of course.

I brought in the first Apple because I knew what wecould accomplish administratively using one. I had boughtan Apple Easter weekend of 1981, which puts me in theleague of the "old timers", I guess. Back in the olden daysyou had an Apple ][+ and VisiCalc to do your accountingspreadsheets for you. The resident accountant who haddone spreadsheets on columnar pads with pencil and greeneye shade for years, saw the advantage of the electronicspread sheet and eagerly jumped into the deep end of thepool. It was a joy to help him develop new applications.He often admitted that he could get one normal day's workdone in less than two hours with the help of the Apple.

As the months passed and others saw the wonderspouring out of the accountant's office there was anincreasing demand for Apples throughout the office. Worseyet the accountant was constantly reaching the upper limitsof memory on the Apple ][+, even though it had 64k!When the new, improved Apple lit with Enhanced VisiCalcbecame available (128k !!) we HAD to have one (youprobably know the feeling...I know that I do). The oldreliable Apple ][+ was handed down to a less demandinguser and the new Apple lit was installed in the accountant'soffice. The wonders that were produced in the next fewmonths would almost stagger the imagination. Well, atleast they were impressive to those who had not beenmembers of Mini'app'les for several years.

Now, two years later, we find ourselves in a smalldilemma. We have two Apple ][+'s and the one Apple lit.The older apples cannot use the Advanced VisiCalc that isthe norm on the Apple lit, nor can they even approach thespreadsheet size of that of the lit. We are finding thatspecific applications tend to gravitate toward the machinethat can best address the needs of the moment. If theprinted output is to be seen only within our organization,it is acceptable on the standard version of VisiCalc. If thespreadsheet is for wider distribution, however, it ispreferable to have the variable width columns and editingof the numeric fields that are available with AdvancedVisiCalc. Of course if there is a large amount of data thatwould require a large spreadsheet we are forced to use theApple lit even if the extra editing features are not needed.Now we have a solution to the incompatability brought onby the different versions of the Apple and the differentversions of VisiCalc. Flashcalc to the rescue. Flashcalcwill run on any Apple II family machine: Apple ][, Apple][+, Apple lit, or Apple lit. It does run under the PRODOSoperating system so it needs 64k but this is about the only

requirement in memory size. One nice thing is thatFlashcalc can find any and all extra memory that you mighthave installed in your Apple and it will be used. By addinga 64k card in any slot in an Apple you can build spreadsheets as large as those allowed by Advanced VisiCalc.

In its simplest form Flashcalc is identical in operationto VisiCalc. The nice touches show when you wish to loador save a spreadsheet. Typing the / shows the commandstring as it does in VisiCalc but when making a choicefrom the string of one letter commands one is presentedwith a real menu of words. You can make selections byusing the first letter a word in the list or by using thearrow keys to move the cursor to highlight the word. Ifyou choose either load or save, you are presented with asequentially numbered list of files on disk. You canindicate which file you wish to use either by typing thename or by referring to it by number.

ProDOS has an advantage in disk access speed overthat of DOS 3.3. The larger your spreadsheet the more youwill notice that the load and save time has become shorter.There is one disadvantage to ProDOS, however, especiallyto the user who doesn't have any idea what an operatingsystem is or does. When you initalize a disk you are askedfor a name. This becomes the pathname for ProDOS to findthis disk later. If you are a user who works mostly (oronly) with Flashcalc I would suggest that you name all ofyour disks with the name Flashcalc. When you start upyour Apple with the Flashcalc program disk the path todisk drive 1 is identified with the name Flashcalc. Afterthe program is running you can remove the program diskand put any of your data disks into drive 1. If these disksare all called Flashcalc the system will have no problemsin loading and saving your files. Leave the uniquedisknames and pathnames for later when you have becomemore familiar with the Apple and ProDOS.

Flashcalc allows the columns of your spreadsheet tohave varying widths. You can also have an attribute aswell as a format associated with each cell. The data can beleft justified, right justified, or centered in the column.

Value entries can also have attributes that allow you toprotect and/or hide the cell. Commas and dollar signs canbe inserted in your numbers to improve readability.

When you want to print your spreadsheet you willnotice another difference from mat of VisiCalc. Flashcalchas kept track of the lower right coordinate of yourspreadsheet. All you have to do is to place the cursor atthe upper left coordinate of the portion you wish to printand enter the print command. If the spreadsheet is toolarge to fit the width of your printer Flashcalc will printonly as many columns as will fit horizontally on the paperwhile printing the entire spreadsheet vertically. When allthe cells that fit have been printed, Flashcalc will issue aformfeed and print the remaining columns. The paperwidth, height, formfeed characters, etc. are set in theconfiguration portion of Flashcalc.

One could classify Flashcalc as VisiCalc with variablewidth columns, hardware configuration, attributes, andfaster disk access. You could also look at it by saying thatFlashcalc is almost identical to Advanced VisiCalc exceptfor the keystroke memory feature. Either way it allows usto have one spreadsheet that functions over a variety ofdifferent Apples, is more functional than VisiCalc inseveral ways, and is easy to use if familiar with VisiCalc

-14-f t

Page 15: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

® MinutesMinutes Of MeetingBoard of Directors

June 5,1985by Ken Slingsby

The Board of Directors met at the Minnesota FederalBuilding in Roseville.

The Secretary's Report was read and approved.

The Treasurer's Report was read and approved.

The agenda for General meetings and Board meetingsfor several upcoming months were discussed in detail. Seethe announcements column for details.

There was a discussion about distribution ofmembership application blanks to area Apple Computervendors. This has been done in the past in a ratherunstructured manner. The motion was made to provide asupply of application blanks to willing dealers and acontact person to distribute additional supplies as needed.It was assumed that the applications can be distributed via apackage delivery service such as UPS. The motion carriedprovided a contact person can be found.

As per the by-laws, persons were appointed to thenon-elected positions in the organization. These namesappear on the newsletter masthead.

The Twin City Computer Show will be held at the StPaul Civic Center Oct 31 - Nov 3. The motion to sign thecontract for a booth carried. A contact person is alsoneeded to organize Mini'app'les' display and coordinatevolunteers to represent Mini'app'les at the Show. Motionswere also made to provide the name tags and business cardsfor the Board Members.

A motion carried to set-up a Mini'app'les MarkdownMarket, a list of area vendors who will regularly offermembers a discount on goods and services. This list willbe printed in the newsletter as a member service. Detailsare still being finalized but it is hoped that the Market canstart in September.

Plans were discussed for the June Swap Meet Therewere four vendors who signed for space by today. TheSoftware Director was directed to sell overstock DOMs at anattractive price.

Mini'app'les received two letters from members whichwere read by the board. Mr. Marc Renner wrote veryfavorably about Mini'app'les to A+ magazine callingattention to the information desseminated by the group andthe many Special Interest Groups.

Mr. Jeff Okronglis took die time to write a six pagehand written letter to the president stressing what he feelsare problem areas in DOM distribution, technicalinformation dessemination, software pricing and severalother areas. He made some good points. The Board agreedto consider the items in the future.

Both letters were very much appreciated.The July meeting agenda will include review of budget

items.The meeting was adjourned. 21

PRODOS 101 Fixby Steve George

I recently became the (?)proud owner of ProDOS. Its anolder version because it came with the used Disk ][ drivefrom Computer Depot's yearly warehouse sale.

Scanning some back issues of Hardcore COMPUTISTlooking for any and all info I could find about ProDOS, Ihappened upon an article explaining how to fix a BSAVEbug in version 1.0.1 (l-JAN-84) and SYSTEM.BASIC(15-NOV-83).

The excellent article by Cecil Fretwell explains that whenyou BSAVE files using the ",B$xxxx" portion of theallowed BSAVE command for "appending" to a file, the fileisn't written to disk correctly. To correct the problem inthis version of ProDOS, you can RUN this short program:

10 POKE 44828,64 : POKE 44829,208or go into the BASIC.SYSTEM file and fix the filepermanently with:

BLOAD BASIC. SYSTEM, TSYS,A$2 000POKE 44828,64:POKE 44829,208UNLOCK BASIC.SYSTEMBSAVE BASIC.SYSTEM,TSYS,A$2000,L$2800LOCK BASIC.SYSTEM

(XNEED TO LEARN BASIC?

TEACHING BASIC?THEN THIS IS FOR YOU!

The BASIC Learning Programs manualcontains over 90 simple programs thatteach fundamenta l concep ts . Eachlesson inc ludes a p rogram l i s t i ng ,sample run, explanation and exercises.E f f e c t i v e f o r s e l f - i n s t r u c t i o n a n dalso suitable as a workbook or textfor classroom use. In use nationwideby ind iv idua ls , h igh schoo ls , vocational schools and colleges. Versionsavailable for IBM PC, Apple II familyand TRS-80. A diskette is avai lablecon ta in ing a l l the p rograms in themanual. This may be copied for classroom use.

P r i c e s : M a n u a l $ 8 ,including shipping.

diskette $25,

Please send your order to:Academic Computing CenterUniversity of Wisconsin-River FallsRiver Falls, WI 54022(715)425-3583

-15-

Page 16: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

3 Mac UPDATESH«

by Tom Edwards.ey there!! Time to shake the lead out, and hop down to

your friendly Macintosh dealer to get your freebies. What'sin store is new software from Apple... well, it's not allnew, but it is an update to several of the standbys, withsome enhancements.

Here is what you can getMacWrite, rev. 4.5, MacPaint, rev. 1.5, and

Mac System Disk, rev. 4.1, with a new Finder andother goodies. As per usual routine, bring your originaldisks as proof of your legitimacy, unless you think thatyou are on a first name basis with your dealer. This is notnecessarily to capture the new stuff on your originals; youmay wish to bring two or three disks along for that.Matter of fact, you probably should not make an abruptchange to the new revisions. Work them in slowly, usingbackup disks for experimentation, until you are satisfiedthat all is well. There have already been some sadexperiences with some games and protected software. Youmight wish to leave these in their pristine state, as amatter of safety.

MacPaint is basically the same as you have cometo know and love. The changes are internal, relating tooperation with the 512K Macs. No new functions havebeen added, or changes to the way it works (or speed, onthe 128K).

MacWrite has several improvements in capacityand ease of use, but lost some of its speed (?) of operation.The big change is that the file is now "disk based",meaning that you can work with files much larger than the8-9 pages that you have been restricted to since theoriginal release. The "limit" is now more like 60 pages,though it's measured in a funny combination of paragraphs,carrier returns (500) and disk space. Being "disk based"also means that if you have only one drive, you best havethe program and the file on the same disk, though thosewishing for arm articulation excerises can still use two ifthey want

There is now a 6-line-per-inch print setting thatmakes it much easier to work with "forms." Someparagraph formatting tasks, previously accessible via theruler, are now available from the keyboard. This includescentering, justifying and left/right alignment The "scrollbar" also has a marker that shows you the page that you areworking on, and there is a "GOTO PAGE..." function, alongwith a revised "Find" routine.

The new revision will work with files created by theearlier version. If you open an older file with the newMacWrite, it advises that it is "converting" the document.Actually, a copy is being placed in memory (and on disk!)that is. converted. Your original file remains on the disk,unless you overwrite it with a save of the converteddocument using the original name of the file. You cannotopen a file created with the rev 4.5 MacWrite by using theoriginal MacWrite.

The new System Disk presents a plethoria of newgoodies and improvements in the operating system.Primarily, the Finder is now better able to work with thecapacities of hard disks, as to number of files, folders andthe like. The new version is advertised as "faster", but Ileave it up to some of you good at devising benchmarks toprove that You are now able to move files and work with

them in the other "view" modes, instead of just in the iconview, and a mini-icon shows what things are locked. A"Shut Down" function (figure below) speeds (WOW!) theending of a session.

S p i r a lClean UpEmpty 7r<*shErase Disk

Use MiniFinder...

Shut DownA "Mini Finder" (figure above) lets you identify a

dozen programs and files on a disk so that you can switchwith less time spent going back to the desktop to open anew file. My experimentation with this suggests that it isprimarily of benefit to hard disk users, by limiting the"search" for the file to be opened.The System disk gives you a new font, "Taliesin", which isalso being shipped with MacDraw.

ATaliesin Font

-** # 7t <F £ « •»0 Q EDO IEU3I V *& * I J^

There is a more versatile Font Mover utility that also

w w 9Font/DA Mover

allows you to work with the Desk Accessories, moving newthings in and old things out as you desire. There is a"Choose Printer" feature, for those that have the luxury ofmultiple paths of output, and a new ImageWriter driver thatcan print at 50% of screen size (a real paper saver, but yougotta have a magnifying glass!) and offers other tricks suchas printing right over the paper perfs.

Apple has given us help with these new offerings byincluding a lot of illustrated documentation on the disk.Since it will be some time before printed manuals record allof this, the disk files are a welcome aid to accessing thenew features quickly. Even an application program hasbeen provided to install all these new goodies on yourdisks for you. In fact, it will update your system withouttouching your own desk accessories and font selections.

=> 18

/sfc

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Page 17: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini 'app ' les July 1985

for the

SIGusesFruit-of-the-Limeovapp

Mayflies Swarm to Hear aboutChart and Word from the

MacExpertsby Tom Edwards

JL he May 20 meeting of MacSIG used the Mac'ers as abeta-test site for a way to overcome the problem of gettinga good view of the presentations on the Mac's screen to beviewable by the entire group. The item that did this, wasthe LimeLight Computer Projector from Vivid SystemsInc., loaned for the evening by Blumberg Photo-Sound. Though the image was a bit on the green side, theunit did the job well, to the particular joy of those in theback rows. And, with our ranks in the realm of 60-70 forthe regular meeting, held this month at the SouthdaleHennepin County Library, there were quite a number thatqualified for the "back row."

Mike Carlson jumped right into the thick of things,with the preliminary introductions and reminder that thisgroup is an extension of the Mini'app'les Club. Thosefinding the content of our meetings interesting and usefulshould become members in good standing. Other items ofinterest that were brought out during the announcements,included:

• Splinters possible: Greg Tyson wonders if there ismore Mac'ers that might be interested in forming a"Desktop Publishing" sub-subgroup, centered on theLaserWriter and the Mac. Another possibility is a"Business" sub-subgroup. Those interested maycoordinate startup with Mike Carlson.

• Microsoft announced an integrated program called"Excel", a challenger to the 1-2-3 genre. Thiscombines spreadsheet, database and graphics. Releasedate - September!?????

• Another integrated program in the development stage isAppleWorks, a la Macintosh. (Editor's note - I thinkits called MouseWorks.) Anticipate a neat adaptation ofthis popular Apple // program for the Mac.

• Note that Steve Bibus has taken up the coordinator'sjob, as Vicke Lettmann relinquishes the position.Thanks Vicke, for getting this group going, and thanksSteve, for taking over.

• The regular MacSIG meeting will feature Gary MacLeaf,representative of Lotus, with a demo of JAZZ.• As the MacSIG approaches its first birthday, thequestion of elections was raised to keep things legit.Though there is no pressure from the incumbants, if youare interested in democracy, talk to Mike Carlson about

forming a nominating committee if you wish to persuegetting fresh blood into the leadership of this group.• Those wishing to stay up with the state-of-the-art, areadvised that dealers now have updates for MacWrite(vers 4.5), MacPaint (vers l.5),System (vers 4.1) andFinder (vers 4.1). MacWrite is now disk-based (toaccept larger files), and the Finder and System havemany improvements. MacPaint is virturally unchanged,except that it now works better with 512K Macs. Usediscression in installing the new "system", especiallyon games and "protected" disks.

As a message on a more somber note, Mike relayedthe announcement from Apple Computer that MacintoshXL, after a very short time of tenure in this volatilecomputer world, passed from the worldly scene; the ultimateconsequence of an identity illness caught from a marketingvirus. The sole surviving family member is Macintosh.

The Q/A session brought forth the queries of manyfor the right of knowledge. The idea with this is to make amatch between those with the questions, and those with theanswers. To use the vernacular, we do hope that a lot offolks scored on their quests. Here's a quick swish throughthe exchange:

• Switcher 2.0 should have the ability to move theclipboard.• MacCharlie: still in the relm of vaporware, but seen attimes.

• Spelling checkers: Hayden has a limit of about 9 pages.MacSpellright handles larger documents, but is slow.• The Font Editor is crash-prone. Do a lot of "saves", oruse the Resource Editor, which is more reliable.

• Mark X modem and MacTerminal do not get along well.• Folks are having troubles getting the Brother/Comrex

printer to work with Mac. The buffer is of little use,because the Mac's translate program is slow. The MSEnhancer product has been giving another user garbageon the paper.

• Those moving pictures from Paint to Write can't get the"Final Print" quality... and that's just the way that it is.However, to eliminate the "squishies", try the "TallAdjusted" setting on the print menu, but beware that thetype size will change to 12% wider when you do.• LisaWorkshop programmers were grumbling about lackof information. With the demise of Lisa/Mac XL, thissituation will probably go from bad to worse.

• MacDraw makes some basic differences in the way thatit handles text as captions, vs. text as paragraphs.Experiment with these to discover which works the waythat you want. Those awaiting MacDraw as part of theirdeal with the MacUpgrade, are finding that Apple isshipping, but it is on a monthly "allocation" basis,rather that all at once.

=» 18

System Update -17-

Page 18: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985forth*

W SIGu.»Fruit-of-the-Limemini'app'les

Continued• The Oberon Optical Character Reader, demo'ed a meeting

or two back, is not error free in its input mode. Qualityof the printed material being copied is a prerequisite forgood transfer. The device is designed to work best withspecific "typewritten" fonts, but may read some "nearletter quality" dot matrix fonts, however, with a higherrate of error. (The thing already has a high error rate -Ed.)

See announcements for July program. For theAugust meeting, we are anticipating a review of musicprograms and music devices for the Mac by Chuck Boody.

The program for this evening started with PaulHowe, reviewing the Microsoft Chart program. Paulreports that the manual for Chart is pretty good, but stillleft some things lacking, in his view. Chart comes with asingle master disk, using the typical MS protectionscheme, ie; you need the master to be read once at the startof a day's session, but can make "working" copies as youwish. He has not experienced any crashes, and thinks thatthe program is relatively bug free.

There is a lot of on-screen help available. Most allof the activity is done by menu selection... the problemsometimes being that you forget which menu to go to for aparticular function. Most of the menu selections are backedby "command key" choices, if you are good at memorizing.There is a large choice of charts available, with provisionfor a fair amount of your own customization. Your data,entered from the keyboard or moved from another program,can be plotted automatically or on demand. Paul gave theprogram average to good marks for most all tasks, and hadno major problems to report.

Dan Buchler then moved to center stage with a work-ingman's evaluation of Microsoft Word. Dan has used thisprogram heavily, and gives it excellent marks for powerand completeness (in what it can do), but calls it "buggy",difficult to use to the fullest, and weak in documentation.

Word allows you to take detailed control over manyof the format characteristics of the entire document, orparagraphs and characters. You can even adjust linespacing in "points", as well as create characters from 4 to127 points in size... they may look a bit strange on thescreen, but Dan's favorite printer, the LaserWriter, canmake a silk purse out of a screen fodder.

There are many keyboard shortcuts for menuselections, to speed you in your editing. You may havefour windows open at a time, which also helps in cut-and-paste operations. Though not visible on-screen, multiplecolumns (up to 9) are supported, and you can do mail mergeoperations. The program's tendancy to occasionally losethe file (though usually recoverable) or give you a messagethat the "session is too long", are definately disturbing toany user.

The meeting disolved into small discussion groups,as things came to a close. Those that missed MacDOM's#10 and #11 at the start of the evening, coaxed copies outof the sales crew before the doors were shut for the night

(X

0 Mac Updates - Continued ~\A "Print Catalog" feature (figure below) makes it

easy to get a hard copy record of what's on the disk, iconsand all. If you choose something other than Icon forView As, the left edge of each line now contains a littleIcon (also in figure below) which can be dragged, just likea regular Icon, to another window or a disk Icon.

|* Hyi Edit View SpecialIII New Folder §§N □mm

llll °Den Name

111 c,ose D Microsoft Word0 Clipboard FileO System FolderD Switcher 2.6D TurboControlD Standard Glossa

Ijlj Get InfoH Duplicate

j||| Page Setup■j Print Cataloi

seiSB

9

9§E111 Eject * \ ■There are other features that are new, too. I'll leave

it to you to discover the remainder of the desserts.T h a n k s , A p p l e . r * ^

ProfessionalServiceGet it done right the first time!We give quality service on allApple products and Epson printers.

Need on-site repair?Call us—on site and maintenancecontracts available.

hagenOFFICE EQUIPMENT, INC.801 WEST 77% STREETRICHFIELD, MINNESOTA 8542S 866-3441

/^8k

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min i 'app ' les

Switcher: First Impressionsby Dan Buchler

I encourage all Fat-Mac users to try out the Switcher.It is a super powerful tool. In this article I'll try to giveyou an idea of how it works and some of its current shortcomings.

In case you haven't heard, let me tell you briefly whatSwitcher is. It's a utility that works only in a Fat Mac ora Lisa XL. It relies on the fact that most Mac applicationsare designed to work in 128K Macs. This includesMacWrite, MacPaint, MacDraw, Microsoft Word, MicrosoftMultiplan, etc. Since a Fat Mac contains 512k of memory,one reasons that one should be able to load severalapplications into memory at the same time. That's exactlywhat Switcher does. You can load (Apple calls it install)an application at any time, and, remove it when you havefinished so as to make room for another.

Why would one want more than one application in at atime? Well, in an IBM PC or a regular Apple, it probablywouldn't really help much. However, all applications forthe Mac make use of the clipboard. The clipboard is theuniversal "highway" between all applications. Let me givean example. Let's say you are writing a document underMacWrite and want to incorporate clip-art at appropriateplaces. With Switcher, you click the left end of the SwitchIcon:

00This Icon appears at the top corner of any applicationusing the Switcher, and the screen rolls left into MacPaint.You Open your MacPaint document with the appropriateclip-art, select the area you want copy it to clipboard,click the Switch Icon again, and Paste under Edit intoyour MacWrite document. The whole operation takes onlya few seconds!

To prepare this article, I fired up Switcher by doubleclicking on the Switcher Icon in the desk top after bootingthe disk with Switcher 2.6 on it. You end up with theApplication Switcher main menu (below).

replication Switcher

Double-click here to launch an application...

Double-click here to launch on application...

Double-click here to launch an application.

There are 8 of the application Icons:

Double-clicking on the first one gets you a list of all ofthe applications which have been loaded onto either drive.

application Switcher

MacDram

Mulffplan

O

O

Open Switcher ap..

[ E j ec t 1

[ Cancel j j [ Driue

In this example, and the way I work with the Switcher is tohave Microsoft Word, the Switcher itself and the System onone disk; and MacDraw, MacPaint and Multiplan on asecond disk called "Switcher Applications". The menu yousee above is for "Switcher Applications". I selectedMacPaint, hit Open and the Finder launched MacPaint. Toget back to the Switcher, you click on the center of theSwitch Icon

00and you again see the Switcher main menu, except the firstapplication Icon is now identified as MacPaint (below).» F i le Ed i t Swi tcher

You can then continue to bring up additionalapplications until you run out of memory.

The documentation says you can bring up four 128kapplications. I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

When the Switcher main menu is visible, you can seehow memory is allocated by pulling down, under File, anitem called."Show Info Window" (below).

* ■ fttl I l-clit SwitcherL o a d S e t . . . § € LS a u e S e t . . . 3 § SiHtach Document**. VJ\

Show Info Window

Quit■■■■■

On selecting "Show Info Window", you see thefollowing window:

=> 20

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; mini'app'les

SvVitCher (Continued)

ile l!<lit Switcher

Switcher Information =

lemory UtilizatioFinderMicrosoft WordMacPaintFree Memory

20K44K44K63K

In this example, there is a total of 471K of memory inuse or available to the switcher. The lighter area in eachband indicates memory which is allocated (by you) to theapplication, but not currently being used by it. You noticeI said that you the user can decide how much memory toallocate to an application. The default is 128K (or 144K ifyou tell the Switcher you are using LaserWriter.)

The memory allocation is changed from the default bypulling down on Switcher while the switcher is the selectedapplication and choosing Configure then Install.

Install Application... §€ljnj^1 Bemoue Application 3€R

Edit Switcher

*

Coi figure then Install.

OpenSwitch LeftSwitch Right

§€0

Options...

The next window you see is the list of availableapplications. After you highlight your application in thatw indow, you ge t t he f o l l ow ing w indow: => v

LTLaserWriter

This issue of Mini'app'les sets anew standard for newsletter production. All text was converted

to Macintosh, formatted with Microsoft Word ,and typeset with the LaserWriter on anAppleTalk network.

July 1985

MacPaint Configuration»

Preferred Memory Size k

Minimum Memory Size

KSaue Screen□ Suspend/Resume

128

(Permanelvri [TemporaTy]

There are other options available and space does not permitfor a discussion of them. The main option is shownbelow.

iApplication Switcher Options

□ Switcher in Rotation

□ Always Conuert Clipboard[x] Switching Animation

^ □ Back after Launch

DSame One Twice

□ Reuerse Switch Direction

13 Room For LaserWriter

(W) ( CancelYou may have noticed in the Memory Utilization

window, above, that "Finder" is listed. Finder is anapplication which may be launched. The documentationfails to tell you that it must be the first one, if you plan touse it at all. Further, you must have 128K. I didn't realizethat the finder was so much of a memory hog until I tried itseveral different times at various memory allocationsbetween about 40K and 128K, and ran into difficulties from"bomb" screens to strange error messages. Even 128K maynot be enough for the finder, at least with Switcher 2.6You may find that the Finder goes through a whole seriesof requests to insert disks that were utilized by yourapplications since the last time you displayed the desktop!It seems to want to display all of the previously used diskIcons, even if the disks have been ejected. The more disks,the more memory! I think there are several bugs inSwitcher 2.6 relating to the finder. However don'toverlook this powerful tool! The finder, if launched,allows you to get to the desk top virtually instantaneously,do something like delete a file or move something toanother disk, and then return to the application. Very nice!

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Page 21: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

Switcher (Continued)I talked to Apple about some of my problems and.they

strongly suggested that one be as conservative as possibleabout memory utilization. For example, the Switcher"Option" "Always Convert Clipboard" util izes asignificant amount of memory. If you do not choose thatoption, then to paste something from one application toanother all you have to remember to do is to hold theOption key down when clicking the Switch Icon.

If you are motivated to try Switcher, first of all get acopy of Switcher 2.6. The Rev 2.0 on the MacDOM 11has more problems. Version 2.6 is far from perfect too butwill probably hold together enough so you can effectivelyuse it.

If you start off by reading the documentation, you maybe put-off, and think the thing is really complicated.Actually, it's quite easy to use. I think most experiencedMac users could figure most things out without reading anydocumentation - isn't that what the Mac is all about ?

Switcher is up to version 2.9X, according to Apple,and will probably be released as 3.0. We know thatMicrosoft plans to package Switcher with several of itsproducts. How unbundled it will be, we do not yet know!

Announcements (Continued)

Switcher: sliding from Paint to Word

&© MinUteS (Cont inued)

TREASURER'S REPORT FOR MAY 1985

Check Register:Balance Forward

P o s t m a s t e r $ 1 0 0 . 0 0MacDOM supp l ies 138 .10Meet ing room rent 298.00Newsletter Colleate 240.00M e m b e r s e r v i c e s 6 5 . 8 1Apple II Dom supplies 27.00M i s c e l l a n e o u s 3 7 . 7 7Newsletter Printing 1209.00MembershipDOM SalesMacDOM Sales

$10507.54

$ 871.00482.00783.00

Balance Forward $10527.86

&

H e l p N e e d e d To D i s t r i b u t eAppl icat ionsby Dick Marchiafava

Do you find that belonging to this computer usergroup is helpful? Do you remember how you struggled tofind answers to your questions as you began using yourApple? How long did it take you to find Mini'app'les?

When I bought my first Apple computer 3 years ago Iwas lost! I was the only computer user that I knew! Icertainly could not answer my own questions.

In the last year I found that many micro productsdealers did not have applications for our user group and ifthey were supplied with them they are delighted todistribute them!

At the June board meeting a plan was put before theboard that would increase membership by placingMini'app'les membership applications in the hands ofmicro-computer dealers in the Twin City area.

A list of micro-computer dealers and dealers for otherproducts which are used by micro users will be placed in adatabase. A mailing will be made to those dealersrequesting that they display and distribute our applications.Those dealers who respond will be supplied withapplications.

We need a person to handle the requests for shipmentsof additional applications. This will involve receiving therequests, packing, labeling and delivery to the Post Officeor UPS for shipment to the dealers.

If you are willing to extend a help hand to newcomputer owners and help the club get new members byhelping to make our applications available at micro dealersplease contact Dick Marchiafava at 572-9305. -i

WOULD YOU BELIEVEFAST, AFFORDABLE

COMPUTER REPAIR?Why wait 2 to 3 days for repairs, when our 12 trainedtechnicians can insure fast, professional service Weservice IBM, Epson, Apple and Panasonic computers,

and Epson and Okidata printers. We provide convenientservice at your own location* or you can bring yourcomputer or printer direct to us. We'll even provideregular, scheduled service at your convenience

Extended service contracts available at reasonablerates. Use your Visa,® MasterCard,® American Express® orDayton's Flexible, Furnish-A-Home or Invoice Account. For

more information, call 623-7123.•Within 7-county Metro area only.

DA/Dr>SCOMPUTER REPAIR SERVICE.

- 2 1 -© 1985 Dayton Hudson

Page 22: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

mini'app'les July 1985

©L^SSOFOEP /kBThese ads are provided free to

members for non-commercial use,and are limited to 10 lines.Commercial ads will be charged at20 cents/word for members or 40cents/word for non-members.Contact the Advertisingcoordinator.

DEADLINE for ads is thesecond Friday of the monthpreceding the month ofpublication. Ads will be repeatedon request only.Also, please notify editor if item issold. Unless otherwise noted, allitems are For Sale

Videx VideoTerm 80 coldisplay card with Soft VideoSwitch - for the Apple ][+ -used only a couple of times -$165.00Also a few boxes of 3M disksfor the ][+ - $8 per box of 10.

D a v e { w o r k ) 8 3 1 - 0 0 1 0.(home) 831-8507

Au tod ia l /au toanswer modems with software; $134.95.Sof tware P lus 560-4077

Quartet for the Mac; retail$199. 3 leaft at $95 each.Sof tware P lus 560-4077

128K Apple///.Monitor///,Microsoft CPM card...$900.00Okidata 84 - 200 CPS/widec a r r i a g e $ 8 0 0 . 0 0Lisa 2-5,512K - Macworks

$2300.00Macintosh 128K. .$1400.00All the above equipmentincludes 3 month warranty,manuals and tax.Before 5.30pm. (507)835-3160After 5.30 j(507)835-5542

ORDERING DOMs or MSDs

A reminder that Disks Of theMonths (DOMs) and Mini'app'lesSoftware Disks (MSDs) areavailable by mail: DOMs at $6.00each; MSDs at $17.50 each.MacDOMs at $9.00 each.

Send your order to:MINI'APP'LES DOM'sPO Box 796HopkinsMN.. 55343.Attention DOM Sates Most

DOM's and all the MSDs areavailable at club meetingsBecause of the volume of disksdistributed, they are not tested.Club members are asked to makeevery effort to get the DOM orMSD running. For example,occasionally the DOS on the diskwill be bad, but it will catalog OKand one can run the programs.Master Create on your Systemmaster disk will fix-up the DOS.Of course, if you have a disk withbad programs, we will cheerfullyreplace itl

C o n t i n u i n g S e r v i c e f o rM i n i ' a p p ' l e s M e m b e r s

b y C h u c k T h i e s f e l dMembers can order DOMs (not.

Mini'app'les Software orMacDOMs) using their owndiskettes. Here is the procedure:

Make up a package containingthe following:1. Blank diskette (or diskettes if morethan one is desired).2. Mailer. Diskettes will be returned insame protective device used to sendthe diskettes, provided such will fit inthe mailer.3. Send correct postage in stamps -do not send money in lieu of stamps.4. Self-addressed return label.5. $1.00 copying fee per DOM or disk.6. A note indicating which DOMs aredesired.Send to:

C. Thiesfeld8416 Xerxes AvenueS. -Bloomington, MN 55431

Please allow 60 days for delivery inUSA. In-complete packages will not bereturned. DOMs 1 thru 29, except 18,EAMON #3, and 8 Pascal disks arecurrently available. Mini'app'lesSoftware disks (MSD) are not.available! General questions aboutDOMs should be addressed to SteveGeorge.

CLEVELAND AVE. NO.(FROM LARPBHTER Ofi Hwy 36) UcfM St Paul Campus

GoRTNErVCLEVELAND AVE. HO.

(PROM COHO ANO RAYMOND AVB'S)

WHEN ON THE CAMPUS,TAP* GOfcTNERTOFITCH AVENUE,THEN OOWEST OH ftTCH TO THEPARKING LOT. THENUSE SOUTH ENTW ATCLASSROOM-OfFICEBWLDIIj6_NO. 41ft«

~FAEE ?A1fcC*Nfr fVTSoTT©ri_of_H IM.MEETIM6 BOOM N6.B45IS JUST INSIDE THEPOOR. OH GROUNDL E V E L . ( I T

:<-COMMONWEALTH(FROM STATE fAiAGROUNDS ANOSNBLUN6 AV£.MC.)

Map of

MeetingPlace

WTOFf tEELOT

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Page 23: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

EPSON ®

M ElAf EpSON LX-80 Printer with near letter quality mode.Mm E if All EPSON Printers come with a full one year warranty.

l i i ii i

We will not beundersold on Epson Printers.

E p s o n L X - 8 0 $ 2 4 9F X - 8 0 + $ 3 5 9F X - 1 0 0 + $ 4 7 9J X - 8 0 $ 4 8 9L Q - 1 5 0 0 $ 8 9 9

Prices reflect cash discount.Sale prices subject to quantities on hand.

Quantities are limited. Expires 7/31/85.

ELEPHANT MEMORY SYSTEMSCOUPON SALE

EMS#1 SS/SD ONLY 1 /box with couponAdditional boxes s12"/box

EMS#5 DS/DD ONLY 19 /box with couponRegularly $32°7box

"Lifetime warranty Expires 7/31/85 Over the counter replacementI 1 „ _ _ "Unlabeled Diskettes as low as 79. Ask for details.

CITY DESK COMPUTER WAREHOUSE164 North Blake Road, Hopkins, MN 55343 (612) 933-1771

Hours: M-F 9:30 AM-8:00 PM Sat. 9:30 AM-5:00 PM Sun. Closed (During Summer)Fast, low cost delivery available on all products.

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Page 24: mini'app'les · MacSIG:Non Tech Users Mon. July 15 6:30/7 pm. Southdale Area Library 7001 York Ave. So., Edina REGULAR MINI'APP'LES WEDNESDAY July 17, 7:30 U of M - ST. PAUL Classroom

yukon computer products, inc.post office box 93, hopkins, mn 55343

(612) 593-1503

BEST PERFORMERS

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M A C H I I I J O Y S T I C K $ 3 8 . 9 5S Y S T E M S A V E R $ 6 9 . 9 5B A C K C H A I R S * $ 1 9 . 9 5RAINBOW PAPER PACK $19.95MICRO PERF PAPER BOX $26.95T W I N P O R T I I $ 2 7 . 9 5

^EXCELLENT BARGAIN

HARDWARE

PANASONIC 1091 PRT. $299.95APPLE CAT II $222.95

NEW ITEMS

BEAGLE EXTRA K $31.95APPLE WORKS MOD APII+ $41.95SWEET MICRO SPEECH DEV $33.95

*CALL FOR FREE CATALOG

Mini'app'lesBox 796HopkinsMN 55343AddressCorrectionRequested

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PaidHopkins, MNPermit 631