MAIN LINE COMPUTER USERS - MARCH 1997 - ISSUE #178 **** MARCH 1997 *************************************** ISSUE #178 **** VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY, MENDEL HALL MEETING STARTS - 09:30 - MAR 01 !! MEETING ROOM CHANGED !! ---------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS 1,12 Announcements 2 New version of ACE! 2 Trading Post 3 64/128 meeting minutes 4 Migration to ??? 4 Clean Your Keyboard 5 AMIGA User Happenings 7 State of the AMIGA market 7 History of Computing - Part II 8 Masthead/Meeting schedule 9 Membership Form/Dues 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------- MAIN LINE 64/128 USERS - Room 110 [Postponed from January AGAIN!] For some time now, our Internet guru, Peter Whinnery, has been telling us about a "UNIX-like" operating system for the 64/128 - and offering to show it. Well, if the weather (and Murphy!) permit, we'll try to do just that for this month's meeting! Below are remarks from Peter originally published in July: ACE is an operating system for the Commodore 128 and Commodore 64 that provides a Unix-like command-shell environment. All ACE programs will run on either a C128 (in 128 mode) or a C64. See the January issue for a listing of the commands and functions offered in ACE15. (continued on page 3) MAIN LINE AMIGA USERS - Room 210 For March we plan to have the meeting that never took place last month. With attendance at an all time low last month, maybe because of the shakeup in parking or because Mendel's doors were unattended and locked after 9:45 AM, we held only a brief discussion with the few in attendance and never unwrapped the hardware. So for March we plan to review my efforts and success at getting the Mac emulator, ShapeShifter, running. Here's a little bit of an idea of one aspect we'll be covering. It comes from something I posted on our BBS. Date: Tuesday 4-Feb-97 12:29 am From: John Deker To: All Subj: ShapeShifter Update (continued on page 6) ---------------------------------------------------------------- OUR MEETING ROOMS AND WHAT'S COMING UP! The construction work on the Mendel Hall building expansion caused significant access problems in February. For the duration of that work we'll be meeting in the St. Augustine Center. SEE PAGE 9 FOR A MAP TO ROOMS AND PARKING ****************************** CHRONOLOGY OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTING MACHINES (PART II) BY JAY R. BAKER 1673 (cont'd.) - the Reckoner had eight such wheels linked to a central shaft, a single turn of which rotated all the gears and the wheels which displayed the answer. The machine could process multipliers of 4 or 5 digits and multiplicands of up to 11 or 12 digits but it was not fully automatic since a moveable carriage had to be repositioned manually for each multiplier digit and pentagon shaped gadgets at the back of the machine had to be manipulated to help it borrow and carry. While Leibniz's computing machine was more sophisticated than previous ones, since it could perform all four arithmetic operations, it was never fully perfected, probably because of the great cost of fabricating such a complicated device. The Reckoner, which had been stored in an attic of the University of Gottingen, was rediscovered in 1879 and in 1893 Arthur Burkhardt Company (a leading calculating machine manufacturer) restored it to its original condition. Although the machine did work in general, it failed to carry tens when the multiplier was a 2 or 3 digit number because of a flaw in the engineering design. Even so the Stepped Reckoner was one of the greatest inventions of its time because it inspired a number of imitators and influenced the design of every mechanical calculator built in the next 150 years. 1820 - Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar (1785-1870), a Frenchman who ran an insurance company, used the Leibniz wheel to produce the first commercially successful mechanical calculator which he called the Arithmometer. The original model handled up to six digits and operated semiautomatically, being driven by a spring-loaded belt. Later models were expanded to a twelve digit capacity and the belt was replaced by a metal crank to improve the durability of the machine. About 1500 units were sold over the next 30 years. 1822 - Charles Babbage (b. 26 Dec 1791 in London, d. 18 Oct 1871), English inventor and professor of mathematics at Cambridge, produced a six digit calculator powered by a hand crank as a feasibility demonstration of a Difference Engine powered by falling weights and a steam engine. The Difference Engine was intended to compute tables of values of any function using the method of constant differences based on the principle that any numerical progression can be calculated by repeated additions. The machine was designed to punch the output directly onto plates which could be used to print the tables. The engine was intended to operate to the sixth order of difference, calculate numbers to twenty digits and print out 44 digits a minute. Such an engine required thousands of gears and axels machined and assembled with a precision that exceeded the existing capabilities of his time. In twenty years of effort, Babbage therefore did more to develop the British machine tool industry than in actually building his Difference Engine. 1832 - Babbage had enough parts built to assemble a 24" x 19" x 14" working section of his engine which functioned perfectly and could solve equations to the second order of difference producing six digit results. No further progress was made in actually constructing the machine and the project was terminated in 1842. Had the intended machine been completed, it would have been 10 feet high, 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep and weighed about two tons. One factor contributing to the demise of the project was Babbage's development of a new concept which he called the Analytical Engine. [To be continued] DIRECTIONS FOR ST. AUGUSTINE CENTER MEETING ROOMS For the moment, we will shift our monthly meetings from Mendel Hall to the St. Augustine Center at Villanova University. We plan to have the 8-bit meeting in seminar room 110 and the AMIGA meeting in seminar room 210. Please be sure to enter the campus from the ITHAN AVENUE main gate, then proceed to the 2-level parking building adjacent to the St. Augustine Center, on the Ithan Avenue side. However, you should enter the building via the front door as shown in the sketch below. 19 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 64/128/Amiga Meetings 1997 Steering Committee Meetings March 01 March 12 April 05 April 09 May 03 May 14 * = second Saturday ** = third Wednesday -------------------------------------------------- NEWSLETTER DEADLINE is March 20 !!! ****************************************************************** EDITOR: Emil J. Volcheck, Jr. 1046 General Allen Lane West Chester, PA 19382-8030 (Produced with C-128, RAMlink, HD-40/85, 1571, FD-4000, THE WRITE STUFF 128, XETEC Super Grafix, Panasonic KX-P1123, Swiftlink RS-232 and Motorola 288 modem) MLCUG BBS: 610-828-1359 (300 --> 28800 bps), 24 hr/day PUBLICITY/BOOK LIBRARIAN: Robyn Josephs 565-4058 DISK ORDERS: Charlie Curran 446-5239; Bill Bacon 441-5908 VILLANOVA SPONSOR: Prof. Frank Maloney, Dept. of Astronomy MLCUG STEERING COMMITTEE: PRESIDENT: Emil Volcheck 388-1581 SECRETARY: Charles Curran 446-5239 AMIGA SIG/SYSOP John Deker 828-7897 DATABASE: Layton Fireng 688-2080 TREASURER/MEMBERS:Dewitt Stewart 623-5145 64 SIG: SMALL BUSINESS SIG: 128 SIG: INTERNET: Peter Whinnery 284-5234 Tom Johnson 525-3440 2944 ######################################## ANNOUNCEMENTS & SPECIALS ######################################## YOUR INPUT - please see the writeup on page 4 concerning future club activities. Your input is strongly solicited. As a faithful member, the future of the club depends on how you feel we can provide maximum member benefit. COMMODORE WORLD - issue #18 of CW just arrived (hard to believe it has been around that long!). Interesting historical items - contrasting to the latest word on the SuperCPU technology and how to use it. Both the end user and the potential programmer get their updates on the technology. It also gives some info on the new high speed Turbo232 cartridge which CMD is producing to replace the Swiftlink. ------------ "Hardware: this is the part of the computer that stops working when you spill beer on it. ------------ CHALLENGE? - on the top of page 5 of last month's issue was a challenge to the readers - with a free issue of LOADSTAR as the prize! So far, no one has risen to the challenge. Have we no spirit, no bravery, no programming bravura? Surely someone is willing to give it a whirl??? ****************************** NEW ACE VERSION ACE-128/64 Release #16 is now available from FTP host "ccnga.uwaterloo.ca" from directory "/pub/cbm/os/ace". Or, through my Programs Web Page, URL "http://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/~csbruce/mycommie.html". ACE is an operating system for the Commodore 128 and Commodore 64 that provides a Unix-like command-shell environment. All ACE programs will run on either a C128 (in 128 mode) or a C64. BTW, "ACE" means "Advanced Computing Environment" (well, advanced for the 128/64). This release contains the following improvements over the previous release: * Support has been added to the SwiftLink driver to also fully support the Turbo232 and its 57.6, 115.2, and 230.4-kbps modes. The Turbo232 is auto-detected, so there is no configuration option. A stock C64 can handle up to 57.6kbps, a stock C128, 115.2kbps, and a SuperCPU at 20 MHz, the whole 230.4 kbps. I was unable to really test the 230.4kbps mode since I have nothing to connect it to (my 28.8 modem and my PC only go up to 115.2kbps ;-) ). I have changed the receive buffer to always be 256 bytes in size for greater efficiency. * Specific support has been added for the SuperCPU-64, including optimizing the memory-mirroring mode for maximum performance. The SuperCPU is auto- detected, so there is no configuration option. Man, does it scream! Really, the bitmapped screen works a lot faster than do the xterm windows on my Pentium-120 Linux box, making X-Windows a bit of a step down for performance. ;-) * ACE will auto-detect whether you have a C64 or C128 keyboard and will scan it appropriately. This means that on a C128 in C64 or SuperCPU-64 mode, you can use the whole keyboard. One exception is that the CAPS LOCK key can't be read with the SuperCPU (for hardware reasons), so the Commodore-STOP combination toggles CAPS mode (as with the regular C64 keyboard). * ACEterm now supports colors and more video modes. Co-1=use full screen, Co-2=use 24 lines, Co-3=normal screen, Co-5=use maximum screen, Co-4=use 40 cols, Co-8=use 80 cols. * The "uuencode" command have been extended to optionally generate and view ASCII files, respectively. (Didn't get around to the "more" command... sorry, Gaelyne). * The screen driver code in the kernel has been reorganized and optimized, and so was the SwiftLink/Turbo232 driver. * The "jiffy" rate on the PAL C64 has been changed to 60 Hz, but it is still 50 Hz on PAL C128s for technical reasons. * A number of minor bugs have been fixed. Included is kind of an ugly one which caused every 128th file open call to fail, because I didn't know that you can't open logical file #0 on the C64 (you can on the C128). Also, the scroll-back buffer didn't properly mark the memory allocated to it, which caused a problem if you ran out of memory. Also, the RAMLink Memory/REU partition parameters in the configuration now work. * Unfortunately, I didn't get around to the big jobs of working on ZED and ACEterm. Also, if you are using a C64 with some form of supported memory expansion, then you will probably want to change the configuration for the top of the "app space" to $d0, since I had to make it very low in order to fit the command shell in the ram disk. It's so low that you can't run the assembler program without raising it. You can also raise it if your deactivate the soft-80 screen (which frees up about 12K). Keep on Hackin'! -Craig Bruce csbruce@ccnga.uwaterloo.ca ------------ "A common criticism of the Internet is that it is dominated by the crude, the uninformed, the immature, the smug, the untalented, the repetitious, the pathetic, the hostile, the deluded, the self-righteous and the shrill. This criticism overlooks the fact that the Internet also offers - for the savvy individual who knows where to look - the tasteless and the borderline insane." $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $ TRADING POST $ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ BOOK WANTED: looking for, at least a loan, of the following book: Compute's Commodore Fun & Games, Vol. 2 (I think the Compute books part is right but am not certain). I'm looking for the item (on p.155, apparently) about the ENIGMA machine simulation. Emil Volcheck, 610-388-1581. (1) FOR SALE: SUPER 128 system, flat 128 with RamLink w/ 4megs of ram, RTC, battery backup; FD-4000 3.2 meg disk drive, (2) 1571 disk drive (1 has RAM board, 1 has JiffyDos), 1541-II Disk drive, 1080 Monitor, SwiftLink, Boca 14.4 modem, 1750 REU 512K, an EX-3 Expander, Super Grafix printer interface Star Gemini II printer, M3 Mouse + Joysticks, all cables to connect all hardware. All the above is in good working order. Most items have manuals. Plus many extra parts and backup items. Price $450 (OBO). Also available Panasonic KX-P2123 Color 24 pin printer PLEASE E-MAIL strause@enter.net (1) FOR SALE: C-128 w 1701 monitor, 1541 & 1571 disk drives, Gemini 10X printer, & books, manuals and some software. BO. Call Jean Costello, 610-459-4315. (1) FOR SALE: 128, 1571 drive, color mon., Brother daisy wheel and SG-10C printers, Koala pad, 1200 bps modem, port expander joystick, mouse + a lot of software. Any reasonable offer will be considered. Call Frank Salamone, 215-672-4970. (2) FOR SALE: great deal of C= hardware to sell. Includes 64, SX-64, 1541, 1571 & 4040 disk drives, monitors, etc. If you are looking for something, try calling Jay Haynor at 609-983-9150. (2) FOR SALE: 2-64s, VIC-20, color monitor 2-1541, Star NX-1000C, Okimate 10, also 2 modems, software, manuals, etc. From a former MLCUG member. Call Emil for more information, 610-388-1581. (2) FOR SALE: MLCUG has a lot of hardware that is available for purchase by MLCUG members and at attractive prices! 3 computer - C-64 w/PS $25 2 disk drive 1541 - clone $20 13 disk drive 1541 - various $20 1 disk drive 1541 - 8/9 sw. $25 1 disk drive 1541-II $30 3 interface - Cardco $ 5 1 interface - MSD $ 5 11 joystick $ 2 1 modem - Panasonic 1200 bps $10 1 monitor - amber - Panasonic $10 1 monitor - screen filter $ 5 2 plotter - Commodore 1520 $10 2 printer - Commodore 1525 $10 4 printer - color - Okimate 10 $10 1 printer - Okimate 120 $20 1 printer - Star Gemini II $25 1 printer - Star NX-1000C $30 1 RAM expander - 1700 (256K) $20 1 VIC-20 with 64K RAM/video TBD includes one of the 1541 drives) Also, we have quite a bit of software, for bargain prices (typically $2). You can contact Charles Curran to check on any items of interest (610-446-5239). ****************************** 64/128 MEETING ****************************** Well our February 1st meeting turned out to be another mixed bag handed to us by Murphy. First off, the construction folks had blocked off road access to Mendel Hall (and there will be no such access for the next 18 months)! In spite of this some 21 or more hardy members managed to find parking in various spots and make their way to the meeting room. See page 9 of this issue for more about the access situation. Secondly, having got in (thru variously locked doors), we discovered that the equipment cart with our 128 system was no where to be found! Needless to say, this put a real crimp in the program planned for the meeting - that is, we did not do it! Instead, we had a general - and lively - discussion for about 2.5 hours on various computer-related subjects, including announcements, local news, problem solving (voice only since we had no hardware or software to work with) and others. One particular topic, that got quite a bit of discussion, related to the subject of computer platform migration (i.e. migrating from the Commodore or Amiga to another computer platform). Because of its significance, the following is an attempt to capture the basics of the discussion: MIGRATION TO ? To no one's surprise, over the last 5-8 years, MLCUG has lost a lot of members who stopped using their 64 or 128 in favor of another machine. A few of these "returned" as Amigans (a notable example being our Amiga SIG leader, John Deker). However, the bulk of the departees have chosen the IBM compatible (or clone) platform (with a few choosing the Mac platform). This was substantiated by a survey we did 2-3 years ago and by phone calls to former members. In addition, quite a number of our current members are multi-platform (or at least bi-platform) - that is they may use a PC at work, while still using a Commodore at home. Some (like yours truly) use another machine at work, have another at home; but still continue to make good use of their Commodore computer. It is also clear that as time passes, even some of the remaining die- hard Commodore folks in the club will move to another machine. When their Commodore finally croaks, they may choose to move on, rather than replace with another used Commodore. Since it is more possible than ever to transfer Commodore generated info to a PC (or Mac), such a change in venue is less daunting than a few years ago. [For example, yours truly uses a common floppy disk to move files between the 128, PCs and a Mac - with essentially no hassle, not an easy chore just a couple of years ago]. Given all the above, the questions discussed at the meeting related to either 1) changing the club (over time) to support another platform or 2) assisting folks in their decision on just what to do in a platform change or addition (and, where feasible, provide assistance in the learning process after the switch). Regarding each of these options: 1) Changing the club to another platform has been discussed any number of times in the last few years. In general, the consensus has been that, since there are quite a number of user groups in SE Pennsylvania that support PCs or Macs, we would not have the background and expertise to provide the in-depth support that we do for Commodore machines and that those groups can do for their platforms. Thus, our past practice has been to try to steer the migrants to those other groups. The situation has not changed significantly, except for two things: a) many of our members have developed some skill in alternate platforms as they use different machines regularly, even professionally, and b) a small number of contacts with former members has indicated that they tend NOT TO join another user group after they leave MLCUG (either we have spoiled their taste for user groups, or other groups - with their rather sophisticated programs - tend to intimidate these "new users"). 2) Assisting the transition - so, while it is still true, that we can not offer the depth of assistance potentially available in a PC or Mac group, we may be in a better position than other clubs in helping folks decide what to do, what to buy and how to get started. And, one other function that we are uniquely suited for is to aid folks in moving the maximum of their old info to their new choice. Essentially all the response you get from the typical PCer or Maccer is that you can't move your old Commodore stuff and you just have to forget about it. [Again, yours truly, has moved literally thousands of files for former Commodore folks to both PC and Mac systems; so it really can be done!]. I believe the above summarizes about how we came out and as far as we got in the discussion. Members who were at the meeting are asked to look this over and feedback their comments and understandings; so that a correct report of the discussion is on the record. Members not at the meeting, but who wish to input their ideas on the subject are invited to contact me, any of the officers or to post comments on the BBS. NEXT STEP: once we are satisfied that a consensus is reached, we can better define what kinds of help are the most wanted and how that might best be provided. To that end, any member who has adopted another platform, is in the process of doing so, or is thinking about doing so could provide a lot of food for thought. Tell us what the questions are that YOU would like answers to that would most help you make better decisions. ALL INPUT IS MOST WELCOME! Let us hear from you. ------------ "Software: These are the programs that you put on the hard drive by sticking them thru the little slot. The function of the software is to give instructions to the CPU, which is a set of three initials inside the computer that rapidly processes billions of tiny facts, called bytes, and within a fraction of a second sends you an error message." ****************************** CLEAN YOUR KEYBOARD By Peter Whinnery Like many of us I got my 128 used. From the condition of the programing manual and the other reference material I got along with the computer it was obvious the previous owner used the machine heavily and it got a real work out. After my 2-1/2 years of pounding on it I noticed that one of the shift keys was acting flaky. I didn't register the keystroke unless I held it down quite hard and/or "jiggled" it a bit. I checked the comp.sys.cbm newsgroup on the Internet and found the following in the FAQ. I have edited it a little for the 128. The only real differences between the 64 and 128 are a bit more unsoldering/soldering to do and more little screws to deal with. I did my work on a towel and kept all the little screws in a film canister. The whole process took about an hour and was easier than I expected. One aspect I wasn't looking forward to was reinstalling my RamLink. Luck was with me though as I left it powered when I disconnected it and when it was plugged back in after the cleaning all my data was still intact. I picked up that tip from Doug Cotton at CMD. (That is not to say I didn't back up it up though!) The keyboard has a whole new feel to it now as I no longer have to push as hard! 11.3. What do I do for my ill keyboard? Clean it: Materials you will need: denatured (rubbing) alcohol, a clean pencil eraser, cotton swabs, a small Phillips head screwdriver, jewellers size Phillips screwdriver, a solder iron of some type, and a Commodore computer keyboard. Procedure: 1. FIRST AND FOREMOST. Make certain that you have discharged any static electricity in your body by grounding yourself to something like a cold water pipe. Otherwise, you could blow chips in your computer if you were to touch the wrong things. 2. Turn off your computer and unplug any and all cords and connectors, fast loaders, modems, etc. (just have yourself a naked (if you will excuse the expression) computer). 3. Thoroughly clean all external connectors and ports with the swabs and alcohol. Also, clean all plugs that go into those ports. If the problem you had persists, proceed with the following: 4. On a clean surface, turn your key-board upside-down. Remove the screws in the bottom. 5. CAREFULLY, separate the two halves about an inch. Unplug the connector to the "power" LED on the top of the computer. 6. Place the two halves flat so that the keyboard is facing you. The two halves will be connected by a wire harness. This harness may be held down by tape that must be removed in order to place the unit flat. 6a.Unsolder the wires going to the shift-lock, 40/80 dislay key, and the caps lock key. 7. Remove the 15-30 or so brass screws that hold the circuit board under the keyboard. 8. Turn the circuit board over. You will see the bottom of the keyboard with a rubber "U" under each key, which makes contact with the board. You will also see on the circuit board, a pair of gold contacts for each key. 9. CAREFULLY wash ALL the rubber "U"'s and the gold contacts with the swabs and rubbing alcohol. Allow the alcohol to DRY. 10. Gently, clean each gold contact with the eraser. BRUSH AWAY THE ERASER CRUMBS. 11. Re-clean the gold contacts with the swabs and alcohol to ensure that you have removed ALL traces of the eraser. 12. Reassemble in the reverse order of disassembly. ****************************** AMIGA USER HAPPENINGS By John Deker, AMIGA SIG Leader [continued from p.1] For about the past month now, I've been working with Ted Dean to get ShapeShifter 3.7 working on our A1200's. Up until today, I've been running ShapeShifter in the unregistered mode with its attendant limitations - most notable being the lack of SCSI and CDROM support. Well, today, after sending the $50 registration to Chris Bauer in Germany on Jan 14th, I received via INet email the UUencoded key file which unlocks those features and a few others. I can now say that I've successfully gotten my CDROM to work with ShapeShifter. Albeit, I had to exchange CDROM drives between my A2000 and A1200 since I needed SCSI-2 capability and the older drive I was using with my A1200 was SCSI-1. To my delight, I was able to use the Mac version of Distant Suns (which was a limited use upgrade for the Amiga at one time) in all its glory - well almost. I'm using a 16 color screen as a trade-off of speed vs color and beauty instead of 256 colors. Just prior to this msg I was running thru some of the QuickTime movies on the CD. Some have accompanying sound. All are a rather small window on the screen (704 x 457 Amiga DoubleNTSC 16 color screen). I'll be using Distant Suns at the next Amiga SIG meeting in March along with NetScape and other software. Come see the NEW Mac at your local Commodore-Amiga user group meeting sponsored by MLAUG! SOFTWARE OF THE MONTH As we always try to do, we'll have appropriate subject software for this month's meeting. As mentioned last month, we'll be peddling a disk with ShapeShifter and a few 'important' pieces of Mac PD software including ZTerm, some archiving tools, the latest McAfee virus software, and some benchmarking software to help check the performance of your emulation and tuning efforts. If you have more of a bent of mind for the PC world then we'll have the latest workable demo version of PC-Task, the latest PC-Task patch, the term program Telix, the archiving utility WinZip, and some benchmarking and system analysis software. Remember, all club disks sell for $1. Help yourself and the club out by making a purchase this month. THE STATE OF THE AMIGA MARKET As mentioned last month, the lack of definitive news is not good news. Amiga Technologies, the last of Escom's assets, remains unsold. Many rumors exist as to the probable success of the latest round of bidders with the most recent known bidder being Quikpak, the current manufacturer of the hi-end Amigas here in Pennsylvania, USA. In the opinion of many, the continued delays only cause further erosion of the Amiga market with the attendant increasing likelihood that the Amiga will never again be a viable product in the computer market. However, for the near term, today's Amiga user should not yet give up hope on the recovery of the Amiga market. That's the opinion of this writer. FUTURE MEETINGS If you have either software or hardware for your Amiga that has taken your fancy, please bring it to our attention. I'm sure your specific interests will be of interest to others. Let me know if this is the case at the next meeting, or leave me email on our BBS. Remember, a user group is only as rewarding as the sum of the efforts of its individual members. [Thruout this issue of the newsletter, you MAY HAVE noticed a few pithy comments that were excerpted from "Dave Berry in Cyberspace" as noted in Chemical & Engineering News. Hope you found them of interest].