MAIN LINE COMPUTER USERS - SEPTEMBER 1997 - ISSUE #184 **** SEPTEMBER 1997 ******************************** ISSUE #184 **** VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY, ST. AUGUSTINE CENTER MEETING STARTS - 09:30 - SEP 06 Have problems? Visit rooms 110 & 210 !! ---------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS History of Computing - Part V 2 Announcements 3 ! WINNERS THIS MONTH ! 3 New Products/Items 3 Internet Books are HERE! 3 Trading Post 4 64/128 meeting minutes 4 What File Do You Have? 5 AMIGA User Happenings 6 State of the AMIGA Market 8 MAP/Masthead/Meeting schedule 9 Membership Form/Dues 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------- MAIN LINE 64/128 USERS - Room 110 The survey at our July meeting (see item in last issue) turned up the fact that more than half our attendees are using other computer platforms, usually in addition to a 64 or 128. A perennial question that comes up is the chore of moving files back and forth between a Commodore and another machine or back and forth across the internet between almost any combination of two computer platforms. On page 5 of this issue is a primer on some of the details of the differences that have to be dealt with - to make life smoother! For the main meeting, we'll start looking at a few of the many tools available to accomplish cross platform file moves and translations. (continued on page 3) MAIN LINE AMIGA USERS - Room 210 Our August meeting was attended by a devoted small cadre of members. We spent the better part of the meeting covering the planned main topic, that of identifying and resolving problems associated with starting some programs. We also spent a bit of time discussing the forthcoming newly licensed Amiga products. Since I will not be able to attend next month's meeting, Bill Bacon will chair the next meeting. Both Bill and Ted Dean are planning to do short presentations. Bill will discuss how he has built his web page and a little about HTML. Time permitting, Ted Dean will be prepared to discuss his efforts at setting up MIDI on his Amiga and maybe cover some of the (continued on page 6) ---------------------------------------------------------------- THE PART II MEETING ARE YOU CHANGING? At our August meeting, 14 of the 16-17 attendees indicated a strong interest in continuing to try to help folks who are using mainly PCs as an alternate to or instead of their 8-bit. This month, we'll try to assess the needs better and continue the Q & A format. See page 4 for a bit more info. *************************** CHRONOLOGY OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTING MACHINES (PART V) BY JAY R. BAKER 1938 (cont'd.) - his next machine, the Z2, was a larger, more sophisticated calculator which used electromechanical relays and therefore operated at much higher speeds. In December 1941, at the request of the Aerodynamics Research Institute, Zuse completed the Z3, the first operational general-purpose program-controlled calculator. The Z3 was controlled by a punched tape program, the initial problem values were entered by hand into a small memory that held sixty-four 22 bit numbers and had 2600 relays in the arithmetic unit which could multiply two numbers in three to five seconds. In addition to the four basic arithmetic operations, the Z3 could also find square roots, however it did not have any provision for conditional jumps in the program. As World War II was ending, Zuse began work on the Z4 which had a memory of 512 thirty-two bit numbers. Construction of the Z4 was disrupted by the turmoil at the end of the war and it did not go into operation until 1950. 1939 - George Stibitz, an American physicist, and Samuel Williams, an American engineer expert in switching, who worked for Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City, built the Model I computer using 400 to 450 relays in the arithmetic unit and a teletype with which to enter the data and record the answers. It could add two 8 digit decimal numbers in 0.1 second and multiply two such numbers in a minute. The Model I had some severe limitations however. It was not programmable and could not execute conditional jumps. Furthermore it was not a general purpose calculator but was hardwired to perform a particular set of operations needed to solve complex algebraic equations used to design filters and amplifiers. And finally, it did not have a memory or a central processing unit. Stibitz drew up a plan for a programmable general purpose machine but it was never built. Jun 1943 - John William Mauchly (1907-1980), an American physicist and professor at the Moore School of Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania, and J. Presper Eckert, Jr. (b. 1919), an American electrical engineer, received a contract from the U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory to build an electronic calculator for the purpose of computing tables of trajectories and firing angles which were needed for each combination of gun and projectile. At the time, BRL was capable of producing about 15 such tables a week but the war had increased the need to 40 tables a week. The machine which Mauchly and Eckert built was called the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC) and used vacuum tubes which Mauchly and Eckert recognized as essential to obtaining the computing speed needed to meet the goals of the project even though concern about the reliability of vacuum tubes caused others to doubt the likely success of the project. Dec 1943 - Colossus I began operation at Bletchly Park, England and was designed and used to successfully break the secret coded messages of the German Enigma machine. It used vacuum tubes (2000 of them) in order to be able to process the data at the speeds required to match the data input rate of 2000 characters per second of the punched paper tape readers. It was the first electronic digital computer but was a special purpose one dedicated to code breaking and not easily modified for other applications. Oct 1944 - Mauchly and Eckert at the Moore School of Engineering received a contract from the U.S. Army Ordnance Department to design the Electronic Discrete Variable Arithmetic Computer (EDVAC) a true computer having a stored program, a central processor, memory for both the data and the programs, and using binary math and Boolean logic. DIRECTIONS FOR ST. AUGUSTINE CENTER MEETING ROOMS For the next many months, we have shifted our monthly meetings from Mendel Hall to the St. Augustine Center at Villanova University. The 8-bit meeting will be 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 may have to enter the building via the front door, as shown in the sketch below. 18 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 64/128/Amiga Meetings 1997 Steering Committee Meetings September 06 September 10 October 04 October 08 November 01 November 12 * = second Saturday ** = third Wednesday ------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWSLETTER DEADLINE is September 18th !!! ********************************************************** 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 ######################################## ANNOUNCEMENTS & SPECIALS ######################################## NEW MEMBER WELCOME! - we added a new member last month, Ms. Peterman, a C-64 user. A hearty welcome - and we look forward to seeing you in our meetings!!! ! CONGRATULATIONS ! At the August meeting, our raffle winners were: Robyn Josephs, Chauncey Westbrook and Peter Whinnery! There'll be three (3) more winners in September, etc. (until the prizes run out)! Come on out and take the opportunity being offered! --------- INTERNET BOOK! - our order for fourteen copies of Gaelyn Gasson's book, "The Internet for Commodore 64/128 Users" has arrived! All came in good shape and the UPS strike was not an impediment. You can retrieve your copy by forking over a check for $24 to our hard hearted treasurer, Stew. All copies will be at the September meeting. If you can not pick up your copy, call Emil to see about alternate arrangements for pick up (not mailing!). The book is spiral bound for lay flat, is about 300 pages and looks, on my first skim thru, to be well done. Also included is a copy of Novaterm V9.6 Lite (and it is lite!). The book appears comprehensive and offers a wealth of information. In fact, there is much information even for a non-Commodore user. It is proving to be useful as a reference source right away! Note: we did order one extra copy; so if someone, who did not order, would like a copy, please call Emil. First come, first served! We will also begin collecting names for others - if we can get five, or more, then we can order at the bulk discount price. ON-LINE TIDBITS - if you have an on-line account that allows access to the internet, you may want to check out a couple of Commodore support spots. Last month, we mentioned the Novaterm mailing list. Following some tips in Gaelyne Gasson's internet book, try: ftp to jbrain.com ftp to Hal9000.net.au http to www.jbrain.com The ftp sites have quite a lot of PD, freeware and shareware - not only for the 64 and 128, but also for Amiga, PCs and UNIX. An extensive update of Commodore ftp sites should be on hand at the September meeting. LUNCHEON INVITATION - following the regular meetings, several or our members regularly gather at the Villanova Diner to chew on lunch and other thoughts that may have come up at the meeting. No attempt is made to solve the world's problems, but it does offer yet another forum for folks to share interests and even solve some more problems. Why not join us? *************************** NEW PRODUCT UPDATES NOVATERM V9.6c - Nick Rossi, author of Novaterm 64 has been issuing a series of "patches" to correct bugs of one sort or another. The latest is "patch C" and we have got an update disk. If you are one of the folks who got Novaterm in the club bulk offer, you can contact Charles Curran to get the update to the disk. Note: updating is not an absolute must, if you are not experiencing any problems, it may not be "broke; so don't fix it!". THE VINTAGE COMPUTER - has just mailed out its latest catalog. They have expanded their offerings, including some Amiga items now. They also have a lot more hardware listed. A good spot to check for scarce items. It will be at the next meeting. COMMODORE PRODUCTS SOURCE LIST - #6 in the annually updated list of "all" known Commodore sources was just received. It is published by Roger Long, who is Secretary/Editor of the Tri-City Commodore Computer Club (TC-Cubed). He solicits input from everywhere to identify existing sources, no longer active sources, etc. A really fine compendium. It, too, will be at the September meeting. RUMOR CONFIRMED! - Charles Curran stopped in at Software Hut recently. They confirmed that they had sold all their 8 bit material to CMD. So, they are no longer a local source of Commodore stuff. I think that means there is now NO LOCAL SOURCE! If anyone knows about any place carrying any 8-bit stuff, we would like to hear about it. On the brighter side, Software Hut continues to prosper in the Amiga business. They have just received a supply of tower cases for upgrading the Amiga 1200. There are three versions available depending on just how much "upgrading" you want to do. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $ TRADING POST $ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ WANTED!: manual (to buy or copy) for Toshiba printer #P321SL or the #P351SX Call Hines Mathews, 610-344-0443. (1) FOR SALE: computer bench 40"W x 24"D x 26.5"H, hutch 39"W x 27"H x 12"D. It has right side under shelf space of 14"H x 11.75"W x 24"D. Call Charles Curran, 610-446-5239. It is yours for $10. (1) FOR SALE: C-64, 1541 drive, MPS-801 & 1526 printers, Datasette, some software and manuals. If interested, make offer to Robert Langran, 610-519-4734. (3) FOR SALE: looking for a particular bit of software? "Crazy" Fender Tucker of LOADSTAR fame has a bunch of stuff he got by purchasing going out of business inventory. A copy of his list will be on hand at the meetings; so you can get a looksee - it may be there! (3) FOR SALE: MLCUG has a lot of hardware that is available for purchase by MLCUG members at very attractive prices! 2 computer - C-64 w/PS $25 2 disk drive 1541 - clone $20 15 disk drive 1541 - various $20 1 disk drive 1541 - 8/9 sw. $25 1 disk drive 1541-II $30 1 interface - Cardco $ 5 1 interface - MSD $ 5 6 joystick $ 2 1 modem - Panasonic 1200 bps $10 1 monitor - amber - Panasonic $10 1 monitor - screen filter $ 5 1 plotter - Commodore 1520 $10 2 printer - Commodore 1525 $10 2 printer - Commodore 803 $10 2 printer - color - Okimate 10 $10 2 printer - Okimate 120 $20 1 printer - Star Gemini II $25 2 computer - VIC-20 TBD 1 64K RAM/video for VIC-20 TBD 1 computer - Plus4 $25 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 *************************** The first part of the August meeting was devoted to a brief tutorial on selecting and initial setup of THE WRITE STUFF word processor (which is used to produce this newsletter). It followed the outline published last month in the "FAVORITE WORD PROCESSOR?" item. The initial setup for startup drive, data drive, text areas and print defaults was exemplified in the installation on the club hard drive that we have occasionally called upon in meetings. Subsequent to the meeting, another TWS variant was checked (see the note below) and will be briefly shown in September. PC Q & A The second part of the August meeting was our first PC Q&A. The objective was to determine the level of interest in future PC discussions (14 of 16 folks voted yes on that score) and garner some idea of where folks are in their need(s) for PC assistance. On this latter point, it appears that we have a whole gamut of proficiency and interest. From folks interested in starting to use a PC to helping make a living with them. There was a lot of around-the-table type discussion. Rather undisciplined at times (!), but indicative of the high interest. The discussion or Q&A format was voted as a good way to continue for the near future, at least. HOWEVER - we will NOT have fruitful discussion UNLESS attendees bring queries and topics to raise to the group at the meeting. So, if you have an interest, don't wait til the meeting for inspiration. Give it some thought ahead of time - whatever interests or bothers you is likely to be the same for other attendees. FAVORITE WORD PROCESSOR? [by Emil Volcheck] At the urging of Charles Curran, I installed, as an experiment, the HD version of TWS on two CMD hard drives, my own (device 12) and the club loaner (device 13). This version works smoothly from the hard drive and, using a 1581 emulation partition (for convenience), has ALL the help files from V1 and V2, plus a few extras from the HD version. Should be really good for tutorials - as at meetings. So, it'll remain on the loaner hard drive for us at the future meetings. Plan to get a demo, if you are curious. WHAT FILE DO YOU HAVE? [by Emil Volcheck] And, I probably should add - what kind of file do you need? More and more, as folks roam the internet, or interact with other computer (platform) users, the dissimilarities in files used/needed by them become apparent - and problems. If we look over the range of file sources we might encounter, we'll at least face: Commodore, Amiga, MS-DOS, UNIX and Macintosh. Either we are users of one (or more) of them - or we give or get files to/from them. Unfortunately, because of differing historical origins, each of these platforms did NOT adopt the same base elements, leaving us to deal with those differences. The two main differences are: A. CHARACTER SETS With the exception of Commodore, the other four platforms all chose to use the so-called ASCII character set (for American Standard Characters for Information Interchange). That at least simplifies part of the cross-platform file use. For Commodore, we have to cope with a modified ASCII character set, variously called PET ASCII, PETSCII or Commodore ASCII. The difference resides in the number values (in the range of 0-255) assigned to the upper- and lower-case alphabetical characters. Numbers, punctuation and some non-printing characters (like carriage return) are the same as "true" ASCII. While not a big deal, it does mean that files in ASCII look like absolute garbage in some cases with Commodore programs! B. THE "END OF LINE" How easy a file is to work with - even in ASCII - is a strong function of the "end of line" (EOL) character(s). Depending on the situation, editing a file can become an extremely tedious chore - or a breeze! It all originates from the time when the typewriter got connected to a telegraph line to produce the teletype. In addition to agreeing on what code we would use for characters (eventually ASCII, by the way), folks had to settle on certain "control" characters. These included control functions like ringing the typewriter bell (do you remember when you got a "ding" about 5 characters before the end of a line?), or returning the print head (carriage) from the end to the beginning of the line (carriage return, CR), or causing the teletype to move down a line; so the next line of characters did not overwrite the line just printed (the line feed, LF). In all, there are thirty-some of these control characters. As the characters came down the line, the end of the line was signaled by a CR, followed by an LF. Of the computer platforms we're considering here, only the MS-DOS based continue to use this EOL sequence, CR/LF, to indicate the end of a line. The UNIX (and the Amiga which came from UNIX lovers, I believe) system decided that you only needed a single character and they chose the LF. The operating system, more or less, tells your screen or printer to do both. For Commodore, the same concept was implemented - but with the single character being the CR. If anyone reading this knows the history behind these choices, how about letting us in on it???? Oh yes, the Macintosh (like its Apple predecessor) also uses the single CR as its EOL. So, transfers between Commodore and Mac are relatively easy. In summary, here's what we deal with: Type Char. EOL -------- ------ ---- Commodore PETSCII CR Amiga ASCII LF MS-DOS ASCII CR/LF UNIX ACSII LF Macintosh ASCII CR In past meetings (and newsletters), we have dealt with the conversion problem. For September, we'll get refreshed on some of the tools we can bring to bear to help us ease the pains of file sharing across platforms. *************************** AMIGA USER HAPPENINGS By John Deker, AMIGA SIG Leader [continued from p.1] problems he has encountered along the way. MEETING SOFTWARE The following is a brief description of software used and demonstrated during the meeting. ECICONDOS -- A PD program. ECIconDos is a program that allows you to run a batchfile from an icon, much like IconX. The difference is that ECIconDos allows you to write your batchfile in the ToolTypes of an icon, instead of having to create a seperate batchfile. ICONX -- Used as the default icon tool, IconX allows you to associate a batch file with an icon. See the AmigaDOS manual for more information. This file comes with the Amiga OS. MP -- A PD program to display MPEG animations. Runs from the CLI or a batch file. MPEGPLAY -- A PD program to display MPEG animations. Runs from the CLI or a batch file. SHELLCOLOR -- This program allows one to change the text color and background window color of a shell/CLI. It simply uses the ANSI escape color code sequences and gives you a choice of up to 8 different colors for either text or background. If your WorkBench is set for 4 colors then you will have 4 color choices. Numbers 0 to 3 will give you the same colors as 4 to 7. If your WorkBench is set to 16 colors you will still have only the first 8 to choose from. ShellColor has been tested on AmigaDOS 2.0 and 3.0 and may not work quite as expected on 1.3. This is due to minor differences in the console interface that were implemented between system 1.3 and 2.0. However, 1.3 users may still find some benefit from this program. SNOOPDOS -- SnoopDos is a utility that allows you to monitor a variety of system operations carried out by programs on your Amiga. This includes what files a program is trying to open, what fonts, libraries, devices and environment variables it is looking for, and so on. THE MAIN PRESENTATION SNOOPDOS The first part of our presentation dealt with the issue of using SnoopDos to identify problems which may keep troublesome programs from running. How many times have you tried to install some big application program, only to find out when you run it that it doesn't seem to work properly? Often, it's looking for some configuration file, library, environment variable, or font which you've forgotten to install. Version 1 of SnoopDos provided a simple no-frills approach to spying on a program's activities. SnoopDos 3.0 brings the original SnoopDos into the 90's by adding a full style guide compliant GUI and a host of powerful new features, whilst retaining the simplicity of its ancestor. To get going with SnoopDos, simply double-click on the SnoopDos icon or type "Run SnoopDos" in a Shell window. The first thing you'll see is the main SnoopDos window, which features a variety of buttons. At this point, SnoopDos is active, and monitoring a range of system operations. If you now run another application, you should see some lines of output displayed in the SnoopDos window. When there are too many lines to fit in the window, some will scroll off the top; you can use the scroll bar to bring them back into view. In most cases, this is all you need to do to identify a problem. The SnoopDos window will list any files that can't be opened, fonts that can't be found, and so on, as well as all those operations that were successful. However, you can customize SnoopDos to better suit your Amiga environment. By clicking on the Setup and Function gadgets in the main window, you can open two additional windows. The Settings window lets you change various preference settings, such as the fonts used for the SnoopDos window, while the Function window lets you choose which events you want SnoopDos to display in the main window. If you're unsure of the meaning of any of the buttons, check out the Function window help for more details. An important feature of SnoopDos is that you can choose exactly how much or how little information about events you want to see. Select "Show Format" from the Windows menu to open up the format editor. This contains the current event format which controls how the information in the main window is displayed. To change this, simply pick up fields using the left mouse button and drag them to a new position. There are many more details to the operation of SnoopDos. To access these at any time from within SnoopDos, you can press the HELP key to call up context-sensitive help from the accompanying AmigaGuide document. ICONX & ECICONDOS There are still many files that can only be run from the Shell/CLI or a script text file. As examples during our demonstration I used MP and MPEGPLAY. These files were briefly described earlier. To make life easier, it is possible to associate a script or batch file with an icon and thereby launch such programs using the mouse. IconX is a file that comes with the Amiga OS. It can be found in the SYS:C directory and its use is described in the AmigaDOS manual that comes with every Amiga. Therefore, I won't go into any more detail about it here. ECIconDos is a nice alternative to IconX. It lets you use an icon's tooltypes window for your script. With IconX you needed two files, an icon file and a text file, to get things running. With ECIconDos you need only the icon file. This saves a little bit of hard drive space. The down side to using ECIconDos is that not everyone has this program, and therefore, you can't easily share files with someone else without giving them a copy of ECIconDos. 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. ------------------------ THE STATE OF THE AMIGA MARKET --------------------- Nova Announces Aladdin 4D 5.0 Now Shipping, Monday, August 04, 1997 Contact: Bob Fisher Nova Design, Inc. 804-282-5868 [http://www.novadesign.com/alinfo.htm] Aladdin 4D 5.0, possibly the most anticipated upgrade to a consumer 3D package on the Amiga, is now shipping! Aladdin 4D is the Amiga's fastest 3D modeling, rendering, and animation package currently available. It's integrated particle systems and volumetric gases along with it's support for Lightwave 3D and the Video Toaster make it an ideal addition to both the consumer and professional markets! Here is just a small sampling of some of the new features incorporated in Aladdin 4D 5.0: * Dongle copy protection - GONE! * All-new AmigaDOS 2.1/3.1 style interface. The completely configurable interface has been designed to make using Aladdin 4D's modeling, rendering and animation tools easier to use than ever before! * Support for all Amiga display modes, CyberGraphX displays, Toaster, DCTV and more. * Full support for the MAGIC image buffer system to allow integration with ImageFX for amazing post-processing and special effects. * New lighting such as spotlights, negative lights, and completely configurable photorealistic soft-edged shadows! * Two lens flare systems! * Support for Newtek's Video Toaster and Lightwave 3D object loading * Hierarchical, spline based, motion paths. * ARexx support, instant texture previewing, interactive help system, multiple level anti-aliasing, motion blur and more! The upgrade price from any previous version of Aladdin 4D is only $99.95. This upgrade brings you the all new Aladdin 4D 5.0 and a completely new manual for less than $100.00! Call 1-800-IMAGE-69 or (804) 282-1157, to order your upgrades / crossgrades to Aladdin 4D and ImageFX on this special offer, or fax us at: (804) 282-3768. ImageFX and Aladdin 4D are trademarks of Nova Design, Inc. All other trademarks are held by their respective owners. [from Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group/cucug@cucug.org]