[HEA]    _____________________   ___                                   _    |___   ______________| |   |                                 | |        |  | _             |   |                                 | |        |  || |            |   |                                 | |        |  || |            |   |                                 | |        |  || |            |   |   ____ _   _ _   _   ______     | |        |  || |            |   |  / __ \ | | / \_/ \  | ___ \    | |        |  || |__   ____   |   | / /  \  | |  /\ /\ \ | |  \ \   | |        |  ||  _ \ |  _ \  |   | \ \__/  | | | |_|| | | |__/ /   | |        |  || | | || |_||  |   |  \___/|_| |_|    |_| | ____/    |_|        |  || | | || |__   |   |____________________  | |         _        |__||_| |_|\____/  |________________________| | |        |_|                                                      | |         Lighting Your Apple II Path                  | |                                                      |_|-----------------------------------                       >>> WELCOME TO THE LAMP! <<<                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~           THE BEST OF THE A2 BULLETIN BOARD ON Syndicomm Online           "Teaching the Apple II user how to fish since 1998" :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Lamp!            An Onipa'a Software Production        Vol. 8, No. 2 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Publisher................................Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W., L.S.W. Editor.....................................................Lyle Syverson Internet Email, Publisher.........................thelamp@sheppyware.net Internet Email, Editor................................lyle@FoxValley.net ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::                            TABLE OF CONTENTS                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                            February 15, 2005HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN]     Signs of Spring     Signs of KansasFestA2 FORUM AT Syndicomm Online (A2Central.com) DISTILLATIONS------------[DAS]     THE Commodore 64 DTV Connection----------------------------------[CDC]     New File in the A2 Library---------------------------------------[NFL]     Apple Computer, Inc. Has Very Good Quarter-----------------------[VGQ]     Computer Science - Looking Back----------------------------------[CSB]     Using the MacIP Link Layer Module for Marinetti------------------[LLM]     Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy---------------------------------[HGG]     Mac Mini in Apple II Case?---------------------------------------[MMA]     Cost of Storage--------------------------------------------------[COS]     ORCA/C - Support for Inline Procedure Names----------------------[IPN]     Juiced.GS Subscription Renewals----------------------------------[JSR]     Lucas Updating His WebPage---------------------------------------[UWP]     Another Great Programmer's Chat----------------------------------[APC]     Help Programing a Game-------------------------------------------[HPG]     Silver Platter - Web Server on a IIgs----------------------------[SPS]ILLUMINATING THE LAMP-------------------------------------------------[ITL]     An overview of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!          To be ContinuedANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SYNDICOMM------------------------------------------[ANS]     To Sign up for Syndicomm Online----------------------------------[TSU]     February 2005 Issue of Syndicommotion Available------------------[FIA]LETTERS TO THE EDITOR-------------------------------------------------[LTE]     No Letters to the Editor This Month     An InvitationKFEST 2005------------------------------------------------------------[KF5]     KFest Registration Due to Open March 1---------------------------[KFR]     In Anticipation of KansasFest 2005-------------------------------[AKF]     Wife Might Allow Attendance at KansasFest------------------------[WMA]     Wee Hours Run For Food-------------------------------------------[WHF]     KansasFest 2005 to be Held July 19-24th--------------------------[TBH]     KansasFest Website-----------------------------------------------[KFW]EXTRA INNINGS     About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN]                                [*] [*] [*]READING THE LAMP!   The index system used by The Lamp! is designed to make"""""""""""""""""   your reading easier.  To use this system, load thisissue into any word processor or text editor.  In the index you will findsomething like:EXTRA INNINGS     About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN]To read this article, simply use your search or find command to locate[INN].  There is a similar tag at the end of each article: [EOA].[OPN]-------------------------------         HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER |------------------------------------From The Editor"""""""""""""""by Lyle Syverson <lyle@FoxValley.net>                              Signs of Spring                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     The local Groundhog, having seen his shadow on February 2, hasdeclared that there will be six more weeks of winter.  (On the other hand,had he not seen his shadow, there would have been forty two more days ofwinter.)     The unseasonably warm days have melted most of the remaining snow.There is a definite hint of Spring in the air.  Time to walk by a certainhouse.  The occupant has planted an assortment of Snow Crocus bulbs closeto the foundation on the south side of his house.     The rich, black soil next to the house has been warmed by the sunshineand by the heat from the foundation.  The Crocus bulbs have been signaledby the temperature of the soil to send up shoots... a sure sign that Springis not far off.                            Signs of KansasFest                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     It appears that KFest registration will open on March 1.  (See theKFest 2005 section of this issue for more information).[EOA]ASCII ART BEGINS_________  _                     _                                      _|__   __| | |                   | |                                    | |   | |    | |                   | |                                    | |   | |    | |___     ____       | |       _____   __ ___ _   _ _____   | |   | |    | ___ \   / __ \      | |      /____ \  | v   v | | v ___ \  | |   | |    | |  | | | /__\ \     | |       ____| | | /\ /\ | |  /   \ \ | |   | |    | |  | | | _____|     | |      / ___  | | || || | | |    | | |_|   | |    | |  | | | |_____     | |____  | |__| | | || || | |  \___/ /  _   |_|    |_|  |_| \______|     |______| \____^_| |_||_||_| | |\____/  |_|                                                            | |                                                            | |                                                            |_|ASCII ART ENDS[EOA][DAS]----------------------------------------------DISTILLATIONS FROM The A2 FORUM at Syndicomm.com  |                                  (A2Central.com) |---------------------------------------------------by Lyle Syverson <lyle@foxvalley.net>[CDC]THE Commodore 64 DTV CONNECTION"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""FWIW, the Commodore 64 DTV (the joystick created by our buddy Jeri) is nowavailable at KB Toys, at least in person (there were some in the mall herebut I couldn't find any at http://kbtoys.com/)RyanChief Sysop and Head Geek(A2.RYAN, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 513)[EOA][NFL]NEW FILE IN THE A2 LIBRARY""""""""""""""""""""""""""There is a new upload in the utilities/prodos8/date_and_time_utilitiesdirectory:File: ezupdater.bxySize: 1664Date: Jan 3EasyDrive, a freeware release from QLabs, is a disk management suite forhard drives and other large media.As distributed, the date code in the top bar is hard-coded to display "19"for the century digits.  Mark Percival has written an easy-to-use BASICprogram that will change these digits from "19" to "20" for proper datedisplay.  Place the BASIC file EZUPDATER in the same subdirectory as theEASYDRIVE bin program and then run the BASIC file.  (You may want to savethe original file as ORIG.EASYDRIVE just in case.)  From that point on, thedate bar at the top of the menu will display the proper date.  Note thatthis patch is only good for this century, so if you're going to be usingyour Apple II and EasyDrive 95 years from now, a new patch program will benecessary.Please note that the EasyDrive software must be distributed in it'soriginal form, and the date code must be altered by the end-user.  This isin keeping with the freeware agreement under which QLabs released thissoftware.Tony Ward, A2 Librarian(A2.TONY, Cat 2, Top 37, Msg 52)[EOA][VGQ]Apple Computer, Inc. HAS VERY GOOD QUARTER""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Apple Computer, Inc. reported its most profitable quarter ever onWednesday.  Stock of the company (ticker AAPL) is up more than 11% in afterhours trading.RyanChief Sysop(A2.RYAN, Cat 4, Top 3, Msg 11)[EOA][CSB]COMPUTER SCIENCE - LOOKING BACK"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Here's a poorly-framed question.I teach 11th grade English composition in a high school that includes aone-hour, twice-a-week computer science course in its curriculum.  I'vesuggested to the faculty that the teachers "switch" for a day - forexample, the math teacher teach physics, the physics teacher teachhumanities, etc.I would like to teach computer science, and draw on my Apple II backgroundto expose today's youth to that machine and its environment.  But how to doso?  The school has multiple PCs available, but I cannot legally copy myIIgs's ROM to each one to run emulators.  What Apple-related activity can Iintroduce to the kids using Windows machines?There is a Windows version of the text-based game "Adventure" available at<http://www.rickadams.org/adventure/e_downloads.html>, but that's not inthe school's spirit of barring game-playing on school computers.Thoughts?-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 1)>>>>>"""""Although I can't quote any resources for you to refer to, I've seen morethan one comment noting that the "adventure" game format has genuineeducational merit, particularly the earlier text-based versions.In the case of the original Colossal Cave adventure, I think you could makea strong case for presenting it in an educational setting. (Obviously thebig concern would be limiting the amount of time spent on the purelyentertainment side of it.)The program was ground breaking in many ways. It was huge! It had earlytext compression and interpreter-based design. It had one of the firstpublicly available "language parsers" (primitive and all as it was). Thetext was rich and complex, with roots in the Tolkien tradition. It requiredthe user to think laterally and make connections - which should be a"subject" taught in all schools!On the other hand, the Apple II implementation was just one of many, so I'mnot sure how well it fits with your plans there.Peter               peterw@syndicomm.comPalm OS Community Bulletin Board Manager(PETERW, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 2)>>>>>"""""Peter,I think I'll need to think laterally myself in order to teach a class I'dlike to teach.  In this case, "classic computing" might be a more feasibleand effective approach than Apple II specifically.I'll think about what you've said... Thanks!-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 3)>>>>>"""""Ken,Maybe the thing to do is teach a little "History of Personal Computing"during that hour - tracing, say, the evolution of the spreadsheet as a casestudy.   Visicalc, (which you can explain was originally written for the16K Apple ][ ) is actually available for download for the PC.  If you coulddig up a DOS-based copy of Lotus 1-2-3, and then finally show them Excel,they might get a nice idea how far we've come.Some related links:http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa010199.htmhttp://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/VisiCalc.htmlhttp://www.bricklin.com/history/vcexecutable.htm_________  | homas(TCOMPTER, Cat 6, Top 7. Msg 4)>>>>>"""""I posted my original query on a whim, after weeks of meaning to.  It'sproven to be timely, as I may be substituting for the computer scienceteacher next week!  Gulp.I've found copies of Adventure and VisiCalc that I can install (freely andlegally) on the school computers.  Perhaps I can whip up something in arush using that.-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 5)>>>>>"""""There's a lot of value in a good text adventure game; they teach logicalthinking, reading, and attention to detail.In particular, some of the crime solving games like The Witness are verygood for this sort of thing.Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd                                sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm                                  http://www.syndicomm.com                     Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 6)>>>>>"""""I thought Adventure, like British Legends, would give a list of all thepotential directions for exit from the current room by using the "exits"command - but there is no such command.  That makes it much more difficult,IMHO, since the verbose description of each room does not necessarily say"there is a river to the east", only "there is a river nearby".Hmm.-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 7)>>>>>"""""Does anyone know of a good spreadsheet exercise I can give the students inVisiCalc?  For example, "Here is some data; enter and manipulate it in aspreadsheet thusly."FWIW, I found a review of Cdex, a VisiCalc tutorial, at<http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n5/54_Visicalc_made_easier.php>.-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 8)>>>>>"""""The Infocom games are typically much, much better about ensuring that roomdescriptions indicate where all the exits are than any other adventuregames I've ever seen.  It helps to turn on VERBOSE mode, so you see roomdescriptions each time you enter.Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd                                sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm                                  http://www.syndicomm.com                     Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 9)>>>>>"""""In the original adventure the idea was that you *explored*. That is, youalways tried all directions in a room including up and down (offhand Ican't remember if NE, SE, NW, SW work). You were also expected to make amap. And entering room B by going North from room A did not always meanthat going South from Room B would take you back to Room A!It really was meant to be much more of an "adventure" than some of thelater programs. Although Infocom did indeed have the balance pretty right.(BTW, there are many Infocom (and 3rd party) games available for downloadusing Z-machine interpreters written for just about any platform you careto name - including my Palm PDA!)Ken, have you actually played Colossal Cave? If not, it might be worthsearching for a hint sheet to help you help the students to make someprogress.  It would defeat the purpose if they got bored too quickly. I cananswer most questions (memory permitting!), but the turnaround time mightbe a bit slow!Peter               peterw@syndicomm.comPalm OS Community Bulletin Board Manager(PETERW, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 10)>>>>>"""""Peter,I don't think I have played Colossal Cave extensively, but I will do sotoday (with cheat sheets), and will give the students graph paper when Isend them into the adventure. :)Thanks,-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 11)>>>>>"""""Ken,Don't get lost in the maze of twisty little passages, all alike!  :-)Peter               peterw@syndicomm.comPalm OS Community Bulletin Board Manager(PETERW, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 12)Today I had the students using VisiCalc.  The way the school works, I gotto teach the computer science class four times throughout the day, and eachone went more smoothly.I started with some history of the software and hardware, listing how manykilobytes various media are (hard drives, DVDs, CDs, floppies), and showingthat VisiCalc was smaller than today's FoxTrot comic strip.  The studentslacked perspective on some matters; after I showed that VisiCalc was 22K, Iasked how much memory the computer it was for had.  16MB was a commonguess.  They were rather stunned that it was only 16K!"VisiCalc shipped for the Apple II, a machine created by what two people?"I asked.  The students responded quickly with "Steve Jobs", but had neverheard of the other guy, even after I gave his name.  I quickly incorporatedsome KFest pictures into the lesson after that. (They'd never heard ofVisiCalc either; several students guessed the first spreadsheet programever was Excel!)I then assigned this exercise:1. A standard checkbook ledger looks like this:Check #   Date  Description    Deposit    Payment       Balance---------------------------------------------------------------                                                         40,000250       1/31  WPI                        22,000       -22,000                tuition                                  18,000          2/01  deposit         1,984                     1,984                tax refund                               19,984Create a sample checkbook ledger with at least four expenses, two deposits,and one ATM withdrawal.As they progressed through the assignment, I also had them left justify theCheck column, apply a currency format to the Balance column, and lock thefirst row as a title.I predicted the trouble the students would have with the program - nomouse, no menu bars, etc.  One girl apparently confused the Blank and Clearcommands, and erased her entire spreadsheet (this, of course, being before"Undo" commands!).  But I hadn't anticipated the trouble they would havewith the mathematics.  Most of these students are too young to have theirown checkbooks, and a few needed some help to understand that Balance =Previous Balance + Deposit - Payment, and how to represent that using cellvalues.  I'd preceded the exercise with demonstrating that paperspreadsheets don't automatically recalculate their cells, which is why acomputer made things so much easier in 1979.  But some students manuallyentered all their numbers, which of course resulted in the spreadsheet notupdating when I tested it by changing the deposit and payment values.Other students created a balance column that acknowledged either a depositor a payment, depending on which one they'd entered; that failed when Ichanged the deposit to a payment. ("But you can't have both!" they'd say;"I don't care, and neither does the balance column.  It should be preparedfor anything you throw at it.")I expected the students to spend 30 minutes on the exercise before movingon to their homework, but many used all 45 minutes and even then someweren't finished.  (I also challenged the students to determine the quitcommand - no, not "Q", but "/SQY".  How obtuse! :)Some students didn't see any relevance to this exercise, and one girl who'shad a bad week (academically) was nearly in tears, saying "This is beyondme!"  But two students grasped this program very quickly, distinguishedbetween values and labels, and applied some very elegant equations andformula.  I'm not sure if these are kids who grew up with Lotus 1-2-3 ornot.   :)An interesting and surprising exercise.  I'm not sure if they learned moreabout the history of technology, how to use a spreadsheet, or basicmathematics and logical thinking.  I just hope they learned something.Thanks for the help and suggestions, everyone!  I never would've known thisprogram was available for Windows if not for your post, Thomas.-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 13)>>>>>"""""Some lessons are going to be experiments.  As experiments go this soundslike it needs work.  But with a little fine tuning you could try it again.I remember doing some things like this.  The real world of science is trulylike this.  Everything is not all ironed out and step by step.It seems you identified some of the "naturals".  They may be the type thatthrive with a little disorganization as well as math and logic.Bruce(BBAKER, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 14)>>>>>"""""Bruce,Any suggestions you might have for fine-tuning the experiment would begreatly appreciated!-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 6, Top 7, Msg 15)[EOA][LLM]USING THE MacIP Link Layer Module for Marinetti"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""What kind of success have people had using the MacIP Link Layer module forMarinetti?RyanChief Sysop(RSUENAGA, Cat 11, Top 15, Msg 60)>>>>>"""""I don't have the hardware to run Mac IP.  It's only ethernet for me.Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 11, Top 15, Msg 61)[EOA][HGG]Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""It's not Apple II-compatible, but the 1984 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxyis available online at this URL:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game/guide.swf(KGAGNE, Cat 14, Top 1, Msg 115)[EOA][MMA]Mac Mini in Apple II Case?""""""""""""""""""""""""""Is the Mac Mini small enough to house in an Apple II body/case?-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 17, Top 1, Msg 1)>>>>>"""""It is about the size of a Apple IIGs 5 1/4 drive so yes you could.(TECHNERD, Cat 17, Top 1, Msg 2)>>>>>"""""The official size of the Mac mini is 6.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches deep by2 inches high as per http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.htmlThere's a picture on iPodlounge.com in their (excellent) Mac mini reviewwith a DVD or CD-ROM being inserted into the optical drive in the mini, togive you some reference.It's small enough to fit without any modification into any non-IIc AppleII.It would be quite an interesting experiment (right now expensive too :) totry to get one into the IIc case, with the IIc keyboard still being usableand the optical drive where the IIc floppy is.RyanChief Sysop(A2.RYAN, Cat 17, Top 1, Msg 3)>>>>>"""""I think you could put a Mac mini inside an Apple II case without taking themini out of its own enclosure. :)Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd                                sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm                                  http://www.syndicomm.com                     Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 17, Top 1, Msg 4)[EOA][COS]COST OF STORAGE"""""""""""""""I just spent $5 on a 32-megabyte USB drive.How much would that much storage have cost me 15-20 years ago?  And howlong would it have lasted me? (32MB is the equivalent of 234 5.25"floppies, or 40 3.5" floppies)-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 19, Top 1, Msg 4)>>>>>"""""I spent $650 for a 100MB SCSI drive in 1990-1991 from Open-Apple.  It'sstill my main hard drive on my GS, although a 127MB hard drive I got fromQuality Computers a few years later for about $200 just started that"stiction" problem.-Jeff(FINKSTERJ, Cat 19, Top 1, Msg 5)[EOA][IPN]ORCA/C - SUPPORT FOR INLINE PROCEDURE NAMES"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""I was fooling around with the orca/c source code this afternoon and addedsupport for inline procedure names (which gsbug and niftylist recognize).You can find the diffs necessary here:http://www.syndicomm.com/~kws/cc/Kelvin(KWS, Cat 22, Top 5, Msg 19)>>>>>"""""Kelvin, dude, that's cool. :)Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd                                sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm                                  http://www.syndicomm.com                     Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 22, Top 5, Msg 20)[EOA][JSR]Juiced.GS SUBSCRIPTION RENEWALS"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""If you haven't renewed your Juiced.GS subscription, don't forget to do itsoon!Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd                                sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm                                  http://www.syndicomm.com                     Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 644)>>>>>"""""I'm now pretty confident that the first issue of Volume 10 will ship at theend of this month.  If you haven't resubscribed, now is the time.RyanChief Sysop, Syndicomm A2Editor-in-Chief, Juiced.GS(A2.RYAN, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 647)[EOA][UWP]Lucas UPDATING HIS WEBPAGE""""""""""""""""""""""""""I've been starting to update some content on my webpage:   http://iigs.dreamhost.comand have also added a BLOG.  Recent additions are revisions to thepublished GTE API and a work-in-progress, in-depth description of the GTEblitter and sprite code.-Lucas(LSCHAREN, Cat 50, Top 5, Msg 40)[EOA][APC]ANOTHER GREAT PROGRAMMER'S CHAT"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""We had a nice programmer's chat again tonight.  Lots of discussion aboutcode source repositories (if not actual open source and CVS at this point).Also of discussion was an Internet Configuration CDev, which has beendiscussed somewhat before.  Not of discussion was Geoff's previous idea onfiletypes linked with dot three filename suffixes.Sadly, my own projects are currently backburnered.  Hopefully they willcome around someday soon...RyanChief Sysop(A2.RYAN, Cat 50, Top 5, Msg 41)>>>>>"""""Any chance of transcripts of the Monthly Programmer Chats being madeavailable?Just curious....-Lucas(LSCHAREN, Cat 50, Top 5, Msg 42)>>>>>"""""If Kirk kept a transcript, then yes.  I would keep one myself but I can'tget home in work early enough to make the start of the chat.RyanChief Sysop(A2.RYAN, Cat 50, Top 5, Msg 43)>>>>>"""""I saved a transcript.I'll just have to edit and massage it some, then I'll upload.Kirk(A2.KIRK, Cat 50, Top 5, Msg 44)[EOA][HPG]HELP PROGRAMING A GAME""""""""""""""""""""""I guess I'll ask this here because, well, I haven't asked here before.  :)I'm stuck at a point in a game I'm developing, which I hope to release(someday) for both Apple IIGS and Palm.The game is a hex-grid, turn-based wargame inspired by "Panzer General"which I enjoyed very much for it's easy to use interface.  A word ofexplanation may be in order, for those that have not played the game:In Panzer General, and its sibling games, when you click on a unit on yourmap, all the hexes to which you can move (limited by movement points vs.terrain costs) are shaded. You then just click on the desired shaded hex,and the unit moves there.I'm trying to duplicate that point and click interface, but have a problemwith the algorithm for figuring out which hexes should be shaded.  Thecomplication is in the fact that different hexes have different movementcosts associated with them, so it's not as simple as just counting out Xhexes from the current one.I've found descriptions of algorithms for finding the shortest path fromone given point to another, and for figuring out how many movement pointsit would take to get there, but not one for figuring out how far you canget with a fixed number of movement points.The algorithm has to be doable in either Basic or C.   Can anyone give meany hints, or point me to a website that has such a description?Thanks._________  | homas(TCOMPTER, Cat 55, Top 2, Msg 1)>>>>>"""""If you're willing to forgo a number of color options, you could dosomething sneaky:Set your palette so that you have several color table entries that all looklike your background color.  Use each color in such a way that no two tilesthat share an edge have the same color.Then when there's a click, you can figure out the general area in which theclick occurred based on the cursor position and the radius of the tiles,then you can look at the pixel at the cursor position to tell which tilewas clicked.Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd                                sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm                                  http://www.syndicomm.com                     Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 55,  Topic 2, Msg 2)>>>>>"""""I would go for a recursive approach.  Starting from your initial square(hex), recurse on all adjacent squares, decrementing the movement cost,until you can't move any more.  If it's a valid square, hilite it (or storeit in an array or whatever).eg psuedocode:CheckSquare(int x, int y, int movesLeft){  // verify valid coordinates.  if (x < 0 || x > MAX_X) return;  if (y < 0 || y > MAX_Y) return;  moveCost = .... // determine how many moves are required.  // hilite the square since we know it's valid.  HiliteHex(x,y);  movesLeft -= moveCost;  if (movesLeft <= 0) return; // can't move further  // now check all adjacent squares.  CheckSquare(x + 1, y, movesLeft);  CheckSquare(x + 1, y + 1, movesLeft);  CheckSquare(x + 1, y - 1, movesLeft);  CheckSquare(x - 1, y, movesLeft);  CheckSquare(x - 1, y + 1, movesLeft);  CheckSquare(x - 1, y - 1, movesLeft);  CheckSquare(x, y + 1, movesLeft);  CheckSquare(x, y - 1, movesLeft);}That's the general idea.  I'm assuming your lined up as such:* * ** o ** * *and can move from the center to any of the 8 surrounding squares.  Adjustthe recursion if not.Kelvin(KWS, Cat 55, Top 2, Msg 3)>>>>>"""""I really like Kevin's recursion suggestion since I wouldn't have thought ofthat (and it is very obvious that it will work).  The only problem is thatit doesn't scale well for large hop-counts.  A quick calculation shows thatcounting up to six spaces away on a hex grid can produce up to 46,656 (6^6)recursion calls before getting an answer (using Kelvin's square gridexample, there would be up to 262,144 calls).Take a look athttp://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/Articles/HexLOS.htmlfor your necessary algorithms within a hex world.  The best solutionfollows the logic which Tom was suggesting.  BTW, I found this site in lessthan 2 minutes of searching by using the Google key words of: "hex grid"algorithmGeoff(GEOFF, Cat 55, Top 2, Msg 4)>>>>>"""""Thanks for the suggestions, guys.The problem with using recursion (besides the size problem) is that NSBasicdoesn't handle recursion at all.I COULD try to figure out how to write a C library to interface withNSBasic, but that's another whole learning curve to climb  :)Meanwhile, the recursive approach might work for the IIGS, although I don'tknow if GSBasic supports recursion either.   Nevertheless, I could writethe IIGS version in C or pascal, I suppose.Anyway, thanks again for the tips!_________  | homas(TCOMPTER, Cat 55, Top 2, Msg 5)>>>>>"""""I hope you're using GSoft, not GSBasic (from Apple) :)  GSoft supportsrecursion -- see the "towers of hanoi" example.Kelvin(KWS, Cat 55, Top 2, Msg 6)>>>>>"""""I should be trivial to implement a recursion-type of routine:x and y is the point where the user clickedxadjust and yadjust is the adjustment to the axis location when poppingfrom recursion.xhome and yhome is the point where the user's piece is locatedfound =1 means we know the click is valid.count= the maximum number of hops99 rem stuff here.100 xadjust=0: yadjust=0: found=0: gosub 1000110 rem more stuff here1000 rem for laziness, assume a square grid with no diagonals.1005 count=count-11010 if found=1 then goto 11001020 if x=xhome and y=yhome then found=1: goto 11001025 if count=0 then goto 11001030 x=x-1:xadjust=1:y=y-1:yadjust=1:gosub 10001040 x=x+1:xadjust=-1:y=y-1:yadjust=1:gosub 10001050 x=x-1:xadjust=1:y=y+1:yadjust=-1:gosub 10001060 x=x+1:xadjust=-1:y=y+1:yadjust=-1:gosub 10001100 x=x+xadjust:y=y+yadjust:count=count+1:returnThis isn't tested, but it looks right.  No effort was made to reduce thenumber of recursions of 4^count--I'll leave that as an exercise for thereader.None-the-less, BASIC can handle recursive routines with no problems.Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 55, Top 2, Msg 7)>>>>>"""""I see someone made a reply while I was writing mine.  I was actuallyassuming Applesoft BASIC when I wrote my code, but it is applicable forjust about any BASIC that support GOSUB (which NSBASIC does support).Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 55, Top 2, Msg 8)>>>>>"""""Yes, I certainly meant GSoft.  :)And thanks for the pseudocode examples.   They'll be a big help.This is a great place!  :)_________  | homas(TCOMPTER, Cat 55, Top 2, Msg 9)[EOA][SPS]Silver Platter - Web Server on a IIgs"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Silver Platter is a New Desk Accessory (NDA) that turns your Apple IIgscomputer into a web server. Once configured, you can access files on yourApple IIgs using any web browser.You can serve up an entire web site, or you can serve up files and folders.It's great for transferring files easily from your Apple IIgs to yourMacintosh, PC, or other computer.The best part: you can serve up files from your Apple IIgs while continuingto use your favorite software!Silver Platter is easy to set up and use, and costs just $5. You can buy iteither as a download or (soon) on floppy disk from the Syndicomm OnlineStore.Silver Platter was written by respected Apple II programmer Kelvin Sherlock(of GShisen fame) and is distributed by Syndicomm under license.You can get more information on Syndicomm's web site at:http://www.syndicomm.com/products/silverplatterEric "Sheppy" Shepherd                                sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm                                  http://www.syndicomm.com                     Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 24, Top 37, Msg 1)[EOA][ITL]------------------------      ILLUMINATING THE LAMP |-----------------------------An overview of GEnieLamp A2 and The Lamp!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~To be Continued"""""""""""""""Note from October 2004 issue:      I'll say goodbye for now, but I'm not fading away as I did in 1995.I'll return some time next year to do another couple of Illuminating TheLamp columns for 2003 and 2004.Steven Weyhricha2history@syndicomm.comhttp://apple2history.org[EOA][ANS]-------------------------------      ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SYNDICOMM |------------------------------------by Lyle Syverson <lyle@foxvalley.net>[TSU]TO SIGN UP FOR SYNDICOMM ONLINE"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Please visit our web site at http://www.syndicomm.com for information or tosign up!(Logon message)[EOA][FIA]February 2005 Issue of Syndicommotion Available"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""The February 2005 (Volume 4, Number 2) issue of Syndicommotion has beenemailed to subscribers.  The HTML edition can be found online at thefollowing URL:http://www.syndicomm.com/syndicommotion/v4n2.htmlor by selecting menu option #1 from Page 155 on Syndicomm Online (type"m155;1" without the quotes at any menu prompt).-Ken GagneEditor, Syndicommotion(KGAGNE, HelpDesk, Cat 5, Top 4, Msg 28)[EOA][LTE]-------------------------------             LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |------------------------------------NO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THIS MONTH"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""The mail box for Letters to the Editor remained empty this month.[EOA]AN INVITATION~~~~~~~~~~~~~Express your opinions about the comings and goings in the world of theApple II computers.Send your comments to Lyle Syverson, Editor <lyle@FoxValley.net>The Editor reserves the right to edit any material submitted.The Editor reserves the right to reject any material he considersunsuitable for publication in _The Lamp!_.[EOA][KF5]------------------------------                       KFest 2005 |-----------------------------------[KFR]KFest Registration Due to Open March 1""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""I haven't seen anything posted to the KFest mailing list since DevinReade's message on 22-Dec.I've been out to the KFest web site and there doesn't appear to be aregistration form available or any status posted.Erick(Erick Wagner, KFest Mailing List, Feb 11, 2005)>>>>>"""""KFest registration is due to open on March 1.  We updated the web site tosay so a couple of days ago, although we didn't call special attention toit.Sheppy(Eric Shepherd, KFest Mailing List, Feb 11, 2005)[EOA][AKF]IN ANTICIPATION OF KansasFest 2005""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""In anticipation of many late nights and fine meals at KFest 2005, I've setthis wonderful photo as my work computer's desktop/wallpaper:http://www.kfest.org/gallery/view_photo.php?full=1&set_albumName=There-and-Back-Again&id=DSCN1729(KGAGNE, Cat 5, Top 7, Msg 24)[EOA][WMA]WIFE MIGHT ALLOW ATTENDANCE AT KansasFest"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Kfest Rocks...I really hope my wife let's me come this year.  Make no bonesabout it..it's her decision.  I'm not sure Alivia (not Avila) is ready forKfest:)Dain(A2.DAIN, Cat 5, Top 7, Msg 25)[EOA][WHF]WEE HOURS RUN FOR FOOD""""""""""""""""""""""It was fun last year going in mass to Denny's during the wee hours (orwhatever restaurant it was). It seemed like we drove around those vastparking lots forever to finally find the way leading to the diner. Note toself: by all that is holy, never order their garlic cheese bread. Thatcrunchy, lifeless pile of stale sawdust was an abomination.Andy(AWMOLLOY, Cat 5, Top 7, Msg 26)>>>>>"""""Ack. :)Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd                                sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm                                  http://www.syndicomm.com                     Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 5, Top 7, Msg 27)[EOA][TBH]KansasFest 2005 to be Held JULY 19-24th"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Mark your calendar and start saving some money.[KFW]KansasFest Website""""""""""""""""""Is located here:   http://www.kfest.org[EOA][INN]------------------------------                    EXTRA INNINGS |-----------------------------------About The Lamp!   The Lamp! is published on the fifteenth of every month on"""""""""""""""   the WEB at:   http://lamp.a2central.com/This publication produced entirely with real or emulated Apple II computersusing Appleworks 5.1 and Hermes.  Apple II Forever!     * The Lamp! is (c) copyright 2005 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W.  All       rights reserved.     * To reach The Lamp! on Internet email send mail to       thelamp@sheppyware.net     * All issues of The Lamp! are available at The Lamp! Home Page,       http://lamp.a2central.com/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors, and do notnecessarily represent the opinions of A2Central.com, Delphi OnlineServices, Syndicomm, Ryan M. Suenaga, or Lyle Syverson.  Forum messages arereprinted verbatim and are included in this publication with permissionfrom the individual authors.  A2Central.com, Delphi Online Services,Syndicomm, Ryan M. Suenaga, and Lyle Syverson do not guarantee the accuracyor suitability of any information included herein.  We reserve the right toedit all letters and copy.Material published in this edition may not be reprinted without theexpressed written consent of the  publisher.   Registered computer usergroups, not for profit publications , and other interested parties maywrite the publisher to apply for permission to reprint any or all material.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<[EOF]
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