[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. 9 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ September 15, 2005HIGH ABOVE THE ROCK RIVER---------------------------------------------[OPN] High Above the Mississippi RiverA2 FORUM AT Syndicomm Online (A2Central.com) DISTILLATIONS------------[DAS] Retrobits Podcast------------------------------------------------[RBP] Silvern Castle v8.4 to be Released Aug 19------------------------[SCR] Installation of Silvern Castle HD Disk Image---------------------[IDI] Silvern Castle WebSite Established-------------------------------[SCW] Changes in Silvern Castle as Newer Versions Released-------------[CSC] MS Visual Studio Codenamed... "Orcas"----------------------------[CNO] Juiced.GS Planned For End of Sept--------------------------------[JGS] Bernie II the Rescue Status--------------------------------------[BRS] KEGS and Time----------------------------------------------------[KAT] More KEGS and Time-----------------------------------------------[MKT] Daylight Saving Time Patch For System 6.0.1----------------------[DTP] Requests Comments on Source Code---------------------------------[CSC]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] September 2005 Issue of Syndicommotion Available-----------------[SSA] Retrobits Podcast Host Earl Evans Will Visit A2 Chat Room--------[EEC]LETTERS TO THE EDITOR-------------------------------------------------[LTE] No Letters to the Editor This Month An InvitationKFEST 2006------------------------------------------------------------[KF6] KansasFest 2006--------------------------------------------------[KFS]EXTRA INNINGS About The Lamp! ------------------------------------------------ [INN] [*] [*] [*]READING THE LAMP! The index system used by The Lamp! is designed to make""""""""""""""""" your reading easier. To use this system, load 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 High Above the Mississippi River ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The vantage point High Above The Rock River reminds us of anothergreat day trip. Bellevue State Park in Eastern Iowa provides anobservation point High Above The Mississippi River. Lock and Dam number 12is located on the river below. Here you can watch the slow movement of thebarge traffic up and down the river... and the movement of the bargesthrough the lock. The upper Mississippi has a series of dams with locks designed toprovide a minimum depth of six feet to facilitate the movement of bargetraffic. Each tugboat is pushing a collection of barges lashed together...three barges wide and five or six barges long. The barges are sized sothat a group of three wide by three long will fit into the locks. To passthrough the locks each collection of tugboat/barges must be broken into twosections... each section moving through the lock separately... the sectionsare lashed together again to continue their journey. (A cable-winch systemis provided to move the section of barges without the tugboat attached.) The tugboat/barge collections are dynamic... leaving a barge here...picking up a barge there. A comparison to the internet is in order here...where data travels in packets. When you consider the length of the Mississippi, add in all of therivers that connect to it that are capable of barge traffic, and themovement of cargo to/from ocean going vessels in the port of New Orleans,you have quite a transportation system for large and bulky cargo. So the destruction of the recent hurricane, Katrina, is felt far andwide due to its disruption of transportation.[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 [RBP]RETROBITS PODCAST"""""""""""""""""Has anyone besides me been listening to the Retrobits Podcast?http://www.retrobits.com/Definitely worth a listen imho.RyanChief Sysop and Head Geek(A2.RYAN, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 576)>>>>>"""""I haven't, but mostly because it's too much like talk radio, which boresme. :)Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 577)>>>>>"""""I've never listened to talk radio before, but I'm using my new iPod tolisten to video game talk show podcasts in the car. It's pretty neat. :)-Ken(KGAGNE, Cat 2, Top 8, Msg 578)[EOA][SCR]Silvern Castle v8.4 TO BE RELEASED AUG 19"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""I'm planning the release date for SCv8.4 to be Aug 19, barring any lastminute problems.Here's the list of bug fixes, major changes, and new features:Bugs Fixed in v8.4:o SCv8.3 introduced a serious bug that could hang combat in certaincircumstances. This is now fixed. Thanks to Jon Rose for reporting.o The Camp list S)pells command now works under all circumstances, even ifyou currently can't cast spells.o The Proving Grounds was supposed to limit hit points bonuses to a maximumof 10hp per level, with a cap of 100hp. However, due to a bug, if you have101hp or more, the cap is ignored. I hereby proclaim this a feature!o Fixed combat weapon equip bug that sometimes would forget to re-equipyour original weapon after combat.Stuff Changed in v8.4:o The possibility of very low-level parties encountering large "organized"wandering monster groups has been removed.o Initiative formula changed. Agility is now the major determining factor,adjusted slightly by class, level, marching order, and a bit of luck.o Most potions have been reduced in price, due to the fact they are now inunlimited supply.o Level 2 monsters are no longer allowed on the first level.o Enhanced feature: Instant Automap! As long as you don't leave thecurrent level or explore new territory, the automap is now instantlydisplayed.o Enhanced feature: Interactive Auto-Notes! Instead of displaying speciallocations as drab coordinates on the text screen, special locations are nowshown interactively on the automap display.o Ladders are now shown in the automap display.o Enhanced ID spell. Now the ID spell will also show the monster's baseinitiative rating.o The message time delay can now be adjusted up to 65500 for emulator userswho want to run Silvern Castle at faster speeds, but still be able to readmessages.o When the preference to restrict loot to gold pieces is on, only goldpieces will be shown. Requested by Bruce Baker.o If a monster gulps one of your characters, and if that monster is killedyour character will emerge at the end of the round instead of when the lastof that group is killed. Requested by Bruce Baker. But if the monsterflees with your character, all items and gold carried plus your characterare lost forever!o Rewrote the title page text scroller to be viewable on most emulators.New Stuff in v8.4:o New preference: Encounter Frequency. This preference allows you toadjust the frequency of wandering monster encounters.o New preference setting: Disable shareware checks. Ever since SCv5.2 whenSilvern Castle became freeware, the flag that used to check whether you hadregistered was disabled, although the actual unregistered shareware codewas never removed. Now you can toggle this flag on and off.o New display preferences! Now you can set your preferred display modes(hires or text) for all modules (maze, camp, market, combat, guild). Inaddition, you can choose to keep the standard Silvern text mode colorscheme (white & black), or use your GS control panel display settings.o New preference: Mundane loot frequency. Now you can adjust the frequencyof mundane loot, or set it to automatically skip all mundane loot-greattimesaver for high-level parties!o New maze info command: @ This command brings up misc info, whichcurrently includes the party rating and the encounter chance.o NPC lairs! Now you may encounter very powerful gatherings of specificclasses of NPCs!o New preference: Substitute initiative for race. This toggles whether thebottom character status window shows the character race as normal, or showsthe character base initiative instead.o The character base initiative rating is now shown at the Camp inspectcharacter display, unless the sub initiative preference is already set toshow initiative at the character status window.o New preference! Auto-save automap images. By default, Silvern Castlewill now auto-save all automaps viewed, which speeds up the new instantautomap feature even more.o New Extra's Menu option: Erase & Zero Automaps. This option allows youto selectively erase your automaps per scenario.o New preference: Lair Frequency. This preference allows you to adjust thefrequency of lairs appearing in rooms. Requested by Bruce Baker.(FINKSTERJ, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 168)[EOA][IDI]INSTALLATION OF Silvern Castle HD DISK IMAGE""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""I just realized that the install directions for the hard drive disk imagefor emulator uses can't be viewed by people who don't already have a way toview text files.The upcoming v8.4 release will contain a stand alone text viewer; I havealso included them below:Silvern Castle for Emulators UsersThis bootable 1.5MB hard drive disk image contains a shrinkit file of thelatest Silvern Castle release.The cookbook instructions below are more geared for PC's running theAppleWin emulator (v1.12.6.0 or later required), but users of KEGS andother emulators should be able to follow along. Personally, I prefer KEGSover AppleWin.Please see the appropriate section depending if you are upgrading apreviously installed copy of Silvern Castle, or if this is a newinstallation.I. NEW INSTALLATIONAll you need to do to install Silvern Castle is to extract the entirecontents of the shrinkit file into a folder on any hard drive image. Irecommend naming the folder SILVERN.CASTLE, but this is not necessaryunless you are following the cookbook method below to create an auto-bootSilvern disk. Run the SILVERN.SYSTEM file to start.Here's the cookbook method to install on the included hard drive image:1. Mount this hard drive image as drive 1 in slot 7 of your emulator soit's the boot hard drive.2. Boot this hard drive image in your emulator.3. At the standard AppleSoft prompt, type BYE to get to the ProDOSquit selector and choose the SHRINKIT program and press .4. Choose the open archive option and select the shrinkit file (the onewith the SHK suffix) and press .5. Press open-apple-A (left ALT+A for most PC emulators) to select all thefiles and press .6. Highlight the SILVERN.CASTLE folder and press , then press at the select current prompt to unpack the files into this folder.7. After all the files have been unpacked, exit the Shrinkit program.8. At the ProDOS quit menu, select BASIC.SYSTEM and press .9. If you want Silvern Castle to auto-boot, type the following: RENAMEBASIC.SYSTEM,BASIC.SYS. Then reboot your emulator to start SilvernCastle.10. To start Silvern Castle manually, type -SILVERN.SYSTEM (don'tforgot the dash) from the AppleSoft prompt, or select it from the ProDOSquit menu, or from your program launcher.11. After starting Silvern Castle, you will need to run the UpdateDatafiles option in the Extra's Menu.12. After updating, I recommend you change the following defaultpreferences in the Extra's Menu:a. Set the Preload Files to /RAM option to [N]. This option is redundantfor hard drive users.b. If you are using AppleWin, set the Message Time Delay to [20000]. Usersof KEGS should set this to [01000].13. See the Library Tome in the Extra's Menu for the full user's guide.14. The shrinkit file may now be deleted if you wish.II. UPDATING AN OLDER VERSION OF SILVERN CASTLESimply extract the entire contents of the new shrinkit file into the samefolder where your old Silvern Castle folder is located, overwriting allduplicates. Start Silvern Castle as normally. You may need to run theUpdate Datafile option in the Extra's Menu.It's probably a good idea to make a backup of your existing Silvern Castlefolder in case of any problems before you begin the update process.Here's the cookbook method to extract the new shrinkit file to your oldSilvern Castle folder:1. Make sure the hard drive image that contains your old copy of SilvernCastle is the boot hard drive. You will be updating this old copy ofSilvern Castle.2. Mount this newer hard drive image as drive 2 in slot 7 of your emulator.You will be extracting the new shrinkit file to your old copy of SilvernCastle.3. Boot your old copy of Silvern Castle.4. If Silvern Castle is setup to auto-boot, press at Silvern's titlepage to exit, and then from the ProDOS quit menu choose BASIC.SYS.5. Type BYE to return to the ProDOS quit menu.6. Select SHRINKIT.7. Choose the open archive option, press to change to the new harddrive mounted in drive 2, then select the new shrinkit file and press.8. Press open-apple-A (left ALT+A for most PC emulators) to select all thefiles and press .9. Highlight the SILVERN.CASTLE folder on your old hard drive mounted indrive 1 and press , then at the select current prompt press to unpack the files into this folder. Overwrite all duplicates.10. After all the files have been unpacked, exit the Shrinkit program.11. You can now unmount and remove the hard drive image in drive 2, andboot the updated hard drive image in drive 1.12. You may need to run the Update Datafiles option in the Extra's Menu.13. See the Read.Me.First file in the Tome Library located in the Extra'sMenu to review what's new.(FINKSTERJ, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 169)>>>>>""""">> I just realized that the install directions for the hard drive diskimage for emulator uses can't be viewed by people who don't already have away to view text files. <>>>>"""""I already wrote one to be used within Silvern Castle so I just extractedthat to be usable outside of it.But I noticed the 8-bit shrinkit also allows viewing text and appleworksfiles, not to mention all your basic copy functions too.-Jeff(FINKSTERJ, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 172)[EOA][SCW]Silvern Castle WEBSITE ESTABLISHED""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Be sure to check out my website for Silvern Castle:http://www.syndicomm.com/~finksterj/SilvernCastle/You can download the latest shrinkit and hard drive image releases, plusthe User's Guide and other manuals; includes a few screen shots.Enjoy!-Jeff Fink(FINKSTERJ, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 170)[EOA][CSC]CHANGES IN Silvern Castle AS NEWER VERSIONS RELEASED""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""On level 9 several monsters have cast striking and death ray on me but Ihave never seen a striking or death ray scroll in my winnings from battles.Also even in level 9 dragon lairs no artifacts are over +2 enchantment.This is terrible. And the things that do come as +2 are silly like cloak+2 or pole arm +2. Who wants to use that?Bruce(BBAKER, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 173)>>>>>"""""Hi Bruce,I heard you have been disappointed with the quality of the loot in lairtreasure chests.I forgot when I changed this, but higher enchanted items have been fairlyrare for awhile now. Finding stuff over +2 is very uncommon, but stuff upto +6 is still possible. Usually all weapons and armour items found insidea treasure chest on the deeper levels will be enchanted.Looking at my item table, on level 9 for example, the chance that typicalitems will be enchanted are fairly good: Chance to find in treasure chests--------------------------------------------------------------------------Item +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6--------------------------------------------------------------------------Long sword 0% 24% 46% 27% 4% <1% 0%Short sword 0% 14% 40% 35% 11% 1% <1%Broad sword 0% 46% 43% 10% 1% 0% 0%Bastard sword 95% 4% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0%Cloak 0% 13% 40% 37% 10% 0% 0%Chain mail 17% 46% 38% 0% 0% 0% 0%Scroll/Fireball 58% 30% 9% 2% <1% 0% 0%I think the first few releases of Silvern Castle were really excessive withenchanted items. Stuff up to +10 were fairly common, and even up to +32 orhigher were technically possible.You can always pay Quillon at the Trading Post to enchant items if you canafford it.Mostly to avoid the drought of spell scrolls in the early games, mostchests now contain a high percentage of such items, and usually the samelevel spell scroll can be found around the same level of the maze (i.e.troll on level 5 to find the level 5 lightning-bolt spell scroll).However, many of those advanced-class level 7 spells are only found onlevel 10.-Jeff(FINKSTERJ, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 174)>>>>>"""""Sounds good.I've been trolling on level 10 and found a couple of striking +1 andfinally a death ray.I thought you said that level 10 is rearranged a little. Did you say thatthe solution to scenario one is different now? It seems to not be too muchof a problem since I don't remember how to do it and seem not to have leftmyself complete notes.Bruce(BBAKER, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 175)>>>>>"""""Well, without giving too much away, level 10 has only 1 or 2 squaresdifferent, plus an expanded "hidden" level that used to be empty. Well,not really hidden, but unreachable by normal means.One of those squares on level 10 contains an item that used to be randomlyplaced. But some of you finished without ever seeing it-and complained-sonow it's required and part of the scenario.In addition, the area with Drachma's Lab cannot be reached directly fromlevel 10 anymore.Confused? Look for the locked door needing the silver key on level10-there's only one. That's the first difference.(FINKSTERJ, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 176)>>>>>"""""Thanks, now should I make a whole new map for level 10 or just change theold one?Bruce(BBAKER, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 177)>>>>>"""""Well, the changes were not too significant.Now that I've found the Drachma's Lair again, I'm pretty stuck.I forget how dependent I was on my super spells and weapons. The guys inthe lair are good and I have fewer HP's on this group.My older groups had over 400 HP, this one averages 225.Now after one pass I usually have one or two dead or gulped, sometimesthree. That's pretty impossible to overcome.Bruce(BBAKER, Cat 14, Top 7, Msg 178)[EOA][CNO]MS Visual Studio Codenamed... "Orcas""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""The next version of MS Visual Studio is codenamed... "Orcas".Coincidence?http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1852979,00.aspKelvin.(KWS, Cat 22, Top 2, Msg 7)>>>>>"""""Kelvin,Were you referring to the connection between Microsoft's new IDE anditshomophone Orcus, the Demon Prince? ;)_________ | homas(TCOMPTER, Cat 22, Top 2, Msg 8)>>>>>"""""Mike W. should sue Microsoft for trademark infringement. :)Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 22, Top 2, Msg 9)>>>>>"""""Maybe that would be ORCA/s for best copyright infringement case ;-)RyanChief Sysop and Head Geek(A2.RYAN, Cat 22, Top 2, Msg 10)[EOA][JGS]Juiced.GS PLANNED FOR END OF SEPT"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""If all goes according to plan, Juiced.GS Volume 10, Issue 3 will be readyfor distribution at the end of September.RyanEditor-in-Chief, Juiced.GS(A2.RYAN, Cat 23, Top 2, Msg 675)[EOA][BRS]Bernie II the Rescue Status"""""""""""""""""""""""""""While doing some mindless websurfing I came upon the following for theBernie II the Rescue Kagi payment site.http://order.kagi.com/cgi-bin/store.cgi?storeID=XF&&PLEASE NOTE: Bernie ][ The Rescue has been discontinued and no furtherdevelopment will go into this product. If you would like to use Bernie, youare still required to get a valid license. Bernie ][ The Rescue has beenspecifically designed for MacOS 9 and works with some limitations in MacOSX Classic (there are absolutely NO WARRANTIES as to compatibility withMacOS X Classic). It is up to you to check if Bernie cuts it for you,that's why we are making a trial version available to you. There may or maynot a successor product to Bernie running natively in Cocoa, but forBernie, our little woofer that made us so happy over so many years, it'stime to say goodbye. The software will remain available, however.Is this the first public proclamation of the death of Bernie?--Mark(MARK, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 143)>>>>>"""""Wow, yeah. Seems like it to me. Not that I'm surprised, given that ithasn't been touched in like five years.Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 144)>>>>>"""""The web page at http://www.bernie.gs says the same thing and that page isdated July 21, 2004 11:19 a.m.--this notice has been around for over ayear.But I figured Bernie was officially discontinued when Sweet 16 for Carbongot released. It was pretty obvious at that point where the FE Systemsdevelopment path was going for IIgs emulation.Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 145)On the Bernie forums from this year..May 1, 2005.Bernie has the lowest priority of all of our private and professionaltasks, so it gets postponed repeatedly. (Case study: when you have XCodeand a crying baby, which one would you give priority? Sure, sure,XCode...:-) ) We have done some work - a fraction - but it's an extremelylong way to go. we're nowhere to put it quite clear. as I said before don'thold your breath but take what's available and maybe we'll be in for asurprise one fine day. There's a consensus between Andre and myself that wewill bring Bernie to OS X or whatever follows that. :-)(A2.DAIN, Cat 29, Top 21, Msg 146)[EOA][KAT]KEGS AND TIME"""""""""""""The nice thing about using KEGS is that GS/OS won't need patching whendaylight savings changes for the other 47 United States in 2007. Make sureyou update your host operating system with the appropriate patch.Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 11, Msg 49)>>>>>"""""Except for some reason KEGS sets my GS clock one hour ahead of the PC'sclock.It's not just me, according to the release notes this has been an on-goingproblem for many people.(FINKSTERJ, Cat 29, Top 11, Msg 50)>>>>>"""""The Solaris port I compiled of KEGS has the right time, but then Isubmitted the code to Kent back in 1999 for the daylight savings correctionfor Solaris.I can confirm that both Windows 98 and XP versions of kEGS are notcorrecting for daylight savings. At least the KEGS source is available forsomebody to fix the code.Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 11, Msg 51)[EOA][MKT]MORE KEGS AND TIME""""""""""""""""""Doesn't KEGS get time from the system clock? So if the system works withdaylight savings time Kegs should...(TECHNERD, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 49)>>>>>"""""Take a look at the KEGS source and read your OS documentation. Don'tforget that KEGS is compiled with Cygwin under Windows--not that I amcertain which library calls are native to cygwin or which are passeddirectly to Windows.Time is handled one of three ways, depending on OS implementations:* clock chip is always kept in GMT* clock chip is always kept in standard time* clock chip is always adjusted for local time (i.e. GS/OS)Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 50)>>>>>""""">> Doesn't KEGS get time from the system clock? So if the system workswith daylight savings time Kegs should... <>>>>"""""Under windows it does the same...(TECHNERD, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 52)>>>>>"""""We are talking about the host's system daylight savings ability, not whatan emulated GS can do. GS/OS daylight savings support is designed tochange the time on the clock chip. KEGS can't change the host's CPU time.Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 53)>>>>>"""""Can't you turn off the Daylight Savings time functionality in the GS/OS?It would seem to me that that would be the simplest solution for emulatorsthat take their time from the host, since the host OS most likely has itsown DLST functionality._________ | homas(TCOMPTER, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 54)>>>>>""""">> Can't you turn off the Daylight Savings time functionality in the GS/OS?<>>>>"""""I still don't see how this is a bug.. If KEGS stays at the system time thatis good as long as the host system sets the time directly and most currentos's do.(TECHNERD, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 56)>>>>>"""""To understand why it is a bug in KEGS, read the KEGS source code and thenread the Cygwin documentation for its standard C library calls (especiallythe time related functions). You may also need to read the Windowsdocumentation for how it's API handles time. Once this is all fullyunderstood, it should be painfully obvious what KEGS is doing wrong. Allthis information is available with a few Google searches.Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 29, Top 31, Msg 57)[EOA][DTP]DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PATCH FOR SYSTEM 6.0.1"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""In 2007, the start and end dates for Daylight Saving Time in the UnitedStates will be changing. We need someone to write a patch for System 6.0.1that will alter these dates so our automatic DST changing will still workright.Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 50, Top 10, Msg 51)>>>>>"""""I haven't heard about that. Is it temporary or permanent? And what are thedates? And most importantly - why? :-)Peter peterw@syndicomm.comPalm OS Community Bulletin Board Manager(PETERW, Cat 50, Top 10, Msg 52)>>>>>"""""Effective in 2007, Daylight Saving Time in the United States will begin onthe second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November. That'sfour more weeks of Daylight Saving Time.The politicians think it'll save energy. I think it'll be a pain in thetuckus. When I tell people I want to see DST reform, that means I want itscrapped, not made even longer. :)Anyway, we need the GS updated to support the new times. While they're atit, they could maybe make it so it could patch it for countries that havedifferent Daylight Saving Time rules than the U.S. does.Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 50, Top 10, Msg 53)>>>>>"""""Here are some DST primers:http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/08/11/extra.daylight.savings/index.html(KGAGNE, Cat 50, Top 10, Msg 54)>>>>>"""""The Time Tool set which I wrote a few years back would be the perfectstarting point for multi-national time zone support. I'd suggest to usethe format found on UNIX systems since one wouldn't have to create a newformat for the IIgs. Also one can always update their local daylightsavings changes with the common UNIX file.The source to the Time Tool was provided in the original archive.As suggested by others, there will be a need to split the US time zonesfrom other countries in the U.S. longitudes (i.e. EST/EDT in the U.S. willno longer be the same in Canada come 2007 so there would have to be EST/EDTand US-EST/EDT if one has to choose from a text list).But generally the Time Tool would be a good place to start since it's timezone list was based on all countries handling of daylights savings in 1998.Geoff(GEOFF, Cat 50, Top 10, Msg 55)>>>>>"""""I would agree that the Time Zone Tool is the place to look at fixing thechange in time zones. I'm not proficient in assembly and I'm up to my neckin projects. Would someone like to tackle this?RyanChief Sysop and Head Geek(A2.RYAN, Cat 50, Top 10, Msg 56)[EOA][CSC]REQUESTS COMMENTS ON SOURCE CODE""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Fellas,I've completed a preliminary version of the Merlin 16 source code for theFILE.SENDER routine I'm working on to be used from within AppleWorks 5.1.It's fairly short, heavily commented, and doesn't use any macros or linkedfiles.Would there be any objections to my posting the source here? I'd reallyappreciate comments, suggestions and criticisms, as I know some of you haveforgotten more assembly than I've ever known.Hugh...(HUGHHOOD, Cat 51, Top 44, Msg 4)>>>>>"""""Hugh,As long as it's fairly short, go for it. I'm not much for assemblynowadays but I'd love to see someone else's code. :-)RyanChief Sysop and Head Geek(A2.RYAN, Cat 51, Top 44, Msg 5)>>>>>"""""Ryan,Thanks. Yes, it is fairly short.Most of it is explanation and comments, as the actual object code weighs inat about 110 (decimal) bytes or so.Basically, if any of you see any obvious goofs or missteps, I'd appreciatea 'heads up'. Likewise, if any of you are AppleWorks addicts as am I,please consider this your opportunity to request features.Hugh...Here goes with the Merlin 16 Source: TR ADR ; truncate bank address xc ; enable 65C02 Code****************************************************************** ** FILE.SENDER for AppleWorks 5.1 ** ******************************** ** ** Allows sending of TEXT or BINARY file to serial/parallel ** printer or other output device withOUT modification ** and withOUT character or protocol addition. ** ** Barclay Clemesha's TimeOut TO.RS232 also sends files, but ** it requires the file first be loaded into the AppleWorks ** Word Processor segment, which eliminates files with more than ** 16,000 lines (CR's), files with 8-bit content, and large ** files that exceed the size of AppleWorks Desktop Memory. ** ** Beagle's TimeOut Telecomm also sends files, but it requires ** either the mandatory addition of an error-checking protocol ** (e.g. X-Modem) or the ability to load the file into the ** AppleWorks Word Processor (e.g. Text) file, or the ability ** to send the (Text) file from 'Terminal' Mode, which requires ** the screen to be active and is extraordinarily slow. ** ** This routine is planned to overcome those limitations, and ** is useful for sending PostScript files, HP/GL2 (vector ** plotter) files, HP PCL setup command files or bitmap ** graphics files to a printer or other output device, and ** is intended to be used as part of sophisticated AppleWorks ** Ultramacros output device control routines. ** ** This initial version is intended to use $0800-$09FF of page 1 ** memory, with $BB00-$BEFF allocated for the ProDOS file buffer.** After the utility and functionality of this routine has been ** confirmed, AppleWorks DOT command conversion is planned to ** provide improved ease of use. ** ** NOTE: This routine uses Slot/Port 2, but can easily be ** modified to use Slot/Port 1. ** ** This comment/beta version 0.3 / August 25, 2005 ** Copyright (C) 2005 Hugh Hood ** ******************************************************************CSWL EQU $0036 ; character out vector low byteCSWH EQU $0037 ; character out vector high bytePATHNAME EQU $0280 ; store full pathname (w/length) hereREADBUFF EQU $0800 ; ProDOS read buffer addressFILEBUFF EQU $BB00 ; 1K ProDOS file buffer startMLI EQU $BF00 ; ProDOS MLI entry pointBELL EQU $FBDD ; error BellCOUT EQU $FDED ; monitor character output routineCSW1L EQU #$00 ; serial port/slot 1 entry low byteCSW1H EQU #$C1 ; serial port/slot 1 entry high byteCSW2L EQU #$00 ; serial port/slot 2 entry low byteCSW2H EQU #$C2 ; serial port/slot 2 entry high byteCSW3L EQU #$07 ; 80 column video out low byteCSW3H EQU #$C3 ; 80 column video out high byteREADSIZE EQU #$0100 ; # of bytes to read (256)* Here is the actual AppleWorks FILE.SENDER code: ORG $0900 ; run address within AppleWorksOPEN JSR MLI ; ProDOS Entry DFB $C8 ; ProDOS MLI OPEN command DA OPARMS ; parmtable for OPEN BCS ERROR ; error handler LDA REFNUM ; file reference # returned STA REFNUM1 ; store reference # in READ table STA REFNUM2 ; store reference # in CLOSE table JSR INITSLT2 ; initialize Serial Port/Slot 2READ JSR MLI ; ProDOS Entry DFB $CA ; READ DA RPARMS ; parmtable for READ BCC SENDNEW ; read went well, so proceed CMP #$4C ; did EOF error occur? BNE ERROR ; if not EOF, is real error CLC ; reset ProDOS error flag JMP CLOSE ; job done, so finish upSENDNEW LDY #0 ; initialize read buffer counterSENDGOT LDA READBUFF,Y ; send buffer contents byte by byte JSR COUT ; to Serial Port/Slot via COUT INY ; add 1 to read buffer counter CPY RLENGTH ; is byte last in read buffer? BNE SENDGOT ; if not, repeat to send another BEQ READ ; if yes, then READ moreCLOSE JSR MLI ; ProDOS Entry DFB $CC ; CLOSE DA CPARMS ; parmtable for CLOSE BCS ERROR ; endless loop?RETURN LDA CSW3L ; restore video out hook low byte STA CSWL ; at $36 LDA CSW3H ; restore video out hook high byte STA CSWH ; at $37 RTS ; go back to AppleWorks callerERROR JSR BELL ; sound error bell CLC ; reset ProDOS error flag JMP CLOSE ; finish upINITSLT2 LDA CSW2L ; set Port/Slot 2 output hooks STA CSWL ; low byte LDA CSW2H ; and, STA CSWH ; high byte LDA #00 ; output NULL character to allow JSR COUT ; operation with Parallel Card* ; compatible initialization using* ; this same routine (no PASCAL 1.1)* ; 0N / 255N /* ; Z may need to be added* ; here or else write bytes 'direct* ; to the metal' of parallel card* ; or to pass 8-bit files or files* ; containing or * ; Port/Slot firmware control character RTS ; proceed with READ* OPEN parameter tableOPARMS DFB 3 ; # of parameters DA PATHNAME ; full pathname stored at $0280* ; prior to entering FILE.SENDER* ; (with leading length byte) DA FILEBUFF ; start of 1K ProDOS file bufferREFNUM DS 1 ; ProDOS returns reference # here* READ parameter tableRPARMS DFB 4 ; # of parametersREFNUM1 DS 1 ; our routine stores REFNUM here DA READBUFF ; pointer to start of READ buffer DW READSIZE ; # of bytes to read (256)RLENGTH DW $0000 ; # of bytes actually read is here* CLOSE parameter tableCPARMS DFB 1 ; # of parametersREFNUM2 DS 1 ; our routine stores REFNUM hereEND DFB $FF,$FF,$FF ; end of routine flags END(HUGHHOOD, Cat 51, Top 44, Msg 6)>>>>>"""""That code looks fine to me, although I haven't seen it running. :)Eric "Sheppy" Shepherd sheppy@syndicomm.comOwner, Syndicomm http://www.syndicomm.com Building communities, bit by bit.(SYNDICOMM, Cat 51, Top 44, Msg 44)[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 [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][SSA]September 2005 Issue of Syndicommotion Available""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""The September 2005 (Volume 4, Number 9) issue of Syndicommotion has beenemailed to subscribers. The HTML edition can be found online at thefollowing URL:http://www.syndicomm.com/syndicommotion/v4n9.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 35)[EOA][EEC]Retrobits Podcast Host Earl Evans Will Visit A2 Chat Room"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""Retrobits Podcast host Earl Evans will be our guest in Syndicomm's Apple IIchat room on Tuesday, Sept. 27th at 7:00 pm PDT (10 PM EDT). Earl's podcastexplores multiple platforms from the "old days", and the Apple II has beenprominent. Give him a listen then come to our RTC to share your stories!The Retrobits Web site is at:http://www.retrobits.com/RyanChief Sysop and Head Geek(A2.RYAN, Cat 2, Top 1, Msg 18)[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 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][KF6]------------------------------ KFest 2006 |-----------------------------------[KFS]KansasFest 2006"""""""""""""""is scheduled for July 18th-23rd, 2006Mark your calendar... start saving some money. :)[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] .