A2 News and Notes
July, 2004

INDEX

* KFest a Success
* Website update
* RamCard Sales
* Dreher's Dozen 
* Bugged-Out Power
* 8-Bit Ethernet
* Supercomputing Apple II
* ProFile Emulation
* Emulation News
* Software News
* SignOff


- The 2004 KFest is now in the history books, and by all accounts was a 
success.  While the crowd was smaller than last year, all who attended 
came away with a wealth of Apple II experience, and many with 
some great prizes.  Announcements this year included a discussion of a 
revamped design for the long-awaited AnyCard, and the 
soon-to-be-shareware-release of Eric Shepherd's PapaSan pop-up contextual 
menu program.  Demonstrations included games, drive repair, music on a 
Mac, shell usage for the Apple II as well as a hand-on demo of Vince 
Briel's Replica I computer.  The date for this not-to-be-missed event for 
2005 was also announced:  July 19-24, 2005.  KFest pictures taken by 
various people are also available for viewing.  Please visit 
http://www.a2central.com or http://www.kfest.org for links.  The 
a2central.com website also has a day-by-day synopsis of what happened 
during the event.


- The KFest website has also been given a make-over and users can now log 
in to their own accounts to upload pictures, or view other's postings.  
(the latter does not require the user to have an account.) Other 
information, such as dates, are now more lynx-friendly than in the 
past.


- Sales of the newest Apple IIGS RAM card are reported to be brisk. This 
4 meg card being sold by GarberStreet Enterprizez can be ordered with or 
without memory SIMMS, using either Paypal or a check/money order.   
Ordering information can be found at:   
http://garberstreet.netfirms.com/RAM-4-GS.html


- Rich Dreher reports that he's down to his last dozen CompactFlash For 
Apple II Cards.  These cards, which have various cosmetic flaws which 
don't affect the card's operation are being sold at a discount: $75 plus 
shipping and handling.  Rich reports that he also has some with technical 
flaws that he might be willing to repair by hand and sell if there's a 
demand.  Ordering information can be found at: 
http://spudboy.dreher.net/CFforAppleII


- Dr. Steven Buggie has once again made his Buggie Power Supplies 
available for sale.  Using an IBM-style power supply, these units sit 
externally to you Apple //e or GS, keeping your computer cooler, while 
supplying more amperage for your expansion cards.  Dr. Buggie is also 
making available just the adapted power cord for "do-it-yourselfers" who 
already have power supplies available.
For more information contact Dr. Buggie at: buggie@unm.edu


- Apple //e users are a step closer to getting their machines operating on 
Ethernet networks.  ///SHH Systeme has released the source code for their 
8-bit LANceGS ethernet card driver. Application developers using this code 
would be able to write programs that would recognize and use the card.  
Syndicomm and A2Central.com is the exclusive distributor of this code.  
Interested parties can download the Merlin format code at:  
http://www.a2central.com/filemgmt/singlefile.php?lid=23


- Parallel processing has become a popular solution for handling massive 
amounts of information in experimetal networks around the world. And while 
not quite up to the speed and levels of world-wide computing 
departments, Dr. Michael Mahon's NadaNet proves that there's still more 
functionality to be squeezed out of our Apple II's.  A brief description 
of his project as well as screenshots of the setup can be found at:  
http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/NadaNet.html 


- Apple /// ProFile drive users will be interested in Patrick Schaefer's 
ProFile emulator.  Based on an IDE driver, this work-in-progress will 
emulate up to 7 ProFile volumes at one time. More information can be found 
at:  http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/patrick/idefile.htm


-- Apple II emulation continues its evolution:

 - Sweet16, the popular IIGS emulation program has been released, albeit 
in reduced format, and is available for use under OSX Carbon by F.E. 
Systems.  This "experimental" emulation program may be downloaded at:  
http://www.bernie.gs/  

 - Usable under both emulation and on a real Apple II, 8-bit file 
users might be interested in ProDOS File Navigator 3. by Jonathyn Bet'nct.  
Originally written in BASIC, this program, now written in machine 
language, will allow the user to manipulate and use ProDOS files, 
including such functions as cataloging, determining available disk space, 
creating subdirectories, un/locking files. viewing graphics, (low- to 
double-hires), list all available Apple II filetypes, "type" text files 
and more.  The program can be downloaded at:  
http://kreativekorp.cjb.net/apple2/index.html, on Trenco's ftp site at 
http://www.gno.org/pub/apple2/prodos/utils/file.disk/PD.File.Nav.shk or 
http://garberstreet.netfirms.com/ProDOS.File.Navigator.3.0.zip


--Software News:

 - Scott Alfter has written a DHR character generator that mimics nearly 
all characteristics of the 80-column text display as graphics instead of 
text, in order to give the user mixed text and images.  This program can 
be freely downloaded from his website at: 
http://alfter.us/files/chargen.1.0.bxy.



* Sign Off

A2 News and Notes is produced with real or emulated Apple II computers
using AppleWorks 5.1.  Apple II Forever!

A2 News and Notes is (c) copyright 2004 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. and
edited by Howard Katz.  All rights reserved.

Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not
necessarily represent the opinions of the copyright holder and publisher.
The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or suitability of any
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