A2 News and Notes September, 2006

INDEX
* Just Cloning  Around
* Home Expansion
* Curling Up With A Good Book
* Wish You Were There?
* Socket Makeover
* Software News 
* Emulation News
* SignOff 


-- While making new clones of old Apple II computers has become popular, 
clones of Our Favorite Computer aren't new.  Apple II clones, especially 
those made illegally by offshore companies were a popular option for some 
overseas users, as well as those few that made it to these shores.  One 
website lists 200 clones that are known to have existed.  To see what form 
these took, take a look at:  http://www.apple2clones.com


--  Sean Fahey has announced that A2Central.com will incorporate most if 
not all of the user-accessible functions that will be discontinued Dec. 
1st when Syndicomm turns off its subscription services.  Previously only 
available to subscribers, Sean has promised access to free services  
a bulletin board system that will offer chat, messaging, and file 
sections, available both by telnet or via a web browser.  These  services 
will be implemented in the next few months.  For more information please 
visit http://www.a2central.com

Syndicomm in the meantime will start its refocus on software development, 
and sales of Macintosh and Apple II-related material to the public.  These 
can be found at http://www.syndicomm.com


-- Paul R. Santa-Maria has obtained permission from Mr. Roger Wagner  (he 
of the Ugly Tie fame) to put his Apple IIGS Assembly Language book 
Compute!'s Apple IIGS Machine Language for Beginners" online in electronic 
format.  The book is presently being scanned and should be available at 
http://www.atariarchives.com shortly.


-- For those folk who want to experience KFest vicariously, Ken Gagne has 
released his Kfest pics for the general public to view.  No responsibility 
can be taken by this publication of the viewers reactions to either the 
photos or their captions!    http://kfest.gamebits.net/ 


--  If you own a ZIP GSX and want to modify that puppy to use more modern 
chips, you might be interested in a new service from GSE-Reactive.  The 
company is now offering a ZIP GSX cache and logic combo socket upgrade.  
The user ships them their  ZIP GSX board and GSE-Reactive will remove the 
board's Cache RAM Sockets and solder Machine Pin SIP (single in-line pin) 
Sockets in their place.   Pricing and information can be found at:  
http://www.gse-reactive.com/all_products.php



--Software News
  
 --  Mark Munz continues coming out with new alpha versions of his 
AppleWorks-On-A-Mac program, Deja IIx.  Currently at version 2.0a12, 
this new incarnationincludes expanded preferences, user-selectable text 
and background colors, as well as the ability to resize the AppleWorks window.  
You can download the current version at:  http://phoenixrebirth.blogspot.com


 --  Have you ever wanted to burn your own ProDOS compatible CD ROM but 
lacked the information on how to do it?  Scott Alfter has put together a 
ProDOS/HFS Partition Table Generator to string together some filesystem 
images into an ISO that the user can use to burn with any Windows, Mac OS 
X, Linux, etc. CD-burning application.  Download it at:  
http://alfter.us/files/prodos-parttbl-gen.tar.gz


 -- Andy McFadden has released a new version of his popular CiderPress 
program.  CiderPress v2.4.3 fixes some ShrinkIt compatibility issues, and 
can be downloaded from:  http://www.faddensoft.com/ciderpress/index.htm



--Emulation News

 -- Eric Shepherd continues to work on his new IIGS emulator which runs 
under Mac OS X, and version 1.7.3 has now been released.  This new version 
allows the user to choose the Dvorak and French Canadian keyboard layouts 
in the Control Panel without crashing the program, and works better with 
games that use interrupts for timing routines.   Check it out at:  
http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/index.html



* 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 2006 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. and 
edited by Howard Katz. All rights reserved.  Contact the editor at 
a2.tester@gmail.com

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
information included herein. We reserve the right to edit all letters and
copy.

Material published in this edition may be reprinted free of charge
anywhere provided this copyright notice is included.

