Kansasfest 1995
By Andrew Roughan
Copyright (c) 1995 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
When work presented the opportunity to go to a conference in Canada in late June, I jumped at the opportunity and took some extra holidays so I could get to Kansas City for KansasFest '95. This would be my third attendance and I was looking forward to meeting some old Apple II friends again.
The conference consisted of twenty three sessions divided into three streams over the two days with a little entertainment thrown in for good measure. The last day consisted of one final session and a vendor's market.
The sessions were aimed at users of Apple equipment including Macintosh and Newtons (as opposed to just Apple II programmers as many may think) and covered topics including new software demonstrations, hardware, and reminiscing about the good old days.
My aim with this article is not to report the session contents (I'll do that next month after I've had some time to type it all in!) but rather to show the conference as I enjoyed it... that is mixing with the Apple II community. So here then are my observations:
o While waiting for conference registration to commence I eavesdropped on Steve Disbrow and Mike Westerfield chatting about the state of the Apple II market. They were discussing the two most requested software products for the Apple IIgs, a world wide web browser and a word processor. Mike was lamenting that he wouldn't attempt a word processor because the average user would accept nothing less than the equivalent of Microsoft Word running faster than it does on a PC!
o Steve was happy with his GS+ circulation (about 1900) but he'd like some more, so it was amusing to watch Steve cornering potential advertisers and subscribers throughout the conference and trying to extract some ideas as to how he could improve the magazine. GS+ also publish some standalone software so I wasn't surprised to hear that Steve had just bought a book to help with the knowledge he lacked about how the internet works.... who knows, perhaps we may see an Apple IIgs web browser?
o Many user groups were represented by their magazine editor or their librarian busily gathering information to return to their fellow members. Hopefully the AUG will benefit from some of this activity as I was certainly trying hard to grab software demonstrations and arrange magazine exchanges.
o I asked a prominent Apple II technician for his recommendation on a choice of sound card for the Apple IIgs and was told that in his opinion the SoundMeister was too noisy and that I should grab a FutureSound card if I had the opportunity.
o Cindy Adams one of the committee members was wearing a shirt which perhaps gives a greater insight into the pressure of organising the event: STRESS: When the gut says "No way!" and the mouth says "Sure, I'll do it." The other shirt that I saw which is worth mentioning: "CD-ROM, not Seedy-ROM."
o James Sanford announced in one of the sessions that he was a beta tester for Derek Tauberts' TCP/IP project. TCP/IP being a capability that I would dearly like to see on the Apple IIgs, I tackled him on the progress of the project. He revealed to me that Derek has a PC ethernet card connected to his Apple IIgs via an ISA slot adaptor and that TCP/IP applications such as ping and finger are running. This sounds very promising indeed.
o Roger Wagner stated that 35000 copies of HyperStudio had been sold around the world and that HyperStudio had been the basis for $1 million worth of video overlay card sales. If you happen to have an Acorn Archimedes computer (popular in England) at home you'll be surprised to know that you too can purchase HyperStudio! Actually, a version for the Macintosh has been available for two years and a prerelease PC version is almost available. If you're interested in tapping into Roger's success, a developers disk is available.
o Roger brought his usual array of gadgets. One which never left his side was a QuickTake 150 digital camera. At all his presentations a monitor was busily displaying his latest pictures from around the Avila halls. The other gadget that turned many heads was a Connectix eyeball shaped video camera which displayed QuickTime images on a Macintosh to which it was connected via a serial cable. One attendee observed that whenever an Apple II programmer stumbled across this display that light bulbs could almost be seen appearing above their heads. I have no doubt that some enterprising party is working on an application which will make use of this device on an Apple IIgs.
o "Burger" Bill Heineman had Wolfenstein 3d running on his Apple IIgs. Unfortunately when I sat down to play I couldn't manage to get past the breakpoints after the opening credits, However, I did see it working and Bill assured me that the legal wrangling with InterPlay has been resolved. A release is expected real soon now!
With the demise of ICON (formerly Resource Central) earlier in the year, there were a few anxious moments when it was realised that the annual gathering would not continue. Many brave souls stepped into the void and proclaimed that KansasFest would indeed eventuate. After a show of hands in one of the sessions it was apparent that 50% of the attendees had never been to a KansasFest before. This was most surprising to me especially considering the uncertainty that surrounded the staging of the conference.
The committee members ultimately responsible for this years event were Paul Parkhurst, Cindy Adams, Gina Saikin and Tim Tobin. The conference proceeded without a hitch and I'm sure all who attended would agree wholeheartedly that the committee did a wonderful job.

THIS CONTENT COPYRIGHT © 2007, APPLE MACINTOSH USERS' GROUP, SYDNEY
Permission has been obtained to make this material available on the Internet.

Permission is hereby granted for non-profit user groups to republish this content.
PLEASE CREDIT THE AUTHOR AND THE SOURCE: Applecations, publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia

THIS PAGE COPYRIGHT © 2007, ANDREW ROUGHAN