LnSOS BOOT 1.1 SOS.KERNEL SOS KRNLI/O ERRORFILE 'SOS.KERNEL' NOT FOUND%INVALID KERNEL FILE: xةw,@  ȱlmi8#)!)0 WAP /// SIG MENU.MAKER PROGRAM (v. 6.2) =".D1"210: Coldstart (320: Warmstart &*X=11000: TEXT SLOW-DOWN LOOP ,X.1 CHANGE DISK SUBROUTINE23œ202:2200<RFa$=" YOU MAY SELECT YOUR DISK BY PD.CONcPD.PRTpc,SCHOOL.BOARD2b*!STARTUPc ,WRITING.ARTSsN1b!SEG.T;;"Ab!*GAME.JEMS3N%Fb!*MENU.MAKER  }>/HYPERMEDIA.PROM(b&!)PRINT.ALL %SEG.T jŸ/ (MUNCHERSib(!III.MSC.09u' )APPLEIIGSb!*ARCHEOLOGY5b !-CROSS.COUNTRY|)b%! DISKNAME.DAT !)GAME.JEMS/b !*GAME.JEMS2, >dLԡm#i㰼m#iЕOLԡȱfg hi !dLԡ憦  Ljmkm l y`2 Lԡ8(Je稽)ʈ@LVOLUME NAME (/DISKNAME) OR DEVICE NAME (.Dx)"P12);::"80C";a$;:Zb$="CHANGING DISKS"$d=23:=0::"80C";b$;::12).n=12:=20:"MAKE A NEW MENU FOR DISK: ";N$xN$)<2110=N$ :210 I=1L(A$(I),A$))200B$ 78C";"ANY KEY RETURNS TO THE MENU.">G$:::320H: Error Routine 202:U=11:"79C";"BAD PATH ERROR (NO DISK IN DISK DRIVE OR DESIRED FILE NOT FOUND.)"X=11000:X:::210Z a$="{,|,~,}; selects; back 1 lev 1600 &:WW=1:0 :SEG=1;".D1/S EG.F" SEG=1".D1/SEG.G"diskname$=3802  CATCH PASCAL TEXT FILES 202 :F*=08:"78C";"SORRY BUT MENU.MAKER CAN'T READ PASCAL TEXT FILES."04=10:"M$="NOVEMBER":1750M$="DECEMBER":1750826);"-";M$;" ";Ѡ,2));", ";"19";Р,2);" ";/П,2))=>13П,2))-12;џ,6);:1780$П,2))=0"12";џ,6);:ٟ;$П,2))=>12" PM-":" AM-" 1830WW=1530 =26:=211660,1670,1680,1690,1700,1710,1720,1730,1740^M$="JANUARY":1750hM$="FEBRUARY":1750rM$="MARCH":1750|M$="APRIL":1750M$="MAY":1750M$="JUNE":1750M$="JULY":1750M$="AUGUST":1750M$="SEPTEMBER":1750M$="OCTOBER":1750T 0")2070H540R\A$="RUNNING "+B$(I),16,B)f"79C";A$;:=0pB$(I),16,B) z::SEG=1".D1/SEG.T"t=+B$(I),16,B) yCT=CT+1~240:=24:=0:"@ ..... "DATE.TIME.LINE" ....JM=Ҡ,4,2))BTM1630,1640,1650,0=+IBOTM/2-.5):I=IBOTM:I/2=I/2)I=I-1 œ2120B=B$(I),16)," ")-1 B$(I),"BASIC 0")850B$(I),"TEXT 0")890 B$(I),"CAT 0")1140*B$(I),"FONT 0")18504B$(I),"FOTO 0")1930>B$(I),"PASTXB$(I);v:520: 500THPOS=4:I/2=I/2)I=I-1I=IBOTM THPOS=44:I/2<>I/2)I=I+1I2=-1:I=I-2:IBOTM<30THPOS=44I=IBOTM/2)*2:=+IBOTM/2)-1:CA)"PRINT.ALL": OA+P 3HA=(81+UCA)A=(81+LCA):::: OA+Q Quits 3IA=(83+LCA)A=(83+UCA)"PRINT.SHOW": OA+S 2JA=(68+LCA)A=(68+UCA)/Screen.Savers/HELLON=THPOS:B$(I);XA<8A>11540bA-7640,660,690,720l:=THPOS:ٺ1600 =Q:WW=0A=:A=21A=9&oldprefix$=40A=31410: Control C "aborts" program to Basic(:A=13770: Return Selects a file *DA=27:50: Escape to change disks/FA=324000: back out one directory level 3GA=(80+UCA)A=(80+L"BASIC 0":150A$="TEXT 0":150A$="CAT 0":150A$="FONT 0":150A$="FOTO 0":150A$(L),"BLOCKS")510*=27:=19:"FREE MEMORY AVAILABLE: ";=7:=20:"80C";A$(L);$:=5:THPOS=4:I=1:IBOTM=J-1:620Q=:=26:=21:sic; +Q Quits."r12);::"80C";a$;:+w#9,"DISKNAME.DAT":#9;DISKNAME$:#9|d$=DISKNAME$$=23:=0::"80C";d$;::12)201M=3:=14:"This /// SIG Disk is \^ 19";Р,2)", Washington Apple `, Ltd."=4:B$(1)="":B$(2)=""A$=16,B) THEN 240 #1, d$="":=10:"80C";d$ ž#1300I=0"I=I+1:#1;A$(I):290,#1 6L=I-1@j=1:same=0 J:SEG=0 Tœ2030^CT<1CT=1cCT>13000Zha$="{,|,~,}; selects; to new disk; J/2)=4:=+1:ۙ=44B$(J);:J=J+1I:1,180,22:2,280,21:2,2380,23:8A$(1000),B$(1000),C%(511),C$(20),name$(20):=10:=0UCA=128:LCA=UCA+32CT=15 IF PREFIX$= PREFIX$+MID$(B$(I),el; key. Why, might you ask, do you need to ust the System Master disk to run the program. You can get the System Master disk from the WAP disketeria (disk number 511). Boot the System Master disk. You'll see the following cryptic message displayed on your monitor: "(Loading Integer Into Languathe two keys at the same time. Then type RUN, and press return. Having whetted your appetite, here then are directions on how to run the program. The Jigsaw Puzzle program is written in Integer BASIC, which means that you need to ge the word RUN, and press the key to play again. The program will start over and give you a different puzzle to solve. Just in case the program doesn't give you the puzzle screen, (somtimes the program seems to "hang" in mid-air) try holding down This sometimes happens when people rearrange the puzzle without checking with the progress report at the bottom of the screen. The whole idea is to solve the puzzle the way "they" want you to solve it. Once you have solved one of the puzzles, typehe progress report will say, "2 pieces in the wrong position." In that case, look for two identically shaped pieces in the puzzle, and switch them. Note: it's possible to get the pieces to "fit" together in a different way than the program expected.. A better strategy is to say, "This piece can't go on the bottom, so it must go in the top two rows." Or, "this piece can't go on the right side, so it must go on the left or in the middle." Occassionally all the pieces will "fit" together, but tast move by switching the very same pieces you just switched. One friendly piece of advice: don't jump to any conclusions in the beginning of the game. With all the pieces scrambled up, it's difficult to say with certainty where any given piece goeshile keep your eye on the progress report. If the progress report says you have fewer pieces in the wrong position, you must have done something right. If the progress report says you have more pieces in the wrong position, you can easily take back your l or pegs on one side. While working with the side pieces, keep an eye out for the middle piece. In many of the puzzles the middle piece will have three or more pegs or holes on it. Use your imagination and try out different possibilities. All the w those pieces without any holes or pegs on two sides. It makes sense that you don't want to have any pegs or holes sticking out from the corners of your puzzle. Then try to locate the other side pieces. The side pieces are those pieces without holes Apple II are written in Integer BASIC. And without the System Master disk, you just can't run them. *** Apple II Public Domain Treasures: #2 Memory Game - On Washington Apple Pi disk EDUC-03 Memory Game is a game of delightful simplicity. The computer flashes a "nonsense" word at you for a second or two. You remember the nonsense word, and then type it in as you saw it. If you're correct, the computer will give you a longer, different nonsense word. If you make a mistake, of your screen. Type, RUN, and press return to start the program over. 7) Always remember to press down the Caps Lock key so that your typing is in capital letters. Memory Game cannot be played with lower case input. In the classroom, Meme hard "G" sound. Then you won't confuse it with the sound from the letter "J". 6) If you want to start over during the middle of a game, type the two keys , at the same time.. You'll then see a flashing cursor at the bottom left sidensible for the sound in the nonsense word!) 4) Pronounce the letter "Y" with a long "I" sound. (Then make sure to mentally note which of these two letters is responsible for the sound in the nonsense word!) 5) Pronounce the letter "G" with thce it as if it were a "QU". 2) If the nonsense words starts with the letter "X", pronounce the "X" as a "Z", as in xylophone. 3) Pronounce the letter "C" with the "K" sound. (Then make sure to mentally note which of these two letters is respoo help you get the most out of the program, here's a recap of some of these hints: 1) Since the program randomly selects letters for the nonsense word, the letter "Q" is rarely followed by the letter "U". So whenever you see a solitary "Q", pronoun in remembering and typing these words, each word is one letter longer than the one before it. And as you can see, the game quickly snowballs into delightfully silly nonsense. Over the years, I've picked up some tricks that help me play the game. T a better idea of some of the nonsense words this game creates, here is the list of "words" from a game I recently played: LAF, JUSU, HIDOJ, MIDOZO, VAMABYJ, QYQYNAKE, BORECIFUP, TINURULYNA, ZOGOLECAKYP, BUJOBUZIDINO. Since I didn't make any mistakesby trying to pronounce the nonsense words the program gives you to remember. Here's a big tip: pronounce every vowel with it's long vowel sound. So if the nonsense word is "JOTULABOFI," pronounce this as, "JOE - TUE - LAE - BOE - FIE". To give you notice that the nonsense word is made up of a consonant, then a vowel, then a consonant. All the nonsense words are constructed by alternating consonants and vowels. So every single nonsense word is pronounceable. The way to excel at this game is o begin the game. The program will tell you who's turn it is to play. (With one person, it's always your turn.) The first nonsense word is three letters long. This seems trivially simple, but greater challenges are just a few turns away. You'lls, or if you want a better challenge, you can play up to fifteen or twenty points. (The kids in my class get a kick out of typing some gigantic number to play to, knowing that they will never end the game before the end of class.) Now you're ready t tell it how many players are playing. Each player then types in his or her name. The program then asks you how many points to play up to. To get a feel for the game, I suggest you start off by playing up to ten points. Later, when you play with friend Game can be a real challenge for adults too. You can play it by yourself, or with up to five other players. When you play it with other players, the game takes on the form of friendly competition. Here's how you play. The program first asks you to the computer will give you a shorter, easier nonsense word. I've played this game with third and fourth graders in my class. Once the children warm up to the game, they really love it. But this game isn't just for kids. At the harder levels, Memoryory Game can be played both competitively and cooperatively. Youngsters will quickly be overwhelmed when the nonsense word gets to be more than six letters long. At that point, you can get the kids to work in teams. One child remembers the first part of the word, while another remembers the second part. By cooperating with each other, children can gain a vivid sense of the old maxim: "Two brains are better than one." Memory Game is a real gem. It teaches concentration skills in a lively and entouse have largely supplanted paddles as the peripherals of choice.) If you don't have paddles or a joystick, you can change this option to keyboard control by pressing the return key twice, and then the right arrow once. The "KEYBOARD" option will ct the game paddles option. (Note: Very few software programs make use of game paddles these days. Paddles were a popular peripheral back in the early days of the Apple, when people played such games as "Pong" and "Breakout". Nowadays the joystick and my highlighting your choice using the left and right arrow keys. The most important option is whether you want to use the paddles or the arrow keys on the keyboard. Joysticks and game paddles work the same way, so you can use a joystick when you selereeting appears on the screen. Then the program takes you to the "Control Screen." The Control Screen gives you many types of options for playing the game. You navigate around the Control Screen by using the return key, and select the options you want baddition, subtraction, multiplication, and division questions. It can be played with either a joystick, game paddles, or the the left and right arrows on the keyboard. Game paddles and the keyboard work best. When you boot the disk, the shareware g+-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLens" move across and down the screen. If you don't shoot 'em down quickly, the aliens will get you. This is the type of game where parents and teachers also want to have a turn. Here's how it works. The game is played with single and double digit Apple II Public Domain Treasures Article #3: Math Invaders (Shareware) Math Invaders is a great "arcade style" drill and practice program. The object of the game is to shoot down the correct answer from a number of invading alien answers. The "aliarty, back in 1980. The game was thought up on the spot, as a demonstration of how easy it is to write a program in Applesoft BASIC. Easy or not, this one is a real treasure. Phil Shapiro adults. A big thanks is owed to David Sparks, of Waterloo, Iowa, for creating Memory Game and generously donating this fine program to the public domain. As a historical note, David says the game was written on an old Apple II+, at a someone's pThe main delay loop is in line 250. Also, you could get the program to start right off with a six letter nonsense word by changing the value of the variable NL(K) in line 70. That way you could skip over the part of the program that is not challenging toemory trace of the nonsense word fades away. Applesoft programmers should note that it's easy to change the timing loops in the program. To make the game move faster for adults, you might want to shorten the handful of delay loops in the program. ertaining way. This program ought to enhance spelling skills by getting kids to concentrate intensely while the nonsense word is on the screen. The game is extra exciting for hunt-and-peck typists, because they have to hunt down the letters before their mthen light up in inverse video. The next most important option is the difficulty level option. All the math is single and double digit, so the difficulty level refers to the speed at which the aliens come down the screen. The default setting, the setting that's automatically set, is the slowest setting. There are sixteen levels of difficulty to choose from: eight levels of "normal," and eight levels of "hard." To get to the "hard" level, press the return key when you see the you are on the diff The Toddler and Preschool Gameroom disk, created by Linda Van Zee, is exceptional in every way. The programs are colorful, musical, and fun for both kids and kids-at-heart. There's even two challenging memory games for older kids too. For starters,oftware for pre-schoolers is always a challenge. And even if you did locate some good programs, you might well hesitate before investing $30 on a disk for your "young genius." Well, look no further, because a fine public domain disk holds the answer. *** Apple II Public Domain Gems - Article 4 The Toddler And Preschool Gameroom Disk (Washington Apple Pi disk GAME-09) NOTE: PRESCHOOL GAME ROOM REQUIRES THE TITAN ///+//E CARDS AND 65C02 CHIP TO RUN ON THE APPLE ///. Finding good quality s Sacramento, CA 95815 A big thanks to Alan for generously distributing Math Invaders as a shareware disk. You are free to make copies for friends, but each user is obligated to send Alan the requested shareware fee. ders will run on the Apple II+, IIe, IIc, IIGS, and IIc+ and Apple /// in // emulation mode. It's available from it's creator, Alan Needham. To obtain a copy, send $10 to: Alan Needham 1121 Las Palmas d kindergarten students might enjoy working thru the addition questions. Of course, there should be an understanding that the parent/teacher expects the child to remember at least some of the answers on the succeeding rounds of the game. Math Invaquestions they can answer. (i.e. All the smaller digit multiplications, all the multiplications by the digit 1, many of the multiplications by the digit 2, etc.) After all, two times three is the same as three plus three. Likewise, pre-schoolers an children who are still far from mastering the skills being drilled. For example, a first or second grader could attempt the multiplication questions. Any question whose answer is unknown can be asked of the teacher/parent. Kids are surprised at how many the time. Should you wish to return to the Contol Screen, simply press down the two keys: (holding them down at the same time). You will hastily be whisked away to the Control Screen. With supervision, this program can be used bylay before the kids start getting tired. After the sets are completed, the program reports on how many questions the child missed in each set. This progress report allows the parent/teacher to monitor performance without having to be at the computer all of their system. From then on, reckless shooting is strongly discouraged. Another option on the Control Screen is the number of "sets" or games you want to play. From my own experience in the classroom, three or four is a good number of sets to pce bar, or the buttons on the joystick. You're given an unlimited number of "bullets," which is nice in some ways, but can cause many children to get trigger-happy. In the classroom I let my students have a five to ten second shooting spree to get it outn will clear and a "GET READY" message will appear for about ten seconds. Then the game will begin. The game ends after you have shot down all the aliens, or if any of the aliens reaches the bottom of the screen. You shoot by pressing down the spaiculty option. The difficulty option will now flash. At that point you can change the option from "normal" to "hard" by pressing the right arrow. Once you've selected your options, you can start the game by pressing the escape key. The Control Scree the disk comes with complete documentation on disk. These instructions can be viewed on the screen, or sent to your printer. The instructions are complete and concise, including suggested age-ranges for each of the twelve programs on the disk. The disk boots up with two colorful opening screens, accompanied by a catchy little melody. Next you're presented with the first of two menus. The menu is an "icon-based" menu, with pictures and words describing each of the first five programs. The idea herf games starts out with "Reflex," a simple game to test your speed of perception. The object of the game is to press the space bar right after a small colored box appears on the screen. The program then tells you the exact amount of time it took for you ong rewards vary for each Jumping Jack you win, making the audio reward a great motivator. You'll need to coach children on how to move the joystick slowly, so that they get the idea behind using this "fine motor-control" program. The second menu oexercise. The object of the game is to use the joystick to move a flashing dot on top of a randomly located face. If you succeed, the program plays a short little song, and moves the face somewhere else on the screen for your next challenge. The short sd in its artistic capacity, yet can be used playfully by pre-schoolers. A nice challenge is to try to get kids to draw a straight line right across the screen. Such a feat takes both concentration and coordination. Jumping Jack is a great eye-hand Letters program is followed by a program titled, "Ding Plot." Ding Plot is another joystick drawing program (with an option to use a mouse too). Ding Plot draws simple pictures on the low-resolution screen. Like the Doodle program, this program is limited any other short words they happen to know. Some children will enjoy typing out the alphabet, even though there won't be able to fit the last two letters onto the screen. Note: the "Caps Lock" key must be pressed down for this program to work. The etters," draws large, low-resolution letters in random colors. You can type up to six letters on each of four lines. The obvious use of this is to get children to type out their names, their friends' names, their favorite color, their favorite animal, ane in drawing rectangles inside of rectangles. Older children can be challenged to draw an outward growing spiral, starting from the center of the screen. With practice, you can get a decent looking "snail-shell" spiral. The next program, titled "Lbuttons, and the screen clears to black. The sketching you can do with Doodle is limited by the fact that you cannot pick up the "pen." In other words, all drawings have to be made with one continuous line. Still, you can get children to be creativn regards to this growing user population. The next program, titled, "Doodle," allows you to use a joystick to make crude drawings on the Apple's high-resolution screen, very much like an Etch-A-Sketch (tm) drawing. Press either of the two joystick random musical note. The idea behind the program is to teach cause and effect. A baby friend of mind highly recommended this program, commenting on the scarcity of quality programs for this age group, and the alarming haughtiness of software publishers iselves. The first program titled, "Baby Box," is for one to two year olds. As you can imagine, very little thinking is required in playing this game. You press any key, or move the joystick, and the computer displays a full colored screen, along with a a return option to the first menu. While testing this disk out on some enthusiastic pre-school "guinea-pigs," the kids quickly understood the intuitive way of going from the first menu to the second menu, and back again. Now, on to the programs theme is that even pre-readers will be able to easily navigate thru the two menus of this disk. The last choice on the first menu gives you the second menu. The second menu presents seven additional programs, the above mentioned disk documentation, and to press the space bar. Sometimes the randomly colored box turns out to be the exact color of the randomly colored background, making the box impossible to see! So if the box doesn't show up within a minute or so, try pressing the space bar anyway. Applesoft programmers might want to list the program and correct this minor bug. Following Reflex is a program titled, "Shooting Gallery." The title of the program refers to those much-beloved amusement park stands with the ducks crossing across the l without starting over! More precisely, you can make up to four mistakes without having to start over. Children need guidance in learning how to play this game. Play a couple of games together with them, until they get the hang of it. Note that new"Simple Simon," is a simplified version of the popular electronic memory game Simon (tm). The object of Simple Simon is to repeat a random sequence of two colors. But unlike the hand-held electronic game, this version actually allows you to make mistakes. By combining a motor-coordination task with a simple intellectual task, this program involves the young child in an exciting, multi-goal activity. In my view, this program is what educational computing is all about. But wait, there's more. Adults can prompt children by asking, "Good, and now what number comes next?" After you pick up the number nine, a breathtaking color graphics reward is displayed. This is a most gentle intellectual exercise, perfectly suited to the mind of a pre-schoolerthe program, "1 to 9" gets children to steer a little man around the screen, picking up randomly scattered numbers along the way. You pick up a number by bouncing right into it. Once you've picked up a number, the number disappears from the screen. f the maze if you drive into the walls at just the right angle. Doing so requires sophisticated eye-hand coordination, yet children leap at the opportunity of trying out this not-so-simple challenge. To continue on the eye-hand coordination theme, . If you succeed in driving through the maze to the garage at the end, you're reward with some stunning color graphics. This program is an all time favorite among the Sesame Street set. An added attraction is that your car can "eat" up the walls o a valuable exercise in its own right. "Car Race," the next program, is just for fun. The object of the game is to use a joystick to drive a car through a series of simple mazes. The program adds realism by making authentic engine puttering sounds program, getting children to compare the differences and similarities between shapes. By getting children to discuss the simililarities and differences as you play, you can also use this program to give them practice articulating their thought processes, If you are successful in telling different shapes apart, a funny looking robot appears in the center of the screen, making appropriate robot sounds. Then a pair of new shapes appears on the screen. This program is a good reading-readiness type ofise. A pair of large shapes is shown on the sceen. If the shapes are the same, you press the Open-Apple key. If the shapes are different, you press the Closed-Apple key. (On new models of the Apple II, the Option key replaces the Closed-Apple key.) dults, ahem, as well as children). Children take to it like ducks to water. In moderation, this type of game has its place - - - especially with pre-readers. In contrast to Shooting Gallery, "Same/Different" is a simple visual discrimination exericen with a merry sliding scale sound. Some might object to Shooting Gallery as being too much like an arcade game. True, the educational content is not overt. But still, the game is fun to play, and does develop important coordination skills (for aandscape at the back of the stand. The object of shooting gallery is to use your joystick to steer along the bottom of the screen, and then shoot down the shapes crossing the top of the screen. If you do hit a shape, the shape comes falling down the scre Apple II's have replace the Closed-Apple key with the Option key. You can also use the two joystick buttons to play Simple Simon. On Apple II's with the Option key, using the joystick buttons makes the most sense to children. Finally, the last game on the disk, "Simon," is the more challenging version of the two Simon games. The object, once again, is to remember and repeat a randomly generated sequence of colors and sounds. Once again, you are permitted to make a few mistakes without starting ovstic public domain version of miniature golf is available from the Big Red Computer Club, a national Apple II user group. (More about the Big Red Computer Club later.) The game comes complete with water traps, windmills, and other lurking dangers. You caMOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqolf is making a big comeback across the country. It's a wholesome, fun game - - - suitable for the entire family. And you don't need any great skill to have a good time. Well, miniature golf is also making a comeback on the good old Apple II. A fanta Apple II Public Domain Treasures Article 5 - Miniature Golf On Big Red Apple Club Disk G24 NOTE: THESE GAMES MAY REQUIRE THE TITAN //+//E CARDS AND 65C02 CPU CHIP TO OPERATE ON THE APPLE ///. The other day the newspaper reported that miniature gMD 20814 Phil Shapiro (The author teaches computers in elementary school, and develops educational software for the Apple II family of computers.) omain treasure. The Toddler and Preschool Gameroom disk, (WAP disk number GAME-09), is available for $2 for members, and $4 for non-members. Please remember to include $1 for postage. Send to: Washington Apple Pi, 7910 Woodmont Ave, #910, Bethesda, an Zee, of the Washington Apple Pi, deserves a lot of credit for this disk. But, to give due credit, many of the programs were based on programs originally written by Gabor Laufer. Together, these two skilled programmers have put together a fine public da 9-prong connector. Atari, Radio Shack, and Commodore joystick are not Apple compatible. Some IBM joysticks have an Apple adaptor. Well, this has been a lengthy review only because this public domain disk has so many outstanding programs. Linda Vth 16 pins on it.) Also, make sure the joystick you buy will fit on your model of the Apple II. Some of the older Apple II computers require joysticks with a 16-prong connector. All the newer models (Apple IIe, IIc, IIGS, IIc+) use a joystick with My own favorite is the Mach II, by CH Products. Kraft also makes decent joysticks. The Kraft KC3 is a good quality joystick, priced at about $20. (These will plug into the joystick port of the Titan ///+// or ///+//e. Just make sure you get the plug wioystick, you might be in the market for buying one in the near future. Here are some tips. Avoid Apple-brand joystick. Like all Apple-brand peripherals, they are way overpriced. You can get a fine "Apple compatible" joystick for about $30 to $35. evelop strong concentration skills. And with the kids fast asleep, your distractions will be kept to a minimum. Before wrapping up this review, I ought to mention something about purchasing joysticks. Since six of the programs on this disk use a jer. (A gigantic improvement over the frustrating hand-held game.) Once you put the kids to bed, you can sneak back to the computer for a couple of rounds of Simon. It's actually possible to win the hardest level of the game. All you have to do is dn play against other players, or play against yourself. The program keeps track of your score as you navigate the pits and crevices of the ten holes. Playing the game is really quite simple. You "point" your golf stick by using the left and right arrow keys. As you depress these keys, an arrow spins around on the screen. When your arrow is pointing in the direction you want the ball to go, you give the ball a hit by pressing one of the number keys. To give the ball a gentle nudge, simply press n10% to 40% of suggested retail price. The articles in Scarlett are mostly non-technical, including a goodly number of software reviews, question-and-answer articles, and editorials. If you're serious about getting the most out of your Apple II, jIf you're interested in membership in the Big Red Computer Club, dues run at about $20 a year. Benefits include receiving the monthly club newsletter, Scarlett, as well as discounts on commercial software, hardware, and books. Typical discounts run from ice as non-members. (Nebraska residents need to add 4% sales tax.) The address of the Big Red Computer Club is: 423 Norfolk Ave, Norfolk, NE 68701. You can also call B.R.C.C. at (402) 379-4680, and charge your order to Visa or MasterCard. ed the Big Red Apple Club), allows non-members as well as members to purchase public domain software at very reasonable prices. The Miniature Golf program is on disk G24, Miscellaneous Games. The price is $3.50, including shipping. Members pay the same pres, miniature golf is not supposed to be competitive anyway. If you play the holes consecutively, and cooperatively, you might end up having more fun in the end. Now, about getting a copy of Miniature Golf. The Big Red Computer Club (formerly callh friends. Although the program allows you to play a multiple player game, you might want to opt for the single player game, and take turns on each of the holes. Otherwise you'll spend all your time taking turns with everybody else on each hole. And besidr(s) is shown. Then the game starts over again with the first hole. A good score for beginners is about 65. If you score under 45 for ten holes, you're about ready to go on the professional golf circuit. One final note about playing this game wit, you can really let loose on the first shot of hole number 6. Just aim the ball anywhere over to the right. The ball has nowhere to go but down that nice curved, downward ramp. Isn't that fun?!? At the end of the game, the score(s) for each playe - Hole number 3 is a killer. Do you see that revolving windmill right in front of where you want to go? Take a couple of small shots to steer around the windmill. Otherwise you'll be chasing golf balls into the next century. On the other handm for another hole. This game is just like the real thing! So anyway, here's a couple of free tips in playing the game: - At the opening screen, when you see the words Miniature Golf in big letters, you need to press the space bar to move on. p when it goes down ramps, slows down when it goes up ramps, and goes splat when it falls into a water trap. And some of the holes have multiple sections to them: you first shoot for one hole, and then you get thrown into another part of the screen to aig about this program is that it's very true to life. The simulation of real motion is uncanny. The golf balls move on the screen just as you would expect a real live golf ball to move. We're talking Newtonian laws of motion here. The ball speeds ud in you will take great joy in making the ball bounce all over the screen on your first game. As you gain experience, and aim for the best score possible, your miniature golf skills will naturally become more refined and restrained. What's amazinumber 1. To give the ball a giant whack, simply press number 9. All the intermediate numbers hit the ball with an accordingly intermediate force. Just as you might expect, the ball goes careening all over the place if you give it a hard hit. The kioining the Big Red Apple Club is highly recommended. Also, it's nice for Apple II users to go beyond local groups in helping each other out, and organizing ourselves into a forceful interest group (i.e. a group that Cupertino cannot casually ignore). If you're not interested in membership, but would like to find out more about the club's public domain software, you can request a free copy of the most recent B.R.C.C. public domain catalog. The 1989 public domain catalog lists most of the recent pud second graders. A good goal to set for children is to try to reach 1000 points before the end of the game. (To do this, they would have to type one hundred letters at a fairly even pace.) To give you an idea of how fast the game is played, getting up l levels two, three, or four. But unless their keyboard skills are sharp, they'll lose their three missile bases in under a minute, and will then have to start over a new game. In my experience, Keyboard Invasion is ideal for kindergarten, first, ane from any one of fifteen skill levels. The skill levels control how fast the letters fall down the screen. Skill level one is plenty fast for most young children. After a few hours of practice, those truly adventuresome kids might want to try skilers.) At the beginning of each game, the program asks you if you want directions. You may want to glance at the short directions the first time you play, but the game is otherwise quite intuitive. After the directions prompt, you're asked to choosto show children how the CAPS LOCK key works, because the key might pop back up inadvertently in the excitement of playing the game. (Owners of the old Apple ][+ computer need not worry about the CAPS LOCK key, as their computer generates only capital lettne missile base. Once the game is over, you can quickly and easily start a new game. With each new game, the score starts over at zero. The game only accepts capital letters, so you need to make sure your "CAPS LOCK" key is pressed down. Be sure sly in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. At any given time, three to five letters are falling down the screen. The game continues until you lose your three "missile bases." Each time you a letter reaches the bottom of the screen, you lose oscreen. When you correctly type a letter that is falling down the screen, a missile is shot from the bottom of the screen towards that letter. The letter then explodes, and you receive another ten points for your score. The score is shown continuoulls, arithmetic skills, and "word imagination" skills. Here's how the game works. Random letters and numbers come falling down the screen like rain out of the sky. The object of the game is to type the letters before they fall to the bottom of the ng, also known as "two-finger" typing. Keyboard Invasion is a fun, arcade-style public domain program that can help youngters get their keyboarding skills up to speed. If you're a little creative, you can also use this game to improve "number naming" ski should not be learning how to type with ten fingers. Touch typing is a skill that requires fine-motor coordination to execute, and adult-level concentration to learn. But youngsters can develop a facility at using the "hunt-and-peck" method of typinal world, this adds up to lost learning capability. So it makes sense to familiarize children early on with the layout of the famed QWERTY keyboard. Even first graders will enjoy playing various keyboard games. Of course, children of this young agent skill in learning to use a computer is learning your way around the keyboard. If you're a slow typist, then almost every activity you do with a computer will be in slow motion. In the business world, this adds up to lost productivity. In the educatioblic domain acquisitions, but not the entire B.R.C.C. public domain library. Thanks are owed to N. Schiffman, who created Miniature Golf. *** Apple II Public Domain Gems Keyboard Invasion - Article 6 The most importato a 1000 points takes about eight to ten minutes. Once children reach the 1000 level goal, they can try for 2000, 3000 or even 5000 points. At skill level two (the faster skill level), children could possibly reach 5000 points in half an hour. When playing for such high points, its fun to get the kids practicing their "number naming" skills. Many youngsters will mistakenly say they have reached 1500, when they have reached 1050. You can also make this into an arithmetic exercise by casuallym's Math Drill is not an all purpose arithmetic drill. (A good all-purpose arithmetic drill is the shareware disk titled, "Math Invaders," reviewed here in a previous column.) Rather, Tom's Math Drill is best used by junior and senior high school student be said for a program that is starkly simple in operation. Tom's Math Drill is a public domain program that is elegantly simple, and fun to play too. No fancy animation here. Just good old-fashioned learning. For starters, it should be said that Toimes have changed, and these days there are hundreds of different math drill programs on the market. You can buy programs with cartoon-like animation, fireworks-sounding sound effects, and all kinds of other "bells and whistles". But there's something to When the Apple II was first produced in 1977, the only software available was software you wrote yourself. One of the first applications written for the Apple II was a simple math drill, written by an early Apple employee for his daughter. Well, tgame on Typing Tutor IV, a commercial typing tutor disk. With that game, the letters explode as soon as you type them. *** Apple II Public Domain Gems Article 7 - Tom's Math Drill On Washington Apple Pi Disk EDUC-03 r touch typing skills. It takes the missiles a full second to travel up to the letters, so it's hard to build up any rhythm in your typing. If you like the general idea of typing letters that are falling down the screen, you might enjoy a similar sort of To get a copy of Keyboard Invasion, send $3.50 for Disk C33 to: Big Red Computer Club 423 Norfolk Ave Norfolk, NE 68701 Note: Keyboard Invasion is a rather poor drill for those who want to practice thei-each-rule, and the kids will be able to learn the locations of the letters that you type. You can set a light tone by making comments such as, "Q is hiding in the corner, B lives way down at the bottom, and T is at the tippy top of your keyboard." kill level one.) Kids can learn from one another, and the activity becomes as much social as academic. For the slower children in your class, you can help them develop momentum by playing together with them at the start. Use the same three-lettersplaying Keyboard Invaders. This should be encouraged, as long as one player doesn't hog the keyboard. A good rule to use is that each player types three letters at a time, and then lets the other play type his/her three letters. (This rule works best at sf you have the time/energy, you can make a long list of all the words/names being called out by the children. You'll find that kids enjoy the process of brainstorming just as much as business executives. Some kids will enjoy working in pairs while ame. For example, "L" is for lion, "K" is for kangaroo, "Z" is for zebra. As the letters fall down the screen, you can also prompt children to think of corresponding names: "J" is for Joshua, "S" is for Sally, "P" is for Peter, "B" is for Betsy. Itive ability, you can add an interesting twist to this game to make it more intellectually involving. As the letters fall down the screen, you can ask children to name a word beginning with the letters they type. Animals are an obvious way to begin this g asking, "How many more points before you reach 500?" If the children are already at 450 points, they will have a simple arithmetic problem to do as they are doing their typing. Since the actual typing of the letters doesn't take all that much cognis to sharpen their mental-arithmetic skills. The program is a timed math drill, where players are asked to type in the answer to two-digit and three-digit addition and subtraction questions. As soon as the question is presented on the screen, a big on-screen timer counts down from fifteen down to one. The timer takes about fifteen seconds to count from fifteen down to one. If you answer the question correctly, you earn however many points are remaining on the timer. After you solve or don't solve yourl of happening upon a "lucky happenstance" question can be as exciting as in any other game of chance. The Apple's random number generator serves eminently well as a pair of reliably unpredictable dice. Tom's Math Drill is an undeniable gem, and itshtened teachers might even want to showcase their own mathematical prowess (or lack thereof) in an inter-faculty competition. Mental arithmetic can be fun, especially when you hone your skills to the point where it is no longer a big chore. The thrilpossible uses for this program include intra-scholastic and inter-scholastic math competitions. Everybody enjoys a good competition between the best representatives of different classes in the same grade, or different classes from different schools. Enligbe played as a simple drill, by a single player. You can challenge yourself by recording your best score for 5 questions, and your best score for 10 questions. Over a few weeks of practice, students should see an improvement in their scores. Other he form of a competition, it should be stressed that kids should only play this game with others of roughly equal mathematical ability. Nobody likes to lose, so you have to be careful just how you use the program. Of course, the program can always reen, the math question is presented in the middle of the screen. A large clock ticks away the seconds (and points) in the lower third of the screen. The player's names and scores are recorded in the top third of the screen. Since the game takes tuld take less than one second, after you realize this sum must be one less than 25 + 25. Likewise, 178 - 79 is a simple enough question, after you realize the answer must be one less than 178 - 78. To give you a better picture of the look of the schen grouping the ones-digits, and then adding the sum of the groupings. Hence: 42 + 29 = (40 + 20) + (2 + 9) = (60) + (11) = 71. Easy enough if you know the trick. Get the kids to look for "lucky happenstance" in a question. The sum of 24 + 25 shor head. Teachers and parents would do well to go over some tips and techniques for agility in mental arithmetic. For example, if the program were to ask you the sum of 42 + 29, the fastest way to get at an answer is by grouping the tens-digits, and tove the chair away from the front of the computer. Musical chairs and timed-math drills don't mix very well.) The problems are randomly created addition and subtraction questions. A good math student should be able to do every question in his or het of fun to have kids type in a pseudonym. Once everyone has typed in his or her name, the game starts without any further warning. The first player better be ready to step up to bat. (If you're playing with two or more players, it's suggested you m're done with one game it's easy enough to start another. Thirdly, the program asks each player to type in his or her name. There's no law against typing in an assumed name here (as long as you stay within the bounds of decency). It adds a certain elementhe program asks you how many problems you want in the competition. You can type in the number 5 or 10. If you want to be silly, you can type in a number over 1000. The number of questions in the competition is really not that important, because when you math question, it's the next player's turn to play. You keep taking turns until the round is over. Here's how the program works. First the program asks you how many players would like to play. A maximum of five players can play at once. Secondly, author deserves our sincere thanks. However, the program has one small down-side to my mind. The game is punctuated with too many annoying "beep" sounds. Apple IIc and IIc+ users can easily remedy this situation by turning the sound down (or off) with their hardware controls. Apple IIGS users can likewise turn down the sound from the Control-Panel (accessed by pressing the three keys: simultaneously). Apple IIe users have no quick remedy, but they can get in therteacher would be to give her various little assignments to perform while I was assisting the kids at the other computers. The first assignment, performed with great relish, was the typing of her name. Quickly completed, the next task was to type anyble trick enables you to stop the disk drive from spinning endlessly.) Then I typed the word, "HOME" to position the cursor at the top of the screen. Now the Reader Rabbit scholar would be able to type whatever she wanted on the screen. My task as a ider how I could use the computer without any software. First I switched off the II Plus to clear the computer's memory. After a suitable five second pause, I turned the computer back on, and pressed the two keys together. (This littader Rabbit would not boot on the second II Plus. The only thing that appeared on the screen was a hodge-podge of mixed up graphics. Meanwhile the other students were tugging at my sleeve to play the joystick program. The situation forced me to consd with the program a while, I decided to boot a simple joystick game on one of the two Apple II Plus's. One of the students wanted to continue playing Reader Rabbit, so I carried the disk over to the other II Plus to boot it up. Much to my dismay, Reof fine educational programs. (The original II Plus came with 48K of memory. You can buy a 16K memory card for about $40 from various mail order companies.) So last week we were playing Reader Rabbit on one of the computers. After the kids had playeII Plus, while antique by today's standards, performs valiantly well in the classroom. A lot of educational programs were written in the early 1980's, the heyday of the II Plus. As long as the computer has 64K of memory, you can run hundreds and hundreds rtuvwxyz{|}~mary school. The class is composed of four or five kindergarten students who share three computers. Since the school does not have a lot of funds for computers, the students make-do with two old Apple II Plus computers, and a Commodore 64. The Apple Look Mom, No Software! A computer without software is supposedly no more than an expensive paperweight. Last week I learned how this oft-repeated maxim is not necessarily true. The setting was a small afterschool class I teach at a nearby pri it first, though.) Phil Shapiro (The author teaches elementary school, and develops educational software for the Apple II line.) e and change the offending lines of the program. A knowledge of Applesoft BASIC is helpful for this task. Simply change all lines which contain the offensive "PRINT CHR$(7)" command. Be sure to save your changed program to disk. (You might have to UNLOCKody else's name she happened to know. Friends', siblings', and parents' names were all suitable candidates. Help with spelling was available, if needed. All the while, this young scholar was learning keyboarding skills (i.e. learning the position of the letters on the keyboard), and editing skills. Mistakes could easily be corrected by using the "back-arrow" key, and typing "on top" of the mistaken letter. Entire words could be erased by using the back-arrow key, and using the space-bar to move the ized, proportionally spaced text on the screen. A Macintosh computer, with Adobe Font Manager, gives crisp looking, large-sized text. Choose a font size of about 48, or 72 point. That way, children will be able to clearly see the shape and form of the woor blank-screen computing is to load up your trusty word processor. The drawback with word processors is that the text is usually displayed in 80-column format, which is far too tiny for young eyes. The best possible situation would be to have large-sis little trick fools the computer into thinking the words are comments to a computer program. As a matter of fact, you can use any number before the word REM. For your own edification, REM is an abbreviation for the word "remark." Another option fputer program. If the computer can't make sense of the words, a syntax error message will follow. You can minimize the syntax error messages by refraining from pressing the key. Another option if to type "10 REM" before the child's writing. The accompanied by an annoying short beep. Apple IIc, IIc+, and IIGS users can turn the sound down or off. II Plus and IIe users do not have any hardware options with sound. From the computer's point of view, the words on the screen are part of a comght: Here are some tips and suggestions for parents and teachers who would like to experiment with "blank-screen" computing. You may want to forewarn your kids that the computer may spit out some "Syntax Error" messages every so often. These messages artually been enhanced by the malfunctioning computer. Educational software still holds out great promise in stimulating young minds. But, by the same token, a blank screen provides an exquisite "intellectual sandbox" for inquiring young minds. (Afterthouher last assignment of the day, she grinned at her bold foray into the "adult world" of literacy. The last phrase neatly summed-up her own feelings of self-competence. As I walked home from the lesson, I couldn't help but think that the lesson had acd I had stumbled into the world of literacy. To her own astonishment, the young girl was able to find the word "big" from the long list of words on the screen. With a little prompting on my part, she typed in the letters "G-I-R-L." As she finished big," "ball," "play," "sky," "pie," and "boy." As her final assignment, I suggested she type in the short phrase, "big girl." The word "big" was already on the screen. All she had to do was go back and find it. Quite accidentally, this young student anas no stopping her now. Her stated goal was to fill the screen with as many words as possible. My job, as teacher, was to keep feeding her with simple, phonic words to type on the screen. By the end of the half-hour class, she had typed in: "red," "nthusiastically undertook the task of finding the letters "S-T-O-P." After the word stop, the next task, naturally enough, was "dog" and "cat." By this time, the young scholar was on a roll. She had typed in over four words at this point, and there w and fabulous world of literacy. So the next task almost suggested itself. "Could you please write the word, "stop," for me?" I called out from across the room. Almost every kindergartener knows how to spell the word "stop." So the young scholar ecursor over the entire word. For a young child, learning to read and write, this type of activity is ideal for experimentation. For a young child, writing and erasing words on a blank screen amounts to his or her first brave steps into the mysteriousrds they type.) Phil Shapiro *** Capturing the Creativity of Young Minds Young children face the awkward situation of having lots of ideas, but few tools with which to record those ideas in a permanent form. The world of literacy must seem distant and mysterious to a young mind. While adults type happily away on word processors, the young child does not even possess the skill to write their thoughts out by hand. Yet, if children are to develop a fondness for language, thent. A comment such as, "Boy, look at all you've written today," or, "I can't believe you've written a short book," can cause wide-eyed amazement. A printed copy of their work is a must, so that they can hold and feel their own handiwork. Extra copies foting be prose or poetry, sense or nonsense, by celebrating their creative powers, you are giving them a tool that no writing teacher could ever give them. Once the computer screen is filled with their own words/ideas, take a minute to cherish the momlized in the writer's mind. More important than constructive criticisms, however, is the celebration of creativity. Whatever comes out of the mouth of the young writer should be celebrated as a product of his or her rich imagination. Whether the wriThe word processor, of course, allows for quick and easy revision. By engaging the young writer in a dialogue over the emerging prose, you can sharpen the writer's self-editing skills. In time, your comments, suggestions, and reservations will be internans elicited detail. Awkward sounding phrases were gently re-worked. Care must be taken not to put words into a young child's mouth, however. Suggestions as to wording can be offered, but the final choice of words must be left to the composer. minutes before the lesson? Or had he been studying deserts for the past month in school? Or had he perhaps eaten an encyclopedia for dinner? In any event, my role, as teacher and typist, was to prompt the little boy along. Suitably phrased questiot. That's why there are not a lot of clouds. Chris Moberg, Age 5 -------------------------------- As I typed this in, I couldn't help but wonder where the kid had gotten all this information. Had he been watching a public television special g sandbox, but there's no wood around it. If you wanted to make a big sand castle, the desert would be a good place to make it. The sand in the desert is very very deep. In the desert there's not a lot of rain. The sun in the desert is so so holive in. They have bikes there. And only the very very richest people have cars. Camels live in the desert. They have two or one hump on their backs. Only the people in Africa know what is inside of the humps. The desert is like a big bi. The desert is almost too hot for anybody to live, unless they had water, or a saw to saw off the top of the cactuses. The desert doesn't have any computers because there's no electric plugs or circuits. However, the deserts in Africa people can have cactus juice inside of them. The desert also has lots and lots and lots of sand. There's jackrabbits in the desert too. They have fur so that they can lean against the cactuses and sticky bushes. They also have all different kinds of lizards friend tapped his creative powers, and dictated the following little essay. You can never know what's going to come out of the mouths of young children. ---------------------------------- The Desert The desert has cactuses that illing adult or older sibling. Last week I had an enriching writing session with a young writer. Towards the end of a computer lesson we fired up a copy of AppleWorks, and proceeded to do a little writing. While I sat at the keyboard, my kindergarteney need to be given an opportunity to express their ideas at an early age. Parents and teachers need to devote time for children to express their ideas in a written form. Using a word processor, children can "write" by dictating their ideas/stories to a wr school, friends, and relatives, gives the child real-world experience in the process of publishing. Some children relish the role of being an expert in a given field, as demonstrated by the "desert" essay by my young friend. Other children prefer dictating stories in the first person. One easy and enjoyable topic is, "One Day in the Life of ," where the blank is filled in with the child's name. Dinosaurs, zoos, and planets are other popular topics of discourse, should you encounter a child configurations for the machine, what with different programs having different memory requirements, not to mention the selection of 3.5 inch drives, which includes, amongst others, the UniDisk and Apple 3.5 drives. If you want to know the difference betweeppleIIGS. Apparently it's better to have a small, isolated computer lab of a half-dozen IIGS's, rather than have three AppleIIe's in each and every classroom. The trouble with the AppleIIGS is that it offers too many options. There's too many hardware1986. Many of these IIGS's have entered the homes of busy professionals, who don't have the time or inclination to sit down and fuss with the thing. Other IIGS's have been sold to schools who could have bought three AppleIIe's for the price of each A It offers too much. It's confusing and perplexing to beginners. It sometimes even frazzles seasoned Apple II users. Much to the credit of Apple's marketing department, over one million AppleIIGS's have been sold since its introduction in October, The Truth About the AppleIIGS The AppleIIGS is an amazing computer, with astounding features, and scintillating capabilities. Which is exactly why it makes a poor choice for a beginning Apple II user. The machine is just too darn powerful.TE AN APPLE //+ WITH EITHER OF THESE /// SIG PD DISKS: 3UTL-02 OR 3UTL-03. 03. r the unexpected. Children have rich and powerful imaginations - - - just waiting to be tapped by a willing typist. Phil Shapiro (The author teaches computers in elementary school, and enjoys writing for and with children.) NOTE: THE APPLE /// CAN EMULAinterferences that might crop up. This might mean turning on the answering machine, and/or finding activities to occupy other siblings/classmates. Just as you would chaff at interruptions in your creative work, so will a young child. Be prepared foan itself be a learning experience. One small hint for those who would like to try some of these writing activities at home or at school. When planning an open-ended writing activity with small children, try to minimize any external distractions or their own personal touches to it. After all, our culture has a longstanding tradition of storytelling. Children stories in particular have been retold in hundreds of different ways. The exercise of retelling all the details of a particular story cbly similar to the story you read to them last night. While it's always nice to hope for original material, if your child starts "making up" a story that sounds familiar, by all means encourage them to continue. As the story develops, they may well bringwith absolutely no ideas of his or her own. On the subject of creativity, you can't always expect young children to produce full length Shakespearean dramas on their first try. Preschoolers, especially, may well "make up" a story that sounds remarkan the UniDisk 3.5 drive and the Apple 3.5 drive, that's easy to explain: the UniDisk has it's own 6502 chip. Easy to explain, but hard to understand. And then there's the Control-Panel, a nifty little feature that's easily accessible by pressing Control-Apple-Escape. You can choose all types of options from the Control-Panel, half of them of which you won't even understand. Best of all, you can always access the Control-Panel at any time, except in those situations when you can't. Just se rituals are so maddening is that you have to consult the instructions each time you perform the ritual. And they call this progress? To the above two electronic pagan rituals, today we add a third: setting the near-letter-quality mode on one of the are: 1) Setting the time and alarm on your digital watch. 2) Setting your VCR to record a program sometime next week. Both of these rituals are sufficiently bothersome as to irk even the most seasoned of computer users. The reason thesets, performed for the purpose of "satisfying the gods." An electronic pagan ritual is a series of meaningless acts, performed for the purpose of satisfying the inner-needs of various electronic devices. The two best examples of electronic pagan ritualsst by my opinion that it is not a good first computer, and remains quite overpriced. *** A Review of the New Panasonic KX-1180 Printer (Struggling With an Electronic Pagan Ritual) A pagan ritual is a series of meaningless acs to those who need to drive to the corner grocery store. It's high time that the real truth about the IIGS be told. Post Script: I've spent the last two months doing some HyperStudio work on the IIGS. It truly is an incredible machine. By I stand fat such a good thing." What's true for fudge and banana-splits is also true for microcomputers. For many families and schools, the IIGS is not the best Apple II to choose. Apple's marketing department has done a sterling job selling Cadillac'r for those with the time and inclination to learn how to use its many incredible features. It's a fine computer for programmers, hackers, and other nice people. The IIGS is a good thing - - - but my mother always told me, "Too much of a good thing, is nody for plugging in adaptive hardware. Persons with physical or cognitive disabilities need the flexibility of having such an "open-architecture" machine. All this is not to say that the Apple IIGS is a bad computer. The IIGS is a wonderful computehics, doesn't mean your child will outgrow it next month. Thousands and thousands of time tested programs run on the IIc+. The Apple IIe, on the other hand, is more suitable for schools and families with special needs. The eight-slots come in hanrs?) The best type of Apple II for a beginning Apple II user is either an Apple IIe, or the new Apple IIc+. The IIc+ is the hands-down favorite on price, ease-of-set-up, and ease-of-use. And just because it doesn't have super high-resolution grap) Luckily for them, they had steered clear of AppleWorks IIGS, and were content to struggle along with classic AppleWorks. (By the way, did anyone happen to mention downloadable fonts, new desk accessories, classic desk accessories, files and folderive sitting underneath, plugged into itself. Apparently the family had thrown up their hands after trying to understand the difference between ProDos 16 and ProDos 8. (Did anyone happen to mention BASIC.SYSTEM, subdirectories, and pathnames, by the way?slot 6, drive 1, you say? But can't I just save all my documents to RAM disk, and turn off my computer? I have seen an AppleIIGS set up in the home of a young professional family, with the 3.5 inch drive plugged into the system, and the 5.25 inch dtting the machine up takes some coordination. Let's see: the 3.5 inch drive plugs into the CPU, and the 5.25 inch drive plugs into the 3.5 inch drive. Okay, so where should I put my word processor disk? Where do I put my data disk? Slot 5, drive 1; and new Panasonic KX-1180 printers. You would think that Panasonic would like this task to be as simple as popping toast into a toaster. But no, that would be too simple. First you have to press the function key on the front of the printer, and then play around with the keys on the "control-panel," and end up your ballet with a press or two of the line-feed and form-feed buttons. The reason I'm so disappointed in this ritual on the KX-1180 printer is because I've been a devoted user of the previouo be a sprightly little fellow. From the fossils found in its proximity, it appears that the Apple 1 was born without a keyboard, without a monitor, and without even a case. This ancestor of the Apple II family had a humble existence, feeding off cassettrospective to sort out where the Apple II line has been, with hints of where the Apple II lineage is going. Here then is an archaeological view of the progressive evolution of the Apple II family of computers.) The fossil record shows the Apple 1 t An Archaeology of the Apple II Family (With the introduction of the Apple IIc+ in September, 1988, many Apple II users must be justifiably confused at all the different models of the Apple II. It seems appropriate at this time to offer an Apple II retX-1180). Phil Shapiro (The author teaches computers in elementary school, and develops educational software for the Apple II line.) tches. Progress, in itself, is generally a good thing. But progress should never be a slave to the electronic pagan ritual. Post Script: All the above comments apply equally well to the new Panasonic KX-1190 (a faster, but similar, version of the Kps they still had some of the older models still in stock. There's a lesson here for all designers of new electronic equipment. Do not add features to your devices, if the features can only be accessed by pressing a meaningless series of toggle swiildren, and we all agreed that it would be better not to have children perform pagan rituals in the house. I recommended to my friend that he might be able to swap the new KX-1180 for an older KX-1080 at the store where he recently bought it. Perhairst computer for himself and his family to use. They were a touch disconcerted at finding out that they were going to have to wade thru the printer instructions as well as the hefty AppleWorks documentation. The computer was going to be used by young chhe near-letter-quality mode. To be fair, I did not give the Panasonic KX-1180 a chance to show all it could do. I happened upon the printer at a friend's house, in the process of offering some AppleWorks counseling. My friend had just bought his ffter all, the Imagewriter printers use only 7 pins, while most other dot matrix printers use 9 pins (and 24 pins in some cases). The Imagewriter is fast, and good for certain tasks. But my feeling is that it falls short in producing presentable text in t Mode," to "Near Letter Quality" mode. The near-letter-quality mode on the KX-1080 produces a printout that is sharp and almost dot-free. In my view, the printout from my Panasonic KX-1080 surpasses the near-letter-quality mode on an Imagewriter. As model, the Panasonic KX-1080. One of the reasons I bought the Panasonic KX-1080 is the ease of setting the near-letter-quality mode. If you want high quality looking text, all you need to do is flick a switch on the left side of the printer from "Drafte tape drives, and spewing out the occasional high resolution graphics. Its language capabilities were limited to short grunts and Integer BASIC. Of course, Integer BASIC, while primitive by today's standards, had the prime virtue of being fast. And, in the early days of micros, being fast was reason enough to survive. Born in the Bicentennial, 1976, the Apple 1 was short-lived. Carbon-14 dating shows that the Apple 1 expired by mid 1977. Like a trout, the Apple 1 had fought its way upstream, agamilies brought the IIe home like a welcome puppy. Business at the Cyberphobic Restaurant tapered off. But Apple Computer Inc. had a card up its sleeve. Less than a year and a half after the introduction of the Apple IIe, the Apple IIc was unveiled. experience, and a crateful of new software programs to take full advantage of its features. The Apple IIe was accepted with open arms. Schools bought the IIe by the dozen. Scientists hooked up equipment to its eight slots like never before. And fg the II Plus had, but more. Boasting upper and lower case letters, full eighty-column screens, and a memory expandable to 128K, the Apple IIe was a sight to behold. Accompanying the Apple IIe was a resurgence in the arts, a renewed interest in the humanheartedly. Many teachers still had reservations - - - at the Cyberphobic Restaurant. And they dined there frequently. The Renaissance did not emerge full blown until the introduction of the Apple IIe in January of 1983. The Apple IIe had everythin return. In the early years of the 1980's, the Apple II Plus gained increasing acceptance among the computer shy. Forward thinking schools were taking the bold step of bringing computers into the classroom. But the technology was not embraced wholee. Putting Applesoft into ROM gave the language to the people. This monumental step is analogous to the development of popular literacy after the invention of the printing press. Give the language to the people, and they'll give you back civilization innto memory. All this changed in June of 1979, with the introduction of the Apple II Plus. With great foresight, Apple Computer Inc. put the Applesoft BASIC language into ROM, thereby making it immediately available to anyone who turned on the machinre still in the Stone Age. They had some pretty nifty tools, but getting anything done was a still a pain in the neck. If you wanted to write a program in Applesoft BASIC (also referred to as "floating point BASIC"), you had to load the language itself irogram was finished loading. The introduction of the disk drive was one small step for Apple, but a giant leap for humankind. This is not to say that the Apple II disk drive ushered in the Renaissance. Far from it. The early Apple II computers wefrom cassette tape. Cassette tape devices were not only excruciatingly slow, they were notoriously unreliable. Early hackers joked that they would turn on the cassette recorder to load a program, go and make a sandwich, and then come back to see if the phe mass dissemination of print. Steven Wozniak designed the Apple II disk drive circuitry in 1978, thereby giving birth to the mass dissemination of microcomputer programs. Prior to the Apple II disk drive, the only way to save and load program was ey could from whatever they found. "Do-it-yourself" was not only a fashionable credo - - - it was the only way to get what you wanted. All this changed in June of 1978. Johann Gutenberg designed the printing press in 1452, thereby giving birth to t II. In April of 1977, the Apple II became the official torch-bearer of the Apple clan. These early days of the Apple II were characterized by much hunting and scavenging. Apple II users would hunt for software for the machine, and scavenge what thainst all odds, to spawn the Apple II. Its mission fulfilled, the Apple 1 rolled over and died. It was a humble creature, to be sure. But it carried with it a spark, a tiny flame. Before expiring, it passed on this flame to its offspring, the Apple Packed in a small, portable case the Apple IIc stunned the world with its compact design, its sleek lines, its built-in disk drive. Weighing in at just seven and one half pounds, the Apple IIc quickly became the bouncing baby of the microcomputer world. The Apple IIc featured a hardware designed almost identical to the Apple IIe. The only big distinction was that the IIc was sold as a closed computer, without the eight slots that made the early Apple II's so flexible. The IIc was designed as a comphich could be partially rectified in the pricing of imminent future models of the computer. Enough said. Let the message go forth. Getting back to archaeology proper; an axe is worth nothing without wood to chop. And a computer is worth nothing warchaeologist is to describe, not prescribe, so questions of corporate pricing policy will be henceforth dropped and never again referred to, despite the fact that some errors of judgment could conceivably have been made in the pricing of the Apple IIGS, wt distinctive disadvantage, from an archaeological point of view, is its high priced analog RGB color monitor. When the price of a computer's monitor equals or exceeds the price of the system itself, something serious is amiss. But the job of an wer and sophisticated features was a price tag that paralleled, if not exceeded, the technical developments. Unlike the axe, the arrow head, and the wheel, the Apple IIGS is not the type of tool to be wielded by your average computer user. Its mosger, but decidedly slow reception. No archaeologist worth his or her silicon would dispute the fact that the Apple IIGS brought with it a cognitive leap in the evolution of the Apple II lineage of computers. But accompanying this leap in computing poull five times more than their 5 1/4 inch predecessors. Also, the disk access time for 3 1/2 inch floppy drives was substantially improved. Still, with millions of 5 1/4 inch drives in active operation, it appears that the 3 1/2 inch drive met with an ea had been witnessed with the Apple IIe and the Apple IIc, but always as secondary and external drives. The new 3 1/2 inch disk drive gave the IIGS a clear adaptive advantage. For one thing, the small 3 1/2 inch floppies held 800K of information, a flike interface: pull-down menus, mouse intensive user interaction, and an icon based operating system. The IIGS also brought the first widespread use of the new 3 1/2 inch floppy disk to the Apple II family. Occasional outbreaks of 3 1/2 inch disk drivesacintosh, but the heart of an Apple II. Like the Macintosh, the IIGS could process 16 bits of information at once. But when asked to, this hybrid computer could behave exactly like an Apple II. In operation, the Apple IIGS boasted a Macintosh lookaSeptember, 1986, as the likely time of the Apple IIGS's unveiling. From the start the Apple IIGS caused a great stir in the musty studies of the archaeological community. Here was a computer which defied easy classification. The IIGS had the skull of a MIIGS to blast us into space. With super high-resolution graphics, a pallet of over 4,000 colors to choose from, and a sophisticated, built-in sound chip, the Apple IIGS ushered in a new age. Archaeology Today magazine had a cover story pinpointing as high as 17,000 feet. Whether these were part of the Lankford expedition is not entirely certain. Word has it that the Yetis are becoming increasingly savvy these days. With the Apple IIc, civilization had discovered flight. But it took the Apple s precisely what American climber Scott Lankford did. To keep track of his expedition's equipment and supplies, Lankford hooked his IIc up to a solar powered battery, and booted disks as high as 18,000 feet. Fragments of AppleWorks files have been found uter for the home market, an "appliance" that you just plug in and use. People with special needs could always pick up an Apple IIe, with its open architecture. The Apple IIc was the type of computer you could take up Mount Everest with you. Which iithout software to run. In its early days the Apple IIGS suffered from a bout of software anemia. Software developers scurried to learn how to make use of the sophisticated graphics and sound the machine had to offer. But it took a couple of months for "IIGS specific" software to travel through the pipeline. The latter part of 1988 saw some interesting products emerge. An important development was the release of Appleworks IIGS, way back in the end of 1988. Hailed at first as a giant leap forward ael Moritz, 1984 Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, Steven Levy, 1984 Woz: Prodigal Son of Silicon Valley, Doug Garr, 1984 So Far: The First Ten Years at Apple Computer, Apple Computer, 1986 West of Eden: The End of Innocence, Frank Rose, 1989credible considering the non-existent promotion of the Apple II in the past four years.] Phil Shapiro (The author uses an Apple IIc for both work and play.) Bibliography: Recommended Books: The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer, Micht out using one of those calendar programs.) So, by dividing 5 million Apple II's by 5000 days, that means that Apple has sold an average of 1000 Apple II's every single day of the week for the past 14 years! Not such a bad batting record to my mind. Inuced. Sept. 1989 - ROM 3 IIGS introduced. Feb. 1990 - 5 millionth Apple II sold. [Here's a juicy little statistic to chew on. Apple was founded on April 1, 1976. That means the company was 5000 days old on December 9, 1989. (Trust me. I figured iy 1980 - Apple /// introduced. Dec. 1980 - Apple Computer goes public. Jan. 1983 - Apple IIe introduced. April 1984 - Apple IIc introduced. Nov. 1984 - 2 millionth Apple II sold. Sept. 1986 - Apple IIGS introduced. Sept. 1988 - Apple IIc+ introdthe Apple II archaeologist of tomorrow. An Apple II Chronology March 1976 - First Apple 1 built. June 1976 - First Apple 1 sold. April 1977 - First Apple II unveiled. June 1977 - First Apple II sold. June 1979 - Apple II Plus introduced. Maa long way, baby." But triteness and "laurel resting" are alien to all that the Apple II is about. If the road travelled has been long and winding, the road ahead promises the same rich variety of undulating landscapes. Rich opportunities lie ahead for unravelling world of Apple II archaeology. It's tempting at this point to point out the vast distance the Apple II has travelled from Integer BASIC to the 16 bit GS/OS operating system. It's tempting to come up with a trite phrase, such as, "you've come came with a full megabyte of memory, straight out of the box. This was a welcome feature, since many new IIGS programs, including the ever popular HyperStudio, require at least a meg of memory. Well, that about brings us up to date in the endlessly older Apple II's. Between October, 1988, and October, 1989, very little occurred on the Apple II front. The only noteworthy event was the introduction of an updated IIGS, the "ROM 3" IIGS. The most noteworthy feature of the ROM 3 IIGS was that it ery much like an Apple IIc, except it replaces the earlier 5.25 inch built-in drive with a 3.5 inch built-in drive. It also boasts two selectable operating speeds: a fast 4 megahertz operating speed and a slower 1 megahertz operating speed to emulate the various versions of GS/OS came out over the ensuing months, culminating with version 5.02 at this present date. (6/90) The next event on the Apple II time line was the introduction of the Apple IIc+ in October, 1988. The creature walks and talks vmplicated, was the new Apple IIGS operating system, titled appropriately "GS/OS." This new operating system allows the Apple IIGS to behave as a true 16-bit computer, while speeding up all disk access operations. To muddy the waters just a little further,in the evolution of mankind, it soon became clear that AppleWorks IIGS was a gigantic dud: confusing, complicated, and slow. Many IIGS users simply asked Claris to trade this annoying program for "classic" AppleWorks. More promising, but just as co Digital Deli, by The Lunch Group, 1984(?) (check out the great article on how Paul Lutus wrote the first word processor for the Apple II, Applewriter, in a hut on the top of a remote Oregon mountain.) Less Recommended: Steve Jobs: The Journey is the Reward, Jeffrey S. Young, 1987 Odyssey, John Sculley, 1987 The Third Apple, Jean-Louis Gassee, 1988 The most intriguing of the above books is the large, coffee table sized book, So Far: The First Ten Years at Apple Computer. I found a copy of this booy. But you can't learn the lay of the land by jetting around from one city to another. To learn what this country looks like, you have to get out on the road. To experience American geography firsthand, you have to get out there and drive a truck. ures about important American landmarks and locales. The Carmen Sandiego series truly deserves the praise it has received from educators and parents. No other programs get children so quickly involved in working, and enjoying, the subject of geograph geography to life. The most widely known programs are the Carmen Sandiego series, by Broderbund, which entice students into playing a game of sleuth. Students fly from city to city, trying to track down a villain. All the while they learn facts and figubject? True, geography is an important subject; but students need no special expertise to learn it on their own. Which brings us, by way of small detour, to the present software review. Several programs on the market excel at bringing the subject ofcountry. In some respects this attitude has some merit to it. Given that there are only so many hours in a school day, and so much time to devote to the "core" curriculum of reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, why not make geography an extracurricular s school systems do not give the subject of geography the attention it deserves. The prevailing attitude is that much of geography can be learned by osmosis: if you just read the daily newspapers, you're bound to learn where and what is important in this ll the states. For the next couple of grades, the subject of geography may crop up again once or twice in social studies class, usually as a short "unit," in between the Bushmen of the Kalahari, and the French Revolution. For whatever reason, ouracksonville, Florida, have historically given a cursory treatment of geography. Fifth grade students are typically given a healthy dose of American geography, with the lofty, but irrelevant goal of getting all the kids to chime out the capital cities of a fine state of California. And that many high school students would have a hard time listing eight different European countries. But you can hardly blame students for this continental-sized gap in their knowledge. Schools from Pocatello, Idaho, to J Various newspaper studies have reported that American students' knowledge of geography ranks just a notch above abysmal. According to the studies, about half of all junior high school students would have a hard time telling you on which coast to find the Cross Country USA: A Review Educational program for ages 10 and up. Runs on any 64K Apple II computer. (Apple /// requires Titan ///+// or ///+//e cards) Color monitor not required. Distributed by: Silicon Express, 1-800-999-6868 Price: $29.95 k at the library of the Washington Apple Pi. If your user group doesn't have a copy of the book, write to Apple at the User Group Connection, and have them send your club a copy. It's must reading for anyone interested in Apple folklore. in Apple folklo The whole idea behind the program Cross Country USA is to get you to see the nation from the point of view of a truck driver. The program gets you to pick up various "commodities" at different cities, and deliver them all to a final destination. In the process, you'll drive thru the cornfields of Kansas, past the great Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and thru the fishing villages of Maine. You actually see the scenery of these areas as you drive down the highway. The simulation is brought further toen assume the roles of "assistant driver" and "assistant navigator." Or, perhaps, "independent consultant." The final choice at the options menu has to do with choosing a "commodities table." This sounds confusing, and it is. What the "commoditiesle with each other to work towards a common goal. The division of labor in such a cooperative enterprise would have one child sitting at the keyboard, "driving the truck," and another child poring over the map, acting as "navigator." Parents can ths been that the game is far more fun played cooperatively under the "one player" option. Cross Country USA is an ideal game for the family to play together, assuming children are appropriately aged (about fourth grade on up), and are sufficiently compatibtoo many commodities to pick up, you risk missing out on these neat rewards. Another important choice at the options menu is how many players will be playing the game. While the program allows for two players to play competitively, my experience haout ten to fifteen minutes to pick up each commodity. You'll probably want to only pick up two or three commodities when you first start playing this game. There's some nice graphics rewards at the end, when you deliver your final goods; so if you choose 'll be able to make some important choices about your road trip. The most important of these choices is how many commodities you want to pick up. When deciding how many commodities you want to pick up, keep in mind that it takes an average person ab quite straightforward, but here's a pointer or two to help you on your way. After the title screen, the program asks you if you would like to continue a "saved game." After you answer this question, the program takes you to the options screen. Here you a healthy diesel sound coming out of your Apple's speaker. You'll need to check your commodity-city chart to find out where to drive first. The desk-sized map comes in handy in planning your route. The beginning of the Cross Country USA program isls you how to play the game. In the back of the booklet is a list of over 200 words to be used as "commands" when playing the game. The first command you'll need to use is, "Turn on truck." After you type this command, your truck springs to life withes in which they're sold. For example, cars are made in Detroit and Toledo, milk comes from Madison, Wisconsin, and steel can be found in Pittsburgh and Birmingham. To round out the software package, you also receive a well-written booklet that telith all the major cities, and "simulated" highways linking them up. (These "simulated" roads happen to parallel, but not coincide, with interstate highways.) You also get a "city-commodity" cross reference chart, listing 52 commodities and the citi never tiring or predictable for experienced players. To describe what the program is all about, a short word should be mentioned about the materials that accompany the disk. Accompanying the disk is a large, desk-sized map of the United States, wittle nuances that have been added to the game. Even after your fifteenth, or twentieth game, you'll still encounter new and unfamiliar situations that have to be creatively dealt with. It's easy to start playing the game at a basic level, but the game is life with a realistic looking dashboard across the bottom of the screen. You have to carefully monitor your gas gauge, windshield wipers, and lights, and take appropriate action when due. The best part about Cross Country USA is the hundreds of l table" refers to is to one of the customizing features of the program. You can actually re-assign the commodities in the program to different cities. Why anyone would choose to do so is not entirely clear to me. I'm perfectly satisfied with the U.S. economy as it presently exists, so I always press return to skip this option. Just as soon as you've chosen your options for the game, you're ready to start the game. At this point the program presents you with a "Dispatch Notice," telling you the fi The Promise of HyperMedia for Beginning Readers Cast yourself back in time to the day when you first read a sentence aloud to your parents or teacher. Can you recall that precious moment when you first unlocked the mysteries of the written word? rest in geography is already burning bright, this program might well provide the fuel to make the fire burn even brighter. righter. Country USA. This delightful program has been carefully designed to captivate the interest of growing minds. For students whose interest in geography has not yet been whetted, this program may well kindle a tiny spark. And for those students whose inte has sufficient complexity to hold the interest of students all the way up thru high-school age. If the newspaper reports are true, and American students' geographical knowledge is not up to par, this teacher's prescription is a healthy dose of Crossnot in the same league as Cross Country USA. In the global economy of today, economic geography is equally an important a subject as physical geography. While "Coast to Coast" and "See the USA" may hold the interest of younger geo-philes, Cross Country USArican geography in the form of a hot-air balloon race. Another program, titled "See the USA," gets children driving around from state to state by naming each state they drive thru. While these two other programs are not without merit, they are just review ought to compare the merits of the program being reviewed with other programs in the same field. There are at least a handful of other programs that cover the same general subjects as Cross Country USA. A program titled "Coast to Coast" couches Ameent times. This program is best used with children who have already shown an interest in learning about American geography. Geography is one of those subjects that should never be foisted on those who are not ready for it. A complete software ommodity, and then proceeds even if you don't guess it. Cross Country USA is the type of game you can play for a full hour without getting tired. In my experience, the program is sufficiently varied to be playable for ten, twenty, even thirty differe gas gauge, and you'll do alright. Once you've picked up one commodity, the program gives you clues to your next commodity. If you can't figure out the clues, just type anything. The program gives you two chances to figure out which is your next c are highly recommended in a snowstorm. (But don't forget to take off the chains once you've travelled into warmer climes.) Just as your mother told you, don't forget to eat regularly and fill up the tank every couple of cities. Keep a watchful eye on thuld you ever run out of gas, or crash from lack of food/sleep, the appropriate action --- naturally enough --- is to "call for help." A second-grade friend of mine informed me of this when I inquired, "Well, what am I supposed to do NOW?" Snow chainslong a couple of pointers to speed your journey. If you're a fast reader, you can speed up the messages on the bottom of the screen by pressing the space bar. (You can also speed up the display of the city billboards by pressing the space bar.) Shorst commodity you have to pick up, which city you're starting from, and which city is your final destination. The program prompts you to flip over the disk, and away you go. As a veteran trucker of the Cross Country USA game, it behooves me to pass aIn all likelihood, you can recall the exact time and place when your mind first achieved flight. Even young children realize that those first halting sentences serve as an enormous milestone in our intellectual development. And yet, the thrill of the unfamiliar word. Granted, dictionaries are useful tools, in certain given situations. Yet it's ludicrous to expect a child to use a dictionary before they've developed considerable skill at processing the written word. Consider the time it takes ave worked hard to give us programs capable of delivering information, delivering knowledge, at the press of a mouse button. Children of today need not go thru the frustrating and bothersome chore of consulting a dictionary every time they encounter anod reason to continue this eighteenth century mode of teaching literacy, in this modern day and age? The answer, of course, is an emphatic "no." The microprocessor is an unparalleled tool at sorting and delivering information. And software developers ha to make sense of the definition following the word. In some cases the definition will be elucidating. In other cases the definition will contain other words of unknown meaning. In which case, go back to step one, and start all over. Is there any gois particular dictionary. Not all dictionaries contain all words in the English language. Children's dictionaries, in particular, are not known for their comprehensive listings. Finally, with your finger pointing to the unknown word, the task is now words having the same first two letters with the first two letters of the unknown word. Continue doing successive iterations until you end up in the vicinity of the unknown word. Then, cross your fingers, and hope that the unknown word appears in thry is firmly in hand, the chore has barely just begun. Now the tedious step of searching thru the dictionary begins. First find the section of the dictionary with the same first letter as the unknown word. Then find the sub-section of the dictionary withrd is to locate a suitable dictionary. Often the most suitable dictionary is not likely to be within easy grasp of the beginning reader. It might even take a small search to find where the dictionary was placed after last being used. Once the dictionather the word in question is worth looking up in the dictionary. Some words can be inferred from their context. Other words, such as proper nouns, do not add sufficient meaning to the text to merit being looked up. The second step in looking up a wos to their own advantage. But a beginning reader hardly has the patience, much less the skill, to use a dictionary effectively. Take a minute to consider the chore of "looking it up in the dictionary." First the beginning reader has to determine whee, and willpower to master a bewildering reference book. True, the human mind is self-booting. But can we expect beginning readers to assume the role of independent scholars? College level students have the maturity and resolve to use reference book But there comes a day when our patience wears thin, and the best guidance we can offer is a gentle suggestion to "look it up in the dictionary." Like our forefathers and foremothers before us, we expect the newly literate to have enough skill, patiencmoment is quickly lost as children move onto the next book, into the uncharted territory of unfamiliar words. We, as teachers and parents, offer what guidance we can. We offer what assistance we can to the repeated inquiry of, "What does this word say?" beginning reader to look up a word in the dictionary. From the time they determine a word needs looking up, to the time they pinpoint that word in the dictionary, at least five minutes time has elapsed. So, supposing they need to look up ten words a day. That means they'll be spending almost an hour each day flipping thru the pages of a dictionary. Look at it another way. The English language contains about half a million words. If you spent five minutes looking up each word, you would spend overspeed speedometer" which will provide continuous, instantaneous feedback on your current reading speed. Another of the controls on the device will be the "Table of Contents" button. Any time you press this button, the table of contents of what you'rA computer paddle is similar to the volume control knob on a stereo, or a tuning dial on a radio. You turn the thing to make things happen.) The paddle will control the speed of display of text on the monitor. The device will also have a small "reading ice of the monitor and control knobs on the monitor. The device will use a standard rechargeable battery that will shut the device off before running all the way down. The controls on the device will consist of just a few buttons, and one paddle. (e microchip that will drive the device will be no more expensive to produce than an ordinary calculator microchip. Produced in large quantities, these chips will sell for under a dollar each. The bulk of the price of the device will come from the prat-screen computer monitor. This monitor will be constructed using the "twisted crystal" technology developed in the late 1980's. Most importantly, the device will cost no more than a standard hardcover book (i.e. in the $20 to $30 price range). Thatteries, driven by a microchip, the electronic book will carry civilization into the 21st century. It's size and weight will be no larger and no heavier than a standard hardcover book. In place of the "page" of a book, will be a high resolution, floning temptation. Phil Shapiro (The author is currently working on a hypermedia literacy project, using HyperStudio on the Apple IIGS.) *** The Coming of the Electronic Book The electronic book is coming. Powered by bwledge will allow the human mind to be truly self-booting. Beginning readers will be able to use their knowledge-base as a tool to further expand their understanding of the world. Literacy will be transformed from being an arduous chore into being a beckontrol over their own intellectual development. No longer need they depend on the patience and availability of parents and teachers. And no longer need they be chained to using a reference book to teach them literacy skills. Mouse-click based knoand. No physical or mental effort is required to find out more about a particular word. In a hypertext environment, beginning readers could well learn twenty or thirty new words a day. More importantly, hypertext gives beginning readers greater c. No more pronunciation hieroglyphics. Who could understand those silly symbols anyway? (i.e. backwards, upside-down e's and a's with curly things or pointy things on top). The end-result of hypertext is to give beginning readers knowledge on demowing how this particular word could be used in two different contexts. And, where appropriate, a simple graphic image might give fuller meaning to the word. A pronunciation button could then be clicked to give a real-live pronunciation of the wordno more than a mouse-click away? To "look up" a word, point to the particular word, click the mouse, and you'll quickly be transported to a full dictionary definition of the word. Ideally, the definition would be followed by two illustrative sentences, sh 1700 days paging thru the dictionary. (The calculation: 500000 words times 5 minutes/word = 2500000 minutes = 41666 hours = 1736 days.) What if this page-flipping ritual were replaced by a simple mouse-click? What if elucidating definitions were e reading will pop up onto the screen. From the table of contents you will be able to automatically jump to any of the reading passages. Another button on the device will be a "definition" button. Any word on the screen can be hi-lighted with the definition button. Then, within seconds, a definition of the hi-lighted word will pop up onto the screen. This definition will include two other sentences illustrating how the word is used. By pressing the definition button again, you will be able to retWord Munchers are also award winning material. This review will cover the Number Munchers disk, although some of the introductory comments will apply to the other disks as well. These Muncher programs play like an arcade game. The object of the gamucted so that you just want to keep playing. One of the funnest educational programs I've come across is a math drill called Number Munchers, by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC). Two spin-off programs, titled Fraction Munchers and Number Muncher Program: A Review NOTE: THIS PROGRAM WILL REQUIRE AN APPLE /// WITH THE TITAN ///+//E CARDS AND A 65C02 CPU CHIP. The ideal computer learning program is playful enough that an adult would enjoy playing it. Such a program is constrd will take on a new meaning when the "lights" will remain on under the covers late into the night. Phil Shapiro piro text to choose from. A special large-sized text will be favored by children and other beginning readers. Children will sneak these devices under the covers at night. Parents will still insist on "lights out" at 8:00 p.m.. But this age-old commands to get their money's worth. People will "catch" five minutes of reading while waiting for their train/plane. The first devices will have just one size of text displayed on the monitor. The second-generation devices will have at least two sizes off literature will also appear on cartridge. Coin-operated devices will spring up in train stations and airports. These arcade-like machines will dispense prose by the minute. This unusual marketing ploy will encourage people to read at breakneck speens. Therefore, the first uses of the device will be to sharpen and develop reading skills. In time, as the public responds favorably to the device, publishers will issue longer and longer reading selections on cartridges. Eventually, the classics oJust as forward-thing libraries now have personal computers for public use.) The first cartridges available will contain short reading passages of general interest. These reading passages will be followed by a series of reading comprehension questiollers will market these cartridges, and a large "second-hand cartridge" market will develop. Public and school libraries will have cartridges available for loan. Forward-thinking libraries will also have electronic books on loan for their patrons. (urn to the exact place where you left off reading. The reading material for the device will be contained on insertable cartridges. Publishers will favor cartridges over floppy disks because cartridges cannot ever be illegally copied. Regular booksee is to go around the screen "eating" the numbers that fit the rule at the top of the screen, all the while avoiding the nasty "Troggles" that appear randomly from the sides of the screen. Your player on the screen, the number muncher, is a handsome little creature whose jaw opens and closes with the ease of a presidential candidate. To munch a particular number or word, you simply press down on the space bar. The Troggles are not that difficult to avoid at the easier levels of the game, and they ad that he ever learned such childishness from me.) So besides developing math skills, the program also gets children to think quickly under pressure. They have to keep their wits and maintain their composure if they want to develop mastery over the chortles, "Who's afraid of the big bad Troggle, the big bad Troggle, the big bad Troggle," as he maneuvers his muncher around the screen. He has developed such proficiency that he can run rings around any approaching Troggle. (Of course I vehemently denyystick or the four arrow keys for moving the munchers. It's been my experience that the arrow keys are easier to use, and are more predictable when the going gets fast-paced. A second grade friend of mine has conquered his fears of the Troggles, andexterity aspect a little intimidating at first, especially with the menacing Troggles appearing on the screen every so often. But the Troggles are really quite slow, and can be avoided without too much effort. The program gives you a choice of using a jo2 X 1". These expressions would be munchable, but "5 - 2" would not, since it's not equal to 2. What is so appealing about these games is that they require both physical as well as mental dexterity to master. Some children will find the physical dlly get students involved in thinking about numbers. For example, in the Equality game, the rule at the top of the screen might read, "Equal to 2." The grid on the screen would then be filled with short little expressions, including "10 / 5" and "evelop, as they'll be called upon frequently in algebra and advanced math. Prime numbers are an intellectual curiosity, which ought to be explored, although not dwelt upon. The Equality and Inequality games are the most academic of all the games, and reaity, and, 5) Inequality. Between them, these categories cover many of the arithmetic skills studied in third, fourth, and fifth grade. The Multiples game covers the multiplication table, in an oblique sort of way. Factoring skills are always useful to dcher hero against the Troggle villains, where the muncher always comes out on top. But what skills do these programs develop, you might ask. The five categories of games on the Number Munchers disk are: 1) Multiples, 2) Factors, 3) Primes, 4) Equal Hall of Fame. After every three screens of numbers, the program rewards you with an amusing little animated cartoon. These cartoons last all of twenty second each, yet they're genuinely funny. A typical scene involves a situation pitting the number mune to add their name to the Hall of Fame of a computer program. They'll swim the Atlantic Ocean, blindfolded if necessary, if that's what it takes to get into the Hall of Fame. But the Muncher programs provide an even more potent incentive than theand 6). All the while the program keeps score of your number munching skills. If you score high enough, you may be invited to record your name in the Hall of Fame. Any computer instructor can tell you that children jump at the chance of being ablehension and glee. As you complete one screen of number munching, another screen appears, with a new rule at the top of the screen. Typical rules might include, "Multiples of 3," (namely, 3,6,9,12,15,18,21...) or, "Factors of 12" (namely, 1,2,3,4, d a great deal of fun to the program. If you don't stay away from the Troggles, you could end up having one of your number munchers getting eaten. The danger here is part of the appeal. Kids will yell out, "Oh no! Another Troggle!" with a mixture of apprprogram. This is an important skill in itself, in our fast-paced, Troggle-filled real world. Number Munchers is advertised as being for ages 8 to adult, but I have known many younger children who have wanted to try playing the game. Although some of the arithmetic may be beyond their present ability, I find it hard to not let them have a chance at playing the games. So I have used Number Munchers with some kindergarten and first graders, but only in a private lesson sort of setting, where I could gnty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And the Sysops don't have the headache of having to bring the board down and start the board up twice a day. It took a while to select the bulletin board software, though. A number of popular bulletin board sen we found out it was possible to run a bulletin board program under MultiFinder, allowing a student to use the Mac while the bulletin board was still operating in the background." So, thanks to the magic of MultiFinder, the bulletin board is up twetors), describes the dilemma he had when he first thought of starting up the board: "We first planned on using one of the school Macintoshes for the BBS (bulletin board system), taking down the BBS whenever we needed the Mac in one of our classes. But thhe metropolitan area have been calling in. The board averages over 150 calls per week. Luckily the current growing pains of the board happen to coincide with plans to bring in a second phone line. David Kreisberg, one of the two Sysops (system operadover, Maryland. The brainchild of two secondary school teachers, David Kreisberg and John Jennings, the board has been up and running for a little over and year. And so far the experiment has been a resounding success. Children from all over t d private mail to each, and to download text files and public domain programs - - - all from the comfort of their own homes? What you would have would be something pretty similar to the School Board, operated out of the Thomas Pullen Magnet School, in Lan Telecommunications for Kids What would happen if a large group of children were given free passwords and free access to an electronic bulletin board? What would happen if these same children were allowed to post public messages on the board, to senhil Shapiro (The author develops instructional software, and teaches computers in elementary school.) . puter Club (membership $20/year, phone number (402) 379-4680.) Number Munchers is also available for $27.95, plus postage, from Educational Resources, 800-624-2926. To get a free catalog of other MECC software, you can call MECC at 800-228-3504. Por IIc+. (Incidentally, playing any of the Muncher games at 4 megahertz, on the IIc+, can be devilishly challenging and fun for older children.) The best price for Number Munchers is $26, postpaid, thru the group purchase discount of the Big Red Comive them personal guidance and assistance. Number Munchers runs on any 64K Apple II, including the older Apple II+. A color monitor is not required. Fraction Munchers requires 128K of memory, meaning that it will run on an enhanced IIe, IIc, IIGS, ystems were considered, including a number of packages for the Apple II and a number of systems for the Mac. Consultation were made with other Sysops as to the best software for the best price. Eventually, the choice was made to go with Red Ryder Host, written by the famed Scott Watson, author of the similarly named, popular communications program for the Mac. The current-set up is built around a Mac Plus, with 2.5 Megabytes of memory, and a 20 Megabyte hard drive. Red Ryder Host takes up so littlerious locations around the metropolitan area. Students will upload the data they collect, and then analyze the results. All communications for this group science experiment will be done through the School Board, so students and teachers will be communicave board. The Stories and Poems board offers some interesting creative work by local young authors. A current discussion on the Projects board centers around a planned "group science experiment" involving the analysis of rain water by schools at vaCenter itself is divided up into a number of sections: 1) Private Mail, 2) General Discussion, 3) Stories and Poems, 3) Brain Teasers and Riddles, 4) Projects, and, 5) Foreign Language Board. As you might expect, Brain Teasers and Riddles is quite an actin the screen. A few other preliminary questions follow, and soon you'll be whisked off to the Main Menu of the board. At the Main Menu there are a number of different options, but the most travelled route is over to the Message Center. The Message sword be written backwards. (i.e. the word "zebra" becomes the highly mysterious word "arbez") After entering the password, the child will have to verify the password by typing it again. This time the letters of the password will appear as "X's" ohe password be a kept a secret. Adults might have to make suggestions as to possible words for passwords. (Favorite animals, fruits, and colors, all make sense to use as password.) To add a touch of cryptographic spice, you could suggest to have the pasakes all of five minutes. The host software will first ask the child to type in his/her first name, last name, and the city where he/she is calling from. Next the child will have to think of a password, from three to eight letters long. It's best that tommend that children call at 300 baud. If children do choose to call at 1200 baud, they should be shown how to stop the scrolling by pressing the two keys . (Any key will start the messages scrolling again.) The initial log-on procedure ting up the School Board is no big deal, but the Sysops do recommend that children have adult supervision the first time they log on. The board can operate at 1200 or 300 baud. Unless the child is a fast reader, and confident computer user, the Sysops recenterprise that helps brings teachers together is bound to serve an important need, allowing teachers to network, and build up a certain esprit-de-corps. In these days of micros and modems, it makes sense for teachers to "network" by networking. Calle all the way from professional dialogues to casual social conversations. Unlike many other professions, teaching is a calling requiring solo practice throughout the entire day. Consultations with colleagues are accordingly rare and infrequent. Any call the board to leave messages for each other. One section of the board, the Educator's Corner, is actually reserved for the use of teachers. The Educator's Corner provides a great forum for local teachers to bounce ideas back and forth. Messages rang course of the past year. One positive feature of the Hayes Smartmodem is the lights which indicate the modem is sending and receiving data. Truth be told, not all the calls received by the School Board are from students. Teachers and parents also room that the bulletin board could almost be run off of floppy drives. After having considerable trouble using an Apple Personal Modem, the board opted to get a Hayes Smartmodem (1200 baud). The Hayes modem has given trouble free operation over theting back and forth with no envelopes or stamps in sight. Local phone calls to the School Board, of course, cost the schools no extra money. The neat thing about the School Board was the decision to make it free for all to use. The decision was not reached casually. David Kreisberg, computer arts teacher and Sysop, explains his populist point of view: "The School Board is free because we want to encourage communications between students and students, teachers and students, and teachers an can receive assistance from remote locations. 4) Queries can be considered and answered by committee, rather than by individual librarians. A living model for such a reference bulletin board already exists. Software developers who need technical a.) Such a reference bulletin board provides three distinct advantages: 1) Patrons do not have to wait in line to receive answers to their questions. 2) Reduced stress for librarians trying to provide the best service to multiple patrons. 3) PatronsBy setting up a "reference bulletin board," reference librarians can field questions at any time of day or night, and provide timely written responses. (For those patrons without computers at home/work, a terminal could be provided for accessing the board queries are often cut short to attend to the pressing needs of in-person patrons. A new communication tool is at hand that could serve to enhance the work of reference librarians, allowing them to provide better service with much reduced job stress. In a small town library this method of operation can sometimes work. In larger libraries, the method frequently breaks down. Reference librarians feel obligated to answer phone queries, while in-person patrons wait impatiently nearby. Likewise, phonecome, first-served basis. The trouble with this method is that patrons invariably have to wait their turn to be given assistance. And when they do receive assistance, they are counseled by the one librarian they happened to have contacted first ave a staff of four to eight reference librarians to offer guidance and assistance to patrons. Typically, such assistance is offered in a serial fashion. Patrons wait in line for the first available librarian, who proceeds to answer questions on a first-lp direct patrons to the knowledge/information they seek. Traditionally this is accomplished by in-person assistance, and telephonic assistance. Both of these traditional avenues of communication have serious disadvantages. Most libraries typically he bulletin board was being run off a Mac Plus, using Red Ryder Host software. I'd like to explore, in this article, how the same hardware/software set-up could be used to great advantage in a public library. The main purpose of every library is to heickory Drive Beaver Falls, Pa 15010 *** Visions of a Public Library Bulletin Board About two months ago I wrote an article about an electronic board being used by students and teachers ("Telecommunications for Kids)". Th(301) 499-4575 (data, 24 hours/day) (301) 336-6500 (voice, school hours) Thomas Pullen Magnet School (for Creative and Performing Arts) 700 Brightseat Road Landover, MD 20785 Red Ryder Host ($135) (now called Second Sight) The Freesoft Company 150 Hage, checks to read her private mail, and then dashes off some replies to her buddies on the other side of the city. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 21st century. Resources and Contacts: David Kreisberg, Sysop John Jennings, Sysop The School Board lly to sound intelligible to others. She must use proper syntax to make her message make sense. She must use proper grammar, so as to draw attention to her ideas, and not the form in which they are couched. She composes a decent sounding public messd teachers. When ideas are freely exchanged, learning is bound to take place. And isn't that what education is supposed to be about anyway?" A third grader sits down to write a public message from her home computer. She must choose her words carefussistance can send their questions by modem to the Developer Technical Support staff (DTS staff). The DTS staff checks the board each morning, and discusses each question in committee. The knowledge of the talented staff is pooled to give the best possible reply. Finally, one of the DTS staff is assigned to summarize the advice. Within a few days, the software developer is given the best possible advice to his/her query. To encourage the use of the bulletin board, the DTS staff refuses to take questž#2390 ^1000c: h#2;a$ma$rY=1150:Y0wB=B+1: Count the number of lines printed xB=15B=30355yB=60#3;12)zB=60B=1 {#3;a$|360B<=20#3;13)::410#3;12):Z=11000:ZI I=3d: PRINTER V. 1.0 ::=2::"PRINT.ALL v. 1.0":3=4:"Directory Name(s) or return to quit: ";n$N$)=0::"MENU.MAKER"430 X>0260I=11000:I:200: ,I=1X 14000 6#2,F$(I)@#3,".PRINTER" JXMODEM ///) AND A MODEM. ODEM. ation at this time. Phil Shapiro (The author develops educational software, and is interested in how computers can be used to disseminate knowledge.) NOTE: THIS IS ACCESSABLE WITH AN APPLE ///! ALL YOU NEED IS A TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM (TRY 3TEL-05, of knowledge, and repositories of knowledge about knowledge. As we approach the 21st century, it makes sense to explore new ways of making libraries serve the needs of the community. The idea of a reference bulletin board seems eminently ripe for explor and suggestions could be given out by any member of the community. In computer terms, the distribution of knowledge would be parallel, rather than serial. Public libraries are the intellectual nerve center of communities. They serve as repositorieshe person posting the message should have the option of having the message be private or public. In the case of public messages, the reference bulletin board could find yet another possible use. Patrons could give answers to each others questions. Advicee very process of getting patrons to formulate their queries in writing will force people to think carefully about the questions they want answered. Also, a written query can easily contain sub-queries on related topics. As with any bulletin board, td in the American Library Directory, the Macintosh and Apple II are two of the favorite computers for public access use. (See the entries listed under "Automation Information"). A reference bulletin board would also have some incidental benefits. Thng used as bulletin board. Ideally, the reference bulletin board could serve double-duty as a public access Macintosh: free for the public to use for their own purposes. Public access computers are a growing trend at a public libraries. As indicateall, the bulletin board need not tie up the use of the Mac for other purposes. It's entirely possible to run the bulletin board as a "background application" under MultiFinder. Therefore, the Mac can actually be in use for other purposes, while it is beiions by phone. For those few developers without access to a modem, questions and answers are sent via U.S. mail. What makes the idea of a reference bulletin board so exciting is the fact that you can set it up on the lowest cost Macintosh. Best of I>X200300S=1:D=1:B=1570D$=""500 Y=X:S=ED$(D)=D$:640 X=Y440D=D+1:S=E:440D=D-1:X=0F$(X):X=0 J=1D D$=D$(J)790&J0 :œ6303DE=S+1:N$,S,1)=" "N$,S,1)=","S=S+1:580%Nre. EAD PASCAL TEXT FILES."04=10:"78C";"ANY KEY RETURNS TO THE MENU."!>G$:::".D1/MENU.MAKER",320R",220(204::"79A";""; 2D=1:F=1 <#4;a$ FD=D+1 P#5;a$ZD=60#5;12)dD=60D=1nF=F+1::d$;::Y=1100:Y x13402  CATCH PASCAL TEXT FILES 202 :F*=08:"78C";"SORRY BUT MENU.MAKER CAN'T R".D1/MENU.MAKER",220 d$="" A$="PRINTING "+B$(I),16,B)=01:=0::"80C";A$;:#3,B$(I),16,B)Z=1#3;b$:"78A";b$Z=Z+1:Z=18:1290 1260 #4,B$(I),16,B)#5,".PRINTER"+ž#4#5;12):::".D1/MENU.MAKE30C$="N"C$="n"1160;:=23:=0::"79C";"PRESS ANY KEY TO HALT LISTING": $1020.202 8::Z=1B::=23:=0::"79C";"WOULD YOU LIKE A PRINTED COPY?":1C$:C$<>"Y"C$<>"y"C$<>"N"C$<>"n"1170*C$="N"C$="n"79C";"PRESS ANY KEY TO HALT LISTING"::202 1020#2,B$(I),16,B)ž#242:::1160Z=1#2;A$:"78A";A$Z=Z+1:Z>1842:::Z=1980*:=23:=0::"79C";"CONTINUE...?":1C$:C$<>"Y"C$<>"y"C$<>"N"C$<>"n"10 MENU.MAKER TEXT MODULESEG=0"MENU.MAKER"890&*X=11000: TEXT SLOW-DOWN LOOP ,X.1,180,22:2,280,21:2,2380,23:z:A$="LISTING "+B$(I),16,B)$=01:=0::"80C";A$;::12)>=23:=0::"2010C$="N"C$="n"200;:=23:=0::"79C";"PRESS ANY KEY TO HALT LISTING": 20002,280,21 DF$(I)=D$+"/DISKNAME.DAT"F$(I)=D$+"/FLASHNAME.DAT"410:ۺ310 PRINTER v 1.0 p$ 900A$="PRINTING"+F$(I):$=01:=0::"80C";A$;::12)F=23:=0::"79C";"PRESS ANY KEY TO HALT PRINTING"::2,280,21 2000*:=23:=0::"79C";"CONTINUE...?":1C$:C$<>"Y"C$<>"y"C$<>"N"C$<>"n"#1,D$::"Processing directory ";34);D$;34);", please wait."; ž#1880*#1;A$:A$)<48104A$,3,4)<>"TEXT"810>X=X+1:".";HE=15:F$=A$,16,15)RF$,E,1)=" "E=E-1:850\F$(X)=D$+"/"+F$,E)f810p:  Pausež#1740#1;A$:A$)<4710A$,3,4)="TEXT"X=X+1710 :X>YN=P::7);"There are no text files in the ";34);D$;34);" directory." ::I=P::7);"Unable to locate and open ";34);D$;34);" directory." ::IT$=N$,E,1):T$=" "T$=","610XE=E+1:E>N$)610:590bD$=N$,S,E-S)l:v:E>S+1600:D$="": œ770P=3:"Looking for ";34);D$;34);" directory." #1,D$=P3:"Reading from ";34);D$;34);" directory."