thej

Asmusr, have you considered packaging js99er for Sandstorm? Sandstorm is a web app platform intended as a replacement option for Google Docs. Existing Web apps can be packaged and added as installable apps on the platform. There are currently 73 apps available for use on the platform. You should check it out! https://sandstorm.io Here is a direct link to the packaging docs: https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/developing/ J

The entirety of the PC/GEOS operating system, it’s SDK and apparently, ALL of it’s software, have been posted up on Git for community availability and further development ! It appears to be at least PC/GEOS 2.0 and possibly newer. Many files are dated 1991 and many have additional revision dates of “97/04/04 NewDeal” which is at least version 2.5 I believe. Most of the code is written in C and an updated (??) Watcom C compiler is also available from the author on his Git. It was common to write GEOS software with “ObjectASM” in x86 assembly. Their object technology was a key advantage they had over other OSes at the time. You can find the Git repo here: https://github.com/bluewaysw/pcgeos Here is the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEOS_%2816-bit_operating_system%29 …and here is a link to a PDF of the “PC/GEOS System Software Overview”. This document gives an overview of the system architecture and other details for developers. It is specific to ver. 1.0 of PC/GEOS. https://www.lyonlabs.org/commodore/onrequest/geos/PC-GEOS-System-Software-Overview.pdf j

Has anyone confirmed if Apple Sprite Logo works with the AppleTi? Also, where can Apple Sprite Logo be downloaded from? And, what version of Terrapin Logo works with the AppleTi? Thanks! J

I've been googling for Retro Game Programming Tutorials for the past few days and I have found tons of Crrrrrrraaaaaaaap !!! I was hoping that this group might be able to point me in the right direction. I'm looking for maze, side scroller, platformer types games. Games like Pac-man, Space invaders, Joust, Defender would be good examples. I'm specifically wanting to know how the games are structured, so tutorials that give good details on that are preferred. I don't care what language they are written in. I'm learning a new language and want some fun challenges to learn it :-) Thanks! J

Here's another great site with tons of PDF books and manuals. http://apple2online.com/ Just go to the "Documentation Library" link (top left). TheJ

"Inside the Apple 2e" by Gary B. Little is a MUST HAVE book! it's covers all the hardware and important aspects of DOS3.3 and other stuff to. This includes Clear and Concise descriptions of ALL of the soft switches for ALL text and Graphics modes !!! There are many convoluted descriptions of how to use the softswitches online. NOT worth your trouble !!! You can find a copy here: http://apple2online.com/index.php?p=1_13_Apple-II-IIe TheJ

Adding Heat sinks is not the answer (unless an originally mounted one has come off..). It is far more likely that one of the video ram chips is failing. Once it warms up it stops functioning properly.

Merry Christmas everyone (..or Happy Holidays.. whichever you perfer :-) !! I have been doing a TON of reading and finally started doing some actual coding. Nothing to extensive as time for this project is limited. I have been researching: Double Hi-Res graphics MockingBoard support Clock support RAM Card / Bank switching schemes ...and a few other minor oddities that caught my attention. Double Hi-Res graphics There is lots of good documentation on this...strangly almost none of it is on the Internet. Old books and magazines (Nibble specifically) have been key sources for this. DHRG requires very specific setup and exiting via use of the soft switches. Without a good clear guide this can get really messy. I have that information now. Drawing on the DHRG screen is a bit more complicated than standard HGR as calculations for Vertical position (just like HGR) and Horizontal positioning needs to be done. This makes it a tad slower than HGR. However, you get 16 FULL colors in DHRG and nice fine horizontal (560) dots in black and white. Also, for those with an accelerator (or an emulator :-) running at 3.7MHz makes DHRG quite snappy ! MockingBoard support After reading a review in Nibble (May 1983 page 102) I discovered that adding support to the MockingBoard should be really easy. In addition, the MockingBoard included software includes a Sound Demo, a Sound Editor (not that great but it works), a Phoneme Editor (only usable with the Voice version) and several pre-created sounds. The pre-created sounds are not that great but many are OK. I found a copy of the software on Apple2Online.com. The Nibble review stated that there were pre-written routines for developers to use in their programs but I did not find these in the Apple2Online archived version. I will check other archives to see what I can find. Clock support Looks to be as easy as reading a memory location... at least for time stamping anyway. Also discovered a really cool hack !!! A MOUSE CARD can be used as a clock ! The clock cards are essentually timers that trigger an interupt. The Mouse card does the same thing. I found out that tib bit and the code to do it in Nibble (January 1991 page 54). Looking forward to playing with that !! RAM Card / Bank switching schemes I have found 3 different schemes: AUX (slot 0) RAM Cards: -Use 64K banks -Conform to the Apple 2e 64K Extended 80-column card bank switching AUX Language Cards: -use 16k banks Peripheral-Slot Cards: -Uses Apple memory expansion protocol first implemented in the 2e -Bank switches a single byte at a time -Expanded RAM can be treated as “block Storage” (aka one large contiguous block of RAM) -RAM is accessed through the “Protocol Converter” ROM firmware and NOT directly to the RAM Some RAM Cards such as the Saturn 128K RAM card (peripheral slot), apparently uses 16k banks. Pre-Apple 2e 128K RAM cards probably use 16k banks as that is how the Apple 2+ Language card was set up. I have a RAMWorks 2 and A Saturn card for my real 2e so I will start there. Specifically with the RAMWorks. Just a note; "RAMWorks" is AUX slot and "RAMFactor" is Peripheral slot. All the Applied Engineering cards come with good software which includes RAM Disk software. ProDOS also has RAM Disk capabilities so either way, you can start utilizing your RAM card without writing any code. Developing PONG in GraFORTH It's one thing to discover all this stuff but quite another to implement it. I have chosen to write a PONG game to implement most of these things. I found a really simple PONG game written in Applesoft, so I will be recreating it in GraFORTH. It will serve as a comparison for coding style (Basic vs Forth) and speed (GraFORTH compiles to ASM so I suspect the GraFORTH version will be so fast as to be unplayable !!) The first GraFORTH version (character graphics) will be as close to the Applesoft (low-res) version as reasonably possible. From there I will rewrite it in HGR "Block" graphics, then in DHRG. From there I will start adding new components to the game to make it a "real" game. MockingBoard sound effects too :-) Wrinkles and Oddities I have been working exclusively in emulators for the time being. It's just so much faster and more flexible to do so. I do plan to use my 2e in the future. I have been using Virtual 2 on my Mac and AppleWin on my PC. One significant oddity with AppleWin has been the inability to PASTE text to the Apple command line. This works in Virtual 2 but not in AppleWin.... what a PAIN!! It is SO FAST AND CONVEINENT to write code in a word processor then cut and paste it into the virtual machine. So much so, that I have chosen to write and archive my GraFORTH code on my Mac as text rather than on Apple 2 "disks". I'm also writing some GraFORTH "Words" that will discover what Apple 2 you are using (by reading the values in $FBB3, $FBC0 and $FBBF) and what cards are installed in your Apple 2. System configuration discovery routines could be very usefull later on.

I have an Apple 2C+ and I need an external 5.25 floppy for it. Will the Apple 5.25 drives work? I assuming they would but the 2c+ has a "smart" port. Would the 5.25 external use that or another port? What uses teh "Smart" port? Thanks in advance !!

Oh yeah! You can check out "Inside the Apple IIe" by Gary B. Little here: http://apple2online.com/index.php?p=1_13_Apple-II-IIe

Well, I've been doing a LOT of reading and I have discovered a few things. I originally listed several "possibilities" but I have realized that rewriting parts that use DOS will probably take me a long time. I am learning as I go so that will likely be the hardest stuff to do. So, last on the list. As well, NakedOS only supports 5.25" disks so it looks like it will need to be ProDOS. The GraFORTH documentation has a full list of all of its parts and where in memory they are placed (AWESOME!! I thought I would have to figure all that out myself !). However, it has a few configurations based on whether the Apple2 has a language card installed. GraFORTH uses the additional memory in the language card. This could get intricate (remember...learning as I go) as some of the other features I wanted to add also use the memory in the 80 column/language card.... like Double-Hi Res. Found a couple great resources for DHGR. One is here: http://apple2.boldt.ca/?page=til/tn.aiie.003 Had some difficulty following along with the instructions toward the end but it is a GREAT resource. Has lots of memory maps explaining DHGR. Another resource for DHGR is the book "Inside the Apple IIe" by Gary B. Little. WOW !! What a great book !! If I'm going to be able to rewrite the DOS parts of GraFORTH, it's going to be this book that gets me there !! So I'm hoping to start by simply adding new Forth words to GraFORTH. Words for DHGR and other things that require memory accesses and calculations look like the easiest enhancements to start with. Things like 80 column display, real time clock support, MockingBoard support are within range (I will need to eBay a no-slot-clock). Maybe even RAM expansion boards (will need to learn about the various forms of bank-switching later ) Onward and upward !! Hey!? Anyone trying out GraFORTH yet?

No, to my knowledge gforth does not have graphics or sound support. It runs on UNIX/Linux/Mac OS X (command line). As for NakedOS, it is a brand new DOS for the Apple 2. No Apple code. it supports floppies and that's it. You can check it out here: https://bitbucket.org/martin.haye/super-mon/wiki/Home You can also see the GraFORTH demo on YouTube.

Yes! Exactly.... to both. For non-Apple2 platforms, the base GraFORTH words could be ported to gforth or any other Forth for that matter. With that done, ANY GraFORTH program would work on those Forths as well. Yes, definitely the MockingBoard. Not sure where my head was at ! ProDOS would work just dandy. I suggested NakedOS as it uses much less memory and is even faster than ProDOS with real floppies. Either one. Just not DOS 3.3 :-)

Seeing all the new hardware that is available and soon to be released for teh Apple 2 got me thinking about how one would actualy utilize it. Sure, some old programs are written to use RamFactor and other memory cards but is that all these new boards are for? Old software? I think the collection of new hardware capabilities now available to the Apple 2 can open up some cool possibilities for the retro platform but new software will need to be developed in order to realize it. I have been thinking about how this can come to be and I don't think Assemby or C will "inspire" the general population of retro-fans to jump in. However... ...I think GraFORTH might have a chance to inspire "new" programs that could actually utilize the existing and new hardware in a way that is more accessable that C or ASM. But... ...GraFORTH is old too. It does have several pluses: -Its an "Environment" !! Program and manage files -Interactive development -very helpful for new / inexperienced programmers -FAST program execution (about half the speed of ASM program, much better than BASIC at 1/20th to 1/50th of ASM speed) -Programs are Small -...which leaves more RAM for Data (Graphics, Sound, etc) -Because of the way FORTH works (words), High level constructs can be created and easily reused by the community -Integrated 2D graphics capabilities -Integrated Sound generation capabilities -Integrated 3D graphics capabilities - ...and manuals EXIST And it has several negatives: -Shackled to DOS 3.3 -140K disks do not allow for large programs, forces lots of disk swapping when developing large programs -Designed for a 48K Apple 2+ -Integer only (TransFORTH, make by the same author, supports floating point but does not have graphics or sound support) What would be required / wanted in a "Modernized" GraFORTH? Essentials -rebuild on top of a better "DOS" like NakedOS ro similar -Support for large disk sizes / Flash volumes (already provided by NakedOS?) -3.5" floppy support -large memory support Cool Possibilities -Real time clock support -Double High-res and Super-Hi res support -Ad-Lib sound card support, GS sound support -Network card support (ethernet, bluetooth, Zigbee, etc) -16 bit version for 65816 2GS Still reading? Great !! I've posed this to get a conversation going in the community. My Apple 2e and Apple 2C+ are collecting dust because I don't have time to learn enough ASM to do anything "Cool" with them. A modernized GraFORTH could offer a lot to the community and substantially reduce the effort / time required to jump into programming "Cool" stuff. Unfortunately, I do not have the skills required to do such a modernization. Do you ?!?

Works great in Safari 7 now !! Thanks !!