Apple Graphics & Arcade Game Design by Jeffrey Stanton

[potatohead]

I used several machines at that time. The Apple and Atari machines saw the most use.

 

Apples have a lot of quirks, and that book does a fine job detailing those. I gave it a quick scan 'n read last night, just kind of hopping around the text looking for things I remembered. There were a few. Know what? I think Jordan Mechner was influenced by that book. In my work with the PoP code, I can see some parallels to how the author of this book got graphics done.

 

For me personally, the Atari graphics play land --similar to C64 and others in that custom chips would do cool things, was a big draw. My first custom display, or vertical movement on a P/M graphic were very exciting moments. What drew me to the Apple was the built in monitor and mini-assembler. I used both to run a couple of the shorter examples in this book. Atari machines were so easy by comparison, but one had to go and get tools. Mine were written in BASIC at first, then I bought MAC/65 and could assemble things proper. I camped out on the Atari for a long time after that, using skills I had learned on an Apple.

 

The other big draw on Apple was the schools generally had them well equipped, so a person could run some serious stuff! I got to do what we would call productivity computing then, and it was a real boost compared to the gaming and fun being had by everybody. "serious" computing launched a good career, and that's why an Apple sits on my desk right now. I've actually been prepping it to do a show on the history of CAD design (Apple computers were there), where a simple model, detail drawing, calculations and documentation get done. Today that's your favorite CAD and Microsoft Office. Then it was something like CAD Apple (genesis of Versa CAD) and say, Appleworks.

 

...and I love playing Ultima games on an Apple. It all just works there. Not sure why. Just does.

 

As for the politics of it all, share and share alike. It will all work out in the end.

[+Allan]

I found another Apple IIGS book. Programming the Apple IIGS in C and Assembly Language by Mark Andrews of Atari Roots fame. Does anybody have this in PDF? I can scan it if not.

 

Allan

[Keatah]

That's another one not put into PDF. Little doubt the "common sense" members of the community will appreciate it.

Edited March 5, 2013 by Keatah

[Arkhan]

But I do notice a lot of openness and sharing in the C64 community. I haven't looked yet at the Apple II community and was assuming the same, but the news here is not encouraging. I'll have to Ebay another IIe one of these days (one that works) and find out!

 

I can't even FIND an Apple II community. I want to fiddle with this crap I have but don't really know where to go for information.

[Keatah]

Just ask here!

[potatohead]

seconded

[dudeslife]

I found another Apple IIGS book. Programming the Apple IIGS in C and Assembly Language by Mark Andrews of Atari Roots fame. Does anybody have this in PDF? I can scan it if not.

 

Allan

 

that would be an awesome scan. I haven't found that one.

[Keatah]

Anyone ever see this? Loaded with Apple II specific examples.

 

[+Allan]

I found another Apple IIGS book. Programming the Apple IIGS in C and Assembly Language by Mark Andrews of Atari Roots fame. Does anybody have this in PDF? I can scan it if not.

 

Working on this today. It's going rather smoothly except for a couple of stubborn pages with glue on them. Had to split it up in scanner do to size. I'm not sure if it's going to be under 25meg though. It's a thick book. I may have to split it into two. I hope to have it done in a couple of hours.

 

Allan

[Osgeld]

I can't even FIND an Apple II community. I want to fiddle with this crap I have but don't really know where to go for information.

 

google fail

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.sys.apple2

[Keatah]

Ask us right here. Theres plenty of experts, all versed in different aspects of the 2 series machines.

[potatohead]

For those of us who have been around a while, comp.sys.x isn't a big deal, and we would think of it. Now, it's increasingly less accessible. Just a fact of life.

[Osgeld]

I fail to see how its less acessable as it part of google groups

 

vs here where I spent a month thinking I needed to subscribe to a paid service, then 2 days of not being allowed to post, google groups seems friendly

[potatohead]

Three reasons: (and they are observations, not my personal practices as I've been on a long time, since 91)

 

1. It's just not on the radar. Increasingly people see news service as an alternative to bit torrent.

 

2. Text only threaded discussion. Yes, many of us would consider that a feature, but many more and that number on the rise too, don't.

 

3. No significant investment. It is all in maintenance mode.

 

Yes, it's simple and easy to use the groups, which really are called USENET, and the impact of that is a lot of noise. I was there during the good times, hanging out on .sgi .classic.advocacy .atari .apple, etc.. and when the wave came, it washed away far too many people. Don't get me wrong. I still read, and I think I've made a post or two as well and comp.sys.apple2 is in fair shape actually.

 

Oh, and if you don't specify groups in your search, Google pretty much does not return them. A few quick searches for Apple 2 related info brings up various sites and forums. It does not bring up any Google Groups.

 

Here I get more options, and there are people here I like, etc... Al runs a solid, tight ship and that means content quality is high. I personally subscribed because I know how much work that really is, and because Al loves this stuff and runs the store and the whole works powers a lot of projects I find interesting and entertaining. Not required though. I like the Apple 2 and want to see more action on it, just like I do Atari, CoCo, etc... It makes sense to see whether or not there is enough interest here to form a community. Doing that is a net gain for Apple 2 overall.

 

It is highly likely we don't have a good end game on this discussion and that's OK. You asked, I answered. Cheers.

[Hatta]

If ISPs still ran USENET servers, csa2 would be great. USENET is preferable to web forums in almost all cases. Except when no one can get on USENET because their ISP doesn't run servers anymore.

 

I hate how web centric everything has become. We shouldn't need web forums, because we have a good distributed protocol for that already. We shouldn't need web chat, because we have IRC. We have people running entire office suites in their browser... we have operating systems for that!

 

But that's beside the point. The technology is irrelevant. Having a preexisting community to get started with is a big plus to having an apple forum here.

[Keatah]

I always view web forums in the same light as I did BBS'ing bitd. Instead of dialing a number, I type in http link. I think this is great until the next big thing comes along. If it does.

 

I view USENET as some sort overly technical antiquated throwback. But I never got into newsgroups anyways. Probably because my ISP doesn't make it available. And all other access options seem to charge extra. As for USENET being an alternative to BitTorrent. Perhaps. But the music police watch it too.

 

Much of the new web-centric computing activities are totally un-necessary and seemingly born out of a stylish or faddish necessity to "do it online". Be connected. Buzzwords. Nowhere more annoying this is than the removal of help files. Why have to establish a connection to read a help file?

 

Why run an office suite in a browser that has to be connected? Did all of a sudden the local copy break or the CPU become incapable of handling it? Why introduce unreliability and un-necessary complexity here?

[Arkhan]

google fail

 

https://groups.googl...comp.sys.apple2

 

I should have specified. I prefer forums. They're alot more consistent/effective/usable.

[magnusfalkirk]

I used USENET back in the day and enjoyed it. I much prefer using Google Groups, or other web centric methods, for comp.sys.apple2 and several other Apple 2 USENET groups vs using USENET any more.

 

Just my II cents worth.

[Keatah]

Usenet is one of the online "activities" that, while I never used it, is serious and serves a purpose. Not faddish or hip. And at the same time it is antiquated and full of crusty old farts.

[potatohead]

In the past USENET kicked a lot of ass. It was the reason to get online. Personally and professionally, I got a lot out of that option. Met great people, did great things, talked about a lot of stuff too.

 

Today, it's still useful, and I still read, but it's darn near invisible when compared to other communication options. Really, I don't mean any of that as bad or negative to anyone personally. Much of the attraction of networked computers is communication and collaboration. Those two things have moved on, and so have a lot of of people one could interact with. Rather than attempt to frame potential people into that arguably small and limited space today, it's better to network and build interest where it may lie. Good for everybody.

 

There are a lot of options here and elsewhere that are flat out easy, useful and attractive to many people. I see people using shared gmail account passwords and such to share data on mailing lists and USENET, etc... On one hand, that's kind of a nice, private, low noise way to do things, but on the other, it's in the backwater too where some passer by might not even know, or if they do, not take the steps to consume things, gain interest, etc... I value those things very highly, and there just isn't more to say other than not one word, or this request for comment itself should be taken as "that option over there is bad", because it's not intended, nor true! There are just different options, people and the potential to communicate and collaborate. That's it.

[Hatta]

What we really need is a next gen discussion platform that's better than both USENET and web forums. Something distributed, secure, and fault resistant. USENET leaves us at the mercy of our ISP to provide a server. Web forums leave us at the mercy of server admins and moderators.

 

I think something like Retroshare has the potential to be that. Maybe not Retroshare itself, but it's certianly pointing the way. It already has equivalents for live chat, email, forums, and even facebook like status feeds. Not to mention the main draw of file sharing. All of this takes place on a distributed, encrypted network based on the PGP web of trust model.

 

Now I'm not suggesting we all move to retroshare. I'm just hoping that something like it eventually becomes popular enough that web forums seem like the old fart way of doing things, like USENET does today. In another 20 years, who knows what the internet will look like?

[Ransom]

All anyone really needs is a listserv.

[MarkO]

Happy birthday!

 

Allan

 

Thank You very much..

 

This book is fantastic, and the Scan is %99.9 perfect.. If you ever get the time to get to %100, page 75 ( PDF Page 76 ) slipped a little too far in the Feeder and the Top Half of the Top Line is Clipped.. Looking forward to seeing your next scanned book...

[+Allan]

Thank You very much..

 

This book is fantastic, and the Scan is %99.9 perfect.. If you ever get the time to get to %100, page 75 ( PDF Page 76 ) slipped a little too far in the Feeder and the Top Half of the Top Line is Clipped.. Looking forward to seeing your next scanned book...

 

Thanks. I missed that. Will rescan it and post it. Luckily I haven't tossed them yet.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

Thanks to MarkO we have the companion disk.

 

Allan

APPLE_GRAPHICS_ARCADE_GAME_DESIGN(Stanton).dsk.zip