Technical information
January 1991
convenienl
way
to
archive
of
len-used
disks
on
nelwork volumes
(Dia-
mond's
manual
cautions lhat
the
use
of copyrighted
programs
On
a
network must
be
approved
by
the
software
manufacturer),
and
pro-
vides
a
usable
environment for
ProDOS
users
requiring larger disk
vol-
umes.
A2"Central 6.95
al
hundred
programs
that
they
have
tested
for compatibility.
There
are
two
severe
limitations for serious
Apple
II
users.
first
there's
no
provision for altaching
an
Apple-compatible 3.5
(8001l)
disk
drive.
This
is
probably not
as
severe
a limitation for
schools,
where
the
use
of 3.5 drives
on
Apple
II
systems
may
be
rare
due
10
the
cost
of
Ihe
drives
,
and
since
most
software
is
supplied
and
used
on
5.25
disks.
But
for
Apple
II
users
running disk-inlensive
software,
the
16011
storage
limit of normal
Apple
5.25
disks
is
too
r
es
trictive.
Moving
such
files
to
a
ProDOS
"partition"
on
the
hard
disk
solves
the
storage
limilation, but
Ihen
large
files
have
to
be
broken
up
10
fit
on
a
5.25
and
moved
to another
Apple.
We've
found 3.5
disks
to
be
esse
n-
tial
for practical, transportable
data
storage.
The
Trackstar has been available for several years: it will
come
into closer
focus
now
as
Apple
tries
to
push
its "
dual
processor"
plat-
form
,
the
Mac
lC
with lie emulation
card,
into
the
Apple
II
education·
al
market.
The
Mac
lC/ll
e
does
allow
attaching a
3.5
driv
e,
and
it
does
provide for expansion memol)' for
programs
like
AppleWorks
.•
We
can
assume
that its firmware will
be
a faithful rendition of
Appl
e's
proprietary
Apple
II
monitor
and
BASIC.
We
won
't
know
where
it's lim·
itations
versus
the
Trackslar
exist 'until
Apple
actually
starts
shipping
this combination,
so
we'll
reselVe
further judgement until
we
have
lhe
setup
in
hand.
However,
we
feel
the
Trackstar
alternative
represents
several
fac·
tors
schools
should
consider.
It
has
been
in
production for
some
time,
versus
Apple's
LC
/lle.
The
Trackstar
works
in
MS·DOS
machines
.
which
represent
nearly
all
of
the
non·Apple
II
CPUs
installed
in
1\-12
currenlly.
At
$445 (retail)
the
Trackstar
costs
over
twice
as
much
as
Apple's
card
(announced
at
$199). but
the
host
computer
can
be
sig-
nificantly
less
expensive.
Second,
th
ere
is
no
provision for
expanded
RAM
above
the
12811
lie
model.
This
allows
running
the
most
popular "serious"
Apple
II
program,
AppleWorks
, with
only
a limited desktop
and
few
enhan
ce
·
ments.
Most
importantly, it limits
the
use
of
the
TimeOut
applications.
The
only other minor glitches encountered
were
the
failure of
the
serial
port
to
work with 2400
baud
modems
without
lOSing
characters
(the
port
appears
to
be
intended primarily for
use
with
a printer,
and
doesnlsupport interrupts),
and
the inability
to
boot a
few
vel)"
heavily
protected
programs
(the
two
I
had
trouble with
were
Microlab's
Life·
Saver
and
Sirius
Software's
arcade
game
Bandits;
both products
have
been
defunct for quite
som
e time
).
Diamond
does
have
a list of
sever·
The
last factor
may
be
the
most
damning:
the
problem with
Apple
's
solution
is
that,
in
typically Ap
ple
fashion,
the
user's
choice
of
hard-
ware
is
limited.
If
you
want
a
Mac
to
run
Apple
II
software
,
you
have
a
grand
choice
of
One
machine;
the
Mac
lC.
With
the
Trackstar
,
you
c
an
select
a platform
ranging
from
basic
PC
clones
to a full-feature 80486
behemoth.
And
if
you
change
PC
(o
r
PC
clone)
models,
it's likely
the
Trackstar
can
move
with you.--DJD
Ask
(ortell)
Uncle
DOS
Disk
interleave
info
I
have
what
must
seem
like a
couple
of
dumb questions, but I can't
seem
to
get
any
answers
locally. I
have
a
IIgs
with
all
Ihe
usual
peripherals.
Question
#
I:
Is
there
any
utilily (or
method)
of determining
the
interleave of a
previously formatted
3.5"
disk?
Question
#2:
On
a disk
to
disk
copy
(the
finder or
ProSeI·I6),
if
the
original disk
has
a
4:
I interleave
and
the
destinalion
has
a
2:
I
interleave
(before
the
copying
starts)
what
is
the
interleave of
the
destination disk after
the
copy
is complete
d?
Th
e
basis
for
these
questions
is
that I
pre·
viously
had
an
Apple
3.5 disk
and
daisy
chained
a
UniDisk
3.5
to
it. I formatted
stor-
age
disks
at
a
4:
I interleave
because
of
the
UniDisk.
In
storing data, the disks droned
on
and
on,
especially
storing
files
from
Apple·
Works
3.0. I finally acquired a
second
Apple
3.5 disk
to
replace
the
UniDisk,
formatted
blank disks with
the
2:
I interleave, copied
the
4:
I
storage
disks
to
these
new
disks
expecting
a considerable
speed·up
in
disk
activity.
The
results
were
most
unspectacular.
As
nearly
as
I
co
uld tell
there
was
not
the
slightest improvement
in
disk
access
and
storage
times.
What
am
I doing
wrong?
Barney
Woodruff
Camp
Springs,
Md.
The
Free
Tools
Association's
(FTA)
copy
program
PlJotonix n will detect
the
existing
interleave
of
a
disk.
PlJotonix H is
pub-
lished
by
Toolbox,
6
Rue
l1enri
IJarbusse
,
95100
Argenteui!
,
France.
If
you
format
the
target
disk
at a 2: I inter-
leave
and
use
a normal
disk
copy
utility
to
copy
the
contents
of
the
4:
I original without
reformatting
the
target
disk,
the
interleave
of
the
target will re
main
at
2:
J.
110st
copy
utilities will
work
this
way.
l10st
IIgs
copy
programs
(and
I'roSe1's
ProDOS
8
/lgs
disk
copy
utility) allow
you
to
specify
the
Inter-
leave
of
the
target
disk
for formatting.
Changing
the
inlerleave
mayor
may
not
help
file
access
times
dep
e
nding
on
what
program
you
use
to
m
eas
ure
the
change.
Some
programs
such
as
AppleWorks
pro·
cess
information
as
they
read
. or
write
a file,
and
Ihe
proceSSing
time
causes
delays
Ihat
an
optimum inle
rleave
will
have
10
lake into
account.
Since
you
can't optimize the
inter-
leave
for
everything
, Apple's
suggested
inlerleaves
are
based
on
what
they
co
nsider
10
be
Ihe
besl
compromise.-DJD
Not
as
testy
Do
you
know
of a
program
or a
way
to
stop
the
laserWriter
NT
from
printing a
test
page
evel)'
time
it's
started
up?
John
A.
Mclean
Courtenay,
B.C.
PostScript
guru
Don
Lancasler
lists
the
needed
incanlalions in
his
La5erWriter
Secrets book
(from
Synergetlcs
,
Box
809,
Thatcher,
Ariz.
85552, 602428·407J
).
The
PoslScript
code
to
disable
the
tesl
page
is:
serY!rdid
te¢n 0 exitsener statusdict
tegin
false
setdostartpage
end
quit
%
true
restores
it
The
PostScript
cod
e to
enable
the
test
page
I
s:
serverdict
begin
n
eritseIW!
shtusdict
begin
true
oet<I>!urtpage
end
quit
%
fll"
kill.
it
Oetting
this
code
10
the
LaserWriter
is
a
bit
of
a
problem.
Don,
of
course
,
suggests
using
a direct
connection
where
you
use
the
Apple
as
a terminal
to
type
(o
r
download
)
Postscript instructions directly
to
the
Laser·
Writer
using
a
serial
connection.
This
of
c
ourse
assumes
you
can
take
control
of
the
LaserWriter,
which
is
not convenient
in
a
network situation.
Both
t
he
/Ie
and
th
e
IIgs
download
a text
me
named
IWCI1
when
you
select
to
use
Ihe
LaserWriter
as
your
AppleTalk
printer
and
elect to
download
the
"
Image
Writer
emula-
tor'.
By
replacing
this
Iwcn
file
with
your
code,
you
can
have
the
re
spective
'chooser'"
function
(the
IJ.bit
Chooser
of
the
Apple
lie,
or
the
Control
Panel
LaserWrit
er
CDCV
of
the
IIgs
)
download
your
code
IhinKing
il
is
the
emulator
program.
Since
you
probably
want
to
use
the
emulalor,
too,
we
'd
recommend
you
rename
the
original
Iwcn
file,
create
the
new
Iwcn
file
in
the
same
folder (or
rename
an
existing
file conlaining
Ihe
instruc
tions
as
IWEn
),
selecl
the
LaserWriter
and
download
Ihe
bogus
Iwcn
file,
then
reverse
Ihe
proecedure
to
reslore
the
previ-
ous
IWEN
file.
We
lried
it
and
the
LaserWriter
retains
the
slalus for printing
the
startup
page
when
cycled
off
and
on,
so
Ihe
selling
must
be
retained
in
SOme
type
of
nonvo!aUJe
memo-
1)'.
We
let our
LaserWriler
print
th
e tesl
page
since
it
gives
a
running
count
of
Ihe
number
of
pages
prinled,
and
a
sample
of
Ihe
cur-
renl print quality.
As
a further
caveat
,
Dan's