Washington Apple Pi Journal, July 1986

new HFS of the Macintosh Plus. This is an minor revision
and as suc!) both the "Copy II hard disk" and "MacTools"
sections lliL.nm yet support HFS-disks. Only the Copy II
Mac portion of the program supports HFS at this time. Since
the program is designed to work with 128 K Macintoshes, it
docs not contain the latest version of the system or finder.
There is a procedure on the disk to modify the program to
boot on MacPlus and Mac computers with 800K drives. The
next major revision should be available by the time this
newsletter appears. The list of copyable programs usually
supplied in writing is now a MacWrite file on the disk,
allowing it to be viewed on the screen or printed out.
Using Excel with the MacP/us
For those of you who have a Macintosh Plus and make
extensive use of Excel.. I have improved its speed and
performance by using Copy II Mac to place the program,
system folder, and all files on the same 800K disk. To
accomplish this I did the following: I first initialized a blank
disk as an 800K disk. I then used the "Copy II Hard Disk"
option to copy Excel to the 800K disk and then quit Copy II
Mac. Finally, I transferred the system folder and my Excel
files to the disk by dragging them to the 800K disk. I was
surprised how fast 15 tax forms, with all the files on the same
disk, were loaded into RAM. With the normal "Copy II
Mac" copy option, you cannot maintain the 800K on the
receiving disk because the original Excel is on a 400K disk.
Even if you have initialized the "receiving" disk as 800K, it
will be a 400K disk when you arc finished if you use the
normal "Cqpy II Mac" copy option.
MacP/lIs Cable Adapters
If you are unsuccessful at finding cable adapters for the
MacPlus modem and printer ports at local computer stores,
you might consider the ad in MacWorld Magazine (May,
1986, p 183). N2 Products, Inc., of San Jose, CA (408) 435­
0227, sells MacPlus adapters which permit the MacPlus
printer and modem ports to interface with the standard Macintosh
DB-9 connector. The price is $19.95 plus 52.40 shipping
for two adapters. Again, Jay Heller (Adaptation Electronics)
makes similar cables and can be reached at (301) 948-7440.
GEnie
Being an avid user of Red Ryder Macintosh telecommunication
shareware (YES, I sent Scott Watson my $40), I
recently took advantage of an offer to join General Elcctrics
Network for Information Exchange (GEnic) to which Scott
Watson recently switched his support line for the Red Ryder
program. Membership, normally S18, was free for registered
users of Red Ryder. This was somewhat mis\c'lding since a
users manual, normally part of the S18 fee, cost 59.95. Thus
the real savings was S8.00. Scott is now putting his Red
Ryder upgrades, documentation, accessory programs, and
utilities on GEnic. I have found GEnic not to be as user
friendly as other local BBS's, but that conclusion is based on
limited exposure. I did download successfully several Red
Ryder files with no problem. The non-prime time hours for
GEnie are S5.00/ hour for either 300 or 1200 baud. There arc
phone numbers for Rockville (300, 300/1200, 2400 baud),
Salisbury (300/1200), Baltimore (300/1200, 2400), and
Hagerstown (300/1200). The Hagerstown and all 2400 baud
numbers have a S2.00/hr surcharge. Non-prime time is 6:00
PM to 9:00 AM weekdays, weekends, and holidays. I hope
someone writes a more lengthy review of their experiences
with GEnie. By the way, at the time this article was written,
Scott Watson was up to version 9.2 of Red Ryder. He should
join forces with Central Point Software. Both are running
neck and neck to see who can bring new revisions of their
software fastest. The major difference is that Red Ryder
revisions are free and Central Point charges S18 per revision.
Interesting Fact - According to Scott Watson, new
FCC regulations specify that automatic rcdialing device may
not be allowed to progress past 15 consecutive tries.
Multiplan Version 1.1
The following new fcatures have been added to Multiplan
version 1.1, which was recently released: (1) improved
printing options such as ASCII printing, (2) addition of seven
financial functions (i.e., IRR, MIRR, PV, FV, PMT, NPER,
AND RATE), (3) variable fonts and fonts sizes available in
the system rile, (4) a second active window so that formulas
can be displayed in one window and values in the other. Each
window can be split into four panes and scrolled independently,
(5) use of ASCII text files, (6) simplified worksheet
linking by building a formula that refers to another worksheet,
(7) a "Go To" command, (8) new command keys for commonly
used commands, and (9) context-sensitive help
messages. All of these features and many more are found in
Excel.
Macintosh Mail Order Software
Two of the major mail-order houses for Macintosh
software and peripherals are MacConnection, 14 Mill Street,
Marlow, NH (800) 622-5472, and Northeastern Software, 88
Ryders Lane, Stratford, CN (800) 874-1108. They apparently
are as different as night and day when it comes to providing
prompt, accurate, and dependable service. From the WAP
meetings and from my phone conversations with other
members comes the general opinion that Northeastern
Software docs not fit tile bill. They apparently do not provide
an invoice and you have no idea of the exact cost until your
credit card bill comes. There are often long delays in receiving
software and the company cashes checks or charges credit cards
immediately, even though the ordered item may be out of
stock. The only time I ordered from Northeastern, I was
shipped an Apple lIe version of the program instead of a
"Macintosh version. Needless to say, I have not ordered from
them again. I have not heard these complaints about Mac­
Connection. I personally have had nothing but good experiences
with MacConnection, and that seems to be the general
consensus. You may have trouble getting through on their
800 number, but I have had good luck at 9:00 AM and around
5:00 PM. They also accept orders from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Saturdays.
Awle Computer To Qoen D,C. Oroce
Apple Computer, Inc., has announced plans to open a
Washington, D.C. office to handle its government marketing
division. The office is expected to open this summer and will
eventually house 50 to 100 employees who will serve the
military, civilian government agencies, and prime government
contractors (from the Government Computer News by
Jake Kirchner). ®
Washington Apple Pi July 1986 53