Msg: 5500 *Conference*
10-22-94 18:27:03
From: RICHARD HANSON
To : BILL EVANS
Subj: REPLY TO MSG #5498 (LIBRARY USE)
Hi Bill. I caught your message to Robert Benson, our x-co-sysop. Robert's doing other things right now. Frankly, I have not seen him online for several months and don't really expect him back for a long time ... if ever. So, let me focus on your concerns. --- > First, I'm currently working from a shareware listing that I made from the LAPDOS II distribution disk. Since the files there are more or less randomly ordered, I find it a little dificult to determine which directory (category) to search to find a specific filename. There must be some easier way than cut-and-try when the cataloger's intentions are obscure. For example, I have yet to locate MVCDOC.DO, the documentation for the MVCWM3.BA spreadsheet program. Since you are coming online with your PC, I highly recommend that you go into the (4)Library menu, select (C)ategory listings, and download the file called CLUB100.EXE. Run this file from a subdirectory on your hard disk, or from a 720K or better floppy. It is a self-deARCing file containing all 12 listings as they are here online. And they are searchable. You will find a program called GO.EXE and LIST.COM in with the ARChive when it's deARCed. Enter GO and hit <enter>. You will be placed into what appears to be the same construct as the library here, online. When you make a category selection, that list will be pipped into LIST.COM, automatically. At that point, you can search for character strings, i.e., F for find, MVC <enter> I must respond to you comment about "obscure intentions" with some history. Back during the initial phases of developing our library, programs came in to us from all over the place. We actually attempted to categorize at the point but ran into resistance. A few geeks on CompuServe accused us of making money from the distribution of author-specific programs. Yeah right, like spending 60 minutes (an hour) making a tape copy or programs and selling it for $8.95 was proporus. But of course, no one complained about MS-DOS, Apple, or other disk-based libraries offered by other clubs. Anyway, we quickly decided to simply add programs randomly to a collections (an issue) until it was full (100K = a tpdd formatted disk) then start a new one. At least the Compu-get-a-life-geek-servites could not raise the author-specific issue. By the late 80's no one cared and the geek-u-dorks were gone. We took the disk-based, issue-based library, categorized it (over 1000 programs) and formed the online library new available. Then, over the next year, Robert Benson refined the online version of the programs to what you have today. Then, over the following time, added or refined a program here, and a program there. It was a ton of work but this was Robert's hobby. He enjoyed doing it and did a great job. We still offer the issue-based library and sell issues every month to folks all over the world. But why don't they just log onto the Club 100 BBS, get library access and download the updated stuff? Two reasons: 1) Only a very small fraction of our gang is online, and 2) It's cheaper and easier for long-distance folks (New York, Canada, Texas, Ohio, Europe, Japan, etc.) to get the programming by mail order. --- > Second, the practice of downloading all BASIC files in ASCII even though they are labeled with a .BA extension is giving me some trouble. My Model 100 expects .BA files to be tokenized and objects if they're not. The M-100 won't let me rename files with a different extension. When I rename the files to .DO (while they're still in my IBM PC) then transfer them to the M-100 using LAPDOS, the first few lines somehow get fouled up and need editing before BASIC will accept them. Is there a cleaner way of handling this problem? You are a Lapdos II user. This is great! All you need is the "trick" to renaming the .BA files. Here's an example: Let's say you just downloaded LIFE.BA and LIFE.DO to your DOS computer. Now, you and I know that both the .BA and .DO files are ASCII. And, you know that the Model 100 will choak and die when you LAPDOS a .BA-named ASCII file into your Model 100 and try to run it. Even from the beginning, when you transfer the file from the DOS computer to your Model 100 with LAPDOS, the trouble starts cause .DO and .BA files are stored differently. You also know that you can't rename LIFE.BA as LIFE.DO on your DOS computer, cause you already have a LIFE.DO--unless you rename LIFE.DO as LIFE.DOC or something like that. Anyway... here's the solution... and it's so simple. 1) Keep both LIFE.BA and LIFE.DO on your DOS computer as is, even though the .BA should really be .DO. 2) Use Lapdos to copy the LIFE.BA to your Model 100 but ... STOP!!! When you place your bar-cursor over LIFE.BA to copy it to your Model 100, the screen says... Copy 'C:LIFE.BA' to P:LIFE.BA_ (the _ indicates the cursor). Simply backspace out the BA, key in DO and hit <enter>. Your Model 100 now shows LIFE.DO as it should. 3) Leave your DOS computer in the LAPDOS screen and <shift><break> your Model 100 to leave the LAPDOS.BA emulator program. 4) Go into BASIC, enter LOAD"LIFE and hit <enter>. When the WAIT light stops blinking, enter SAVE"LIFE and hit <enter>. Now exit BASIC <f8> to see both LIFE.DO and LIFE.BA in your menu. Both are the program code: the .DO is the ASCII version and the .BA is the tokenized version. 5) On your Model 100, run the LAPDOS.BA program to once again return to the emulation mode. 6) On your DOS compuer ... still in LAPDOS ... move your bar cursor to the right hand side of the screen (the Mdoel 100 side), hit L for <L>og and <enter>. You will now see both the LIFE.DO and LIFE.BA files. 7) <E>rase the LIFE.DO and <C>opy the LIFE.BA to the DOS computer, overwriting the existing LIFE.BA file, thus replacing the ASCII code version with the tokenized code version. --- This was an example ... the "trick" for DOS computer users. Please download this message, study it and refine its use. Bill ... I appreciate your library access participation. The money you spent keeps this computer online, physically. Your interest in Model T computing and your good will by spreading the word, encouraging others to participate in Club 100 keeps me online, physically. At your service... -Rick-