Subject: Re: IIgs questions
From: [email-masked] (Mitchell Spector)
Date: 18 Sep 1997 02:44 -0500
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2

In article itsme <[email-masked]> writes...

>#1  I want to be able to double click on text, sound, graphics files, and
>they automatically load, and show me the text, graphics, play the sound.

    Hermes (or Shadowrite) NDA will automatically open and display text
and TeachText files that are double-clicked. For graphics files, not too
mention animation files, you can try Jupitar Systems' FinderView or Brutal
Deluxe's PicViewer. For music files, at least synthLAB and Soundsmith,
you can try MegaBox (there are some others which work with raw digitized
sounds and rSounds as well, but I don't recall which).

    You might want to try "Eye" and "Ear", those two extensions do most
of the above, although my own personal preference is to use the program
extensions listed above. All these are shareware/freeware you can find
and download from the Caltech and Ground FTP sites.

>#2  I want to find a source of desk accessories, and other programs to
>make IIGS system Look better, do more (All I have is the system files, and
>no user written programs)

    Have a look in ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/addons (Ground is
also a good place to look, you may even find more variety there). Below
is a listing of my personal favorites, currently installed on my GS:

Classic Desk Accessories:

- Calendar    (displays full month, can go backwards and foward)
- DOCVu       (nice graphical display of what your Ensoniq is doing)
- GameHacker  (cheat on popular games)
- SHRCapture  (image screen capture)
- SuperZip    (graphical control panel for ZipGS accelerator, by FTA)

New Desk Accessories:

- Calculator  (just that, from Apple)
- Chronos II  (puts clock in menu bar, also lots of other goodies)
- DeskPlay    (CD player-like interface for ShellPlay, by Ninjaforce)
- FindFile    (searches for files on volumes, from Apple)
- GScii+      (decodes/encodes several UUencode formats)
- Hermes      (small, yet powerful word-processor)
- MegaBox     (plays synthLAB and Sounsmith songs)
- MUG!        (reads/writes/formats/etc MS-DOS diskettes and more)
- PMPFax      (send and receives FAXes)
- Quickie     (mini NDA version of hand-scanner program)
- SwatterDisk (create RAMDisks on the fly, of any size)

Control Panels (CDevs):

- Marinetti   (GS/TCP, although only supports SLIP at the moment)
- Pointless   (use TrueType fonts)
- Twilight II (screen blanker/saver, with very attractive animations)

System INIT Extensions:

- BorderBlinker (silences speaker "beep" when Ensoniq is active)
- EasyMount     (create icon aliases, from Apple)
- FinderView    (lets you view almost all graphic formats from Finder)
- Kangaroo      (similar to "Start" menu in Win95, plus many disk utils)
- TransProg III (also similar to "Start" menu, a program launcher, etc)
- Shampoo.INIT
- SailorTeam.INIT  (some new anime desktop backgrounds I just added ;)

    Of those above, the must have would include: DeskPlay, Hermes, MUG!,
SwatterDisk, Pointless, FinderView and especially (and I do stress that)
Kangaroo and TransProg III. Kangaroo is packed with several utilities, 
and it makes itself available whenever a file dialog box pops-up.

>#3  I got A2qwk, and I run it on my IIgs.  When I try to install it, it
>tells me that "SYSTEM PATCH FAILED", and the computer freezes.  What is
>wrong?

    I've never used 2qwk before, but have you tried shift-booting or
running directly from ProDOS 8? (I think it's an 8-bit application).
Hmm, another thought, aren't you supposed to patch ProDOS so it has 
less filename restrictions for 2qwk to work, using a patcher program
included with it? Or am I thinking of another program? 

>#4  Can I add sounds to IIgs system?

    Sure, just make sure the 'Sound' Control Panel is installed, then drop
rSounds into your /System/Sounds folder. The program rSounder will convert
raw digitized sounds and WAV files into rSounds if you wish to have more
than what is just available for download from FTP sites. Open the 'Sound'
Control Panel and then just assign a specific event to a sound. Be warned
though, adding sounds eats memory and boot-up time.

>#5  I would like a program that will play MIDI files, or other sound files
>why the Desktop is shown, or maybe the whole time the computer is running.

    Well first you must convert the MIDI sequence into a format like
MIDIsynth (what is used by synthLAB). Programs like MIDISurgeon 2.0
or MIDIConvert will do that, and allow you to assign different patches
to different tracks (that is essential as the GS does not have any bank
patch sets that are GM/GS compatible or even close to it).

    Once in MIDIsynth format, then you can double-click and listen to
that MIDI file. I assume you want something like Media Player that is
standard in Windows 95, but there is nothing like that on the GS (you
have to convert the files first). I usually just launch synthLAB and
have Cakewalk on the PC side "talk" (or should I say sing? ;) to it
through a MIDI interface. It's much faster and more flexible that way.

Mitchell Spector
[email-masked]