Re: a Forth disk and Captain Crunch

["Keith" <chen.evans@gmail.com>]

Michael J. Mahon wrote:
> Charlie Springer wrote:
> > On Sun, 4 Jun 2006 01:20:04 -0700, Michael J. Mahon wrote
> > (in article <-8mdnb6cNPQqCh_ZnZ2dnUVZ_uudnZ2d@comcast.com>):
> >
> >
> >>bieling@terra.es wrote:
> >>
> >>>In 1979 I went to the NCC in NYC.
> >>>There in a booth a man was showing a language called Forth that had
> >>>some
> >>>very nice features, among them, that you could define your own
> >>>commands,
> >>>and that it made good use of stacks, with commands like push, pop, dup,
> >>>swap, etc, something that I liked very much mainly because I was used
> >>>to
> >>>it because of my hp65 programmable calculator.
> >>>
> >>>When I told him that I liked it and I wanted to buy, he took an empty
> >>>floppy, copied the "Forth System" on it (both sides), peeled off 2
> >>>stickers, and wrote by hand on the sticker:
> >>>
> >>>"A Forth System, Apple II 24k, Ver 1.6 Copyright 1979 By John T. Draper
> >>>of CAP'N SOFTWARE"
> >>>
> >>>He even gave me a signed business card.
> >>>
> >>>I didn't know until today that...
> >>>John T. Draper is "Captain Crunch"...!
> >>
> >>He wrote EasyWriter in his Forth.
> >>
> >>-michael
> >
> >
> > Are you sure it isn't a copy of MVP-Forth?   He bought our Forth and the god
> > Captain would pirate anything anywhere anytime.
>
> Interesting, Charlie--I didn't know that, but I guess it makes sense!
> ;-)
>
> In the context of the OP's post, I presumed it was his own...

If you search for information on EasyWriter you can find some
discussion of Draper discussing developing it in his own forth on the
Apple, and later porting to the original IBM PC. I think that if
MVP-Forth were used, that something would have been written about it at
the time since there was a lot of press.

>
> > He used to call me in Palo
> > Alto from Hawaii at 3:00 AM with questions, and other times use operator
> > interrupts if I was on the phone with someone else, since he new every phone
> > trick there is. You probably know he is famous for shaping a Cap'n Crunch
> > serial box two tone toy whistle to produce the dual tone that disabled long
> > distance billing. Thus his nickname.
>
> Actually, it only took a single tone--2600Hz--to mimic the tandem
> switch "idle" signal and thus gain DTMF control of the "end" switch.
> Anyone with a whistle from a Cap'n Crunch box could play--if they
> knew what they were doing.  ;-)
>
> > I have a batch of MVP-Forth disks for Apple II in a zip-lock somewhere and
> > copies of the user manual. Also MVP-Forth PADS (Professional Application
> > Development System) and Meta-Compiler for Apple //.
>
> Now *that* would be interesting!
>
> I always found Forth very clever and capable, but felt that it's case
> was hurt both by the difficulty an "unfamiliar" has reading it and by
> the preachy passion of the "familiars" who argued for its use.
>
> -michael
>
> Parallel computing for 8-bit Apple II's!
> Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
>
> "The wastebasket is our most important design
> tool--and it is seriously underused."