Re: Apple II software poll

[Gareth Jones <gareth@vcn.bc.ca>]

Jack Spencer JR. <eeville@dreamscape.com> wrote:

(snip desire to find the best A2 software titles)

> GAMES: ARCADE/ACTION

The only way that I can do this is to list the ones that have given me the
most pleasure.

Arkanoid (GS), Arkanoid II (GS), QIX (GS) (What can I say? I _love_ those
Taito titles! They are beautiful and addictive, and remind me of dates at 
the university arcade). LemminGS (GS) is gorgeous and whimsical and
almost free.

I don't much like shooting things, so I didn't put down Wolfenstein 3D
(GS). Sorry. But I'm sure that others will. 

> GAMES: ADVENTURE/ROLE PLAYING

I'm not keen on the category. Sorry.

> GAMES: STRATEGY

The Ancient Art of War is the best investment in entertainment software
that I've ever made. Sargon III is excellent chess for the II. ChessMaster
2100 (GS) is also good, and quite handsome.

> GAMES: EDUCATIONAL(most educational software was geared toward children and
> was in the form of games.  There may be non-game educational software, but
> that can go here)

HyperStudio 3.1. Louis Cornelio will be happy to tell you why :-)

> HOME/BUSINESS APPLICATIONS: WORD PROCESSORS

AppleWorks 5.1, Hermes (GS), Publish It! 4, GraphicWriter III 2.x (GS).

The first on my list is my favourite tool for serious word processing,
even on my Mac! Hermes is the tool of choice for viewing files and lighter
documents. GraphicWriter III is superb DTP. Publish It offers just about
as much as GWIII, but works on a IIe or //c.

> HOME/BUSINESS APPLICATIONS:SPREADSHEETS

AppleWorks 5.1, Quick Click Calc (GS)

> HOME/BUSINESS APPLICATIONS:DATA BASE

AppleWorks 5.1, HyperCard IIgs (GS), dbMaster Professional (apparently.
Haven't used it).

> SYSTEM UTILITIES: OPERATING SYSTEMS

Salvation Supreme (GS) and Copy II Plus 9.1 are the ones I like.
File-A-Trix is wonderfully handy. ProSel 8 and 16 are spoken of warmly,
but I haven't used those yet.

> SYSTEM UTILITIES: PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

HyperCard IIgs (GS), Applesoft with Program Writer, GSoft BASIC, and the
following are spoken well of: Merlin (8 and 16-bit versions), Orca/M, Orca
Pascal, Orca C.

> SYSTEM UTILITIES: COMMUNICATION

Spectrum 2.2 (GS), Marinetti 2.0 (GS), SIS (GS), and I've heard good
things of ProTerm and ANSIterm (GS).

> SYSTEM UTILITIES: SOFTWARE MANAGMENT

You mean launchers? TransProg III (GS)! For the IIe, I always loved
Squirt and Sneeze. (Those are two programs, not one). From time to time
I've used the program JumpStart (GS) as a program launcher -- unlike
Salvation Wings, Jumpstart will work with HFS and Appleshare volumes.
Remind me to tell you how this saved me when my GS hard drive conked out
at one time.

> SYSTEM UTILITIES: GRAPHICS MANIPULATION

SuperConvert (GS), Convert3200 (GS), Platinum Paint (GS), Animasia 3D
(GS), Quick Click Morph (GS), Dazzle Draw


> OTHER

Bernie ][ the Rescue. On my iMac, this program gives new life to my II
software. Ten times the speed of an unaccellerated GS is even fast enough
for Medley to run acceptably! (My touchstone of slow GS programs is Medley
2.0).

-Gareth