Re: Help! Apple II emulation on LC

[dpeschel@u.washington.edu (Derek Peschel)]

In article <lark-1603972240200001@s08r.globaldialog.com>,

>I'm playing Apple Panic in emulation on an LC using STM 0.851r, and I know
>NOTHING! That is, I can't control my little space man, dig holes, etc. How
>do I get him to move? Do I need a joystick, and if so, will my Gravis do
>the trick?

>As you probably suspect, I never used an Apple II in my life, so I know
>nothing of its operating system, commands, procedures, etc. That's THE
>problem I'm sure, but if there's some simple, brief advice you could send
>me I'd be...

There's a very comprehensive set of FAQ's (which the maintainer,
Nathan Mates, will probably point you to).  This solves your
second problem.

Your first problem is an STM problem.  On a real Apple II, the computer
would immediately recognize the joystick, but you have to tell STM how
to do that.  The "Paddles" menu is what you want.  It lets you either:

	- use the keypad keys 8, 4, 6, 2 as paddles (= a joystick)
	  and use Command and Option as the buttons,

	- use the X and Y location of your mose as two paddles
	  and Command and Option (or the mouse button and Option)
	  as the buttons.  If your Gravis joystick moves the pointer,
	  this will work nicely.

There may also be a way to get Apple Panic to recognize the keyboard.
Then you could use the regular typewriter keys.

And now for the technical lecture! :)

What do I mean by "paddles"?  A paddle is a little box with a wheel
which you turn (like the volume control knob on a stereo) and a button.
You could buy them in sets of two, which was useful for playing Pong
with two players.  A joystick combines the two paddles:  the horizontal
diretion acted like one, and the vertical direction acted like the
other.  Most joysticks came with two buttons.

I'm explaining all this so you'll know _why_ the "Paddles" menu on STM
is the one you want.  There is no way for an Apple to distinguish
between one joystick or two (acutal) paddles.

Hooking up two joysticks (or four paddles) was also possible but
required a little adaptor box because most joystick connectors filled
the little socket in the Apple.  The same adaptor (the Joyport, by
Sirius -- the same company that wrote a bunch of games, I think) also
let you hook up joysticks from your Atari 2600 (or Commodore?) which
use four switches (for the four compass directions) and won't otherwise
work with the Apple.

-- Derek