KansasFest 96 Report, Part III (final)

[geoff@seeker.the-hermes.net (Geoff Weiss)]

(I made one mistake in my Part II: the date at the top should have said
Thursday, not Wednesday)

Day 2: Friday, July 19th
---------------------------

Once again, I decided to get some sleep so I skipped breakfast and most of the
first session.  The first session was a presentation from Apple Computers.
Since there is nothing new the Apple II world from Apple Computers,
I figured it had to be all Mac-related.  I caught the tale end of the
discussion and it was just Mac OS 8.0 hype.  There was a free CD to demo
what new capabilities are in Mac OS 8.0.  Since the Mac I use at work
doesn't have a CD-ROM drive, I suddenly wondered why I even grabbed a
copy.  I ended up looking at the demo on Chris Budewig's Powerbook 5300.
Mac OS 8.0 has some nice features, but it won't run on 68k machines.

I went to Dr. Stephen Buggie's Disk II and diagnostic session for the
second morning session.  I was a bit disappointed with it.  Dr. Buggie
knew how to operate the software he had, but didn't seem to quite understand
what the software was actually doing.  It seems I knew more about how to
diagnose problems with Apple IIs in many cases (and I don't use any special 
software for my diagnoses).  He, of course, has the advantage of knowing how
to _fix_ some of the hardware problems (like disk drive alignment).  

Lunch wasn't too special.  I skipped the next set of sessions. I know
how to program Hypercard GS and do desktop publishing.  Soldering
would have been the only interest, but it was part III of a set of
sessions.  I probably would have missed alot since I didn't go to the
first three.

The second set of afternoon session had Tony Diaz design a portable GS.
He began the sessions by showing the result of one that he made a while ago.
He then proceeded to explain how someone could make a portable GS with
a Mac Portable case.  I found this very intriguing--the entire session
was spur-of-the-moment.  About a total of five minutes of the session was
us watching him drill out the Mac Portable case to remove all of the
existing struts and support structures.  The only part of the portable
design that was left to the imagination was how to handle a LCD screen.
Currently, there is no company that is producing a 640 x 200 screen
that works with an analog CGA-compatible RGB signal.  This session now
gives me motivation to start modifying my GS.  I want to put a disk
drive inside my GS, similar to the ROM 04 unit.  Fortunately, I have
an Innerdrive so I have a basic support structure for adding a floppy
drive.  Unfortunately, the the actual hard drive in my Innerdrive
is like 1.5 to 2 inches high so there is no space to stick a floppy
3.5" drive.  Now I am debating if I should tear apart my new APS
SCSI drive and assemble it inside my GS.  Maybe I should wait for
the 1 year warranty to expire...  I now know that I properly will need
a dremel to have the floppy insert in the front of my case.  It
should be cool having a Woz GS with an internal floppy drive :)
This session helped me being Apple II motivated again.  Hey, why buy a
Mac when you can have a an internal drive in the GS?

Dinner that night included a Joe Kohn Roast.  The evening included
a number of appropriate Dr. Tom vs. Joe Kohn comments.  I was 
surprised that Joe was given such nice treatment for a roast.  It
seemed like a Joe Kohn "praise" more than a "roast."  Diz kept the
evening spirited with humor (and sometimes a lack thereof).

I bought Faxanation from Ego Systems.  I was going to test the software
out with another IIgs user, but I ended skipping out on the test.  What
was more important than playing with Faxanation?  Read on...

That night, one of the beta testers of GS/TCP showed up.  He had never
gotten the TCP beta software to work and I was interested in seeing how
it works.  First of all, his copy of GNO 2.0.6b was really unstable.
Since I have set up a UNIX system before, I had a clue what was needed
to get TCP/IP running on his machine.  I went ahead and set it up to call
my work for a slip connection.  Without going into details, I couldn't
get it to work.  If that was the current version of the software, it
sucks big time.  I couldn't get a slip connection to establish at all.
The scriptable dialer did nothing but crash.  To be honest, I was
totally disappointed in the software.  IMO, GS/TCP isn't the choice
to get the IIgs on the 'net.  But, I have to remember that this "beta"
and doesn't necessarily represent what the actual released product
will be.  All of my high hopes of GS/TCP went down the drain.  Hmm,
maybe getting a Mac (it comes with TCP/IP) or a Windows 95 machine
is my only choice.  Either a Pentium or Power PC will be fast
with Netscape.  There is no way a graphical web browser on a GS could
even compare.  _Rumor_ is that GS Web wasn't too impressive for those
who have seen it.

I think I went to bed at 5:30.  Once agian, a horrible disapointment
with my look at the Apple II.

Day 3: Saturday, July 20th
---------------------------

Since I was going to bed later and later, I deciced to sleep in some more.
I skiped breakfast and the vendor's fair.  I was up, showered, and dressed
in time for lunch.

After lunch was the product introductions.  GUS was the first to be shown.
There was alot of "ooohs" and "aaaahs."  I still wasn't too impressed.
I have no need to run out to buy a power Mac just to use GUS.  Since
I invested in a Second Sight card, I am hoping I can get some use out
of that (well, besides being able to connect a 19" monitor to a GS :).

Other product announcements were an update to ProTerm Mac and new products
from Shareware Solutions II.  I was very surprised to see that Joe and
Diz took the initiave to start selling CD-ROM collections of past
publications.  I would have thought it been a big flop, but subsequent
reports have said that sales were doing well.  Maybe investing in a
CD-ROM isn't such a bad idea.  Heck, a 8x drive is only $299.  I can
still remember when a single speed drive dropped to the low price of $699.
Eight years can really make a difference.

Random side thought:
It was eight years ago when I first saw a CD-ROM connected to a GS.  It
was System 3.1 and the computer was booted from the floppy since 1.25
megs wasn't enough memory to mount both a hard drive and a CD-ROM drive.
I couldn't believe Apple designed their SCSI driver that way.

A bunch of us headed off to "Jess and Jims" for a steak dinner.  Auri
"Rama-lama-ding-dong" was screwing around with the TV set in the bar
(we can't take that guy anywhere...).  The bar also had a train that
circled around the room.  The portions of food were enormous.  I was
sitting at the same table as Richard Bennett and Ewen Wannop.  It was
pretty funny hearing Richard try to mimick someone from Kansas.  He
definitely sounded like someone from Australia mimicking someone from
Kansas.  At the end of the meal when we were pooling all the money
together, most of us got up at the same time to figure how much we
owed.  I heard Richard and Ewen commenting on how Americans like to
rush things.  I found this an interesting trait that other nationalities
see Americans.  For me, that is an in-grained habbit that I don't
think will change ever.

Well, that evening, my impression of KansasFest changed 180 degrees.
I'm under non-disclosure agreements to explain all of my reasons.

I met a whole lot of people who actually appreciated me.  This came
to me as a total shock.  I can now wholeheartedly recommend that
KansasFest was a great decision on my part to attend.  There is something
that pretty much something anyone might like.  The "average" IIgs user
will learn alot and be dazzeled at the new release of products.  There
doesn't seem to be a whole lot for the "savvy" IIgs user.  There also isn't
a whole lot for the "Programmer" or "Developer" either unless you are
demoing something you did.

I left for home on Sunday.  Cindy "Worry Wart" Adams wanted me to make sure
I drove home safely.  That was a nice touch--thanks Cindy.  Even though
noon was checkout time, I didn't finish getting  my car packed until 
12:15.  I wasn't even the last one out.  My roommate was slower than me
to pack up his belongings.

I know I was harping on the doom and gloom of things.   In actuality, that
is probably how every IIgs developer feels.  I use UNIX, WFW 3.11, Windows 95,
and Mac OS at work--I guess sticking with 10+ year old technology at
home isn't too bad.  I've made some great acquaintenances those few
days and I am definitely going back next year.  If everything I hear
works out, there should be alot of interesting surprises--it is one
thing reading about it on the net, it is another actually experiencing
yourself.

A good time was had by all.

Geoff
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