Re: Cauzin Soft Strip Reader

[sebugg@presby.edu (Stephen Buggie)]

In article <3l0ot5$gd0@crl6.crl.com>,
Raymond D. McAnally <raymac@crl.com> wrote:
>Chuck Plater (cplater@pass.wayne.edu) wrote:
>: I just recieved a Cauzin Softstrip Reader, but the interface kit is for
>: an Apple IIe, and all I have is a //gs and a //c.  Did they ever make an
>: interface cable for the GS?  If not would anyone have one for the //c.
>: What are the chances that they made GS/OS software?
>
>Wow! Talk about a blast from the past. No, I've never seen an interface 
>for anything but a ][+ or //e. There was no software develpoed for the GS 
>that I know of. Most of the programs were just short files that you would 
>print out on the Imagewriter and then send off in the mail. It could then 
>be read and loaded onto another machine. Any program could be saved, it 
>just depended on howmuch paper you wanted to print out. Disk mailers an 
>high speed modems killed that one. Not a bad way to back up some files 
>for long term storage though.
>-- 
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>     MAC				        	raymac@crl.com
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I HAD A CAUZIN SOFTSTRIP READER;  I kept it about two years (c1992-94)
and was very impressed with the clever tecnology.   Some of the Apple II 
magazines in the mid-late 80s had softstrip programs printed in the ads.
You just laid the SoftStrip reader over the ad, turned it on, and in 1-2 
minutes it read the program from the printed page onto a IIe disk.  The
software handled it automatically; I think it had a "thermometer" to 
show the progress of the read-in.    Amazingly, 90% of the read-in
programs worked when booted; the few that did not just needed a second
try.

The reader was an optical scanner;p a motor pushed the sensor head up
the length of the 12" device.  The scanner had to mini-plugs that went to
the two "cassette ports" on the IIe; power was from a DC adapter.

I still have a copy of the IIe software disk if the original poster
wants it; contact me by e-mail.    Seems that the IIgs ought to 
be able to handle it while in 8-bit simulation mode; have not noticed
however whether the IIgs has the two "cassette ports" like the IIe
has got.

I sold the Cauzin reader because I could not find more printed softstrips
after in-loading all the printed programs from the magazines I own.

But I felt that this would be an ideal way to distribute the software
that accompanies the printed articles in out magazines.   The NIBBLE
type-in programs were too lengthy for me to type in; had they adopted
CAUZIN SOFTSRIP, maybe their magazine would have had more subscribers
for a longer interval.
Stephen                       sebugg@preby.edu


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 ** S. Buggie  sebugg@presby.edu  IIe/IIc  Ph: (803) 833-8337, 833-1632 **
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