Re: Best option for writing (book) on Apple II

["Warren 'Llama' Ernst" <wernst@gmail.com>]

At Last! I can meaningfully contribute to an Apple II Conversation!

As a professional writer myself, and one who occasionally writes my
submissions either on a //e or GS for nostalgic reasons, I might be
able to offer some insight.

First is WordPerfect. I'm about 90% certain that WordPerfect for the
Apple II saves files in WPS format, which is the same format that
WordPerfect 4.0 or 5.0 (or maybe 5.1) for DOS uses. Obviously you
should check things before writing 20,000 words in it, but there's a
bigger problem:

The WPS file is going to be saved on an Apple II formatted diskette,
meaning you're going to have to transfer it to a PC (or mac, I guess -
I don't thing WordPerfect for Mac was very big at any time) via some
method. A serial cable is probably what you'll be using, but if if
you're using high density 3.5" disks and CiderPress, you might as well
use AppleWorks, since CiderPress does a great job of converting
formatted AppleWorks word processing files into formatted RTF files
that anything can read.

I also seem to recall that WordPefect GS is a product that's more
similar to the PC-DOS version of WordPerfect than the 8-bit version
you'll need to use on a //c. I suspect there's not enough features on
the 8-bit version of WordPerfect to make you happy. Perhaps you can
report back after trying it!

The AppleWorks word processor is a good little word-slinger, even on
a //c, BUT there are problems of its own:

1. You need a copy of AppleWorks 3 or better, and it isn't freeware.
I'm not saying it isn't downloadable from various sources, or that if
you were to ask for a copy on this forum that people wouldn't
"secretly" email you disk images while advising you not to ask for non-
free software publicly, but it unless its status has changed, it isn't
free.

2. You'll really need a second floppy drive. AppleWorks works
surprisingly well on a 1-drive system, but you'll be constantly
prompted to swap disks, which breaks down the stream-of-consciousness
thing.

3. With a 128KB 8-bit Apple II, you'll be limited to, hmmm, 54KB (?)
filesizes. That's probably 30 pages of text right there, so you'll
need to divide your work into chapters.

4. All the Beagle Bros (natch) TimeOut software enhancements for
AppleWorks 3 are now free and downloadable, which add handy writers'
tools like a thesaurus (the best one I've ever used on a PC, still to
this day), a word counter, and if you're into such things, an
outliner. The 3.5" disk version of TimeOut Quickspell has a spelling
dictionary that's many times larger than the 5.25" disk version that
comes with AW3. It will reduce the free memory of the AppleWorks
desktop to about 42KB or 36KB (I forget).

5. It's fair to say that almost all of us on this forum have used
AppleWorks, and could help you with all sorts of things. I doubt many
of us could give you a lot of help on WordPerfect.

And on your choice of Apple II's: I have two //e's (the first one I
ever used, and the one I bought for college), so don't get me wrong
when I say this, but in 2009 it is a lot easier for a beginner to the
Apple II world to use a IIgs instead, even if you only ever use it as
an 8-bit machine. Why? Well, they all come with at least 256KB of RAM,
and most have a 1-MB memory card giving you 1.25MB, which is handy for
running AppleWorks and Timeout together. They almost all come with
3.5" double-density drives included from their previous owners, but
even if they don't, they have the controllers built-in to use the
cheap and plentiful Apple 3.5" disk drive AND a pair of 5.25" drives.
They also use relatively cheap and plentiful ADB keyboards (some of
which are REALLY GREAT keyboards - I'm using one now on my PC with an
ADB-to-USB adapter) and mice.

You can do all this on a //e, but you've got to locate what is now
rare and pricey hardware. A 1-MB card for the GS runs about $5. A 1-MB
ramworks or ramfactor card for a //e runs close to $75 when you can
find them, and the memory card for a //c goes for close to $200 these
days, and I haven't seen one for a while on EBay. The LIRON card to
use the more expensive and rare UniDisk 3.5 Drive the Apple //e needs
is about $80 when seen, and the drives themselves are similarly
priced. And the GS came out in 86, just two years later than the //c,
so its not exactly like it's a decade newer.

Food for thought. Good luck!

-Warr

On Mar 22, 4:23 am, zwsdot...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Mar 22, 1:05 am, Eric Rucker <bhtoo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > I just dl'd WP, which is now freeware (yay) and I'll experiment with
> > > that in an emulator.
>
> > I was under the belief that WP used the same file formats as the
> > respective DOS versions...
>
> I was hoping that would be the case, but alas the downloadable version
> of WP is a .shk and I'm not sure what to do with the files that are
> inside it - I'm guessing I should have uncompressed them inside the
> Apple II environment.