Library Programs

Aug 15 2011

Three E-Book readers compared

The three readers are Adobe Digital Editions from Adobe, Stanza from http://www.lexcycle.com/, and Skim from http://skim-app.sourceforge.net.

Each of the three have their strong points and weak points. Adobe is fairly powerful and fast, but lack many of the whiz bang features of other readers.They concentrate mostly on PDF documents (which is no surprise). Apart from formatting, there really isn’t much there which can’t be found in Preview (built into OS X). It has the look of a Windows program ported to the Mac. Adobe would be better off releasing this program to the Linux or BSD platforms unless they plan on adding more features to it.

Stanza was quite a surprise. They claim it is the “standard” reader on the various “pad” devices. I can see why. There are two versions available. Naturally the commercial version has more features enabled than the free version. Stanza supports more file formats than the other two. It also supports “multi-column reading”. I wasn’t convinced about this until I tried reading an unformatted document. On a computer it is slightly better to go through this type of document than it is to read it page by page. On a pad I can see where this would be a great advantage. Bookmarks in particular are a good idea for readers. There is also limited support for themes in the free version. This area has some bugs but the work around is to select the theme then quit the program and restart it. Unlike the other two it can not deal with graphics. It is a text only program.

Skim has a slightly different focus. It can be used not only as a reader, but also as a way to take notes. I haven’t done much experimentation with this program but I can see immediately where it would be very useful for students and those who need to make notes in their manuals. Both times I made notes in a PDF file they appeared off to the side of the document. One left an icon on the main page and the other had a square I could double-click to open the note. In addition to the users notes, there is also the bookmark feature I mentioned  earlier.

Each of these programs are currently available for free.

By BlankMike • Freeware, Library Programs, OS X, Review, Software • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Aug 1 1978

Current Library Programs

Library Pak 1B $ 5. 00
Library Pak 2 $ 5.00
Programmers Workshop II $ 6.00
Disk Workshop $ 6.00
Integer Basic Tutorial $ 15.00
Danny’s Text Editor $ 45.00
Apple Box {mini-modem} $ 18.50
Apple Box II (with speaker) $ 23.50
Applesoft Workshop {watch for notice}

Programs submitted to our library and accepted will receive a free library Pak.

By billm • Call-A.P.P.L.E. Production, Library Programs, Library Sales, Software • 0 • Tags: , , ,

May 1 1978

Meeting Minutes

18 April 1978

Meeting Time: 1905

Place: Omega Stereo in Bellevue

The meeting was held at Omega Stereo in Bellevue. Val Golding called the meeting to order at 7:05 and led the introductions to the 22. members present. Mike Thyng read the March minutes, which were then approved. Val reported he had contacted a Sottech representative concerning club use of their software.  They appear to be willing to work with us on royalties, and we voted to ask Val to further pursue the matter. Don Williams formally announced his assembler classes, with dates to be established later.

He also demonstrated his homebrew joystick. Val asked for volunteers to help produce the newsletter. There was no response. We adjourned at 8: 15 for program trading and discussion.

By billm • Classes, Library Programs, Meeting Minutes, Members Information, Programming, Software • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Apr 1 1978

Program Submission Guidelines

As we indicated last month, we need your software for our library, in order to make it available to others. You can help cut down on our processing time by observing the following guidelines. All programs should be completely self-prompting. This means all user instructions should be embedded within the program as “print” statements, so the user can run the program With0ut any additional information at all. Please state the language the program is written in, i. e., Integer BASIC, Applesoft or machine. For machine language, the beginning and ending addresses should be shown, along with any special instructions, such as set himem, etc. A brief description of the programs function would also be helpful.

The following information is required in the REMarks lines of the program: Name of program, author, date written and the A. P. P. L.E., logo and address. We anticipate having printed submission forms for your convenience in the near future. Thanks for your help.

By billm • Announcements, Apple ][, Library Programs, Members Information, Programmers, Programming, Software • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Mar 1 1978

Bytes From The Apple

 

Bytes from the Apple

 

Bob Huelsdonk and Val Golding. have been hard at work assembling new programs for the software library. See the complete listing below which includes many new programs. Programs from the A.P.P.L.E. library may be ordered as follows: For copies on cassette, send $1. 00, along with 35¢ in postage, a self addressed letter size envelope and the names of the programs desired, to Val.

For listings only, a self addressed, stamped envelope.  As soon as Val has a printer up and running you will receive your program dumps.

 

SOFTWARE CATALOGUE

——————————-

ALPHABET,  5K.  — A fancy new color demo from the folks at Apple Computer Company

ALPHA SORT, 1K*. — Bob’s program will sort your data into alphabetical apple pie order

ANNE APPLE, 5K. — You talk to Anne, and she talks back. FUN!

COLOR SKETCH SAVE, 2K. — Save your art!

HEXDEC I, 1K*. — Converts Hexidecimal to Decimal and vice-versa

HEXDEC II, 1K. — Same as HEXDEC I but limited to 32767

HURKLE, 2K. — Apple Computer Company game.  Find the invisible Hurkle on your monitor screen!

MULTIPLY, 1K — Teaches kids the multiplication tables

ROCKET PILOT — Land on the moon!

STAR WARS — Galactic target practice

STOPWATCH, 1K. — Realtime clock & timer.

VOT, 3K — Snappy one-way conversation with your Apple

* = Written in Applesoft

 

By billm • Bytes From The Apple, Columns, Library Programs, Software • 0 • Tags: , , , ,