Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!dali.cs.montana.edu!caen!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintaka!ogicse!orstcs!jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU!parkern From: parkern@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU (Neil Parker) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: Programming HELP PLEASE!!! Message-ID: <1991May18.115742.19385@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU> Date: 18 May 91 11:57:42 GMT References: <00948C2E.77DC7D20@Eagle.oscs.montana.edu> Sender: @lynx.CS.ORST.EDU Reply-To: parkern@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU (Neil Parker) Organization: The Universal Society for the Prevention of Reality Lines: 59 Nntp-Posting-Host: jacobs.cs.orst.edu In article <00948C2E.77DC7D20@Eagle.oscs.montana.edu> ieeug330@Eagle.oscs.montana.edu (Mark Wistey) writes: >In article , SHBOUM@MACALSTR.EDU writes: >> I'm going to start doing some serious programming for the GS this >Yeah! Always glad to hear that. > >>some suggestions my way about how to do real text under GS/OS. Not the slow >>graphical text, but the good old fasioned text that has been with us all >You can do text with TextTools, toolset $0C. Actually, text is nearly as >easy under GS/OS as under regular ProDOS - it's just against Apple's >"guidelines". (i.e. there's no way to easily set up a menu bar, and mouse >movements can't automatically become text cursor movements.) If you really >do need fast text, you'll have to use the old familiar routines into bank 0 >instead of using TextTools, which means they have to be "shadowed" from >$FFF800 to $00F800; there's a bit somewhere to do this, but I can't remember >right offhand. The ROM/IO shadowing bit is bit 6 at $C035. Turning it on disables shadowing. I believe it's usually off by default (i.e. ROM/IO shadowing is on--if it weren't, programs which attempt to call _FWEntry or use the I/O area in bank 0 would die horribly). Apple currently recommends against using the Text Tool Set, since it isn't completely compatible with "slot arbiter" scheme. Instead, they recommend using GSOS to do I/O to the .CONSOLE device. The .CONSOLE driver supports a number of powerful formatting commands. If it's raw, unimpeded SPEED you're after, direct access to the video buffers is probably the way to go--that way, you won't have to deal with the overhead of a toolbox or GSOS call. In any case, you'll have to write your own text-based mouse handling routines and menu-bar routines. There is no text-based Menu Manager. > As for books, get what you can if it's really technical. You can >probably get a discount for Apple II books from most bookstores. I >originally got the "Apple IIgs Technical Reference" by Michael Fischer and >published by Osborne-McGraw Hill; it's not perfect, but acceptable. Read Fishcer for his explanations of how toolbox programming works, but don't count on his technical information--it's out-of-date and incomplete. If you want the Whole Truth, get the Toolbox References (which, alas, are lousy tutorials). > I hope one of the real "gurus" gets in touch about using AppleTalk, >since I'm clueless there--if you don't get the answers you need, write back >and I'll track down what I can, and (maybe) buy the third volume of the >Toolbox references, since it deals with AppleTalk, I think. I've got Toolbox Ref. 3, and there's nothing in it about AppleTalk. I think you have to buy a separate manual for that. - Neil Parker (Opinions are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of anybody else anywhere.) -- Neil Parker No cute ASCII art...no cute quote...no cute parkern@jacobs.cs.orst.edu disclaimer...no deposit, no return... parker@corona.uoregon.edu (This space intentionally left blank: )