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From: bfox@WHEATIES.AI.MIT.EDU (Brian Fox)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: AMACS
Message-ID: <8901262011.AA01800@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu>
Date: 26 Jan 89 20:11:22 GMT
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Reply-To: bfox@wheaties.ai.mit.edu
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    From: Murph Sewall <SEWALL%UCONNVM.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
    Cc: Brian Fox <bfox@wheaties.ai.mit.edu>

    Ah, Vince AMACS isn't public domain or shareware; besides its rather a
    large package for network distribution AND you really need the docs in
    hard copy.  You'll have to buy AMACS if you want it.

Hello.

In light of the volume of requests for information that I have received from
many readers of this news-group/mailing-list, I have decided to clarify the
current state of the AMACS text editor.

AMACS is an editor written entirely in 6502 assembler.  The main source code
resides in about 80 files, averaging 17k in length.  There are an additional
30-40 files of source code.  The source for the manual is in Texinfo format, a
dialect of TeX, and is probably only of interest to mainframe users who
wouldn't mind printing out a 140 page manual for themselves.

I wrote this editor in the spring of 1984, for DOS 3.3.  I made a ProDOS
version in the winter of that year, and subsequently hacked it when it seemed
necessary for the next couple of years.  I have made no substantial changes to
the program within the last year.

The editor runs on the Apple //e, //c, and //gs computers; in short, it runs
on anything that looks like an apple with an extended 128k card.

It is, in my opinion, the most complete implementation of Emacs that currently
exists on any Apple computer, including Micro-Emacs.

However, it has two major drawbacks:

    1) It only uses the alternate ram bank for data space, so the maximum
       amount of buffer space is 48k.  This could be gotten around in a number
       of ways, but I don't have the time nor inclination to hack them in.

    2) It was designed to run under ProDOS 8, not ProDOS 16, so in order to
       execute it from a shell such as APW, first ProDOS 8 is launched, and
       then AMACS can start up.  This can be time consuming, and in fact is
       the only complaint that I have had about AMACS in the past year.

Since I am not actively hacking the code, I have decided to release the source
for other people to look at (it is exceptionally easy to read), and perhaps
some of those people will make the minor modifications to the program to fix
the above complaints.

If you ask me for AMACS, I will send you 2 3 1/2" disks with the source code
on them, 1 disk with the standard distributable objects on them (either
double-sided 5 1/4, or 3 1/2), and the 140 page hardcopy manual.

For this, I ask $79.00.  Why do I ask for money at all?  There is a the
physical cost: for me to make the manuals and disks, and to maintain the
equipment for doing so requires personal case.  There is the original cost of
making the program; I went into debt on my rent for 3 months to write the
first version.  And there is the incentive factor to me to cause me to
continue to distribute the program.

At any rate, I will not prevent people from copying and passing the program
among themselves, but there is a distinction from getting the program from the
author, and from getting the program from Fred, who got it from Bob, who got
it from Harry, who ...

My primary concern is that unwittingly, someone could manifest a bug in the
code, or distribute changed versions of AMACS under my name.  I do not wish
this to happen.  So, while I do not wish to prevent the free copying of the
materials, I am refusing responsibilty for the correctness of the program
unless it is directly received from me.

Brian Fox