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Some Great New Books......................Bob Sander-Cederlof

"Beneath Apple ProDOS", by Don Worth and Pieter Lechner.  Quality Software, 1984, 276 pages plus 10 page reference card, $19.95.  (By it from us for $18 plus shipping.)

We have been waiting a long time for this one, by the authors of "Beneath Apple DOS".  If you read that one, you'll want this one too.  And if you use or plan to use ProDOS, you will almost REQUIRE this new book.

Apple has documented ProDOS pretty thoroughly, but just TRY to get a copy of their books.  Hardly any Apple dealers stock the reference manuals now.  Apple requires a minimum order to buy the manuals, and they are a relatively slow moving item.  Hence, dealers don't order them.  Some we have talked with lately refused to admit they knew of the existence of even the Apple //e Reference Manual (over 18 months old now)!  And Apple so far will not sell the books to anyone who is not an authorized Apple dealer.  Catch-22, right?

But even if you have Apple's ProDOS reference manuals, as I do, you still need "Beneath Apple ProDOS".  Look at the table of contents, and see if you can resist.

The most heavily thumbed pages in my copy of "Beneath Apple DOS" are the ones which give detailed comments on the entire DOS assembly language image.  Unfortunately, the equivalent section does not come bound in to "Beneath Apple ProDOS".  Since Apple has decided to freeze DOS, a published commentary is possible.  But ProDOS is deliberately kept warm and fluid.  So far there are at least four versions around; all have the same characteristics and machine language interface, but subroutines have been shuffled and rewritten.  A line-by-line commentary could become obsolete every six months.

A special coupon is bound into the book at the place where you would expect the commentary.  If you want the commentary, you remove the coupon page, fill in your name, address, and ProDOS version number, and send it with $12.50 to Quality Software.  With the commentary you will receive a new coupon so your can order a subsequent supplement when ProDOS changes versions.


"Assembly Cookbook for the Apple II/IIe", Don Lancaster.  Howard Sams & Co., 1984, 408 pages, $21.95.  (Buy it from us for $20 plus shipping.)

Don is sold on the synergistic combination of a full-screen 80-column word processor for handling source code with an assembler.  His favorite pairing is Applewriter //e with EDASM (from DOS ToolKit).  Consequently a large section of the book is devoted to how the marriage is performed, what the advan- tages are, and how to work around or ignore the disadvantages.  Don knows Applewriter inside out, and uses it for all his word processing as well as for programming.  There are some distinct advantages to using the same editor for both:  writing books about assembly language programming is easier; only one set of commands, tricks, and quirks need be learned.  Applewriter //e's WPL language helps overcome the disadvantages of using a screen-oriented processor on line-oriented information.

The second half of the book contains sample assembly language programs, explained in detail.  These are not your run-of-the- mill examples, but great subroutines and programs you can actually use, as well as learn from.


"Microcomputer Design and Troubleshooting", by Eugene M. Zumchak.  Howard Sams & Co., 1982, 350 pages, $17.95.  (Buy it from us for $17 plus shipping.)

From time to time I am called upon to understand and work with electronics.  My degree is in Electronic Engineering, but I got it in the vacuum tube era (over 20 years ago).  What now fits on one chip used to fill a whole ship....  Anyway, I struggle through.  But I have found a book recently that has really helped: it is not really a new book, but is new to me.

Gene Zumchak has a unique approach, which is PRACTICAL.  He believes in designs which are easy to troubleshoot.  He tells how adding a few low cost components here and there will avoid the expense of a logic analyzer and three weeks of debugging time.  For example, using an EPROM emulator and a few LED's in critical places in a microprocessor design could save endless hours of burning and erasing EPROMs, attaching logic analyzer leads and watching oscilloscope traces, and pulling all your hair out.  Although every chapter has helpful ideas in the areas of trouble prevention and diagnosis, chapter 6 is devoted entirely to the subject.  Another feature Gene promotes is low power consumption.

Jack Lewis is president of Micromation, a company which makes hardware for use with the Hero-1 Robot.  They have designed interfaces between Apple and Hero, speech input processors, and much more.  When Jack began, he contracted with Gene Zumchak to teach his people the techniques which are now in this book.  Jack is the one who recommended the book to me.

And now I recommend the book to you, if you like to dabble in hardware design.  Even practicing designers will find the ideas well worth the price of reading the book.


I also recommend "The Computer Journal", a monthly newsletter/ magazine published by Art Carlson.  $24/year (U.S.) gets you regular articles such as "Build a 68008 CPU Board for the S-100 Bus", "Electronic Dial Indicator", "Writing Your Own Threaded Language", and "Interfacing Tips and Troubles".  Write to Art at P. O. Box 1697, Kalispell, MT 59903.
