February 1981 — Vol 3 No 2

Overview

Steve Wozniak's plane crash reported. Bernard Urban phones the Woz at El Camino Hospital — Woz remembers nothing from two days prior to the crash; both he and fiancée Candy suffered head lacerations + Woz had a concussion. Candy released; Woz still in observation. "He said that he plans to fly again." Pi now over 530 members (membership #500 was David Moses in January, who collected his 10 free disks). Nominations season opens — slate ready by April, election May, new officers June. Club phone moves to Dana Schwartz's home (out of service Feb 28–March 2; Bob Peck retires from phone-coordinator role). University of Maryland Computer Science Center starts an Apple reference library in Room 2337. PascalSIG officially rebrands to PIG. EDSIG holds a special March 14 meeting at UMD. Headlining content: Walton Francis's long word-processor comparison ("The Search for the Almost-Perfect Low-Cost Apple Word Processor"), Charles C. Philipp's think-piece "The Microcomputer as an Innovation: Notes on Education," Dr. Wo's "Taking a Fling at a Filer" Pascal article, plus Howie Mitchell's Right-Justified Script Writer.

Table of contents

Articles

Editorial (page 3) — Bernard Urban

Wozniak plane crash. "The bad, Steve Wozniak — the Woz — co-inventor of the APPLE, crashed his private plane about three weeks ago." Urban phoned El Camino Hospital in Mountain View; Woz recalled nothing of the events 2 days prior to or including the crash. Both he and fiancée Candy had severe head lacerations; Woz had a concussion. Candy released. "He was overwhelmed by the concern and well wishes expressed by all the 'APPLE people'. He said that he plans to fly again."

Pi over 530 members (counting from 450 last month). Officer nominations now open — call John Moon or leave SYSOP message on ABBS.

Minutes & Notices (page 4)

• Club phone moves to Dana Schwartz's home; Bob Peck retiring from the role
• UMD Computer Science Center Apple reference library in Room 2337, M–Th 9–9, F 9–6:30, Sat 1–5; coin-op copier
• WAP #500 awarded to David Moses — 10 free library disks
• Final dues notice — last newsletter if not renewed
• Masthead now lists John Moon as Immediate Past President, Bill Bowie as Disk Pick-Up Librarian, PascalSIG renamed PIG

SIG News (page 4)

• SIGAMES: continues joystick project; parts lists this month; James Hall reviews Reversal (Hayden Book Company)
• PIG: Jan led by Burt Chambers on library units (what they are, how to use); Feb led by Paul A. Sand; club now has almost two disks of Pascal source including Bill Wurzel's P-code disassembler — coming to the library
• EDSIG special March 14 meeting at UMD Education Bldg Room 0220, 9:30 AM — Mary Jo Messenger (high-school math teacher using Apples in class) demos graphics tablet, mark-sense card reader, Silentype printer; Dr. Henry Heikkinen demos Apple as remote terminal to MicroNet and BBSes; Chuck and Nancy Philipp share a stats program for multiple-choice tests
• NEWSIG: Boris Lavine (now spelled Levint) on Basic; intro-to-WAP for never-attended members during regular meeting

"Questions, Questions, Questions" (page 5) — Mark L. Crosby

Four substantive Q&A entries: 1. Applesoft CHR$ in Integer BASIC — POKE a 5-byte ML routine at locations 1–5 (LDA $00 / JMP $FDED / RTS); use POKE 0, ASC(A$(I,I)) : CALL 1 to print 2. Anadex DP-9501 ribbon re-inking — Sanford roll-on causes head lockup; matrix inks contain lubricants and minimal solids. Recommended contacts: A.M. Office Supplies (Cleveland) and Uarco (DeKalb IL) 3. Best 6502 ML books: De Jong's Programming & Interfacing the 6502 with Experiments ($13.95); Rodnay Zaks's Programming the 6502, 6502 Applications, 6502 Games (Sybex, $12.95 each); Roger Wagner's "Assembly Lines" series in Softalk starting Oct 1980 4. Apple screen partitioning — Text Window pointers (Top, Bottom, Left, Width — note width not "right"); listing demonstrating random windows

"Passing Argument Values to ML Subroutines in Applesoft" (page 5) — C.K. Mesztenyi

Continuation of his BASIC↔ML interface coverage from January.

"The Search for the Almost-Perfect, Low-Cost Apple Word Processor" (pages 6–9) — Walton Francis

Cover-highlight. Major Pi-member word-processor comparison — the kind of long-form member review that established the journal's reputation. Builds on the January 1980 panel discussion.

"The Microcomputer as an Innovation: Notes on Education" (page 10) — Charles C. Philipp

Cover-highlight. EDSIG chair's think-piece on microcomputers as an educational innovation — likely drawing on educational-innovation theory frameworks of the era.

Other technical content

• Microcomputer Information for Educators — Robert E. Chesley (likely Bob Chesley)
• Epson MX-80 Horizontal Tab Problem — Mike Kramer: bug in MX-80 firmware
• Problem with Your Game Paddles? — Jay H. Feinstein: paddle troubleshooting
• Pseudo Data Statements for Integer Basic — Jim Kelly: workaround for Integer BASIC's lack of DATA statements
• The Mysterious Modem — Howard Lefkowitz: a modem primer
• Uppercase with the Shift Key — Dr. Who?: standard Apple-II shift-key mod
• Flavors: Little Tidbits — Burton S. Chambers III (monthly column)

"Blaise Away: Taking a Fling at a Filer (or Reinventing a Big Wheel)" (pages 18–35) — Dr. Wo (Tom Woteki)

Cover-highlight. 18-page deep-dive on filer programs in Pascal. Dr. Wo builds a Pascal filer from scratch — a fundamental piece of infrastructure most Pascal users use Apple's stock Filer for. Substantial source listings.

"Right-Justified Script Writer" (page 36) — Howie Mitchell

A right-justification utility — likely for the newsletter's own production workflow.

IAC News Bulletin January 1981 (page 40+)

Second issue of Urban's monthly IAC News Bulletin, reprinted in Pi.

Club news / events / announcements

• Pi over 530 members
• Officer nominations season opens
• Club phone in transition
• Mike Cornblith (Apple Computer Inc.) speaking at NOVAPPLE April 11 at Burke Lake Library — all WAP and NOVAPPLE members invited
• EDSIG special meeting March 14 at UMD
• February Pi meeting: Feb 28
• March Pi meeting: March 28 (also 4th Saturday)

Notable advertisements

• Computerland Tysons Corner (page 2 — minimalist logo design)

Key quotes

• "The bad, Steve Wozniak — the Woz — co-inventor of the APPLE, crashed his private plane about three weeks ago." — Bernard Urban (page 3)
• "He was overwhelmed by the concern and well wishes expressed by all the 'APPLE people'. He said that he plans to fly again." — Bernard Urban on Woz (page 3)
• "It becomes increasingly important for you to choose your officers carefully. It requires a major commitment on their part to keep the club viable and useful to you." — Bernard Urban (page 3)

Entities

People: Bernard Urban, Steve Wozniak, Genevie Urban, Rich Wasserstrom, Robert Peck, Dana Schwartz, Mark L. Crosby, Sandy Greenfarb, Hersch Pilloff, John Moon, David Morganstein, Bill Bowie, Howard Lefkowitz, Tom Jones, Jim Rose, Charles C. Philipp, Al Weiner, Tom Woteki, Al Gass, David Moses, Walton Francis, C.K. Mesztenyi, Robert E. Chesley, Mike Kramer, Jay H. Feinstein, Jim Kelly, Burton S. Chambers III, Howie Mitchell, Boris Lavine, Steve Sondag, Mary Jo Messenger, Henry Heikkinen, Bill Wurzel, Paul A. Sand, James Hall, Mike Cornblith, Fred Schulz Topics: Wozniak Plane Crash, Pi Officer Nominations 1981, Word Processor Comparison, Microcomputer as Educational Innovation, Apple Screen Partitioning, Pascal Filer, Pseudo Data Statements References: Anadex DP-9501, Reversal Game, Hayden Book Company, Programming & Interfacing the 6502, Programming the 6502 Zaks, Softalk Assembly Lines, Roger Wagner, UMD Apple Library

Connections to other issues

• Pi member count: 142 (Feb 1980) → 200 (Apr 1980) → 350 (Oct 1980) → 450 (Jan 1981) → 530 (here)
• Walt Francis WP comparison follows his December 1980 VisiCalc comments (1980-12 — V02 N12)
• Word-processor coverage builds on the January 1980 panel (1980-01 — V02 N01)
• IAC News Bulletin (started 1981-01 — V03 N01) now monthly

Open questions

• Did Woz fly again? (He did — track when he returned to the air.)
• Wozniak's marriage to Candy — did it proceed? (Public record: they divorced relatively quickly.)
• Apple's response to the MX-80 horizontal tab bug?