June 1981 — Vol 3 No 6

Overview

David Morganstein elected 4th President of Washington Apple Pi. New officer slate seated June 1: Mark L. Crosby VP, Dana Schwartz Treasurer (moving from Secretary), Jesse Wagstaff Secretary; MALs John Moon, Nancy Philipp, Rich Wasserstrom; Bob Peck (former Treasurer) becomes Membership Chair; Dick Elkins new Group Purchases coord; Sarah LaVilla joins Bill Bowie on disk pickup.

The headline moment: Steve Wozniak attended the May 30 Pi meeting (~350 attendees) and gave a short talk on Apple's philosophy — "his belief that information should be freely exchanged between Apple and its users, and that this was an important factor in the success of the APPLE II." Then took questions from the floor. Three months after his plane crash, Woz traveled to DC to address Pi in person. Major content includes Morganstein's first President's Corner; Jay Thal's "The $10 Joystick"; Duncan Langford's "Apple II Europlus" perspective from England; Bruce F. Field's Text File Manipulator using AppleWriter; and William Schultheis's review of Beneath Apple DOS (the famous reference book).

Table of contents

Articles

Editorial (page 3) — Bernard Urban (still Editor)

"Yippee! It's vacation time!" Reminds members to send articles in despite summer. Rich Wasserstrom, Steve Hadley, Dana Schwartz filling in for the Urbans during vacation. "We've been getting quite diverse materials lately (and lots more ads). I like it that way."

Minutes of General Meeting 5/30/81 (page 3) — Dana Schwartz (final as Secretary)

~350 attendees. Business: election results + introduction of new officers. Main presentation: Steve Wozniak in person. Talk on Apple Inc.'s philosophy:

"He mentioned his belief that information should be freely exchanged between Apple and its users, and that this was an important factor in the success of the APPLE II."

Q&A from the floor covering a variety of topics. A landmark Pi meeting — Woz's first visit to the club, three months after his plane crash.

Masthead — New Officer Slate (page 3)

"A New SIG for Kids" (page 4) — David Stern

Yet another SIG forms — Stern (an early library disk reviewer, son of David and Roz Stern) starts a kids' SIG. Distinct from the Greenapples — apparently more formal.

"President's Corner" (page 5) — David Morganstein

First President's Corner column from new President. Morganstein takes over with the Librarian's mindset — likely emphasis on infrastructure, documentation, and library quality.

"The $10 Joystick" (page 6) — Jay Thal

A cover-highlight DIY: build a joystick for $10. Companion to the SIGAMES joystick project that's been running since spring.

"Apple II Europlus or Thoughts of Member 436" (page 10) — Duncan Langford

Cover-highlight area. Pi's Canterbury, England member (introduced January 1981 with the pen-pal notice) writes from his side of the Atlantic. The Apple II Europlus is the European-market variant (50 Hz timing, PAL video). Likely covers what's different for European Apple users.

"Beneath Apple DOS: A Review" (page 12) — William Schultheis

Review of the legendary Beneath Apple DOS book by Don Worth and Pieter Lechner — the definitive disassembly and documentation of Apple DOS. Massively important reference for the era.

"Text File Manipulator Using AppleWriter" (page 14) — Bruce F. Field

Cover-highlight. Using AppleWriter as a programmable text manipulator — likely demonstrates AppleWriter's macro/glossary features for text-processing tasks.

"Fortune's Analysis of the Personal Computer Industry" (page 15) — Walton Francis

Member analysis/critique of Fortune magazine's PC industry coverage.

"Free Sectors Boot Program" (page 16) — Bruce F. Field

Boot-time free-sector check utility.

"Epson MX-80 Printer Interface Program" (later page) — Herb Klonser

Cover-highlight. Interface software for the increasingly-popular MX-80.

Other articles

• Sneaky Text — Andrew O'Brien
• Educational II: A Review of Library Disk 18 — Roz Stern
• DOS 3.3 and Demo's for Us Cheapskates — Bob Anderson

Club news / events / announcements

• New officer slate seated
• ~350 at the May 30 Wozniak meeting
• June meeting: June 27; July meeting July 25

Notable advertisements

• Computerland Tysons Corner (page 2)

Key quotes

• "He mentioned his belief that information should be freely exchanged between Apple and its users, and that this was an important factor in the success of the APPLE II." — Schwartz on Steve Wozniak (page 3)
• "Yippee! It's vacation time!" — Bernard Urban (page 3)

Entities

People: David Morganstein, Mark L. Crosby, Dana Schwartz, Jesse Wagstaff, John Moon, Nancy Philipp, Rich Wasserstrom, Bernard Urban, Genevie Urban, Steve Wozniak, Bob Peck, Dick Elkins, Sarah LaVilla, Bill Bowie, Boris Levine, Hersch Pilloff, Sandy Greenfarb, Jim Rose, Charles C. Philipp, Paul Hoffman, Tom Woteki, Al Gass, Curt Robbins, David Stern, Jay Thal, Duncan Langford, Roz Stern, William Schultheis, Bob Anderson, Bruce F. Field, Andrew O'Brien, Walton Francis, Herb Klonser, Steve Hadley Topics: Morganstein Presidency, Wozniak at Pi, Kids SIG, DIY Joystick, Europlus, AppleWriter as Text Tool References: Beneath Apple DOS, AppleWriter, Apple II Europlus, Library Disk 18

Connections to other issues

• Election from 1981-05 — V03 N05 resolved here
• Wozniak (last reported recovering from plane crash, 1981-02 — V03 N02) appears in person three months later
• Morganstein's Librarian-into-President arc culminates from his 1980 role
• Duncan Langford's pen-pal intro (1981-01 — V03 N01) blossoms into a full article

Open questions

• Anyone capture audio/notes from Woz's talk?
• Did Morganstein's library focus carry into his presidency?
• Beneath Apple DOS — became canonical, but track Pi's continuing reference to it