COMPUTER KEYBOARDING 5 INFORMATION FILE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This file was written with the margins set at RM = .5 and LM = 0. If you load it into a word processor, try those margins. This file will hopefully give you enough information to decide (1) if you want to download this program, and (2) which files to download depending on your hardware configuration and needs. If you are familiar with earlier versions of my Computer Keyboarding program, you may wish to skip down to the section titled NEW INFORMATION. A bit of background ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For those of you who are unfamiliar with Computer Keyboarding, this is a beginner's typing program first uploaded on GEnie more than a year ago. Computer Keyboarding is the culmination of a long process that began when I bought my Apple //e around 1984. At first I used the //e mainly for word processing, but it wasn't long before I began tinkering with Applesoft BASIC. I bought the programming books and read them carefully. More often than not, I was confused, but I experienced just enough success to know that I wanted to do more. Because I was the computer nut on my middle school faculty, I got to create and teach a twelve week course using the //e's in our school. At first it was a programming class where I taught the students how to create lo-res graphics screens as well as simple sound and graphics programs. This appealed to many of my students but was boring to others. It didn't take long for me to figure out that most people were more interested in using the computer as a tool to do other things rather than creating their own programs. I gradually shifted the class away from programming toward such things are word processing. To facilitate their ability to use a word processor more effectively, I began a program of typing instruction using a piece of commercial software (sorry, I don't remember its title). I was never satisfied with this software because it dwelled on speed at the expense of accuracy. It was even possible for the students to skip lessons which meant that they failed to learn some keys. Over the years I had developed into a fairly good two-fingered typist. I tried to use this program to improve my own skills, but my progress was disappointing. I decided to try to write a program to teach typing. It wasn't the first program I had written, but it certainly was the most ambitious. I called the first version "No-Frills Keyboarding" because it used only the text screen, no graphics at all. While some of my students experienced success with it, others called it "No-Thrills Keyboarding" when they thought I wasn't listening. In order to make the program better, I decided that I would have to include graphics and make the whole thing run faster. To do that I had to turn to assembly language programming. Again I read books on it, including many programming examples in such magazines as Nibble and Call-Apple. By trial and error, I slowly developed the assembly language code that is the major part of my present program. New Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version 5 is the latest version of Computer Keyboarding. It is shareware. The cost is $10.00 for an individual or family, and $100 for a school site license. The program is uploaded in a fully-functional condition with one hitch. You will be able to try out most of the program's features including the complete lessons on the home keys without paying the fee. After you have had ample time to try it out, if you haven't paid your shareware fee, the program locks up until you do. The key to the lock is very simple and will be sent to you as soon as the fee is paid. The program presently works on the Apple IIe, IIc, IIGS, the MacIntosh LC with //e emulation, and the Apple ][+ that has a lower case chip with a single wire jumper from the keyboard to the 16 pin joystick I/O socket on the mother board for the shift key modification. Currently this is the only way that a ][+ user can use this program. The program requires only 64K. If you have a composite color monitor that allows you to shift from color to monochrome, you may wish to do so to improve the print on the hi-res screen. If you are using an Apple IIGS with an RGB monitor, use the control panel to go to monochrome for a better picture. Early versions of Computer Keyboarding, using 5.25 drives, required that each user have his own set of program diskettes. This latest version allows up to a dozen users on one set of 5.25 disks and up to 50 users on one 3.5 disk or hard drive. This is not a network version. The program can handle only one user per disk at a time. Version 5 is a significant improvement, containing more games, improved typing lessons, and additional teacher's utilities. What to Download? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of the files that you may need to download are packed using ShrinkIt 1.1 for the IIGS. I assume that almost any version of ShrinkIt will unpack them efficiently. If you plan to put this program on your hard disk, download KEYBD 5 COMPLETE from America Online (AOL) and unpack it to a subdirectory on the hard drive. Name the subdirectory anything you like. To access the program, use your launcher program to select the file STARTUP. When the program is finished, it will return to your launcher program. If you plan to put this program on a 3.5 diskette, also download KEYBD 5 COMPLETE from AOL and unpack it to a formatted 3.5 diskette. To make it a bootable disk, add ProDOS and BASIC.SYSTEM to the root directory of the disk. If you access this disk from a program launcher, select the file named STARTUP. The program will return you to the launcher upon completion. KEYBD 5 COMPLETE contains all of the programs included in the four files described below. If you plan to put this program on 5.25 diskettes, it gets a bit more complicated. There are four different files to download. KEYBD 5 STARTUP from AOL contains the startup files for Computer Keyboarding 5. Download it and unpack it to a formatted 5.25 diskette. Then add ProDOS and BASIC.SYSTEM to the root directory of the disk to make it bootable. Both ProDOS and BASIC.SYSTEM are available online. If you are using the program with an unenhanced IIe or a ][+, use version 1.9 or earlier of ProDOS since version 2.0 and later require the enhanced chip. It doesn't matter to my program which version you use. KEYBD 5 PROGRAM from AOL contains the bulk of the files for Computer Keyboarding 5. Download it and unpack it to a formatted 5.25 diskette. KEYBD 5 BACKUP UTILITY from AOL contains utilities that allow you to save a copy of the student record files from Computer Keyboarding onto this disk in case the other disk goes bad. Strictly speaking, this download is not necessary. However, I recommend that you include it because experience has taught me that diskettes that are accessed as often as these will be tend to do just that with great frequency. This download also contains the auxiliary program, Intermediate Typing, which is a follow-up to Computer Keyboarding. Unpack this file to a formatted 5.25 diskette and then add ProDOS and BASIC.SYSTEM to the root directory of the disk to make it bootable. Please note: the Intermediate Typing program does not work on the ][+. Since it uses 80 column display and inputs through BASIC, I have not made any attempt to modify it for the ][+. I believe that all of the utilities will work on the ][+ since they do not require lowercase input. KEYBD 5 TEACHER UTILITIES from AOL contains the teacher utilities for Computer Keyboarding 5. Briefly, the utilities allow you to review student progress on the screen or on paper, and to prepare and print progress reports. If you plan to use this program with students, these utilities should be valuable. If you are downloading this program for home use only, you may not wish to include this download. Unpack this file to a formatted 5.25 diskette and then add ProDOS and BASIC.SYSTEM to the root directory of the disk to make it bootable. Teachers, Please Note ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are using the hard drive / 3.5 diskette version of this program, you may access the teacher utilities from the opening menu by pressing either OA-U or SA-U (that's either of the apple keys together with the U key - U for utilities). It is not listed as an option on the screen because you probably don't want students getting into it. Beta Testers! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am endebted to these people for the service they rendered in helping me beta test this version. Steven Gozdziewski is mainly responsible for the changes made to allow the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ program to run on the //c+ without getting a speeding ticket. Gayle Keresey encouraged me and gave me a chance to discuss my program ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ on AOL, tested the program, and graciously agreed to upload it to AOL. Susan MacGregor guided me through my first ever online conference, and ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ tested the program. Bruce Milyko gave the program an unique test by using it with a class ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ of sixth graders. His and their comments have led to many of the changes in the program. Stephen Sinkey helped me make the program usable on the ][+ (see notes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ above). To all of these folks, as well as many of the regulars on A2Pro, thank you for all of your help! Final Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~ I encourage anyone to upload these files to any online service as long as all six files, including this one, are included. Distributors who supply their subscribers with shareware programs should contact me before distributing any of these files. If you have questions, send me e-mail at C.HARTLEY3 on GEnie or C Hartley on AOL. You may also write to me at this address: Charles Hartley 455 Foster Lane Shepherdsville, KY 40165