The "Little Running Steps" Collection - Disk Images for Apple II Emulators
- From: Bill Buckels <bbuckels@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:51:22 -0700 (PDT)
Apple Oldies by Bill Buckels
http://www.clipshop.ca/DiskImages/index.htm
Introduction
The "Little Running Steps" Collection consists of 10 disk images
containing English and French versions of four PRODOS programs written
by Canadian Software Developer Bill Buckels in the early 1990's for
use in Elementary Schools:
Geometrical Shapes - geometrical primitive recognition
What Time Is It? - how to "tell time"
I've Got Money! - how to use coins to "make change"
Logical Shapes - logical association
The names of the French versions in the same order listed above are:
Figures geometriques
Quelle heure est-il?
J'ai des sous!
Concepts unificateurs
A separate ReadMe File is provided for each program with program
specific details and the information required to use the program.
Apple II Disk images of Program Screen Demos using the AppleVu
Slideshow viewer are also provided (Program Screen Demo diskimages)
The IBM-PC versions of these programs were developed by French
Canadian "CourseWare" developers Denis Coulombe and Robert Boivin on
behalf of Centre de recherche appliquée pour l'ordinateur (CRAPO) in
the late 1980's and marketed to schools across Canada as part of a six
program set called "Collection Les Petites espadrilles".
Note: Espadrilles are casual flat sandals originating from the
Pyrenees. In Quebec French, however, espadrille is the usual term for
running shoes.
The Apple II versions of these programs were published in the early
1990's by Class Software in Winnnipeg, Canada.
Bill Buckels released the Apple II versions to the publisher as
programs in the "Tiny Tots Collection" since "Collection Les Petites
espadrilles" being an idiomatic phrase in regional Quebec French had
no meaningful English equivalent. The "Tiny Tots Collection" was
considered a better meaningless English equivalent than literally
translating the name to the "Little Running Shoes Collection" which is
potentially more reminiscent of smelly feet than educational software.
The "Tiny Tots Collection" on the other hand might be more appropriate
as a brand name for children's clothing.
It might seem a little bewildering, even to the French in other parts
of the world, that Quebec French sprachraum was used by CRAPO in a
name for an educational software collection that was targeted
simultaneously at both English and French markets. It is perhaps more
understandable if you consider that very few francophone Canadians are
able to communicate readily even with European francophones, and
"Collection Les Petites espadrilles" was initially targeted at a
regional Quebec French Market.
It might even seem a little bewildering that sprachraum would be used
by educators at all in the titling of curriculum material. Again it is
perhaps more understandable if you consider that the 1977 declaration
of the Association québécoise des professeurs et professeurs de
français defined the language to be taught in classrooms as "Standard
Quebec French" (le français standard d'ici, literally, "the Standard
French of here").
Setting aside both sides of this unfortunate reality, "Little Running
Steps" is probably the best one can do by way of a translated English
name for this emulator collection to try to achieve some relative
similarity to the intended meaning of "Collection Les Petites
espadrilles".
Apple II Development
The Apple II versions were written in their entirety by Canadian
Software Developer Bill Buckels, on the IBM-PC in the C programing
language using the Manx Aztec C 6502 Cross-Compiler.
Bill did not have the source code for the IBM-PC version of the
programs and it wouldn't have helped much anyway. The IBM-PC was a
much more capable and sophisticated platform than the Apple II, so
production for the Apple II required a complete rewrite "from the
ground-up".
The Manx C compiler provided a rudimentary Graphics Library, but came
nowhere close to what Bill needed to complete the four programs in the
"Collection Les Petites espadrilles" that he had undertaken to write.
So he set to work to create the graphics and the sound routines that
the Apple versions needed to behave as closely as possible to their
IBM-PC counterparts.
The IBM-PC graphics of the day that CRAPO used (4 Color CGA Mode) were
vastly different from Apple II graphics (which were a coarser
resolution), and each and every screen and graphics image needed to be
redrawn, and reformatted for the Apple II. Using the Graphics from the
IBM-PC version as a starting point, Bill developed his own Apple II
graphics file formats and programmed his own set of conversion tools
which he ran on the IBM-PC to produce the Apple II graphics after
creating and editing these in IBM-PC format to suit the Apple II
display. He did this in conjunction with writing his Manx C graphics
library, since both tasks were complimentary. When the graphics images
and graphics and sound library routines were completed he moved
forward to writing the programs.
Not only did the Apple II have less capable graphics than the IBM-PC;
it also ran more slowly with only 128K of memory, some of it unusable,
and with slower disk access and a smaller floppy disk size. To
overcome all of this Bill broke his Manx C Apple programs into small
modules called "overlays" which ran in very little memory, and he used
the upper ram bank of the Apple II to store his graphics libraries and
other data to avoid loading from disk where possible. Since the Manx C
compiler translates its programs into machine language which runs as
quickly as can be on the Apple II, no optimization or additional
"tweaks" were required, except to script the game levels using
external scripts (also of Bill's design) which further saved on disk
space and program memory, and which avoided slow processor intensive
operations that would otherwise have been needed.
The finished results run more slowly than their IBM-PC counterparts,
but for all practical purposes have all the same functionality.
System Requirements
All four programs require an Apple IIe with 128K of memory and a
floppy disk. They run under the PRODOS 8 Operating System.
They can also be run from a disk image file in an Apple II emulator.
They have been tested in Windows XP using Apple II Oasis and AppleWin,
and probably work in others.
Starting "Geometrical Shapes", "What Time Is It?" and "I've Got
Money!"
These programs come with PRODOS 8 on their respective distribution
disks so no PRODOS Startup Disk is required. Put the disk in the
floppy drive and boot the computer. After the program loads, follow
the instructions.
If you are running these programs in an emulator, follow the same
basic steps.
If you are using the AppleWin emulator from Windows XP Explorer and
have File Associations set to use AppleWin to load disk images, just
click on the disk image.
If you are using Apple II Oasis select the disk image from the Apple
II Disk Manager and send to emulator by right clicking on the disk
image.
Other emulators should be basically the same if they work with PRODOS
8 disk images.
If you are using an Apple that boots from a hard disk and will run
PRODOS 8 programs, just run GEOMETRY.SYSTEM, TIME.SYSTEM, or
MONEY.SYSTEM on their respective disks.
Note: If you need to restart these programs, they will start more
quickly since the graphics are already loaded into the upper ram
bank.
Starting "Logical Shapes"
"Logical Shapes" does not have enough room on the program disk for
PRODOS 8, so a PRODOS Startup Disk is required, which is provided on
side 1 of the "Logical Shapes" disk. Put side 1 of the "Logical
Shapes" disk in the floppy drive and boot the computer. After side 1
loads, follow the instructions and flip the disk then press the
[RETURN] Key.
If you are running "Logical Shapes" in an emulator, follow the same
basic steps. Start "Logical Shapes" disk image 1. When you are
prompted to flip the disk load "Logical Shapes" disk image 2 into the
same drive then press the [ENTER] or [RETURN] Key (depending on what
the [RETURN] Key is called on your keyboard).
If you are using the AppleWin emulator from Windows XP Explorer and
have File Associations set to use AppleWin to load disk images, just
click on disk image 1 and after it boots select disk image 2 using the
menu to the right, then press [ENTER].
If you are using Apple II Oasis select disk image 1 from the Apple II
Disk Manager and send to emulator by right clicking on the disk image.
When the emulator window appears and has booted disk image 1 right-
click on the emulator title bar and select disk image 2 for slot 6
drive 1, then press [ENTER].
Other emulators should be basically the same if they work with PRODOS
8 disk images.
If you are using an Apple that boots from a hard disk and will run
PRODOS 8 programs, just run LOGICAL.SYSTEM on side 2 of the "Logical
Shapes" disk.
Note: If you need to restart "Logical Shapes", it will start more
quickly since the graphics are already loaded into the upper ram
bank.
Keys and Navigation - All Programs
The Arrow Keys are used to navigate the menus and to select choices
during activities (Game Play).
The [RETURN] Key or the Space Bar can be interchangeably used to enter
selections.
The Escape Key is used to return to the Main Menu and to Exit the
program.
The Sound Toggle Key - [CTRL] S toggles the sound on or off at the
Main Menu or during any of the activities.
The AlphaNumeric Keyboard keys are used where required to enter
information during activities (Game Play) in all programs in the
"Collection Les Petites espadrilles".
A mouse is not supported.
Splash and Title Screens - All Programs
When the program starts, or when the Escape Key is pressed at the
Main Menu the Class Software Splash screen is displayed. Press
[RETURN].
When the Title Screen displays press [RETURN] for the Main Menu or
press the Escape Key to exit the program.
Main Menu Screen - All Programs
Geometrical Shapes - geometrical primitive recognition
What Time Is It? - how to "tell time"
I've Got Money! - how to use coins to "make change"
Logical Shapes - logical association
Each program has 3 Learning Activities (Games) which can be selected
from the Main Menu by moving the Cursor with the Arrow Keys to the
desired activity then started by pressing the [RETURN] Key.
Each Learning activity is a Game formatted as a series of graphical
questions. The student provides the answers, and when all the
questions in the series are complete, the Student is presented with a
musical reward. Activities followed by musical rewards is the basic
format of all the programs in the "Collection Les Petites
espadrilles".
The fourth Main Menu choice exits the Main Menu and returns to the
Title Screens. It is the equivalent of pressing the Escape Key.
Sound can be toggled on or off at the Main Menu or during any of the
activities by pressing [CTRL] S.
.
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