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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Hi,<br>
<br>
Jeff, welcome to the list! As far as extracting .gz files, yes,
7Zip can do it. If you have the Gzip program from I think it's Gnu
Binutils, that will do it, too. The syntax for Gzip is gzip -d
filename. The .gz file will be deleted and replaced with the
decompressed copy. For 7Zip, you do 7z x filename. In this case,
the .gz file will not be deleted.<br>
<br>
Blake, as for putting Textalker on ProDOS disks, it's more
difficult than DOS 3.3, and in many cases may not even be possible
depending on how the program works. Before doing any of the
following, make a backup of the disk image in question.<br>
<br>
The Textalker files you need are called Textalker and PT.OBJ. You
can find them on the Speaking Speller ProDOS (spellerp.dsk) file
within the Messapple package.<br>
<br>
How you proceed from there depends on the disk. The ProDOS startup
sequence is different from DOS 3.3. When a ProDOS disk boots, the
bootloader in block 0 of the disk loads a file called ProDOS. This
is the operating system kernel. Once ProDOS is loaded, it runs a
specific file on the disk. This file is whatever is the first file
in the main directory that ends in .System. On a ProDOS disk that
boots into Applesoft, this will very likely be Basic.System. In
fact, Basic.System must be run in order to use Applesoft from
within ProDOS. Many ProDOS disks, though, have the main program as
the .System file, and don't use Applesoft at all.<br>
<br>
If Basic.System is loaded, it looks for a Basic program called
Startup and runs it. This is like the Hello program DOS 3.3 runs
at startup. If you have a BASIC disk with ProDos, Basic.System,
and Startup, add a command like the following as early as possible
in the Startup program:<br>
0 PRINT CHR$(4),"BRUNTEXTALKER"<br>
In this example, 0 represents the line number. Then save Startup
and try the disk. Don't be surprised if it still won't talk.
Depending on what the Startup program does, it could end up
running some other application.<br>
<br>
If the disk does not use Applesoft, you're probably out of luck
unless the program has some way to load Textalker, which most
don't. A notable exception is the Davex command shell. If Davex
finds the PT.OBJ file in its directory when it loads, it will
install Textalker.<br>
<br>
Hope this helps.<br>
<br>
Jayson<br>
<br>
On 7/3/2017 2:45 PM, Blake Roberts wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:02200A832A994096A3C6098966F92D74@Blakethegreat"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hello Jeff,
Welcome to the Blind-Apple list.
I also created a batch file for launching a disk image. I find a batch file
to be more convenient than typing the command at a dos prompt every time I
want to use the emulator.
You might be able to extract a .tz file using the free 7-zip utility. It can
open/extract many compressionformats.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.7-zip.org">http://www.7-zip.org</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.7-zip.org/"><http://www.7-zip.org/></a>
Disk images can be found online from various sites. For example:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/">ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/</a>
and
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://apple2online.com/index.php?p=1_33_Games-Library">http://apple2online.com/index.php?p=1_33_Games-Library</a>
These disks probably won't boot up talking. However, it is possible to add
TexTalker and the necessary Hello program from a talking disk onto a
non-talking disk using a utility called CiderPress. I have not yet figured
out what TexTalker/startup files need to be copied between ProDos disks to
make ProDos disks talk.
Blake
From: BlindApple [<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:blindapple-bounces@bluegrasspals.com">mailto:blindapple-bounces@bluegrasspals.com</a>] On Behalf Of
Jeff Weiss
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2017 2:06 PM
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:blindapple@bluegrasspals.com">blindapple@bluegrasspals.com</a>
Subject: [Blindapple] new member and reading archives
Hello,
My name is Jeff Weiss and I just joined the blind apple list.
I used to publish a disk magazine for blind Apple users originally called
Apple Talk.
Due to a problem with licensing Dos for the magazine, I later changed the
name to
A-Talk.
First, how do I read the archives? I downloaded some files that end with
.gz. I guess this is some type of zip file, but where can I get the program
to unzip the files?
My next question is how do most of you boot your apple disks on the pc? I
have started launching mine with batch files, which makes the process much
easier than typing out the entire launch commands.
Also, I think Jason said that there are additional disk images available.
Are they available for download, or directly from Jason?
That's enough for now, and I look forward to comments from other list
members.
Jeff Weiss
</pre>
<br>
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<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
BlindApple mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:BlindApple@bluegrasspals.com">BlindApple@bluegrasspals.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/blindapple">http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/blindapple</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
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