Dan

It was with great amusement that I received a note from Neil Thayer
about this post. Yes, I am the author of the Apple II version of
Fraction Fever. I have in my collection of life memorabilia, a shrink
wrapped copy of this disk.

A few notes -

--You are correct, this was written in compiled BASIC. I was having
performance issues so I coded a few key routines in 6502 assembler
(the worlds first risc chip).

--This was my first commercial software title. I began working at
Spinnaker just after graduation. I got the assignment after boasting
to my boss that I could code it up in 2 weeks. So, yes, I was working
around the clock.

--This was 30 years ago, and the second time someone has found me
based on finding my name in a Spinnaker product.

I challenge this group to find my name in other Spinnaker Software
products. HINT - The other mention was found in a C64 version of a
Trillium (Spinnaker's adventure game spin off).

Prize - TBD

KP

Dan,

For what it's worth, this matter arose when I took a box of old Apple
II disks from my girlfriend and tried to back them up, coming across
snags with the Spinnaker disks and a few others.

I hope you don't mind that I've undertaken (with the able assistance
of other folks from comp.sys.apple2) a little archiving of these old
disks, including Fraction Fever!

KP


On Jan 24, 1:13*am, Dan <danlovy1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It was with great amusement that I received a note from Neil Thayer
> about this post. *Yes, I am the author of the Apple II version of
> Fraction Fever. *I have in my collection of life memorabilia, a shrink
> wrapped copy of this disk.
>
> A few notes -
>
> --You are correct, this was written in compiled BASIC. * I was having
> performance issues so I coded a few key routines in 6502 assembler
> (the worlds first risc chip).
>
> --This was my first commercial software title. *I began working at
> Spinnaker just after graduation. *I got the assignment after boasting
> to my boss that I could code it up in 2 weeks. *So, yes, I was working
> around the clock.
>
> --This was 30 years ago, and the second time someone has found me
> based on finding my name in a Spinnaker product.
>
> I challenge this group to find my name in other Spinnaker Software
> products. *HINT - The other mention was found in a C64 version of a
> Trillium (Spinnaker's adventure game spin off).
>
> Prize - TBD

Marcus Heuser

On 24 Jan., 07:13, Dan <danlovy1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> --You are correct, this was written in compiled BASIC. * I was having
> performance issues so I coded a few key routines in 6502 assembler
> (the worlds first risc chip).

Even if it's somewhat common belief that the 6502 is a RISC design
many argue that it isn't really one. According to them it's simply a
streamlined, "less complex" CISC.

> I challenge this group to find my name in other Spinnaker Software
> products. *HINT - The other mention was found in a C64 version of a
> Trillium (Spinnaker's adventure game spin off).

"Nine Princes in Amber", I presume?

(It was a big hint, though...)

bye
Marcus

D Finnigan

Marcus Heuser wrote:
> On 24 Jan., 07:13, Dan <danlovy1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> --You are correct, this was written in compiled BASIC. � I was having
>> performance issues so I coded a few key routines in 6502 assembler
>> (the worlds first risc chip).
>
> Even if it's somewhat common belief that the 6502 is a RISC design
> many argue that it isn't really one. According to them it's simply a
> streamlined, "less complex" CISC.
>

One of the arguments for RISC is that the 6502 has over 200 registers, all
conveniently located on the direct (zero) page of memory.

... And one of the arguments against its RISC nature is that the
instructions all take varying numbers of cycles to execute, whereas a RISC
processor typically has all instructions set to a certain number of cycles.

--
]DF$
Mac GUI Vault - A source for retro Apple II and
Macintosh computing.
http://macgui.com/vault/