introducing A2CLOUD

[Ivan X]

Hello all,

I'm wrapping up things here at KansasFest, and I'm pleased to announce a beta release of A2CLOUD. It sets up a Raspberry Pi so that it is ready to be a server for David Schmidt's VSDRIVE (and ADTPro), and be logged in to from a terminal program.

This makes the Pi into the the perfect companion to the Apple IIc, or almost any Apple II. You can give yourself a "virtual hard disk", as well as log into the Pi from your Apple II to get software from the internet, and then use any ProDOS images you download immediately without having to transfer them to an actual floppy disk first.

http://appleii.ivanx.com/a2cloud

The web page is a little rough, at least if you aren't Unix-savvy, and there are some less-common techniques that I haven't documented yet, but hopefully it's enough to get started with. I welcome any feedback or questions.

Many thanks to David for adding the second virtual drive to VSDRIVE. That really made this project come together. Thanks also to Hugh Hood for his great ProTERM hacking, and to everyone here at csa2, and at KansasFest, for your comments and insight. What an awesome community.

Ivan.

[osgeld]

I am not 100% sure what the excitement is, you have a linux computer running a linux compatible software

but ok, grats

[Ivan X]

On Sunday, July 28, 2013 1:52:41 AM UTC-5, osgeld wrote:
> I am not 100% sure what the excitement is, you have a linux computer running a linux compatible software

The problem is that for those who aren't Linux-savvy, it's not easy to set up. The goal is for any Apple II user (especially IIc users) to have a simple method of turning a Pi into both a communications and storage peripheral. The installer makes this painless, plus it assembles a boot disk with tools, lets you specify the virtual drive size, and adds helpful commands and additional capabilities.

With that said, I recognize that this is primarily an integration project, and contains far less original work and rework than, say, A2SERVER. But projects need names, and I think of A2CLOUD less as a product, and more of a workflow in which a IIc (or other Apple II) user is able to download-and-use-immediately, and also have mass storage. I also think VSDRIVE has been out there, with insufficient recognition, so calling it something with "A2" in the name will hopefully draw more attention to what VSDRIVE can do than calling it "ADTPro/VSDRIVE server for Raspberry Pi".

I think calling a Pi a Linux omputer, while technically true, misses the point -- by being tiny, cheap, and silent, it's an Apple II peripheral. Plenty of people (myself included) don't want to fuss with interfacing a whole additional computer to their Apple II, but attaching a Pi is pretty unobtrusive. It's a stealth server.

[James Littlejohn]

On Sunday, July 28, 2013 1:52:41 AM UTC-5, osgeld wrote:

> I am not 100% sure what the excitement is, you have a linux computer running a linux compatible software
>
>
>
> but ok, grats

It is a hard drive for the IIc for less than $40. And SO MUCH MORE!!!

[sicklittlemonkey]

On Monday, 29 July 2013 04:39:33 UTC+12, Ivan X wrote:
> It's a stealth server.

This.

When you hook an Apple II up to a PC tower it looks like the Apple II is the attachment. This combination of technologies puts the "server" in its place. ; - )

Nice work from all involved!

Cheers,
Nick.

[omn...@iinet.net.au]

I love the idea. As I'm focusing ONLY on the IIc as my Apple II world, this gives me an avenue to play I hadn't dreamed of.

Now, a nice video showing me WTF I'm doing, or supposed to do, that would be handy.

Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Beuller?

[Hugh Hood]

> I am not 100% sure what the excitement is, you have a linux computer running a
> linux compatible software

While I realize that there are some pretty accomplished and capable guys
both reading and posting in this newsgroup, I have to say that in addition
to his pre-made custom disk images, Ivan's set of BASH scripts that not only
setup all this, but also that provide several related utility functions, are
definitely not 'Hello World' stuff, and entail significant work. Please
don't take my word for it. Give them your own evaluation, as some say that
I'm easily impressed.

I do suspect that were he doing this type of scripting work for those fancy
Manhattan boys he normally serves, there's no telling what he'd bill for it.
But, I'll admit that probably applies to most of us who work on these 'labor
of love' Apple II projects -- the hourly rate sucks when compared to what
'real' customers pay.

Anyway, A2Cloud, as the other guys pointed out, passes the '3C' test -- cost
(low), convenience (small and auto-setup), coolness (OK, I added that).

Coolness is in the eye of the beholder, but here is what I find cool about
it:

The convenient selection of images (and changing them on the fly) is a
popular issue these days both with Rich's CFFA 3000 and Cédric's SPVHD, but
here Ivan, in using (2) serial ports simultaneously, allows control from the
Apple II not only of the files on the ProDOS image, but also of the images
served with Schmidt's VSDrive server.

So, (from the A2Cloud page instructions):

"Type vsd1 imageName or vsd2 imageName to "insert" the image
file into virtual drive 1 or 2"

And while Ivan has been using a Term program to send this command for image
selection (which would mean quitting the currently running program and
starting up the Term program), I envision the ability to send the command
over the serial port to the Pi from within:

1. A CDA (IIGS only);

2. A menu driven (with image names returned from the Pi) AppleWorks TimeOut
application or macro;

or,

3. A menu driven BASIC program.


I think that's cool. YMMV.

I'm happy Ivan added A2Server to his already impressive body of Apple II
work. I'll bet that he won't force anybody to use it. <grin>






Hugh Hood

[Sean Fahey]

On Sunday, July 28, 2013 11:39:33 AM UTC-5, Ivan X wrote:


>> I am not 100% sure what the excitement is, you have a linux computer >> running a linux compatible software


> The problem is that for those who aren't Linux-savvy, it's not easy to set up. The goal is for any Apple II user (especially IIc users) to have a simple method of turning a Pi into both a communications and storage peripheral.

I thought the whole project kicked ass Ivan - great work, and my personal thanks!

[David Schmenk]

I think it's one of those projects where the complete package is greater than the sum of its parts. A2CLOUD integrates the hardware and software making it feel like an Apple II product, not a bunch of disparate tech lumped together. The RPi is cheap enough and capable enough for many cool projects to come to fruition. Thanks Ivan - and thanks for showing off Apple II Pi at KFest! Looking forward to the next great project,

Dave...

[iv...@ivanexpert.com]

On Sunday, July 28, 2013 9:23:41 PM UTC-4, omn...@iinet.net.au wrote:
> I love the idea. As I'm focusing ONLY on the IIc as my Apple II world, this gives me an avenue to play I hadn't dreamed of.
>
> Now, a nice video showing me WTF I'm doing, or supposed to do, that would be handy.

This is a good idea I hadn't considered. I'll see what I can do!