The Fonts used in this text document are New Century Schoolbook and New York.
Esoteric Software is a small company that develops software for the Macintosh and sells hardware for many things (not necessarily computer related). Esoteric software also releases Shareware to the Mac community.
Esoteric Software & Hardware
4014 N. 41st Street
Arlington, VA 22207 U.S.A.
Phone: (703) 534-5884 (Long distance calls are returned collect)
internet address: craig.shoemaker@his.com
Most, but not all software created by Esoteric Software may be found listed in the Macintosh Product Registry (game software is excluded by the publisher). Other CD based product information services might offer a description of Esoteric's complete line. A demo version of a software product may or may not be available on-line; if a demonstration version is not available to you, send three U.S. dollars for a demonstration disk (you may later use the floppy you receive for some other purpose if you wish). When sending in your mail order for a software product, please, as a general rule, add five dollars shipping and handling (U.S. currency, money order, or check drawn on a U.S. bank); it is, of course, unwise to send cash through the mail. If you are paying a shareware fee, then you don't need to send in shipping and handling charges since you already have the software product on your computer (or else the shareware fee takes into account shipping and handling if you are to receive a new version without alerts asking that you register).
I've also sent some software and demos to macgifts@sumex-aim.stanford.edu. The FTP site to retrieve these files is sumex-aim.stanford.edu or one of its mirrors.
Esoteric Software (and Hardware) also handles orders for other name-brand software and hardware products for both the Macintosh and the IBM compatibles; please contact me if you have a specific item in mind (such as Macintosh accelerators, Symantec products, music software products, etcetera). For third-party software and hardware items, you may receive e-mail, snail-mail, or if you receive collect calls, phone help; it depends on the type of product and the type of assistance needed. Ask for more details. This is one reason to by items from Esoteric Software & Hardware.
All software products that are created by Esoteric Software are always in stock and ready for immediate delivery. When the software product being sold has not been created by Esoteric Software, there may be a delay before it is sent to you for, in general, Esoteric Software doesn't keep a large inventory (because Esoteric Software doesn't have a store front for customers to walk in to). Esoteric Software doesn't have enough volume to support the taking of credit cards.
Although Esoteric Software doesn't have a store front, sometimes its personel (i.e., me) goes to different sites peddling articles of interest to the gathering. It's unlikely you'll see me since the world is still quite large. So, more than likely if you purchase something from me it will be through the mail.
Software & Hardware from Esoteric
Music
Musical Set Complete 1.0.2
$49
Assists composers who work with musical set-classes while writing post-tonal music.
The composer enters the set-problem into configuration dialogs and the results (potentially pruned by the composer) are displayed within editable document windows which may be read, saved, and printed. Starr/Rahn, Forte, and Rahn normal forms are supported. Operations include: permute a set; find the partitions of a set and label and them as self-invariant or types 1 through 4; find chains; fill a set (or the aggregate) with sets; determine which sets abstractly include or are abstractly included by what other sets; take sets from cycles; union sets; complete a set into another; find the most normal form or complement; find common tones; create T, I, M, and MI Matrices; and find the Tn, TnI, TnMm, and TnMmI of a set. Not copy protected to make you happy.
Esoteric Software & Hardware also sells hardware related to music composition and the production of such music: namely stand-alone MIDI pianos and keyboards and rack-mounted sound samplers. These items are all back ordered since they are too expensive to keep in stock (not to mention that I don't want to be the object of theft or robbery).
Shoemaker Music Volume 1
$9
This item is not yet ready for release. A pre-release version is $3.
Music by Craig Shoemaker including Trapezium (for two pianos), and other pieces. These compositions were performed by the computer from the musical score (which is stored on the computer also). If you are a performer and would like to perform any of my pieces please let me know; if your performance can be captured by MIDI then it can be distributed in the next release and the music will sound more human in tone.
Must use System 6.0.8 or earlier and probably need an older Macintosh with a 68030 processor or earlier. Also requires Deluxe Music Construction Set.
The Poor Man’s Ear-Training Package contains three program modules that create files which can be imported by Deluxe Music Construction Set (DMCS) (version 2.0 or 2.5). It is during playback mode (using DMCS) that users practice ear-training. The Melody-Module creates mono-rhythmic “melodies” from amongst the intervals users specify. The Dyads-Module creates a set of mono-rhythmic two-note chords from amongst the intervals users specify. Finally, the Simuls-Module creates a set of mono-rhythmic chords of up to six notes each such that the created chords are selected from the set-classes specified by the user (set-classes allow for a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional chord types).
Foot note: Whatever happend to Deluxe Music Construction Set version 3.0? I'm waiting for my favorite music software program but haven't seen it. If you have any news, let me know. Also, if you're the writer of this program please send me a beta version for testing and so that I may offer what comments and suggestions I may.
Utilities
"MacWrite" Launches MacWrite II
$15
MacWrite II is launched instead of MacWrite.
Macintosh Plus or larger; MacWrite II; System 7 or later;
This application is a MacWrite replacement to be used if there are one or more MacWrite files and the user now uses MacWrite II. This replacement program simply launches MacWrite II. Users double-click on a MacWrite document and MacWrite II is launched; users then open the MacWrite file they wish to read from MacWrite II. It keeps MacWrite from being inadvertantly launched while keeping MacWrite file icons intact on the desktop even though the original MacWrite appication has been replaced.
Foot note: For some reason when a customer has problems with MacWrite and calls Apple for help, Apple refers the customer to me. Although I don't mind receiving phone calls of this nature, I'm not Claris. I believe Claris is responsible for MacWrite now; if this be true and you are having problems with MacWrite, you're probably better off calling Claris than calling me. Another hint: if MacWrite doesn't run on your Mac it could be that your computer it too current, your system software is too current, or you have some extension or another which is causing a problem. As I no longer use MacWrite (but use MacWrite II instead), I don't recall the specific details of why MacWrite would fail on my 68030 based Mac running whatever system I was using at the time.
Pictures
45+ Scenics Volume 1
$19/$11
45+ Finder backdrops for the Macintosh.
High Density 1.4 MB floppy drive; 14 MB free disk space for installation.
Unlike real photographs which can be distracting in their realism, these well thought out fractal-generated scenic (sea, mountains, sky) backgrounds (with millions of colors) are soft and easy on the eyes. They are great for including in multimedia projects as backdrops or for use with the inexpensive shareware programs, Decor or DeskPict, as Finder backdrops. These pictures look great on 13 or 14-inch monitors which allow the display of millions of colors and the pictures are dithered by Decor for monitors supporting less colors.
Retail $19; for pictures containing millions of colors (recommended)
Retail $11; for pictures containing 256 colors
Retail $3; for demonstration version
Games
Corinth Island III
$12
Corinth Isle III is a Bolo map to be used with the game, Bolo. Corinth Island III is a full sized Bolo map. This map was designed to create strategically complex choices for three theoretical teams. It is an excellent map and comes with complete documentation in MacWrite II format.
The King’s Chess Positions: Tactics and Mates
$49
Drill for tactics and checkmates.
A collection of over 800 chess positions is offered. The student selects the move that seems appropriate and your computer chess playing application responds to your move and your subsequent moves. For United States Chess Federation Class C players (and some Class B players) and below. A great way to sharpen your tactical skills through focused experiences.
Positions are derived from some of the finest chess books of this century: including Alexander and Beach’s Learn Chess: A new way for all, Volume II: Winning Methods (218 positions), du Mont’s The Basis of Combination in Chess (all 250 positions) with further selections from books by Kotov’s Chess Tactics (26 positions from the beginning), Renaud & Kahn’s The Art of Checkmate (all 164 positions), Reinfeld, Lasker, Capablanca, Fine and others.
Only those positions from books published by Cadogan Books or those positions from books in the public domain (a total of 494 postions) are clearly labeled so that you can refer back to the original text book for further elaboration. Thus Alexander and Beach's Learn Chess: A new way for all, Volume II: Winning Methods (from Cadogan Books) and du Mont's The Basis of Combination in Chess are clearly labeled so that you can find any given chess position in the chess text book.
If ten or fewer positions are derived from a given chess text book, then these positions will refer to the exact position in the text book so the student can read the analysis.
The other 300 or so positions have been reorganized by Esoteric Software [Note: Esoteric Software firmly believes that the student will get the most value out of chess positions when they are clearly labeled and refer back to the original text book; in this way, the student can always read a written explanation of the position and look at the analysis. However, not all publishers have yet licensed the organization of their material, so Esoteric Software has had to reorganize the material so that the chess positions did not directly refer to or point to any given text book]. Please write or call for further up-to-date details.
Important: you must tell me whether you are using a Macintosh or an IBM PC compatible runnings Windows and you must tell me what chess playing application you use (such as Sargon IV, Sargon V, Chessmaster 2100, Chessmaster 3000, Chessmaster Turbo 4000, Chesmaster 5000, Kasparov Gambit, etc.). For Mac users owning a 68030 or earlier processor I strongly recommend that you use Sargon IV (since it is not only the fastest since it is written in assembly language but it is also the easiest to use). Again, please don't forget to specify 1) whether you use a Mac or an IBM PC compatible, and 2) the chess playing application you intend to use.
This product line is currently undergoing revision. Organization and pricing may change. It is quite possible that the material will be reorganized so that the positions relating to a specific book are published as separate units.
The King’s Chess Positions: Endgames
$49
Drill for chess endgames.
A collection of over 590 chess endgame positions is offered. The student selects the move that seems appropriate and your chess playing application responds to your move and your subsequent moves. For United States Chess Federation Class C players (and some Class B players) and below. A great way to sharpen your tactical and strategic skills through focused experiences.
Positions are derived from some of the best chess books of this century: including Y. Averbach’s Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge (118 positions), Alexander and Beach’s Learn Chess: A new way for all, Volume II: Winning Methods (23 positions), M. I. Shereskevsky’s Endgame Strategy (12 positions from the beginning), with further selections from books by Pandolfini (230 positions), Keres (28 positions), Euwe (59 positions), Mendis, Lasker, Capablanca, Fine, and Nimzovitch.
Only those positions from books published by Cadogan Books (a total of 153 positions) are clearly labeled so that you can refer back to the original text book for further elaboration. Thus Y. Averbach’s Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge (118 positions), Alexander and Beach’s Learn Chess: A new way for all, Volume II: Winning Methods (23 positions), M. I. Shereskevsky’s Endgame Strategy (12 positions from the beginning) are clearly labeled so that you can find any given chess position in the chess text book.
If ten or fewer positions are derived from a given chess text book, then these positions will refer to the exact position in the text book so the student can read the analysis.
The other 450 or so positions have been reorganized by Esoteric Software [Note: Esoteric Software firmly believes that the student will get the most value out of chess positions when they are clearly labeled and refer back to the original text book; in this way, the student can always read a written explanation of the position and look at the analysis. However, not all publishers have yet licensed the organization of their material, so Esoteric Software has had to reorganize the material so that the chess positions did not directly refer to or point to any given text book]. Please write or call for further up-to-date details.
Important: you must tell me whether you are using a Macintosh or an IBM PC compatible running Windows and you must tell me what chess playing application you use (such as Sargon IV, Sargon V, Chessmaster 2100, Chessmaster 3000, Chessmaster Turbo 4000, Chesmaster 5000, Kasparov Gambit, etc.). For Mac users owning a 68030 or earlier processor I strongly recommend that you use Sargon IV (since it is not only the fastest since it is written in assembly language but it is also the easiest to use). Again, please don't forget to specify 1) whether you use a Mac or an IBM PC compatible, and 2) the chess playing application you intend to use.
This product line is currently undergoing revision. Organization and pricing may change. It is quite possible that the material will be reorganized so that the positions relating to a specific book are published as separate units.
Chess King (Beta version 00.02d)
ChessKing will be an application through which one may eventually use King's Chess Positions: Tactics and Mates and King's Chess Positions: Endgames. ChessKing will also be a stand alone chess playing application. ChessKing may eventually be used for analysis also.
At this stage, ChessKing is in its very early stages of development.
Shipping and Handling for Software Products Created by Esoteric Software
If you order one software product, shipping and handling is $5. If you order more than one product, add an additional $1 for each additional product to handle shipping and handling charges. Thus, Chess Tactics and Mates and Chess Endgames will have a $6 (5 + 1) shipping and handling charge.
However, there is one exception: 40+ Scenics Volume 1; this multi-disk product always has a $5 shipping and handling charge and is treated separately from the other products. Thus if you order 40+ Scenics Volume 1 and one other product, $10 will be the shipping and handling charge. Or if you order 40+ Scenics Volume 1 and two other products, $11 (5 + 5 + 1) will be the shipping and handling charge, etc.
