Kula Index of Apple II Publications
A. Kula Index of Apple II Publications - What is It?
For well over a decade, Michael Ching of Kula Software in Honolulu Hawaii painstakingly poured over the pages of a myriad of Apple II and other microcomputer magazines and newsletters in order to compile an index of various articles, software and hardware reviews, tips, question and answer columns and other Apple II-related miscellany.
Mike called his work product 'The Kula Index' and marketed and sold his information in AppleWorks database format on floppy disks.
Sample from .pdf conversion of the Incider Magazine Kula Index
While Mike maintained and sold indexes for well over a dozen different publications, presented here is what I hope to be the initial installment of .pdf conversions of the indexes from ten different major Apple II publications:
Concerning the history of the Kula Index, here is what Mike wrote:
This data base was started, some years ago, when I wanted to keep track of the software reviews which appeared in the various magazines to which I subscribed. Over the years, the data base has grown to include not only software reviews, but hardware reviews and major articles as well.
Originally, the information was stored in an AppleWriter 1(!) file, then converted to AppleWriter II. Later List Handler was used for a period of time. Finally, in late 1985, I had to give in to the times and started using the AppleWorks data base. The data base is currently broken down into files of size 55K or less (for those who haven't yet expanded beyond 128K).
I have personally keyed in the information, relying on my private collection of publications. Unfortunately, as everybody else, I have a finite amount of time and resources. You may note that a few of the publications may not have all their issues indexed. This is because I simply do not have all the issues available to me (I try not to advertise that these publications are even indexed at all). And in some cases, even if the issue is indexed, not all of the articles are.
Generally, I would tend to index articles/reviews that would be of interest to Apple enthusiasts and so would tend to leave out certain articles/reviews which deal with other types of machines.
B. The Kula Index - Searchable PDF Versions
Incider - Incider/A+ Magazine (1983-1993)
Call-A.P.P.L.E. Magazine (1985-1990)
Open-Apple - A2-Central Newsletter (1985-1992)
Scarlett - Big Red Computer Club Newsletter (1985-1992)
The Sourceror's Apprentice - 8/16 Newsletter (1989-1990)
Apple Assembly Line Newsletter (1985-1988)
The AppleWorks Educator (1986-1992)
C. Future Additions
I do not have all the Kula Index database files that Mike compiled. As you can see, some of the publications here are missing years, and some of the publications that Mike indexed are missing completely.
I am currently soliciting members of the Apple II community to see if they might have the materials I lack. As I obtain those I'll post new conversions here.
D. Credits
I contacted Mike Ching in the summer of 2024 using the email address I found on a website he had last maintained many years ago, but that was still functional.
I explained that I was a big fan of his Kula Index and would like his permission to convert all of his Kula Index files to a searchable modern .pdf format for posting on the internet.
While Mike seemed genuinely surprised that anyone would still be interested in his indexes, I mentioned that due to the surge in interest in retrocomputing and the archiving of scanned copies of all the old Apple II publications he had indexed many years ago, his Kula Index information would be very helpful when searching for something specific.
As a result, Mike has released his 'Kula Index' work product into the Public Domain. Thank you, Mike!
E. Conversion Process
The process to convert Mike's AppleWorks database files to .pdf presentation involved several steps:
1. Ran Randy Brandt's AppleWorks 5.1 under emulation on Kent Dickey's KEGS v1.34 Apple IIGS emulator;
2. Used Dan Verkade's TimeOut Reportwriter within AppleWorks to construct a multi-line report format that would include all the information contained in each the various Kula Index files;
3. Used the 'direct IP' printing feature of KEGS to 'print' the completed report (using AppleWorks' built-in HP PCL printer driver) to a PCL capture file created by an NCAT server on the host emulator computer; and,
4. Ran the PCL capture file through the 'GhostPCL' converter from the folks at Artifex to create the .pdf files.
F. Other AppleWorks and Apple II Related Software and Content
See the Home Page for other AppleWorks and Apple II related items, as well as software for MacOS / Mac OS X from both Hugh Hood and Mark Lim that enables one better to interact with Apple II content, disk images and archives:
G. Distribution
The Kula Index files and their derivative .pdf conversions have generously been placed in the Public Domain by Michael Ching of Kula Software as of 2024 and as such may be freely distributed and posted elsewhere without charge or other permission.
This page was last updated: October 4, 2024