Overview
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Aristotle is Apple's Apple II menu manager, a user software interface.
Aristotle was designed primarily for the classroom, but you can put it to
work in any school, administrative, or business area. With Aristotle, users
simply select from a menu, where without it they had to type complex path
and prefix sequences.
With Aristotle, the network or workstation manager can control and simplify
the user interface by setting up a menu of selectable applications for each
student, class, and teacher. The individual can use the network server with
all the network access, control, and storage needs, while enjoying the simple
user interface.
Installation
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Aristotle Menu Manager software is installed on an AppleShare File Server
v2.0. Aristotle's software comprises the Teacher (Menu Manager) and the
Student (Menu User).
The Menu Manager (or Teacher) is used only to set up the student menu
selections. The AppleShare Network Administrator and the Aristotle Menu
Manager (they can be the same person) work together to create specific user
menus.
With Apple II Utilities, the Aristotle software is loaded from a 3.5" disk
drive on a workstation (any server workstation will do) into an AppleShare
File Server v2.0.
Hardware Requirements
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For an Apple IIe to be a Menu Manager workstation, it must have:
- an Apple II mouse and mouse interface card
- Apple II Memory Expansion card with 256K
- the Apple II workstation card.
An Apple IIGS system can act as a Manager if the IIGS software is present
in the server, and the IIGS has at least 1MB on the Apple IIGS Memory Card,
to provide the needed storage area for the overlays. It is recommended that
the application already be loaded into the server, so that the manager can
actually see the specific path name.
Using Aristotle
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After logging on, a student
1. sees a list of the teachers who have selected that student to be in any
of their menus,
2. chooses a teacher,
3. see the class list (again, specific menu selections) for that teacher,
4. selects a class, and
5. chooses an application, which launches it.
Once the application is launched, quitting it returns the student to the
Application menu, allowing selection of another (or the same) application.
There is no escape from the loop, and students don't have to memorize (or
refer to) any ProDOS path or prefix for anything other than their own files.