Open Apple

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with KansasFest committee member and lifelong Apple II user Peter Neubauer. We talk lots about the upcoming KansasFest, of course, but also Peter’s own experiences with the machine. He has a passion for Logo, and a special place in his heart reserved for the Apple IIc Plus. I […]

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Michael Packard, author of the upcoming new game Alien Downpour. Michael has gone back to teach himself assembly language and make the kinds of games he wished he had made back in the day. The results are indeed impressive, and his first foray into solo Apple II game production is shaping up great. He’s also been very encouraging to the community, having set up the Facebook group Apple Graphics and Arcade Game Design Enthusiasts, dedicated to the book by the same name. This group is a place for Michael to share his progress on his games, as well as for other people to jump in with their own projects. As of this recording, you can still pre-order Alien Downpour over at Michael’s site. Remarkably, you can order it on floppy or cassette! It comes with a retro-style baggie and insert as well. Michael is writing a book on his experiences (re)learning all this, so keep an eye out for that as well. He’ll also be at KansasFest this year with a presentation on Alien Downpour. Register now so you can see that! You won’t want to miss Michael’s perfect re-impersonation of the Egghead Discount Software answering message. Meanwhile, Mike and Quinn get stuff wrong on a great many topics, but have fun doing it. If you want to try using a IIgs as your daily driver, launch cows with extreme prejudice, or run GEOS on a weird piece of hardware, you’ve come to the right podcast. Register for KansasFest while you still can! More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump. * Alien Downpour – Pre-order it now! Michael’s first solo Apple II game is looking great. * Apple Graphics and Arcade Game Design – A great FB group about a great book! * Apple II+ Prototype? – A rare-looking machine found by John Romero. * Leigh Alexander on archiving – She sits down with 4am and Jason Scott. * Apple II viruses – There’s more than just Elk Cloner! * Educational games are under appreciated – Check out the premiere muppet-based GUI. * Cow-a-pult – A great new vignette from 6502 Workshop. * 8-Bit-Do firmware – It has been 8-bit-updated, and Chris Torrence reports. * Caverns of Mordia – Improved coverage of this great story.

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Michael Packard, author of the upcoming new game Alien Downpour. Michael has gone back to teach himself assembly language and make the kinds of games he wished he had made back in the day. The results are indeed impressive, and his first foray into solo Apple II game […]

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Lemmert, co-founder of 6502 Workshop. Him and his partners (Mike Reimer, Bill Giggie, Robert Padovan, Gordon Mackay, and Galactagog) have been building Nox Archaist, a brand new story-driven tile-based role-playing game in the classical Ultima style. They’re pushing the hardware as far as they can with this new engine, working to break new ground in scope, story, animation, sound, and music. Early builds look great, and we’re really excited to see more! Mark’s journey with the Apple II parallels a lot of us. The machine sparked an interest in programming, and a fascination with RPGs and tile engines in particular. Nox Archaist is the fulfillment of that childhood dream to build such a game from scratch. Mark shares his war stories (that many of us can relate to) of strewing our childhood computers with half-baked game engines that were doomed from the start. As he and his team are proving, it’s never too late to revive and achieve that dream. KansasFest 2017 registration is now open! Early bird rates in effect as of this posting, so don’t wait. Attendance is limited to 100 this year. Sign up now!  Mark will be there and likely demonstrating Nox Archaist, so you won’t want to miss that. Meanwhile, Mike and Quinn yammer on about new hardware, new old games, old new games, and of course Woz. Also back this month is the controversial Softalk segment. Read along with us in issue #4! More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump. * 6502 Workshop – The team building Nox Archaist. * Using Assembly Language (PDF) – By Randy Hyde, the book that got Mark started. * Hi-Res Graphics and Animation Using Assembly Language – Does not appear to be online. * Dogfighters of Mars 2 (demo) – Get it now before his dropbox limit is hit! * Manila Gear 2soniq – Now distributed by ReactiveMicro. * KansasFest Registration – Early bird rates in effect. 100 person limit! Go now! * WozFest PR#6 announced – If you’re on the bottom of our blue rock, you should go. * Light Cycles 3D – A game killed in 1977 is finally released! Better late than never. * MIDI to Mockingboard – Tom Porter has a nifty conversion tool.

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Lemmert, co-founder of 6502 Workshop. Him and his partners (Mike Reimer, Bill Giggie, Robert Padovan, Gordon Mackay, and Galactagog) have been building Nox Archaist, a brand new story-driven tile-based role-playing game in the classical Ultima style. They’re pushing the hardware as far as they can with […]

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Craig Peterson, who got involved with hardware and software development very early in the life of the Apple II. Craig integrated Apple II computers with a numerical control manufacturing system, producing G-code for the cutting machines in a factory. He was a pioneer in using the Apple II for what computers are actually good at- moving data around in an automated fashion and abstracting away sources of human error in a complex process. Craig wrote technical articles for all the major Apple magazines, which led to him getting involved with Chinook. Craig wrote diagnostic and utility software for Chinook drives in the then exciting burgeoning new field of SCSI devices. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the need to precisely time SCSI drive interleavings prompted Craig to create a universal driver for the No Slot Clock. KansasFest Early Registration is now open! Sign up now, because attendance is limited to 100 this year. Meanwhile, listen as Quinn confirms that French people are from France, Mike spots the only Apple III in a hundred mile radius, and another boring Apple I auction happens. There’s double-hires, there’s outgoing preservationists, and there are lots of Australians. So many Australians. A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.   * KansasFest early registration – Sign up now before the price goes up! * Floppy Emu B enclosure – A community effort. * Elk Cloner turns 35 – The author would really like us all to forget it. * Apple I auction – Yup, another one. Blah de blah. * Alien Downpour – Michael Packard is now taking pre-orders. Get yours now! * GSPlus and more – Dagen Brock has been releasing his projects. * Apple explores DRM – The infamous copy protection memos that are in the news. * Nox Archaist updates – The Ultima-like continues to make strong progress. * Oz KFest gets dates – Sign up if your country has spiders that eat birds! * Brutal Deluxe to key...

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Craig Peterson, who got involved with hardware and software development very early in the life of the Apple II. Craig integrated Apple II computers with a numerical control manufacturing system, producing G-code for the cutting machines in a factory. He was a pioneer in using the Apple II for what computers […]

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Quinn sit down with each other and catch up on all the news they’ve been neglecting lately. Mike and Quinn discuss the disappointing 8BitDo controller, get excited about remanufactured printer ribbons, and pretend to know anything about EDD. Follow along as we review Softalk volume 1, number 3. The ads are always the best part! Meanwhile, we manage to sneak in one more Kevin Savetz reference, and a Boo Atari in the same breath. That’s the Open Apple Way™. You won’t want to miss this month’s Apology to Call A.P.P.L.E segment. We’re going to need a bumper for that (and the Australians) soon. Despite all this terribleness, please give us money. Because costs. More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump. * Gingerbread Apple II – Delicious, if not nutritious. * Eight-Bit-No – Turns out the controller we were all excited about is kinda meh. * Assembly Lines #42 – Chris Torrence reviews the 8BitDo controller. * Assembly Lines #43 – Another follow-up on the 8BitDo. * Apple II on an AVR – Emulating a small system on another small system. * The new Portal on the old II – That Kerbal guy strikes again. * Imagewriter II lives again – Yes, you CAN still get those color ribbons! * Virtual II updated – The best OS X emulator is now even better. * Some guy buys a Porsche – At least he spent too much. * Lemonade Stand as a chatbot – A very modern way to play a very old game. * GBBS Pro now GPL – All the gees, bees, and pees. * Wade Clark saves a teenage legacy – You should do this with your stuff too. *

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Quinn sit down with each other and catch up on all the news they’ve been neglecting lately. Mike and Quinn discuss the disappointing 8BitDo controller, get excited about remanufactured printer ribbons, and pretend to know anything about EDD. Follow along as we review Softalk volume 1, number 3. The […]

This month on Open Apple, we round out the year with our annual tradition of sitting around a virtual table with some friends of the show, discussing whatever comes to mind. Mike and Quinn are joined by Jeremy Barr-Hyde, Jorma Honkanen, Kate Szkotnicki & Chris Torrence. We have a really fun mix of Apple II fans from all walks of life […]

This month on Open Apple, we round out the year with our annual tradition of sitting around a virtual table with some friends of the show, discussing whatever comes to mind. Mike and Quinn are joined by Jeremy Barr-Hyde, Jorma Honkanen, Kate Szkotnicki & Chris Torrence. We have a really fun mix of Apple II fans from all walks of life and all parts of the world this month. Sit down with us as we discuss our history with the machines and how they fit into our lives today. Can retrocomputers be teaching tools for kids today? Can an Apple II serve a practical role in modern life? What was your unicorn accessory or software package back in the day? How do we get new faces to KansasFest? We chat about all this and more, so don’t miss it!   More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump. * Jeremy – Retro Blog and Google Drive full of Apple II scans. * Jorma – The FinApple, source of all things Apple II in Finland. * Kate – Streaming console gaming and soon Apple II, on Twitch. * Chris – The Assembly Lines video podcast, and the Hyperduino project with Roger Wagner. * Mike – As always, his scanned document site is a great resource. * Quinn – Blondihacks blog, with Apple II projects and crazy otherness.

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Glenda Adams, better known on the Apple II as The Atom. She was a cracker of some note back in the 1980s, and she shares great stories with us of her exploits in boot tracing, cracking, and distributing software in the glory days of the Apple II […]

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Glenda Adams, better known on the Apple II as The Atom. She was a cracker of some note back in the 1980s, and she shares great stories with us of her exploits in boot tracing, cracking, and distributing software in the glory days of the Apple II BBS scene. We talk about the journey from programming to cracking, and back to programming again. We talk about the politics of the Apple II scene, and the unique experience of cracking software remotely. Think fixing your grandparents’ printer over the phone is hard? Trying cracking a game! Can you deduce the release date of Fontrix by time-lining Apple II crack screens? We leave that as an exercise to the listener. Meanwhile, Glenda shares stories of porting Space Rogue, parties at Lord British’s house, and the old-school feel of early iOS development.   More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump. * Apple II Crack Screens – A list that includes many greats, including The Atom. * Fontrix – You can play with this still-neat tool on Internet Archive. * Call A.P.P.L.E Books – Here they are! * Buckshot – Dagen Brock’s GUI for Bill Buckels’ image converter. * SD MIDI II+ – Ian Kim’s clone of a classic MIDI card. * Open A.P.P.L.E. – We accidentally wrote a column for a magazine. * Magazine scans – Jeremy Barr-Hyde scans A2 Central and Open Apple (not us). * WozFest 5.25″ recap – It happened! Fun was had! It was recapped! * Caverns of Mordia re-released – Play it again, Sam! Or Quinn or Mike! * Apple training videos – A great archive of rips of internal VHS materials. 80’s hair! * Applesoft webserver – Thanks to the untapped potential of the Uthernet II. * Uthernet II – buy one and put your Apple II on th...

This week on Open Apple, we run a special piece of extra content, courtesy of friend-of-the-show Mike Whalen. Mike brought his mobile audio production gear to KansasFest back in July, and he captured a series of interviews and biographies during the event. He has graciously agreed to let us run it here on our feed. It’s wonderfully […]

This week on Open Apple, we run a special piece of extra content, courtesy of friend-of-the-show Mike Whalen. Mike brought his mobile audio production gear to KansasFest back in July, and he captured a series of interviews and biographies during the event. He has graciously agreed to let us run it here on our feed. It’s wonderfully produced, and a great way to get a feel for what KansasFest is all about. If you’re on the fence about attending KFest in 2017, this will certainly sway you into joining us for all the Apple II fun.