Open Apple

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Alex Lee, purveyor of the canonical IIgs reference site What Is The Apple IIgs?  We talk about what it was like being one of the brave few with this machine, and that feeling of living in a secret world of incredible graphics and sound that nobody else seemed […]

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Alex Lee, purveyor of the canonical IIgs reference site What Is The Apple IIgs?  We talk about what it was like being one of the brave few with this machine, and that feeling of living in a secret world of incredible graphics and sound that nobody else seemed to know about. Alex walks us through the history of IIgs emulators, and all the ways that the IIgs Finder was actually better than the Mac. He also talks about the legal challenges of running an archive site like this, which luckily are not too serious for this obscure machine. We finish up with talk of the future of the site, and the difficulty of finding some really rare software packages- help contribute content! Alex is also working on an Apple IIgs coffee table book. Help encourage him to finish it, because we all want to buy it very very badly. Just saying. Keep listening, because you won’t want to miss Alex casually dropping the phrase “Late nineties and early naughties” in his charming Australian accent. Tune in as well to pine along with Quinn for the never-to-be Ultima VI. Our apologies for this episode being a bit late. Combinations of illness, holiday commitments, and technical difficulties all conspired against us this month. More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump. * Apple II Scans – Mike’s repository of Apple II documentation and related media. * What Is The Apple IIgs? – Alex Lee’s wonderful site, including all the games we discuss. * Retro Hour with Lord British – An interview on how he loved the II a bit II much. * Simulating a Burroughs 220 on an Apple II – Michael Mahon expands his KFest showing. * Nox Archaist: Shattered Sword – Vignettes showing off their engine progress. * New editions – This and this are fresh from Call A.P.P.L.E. * ADTPro 2.0.2 – A new update to everyone’s favorite imager and bootstrapper. * System 6.0.3 bug – Antoine Vigneau identifies a big auxtype problem. * Huibert Aalbers – Recovered software, and the story behind it. *

This month on Open Apple, we share an excerpt of an interview with John Brooks, courtesy of Juiced.GS.  John talks about how and why he updated ProDOS, and his experiences getting back into the community. Tune in to hear Quinn lose 20 years of time perception around the Tiger Learning Computer, then pretend to know stuff […]

This month on Open Apple, we share an excerpt of an interview with John Brooks, courtesy of Juiced.GS.  John talks about how and why he updated ProDOS, and his experiences getting back into the community. Tune in to hear Quinn lose 20 years of time perception around the Tiger Learning Computer, then pretend to know stuff about power supplies. Meanwhile, Mike waxes nostalgic about high school computer labs and tries to unload his excess Apple IIs on unsuspecting community members. We try out a new segment this month, and we hope you like it! No spoilers- you’ll just have to listen and see what we’re up to. More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.   * Juiced.GS interview – Ken Gagne chats up John Brooks about ProDOS 2.4. * ProDOS 2.4 – The “official” home of John’s update. * Tiger Learning Computer – The educational toy with an Apple II under the hood. * Tanru Nomad – Brian Picchi’s Apple-II-centric YouTube channel. * Steve Jobs in images – Images of Steve Jobs. No, really. * A2Heaven’s Apple II VGA Scaler – Finally, a VGA solution for people with slots. * Bluetooth controller with Apple II theme – With a 9-pin dongle for Apple II use! * Quinn’s Apple II gamepad – Make your own modern style controller. * Dynacomp 240V dissection – Find out how that Aussie power supply works. * ReactiveMicro Docs – Henry Corbis shares all his reverse engineering. * The Goldbergs go deep – A fantastic Apple II classroom callback that gets it right. * Chris Zuhar’s Apple /// clone – Step 1: make a blog! * Retrochallenge 2016/10 – Happening now! Apple II projects expected to win. *

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kate Szkotnicki, long time Apple II fan and new addition to the retro community. We chat about her first impressions as a newcomer to the community, and the big splash she made at her first KansasFest. Kate is a cosplayer and frequent attendee of anime and comic […]

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kate Szkotnicki, long time Apple II fan and new addition to the retro community. We chat about her first impressions as a newcomer to the community, and the big splash she made at her first KansasFest. Kate is a cosplayer and frequent attendee of anime and comic cons, so she brought a very fresh set of skills and perspectives to KansasFest. Her presentation on making plastic parts (and candy!) with silicone moulding was very popular. Throw away your 3D printers- this is easier and better. We also talk lots about John Brooks’ excellent work on updating ProDOS, Quinn says a bunch of stuff about Commodore that probably isn’t true, and Mike falls on his sword for getting everything wrong about Australian Apple II gatherings. Mike gets a record number of Apple /// references into this episode, so be sure to tune in and ignore that. Breaking news! Between us recording and releasing this show, John Brooks has updated ProDOS to 2.4.1. Also, we worked out that the MegaBeep ROM is in fact compatible with it, contrary to the opening of the show. Listener James reported an issue that we believe was actually a bad ROM. If you are a MegaBeep owner, don’t hesitate to use it with any version of ProDOS, including John Brooks’ excellent new 2.4 updates. Thanks to Brian Wiser of Call A.P.P.L.E. for permission to use the interview clip with Mike Harvey and John Leake. Happy 30th birthday, Apple IIgs!   * Kate on Cult of Mac – Kate’s shiny new GS makes an appearance as well. * Silicone Moulding and Resin Casting – Kate’s KansasFest presentation. * Kate’s Apple II dress from BaltiCon – More photos here and here! * Kate’s victory in the tie contest – A tough act to follow. * VCF West photos – Holding out for a H.E.R.O. * Cauzin SoftStrip – Reverse engineered, so… neat. *

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Pilgrim, one of the most active software preservationists in the Apple II community. Mark has been spending his free time working on Passport, an automated cracking tool. It automatically detects and defeats copy protection schemes on Apple II disks, producing copyable disks that are otherwise completely […]

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Pilgrim, one of the most active software preservationists in the Apple II community. Mark has been spending his free time working on Passport, an automated cracking tool. It automatically detects and defeats copy protection schemes on Apple II disks, producing copyable disks that are otherwise completely intact. This is a boon for preservation of software that has only been (poorly) cracked by hoodlums of the past, or is previously uncracked. The latter is very common with educational software, business packages, and other things that the old crackers weren’t interested in. Mark’s skills and perseverance are making it possible to use more and more Apple II software on sites like Archive.org and VirtualApple. KansasFest 2017 will be July 18th-23rd at Rockhurst University! Meanwhile, tune in to this show and listen to Quinn and Mike bumble through news of various festivals, discuss lots of new hardware, and utterly fail to be respectful of the passing of a computer science legend. We’re sorry, Mr. Papert- you will be missed, and Logo touched all our lives. There are a record number of amazing announcements of hardware and software this month. You won’t want to miss Passport, Ancient Legends, 4soniq, CP/M Turbo 7, SD-MIDI, and more. It’s an incredible month for spending money on your Apple II. Go download Passport and archive all your floppies. Start now, or you’ll be up very late. More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.   * Mike Willegal : Home of the Apple 1 Registry, among many other things. * Mark Pilgrim : Cracker, writer, preservationist extraordinaire. * Passport : Mark’s automated cracking and preservation tool. * Passport Intro : Mark’s amazing presentation at KansasFest 2016 * MECC : The educational software consortium that is a target of Passport for preservation * Ship of Theseus: The most literary (and Quinn’s favorite) guest-uttered metaphor. * Passport workflow : A great sample of how to use this powerful utility. * GEnie and Delphi : Archived for all time. * KansasFest 2017 : Next year’s dates already announced. Book it now! * KansasFest 2016 : This year’s sessions and notes now online. *

This month on Open Apple, as is tradition, we present the megapodcast recorded live at KansasFest. Most of your favorite retrocomputing podcasters attend KansasFest each year, and we all get together in a basement room to record a giant group podcast. This year’s recording includes, in no particular order: Quinn Dunki of Open Apple Paul Hagstrom of Retrocomputing […]

This month on Open Apple, as is tradition, we present the megapodcast recorded live at KansasFest. Most of your favorite retrocomputing podcasters attend KansasFest each year, and we all get together in a basement room to record a giant group podcast. This year’s recording includes, in no particular order: * Quinn Dunki of Open Apple * Paul Hagstrom of Retrocomputing Roundtable and Drop /// Inches * Michael Mulhern and Carrington Vanston of Retrocomputing Roundtable * Kevin Savetz of Antic * Rob McMullen of Player/Missile * Ken Gagne of Polygamer and Indiesider * John Leake of RetroMacCast * Todd George of Chicken Lips Radio * Charles Mangin of How II * Jeff Salzman of The History Of Personal Computing   In this megapodcast, we talk about our experiences at this year’s KFest, and play a form of Liar’s Dice with each other’s personal computing histories. A note on audio quality- it’s difficult to get 11 people recorded simultaneously in a room without a lot of fancy equipment that we can’t carry on airplanes, so we hope you’ll bear with us. We have a ton of fun recording these as a group, and we hope you enjoy listening to it. Many many thanks to Paul Hagstrom for doing the editing on this one!  

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Sean Fahey of A2Central, major league collector, and member of the KansasFest Committee. It’s not too late to register! Go to kansasfest.org right now. If you listen to this show, you should definitely be there. The Garage Giveaway will be larger than ever this year. You won’t want […]

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Sean Fahey of A2Central, major league collector, and member of the KansasFest Committee. It’s not too late to register! Go to kansasfest.org right now. If you listen to this show, you should definitely be there. The Garage Giveaway will be larger than ever this year. You won’t want to miss the amazing pile of free Apple II gear. The other classic traditions keep getting better as well- the cookout will be catered, and the prizes for the various contests are amazing this year. All the great Apple II community vendors have stepped up with a lot of hardware, tools, and software to give away. KansasFest 2016 runs July 19th – July 24th at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO. The keynote speaker this year is Mike Harvey, best known in the Apple II community as the editor of Nibble magazine. He has some great stories about the business and culture of the early computing era. We don’t just talk about KansasFest this month. We dive a bit deeper into the murky world of Apple II clones. Also marvel as Mike pretends to know nothing about KansasFest, and roll your eyes as Quinn continues to beat a dead horse joke about the eBay segment. Fear not, however, because the world is a better now that we all know the Lode Runner board game exists. Z0DWARE WHERE ARE YOU?! More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.   * KansasFest 2016 : Run, don’t walk to the registration page. * KansasFest 2015 photos : Jason Scott’s great shots from last year. * Staff C1 clone : Nice photos of a lesser-known Apple II clone. * Chrome emulator : Run an Apple II as a Chrome extension, because you can. * Lode Runner Board Game : Quinn really really wanted this, but hesitated too long. * Kerbal Space Program : Yes, someone really seems to have written a version for the II. * DB-19s Live Again : Intrepid Steve Chamberlin now has ALL THE DB-19s!!!!! * 4am & qkumba crushing it : The odyssey of Gumball and the multi-game easter egg. * RamWorks III kit : UltimateMicro now lets you roll your own. Less juice, more memory. * Apple I on eBay : The bubble seems to have burst.

This month on Open Apple, Kevin Savetz sits down with Amy Kefauver and Lorri Hopping. Amy was the editor of Scholastic Microzine, an educational magazine focused on the Apple II. Lorri was a writer and editor for Microzine. They share many great memories creating lessons with computers, the nature of the educational market, and how computers can engage kids […]

This month on Open Apple, Kevin Savetz sits down with Amy Kefauver and Lorri Hopping. Amy was the editor of Scholastic Microzine, an educational magazine focused on the Apple II. Lorri was a writer and editor for Microzine. They share many great memories creating lessons with computers, the nature of the educational market, and how computers can engage kids in ways that static media can’t. After those interviews (thanks Kevin!), Mike and Quinn talk ear worm game introductions, crappy early advertising, and hardware with Bumper Stumper product names. It wouldn’t be a show if they didn’t mention UltimateMicro and Brutal Deluxe, so they make sure to do that too. Bathe in the glory of 1980s video game box art, enjoy mobile versions of KansasFest memories, and roll your eyes at teenage boy whimsy. More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump. * ANTIC : The Atari 8-bit interview show that is sometimes a podcast. * Doug Carlston : A great interview by friend-of-the-show Chris Torrence. * 4Play Joystick card : An awesome new way to multiplay on your GS. * 4Soniq quadrophonic sound card : Unlock all the sound channels on your Ensoniq. * WoZFest III : Great demos of Kaboom support for both of the above! * VCF East Hackathon on Apple IIs : Live programming competition done right. * 1980s game box art : Let’s be honest- it’s all about Sirius. * UltimateMicro Universal Power Supply : The design is finalized! Get yours now. * Apple II Festival France : Party with your Apple II, like all classy and stuff. * Early Games Influencing Internet : The Apple II echoes and echoes and echoes. * France United Cracker’s Klan tribute : Teenage boys behaving badly. * Structris for iOS released : Play the KansasFest classic on your iPhone. * UltimateMicro Scalable Oscillator v2.0 : A new version of the nifty accelerator hack. * Dino Eggs: Rebirth ...

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Huibert Aalbers, author of Soundsmith. It’s hard to overstate what a platform-defining piece of software this was for the Apple IIgs. Few people appreciated what the audio system in this computer was capable of, until Huibert unlocked it for the world to hear. Games and scene demos […]