Open Apple #82 (July 2022): KansasFest 2022 Megapodcast

Welcome to Open Retro Chicken Drop Retro Adventure Table Lines Roundup, the annual “megapodcast” from KansasFest, hosted IRL and on Zoom.

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Open Apple #81: Remembering Tony Diaz

Tony Diaz

For decades, Tony Diaz held the record of the only person to have attended every KansasFest. Whether at that convention, on the comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup, or on his livestreams, he would share his comprehensive knowledge of Apple II hardware and demo the rare prototypes in his vast collection. When KansasFest lost its home at Avila University, Tony, then the head of the KansasFest committee, helped find the event its new home at Rockhurst. And as a member of the Juiced.GS staff, he would respond to reader queries about how to restore their vintage equipment.

In memory of Tony, who passed away in October 2021, Open Apple‘s original co-hosts, Em Maginnis and Ken Gagne, reunite to remember their friend and his passions, accomplishments, quirks, and foibles.

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Open Apple #80 (July 2021): KansasFest 2021 Megapodcast

Welcome to Poly Retro Assembly Cast Chicken Missile Drop Grue Museum, the annual “megapodcast” from KansasFest, hosted again via Zoom.

Participants:

The original video edition was livestreamed to YouTube:

A longer audio edition is available from the Chicken Missile podcast.

Open Apple #79 (July 2020): KansasFest 2020 Megapodcast

Welcome to Retro Open Poly Roundtable Chicken Missile Lines Drop Museum Gruecast, the annual “megapodcast” from KansasFest, this time conducted virtually via Zoom. Scroll past the links for Open Apple‘s audio edition, or enjoy the video edition courtesy Chris Torrence’s Assembly Lines podcast:

Participants:

Game-related links:

Open Apple #78 (September 2018) – Retro Antic Assembly Chicken Missile Talks Our Way Out Of It

This month on Open Apple, we bring you the traditional big group podcast that we record every year at KansasFest. Tune in for a casual chat with your favorite retro podcasters, and get a behind-the-scenes peek at what makes KansasFest special. This year we managed to twist the following arms into joining us:

You’ll have to excuse the strained voices and general discombobulation, as we generally record this sometime in the middle of the night on what-feels-like day 400 of KFest, in a dank basement chapel. It’s way more fun than I just made it sound. You should come to the next KansasFest!

Open Apple #77 (March 2018) – Kay Savetz & Carrington Vanston, Eaten By A Grue

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston of the Eaten By A Grue podcast. Eaten By A Grue is a game-by-game style of podcast where the intrepid hosts are playing every Infocom game. They both play the game, then discuss it in detail, with and without spoilers. They discuss the amount of cheating required, how mapping was done, the quality of writing and puzzles, and so on. The show has a very nice structure wherein they discuss the show with no spoilers to the halfway point, so that you can stop and go play it yourself if you are so inclined. If not, you can keep listening and hear gory details of all the puzzles.

Kevin talks about getting beasts into bed, and other reasons not to play these games on real hardware. Meanwhile Carrington gets his feelies on and brags about how he has so many original copies of Infocom games that he sits on them for fun.

Meanwhile Mike and Quinn debate dubious silicon valley histories, wedge computers, and competing with other 8-bits in BASIC. Tune in to hear us malign our guests, misremember important names, and get super pedantic about connector nomenclature for no conceivable reason. You won’t want to miss a moment of the drama.

More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.

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Open Apple #76 (January 2018) – Ken Gagne & Andy Molloy, Juiced.GS, Nukes

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Ken Gagne and Andy Molloy of Juiced.GS, the longest running continuously published Apple II magazine (that you can still get in your mailbox to this day!). Juiced.GS is in its 23rd year, which has to be a record for magazines of almost any type.

Ken and Andy talk about the bloodless coup of the magazine, the long history of same, where things are headed, and why they hates trees.

Meanwhile, Quinn and Mike chat about FPGAs, nuclear weapons, and BBSes. What do you do when you need a mathematically provably correct piece of hardware to verify nuclear weapons compliance? Why, you grab your Apple II, of course! Duh!

Here’s a time sensitive news item that didn’t make it into the show- vote for Nox Archaist and Lawless Legends for your favorite Ultima-inspired indie games of 2017!

Stay tuned for a Tech segment where we follow up on last episode and go even deeper on fast IIgs graphics. There’s always more to know about the intricacies of squeezing performance out of this unique and beautiful machine.

More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.

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Open Apple #75 (October 2017) – Seth Sternberger, Class Apples, GS Graphics

We’re baaaack! Sorry for the unscheduled hiatus folks, but your intrepid hosts had some family matters to attend to. This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Seth Steinberger of 8-bit Weapon. We talk about their new album Class Apples, which was made entirely on an Apple II. Yes, every sound on the album is generated by real Apple II hardware with no add-on cards. Apple IIs can make good sound with the right software and in the hands of a talented musician.

After the amazement of Class Apples wears off, we get into Seth’s background with Apple IIs, how he got interested in electronic music, how 8-bit Weapon came to be, and where they’re headed next. We touch a little bit on his work as the main artist on the upcoming RPG Lawless Legends, and Seth explains how much better keyboards are as compared to proms. Furthermore, we all agree that the primary value of the internet is to find pictures of Devo. Michelle wasn’t able to be on the show, but you won’t want to miss the story of how she got to work with Mark Mothersbaugh.

Mike and Quinn then get into augmented reality, alternative operating systems, and of course Richard Garriot. Can’t have an Apple II show without mentioning Richard Garriot. Stay tuned to hear about accelerator control, new magazines, and making your own memory cards.

Lastly, Quinn goes deep on how to program fast graphics on the notoriously “crippled” Apple IIgs. Yes, you can do big beautiful sprites at high frame rates. Learn all about the deep dark secrets that the best games and demos used.

Help keep the Garage Giveaway running at KansasFest! Donate here to keep it a thing. It’s one of the greatest services the Apple II community has, and we’re going to lose it this year if we don’t get donations.

More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.

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