Vintage

Includes Apple-1, Apple ][, Apple ][+, Apple //e, Apple //c, Apple ///, Apple Lisa, Apple Newton, and Mac 68K

Apr 23 2012

New Apple ][ Series Users Guide to be Published

David Finnigan of the Apple and Macintosh centric site, Mac Gui City has been working hard on a new users guide for the Apple ][ series computers.  the new guide with some 600 plus pages and 12 chapters will include information about 6 different Apple ][ series computers and their setup.

As for a release date on the new book, according to a recent post in CSA2, david says "The first complete draft (meaning that every section of the book was complete) was made early last week. It's currently being poured over by a team of leading Apple II experts. There are 12 chapters and nearly as many appendices. My hopeful guess is that the review will take at least 3 weeks. "

The new Apple ][ Users Guide will be the first Apple ][ series specific book published in nearly twenty years and aims to better educate this generation of Apple ][ users and hobbyists.  For more information about the book, you can check out The New Apple ][ Users Guide web page at:

http://macgui.com/newa2guide/

By admin • Apple //c, Apple IIgs, Apple ][, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Apr 17 2012

Original Source Code fof Prince of Persia now Available on GitHub

Jordan Mechner posted on his twitter account about the ongoing source recovery of the original source for the game Prince of Persia.  The floppies containing the source code was found in a box his father had recently discovered and shipped to Jordan.   Now, the source code for the Apple ][ version of the game is available for download to anyone who wants a copy from the GitHub repository at:

https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II

By admin • Apple ][, Vintage • 0

Apr 15 2012

Mini vMac for Android Updated

The Android version of the Mini vMac Emulator has been updated to version 3.2.3, bringing it inline with the current version of the Mini vMac emulator for other platforms.  The emulator is available in two versions, Macintosh Plus which is a free download and the Macintosh II, a $1.99 download from the Andropid Marketplace.   You can also download the current source code for the emulator for free as well.

Gil Osher has more information about the emulator on his website at:

http://dolfin.github.com/minivmac4android/

You can download the Sourcecode from GitHub at:

https://github.com/dolfin/minivmac4android

By admin • Mac 68K, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Apr 13 2012

ADTPro 1.2.1 Released

David Schmidt has released an update to the ADTPro disk imaging package.  ADTPro allows users to convert Apple ][ and Apple /// disks to digital images for use with emulators.  According to the press release on CSA2, "This release has a couple of snazzy things that folks won't need to see very often:

The bare-metal bootstrapper works in about 1/3 the time it did before.  It now shifts the serial hardware into high gear to transmit the bulk of  the code in binary rather than via text on the screen.  Much the same way as Blurry's Apple Game Server.

There's a video of Speediboot(tm) in action here:
http://youtu.be/1xworYThmMI

The OSX version of the sever has an "installer" whereby the user drags the ADTPro folder to the Applications folder.  Much the same way as lots of OSX installers, like Mozilla.

http://adtpro.sourceforge.net

1.2.1 - April 12, 2012

New functionality:

* Serial now bootstraps from bare metal in 1/3 the time it used    to take with Speediboot(tm) technology

* [Server] Mac OSX has a prettier “installer” via the DMG – just   drag/drop the ADTPro folder to Applications

Bug fixes:

* [Server] Improve serial error recovery for two different   scenarios: 1, by waiting (much) longer before timing out to  allow for problemtatic/errorful block reads, and 2, flushing
   the serial port after things like checksum errors“

By admin • Apple III, Apple ][, Apps, Disk Imaging, Emulation, Software, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Apr 4 2012

Comedian Jeff Dunham’s Second Hobby is Collecting Apple Computers

Jeff Dunham, the comedian and ventriloquist has been exposed as an avid Apple Computer collector.  While his first hobby is collecting vintage automobiles, he also has a very extensive collection of older Macintosh and Apple computers from the 1980′s and 1990′s.

His collection is currently numbered at 40 units, including the very first 1984 Macintosh.  You can check out his collection in a photo expose done by USA today at:

http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/Comedian+Jeff+Dunham+collects+cars+and+Apple+computers/G3448?csp=ipmpg

By admin • Mac 68K, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Apr 3 2012

An Interview with Apple-1PCB Designer Howard Cantin

Howard Cantin was the man behind the printed circuit boards for many of the early atari machines as well as the Apple01 computer.   Recently, Mike Willegal, creator of the Apple-1 Mimeo, sat down with Howard in a telephone interview to talk about what when into those days and his relationships with the heads of what was then Apple Computer as well as how things went with Nolan Bushnell of Atari

As for the proverbial story about how Atari refused the Atari Breakout board that Steve Wozniak built, he says “engineers at Atari couldn’t understand the design. Because they couldn’t understand it, Atari ended up not using it.”

You can read the interview in it’s entirety on Mike Willegal’s blog page at:

http://www.willegal.net/blog/

 

By admin • Apple Inc., Apple-1, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Mar 28 2012

8/16: The Journal of Apple II Programming Now Online

Mike Maginnis, the curator of the Apple II scans website has posted 7 of the 9 issues of  8/16: The Journal of Apple II Programming. The Journal was produced by Ross W. Lambert and became 8/16-Central in 1990 when the publication was sold to Tom Weishaar.

You can download the currently available scanned issues from the Apple II scans  website at:

http://apple2scans.net/2012/03/25/816-the-journal-of-apple-ii-programming/

By admin • Apple //c, Apple IIgs, Apple ][, Documentation, Magazines, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Mar 11 2012

New Review of Apple IIgs Game The Immortal

Brian Picchi has posted a new video review of the Will Harvey produced Apple ][ Game, The Immortal.  The Immortal was a glossy graphical adventure that was produced in 1990 by Electronic Arts.  Brian takes you through an entire level of play in the 12.5 minute video and talks about some of the nifty tricks within the game including resurrecting a dead player.   See the video below or on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mELSlynnKrk

You can also play the game online at Virtual Apple at:

http://www.virtualapple.org/immortaldisk.html

Video of Brian’s Review:

By admin • Apple IIgs, Games, Software, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Mar 11 2012

R&D Automation to Produce 2nd Run of CFFA3000 Cards

R&D Automation announced in a blog posting last week that they will be producing a new run of the CFFA3000 cards for the Apple ][.  The CFFA3000 is a card which allows the Apple ][ to use Compact Flash Cards and USB Thumb Drives for hard drive storage of disk images.  According to the R&D Automation website, "We are now in the process of getting final quotes on parts for run #2 of the CFFA3000. We hope to be placing orders for the parts this week or next. We have not made a final decision on the run size yet, but we are looking at quantities of 400 and 500. The price of the next run will likely stay the same at US$149.95. It should be available in summer of 2012.

We are also adding support for image file directories to the firmware and making a lot of optimization to speed up all disk operations. Time permitting we will also be looking into DMA support, but there is still much work to do before we have something to test.“

The previous run of cards sold out in a matter of days after the much anticipated update was released.  The specifications of the new card are as follows:

  • A CompactFlash / USB flash drive interface for Apple II family of computers
  • Support 1 to 13 partitions under ProDOS and GS/OS, and 2 virtual floppy drives
  • Virtual Floppy image support allows the use of almost any non-copy-protected floppy disk image, including .dsk, .2mg, and .nib files. Note: .nib files of protected floppies will not work with the CFFA3000
  • Allows storage of thousands of floppy and smartport disk images
  • User configurable partition count
  • Boot from either device and any partition
  • Allow booting from Dos3.3, Pascal, CPM, Contiki, ProDOS or GS/OS directly from the Interface card (for a floppy-less system)
  • Configurable as a CFFA smart port controller (i.e. a mass storage device) or as a floppy controller, or both. When configured as both, requires 2 slots in your Apple II, one for the physical card, and one for the virtual floppy controller.
  • Hardware supports DMA, although v1.0 software does not currently support DMA. Future support is planned, but not guaranteed.

To order a CFFA3000 Card, you will need to email Rich Dreher, the proprietor of R&D Automation using the “email me” link on his sales webpage at:

http://shop.dreher.net/

By admin • Apple IIgs, Apple ][, Disk Storage, Hardware, Vintage • 1 • Tags: , , , ,

Mar 8 2012

The Albert Apple ][ Clone in Living Color

ResetVector, run by Tony Diaz, has put up a new article outlining the history of the Albert Apple ][ Clone.  The Albert, was created with  all of the drives built into into it's own box and the machine complete with all of the normal Apple ][ features as well as a number of enhanced features all on board.  While most manufacturers of the time were busy copying the Apple ][ as is, wholesale, cards and all, the Albert was a truly innovative computer.

According to the posting on the ResetVector website, "Albert Computer said theirs was not a copy, but an improvement. The courts on the other hand, were not convinced and they ended up retreating. Despite their soft-boot method, perhaps they were just a few years too early as Video Technology (Laser Computer) managed to finally figure out how to do it and launch a product a year later”

You can read the entire story of the history of the computer at the reset vector website at:

http://resetvector.com/a2/33/albert-computer-a2-clone/

Tony has also added 19 photos of the Albert on the ResetVector Gallery.

By admin • Apple ][, Clones, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , ,

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