Apple //c

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: , , , ,

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: , , ,

Feb 21 2012

Apple ][ Documentation Project Reaches 10GB Milestone

The Apple ][ Documentation Project which was started by Marc Ressl, author of the Apple][GO emulator for cell phones and Java based systems, has reached a milestone  not thought of in the 1980's.  With disk sizes measured in kilo bytes and hard disk images in megabytes, the project has been accumulating documentation and software over the past several years and has finally reached the 10gb plateau.  In spite of it's large size, this is in no way the end of the project or as large as it will be as there are still thousands of items yet to be documented in the directory.

The Apple ][ Documentation Project has sections with Books, Hardware Schematics, Software, and a Variety of Apple II series computers and peripherals, complete with all of the software and board designs, photos and schematics.

You can reach the Apple ][ Documentation Project website at:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mressl/a2dp/

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

Jan 26 2012

Building an Analog Joypad for the Apple //c

Kevin Dady is known for his strange hacks over the years, but this one is actually useful to Apple //c Owners.  Not wanting to purchase an Apple //c joystick, Kevin set out to build himself one, using a thumb controller from an XBox controller.  The result of that and a few parts from Radio Shack is a game controller that looks every bit the modern piece of equipment except for the old 9 pint //c connector.

Kevin has posted a step by step outline of how to build the controller complete with all of the pictures of his process on the Hack-A-Day Website.

Source:  Hack A Day

By admin • Apple //c, Hardware, Joysticks, Memory, Vintage • 0 • Tags: , ,

Dec 10 2011

GEOS Apple ][ CD Re-Posted to Download Section

In 1988, Berkeley Softworks came out with what was then one of the premier operating systems for the Apple ][ series computers.  The Graphic Environment Operating System, or GEOS for short was to put it mildly, a revolution in the way that the Apple //e handled its programs.  Using capabilities only available on the Apple IIgs and other personal computers on the higher end of the spectrum of the time, Berkeley Softworks gave the lowly Apple //e, //c, and the Laser 128 the same high function, high capability easy to use interface.

In 2003, we contacted the then owners of the company, Breadbox Software and received permission to replicate the manuals for the program.  Breadbox had just released the Apple ][ version of GEOS as freeware and we figured an operating system without the manuals just would not do.  Thus we took it upon our little group at the time to contact them.

Now 8 years later, we are re-posting that system with manuals and complete hard disk image (HDV) of the system, ready to run on the latest emulators.  You can download the entire DVD below by clicking on the GEOS CD Link below.   The CD is a 140mb download.

Please note that the copyright on the package is as follows:  The software contained in this CD-Rom was released as Freeware in August 2003 by Breadbox Software.  Please be aware that this does not mean that the software is public domain.  The GEOS CD-Rom and Manual Reproduction is produced by Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (www.callapple.org) with the kind permission of Breadbox Software.  This collection may not be reproduced without the express written permission of Breadbox Software and A.P.P.L.E.

GEOS System CD

 

By billm • Apple //c, Apple IIgs, Apple ][, GEOS • 6 • Tags: , , ,

Mar 7 2011

Apple II Scans Adds Inside the Apple //c

The Apple II Scans website, managed by Mike Maginnis, has announced that they have added the follow on book to Gary B. Little’s Inside the Apple //e.  Inside the Apple //c was based on the initial Apple //c and covers the machine in its entirety.  Unfortunately, it is lacking in information about the second generation Apple //c as well as the Apple //c Plus which came out later.  Still the book is a wealth of information for the user who wants to learn what is really inside that little white Apple //c box.

The book is available for download from the Apple II Scans website at:

http://apple2scans.net/apple-ii/inside-the-apple-2c

By billm • Apple //c, Books, Documentation • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Jan 28 2011

Robert Justice Introduces //C Compact Flash Card

Robert Justice has produced a new Compact Flash card for the Apple //c computer which connects to the smartport interface of the external disk drive connector.  The card is still in the initial stages so it is not exactly a completed product but it is certainly showing promise.  You can read more about the card at:

http://www.users.on.net/~rjustice/SmartportCFA/SmartportCFA.htm

By billm • Apple //c, Hardware • 0

Jan 6 2011

Contiki 2.5.rc1 Available for Download

Oliver Schmidth posted a note about Contiki 2.5.rc1 being made available for download this morning.  The suite allows complete connectivity for vintage computer platforms via ethernet to the Internet.  The full release follows:

Contiki 2.5.rc1 binary release for Retrocomputing’ has just been made available on
http://contiki.cbm8bit.com/
and
http://a2retrosystems.com/contiki.html

It’s a straight compile of the unmodified Contiki 2.5.rc1 sources avialable on

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/contiki/Contiki/Contiki%202….
using cc65 2.13.2

The major changes are:

- Support of the Atari 8-bit machines with the cart described on
http://www.atari8ethernet.com/

- FTP client app (only download although UI suggests upload too)

- Twitter client with OAuth workaround (using SuperTweet.net)

- New high contrast color scheme for Contiki UI apps on the C64

I hope that this release helps to foster further interest in creating new internetworked retrocomputing applications based on Contiki – or improving/extending the existing ones. Just a few examples that come into my mind:

- Add upload capabilities to the FTP client
– Add IMAP capabilities to the SMTP client
– Create an RSS feed reader

Contiki for Retrocomputing is meant to be a community project!

By billm • Apple //c, Apple ][, Emulation • 0

Mar 23 2010

Tetris in Applesoft

By Mark Phosis

Philip Lord was looking for a basic listing of Tetris in a recent post on Comp.Sys.Apple2 and this was the program listing by Mark Phosis.  The program was written in 1992 and could definitely be optimized to run faster.

The drawing primitives are at lines 200 and 225.  It looks like the subroutine at line 800 does collision detection.

============

10  GOSUB 1000
100 W = W + 1: IF W > LV THEN W =  0: GOSUB 350
110 K =  PEEK (KB): IF K >  = H THEN POKE KC,H:K = K – H: GOSUB 300
190  GOTO 100
200 PY = PY * A2: VLIN PY,PY + A1 AT PX: RETURN
225 PY = PY * A2: HLIN X1,X2 AT PY: HLIN X1,X2 AT PY + A1: RETURN

300  ON E(K) GOTO 30000,330,340,350,360,30100
310  RETURN
330 X = X – 1: GOTO 400
340 X = X + 1: GOTO 400
350 DN = 1:Y = Y + 1: GOSUB 400:DN = 0: RETURN
360 S = S + 1: IF S / 4 =  INT (S / 4) THEN S = S – 4
400  GOSUB 500
410  GOSUB 800: IF F = 0 THEN X = XX:Y = YY:S = SS: GOSUB 420: IF DN
THEN  GOSUB 900
420  COLOR= CF: FOR PP = 1 TO 4:PX = X + X(S,PP):PY = Y + Y(S,PP):
GOSUB 200: NEXT PP:XX =X:YY = Y:SS = S:D = 0: RETURN

500  IF DD THEN  RETURN
510  COLOR= CB: FOR PP = 1 TO 4:PX = XX + X(SS,PP):PY = YY +Y(SS,PP):
GOSUB 200: NEXT PP:DD = 0: RETURN

800 F = 1: FOR PP = 1 TO 4:PY = Y + Y(S,PP): ON ( FN PC(X + X(S,PP)) >
0) GOTO 805: NEXTPP: RETURN
805 F = 0: RETURN
850 F = 1: RETURN
900 P = 10: GOSUB 30300
905 RN = 0:Y = YM
910 X = XL
920 PY = Y: IF  FN PC(X) = CB THEN950
930 X = X + 1: IF X <  = XR THEN920
940 R(RN) = Y:RN = RN + 1
950 Y = Y – 1: IF Y >  = 0 THEN 910
960  IF RN THEN  GOSUB 30400
970 Y = 0
980 X =  INT ((XR – XL) / 2) + XL

985 S =  INT ( RND (1) * NS):CF =C(S):S = S * 4
990  GOSUB 800: IF F THEN  RETURN
995  GOTO 31000

1000  DIM E(127),X(27,4),Y(27,4),R(40)
1010  TEXT : HOME : GR
1011  PRINT “WELCOME…”
1014 LM = 10
1015 XM = 10:YM = 15
1016 XL =  INT ((40 – XM) / 2)
1017 XR = XL + XM – 1
1021 A1 = 1
1022 A2 = 2
1030  DEF  FN PC(X) =  SCRN( X,PY * A2)
1040 CB = 0
1050 XX = 20:YY = 0:SS = 0

1100 KB =  – 16384
1110 KC =  – 16368
1120 H = 128
1129  REM KEYBOARD ACTIONS
1130  REM QUIT
1131 E( ASC (“Q”)) = 1
1132 E( ASC (“Q”) – 64) = 1
1140  REM MOVE LEFT
1141 E(8) = 2
1142 E( ASC (“,”)) = 2
1150  REM MOVE RIGHT
1151 E(21) = 3
1152 E( ASC (“.”)) = 3
1160  REM MOVE DOWN
1161 E(32) = 4
1162 E( ASC (“Z”)) = 4
1170  REM ROTATE
1171 E( ASC (“R”)) = 5
1172 E(13) = 5
1173 E( ASC (“A”)) = 5
1179  REM PAUSE GAME
1180 E( ASC (“P”)) = 6
1181 E( ASC (“P”) – 64) = 6
1185  GOSUB 2000
1186  GOSUB 1300
1190  PRINT “PRESS ANY KEY TO START…”
1191  PRINT
1192  PRINT “PRESS Q TO QUIT.”
1193  GOTO 31020

1299  REM DRAW THE GAME
1300  COLOR= 4: FOR I = 0 TO 19:X1 = 0:X2 = 39:PY = I: GOSUB225: NEXT
1320  COLOR= CB: FOR I = 0 TO YM:X1 = XL:X2 = XR:PY = I: GOSUB225:
NEXT
1350  RETURN

1400  DATA 1
1401  DATA 0,0,1,0,0,1,1,1
1402  DATA 0,0,1,0,0,1,1,1
1403  DATA 0,0,1,0,0,1,1,1
1404  DATA 0,0,1,0,0,1,1,1
1410  DATA 2
1411  DATA 0,1,1,1,2,1,3,1
1412  DATA 1,0,1,1,1,2,1,3
1413  DATA 0,1,1,1,2,1,3,1
1414  DATA 1,0,1,1,1,2,1,3
1420  DATA 12
1421  DATA 1,1,0,1,1,0,2,1
1422  DATA 1,1,0,1,1,0,1,2
1423  DATA 1,1,0,1,2,1,1,2
1424  DATA 1,1,1,0,2,1,1,2
1430  DATA 13
1431  DATA 1,1,0,1,2,1,0,2
1432  DATA 1,1,1,0,1,2,2,2
1433  DATA 1,1,0,1,2,1,2,0
1434  DATA 1,1,1,0,1,2,0,0

1440  DATA 9
1441  DATA 1,1,0,1,2,1,2,2
1442  DATA 1,1,1,0,1,2,2,0
1443  DATA 1,1,0,1,2,1,0,0
1444  DATA 1,1,1,0,1,2,0,2
1450  DATA 3
1451  DATA 1,1,1,0,0,0,2,1
1452  DATA 1,1,1,0,0,1,0,2
1453  DATA 1,1,1,0,0,0,2,1
1454  DATA 1,1,1,0,0,1,0,2
1460  DATA 6
1461  DATA 1,1,0,1,1,0,2,0
1462  DATA 1,1,0,1,0,0,1,2
1463  DATA 1,1,0,1,1,0,2,0
1464  DATA 1,1,0,1,0,0,1,2

1990  DATA -1
2000 X = 0:Y = 0
2010 NS = 0
2020  READ C: IF C <  >  – 1 THENC(NS) = C: FOR J = 0 TO 3: FORI = 1
TO 4: READ X(NS * 4 +J,I): READ Y(NS * 4 + J,I): NEXTI: NEXT J:NS = NS
+ 1: GOTO2020
2030  RETURN
21210 P = 1: RETURN
30000  TEXT : HOME : END
30100  HOME
30110  PRINT “GAME PAUSED.  PRESS P TO CONTINUE…”
30120 P = 1
30130 K =  PEEK (KB): IF K >  = H THEN  POKE KC,H:K = K – H:
GOSUB30200
30140  IF P THEN 30130
30150  HOME
30160  PRINT “SCORE “;SC; TAB( 21);”LEVEL “;LM – LV + 1
30170  RETURN

30200  ON E(K) GOTO 30000,30210,30210,30210,30210,30220
30210  RETURN
30220 P = 0
30230  RETURN

30300 SC = SC + P
30310  VTAB 21: HTAB 7
30320  PRINT SC;
30330  RETURN
30400 RN = RN – 1
30410  FOR C = 0 TO 32
30415  COLOR= C
30420  FOR I = 0 TO RN:X1 = XL:X2 = XR:PY = R(I): GOSUB 225: NEXTI
30430  FOR I = 0 TO 2: NEXT I
30440  NEXT C
30450  FOR I = 0 TO RN
30460 Y = R(I) + I
30470 YP = Y – 1: FOR X = XL TO XR:PY = YP: COLOR=  FN PC(X):PX = X:PY
= Y: GOSUB 200: NEXTX:Y = Y – 1: IF Y > 0 THEN 30470
30480 P = 100: GOSUB 30300
30490  NEXT I
30495  RETURN
31000  VTAB 22: PRINT
31010  PRINT “              GAME OVER”
31020 P = 1
31030 K =  PEEK (KB): IF K >  = H THEN  POKE KC,H:K = K – H:
GOSUB31200
31040  IF P THEN 31030
31050 D = 1
31060 SC = 0:LV = LM
31070  GOSUB 30150
31080  GOSUB 1300
31090  GOTO 905
31200  ON E(K) GOTO 30000
31210 P = 0: RETURN

===========End of Listing=============

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

Mar 22 2010

Super Star Trek for the Apple ][

by Wade Clarke

This is my ‘new’ (IE previously unreleased anyplace) version of Super Star Trek for the Apple II

Time to share another old game of mine with folks in the internet age :)

You can download the disk image here:

http://home.iprimus.com.au/bloomer/STARTREK.zip

In 1995 I put together this version of ye olde ‘Super Star Trek’ game, using pseudo-animated mousetext graphics and some nice sound effects.  The interface is also friendly, you just tap a key to do most things.

The game mechanics are from the version of ‘Super Star Trek’ from David Ahl’s ‘Basic Computer Games’. As a tiny kid I loved this book, but I was always too daunted/scared to type in the SST listing – it was just too huge.

In ’95 I was in university, and I decided to tackle the typing in of that old game, but in the process of doing it, I was now canny enough to be able to make my updates on the fly. It was a fascinating process as I was updating a game I’d never played, thus I didn’t fully know how it played or worked while I was modifying it. Anyway I think the result is pretty cool, and fun to play today. I like the fact you can put in non integer values for your warp speed, course direction and torpedo launch directions. It’s often helpful or necessary to do so, as well.

The instructions, if you ask for them, can seem interminable. I almost wonder now if you’re better off just trying to play the game immediately… but they are there to explain any fine details if you need them.

Also on the disk is ‘Operation Mouse’, my friend and I’s cheapo attempt to begin to program something like Operation Wolf with mousetext graphics. It was an experiment and is maybe good for one laugh, but not actually any good!

The disk is available for free download from:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/bloomer/STARTREK.zip

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

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