Category: Apple IIgs

Brutal Deluxe Software Releases fEDD Up Version 2.3

From the realm of Antoine Vignau: i’m fEDD up goes v2.3 and now supports RamWorks 8M from a2heaven.com: – You can load your 5.25″ floppies in a single pass, that may help create images of sync’ed titles, – We have added more messages for Brian Wiser 😉 Get your copy @ http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2/imfEDDup/ Next step is sync support for AppleSauce!

New Uthernet Coming Soon

A new Uthernet card for the Apple II series, announced through the A2Retro mailing list, set the date of sale for the cards as Late February.   In the email from the Uthernet creator, Glenn Jones, he says Hi, I am currently sending a refreshed PCB design out for new boards. When I get them back and build a few to do thorough testing to ensure no regressions, I will then be placing an order for additional stock. These boards will…

John Brooks Develops $52 Byte Apple II gs Text Scroller

An intriguing post on twitter today caught my eye.  John Brooks, creator of ProDOS 2.4.1 has released a short program which scrolls Apple II gs text at 130 frames per second at 2.8 MHz. John is known not only for his recently released updates to the ProDOS operating system but also for his Bitsy Bye file manager on the Apple II series and the A.P.P.L.E. produced TurtleSoft ProDOS version as well as his old days fame for The Apple II…

ADTPro 2.0.2 Released

David Schmidt has announced the immediate availability of ADTPro 2.0.2.  The latest update includes ProDOS 2.4.1 as the base operating system as well as a host of other new features and bug fixes including: New functionality: Support added for Uthernet II based on new integrated IP65 library from Oliver Schmidt (http://oliverschmidt.github.io/ip65/) Integrated John Brooks’ ProDOS 2.4.1 as base operating system for all ADTPro actions (Speediboot, text bootstrapping, base disks, etc.) [VDrive] Uthernet II virtual Ethernet driver from Oliver Schmidt that…

What Is The Apple IIgs Site Adds New Titles to Archive

The What is the Apple IIgs website has announced that there are a number of new additions to their 8-bit floppy archive.   The site is one of the largest Apple IIgs specific websites and archives all of the floppies, documentation, and packaging covers.   For more on the latest additions check out the news page at: http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/more-8-bit-on-3-5-disk-software-added-and-just-in-time-for-christmas/?stage=Live

Manila Gear Announces Third Batch of Apple IIGS VGA Adapters For Pre-Order

The second batch of Apple IIGS VGA Adapters shipped out last week and should now be in their new happy homes. We love hearing about what monitor you are using with the adapter: “Per your recommendation, I am using the adaptor with a Samsung 712N and it is working as advertised. This came just in time for me to fix up a ROM1 GS that I’m going to give to my son-in-law for Christmas.” – Bill from Pottstown, PA Thank you…

ManilaGear ready to ship 4soniq 4-Channel Sound Card

ManilaGear, a new Apple II hardware maker, is readying his new 4soniq 4-Channel Sound Card, a beautiful and functional sound card for the IIgs. The 4soniq gives you four separate channels of sound for your Apple IIgs, instead of the usual one. Each of the 32 oscillators available in the Apple IIgs’ Ensoniq Digital Oscillator Chip (DOC) can be assigned to play on any one of 8 output channels. One 4soniq card unlocks 4 of those channels. Pair it with a second…

A2Server 1.2.5 Released

The Apple II program server for the Raspberry Pi, A2Server has been updated.   According to the posting on Facebook from Ivan Drucker, the author, this update includes fixes and also installs the latest GS/OS Releases. A2SERVER 1.2.5 is now available. Its main new feature is to offer to install GS/OS 6.0.1 for network boot (as it did before), as well as community releases 6.0.2 and 6.0.3. It also now includes HFS.FST with the install, and has a handful of…

A2heaven store opens!

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Пламен Вайсилов’s VGA adapter for the //c. Needless to say, a lot of people was asking how to get one. Now the website’s store is finally open! Head up to a2heaven Store and get all your goodies from the Bulgarian Woz!  

What Is The Apple II GS Releases A Bevy of Updates

The What is The Apple II GS website has announced a number of updates to it’s database.  Owned and operated by Alex Lee, the site has been updated with  a host of items from Andrew Roughan, Antoine Vignau, Francois Michaud, Herbert Fung among others covering both hardware peripherals and software for the Apple IIgs.  One of the highlights includes a scan of 2400AD 8-bit version on 3.5″ floppy disk which was provided by Wade Clarke with manual scans provided by…

VNCview GS 1.0b2 Released with Source Code

Stephen Heumann, author of the virtual computing client, VNCview GS, recently announced an update and the open sourcing of his client software.  He updated the program to version 1.0b2 and simultaneously released the software on GitHub. From:    Stephen Heumann <stephen.heumann@gmail.com> Newsgroups:    comp.sys.apple2 Subject:    Announcing VNCview GS 1.0b2 – updated and open-sourced Date:    Tue, 29 Sep 2015 18:26:40 -0500 I recently dusted off the code for VNCview GS, the virtual network computing client for the Apple IIgs.  It allows you to…

Ciderpress Version 4.0.1 Released

Ciderpress version 4.0.1 has been released.  The update to the disk utility was posted on the Ciderpress website, however change notes were not available at press time.  Ciderpress is a Windows based utility for manipulation of Apple II disks and runs on all Windows system from XP to the latest version. Updates in Version 4.0.1 include the following items: Added support for displaying hi-res images compressed with LZ4FH. Fixed handling of semicolons in Merlin assembly source conversion. Fixed “find” feature…

New Visual Studio Language Service for Merlin32 Coming Soon

Oliver Guinart has announced a new Visual Studio language reference for the Merlin32 Assembler.  The announcement appeared in Oliver’s twitter feed last last night and promises some big things for the future of Apple IIgs programming. Prototype of a Visual Studio language service for Merlin32. Similar to the CC65 integration I demo’ed in France. pic.twitter.com/oZ2b2kBmzd — Olivier Guinart (@OlivierGuinart) August 26, 2015

Apple IIgs Raspberry PI Case Available

Charles Mangin has announced that his 1/3 scale Apple IIgs Raspberry PI case is now available.  Available for the price of $100.00 USD, the case is specifically built for the Raspberry PI 2 and the Model-B Plus.   Each case has been painted the original platinum color and  measures 113x95x38mm. A deluxe version of the case is available with scale model mouse and keyboard, or you can order a custom made case from Charles as well. For more information and…

Digital Antiquarian Reviews Leisure Suit Larry and Sierra

Jimmy Maher, curator of The Digital Antiquarian has released a very in depth review of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.  His article goes into quite a bit of detail about Ken Williams, Sierra, as well as the back lash that they faced with publishing the program.  The article also talks about Al Lowe and Mark Crowe’s involvement in the project and how it was kept under wraps in order to keep investors from dumping the…

Shining a Light on Retrobrite

After I gave a presentation on Retrobrite at KansasFest, people asked me to write about the process, never wrote about Retrobrite as there are so many articles and videos on the internet but finally found some time to write about it. There are many ways to Retrobrite.  I avoid submerging because it’s a waste of peroxide, and maybe toxic for the environment, also don’t wrap in plastic as it allows areas to wrinkle and get more concentrated than others, promoting…

Mike Westerfield Makes ORCA Products Available Again

From Facebook Apple II Enthusiasts Group: I know people have had trouble recently getting some of the old Byte Works products. I’m looking at a number of options, and wanted to gauge interest. All of our products that were produced at the Byte Works, and thus the ones we have clear copyright to, are on a CD called Opus ][. This includes ORCA/C, ORCA/Pascal, ORCA/M, and all of the support programs and so forth, but not ORCA/Modula 2. There are…

Apple II gs System 6.0.2 Press Review

Since the announcement of the availability of the newly-released Apple IIgs System 6.0.2 a week ago, over 22 years since the last release, the feedback has been positively awesome from all around the world.  That is great news for our active and enthusiastic Apple II community. CallApple.org news of the release has been featured on over 50 major blogs and related news sites with the announcement having been viewed over 800,000 times and the disk images downloaded more than 5000…

Announcing Apple IIgs System 6.0.2

What’s new for Apple IIgs System 6.0.2After 22 years, 2 months, 2 days and 2 hours since System 6.0.1 was released, this is a summary of the visible changes. There have been many bugs fixed and many features added that are not immediately visible–they will enable developers to create better future products.  Be sure to also read the Shortcuts file on the SystemTools3 disk for more information. Finder (see also Finder Help)The list is FSTs now includes the RDOS 3.3…

Another LCD monitor conversion: Apple Color Monitor IIe

Once again I converted a 15″ Apple Color Monitor IIe to a modern display, using a 15″ color LCD screen. I had to cut lots of plastic from the front plastic panel of the IIe monitor, but didn’t compromise the integrity of the plastics and locking mechanism. To solve the main issue – the curved screen, I added a black cardboard pieces to close the gaps with the flat screen. after several tries found it was the best approach keeping…