User Group Membership – Joining our User Group has many benefits, such as our new full-color Call-A.P.P.LE. magazine that is usually around 50 pages with lots of photos, technical articles, reviews, and interviews with legends of the industry. You also have access to all previous issues published back to 1978. Additionally, the Apple User Group Bulletin we share has discounts on software for your Mac from a variety of vendors around the Apple world. If you are not an A.P.P.L.E….
William Winter has released a new Adventure creation studio which produces Apple II adventures in the form of ready disks and Applesoft BASIC programs as well as other formats: Here is the announcement posted by William: “Hi everyone, I’m a little nervous posting this because it’s the first larger project I’ve put out into the world, but I thought the community might appreciate it. I built a web tool called Apple 2 Adventure Studio that lets you create classic text adventure games for…
The PunyInform Library for writing 8-bit adventures has been updated. This is a major bug fix version with a number of fixes and changes including the following items: Bugfixes: If you are upgrading from a prior version of the library, be sure to note the following: The PunyInform Library is a free download and can be downloaded from the PunyInform Github page at:https://github.com/johanberntsson/PunyInform
New Web-Based Utility Brings Classic Z-Machine Text Adventures to Authentic 5.25″ Floppy Images for Apple II Hardware and Emulators The A.P.P.L.E. (Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange) Users Group, is pleased to announce the immediate launch of the Apple II Infocom Disk Image Creator (InfocomGen), a free online tool that instantly converts Z-machine story files into bootable 5.25″ Apple II disk images. Available immediately at https://www.callapple.org/zgen/, the drag-and-drop web application allows users to upload any .z3 or .z5 file and receive…
Kelvin Sherlock has released the latest update to the Ample Mac OS MAME Emulation Interface. Version 0.286 brings the following updates and changes to the Ample emulation interface: A2retroNET is a Super Serial Card that also supports 8 prodos/smartport disk images.It’s probably the easiest and simplest way to use a large number of disk images.You might want to back up your disk images just in case though. Note: Previous versions apple2gs and apple3 roms will need to be updated. You…
Finally, there is a daisy-chainable smartport MicroSD hard drive that lets Apple II users have their cake (and Floppies) too. In the Apple retro computing realm, few frustrations run deeper than the eternal trade-off on an Apple IIc: massive storage or your trusty floppy drives? You always had to pick one, that is until now. Entering into the fray is the new BurgerDisk, the brainchild of Apple II legend Colin Leroy-Mira, a sleek, a fully open-source SmartPort based hard drive…
The A2kit version 4.1 is released. A2kit is an open source, script-able command line interface for disk image and language manipulations, and the engine behind a number of editor extensions for Apple II languages. This update adds a “smart copy” command that allows you to shuttle files between disk images and normal storage with less typing and less thinking. It works much like the cp command familiar to linux users, but it will analyze the disk images and the files…
Henry Lowe has announced the latest version of his Card Cat application. Card Cat identifies cards in the slots of Apple II series machines and can accurately identify over 100 different Apple II series specific cards. The latest version of Card Cat includes the following changes and updates: Card Cat version 1.92 is a free download and is available in both DSK and PO format disk image from the Card Cat webpage at: https://henrylowe.net/card-cat/
Emmanuel Castello has announced the availability of a playable demo version of his Ultima style game, Andoria. According to his post, “Hello everyone from the A2SE group. After years of videos and pictures, I am happy to share the first Demo Version of my Ultima RPG Game, Andoria. https://andoria.neocities.org On this link you will find a quick introduction of the game, as well as basic instructions on the gameplay. I hope you enjoy that demo, even if it is a…
From Jawaid bazyar:I’m pleased to announce the release of GSSquared 0.7.0. GSSquared is an Apple II series computer emulator. Supported platforms are: Pre-built binaries available for: New for this release is the Apple IIgs support. Here’s what the IIgs includes, and does not include: Includes: ‘816 CPU, accelerated speeds up to 14MHz, ADB Mouse + Keyboard, partially-working Ensoniq Sound, Disk II and Block Device models; text, background, border colors; SHR; VBL, 1/4 sec, 1 sec, scb interrupts; two-button mouse support…
Gunnar Kanold has announced the 2026 rendition of the Homeputerium Annual BASIC 10-Liner Programming Contest. Running through the 22nd of March with the winners announced on the 3rd of April 2026. The contest is open to users of all 8-Bit platforms. This year’s rules and categories are as follows: 15th Edition of BASIC 10 Liner Contest Legal systems: All 8-bit computer systems This explicitly includes, for the first time this year, systems that have only an 8-bit-wide data bus: Authorized…
Kelvin Sherlock has released the latest version of the Ample MAME emulation interface for Mac OS. Several experimental items have been added in this version and changes include the following: A2retroNET is a Super Serial Card that also supports 8 prodos/smartport disk images.It’s probably the easiest and simplest way to use a large number of disk images.You might want to back up your disk images just in case though.— The Ample App is available for free download from the Github…
In 1984, Apple Computer unleashed one of the most groundbreaking television commercials in history—a 60-second spot that not only introduced the Macintosh personal computer but also redefined advertising forever. Directed by renowned filmmaker Ridley Scott, the advertisement titled “1984” drew inspiration from George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, portraying a heroic figure shattering the oppressive grip of conformity. Airing just once during the Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, it captured the imagination of millions and cemented Apple’s reputation…
Paul Wasson has announced an update for his Apple II game, Froggo. According to the announcement: “Thanks everybody for all the support for Froggo. I’ve been blown away with all the nice feedback. Seems like people like my silly game. I made a new release to address some of the issues raised. See the webpage for the complete release notes, but here are some highlights: Please let me know if you find any other issues. And thanks for playing.” The…
Jeremy Reichmänner has produced a fun little throwback to the 1980’s with his release of the Apple II text adventure game, Escape from Daracenstein. Filled with all of the fun bits of American Society of those days, anyone who loves thing from that era will enjoy this game. The game was written entirely in Applesoft BASIC and through a release of several versions of the game, Jeremy has worked it into a fun reminder of simpler times. Be sure and…
BurgerDisk is a Smartport hard drive for the Apple II. Its main unique feature is that it is daisy-chainable.
Paul Wasson has announced the immediate availability of his new Apple II game, Froggo. According to the press release: Announcing FROGGO a new fast retro action game for the Apple //e. Available today for download! See https://www.lasermego.com/a2sw/froggo for download link and more information. Features *Complete challenge mode for an additional bonus level!
For those Mac OS users who have downloaded the latest version of the Virtual II Emulator, you will need to download the latest update to it. The Virtual II version 13.1.1 release addresses an issue, introduced in version 13.1, that caused some Apple II programs to fail. This latest version is available from the Virtual II Emulator website at:https://virtualii.com/
The Ample MAME interface for MacOS has been updated. Ample Version 0.284 brings the interface into line with the current release of the MAME Emulator. Also included in this version of Ample is the ability to match the MAME ability to select one of the options for the Apple II/II+ keyboard. If you use one of the alternate keyboards for you apple II emulation, you will need to download the updated apple2.zip file. All ROMs are downloadable from within the Ample…
Gerard Putter has announced the immediate availability of the latest version of the Virtual II Emulator, a full featured, shareware Apple II emulator for the Mac. This release addresses a number of issues reported by users of the emulator and included the following changes and updates: Further information about the Virtual II emulator, license information for the full Virtual II package and downloads of the latest update for the emulator can be found on the Virtual II website at:https://www.virtualii.com/
