Author: Bill Martens
Tom Charelsworth has updated the Applewin Apple II Emulator. Version 1.27.0.0 includes a host of changes and fixes including: Full release that rolls-up all the changes and fixes from the 1.26.2 & 1.26.3 experiment builds. Changes to the system include: [Change #428] Added Config Input option to use PC Joystick 1 Thumbstick 2 for emulated Joystick 2 play Nick Westgate’s updated Robotron using gamepads with two analog thumbsticks, eg. Logitech F310, PS4 DualShock 4, Xbox controller [Change #528] Improved logging…
Eventbrite has announced the 2018 rendition of the Seattle Retro Gaming Expo. The Expo which takes place each year at Seattle Pacific Science Center is considered to be one of the largest retro gaming conventions in the Pacific Northwest. According to the website, SRGE 2018 dives in to the nuts & bolts of what makes retro gaming fun: playing your favorite games with friends, learning about retro gaming, collecting and trading games, multiplayer tournaments where everyone is in the same…
During the past week, I have been re-visiting a number of the original Apple II archives which we produced here at A.P.P.L.E. during my testing with John Morris’ Applesauce. In the bunches of floppies, I found one disk labeled mysteriously “March Special E-Base Program“. Initially, I thought it might be an old database program that never came to light, however, to my surprise, it was the original Eamon version 2.1 Base Program which was modified by John Nelson and Robert…
ReactiveMicro has announced the latest version of their Rom Reader adapter. The 9316A Rom Reader Adapter V.1.2, produced by Henry Courbis is now available from the ReactiveMicro website: v1.2 of the adapter now has 300 mil wide square pins which are gold plated. This new version of the adapter comes fully assembled from the manufacture. We have also found a new way to assemble … For more information or to purchase the new 9316A Rom Reader Adapter, go to: https://www.reactivemicro.com/2018/01/29/new-product-version-9316a-rom-reader-adapter-v1-2/
The CFFA 3000 card Run # 5 is now in progress. The CFFA 3000 card, produced by R&D Automation LLC is an Apple II series card which allows users to use Compact Flash or USB thumb drives in their machines as a mass storage device. According to the R&D Automation website, Great news! Today we verified that 4 CFFA3000 “first-article” units off the assembly line function perfectly in two Apple IIgs computers. The assembler is now in the process of…
A gathering of Apple II hobbyists from around Japan this week put together one of the most interesting events this Apple guy has been to yet. While most events tend to put together schedules that are structured and adhered to religiously, the schedule for this event was pretty much out the window the minute people started unpacking. After paying our 2000 yen fee for the event and receiving our lanyards with photographic name tags, we started the event with a…
Chris Vavruska has announced the immediate availability of his Apple II gs tool, Clip Copy Plus. He made the program available this morning with an announcement on the Apple II gs group. After many years away from the GS I am proud to announce the release of Clip Copy Plus V1.0. Clip Copy Plus is a Finder extension that brings the convenient ability to cut, copy and paste files of modern operating systems to the Apple IIGS. Clip Copy Plus…
The annual BASIC 10 liner programming contest is now under way. This contest allows users to write 10 line BASIC programs on any platform that they choose. The lines must conform with one of the contests three categories: 80 character, 120 character, or 256 character (extreme) programs. The contest runs from now until 24 March with the judging to occur there after and prizes given on the 7th of April. The rules according to the contest website: 1. Loading of…
An enterprising Apple II fan on Facebook, “Kboo HK” has released a video of her latest creation, The Apple II+ Mini. This hand built Apple II+ actually is the size of an old school Gameboy or there about and while it’s size is diminutive, the things it can do are actually quite amazing. The main board can actually control the standard Apple 5.25 inch Floppy Disk interface card, and run a real floppy drive or more logical, the FloppyEmu. The…
David Schmenk has released the latest developers preview of his PLASMA programming environment. The third version of the 1.0 developers preview includes a few changes and fixes. PLASMA is a modern high level programming language for the Apple II, which has been in development for the past 12 years. Along with David Schmenk, a host of other participants over the years have had a hand in making PLASMA what it is including the following: Martin Haye: PLASMA programmer extraordinaire. Mr….
The latest version of MacTracker has been released. The Ian Page produced MacTracker app contains information on all of Apple’s products over the years including the latest offerings, allows users to accurately check the specifications for a particular product. Included in this updates are the following new Apple Products: The iMac Pro 2017 Model The iPhone X It also includes information on the latest operating system releases and updates the support status for Apple’s products which are newly specified as…
Update: In the June 2002 issue of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine we apparently fell asleep at the wheel and a program which I wrote for demonstration of a simple task of manipulating images between floppies. The original program in the magazine is wrong and will not work no matter how hard one tries. It helps, if we use the correct BASIC command. And thus here, in the spirit of our old magazine column’s name, we try to Write the Wrongs for our…
David Schmenk has released a second developer preview of PLASMA 1.0. This release includes a number of minor fixes and optimizations including a bevy of them from Peter Ferrie and John Brooks. The PLASMA Preview #2 1.0 System disk has been updated and is available for download from the PLASMA website. This release, while not initially intended for release, has its performance increased by 11.2 percent. It also adds a number of fixes to its clock support. For more information,…
The Mini vMac emulator version 3.5.8, although not officially announced, is available for download from the Gryphel project website. Mini vMac emulates a Mac Plus on multiple platforms and can run up to Mac OS 7.5.5. The Gryphel project, run by Paul Pratt, also now has a variations service which will compile the latest version of Mini vMac for your machine. For more information about the Gryphel Project, check out their website at: http://www.gryphel.com To download the latest version of…
The Eaten by a Grue Podcast, produced by Carrington Vanston and Kevin Savetz has released their 15th episode of the podcast. This episode covers the Infocom game, Pludered Hearts. You can listed to the podcast in its entirety on the Eaten by a Grue website at: http://monsterfeet.com/grue/notes/15
Have you ever wondered what the meaning of that long serial number on your Apple II gs meant? Well now, thanks to Apple II gs enthusiast Jeffery Yeary, you can know instantly what it means by entering your serial number at the Apple II gs Decoder website. The sample serial number from above, which is from one of the cases we have here at A.P.P.L.E., produced the following results: The Apple II gs Decoder site literally can tell you everything…
Rich Dreher, owner and operator of R&D Automation LLC, has posted an update on the next run (RUN 5) of the CFFA 3000 project. According to the R&D Automation website, Finally the remainder of the parts are on their way, via FedEx, to the assember. They will conduct an inventory count, and if the part counts are correct begin assembly of Run#5! This process will take about 4 weeks + a week to ship the boards back to me, if…
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Ricardo Macri’s Drum8 project. The program which runs on an Apple II computer, is an 8 bit drum machine which allows real time graphics based editing using either single or quad channel DAC configurations. To use Drum8, you will need an Apple II S.A.M card or any Apple II sound/DAC card, which, if you dont have one, can be built using plans from the Drum8 website. The Drum8 software can be downloaded…
The WOZ format, the mainstay of the Applesauce project by John Morris, has been officially released. This new format for reading and writing Apple II floppy disks allows emulators to more accurately reflect the actual data on an Apple II floppy disk and disk image. Version 1.0 of the format document is now available for download to developers via John’s website at: http://evolutioninteractive.com/applesauce/woz_reference.pdf
For those of you who write adventure games or interactive fiction, there is another contest out there. The Spring Thing was announced and run by Aaron Reed and the entry deadline is 1 March 2018. Initially held in 2002, The Spring Thing is intended to be an event which brings interactive fiction writers together. This Main Festival Games need to comply with the following forms: New: your game should be unreleased at the time the festival opens. Finished: the game…
