Author: Brian Wiser
Gary Graham has painstakingly created a new OpenType Font Collection for Apple II fans – Apple II Pro. The package includes eight typefaces: Apple II Pro, Display Pro, ALT Pro, Display ALT Pro, and their inverted “Neg” counterparts. Additionally, Gary has crafted an impressive guide that details every aspect of these fonts. According to his documentation, “Apple II Pro is a vastly expanded version of the original Apple IIc and Apple IIe internal character sets, including MouseText, all combined into…
Seattle, Washington — October 23, 2020 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) is proud to announce the availability of a new manual for the “Beyond Quest“ game written by Bill Martens in 1985 and completed in 2020. Beyond Quest is an all-text RPG game that’s the most old school fun you will have with your Apple II computer. Adapted from the Quest 1 engine by Brian Reynolds, it builds on the original with a new backstory, objective, improved menus,…
A new book about Sierra On-Line has been released by Ken Williams titled, “Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The Rise and Fall of Sierra On-Line.” Upon first glance, it looks to be a very informative overview of the inspirations and experiences of Ken and Roberta Williams at Sierra. According to the press release, “Sierra On-Line was one of the very first computer game companies, and at one time dominated the industry. The author, Ken Williams, founded Sierra On-Line…
John Snape has remastered the Apple II programming classics “Beneath Apple DOS” and “Beneath Apple ProDOS” and put them in one 450 page volume titled “Beneath Apple DOS and ProDOS 2020.” Remastering a book is no small effort, as I well know, and John has done a fine job of preserving and upgrading the work of authors Don Worth and Pieter Lechnner. Besides re-typesetting everything, he has redrawn the figures and tables. John also put his own special touch on…
An unexpected highlight at KansasFest 2020 was the introduction of a speedy, new Apple II emulator by Tamas Rudnai, dubbed “Steve ][.” Written for macOS Mojave and later, Steve ][ has a modern interface with many options and works with the popular WOZ format. According to Tamas, “Steve ][ tributes the two co-founders of Apple, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Wozniak was the evil genius hardware designer and inventor, while Jobs was the brilliant marketing and visionary person behind the…
Writing this tribute to Mike Harvey of Nibble magazine is long overdue for me. It’s overdue largely because of avoidance – Mike’s passing hit me especially hard when I learned about it on December 31, 2019. It’s interesting how the unexpected can happen. Sometimes in life the choices one makes lead to a path that unexpectedly becomes a journey. I had the extreme pleasure of working with Mike over several months in 2016 while creating and editing the “Nibble Viewpoints” book…
Seattle, Washington — July 24, 2020 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) is proud to announce the availability of a beautiful new 127 page manual for “Twilight II: The Ultimate Screensaver for Your Apple IIGS.” Twilight II was programmed by Jim R. Maricondo in 1993 and went through several revisions, eventually reaching a 2.0 beta. The new release 2.0 is the culmination of many efforts, with Antoine Vignau fixing bugs and compiling this final version in 2020. Bill Martens…
Seattle, Washington — July 24, 2020 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) is proud to announce the availability of a new manual for “Higher Text Plus” written by Ron Aldrich and Darrell Aldrich in 1980. Generate upper and lower case text in a variety of typefaces, sizes, and colors from your programs for display on the Apple II hi-resolution screen. Features an easy-to-use editor for creation of your own unique character sets, with over 90 fonts included. Several additional…
Seattle, Washington — July 24, 2020 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) is proud to announce the availability of a new manual for “Ampermanager: Amper Soft & DOS Manager” written by Rick Sutcliffe in 1983. Ampermanager enhances the BASIC programming language on the Apple II by interfacing machine language routines directly to Applesoft with the ampersand (&) command. Three additional utilities will help you write EXEC files, launch commands from menus, and read or write disk blocks in…
Seattle, Washington — July 24, 2020 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) is proud to announce the availability of a new manual for “ProCMD: The Commander” written by Glen Bredon in 1987. From the author who gave us Big Mac comes ProCMD: The Commander – a set of ProDOS utilities and 25 new ProDOS commands that greatly increase the power and flexibility of ProDOS in your Apple II. And you can create your own modules! Additional commands are included…
Seattle, Washington — July 24, 2020 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) is proud to announce the availability of a new manual for “ProZAP: A ProDOS Block Read/Write Utility” written by Gary Charpentier, Val J. Golding, Greg Kielian, and David Sparks in 1984. ProZAP is a ProDOS block read/write utility that is your key to unlocking many of the mysteries of Apple II disk directories, files and programs. It uses intrinsic ProDOS routines to read, edit and write any…
The most noteworthy book I designed and edited this year was “Graphically Speaking: Enhanced Edition” by Mark Pelczarski, and there are some fun stories to share about its development. The book teaches graphics programming on the Apple II, compiling his “Graphically Speaking” tutorial columns that appeared in Softalk magazine. This new “Enhanced Edition” includes a new preface from the author, remastered and unseen Penguin Software art, penguin trivia, and a redesigned interior. When Bill suggested that we should publish this…
Much like my experience at KansasFest every year, the people who attend are one of the best reasons for going beyond the fun and informative sessions. Before I share some fun photos highlighting a few people in “KansasFest 2019: Special Moments,” I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the hard work and new products that led to my annual KansasFest attendance and presentation. This encompasses five new books, six manuals, and a limited edition box for the…
At KansasFest, Woz is always with us in spirit as is the friendliness and generosity of those attending. This was the first year I arrived on Monday and enjoyed having an extra day to ease into the week. I spent several hours touring the beautiful Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and chatting with others. Steve Weyhrich brought some tasty, homemade Apple cookies to welcome everyone. The rest of the week encompassed a variety of fun and expected experiences. Jordan Mechner of…
The July 2018 KansasFest was the seventh I’ve attended and spoken at. Every year, there are so many friendly, knowledgeable and helpful people who stand out and make the event what it is. And that’s why I keep coming back – awesome people! I spent many long months before KansasFest working with Roger Wagner and Lane Roathe, while designing and editing the new “Apple’s Apprentice” and “Tome of Copy Protection” books, and enjoyed getting know them a bit better. Friends…
Orbitrack for iOS lets you explore spacecraft in orbit using augmented and virtual reality. From the original developer of the SkySafari apps, Orbitrack 2.2 includes new graphics, detailed 3D spacecraft models, illustrated mission descriptions, and a database of more than 8,000 satellites updated daily from n2yo.com and celestrak.com. Orbitrack includes many classified military satellites, and SpaceX’s new Starlink mega-communications-satellite constellation. Both visual and radio observers will appreciate Orbitrack’s up-to-date catalog, which includes frequencies and call signs for amateur radio satellites,…
Seattle, Washington — July 19, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has released their new book “All About DOS: Enhanced Edition.” As a guide to DOS 3.3 for the Apple II, All About DOS contains many useful programs and in-depth topics. This new Enhanced Edition, encompassing over 560 pages, is improved with a new design, art, glossary, and technical appendices. It includes a wide variety of references and how-to’s, making it a great reference for Apple II programmers….
Seattle, Washington — July 19, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has released their new book “All About Pascal: Enhanced Edition.” As a guide to the Pascal language for the Apple II, All About Pascal contains a wide range of useful programs and in-depth topics. This new Enhanced Edition, encompassing over 180 pages, is improved with new art, a glossary, and maintains most of the original layout with enhanced scans. It features many example programs, references, and how-to’s…
Seattle, Washington — July 9, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Brian Wiser are proud to announce the immediate availability of his new book “The Etch-a-Sketch and Other Fun Programs.” This is a collection of his Apple II software programmed when he was a student. BASIC and machine language programming were once taught in schools, and here you’ll find a variety of useful graphics, education, utility, and game software. The author also shares fun stories about his…
Seattle, Washington — July 8, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has released a newly designed manual for “Signature GS” by Duilio Proni. Signature GS is a collection of Control Panels (CDEVs) that make your Apple IIGS easier and more fun to use by adding a Screen Blanker, a Desktop Pattern Editor, a Sound Selector, and a Boot Setup Utility to GS/OS version 5.0 or later. Originally published by Quality Computers, Inc. in 1992, this redesigned edition was…
