Author: A.P.P.L.E.

Henry Lowe has released the latest version of his Apple II card recognition software, Card Cat. Version 1.2 now has the ability to recognize more than 70 different peripheral cards in the Apple II computer. There also have been a number of bug fixes included in the latest release. Card Cat version 1.2 includes better detection for the new A2 Analog Cards. You can download the latest version of Card Cat from the Card Cat homepage at:https://henrylowe.net/card-cat/

A2Heaven, the Bulgarian manufacturer of Apple II and Retro Macintosh related products has announce a new Midi Interface. This Midi Interface is an Apple A9M0103 compatible interface which connects to the Apple IIgs, the Macintosh 512K Enhanced Macintosh Plus, Macintosh SE, or Macintosh II computer. According to the site, the A2Heaven Midi Interface should allow you to use products and software that run on the platforms in conjunction with music products that plug into the Midi port. Plamen Vayssilov, creator…

The Apple II History site is hosting an updated version of the Apple II Redbook, long considered to be one of the most important manuals in the history of the Apple II Computer. This updated version has been reproduced and upgraded with additional materials included from Apple II history. You can download the updated Redbook for the Apple II computer and get further information about the update from: https://www.apple2history.org/sdm_downloads/apple-ii-redbook-digital-edition-2023/

A.P.P.L.E. has introduced a new Apple II series computer related Games release page which lists games introduced over the past several years. While still in the works, the game page now contains 2022-203 games that have been released by some of the great programmers of the Apple II community. This collection is freely accessible to everyone. The goal of the page is to be a one stop shop for recent game releases announced on the A.P.P.L.E. website or in Call-A.P.P.L.E….

An announcement in the Apple II Software Enthusiasts group by Fabrizio Caruso heralds the 7th game created with the CrossLib library that allows games to be written quickly for more than 200 retro computing platforms. This library was highlighted last year in Call-A.P.P.P.L.E. magazine and has been in the works for a number of years now. According to the announcement: Hi everyone! I present Shuriken, the seventh game I have written in C with my Cross-Lib framework (https://github.com/Fabrizio-Caruso/CROSS-LIB), which provides…

The Applesauce Floppy Disk Controller client software has been updated. John Morris, the creator and curator of Applesauce FDC posted the following bit about the update in the Slack channel. From John Morris:

In a posting on the Kansasfest Discord by Andrew Roughan, The dates for the Australian Apple II event, OzKFest have been announced. According to the post, OzKFest – the located-in-Australia version of a Kansasfest-like event that happens less often will be happening this year. Announced dates are 25-29 October and will be focussed on an in-person event with the possibility of remote presenters. Kansasfest Discord Community Announcements Channel Information about the schedule and location chosen for the event, Portland, New…

Kelvin Sherlock has released the 47th update to his Ample interface for the MAME Emulator. Version 0.257 of the primarily Apple and Macintosh centric Ample interface includes the following updated or enhanced items: This latest release requires MacOS 10.13 or later and can be downloaded for free from the Ample Github Page at: https://github.com/ksherlock/ample. Ample also includes preliminary support for the Atari ST as well.

Steve Heumann announced the immediate release of ORCA/C 2.2.0, a major update to Mike Westerfield’s ORCA/C Compiler for the Apple IIgs. Some of the improvements in the ORCA/C compiler include the following items: According to the readme posted with the update, you can download the ORCA/C manual for free. The readme file and a detailed release notes file can also be downloaded from the ORCA/C Compiler GitHub site. For those users who are running ORCA/C, this update requires a minimum of ORCA/C…

A.P.P.L.E. and The Apple II Software Enthusiasts Group on Facebook are proud to announce the 2023 Take-1 Animated Movie Contest. Inspired by the recent release of Eric Iwasaki’s Space Voyagers 3000 movie, we have decided to have a contest and a film festival. For information about this contest and details of the rules and rewards, check out https://take1.applearchives.com/contest/

Henry Lowe, the programmer of Card Cat, has announced that version 1.1 is now available for download. The program is a machine card identifying program that runs on the Apple II computer. This update includes: This program has been tested on Apple II emulators as well as actual Apple II machines as well as clones and should work in just about any Apple II environment you are working in. If Card Cat finds a card with a signature but cannot…

In a groundbreaking development for the Apple IIGS community, Alex Lee and Jesse Blue have announced version v0.7 of their “What is the Apple IIGS? Launcher”, a revolutionary way enthusiasts can launch and play their favorite IIGS games. This release, announced as part of Kansasfest 2023, aims to address longstanding issues such as slow read and write speeds of 3.5” disks and compatibility problems between different operating systems and launching methods. The brainchild of a dedicated group of developers, this…

Tom Charlesworth has announced the release of the latest update to the Applewin Apple II Emulator for Windows based platforms. Applewin 1.30.15 includes a bevy of updates and fixes including the following items: If you would like to download the latest version of Applewin or for further information about the Applewin emulator, check out the GitHub page at:https://github.com/AppleWin/AppleWin

Notes from the Applesauce Floppy Disc Controller client software update: Improvements and Fixes in 1.85 You can download the latest version of the software through the Applesauce FDC Client or from the Applesauce website at: https://applesaucefdc.com/software/

Apple User Group Bulletin – July 17, 2023……………………………………………………………. Stories in this month’s blog: https://appleusergroupresources.com Ongoing Offers for User Group Members: -Offers for User Group Leaders: Thanks to Elsa Travisano, who provides member offers and codes on one easy-to-cut-and-paste page for newsletter editors.  Leaders can use the same password for leader offers. Please remember that leader offers are limited to one per group. Staff Questions? Comments? Tips for group leaders or members? Send them to ugbeditor@me.com ……………………………………………………………. Information about third-party offers…

Brendan Belina has been busy with his new bits of hypercard stacks and other goodies just in time for the pre-Kansasfest festivities or Christmas in July. According to his posting, : Recent releases posted on my Silverwand Software Apple II Forever page include updated versions of the HyperCard IIGS stacks Word Fu (a Wordle for English and French speakers), HyperTuneMaker (create tunes using a piano style keyboard), Xmas Display ’23 (songs and graphics displays for the Christmas season), and the…

Joshua Bell has announced the release of Version 1.3 of the community curated Apple II Desktop project. Apple II Desktop, originally known as Mouse Desk, is a fully graphical user interface for the Apple II series computers. The program is available in eight languages and includes support for a number of peripherals in the Apple II as well as Integer and Applesoft BASIC. You can download the latest version of the Apple II Desktop from the Release page at:https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d/releases/tag/v1.3 You…

Don Lancaster, a highly-revered figure in the microcomputer industry for the past six decades, peacefully passed away at age 83 on June 7, 2023, in Mesa, Arizona. Don’s contributions to the world of microcomputers were exceptional by any measure.  Probably his most notable early achievement was the creation of the “TV Typewriter,” a revolutionary device that utilized transistor-transistor logic (TTL) to display text on a TV screen. The TV Typewriter first appeared in the September 1973 issue of Radio Electronics.  This…

Gerard Putter, the developer behind the widely popular MAC OS based Virtual II emulator, has unveiled the latest version of the application, Virtual II Version 11.4. This new update introduces exciting features and improvements that enhance the user experience for Apple II enthusiasts.  Virtual II is a full featured shareware Apple II emulator that includes a number of capabilities not found in other emulators. One of the significant additions in Virtual II Version 11.4 is the emulation of the Applied…

From the Kansasfest Committee: Apple /// luminaries Wendell Sander and Dave Ottalini will join us at KansasFest. They will present at the virtual event on July 29-30 with question/answer time. Registration is open now for this rare gathering of expertise on early Apple computers. Individuals attending in Kansas City receive complimentary registration for the virtual event. Dr. Sander was an electrical engineer and scientist at Apple Computer. Sander met Jobs in 1976 while demonstrating a game for the Apple I. As…