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

The CRPG Book project has released an updated version of the community created CRPG Book PDF. The Felipe Pepe produced hardcover book, covering the history of RPG computer gaming, raised almost 12,500 GBP for charity. The CRPG Book is also being reprinted and the second run books will also be available later this summer for order. For more information about the project or to download the latest version of the CRPG Book PDF, check out the project website at: https://crpgbook.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/update-26-three-great-news/

Denis Molony has updated his Apple II DiskBrowser app. This new release, version 1.0.35, includes the ability to reset the directory in which DiskBrowser looks for your disk images. DiskBrowser is a Java based app which allows users to display the contents of Apple II disk images with a high degree of file type accuracy. The app has been developed over the past couple of years and has WOZ support. The Apple II DiskBrowser is a free download from the…

The RetroMacCast Episode #492 has been released. In this episode, James and John discuss their latest Apple related Ebay finds as well as the game, Colony. They also talk about the “Show Time” event among other items. To listen to the latest edition of the podcast, check out the RetroMacCast website at:http://retromaccast.libsyn.com/

Kevin Savetz and Carrington Vanston have released the 29th episode of their Eaten by a Grue podcast. This episode, the two wayward Infocom geeks interview Steve Meretsky, programmer extraordinaire who was responsible for a number of titles produced by Infocom in the 1980’s and 1990’s. To listen to the latest Eaten by a Grue episode, check out podcast website at:http://monsterfeet.com/grue/

The Applewin Apple II Emulator for Windows has been updated. Version 1.28.5.0 was released with a host of video related fixes and changes including the following: [Change #631] Improvements for the RGB AppleColor card: Relax the video-mode precondition to just ignore if VF_MIXED (previously required HIRES on) for Apple II Desktop. Changing from DHGR B&W mode to HGR remains in B&W (color burst is off). For ‘50% scan lines’, don’t blend in NTSC B&W mode, as this was inconsistent with…

Once again Carrington and Kevin take on the Infocom world with a run through of one of the classic titles. This episode, number 28 for those who are counting, the check out the little known title, Catch A Butterfly. While most folks might thing this was an elaborate scheme to pull off the ultimate April Fools joke, the joke really fails particularly hard since a demo of Catch a Butterfly was included as part of the first sampler (ID1) from…

Charles Mangin has announced an update to his SIM8800 Altair Emulator for the Apple II. SIM8800 is a graphical version of the Apple80 Altair Emulator by Dann McCreary and shows the standard Altair “lights” in low resolution graphics on the Apple II screen. The Update to SIM8800 includes the a menu giving the emulator ability to run two flavors of BASIC and also includes Microchess as well as the original Kill-The-Bit as a demo now. SIM8800 comes complete with a…

The transition of the computing industry from the large scale mainframe to the hobbyist to the personal computer brought with it a large amount of information to be shared and disseminated to the populace. It was during this transition in which the hobbyist magazine industry grew up and in which great turmoil existed due to the human condition. Prominent within the pages of the magazines of the era were the detailed thorough explanations of both the hardware and their associated…

Registration for the 2019 rendition of Kansasfest has opened. Kansasfest is an annual gathering of Apple II enthusiasts from around the globe which takes place in Kansas City, Missouri each July. This years event will be held from the 16th to the 21st of July with a number of people arriving even earlier to enjoy the socialization with other like minded people. The 2019 version of Kansasfest will be highlighted with a keynote from Penguin Software CEO, Mark Pelzarski. Creator…

RetroMacCast has announced the availability of three new episodes of their podcast.  Episode #389, #390, and #391 all have been released today. The RetroMacCast is a vintage Macintosh based podcast run by James Savage and John Leake.   it is available as a free download from the RetroMacCats website at: http://retromaccast.ning.com/

Denis Molony’s Apple II DiskBrowser program for the mac has been updated.  Version 1.0.34 now has support for the WOZ 2.0 format created by John Morris. The Apple II Diskbrowser is a Java based disk viewer which allows users to view a myriad of disk types including both Normal DOS / ProDOS disks as well as Pascal and hybrid disks. You can download the latest version of the program from the DiskBrowser Github page at: https://github.com/dmolony/DiskBrowser/

The Applewin Apple II Emulator has been updated.  Version 1.28.4 was released as a bug fix with the following changes to the emulator: [Change #616] Improved accuracy for ‘RGB (Color Monitor)’ for hires. [Bug #611] Holding down F9 to cycle through the video modes results in occasional flicker with garbage. [Bug #627] Rainbow demo not working correctly when vertical blend is enabled. [Bug #628] Filename suffix check for .gz and .zip needs to be case-insensitive. Applewin is for Windows based…

MARCH 8, 2019 — KansasFest 2019, the 31st annual Apple II convention, is scheduled for July 16 – 21 in Kansas City, Missouri. Mark Pelczarski of Penguin Software, well-known for numerous graphics utilities, books, and games, will join us with a keynote presentation to celebrate the Apple II. Pelczarski began publishing graphics-related Apple II software in 1978 while in his early 20’s under the brands Penguin Software and Polarware.  He is an entrepreneur, author, programmer, consultant, and professional educator.  Mark…

John and James have been busy with a new episode of the RetroMacCast.  The latest episode, number 288, includes a bevy of topics including: EBay finds: color ImageWriter II ribbons, Apple TV promotional display, iPod Red Sox. They declare their retrolutions for 2019, and news includes an Apple catalog graphic, Mac84, and VCF Northwest. You can find the latest episode of the RetroMacCast at: http://retromaccast.ning.com/

Hugh Hood, Longtime Apple II fan and programmer has announced a new TimeOut series product, TimeOut Edit BASIC 5.4 for Appleworks 5.1 Users TimeOut series products have long been the defacto go-to products for users of Appleworks with its series of timely and useful plugin utilities, designed to make the Appleworks a more complete package. While most users have long given up Appleworks as their production package, the programming arena is one area of usage not really foreseen as one…

The Applewin Apple II Emulator has been updated. Version 1.28.2 was released today with a few changes and fixes. According to the Github, these include the following: [Change #616] Support vertical blending for ‘RGB (Color Monitor)’ for hires. Support the old AppleWin 1.25 vertical blending for hires via a ‘Vertical Blend’ checkbox. [Change #621] Support RGB AppleColor card’s 160-color pixel mode by squashing 640 pixels into 560 pixels. Squashing is done by losing every 8th pixel. [PR #623] Do not…

For those in the Apple community who were wondering what happened to the Nishida Radio site, it is now back online. Nishida Radio, run by Apple II hobbyist, Koichi Nishida, is well known for their Video adapters for the Apple IIGS as well as their UNISDISK Air storage and wireless card for the Apple II series computers. Currently, no products are listed for sale, however the main contents of the site seem to be fairly current. Also a product lineup…

Remy Gilbert has announced an update to his A2osX Multi-Tasking operating system for the Apple II. Version 0.92+ of A2osX has introduced a number of major updates to the kernal and APIs of the OS. According to the A2osX Github page, some of the changes to the system include: support of an enhanced shell support of many new scripting capabilities the ability to redirect and eventually piping output Current kernel also supports multiple virtual terminals Support for TCP (via TELNETD)…

Gerard Putter, author of the Virtual II Emulator, has announced another patch release. Version 9.1.2 is set to address a few issues according to the author: It appeared that ProDOS diskette access often failed. This was due to the rewrite I did of the disk head stepper motor (to implement quarter-track access). In the new code I mixed up two variables, and as a result the head position and the stepper phase were not always in sync. This especially affected…

Now available due to popular demand is a spiral bound version of the Apple II DOS 4.1 manual. You can order your copy of the DOS 4.1 manual by going to our A.P.P.L.E. Bookstore. Be sure to check the discount code in the Specials posting on our website. https://www.callapple.org/books