Author: dfinnigan

Let’s take a look at what’s going on with the Apple II:   – Bill Buckels is still hard at work with Aztec C, and he has made a number of shell utilities for this system. – Eric Shepherd updated his Sweet16 emulator for Mac OS X to version 3.0.1. – The Daily Apple blog is working on a mapping program and ZBASIC for an IFComp entry. – Steven Hirsch has saved the ZVX4 8″ disk controller software from extinction. –…

What is this file? That’s a good question when it comes to these Apple II files which often have pretty cryptic names, such as “Mmgrdosinst.” Earlier this month, file catalogs were added to show the contents of ShrinkIt archives and disk images, but that only helps a little. Having a screenshot of what the program looks like is a much more valuable asset. To that end, exactly 10,657 screenshots are now available for 4,668 8-bit Apple II programs in Mac…

Ewen Wannop has released an upgrade to his original ByteBagger hex editor program. It is now called ChewBagger and it is a stand-alone file viewer, editor and disassembler. ChewBagger lets you view the raw data of either the data or resource fork of a file, search for target strings within that fork, using either Hex or ASCII data, and optionally allows you to edit the data, and write the changed data back to the file. You can also load an OMF…

Today’s Mac GUI Vault update brings enhanced file catalogs to over 70% of the 27,000 files currently in the Vault archive; that’s almost 19,000 files. These file catalogs are in the search database too, so you can use them to find the programs that you’re looking for. Some files, such as BinHex and BinSCII, will often have a description of the program in them; this description has also been copied out and is searchable. The following file formats are cataloged:…

Let’s take a quick look at some of the latest developments in the Apple II world. Juiced.GS, June 2013 edition is available. This issue features a behind-the-scenes look at the discovery and publication of 8-bit shooting game Zéphyr; an interview with the conference services staff at Rockhurst University, host of KansasFest; reviews of Option8′s RetroConnector keyboard interface device, and of Karateka Classic and Lode Runner Classic for iOS; a history of Apple II software publisher Electronic Arts; and much, much more!…

Finally, The eBook Edition is Available The first Apple II book in print since over a decade, The New Apple II User’s Guide has sold 400 copies since it first went on sale a year ago, 18th June 2012. Since day one, readers have been asking for an ebook edition for their computers, Amazon Kindles, and Apple iDevices. I’m happy to say that it’s available now! After evaluating all the options for delivering an ebook edition, I have decided to…

What’s been going on in the Apple II world these past few days? Let’s take a look:   1.) Steven Weyhrich is asking about the Applesoft Firmware card in comp.sys.apple2 for his upcoming Apple II history book. 2.) The Daily Apple blog has been keeping up with daily updates. Currently we are working on Pascal and BASIC programming, and trying to use the Apple IIc as a command-line terminal. 3.) Wade Clarke has started a new web site called Wade-Memoir where he…

Known for providing detailed minute-by-minute forecasts, as well as traditional daily to 7-day forecasts, the SkyMotion 4.0 app now also ensures maximum accuracy by relying on one of the largest weather crowdsourcing platforms in the world. SkyMotion is now the only full-fledged weather app that gathers and integrates validated ground-level observations, allowing users to actually influence forecasts. The free application, now available worldwide for all iOS devices, is also the only mobile weather app to offer both nowcasts (precipitation forecasts…

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with famed demo programmer Daniel Kruszyna, aka krüe. We chat about @party, the upcoming fourth annual demoparty to be held in recently beleaguered Boston, and how even non-programmers will find plenty to like. The first of three movies based on the life of Steve Jobs is now available for free online streaming — what’s the popular verdict on iSteve? There’s still more CFFAs coming from Rich Dreher, and they’ll work on even…

There is now another Apple II blog for fans of this venerable machine to follow. The blog author promises to deliver a new article every day, and since this blog has opened three days ago, and sure enough, there are three entries, this promise is maintained. The name of the blog, fittingly enough, is the Daily Apple, and its URL is http://dailyapple.a2hq.com/ The entries so far are about the author’s Apple IIc, acquired in December of 1984, an Apple IIe…

“retrogear” on comp.sys.apple2 has posted a screenshot of the Mark Twain ROM 03/04 that was never released, as well as comments made by David Empson from the mid-1990s. retrogear says What follows is a comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup discussion from July 8, 1995 by David Empson about an accidental buggy release of an Apple IIgs ROM 03 and analysis of the changes made before actual production. I have included the sections of the System 601 source code assembled by me which were…

McLean, Virginia – ICON, LLC has introduced Famous Faces of Sports Quiz 1.0, its new sports app developed for iOS devices. Famous Faces of Sports Quiz is an amazingly addictive and fun trivia game that will put your knowledge to the ultimate test. Famous Faces of Sports Quiz features beautiful photos of the most famous sports players of Basketball, Football, Soccer and Hockey. Famous Faces of Sports Quiz is free for limited time. What are you waiting for? Each photo…

Medelln, Colombia – Hi Mom S.A.S is thrilled to announce the release of Typic Pro 1.1, their new photo captioning app for iPhone, and iPod touch. After Typic’s huge success, the company decided to offer their users a lot more than what they expected with a Pro version. Words can take your photos further, and Typic Pro is the best tool to take them even further than you ever imagined. People love to take and share photos, and by adding…

Stockholm, Sweden – Coding Turtle today is pleased to announce Scrambler 1.2, a major update to their simple encryption app for the Mac. Scrambler makes it convenient to encrypt files before sending them along unsafe places, such as to other Macs over untrusted email, instant messaging or cloud-based services. Scrambler resides in the menu bar – providing a small icon in the upper-right area of the screen. To encrypt a file with Scrambler, users drag the file on Scrambler’s menu…

Paris, March 3rd, 2013 – Brutal Deluxe Software is proud to announce Mr Sprite, a command-line tool to manage sprites and to simplify the integration of sprites into Apple IIgs games. Programmers spend a lot of time to prepare Sprites sheets : – You have to ensure the Sprite width is a multiple of 4 pixels (16 bit), – You have to prepare both Even and Odd aligned version of the Sprite, – You have to organize your Sprites into 320×200 pictures to…

New York, New York – MacMate, the Mac cloud storage and hosting service, which launched to replace Apple’s MobileMe service in 2012, has added its sixth key feature into the growing MacMate cloud service: FileSharing, the ability to easily send any file, any size, to anyone. With a few clicks, users can drag or select a file to share, add a message and send securely. With a few clicks, users can drag or select a file to share, add a…

Ekero, Sweden – Maintain has announced the release and immediate availability of Cocktail 5.4.1 (Lion Edition), the latest maintenance update of Cocktail for users running OS X Lion 10.7. Cocktail is a general purpose utility for OS X that lets you clean, repair and optimize your Mac. The application serves up a perfect mix of maintenance tools and tweaks, all accessible through a clean and easy to use interface. Cocktail’s features are arranged into five categories that helps you manage…

This month on Open Apple, the Apple II community’s only co-hosted podcast, Mike and Ken chat with Jimmy Maher, the historian behind the renowned blog The Digital Antiquarian. A published author, Jimmy provides us with his perspective on the pros and cons of going with a publishing house over the recent trend in retrocomputing toward self-publishing. We gripe about the Steve Jobs film sacrificing historical accuracy for mass appeal and recommend some alternative movies that get it right. We’re still loving…

Sam Shead from ZDNet writes that the USPTO has granted Apple a trademark to its stores in order to cut down on copycats. Mr. Shead states, The approval was granted more than two years after the company first filed the application to trademark its stores in May 2010. Apple has requested that no store be allowed to replicate various features, including “a clear glass storefront surrounded by a panelled facade” or an “oblong table with stools… set below video screens flush mounted…

United Kingdom – 360 Studios is pleased to announce MyFace for Facebook for Apple iOS and Mac OS X, a new social networking app that provides a great, reliable alternative to the standard Facebook mobile application. MyFace for Facebook is a powerful client that provides all the functionality of Facebook in an intuitive, easy to use interface. Unique MyFace Features: * Simplified navigation and refined user interface * Stunning MyFace HD photo previews and beautiful photo galleries * Integrated Instagram…