Author: Mike Maginnis

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Ken Gagne and Andy Molloy of Juiced.GS, the longest running continuously published Apple II magazine (that you can still get in your mailbox to this day!). Juiced.GS is in its 23rd year, which has to be a record for magazines of almost any type. Ken and Andy talk about the bloodless coup of the magazine, the long history of same, where things are headed, and why they hates trees. Meanwhile, Quinn…

We’re baaaack! Sorry for the unscheduled hiatus folks, but your intrepid hosts had some family matters to attend to. This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Seth Steinberger of 8-bit Weapon. We talk about their new album Class Apples, which was made entirely on an Apple II. Yes, every sound on the album is generated by real Apple II hardware with no add-on cards. Apple IIs can make good sound with the right software and in the hands…

This month on Open Apple, the part of Quinn Dunki is played by RCR Podcast co-host Carrington “Fake Quinn” Vanston. A post-KansasFest Mark Lemmert of 6502 Workshop returns to the show to promote the new Nox Archaist Kickstarter. You should contribute because it’s awesome to support those still developing for the Apple II and not just because you get cool stuff when you do (though that’s a thing that happens too!). There’s lots of news to cover and Carrington has…

This month on Open Apple, we run the annual group megapodcast that is recorded live at KansasFest! This is a four-year-old tradition whereby all the attending retro podcasters get together and do one big silly show together. It’s clunky, it’s pointless, and the audio quality is terrible because we’re all crowded one microphone in a grungy old basement chapel. Yet it’s one of our favorite things to do every year, so we hope you enjoy listening! Around the table this…

Way too late for June, but just in time for KansasFest! This month on Open Apple, we sit down with KansasFest committee member and lifelong Apple II user Peter Neubauer. We talk lots about the upcoming KansasFest, of course, but also Peter’s own experiences with the machine. He has a passion for Logo, and a special place in his heart reserved for the Apple IIc Plus. I think many of us can relate to that. We talk KansasFest, KansasFest, and…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Michael Packard, author of the upcoming new game Alien Downpour. Michael has gone back to teach himself assembly language and make the kinds of games he wished he had made back in the day. The results are indeed impressive, and his first foray into solo Apple II game production is shaping up great. He’s also been very encouraging to the community, having set up the Facebook group Apple Graphics and Arcade…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Lemmert, co-founder of 6502 Workshop. Him and his partners (Mike Reimer, Bill Giggie, Robert Padovan, Gordon Mackay, and Galactagog) have been building Nox Archaist, a brand new story-driven tile-based role-playing game in the classical Ultima style. They’re pushing the hardware as far as they can with this new engine, working to break new ground in scope, story, animation, sound, and music. Early builds look great, and we’re really excited to…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Craig Peterson, who got involved with hardware and software development very early in the life of the Apple II. Craig integrated Apple II computers with a numerical control manufacturing system, producing G-code for the cutting machines in a factory. He was a pioneer in using the Apple II for what computers are actually good at- moving data around in an automated fashion and abstracting away sources of human error in a…

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Quinn sit down with each other and catch up on all the news they’ve been neglecting lately. We discuss the disappointing 8BitDo controller, get excited about remanufactured printer ribbons, and pretend to know anything about EDD. Follow along as we review Softalk volume 1, number 3. The ads are always the best part! Meanwhile, we manage to sneak in one more Kevin Savetz reference, and a Boo Atari in the same breath. That’s…

This month on Open Apple, we round out the year with our annual tradition of sitting around a virtual table with some friends of the show, discussing whatever comes to mind. Mike and Quinn are joined by Jeremy Barr-Hyde, Jorma Honkanen, Kate Szkotnicki & Chris Torrence. We have a really fun mix of Apple II fans from all walks of life and all parts of the world this month. Sit down with us as we discuss our history with the…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Glenda Adams, better known on the Apple II as The Atom. She was a cracker of some note back in the 1980s, and she shares great stories with us of her exploits in boot tracing, cracking, and distributing software in the glory days of the Apple II BBS scene. We talk about the journey from programming to cracking, and back to programming again. We talk about the politics of the Apple…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Alex Lee, purveyor of the canonical IIgs reference site What Is The Apple IIgs? We talk about what it was like being one of the brave few with this machine, and that feeling of living in a secret world of incredible graphics and sound that nobody else seemed to know about. Alex walks us through the history of IIgs emulators, and all the ways that the IIgs Finder was actually better…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kate Szkotnicki, long time Apple II fan and new addition to the retro community. We chat about her first impressions as a newcomer to the community, and the big splash she made at her first KansasFest. Kate is a cosplayer and frequent attendee of anime and comic cons, so she brought a very fresh set of skills and perspectives to KansasFest. Her presentation on making plastic parts (and candy!) with silicone…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Pilgrim, one of the most active software preservationists in the Apple II community. Mark has been spending his free time working on Passport, an automated cracking tool. It automatically detects and defeats copy protection schemes on Apple II disks, producing copyable disks that are otherwise completely intact. This is a boon for preservation of software that has only been (poorly) cracked by hoodlums of the past, or is previously uncracked….

This month on Open Apple, as is tradition, we present the megapodcast recorded live at KansasFest. Most of your favorite retrocomputing podcasters attend KansasFest each year, and we all get together in a basement room to record a giant group podcast. This year’s recording includes, in no particular order: Quinn Dunki of Open Apple Paul Hagstrom of Retrocomputing Roundtable and Drop /// Inches Michael Mulhern and Carrington Vanston of Retrocomputing Roundtable Kevin Savetz of Antic Rob McMullen of Player/Missile Ken…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Sean Fahey of A2Central, major league collector, and member of the KansasFest Committee. It’s not too late to register! Go to kansasfest.org right now. If you listen to this show, you should definitely be there. The Garage Giveaway will be larger than ever this year. You won’t want to miss the amazing pile of free Apple II gear. The other classic traditions keep getting better as well- the cookout will be…

This month on Open Apple, Kevin Savetz sits down with Amy Kefauver and Lorri Hopping. Amy was the editor of Scholastic Microzine, an educational magazine focused on the Apple II. Lorri was a writer and editor for Microzine. They share many great memories creating lessons with computers, the nature of the educational market, and how computers can engage kids in ways that static media can’t. After those interviews (thanks Kevin!), Mike and Quinn talk ear worm game introductions, crappy early…

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Huibert Aalbers, author of Soundsmith. It’s hard to overstate what a platform-defining piece of software this was for the Apple IIgs. Few people appreciated what the audio system in this computer was capable of, until Huibert unlocked it for the world to hear. Games and scene demos would use his tool for the entire life of the machine. Other music trackers came along in later years, but Soundsmith was always there….

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with legendary Apple II programmer, Bill Budge. In addition to being an icon of Apple II gaming and graphics, he is the number-one-requested guest by listeners of the show. Mike and Quinn are very excited he was able to make some time to talk to them, and hope you agree it was worth the effort. Bill is, of course, the author of such seminal classics as Raster Blaster, Pinball Construction Set, and…

This month on Open Apple we sit down with Peter Lount, co-developer of Gemstone Warrior and Gemstone Healer for the Apple II. Canadian programmer Peter and his partner Trouba broke new ground in video games by combining fast action combat with procedurally generated caves and dungeon content. Gemstone Warrior doesn’t get credit for being the predecessor to Blizzard megahit Diablo, but it should. Peter talks about tuning his rendering engine, including rewriting huge chunks of it overnight to meet a…