Category: Vintage

Eric Shephard, owner and operator of the Apple IIgs Software producing SheppyWare, has announce a new push for an Apple IIgs based SMB2 client.  According to his posting on  CSA2, ” We’re now accepting pledges to increase the value of the S-Prize! The Prize has been established to encourage Apple II developers to create an open-source SMB2 file system for the Apple IIgs which meets certain functional requirements. We’ve started with the $400 seeded by myself and the Apple II…

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!…

The website for the Apple II series based fantasy RPG, Silvern Castle, has moved.  Jeff Fink, the owner and author of the game announced the relocation was due to changes with the Google Groups. He also mentioned server speed being a factor in the change.  The new website for the Silvern Castle is now at: http://finkjsc.a2hq.com/silverncastle/

After a record setting sale at auction of an Apple-1 computer this past month, another one has appeared on the auction block.  With the previous Apple-1 going for more than $671,000 USD, Christies isn’t even messing with a low number for this auction start.  Initial bids for the machine will begin at $300,000 USD and according to reports around the web, is expected to raised more than $500,000 USD. The Apple-1 being auctioned as part of a collection entitled “FIRST…

The collection of Apple ][ cassettes offered by Brutal Deluxe for download has surpassed the 600 tape milestone.  The collection, owned and curated by Antoine Vignau has been steadily adding more tapes each month as they have been discovered. The latest updates to the Apple ][ Cassette collection includes items from Powersoft, Inc., Program Design, and Softtape.   The tapes, cassette inlays and catalogs are downloadable from the site. For more information, check the Brutal Deluxe Casssette Collection website at: http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/projects/cassettes/index.html

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…

An early Apple ][ computer posted on EBay, sold for for an unheard of $23,099 US today.  The computer with the markings of being serial number 047 of the A2S1 series is a first run case, which does not have the traditional ventilation slots found in later run machines.  It also had a power supply hand marked as serial number 049. While most Apple ][ computers sold on the Internet normally go for up to a few hundred dollars, the…

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…

A note from “Charlie” in the CSA2 Usenet group has announced the arrival of Super Hi-Res Graphics capability for the Carte Blanche card in Apple //e emulation mode.  According to the posting, ” I have made a Carte Blanche bitstream that allows an Apple //e to have SHR graphics.  Most of the JAT stuff has been removed so it is mostly a VGA video card for the //e.  The SHR works pretty much as it does on an Apple IIgs,…

Brutal Deluxe, maintainers of the Apple II Cassette collection have announced a couple of new additions to the library.  They include: The Software Factory’s Apple Beneath Manor by Don Worth, with a signed manual from the author Ritam Corporation’s Monty plays monopoly, that is a new publisher. There are currnetly 592 cassettes listed in the collection.  More are being added as they come in.  If you currently own Apple II cassettes which are not included in the library, you are…

With the Apple-1 computer being in big demand since the death of Steve Jobs, the German auction house Brecker has pulled in a record haul for a working version of the famed computer.  Hand built in the garage of Steve Wozniak, the Apple-1 was only produced in a short production of less than 200 units.  Of these 200, only 48 are known to exist today and of those, working models are even a rarer item with less than ten units…

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…

Virtual Apple ][ has published a new Apple ][ game.  SHELL*SHOCK is a high paced action tank battle game for the Apple ][ computer.   Originally written in 1985 by Peter Blum, Alan Burkle, and Jonathan Dunaisky, the game has been largely unseen until this month when it was resurrected by the original authors and sent to Virtual Apple ][. SHELL*SHOCK is unique in the Apple ][ gaming realm as it allows users to battle each other in two player mode…

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…

David Schmidt has released an update to the ADTPro program.   According to the posting on CSA2, the update includes: New functionality: * [VDrive] Added the ability to bootstrap into ProDOS with VSDrive active * [Server] Added a command-line invoker for AppleCommander Bug fixes: * [Server] Start the numerical part of batch name at 1, not 0; reset the counter when a batch name changes * [Server] 5-1/4″ disk images with unrecognized filesystems are always written with DOS-ordered physical interleaving You…

“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…

KansasFest, the 25th annual convention dedicated to the Apple II computer, is now open for registration. Users, programmers, hobbyists, and retrocomputing enthusiasts are invited to Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, from Tuesday, July 23, through Sunday, July 28, for six days and five nights of sessions, demos, announcements, contests, and camaraderie. The week kicks off with keynote speaker Randy Wigginton, Apple employee #6, who worked on the Disk ][ disk drive, Apple DOS, and Applesoft BASIC.  Wigginton will be…