Why Yet Another Emulator? What does Bobbin do that Nintendon’t? Bobbin: – Runs entirely in your terminal, using either standard input/output, or a curses screen display– Can be used in shell scripts to accept typed text from standard input, and emit program output to standard output– Can watch a program binary file for changes, and reload itself with the new program binary when it does, greatly accelerating development cycles for software on the 8-bit Apple Get it at https://github.com/micahcowan/bobbin/releases/tag/v0.4 Bobbin is…
Get ready to step back in time with the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest, a free and open showcase of vintage computing treasures. Elmhurst, IL – Calling all retro computing enthusiasts, Get in your cars and get out to Elmhurst now!! The Vintage Computer Festival Midwest (VCFMW) is back for its 18th installment and is starting today! The event promises a weekend filled with nostalgia, classic tech, and a touch of vintage charm. Hosted at the Waterford Banquet & Conference Center…
Do you remember the SmartportSD that Katherine Stark created about two years ago? It is based on SmartPortCFA programmed by Robert Justice and ported to Arduino hardware by Andrea Ottaviani. Unfortunately Katherine has left Facebook, but I’ll be posting on her behalf. https://gitlab.com/nyankat/smartportsd I tried to miniaturize this device. The program was designed for Arduino Nano, but I found that it works well on the same chip, UNO and Pro Mini. So I ported this to Pro Mini. Read my…
The Ample MAME Interface has been updated. Managed by Kelvin Sherlock, the latest release of Ample, version 0.258 brings the Apple centric graphical frontend for MAME in line with the current release of the MAME Emulator. Included in this update are the following: You can download the latest version of Ample from the Github website at:https://github.com/ksherlock/ample
The Editor Still Bytes Back KansasFest 2023: A Celebration of Apple III’s Legacy KansasFest 2023 has concluded, once again leaving the retro Apple hobby faithful with a treasure trove of exciting developments. This year’s event with its focus on the Apple III computer, was graced by Apple luminaries Wendell Sander and Dave Ottalini as keynote speakers, and as usual, was nothing short of spectacular. Come along with us now as we delve headlong into the highlights of this gathering of…
Chalk another win up for France in the technology wars. SiliconSlider is now selling a wonderful aesthetic Apple-1 Integer BASIC Rom Card with 4K. According to the sales webpage on Tindie at:https://www.tindie.com/products/siliconinsider/4kb-apple-1-integer-basic-rom-card/ You are purchasing a newly made 4kb ROM card preloaded with Integer BASIC for the Apple 1 computer. The board is manufactured in a double sided printed circuit board with out solder mask and fully gold plated and is professionally hand assembled. The 4kb EPROM (2732) comes pre-loaded…
This past month, Paulo Garcia, curator and admin of the retro computing related Vintage is the New Old website, made the decision to cease publication. As such, the site was lost to issues related to the way some domain processors handle transfers. The site data itself was preserved by Paulo and made available to A.P.P.L.E. We have since added the vitno.org web domain name, giving the site a proper domain name and place for holding the data for at least…
Fredrik Ramsberg has announced the latest release of his PunyInform library for writing z-machine adventure games for 8-Bit platforms as well as modern platforms. Based originally on the Inform 6 library, PunyInform provides an easy to use method of writing adventure games which can then be compiled into z3, z5 and z8 formats. According to the release notes, PunyInform version 4.7 includes the following changes and updates: If you intend to use the PunyInform Library and compile, you will need…
Over the past several years, Brazilian Felipe Pepe, a Tokyo resident, has been coordinating one of the largest projects covering RPG game history. His project has now culminated in a new, extended version of the print book, The CRPG Book – A Guide to Computer Role Playing Games (Expanded Edition), is now available through his publisher, Bitmap Books. This printing of the CRPG Book is the second printing with a lot more material included. According to the press release on…
A New Apple II Demo from Daniel Henderson is available. The demo, Star Wars Episode 6 – The Empire is Mildly Offended, is a tongue in cheek, satirical look at Star Wars, the main characters and political, societal stances through the low resolution graphics of the Apple II Computer. The look is taken through a visit to each of 6 planets and the occupying main character with a new perspective on line and then once you have gone through each…
The Clemens IIGS Emulator has been updated. Some of the new features in this release of the Clemens IIGS emulator include: According to the release note by Samir Sinha: While you’re waiting for Crossrunner (or if you’re just curious about yet another IIgs emulator) I’ve posted a new release of my own project Clemens IIgs v0.6. There have been many fixes and improvements since 0.5 way back in January 2023. Given the multitude of options for IIgs emulation out there, another one…
The Applesauce FDC Client Software has been updated. Version 1.86 of the Applesauce FDC Client Software includes the following updates and fixes from the past few weeks: Improvements and Fixes in 1.86 You can download the latest version of the software by doing the automatic update through the client software or from the Applesauce FDC Software page at:https://applesaucefdc.com/software/
If you are in the Seattle area, you will want to check out the SDF Public Access UNIX System event scheduled for September 30th and October 1st. According to the posting on the SDF website, -=- The Interim Computer Festival -=- Where: Intraspace 3100 Airport Way S, Seattle WA 98134When: September 30th and October 1st from 10am to 6pm 2 days of retrocomputing and homebrew fun featuring exhibitsand demos from the collector community. Exhibitor, Demo/Speaker and Volunteer registration is OPEN…
If you need a really good run-through of the various Karateka versions and the different platforms it was produced for, Ernst Krogtoft, shared his collection this month with the world. In a wildly extensive posting on the Retro365 Blog at https://retro365.blog/2023/08/05/karateka-a-stellar-debut/, Ernst shares the various boxes as well as a ton of information and tidbits about Jordan Mechner’s extremely popular game.
Digital Eclipse has announced the trailer of their new documentary, “The Making of Karateka”, a look at the game that became known as one of Jordan Mechner’s best and most enduring from the 1980’s. This video is proposed to be the first in Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master Series. According to the release, two new remastered Karateka games will also be released along with the documentary, made from “Cutting room floor” materials.1 If you need a really good run-through of the…
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….
July-August 2023 Apologies are certainly in order, as the Spy let not just a day or two of July go by with no column, but the entire month. Put the lapse down to senility setting in if you will, for he simply forgot until queried at month’s end by the editor of one of the magazines to which these random ramblings are syndicated. Even then, the Spy thought “no, impossible; I surely wrote and sent it, but for some reason…
