Mactracker, the app which allows users to get information on all products Apple related, has a new update. Version 7.9.1 of the Ian Page programmed Mac OS X app includes several new bits and pieces as well as application fixes including the following: Adds Magic Keyboard for iPad Adds performance scores for additional models from Primate Labs Geekbench 5 Updates Support Status for Apple’s latest Vintage and Obsolete products Fixes an issue where user data would fail to load Other…
A.P.P.L.E. member Dr. Marc A. Golombeck has developed a Double Low Resolution graphics amper-library for the Apple IIe Enhanced, IIc, and the IIgs. This library allows users to perform many advanced graphics functions in Double Lo-Res mode (80 x 48 pixels in 16 color mode) with simple to use amper routines all based in Applesoft BASIC. The Double Low-Resolution Amper Library includes a host of routines including: &GR: switches to double LORES mode and clears the screen &TEXT: returns to…
This month, Adam Christianson, the curator of the MacCast, takes us back in time to the very last MacWorld attended where the keynote speech was given by Steve Jobs. MacWorld Expo 2011 was held at the Muscone Center West in San Francisco from the 27th to the 29th of January, 2011 and featured mostly iPad related items. He talks with Cali Lewis from GeekBeat TV and that years featured Tech Girlz Panel in addition to numerous other going ons and…
Apple has announced that the 31st rendidiotn of their World Wide Developer Conference will begin on June 22, 2020. This years event will be held in the digital realm and will begin with first ever Swift Student Challenge. All portions of the WWDC 2020 will occur online, however, further details are a bit spartan at this time. According to Apple’s press release for the event, they will announce the rest of the details on the Apple Developer Website : https://developer.apple.com/wwdc20/
The GBBS Pro Source Code archive has moved. The new location is on the Call-A.P.P.L.E. Github page which is located at:https://github.com/callapple GBBS Pro Bulletin Board System is an Apple II based BBS program which allows users to run their own bulletin board cheaply and easily. The latest version of the publicly available builds from the GBBS Pro website at https://gbbs.applearchives.com/ or order the manual for version 2.2 from A.P.P.L.E. at https://www.callapple.org/documentation/books/gbbs-pro-2-2/
One of the more interesting projects I came across today is Travis DeRose’s iPad replacement for the internals of the Macintosh Plus. While there are Mac 68K users who might get a bit peeved at the sacrilege, it is more pleasing and appealing the some of the other horrid changes and supposed updates I have seen such as fish tanks and beer dispensers. This is one upgrade that allows the coolness of the Macintosh 68K while having a modern computing…
Two hearty Apple hobbyists, divingkatae and maximumspatium, are making a decent attempt at building a new Power PC Macintosh emulator. DingusPPC, as the new emulator is know, is according to the authors, “an attempt to build an accurately performing PPC Mac emulator”. Thus far, there is Basilisk II, SheepShaver and QEMU in the same realm, however, only QEMU comes up to the level which the authors are attempting to surpass. This is still a highly alpha type emulator and any…
SoftMaker Office 2021 Beta from the German software developer, SoftMaker Software GmbH, is now available in a public beta. SoftMaker Office 2021 is intended to be a total replacement of Microsoft Office for less than 90$ USD for a one time purchase. SoftMaker Office is available for MAC OS X, Windows and for Linux. The public beta version of SoftMaker Office 2021 is available as a free download from the SoftMaker Software GmbH website at:https://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-office
While many users may have been getting these fake Flash is Out Of Date messages, the trojan which is the most responsible for this is the Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Shlayer.a or the shlayer trojan as it is known. Apparently, the shlayer trojan is so prevalent that it accounts for almost 30% of all infections on MAC OS X. Kaspersky put out a breakdown of the entire package and code earlier this year. You can find that here:https://securelist.com/shlayer-for-macos/95724/
Technology News and Views Since 1983May 2020 The Spy is a little latewith his meanderings and prognostications this month. The two weeks of year end meetings and activities lacked an actual graduation ceremony–a great disappointment for students to be sure, who have to wait till November or later for their walk across the stage and handshake–but were replete with lengthy meetings around “how did we do this term?” and “What are we going to do next?” The consensus on the…
From the europlus zone blog: I’m very happy to announce the date for the next WOzFest: WOzFest SWEET16 will be held on Saturday 25 July 2020, starting at midday Sydney time (UTC+10:00). The theme for WOzFest SWEET16 is “Community” – having supportive communities is important at the best of times, but especially so at the moment. The camaraderie involved in events like WOzFest certainly help me feel lucky in these trying times. So come and join my community for a few hours, no matter where you are in the world….
The Handbrake Team has released the latest version of their Handbrake video conversion software. Version 1.3.2 includes a bevy of fixes, changes, and updates, of which a full listing can be found in the Handbrake 1.3.2 release notes on their Github Page at:https://github.com/HandBrake/HandBrake/releases/tag/1.3.2 The latest version of the Handbrake software is available for free from their website at: https://handbrake.fr
Valve is now ending support for SteamVR on Mac OS X so as they say in their posting, “so our team can focus on Windows and Linux.” While the Mac has never really been a real focus for Steam VR, they did make a big bruhaha about their support of Mac OS X a while back but that excitement seems not to have translated to any real dollars for Valve. And just like that, they are dropping the whole Mac…
Jeff Jetton has released a new version of the traditional bar game, Shut the Box, for the Apple-1. The game, traditionally a dice gambling game also known as Bakarat, can be found in many variations and under many names. This version of the game was written in 6502 assembly language and is available in ASM file format as well as a binary, Woz monitor file, and JS Tape File Format for the Will Scullin Apple-1 Emulator. You can download the…
The missing side B of the Apple II package FrakTured FaebLes has finally been located. In a posting in the Apple II Slack Channel, a copy of the game posted by Dan Chisarick contained the full and complete second side. Long known to be a game that was incomplete due to the oversight by American Eagle Software, Inc., this is finally available in full form. When the game was written to the disk, only Side A was written in most…
Dr. Steven Weyhrich has released a new Apple II parody video just in time for the opening of the Kansasfest registrations. Here it is for your full enjoyment:
James Davis has created a full Apple II ROM disassembly listing which lists all of the addresses from $C000 to $FFFF in the Apple II Computer. This listing is one of the most complete listings and utilizes many publications including several A.P.P.L.E. Publications and can be viewed on Andy McFadden’s website at:https://6502disassembly.com/a2-rom/
KansasFest 2020, the 32nd annual Apple II convention, is open for registration. Users, programmers, hobbyists, and retrocomputing enthusiasts are invited to gather virtually from Friday, July 24, through Saturday, July 25, for two days and one night of sessions, demos, announcements, contests, and camaraderie. We will make the best of the virtual arrangement and return to Kansas City in 2021. We’ve rescheduled the keynote speaker, Robert Woodhead, to next year. Registration is only $20 to participate in all talks and…
Virtual KFesters:We are now accepting session proposals for Virtual KansasFest 2020. Please submit your session at:http://www.kansasfest.org/sessions/The plan is to offer two days of sessions, with 15 or 30 minute time slots. Preference will be given to live talks, but you may also submit a pre-recorded talk that can be played in the session’s scheduled time slot, or (if you need a longer time) to be made available separately to participants.A few logistics: – Session proposals will be accepted until May…
The Gryphel Project has released an alpha release of the latest version of the Mini vMac Macintosh Emulator. This update includes a number of bug fixes and some changed behavior in the emulator including: * Mini vMac will now check if a disk image that is being mounted looks like a Macintosh disk image format (HFS or MFS), and if not decline to mount it, showing an error message. This helps prevent accidentally corrupting other files, especially when using ImportFl….
