Seattle, Washington — July 5, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Ken Nozaki are proud to announce the immediate availability of his “Apple Tic-Tac-Toe” game. Apple Tic-Tac-Toe is an age-old game which is great fun for kids of all ages – and programmed by a kid! This version is a completely designed and programmed version of the game intended to make the computer one of the toughest opponents possible. Availability The “Apple Tic-Tac-Toe” manual is available through…
When it comes to Apple II, I’m easy to please. Every time I see a new product or something that gives new use, combines new technology and makes my retro computing more fun, I’m very happy with it. Now add some lights to the equation and let me control it within the computer – I’m in heaven! That’s just what Plamen Vasilov from a2heaven did: the newDisk II LED, is a perfect addition to the retro gadgetry. It allows me…
July 2019 The news of Jony Ives’ Departure from Apple to lead his own design company cannot, despite iCook’s comments, have a positive spin put on it for Apple’s future. Each industry, each profession, each discipline has its practitioners and its leaders. A few of these have iconic founders–people who made themselves the sine qua non of an entire school of thought and practice. Modern technology design has Jony Ive’s signature all over it. His designs for computers, pads, phones,…
Seattle, Washington — June 25, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Mark Pelczarski are proud to announce the immediate availability of his new book “Graphically Speaking: Enhanced Edition” that teaches graphics programming on the Apple II. This book is a compilation of Mark Pelczarski’s “Graphically Speaking” tutorial columns that appeared in Softalk magazine, and was originally published in 1983 by Softalk Books. Using the included programs, you will be able to create art, do animation for games,…
Chris Torrence has opened a new retro computer t-shirt store, with retro-themed t-shirts and mugs, including Choplifter, Oregon Trail, Eamon, and more. Visit the store at https://ct6502.org. And, to get a discount code, subscribe to his YouTube channel:
Check out this detailed review of ReactiveMicro’s new clone of the Phasor Sound Card. Chris Torrence takes a look at how the card performs, how to install it, where to buy one, and more! Watch now!
The Apple II disk crack/conversion program, Passport, has been updated. The latest release includes the following cracks: NEW: verify pure 13-sector disks (by qkumba) NEW: verify Infocom 18-sector disks (by qkumba) NEW: patchers/artsci.a (AceCalc, Magicalc, Photar) NEW: patchers/choplifter.a (Russki Duck, Choplifter) (by qkumba) NEW: patchers/dakin5.a (Neutrons, MIRV, Rings of Saturn) NEW: patchers/e7everywhere.a (Curious George series, Garfield Trivia Game) NEW: patchers/hallabs.a (Sheila, Super Taxman II) NEW: patchers/hoffman.a (Good Thinking! series) NEW: patchers/holle.a (Crime Wave, Sherwood Forest) NEW: patchers/muserwts.a (Caverns of Freitag,…
Brutal Deluxe’s Antoine Vignau has announced the release of the first batch of Applesauce disk images from his personal collection. The entire collection of disk images is available and freely downloadable from Archive.org’s repository at:https://archive.org/details/Antoine_Vignau_3.5_Floppies_Flux_May_2019_Batch
This column is a little late because the Spy placed it on hold until after the June 3 announcements at the annual keynote WWDC speech. Items put on the table by iCook include those of modest importance to the Spy, but of more note to some people, including: the expected (and leaked) replacement of iTunes in MacOS by Apple Music, AppleTV and Apple Podcasts. This will certainly make it easier to find things. The three functions have been joined in…
John Keoni Morris, author and creator of Applesauce Floppy Disk Controller, has announced the immediate availability of the latest version of the client software for the Applesauce FDC. Version 1.1.4 includes a host of fixes and incremental improvements. According to the announcement in the Applesauce group, Version 1.1.4 includes: • Fixed a couple crashes and hangs in .woz generation. • Last release of Fast Imager had an issue where it would sometimes mark empty sectors as bad on 13-sector disks…
The CRPG Book project has released an updated version of the community created CRPG Book PDF. The Felipe Pepe produced hardcover book, covering the history of RPG computer gaming, raised almost 12,500 GBP for charity. The CRPG Book is also being reprinted and the second run books will also be available later this summer for order. For more information about the project or to download the latest version of the CRPG Book PDF, check out the project website at: https://crpgbook.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/update-26-three-great-news/
Denis Molony has updated his Apple II DiskBrowser app. This new release, version 1.0.35, includes the ability to reset the directory in which DiskBrowser looks for your disk images. DiskBrowser is a Java based app which allows users to display the contents of Apple II disk images with a high degree of file type accuracy. The app has been developed over the past couple of years and has WOZ support. The Apple II DiskBrowser is a free download from the…
The RetroMacCast Episode #492 has been released. In this episode, James and John discuss their latest Apple related Ebay finds as well as the game, Colony. They also talk about the “Show Time” event among other items. To listen to the latest edition of the podcast, check out the RetroMacCast website at:http://retromaccast.libsyn.com/
The new Applesauce client 1.1 has been released! This is a huge update with lots of new features all over the app. The biggest work has been around .woz generation. The 3.5″ woz generation is now complete, including the ability to write copy protected images back to floppy! The 5.25 woz generation is spitting out functioning files, but still has a good amount of work left to do. Also, 3.5″ sync sensors are now available for purchase from the Order…
The 6502 Workshop team is pleased to announce that the Kickstarter campaign for the boxed edition of Nox Archaist is now live! Click here to pledge! What’s better than a brand new, hand-coded 8-bit classic 80s era tile based RPG? Answer: One that comes in an awesome collector’s edition box with lots of cool physical goodies! What’s even better than that? When the game will also feature an NPC appearance by Lord British, the alter ego of Richard Garriott, the creator of the Ultima series of…
It was the best of sheds… until it became the worst of sheds. Oh, wait. Introductory sentences structured that way are yesterday’s news. Well, what the Dickens… The Spy has a small shed used to store his garden technology–tools, fertilizers, a very few chemicals, pots, fencing, poles, rototiller, etc. All of it is low tech. Built some five and twenty years ago out of scrap lumber, the underpinnings have proven susceptible to rot, so he decided to replace it. The…
Kevin Savetz and Carrington Vanston have released the 29th episode of their Eaten by a Grue podcast. This episode, the two wayward Infocom geeks interview Steve Meretsky, programmer extraordinaire who was responsible for a number of titles produced by Infocom in the 1980’s and 1990’s. To listen to the latest Eaten by a Grue episode, check out podcast website at:http://monsterfeet.com/grue/
It’s official, Lord British will appear as an NPC in Nox Archaist! It is a dark time for the metaverse. Ripples of discord radiate out from Vali, the world of Nox Archaist. Lord British learns of the dangerous omens and seeks to return order to the chaos that threatens to consume creation! He has journeyed to the world of Vali to assist and guide adventurers as they unravel the mysteries and face the challenges of Nox Archaist. This is a big…
In his latest episode, Chris Torrence takes a look at the new Mockingboard support in the Nox Archaist CRPG from 6502 Workshop. Watch now!
The Applewin Apple II Emulator for Windows has been updated. Version 1.28.5.0 was released with a host of video related fixes and changes including the following: [Change #631] Improvements for the RGB AppleColor card: Relax the video-mode precondition to just ignore if VF_MIXED (previously required HIRES on) for Apple II Desktop. Changing from DHGR B&W mode to HGR remains in B&W (color burst is off). For ‘50% scan lines’, don’t blend in NTSC B&W mode, as this was inconsistent with…
