Remy Gilbert has announced an update to his A2osX Multi-Tasking operating system for the Apple II. Version 0.92+ of A2osX has introduced a number of major updates to the kernal and APIs of the OS. According to the A2osX Github page, some of the changes to the system include: support of an enhanced shell support of many new scripting capabilities the ability to redirect and eventually piping output Current kernel also supports multiple virtual terminals Support for TCP (via TELNETD)…
The VidHD Apple II video card has new 1.15 firmware with many improvements and fixes. And, a new version 1.1 manual now details the firmware update procedure. Firmware 1.15 Changes: Fixed sync on 1440p, 1600p, and 2160p displays as long as they also support 1920×1080 or 1920×1200. Displays smaller than 1920 horizontal resolution will not work with firmware 1.15. OS fixes: Linux 4.20.8 and uBoot 2019.01 loader. MouseText: fixes incorrect inverse-checkmark font. Fixed a bug which caused Ctrl-Reset on PAL…
The Great Oz Retro-Fest, (GORF) is a multi-day event celebrating the personal computing platforms of the 1970s, 80s and 90s including the Apple, Microbee, Commodore, Atari, Sinclair and other 8- and 16-bit computer lines. GORF is being produced by Teaching Electronics and Computing History (TECH) Inc. which is an Australian not-for-profit association. GORF is happening from April 24th-28th 2019 at Urban Camp in Melbourne, Australia. Similar to KansasFest there is bunk-style accommodation provided on-site and participants are encouraged to live-in for the…
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, I unfortunately have to postpone WOzFest 12:00 – the new date is Saturday 25 May 2019, all other details remain the same. Steve in Brisbane has decided to also postpone QFest 12 to the same date. From the europlus zone blog: From our Northern Apple ][ Compadres comes the following announcement: I am very happy to announce QFest 12, to be held in Brisbane on Saturday 27 April 2019, concurrent with WOzFest 12:00 and GORF, starting around midday Brisbane time (UTC+10:00). As with previous QFests, there…
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, I unfortunately have to postpone WOzFest 12:00 – the new date is Saturday 25 May 2019, all other details remain the same. Steve in Brisbane has decided to also postpone QFest 12 to the same date. From the europlus zone blog: I’m very happy to announce the date for the next WOzFest, WOzFest 12:00 – Saturday 27 April 2019, starting around midday Sydney time (UTC+10:00). The primary theme for WOzFest 12:00 is “time” – encompassing, among other things, time-related hardware and software, the ravages of time and what we…
The Apple-1 Emulator That Doesn’t Suck or ETSD has been updated. The project receivd a bit of an update this week with the v6502 getting a submodule bump and the Apple-1 Emulator Xcode project file getting a version update. The Apple-1 ETDS is an Apple-1 emulator by Daniel Loffgren and uses curses for output. The program is freely downloadable from the Apple-1 ETDS GitHub page at:https://github.com/RyuKojiro/apple1
Gerard Putter, author of the Virtual II Emulator, has announced another patch release. Version 9.1.2 is set to address a few issues according to the author: It appeared that ProDOS diskette access often failed. This was due to the rewrite I did of the disk head stepper motor (to implement quarter-track access). In the new code I mixed up two variables, and as a result the head position and the stepper phase were not always in sync. This especially affected…
Now available due to popular demand is a spiral bound version of the Apple II DOS 4.1 manual. You can order your copy of the DOS 4.1 manual by going to our A.P.P.L.E. Bookstore. Be sure to check the discount code in the Specials posting on our website. https://www.callapple.org/books
A commit to the Passport Github today adds support for the MUSE Software RWTS. The MUSE RWTS can be found in games such as The Caverns of Frietag, The Function Game and other MUSE titles. Daikin5 RWTS support has also been added to the app. Passport is a tool which allows users to strip a disk of the copy protections, which have been in place for the past 30 plus years, with the purpose of giving users a look under…
The Virtual II Emulator has been updated. Version 9.1.1 of Virtual II is intended to address a couple of issues that came up in version 9.1. It is recommended that all users update their emulator with this patch version. Also, for those users who are having problems with the ROM not being found by the emulator on startup, you should be using the Application Support based ROM file for Virtual II to store the ROMs for the emulator. The directory…
The NAUG Appleworks Forum, which was hosted by Apple2scans.net is now back online. The issues have been scanned by Mike Maginnis and Bill Martens over the years with Mike doing the bulk of the scans. AppleWorks Forum was the official newsletter of the National AppleWorks Users Group (NAUG), dedicated to all things AppleWorks on the Apple II. Ten volumes of AWF were published, beginning in August, 1986 and ending December, 1995. The archive has been enhanced to include higher quality…
The Applewin Apple II Emulator has been updated. Version 1.28.1 has been released and is primarily a bug fix release. Items changed in this release include : [Change #523] Support Extended 80-Column Text/AppleColor Card’s DHGR Mixed mode and 560×192 Mono mode. [PR #620] Corrected a few symbol names in APPLE2E.SYM for the 80STORE and 80COL I/O addresses. [Bug #617] Apple II,II+ keyboard: up/down arrow keys are now ignored. The Applewin project is currently being maintained by Tom Charlesworth and a…
Atsushi Ushiroda, a long time member of the FApple2 group in Japan is now selling a batch of the MC68008 co-processor cards for the Apple II. The cards are available directly from Ushiroda at a price of $100 USD which includes international shipping. The 68008 while not extensively made or sold in the 1980’s does have a following within the community. A number of hobbyists over the years have used them including Bob Sander-Cederlof. His cross assembler is one of…
A new Alpha of the Apple II Desktop has been released. This update of the Apple II Desktop, a graphical mouse driven interface, includes a bevy of enhancements to the program including: Current time shown on right side of menu bar, if system has a clock. (#7) Up to 13 volumes are shown on the desktop (was 10). (#20) Up to 12 Desk Accessories are shown in the menu (was 8). (#90) Drag “unlimited” number of icons (was 20). (#18)…
The 110th episode of the Mac Admins Podcast has been released. The podcast, run by hosts Tom Bridge, a partner at Technolutionary LLC and Charles Edge, the Director of Marketplace at Jamf, bring you a ton of topics including the latest Mac OS X Release, Adobe’s licensing, and of course the 35th anniversary of the 1984 release of Macintosh. The also take a look at Office 365 which is in the App Store as well as Armin Briegel’s outlook for…
In his latest video, Chris Torrence reviews the VidHD card from Blue Shift. The card lets you connect your Apple II, II+, IIe, or IIGS to a 1080p monitor or TV. Watch now!
Seattle, Washington — February 1, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Walland Philip Vrbancic, Jr. are proud to announce his new DOS 4.1 Manual: Disk Operating System for the Apple II. This book is in print for the first time, features a newly-designed cover, and is over 240 pages. DOS 4.1 is a reimagined Disk Operating System for the Apple II computer, released in 2018. Programmed by Walland Philip Vrbancic, Jr., a professional programmer since 1983. It…
Hidden in the wings of the Apple II world has been a gem of an operating system re-build, DOS 4.1. The new DOS is a complete re-work of DOS 3.3 from the perspective of retired Raytheon engineer and former Sierra On-Line developer, Walland Philip Vrbancic. Changes in DOS 4.1 Included in this new version of DOS, is the ability to have full lowercase commands for all commands, a 24 letter volume name, the ability to include DOS Version and Build…
The Apple II DiskBrowser, the popular disk viewing app created by Denis Molony has been updated. DisBrowser Version 1.0.33 includes several new capabilities including the ability to view DOS 4.1 floppy disks as well as CPM/DOS and PASCAL/DOS hybrid disks. The Apple II DiskBrowser is a free download in .JAR format from:https://github.com/dmolony/DiskBrowser
John Brooks and Brian Wiser have completed the full manual for the VidHD, a feature-rich HDMI video card for the Apple II made by Blue Shift Inc. Additionally, John selected A.P.P.L.E. as the official host for the manual and future firmware updates. While a simpler “Installation Manual” shipped with all VidHD orders, this manual describes detailed features, VidHD Control Panel configuration, accelerator and DMA considerations, IIGS display registers, and complete credits for the VidHD product. Visit https://www.callapple.org/vidhd and download the…
