Further On Apple’s latest iterations The Spy notes that Apple parts suppliers have been notifying shareholders of massive reductions in their order books. Stocks have fallen, and Apple shares in turn have led the whole premium high tech stock sector into a deep downward spiral. Indeed at this writing, Apples market cap, having lost some 20% was below that of Microsoft for the first time in many moons. Should anyone be astonished? Christmas buying season is well advanced and Apple…
The Apple IIix project, curated by Aaron Culliney of Deadcode.org, has been updated. Apple IIix is an Apple II Emulator for POSIX devices. Currently, the Android Release Candidate for version 2.0 is available on the Apple IIix website. For more infromation or to download the latest version of Apple IIix, go to the github page at: https://github.com/mauiaaron/apple2
Seattle, Washington — November 26, 2018 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Jon F. Baxley are proud to announce the immediate availability of the book for his classic game Lordlings of Yore: The Game of Knights, Knaves and Necromancers. Lordlings of Yore was originally published in 1983 by Softlore Corporation, a company run by Jon. The newly-designed manual by Brian Wiser includes remastered art for the cover and interior. The cover even showcases more art than the original…
Seattle, Washington — November 24, 2018 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Alan Bird are proud to announce the immediate availability of the new manual ProBASIC: Professional Modular BASIC Programming. ProBASIC enhances the Applesoft BASIC that is built-in to your Apple II computer. New commands and functions can be added to your programs. Programmers familiar with structured languages such as Pascal and C will quickly see the similarities between a ProBASIC module and a procedure or function….
James and John at RetroMacCast have been busy boys this past week with the release of two episodes of the RetroMacCast podcast. Episodes 482 and 483 have both been released and are available for your listening pleasure. In Episode 482, James and John discuss eBay finds: Macintosh brochure, prototype TechStep, and Macintosh Picasso dealer sign. They talk with Derek from Macintosh Folklore Radio, and news includes an upcoming Apple Event, and the Apple Museum Cafe. In Episode 483, they look…
The AppleCommander Apple II data conversion software has been updated.AppleCommander has long been a go to tool for many users converting data from Apple II disk images to standard files on the Mac and Windows. The program includes support for all standard disk sizes and formats as well as 32mb HDV type hard disk images. AppleCommander version 1.5.0 was released with a number of changes including: New images Updates to AppleSingle support. Also see the asu utility for direct manipulation…
Seattle, Washington — November 23, 2018 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Jeff Koftinoff are proud to announce the immediate availability of the first manual for his 1984 game Cater Killer. Cater Killer is a multi-level action arcade game for the Apple II. The scenario is that you are alone in a world populated by Cater Killers which are very hazardous to your health. You must take food away from the baby Cater Killers and if you…
Chris Torrence reviews the new book “The Nostalgia Nerd’s Retro Tech: Computer, Consoles and Games”. From the blurb: This book celebrates the most exciting period in the history of technology – the arrival of the home computer and home gaming console. For a time, an exciting and ever-changing array of different companies fought for supremacy, leaving a lasting legacy of great gameplay and surreal design we’ll never experience again. Features screenshots of nostalgic games that will bring joy to the…
The Applewin Apple II Emulator has been updated. Applewin version 1.27.12.0 includes a few changes to the program including: [Change #574] Add support for PAL/European or custom 8K video ROMs: Added new command line switch: -videorom <file> Replaces the video ROM for the Enhanced //e. Support video ROM sizes of 4K, 8K and 16K (top 8K only). NB. The rocker switch is set to the European video ROM position. F10 (for //e or Enhanced //e models) emulates the PAL //e’s…
When Hackaday held their Supercon, they gave electronic badges to all of the attendees. Well, this in turn has produced a number of hacks and additions, including this one which caught out eye — An Apple-1 Emulator running on the badge https://hackaday.io/project/3620-l-star-software-defined-6502-computer/log/155608-l-star-as-a-supercon2018-badge-add-on
Chris Torrence sits down with 6502 Workshop’s Mark Lemmert to chat about the internals of Nox Archaist, Mark’s new Ultima-inspired computer role-playing game. Click here to learn about Mark’s build process, monster and tile creation, and much more! Then, in part 2, Chris takes on the Orc Shaman in an epic boss battle.
The Applewin Apple II Emulator has been updated. Version 1.27.10.0 has been released by Tom Charlesworth, curator of the Applewin project. Included in this update are the following items: [Change #590] Apple II original: default to 48K (so no LC installed in slot-0). Added new command line switch: -s0 <languagecard|lc> (‘lc’ is an alias for ‘languagecard’) When LC is in slot-0, it now use the Apple II+’s F8 (auto-start) ROM [Change #408] Support Saturn 64K and 128K cards in slot-0….
The Apple II floppy emulator options have been shrinking lately, with availability being limited to a few devices. From the CFFA 3000 last run to most other devices deprecated, there’s only two or three available right now. That’s why KbooHK coming into the Apple II community is quite welcome, and their product promises a great deal by supporting the new .Woz file format. The Wdrive is a small device, very well designed and built, It is a real floppy replacement…
Chris Torrence reviews the latest Apple II game by Michael Packard, of Snacking On! Software. It’s OidZone, an asteroids-style shoot ’em up with Mockingboard sound, super smooth graphics, and extreme difficulty. Watch the review now!
Oliver Schmidt has announced a major update to the IP65 TCP/IP Stack for the Apple II Computer. According to his press release in the CSA2, “It is likely that you think of IP65 as an asm written TCP/IP library for asm programmers. But IP65 has significantly changed recently in two directions: 1. C Interface The IP65 programming model has deliberately always favoured simplicity over flexibility. However, targeting only asm programmers there weren’t too many to appreciate that design. Since I…
by Rick Sutcliffe Technology News and Views Since 1983 November 2018 Apple’s latest iterations are anything but Halloween scary, much less insanely great. Rather they are mere steps along an already well-worn path of mediocrity–by dint of a loyal installed base temporarily insanely profitable in a strictly stock value-enhancing way, but not industry-leading in any sense. Consider: Phones The Spy opined on these last month. Apple tweaked its line somewhat, but debuted no groundbreaking technologies in either hardware or software….
The Gryphel Project has announced the immediate availability of Mini vMac version 36.04. The latest version comes with a slew of changes, fixes and updates including interchange of data to and from the emulator via the Clipboard of the actual machine. For more information or to download the latest version of Mini vMac, check out the Mini vMac webpage at: https://www.gryphel.com/c/minivmac/index.html
kboohk, the producer of the wDrive Floppy Disk Emulator, has announced the immediate availability of the wDrive. The wDrive comes in two flavors. White and Transparent. The units are currently selling for $69 USD on the kboohk website and apparently is shipping immediately. Features of the wDrive are: * Supports 5.25 disk image in nib, edf and woz format. * Supports disk read/write(for game save,disk copy). * Transfer floppy disk to .WOZ through disk copy. * Support Fat/Fat32 file system….
by Rick Sutcliffe Apple’s new introductions this month are the iPhoneXR and XS, plus the Watch series 4. The latter is becoming more interesting with each new generation, and smart watches seem to have found their principal niche as fitness assistants. The Spy notes, however, that some insurance companies are offering special rates for customers who give them ongoing access to their watch data. Like many things in modern technology this has its advantages–reduced premiums presumably for people who stay…
Glenn Jones of A2RetroSystems announced that Pre-orders for the new Uthernet II cards for the Apple IIe and IIgs were being taken in an email to the Uthernet mailing list. The new cards, according to the website are based on the Wiznet W5100 chip. It has an embedded hardware IP stack. Contiki, IP65, Marinetti and ADTPro have been updated to work with the new card. While actual fulfillment of the cards is expected in mid to late October, the cards…
