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…
In part 4 of the “Fix Your Old Computer” series, Chris Torrence shows how to disassemble and repair the disk drive within a Commodore Amiga 500. Although not strictly Apple related, the techniques are applicable to any retro computer. Watch now!
An important documentary about the origins of many modern technologies, “General Magic,” premiered in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. General Magic was founded in 1990 to reinvent telephony, and in 1994 – over a decade before the iPhone – they shipped one of the first smartphones and created a voice assistant. The visionaries at General Magic included people who were part of the original Mac team and innovators who went on to found eBay, develop Android, and create the…
John Morris has announced the immediate availability of the latest version of the Applesauce Floppy Disk Controller client software. Applesauce FDC client version 1.05 will add a myriad of fixes and enhancements including: New disk visualization system. Better performance and the output file sizes are 30% of what they used to be. PNG files now also contain metadata. Fast Imager has undergone a significant upgrade. It will now allow for light copy protections, like volume number changes and E7 bitstream,…
By Rick Sutcliffe Last month The Spy detailed issues with his university-owned mid-2015 MacBook Pro. He had thought nothing of the fact that the keys were beginning to imprint on the screen (it could be wiped clean), but when he realized that the machine would no longer stand on its own four feet, but was wobbling unsteadily on a bump in the lower case, he realize it had the dreaded swollen battery condition. So in some trepidation (a first timer…
In this three-part series, Chris Torrence shares tips & tricks for repairing your retro computer from the 1970s and 1980s. Episode #1: Tool, Computer Components, Power Supplies Episode #2: Magical Thinking and Using a Multimeter Episode #3: Multimeters and Logic Probes
The Eaten By A Grue podcast, episode number 22 has been released. The EBAG podcast, which is run by Kevin Savetz and Carrington Vanston, endeavor to lead the listeners through the Infocom game CutThroats this episode. Set sail for Hardscrabble Island, where sly divers vie for sunken treasure. Can Kevin and Carrington avoid the dangers of the deep long enough to enjoy the game? Don’t hold your breath. To listen to the Eaten By A Grue podcast, go to their…
John Brooks, the co-creator of the VidHD 1080p Card for the Apple II computer, has released a video of the capabilities of the card. The VidHD card allows users to use modern HDMI monitors with their Apple II computers. The Video demonstrates the high quality look of the video by using the following games via the NTSC mode of the VidHD card: Airheart, Rescue Raiders, Captain Goognight, Drol, Hard Hat Mack, Mr. Do, The Bard’s Tale, Wizardry, Dazzle Draw DHGR…
The latest version of the Applesauce Floppy Drive Controller client software has been released. John Morris, creator of Applesauce, pushed the update out through the automatic update feature now included in Applesauce. Included in this release are the following updates and fixes: * Flux Imaging now happens 25% faster! * Created Bulk Processing system under the Tools menu. * Added bulk processor for updating A2R files to the new version 2.0 format. * Added bulk processor for changing the Contributor…
We’re announcing the availability of the Tome of Copy Protection Errata. Anyone who purchased the Tome of Copy Protection prior to August 21, 2018 will find this errata useful. This errata is based on dozens of hours of discussion between a number of members of the Apple II community and author Lane Roathe. Additional credit goes to Antoine Vignau of Brutal Deluxe Software for his tireless attempts to ensure that everything was covered alongside Brian Wiser of A.P.P.L.E. The Tome…
The Apple II DiskBrowser has been updated. DiskBrowser, a creation of Denis Molony, is a utility which allows users to view the contents of Apple II disk images on their Macintosh computers. The java based utility has had additional graphics capabilities added to the program and offers rudimentary WOZ disk image support at the moment. DiskBrowser is a free utility and the latest versions of the utility are available for download from Github at: https://github.com/dmolony/DiskBrowser/releases/
