Joshua Bell, creator of the online version of the Applesoft and Logo interpreters and curator of Calormen.com, has a new project. The project, with full sources on GitHub, is a complete disassembly of the program known as Apple II Desktop or MouseDesk by Version Soft. According to the Apple II Desktop repository readme, The goal of this project is to disassemble/reverse-engineer the suite with an eye towards understanding how it functions, and eventually fixing bugs and adding functionality. While, Joshua…
The source code for Mini vMac emulator version 3.6 Alpha is available for download from the Gryphel project website. This version is only an alpha and is not yet an official release but is available for those who want to build it and test out new features and bug fixes in the app. Mini vMac emulates a Mac Plus on multiple platforms and can run up to Mac OS 7.5.5 and runs on Mac OS X. The Gryphel project, run…
Adam Christianson has released episode 647 of his MacCast podcast. This episode includes a variety of Macintosh related topics including: iCloud on Google servers, not a surprise. More iPhone X Plus details. Two security firms claim to have iOS 11 cracks. Apple’s audio products are doing well. Apple Video adds M. Night Shyamalan series. Battery replacement times get longer. Avoid “Apple” phishing emails. Apple Watch track winter activities. A ‘lower priced’ Macbook Air? FileVault 2 clarification. Dealing with finicky FaceID….
The RetroMacCast crew has released episode 261 of their podcast, entitled “Possible but Not Probable”. This time around, James and John discuss their lastest eBay finds: an Apple Acapulco patch, the TAKKY Color Classic, and a clear prototype Apple IIcx. They also take a look back at March 98 in the Macintosh world through the lens of MacAddict magazine. Some of the news items they discuss include Apple’s filing for the six-color logo return, an Apple 1 restoration, and Steve…
The 2018/04 RetroChallenge is now taking entries for their event. RetroChallenge is an bi-annual event sponsored by John W. Linville in an effort to further the retro computing hobby. Entry rules pretty much sum up the feeling of the event: it is a bit like the opposite of Global Thermonuclear War — the only way to lose is not to play… The contest allows entries which are for any computer system which is older than 10 years and in the…
Ever had a problem with your rev 0 or rev 1 Apple II keyboard? Chris Torrence shows how to diagnose problems and clean sticky keys in the latest Assembly Lines video. Watch now!
The 75 page 40th Anniversary issue of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine has been released for A.P.P.L.E. members. We’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) User Group, founded February 21, 1978 along with the first issue of Call-A.P.P.L.E. in February 1978. This issue includes a variety of articles covering the history of A.P.P.L.E., the founding of The Apple Programmers and Developers Association (APDA) by A.P.P.L.E., full coverage of VCF Pacific Northwest, as well as detailed programming articles…
ReativeMicro and Briel Computers have agreed to a distribution of the Briel products. Briel Computers has long been a creator of products such as the Replia-1; an Apple-1 replica board, The Micro-Kim, The Altair 8800 Micro and other popular replica machines. Currently, the Replica-1 Plus are now available through ReactiveMicro. Other products that will be in the distribution have not been specified as of yet, but the Replica-1 Plus, the power supply and bus keyboard converters are currently available through…
A new film called “Steve Jobs’ Choices” is on IndieGoGo, produced by 8-Bit Generation who also produced “The Commodore Wars.” The documentary looks intriguing from the posted trailer. They have assembled some impressive interviews with people like John Sculley, Mike Markkula, Steve Wozniak, Andy Hertzfeld, Al Alcorn, Dan Kottke, Larry Tesler, Jay Elliot, Paul Terrel, Chuck Peddle, Alvy Ray Smith, Steven Levy, Alan Cooper, Stan Veit, Michael Swaine, and Paul Freiberg. About a month remains to complete their funding goal…
Bad news for the iPhone X continues to hit the net–both by way of fact and rumour. Apple has severely scaled back its orders for displays from Samsung–indicative of the ongoing disappointing sales of the X. The falldown is extensive. Samsung will now have surplus capacity and can both use those displays itself and sell them to Apple’s competition, who will in turn retail phones challenging the X but at much lower price points. They won’t make as much money,…
Target Stores are now apparently getting into the Realm of the Retro Machine. A new hand held game being sold exclusively at Target emulates the original 1984 version of The Oregon Trail. While most games related to the property in recent years have focused on renewing the property, this one plays squarely on the original. In a form factor that looks a lot like some of the Akalabeth emulators for iPhone, The Oregon Trail hand held has all of the…
The guys over at RetroMacCast have released their 260th episode of the RetroMacCast. This time around, they take a look at Descent as well as some really old Apple-1 Relica stuff. To listen to the RetroMacCast, check out their website at: http://retromaccast.ning.com/
This is the first issue of the rebooted Working Smarter Newsletter, aka version 2.0. My goal is to provide you with useful tips, hints, and techniques you can use to work smarter, along with links to tips, hints, and techniques of others you might find beneficial. First up, a quick tip about the WiFi menu on your Mac: The old Option key trick for your Mac’s Wi-Fi menu I heard this today on one of my favorite podcasts—MacGeekGab—and it reminded…
R&D Automation LLC has put the CFFA 3000 card on sale once again. Run # 5, totaling 1000 units is expected to go fairly quickly judging from the demand for it. The CFFA 3000 Card which allows users to use compact flash and USB drives to emulate hard drives and floppy drives with real Apple II series hardware, is being sold on the R&D automation website for $174.95 for just the bare card and $374.95 for a completely ready to…
The Vintage Computing Federation has announced the dates and the locations of three more of the VCF events. According to the VCF website, Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 6.0 (produced by our friends at the Atlanta Historical Computing Society) is April 21-22 in the Atlanta area (Roswell, Georgia). Vintage Computer Festival East XIII is May 18-20 at the Vintage Computer Federation museum in Wall, New Jersey. Vintage Computer Festival West XIII is August 4-5 at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley…
In the latest episode of Assembly Lines, Chris Torrence tests out ReactiveMicro’s new Mockingboard 2.1 kit. One major bug has been fixed, but one flaw still remains…
The Macintosh Repository recently added Mac OS X for the PPC based Macintosh machines. For those Mac Users who have older iBooks and Power books with the PPC architecture, these disk images are key. The Macintosh Repository has placed Mac OS X version 10.0 through 10.5 into the repository. For more information or to download the older OS versions, check out their website at: https://www.macintoshrepository.org/45-mac-os-x-for-ppc-osx-10-0-10-1-10-2-10-3-10-4-10-5- Also, be sure to check out their wanted list for items missing from the repository…
Today marks the 40th year since just over a dozen intrepid Apple II users held a meeting at the ComputerLand in Federal Way, Washington. A letter distributed by the store manager at the time, allowed Val Golding to get the word out and bring together like-minded computer users who were just becoming familiar with their newly-purchased Apple II computers, to share ideas and software, and to help each another get the most out of the Apple II. …
David Schmenk has updated the PLASMA disk images. For those of you who have been running on the original version 1.0 floppy disk images, you will want to download the new disks. Included in this update are a number of Keyboard related updates for both the Apple II and the Apple III version of the programming environment. To download PLASMA, Check out the GitHub page at: https://github.com/dschmenk/PLASMA
I just sent the email below to literally everyone I know to bring them up to speed on what I’ve been up to, since I haven’t posted here or sent out a newsletter in months. If you’ve ever signed up for one of my mailing lists, or were ever in any of my Contacts databases, you should have received the message (I’m Back!) earlier this morning (February 19, 2018 at 10:39 AM Central as I type), If you’re not…
