I heard someone plop in one of my chairs and creak it back. A pair of boots heels thumped on my table. “Hope you’re not wearing spurs today,” I said without turning. Nellie Hacker is…rather informal. “That table is for helping my students with their assignments. Gouges would be counterproductive.” “Calculus, no doubt. What’s the topic de jour? Lemmie see. ‘Given an elliptical cross section with axis lengths 10 and 15 centimetres, the formula for the depth of the water,…
April 1, 2017 /RPNewswire/ — The 8-Bit Bunch announce an unexpected discovery for the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Apple II – an original game from 1977. You may have thought that Lemonade Stand and Little BrickOut were the titles to show off the capabilities of the Apple II. This, Light Cycles 3D, was the game that was supposed to ship with the computer but was pulled at the last minute for unknown reasons. We discovered the cassette…
MARCH 31, 2017 — KansasFest 2017, the 29th annual Apple II convention, is now open for registration. Antoine Vignau and Olivier Zardini, the French Brutal Deluxe Software programming team known for countless original Apple II programs and archiving efforts, will join us in Kansas City, Missouri from July 18 – 23 with a keynote presentation to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apple II. Space is limited to 100 people, so register soon to reserve your spot. Attendees are encouraged…
A new 503 byte Sector Viewer created by John Brook has been released. The viewer includes all source code as well as the executable. According to John’s post on CSA2, ” This is a single-block (503-byte) ProDOS utility which will read DOS 3.3 sectors and dump+display them as both hex and ascii. It runs on all Apple II computers including Integer ROM and ][+ machines. It is a SYS file and can be run from Basic.System or launched directly. It…
Gerard Putter has released a new version of the Virtual II Emulator. The latest version, 7.6 is specifically updated to run on Mac OS X 10.11 and newer. Version 7.6 includes the following fixes and updates: This upgrade requires OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) or better. Rewrote the full-screen feature; it now works for individual windows, using the familiar green button in the window title. The main window can now be resized freely, and is not limited anymore to the…
This month on Open Apple, Mike and Quinn sit down with each other and catch up on all the news they’ve been neglecting lately. We discuss the disappointing 8BitDo controller, get excited about remanufactured printer ribbons, and pretend to know anything about EDD. Follow along as we review Softalk volume 1, number 3. The ads are always the best part! Meanwhile, we manage to sneak in one more Kevin Savetz reference, and a Boo Atari in the same breath. That’s…
It has been announced that the team of Olivier Zardini and Antoine Vignau, better known to those in the Apple community as Brutal Deluxe Software, will give the 2017 Kansasfest Keynote. According to the announcement on the Kansasfest Website: KansasFest 2017, the 29th annual Apple II convention, is scheduled for July 18 – 23 in Kansas City, Missouri. Antoine Vignau and Olivier Zardini, the French Brutal Deluxe Software programming team known for countless original Apple II programs and archiving efforts,…
I read this article at fortune.com the other day called Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Multitask, According to an MIT Neuroscientist by Earl Miller. I couldn’t agree more. One of the cornerstones of my new book, Working Smarter for Mac Users, is that you get more work done when you focus on one task at a time. I knew this instinctively, but only after years of trial and error, which is why I found the science behind it so fascinating. Here’s an excerpt (click it…
Technology Drivers March 2017 What came first– the social egg or the technology chicken? It is patent that the two exist in a feedback loop, the societal context engendering technological change and the technology, once sufficiently widespread, radically altering society. While one can argue that the first society was agrarian, it was so only in the sense that there was no hunting, and gathering could be done with little travel, for Eden was already planted. The technology of the hunter-gatherer…
In spite of its salacious, click-bait title, and apparently being written by fictitious baseball player Sidd Finch*, I read an article entltled How to Not Write Like an Asshole last year. In it, the author proposes that the way to become a great writer is to copy great writers. “When I say you should copy great writers, I mean you should literally copy their best work, word-for-word, and preferably by hand. This process is called copywork and it’s mind-numbingly simple. You barely have…
From Call-A.P.P.L.E. Magazine: January / February 2017 – Over the last 30 years or so of Steve Jobs life, many in the both the Apple community and the philanthropy driven community accused Steve of not giving or hoarding his billions of dollars in wealth. What they did not see was the reality that Steve was a giving person early and often. While Bill Gates has a public media blitz with every gift he has given to various causes over the…
NOTE: The article below was featured in my Working Smarter for Mac Users newsletter this week and is excerpted from my soon-to-be-released eBook, Working Smarter for Mac Users. It’s a delightful little ditty with a tip that can save you countless hours. ‘ Better still, the more you use this tip, the more time you’ll save. And, as you’ll see, it couldn’t be easier. And, last but not least, if you read all the way to the end, there’s a free gift for you! All…
Chris Morrison has a new writeup at his blog, “The Vintage Geek Blog”, that takes a look at all five of the versions of Bank Street Writer, a popular word processor during the 1980’s for the Apple II Computer. The overview includes versions of the program for the Apple IIe, Iic and IIgs and highlights some of the idiosyncrasies of each version. You can check it out at:https://vintagegeek.wordpress.com/2017/02/22/bank-street-writer-for-apple-ii-5-versions/
From the VCF: VCF West XII: August 5-6, 2017 VCF East is only six weeks away, but we’re already planning VCF West! The show will be August 5-6 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Visit the show web site. Last year’s VCF West was our resurrection of the original VCF which ran from 1997-2007. This year, Vintage Computer Festival West XII will be even bigger! We have two additional rooms to use at the museum for speakers,…
Hello blog-readers! This entry starts with a short tip on drive failure rates that could be useful the next time you buy a hard drive. That’s followed by an excerpt from my new eBook, Working Smarter for Mac Users, an excerpt virtually guaranteed to make you more productive. Onward! Drive Failure Rates I don’t know how many people use Backblaze for their offsite backups, but it’s probably a lot (and it includes me). What I do know is that they had 73,653 hard…
The Jan/Feb 2017 issue of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine has been released to A.P.P.L.E. members. This 36-page full-color issue features many exclusive articles including: – Akalabeth: The Beginning of a Legacy– Steve Jobs: The Quiet Philanthropist– GBBS Pro: The Official Archive– The Apple II Web Server in BASIC– Uthernet II update– Freshly Squeezed Reviews: Swift Be My Playground A.P.P.L.E. members can log into their accounts and download the PDF magazine. If you are not yet a member, be sure to join through…
Axel Muhr from Germany has announced the release of his T2A2 card, his transputer project for the Apple II. Read his announcement: I’d just like to send you a quick heads-up, that my T2A2 (“Transputer to Apple II”) interface finally became a real PCB – 6 years after you ran a news-line about the prototype (http://a2central.com/2683/t2a2-apple-ii-transputer-interface/). Well sometimes it just takes a tad bit longer 😀http://www.geekdot.com/t2a2-for-everyone/I ran a first initial batch of 20 as I have no idea how big…
From the WozFest Website: I’m exceedingly pleased to announce that the next WOzFest, WOzFest PR#6, will be held on Saturday, April 29 2017, starting around midday Sydney time (UTC+10:00). The theme of the day will be “Preservation”, with a special emphasis on grass-roots preservation efforts. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say all retro-computer enthusiasts are preservationists of one kind or another – software, hardware, documentation, books: you name it, we preserve it! With that in mind, I’ve lined up three Skype…
This month on Open Apple, we round out the year with our annual tradition of sitting around a virtual table with some friends of the show, discussing whatever comes to mind. Mike and Quinn are joined by Jeremy Barr-Hyde, Jorma Honkanen, Kate Szkotnicki & Chris Torrence. We have a really fun mix of Apple II fans from all walks of life and all parts of the world this month. Sit down with us as we discuss our history with the…
As a first-time self-publisher, I’ve been reading a lot about building an email list and attracting new fans. And it turns out one of the big trends in marketing on the Internet today is to give away up to 95% of your content. I’m not sure how true it is, but I’m ready to give it a. try. All you have to do is sign up for my newsletter and I’ll give you not just one, not just two, but…
