by Rick Sutcliffe September 2017 unless it reflects reality All real world activity generates observable data, and such data is the necessary starting point for information. The term “fake data” is an oxymoron, for alleged data not rooted in real wold activities and events simply isn’t. In his long and hopefully not too misspent life, the Spy has occasionally encountered people who believe they possess data that is no more than their imagination working overtime. Even by people who…
MacTracker, the App which tracks all of the Apple hardware has been updated. According to the MacTracker website, the following items have changed in 7.6.6.: Version 7.6.6 – Adds iMac (21.5-inch, 2017), iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017), and iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) – Adds MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017), MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports), and MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports) – Adds MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017) – Adds MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017) – Adds iPad Pro (12.9-inch)…
The Gryphel Project has announced the availability of a new version of Mini vMac, macintosh emulator. Mini vMac 3.5.7 allows users to emulate a Macintosh Plus on a variety of platforms including Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. A number of ports to other platforms are also available via the Grypel Project links page. According to the posting on the Grypel Proroject website by Curator, Paul Pratt, “Mini vMac 3.5.7 is now officially released. That is, it is now declared…
Brutal Deluxe Software have announced that Bitsy Rip, a new low-level copy program for the Apple II is now available. According to the announcement by Antoine Vignau of Brutal Deluxe Software: Bitsy Rip is a low level disk imaging software using an Apple IIgs and a standard 5.25″ disk drive, no extra hardware is required! This 0.4 version is pre-alpha and really more proof-of-concept than a usable product. It requires 4 MB of ram and stores the disk nibble data…
A posting to the Kansasfest group has announced the dates for the 2018 edition of Kansasfest. According to the posting by committee member, Sean Fahey, Mark your calendar for KansasFest 2018, July 16th (early-early arrival) through July 22nd, at Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri. for more information about Kanasfest, check out the organization’s website at :www.kansasfest.org
This month on Open Apple, we run the annual group megapodcast that is recorded live at KansasFest! This is a four-year-old tradition whereby all the attending retro podcasters get together and do one big silly show together. It’s clunky, it’s pointless, and the audio quality is terrible because we’re all crowded one microphone in a grungy old basement chapel. Yet it’s one of our favorite things to do every year, so we hope you enjoy listening! Around the table this…
August 2017 Of Technology are relative to an individual’s “normal”. Just now, the Spy has finished his annual task of pressure washing the house, then put some water on the squash and cucumber patch. To someone living in Western society, small engine machines like pressure washers, string trimmers, generators, chain saws, lawn mowers and tractors are low technology–even to a city slicker who may not have heard of, much less used any of these. Seen in use, all would be…
Seattle, Washington — July 21, 2017 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Kevin M. Smallwood are proud to announce the immediate availability of the book GBBS Pro Bulletin Board System: Version 2.2 and the software update that accompanies it. GBBS Pro is a user-friendly, highly-modifiable Bulletin Board System (BBS) for communications and entertainment. It has advanced features that can be configured by a novice, yet challenge advanced programmers. Originally released between 1980 and 1993 for Apple II computers,…
I hope you enjoy this short film by yours truly (Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus)… It explains why you SHOULD NOT BUY the softcover version of my latest book, Working Smarter for Mac Users, and why the eBook version is so much better.
Have you ever upgraded your Mac OS X and just absolutely missed your previous version of the desktop wallpaper? Well, now you can have the best of both worlds thanks to our friends over at 512Pixels. Every version of the wall paper has been up-scaled to 5K and is now available for download from their website: https://512pixels.net/projects/default-mac-wallpapers-in-5k/
Way too late for June, but just in time for KansasFest! This month on Open Apple, we sit down with KansasFest committee member and lifelong Apple II user Peter Neubauer. We talk lots about the upcoming KansasFest, of course, but also Peter’s own experiences with the machine. He has a passion for Logo, and a special place in his heart reserved for the Apple IIc Plus. I think many of us can relate to that. We talk KansasFest, KansasFest, and…
Oz KFest 2017, the Australian retro computing gathering, is now open for registration. Oz KFest provides a similar experience to the well known and admired Kansasfest Apple II convention. For the first time, Oz KFest will be held at a venue with on-site accomodation to provide the opportunity for close collaboration. Also for the first time, due to popular demand, Oz KFest will run for longer than a weekend. Australian Apple II enthusiasts have a long history of innovation and…
Birthdays engender delays, which is why this tome is a few days late, being written on the third of July. Canada Day number 150 falling on a Saturday this year, meant the national holiday substituting for it fell on the Spy’s own birthday. Nice of the country to celebrate for me, but really… ‘Course, that other fractious country to the south has its birthday tomorrow. In view of recent national and other elections, the questions of course for pundits and…
– One of the simplest cards I’ve ever used, just connect and run! For a long time, the Apple II has enjoyed a plethora of hardware that extends, connects, and enhances it. Among them, speed accelerators have been sought and venerated. The Apple IIe had a few of them: the TransWarp, Titan, Speed Demon, Zip Chip, and Rocket Chip. These products have not been manufactured for 30+ years and hence they are sometimes expensive and hard to obtain, leaving some…
Now you can easily build your own FTP client, or add FTP functionality to your IIgs applications. Just drop the new FTP Tool Set into your System:Tools folder, add a few simple commands to your applications, and it is done… Also being released is a new NDA, SOS.FTP. This utilises the FTP Tool Set, and from the IIgs Desktop, or while running an application, you can now easily send a single file to or from a host server using FTP….
Last year, 8bitdo, a Hong Kong company that specializes in Bluetooth and wireless controllers for retro systems, came out with a special receiver commemorating the Apple II after a successful kickstarter campaign. The key element of this device is the adapter that connects to the joystick port of the Apple II computers and converts it to Bluetooth, allowing the game pad to be used as a joystick on the Apple IIs. Unfortunately the users found out after receiving them that…
June 2017 In a reprise of previous comments on the subject, the Spy has resolved his issues with his Synology 4-bay 1815+ NAS, that he purchased for home use (yes, yes, overkill, but one cannot have too many backups, especially when one of them fails). This unit worked worked well for over a year, but became flakey, started to beep, and when the Spy investigated, he found the volume had crashed. Attempting to turn it off and on again yielded…
This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Michael Packard, author of the upcoming new game Alien Downpour. Michael has gone back to teach himself assembly language and make the kinds of games he wished he had made back in the day. The results are indeed impressive, and his first foray into solo Apple II game production is shaping up great. He’s also been very encouraging to the community, having set up the Facebook group Apple Graphics and Arcade…
Mountain View, CA, 18 May 2017 — Manila Gear today announced the No Slot Clock for the Apple II series of computers. The No Slot Clock lets your Apple II remember the date and time. No Slot Clock – Front Side No Slot Clock – Back Side This brings the amazing functionality of the Dallas Time Chip DS1215 to the Apple ][ and the Apple ][+ computer. No more typing in the date and time every time you boot up! It also…
From the Glyphel Project: 7 May 2017 Today’s Mini vMac 3.5.5 beta has three bug fixes. After emulating an ADD instruction, if the value of the X flag was needed later, but in between there was another instruction that set the other flags not including the X flag, the lazy evaluation of the X flag was incorrect. This broke signing with MacPGP. While fixing this, I put in some debugging code to allow disabling lazy flag evaluation, so one can…
