The Spy (metaphorically) pens this on Wednesday, February 1, 2017. Those two are the most commonly misspelled and mispronounced words on the calendar. That’s English for you, though. After all there are more than twenty correct pronunciations of the letter combination “ough” in English. No wonder students from other countries have such a tough time learning what we native North Americans absorb and store in our memories from infancy. Memory and storage have come a long way from the industry’s…
I’m so happy to have finished Working Smarter for Mac Users. All of the chapters are in production and the final iBook, Kindle, Nook, PDF, and print-to-order versions should be available by the end of February assuming no major hiccups. Now, I’ve got some very good news for you: You don’t have to buy my book. I know it sounds crazy but I want everyone to see it so I’m going to give away all or most of it right here in…
Convert CH Mach III Joystick to Apple II About a year ago I bought a very cheap CH Mach III PC joystick and found some schematics on the web for convert it to Apple II. Everything went fine, the conversion was successful and moved on, even sold the joystick to a fellow enthusiast. A couple of months ago I purchased again two PC CH Mach III joysticks, and started the conversion. This time I couldn’t remember the process and of…
The Apple II Scane website has added a slew of new items including the manual for Apple-Cillin II, another issue of The Apple Education Newsletter, and “A Personal Guide to Computers”. The documents are freely downloadable from the site and can be reached at: http://www.apple2scans.net
The Drop III Inches podcast returned this month with their first episode in 3 months. According to the posting on the Drop III Inches blog, We’re back, with an episode that was three months in the making. Mike and Paul talk (in November 2016) about the state of things in our Apple /// worlds, and then speak at some length with Don Burtis (in December 2016), who designed (among many other things) the Microsoft SoftCard III. Don Burtis, who is probably most…
Gerard Putter has announced the release of the latest version of his Virtual II emulator. Virtual II is a Mac OS X based Apple II emulator which features a bevy of features not found on other emulators including realistic sounds, multiple speed, print to PDF among others. Version 7.5.4 includes a number of changes and fixes including: A new option allows forwarding all Command-key combinations to the virtual machine as “Open Apple” key combinations, instead of being handled by the…
I am now accepting a limited number of new consulting clients… If you need help with your backup strategy or execution (or anything else on your Mac or iDevice), I’m happy to say I’m once again accepting new consulting clients. I’m pretty stoked because several of you have asked about it and I’ve had to turn you down. But, now that I’ve finished writing Working Smarter for Mac Users (in production; watch for it this March in fine eBook Stores everywhere) I…
Pre-Order Working Smarter for Mac Users Today and Save Up to $20 I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve finished the writing portion of Working Smarter for Mac Users. All I’ve got left is a final edit and production. So, if all goes well it, should be available in the iBook Store, Amazon.com (Kindle Store), and elsewhere by the end of February. In celebration (I don’t know about you, but I’m celebrating!), I’ve got a special deal for you: From now until the day it…
I began 2017 with a pair of columns reminding users that their hard drives are going to fail—absolutely and positively—and that the question isn’t if they’re going to fail, it’s when they’re going to fail. And, I urged them to back up their data or risk losing it forever. If you haven’t seen the columns already, you really should; you can find them here: Resolve to Back Up Your Mac in 2017 (Dec 28, 2016 ) & Backups on a Budget (Jan 04, 2017). Go…
8Bitdo has started shipping the Apple II-compatible bluetooth gamepad from their Kickstarter. Over on the Assembly Lines Video Podcast, Chris Torrence has a video review of the new controller. He shows how to hook the gamepad up to both a modern Mac/PC and also an Apple ][+, //e or IIc. Does the AP40 live up to its hype? Check out the video and find out!
Brutal Deluxe Software announces the maintenance release of i’m fEDD up, their copy/preservation utility program. Now at version 2.2, the program can export 5.25″ disk bitstreams in a .FDI file. If you own an Apple IIgs, the copy process runs in a single pass. A faster copy means more chance to reliably preserve track sync’ed titles. For easier convenience, the prefix command displays all files and is able to delete unlocked binary files to make room on your destination volume….
The MacCast, a pod cast for Macintosh geeks has released episode 202 of their pod cast. The Adam Christianson produced podcast goes over their favorite products and stories of 2016 in this episode. The MacCast is an members only pod cast which is available in either 6 month or annual memberships. The memberships are available through The MacCast website. To listen to the current MacCast episode, check out The MacCast website at: http://www.maccast.com/2017/01/03/maccast-members-202-favorite-things-of-2016/
The documentation / manual for the Apple II game, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, is now available from the Apple II Scans website. The 10mb download offers a high definition look into the Silas Warner produced game and is a free download. For more information or to download the manual, check out the Apple II Scans website at: http://www.apple2scans.net/2017/01/04/beyond-castle-wolfenstein-muse-software-1981/ Those users who wish to try the game out, you can find it on the Virtual Apple II website at: http://www.virtualapple.org/beyondcastlewolfensteindisk.html
A new Uthernet card for the Apple II series, announced through the A2Retro mailing list, set the date of sale for the cards as Late February. In the email from the Uthernet creator, Glenn Jones, he says Hi, I am currently sending a refreshed PCB design out for new boards. When I get them back and build a few to do thorough testing to ensure no regressions, I will then be placing an order for additional stock. These boards will…
40 years ago, Apple Computer Inc filed the papers of incorporation. One of the people who was there in those early years, Chris Espinosa posted a copy of the original seal: Happy 40th birthday, Apple Inc. pic.twitter.com/CZTvaPDTrq — Chris Espinosa (@cdespinosa) January 3, 2017 Espinosa is still an Apple employee and along with Daniel Kottke, are the only employees remaining from the fabled Garage from which Apple, Inc. was born.
Sierra’s problems as of version 10.12.2 appear to have been ameliorated on most fronts of specific concern to the Spy. The missing system calls that prevented Online Bible from being run have apparently been resolved, and the product is relatively stable on other fronts as well. Your kilometerage may vary, however, so install with caution, having previously cloned a backup of your boot partition. He is not at this point yet prepared to endorse Safari, however. For several versions now,…
This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Glenda Adams, better known on the Apple II as The Atom. She was a cracker of some note back in the 1980s, and she shares great stories with us of her exploits in boot tracing, cracking, and distributing software in the glory days of the Apple II BBS scene. We talk about the journey from programming to cracking, and back to programming again. We talk about the politics of the Apple…
I’ve always been obsessed with finding the fastest, easiest, or most elegant way of doing something, so many of my favorite Mac (and iOS) apps are simple, inexpensive utilities that help me do one thing better, faster, or more elegantly. I added a dynamic duo of such utilities to my Mac productivity arsenal earlier this year; today I wouldn’t want to use my Mac without them. MOOM = MOVE AND ZOOM WINDOWS MOUSELESSLY Moom is a $9.99 app that manages windows…
An intriguing post on twitter today caught my eye. John Brooks, creator of ProDOS 2.4.1 has released a short program which scrolls Apple II gs text at 130 frames per second at 2.8 MHz. John is known not only for his recently released updates to the ProDOS operating system but also for his Bitsy Bye file manager on the Apple II series and the A.P.P.L.E. produced TurtleSoft ProDOS version as well as his old days fame for The Apple II…
Nintendo Super Mario Run released just days ago for iOS has been updated. Super Mario Run is the first Ninendo produced game to run under the iOS platform. It had been promised earlier this year and was released this month. A version 1.0.1 has been released to address an issue with Friend List linking within the game. You can download the game with the first 3 levels for free from: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/super-mario-run/id1145275343?mt=8
