From the Kansasfest Committee: People come to KansasFest for the Apple II and stay for the people. The creativity, resilience, and dedication of the community developed over the last 37 years is worth preserving and nurturing. People and organizations change though, and this year marks an evolution for KansasFest as we strive to do better for the community. The leadership of KansasFest is changing. Sean Fahey first joined the planning committee in 2004 and became president in 2015. This year, he is…
Apple II Desktop project curator, Joshua Bell, has announced the latest release of the Apple II Desktop project. Version 1.5 Alpha 3 introduces a Bulgarian version of the graphical platform for the Apple II. Changes since the previous version include the following items: General DeskTop Selector Disk Copy Desk Accessories The latest release of the Apple II Desktop package is available in one of 10 languages from the Apple II Desktop project Github page at:https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d
Programmer Robert Baruch of Mountain View, California, has announced the complete reverse engineering of the game Lode Runner for the Apple II series. Once one of the most popular games for the Apple II, this reverse engineering provides users a means by which to re-assemble the game and check out the inner workings of Lode Runner. The file, main.pdf, is the literate programming document for this project. The explanation of the disassembly is contained within the lines of the source…
From the creator of FujiNet, Thom Cherryhomes: The newest firmware for ATARI, Apple2, CoCo, and Coleco Adam devices, FujiNet Firmware 1.5, has been released! Below you’ll see a distilled set of changes that have gone into this firmware release, which supersedes the 1.4 release that happened last year in August.A huge thank you to everyone who helped get this release cut! FujiNet is a multi-peripheral emulator and WiFi network device for vintage computers. The first completed hardware was for Atari…
An apparently lost episode of the Open Apple podcast from 2018 featuring Applesauce Floppy Disk Controller creator John Morris has been located. Originally from July 2018 and hosted by Em Maginnis and Quinn Dunki, this two hour episode, Open Apple #86 (July 2018): John Keoni Morris of Applesauce FDC, includes a ton of Tidbits about the Applesauce Floppy Disk Controller and its workings. To listen to the episode, check out the Open Apple podcast website at:https://www.open-apple.net/2025/03/31/show-086-john-morris-applesauce/
Registration for Kansasfest 2025 has now opened. This year’s event will be a completely virtual event from July 18-20. Be sure and get your tickets soon to reserve your part in this annual Apple II related event. Check out the website for more information at: www.kansasfest.org/registration/
Get VCF East 2025 Tickets now! Early bird prices end 4/3! Prices are higher at the door! https://events.humanitix.com/vintage-computer-festival-east-2025The show is April 4-6 in Wall, NJ
April 1, 2025 Dear Spy Can you help me with a family issue? It’s really breaking us up. See, we have this uncle who’s lately become a problem for the family. O.K. strictly speaking Samuel’s not actually our uncle, but he styles himself so. Yeah, we’re distantly related, but that was, like, centuries ago. For almost that long, our two branches of the family have lived peacefully on side-by-side properties, and we’ve both built up extensive business interests that over…
Seattle, Washington – March 26, 2025 – Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has published a new 2nd Edition of The WOZPAK II, intended for collectors who want to own this early work. It is a reprint with an additional introduction by A.P.P.L.E. founder Val J. Golding, and a new back cover. It contains over 130 pages of Apple documentation with many examples and explanations. A disk image with the Apple II programs is available. First published in 1979, The WOZPAK II was an…
The major code refactoring/modernization effort has continued with this release. Lots of improvements all over, but a huge feature coming out of this work is what I call the “curiosity engine”. Previously, the disk analyzer only really detected copy protections and other abnormalities via finding unusual structures or errors at the raw sector level. While much of that is still happening in the same way, the curiosity engine now performs an analysis of the disk along with the help of…
From the author, Richard Soberka: Hi everyone, I just wanted to let the Apple II community know that I’ve made my game Zephyr available for download as a disk image (.DSK). It’s available for free on my personal website:https://www.soberka.com/games/ Zephyr is an action game — a combat flight simulator in double hi-res monochrome (DHGR, 560 × 192 pixels), designed for Apple IIe (128K), Apple IIc, or Apple IIgs computers. I wrote Zephyr in 1987 for the French publisher Froggy Software. The game was scheduled for…
A lot of people my age that touched Macintoshes in the nineties know that game, Glider, written by John Calhoun. I recently started wanting to try and program a game for the Apple II as it is something I never attempted before, and I wanted to see if I got good enough at 6502 assembly for that. After a difficult start, I managed to have the project take off (pun intended) and decided to make a Glider reimplementation for the…
When nostalgia for my childhood computer first hit me as an adult, the first thing I did was look for a way to emulate the system on my modern setup. Having already experimented with emulators like Catakig and Stop the Madness in the ’90s and early 2000s, it wasn’t difficult to find Virtual ][—one of the best Apple II emulators for modern Macintosh computers. However, after moving to “bare metal” and using real Apple IIe Platinum and Apple IIc machines,…
Thomas Harte, Developer of the Clock Signal Emulator, has announced a bug fix update to the emulator. The latest version includes the following Macintosh related bug fixes: The Clock Signal Emulator is a clock accurate multi-platform emulator and is available for free download from: https://github.com/TomHarte/CLK
While the evenings of KansasFest are renowned for their spontaneity, the days are reserved for sessions spanning a variety of uses, extensions, and applications of the Apple II family. Just as varied as these sessions are the good people who volunteer to present them. If you have a topic you’d like to present, please fill out the session proposal form. Past sessions have included hardware, software and game demonstrations, and tutorials; integration of the Apple II with other devices; emulators; programming;…
From our friend David Greelish of Before Macintosh: There are currently three Apple Lisa computers being auctioned with RR Auctions, all ending on March 20th. One of them is an original Lisa 1. – Apple Lisa Computer with ‘Twiggy’ Drives, ProFile Hard Drive, Mouse, and Keyboard:https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/349773707146055-apple-lisa-computer-with-twiggy-drives-profile-hard-drive-mouse-and-keyboard/ – Apple Lisa 2 Prototype with Mouse, Keyboard, and ProFile Drive:https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/349916807146061-apple-lisa-2-prototype-with-mouse-keyboard-and-profile-drive/ – Apple Lisa 2 Computer Set with Keyboard, Mouse, and ProFile Hard Drive:https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/348390407146054-apple-lisa-2-computer-set-with-keyboard-mouse-and-profile-hard-drive/ There is also an original Apple 1 and two reproductions. A…
For those of you who are fans of the flying toasters of yesteryear, there is now reason to celebrate! Matthew Pierce (CybernetixZero) has modified the AfterDark program and the modules to run smoothly on MacOS 9.2.2. This release is a celebration of everything After Dark! For many years I’ve been on a mission to see After Dark running stable on Mac OS 9.2.2. Some time ago, a user by the name of Daxeria released a patched version of the After…
The Ample interface for the MAME emulation platform on MacOS has been updated. Ample version 0.275 includes the following additions: Ample is a graphical user interface which according to the author, Kelvin Sherlock, provides a more friendly interface for the MAME Emulation platform. Originally only supporting Apple and Macintosh based emulation, the latest version of Ample includes support for Dragon 32, Tandy computers, Commodore 64 and BBC Micro as well as a host of other retro computing platforms. You can…
Technology News and Views Since 1983March 2025 That title isn’ta reference to bus drivers on strike at the beginning of a bright sunny week. Rather, it is a reflection on how quickly worldly honours (glories) can vanish into oblivion, whether through conquest, or self-destruction via overweening hubris. Take, for instance politicians. (Please.) OTOH, they paint a glorious picture of how great will be their reign if the electorate will hand them and their party the keys to the empire. But…
From the Kansasfest 2025 Committee: KansasFest: a community united in passion, learning, and respect for the Apple ][ For over three decades, KansasFest has brought together enthusiasts, experts, and newcomers alike to celebrate the legacy of Apple II computing. More than just a gathering, KansasFest is a community—one built on a foundation of learning, fun, respect, and collaboration. We take great pride in fostering a safe and welcoming environment where attendees can share their passion, exchange knowledge, and build lasting…
