Option8 has announced that the Audio Connectors for the Apple II are now shipping. Introduced by Option8 owner Charles Mangin at Kansasfest 2015, the Audio Connector allows the user to connect headphones or external speakers to the Apple II series computers. For more information, check out the Option8 website on Tindle at: https://www.tindie.com/products/option8/speaker-connector-for-apple-ii/ You can also check out the RetroConnector blog at http://retroconnector.com/
Antoine Vignau has posted a Youtube video of the missing B-Side ending for the Apple II game Lady Tut. While many cracks of the game have appeared over the years, somehow they all missed Programe’s Ending to the game. Originally published in 1983, this is the first time the ending has been seen in the wild. The video is available for viewing below: You can play the original game on Virtual Apple II at: http://www.virtualapple.org/ladytutdisk.html
In 1975, Paul Terrell, owner of The Byte Shop, famously bought 50 Apple-1’s from Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Of course, they had to build them first and with no money, Steve Jobs convinced companies to provide parts based on a 30 days payment plan using the promissory note from Paul Terrell. Most folks look at that event as the real event that started Apple. However, it was Paul who convinced the Apple guys to make the computer a real…
From Jeremy Rand via the Kansasfest List: Today, I received the new No Slot Clock from Ultimate Apple 2 as found here on their store: https://www.ultimateapple2.com/catalogzen154/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_16&products_id=70 This inspired me to do some coding to try to use my new toy. It turns out that cc65 will use a real time clock if one is present and supported by ProDOS. The No Slot Clock just needs a special .system program to launch first to enable support for the clock in ProDOS. …
Do you miss the days of 1-bit Mac games? Squishy Games is finishing Rogue Invader – their nearly-complete, modern side-scrolling shooter, due to be released February 2016 in 720p black and white. The early build I played looks impressive and shows a lot of promise. Creator Nathan Rees spoke with me as he was preparing to launch his Kickstarter: Brian Wiser: What inspired you to create Rogue Invader and use retro 1-bit graphics? Did you have a classic Mac growing up? Nathan Rees: I grew up with…
For those of us who were unable to attend the recent French version of KFest, Apple II Festival France, you can now check out some of the hardware and software which was displayed at the event. A photo expose, courtesy of @apple2france, has been posted to the Apple II Festival France Flickr page from the event. You can view the photos on the Apple II Festival France FLickr Page at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/130765014@N06/sets/72157655669204220/
The MacCast, run by Adam Christianson, has posted their 537th episode. The current edisode covers a number of Apple related topics including the rumored Apple Car as well as the forthcoming expected September launch of the iPhone 6s. You can listen to the current MacCast Episode at: http://www.maccast.com/2015/08/17/maccast-2015-08-17/
For those of you who have been searching for a methodology of hooking up an Apple II to a TV via HDMI, Alex Lukacz’s latest experiment may be the answer you have been looking for. Using a BBBLack credit card sized computer, he has managed to wire up a reasonable connection allowing for the Apple //c video output to be displayed via HDMI. For more information, check out Alex’s website at: http://lukazi.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/a2-serial-video-to-hdmi-converter.html UPDATE: A video demonstration of the hack has…
Charles Mangin has announced that his 1/3 scale Apple IIgs Raspberry PI case is now available. Available for the price of $100.00 USD, the case is specifically built for the Raspberry PI 2 and the Model-B Plus. Each case has been painted the original platinum color and measures 113x95x38mm. A deluxe version of the case is available with scale model mouse and keyboard, or you can order a custom made case from Charles as well. For more information and…
Jimmy Maher, curator of The Digital Antiquarian has released a very in depth review of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. His article goes into quite a bit of detail about Ken Williams, Sierra, as well as the back lash that they faced with publishing the program. The article also talks about Al Lowe and Mark Crowe’s involvement in the project and how it was kept under wraps in order to keep investors from dumping the…
Benoit Gilon has announced the immediate release of the Peersoft Applesoft Extensions version 1.5.5. Shown extensively at the recent Apple II Festival France, this extension package allows for user defined functions to be added to Applesoft through both machine language and Applesoft. What’s new? Ability to define up to 10 user defined functions. Such functions could handle up to 2 input arguments instead of just one. Sample functions provided, GCD, LCM, Factorial, Binary operations on 16bits integers, MAX and MIN…
The RetroMacCast Episode 376 has been posted. On this episode, James and John discuss a number of Apple related items including their always entertaining eBay finds: Apple poster, mug collection, NIB numeric keypad, and Mission Impossible poster. John interviews Cory Wiegersma from the 68k MLA, and discusses the Steve Jobs opera, as well as the new Jobs trailer, and its rumored Fall event date. Check out their podcast today at: http://retromaccast.libsyn.com/rmc-episode-376-68k-mla
The source code to Taxman, one of the more popular Apple II games in the early 1980’s has been announced as being released very soon. Hailed as the best Pac-Man clone available, Taxman plays nearly identical to the original Pac-Man. The original game was so accurate in detail, it drew the ire of the lawyers at Atari. The game was a complete remake of Pac-Man right down to the animations which run between every few levels. Brian Fitzgerald wrote the…
Silicium Association have announced a new game for the Apple II at the Apple II Festival France 2015 event. The game, “Nono et La Pomme Arc-En-Cel” or “Nono and the Rainbow Apple” is an adventure game, currently available in French only, but soon to be translated to other languages. As has been the trend lately of the French games, it comes in old school style zip lock baggy. The game is available on 5.25 inch floppy disk. According to Antoine…
On Episode 106 of the RCR Podcast, Earl, Carrington, Paul and Ken discuss the Host’s Topic: “Second Chances:” If we had a time machine – What do you wish you’d done “back in the day” in the computing world, and is there a chance you can catch up and do it now in the retrocomputing hobby? Also on the show the team discusses Kfest, the bounty of IIgs related news that has recently been announced, more Kfest, some Retro Challenge results, some more…
The French Touch has released a new graphics demo for the Apple IIe computer. The demo, entitled “A Question of Frames”, was produced on an Apple IIe with 128K of RAM. It will run on original hardware, the Apple IIgs, as well as the Applewin, Jace 2.0 and ActiveGS emulators. The program disk is now available for all to enjoy at: http://www.ctrl-pomme-reset.fr/french-touch/ You can also watch the demo on video below:
Mike Maginnis has announced the availability of the 49th Episode of the Open Apple Podcast This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Laine Nooney, researcher of early computer and software companies. She has been digging into the history of such greats as Brøderbund and Sierra On-Line. In particular, she has done some awesome research on the infamous Soft Porn Adventure, including behind-the-scenes details on the infamous advertising photo. We talk about broken microfilm projectors, we talk about printer…
After I gave a presentation on Retrobrite at KansasFest, people asked me to write about the process, never wrote about Retrobrite as there are so many articles and videos on the internet but finally found some time to write about it. There are many ways to Retrobrite. I avoid submerging because it’s a waste of peroxide, and maybe toxic for the environment, also don’t wrap in plastic as it allows areas to wrinkle and get more concentrated than others, promoting…
Technology News and Views Since 1983 Modula-2 R10 Blueprints August 2015 In these last three months the Spy has introduced the fully modern dialect of an existing notation he and Telecom engineer Benjamin Kowarsch have developed to address serious software engineering issues of safety, security, reliability, and extensibility. This month he shows how to leverage Blueprints to enforce the rigour involved in planning code before executing it. Modula-2 R10 allows the programmer to develop Abstract Data Type (ADT) libraries that…
From Facebook Apple II Enthusiasts Group: I know people have had trouble recently getting some of the old Byte Works products. I’m looking at a number of options, and wanted to gauge interest. All of our products that were produced at the Byte Works, and thus the ones we have clear copyright to, are on a CD called Opus ][. This includes ORCA/C, ORCA/Pascal, ORCA/M, and all of the support programs and so forth, but not ORCA/Modula 2. There are…
