Press Release from Ewen (Speccie): I have today updated a few items on my website, and released a blast-from-the-past… SAM2 goes to v2.0.5. This is a very minor bug fix. Spectrum goes to v2.5.4. A bug was fixed, and a couple of minor adjustments were made. More importantly, Spectrum is now released as a stand-alone bootable 2mg disk image, that can be booted and used “as is”. A new Installer is provided on the disk, which allows Spectrum to be…
Our friends in Miami and France have come together to provide the Apple II Quark Catalyst scans and disk images. When asked about the project to bring this back out of the realm of the lost software, Javier Rivera said, “This is one package that many users had for their Apple II’s, but no one seemed to have it at this point. When we finally found a copy of it, we made sure to get it into digital format as…
Once again I converted a 15″ Apple Color Monitor IIe to a modern display, using a 15″ color LCD screen. I had to cut lots of plastic from the front plastic panel of the IIe monitor, but didn’t compromise the integrity of the plastics and locking mechanism. To solve the main issue – the curved screen, I added a black cardboard pieces to close the gaps with the flat screen. after several tries found it was the best approach keeping…
A graphical scene artist, Myles Stonecutter, is undertaking the publishing of a 90 page fairy tale book using graphics on the Apple II computer. The book has taken Stonecutter more than a year to work out and according to his Kickstarter page, is nearing completion. All of the graphics were produced on an Apple II computer using the Blazzing Paddles software package and according to Stonecutter, “Took a lot of pixel picking to get the best out of the GUI…
Ian Kim, a member of the Korean Apple II community has developed a new Mockingboard compatible sound card for the Apple II series computers. According to the introduction document sent to A.P.P.L.E, Apple II Fans and Afficiandos, I’m am a member of the Korean APPLE II group in community. Having grown up with the APPLE II and having spent tons of time with it, I have a particular fondness for the machine, It was my first computer and if its…
While we normally do not talk about devices that are not Apple produced, this story of emulation caught our eye. Corbin Davenport has managed to get the Open Mini VMac III emulator to run on his Android Wear. While the sight of the old school Mac OS System 6.0.3 booting on an android device might be almost sacrilegious to the true Apple Fan, it is still pretty cool. However, at the same time, Corbin seems to be a bit finger…
A few weeks ago I posted a story about a LCD color conversion, here’s a video of two converted LCDs in action. Enjoy!
Apple has released an update to their Camera Raw Support package for Yosemite. Update 6.04 adds RAW Compatibility for the a number of cameras including the following: Canon EOS 5DS* Canon EOS 5DS R* Canon EOS Rebel T6i / 750D / Kiss X8i Canon EOS Rebel T6s / 760D / Kiss 8000D Fujifilm X-A2 Hasselblad CFV-50c Hasselblad H5D-50c Leica C (Typ 112) Nikon 1 S2 Nikon D7200 Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II** Panasonic LUMIX CM1 Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GF7 Pentax MX-1…
The AppleIIScans.net website has posted the Apple IIc Users Guide. The guide originally published in 1984 by Brady Communications and authored by Gary Phillips and Donald Scellato features the Picaso style Apple //c on the cover of the book. It is available in PDF format from the Apple2Scants.net website at: http://www.apple2scans.net/2015/04/20/apple-iic-user-guide/
Ninjaforce has released an update to their Bomberman clone, Kaboom. Version 1.01 addresses a number of issues including: + Fixed a bug where the game crashes during play. + The game now stores settings and scores (oops). + Typos in credits fixed (plus some names we forgot). Kaboom is for the Apple IIgs and can be downloaded from the Ninja Force website at: http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/products_kaboom.html
May 2015 Why is it that so many software projects fail? Here in the frozen north, we routinely see one government and enterprise IT project after another delivered late, and not working, to the opprobrium of all the putative users. Government catastrophes run into the tens of millions. Notable failures in the United States include the IRS ($8B), FAA ($2.5B), FBI ($500M), McDonalds ($170M) and Denver airport ($560M) projects, to select a very few. And yet, though there is no…
Brutal Deluxe software has added a number of cassettes to their Apple II cassette collection. The library, maintained by Antoine Vignau, has now grown to 633 cassettes over the life of the library. New additions to the collection include the following programs: Creative computing software: Voodoo castle adventure Innovative computer programs (by Ron Graff): The patient professor Instant software: Oil tycoon Mad hatter software: Diet planning package MUSE: Maze game, Tank war, U-draw Program design: Preschool IQ builder (Same and…
The Ninjaforce programming group, the people who brought you Wolfenstein 3D for Apple IIgs, have released their latest action game: KABOOM! The game supports 4-players simultaneously– the first Apple IIgs game to do so! “Not only does KABOOM! play like a charm – its visuals and acoustics are of top quality to satisfy even the most demanding GS gamer!” Visit the official site for screenshots and downloads
Registration for Kansasfest, the only convention dedicated to the Apple II computer has officially opened for Registration. The 2015 event will include a keynote given by famed programmer Becky “Burger” Heineman. According to the press release from the Kansas Fest comittee, KANSAS CITY, MO — April 10, 2015 — KansasFest, the 27th annual convention dedicated to the Apple II computer, is now open for registration. Users, programmers, hobbyists, and retrocomputing enthusiasts are invited to Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri,…
For a long time I have been looking for the Apple //c Flat Panel LCD, one of the nicest items on the line. This monitor was short lived as its readability was poor and the item expensive. It was retired early so not many were produced, which is what makes them rare and sought today by collectors. I was lucky enough to be able to secure one, but quickly disappointed when first using it. I am a hands-on person that…
Mike Maginnis has announced the posting of Don Worth’s dis-assembly of Apple II Dos 3.2/ The document was scanned many years ago by Apple Historian David Craig and is a hand signed copy of Don’s personal copy of the dis-assembly. You can download the document for free from the Apple II Scans website at: http://www.apple2scans.net/2015/03/19/david-t-craigs-copy-of-don-worths-dos-3-2-flow-of-control-annotated-disassemblies-and-notes/
Apple has announced that the Apple Watch, will be available in nine countries on the release date, 24 April 2015. Those countries include Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US. Apple has also announced that walkin pickup of the watches will not be available, that you must make a reservation online through the reservation system or pre-order online beginning April 10th. For more information about the forthcoming release, check out the Apple Website at:…
David Finnigan of MacGui.com has announced the availability of his latest software project, the Marina TCP/IP stack for the Apple II. Marina is a stack which was written completely in 6502 assembly language and is written to work with the Uthernet, According to the press release, Because I wanted to learn more about ethernet and TCP/IP networking, and because I was dissatisfied with existing TCP/IP implementations for the Apple, I decided to write my own implementation. It is called…
The Spy has it on good authority that iTim is about to iCook up a major purchase–one that will rock merely the high-tech sector, but the entire business world. What follows is a partial transcript of a larger interview, with the Spy’s sometime erstwhile assistant, coder extraordinaire, workhorse novel character, and chief head banger Nellie Hacker, speaking with a source she declines to name. The Spy has omitted some of her comments as unnecessarily…provocative, and some of the subject’s answers…
Mike Maginnis, host of the Open Apple Podcast announced the release of the 45th edition of the podcast. According to his posting, This month, we sit down with Mark Kriegsman, author of Star Blaster, and a modern Apple II hacker. He has ported the awesome FastLED driver library to the Apple II, so you can drive many hundreds of 32-bit RGB LEDs with your Apple II. Meanwhile, we browbeat people into attending KansasFest, we rationalize our shame at developing on…
