Virtual Apple II released an update to the Virtual Apple II database today. Version 1.28 of the database includes a number of new software packages as well as updates to items recently added including a manual for David Schmenk’s PLASMA based game, Rogue. For those users utilizing the database through their ActiveGS Apps or other mobile based applications, you can update the database automatically through the notification which will appear shortly on your display. All other users can check out…
David Greelish’s fine historically compendium, Classic Computing: The Complete Historically Brewed is now available online in a PDF Ebook. The book which was produced in 2013 contains all issues of the Historically Brewed magazine. You can download the book for free from the Classic Computing website at: http://www.classiccomputing.com/CC/HB_Book.html
Brian Picchi, the curator of the Tanru Nomad Computer Museum and author of the 2013 Apple II game Lamb Chops, has released his source code to the public. According to his posting, “With the release of the new Assembly Lines book, I thought I’d share the source code to Lamb Chops which borrows almost entirely from concepts covered in that book. I wrote it in November of 2013 when I was first learning 6502 assembly language so it may be…
Dave Cheney has posted an Apple-1 Replica build project which utilizes the Arduino platform. The build covers all aspects of the Apple-1 and is small enough to actually be inserted into almost any case. The Mega6502 is basically a two chip Apple-1 computer improving in the same tradition of the great Steve Wozniak (@woz on twitter), reduction of the number of chips required for the computer. For more information about the Mega6502, check out Dave Cheney’s blog at: http://dave.cheney.net/2014/12/26/make-your-own-apple-1-replica
We wish to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It has been an interesting 2014 and we look forward to serving our members once again in 2015. Stay tuned for more exciting products coming in the new year. Happy Holidays!
A critical Network Time Protocol issue has been patched by Apple, and is available for OS 10.8 through 10.10.1 via the Mac App Store. While most Apple updates are user option installable, this particular update is being pushed out by Apple automatically in order to prevent machines from being hi-jacked by hackers. If you have not seen a notification on your screen, you can install it from the App Store.
Nishida Radio, makers of the disk emulator, UNISDisk, have announce that all units have sold out for 2014. No new orders will be taken for some time. According to Koichi Nishida’s posting on his website, he needs some time off to deal with some health issues that have arisen. For more information about the UNISDisk or orther Nishida Radio products, check out their website at: http://tulip-house.ddo.jp/DIGITAL/english.html
X-Plane 10 for the iPad has been released. The latest version of the ultra-realistic flight simulation package for the iPad has a number of features which put it on a par with the desktop version of X-Plane. These features include: 5 scenery regions A brand new combat system Multiplayer over the Internet Access to the brand new challenges & tutorials The Cessna 172 aircraft model. An additional 9 aircraft (including the Airbus A320, A-10 Warthog, and F-22 Raptor) are available as in-app purchases. These…
David Schmenk, the creator of the PLASMA SDK for the Apple II has released a proof of concept game for the Apple II. Rogue, an old school adventure game is intended to prove that PLASMA is capable of handling real algorithmic conceptual development. David’s full release statement: To prove that PLASMA is capable of real algorithmic development, and looking forward to some Lawless Legends investigations, I built an intermediate project for your amusement. Harking back to the days of yore,…
The Virtual Apple II website database version 1.27 is now available. Those users who are using emulator apps which rely upon the Virtual Apple II database for their apps and data can download the latest version. This latest update includes new data for over 200 apps as well as a number of new games that were not in the previous version. Virtual Apple is an online disk repository for the Apple II computer which features disks, manuals, as well as…
Assembly Lines: The Complete Book has been released. Roger Wagner’s Assembly Lines was an important information source for many programmers in the 1980’s. The article ran in Softtalk magazine over 33 issues. Chris Torrence has edited and published this book in close coordination with Roger Wagner under the Creative Commons 2.0 license and it is now available in hard cover from LULU.com for the production only pricing of $21.74. To order a copy of the book, you can go to…
Randy Brandt announced the availability of the 30th Anniversary Edition of the Beagle Bros Game I.O. Silver. According to his posting, “Looks like we made it! The 30th anniversary Edition of Beagle Bros’ I. O. Silver is now available for free download (with in-app purchases) from the Apple store. It’s been a labor of love for the past few years. Please support us by downloading it and giving it a try for free!” I.O. Silver was originally released by Beagle…
The Wozpak Special Edition is now priced for the Christmas Holidays. The 350 page book with the notes from Steve Wozniaks’s Apple-1 and Apple II notes was produced in coordination with Steve Woznaik by Brian Wiser and Bill Martens. It includes a number of interesting items and introductions from the men who made the Apple II computer what it became. It is normally available for the list price of $49.95, but during the holidays, it is 20% off at just…
With the release of OSX 10.10.1 the Spy decided to take another try with Yosemite and installed it on one machnine. Seeing none of the problems he experienced with the beta at WWDC, he eventually installed on three machines–a late 2007 MacBook Pro seventeen inch (emergency unit), a 2013 Retina MacBook (main one at work), and a Westmere tower MacPro (home). So far all has gone well, though there has been no opportunity to test the fusion space where Mac OX…
Ivan Drucker has once again released a plugin for Applesoft on the Apple II computer. His new Magic Goto allows for labels to be used instead of line numbers. Accrding to his posting: Magic Goto is now available, so you can program in Applesoft without ever having to think about line numbers, yielding better organized and much more readable code. It lets you GOTO, GOSUB, or ONERR GOTO a label in a REM statement. For example, GOSUB “showMainMenu” will find…
Mike Maginnis, the curator of the Apple II Scans website (http://www.apple2scans.net) has made available all of the issues of the Apple /// related Open Apple Gazette online. The Open Apple Gazette was the newsletter produced by the San Francisco based Apple ///’rs, an Apple /// centric users group. You can download all nine of the issues of the Open Apple Gazette as well as the Promo edition from the Apple II Scans website at: http://www.apple2scans.net/magazines/open-apple-gazette/
David Schmenk has posted an update to his self developed PLASMA SDK. According to the posting on the Apple II Enthusiasts PLASMA for the Holidays (For all you programmer types looking to escape from the relatives this week) Just like last year, here is an update to the PLASMA sandbox (an Apple II IDE to play around with PLASMA). It is (sort of) self-documenting progression through some PLASMA example code. PLASMA has grown up a lot since last year. With…
The third section of the Ben Heckendorn Apple-1 replica build has been posted on The Ben Heck Show page on YouTube. This section completed the build and shows how to build the case with the CNC machine. Ben even tries his hand at entertaining the masses with his singing in this episode.
The Virtual Apple II website has updated their database to version 1.25. The latest version contains dozens of new box blurbs and box covers as well as a number of new games including Daniele Liverani’s new game, Genius – A Rock Game. The Virtual Apple database is used by the ActiveGS App and other Apple II emulator apps to supply all the game information and disks to their apps. To download the latest version of the app, click the update…
Ben Heckendorn has posted the second episode of his retro build of an Apple-1 clone. This episode covers adding the keyboard and display of the data to the build. For those of you who missed the first episode, you can catch it in an earlier posting here at: http://www.callapple.org/hardware/ben-heck-building-an-apple-1-from-scratch/ The third episode is scheduled for next week and will complete the build with the case and other final adjustments to the build. Episode 2:
