Open Apple

Open Apple episodes:

• 07.23.2022

  Open Apple #82 (July 2022): KansasFest 2022 Megapodcast

  Welcome to Open Retro Chicken Drop Retro Adventure Table Lines Roundup, the annual “megapodcast” from KansasFest, hosted IRL and on Zoom. Participants: * Ken Gagne (Open Apple, Polygamer & Transporter Lock) * Charles Mangin (Chicken Missile) * Chris Torrence (Assembly Lines) * Javier Rivera (Adventures...

  
• 11.06.2021

  Open Apple #81: Remembering Tony Diaz

  For decades, Tony Diaz held the record of the only person to have attended every KansasFest. Whether at that convention, on the comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup, or on his livestreams, he would share his comprehensive knowledge of Apple II hardware and...

  
• 07.25.2021

  Open Apple #80 (July 2021): KansasFest 2021 Megapodcast

  Welcome to Poly Retro Assembly Cast Chicken Missile Drop Grue Museum, the annual “megapodcast” from KansasFest, hosted again via Zoom. Participants: * Charles Mangin (Chicken Missile)* Carrington Vanston (Retro Computing Roundtable & Eaten by a Grue)* Chris Torrence (Assembly Lines)* Joe Strosnider...

  
• 08.17.2020

  Open Apple #79 (July 2020): KansasFest 2020 Megapodcast

  Welcome to Retro Open Poly Roundtable Chicken Missile Lines Drop Museum Gruecast, the annual “megapodcast” from KansasFest, this time conducted virtually via Zoom. Scroll past the links for Open Apple‘s audio edition, or enjoy the video edition courtesy Chris Torrence’s...

  
• 09.12.2018

  Open Apple #78 (September 2018) – Retro Antic Assembly Chicken Missile Talks Our Way Out Of It

  This month on Open Apple, we bring you the traditional big group podcast that we record every year at KansasFest. Tune in for a casual chat with your favorite retro podcasters, and get a behind-the-scenes peek at what makes KansasFest special....

  
• 07.17.2018

  Open Apple #77 (March 2018) – Kay Savetz & Carrington Vanston, Eaten By A Grue

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston of the Eaten By A Grue podcast. Eaten By A Grue is a game-by-game style of podcast where the intrepid hosts are playing every Infocom game. They...

  
• 02.19.2018

  Open Apple #76 (January 2018) – Ken Gagne & Andy Molloy, Juiced.GS, Nukes

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Ken Gagne and Andy Molloy of Juiced.GS, the longest running continuously published Apple II magazine (that you can still get in your mailbox to this day!). Juiced.GS is in its 23rd year,...

  
• 12.24.2017

  Open Apple #75 (October 2017) – Seth Sternberger, Class Apples, GS Graphics

  We’re baaaack! Sorry for the unscheduled hiatus folks, but your intrepid hosts had some family matters to attend to. This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Seth Steinberger of 8-bit Weapon. We talk about their new album Class Apples,...

  
• 09.19.2017

  Open Apple #74 (September 2017) – Mark Lemmert, Nox Archaist Kickstarter, Fake Quinn, and Softalk #5

  This month on Open Apple, the part of Quinn Dunki is played by RCR Podcast co-host Carrington “Fake Quinn” Vanston. A post-KansasFest Mark Lemmert of 6502 Workshop returns to the show to promote the new Nox Archaist Kickstarter. ...

  
• 08.09.2017

  Open Apple #73 (August 2017) – Assembly Chicken PolyANTICast Roundtable

  This month on Open Apple, we run the annual group megapodcast that is recorded live at KansasFest! This is a four-year-old tradition whereby all the attending retro podcasters get together and do one big silly show together. It’s clunky, it’s pointless,...

  
• 07.16.2017

  Open Apple #72 (June 2017) – Peter Neubauer, KansasFest, Last Jedi

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with KansasFest committee member and lifelong Apple II user Peter Neubauer. We talk lots about the upcoming KansasFest, of course, but also Peter’s own experiences with the machine. He has a passion for...

  
• 05.31.2017

  Open Apple #71 (May 2017) – Michael Packard, Alien Downpour, Kermit (The Frog)

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Michael Packard, author of the upcoming new game Alien Downpour. Michael has gone back to teach himself assembly language and make the kinds of games he wished he had made back in the...

  
• 04.19.2017

  Open Apple #70 (April 2017) – 6502 Workshop, 1st-Person Lo-Res, Softalk #4

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Lemmert, co-founder of 6502 Workshop. Him and his partners (Mike Reimer, Bill Giggie, Robert Padovan, Gordon Mackay, and Galactagog) have been building Nox Archaist, a brand new story-driven tile-based role-playing game...

  
• 04.05.2017

  Open Apple #69 (March 2017) – Craig Peterson, KansasFest, Computer Show!

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Craig Peterson, who got involved with hardware and software development very early in the life of the Apple II. Craig integrated Apple II computers with a numerical control manufacturing system, producing G-code for the cutting...

  
• 03.04.2017

  Open Apple #68 (February 2017) : Emulator Updates, EDD, Softalk #3

  This month on Open Apple, Mike and Quinn sit down with each other and catch up on all the news they’ve been neglecting lately. Mike and Quinn discuss the disappointing 8BitDo controller, get excited about remanufactured printer ribbons, and pretend to know...

  
• 02.02.2017

  Open Apple #67 (January 2017) : Year End Roundtable!

  This month on Open Apple, we round out the year with our annual tradition of sitting around a virtual table with some friends of the show, discussing whatever comes to mind. Mike and Quinn are joined by Jeremy Barr-Hyde, Jorma Honkanen, Kate Szkotnicki & Chris Torrence. We...

  
• 12.28.2016

  Open Apple #66 (December 2016) : Glenda “The Atom” Adams

  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...

  
• 12.13.2016

  Open Apple #65.5 (December 2016) : Mike Whalen At KansasFest

  This week on Open Apple, we run a special piece of extra content, courtesy of friend-of-the-show Mike Whalen. Mike brought his mobile audio production gear to KansasFest back in July, and he captured a series of interviews and biographies during the event....

  
• 12.06.2016

  Open Apple #65 (November 2016) : Alex Lee, What Is The Apple IIgs?

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Alex Lee, purveyor of the canonical IIgs reference site What Is The Apple IIgs?  We talk about what it was like being one of the brave few with this machine, and that feeling...

  
• 10.30.2016

  Open Apple #64 (October 2016) : John Brooks, Tiger Learning Computer, Softalk

  This month on Open Apple, we share an excerpt of an interview with John Brooks, courtesy of Juiced.GS.  John talks about how and why he updated ProDOS, and his experiences getting back into the community. Tune in to hear Quinn lose 20...

  
• 09.26.2016

  Open Apple #63 (September 2016) : Kate Szkotnicki, ProDOS 2.4, KansasFest

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kate Szkotnicki, long time Apple II fan and new addition to the retro community. We chat about her first impressions as a newcomer to the community, and the big splash she made...

  
• 08.24.2016

  Open Apple #62 (August 2016) : Mark Pilgrim, Passport, Ancient Legends

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Pilgrim, one of the most active software preservationists in the Apple II community. Mark has been spending his free time working on Passport, an automated cracking tool. It automatically detects and...

  
• 07.28.2016

  Open Apple #61 (July 2016) : KansasFest 2016, Chicken Missile Megapodcast

  This month on Open Apple, as is tradition, we present the megapodcast recorded live at KansasFest. Most of your favorite retrocomputing podcasters attend KansasFest each year, and we all get together in a basement room to record a giant group podcast. This year’s...

  
• 06.22.2016

  Open Apple #60 (June 2016) : Sean Fahey, KansasFest 2016 Warmup

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Sean Fahey of A2Central, major league collector, and member of the KansasFest Committee. It’s not too late to register! Go to kansasfest.org right now. If you listen to this show, you should...

  
• 06.01.2016

  Open Apple #59 (May 2016) : Amy Kefauver, Lorri Hopping, Stuff4YourGS

  This month on Open Apple, Kay Savetz sits down with Amy Kefauver and Lorri Hopping. Amy was the editor of Scholastic Microzine, an educational magazine focused on the Apple II. Lorri was a writer and editor for Microzine. They share many great memories...

  
• 05.04.2016

  Open Apple #58 (April 2016) : Huibert Aalbers, IIGS Stuff, Taiwanese Ham

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Huibert Aalbers, author of Soundsmith. It’s hard to overstate what a platform-defining piece of software this was for the Apple IIgs. Few people appreciated what the audio system in this computer was...

  
• 03.12.2016

  Open Apple #57 (March 2016) : Bill Budge!

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with legendary Apple II programmer, Bill Budge. In addition to being an icon of Apple II gaming and graphics, he is the number-one-requested guest by listeners of the show. Mike and Quinn are very excited...

  
• 02.22.2016

  Open Apple #56 (February 2016) : Peter Lount, Gemstone Warrior, KansasFest

  This month on Open Apple we sit down with Peter Lount, co-developer of Gemstone Warrior and Gemstone Healer for the Apple II. Canadian programmer Peter and his partner Trouba broke new ground in video games by combining fast action combat with procedurally...

  
• 01.31.2016

  Open Apple #55 (January 2016) : Henry Courbis, UltimateMicro, ProDOS conversions

  This month on Open Apple we sit down with Henry Courbis, co-proprietor of Ultimate Micro, serial entrepreneur, and Open Source guy. Henry is boldly going where no hobbyist has gone before, by making Apple II hardware his real day job. If anyone can...

  
• 01.03.2016

  Open Apple #54 (December 2015) : Year End Roundtable!

  This month on Open Apple, we round out the year with our annual tradition of sitting around a virtual table with some friends of the show, discussing whatever comes to mind. Mike and Quinn are joined by Randy Brandt of Beagle Bros fame, Charles...

  
• 11.29.2015

  Open Apple #53 (November 2015) : David Schroeder, Phreaking, 8-bit Mice

  This month on Open Apple we sit down with David Schroeder, author of classic Apple II games such as Crisis Mountain, Dino Eggs, and Short Circuit. We talk about the randomness of our passionate brand-loyalty, the logistical realities of early Apple II...

  
• 10.31.2015

  Open Apple #52 (October 2015) : GEOS! Robert Bowdidge, and more GEOS!

  This month on Open Apple we sit down with Robert Bowdidge, one of three interns at Berkeley Softworks who ported GEOS to the best line of 8-bit computers. We talk about what a great place Berkeley Softworks was, along with the power of...

  
• 10.01.2015

  Open Apple #51 (September 2015) : Mike Westerfield, Opus ][, The Byte Works, Merlin 32

  This month on Open Apple we sit down with Mike Westerfield, of The Byte Works’ fame. We talk about his adventures writing assemblers & compilers for 8/16 bit computers, and we see what he’s up to nowadays. We talk about small-system compilers, Logo,...

  
• 09.01.2015

  Open Apple #50 (August 2015) : Rebecca Heineman, Plamen’s Clones, GS/OS Updates

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Rebecca “Burger Becky” Heineman. Becky is a legendary Apple II developer (not to mention many other platforms), and was the keynote speaker at KansasFest 2015. We discuss Becky’s KansasFest experiences then and...

  
• 08.03.2015

  Open Apple #49 (July 2015) : Laine Nooney, Technowarp, 4am

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Laine Nooney, researcher of early computer and software companies. Laine has been digging into the history of such greats as Brøderbund and Sierra On-Line. In particular, they have done awesome research on the...

  
• 07.12.2015

  Open Apple #48 (June 2015) : Tony Diaz, KansasFest Memories, Prototypes, and 8-bit DNS

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Tony Diaz- KansasFest committee member, and consummate Apple II collector. With KansasFest just days away, we go deep on Tony’s amazing collection of unique prototypes, documents, peripherals, and the stories that go...

  
• 05.31.2015

  Open Apple #47.5 (June 2015) : John Brooks via Matt Ownby

  Welcome to a special extra episode of Open Apple! Fellow Apple II enthusiast Matt Ownby recently sat down for a chat with John Brooks, author of Rastan on the IIgs. It’s a fascinating conversation with tons of technical detail that you won’t...

  
• 05.28.2015

  Open Apple #47 (May 2015) : Jason Scott, Kaboom!, Infocom Secrets

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Jason Scott, documentary filmmaker, historian, public speaker, and archivist. We talk about the importance of a nuanced appreciation of history, the flavors of sadness in comment threads, whom not to trust with special...

  
• 04.20.2015

  Open Apple #46 (April 2015): Paul Lutus, ReactiveMicro, and KansasFest Keynote

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Paul Lutus, author of seminal early Apple II software such as AppleWriter and GraFORTH. We talk about the impacts of software development on society, the value of the individual in the...

  
• 03.28.2015

  Open Apple #45 (March 2015): Mark Kriegsman, FastLED, Transwarp GS Clone, and Newsapalooza

  This month on Open Apple, 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...

  
• 02.28.2015

  Open Apple #44 (February 2015) : Beagle Bros Reunion Roundtable, Andrew Roughan

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Beagles Bros Randy Brandt, Mark Simonsen Tom Weishaar, and Alan Bird. We share stories of Beagle’s development, poke lots of fun at each other, and check in on where everyone is now. We spread...

  
• 01.22.2015

  Open Apple #43 (January 2015) : Happy New Year with Ben Heck!

  This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Ben Heck, one of our most-requested interviews. We talk about his Apple I replica, his Apple IIgs laptop, and Adam Sandler for some reason. Meanwhile, Mike and Quinn talk about Apple Porsches, Pinball Construction Set,...

  
• 01.01.2015

  Open Apple #42 (December 2014) : 2014 Year-End Roundtable, Eric Shepherd, Sarah W., Carrington Vanston

  This month on Open Apple, we close out the year with our traditional Year-End Roundtable discussion. We’re joined by Eric ‘Sheppy’ Shepherd, Sarah W., and Carrington Vanston. We talk about alternate universes, our collective love of the IIgs, and Quinn...

  
• 12.01.2014

  Open Apple #41 (November 2014) : Randy Brandt, Neuromancer, Bob Bishop

  This month on Open Apple we present an early holiday gift, in the form of an epic three hour episode. We sit down for a great conversation with Apple II legend Randy Brandt, perhaps best known for his work at Beagle Bros....

  
• 11.08.2014

  Open Apple #40.5 (November 2014) : Mike and Quinn Watch ‘The Goldbergs’

  Now for something completely different. We have a bit of a gap between shows here on Open Apple, due to the timing of some interviews we have lined up. Rather than keep you waiting, we thought we’d try something wacky. In...

  
• 10.20.2014

  Open Apple #40 (October 2014) : Chris Torrence, Printers, Celebrating Lode Runner

  This month on Open Apple, we talk to Chris Torrence, the new Roger Wagner Volunteer Archivist on behalf of Softalk magazine. Chris is a lifelong Apple II fan, and has recently undertaken the valuable effort of producing a book containing all of Roger Wagner’s Assembly...

  
• 10.01.2014

  Open Apple #39 (September 2014) : Gary B. Little, New Segments, Apple IIc Cards

  This month on Open Apple, we talk to Gary Little, prolific author of many technical reference books about various models in the Apple ][ line. In addition to writing great books that go deep on the hardware, Gary also wrote...

  
• 08.30.2014

  Open Apple #38 (August 2014) : The Lawless Legends Team

  This month on Open Apple, we go deep on Lawless Legends with most of the team building it. We’ve managed to corner Seth Sternberger (of 8-bit Weapon fame), Martin Haye, and Brendan Robert (Dave Schmenk, we’re coming for you…) to grill...

  
• 07.19.2014

  Open Apple #37 (July 2014): Quinn Dunki, Veronica, Halt and Catch Fire, KansasFest 2014

  This month on Open Apple, Mike chats with Quinn Dunki about her early programming experiences, and she gives us a brief overview of the development of her 6502-based homebrew computer, Veronica. Other topics this month: Apple IIc clones, KansasFest, Ultima...

  
• 03.11.2014

  Open Apple #36 (Mar 2014): Evan Koblentz, VCF East, Softalk, and Apple2pi

  This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Evan Koblentz, producer of Vintage Computer Festival East. VCF East 9.1 is happening this spring, and Evan has an inside look at the event’s founding, growth, and lineup. ...