Open Apple

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Ewen Wannop, British programmer of 16-bit telecommunications programs such as Spectrum, SAM, SNAP, and SAFE. The hosts share feedback galore from the last episode and contemplate how to record a live show. After catching up on some headlines from last month, we plow forward, celebrating the return of an interactive fiction publication and grumbling that even beginner IF can be as obscure as the medium is infamous for. The September 2012 issue of Juiced.GS just shipped, and with it, a look at what features a hypothetical System 7.0 operating system would include. Is it reasonable to consider that a software upgrade warrants a hardware bump, and what the next model of Apple II would look like? Photos of Steve Jobs in his natural habitat show an Apple stronghold as Spartan as ever, but you can decorate yours with Melissa Barron’s screenprints from Etsy. There’s a Disk II floppy drive on eBay that holds within it a working Mac mini — a cool hack, but is it worth a cool grand? We question the value of purchasing free software on eBay and marvel at everything from lighters to thumb drives in the shape of an Apple II.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 13:08)

User Login (13:09 – 29:02)

II News (29:03 – 1:11:57)

Apple Pickings (1:11:58 – 1:36:59)

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with David Schmidt, the programmer responsible for ADTPro. Beyond his own program, David has also contributed to the development of Davex, GSport, AppleCommander, CiderPress, OpenEmulator, DiscFerret, CFFA3000 — and much, much more. Collectively, the show’s hosts marvel at the deluge of Apple II games that are being ported to iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system … though we question the direction Jordan Mechner is taking the classic Karateka. Apple-1 computers continue to fetch exorbitant prices at live auctions, while iPads and IMSAIs fail to sell on eBay — though the latter may soon get a Kickstarter from Vince Briel. Finally, Ken quietly broods while Mike and David enthusiastically sing the praises of their favorite computer, the Apple III.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 11:20)

• Randy Brandt’s “History of AppleWorks” KansasFest session

User Login (11:21 – 24:55)

• ADTPro
• Franklin ACE user manual scan
• University of Texas Video Game Archive’s Quest to Preserve Ultima II
• Apple3.org
• GSport emulator

II News (24:56 – 1:13:09)

• Ewen Wannop’s Spectrum now freeware
• Spectrum Internet Suite
• Age of Reason BBS closes
• Steve Wozniak at Fusion-io
• Inoperable Apple-1 may fetch $126K at Christie’s auction
• Mike Willegal’s Apple-1 registry
• Huffington Post calls Apple-1 an “original Macintosh”
• 2012 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
• ActiveGS pulled from App Store?
• iShisen
• The Bard’s Tale for Mac & iOS
• Spy vs. Spy for iOS
• Lode Runner Classic
• Karateka coming to iOS
• Chop! Chop! with Parappa the Rapper’s Master Onion
• “The greatest Easter egg of all time was exclusive to the Apple II“
• Dungeon Master Java courtesy PCWorld
• The Rock-afire Explosion documentary via Netflix

Apple Pickings (1:13:10 – 1:41:28)

• Evan Koblentz speaks to CNN, as blogged by Ken Gagne and mentioned by Carrington Vanston
• 1st-generation iPad, still in shrinkwrap
• Dan Budiac spends $2,553 for an unopened Apple IIc
• Huston Bros’ IMSAI
• The Apple II’s nuclear etymology
• Low serial-number Apple III

This month on Open Apple, Ken Gagne speaks with Wayne Arthurton, who recently attended his first KansasFest since 2004, and Paul Hagstrom and Jeremy Rand, both first-time attendees at the world’s premier annual Apple II convention. In this panel-format discussion, the four veterans discuss their personal highlights from the show, what motivated them to attend, and their favorite sessions, HackFest challenges, keynote speaker memories, vendor fair purchases, and more.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• KansasFest
• Wayne Arthurton’s homepage
• Paul Hagstrom’s homepage
• Jeremy Rand’s homepage
• Jason Scott’s “Floppy Disks: It’s Too Late“
• Axion portable televisions
• Martin Haye’s Short
• The Geeks Who Saved Prince of Persia’s Source Code From Digital Death
• Mike Willegal’s SUPERPROTO Card
• David Finnigan’s The New Apple II User’s Guide (as purchased by Jeremy Rand)
• Rich Dreher’s CFFA3000
• Jeremy Rand’s HackFest project: CurtaSim
• Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe“

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken speak with Rich Dreher, developer of the CompactFlash For Apple (CFFA) card. The first batch of CFFA3000 cards sold out in 2011, and the second batch is now shipping with similar sales numbers. Rich takes us behind the scenes of the product’s success before dishing on other II hardware developers Vince Briel and Mike Willegal. We look at the astronomical numbers rare Apple-1 computers are fetching on eBay and at Sotheby’s and celebrate HyperCard turning 25 while Atari turns 40, though Mike objects to the latter. David Finnigan’s new book is out, and Robert Tripp is hot on his heels when an updated and digitized version of the classic What’s Where in the Apple — and we have the exclusive interview with Bob! All this content and all these guests make for our longest episode ever, perfect for listening to while you drive to next week’s KansasFest.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 19:36)

• KansasFest
• KansasFest on Wikipedia
• WordCamp NYC 2012
• Behind the scenes at Tekserve
• Ken’s presentation at @party demoparty
• @party’s Kickstarter (August 2010)
• TEDxBoston 2012
• TED iOS app
• Podcasts app for iOS
• Open Apple on iTunes
• Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes in theaters on July 23, 2012
• KansasFest on backchan.nl

User Login (19:37 – 30:14)

• Rich Dreher’s CFFA3000

II News (30:15 – 1:36:29)

• CFFA3000 for sale!
• Locations of current CFFA3000 customers
• Mimeo Apple-1 available again
• Super Proto Cards coming from Mike Willegal
• CFFA for Apple-1
• Fine Books and Manuscripts – Lot 57 : Appleﾠ Iﾠ Computer -“>Sotheby’s of New York sells working Apple-1 fo $374K in June 2012

| slide rule, All other categories of objects | Christie’s”>Apple-1 sells at Christie’s of London for $213K in November 2010

Retroviews (1:36:30 – 2:00:15)

• What’s Where in the Apple Kickstarter

Apple Pickings (2:00:16 – 2:18:12)

• Apple IIe 8 MHz UltraWarp accelerator card
• Apple IIe joystick controller
• Bill Budge’s Space Album, by California Pacific (Buy It Now!)
• Bill Budge’s Space Album auction
• Akalabeth in a plastic bag

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 15:29)

• Apple II Bits
• A2Central.com
• 6502 Lane: Beagle Bros clean-up
• Creative Commons
• KansasFest
• Ken’s photos of ROFLCon III
• Old Spice Guy’s Manta Claus
• Know Your Meme: 10-hour videos
• Waltham Steampunk Festival

User Login (15:30 – 29:46)

• Martin Haye’s Integer BASIC article for Juiced.GS (also available as a PDF)
• Super-Mon & NakedOS
• p2e (Pseudo-II Emulator)
• Ivan Drucker’s Structured Applesoft

II News (29:47 – 1:15:32)

• Photos from Vintage Computer Festival East 8.0
• More VCF 8.0 photos!
• Briel Computers at Maker Faire
• Jeri Ellsworth’s Commodore 64 guitar
• Bill Fickas advertises Guitar Hero for the ALF Music Card by ALF Products, Inc.
• The @party demoparty of Boston, Massachusetts
• Interactive fiction author Andrew Plotkin, aka Zarf
• The Dreamhost text adventure for iOS
• Leisure Suit Larry succeeds on Kickstarter

Apple Pickings (1:15:33 – 1:33:17)

• eBay reorganizes vintage computing categories
• Steve Jobs’ personal Apple IIe? (hat tip: Sean Fahey)
• Dan Kruszyna’s Waterline demo for the Colecovision at Block Party
• Apple II clone computer
• Wikipedia’s list of Apple II clones
• Apple II Clones via the Wayback Machine
• Rainbow logo ballpoint pen
• Cross Apple pen
• Basic Computer Programming for Kids (also on Amazon)