Open Apple

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 (Joe’s Computer Museum)
• John Leake (RetroMacCast)
• Kate the Cat (Chicken Missile & RetroMetal)
• Ken Gagne (Polygamer & Transporter Lock)
• Kay Savetz (ANTIC & Eaten by a Grue)
• Mark Pilgrim (Chicken Missile)
• Michael Mulhern (Retro Computing Roundtable)
• Paul Hagstrom (Retro Computing Roundtable & Chicken Missile)
• Quinn Dunki (Retro Computing Roundtable)

The original video edition was livestreamed to YouTube:

A longer audio edition is available from the Chicken Missile podcast.

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 Assembly Lines podcast:

Participants:

• Quinn Dunki (Blondihacks, Open Apple, Retrocomputing Roundtable)
• Earl Evans (Retrocomputing Roundtable, Next Without For, Retrobits)
• Ken Gagne (Polygamer, Transporter Lock)
• Paul Hagstrom (Retrocomputing Roundtable, Drop III Inches)
• John Leake (RetroMacCast)
• Charles Mangin (How II)
• Rob McMullen (Player/Missile)
• Blake Patterson (Retrocomputing Roundtable)
• Kay Savetz (ANTIC: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast, Eaten By A Grue)
• Kate Szkotnicki (RetroMetal: Old Games on Old Machines)
• Carrington Vanston (Retrocomputing Roundtable, Eaten By A Grue)

Game-related links:

• KansasFest
• KansasFest (YouTube channel)
• National Dairy Council Grab A Byte
• Ancient Tarot
• Canadian Tire Complimentary Cassette
• The Missing Ring
• Softline Mar/Apr 1984
• Magic Knight Rayearth
• Gertrude’s Secrets
• Conan: Hall of Volta
• Apple Cider Spider
• Firebug
• Old Timers: MUSE Software (KansasFest 1992)
• Three Mile Island
• Senseless Violence 1 and 2

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. This year we managed to twist the following arms into joining us:

• Quinn Dunki – Open Apple
• Carrington Vanston – Retrocomputing Roundtable, Eaten By A Grue
• Paul Hagstrom – Retrocomputing Roundtable, Drop III Inches
• Ken Gagne – Retrocomputing Roundtable, Polygamer, Transporter Lock
• Charles Mangin – How II
• Steve Weyrich – Retrocomputing Roundtable
• Kay Savetz – ANTIC, Eaten By A Grue, Tech Enthusiast Hour
• Chris Torrence – Assembly Lines
• Jason Scott – Jason Scott Talks His Way Out Of It

You’ll have to excuse the strained voices and general discombobulation, as we generally record this sometime in the middle of the night on what-feels-like day 400 of KFest, in a dank basement chapel. It’s way more fun than I just made it sound. You should come to the next KansasFest!

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 both play the game, then discuss it in detail, with and without spoilers. They discuss the amount of cheating required, how mapping was done, the quality of writing and puzzles, and so on. The show has a very nice structure wherein they discuss the show with no spoilers to the halfway point, so that you can stop and go play it yourself if you are so inclined. If not, you can keep listening and hear gory details of all the puzzles.

Kevin talks about getting beasts into bed, and other reasons not to play these games on real hardware. Meanwhile Carrington gets his feelies on and brags about how he has so many original copies of Infocom games that he sits on them for fun.

Meanwhile Mike and Quinn debate dubious silicon valley histories, wedge computers, and competing with other 8-bits in BASIC. Tune in to hear us malign our guests, misremember important names, and get super pedantic about connector nomenclature for no conceivable reason. You won’t want to miss a moment of the drama.

More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.

• The Eaten By A Grue podcast – Listen for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
• Zoom – A great way to play Infocom games on modern systems.
• The CPRG Book Project – A great free book that is a work-in-progress.
• Roger Wagner to keynote KansasFest – Accidentally timely information!
• WozFest DB9 -Announced, and, well… happened a while ago.
• Full BBS Documentary interviews – All the B-roll now online for listening.
• MOS Technology – The old building is entering a new chapter.
• Home-brew Apple /// – Chris Zuhar’s project marches on.
• Apple //e Intro – Harry McKracken talks about it, and shares old photos.
• Adventure Game Rockstars Live – Transcript of this historical event.
• Eamon Remastered – Another text adventure engine modernized for the web.
• FApple II Fest 2018 – Japanese Apple II gathering.
• Scart HDMI for GS – A handy solution to the IIgs’ challenging video problems.
• Apple 1 in Verilog – Get your own enhanced Apple I running on an FPGA.
• CFFA3000 Run #5 -The last(?) run is done. I hope you got one!
• Plasma 1.0 – Support for more chips, and ready to use.
• AppleWin updated – Bug fixes, administrative stuff.
• BASIC 10-liner contest – Was underway, but is now probably done.
• Javier demos WiModem232 – A really great device- get it while you can.
• Sneakers on BoingBoing – Sneakers on BoingBoing!
• IIc as a wedge – According to some folks, anyway.
• Rastan source – Discovered? John Brooks is unimpressed. Neat story, anyway.
• Silicon Valley miniseries – Maybe it happened? Is it still happening? Nobody knows.
• Nestle/Atari lawsuit settled – Be careful how you sell Kit Kats.
• Woz’s company fails – But we still love him anyway.

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, which has to be a record for magazines of almost any type.

Ken and Andy talk about the bloodless coup of the magazine, the long history of same, where things are headed, and why they hates trees.

Meanwhile, Quinn and Mike chat about FPGAs, nuclear weapons, and BBSes. What do you do when you need a mathematically provably correct piece of hardware to verify nuclear weapons compliance? Why, you grab your Apple II, of course! Duh!

Here’s a time sensitive news item that didn’t make it into the show- vote for Nox Archaist and Lawless Legends for your favorite Ultima-inspired indie games of 2017!

Stay tuned for a Tech segment where we follow up on last episode and go even deeper on fast IIgs graphics. There’s always more to know about the intricacies of squeezing performance out of this unique and beautiful machine.

More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.

• Juiced.GS – Subscribe here and get Apple II goodness direct to your mailbox every quarter!
• Tiger Learning Computer – Andy’s photo gallery of this fascinating artifact.
• Juiced.GS FAQ – Find out why there’s no PDF, and stop asking Ken about it.
• Byteworks Tools – Now for sale from Juiced.GS.
• IIgs Build Pipeline – Jeremy Rand’s ORCA/GoldenGate-based tool chain.
• Apple II+ FPGA – All the cool kids are doing it.
• Apple I on an ESP8266 – A very unique torturing of a commodity device.
• Apple II for Nukes – What to do when you need to really verify something.
• Ready Player ][ – A BBS scavenger hunt! With prizes!
• Jeremy Barr-Hyde’s Collection – More goodies here and here!
• CFFA Run 5! – This is great news!!
• DOS 4.4 – A skunkworks project from Brutal Deluxe.
• Virtual II Updated – The best emulator keeps getting better.
• Call A.P.P.L.E – 2017 winter magazine released.
• Apple IIe is 35 – Happy birthday to the letter ‘E’.
• ADT Pro 2.0.2 – Not compatible with High Sierra? Be careful.
• ProDOS 2.4.2 – Now in Beta!
• Nox Archaist Kickstarter – It’s rebooting. Stay tuned!
• Prince of Persia – It changed the way game animation is done.
• Jason Scott and Benj Edwards – They both have new podcasts. Give a listen!
• Apple Time Warp – A rare gem of a podcast. Worth your patience.
• Eaten By A Grue – The best internationally co-hosted Infocom podcast.
• Kay Savetz

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, which was made entirely on an Apple II. Yes, every sound on the album is generated by real Apple II hardware with no add-on cards. Apple IIs can make good sound with the right software and in the hands of a talented musician.

After the amazement of Class Apples wears off, we get into Seth’s background with Apple IIs, how he got interested in electronic music, how 8-bit Weapon came to be, and where they’re headed next. We touch a little bit on his work as the main artist on the upcoming RPG Lawless Legends, and Seth explains how much better keyboards are as compared to proms. Furthermore, we all agree that the primary value of the internet is to find pictures of Devo. Michelle wasn’t able to be on the show, but you won’t want to miss the story of how she got to work with Mark Mothersbaugh.

Mike and Quinn then get into augmented reality, alternative operating systems, and of course Richard Garriot. Can’t have an Apple II show without mentioning Richard Garriot. Stay tuned to hear about accelerator control, new magazines, and making your own memory cards.

Lastly, Quinn goes deep on how to program fast graphics on the notoriously “crippled” Apple IIgs. Yes, you can do big beautiful sprites at high frame rates. Learn all about the deep dark secrets that the best games and demos used.

Help keep the Garage Giveaway running at KansasFest! Donate here to keep it a thing. It’s one of the greatest services the Apple II community has, and we’re going to lose it this year if we don’t get donations.

More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.

• 8-bit Weapon – The greatest chiptunes group around.
• Class Apples – The greatest (read: only) pure Apple II album.
• 4Play List – All the software for the four-player joystick card.
• Checkpoint – An Augmented-Reality-ish game project for Apple II.
• A2OSX – A new multitasking OS for Apple II, with discussion.
• KansasFest HackFest – The judging videos are finally online for 2017. Better late than never.
• Homebrew Club AR – Yes, a second Apple II-related augmented reality item!
• TechCrunch analyzes Apple’s IPO – Back when tech IPOs were shiny and new.
• Breakout – A very reasonable book claiming Apple II’s starting of various revolutions.
• Carmen Sandiego – The making of! A great story.
• Richard Garriot – Another telling of his getting-started story.
• Timezone for Apple II – Yes, it exists, but maybe only in Akihabara.
• NORMFAST – A handy accelerator controller.
• SAFE2 on High Sierra – A note on compatibility with this FTP client.
• CiderPress 4.0.2 – A nice little update of the best disk image manager.
• Web-based assembler – 6502 on the web. Why not?
• Antoine’s IIx project – Adult software collection- not so family-friendly, but historical.
• Latest Call A.P.P.L.E – Get it while you can!
• Latest Juiced.GS – Magazines for all!
• DIY Memory – Make your own memory card for you two GS. Here’s one way.
• Jeremy Rand’s GS build pipeline – He showed it at KansasFest, now you can have it.
• Merlin32 – Brutal Deluxe’s build pipeline for Windows.
• The fast GS graphics path. These links will help you understand fast GS graphics:

This month on Open Apple, the part of Quinn Dunki is played by RCR Podcast co-host Carrington “Fake Quinn” Vanston. A post-KansasFest Megan Lemmert of 6502 Workshop returns to the show to promote the new Nox Archaist Kickstarter. You should contribute because it’s awesome to support those still developing for the Apple II and not just because you get cool stuff when you do (though that’s a thing that happens too!).

There’s lots of news to cover and Carrington has opinions on all of it. Only on Open Apple can you hear him trash clones, accelerators, ProDOS, retro BBSes, and a random assortment of other topics! Fun for the whole family! We also chat about Apple II music and there’s general confusion about Australian Apple II conferences (when is there not on Open Apple?)

eBay isn’t talked about (because we don’t talk about eBay) and we deconstruct Softalk #5.

RCR Podcast – Listen to this show! (but only after you listen to Open Apple)

Monsterfeet – All things Carrington

Nox Archaist – 6502 Workshop’s upcoming RPG for the Apple II

Nox Archaist Kickstarter

Nox Archaist on YouTube – Keep up with all the latest development news

ANTIC – Mike goes all Atari in this episode of ANTIC, the Atari Podcast

Nox Archaist Demo at KansasFest 2017

FlexiDisc – All your Apple II software needs. Now on bendy vinyl!

Tech Republic’s Evan Koblentz visits KansasFest

KansasFest YouTube channel

KansasFest 2018 dates announced – Be there!

Another Apple-1 auction – This time at Charitybuzz

Woz talks about the Zaltair ad

Rainbow Apple logo retired 18 years ago

PCWeek visits the Living Computers Museum

Elk Cloner wasn’t the first computer virus

Retro Roundup

MultiTech Micro Professor III (MPF-III) clone

WOzFest S7,D2

Oz Kfest

a2.click – A URL shortener for Apple II sites

FASTChip //e accelerator – Currently out of stock

Quinn fixes the beep

Captain’s Quarters BBS resurrected

Adventures in Flatland isn’t just a book

John Brooks’ Bitsy Rip preview

Introducing DSKalyzer, a command-line disk tool written in Go

RIP French Touch

Review:‘The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs’ at Santa Fe Opera

New 8 Bit Weapon Album: Class Apples

Harry Spragens’ Apple II music memories

Portal on an Apple II – Not Apple II Portal. Confused yet?

A musical performance sync’d to Apple II animation

Stynx’s Vintage Micro Music channel on Soundcloud

The Octalyzer – 3D video on your Apple II

Paleotronic Magazine – Retro-technology for today’s world!

Albert Computer Apple II clone – We don’t talk about eBay

Softalk #5

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, and the audio quality is terrible because we’re all crowded one microphone in a grungy old basement chapel. Yet it’s one of our favorite things to do every year, so we hope you enjoy listening!

Around the table this year we have Quinn Dunki, Paul Hagstrom, John Leake, Chris Torrence, Kay Savetz, Ken Gagne, Charles Mangin, and Carrington Vanston, and Michael Mulhern. Find links to all the podcasts mentioned in this show, after the jump!

Feel like you’re missing out on all this fun? Come to KansasFest in 2018 and join in! We’d all love to meet you.

Open Apple – Hurr hurr

Retrocomputing Roundtable – A revolving discussion group of all things retrocomputing

Drop III Inches – The Apple III podcast. Don’t drop it!

Retro MacCast – Where great old Macs live again!

Assembly Lines – A video channel with all sorts of Apple II projects.

ANTIC – The Atari 8-bit podcast. It’s so good that Quinn won’t even boo it.

Eaten By A Grue – The Infocom podcast. Gotta play ’em all!

PolyGamer – All about equality and diversity in gaming.

How II – The video channel for learning how to work with your Apple II.

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 Logo, and a special place in his heart reserved for the Apple IIc Plus. I think many of us can relate to that.

We talk KansasFest, KansasFest, and more KansasFest. Then we talk about KansasFest, followed conversation about a fruit-based retrocomputing conference that takes place in Missouri every July.

We have plenty of regular news to catch up on as well, so stay tuned for updates from 6502 Workshop, NinjaForce, and more. We have graphics talk, Bluetooth talk, and exciting new accelerators from the mad Bulgarian.

It’s already too late to register for KansasFest, but if you’re going to be there, make sure to say hi! We love to meet our listeners.

More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.

• KansasFest – It’s that time of year!
• BrutalDeluxe – This year’s keynote speakers, all the way from France!
• Hi-Res Graphics and Animation In Assembly Language – Finally scanned!
• 6502 Workshop Expanding – Their empire building continues.
• Wade Clarke Plays His Own – Does your own work hold up 30 years later?
• NinjaForce at Revision – The IIgs is back in the limelight of the demo scene.
• NinjaForce Demo – Here’s the actual disk image, with some bug fixes.
• Lo-Res Graphics in Assembly – Tom Porter shows how it’s done.
• New books from Call A.P.P.L.E – Synergistic and more.
• Alex Lukazi explores Bluetooth – The Apple II dongle heard round the world.
• Battlestations teaches DHGR–  A great tutorial on the most difficult graphics mode.
• The Last Jedi trailer on a //c – Rendered the hard way. Don’t miss the making of.
• FASTchip review – The hottest new 8-bit accelerator, reviewed by Jorma.
• FTP Tool set for IIgs – Unlock real file transfer power with this new tools.
• Apple II Pi 2.2 – An update for the niftiest way to get modern hardware inside your II.
• Palm-sized Apple II – Yes, it works! More information here.
• New BBS running on real hardware – Apple IIs still make the best BBS hosts.
• WOzFest Slot 7 announced – They still have a few clever numbering ideas.
• Golden Gate Compatibility Layer – Kelvin Sherlock has been busy.
• Jorma acquires a rare Chinese clone – Great pictures of a rare (in the west) beast.
• Lemonade Stand lives on – Microsoft ports it to modern platforms for some reason.
• Apple Employee #3 selling his ranch – If you have a few dozen million to throw around.
• Yet another Apple I auction – They continue to decline in price. Meh.
• Where the first Apple was built – Someone found the actual apartment.
• KansasFest Offers and Deals – Too late to register, but bring your wallets!
• Woz says Apple is too big – To innovate, anyway.
• WeeGUI – Quinn’s MouseText-based GUI library.

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 day. The results are indeed impressive, and his first foray into solo Apple II game production is shaping up great. He’s also been very encouraging to the community, having set up the Facebook group Apple Graphics and Arcade Game Design Enthusiasts, dedicated to the book by the same name. This group is a place for Michael to share his progress on his games, as well as for other people to jump in with their own projects.

As of this recording, you can still pre-order Alien Downpour over at Michael’s site. Remarkably, you can order it on floppy or cassette! It comes with a retro-style baggie and insert as well. Michael is writing a book on his experiences (re)learning all this, so keep an eye out for that as well. He’ll also be at KansasFest this year with a presentation on Alien Downpour. Register now so you can see that! You won’t want to miss Michael’s perfect re-impersonation of the Egghead Discount Software answering message.

Meanwhile, Mike and Quinn get stuff wrong on a great many topics, but have fun doing it. If you want to try using a IIgs as your daily driver, launch cows with extreme prejudice, or run GEOS on a weird piece of hardware, you’ve come to the right podcast.

Register for KansasFest while you still can!

More information on everything discussed in this episode, after the jump.

• Alien Downpour – Pre-order it now! Michael’s first solo Apple II game is looking great.
• Apple Graphics and Arcade Game Design – A great FB group about a great book!
• Apple II+ Prototype? – A rare-looking machine found by John Romero.
• Leigh Alexander on archiving – She sits down with 4am and Jason Scott.
• Apple II viruses – There’s more than just Elk Cloner!
• Educational games are under appreciated – Check out the premiere muppet-based GUI.
• Cow-a-pult – A great new vignette from 6502 Workshop.
• 8-Bit-Do firmware – It has been 8-bit-updated, and Chris Torrence reports.
• Caverns of Mordia – Improved coverage of this great story.
• Apple IIgs resurrected – Onsite action at the most recent WozFest.
• WozFest PR#6 – Lots of cool announcements from Oz this year.
• AFP Bridge – TCP/IP and AppleShare getting easier (no more LocalTalk).
• Using a IIgs in 2017 – A well-meaning dude takes a shot at it.
• GeoBook for sale – An auction for one of the rare GEOS-based laptops.
• GeoBooks are a thing – They have fans, because of course they do.
• Might & Magic – Mike and Quinn like it, and you will too (especially on Apple II)
• HowardSoft – It still exists! Take that, Microsoft Word.