Open Apple

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Egan Ford, aka the datajerk, the Apple-1 and II programmer extraordinaire responsible for the Apple II Game Server Online! Egan expertly demonstrates which CPU is faster, the 6502 or 8088, running circles around everyone listening. Laurie Spiegel is an Apple II user you may not have heard of, but extraterrestrials have, thanks to her contributions to Voyager’s Golden Record; we have some of her music for you to listen to. Courtesy Facebook and scanners, we save Don Worth’s magazines from the trash and Softalk from extinction, but we can’t save derelict hardware from abandoned buildings. Will Steve Wozniak be as good a commencement speaker as the late Steve Jobs? Having heard Woz at KansasFest, we weigh in.

(Please also note a correction to this episode.)

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 5:37)

• No Quarter podcast
• Small Wonder TV sitcom
• Operation Rainfall: How a fan campaign brought Nintendo to its knees
• Videogame History Museum
• Will Win/Should Win: The NAVGTR Awards Debate, a PAX East 2013 panel moderated by Ken

User Login (5:38 – 35:12)

• Egan Ford’s the jerkwerks
• Aztec C compiler
• Codebreaker game for the Apple-1
• c2d (code to disk) utility
• Apple II Game Server Online! & Disk Server (based on the original Apple Game Server
• π Day: Apple II vs. HP-41C & Rematch
• Which is faster, 6502 or 8088?
• Apple II emulator for iPad

II News (35:13 – 1:21:52)

• Bill Budge releases source code for Pinball Construction Set, to be followed by GDC postmortem
• Laurie Spiegel’s Web site
• JPL’s Starship Voyager and its Golden Record
• Laurie Spiegel’s Music Machine
• “The Harmony of the World“
• An interview with Laurie Spiegel
• “The Expanding Universe“
• More music by Laurie Spiegel
• Music Mouse — an intelligent instrument
• David Greelish’s Kickstarter for Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 1.0
• VCF SE 1.0 to feature a “pop-up museum”
• Robert Tinney to keynote VCF SE 1.0
• VCF East 9.0 postponed
• “Brisfest” an Australian Apple II convention

Apple Pickings (1:21:53 – 1:40:38)

• Apple II Processor Cards: The Book
• Steve Weyhrich‘s Sophistication & Simplicity: The Life & Times of the Apple II Computer, from Variant Press
• Apple IIe w/original packaging — rare!
• Apple II (not plus) #6684
• Apple IIGS ROM 03, excellent condition
• Apple IIe, brand new, in original box, never unpacked

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Jimmy Maher, the historian behind the renowned blog The Digital Antiquarian. A published author, Jimmy provides us with his perspective on the pros and cons of going with a publishing house over the recent trend in retrocomputing toward self-publishing. We gripe about the Steve Jobs film sacrificing historical accuracy for mass appeal and recommend some alternative movies that get it right. We’re still loving iOS as a platform for classic gaming ports, from the adventure game Transylvania to the recently released Lode Runner Classic. Speaking of platforms, which is better: the Apple II or the Commodore 64? The answer may not be as obvious as you think! Finally, we offer a cautionary tale to vintage computer collectors whose inventory may be at the mercy of an avaricious landlord.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 13:45)

• Open Apple #1, two years ago this month
• No Quarter classic arcade game podcast
• The 1Up barcade in Denver
• 1Up purchases Twin Galaxies
• Funspot‘s American Classic Arcade Museum
• Going Cardboard
• MIT Medical
• PB403: Electronic Publishing at Emerson College
• Visual 6502
• Drift demo disk by Daniel Kruszyna, Antoine Vignau, Melissa Barron — and Wade Clarke!

User Login (13:46 – 36:23)

• Jimmy Maher’s The Digital Antiquarian
• The Future Was Here, an Amiga book by Jimmy Maher
• Jimmy’s posts about Oregon Trail and The Hobbit
• Let’s Tell a Story Together: A History of Interactive Fiction
• “Why You Should Follow the Digital Antiquarian“, by Jason Scott

II News (36:24 – 1:28:33)

• First look at jOBS biopic
• Steve Wozniak on what’s wrong with jOBS
• Feedback about jOBS on Facebook
• jOBS to feature Mike Willegal’s Mimeo!
• Micro Men, a BBC documentay about Clive Sinclair
• Sophistication & Simplicity book of Dr. Steve Weyhrich’s Apple II History
• Atari Inc.: Business is Fun by Curt Vendel
• The New Apple II User’s Guide by David Finnigan
• Every Apple TV ad (ever made)
• Atari files for bankruptcy
• Kickstarter in the UK
• Elk Cloner virus creator Rich Skrenta looks back
• RetroChallenge Winter Warmup
• ByteBagger
• A2Central Down-Under Chat, hosted by Andrew Roughan
• Samurai IRC CDA
• Lode Runner Classic for iOS, Android, Windows Phone
• Transylvania Adventure for iOS
• Choplifter for XBLA on Microsoft Xbox 360
• AtariAge asks what’s better: Apple II or Commodore 64?
• Super Crate Box coming to C64, as reported by CheckPoint

Apple Pickings (1:28:34 – 1:41:31)

• Pravetz 8C Bulgarian clone of Apple IIe
• Apple IIc prototype
• Sellam Ismail’s tale of woe

Having gathered the treasures of 2012 and being tempted by the promises of 2013, the hosts of Open Apple are joined by Andy Molloy of Juiced.GS, Peter Neubauer of KansasFest, Vince Briel of Briel Computers, and Antoine Vignau of Brutal Deluxe to reflect on all that has happened with the Apple II and its community in the past year. We pick our favorite products, share memorable events, and make predictions for 2013. Topics include Apple-1 auctions, Kickstarter-funded sequels, progress in emulation, and more.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 4:58)

• Andy Molloy’s homepage
• Peter Neubauer’s homepage
• Vince Briel’s homepage
• Brutal Deluxe’s homepage

Hardware (4:59 – 17:43)

• Rich Dreher’s CFFA3000
• Mike Willegal’s SUPERPROTO and Apple-1 Mimeo projects
• Briel Computers’ A2MP3 card
• a2RetroSystems’ Uthernet card
• Cedric Peltier’s Smartport Virtual Hard Drive (SPVHD)

Apple-1 (17:44 – 26:02)

• Brain Board with Wozanium Pack
• Ray Borrill’s VCF 4.0 auction of an Apple-1

Emulation (26:03 – 33:32)

• Eric Shepherd’s Sweet16 emulator
• AppleWin
• Gerard Putter’s Virtual ][ emulator
• GSport, based on Kent Dickey’s KEGS
• Java Apple Computer Emulator (JACE) by Brendan Robert
• VICE
• Eamon Deluxe
• The Lost Treasures of Infocom for iOS

Software development (33:33 – 46:42)

• Ewen Wannop’s SNAP & SAFE
• Drift demo disk with custom floppy sleeves
• The Deadly Orbs game by Brian Picchi
• Martin Haye’s Structris
• Jordan Mechner’s Deathbounce
• Brutal Deluxe’s Fishhead copier
• Dagen Brock’s KansasFest 2013 demo

Game remakes and Kickstarter projects (46:43 – 54:11)

• Bard’s Tale for iOS (includes IIGS originals)

Publications & media (54:12 — 1:01:50)

• Dave Finnigan’s The New Apple II User’s Guide
• Kay Savetz’s Terrible Nerd memoir
• Rob O’Hara’s Commodork
• Jeff Atwood’s “I Was a Teenage Hacker”
• What’s Where in the Apple e-book
• Steve Weyhrich’s Sophistication & Simplicity
• Retro Gamer magazine
• Jimmy Maher’s Digital Antiquarian
• Juiced.GS: The Early Years

Podcasts (1:01:51 – 1:11:50)

• Retro Computing Roundtable
• 1 MHz by Carrington Vanston’s Monster Feet
• RetroMacCast
• Brian Picchi’s YouTube computer game reviews
• Not Another Apple Podcast?!
• Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 1.0

Top stories (1:11:51 – 1:18:02)

• Prince of Persia source code saved

KansasFest (1:18:03 – 1:27:19)

• Randy Wigginton to keynote KansasFest 2013
• Randy Brandt’s History of AppleWorks session
• Sara, an Apple III emulator
• Multi Emulator Super System (MESS)
• Melissa Barron’s Etsy shop
• ReactiveMicro.com — will it ever come back?
• Charles Mangin’s Mac mini inside a Disk II case

Participant picks from 2012 (1:27:20 – 1:34:12)

Predictions for 2013 (1:34:13 – 1:41:23)

• The now-defunct iDisk card

Parting shots (1:41:24 – 1:45:50)

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Kay Savetz, Internet publisher and author of the memoir Terrible Nerd. We cross enemy lines to review a book about the cultural, scientific, and philosophical implications of Commodore 64 programming, some of it applicable to the Apple II. Paul Terrell’s Polaroid snapshots of the first Apple-1 computers are cool, just like our reception to Jordan Mechner’s new Karateka game. On eBay, we discover the Androbot is not just another neat product from a Nolan Bushnell company, but another reason we prefer the Apple II to other platforms. And Ken’s accidental purchase of some Microzines produces the concept for a new and very expensive podcast!

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 17:33)

• No Quarter podcast
• Arcade Explorers books
• Ken’s review of Max Brooks’ World War Z
• Organ Trail for iOS
• Ken’s Wii U unboxing
• Denver Apple Pi
• Colorado Macintosh Users Group

User Login (17:34 – 32:18)

• Kay Savetz’s homepage
• Terrible Nerd, from Savetz Publishing
• AtariArchives.org
• Classic Computer Magazine Archive
• Douglas Engelbart’s Mother of All Demos
• Kevin’s Free Printables & FaxZero sites
• Kevin on the Retro Computing Roundtable
• Name.com domain name registrar
• Liquid Web: Storm on Demand hosting company

II News (32:19 – 1:03:33)

• 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10, by Nick Montfort, et al
• The 8 Bit Weapon Collection 1998-2012
• The early days of PCs as seen through DEAD TREES
• Remembering the EasyKey keyboard overlay for the Apple II
• Paul Terrell’s Polaroid photos of the Apple-1
• Help KansasFest by shopping at Amazon.com
• TIME‘s top 100 video games ever
• Elite Dangerous: Kickstarter
• Trade Wars
• Save the Day, an HTML5-based Choplifter remake (hat tip: Hanuman Welch)
• Karateka not so hot with Ken or Metacritic
• RIP, Tony Gonzalez of Ultima GS

Apple Pickings (1:03:34 – 1:18:44)

• Androbot Topo II robot, Apple IIe, sending unit, Toposoft software (video)
• The history of Androbot, Inc.
• Heathkit H.E.R.O robots
• Ken’s new Microzines, complete with case!
• Carrington’s DoubleTake podcast
• Jeri Ellsworth’s C64 Direct-to-TV joystick
• A modern PC inside a Commodore 64 case
• Curt Vendel’s Atari Inc: Business Is Fun, courtesy Kickstarter
• Commodore 64 games on the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console

This month on Open Apple, Ken takes the month off as Mike chats with Apple IIGS programmer Geoff Weiss, who does double-duty as both guest and co-host. Geoff discusses his work on the Spectrum Internet Suite and debuts some new Classic Desk Accessories for the IIGS, based on his KansasFest 2012 presentation. Mike and Geoff go over some recent Apple II news, such as Brutal Deluxe’s latest software offering, a missing time capsule, a visit to the Russian Apple Museum in Moscow, and Woz’s Ask Me Anything on Slashdot, as well as Apple II-related movie and TV items.

eBay items this month include a Franklin ACE-based educational unit and Geoff and Mike pause to puzzle over an Apple II Plus emulator for the Commodore 64. A discussion of recent Apple-1 auctions rounds out the episode this month.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 08:27)

• Geoff Weiss’s homepage
• Geoff Weiss’s Spectrum Internet Suite
• Ewen Wannop’s homepage
• Apple II History
• Spectrum Internet Suite at 16Sector Store
• Juiced.GS
• Geoff Weiss’ Classic Desk Accessories

II News (08:27 – 37:22)

• Apple II web hosting
• MacGUI City
• Brutal Deluxe’s I’m fEDD Up!
• krue’s fortycolumns gallery
• Woz’s AMA on Slashdot
• Alex Lee’s visit to a Russian Apple Museum
• The Gibson Light Pen
• Missing Time Capsule
• Person of Interest: Bad Code
• Wreck-It Ralph
• Petition to Apple to create a public visitor’s center at its new HQ
• Stanford’s Apple Collection Archives
• GShisen
• Shadowgate Kickstarter
• The New Apple II User’s Guide price reduction
• Castle Wolfenstein movie announced

Apple Pickings (37:22 – 51:20)

• Mimic Spartan Apple II Plus emulator for the Commodore 64
• Photos of a Spartan by Tony Diaz
• KEGS emulator
• GSport emulator
• 1982 Vintage ED-LAB Microcomputer Lab Franklin Apple clone teaching system
• Apple-1 Auction
• Apple-1 a no-sell at Christie’s auction