This month in Open Apple, Mike and Ken talk with Melissa Barron, the Apple II community’s famed tapestry artist. The three relate their experiences exploring the past and future of computer media at conventions and museums in Chicago and Rochester, exploring the methods used to create and preserve history. Further tributes are made to Steve Jobs, while Mike Westerfield reclassifies old BASIC tools and releases new ones. Lord British’s Texas mansion is up for sale — a fitting home for Vintage Computer Festival Southwest? We debate various models of floppy drives and are wary of fake and expensive Apple II computers on eBay but excited about new e-books and iOS apps of interest to retrocomputing enthusiasts.

Congratulations to Todd Holcomb, who named the game as Spy’s Demise! He won an autographed copy of Bob Bishop’s Bomber on cassette, courtesy Mike Maginnis.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 11:40)

• Peter Watson’s homepage
• Andy Molloy’s homepage
• International Center for the History of Electronic Games
• Strong National Museum of Play
• Ski Colorado!
• Why are Apple II users ‘different’?
• The history of Apple II magazines
• Apple II Scans
• Review Open Apple on iTunes!

User Login (11:41 – 22:56)

• Melissa Barron’s homepage
• 73H 0r3g0n 7r41L KansasFest 2010 session
• Jacquard loom
• Melissa’s BFA art gallery installation
• Melissa’s Vimeo videos
• Apple II crack screens
• E-textfiles: Interactive projects for the Jacquard loom
• GLI.TC/H Kickstarter

II News (22:57 – 1:04:32)

• GLI.TC/H
• Steve Jobs
• Mona Simpson’s eulogy for her brother, Steve Jobs
• Photos from the Apple’s Steve Jobs memorial
• 60 Minutes‘ Andy Rooney dies
• Peanuts‘ Charles M. Schulz dies
• Computerworld video: Steve Jobs one-on-one, the ’95 interview
• What Steve Jobs taught us about failure
• NeXT Computers
• Daniel Kottke: Apple was “Steve Jobs’ therapy”
• GSoft BASIC now freeware; Mike Westerfield’s techBASIC now available
• Earn a free copy of The Byteworks’ Opus II!
• techBasic homepage
• OpenEmulator Apple-1 emulator
• Brain Board woth Wozanium Pack source code
• AppleWin emulator for Windows
• Virtual II emulator for Mac OS X
• Vince Briel’s Replica I
• Vince Briel’s A2MP3 card
• Melissa’s Juiced.GS article
• Block Party, part of Notacon
• @party demoparty
• WriteRoom word processor
• Jason Scott documentary three-pack Kickstarter
• “Digging into Technology’s Past” — archaelogy article on the 6502 (also on Apple II History)
• Visual 6502 simulator
• Ronald Mak’s The History of Computing at San Jose State University
• Terminator’s Skynet
• Denver Apple Pi
• Vintage Computer Festival East 8.0 dates announced
• Richard Garriott’s Britannia Manor for sale
• Original Castle Wolfenstein painting auctioned
• Richard Garriott vs. NCSoft
• Richard Garriott in space

Apple Pickings (1:04:33 – 1:22:49)

• Utilities to adjust floppy drive head speed
• Apple 5.25″ floppy drives
• Different models of Apple floppy drives
• Boston Computer Society publications
• Beagle Buddies
• Gravenstein Apple Users Group (GSAUG)
• Joe Kohn and the Mark Twain
• Apple Users Society of Melbourne (AUSOM)
• Stephen Buggie’s auction of AutoArk software
• Apple II power supply tech info
• Original Apple II goes for $5,145
• Fake Apple II
• Real Apple II, serial #A2S1-0101
• Spotlight on Bob Bishop
• Bell & Howell w/numeric keypad

Name the Game (1:22:50 – 1:46:24)

• Bob Bishop’s software catalog
• Bob Bishop’s Bomber
• Spy’s Demise
• Jimmy Maher’s history of interactive fiction e-book
• Jordan Mechner’s Prince of Persia e-book (excerpt)
• Prince of Persia ported to Commodore 64
• Prince of Persia Classic for Xbox 360
• Out Of This World for iOS
• Elite Collection coming for iOS
• M.U.L.E.
• Choplifter HD for PlayStation 3
• Archon II: Adept
• Alternate Reality
• Wizardry for iOS
• Akalabeth for iOS
• Andrew Plotkin’s PlotEx
• Andrew Plotkin: How I raised $24,000 on Kickstarter
• Frotz for iOS
• My Secret Hideout
• Meanwhile interactive graphic novel for iOS