Tag: Apple II History

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

Posted on by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:12:53 — 101.8MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Pandora | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | More

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, the perils of open source, and where to go for Byte Works’ products. It’s a compiler and assembler-themed episode of the one-and-only Apple II podcast.

Tune in to hear Mike pine longingly for Lawless Legends, and hear Quinn achieve maximum Boo Atari Density (BAD). We find amazing new hardware and unauthorized museums. There are wacky Australians, wacky Russians, wacky Brazilians, and wacky Germans. There are Arduinos, headphone jacks, and realtime clocks, oh my! You won’t want to miss Mike dropping a Murphy Brown reference. Take that, Millenials!

Please support us by becoming a Patreon Patron.  The size of our audience means we have substantial bandwidth costs, and a few bucks from a few of you would really help us out. We have no advertisers and we run this show entirely on our own dime and our own time. Thanks for anything you can pitch in!

Stay tuned for a couple of genuinely weird games, an introduction to copy protection, and lots of user feedback. Some of you feel the show is too long. Does everyone feel that way? Email us at feedback@open-apple.net and let us know.

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

Continue reading “Open Apple #51 (September 2015) : Mike Westerfield, Opus ][, The Byte Works, Merlin 32” →
Open Apple #25 (Mar 2013): Egan Ford, 8088, Voyager, and abandonware

Open Apple #25 (Mar 2013): Egan Ford, 8088, Voyager, and abandonware

Posted on by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:40:53 — 55.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Pandora | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | More

Egan Ford

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)

Continue reading “Open Apple #25 (Mar 2013): Egan Ford, 8088, Voyager, and abandonware” →
Open Apple #24 (Feb 2013): Jimmy Maher, book publishing, jOBS, and C64

Open Apple #24 (Feb 2013): Jimmy Maher, book publishing, jOBS, and C64

Posted on by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:01 — 55.0MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Pandora | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | More

Jimmy Maher

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)

Continue reading “Open Apple #24 (Feb 2013): Jimmy Maher, book publishing, jOBS, and C64” →
Open Apple #21 (Nov 2012): Geoff Weiss, SIS, Apple-1 auctions, and Web hosting

Open Apple #21 (Nov 2012): Geoff Weiss, SIS, Apple-1 auctions, and Web hosting

Posted on by Mike Maginnis

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:23 — 28.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Pandora | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | More

Geoff Weiss

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)

Continue reading “Open Apple #21 (Nov 2012): Geoff Weiss, SIS, Apple-1 auctions, and Web hosting” →