Brian Wiser | Open Apple

Open Apple #63 (September 2016) : Kate Szkotnicki, ProDOS 2.4, KansasFest

Posted on Sep 25, 2016Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:40:31 — 73.8MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kate Szkotnicki, long time Apple II fan and new addition to the retro community. We chat about her first impressions as a newcomer to the community, and the big splash she made at her first KansasFest. Kate is a cosplayer and frequent attendee of anime and comic cons, so she brought a very fresh set of skills and perspectives to KansasFest. Her presentation on making plastic parts (and candy!) with silicone moulding was very popular. Throw away your 3D printers- this is easier and better.

We also talk lots about John Brooks’ excellent work on updating ProDOS, Quinn says a bunch of stuff about Commodore that probably isn’t true, and Mike falls on his sword for getting everything wrong about Australian Apple II gatherings. Mike gets a record number of Apple /// references into this episode, so be sure to tune in and ignore that.

Breaking news! Between us recording and releasing this show, John Brooks has updated ProDOS to 2.4.1. Also, we worked out that the MegaBeep ROM is in fact compatible with it, contrary to the opening of the show. Listener James reported an issue that we believe was actually a bad ROM. If you are a MegaBeep owner, don’t hesitate to use it with any version of ProDOS, including John Brooks’ excellent new 2.4 updates.

Thanks to Brian Wiser of Call A.P.P.L.E. for permission to use the interview clip with Mike Harvey and John Leake.

Happy 30th birthday, Apple IIgs!

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Open Apple #62 (August 2016) : Mark Pilgrim, Passport, Ancient Legends

Posted on Aug 24, 2016Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:41 — 62.3MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Pilgrim, one of the most active software preservationists in the Apple II community. Mark has been spending his free time working on Passport, an automated cracking tool. It automatically detects and defeats copy protection schemes on Apple II disks, producing copyable disks that are otherwise completely intact. This is a boon for preservation of software that has only been (poorly) cracked by hoodlums of the past, or is previously uncracked. The latter is very common with educational software, business packages, and other things that the old crackers weren’t interested in. Mark’s skills and perseverance are making it possible to use more and more Apple II software on sites like Archive.org and VirtualApple.

KansasFest 2017 will be July 18th-23rd at Rockhurst University!

Meanwhile, tune in to this show and listen to Quinn and Mike bumble through news of various festivals, discuss lots of new hardware, and utterly fail to be respectful of the passing of a computer science legend. We’re sorry, Mr. Papert- you will be missed, and Logo touched all our lives.

There are a record number of amazing announcements of hardware and software this month. You won’t want to miss Passport, Ancient Legends, 4soniq, CP/M Turbo 7, SD-MIDI, and more. It’s an incredible month for spending money on your Apple II.

Go download Passport and archive all your floppies. Start now, or you’ll be up very late.

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

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Open Apple #47 (May 2015) : Jason Scott, Kaboom!, Infocom Secrets

Posted on May 28, 2015Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:17:48 — 106.7MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Jason Scott, documentary filmmaker, historian, public speaker, and archivist.

We talk about the importance of a nuanced appreciation of history, the flavors of sadness in comment threads, whom not to trust with special data and the nature of humanity, and failing at life.

Don’t miss Mike Hate Sponge Delicate Snowflake Maginnis’s sigh to end all sighs. Join us to learn how to take care of your capacitors, how to count your cycles, and how to do TCP/IP on your 8-bit Apple II.

Want to troll your cable company, accelerate your IIe, or play Bomberman on your GS? Tune in and find out how! More information on everything discussed in this episode after the jump.

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Open Apple #32 (Nov 2013): Bill Martens, history, Apple founders, and WOZPAK

Posted on Nov 2, 2013Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:59:09 — 66.3MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Bill Martens of Call-A.P.P.L.E. Preserving our community’s software and documentation is important not just to the users, but to the people doing the preserving; Bill explains why. We look at how the media can never get enough of Steve Jobs, examining his early career and denoting his boyhood home as a historical landmark — but Woz gets his time in the spotlight too, on panels about Atari, the Jobs movie, or a Homebrew Computer Club reunion. Highlighted eBay auctions include the ten rarest and most expensive games and yet another Apple-1. Finally, Brian Wiser joins us to discuss The WOZPAK Special Edition, a book that made its debut at KansasFest 2013 alongside its creator, Steve Wozniak.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 11:07)

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Show #5 (June 2011): Brian Wiser, museums, magazines, and Ultima

Posted on Jun 6, 2011Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:49 — 51.9MB) | Embed

This month in Open Apple, Mike and Ken are joined by Brian Wiser, an unsung hero of the Apple II archivist movement, as well as a director and producer of films related to Joss Whedon’s Firefly television show and Serenity movie. Ken reports on his trip to the Vintage Computer Festival East 7.0, Mike notes the changing of the guard at Syndicomm, and Brian brags about the Apple employees he’s met and the museums he’s visited, after which Mike and Brian chat about their favorite Apple II publications. We all lusted after the Ultima trilogy on eBay but were dismayed by two other auctions that were not what they seemed. Classics that need to be remade, those that are being remade, and those that were and failed are our gaming topics of the month.

Congratulations to Brian Sturk, who named the game as Lode Runner! He won a 20% or $50 discount off one ReactiveMicro.com order. Next month’s winner gets a $20 credit at the RetroFloppy store, courtesy David Schmidt.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 10:18)

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Show #3 (Apr 2011): Peter Neubauer, waiting for KansasFest, and edutainment

Posted on Apr 11, 2011Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:09 — 31.2MB) | Embed

The third monthly episode of Open Apple, recorded on April 3, 2011, has Mike and Ken joined by KansasFest committee member Peter Neubauer. The three look forward to attending KansasFest and VCF and reading Juiced.GS, 300 Baud, Twisty Little Passages, and Don Lancaster’s Assembly Cookbook; review favorite edutainment software; gawk at outrageous eBay “Buy It Now” prices; and discover remakes of classic games Ultima, King’s Quest, SimCity, Lode Runner, Wizardry, Choplifter, and more.

Winning a two-day pass to VCF East is Marvin Malkowski Jr., who correctly named the game from last month’s episode! The prize for this month’s contest is a $25 discount off KansasFest registration or a free KansasFest 2011 t-shirt, both courtesy KansasFest sponsor 16Sector.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 10:46)

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