Tag: Dagen Brock

Open Apple #69 (March 2017) – Craig Peterson, KansasFest, Computer Show!

Posted on by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34:47 — 72.7MB) | Embed

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

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Craig Peterson, who got involved with hardware and software development very early in the life of the Apple II. Craig integrated Apple II computers with a numerical control manufacturing system, producing G-code for the cutting machines in a factory. He was a pioneer in using the Apple II for what computers are actually good at- moving data around in an automated fashion and abstracting away sources of human error in a complex process.

Craig wrote technical articles for all the major Apple magazines, which led to him getting involved with Chinook. Craig wrote diagnostic and utility software for Chinook drives in the then exciting burgeoning new field of SCSI devices. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the need to precisely time SCSI drive interleavings prompted Craig to create a universal driver for the No Slot Clock.

KansasFest Early Registration is now open! Sign up now, because attendance is limited to 100 this year.

Meanwhile, listen as Quinn confirms that French people are from France, Mike spots the only Apple III in a hundred mile radius, and another boring Apple I auction happens. There’s double-hires, there’s outgoing preservationists, and there are lots of Australians. So many Australians.

A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show! A new episode of Computer Show!

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

Continue reading “Open Apple #69 (March 2017) – Craig Peterson, KansasFest, Computer Show!” →
Open Apple #66 (December 2016) : Glenda "The Atom" Adams

Open Apple #66 (December 2016) : Glenda “The Atom” Adams

Posted on by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:41:15 — 72.2MB) | Embed

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

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Glenda Adams, better known on the Apple II as The Atom. She was a cracker of some note back in the 1980s, and she shares great stories with us of her exploits in boot tracing, cracking, and distributing software in the glory days of the Apple II BBS scene.

We talk about the journey from programming to cracking, and back to programming again. We talk about the politics of the Apple II scene, and the unique experience of cracking software remotely. Think fixing your grandparents’ printer over the phone is hard? Trying cracking a game!

Can you deduce the release date of Fontrix by time-lining Apple II crack screens? We leave that as an exercise to the listener. Meanwhile, Glenda shares stories of porting Space Rogue, parties at Lord British’s house, and the old-school feel of early iOS development.

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

Continue reading “Open Apple #66 (December 2016) : Glenda “The Atom” Adams” →

Open Apple #55 (January 2016) : Henry Courbis, UltimateMicro, ProDOS conversions

Posted on by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:44:28 — 78.1MB) | Embed

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

This month on Open Apple we sit down with Henry Courbis, co-proprietor of Ultimate Micro, serial entrepreneur, and Open Source guy. Henry is boldly going where no hobbyist has gone before, by making Apple II hardware his real day job. If anyone can do it, Ultimate Micro can!

We talk massive modem phone bills, phreaking, warez, and statutes of limitations. You know… for a friend. Henry talks about how hardware first appealed to him, and how he has leveraged his hacking and resourcefulness into development of powerful & complex modern products. Henry is a nexus of collaboration in the Apple II hardware community, and helping to make a lot of things happen. Henry makes cloning the Transwarp GS sound easy, and goes into lots of detail on exciting upcoming UltimateMicro products.

Listen in amazement as Quinn is unable to realize that “qkumba” is a play on “cucumber”. Listen to Mike badger Henry for a Phasor clone, and listen to Quinn’s not-so-subtle attempt to be a beta tester for the IDEA2c. We’ve got emulators, we’ve got hardware vendors, we’ve got crackers, and we’ve got phony museums about to get sued into oblivion. Come on down!

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

Continue reading “Open Apple #55 (January 2016) : Henry Courbis, UltimateMicro, ProDOS conversions” →

Open Apple #53 (November 2015) : David Schroeder, Phreaking, 8-bit Mice

Posted on by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:29 — 75.2MB) | Embed

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

This month on Open Apple we sit down with David Schroeder, author of classic Apple II games such as Crisis Mountain, Dino Eggs, and Short Circuit. We talk about the randomness of our passionate brand-loyalty, the logistical realities of early Apple II development, and the magical era of “one-person, one-game”. We get into a lot of the technical details of Crisis Mountain and Dino Eggs, so you might pick up some tips for your own Apple II projects! David also has great memories of the economic and design realities of the time, where everyone was scrambling to figure out what a computer game was, and what players really wanted. Game developers are still fighting that battle, but at least we have a definition of “video game” now.

We’re sharing David’s games in the show notes below, with his permission! In exchange, he asks that you patronize, share and support Dino Eggs: Rebirth.

After that we jam through some quick news, bask in the fallout (see what I did there?) of the GEOS episode, and we get down and dirty with rodents. Do you have the GS with the bigger Em Bees? Trust us, you want the bigger Em Bees.

You might notice that we’re continuing to tighten up the show. Let us know how you feel about this trend in our show length! Do you like the shorter episodes? Miss the epic three hour monsters? Email us at feedback (at) open-apple (dot) net. We have social media too, but we can never remember which ones.

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

Continue reading “Open Apple #53 (November 2015) : David Schroeder, Phreaking, 8-bit Mice” →
Open Apple #40 (October 2014) : Chris Torrence, Printers, Celebrating Lode Runner

Open Apple #40 (October 2014) : Chris Torrence, Printers, Celebrating Lode Runner

Posted on by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:30:28 — 50.2MB) | Embed

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

This month on Open Apple, we talk to Chris Torrence, the new Roger Wagner Volunteer Archivist on behalf of Softalk magazine. Chris is a lifelong Apple II fan, and has recently undertaken the valuable effort of producing a book containing all of Roger Wagner’s Assembly Lines columns. This will include all of the articles included in Roger’s original book (Assembly Lines: The Book) as well as columns never before available in book form. He’s not just republishing the articles, he’s annotating, footnoting, and expanding on them as needed. It’s a terrific service for the community. We’ll dig into that, as well as Chris’ start in computing, and how he got to where he is today. We manage to get through an entire show without taking a cheap shot at Commodore, so you won’t want to miss this. Wait- no we don’t.

We also mark the passing of Lode Runner creator Douglas E. Smith, we talk about printers for some reason, and we talk about more eBay auctions on this show that doesn’t talk about eBay auctions. You won’t want to miss this month’s Weird Gaming, where we run the gamut from incredible educational games that didn’t get their due, to horrifying shareware games that can’t be forgotten quickly enough. We talk AppleSoft source code in Tech, and lots more. So drop your machine two inches, and let’s go!

More information on everything mentioned in the show can be found after the jump.

Continue reading “Open Apple #40 (October 2014) : Chris Torrence, Printers, Celebrating Lode Runner” →

Open Apple #39 (September 2014) : Gary B. Little, New Segments, Apple IIc Cards

Posted on by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:00 — 76.0MB) | Embed

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

This month on Open Apple, we talk to Gary Little, prolific author of many technical reference books about various models in the Apple ][ line. In addition to writing great books that go deep on the hardware, Gary also wrote lots of great software, including such gems as AmDOS, and the popular Point To Point modem communication software.

We also catch up on all the news (there’s lots!) and take some cheap shots at other podcasters along the way. Join us as we talk about open source hardware, GS ports of great arcade games, the joy of redialing, and DClocks. So many DClocks!

More information on everything mentioned in the show can be found after the jump.

Continue reading “Open Apple #39 (September 2014) : Gary B. Little, New Segments, Apple IIc Cards” →