Open Apple #20 (Oct 2012): Ewen Wannop, Spectrum, the next Apple II, and Mac Mini

Ewen Wannop

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Ewen Wannop, British programmer of 16-bit telecommunications programs such as Spectrum, SAM, SNAP, and SAFE. The hosts share feedback galore from the last episode and contemplate how to record a live show. After catching up on some headlines from last month, we plow forward, celebrating the return of an interactive fiction publication and grumbling that even beginner IF can be as obscure as the medium is infamous for. The September 2012 issue of Juiced.GS just shipped, and with it, a look at what features a hypothetical System 7.0 operating system would include. Is it reasonable to consider that a software upgrade warrants a hardware bump, and what the next model of Apple II would look like? Photos of Steve Jobs in his natural habitat show an Apple stronghold as Spartan as ever, but you can decorate yours with Melissa Barron’s screenprints from Etsy. There’s a Disk II floppy drive on eBay that holds within it a working Mac mini — a cool hack, but is it worth a cool grand? We question the value of purchasing free software on eBay and marvel at everything from lighters to thumb drives in the shape of an Apple II.

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Introduction (0:00 – 13:08)

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Show #9 (Nov 2011): Melissa Barron, Britannia Manor, floppy drives, and iOS

Melissa Barron

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.

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Introduction (0:00 – 11:40)

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Show #2 (Mar 2011): IvanX, VCF, VNC & GPLE

Ivan DruckerIn the second monthly episode of Open Apple, Mike and Ken are joined by Ivan Drucker: two-time KansasFest alumnus, Juiced.GS staff writer, and Mac consultant based out of New York City. News this month includes a look forward to Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) East 7.0 by two of its alumni, an Apple-1 expansion card for the Apple II, and controlling Apple II emulators via an iOS VNC; reviews of our favorite Beagle Bros programming utilities; the exorbitant prices Apple II hardware and software are fetching on eBay; and new iterations of our favorite adventure, role-playing, and text-adventure games.

Congratulations to Wade Clarke, who correctly guessed Karateka for last month’s “Name the Game” contest! His prize is a free Juiced.GS Concentrate, courtesy Juiced.GS publisher Gamebits. The prize for this month’s contest is a free two-day pass to VCF East 7.0, courtesy Evan Koblentz of MARCH.

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Introduction (0:00 – 11:56)

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