KansasFest | Open Apple

Open Apple #43 (January 2015) : Happy New Year with Ben Heck!

Posted on Jan 22, 2015Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:53:55 — 89.1MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Ben Heck, one of our most-requested interviews. We talk about his Apple I replica, his Apple IIgs laptop, and Adam Sandler for some reason. Meanwhile, Mike and Quinn talk about Apple Porsches, Pinball Construction Set, and Western Design Center. In the comedy department, we get back to our roots (making fun of Wizardry).

There’s potato chips, there’s troll pits, there’s 3D printing, and all kinds of other wandering off topic this month, so be sure to stay tuned for none of that.

We’re looking forward to a great new year with the Apple II, so join us as we kick off what is sure to be an awesome 2015!

Wews!

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

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Open Apple #42 (December 2014) : 2014 Year-End Roundtable, Eric Shepherd, Sarah W., Carrington Vanston

Posted on Jan 1, 2015Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:53:16 — 64.7MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we close out the year with our traditional Year-End Roundtable discussion. We’re joined by Eric ‘Sheppy’ Shepherd, Sarah W., and Carrington Vanston. We talk about alternate universes, our collective love of the IIgs, and Quinn takes cheap shots at Carrington. It’s the holidays, so Commodore users are given a respite. Well, a bit of a respite, anyway. Meanwhile, Sheppy solicits hatemail, Carrington calls shenanigans, and Sarah keeps everyone honest. Count the euphemisms! So many euphemisms!

As usual, we have lots of news to talk about as well. It’s been an amazing year for the Apple II, and we have new games, new hardware, and new video histories to share. I/O Silver is here, John Romero is there, and JSMESS is everywhere.

More information on everything discussed in the show after the jump.

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

Posted on Oct 19, 2014Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

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

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.

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Open Apple #38 (August 2014) : The Lawless Legends Team

Posted on Aug 30, 2014Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:21 — 47.8MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we go deep on Lawless Legends with most of the team building it. We’ve managed to corner Seth Sternberger (of 8-bit Weapon fame), Martin Haye, and Brendan Robert (Dave Schmenk, we’re coming for you…) to grill them on this amazing effort. We also wish a fond farewell to co-host Ken Gagne, and welcome our new co-host Quinn Dunki. Listeners can look forward to more angry sarcasm and less professionalism here on Open Apple. Of course, we also ramble some more about KansasFest 2014. Because KansasFest.

Lawless Legends is a new wild west RPG game being built cross-platform for classic 8-bit computers, and possibly a few modern machines as well. Among its many outstanding features are a 2.5D free-roaming raycast engine, mipmapping, sprites, a high-level scripting language, and full modern pipeline for creating art and design elements. We gather up as many of the team as we can muster and pick their brains about how the game is coming along. We go deep into the process of building it, and take some cheap shots at Commodore along the way. It’s okay though, by the time their machines finish loading, this will all be ancient history.

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

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Open Apple #36 (Mar 2014): Evan Koblentz, VCF East, Softalk, and Apple2pi

Posted on Mar 10, 2014Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:26:00 — 49.2MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Evan Koblentz, producer of Vintage Computer Festival East. VCF East 9.1 is happening this spring, and Evan has an inside look at the event’s founding, growth, and lineup. Margot Comstock has been announced as the keynote speaker of KansasFest 2014, prompting us to reflect on the history of Softalk magazine. The Apple2pi card is now shipping, and it reminds us of other small devices that left a big impression, like the Replica-1 and even the Apple Newton PDA — which still has an active user group! Finally, Steve Jobs is appearing in all kinds of icons, from e-waste portraits to unlickable postage stamps. When will Woz get the recognition he deserves?

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 10:10)

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Open Apple #34 (Jan 2014): 2013 end-of-year roundtable

Posted on Jan 2, 2014Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:27:27 — 49.8MB) | Embed

At the dawn of 2014, Open Apple engages in its annual tradition of reflecting on all that has transpired in the Apple II community in the past year. Ken Gagne moderates a panel of Mike Maginnis, Andy Molloy, Ivan Drucker, and David Schmenk to look at topics in news, emulation, hardware, software, conventions, and publications. Popular themes include the Raspberry Pi, the S-Prize, social media, JSMESS, the Jobs film, and KansasFest 2013.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

News (0:00 – 17:49)

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Open Apple #30 (Sep 2013): Charles Mangin, Jobs movie, Tetris, and S-Prize

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:49:59 — 61.1MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Charles Mangin, the mad scientist who puts Mac Minis inside Apple II cases and inventor of the RetroConnector. It’s our first show since KansasFest, and we share our highlights and favorite products and announcements from the show. The Steve Jobs film is now out, and Ashton Kutcher and Steve Wozniak have words while critics publish their own mixed reviews. However, we have nothing but praise for Walter Isaacson’s biography, and Steve Wozniak gets his own moment in the spotlight courtesy interviews with the Verge and Game Informer. We’re super-psyched that Eric Shepherd has established the S-Prize — how big will the pot grow before some enterprising programmer claims it?

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 7:46)

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Video: Speaking with Steve Wozniak at KansasFest 2013

Posted on Aug 11, 2013Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Happy 63rd birthday, Steve Wozniak! And thank you again not only for taking the time to attend KansasFest 2013, but to speak with Open Apple.

If you haven’t already heard our 20-minute interview with Woz, go listen now. But some things are better seen than heard, which is why we’re now offering a ten-minute video excerpt from the interview. In this video, taken from the second half of our interview, Woz talks about how he left Hewlett-Packard to found Apple, how he acquired the chips for his early inventions, and how impressed he is by what KansasFest attendees are doing with the Apple II.

You can watch the video on YouTube, stream it below, or download it. Enjoy!

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