Open Apple #54 (December 2015) : Year End Roundtable!

This month on Open Apple, we round out the year with our annual tradition of sitting around a virtual table with some friends of the show, discussing whatever comes to mind. Mike and Quinn are joined by Randy Brandt of Beagle Bros fame, Charles Mangin of RetroConnector, and some guy named Carrington Vanston.

We talk about connecting old things to other old things, connecting old things to new things, and how to pluralize German surnames. Mike manages to make several Apple III references, Carrington imagines nonexistent 8-bit games, and The Third Apple Guy is discussed at some point. It’s a deep, intellectual examination of all things Apple II. Stay tuned to hear why Quinn’s mom hoards peoples’ IIGSes for some reason. You won’t want to miss a moment. Also, Quinn makes a 65C02 joke that nobody laughs at. You’ll know why.

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

Continue reading “Open Apple #54 (December 2015) : Year End Roundtable!”

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

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”