Retro Computing Roundtable

Open Apple #78 (September 2018) – Retro Antic Assembly Chicken Missile Talks Our Way Out Of It

Posted on Sep 11, 2018Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:40 — 51.6MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we bring you the traditional big group podcast that we record every year at KansasFest. Tune in for a casual chat with your favorite retro podcasters, and get a behind-the-scenes peek at what makes KansasFest special. This year we managed to twist the following arms into joining us:

Quinn Dunki – Open Apple
Carrington Vanston – Retrocomputing Roundtable, Eaten By A Grue
Paul Hagstrom – Retrocomputing Roundtable, Drop III Inches
Ken Gagne – Retrocomputing Roundtable, Polygamer, Transporter Lock
Charles Mangin – How II
Steve Weyrich – Retrocomputing Roundtable
Kay Savetz – ANTIC, Eaten By A Grue, Tech Enthusiast Hour
Chris Torrence – Assembly Lines
Jason Scott – Jason Scott Talks His Way Out Of It

You’ll have to excuse the strained voices and general discombobulation, as we generally record this sometime in the middle of the night on what-feels-like day 400 of KFest, in a dank basement chapel. It’s way more fun than I just made it sound. You should come to the next KansasFest!

Open Apple #73 (August 2017) – Assembly Chicken PolyANTICast Roundtable

Posted on Aug 8, 2017Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:52 — 43.6MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we run the annual group megapodcast that is recorded live at KansasFest! This is a four-year-old tradition whereby all the attending retro podcasters get together and do one big silly show together. It’s clunky, it’s pointless, and the audio quality is terrible because we’re all crowded one microphone in a grungy old basement chapel. Yet it’s one of our favorite things to do every year, so we hope you enjoy listening!

Around the table this year we have Quinn Dunki, Paul Hagstrom, John Leake, Chris Torrence, Kay Savetz, Ken Gagne, Charles Mangin, and Carrington Vanston, and Michael Mulhern. Find links to all the podcasts mentioned in this show, after the jump!

Feel like you’re missing out on all this fun? Come to KansasFest in 2018 and join in! We’d all love to meet you.

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Open Apple #58 (April 2016) : Huibert Aalbers, IIGS Stuff, Taiwanese Ham

Posted on May 3, 2016Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:07:21 — 99.0MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Huibert Aalbers, author of Soundsmith. It’s hard to overstate what a platform-defining piece of software this was for the Apple IIgs. Few people appreciated what the audio system in this computer was capable of, until Huibert unlocked it for the world to hear. Games and scene demos would use his tool for the entire life of the machine. Other music trackers came along in later years, but Soundsmith was always there. It turns out platform jealousy can be a powerful force indeed.

Meanwhile, we talk oranges, Taiwanese ham, dying young, and cramming IIc parts in your Franklin. We blow the lid off the French pirate sneakernet and complain about kids today and their disrespect for bytes.

After that, Mike finds beta ROMs, Quinn loses her sense of humor, and they both find GS RAM cards everywhere. It’s a IIgs themed episode- all the Ensoniqs and FTAs you can stand. If you’re an Atari user*, see if you can spot the backhanded compliment.

You won’t want to miss Huibert’s amazing project involving IIgs Epluché!

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

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Open Apple #22 (Dec 2012): Kay Savetz, 10 PRINT, Polaroids, and Microzine

Posted on Dec 7, 2012Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:19:04 — 44.3MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Kay Savetz, Internet publisher and author of the memoir Terrible Nerd. We cross enemy lines to review a book about the cultural, scientific, and philosophical implications of Commodore 64 programming, some of it applicable to the Apple II. Paul Terrell’s Polaroid snapshots of the first Apple-1 computers are cool, just like our reception to Jordan Mechner’s new Karateka game. On eBay, we discover the Androbot is not just another neat product from a Nolan Bushnell company, but another reason we prefer the Apple II to other platforms. And Ken’s accidental purchase of some Microzines produces the concept for a new and very expensive podcast!

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 17:33)

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Open Apple #11 (Jan 2012): David Greelish, Steve Weyhrich, John Sculley, and Steve Jobs

Posted on Jan 11, 2012Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:58 — 50.1MB) | Embed

This month on the Open Apple podcast, Mike and Ken chat with David Greelish, co-host of the Retro Computing Roundtable podcast and recently published author of the book The Complete Historically Brewed. In the news is the Retrochallenge Winter Warm-up, which we each want to enter but just can’t find the time for. Larry Marcus has an office full of dead technology we both admire and question, and we offer a similar reaction to a questionable statue made in tribute to Steve Jobs, whereas Ron Wayne we admire and pity. An Apple-1 didn’t sell on eBay, but the Leather Goddesses of Infocom did, with Mike blogging about this and other Infocom games. But the highlight this month is David discussing with noted Apple II historian Steve Weyhrich the role of former CEO John Sculley at Apple Computer Inc. and in the fate of the Apple II — a topic about which David recently interviewed Sculley himself! We recommend you listen to that episode of the Classic Computing podcast first, though it’s not mandatory.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 10:01)

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Show #8 (Oct 2011): Kelvin Sherlock, Kickstarter, BASIC, and BCS

Posted on Oct 3, 2011Feb 8, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:36:34 — 49.1MB) | Embed

This month in Open Apple, Mike and Ken talk with Kelvin Sherlock, prolific Apple II programmer of GShisen, Silver Platter, ProFUSE, and more. Ken builds the suspense before revealing the identity of KansasFest 2012’s keynote speaker before we look at the latest Kickstarter fundraising projects that appeal to Apple II users. We ask ourselves, “Why are Apple II users different?” when sharing knowledge, products, and magazines. On eBay, we’re looking at soundtracks, CP/M cards, compression software, and defunct user group newsletters, before engaging in a smackdown of BASIC programming languages. Finally, we enjoy classic Apple II games on iOS and challenge Kelvin to explain why we can’t port Portal to the 6502.

Congratulations to Sal Bugliarisi, who named the game as Choplifter! He won a $20 credit to the Juiced.GS store, courtesy publisher Gamebits. Our next winner gets an autographed copy of Bob Bishop‘s Bomber on cassette.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

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Show #4 (May 2011): Steve Weyhrich, archiving history, humanism, and Outland

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:20:23 — 41.5MB) | Embed

This month in Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Apple II historian Steve Weyhrich about strategies and philosophies for scanning, preserving, and publishing the story of the Apple II. Hardware hacks for the Apple IIc and expansion cards making their KansasFest debut caught our attention this month, as did the American Humanist Association recognizing Steve Wozniak, who earned a musical tribute from Jonathan Mann. Watches, shirts, boxes, and Risk topped our eBay auctions, while games ran the gamut from text adventures to Xbox spiritual successors to IIGS classics, with a few decorative posters thrown in for good measure. In addition to Dr. Steve, former KansasFest logo designer Chris Lackey makes not one but TWO guest appearances this month!

Congratulations to Jeremy Rand, who correctly named the game as Out of this World! He wins a $25 discount off KansasFest 2011 registration or a free KansasFest shirt. Next month’s winner will earn a 20% or $50 discount off one ReactiveMicro.com order.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 23:21)

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