Stephen Buggie | Open Apple

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This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Earl Evans, Retrobits podcast host and Commodore 64 enthusiast — but we don’t hold that against him. Registration for KansasFest 2013 is open, and we all want to go, but Earl has another destination in mind. Tech history is being unearthed before our eyes, with schematics for operating systems and circuit boards appearing in museums (where the price is right) and art galleries (where it’s not). Brutal Deluxe is on a tear, releasing retroprogramming utilities for Windows and commercial games for the Apple II; we’re big fans! But not all news is happy news: the Steve Jobs film has been delayed, and LucasArts has closed its doors — will we ever get another Maniac Mansion game for the Apple II? Maybe not, but Richard Garriott’s successful Kickstarter gave fans a chance to pick up an original copy of Akalabeth. Better late than never!

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Introduction (0:00 – 9:20)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:46:42 — 55.2MB) | Embed

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.

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 11:40)

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