WOzFest | Open Apple

Open Apple #77 (March 2018) – Kay Savetz & Carrington Vanston, Eaten By A Grue

Posted on Jul 17, 2018Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:47:31 — 86.0MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston of the Eaten By A Grue podcast. Eaten By A Grue is a game-by-game style of podcast where the intrepid hosts are playing every Infocom game. They both play the game, then discuss it in detail, with and without spoilers. They discuss the amount of cheating required, how mapping was done, the quality of writing and puzzles, and so on. The show has a very nice structure wherein they discuss the show with no spoilers to the halfway point, so that you can stop and go play it yourself if you are so inclined. If not, you can keep listening and hear gory details of all the puzzles.

Kevin talks about getting beasts into bed, and other reasons not to play these games on real hardware. Meanwhile Carrington gets his feelies on and brags about how he has so many original copies of Infocom games that he sits on them for fun.

Meanwhile Mike and Quinn debate dubious silicon valley histories, wedge computers, and competing with other 8-bits in BASIC. Tune in to hear us malign our guests, misremember important names, and get super pedantic about connector nomenclature for no conceivable reason. You won’t want to miss a moment of the drama.

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

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Open Apple #74 (September 2017) – Mark Lemmert, Nox Archaist Kickstarter, Fake Quinn, and Softalk #5

Posted on Sep 19, 2017Feb 8, 2022 by Mike Maginnis

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:36:46 — 121.0MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, the part of Quinn Dunki is played by RCR Podcast co-host Carrington “Fake Quinn” Vanston. A post-KansasFest Mark Lemmert of 6502 Workshop returns to the show to promote the new Nox Archaist Kickstarter. You should contribute because it’s awesome to support those still developing for the Apple II and not just because you get cool stuff when you do (though that’s a thing that happens too!).

There’s lots of news to cover and Carrington has opinions on all of it. Only on Open Apple can you hear him trash clones, accelerators, ProDOS, retro BBSes, and a random assortment of other topics! Fun for the whole family! We also chat about Apple II music and there’s general confusion about Australian Apple II conferences (when is there not on Open Apple?)

eBay isn’t talked about (because we don’t talk about eBay) and we deconstruct Softalk #5.

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Open Apple #72 (June 2017) – Peter Neubauer, KansasFest, Last Jedi

Posted on Jul 16, 2017Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:27:08 — 69.7MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with KansasFest committee member and lifelong Apple II user Peter Neubauer. We talk lots about the upcoming KansasFest, of course, but also Peter’s own experiences with the machine. He has a passion for Logo, and a special place in his heart reserved for the Apple IIc Plus. I think many of us can relate to that.

We talk KansasFest, KansasFest, and more KansasFest. Then we talk about KansasFest, followed conversation about a fruit-based retrocomputing conference that takes place in Missouri every July.

We have plenty of regular news to catch up on as well, so stay tuned for updates from 6502 Workshop, NinjaForce, and more. We have graphics talk, Bluetooth talk, and exciting new accelerators from the mad Bulgarian.

It’s already too late to register for KansasFest, but if you’re going to be there, make sure to say hi! We love to meet our listeners.

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

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Open Apple #71 (May 2017) – Michael Packard, Alien Downpour, Kermit (The Frog)

Posted on May 30, 2017Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:40:11 — 78.2MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Michael Packard, author of the upcoming new game Alien Downpour. Michael has gone back to teach himself assembly language and make the kinds of games he wished he had made back in the day. The results are indeed impressive, and his first foray into solo Apple II game production is shaping up great. He’s also been very encouraging to the community, having set up the Facebook group Apple Graphics and Arcade Game Design Enthusiasts, dedicated to the book by the same name. This group is a place for Michael to share his progress on his games, as well as for other people to jump in with their own projects.

As of this recording, you can still pre-order Alien Downpour over at Michael’s site. Remarkably, you can order it on floppy or cassette! It comes with a retro-style baggie and insert as well. Michael is writing a book on his experiences (re)learning all this, so keep an eye out for that as well. He’ll also be at KansasFest this year with a presentation on Alien Downpour. Register now so you can see that! You won’t want to miss Michael’s perfect re-impersonation of the Egghead Discount Software answering message.

Meanwhile, Mike and Quinn get stuff wrong on a great many topics, but have fun doing it. If you want to try using a IIgs as your daily driver, launch cows with extreme prejudice, or run GEOS on a weird piece of hardware, you’ve come to the right podcast.

Register for KansasFest while you still can!

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

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Open Apple #70 (April 2017) – 6502 Workshop, 1st-Person Lo-Res, Softalk #4

Posted on Apr 18, 2017Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:44:08 — 80.7MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Mark Lemmert, co-founder of 6502 Workshop. Him and his partners (Mike Reimer, Bill Giggie, Robert Padovan, Gordon Mackay, and Galactagog) have been building Nox Archaist, a brand new story-driven tile-based role-playing game in the classical Ultima style. They’re pushing the hardware as far as they can with this new engine, working to break new ground in scope, story, animation, sound, and music. Early builds look great, and we’re really excited to see more!

Mark’s journey with the Apple II parallels a lot of us. The machine sparked an interest in programming, and a fascination with RPGs and tile engines in particular. Nox Archaist is the fulfillment of that childhood dream to build such a game from scratch. Mark shares his war stories (that many of us can relate to) of strewing our childhood computers with half-baked game engines that were doomed from the start. As he and his team are proving, it’s never too late to revive and achieve that dream.

KansasFest 2017 registration is now open! Early bird rates in effect as of this posting, so don’t wait. Attendance is limited to 100 this year. Sign up now! Mark will be there and likely demonstrating Nox Archaist, so you won’t want to miss that.

Meanwhile, Mike and Quinn yammer on about new hardware, new old games, old new games, and of course Woz. Also back this month is the controversial Softalk segment. Read along with us in issue #4!

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

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Open Apple #68 (February 2017) : Emulator Updates, EDD, Softalk #3

Posted on Mar 4, 2017Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:53:33 — 82.5MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Quinn sit down with each other and catch up on all the news they’ve been neglecting lately.

Mike and Quinn discuss the disappointing 8BitDo controller, get excited about remanufactured printer ribbons, and pretend to know anything about EDD.

Follow along as we review Softalk volume 1, number 3. The ads are always the best part! Meanwhile, we manage to sneak in one more Kay Savetz reference, and a Boo Atari in the same breath. That’s the Open Apple Way™.

You won’t want to miss this month’s Apology to Call A.P.P.L.E segment. We’re going to need a bumper for that (and the Australians) soon. Despite all this terribleness, please give us money. Because costs.

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

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Open Apple #66 (December 2016) : Glenda “The Atom” Adams

Posted on Dec 28, 2016Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:41:15 — 72.2MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Glenda Adams, better known on the Apple II as The Atom. She was a cracker of some note back in the 1980s, and she shares great stories with us of her exploits in boot tracing, cracking, and distributing software in the glory days of the Apple II BBS scene.

We talk about the journey from programming to cracking, and back to programming again. We talk about the politics of the Apple II scene, and the unique experience of cracking software remotely. Think fixing your grandparents’ printer over the phone is hard? Trying cracking a game!

Can you deduce the release date of Fontrix by time-lining Apple II crack screens? We leave that as an exercise to the listener. Meanwhile, Glenda shares stories of porting Space Rogue, parties at Lord British’s house, and the old-school feel of early iOS development.

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

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Open Apple #63 (September 2016) : Kate Szkotnicki, ProDOS 2.4, KansasFest

Posted on Sep 25, 2016Feb 8, 2022 by Quinn Dunki

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:40:31 — 73.8MB) | Embed

This month on Open Apple, we sit down with Kate Szkotnicki, long time Apple II fan and new addition to the retro community. We chat about her first impressions as a newcomer to the community, and the big splash she made at her first KansasFest. Kate is a cosplayer and frequent attendee of anime and comic cons, so she brought a very fresh set of skills and perspectives to KansasFest. Her presentation on making plastic parts (and candy!) with silicone moulding was very popular. Throw away your 3D printers- this is easier and better.

We also talk lots about John Brooks’ excellent work on updating ProDOS, Quinn says a bunch of stuff about Commodore that probably isn’t true, and Mike falls on his sword for getting everything wrong about Australian Apple II gatherings. Mike gets a record number of Apple /// references into this episode, so be sure to tune in and ignore that.

Breaking news! Between us recording and releasing this show, John Brooks has updated ProDOS to 2.4.1. Also, we worked out that the MegaBeep ROM is in fact compatible with it, contrary to the opening of the show. Listener James reported an issue that we believe was actually a bad ROM. If you are a MegaBeep owner, don’t hesitate to use it with any version of ProDOS, including John Brooks’ excellent new 2.4 updates.

Thanks to Brian Wiser of Call A.P.P.L.E. for permission to use the interview clip with Mike Harvey and John Leake.

Happy 30th birthday, Apple IIgs!

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