Category: Apple II

KansasFest Registrations Are Open

KansasFest, the annual gathering of Apple ][ enthusiasts, is now open for 2018 registration. Users, programmers, hobbyists, and retrocomputing enthusiasts are invited to Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, from Tuesday, July 17, through Sunday, July 22, for six days and five nights of sessions, demos, announcements, contests, and camaraderie. The keynote speaker this year will be Roger Wagner of…

ReactiveMicro announces immediate availability of Mass storage card for the Apple IIe and Apple IIgs!

  It was announced on the Apple II Enthusiasts Facebook group that ReactiveMicro has available its Drive/Turbo IDE Controller for only US$75. The ReActiveMicro Drive/Turbo IDE Controller is a Mass Storage Device that once installed in the Apple IIgs or Enhanced IIe acts like a solid-state Hard Drive using Compact Flash Cards. If you have a standard Apple IIe, the company also…

AppleCommander version 1.4.0 has been released

A new version of AppleCommander, a tool that manipulates Apple ][ disk images, has been released. The new version 1.4.0 brings the following changes: Updates: Migration from SourceForge to GitHub. This updates the boot code to point that out. AppleCommander would hang in an infinite loop if a directory wrapped in on itself. Fixed a filtering issue on Linux and…

Paleotronic Magazine is the magazine that we were all waiting for!

I love magazines that talk about retro computing and/or retro gaming, from Retro Gamer to Juiced.GS, from Reset 64 to CommodoreFree to mention only a few. Now, there is a new kid on the block – Paleotronic Magazine! The first issue takes a look at the history of the Consumer Electronics Show including interviews with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and…

Call A.P.P.L.E – Apple II User Group still strong after 40 years

We are living the golden era of retro computing, with all the activities happening around the World, including shows, new hardware and software, etc. There are, however, some examples of retro “something” that is in full activity nowadays but started when retro computers were brand new and survived all these years. Call A.P.P.L.E is one of the best examples of this…

PLASMA 1.0 – A new open source programming language for the Apple II, Apple ///

If you haven’t noticed yet, the retro computing scene is alive and more active than ever! What better proof of that than a brand new language that can only be used on 30+-year-old computers! After a few beta releases in the past couple months, PLASMA (Proto Language AsSeMbler for Apple) 1.0 is finally officially out. PLASMA is a medium level…

Yellowstone FPGA-based Apple II disk controller clones the LIRON card

Hot on the heals of the CFFA3000 resuming production, Big Mess O’ Wires has posted an article unveiling the “Yellowstone” disk controller. The Yellowstone is an FPGA-based disk controller for the Apple II, capable of emulating vintage controllers that have become difficult and/or expensive to obtain. In particular, Yellowstone was designed to clone the “LIRON” controller, also known as the…

CFFA3000 run #5 in production

R&D Automation LLC has announced that a fifth run of the legendary CFFA3000 mass storage adapter for Apple II systems is now underway. Approximately 1000 units will be assembled, with pre-orders expected to open some time in mid-to-late February. The CFFA3000 is Compact-Flash or USB-based mass storage adapter for Apple ][+, Apple //e, and Apple //gs systems which provides floppy…

BASIC 10Liners Contest 2018 Edition is on!

The BASIC 10Liners contest is, for me, one of the highlights of the retro scene and I am happy to announce that the 7th edition of the competition is already online, accepting new entries. This year, the organizers have changed a few rules after receiving some feedback from the previous edition. The most important change is that for the PUR-80…

ProDOS 2.4.2 – Apple II Disk Operating System gets new update

Apple II computer enthusiasts are fortunate to have a very active community and to reinforce that, John Brooks has announced via Call A.P.P.L.E (adding these dots is so laborious!) that a new release of ProDOS is available for download. This is a minor release bringing fixes for the major 2.4 version, released months ago. Release Notes: Bugs fixed: If a directory…