As August 2017 draws to a close, here is an episode we recorded in May with a lead-in we recorded earlier in August. It’s been a busy summer. Topics include: Martin Haye’s Satan Mode disk, Reactive Micro’s universal power supply, Paul Rickards’ WiFi232, Big Mess o’ Wires’ Floppy Emu, John Morris’ Applesauce, Great Plains Hardisk Accounting. Here are some of the links that relate to the stuff we talked about. Cult of Mac article: Today in History, Apple Introduces the Doomed Apple ///. Martin Hay...
Aug 31, 2017•1 hr 10 min
We’re back, with an episode that was three months in the making. Mike and Paul talk (in November 2016) about the state of things in our Apple /// worlds, and then speak at some length with Don Burtis (in December 2016), who designed (among many other things) the Microsoft SoftCard III. Don Burtis, who is probably most prominently associated, in the eyes of the Apple II and III enthusiasts, as the designer of the Microsoft SoftCard, a Z80 coprocessor card that enabled the Apple II series computer...
Jan 22, 2017•1 hr 42 min
In this episode, Mike and Paul chat about various things that were newsworthy when the recording was made. Replacement power supplies, insights from the last Apple /// product manager, Apple ///-themed iPhone cases, drivers, Record Processing Services, and more. For those following along in real time, this episode was recorded a long time after the one that preceded it, but even longer before it was actually released. There were some technical issues with the recording that required a fairly lab...
Aug 09, 2016•1 hr 7 min
In this episode, we interview Taylor Pohlman, who joined Apple in 1979 and became the Apple /// Product Marketing Manager in 1981, managing the “Reintroduction” of the Apple ///. He is also well known for the series of columns in Softalk magazine (“The Third BASIC”) introducing concepts in Business BASIC programming. Later, he left Apple to found Forethought (the company responsible for FileMaker and PowerPoint), co-founded Regent Systems, managed the development of GS-BASIC for the Apple IIGS, ...
Mar 07, 2016•1 hr 37 min
Mike came across a reference to “The greatest baseball game never played”, a well-hyped simulated baseball game broadcast in July 1982, pitting National League and American League stars of diverse eras against each other in an ultimate fictitious game—simulated using a custom-written program on an Apple ///. The game was later pressed as an LP, and contains not only the game but a description of the mechanics and technology as well. Other various topics of interest are touched on as well. Chris ...
Mar 02, 2016•2 hr
We begin 2016 discussing the “Driv3rs” python script with its author, Mike Whalen, some miscellaneous topics, and a phone interview with Daniel Kottke, from some years ago. Mike Whalen’s Driv3rs script will take an SOS.DRIVER file and extract information about all of the drivers contained within, and we talk about using the script, finding drivers, the format of drivers within the SOS.DRIVER file, and other related things. Other miscellaneous topics include recapping power supplies, Apple /// pr...
Jan 09, 2016•1 hr 56 min
This month, Paul’s Apple /// has trouble connecting with the world outside, so he speculates on possibilities for WiFi connectivity, and Mike’s Apple /// has trouble connecting with any worlds at all. So, we turn our attention to literature, including the full Apple /// patent, a survey of Apple II users, an early interview with Trip Hawkins, and books on the Apple ///. Paul’s gotten himself a Cursor /// and some late-era PFS software, and unexpectedly managed to get a CMC Quick-20 drive working...
Oct 31, 2015•1 hr 42 min
On this episode, we talk with Martin Haye about his experience writing an assembler/disassembler for the Apple /// as his HackFest entry at KansasFest 2015. Martin is an experienced Apple II programmer, who decided to spend KansasFest familiarizing himself with the Apple ///. After initial forays into SOS didn’t go well, and realizing that in order to write assembly language programs on the Apple /// it would be useful to have a system monitor more like the one familiar from the Apple II, and a ...
Sep 08, 2015•1 hr 21 min
We’re back for Episode 11. This time, we talk about really very small advances in booting a /// from a flash drive, the Cursor /// joystick and the history of The Keyboard Company, and a visit to the Stanford archives of Apple materials to get the real scoop on EMI/RFI emissions and the timeline of the /// plus. After that, another talk from the 1987 Phase III conference, this one by Dr. Melvin Astrahan, author of Draw On /// and the Mr. Sandman game, talking about the graphical abilities of the...
Jun 27, 2015•1 hr 34 min
In this episode, Paul and Mike talk about the wooden Apple /// sculpture featured on the cover of Apple Magazine v2n2 and an email interview with Tom Eckert, the artist who created it. Other topics include the issues and ultimate success in booting an Apple /// with only an SD-card drive emulator, the feasibility of using alternative CP/M cards, the new firmware for the Floppy Emu to do UniDisk 3.5 emulation, and some preliminary discussion of the variants of the Cursor /// joystick. Interview w...
Apr 10, 2015•53 min
Back from a long hiatus, Mike and Paul discuss the newly-available cornucopia of games for the Apple ///, and then introduce the next bit of audio from the 1987 Phase III conference. The conference presentation was a panel discussion of the future of Apple III hardware and SOS, with Bob Consorti of On Three and Rob Turner of Apple (but formerly of On Three) as the panelists. Discussion topics include the meaning of “obsolete,” the feasibility of a SCSI card, the problems with creating a slot exp...
Feb 24, 2015•2 hr 2 min
In this episode, we talk with Bob Consorti, who was president of On Three. Among the notable achievements of On Three were the long-running On Three magazine, Desktop Manager, BOS (Bob’s Operating System), a 512K RAM expansion card, device drivers, and many other things. Topics include the founding of On Three, the development of the 512K card, On Three’s internal development environment, emulation, and much more! On Three magazine scans On Three 512K Memory Board UniDisk ///.5 Driver BOS (disk ...
Dec 15, 2014•1 hr 9 min
This episode consists of a telephone interview with Colette Askeland, the board layout designer who did all of the layout work on the Apple /// motherboard. We learn about the incredible challenges and accomplishments that went into creating this layout, and about the process, the community, and the environment at Apple at the time. Lots of things have been said about the Apple /// board, but mostly those things have been the same couple of critiques repeated over and over again. This interview ...
Oct 27, 2014•48 min
The Phase III conference was organized by the Third Apple User Group in Chicago, held October 2-4, 1987. Dave Ottalini located and digitized his audio recordings of some of the sessions at that conference, and provided them to us. We have been cleaning them up as best we can, and will release them here on the podcast feed. Don Williams had a long history at Apple, which he describes a bit in this talk. He is the author of Desktop/Plan, later sold on to VisiCorp, and was the founder of the APDA (...
Oct 02, 2014•40 min
In this episode, Mike and Paul had the opportunity to speak with Dave Ottalini, co-founder of the Apple /// Special Interest Group of the Washington Apple Pi user group. The entire episode is devoted to this conversation. And stay to the very end for an extremely interesting announcement! A couple of related links: Washington Apple Pi Apple /// resource page @neko_no_ko’s photo of the actual WAP disks Apple III Facebook group Paul’s photo of the /// carrying case (next to the one for the II) Mac...
Sep 25, 2014•1 hr 1 min
This month, Paul performs Pascal programming and plays games, while Mike mines the WAP DVD and finds hidden treasure. We discuss the latest MESS emulator developments as they apply to the Apple /// core, music and sound, driver and much more. Join us, won’t you? YouTube: Apple: The Most Personal Computer (1982) Resource Guide for Apple /// and Apple /// Plus Hardware and Software Will Someone Please Tell Me What an Apple /// Can Do? A Guide to Apple /// Software 68kmla.org: Captain Magneto discu...
Sep 16, 2014•52 min
In this episode, we talk about some introductory and demo materials, consider some Apple /// “dream systems” and talk with Egan Ford about the work he has done preparing the Apple /// “Ready-to-Run” quick start package for the MESS apple3 emulator. System Utilities… an Introduction manual System Utilities sample files (disk) Apple /// Getting Organized (System Utility Simulation) (disks) Apple /// Getting Organized (System Utility Simulation) (video) Using the Apple /// System Utilities (On Thre...
Aug 23, 2014•1 hr 4 min
In this episode, we walk through getting the MESS emulator started with the assistance of Egan Ford’s Apple /// RTR, discuss the System Configuration Program, and the Apple /// Dimensions newsletter. Apple /// Ready-to-Run SDL version 1.2 (for MESS, Mac OS X) MESS executables (for Windows) BOS user’s guide (at apple3.org ) On Three magazine “Bob’s Lines” in Three Shorts—Fini! (On Three, v1n2) “Bob’s Lines” also on On Three Disk of the Month #1, for the lazy. Osborne-McGraw Hill Guide To Your App...
Jun 23, 2014•52 min
Welcome to the show notes from the premiere episode of what is undoubtedly the premiere Apple /// podcast on the internet today. Your hosts: Mike Maginnis 6502lane.net apple2scans.net The Open Apple podcast The No Quarter podcast @6502lane Paul Hagstrom yesterbits.com Retro Computing Roundtable podcast @yesterbits Links along the way: Watch Steve Jobs’ First Demonstration of the Mac for the Public (and answer questions from the audience about the Apple /// afterwards, including sound clip heard ...
May 18, 2014•53 min
