This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with Bill Martens of Call-A.P.P.L.E. Preserving our community’s software and documentation is important not just to the users, but to the people doing the preserving; Bill explains why. We look at how the media can never get enough of Steve Jobs, examining his early career and denoting his boyhood home as a historical landmark — but Woz gets his time in the spotlight too, on panels about Atari, the Jobs movie, or a Homebrew Computer Club reunion. High...
Nov 02, 2013•1 hr 59 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with Brendan Robert of the Java Apple Computer Emulator (JACE) and Apple Game Server. Innovative cross-platform tools are being used to bring Lawless Legends, an original 8-bit RPG, to the Apple II and Commodore 64; as part of the programming team, Brendan takes us behind the scenes. He lives in a lawless land himself — the Old West of Texas, where gaming icons Ion Storm, Zynga, Lord British, and Rooster Teeth reside. But when it comes to games, somet...
Oct 11, 2013•1 hr 31 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with Charles Mangin, the mad scientist who puts Mac Minis inside Apple II cases and inventor of the RetroConnector. It’s our first show since KansasFest, and we share our highlights and favorite products and announcements from the show. The Steve Jobs film is now out, and Ashton Kutcher and Steve Wozniak have words while critics publish their own mixed reviews. However, we have nothing but praise for Walter Isaacson’s biography, and Steve Wozniak gets...
Sep 02, 2013•1 hr 50 min
While attending KansasFest 2013, Steve Wozniak — inventor of the Apple-1 and Apple II and co-founder of Apple Computer Inc. — takes a moment to speak with the Open Apple podcast about Steve Jobs, Randy Wigginton, and the Apple II. Be sure to listen to the story of how we got Woz to KansasFest , and watch the video of this interview, too ! The post Speaking with Steve Wozniak at KansasFest 2013 first appeared on Open Apple ....
Aug 02, 2013•22 min
Mike Maginnis and Ken Gagne, the hosts of Open Apple , join forces with Carrington Vanston of 1 MHz and Kay Savetz of ANTIC , for one massive retro computing roundtable at KansasFest 2013. We chat about the convention’s two surprise guests — Steve Wozniak and a working Apple-1 — and how both came to be there, as well as our favorite sessions and games of the week, including Michael Sternberg’s tournament of Martin Haye’s Structris . It wasn’t long before Mike and Ken ditched the two other guys f...
Aug 02, 2013•48 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with Mike Willegal, Apple-1 and Apple II reproduction expert extraordinaire. His topic is hot this month: five Apple-1 computers were simultaneously on display at the History San Jose museum; one is being auctioned online; Willegal was interviewed for a Kickstarter-funded book about the Apple-1; and his clones are appearing in a feature-length film about Steve Jobs — what a guy! He even went to Vintage Computer Festival Southeast this spring, though h...
Jul 04, 2013•1 hr 45 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with Lon Seidman, sysop of the Matrix Returns BBS and co-host of Behind the Video . The dial-up bulletin board is making a comeback, thanks to Warp Six and the Raspberry Pi! It’s so easy, anyone can do it — unlike buying an Apple-1, the going rate for which has skyrocketed to $668,000 USD. But even that is a pittance compared to what Steve Wozniak’s former house is selling for. How long before he sells his current house and moves to Australia? Jordan ...
Jun 05, 2013•1 hr 39 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with famed demo programmer Daniel Kruszyna, aka krüe. We chat about @party, the upcoming fourth annual demoparty to be held in recently beleaguered Boston, and how even non-programmers will find plenty to like. The first of three movies based on the life of Steve Jobs is now available for free online streaming — what’s the popular verdict on iSteve ? There’s still more CFFAs coming from Rich Dreher, and they’ll work on even an original Apple-1, of whi...
May 08, 2013•1 hr 28 min
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 retroprogrammi...
Apr 15, 2013•1 hr 33 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with Egan Ford, aka the datajerk, the Apple-1 and II programmer extraordinaire responsible for the Apple II Game Server Online! Egan expertly demonstrates which CPU is faster, the 6502 or 8088, running circles around everyone listening. Laurie Spiegel is an Apple II user you may not have heard of, but extraterrestrials have, thanks to her contributions to Voyager’s Golden Record; we have some of her music for you to listen to. Courtesy Facebook and sc...
Mar 12, 2013•1 hr 41 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with Jimmy Maher, the historian behind the renowned blog The Digital Antiquarian. A published author, Jimmy provides us with his perspective on the pros and cons of going with a publishing house over the recent trend in retrocomputing toward self-publishing. We gripe about the Steve Jobs film sacrificing historical accuracy for mass appeal and recommend some alternative movies that get it right. We’re still loving iOS as a platform for classic gaming ...
Feb 08, 2013•1 hr 42 min
Having gathered the treasures of 2012 and being tempted by the promises of 2013, the hosts of Open Apple are joined by Andy Molloy of Juiced.GS , Peter Neubauer of KansasFest, Vince Briel of Briel Computers, and Antoine Vignau of Brutal Deluxe to reflect on all that has happened with the Apple II and its community in the past year. We pick our favorite products, share memorable events, and make predictions for 2013. Topics include Apple-1 auctions, Kickstarter-funded sequels, progress in emulati...
Jan 02, 2013•1 hr 46 min
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...
Dec 07, 2012•1 hr 19 min
This month on Open Apple , Ken takes the month off as Mike chats with Apple IIGS programmer Geoff Weiss, who does double-duty as both guest and co-host. Geoff discusses his work on the Spectrum Internet Suite and debuts some new Classic Desk Accessories for the IIGS, based on his KansasFest 2012 presentation. Mike and Geoff go over some recent Apple II news, such as Brutal Deluxe’s latest software offering, a missing time capsule, a visit to the Russian Apple Museum in Moscow, and Woz’s Ask Me A...
Nov 12, 2012•51 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with Ewen Wannop, British programmer of 16-bit telecommunications programs such as Spectrum, SAM, SNAP, and SAFE. The hosts share feedback galore from the last episode and contemplate how to record a live show. After catching up on some headlines from last month, we plow forward, celebrating the return of an interactive fiction publication and grumbling that even beginner IF can be as obscure as the medium is infamous for. The September 2012 issue of ...
Oct 11, 2012•1 hr 38 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with David Schmidt, the programmer responsible for ADTPro. Beyond his own program, David has also contributed to the development of Davex, GSport, AppleCommander, CiderPress, OpenEmulator, DiscFerret, CFFA3000 — and much, much more. Collectively, the show’s hosts marvel at the deluge of Apple II games that are being ported to iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system … though we question the direction Jordan Mechner is taking the classic Karateka. Apple-1 ...
Sep 03, 2012•1 hr 42 min
This month on Open Apple , Ken Gagne speaks with Wayne Arthurton, who recently attended his first KansasFest since 2004, and Paul Hagstrom and Jeremy Rand, both first-time attendees at the world’s premier annual Apple II convention. In this panel-format discussion, the four veterans discuss their personal highlights from the show, what motivated them to attend, and their favorite sessions, HackFest challenges, keynote speaker memories, vendor fair purchases, and more. Links mentioned in this epi...
Aug 14, 2012•1 hr 27 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken speak with Rich Dreher, developer of the CompactFlash For Apple (CFFA) card. The first batch of CFFA3000 cards sold out in 2011, and the second batch is now shipping with similar sales numbers. Rich takes us behind the scenes of the product’s success before dishing on other II hardware developers Vince Briel and Mike Willegal. We look at the astronomical numbers rare Apple-1 computers are fetching on eBay and at Sotheby’s and celebrate HyperCard turning 25...
Jul 08, 2012•2 hr 18 min
Introduction (0:00 – 15:29) Apple II Bits A2Central.com 6502 Lane: Beagle Bros clean-up Creative Commons KansasFest Ken’s photos of ROFLCon III Old Spice Guy’s Manta Claus Know Your Meme: 10-hour videos Waltham Steampunk Festival Felicia Day of The Guild does a steampunk photoshoot “ Steve Jobs’ death could clear way for more open Apple “ Jeri Ellsworth WordPress turns 9 WordCamp NYC 2012 Windows Live Writer & MarsEdit WebWorks GS Ivan Drucker’s IvanExpert User Login (15:30 – 29:46) Martin H...
Jun 04, 2012•1 hr 34 min
This month on Open Apple , Mike and Ken chat with David Finnigan, proprietor of the Mac GUI Web site and author of the upcoming book, The New Apple II User’s Guide . Our eyes are caught by another new book release, The Best of Creative Computing: Volume 3 , as well as the upcoming biopic based on Steve Jobs, in which actors have been cast to play Apple’s two co-founders. Prince of Persia is still big news, with the source code for Jordan Mechner’s classic Apple II game having been salvaged, rele...
May 07, 2012•1 hr 33 min
Join us as Open Apple celebrates the 20th anniversary of the founding of premier Apple II programming group, Brutal Deluxe , developers of such famous games as LemminGS , The Tinies , Cogito , and Blockade ; utilities including Fishhead , T40 , and Convert 3200 ; and projects such as the Apple Cassette Archive . In this special podcast episode, Ken interviews Brutal Deluxe members Antoine Vignau and Olivier Zardini on the group’s history, what the Apple II and BBS scenes were like in France in t...
Apr 30, 2012•1 hr 14 min
This month on the Open Apple podcast, our hosts chat with world video game record holder and Apple II game critic Brian Picchi, whose YouTube channel showcases the best and worst of Apple II entertainment. It’s a good time to be a convention-goer: registration has opened for KansasFest 2012, the lineup for Vintage Computer Festival East 8.0 has been announced, 8 Bit Weapon played at the Smithsonian’s opening of the Art of Video Games, and Jordan Mechner is keynoting PAX East. Kickstarter continu...
Apr 05, 2012•1 hr 28 min
This month on the Open Apple podcast, Mike and Ken chat with Andrew Roughan, Australian Apple II user and curator of the Marinetti Open Source Project. From Jordan Mechner at PAX East 2012 to John Romero at KansasFest 2012 to Nolan Bushnell at GameFest, we’re all about attending conventions and chasing luminaries. We squabble over how to pronounce “Karateka”, look forward to new Monkey Island and Wasteland games, and eagerly consume iBooks for Apple II users on our iPads. On eBay, we get a previ...
Mar 07, 2012•1 hr 27 min
This month on the Open Apple podcast, Mike and Ken chat with Michael J Mahon, software and hardware developer extraordinaire and creative genius behind both recent DMS Drummer software and the ever-popular AppleCrate parallel processing computer. We talk about 8 Bit Weapon, the chiptune music scene, and the importance of commenting and documenting one’s code, whether it be commercial or open source. Michael’s not much of a gamer, but Ken and Mike are enjoying new versions of classic games, inclu...
Feb 06, 2012•1 hr 58 min
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 Wayn...
Jan 11, 2012•1 hr 39 min
As 2011 fades into memory and 2012 shines bright, the hosts of Open Apple are joined by Tony Diaz of Syndicomm , Sean Fahey of A2Central.com , Andy Molloy of Juiced.GS , and Eric Shepherd of Sheppyware to reflect on all that has happened with the Apple II and its community in the past year. Topics include favorite hardware and software releases, community connectivity, the loss of Steve Jobs, KansasFest 2012, and more. This show reunites the guests of A2Unplugged ‘s annual review and is held in ...
Dec 31, 2011•1 hr 44 min
This month on the Open Apple podcast, Mike and Ken are joined by Rob Kenyon, a two-time KansasFest attendee as well as a professional programmer and 30-year veteran of the Apple II. We talk about how great it is to be a part of the international community of Apple II users, even if none of us can afford to buy Apple’s founding contract in a Sotheby’s auction. Rob asks, did Steve Jobs purposely kill HyperCard to turn the Mac into a more closed environment? We congratulate Wade Clarke and Andrew S...
Dec 06, 2011•1 hr 25 min
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 Co...
Nov 14, 2011•1 hr 47 min
Apple co-founder, chairman, and former CEO Steve Jobs has passed away. In this special episode, Mike and Ken remember an industry leader, visionary, and rascal. Links mentioned in this episode: Bill Corbett responds to Steve Jobs’ death Woz responds President Obama responds Star Trek thanks Steve Google responds Barnes & Noble responds Bill Budge responds Dan Bricklin responds Snoop Dogg responds Unaired “Think Different” ad Cult of Mac video tribute Clarence Gagné Gary Utter tribute John Ro...
Oct 07, 2011•17 min
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 softwar...
Oct 03, 2011•1 hr 37 min
