A2 News and Notes 
June, 2005

 INDEX 
* Online Apple II
* Lights! Camera! Wozniak!
* Up to a Challenge?
* NIBBLE-ing at the Past
* Hardware News
* Software News
* SignOff 


-- Online Apple II

  - Until now, the only way to get an Apple II on to the Internet was 
either with a Unix shell account, or by using an Apple IIGS.  Now 8-bit 
machines can be hooked up to surf the web using the new Apple II version 
of Contiki v1.2 by Oliver Schmidt .  This version for the Apple II 
includes a send-only email program, a web browser, both IRC and telnet 
client programs, a download-only FTP utility, and will handle DHCP 
connections.  Reports have come in that Contiki will work with 8-bit 
machines as far back as the ][+.  More information can be found at: 
http://www.a2retrosystems.com/downloads.htm

  - The newest Ethernet card for the Apple II has been sold out, and a 
want to buy list for the 2nd run has begun.  For more information on this 
card and to put your name on the waiting list, contact Glenn Jones at:  
http://a2retrosystems.com/



-- Steve Wozniak, inventor of the Apple II and the Computer Revolution as 
we know it, has co-produced and had a small role in a Stephen King movie 
short.  Called "Stephen King's Gotham Cafe", the production is a 
non-commercial film designed to only be exhibited at film festivals around 
the world, such as the current showings at the deadCENTER Film Festival in 
Oklahoma City, the Northeastern Writer's Conference in Rhode Island and 
the 19th Annual Fantasy Film Fest in Germany.  An interesting sidenote is 
that the artist who did the movie's poster, Steve Wedemeyer, was the 
artist who did several of the cover-art pieces for Polarware Software, who 
in the 80s published Apple II titles such as The Crimson Crown and 
Transylvania.  (The movie poster was drawn using a Macintosh, too!)  You 
can read Woz's interview for Gotham Cafe at: 
http://www.bevvincent.com/gotham/woz.html


-- Those people who like to program for the Apple II will want to check 
out Byron Desnoyers' RetroChallenge.  The aim of the challenge is to help 
inspire people to write and share programs, be they games, graphics or 
utilities for the retrocomputing world.  More information can be found at:  
http://desnoyers.org/retrochallenge.


-- Mike Harvey, the founder of Nibble magazine, finished scanning 9-years' 
worth of Nibble magazines and has them available for purchase from his web 
site, and is in the process of scanning the remaining four years of print. 
A history of Nibble is posted on the site, and Mr. Harvey also has 
electronic versions of 12 popular Apple II programming books available for 
purchase.  More information can be found at: http://www.nibblemagazine.com

Mr. Harvey also released into freeware all of the Nibble library disks 
several years ago, but these disks have been difficult to track down, 
since at the time of release he did not have any archived copies.  If you 
have any of the Nibble disks , please contact the A2 News and Notes 
Editor.



-- Hardware News

  - Bill Garber has announced that he is taking orders for his next run of 
4-meg RAM cards for the IIGS, and has announced a new, lower price. 
Information and ordering instructions can be found at: 
http://garberstreet.netfirms.com/RAM-4-GS.html

  - Into every life an IBM-style computer must happen, but now you can 
enjoy making it work for an Apple II!  The Semi-Virtual Disk, (SVD) is a a 
hardware interface that allows the user to copy a disk image using a 
serial port on a PC, then use the SVD as if it were a floppy disk drive on 
your computer. This multi-platform device is now in final testing mode for 
the Apple II - at present the user can read from, but not write to the 
SVD, More information, including use and ordering information can be found 
at:  http://www.rothfus.com/SVD/

  - Modern electronics are useful for emulating older technology and a 
good case in point is the FPGApple.  Alex Freed has created an Apple II 
clone using an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chip.  The FPGA 
features such modern computer amenities like  USB 2.0 and Compact Flash 
interfaces. It boots into ProDOS and DOS 3.3 allowing the user to play 
older Apple II games.  More information on the FPGA can be found at:  
http://www.mirrow.com/FPGApple/



--Software News:

 - Syndicomm announced that it reached an agreement with the copyright 
holders to allow Syndicomm the distribution rights to Softdisk, Softdisk 
G-S, and UpTime magazines on disk for a three years.  The current 
agreement was due to expire next month.  Ordering information for these 
disks and packages can be found at: 
http://store.syndicomm.com/index.php?cPath=2

  - A new CDA from Kelvin Sherlock allows IIGS users to capture Apple IIgs 
screenshots and save them in the computer-industry-standard Portable 
Network Graphics (PNG) format.  PNGs can be then be accessed people using 
other computer platforms.  Called PNG Floyd, this CDA can be downloaded 
at:  http://www.syndicomm.com/~kws/iigs/bxy/pngfloyd.bxy


  - Andy McFadden has updated CiderPress to v2.2.0. This release adds 
support for FDI "raw" disk images. More information on this shareware 
program can be found at:  http://www.faddensoft.com/


Game Players will be interested in:

  - Jeff Fink has released version 8.3 of his role-playing game,  The new 
version fixes a few bugs and includes new features for ease of use.  The 
program runs under ProDOS, so can be enjoyed by 8-bit computer users.  
More information can be found at:  
http://www.a2central.com/filemgmt/index.php


  - Eamon players will want to check out Bruce Haylock's newest offering, 
"The Pixy Oak."  The game can be downloaded from the Eamon site at:  
http://www/eamonag.org/lists/list-download.htm



-- Emulation News:

  - Gerard Putter has released Virtual ][ 4.0, the latest version of his 
8-bit Apple II emulator which runs under Mac OS X. The new version adds 
Mockingboard sound card emulation.  More information can be found at:  
http://www.xs4all.nl/~gp/VirtualII/




* Sign Off 
A2 News and Notes is produced with real or emulated Apple II computers 
using AppleWorks 5.1. Apple II Forever! 

A2 News and Notes is (c) copyright 2005 by Ryan M. Suenaga, M.S.W. and 
edited by Howard Katz. All rights reserved.

Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not 
necessarily represent the opinions of the copyright holder and publisher. 
The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or suitability of any 
information included herein. We reserve the right to edit all letters and 
copy.

Material published in this edition may be reprinted free of charge 
anywhere provided this copyright notice is included.

