A2 News and Notes May, 2006

INDEX
* Old Hardware Made New, Redux
* Hardware-emulated Apple II
* Apple II Internet 
* CFFA News
* Moving In Reverse
* Making Music
* VGA Support
* KFest 
* Software News 
* Emulation News
* SignOff 


-- GSE-Reactive continues to announce releases of several new items in 
their catalog of products to help Apple II users keep their machines 
productive, longer:

 - If you need to replace the 65816 CPU in your IIGS, or have an 
accelerator card that needs a replacement, check out the selections
GSE-Reactive listed on their website.

 -  Do you have an original, non-enhanced IIe that you'd like to bring up 
to enhanced mode?  Check out their IIe enhancement kit.

 - If your ][+ or //e has developed poor memory habit, it might be time to 
replace some of the DRAM chips in your system.  GSE-Reactive now sells 
64K DRAM chips,  compatible with your machine.

 - If you've got an expansion card thats lost its ability to work, you 
might be in need of a firmware upgrade.  The company now sells the latest 
known firmware updates for the Applied Engineering Transwarp IIe 
accelerator, the RamFactor memory expansion card, and the Vulcan Gold 
hard drive controller.  Additionally, they are offering a firmware chip 
for the Apple Rev.C SCSI controller card

More information on these items can be found at: 
http://www.gse-reactive.com/all_products.php


-- Several projects are in the works, trying to recreate the Apple II 
using modern computing components.  One ongoing attempt using an FPGA 
(Field Programmable Gate Array) seems to be fairly advanced, and its 
progress has been posted to the web.  Check out 
http://rich12345.tripod.com/ultii/index.html for images of the equipment 
design and progress.


-- Glenn Jones has announced that the current supply of his Uthernet 
(8-bit ethernet) card for the Apple II is now sold out.  While the webpage 
infers that a 3rd run may be in the works, no firm information about when 
that might happen is available.  If you're interested in getting your 
Apple I, II or GS on the internet, visit the A2 Retrosystems webpage at 
http://www.a2retrosystems.com/index.htm and drop Glenn a note.


--  Rich Dreher has announced that he will be working on versions of his 
popular CompactFlash for Apple II card that will be compatible with the 
Apple I and the Apple I replica computer being offered by Vince Briel.  
Currently, the 4th run of the CFFA for the Apple II and IIGS is being 
shipped as cards are completed.  More information about the Replica 1 can 
be found at http://www.brielcomputers.com/replica1.html and current 
information about the CFFA can be found at 
http://dreher.net/CFforAppleII. 


-- An attempt to reverse-engineer the 6502 CPU is underway.  Once 
completed, it would be possible to create new chips for use in such items 
as controllers as well as items like the Replica 1 mentioned above.  The 
group involved with the project has their progress listed on their 
webpage, along with diagrams and layout information.  However, unless 
you're fluent in Hungarian, their work may be a bit hard to follow.  
http://impulzus.sch.bme.hu/6502/6502/


--   Most Apple II users remember the peeks and pokes that made up 
music....well, musical sound on the early computers.  Hosted by Simon 
Williams, now you can enjoy all the fun of listening to these all over 
again.  Listen in MP3 clarity to such tunes as Sambaman (the Bank Street 
Music Writer demo),  Night Driver, and Speedway Classic Theme.
http://8bitsoundandfury.ld8.org/audio.html  


-- Would you be willing to pay $100 toward the development of an Apple II 
VGA adapter?  Here's a chance to put your money where your message is.  
Sign the pledge and help a developer decide to make or finish their 
project:  http://www.pledgebank.com/A2VGAOutput


-- KFest 2006 is currently in the process of taking reservations for this 
year's event.  This not-to-be-missed Apple II event will take place this 
year at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, KS from July 18-23.  More 
information, including a registration form can be found at:  
http://www.kfest.org


--Software News

  - Anton Treuenfels has released version 0.121 of his Hobby Cross 
Assembler, which allows a developer to create software for a variety of 
computer platforms that use the 6502 family of CPU chips.  More 
information can be found at:  http://www.home.earthlink.net/~hxa/HXA65.HTM
 

 
 - The Apple GameServer is a Java-based program allows the user to send 
Apple II games directly to an apple // computer  via the serial port, 
with no need for transferring to a disk. Information about current status 
of this project, games that have been used with it (and those that don't 
quite work yet) as well as the software necessary to do this on your own 
computers can be found at:  
http://brendan.robert.googlepages.com/applegameserver


--Emulation News

  - Virtual ][ by Gerard Putter which emulates an 8-bit Apple II under Mac 
OS X has been updated to work on the new Intel-powered Macs.  Version 5.2 
has, besides some bug fixes, the ability to emulate z80 cards on the newer 
Macintosh computers.  More information can be found at:  
http://www.xs4all.nl/~gp/VirtualII/
  

 - If your non-Apple II computing tends towards the PC world, check out 
the new version of AppleWIn, the Apple //e emulator for Windows.  AppleWin 
has been upgraded to version 1.13.1 which includes better handling under 
Windows 98.  More information can be found at: http://applewin.berlios.de/



* 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 2006 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.


