(With apologies to Leo Laporte…) Packing and readying for a move across town has kept me from getting started here as soon as I’d like, but that’s coming to an end so I thought I’d kick things off with a summary of all the Apple II goings-on I could find, in the last week or so:

Software updates! Windows-based emulator AppleWin, and Dennis Molony’s Apple II Disk Browser saw new versions recently released (hat tip to Call APPLE for those items).

Michael Packard has officially announced OidZone for Apple II-family computers.

Thomas Harte’s MIT-licensed emulator Clock Signal now emulates the IIe.

Jeff Ramsey invites you to play his server-based Zork I setup on your Apple II. Just telnet over to zork.retroadventures.net, port 6502 and login with the username zork and password 2018Zork.

Did you get on the waitlist for one of John Morris’s Applesauce devices?

VCF West 2018 happened this weekend. Hackaday has some great coverage.

… and I’m sure plenty more 8-bit Apple IIish goodness happened elsewhere, but that’s all I have time for right now. See you soon!

Update: Ewen reached out to us and let us know the item mentioning the update work on SNAP was inaccurate. We have removed the paragraph and apologize sincerely to Ewen and our readers for the error.

Juiced.GS, the world's last and longest-running Apple II print publication, will publish its two-dozenth volume (issues #93–96) in 2019.

2019 subscriptions and renewals are available immediately. Customers who have previously purchased a subscription that automatically renews need to do nothing; their accounts will be charged on January 1. (An active subscription status can be verified by logging into one's online account.)

Apple II enthusiasts who are curious about Juiced.GS can subscribe to the email newsletter to receive a new, free sample issue with 20 pages of content from the past five years of the magazine.

Additionally, Juiced.GS has released five new PDFs of themed content, previously available in hardcopy only:

• BBS: Here's everything you need to know about connecting to a telnet bulletin board system or even running your own, as well as a review of the WiModem232. It also includes a review of BBS: The Documentary and an interview with its creator, Jason Scott.
• Education: The Apple II gained much of its fame in the classroom, where its effects can still be felt. This PDF is a reflection on the Apple II's longevity in the classroom and how modern students respond to such classics as The Oregon Trail and VisiCalc, as well as how the Raspberry Pi might serve as a modern equivalent for teaching programming.
• Raspberry Pi: This affordable microcomputer makes an excellent Apple II peripheral. An introduction to A2SERVER, a review of the Apple II Pi, how to use the Pi to run a BBS, and what today's students could learn from the Pi round out this PDF.
• Apple-1: The precursor to the Apple II, the Apple-1 is also alive and well. From replica models to soldering experiences to convention appearances, the Apple-1 is everywhere in this Concentrate.
• The Oregon Trail: The seminal edutainment title has seen multiple adaptations over the years. This PDF reviews a theatrical play, a handheld game, and a card game; examines how today's students interpret Oregon Trail; and also goes behind the scenes of Melissa Barron's hack, 73H 0r3g0n 7r41L.

These files are available immediately starting at $5, with more PDFs to come later in 2018.

Last week, at the largest gathering of Apple II users since 1994, the dates for KansasFest 2019 were announced. Retrocomputing enthusiasts are invited to Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, next July 15–21 for the 31st annual KansasFest — featuring a week of sessions, workshops, announcements, demos, releases, games, podcasts, and more!

Registration for the next KansasFest is expected to open sometime in Q1 2019. Subscribe to the event’s blog, email list, or Twitter feed for updates about the longest-running annual convention for Apple II users.

After many years of service as the editor of A2Central.com, Sean Fahey has stepped aside. Eric Shepherd, the founder of A2Central.com, has resumed ownership of the site, and has selected a new editor-in-chief. Our new editor is a well-known blogger, writer, and pundit with his finger on the pulse of the Apple II community. With great pleasure, we announce that effective today, A2Central’s new editor is Mike Maginnis!

We hope that going forward we can make real headway toward enhancing A2Central’s relevance and toward making the site better than ever!

With that, I turn the reins over to Mike! Enjoy!

A new version of Marinetti, the implementation of TCP/IP for the Apple IIgs, is now publicly available.

The previous public announcement of a release of Marinetti was 3.0b3 in 2006. Since then there have been several bug fix versions that have not been made widely available. In 2014, the then-latest build, 3.0b8, was made available to Uthernet owners. That version included some debug code that was left in the build to assist with bug reporting. This latest release removes that debug code to improve performance. There are no other functional changes. While this software is still officially classed as ‘beta’ software, it has been extensively tested. It is highly recommended that existing users of 3.0b3 and 3.0b8 upgrade to this version.

Marinetti 3.0b9 can be downloaded from the Marinetti homepage, or the a2RetroSystems website where it is available as a disk image that can be mounted in an emulator or a disk emulation device like the CFFA. The disk image includes the original Marinetti 3.0b1 installer for new installations if necessary and a replacement Init which contains the latest changes. Ewen Wannop’s latest Uthernet link layers are also provided.

Marinetti was originally written by Richard Bennett in 1996 and was subsequently released as an open-source project. It is now maintained by members of the Marinetti Open Source Project, which is hosted on SourceForge.

From the europlus zone blog:

Yes, I know I’ve been slack not posting my WOzFest DB9 Recap and Photos Galleries, but I am able (and happy) to announce the date for the next WOzFest, WOzFest X – Saturday 21 July 2018, starting around midday Sydney time (UTC+10:00).

I haven’t set a theme for WOzFest X – however, I have organised the usual Kansas Fest video hookup we try for each year. The Skype call is slated to start at around 14:00 local time (23:00 Friday Kansas City time). Frequent WOzFest and Kansas Fest attendees Melody & April, publishers of Paleotronic Magazine (and authors of the microM8 emulator), will be hosting the Kansas City end of the Skype call.

Further details on the announcement post, and updates will be posted under the europlus zone’s WOzFest tag.

Volume 23, Issue 2 (Jun 2018) of Juiced.GS, the longest-running Apple II publication in print, has now shipped.

In this issue, researchers from Princeton University present the Information Barrier eXperimental II — original Apple II software and hardware used for nuclear warhead verification. Also in this issue is a review of Oregon Trail: The Play! and an interview with its playwright; reviews of two graphic novels about Steve Jobs; a tutorial for procuring and digitizing academic dissertations about the Apple II; how Microsoft’s purchase of GitHub will affect Apple II programmers; and much, much more!

This is Juiced.GS‘s second quarterly issue of 2018, its twenty-third year in print. Subscriptions for 2018 are available for $19 each for United States customers, $24 for readers in Canada and Mexico, and $27 for international customers.

Rémy Gibert, the author of A2osX, a now preemptive multi-tasking OS for the Apple II, announces the release of v0.9.1. Rémy is also looking for contributors.

If you believe you could help, please visit https://github.com/burniouf/A2osX

Announcement:

Kernel 0.9.1 is now preemptive. All you need is a “tick” source, see below for supported hardware. For now, only SBIN/BIN executables are “switcheable”.

Roadmap is as follow:
Check all BIN/SBIN sources to make them preemptive compliant, most of them are NOT.
Add a way to make LIB also interruptible and reentrant.
Add more supported hardware for system clock.
…and still hoping finding few contributors…. :-(

KansasFest 2018, the 30th annual Apple II convention, is open for 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 will be Roger Wagner. In 1978, Wagner started his own software publishing company and sold popular titles such as the Merlin assembler and ASCII Express. He wrote for many major publications of the day but is best remembered for his long-running Assembly Lines column in Softalk, teaching 6502 assembly language. Later, he made his most famous contribution to the 16-bit Apple IIGS with HyperStudio, a foretaste of the hyperlinked web that was to later arrive in the 1990s.

Because KansasFest 2017 sold out, this year’s event capacity has been expanded by 20%. Registering early is still a good idea; do so by May 31 to guarantee a price of $385 for a double room or $455 for a single, which includes admission to all sessions as well as most meals. After that, prices rise. Official KansasFest shirts are extra and optional and must be ordered by June 18; registration for staying on-site closes July 1. To register, please visit the official registration form.

To celebrate this year’s event Steve Weyhrich created a new music video, “The KFest Show”, in his own funny and inimitable style. As the lyrics say, “don’t fight it, registration’s open, runnin’ at ya!” You can watch the video now.

KansasFest invites any and all Apple II users, fans, and friends to attend the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference. For photos, videos, schedules, and presentations from past year’s events or to sign up for the email list and for inquiries, please visit the event’s Web site.

Volume 23, Issue 1 (Mar 2018) of Juiced.GS, the longest-running Apple II publication in print, has now shipped.

This issue features reviews of the WiModem232 modem emulator and the Oregon Trail electronic handheld; Quinn Dunki’s tutorial for using git and GitHub version control with Apple II source code; an interview with Robert Freedman of HLS Duplication; coverage of the inaugural Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest; a day in the life of an Apple II detective; and much, much more!

This is Juiced.GS‘s first quarterly issue of 2018, its twenty-third year in print. Subscriptions for 2018 are available for $19 each for United States customers, $24 for readers in Canada and Mexico, and $27 for international customers.