Gerard Putter has released version 3.1 of Virtual ][, a great 8-bit Apple II emulator for Mac OS X. The new version includes several nice improvements; read on for details.Version 3.1 includes the following enhancements:

  • Improved rendering of double high-resolution graphics; this improves the readability of DHR text.
  • Improved accuracy of double low-resolution and double high-resolution colors.
  • High resolution graphics efficiency improved by about 25%.
  • Sound quality improved.
  • Added a toolbar for easier access to commonly used functions.
  • The Screen menu is now called View, and includes toolbar-related commands.
  • The sound volume can be changed.
  • Added a menu command and toolbar button to open a Finder window where your disk images are.
  • An alias to a disk image can now be dropped onto Virtual ][ to mount it.
  • The program can automatically adjust the Mac monitor resolution when going into full-screen mode.
  • The Apple //e, not the ][+, is now the default machine when the program is first started.
  • Saved state files now take on a custom icon representing the appearance of the screen when the state was saved.
  • Fixed a few bugs.

The saved state file icons in particular are a neat feature, making it very easy to track down the saved state you want — especially if you keep your saved state files in a folder with the icon size set to be large.