The Apple II community heard the passing of Anthony Mario Diaz (1967 – 2021) on a dark day of Autumn 2021.

Tony was a long-time Apple II recognized enthusiast. Hardware guru, owner of rare prototypes, always keen on telling stories, also known for his weak business skills, Tony was one of the great guys of the Apple II community. He will be missed.

Tony Diaz with Brutal Deluxe members at Kansasfest 2017

From the europlus zone blog:

[A]lthough it’s not far away, I’m very happy to announce the date for the next WOzFest: WOzFest RC 21/10 will be held on Saturday 2 October 2021, starting at midday Sydney time (UTC+10:00).

And, to top off the year, I can also announce that WOzFest 22 will be held on Saturday 30 October 2021, starting at midday Sydney time (UTC+11:00).

Why two WOzFests in one month? Well the name for ’21 should give the clue – I’m entering RetroChallenge 21/10, and it seemed a good way to bookend my efforts for the month.

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

KansasFest 2021, the 33rd annual Apple II convention, is open for registration. Users, programmers, hobbyists, and retrocomputing enthusiasts are invited to gather virtually from Friday, July 23, through Saturday, July 24, for two days and one night of sessions, demos, announcements, contests, and camaraderie.

We will make the best of the virtual arrangement and return in person to Kansas City in 2022. We’ve rescheduled the keynote speaker, Robert Woodhead, to next year.

Registration is $10 for access to all talks and activities. For $20 you get access to all talks/activities plus you will also receive a commemorative pin (postage included). Official KansasFest t-shirts are extra and optional. To register, please visit https://www.kansasfest.org/registration.

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 https://www.kansasfest.org/.

For once, three demos were presented during the Revision Online 2021 party. Two for the 8-bit Apple IIs, and one for the Apple IIgs.

Watch them online:

• LowTech demo by Stéphane Champailler @ https://youtu.be/Dlmrd0howLw
• Terra Nova by French Touch @ https://youtu.be/7Qrt6jzggWE
• No Hard Feelings by Ninjaforce, Dagen Brock, and Fatdog @ https://youtu.be/uDdJFKRtufU

Congratulations to you!

From the europlus zone blog:

Hot on the heels of WOzFest 18 I’m very happy to announce the date for the next WOzFest: WOzFest 19 will be held on Saturday 1 May 2021, starting at midday Sydney time (UTC+10:00).

The theme for WOzFest 19 is “Freedom” – a good friend and frequent WOzFest attendee retires the day before, so I thought what better way to celebrate than to get together with Apple ][ enthusiasts?! I’ll leave it to attendees to interpret the theme as they see fit.

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

From the europlus zone blog:

I’m very happy to announce the date for the next WOzFest: WOzFest 18 will be held on Saturday 20 March 2021, starting at midday Sydney time (UTC+11:00).

The theme for WOzFest 18 is “Community Service” – I’m asking attendees to bring something to upload to the Internet, to update an online resource, to do some Applesauce imaging on the night, to do some scanning, to interview a luminary via Skype…anything which contributes back to the retrocomputing community (it doesn’t even have to be Apple ][-related!). These services would need to be performed during WOzFest 18.

Many WOzFest attendees already do these things, both outside of and during WOzFests – I just think it would be nice to have that as a theme of a specific WOzFest, and that everyone find some way to participate.

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

From the europlus zone blog:

I’m very happy to announce the date for the next WOzFest: WOzFest 17 Oct will be held on Saturday 17 October 2020, starting at midday Sydney time (UTC+11:00). An easy date to remember! And Steve in Brisbane has confirmed QFest 17 will be held at the same time – double the Apple ][ goodness!

The theme for WOzFest 17 Oct is, as it was for WOzFest SWEET16, “Community” – having supportive communities is important at the best of times, but especially so at the moment, so I’ve decided to extend the theme to cover WOzFest 17 Oct. The camaraderie involved in events like WOzFest certainly help me feel lucky in these trying times. So come and join my community for a few hours, no matter where you are in the world.

As per recent WOzFests, WOzFest 17 Oct will be streamed on Twitch via WOzFest TV for the whole duration. I’ll be aiming to do some productive work to stream, and will have some Skype calls as well.

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

WOzFest SWEET16 will not only be streamed, but is also now an “attendees allowed” event.

Additionally, QFest 16 has been announced to be held to coincide with WOzFest SWEET16.

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

From the europlus zone blog:

I’m very happy to announce the date for the next WOzFest: WOzFest SWEET16 will be held on Saturday 25 July 2020, starting at midday Sydney time (UTC+10:00).

The theme for WOzFest SWEET16 is “Community” – having supportive communities is important at the best of times, but especially so at the moment. The camaraderie involved in events like WOzFest certainly help me feel lucky in these trying times. So come and join my community for a few hours, no matter where you are in the world.

As per WOzFest COLOR=15, WOzFest SWEET16 will be streamed on Twitch via WOzFest TV for the whole duration. I’ll be aiming to do some productive work to stream, and will have some Skype calls as well.

With the timing, WOzFest SWEET16 is going to be wedged in between the two days of KansasFest 2020. For me, Day 1 of KansasFest 2020 will run from midnight Friday night to 07:00 Saturday – I’ll then try and grab a few hours sleep/rest (unless there are unofficial events on to snag my attention), get finalised for WOzFest, then run 10 hours of that through to 22:00. Day 2 of KansasFest starts at midnight Saturday night and runs to 07:00 Sunday – I think I’ll be a wreck on Sunday when everything’s done.

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

From the europlus zone blog:

Wow, what a month! When I announced WOzFest COLOR=15 I was looking forward to another fun get-together of fellow Apple ][ enthusiasts, and I’d already started planning to stream the day for those who couldn’t make it.

Now, communities around the world are in lockdown (Australia is heading down that path) and people’s lives are being turned upside down.

By mid-last week, I decided to go stream-only for WOzFest COLOR=15. While a difficult personal decision, it’s nothing compared to what some people are experiencing.

I love hosting WOzFest and I love having enthusiasts here at WOzFest HQ – but for the next short(?) while, we all have to pull our head in.

I still need help, though – while I won’t have physical attendees, I’d like to do Skypes during the day. If you’re tinkering, if you have something to share or say, if you’re releasing a new product, if you’re lonely, whatever – let me know what time suits between 01:00-11:00 UTC 4 April 2020 and I’ll try and schedule you in. Let’s go around the world, let’s go around Australia, let’s show this stupid virus it won’t dampen our enthusiasm for the Apple ][!

So, via Skype or Twitch chat, I’m looking forward to talking to some of you on 4 April and sharing some of the work I’ll be doing on the day. If I can I’ll try and draw up a schedule – for example, I wanted to do an Applesaucing session and discuss usage tips, etc.

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