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 3.0b9 in July 2018. Since then there have been several bug fix versions that have not been made widely available. This release includes fixes for the following issues:

– TCPIPSendIPDatagram was not using the correct Direct Page and looks like it never worked correctly.
– TCPIPReadLineTCP now returns the correct error code and TCP error code to the caller. This would have resulted in strange behaviour for applications that use this call.
– There was an issue with TCPIPReadLine returning strange data when used after TCPIPReadLineTCP. This would have resulted in strange behaviour for applications that use this call combination.
– The TCP stack would erroneously reset a connection in response to an unclaimed packet that is not part of that connection. This would have resulted in strange behaviour for applications.
– The MSS Option has been added to TCP Headers which tells hosts that they can send larger packets to Marinetti. This may improve performance e.g. with file transfers.

For more information on the above issues, refer to the ChangeLog included in the release for the ticket number and then refer to the related ticket on Sourceforge.

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 3.0b9 upgrade to this version.

Marinetti 3.0b11 can be downloaded from the Marinetti homepage as a Shrinkit archive, or soon from the a2RetroSystems website where it will be 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.

The 6502 Workshop team is pleased to announce that the Kickstarter campaign for the boxed edition of Nox Archaist is now live!

Click here to pledge!

What’s better than a brand new, hand-coded 8-bit classic 80s era tile based RPG?  Answer: One that comes in an awesome collector’s edition box with lots of cool physical goodies!

What’s even better than that?  When the game will also feature an NPC appearance by Lord British, the alter ego of Richard Garriott, the creator of the Ultima series of games!

Pledges include the following awesome stuff:

• Full color collector’s game box
• Cloth map
• Printed manual
• Game artifacts such as coins of the realm and various other cool trinkets

All Nox Archaist boxed editions will include 5.25″ floppy disks for real Apple II hardware and a flash drive for Mac and Windows PC emulators. The game will also run on real and emulated hard drives with ProDOS installed.

6502 Workshop can’t wait to get Nox Archaist into a collector’s edition box and put it in your hands.

Click here to pledge!

The source code for 45 Infocom text adventures is now available in its native ZIL (Zork Implementation Language) from GitHub.

I've uploaded the entirety of source code of all Infocom text adventures/interactive fiction to Github. https://t.co/p0K8MRKoTN If you don't understand ZIL, and you probably don't, read this instruction manual. https://t.co/H8nl1fxWcv

— Jason Scott (@textfiles) April 16, 2019

According to the code repository’s readme file, “This collection is meant for education, discussion, and historical work, allowing researchers and students to study how code was made for these interactive fiction games and how the system dealt with input and processing. It is not considered to be under an open license.” But notes Gamasutra, “… Activision, which purchased Infocom in 1986, still owns the company IP, meaning it could eventually clamp down and halt Scott’s preservation efforts.”

To commemorate the release of this code, GitHub will host the live event “Game On I: The Great Quest for Imagination“, on the afternoon of Friday, April 26, 2019, 3–6:30 PM PDT (UTC-7) at its headquarters at 88 Colin P Kelly Jr St, San Francisco, California, USA. Steve Meretzky, the sole or lead designer on such Infocom games as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, A Mind Forever Voyaging, Planetfall, and Leather Goddesses of Phobos, will be the guest of honor. The event will be moderated by Kevin Savetz of the Eaten by a Grue podcast. Topics will include Infocom, working with ZIL, putting the source code on GitHub, and the evolution of software and version control. Following the discussion will be a happy hour, during which game stations will be set up all where people can have fun with Infocom titles and multiplayer games. The event is open to the public; free registration is required. It will also be livestreamed online.

For more on the history of Infocom, watch Jason Scott’s Infocom documentary, included as part of Get Lamp.
Read the rest of this entry »

From Antoine Vignau’s post at comp.sys.apple2 on August 17:

Graffidisk is a new kind of software for the Apple II. Its limit is your imagination: enter text or draw a GR picture on your Apple II and let Graffidisk tag your 5.25″ floppy disks. See the results of your piece of art with John Morris’ Applesauce. Share with your friends!

You can check it out here.

(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: IIGS developer Ewen Wannop 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.

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.

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…. :-(

Via Callapple.org at http://www.callapple.org/vintage-apple-computers/apple-ii/announcing-prodos-2-4-2-for-all-apple-ii-computers/, thanks to John Brooks:

ProDOS 2.4.2 is a minor release with bug fixes and updates. It replaces ProDOS 2.4 and ProDOS 2.4.1.

Bugs fixed:
1. If a directory with more than 255 files was used, and then a different disk was used, a Bad Dir Error $51 was reported.
2. Bitsy Bye was not compatible with the Appletalk Workstation card.
3. Bitsy Bye was not compatible with the Mac LC Apple IIe card.

Updates:

1. Thunderclock driver is updated for years 2018 – 2023
2. ADT Pro v2.0.2
3. Copy II Plus v8.4
4. Added Cat Doctor’s extended utilities

If you’d like to help develop or test future versions, please contact me.
Enjoy.
-JB
John Brooks
Twitter: @JBrooksBSI

Download Disk Image: ProDOS_2_4_2.DSK

If you’d like to support John’s efforts to improve the Apple II, donations are welcome through Paypal

David Schmenk has just released v1.0 of the developer preview of PLASMA.

Modern Retroprogramming on the Apple II. When was the last time you programmed a modern language on a 40 year old computer? Now is your chance. PLASMA is a combination of operating environment, virtual machine, and assembler/compiler matched closely to the 6502 architecture.

Check out the Release Notes for details: https://github.com/dschmenk/PLASMA/blob/master/doc/Preview%20Version%201.0.md

Thanks to a message posted by David Finnigan on comp.emulators.apple2, please note that Gerard Putter has just released v8.0 of his Apple II emulator for Mac OS.

For more information, please visit virtualii.com
 

This version contains extensive behind-the-scenes updates and rewrites to remain compatible with new versions of macOS, forming a basis for further future development.
For example, the application was still 32-bit; as of this release it is a 64-bit app, making it compatible with modern Mac APIs, improved memory management, etc.

Although I tested the app thoroughly, I might have inadvertently introduced new bugs due to the extensive changes. If you find any, let me know.

Furthermore:

• A disk image file can now be double-clicked in the Finder to start a virtual machine with that disk inserted.
• Added the feature to speak the text on the Apple II screen, using the Mac voice synthesizer.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a new virtual machine window to appear with a very small size.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Inspector’s disassembly to show empty lines when scrolled.
• Rewrote the “movie making” feature to use the AVFoundation framework. When running macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later, the movie is written using the HEVC codec. Older system use the H264 codec.
• Clarified the section in the Help file on game controller setup.
• Removed the option to select a folder where the ROM files are located. This feature often caused confusion, and led to some tricky problems. You can however still select a specific ROM file for a virtual machine. If you don’t specify such a file, the app will search for a matching ROM file in one of the standard locations.
• The app now submits crashes or similar app issues to the developer. These reports are fully anonymous, and help improving the app. If you wish you can disable it in the application preferences.