Frank Black today released Eamon Deluxe 5.0: 

Eamon Deluxe is an enhanced and expanded variation of the classic Eamon gaming system. With the release of version 5.0, Eamon Deluxe features cross-platform portability and an alternate accessibility mode for disabled or vision impaired users. The Eamon Deluxe adventure library includes a growing selection of original adventures as well as ongoing conversions of all known Eamon adventures.

Stop by the revamped website and download a copy for Windows, Mac or Linux, and be sure to check out Frank’s all-new Eamon adventures today.

Still haven’t learned how to program your Apple II in its native language?  Maybe this “tiny ebook” is just what you need to get started.  Author Nick Morgan writes:

In this tiny ebook I’m going to show you how to get started writing 6502 assembly language. The 6502 processor was massive in the seventies and eighties, powering famous computers like the BBC Micro, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Bender in Futurama has a 6502 processor for a brain. Even the Terminator was programmed in 6502.

Check it out over at github now.

The July 2012 episode of Open Apple, the Apple II community’s only co-hosted podcast, is now available.

This month, Mike and Ken speak with Rich Dreher, developer of the CompactFlash For Apple (CFFA) card. The first batch of CFFA3000 cards sold out in 2011, and the second batch is now shipping with similar sales numbers. Rich dishes on other II hardware developers Vince Briel and Mike Willegal before we look at the astronomical numbers rare Apple-1 computers are fetching on eBay and at Sotheby’s. HyperCard turns 25 while Atari turns 40, though Mike objects to the latter. David Finnigan’s new book is out, and Robert Tripp is hot on his heels when an updated and digitized version of the classic What’s Where in the Apple — and we have the exclusive interview with Bob! All this content and all these guests make for our longest episode ever, perfect for listening to while you drive to next week’s KansasFest.

Find the show on the Open Apple Web site or in iTunes or the Zune marketplace.

Alex Freed posted an update via Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.apple2 on his progress developing a clone of Stellation Two’s ‘The Mill’ 6809 card.

OK, a slow boat from China brought a few PCBs and I have assembled one card.

http://alexfreed.com/FPGApple/Mill6809/redesign_mill6809.jpg

Smaller and simpler than the original due to a CPLD replacing the memory remapping ROM and some glue logic.

The good news is that it works, but the bad news is that it takes an instrument to see that.

Here is a snapshot:

http://alexfreed.com/FPGApple/Mill6809/mill6809_analyzer.PNG

I’m trying to use the good old demo1.bas from the disk image.

480 REM FFFE -> 40FA=JMP $1000
490 X = PEEK (ROM) * 256 + PEEK (ROM + 1)
500 REM
510 POKE (X),126: REM 7E
520 POKE (X + 1),CODE / 256
530 POKE (X + 2),0
540 POKE SLOT + 2,128: REM RUN

This code wants to write a jump instruction to the address, presumably $40FA, pointed to by the last 2 bytes in standard Apple ][ ROM. Unfortunately my enhanced 2e has $FAC3 at FFFE-FFFF. So as one can see on the analyzer screen the 6809 fetches $FAC3 and jumps to that address. Which of course lives in ROM and can’t be patched. Oops…

Sure I could load a standard monitor into the “language card”, switch to it and then try it again, but this is a bit ugly. Also I’m pretty confident the basic counting test will work – after all both CPUs are running. Where should I take a better test? My main concern is that knowing that the LS14 was replaced with LS04 while adding the memory mapping for OS09 I suspect that timing may need to be tuned. Of course my address mapping CPLD is an order of magnitude faster than a ROM used in the original version, but “too fast” can also be an issue. So I need some tests before declaring the card operational. I want something that runs with all 3 versions of the memory map – virgin, flipped A15 and OS09 remapping.

If hacking the 6809 or OS/9 is your idea of fun, you should consider contacting Alex so he can add you to his list of interested buyers. It’s unknown how many of these cards will be made.

Gerard Putter has released Virtual II 7.0 for Mac OS X.

What’s new in version 7.0

• Updated the program to be fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion).
• Improved accuracy of high resolution colors by adding emulation of NTSC TV color logic.
• Modernized the appearance of the main window.
• The Inspector can now save a memory dump of the virtual machine to a file.
• Added the Bulgarian character set.