Drop Iii Inches

As August 2017 draws to a close, here is an episode we recorded in May with a lead-in we recorded earlier in August. It’s been a busy summer. Topics include: Martin Haye’s Satan Mode disk, Reactive Micro’s universal power supply, Paul Rickards’ WiFi232, Big Mess o’ Wires’ Floppy Emu, John Morris’ Applesauce, Great Plains Hardisk … Continue reading Episode 19: May Wait No August →

We’re back, with an episode that was three months in the making. Mike and Paul talk (in November 2016) about the state of things in our Apple /// worlds, and then speak at some length with Don Burtis (in December 2016), who designed (among many other things) the Microsoft SoftCard III. Don Burtis, who is probably most … Continue reading Episode 18: Don Burtis →

In this episode, Mike and Paul chat about various things that were newsworthy when the recording was made. Replacement power supplies, insights from the last Apple /// product manager, Apple ///-themed iPhone cases, drivers, Record Processing Services, and more. For those following along in real time, this episode was recorded a long time after the one that preceded … Continue reading Episode 17: PSUs, KPIs, RPS, and more! →

In this episode, we interview Taylor Pohlman, who joined Apple in 1979 and became the Apple /// Product Marketing Manager in 1981, managing the “Reintroduction” of the Apple ///. He is also well known for the series of columns in Softalk magazine (“The Third BASIC”) introducing concepts in Business BASIC programming. Later, he left Apple to found … Continue reading Episode 16: Taylor Pohlman →

Mike came across a reference to “The greatest baseball game never played”, a well-hyped simulated baseball game broadcast in July 1982, pitting National League and American League stars of diverse eras against each other in an ultimate fictitious game—simulated using a custom-written program on an Apple ///. The game was later pressed as an LP, and contains … Continue reading Episode 15: Baseball and Business BASIC →

We begin 2016 discussing the “Driv3rs” python script with its author, Mike Whalen, some miscellaneous topics, and a phone interview with Daniel Kottke, from some years ago. Mike Whalen’s Driv3rs script will take an SOS.DRIVER file and extract information about all of the drivers contained within, and we talk about using the script, finding drivers, the format … Continue reading Episode 14: Daniel Kottke, Diving into SOS.DRIVER, Misc., and Etc. →

This month, Paul’s Apple /// has trouble connecting with the world outside, so he speculates on possibilities for WiFi connectivity, and Mike’s Apple /// has trouble connecting with any worlds at all. So, we turn our attention to literature, including the full Apple /// patent, a survey of Apple II users, an early interview with … Continue reading Episode 13: Wendell Sander →

On this episode, we talk with Martin Haye about his experience writing an assembler/disassembler for the Apple /// as his HackFest entry at KansasFest 2015. Martin is an experienced Apple II programmer, who decided to spend KansasFest familiarizing himself with the Apple ///. After initial forays into SOS didn’t go well, and realizing that in … Continue reading Episode 12: Martin Haye has created a M0N5T3R →

We’re back for Episode 11. This time, we talk about really very small advances in booting a /// from a flash drive, the Cursor /// joystick and the history of The Keyboard Company, and a visit to the Stanford archives of Apple materials to get the real scoop on EMI/RFI emissions and the timeline of … Continue reading Episode 11: Fort Stanford, b/w Phase III: Dr. Melvin Astrahan →

In this episode, Paul and Mike talk about the wooden Apple /// sculpture featured on the cover of Apple Magazine v2n2 and an email interview with Tom Eckert, the artist who created it. Other topics include the issues and ultimate success in booting an Apple /// with only an SD-card drive emulator, the feasibility of … Continue reading Episode 10: III Drives Diverged →

Back from a long hiatus, Mike and Paul discuss the newly-available cornucopia of games for the Apple ///, and then introduce the next bit of audio from the 1987 Phase III conference. The conference presentation was a panel discussion of the future of Apple III hardware and SOS, with Bob Consorti of On Three and … Continue reading Episode 9: Phase III: The Future of the Apple III Hardware and SOS →

In this episode, we talk with Bob Consorti, who was president of On Three. Among the notable achievements of On Three were the long-running On Three magazine, Desktop Manager, BOS (Bob’s Operating System), a 512K RAM expansion card, device drivers, and many other things. Topics include the founding of On Three, the development of the … Continue reading Episode 8: Bob Consorti →

This episode consists of a telephone interview with Colette Askeland, the board layout designer who did all of the layout work on the Apple /// motherboard. We learn about the incredible challenges and accomplishments that went into creating this layout, and about the process, the community, and the environment at Apple at the time. Lots … Continue reading Episode 7: Colette Askeland →

The Phase III conference was organized by the Third Apple User Group in Chicago, held October 2-4, 1987. Dave Ottalini located and digitized his audio recordings of some of the sessions at that conference, and provided them to us. We have been cleaning them up as best we can, and will release them here on … Continue reading Episode 6: Don Williams at Phase III →

In this episode, Mike and Paul had the opportunity to speak with Dave Ottalini, co-founder of the Apple /// Special Interest Group of the Washington Apple Pi user group. The entire episode is devoted to this conversation. And stay to the very end for an extremely interesting announcement! A couple of related links: Washington Apple … Continue reading Episode 5: Dave Ottalini →

This month, Paul performs Pascal programming and plays games, while Mike mines the WAP DVD and finds hidden treasure.  We discuss the latest MESS emulator developments as they apply to the Apple /// core, music and sound, driver and much more. Join us, won’t you? YouTube: Apple: The Most Personal Computer (1982) Resource Guide for … Continue reading Episode 4: WAPster Diving →

In this episode, we talk about some introductory and demo materials, consider some Apple /// “dream systems” and talk with Egan Ford about the work he has done preparing the Apple /// “Ready-to-Run” quick start package for the MESS apple3 emulator. System Utilities… an Introduction manual System Utilities sample files (disk) Apple /// Getting Organized … Continue reading Episode 3: Dream machines, with Egan Ford (apple3rtr) →

In this episode, we walk through getting the MESS emulator started with the assistance of Egan Ford’s Apple /// RTR, discuss the System Configuration Program, and the Apple /// Dimensions newsletter. Apple /// Ready-to-Run SDL version 1.2 (for MESS, Mac OS X) MESS executables (for Windows) BOS user’s guide (at apple3.org) On Three magazine “Bob’s Lines” in Three Shorts—Fini! … Continue reading Episode 2: MESSing with drivers →

Welcome to the show notes from the premiere episode of what is undoubtedly the premiere Apple /// podcast on the internet today. Your hosts: Mike Maginnis 6502lane.net apple2scans.net The Open Apple podcast The No Quarter podcast @6502lane Paul Hagstrom yesterbits.com Retro Computing Roundtable podcast @yesterbits Links along the way: Watch Steve Jobs’ First Demonstration of … Continue reading Episode 1: Until the Cows Come Home →